Author: Takmazian

DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH CONTINUES

ARMENPRESS
Dec 21, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s economy continued its
double-digit growth and according to the country’s statistical service,
it rose 13.6 percent in January-November.

The highest growth rates was again reported by construction and
services sectors – 19% and 20.8% respectively.

The industrial growth was lower-2.7% only, but experts say the figure
is stable with a slight growth trend seen in November.

Power generation not counted, the industrial growth was 1.7%, and
diamond cutting excluded it was 9.1%.

Agriculture growth was 9.6% and retail trade grew by 8,9%.

Foreign trade grew 39.1%, to almost $4 billion.

Exports from Armenia made $1.6 billion, 21.% more from a year
before. The volume of imports to Armenia rose to $2.871 billion,
47.2% up from a year before.

The negative trade balance grew to $1.810 billion.

In January-November 2007 the average monthly salary in Armenia was
82,000 Drams. In public sector it was 55,000 AMD and 105,000 in
private sector. Salary grew 20.5%, from a year before.

REPRESENTATIVE OF ARF DASHNAKSUTYUN: ARMENIA OBVIOUSLY EXPERIENCES BLACK PR BEFORE THE OFFICIAL START OF ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN

arminfo
2007-12-21 16:54:00

ArmInfo. "Armenia obviously experiences black PR before the official
start of electoral campaign ", Head of the ARF Dashnaksutyun
parliamentary faction Hrayr Karapetyan said to journalists at the
Pastark club, Friday.

According to him, all the participants in the pre-electoral campaign
can’t help replying to the attempts to discredit them, however,
there are certain limits that shouldn’t be crossed. "We appeal to all
presidential candidates in Armenia to present their programs and not
defame one another. The opinion "it will be the same whoever comes
to power", ruling in the society, arises due to such defamation,
H.Karapetyan said.

The ARFD representative is confident that all the layers of the
Armenian society attentively follow the political processes in the
country, and it is hard for them to the endure the negative things,
unlike politicians, who are accustomed to the dirt. "One of the
sides of the political confrontation says that everything is quite
perfect in the country. Another one says about a criminal state where
everything should be changed. Our party is not going to run to any
of these extremes. ARFD could have assessed a number of political
forces negatively, but we won’t choose this path. Certainly, one
cannot fail to notice the achievements, however, ARFD would have
joined the ruling coalition, instead of just cooperating with it,
if ARFD failed to see the shortcomings", H.Karapetyan noted.

ISCHINGER: UN SECURITY COUNCIL WON’T REACH AGREEMENT ON KOSOVO DECEMBER 19

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.12.2007 14:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UN Security Council will not reach agreement
on Kosovo December 19, said Wolfgang Ischinger, EU representative in
the Contact Group Troika for Kosovo.

"The situation hasn’t changed much since June or July, when Ahtisaari’s
plan was rejected. Taking into account Pristina’s intention to proclaim
independence in the near future, the EU was supposed to support the
decision and send correct signals to its neighbors, first of all to
Serbia," he said.

"The outlook of EU membership is one of the factors uniting Serbs
and Kosovars," he added.

Amb. Ischinger thinks Serbia will not use force against Kosovo even
if independence is proclaimed unilaterally. Belgrade will immediately
announce the decision illegal, according to him.

"Resolution of the Kosovo issue will become the index of Europeans’
legal capacity. It was clear that the troika attempts the impossible,"
the German diplomat said.

"As to Moscow’s position, it just wants to prevent NATO’s enlargement,"
he said, Deutsche Welle reports.

SWISS COURT REJECTS TURK’S GENOCIDE DENIAL APPEAL

Agence France Presse
Dec 19 2007

Switzerland’s Federal Tribunal on Wednesday rejected a Turkish
activist’s appeal over his conviction for having denied that mass
killings of Armenians during World War I constituted genocide.

Dogu Perincek, leader of a small left-wing group, the Turkish Workers’
Party, will now take his case to the European Court of Human Rights,
his lawyer Laurent Moreillon said.

