Author: Nahapetian Samvel

Reuters, UK
May 12 2007

Armenians vote in poll seen as test of democracy

By Margarita Antidze

YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenians began voting on Saturday in a
parliamentary election seen as a test of democracy in the Caucasian
country and a dress rehearsal for a presidential contest next year.

The Republican party led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan — a
trusted lieutenant and favored successor to President Robert
Kocharyan — is expected to easily defeat the opposition when 2.3
million voters in ex-Soviet Armenia go to the polls.

"If the Republican party gets enough votes in the … election and my
party puts forward my candidacy for the presidential election, I will
take this offer with pleasure," Sarksyan told Reuters in an interview
on Thursday.

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Kocharyan is to step down early next year when his second term ends,
triggering a presidential election.

Western monitors said Armenia’s last parliamentary poll fell short of
democratic standards, and the opposition has threatened street
protests if there is ballot fraud on Saturday.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m.(0300 GMT). Only one man was
waiting to cast his ballot at a polling station in central Yerevan
when voting began.

Armenia nestles high in the mountains of a region that is emerging as
a vital transit route for oil exports from the Caspian Sea to
energy-hungry world markets, though it has no pipelines of its own.

Armenia fought a still-unresolved war with neighboring Azerbaijan in
the early 1990s. It also has fraught relations with Turkey, in part
because Ankara will not recognize as genocide the killing of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Armenia refused entry visas to eight Turkish nationals who were to be
part of a 400-strong election observer mission from the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

OPPOSITION DIVIDED

Voters on Saturday are expected to credit Kocharyan’s allies for the
years of strong economic growth he has overseen. The opposition
meanwhile is divided and its members say they are not given fair
treatment on tightly controlled television.

Opposition leaders have said they will stage street protests if there
are any electoral violations on Saturday.

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"If there is ballot fraud in parliamentary election, I’ll be the
first who will go to the street," said Artur Baghdasaryan, leader of
opposition party Orinats Yerkir (Country of Laws), which is seen by
analysts as the strongest opposition force.

Smaller opposition groups may also win seats, although opinion polls
suggest the chief challenger to the Republican party is the
pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia, set up by wealthy businessman
Gagik Tsarukyan.

International observers say Armenia should hold fair elections to
amend its image spoiled by the last parliamentary election, in 2003,
which was described by Western monitors as falling short of
democratic standards.

"Armenian authorities have made a number of changes to the election
code and to the whole process to tackle some of the serious problems
that came up last time," Urdur Gunnarsdottir, a spokesperson for the
OSCE/ODIHR monitoring group, told Reuters.

"The real test is on election day and during counting. It’s important
for Armenia to show that authorities are capable of holding
democratic election. That is a corner stone."

Simmering tensions burst to the surface last month when gunmen tried
to kill a senior member of Sarksyan’s party and two blasts ripped
through the offices of Prosperous Armenia.

The violence has revived memories of a 1999 shootout in parliament
that killed the speaker and the prime minister.

(Additional reporting by Hasmik Lazarian)

RUSSIA’S CENTRAL ELECTORAL COM TO SEND OBSERVERS TO ARMENIA ELECTION

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 10, 2007 Thursday

Russia’s Central Electoral Commission CEC will send observers to
parliamentary election in Armenia, scheduled for May 12, CEC chairman
Vladimir Churov said Thursday.

"Our representatives have been included in the list of delegations
of the CIS and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe," he said. "CEC member Igor Borisov chairs both groups of
Russian observers.

REPORTERS FROM KARABAKH PARTICIPATE IN THE NEW IWPR PROJECT

KarabakhOpen
09-05-2007 12:29:43

A few days the Institute for War and Peace Reporting ago held a
seminar in Yerevan in the frame of the project Caucasian Network
of Journalism. The project is financed by the European Union. 13
journalists from the South and North Caucasus (including from
Nagorno-Karabakh) watched the election campaign in Armenia, met with
famous Armenian politicians, discussed the state of freedom of speech
in the countries of the Caucasus.

These three days were an opportunity for the reporters to study the
standards of reporting in the pre-election period, learn the ABC of
conflictology, meet with the representatives of the Republican Party,
the National Democratic Party, the People’s Party and the Heritage
Party. They also arranged to write collaborative articles.

The IWPR is an international organization of journalists, based
in London.

It works in 23 countries of the world, it has 7 regional offices. The
IWPR projects are intended to raise the skills of the journalists
and assist in promoting peace and democracy in post-conflict countries.

