Author: Hambardsumian Paul

NO ONE WANTED TO BUY THE 5TH BLOCK
A1+
[04:43 pm] 10 April, 2006
The sale of the 5th block of the Hrazdan heat-electric generating
plant has nothing to do with the reduction of the gas price: at least
this is what RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan claims.
“We sold the 5th block not in order to reduce the price of gas as it
remains the same – 110USD. The sale has nothing to do with the price”,
the Prime Minister says.
According to him, this is a successful deal. “Years ago we wanted
to give the plant to them by the program “Property for Debt”. One
of the conditions was that they must reconstruct the plant. They did
not agree.
We put it up to auction but no one wanted to buy it”, Andranik
Margaryan informed. He claimed that Iran has never been a potential
buyer. They just wanted to give loans for 20-25 years after which
Armenia would have to return the sum.
According to the Prime Minister, the plant was sold for 250 million
USD. “One of the conditions was that they must invest 140 million USD
within two years. And this is not a threat to our energy security,
but vice versa”.

ETHEREAL YET ROOTED IN REALITY
Review By Anu Nathan
Malaysia Star, Malaysia
April 9 2006
SNOW
By: Orhan Pamuk
Publisher: Vintage, 426 pages
(ISBN: 0-3775-70686-0)
THIS is the longest it has taken me to read a book and review – almost
six months. I had to keep putting it down because Snow is not easily
digested. Pamuk is more than a novelist; he is a reporter first and
foremost, and this political novel charts the tumult within modern-day
Turkey. Every time I put down the book because it was threatening
to overwhelm me, I was forced to pick it up again, not just because
Pamuk’s name and face jumped out of newspapers and magazines, but
because I was compelled to read on till the end.
Cliched as it may sound, Pamuk is no stranger to controversy.
Recently, Turkish authorities had charged him with “insulting
Turkishness” for talking about the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the
massacre of 30,000 Kurds in Anatolia. Much earlier, in 1995, he was
among a group of authors tried for writing essays that criticised
Turkey’s treatment of the Kurdish minority.
Until I visited Turkey last year, I had no idea who Pamuk was, despite
the fact that he is a prolific writer and has been a regular in the
Bosphorus literary scene since the late 1970s. I was strolling in the
Beyoglu district and ventured into a bookstore, hoping to pick up a
book by a Turkish writer. The bookstore owner/manager recommended
Pamuk, who by then had achieved international fame with his book
My Name is Red (about a murderous Ottoman miniaturist), which could
almost be a parallel novel to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose.
Two days after coming home, I found Snow on the review shelf. The
next week a colleague passed me My Name is Red, which only succeeded
in derailing the review of Snow. It seemed there was no escaping Pamuk.
As a novelist Pamuk belongs to that special breed of crossover authors
who manage to sell and achieve critical acclaim – think Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, Milan Kundera, Paulo Coelho.
Snow (Kar in Turkish) is a highly-charged political novel that
explores the conflict between Islamism and Westernisation in modern
Turkey and tackles head-on the delicate headscarf issue.
In Kars (the poetic transition of Ka to Kar to Kars is almost a
sublime touch, like the snowflake which the poet clings to), heavy
snow cuts off the Anatolian town from the rest of Turkey just after a
poet called Ka arrives, a pointed reference to the desolate remoteness
of Kars in vivid contrast to forward-looking Istanbul.
Ka, who has for years been living in Frankfurt, futilely trying to
create poetry amid odd jobs to sustain his departure from Turkey, has
been assigned by an Istanbul newspaper to investigate a chain of young
girls committing suicide because, as the local police chief explains,
“they were not allowed to wear headscarves in school.”
Tracing almost lovingly from Dostoevsky (even Kafka comes to mind),
the characters in Snow are all flawed, with some juggling dual
identities. Among them are the Islamist who has no qualms about
keeping a mistress, a former Istanbul socialite who champions the
headscarf cause with idealistic zeal, and the Communist democrat.
Most ruptured is Ka who, in Malaysian parlance would best be described
as a lalang, swaying in whichever direction the wind blows, unsure
of his convictions.
Ka, as we soon find out, is not in Kars to uncover the mystery of the
virgin suicides, but to woo his elusive classmate Ipek, now happily
divorced. Ipek is the only cause he fervently pursues, even as a
flood of poetic inspiration turns on the creative switch which this
washed-out poet had considered dead.
Ka’s footsteps in Kars, Istanbul and Frankfurt are later retraced
by his novelist friend Orhan (Pamuk also includes himself in My
Name is Red), who is determined to detail Ka’s life, understand the
overpowering love he had for Ipek amid troubled times, and his final
days before succumbing to a hail of bullets.
In this didactic treatise, displacement, blind devotion, love and
alienation all jostle to take prime place against a backdrop of the
fleeting, ethereal promise of peace and unity amid differences.
Pamuk is an inveterate storyteller and here, he has woven a magical
tale, sometimes superfluous, but always engaging, about ordinary
Turks affected by decisions beyond their control and how Turkey,
being both blue-eyed blonde and swarthy tries to strike a balance
between Islamism and secularism/modernism.

