Author: Frangulian Shushan

APARTMENT PRICES IN YEREVAN HAVE NOT ACTUALLY RISEN OVER THE PAST YEAR, DIRECTOR OF MONOLITH REALTY SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 16 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Over the past year apartment prices
have not risen in Yerevan, but such an impression has been created
by an unprecedented fall in the dollar’s exchange rate against the
Armenian dram in the indicated period. Alexander Durgarian, Director of
the Monolith Realty real esate agency, expressed this opinion during
a talk with NT correspondent. In his words, now all transactions in
Armenia are done in drams, and for this reason "there has been a 30%
inflation". He said that over the past year about 50% of apartment
buyers in Yerevan’s Kentron community have been Diasporan Armenians
or foreigners.

According to Chairman of Actsern holding Hakob Baghdasarian, the
rise in apartment prices in Yerevan is mainly due to the increase of
remittances from abroad, which are in foreign currency, while the
unpredictability of exchange rate’s behaviour makes people invest
money in real estate. Besides, in the words of H. Baghdasarian,
Diasporan Armenians accumulate their money in homeland – by purchasing
real estate.

It was mentioned that the rise of apartment prices is also conditioned
by the imperfection of Armenia’s securities market anf the limited
number of financial resource accumulation instruments. "Today the best
way of ensuring liquidity of resources is to purchase real esate,"
H. Baghdasarian concluded.

"HAVE I SAID ALLIANCE? NEVER," ARTASHES

Panorama.am
17:52 15/01/2007

"Have I said alliance? Never," Artashes Geghamyan, leader of National
Unity party, told a press conference today.

Geghamyan said his party is engaging in discussions only with other
parties to contribute to democratic elections. The leader said they
may combat the elections without forming any alliance. "You mobilize
the forces and do not connect hopes with anyone," he said.

The proportional list of the party is not ready yet but Geghamyan
sees no problem with that. He said the important thing is that he
knows his co-partymen. The leader excluded that he may be nominated
on the majority list. "My colleagues think it is not expedient,"
the said also saying he may be deprived of engaging in pan-republic
activities in case of nominated in only one community. However,
he said his deputies will nominate themselves on the majority list.

Speaking about financial resource, he said they have 20-25 times less
funds that the authorities. But Geghamyan is not concerned about that,
either. "We do not have the problem of buying voices. We have only
to deal with the campaign in marzes and buy TV air," he said.

Geghamyan said small and mid sized businesses contributed to the
party funds but he did not want to disclose names. He also said the
party has 46,000 members at the moment.

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan,
12 Jan 2007 p 2

Our sad end

Hayk Gevorkian

It is a negative historic event that Georgia has refused to buy
electricity from Armenia. It is for the first time that Georgia did
that and it will get electricity from Azerbaijan. This means that
Armenia is not Georgia’s energy partner any longer. This was not a
surprise and was unavoidable.

Armenia is slowly stepping on a path at the end of which there is
absolute isolation when we shall depend on everybody but nobody will
depend on us. And this means losing independence. The saddest thing
is that Georgia’s rejection of Armenian electricity was not a
purposefully organized international action against Armenia but a
natural process with its objective reasons. Georgians do not want to
buy our electricity because it is expensive, but its price is a
commercial secret although it is known that the price has doubled.

Last year Georgia bought our electricity at the price of 2.5-2.9
cents, and probably at present it became 5 cents. This is very
expensive, for this reason Georgia has preferred Azerbaijan which
does not demand money but they have made an arrangement whereby in
summer Georgia will supply electricity to Azerbaijan. This means that
their relations will become long-lasting. All this is the result of
raising the gas tariff.

The Razdan power plant’s gas supplies are subsidized only for
producing electricity for the domestic market, and it gets no subsidy
for producing electricity for export. But we should take into account
that Armenia pays 110 but not 230 dollars [per 1,000 cu.m.] for
Russian gas and in this case electricity produced in Armenia is not
competitive. One may guess what will happen in Armenia after 2008
when Russia sells its gas to us at 180 or 230 dollars. And the entire
Armenian economy is in a situation which has been developing rapidly,
according to the official statistics. Georgia’s refusal is just an
episode in the prospect of our state. This is not at all conditioned
by our geographical position. This is the result of the foreign as
well as domestic policy carried out by our state. And if our
authorities are sure that in case the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
is not settled, time works in favour of us, if they say that we have
the most powerful army, if they are sure that one may construct a
strong and competitive state through fraud at referendums and
elections, through populism and total control over TV broadcasting,
in that case we shall have a sad end.

