Author: Hakobian Adrine

ARMENIA RANKS LAST IN RATING OF RESISTIBILITY AGAINST WORLD CRISIS IN CIS

Today.Az

July 15 2009
Azerbaijan

In rating of resistibility against world crisis in economic, political
and socio-cultural spheres, Armenia ranks in the last place among
CIS member states, the first report by the union of Eurasian expert
network said.

Armenia shares the last – 8th place with Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan. Kazakhstan ranks the first.

Fourth place is held by Lithuania and Estonia. Turkmenistan follows
them. Latvia and Ukraine rank sixth and Uzbekistan and Moldova seventh.

The experts attribute Kazakhstan’s ranking in the first place to the
high level of preparedness in the country of anti-crisis program,
its effectiveness, availability of real results and the activity of
the authorities in this regard.

LEBANON’S GUY MANOUKIAN TOPS THE CHARTS

The National
7159984/-1/NEWS
July 15 2009
UAE

The way Guy Manoukian sees it, he’s contributing to making the world a
smaller place. The singer, composer and performer combines a distinctly
Arab sound with catchy pop loops to create borderless house hits,
as popular with Arabic music fans as they are with clubgoers in Asia.

"I arrange my melodies in a way that’s classical, so they’re rooted
in the past, in the history of Arab people. But I do it in a way that
people like in modern times," he explains, adding that he has been
performing sold-out shows from Singapore to Armenia and has upcoming
events in Bali, Australia and Malaysia, among other places. "Performing
in those countries, when I go there I am bringing my home to their
home. The world has really become a village. It’s a new world, with
a new culture. And I want to be part of this."

In Dubai to promote the release of his latest album, Assouman, the
33-year-old Lebanese performer is ebullient, discussing the fact that
life has never been better. The new album has already gone gold in
the Middle East, sitting at number one on the charts in Lebanon for
the past two weeks.

"The people were waiting; they haven’t seen an album from me in a
while. I was taking my time," he says. "The waiting and the hype
built up the interest, which is why it hit the charts at number one
in Lebanon."

Before Assouman, Manoukian had released one studio album and another of
live recordings. In the years since the last album, he worked with the
Haitian-American hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean as well as the American
rapper 50 Cent and the French rapper Diams. Collaborating with Jean
marked a turning point in the way Manoukian produces his music.

"It was like going to university, I learnt so much. And my whole
standard of production changed," he says. "My production became more
professional. Now I’m working in the best studios."

The new album will be released in Europe under the title Vibes, but
its Middle Eastern title, Assouman, is an Iranian word that means
"clear skies", something Manoukian feels reflects the mood and
mentality of Arab youth.

"Arab youth are open-minded people, and this album is a real meeting
of East and West. It’s international, it’s Arab and it’s modern. It’s
like Dubai," he says. "I call it ethnic house. And I actually created
it in 2001, it’s a new sound."

Modesty may not be part of Manoukian’s public persona, but his energy
and passion for what he does make him likeable regardless. Some people
think you have to go out to the mountains to be inspired, he explains,
laughing, adding that even the most mundane experience – a traffic
jam, for example – can inspire him to create the stories he tells
through his music. The full range of emotions in the human experience
is what inspires him, he says. And the climax of the creative process
is the performance.

"It’s the best feeling, to perform. I’m comfortable on stage. It makes
me really feel alive. The energy I get from the people is fantastic."

It’s not surprising, considering Manoukian has been performing since
he was 16. He began his musical career at the age of four and has
been composing since he was eight. As a child, Manoukian studied and
wrote classical music. Though it’s a markedly different genre from
the dance music he’s making now, he maintains it was less a transition
than a natural evolution and a conscious decision; he could have gone
either way.

"I grew up in the Eighties. I love pop music. It’s melodic, it’s
fun. I do what makes me happy."

Luckily for him, what he does makes other people happy as well. He is
original, he says, and so is his music. Unlike some of the artists
working in the same genre, Manoukian explains that he is not a DJ,
he is a composer.

"I don’t do remixes. Everything I do is original. I compose my own
music, that’s the difference."

Manoukian’s downtime activities are also somewhat out of the
ordinary. His family owns a construction company, in his spare time,
he enjoys walking around the sites.

While he can’t deny the exciting trajectory of his music career, what
changed Manoukian’s life most significantly was the recent birth of
his son, Gio, who, he says, is "50 days old".

Manoukian is also currently composing the score to a musical that
will be performed in India. "A Lebanese guy is doing the music to an
Indian play that will be performed in Singapore. Ten, 15 years ago,
people would laugh if you told them that. Not anymore. The whole
world has opened up."

PASSENGER PLANE CRASHED IN IRAN

ArmInfo
2009-07-15 13:47:00

ArmInfo-RBC. A passenger plane with 168 people onboard, which carried
out Tehran-Yerevan flight, has crashed in Iran. As Reuters reports
quoting the Iranian state media, the aircraft of the Russian "Tu"
brand fell in one of the regions of Qazvin province by unknown
reasons. According to the preliminary data, all the passengers of
the plane died. The aircraft belonged to the Caspian Airlines Iranian
Company. No details of the tragedy are reported as yet.

Hotline telephone numbers have been opened at the Armenian Foreign
Ministry: +37410562543, +37410566811 and +37410544041 (interoffice
number 202 or 217).

A temporary service of psychological support has been opened at
Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan for the victims’ relatives and friends. In
addition, the list of 129 victims is already available.

JEEN LABELS ARMENIA AS LESS CAPABLE TO RESIST CRISIS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.07.2009 14:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Joint Eurasian Expert Network (JEEN) represented the
first Resistibility Rating of crisis effects in economic, political
and socio-cultural fields which included all countries of ex-Soviet
space except for the Russian Federation.

The Rating is the first in a series of resistibility ratings to crisis
effects in the countries of the ex-Soviet space. The basis for making
the Rating became the results of interrogation carried out among
experts in the ex-Soviet space, political scientists, observers,
journalists and also state government bodies. Each expert assessed
the aspects according to which it was possible to judge resistibility
to the crisis effects in each separate country on a ten-point scale.

The obvious leader of the Rating is Kazakhstan. The political
situation in the country is characterized by experts as stable enough:
rearrangements in authorities (6), rotation of elites (6) and a high
level of frustration in the environment of elites (6), presence of
uniform economic block in the government (7) and the highest level
of development of crisis management program (9), its efficiency
(7), governmental support of the priority branches of economy (8),
significant national currency movement (7), credit defaults (7),
social stability (7) and a sufficient level of credit of authorities
(7), according to a ten-point scale.

Then, Azerbaijan and Belarus follow. Armenia comes the last, along
with Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The political situation in Armenia is estimated by experts as stable
enough, presence of uniform economic block in the government (7),
significant national currency movements (8), reduction of import (7),
change of quality of consumer goods basket, level of credit of the
authorities is significant (6).

Russia was not included in the Rating. Being one of the largest
states in the world in all its aspects Russia’s inclusion in the
Rating would push all other states to the sidelines, the JEEN said.

PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA: ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK APPROVES PROGRAMMES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT OF CONSTRUCTION OF YEREVAN-BATUMI MOTORWAY

ArmInfo
2009-07-15 14:15:00

ArmInfo. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved all the programmes
concerning implementation of the project of construction of Yerevan-
Batumi motorway, Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan said in
Yerevan today responding to ArmInfo’s question.

According to him, during the recent visit to Armenia, President
of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili assured of the interest of official
Tbilisi in implementation of this project. Moreover, the Georgian
party also reached a consensus with ADB. The delegation of the Armenian
specialists will leave for Georgia during the next 10 days to discuss
the technical details.

Negotiations will be held in the Economy and Transport Ministries. ‘We
have a political consensus with both the Georgian partners and
ADB. There are also financial sources for the project implementation’,
T. Sarksiyan said.

It is envisaged that this motor way will allow to reduce the
distance from Yerevan to Batumi by 4-5 hours. To note, ADB is ready
to provide Armenia with credit to the total sum of about $140 million
in 2009-2010.

Armenia’s Customs Agency & OVIR: Deterrents for Armenia’s Growth and
Diaspora’s Repatriation

2009/07/13
HETQ Online – Investigative Jouralists Of Armenia

Feature Stories society

Persons arriving into Armenia for permanent residence may import their
personal property without paying customs duties; this is stated in
article 105 of Armenia’s customs code. On the surface this appears
like a simple code similar to the ones American and European countries
have for those moving to their countries. However, the details that
Armenia’s code leaves out and the process of Armenia’s heavily
bureaucratic custom agency, geared for maximum bribe making, creates a
nightmare scenario for the repatriate where weeks are lost simply
trying to obtain the goods and use them.

In this article I will try to detail the disastrous process a
repatriate typically goes through based on my experience and that of
several other repatriates I’ve spoken to.

In order to bring in your personal goods to Armenia duty free, you
must register your Armenia address in your 10-year Armenian passport
and only within the first 6 months of your address registration are
you allowed to import your personal items duty free.

At Armenian embassies abroad, Diaspora Armenians can obtain a 10-year
Armenian passport issued by OVIR (Administration Department for
Passports and Visas) with one exception, the Diasporan’s Armenian
names are butchered and foreign spelled names given in the Armenian
passport.

OVIR has a policy to disregard the true and original spelling of
Armenian names; instead they transfer the foreign spelled Armenian
names directly into an Armenian passport.

For example, if you were born in Armenia but moved to the United
States and took citizenship there, and your name has Armenian letters
which doesn’t exist in the English alphabet, then you would get a
different name if you repatriate back to Armenia than the one you were
born with in Armenia.

In order to get your address registered in the passport, you must go
to OVIR’s infamous 5 story Soviet building in Yerevan which has dozens
of doors on each floor and not a single door sign to indicate the
purpose of each office, nor a single receptionist or a sign in the
lobby to guide a person to the right place.

You will be lucky if you find one unbitter employee who knows and is
willing to show you the right office door and even luckier if that
person in the right door explains the registration process to you
without yelling at you to go to `a police station to get an address
confirmation and then come back’. Needless to say you will need at
least two weeks and four times of going back and forward to OVIR in
order to get your address registered in your passport.

Once you have a 10-year passport with your address registered inside,
you must wait until your items arrive to Armenia and then apply for
your duty free right under article 105. If you apply before your
items arrive so that you can retrieve your items quickly upon arrival,
your application will be rejected.

When your items do arrive, you must then present a hand-written
application (dimum) for Article 105 at the main customs office on
Khorenatsi Street. It takes about one week for the customs agent to
call you in for a response.

Meanwhile, you will not be able to retrieve your personal goods until
a response. And although you can retrieve your car upon arrival, you
do not get a license plate number but are allowed days to drive
without plate numbers for ten days. This means you will constantly be
pulled over by the police for driving without plate numbers.

Upon response from customs regarding your Article 105 application, you
will be very fortunate if they approve you right away without any
problems. In my case, after being questioned by the custom agent
regarding my background and the validity of my Armenian passport ,
where I was treated more like a criminal rather than someone
repatriating from America to live in his homeland, my application was
neither rejected nor accepted. Instead I was given a `30 day
temporary import right’ until they conducted `further research with
OVIR regarding the passport’.

Simply stated, a `30 day temporary import right’ means the
bureaucratic nightmare work doubles. Meanwhile you are not allowed to
drive the car for 30 days until the customs agent doing his `research’
gives a final answer to your Article 105 application.

In essence, for one month you will be running around from one custom
agency to another custom agency (all about 20-40 minutes apart and 1-6
hours spent at each location), while missing papers or stamps, missing
digits or inaccurate wording in handwritten documents will force
delays, further going back and forward and the opportunity by custom
agents to take bribes in order to gloss over any `errors’.

Moreover, with regards to the personal items sent, you must remember
in what country each product was made, how much they weigh, what size
they are and what material they’re made of, in order for the broker
you hire to fill out the forms correctly and have your items released.

If, for example, in your application you incorrectly name the country
where your 5 year-old computer or printer was made, that item will not
be released to you from Abovian customs storage; unless of course you
give a bribe or go back to the Araratyan customs agency to redo your
application.

To make a long story short, my car and personal items arrived in
Armenia on May 27, 2009 (see Is Armenia’s custom’s agency for real or
a comedy show?). It took a total of 20 visits to four different custom
agencies, a lot of complaints with customs agents, Armenia’s migration
agency and Diaspora Ministry, until I received my personal items on
June 6, the article 105 approval on June 22 and the right to drive the
car on June 24. Below are the reasons for each of the 20 visits to
the four various custom agencies.

6 visits to Khorenatsi Customs ` 1st time to apply `dimum’ for article
105 before items arrived, 2nd time to `dimum’ for article 105 when car
and items arrived, 3rd time for interview, 4th time to pick up
temporary approval document, 5th time to `dimum’ for final approval of
article 105, 6th time to pick up final approved document

5 visits to Noragavit Cusotms ` 1st time to pickup car upon arrival,
2nd time for temporary import right clearance by hiring a broker, 3rd
time for final import clearance (but I was sent back because mailed
documents from main custom house on Khorenatsi had not arrived), 4th
time for final import clearance by hiring broker again, 5th time to
fix error in wording description for type of car and three digits
missing in car model number according to Armenia’s Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) or `Guyee’.

5 visits to Abovian Customs ` 1st time to pick-up list of personal
items to take to Arartatyan agency, 2nd time to submit paperwork from
Araratyan agency and pay storage fee, 3rd time to pick up items eight
days after arrival and pay for more storage fees, 4th time to pickup
missing paper they had forgotten to give but was requested by
Araratyan agency, 5th time to deliver final article 105 approval
papers.

4 visits to Arartayan Customs ` 1st time to apply `dimum’ for personal
item storage rights at the Abovian customs storage, 2nd time to hire
broker to create paperwork for temporary release of personal items
stored at Abovian, 3rd time to hire broker to create paperwork for
final release approval, 4th time to bring missing document from
Abovian customs and to pickup final approval forms.

Whether the problem is plain stupidity, iron curtain Soviet mentality,
or money making opportunity for customs agents/brokers which are
causing Armenia’s laws and its implementation to be so backward, the
result is that it is preventing this country from moving forward and
becoming a stronger/efficient nation.

For a country that has more of its people living outside than inside,
Armenia cannot afford to create road blocks for people’s rights to
their own names or simple access to their belongings in and out of the
country.

The solution to make Armenia a place where more Armenians want to live
is simple ` get rid of laws and the implementation of laws that
torture people, and implement common sense laws that make people’s
lives easy and efficient.

After all, the job of every government is to make the lives of its
citizens better, and not the opposite, as it currently is in Armenia.

Dro Tsarukyan

CEDING OF TERRITORIES TO THE ENEMY, FOR WHICH ARMENIAN PEOPLE HAVE LEGAL, POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL RIGHTS, WILL BE A STRONG MORAL BLOW TO THEM, THE NKR EX-DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER THINKS

ArmInfo
2009-07-13 14:03:00

ArmInfo. Ceding of territories to the enemy, for which Armenian people
have legal, political and historical rights, will be a strong moral
blow to them, which may for many years stop the national will to fight
and to build their own statehood, the NKR ex-deputy foreign minister,
chairman of Foreign Policy and Security Public Council, Masis Mailyan,
told ArmInfo correspondent.

‘The published basic principles in case of their adoption and
fulfillment will take toll to the national interests of the NKR and
Armenia. Moreover, the text of the joint statement on the Karabakh
conflict by the presidents of Russia, the USA and France does not much
differ form the statements adopted earlier on various levels and within
the frames of different international structures to support the OSCE
Minsk Group process’, – he said and added that ceding of any territory
being under the NKR control will first of all mean breaking of the
NKR Constitution, in which these territories are fixed. Moreover,
withdrawal of the NKR Defence Army subdivisions even from a part of
the liberated territories will break the military and food security
of the NKR. He also added that in the published principles there is
no word about returning to Karabakh of more than 100 sq.km. Karabakhi
lands occupied by Azerbaijan.

The National , UAE
July 13 2009

Scars of war will take time to heal
Daniel Bardsley, Correspondent

Last Updated: July 13. 2009 12:03AM UAE / July 12. 2009 8:03PM GMT

KHRAMORT, ARMENIA // It is nearly 15 years since the Armenian
residents of this village in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh began returning
to their homes, but the scars of the six-year conflict with Azerbaijan
will take longer to heal.

Almost all of those who lived in this sleepy village ` now in the
self-declared independent state of Nagorno-Karabakh ` lost a family
member in the war that ultimately claimed as many as 30,000 lives,
both Armenian and Azerbaijani.

For Roza Ghahramanyan, it is her son, Ashot, for whom she continues to
grieve. In 1991, the 18-year-old became another statistic of the war.

`He was just a young man studying in Yerevan [the capital of
Armenia]. He came here and went to the frontline and he was killed,’
Mrs Ghahramanyan, 75, said as she clutched a black and white
photograph of her son.

Before the conflict erupted, relations between the Armenian majority
in Khramort and the `two or three’ Azeri families were good, according
to Ashot Ohanyan, 52, a farmer. Those few Azeris left the village as
the situation deteriorated in the run-up to the conflict.

The Armenians were cleared out when Azeri forces swept through in late
1991, according to villagers, leaving a wake of destruction behind
them.

After the conflict ended in 1994, Armenians began to return to
Khramort, but according to Mr Ohanyan, only about 250 people live in
the village now, a quarter of the original total. Many have gone to
Russia or Armenia, he said, because there is no opportunity for them
in Nagorno-Karabakh.

`It would have been better if there had been no war and they had just
separated us by quiet means,’ said the 52-year-old, whose elder
brother Hovsep was killed by a mine in 1995.

`For freedom [the conflict] was worth it, but it wasn’t good to have
so many sacrifices. They could have solved the problem in a peaceful
way. They solved the problem in Abkhazia [the disputed region in
Georgia that has declared independence] quickly, but ours is so long.’

The war between Christian-ethnic Armenians and Muslim-ethnic Azeris
over Nagorno-Karabakh lasted for nearly six years.

Nagorno-Karabakh had been an Armenian-majority enclave in Azerbaijan,
but is now a self-declared independent state not recognised by any
nation, not even Armenia, on which it remains heavily dependent for
defence and economic survival. Although apart from the occasional
skirmish at the frontlines, the guns have been silent since the 1994
ceasefire, a peace deal remains elusive.

Last year, in talks near Moscow hosted by the Russian president Dmitry
Medvedev, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a framework about coming to
a permanent solution. Ahead of a planned meeting in Russia between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents on July 17, a recent joint
statement from the Russian, French and American presidents called on
the pair to `resolve the few remaining differences’ and finalise an
agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Many, however, believe a political solution is not imminent, and with
Azerbaijan having announced just over a year ago it was increasing its
annual defence budget from $1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn) to $2bn, there is
speculation conflict could erupt again. The absence of a peace
agreement also makes it harder for Armenia to establish diplomatic
relations with Turkey, since Azerbaijan is not keen for its ally
Turkey to agree to their creation without the Nagorno-Karabakh
situation resolved. For the people of Khramort, the lack of a solution
makes them wonder what Armenia’s military victory achieved.

`The sacrifices were not worth it for what we have now,’ said Mrs
Ghahramanyan. `Maybe we could have lived with them together, the
Azeris, and so many people wouldn’t have died.

`I don’t understand anything. Why don’t they solve our problems? Why
should we wait 15 years with no solution? They are just making
meetings and they don’t get any solution.’

Another villager, Manya Aghadjanyan, 57, lost two close relatives.

Her first three sons died in childhood, so she gave her fourth son an
Azeri name, Mamed, as these are said to lead to a long life. However,
Mamed was killed in 1992 when he was 18 while in the army.

Six years later, Mrs Aghadjanyan’s nephew, Sergey, died when his car
struck a mine while he was driving in Agdam, an abandoned former Azeri
city visible in the distance from Khramort.

`It was a great loss,’ said Mrs Aghadjanyan, who lives with her
husband and her daughter Anush, 17, who has Down’s syndrome. Her
husband works as a gardener, but he has a bad back and Mrs Aghadjanyan
said his income was only enough to pay for his medicine and
cigarettes. `I’m a sick person and I cannot work,’ she said.

[email protected]
http://www.thenati onal.ae/article/20090713/FOREIGN/707129884/1002

Interfax, Russia
July 10 2009

Armenian Central Bank lowers refinancing rate to 5.5%

YEREVAN July 10

The Central Bank of Armenia decided on lowering the refinancing rate
on Tuesday from 6% to 5.5%, the country’s Finance Minister Tigran
Davtyan, said at press conference on Friday.

He said that the decision came into effect on July 7.

Davtyan added that the Finance Ministry welcomed the CB’s decision to
lower the refinancing rate, which aims at reducing loan rates and
stimulating the real sector of the economy.

The CB said that the last reduction of the refinancing rate took place
on June 9, 2009, when it was lowered from 6.25% to 6%. Previous to
this the last reduction was on May 22 – from 7.25% to 6.25%, May 12 –
from 7.5% to 7.25%, April 7 – from 7.75% to 7.5%, March 3 – an
increase from 6.75% to 7.75%, February 10 – lowered from 7% to 6.75%
and January 13 – from 7.25% to 7%.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: MADRID PRINCIPLES INCLUDE ACTUAL CONSOLIDATION OF KARABAKH INDEPENDENCE

ArmInfo
2009-07-10 19:49:00

ArmInfo. The amended version of Madrid principles formulated in
2007 include actual consolidation of Nagorno-Karabakh independence,
a high-ranking source in the Armenian foreign ministry, who preferred
to remain anonymous, told ArmInfo correspondent.

According to the Armenian diplomat, besides actual recognition of
NKR independence, this document mentioned in the statements of the
OSCE Minsk Group stipulates implementation by means of a referendum
on Karabakh people’s right to self-determination.

To note, commenting upon the adoption of the joint statement on the
Karabakh peace process made by OSCE MG co-chair countries’ presidents
at the G8 summit, Azerbaijani political expert Vafa Guluzade said:
"If everything were settled only by means of statements, there would
be no problems, people would die of and lack of conflicts".

Guluzade disliked the position of the three super-powers’ presidents
and stated: "This is an absolutely statement aiming only to dignify
themselves and having no impact on the conflict from which the Azeri
people suffered.

With such statements the OSCE MG co-chairs invent some absurd
principles calling them Madrid principles or Prague process, which
actually do not allow punishing the aggressor and restore the
justice",- he said.