Author: Khondkarian Raffi

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER HOPES FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF PAST YEAR’S SUCCESS

ARKA
Feb 1, 2010

YEREVAN, February 1. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
hopes for further development of the success Armenia showed in 2009.

"I am convinced that our success not only will become stronger, but
also will develop," he said Friday at the cabinet meeting. "I want
to thank all for a good job in difficult 2009."

He said that the reports ministers presented at recent cabinet meetings
showed not only faults, but also achievements.

These reports, he said, helped outline top-priority objectives
for 2010.

The premier singled out four areas as most successful in 2009.

The first was Armenian State Revenue Committee’s activities, which
resulted in lessening overpays and leaving economy entities with
additional AMD 25 billion.

Sargsyan said that 32,000 small and midsize entities enjoyed
preferences totaling AMD 24 billion that year.

Tax accounting was simplified and AMD 3.7 billion was allocated in
2009 for paying bonuses to the country’s population on cash register
check draw.

The second successful area the premier pointed out was public health,
where the state policy of obstetrics has produced visible results –
the number of childbirths rose by 3,000, and shadow dealing in this
area lessened from 90% to 21%. .

Sargsyan also found social sector’s achievements remarkable.

"Amid 14-percent economic decline, we have managed to raise pensions
by 16%, benefits by 12% and lump-sum benefit for third and next child
birth from AMD 300,000 to AMD 430,000," he said.

The premier called Armenian Police’s job very successful.

He said the number of traffic accidents has become significantly
smaller for seven years.

In the Commonwealth of Independent States, this reduction was most
impressing.

The prime minister stressed that the number of killed in traffic
accidents was smaller than that of 2008 by 84, and the number of
injured shrank by 372.

He said that it would be better to speak not only about our faults
and the challenges the crisis has brought to the country, but also
about achievements.

Sargsyan said that there were also other successful sectors in Armenia
in 2009, but the mentioned sectors’ achievements have brought benefit
to all Armenian families.

CZERNY’S "FANTASIA" A WALK IN THE PARK
By Michael Zwiebach

San Francisco Classical Voice
February 20, 2010

The Bay Area is blessed with a cornucopia of chamber music series,
most of which seem to be invisible to all but the most serious
classical fans. Avedis Chamber Music, now in its 15th year at the
Florence Gould Auditorium in the San Francisco Legion of Honor,
is one of those little-known treasures.

Named after the late pianist Charles Avedis Hagopian, Avedis means
good news in Armenian. And the good news here is that Avedis regulars
constitute a set of first-rate musicians who perform a wide variety of
music, all of it grateful to the ears of an average concertgoer. And
the Saturday matinee timing is perfect for working people, as well
as retirees.

Avedis’ artistic director, the flutist Alexandra Hawley, arranges
programs that include her instrument in most pieces, which takes
Avedis’ repertory a little off the beaten path. She and cellist
Stephen Harrison, of the Ives Quartet, are both on the music faculty
at Stanford University, while pianist/violist Paul Hersh has been
a longtime member of the piano department at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music. These teachers are probably getting a secret
kick out of putting Carl Czerny’s Fantasia Concertante on the first
Avedis program this year, Feb. 20.

Czerny (1791-1857) was a famous pedagogue who taught both Liszt
and Liszt’s rival Sigismund Thalberg, as well as a number of other
eminent pianists of the period. Yet most, if not all, serious piano
students know (and probably curse) his name because he was the author
of the The Art of Finger Dexterity and The School of Velocity, two
indispensible sets of etudes (studies) that earned their author a
large part of his fortune.

Czerny also gave the Vienna premiere of his friend Beethoven’s
"Emperor" Piano Concerto, though he hated performing and made his
living from his teaching. Unfortunately, the composer Czerny suffered
from the performer Czerny’s reticence, and later generations have
just assumed that, were his music worth anything, it would have
gotten out there. Well, now we come to discover that old Carl did
write some pretty fine music, though you won’t hear it much in the
big-prestige venues.

Similarly, Albert Roussel (1868-1937) is a fine composer who is
overshadowed by his greater, better-known contemporaries Debussy
and Ravel. And Katherine Hoover (1937-), who is a flutist, is also
a well-respected, but less-often-played, composer with a pleasingly
eclectic style. And then there’s this Haydn fellow who’s reputed to
be a pretty good composer, too.

In sum, this is a nicely balanced program, with unusual but good music,
played by some of the best musicians in the area. And you can probably
grab a ticket at the door after having a nice walk through the Legion
park. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that?

Michael Zwiebach holds a Ph.D. in music history from UC Berkeley.

