Author: Frangulian Shushan

Deceased Gevorg Tadeposyan is reported to have participated in voting
31.05.2009 16:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to a release disseminated by the Armenian
National Congress (ANC), deceased Gevork Tadevosyan voted in polling
station 12/21 at around 1:30 p.m. Opposition activists also claim that
great number of citizens were brought to polling stations in minibuses
and were given bribes in the amount of AMD 5 thousand. ANC also
reports cases of ballot-box stuffing and conscripts’ participation in
voting.
Besides, ANC authorized representatives claim they were subjected to
pressures in polling stations.

Interfax, Russia
May 29 2009

Armenian govt increases 2009 budget deficit to 7.5% of GDP from 5%

YEREVAN May 29

The Armenian government has revised the upper boundary of the budget
deficit in 2009 to 7.5% of GDP from 5%.

In presenting the draft resolution to increase the budget deficit,
Finance Minister Tigran Davtian said negative trends in the country’s
economic development had made it necessary to raise the deficit.

Intense talks with donors have provided hope that Armenia can attract
some "serious" funds in the near future to cover its deficit and
battle the crisis, he said.

Amendments to the law on the 2009 budget will be submitted to
parliament in the near future, he said.

Armenia’s budget deficit totaled 1.5 billion dram in 2008, or 0.04% of
GDP.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts Armenian GDP to contract 5%
in 2009, the largest drop among the Trans-Caucasus and Central Asian
nations (previously the IMF forecast GDP to decline 1.5% in 2009).

Growth will be nil in 2010 and positive in 2011, the IMF said.

BRIDGE BETWEEN ASIA AND EUROPE

Korea Times
May 27, 2009 Wednesday
South Korea

The Republic of Azerbaijan is well placed on the southeastern border of
Europe on the shores of the hydrocarbon resources-rich Caspian Sea. It
has direct access to the extensive and speedily emerging markets of the
Central Asian states, the South Caucasus as well as the Middle East.

Azerbaijan has declared a policy of openness for international
business. It has an excellent record of cooperation with private
international businesses, in particular, with oil and gas firms.

The country by now is well integrated in the international cooperation
system through participation in various international organizations
such as the Council of Europe, OSCE, Commonwealth of Independent
States, GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova alliance),
Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Organization of Islamic Conference as
well as a system of multilateral and bilateral treaties on security
and economic affairs.

Azerbaijan has stakes in, and is actively engaged in the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank,
World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank,
and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, all of which have
running project portfolios in the country.

The country lives a dynamic political life. A number of parties and
politicians compete for the presidency, parliament constituencies
and municipalities.

A well-developed electronic and paper media community exists in
the country.

The foreign policy of Azerbaijan is complimentary and is directed
at the establishment of peaceful and mutually beneficial cooperation
with all international partners.

One of the major foreign priorities of the republic is integration
into the common European space. Relations with the CIS countries
are also important, first of all due to the vitality of economic
cooperation with them and the need for traditional trade relations.

The population of Azerbaijan is evenly distributed between urban and
rural areas, with 51.5 percent residing in towns and cities.

Some 35 percent of the estimated three million workforce are engaged
in agriculture and related activities, with 26 percent working in
industry and construction.

Azerbaijan is an extremely positive model for a peaceful co-existence
of religious communities.

The predominantly Muslim populated country traditionally served as
a safe haven for adepts of various cults, religions and cultural
traditions.

Large communities of Christians and Jews have traditionally lived here.

Secularism and non-involvement of the state in religious affairs are
strong local traditions supported by law.

The country is the largest and the fastest growing economy in the
South Caucasus.

It is the best transport link that connects South Eastern Europe
with the vast regions of growing importance which are Central Asia
and the Caspian Sea. An increasing number of professional shipping
companies have engaged in the transportation of goods by this link
over the last decade.

The economic rise has led to a cultural revival.

The traditional Islamic and Oriental cultural stratum has been enriched
by the ever-growing European and Russian influence.

The 19th and 20th centuries were a period of major advancements in
Azerbaijani social life.

The first opera in the East, newspapers and a national dramatic
theatre, discussion on the adoption of a "modern" Latin alphabet,
secular universities, and a school for Muslim girls were the
cornerstones of further development.

The consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union were
complicated by the ongoing aggression by Armenia.

Armenian nationalists backed by the late Soviet administration launched
a separatist movement in Western Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh).