Los Angeles Daily News
April 7 2006
Panorama City fugitive arrested in Armenia

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Panorama City man accused of killing two
gang rivals more than a decade ago was arrested in Armenia, the FBI
announced.
Vahagn Akopyan, 33, was arrested by Armenian authorities in the
capital of Yerevan on Wednesday, said J. Stephen Tidwell, assistant
director in charge of the FBI office in Los Angeles.
Akopyan was being held until it was determined whether he will be
deported to the United States or charged in Armenia, Tidwell
announced Thursday.
Akopyan had been sought in connection

with the May 1994 murder of two reputed gang rivals and the attempted
murder of a third on Hollywood Boulevard.
He was believed to have returned to his native Armenian shortly after
the killings. A state arrest warrant was issued in 1994 and a federal
warrant accusing him of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was
issued in 2002.

Canada NewsWire (press release), Canada
April 7 2006
Attention News Editors:
Media Advisory – The Armenian Genocide makes world television premiere
on TVO’S Human Edge
TORONTO, April 7 /CNW/ – On Wednesday April 12 at 10 pm, TVO’s
acclaimed Human Edge will present the world premiere of The Armenian
Genocide. Written, produced, and directed by Emmy Award-winning
filmmaker Andrew Goldberg, this fascinating point-of-view documentary
explores what many believe to be the first genocide of the 20th
century. Between 1915 and 1923 over a million Armenians perished under
the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In the hour-long film, Goldberg speaks
with Armenian, Turkish, and American scholars and historians to shed
light on the historical events that precipitated the genocide, and why
the Turkish government of today continues to deny such events ever
occurred. The film also features Kurdish and Turkish citizens in
present-day Turkey who openly share stories told to them by their
parents and grandparents.
To facilitate further understanding of this hotly-debated subject,
the documentary will be preceded at 8 pm on the night of broadcast by
a panel discussion on TVO’s Studio 2. The current affairs show’s
regular international affairs panel of Janice Stein, director of the
Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto; Globe
and Mail editor, Patrick Martin; and Toronto Star columnist Richard
Gwyn will help to place the Armenian genocide into context. Viewers
will also be able to follow the Studio 2 discussion online at
As of April 7, viewers will also be able to register in our online
discussion board at to express their views, as
well as access links to other relevant websites.
Now in its 17th successful season, Human Edge is TVO’s acclaimed
series of challenging, provocative, point-of-view documentaries from
around the world. Hosted by award-winning writer and broadcaster Ian
Brown, Human Edge provides viewers with windows into complex or touchy
subjects that make up the human experience to expand their horizons
and foster healthy debate. Executive producer is Rudy Buttignol.
For further information: Media contact: Rosanne Meandro, TVO,
Marketing and Communications, (416) 484-2600, ext. 2389,
[email protected]

