Author: Chilingarian Babken

CBA CHAIRMAN: USE OF REFINANCING INTEREST RATE’S INSTRUMENT IN 2006 PRODUCED A RESULT

Noyan Tapan
Feb 05 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In the opinion of the CBA Chairman
Tigran Sargsian, in 2006 – the first year of CBA’s inflation
targeting policy, they succeeded in using the instrument of the
refinancing interets rate by its purpose. Presenting on February 5
the 2007 monetary and credit policy of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA), T. Sargsian said that the CBA’s refinancing interest rate has
already affected crediting of commercial banks and the interest rates
of deposits with these banks.

According to him, the CBA combines the setting of refinancing
interest rates with the use of interest rates of lombard credits and
deposits. In his words, in case of facing the problem of liquidity,
commercial banks may rely on the CBA by investing excessive money in
the CBA.

T. Sargsian said that CBA will continue increasing the efficiency of
the instrument of the refinancing interest rate because "the effect
of a short-term interest rate on a long-term one or on the amount of
credits is still small."

The CBA chairman said that in 2006, inflation made 5.2% in Armenia,
and it is forecast to make 4% in 2007 and 3% in 2008. The forecasts
allow a 1.5% deviation.

MEETING AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Yerkir.am
February 02, 2007

Representatives of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights met with Hrayr Karapetian, the leader of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation faction in the parliament, and Gegham
Manukian, the secretary of the faction.

The amended Electoral Code and issues related to the upcoming
parliamentary elections were discussed at the meeting.

Karapetian presented the amendments to the Electoral Code noting that
some positive changes were made to the Electoral Code. Among such
positive changes was introduction of voting envelops (the proposal
was made by ARF) which will make the process of summarization of
results more controllable. Karapetian also pointed out the stricter
punishment for election fraud and violations in the Criminal Code.

Gegham Manukian commented on the pre-electoral campaign noting that it
is very important to ensure that all parties have equal access to TV to
present their positions. He stated it is an important accomplishment
that all TV companies will have to publicize the prices and schedules
for political advertising ten days prior to the elections.

OSCE ODIHR experts were interested in incidents of not giving air
time to opposition forces, and the efficiency of trainings organized
by the Central Electoral Commission for precinct commission members.

Commenting on the last question Karapetian noted that ARF has branches
in all regions of Armenia which makes it possible to have the party’s
representatives in all precinct commissions. As to the trainings,
Karapetian noted that they were organized based on the old Electoral
Code which implies that the parties will have to present the amended
Electoral Code to its representatives in the commissions.

Commenting on instances of not giving air time to opposition forces
Manukian noted that even though chairman of Rule of Law Country
Party Artur Baghdasarian had stated in a recent interview that Yerkir
Media was the only TV company that agreed to give paid air time to
him after long negotiations, this is not true.

The Rule of Law Country Party was given paid air time three times, and
the co-chairmen of the party have participated in several political
programs aired on Yerkir Media. The TV company has aired National
Unity’s chairman Artashes Geghamian’s speech at the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe.

At the end of the meeting the head of ARF’s parliamentary faction
expressed his hope that the election observation mission will be larger
during the upcoming elections which will allow the observers to make
their conclusions based on the facts witnessed by the observers and
not based on the statements made by opposition forces.

CLASSICAL
Egoyan take on new works is stunning

ELISSA POOLE
Special to The Globe and Mail

Victoria Symphony
Eve Egoyan, piano
Tania Miller, conductor
At the McPherson Playhouse

