Author: Tadevosian Garnik

LATIN AMERICA ECONOMONITOR: ARMEN KOUYOUMDJIAN
[email protected]

RGE Monitor
o/146/armen_kouyoumdjian
Feb 14 2008
NY

Armen Kouyoumdjian graduated in 1970 from the Sorbonne in Paris where
he read Applied Statistics. In 1971, he joined the European Research
Department of Vickers da Costa & Co. Ltd, a London brokerage firm
(subsequently absorbed into Citicorp), and was promoted to European
Research manager in 1974.

In November 1976 he moved to the International Mexican Bank,
a London-established institution owned at that time by a number
of Mexican and international banks (now totally absorbed into the
Banamex-Accival /Citicorp Group), carrying out merchant banking
operations in Central and South America. His responsibilities as
Resident Economist and Assistant Managing Director included advising
the bank on Country Risk and developing new business opportunities.

In February 1991, he moved to Chile. Since that time he has advised
financial institutions, business corporations, and diplomatic missions
on Chilean & Latin American Country Risk, the Business Environment and
Financial Markets. He also writes for specialist business publications
in several countries, and his first book, Perspectives Chili, in
French, was published in Paris by Le Monde in June 2002.

>From 1982 onwards, Armen Kouyoumdjian was European Chairman of the
Washington-based Association of Political Risk Analysts (APRA), and
subsequently set-up its European successor in London (the Association
for Political Risk Management), which was merged into the Society of
Business Economists in 1991.

Mr. Kouyoumdjian, who is fluent in English, French and Spanish,
also has a good working knowledge of spoken and written Arabic, and
spoken Armenian. He is a member of London’s International Institute for
Strategic Studies, Britain’s Institute of Directors, the International
Consulting Economists’ Association, and the Society of Latin American
Studies. He is Economic Adviser to the Chilean-Mexican Integration
Chamber in Santiago and has lectured on Latin America at Chile’s
Catholic University and the Navy’s Maritime University.

ANDRZEJ KASPRZYK: I NEED SPECIAL MANDATE FOR A SECRET MONITORING IN THE FRONTLINE OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN TROOPS

Azeri Press Agency
Feb 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Goranboy.Teymur Guliyev-APA. "Violation of cease-fire in contact line
has been intensified recently," APA Karabakh bureau reports

Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, Ambassador
Andrzej Kasprzyk, who monitors the frontline of troops on February 14
told journalist. Mr. Kasprzyk stated that, the body will continue the
monitoring in the frontline of troops. He stated that Azerbaijan and
Armenia were informed about the situation and hoped that the situation
will be stabilized after that.

"The condition of residents who live near frontline is very bad.

Villagers who work in lands risked their life," he said. Mr.Kasprzyk
noted that the parties accused each other of violation of cease-fire.

"I need special mandate for a secret monitoring in the frontline of
Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. I am obliged to give information to
both of sides about monitoring now.

ART WORKSHOP FIRE CAUSES EXTENSIVE DAMAGE

Cyprus Mail
14 Feb 2008

A fire broke out in an art workshop gallery in Larnaca on Tuesday
evening, causing damage estimated to be in the region of â~B¬80,000.

The workshop, on Armenian Church Street, was completely destroyed
after the fire broke out at 9pm.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that a heater found
near a multi-plug was the cause.

The contents of the workshop were not covered by insurance.

According to police, the Larnaca Fire Services intervened promptly,
preventing the fire from spreading to neighbouring buildings.

–Boundary_(ID_XqSaV1JS/nu2PXBxEK9Wyw) —

Lragir, Armenia
Feb 15 2008

SECOND ROUND IS CORNER WHERE GOVERNMENT CANNOT MANEUVER

The question has occurred to many people why the government of
Armenia wishes to get through the election in one round. Perhaps it
has several reasons. The first is perhaps the psychological reason.
The context of the election campaign shows that Serge Sargsyan is
trying his best to show that the society accepts him better than
President Robert Kocharyan. Yes, perhaps the primary goal of Serge
Sargsyan is to outdo Robert Kocharyan rather than the opposition,
because he knows he will hardly outdo the opposition, not because the
opposition has advantages but because the methods of the government
are crude. Serge Sargsyan is competing with Robert Kocharyan,
especially in the context of statements that were made before the
parliamentary election that Robert Kocharyan has the highest popular
rating and most people mention him as a desirable president, although
people know that he cannot run a third term running. Now Serge
Sargsyan needs to prove that his rating is higher than Robert
Kocharyan’s, and he seems to be trying. The proving will culminate in
Serge Sargsyan’s election in the first round, since in 1998 and 2003
Robert Kocharyan could not defeat his opponents in the first round
and the second round was held.

In addition, the second round in 2003 was mostly the `result’ of
Serge Sargsyan’s efforts. The prime minister was then the head of
Robert Kocharyan’s election office and his actions in the first round
enabled the result of the second round to seem the best that could
ever be expected. If the opposition had realized this in time,
perhaps the government would not agree to have Stepan Demirchyan in
the second round but rather vice versa. Perhaps this is the reason
why in the second round of the election 2003 the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
appeared at the front line of Robert Kocharyan’s election campaign,
and Robert Kocharyan personally started working with the election
offices.

Logically, for his part, Robert Kocharyan should prevent Serge
Sargsyan’s victory in one round, if the acting prime minister has not
talked him into retirement, of course. But apparently he has not
persuaded because the president speaks about race for the second
place in the presidential election. If he says so, he apparently
means a second round because in a one-round election the second or
fourth place is unimportant, especially that in case the government
wins the election, the issue of a new government is not so acute.

However, the psychological urge to outdo Robert Kocharyan is not the
only reason that pushes Serge Sargsyan to win the election in one
round. Although it is a sufficient reason because psychological
advantage will bring about other advantages. However, there is also a
material aspect, the point is that in case of a run-off election the
presidential candidate will have to spend more money for the
election. In addition, time is shorter in the second round, two weeks
only, but demand is bigger because the situation may grow tense and
it may be necessary to pay twice as much to control the moods of the
society. In addition, the political forces will also grow expensive,
which will try to blackmail the government with threats to endorse
the opposition candidate. What would have silenced them in the first
round will not be enough in the second round because everyone knows
that the second round is a corner for the government where it cannot
maneuver. Meanwhile, the material aspect is a highly sensitive issue
since the money that will be spent should be repaid later. The more
is spent, the harder will be to repay, because usually it is done at
the expense of the society and the nation. Meanwhile, it may create
the precondition that is necessary for a `flower revolution’.
Besides, the money may be spent, and repayment may be impossible
because of the lack of sources. Our tiny state does not have enough
resource to sustain reproduction of such volume and frequency.
Therefore, it is clear that Serge Sargsyan has at least to essential
motivations to finish in one round – psychology and spending –
because in the second round he will grow rather weak in terms of
these two, and the development will no longer depend on him.

HAKOB BADALYAN

ZHARANGUTIUN PARTY CONDEMNS ACT OF VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHRIST GASPARIAN

Noyan Tapan
Feb 13, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The Zharangutiun (Heritage) party
condemned the act of violence committed towards Christ Gasparian and
expressed support to him. The party’s February 13 statement mentioned
that the incident has a political implication: Christ Gasparian is
the son of prematurely deceased Chairman of the Democratic Way party,
Manuk Gasparian and his brother is the head of L. Ter-Petrosian’s
preelection headquarters of Kanaker-Zeytun.

"The party calls those committing the act of violence and forces
supporting them to give up this disgraceful policy and to go forward
by an honorable way," the Zharangutiun’s statement read.

THE CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY AND WINNER OF THE AUDIENCE
Weber Shandwick Maral Kaloustian, [email protected]

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)
Feb 12 2008
Austria

MG2 Productions in association with BBC Television and The
Raffy Manoukian Charity present SCREAMERS, taking center stage
on DVD February 19, 2008 from Sony BMG Entertainment. Directed
by award-winning journalist and filmmaker, Carla Garapedian, this
gripping documentary traces the history of modern-day genocide and
genocide denial — from the Ottoman Empire at the start of the 20th
century, to the current genocide in Darfur.

Follow the multi-platinum album selling and Grammy-Award(R)-winning(a)
band, System of a Down as they raise awareness for human rights
atrocities that continue to plague the world today.

"(An) invigorating and articulate film (that) unfolds at the
sensitive intersection of entertainment and politics," said Jeannette
Catsoulis, New York Times, during its theatrical release in the United
States. Also the winner of the Audience Award at the AFI Film Festival
and the Audience Award at the Montreal Human Rights Festival, SCREAMERS
is truly a must see. This shattering and powerful DVD includes seven
never-before-released concert and behind-the-scenes footage of the
band on tour. "A brilliant film," says Larry King of CNN, that asks
the audience, as well as all people, to be "screamers" and to speak
out against injustice.

"Genocides, we should feel, are all one," said Serj Tankian, lead
singer of System of a Down. "I think this is an important film. It’s
not just about System, it is about the denial of genocide, the common
denominator of all genocides, how they get away with it. It is about
the hypocrisy of denial."

A similar sentiment is shared by the film’s director:

"The band’s music is the perfect vehicle to make people wake up and
take action to end the cycle of genocide," said Carla Garapedian.

"SCREAMERS busts wide-open the hypocrisy of politicians and governments
who have misleadingly vowed ‘never again.’ This film reminds us that
we, as individuals, can make a difference. We can, as Serj says,
all be screamers."

A chilling segment in the film features an exclusive interview with one
such ‘screamer,’ journalist and activist, Hrant Dink. Brutally killed
shortly after the film’s premiere for speaking out for recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, Hrant Dink spent the majority of his life
fighting the government of Turkey’s ongoing denial of the Genocide.

Synopsis

Multi-platinum, Grammy-Award winning band, System Of A Down,
lend their music to this critically acclaimed political movie–
an impassioned synthesis of concert film and hard-hitting expose
about genocide in the last century– from the Armenian genocide,
the first genocide of the 20th century, to the genocide now in
Darfur. The film includes commentary and interviews with Pulitzer
prize-winning author Samantha Power ("A Problem from Hell: America
and the Age of Genocide"), survivors from Turkey, Rwanda and Darfur,
FBI whistleblowers, and the recently assassinated Hrant Dink, who all
shed light on why genocides occur and how they are permitted to repeat.

Screamers was conceived by Peter McAlevey and Carla Garapedian and
produced by Nick de Grunwald, Tim Swain, Carla Garapedian and Peter
McAlevey.

DVD Extras

The Screamers DVD will include the following, never-before seen
special features:

— "Going Backstage"- Fan meets the band backstage

— "Armenian School"- Teachers remember Serj, Daron and Shavo at school

— "Where Did We Come from?"- Serj and John pinpoint exactly where
their families came from

— "Grandfather’s Village"- Serj’s grandfather’s village in Turkey
today

— Bonus Song- "Question!"

— Never-before seen concert footage

— Hrant Dink in Memoriam- Exclusive interview with Hrant Dink
in Istanbul

— Press Conference – Serj and John at Screamers’s Premiere press
conference

— "Spiral into Flames"- Glass artist at work creating genocide
commemorative symbol

— Get Connected -Director tells you how to find out more

— Trailer – Screamers theatrical trailer

SCREAMERS -0- Street Date: February 19, 2008 Pricing: $19.99 SRP
Runtime: 91 minutes U.S. Rating: R for language, and disturbing images
of genocide

(a) Best Hard Rock Performance, 2005 for "B.Y.O.B"

Debuts on DVD February 19, 2008

Special Features Include Going Backstage, Bonus Song, and Press
Conference

"Surprising gravitas" — Entertainment Weekly

"Eye-Opening" — LA Times

"Genius" — Village Voice

RENOVATED WEBSITE OF ARMENIAN CEC TO GIVE OPPORTUNITY TO FOLLOW ON-LINE THE PROCESS OF INFORMATION RECEIPT ON THE COMMISSION SERVER

Mediamax
February 11, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of
Armenia presented today the renovated version of its official website

As the CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian informed, a simplified search
system is placed on the website, which allows receiving information
on registration of electors, polling stations, etc.

Garegin Azarian informed that the new registration program of CEC
will automatically block imperfect data concerning the quantity and
the number of ballots, received by the server from the area electoral
commissions.

According to CEC Chairman, the numbers of all ballots, classified
according to concrete polling stations, will be entered in the
registration program beforehand.

Garegin Azarian stated that by means of website,
all the interested people will get the opportunity to follow on-line
the process of receipt of information on the CEC server following
the results of voting.

