Author: Kafian Jirair

ARMENIAN PM STATED THAT REALIZATION OF EXIT POLLS "WILL ALLOW AVOIDING INAPPROPRIATE SPECULATIONS AFTER PUBLICIZING ELECTION RESULTS"

Mediamax
December 5, 2007

Yerevan /Mediamax/. U.S. International Republican Institute (IRI)
will be realizing surveys of Armenian electors at the exit from the
polling stations (exit polls) during the presidential elections of
February 19 of 2008.

Mediamax reports referring the press service of the government,
U.S. Charge D’Affaires Joseph Pennington made the proposal on
realization of exit polls by IRI on December 4 during the meeting
with the Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

Armenian Prime Minister welcomed the proposal of the U.S. diplomat,
noting that the realization of exit polls is a good way to find out the
preferences of the electors and it will allow avoiding inappropriate
speculations after publicizing election results".

"If the International Republican Institute did not forward the given
initiative, we would invite a specialized organization for holding
exit polls on the elections day", Serzh Sarkisian noted.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: ARMENIAN PEOPLE CLEVER AND PRAGMATIC AND WILL NOT FOLLOW ARM-WEAVERS AND ADVENTURERS

arminfo
2007-12-06 12:09:00

ArmInfo. Armenian people is clever and pragmatic and will not follow
arm-weavers and adventurers, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
answers the questions of Golos-Armenii readers.

He says the years 2003 and 2007 did not affect the economic growth
rates in the country. The reason is clear i.e. the results of the
elections were predictable. Business circles were aware that economic
policy of the government would be continued and they would be able
to keep growing their production. All the economic indicators
show a similar situation now before the upcoming presidential
election. Moreover, the new Constitution settled the issue of power
in Armenia. Parliamentary majority forms the government and all the
economic issues are within its competence. Here is a fight for the
presidential post and not for power. If the leader of the parliamentary
majority gains victory there will be a strong president in Armenia able
to adopt decisions and be responsible for them. If anyone else gains
victory in the election, the country will get a president having the
status of the British Queen. Under the Constitution, the executive
power in the country belongs to the government. There is no doubt
in the ability of the state administration to work effectively. ‘We
have a full-fledged system of civil service and its activity does
not depend on the pre- election passions. As regards revolutions,
parliamentary elections have already answered to this question
i.e. all the potential revolutionaries are political bankrupts’,
the President of Armenia says.

Kommersant, Russia
Dec 6 2007

The Predecessor Operation

// Armenia’s first president wants to become the third one
Thursday is the deadline for Armenian presidential candidates to file
documents to confirm their nomination ahead of the February 19
election. But the campaign is already on in this country. The
election is most likely to turn into a battle between Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisyan and Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
Kommersant’s Vladimir Solovyev goes to Yerevan to meet the two
candidates and evaluate their political potential.
Candidates Ready

The last stage of the presidential race is finishing in Armenia on
Thursday. The country’s Central Election Commission will stop
receiving documents from presidential candidates at 6 o’clock in the
evening. After that the election authority will start registration.
All candidates are going to be endorsed by January 20 next year when
the election campaign will officially start.

Six would-be presidential candidates have filed applications with the
commission by Wednesday. They are chairman of the National Democratic
Union Vazgen Manukyan, one of the leaders of the Dashnaktsutyun
Armenian Revolution Federation Vagan Ovannisyan, the People’s Party
leader Tigran Karapetyan, the National Unity party leader Artashes
Gegamyan, Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan and incumbent
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan.

The campaign is already in full swing even though the official start
will be announced a month and a half later. Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisyan and former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan are the most
potent candidates, according to Armenian analysts. `If the election
is held tomorrow, Ter-Petrosyan is going to have much more chance to
win than Sarkisyan,’ Alexander Iskanderyan, direction of the Caucasus
Media Institute, told Kommersant. `But the election is on February
19, not tomorrow, so everything may change.’

Messrs. Ter-Petrosyan and Sarkisyan realize that it will come down to
a political duel, and they are now active gathering their existing
resources.

Kocharyan’s Plan

Armenian authorities started forging Serzh Sarkisyan’s victory at the
start of the year. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, who is
stepping down in February, made it clear that he would not breach the
Constitution and look for ways to stay in power for the third term.
He also said that he was not going to hand over to a random person
and named former Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan to be his
successor. Like the outgoing president Mr. Sarkisyan comes from the
restive region of Nagorno Karabakh. Following the sudden death of
previous Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan in March Mr. Sarkisyan
left the post of the defense minister to take over the government. He
also became the leader of the country’s ruling Republican party. The
Republicans then won a sweeping victory, and Mr. Kocharyan publicly
named the prime minister as the would-be president.

