Author: Nahapetian Boris

ARMENIA TO CLOSE NUCLEAR PLANT

The Associated Press
Nov 29 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenia approved a plan Thursday to shut
down its lone nuclear power plant, following years of pressure from
foreign nations concerned about its Soviet-era design and safety.

The government gave no date for closing the Medzamor reactor, located
about 20 miles west of the capital, Yerevan. The 27-year-old plant,
which supplies nearly half the country’s electricity, halted operations
after a 1988 earthquake but was restarted during an energy shortage
in 1995.

Since then, Armenia has been under constant pressure to close the
plant ahead of its 2016 operational end-life due to safety concerns
and possible design flaws. The European Union has pledged loans and
other assistance estimated to about cover the cost of closing it.

The shutdown could cost up to $280 million, Energy Minister Armen
Movsisian said.

Armenian officials have long refused to shut it without another source
of electricity.

Last week, the United States said it would fund a preliminary
feasibility study on building a new nuclear plant.

President Robert Kocharian has said that building a new, 1,000-megawatt
plant – double that of Medzamor – would cost more than $3 billion.

In 2004, Russia’s state-run electricity grid operator, RAO Unified
Energy Systems, assumed financial control of Medzamor in a deal struck
to relieve Armenia’s massive debts to Russian energy suppliers. UES
and Armenia now share management of the plant.

Russia & CIS General Newswire
November 30, 2007 Friday 5:11 PM MSK

Baku denies exceeding CFE quotas

BAKU Nov 30

Azerbaijan is not violating its quotas on armaments under the Treaty
on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Azeri Defense Ministry
spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said at a press conference on Friday.

"Armenia, which is an aggressor country, has been accusing us of that
[of exceeding the limits stipulated by the CFE] for years. However,
Azerbaijan has not violated the limits," Sabiroglu said.

When Azerbaijan and Armenia were in the process of joining the CFE,
they were both allowed to have an equal amount of weapons, "although
this is unfair, taking into account the size of Azerbaijan’s
territory and its population," he said.

Sabiroglu described Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian’s
statement alleging that Azerbaijan has exceeded its CFE limits as an
attempt "to blacken Azerbaijan in the international community’s
eyes."

"Armenia itself is building up its arms and it is doing so quite
actively, and everybody knows who is helping it," Sabiroglu said.

"Armenia was once given weapons worth $1 billion, which at first they
tried to conceal, but then later had to admit to," he said.

"The same happened later as well," he said.

Commenting on the possibility that Russia and the U.S. could jointly
use the Gabala radar station, Sabiroglu said the station belongs to
Azerbaijan, and therefore no decisions on its use can be made without
permission from Baku.

As for the plans of using the radar station after 2012, when the term
of its lease by Russia expires, Sabiroglu said, "There have been no
specific proposals so far on its use in the future." va rp dp

SEMNEBY SAYS INTERRUPTION OF KARABAKH TALKS DANGEROUS

Yerkir
15.11.2007 16:10

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus
Peter Semneby said in an interview with Mediamax that "Armenia has
not only assumed political commitments, but has also taken serious
steps for their implementation."

"Certainly, there are issues that still need to be improved,
e.g. it’s necessary to establish a mechanism for better coordination
of accomplishment of the commitments. However, on the whole, Armenia
has demonstrated a serious approach to its commitments," Semneby said.

Commenting on the expectations from the forthcoming presidential
elections in Armenia, the EU Special Representative said: "We expect
that the presidential elections will correct the shortcomings of the
2007 parliamentary elections. In particular, problems were observed
in the activity of precinct electoral commissions and during ballot
counting.

"The fact that the National Assembly election in Armenia got a high
evaluation of the international observers was very important, since
this was the first poll in the region after the signing of the European
Neighborhood Policy Action Plan. These elections proved that Armenia
maintains its loyalty to the development of democratic institutions
and set the quality of our future cooperation," Peter Semneby said.

