Author: Kamalian Hagop

TURKISH FM INVITES ARMENIA FOR RENEWED DIALOGUE

Hurriyet
April 21 2008
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told a news conference on Monday
he has sent a letter to Yerevan calling for dialogue with Armenia
and saying Turkey wanted to normalize ties between the two countries.

Babacan said on Monday Turkey desires to normalize its relations
with Armenia and is keeping channels of dialogue open with the new
Armenian government.

"Turkey wants to see peace, stability, security and prosperity in
its region, but as you know our relations with Armenia do not fit
into that formula. We have problems, and the only way to solve these
problems is through dialogue. Our doors are open to dialogue in the new
period ahead," Babacan said, when he was asked about Turkey-Armenia
relations during a news conference with visiting Austrian Foreign
Minister Ursula Plassnik.

Turkey closed its border with ex-Soviet, Armenia in 1993 during a
war between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a Muslim ally of Ankara. The
move hurt the economy of tiny, landlocked country, sandwiched between
Turkey and Azerbaijan in the region.

As the result of Armenia’s February general election, Serge Sarkisian,
a former prime minister, was sworn in earlier this month as the
country’s third president since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings during the
last years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the
claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least as many
Turks died in civil strife that emerged when the Armenians took up
arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY NOT OFFENDED FOR RECEIVING NO ADDITIONAL MINISTERIAL PORTFOLIOS

arminfo
2008-04-21 15:26:00

ArmInfo. Prosperous Armenia Party is not offended for receiving no
additional ministerial portfolios, although the party supported Serzh
Sargsyan at the presidential election.

Secretary of Prosperous Armenia (PA) Parliamentary faction Aram
Safaryan said at Friday Debate Club Monday that this very issue
aroused a great interest of journalists. ‘Why should we feel
offended?’ Safaryan said. He stressed that PA has always come out
for national accord. Moreover, the parliamentarian said that many
wise and intellectual people are the members of the party and their
potential can be issued both in the government and other branches,
Safaryan said. The reforms in the country depend on the 4- sided
coalition and its programs. ‘We should use the whole intellectual
potential of the parties included in the coalition to overcome the
tense post-election situation in Armenia’, Safaryan said. As regards
the appointments to the government, he said that ‘a new and more
optimal model of governance is expected’. He believes PA will not
receive any new ministerial portfolios.

To recall, by the decree of President Serzh Sargsyan, PA received
three ministerial portfolios: sport for youth affairs; trade and
economic development; health.

UN and OSCE refuse to send experts to conduct an independent examination of Yerevan riots

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 19 2008

[ 19 Apr 2008 12:33 ]

Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. The UN and OSCE have rejected the request
of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia to send international
experts to conduct an independent examination of the riots in Yerevan
on March 1-2, Novosti Armenia reports.

The two international organizations said they would not send foreign
experts to conduct forensic and ballistic examination of the criminal
probe into the riots because they have had no such precedent in
the past.

EARTHQUAKE MEASURING 4 HAPPENS IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
April 18, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. An earthquake with 3.3 magnitude
happened on April 18, at 08:13 by local time, in the territory of
Armenia, 14 km to the east of the village of Garni. In the epicenter it
measured 4. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Seismic Protection
National Service, the epicenter was in the territory of Khosrov
reserve. The earthquake was felt weakly in Yerevan.

ARMENIAN CONSUMERS TO FEEL GAS PRICE RISE IN WINTER

ARKA
April 16, 2008

YEREVAN, April 16. /ARKA/. Armenian consumers will start feeling the
gas price increase already in winter, ArmRosgasProm Executive Director
Karen Karapetyan reported.

As from May, the government will stop the state subsidy on fees for
natural gas supplies for households and enterprises, according to
Karapetyan. From May 1, 2008, households and enterprises will pay
over $200 and $153 per thousand cubic meters (against current $200
and $109).

Karapetyan assured the journalists that the gas price in Armenia is
lower than in other countries. In Georgia, for example, the gas price
is $356 and about $283 per thousand cubic meters for households and
public entities respectively.

Karapetyan approved of the government decision on stopping the state
subsidy on natural gas fees.

He pointed out that over 45% of the country’s total gas is consumed
in winter time. Consumers will feel the heavy burden of gas fees only
in the heating season, according to the ArmRosGasProm Executive.

The Government will support 130,000 socially vulnerable families to
pay gas fees. According to Karapetyan, as from May 1, about 89,000
of consumers who annually use less than 300,000 cubic meters of gas
will pay additional AMD 7,500 a year (about AMD 700 a month). Those
83,000 users who consume 300,000-600,000 cubic meters of gas, will
pay extra AMD 83,000 annually (about AMD 1,200 a month).

