Author: Takmazian

CONGRESSMAN BRAD SHERMAN OPPOSES ADMINISTRATION FUNDING LEVEL TO ARMENIA

DeFacto Agency
Feb 14 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN. 14.02.08. DE FACTO. The Armenian Assembly of America
praised Brad Sherman (D-CA) for raising strong concerns regarding the
Administration’s proposed budget for Armenia during the House Foreign
Affairs Committee hearing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
held February 13.

In response to Sherman’s statement, Secretary Rice replied that Armenia
also received funding through the Millennium Challenge Act (MCA). In
March of 2006, the United States and Armenia concluded a 5-year,
$235.65 million compact under the MCA to help reduce rural poverty and
increase agricultural productivity in Armenia. This funding is separate
and distinct from the funding provided under the Freedom Support Act.

Sherman told the Armenian Assembly that "the Administration’s budget
request is wholly inadequate. Assistance provided under the MCA is
not a substitute for other important programs in Armenia provided
under the Freedom Support Act. I will work with my colleagues to
correct this gross disparity."

Condoleezza Rice was on Capitol Hill testifying regarding the
Administration’s Fiscal Year 2009 International Affairs Budget. The
Administration’s budget slashed funding to Armenia by nearly 60
percent from $58.5 million in FY 2008 to a proposed level of $24
million in FY 2009. The budget request also called for more military
funding for Azerbaijan; a clear breach of the agreement reached with
Congress in 2001 regarding military parity for both countries. Under
the Administration’s budget request, Azerbaijan is slated to receive
$900,000 in International Military Education Training compared to
$300,000 for Armenia.

"We commend Congressman Sherman for raising this concern directly with
the Secretary. The Armenian Assembly strongly opposes the allocation
level as proposed by Administration and will fight to ensure robust
assistance for Armenia," stated Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN HELD A MEETING IN MOSCOW WITH THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE POLITICAL COUNCIL OF THE "UNION OF RIGHT FORCES"

Mediamax
February 12, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenian presidential candidate Ter-Petrosian
met yesterday in Moscow with the Deputy Chairman of the Political
Council of the "Union of Right Forces", Councilor of Anatoli Chubais
Leonid Gozman.

A source in RAO "EEC Russia" Company informed Mediamax on this today.

Commenting on the information about the meeting of Ter-Petrosian with
the first Vice-Prime Minister of Russia, a source in the Kremlin told
Mediamax today that the former President of Armenia met neither Dmitri
Medvedev, nor anybody else from the representatives of the leadership
of the Russian Federation.

ARMENIA: OPPOSITION COALITION FAILS TO MATERIALIZE
Marianna Grigoryan

EurasiaNet
Feb 11 2008
NY

Former president Levon Ter-Petrosian and rival candidate Artur
Baghdasarian have missed a deadline to combine campaigns, apparently
denying the opposition any realistic hope of mounting a serious
challenge for power in Armenia’s February 19 presidential election.

Ter-Petrosian, often presented as the opposition frontrunner, had
earlier announced that he had "serious grounds" to believe that other
opposition forces would join him, an assertion thought to refer
mainly to Baghdasarian, who heads the opposition Orinats Yerkir
(Country of Law) Party. Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian,
who has a sizeable popular following, was also thought to be on the
verge of offering an endorsement. Party representatives now indicate
that they will make a decision by February 12 on which candidate to
support. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

A merger announcement had been expected by February 9, the last day
for candidates to withdraw from Armenia’s presidential race. But the
day came and went without an announcement by either Ter-Petrosian or
Baghdasarian. At a Yerevan rally on February 9, arguably one of the
largest in recent years, thousands of supporters gathered to hear
the former president speak. Police put the turnout at 15,000 people;
organizers at a gargantuan 150,000. "This public rally and magnificent
march have shown that there are indeed no insurmountable obstacles
in front of us," Ter-Petrosian declared at the rally.

The campaign was joined by several organizations tied to the war
in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the topic of a possible alliance with
Baghdasarian and/or Hovannisian was not broached.

