Author: Tambiyan Samvel

CORRUPTION STILL STUMBLING BLOCK TO INVESTMENT GROWTH
AzerNews weekly, Azerbaijan
March 9 2006
The US State Department has described the investment environment in
Azerbaijan as leaving a lot to be desired. A report released by the
US government points to a number of difficulties the Azerbaijani
economy has encountered in its transition to market relations.
“Starting from 1994, Azerbaijan has achieved macro-economic stability
thanks to its oil and gas strategy,” the report says. However, the
document also indicates that a lot more still needs to be done to
ensure prosperity for the eight million nation, including measures
to improve governance, eradicate corruption and reduce poverty.
The State Department document adds that the unresolved status of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict is taking a toll
on the economy as well. According to the World Bank calculations,
49% of the population lives beyond the poverty line, of which 9%
face abject poverty. The report also points to a number of loopholes
in legislation and the impact of corruption on the investment climate.
In fact, corruption is described as the biggest obstacle in the way
of investment opportunities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 10 2006
FIRST SESSION OF “UNION OF PARTICIPANTS OF MORTGAGE MARKET OF
ARMENIA” TO TAKE PLACE ON MARCH 17
YEREVAN, March 10. /ARKA/. The first session of the “Union of
Participants of Mortgage Market of Armenia” will take place on March
17. Such decision was made today during the constituent assembly of
the Union in Yerevan.
One of the founders of the Union, Executive Director of the
“Armeconombank” Ashot Osipyan stated that elections of the Executive
Director of the Union will be held during the first session of the
Union as well as structural issues will be discussed.
Besides that, in his words, they intend to discuss the working
program of the activities of the Council of the “Union of
Participants of the Mortgage Market of Armenia”.
The founders and the members of the Union are 8 commercial banks
(“Armeconombank”, “Areksimbank”, “Yunibank”, “Ararat bank”,
“Arminvestbank”, “Armenian Bank for Development”, “Armswissbank”), 4
insurance companies (“Sil Insurance”, “Private Insurance”, “Nairi
Insurance”, “Prime Insurance Brokers”), 2 financial organizations
(universal credit organizations “Washington Capital” and “First
Mortgage Company”) and 4 real estate agencies (“Alta VIP”, “M&M”,
“Premier Realty”, “Elephant Realty”). S.P. –0–

Karabakh’s self-determination key to settlement – minister
13:38 | 11/ 03/ 2006
( tml)
YEREVAN, March 11 (RIA Novosti) – The right of the breakaway region of
Nagorny Karabakh to self-determination is crucial for a peace
settlement, the Armenian foreign minister said Saturday.
“Whether Azerbaijan likes this or not, it will have to deal with the
problem as it is on the agenda, and in this context, Azerbaijan is
coming under considerable pressure,” Vardan Oskanyan said.
“If we can reach a compromise solution, I think we could restart the
peace process,” he said.
Earlier, the Armenian defense minister said that Azerbaijan’s attempts
to extend the settlement in the conflict surrounding the breakaway
region of Nagorny Karabakh beyond the current framework posed a
potential threat to Armenia.
“These attempts are accompanied by a disinformation campaign conducted
by Azerbaijan’s propaganda machine, which Baku uses to score points
with international organizations unfamiliar with the conflict,” Serge
Sargsyan, who is also secretary of the Armenian president’s National
Security Council, said in his report on the country’s security
strategy.
The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group
was set up in 1992 to facilitate peace talks between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. It is co-chaired by Russia, France, and the U.S. and has
representation from Turkey, the U.S., several European nations,
Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
The conflict between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and
Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely
Armenian population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed
independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.
Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and
1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in
1994, leaving Nagorny Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions between
Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.

Panorama.am
17:27 11/03/06

WOMEN ARE FREE, BUT …
`There has been a little progress in the sphere of
Defence of Rights of Armenian women in the last 4
years. Yet it proceeds rather slowly,’ chief secretary
of Socintern Women’s Organization Marlene Haas thinks.
`Today our problem is the fact that there is an
attitude among our women and men which is an obstacle
to women participation in the political-social life of
the Republic,’ ARF representative to Socintern Women’s
Organization Maria Titizyan said. As she thinks the
above mentioned attitude is the result of foreign
influence on the one hand and of lack of experience
and self-confidence among women on the other hand.
Today women representatives of various fields took
part in the conference `Women in the process of
forming civil society.’ As M. Titizyan said the
unemployment among women is more, they are paid less
than men for the same work.
Yet, male and female representatives of our executive
and legislative bodies do not agree with the above
mentioned statement.
Minister of Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan knows no
cases when the amount of money paid to women and men
for one and the same work is different. And in her
turn NA Deputy Hranush Hakobyan stated: `In Education
field 86% of workers are women, 83% in health field,
73% in cultural field, 20% of Judges, 1/3 of lawyers,
25% of diplomats. This means that women are
everywhere. But it is another question that the number
of female representatives is small in state
governmental bodies. I do not agree that women must be
appointed ministers or deputies just because they are
women. Doesn’t it mean that is their only quality?’
Those present think that this situation is not typical
of Armenia but of the whole world. But the situation
in Armenia `is far from being at least satisfactory,’
head of ARF group Levon Lazarian says. As V.
Hovhannisyan thinks not men are not afraid to give
freedom to women but women are afraid to take that
freedom.
Everybody is sure the role of women in the process of
formation of civil society is as important as that of
men. Yet the most important and in this case sad thing
is that there are no even signs of civil society in
our country. /Panorama.am/

