Author: Hambardsumian Paul

"RUSSIAN RAILWAYS" OBLIGED TO TRANSFER 2% OF ANNUAL TURNOVER OF "ARMENIAN RAILWAY" TO STATE BUDGET OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Jan 10, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. By the package of financial
proposals submitted by Russian Railways company – the only candidate
for concession management of Armenian Railway company, the Russian
company intends to transfer 1.7 bln drams (about 5.5 mln USD) as
concession payment to the state budget of Armenia. The RA minister of
transport and communication Andranik Manukian informed reporters on
January 10 that the manager also assumes the obligation to transfer,
in addition to taxes, 2% of annual turnover of Armenian Railway to
the RA state budget. By preliminary estimates, in 30 years this sum
will amount to about 38 billion drams. The Russian side is going to
invest about 570 million dollars over 30 years, including 220 million
dollars during the first 5 years of management.

The total length of Armenia’s railroads makes 1,125 km, 805 km of
which are on Armenian Railway company’s balance-sheet. Acccording to
A. Manukian, since 2001, Armenian Railway has operated at a profit. 3
million tons of goods was transported last year.

To recap, the name of the manager of Armenian Railway will be announced
on January 16.

NA SPEAKER EXTENDS CONDOLENCES OVER THE DEATH OF MANUK GASPARYAN

armradio.am
10.01.2008 16:07

Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran Torosyan extended
condolences connected with the death of Manuk Gasparyan, the President
of the People’s Way Party.

"With great pain I learnt about the untimely death of the Deputy of
the National Assemblies of second and third convocation, President
of the Pople’s Way Party Manuk Gasparyan.

He had his special place both in the two National Assemblies and the
multiparty system of our country.

I condole with Manuk Gasparyan’s family and friends, members of the
People’s Way Party connected with the heavy loss."

ARMENIA: SMEAR TACTICS FEATURE PROMINENTLY IN EARLY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGNING
Haroutiun Khachatrian

EurasiaNet, NY
Jan 9 2008

With just under six weeks to go before Armenia’s presidential election,
the field of candidates is coming into sharper focus.

Overall, nine men are expected to battle for the presidency when the
campaign season officially gets underway January 21. But most experts
believe the race quickly will boil down to a contest between two men –
incumbent Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian.

The presidential vote is slated for February 19. Sarkisian has long
been viewed as the prohibitive favorite to follow outgoing President
Robert Kocharian, who is constitutionally barred from running for
reelection. The benefits of incumbency are clearly on Sarkisian’s
side, as his Republican Party won a landslide victory in the May 2007
parliamentary elections. [For additional information see the special
feature Armenia: Vote 2007]. Opinion polls have shown Sarkisian to
enjoy the support of roughly one-third of potential voters, enough
to give him a commanding lead over the other presidential hopefuls.

Artur Baghdasarian, the leader of the Orinats Yerkir (Land of Law)
Party, and Vahan Hovhannisian, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly
representing Dashnaktsutiun (the Armenian Revolutionary Federation),
trailed well behind Sarkisian with 13 percent and 6 percent support
respectively in the latest poll. Ter-Petrosian was among the six
presidential contenders whose polling numbers were running in the
low single digits. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Ter-Petrosian served as the first president of post-Soviet Armenia,
his tenure stretching from 1991-98. In February of 1998, he was
forced to resign amid a severe backlash to his suggestion that
Armenia make concessions to Azerbaijan in the still-stalemated peace
talks on Nagorno-Karabakh. [For background see the Eurasia insight
archive]. Ter-Petrosian’s successor, Kocharian, has governed since
then.

On the surface, judging by the numbers, it would seem that
Ter-Petrosian poses no threat to Sarkisian’s electoral chances. Yet,
it’s plainly evident that Sarkisian supporters within the government
see the former president as the most formidable opponent in the
field. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Ter-Petrosian and his aides, for instance, have been denied access to
most television channels. The one notable exception is Yerkir Media
TV, which is controlled by the Dashnak party.

