Author: Emil Lazarian

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS WILL MEET IN VIENNA

ArmRadio.am
22.06.2006 10:12

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the Karabakh conflict settlement will
meet today in Vienna. Mathew Bryza will be officially presented as
new US Co-Chair.

ROSE-ROTH SEMINAR OF NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TO BE HELD IN SOCHI

ArmRadio.am
22.06.2006 10:37

Issues related to the security in South Caucasus, Russia-NATO
cooperation, as well as the role of civil society in the settlement
of "frozen" conflicts will be discussed today during the "Rose-Roth"
seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to start today in Sochi.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIGHTING EU ‘ENLARGEMENT FATIGUE’
by Alison Smale and Dan Bilefsky

The International Herald Tribune, France
June 20, 2006 Tuesday

Commissioner urges leaders to speak out

Olli Rehn, the European Union’s expansion commissioner, issued a
strong call Monday to European leaders to sell enlargement to voters
and not make it a scapegoat of larger policy failures such as high
unemployment and globalization.

"Enlargement blues could be called ‘unemployment blues’ or
‘globalization blues’," Rehn, a Finn, said in an interview at his
office. "The origins are much deeper in our social fabric."

Rehn, who has been responsible for enlargement for almost two years,
acknowledged that the policy was a tough sell. On vacation last summer
in France and Germany, he said, he heard popular criticism.

"I am not blind or deaf," he said. "I could see there is a certain
enlargement fatigue."

But, he argued, Europeans are often "more rational" than their
governments and can be sold on the notion that the absorption of eight
former communist countries and Cyprus and Malta all of which became
members in May 2004 has been a success story, uniting a Continent
previously divided by the Cold War.

"We should not make enlargement a scapegoat for our domestic policy
failures," he said, adding, "The European Union has been better at
doing enlargement than communicating enlargement."

For instance, the EU summit meeting last week ended with a statement
trumpeting the success of the May 2004 expansion. "That’s the kind
of thing I want to hear," Rehn said.

Asked whether European politicians were doing enough of that kind
of talk once they left the summit halls of Brussels, Rehn mentioned
President Jacques Chirac of France as an example of someone who had,
in his view, done that, but declined in the characteristic manner of EU
officials who must please 25 constituencies to single out countries
that were not playing their part. When reminded that Chirac must
leave office within a year, he smiled and acknowledged that Chirac
would not be a candidate in next year’s race for the French presidency.

Enlargement "has been a success story," Rehn said. "The EU should
have all the reasons to be proud of it." Asked, therefore, why this
pride was not more palpable, he said it was linked to "bad feelings
and social discontent in many EU states."

He also noted that the expansion in May 2004 was essentially
"yesterday’s news" when it happened because the EU and the new member
states had been so careful to negotiate economic, social, political
and other reforms in advance of membership.

That pattern, he noted, is continuing in the efforts to include new
members from the Balkans and in the case of Turkey.

The summit meeting was also dominated by talk of the 25-nation bloc
having reached its capacity to absorb new members. Rehn stressed,
however, that this was not so much a sign that Europe should not
expand but proof that it could not function smoothly without altering
institutions and operations to reflect that it was no longer a cozy
bloc of a dozen or 15 overwhelmingly West European states.

Romania and Bulgaria are the two nations due to join next, with a
review process this fall to determine whether or not the EU will
stick to the current date of Jan. 1 next year for their admission.

Turkey, which is not expected to complete membership negotiations
for another 10 to 15 years, poses much bigger questions.

Rehn said Turkey had made significant progress in reducing systematic
torture but that the pace of judicial reform guaranteeing freedom of
expression was "more schizophrenic."

The prosecution of the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk last spring for
remarks acknowledging Turkey’s role in the genocide against Armenians
in the early 20th century was "a disappointment in the beginning,"
said Rehn, who met Pamuk on his last visit to Turkey. Eventually,
however, the case was dropped resolved in a way, he said, that should
serve as a benchmark for other cases concerning free speech.

He added that skepticism toward Turkey appeared to be softening in the
most unlikely of places, noting that France and Germany two countries
where politicians and voters are highly critical of Turkey’s projected
EU membership each awarded the maximum, 12 points, to Turkey’s act
in the recent Eurovision song contest.

