Author: Chakrian Hovsep

NKR FOREIGN MINISTRY: FREEDOM OF SPEECH DOES NOT IMPLY FREEDOM TO DISSEMINATE FALSE NEWS

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.12.2009 19:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In their attempts to depict Karabakh in the negative
light, the Azerbaijani mass media have once again lost their way in
broad daylight. Within a day, the woman killed on NKR-Azerbaijan
contact line turned from Armenian to Azeri, whereas the dead body
circulated in news materials belongs to a Georgian woman killed in
South Ossetia back in 2008, NKR Foreign Ministry says in a release.

It’s a long time Azerbaijani media have been using illicit practices
in their anti-Armenian propaganda. This is their third falsification
attempt over the past 3 months, says the release with reference to
"Noviy Region" (New Region) Russian periodical.

In a recent publication, the periodical also unmasked Trend news
agency, which had shot a documentary about the Karabakh conflict,
attaching the photo of a deceased Kosovo citizen (taken from a
Canadian francophone website) who was represented as "victim of
Armenian aggression."

Earlier, the same photo was used by other Azerbaijani sources,
including Heydar Aliyev Fund (), for featuring the
tragic events of Khodjalu. The forgery was disclosed by NKR Foreign
Ministry.

"Against the background of meetings between Armenian and Azeri
presidents and international mediators’ optimistic statements,
Azerbaijani media continue their aggressive information warfare against
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. To that end, they spare no effort to
render Armenians guilty of heinous crimes and instill Armenophobia
in their country and worldwide," the Ministry says in its statement.

The authors of the document are concerned that many years’ peacemaking
efforts in Karabakh may be narrowed down because of relevant
international organizations’ failure to make proper assessment on
official Baku’s destructive policy

"A democratic country moving towards Euro-integration, Azerbaijan,
together with its "independent" media, should realize that freedom of
speech does imply freedom to disseminate false news," says the release.

UKRAINE TO CONTINUE SELLING ARMS TO AZERBAIJAN

News.az
Dec 24 2009
Azerbaijan

Boris Klimchuk Ukraine’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary
in Azerbaijan recommends Armenian journalists to stop advising
to Ukraine.

"I do not think someone in Ukraine is listening to the opinion
of Armenian journalists, regularly "advising" Kiev not to sell
arms to Azerbaijan, take "a neutral" or "just" position in the
Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict", said Boris Klimchuk at the news
conference in the International Novosti news center on Thursday.

He said Ukraine does not supply arms as a gift, it sells them in the
quantities defined by international conventions.

"We will further sell arms within the framework of international law,
adhering to interstate military and technical cooperation between
Azerbaijan and Ukraine", the ambassador said.

"We are very sensitive in this issue. Modern technology does not
allow keeping secrets for more than five minutes", Klimchuk said.

He reiterated Ukraine’s respect to the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan saying Nagorno Karabakh is an inseparable part of our
country.

ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION PROCESS TO INTENSIFY IN TURKEY IN MARCH OR APRIL

Panorama.am
17:17 23/12/2009

The Armenian-Turkish normalization process may intensify in Turkey
in March or April, the director of the CIS Institute Yerevan branch
Alexander Margarov told a press conference today.

As he said, April will show it is Turkey’s imitation as if they are
committed not only to step the stage of negotiations but also perform
practical activities.

He reminded the Armenian party’s disposition over the issue and said
that if the ratification of the protocols is suspended, Armenia can
get use of the resources ensured by the international law and recall
its signature or just announce that the process didn’t get the course
of action expected by Armenia and the West.

According to him, it’s a possible script the Turkish party can suspend
the process but he thinks, "Turkey will undertake some steps in April."

JAPAN TO PROVIDE GRANT TO ARMENIAN NATIONAL GALLERY

ARKA
Dec 23, 2009

YEREVAN, December 23, /ARKA/. Armenian ministry of culture said
the government of Japan will provide a 27 million Yen assistance to
Armenia’s National Picture Gallery which will be used to upgrade its
artifacts restoration workshop.

The grant agreement was signed Tuesday by Armenian culture minister
Hasmik Poghosian and Yukikhiko Edjiri, a representative of the Japan’s
Agency for International Cooperation.

