Author: Dabaghian Diana

TIGRAN SARGSYAN: FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS IN ARMENIA CAN BE SOLVED

ARKA
March 25, 2008

YEREVAN, March 25. /ARKA/. Financial and economic problems in
Armenia can be solved, Tigran Sargsyan, chairman of the Central Bank
of Armenia, said Monday in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta,
while commenting Millennium Challenges $235-million program possible
suspension due to the state of emergency in Yerevan.

"Of course, this program would help Armenia very much, but we would
rather rely on own economic capacity. Armenia will move ahead by
implementing market reforms", he said in his interview.

Sargsyan said Armenia will retain its achievement, and this will
make American colleagues to reconsider their decision and resume
the project.

"Thanks to the firm fundament of our relations with Russia, we’ll
manage to overcome some difficulties we face now, including temporary
suspension of financial assistance under Millennium Challenges
program", he said.

On February 20, Armenian opposition headed by former president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan launched protests in Yerevan’s Libery Square disputing
the results of the recent presidential election and insisting that
the election was fraudulent.

The police attacked protesters Saturday night. Protesters gathered
in the square near France’s embassy and city hall.

The police department says one policeman and seven civilians were
killed and 131 injured in clashes.

President Kocharyan imposed a 20-day state of emergency on March
1.

"CHINESE BRONZE" EXHIBITION
By M. Makarian

AZG Armenian Daily
25/03/2008

Culture

Deputy-Minister of Culture Gagik Giurjian informed the reporters about
the schedule of culture events in Armenia through March-April 2008.

On March 25, by the initiative of the Culture Ministry of Armenia of
the Embassy of China in Armenia, the "Chinese Bronze" exhibition is
to be opened at the National Historic Museum.

The art of bronze forging has always been a part of the 5000 year-old
culture of China. The Chinese craftsmen have shaped over 10000 bronze
items over those ages, which are rightfully considered chefs d’oeuvres
of fine art.

Statues, ritual vessels and decorative plates – all those items were
unique and priceless. In later centuries it was decided to make the
copies of them, so that the foreigners could marvel at the beauty of
the Chinese arts. Numbers of copies of those rarest antique items
were made with great skill, and from time to time exhibited by the
initiative of the authorities of China.

The copies of 46 such bronze items are to be exhibited in the National
Historic Museum, Yerevan. According to Armenian and foreign experts,
even the copies, which are to be demonstrated at the coming exposition,
are of great cultural value. Among the masterpieces represented
on the exhibition, there is a statue of a horse, with the detailed
description of horse riding engraved upon it and a ritual vessel,
with an inscription containing the records of the greatest deeds of
eight Chinese emperors.

SYTEM OF A DOWN TO HAVE CONCERT IN SALT LAKE CITY

Noyan Tapan
March 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES, MARCH 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Syatem of
a Down rock band with Serj Tankian at the head will have a concert
in the Salt Lake City in the near future. The Armenian American rock
band has not broken up, it is just on a hiatus.

It should be mentioned that since 1998 the band has released five
platinum albums, including three albums, which have landed at No.1
on album charts.

WATER RESOURCES WRONG MANAGEMENT

Panorama.am
15:36 22/03/2008

"Today we can’t say that Armenia has little water resources, but
we have wrong management of it," said Volodia Narimanyan the deputy
director of the water resources management agency within the ministry
of Environmental Protection.

According to him the major part of the earth (70%) is covered by
water. He mentioned that every one inhabitant of the earth gets
7000sq. meters water annually. In Armenia that figure is only 3000,
in Georgia it is 11 thousands and i9n Azerbaijan 3800.

OSKANIAN, SEMNEBY DISCUSSED POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF UN RESOLUTION ON KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.03.2008 15:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met Friday
with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby
and the delegation led by him, the RA MFA press office reported.

The officials focused on the post-election situation and measures to
be taken for restoration of popular solidarity. They also referred
to the Azerbaijani resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on
March 14, the Armenian-Turkish relations and some regional problems.

The parties underscored that maintenance of stability in Armenia
will guarantee development of the republic and implementation of
regional programs.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: WHEN SAYING "INDEPENDENT INQUIRY", EUROPEANS MEAN CONDUCTING, FOR EXAMPLE, A PARLIAMENTARY INQURY IN PARALLEL WITH CRIMINAL CASE

Noyan Tapan
March 20, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. When speaking about an independent
inquiry into the March 1 events in Yerevan, Europeans rather
mean conducting, for example, a parliamentary inquiry which
never substitutes the investigation into a criminal case, the
Armenian president Robert Kocharian said at the March 20 press
conference. Whereas, investigation into a criminal case cannot be
conducted in any other way: the case is being investigated by an
independent body – the Special Investigation Service, while the
prosecutor’s office, which is also an independent body, supervises
this investigation.

