Author: Jagharian Tania

TURKEY’S JUSTICE MINISTER URGES PROBE INTO POLICE ROLE IN DINK’S MURDER

armradio.am
22.01.2008 16:58

Turkey’s justice minister has called for a "serious" probe into claims
that security forces were involved in the murder last year of Armenian
Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, the Turkish Daily News reports.

"Certain members of the security forces are said to be linked to this
murder," Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Å~^ahin said in an interview
published Monday in the daily Sabah.

"Every allegation must be considered a tip-off and seriously
investigated," he said.

"If what they (the police) did was a crime, they must be definitely
punished," the minister said.

–Boundary_(ID_lpBh5AoKlbLJSi3kRQ5fYg)–

THOUSANDS AGAIN RALLY FOR TER-PETROSIAN
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 22 2008

Braving a bitter weather, thousands of supporters of former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian marched through the center of Yerevan on Tuesday
in the latest show of force by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s most
radical election challenger.

The demonstration, the first of kind organized by Ter-Petrosian since
his political comeback last September, was sanctioned by municipal
authorities despite their calls for political parties to avoid staging
street marches in the run-up to next month’s presidential election. The
Yerevan mayor’s office argued last week that they would disrupt the
already congested traffic in the city center.

The march followed a rally in the city’s Liberty Square during which
Ter-Petrosian again lambasted Armenia’s "thieving and anti-popular"
leadership and said he and his political allies are ready to suffer
"any deprivation and sacrifice" for the sake of regime change.

"We have reached a turning point where words end and deeds take hold,"
he said, describing the February 19 election as a "real opportunity
to build a normal state."

Ter-Petrosian also said that by voting for him Armenians would
avenge what he described as the falsification of the results of the
previous two presidential elections. "Therefore, February 19 will
mark not only my victory but also the victory of Karen Demirchian,
Stepan Demirchian and Vazgen Sarkisian," he said.

Demirchian Jr., whose People’s Party is among more than a dozen
opposition groups supporting Ter-Petrosian, also addressed the rally.

He claimed that the ex-president can win already in the first round of
voting. He also stressed that Ter-Petrosian is the only presidential
hopeful who has pledged to solve the October 1999 assassination of
his father and then Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian.

Despite the freezing weather, the rally attracted approximately as
many people as the previous gatherings organized by Ter-Petrosian late
last year. Ter-Petrosian joked that he committed a serious blunder
by stepping down and forcing a pre-term presidential election in
winter. "Had I resigned in April or May [1998] you would have been in
a much better situation," he said at the start of his 20-minute speech.

The ex-president’s previous Liberty Square speeches had lasted for
more than an hour. He spent much of his latest address reciting a
1920 poem by Armenian poet Yeghishe Charents who emphatically lamented
the country’s woes.

Ter-Petrosian also disputed the widely held belief that Serzh
Sarkisian is the clear election favorite. "Serzh Sarkisian has no
support base or electorate in Armenia," he said. "He is pinning all
his hopes on administrative levers, vote falsifications, repressions
and vote bribes."

Sarkisian’s loyalists, for their part, dismiss Ter-Petrosian’s
electoral chances, saying that he is not even the most popular of
the opposition candidates challenging the Armenian premier.

UNTIL THE HEAD OF STATE MAKES A DECISION

Lragir
Jan 22 2008
Armenia

The current anti-corruption strategy of Armenia would work in countries
where separate cases of corruption are reported, whereas in Armenia
corruption has affected the entire system of public administration,
said the presidential candidate Arman Melikyan on January 22 at the
Pastark Club, who used to be adviser to NKR president and foreign
minister of NKR.

"We have a corrupt system of public administration. Public
administration in Armenia, the relations are subject to the corrupt
system. In other words, wherever a citizen turns to, he or she has
to make illegal payments," Arman Melikyan says. According to him,
corruption acquires different forms at different levels of public
administration.

"After all, corruption is not something innate. Therefore, it should
be battled," Arman Melikyan says. According to him, the programs of
the other presidential candidates also contain approaches towards
anti-corruption efforts but they are personified. "The approach is
to send some people to prison, shoot some one or two people, and
corruption will be eradicated. It is impossible. In a corrupt system
of public administration it is impossible to change the system by
replacing a person. Structural changes are possible only in case the
head of state makes a strategic decision which is imposed on all the
bodies, and consistent efforts are made," Arman Melikyan says.

He also points to the importance of raising the salary of public
servants to demand honest work from them without embezzlement. Arman
Melikyan also stated that the Armenian government does not have
the real picture of money in the economy and the shade economy of
Armenia. To get the real picture, it is necessary to change the system
of public administration, and to separate government from business,
because their coalescing eliminates the interest in having the real
picture of the economy.