Commenting on the Karabakh talks, Semneby said that both Armenia and
Azerbaijan realize the danger of interrupting the talks.

"Despite all the disappointments, the talks continue. I think both
sides realize the danger of interrupting the talks. In this uncertain
situation it would mean that everything we have achieved in those
years in the framework of the Prague process will disappear. It would
be difficult to resume the talks regardless who is elected president
in Armenia or Azerbaijan," he said.

EURASIA PARTNERSHIP FOUNDATION SEEKS RECONCILIATION BETWEEN SOUTH CAUCASUS STATES

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.11.2007 16:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Eurasia Partnership Foundation intends to implement
projects targeted at regional development, Foundation’s Yerevan office
head Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan told a news conference today.

Projects aiming to promote normalization of relations between three
South Caucasus states will be launched in 2008.

"We would like representatives of public organizations meet each
other. It will help political leaders to come to an agreement. We also
intend to normalize the Turkey-Armenia relations in this format. NGOs
can help to overcome discrepancies between Armenia and Turkey and
resolve pressing issues," he said.

Eurasia Partnership Foundation is the assignee of Eurasia Foundation
which recorded 10-year activity in Armenia.

ASCRIBING USAGE OF WORD "GENOCIDE" TO ATATURK MAKES SCANDAL IN TURKEY
By H. Chaqrian, translated by A.M.

AZG Armenian Daily #209
14/11/2007

Turkey

In the previous publication about the digest of Kemal Ataturk’s
speeches, "Azg" informed that the word "massacre" was altered to
"genocide" in the text of the book. It roused a great scandal
in Turkey, which would seem quite natural, unless one certain
circumstance. The digest was published in 1987, and the "mistake"
was noticed only 20 years later.

However, the scandal caused by the phrasings, brought forward
reciprocal accusations by several figures in turkey. Vice-Speaker
of the parliament of Turkey and head of the Commission for Culture,
Arts and Publishing Nevzat Pakdil organized a press conference, during
which he stated that the Turkish Company of Language is responsible
for the mistake.

According to "Tercuman" newspaper, Nevzat Pakdil said, "The
debatable digest was made in 1987 and edited by Sedat Tunzer,
councilor to the head of the Parliament of Turkey. The digest
was approved by the Turkish Company of Language, after which the
parliament published it. If you study the vocabularies, published by
the aforementioned company in 1984, 1988 and 2005, you will notice
that the word "genocide" is used there to explain the Arabic word for
‘massacre’. Therefore the structure responsible for the confusion of
terms ‘massacre’ and ‘genocide’ is the Turkish Company of Language".

It is noteworthy, that the Turkish Company of Language, as well as
the Turkisah Company of History, were established by the personal
initiative of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

OSCE TO MONITOR CONTACT LINE OF AZERI-ARMENIAN FORCES

Russia & CIS General Newswire
November 6, 2007 Tuesday 3:03 PM MSK

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
will monitor the contact line of Azeri and Armenian armed forces
in line with the mandate of a personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, a statement published by the Azeri Defense Ministry
on Tuesday says.

The monitoring operation will take place near the village of Alibeili
in Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district. Field assistants of the personal
representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office will monitor the contact
line from both sides.

The Azeri-Armenian ceasefire regime was set up in May 1994. The OSCE
has been regularly monitoring various portions of the contact line
in the area of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in order to study the
fulfillment of the ceasefire agreement.

FOR FIRST TIME WOMAN DEPUTY TO TAKE POST OF RA NA VICE-SPEAKER

Nyan Tapan
Nov 12 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The candidatures of Arevik
Petrosian, a member of the Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia)
faction, Hranush Hakobian, a member of the RPA faction, and Anahit
Bakhshian, a member of the Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction, were
nominated for the vacant post of the NA Vice-Speaker at the November
12 NA sitting.

As it was expected, H. Hakobian withdrew her candidature saying that
she respects political agreements of the parliamentary majority,
according to which the above mentioned post is reserved for Bargavach
Hayastan.

Expressing gratitude for nominating her candidature, she at the same
time said that each of 12 woman deputies present in the sitting hall
can take that post, as they are "literate, clever, well-organized
people."

The election of the NA Vice-Speaker will be done by a secret
ballot. The candidate, who will receive the majority of votes of
MPs having taken part in voting, will be considered as elected,
provided that more than the half of the general number of MPs will
take part in voting. A. Bakhshian’s and A. Petrosian’s names are on
the ballot paper.

Zharangutiun faction’s members supported A. Bakhshian’s candidature
saying that "from point of view of constructive policy they would like
to see also a representative of opposition in the NA leadership." The
ARFD and RPA factions supported A. Petrosian’s candidature. NA Speaker
Tigran Torosian, in particular, emphasized that A. Petrosian’s election
will be useful for ensuring parliament’s normal work. Opposing to the
opponents, he stated that the NA, which lacks political agreements,
is doomed to chaos.

A. Bakhshian said in her speech that she does not call for electing
her and does not expect that the political majority will vote for
her. However, she expressed the hope that "the day will come when
the role of the political minority will be properly appreciated."

ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS SET FOR FEBRUARY 19, 2008

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.11.2007 14:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia will hold presidential elections February 19,
2008, Chairman of the Central Election Committee Garegin Azaryan said.

"The elections will be held on Tuesday, which will be announced a
non-working day," he said.

According to the Armenian Constitution, President is elected for
a 5-year term. During the previous elections held March 5, 2003,
President Robert Kocharian won second term in office. He is not
entitled to come forward as a candidate for the third time

ASSOCIATION OF ARMENIAN YOUNG WOMEN TO HOLD NUMBER OF EVENTS WITHIN FRAMEWORKS OF INTERNATIONAL DAY OF STUDENTS AND SOLIDARITY OF YOUNG

Noyan Tapan
Nov 9, 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The Association of Armenian Young
Women has initiated a number of events within the frameworks of the
International Days of the Students (November 17) and Solidarity
of the Young (November 10). As Lilit Asatrian, the Chairwoman of
the Association, declared at the November 9 press conference, an
award-giving ceremony titled "5165" (symbolizes the height of the
Ararat mountain) will be held. According to her, those programs and
initiatives of youth organizations, which have contributed to the
settlement of any problem existing in the youth sphere in the course
of the year, have had great response and productivity. It was mentioned
that not only non-governmental organizations, but also representatives
of media, young entrepreneurs and youth groups can take part in the
contest. Lilit Asatrian stated that the results of the contest will
be summed up in the first half of January 2008, and the award-giving
ceremony will be held in the second half of January.

In addition to this, the Association will organize puppet performances
in the special schools and orphanages of the republic.

ARMENIANS IN JAVAKHK ARE NOT ENGAGED IN OCCURRENCES IN GEORGIA

A1+
[06:22 pm] 08 November, 2007

Chairman of "Javakhk" Patriotic Union, the RA NA Deputy Shirak Torosyan
informed "A1+" that Armenians are not engaged in the occurrences
in Georgia.

"Armenians in JavakhK consider that it is Georgians’ problem and they
do not participate in the happenings there", he said. According to Mr
Torosyan, indeed Armenians have problems with Georgian authorities,
but they are of a different character. Shirak Torosyan mentions that
Armenians are not bothered with the problem who will come to power
in Georgia.

"The history proved that whoever came to power in Georgia the attitude
and the treatment toward Armenians in Javakhk did not alter. Thus,
they are not concerned with the changes in Georgia".

Shirak Torosyan who receives information from the Georgian NGOs
regularly says that Armenians prioritized the stability in Georgia:
"It is easier to deal with various problems when the situation in
the country is stable", concluded Shirak Torosyan.