Both Romania and Bulgaria have made progress in the key area of
judicial reform, Rehn said, but the EU needs to be sure that the
changes are genuine and likely to last.

Romania has made large strides in the past 18 months, he said, and
Bulgaria has started to do the same, but must stay the course.

Bulgarian legislators had to forgo some vacation last summer to put
necessary changes in place, he noted, and this summer it should be
the prosecutors and judges who stay at work to make convincing changes.

"We can’t say yet that it’s on the right track," he said. When asked
to specify which changes would convince Brussels, he stressed: "We
can’t start a witch hunt and ask for a certain number of people to
be arrested because that would be against European standards. But we
need to be assured that countries, when they join, have functional
judicial systems."

As for other Balkan countries Albania and former Yugoslav republics
that are now independent Rehn underlined the importance of sticking
to standards set by agreements such as the Dayton accords that
brought peace to Bosnia after the conflict of the 1990s or the likely
international accord now being negotiated on the status of Kosovo,
the Serbian province that has been under UN administration since 1999.

Asked how Balkan leaders could be expected to stick to such criteria
when the EU itself waives its own rules on such matters as national
budget deficits, Rehn said simply, "Of course, applying double
standards is incorrect and counterproductive." The difference, he
added, is one of degrees.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GHOUKASYAN’S MESSAGE TO PARTICIPANTS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TITLED "NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW"

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 21 2006

Dear friends,
I have apprehended the news on the conduct of the international
conference dedicated to the 15th Anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic’s declaration with solid satisfaction. It again provides
ample evidence of our state’s existence.

Last fifteen years showed to the world that the Nagorno Karabakh people
are entitled to have the independent state of their own declared
pursuant to the former USSR’s legislation and the international
law’s basic rules. Although the NKR has not been recognized by the
international community yet, however, by the level of conformity to
the European society’s standards our Republic noticeably outstrips
Azerbaijan, which endeavored to dispose of the Nagorno Karabakh’s
Armenian population having enforced a war on us.

However, our nation has not only survived in an unequal sanguinary
armed confrontation, but it managed to mainly cure the war’s wounds,
stage an economic recovery, restore social sphere, inspire new life
to the region’s cultural and spiritual development.

An efficient army equipped with modern weaponry, which is the safest
guarantor of the security and prosperity of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic and our nation, has been formed in the NKR.

At present Azerbaijan exerts efforts to reverse history, deprive our
nation of freedom and independence gained at the cost of irreplaceable
losses. It is an unpromising way. I am convinced: the future is the
talks between the NKR and Azerbaijan on the search for the ways of the
problem’s advantageous solution and the establishment of cooperation
between the two states.

One is eager to believe that our conference will promote deeper
comprehension of the realities of the region, which is difficult to
imagine without the Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s existence.

In this connection it is pleasant that you intend to discuss a wide
spectrum of issues referring both to the Nagorno Karabakh’s history and
culture, its spiritual heritage and to the legal aspects of the NKR’s
functioning, the outlooks of our country’s social-economic development.

I wish successful and fruitful work to the conference.

I wish you all the best, friends!

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN CB APPROVES DESIGN OF COMMEMORATIVE SILVER COIN TO BE MINTED ON OCCASION OF POLAR YEAR

Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 21 2006

YEREVAN, June 21. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has
approved the design of the commemorative silver coin that is to be
minted on the occasion of the International polar Year. The coin is
to be put into circulation under the 2006-2007 emission program.

The CBA also decided to amend the Program of emission of commemorative
coins for 2006-2007.

The International Polar Year is to be held in 2007-2008. It is a
large-scale campaign of coordinating research in the polar regions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU DECLARATION ADOPTED AT THE SESSION OF OIC OF FMS DECLARES ARMENIA AGGRESSOR

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 21 2006

"There is a large item on the Nagorno Garabagh problem in the Baku
Declaration adopted at the 33rd session of the Islamic Conference of
Foreign Ministers hosted in Azerbaijan," Deputy Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov told journalists (APA).

Mr.Khalafov said in the Declaration the OIC Foreign Ministers strongly
condemned Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan and urged immediate,
complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces
from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. In the declaration,
the Ministers also expressed their deep concern over recent massive
fires in the occupied territories and demanded the occupying forces
to take urgent measures to prevent ecological disaster. They also
urge the OIC member states to support Azerbaijan on the issue of full
restoration of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The Deputy Foreign Minister assessed the Baku Declaration as
demonstration of solidarity of the OIC 57 member states regarding
the issue.

