Author: Jagharian Tania

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN: EVERYBODY TO WIN ON MAY 12: HERITAGE THAT ELDERS PASSED TO US TO WIN

Noyan Tapan
Apr 20 2007

KAPAN, APRIL 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Raffi Hovannisian, the Chairman
of the "Zharangutiun" (Heritage) party met with voters on April
19 in Kapan. The latter presented the 12 main directions of the
"Zharangutiun" parliamentary activity: free expression and free person,
free country, establishment of legality, anti-corruption struggle,
etc. According to the characteristics of the first Foreign Minister of
Armenia, the power of law will win on May 12 as well as the "heritage"
"which elders passed to us" will win. "And we are obliged to pass to
our heirs such a country that is the country of our dreams, Raffi
Hovannisian stated. "Republicans, "Bargavach Hayastan" (Prosperous
Armenia), ARF, everybody will win on May 12. It will be not a victory
of a person, but we do all these for the holy tricolour and in front
of the obedient God, and we are the masters in our own country. All
fragmentary party lists which are for serving us, but not for ruling,
will get down after these elections," Raffi Hovannisian stated.

The latter inspired the Kapan population, mentioning that the people,
standing in the square, in front of the mountain of Khustup are heirs
of Nzhdeh and nobody "can and has a right to speak on behalf of the
Great Sparapet." "Let nobody humble Nzhdeh and his ideology. Let
them prove it on May 12 and say that "We are masters of our belief
and Fatherland," Raffi Hovannisian concluded his idea.

5TH SITTING OF ARMENIAN-CHINESE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN ON APRIL 20

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The 5th joint sitting of the
Armenian-Chinese intergovernmental commission will be held in Yerevan
on April 20. The delegation headed by Syu Tunka, Head of the European
Department of China’s ministry of trade, Chinese Co-Chairman of the
Armenian-Chinese intergovernmental commission, will arrive in Armenia
in order to participate in the sitting.

The Chinese ambassador to Armenia Tso Syuelian will take part in
the sitting. The RA Deputy Foreign Minister, Co-Chairman of the
Armenian-Chinese intergovernmental commission Armen Bayburdian will
chair the sitting from the Armenian side.

According to the RA MFA Press and Information Department, a round
table dedicated to the 15th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic
relations between Armenia and China will also take place on April 21
in the hall of sittings of the RA National Academy of Sciences.

PRACTICE OF SIGNING LABOR CONTRACTS FOR SOME TERM WITHOUT ANY MOTIVATION SPREAD IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Currently Armenian Trade Unions
Confederation unites 24 branch trade unions with local trade committees
of 900 enterprises, which in total include 300 thousand members. Noyan
Tapan was informed about it by Boris Kharatian, Vice-Chairman of
Confederation.

B. Kharatian said that the Labor Code giving trade unions possibility
of development was adopted only two years ago. And RA law "On
Trade Unions" operating since 2000, in his words, did not regulate
employee-employer-state relations.

As B. Kharatian affirmed, the sphere of trade unions will develop
in Armenia parallel with establishment of unions of employers. He
said that unions of employers are not formed in Armenia. Therefore
there are some spheres where branch trade unions work and have the
possibility to sign contracts only with individual employers.

In the words of Vice-Chairman of Confederation, working collectives
mainly raise questions on signing working contracts. In B. Kharatian’s
words, signing of contracts for some term without any motivation is
spread in Armenia. "A contract is signed for some term only when an
employee does some work limited by term," B. Kharatian said.

LATVIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT ARMENIA

ArmRadio.am
19.04.2007 11:41

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Artis Pabriks will arrive
in Armenia tonight.

In the framework of the visit the Mr. Pabriks is scheduled to have
meetings with the leadership of Armenia. The meetings will take place
on April 20. The morning of April 21 the Foreign Minister of Latvia
will leave Yerevan.

Let us remind that Mr. Pabriks is visiting Armenia as part of his
regional visit.

NDP ALSO PRETENDS ON RECEIVING MAJORITY OF VOTES AT ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. All problems accumulated in Armenia
are the consequence of one main problem: the power in the country does
not belong to the people. Shavarsh Kocharian, Chairman of National
Democratic Party (NDP), stated at the April 17 press conference.

He said that for the purpose of changing the situation NDP’s
preelectoral program envisages, in particular, creating a law,
according to which electors will have a possibility to recall not
only individual MPs, but also the whole parliament. Besides, in
S. Kocharian’s words, administrative courts should be created in
the country, which will invalidate the decisions of the authorities
violating human rights.

Another important step is rehabilitation of economy. For this purpose,
as NDP Chairman affirmed, a law should be adopted, according to
which businessmen will be prohibited to be engaged in politics and
political figures in business. S. Kocharian said that this will result
in considerable reduction of shady economy and bribery.

S. Kocharian visited the regions in the past 11 days of the agitation
campaign, he had meetings with the local residents and never met any
obstacles. He said that NDP called the people to take part in the
elections without fail.

S. Kocharian gave assurance that in case of high turnout NDP will
receive the most part of votes, "up to majority of votes."

France24, France
April 14 2006

Egypt and Armenia discuss Iran’s nuclear programme

Send by e-mail Save Print Armenian President Robert Kocharian and
President Hosni Mubarak discussed Iran’s controversial nuclear
programme in Cairo on Saturday.

"Their talks covered the Iranian nuclear issue, developments in the
region and the Gulf. Armenia is particularly interested in the
nuclear file since it shares its southern frontier with Iran,"
Suleiman Awad told journalists.

Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful civilian
purposes, but Western states suspect it may be used to develop a
nuclear bomb, and have slapped sanctions on Tehran in a bid to get it
to halt the project.

"Iraq also featured in the discussions, which covered regional
problems in Central Asia, particularly the conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh," Awad said.