Print Edition – Section Front

In Victoria on Thursday

The physical manifestation of a six-edged, seven-sided perfect cube may be
spurious, but its musical manifestation, Rudolf Komorous’s piece for piano and
small mixed chamber ensemble (entitled The Seven Sides of Maxine’s Silver
Die) is not. Just as Maxine’s marvellous die was, according to the composer’s
program note, the "most precious object in her capricious repository," so
Komorous’s piece was the jewel among the works presented in the opening concert
of the Victoria Symphony’s New Currents Festival.
Pianist Eve Egoyan was the featured soloist in three of these works, and her
clear, uncompromising taste was much in evidence in the choice of repertoire,
a capricious repository inasmuch as only Egoyan would have thought to bring
these particular three compositions together on the same program. That
program included, in addition to the Komorous, Ann Southam’s Figures for piano and
strings and Spanish composer Maria de Alvear’s Clear Energy for piano and
orchestra.
What very different pieces they were. Maxine’s Silver Die was immediately r
ecognizable as a work of Komorous’s by its enigmatic stylistic juxtapositions
and unique voicings, doublings and orchestrations — as unique to Komorous as
Mozart’s are to himself. His melodies have a Mozartean fluency, too,
distinct, unusual entities that lie somewhere between banality and an almost
supernatural loveliness, and that Komorous irradiates from time to time with a triad
as delicate as perfume.
Egoyan’s remarkable playing balanced that delicacy with intense focus,
holding all in a net. Komorous gives the piano rapid, rippling scales that slow
down at the end of long trajectories. Egoyan timed these decelerations so
perfectly that the spaces in between the notes were still charged with presence.
Similarly when scales made way for chords, it was possible to imagine them as
the same object perceived within different time frames.
Southam’s Figures rolled along with energy to spare, its livewire piano part
accented and asymmetrical, aspiring to perpetual motion. Southam calls
herself a minimalist, but the label underprepares one for the joy she conveys in
her various riffs and repetitions, even though it’s perfectly in keeping with
the disrespect she shows for standard procedure with a 12-tone row: Southam
orders hers to provide a maximum of friendly intervals and is gleefully
unbothered by the odd tonal centre.
Maria de Alvear’s Clear Energy, a world premiere, seemed less a piece than
an installation, a way of ushering the listener into a particular
psychological space through sound. Certainly it had its own strange beauty, the piano
tuned a quarter tone distant from the other instruments, sending notes out one
at a time into the ether against a wash of sustained (albeit punctuated) sound
from the orchestra. The difference in temperament opened the soundscape in
the same way that a yoga posture might open the space between the shoulders,
creating space we didn’t know was there and shivers of piquant sensation as
well — sensation that we read as exquisite, somehow, because novel. I even
found myself confusing sound with touch, so thoroughly had de Alvear transformed
the listening parameters, and so convincingly had Egoyan restitched our
reference points.
The concert’s opening string piece, Bits of Beauty by Victoria Symphony’s
composer-in-residence Tobin Stokes, lacked piano (and mettle). Comprising eight
little beginnings or fragments, Stokes’s Bits were sweet (in the way Samuel
Barber’s Adagio is sweet), but despite some angel-hair textures and laudable
melodies, they were bland, too. The piquant, the novel and the dangerous were
studiously absent — providing us with a list of beautiful things rather
than beautiful things themselves.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 4, 2007 Sunday
Main Edition

U.S. debates ‘genocide’;
Term for Armenian deaths affects diplomatic ties

The touchy subject of the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the end
of World War I is back in the news again, as a bipartisan group of
lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives last week introduced
the latest version of an Armenian genocide resolution.

After years of trying, members of Congress and their politically
active Armenian American allies now think they can prevail over the
Bush administration’s strong opposition to a measure that is
guaranteed to incite controversy with Turkey, a key U.S. ally.

The 10-page resolution, whose chief sponsor is Rep. Adam Schiff
(D-Calif.), is being called the "affirmation of the United States
record on the Armenian Genocide."

Essentially, it would put the House on the side of Armenians and many
historians who have studied the period between 1915 and 1923.

Some 1.5 million Armenians were killed as part of a policy of
extermination conducted during the final days of the Ottoman Empire,
the resolution asserts. The nonbinding resolution further calls upon
President Bush to use the word "genocide" in his annual April message
commemorating the horrific events.

Bush and preceding presidents, attentive to the concerns of Turkey
and the State Department, have delicately avoided using the term when
referring to Armenia. Turkey has adamantly denied claims by scholars
that its predecessor state, the Ottoman government, caused the
Armenian deaths in a genocide.

The Turkish government has said the toll is wildly inflated, and
Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest during the
disarray surrounding the empire’s collapse.

"Armenian Americans have attempted to extricate and isolate their
history from the complex circumstances in which their ancestors were
embroiled," the Turkish Embassy declared in a statement last week.
"In so doing, they describe a world populated only by white-hatted
heroes and black-hatted villains."

In Turkey, it is a crime to use the word "genocide" to describe the
deaths, and people have been prosecuted for it.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia.

Diplomatically, it’s an acutely sensitive issue. The Bush
administration has warned that even congressional debate on the
matter could damage relations with Turkey.