OIC COUNTRIES SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN’S POSITION ON NK CONFLICT
Author: S.Aliyev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
June 21 2006

All matters, initiated on the process of resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have
found their reflection in the final document of the 33rd session
of the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference
(OIC), which concludes its 3-day work in Baku on 21 June, Trend
reports citing Khalaf Khalafov, the Deputy Foreign Minister.

According to Khalafov, the Baku Declaration of the OIC includes a
large part regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. It reflects
the occupation of the Azerbaijani territory by Armenia, necessity for
the liberation of the occupied territory, support to the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, ecological state of occupied
areas.

All 57 OIC member-countries demonstrate solidarity and hold a unified
position and approach on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HOW THE PELTEKIANS DISAPPEARED FROM DORTYOL
by Dorothee Forma, Amsterdam

humanistischeomroep, The Netherlands
June 20, 2006 Tuesday

The adventures of an Armenian family in Cilicia

Descriptions of the village of Dortyol at the end of the nineteenth
century are decidedly idyllic. Looking in the direction of Dortyol
and the surrounding villages from the Amanus mountains, one saw a
bouquet of flowers among green orange groves. Every village had its
own colour and in the centre lay proud Tschok-Merzimen, as Dortyol
was called by the Armenians. The Turkish word Dortyol means: four
roads. It was situated in the bay of Alexandrette only a few miles
from the Mediterranean and when there was a gale you could hear the
waves pounding the rocks. In spring, the sweet smell of the orange
blossoms permeated everything.

Dortyol had a mixed Turkish-Armenian population. The post office
was administered and run by Armenians and there were four Armenian
schools and three churches. Some nearby villages, such as Nadjarli and
Ozerli, had a mainly Armenian population. The Turkish authorities had
relatively little influence there, because the Armenians elected their
own local town councillors. In Ozerli the Armenian family Peltekian
was the largest landowner. Their possessions extended over several
villages, and Bedros Peltekian even bore the title of Pasha.

The descendants of the Peltekians, who are now living in France,
still possess a suitcase full of original Ottoman title deeds.

However, they themselves can no longer read the Arabic writing.

The ‘chef de la famille’ of this French branch of the survivors
was a son of Bedros, called Khatchik Peltekian. Much of Khatchik’s
correspondence has remained intact. There are eleven sheets of squared
paper (A3) on which all the possessions of the Peltekians and their
exact locations are recorded in his meticulous handwriting, first in
Ottoman and then in the French translation.

The orchards, field, houses, shops and farmland stretched roughly all
along the coast from Adana to Dortyol. The list is not dated, but
was probably drawn up after 1915. The orange groves alone produced
around a million oranges every year, Katchik tells us. Oranges from
Dortyol were very famous and were exported all the way into Russia.

In the margin of the list there are some scribbled remarks. About
a house in Ozerli: "it had three floors and contained 16 rooms and
was unique in the sandjak (district, DF), it was burnt down by the
Turks". What exactly happened to the rich Peltekian dynasty from
Dortyol?

In 1918 a short book appeared in the Netherlands ‘Marteling der
Armeniërs in Turkije, naar berichten van ooggetuigen’ (Ordeals
of the Armenians in Turkey as reported by eye-witnesses). It had
been published by the Nederlandsch Comite tot Hulpbetoon aan de
noodlijdende Armenians, (Netherlands Committee for Assistance to the
Destitute Armenians) in which several members of the Dutch nobility
were represented. The booklet describes the misfortunes of the Armenian
minority in Turkey in 1915. Coupons found in the front could be filled
in and returned, together with a nice sum of money, to Miss E.J. van
der Hoop in The Hague. The money was used to send relief supplies to
Armenians who had survived the deportations. The book describes in
detail, village by village and region by region, what took place in
Anatolia in 1915. A harrowingly systematic procedure emerges. About
Dortyol the following:

Dort-Jol.

At the time when the deportation from Zeitoen was already underway,
the Turks commenced in Dort-Jol (Tschok Merzimen), a village situated
in the Issus plain on the Gulf of Alexandrette.

