Author: Maghakian Mike

ARMENIA AND GEORGIA AGREE ON 110 KM SECTOR OF ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN BOUNDARY

Yerevan, January 8. ArmInfo. The process of delimitation and
demarcation of the Armenian-Georgian boundary is proceeding
efficiently, Vladimir Karapetyan, the acting press-secretary of the
Armenian Foreign Minister, told an ArmInfo correspondent.

As a result of the commissions’ fruitful work, the sides agreed
upon 110 km sector of the boundary. The sides decided to intensively
continue the process in 2007 and to complete it as soon as possible,
V.Karapetyan said. To note, the length of the Armenian-Georgian
boundary is about 235 km.

ARMENIA RECEIVES THE SECOND TRANSFER OF THE MCC INITIAL DISBURSEMENT

ArmRadio.am
28.12.2006 14:38

Early December the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) had already
made the first transfer of the initial disbursement to Armenia,
amounting $882 thousand. As it was envisaged, today the MCC-Armenia
received the second transfer, amounting to $507,635, Press Service
of the MCC-Armenia Office told ArmInfo.

The financial means envisaged in the compact signed between MCC
and the Government of Armenia will not be provided at once. The
disbursements are set for three months and are transferred to the
MCC-Armenia bank account.

TURKEY ASKS AZERBAIJAN TO EXPLAIN ALLEGED MISTREATMENT OF ETHNIC ARMENIAN MUSICIAN
By Suzan Fraser, Associated Press Writer

Associated Press Worldstream
December 26, 2006 Tuesday 7:29 PM GMT

Turkey has asked its close ally Azerbaijan for information on the
alleged mistreatment and expelling of a Turkish musician who is of
Armenian descent, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.

Murat Bedikyan a pianist with Eurovision song contest winner Sertap
Erener’s band accused officials in Azerbaijan of mistreating him and
unfairly ousting him from the country on arrival for a concert Dec. 19,
according to the Anatolia news agency.

Bedikyan was forced to return to Istanbul and could not join his
band. He insisted he was singled out and mistreated despite his
Turkish citizenship, because he is a member of Turkey’s minority
Armenian community.

Turkey had formally requested information on Bedikyan’s allegations
from Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, according to a Turkish Foreign
Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of rules
that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior
authorization. A similar request had been made with the Azerbaijani
Embassy in Ankara, the official said.

The ex-Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia are at loggerheads
over the mountainous region of Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan that
has been under the control of Armenian and ethnic-Armenian forces
since a 1994 cease-fire. The six-year separatist conflict killed
about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes,
including many of the region’s ethnic Azeris.

The region’s final status remains unresolved and years of talks
under the auspices of international mediators have brought few
visible results.

Turkey has close ties to Azerbaijan, with which it shares an ethnic
and linguistic heritage. It refuses to have diplomatic relations with
Armenia because of Yerevan’s unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan.

Relations are further complicated over the World War I-era killings of
Armenians. Armenians say that Ottoman Turks slaughtered 1.5 million
Armenians in a planned genocide. Turkey vehemently denies that the
mass killings were genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and
Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Business Day website, Johannesburg,
22 Dec 06

COMMENTATOR SAYS TURKEY WILL REJECT SOUTH AFRICAN ARMS DEAL

by Gunvant Govinjdjee

"Why South Africa’s Rooivalk dreams just will not fly"

If Denel clinches the Rooivalk deal with Turkey, it will be a miracle
– and I do not believe in miracles.

A decision of the French lower house of parliament on 12 October, and
the Turkish government’s reaction to this decision, have virtually
ruled out any possibility of Denel selling the Rooivalk attack
helicopter to the Turkish air force.

Yet last month, Denel’s CEO was still putting a positive spin on the
deal. So what does the decision of the French parliament have to do
with the prospect of selling the Rooivalk to Turkey? On 12 October,
the lower house of the French parliament passed a bill making it a
crime to deny the Armenian genocide. The bill is unlikely to become
law as the French Senate is not contemplating proceeding with the
bill.

