Author: Frangulian Shushan

ABOUT THE "FACTS" AND "ARGUMENTS" BROUGHT BY THE EX-PRESIDENT

Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Nov 13 2007

>From the speech of the Speaker of the National Assembly, RPA
Deputy-Chair Tigran Torosyan, delivered during RPA 11th Congress.

There is an impression that for some of our pro-opposition activists
unfair substitution is the only method of campaigning. In this pretext
I can’t help touching upon the famous speech delivered by ex-President
Levon Ter-Petrosyan in which he has introduced judgments regarding
three issues – internal social-political situation, the tragedy of
October 27 and Karabakh problem.

It is worthless to touch upon the teaching manner of the speech,
the labels and qualifications not tolerating any type of objections,
as well as the description of the country’s terrible present and the
hopeless future, because our people are sick and tired of eloquent
but still empty words. If some people hope that the people have bad
memory, after a very little period of time they will become sure that
they are wrong.

I will only refer to certain "facts" and "arguments" that were brought
by the ex-President to ground the before mentioned three issues,
to show that they can’t hide the false essence of the qualifications
and accusations heard in the speech.

About October 27.

It has already been underscored that the political speculation of
similar tragic events is not moral. And making such announcements
after eight years silence, on the threshold the elections, evidently
pursues the goal of making the speech more exciting and grounding the
label "disgraceful administration" given to the government in power.

But this hypothesis immediately fails when Levon Ter-Petrosyan tries
to link it with the names of the fourteen resigned "ministers and
officials" belonging to the Republican Party and the People’s Party of
Armenia. The fact that these people have resigned in different times
and for different reasons is also not important. But how can someone
list the name of 14 people and make errors regarding 11 of them.

Why does Levon Ter-Petrosyan ascribe eleven of them to the Republican
Party or People’s Party of Armenia? When have Levon Barkhudaryan, Armen
Yeghiazaryan, Shahen Karamanukyan, Leonid Hakobyan, Edward Simonyants,
Andranik Kocharyan, or others been members of RPA or Peoples Party
of Armenia? To announce similar "facts" one must either forget or
falsify everything. If by listing the names of these people known
to the society, one can make similar slip-ups, how can he ground all
the other statements?

The groundings regarding the country’s social-political situation
are also beneath criticism. Judge yourselves. The first President
says our people receive around 2 billion dollars money transfer from
the foreign countries and "80% is spent on the consumption of the
imported goods". This means according to Levon Ter-Petrosyan our
citizens spend around 1 billion 600 million from 2 billion money
transfer on the consumption of the imported goods."

CONSTRUCTION WILL "MOVE" TO THE REGIONS

KarabakhOpen
13-11-2007 18:41:28

In the upcoming few years building will be located in the regions
mainly where not only the government will make investments but also
privately-owned companies, Prime Minister Ara Harutiunyan stated in
a recent consultation.

According to him, an inflow of private investments in building is
expected.

Over the upcoming two or three years the volume of construction is
expected to grow, especially in housing construction. About 1000
apartments will be built for the families of killed soldiers and
underprivileged families.

According to the prime minister, the reconstruction of medical
establishments, schools, the layout of the North-South highway will
finish in three years.

YEVGENIYA JIVKOVA: IT WOULD BE TOO AMBITIOUS OF ME TO SAY THAT I KNOW ENOUGH WITH REGARD TO THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT, BUT I KNOW THAT CONSIDERABLE PARTS OF AZERBAIJAN ARE STILL OCCUPIED

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 12 2007

PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, Bulgarian
parliamentarian Yevgeniya Jivkova’s interview to the APA

-Are you informed about Azerbaijan and main problem of the country –
Nagorno Karabakh conflict?

– Again, it would be too ambitious of me to say that I know enough
with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but I do take into
account that the respective Council of Europe Resolution holds that
considerable parts of Azerbaijan are still occupied. This conflict
is at the origin of more than four thousand missing persons and some
760 000 displaced persons from the Azerbaijani side. I intend also to
study further the records of the OSCE in Vienna, where the two sides
present their points of view regularly. I believe in the continuation
of the high level dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia and share
the CE Parliamentary Assembly’s view that the Azerbaijani authorities
could prepare the population to accept the measures currently being
negotiated and could encourage further contacts between Azerbaijani
and Armenian civil society groups.

-Are you acquainted with obligations and commitments of Azerbaijan
vis-a-vis CE?

