Author: Talalian Arpi

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MAKES AMENDMENTS AND ADDITIONS TO LAW ON DECLARATION OF PROPERTY AND INCOMES OF NATURAL PERSONS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 18 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, NOYAN TAPAN. At the December 18 special session,
the RA National Assembly passed in the third reading and completely the
bill on establishment and reconsideration of tariffs for provision of
services on mandatory technical inspection of transport means, and,
based on it, made an addition to the RA Law on the Public Services
Regulatory Body. In accordance with it, henceforth tariffs for
mandatory technical inspection of transport means in Armenia will
be established and revised by the RA Public Services Regulatory
Commission.

The bill on making additions and amendments to the RA Law on
Declaration of Property and Incomes of Natural Persons was passed in
the second reading and completely at the session. In the words of the
main speaker – the deputy head of the State Tax Service adjunct to the
RA government Armen Alaverdian, the purpose of these amendments is to
limit and specify the list of those who have to submit declarations
and to specify the list of property subject to declaration.

By the amendments, nonresidents have been taken off the list of those
who have to submit declarations, which, according to the government,
is conditioned by the expediency not to hinder investments by
foreign citizens in the Republic of Armenia and not to establish
extra obligations for them.

The state officials and persons related to them, who have been included
in the list of those who have to submit declarations, shall indicate
the real estate, movables, securities purchased or sold in the tax
year, as well as loans and other purchased or sold property worth
over 8 million drams or a sum in foreign currency equivalent to it.

Persons not indicated in the list of those who have to submit
declarations shall declare real estate purchased or sold in the
reporting year as a result of a deal exceeding 50 million drams,
as well as movables, securities and loans exceeding 8 million drams
(each).

The first declarations in accordance with the order stipulated
by the indicated amendments shall be submitted in 2009 – for the
year 2008. The heads of the RA government bodies will submit 2007’s
declarations in accordance with the order stipulated by the 2001 Law
on Declaration of Property and Incomes of the Heads of the Government
Bodies of the RA. This law will be recognized as invalid in January
1, 2009.

FORMER AMBASSADOR OF TURKEY TO AZERBAIJAN HINTING AT TURKEY’S ASISTANCE IN CASE OF MILITARY ACTIONS AGAINST KARABAKH

2007-12-19 11:11:00

ArmInfo. The former Ambassador of Turkey to Azerbaijan Huseyn Avni
Karslioglu hinted in an interview to APA at Turkey’s asistance in
case of military actions against Karabakh. ‘You launch war in Nagorno
Karabakh, and see how Turkey boils up. Turkey will be so happy, if
Azerbaijani football clubs Karvan, Turan, Garabagh and Khazar-Lankaran
win on the international level’, he said.

Speaking about Turkey’s support to Azerbaijan in the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the ambassador underlined that his country
is not the co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group. "Neither the co-chairing
countries, nor Armenia want this. Our borders with Armenia are closed,
and this has a serious influence on Armenians. Turkey undergoes
political and economic losses. Turkey is exerted pressure," he said.

AZERBAIJANI CONFLICTS RESOLUTION EXPERT: ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI MASS MEDIA SHOULD DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE AND IMPOSSIBLE TO TRANSFORM THE ENEMY IMAGE INTO THE RIVAL IMAGE

2007-12-17 18:43:00

ArmInfo. Armenian and Azerbaijani mass media should everything possible
and impossible to transform the enemy image into the rival image,
Azerbaijani conflicts resolution expert, editor of the analytical
issue "Third view", World Ambassador Rauf Radjabov told ArmInfo
correspondent.

‘Enemy will never become partner. There is middle between a partner and
enemy – it is a rival. It is normal to be a rival. It is good and one
should be afraid of it. But one can settle nothing with the enemy. What
a dialogue between the two enemies? Rivals try to look for the edges
of contact’, – Radjabov said. Asked when such a transformation may
take place, Radjabov replied, it is real and added: ‘I don’t say we
shall be able to become brothers tomorrow. That would be funny’.

