Author: Chakrian Hovsep

LEVON ZURABYAN: "THE REGIME IS DOOMED"

A1+
07:26 pm | March 16, 2009

Politics

On March 16, the coordinator of the Armenian National Congress (HAK),
Levon Zurabyan, and the Spokesman for Armenia’s first President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, Arman Musinyan, told a press conference detailing the
HAK decision to nominate Levon Ter-Petrosyan for Yerevan Mayor.

Levon Zurabyan noted that the opposition’s decision is a message
to the whole Armenian nation. The message states that the upcoming
election will not be an ordinary one. "Rather, it will be a struggle
for lawfulness. We have come to combat against this tyrannical,
criminal and oligarch system. We have come to establish democracy in
the country."

The 18 member-parties of the Armenian National Congress took a
unanimous decision on Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s nomination as a HAK
candidate. Levon Zurabyan says that after winning the election the
HAK will be able to continue the struggle for the establishment of
constitutional order and legality in the country from a more favorable
position. Therefore, the HAK calls on Yerevan civilians to participate
in the poll as "the clue to victory is in their hands." "It will not
be a struggle against Beglaryan. Our main rival is the regime and we
shall struggle against it," says the HAK coordinator.

Note that Levon Ter-Petrosyan heads the HAK ticket followed by the
Leader of the People’s Party of Armenia Stepan Demirtchyan.

Levon Zurabyan is convinced that the HAK will enjoy a glorious victory
as the "acting system is doomed." We have no doubts in this view. We
are certain that on May 31 people will unanimously vote for the HAK."

Levon Zurabyan says that the election may be viewed as the second
phase of the presidential election.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s spokesman Armen Musinyan noted the government
has also issued a message – "all the layers of the government will
be criminalised." "I am sure that the society will vote for the
oppositional message," added Musinyan.

SELIM MOUNTAIN PASS LOCKED

Panorama.am
11:33 16/03/2009

In the aftermath of heavy snowing in Armenia Selim Mountain pass is
locked, Susanna Tonoyan, the press secretary of Ministry of Transport
and Communication told Panorama.am. According to her in the morning
Selim Mountain pass, which is 2410m long, has been locked.

Currently there is heavy snowing almost in every region of Armenia
– Ashotsq, Tashit, Alaverdi, Noyemberyan, etc; and Artik, Maralik,
Talin, Aragatsotn and Sevan are in heavy mist.

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA SAYS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACUTE PROBLEM ACROSS THE WORLD

ArmInfo
2009-03-16 10:43:00

ArmInfo. Domestic violence is an acute problem across the world,
said U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie L. Yopvanovitch at the United
States Department of Justice held a conference on "Support for Victims
and Successful Prosecution of Domestic Violence" in Yerevan, Armenia,
on March 16, 2009.

U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch opened the conference. In her
remarks, the Ambassador noted that although the statistics on domestic
violence in the U.S. are sobering, much progress has been made in
the past twenty years.

The Ambassador urged the Armenian authorities in attendance to do all
that can be done to reduce domestic violence and care for its victims.

The Ambassador called domestic violence a serious problem that should
not be ignored. She denied the opinion that complaining for violence
a woman breaks up her family. In reality, she said, it is violence
that breaks up families affecting first of all children.

The domestic violence conference is just one of several sessions
held by the U.S. Department of Justice in Yerevan to support Armenian
law enforcement.

In 2008, the USDOJ held conferences for Armenian judges, prosecutors,
police and defense attorneys on the European Convention on Human
Rights, corruption prosecution, financial crime investigations, the
rules of evidence in adversarial proceedings, and the development of
Armenian jurisprudence and case law.

Three American prosecutors and one social worker participated –
Prosecutor Steven Kessler (U.S. Embassy, Yerevan), Prosecutor
Arlene Markarian (Brooklyn, New York), Prosecutor Wanda Lucibello
(Brooklyn, New York), and Social Worker Cristin Mathiez (Brooklyn,
New York). Joining the Americans at the conference were Armenian
judges, prosecutors, police, and representatives from the Ministry
of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social and
Labor Issues, the Civil Rights Division of the National Assembly,
and international organizations such as UNICEF, OSCE and Open Society
Institute Foundation in Armenia.

The American and Armenian officials discussed their countries’
respective approaches to fighting all manifestations of domestic
violence, as well as support for the victim, investigation of a
domestic violence case, and prosecution of such a case where the
victim refuses to cooperate.