When some five Armenians from Dort-Jol had been publicly hanged,
the male members of the population of the populous little town were
forced to perform a variety of services on behalf of the Turks.

Before long the news spread that the defenceless workers were being
murdered by the armed Mohammedans that had been introduced to them
as comrades, with the result that the men of Dort-Jol henceforward
refused to work alongside Mohammedans.

The Government thereupon sent troops that were charged with the
deportation of the male population to the environs of Hadjin, in
order to carry out public works there.

Only one single Armenian resisted; he was irate to such a degree with
the Turkish gendarmes that he killed one of them. As a punishment
for this act of violence, six Armenians were apprehended and executed.

Since then nothing was heard of the male population taken to Hadjin.

It is feared that they were put to death collectively. As soon as the
deportation of the men was completed, it was the turn of the women
and children. They were taken by force to Deir-es-Sor, with the result
that the once so prosperous village of Dort-Jol as good as expired.

Did the inhabitants perhaps have to suffer so much because at one
time, in the days of the massacres under Abdul Hamid, the little town
had defended itself successfully against the Turkish hordes? (end
of quotation)

Was it the Peltekians who were hanged in the centre of Dortyol? Was
it perhaps Panos Peltkekian, Khatchik’s brother, who attacked the
gendarmes in his rage? We do not know. Khatchik, too, must for a long
time have been ignorant of what had happened to his relatives.

When the First World War broke out and Turkey went into an alliance
with Germany, Khatchik was living in Istanbul where he was finishing
his law studies. He may well have been among the group of Armenian
dignitaries who were first to be deported in that night of 24 April
1915.

In 1926 Khatchik wrote to the French High Commissioner in Beirut: "They
deported me to Anatolia where I endured a thousand deprivations. (j’ai
endure mille souffrances)" In another letter he wrote: "my family is
among those hardest hit.

(Ma famille fut l’un de celles qui ont ete le plus outrages). During
the deportations several of my family members perished, including my
father and my brother".

Khatchik Peltekian, then, did survive his deportation. When the French,
after 1918, occupied Cilicia, the area around Adana, and there was a
possibility of Armenian self-government, Khatchik hurried to the region
to assess the situation. He immediately offered his services to the
French army, since he spoke fluent Turkish, Arabic and French, and knew
every inhabitant of the region, every village and every goat track.

Not all the deported Armenians from Dortyol, however, died in the
Syrian Desert. A number of them – possibly including Peltekians –
returned after the war together with the Allies. Those Armenians
managed to escape from the deportation caravans, usually by bribing
their guards, and managed to reach Aleppo along secret routes. Many
of them survived hunger and epidemics in wretched circumstances
(and with the help of committees such as that in the Netherlands).

When Armenians returned with the French in 1919, Turks had settled
in the meantime in their houses and on their land. A situation that
could not but lead to endless skirmishes with casualties on both
sides. The Armenians saw the French as their rescuers, under whose
protection they could reclaim their possessions, the Turks regarded
the Armenians as collaborators.

Khatchik, too, possessed an estate in the village Hamzali where he
kept cattle and grew cereals. With the proceeds he supported the
remaining members of his family.

In June 1920 the estate was plundered. The harvest and the cattle were
stolen away and the buildings set on fire. The overseer, an uncle of
Khatchik, was killed. The damage amounted to 400,000 Francs.

Khatchik knew exactly who the offenders were – "des bandits notoires
turcs" – and mentions them by name in his letters, as well as the
villages they came from: Karakisse, Tchaili, Rabat, Sugud… He begged
the French for indemnification. He was the only remaining breadwinner
for the Peltekians. The looting of his farm, as he keeps insisting,
is the result of his cooperation with the French: "..it has increased
the Turks’ irritation towards me".

The French delayed the settlement of the claim for years and finally
didn’t pay him a penny.