The ruling by the Federal Tribunal, Switzerland’s supreme court,
confirmed an earlier judgment by a court in Lausanne on March 7 this
year. It was the last legal recourse for Perincek inside Switzerland.

The Lausanne court fined him 3,000 Swiss francs ($2,500 dollars)
and gave him a suspended sentence for having "denied the Armenian
genocide three times during meetings held in Switzerland in 2005,
acting on racist motives."

Perincek had described the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire
as an "international lie".

Pierre-Henri Winzap, the judge who heard the Lausanne case, ruled
that Perincek’s comments had not been motivated by a wish to start
a historical debate. He described the defendant as an "arrogant
provocateur" with "racist and nationalist motives".

Wednesday’s Federal Tribunal ruling rejected Perincek’s argument
that the Lausanne court had not taken adequate steps to establish
that the killings did constitute genocide. It ruled that there was a
historical consensus that the genocide took place and the defendant
had not cited any facts to show the contrary.

A number of countries and official bodies, notably the European
Parliament, Canada, France, and the US House of Representatives
foreign affairs committee, have labeled the killings a genocide.

Switzerland’s lower parliamentary chamber also recognized the killings
as genocide towards the end of 2003.

The Swiss-Armenia Association welcomed the latest ruling. "It is
the first time at world level that a supreme court of criminal law
hands down a conviction for denying the genocide of the Armenians,"
it said in a statement.

But Perincek’s lawyer Moreillon made it clear the fight was not yet
over. "We are turning to the European Court of Human Rights on a
question of principle," he said.

But Wednesday’s Federal Tribunal ruling is unlikely to please the
Turkish government. A Turkish foreign ministry statement issued shortly
after the original March judgment described it as unacceptable and
criticized Swiss media coverage of the case as biased.

CAUCASUS: NOV ’07: CCJN’S FIRST WORKSHOP IN CHECHNYA GAVE VISITING JOURNALISTS A GLIMPSE OF POST-WAR LIFE
By Salla Nazarenko, CCJN project leader

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Dec 19 2007

Seven journalists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, the unrecognised republic
of Abkhazia and the autonomous republic of North Ossetia and Chechnya
took part in the first joint mission and workshop to Chechnya in
November.

The workshop was organised as a part of Cross Caucasus Journalism
Network Project, a three-year programme funded by the European Union,
EU, and other donors.

The aim of the visit was to give the journalists an idea of what
Chechnya is like today, after two bloody wars that destroyed so much
of the autonomous republic.

"During the night we could hear sounds of machine guns, but nobody
pays attention to that any more," said Anaid Gogoryan, a workshop
participant from Abkhazia.

"Chechnya is nowadays more peaceful than neighboring Ingushetia
and Dagestan."

During the four days in Grozny, journalists met politicians, experts,
the speaker of the parliament, the prosecutor-general and others.

At a round-table meeting, entitled on "Journalism and Politics",
journalists discussed the role of journalists in politics, and asked
if they should even participate?

During other meetings, journalists discussed the reconstruction of the
republic and a range of reforms, as well as political life of Chechnya.

When walking in the streets of Grozny, the journalists witnessed the
strength of the personality cult of current president Ramzan Kadyrov,
as well as that of his father, Akhmat Kadyrov.

Political analyst and historian Edilbek Khasmagomadov compared
the dependence of Chechen officials on President Kadyrov to the
patron-client relationship system of Ancient Rome.

Whereas speaker of the parliament Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov criticised
the European political tradition of allowing a president to stay in
office for no more than two terms of four years.

"A leader needs 22 to 28 years to accomplish all his reforms,"
Abdurakhmanov told journalists.

He also added that Kadyrov has been able to change the reputation of
the Chechen people in the eyes of Russians.

"All the people dream of independence, but there are different kinds of
independence. The most independent person in the world in my opinion
is Bill Gates," said Abdurakhmanov.

The journalists also managed to witness at first-hand the impact of
Kadyrov’s authoritarian rule on everyday life.