At the same time, state-controlled media outlets have provided generous
amounts of air time to long-time political enemies of Ter-Petrosian,
including Vazgen Manukian, the leader of the National Democratic Party,
and Artashes Geghamian, the leader of the National Unity Party.

Privately operated television stations have generally followed the lead
of government-controlled channels. Campaign events organized by the
Ter-Petrosian camp have received scant media coverage, despite the fact
that several rallies have drawn tens of thousands of spectators. The
plainly evident media bias prompted two European officials — Terry
Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Peter Semneby,
the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus – to register
complaints. [For more information, click here].

If anything, Ter-Petrosian has received even rougher treatment from
some print media outlets. For example, the Hayots Ashkharh daily,
an officially independent newspaper with a decidedly pro-governmental
outlook, splashed two remarkable photo-montages across the front pages
of two editions in late December. In one, Ter-Petrosian is depicted
as wearing a traditional Turkish fez, a clearly derogatory image given
Armenia’s long-standing hostility with both Turkey and Azerbaijan. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In the second montage,
Ter-Petrosian’s Yerevan home is depicted as flying a Turkish flag
from a pole on its roof. The combined message of the two images was
unmistakable: a vote to return Ter-Petrosian to power would be a vote
to capitulate in Armenia’s ongoing diplomatic struggles with Turkey
and Azerbaijan.

Even in a fairer political environment, Ter-Petrosian’s candidacy
would face substantial challenges. Ter-Petrosian managed to generate
initial attention for his candidacy with a series of sharp attacks on
Kocharian’s administration. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. The task now will be to transform the disenchantment with
the Kocharian administration among a certain segment of the electorate
into genuine support for his own political program.

Although about two dozen political parties and civic organizations
have endorsed Ter-Petrosian’s candidacy — most of them relatively
small in numbers and in influence — it remains to be seen if he
can build an effective organizational network. "He carries the bad
heritage of the past … but he is a good speaker and has [lengthy]
experience," the Azg liberal daily summed up on December 25.

One thing that is working in Ter-Petrosian’s favor is the fact that
he is willing to operate within the existing political system, and
has not been an advocate of revolutionary change. This has enabled
him to cast himself as a political moderate. "There will be no
revolution. I’ll not allow violence and illegal actions from our side
" Ter-Petrosian told the Moscow-based Kommersant daily on December 6,
responding to the question about his possible actions in the event
of vote rigging by authorities.

Meanwhile, Kocharian’s fate after his departure from the presidency
remains a subject of widespread conjecture. Speculation is focusing
on the possibility of Kocharian and Sarkisian swapping places, with
the latter assuming the presidency and the former taking over as
prime minister. In October, Sarkisian denied such a possibility, but
a December 29 article published by the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper,
citing "reliable sources," said that such an arrangement has indeed
been agreed upon.

Berlinale Adds Nine to 2008 Competition

Indiewire
by Brian Brooks
January 10, 2008

Nine titles have been added to the Berlinale line up, competing for
the festival’s Golden and Silver Bear Awards. Joining the eight titles
previously announced are: "Feuerherz" (Heart of Fire) by Luigi Falomi,
based on the bestselling novel by Senait Mehan; "Julia" by Erick Zonca
starring Tilda Swinton; "Lady Jane" by Robert Guediguian; "Caos calmo"
(Quiet Chaos) by Antonello Grimaldi (International premiere);
"Happy-Go-Lucky" by Mike Leigh; "Restless" by Amos Kollek; "Elegy" by
Isabel Coixet, starring Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Dennis Hopper;
"Sparrow" by Johnnie To; and "Kabei" by Japanese filmmaker Yoji Yamada
(International premiere). The 2008 Berlin International Film Festival
takes place February 7 – 17 in the German capital.

