Author: Jagharian Tania

ARISTOMENE VAROUDAKIS: ARMENIAN ECONOMY IS STABILIZING BUT THE CRISIS IS NOT OVER
Siranush Muradyan

"Radiolur"
26.02.2010 17:58

Diversification of Armenian economy is necessary in order to stir it
up, Head of Yerevan Office of World Bank (WB) Aristomene Varoudakis
told a press conference today.

According to him, the government is already realizing the corresponding
steps, in particular, on developing tourism and healthcare.

"The World Bank welcomes the steps of the government; however more
resolute steps are necessary, which will lead to eradication of
oligopoly," Aristomene Varoudakis stated.

Speaking about the 2.2% economic growth registered in January, the
head of WB Yerevan office noted that it speaks about the stabilization
of Armenian economy, but it does not mean that the crisis is over. He
stressed that the Armenian economy needs 3-4 years to return to the
level of 2008. According to him, WB forecasts economic growth in
Armenia following the results of 2010 at the volume of 2%.

Touching upon the level of Armenia’s state debt as compared to GDP,
Aristomene Varoudakis noted that following the results of 2010 it will
make about 50% of GDP. According to him, this is not a dangerous index,
since the majority of loans are provided for the term of 25 years with
the period of grace of 10 years. He believes that the most important
is to improve the process of collecting taxes by the time we have to
repay the loans.

Touching upon the possible opening of Armenian-Turkish border,
Aristomene Varoudakis noted that "it will open significant
opportunities not only for Armenia, but also for the entire South
Caucasus region." According to him, WB supports any initiative,
which contributes to interborder trade.

"This will attach an impulse to diversification of Armenian economy,
will reduce transport expenses, and will increase the competitiveness
of Armenian goods", Aristomene Varoudakis stated.

INSURANCE COMPANIES OF ARMENIA RETURN TO PRE-CRISIS LEVEL IN LATE 2009

ArmInfo
25.02.2010

ArmInfo.Twelve insurance companies in Armenia returned to the
pre-crisis level in late 2009 and even ensured positive dynamics. In
particular, the premium collection grew 4% per year to 8.1 billion
drams, including 4 billion drams was invested in reinsurance, the
quarterly report by the Armenian Central Bank says.

The source reported that the companies provided 1.9 billion drams
compensations for 2009, and the share of reinsurance was 890.6
million drams.

Total assets of insurance companies reached 17 billion drams on Dec
31 2009, growing 45% per year. The share of fixed assets in total
was 624 million drams and cash assets – 238 million drams.

Summary total capital of the 12 insurance companies amounted to
12.3 billion drams growing 64% per year. Aggregate retained profit
of 12 insurance companies grew 25% over the year under review to
776 million drams. As a result, retained profit totaled 1 billion
drams. Insurance reserves of the local insurance companies grew 27%
per year to 2,7 billion drams.

The source reported that the valid contracts numbered 50646 on Dec
31 2009 and the amount of coverage totaled almost 4 trillion drams.

AMERICAN ANALYSTS URGE OFFICIAL WASHINGTON TO BE ATTENTIVE IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS POLICY

Today
491.html
Feb 25 2010
Azerbaijan

The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington
conducted a conference devoted to interests of the USA in the South
Caucasus region.

During discussions on the situation in region from the point of view
of security and energy cooperation, the conferees focused on the
unresolved conflicts on South Caucasus, collision of the interests
of regional authorities, and also the energy security.

Famous scientists on Eurasia, including the general analyst of the
Heritage Foundation Ariel Kohen, the general analyst of Jamestown
Foundation Vladimir Socor, professor of the USA Military College Steven
Blank, the employee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Thomas de Waal have underlined that, contrary to interest of foreign
policy of the USA in the South Caucasus region, last years official
Washington`s attention weakened to this region.

And it, in turn, let other interested regional forces to penetrate to
the South Caucasus. According to analysts, the government of President
Barack Obama should reconsider the foreign policy pursued on South
Caucasus and in the Caspian basin, put forward a new strategic idea,
and raise authority in region.

Representative of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy Fariz Ismailzade
and Azerbaijan`s consul general in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov noted
the position of Azerbaijan, saying that despite the complexity in
the South Caucasus region, Azerbaijan is hopeful.

