Author: Jalatian Sonya

OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY CHAIRMAN TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA ON FEBRUARY 4

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation headed by Goran
Lennmarker, the Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will
arrive in Armenia on February 4. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by
the RA NA Public Relations Department.

Meetings are scheduled for February 5 at the RA National Assembly with
the NA delegation to the OSCE PA, members of the NA Standing Committee
on Foreign Relations and with NA Speaker Tigran Torosian.

Members of the delegation headed by Goran Lennmarker will meet on the
same day with representatives of public organizations.

A meeting with RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian is
scheduled for February 6.

FREE-STYLE WRESTLING ARMENIAN CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Adults championship of free-style
wrestling of Armenia started on February 2 at Yerevan’s Ashkhatank
sports hall. It will finish on February 4. RA national team will be
formed as a result of the competitions, which will take part in
international competitions to he beld one after another in Tashkent
and Tehran.

MEMBER IF US CONGRESS: ARMENIAN ISSUE SHOULD NOT AFFECT
AMERICAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

Yerevan, February 1. ArmInfo. The US Congressman, Robert Wexler has
promised to do the best for the American- Turkish relations to remain
friendly, the Turkish "Zaman" newspaper reported yesterday. A
reception was organized in New York in honor of the congressman, at
which Robert Wexler said that America should perceive Turkey as part
if Europe and underlined the most positive aspects of American-Turkish
relations. When Wexler was reminded of the Armenian Genocide issue, he
answered that such proposals enter the US Congress every year. He
stressed that the most important subject for the USA today is Iraq,
while Turkey, in the territory of which the American air- bases are
located, provisions the American Army. In Wexler’s opinion, that is
the reason why the American national interests and security should not
be staked.

CONSUMER PRICES GROW BY 2.4% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. A 2.4% inflation was registered in
the Armenian consumer market in January 2007 on December 2006, which
is by 0.1% lower than the respective index of last year
(2.5%). According to the RA National Statistical Service, the
inflation is mainly the result of seasonal fluctuations in prices of
some foodstuffs.

The growth in prices of food commodities (including alcoholic drinks
and cigarettes) made 4.5% in January 2007 on December 2006. The level
of non-food commodities’ prices fell by 0.8% in the indicated period,
and a 0.4% increase of tariffs was registered in the service sector.

The consumer price index made 105.1% in January 2007 on December 2006,
including that of food commodities (including alcoholic drinks and
cigarettes) – 106.4%, of non-food commodities – 99.8% and of service
tariffs – 105.5%.

PACE President: Every country should accept its own history

ArmRadio.am
31.01.2007 13:00

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe cannot make Turkey
recognize what it refuses from, PACE President Rene van der Linden
told ArmInfo, speaking of the possible deepening of Armenian-Turkish
relations in the light of assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink.

Nevertheless, Rene van der Linden noted that it does not mean it is
necessary to refuse from the past. `Every country should accept its
own history,’ said PACE President. He added that Armenia’s borders are
closed, and today it is very important to remember that as a necessity
to take efforts to normalize the relations with the neighbor country.

Europeans fear US attack on Iran as nuclear row intensifies

· Transatlantic rift emerges over how to handle crisis
· America builds up its naval forces in the Gulf

Ian Traynor in Brussels and Jonathan Steele
Wednesday January 31, 2007
The Guardian

Senior European policy-makers are increasingly worried that the US
administration will resort to air strikes against Iran to try to
destroy its suspect nuclear programme.
As transatlantic friction over how to deal with the Iranian impasse
intensifies, there are fears in European capitals that the nuclear
crisis could come to a head this year because of US frustration with
Russian stalling tactics at the UN security council. "The clock is
ticking," said one European official. "Military action has come back
on to the table more seriously than before.
The language in the US has changed."

As the Americans continue their biggest naval build-up in the Gulf
since the start of the Iraq war four years ago, a transatlantic rift
is opening up on several important aspects of the Iran dispute.
The Bush administration will shortly publish a dossier of charges of
alleged Iranian subversion in Iraq. "Iran has steadily ramped up its
activity in Iraq in the last three to four months. This applies to the
scope and pace of the ir operations. You could call these brazen
activities," a senior US official said in London yesterday.

Although the Iranians were primarily in Shia areas, they were not
confined to them, the US source said, implying that they had formed
links with Sunni insurgents and were helping them with booby-trap
bombs aimed at Iraqi and US forces, new versions of the "improvised
explosive devices".

Senior members of the US Congress have raised concerns that the US
will attack Iran in retaliation for its alleged activities in
Iraq. The official said there were no plans for "cross-border
operations" from Iraq to Iran. But he said: "We don’t want a
progressively more confident and bolder Iran … The perception that
Iran is ascendant in the region and that there are no limits to what
Iran can do – that’s what is destabilising."

The Americans and Europeans have sought to maintain a common front on
the nuclear issue for the past 30 months, with the European troika of
Britain, France and Germany running failed negotiations with the
Iranians and the Americans tacitly supporting them.

But diplomats in Brussels and those dealing with the dispute in Vienna
say a fissure has opened up between the US and western Europe on three
crucial aspects – the military option; how and how quickly to hit Iran
with economic sanctions already decreed by the UN security council;
and how to deal with Russian opposition to action against Iran through
the security council.

"There’s anxiety everywhere you turn," said a diplomat familiar with
the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. "The
Europeans are very concerned the shit could hit the fan."

A US navy battle group of seven vessels was steaming towards the Gulf
yesterday from the Red Sea, part of a deployment of 50 US ships,
including two aircraft carriers, expected in the area in weeks.

"No path is envisaged by the EU other than the UN path," the EU’s
foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told the Guardian yesterday. "The
priority for all of us is that Iran complies with UN security council
resolutions."

The IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, called at the weekend for a
"timeout" in the worsening confrontation in an attempt to enable both
sides to save face and climb down. But the Americans rejected the
proposal and European officials involved in the dispute also believe
the Iranians cannot be trusted to stick to a deal.

Despite recurring tensions on the Middle East between the US and
France, the French are the most hawkish of the Europeans on Iran and
are said to back a US drive to tighten the noose on Iran’s president,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The populist and recalcitrant leader is perceived to have been
weakened recently, in part because of a mishandling of the nuclear
row. "One group of western countries thinks it’s a good time to step
up the pressure on Ahmadinejad. All options are on the table. Others
are worried we might be stumbling into a war," said another diplomat
familiar with the dispute.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

