Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT DUE IN MOSCOW
RosBusinessConsulting, Russia
Oct 30 2006
RBC, 30.10.2006, Moscow 10:26:59.Armenia’s President Robert
Kocharian is expected in Russia for an official visit on October
30-31, 2006. In Moscow, President Kocharian will have talks with his
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two presidents are scheduled
to consider the most urgent cooperation issues and the performance of
top-level agreements with regards to enhancing the Russian-Armenian
interaction, specifically, in fuel and energy and transportation
spheres, as well as direct economic ties between various regions of
Russia and Armenia. The two heads of states will also share their
views concerning the intensification of interaction in the context
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Efforts for the
recovery in the Caucasus as well as for the fostering of confidence
and cooperation will also be in the focus.
As reported earlier, 2005 was the Year of Russia in Armenia, and the
year 2006 will be celebrated in Russia as the Year of Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TOBB CHAIRMAN HISARCýKLýOðLU: THE MOOD IN BUSINESS CIRCLES IS BAD
The New Anatolian, Turkey
EkoTurk News Agency / Artvin
Oct 30 2006
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Rifat
Hisarcýklýoðlu has said the mood in business circles is bad due to
latest economic developments.
Participating in a joint meeting of the provincial chamber in the
northeastern city of Artvin, Hisarcýklýoðlu assessed the economic
and political situation in Turkey.
The TOBB chairman reminded that protested bills rose by 47 pct in
the first half of the year over the last year’s same period, adding,
32 pct of business people think course of economic affairs will get
better while 30 pct think will get and that indicates “The mood in
business circles is bad”.
Stating that he never allowed his institution to become a backyard
or frontyard of any political party, Hisarcýklýoðlu said he was
as close to Erdoðan, the Premier, as Baykal, the leader of main
opposition party.
The chairman underlined that the TOBB was over domestic politics and
he was well aware of that.
TOBB chairman Hisarcýklýoðlu drew attention to the importance of
foreign policies, and said, ‘If you cannot manage your foreign
politics, then you shake your economy. The mistakes at this field
costs much. It is not enough to be rightful in the international
arena. We landed in Cyprus in 1974 for just reasons, but who faced
embargoes? We accepted Annan Plan in 2004 despite some negative
aspects, but no promises were kept anyway. In Armenian issue, we said
we would open our archives, but Armenians are getting what they want
across the world. The important thing is to tell your just position
to the world not to react or do something. We could not achieve that.
We cannot make lobbying and promotion.’ On the pure economic front,
Hisarcýklýoðlu said, ‘They say let’s cut imports. But, that would lead
for the worse. The only solution is to raise production. Turkey may
enter the top 10 most developed countries in 20 years. On the condition
that the state to free us from shackles in our feet. Sectoral and
regional incentives must be introduced in Turkey. Only 6 provinces
are pleased about the current practice. We believe we can achieve
everything. Turkey which made only $2 bln exports 20 years ago,
now make $80 bln exports. Moreover, we make 64 pct of our exports
to EU countries. This has been done with Turkish entrepreneurs and
industrialists. We can achieve more.
We demand from the state to free us from our shackles.’
–Boundary_(ID_K6gkOzDFOKBn7RnNpEyGlQ) —

TRIAL LAWYER ‘BULLIED’ BY DISTRICT PROSECUTOR
By Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 30 2006
Armenia’s bar association demanded on Monday tough disciplinary action
against a district prosecutor in Yerevan who allegedly intimidated
and threatened to imprison a trial lawyer representing a criminal
suspect. The Office of the Prosecutor-General was quick to reject
the demand.
The attorney, Liana Balian, says that Gevorg Tovmasian, the chief
prosecutor of the city’s Avan and Nor Nork districts, and two other
law-enforcement officials visited her on Saturday after she refused
to obey his verbal orders to come to his office.
“Without a court order or any other legal grounds, they burst into my
apartment and started threatening me in the presence of my parents and
my daughter,” Balian told RFE/RL. She claimed that Tovmasian shouted
abuse and threatened to prosecute and beat her if she continues to
vigorously defend a man charged with rape.
The suspect, Norayk Rubenian, was taken into custody earlier this year
despite protesting his innocence. In a rare setback for prosecutors,
Balian succeeded in having a district court release him on bail on
Friday, the day before the alleged incidents. However, the court
allowed the prosecutors on Sunday to again arrest the suspect, citing
“additional accusations” leveled against him.
The lawyer’s allegations were picked up by the leadership of Armenia’s
Chamber of Advocates that held an emergency meeting on Monday and
demanded that Tovmasian be brought to account. “Why did the prosecutor
go to the lawyer’s home?” its chairman, Ruben Sahakian, said. “What
was he doing there on Saturday?”
But the Office of the Prosecutor-General defended the prosecutor’s
actions, saying that he visited Balian to “explain” that she and
her client have to cooperate with the ongoing criminal investigation
into the rape allegedly committed in 2004. “The district prosecutor
acted within the boundaries of his powers,” a spokeswoman for the
law-enforcement agency, Sona Truzian, told RFE/RL. She said the
suspect was planning to flee the country and therefore has to be kept
in pre-trial detention.
