Author: Hakobian Adrine

RUSSIANS SET TO TAKE OVER ARMENIAN RAILWAY
By Ruben Meloyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 11 2007

The director general of Armenia’s rail network on Tuesday effectively
confirmed its impending takeover by Russia’s state-run railway,
a deal which will place yet another chunk of the Armenian economic
infrastructure under Russian control.

The Armenian government called last year an international tender for
the exclusive right to manage the struggling network for at least 30
years. Only the Russian railway and an Indian firm showed interest in
the bidding, sending relevant proposals to Yerevan earlier this year.

The Indians pulled out of the tender last month, all but predetermining
its outcome. Armenian media had for months claimed that the contest
is a mere formality as the state-owned Armenian Railway’s handover
to the Russians was decided by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Robert
Kocharian in Moscow last January.

The Armenian Railway chief, Ararat Khrimian, told RFE/RL that the
tender’s winner will be officially announced "after January 2008." He
said Russian management of his company would be "natural and correct"
given that it used to be part of the Soviet Union’s vast rail network.

"It’s easier to work with a company of which used to be a part
than with others," said Khrimian. "In my view, it will be easy and
beneficial for us to work with the Russians."

The impending deal is certain to be criticized by those government
critics who believe that Russia’s growing economic presence in Armenia
is turning into a stranglehold. Russian firms already dominate
the Armenian energy and telecommunication sectors and are keen to
acquire other industries. One of them is understood to have effectively
purchased recently Armenia’s largest gold mining company from an Indian
operator that fell foul of the authorities in Yerevan in January.

But according to Khrimian, more important is the fact that the new
railway manager will have to invest at least $170 million in the
Soviet-era network that has been operating at a fraction of its
capacity ever since Armenia’s rail communication with the outside
world was disrupted in 1992.

"Working in these blockade conditions, we have been unable to generate
sufficient revenues to make capital investments in our train fleet
and other infrastructure," said Khrimian. "The investments will
considerably improve the condition of our railway," he added.

EDUCATION IS THE MAIN PROBLEM OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS

Lragir
Dec 11 2007
Armenia

The chair of the Helsinki Committee Avetik Ishkhanyan told News Armenia
the problem of juvenile delinquents in Armenia is education at the
penitentiaries. "The right of juvenile delinquents for education is
violated, although there must be a school with a specially trained
staff," Ishkhanyan said.

According to the human rights activist, in Armenian correctional
institutions inmates face a number of major problems, namely the
quality of food and medical services. "However, thanks to reforms
the cells are being repaired, the toilets are separated," the human
rights activist says.

According to him, the most important achievement of reforms in this
sphere is transparency, as a result of which the representatives of
NGOs can monitor penitentiaries.

Ishkhanyan added that the correctional institutions are sustained
by the government but often different programs are implemented by
international organizations and charities, namely the International
Committee of the Red Cross.

There are eleven penitentiaries in Armenia where about 3000 people
are serving sentence, including 30 adolescents and 60 women.

On how people should be treated

Anahit Danielyan
08-12-2007 12:29:52 – KarabakhOpen

There has been a lot of contemplation on treatment of visitors at
government agencies and that for many people it is a trial to get into
these agencies. The minister of justice Arthur Mosiyan also stated
about it a few days ago, who urged the staffs of the government
agencies to treat visitors politely.

It means that the heads of the agencies know about this problem but the
question is what it changes. Judging by the opinions of visitors,
nothing has changed about treatment in government agencies. After each
visit to certain government agencies it takes a week to get over it.
However, there is nothing they can do about it because every single
complaint may bring about big fines. Each of us who has ever had to
visit a government agency encountered indifference, rude treatment, had
to wait for hours until the official attends to us or sends us to
another official. Although there are exceptions too.

Judging by the results of our survey, the prize holders of
inappropriate treatment are the tax service, the financial agencies,
Artsakhbank, the State Cadastre Committee, etc..

In order to raise the level of staffs of government agencies, they take
various tests on professional skills and knowledge, but nobody ever
thinks about the manner of treating people.

A frequent visitor of these agencies told us it would be nice if the
employees sat a course of ethic. `It is time to explain to these people
that they must treat people politely and they have no right to hurt
anyone. After all, they get a salary from taxes that the visitors pay,
which is often higher than the salary of the visitor,’ she says.

