Author: Kafian Jirair

EBRD TO PROVIDE $15 MILLION LOAN TO ARMECONOMBANK

ARMENPRESS
Dec 14, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS: The European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD) will make its second syndicated loan in
Armenia with a $15 million credit to Armeconombank. The agreement
to this effect was signed today by Armeconombank executive manager
David Sukiasian and head of the EBRD Yerevan office Michael Weinstein.

The credit is to target the growing financial requirements of local
entrepreneurs engaged in industry, trade and services.

David Sukiasian described the credit as ‘unprecedented’ because the
EBRD is providing only 5$ million of the loan while the rest $10
million will be provided by five other European banks.

He said the biggest amount of a credit available to Armenian
entrepreneurs will be equal to $400,000. The credits will be available
at 14-16 percent annual interest rates, which Sukiasian said are in
line with local demands.

Weinstein said the agreement is another evidence of the growing
interest of European banks in Armenia. He added that micro and small
businesses are vital for economic development and play a crucial role
in promoting the country’s transition towards a market economy.

"This transaction will directly support these important sectors by
providing increased access to financing", he added.

EBRD and Armeconombank began cooperation in 2000 and since then they
have implemented $20 million worth different programs.

Earlier this year EBRD made its first syndicated loan in Armenia with
a ~@12 million credit to ACBA Credit Agricole Bank.

ARMENIA: TER-PETROSIAN RETURNS TO POLITICS WITH A PROMISE OF DEFYING "STATE MACHINERY"
By Haroutiun Khachatrian In Erevan

Caucaz.com
Dec 14 2007
Georgia

Armenia’s presidential elections are scheduled for February 19, 2008.

Two months before the vote, it seems likely that the struggle will
be between the current prime minister, Serge Sargsian, and former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian. Although the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) expected a clear victory for their candidate, Sargsian,
Ter-Petrosian’s unexpected return to politics places the possibility
of any landslide victory in doubt.

In mid-September, the situation was quite different. The RPA had won
an overwhelming victory in the May 12 general elections and expected
no difficulties in winning the presidency in 2008. Prime Minister
Sargsian’s chances appeared solid, given his growing "administrative
resources" – more than 60% of the country’s community heads are now
RPA members. On September 21, however, after nine years of complete
silence, Levon Ter-Petrosian gave a public speech and on October 26
he officially announced his decision to enter the presidential race.

Ter-Petrosian, 62, led Armenia from 1990 to 1998 when he left the
post of President of the Republic three years before the end of his
second term. As president, he saw Armenia through independence, early
state-building efforts and a period of sharp economic decline caused by
the breakdown of the USSR. Armenia’s separation pains were aggravated
by the war over Nagorno-Karabakh and difficulties with Azerbaijan
and Turkey. The tough years following independence left a strong
mark in Armenia’s collective memory, and, by the end of his tenure,
Ter-Petrosian had largely lost his huge popularity of the early 1990s.

At first glance, Ter-Petrosian’s return should not have created
serious concerns for the current authorities. The RPA’s control of
the country has been marked by the successes of strong economic growth
and improvements in living conditions for the population.

Nevertheless, Armenia’s top leaders have displayed signs of
nervousness. Why?

A serious political adversary?

When Ter-Petrosian declared his intention to run for the presidency
in front of a crowd of 20,000, he leveled many of the most common
accusations against the current administration, namely high levels
of corruption and economic monopolies protected by and exploited by
top officials. However, the authorities are much more nervous about
the former president’s statements than those of any of the other
candidates. Despite efforts to present Ter-Petrosian as one of many
opposition candidates, RPA supporters appear concerned that the former
President could be a viable rival to Sargsian. Several factors support
this impression.

Ter-Petrosian claims solid political experience and may still be able
to count on a solid reputation both domestically and abroad. His
nine-year absence from political life seems to some extent to have
absolved him of the negative impressions previously associated with
his rule. His years of silence may also be an advantage over other
opposition candidates who have suffered a series of defeats against
President Robert Kocharian and the RPA, damaging their popularity. As
a result, statements by Ter-Petrosian about his former subordinates,
Robert Kocharian (Prime Minister 1997-1998) and Serge Sargsian (Defense
Minister and Minister of National Security 1993-1998) carry more clout.

