Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIA-EU PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMISSION CALLS TURKEY FOR ESTABLISHING RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA WITHOUT ANY PRECONDITIONS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 05 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia-European Union Parliamentary
Cooperation Commission calls Turkey for completely corresponding to
its status of candidate to EU membership and without any preconditions
undertaking steps in the direction of establishing diplomatic and
good-neighborly relations with Armenia, opening the land border as
soon as possible, as well as reopening the Kars-Gyumri railway. This
was mentioned in the statement-proposals adopted at the Commission’s
9th sitting held on January 29-30 in Brussels.

Armen Rustamian, Commission’s Co-chairman, Chairman of RA NA Standing
Committee of Foreign Relations, presenting the document consisting of
42 points at the February 5 press conference, said that the document
mainly relates to EU-Armenia relations, domestic situation in Armenia,
Nagorno Karabakh settlement and Armenian-Turkish relations.

In the context of EU-Armenia relations the Commission, in particular,
called the European Commission for initiating a realizable study in
the direction of creating a possible agreement on free trade between
EU and Armenia.

In the part relating to domestic situation in Armenia the Commission
especially attached importance to ensuring of holding of 2007
parliamentary elections in correspondence with international standards,
as well as necessity of raising opposition’s role. The Commission also
greeted events on fighting corruption by the government at the same
time emphasizing that this is still considered as a serious problem.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSTRUCTION GROWS BY 37.1% IN ARMENIA IN 2006

Noyan Tapan
Feb 05 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2006, construction of 623 bln
111.5 mln drams (more than 1 bln 497.7 mln USD) was done in Armenia,
including construction of production facilities of 255 bln 141.9
mln drams. Building and assembly work (including that of production
facilities worth 209 bln 368.8 mln drams) made up 571 bln 582.4 mln
drams of the work done.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, construction work
grew by 37.1% in 2006 on 2005, building and assembly work – by 37.2%.

Last year, 788 new residentail buildings with the total area of
365,721 sq.m. were put into operation at the expense of of resources
of the state budget, population, organizations and humanitarian aid,
which made 106.6% of the area put into operation in 2005.

In 2006, 4 new comprehensive schools for a total of 700 pupils were
put into operation in the country. 102 comprehensive schools were
repaired last year, including 92 comprehensive schools – with state
budgetary resources.

25 road sections of the total length of 111.66 km were repaired by
the program on capital repairs of roads of state importance, including
54.57 km of interstate roads, 31.5 km of republican roads and 25.59 km
of regional and community roads. 22 bridges were repaired, including
3 bridges on interstate roads, 3 – on republican ones and 16 bridges
on roads of local importance.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN MINISTER, OSCE HEAD DISCUSS REGIONAL ISSUES

Arminfo
5 Feb 07

Yerevan, 5 February: Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan held
today a meeting with the chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
Goran Lennmarker, who is in Yerevan within the framework of his
regional visit.

Welcoming the guest, the Armenian foreign minister expressed
his satisfaction with an increase of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly’s interest to the region, the press service of the Armenian
Foreign Ministry told Arminfo. The sides discussed the forthcoming
parliamentary election to be held in May. In connection with this,
the head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly expressed his confidence
that the election will be held in line with the highest standards.

The sides also touched on settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

Lennmarker pointed out the need to establish an atmosphere of
confidence which will help Armenia and Azerbaijan to partake in
programmes of the EU New Neighbourhood Policy and implement joint
projects.

At the end of the meeting, the sides touched on Lennmarker’s report
on peaceful solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TAX REVENUES OF ARMENIA GROW BY 19.9% IN 2006

Noyan Tapan
Feb 05 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2006, the tax revenues of the RA
state budget made 364.9 bln drams (more than 877 mln USD), thanks to
which the annual program was overfulfilled by 1.2%. According to the
press service of the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, tax revenues
grew by 19.9% or by 60.7 bln drams on the previous year. High growth
rates were registered with respect to almost all types of taxes,
which is a result of the economic growth and improved administration.

