Author: Hambardsumian Paul

HIGH COURT DECLARES YEREVAN HOUSE DEMOLITIONS ILLEGAL
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
April 18 2006

Armenia’s highest court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional the
government-sanctioned demolition of hundreds of old houses in downtown
Yerevan but stopped short of obligating municipal authorities to give
the properties back to their forcibly evicted owners.

The Constitutional Court ruled that a 2002 government decision that
paved the way for the ongoing massive redevelopment in the city center
violated several articles of Armenia’s constitution.

One of those articles stipulates that private property can be
confiscated by the state “only in exceptional cases involving
overriding public interests, in a manner defined by law, and with a
prior commensurate compensation.” The extremely controversial process,
marred allegations of high-level corruption, has only been regulated
by the government directive, however.

Government officials say it is based on provisions of Armenia’s civil
and land codes that give the state greater freedom to confiscate
land against the will of its owners. The Constitutional Court said
that those provisions are also unconstitutional and must be amended
accordingly.

The verdict deals a serious blow to the credibility of the Armenian
government which has insisted all along that large-scale construction
which is rapidly changing central Yerevan is legal and fair.

Hundreds of local residents have been forced to vacate their mostly
decrepit houses over the past two years. Many of them are unhappy
with the amount of compensation paid to them by the state, saying
that it was set well below the market value of their properties as a
result of government corruption. Some have resisted eviction orders
with hunger strikes and other extreme methods of struggle.

Their demands have been backed by human rights activities, opposition
politicians and prominent public figures. Armenia’s former human rights
ombudsperson, Larisa Alaverdian, was also vocal in her support for
their cause, filing an appeal to the Constitutional Court shortly
before her resignation last January. Alaverdian’s pro-government
successor, Armen Harutiunian, unexpectedly decided to stand by the
appeal in February.

The court decision seems to be a largely moral victory for the
disgruntled evicted residents as it is unlikely to entail any practical
consequences. The court only ordered the Armenian government and
parliament to bring the relevant legislation into conformity with
the constitution and said nothing about property restitution or
compensation.

The ruling was read out by Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik
Harutiunian after five hours of deliberations by the panel of nine
judges appointed by President Robert Kocharian and the National
Assembly. It followed the final court hearing which saw Armen
Harutiunian and Justice Minister David Harutiunian (no relation),
who fought the government’s corner, make their concluding remarks.

The justice minister, whose close relatives are reportedly involved in
the redevelopment project, claimed that forcible house demolitions are
a normal practice around the world. “How do cities and towns around
the world develop?” he said. “In accordance with architectural master
plans which can serve as the basis for alienating property.”

The human rights ombudsman, for his part, reiterated his view that
the government has no legal right to single-handedly deprive Armenian
citizens of their property. “Such matters are regulated by law,”
he said. “Therefore they are the prerogative of the parliament,
not the government.”

(Photolur photo: Gagik Harutiunian speaking during the final court
hearing.)

ARDSHININVESTBANK’S NET PROFIT GROWS BY 56.9% IN 2005

Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2005, Ardshininvestbank showed an
unprecedented growth in all its indices, taking first and second
places by these indices in the RA banking system. Chairman of
Ardshininvestbank Board Aram Andreasian said during the April 18
press conference that in the year under review, the bank’s assets
grew by 42% on 2004 and amounted to 54.3 bln drams, which made up
12.04% of the overall assets of the RA banking system. The overall
capital of Ardshininvestbank grew by 63.3% to 88.8 bln drams,
while its liabilities – by 38.5% to about 45.4 bln drams. The net
profit of the bank increased by 56.9% to 2.3 bln drams. The credit
investments of Ardshininvestbank made 25.2 bln drams in 2005,
which exceeds the respective index of the previous year by about
35%. A. Andreasian pointed out a considerable growth in the amount of
consumer credits. Only in Ardshininvestbank, these credits grew by 23%
in the year under review and made 9.4 bln drams. According to him,
it shows that the financial position of 30-35% of the population has
improved. It was noted that the bank ranks first by the amount of time
deposits attracted from natural persons and legal entities, which,
in the words of A. Andreasian, is indicative of the population’s trust
in the bank. Addressing the problem of high interest rates of credits,
A. Andreasian said that the prices of financial resources has risen on
international markets. At the same time, he assured that despite it,
the interest rates of credits continue to decline in Armenia.

By the results of 2005, Ardshininvestbank was the biggest tax payer
– bank.