Many observers say Ter-Petrosian’s strongest weapon is his eloquence.

The rich literary language he uses gives him some advantages over
other politicians and is one factor which has helped him maintain
the attention of audiences as large as 30,000 during public speeches
lasting more than an hour and a half.

Ter-Petrosian’s advantages are counterbalanced by poor media
coverage of his campaign, which is attributable to pressure from
the authorities. Most TV stations cover only rudimentary events in
Ter-Petrosian’s campaign, including high-level meetings with the
Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly President Terry Davis
or a special reception with EU ambassadors at the French Embassy
in Yerevan. The media covers other politicians as well, including
opposition figures and parties. These opposition politicians use the
media not only to voice criticism of the authorities, a rhetorical
exercise that has become routine and does not harm anyone, but of
Ter-Petrosian as well.

Ironically, these piecemeal media portrayals are sometimes the
population’s principal source on Ter-Petrosian’s statements, opening
the door to possible misrepresentation. For example, Ter-Petrosian said
on October 26 that the Armenian administration currently resembles a
"pyramid of corruption" with Kocharian and Sargsian at the top, and
declared his intention to dismantle that pyramid. In his speech at
the November 10 RPA congress, Sargsian stated that the Ter-Petrosian
intended to dismantle "the pyramid of our statehood".

Campaign issues: Nagorno-Karabakh and fears of a "color revolution"

The Nagorno-Karabakh issue is one of the foci in the political fight
between Ter-Petrosian and Serge Sargsian. Disagreement on this issue
was the cause for Ter-Petrosian’s resignation in 1998. Claiming then
that Armenia would not be able to develop without rapidly settling the
conflict, he called for concessions to Azerbaijan (known at the time
as the step-by-step approach). However, Robert Kocharian’s ten-year
tenure has been marked by impressive economic growth despite continued
poor relations with both Azerbaijan and Turkey, an indication that
Ter-Petrosian’s fears were exaggerated. Nevertheless, the first
president has resurrected his previous line about the necessity to
be more flexible both with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Although he has stated no specific intentions, Ter-Petrosian’s
opponents accuse him of planning to "sell Karabakh."

Another issue of interest is the risk of a "color revolution" such
as those that have followed disagreements over election outcomes
in several former Soviet countries. Ter-Petrosian is well aware of
the dangers of destabilization and appears determined to avoid such
a scenario by adopting a moderate stance. As Armenia came close to a
"color revolution" after the 2003 presidential elections, Ter-Petrosian
has proposed changes to the electoral code to reduce the possibility
of voting fraud. He has declared that, if elected, he would co-operate
with the current parliamentary majority, i.e., the RPA, provided that
it proposes another candidate for the premiership.

He has also shown moderation in his statements by avoiding populist
attacks against "oligarchs", calling instead upon the business
community to support him in his struggle against blackmail by the
authorities.

Although the official nomination period for candidates has just ended
with the official nomination of nine candidates, the pre-election
campaign is already in full swing. Sargsian’s team, essentially the
whole state, the media under its control and many supporting smaller
parties, has started to exert pressure on the opposition. For
example, the tax authorities have targeted businessmen and the
GALA television station in Gyumri which support the newly reemerged
candidate. Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Movement is relatively
weak, with no resources other than the help of several small parties,
a few newspapers and a core staff.

It remains to be seen whether traveling the country and speaking at
crowded rallies will appeal to electors more than the results of the
administrative and PR tools at Sargsian’s disposal. A relatively novel
phenomenon for Armenia is Ter Petrosian’s reliance on the Internet and
the dissemination of his speeches on DVDs. Will Armenian electors be
responsive to Ter-Petrosian’s self-ascribed role as a fighter against
the state’s machinery? The elections of February 19, 2008 will give
the answer.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT NAGORNO-KARABAKH IN JANUARY

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 13 2007

In compliance with the preliminary agreement, OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs will visit the Nagorno-Karabakh region in January.

The press-secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Vladimir
Karpatan reported to the Armenpress that they will pay a visit to
the region in order to disclose the positions of Azerbaijani and
Armenian Presidents of unregulated issues and basic principles of
the Karabakh regulation.

The co-chairs submitted new ways of regulating the issue to both
parties in Madrid on 28 and 29 November. The Azerbaijani and Armenian
Foreign Ministers, Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanan met in Madrid.

JUNIOR EUROVISION – 2007 GOES OFF IN EXCLUSIVELY UNBIASSED CONDITIONS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 12 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The Junior Eurovision – 2007
international song contest went off in exclusively unbiassed
conditions, and it was impossible to change or to falsify any vote
there. Diana Mnatsakanian, the Head of the Foreign Relations Department
of the Public TV and Radio Company, said at the December 12 press
conference. In her words, the Gigame German specialized organization
calculating votes and points accurately registered all votes sent to
country-participants of the contest, then they were sent by fax to
the contest commission.

According to Armen Amirian, the Director of Public Radio, the song
"Dream" of Arevik ensemble "warmed the hearts of Europeans and European
coldness" in the Junior Eurovision – 2007 contest held on December
8 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. According to him, the opinion about
the song had been formed before the contest, as according to studies
of two bookmaking companies, either Armenia or the Ukraine was to
take the first place among 17 countries.

The Director of Public Radio is convinced that in this case Armenia’s
taking the first place was not so significant, as the song received
a warm welcome.

The song "Dream" had become everybody’s favorite song. This time it
gained 12 points for seven times and the Armenian flag waved in the
concert hall for seven times.

A. Amirian surely said that in all following years Armenia will return
from Junior Eurovision with a victory, as the first participation
surpassed all expectations and they have no right to retreat any
longer.

In response to journalists’ question of whether agitation hampered
the children to perform the song, Marianna Javakhian, the author and
performer of the "Dream" answered: "All performers were agitated. The
hall was incredibly crowded, there were Armenian flags everywhere,
it was impossible not to be agitated."

It should be mentioned that the Public TV and Radio Company starts
preparing for the Junior Eurovision – 2008 contest, which will be
held in Cyprus.

INDIAN RUGBY TEAM FOR U-19 ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Earthtimes, UK
Dec 12 2007

Kolkata, Dec 12 – The 24-member Indian rugby team for the seven-day
U-19 Asian Trophy championship to be played in Brunei has been
announced.

Koklata boy Ajmin S. Janirtirkordy will lead the team that sets off
Wednesday evening to Brunei to take part in the championship from
Dec 15-21.

Facing a tough challenge, the team will play against Brunei, Arabian
Gulf and Chinese Taipei for the championship.

‘We have a good preparation. We had camped for the last 20 days and the
boys are looking sharp. They had participated in one such tournament
in Karachi two years back,’ Guneet Grewal, a team official, told IANS.

‘We defeated Pakistan and Kazakistan and then lost to Sri Lanka. But
you see we play it (rugby) here only in pockets. But we hope to give
some competition,’ he said.

The team has undergone thorough preparation under Fijian coach Usaia
Rokonai Binmaiwai, who is said to have coached two senior Fiji rugby
teams for World Cup with reasonable success.

‘We have a good team and hope to do well. We will at least give a
fight,’ he said.

The team, which has a major composition from the Kolkata’s three
Armenian schools, also has a member from Delhi, four from Mumbai and
three from Bangalore.

The 15-a-side tournament will be played in a league-cum-knockout basis.

India play Brunei Dec 15, Arabian Gulf Dec 18 and Chinese Taipei in
their last league encounter Dec 21.

Team:

Arez M. Khoyagani, Ajmin S. Janirtirkordy (captain), S. Vartomiyan,
M. Mirhssian, A. Soureshkhani, A. Gevorgyan, R. Netarwala, R. Sethna,
K. Dagar, A. Simonians, E. Teymourian, V. Tevosyan, N. Nereyeth, D.

Kohli, S. Tudu (vice-captain), R. Balaji, J. Mondal, S. Jamshed, A.

Masihi, M. Sheikh, S. Ghosh, K. Unwala, S. Zaffer and B. Rashoyan.

Coach: U.R. Binmaiwai

Manager: Mukhtar Alam

CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION DECLINED APPLICATION ON ACCREDITING OBSERVERS OF "NATIONAL CENTER OF APPLIED ECONOMICS" NGO

Noyan Tapan
Dec 11, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The Central Electoral Commission
declined the application on accrediting the observers of the "National
Center of Applied Economics" non-governmental organization in the
presidential elections of Armenia to be held on February 19, 2008,
in the December 11 sitting. According to the Commission, the indicated
non-governmental organization does not meet the demand of the Electoral
Code, according to which only those non-governmental organizations,
the charter problems of which include issues concerning democracy
and human rights protection, have the right for conducting monitoring
mission during the elections.

It should be mentioned that this is the second non-governmental
organization, the accreditation application of which has been
declined. Up to now 5458 representatives of 4 non-governmental
organizations, in general, have been accredited as observers in the
Central Electoral Commission.

CYPRUS NOT GOING TO SUPPORT KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.12.2007 16:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Following the expiration of troika’s mediation,
Kosovo’s leaders announced start of consultations for adoption of a
declaration on independence.

Pristina negotiating team spokesman Skender Hiseni promised it will
happen "much earlier than May."

Meanwhile, the EU member states, but for Cyprus, express support to
the breakaway province’s independence.

The Russian Foreign Ministry keeps on convincing that such a decision
will cause a chain reaction in Balkans. "Kosovo’s independence will
not pass without consequences," RF FM Sergei Lavrov said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband offered to expand NATO contingent
in Kosovo to neutralize any violence outburst, Komsomolskaya Pravda
reports.

Montreal Gazette, Quebec
Dec 8 2007

An honest portrait of Karsh
Ottawa photographer focused on history-makers

LOUISE ABBOTT, Freelance

Years ago, a friend gave me a second-hand copy of Portraits of
Greatness, a 1959 coffee-table book by renowned Canadian photographer
Yousuf Karsh. The portraits featured the likes of artist Georgia
O’Keeffe, composer Igor Stravinsky, writer Ernest Hemingway,
physicist Niels Bohr and Queen Elizabeth II.

The accompanying anecdotes described each sitting – how, for
instance, Karsh had plucked a cigar out of Winston Churchill’s mouth
and thus caught the defiant expression that characterized the British
prime minister during the Second World War.

I found much in Karsh’s black-and-white photos to be admired,
including his Rembrandtesque mastery of chiaroscuro. Nonetheless, I
preferred more natural environmental portraits to the formally posed
images that the Ottawa-based photographer produced with a
large-format camera and dramatic artificial lighting.

In the intervening years, I have seen more of Karsh’s work in print
and in exhibition, and I have remained ambivalent about it. Reading
Portrait in Light and Shadow: The Life of Yousuf Karsh did not change
my opinion, but it did deepen my understanding of the man behind the
camera and the era that shaped his photography – an era in which,
author Maria Tippett notes, "the public was hungry for visual images
of its heroes."

When Tippett proposed a biography in 1998, Karsh was uninterested in
cooperating, "convinced that he had already told his story in his
many autobiographical writings." After his death in 2002, however,
the cultural historian was granted full access to his archives;
interviews with family members, friends, and former employees; and
permission to reproduce images by and of Karsh. She spent four years
researching and writing her manuscript.

Of necessity, her narrative begins slowly. Karsh was born in Turkish
Armenia in 1908, and to understand him means understanding his roots
and the atrocities that befell Armenians during his childhood.

