Author: Boshkezenian Garik

ARMENIA CANNOT INFLUENCE BUT INITIATIVES ARE NOT USELESS

Lragir
Feb 11 2008
Armenia

The Armenian foreign policy needs new approaches, fresh ideas, a new
vision, says Arthur Baghdasaryan who met with the representatives
of NGOs on February 11. With regard to foreign policies and the main
challenges to this sphere, Arthur Baghdasaryan said it is necessary
to come up with initiatives regarding the Karabakh issue, and we need
more intensive propaganda abroad to raise awareness of the Karabakh
issue among ordinary Europeans.

Arthur Baghdasaryan said in the years of the former and present
government the Karabakh issue was the prerogative of one or two people,
whereas for a more fruitful policy public discourse on this issue is
necessary. The presidential candidate criticizes both the approach
that development in Armenia is impossible unless the Karabakh issue
is resolved, and the approach that everything is fine, and we are
moving ahead.

A question was asked on the preventive role in case of the escalation
of a U.S.-Iran conflict, which according to the environmentalist
Karine Danielyan Armenia may perform, especially if it succeeds to
give the sides a specialist explanation of the destruction depth
bombs may cause which may be used in case such a conflict occurs.

Arthur Baghdasaryan said they realize the danger even without Armenia’s
explanation, and perhaps Armenia will not be able to act as a mediator
between them, cannot influence their decisions, even if their decision
is undesirable for us. However, the presidential candidate also said
even if the mediation or initiatives are not useful, they will hardly
aggravate the situation, therefore initiatives will not be useless.

"LIE AND SLANDER BECAME AN INSEPARABLE PART OF PRE-ELECTION TRICKS", ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL STATED

Mediamax
February 12, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Working group of the Armenian General Prosecutor’s
Office in all received 41 calls on the possible violations of law in
the process of the pre-election campaign, Prosecutor General Aghvan
Hovsepian stated in Yerevan today.

According to him, as a result of study of the facts, 11 criminal
cases are initiated – mainly on facts of hooliganism and voluntary
waste of property.

Aghvan Hovsepian noted that 20 out of 41 calls were received as a
result of study of media publications. The characteristic peculiarity
of many of the calls, according to the Prosecutor General, is the
abundance of lie.

"Lie and slander became an inseparable part of the pre-election tricks
used, often directed to discredit the law-enforcement bodies", Aghvan
Hovsepian stated.

Energy Publisher, TX
Feb 10 2008

Russia: Armenia inks deal for uranium enrichment

The agreement to join the enrichment center was signed by the prime
ministers of the two countries.

by World Nuclear News

Armenia has signed an agreement with Russia to join the international
uranium enrichment center to be set up in Siberia. The two countries
have also agreed to set up a joint venture for uranium exploration.

The agreement to join the enrichment center was signed by the prime
ministers of the two countries, Victor Zubkov and Serzh Sarkisyan,
during a visit by Zubkov to the Armenian capital Yerevan. Armenia now
joins Kazakhstan and Russia in the venture to set up a shared
enrichment centre at Russia’s existing Angarsk plant. Ukraine has
also expressed interest in signing up.

The international center is seen as a first step towards an
internationalized nuclear fuel cycle and possible nuclear fuel
‘bank’, which would contribute to non-proliferation aims by ensuring
security of supply of nuclear fuel without countries needing to
establish their own fuel production facilities.

The two countries also signed a memorandum to set up a 50:50
Russian-Armenian joint venture to explore for uranium and other
minerals in Armenia, with prospecting activities due to begin in
September 2008.

Speaking after the prime ministerial talks, Sergei Kiryenko, head of
Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom also told reporters
that Russia would be the likely winners of a tender for the
construction of a new 1000 MWe nuclear power plant on the site of
Armenia’s existing Metsamor plant. Kiriyenko said the government of
Armenia would announce a tender for the construction of new nuclear
power plant, adding modestly: "We are going to take part in it and we
have quite good chances to win."

