Author: Tigranian Ani

ROMAN BEREZOVSKI AGAIN TO BE GOAL-KEEPER OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM

Noyan Tapan
Feb 06 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenian football national team
left for Andorra early in the morning of February 5, led by principal
coach, Scot Jean Porterfield. February 7 is a day of unofficial
matches on FIFA’s calendar. On this day the Armenian national team
will compete with the team of Andorra. To recap, Alexander Tadevosian,
Aghvan Mkrtchian, Edgar Manucharian, player of Ayaks (Holland) and
a few other football-players will not take part in this match due to
their being in Iran. The goal-keeper of Armenian national team will
be again experienced Roman Berezovski. Full-back Karen Dokhoyan has
also joined his team.

CENTRAL BANK CLEANS INSURANCE FIELD

Panorama.am
17:16 05/02/2007

‘The strategy of the Central Bank is that the market should be
cleaned out of the companies, which violate the requirements of
the legislation’, Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of RA Central Bank told
during the press conference today. To remind, during the last year
many companies operating in this market, were deprived of a license,
for not ensuring the established minimum authorized capital. At that
moment their capital made up 200 million drams, but today, according
to the government decision, the authorized capital should total 350
million AMD. Besides, the market participants had violated the norms
on solvency and realization of financial funds.

According to T. Sargsyan, in December 2006 the Government approved
the draft "On insurance". It has been already submitted to the
consideration of the National Assembly.

CB intends to introduce European standards in the insurance sphere
in order favorable conditions were created for the access of foreign
leading companies.

At the moment there are no large international companies in our market.

Touching upon the fact that a number of companies renounced life
insurance, T. Sargsyan noted: "We have gaps in the law "On insurance",
its several norms do not meet the international standards". As a
result, when cooperating with foreign companies native insurers face
several obstacles.

It should be noted that during the last half year our several companies
renounced their licenses for life insurance, motivating that such
insurance is not profitable.

CBA CHAIRMAN: ALL BIG SHOPS IN ARMENIA WILL SHIFT TO CASHLESS SERVICING OF CUSTOMERS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 05 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2007, legislative steps will
taken so that all big shops will shift to the system of cashless
servicing of customers. Shops to decline to use cashless servicing
(with the use of pastic cards) will be punished. The Chairman of
the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Tigran Sargsian stated this at the
December 5 press conference.

Responding to NT correspondent’s question about what measures the
CBA and government will take to reduce cash circulation in Armenia,
T. Sargsian said that in order to make the above mentioned shift, the
ArCa system and commercial banks will install POS terminals in shops.

In his words, this year some commercial banks will take steps
to install cash dispensers. It was mentioned that both natural
and juridical persons will be required to restrict their cash
circulation. Stricter regulations will be used with respect to foreign
currency exchange offices as well.

T. Sargsian noted that in 2006, commercial banks made considerable
investments for developing the communication means of the system of
cashless payments.

In his opinion, after the shift to chip plastic cards in 2007-2008,
the system of cashless payments will be used in the whole country.

OSCE OFFICIAL SEES ‘GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY’ FOR KARABAKH PEACE
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Feb 5 2007

A senior official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe on Monday again spoke of a "golden opportunity" to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, citing substantial progress made in
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

Goran Lennmarker, chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
hinted that the conflicting parties will try to seal a compromise
peace accord shortly after the May parliamentary elections in Armenia.

"I think there is a golden opportunity to reach an agreement on
Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he told RFE/RL
during a visit to Yerevan.

The Swedish parliamentarian said earlier that such an opportunity was
created by last November’s meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents that rekindled hopes for a near-term solution to the
Karabakh dispute. Although President Robert Kocharian cautioned
afterwards that he will not cut any peace deals before the upcoming
elections, observers expect a fresh and possibly decisive push for
an Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement in the second half of this year.

"I think there is an opportunity after the parliamentary elections to
come to a conclusion," agreed Lennmarker. "It is said to be a frozen
conflict, but I don’t agree with that because people die along the
line of contact," he added. "Perhaps 20 to 30 people die there every
year, and you have a lot of refugees … So there is really a need
to have an agreement."

The American, French and Russian mediators co-chairing the OSCE’s
Minsk Group sounded cautiously optimistic about peace prospects after
their latest tour of the conflict zone. In a joint statement issued
on January 29, they urged the parties to "sustain this momentum
in the negotiations and to prepare their publics for the necessary
compromises."

The Karabakh issue featured large during Lennmarker’s meetings
with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, parliament speaker Tigran
Torosian and other senior members of Armenia’s parliament. Torosian
reportedly praised the mediators’ efforts and reaffirmed Yerevan’s
overall acceptance of their existing peace proposals that call for a
gradual settlement culminating in a referendum of self-determination
in Karabakh.

Preparations for the Armenian parliamentary elections were also high
on the agenda of the talks, with Lennmarker emphasizing the importance
of their conformity with democratic standards. Torosian’s office quoted
him as saying that Armenia has "all prerequisites" to hold a first-ever
election recognized as free and fair by the international community.