ARMENIA CIS LEADER BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM INDEX
Noyan Tapan
Mar 13 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia ranks 27th (being considered
as a “mostly free” country) in the table of the 2006 annual rating
of economic freedom of the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street
Journal. Vahagn Movsisian, Director General of the Armenian Development
Agency (ADA), stated this at the March 11 press conference. According
to him, the rating showed that Armenia is the CIS leader by the
economic freedom index. It shares 27th place with Japan and Bahamas,
while Georgia is in 68th place, Azerbaijan – 123rd, Turkey – 85th,
Iran – 157th, Ukraine -99th and Russia is in 122nd place out of 161
countries. V. Movsisian said that during the Business Assistance
Council (BAC) sitting (Armenian Prime Minister is BAC Chairman, the
ADA Director General – BAC Secretary), the new database on business
corruption risks, including the conclusions of the research conducted
by the international organization FEAS, will be examined. A working
group composed of 50 businessmen was set up at the BAC for the purpose
of creating the database. He reminded that such a database was created
in 2001 after the foundation of the BAC. Later, corruption risk-related
issues were discussed at 24 sittings of the BAC. According to ADA
Director General, the gradual solution of these issues has contributed
to the fact that Armenia is 27th by the economic freedom index (44th
in 2005), and the investment climate has significantly improved in
the country.

TURKISH NGO’S TO PROTEST FRANCE’S GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
ABHAber
March 13 2006
Turkish groups in France are set to join forces in Paris today to
work to overturn the French Parliament’s recognition of the so-called
Armenian genocide.
For the first meeting of an umbrella committee spearheaded by
local offices of the Anatolian Culture Centers and Kemalist Thought
Association, some 300 Turkish associations in France were invited.
Today’s meeting is going to be held to exchange ideas for the goals
and work of the committee. A public statement after the meeting
is planned to announce how the committee will campaign against the
legislative recognition.
At a press conference last week, the groups organizing the committee
meeting demanded that Parliament’s recognition of the “genocide” in
2001 be reversed, saying that judging history was up to the historians,
not lawmakers.

PRESS RELEASE
A.R.F. Zavarian Student Association
Yerevanian Bldg. 4th Floor
Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon
Tel: (961) 01-240167
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
MEETING BETWEEN THE ZSA & FREE PATRIOTIC MOVEMENT CENTRAL COMMITTEES
On Tuesday, the 4th of October 2005, a delegation from the Lebanese
Free Patriotic Movement Party visited the Yerevanian Center, where a
meeting was held between A.R.F. Zavarian Student Association and
F.P.M. Party committees. The meeting best served for strengthening and
developing the existing university-level relationship between the two
parties, and discussing the possibility of organizing future joint
events.
The two parties also talked about the state of the Lebanese Youth and
Student associations on a political level, and emphasized on the
importance of the participation of all parties in taken measures.
After the one hour gathering, both committees agreed on having
periodical meetings for exchange and coordination of opinions.

WILL THERE BE A TRANSPARENT “YES”
A1+
| 19:11:56 | 17-10-2005 | Politics |
It is now yet known how the draft Constitution will be preached. The
details about the process will be announced in several days.
Today head of the Constitutional preaching structure and the NA
Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs
Mher Shahgeldyan invited the journalists to a briefing to tell that
their aim is to adopt the Constitution. “We work for the sake of the
Constitutional reforms, for the formation of a new political system,
and for its realization. This is our aim”.
According to Mher Shahgeldyan first they must represent the
constitutional reforms to the population, then its positive sides,
and finally secure “free, fair and transparent elections”.
By the way, one of the main problems of the structure is to correct
the errors in the electoral rolls. The structure will work in several
directions. Chief editor of the newspaper “Yerkir” Spartak Seyranyan
will be responsible for preaching, and Aram Karapetyan who did good
work organizing the “Unity round dance” will be responsible for
technical issues.
According to Shahgeldyan, during the preaching, the coalition will
be supported by more than 20 parties and more than 200 organizations,
the names of which will be announced in several days.
By the way, during the briefing the poster saying “YES” was not yet
fixed to the wall. It was lying on the floor.

