Author: Chakrian Hovsep

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Jan 11 2008

Public discussions on reviewed poverty reduction strategy to be held
in Yerevan on Jan 14

YEREVAN, January 11. /ARKA/. Public discussions on the reviewed
Poverty Reduction Strategy are to be held in Yerevan on January 14.
All interested parties are welcome to participate in the discussions,
the Press Service of Armenia’s Ministry of Finance and Economy
reported.

The Strategy working group is to have additional discussions of the
draft within the next month and then to submit it for discussion in
the Coordination Council of the Strategy.

According to the press release, the reviewed document is available at
People are welcome to send their suggestions and
comments if any. Discussions are to be held also in the country’s
regions shortly.

On August 8 2003 the Government of Armenia approved the Poverty
Reduction Strategy for 2003-2015 that needs to be reviewed today.

According to the Strategy, the Government of Armenia plans to
overcome the poverty by 2012.

Particularly, the poverty level in the country is to be brought down
to 11.2% of the number of population. The number of the extremely
poor is to be reduced down to 1.6% by 2012 against 4.6% in 2005. N.V.
-0–

WILL IT BE SOLVED?

A1+
[04:33 pm] 10 January, 2008

Head of the Department for Economics of the "Republic of Armenia
Government Staff" Simon Ghonakhchyan received employees of
"Hydroaparat" OLC today.

We should remind that about 230 shareholders demand their 35 %
shares. As they mention no equipments are preserved in the factory
today, everything is sold without their permission. "ArmRusGazArd"
is the present owner of 65 percent of the factory.

Simon Ghonakhchyan promised to provide 35% of shares to the 230
shareholders.

Shushan Grigoryan, one of the shareholders told "A1+" that they wanted
their part in compliance with 1994 facts, since the factory was very
rich then and had various equipments. "Now only walls preserve in
the factory", mentioned Shushan Grigoryan.

Simon Ghonakhchyan said that they were unable to meet the employees’
demand.

The shareholders are going to convene a session and discuss their
further activities.

ARMENIAN AMERICANS SET TO PLAY PIVOTAL ROLE IN PRIMARIES

armradio.am
10.01.2008 10:42

In the wake of the hotly contested Iowa caucus and New Hampshire
primary, Armenian Americans are better positioned than ever to play a
decisive role in the key states that will help choose the Presidential
nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties over the next 30
days, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In recent weeks, the ANCA has invited each of the candidates to
share their views on Armenian Americans issues, and to comment
on both the growing relationship between the US and Armenian
governments and the enduring bonds between the American and Armenian
peoples. Questionnaires sent to the candidates have invited them
to respond to a set of 18 questions, including those addressing:
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, US-Armenia economic, political,
and military relations, self-determination for Nagorno Karabakh,
the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades and the genocide in Darfur

"Armenian Americans are set to cast their votes in the presidential
primaries in record numbers," said ANCA Eastern Region Executive
Director Karine Birazian. "We look forward to working with all the
campaigns to make sure that Armenian American voters go to the polls
empowered to make informed decisions about the candidates who will
best represent our community’s views and values."

"In California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and throughout the Western
part of the country, Armenian American voters are in a position to
play a truly decisive role in this year’s highly competitive battle
between the candidates to secure the nominations of their party,"
said ANCA Western Region Executive Director Andrew Kzirian.

HEAD OF OSCE OBSERVATION MISSION HOPES TO REGISTER ARMENIA’S FURTHER PROGRESS IN MAKING THE ELECTION PROCESS MEET THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Mediamax
January 10, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Head of the long-term observers’ mission of the
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in
Armenia, Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated in Yerevan today that
"after the presidential elections of February 19, we hope to register
Armenia’s further progress in making the election process meet the
international standards".

Mediamax reports that the representatives of the OSCE ODIHR mission
of long-term observers gave the first news conference in Yerevan today.

14 goups of long-term observers (2 observers in each) will work in
the whole territory of Armenia. It is expected that on the day of
elections the number of short-term observers from the OSCE will make
250 people, not counting the representatives of the Parliamentary
Assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

"I believe that we will have enough people for carrying out observation
over the elections in Armenia", Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated. The Head
of the mission said that he had already met the Minister of Foreign
Affairs and the Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia
and had agreed on holding weekly meetins with the leadership of the
Foreign Ministru and the CEC. Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated that he
intends to meet all the 9 candidates, claiming to occupy the position
of the Armenian President.