OFFICIAL BAKU BELIEVE ARMENIA MUST IMPLEMENT POSITIVE STATEMENTS

Trend News Agency
Jan 8 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. K.Ramazanova / Official Baku considers
that Armenia should implement positive statements made in 2007.

"We would like Armenia to implement positive statements," the
press-secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Khazar Ibrahim
said to Trend, commenting the upcoming visit of the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs to the region.

The next visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on regulation of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was scheduled for 13 January. The Co-Chairs
hope to see an official reaction from Azerbaijan and Armenia on
written proposals on settling the conflict which they submitted to
both sides in Madrid. The content of the document was not revealed
due to secrecy of the process.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs submitted three proposals to both sides.

Armenia rejected two of the proposals. Baku does not agree with the
proposal to establish a confederative state in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan is always ready to discuss proposals submitted by the
Co-Chairs," Ibrahim said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992,
Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (
Russia, France and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

NO BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS FOR VIC DARCHINYAN

Seconds Out
Jan 7 2008

Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan

By Paul Upham: It was the 32nd birthday of Armenian born Vic Darchinyan
on Monday. You would not have known otherwise watching him train at
his gymnasium in Marrickville, Sydney. The former IBF/IBO flyweight
world champion was feverishly preparing for his IBF super flyweight
eliminator with Z Gorres.

There will be no birthday cakes today.

"I will celebrate after I win," Darchinyan 29-1 (23) told SecondsOut.

Want to know how hard Darchinyan works and how fearless he is in
training? Get this. He was sparring with Russian super middleweight
knockout specialist and good friend Victor Oganov, whose career
records stands at 26-1 (26).

The current IBO super flyweight world champion, "Raging Bull"
Darchinyan will face 25 year-old Z Gorres 27-2-1 (15) over twelve
rounds on February 2 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel in Cebu City,
The Philippines.

"Gorres is a good fighter, but I am going to make him look like
nothing," predicted Darchinyan. "He gave Fernando Montiel a good
fight. I want to show him that he is nothing and all the other world
champions will see. It will be like before, no one will want to
fight me."

YEREVAN MAYOR’S OFFICE TO CONTINUE IMPLEMENTING LARGE-SCALE
CONSTRUCTION WORK IN 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. All programs envisaged by Yerevan
Mayor’s Office in 2007 have been completely implemented. As Frunz
Basentsian, the Head of the Construction and Development Department of
Mayor’s Office, said at the December 27 press conference, the whole
incomplete work will be practically finished in a few days.

According to F. Basentsian, time required implementation of large-scale
construction work in Yerevan in the past years. According to him,
though huge work has been done, there is much to do and much work is
envisaged by the 2008 programs of Mayor’s Office.

It was also mentioned that construction work of underground transport
passage being built in Khanjian-Tigran Mats streets’ crossroad,
transport junction of Heratsi-Koryun-Nalbandian-Charents streets, as
well as Komitas Avenue being repaired with the Lincy Foundation’s funds
will be finished in 2008. Next year it is also envisaged to dismantle
the tram lines of Sebastia and Bagratuniats streets.

A scientific center will be set up but the department of radio physics
at Artsakh State will be closed

27-12-2007 13:02:13 – KarabakhOpen

The decision on setting up a Scientific Center which will do research
in fundamental and applied sciences was made during the meeting of
government. The assignments for the center were approved by the
parliament.

Statistics shows that in Karabakh people are more inclined for exact
sciences. In the Soviet Union, however, they had an opportunity to
study at good universities and work at big scientific centers where
they displayed their advantages. After the war less people seem to tend
to study science and a good education is a real problem. The attitude
has also changed. While the public institutions were being established,
science was left out of state building. For instance, in 2007 15
million drams was allocated, and part of this sum was not spent because
there were no grant proposals. The occasional proposals referred to
Armenian and Artsakh culture studies.