KHAZAR IBRAGIM: "THE PRESS SERVICE FOR ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY HAS RATHER CONFIRMED ARAZ AZIMOV’S STATEMENT"

Today, Azerbaijan
Dec 17 2007

In fact, the spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry has rather
confirmed the statement, made by the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign
Minister Araz Azimov, as reported by the spokesman for Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry Khazar Ibragim.

"The representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that the
document includes a principle of self-determination. Araz Azimov also
stated that self-determination is possible, but must be realized
within the principle of territorial integrity. The Helsinki act,
adopted in 1975, is just for this purpose.

Paragraph 8 of the first section of the fact reads that the principle
of self-determination must exist in frames of the principle of
territorial integrity and should not contradict the UN charter and
international law. Azerbaijan’s position fully corresponds to this
paragraph", Kh.Ibragim said.

According to him, the principle of territorial integrity is also a
part of the document, discussed by Azerbaijan and Armenia.

URL:

USA SUPPORT IDEA ABOUT A WEEK OF AZERBAIJAN IN ARMENIA – AMBASSADOR

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 17 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr K. Ramazanova / The United States
support the initiative to hold a Week of Azerbaijan in Yerevan,
the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse said.

On 17 December, a Week of Azerbaijan was launched in Armenia with
support of the UK Embassy in Armenia.

"The United States, as a member of the OSCE Minsk Group, supports
the peace in the region and the dialogue between the two countries,"
Derse said.

The Azerbaijani delegation to take part in the event includes the
representatives of the Azerbaijani National Committee at the Helsinki
Civil Assembly and the Azerbaijani human rights activists. Within
the framework of the Week of Azerbaijan in Armenia, the students
will write essays with the subject of ‘How I Imagine Azerbaijan’ and
‘How I see the Future of Armenia and Azerbaijan’. The film ‘Open the
Borders!’ by Luisa Pogosian about Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijani
region of Nagorno-Karabakh will be demonstrated.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry regards the Week of Azerbaijan
in Armenia as an opportunity to convey the true information about
Azerbaijan, the Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Khazar
Ibrahim said to journalists on 17 December.

–Boundary_(ID_ptZ3uVfFkTL+cpoS82hGZQ)- –

ARMENIA MILITARIZED MORE THAN ALLOCATED BUDGET : DEPUTY MINISTER

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 14 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend K.Ramazanova / The statement of the
Armenian senior officials regarding the militarization of Azerbaijan’s
economy are groundless, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Araz
Azimov, briefed the media on 14 December.

" Azerbaijan’s economy is developing under composed conditions,"
Azimov said. According to him, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan serve
the interests of the defense and this process will continue until
fully ensuring the security of the Country.

Azimov said that compared to many countries, the number of Azerbaijan’s
Armed Forces is low, taking into consideration the territory and
population numbers in the Republic.

Armenia has militarized more than its budget’s capacity. In addition,
Azimov said that Azerbaijan does not support the war. " Azerbaijan
is taking every necessary measure on political and economic levels
to ensure its territorial integrity," the Deputy Minister said.

VAHAN HOVHANNISYAN SUGGESTS FIGHTING MONOPOLY IN THE COUNTRY

armradio.am
13.12.2007 16:57

Presidential contender from ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Vice-Speaker of the
National Assembly of Armenia Vahan Hovhannissyan stated that it is
necessary to launch struggle against monopoly in Armenia.

Vahan Hovhannissian told a press conference today that the political
overview after the parliamentary elections can lead not only to
monopoly in the sphere of economy, but also to political monopoly,
which is extremely dangerous for the future of Armenia.

According to him, despite the fact that over the past nine years
Dashnaktsutyun has been closely cooperating with the Republican Party
of Armenia (RPA), all this time the given political forces have had
and still have certain discords concerning the political and economic
course, which the RPA and the country’s government keep to.

