Author: Kalashian Nyrie

ARMENIAN EX-FOREIGN MINISTER FACES TRIAL OVER UNREST
Mariam Harutunian

Agence France Presse
December 17, 2008 Wednesday

Seven top opposition supporters, including an Armenian ex-foreign
minister, will go on trial on Friday on charges of seeking to overthrow
the government in unrest this year that left 10 dead.

Prosecutors allege that former foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian,
three members of parliament and two other government critics were
seeking to "usurp state power" when they organised mass protests
in February.

Thousands of supporters of former Armenian president Levon
Ter-Petrosian rallied for 11 days to denounce President Serzh
Sarkisian’s victory in elections, before street battles broke out
with riot police.

Two police officers and eight civilians were killed in the clashes
and dozens more were injured, many from gunshot wounds. Ter-Petrossian
had finished second in the vote.

Critics allege that the prosecution is politically motivated and aimed
at stamping out opposition to Sarkisian in the ex-Soviet republic.

"Justice is not being served, we don’t have an independent
judiciary. This is a show trial," said Arzumanian’s American wife
Melissa Brown, who met the former diplomat while he was an ambassador
in Washington.

Arzumanian, Armenia’s foreign minister from 1996 to 1998, was
Ter-Petrosian’s election campaign manager.

The chief investigator in the case, Vahan Harutunian, said the evidence
against the accused was extensive and that prosecutors had interviewed
more than 500 witnesses.

"There is ample evidence to support the case, otherwise it would not
have been sent to court," he said.

"Even if they are politicians, they committed a crime, there is
evidence of that and they are legally responsible. Everyone is equal
before the law."

But lawyer Hovik Arsenian, who represents Arzumanian and two other
defendants, said the evidence against his clients was weak and that
he had no hope of getting an objective hearing.

"This is an imitation of a court case," he said.

"All of the so-called evidence in this case in fact proves the opposite
— the innocence of my clients…. It is obvious that this case has
nothing to do with criminal justice."

The trial will be closely watched abroad as a sign of whether Armenia
is meeting its democratic commitments.

During a visit to Yerevan last month, the Council of Europe’s
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg raised concerns about
"seemingly artificial or politically motivated charges" against
opposition supporters, Armenian news agencies reported.

The Strasbourg-based Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
is due in January to discuss suspending the voting rights of its
Armenian members because of concerns over democracy in the country.

The defendants each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

More than 140 people were arrested following the violence and 52 have
already been tried and received prison sentences of varying lengths.

Armenia — a mountainous country of about three million people
wedged between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey — has seen
repeated political violence and post-election protests since gaining
independence with the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

ARKADY TER-TADEVOSYAN: AZERBAIJAN NEEDS 200,000 SERVICEMEN TO START WAR

Azg
Dec 17 2008
Armenia

According to the Armenian National Statistical Service, the birth rate
in 1990-1992 stood at around 70,000. In 1995 it was 48,000. The annual
birth rate was 37,000 in 2006, and it is growing at a rate of 2,000
each year. According to the Armenian military commissar, about 40,000
boys were born in 1990. Up to 70 per cent of conscription resources
are drafted for the mandatory military service every year. "The other
30 per cent are students, those with health problems and others,"
Armenia’s military commissar Kamo Kochunts says. The Defence Ministry
has calculated that the number of conscripts would be 11,000 in
2016. "We need to maintain today’s number of our army," Kochunts says.

"Fifty thousand troops are serving in the Armenian army today, another
20,000 are serving in the defence army of the Nagornyy Karabakh
republic. The Azerbaijani army has 125,000 servicemen. Azerbaijan
has calculated that they need up to 200,000 troops to start a
war. They can bring their army to 140,000 in the coming years,"
Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, a commander in the Artsakh [Karabakh] war, says.

To prevent the army’s combat capacity downfall due to demographic
reasons, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education and
Science have drafted amendments to three laws – on military service,
on education and on higher education and post-graduate studies. Sedrak
Sedrakyan, head of the Defence Ministry’s legal department, says:
"According to the amendments, all boys, regardless of whether they
are students or not, will have to serve in the Army when reaching
the age of 18."

"The positive effect of these amendments would be short-term. Science
would suffer. The development of sciences requires an uninterrupted
process. We would have a less educated society because not every
young man continues education after being discharged from the army,"
Heritage party faction member Vardan Khachatryan says.

TURKISH ARMY: APOLOGY CAMPAIGN TO ARMENIA INAPPROPRIATE

armradio.am
19.12.2008 15:48

The Turkish army said Friday it does not find appropriate the recent
internet campaign launched to issue a public apology to Armenians,
Hurriyet Daily reported.

"We don’t think this is right. It is wrong and will create harmful
consequences," Brigadier General Metin Gurak told at a briefing.

Around 200 Turkish academics, writers and journalists launched
a website issuing an apology to the Armenians regarding the 1915
incidents and calling for people to sign on in support. The petition
states: "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to
and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians
were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share,
I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and
sisters. I apologize to them."

The efforts of the intellectuals drew fierce reaction in Turkey.

On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he neither
accepts nor supports the campaign. He added the campaign offers no
other benefit than "stirring up trouble, disturbing our peace and
undoing the steps which have been taken".

Turkey’s opposition parties, Republican People’s Party (CHP) and
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have also harshly criticized the
campaign.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday everyone can express their
opinions freely. " The president’s view is that the fact that the
issue is discussed freely in academic and public circles is proof of
the presence of democratic discussion in Turkey," Thursday’s statement
from Gul’s office said.

FENER PATRIARCHATE IS ‘TROJAN HORSE,’ ERENEROL CLAIMS

Today’s Zaman
Dec 19 2008
Turkey

The spokesperson for a group calling itself the Turkish Orthodox
Patriarchate testified yesterday in the trial against Ergenekon, a
clandestine criminal network charged with plotting to overthrow the
government, and claimed that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate based
in Fener is a Trojan horse silently waiting to attack Turkey.

In her defense testimony at the Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court
yesterday in the 28th hearing of the trial, which started in late
October in the Ä°stanbul township of Silivri, Sevgi Erenerol gave
an account of her organization’s history and progress over time. She
said "the Orthodox" at some point chose Trabzon for a meeting place,
claiming that businessman Rahmi Koc and Greek Orthodox Patriarch
Bartholomew also had plans to attend the meeting. However, the two
were not allowed to get out of their helicopters by local nationalists,
she maintained. She claimed that this had caused problems in Trabzon,
saying this incident was the reason behind some of the scandalous
murders in the county over the past few years, including the killing
of an Italian priest in Trabzon and the murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink in Ä°stanbul, perpetrated by an ultranationalist
youth from Trabzon Also in her defense statement Erenerol criticized
a recent campaign by Turkish intellectuals and academics to apologize
to Armenians for the pain caused by their forced deportation from
Turkish lands in 1915. She also claimed that those who were defending
the country against the attempted destruction of Turkey by Fener
Greek Patriarch Bartholomew were put in jail as terrorists under the
Ergenekon trial.

Erenerol thought to be high-level administrator

The prosecution accuses Erenerol of being one of the top administrators
of the Ergenekon terrorist organization. She was arrested on Jan. 26
on charges of founding and being the leader of an armed organization,
inciting people to armed revolt against the government and illegally
recording private information.

The indictment claims that the church where Erenerol is the
spokesperson is a secret meeting place for Ergenekon.

However, in yesterday’s hearing she denied all charges directed
against her, saying she was not a member of the Ergenekon terrorist
organization and that she had no knowledge of such an organization. She
said all nationalists in the country had been turned into targets
after the armed attack on the Council of Sate in 2006, after which
a retired captain was arrested.

Relation to other Ergenekon suspects

She admitted that she knew Ergenekon suspects Oktay Yıldırım and
Muzaffer Tekin but added that she wasn’t close to them. She said she
really respected Tekin, adding that she was close to his wife. She
told the court that she had also met Mehmet Zekeriya Ozturk during a
program on the National Channel television station. She also said she
knew suspect Ergun Poyraz from the funeral of Necip Hablemitoglu,
a secularist academic killed in an unsolved murder in 2002. "He
is a gift to me from Necip. He stays at our house when he comes to
Ä°stanbul," she said. Ergenekon is also suspected of orchestrating
the Hablemitoglu murder.

–Boundary_(ID_tK79c2EAbmZidB7fTJAWMA)–

COURT SITTING ON "CASE OF THE SEVEN" POSTPONED UNTIL DECEMBER 23

Noyan Tapan

Dec 19, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. At the court sitting on the
"case of the seven" resumed at 17:00 judge Mnatsakan Martirosian
for the second time rejected defence party’s petition on judge’s
challenge. However, the lawyers submitted the same petition for the
third time. Prosecutor Koryun Piloyan was going to oppose to lawyers’
petition, and the people gathered in the hall made a noise. The court
sitting was postponed until December 23.

It should be mentioned that RA NA deputies Myasnik Malkhasian, Hakob
Hakobian, Sasun Mikayelian, former RA Foreign Minister Alexander
Arzumanian, writer Shant Haroutiunian, as well as Suren Sirunian and
Grigor Voskerchian are accused of organizing mass disorders on March 1.

INTRACOM WINS ARMENIAN NETWORK CONTRACT

Cellular-News
Dec 16 2008
UK

Intracom Telecom, a part of Sitronics has signed a US$24 million
contract with VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom), Armenia’s leading mobile
operator for the expansion of its GSM network. Under the terms
of the contract, Intracom Telecom will provide Infrastructure
works, Installation and Integration services, in cooperation with
Alcatel-Lucent who will be the main equipment vendor.

This project aims at enabling VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom) to expand the
access capacity of its GSM/GPRS network and achieve its business goals
by offering the most advanced high-quality services to the Armenian
end-users. The project is estimated to be completed by the end of
the 1st Quarter of 2009.

Mr. Alexandros Manos, Managing Director of Intracom Telecom, commented:
"This new project is another reward for our over-a-decade commitment
to deliver state of the art solutions and professional services
in Armenia. We are pleased to further enhance our long established
cooperation with VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom) and are confident that we
will successfully meet the network development requirements of the
Operator that today serves 74% of the country’s mobile subscribers."

"Our previous successful cooperation with Intracom Armenia played
a key role during our partner selection process for this project,"
stated Mr. Ralph Yirikian, VivaCell-MTS General Manager and continued,
"It is important for us to cooperate with a local based company which
provides integrated and cost-effective solutions. VivaCell-MTS strives
at all times to join hands with the world’s top notch suppliers to
be able to provide the best services to the Armenian Society."

WORLD CRISIS CAUSES OUTAGE OF ‘NAIRIT PLANT’ CJSC

ArmInfo
2008-12-16 12:52:00

ArmInfo. "Nairit Plant" CJSC which is specialized in production
of duprene rubber has announced of outage till February 1, 2009,
spokeswoman of the plant Anush Harutyunyan told ArmInfo today.

She said the plant was stopped in early 2008 as a result of the
global economic crisis which caused delay of rubber consumption and,
consequently, reduction of demand for it. She added that 99,9% of the
plant production is exported. 50% of export falls on the markets of EU
countries, over 30% – on Russia and 12% – on the USA. A. Harutyunyan
also said 2742 people were working at the plant to be inactive now.

To recall, "Nairit Plant" CJSC reduced production of rubber by 15,9% to
4,604 thsd tons over 9 months, 2008. In December, 2006, the government
of Armenia signed an agreement on sale of 90% of shares of "Nairit
Plant" CJSC at $40 mln to Rhinoville Property Limited Company, and
10% shares remained in the state property. The customer undertook to
invest $120 mln in the plant upgrading during five years. Rhin®ville
Property Limited Company was founded by Samex Polish Company, American
Intertex and Russian "Eurogas".

–Boundary_(ID_NlYiNulpvdTWR DOSj6LceQ)–

5 ARMENIAN GYMNASTS TO TAKE PART IN MIKHAIL VORONIN COMMEMORATIVE TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan

Dec 15, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. A Commemorative Tournament of
Double Olympic champion in sports gymnastics Mikhail Voronin will
be held on December 16-19 in Moscow. Vahagn Stepanian, Haroutiun
Merdinian, Vahan Vardanian, David Avetisian will represent Armenia
in men’s tournament and Astghik Gyulnazarian in women’s tournament.

ESTABLISHING A COMMISSION ON KARABAKH CONFLICT CAUSED DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

AZG Armenian Daily
16/12/2008

Establishing a commission on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the
Parliament of Azerbaijan has caused difference of opinion between
the power and opposition.

"It is important to establish a commission in the Parliament in order
to deal with the solution of the conflict from the point of view of
legislation and maintain the conflict on the focus of attention," MP
Panah Huseyn, member of Musavat group of MPs representing opposition
in the Parliament, told TrendNews.

Huseyn said that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is the basic problem of
Azerbaijan and the MPs representing both power and opposition have been
proposing sine 1995 to establish a commission on the conflict. However,
due to various reasons, these proposals have not been accepted.

"The executive power agencies deal with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
since it is a serious problem, but there are issues which can involve
the Parliament as well," Huseyn added.

Ziyafet Askerov, first vice speaker of Azerbaijan Parliament, chairman
of standing commission on security and defense, told TrendNews that
there is no need to establish such a commission.

"Because whole people deals with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement. It is not the work of one commission, but entire
people. Therefore, I am against to create two sides here. The President
of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, holds the talks successfully, and after
concrete result, the issue will be expressed attitude and entire
people will know it," Askerov said.

Saying that the talks are being held between the Presidents and
Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Askerov stated that if
any progress or concrete results in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement, it is possible to hold discussions in the Parliament.

ANTI-CORRUPTION CONFERENCE ‘THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT, NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND MEDIA IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION’ IN YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2008-12-15 15:26:00

ArmInfo. Final conference was held today in ‘Congress’ hotel in
Yerevan within the frames of the programme ‘The Role of Government,
Non-Governmental Organizations and Media in the Fight against
Corruption’ being implemented by ‘Eurasia’ Partnership Foundation.

Chairman of the Civil Service Council of Armenia Manvel Badalyan,
Ambassador of USA to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch, Chairman of "Eurasia"
Cooperation Foundation George Zarubin, Chairman of "Transparency
International" Anti-corruption Center Amalia Kostanyan and other
guests took part in the conference.

Participants in the forum discussed the issues of intercooperation of
public organizations, mass media and the government authorities in
solution of one or another problems in corruption-fight. Importance
of transparency of the government authorities’ activity, as well as
a reporting and open activity of the regional public structures was
emphasized at the conference. To note, the anti-corruption programme
of ‘Eurasia’ Foundation has been implemented in 8 regions of Armenia,
moreover, US $400,000 were allocated to the local anti-corruption
organizations as assistance. Presently, As a result of the program,
10 Communities in two regions are now implementing anticorruption
strategies and 10 cases were won in administrative court.