The bank paid taxes of a total of about 1 bln drams (about 2.22 mln
USD) to the state budget. Ardshininvestbank has 49 branches (two in
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic) and an office in Paris.

TV BEST BETS: THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

NorthJersey, NJ
The Record, The Herald, NJ
April 17 2006

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE — During World War I, more than 1 million
Armenians were slain by the Ottoman Turks. This new special recalls
the Armenian slaughter with historical footage and interviews with
historians and ordinary citizens who recount the stories they were
told by their parents and grandparents. Julianna Margulies narrates.

(10 p.m., WNET/Channel 13)

jczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNzYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY5MTc zMDkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 15 2006

KLO: We should not commit Ramil Safarov’s fate to Hungarian courts

Source: Trend
Author: E. Javadova

15.04.2006

After all that happened we should not leave Ramil Safarov’s fate to
the mercy of Hungarian courts, Trend reports with reference words
said by Akif Nagi, head of Committee for protection of R.Safarov’s
rights, at the conference held April 15.

He said Budapest court had issued a very unjust and severe sentence
on Azeri officer Ramil Safarov. This witnesses the lack of justice in
Hungary. «Alongside the shame on Hungarian authorities and courts,
this case has demonstrated their dependence on Armenian lobby. It
doesn’t make sense to appeal to the higher legal instances of this
country», – Mr Nagi said.

He said also the first injustice was trying R.Safarov’s case not in
military tribunal but in a civil court. «Taking all this in
consideration we think Azerbaijan’s government should do its best to
return R.Safarov home. Each day of his stay in hungry is a threat to
his life. Moreover, here is no necessity to try his case in other
legal instances of Hungary as it should be done in NATO’s military
tribunal or somewhere in neutral European country. We do not trust
Hungarian courts», – Mr Nagi outlined..

Turkish engineers criticize proposed nuclear plant

Anatolia news agency
14 Apr 06

Ankara, 14 April: The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects
(TMMOB) Ankara Branch has criticized the government’s decision to build a
nuclear power plant in Black Sea city of Sinop.
In a statement made public today, TMMOB indicated that it is impossible to
present the dirtiest source of energy (which is nuclear energy) as the “most
clean” energy.
TMMOB decided to organize a protest meeting in Sinop on 29 April, the day of
the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.

Azeri police disperse rally protesting at Hungarian sentence on officer

ANS TV, Baku
14 Apr 06

The Azerbaijani police have broken up a rally in Baku in protest
against the life sentence handed down by the Hungarian court on
Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani private TV channel
ANS reported on 14 April. Safarov was charged with killing Armenian
officer Gurgen Markaryan during a NATO course in Budapest in February
2004.

In remarks to ANS TV on 14 April, the chairman of the Karabakh
Liberation Organization, Akif Nagi, who was among the protesters,
said: “Our position is that an injustice has been done to Ramil
Safarov, Azerbaijani citizen. Armenians bought the Hungarian court
with money. We demand that the unfair sentence handed down on Ramil
Safarov be changed. We will continue our protests.”

Police officer Sarvar Huseynov told the TV that “the police must
prevent any illegal protest. If they had permission, we would
guarantee their security”.

Protesters gathered in central Baku on the morning of 14 April,
demanding the repeal of the sentence and chanting freedom to
Safarov. However, they met with resistance from the police. Akif Nagi
and another person were detained.

TMCNet
April 14 2006

Canceled USC event featuring Turkish ambassadors draws controversy

(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LOS ANGELES, Apr 13,
2006 (Daily Trojan, U-WIRE via COMTEX) –An event at the University
of Southern California Center for Public Diplomacy featuring two
former ambassadors from Turkey was canceled late March, days before
its scheduled date, amid complaints and controversy about its
intended subject. Former Turkish ambassadors Gunduz Aktan and Omer
Lutem were scheduled to speak at USC to coincide with their visit to
Los Angeles, Calif., for an event at the Los Angeles World Affairs
Council.

The event was canceled, however, after administrators at the USC
Center for Public Diplomacy realized that the original topic of the
event had been changed, said Joshua Fouts, director of the center.

“When we first scheduled the event, it was described as an event
about Turkish civil society and Armenian relations,” Fouts said. “The
final description that was e-mailed described the event as a
discussion about the genocide.”

But despite the official reason given by USC, members of both the
Turkish and Armenian communities in Los Angeles expressed differing
opinions regarding USC’s decision.