Karapetyan believes the increase of the gas price cannot cut gas
consumption in Armenia, as the resource is economically sound in
the country. According to him, ArmRosGasProm plans to develop a gas
consumption program.

He said the gas price rise will not affect the local business, as
ArmRosGasProm has no rivals in the region.

On April 1, 2006, the gas price in Armenia boosted from $56 to $110
per thousand cubic meters. To relieve the burden for households and
enterprises, the RA Government decided to grant subsidies on gas
fees. Some $188.8mln was allocated for ArmRosGasProm as compensation.

As from May 1, 2008, consumers are to pay AMD 90,000 (VAT inclusive)
per thousand cubic meters of natural gas and those who monthly
consume over 10,000 cubic meters of gas, are to pay some $146.51
(VAT inclusive).

ARMENIAN GOVT TO STOP SUBSIDIZING NATURAL GAS PRICES

Interfax News Agency
April 15 2008
Russia

Armenia’s government will end its current subsidizing of natural gas
prices on May 1, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said on Tuesday.

"By its subsidies, the government has been trying to mitigate the
negative effects of the rise in gas prices and enable the population
and enterprises to get ready for the new prices," Sargsyan told
a briefing.

New gas prices approved by the Utilities Regulation Commission will
be in force from May 1, the prime minister said.

He also said his government was planning preparations for the 2008/
2009 winter.

"We have set ourselves the goal of protecting the needy strata of
the population from problems that will be caused by the rise in gas
prices," he said.

ArmeniaNow.com
Woman Power: Jailed oppositionists’ relatives raise concerns before Europe
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
Published: 15 April, 2008

A group of Armenian women claiming that their jailed relatives are political
prisoners are set to turn areas near major European embassies and
representations in Yerevan into scenes of their daily protests as a
prestigious pan-European organization’s key body is discussing Armenia this
week.

The wives and other relatives of jailed opposition members continued their
protest on Tuesday near the French Embassy in Yerevan. Tomorrow it will
proceed near the Embassy of Germany and on Thursday, the day when the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is due to review the
situation of democratic institutions in Armenia, women plan to hold a picket
near the Council of Europe’s Yerevan office.

Dozens who claim that their family members are political prisoners began the
four-day protest campaign on Monday, some wearing imitation handcuffs and
carrying images of their jailed loved ones.

`We show that as wives, mothers, relatives of political prisoners we
subscribe to the demands that have already been sent to the Council of
Europe,’ Melissa Brown, the American wife of Armenia’s jailed ex-foreign
minister Alexander Arzumanyan, said.

Students of the European Academy situated near the Council of Europe’s
office tried to approach the protesting women, however police advised them
to go away.

Tsovinar Samsonyan, the wife of jailed oppositionist Hovhannes Ghazaryan,
says it is their duty to stage some actions.

`This is not only the issue of our husbands, but also that of the whole
Armenian people. If a man is illegally kept in custody, the same fate may
threaten anyone,’ she said.

And Anahit Grigoryan, who said she was an ordinary citizen who joined the
women’s protests, said that she was fighting for her rights to live as a
freewoman in her country.

`I cannot accept that such guys are in jail on fabricated cases and outside
there is a feast where they eat cakes and stage hot air balloon shows. This
is inadmissible. An elected president takes an oath in front of his people,
he does not run away and avoid his people,’ she claimed.

The women said they would continue their protest using all legal means.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Russia’s Novye Izvestiya newspaper on April
14, Armenia’s first president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan
described Armenia as the only country of the Council of Europe where there
are political prisoners.

`The number of political prisoners in Armenia reaches 150. Almost all of my
proxies, all heads of my campaign offices have been arrested,’ Ter-Petrosyan
said.

Brown said that on Monday they sent a letter to the PACE. The letter,
according to her, had been signed by thousands of citizens who expect `an
independent inquiry into the March 1 events, express their concern over
arrests of opposition leaders and demand that the amendments to Armenia’s
law on assemblies be recognized as anti-democratic.’

ERGENEKON SEEKING DISPOSAL OF STOCKPILED GRENADES

Today’s Zaman
April 11 2008
Turkey

A criminal gang thought to have been carrying out preparation for
the overthrow of the government is suspected of having amassed some
8,000 grenades but appears to be trying to get rid of them, the Taraf
daily reported yesterday.

The daily, basing its story on police sources, reported that Ergenekon,
a shadowy and powerful neo-nationalist gang suspected of being behind a
number of politically motivated murders, including the assassination
of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, was trying to get rid
of its explosives and grenades in the face of increased raids and
operations against its members.