The Central Election Commission has finalized the registration for
all previous nine candidates and a sample ballot has already been
sent to the printing house. The Constitutional Court has rejected a
request filed by Ter-Petrosian on February 8 that could have delayed
the elections by two weeks to 40 days. [For background see the Eurasia
Insight archive].

Heritage Party spokesperson Hovsep Khurshudian told EurasiaNet that
negotiations with Ter-Petrosian and Baghdasarian are still ongoing.

Hopes for some form of cooperation still exist, he said.

Senior Heritage Party member Stepan Safarian echoed that view,
asserting that "everything" will be clear by February 12. "We will
have a big discussion inside the party tonight and we will probably
make a decision on that during that discussion and will clarify our
position," Safarian said in reference to a potential partnership with
Ter-Petrosian and/or Baghdasarian.

Political analysts, however, take a dimmer view. With the February
9 deadline past, one observer says, the time for unified campaigns
is gone. Rather, he asserts, Heritage will now have to decide which
campaign it plans to support – Ter-Petrosian or Baghdasarian.

"From the legal point of view, the time for unifications is up,
and even if one of the candidates speaks out about withdrawing his
candidacy in favor of another candidate, it will no longer have
the impact that it would have had before February 9," commented
pro-opposition political analyst Aghasi Yenokian.

Yenokian attributes the failure to agree on a unified campaign to
the ambitions of both candidates and government pressure.

On the evening of February 8, Armenian President Robert Kocharian
called on Baghdasarian, a former government protege, to refrain from
linking his campaign with that of Ter-Petrosian. Doing so, Kocharian
asserted, would cost the onetime parliamentary leader "at least half
of his electorate."

"[T]he electorate of Orinats Yerkir is an electorate which is longing
for stability and is not embittered for the most part. I don’t think
its mood is compatible with that of Levon Ter-Petrosian’s embittered
camp," he said, pointing out that many Orinats Yerkir supporters would
rather vote for Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian than the "discredited"
ex-president.

Baghdasaria n has described as "slander" a report by one Yerevan
newspaper that claimed that he had been invited to Prime Minister
Sarkisian’s summer cottage and offered the post of premier if Sarkisian
is elected and Baghdasarian does not join forces with Ter-Petrosian.

Baghdasarian has largely dodged any clear-cut statement about his talks
with the former president. But he has clearly indicated a reluctance
to play second fiddle to any other candidate.

At a February 11 Yerevan meeting with non-governmental organizations,
he reminded participants that he has "hundreds of thousands of
supporters."

"We discussed both options: Levon Ter-Petrosian joining me, and
our joining him," he said. "I am not struggling for the runner-up’s
position. I am struggling for the post of Armenia’s president. I am
confident that I will be in the runoff. Time will show whether Serzh
Sarkisian or Levon Ter-Petrosian are with me in the second round."

Under Armenia’s election law, a candidate must win an absolute majority
of votes to secure election in the first round of voting.

Nonetheless, Baghdasarian still maintains that "opposition
consolidation" in both rounds is "a political necessity."

Such assertions, notes independent political analyst Yervand Bozoyan,
have put a question mark over the question of opposition unification
from the get-go.

"It is clear to everyone that Levon Ter-Petrosian is an opposition
frontrunner, however, each candidate has his own viewpoint about his
rating and it seems to each of them that he holds the most weight,"
Bozoyan said. "In this case, a conventionally ‘weak’ candidate could
easily join, but not Artur Baghdasarian. There is a question of
serious ambitions here."

The inability of Ter-Petrosian and Baghdasarian to merge campaigns
did not come as a surprise to members of the governing Republican
Party of Armenia. Prime Minister Sarkisian, the odds-on favorite to
the win the presidential vote, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s
Armenian Service that he was "simply sure" that his rivals would not
be able to reconcile their differences. The reason why? "[A]s they
say," noted the prime minister, "we know our customers."

CHIEF EDITORS OF ARMENIAN NEWSPAPERS EXCHANGED OPINIONS ON THE COVERAGE OF THE PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Mediamax
February 11, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Chief Editor of "Yerkir" weekly Spartak Seyranian
stated in Yerevan today that "many of the Armenian newspapers
replicate hatred".