Acquittal of individuals charged with various crimes is extremely rare
in Armenia, with judges siding with prosecutors in the vast majority
of cases. According to official statistics, Armenian courts handed
down some 1,500 verdicts on criminal cases in the first half of this
year and only four of them cleared defendants of any wrongdoing.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OFFICIAL ESTIMATES POST-SOVIET EXODUS
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 30 2006
At least 900,000 people have left Armenia since the break-up of the
Soviet Union and the resulting near collapse of the Armenian economy,
a senior government official said on Monday.
“According to our estimates, the number of people that have
out-migrated from the country since 1992 varies between 900,000 and one
million,” Gagik Yeganian, head of the Armenian government’s Migration
Agency, told RFE/RL.
The number of Armenians who have gone abroad, mainly to Russia,
in search of employment has long been a matter of contention, with
various government officials, independent experts and politicians
suggesting different figures. Citing a census conducted five years
ago, the government puts Armenia’s current population at, at just
over 3 million, sharply down from the late Soviet level of 3.8 million.
The census also found that some 200,000 people reside and work on a
“temporary” basis. Its results are challenged by opposition politicians
who say that the out-migration occurred on an even larger scale.
Yeganian claimed that the exodus all but ground to a halt in 2001 and
insisted that Armenia is not facing a demographic crisis at present,
even if thousands of its citizens continue to seek asylum in the
West and European Union countries in particular for economic reasons
each year.
Experts agree that a small percentage of the Armenian migrants began
returning to their homeland several years ago, buoyed by its slow
economic recovery. But they also point to the difficult reintegration
of the returnees into Armenian society resulting from a continuing
lack of jobs.
Yeganian said the government has no specific plans to spur the modest
repatriation and is using instead its scarce resources to improve
the plight of people that have chosen to stay in Armenia. He also
dismissed hopes for a sizable increase in the country’s as a result
of a recent constitutional change that enables foreigners of Armenian
descent to become citizens of Armenia. “To hope that the influx of
permanent residents will increase after the introduction of dual
citizenship would be wrong,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS WITH FRENCH AMBASSADOR
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 30 2006
YEREVAN, October 30. /ARKA/. RA Minister of Defense held a meeting
with the outgoing French Ambassador to Armenia Henry Cuny.
Press Secretary of the RA Minister of Defense, Colonel Seyran
Shahsuvaryan reported that during the meeting Sargsyan pointed out
that Armenian-French relations are developing from year to year. The
Minister also stated that a striking evidence of this is French
President Jacque Chirac’s visit to Armenia.
Sargsyan thanked the French Ambassador for his efficient activities in
Armenia and contribution to the development of defense cooperation. He
wished Henry Cuny success in his further activities.
In his turn, Ambassador Cuny expressed his appreciation of Armenia’s
attitude toward France. He pointed out his special attitude toward
the Armenian people and culture. He pointed out that he has collected
a rich library about Armenia.
Ambassador Cuny expressed the confidence that during his next
visit to Yerevan peace will be established in the region, and the
Armenian-Turkish border will be re-opened. Closed borders are an
anachronism, unbecoming behavior for the countries applying for
joining the European family, Cuny said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KOMMERSANT SAYS MOSCOW WILL USE ARMENIA FOR PUTTING PRESSURE ON GEORGIA
Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
Oct 30 2006
According to the Russian business daily Kommersant Moscow will use
Armenia for putting pressure on Georgia.
The Newspaper issue of Monday morning views the forthcoming visit
of Robert Kocharyan, president of Armenia, to Moscow scheduled for
October 30-31. Robert Kocharyan is scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin,
Russian president, on Monday evening. The sides will presumably speak
about Georgia.
“Kremlin searches for methods to put pressure on self-confident
Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia,” the newspaper reads.
The Kommersant does not exclude that Moscow will ask Armenia to
arrange ‘disorder’ in Samtskhe-Javakheti region, where about 200
ethnic Armenians live.
Georgian experts reckon that ‘disorders’ are not excluded in the
region as Armenia depends on Russia politically and economically. On
the other hand it is not profitable for Armenia to tense relations
with Georgia as the only way it is connected with Europe and Russia
goes through Georgia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

L’ARMENIE, PAYS MILLENAIRE, MARTYR ET FIER
Le Figaro, France
30 octobre 2006
“Armenie, mon amie” n’est pas une simple formule diplomatique. Elle
reflète une realite. Aucun nuage n’a jamais terni le ciel de nos
relations avec cette petite Republique (la plus petite de l’ex-URSS),
vieille comme le monde et reduite aujourd’hui au dixième de sa
superficie historique : 29 000 km 2 contre 300 000 aux temps du roi
des rois, Tigrane II, au I er siècle avant J.-C., lorsque le royaume
s’etendait de la mer Noire a la mer Caspienne, englobant le Kurdistan,
une partie de l’Iran et de la Mesopotamie, le nord-est de la Turquie et
la Cilicie jusqu’a Antioche. Huit siècles de destins entremeles, depuis
les Croisades, ont forge des liens indestructibles entre la France
et ce pays, fier d’etre le plus ancien Etat christianise au monde,
en l’an 301. Et le dernier roi chretien a perdre son royaume face aux
Arabes, en 1375, n’etait autre que le roi de Cilicie, un Franc du nom
de Leon V de Lusignan, mort a Paris, a la cour de France, en 1393. Ces
liens, l’histoire les a renforces. Le XX e siècle les a confirmes avec
l’accueil, sur notre sol, de 500 000 refugies du genocide perpetre par
les Turcs en 1915. Le XXI e siècle vient enfin de les consacrer : la
France est, aujourd’hui, le seul pays a avoir officiellement reconnu
et condamne le genocide, par la loi du 21 janvier 2001. L’annee qui
va leur etre consacree, ouverte symboliquement le jour de leur fete
nationale, le 21 septembre, et qui s’achèvera le 14 juillet 2007,
va nous permettre de prendre contact avec une culture d’une profonde
richesse, emanant d’une nation de moins de 3 millions d’habitants,
et de 8 millions d’exiles, membres d’une des diasporas les plus
solidaires du monde.