German bid for European Union law on Holocaust deniers faces
resistance

EU term president Germany’s proposal to punish Holocaust deniers in
all 27 member countries has been facing opposition from many fronts.
The Armenian lobby is also asking that the Armenian `genocide’ be
included in the draft.
While member countries such as Britain, Italy and Denmark oppose the
draft on the basis of freedom of expression, historians object to the
idea as a form of censorship. While trying to convince these two
fronts, Germany now has Baltic countries seeking the inclusion of
Stalin-era crimes in the draft, which Germany is lukewarm on. Turkey
has been closely following the developments, waiting for the draft to
be clarified.
German diplomats, speaking to Today’s Zaman, say there is no
reference to any historical event in the draft but cautions that the
topic will soon be discussed at the level of the Committee of
Permanent Representatives (COREPER). Diplomats cannot say whether the
Armenian question will be eventually included or not. The draft,
whose full name is the Framework Decision on Combating Racism and
Xenophobia, aims at penalizing the deniers of the Holocaust, war
crimes and crimes against humanity in all 27 member countries.
Germany, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, wants to
revive an initiative started by Luxembourg back in 2005 for tougher
laws on the incitement of racial hatred and historical revisionism.
This includes `the denial or gross minimization of genocide out of
racist and xenophobic motives.’
Germany outlined the main points of the draft in a press statement
released on Monday:
Public incitement to hatred and violence for reasons of racism or
xenophobia will be criminalized. This applies in all cases for
conduct that constitutes threats, insults or defamatory statements,
and for conduct that is apt to disturb the public peace. The
dissemination of writings with such content will be prohibited as
well. The maximum penalty for such conduct will be at least one to
three years in prison.
Public approval, denial or gross minimization of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes within the meaning or Articles 6, 7
and 8 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court (‘Rome
Statute’) and pursuant to Article 6 of the International Military
Tribunal of 1945 (Nuremberg Tribunal) against a group of persons or a
member of such a group, defined according to the criteria of race,
color, religion, descent, or national or ethnic origin, will be
criminalized. Here as well, the maximum penalty will be at least one
to three years in prison.
The Framework Decision does not identify specific cases of genocide,
crimes against humanity or war crimes; rather, it refers to the
Statute of the International Criminal Court and the International
Military Tribunal of 1945 and thus creates abstract offenses. Whether
a concrete historic crime falls within these definitions would be
decided by a court in each concrete and specific case. This occurred,
for example, with regard to the Holocaust. Pursuant to the Draft,
Member States have the possibility of making criminal liability
dependent upon the determination by a national or international court
that a concrete historic event constituted genocide, a crime against
humanity or a war crime.
European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, in a written
declaration on Jan. 27, lent full support to the German proposal.
However, Frattini’s country Italy, drafted a law that proposes
penalties up to three years in jail for inciting racial hatred but
stops short of making Holocaust denial a crime. Some 200 Italian
historians have objected to the draft.

31.01.2007

SELÇUK GÜLTAŞLI BRUSSELS

OVERALL BALANCE CAPITAL OF ARMENIAN COMMERCIAL BANKS GROWS BY 26.6% IN
2006

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. As of December 31, 2006, 21
commercial banks with 299 branches operated in Armenia. According to
the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), on the indicated date, the actual
authorized fund of the banks made 80 bln 107 mln 615 thousand drams
(over 222 mln 521 thousand USD), increasing by 32.9% in one year and
by 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2006. As of December 31, 2006, the
overall balance capital of the banks made 120 bln 271 mln 975 thousand
drams, growing by 26.6% in one year and by 2.5% in the fourth quarter
of 2006.

The overall liabilities of Armenian commercial banks amounted to 404
bln 362 mln 97 thousand drams as of December 31, 2006, growing by
16.9% in one year and by 10.8% in the fourth qaurter of 2006; the
indices of overall assets made 524 bln 634 mln 72 thousand drams, 19%
and 8.8% respectively.

As of December 31, 2006, standard credits and bills receivable made up
97.6% of the commercial banks’ total portfolio of credits and bills
receivable of 298 bln 310 mln 37 thousand drams.

The total amount of credits provided by banks to residents, deposits,
sums provided by leasing and factoring made 243 bln 413 mln 950
thousand drams as of December 31, 2006, growing by 29.1% in one year
and by 8.8% in the fourth quarter of 2006. The sum of 39 bln 263 mln
980 thousand drams provided to industry increased by 0.4% in one year
and by 4.8% in the fourth quarter of 2006, the sum of 14 bln 196 mln
429 thousand drams to agriculture grew by 25.6% in one year and by
22.7% in the fourth quarter of 2006, the same indices with respect to
construction made 11 bln 540 mln 985 thousand drams, 46.5% and 17.5%
respectively, with respect to transport and communication – 3 bln 916
mln 422 thousand drams, 7.3% and 4.8% respectively.

The sum provided by Armenian banks to trade in 2006 made 49 bln 564
mln 966 thousand drams, it grew by 17.6% in one year and declined by
0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2006; 15 bln 330 mln 526 thousand drams
was provided to the financial sector of the economy, this sum
increased by 63.4% in one year and by 27% in the fourth quarter of
2006; consumer credits made 68 bln 397 mln 749 thousand drams, grew by
34.5% in one year and by 14.6% in the fourth quarter of 2006; the same
indices with respect to mortgage crediting made 23 bln 770 mln 50
thousand drams, 114% and 19.4%; with respect to other sectors – 17 bln
432 mln 843 thousand drams, 33.3% and 9%.

The gross revenues of commercial banks as of December 31, 2006 made 86
bln 509 mln 192 thousand drams against 74 bln 737 mln 395 thousand
drams as of the same day of the previous year, the expenditures on
these dates made 65 bln 468 mln 166 thousand drams and 59 bln 362 mln
drams, the net profit – 16 bln 970 mln 934 thousand drams and 12 bln
199 mln 41 thousand drams, the undistributed profit made 16 bln 390
mln 934 thousand drams and 12 bln 199 mln 41 thousand drams.

International Herald Tribune, France
Jan 30 2007

Report: Azerbaijan president does not rule out use of force to seize
Nagorno-Karabakh
The Associated PressPublished: January 29, 2007

PARIS: Azerbaijan’s president said he prefers a peaceful solution to
a dispute with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, but is
not ruling out military means, a French newspaper reported.

President Ilham Aliev, in an interview in Le Monde daily before
arriving in France for a three-day visit, was quoted as saying the
disputed territory is "issue No. 1" for his oil-rich Caucasus
Mountains country, which is growing bolder as its economic strength
grows.

"It’s clear that our political weight will give us one day the means
to liberate our lands," Aliev, who met Monday with French President
Jacques Chirac, was quoted as saying. "We’d prefer to do it
peacefully, without going to war. But if there are no other means …
we’ll see."

Chirac, in a speech to guests at a state dinner in Aliev’s honor,
made it clear that he favors a peaceful solution.

"France would like to believe that the time for peace has come," the
French leader said. "Getting there requires a final step."

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan but
populated largely by ethnic Armenians, has been controlled by ethnic
Armenian forces since the end of a six-year war in 1994. Tensions
remain high between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Diplomats from Russia, France and the United States have headed more
than a decade of efforts by the so-called Minsk Group – part of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

In a statement Monday, the group said it was encouraged by what it
called the "constructive" approach of the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan as they work toward resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

Azerbaijan has been building up its military with an influx of
revenues from oil. It controls portions of the Caspian Sea, on its
eastern fringe, which has some of the largest oil and gas fields in
the former Soviet Union.

Aliev was quoted as telling Le Monde that he was looking to deepen
bilateral economic ties between Azerbaijan and France.

4th SITTING OF ARMENIAN-SYRIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION TO TAKE
PLACE IN DAMASCUS IN MARCH

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Gegham
Gharibjanian, the RA Deputy Foreign Minister met on January 29 in
Damascus with Walid Mualem, the Foreign Minister of Syria. Results of
diplomatic consultations being held on the previous day were summed up
during the meeting, and the sides’ readiness to develop various
bilateral relations with consistent steps was again mentioned. The RA
Deputy Foreign Minister re-affirmed the RA Foreign Ministry’s
invitation to Walid Mualem to visit Armenia.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, the Armenian-Syrian diplomatic consultations
were held on January 28 in Damascus: RA Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham
Gharibjanian held the consultations from the Armenian side, and Syrian
Deputy Foreing Minister Ahmad Arnus held them from the Syrian side.

During the consultations the sides especially mentioned the high level
of the Armenian-Syrian political relations, touched upon the
Armenian-Syrian cooperation in international organizations as well,
Near East and Caucasus regional problems, attached importance to
activization of practical steps directed to development of bilateral
commercial-economic relations.

The RA Deputy Foreign Minister met on the same day with Amer Hossni
Lotfi, the Syrian Co-Chairman of the Armenian-Syrian intergovernmental
commission, Economy Minister, and discussed the issue of works of the
next, 4th sitting of the intergovernmental commission to take place in
March in Damascus as well as prospects of cooperation in the
commercial-economic sphere were outlined.