Author: Tambiyan Samvel

AZERBAIJANI PREMIER TO ATTEND PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION IN UKRAINE

news.am
Feb 24 2010
Armenia

Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizade will lead the Azeri
delegation at the presidential inauguration ceremony in Ukraine.

NEWS.am reminds the readers that the Armenian delegation will be
headed by President Serzh Sargsyan and the Georgian delegation by
Parliament Speaker David Bakradze.

A hundred foreign delegations are to attend Victor Yanukovich’s
inauguration ceremony. The Bulgarian, Turkish, Romanian, Hungarian,
Lithuanian, Latvian and Polish Presidents confirmed their intention
to attend the ceremony. The EU delegation will be headed by Catherine
Ashton, and the U.S. delegation by U.S. Presidential National Security
Advisor James Johns.

AMNESTY ‘APPLICABLE’ TO JAILED OPPOSITIONIST
Irina Hovannisian

le/1966339.html
23.02.2010

Nikol Pashinian, a jailed opposition leader, can have his harsh prison
sentence shortened by half in line with a general amnesty declared by
the Armenian authorities last June, the state human rights ombudsman,
Armen Harutiunian, said on Tuesday.

An amnesty bill passed by the National Assembly at the time
mandated the immediate release of all opposition figures that were
arrested following the March 2008 unrest in Yerevan and subsequently
sentenced to up to five years in prison. The bill also said that
other oppositionists, who received harsher punishment, can be set
free after serving only half of their jail sentences.

Pashinian was given a seven-year jail term last month for his alleged
role in the deadly clashes between opposition protesters and security
forces. A Yerevan court that handed down the controversial ruling
said nothing about the amnesty bill’s applicability to the outspoken
editor of the opposition "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily.

His lawyers believe that he does qualify for early release. They insist
at the same time that Pashinian is innocent and should not have been
imprisoned in the first place. The lawyers last week formally asked
Armenia’s Court of Appeals to clear their client of organizing the
2008 "mass disturbances" that left ten people dead and more than 200
others injured.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Ombudsman Harutiunian expressed
hope that the court will apply the amnesty to Pashinian in case it
upholds the guilty verdict. "The amnesty bill does apply [to Pashinian]
because it has do with [the events of] March 1," he said.

The Armenian Ministry of Justice has so far reserved judgment on the
matter, saying that judicial proceedings in the Pashinian case are
still not over.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER LINKS ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS AND KARABAKH CONFLICT AGAIN

ArmInfo
2010-02-23 15:21:00

ArmInfo. During his visit to Spain, Prime Minister of Turkey Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said that when the Karabakh issue was solved, problems
between Turkey and Armenia would be solved in a large scale.

Turkish sources reported that regarding Azerbaijan-Armenia relations,
Erdogan said that the most important problem for Turkey was Nagorny
Karabakh issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Erdogan said that
unfortunately the Minsk Group (the US, Russia and France) could not
reach a result in this issue for 20 years. He added that Minsk Group
should bring a solution to the Karabakh issue and a fair solution to
Armenia and Azerbaijan, the source reported.

SARIBEK SUKIASYAN’S LAWYERS – IT’S A PLOY TO SEIZE "BYUREGH" AS WELL
Ararat Davtyan

2 010/02/23 | 16:04

Society

Lusineh Sahakyan and Yervant Varosyan, the lawyers for Saribek
Sukiasyan, today requested that the Chamber of Advocates sit in
session to hear their side of the story regarding charges brought
against their client.

Saribek Sukiasyan, brother of former MP Khachatur Sukiasyan, has
been charged with threatening the life of Gor Davtyan to force him
to sell 41% of "Byuregh" company shares. Yerevan police Chief Nerses
Nersisyan has publicly stated that on February 12 that received an
urgent call from Davtyan saying that his life was in danger at the
offices of Sil Group. Nazaryan says that when police responded they
found Saribek Sukiasyan, Davtyan and Artashes Stepanyan, Director of
the Ayrarat Marketplace, in the Sil Office, along with documents that
Davtyan was forced to sign.

Today, attorney Sahakyan, said that no such papers were ever seized
by police and that they handed over videotapes from the Sil office
showing Davtyan calmly leaving the building.

"Put another way, Police Chief Nazaryan presented information to the
public that can be described as nothing less than false. Either the
Yerevan police chief is deceiving the pre-trial investigative unit or
else he knows what happened and is hoodwinking the public. In either
case, the chief is out of line on this," said Mrs. Sahakyan.

The attorney said that the defense hadn’t presented all their
evidence because the investigative unit will manufacture evidence to
the contrary.

