Author: Nahapetian Samvel

US Embassy: The current elections were a considerable improvement towards
international standards

ArmRadio.am
14.05.2007 12:19

The US Embassy in Armenia welcomed today the parliamentary elections,
`congratulating the Armenian nation for holding better elections as
compared to the previous ones,’ Mediamax reports.

It is noted in the statement disseminated by the US Embassy that `we
share the satisfaction of the international observers with the fact
that both legal and technical electoral infrastructures have been
greatly improved.’

`We are proud that our partnership with governmental and
non-governmental structures of Armenia yielded good results. We value
the work of many election officials devoted to the unbiased
fulfillment of their task. We share the comment of ODIHR Ambassador
Frlec that these elections are not over yet.

At this point our position is as follows: `These elections were a
considerable improvement towards international standards. Part of the
electoral process was the detailed investigation of the problems
connected with the elections, including the numerous accusations of
election frauds which could affect the outcome of the polls.

We hope that an active probe into these accusations of election frauds
will be launched,’ the statement of the US Embassy reads.

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
May 13 2007

Armenian CEC summed up the preliminary results of elections;
opposition representatives refused to sign the protocol

Yerevan, May 13. /Mediamax/. The Central Electoral Commission of
Armenia summed up today the preliminary results of the parliamentary
elections under the proportional representation system, according to
which, 5 parties overcame the 5% barrier.

Mediamax reports that the members of CEC Feliks Khachatrian, Sona
Sarkisian and Zaven Pluzian, who represent, correspondingly,
`Justice’ bloc, `Orinats Yerkir’ and `National Unification’ parties,
refused to sign the final protocol.

They all argued their stance by the statement that `on May 12, there
were mass violations’.

The Republican Party of Armenia – 457.032 votes (32.8 %), the
`Prosperous Armenia’ party – 204.443 votes (14.7 %), the
`Dashnaktsutiun’ party – 177.192 votes (12.7 %), the `Orinats Yerkir’
party – 95.256 votes (6.8 %) and the `Heritage’ party – 80.890 votes
(5.8 %) overcame the 5% barrier.

All in all 1.389.521 electors participated in the election.–0–

Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan agree on Caspian gas pipe -2

15:50 | 12/ 05/ 2007

TURKMENBASHI, May 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russia, Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan agreed to build a gas pipeline along the Caspian coast and
will sign the deal by September 1, a joint declaration of the three
presidents said Saturday.

The pipeline will run from Turkmenistan along the Caspian coast of
Kazakhstan and on to Russia, the sole re-exporter of the Turkmen gas.
It is a rival project to a U.S.-sponsored Trans-Caspian pipeline across
the Caspian Sea to carry Turkmen gas to southern Europe bypassing
Russia.

Following their summit meeting in Turkmenistan, Vladimir Putin,
Nursultan Nazarbayev and Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov instructed their
governments to start the construction of the pipeline from the second
half of 2008.

Putin also said the restoration of Soviet-era Central Asia-Center
pipelines going to Russia via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan would make it
possible to increase transportation by at least 12 billion cubic meters
by 2012.

Russia’s energy minister, Viktor Khristenko, said the 1974 pipeline
system was capable of transporting more than 90 billion cu m a year
after repair. "Two declarations that were signed today basically
outline the future development of the largest infrastructure projects
in the entire Central Asia," he said.

Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Russian energy giant Gazprom
[RTS: GAZP], said the Caspian pipeline project and the Soviet pipeline
system, once restored, would help raise supplies of Turkmen gas to 80
billion cu m a year within the Russia-Turkmenistan contract until 2028.

In September, Russia and Turkmenistan agreed on terms of Turkmen gas
supplies for 2007-2009 at a price of $100 per 1,000 cu m and set the
volume at 50 billion cu m a year.

In 2006, Russia imported via Kazakhstan 39 billion cu m of gas from
Turkmenistan, 9 billion from Uzbekistan, and 7.5 billion from
Kazakhstan proper. In 2007, Central Asian supplies to Russia are
expected to be 55.7 billion.

Despite the agreement on the Caspian pipeline, Turkmenistan’s president
said that the Trans-Caspian project bypassing Russia remained on the
agenda, thereby rejecting the Russian energy minister’s contrary
assurances.

"The whole world is looking for ways to diversify gas supplies,"
Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said.

Putin’s Central Asian tour of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan coincided
with an energy summit in Poland May 11-13 aimed at reducing energy
dependence on Russia. Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev, its key participant,
pulled out from the forum also being attended by Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Ukraine and Lithuania.

Turkmenistan gas production

The Russian leader signaled his country’s readiness to invest in the
development of Turkmenistan’s gas field on the Caspian shelf. "Russia
is ready to invest in gas production as well as in the pipeline
system," Putin told reporters. "Our energy companies have already
agreed on such investment."

Russia’s industry and energy minister, Viktor Khristenko, said Russian
companies would develop the gas field under a production-sharing
agreement (PSA), a format envisaging substantial privileges to foreign
investors.

"The best option is a production-sharing agreement," Khristenko said.
"This is the position of the owners of the field." He also said Kazakh
companies would fit well into the PSA.

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
May 11 2007

Armenian CEC made a decision on depriving the `Gyumri’ NGO of the
right to realize an observation mission

Yerevan, May 11. /Mediamax/. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC)
of Armenia made a decision today on depriving the `Gyumri’ student
NGO of the right to realize an observation mission during the
parliamentary elections of May 12.

Mediamax reports that the CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian stated today
that the leaders of the `Gyumri’ student NGO Karen Petrosian and
Gharib Harutiunian were involved in propaganda of the candidate of
`Dashink’ Party Martun Grigorian.

During the session of CEC, the representative of `Justice’ opposition
bloc Felix Khachatrian proposed to deprive of the right for
observation mission not the very NGO, but only the defaulter
representatives.

Nevertheless, CEC made a decision by a majority on depriving the
`Gyumri’ student NGO of the right to realize an observation mission
during the parliamentary elections of May 12.–0–

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
May 11 2007

Robert Kocharian stated that the new Armenian parliament and the
President should be able to cooperate

Yerevan, May 11. /Mediamax/. Armenian President Robert Kocharian
stated that the new parliament and the President should be able to
cooperate.

Mediamax reports that the President said this late May 10 in an
interview to the Public TV of Armenia, the `Second Armenian
TV-Channel’ and the `Armenia’ TV-Channel.

According to him, `the people suffers because of the opposition
between the two institutions, and the situation in Ukraine is an
evidence of that’.

Robert Kocharian also noted that `the forces, capable of cooperating
with each other, should appear in the National Assembly’. Armenian
President described as unlikely the possibility that any of the
parties will gain the absolute majority in the parliament and will
form the government alone.–0–

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.