During Kocharian’s three-day visit, the interior ministers of both
countries are expected to sign accords on organised crime, judicial
cooperation and customs.

On Sunday, Kocharian will meet the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Mohammed
Sayyed Tantawi, one of the most prominent figures in Sunni Islam.

Once home to a massive Armenian community, Egypt has close historical
ties with Armenia — in 1878, Armenian Nubar Pasha became the
country’s first prime minister.

In the 1940s some 40,000 Armenians lived in Egypt, mostly in Cairo
and Alexandria, although many left in the 1960s with the rise of
Egyptian nationalism and more socialist laws that hit Armenian
businesses.

Today some 8,000 people of Armenian origin live in Egypt, according
to the community’s website.

n/administration/afp-news.html?id=070414135254.31o lu900&cat=null

PRIME MINISTER SARKISIAN BRUSHES ASIDE FEARS OF IMMINENT DESTABILIZATION

Armenpress
Apr 13 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Serzh Sarkisian has
brushed aside today fears of imminent political destabilization,
saying law-enforcement agencies wield sufficient resources to prevent
any such attempt.

These fears have been prompted by the assassination attempt on the
mayor of Armenia’s second largest town of Gyumri and two successive
attacks yesterday morning on offices of the Prosperous Armenia party.

Mayor of Gyumri, Vartan Ghukasian, was seriously wounded and three of
his bodyguards were killed when their motorcade came under fire about
30 kilometers west of Yerevan on April 2 and two Yerevan offices of
the Prosperous Armenia Party were ripped through by explosions early
Thursday morning.

The attacks against party offices were condemned promptly by president
Robert Kocharian as an attempt to destabilize the political situation
in the country ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections.

Serzh Sarkisian was attending today a ceremony of handing the first
of 10 computers to the Arabkir Passport Department of Police, which is
part of a project implemented by International Foundation for Electoral
Systems (IFES) and funded by the United States government. The project
will install 45 specially-designed computers in passport offices around
the country over the next month to give voters immediate access to
their voter registry records.

Speaking to journalists after the ceremony Serzh Sarkisian said
no country is immune from crimes and the immediate function
of law-enforcement bodies is to detect and punish culprits. He
declined to link the assassination attempt on the Gyumri mayor with
election-induced processes, saying the answer should be given by
law-enforcement bodies.

Likewise he declined to give his assessment of the two explosions
that hit the offices of the Prosperous Armenia.

"I do not want to voice my opinions because I would not like to
impose them on police officers. When the masterminds and executors
are revealed, then we shall give our assessments," he said.

EUROPEANS ADVISE TO APPLY THE MECHANISM OF INKING FINGER

Panorama.am
21:33 13/04/2007

"The May 12 parliamentary elections in Armenia will be an important
touchstone of the extent of maturity of the democracy", Leo Platvoet,
Head of the delegation of PACE interim commission for observation
of the parliamentary elections in Armenia, said during meeting with
journalists today. In his words, the delegation highly assesses that
the authorities and political forces intend to conduct elections
meeting the CE standards. Moreover, all the parties are responsible
to observe the rules of the game of the real democratic process.

L. Platvoet mentioned that they have taken into account the amended
electoral code, but these they during the meetings with representatives
of the political forces they have heard concerns that the accuracy
of the electoral rolls are far from being true.

According to L. Platvoet, the delegation notes with regret that
"The majority of the players of the political process in Armenia
have not been ready to introduce the mechanism of inking of the
fingers of the electors, which has been advised by Venice". To the
question of journalists in which countries is that mechanism applied,
the delegation members mentioned Serbia, Azerbaijan, Albania.

"SOCRATES IS MY FRIEND BUT TRUTH IS DEARER STILL…" REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA TO SUPPORT NOT ITS MEMBER HAKOB HAKOBIAN BUT GENERAL SEDRAK SAROYAN

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. "Hakob Hakobian is my friend but the
party will support the candidature of Sedrak Saroyan," Galust Sahakian,
head of the RA National Assembly’s Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA) faction, stated at the April 11 press conference, responding
to reporters’ question why the RPA did not support its member Hakob
Hakobian. "It does not mean that Hakob Hakobian is extremely bad,"
G. Sahakian noted, adding that along with his unpredictability,
H. Hakobian is "a person with serious thinking."

To recap, the Republican Party of Armenia nominated the candidature
of General Sedrak Saroyan, former commander of the 4th army corps,
at electoral district No 19 of Echmiadzin, while the candidature
of RPA member, deputy Hakob Hakobian who was proposed on the civil
initiative, was not finally registered by the RPA.

As regards S. Saroyan, in the words of G. Sahakian, each person should
be assessed taking into account the way he/she passed: "Saroyan could
have been dead now, and the RPA appreciates his contribution during
the Karabakh war."

US NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY DELEGATION VISITS ARMENIA

AZG Armenian Daily
12/04/2007

A delegation from the U.S. National Defense University visited Armenia
April 8-11. The 11-member delegation consisted of senior U.S. military
officers and U.S. government officials who are studying or working
at the National Defense University.

In Armenia, the delegation met with Government officials including
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian; Adviser to the Minister of Defense
and Chief of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Major
General Kotanjian; and Chief of the Foreign Relations and Military
Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Defense, Major General
Melkonian.

In addition, the delegation met with a number of scholars and NGO
representatives in Armenia. The group will also visit Georgia and
Azerbaijan as part of the ten months they are spending studying,
reflecting, and debating security strategy and foreign affairs.

The National Defense University prepares military and civilian leaders
from the United States and other countries to address national and
international security challenges. It prepares selected commissioned
officers and civilian officials from U.S. government agencies for
command, management, and staff responsibilities. The National Defense
University is under the direction of the Chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff.