Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIA TERMINATES FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF ARMENIAN NPP BY INTER RAO

Interfax
March 1 2012
Russia

The Armenian government has decided on an early termination of the
agreement with Russian energy company Inter RAO UES to financially
manage state-owned CJSC Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), an Interfax
correspondent reported from the government meeting.

In November of last year, Inter RAO announced its intention to
terminate the agreement to financially manage the Armenian NPP ahead
of schedule. According to an Inter RAO source, at that time Russia
and Armenia were holding negotiations related to such a termination.

The agreement, finalized in November 2003, was set to last five years,
but it was later extended to September 2013. The document stipulates
that Inter RAO will ensure that the NPP operates safely and without
interruptions, as well as supply fresh nuclear fuel for the refueling
station.

Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan
previously said that Inter RAO would no longer manage the Armenian
NPP’s finances starting on January 1 of this year, since its services
are no longer needed and since the authorities are in the position
to manage the NPP on their own.

“When the NPP accumulated $40-$50 million in debt for nuclear fuel
supplies in 2003, Inter RAO helped to pay it off and ensured an
uninterrupted supply of fuel. The Armenian NPP has been financially
stable for the past few years and is in the position to pay for
a fresh batch of nuclear fuel. This is why there is no need for a
managing company,” Movsisyan said.

The NPP has two VVER-440 reactors with capacity of 815 MW. The first
reactor was launched in 1976 and the second in 1980. The plant was
shut down in early 1989 for political reasons, and in 1995 the second
reactor with 404 MW capacity was restarted. The Armenian NPP accounts
for around 40% of the electricity produced in the country.

According to data from the Control Chamber of Armenia, the NPP posted
net profit of 966.123 million dram in 2010, compared to 529.28 million
dram in 2009. Its charter capital comes to 9.464 billion dram. The
NPP employs 11,744 people.

The official exchange rate on March 1 was 388.75 dram/$1.

IRAN TO SUPPLY ARMENIA WITH GASOLINE, OIL PRODUCTS

On Line: 28 February 2012 15:17
In Print: Wednesday 29 February 2012

Iranian and Armenian oil ministers will ink an agreement on Wednesday
based on which Iran will export gasoline and oil product to the
Central Asian neighbor.

According to the agreement, Iran will supply Armenia with Gasoline,
Gas oil, kerosene, and jet fuel, Mehr news agency reported.

Iran’s gasoline and gas oil production capacities are currently around
50 million liters and 100 million liters per day respectively.

Iran is now exporting gasoline and diesel fuel to neighboring
countries, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining
and Distribution Company has said.

NIORDC Managing Director Alireza Zeighami said that Iraq, Armenia,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan are now importing or have called for the
importation of gasoline and diesel fuel from Iran.

ARAM I REFUSES TO GIVE INTERVIEW TO TURKISH TV CHANNEL

PanARMENIAN.Net

Aram I refuses to give interview to Turkish TV channel March 2, 2012
– 18:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Communication Department of the Catholicosate
turned down an invitation addressed to His Holiness Aram I for a live
interview on a Turkish satellite TV channel.

In the letter of invitation, the “Armenian issue” appears among
the topics to be discussed. Referring to the offer of an interview,
the Communication Department reminds that “for the Armenians there
is no so-called “Armenian issue”. The Armenian Genocide is a fact of
history and as such it is not a subject for discussion, negotiation
or dialogue. Turkey must accept the genocide committed against the
Armenian people in 1915 by its forefathers”.

The letter of the Communication Department also emphasizes the vital
importance of reparation: “You should know that thousands of churches,
monasteries, religious sites, cultural and social institutions,
hospitals, community center (not to mention hundred thousands of
individual properties and movable and immovable properties) have been
confiscated by the Turkish government. The return of these properties
to their rightful owners is the legitimate right of the Armenian
people”. In conclusion the letter states: “Ignoring the rights of the
Armenian people and reacting aggressively to initiatives in support of
justice and human rights do not help to create rapprochement between
our nations”.

RUSSIAN BASE SOLDIERS HOLD MANEUVERS IN ARMENIAN HIGHLANDS

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 2, 2012 – 19:41 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – About 1 thousand soldiers of the Russian military
base in Armenia participated in command-and-staff exercises held in
highlands, over two thousand meters above the sea level, official
representative of the Southern Military District said.

“About one thousand servicemen, 200 weapons and military equipment
of the Russian military base were involved in command-and-staff
exercises,” Colonel Igor Gorbulya said.