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference, devoted to
the coverage of the pre-election campaign by print media, Spartak
Seyranian stated that the newspapers "often publish accusations the
candidates pour on each other, taken out from the context, forgetting
that after the elections life will continue".

At that, Seyranian noted, "newspapers try to satisfy the demands of
the society, which, unfortunately, prefers gutter press and disdains
from elite journalism".

The Chief Editor of "Azg" newspaper Hakob Avetikian expressed his
disagreement to such assessment of the society preferences. According
to him, "main part of the readers is a serious and thinking segment
of the society".

Hakob Avetikian stated that, according to preliminary calculations,
the number of such readers makes about 120 thousand people, "and this
is not a small number for Armenia".

Chief Editor of "Azg" newspaper expressed opinion that in the process
of the pre-election campaign people prefer print media rather than
TV-channels. In this context, one can say with confidence that the
print press pays the most influential role and this should not be
neglected, Hakob Avetikian stated.

The editors also noted that the pre-election staffs of the candidates
are reluctant to cooperate with the newspapers, preferring TV, and
in such cases it is difficult to secure pluralism of opinions.

ARMENIA TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL URANIUM ENRICHMENT CENTRE IN RUSSIA

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 6 2008

Armenia and Russia have signed an inter-government agreement on
Armenia’s involvement in the activity of the Russia-based international
uranium enrichment centre, Mediax news agency reported, quoting
Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.

Zubkov is paying an official visit to Armenia. The following of the
text of report by private Armenian news agency Mediamax

Yerevan, 6 February: Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan said in
Yerevan today that Russia and Armenia intend to bring trade turnover
to 1bn dollars.

Sargsyan said this at a joint news conference following his talks
with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov who is paying an official
visit to Yerevan, Mediamax reported.

Sargsyan said that Armenian-Russian trade had totalled 700m dollars
in late 2007 and there is a potential to cross a 1bn threshold within
a short period of time.

Sargsyan said that the issue of intensifying Russian investment
activity in Armenia had been discussed at the talks with his Russian
counterpart. Sargsyan stressed that the accumulated figure of Russian
capital in Armenia has reached 1bn dollars.

He added that transport communication between the two countries had
been discussed at the meeting. That is the only obstacle impeding
the increase of bilateral trade. He said that giving the Armenian
railways closed-type joint-stock company to the Russian side for
concessionary management would have a considerable impact on the
volume of work planned for the near future.

In this context, Sargsyan mentioned an agreement between Armenia and
Russia on supplies of building materials for preparations to the 2014
Olympics on Sochi.

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that agreements on
cooperation in the sphere of innovation technologies and communication,
and trade had been signed following the talks with his Armenian
counterpart.

Zubkov said that an inter-government agreement on Armenia’s involvement
in the activity of the [Russia-based] international uranium enrichment
centre had been signed.

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP MONUMENT DESECRATED IN BARNAUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2008 19:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Open Book, the monument to the Armenian-Russian
friendship was desecrated in Barnaul, Russia. The vandals daubed
green and yellow paint on the Armenian letters at the "book page"
and drew a red Svarogov Square, a nationalistic symbol of the Russian
National Unity. The inscription of the back of the monuments was also
painted yellow.

Besides, the Square and fascist swastika was drawn at front doors of
some dwelling houses.

Last October vandals desecrated the monument inaugurated with funds of
the Armenian Diaspora of Altay. A day after unveiling a golden key,
the symbol of knowledge, was stolen. The key was made of iron and
painted with golden enamel, the National News Agency.

ARMENIA-MALTA 1:0

armradio.am
04.02.2008 14:16

The Armenian national football team led by new head coach Jan Poulsen
defeated the team of Malta in an international tournament that features
also the national teams of Belarus and Iceland.

Ara Hakobyan scored the only goal at the 69th minute of the match. In
the other match Belarus defeated Iceland 2:0.

In the second round Armenia will play with Belarus. The team of Malta
will compete with Iceland.