ARMENIA’S MONETARY BASE REDUCES BY 6,74% AND MAKES AMD 187,1 BLN IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2006
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 6 2006
YEREVAN, April 6. /ARKA/. Armenia’s monetary base reduced by 6,74%
or AMD 13,5 bln and made AMD 187,1 bln in January-February 2006.
According to the information of the RA National Statistic Service
(NSS) based on the preliminary data of the CBA, in February the
monetary base reduced by AMD 330 mln or 0,18%.
According to the NSS, by the end of 2006, cash money out of CBA
amounted to AMD143,1 bln, against AMD 155,3 bln at the beginning of
the year.
Required reserves amounted to AMD 22,7 bln, against AMD 22,3 bln at
the beginning of the year.
At the beginning of February net eternal assets (privatization
receipts exclusive) reduced by 0,89% or 1,9 AMD bln. and made AMD
212,7 bln. Net internal assets amounted to minus AMD 25,7 bln,
against minus AMD 14,1 bln at the beginning of the year.
In accordance with the program of the RA monetary-credit policy,
in 2006, the CBA forecasts 17,3% growth of the monetary base up to
AMD 219,6 bln by the end of the year. ($1 – AMD 450,78).

GEORGIAN-ARMENIAN AVIATION PARTNERSHIP
Lragir.am
03 April 06
In May Armavia will start scheduled flights Yerevan-Tbilisi-Amsterdam
and Yerevan-Tbilisi-London. The owner of Armavia Mikhail Baghdasarov
says they had reached an arrangement with Georgian airlines.
“When the flights to these European cities are from Armenia or Georgia,
passengers are few, but together flights become profitable,” says
Mikhail Baghdasarov. Armavia will also have scheduled flights together
with a more authoritative company, Air France. Three times a week,
Yerevan-Paris-Yerevan and Paris-Yerevan-Paris.
“Partnership with an authoritative company improves our image.
Air France is not our rival, it is our partner,” says the owner of
Armavia. In the nearest future he plans to have scheduled flights to
Beijing, Delhi, Los Angeles. Baghdasarov is hopeful that the first
flight to Los Angeles will be in 2006. Armavia is now looking for a
new aircraft for the transatlantic flight.
“We have opened an office in America. We have negotiated and everything
is alright. With regard to flights to America, you know, the most
complicated problem is safety. Our company was checked for safety,
and we have complied with all the standards of security,” says Mikhail
Baghdasarov. According to him, the only problem is profitability of
the scheduled flight.
“I would prefer a Yerevan-New York-Los Angeles scheduled flight.
But there is a problem of profitability. Therefore, the scheduled
flight Yerevan-Amsterdam-Los Angeles is preferable, because in
Amsterdam there will be a number of passengers leaving for Los
Angeles,” says Mikhail Baghdasarov. According to him, only in the
month of February Armavia suffered losses of 600 thousand dollars.
Mikhail Baghdasarov says, however, that the reason is the season,
which is the problem of all the airlines. “The best time for airlines
is summer,” says Baghdasarov. He mentions that Armavia suffers
losses in all European directions, but the other scheduled flights
are profitable.
“Usually, airlines in the world receive state subsidies. Such as,
Lufthansa, Air France and other famous airlines. An airline is the
so-called continuation of the foreign ministry. When the plane lands
in a country, it is like an ambassador. Its condition creates an
impression of the country,” says Mikhail Baghdasarov.
THE STORY OF AN AIRCRAFT
The negotiations between Armavia and the Armenian International
Airlines were fruitless. And the talks were for an aircraft, the Airbus
of the Armenian International Airlines. The Armenian International
Airlines is not carrying out flights, and Airbus is idle, whereas
for the owner of the Armenian International Airlines Versand Hakobyan
the Airbus is even a burden.
“We want to offer help to Versand and rent the Airbus,” says Mikhail
Baghdasarov. But Versand does not seem to have appreciated our help. He
demanded too high a price for a 10-year-old aircraft than Armavia pays
for the new Airbus. “The price offered by Versand is much higher than
the aircrafts we are renting now, more by 600 dollars per an hour of
flight,” says Mikhail Baghdasarov.
PILOTS AGAINST FOG
They offer a salary of 10 thousand dollars to Armenian pilots in
Dubai. In Kazakhstan they are offered 7 thousand dollars. The owner
of Armavia Mikhail Baghdasarov says they intend to raise the salary
of the pilots of the company to prevent them from leaving abroad.
“We want to pay a higher salary to our pilots, to prevent them from
leaving the company for they receive good offers from abroad,” says
Mikhail Baghdasarov. According to him, Armenian pilots are demanded
abroad, because conducting an Airbus is requires great skills, and
top-level Airbus pilots are highly demanded. Our pilots not only
have high skills but they are improving. Armavia is going to send
its pilots abroad for qualification and get the second degree. Such
a pilot can land in the thickest fog, says Mikhail Baghdasarov.