Days before the event was scheduled to occur, members of the Armenian
community, including the Western region office of the Armenian
National Committee of America, sent a letter to Fouts encouraging the
university to cancel the event.

In the letter, Steven Dadaian, chairman of the ANCA Western region
office, wrote that the event would provide a forum for the Turkish
ambassadors to make false statements and deny historical facts about
the Armenian genocide.

“(Genocide) denial is a deliberate misrepresentation of fact and a
scientific fraud which must not be tolerated by the university,”
Dadaian wrote. “This panel will undoubtedly be considered an
extremely offensive event which disrespects the rights and dignity of
not only your students but to all the hundreds of thousands who are
the victims and surviving children of the Armenian Genocide.”

The letter went on to warn Fouts that “if USC chooses to proceed with
this program, our organization will be forced to take further action
to protest the University’s complicity in providing a forum for
genocide deniers.”

The letter to the university was written because “we didn’t want
these (genocide) deniers to have this platform in front of students,”
said Armen Carapetian, director of the ANCA-Western Region.

“(Aktan and Lutem) were going to talk about the Turkish perspective,
but the world community has already acknowledged that the Armenian
genocide occurred. All they have to do is throw a shadow of doubt
into it and confuse people,” Carapetian said.

One former student, who is Turkish, responded to the cancellation
with an e-mail of his own.

In the e-mail sent to USC administrators March 30, Evren Ugurbas,
former president of the USC Turkish Students Association, accused the
university of violating free speech and buckling to political
pressure for canceling the event during which the ambassadors were to
discuss Turkish-Armenian relations.

In the e-mail, Ugurbas wrote that the cancellation of the event,
which had been planned and scheduled by the USC Center for Public
Diplomacy, “was a grave and embarrassing mistake (the university)
made by cowardly resorting to censorship under partisan pressure by
local activists.”

The Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles scheduled the event with the USC
Center for Public Diplomacy, which “enthusiastically welcomed our
efforts,” said Engin Ansay, Consul General of Turkey in Los Angeles.

The purpose of the event, Ansay said, was to promote positive
relationships between the Turkish and Armenian communities by
discussing the long-debated Armenian genocide and “how best to remedy
the situation and shed light on this dark period in history.”

Turkish Consul General Ansay said, “It was not an exercise in Turkish
propaganda. We’re just trying to find a dialogue. There can be a
fruitful cooperation between the Turkish and Armenian communities,”
he said.

Ansay said that the consulate was surprised to hear from USC
informing it of the cancellation.

“We were astonished, flabbergasted, because where is the freedom of
speech? It was a big blow to everyone who heard about it. USC is a
respectable institution but we regret that it happened,” he said.

But Carapetian said that USC had been misinformed about the event.

“I think that they had heard from one side, and it was our
responsibility to let our community know and weigh in on the subject.
It was freedom of expression on our side,” he said.

In a press release posted on ANCA’s Web site, the organization
applauded the university for the cancellation, stating that “(t)he
quick action to draw attention to this issue by many groups and
individuals resulted in the ultimate cancellation once USC officials
were made aware of the real intent of the event.”

But Fouts said the Armenian community’s efforts had no bearing on the
center’s ultimate decision to cancel.

Instead, the reason behind the cancellation dealt with the relevance
of the intended discussion to the Center for Public Diplomacy’s
mission, he said.

“We have a great relationship with the Turkish Consulate, but we
can’t afford to host an event not central to public diplomacy,” he
said. “At the same time that we realized this, the Armenian community
was contacting us about it. As much as the Armenian community would
like to take credit for (the cancellation), it was just a
coincidence.”

Regardless of the reasons behind the cancellation, Armenian students
were satisfied with USC’s decision.

“They tried to change the topic before anyone realized it,” said
Nerses Ohanyan, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering and a
member of the Armenian Student Association. “But I’m very glad that
this event didn’t happen regardless of the reasons.”

Ugurbas, the Turkish former student who wrote the e-mail to
administrators, expressed concern that opposing viewpoints could not
be considered.

“(The Armenians) are talking, and we are listening. But we also want
to reflect our opinion. In a community like this we should understand
each other,” he said.

72137.htm

CIA ACKNOWLEDGED EXISTENCE OF SECRET OVERSEAS JAILS

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.04.2006 21:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ CIA Director John Negroponte has for the first time
publicly acknowledged the existence of CIA ran secret jails where Al
Qaeda terrorist are kept. In an interview with Time Magazine Negroponte
said that three dozen or so of the worst al-Qaeda terrorists held in
secret CIA prisons are likely to remain in captivity as long as the
“war on terror continues.” He added, “These people are being held.

