Author: Karabekian Emil

IMF FORECASTS ARMENIA’S GDP WILL GROW 11% IN 2006

Interfax Russia
Dec 13 2006

YEREVAN. Dec 13 (Interfax) – The International Monetary Fund
is forecasting that Armenian GDP will grow 11% compared with a
planned growth in the budget of 7.5%, Nienke Oomes, IMF permanent
representative in Armenia, said at a Wednesday press conference.

GDP will be $6.114 billion in nominal terms in 2006 and per capital
GDP will be $1,882, he said.

The Armenian budget deficit is forecast at 2.3% of GDP in 2006, budget
revenue at 17.4% of GDP and spending at 19.7% of GDP, Oomes said.

Armenian GDP grew 13.1% year-on-year to 2.033 trillion dram in
January-October 2006. GDP grew 13.9% in 2005.

The official exchange rate on December 13 was 365.11 dram/$1.

ARMENIAN GROUP CRITICIZES EU DECISION ON TURKEY

International Herald Tribune, France
The Associated Press
Dec 12 2006

BRUSSELS, Belgium: An Armenian pressure group criticized the European
Union on Tuesday for basing its decision to partially suspend
membership talks with Turkey only on a dispute over Cyprus.

It complained the EU ignored human rights issues and the controversy
over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians.

"The silence of the (EU) member countries on other Turkish violations
are a lapse that seriously endangers European integration," said
a statement from the European Armenian Federation for Justice and
Democracy.

EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to suspend membership talks
with Turkey in a number of areas ranging from fisheries to external
relations in response to Ankara’s refusal to respect an agreement to
open its ports to ships and planes from Cyprus.

Although the decision was a blow to Turkey’s EU membership aspirations,
the Brussels-based Armenian lobby group said it did not go far
enough. It said the EU should have also punished Turkey for violations
of human rights, treatment of minorities, a blockade of Armenia’s
border and a refusal to recognize the 1915-1919 killings of Armenians
as genocide.

Today in Europe

Communists are gone but not the spies EU acts against Ankara for
failure to open ports to Cyprus British regulators to explore possible
break-up of BAA’s airports "The member states’ decision has added to
the existing confusion in relations with Turkey," said the group’s
president, Hilda Tchoboian.

Turkey acknowledges that great numbers of Armenians were killed in
fighting and mass expulsions at the end of the Ottoman Empire, but
vehemently rejects the label of genocide.

Ankara reacted angrily to a bill in the French parliament this year
that would make it a crime to deny that the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

The European Commission criticized the French bill as counterproductive
during a critical stage in the Muslim country’s EU entry talks.

ARMENIA SHOULD USE IRAN-ARMENIA ALTERNATIVE PIPELINE FULLY

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 12 2006

Michael Weinstein, head of the EBRD’s Resident Office in Yerevan,
stated December 12 that Armenia should use the advantage of the
alternative gas pipeline fully. He stated that the geographical
position of Armenia is favorable because it has an alternative supply
of gas, which separates Armenia from other countries which depend on
the Russian gas supply. Mr. Weinstein stated that Armenia should use
its favorable geographical position to have an alternative route of
gas supply.

He also stated that this circumstance makes Armenia more attractive
in terms of investments.

ARMENIAN LAWMAKERS PRAISE KARABAKH REFERENDUM

Armenpress
Dec 12 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: A group of Armenian parliament
members who traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh to watch a constitutional
referendum there last Sunday said today in Yerevan the referendum
was fair, just and transparent.

A parliament member Samvel Nikoyan from the Republican Party, said it
was a move in the right direction. "It marks a new democratic phase
in Nagorno-Karabakh’s drive to build a democratic state," he told.

Another parliament member Shavarsh Kocharian described the referendum
as ‘an event of key significance that will have impact on all future
developments." He argued that the referendum will spoil Azerbaijani
efforts to portray the conflict as a territorial dispute with Armenia.

Asked to comment on the negative international reaction to the
referendum, after the EU and the Council of Europe said they would
not recognize it as having legal validity, Shavarsh Kocharian
blamed the international organizations for recognizing Azerbaijan’s
constitution which he said was ‘a disgrace, a constitution becoming
of a dictatorship regime."

KIBAKI ‘NOT LINKED TO CRIMINALS’

News24, South Africa
Dec 8 2006

Nairobi – Kenya’s usually mild-mannered President Mwai Kibaki has
furiously denied family links with two flamboyant Armenian brothers
deported last week for roughing up customs officers at Nairobi airport.

The president also promised an investigation into the activities in
Kenya of brothers Artur Margariyan and Arthur Sargsian, who had been
accused of receiving official protection for shady dealings in the
east Africa nation.

The saga of the Armenians had gripped Kenya for months.

Terming claims of family links "blatant lies", Kibaki demanded an
apology and threatened to sue the media for a report linking the
Armenian pair to a woman said by some local media to be the president’s
second wife.

Media house raided

But, Kibaki’s statement – a rare flash of anger for the mild-mannered
74-year-old president – did little to quell growing demands from
Kenyans for a proper probe into allegations of links between the
Armenians and powerful politicians.

The two burst into the national limelight in March after an opposition
politician accused them of being "mercenaries" used by the government
to provide muscle for a raid on Kenya’s second biggest media house,
an act widely condemned around the world.

The brothers denied that, saying they were respectable businessmen
wanting to invest in Kenya.

Brothers ‘became celebrities’

But, they had become virtual celebrities in recent months, seldom out
of cartoons and gossip columns, and leading a swaggering lifestyle
that included parties, luxury cars, flashy jewellery and trademark
sunglasses.

The saga took a fresh twist with their deportation on Friday after
a scuffle at the airport.

But, a broad spectrum of Kenyan politicians, civil activists and media
complained they should have been kept here, and interrogated over
their alleged high-level connections and mysterious business dealings.

Two lesser-known brothers deported

Kibaki said: "I have only one family, which consists of the first
lady Lucy Kibaki, daughter Judy Kibaki, Sons Jimmy, David, Tony and
their wives and children.

"No member of my family has had any dealings with the said
foreigners…I am, therefore, demanding that the newspaper should
apologise to me and my family for the blatant lies."

Two lesser-known brothers were also deported. Kibaki added: "The
matter of their stay and transactions in Kenya is the subject of
investigations."

Fuelling concern at what they were doing, police said guns, machetes
and bulletproof vests were recovered at the Armenians’ luxury home
in Nairobi after they were deported.

It was reported that the government’s handling of the saga was
"shameful".

The reports said: "Besides seeking explanations as to why the two
brothers were quickly spirited out of the country, the public demands
to be told how government vehicles got their way into the Runda
residence of the Artur brothers," it said in an editorial.

RA FOREIGN MINISTER VARTAN OSKANIAN AND AGO GROUP MEMBERS MEET IN STRASBOURG

AZG Armenian Daily
08/12/2006

On December 6, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with Ago Group
members of CE Committee of Ministers.

It’s worth mentioning that this structure observes the process of
Armenia’s fulfillment of commitments to the CE. The Press Service of RA
Foreign Ministry informed that Mr. Oskanian dwelt on the current stage
of the Nagorno Karabakh peace process and the nation-wide referendum
for adoption of NKR Constitution scheduled for December 10 at the
meeting. He also touched upon the preparations for the parliamentary
elections in Armenia. Ago Group members drew the attention of Mr.

Oskanian to the issues concerning the coming elections; in particular,
they emphasized the importance of carrying out relevant reforms to
the Electoral Code and the specification of electoral lists.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN: "WE HAVE NO ACTING ANTHEM AT THE MOMENT"

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. "We have no acting anthem at the
moment," RA National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosian stated at the
December 7 sitting. According to the constitutional amendments adopted
in 2005, the deadline for carrying out the demand to define the
state anthem by the law was December 5. In the NA Speaker’s words,
the only way out from the created situation is the possible uniting
and adoption of the draft "On the RA Anthem" of the ARF faction put on
the agenda for discussing in the 1st sitting and of the Government’s
draft of the same name already adopted in the 1st reading, but remained
out of the agenda to be discussed in the 2nd reading. T.Torosian stated
that this issue is at present being discussed with the government
representatives. Otherwise, in his words, the draft authored by
the Government may be discussed only at the special sitting of the
Parliament on convening which there is no initiative yet. To recap,
the main principle different of the 2 drafts is that by the ARF draft
"Mer Hayrenik" (Our Fatherland) acted till now is defined the anthem,
and according to the transitional principles of the Government’s draft,
it is envisaged to leave the latter in force till defining the text
and music of the anthem by the law.

ADDITIONS AND AMENDMENTS ENVISAGED IN 2006-2007 PROGRAM ON STATE PROPERTY PRIVATIZATION

Noyan Tapan
Dec 06 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly on December
6 passed in first reading the government’s draft law which envisages
additions and amendments to the RA Law on the 2006-2007 Program on
State Property Privatization. Particularly, the government proposes
adding another 5 companies, including 3 companies and the Hrazdan
Sports Complex under the jurisdiction of the RA Defence Ministry, to
the list of companies with a state share to be privatized. Besides,
it is proposed that about 10 companies, most of which are cultural
facilities, should be taken off the program’s list. The opposition
factions – Justice, Orinats Yerkir and National Unity – and some
independent deputies were against adoption of the draft law.

ARMENIAN SPIRITUAL LEADER VISITS CITY
By Steve Linsenmayer

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN
Dec 5 2006

His church is small minority in Lebanon

Aram I (Aram the First,) the spiritual leader of the Holy See of
Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, made a visit to Fort Wayne
on Monday.

For area developer Zohrab Tazian, who hosted the visit with his wife,
Naomi, it was a moving day.

"I have been away from the mainstream Armenian community. This brings
the Armenian community back to me."

Aram I, who oversees the dioceses of Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus,
performed a blessing in the entryway of the north-side Fort Wayne
home. Among the 100 luncheon guests were Bishop John M. D’Arcy and
Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd District.

Aram I made his Fort Wayne visit en route to events at the University
of Notre Dame and St. John’s University in Minnesota, where he will
receive the 2006 Pax Christi Award.

Home is Antelias, Lebanon, only 15 miles from Beirut. Recent troubles
there have left the Armenian Church relatively unscathed, but, says
Aram, not without responsibilities in the conflict.

"Being Christian means to have the courage to face challenges," he
said. "According to the Bible, St. Paul says that we are given the
task of reconciliation.

"The role of the church should be reconciliation, the bridge-building
role. We’re trying to be responsive to realities, to challenges.

"Of course you know we are a small minority there," he said.

"It’s not an easy way of life, but we have to do that."

He also spoke of the importance of remembering the WWI genocide
committed against 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish
government.

"My church, my people, have undergone, you see, the bitter experience
of genocide," he said. "This is part of our Armenian Christian
experience."

Photos: 16168553.htm

DRAFT ELECTORAL CODE AMENMDMENTS PROPOSE REPLACING JUDGES WITH COURT EMPLOYEES IN ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 02 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. It is envisaged to discuss in second
reading the draft amendments to the Electoral Code during the last
4-day sittings of the RA National Assembly autumn session to start on
December 4. Prior to that – on December 1 the draft was to be discuused
in the NA Standing Committee of State and Legal Issues. But at the
suggestion of the drafts’ main speaker, member of the Republican
Party of Armenian Samvel Nikoyan, the discussion is postponed until
December 2. The draft was signed by representatives of all the NA
groups and factions, except Justice and National Unity, which had
withdrawn their signatures before the draft’s first reading, because
these factions’ proposal to form the parliament by 100% proportional
electoral system had not been accepted by the other co-authors. It is
noteworthy that the draft does not envisage reviewing the principle of
the NA formation: the proportion of 90 proportional and 41 majoritarian
mandates stipulated by the 2005 amendments to the Electoral Code has
been retained. S. Nikoyan told NT correspon dent that the draft to
be discussed in second reading has been revised based not only on
the proposals received after its adoption in first reading but also
based on the November 7 decision of the RA Constititional Court,
according to which the inclusion of judges in electoral commissions
was recognized as anticonstitutional. The draft authors also revised
the order of forming electoral commissions, which has been in effect
since 2005: court employees will repalce each judge included in
an electoral commission. After the 2007 parliamentary elections,
each member of an electoral commission who was appointed by the NA
People’s Deputy group will also be replaced with court employees and
not judges as was envisaged by the current Electoral Code.