In the same meeting of government the minister of education and science
Vladik Khachatryan presented the list of specialty programs which will
be offered by Artsakh State University, Grigor Narekatsi University,
Mesrop Mashtots University and the Institute of Fine Arts. According to
the minister, Artsakh State will not offer programs in such disciplines
as radio physics and forest engineering because applicants are few, and
the teaching staff is not qualified.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 28 2007

Report on Nagorno Karabakh amended in 2007 edition of telephone
directory `Zolotiye Stranitsi Ukraini’

[ 28 Dec 2007 16:02 ]

Reports on Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan was amended in
telephone directory for 2007 `Zolotee Stranitsi Ukraini’ (Golden
pages of Ukraine) published by `Nika LTD’ LLC on the license of
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, head of
`Zolotee Stranitsi Ukraini’ project in Ukraine Olga Poddubnaya told
the APA.

He confirmed that there was mistake regarding Nagorno Karabakh in
2006 edition of the telephone directory, and `Ukrtelecom’ presented
all these reports officially.
`Azerbaijani Diaspora living in Donetsk expressed their objection
after that edition, and appeal of the Diaspora was replied.
`Ukrtelecom’ made amendments to telephone codes on Nagorno Karabakh
in April-May 2007 and we published new edition in amended variant,’
he said.
Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan was shown as area of Armenia in
the 2006 edition of telephone directory. /APA/

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 28 2007

Debates to be carried out on dropping Article on veil from draft bill
on education of Azerbaijan

[ 28 Dec 2007 16:42 ]

Azerbaijani Parliament debated first reading of draft bill on
education at the meeting today, APA reports

Shammsaddin Hajiyev, chairman of the parliament’s standing commission
on science and education stated that this draft will be considered as
frame bill on education in Azerbaijan. Beside this, 10-12 bills on
education are planned to be adopted. Head of commission stated that
many illicit education enterprises functioned in Azerbaijan by now
and stressed that such situations will be prevented with the help of
newly adopted bill. Ogtay Asadov basing on his long speech,
interrupted Hajiyev and discussions began after that.
MP Zahid Orujov compared the adoption of bill with Nagorno Karabakh
conflict and stated that he believes mostly to the solution to
Nagorno Karabakh conflict that adoption of bill. Touching upon the
Article 11.1.8(prohibition of teachers and students’ wearing veil in
all education enterprises of the Republic of Azerbaijan), he stated
that this article should be dropped from draft bill. MP Jamil Hasanli
stated that serious measures are taken on education and stressed that
there are shortcomings in this sphere. MP paying main attention to
corruption said that there is bribery in education enterprises of
Azerbaijan. He stated that increasing salary of educational servants
is important.
MP Siyavush Novruzov touched upon the issue on veil first.
`I am against of students and teachers’ wearing veil. But at the same
time I support dropping this article from the draft bill. This issue
should be solved on the level of leaderships of higher and secondary
schools. The law shows that pupils finishing secondary school with
golden and silver medals are admitted to higher schools at once. This
is very abnormal case, nobody has forgotten who were awarded medals.
Number of candidates of sciences, professors is more than students in
this country. And it is not right,’ he said.
Ogtay Asadov commenting on the speeches of parliamentarians said that
he supports dropping article on veil from draft bill. He said that
Education Ministry should define this issue. Gudrat hasanguliyev
commenting on the issue stated that ignorance is imported to
Azerbaijan under religion from foreign countries.
Parliamentarian said that dropping article from the draft bill may be
great failure of supporters of secular state in Azerbaijan.
`We should not go far, let’s glance at places which are sensitive
from religious point of view. For example: Nardaran is out of state
control. Girls are already not sent to schools in several regions of
Azerbaijan, they are married in 13-14 age. Radical reforms should be
carried out in education, state educational enterprises should be
privatized,’ he said.
Vice-speaker Bahar Muradova said that laws show that education is
secular in Azerbaijan.
`This issue is yet being discussed, the result of it will be known at
the end. Liberal values should be preserved, extremism should be
eliminated in education,’ she added. /APA/