During the four days in Grozny, the president issued a decree that
restaurants cannot work later than 7 pm, which meant the journalists
had to revise their daily schedules as they had to have dinner earlier
than planned.

Kadyrov’s attitudes towards women became even more evident, when the
female journalists talked to local people.

"I will never marry a girl that wears trousers," a young man in the
street told the group.

After returning to their homes, the journalists wrote pieces for
their newspapers.

"People [in Abkhazia] liked my stories," said project participant
Anaid Gogoryan from Sukhumi.

"They appreciated me having been to Grozny, because otherwise all the
information comes through television, which does not always tell the
truth. These kinds of visits are very useful for us."

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: TURKISH SOCIETY NEEDS TRUTH

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian-Turkish relations have
reached a deadlock, and though its all motivations are partly true,
they do not give a final answer to the question. Vahan Hovhannisian,
the RA National Assembly Vice-Speaker, a member of the ARFD Bureau,
said at the hearings on the subject "Armenian-Turkish relations:
problems and prospects," which started on December 19 at the RA
National Assembly.

According to him, democracy and dictatorship have never been
partners. At the same time, V. Hovhannisian said that he is far
from the idea that Armenia is already a classical democratic
country. However, in his words, Turkey is a classical example of
dictatorship and totalitarianism, as it tries to keep under control
not only the present, but also the past. V. Hovhannisian considers
that therefore a serious study of the Armenian Genocide and its
reasons is excluded, and information on these events is closed for
the Turkish public. Besides, according to him, "no result will be
achieved" until the murderers, Talaat Pasha, Enver, and Jamal are
perceived as national heroes by the Turkish people.

V. Hovhannisian also said that Turkish society really needs the truth.

Therefore, according to him, the results of the parliamentary hearings
should be completed and they should include a very important component,
what is retribution according to the Armenian party and in what way and
in what terms it is expected. The NA Vice-Speaker considers that not
only representatives of Turkey, who have turned down the invitation
to take part in the hearings, but also the whole Turkish parliament
should be informed about it.

According to V. Hovhannisian’s evaluation, changes happen in Turkey in
a distorted way and that country’s membership in the European Union
will be "a serious defeat, as it will mean that not Turkey accepted
the European system of values, but Europe accepted an absolutely
strange system of values." He considers that finally it will result
in EU’s weakening.

64 JOURNALISTS KILLED WORLDWIDE IN 2007, MOST SINCE ’94
By Adam B. Ellick

The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
December 18, 2007 Tuesday

More journalists have been killed worldwide in 2007 than in any year
since 1994, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an
independent group that promotes press freedom and defends the rights
of journalists.

In the committee’s annual report to be released Tuesday, 64 journalists
died in circumstances linked to their work in 2007.

Nearly half of those deaths, 31, took place in Iraq, which was ranked
as the deadliest country for journalists for the fifth consecutive
year. Most of the killings were targeted attacks, as opposed to deaths
caused by cross-fire, according to the committee.

In Africa, the number of deaths rose to 10 this year from 2 in 2006,
according to the committee’s report. Somalia, the second deadliest
country in 2007, accounted for 7 of those deaths.

The committee’s annual report tallies the deaths of journalists that
result directly from combat, violence or a direct reprisal for a
journalist’s work, like the assassination of the Turkish-Armenian
editor Hrant Dink, who was killed in January on a street in Istanbul.

The report covers the period from Jan. 1 through Monday.

In Iraq, the committee cites "unidentified gunmen, suicide bombers,
and American military activity" as the main contributors to the deaths.

"Working as a journalist in Iraq remains one of the most dangerous
jobs on the planet," said Joel Simon, the executive director of the
committee, which is based in New York. "These journalists gave their
lives so that all of us could be informed about what is happening
in Iraq."

A mounting problem in Iraq is that international news agencies are
circumventing their limited mobility by passing dangerous assignments
to nonprofessionals who lack proper training, said Tala Dowlatshahi of
Reporters Without Borders, another group that promotes press freedom.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, all but one of
the 31 victims in Iraq were Iraqi citizens, and 9 of them worked for
international news outlets. Since the war began in March 2003, 124
journalists and 49 support staff members have been killed in Iraq,
according to the committee.

