Author: Frangulian Shushan

Hindu, India
Feb 18 2008

Anand blunders, suffers defeat

NEW DELHI: Armenia’s Levon Aronian handed out a shock defeat to World
champion Viswanathan Anand in the second round of the Morelia-Linares
chess tournament at Morelia, Mexico, on Saturday.

Anand, playing white in this Ruy Lopez game, committed a blunder with
his knight-move on the 30th turn and gave up after 34 moves when
faced with checkmate. In the day’s other decisive battle Vassily
Ivanchuk beat Peter Leko.

The results (second round): Viswanathan Anand (1) lost to Levon
Aronian (Arm, 1); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr. 1.5) bt Peter Leko (Hun, 1).

Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 0.5) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 1.5);
Alexei Shirov (Esp, 0.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1).

Armenian candidate for president Levon Ter-Petrosyan applied to
citizens of the country

2008-02-16 20:42:00

ArmInfo. Today Armenian first president, candidate for president Levon
Ter-Petrosyan applied to citizens of the country.

The message received by ArmInfo says, that on 19 February Armenian
citizens will have an opportunity to demonstrate their will and in such
a way "to liberate Armenia" from "the robbery state" and become true
and worthy masters of the country. For this it is just necessary to
fulfill their civil duty and take part in the election. Indifference
will help the authorities to do fraud and to fail success of the
pan-national movement. The more people take part in the election the
more victory of the people is guaranteed. ‘In case of your activeness
we shall manage to fulfill what we failed to do in 1998 and 2003. And
this time we shall undoubtedly win’, – the message says.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan also called up all the political forces that
support him, all the activists, which organized his campaign, his
agents and all his supporters to watch the voting course attentively,
to stop any violation and to immediately demand all the final protocols
after voting. He applied to all representatives of municipal
authorities and members of district electoral commissions as well as to
the police commanders and said that their task is to ensure legal
election. He also emphasized that any violation made by them will
serious legal consequences. ‘The robbery state has already lost and the
people won. And this victory should be legally formed on 19 February’,
– Ter-Petrosyan’s message says.

Armenian General Prosecutor’s Office made a statement and warned on
criminal liability for electoral violations

February 15, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenian General Prosecutor’s Office made a
statement, in which it reminded on criminal liability for violations of
the electoral legislation.

Mediamax reports that the General Prosecutor’s Office stressed that the
following violations are considered criminal offence:

– making obstacles on the way of realization of the electoral right and
work of the electoral commissions;

– falsification of elections, or the results of voting;

– spreading slanderous information about candidates or parties;

– infringement of the order of electors’ lists composition, their
publication or provision of those lists to citizens or parties;

– double-voting, or voting instead of another person;

– preparation and distribution of spurious ballots;

– making obstacles on the way of free will of the citizens;

– non-return of the seal of the electoral commission, violation of the
established order of seal guarding;

– entry to the polling station with arm;

– non-provision of protocol copies of the electoral commissions, making
obstacles on the way of examination of the electoral documents by the
proxies, members of electoral commissions, observers or media
representatives.

General Prosecutor’s Office urged Armenian citizens in case of
revelation of such violations to turn to the law-enforcement bodies or
to the General Prosecutor’s Office by 56-29-45 telephone number.

"CAMPAIGN PROCEEDS IN STRAINED ATMOSPHERE," "CHOICE IS YOURS" PUBLIC ORGANIZATION SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 15, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The campaign of the RA presidential
candidates is proceeding in a strained and not always balanced
atmosphere with inaddmissible manifestations. This statement was made
by Haroutiun Hambardzumian, the Chairman of the "Choice is yours"
public organization, at the press conference, which was held on
February 15.

In his estimation, all that could not contribute to the formation of
confidence among society disappointed by the electoral processes. In
the words of Haroutiun Hambardzumian, a number of preoccupying
phenomena have been recorded, which, in particular, concern the
obstacles appeared during the campaign and the application of the
administrative resource.

The "Choice is yours" organization calls to the competing sides and
all the people included in the electoral processes for keeping away
from manifestations of intolerance, for displaying a high political
culture and exceptionally acting within the borders of the law and
legality on the day of the ballot. Haroutiun Hambardzumian expressed
hope that a change for the better will be recorded on the day of
the ballot, which will provide the legitimacy of the result of the
elections for the public and raise the level of public confidence
towards the electoral process.

He stated that on February 19 the organization will conduct a
monitoring mission in all the electoral stations of the republic.

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Feb 15 2008

FMS OF ARMENIA AND SERBIA DISCUSSED KOSOVO ISSUE

YEREVAN, 15.02.08. DE FACTO. The development of situation around
Kosovo, influence of concerned states on the conflict’s settlement
was discussed at a meeting of Armenian and Serbian FMs Vardan
Oskanian and Vuk Jeremic held in Kiev within the frames of a meeting
of FMs of the countries of Black Sea region and the EU.
According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA MFA Press
Office, in the course of the meeting the parties had underscored
friendly nature of relations between Armenia and Serbia and mutual
sympathy between the two countries’ peoples.

PRE-ELECTION SLANDER IS BEING COLLECTED

Lragir
Feb 12 2008
Armenia

The special working group of the Office of Prosecutor General was
set up to study reports on breaches of the electoral legislation. The
office has received 41 reports, of which 20 through the media.

Charges were brought on 11 reports, 18 reports were declined, 11
reports are under investigation. On February 12 Prosecutor General
Aghvan Hovsepyan released this information, saying that on the days to
go before the election the office of prosecutor general will hold news
conferences more often to release the findings of the working group.

Aghvan Hovsepyan said it is difficult to single out the gravest
violation of the law which has been reported to the office of
prosecutor general. However, in the context of the criminal law,
the gravest crime is the use of a gun in the Fourth village.