No one had any doubt that Serzh Sarkisyan is able to occupy the
presidential seat easily until former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan
mentioned his presidential ambitions in October. Mr. Ter-Petrosyan
has not been out policies since February 1998 when she had to step
down in a row with then Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan and Interior
Minister Serzh Sarkisyan over the Nagorno Karabakh peace settlement
plan. Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s time in office is described in print
media and on television as `the disastrous 90s’ that the country must
not go back to. The Voice of Armenia newspaper has come the greatest
lengths in denouncing plans of the former president. When the former
Armenian leader called on international organizations and foreign
embassies to help insure a fair vote the publication called his a
`supergrass’ who wants to `cast a shadow on the upcoming election’.

Meanwhile, those businessmen who threw their support behind Mr.
Ter-Petrosayn were raided by tax authorities. Khachatur Sukisyan, one
of the country’s richest men, was the first one. Afterwards, the tax
agency visited the office of regional TV station Gala in the city of
Gyumri. A few days after the TV channel had televised the former
president’s speech the company received with tax claims of 26 million
drams (around $85,000). Gyumri’s city hall, meanwhile, demanded that
the company’s broadcast equipment be taken down from the city TV
tower.

Serzh Sarkisyan, however, says that he does not consider
Ter-Petrosyan to be a strong rival. `You know, he’s not acting
against me,’ the prime minister told Kommersant. `He may think that
he’s against me, but I think he is doing it for himself. I have no
bad feeling towards him.’ Asked for the reason for a sweeping
anti-Ter-Petrosyan campaign in Armenian media Mr. Sarkisyan said: `I
would not like to discuss the election with Russian media. It’s our
domestic issue, and we shouldn’t make a problem out of it. We’ll
manage on our own. You are not informed enough and say incorrect
things.’

Ter-Petrosyan’s Game

With no media or administrative resources at his disposal Levon
Ter-Petrosyan has adopted the tactic of street campaigning. He held
consultations with Armenian opposition attracting some 20 parties and
movements to his side. They include well-known politicians such as
the Armenia People’s Party leader Stepan Demirchyan, son of the
parliament’s speaker Karen Demirchyan who was killed in a terrorist
attack in the parliament in October 1999, and the Democratic Party
leader Aram Sarkisyan, brother of another 1999 terrorist attack
victim, the late Vazgen Sarkisyan.

The former president and his allies have settled on Freedom Square in
downtown Yerevan before the Opera Theater. Two opposition rallies
took place there in October and November drawing 15,000 to 25,000
people, according to different estimates. All the demonstrations
ended with Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s blistering criticism of incumbent
authorities. Another rally in the Armenian capital is slated for
December 8 when the candidate promised he would unveil his election
program which has so far been kept in secret.

The ex-president’s allies say they have given him their support out
of moral reasons and have claims for any positions in the government
should Mr. Ter-Petrosyan wins the election. `We don’t need any
posts,’ Ararat Zurabyan, leader of the Armenian National Movement
party, told Kommersant. `We want to give a future to this country. We
need to balance our foreign policy. We’re always either pro-West or
Russia’s stronghold.’

Apparently, foreign policy will be a burning issue on the election
trail as the country has been living in the blockade since it gained
independence. Borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are locked and the
country’s only link to the outside world is the railroad through
Georgia and the country’s only airline company Armavia.

Mr. Zurabyan is sure that the situation can get right only with the
help of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Stepan Demirchyan feels the same way. He
told Kommersant that he is supporting the former president because no
one else can beat the ruling duo Kocharyan-Sarkisyan.

However, opposition leaders may have rallied together behind the
first president for yet another reason. Robert Kocharyan said that he
would not breach the Constitution to stay for another term but he was
not going to become a `young pensioner’ either. The statement left
everyone guessing in what capacity he may stay in politics. Mr.
Kocharyan’s close ally, Parliament Speaker Tirgran Torosyan,
mentioned briefly in October that the president may become the prime
minister. The statement caused a quite a debate. All the more, Robert
Kocharyan pushed through a Constitution referendum in 2005 which the
majority voted to cut the president’s powers to give more the prime
minister. Opposition cannot be happy about the idea of Messrs.
Sarkisyan and Kocharyan swapping places since the combination can be
repeated again and again.

Vladimir Solovyev

OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF RUSSIA’S CITIZENS LIVING IN ARMENIA VOTE FOR "UNITED RUSSIA"

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 4 2007

YEREVAN, December 4. /ARKA/. The overwhelming majority of Russia’s
citizens living in Armenia voted for the Party "United Russia" during
the elections to the State Duma of Russia’s Federation of the 5th
convocation, held on December 2.

