Author: Chalian Meline

GOVERNMENT – NOT AFRAID OF UNPOPULAR SOLUTIONS
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 30, 2008
Armenia

Within the time-limits of and in accordance with the procedure
prescribed by the Constitution and the laws, the newly-formed
Government yesterday submitted its new, 2008-2012 program to the
National Assembly.

After introducing the Government’s program, Prime Minister TIGRAN
SARGSYAN also answered the questions of the journalists.

He put a special emphasis on one of the clauses of the program which
says, "We should have a responsible government. It is necessary
to change the standards of behavior of the well-to-do class. It is
indecorous of a Christian Armenian to demonstrate wealth and luxury
in country facing the problem of poverty.

According to the Prime Minister, "It is necessary to change the
standards of behavior of the wealthy in our country. If we want
our country to live in solidarity, the wealthy should be disallowed
to demonstrate their property; they should be required to assume a
conduct appropriate to a Christian. We should start with ourselves,
and this precept concerns all of us. It is necessary to have a public
consent around these values as our society has no alternative."

At the request of the correspondent of "Hayots Ashkharh", T. Sargsyan
touched upon the promises of the government to pay more attention to
the publications concerning the officials.

"Our opponents often misrepresent my speech; they try to distort
the contents and the sense. The pivotal thesis which I have proposed
and want to draw our opponents’ attention to is that if we want to
have responsible media we should first of all have a responsible
government. We will hold accountable all the guilty parties. This
thesis also refers to all the officials.

We will also protect all the honest officials from lie, spiteful
insults and gossips. Otherwise, no decent and honest person will
wish to work in the state government system. We are introducing a
new concept, and you should help us. We will be open and public."

The Prime Minister expressed belief that healing the public atmosphere
requires everybody to change, "I can’t demand you to change, without
changing myself. In order to live in a different society and have
different customs, we all should change ourselves and never make a
distinction between old and new Armenians. We all have certain things
to learn."

According to T. Sargsyan, we often see people rebelling against the
enforcement of the law. There immediately appear demonstrators who
complain that their rights are being violated. But as a matter of
fact, the authorities want to enforce the law to a full effect. It is
extremely important to find out, for instance, who push the people
to gather in front of the Government building and protest against
the reforms undertaken in the sphere of the customs services. They
actually pursue a goal to recover the old regime when it was possible
import a smuggled product from China. T. Sargsyan accounted for the
accusation of deviating from democratic values by mere ignorance, "I
would like to inform you that human rights and freedom of speech are
not absolutely European standards; they are Armenian standards. If you
were familiar with the works and the profound summaries of Maghakia
Ormanyan, one of the outstanding figures of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, you would make sure that these norms have always been the
characteristic features of the Armenia people. And there’s no need
to duplicate something that already exists in our reality. It is just
necessary to reveal it."

RICE: WITH KARABAKH CONFLICT UNSETTLED, CONFLICTING SIDES GOING TO END UP FALLING BEHIND REGION

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.04.2008 16:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made
remarks at the Peace Corps 2008 Worldwide Country Director Conference.

Touching upon developments in the Caucasus, Dr. Rice said, in part,
"The Caucasus, particularly the – not so much Georgia, but Azerbaijan,
to a certain extent Armenia, there is important work to be done there
to bring that part of the Caucasus closer to standards that we thought
they were once meeting. And it has been a disappointment," she said.

"Now, one of the problems has been that because of the situation in
Nagorno Karabakh, all kinds of bad policies are tolerated, let me
put it that way, or excused by political leaders. And I often say to
them that if they don’t solve Nagorno Karabakh, they’re going to end
up falling further and further behind the region because the region
is moving on.

"Another time that it felt a bit that way was in 2005, with the
Orange Revolution and the Rose Revolution and the Cedar Revolution,
and it felt again like the tide was inexorable. And then I know that
there’s been a sense that perhaps that tide has receded some over
the last several years, but I think of it a little bit differently,
which is it’s more like a stepwise function. Things move up and then
they level off for a while.

"And the question is: Can you prevent them from sliding back? Because
there will be another step up.

When people’s expectations are raised that they’re going to have a
voice, when people’s expectations are raised that they’re going to
have real choices, democratic choices, for leadership, when people
get accustomed to circumstances in which their personal freedoms are
not abridged, if you can find the support in civil society, if you can
find the support in nongovernmental organizations, if the United States
stays with that program, I believe you’ll see another step up. So that
it’s not an inexorable trend, but it is one that keeps moving carefully
upward. And I think that’s how we have to think about what’s happened
in the territory – much of the territory of the former Soviet Union.