Panorama.am

17:31 05/12/2007

KLER DELESAR: ”ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TAKE UP
MILITARY MEASURES”

`’Now Armenia and Azerbaijan are taking up military
measures,” representative of the International Crisis
Group Kler Delesar announced during the announcement
of the report on Nagorno Karabakh. In his words,
resumption of military actions between the two
countries may be possible in 2012 when Azerbaijan’s
oil revenues will go down.
”Oil money has given a new confidence to Azerbaijan
and provided funds for the modernization of the
military forces. It seems Azerbaijan wants to postpone
any peaceful initiation unless the military balance is
on its side. Yerevan that unexpectedly reported
economic achievements has also become more uncomplying
and has increased its military expenditures. It means
that time is working on its favor. The independence of
Nagorno Karabakh will be harder and harder to
ignore,” the document says. The authors of the report
warn the Western countries that the first victims of
the war in Nagorno Karabakh will be the oil and gas
pipelines in the vicinity of Karabakh that have
special significance for the West.
”We are sorry that the parties do not demonstrate
strong political will and the governments of both
countries do not prepare their societies for the
settlement of the conflict,” he said voicing his
disappointment that Armenia and Azerbaijan could not
achieve an arrangement around the suggestions of OSCE
Minsk Group.

Source: Panorama.am

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COOPERATION WITH THE ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN WILL BE FRUITFUL

KarabakhOpen
06-12-2007 11:35:34

Yesterday President Bako Sahakyan met with the members of the
Central Committee of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Artsakh led by the
representative of the CC Davit Ishkhanyan. The president congratulated
Davit Ishkhanyan on election to this responsible post. During the
meeting a number of issues relating to the internal life in NKR were
discussed. The head of state said hopefully the cooperation with the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun will continue to be fruitful, underlining that close
cooperation among political forces and their active participation in
state building should become an indivisible part of the political
culture in the country, the General Information Department of the
president administration reports.

Pachajyan picked as Armenia’s finest
Thursday 6 December 2007-

Levon Pachajyan has been named Armenian Player of the
Year after a fine season for champions FC Pyunik and
the national team.

Memorable year
The 24-year-old midfielder scored ten times in 25
appearances as Pyunik secured their seventh straight
league title, and was ever-present for Armenia in 2007
as they defeated Kazakhstan and Poland before drawing
with Portugal and Serbia in a memorable four-game
unbeaten run in UEFA EURO 2008′ qualifying. In the
poll of top-flight club presidents and coaches,
referees and media representatives organised by the
Football Federation of Armenia, the right-sided
Pachajyan finished ahead of team-mates Robert
Arzumanyan and Sargis Hovsepyan.

©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved.

KSEE, CA
Dec 5 2007

Fresno Mayoral candidates face-off in debate

YouNewsTV’Story Published: Dec 5, 2007 at 3:13 PM EST

Story Updated: Dec 5, 2007 at 10:16 PM EST
By Preston Phillips

Watch the story With less than six months to go until the June
primary, five of the six candidates for Fresno mayor faced-off in the
first debate since they made their announcement to run for office.

Former councilmember Tom Boyajian, businesswoman Ashley Swearengin
and current city councilmembers Mike Dages and Jerry Duncan, along
with council president Henry T. Perea were asked a series of
questions written by various leaders from around the region, ranging
from economic development, to what candidates, if elected, would do
within the first one hundred days of office.

But the issue of how to better ensure public safety was at the top of
every candidates list.

"As mayor, I’m gonna add 150 police officers and continue the
re-building of our fire department… and we’re gonna get rid of
gangs,’ said councilmember Jerry Duncan.

But Duncan also said that would cost $15 million a year and would not
be easy.

Businesswoman Ashley Swearengin’s approach was quite the opposite."I
don’t think its enough to just sit up here and say we’re gonna be
tough on crime, we’re gonna throw money at something, we have to be
tough on crime, but we have to be smart on crime. And what that means
is we have to take our existing resources and get better outcomes for
it."

Councilmember Mike Dages says Fresno is too management heavy, and
believes many positions need to be eliminated.

`That money can be diverted, which would put the general fund money
back into the police and fire departments,’ said Dages.

Two departments that Duncan says are facing personnel cuts, if the
city doesn’t start doing something now about the $18 million deficit
it’s facing in 2011.

Former councilmember Tom Boyajian says the key to improving public
safety is economic development. "We have to induce companies to come
to Fresno and diversify the economy, that’s really important, so we
can get more money for the general fund, which helps you know,
prevent crime."

But council president Henry T. Perea asked,k what he referred to as
the million dollar question, `How do you pay for increased public
safety?’

He says it can be done through a combination of services that include
growing the general fund, utilizing technology and capitalizing on
government efficiencies.

"The hands on experience that I have coming in as a council member, I
think this gives me a great opportunity to address this as your next
mayor,’ Perea said.

Jim Boswell, the sixth candidate to announce a bid for mayor sent an
e-mail to KSEE 24 News saying that he was not invited or allowed to
attend Wednesday’s debate.

Bob Garcia, executive director of CEN-CAL Business Group, the company
that put on today’s mayoral debate told KSEE24 that Boswell was not
invited to debate, because he announced his bid for mayor too late.
However, Garcia says that Boswell was invited to attend the debate.

.html

HAIRIKYAN’S EFFORTS WERE IN VAIN AND HE BLAMES EVERYONE

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2007

The leader of the National Self-Determination Union Paruir Hairikyan
stated November 27 at the Hayeli club his effort to bring together the
political leaders for the sake of democracy failed, only five parties
stayed faithful to this effort – the National Self-Determination Union,
the Democratic Way Party, the National Democratic Party, the Marxist
Party and the National Solidarity – which is not enough to expect
victory in the presidential election.