They were, however, generous with glowing references and superlative
words of praise about his unflagging dedication and devotion to
the French cause. But that was all. In the meantime, Khatchik’s
capacities as an interpreter, and his intimate knowledge of the area
were intensively exploited. More than once he risked his life for his
French patrons. Once one of the richest men in the region he now had
to support his family on a meagre translator’s salary. He signed off
his appeals with "votre très humble en très obeissant serviteur…"

As a result of the Turkish struggle for independence the French
had to withdraw from the province of Hatay and the plans to make
Cilicia into a safe haven for Armenians foundered. The Allies no
longer laid down the law in Turkey, because a new Turkish leader had
emerged: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Armenians left in a hurry with the
French, again leaving their possessions behind. Khatchik settled in
Alexandrette (the present Iskenderun) with his sister-in-law Zarouhi,
a widow with four children and a few other young Peltekians. Dortyol,
the cradle of the Peltekians, was only 30 km away, but was no longer
part of the French protectorate.

In the political games preceding the Second World War the French
decided to withdraw from Hatay in 1939. Hatay became part of the
Turkish republic; a massive exodus of Armenians was the result.

Khatchik Peltekian left together with the French and was placed in
Syria – until the outbreak of the Second World War when the Peltekians
ended up in Beirut. Everything he had built up in Alexandrette in
the years gone by had to be left behind yet again.

After 1945 Khatchik was finally naturalised by the French and went
to live in Paris with his sister-in-law Zarouhi (who called herself
Rose by then) and her daughter Alice. Rose’s sons Pierre and Alexandre
Peltekian were then officers in the French army and would rather not
be reminded of their Armenian identity. They were more French than
the French. Khatchik died in 1972 and was buried in Père Lachèse.

Alice Peltekian sometimes mused: "Je suis la comtesse de Dortyol…"

She died a solitary death, in poverty, in a top floor in Paris in 1984.

And Dortyol?

Dortyol is now a sleepy, conservative little town where there is
little to remind us of the Armenians. The orange groves are still
there, but the old varieties, famous for their taste and juiciness
have been replaced by modern, genetically manipulated oranges. A
gigantic industrial area with blast-furnaces stretches along the
coast and causes permanent air pollution.

The houses of the Armenians have been taken over by the children and
grandchildren of ethnic Turks that were exchanged by Greece for ethnic
Greeks living in Turkey during the so-called mubadele in 1923.

The Greek Turks had been promised the land and the empty houses of
the Armenians. On arrival they found that many of the houses had been
devastated. Result: uprooted people and a great deal of unhappiness….

But that is another, Turkish tragedy.

Dorothee Forma March 2006

Postscript to the Documentary: In ‘The Story of my Name’ Alex Peltekian
searches for the background of his Armenian surname. Alex Peltekian’s
mother is Dutch. She worked in Paris as an au pair once and met
one Alexandre Peltekian. From their union Alex was born in 1955,
who grew up in The Hague in the Netherlands without much knowledge
of his father’s family, because his mother married a Dutchman who
took care of little Alex.

Father Alexandre Peltekian was born in Dortyol in south Turkey in
1912; his mother was called Rose (Zarouhi) and his father was Panos
Peltekian, Khatchik’s eldest brother. Alex is therefore a great-nephew
of ‘Oncle Khatchik’ and Alice Peltekian is his aunt.

Photos:
uman/hos/html/varia/news.jsp?news=46641

–Boundar y_(ID_ziibDaZ5tOCJBtLohzfhOA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GET YOUR PAWNS OFF OF MY QUEEN
By Nancy Macdonald

Maclean’s, Canada
June 19, 2006

The ‘Anna Kournikova of chess’ has sparked a violent love triangle

British chess ace Danny Gormally and Armenian Levon Aronian — the
world’s third-ranked player — were out partying earlier this month
during the World Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Gormally, apparently
drunk, became so jealous when Aronian started hitting on the Aussie
teen sensation Arianne Caoili — known as the "Anna Kournikova of
chess" — that he knocked his rival to the ground. Gormally had
recently struck up an email relationship with the chess beauty, and
didn’t like the moves Aronian was making on the dance floor. Fists
flew again the next morning, when the Armenian team exacted revenge
on Gormally while he was out for coffee. Dubbed "Gormallygate" by
chess fans, this international incident is providing the rest of the
world its closest glimpse of the game since the historic Cold War-era
match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972. And with it,
the image of chess as the gentleman’s sport is coming undone.