-As to the situation with honouring by Azerbaijan of obligations and
commitments, I would like, at this juncture, to merely say that the
picture is one of mixed results. The Assembly is definitely cognizant
of the efforts made by your country in a number of areas, such as
the revision of the Election Code or the recently adopted National
Action Plan for the Protection of Human Rights. On the other hand,
the Assembly is concerned, for example, with the need to establish a
dialogue between the ruling majority and the opposition both inside
and outside the parliament. Let me be more specific when I ascertain
the facts first hand.

-Do you contact with the other co-rapporteur-Andres Herkel? Do you
share your opinions on the necessity of his appointment of special
rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan?

-As I said in my speech when accepting the honour of being a
Rapporteur on Azerbaijan on behalf of the Socialist Group, I intend
to work closely with the Co-rapporteur, Mr. Andres Herkel, Estonia,
from the Group of the European People’s Party. He has the privilege
of having already served in this elected position and his experience
is appreciated by the Monitoring Committee. On the specific point of
appointing a special rapporteur on political prisoners, I should like
to consult with Mr. Herkel further, and indeed, with other members of
the Monitoring Committee, before I form a final opinion. This issue
is too delicate to address it with haste.

-How do you assess media situation in Azerbaijan?

– Let me say that the concerns of the CE Parliamentary Assembly
relating to media pluralism and freedom of expression are too well
known and recorded in the reports of the Monitoring Committee to
neglect the problem. Of course, it is not for me to decide which
side is right or wrong in a dispute on freedom of the media. I will
keep a close eye on developments in this area in particular. Free and
responsible media are one of the corner stones of European democracy.

-Will Azerbaijan’s issue be debated in PACE January session?

-This is decided by the Bureau of the Assembly. I have not been
informed about such a possibility.

-How do you assess level of relations between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria
as parliamentarian of Bulgarian Parliament? What do you expect from
Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev’s visit to Baku?

– The co-operation between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan develops on the
basis of traditionally good relations and the absence of political
or other problems. We share the same foreign policy priorities. The
political and economic stability of our two countries offers prospects
for further development of the bilateral co-operation. What has been
achieved in the past few years in the areas of high level political
contacts, trade, educational and NGO exchange, etc., is a good start
but it does not correspond to the existing potential both in terms of
bilateral ties and European integration context. Bulgaria can offer
its experience under the programmes of the European Neighborhood
Policy.

SERGE SARGSYAN: IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, ASK KOCHARYAN

Lragir.am
11-11-2007 10:11:04

After the conference of the Republican Party, which decided to nominate
Serge Sargsyan as president of Armenia, the prime minister held a
briefing and answered a few questions.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister, you are going to be nominated. What
peculiarity will your style of actions have during the election
campaign?

Answer: No, I have stated for a few times, now I repeat that our aim is
to explain to the Armenians, the citizens of Armenia first, the meaning
of our programs, to depict our vision of Armenia in future. For the
time being, there is no other peculiarity.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister you said every effort to undermine the
state will be prevented. What did you mean? If violence against
government.

Answer: First of all, I meant the political aspect, otherwise if they
try to do something as you said, there are law enforcement agencies
which will address it. It is not the party’s job.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister do you think revolution in Armenia is
likely?

Answer: I stated a few years ago that it is impossible in Armenia. We
have done all the revolutions already.

Question: Mr. Sargsyan do you still think you have no opponent in the
upcoming presidential election?

Answer: I have always stated that a presidential election is an
opportunity, not a sports event. I do not consider anyone as an
opponent. I think we must display our abilities to our voters, our
people instead of fighting someone. One can fight something, it is
necessary to fight vicious phenomena, problems which hinder our
development but I think fighting someone is not the right policy.

Question: The first president said you can be a good minister but not a
good prime minister. How does he know?

Answer: Ask him.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister, unlike you, Levon Ter-Petrosyan described
your career rather positively during his meeting with students. You
were very critical.

Answer: You always interpret it your way. If you think it is
satisfactory when he invents facts, that allegedly I had been expulsed,
if you think it is positive when he says my abilities are limited, if
you think it is positive when he insults me personally, it is already
your problem, not mine. Meanwhile, my speech contained nothing
regarding his personality.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister, what are your thoughts on comments on
your interview with the Los Angeles Times?