“The concluding stage of the exercises were conducted in Alagyaz
firing ground in Armenia’s Aragatsotn Province. Deputy Commander of
Southern Military District, General-Major Andrey Kartapolov monitored
the maneuvers,” Gorbulya said.

IRANIAN RELIGIOUS MINORITIES TO SEND 14 REPRESENTATIVES TO 9TH MAJLIS

ABNA.com

Ahlul Bayt News Agency, Iran
March 2 2012

Iranian religious minorities will send 14 representatives to the next
parliament, an elections headquarters official said here Friday.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Hassanali Nouri said according to the
Iranian Constitution, religious minorities enjoy all public rights
given to other members of the society.

He also noted that Zoroastrians, Jews, Armenians both in south
and north of the country, Assyrians and Caledonians each have one
representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis).

The religious minorities will cast their votes in ballot boxes
specially designated to them simultaneous with other Iranians, the
official added.

Over 48 million Iranians are eligible to vote in 46,924 polling
stations nationwide for the 9th parliamentary election which started
at eight o’clock local time.

In the two provinces of Khorassan Razavi and Kurdestan, people will
also cast votes for by-elections for the fourth round of the Experts
Assembly.

AZERBAIJAN DOES NOT TAKE ITS COMMITMENTS SERIOUSLY, ARMENIAN FM TELLS MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS

armradio.am
02.03.2012 17:08

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs, Ropbert Bradtke, Igor Popov and Jacques Faure, and
the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk.

During the meeting the interlocutors continued the discussions on
the resolution of the Karabakh issue. They referred to the ways of
implementation of the joint statement of the Presidents of Armenia,
Russia and Azerbaijan issued in Sochi on January 23.

Minister Nalbandian called the attention of the Co-Chairs to the
fact that in the recent period Baku has been making statements that
contradict the agreements reached in Sochi. “This comes to prove
that Azerbaijan does not take its commitments seriously,” Edward
Nalbandian stated.

WITH FRANCE OUT OF THE WAY, TURKEY CAN DEAL WITH IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
By Zvi Bar’el

Ha’aretz

March 2 2012
Israel

Israel, Turkey can take a lesson from the way Paris and Ankara returned
to normal after a French attempt to make the denial of the Armenian
genocide illegal threatened the longtime relationship.

After the storm of the “Armenian genocide bill” rattled Turkish-French
ties to the point of crisis, both nations could breathe a sigh of
relief on Wednesday. France’s Constitutional Council struck down the
bill, saying that it was ran counter to the country’s constitution,
to 1789’s the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and 1879’s Act of
the Freedom of the Press. The Constitutional Council did so, in the
words of the eminent pundit Mehmet Ali Birand, to prove that “France
is France,” and mainly to take France off the tree Turkey placed it on.

The aforementioned bill aimed to sentence anyone who denied the
Armenian genocide to up to one year in prison, along with a fine of
45,000 Euros. When it was passed both in the House of Representatives
and the Senate, Turkey saw red. It sanctioned French warships and jets
that wished to use its ports and airports, chilled its diplomatic
relations with France, and it seemed that the two countries were
headed on a full-on collision course.

“France is restricting free speech,” Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip
Recep Erdogan said, while the mayor of Ankara swore to change the
name of the capital’s Paris St. to “Algeria St.,” to commemorate
the Algerians who were killed during the French occupation of their
country.

But both countries saw that the tree they climbed on was too high,
to the point that it threatened not only both economies, but their
essential strategic relationship. On both sides, a lobbying campaign
ensued, advanced by industrial groups to remove the threat of boycott,
lower the critical tone and return to normal.

The bill, then, was taken down, and even though French President
Nikola Sarkozy promised his country’s largest Armenian community –
the votes of whom he’ll need in the coming elections – that he will
draft a new law, it is nonetheless clear that the affair is over.

France and Turkey came to understand what Israel and Turkey should
have understood long ago: even prestige and honor can be reconciled
if you don’t argue yourself into a dead end. However, the end of the
crisis means that Turkey can afford time to its mediating activities,
something it has been engaged in full on. It aspires to host talks on
Iran’s nuclear program in April, and for that it needs Iranian consent
and that of the five permanent United Nations Security Council members
along with Germany.

In principle, Iran has already voiced its approval to hold a dialogue
with the West in Istanbul, but the Western nations first want to
find out what is it that they’ll be discussing. For that reason,
Erdogan invited himself to a Tehran visit during the last week of
March in order to reach the kind of agreements that would make the
dialogue possible. According to Turkish sources, Erdogan will tell
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that time is of the essence for
“we understand that the Israeli Spring is coming, and with it the
possibility of an attack on Iran.”