These parties are not divided, some of them, for instance, the
Democratic Way or the Marxist Party, support Ter-Petrosyan, the
Solidarity nominated a candidate, however, Paruir Hairikyan says they
tried their hardest to support Hairikyan’s effort.

"It was not of practical use. But the second part of our intention,
which interested me personally, I got the answer for it. We spoke
about democracy during the parliamentary election as well but as you
remember it did not become clear why the effort to create a united
front failed. Now I can state clearly what role each political
activist had, and whose aspirations resembled a mental disease,
who was a provocateur, who was sold and who was bought," Paruir
Hairikyan says. He says he knows the answer to these questions and
if it interests the society, he can evaluate each. The reporters
wanted to know the names, and Paruir Hairikyan said his statements
are very clear. "It is highly responsible to enumerate the KGB
agents the society is swarming with. We judge by their indifference
toward selling the national property of Armenia to others. All those
who expect reforms in Armenia from the presidential election are
ignorant. It means they are unaware of the Constitution. Those who
imagine themselves as triumphant candidates are mental patients,"
Paruir Hairikyan says. According to him, if someone does not run in the
parliamentary election saying that they will run in the presidential
election, they have no idea of politics.

"Because in Armenia the parliamentary election determined it. The
All-Armenian Movement and the National Democratic Union did not run in
the presidential election, the All-Armenian Movement stopped halfway,
the NDU from the very beginning. Now their running in the presidential
election seems funny to me. How ignorant a person should be to run
in the presidential election individually hoping to change something
which can be changed only in the parliamentary election?"

Paruir Hairikyan says. He asks what prevented Levon Ter-Petrosyan,
Arthur Baghdasaryan or Raffi Hovannisian if they were interested in
their program not in their personality from fostering the consolidation
of democratic forces? Hairikyan thinks the people for whom their self
is more important are bastards.

As to the thesis that although the Constitution vests greater power in
the legislative, the Constitution has always been a formal document in
this sense, and in reality the Republican majority may be replaced by
the All-Armenian Movement majority, Paruir Hairikyan says it is wrong
to speak about reforms with such a mindset. "The people who think they
should take this track, they are already on the track for violating the
Constitution, in other words, they come to compare their ability for
anti-constitutional deeds to others’ anti-constitutional deeds. This
is what we deny. For instance, a person says, one of the candidates
says they must work with the parliament. Either he is fooling us
or he is a fool since he does not understand that to work with the
parliament means to work with the government formed by the parliament
majority. What are they going to dissolve?" Paruir Hairikyan says.

According to him, if Levon Ter-Petrosyan considers changing something
in this way, we should accept the idea that a "demonic group is going
to fight another group, demonic or not, which however has a demonic
way of acting, intentions to violate the Constitution." According to
him, it is wrong to say that the Constitution does not work because
without the Constitution we would have been in a worse state.

AZERBAIJAN URGES RUSSIA TO PRESSURIZE ARMENIA OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH PROBLEM

ARMENPRESS
Nov 28, 2007

BAKU, NOVEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani defense minister Safar
Abiyev reiterated Baku’s accusations of Armenia during a meeting with
the visiting Russian defense minister, Anatoly Serdukov, saying the
Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was indifferent
towards Armenian ‘aggression.’ Russian defense minister began his
official visit to Azerbaijan on 27 November. He was to visit today
the Gabala Radar Station. Abiyev urged Russia to increase pressure
on Armenia to force it withdraw its troops from ‘the occupied’ lands.

"Azerbaijan supports a peaceful settlement to the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, Azerbaijan will take other measures if the conflict cannot
be settled through peaceful means," the Azerbaijani minister said.

On November 27 Safar Abiyev said while Azerbaijani territory is
occupied by Armenia, "the chance of war is close to 100 percent."

The comment, made during a meeting of defense chiefs from former Soviet
republics, seemed to be a repetition of warnings from Azerbaijani
officials that the use of force to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh has
not been ruled out if internationally mediated talks fail.

Azerbaijani prime minister who also received the Russian defense
minister, was quoted by Trend news agency as saying that Baku has
drastically increased its military spending for next year because
of the unresolved conflict with Armenia and because of Armenia’s
‘non-constructive’ approaches.

OSCE: POLITICAL WILL AND NOBILITY NEEDED FOR RESOLUTION OF FROZEN CONFLICTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.11.2007 16:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Political will and nobility are needed for resolution
of frozen conflicts, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister
Miguel Angel Moratinos said when addressing the summit of the OSCE
Foreign Ministers in Madrid today.

"To resolve conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Karabakh we should
demonstrate political bravery and a strong wish to hold talks,"
he said calling on the participants to come to a common ground for
ensuring security of the OSCE member states.