However, the Vice-Speaker stated, we cannot ignore the fact that the
Republican Party represents majority in the parliament, and they be
cooperating, irrespective of the outcome of the upcoming presidential
elections.

Vice-Speaker of the parliament expressed regret that the presidential
elections have inimical nature between the present and the former
authorities, since this is "a quite sad phenomenon for our country."

Vahan Hovhannissyan did not reveal the details of his pre-election
platform, noting that the pre-election campaign has not yet started.

ELMAR MAMEDYAROV: "OFFICIAL BAKU IS READY TO GRANT AUTONOMY TO NAGORNO GARABAGH WITHIN THE AZERBAIJAN REPUBLIC"

Today
itics/41836.html
Dec 13 2007
Azerbaijan

"Official Baku is ready to grant autonomy to Nagorno Garabagh within
the Azerbaijan Republic", Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar
Mamedyarov told reporters Thursday.

"We do not see any problem in granting autonomy to Nagorno Garabagh.

We have declared repeatedly that if the Armenian community of Nagorno
Garabagh wishes to receive the status of Autonomy, such patterns are
available in most European countries and Russia, where representatives
of different nations reside together", he said, citing Tatarstan and
Bashkiria in Russia.

At the same time, he said it does not imply the violation of the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan or rule out the release of the
occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

"This is a phased process and the problem lies with the definition
of the process of the release, deployment of peacekeeping forces on
the occupied lands, restoration of communications and roads, mine
clearing, returning displaced persons to their native lands and many
other issues", E.Mamedyarov noted.

According to him, official Baku has a normal attitude towards the
proposals on the peaceful settlement of theAzerbaijan-Armenia conflict,
presented to the conflicting parties by the co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk group and further introduced to the presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

He also noted that these proposals do not serve as a ground for the
next meeting of the two presidents.

According to Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan speaks for continuation of the
Prague negotiation process and stated that the co-chairs of the Minsk
group will pay the next visit to the region to continue talks in mid
January of 2008.

SITE OF THE HOSPITAL HAS NOT BEEN CHOSEN

12-12-2007 11:11:01
KarabakhOpen

Yesterday’s consultation at the office of the NKR president was
devoted to the construction of the new building for the Republic
Hospital in Stepanakert.

We have learned from the General Information Department of the
president administration that the participants of the consultation
introduced the activities to the president. The location and plan of
the hospital were discussed.

President Bako Sahakyan voiced concern on delay in working out the
project.

The president instructed to finish the project soon and keep to the
international standards and local specificities.

After the consultation the president visited the Republic Hospital
and the place where the new building will be built with the prime
minister and stakeholders. Bako Sahakyan instructed to choose the
location of the new hospital within a week.

"UNIQUE CHANCE TO SETTLE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT"

Indian Muslims, CA
unique_chance_settle_nagorno_karabakh_conflict.htm l
By IRNA-AzerTAc
Dec 11 2007

Baku : There is a unique chance to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov told
journalists Monday during the NATO International School in Azerbaijan
(NISA) winter session "Peace operations in the Euro-Atlantic Area:
Challenges and perspectives."

He said the terms in the document presented by co-chairs are their own
ideas. If anybody says this document answers Azerbaijan’s interests,
it cannot be taken for granted. After the document is reviewed at
the political level, Azerbaijan will reveal its stance.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs presented their written proposals on
resolution of the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in
Madrid during the meeting among Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov
of Azerbaijan, Vardan Oskanian of Armenia, American co-chair Matthew
Bryza, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Under Secretary
of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns.

Azimov noted Azerbaijan has always taken a constructive approach
to talks. There are proposals within the Prague process. The
main conception of these proposals is to liberate occupied lands
and bring them under Azerbaijan’s control, return Azerbaijanis
to Nagorno-Karabakh and establish cooperation between the two
communities. It will provide an opportunity to continue the political
process. Deputy Minister said Azerbaijan would not backtrack on
its fair stance. If Armenia plays political games, nothing will
be achieved.