You might expect this kind of behaviour from college football stars,
but grandmasters? This is the philosopher’s sport, after all — the
ultimate intellectual pursuit. But chess stars, it appears, are no
better adjusted than your average first-round draft pick. Not that
there haven’t been signs of that before. This esoterics-only club’s
most famous alumnus is Chicago-born Bobby Fischer — the raving,
Jew-hating recluse who now calls Reykjavik home. And the sport attracts
Fischer-like obsessive misfits — the type happy to spend Sundays
watching planes land. At its highest level, the game requires — no,
demands — that sort of compulsive concentration. Matches often exceed
five hours. And aside from pushing chess pieces and hitting the clock,
the only movement during the long silent hours of a match is the rise
and fall of players’ chests.

Stone-faced, players churn through thousands of possible moves in their
head at every turn, in an effort to outmanoeuvre their opponent. Chess
lingo — to capture, to crush, to destroy — suggests that in chess,
as with any sport, there’s no second place. Russian great Viktor
Korchnoi has always said that winning at chess requires hating your
opponent. There’s violence in this — a struggle to the end. And
while usually the killer instinct doesn’t manifest itself physically,
as it does in, say, hockey, there have been physical altercations:
in the late 1970s, organizers of a world championship match had to
put a board under the table so rivals Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov
couldn’t kick each other.

Like in any sport, there are also brittle egos in the world of chess,
and Gormally may be more fragile than others, in part, due to his
recent slide in the ranking. While Aronian, 23, is now recognized
as a future world champion, Gormally, 30, who stumbled in Turin, has
slipped off the charts. Caoili (whose nickname is a reference to the
sexy tennis queen), has been painted as the vixen — perhaps fairly.

"It is my weakness to sometimes start a random friction between myself
and another to test reactions," wrote the 19-year-old on her website
after the scrap.

Regardless of whether it’s deserved (Caoili is ranked third among
females in chess-poor Australia), the Kournikova tag is becoming
sportswriting’s most tired cliche. And Caoili isn’t even the only
grandmaster to get Kournikovaed — she shares the honour with Russian
chess star Alexandra Kosteniuk. That young, sexy women are excelling
at chess — now common, according to the Chess Federation of Canada’s
Robert Hamilton — should be assumed. Male or female, eccentric,
even, yep, foxy, grandmasters want to win. Chess, according to the
late great Emanuel Lasker, the longest-reigning world champ, has
falsely been elevated to a science, or an art. In Lasker’s opinion
chess is neither. Instead, he once said, it’s what human nature most
freely indulges in: a fight.

GRAPHIC: Photos 1 through 3, CAOILI has two grandmasters — Gormally
and Aronian — fighting for her.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN PM HIGHLY APPRECIATES COOPERATION WITH IMF AND WB

Arka News Agency, Armenia
June 19 2006

YEREVAN, June 19. /ARKA/. Armenian Premier Andranik Margaryan highly
appreciates the cooperation with international financial organizations,
including IMF and World Bank. The press service and public relations
department of the Armenian government, Margaryan stated this during
his meeting with IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato.

"The reforms carried out with the support of these organizations in
a number of sectors resulted in serious successes and progress in
economy, restoration of economic growth, undertaking of implementation
of the Strategic program on poverty reduction, reforming of
the country’s legislative sector to the end of introducing and
strengthening of liberal economic relations, and implementation of
specific steps toward integrating into world economy.

According to him, the best result of such cooperation is Armenia’s
joining the World Trade Organization in 2003 that became a serious
incentive for intensification of foreign economic relations and
attraction of foreign investments. "As a result of the step-by-step
increase of export volumes, a considerable growth of exports compared
to previous years was recorded as early as 2005," Margaryan said.

Besides this, as a result of the cooperation with international
financial organizations, according to the WB classification, Armenia
was recognized as a country with average incomes for the incomes
indicator per capita, and in 2005, Armenia ranked 27th among 157
countries for the level of economic freedom and was recognized mainly
as a free country.

Margaryan also pointed out the importance of the IMF’s assistance
with the policy carried out by the Central Bank, which is aimed at
slowing down inflation.

He reported that today the government implements serious works jointly
with the CBA in terms of reforms in pension provisions, social sector
during which assistance by the IMF and WB is expected.

Rodrigo de Rato visited Armenia to participate in the two-week long
representative meeting of the Dutch group.

The IMD and WB Dutch group includes Armenia, Netherlands,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Spain, Croatia, Moldova, Georgia,
Romania, Ukraine, Cyprus and Macedonia.

The next meeting will be held in Moldova.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress