President Sargsyan to participate in the meeting of Heads of State in
Astana
armradio.am
05.07.2008 14:45
RA President Serzh Sargsyan is leaving for Astana today on a working
visit, President’s Press Office reported.
The Armenian Presidnet will participate in the meeting of the Heads of
State, who will visit Astana on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of
establishment of the capital of Kazakhstan and will attend the
celebration dedicated to the establishment of the city.
REAL ESTATE SHARE IN ARMENIA’S TOTAL VOLUME OF CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION IN JAN-MAY 2008 TOTALS 46.7%
ARKA
June 1, 2008
The share of real estate in the total volume of capital construction
carried out in Armenia in January-May 2008 was 46.7%, RA National
Statistical Service reported.
The volume of capital construction in the given sphere was 63,159.5mln,
which by 42.1% exceeds the corresponding showing of last year.
The share of transport and communication in the total volume of capital
construction was 20.6% – 27,943.2mln AMD (a 28.4% annual decrease).
The share of capital construction in the sphere of processing industry
was 5.5% of the total volume of capital construction – a total of
7,428.7mln AMD (an annual increase of 95%).
Сapital construction in agriculture was 1.1% in the total volume of
capital construction – 1,520.4mln AMD.
The share of energy, gas and water production and distribution was
6,001.6mln AMD (a 47.9% annual decrease).
The volume of capital construction in hotel and restaurant businesses
recorded 51.4% annual increase – a total of 438.4mln AMD.
In January-May 2008, capital construction totalled 135.3bln in Armenia
recording a 14.9% annual increase. The volume of construction and
assembling operations in the total volume of capital construction
was 116bln AMD. ($1 – 302.65 AMD).
–Boundary_(ID_RJQ52sx7jfqoiJ+TBy9ASg)–
ARMENIAN ARMSWISSBANK SET TO PLACE ARMROSGASPROM’S SECOND BOND ISSUE
ARKA
July 2
Armenian Armswissbank will make an open (public) placement of
ArmRosgasprom’s second bond issue from July 7 to 18. The bank which is
acting as placement underwriter in the issue says both legal entities
and individuals may purchase the registered coupon bonds for which
they need to apply to Armswissbank.
The bonds have been issued with the nominal price set at 50,000 AMD
and the annual interest rate set at 9.5% with a 36-month maturity
period. Coupon payments will be made every six months.
The total volume of the issue is 1bln AMD and the total quantity of
bonds is 20,000. Only half of the issue will be placed in an open
subscription method, the rest will be placed among the members of
a participants’ group consisting of Armswissbank, Artsakhbank and
Armenbrok companies formed on June 5, 2008.
The discount public placement will yield 10% annual profit for
investors.
The placement price will be determined based on the accounting prices
according to the formula set by bond issue prospectus (separately
for each placement day).
A COMMON QUEST FOR DEMOCRACY OR SOMETHING MORE? (1)
MEHMET KALYONCU*
Today’s Zaman
June 1, 2008
Turkey
Given the variety of opinions on the subject, it is obvious that
the question of what kind of relationship exists between the Gulen
movement and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) intrigues
not only foreign observers of Turkey but also some Turks.
While foreign observers categorically associate the Gulen movement
and the AK Party with one another, most Turks see the two as natural
allies in promoting democracy and liberties in the country and some
marginal commentators speculate that the two pose a threat to the
secular regime of the state.
An article in the Economist magazine ("A Religious Revival," Jan. 31,
2008) wrote: "Turkey’s richest Islamic fraternity is helping the AK
[Party] to win more Kurdish votes. [The Gulen-admirers] distributed
meat to some 60,000 families during the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice
in December." Another one ("A farm boy on the world stage," March 6,
2008) explained, "The [Gulen-admirers] have lots in common with the
ruling Justice and Development Party, and they cooperate, but their
interests are not identical." One report in the Guardian daily
("Islamic scholar voted world’s No. 1 thinker," June 23, 2008)
refers to an alliance between the AK Party and the Gulen movement:
"The AKP, which is allied to Gulen, is contesting a case brought by
Turkey’s chief prosecutor to shut it down and ban it from politics
for allegedly … [breaching] the country’s secular constitution."