`Dashnaktsutiun’ representative believes that `the pre-election
campaign is turning into a confrontation’

February 8, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Representatives of the Armenian presidential
candidates agreed today that the presidential elections of February 19
should be fair and transparent.

Mediamax reports that, speaking today during the discussions in the
National Press Club, representative of presidential candidate Artur
Baghdasarian Hrant Margarian reminded that their candidate proposed to
establish a single staff for registration and operative reaction to the
violations of the electoral legislation.

According to him, `Orinats Yerkir’ faction `tried to approve in the
parliament the amendments to the Electoral Code, which might
considerably reduce the possibility of falsifications; however the
authorities left themselves many loopholes for gerrymander’.

Representative of presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannissian, Head of
parliamentary faction of `Dashnaktsutiun’ Hrayr Karapetian expressed
regret in connection with the fact that `the candidates are more
frequent to scold each other than to demonstrate constructive approach
to the pre-election campaign’. He stated that `thus the pre-election
campaign is turning into a confrontation and overstepping the limits of
correctness’.

RUSSIAN-OWNED ARMENIAN PLANTS TO BE PRIVATIZED – RUSSIAN PREMIER

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 6 2008

Yerevan, 6 February: The Armenian enterprises handed over to Russia
in return for the state debt will be reorganized and then, may be
handed over to the private sector, Russian Prime Minister Viktor
Zubkov said in Yerevan on Wednesday [6 February].

"As is known, in 2003 Armenia and Russia signed an agreement on the
handover of five Armenian enterprises to Russia in return for the
state debt – the so-called Equity for Debt agreement.

These enterprises are currently being reorganized in order to merge
into one scientific-production complex. Preparatory work is currently
under way. I think that in the first half-year this work will be
accomplished and the private sector will then be involved in the work
regarding the complex," Zubkov said at a news conference held jointly
with Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.

The agreement on the handover of the shares of Armenian enterprises
to Russia in return for Armenia’s state debt to the Russian Federation
was signed in 2002.

EU DELEGATION WRAPS UP VISIT TO ARMENIA

Public TV, Armenia
Feb 6 2008

[Presenter] The three-day visit of a senior EU delegation to the region
has ended. Senior EU officials summarized the results of their visit
to Armenia in Yerevan today.

Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said that three major issues were
on their agenda – the European Partnership Programme, Europe-Armenia
bilateral relations and regional issues and, of course, the forthcoming
presidential election. Both Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel,
who chairs the European Union, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European
commissioner for external relations and European Neighbourhood Policy,
voiced hope that the February election would be better than the
[Armenian] parliamentary election held last May in terms of freedom,
democracy and transparency standards.

[Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, in English with Armenian
voice-over] Hopefully or maybe, new people will be in senior offices
after the election, but I suppose the leaders will represent the
national position. And I consider it cannot change in one day in
the South Caucasus. When there is a new generation of leaders, the
modernization will continue. The election should be used to show how
democracy is developing.

[Ferrero-Waldner, in English with Armenian voice-over] We are in
the middle of the path, but work still needs to be done to ensure
progress in the fields of economy, human rights, investment and
democracy. We hope that the forthcoming election will be freer and more
transparent compared to the previous ones monitored by international
observers. Although we know that the previous indices were quite good.

[Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan] With this visit we
have once again proved our commitment to the principles adopted by
Armenia, we have proved that we implement them more consistently,
and the European Union has once again confirmed its commitment to
seeing a peaceful, developed and democratic society in this region.

[Correspondent] Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for
external relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, said in an
interview with Armenian Public TV today that she had visited Armenia
for at least five times since 2000 and that she could see progress in
our country every year. Since November 2006, when the Armenia-EU Action
Plan came into effect, Armenia has recorded significant progress in
the implementation of its commitments. But we are still on this path,
the official said. In this context, she attaches great importance
to the presidential election in Armenia. Asked whether a visit of
an EU representative to Karabakh is planned in the near future,
Ferrero-Waldner said that it was early to say something definite
at this moment but that the European Union wanted to be involved in
this process.

[Ferrero-Waldner, in English with Armenian voice-over] We would like to
be involved in the negotiations process. Being the European Union, we
would like to be present there, this will mean increased confidence,
as it is very important that the populations see that there is
progress. I am sure that a settlement will be found to the conflict.