Nevertheless, the controversial decision of the French MPs was
sufficient to raise the ire of the Turkish government, which severed
military ties with France. The severing of military ties means that
Turkey will no longer purchase French weaponry. The Rooivalk relies
on French engines, and it is highly unlikely the Turks will be
prepared to buy a French arms component that comes via South Africa
in the form of a completed weapon system.

Denel and AgustaWestland of Italy have been the two short-listed
companies bidding for the tender to manufacture 30 attack helicopters
for the Turkish air force. Notwithstanding the draft bill of the
French parliament, AgustaWestland has the clear advantage over Denel
not only for technical reasons, but for political reasons as well.
One reason that AgustaWestland’s A129 Mangusta is a stronger
contender than the Rooivalk is that it carries the US-made Hellfire
missile, which Denel was unable to use for its attack helicopter
because of an apartheid-era spy scandal. But it is more likely that
political considerations will determine the outcome of the
competition between the two bidders.

Turkey has been seeking European Union (EU) membership for many years
and Italy has expressed itself as a strong supporter of Turkey’s
right to join the EU. Furthermore, signing the Mangusta deal with an
Italian company will be a continuation of long-established arms
industry cooperation. South Africa has yet to initiate any meaningful
cooperation in this field.

It is clear that Denel has already lost the helicopter race. It is
time both Denel and the South African government disabuse themselves
of the illusion that they can successfully market and sell their
so-called state-of-the art war machine.

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin needs to face Denel’s Rooivalk
failure, which has cost the South African taxpayers billions of rand.

When, not if, Turkey formally rejects South Africa’s tender, Turkey
will join a long list of countries that were touted by Denel as
potential customers of the Rooivalk. Some of these are: Spain,
Sweden, South Korea, Greece, Malaysia, Australia and China. Despite
the massive vote of no confidence in the Rooivalk, both Denel and
Erwin continue to pin their hopes on the Rooivalk coming to the
rescue of the bankrupt parastatal arms industry.

There is just one solution to Denel and Erwin’s profligacy and
daydreaming: scrap the Rooivalk, which has become South Africa’s
albatross.

Armenia’s PM to attend Turkmen president’s funeral
by: Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
December 22, 2006 Friday

Armenia’s Prime Minister Andranik Margarian will represent his country
at the funeral of Turkmenistan’s leader Saparmurat Niyazov. He is
flying to Ashgabat with a government delegation later on Saturday.

Last Thursday Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian on behalf of the
Armenian people and on his own behalf offered condolences to the
government of Turkmenistan over Niyazov’s death.

"Armenia responded with feeling of deep sadness to the news of
President Saparmurat Niyazov’s premature death," the presidential
press-service said.

"Niyazov was the one who promoted the emergence of independent
Turkmenistan and remained its leader throughout the years. We
appreciate his contribution to strengthening and developing
Armenian-Turkmen relations," the Armenian president said, adding he
was certain that the people of Turkmenistan would keep exerting every
effort for the sake of their country’s prosperity, firmer statehood
and independence.

MAIN PENSIONS OF DISABLED PERSONS TO INCREASE BY 250 DRAMS FROM JANUARY 1 2007

Noyan Tapan
Dec 21 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 21, NOYAN TAPAN. It is envisaged to raise the
main pensions of the disabled persons by 250 drams from January 1,
2007. Karmen Petrosian, Head of the Unit of Disabled Persons’ Issues
of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Issues, told NT correspondent
about it. She said that the main pension of the disabled currently
makes 4,250 drams (aout 10.5 USD). The disabled persons of the first
group receive pensions in the amount of 140% of the main pension
(5,850 drams), those of the second group – 120%, and of the third
group – in the amount of 100%.

OVER 220 INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OPERATE IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 20 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2006 the RA Ministry of Trade and
Economic Development developed and adopted 29 standards of the Republic
of Armenia. These standards fully correspond to the international
and European standards (ISO and EN). 35 international standards
were put into operation. Robert Dayan, Head of the Standartization,
Metrology and Conformity Certification Department of the RA Ministry of
Trade and Economic Development, stated this at the December 20 press
conference. In his words, at the present time over 220 international
standards are in effect in the RA. R. Dayan added that 12 technical
regulations were submitted to the Armenian government and adopted,
and 42 technical regulations have been adopted in Armenia. It was
noted that the Classifier of Standards, the Classifier of Jobs, the
Classifier of Economic Activity Types were adopted and put into force
in 2006.