–Boundary_(ID_OYlBaazktoaTQTewlCYlSw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ECOLOGICAL SITUATION IN TERRITORIES OF FROZEN CONFLICTS TO BE DISCUSSED IN VIENNA
Author: A.Ismaylova
TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 30 2006
The representatives of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Austria will
participate in the meeting of the Consultation Council of the
Organization for Environmental & Security Initiatives (ENVSEC) that
will focus on the ecological situation in the territories of frozen
conflicts of South Caucasus. The meeting will take place on 31 October
in Vienna, Trend reports quoting the Azerbaijan Embassy in Austria.
This initiative was made by the UNO, OSCE, NATO, U.N. Environmental
Program, European Commission and Center for Environment. The meeting
will be opened by the
OSCE Co-ordinator for Economical and Ecological Activities, Head of
ENVSEC, Bernard Snoy. Thereafter, the representatives for Eastern
Europe, Southern-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus will
be presented.
The OSCE International Expert Group headed by Bernard Snoy arrived
in Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the ecological damages inflicted by the
fires started by Armenians in occupied Azerbaijani territories. After
a 10-day of monitoring, the mission confirmed that the fires covered
a large territory and had inflicted significant damage. The expert
group considers that it is necessary to strengthen the efforts to
prevent the fires within regional and international co-operation.

RAILWAY IN ARMENIA: RUSSIA READY TO CONTROL RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE OF ARMENIA
Railway Market Magazine, Poland
Oct 30 2006
The talks of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Armenia’s
counterpart Robert Kocharian begin in Moscow onOctober 30th, 2006.
The key issue of agenda is the last lucrative asset of Armenian
infrastructure – its railway facilities.
Moscow that just half a year ago, persuaded Armenia to buy Russia’s
gas at $110/ths cu meters instead of $54/ths cu meters and insisted
on transferring to Gazprom a portion of Iran-Armenia’s gas pipeline
and Razdan Thermal Station is eyeing Armenian railway system now.
Three weeks ago, Armenia announced the intention to grant on concession
its railways and is currently preparing a tender, which successful
bidder will control the railways in the following 40 years. But Moscow
has been long craving for reviving the through railway service via
Sukhumi to Erevan, the capital of Armenia. In future, it may turn
into a key component of North-South transport corridor, where Iran
will participate.
The interest is so high that Moscow will probably urge Kocharian
to suggest the name of the winner to arrangers or to transfer the
facilities to Russian Railways (RZD) with no tender at all.
Georgia could become another delicate issue to be raised at the
talks. In the Kremlin, they are continuously looking for the methods
to pressurize Mikhail Saakashvili. Georgia fears one of the options
could be halting electric energy deliveries from Russia and Armenia
in winter.
Another concern of Georgia is its Samtshe-Dzhavakhetia region,
which is the whereabouts for around 200,000 ethnic Armenians. There,
the atmosphere is rather heated as many locals used to work at the
Akhalkalaki base, of which Russia’s military are pulling out today.
So, Moscow may prompt Armenia to stage some turmoil there.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OPPORTUNITIES OF GETTING CONFIDENCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT
Lragir, Armenia
Oct 30 2006
In a public poll conducted by the Gallup Institute 37 percent of
respondents think that first the government must create jobs to
enjoy the support of the society. 21 percent think that it should
enhance democracy, 18 percent point to raising salaries and pensions,
15 percent mention legitimacy of election. 7 percent think that the
government should keep their promises, 8 percent think they can get
people’s support if they make sufficient anti-corruption efforts. 4
percent of respondents think that in order to enjoy the support of
the public the government should conduct a correct policy. 3 percent
think the government should aid the homeless and the elderly people
and another 3 percent think that the taxes should be cut. 2 percent of
respondents think the government should reach unification of Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh to get the support of the public. 17 percent of
respondents gave other answers, and 9 percent declined to answer.
At the same time, 39 percent of respondents said they are not
interested in political events, 30 percent indicated average interest,
and 31 percent said they are highly interested in politics.
The poll was conducted from July 31 to August 10. 1200 adult residents
of Armenia took part in the poll.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress