Author: Nadirian Emma

AN EXPERT THINKS THERE ARE NOT MORE THAN 3-4 NEW ELITE APARTMENT HOUSES IN YEREVAN

2008-01-17 14:04:00

ArmInfo. Actually there are not more than 3-4 new elite apartment
houses in Yerevan today, director of Armenian Real Estate Exchange
Artem Pribilskiy told ArmInfo correspondent.

He also added that more than 100 new elite apartment houses built in
Yerevan over the last 2-3 years are not elite at all.’Any new house
cannot be considered elite as it does not have several infrastructures
peculiar to the really elite houses’, – he said and added that a
square meter of the capital city new houses is $1600-2000. He also
said that chiefly foreigners buy apartments from the elite apartment
houses, although certain local citizens can also buy them but do not
do that. To note, today apartment of the Center Yerevan district are
the most expensive ones. So, a square meter of an apartment in this
district cost 473.1 thsd drams at the end of November.

NO TREE HAS BEEN PLANTED IN GYUMRI

A1+
"Tsayg" TV Company, Gyumri
[12:06 pm] 16 January, 2008

Over 400-hectare timberland was cut down in Shirak Marz in the
90s. Today only one percent of Gyumri is afforested.

Under a Government decree tree-planting was organised in the marz
in 2007. The initiative is considered unprecedented over the past
10 years.

"Forestation was realised only in the region of Artik," Arman
Harutiunian, Head of the "ArmForest" CSJC says. Gyumri was left out
of the programme as under a Government decree over 2000-hectare land
belonging to the forest management was allotted to the Municipality.

Recently, the land turned out to belong to the "ArmForest" because
of a wrong wording of the document.

The area will likely be afforested next year provided the issue of
irrigation is addressed in due time.

Presently, the company lacks technics, therefore most work is carried
out by rented equipment.

The Company needs about ten years to have fertile soil as trees need
constant care. Each sapling needs at least twenty years to foliate.

NUP SURE THAT THEIR CANDIDATE HAS A STABLE ELECTORATE

Mediamax
January 16, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. If the oppositional candidates for the position
of the Armenian President continue making reciprocal accusations,
the situation in the country will not improve as a result, Deputy
Chairman of the "National Unification" Party (NUP) Aleksan Karapetian
stated in Yerevan today.

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
Aleksan Karapetian stated that on the threshold of the elections,
the political parties should "renounce personal ambitions".

He noted that the candidate for the position of the President,
Chairman of NUP Artashes Geghamian "has a stable electorate and he
would not get nominated if there were any doubts about that".

Artashes Geghamian has 53 coordination pre-election headquarters,
12 of which function in Yerevan.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Jan 14 2008

Prevention of new war in Karabakh priority of world community,
Kazimirov says

YEREVAN, January 14. /ARKA/. Prevention of a new war in Karabakh is
the priority of the world community, Ambassador Valdimir Kazimirov,
former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, said during the
international conference on the Black Sea cooperation in Yerevan.

He believes priorities of Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku are known to
everyone: for Armenians, this is the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, for Azerbaijani people it is the issue of the occupied
territories and return of migrants.
In contrast to `one-time conflicts’, Karabakh has a tragic
prehistory, which imposes both a quick settlement of the conflict and
prevention of bloodsheds between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to
Kazimirov.

He believes the official Baku itches for a new war and revenge. This
is why, the world community should focus on the war threats hysteria
of Azerbaijan, publicity campaign of the military budget, armaments
drive, double-faced attitude towards incidents on the borderline,
`total’ negativism, refusal to establish contacts with Armenians and
restrictions of the freedom of the press, according to Kazimirov.

The Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Nagorno Karabakh, mainly
populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for independence from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began, as a result of
which Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven
regions adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 after the signing of the Bishkek cease-fire
agreement, the military operations were stopped.
Since 1992, negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the conflict
have been carried out within the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the
USA, Russia and France.

The two-week international conference on the prospects of the Black
Sea regional cooperation and security opened in Yerevan on January
14. The organizers of the event are the Armenian International Policy
Research Group (AIPRG), sponsored by NATO, OSCE, the Union of the YSU
Graduates and the Embassy of Netherlands.

EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, former
Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov, as
well as acting US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza are
among the participants to the conference.

Representatives of the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs and the
International Institute for Strategic Studies (UK), Reuters
information Agency, RAND Corporation, Brookings Institution, Center
for Strategic and International Studies (UK), the US Enterprise
Institute, Jamestown Fund, US Department of State, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Great Britain and EU will participate in the Black
Sea discussions.
Delegations from Turkey, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Russia are invited to participate in the conference.
Z. Sh. -0–

OSKANIAN WARNS OF ELECTION UNREST
By Ruben Meloyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Jan 9 2008

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian emphasized on Wednesday the
significance of next month’s presidential election for Armenia’s
international reputation and expressed concern in that regard about
the possibility of post-election unrest in the country.

The Armenian authorities received a major boost to their international
legitimacy and democratic credentials with Western observers’ largely
positive assessment of their conduct of last May’s parliamentary
elections.

"I think these elections will have an even bigger impact," Oskanian
said of the presidential vote scheduled for February 19. "If we
conduct them well, our positions will definitely strengthen in the
international arena."

"But if we hold bad elections, I can say for certain that consequences
will be negative and that Armenia will lose the reputation it acquired
in the past year. That will have a negative impact on our foreign
policy," he added in a warning clearly addressed to his own government.

Armenian leaders and the election frontrunner, Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, in particular, have said that they will do their best to
ensure that the upcoming elections meets democratic standards.

Opposition leaders are skeptical about such assurances, citing
Armenia’s history of electoral fraud. Some of them have threatened
to dispute fraudulent vote results with street protests.

Oskanian seemed worried about such possibility as he stressed the need
for Armenian political groups to avoid election-related violence. "The
people must make it clear to everyone that [violence] must not be a
means of solving political issues," he told a news conference. "I have
the impression, based on my conversations with different people, that
the issue of achieving political objectives by means of instability
remains on the agenda of certain political forces."

Oskanian declined to name those forces.

Sarkisian’s most radical opposition challenger, former Levon
Ter-Petrosian, and his allies say they still have faith in the
government-controlled electoral process and have no intention to stage
the kind of post-election uprising that toppled the governments of
neighboring Georgia and other ex-Soviet states.

Oskanian, meanwhile, sounded more positive about the upcoming election
at a meeting later in the day with Geert-Heinrich Ahrens, head of the
main international vote monitoring mission deployed in Armenia by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. A statement by
the Armenian Foreign Ministry cited Oskanian as telling Ahrens that
its work will be a "real affirmation of the establishment of democracy
in Armenia."

Ahrens said, for his part, that the mission will comprise 28 long-term
and about 250 short-term observers.

OSKANIAN EMPHASIZES PROPER CONDUCT OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ARMENPRESS
Jan 9, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS: Foreign minister Vartan Oskanian said
today a proper conduct of the February 19 presidential election will
be the government’s number one priority this year.

He added the government should work harder to ensure that the
presidential ballot become a step forward against the May 12 , 2006
parliamentary elections. According to Oskanian, given this, the
following next five years would be years of progress for Armenia
Oskanian urged political groups to drop any idea of trying to
destabilize the situation in a bid of solving political issues.

"My impression from private conservations with different people is
that there are still groups which have destabilization as a means of
attaining to their political goals on their agendas."

The foreign minister called on the media to expose such groups and
condemn them.

"The candidate elected by people will become the country’s president. I
am saying this in the first place as a citizen of Armenia, who
lives in this country together with family. I would never like to
see this country destabilized. And secondly, as a foreign minister I
am concerned about Armenia’s image and the efficiency of our foreign
policy,’ he said.

Oskanian said he has read parts of former president Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s election manifesto which refers to foreign policy.

"After Ter-Petrosian’s severe criticism of the incumbent government’s
foreign policy I expected his manifesto to have fresh and interesting
ideas and proposals. I am frustrated because there is not a hint of
something new in it,’ Oskanian said.

LEADER OF NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC UNION VAZGEN MANUKYAN RULES OUT POSSIBILITY OF SUPPORTING PRIME MINISTER SERZH SARGSYAN IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WHATEVER THE DISTRIBUTION OF POLITICAL FORCES IS

arminfo
2008-01-08 20:44:00

ArmInfo. "I rule out the possibility that we support Prime Minister
Serzh Sargsyan in the presidential election whatever the distribution
of political forces is", Leader of National Democratic Union Vazgen
Manukyan told ArmInfo correspondent.

According to him, supporting Serzh Sargsyan’s candidature would mean
supporting the policy pursued in the country, but for the NDU the
necessity to make serious changes in the country is very important.

"Actually, the oppositional candidate I wouldn’t like to connect
the country’s future with may theoretically get an opportunity to
take part in the second round. Let us not specify whom I mean. But
this is only a theoretical possibility, however, I feel no similar
tendency. In any case, we can just step aside, but we won’t support
a candidate from power", he stressed.

ILHAM ALIYEV: "PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT OF AZERBAIJAN WILL NEVER ALLOW CREATION OF SECOND ARMENIAN STATE IN THE TERRITORY OF AZERBAIJAN"

Today
ociety/42146.html
Jan 7 2008
Azerbaijan

"We will never allow the creation of the second Armenian state in the
territory of Azerbaijan. If Armenians residing in Nagorno-Garabagh
want to decide their fate, they must do it basing on the principle
of Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity, but if they do not want to do
this, they must leave Nagorno-Garabagh and create their second state
in another place. Anyway, the creation of the second Armenian state in
Azerbaijan`s territory is impossible,"- President Ilham Aliyev said in
his Solidarity Day and New Year greetings to the people of Azerbaijan.

According to the Head of State, non-constructive position of the
Armenian side, its aggressive policy prevented us from solving this
problem in 2007.

"We will never make a concession concerning our territorial
integrity. Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity is inviolable; the
Nagorno-Garabagh will never be given independence. The leadership
and the people of Azerbaijan will never agree with that, and
the international community will never recognize independence of
Nagorno-Garabagh. We are holding talks in this direction,"- President
Aliyev added.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 4 2008

Ankara’s eyes on upcoming elections in neighboring countries

Ankara has been closely following developments regarding the upcoming
scheduled elections to be held in Turkey’s neighboring countries.

The presidential elections in both Armenia and Greek Cyprus are
subjects of particular interest for the Turkish capital as it doesn’t
have diplomatic relations with Yerevan and it doesn’t recognize the
Greek Cypriot government, which officially represents the entire
island in the international arena.
Turkey has recognized Armenia since the former Soviet republic gained
independence in 1991 but nevertheless refuses to establish diplomatic
ties because of Armenian efforts to secure international condemnation
of the controversial World War I-era killings of Anatolian Armenians
as genocide. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were
slaughtered in orchestrated killings during the last years of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the claims, saying that
300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil
strife, emerging when the Armenians took up arms for independence in
eastern Anatolia and sided with the Russian troops who were invading
Ottoman lands.

In 1993 Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with its close ally, Azerbaijan, which was at war with
Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, dealing a heavy economic
blow to the impoverished nation. Ankara wants Armenia to abandon its
campaign for recognition of the killings as genocide and to make
progress in its dispute with Baku before formal diplomatic relations
are re-established.

No imminent change in Yerevan’s stance on the genocide issue is
expected following the elections. Yet, a change of power in Greek
Cyprus after the elections, which are scheduled for Feb. 17, may well
lead to opening a new period of efforts for finding a comprehensive
resolution to the decades-long Cyprus issue.

Four candidates are in the running in southern part of the island,
including the incumbent, Tassos Papadopoulos, seeking a second
five-year term, and Demetris Christofias, the leader of Greek Cyprus’
communist Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL). Christofias —
who was the key backer of Papadopoulos’ center-left alliance until he
quit in the summer of 2007 — has accused Papadopoulos of dragging
his feet on attempts to solve the island’s division.

A fresh dialogue may start between Greek and Turkish Cypriots if
Christofias is elected to power, analysts say. Turkish diplomatic
sources, meanwhile, emphasize that whoever comes to power in Greek
Cyprus, a leadership that renews itself as well as refreshing
people’s confidence will have a stronger hand for taking new
initiatives.

The same sources note that new activity concerning the Cyprus issue
will be seen following the spring season. They say that significant
progress will be difficult, yet a good opportunity for some progress
will open up then.

04.01.2008

SERVET YANATMA ANKARA

ARMENPRESS

WELL-TO-DO ARMENIANS SEEKING SAFE HAVEN OUTSIDE TURKEY

ISTANBUL, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS: A lawyer for
Turkish Armenians, Diran Bakar, said the departure of
Hrant Dink’s children from Turkey after their father’s
assassination has prompted many other well-to-do
Armenian families to seek safer havens abroad.
In an interview with Turkish ANKA news agency Diran
Bakar said the latest attack on a Catholic priest
Adriano Franchini in Izmir added to local Armenians’
concerns about whether the predominantly Muslim
country – which is bidding for European Union
membership – can protect its Christian community.
In February 2006 a 16-year-old boy fatally shot a
Catholic priest as he knelt in prayer inside his
church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.
Following that killing, a Catholic priest was
attacked and threatened in Izmir, and another was
stabbed in the Black Sea port of Samsun. In November
this year, an Assyrian cleric was abducted in
southeast Turkey and rescued by security forces. In
April, three Christians were killed at a publishing
house that produces Bibles.
Diran Bakar said the idea of leaving the country is
getting especially stronger among young Armenians.