R. Kocharian underlined that in order to increase trust in the
investigation, the RA prosecutor general’s office has applied to a
number of organizations with the request to assist with invitation
of independent foreign experts. "We also need that. There were 8
victims, and we also want some international experts to reconfirm or
to express their opinion about what the cause of their deaths was,"
the Armenian president said, pointing out that invitation of experts
does not contradict the Armenian legislation, and the opinion of the
experts will be included in the criminal case to go to court.

According to the Armenian president, the law enforcement bodies
are well aware that if there is not enough evidence, the case will
finally go to the European Court of Human Rights. "No one wants
to get into such a situation," R. Kocharian said. In his opinion,
Armenia’s law enforcement system is a credible one, it is another
matter that attemps are constantly made in the press and speeches to
sow people’s distrust of this system.

RA PRESIDENT CONSIDERS ILLOGICAL AND NOT UNDERSTANDABLE PROPOSAL TO HOLD SPECIAL PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
March 20, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Robert Kocharian
considers illogical and not understandable the proposal to hold
special parliamentary elections in Armenia. "I do not accept that
approach for a simple reason: special parliamentary elections are held
only in one case, if the parliament is not able to form government
and to make majority inside itself, we do not have such a problem,"
Robert Kocharian stated at the March 20 press conference. Besides,
according to the RA President, "we know very well that no election
has resulted in calming down the passions in RA," therefore it would
not be right "to enter some new cycle, new process that will further
complicate the current situation."

BOYAJIAN: BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD HAS AN UNHEALTHFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH ‘NO PLACE FOR HATE’
By David Boyajian

Watertown TAB & Press
festyle/columnists/x1059915943
March 20 2008
MA

WATERTOWN – With health insurance now compulsory in Massachusetts,
and premiums high enough to cause altitude sickness, it’s inexcusable
that the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is still
misusing its subscribers’ money by sponsoring the alleged anti-bias
program known as "No Place for Hate."

Eleven municipalities – Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Lexington,
Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, Watertown and
Westwood – recently gave their NPFH program the boot. They discovered
that its creator and sponsor, the Anti-Defamation League, denies
the factuality of the Armenian Genocide committed by Turkey and
doesn’t want America to recognize that genocide. And they understood
that NPFH – the name is a federally registered ADL trademark – was
violating its own human rights principles by being affiliated with
a genocide-denying organization.

The ADL has hypocritically opposed acknowledgment of the Armenian
holocaust to win political points with Turkey, which has close
relations with Israel. In actuality, the ADL is a highly controversial,
ethnic-specific organization known to be focused on political lobbying,
not universal human rights.

So why hasn’t Blue Cross Blue Shield followed the lead of towns that
have severed ties to NPFH?

Here’s what we know. Several years back, Peter Meade, the recently
retired Blue Cross Blue Shield vice president, "was instrumental in
mobilizing Blue Cross" to become the state’s first official NPFH
corporation. And Meade sits – amazing coincidence No. 1 – on the
board of the New England ADL and received its Chairperson’s Award.

Meade also chairs the Greenway Conservancy, which will oversee future
upkeep of Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. For some strange reason –
amazing coincidence No. 2 – he opposes the Greenway’s proposed Armenian
Heritage Park, which might include a small plaque that remembers
the victims of the Armenian Genocide. It’s an obvious conflict of
interest for a member of the genocide-denying ADL to sit in judgment
of anything Armenian. But so far the well-connected Meade has gotten
away with it, aided by a major Boston paper that won’t report that
conflict of interest.

And here’s amazing coincidence No. 3: Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Boston
headquarters is hosting this year’s board meetings of the Greenway
Conservancy.

How much has Blue Cross Blue Shield been spending on NPFH programs?

It won’t give me a figure, and I can guess why. Blue Cross Blue Shield
was recently in the spotlight for the controversial $16.4 million
retirement package it lavished on ex-Chairman William Van Faasen.

Interestingly, Van Faasen declared in 2001 that Blue Cross Blue
Shield was "pleased [to] assist the ADL" with NPFH. Which brings us
to amazing coincidence No. 4: Van Faasen received the ADL’s coveted
Maimonides award.

Another Blue Cross Blue Shield executive, Vice President Fredi
Shonkoff, "helped spearhead" the company’s designation as NPFH. How
might that have happened? Amazing coincidence No. 5: Shonkoff sat on
the ADL’s board, along with Peter Meade.

Are you getting the feeling that the ADL and its board members and
friends have been throwing their weight around inside Blue Cross Blue
Shield, the Greenway Conservancy and the state’s NPFH municipalities?

Think of the powerful ADL as the hub of an enormous wheel with these
spokes: NPFH – Blue Cross Blue Shield – Shonkoff – Van Faasen –
Meade – the Greenway Conservancy – opposition to the Armenian Park –
denial of the Armenian Genocide – Turkey.

Had a Holocaust-denying organization created and sponsored NPFH,
Blue Cross Blue Shield would long ago have cut ties with both of them.