Lusineh Sahakyan said that on February 11, Gor Davtyan had telephoned
attorney Ara Zohrabyan, telling the lawyer that he had been threatened
by Ruben Hayrapetyan, a Member of Parliament and president of the
RoA Football Federation.

Davtyan said that he had been escorted to a security center, including
the Prosecutor’s Office and had been coerced into selling Byuregh
stock to Hayrapetyan,

Attorney Sahakyan added that Davtyan refused to comply and called
Zohrabyan, asking that he arrange a meeting with Sukiasyan and that
he expected the latter’s assistance. Sukiasyan is said to have met
with Davtyan. During the meeting, Davtyan asks that Sukiasyan help
him with certain legal documents so that he could refuse the stock
sale to Hayrapetyan.

Attorney Sahakyan stated that Zohrabyan drafted a letter to Hayrapetyan
which pointed out certain legal issues that prevented Davtyan from
selling his stock.

Sukiasyan’s lawyers admit that Davtyan is being used as a patsy in
the affair which actually seeks to deprive their client’s family of
the Byuregh company as well

Readers will remember that Bjni, the mineral water company, was seized
from Sukiasyan on non-payment of tax charges. The company now belongs
to Ruben Hayrapetyan.

THE AIM IS TO SEIZE SUKIASYAN’S PROPERTY

os16933.html
17:53:51 – 23/02/2010

The lawyers of Sukiasyan’s family Lusine Sahakyan and Yervand Varosyan
said today that the objective of the persecutions against the family
of Sukiasyan is to seize the "Byuregh" factory from them. The lawyers
dwelt on the statement of the Chief of Yerevan Police Nerses Nazaryan
in connection with the arrest of the head of the ArmEconomBank Saribek
Sukiasyan refusing all his arguments.

The Chief of the Police stated that during the operation, there was
no breach, while the lawyers said till today there is no document
corresponding to the law in this relation.

The lawyer Lusine Sahakyan told that Sukiasyan bought the 80 percent
of shares of "Byuregh" factory which was in very bad conditions,
then the court "illegally" declared this deal invalid as a result of
a case brought by the ministry of agriculture which had a small share
too. As a result, Gor Davtyan and Robert Harutyunyan were returned
their shares. For a long time, negotiations were underway between
the family of Sukiasyan and Davtyan fitting into the law.

According to Lusine Sahakyan, Gor Davtayan called the lawyer of
Sukiasyan on February 12 and told that Ruben Hayrapetyan, threatened
him. The lawyers say that the accusation of depriving Gor of freedom
brought by the Police was born in front of them, when the Police
officials were discussing different versions of accusations in the
Erebuni department of the Police.

THE FINANCIAL WEEK

901.html
16:58:02 – 19/02/2010

In the period from February 15 to 19, 50,780,009 were purchased by
banks at the rate of 380.61 dollars per dram and sold 72,165,683
dollars at the rate of AMD 381.72 per U.S. dollar.

At NASDAQ OMX Armenia, transactions in amount of 7,015,000 dollars at
the average exchange rate of AMD 381.89 per U.S. dollar were
committed.

In the period from February 8 to 14, the volume of loans granted by
banks of Armenia totaled 17.7 billion drams, and 26.4 million dollars.
It is reported by management of Public Relations of the Central Bank.

Murder case forwarded to Court of Appeals

/tigran-ohanjanyan
05:14 pm | February 19, 2010 | Social

Rustam Asatryan and Karen Tovmasyan acquitted a week ago today appear
in the dock again.

Military Prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan contested the decision of a
Gegharkunik court on the murder case of serviceman Tigran Ohanjanyan
in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Tigran Ohanjanyan reportedly died of electrocution. The procurator’s
office found Rustam Asatryan and Karen Tovmasyan, employees of the
military unit guilty of the death.

On January 13 the Court of General Jurisdiction of Gegharkunik Marz
forwarded the case to further investigation because of lack of
evidence.
The court decision was acceptable by Ohanjanyan’s relatives who want
the real murderers to be disclosed and consider the accused innocent.

"The Military Prosecution tries to conceal everything and I still do
not know who is guilty of my son’s death," Tigran’s mother Gohar
Sargsyan told A1+.

Public Defender Vazgen Nikoyan is sure that the defendants are
innocent, which will be proved in the Appellate Court.

The next court sitting is scheduled for March 4.

PLOTTERS SENT DEATH LIST TO AGOS

Today’s Zaman
Feb 19 2010
Turkey

Plotters behind a plan to kill non-Muslim community figures
sent a list of individuals they hoped to assassinate to the
Turkish-Armenian language Agos daily, whose editor-in-chief was
killed by an ultranationalist teenager two years ago, according to
new evidence included in the indictment prepared in the Poyrazköy
hidden weapons probe.

According to evidence included in the indictment, a letter was sent
to the Agos daily one month after Dink’s assassination. Although it
was not clear who wrote the letter, a copy of it was found during the
Poyrazköy investigation in one of the suspects’ homes. The prosecutors
believe that these were the first steps of the Ergenekon-linked Cage
Action Plan to assassinate non-Muslim community figures and thus create
chaos in the country. Ergenekon is a gang charged with plotting to
overthrow the government by masterminding a military intervention.

The copy of the letter included in the indictment says: "If Etyen
Mahcupyan does not violate Article 301 [of the Turkish Penal Code,
which criminalizes insulting Turkishness] like Hrant Dink, he will
not be touched. … Mahcupyan, Emin ClaÅ~_an, those who are selling
our land to our enemies have passed an oil law as the separatist
traitors now want to sell our oil. The list of those who will be
killed in relation with this are: [Diyarbakır Mayor] Osman Baydemir,
[businessman] Omer Sabancı, Bulent Kar [Manisa mayor, because he
wants a federal state structure and two flags], [EU negotiator] Ali
Babacan, [former Finance Minister] Kemal Unakıtan and Orhan Pamuk
[that traitor of a writer].

These are only seven of all the traitors."

UNITED REGIONAL AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM
by Alexander Alexandrov

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
February 17, 2010 Wednesday
Russia

INTERACTION IN THE FIELD OF AIR DEFENSE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT
LINES OF COOPERATION OF CIS MEMBER STATES; Since the beginning of 2010,
Russia and Belarus started implementation of the agreement on joint
guarding of the air border of the Union State and establishment of
the united regional air defense system. In the last 15 years, the air
defense system of the CIS member states has remained the first and
the only really existing collective security system in the framework
of the CIS. Establishment of similar regional air defense systems in
the Caucasian and Central Asian collective security regions is the
next in turn.

Since the beginning of 2010, Russia and Belarus started implementation
of the agreement on joint guarding of the air border of the Union
State and establishment of the united regional air defense system.

In the last 15 years, the air defense system of the CIS member states
has remained the first and the only really existing collective security
system in the framework of the CIS. Establishment of similar regional
air defense systems in the Caucasian and Central Asian collective
security regions is the next in turn.

More than 3.7 billion rubles was allocated for improvement of the
national air defense systems, joint events, general and targeted
programs in the framework of the united air defense system of the
CIS from budgets of the CIS member states. Member countries organized
eight joint exercises with firing practice and more than 20 command
staff war games.

According to the Russian Air Force Commander, broadening of the zone
of responsibility of the coalition forces and means of the air defense
in the common airspace of the collective security regions will allow
not only increasing of capabilities of the forces on duty but will
also provide for serious saving of financial and material resources.

Establishment of similar regional air defense structures in the
framework of the united air defense system of the CIS is planned
not only in the East European region but also in the Caucasian
and Central Asian collective security regions. Draft agreements of
Russia with Armenia and Kazakhstan on establishment of the relevant
regional air defense systems have been worked out already and are
passing coordination. All of them will be included into the united
air defense system of the CIS member states.

At present, the structure of the united air defense system of the
CIS is represented by the air defense forces of Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

The group of force of the united air defense system consists of
seven air defense brigades, approximately 50 air defense missile
units armed with air defense missile systems S-125, S-75, S-200
and S-300 of various modifications, more than 20 units of fighter
aviation armed with MiG-29, MiG-31 and Su-27 airplanes, more than
20 units and formations of radio technical troops and two electronic
countermeasures units.

Air defense duty is organized on the permanent basis in cooperation
with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Source: Krasnaya Zvezda, February 13, 2010, p. 2

ARMENIAN-FRENCH AGREEMENT IN DEFENSE THREATENING TO AZERBAIJAN

news.az
Feb 18 2010
Azerbaijan

Ziyafet Asgarov "I think this is a danger.

The agreement in the sphere of defense concluded between Yerevan
and Paris threatens to Azerbaijan and undermines influence of France
as an impartial mediator in the Karabakh conflict settlement", said
first vice speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Ziyafet Asgarov.

"I think this is a danger. My argument is that Armenia and Azerbaijan
are in a state of war and provision of military assistance to Armenia
is certainly a threat to our security", Asgarov told TV channel.

"We cannot accept it. This will in turn make us take steps for the
sake of our national interests", he added.

Asgarov reminded that in 1997 Armenia concluded a document on military
cooperation with another Minsk Group co-chair-Russia.

"Now I ask a question: if two of the three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing
countries sign a military agreement with Armenia, cooperate in military
sphere, in other words, provide arms to Armenia, how can we believe
the sincerity of the co-chairing mission of these countries?", the
first vice speaker asked.