The increase in collection of direct taxes (profit tax, income tax)
continued in 2006, which resulted in an improvement in the structure of
tax revenues compared with the same period of the previous year. The
share of direct taxes (profit tax and income tax) grew by 3.6% –
from 24% to 27.6%. At the same time, the share of indirect taxes
(VAT and excise tax) declined from 60.9% to 56.4%.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. DONATES MILITARY HOSPITAL TO ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Feb 5 2007

The United States has provided the Armenian army with a mobile field
hospital which it hopes will help to widen Yerevan’s participation
in Western-led military operations.

The $1.2 million facility, inaugurated by U.S. and Armenian officials
at the weekend, will be part of a special battalion of Armenia’s
Armed Forces that provides troops for the U.S.-led occupation force
in Iraq and the NATO-led peace-keeping contingent in Kosovo. The
opening ceremony followed a week-long training course that was held
by U.S. instructors for 43 Armenian medical personnel assigned to
operate the Mobile Expeditionary Medical Support (EMEDS) hospital.

Lieutenant Colonel Doug Peterson, chief of the Office of Defense
Cooperation at the U.S. embassy in Armenia, said the donation marked
the beginning of "intensive medical training and cooperation between"
the Armenian and U.S. militaries. The hospital will receive more U.S.
equipment later this year or early next, he said.

According to Anthony Godfrey, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Yerevan,
the assistance is meant to facilitate "future Armenian military
deployments with coalition or NATO forces" stationed in various
conflict zones. He indicated last month that Washington would welcome
Armenian involvement in the alliance’s ongoing multinational mission
in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military had already provided significant assistance to
the Armenian peace-keeping battalion. The Armenian Defense Ministry
plans to expand the volunteer unit into an army brigade in the next
few years.

Its creation in 2003 reflected Yerevan’s desire to "complement"
the military alliance with Russia with closer security ties with
NATO and the U.S. in particular. The dispatch of a small contingent
of Armenian troops to Iraq in January 2005 underscored the policy
change. The Armenian parliament extended the unpopular mission by
another year last December.

As part of that policy, the Armenian leadership has also embarked
on a of reform of the armed forces which is supposed to bring their
structure and practices closer to Western standards. It involves,
among other things, a gradual "civilianization" of the Armenian Defense
Ministry which is almost fully staffed by army officers at present.

This and other aspects of the reform were discussed at an international
seminar that opened in Yerevan on Monday. The three-day forum was
organized by the Defense Ministry and the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies, a renowned institution financed by the
U.S. and German governments. Among its 60 participants are defense
officials from Estonia, Latvia and Bulgaria, ex-Communist countries
that were admitted to NATO after implementing similar reforms.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the seminar, Deputy Defense
Minister Artur Aghabekian again made it clear that Armenia has no
ambition to join NATO in the foreseeable future.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘DINK CASE SHOULD NOT PIT POLICE, GENDARMERIE AGAINST EACH OTHER’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 5 2007

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday Turkey’s two main
security organizations, the police and the gendarmerie, should work
in cooperation and effectively share intelligence, amid allegations
of a rift between the two institutions.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday Turkey’s two main
security organizations, the police and the gendarmerie, should work
in cooperation and effectively share intelligence.

Gul, responding to questions on allegations of a rift between the
Gendarmerie Command and the Police Directorate-General after the
murder on Jan. 19 of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, said
cooperation and solidarity between the two institutions would help
prevent wrongdoing.

Allegations of disagreement between the gendarmerie, attached to the
General Staff, and the police have become widespread after the leaking
to the press of footage showing members of the police and gendarmerie
posing for a "souvenir photo" with Ogun Samast, the prime suspect in
Dink’s murder.

The footage, obtained exclusively by a private television station,
was first reported to have been shot at one of the gendarmerie’s
stations. But the Gendarmerie Command angrily denied the report and
said it had been shot at a police station in Samsun, where Samast had
been captured after a nationwide manhunt. The gendarmerie also said
that gendarmerie personnel seen in the images were personnel assigned
to hand over the suspect to the police and added that the leaking of
the footage to the press was "purposeful," without elaborating.

The police, for its part, have announced an investigation has been
launched to find out how the footage was leaked to the press.