"Even Russia itself – you know, I was in Moscow as a graduate student
in 1979. Russia is not the Soviet Union. Let me be very certain for
you. I was in the Soviet Union. I knew the Soviet Union. Russia is not
the Soviet Union. And Russians have certain expectations about personal
freedoms. They have certain expectations about economic freedoms. I
think it’s going to make a difference in the long run, maybe even the
medium term, to what kinds of politics is actually tolerated in Russia.

"So we have to keep building the foundation. We have to keep, through
programs like the Peace Corps, helping people’s horizons to change
and their expectations to change, and what they will and will not
accept to change. We’re never going to be able – the United States
on the outside – to impose democracy. The good news is, I always
remind people, you actually don’t have to impose democracy; you have
to impose tyranny. And so if you get people thinking in a different
way about what their expectations, rights, ought to be, I think you
will see that over time this great wave of democracy will continue,
even in places where right now it may seem somewhat remote."

VENICE COMMISSION TO PRESENT ITS CONCLUSION ON BILL OF MAKING AMENDMENTS TO RA LAW ON HOLDING MEETINGS, RALLIES, PROCESSIONS, AND DEMONSTRATIONS UNTIL MAY 15

Noyan Tapan
April 28, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, NOYAN TAPAN. Until May 15 the Council of Europe
Venice Commission will submit to RA NA its conclusion on the bill of
making amendments to the law On Holding Meetings, Rallies, Processions,
and Demonstrations. According to NA Speaker Tigran Torosian, the bill
revised as a result of the joint discussions held on April 15-16 in
Yerevan was sent to the Commission on April 25. And in connection
with the "speculations" over the format of those discussions he
explained that the discussions proceeded by a narrow format, without
participation of political forces, due to the lack of time.

Touching upon the April 17 resolution of PACE on activity of democratic
institutions in Armenia, T. Torosian said that some stipulations
of that document "do not reflect the situation completely." In
particular, the resolution proposes change of the principle of
formation of the National Committee of Television and Radio, which,
however, is impossible, as it is a constitutional norm. Nevertheless,
according to T. Torosian, the resolution contains proposals aimed
at deepening of democracy in Armenia and as Armenia has joined the
Council of Europe of its own free will, it should filfil the resolution
by finding right solutions.

According to T. Torosian, by the RA Ombudsperson’s special report on
the events of March 1-2, the proposal to reserve the right to hold
an independent investigation of those events to the Ombudsperson’s
office was considered invalid, as with the above mentioned report
A. Haroutiunian presented his position exactly. Meanwhile the
NA Speaker did not exclude the possibility of creating an ad hoc
parliamentary commission mentioning, however, that no discussion
on creation of such a commission has been held with parliamentary
factions yet.

PRESIDENT VISITED THE FRONT ZONE
by S.Rzaev

DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 28, 2008 Monday

The President participated in opening infrastructure objects and
warned that Azerbaijan would not make any territorial concessions

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN REPORTED ABOUT HIS VIEW AT RESOLVING OF
NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT; President of Azerbaijan performed a visit to
the front zone and got acquainted with the progress of fulfillment of
the state program for social and economic development of the regions
for the period between 2004 and 2008. In the course of the visit,
the President met with public of the districts and refugees.

President of Azerbaijan performed a visit to the front zone and got
acquainted with the progress of fulfillment of the state program for
social and economic development of the regions for the period between
2004 and 2008. In the course of the visit, the President met with
public of the districts and refugees. In the Fizulinsky District the
President released a number of important statements and touched on
the process of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. President
Aliev said that clarity should be added to the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh issues in the next few months. This is necessary to
determine priority lines for resolving this conflict.

In Goradiz of the Fizulinsky District, the President participated in
opening the museum of Geidar Aliev, as well as in opening the bridge
over the Guruchai River of Zobuddzhuk settlement built for refugees
from the occupied part of the Fizulinsky District of Azerbaijan who
got settled in the Saatalinsky and Sabirabadsky districts.

Speaking about proposals for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
the President said that they made provisions for the liberation
of all occupied territories. Along with this, five of the seven
districts around Nagorno-Karabakh should be released unconditionally
and the Lachinsky and the Kelbadzharsky districts will be returned to
Azerbaijan a short time after that. The President remarks that the
international community supports Azerbaijan, which is confirmed by
the recent resolution of the UN General Assembly "But Armenia does
not pay attention to this."