A press release by the ministry said the grant will be used to buy
modern equipment used for restoration of artifacts. It said also he
agreement will help the National Gallery of Armenia solve two major
problems- to restore works of art and purchase modern equipment for
its workshop that restores wood artifacts.

The government of Japan had provided grants to Armenian Philharmonic
Orchestra for purchase of new musical instruments and upgrading
its audio equipment, to Matenadaran Institute of Old Manuscripts,
to the Opera and Ballet Theater and the Sport and Concert Complex
for upgrading their audio equipment.

COMPROMISE WITH OLIGOPOLY?
James Hakobyan

Lragir.am
23/12/09

A regular official of the World Bank, this time, the head of the
Yerevan office Aristomene Varudakis, voices about the problem of the
Armenian oligopolies. It has become an ordinary thing. International
financial structures give loans to Armenia always reminding that
there is such a problem which creates obstacles for the Armenian
economy to develop.

At the same time, the same structures do not give up feeding the
same oligopoly system with loans realizing that the loans promote
the preservation of the current system. If these loans lack, the
government will be obliged to divide its internal resources more
optimally in order to avoid social shakes. So, the international
financial structures could in reality affect the actions of the
government allocating loans on different conditions or preconditions.

On the other hand, if the Armenian government leads fair and effective
economic and political activities and uses the home resources with the
maximum optimality, the necessity for loans will sharply decline. In
this case, the work of international structures in Armenia will become
less, as well as Armenia’s role will drop. If the government works
effectively and optimally, it will not need the regular assistance
of heads of international representative offices in Armenia. In other
words, there will be no need for the heads of those offices to state
regularly that the economic policy of the Armenian government is
unique, its anti-crisis program is the best, etc.

If the government works well, the society will appreciate that work.

And if the society appreciates that work the government will not need
others to evaluate. This is a simply described but quite a real chain.

And naturally, the question occurs whether the international financial
structures are sincere when dwelling on the necessity to struggle
against oligopolies and the provision of a competitive field in
Armenia. The result of that struggle is that the role of those
organizations in Armenia will decrease which is very high now. The
lowest official of an international organization is received in
Armenia as a king because the lowest circumstance may affect the
decision of allocating a loan or of assessing as high the work of
the Armenian government.

But, international financial organizations do not have to care for
the practical steps aimed at solving the issues of oligopolies and
competitiveness in Armenia. They have stated with the lips of a regular
official who visited Armenia that it is the problem of the Armenian
government. But the point is in this case, that the international
structures with their activities do not promote the settlement of
this issue which they do not have to do, but they even promote the
crystallization of the system of oligopoly and monopoly.

Perhaps, this is the problem. Of course, they allocate a loan to
Armenia explaining that the society needs the expenditure. But at
the same time, they seem not to care at all for the effectiveness
of the loans as well as for the fact that the government uses their
appraisals as a propaganda shield to communicate with the society.

Overall, an image seems to be present when the international structures
fit into the same logic of the Armenian oligopoly system, they found
the optimal way of communication with the system. When they dwell on
the need to change the system or to reform it, they prove the fact
that they fit into the logic of the system. The system itself thinks
about the need to fight against oligopolies much. But almost nothing
is changed.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT VISITS EARTHQUAKE ZONE

news.am
Dec 23 2009
Armenia

On December 23, RA President Serzh Sargsyan visited the earthquake
zone to get acquainted with the housing construction process.

In Gyumri, the Armenian leader held an unscheduled meeting.

Participating in the meeting were the Vice-Premier, Shirak
Governor and Mayor of Gyumri, as well as the representatives of the
construction company that implemented the RA Government’s construction
program. During the meeting the President voiced his discontent with
the construction process.

Specifically, Serzh Sargsyan pointed out the poor interior decoration
of flats in the Mush-2 neighborhood. He demanded that the flats be
provided with heating and gas-supply systems. The President also
pointed out that the neighborhood has no school or kindergarten,
nor transport communication with the rest of the city. Serzh Sargsyan
demanded that all the problems be resolved by May 15, 2010.