After French lawmakers voted in October to make it a crime to deny
that the killings were genocide, Turkey said it would suspend
military relations with France.

Turkey provides vital support to U.S. military operations. Incirlik
Air Force Base, a major base in southern Turkey, has been used by the
United States to launch operations into Iraq and Afghanistan and was
a center for U.S. fighters that enforced the "no-fly zones" that kept
the Iraqi air force bottled up after the 1991 Gulf War.

A member of NATO now hoping to join the European Union, Turkey enjoys
its own Capitol Hill clout with the assistance of well-placed
lobbyists, including one-time congressman Bob Livingston.

"I do think we have the best opportunity in a decade to succeed,"
said Schiff, "but no one should be under the illusion that this will
be easy."

WORK OF 7 BILLION DRAMS TO BE DONE IN ARAGATSOTN MARZ IN 2007

TALIN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Work on gas supply provision, road
construction, repairs of irrigation and drinking water networks is
currently being done in 21 rural settlements of Aragatsotn marz by the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The governor
of Aragatsotn marz Gabriel Gyozalian stated this during the February 2
meeting with reporters.

In his words, IFAD allocated 310 thousand USD for gas supply provision
work in the villages of Irind, Katnaghbyur, Davtashen, Shgharshik and
Eghnik of Talin region and another 310 thousand USD – for construction
of a 11.3 km water pipe in the village of Ashnak. This work will be
completed by May.

G. Gyozalian informed reporters that in 2006, work of 4.5 bln drams
(about 10.8 mln USD), mainly on gas supply provision and construction
of schools, roads and irrigation systems was implemented in Aragatsotn
marz. It was mentioned that last year vineyards of 700 ha and fruit
gardens of 750 ha were planted in the marz.

The regional governor said that this year it is envisaged to implement
work of 7 bln drams at the expense of state budgetary resources (3.5
bln drams), as well as resources of community budgets and the RA
Social Investment Fund in Aragatsotn marz.

OPPORTUNITIES OF ARMENIA’S TOURISM SECTOR PRESENTED TO PARTICIPANTS OF
12th CONGRESS OF WFTGA

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. This year Armenia participated for
the first time in the congress of the World Federation of Tourist
Guide Associations (WFTGA), whch was held in Cairo on January 19-26.

Liana Grigorian, Chairwoman of the Guild of Armenian Tourist Guides,
told NT correspondent that during the 12th congress of the WFTGA,
representatives of Armenia had meetings with the management of the
European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (London-based EFTG)
and the Egyptian General Tourist Guide Syndicate (EGTGS). According to
L. Grigorian, a preliminary agreement was reached that heads of these
organizations will visit Armenia this year to run professional courses
for the staff of the Guild of Armenian Tourist Guides and students.

"We presented information materials of the Armenian Tourism
Development Agency (ATDA) to the WFTGA Executive Board. These
materials allowed congress participants to become acquainted with the
opportunities of Armenia’s tourism sector," she said.

It was noted that the 13th WFTGA congress will be held in Bali
(Indonesia) in 2009.

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Feb 2 2007

Samast photo and video filmed at police station: Gendarme

Gendarme Commander said that photo and video of the man accused of
murdering Dink were part of efforts to tarnish the Turkish Armed
Forces.

Güncelleme: 17:46 TSÝ 02 Þubat 2007 CumaISTANBUL – The Turkish
Gendarme Command issued a written statement on Friday denying that
photos and video footage of the alleged killer of Hrant Dink, Ogun
Samast were taken at any gendarme posts.

`In now way were the mentioned photo and footage taken at any
gendarme post,’ the statement said adding that it was obvious that it
was taken at the tea room of the Samsun police’s anti-terror branch.

The statement said that the broadcasting by television station TGRT
of the video footage without giving the source but saying that it was
filmed at a gendarme post showed the intentions of the plot.

Police Force spokesman Ismail Caliskan in his regular weekly briefing
on Friday said that inspectors had been appointed to look into the
photo and footage of Samast. Caliskan said that there were high
ranking police officers who were among those who took photographs
with Samast and that this was being investigated as well.

Caliskan added that the murder of prominent Armenian-Turk Hrant Dink
was being investigated at all levels.