CEASEFIRE BREACHES HEIGHTEN TENSIONS – MINISTER
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
posted April 3 2006
Baku, March 31, AssA-Irada
Defense Minister Safar Abiyev said on Friday that the frequent shooting
on the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontline has heightened the tensions.
Abiyev expressed his regret that the frequent ceasefire violations
by Armenia of late have caused casualties in the Azerbaijani army.
“The breaches have become regular. Another soldier of ours died in
the line of fire on Thursday,” he said.

SABINE FREIZER: KARABAKH CONFLICT NOT FROZEN
PanARMENIAN.Net
29.03.2006 20:27 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Sabine Freizer, Caucasus project director for
the International Crisis Group, said March 28 in Washington that
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not a frozen conflict. “There are
still people being killed regularly,” she underlined. As many as 19
people, including eight civilians, have been killed in cease-fire
violations over the past month, following inconclusive peace talks in
Rambouillet, she said. As many as 90 people were killed in 2005. She
said renewed warfare does not seem imminent but could be triggered by
“an unraveling” along the tense, heavily armed confrontation line.
Many of the Armenian-occupied towns outside of Nagorno Karabakh
have been destroyed and would require substantial rebuilding,
Freizer said. The region is especially sensitive because of its
geography. Renewed fighting in Nagorno Karabakh potentially could
involve Russia, Iran, the Republic of Georgia and Turkey, Freizer said,
reported Trend news agency.

DIPLOMATS IN WASHINGTON WORK TO FILL GUL’S SHOES
Turkish Press
March 29 2006
Press Review
SABAH
In the wake of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s grounding due to
ear problems, other Foreign Ministry diplomats flew this week to
Washington. The high-level diplomats will attend an American-Turkish
Business Council (ATC) meeting, hold contacts at the US State
Department and meet with representatives of the Jewish lobby. During
the meetings, the so-called genocide allegations set to be considered
by Congress in the runup to April 24 will be discussed, along with
Iraq, the terrorist PKK and the Armenian lobby.

ARMENIAN CARGO PLANE CRASH
Lragir.am
29 March 06
In the evening of March 28 the AN-12 cargo plane of Felix Avia Company
crashed 40 km south of Tehran. The plane landed in Tehran, unloaded,
and flew to the city of Sharja, UAE. But the crew of the ship had to
land halfway. Gayaneh Davtyan, the head of the press service of the
Civil Aviation under the Government of Armenia, informed the cargo
plane met a flight of birds and was forced to land. The birds appeared
in the engines of the plane, and the crew was forced to an emergency
landing. Besides the six members of the main crew there was a standby
crew of six members. The plane was to carry out another flight from
Sharja but after the landing the 12 people on board hardly left the
ship on time, for the plane ignited and burnt down.
According to the press service of the Civil Aviation, Felix Avia is
registered in the Republic of Armenia and transports goods by cargo
planes only. The accident happened during a charter flight.