Aliev stated, "They seem to agree with the proposal of the co-chairs
but in reality they keep populating the Lachinsky District illegally."

According to Aliev the negotiation process depends not only on the
Azerbaijani party. He says, "International organizations and Armenia
make believe that they support the peaceful process" adding that
"fruitless negotiations on peaceful resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict" have been carried out for 14 years. The President states,
"How long can this go on? The patience of the Azerbaijani people
is decreasing." According to him, the conflict may be resolved "by
a peaceful way and only in the framework of territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan." He adds that international organizations have an
unjust position towards the Azerbaijani party calling on Azerbaijan
to compromise: "Our stance is unchanged. Azerbaijan is on such a
level now that it will not tolerate injustice and pressure on the
part of anyone."

Along with this, Aliev does not lose hope and stresses that time will
come and the conflict will be resolved in the framework of territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan. Simultaneously, Aliev does not doubt that
the armed forces of Azerbaijan can fulfill any tasks successfully. He
explains, "The army of Azerbaijanis is the strongest in the region
both from the material and technical and professional standpoints."

Yesterday, the President visited the frontline where he had a meeting
with officers and soldiers serving there. During the visit to the
front zone and meeting with the refugees, Aliev said that 260,000
of the 330,000 refuges would be given new housing. The state already
spent $900 million on this program. The state oil fund of Azerbaijan
will allocate additional $500 million.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION TO APPEAL TO EUROPEAN COURT AGAINST GOVERNMENT ACTIONS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

ARKA
April 28, 2008

YEREVAN, April 28. /ARKA/. Armenian National Movement (ANM) opposition
party is going to lodge an appeal to the European Court against the
violations committed by the state bodies in relation to the rigged
presidential elections in Armenia.

An expert group has been set up to prepare the respective suit with
involvement of Armenian and foreign lawyers, the ANM press service
reported.

500 MILLION DRAMS FOR NKR HEALTH PROBLEMS

Panorama.am
18:50 26/04/2008

Today a decree was signed between the NKR Government and Karabakh
Telecom Company. As Panorama.am reporter was informed the decree was
signed by the prime Minister of the NKR Ara Harutyunyan and company’s
director Ralf Yirikyan. By the decree the company is obliged to carry
out 500 million drams charitable investment in NKR, in 2008. The
financial means will be disposed to the improvement of health issues
in the country.

According to the officials financial support will serve to equip with
modern technologies the clinics and hospitals and creating laboratory
and a hospital in Martakert region will be reconstructed.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES DRAFT PROGRAM 2008-2012

ARKA
April 28, 2008

YEREVAN, April 28. /ARKA/. The RA Government approved at today’s
special session its draft program 2008-2012.

According to the document, GDP (gross domestic product) is expected
to grow by 8%-10%. Annual investments will increase by 10% in the
coming years. The Government plans to reduce disproportional regional
development.

Non-agricultural employment is expected to increase by 10%.

The share of public revenues in the annual GDP will grow by
0.3pct-0.4pct.

The Government also focuses on poverty reduction, the general poverty
line being below 11.2% (extreme poverty level being below 1.6%). The
country’s multilevel pension system will help raise pensions and
increase financing of social insurance by 6.2%.

Healthcare and education financing will increase by 2.2% and 3.5%
respectively.

RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan said the basis for the
government program is the Poverty Reduction National Strategy
Program. Provisions of the RA President’s election program and
proposals submitted by coalition are included in it.

The government’s objective is to ensure the country’s security,
welfare of citizens and socially vulnerable people.

The program focuses on the country’s stability and formation of
a democracy-based civil society. The government’s program aims at
ensuring the supremacy of law and free economic competition, as well
as uniting Armenians all over the world.

National security and economic development are priority-driven issues.

Stable macroeconomic policy will help reduce the major difference
between the population income in Armenia and advanced countries.

The program makes provisions for burning issues on defense, national
security and public order.

Another focus of the program is cooperation of local and foreign
entrepreneurs.

It is necessary to improve services provided by government bodies and
local governments. The country will have an electronic management
system soon to coordinate activities of local governments and
government bodies, thus reducing to minimum contacts between citizens
and civil servants. This will help combat corruption.