Answer: I told the Los Angeles Times the truth, I can account for my
words, and one needs to try hard to find something there. What they are
now trying to present is the result of unawareness. They allege that I
said the Karabakh issue is a religious issue, and we are waging a
religious war. It is funny because I have never thought so and I have
never said so. I only said the factor of religion also matters in this
struggle. This is not the first time I said it. If it does not matter,
why are our historical monuments destroyed, why are the khachkars
destroyed, why were people killed for being Armenian? In addition, not
only at the beginning but also at the end of the past century. In fact,
if someone says religious identity, faith have nothing to do with it,
it is their problem. But they should not have blamed their complex,
their problem on me.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister, you said the one who has a strong and
loyal team will win the presidential election. What is your team like?

Answer: It is strong. Our team believes in the idea. We think personal
faithfulness is secondary. Personal faithfulness is important in
family, in family relations, in politics it is important that one does
not renege on their conviction, justify their immoral moves by saying
that politics is immorality. I don’t think a person who is immoral in
politics can be moral in life. It never happens so. Yes, our team is
strong, it is strong with its ideas, with its background. Our team is
strong because it has a clear vision of Armenia in future, and this is
what we will be pursuing.

Question: Has your stance on appointment of Robert Kocharyan as prime
minister changed?

Answer: I have never expressed a stance. You have again misunderstood
me. Secondly, I think it is not correct for the acting prime minister
to comment on issues concerning the future of the president. If you
have questions, ask Kocharyan.

Question: Mr. Prime Minister, rumors came that some may defect from the
government camp to the opposition.

Answer: We are absolute majority, we do not need anyone to defect to us.

Question: I mean defect from you.

Answer: Ah, I see (laughs), I don’t even think about it.

"COUNTRY OF SPEAKING STONES" EXHIBITION TO CONTINUE

Panorama.am
20:37 03/11/2007

The seventh showing of the "Country of Speaking Stones" tourism
exhibition will continue. In this year’s exhibition, 48 organizations
are participating, of whom 20-30% are from the regions of Armenia. The
exhibition, which kicked off on November 2, will continue until
November 4.

A. Petrosyan, vice-minister of trade and economic development, said
it was important that the exhibition move to the distant provinces of
Armenia. "We have had great successes in these areas. This growth is
due to realized programs sponsored by the government and our ministry,
which stimulate tourism in these regions," the vice-minister said.

Present at opening ceremonies was tourism development director Nina
Hovnanian-Aleksandryan, said that the participation of representatives
from the provinces and from neighboring countries was a positive sign.

"If we work hard, and cooperate with each other, we will stimulate
the development of the tourism industry," she said.

We point out that the exhibition has the purpose of stimulating local
and foreign tourism. In separate pavilions, tourism agencies from
the regions of Armenia, as well as Karabakh, will be presented, not
to mention from Georgia and Adjaria. The exhibition was organized by
the local office of ASTA (American Union of Travel Agencies), AATA
(Armenian Union of Travel Agencies), and ADTA (Armenian Agency of
Tourism Development). The exhibition has taken place since 2000.

PM SERGE SARGSYAN RECEIVED COE SECRETARY GENERAL TERRY DAVIS

armradio.am
05.11.2007 13:52

RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan received Mr. Terry Davis,
the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The Prime
Minister welcomed the Secretary General’s visit to our country,
underlining that cooperation within the Council of Europe framework
is extremely important for Armenia. Terry Davis noted with pleasure
that during the visit he had the opportunity to get acquainted with
the historical-cultural values of Armenia. He visited Matenadaran,
the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Haghpat.

During the conversation the interlocutors turned to the process of
Armenia’s European Integration, underlining that the parliamentary
election of May 12 was a progress on this route, saying that it can
serve as a good basis for the forthcoming presidential poll. The
parties agreed that it is necessary to do the best to have the
presidential elections be a step forward.

The interlocutors emphasized the importance of the efforts taken in
the direction of establishing peace and stability in the region. In
this context reference was made to the process of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement. Terry Davis noted that the Council of Europe has
not assumed the stance of a passive viewer on this issue considered
within OSCE framework.

He said the organization is trying its best to establish trust between
the conflicting parties.

At the end of the meeting the Armenian Prime Minister and the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe expressed confidence that due to
interested and effective cooperation Armenia’s commitments in the
framework of the CoE membership will be properly accomplished in
due time.

RA NA COMPLETELY ADOPTED PACKAGE OF AMENDMENTS AND ADDENDA TO RA CODE
ON CRIMINAL TRIAL AND TO TWO LAWS IN FORCE

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. In the November 2 special sitting the
RA National Assembly completely adopted the package of bills of the
government by the second reading, with which amendments and addenda are
made to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Armenia, as
well as to the laws on "Doing Military Service", "Social Protection of
Servicemen and the Members of their Families." The adoption of the
package is conditioned by legal-judicial reforms, particularly by the
circumstance that the prosecutor’s office will not enjoy the competence
for being engaged in preliminary investigation since December 1 of the
current year.