The photograph of Samast, arrested as the alleged gunman in the
murder of Dink, was taken in front of a Turkish flag which had a
saying by Ataturk referring to how sacred the soild of the country
was. The video also showed Samast holding a Turkish flag and people
taking photographs with him as a memoir while he was in detention.

PanARMENIAN.Net

USA never denied tragedy of 1915, everything is in terminology
01.02.2007 18:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. president administration is against
political terminology in regard of the tragic events in 1915, stated
State Department Press Secretary Sean McCormack during a briefing in
Washington commenting on the Armenian Genocide resolution, which has
been introduced in the Congress. `Our stance is clear. We mourn for
the victims of the tragic events in 1915. We have never denied this
fact.

The U.S. president in his annual message remembers it. We are against
political definitions in terminology, which is being used in this
issue,’ underlined the U.S. State Department Press Secretary, Mediamax
reports.

Jerusalem Post
Jan 31 2007

Bush will oppose Armenian genocide resolution
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

The US ambassador to Turkey said Wednesday that the Bush
administration would actively oppose a resolution to recognize the
deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the end of World War I as
genocide.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers introduced the resolution at a
press conference on Tuesday. The Bush administration has warned that
even congressional debate on the topic could damage relations with
Turkey, a NATO member with close ties to the United States.

"The Administration will be actively involved with Congress to oppose
this resolution," US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson said in a
statement e-mailed to news organizations in Turkey. "The Bush
Administration’s position on this issue has not changed."

AKI, Italy
Jan 31 2007

TURKEY: PROBE INTO JOURNALIST’S MURDER IS BEEFED UP

Istanbul, 31 Jan. (AKI) – Turkish authorities have dispatched two
chief inspectors to Trabzon, the hometown of the alleged killer of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, to boost the murder
investigation – a move which comes amid a growing storm over the
police’s possible failure to prevent the murder through negligence.
Turkish media on Tuesday cited sources from the National Police
Department who confirmed the authorities had received information
about a planned attack against Dink one year ago, but that no attempt
was made to investigate the threats.

Dink was shot dead on 19 January in front of the Istanbul office of
the newspaper he edited. A 17-year-old boy from Trabzon, Ogun Samast,
was arrested in connection with the murder after he was recognised
from closed circuit television footage taken at the scene of the
shooting.

According to the police sources, Erhan Tuncel, a university student
in Trabzon with links to a Turkish ultra-nationalist group blamed for
the killing, warned local police in February 2006 of a plan to
assassinate the prominent journalist who campaigned for Turkey to
recognise as genocide the mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottomans during the early 20th century.

Tuncel, an alleged police informer and one of the six suspects
charged in connection with Dink’s killing – is being interrogated in
Istanbul by the counter-terrororism police.

Tuncel has reportedly told police that Yasin Hayal, also under arrest
in connection with the murder, had planned to travel from Trabzon to
Istanbul to kill Dink, and that this intelligence was passed on to
Istanbul police. Police allegedly found nothing suspicious and took
no further action, the Milliyet daily reported on Tuesday.

Tuncel turned informer in 2004 in exchange for immunity after he was
detained in connection with a bomb attack on a McDonald’s restaurant
in Trabzon, for which Hayal served 11 months in jail. In the summer
of 2006, police stopped working with Tuncel on suspicion that he was
acting as a double agent on behalf of the ultra-nationalists, the
Milliyet report said.

Human rights activists are urging prosecutors to investigate
Istanbul’s police chief, Celaleddin Cerrah, who they alleged has been
negligent over the murder. Cerrah has also drawn criticism for his
statements that Samast "has no links with terror groups," and that
"his nationalist sentiments motivated him to shoot Dink," in the
immediate aftermath of the murder suspect’s arrest.

Dink branded a "traitor" by ultra-nationalists for urging open debate
on the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, often
appeared in court on charges of violating an item in Turkey’s penal
code that prohibits any questioning of the officially accepted
version that the genocide did not take place. The European Union –
which Turkey hopes to join – has repeatedly called for the scrapping
of the controversial ‘offending Turkishness’ article in the penal
code.

Since Dink’s murder, which prompted mass demonstrations in his honour
and in favour of freedom of expression, the government has come under
increasing criticism for failing to deal with extremist groups.

Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Tuesday
that Turkey had paid a heavy price for not cracking down on what he
called the "deep state" – a term which refers to secretive
nationalist elements in the powerful Turkish military and
bureaucracy.