A long lasting and bloody military conflict started in 1988. The
conflict was further complicated by civil confrontation within
Azerbaijan.

Several political groups were competing for the power in the
country. However, a succession of weak, largely incapable governments
ended in 1993 when a veteran politician and popular leader Heydar
Aliyev was elected president of Azerbaijan.

A decade of rehabilitation and growth started. Heydar Aliyev
re-established peace and stability in the country, and reinforced
the state infrastructure and civil justice.

He also launched an active foreign policy campaign aimed at the
political integration of Azerbaijan internationally.

In 1994, major oil and gas contracts with a consortia of oil giants
such as BP, Amoco, Total and others were signed.

>From circa 1997 onwards, major political reforms aimed at bringing
Azerbaijan to international standards in the areas of rule of law,
democracy, human rights and freedoms were also started.

PRIME MINISTER ADMITS TURKEY’S ‘FASCIST’ PAST
Thomas Seibert

The National
May 26 2009
UAE

ISTANBUL // Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has
become his country’s first head of government to acknowledge publicly
that his country displayed a "fascist approach" in dealing with its
minorities in the past, when Christians and Jews fled abroad after
coming under pressure.

"For years, these things were done in this country," Mr Erdogan
told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party in Duzce,
north-western Turkey, last weekend.

"People of other ethnicities were driven from the country. Did we win
anything because of that? This was the result of a fascist approach."

With this "historic self-criticism", as newspapers called it, the
prime minister was reacting to opposition criticism aimed at government
plans to consider giving the job of clearing landmines along the border
with Syria to foreign – especially Israeli – companies. As relations
between Turkey and Syria have improved rapidly in recent years,
both countries have agreed to clear the mines on their border. The
parliament in Ankara is expected to debate a bill designed to organise
the mine-clearing operation along the border strip of almost 900km
this week.

The Erdogan government has been criticised repeatedly by opposition
parties for opening Turkey to foreign investors. A law concerning
the sale of real estate to foreigners has been stopped by the
constitutional court several times in recent years after nationalists
said the regulation would enable foreigners to take control over
large parts of Turkey’s territories.

Members of Turkey’s tiny non-Muslim minorities are regarded with
suspicion by Turkish nationalists, who see them as agents of such
foreign powers as Greece or Israel. Countering these accusations in
his Duzce speech, Mr Erdogan said: "Money is like mercury. It goes
where it finds the most adequate place." Referring to the opposition,
he added: "You see, some come out and say: ‘This Jewish investment
is wrong.’ No, this friend is coming to invest in my country. He is
investing a billion dollars. There is no ‘we don’t want that’."

In the mine-clearing debate, opposition parties accused the Erdogan
government of selling out to foreigners because the company that wins
the tender has the right to use the land for organic agriculture for
44 years after the clearing operation.

Opposition politicians said the government was about to hand over
control of the border area to Israel because Israeli companies are
reported to have come up with very competitive proposals.

"The border is holy, it is a place where national honour is being
protected," Erdal Sihapi, a member of parliament for the right-wing
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said in a speech this month. "Now
this honour is being given away to foreigners for 44 years."

Observers say Mr Erdogan went far beyond the usual rhetoric of a
Turkish politician when he answered the opposition’s accusations –
the kind of public self-criticism that is very unusual for Turkey.

"That statement was the most courageous thing ever said by Erdogan",
Halil Berktay, a historian at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, told
yesterday’s Vatan newspaper. Baskin Oran, another academic known for
his liberal views, told the Star newspaper he was "proud of a prime
minister who denounces ethnic and religious cleansing".

With his comments, Mr Erdogan touched a delicate subject in Turkey. In
several waves over the past several decades, thousands of Greeks,
Armenians and Jews have left the country after riots or after pressure
from the state in the form of punitive taxes. In one incident,
Turkish nationalists destroyed hundreds of shops owned by Greeks and
Armenians in Istanbul in one night on Sept 6 1955. The subject was
taboo in Turkey for a long time and has been discussed openly only
for a few years.

"The Greek community, which has been afraid to talk about the events of
the 6th and the 7th September, will now talk without fear about their
experiences after the prime minister’s statement," Mihailis Vasiliadis,
a journalist and member of Istanbul’s Greek community, told the Star.

The number of Greeks living in Istanbul has shrunk dramatically, to
about 3,000 from nearly 100,000 at the end of the 1950s, according
to Rev Dositheos Anagnostopoulos, a spokesman of the Greek-Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul.