Before the elections, the OSCE ODIHR mission will present two interim
reports. The preliminary conclusion, as usual, will be publicized
the following day after the elections, and the final report – in the
course of 2 months after the elections.

Answering the question on how important the data of exit-polls, which
are planned to be held on the day of elections on the initiative
of the U.S. government, will be for the OSCE observation mission,
Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated:

"We will consider the data of exit-polls as one of the sources of
information, however we will not base on that for anticipation of
the elections".

Geert-Hinrich Ahrens noted that today the OSCE ODIHR mission will start
the realization of a monitoring of the electronic and print media of
Armneia. He stressed that "the media sometimes play a decisive role
in securing democratic elections".

Geert-Hinrich Ahrens refrained to make any commens concerning the
pre-election situation, noting that the mission has been working in
Armenia for only 2 days yet.

SMALL BUSINESSES IN ARMENIA TO RECEIVE BOOST FROM UN RURAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

ARMENPRESS
Jan 9, 2008

ROME, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS; A new US$32.2 million Farmer Market
Access Program in Armenia, supported by a US$ 11.9 million loan and a
US$500,000 grant from International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), will provide innovative financing for poor rural and peri-urban
people to develop profitable on-farm and off-farm small businesses.

IFAD said in a press release that the program will provide loans to
people who develop rural microenterprises that have the potential
for rapid growth but are held back because they can’t qualify for
conventional bank loans.

The loan agreement was signed January 8 at IFAD headquarters by IFAD’s
President Lennart Bage and Armenia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Italy Ruben Shougarian.

The OPEC Fund for International Development will co-finance the program
for US$10 million. Other co-financiers will contribute US$2 million;
the Government of Armenia US$5 million; participating financial
institutions US$900,000; and project participants US$2 million.

"Once they are able to access credit, poor rural producers will
have many more opportunities to develop profitable and commercially
viable products and services all along the market value chain," said
Henning Pedersen, IFAD’s country program manager for Armenia. "More
rural enterprises will also mean new jobs for people who have not
been able to find work."

The programmer’s main financing instrument will be a venture capital
fund – the Fund for Rural Economic Development in Armenia (FREDA) –
which represents an innovation for both rural Armenia and IFAD.

Those applying for financing under the program will have to show
that their enterprise will foster sustainable income growth among
the program’s target groups, which include farmers and unemployed,
under-employed and self-employed people. Applicants for FREDA support
who engage women as suppliers and employees will be given preference.

The program will also help participants gain access to the knowledge,
technology and infrastructure they need to enable them to profit from
domestic and export markets.

Improved access to roads, small-scale irrigation and village gas
supplies are also part of the program.

Participants will contribute a minimum of 10 per cent in cash or in
kind to overall infrastructure costs, and participate in infrastructure
design, supervision, operation and maintenance.

IFAD has financed five programs and projects in Armenia since 1995,
investing a total of US$64.2 million. IFAD investments in the country
support poor farm families so they can produce a surplus to be sold
for additional income. Small- and medium-scale rural service providers
such as traders, processors and suppliers also are targeted for support
because of their important role as links between farmers and markets.

IFAD was created 30 years ago to tackle rural poverty, a key cause
of the droughts and famines of the early 1970s. Since 1978, IFAD
has invested almost US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants
that have helped more than 300 million very poor rural women and men
increase their incomes and provide for their families.

IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized
United Nations agency. It is a unique partnership of OECD, OPEC
and other developing countries. Today, IFAD supports more than 200
programs and projects in 84 developing countries.

Granite City
PRESS-RECORD

Manoyan chronicles 1940 state champions

By Theo Tate Saturday, January 5, 2008 12:15 PM CST

The Granite City Warriors boys basketball team captured its first and
only state championship in 1940.

It was a team that had players who grew up in the Lincoln Place
neighborhood in Granite City and bounced back from a loss to Wood
River in the regional championship to win the state title at the
University of Illinois.

"This was a really good story that should have been told a long time
ago," said Dan Manoyan, who is a sports writer at the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel. "I hope it’s going to be made into a movie
someday. We’re all hopeful of it."Manoyan is the author of the book,
"Men of Granite," which told the story about the 1940 state
champions. The book was published last month and numerous copies were
sold during the Granite City boys basketball team’s games against
Mater Dei on Nov. 19 and Sumner on Nov. 21.

"I’m proud of it, but I wished I could have done it 10 or 15 years ago
when all of these guys are still alive," Manoyan said. "There only
three survivors from the team. It would have been a lot more
comprehensive and a better book had I done it 10 years ago. I think
it’s still pretty good."

Two of the survivors on the team, Andy Hagopian and John Markarian,
joined Manoyan at a book signing last week at Krieger’s Sports Bar and
Grill in Granite City.

Both Hagopian and Markarian were juniors on the 1940 Granite City boys
basketball team. Hagopian was the Warriors’ second-leading scorer on
the team at the state tournament with 30 points in four
games. Markarian was one of the bench players.

"I think Dan did a fantastic job (on the book)," Hagopian said.

Manoyan said Hagopian was pretty helpful in giving him information
about the team.

"Andy had a really good scrapbook that helped quite a bit," Manoyan
said. "Of course, he was the primary source of the book because he
played with the team and started all year. Basically, half of the book
was from Andy’s memory."

Manoyan also got help from Babe Champion and Gus Lignoul, who
graduated from Granite City in 1951 and 1946, respectively.

"Babe Champion and Gus Lignoul went through the microfilm for the
Granite City Press-Record and they got all of the stories from that
year (1940)," Manoyan said.

There are 24 chapters in the book, plus statistics from the state
tournament. One of Manoyan’s favorite chapters in the book was chapter
two, which told the story about Markarian and his family.

"I think the first two paragraphs were what I liked," Markarian
said. "I think he did a great job writing up the first two
paragraphs."

Andy Phillip, another member of the Granite City boys basketball team,
was the leading scorer of the 1940 state tournament with 53 points. He
went on to play college basketball at the University of Illinois and
had an 11-year career with the NBA. Phillip died in 2001.

"One of the things that I’m regretful in my life is I never saw him
play," said Corky Phillip, who is Andy’s widow.

George Gages, Evon Parsaghian, Dan Eftimoff, Ebbie Mueller, Everett
Daniels, Sam Mouradian and Ed Hoff were the other members on the
Granite City squad that finished with a 29-5 record and beat Herrin
24-22 in the state championship game. Byron Bozarth was the head
coach.

"It’s a pretty good story," Manoyan said. "The hardest part about
writing a book is finding a good story here. I always wanted to write
a book, but never had a good story."

Corky Phillip, who was in attendance at the book signing last week at
Krieger’s, said she was pleased with Manoyan’s project.

"I read the draft copy and I couldn’t put it down," she said. "I kept
reading and reading. This is a great thing for Granite City. It gives
them another lift."

Manoyan covers the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s basketball
team for the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel, where he has worked for the
last 15 years. He’s a native of Waukegan and a graduate of the
University of Illinois.

"I had people from Milwaukee asking me why are you doing a story about
something that happened in Illinois," Manoyan said. "I said I don’t
think anything like this ever happened in Wisconsin."

Manoyan said he came up with the idea of "Men of Granite" while
visiting the St. Louis area.

"I was leaving St. Louis one time and I saw the sign for Granite City
and drove over and I saw the steel mills," Manoyan said. "I thought
there might be a story there. When I got home, I went to the IHSA site
and got the names of all of the guys who were on that team in 1940 and
I did a people search for Granite City and I came up with two guys,
Andy Hagopian and John Markarian, and their phone numbers. I talked to
them on the phone and I asked Andy do you think there’s enough here to
do a book?"

So in the spring of 2006, Manoyan started his project.

"I talked to them (Hagopian and Markarian) over at the Armenian Church
and spent the day with them," Manoyan said. "There was a lot
there. It’s a pretty compelling story on how these guys changed
Granite City around. All five starters were immigrants and
first-generation Americans. They weren’t accepted here in town, but
after they won the state championship, they sure were. I think they
made life better for everybody in this town."