"There should be no dispute between the gendarmerie and the police,"
Gul told reporters in Ankara, just before departing for a visit to
the United States. "These are all institutions of Turkey. These are
institutions that should work in cooperation and should not envy each
other." Samast was seen in the video holding out a Turkish flag and
posing with officers. Behind Samast was a poster with another Turkish
flag carrying the words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern
Turkey: "The nation’s land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate."

Information overload?

But wary of negative effects that the press coverage may have on
the ongoing investigation, Ýstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Aykut
Cengiz Engin said most of the information published in the press was
"incorrect" and added, "We are concerned that this kind of wrong
and confusing information might lead to unjustified expectations
in society."

Cengiz also complained that testimonies of the suspects were published
in newspapers and that this complicated the investigation.

"We ask members of the press not to pay attention to statements and
information other than those provided by authorized officials and show
the necessary sensitivity for the well-being of the investigation,"
he said.

Engin noted that some 26 people have been detained in connection with
the murder and that eight of them were later sent to jail.

–Boundary_(ID_iDZjf+yREWTrjRrX0vlZuA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY’S STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH US FACES TEST

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 5 2007

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is in the US invited by US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and will start talks today. This visit is
being made in an atmosphere of Turkish expectations for concrete steps
from the US side in connection with the "Iraq" issue and "Armenian
genocide" claims, both considered by the Turkish government as the
highest ranking items on its agenda for 2007.

Gul’s agenda with top ranking figures in the US administration consists
of measures to be taken against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and
a possible cross-border operation, the "Armenian genocide" resolution
to be heard by the US House of Representatives, the referendum in
Kirkuk, developments in Iraq, Iran’s nuclear activities, Cyprus,
Syria and the Middle East.

Gul is expected to clearly state Turkey’s expectations from the US
administation, saying "concerete steps must be taken against the
terrorist organization PKK. Turkey cannot be expected to accept
genocide claims, and therefore, the genocide resolution must be
blocked. No referendum should be held in Kirkuk without a mutual
agreement ensured among the related parties." Ankara wants Washington
to maintain its attitude against the "genocide resolution," assuring
Turkey that the resolution will be rejected. Gul will request the
US administration to throw its weight against the issue, noting
that Turkish-American relations will be deeply affected in case the
resolution is accepted.

In a statement made at Esenboða Airport in Ankara before his departure,
Gul frequently underlined the "joint vision document" pertaining to the
status of relations between two countries. "I believe that this visit
will help to improve the deeply rooted bilateral relations between
Turkey and the US as two close allies in all areas," he said. The joint
vision document, issued during Gul’s visit to Washington in July 2006,
lists actions for further improvements in Turkish-American relations
defined as "strategic partnership."

During his visit, the Turkish foreign minister will meet top US
officials. In Washington D.C. Gul will meet Vice-President Dick Cheney,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the President’s National
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. He will also have working meetings
with several members of the US Congress. The Congress has recently been
discussing a controversial Armenian Genocide Resolution. Nancy Pelosi,
the Democrat House Speaker is not on Gul’s meeting list. Pelosi is
known to be one of the strongest voices of the pro-Armenian resolution
camp. Gul is going to give a speech at the German Marshall Fund
in Washington.

The new UN secretary-general will be reminded of Cyprus Gul is going
to continue his contacts in New York on February, 4 where he will
meet the new Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon.

Gul will ask Ki-Moon to hold on to the report prepared after the Annan
Plan. Ankara wants to see the report prepared by Kofi Annan after the
2004 referendum in Cyprus discussed in the UN Security Council. The
foreign minister is going to give a speech at the prestigious Council
on Foreign Relations about Iraq and the Middle East. Gul will head
back to Turkey on the evening of February 9. Upon Gul’s return to the
country, the Chief-of-Staff, General Yaþar Buyukanýt will fly to the
US on February 11. Suleyman Kurt Ankara

–Boundary_(ID_pAmRM0EwsUlbDo+D7SBFlg)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS POLICE INTELLIGENCE CHIEF IN ISTANBUL

The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Feb 5 2007

ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey’s government on Monday suspended the police
intelligence chief of Istanbul as part of an investigation into the
killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist in the city last month,
the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported.

