Author: Tamamian Anna

ARMENIA EXPECTING ANTI-CRISIS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM RUSSIA AND CHINA

ArmInfo
2009-01-23 12:53:00

ArmInfo. In late December Armenian authorities launched negotiations
with Russia and China for possible stabilization loans to counter the
negative consequences of the world financial crisis, a high-ranking
official participating in the negotiations told ArmInfo on condition
of anonymity. He said rather big amounts are in question. ‘In the
negotiations with Russia we hope to receive nearly one billion
dollars. From China 2 billion dollars were requested’, he said.

Yesterday Finance Minister of Russia Aleksey Kudrin confirmed
existence of the above mentioned negotiations with Russia. Speaker of
the Armenian Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan voiced the initial request
to China during his official visit to the People’s Republic of China
in the second half of December. Independent experts say the initial
amounts requested are rather big for Armenia.

However, it is better ask for much to get at least part. Apparently
an amount of 300-400 million dollars from Russia and 200-300 million
dollars from China are real. These amounts alongside with assistance
from international financial organizations may be enough to take
stabilization measures for the coming 1-1.5 year.

Earlier, Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan told ArmInfo that
Armenia is negotiating with international financial organizations
for credits. He said the government will put the emphasis on
infrastructure projects. For instance, construction of roads, energy,
water supply, and irrigation facilities, as well as the disaster zone
rehabilitation. Thus the Government intends to invest in infrastructure
projects in energy sector nearly $300 million, in water supply and
irrigation sector – nearly $300 million, in large-scale construction
in the disaster zone – about $250 million on the funds of the budget,
government reserves and the World Bank, Asian Development Bank,
credits from other sources. Tangible funds will be invested also in
construction and reconstruction of the highway linking Armenia and
the Georgian town of Batumi.

‘These are large-scale projects we will start next year and,
naturally, such increase in crediting of infrastructure facilities
will create new jobs and support aggregate demand in the country’,
Tigran Sargsyan said. At the same time the government took measures
to increase crediting of SMEs – nearly $250 million, including $50
million have already been allocated to the German Armenian Fund
(GAF). In case of necessity, IMF is also ready to support Armenia.

ARMENIAN MINISTER READY TO MEET AZERBAIJANI COUNTERPART

Interfax
Jan 22 2009
Russia

Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian has said he is ready to
meet his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

"Azerbaijan has given its consent to the meeting and I have nothing
against it. Hopefully the meeting will take place in Zurich before
the meeting of the presidents of the two countries," he said at a
Wednesday press conference.

He said the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk group did not propose any
changes to the negotiations. "The cochairmen of the Minsk group did
not propose any changes to the negotiating process to settle the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict to us. The talks took place on the basis of
the Madrid principles and the provisions recorded in the declarations
adopted in Moscow and Helsinki," Nalbandian said.

He said Armenia and Azerbaijan should be taking confidence-building
steps. "Azerbaijani propaganda is not promoting the negotiating
process," he felt.

Speaking of the chances of a framework agreement on key principles
of the settlement in Karabakh Nalbandian said that "the chance will
appear when Baku demonstrates a constructive approach."

"However, I won’t be making any guesses about when such a document
can be signed," he said.

The Armenian official also stressed the importance of the involvement
of Karabakh in the talks. "Armenia attaches significance to the
involvement of Nagorno Karabakh in the talks. It is difficult to
imagine the solution of the issue without it. Besides, the people of
Nagorno Karabakh should decide themselves how they want to see their
future," he said.

ELECTRONIC AUCTION OF BJNI TO RESUME TODAY

A1+
[03:42 pm] 23 January, 2009

The Armenian Justice Ministry’s Service for the Mandatory Execution of
Judicial Acts (SMEJA) will resume the electronic auction of the Bjni
mineral water plant owned by the Sukiasian family January 23. The
e-auction began on December 19 but was suspended by another court
several days later.

On January 14 Ani Print Ltd filed a lawsuit to recognise Bjni’s
bankruptcy. The court refused to declare the bottler bankrupt. A1+
tried to learn the reasons for the refusal but Judge Surent Antonyan
said the law forbids making comments.