RA PRESIDENT TO VISIT GREAT BRITAIN

News.am
16:01 / 02/01/2010

February 9-11, 2010, RA President Serzh Sagsyan will be on a visit to
Great Britain where he will hold a number of meetings with high-ranking
British officials.

Last time RA President met with UK leaders within the framework of
Prague Eastern Partnership Summit, on May 11, 2009. Serzh Sargsyan
met with British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs David Miliband.

Since it gained independence, Armenia has maintained close contacts
with France and Germany among EU countries, whereas its ties with
Great Britain have not been so close. The only high-level meeting was
held during the then Armenian President’s visit to Great Britain in
1996. In this context, Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Great Britain is of
great significance.

OBAMA REQUESTS $40 MILLION IN AID TO ARMENIA

armradio.am
02.02.2010 11:48

President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2011 (FY11) budget, calls for
$40 million in assistance to Armenia — $10 million more than his
FY10 request, but still $1 million less than the total appropriated
by Congress last year, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).

The figure, while representing a substantial increase over the
President’s last request, falls just short of the $41 million actually
appropriated last year by Congress, and far short of the $70 million
request that was made last year by the Armenian Caucus and broadly
supported by Armenian American advocacy organizations.

The President’s budget proposes maintaining Foreign Military Financing
(FMF) assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, requesting
$3.5 million for each country. In past years, the White House has
sought to tilt the military aid balance in support of Baku, only to
have its efforts rejected by Congress, which has consistently ensured
balanced FMF figures for the two nations. The Administration did
not extend the parity principle to International Military Training,
Education, and Training (IMET), instead seeking to provide twice as
much for Azerbaijan ($900,000) than Armenia ($450,000) in this area.

The President requested $22.12 million in assistance to Azerbaijan,
$120,000 more than appropriated by Congress last year. The President’s
overall assistance request for Europe and Eurasia is $599,164,000,
which represents a reduction of $11,818,000 from the previous year.

"We welcome the decision by the Obama Administration to ask for
$10 million more in economic aid to Armenia this year than he did
last year, and also his proposal to maintain parity in a key area
of military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Aram Hamparian,
Executive Director of the ANCA. "We want to offer our special thanks
to Representatives Frank Pallone, Adam Schiff, Anna Eshoo, and Jackie
Speier – and, of course, Nita Lowey – for their energetic efforts
in sharing with the Administration how increased aid and support
for Armenia advances both U.S. interests and American values in a
strategically important area of the world. We look forward, as well, to
working with all our Congressional friends in building on these numbers
and securing the adoption of increased aid levels and constructive
policy provisions that will contribute to the strengthening of the
U.S.-Armenia relationship and the search for a fair and lasting peace
in the region."

The proposed assistance to Armenia is a significant improvement over
the FY10 request, which called for a 38% cut in aid to Armenia,
a 20% increase in aid to Azerbaijan, and the abandonment of the
longstanding Armenia-Azerbaijan military aid parity agreement in favor
of Baku. The ANCA led the Armenian American community in expressing
its concerns to the Administration last year, and working with the
Congressional Armenian Caucus and members of the Senate and House
Foreign Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign operations to increase
the figures.

The Foreign Operations Subcommittees of the House and Senate
Appropriation Committees will now review the President’s budget and
each draft their own versions of the FY11 foreign assistance.

INTER-CHURCH CONFERENCE IN ANTILLEANS

Lragir.am
02/02/10

>From January 26-31, at the Cilicia patriarchate in Antilleans, the
7th meeting of the joint commission of the Catholic and Old Armenian
Orthodox churches took place.

In the course of the meeting, issues relating to the order of
adoption of Universal conferences in old Church (up to 5th century)
were discussed, as well as relations and problems between the Churches.

ANAHIT SARGSYAN: RA CC DELIBERATELY DELAYS NIKOL PASHINYAN’S CLAIM EXAMINATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.01.2010 16:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Appointing the day of lawsuit of editor-in-chief
of Haykakan Zhamanak Nikol Pashinyan on March 5, Constitutional
Court of Armenia broke the law. The hearing will appeal against the
results of the elections for the 10th electoral district of Yerevan,"
Anahit Sargsyan told a news conference in Yerevan, Head of Center of
Armenian parliamentary Public Organization.

According to her, by law, the RA Constitutional Court had to consider
the claim within a month, but in this case the examination of the
case was prolonged to 43 days "because of being overloaded".

That is why we studied the schedule and the RA Constitutional Court
concluded that the court is not actually loaded, but simply delaying
the examination," she said.