The press service of Russia’s Embassy in Armenia told ARKA that the
number of voters that voted in 10 electoral districts formed in the
territory of Armenia totaled 6693 people.

"United Russia" gained 5666 votes, "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia"
ranked the second by the number of votes – 483, "Communist Party of
Russian Federation" was the third with 225 votes.

The rest of the votes were distributed as follows: "Fair Russia:
homeland, pensioners, life" – 92, "Russia’s patriots" – 48, Russia’s
United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Apple) – 37, "Civil power" – 33,
"Russia’s Agrarian Party" – 27, "Union of right forces" – 21, "Party
of social justice" – 11, "Democratic Party of Russia" – 4.

"The voting was held rather dynamically on a high organizational level
and quiet atmosphere. High activity of Russia’s citizens living in
the Republic of Armenia, especially youth, was recorded. As a whole,
Russian people demonstrated interest in their country’s fate, its
further development and prosperity," runs the Embassy’s message.

According to the data of the Russian election committee, after the
calculation of 98% of votes, "United Russia" had 64.1% of votes,
"Communist Party of Russian Federation" – 64.1%, "Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia" – 8.2%, "Fair Russia" – 7.8%. These four parties
enter the State Duma, as only they overcame the 7-percent barrier.

ARTASHES GEGHAMIAN AGREED WITH THE ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER UPON THE NECESSITY TO PRESERVE STABILITY IN THE COUNTRY

Mediamax
November 27, 2007

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The political council of "National Unification"
party made a unanimous decision today on nominating Atrashes Geghamian
for the position of the Armenian President.

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
Artashes Geghamian stated that ""National Unification" party plans to
protect the Armenian people from collision of the former and present
authorities".

Geghamian noted that during the consultations of the oppositional
leaders, Ex-President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian demonstrated
"excessive ambitiousness" and made a decision on the start of his
pre-election campaign. Commenting on the proposal of the Ex-President
to unite the efforts against the present authorities, Artashes
Geghamian stated that he has not undergone "amnesia and remembers the
not so remote 90s". He urged the Ex-President "not use plagiarism,
not to present the ides of "National Unification" party to the society
as his own ideas and behave correctly concerning the personality of
Artashes Geghamian".

Commenting on the media reports, Artashes Geghamian stated that he
really met with the Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, and
during the meeting, they agreed upon taking up maximum efforts to
preserve the stability in the country.

HOW TO EASE THE BURDEN OF THE EUROPEAN COURT?

Panorama.am
15:30 27/11/2007

The participants of a conference on cooperation among human rights
ombudsman, CoE human rights supreme commissioner and the European
Court on Human Rights were discussing one topic today – how to solve
as many problems as possible within the national institutes and ease
the burden of the European Court.

Armenian ombudsman Armen Harutunyan recently participated in a
conference of ombudsmen in Strasbourg and the topic emerged from
that conference.

The participants said the topic is urgent for the whole region in
general. According to the ombudsman almost of post-soviet countries
face the same situation. "But this must not be calming for us,"
he said.

"Cases that you would never think about in France and Norway take
place in Armenia," he said also saying the defeat of a state in the
European Court is damage for us because the country has to pay fines
from the state budget. If today that money is only $3000 there is a
tendency to raise it up to $30,000, he said.

Armen Harutunyan says in case an atmosphere of trust towards state
institutions is not developed, there can be no word about real
democracy. According to him, the letter and the spirit of our laws
are contradicting each other.

The suggestions and ideas of the conference will be developed and
submitted to the CoE Human Rights Supreme Commissioner.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MET WITH THE HEAD OF THE CRIMINAL-EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF RA MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

armradio.am
28.11.2007 15:36

President Robert Kocharyan had a working meeting with the Head of
the Criminal-Executive Department of RA Ministry of Justice Ashot
Martirosyan, President’s Press Office informs.

The parties discussed issues related to the works done in the direction
of reconstruction of criminal-executive establishments, construction
of new ones, improvement of living conditions of the arrestees.

Ashot Martirosyan presented the process of implementation of the
President’s instructions in the sphere and the future deeds.

AMOUNT OF TAXES PAID BY "SAS" SUPERMARKET NETWORK DOUBLES IN FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF 2007 AS COMPARED WITH SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Nov 28 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. In the first eight months of 2007,
the network of "SAS" supermarkets paid taxes of 43 million 966.3
thousand drams, while the amount of taxes paid to the state budget in
the same period of last year made 19 million 461.5 thousand drams. NT
correspondent was informed from the RA State Tax Service that in
the last two months, taxes paid by "SAS" amounted to 14 million 850
thousand drams against taxes of 5 million 655 thousand drams in the
same period of 2006.