Remind that on December 30 the court had refused another bankruptcy
lawsuit filed by an obscure construction firm that claimed to be owed
money by Bjni.

"The court’s decision is unfounded and illegal. Surely, Bjni cannot
appeal against the court decision. I cannot say for sure what Ani Print
will do. Most likely it will also lodge an appeal," Ara Zohrabian,
a Bjni lawyer, said to A1+. He finds the decision illegal since the
court does not ground for SMEJA’s crackdown on Bjni. Hence, Bjni
cannot meet its commitments.

"The Law on Bankruptcy foresees two cases of refusal. Firstly,
if there is a court decision recognising the debtor insolvent and
secondly, when a bankruptcy lawsuit is against a person who cannot be
recognised as debtor by law. We have neither of them in case of Bjni,"
said Mr. Zohrabian.

The e-auction of the Bjni mineral water plant will last ten days. The
company’s assets and premises in the central town of Charentsavan
and in the village of Bjni are put up for electronic auction. The
plant is priced 6 milliard 580 million drams (over 21.50 million
dollars). The starting price is 4 milliard 935 million drams.

SECOND VOLUME OF THE NATIONAL ATLAS ISSUED
Gita Elibekyan

"Radiolur"
23.01.2009 15:53

The second volume of the National Atlas has been issued. It is a
scientific, political and historical work, which presents the whole
history of the Armenian people.

A few years ago the Government took the decision to initiate the
creation of the National Atlas. With the Government’s support and the
participation of a group of scientists, the first volume was issued
in 2006.

We had no national atlas before that. Author of the work, academician
Babken Harutyunyan said it presents the history of Armenia, including
Artsakh and Diaspora.

ASSEMBLY SALUTES PRESIDENT OBAMA ON HIS HISTORIC INAUGURATION

armradio.am
22.01.2009 10:45

Following the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama, the
Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) welcomed the 44th President
with a full-page ad in Roll Call, "The Newspaper of Capitol Hill
Since 1955."

The ad reads in part, "The Armenian Assembly of America and the
Armenian-American community salute President Barack Obama on his
historic inauguration," and prominently illustrates President Obama’s
position on the Armenian Genocide. Roll Call has a circulation of
over 18,000; an additional 11,500 copies are delivered to Congress
and 400 copies are delivered to the White House.

"We look forward to working with the new Administration and Congress
to further strengthen U.S.-Armenia and U.S.-Karabakh relations, as
well as end the scourge of genocide and the consequences of denial,"
stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

RUBEN ZARGARYAN: NKR RECOGNITION SHOULD BE STARTING POINT OF ANY TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.01.2009 14:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Any document loses its value if not signed by
Nagorno Karabakh and is a violation of internationally recognized
Nagorno Karabakh-Armenia-Azerbaijan trilateral format of talks,
Ruben Zargaryan, historian and adviser to Foreign Minister of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic, said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"The most important factor is the contents of the document. At that,
recognition of NKR independence should be the starting point of any
talks," he said.

"It’s not s secret that Azerbaijan is using the current format with
a purpose to present Armenia as an aggressor," Zargaryan said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

There are no POWs and hostages NKR
16.01.2009 14:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Azerbaijani State Commission on POWs, the
missing and hostages has recently presented its final report of 2008,
in which it has particularly mentioned that 39 Azerbaijanis are
allegedly in captivity in Nagorno Karabakh.

The NKR State Commission on POWs, the missing and hostages qualifies
this message as a regular disinformation, aimed at discrediting the
NKR authorities, and as an attempt to mislead the international
community. The NKR State Commission declares with responsibility that
there are no POWs and hostages in the territory under the jurisdiction
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The NKR authorities, strictly following the principles of the Geneva
conventions, after the military phase of the conflict with Azerbaijan,
have repatriated all the hostages to the Azerbaijani party, via the
intermediary of the International Committee of Red Cross
(ICRC). Presently, the NKR corresponding bodies timely inform the
offices of the ICRC and OSCE accredited in Stepanakert of any fact of
the Azerbaijani servicemen’s and civilians’ desertion to Karabakh, who
are later repatriated to the Azerbaijani authorities without any
precondition. Representatives of the mentioned international
organizations have free access to all the institutions of detention,
which rules out the possibility of hiding the fact of the Azerbaijani
hostages’ being in the NKR territory.