SUNDAY TELEGRAM (Massachusetts)
October 09, 2005 Sunday, ALL EDITIONS
Too big for his own good;
Successful jeweler leaving stress behind
by Dianne Williamson
He came to the United States as a teenager and slept with his parents
on an Oriental rug in a small apartment off Grafton Street. He got
started in the jewelry business by making two filigreed rings with
the melted gold from his mother’s wedding band and his father’s
teeth.
Today he’s known simply as Shavarsh, like Picasso or Cher, a local
artist who built from nothing a business so bustling that soon he’ll
be forced to retire at age 43, a victim of his own success, and he’s
literally heartsick at the prospect of closing his doors for good.
“I feel so bad I’m doing this,” he said last week, sitting in his
office at Shavarsh Elite Jewelry Design at 420 Main St., a space he’s
occupied for more than two decades. “But it’s time. I make my
business too big, way too big. My dream was to make a success in this
country. But this was more than my expectation.”
Only the prospect of death could force a man such as Shavarsh Azizian
to abandon his passion. Three years ago, he was diagnosed with heart
disease that his doctors attribute to stress. He’s had 10 stents
inserted to keep his arteries open and still must undergo heart
bypass surgery in February. These days when he works, he often feels
a searing pressure in his chest, he said.
His last day on the job is Dec. 24. To strengthen his resolve to
retire, he keeps a photograph on his desk that he cut from a
magazine, showing a dead man being wheeled into a morgue.
The picture keeps things in perspective.
“I don’t want to end up in that place,” he said. “But I’m very
emotional and enthusiastic about my work. Everything has to be
perfect. If I don’t like it, I crush it and start again. I get
tension when I’m working. I don’t want to close, but I don’t want to
end up like in that picture. All this money and jewelry means
nothing.”
He still speaks with the accent of his native Armenia, where both his
father and grandfather were jewelry makers. The young Shavarsh was
somewhat of a prodigy in his country; an accomplished portrait of his
father that he drew at age 13 hangs in his office. He trained with
one of the top jewelry makers in the former Soviet Union and, at 16,
became the youngest jeweler in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.
That same year, in 1979, his parents emigrated with their only son to
the United States. They lived briefly in California before moving to
Worcester and staying in an apartment owned by his mother’s uncle.
They came only with jeweler’s tools and the Oriental rug they used
for a bed. The young Shavarsh made pies for Table Talk before getting
started in his craft by selling the two rings he made with help from
his parents. Soon he was selling to other stores, eventually moving
to a workshop at 405 Main St.
In 1984, he opened Guaranty Jewelers and in 2001, changed the name to
Shavarsh, because by then he was the draw. Today he has a
multimillion-dollar inventory of rings, bracelets, necklaces and
earrings, 80 percent of which he makes by hand with the help of his
assistant, Hosep Atechian. Much of their work is custom-designed for
clients.
“I’m good,” Shavarsh said simply, with neither modesty nor bravado.
“There’s so much passion in my job, but business got too good. If I
throw my customers out the door, they’ll come in through the window.
Once they find me, they never leave.”
Indeed. Shavarsh said he served 5,000 customers last year, many of
whom become friends who send their friends to see him. One such
client is local lawyer John Murphy, who bought his fiancee’s
engagement ring from Shavarsh two years ago.
“I love the guy,” Mr. Murphy said unabashedly. “When I bought my
ring, he was so warm and he was so happy for my happiness. And he’s
one of the most generous men I’ve ever met. He carries a lot of
people on his back. He has a box where he keeps slips of paper from
people who owe him money. It’s overflowing. There’s a great loyalty
among his customers because he treats everyone with respect.”
Frank Carrier, owner of F. Carrier Corp. and the Zipango sushi
restaurant on Shrewsbury Street, has been a friend and client for 14
years.
“I absolutely know he’s one of the best jewelry designers in New
England, if not the Northeast,” Mr. Carrier said. “His work is very
detailed, meticulous and precise. He’s a great jeweler and a great
friend.”
For years, he never took a vacation and typically worked 12- and
14-hour days. He’s used some of his success to help other families
emigrate from Armenia.
Now he and his wife, Lusia, spend a week in Aruba every year. He
recently stopped taking orders from customers and will have a closing
sale beginning Oct. 24.
“I have dedicated my life to carving jewels for customers I truly
cared for,” Shavarsh wrote in a mailing to customers. “Now with this
closing, I must carve time for my own special jewels: my wife and my
children.”
He looks forward to driving his three children to school and helping
them with homework. He’d like to teach them to draw and perhaps teach
one of them the craft of his father and grandfather. He may “do
golf,” he said, and he wants to travel. But he’ll make no more
jewelry, he claimed, because he can’t do anything halfway.
“I’m very heartbroken because this is all I’ve ever known,” he said.
“This business was like my fourth child. But I’m a lucky man. I
started with zero and look what I did.”
Then he brightened like the diamonds and rubies that shine from the
storefront he loves.
“I was lucky to have my customers,” Shavarsh said with a wide smile.
“But they were lucky to have me, too.”

usinfo.state.gov
14 October 2005
Progress Urged in Resolving South Ossetia, Abkhazia Conflicts
U.S. Ambassador Julie Finley addresses OSCE Permanent Council
By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington — The United States wants to see more progress made in resolving
the conflicts over Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, a U.S.
envoy told the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in
Vienna, Austria, October 13.
“The United States believes the time has come to work together with new
energy to achieve, through peaceful negotiations, an agreement on an
autonomous status for South Ossetia within a unified Georgia,” said
Ambassador Julie Finley, the permanent U.S. representative to the OSCE.
Finley urged the sides to take practical steps towards resolving their
differences on the Abkhazian conflict as well, whether through economic
cooperation projects or through facilitating the return of displaced people
to their homes.
Both the South Ossetian and Abkhazian conflicts resulted in open warfare
after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, although both
conflicts’ historical origins lie much earlier.
South Ossetia, an autonomous political subdivision of Georgia in the Soviet
Union, declared independence (within the Soviet Union) in September 1990,
with armed conflict beginning in January 1991 and continuing until June
1992. Georgia, having declared independence in April 1991, signed a
cease-fire agreement with Russian and South Ossetian representatives. (See
related fact sheet.)
The United States welcomed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s proposal
in January for an autonomous status for South Ossetia within Georgia and
continues to look for ways to support the sides in developing a lasting
resolution of the conflict through peaceful means.
Abkhazia is a region of northwestern Georgia on the Black Sea coast that was
an independent Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.) until 1931 and then an
autonomous republic of the Georgian S.S.R. Armed conflict began in August
1992 when Georgian troops were deployed to Abkhazia and ended after the
Abkhaz side captured the Abkhaz capital city of Sukhumi on September 27,
1993. Most of the Georgian population of Abkhazia fled or forcibly was
expelled as a result of the conflict. (See related fact sheet.)
In her remarks to the OSCE, Finley responded to reports to the council by
the head of the OSCE Mission in Georgia, Ambassador Roy Stephen Reeve, and
the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative in Georgia, Teidi
Tagliavini.
The OSCE Mission in Georgia has a mandate to promote negotiations between
the conflicting parties, assist the Georgian government in fulfilling its
OSCE commitments on human rights, rule of law and democratization, and
provide regular analyses and reports on developments in the region.
The United Nations has chaired negotiations toward a settlement since 1993,
and the United States wants the sides to make progress within this U.N.
framework in areas such as human rights, civilian policing and the return of
internally displaced persons.
In addition, the OSCE chairman has a personal representative for Georgia,
Mircea Geoana, a former Romanian foreign minister who served as OSCE chair
in 2001. Geoana visited Georgia in early October, calling on the Georgian
and South Ossetian sides to reopen dialogue, calm existing tensions and
proceed with demilitarization.
In her October 13 statement, Finley deplored the shelling of civilian houses
in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, on September 20, which resulted in a number of
civilian injuries. She reiterated U.S. support for a resolution of the
conflict “exclusively through peaceful means.”
“The United States also deplores the parade displaying heavy offensive
military equipment in the Zone of Conflict as part of South Ossetia’s
so-called independence celebration earlier the same day,” she said.
“Bringing these weapons into the Zone of Conflict constituted a clear
violation of the cease-fire agreement that should have been prevented by
parties in a position to do so.”
Finley also noted with concern the actions of the Georgian side,
specifically the use of Georgian peacekeeping forces to block the
Transcaucasus Highway in violation of existing agreements.
She called on all parties to refrain from actions that violate existing
agreements or exacerbate tensions, undermine trust, and complicate efforts
to promote a settlement to the conflict.
Finley urged Russia “to help avoid further tensions and to encourage a
direct dialogue, with the support of the international community, between
Tskhinvali and Tbilisi aimed at resolution of this long-standing conflict.”
Regarding the Abkhazian conflict, she called for redoubled efforts.
Both conflicts, the United States insists, must be resolved while respecting
Georgia’s territorial integrity.
The United States remains “optimistic that democratic political
consolidation in Georgia will succeed,” Finley said.
As Georgia’s government, parliament, civil society and media make the
transition from the turmoil, change and excitement of the country’s
democratic revolution in 2004 to the everyday details and challenges of
government, she added, “it is critical that human rights, media freedom, due
process, and the other standards and norms of the human dimension remain the
touchstones for success.”
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: )