Talking to journalists, Director of the Glendale Hills construction
company Vahe Almoyan reported that the flats in the Mush-2 neighborhood
are almost ready.

They will be placed in charge of the RA Ministry of Urban Development
immediately after the New Year. Only 4% of the work remains
unfinished. Almoyan assured the meeting that the program has been
accomplished without any violations.

Twenty-two buildings (1,056 of the planned 3,030 flats) have so
far been constructed. The rest are to be put into service before
January 2011.

EUROPEAN AZERBAIJANIS ADDRESS U.S. CONGRESS OVER ASSISTANCE TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH SEPARATISTS

Today
cs/58417.html
Dec 22 2009
Azerbaijan

The Congress of European Azerbaijanis has addressed to the
U.S. Congress to express disturbance over $8 million assistance in 2010
to the separatist regime, which occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, integral
part of Azerbaijan, and seven surrounding Azerbaijani districts.

The document says U.S.’s supporting Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
as OSCE Minsk Group co-chair is contradictory to providing assistance
to Nagorno-Karabakh separatists.

The congress called on U.S. President Obama to deter such kind of
steps, which could shatter USA’s international image.

ARMENIA READY TO EXPORT ELECTRICITY TO TURKEY

news.am
Dec 22 2009
Armenia

Armenia and Turkey have wide energy acquaintanceships, so both can
carry out various joint energy projects, Ministry of Energy and
Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan said at the press conference.

He underlined that Armenia will be capable of exporting electricity
to Turkey in the near future in case the border opens. "Being one of
the largest energy consuming countries in the region, Turkey might
be attractive to Armenia energy-wise. At that, it runs huge energy
deficit and thus become a good market for Armenia, all the more – we
are interested in exporting energy to that country," Movsisyan stated.

In addition, he pointed out that there are no technical or energy
problems for exporting electricity to Turkey. "The issue is of
political nature only. Armenian side is ready to export electricity
immediately, so it is Turkey’s turn to make a move," the Minister
emphasized, adding that in case of Turkey’s consent, Armenia can
export electricity starting April, 2010.

Movsisyan informed that reconstruction of Gyumri switching station
will be of immense significance to the export to Turkey. According to
him, funding for the station repair operations is already uncovered,
and the works start in 2010.

CADASTRE WILL STILL BE CHECKED

Lragir.am
22/12/09

The breaches revealed by the Supervisory Chamber in the State Cadastre
Committee created grounds for the chamber to continue checking in the
future too. The head of the chamber Ishkhan Zakaryan said on December
22. Ishkhan Zakaryan mentioned a type of breaches 11 cases of which
were registered in Gyumri and 2 others in the region of Lori.

The point is about the classification of buildings and territories
which communities alienate. Ishkhan Zakaryan notes that buildings of
public significance are alienated like manufactory territories. And
in this case they are evaluated four-five times cheaper.

Ishkhan Zakaryan says the damage caused to the country can be only
imagined, but it has to be recompensed. Ishkhan Zakaryan says the
community is to restore the damage because it classifies the buildings
but the cadastre committee registers the classification. He thinks
there are no angels in the cadastre service. According to him,
he sees here serious risks of corruption as well as a problem of
constitutional mistakes. The Supervisory Chamber is not going to
present cases to the office of the prosecutor general in connection
with the breaches of hundred of million drams. He noted their first
step is the restoration of money.

In answer to the question about corruption, Ishkhan Zakaryan noted
there is a problem of professional possibilities and legislative
levers. He noted that in order to send cases to the prosecutor’s office
they need a huge lawyer office noting that for example the Supervisory
Chamber in Tajikistan has a body carrying out investigations in
connection with corruption cases. He noted that they publish their
information on their official website and there were cases when
officials of the prosecutor’s office turned to them with the request
to allocate information on this or that case of breaches.

Zakaryan says that their professional eye might have seen better
something.

33 FAMILIES OF SOLDIERS TO HOST HOUSEWARMING PARTIES IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.12.2009 17:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On December 22, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan presented apartment keys and certificates to newly-made
house owners.

This time 33 families of soldiers will host housewarming parties in
Yerevan, RA Defense Minister press service reported.