And they’re bad actors. And as long as this situation continues,
this war on terror continues, I’m not sure I can tell you what the
ultimate disposition of those detainees will be.”

To remind, the information on the existence of CIA secret overseas
jails appeared last September in the Washington Post. According
to the newspaper, the CIA keeps there the suspects in ties with
al-Qaeda. Later the European Parliament has formed a special commission
for investigating the fact. The commission concluded that the planes
conveying the suspects in terror have crossed Europe. They made
intermediate flight stops in the European airports, specifically in
the UK, Germany, Spain, Poland and Romania. Then the criminals were
taken to the third states where the jurisdiction of the U.S. and
Europe is invalid.

According to European Parliament representative, the number of the
CIA flying jails reaches hundreds or even thousands. However, it’s
very hard to fix them.

It should be noted that the conclusions of the commission coincide
with the data furnished by some legal organizations including Amnesty
International, reported Golos Rossii.

ARMENIAN PRODUCTION EXHIBITION AND ARMENIAN-IRANIAN BUSINESS FORUM TO BE HELD IN MAZANDARAN ON MAY 12-14

Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. An exhibition of Armenian production
and an Armenian-Iranian business forum will be organized in the Iranian
province of Mazandaran on May 12-14. Executive Director of the RA
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) told NT correspondent about
it. In his words, the business forum participants will discuss issues
of setting up joint ventures for fish food production, agricultural
machinery assembly, dried fruit equipment, agricultural produce
processing, building material production, tourism, public catering and
consumer services. With the aim of promoting the activities of such
joint ventures, he underlined the necessity to create intermediary,
information investment infrastructures, which will allow to form
a system for implementation of Armenian-Iranian microecnomic
programs. S. Hovakimian noted that the second Armenian-Iranian
economic forum will be held in Yerevan on June 13-14, during which
it is envisaged to discuss issues related to terms of setting up a
joint investment fund and measures aimed at softening the mutual trade
terms. Executive director of the RA CCI said that the Armenian side
received an invitation to participate in an international universal
exhibition to be held in May in the port of Enzeli that was declared
a free economic zone. The Iranian side expressed a willingness
to allocate free pavilions of 500 square meters for 10 Armenian
enterprises. Besides, the Armenian side was offered to occupy a
total exhibition area of 5 thousand sq.m. during this event. The RA
CCI has chosen 50-60 enterprises in information technologies sector,
agricultural processing, machine-building, fishing industry and other
spheres for participation in this exhibition.

MARTIN SARGSIAN RE-ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues related to elections of the
management of the RA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), amendments
to the CCI Regulations, and approval of the 2006-2010 strategy of
its activities were on the agenda of the 3rd special congress of
the RA Chamber of Commerce and Industry that took place on April
12. CCI Executive Director Samvel Hovakimian told NT correspondent
that the program on construction of a new exhibition center of the
RA CCI to be built in Yerevan, as well as program measures, were
presented during the congress. According to S. Hovakimian, Martin
Sargsian was re-elected Chairman of the RA Chamber of Commerce and
Industry at the congress. Head of the RA CCI Staff Kim Galoyan said
that the amendments to the CCI Regulations were made in compliance
with the new edition (June 2005) of the Law on Chambers of Commerce
and Industry in the RA. According to the new Regulations, the RA CCI
may have honorary members who participate in its activities with
the right of deliberative vote. Besides, it was stipulated that
the RA CCI chairmanship may express no confidence in the regional
CCI chairmans and chairmanships in the event they break their
regulations. In such cases, a congress shall be convened within
two months after no confidence is expressed, with new elections of
chairman and chairmanship to be held. K. Galoyan noted that under
the new edition of the Law on Chambers of Commerce and Industry
in the RA, regional chambers of commerce and industry are reserved
the right to open their offices abroad. Regional CCI may also have
their courts of arbitration, just as the RA CCI. The regulations
and file keeping orders of arbitration courts are approved by the RA
CCI Chairaman. According to the law, term of office of chairmen and
chairmanships of the RA CCI and regional CCI is 5 year instead of the
previous 3-year term of office. Congresses of the RA CCI and regional
CCI shall be convened at least every 5 years instead of every 3 years
as was required previously.