Author: Khondkarian Raffi

CHESS: PETROSIAN WINS TITLE

Indiatimes, India
March 7 2007

KOLKATA, March 6: Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian of Armenia played a
lightning draw to emerge champions with eight points and pocket the
first prize of Rs 2.07 lakh in the Kolkata Open 2007-Grandmaster
Chess Tournament on Tuesday.

However, Petrosian had to wait anxiously for the second board game
between Darmen Sadvakasov (7.5) of Kazakhstan and Alon Greenfeld (6.5)
of Israel to be completed, to assure himself of the sole first prize.

Overnight leader Petrosian took a eight-move draw against GM Dimitri
Komarov (7) of Ukraine on the top board, in order to assure himself
of at least a share of the top prize.

It was then an anxious four-hour wait for the Armenian, as a victory
would have made Sadvakasov tied on points with him.

Sadvakasov tried to break down the defences of his Israeli opponent
from the black side of a Reti opening, but gave up the struggle and
took the peace offering on the 38th move in a sterile position.

Top seeded GM Serjei Tiviakov (7.5) of the Netherlands defeated GM
Abhijit Kunte (6) in a fine positional game to tie for the second
position with Sadvakasov.

Kunte tried the solid berling defence against the Ruy Lopez Opening
of the Dutch player, but he missed a tractic and his Kingside Pawn
structure was shattered. Thereafter the top seed continued to pick
up the weak pawns to force the resignation of the Indian GM on the
61st move.

The victory enabled Tiviakov obtain the second spot because of a
better tie-break. The ties were resolved on the basis of the average
ratings of the opponents of a player.

Sadvakasov had to be content with the third place.

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly (7) won a long game against GM Mikheil
Kekilidze (6) of Georgia to finish a respectable seventh. It was a good
result for the National Champion considering his indifferent start.
IM Sriram Jha (7) and G N Gopal (7) won against IM Sundarajan Kidambi
(6) and Safin Sukhrat (6) respectively. Jha finished fourth, while
Gopal secured the fifth place.

NCI TACKLES POLITICAL PRISONERS’ ISSUE

A1+
[07:37 pm] 06 March, 2007

Yerevan-Today the National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI), together
with the parliamentary group that is investigating the true motives
behind the recent arrests of Colonels Zhirair Sefilian and Vardan
Malkhasian, devoted volunteers of the national quest for liberty and
self-defense, convened a roundtable to examine the real reasons for
these arrests. The meeting brought together social and political
activists, human rights advocates, NGO officials, MPs, and media
representatives.

NCI coordinator Hovsep Khurshudian welcomed the audience with
opening remarks. "The widespread corruption, permissiveness, and
arbitrariness-demonstrated by the very public seizure of Sefilian and
Malkhasian nearly three months ago-by the ruling clique are growing
worse. What is more, in the run-up to the parliamentary elections
they are becoming more apparent," he said.

In his intervention, Aram G. Sargsian, member of the investigative
group of parliament, briefly presented its preliminary findings. He
explained the formation of the parliamentary group by stating that the
arrests of these freedom fighters are more political than criminal in
context. He also added that such unlawful actions must be prevented
in concert with the body politic. "Instead of the real criminals,
they are apprehending national heroes," Sargsian maintained.

Defense attorney Vahe Grigorian pointed to the absence of any legal
justification for keeping Sefilian and Malkhasian in custody. "All
matters have been cleared up and therefore it is absurd that they are
still incarcerated," he asserted. In Grigorian’s words, his client
Zhirair Sefilian is refusing to provide testimony to the investigators
because he is convinced that they are mere lackeys and blindly carry
out the political instructions given from "above."

MP Hmayak Hovhannisian reflected on the Armenian version of Article
301, which clearly curtails the freedom of speech in the country. He
recommended that this provision be removed from the Criminal Code.

The next speaker, Armen Aghayan of the "Defense of Liberated
Territories" public initiative, spoke about the political motives
behind the criminal persecutions unleashed against Sefilian and
Malkhasian. Aghayan also presented a pamphlet containing Zhirair
Sefilian’s responses given to the questions posed to him by the
parliamentarians. In the pamphlet, Sefilian stipulates in particular
that if calling for a change in government is a crime then at least
half of Armenia’s population should be put on trial.

The remainder of the session was dedicated to exchanges of views
and recommendations among the public figures and policy specialists
in attendance.

Noteworthy were interventions by Armenia’s first Ombudswoman Larisa
Alaverdian; Academician Lenser Aghalovian; MPs Gagik Kostandian,
Albert Bazeyan, Stepan Zakarian, and Hrant Khachatrian; publicist
Hrair Ulubabian; Arsen Kharatian of the "Scientific Development" NGO;
former MP Khachik Stamboltsian; Sefilian’s long-time friend Garegin
Ghazarian; and several others.

In his closing remarks, Hovsep Khurshudian underlined that "not
only Sefilian and Malkhasian, but all of society is in need of
liberation. Sefilian is not giving testimony, but instead the public
resonance, one example of which is today’s roundtable, is speaking
in his favor."

The National Citizens’ Initiative is a public non-profit association
founded in December 2001 by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign
Affairs Raffi K.

Hovannisian, his colleagues, and fellow citizens with the purpose of
realizing the rule of law and overall improvements in the state of
the state, society, and public institutions. The National Citizens’
Initiative is guided by a Coordinating Council, which includes
individual citizens and representatives of various public, scientific,
and educational establishments.

Five commissions on Law and State Administration, Socioeconomic
Issues, Foreign Policy, Spiritual and Cultural Challenges, and the
Youth constitute the vehicles for the Initiative’s work and outreach.

Azeri Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs back to Nagorno Karabakh conflict

ArmRadio.am
2007-03-02 14:53:00

Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Vilayat Guliyev is back
to Nagorno Karabakh conflict. V. Guliyev – presently Ambassador of
Azerbaijan to Poland, declared that he met with Polish Foreign
Minister Anna Fotyga before her visit to Azerbaijan, and – "presented
materials on Nagorno Karabakh conflict Ms. Fotyga," Azeri media
reports.

"The yesterday’s meeting of Ms. Fotyga with President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev demonstrated that Polish Foreign Minister has objective
views regarding Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Ms. Fotyga is aware of
Armenia’s destructive role in the region," declared V. Guliyev.

In her tern, Ms. Fotyga made no comments speaking for her "being aware
of Armenia’s destructive role." On the contrary, at the press
conference in Yerevan, Ms. Fotyga said that Azeri mass media
incorrectly interpreted her words on settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict – "within territorial integrity of Azerbaijan."

Ottawa Citizen, Canada
March 3, 2007 Saturday
Final Edition

Sins of the fathers

Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Abe is damaging his country by
denying the historical fact that, in the 1930s and 1940s, the
Imperial Japanese Army forced Korean women into sexual slavery. Even
worse, Mr. Abe is repudiating an apology for the wartime abuses that
was issued by a Japanese government in 1993.

National honour is important in Japan, and because of this cultural
trait, some Japanese have had great difficulty confronting the sins
of their fathers. But denial and equivocation does Japan no good. For
one thing, there is the moral imperative to acknowledge the crimes.
The victims deserve no less.

Then there’s the political and strategic imperative. Mr. Abe’s
provocations hinder good relations with countries such as China and
South Korea. In the increasingly troubled waters of the North
Pacific, where the containment of North Korea is a matter of vital
importance to Japan, and cannot be achieved without support from
Beijing and Seoul, Tokyo’s blinkered version of history makes a
difficult process harder to manage.

This is not a uniquely Japanese problem. Some Turkish leaders
continue to dilute or even deny the Armenian massacre. Turkey’s
unwillingness to confront its past has complicated the country’s
relationship with the rest of Europe.

Any country that desires a place in the community of modern,
civilized nations has no business committing offences against
historical truth.

ARMENIAN MAJOR OPPOSITION PARTY TO RUN SEPARATELY IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

Arminfo
28 Feb 07

Yerevan, 28 February: The council of the [opposition] People’s Party
of Armenia [PPA], led by Stepan Demirchyan, took a final decision
today to run in the 12 May parliamentary election without forming
blocs with other parties.

"The party’s proportional list of candidates consists of 73 people.

Everybody, except for the number two person on the list, is a member
of our party," Ruzan Khachatryan, the party’s press secretary and a
member of the council, has said. She said that party leader Stepan
Demicrchyan, National Revival Party leader Albert Bazeyan, and PPA
council secretary Grigor Harutyunyan lead the list. They are followed
by council secretaries Stepan Zakaryan and Stepan Minasyan and press
secretary Ruzan Khachatryan. Currently, the list of candidates to
run under the first-past-the-post system from the party is being made.

It is already known that Stepan Demirchyan will not be nominated
under the first-past-the-post system. However, Vardan Lazarian,
a secretary of the party’s council, will run in District 12 of Yerevan.

The required documents for registering political parties and blocs for
the election should be submitted to the Central Electoral Commission
by 1800 [1400 gmt] 3 March.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES REFUSE TO GO TO POLLS WITHIN OLD BLOC

Arminfo
26 Feb 07

Yerevan, 26 February: "Our opposition colleagues have turned down
the proposal of the People’s Party of Armenia [PPA] to run for the
parliamentary election within the Ardarutyun [Justice] bloc formed
in 2003," PPA press secretary Ruzan Khachatryan has said.

She said that since the main negotiators in the recent consultations
were Ardarutyun bloc members, the People’s Party of Armenia proposed
keeping the same name for the new bloc after enlarging it and making
corrections in it.

"People placed trust in the Ardarutyun bloc four years ago. The
bloc had and still has a programme and a key goal – to restore
constitutional order in the country. Since the same political parties
plus the Heritage party of Raffi Hovhannisyan were involved in the
negotiations, the PPA made that proposal, which at the end of the
day was not accepted," Khachatryan said.