Manouchehr Mottaki: Iran stands ready to contribute to the Karabakh
settlement
13.03.2009 15:36

Anna Nazaryan
`Radiolur’

The relations between Armenia and Iran are based on mutual respect and
interests, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki said during
a joint press conference with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward
Nalbandian in Yerevan.

`The Presidents of our countries are the new `architects’ of
Armenian-Iranian relations. They greatly contributed to ensuring the
high level of relations in different spheres. We see the bright future
of our relations and cooperation,’ Iran’s Foreign Minister noted,
emphasizing the high level of economic, transport and energy ties.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian noted that the friendly and
mutually beneficial relations are important for the reinforcement of
regional security and stability.

Manouchehr Mottaki is going to convey an invitation of the Iranian
President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the President of Armenia, Serzh
Sargsyan. `Our relations will further reinforce during that visit, new
grounds will be created for the implementation of economic and other
programs. We express our appreciation for the current Armenian-Iranian
relations, but we do not consider them to be sufficient,’ the Foreign
Minister of Iran stated.

Turning to the settlement of the Karabakh issue, Manouchehr Mottaki
noted that all conflicts should be resolved exceptionally via dialogue.
`We stand ready to help and contribute to the resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. I hope that warm bilateral relations will help
establish stability and peace in the region,’ he noted.

Living standard of middle class in Armenia is declining: Norvik experts

2009-03-12 17:55:00

ArmInfo. In the last seven years the living standard of the middle
class in Armenia has been on decline, says the analytcal department of
Norvik Universal Credit Organization.

This may lead to irreversible changes: outflow of qualified specialists
to western countries and economic decline as middle class is the most
active section of the civil society and it is the most
sensitive to changes in the economic situation. Now that Armenia is
facing financial, banking, industrial, commercial and other crises, the
local authorities will hardly provide official statistics on the
incomes of the middle class. Meanwhile, experts say that in the coming
years the revenues of the middle class in Armenia will drop. If they
are right we may face a crisis comparable with the Great Depression of
the 1930s and will need at least five years to overcome the
consequences of the economic decline.

The consumer agiotage observed over the last few years is not so
useful, and now that consumption is abruptly falling, a social shock
will be observed. At the same time, the specialists pay attention to
the poor layers of population as well. They think the state of this
layer’s representatives may become even worse in the process of
economic decline and unemployment growth. At the same time, the experts
think that if the government works out special programs, the state of
this population may develop in a different course. In particular, the
middle class will be formed from poorer layers of population. The
company’s analysts think that to support both the middle class and
poorer layers of population, it is necessary to decrease prices in the
consumer market by increasing competitiveness in the market of
essentials. This will decrease the financial load on home economics and
the inflation level.

To recall, Norvik UCO is the Armenian branch of Latvian-Icelandic JSC
NORVIK BANKA. It was registered and licensed by the Central Bank of
Armenia in July 2006 and has been operating since September 2008.

The Messenger, Georgia
March 12 2009

Armenia might benefit from the Karsi-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railway

By Messenger Staff
Thursday, March 12

Former Foreign Minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanian thinks that the
construction and operation of the Karsi-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
railway would cause no more negative results for Armenia than the
closed Armenian-Turkish border does.

Moreover the former Minister thinks that Armenia can use this railway
connection with Turkey, which passes through Georgia as it has been
using the motorway connection. He says that Turkey has realised that
blocking the border is not effective, and that’s why it has started
negotiations on opening the border.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 12 2009

Parliament encourages Turkey to dig deeper into Ergenekon

Members of the European Parliament held a debate yesterday on the 2008
accession negotiations with Turkey as they prepared to vote on a
report that calls on Turkey to seriously focus on the Ergenekon
network’s probable role in unresolved murders, including the
assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in January
2007.

Ergenekon, a neo-nationalist group accused of involvement in plans to
stage a violent uprising against the government, was discovered at the
end of an investigation that came upon the heels of a police raid in
June 2007 which uncovered an arms depot in a house in ?Ä?°stanbul’s
?Ã?mraniye district. The prosecutor in the Ergenekon case has said
the group worked to create disorder and chaos through various violent
acts so that the public would be willing to accept a military
intervention to restore order.

The group is suspected of involvement in the murder of three Christian
missionaries in Malatya in 2007; the 2006 murder of a priest in the
northeastern city of Trabzon; the murder of Dink, editor-in-chief of
the bilingual Agos newspaper in 2007; a 2006 attack on the Council of
State; and a grenade attack on the Cumhuriyet daily in 2006.