ZASTAVA NOT AWARDED THE LICENCE FOR EXPORT OF WEAPONS

EASTBUSINESS.ORG
January 4, 2007 Thursday 4:25 PM (Central European Time)

Dragoljub Grujovic, the General Manager of Serbian weapons manufacturer
Zastava Oruzje announced Wednesday that the Ministry of International
Economic Relations would not award this factory the licence for export
of arms to Armenia for technical reasons.

He said that he was notified by the Ministry that the permit would not
be issued Wednesday, because of the absence of one of the Ministers,
whose Ministry is also supposed to approve the exports to Armenia.

Grujovic said he believed that the factory will be issued a licence
the following day and pointed out that all the conditions for the
export of arms to Armenia, worth USD 2.64 million, have been met. He
also pointed out the significance of this deal for the continuation
of the investment cycle initiated at the factory.

In December, the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not approve
the export of arms to Armenia, which caused a protest of the company
s employees to be launched.

After the intervention of the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic,
Russian officials announced that Russia is not opposed to the export
of arms to Armenia and the realisation of this deal is now expected.

OVER HALF OF YOUNG AZERIS FAVOR MILITARY ACTION OVER GARABAGH

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Dec 28 2006

52% of young people in Azerbaijan believe that the Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict the country faces with Armenia should be settled
through military action, a recent study has found.

34% of those polled spoke in favor of a negotiated settlement,
according to the survey commissioned by the National Council of
Youth Organizations. It was held among 1,300 respondents in Baku,
Ganja and Sumgayit as well as ten regions of the country.

75% of Azerbaijani youngsters believe the situation in the country
has changed for the better in the past ten years.

29% of respondents see the future development of Azerbaijan in the
settlement of the Garabagh conflict, according to the study. The
same percentage of the poll participants cited the need to reduce
corruption level.

15% of the persons interviewed believe that young people should hold
administrative posts.

PRO-KOCHARIAN TYCOON A ‘HERO TO MANY ARMENIANS’
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Dec 26 2006

Gagik Tsarukian, a government-connected millionaire businessman,
is the most popular and revered individual in modern-day Armenia,
according to a new U.S.-funded opinion poll released this month.

The findings of the poll commissioned by the U.S. Agency for
International Development are the latest indication of the former
arm-wrestler’s growing populist appeal that should make his Prosperous
Armenia a major contender in next spring’s parliamentary elections.

The survey was designed by the U.S. Gallup Organization and conducted
by the Armenian Sociological Association across the country from
November 10-19, with 1,200 randomly chosen people asked to answer a
long list of questions relating to domestic politics, foreign affairs
and the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

One of the questions read, "Of the prominent Armenian people and
characters in Armenian history and folk culture, who is most suitable
to be a national hero or leader in the present?" The late Prime
Minister Vazgen Sarkisian was the most frequently named figure, with
15 percent of those polled describing him as a national hero. He was
followed by two military leaders of the early 20th century and Karen
Demirchian, Soviet Armenia’s former leader who was assassinated along
with Sarkisian in the October 1999 terrorist attack on the Armenian
parliament.

Of all the living Armenians mentioned by respondents, Tsarukian had
by far the highest rating: 8 percent. Trailing him were opposition
leaders Artashes Geghamian (3 percent) and Artur Baghdasarian (2
percent) as well as President Robert Kocharian (2 percent).

Tsarukian had 4 percent support in the previous USAID-funded study
that was conducted in August. The apparent rise in his popularity may
well be the result of the recent upsurge in his ambitious party’s
election-related activities promoted by the Tsarukian-controlled
Kentron television and other channels loyal to Kocharian.

Tsarukian also emerged as the winner of a separate survey that was
carried out by another Armenian polling group, Vox Populi, among about
600 residents of Yerevan last week. Vox Populi said 13.5 percent of
them rated him "man of the year."