By this project about 50 journalists from the Caucasian region will
be included in the Caucasian Network of Journalism, whose articles
will be available at , as well as on the Web site of the
Network. It is foreseen to write collaborative articles, as well as
missions to the regions where certain developments of interest will be
underway. For instance, a mission of journalists from different parts
of the Caucasus will arrive to report on the Karabakh presidential
election on July 19, 2007.

THERE WAS SHORTAGE OF BRASS AT THAT TIME

KarabakhOpen
09-05-2007 12:27:20

On May 25, 1988 Maro Margaryan, a poetess and the head of the Maternity
Fund in Armenia, set up the Maternity Fund in Karabakh which was later
renamed Maternity Committee. In the beginning, the Fund carried out
humanitarian activities. Presently the main goal of the Committee is
military and patriotic work.

"After the war we stopped humanitarian activities, said Hasmik
Mikaelyan in an interview with the KarabakhOpen. First, we think people
now can earn their living on their own. Second, we cannot solve major
problems, it is the job of the government. We only provide aid to the
veterans of war in Artsakh, mostly women. During the war we went to
the front and delivered medals right amid the military actions. Now
we visit the military units of the Defense Army, talk to recruits,
follow if the conditions in which the soldiers are kept correspond
to the regulations, and so on. Most importantly, the soldiers need
our presence." The members of the organization are veterans of the
war in Artsakh, service personnel, journalists, wives and mothers of
killed soldiers. The members are not paid.

"We do not even have an office. Our activities are based on the
enthusiasm of the members of the Committee. We are like members of
a big family. The very first medal in Karabakh was our medal, I was
the author," says Hasmik Mikaelyan. "The statute of the medal for
special service was confirmed by the first speaker of the NKR Supreme
Council Arthur Mkrtichyan. Another special thing about our medal is
that the first 2000 medals were forged of the cases we collected in
the fields. There was a shortage of brass at that time."

STATE BUDGETARY REVENUES FROM CAPITAL OPERATIONS GROW BY 77.5% IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2007 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
May 09 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-March 2007, the RA state
budgetary revenues from capital operations made over 4.5 bln drams
(about 12.5 mln USD), 4.1 bln drams of which was received from
alienation of lands considered state property and 408 mln drams was
received from sale of fixed assets.

According to data of the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, the
quarterly program on revenues from capital operations was fulfilled
by 133.9% due to large revenues from sale of lands in Yerevan. Actual
revenues from capital operations exceeded by 77.5% or aout 2 bln
drams the index of the same period of last year.

In the first quarter of 2007, official transfers amounted to 216.6
mln drams, 211.73 mln drams of which was provided by Great Britain
under the mutual understanding memorandum on budgetary assistance
for poverty reduction in Armenia. 4.84 mln drams was transferred to
extrabudgetary accounts of state institutions.

RA NA SPEAKER TIGRAN TOROSIAN’S CONGRATULATION MESSAGE ON OCCASION OF DAY OF VICTORY AND PEACE

Noyan Tapan
May 08 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. RA National Assembly Speaker Tigran
Torosian addressed a congratulation message on the occasion of
the Day of Victory and Peace. The message the text of which was
submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA NA Public Relations Department,
reads the following:

"Dear compatriots,

I congratulate you on the occasion of the most favourite and valuable
holiday of our people, the Day of Victory and Peace.

May was a wonderful month of struggles for existence of our people
which was created during the whole 20th century, owing to continual
heroic deeds of few generations the zenith of which the liberation
of Shoushi and whole Artsakh became.

This holiday is the most favourite for us as gave possibility to
re-find our honourable posture and peace, became the symbol of our
people’s glorious victories and eternity.

This holiday the most valuable one as it was got at the price
of self-sacrifice and heroism of numerous sons of Armenians and
secured for our people a complete possibility of living peacefully
and creating.

This holiday is the most obliging one, as bending our hands to steady
memory of soldiers and commanders heroically died in the name of
this day, we must make reality their dream: inaccessible Fatherland,
well-built country, people living with prosperous life.

Again congratulating you, dear compatriots, on the occasion of the Day
of Victory and Peace, I wish you new victories in the name of peace,
prosperity and happiness."

BAHAR MURADOVA: IT ISN’T KNOWN WHETHER THE REPORT ON KARABAKH WILL BE DEBATED IN OSCE PA SESSION

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 7 2007

It is not known whether the report on Nagorno Karabakh will be
debated at the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
vice-speaker & head of Azerbaijani delegation to OSCE PA Bahar Muradova
told the APA. She said that debate of the report depends on process
of negotiations.

"If the report is debated, we will express our position on the content
of the report and present state of the negotiations," the vice-speaker
said.