The Metsamor power station originally hosted two nuclear units. Both
were closed down after a severe earthquake in 1988 triggered concerns
about their seismic vulnerability. One unit is now undergoing
decommissioning but the other restarted operations in 1995 and is
earmarked for closure around 2016. Armenia relies on Metsamor for
over 40% of its electricity and in November 2007 the USA also
signalled its support for nuclear new build in the country, pledging
a reported $2 million towards planning studies.

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AKI, Italy
Feb 8 2008

Turkey: Nobel laureate Pamuk defends the veil

Rome, 8 Feb. (AKI) – Nobel prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk
has signalled cautious support for women being allowed to wear the
Islamic headscarf in universities.

"Wearing the veil in Turkey is not in itself fundamentalism," he told
the Italian daily La Repubblica.

Turkish MPs voted on Thursday to lift the current constitutional ban
on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in universities. A second
vote is due to be held on the issue on Saturday.

"In Turkey, women traditionally wear the headscarf, just as Italian
women did in the past," Pamuk noted.

"A high proportion of Turkish women cover their head, not just the
followers of the [ruling Islamist rooted] Justice Development Party
(AKP) party."

"The veil is a very complex issue, and patronising decisions imposed
from on high would be wrong."

"Ideally, we should respect people, have compassion and decency and
seek to understand people and problems in a non-authoritarian way. I
have always tried to convey this message in my novels."

Pamuk, known for novels such as ‘My Name is Red’ and ‘Snow’, won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006 and currently divides his time
between the US and Turkey.

He is one of Turkey’s best selling authors and his books have been
translated into more than 40 languages.

The issue of the headscarf is the central issue of ‘Snow’, which is
set in the city of Kars in eastern Turkey on the border with Armenia.
In the novel, devout female Muslim students commit suicide because
they are not allowed to attend university if they refuse to remove
their headscarves

Paradoxically, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
daughters, who wear the headscarf, "had to study in the United States
of fundamentalist George W. Bush to feel free," Pamuk told La
Repubblica".

Turkeys’ current Islamist-rooted government’s controversial proposal
has broad public support.

But it is fiercely opposed by Turkey’s republican establishment,
which fears that easing the ban will weaken the constitutional
commitment to secularism in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.

Restrictions on the wearing of the Muslim headscarf date from the
founding of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his followers in
1923.

SCOTS SCHOLARS UNLOCK ANCIENT TEXTS’ SECRETS
By Tom Fullerton

The Express, UK
February 5, 2008 Tuesday
Scottish Edition

Scrolls reveal apocalyptic visions dating back to 800BC

THEY’RE not light reading, but they are tomes worth persevering with
since they reveal warnings of the Apocalypse and mysteries of the
Final Judgment and Hell.

The oldest of the texts being pored over by Scots experts was written
between 700 and 800 BC and has a "vision of the gods" portending
disaster and the overturning of human institutions.

For two years, 40 academics from eight countries, led by experts from
St Andrews University, have been translating more than 60 ancient
documents in order to understand early religious thinking.

The papers have titles such as Apocalypse of the Seven Heavens,
Queen of Sheba, Visions of Heaven and Hell, and the Cave of Treasures.

One even claims to provide clues to the treasures of the Lost Ark,
gold and silver tables and vessels sacked from Solomon’s Temple by
the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.

Now, many of the documents, written by Jews, Christians and pagans
between the 3rd century BC and the Middle Ages, have been translated
by the international team of divinity scholars.

Several are written in the name of Old Testament characters such
as Moses and Enoch and include legends about biblical characters,
books of proverbs, sermons, magical and astrological handbooks,
oracles and apocalyptic prophecies.

They are written in Arabic, Aramaic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic,
Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Old Irish, Latin, Slavonic, and Syriac.

"The oldest, and the only one that actually comes from the Old
Testament period, is the Balaam Text from Deir Alla in Jordan,
" said Dr James Davila of St Andrews University.

"It was found in the Sixties, dated between 700 and 800 BC and has a
‘vision of the gods’ portending disaster. The Book of Giants tells
of the defeat of the fallen angels by the archangels."