Answering a PanARMENIAN.Net question, what is the reason of delaying
the lawsuit, Anahit Sargsyan said that, probably, the Constitutional
Court waits for a final verdict the Court of Cassation, in order not
to consider his claim at all and justifying this by saying that Nichol
Pashinyan is convicted and his claim is not subject to review.

Haykakan Zhamanak Editor-in-Chief Nikol Pashinyan’s claim on declaring
elections in the 10th constituency invalid will be considered by
Armenia’s Constitutional Court (RA CC) on March 5, RA CC Spokesman
Hovhannes Papikyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

On January 21, Pashinyan’s authorized representative submitted to
Constructional Court documents on appealing the election results.

According to RA Central Election Commission (CEC), winner in January
10 parliamentary elections in Yerevan’s 10th constituency was Ara
Simonyan who garnered 7622 votes.

The other candidates – Davit Hakobyan (leader of Marxist Party)
and Editor-in-Chief of opposition-run newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak
Nikol Pashinyan (currently under arrest) received 299 and 5023 votes
respectively.

The first instance court of Kentron and Nork Marash districts has
found Pashinyan guilty of crimes prescribed by Article 225.1 of RA
Criminal Code (organization of disorders) and sentenced him to 7
years in prison.

PURCHASE AND SALE TRANSACTIONS OF 0 THOUSAND CONDUCTED AT NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA OJSC ON JANUARY 27

Noyan Tapan
Jan 27, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Purchase and sale transactions of 0
thousand at the weighted average exchange rate of 376 drams per dollar
were conducted at Nasdaq OMX Armenia OJSC on January 27. According to
the press service of the Central Bank of Armenia, the closing price
was 376 drams.

ArmInfo awards certificates to winners of interbank opinion poll ‘The
Best Competitor’

2010-01-22 16:22:00

ArmInfo. The winners of the interbank opinion poll "The Best
Competitor" held by the financial-analytical service of the Agency of
Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo) have been awarded certificates.
The poll is held twice a year and sums up the assessments of banks and
their departments concerning the quality of their competitors, i.e.
the banking market participants.

The poll covered such spheres and segments of banking as level of
management, corporate management, participation in financing of small
and medium enterprises (SME), crediting of large business, activity in
the market of consumer and mortgage crediting, level of work in the
currency market, activity in the sphere of card business, work in the
market of money transfers, in the market of government securities and
corporate debt. The level of technological equipment of the
competitors was also assessed. As a result of 60 top managers’
interbank cross public opinion poll of 19 commercial banks of Armenia,
8 banks have taken the lead: ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, HSBC Bank
Armenia, Ardshininvestbank, INECOBANK, Unibank, Armeconombank,
ArmSwissBank and Ameriabank.

The certificate in the nominations "Level of management" and "Level of
participation in SME financing" has been awarded to ACBA-Credit
Agricole Bank; the certificate in the nominations "Level of corporate
management" and "Level of technological equipment" has been awarded to
HSBC Bank Armenia; the one in the nominations "Level of crediting of
large business" and "Level of work in the currency market" – to
Ardshininvestbank; the one in the nominations "Level of activity in
the mortgage market" and "Level of activity in the market of money
transfers" – to Unibank; in the nomination "Activity in the market of
plastic cards" – to Armeconombank; in the nomination "Activity in the
market of government securities" – to ArmSwissBank; in the nomination
"Activity in the market of corporate debt" – to Ameriabank; in the
nomination "Level of activity in the market of mortgage crediting" –
to INECOBANK.

The final indices of the poll, i.e. the averaged interest points for
all the nominations have demonstrated that the professional
participants in the market highly estimate the level of work of the
determined leading banks: ACBA- Credit Agricole (48,3% of possible
100%), Armeconombank (47,3%), Converse Bank (47,3%), Ardshininvestbank
(46,7%) and HSBC Bank Armenia (46,6%). The top ten includes also
Unibank, INECOBANK, ARARATBANK, VTB Bank (Armenia) and Ameriabank.

To note, over the period starting 2005, when the first poll was held,
Armeconombank and INECOBANK have maintained their leading positions
for plastic cards and consumer credits respectively. Since 2007
leading positions have been maintained by HSBC Banks Armenia for two
nominations – level of corporate management and technological
equipment, and Unibank for money transfers. It is noteworthy that the
subjective professional opinion of the Armenian banking community,
that has been reflected in the results of the poll, mainly reflects
real scene of banks’ activity in certain banking spheres with small
distortions.

KOCHARYAN SPOKE ON BEHALF OF THE RA

A1Plus.am
21/01/10

According to Tehran Times daily, Foreign Minister of Iran Manuchehr
Motaki Wednesday received Robert Kocharyan in Tehran. The issues
discussed during the meeting were related to bilateral relations and
developments in the region.

According to Tehran Times, Motaki said that Iranian-Armenian relations
have a long history.

"Stability and security in the Caucasus must be strengthened through
a regional approach," said the Iranian Minister.

Talking about the global economic crisis, Iran’s Foreign Minister
said that "those issues come from the corrupted system of governance
of the world established after WWII."

According to "Azatutyun" radio, in his turn, Robert Kocharyan said
that Armenia is ready to broaden cooperation with Iran. In addition,
according to Tehran Times, Kocharyan also spoke about the need for
guiding by development of security and economy in the region and
regional approaches, saying that the "foreign countries’ remedies
for normalizing the crises in the Caucasus are dangerous."

GAGIK MELIKYAN: RA CC DECISION PRODUCED COLD SHOWER EFFECT ON TURKISH AUTHORITIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2010 15:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA Constitutional Court’s decision produced a cold
shower effect on many circles, including the Turkish authorities,
which have always sought to impose preconditions upon Armenia, said
Gagik Melikyan, MP from the Republican Party of Armenia.

"By its decision, Armenia’s Constitutional Court proved that Protocols
contain no precondition and are aimed at establishing diplomatic
ties and opening border between Armenia and Turkey," he told a news
conference organized jointly with ARFD group parliamentarian Artsvik
Minasyan.

"Even if RA CC had found Protocols non-conformable to Armenia’s
Constitution, Turkey would have accused Armenia of protracting the
ratification process," Gagik Melikyan said, adding that Ankara signed
Protocols under international community’s pressure and cannot avoid
fulfilling its obligations.

At that, he noted that Armenia will never sign the Kars Treaty or
renounce the international recognition of Armenian Genocide.

"Turkish authorities will not force us into renouncing our
Constitution," he stressed.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

The Treaty of Kars was singed on October 13, 1923 between Turkey and
Transcaucasian republics. It consisted of a preamble, 20 articles
and 3 appendices.

The treaty was a successor treaty to the earlier Treaty of Moscow
of March 1921 and established contemporary borders between Turkey
and the South Caucasus states. It was signed in Kars on October 13,
1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11, 1922.

Most of the territories ceded to Turkey in the treaty were acquired
by Imperial Russia from the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish
War of 1877-1878. The only exception was the Surmalu region which
was annexed by Russia in the Treaty of Turkmenchay after the last
Russo-Persian War with Iran.

The treaty provided for the territory of the former Russian Batum
District of the Kutaisi Governorate to be divided. The northern half,
with the port city of Batumi, was ceded by Turkey to the Soviet Union.

The southern half, with the city of Artvin, would be annexed
by Turkey. It was agreed that the northern half would be granted
autonomy within Soviet Georgia. It eventually evolved into the Adjar
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (today Adjara). Additionally,
Turkey was also guaranteed a "free transit through the port of Batum
for commodities and all materials destined for, or originating in,
Turkey, without customs duties and charges, and with the right for
Turkey to utilize the port of Batum without special charges."

The treaty also created a new boundary between Turkey and Soviet
Armenia, defined by the Akhurian and Aras Rivers. Turkey obtained from
Armenia most of the former Kars Oblast of Russian Empire. The treaty
required Turkish troops to withdraw from an area roughly corresponding
to the western half of Armenia’s present-dayShirak Province (including
Alexandropol (Gyumri).

The document specified that the region of Nakhchivan (a territory
comprising the Nakhchivan and Sharur part of Sharur-Daralagez uyezds
of former Erivan Governorate of Russian Empire) was an autonomous
territory under the protection of Azerbaijan. In 1924, Nakhchivan
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed on this territory as
an exclave subordinate to Azerbaijan SSR, and sharing a 15-km boundary
with now Turkish district of Surmalu. [1] It was also agreed that
both Turkey and Russia would become guarantors of Nakhchivan’s status

The Republican Party of Armenia is a national conservative political
party in Armenia. It was the first political party in independent
Armenia to be founded (2 April 1990) and registered (14 May 1991). It
is the largest party of the centre-right in Armenia, and claims to have
140,000 members. The party controls most government bodies in Armenia.

At the 2003 parliamentary elections on May 25, the party received
23.5% of the popular vote, winning 31 out of 131 seats. At the last
parliamentary elections on May 12, 2007, the party received 33.91%
of the popular vote, winning 64 out of 131 seats. The former prime
minister, Andranik Markaryan, was the leader of the party. Current
President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, is the chairman of RPA board.