In Africa, border disputes and tribal conflicts have created an
increasingly dangerous climate for journalists. According to Reporters
Without Borders’ 2007 index, Eritrea replaced North Korea as the
worst country for press freedom.

Three Mexican journalists were killed in 2007, all of whom were
reporting on ties between drug traffickers and the nation’s police
force and government, according to the committee. The committee’s
report cites a safer climate in Colombia, where no journalists were
killed for the first time in 15 years, and in the Philippines, which
had no work-related deaths for the first time in 9 years and has long
been atop the list of the most deadly countries for journalists.

Still, cases in each country remain under investigation.

In the United States, the lone victim in 2007 was Chauncey Bailey,
the editor in chief of The Oakland Post, a California weekly, who
was killed while reporting on the finances of a local bakery.

The 64 worldwide deaths cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists
are 8 more than in 2006, and the second highest number since the
committee started tracking journalist deaths in 1981. The most lethal
year was 1994, when conflicts in Rwanda, Bosnia and Algeria contributed
to the deaths of 66 journalists.

In a separate tally, the committee counted 20 killings of news media
staff members, like translators, guards and drivers, in 2007.

The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists reported
that 175 journalists and support staff members died as a result of
violence or accidents this year, including 69 in Iraq. Its results
are on pace to match the results from last year, which according to
federation figures was the deadliest year for journalists since it
started tracking causalities a decade ago.

OSCE TO RESUME MONITORING OF ARMENIAN-AZERI BORDER

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.12.2007 18:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Monitoring of the contact line of the Armenian and
Azeri armed forces will be resumed tomorrow, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian told a news conference in Yerevan.

The monitoring process was suspended through the fault of the Azeri
side, he said.

December 19, a monitoring near the settlement of Barekamavan of Tavush
region of Armenia will be conducted in the framework of the mandate
of OSCE CiO’s Personal Representative, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S AGO GROUP TO JOIN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

armradio.am
17.12.2007 10:41

Council of Europe’s AGO Group intends to organize the meeting of
the young leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia within the project of
involving civil society in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement,
the Ambassador of AGO Group, Pier Sjogren, said at the meeting with
the participants of Baku and Yerevan School of Political Knowledge
of Council of Europe in Sweden.

The meeting of Baku and Yerevan School of Political Knowledge
of Council of Europe took place in Sweden between 13 and 16
December. Attended by the representatives of the Council of Europe
and European Union, the meeting focuses on the role of the civil
society in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

According to the Ambassador, AGO Group welcomes the meeting of
the representatives of the civil societies (NGOs, journalists) of
Azerbaijan and Armenia. "I hope that this meeting will initiate other
meetings," he said.

The Council of Europe’s AGO Group intends to join the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement in context of human rights, the Ambassador of
AGO Group, Pier Sjogren, said in an interview with Trend.

According to him, the AGO Group is prepared to track the process of
democratization, ensuring human rights in Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh. AGO Group has already been supported in this regard
by the Governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, he said.

The Ambassador said that the AGO Group intends to visit
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yet the details of the visit have not been determined.

NEW NOMINATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE GOLDEN APRICOT

armradio.am
14.12.2007 13:33

Presidents and Directors of most popular film festivals, including
those of the Cannes, Rotterdam, Gothenburg and Pusan, as well as the
"godfathers" of world cinematography and famous cinema workers will
be invited to Yerevan on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the
"Golden Apricot" International Film Festival. The 5th anniversary of
the young festival will feature also famous Canadian Armenian film
director Atom Egoyan.

Armenpress was told from the Office of the Golden Apricot that in
2008 the international festival will last 7 days instead of the
former 5 and will start on June 13. Applications for participation
are already accepted.

Next year the number of nominations will also increase. Contest for
films shot in the countries of the region will be organized.