The NKR State Commission draws attention to the fact that repeated
suggestions of the republic’s leadership to establish direct contacts
with the analogous structure of Azerbaijan for solving the issue of
POWs, the missing and hostages effectively, have not been given an
adequate answer by official Baku. Moreover, the Azerbaijani
authorities keep on politicizing such a humanitarian and sensitive
issue as the searching of the missing and the release of hostages, for
getting doubtful propaganda dividends. The recent fact of spreading
the wittingly false information evidently testifies to this.

RUSSIA REPLIES AZERBAIJAN’S SURVEY ON RUSSIA’S 800 MLN-ARMS DONATION TO ARMENIA

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 15 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. Russia replied Azerbaijan’s survey on
Russia’s 800 million-arms donation to Armenia, Russian Ambassador to
Azerbaijan Vasily Istratov presented reply of an official Moscow to
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on January 14, Press
Service of Foreign Ministry told APA.

Mammadyarov familiarized himself with reports presented by the
Ambassador and was not satisfied with the reply. The Minister proposed
Russia to provide correct information about delivery of arms donation
to Armenia. The Ambassador noted that he would provide information
to Russia about proposals of Azerbaijani side.

There are reports that Russia delivered arms donation worth 800 mln
USD to Armenia from military base #102 in Gumru, city of Armenia.

HOVIK ABRAHAMIAN AND SILVIA ZEHE DISCUSS ISSUES REGARDING COOPERATION BETWEEN ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Noyan Tapan

Jan 14, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues regarding cooperation between
RA NA and Council of Europe were discussed at the January 14 meeting of
RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamian and Special Representative of Council
of Europe Secretary General Silvia Zehe.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA NA Public Relations Department,
H. Abrahamian said that he has many plans and great tasks this
year. He also touched upon the visit of Council of Europe Monitoring
Committee Co-rapporteurs mentioning the steps done in the direction
of fulfillment of PACE Resolutions N 1609 and 1620 regarding Armenia.

TURKEY’S HARSH CRITICISM OF ISRAEL RAISES QUESTIONS
By Yigal Schleifer

Jewish Telegraphic Agency
170/turkeys-harsh-criticism-of-israel-raises-quest ions
Jan 12 2009
NY

At a recent anti-Israel protest in Istanbul, marchers held signs
showing Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shaking hands
with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, with the words "These are
our killers." (Yigal Schleifer)NEWS ANALYSIS

ISTANBUL (JTA) — Israel’s operation in Gaza is proving to be both
a test and an opportunity for its strongest ally in the Middle East.

Turkey is trying to position itself as a regional Mideast mediator,
but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh criticism of Israel
and rising popular anger in the country against Israeli actions could
strain relations with Jerusalem and compromise Ankara’s ability to
play the role of honest broker.

For the past few years, Turkey has sought to establish itself as a
regional power broker, strengthening ties with neighbors it previously
had kept at an arm’s length and even bringing Israel and Syria together
for a round of secret meetings in Istanbul.

Erdogan has been conducting his own shuttle diplomacy during the
Israel-Hamas conflict, visiting Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia
earlier this month in a bid to broker a cease-fire between the foes. At
the same time, however, his criticism of Israel has been significantly
stronger than even most Arab leaders.

Israel is "perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring it to
self-destruction," Erdogan said at a recent municipal election campaign
rally. "Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the
rights of innocents."

Erdogan also called Israeli actions a "crime against humanity"
and reportedly is refusing to take phone calls from Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert with his nation’s troops in Gaza.

The Turkish newspaper Vatan noted that the only other leaders in
the Middle East to use language like Erdogan’s have been regional
firebrands Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Muammar Gadhafi, the presidents
of Iran and Libya, respectively.