GUL’S GIFT: THE CARGILL LAW
Kemal Balci

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Feb 5 2007

During his visit to the U.S. this week, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
will have a valuable gift in hand. A legal problem faced by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during all his previous U.S. trips,
leading to personal involvement from President George W. Bush,
reached legal assurance through the extraordinary efforts of the
government. Established on first-class agriculture land in Bursa,
the corn factory of U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill seems set to take
a case that it lost in court and win it through politics. Carrying
the Cargill law in hand, Gul expects to get in return a gift basket
containing measures to be taken by the U.S. against the terrorist
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an Armenian resolution at the U.S.
House, and the fait accompli of the Greek Cypriot administration on
the island, as well as support on the Kirkuk issue.

However, neither the Cargill law nor similar gifts can meet the
expectation of the U.S. While the Iraq occupation continues to give
big trouble to the government, now the U.S. government has set its
sights on a military operation against Iran. There’s no way the
Turkish government can get what it wants before fully meeting the
expectations of the U.S. regarding Iran.

After Parliament hastily passed the Cargill law, the government may get
the attention of the U.S. a bit, but that’s all. The law was passed by
Parliament last November, yet President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed it
then. Now that the law’s been passed again without any differences,
the president doesn’t have a right to veto it again. So it will come
into force Perhaps the Constitutional Court may cancel the law, but
during this process the Cargill firm will use its "acquired right"
and make the decision to close the plant invalid.

The firm won’t even have to pay any fine, as the government made
the land where the Cargill plant is located into an industrial area
through a Cabinet decision.

Foreign Minister Gul is trying to get the consent of the U.S. to
appease the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) growing impatience to take
action against the terrorist PKK. It’s obvious that the steps taken so
far towards this end didn’t work. Despite giving numerous promises,
the U.S. government has failed to put forth sustained measures
not only on issues regarding military operations against the PKK,
but also on issues like cutting the group’s financial resources or
closing its political bureaus.

The U.S. is afraid that a possible cross-border operation by Turkish
soldiers against the PKK may turn into an active intervention of
Turkey in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Moreover, Washington fears that
before it becomes official, Turkey may eliminate prevent a state of
"Kurdistan" from being declared in northern Iraq.

The U.S. government is trying to escape from the "big trap" they’re
in in Iraq and to keep up the "huge game" they’re trying to win. The
only sure ally they can find in this process isn’t Turkey — their
official "strategic partner" — but the feudal Kurdish power in the
north. Losing power right now both in Iraq and on the border with
Iran border doesn’t suit the U.S.

But the Turkish government, instead of noticing this huge game and
acting accordingly, prefers to meet its big expectations with small
presents. While facing very serious difficulties, Turkey may fall
into the trap the U.S. government fell into with the mistakes they
made at the beginning of the war.

Following the visit of Gul, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar
Buyukanit’s trip to the U.S. next week, on Feb. 11, will reveal whether
we’ve fallen into the trap. Unfortunately we have to sit and wait
until then. It’s only after these trips that we’ll be able to see the
meaning of recent military operations on the Iraqi and Iranian borders.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Dink lost his life for courage to speak of Armenian Genocide
02.02.2007 18:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Last night on the House Floor, Representative Adam
Schiff remembered one of Turkey’s most prominent Armenian journalists,
who was shot to death outside his newspaper’s office in Istanbul, on
January 19th, Mr Sean Oblack, Congressman Schiff’s Press Secretary
told PanARMENIAN.Net. Hrant Dink was a courageous journalist who
called for a more open discussion of Turkeys past, including the
Armenian Genocide. In 2003, on a trip to Turkey, Rep. Schiff met with
Mr. Dink to discuss the Armenian Genocide and press freedom issues.

Rep. Schiff recently sent a bipartisan letter, cosigned by 42
Congressional colleagues, to the Turkish Prime Minister calling on him
to investigate Mr. Dink’s murder. Schiff asked that he ensure that
this crime is solved and that those responsible are brought to
justice.

Rep. Schiff’s statement says in part,

`About a week and a half ago, a courageous journalist by the name of
Hrant Dink was murdered outside of his newspaper office in Istanbul. I
would like to read today some of the comments that he made in his last
newspaper article Agos on January 19, the day that he was shot dead.

Well, Mr. Dink, unfortunately, found otherwise when he was gunned down
outside of his office by a young man no doubt inflamed by the passions
that the government did so little to quell. Hrant Dink, who had the
courage to talk about some of the darkest periods of Ottoman history,
of the genocide of the Armenian people, the first genocide of last
century that claimed a million and a half lives, paid for that courage
with his life.

Well, we will have the opportunity here soon to take up a resolution
on the Armenian genocide. All we have to do is vote. That is very
little compared to what Hrant Dink did and the price that he paid.

I had a chance to meet him in Istanbul a couple of years ago. He was
optimistic about the future. He was optimistic about Turkey’s future,
about its willingness to examine its past. Regrettably, that optimism
was misplaced.

Today we remember a courageous journalist, Hrant Dink. And his legacy
lives on.’

OFFICIAL INTERNET SITE OF RA EMBASSY TO EGYPT STARTS FUNCTIONING

CAIRO, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The official internet site of the RA
Embassy to Egypt functions from February 1. The address is:
Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the RA
Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department.

The internet site of the RA Embassy will cover the Armenia-Egypt
bilateral relations, the political and economic, scientific-cultural
activity of the RA Embassy as well as issues relating to consular
services. The Armenian community of Egypt is given separate place in
the site. It is envisaged that the RA Embassy’s internet site will be
in future presented in the Arabic language as well.

Jointly with the quarter official gazette "Akhbar Armenia" in the
Arabic language, already being published by the Embassy, the internet
site will complete the propaganda activity of the Embassy which is
aimed to aware not only about the Armenia-Egypt relations, the RA
relations with the Near and Middle East countries but also about
important events of the RA foreign policy.

Associated Press
Feb 2 2007

Scandal tails death of Turkey journalist
Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The Turkish media published photographs and video
on Friday of police posing with a teenager charged with killing an
ethnic Armenian journalist, and newspapers denounced the officers for
treating the suspect as a "hero."

The photographs show 17-year-old nationalist Ogun Samast holding out
a Turkish flag and posing with officers, some in uniform. Behind
Samast, a poster with another Turkish flag carries the words of
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey: "The
nation’s land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate."

Samast is charged with the Jan. 19 killing of Hrant Dink, a
52-year-old ethnic Armenian journalist who had angered Turkish
nationalists with repeated assertions that the mass killings of
Armenians around the time of World War I was genocide.

The Turkish media was outraged by the photographs and video.
"Shoulder to shoulder with the triggerman: suspected killer Samast
was given the hero treatment," the Sabah daily reported on its front
page.

Later Friday, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported that four
police officers in Samsun, where the photographs were taken, had been
dismissed and four military police officers had been moved to other
assignments.

It was not clear whether the eight officers were the ones posing with
Samast.

Initial reports said the photos were taken at a military police
office at the bus station where Samast was captured, but military
police said they were taken at a police station nearby.

"The military police personnel seen in the images were personnel
assigned to hand over the suspect to the police," a statement from
military police headquarters said.

The statement urged the media to be cautious in publicizing "attempts
aimed at fraying the Turkish Armed Forces" and expressed concern
about the motives of those who leaked the images.

More than 100,000 people marched at Dink’s funeral, many of them
chanting for Turkey to abolish a repressive article in the penal code
used against many intellectuals, including Dink, who spoke openly on
controversial topics.

It is a crime to insult Turkey or the Turkish national character.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Jonathan Henick: Why 2007not to become successful in Karabakh issue?
01.02.2007 14:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 2006 was really a year of opportunities from the
point of view of reaching results in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
since no elections were scheduled either in Armenia or Azerbaijan. And
this influences on the negotiation process, stated U.S. Embassy Public
Relations Officer Jonathan Henick. In his words, it is difficult to
say that 2007 will be significant in the solution process of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Here responsibility lies not only on
mediators, but also on the countries, which participate in talks. `At
the same time, we must underline the reached progress. There are
enough bases for optimism. But to speak about the time of reaching
that success is difficult. Elections will be held in Armenia this
year. But if the sides perform will for settling this problem, why
2007 not to become a successful year of reaching results?’ the
American diplomat stated, APA reports.

AZG Armenian Daily #019, 02/02/2007

Hrant Dink Murder

ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE INNER
AFFAIRS MINISTER OF TURKEY IN CONNECTION WITH THE
MURDER OF HRANT DINK

During the process of Hrant Dink’s murder
investigation 5 persons were detained, amaong which
was aslo Ogyun Samast, the murderer, Yasin Hayal, the
orderer and Erhan Tuncel, represented as an informer.
The "Eni Shafak", taking into consideration Tuncel’s
rejection of its own evidence, rose a number of
questions – who are Tuncel’s patrons, is he really a
mere informer or is he indeed a go-between the real
organizers of the murer and Hayal’s criminal group.
During the investigation Prime Minister of Turkey
Erdogan dismissed the Trabzon region governor and the
Inner Affairs Minister of Turky. The Turkish press
reports that the actions of Istanbuls’ and Am]kaara’s
governors and local administrations will be also
examined. The "Motherland" party on January 30
declared its intention ro start z par;lamentary
investigation against Inner Affairs Ministyer
Abulkadir Asku. The party asked why the law enforcment
bodies, being informed about the threat against Dink’s
life, took no measure for preventing the murder. On
janaury 31, National-Democratic Party followed the
example of "Motherland" and stated that the murder of
Hrant Dink discovered the serious problems of the
Turkish society and statehod, which cannot be solved
by dismissing a number statesmen. If 11 months on end
the state security services are being warned about a
murder preparations and do nothing, it is the
authorities to deal with, said the party leader. He
stated that the party will take the initiative of
starting a parliamentary investigation against Prime
Minister Erdogan.

By H. Chaqrian