Author: Nargizian David

OVER 70 CALLS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED BY FREE HOT TELEPHONE LINE ‘LEGAL INITIATIVE: ELECTION 2008’ SINCE JANUARY 15

2008-02-07 15:13:00

ArmInfo. Over 70 calls have been received by the free hot telephone
line "Legal Initiative: Election 2008" since January 15. As the
Initiative’s lawyer Karen Andreasyan said at today’s press-conference
in "Urbat" club, this number exceeds today the number of calls received
during and after the parliamentary election 2007. Presently, most of
the calls concern the issue of participation in the election in case
if the factual residence place does not meet the registration place
(33) or under absence of passport or availability of a document of
Soviet example (6).

K. Andreasyan recalled that free legal consultation and assistance
to RA population is rendered by telephone number 080-080-804. He also
said that letters were sent to all the presidential contenders telling
about readiness of the "Legal Initiative: Election 2008" to render them
legal assistance, if necessary. Free consultation was provided so far
to Arman Melikyan, who earlier appealed to the Constitutional Court to
cancel February 26, 2007, alterations and amendments to RA Electoral
Code, "which hinder the rights of RA citizens living abroad to vote"
(to recall, RA CC refused to consider the suit). Moreover, member of
the "Republic" party’s political council Artak Zeynalyan, as well as
coordinator of the group on monitoring of violations of the election
legislation of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s central campaign headquarters
Ruben Torosyan also addressed for a free legal consultation. As
K. Andreasyan said, they were interested, first of all, in steps
which may be taken in case of revelation of violations during the
election. To note, the hot line will function till March 15, 2008.

GAZ DE FRANCE GAVE UP NABUCCO AND TURNED TOWARDS SOUTH STREAM

Focus News, Bulgaria
Feb 7 2008

Paris. French company Gaz de France gave up the idea of participation
in the European project Nabucco because of the position of Turkey
which announced itself against cooperation with Paris. According to
analyzers the reaction of Ankara was an answer to the position of
France which was against the accession of Turkey in the EU and which
acknowledges the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Simultaneously the company expressed its interest in the Russian –
Italian project of South Stream which is rival to Nabucco.

STRATEGIC FACILITIES NOT TO BE NATIONALIZED IN ARMENIA

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Feb 7 2008

YEREVAN, February 7. /ARKA/. Facilities of strategic importance are
not to be nationalized in Armenia, Armenia’s Prime-Minister Serge
Sargsian said at the Parliament. Nationalizations conflicts with the
current economic policy, he said.

The Prime-Minister pointed out that the nationalization is usually
brought up by people who do not understand the problem and particularly
consider the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia
very dangerous.

"But there is no difference is the energy produced from nuclear
material or from water and whether the state or a private person
deals with it: the safety requirements are mandatory for everyone
regardless of the form of property," Sargsian said.

He also said that the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is under
supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the
country’s President-headed Commission for Atomic Energy. Previously
state-owned facilities that were privatized work more efficiently now,
the Prime-Minister added.

Speaking of the transfer of the Armenian NPP and the Armenian railroads
to Russian companies, the Premier said it would be desirable to
maintain the state ownership for these facilities. But about 1.8bln
dollars are required for construction of the new NPP and 1bln dollars
is needed to connect Armenian railroad with the Iranian one: the
state is short of this money, he said.

"Is there any sense to keep these facilities as state property and
spend the money to be spent on social programs to develop these
facilities or it is more expedient to hand the "Armenian Railroads"
company to the "Russian Railroads" maintaining the government
co-financing," Sargsian said.

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was commissioned in 1976
(the second unit – in 1980).Currently only the second unit operates
providing 40-50% of the overall power produced in Armenia.

In September 2003, the financial flows of Armenian NPP were transferred
to trust management of INTER RAO EES Closed Joint Stock Company –
the daughter enterprise of RAO "EES Russia" (60% of the shares) and
"Rosenergoatom" concern (40%). According to experts, the plant can
operate till 2016.

On January 18 the "Russian Railroads" open joint stock company
was declared as winner in the bidding on handing over the "Armenian
Railroads" for concession management. The Russian company has already
stated its intention to invest $570mln in the Armenian Railways, with
$230mln to be invested within the next five years. Apart from that, the
"Russian Railroads" will be transferring 2% of the overall revenue from
the Armenian Railroads to the state budget of Armenia every year.

POLL SHOWS PERCEIVED PROSPECTS FOR EU COOPERATION DOWN IN ARMENIA

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 7 2008

Yerevan, 7 February: Two per cent of the polled citizens of Armenia
relate the future of the country to NATO, 25 per cent – to the European
Union and 29 per cent – to the CIS.

Mediamax reports that the data of the poll, held by the British Populus
among 1500 citizens of Armenia on the order of the Public TV in the
period between January 21 and 29, evidence that.

In October 2007, 1 per cent of the polled related the future of
Armenia to NATO, in April of 2007 – 4 per cent .

In October 2007, 26 per cent of the polled related the future of
Armenia with the EU, in April of 2007- 29 per cent .

In October of 2007, 20 per cent of the polled related the future of
Armenia with the CIS, in April of 2007- 24 per cent .

Thirty-five per cent of the polled citizens of Armenia in January
of 2008 and 36 per cent in April of 2007 related the future of the
country with all the three organization simultaneously.