SPANISH AND RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS NAGORNO KARABAKH PROBLEM

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2006

Spanish Foreign Minister, OSCE new chairman Miguel Angel Moratinos
and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today discussed Nagorno
Karabakh problem within the framework of discussions of GUAM frozen
conflicts, Spanish Foreign Ministry told the APA exclusively.

They discussed the last stage of negotiations on Armenian and
Azerbaijani conflict and the ways of the settlement of the conflict.

Besides the relations between Russia and Spain, economic partnership
relations in CIS region were discussed.

WEST NOT INTERESTED IN ESTABLISHING DEMOCRACY IN ARMENIA
by Armen Bagdasaryan

168 Zham, Armenia
Dec 14 2006

"We received 0.6 per cent of challenges"

So, the first batch of 236m dollars – 1.4m dollars – will be
transferred to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge programme by
the end of the year. Representatives of the Millennium Challenge
programme have said that if the parliamentary and presidential
elections in Armenia in 2007 and 2008 do not meet democratic norms,
they may revise their decision and stop transferring the money.

But this does not mean that the Armenian authorities will do everything
possible to hold the forthcoming election as required.

Everything will take place according to the scenarios of the previous
election, though some technologies of fraud may be changed. Why?

Despite everything, the Millennium Challenge will undoubtedly give
this money to Armenia and the Armenian authorities are well aware
of this. But the problem is that the West is not concerned about
the democracy level in Armenia. Of course, they pretend that this is
very important for them, but actually they do not care about whether
Armenia is a democratic state or a dictatorship. Certainly, this does
not mean that democracy is not important for the West. It is important,
but only in the case of the states which threaten the security of the
West. For instance, it is very important for the West that democracy is
established in Russia, China and Iran. And this is clear as democratic
societies are the most predictable ones. In other words, if a state
is democratic, it may not be dangerous for the West any longer.

Armenia is not on the list of these states, as it has neither energy
resources nor a nuclear weapon, and it is not on an important
transport crossroads. Armenia can be dangerous for the West only
because of one index: if social plight worsens in Armenia much,
thousands of refugees will leave for Europe and the USA. Thus, the
West does not have a task of democratization in Armenia but that of
"poverty alleviation". People should have something to eat so that
they do not crowd Europe or break the calm of the "old world".

For several decades the West has been acting in this way: it is
cheaper for them to "overcome poverty" in the countries of the third
world than to bear migrants from these countries. In this case their
states will be preserved "clean"; especially as terrorist movements
are usually formed in poorer states. For this reason, they allocate
money for poverty alleviation especially in rural districts as people
emigrate chiefly form these districts.

This does not at all mean that we cannot develop the country with
the help of the money given by the Millennium Challenge. We should
simply understand that nevertheless, the strengthening of democracy
and liberalization of economy are the most tested ways for fighting
poverty and developing the economy and that sums from "aside" can
only promote this.

Anyway, even if the authorities understand that the Millennium
Challenge money will reach Armenia, this does not at all mean that
they should hold the forthcoming election just in the same way as
the previous ones. Finally, the West is not obliged to think about
our future.

ARMENIAN FM HOPES THAT ARREST OF ZHIRAYR SEFILYAN WILL NOT HAVE NEGATIVE IMPACT ON ARMENIA’S RELATIONS WITH DIASPORA

Yerevan, December 19. ArmInfo. Armenian FM Vardan Oskanyan hopes
that the arrest of Zhyrayr Sefilyan will not have a negative impact
on Armenia’s relations with the Diaspora.

"I hope it will not have any impact on our relations with the
Diaspora," Oskanyan said during a press-conference in the Urban
discussion club today.

To remind, the coordinator of the Union of Armenian Volunteers
public-patriotic initiative, Lebanese citizen Zhirayr Sefilyan was
arrested Dec 10 for calling in public for a coup in Armenia.