‘BRAINPEOPLE’ LEAPS INTO THE BAFFLED MIND
Robert Hurwitt

San Francisco Chronicle
Feb 4 2008
CA

Brainpeople: Drama. By Jose Rivera. Directed by Chay Yew. (Through
Feb. 16. American Conservatory Theater at Zeum Theater, 221 Fourth
St., San Francisco. 80 minutes. Tickets: $12.50-$20.50. Call (415)
749-2228 or visit )

A tiger is being consumed nightly onstage at Zeum Theater. No, that’s
not a metaphor – except in the sense that almost everything that occurs
in the surrealistic world of Jose Rivera’s plays is metaphorical. In
his new "Brainpeople," three women sit down to a banquet of freshly
slaughtered tiger flesh.

The playwright and American Conservatory Theater, which is producing
the world premiere that opened Saturday, would probably prefer to
avoid any associations with the recent tragic events at the San
Francisco Zoo. That’s not likely to happen, before and after the
show at any rate, but during the 80 minutes these three accomplished
performers inhabit Rivera’s teasingly engrossing stage reality, most
such associations tend to evaporate. Except, say, when one woman
speaks of the thrill of eating "endangered" meat. Or another refers
to the meal as "sweet revenge."

Developed throughout the past year in ACT’s First Look series,
"Brainpeople" isn’t really about the fraught relationship between
humans and tigers. It’s a return to the postapocalyptic landscape
this most magical-realist of major American playwrights has explored
in such compelling works as "Marisol" and "References to Salvador
Dali Make Me Hot," among his many plays produced in the Bay Area.

(San Jose’s Teatro Vision is now staging the West Coast premiere of his
"School of the Americas," about the last days of Che Guevara, whose
earlier life was the subject of Rivera’s "The Motorcycle Diaries"
screenplay.)

But this surreal urban world has a very different effect. There
are no talking moons or cats, no pregnant men or wars between gods
and angels this time. Events have caught up with Rivera to the point
that his city under martial law, with brutal police sweeps, dangerous
checkpoints and wealthy enclaves protected by private militias, no
longer seems such an imaginative stretch. More than that, though,
Rivera eschews external surreal symbols this time to delve directly
into the chaos of his characters’ disordered minds.

The result is both an engrossing descent into the traumatized
inner realms of three very different, isolated women and somewhat
disappointingly tidy – both in terms of the play’s resolution and
a structure that breaks down too neatly into separate arias. Each
flight of concentrated poetry is vividly written, however, and each
is brilliantly performed in director Chay Yew’s sharply staged and
handsomely designed production.

The setting is the Los Angeles apartment of the very wealthy Puerto
Rican Mayannah (Lucia Brawley), its smudged and fading riches floating
isolated in a black void in Daniel Ostling’s acute set design. Lydia
Tanji’s smart costumes telegraph the women’s different economic realms,
as Paul Whitaker’s lights and Cliff Caruthers’ sound effects convey
the police actions on the street below.

Rosemary (Rene Augesen, in flea-market chic) and Ani (Sona Tatoyan,
the playwright’s wife, in uptight, prim-wear) are guests at Mayannah’s
annual tiger banquet – strangers she is paying to attend, having sent
her armored limousine to pick them up. In the course of the dinner,
each woman reveals a madness which internalizes the injustices outside.

Augesen has a field day with Rosemary’s multiple personalities (her
"brainpeople") – from Liverpudlian wannabe rocker, genial country girl
and bedeviled innocent to ancient Irishwoman and smooth Puerto Rican
man – in a blithely versatile performance of quick-shifting attitudes,
appetites and accents. Tatoyan opens up by carefully calculated degrees
from repressed, paranoid Armenian, carrying a history of persecution,
to empathetic catalyst. Brawley anchors the evening nicely in the
more schematic role of the traumatized, take-charge hostess.

The tiger-feast metaphor develops a disappointingly neat, literal
reality in the end. By then, though, Rivera has created an intriguing
and evocative drama with the social and psychological terrors that
have leapt from the grottoes of the women’s minds.

PACE OBSERVER MISSION IN GENERAL AGREES WITH INTERIM REPORT PUBLISHED
BY OSCE/ODIHR

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The 30 members of the PACE interim
commission on observation of the presidential elections will arrive in
Armenia on February 17. The observer mission’s preliminary report on
elections will be published in Yerevan on February 20, while the final
report will be presented to the PACE for discussion two months after
the vote. The head of the interim observer commission, PACE deputy John
Prescott (UK) announced this at the January 31 press conference at the
RA National Assembly. He added that if the preliminary conclusion to be
published in Yerevan is the same as those of the other observer
missions, including of the OSCE/ODIHR, in this case it would be
expedient not to repeat the same and present a conclusion only once –
at a joint press conference.