"These are tragic figures that speak volumes," Anagnostopoulos said
in an interview last month.

"They went away because they did not see a future for themselves."

Silvio Ovadio, leader of Turkey’s Jewish community, also welcomed Mr
Erdogan’s speech. "Everybody, whatever his religion, is made happy
by the prime minister’s words," he told the Star. The number of Jews
in Turkey, once around 60,000, has sunk to 20,000.

Opposition politicians, however, accused Mr Erdogan of defacing
Turkey’s history. Onur Oymen, a leading member of the Republican
People’s Party, the biggest opposition party in parliament, said no
Turkish citizen had ever been expelled because of his ethnicity, the
NTV news channel reported. Mr Oymen also said his party will send the
mine-clearing bill to the constitutional court if parliament adopts
it, according to news reports.

Oktay Vural of the MHP said Mr Erdogan’s words were an insult to the
Turkish nation.

JIVAN GASPARYAN AND HOVHANNES CHEKIDGYAN AWARDED WITH GOLD ORDERS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
25.05.2009 20:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Aram Khatchaturyan Concert Hall hosted an
award ceremony instituted by Russian Armenians’ Union (RAU) and World
Armenian Congress (WAC).

World acknowledged duduk player Jivan Gasparyan and Head of RA State
Choir Hovhannes Chekidgyan were awarded with bejeweled gold crosses
for inestimable contribution into Armenian culture.

RAU and WAC annual awards were instituted to encourage creativity in
art and science workers.

This year, along with RA NAS, 5 scientists were granted with awards
for achievements of 2008.

With the assistance of writers’, journalists’ and artists’ unions
of Armenia, awards were bestowed on 8 composers for creation of
classical music compositions. Prizes were also awarded to 4 writers,
5 journalists and media representatives. PanARMENIAN.Net information
agency received an award for impartiality, operability and objectivity.

"Charity must not necessarily involve significant funds, the attention
itself can already be considered as charity, as the attention or the
smallest help can be turned into a major income for a sponsor," NAS
Director Radik Martirosyan addressed the audience. He also called on
Armenian leaders to create more favorable conditions for charity.

BALANCE OF PAYMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC IN 2008

NKR Government Information and Public Relations Department
May 20, 2009

Within the framework of the NKR state statistic works (activities)
in 2009 the NKR National Statistic Service has published "Balance of
Payment of Nagorno Karabakh Republic in 2008" statistic digest.

Payment balance of a country is a statistic report, which reflects
external economic operations of the state with other countries and
international organizations. Balance of payment expresses the country’s
balance state, which in its turn influences at internal equilibration
and economic stability.

For the NKR payment balance composing, figures about imported and
exported goods received from the State Tax Service adjunct to the NKR
Government, managing persons and banking system served as a ground,
methodological principles drafted by International Currency Fund
were implemented.

In 2008 running account deficit of the NKR payment balance formed
23104.8 mln drams, which in comparison with 2007 has increased by
20.0 percent. Increase of deficit of running account in comparison
with the previous year is mainly preconditioned by the growth of
balance deficit in the area of goods and services.

The negative balance with in the area of goods in 2008 regarding
to 2007 has increased by 45.8 percent, which is the consequence of
decrease of volumes of goods export and considerable increase of
volumes of imported goods. With regard to services the balance formed
1299.1 mln drams, which is mainly the result of negative balance
in transportation services and tourism and positive balance in the
area of construction services. The balance of incomes formed 1202.2
mln drams decreasing by 8.9 percent in comparison with the previous
year, and the balance of current transfers formed 34619.5 mln drams
increasing by 71.3 percent.

In 2008 in the area of current transfers article the recorded positive
balance had its influence at current account deficit.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 23 2009

Expert says Turkey’s influence will increase in Caucasus

Turkey’s influence in the Caucasus will increase if Turkish-Armenian
relations improve, but during the process of rapprochement, opposition
forces increasingly come to the forefront, Alexander Iskandaryan,
director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, has said.

`There is a zero-sum game logic. It is based on the idea that Armenia
would lose if Azerbaijan wins or Azerbaijan would lose if Armenia
wins. This is not a true logic. There is a need to leave such a
mentality out,’ he said, speaking to a group of Turkish journalists
this week. He added that even though Azerbaijani-Armenian relations
should be independent from Turkish-Armenian relations, this is not the
case in reality.