She, however, said that the opposition’s unification does not
necessarily imply setting up large election blocs and that this may
cover a wide range of issues from moral and tactical support to such
a crucial measure as oversight of the elections process, voting and
vote counting. "The People’s Party of Armenia backed the Alternative’s
idea to set up an election bloc based on the idea of impeaching the
head of the incumbent regime but several major opposition forces
refused to join it, which made the project lose its significance,"
Khachatryan said.

Throughout the past week, the PPA, the Heritage party, the Republic
party and the National Democratic Union held consultations on
the format of their participation in the 12 May parliamentary
election. Aram Sargsyan, the leader of the Republic party, said that
he would propose that his opposition colleagues form a broad alliance.

The council of Demirchyan’s PPA was supposed to hold a meeting
today [26 February] to pass a final decision on how the party will
participate in the parliamentary election and approve the party’s
proportional representation list. But Khachatryan said that "the
meeting will be held in a couple of days, it was delayed to have some
technical issues settled".

SHEN CONCERN BECOMES FIRST ARMENIAN NONFINANCIAL-CREDIT COMPANY TO ISSUE ITS OWN BONDS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Shen Concern CJSC is the first
company to issue corporate bonds after receiving a rating of the
Central Bank of Armenia (CBA). The company chairman Samvel Beglarian
noted at the February 27 press conference that since December 26, 2006
the company has issued 16,000 nominal bonds of a total of 160 mln drams
(about 445 thousand USD) with the maturity of 365 days at concessional
interest rates. According to him, the placement of bonds will be done
in more than one tranche. The first tranche of 40 mln drams has already
been placed: according to CBA Chairman Tigran Sargsian, bonds of this
amount were acquired by ArmSwissbank and put in pledge in connection
with signing repo deals with the CBA. S. Beglarian said that the
issue was a test one: Shen Concern envisages to issue greater amounts
of its own bonds starting from 2008. He considered bond placement
as an opportunity to arract "long money". It was mentioned that at
present Armenian banks cannot provide credits of over 3 mln dollars,
whereas Shen Concern is discussing the opportunity of implementing
an investment program of 9.5 mln euros with the RA Ministry of Trade
and Economic Development. S. Beglarian noted that there are plans
to reorganize Shen Concern into an open joint stock company. Shen
Concern is one of the leading companies of Armenia’s chemical and
building material sectors. Its authorized capital makes 1.5 bln
drams. 36.6% of Shen Concern’s securities belong to the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Devlopment. The company’s net profit
amounted to 272 mln 321 thousand drams in January-September 2006,
growing by 653.5% on the same period of the previous year, while its
production sales grew by 17.6%. The company’s experts explain such a
large growth of net profit by a considerable decline in the cost price
of production and the fact that Shen Concern has profit tax privileges.

UN REPRESENTATIVE MEETS OSKANYAN

Panorama.am
21:16 26/02/2007

Armenian foreign ministry press services report that Vardan Oskanyan,
minister of foreign affairs, received Kori Udovicki, Deputy UN
Secretary General.

The minister expressed gratitude for the support rendered by
UN agencies to the Armenian government, particularly in poverty
alleviation, anti-corruption, children and women rights issues.

Attaching high importance to cooperation with the Armenian authorities,
Udovicki outlined the priorities of UNDP and other regional projects.

YOUTH OLYMPIC FESTIVAL FINISHES IN JACA

JACA, FEBRUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Europe Youth Winter Sports Olympic
Festival finished on February 23 in the Spanish city of Jaca. In the
February 22 figure skating free program Armine Stamboltsian took 22th
place among 29 participants and Hovhannes Mkrtchian took 9th place
among 20 participants. In 10 km free-style ski-race Aram Grigorian
took 60th place among 97 sportsmen and Hamlet Ziroyan 72th place. In
7.5 km free-style ski-race Christine Khachatrian was 43rd among 82
ladies. In the special winding descent Yuri Manukian and Misha
Ghazarian took 54th and 56th places, respectively, among 105 mountain
skiers.

ArmRadio
2007-02-23 14:06:00

Araratbank presents new plastic cards – Avtocard

In early May, Araratbank will present a new type of plastic cards –
Avtocard. "It is an automobile designed card – with many options and
bonuses in auto-services, insurance and tourism. Now the bank holds
negotiations with Georgian partners to enable the card owners to be
provided with the whole service-portfolio on Georgia’s territory
too. Especially on the Black Sea coast – as many Armenians spend their
vacation there," Ashot Osipyan, Head of Araratbank, said at the press
conference today.

A. Osipyan said that the bank intends to be unique in its own way.
Mortgaging, consumer and business crediting programs will be set out
soon. The bank provides a special export-crediting program with quite
low interest rates. To prevent from the possible currency risks,
forward contracts for export will be available from March 2007. "We
believe that forwards will protect the clients’ interests and will fix
the rates for exporters," he said. A. Osipyan added that the bank has
big ambitions as the assets and capital grow. The bank will be open
and plans to conduct stocks emission. Work on it has started.