VAZGEN MANUKIAN APPEALS TO YOUNG PEOPLE NOT TO MAKE IDOLS AND BECOME CAPTIVE OF ANYBODY

Noyan Tapan
Jan 22, 2008

YEREVAn, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. During the January 21 meeting
with young people at the Congress Hotel, the presidential candidate,
chairman of the National Democratic Union (NDU) Vazgen Manukian said
that his meeting with youth on the first day of the pre-election
campaign is not accidental as "the idea of free man" forms the basis
of his pre-election program, with the main stress being laid on human
freedom. He appealed to the youth not to become captive to anybody
and not to make idols, especially in politics. "If you have an idol,
you have some defects of the brain," the presidential candidate
remarked. He underlined that young people should aim to be guided by
free, proud, national, traditional and universal values.

Speaking about the key provisions of his pre-election program,
V. Manukian also responded to some questions. By the way, the meeting
was attended not only by his supporters and he was asked a wide range
of questions.

As for the problem of controlling the February 19 presidential
elections, V. Manukian informed those present that it is for the first
time the NDU and he run in the elections without having members in
electoral commissions so control will be done by experienced persons
empowered to act for him.

Besides, the ARF, "Orinats Yerkir" and "Zharangutyun" parties,
with which the NDU anticiptes to cooperate, have their members in
electoral commissions. In the words of V. Manukian, there is no such
cooperation throughout Armenia but in some places it either exists
or is at the formation stage.

ARMENIA’S RAMKAVAR AZATAKAN PARTY TO SUPPORT NONE OF NINE CANDIDATES AT FORTHCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

arminfo
2008-01-22 13:42:00

ArmInfo. Armenia’s Ramkavar Azatakan party will support none of
the nine candidates at the forthcoming presidential election. As
the party’s press-service told ArmInfo, holding of transparent and
legitimate election is of much importance for the party’s republican
board. The party urges those, responsible for the election, not to
damage the international prestige of Armenia.

The Canadian Press
Jan 19 2008

Turkey commemorates Armenian journalist’s slaying

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Thousands of people gathered Saturday to mark the
killing of a Turkish Armenian journalist one year ago, placing red
carnations on the spot where he was gunned down in daylight and
demanding justice in the case.

Wearing black and holding placards reading "For Hrant. For Justice,"
the protesters paid tribute to Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of
Armenian origins who angered many by calling the century-old killings
of Armenians a genocide. Turkey insists the killings resulted from
civil war and unrest in the last days of the First World War.

On Jan. 19, 2007, Dink was gunned down outside his office, allegedly
by a hardline nationalist teenager.

The killing brought international condemnation and sparked a debate
about freedom of speech in Turkey, where massive crowds took to the
streets, chanting: "We are all Armenians, we are all Hrants."

Saturday’s crowd repeated the same slogan, before standing for a
moment in silence in front of the Agos newspaper office, where Dink
had been chief editor. Holding placards written in Turkish, Armenian
and English, the mourners then attended a commemoration ceremony at
Agos, where a huge photograph of Dink covered part of the newspaper
building.

"We are here today because we want justice," his wife, Rakel Dink,
said in an address to the mourners, many of whom had pinned pictures
of the slain journalist to their chests.

She vowed to press further for justice, saying the judiciary had not
followed up on evidence suggesting officials may have been involved
in the plot to kill her husband.

Dink had sought to encourage reconciliation between Turkey and
Armenia, but several years before his death he was prosecuted under
Turkish law for describing the early 20th-century mass killings of
Armenians as genocide.

"Despite all the past grievances among Turks and Armenians, he never
expressed hatred," said Mevlut Yilmaz at the ceremony Saturday. "He
was thinking about the future, not the past."

Turkey’s top politicians, including the prime minister, have vowed a
thorough investigation. An Istanbul court is looking into allegations
of official negligence or even collusion, but lawyers for Dink’s
family have said the investigation is flawed.

The murder trial, which started last year, is taking place behind
closed doors because the alleged gunman is a minor. A total of 19
suspects are on trial, and the next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11.

Dink was prosecuted for his Armenian genocide comments under an
article of Turkey’s penal code, which bans insults to Turkish
identity. Despite appeals by the European Union, the law remains
unchanged.

Economic News
January 16, 2008 Wednesday

RA Prime-Minister Calls for Improvement of Business Environment

Yerevan. ">OREANDA-NEWS . January 16, 2007. RA Prime Minister Serzh
Sargsyan called a consultative meeting on the improvement of business
environment, attended by RA ministers of Trade and Economic
Development, Finance and Economy, Employment and Social Affaires, the
deputy minister of Justice, the mayor of Yerevan, the chairman of the
RA Central Bank, the deputy head of the National Statistics Service,
the heads of tax, customs, immovable property cadastre
administrations, as well as the director general of the Armenian
Development Agency.

To begin with, the Prime Minister advised that the meeting was called
to discuss issues relating to the further betterment of Armenia’s
business and investment environment. He noted that the betterment of
Armenia’s business and investment environment was a corner-stone for
the economic reforms implemented in the Republic of Armenia – may be
the most important element – and expressed confidence that this trend
would be continued hereinafter. According to the Prime Minister, all
undertakings in this direction should be subject to assessment and
measuring, therefore, any proposed objective ought to be exact and
realistic. In this context, Serzh Sargsyan said that the focus should
be as follows: Armenia’s business and investment environment must
reach the level of world’s 10% best countries in 2012.

As assured by the Prime Minister, Armenia can reach this target
within a shorter notice, in case the efforts to this end are systemic
and efficacious.

Then, the meeting participants discussed the steps towards
facilitating the conditions for doing business in Armenia.

In conclusion, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan issued several
commissions to be summarized during the joint discussions between the
Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Trade and Economic
Development and the relevant department of the Government Staff after
which the activities for the running year will be finalized.

ROBERT ARZUMANYAN SIGNS A CONTRACT WITH "RENDERS"

armradio.am
18.01.2008 12:50

Player of "Pyunik" (Yerevan) and the national football team of Armenia
Robert Arzumanyan signed a one-year contract with the "Renders"
club of Denmark.

"Renders" occupies the 6th position in the Danish national league.

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS COMPANY IS READY TO TAKE PART IN CONSTRUCTION OF IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY

2008-01-16 16:25:00

ArmInfo. The Russian Railways (RR) CJSC is ready to take part in
the construction of Iran-Armenia railway, RR President of Vladimir
Yakunin said at a press-conference in Yerevan, Wednesday.

According to him, Armenia and Iran are currently holding high-level
negotiations on possible linking of Armenian and Iranian railways and
Russia also takes part in the negotiations. He added that no decision
about the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway has been taken
yet. "If such a decision is taken, we’ll be ready to take part in
its implementation and consider the issue of attracting additional
investments", he said. Yakunin noted that Russia is interested in
development of the North-South transport corridor. "Our talks with Iran
are active from the viewpoint of both exploitation of this transport
corridor and development of Iran’s infrastructure", Yakunin noted.

For his part, Armenian Minister of Transport and Communication Andranik
Manukyan said that in 2007 Armenia and Iran signed a memorandum on
technical study of possible laying-out. This work is to be completed
before July 1, 2008, the minister said.

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT: THE WAR HAS NOT YET FINISHED, ONLY THE FIRST PERIOD ENDED

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2008

Armenian aggressors occupied our lands using foreign and other
factors. Sometimes they say that, Armenians won the war. But it is
not at all.

The war has not yet finished, only the first period ended," Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev said during his speech in inauguration of
Olympic Sport Complex in Guzanli settlement, APA’s correspondent
accompanying President reports President stated that Armenians
occupied Azerbaijani lands by the help of foreign supporters. These
events occurred in 1990s when Azerbaijani economy was low.

"Today Azerbaijani economy is bigger than Armenian economy 5-6 times.

Mobilizing our all energy, we will establish strong state, economy
and army and ensure liberty of our lands. All these factors,
development of army formation influences to the negotiations process
positively. Armenia demanded to give independence to Nagorno Karabakh
one year ago, but now the situation changed. Armenians understand that,
Nagorno Karabakh will not be independent. This is not our position,
as well as position of international mediators. Armenians were obliged
to agree to this reality. If we spoke about releasing of 4 regions,
but now we are speaking about releasing of 7 regions.

International mediators- OSCE MG co-chairs demand it from Armenia.

Armenian leadership is obliged to admit it. This is very great
progress. Azerbaijan satisfies with progress achieved during
negotiations process.

I can not say that we are completely satisfied with the proposed
variant. We are dissatisfied with several issues, we can not agree
with some cases. Negotiations process is held in positive direction.

We have achieved it. Armenia already realizes that Azerbaijan
strengthens its positions in international world and is being turned
to indispensable country for energy security of Europe. It ensures
neighboring countries and Europe with energy resources. Azerbaijan is
already 3 years that occupies 1st place for economic growth. $2.5
billion allocated for army last year and this year shows our
strength. Armenia knows it. We want our compatriots to return to
their origin places soon. We already have capabilities for the
restoration of those regions. We want the signed peace agreement to
ensure Azerbaijan’s interests. Negotiations continue, we will not
renounce our position, Azerbaijan’s territory can not be the theme
of discussion. High managing status may be given to Armenians living
there and Azerbaijanis returning there in the framework of territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan," he said.

President stated that Armenia is a country which lives on foreign
donations, independence of this country is also of conventional
character.

"Karabakh is Azerbaijani land. Armenians have come to Nagorno Karabakh
as guests and then pretended to our lands. Present territory of
Armenia, Yerevan khanate is also west Azerbaijani land," he said.

Ilham Aliyev touching upon ongoing processes in international world
said that autonomy in European countries has various forms. All these
issues are solved in the framework of territorial integrity of the
countries.

"But to our regret, international manners are violated in some cases,
international principles are not observed, autonomies are recognized
one-sided," he said.