According to the same source, the revenues of this organization in
the last two months made 324 million 211 thousand drams against 50
million 454.1 thousand drams in September-October 2006.

The Cafesjian Family Foundation, Inc.
15 South Fifth Street, Suite 900
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Contact: John Waters
Tel. (612) 359-8991
Fax (612) 359-8994
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
November 27, 2007

New motion filed in lawsuit against Hirair Hovnanian and
others over Genocide Museum

CFF seeks to protect AGMM from irreparable harm and lost opportunity

Minneapolis, MN, Nov. 27, 2007 ` The Cafesjian Family Foundation
(CFF), on behalf of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial,
Inc. (AGMM), filed a motion today in an ongoing lawsuit in the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia. The court is being
asked to enjoin the Armenian Assembly of America, Inc. (Assembly), and
AGMM rogue trustees Hirair Hovnanian, Van Krikorian and Anoush
Mathevosian from attempting to develop the AGMM in contravention of
the organization’s charter documents and the agreements that made the
undertaking possible in the first place.

`By this action, CFF seeks to protect AGMM from irreparable harm,’
said CFF Vice President and CFF-designated AGMM trustee John
Waters. `On November 3, 2007, the Assembly announced plans to develop
a museum on part of a site owned by the AGMM. It was a baffling
announcement, since the Assembly neither owns nor controls AGMM. The
Assembly-announced plan would diminish the project by confining the
development to a renovated bank building. According to an attorney
representing the Assembly, the rogue trustees apparently intended to
pay for the bank building renovation by selling off the adjoining
properties in disregard of fiduciary and contractual duties. The
injunction would enforce those obligations.’

`The AGMM should have a commanding presence,’ said CFF Founder and
President Gerard Cafesjian. `We realized early on that a renovated
bank building would simply not do justice to the institution that the
community deserves and that the tragedy suffered by the Armenian
people warrants. We worked hard to acquire additional property so that
this project could be done right.’

Unfortunately the other trustees have blocked nearly every plan that
has been proposed. Assembly obdurance ultimately brought AGMM
development to a standstill.

Realizing that personality clashes were deadlocking AGMM governance,
Mr. Cafesjian resigned his position as Chair of the Board of Trustees
in September 2003 in hopes that the project could be
revived. Mr. Cafesjian removed himself >From the board in order that
AGMM Trustees could move the project forward without the distraction
of Cafesjian’s presence.

Unfortunately, Mr. Cafesjian’s gesture did not produce the desired
result. Rather than committing to an appropriate project, the
dissident trustees lashed out at Mr. Cafesjian. At a meeting from
which the Cafesjian representative was virtually expelled, the
remaining trustees highjacked the project by delegating all board
responsibility regarding AGMM development to a committee that is
answerable to no one. Thereafter, a seven-year-old study, which had
previously been rejected, was passed off at the L.A. Assembly gala as
the new vision for AGMM. The rump group apparently intends to proceed
with this plan while excluding CFF from participation in the
development.

`Mr. Cafesjian has proposed a strong vision for AGMM,’ said
Mr. Waters. `And he has contributed property, money and other
significant resources to move that vision forward. Other trustees,
apparently led by Mr. Hovnanian, oppose a bold vision. If they get
their way, the real estate would be dismantled, and over half the site
that we worked so hard to assemble would be sold, depriving the
community of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have the benefit of a
truly remarkable project.

`Mr. Cafesjian and the Cafesjian Family Foundation are unwilling to
stand by and let the AGMM’s dream be downsized and the assets
squandered,’ said Mr. Waters. `On behalf of those that have
sacrificed so much, the Cafesjian Family Foundation will continue to
fight for a proper development to commemorate the Armenian people and
their suffering.’

"DJUGHA" DOCUMENTARY CIRCULATED IN U.S. CONGRESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.11.2007 14:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Djugha" documentary about demolition of the ancient
Armenian cemetery in Old Djugha (Nakhichevan) was circulated in the
U.S. Congress. Expert in Armenian architecture Samvel Karapetian
told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that 2000 copies of the film were
distributed by the Organization of Armenian Architecture Studies in
the Congress and Los Angeles basing NGOs.

Mr Karapetian informed that copies of the documentary will be shown
in Armenian, Russian, English, French and Turkish in 2008. "The
documentary made a deep impression. After the Strasbourg screening
some MEPs condemned Azerbaijan’s barbarian policy," he said.

The Organization also plans to shoot series of documentaries about
demolition of Armenian historical monuments in present-day Turkey
and Azerbaijan.