The question is whether Erdogan’s statements have undercut Turkey’s
ability to deliver on what it insists is the added value it brings
to the Middle Eastern negotiating table: its ability to serve as a
conduit to Israel.

"Erdogan’s choice of language presents Turkey as being ready to carry
Hamas’ demands to the U.N. Security Council and as being unable to
remain an equal distance from both sides," Soli Ozel, who teaches
international relations at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, wrote recently
in the daily Sabah.

"This depicts Ankara as a less effective player than it really is
and than it must be," he wrote. "It restricts Turkey’s ability to
play an active role in what happens. It damages Turkey’s credibility."

Still, experts say that mutual interests — particularly over regional
security issues — will likely keep Turkey-Israel relations from
rupturing. On the eve of the Gaza operation, which began Dec. 27,
the two countries signed a $141 million deal in which Israel will
provide the Turkish air force with airborne space imagery intelligence
systems over the next four years.

"Long term, I don’t see much impact," said Lale Sariibrahimoglu,
a military analyst based in Ankara. "Both nations need each other."

Sami Kohen, a columnist with the daily Milliyet and a veteran observer
of Turkish foreign policy, agrees.

"There might be a kind of a cold atmosphere between the two countries
for perhaps weeks to come, but I don’t anticipate any further action
by Turkey in terms of reducing relations, particularly in terms of
diplomatic ties," Kohen said.

Indeed, despite his strong rhetoric, Erdogan has rejected calls by
members of the Turkish Parliament to suspend Turkey’s ties with Israel.

"I would like to remind those who call for Turkey to freeze ties
with Israel that we administer the Republic of Turkey, not a grocery
market," Erdogan recently told parliament.

Erdogan’s reaction to Israel’s Gaza operation is based on real anger
that his efforts of the past few years to bridge divides in the Middle
East — particularly between Israel and Syria — may be going up in
smoke as a result of the Gaza operation. But there is also a domestic
component to his response.

Turks have reacted angrily to Israel’s actions, with large protests
taking place nearly every day around Turkey. Even a basketball game
in Ankara between Turkish and Israeli had to be called off after
protesters stormed the court.

"This is the first time that the public reaction has been so
widespread," Kohen noted. "It’s very intensive this time. There haven’t
been such widespread and spontaneous anti-Israel sentiments before."

"It’s not just the Islamic circles," he added. "It’s also the
secularists and the nationalists. The protests have been representative
of the whole of Turkish society."

Meanwhile, Jewish community leaders in Turkey say they are concerned
that the strong anti-Israel sentiment is also turning anti-Semitic.

Dayanisma Vakfi, an Islamic group, has been putting up graphic
billboards all over Istanbul showing a bloody and smoldering baby’s
shoe. Written next to the shoe in big letters are the words, "You
cannot be the children of Moses" and, in smaller words, "Thou shalt
not kill."

A Jewish community official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said,
"We are worried about the combination of all the biting, scathing
items in the press that are coming out and the personal reactions
that we are seeing."

With Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) facing nationwide
municipal elections in March, the government’s relations with Israel
could be a liability.

Placards have been appearing at protests showing Erdogan and Olmert
shaking hands and accusing the AKP of "collaborating" with Israel.

But Erdogan may also find himself walking a tightrope when it comes
to distancing Turkey from Israel. Ankara has long depended on Israel
to act as a conduit to Washington and to American Jewish organizations
that frequently have acted as a kind of surrogate lobby for Turkey in
Washington. In the past, Jewish organizations have been instrumental
in helping Turkey block efforts to introduce resolutions in Congress
recognizing Armenian genocide claims.

"There is real anger with Erdogan on Capital Hill and among people
who follow Turkey in Washington," said a Washington-based consultant
who closely monitors Turkish affairs. "Nobody is threatening anything
right now or knows if there are going to be repercussions, but this
is going to have an effect."

The consultant added, "There is a sense that Erdogan’s used up a lot
of good will."