Prosperous Armenia now claims to be by far the largest political party,
boasting at least 240,000 members and over 400 offices in a country
of three million. Its publicity stunts have included provision of
large-scale agricultural aid, free-of-charge medical assistance and
other public services to low-income people across the country. Critics,
among them some leaders of Armenia’s two main governing parties,
regard this as a massive vote buying operation.

Parliament speaker Tigran Torosian, a leading member of the ruling
Republican Party, complained to a visiting Western ambassador last
month about the emergence of new parties led by "apolitical figures."

In an apparent reference to Prosperous Armenia, he said their electoral
success would deal a "blow to the multi-party system."

For his part, Vahan Hovannisian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, suggested on November 24 that many Armenians are now
ready to sell their votes to the highest bidder.

"If a voter, who has lived in independent Armenia for 15 years,
knows everyone, has seen every politician on TV for umpteenth times,
read party programs … but has still not made up their mind, then
they are expecting money," he said.

Critics also point to a huge disparity between millions of dollars
spent on Prosperous Armenia’s election campaign and modest earnings
posted by Tsarukian-owned businesses. The largest of them is only
76th in the government rankings of Armenia’s 300 leading corporate
taxpayers, giving more weight to allegations that the tycoon is
grossly evading taxes.

Tsarukian, who is close to Kocharian, rounded on his detractors
at a meeting with thousands of Prosperous Armenia activists in
Yerevan’s Ajapnyak district late last week. "I would love to know
what they have contributed from their personal accounts," he said in
a speech broadcast by several TV stations over the weekend. "Have
they personally financed any good thing? Let them talk about that,
instead of hurting the people and slamming things done by others."

Kocharian publicly defended his reputed protege on December 15,
saying that it is wrong to attribute Prosperous Armenia’s expansion to
Tsarukian’s "benevolent actions." "There is demand in our society for
a new political force that comes up with a very understandable slogan,
‘We think about the people,’" he said.

ONE MORE FIRE AT NAIRIT PLANT

Yerevan, December 25. ArmInfo. One more fire took place at Nairit
Plant on Sunday.

The advisor of the Chief of the Rescue Service of Armenia, Colonel
Nikolay Grigoryan says that they were informed of the fire 9:38 AM.

Burning were two containers with ethanol – 300 tons each. The fire was
extinguished only today morning. 11 fire teams, three water carriers
and municipality waterers took part in the extinguishing.

This is the third fire at the plant in the last three months.

Strangely, all incidents took place on Sundays.

PRESS OFFICE
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

December 22, 2006
___________________

GENOCIDE DEATH HONORED WITH DONATION TO FUND FOR ARMENIAN RELIEF

It is a unique number: 46732314673231. It binds Negdar Arukian to her
father and her grandfather. Today Negdar is using the number to improve the
lives of the next generation.

The digits are the New York Life insurance policy number of Negdar’s
grandfather Thomas Parounaghian. When she received a check through the
recent settlement of claims brought on behalf of victims of the Genocide,
she decided to donate the money to the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) to
help orphans in Armenia.

HISTORY OF LOSS

Though some of the details are lost with time, Negdar knows her grandfather
Thomas moved to the United States sometime before 1915. In America, he
worked as a merchant. He traveled back to his home in Arabkir, where he
asked his wife, Negdar’s grandmother to move back to America with him.

"She asked about life in America and he told her that in America husbands
and wives kissed and held hands on the street," Negdar said, recalling the
traditional family stories. "So she said ‘No way am I going to go there.’"

Instead, Thomas stayed in his village, where he and his wife had two
children, Negdar’s father Yeghishe and a daughter. It was there Thomas was
killed during the Genocide. Negdar’s grandmother and their two children
were sent into the desert.

The young family eventually found their way to Lebanon, before settling in
Ethiopia in 1927. Negdar was born in Ethiopia, moving to Montreal in 1977
before heading to America a few years latter, bringing her father with her.

He brought something with him as well, Thomas’s New York Life policy number.

"I don’t know how my father, through all that, through the Genocide, how he
kept that policy number with him, but some how he did," said Negdar of her
late father, who was too young to remember his father. "He wanted to look
into it, but at the time nobody wanted to help. Nobody wanted to find out
about this policy."

FUTURE OF HOPE

Eventually, Vartkes Yeghiayan, who was born in Ethiopia like Negdar, and
fellow Los Angeles lawyer Mark Geragos would take an interest in Thomas’ New
York Life policy number.