Dr Davila added: "The Treatise of the Vessels claims to reveal the
hiding places of the treasures of Solomon’s Temple, just before the
Temple was sacked.

"Alas, it’s a collection of legends, put together as late as the
Middle Ages.

But it shows people were interested in the Temple treasures long
before Raiders of the Lost Ark."

It’s hoped translation will be completed and the results published
within the next three years.

MEMBER OF INTERNATIONAL UNION OF LAWYERS: MOSCOW DOESN’T PUNISH MURDERER- NEOFASCISTS PURPOSEFULLY

2008-02-07 09:52:00

ArmInfo. Both Russian justice and Russian authority itself are
to blame for impunity of murders on the ground of xenophobia. The
authority confirms multiple cases of acquittals on accusations of
murder on grounds of national dislike, member of the Chamber of
Advocates of the Republic of Armenia and International Union of
Lawyers Nazeli Vartanian expressed such an opinion in her talk with
ArmInfo correspondent when commenting on the acquittal delivered on
February 4, by the Moscow regional court on the case of murder of
the Armenian Artur Sardaryan on national motive.

To note, in this way, by the judge’s verdict the young man, who was
accused of killing Russian citizen, native of Armenia is found not
guilty once again. The advocate of the family of the killed, Simon
Tsaturyan’s thinks this verdict is illegal and unfounded and intends
to lodge a complaint at the court of cassation. At the same time,
according to Vartanyan, impunity in Russia and inactivity of Armenian
authority gives birth to new manifestations of xenophobia. "Wishing
to be "goody- goody" to their strategic partner Russia, Armenian
authorities make a grave mistake. Any crime must be convicted,
and the country’s authority must defend interests of its nation,
the citizens of which are oppressed, and what is worse, are killed",
the advocate said. She thinks that acquittals of the Russian court to
the killers of the Tadjik girl Khursheda Sultanova, Armenian Vigen
Abramyan, killed in the metro of Moscow or the 20-year old Vladimir
Karamjyan recently killed by the skinheads are counter proof that
the Russian authority conceals the neofascists’ actions. More than 50
such killings take place in Russia annually. The advocate is sure that
all the murders can be fully disclosed, and the guilt can be proved,
but it remains doubtful whether it is advantageous to Moscow or not.

RUSSIA’S AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY OUTPUT UP 16.4% IN 2007

RIA Novosti
18:40 | 07/ 02/ 2008

MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s aircraft industry increased
production 16.4%, year-on-year, in 2007, the Industry and Energy
Ministry said on Thursday.

Growth in helicopter production was mainly secured by export
contracts, while demand was driven by the high quality of Russian-built
rotary-winged aircraft and their relatively low prices, the ministry
said in a press release posted on its official website.

The ministry said the state would implement an array of measures
to stimulate demand, in particular, by increasing the United
Aircraft-Building Corporation’s (UABC) authorized capital, granting
state subsidies to UABC subsidiaries and affiliates, and extending
soft loans to Russian leasing companies for the acquisition of
Russian-made aircraft.

It also said that the industry’s development strategy through 2015
would enable it to significantly increase sales of Russian manufactured
long-haul and regional airplanes.

The Russian transport minister said on Wednesday that the first Sukhoi
SuperJet-100 airplanes would be supplied to Russia’s flagship carrier
Aeroflot, and the first deliveries abroad would be made to Armenia.

The SuperJet 100 project is a family of medium-range passenger
aircraft developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau in cooperation with
major American and European aviation corporations, including Boeing,
Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace, and Honeywell.

The aircraft maker said last month it was planning to sell 150 new
Sukhoi SuperJet-100 aircraft, saying so far it had 73 contracts.

It plans to manufacture at least 700 SuperJet 100s, and intends to
sell 35% of them to North America, 25% to Europe, 10% to Latin America,
and 7% to Russia and China.

The list price of a 95-seat base model is $28 million, but the company
is currently working on both smaller and larger capacity modifications.

The SuperJet 100 has an estimated $100 billion market for around
5,500 planes, through 2023.