`In Turkish-Armenian relations, Azerbaijan is a third country. This
should be the basic principle. But we see that Azerbaijan has an
influence when it comes to Turkish-Armenian relations,’ Iskandaryan
said, in reference to recent concerns voiced by Azerbaijan and
Turkey’s response to them. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an
indicated in Baku last week that there would be no normalization in
ties with Armenia unless Armenia withdraws from the Nagorno-Karabakh
region. The statement pleased Azerbaijan but drew ire from Armenia,
which said Turkey should not interfere in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
and warned that such moves by Ankara would harm efforts to resolve the
deep-seated dispute. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in
a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenia invaded
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven regions adjacent to it. Armenian withdrawal
from Azerbaijani territory was a condition posed by Turkey for the
normalization of ties
with Yerevan, but the condition was apparently softened when Turkish
and Armenian diplomats started closed-door talks to normalize ties a
year and a half ago. Last month, they announced that they had reached
an agreement on the framework for restoring their ties, sparking
protest from Azerbaijan.

Asked who opposed an increase in Turkey’s influence in the Caucasus,
Iskandaryan said there are ultra-nationalists in both Armenia and
Turkey that opposed rapprochement. `There is also an Azerbaijani lobby
in Turkey. In Armenia, the elite and realistic people support
rapprochement,’ he said. `And the reason is simple: Turkey is 20
kilometers away, and there is no way to go there to drink a cup of
tea.’

He also said the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh would take a long time
to change but this was not going to be the case for the border between
Turkey and Armenia. `There is a unique situation. The United States
and Europe support the process. And Russia is against it. This was not
the case three, four years ago,’ he told the group of journalists, who
were in Armenia for the International Hrant Dink Foundation’s
Turkey-Armenia Journalist Dialogue Project, funded by the Heinrich
Böll Stiftung Association.

23 May 2009, Saturday
YONCA POYRAZ DOÄ?AN YEREVAN

AZERBAIJANI WOMEN MPS DO NOT BELIEVE TURKISH PRIME MINISTER CRITICIZED THEM

Trend
May 22 2009
Azerbaijan

Women members of the Azerbaijani parliament do not believe that
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized them.

"We do not believe that the Erdogan administration has made such
statements and we think media reports on this issue are an effort
of the forces that seek to undermine Turkey-Azerbaijan relations,"
MP Ganira Pashayeva said.

Azerbaijani women MPs Ganira Pashayeva, Zhale Abbasova, Gular Ahmadova
and Aynur Jamalgizi visited Ankara in April to protest against opening
of the Turkey-Armenia borders.

Turkish media reported on May on 21 that Erdogan asked to provide
him with detailed information about the Azerbaijani MPs. The prime
minister said he was dissatisfied with Azerbaijani MPs’ statements.

Erdogan visited Azerbaijan earlier last week. Turkish prime minister
said once again that Turkey will not open borders with Armenia.

Pashayeva said Azerbaijani MPs are expecting Ankara to make explanation
about the media reports.

"We asked Turkish embassy to study this issue. The embassy said
reports in the Turkish media are untrue and said they will provide
an official explanation after they study the issue," Pashayeva said.

PONTIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION SOURS TURKEY AUSTRALIAN RELATIONS
by Anastasios Papapostolou

Greek Reporter
ntian-genocide-recognition-sours-turkey-australian -relations/
May 22 2009
Australia

The Turkish ambassador to Australia said that relations between
the two countries will be affected following the decision by the
South Australia State Parliament to recognize the Genocide of the
Pontians, Armenians and Assyrians. He also expressed regret at the
decision by South Australian Attorney General, Minister of Justice and
Multicultural Affairs, Michael Atkinson to visit Greece next week and
address an event organized by the Pontians in Thessaloniki. Turkey
launched a formal demarche in Australia after Mr. Atkinson tabled a
motion for the official recognition of the Pontian genocide by the
South Australia State Parliament.

Greeks in Melbourne are staging a protest outside the Turkish consulate
on Sunday to demand the recognition of the genocide of Pontian Greeks
between 1914 and 1922. The protest is part of Pontian Hellenism
memorial events that begin in Melbourne this weekend.

RA GOVERNMENT APPROVES ANOTHER ANTI-CRISIS PROJECT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
21.05.2009 22:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian government approved Thursday a draft
bill on co-financing of dwelling, which will be submitted to the
National Assembly.

"This in another anti-crisis project. It aims to attract major
investors," Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said.

The Armenian government will co-finance construction of sports
facilities.