SARKISIAN WOOS PENSIONERS
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 3 2007

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian sought to win over hundreds of thousands
of elderly Armenians on Thursday, saying that their plight will improve
"in the very near future" if they vote for his Republican Party (HHK).

"I am deeply convinced and want you to believe that in the near,
very near future there will be visible improvements," Sarkisian told
hundreds of pensioners in Yerevan. "Your pensions and salaries will
rise, you will have better healthcare, and your sons and grandsons will
slowly return from abroad, and you will stop being afraid of old age."

Nearly one quarter of the country’s 2.3 eligible voters are above
the retirement age, and their votes will be crucial for the outcome
of the May 12 parliamentary elections. The HHK underscored that fact
by gathering more than thousand of them in one of Yerevan’s largest
concert halls. In its election platform, the ruling party commits
itself to more than doubling the modest average amount of their
pensions to 33,500 drams ($94) within the next five years.

Sarkisian criticized other election contenders, presumably including
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), the HHK’s
junior coalition partner, that have promised much steeper pension
hikes if they do well in the polls. He called such pledges "fairy
tales," again emphasizing that his party’s program is "realistic."

"Today one veteran’s bitterness or dire social condition may cast
shadow on our past victory and weaken our spirit of resistance,"
he said in a speech followed by a concert. "In this situation, some
political forces are coming forward and promising to raise your
pensions tenfold or hundredfold in order to win over you."

Incidentally, the event was organized by Armenia’s state pension fund
which is run by a senior member of the HHK. Some of the participants
interviewed by RFE/RL claimed to have been tricked into attending it.

Anna Hakobian, a 87-year-old veteran of the Second World War, said an
official from the fund only asked her and other pensioners by phone
to gather outside the Ministry of Social Security.

"We thought they wanted to give us aid," said Hakobian. "They should
have told us the truth … They duped us to come here and watch Serzh
Sarkisian give us false promises,"

"They phoned me but didn’t say who is inviting me here," said another
woman.

The meeting with pensioners was not the only election-related event
attended by Sarkisian on Thursday. He also met with students at Yerevan
State University and led HHK campaign rallies in the city’s southern
Erebuni and Shengavit districts later in the day.

MAJORITY AND OPPOSITION IN BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT ARGUE ON FIRST WORKING DAY OF THE MONTH

Focus News, Bulgaria
May 2 2007

Sofia. Opposition and majority in the Bulgarian Parliament started
an argument in the very first working day of the month, a reporter
of FOCUS News Agency informed.

The argument started around the discussion of the Armenian genocide.

According to the set of rules of the Bulgarian Parliament,
Parliamentary factions have the right to propose draft bills for
discussion on the first working day of t he current month. Generally
such proposals are included in the agenda without being voted.

The Parliamentary group of the Attack party has made a proposal for
recognizing the Armenian genocide. The leftist MP Maya Manolova made
a proposal to subject Attack’s proposal to a vote, since it has been
already discussed and rejected last year. According to Manolova, the
Attack’s proposal was identical to that of 2006. The vote rejected
the proposal, which caused the sharp reaction of the opposition.

FIRST BOWLING TOURNAMENT OF ARKA NEWS AGENCY HELD MAY 1 IN AGENCY’S 11TH ANNIVERSARY

Arka News Agency, Armenia
May 2 2007

YEREVAN, May 2. /ARKA/. The first bowling tournament of ARKA News
Agency was held on May 11 in the 11th anniversary of the agency.

The finalists were ARKA Director Constantine Petrosov, photojournalist
Samvel Sepechyan, reporter David Stepanyan, and issuing editor Anna
Hovakimyan.

David Stepanyan became the winner in the tense contest. Constantine
Petrosov occupied the second plance, Samvel Sepechyan the third place,
and the honorary fourth place belonged to Anna Hovakimyan.

The three of winners were awarded gifts.

The bowling center administration gave Anna Hovakimyan a Teddy bear,
and the ARKA administration gave her a special prize as the only
female final tournament participant.

Special awards were given to reporter Sati Sargsyan for the best
result among female participants, and to Marina Virapyan for the
original playing manner.

ARKA News Agency started its professional activity 11 years ago with
publication of a financial economic bulletin. To date, the agency
is one of the lead providers of financial economic and analytical
information.

ARKA Editor-in-chief Galina Davidyan, the agency has written its page
in the Armenian news journalism, and will keep working productively.

In the time to come, ARKA will update its website. It will be more
modernized and contain more information.

Also new information products are being prepared. They will come out
in accordance with the agency’s development concept.