In 2004, as part of the historic legal settlement the team brokered, New
York Life agreed to pay $20 million to settle the suit on behalf of 2,300
unsettled claims. As a descendent of a policy holder, Negdar ended up with
about $5,000 after their settlement was divided between Thomas’ six
grandchildren.

"I felt so happy," Negdar said about the settlement. "Even if it was only
$5, I would have been happy. Because it was something my father wanted to
have taken care of. And though he’s not here, it was finally taken care of.
His daughter fulfilled his efforts."

Negdar, her husband Hratch, and two daughters, Arpi and Talin, decided they
didn’t need to buy extra Christmas gifts this year or plan a family vacation
with the money. Instead, they donated it to the Fund for Armenian Relief
(FAR), the preeminent aid and development organization operating in Armenia.

She asked that the money go towards FAR’s Homeless Children Center in
Yerevan, which works to save the souls of at-risk and runaway youth through
temporary housing, medical care, and social services.

"When I went to Armenia, I saw the orphanage. And my father was an orphan,"
Negdar said emotionally. "I had worked with FAR for a long time. I knew
when I gave the money to FAR, it would go where I wanted it to go."

For Negdar’s two daughters, the gift is just another example from their
parents of the importance of giving back to the community. Negdar, for
example, has been active for more than two decades in the Holy Martyrs
Church in Bayside, NY.

"I was not at all surprised by my mother’s decision. She is one of the most
generous and kind-hearted individuals I know, and I am very proud to be her
daughter. It will serve the right cause" said her daughter Arpi.

Since its founding in response to the 1988 earthquake, FAR has served
millions of people through more than 220 relief and development programs in
Armenia and Karabagh. It has channeled more than $270 million in
humanitarian assistance by implementing a wide range of projects including
emergency relief, education, medical aid, construction and job opportunity
development.

FAR, one of the preeminent relief and development organization operating in
Armenia, is dedicated to realizing the dream of a free, democratic,
prosperous, and culturally rich Armenia. It works towards a brighter future
by partnering with donors to make life a little better for our people. By
offering hope and more promising prospects in Armenia, Karabagh, and
Javakhk, FAR binds the Diaspora and the Armenian family together around the
globe.

For more information on FAR or to send donations, contact us at 630 Second
Avenue, New York, NY 10016; telephone (212) 889-5150; fax (212) 889-4849;
web ; e-mail [email protected].

— 12/22/06

# # #

QUESTIONING OF DEFENDANTS COMPLETED IN CASE OF FOREIGN CURRENCY
EXCHANGE OFFICES’ ROBBERIES IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The court of first instance of
Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork-Marash communities on December 21 finished
the questioning of the defendants in the case of robberies of two
foreign currency exchange offices in Yerevan. The fifth defendant Hayk
Sargsian also stated that the robberies were "naive and violent", and
the actions of the group should not be qualified as "banditry". He
said that he does not insist on his preliminary testimony which is
incorrect by 80%. Prior to the two robberies H. Sargsian went to
these foreign currency exchange offices to ascertain the situation –
the availability of money and the number of employees in the offices,
then he left to wait for other members of the group in a taxi. In his
words, he "knew very little about what had happened" after the first
robbery (which resulted in a victim), thus he rejected his preliminary
testimony, according to which he was better informed. After questioning
the defendants, the court started examining the written evidence and
documents. At the next court sitting on December 28, the court will
consider the conclusion of the forensic medical examination of the
victim Artur Mkrtchian in response to the petition of the lawyers,
who want to find out the causes of the victim’s death. According to
the defendants’ testimonies, the defendant Andranik Torosian fired
at A. Mkrtchian from a gun, while the defendant Sergei Movsisian hit
the victim with a knife.

NKR authorities convey serviceman Vusal Gharachayev to the Azeri side

ArmRadio.am
23.12.2006 15:04

At 12:55 today the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
conveyed 18-year-old serviceman of the Azeri Army Vusal Gharachayev
to the Azerbaijani side.

The NKR State Committee on War Captives and Missing Persons told
Mediamax that the soldir was conveyed near ash-Gharvend village in
Aghdam region, with the mediation of the International Committee of
the Red Cross.

Vusal Gharachayev had crossed the border and had been arrested by
servicemen of the NKR Defense Army on December 17.