"We are for friendship with all neighboring states. But, despite it,
realities show that the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is the most basic obstacle in establishment of peace and cooperation
in region".

At the conference, deputy vice-president of the State Oil Company of
the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) Vitaly Beylarbayov reported on the role
of Azerbaijan as producer of oil and gas in energy security, and also
on the energy projects having important strategic value for Azerbaijan,
and the modern Silk Road connecting the European Union with the East.

IRANIAN PARLIAMENT’S VICE SPEAKER MOHAMMADREZA BAHUNAR: "I EXPRESSED THE NATION’S OFFICIAL POSITION ON THE SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT" – EXCLUSIVE

APA
Feb 23 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Suleyman Farzaliyev – APA. "I am saying once again that Iran is
together with Azerbaijan either on the solution to Nagorno Karabakh
conflict or other issues", vice Chairman of the Islamic Council Mejlis
Mohammadreza Bahunar told APA exclusively.

The Vice Speaker said it was official position of the Azerbaijani
government. "I am not first expressing this position. The president
of the country also made statements for many times that Iran and
Azerbaijan are close friends and fraternal countries and we are always
ready to help Azerbaijan. This is our official position".

Bahunar expressed opinion about the statement by spokesman for the
Iranian embassy in Armenia Ardashir Javad: "The people are sometimes
talking off hand. Take no notice of them. I don’t know Ardashir and
I don’t regard to his words".

In his meeting with the speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Ogtay
Asadov, Bahunar said Iran supported territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
and would continue its international efforts for returning Nagorno
Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Iranian embassy’s spokesman in Armenia Ardashir
Javad said it was Bahunar’s personal opinion and the nation’s position
was expressed by the President, Foreign Minister or the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

ELDR APPEAL TO ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES

lrahos16930.html
15:52:52 – 23/02/2010

Last week, ELDR Vice President Markus Loning (of LI Full Member FDP)
called on Armenia’s government to release the political prisoners
that remain imprisoned for protesting against what they feel were
falsified elections in 2008. In a statement he said that "it is not
acceptable that a member state of the Council of Europe and the
Eastern Partnership and a major recipient of aid from European
tax payers’ money is keeping people in prison for political
reasons." The 2008 presidential elections have been criticised by
international observers. Several organisations have expressed concerns
about the overall political situation in Armenia tilting towards
authoritarianism. However, when confronting a high-level audience in
London, which included LI Secretary General Emil Kirjas and LI Officer
Amanda Sundell, Armenian President Serg Sargsyan preferred to discuss
geopolitics and the relations between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The Eastern Partnership region will this spring be under special LI
scrutiny, as Bureau members and the Secretariat prepare to attend an
FNF Conference on the issue in Berlin 26-28 February 2010.

THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR IS TOO LITTLE BUT WE SHOULD BE READY

Asyor
feb 22 2010
Armenia

"The possibility of war is not too big but there is danger, however,
and we should be ready for that danger", – said historian Armen
Karapetyan touching upon the possible resumption of the war in Artsakh.

As for the Armenian – Turkish relations he said that we should learn
a lesson from our history instead of saying "let’s sit and hold talks
with the Turks."

"The Turks are perfidious. The say one think but do totally different
thing", – the speaker stressed. He reminded that in 1896 in Van the
Turks gave a guarantee that the Armenians will leave to Persia safely
if they put the arms down, but they were cheated and reaching the
field of Khanasor died.

"Here is a classical example of Turks guarantee. This has been
repeated in our history for many times", – A. Karapetyan stressed
and added that we can bring many examples from the history when the
Turks have acted perfidiously not only with the Armenians but also
with the peoples whom they related.

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
February 19, 2010 Friday

A NEW PEACEKEEPER IN SOUTH CAUCASUS;
Intentions of the OSCE Chair were evaluated positively but without optimism

by: Sokhbet Mamedov

WILL KAZAKHSTAN BE ABLE TO MOVE RESOLVING OF CONFLICTS IN THE
POST-SOVIET SPACE FROM THE DEAD POINT?; Chair of the OSCE and Foreign
Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev started his activities on the
European arena from a trip to the South Caucasus. Saudabayev announced
the main goal of Kazakhstan during the period of its chairmanship in
OSCE. This is achievement of progress in resolving of drawn-out
conflicts in the post-Soviet space. There are three of them in the
South Caucasus. After Baku Saudabayev will visit Tbilisi and Yerevan.

Chair of the OSCE and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev
started his activities on the European arena from a trip to the South
Caucasus. Saudabayev announced the main goal of Kazakhstan during the
period of its chairmanship in OSCE. This is achievement of progress in
resolving of drawn-out conflicts in the post-Soviet space. There are
three of them in the South Caucasus. After Baku Saudabayev will visit
Tbilisi and Yerevan.

Saudabayev was received by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Like
it had been announced, the process of resolving of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was the main topic of negotiations of
Kanat Saudabayev in Baku.

The visit of incumbent Chair of OSCE to Azerbaijan is a meaningful
event by itself. It was not surprising that attention of not only the
public of Azerbaijan but also the key players in the region was
attracted to it. For example, on the eve of this visit Foreign
Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu announced that Kazakhstan as OSCE
Chair should take important steps for resolving of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In his interview to the Anatolian news
agency he said, "We discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh problem with
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and my colleague Kanat
Saudabayev in detail. We are ready to act in cooperation with
Kazakhstan and Turkey expects taking of important steps for solving of
this problem from Astana."

Welcoming the intention of Astana to start working on the problem of
unresolved conflicts, local experts are not convinced of its
capability to fulfill this plan. According to political analyst Fikret
Sadykhov, it is very unlikely that chairmanship of Kazakhstan in OSCE
will have a big influence on resolving of the problem of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Sadykhov says, "It is necessary to bear in mind the
fact that very strong political players that have their own interests
participate in this process. That is why it will be difficult for
Kazakhstan to do this despite its wish to direct resolving of the
conflict to its peaceful settlement.

Along with this, his colleague Rasim Agayev is convinced that now
Kazakhstan has received a change to demonstrate its intermediary
abilities to the international community and to move the process of
resolving of frozen conflicts from the dead point. Time will show if
Kazakhstan succeeds in this.

People in Yerevan and Tbilisi have a similar mood. Welcoming and
respecting the wish of Astana to bring peace to the region, people in
both capitals said that OSCE had no decisive voice in the process of
conflicts resolving.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, February 16, 2010, p. 6

ME IS NOT ME, THE SIGNATURE IS NOT MINE OR HOW ARMENIA IS GOING TO OPEN THE BORDER WITH TURKEY
Nurani

Today
ytics/62045.html
Feb 19 2010
Azerbaijan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan keeps on showing external
peacefulness toward "Turkey."

He stated in a rather incoherent speech at London’s Chatham House that
the Zurich protocols have been forwarded to the Armenian parliament for
ratification. Armenian media described in detail how the parliamentary
speaker will launch a commission that will review these protocols.

However, whether Sargsyan was able to secure popularity as a
"peacemaker" still remains an open question. First, Turkey forwarded
the protocols to parliament several months before they did so in
Armenia. And it is up to the independent parliament to ratify them
until Armenia withdraws from Azerbaijan’s occupied lands to include
them in the agenda or not.

Second, Armenia has consistently pointed out that it will consider
the accords only after Turkey ratifies them. So, it remains unclear
whom and of what sending the protocols in the Armenian parliament is
supposed to say. Moreover, statements in the style of "after you,
gentlemen!" are not practiced in developed countries. It can be
decided only in consultations between the president and parliamentary
speaker. Journalists and political scientists can argue that the
country will ratify the accords only after the opposite side does so.

Presidents never make such statements especially from the rostrum of
the Chatham House.

Sargsyan seemed quite funny when he assured that the ratification
of the protocols will face no problems. So, the Armenian leader has
put himself in a trap – now he must either abandon his promises to
"ensure the ratification" and expect a positive verdict from the
Turkish Grand National Assembly, or "push" the ratification in his
own parliament without waiting for Turkey to do so and again to
break his own promise not to ratify the protocols until a positive
verdict is received from Ankara. In short, in the best-case scenario,
the Armenian president will look like an unserious politician giving
conflicting and patently unrealistic promises.

But this is not the main thing. The Armenian government has approved a
law providing for Armenia’s withdrawal from international treaties. No
one doubts that this primarily applies to the Armenian-Turkish
accords. Armenia still threatens that if Turkey drags out time and
does not ratify the protocols at least next week, it will be offended
and withdraw from the process.