Blue Cross Blue Shield apparently believes Armenians and their genocide
do not deserve the same respect.

And, yes, the ADL still denies the Armenian genocide. Last August, ADL
National Director Abe Foxman deliberately used ambiguous phrases such
as "tantamount to genocide" and language that parroted Turkey’s line
that the mass murder of Armenians from 1915-23 was not intentional,
but rather just an unfortunate "consequence" of wartime conditions.

Blue Cross Blue Shield is squandering not only its subscribers’
premiums but also the reputations of a 70-year old health-care
institution and its dedicated employees. One hopeful sign: Blue Cross
Blue Shield told me, "Each year we carefully evaluate our commitment
to the NPFH program."

Though Massachusetts treats Blue Cross Blue Shield as a nonprofit,
the feds consider it for-profit. Since corporate contributions to
groups such as NPFH are tax-deductible, everyone is paying for NPFH.

And if you’re a Blue Cross Blue Shield subscriber, as thousands in
Watertown surely are, you’re shelling out even more.

Turkish doctors experimented on Armenians during the genocide just
as German doctors did on Jews during the Holocaust, according to
a study published in "Holocaust and Genocide Studies." Would any
network of doctors tolerate a health-care corporation affiliated with
an organization that denied or diminished the Holocaust? Of course not.

Blue Cross Blue Shield network doctors, therefore, should insist that
Blue Cross Blue Shield cease participation in all ADL programs.

Blue Cross Blue Shield needs to drop its official NPFH designation,
stop misusing its members’ precious health-care dollars on NPFH and
sever ties with the ADL.

NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANT TO BE BUILT IN ARMENIA BY 2016

AZG Armenian Daily
20/03/2008

Energy

During a round-table discussion, dedicated to Dr. Gerd Rosenkratz’s
"Nuclear Energy. Facts and Fiction" book, Deputy-Minister for Power
Engineering of Armenia Areg Galstian told the reporters that Russia,
the USA and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not only
approve the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia, but
are also working out a strategy of preferential deliveries of nuclear
fuel to the country, which will help develop Armenia’s nuclear power
engineering more actively,

According to the Deputy-Minister, the feasibility study of the new
NPP in Armenia will be completed by September-October 2008. He
also reminded that the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is to
be shut down by 2016; therefore the new one is to be ready before
that. "Economic estimations show that there is no alternative to
the nuclear power engineering in Armenia. Estimations on creation
of alternative generation sources have been made over the past 8
years. For this purpose, well-known foreign firms were involved in
the process, however, their estimations showed that the most optimal
variant is developing of the nuclear power engineering", Galstian said.

At present the Metsamor NPP generates 45% of total electricity in
Armenia. Armenia and Russia have already set up a joint venture for
prospecting of uranium in Armenian territory. Earlier Armenia ratified
an agreement on active participation in the work of the international
uranium enrichment center in Angarsk. The participation in this project
will help Armenia not only to supply its NPP with fuel but also to
export uranium (provided that the present prospecting expedition finds
sufficient uranium resources). Armenia’s total uranium resources are
estimated at 60,000 tons. Experts say that the construction of a new
1,000 MW NPP will cost $1.5bln.

"BASES OF A STATEHOOD NEED MORE SERIOUS AND STRICTER LEGISLATIVE PROTECTION", ARMENIAN PRESIDENT STATED

Mediamax
March 20, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenian President Robert Kocharian stated today
that the events of March 1-2 in Yerevan showed that "the bases of
our statehood need more serious and stricter legislative protection".

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
Robert Kocharian stated that this became one of the most important
lessons of the mass unrest.

"Democracy needs to be protected from the tyranny of the crowd. In
recent years we carried out many reforms in various spheres; however
the latest events showed that the protection of the bases of our
statehood is not registered in the laws the way it should be. For
example, in the process of the rallies, the representatives of radical
opposition publicly called on employees of law-enforcement bodies and
Armed Forces to renounce service. In Germany, criminal punishment for
the term of up to 5 years is provided for such urges", the Armenian
President stated.

Robert Kocharian stated that at present the specialists are studying
European experience, and he intends to initiate toughening of
legislation to improve the protection of bases of statehood and to
prevent public propaganda of violence.

"This does by no means mean that these steps will be taken up in
prejudice of democracy. On the contrary, these steps will allow
protecting democracy from political adventurism", the Armenian
President stressed.

Among other lessons, Robert Kocharian named the inadmissibility of
involving non-governmental organizations into illegal processes. The
Armenian President noted that practically all members of public
organization of veteran-volunteers "Spirit Testing" and a certain
part of the members of public organization of veteran-volunteers
"Yerkrapah" participated in the unrest.

"The prospect of repetition of such a situation should be definitely
ruled out. Not a single organization should consider itself a
"Joker", otherwise it will turn into serious problems for the Armenian
statehood", the Armenian President stated.