So far 47 suspects have been arrested as part of the Ergenekon
investigation, launched after the police found a house full of guns
and explosives in Ýstanbul last June. Those who have been arrested
include retired generals and army officials; public figures such as
journalists; mafia leaders including drug lords; and the previous
suspects of a 1996 car crash in Susurluk that revealed that a police
chief at the time had dealings with a mafia leader and a deputy,
the chief of a Kurdish clan in the Southeast funded by the state to
fight the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Police sources say they have reason to believe the Ergenekon gang
returned some of the 8,000 grenades they had earlier obtained to
their sources, but the exact number of returned grenades is unknown.

The police say the initial investigation into five hand grenades
seized at the Esenler bus station in Ýstanbul on Tuesday showed that
the serial numbers of the hand grenades are identical to some on
grenades previously connected with the Ergenekon organization.

"Either the gang is trying to get rid of the explosives it has by
doing this or its members are preparing to stage an attack out of
frustration and panic," Taraf quoted a source as saying. A similar
grenade seized at a McDonald’s store in Kadýkoy, Ýstanbul, also
confirms this suspicion.

Meanwhile, an official with the police department said the group had
tried to detonate the Mc Donald’s grenade but failed to do so because
of an incorrect set-up on a mobile phone-activated device to set off
the bomb.

–Boundary_(ID_boDLF09FwOVJYxc976XQDw)–

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN MEETS WITH FOREIGN DIPLOMATS

armradio.am
11.04.2008 10:52

President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting with the heads of the
Armenian diplomatic missions accredited abroad, President’s Press
Office reported.

The President of Armenia spoke about the priorities of the Armenian
foreign policy and stressed that to move them forward it is necessary
to be much more resolute and active. "We want the coming years to
become the years of proactive and vigorous foreign policy," underlined
the President of Armenia.

According to Serzh Sargsyan, there will be no radical changes in the
foreign policy, the complimentary policy will be continual, bilateral
and multilateral relations with friendly and partner states will
continue to deepen and strengthen.

At the same time the President of Armenia tasked to pursue more dynamic
and intensive relations with all the countries, which according to
him, does not mean that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t fulfill
the task or acted inefficiently. Serzh Sargsyan said that under the
circumstances and time period related to the reforms it is necessary
to double the efforts.

President Sargsyan spoke in detail about the current stage of the
Nagorno Karabakh peace process and its perspectives.

Serzh Sargsyan attached also special importance to the relations with
Diaspora and better realization of its potential.

The President of Armenia invited the attention of the diplomats to
the necessity to enhance foreign economic relations and attraction of
new investments, noting that a serious work is undertaken in Armenia
to create normal conditions for competition. He said that the customs
and tax administration would be improved and fight against corruption
would become tougher.

At the same time Serzh Sargsyan said that along with the day-by-day
activities it is necessary to implement concrete programs – political
or economic – set for a certain period of time, which, according to
him, would allow to assess the activities of each diplomatic mission.

HEAD OF YEREVAN PRESS-CLUB THINKS PARTICIPATION OF PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS IN POLITICS IS INADMISSIBLE AND ILLEGAL

arminfo
2008-04-11 13:38:00

ArmInfo. Head of Yerevan press-club Boris Navasardyan thinks
participation of public organizations in the political processes is
inadmissible and illegal.

Making a speech at Tesaket club today he said that there is no dialogue
between the authorities and public organization just because of the
authorities. ‘Public organizations are ready to dialogue and came
forward with various initiatives many times, including the legislative
ones. But no attention was drawn to them. And there was only one thing
for us – to protest in a harsh way’, – Navasardyan said. He also added
that as a result of such harsh protest in 2006 Yerevan press-club
together with other public organizations managed to get "freezing"
adoption of the law on television and radio and defended Radio Liberty
broadcasting. As for possible unification of public organizations in a
single-whole forum, avasardyan said ‘we welcome it but with a note that
public organizations should not participate in the politics directly
or indirectly supporting any candidate before and over the election’.

For his part, the head of the public organization "European
integration" Karen Bekaryan recalled that the organization headed
by him is one of the founders of the forum "Peaceful Armenia", which
involves 250 public organizations. ‘We are for establishing peace and
justice in the country, staring of dialogue between the authorities
and society about the topics which everybody is interested in –
impartial investigation of the 1 March events, formation of Public
Council, reorganization of Armenian Public TV activity, revision of
amendments to the law on rallies, processions and demonstrations. The
forum will soon apply to the citizens of the country.

The application contains 24 points’, – Karen Bekaryan said.

To note, Boris Navasardyan is against formation of Public Council,
as he thinks it may finally transform into civil nomenclature.