The 3-member delegation headed by John Prescott conducted preliminary
observation in Yerevan on January 29-31 with the aim of evaluating the
current political atmosphere in the country and the preparation for the
elections. The delegation had numerous meetings, including meetings
with the Armenian leadership, the chhairman of the RA Central Electoral
Commission, candidates for the RA presidency, NGOs and journalistic
organizations.

J. Prescott stated that they in general agree with the first interim
report on the upcoming presidential elections in the RA published by
OSCE/ODIHR the day before. He said that they take the view that the
holding of truly democratic elections and the legitimacy of their
results depend on the high level of public confidence in the electoral
process. So the delegation recommends that the Armenian authorities
should take all necessary messures to ensure public confidence in
electoral process.

By the way, among the delegation members was Lord Russel Johnston, the
head of the PACE interim commission on Nagorno Karabakh problem. In
response to reporters’ question, he said that he is in Armenia as
observer, while after the presidential elections he will arrive as the
commission chairman in order to meet with the new Armenian president.
Prior to arriving in Armenia, he visited Azerbaijan and met with the
country’s president.

AZG Armenian Daily #020, 02/02/2008

Presidential elections

SOCIOLOGIST ADIBEKIAN: "MY TASK IS TO BE A THERMOMETER AND SHOW THE
CLIENT THE REAL TEMPERATURE"

Director of "Sociometer" polling center Aharon Adibekian on January
31, in "Hayatsk" club presented the results of the survey of coming
presidential elections conducted by his center. The survey was
conducted among 2000 people from different provinces of
Armenia. According to it, 5 percent of the questioned will not
participate in the elections and 20 percent are not interested in
elections.

According to Adibekian, 20 percent of the questioned in the provinces
rejected to participate in the survey, as they are not interested in
public-political developments of the country.

75 percent of them are ready to participate in the elections and 5
percent follow the developments but will not participate, as they
don’t believe in free and fair elections.

What about the awareness of the questioned about the candidates, only
40,7 percent in the provinces are aware of Vahan Honhannissian as ARF
presidential candidate, about Vazgen Manoukian candidate know only
44,2 percent of the questioned and 80,6 percent – about Ter-Petrosian.

About Serge Sarkisian’s candidacy are aware 97,5 percent of the
questioned, about Arthur Baghdasarian – 56,8 percent and Artashes
Geghamian – 55 percent. About Tigran Karapetian, Aram Haroutiunian
and Arman Melikian know only 51 percent of the questioned.

"The weakest spot of the voters remain the programs of the
candidates. It’s bad that 97,5 percent of the voters are aware of
Serge Sargsian candidate, but only 19,7 percent are aware of the
candidates’ programs", said Aharon Adibekian.

The preferable candidate of the opposite voters in the provinces is
Arthur Baghdasarian.

40 percent of the questioned will not vote for Levon Ter-Petrosian. 10
percent of the electorate will not vote for Serge Sargsian.

To the question if Adibekian’s survey results correspond to reality
the sociologist answered, "My task is to be a thermometer and to show
the client the real temperature".

By the way, the survey was conducted by order of Serge Sarkisian’s
campaign office. The sociologist didn’t tell the name of the second
client.

What about the possibility of the second round of the elections the
sociologist said, "Possibility of the second round is very low, as two
third of the votes are directed to Serge Sargsian".

According to the survey conducted in the provinces the votes are
divided in the following way: Vazgen Manoukian – 1,5 percent, Artashes
Geghamian – 2 percent, Vahan Hovhannisian – 3 percent, Levon
Ter-Petrosian – 6 percent, Arthur Baghdasarian – 9 percent and Serge
Sargsian – 67 percent. The rest of the candidates has 0,7 percent of
the votes. 10,5 percent of the questioned are not oriented yet.

By Nairi Muradian, translated by L.H.