The debate at the European Parliament came a day after the ?Ä?°stanbul
Prosecutor’s Office submitted on Tuesday an additional indictment in
the trial of Ergenekon, with members from various state agencies, the
military, politics, the business world, academia, the media and other
civilian sectors, charged with plotting to overthrow the government.

Currently, 86 suspects have been indicted in a 2,455-page document,
made public last summer. The trial started in late October of last
year. However, since the completion of the first indictment, dozens of
others have been detained and arrested, though some have been released
pending trial.

The new indictment is expected to bring charges against some of the
suspects recently detained during the ongoing investigation.

The European Parliament "welcomes the beginning of the trial against
those accused of being members of the Ergenekon criminal organization,
encourages the authorities to continue investigations and to fully
uncover the organization’s networks which reach into the state
structures, is concerned about reports regarding the treatment of
defendants in this case, urges the Turkish authorities to provide them
with a fair trial and to adhere strictly to the principles of the rule
of law," says the report, drawn up by Dutch Christian Democrat
European parliamentarian Ria Oomen-Ruijten.

Last month, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European
Parliament adopted the draft report by 65 votes to one, with four
abstentions.

The report by Oomen-Ruijten also asserts that "for Turkey and its 71
million people, the main concern is the slowdown in reform for the
third successive year," calling on Ankara to prove its political will
for the reform process.

12 March 2009, Thursday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA / ESKI?Å?EHIR

Premier: Armenia transfers to strict budget saving measures

YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan said it is
necessary that Armenia transfers to a strict budget saving measures.

`It is necessary to save state funds and make expenditures in
proportion with out incomes as GDP indicators precipitously
deteriorated as of the end of January. We should be prepared for the
worst scenario,’ the Premier said at the government meeting Thursday.

A 0.7% economic decline was recorded in Armenia in January 2009 as
compared with the same period of last year. GDP index-deflator was
99.7% in January 2009 against January 2008.

The Premier said that currently the economic situation is uncertain in
the country and nobody knows what further developments to expect. Under
these circumstances, Armenia is turning to quarterly budgeting.

`We will be summarizing the results and planning expenditures for next
quarter on quarterly basis, the Premier said urging to take a careful
approach in making expenditures and avoid the expenses that can be
postponed.

The Premier stressed that savings approach is not to be applied to
social expenditures, pensions, benefits, salaries, and defense
expenses. This will create certain difficulties both for internal and
external operations, but they should be overcome, Sargsyan said.

He also pointed out that Armenia has no alternate way as development of
the world economic situat
ion follows not an optimistic scenario and the
forecasts given by the WB and the IMF were revised four times during
the last month.

`Nobody can provide clear forecasts today, that is why we should work
in a prompt response mode, save funds and spend only to the extent we
can collect,’ the Premier said.

Armenian Government made a decision to re-allocate the country’s state
budget for 2009 and to suspend elaboration of the mid-term spending
program for 2010-2012. N.V. `0–

PanARMENIAN.Net

Norayr Adalyan’s `Phantom’ novel published in German
12.03.2009 13:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Modern Armenian writer Norayr Adalyan’s `Phantom’
novel was published in German in 2008.

The book titled Suffering and Love by Glare Frankfurt-based publishing
house, narrates sufferings of a judge, who feels love for the accused
in murder.

Presently, Norayr Adalyan writes a book about absurd and fantastic
thoughts of a young woman.

`I like just sitting in a café and watching people. It’s
possible to understand them without understanding their language,’
Adalyan told Allgemeine Zeitung.

Global financial crisis saves Teghut forest from cutting

2009-03-11 11:56:00

ArmInfo. Tree cutting in Teghut forest has been almost stopped because
of the global financial crisis which hinders implementation of the
programme on development of Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit in the
north of Armenia, Director of Armenian Copper Programme metallurgical
company, Gagik Arzumanyan, told journalists.

"We have not yet received fully-fledged financing for Teghut and the
preparatory work is still underway", he said. The company director
added that 20 Ha of Teghut forest were cut in 2008, although 35 Ha were
agreed on. At present, 21 Ha of wood were cut. According to G.
Arzumanyan, it is scheduled to start preparing for exploitation of the
Teghut deposit in 2011, according to the programme. The director added
that the credit for implementation of this programme will be expectedly
received from VTB Russian bank.

To note, it is scheduled to cut 157 Ha of wood in Teghut during the
next 12 years.