You can, of course, speculate about "political will for reconciliation"
and who has it more the other – the Turkish or the Armenian
president. But a fact remains: Ankara has displayed this political will
in full from the outset. But if overcoming the "historical stereotypes"
and "age-old hatred" were the key goals, this problem might actually be
addressed through football matches and protocol smiles. Today, however,
it is clear that obstacles in the negotiation process could hardly be
solved with the help of a festive concoction by Turkey’s First Lady
Hayrunisa Gul and a stadium adorned with Swarovski crystals. Armenia
may try to prove that the Zurich protocols make no single mention of
the Karabakh conflict and the withdrawal of troops from Azerbaijan’s
occupied lands as much as it can, but there is no doubt that these
protocols provide for the recognition of borders and a joint study
into controversial historical events.

Armenia turned out to be absolutely unready for this since in this
case it would have to remove the image of Agri-Dagh from its coat of
arms and reconcile with the fact that "Western Armenia" is eastern
Turkey. And those who participated in a procession to the monument
"to the victims of genocide" every year on April 24 knew that the
"genocide" will not work, and most of the documentary evidence will
turn out to be common and flagrant fakes. Knowing this, they decided
to withdraw from the negotiations loudly slamming the door.

Frankly, these are not new tactics. The Armenian president, who is
also the president of the Armenian Chess Federation, Sargsyan knows
what lies behind the expression "to turn over the board." Though he
knows this, he is unlikely to say it out loud. So, as a rule, they
act when the situation on the board has no way out.

DETENTION OF SARIBEK SUKIASYAN FAILED ATTEMPT OF PROVOCATION BY CERTAIN FORCES IN POWER

ArmInfo
2010-02-18 16:16:00

ArmInfo. Detention of Saribek Sukiasyan, Head of Armeconombank Council,
was a failed attempt of provocation by certain forces in power. As a
result, the authorities found themselves in quite silly situation, as
usually, Savid Shahnazaryan, Armenian National Congress representative,
told media on Thursday.

Nevertheless, commenting on the draft resolution on involvement of
the army into the events of March 1 in Yerevan that was put into
circulation at PACE, Shahnazaryan said that European structures have
finally resolved to view the incidents of March 1 in different way
because of change of the political atmosphere.

On February 12, special forces of the Police rushed into the office
of SIL-Concern and subjected to detention Chairman of the Board of
Armeconombank Saribek Sukiasyan and one of the Conбern employees.

Judging by the official information, the authorities forged the regular
case with respect to the Sukiasyans family. Saribek Sukiasyan is a
blood brother of a well-known businessman and oppositionist Khachatur
Sukiasyan who supported the candidacy of the first President of
Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan at the presidential election in 2008.

After March 1 events, he was put on the wanted list, then he
returned and was amnestied. According to the oppositional mass media
information, S. Sukiasyan thinks that his current prosecution is
nothing else but part of the plan of revenge against him and his
family.

Journalist Kemal GOktaS: Police knew Dink would be killed

armradio.am
17.02.2010 18:14

Kemal Goktas, a correspondent for the Vatan daily in Ankara, said in
an Istanbul court yesterday that the Istanbul Police Department knew
that Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink was to be killed but did not
take any precautions, Today’z Zaman reports.

In a hearing at Istanbul’s 2nd Court of First Instance, Goktas,
who is being tried for revealing secret documents and jeopardizing
the state’s police department, said in his defense that the Trabzon
Police Department had informed the Istanbul Police Department about
the plans for Dink’s murder.

In his book, "Hrant Dink’s Murder — Media, Judiciary and State,"
Goktas had revealed how the Istanbul Police Department ignored warnings
from the Trabzon Police Department about Dink’s murder.

"Then Intelligence Chief Ramazan Akyurek and the Istanbul Police
Department filed a criminal complaint against me for publishing
the document. This document showed how Hrant Dink was going to be
murdered and [proved that] police knew it beforehand. It shows that
a group headed by Yasin Hayal was to kill Dink," Goktas said in his
own defense.

Goktas, who is facing a three-to-five-year prison sentence, also said
Akyurek did not take steps to prevent the murder.

Meanwhile, 19 police officers, including Akyurek, that were charged
with negligence in the investigation into the Dink assassination have
been cleared by a report drafted by Interior Ministry investigators.