The suspension of intelligence chief Ahmet Ilhan Guler, announced
by Interior Ministry officials, the agency said, follows the Jan. 19
killing of Hrant Dink. The 52-year-old journalist had angered Turkish
nationalists with repeated assertions that the mass killings of
Armenians around the time of World War I was genocide.

More than 100,000 people marched at Dink’s funeral, many of them
chanting for Turkey to abolish a repressive article in the penal code
used against many intellectuals, including Dink, who spoke openly on
controversial topics.

It is a crime to insult Turkey or the Turkish national character.

TURKISH OFFICIAL HAILS GOVERNMENT’S FOREIGN POLICY

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 31 2007

Ankara (A.A) 0 31 Jan 2006 -Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
foreign relations adviser and AKP [Justice and Development Party]
Deputy for Istanbul Egemen Bagis gave a seminar called "Foreign Policy"
at the AKP’s Ankara Provincial Chairmanship Political Academy.

At the meeting, which was arranged by the AKP Ankara Provincial
Chairmanship, Egemen Bagis talked about developments in Turkish
foreign policy noted under the AKP government.

Stating that in 2002 Turkey was a country whose relations with its
neighbours were going from bad to worse, Bagis said that over time
important steps were taken in relations with such countries as Greece,
Syria, Bulgaria, Romania, Iran, Georgia and Russia. Bagis said,
"We neither deceived nor were we deceived in foreign policy."

Noting that Turkey had made historic success in its EU bid, Bagis
listed many noteworthy developments such as a Turk being chosen as
general secretary for the OIC, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
being co-chairman of the Alliance of Civilizations project, and Turkey
hosting the NATO Summit.

Stating that not one of these developments had been a matter of chance,
Bagis said that the AKP wanted to return to power a second and even
a third time and complete the work left unfinished during this time.

Questions By Participants

Having set aside part of the seminar to answer questions posed by
participants, Bagis when asked about the Greek Cypriot administration’s
bid to search for oil around the island emphasized, "Turkey is not
going to sit idly by as long as the Cyprus problem remains unsolved."

When asked whether or not Turkey’s rapprochement with Iran might annoy
the United States, Bagis said, "There is no point in anybody getting
annoyed with Turkey developing good relations with its neighbours"
and added that having said that Turkey had been one of the countries
quickest to oppose Iran developing a nuclear arms programme.

Bagis pointed out that Iran needed to conduct its nuclear work in
coordination with the IAEA and the international community.

Regional, Universal Peace And Turkey’s Interests

Bagis stated that since the first day the AKP came to power they
had taken regional and universal peace plus Turkey’s interests into
consideration when formulating foreign policy.

Stating that it was not enough to be right and that a country also
had to be powerful, Bagis pointed out that Turkey needed to strengthen
itself in strategic terms saying, "If being right was ever enough we
would not be tackling the Cyprus and Armenian problems now; you have
to be powerful."

Touching also on the steps taken by Turkey in the field of economics,
Bagis noted that the removal of six zeros from Turkish currency was
a reform in and of itself.

Bagis referred to Prime Minister Erdogan as "the most successful
prime minister in the history of the Republic."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EVENING DEDICATED TO 295th ANNIVERSARY OF SAYAT NOVA HELD IN MINSK

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Feb 05 2007

MINSK, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A literary music
evening party dedicated to the 295th anniversary of Armenian prominent
composer Sayat Nova was held on January 31 in Minsk, at the People’s
Friendship House. The event was organized by the "Belarus-Armenia"
company and by the Belarus Association of Friendship and Ties with
Foreign Countries, with the assistance of the Belarus Armenian
community and the Embassy of Armenia.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, eminent literary critics of Belarus presented
the spectators the creative path passed by Sayat Nova, articles of a
Polish publication of the 19th century dedicated to the composer were
read, Sayat Nova’s works were performed in the Armenian, Russian and
Belarusian languages. Parts of performance of Sayat Nova’s songs from
the "Sayat Nova" film were shown.

A representative of the Embassy of Armenia expressed a speech of
gratitude addressed to the evening organizers and participants.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress