Author: Maghakian Mike

JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ARMENIA CONGRATULATED SARGSYAN ON ELECTION PRESIDENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.02.2008 16:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Jewish community of Armenia congratulated Serzh
Sargsyan on election President.

The congratulatory address issued by community head Rimma Varzhapetyan
says in part, "Dear Mr Sargsyan, on behalf of the Jewish community of
Armenia I congratulate you on election the President of the Republic
of Armenia. We appreciate you activity for the glory of the republic
and hope that we will live in a civilized, democratic and tolerant
society. We wish you every success and good health,"

Leaders of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and China also congratulated
Serzh Sargsyan on victory in the presidential race, the RA government’s
press office reported.

ALL DISPUTES MUST BE SOLVED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF RA CONSTITUTION AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

armradio.am
26.02.2008 12:20

The US considers that "all the disputes connected with elections
must be solved in the framework of the Constitution and the political
system of Armenia," Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman of the US Department of
State, declared, commenting on the post-election situation in Armenia,
Mediamax reports.

"You have seen our statement on the elections in Armenia, and I have
nothing to add at this point. Sure, you have heard about some concerns
of the international observers, but we think that all the disputes
connected with the elections must be solved in the framework of the
Constitution and the political system of Armenia," Tom Casey said.

Let us remind that on February 22nd, the US Department of State
representative presented the following statements:

"I congratulate the Armenian people on the occasion of the active
and competitive elections on February 19 and note the preliminary
assessment of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, according to which the
elections were held mostly in line with the principles of democratic
elections adopted by the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

At the same time we should note that the international observers
registered considerable problems connected with the electoral
process. Nevertheless, the electoral authorities positively reacted
to the demand to carry out recount of votes. We call on the Armenian
Government to ensure the transparency of this recount, investigate
all the suggested inaccuracies and take steps to improve the future
elections. We also urge the political forces to continue ensuring
the rule of law and act peacefully and with responsibility for the
sake of democratic Armenia."

Mediamax, Armenia
February 26,2008

Armenian opposition says activists arrested on "trumped-up" charges

Yerevan, 26 February: The spokesman of [former Armenian President]
Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s election headquarters, Arman Musinyan, said
today that the "authorities are arresting our most active supporters
on trumped-up charges with the aim of decapitating the national
movement".

Speaking at a briefing in Yerevan today, Musinyan said that Suren
Surenyants, a representative of the Republic Party, Garnik Margaryan,
the leader of the Homeland and Honour Party, and Samvel Harutyunyan,
the former mayor of the city of Spitak [Lori Region], were arrested
yesterday, the Mediamax news agency has reported.

"Not only do all these actions harm our movement, they have a
counter-effect as well, attracting more and more people to Freedom
Square [venue in Yerevan where Ter-Petrosyan’s supporters are
rallying in protest against the result of the 19 February
presidential election]," he said. He added that the authorities are
attempting to close Ter-Petrosyan’s election headquarters, explaining
this by the end of the election.

Musinyan said that yesterday 11 protesters started an open-ended
hunger strike on Freedom Square. At the same time, he accused the
municipal authorities of being reluctant to ensure ambulances are
permanently available at the square.

Asked by Mediamax to comment on reports that the Yerkrapah Union of
Volunteers has joined Ter-Petrosyan’s team, Musinyan said that this
statement was made at the rally by Miasnik Malkhasyan, the deputy
chairman of this organization, and "if Yerkrapah’s position has
changed, its leadership would have announced this".

VARDAN OSKANYAN: "WE HAVE NO RIGHTS TO DISRUPT PEOPLE"

Panorama.am
15:09 25/02/2008

Today "Tolerance and racism in Southern Caucasus region" international
conference devoted to Sumgayit started in Yerevan. "Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is still vague. In this case we do not have the right to
disrupt people. It is impossible," said Vardan Oskanyan, the minister
of foreign affairs in his speech.

According to him the most resource of our nation is being together
and tolerance as well. As the Genocide is the result of being
intolerant. According to him Kosovo’s example has much in commons
with NK regulation but the latter has more privileges.

Radik Martirosyan, the president of the National Academy of Sciences,
said that intolerance is a dangerous thing and it gives birth to
many disasters.

He said that if there was no Sumgayit case, the region probably would
have another fatal.

Presidential candidate Artur Baghdasaryan calls on CEC to take
immediate measures to recount votes

2008-02-23 13:53:00

ArmInfo. Presidential candidate, Leader of Orinats Yerkir party Artur
Baghdasaryan applied to the Armenian CEC or immediate instruction to
the district election commission to recount votes to ‘restore the real
picture of the vote>.’

The statement by A. Baghdasaryan’s campaign headquarters provided to
ArmInfo, Saturday, says the election was conducted by gross violations
of the election and criminal legislation, mass falsifications, warning,
beating and blackmailing of voters, agents, members of election
commissions, journalists and observers.

The statement says that idleness of the CEC had led to disorders at
some election commission in the period of appeals against the voting
result. In particular, some election commission just refused to accept
the applications by Baghdasaryan’s campaign agents, others created
artificial obstacles to consideration of the applications. The only
polling station in Yerevan 9/31 conducted vote recount that showed that
the votes in favor of A. Bahgdasaryan were reduced by 50 ballots.
Similar cases were observed at the polling stations 34, 35, 38 and
others.

The statement says that the CEC must immediately restore the real
picture of voting otherwise a serious doubt will be cast on the
legitimacy of the election which is pregnant with public confrontation
and serious damage to the international image of the country. All this
will make the country vulnerable to external and internal challenges.

UNITED LIBERAL NATIONAL PARTY ORGANIZES RALLY AND CONCERT ON FEBRUARY 20 IN LIBERTY SQUARE

Noyan Tapan
Feb 20, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The rally of the United Liberal
National Party started from 14:00, February 20 in Liberty Square,
during which a concert is to take place. As Noyan Tapan correspondent
was informed by Yerevan Mayor’s Office, the holding of the event is
sanctioned by the Mayor’s Office. On February 3, the party applied
to the Mayor’s Office to receive the proper permission and received
a permission on February 4.

SCANDALOUS RESULTS

A1+
21 February, 2008

The participation of the Armenian hokey nation team in the Hockey World
Championship was concluded with a scandal. The Armenian national team
competed with the national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece
in the Division III in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Armenia lost to Greece 8-5 on Saturday and won against Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 18-1. Even without the forfeit, Greece earned the
promotion outright to this year’s World Championship Division III
with two victories on the ice. Head of the Armenian Hockey Federation
Karen Khachatryan told "A1+": "The refereeing during the match with
Greece was scandalous. Many incidents took place during the match. The
directorate of the IIHF World Championship Division III Qualification
decided that both games of Armenia will forfeit and will count as
5-0 wins for the opponents, Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina".

The Armenian team hopes the IIHF will discuss the incidents and,
probably, will recognize the decision invalid. Maybe Armenia and
Greece will hold another match and the hokey players will have the
opportunity to play in Division III.

The Associated Press
Feb 19 2008

Armenian PM Leads in Presidential Count
By MARIA DANILOVA – 1 hour ago

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Early results in Armenia’s presidential
election Tuesday gave a strong lead to Prime Minister Serge
Sarkisian, officials said, but the tally suggested he might not be
able to avoid a runoff with his top challenger.

With 28 percent of ballots counted, Sarkisian had 42 percent of the
votes, the Central Election Commission said. Former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian, was second in the field of nine, with 11 percent. A
candidate needs more than 50 percent for an outright victory and
avoid a runoff.

Election officials were expected to continue counting ballots through
the night and full preliminary results were not expected before
Wednesday evening.

The contest was marred by allegations from Ter-Petrosian that
authorities had rigged the vote and harassed his supporters. He
asserted he was the real victor and urged supporters to rally in the
capital Wednesday to protest the vote count.

The allegations of fraud and threats of mass protests raised concerns
over instability in the volatile country at the juncture of the
energy-rich Caspian Sea region and southern Europe and bordering
Iran.

Sarkisian and Ter-Petrosian – Armenia’s first president after the
Soviet collapse – were the two top contenders among nine contenders
vying to lead the South Caucasus nation, where more than a quarter of
its 3.2 million people live in poverty despite some economic progress
in recent years.

Tension with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region was
one of the main issues of the campaign. Armenia’s government says the
mostly ethnic Armenian territory should be recognized as a sovereign
state, while Azerbaijan says it will never give the region up.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on Sunday added an
element of uncertainty for Armenians, many of whom see clear
analogies between Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh – a mountainous region
in Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian
forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a bloody six-year conflict.

The two presidential candidates differ on how to handle
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sarkisian, a native of the region, appears less likely to compromise
than Ter-Petrosian, who was forced to resign as president in 1998
after advocating concessions in the dispute.

ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE INITIATED CRIMINAL CASE FOR HAMPERING OBSERVERS’ ACTIVITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.02.2008 01:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian prosecutor general’s office initiated
a criminal case for hampering the activity of MPs Armen Martirosyan,
Zaruhi Postanjyan and Vartan Khachatryan, who observed the presidential
election, and journalist Lusine Barseghyan against whom violence was
used, said Sona Truzyan, a spokesperson for the prosecutor general’s
office.

"The results of the investigation will be announced later," she said,
Novosti Armenia reports.

ARMENPRESS

ARMENAL PRODUCES 12, 256 TONS OF PRODUCTS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS: ArmenAl foil mill facility in
Yerevan, owned by Russian RusAl, manufactured last year 12,256
tons of products, Alexander Melkumian, a press officer for ArmenAl,
told Armenpress.

He said 1,010 tons were produced in December alone. In 2006 the
plant produced only 945 tons of foil.

He said the modernization program that has provided for a major
upgrade in foil rolling equipment and the establishment of a full
production cycle are expected to lift the plant capacity by 25,000
tons of foil per year, including 18,000 tons of highly profitable
thin foil in 6-9 micron gauge.

The modernization of the plant was started in 2004 and was aimed
both at improving the quality of its foil products and boosting the
plant’s profitability to make the mill one of the world leading foil
producers. A German engineering firm Achenbach was selected to execute
the program at an investment cost of US $80 million.

ArmenAl sells its products to Europe, USA and Iran and in Armenia.