RUSSIA REMAINS THE LEADING ECONOMIC PARTNER OF ARMENIA

armradio.am
06.02.2008 16:01

RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan declared during today’s press
conference with his Russian counterpart Viktor Zubkov that Armenia and
Russia intend to have the commodity turnover reach $1 billion. He noted
that the Armenian-Russian commodity turnover reached $700 million at
the end of 2007, and there is the opportunity to cross the margin of
$1 billion.

Serge Sargsyan noted that transport communication is the only obstacle
on the way of creasing the volume of trade between the two countries,
and the transfer of the "Armenian Railway" Company to the trust
management of the Russian side will have a considerable influence on
the volume of work envisaged for the future. In this context Serge
Sargsyan noted that an agreement has been reached on the supply of
construction materials for the preparation of the 2014 Olympic Games
in Sochi.

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov informed that an agreement has
been signed on cooperation in the fields of information technologies
and trade.

An intergovernmental agreement has been signed on Armenia’s
participation in the activity of the International Centre of Uranium
Enrichment.

Viktor Zublkov declared that Russia remains the leading economic
partner of Armenia. He noted that Russia is simultaneously the
main foreign investor in Armenia. The Russian Prime Minister
expressed the opinion that joint investment programs are rather
successful, especially in the fields of nuclear energy, jewelry,
and communications.

RUSSIA TO DELIVER FIRST SUKHOI SUPERJET-100S TO ARMENIA

RIA Novosti
13:31 | 06/ 02/ 2008

YEREVAN, February 6 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia will be the first country
to receive new Sukhoi SuperJet-100 airplanes from Russia, the Russian
transport minister said on Wednesday.

The SuperJet 100 project is a family of medium-range passenger
aircraft developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau in cooperation with
major American and European aviation corporations, including Boeing,
Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace, and Honeywell.

"The first aircraft will be supplied to [Russia’s flagship carrier]
Aeroflot, and the first delivery abroad will be made to Armenia,"
Igor Levitin said.

He said a $50 million contract for the delivery of two airplanes to
Armenia’s Armavia airline in 2008 was signed last September.

Russia and Armenia intend to raise bilateral trade to $1 billion,
the countries’ prime ministers said on Wednesday. In 2007, trade
turnover exceeded $0.7 billion.

Sukhoi head Mikhail Pogosyan said his company anticipates growing
demand for SSJ-100s once they enter the market.

The aircraft maker said last month it is planning to sell 150 new
Sukhoi SuperJet-100 aircraft, saying so far it had 73 contracts.

It plans to manufacture at least 700 SuperJet 100s, and intends to
sell 35% of them to North America, 25% to Europe, 10% to Latin America,
and 7% to Russia and China.

The list price of a 95-seat base model is $28 million, but the company
is currently working on both smaller and larger capacity modifications.

The SuperJet 100 has an estimated $100 billion market for around
5,500 planes, through 2023.

HEAD OF PRE-ELECTORAL HEADQUARTERS OF VAZGEN MANUKIAN DOES NOT EXCLUDE THAT LEADER OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC UNION WILL RECEIVE ARF’S ASSISTANCE IN SECOND STAGE OF ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 6, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Vazgen Manukian, the Leader of the
National Democratic Union, and a candidate running for the post of the
RA President, is conducting negotiations with the ARF Dashnaktsutiun,
Zharangutiun (Heritage) parties and other political forces on these
days with regard to the tactics in the forthcoming presidential
elections. As Samvel Shahinian, the Head of the pre-electoral
headquarters of Vazgen Manukian, stated at the press conference
held on February 6, it is expected that those negotiations will
have their results in the second stage of the elections, in which,
in his conviction, Vazgen Manukian will, certainly, take part with
the candidate of the authorities.

Samvel Shahinian gave a negative answer to the question of whether
it is possible for the Chairman of the National Democratic Union to
remove his candidature in favour of Vahan Hovhannisian, the candidate
nominated by the ARF Dashnaktsutiun. And in response to the question
of whether the contrary variant is possible, that is to say, the
candidate of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun will leave the further struggle
in favour of Vazgen Manukian, the speaker answered: "Why not?"