But even before the meeting in Tehran, Turkey will have an opportunity
to exchange ideas with Iran when the foreign ministers of Turkey,
Iran, and Azerbaijan will meet next Wednesday in what is being defined
a routine meeting geared at “promoting regional peace and security.”

It will also serve as another opportunity for Iran to scold Azerbaijan
for its $1.6 billion arms deal with Israel. Following that transaction,
the Azeri envoy in Tehran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry,
where explanations were demanded and warnings were issued against the
possibility that the next door neighbor would serve as a “terror base
against Iran.”

The Azeri envoy explained that the deal was not meant to threaten any
state but “to liberate Azerbaijan’s occupied territory,” referring
to Nagorno-Karabakh, which was taken by Armenia during their war in
the 1990s. In that way, an occupying country aides an occupied one,
earning quite a bit of cash along the way.

RUMOR OR REALITY?: SPECULATIONS PREDICT RETURN OF SUKIASYAN TO PARLIAMENT RACE
Khachatur Sukiasyan

Politics | 02.03.12 | 12:09

With speculation of every sort flying ahead of the May 6 parliamentary
elections, rumors have circulated in Yerevan that former MP Khachatur
“Grzo” Sukiasyan will announce his candidacy.

Sukiasyan fled Armenia in March, 2008, as he was wanted by authorities,
alleged to have been responsible for inciting violence that led to
the 03/01 deaths and mass disturbance. Sukiasyan later returned to
Armenia and turned himself into police, but was released shortly. The
case against him was eventually closed. Sukiasyan was a staunch
supporter of opposition presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and the post-election closure of some of his businesses was seen
by Sukiasyan associates as persecution from the current government
regime. Once a very public figure, the businessman has rarely been
seen in Armenia in the past four years.

According to a report in the oppositional “Hraparak” newspaper, a
spokesperson for Sukiasyan’s SIL Group company said the tycoon will
announce his candidacy upon return from a present business trip to
China. The paper also quoted his brother as confirming Sukiasyan’s
intentions.

ARFD MAY INCLUDE BUSINESSMEN IN PROPORTIONAL LIST

news.am
March 02, 2012 | 14:35

YEREVAN. – Businessmen may appear in the party list or among
single-mandate candidates of parliament opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun,
head of ARFD group Vahan Hovhannisyan said on Friday.

“Anyone can be elected an MP, other thing is that elected businessmen
should quit his business when being in the parliament,” Hovhannisyan
said adding despite the party is against single-mandate districts,
it will not boycott it anyway.

Parliament opposition ARFD and Heritage parties are for the change of
single-mandate districts and for shifting to the 100 % proportional
election system.

NEW SYMBOL OF TURKISH CURRENCY DOES NOT INSPIRE TRUST TO TURKS

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 2, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. After the publication of the new symbol
of Turkish currency different Turkish mass media noticed and registered
its similarity with the Armenian dram’s symbol, Armenpress reports
citing Turkish mass media.

The Turkish dailies register that the similarity of the Turkish lire
with the Armenian dram is obvious. The author of the symbol Tulai
Lale rejected any similarity with the Armenian dram as well as the
allegations that the symbol includes the first letters of the name
of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan.

The symbol of Turkish lire raised a wave of criticism. Turkish
political and art figures criticized the new variant of the symbol
of Turkish currency. Graphic designer Bulent Erkmen stated that the
letters “L” and “T” are not placed correctly in the new symbol. He
and another Turkish designer stated that it has many similarities
with the Armenian dram. The designers say the new symbol “does not
inspire trust”.
Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
From: Mihran Keheyian
Subject: New symbol of Turkish currency does not inspire trust to Turks

New symbol of Turkish currency does not inspire trust to Turks

11:38, 2 March, 2012

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. After the publication of the new symbol
of Turkish currency different Turkish mass media noticed and
registered its similarity with the Armenian dram’s symbol, Armenpress
reports citing Turkish mass media.

The Turkish dailies register that the similarity of the Turkish lire
with the Armenian dram is obvious. The author of the symbol Tulai Lale
rejected any similarity with the Armenian dram as well as the
allegations that the symbol includes the first letters of the name of
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan.

The symbol of Turkish lire raised a wave of criticism. Turkish
political and art figures criticized the new variant of the symbol of
Turkish currency. Graphic designer Bulent Erkmen stated that the
letters “L” and “T” are not placed correctly in the new symbol. He and
another Turkish designer stated that it has many similarities with the
Armenian dram. The designers say the new symbol “does not inspire
trust”.