Aghvan Hovsepyan also said that the peculiarity of the presidential
campaign is that most reports on breaches are false, and their
authors seem to think that the more lies they tell, the more people
will believe them. Aghvan Hovsepyan stated that the purpose of these
reports is to denigrate the law enforcers. However, the prosecutor
general says the law enforcers perform their duties, and before and
after the election and on the day of the voting the law enforcers
will try their best to reveal and punish wrongdoers because it is a
matter of reputation of the country. By the way, Aghvan Hovsepyan also
stated that the reports on breaches will be classified, and slander
will be separated. The prosecutor general reminded that slander is
also a crime in our country.

CHAIRMAN OF THE UNION OF ARMENIANS OF RUSSIA URGES THE CITIZENS TO VOTE FOR SERGE SARGSYAN

armradio.am
13.02.2008 15:33

Chairman of the Union of Armenians of Russia and the World Armenian
Congress Ara Abrahamyan urged the citizens of Armenia to vote for
the presidential candidate from the Republican Party Serge Sargsyan.

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan, Ara Abrahamyan stated
that Serge Sargsyan is a candidate who stands for the deepening of
cooperation with Russia. According to him, for Armenians residing
in Russia the stance of the Armenian authorities concerning the
prospects of Armenian-Russian relations, in the given context the
stance of Serge Sargsyan, gives all the grounds to assume that the
relations of the two countries will continue developing.

Ara Abrahamyan expressed the opinion that Serge Sargsyan is a strong,
consistent and intelligent leader, capable of solving both economic
issues, and the problems, related to Armenia’s security.

The Chairman of the Union of Armenians of Russia expressed hope
that the presidential elections in Armenia will be held in line with
international standards.

ARTASHES GEGHAMIAN’S SUPPORTERS BELIEVE THAT THE GROWING TENSENESS IN THE SOCIETY MAY LEAD TO DESTABILIZATION

Mediamax
February 12, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The growing tenseness in the society may lead to
destabilization, which the supporters of presidential candidate Levon
Ter-Petrosian are trying to reach, Spokesman of the pre-election staff
of another presidential candidate, Leader of "National Unification"
party Artashes Geghamian Gagik Tadevosian stated in Yerevan today.

According to him, "we should take up all the efforts not to
allow disturbances both before the elections and afterwards". The
incidents during the pre-election rallies of Ter-Petrosian in Talin
and Artashat became evidence of the growing political confrontation,
Gagik Tadevosian reminded.

"Levon Ter-Petrosian does not have the moral right to participate
in the presidential elections after all the misfortunes, which fell
on the share of the people in the period of his rule in 1990-98",
representative of Artashes Geghamian stated. He expressed confidence
that the election campaign of the ex-President "is abundantly funded
from outside", due to which even before the start of the official
agitation Ter-Petrosian’s pre-election headquarter issued DVDs with
the records of the candidate’s speeches with a circulation of over
200 thousand copies.

Commenting on the agitation against Levon Ter-Petrosian, held by
Artashes Geghamian, Gagik Tadevosian noted that the Leader of "National
Unification" "only responds to the slanderous campaign, realized by
the supporters of the Ex-President and the gutter press, supporting
him". At that he stressed that the present authorities also underwent
harsh criticism by Geghamian on the pages of his pre-election program.

ARMENIAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION IMPLEMENTS RETRAINING PROGRAM FOR
SPECIALISTS OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armeian Hotel Association (AHA)
was founded in 2006. 15 hotels are members of the AHA that will
implement a retraining program for medium-level managers of hotels, was
announced at the February 7 round table.

According to AHA chairman Hakob Hakobian, this program is a
continuation of the 2007 training program on "certified courses of
hospitality industry". 4 out of 20 participants of the program received
certificates of managing specialists, 8 received certificates of course
instructors of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. The
certified course instructors will conduct a retraining program for
middle-level hotel managers in February-April, which will start with
courses for employees of Dilijan hotels.

The AHA executive director Lusine Minasian said that the retraining
program will help improve the quality of hotel services and increase
incomes.

The USAID-financed Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) program
assisted with foundation of the AHA and now provides support for its
activities. The CAPS director Hayley Alexander said that in the past
few years about 50 hotels and over 100 restaurants have been built in
Armenia, most of which are ready to receive international tourists but
some hotels, especially those in marzes, need to improve qualification
of their staff. In his words, 6 managers and 14 course instructors have
been retrained under CAPS programs. The CAPS plans to finance
retraining of up to 55 certified course instructors.

According to course advisor Jenifer Caloun, there is a necessity to
implement programs on hospitality industry in all developed countries.
H. Hakobian said that Armenia is the first Transcaucasian country where
USAID assists with training of hospitality industry experts.

The head of the tourism department of the RA ministry of trade and
economic development Mekhak Apresian said that over 70 hotel objects
currently operate in Armenia. There are at least 10 thousand hotel
places in Armenia, including apartments for tourists.

The Messenger, Georgia
Feb 8 2008

Russian and Armenian PMs discuss trade relations

By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Friday, February 8

On February 6, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that trade
turnover between Russia and Armenia was USD 700 million in 2007,
adding `we hope this figure will reach USD 1 billion in the near
future,’ the news agency Regnum reports.

Zubkov – who was on a trip to Yerevan where he met his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan – added that Russian investments in Armenia
are already at the USD 1 billion mark, and expressed hope that close
cooperation between the two states will continue.

He also said that with transport links between the two countries
expected to improve, Armenia will be able to increase exports of
construction materials to Russia. Some commentators have taken this
as an indication that the Armenian construction industry will
contribute to building works in Russia’s southern city of Sochi as it
gears up to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.