To order a copy of the book, call Champion at 451-1212 or Lignoul at
452-3339 or e-mail Champion at [email protected].

E-mail: [email protected]

http://granitecitypress-rec ord.stltoday.com/articles/2008/01/05/sports/sj2tn2 0080105-0106gcj_boysbb.ii1.txt

Global Insight
December 28, 2007

Opposition Candidates in Armenia Slam U.S.-Funded Opinion Poll over
Low Ratings

by Natalia Leshchenko

Three Armenian opposition leaders–Artur Baghdasarian, Levon
Ter-Petrosian, and Vazgen Manukian–have deplored the electoral
opinion poll conducted with support by the U.S. government as
fraudulent. The poll, held in Armenia for the first time, started
with the commencement of the election campaign. It was offered by the
U.S. government as a part of its "off-the-peg" packet of measures
designed to ensure the democratic nature of elections in countries
with dubious democratic records. The poll is designed by the
renounced Gallup organisation and is intended to serve as a backdrop
to the official results of the presidential election to be held in
February 2008. So far, the polls have highlighted Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian’s clear lead with an approval rating of 35%.
Baghdasarian is some way behind with 13%, and Ter-Petrosian even
further with just 3%.

Significance:On the surface, the opposition’s challenge to what is
intended to be means of support for them is highly ironic. If the
polls are correct, they highlight the opposition forces’ political
marginalisation–a wider tendency in the CIS region that Global
Insight has pointed to in its report. There is a possibility,
however, that these polls are biased, with opposition leaders
doubting their quality and claiming that they are conducted that they
are conducted by government supporters. In any case, bringing into
question the quality of the polls has already discredited them as a
means of support for the opposition, and as such has undermined their
value.

ACCORDING TO VAZGEN MANUKIAN, AS ALWAYS ARSHAK SADOYAN HAS FOUND THE
MOST ORIGINAL SOLUTION

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The willingness to get acquainted
with the new parliament’s staff more closely made Arshak Sadoyan, the
Chairman of the Union of National Democrats party, become the Adviser
of one of the friends of RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsian, businessman
Levon Sargsian. Saying this at the December 27 press conference, A.
Sadoyan added that he has also applied to opposition parliamentarians
with that issue, but it was found out that every one "has a large list
of assistants" there. "Lyovik agreed to my becoming his assistant. And
I registered my name as Lyovik’s assitant by the end of December,"
Sadoyan said. At the same time, Sadoyan said that he is ready to
provide free consultation to everyone who wishes, as this is done in
case of L. Sargsian.

NDU Chairman Vazgen Manukian taking part in the press conference said
that at first he was surprised when he learnt about one of his
co-thinkers’ becoming L. Sargsian’s assistant. However, in the future
he realized that for the purpose of receiving a permanent pass to the
NA "Arshak Sadoyan as always has found the most original solution."

Caspian pipeline seems to have defeated Nabucco

19:50 | 25/ 12/ 2007

MOSCOW. (Igor Tomberg for RIA Novosti) – The last few months of 2007
were good for Russia, which has been fighting this year to affirm its
leadership in the hydrocarbons market.

On December 20, Russia agreed with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to build
the Caspian gas pipeline across Russia. The agreement was signed
following the Kremlin talks between President Vladimir Putin and
Kazakhstan’s leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

During the Moscow visit by the Greek prime minister some time before
that, Russia and Greece signed an agreement to set up a company to
draft technical plans for the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

The Caspian pipeline agreement provides for modernizing the old Central
Asia-Center pipeline, running from Begdash in Turkmenistan to Beineu in
Kazakhstan, with an annual projected capacity of 10 billion cubic
meters of gas in 2009-2010.

During the second stage in 2010-2017, the partners will prolong the
pipeline to Aleksandrov Gai on the Russian-Kazakh border, with a
capacity of 20 billion cubic meters, which will increase the total
capacity of the pipeline to 30 billion.

Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said that the
Caspian pipeline would be built by 2010, with each side making
investments independently of others.

"The basic provision is that each partner shall build the part of the
pipeline assigned to it. Turkmenistan will build 300 km (186 miles) of
the pipeline and Kazakhstan, 1,500 km (932 miles). Russia’s part will
be the shortest, only a few dozen kilometers, but it should include a
junction," Khristenko said.