The government considers it important to develop science and
education. The program contributes to regional development and lightens
the burden of Yerevan by moving some functions from the capital city
to the country’s regions. Another priority-driven issue is social
security.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: EQUAL CONDITIONS WILL BE CREATED FOR ALL ECONOMIC ENTITIES IN ARMENIA

arminfo
2008-04-24 00:02:00

ArmInfo. Equal and fair conditions will be created for all economic
entities in Armenia, furthermore, an active fight against corruption
and protectionism will start, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said
during a meeting with the leading staff of the Armenian Internal
Revenue Service, Wednesday.

The Armenian presidential press-service told ArmInfo that Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Vice Premier, Minister of Territorial
Administration Armen Gevorgyan, Head of the presidential administration
Hovik Abrahamyan, Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan, Minister of
Economy Nerses Yeritsyan and other officials were present at the
meeting.

The president said that parliamentary and presidential elections
have recently been held in the country, and pre-electoral programs
were presented to the public. It is time to implement these programs,
he said. The main idea of the programs is that the potential, which
has been accumulated over the past 7 years, allows the country to
pass to the second stage of reforms.

In this connection, the issue of state structures’ readiness for these
reforms arises. If the structures are ready, "then let’s move forward
together", S.Sargsyan said. Asked why the reforms should first and
foremost cover the tax and customs services, S.Sargsyan stressed that
it is natural as the matter concerns the rates of economic growth
and improvement of people’s welfare.

The president stressed that the authorities have no right to ask people
to wait for 3 or 4 years. He pointed out that one of the important
roles in development of economy, increase in the competitiveness
growth rates and fulfillment of the items of the state budget belongs
to the tax and customs bodies. "The Internal Revenue Service should
correspond to its name and destination, all of us should realize
that the internal revenue service is to make its activity close to
the public by providing services to state bodies and business. If we
manage to this, our main problems will be solved", S.Sargsyan said.

Head of the Internal Revenue Service Vahram Barseghyan and the heads
of the Service’s structural departments presented to the president the
work on shadow economy reduction, improvement of tax administration.

MEPS CONCERNED ABOUT RAGIP ZARAKOLU’S SECURITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.04.2008 19:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Four eminent members of the European Parliament –
Mrs Maria Eleni Koppa and Mr Jacques Toubon, both vice-presidents
of the delegation EU-Turkey, Mr Patrick Gaubert, vice-president of
the sub-committee on Human Rights and president of Licra, Mr Ioannis
Kasoulides, former minister of Foreign Affairs and recent candidate for
the Cypriot presidency – have recently sent a letter to the Turkish
Minister of Justice, Mr Mehmet Ali Sahin, in order to inform him
of the Unions concern about developments in Ragip Zarakolu’s trial,
reported the European Armenian Federation.

The MEPs mention that the "long, costly and morally exhausting" trial
comes from "judicial relentlessness". They are also worried about
Mr Zarakolu’s "physical security" regarding "nationalistic renewal
in Turkey" especially revealed by the "murder of Hrant Dink and the
revelations referring to the criminal organization Ergenekon".

On April 9, at the end of another hearing of Mr Zarakolu, the criminal
court in Istanbul decided to postpone the hearings until June 17,
i.e. after the possible adoption by the Turkish Parliament of the
amendments tabled by the AKP government referring to the 301 and 305
articles of the TPC.

The European Armenian Federation reminds that Mr Zarakolu is a
publisher and militates for several years in favor of Human Rights in
Turkey. He is one of the founding members of the Turkish Association
for Human Rights and he forms part of those dissidents prosecuted under
the 301 article for having "insulted the State and the Republic" and
"the memory of Ataturk".

In this case, Mr Zarakolu is prosecuted following the article 301
because he published two books on the Armenian genocide, the founding
act and the major taboo of the Turkish state and society. One of the
books deals with the rescue of an Armenian family by Turks during
the genocide.

DAVID HARUTYUNYAN: RESOLUTION PRESENTED TO PACE IS IMPORTANT AND HAS A GREAT FUTURE

armradio.am
22.04.2008 16:33

During the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe member of the Armenian delegation Avet Adonts presented a
draft resolution on regional cooperation.

During the meeting with reporters Head of the Armenian delegation to
PACE, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on State
and Legal Issues David Harutyunyan characterized the draft resolution
as "important and having great future."

The main idea of the resolution refers to the search of cooperation
mechanisms in those regions where different political and other
conflicts exist. Regional cooperation may embrace different spheres,
which will create certain reciprocal trust among the parties.

Delegations from 20 countries have already joined the
resolution. According to David Harutyunyan, the PACE Bureau will soon
address the document.