"GRAND" LTD. DEPRIVED OF THE RIGHT TO REALIZE INSURANCE ACTIVITY

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
Nov 2 2007

Yerevan, November 2 /Mediamax/. By the decision of the Central Bank of
Armenia, the license of "Grand" Ltd. for non-life insurance is revoked.

As Mediamax was told in the CB press service, the decision was made
"in connection with the violation of the laws and other legal acts"
by "Grand" Ltd..

>From the moment of the decision coming into force, "Grand" OJSC is
deprived of the right of realizing insurance activity.

Mediamax recalls that in December of 2006, the CB Board revoked the
license of "Grand" Ltd. for life insurance, and in April of 2007,
suspended the license of non-life insurance of "Grand" Ltd.

WILL THERE BE A WAR?

Panorama.am
17:05 01/11/2007

"Turkey seems to ease its will-power to resume a war but anti-Kurdish
sentiments continue to be dominant," Ruben Safrastyan, an expert in
Turkish studies, told a news conference today, speaking about the
situation on Turkish-Iraqi border.

The Turkish expert cannot forecast if there will be a war or
not. However, referring to Turkish media, he said that the final
decision will be reached on November 5, 6 when Turkish Prime Minister
Erdoghan is in USA. Safrastyan believes that Turkey pushes back the
European integration processes in its Middle East politics.

In the words of the expert, Turkish-Iraqi war is full of
dangers. Without doubt, Turkish intentions are strong. Turkey is
supported by the USA. "USA has started to provide intelligence
information on Kurdish Working Party deployments in the mountains
of Northern Iraq," the expert said referring to the press secretary
of Pentagon.

The next danger, according to the speaker, is that in case Turkey
engages in large-scale actions in Iraqi Kurdistan, it will mean that
Turkey engages in aggression against Iraq. The leadership of Iraq
has announced that it will fight against such actions. It means war
is inevitable.

TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA URGES ARMENIA TO STOP ITS GROUNDLESS TERRITORIAL CLAIMS TO SEVERAL COUNTRIES

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 31 2007

Russia, Moscow / Òrend corr R. Agayev / In a statement made during
a press conference marking the 84th Anniversary of the Turkish
Republic, Kurtulush Tashkent, the Turkish Ambassador to Russia
stated: "When Armenia announced its independence in 1991, Turkey
was one of the first countries to recognize it. However, Armenia’s
Declaration of Independence and Constitution made territorial
claims over certain eastern regions of Turkey. Shortly thereafter,
the events in Nagorno-Karabakh commenced and as a result, Armenia
now occupies 20% of Azerbaijani lands, making diplomatic relations
impossible to establish. I hope there will be favourable conditions
to re-establish political relations between Turkey and Armenia
and to develop them. Certainly, in order to resume normal good
neighbourly relations, Armenia should remove from its Constitution
and Declaration of Independence the groundless claiming of territories
in its neighbouring countries."

The Ambassador noted that currently between 50,000 and 60,000
Armenian citizens work in Turkey illegally, but Turkey turns a blind
eye to that. Over 100 flights from Armenia are made via Turkish air
corridors every month, allowing Armenia greater access to Europe and
other countries.

Regarding the assassination of Grant Dink and the exaggeration of the
alleged Armenian genocide of 1915, Tashkent said that Grant Dink’s
death shocked Turkey and caused regret in the nation. The assassin
is currently on trial and awaiting sentencing. "As for the events of
1915 and World War I, they are open for debate in any forum and are
openly discussed at Turkish Universities and in the media. In 2005,
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan offered Armenian President Kocharian an
opportunity to jointly study the archives of Turkey, Armenia and other
countries and then to share the results with the world’s community,
for the purpose of revealing the truth and removing this issue as an
obstacle between the two countries’ bilateral relations.

But President Kocharyan refused," he said.

Addressing Turkey’s position on unresolved conflicts in Georgia
and Azerbaijan, Tashkent stressed that Turkey believes the issue
should be resolved by observing territorial integrity and democratic
principles. "Territorial integrity and the sacredness of frontiers
are imperative stability principles both in our region and the entire
world," the Ambassador said.

–Boundary_(ID_WZMo7ws2YvChvG1KGu9V3Q)–