The estimated cost of the project is about $1 billion. The agreement
will be effective until 2028, but will automatically be prolonged for
12 months unless one of the parties notifies the others of its decision
to withdraw.

Although the new pipeline has been planned to have a capacity of 30
billion cubic meters a year, it will transport only 20 billion a year.
Also, the agreement does not include guarantees of obligatory gas
supplies to the pipeline. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have pledged to
provide up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas each.

Experts say there are political and economic reasons for the decision.
Turkmenistan may want to diversify its gas transportation routes, or at
least maintain the ability to continue talks on the Western-backed
trans-Caspian pipeline bypassing Russia.

So far, Uzbekistan limited the transport of Turkmen gas to be able to
export more of its own gas through the Central Asia-Center pipeline.

This is probably why Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhammedov said ahead of the December 20 signing ceremony that
his country would initiate a UN resolution to ensure the safety of
international energy routes. He also called the Uzbek leader, Islam
Karimov, to discuss the uninterrupted transit of hydrocarbons.

This can only be interpreted as Ashgabat’s signal to Moscow that the
progress of the Caspian pipeline project depends on guarantees that the
expanded Central Asia-Center pipeline will carry the additional volumes
of Turkmen, not Uzbek, gas. If Moscow makes the decision in favor of
Uzbekistan, the relevant UN resolution would encourage the construction
of the trans-Caspian pipeline.

Ashgabat knows that the expansion of the Central Asia-Center pipeline
is the most probable way to increase the export of Turkmen gas to
Russia. On the other hand, the Turkmen authorities also want to have a
westward pipeline that would not depend on Uzbekistan, which means that
it may eventually join the trans-Caspian project.

A more practical reason is that Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan cannot
produce enough gas for the new pipeline. The companies expected to
supply gas for it – Gazprom, KasMunaiGaz and TurkmenGaz – have not yet
signed additional agreements on adjusting their gas production to the
development of the Caspian pipeline.

"We expect the pipeline to be commissioned no later than the end of
2010," Khristenko said. In other words, this is one more project with
unrealistic deadlines.

The most likely suppliers of gas on the part of Turkmenistan are
Malaysian Petronas, British Burren Energy and Dragon Oil headquartered
in Dubai. Taken together, they can provide 5-6 billion cubic meters of
gas in 2010 for the Central Asia-Center pipeline, 8-9 billion in 2011,
and 2-3 billion cubic meters more than the pipeline’s capacity
beginning in 2012. This surplus gas is not a sufficient reason for
building a new Caspian pipeline, especially since the three companies
are expected to reduce production by 2017.

A new gas pipeline with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters can be
built only if Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan develop new gas fields in the
Caspian region. Talks on the involvement of Russian companies, mainly
LUKoil and Gazprom, in gas exploration and production there are
underway, but it is still unrealistic to expect industrial gas
production there to start in 2010.

The joint development of the large Kurmangazy deposit in Kazakhstan
under a relevant agreement can begin only after 2010.

Moscow has strengthened its stance as a major gas supplier to Europe,
and therefore the Caspian project is interesting to it only as part of
a global strategy. It must ensure that gas from Central Asia passes
across Russia, and not through the alternative trans-Caspian pipeline
from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, which can be linked to the Nabucco
pipeline running through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and
Austria.

Without that gas, Nabucco will be a stillborn child, as Andre Mernier,
Secretary General of the EU’s Energy Charter Secretariat, has said.

On the other hand, Russia has won this battle in the "gas pipeline war"
with Europe only by making concessions to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan has agreed to join the Caspian pipeline project only if
Russia raises the purchase price for Turkmen gas from $100 in 2007 to
$130 in the first half of 2008 and $150 in July-December.

Uzbekistan made public its increased price ambitions soon after Gazprom
signed the deal. However, it has been denied the price increase because
it is playing only a tiny part in the Caspian project so far.

Kazakhstan currently sells its gas at a higher price than Turkmenistan,
$165 per 1,000 cubic meters, but the purchase price and transit tariffs
for Kazakh gas might be increased.

It was said during the Kremlin meeting on December 20 that the tariff
for the transit of Turkmen and Uzbek gas across Kazakhstan should be
raised from $1.1 to $1.5-$1.85 per 1,000 cubic meters per 100 km (62
miles), and the purchase price for Kazakh gas should be increased to
$190 in 2008.

It is not clear whether the Kazakh delegation got what it wanted, but a
price increase is almost inevitable because Russia needs the Caspian
pipeline. Besides, it earns enough from Gazprom’s gas deliveries to
Europe and therefore can afford to pay more for the non-critical
amounts of Kazakh gas.

So far, Astana wants Moscow to pay more for oil transit. Kazakhstan has
agreed with Russia that it would supply oil for the
Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline. Nazarbayev also suggested that the
quota for the export of Kazakh oil through the Atyrau-Samara oil
pipeline should be increased from 10 million to 20 million metric tons
annually. Kazakhstan proposed expanding the capacity of the Caspian
Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to 67 million metric tons of oil, saying that
it would supply the required additional 17 million tons. The proposal
was accepted.

However, the signing of the agreement on the Caspian project and its
implementation do not mean that the "big Eurasian oil and gas war" is
over. A sharp rise in hydrocarbon prices is drawing the world’s
attention to the oil and gas reserves of the Central Asian states. The
regional countries will definitely use this chance to play on
contradictions among potential consumers.

Moscow has made the concession to its Central Asian partners also
because the Caspian pipeline project will strengthen economic
interaction between Russia and regional countries. At the same time,
the agreement to expand the capacity of the CPC was not a concession,
but a way to intertwine the interests of Russia and Kazakhstan.
Alternative fuel routes will again be used as a bargaining chip, but
they are becoming less of a threat to Russia’s transportation
interests.

Dr. Igor Tomberg, economist, senior research associate at the Energy
Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World
Economy and International Relations.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

International Herald Tribune, France
Dec 26 2007

Turkey again hits Kurdish hide-outs in Iraq

The Associated PressPublished: December 26, 2007

ANKARA: Turkish warplanes hit eight suspected Kurdish rebel hide-outs
in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the third cross-border air assault in
10 days, Turkey’s military said.

The warplanes struck in an "effective pinpoint operation" targeting
eight caves and other hide-outs being used by the separatist rebels
of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, the military said in a
statement on its Web site. No rebel deaths were immediately reported.

On Tuesday, Turkey’s military claimed that more than 200 Kurdish
rebel targets in northern Iraq had been hit since Dec. 16, killing
hundreds of rebels. The military also has confirmed that it sent
ground troops to hunt down the rebels on Dec. 18.

Inside Turkey, troops said they had killed six Kurdish rebels on
Wednesday, raising the rebel death toll from a two-day operation to
11. Two other rebels were captured, the military said.

The PKK has waged a war for autonomy in parts of Turkey for more than
two decades. The fighting has cost tens of thousands of lives.

The United States, the European Union and Turkey consider the PKK a
terrorist organization, but the United States in particular has been
concerned that Turkish operations affecting northern Iraq could
destabilize one of the war-torn country’s most stable areas.

In Iraq, Jabar Yawar, the deputy minister of the Kurdistan regional
government’s Peshmerga forces, said Turkish planes had carried out a
half-hour raid near the border, starting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"Because the areas were deserted, there were no civilians
casualties," he said.

The Turkish military said Tuesday that as many as 175 rebels had been
killed on Dec. 16 alone in "unprotected buildings" in the mountainous
areas in northern Iraq. The military said scores of rebels wounded in
the operations were taken to hospitals in Iraq’s northern cities.

Other hide-outs and antiaircraft weapons were struck in a
cross-border air assault on Saturday, followed by artillery fire from
inside Turkey.

Separately on Wednesday, the Kurdish regional Parliament in Iraq
voted to postpone by six months a debate on holding a referendum over
whether the city of Kirkuk will join the semiautonomous Kurdish
region in the north.

According to the Parliament’s deputy speaker, Kamal Karkuki, the
111-seat chamber decided unanimously to put off discussion on a
controversial section of the Iraqi Constitution – article 140 – that
calls for a census and referendum on Kirkuk’s status by the end of
this year.

"The Parliament voted today unanimously to postpone article 140 for
six months," Karkuki said.

There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi government in Baghdad,
but the referendum was widely expected to be delayed by months.

The Iraqi Constitution requires that a referendum on the future
status of the city be held by the end of 2007 to determine whether it
will remain under Baghdad’s control, become part of Kurdistan or gain
autonomy from both.

Kirkuk is an especially coveted city for both the Shiite-dominated
Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdish one in the city of Irbil.

Much of Iraq’s vast oil wealth lies under the ground in the Kirkuk
region, as well as in the Shiite-controlled south. Kurds refer to
Kirkuk as the "Kurdish Jerusalem," and control of the area’s oil
resources and its cultural attachment to Kurdistan have been hotly
contested.

The city’s Arabs generally favor continued rule by Iraq’s central
government, while many Kurds want Kirkuk to join the Kurdish zone to
its north. The city’s minority Turkomen – ethnic Turks – have said
they prefer to stay under Baghdad’s control, but would lobby for
their own autonomous region if Kirkuk ends up being part of
Kurdistan. Kirkuk also has significant minorities of Christians,
Armenians and Assyrians.

The Constitution also calls for a census to be held in Kirkuk by the
end of 2007 to determine how many Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen reside in
the city.

Kurds dispute the results of censuses conducted under the late Iraqi
dictator, Saddam Hussein.

Tens of thousands of Kurds and non-Arabs fled Kirkuk in the 1980s and
1990s when Saddam’s government implemented its "Arabization" policy.
They were replaced by pro-government Arabs from the mainly Shiite
south, after Saddam accused the Kurds of siding with Iran in the
1980-1988 war with Tehran.

Watch group members killed
Four members of a local American-backed Awakening group in Diyala
Province were killed Wednesday when a house they were raiding
exploded, the police said, The New York Times reported from Baghdad.

The blast, in an area just north of Baquba, the provincial capital,
also wounded at least four people. It was one of several attacks this
month against the volunteer neighborhood watch groups and their
members, who are known also as Concerned Local Citizens. On Tuesday,
several members of an Awakening group were killed by a suicide truck
bomber near a checkpoint outside the Baiji oil refinery in northern
Iraq.

The Awakening groups are predominantly Sunni, and have grown to
number 72,000 volunteers in nearly 300 communities in Iraq. They have
been credited for reducing violence in some of the country’s most
violent areas even as many Iraqis – mainly Shiites, but also some
Sunnis – worry that the groups could destabilize Iraq because many of
them include former insurgents who still battle each other for power
and denounce the Shiite-led national government as an illegitimate
pawn of Iran.

Both American and Iraqi officials have said in recent weeks that the
groups eventually need to be disbanded so as not to compete with
Iraq’s army and the police. Under a proposal from the Americans, who
still pay most members about $300 a month to take part, some of the
Awakening groups would be integrated into the security forces while a
larger portion would get civilian jobs from the government or private
industry.

The details of the jobs program are still being worked out. Phil
Reeker, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Baghdad, said
Wednesday that the Americans and Iraq’s Ministry of Finance had each
contributed $155 million for the transition, which would include
vocational training at some of Iraq’s technical colleges.

"The logic behind the Concerned Local Citizens program, the Awakening
movements, was always to have them link up with government of Iraq,"
Reeker said. He added: "The nature of these linkages is what we’re
still working through."

At a joint news conference with Reeker in Baghdad, Major General
Kevin Bergner, the top American military spokesman in Baghdad, said
that the movements had grown very quickly and that Iraqis were still
learning how to trust former enemies.

"This is a period of transition and as we all know transitions take
time," he said. "They require confidence building and flexibility and
they require transparency and teamwork. The Concerned Local Citizens,
the government of Iraq and the coalition are all focusing on exactly
those issues."

He emphasized that the groups only began to spread across Iraq this
summer, taking on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni
extremist group that American intelligence officials say is led by
foreigners.

Although some Awakening members have been involved in vigilante-style
violence and the government has become more vocal in its criticism of
the groups over the past week, Bergner called for a deeper
appreciation for what the groups had accomplished.

"This is perhaps one of the most important developments in 2007, the
commitment of Iraq citizens at the local level to step forward and
confront Al Qaeda and push them out of their communities," Bergner
said. "That is what this Awakening and Concerned Local Citizens –
that is what this whole discussion should start with and come back
to."