The sympathies of the polled residents towards the countries and
organizations, measured by a 100-point scale, where 1 point means "cold
and negative attitude" and 100 point – "warm and positive attitude",
have the following look:

Azerbaijan – 7.83;

Turkey – 14.03;

Georgia – 43.13;

NATO – 47.72;

Iran – 52.24;

USA – 54.58;

CIS – 63.35;

EU – 70.30;

France – 75.34;

Russia – 87.59.

AARON ADIBEKYAN: THERE WILL BE NO SECOND ROUND

Lragir, Armenia
Feb 6 2008

Today the sociologist Aaron Adibekyan released the results of his poll
at the time when the British Populus Center released the results of
their poll. Hence, according to him, there will be no second round
because Serge Sargsyan has 55-60 percent. Several days ago Galust
Sahakyan, Republican leader, claimed the same thing. According to
Aaron Adibekyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan follow
Serge Sargsyan with 13 and 11 percent respectively. The rating of
the other candidates, according to Aaron Adibekyan, is below 5 percent.

In addition, if the opposition joins Arthur Baghdasaryan, 14 percent
will add to his rating, whereas if the opposition joins Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, his rating will go up by hardly 4 percent.

ANM REPRESENTATIVE BELIEVES THAT "A SHIFT OF POWER IN ARMENIA HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE"

Mediamax
February 6, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Levon Ter-Petrosian will gain victory in the
presidential elections even without the unification with Artur
Baghdasarian, member of the board of the Armenian National Movement
(ANM) Party Aram Manukian stated in Yerevan today.

Mediamax reports that Aram Manukian stated that "a shift of power
has already taken place" and ANM only has to secure the legitimate
nature of the elections.

"One of the basic enemies of the candidate from the ruling party is
President Kocharian, who openly supports Serzh Sarkisian, as a result
of which the whole hatred of the people for Kocharian passes on to
his successor", Aram Manukian stated.

He noted that ANM actively cooperates with "Orinats Yerkir" and
"Heritage" parties, adding that representatives of governmental
structures, as well as the members of Republican Party of Armenia and
"Prosperous Armenia" Party continue "secretly joining" the team of
the Ex-President.

WHAT DOES UKRFERRY PROPOSE ARMENIA?
By Ara Martirosian

AZG Armenian Daily
06/02/2008

Economy

By the suggestion of the Embassy of Ukraine in Armenia, the Union
of Armenian Manufacturers and Entrepreneurs organized a round-table
discussion, to which were present representatives of the "UkrFerry"
company from Ukraine, specializing in Poty-Illichevsk ferry
transportations and the representatives of a number of Armenian
transportation companies.

President of the Union of Armenian Manufacturers and Entrepreneurs
Arsen Kazarian informed the reporters that the Ukrainian side proposes
to establish a new container transportation system on Poty-Illichevs
route. Mr. Kazarian said that the necessity to establish a new
transportation system is explained by impossibility of railway ferry
transportation in times of emergency situations, as, for example,
a couple of months ago. The efficiency of the container ferry
transportation shall be proved after a while. As the railway ferry
transportation remains the cheapest, the aforementioned discussion
was dedicated to finding ways to make container transportation as
efficient and as affordable.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY AGAINST ARMENIAN PAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT CANDIDATE

Panorama.am
20:25 04/02/2008

Today Aram Sargsyan, the leader of the Armenian Democratic Party
announced that the party held a meeting in February 2 and made a
decision not to support to any president candidate. He said "The
present system of carrying out the presidential elections won’t allow
to hold transparent and fair elections. Now we don’t see any candidate
who could hold policy in accordance to our principles".

As for not supporting the present authorities, he answered, "It is
not clear whether Robert Kocharyan is going to leave the politics. He
is fond of the created system and politics, and I doubt if they would
like to make any changes".

Sargsyan also said that his party refuses the return of the former
authorities. He said that they have some political disputes on inner
economic system, foreign affairs and other similar questions.

The party’s leader said that his followers could vote for any candidate
except the candidate of Armenian Pan National Movement. He said that
the party has strict views on the latter party, and if a member of
theirs announces about supporting Levon Ter-Petrosyan, then he should
be moved away.

AZERI AUTHORITIES DISPLEASED WITH RED CROSS

Azad Azarbaycan TV
Feb 5 2008
Azerbaijan

[Presenter] Official Baku is displeased with the activities of the
International Committee of the Red Cross. Ali Hasanov, head of [the
public and political] department at the presidential administration,
believes that although the organization is operating within its powers,
there are no real results.

[Hasanov] We are to some extent displeased with this organization’s
activities. We are displeased because they have still not managed
to free Azerbaijanis who are in Armenian captivity or have not
taken sufficiently categorical steps towards that. You know that
we have been displeased recently to a certain extent concerning an
Azerbaijani servicemen who was taken captive by Armenians [presumably,
referring to the fact that Azerbaijani private Samir Mammadov, who
was in Armenian captivity, has been sent to a third country through
the International Committee of the Red Cross]. Our talks with them
concerning this issue are continuing.

LITHUANIAN AMBASSADOR COMPLETING MISSION IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2008 14:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian met Tuesday
with Lithuanian Ambassador Rimantas Sidlauskas , who is completing
his mission in the republic, the RA leader’s press office reported.

Thanking the Ambassador for efficient activity, President Kocharian
made special mention of progress fixed in the Armenian-Lithuanian
relations as well as cooperation within NATO programs. He also
appreciated Lithuania’s consulting assistance in reforms carried out
in Armenia.