Members of Karsh’s extended family became part of the Armenian
Diaspora, and that was how Karsh ended up at 15 in Sherbrooke under
the tutelage of his uncle, George Nakash, a portrait photographer.

Karsh had originally hoped to study medicine, but once he opted for
photography, he pursued it single-mindedly. At 19, he began an
apprenticeship with Boston portraitist John Garo, who taught him more
about the art of photography and about "the necessity of being well
attired and well educated in order to win the respect and inspire the
complicity of his subject." Karsh "came to share the belief that the
face could express the soul (and) … that it was the achievers in
society who, more than anyone else, possessed an innate goodness,
which the photographer could expose by illuminating the soul."

Karsh read voraciously, improved his spoken English, and socialized
with Garo’s artist friends. In 1931, he moved to Ottawa to establish
his own studio; the Canadian capital, he reasoned, "would attract the
most interesting people." His first choice had been Washington, but
"the (American) immigration quota for Armenians was nil."

With the assistance of Solange Gauthier, his first wife and business
manager, as well as the patronage of Canadian government officials,
Karsh rose to international fame in a remarkably short number of
years. He did so by working relentlessly (and demanding equally long
hours of his staff), seeking out and fastidiously researching famous
"achievers," and then using "old-world charm" and "gentle bullying"
to photograph them. In time, celebrities sought him out, eager to be
"Karshed."

Tippett chronicles Karsh’s more than 60-year career thoroughly. She
highlights the portrait commissions for media and corporate clients
that took him and his cumbersome equipment around the world and made
him a wealthy man. She incorporates accounts of his lesser-known
journalistic work, too.

In tracing Karsh’s life, Tippett has created an honest portrait. She
doesn’t shy away from revealing the often contradictory facets of
Karsh’s character: "When he spoke, he mixed courtesy and flattery
with scorn and boastfulness. He exuded an air of prosperity yet also
of insecurity."

She also acknowledges the art establishment’s mixed reactions to
Karsh’s work, citing those who praised his portraiture as beautiful
and compassionate, and those who dismissed it as fuddy-duddy hero
worship.

Although Karsh was sometimes offended by criticism, he knew that his
portraits would live on. They are, after all, a roll call of
history-makers – they include every U.S. president from Herbert
Hoover to Bill Clinton. "Karsh frequently compared himself to an
historian," Tippett concludes, "and this, ultimately, is what he was.
He recorded faces and gestures for posterity as much as for
publication in the press."

Louise Abbott is a writer-photographer in the Eastern Townships. Her
latest book, The Heart of the Farm, will be published by
Price-Patterson in 2008.

PORTRAIT IN LIGHT AND SHADOW: THE LIFE OF YOUSUF KARSH

By Maria Tippett

House of Anansi Press,

427 pages, $39.95

PanARMENIAN.Net

OSCE MG proposed balanced and compromise package
07.12.2007 18:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `We are working on the process of
the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The
elections will be held, but we do not link it with the
ongoing talks. OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will again
visit the region either in January or in February and
we will continue negotiations. Of course, the main
attention will be focused on the elections which will
impede the settlement someway. But the negotiations
will continue,’ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian said.

`When asked whether shift in the Armenian government
may affect the republic’s position, he said, `I hope
it will not happen. That’s why the co-chairs want
everybody in Armenia and all over the world to know
the core principles in the document. Everybody should
understand that no matter who will win the
presidential elections in Armenia, the country will
maintain its position on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. This document is balanced and durable to
compromise. We should be sure that irrespective of the
results of presidential elections in Azerbaijan and
Armenia, position on Nagorno Karabakh conflict will
not change,’ the Armenian Minister said in interview
with APA.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Russian gas delivery to Armenia to be suspended December 8-11
07.12.2007 18:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Due to repair works at the North
Caucasus-Transcaucasia delivery of Russian gas to Armenia will be
suspended December 8-11. Uninterrupted gas supply of consumers will be
maintained from the Abovyan underground reservoir, which is one of the
main facilities of the Armenian gas system, Novosti Armenia reports.