Many Turkish intellectuals and academics point rather at the
common values that bring the Gulen movement and the AK Party
together. Muhammed Cetin argues that Fethullah Gulen has always favored
democratic institutions and free elections while opposing the use
of Islam as a political ideology and a party philosophy. Ahmet Kuru
suggests that Gulen gradually brought about change in the Turkish
attitude toward the European Union, which was previously perceived
as a "Christian club" and a threat to Turkish national and Muslim
identity. According to Nevval Sevindi, Gulen struggles to promote a
democratic, pluralistic and free society. Along similar lines, Å~^ahin
Alpay contends that Gulen’s efforts to build bridges of dialogue within
the society have put the religion in its rightful place and prevented
the society from polarizing into believers and nonbelievers. Therefore,
these and many other intellectuals have perceived the Gulen movement’s
interaction with political parties, most notably with the AK Party,
as an attempt to consolidate democracy in Turkey.
Deeper than it seems?
However, the controversy over the relationship between the ruling AK
Party and the diffused social network, which happens to be called —
for brevity — the Gulen movement, goes beyond the issue of merely
exchanging opinions on policy matters and promoting democracy and
liberties. Though so far has no solid evidence surfaced regarding the
existence of a possibly deeper relationship between the AK Party and
the Gulen movement, certain marginal groups and media commentators
have frequently alleged that bureaucratic positions, especially within
the judiciary and police force, are filled with "Gulen followers" and
that the AK Party government has been complicit, if not instrumental,
in this happening. In addition, it has been alleged that those "Gulen
followers" in the judiciary and the police are behind the two most
critical organized-crime operation in republican history. One is
the Å~^emdinli case, following which a court case extended in 2005
against Chief of General Staff Gen. YaÅ~_ar Buyukanıt, then the
land forces commander, for his alleged role in a plot that seemed
to aim at instigating the ethnic-Kurds in Å~^emdinli, a southeastern
province in Turkey.
The other is the Ergenekon operation, which is technically ongoing,
and yet pretty much stalled due to the closure case against the AK
Party. It is a police operation against the so-called "deep state,"
an organized criminal network of corrupt judges, military and
police officials, senior bureaucrats, diplomats, politicians and the
mafia, which is believed to have perpetrated a number of political
assassinations and frequently obstructed the democratization process
in the country. As a matter of fact, the Å~^emdinli case was thought
to be the first attempt to crack down on the "deep state." Yet it was
suddenly aborted and the prosecutor, Ferhat Sarıkaya, was banned
from practicing law by the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges
(HSYK) due to his allegedly having insulted the Turkish military by
opening the case. No need to mention that the same marginal groups and
commentators labeled liberal prosecutor Sarıkaya a "Gulen follower"
in the due process leading to the revoking of his law credentials.
The Å~^emdinli case is not the only one that saw its investigation
and prosecution processes stalled. The investigations into the
assassinations of Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink and Council of State Judge M. Yucel Ozbilgin have
also been subject to stalling attempts through the bringing of issues
related to Gulen into the picture and diverting attention from the real
suspects. From the status quo protectionists’ perspective, the name
"Fethullah Gulen" is certainly quite a lucrative one to exploit. Gulen
has such a wide public recognition in the country that whenever his
name is involved in any discussion, at least for a while, the topic
shifts from the main point. As the record hitherto indicates, Gulen
prefers not to get involved in such day-to-day debates and scandals
and, hence, not to respond to his accusers with attacks. This makes
it even more tempting for the status quo protectionists to exploit
his name on every likely and unlikely occasion.
Based on this unfair treatment of Gulen and the Gulen movement by
the status quo protectionists, one may be tempted to conclude that
these very same status quo protectionists are making up allegations
one after another about an instrumental or symbiotic relationship
between the Gulen movement and the AK Party. However, such a quick
conclusion may also hinder one’s ability to explore the true nature
of the relationship between the Gulen movement and the AK Party.
Similarities, differences, obligations: possible interpretations of
the relationship
There are similarities and differences between the Gulen movement and
the AK Party’s positions on various social, economic and political
matters, and hence multiple ways of interpreting the relationship
between the Gulen movement and the AK Party. Also, there are contextual
obligations that bring the two together. On the one hand, the Gulen
movement and the AK Party seem like they share a similar vision for
Turkey. First of all, having bitter experiences with the status quo
protectionists’ strict interpretation and practice of secularism,
both the Gulen movement and the AK Party have interest in promoting
participatory democracy and civil liberties at all levels, and hence
in creating a vibrant civil society. According to Jill Carroll
of the University of Houston, Gulen envisions a society in which
freedom of thought and conscience is guaranteed, which is tolerant in
matters of religious belief and practice and which allows vigorous
inquiry and debate on all issues. The initial steps in search of
such a society were taken in the mid-1990s by the Gulen-inspired
Journalists and Writers’ Foundation’s Abant Platform, in which Turkish
intellectuals from all camps (leftist, rightist, liberal, conservative
and atheist) gathered together and contested their opinions. Among
those intellectuals were politicians who later on took part in the
formation of the AK Party. One may speculate that the "conservative
democracy" discourse of the AK Party was inspired by those series of
intellectual gatherings. It is hard to know for sure whether or to
what extent the founders of the AK Party were inspired by the ideas
presented at the platform. They may well have benefited from the Abant
Platform or from the other idea platforms in the media initiated by
Gulen-admirers, as these platforms have been quite active in fostering
debate in the public sphere and in creating knowledge. However, one
thing is certain: Today the status-quo protectionists accuse some of
the government ministers and senior members of being "Gulen-followers"
just because they participated in the Abant Platform and the like.
Second, both the Gulen movement and the AK Party commonly share Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk’s vision of bringing Turkey up to the level of the modern
civilizations, namely creating a new Turkey that is politically and
economically capable of competing in the global arena. In his public
speeches and writings, Gulen often notes that he had very much resented
the fact that Turkey’s opinion is not regarded in any international
platform. Accordingly, both the Gulen movement and the AK Party seem
to agree that creating a strong Turkey regarded by other international
actors is possible only through full integration with the West via EU
membership and a strong alliance with the United States. At the same
time, they both recognize Turkey’s potential in Central Asia, the
Caucasus and the Middle East. Unlike the status quo protectionists’
one-dimensional foreign policy, which was based on an unconditional
attachment to the West only, the AK Party’s multi-dimensional foreign
policy is guided by the belief that Turkey can and should develop
strong relations not only with the West but also with the East, the
North and the South. Guided with the same belief, but long before
the AK Party, the Gulen movement seems to have been working toward
that goal. One can hardly deny the contribution of the Gulen-inspired
Turkish schools in making Turkey a point of attraction in more than
100 countries across the globe and of the movement’s some 9,000-member
Turkish Confederation of Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSKON)
in boosting Turkey’s export rates in recent years. Founded in 2006,
TUSKON has already brought Turkish industrialists together with their
counterparts in Eurasia, the Pacific and Africa in several business
summits where the parties signed billion-dollar business contracts.
–Boundary_(ID_rtgklyWkpA+GWeTrHELPoA) —
OSCE MG AMERICAN COCHAIRMAN DENIES INFORMATION BY AZERBAIJANI MASS MEDIA
ArmInfo
2008-07-01 12:10:00
OSCE MG American Cochairman Matthew Bryza said that everyone in
Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan will feel more secure if
the parties come to an agreement on the base principles of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement, ArmInfo correspondent in Stepanakert
reports. M. Bryza denied the statements by the Azerbaijani mass media
as if saying that it would be more secure for the Armenians if the
territories are returned to Azerbaijan>.
The American mediator said that journalists in Armenia and Azerbaijan
are such creative that he gets to know many things he did not say.
To recall, OSCE MG cochairmen arrived in Stepanakert on June 28 within
the frames of a regional visit. A two-hour talk with NKR President
Bako Sahakyan was held during which the present situation in Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement process was discussed and the Karabakh
party’s positions were specified.
Carson Times, NV
June 28 2008
Coin club to talk about Armenian currency
The Reno Coin Club is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Air
National Guard, 1776 National Guard Way.
David Elliott is planning a presentation on Armenian coins and
currency from Tigranes the Great to Nagorno-Karabagh.
Admission is free, but new attendees need to bring identification and
ask the guard at the gate for Doug Larson or call 815-8625 ahead of
time to get their name on the list.
Details: 720-5395, [email protected] or
s.dll/article?AID=/20080628/NEIGHBORHOODS06/806280 310/1247/NEIGHBORHOODS
PanARMENIAN.Net
THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE TO OSCE MINSK GROUP, U.S. SAYS
26.06.2008 14:49 GMT+04:00
We have been through many years an active participant of the Minsk
Group process and we see that process as the appropriate avenue,
U.S. Charge d’Affairs in Armenia, Mr Joseph Pennington said in an
interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.
"We were very pleased to see from statements through governments
that the last meeting went well. And we hope that that meeting is
something that can be built upon. We expect the co-chairs back in the
region probably by the end of this month to start the next round of
the process. But in our view, of course, there is no alternative. And
we will continue working very hard with our partners," he said.
Asked what will be the reactions of the United States if Azerbaijan
starts war, Mr. Pennington said, "I am afraid that’s just a
hypothetical question that I can’t really answer. But we would expect
and hope that that hypothetical never comes to pass."
"CULTURAL VALUES OF CAUCASUS" IN SHUSHI
Panorama.am
21:09 26/06/2008
The Organizations of Young People Christian Company of Armenia,
Georgia, and Karabakh take part in "Cultural Values of Caucasus"
festival taking place in Shushi. The festival will last till June
27. In the frames of festival the young people act in genres of song,
dance and painting.
According to Davit Melqumyan, the president of Karabakh organization,
the paintings shown in the festival will be presented in another
festival in Prague in August. D. Melqumyan said that the festival is
to be a regional and be more periodic.
MUBARIZ AHMEDOGHLU: "IN CASE HOSTILITIES IN NAGORNO KARABAKH ARE LAUNCHED, IRAN WILL ANYWAY SUPPORT ARMENIA, NOT AZERBAIJAN"
Today.Az
June 24 2008
Azerbaijan
Day.Az interview with Mubariz Ahmedoghlu, chief of the Center for
political innovations and technologies.
– How would you comment on the announcement of spokesman for
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Khazar Ibrahim that if Iran sends correct
messages to Armenia, it will contribute to resolution of the Karabakh
conflict?
– First of all, it is necessary to understand how prospects
of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations development are assessed in
Armenia. They consider that Iran declares interest in the strengthening
and development of our country only verbally, not wishing it and
restoration of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in reality. Such
spirits of official Yerevan are transformed into the agreement they
voice on the mediatory mission of Iran in the negotiation process on
the resolution of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijan is also aware of the current quo status. Therefore, Khazar
Ibrahim’s words, who declared in open that Azerbaijan is ready to
hear definite mediatory initiatives of Iran on the resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, were not surprising. Naturally, Iran’s
all initiatives should base on recognition of territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan, which will allow Armenia to understand the vanity and
erroneousness of its stake on Iran.
This will allow us to demonstrate readiness for cooperation with any
countries, which propose their mediatory mission in the resolution of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, gives another chance to declare priority of
right for territorial integrity of the states over the right of nations
for self-determination, create conditions for the visual demonstration
to Armenia that their stake on Iran has not been justified.
– Meanwhile, proposals of the need to involve Iran as one of the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are becoming frequent. How do you assess
these initiatives?
– They are unreal, as Iran is not the OSCE member-state and can not
co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group. However, Iran may propose definite
mediatory initiatives on the ways of resolution of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. But it seems to me that here the Minsk Group will not allow
Iran to propose too many initiatives.
– How sincere is Armenia in its voiced agreement with mediatory
mission of Iran on the negotiation process on the resolution of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict?
– This is an urgent issue to answer to which it would be enough to look
through our recent history. I mean the events of May, 1992, when the
then-president of Armenian Levon Ter-Petrosyan and acting President of
Azerbaijan Yaqub Mamedov left for Tehran for talks on the resolution
of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The then working Iranian authorities,
who undertook the mission of mediators, assured the Azerbaijani
leadership of that Armenia will not launch any hostilities, but even
before the completion of talks Armenians attacked Shusha and occupied
this "pearl of Azerbaijan". As is seen, Armenians by Russia’s help
caused significant damage on Iran’s image in the eyes of Azerbaijan
and prevented conduction of Iranian mediatory initiatives, whose
implementation could result in sharp rise of Iranian influence in
the region.
Armenia’s actions are a more eloquent answer to the question
on sincerity of official Yerevan in the issue of approval of the
mediatory mission of Iran in the negotiation process on the resolution
of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
ARE RALLIES DANGEROUS FOR CHILDREN?
A1+
23 June, 2008
The children’s festival "Little resident of Yerevan" due at Liberty
Square on June 20 was cancelled as, according to the Yerevan City Hall,
children’s security wasn’t ensured at the square.
"How could we speak of children’s security if a rally was being held
100 meters away, near the Matenadaran?"
Kamo Movsessian, a City Hall representative, said to A1+.
It is due to mention that the City Hall had rejected the opposition’s
notification of holding a June 20 rally at Liberty Square saying a
children’s event was due at the Square on that day. Nevertheless,
the opposition held the rally near the Matenadaran.
"I think the event was impossible under the given force major
situation. We couldn’t watch each person and avert every unpleasant
incident. Children’s security should be our number one concern,"
said Movsessian.
Movsessian had been informed that the attractions would be replaced
by policemen.
To note, yesterday the children’s festival was cancelled because of
the heavy rain.