Author: Tigranian Ani

ARMENIAN PM ADVISED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO VACATION IN ARMENIA

Interfax
June 18 2009
Russia

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said high-ranking Armenian
officials should vacation in the country in a crisis and their summer
vacations should not be long.

The government will have no full-fledged summer vacation season this
year because the Cabinet has a lot of work to do, said Sargsyan.

"I am surprised that all high-ranking officials are filing applications
for one-month vacations, as if Armenia has already overcome the
financial and economic crisis and nothing extraordinary is happening
in the country. Such an approach is unacceptable, and if officials
have to take vacation, they should vacation in Armenia and their
vacations should not be long," he said.

"The summer vacations period will be a time of intense work for
the government because the economic indicators continue declining,"
said Sargsyan.

"The year 2009 is the most difficult year for the Armenian government
and we should be on our guard," said the prime minister.

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF TURKEY TO ELECT CO-PATRIARCH

Noyan Tapan
June 17, 2009

ISTANBUL, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Turkish government
decided to empower the Armenian community of the country to elect
a Co-patriarch.

According to the Marmara daily, which cites the Turkish Hurriyet
daily, the decision was made taking into account the health problems
of Armenian Patriarch in Istanbul Mesrob Mutafian.

The Turkish newspaper wrote that thus the Armenian Patriarchate
receiving the permission to elect, is to apply to the government
during the coming months for doing the election, because the
Patriarch’s position has vital importance for the Armenian community
in Turkey. After the appeal the government is to amend the law about
the election of the Patriarch which was used during the elections of
1998. After this amendment the Armenian Patriarch in Turkey should
be elected as a Co-patriarch. According to the Marmara daily, he will
be empowered to wear Patriarch’s clothes, but Archbishop Mesrob will
retain his primary position.

GALUST SAHAKIAN: U.S. ALWAYS AGREES ITS ESTIMATIONS WITH ARMENIA-U.S. INTERSTATE RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
June 15, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, NOYAN TAPAN. "Unlike European structures or groups
having observation missions that immediately estimated the communal
elections as communal elections, the U.S. always does so: the U.S. not
responds to the elections, but for days running as if analyses them
and agrees with Armenia-U.S. interstate relations," head of the RA
National Assembly RPA faction, RPA Vice-Chairman Galust Sahakian said
at the June 12 press briefing touching upon the U.S. State Department’s
report publicized on June 10. The report, in particular, mentioned
that "the 2008 presidential elections held with huge shortcomings
led to a political crisis, which is not overcome up to now."

In response to questions on possible tension in relations inside the
coalition after the May 31 Yerevan Council of Elders elections, the
RPA deputy said that the elections "further totalized and strengthened
the coalition processes." According to him, they were merely communal
elections, and the votes received in them "cannot have an impact on
country’s current political positions." As to discontent of some of RPA
coalition partners with the elections, according to G. Sahakian, they
can be "consequence of individual approaches." In deputy’s opinion,
henceforth the coalition "will act more unitedly."

YEREVAN HOSTS SEMINAR DEVOTED TO "WAYS OF PROMOTING YOUTH PROGRAMS"

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
11.06.2009 17:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Seminar devoted to "Ways of Promoting Programs"
is being held in Yerevan from June 10 to 15. The event is organized
by Armenian Young Women’s Association in cooperation with European
Youth Fund.

Seminar objective is to promote intercultural communication among
young people from different countries, involving them in different
joint projects.

Participants are women’s and youth organizations’ representatives from
Greece, Finland, Lithuania, Turkey, Luxemburg, Georgia and Armenia.

"Apart from youth programs, seminar will also focus on gender
issues. Participants will study various documents concerning youth
programs," Young Women’s Association Chair Lilit Asatryan said.

At the end of the event, an information network will be created to
enable experience exchange in the sphere of youth programs.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

JUNE 5-11, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS:

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: SUMMING UP THE ELECTIONS TO YEREVAN COUNCIL OF ELDERLY

RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER’S ACTIVITIES BY ARMENIAN MEDIA

SUIT OF LEVON KOCHARIAN VERSUS "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK" FOUNDER PARTIALLY SECURED

HEARINGS ON THE CASE OF ASSAULT AGAINST THE HEAD OF "INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISTS" NGO STARTED

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: SUMMING UP THE ELECTIONS TO YEREVAN COUNCIL OF ELDERLY

On June 6 the final "Press Club" show, dealing with the elections of Yerevan
Council of Elderly, went on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV company. The guests
of the program host, YPC President Boris Navasardian were political observer
of "Aravot" daily Anna Israelian, the Deputy Director of Transparency
International Anti-Corruption Center Varuzhan Oktanian, politologist Ervand
Bozoyan. The program participants summed up the elections to the Yerevan
Council of Elderly, held on May 31, 2009.

The "Press Club" cycle was produced under Yerevan Press Club project,
supported by the Open Society Institute.

RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER’S ACTIVITIES BY ARMENIAN MEDIA

On June 5-7 in Aghveran a seminar was held on "The Coverage of the
Activities of the RA Human Rights Defender’s Institute by Armenian Media".
The event was organized by Yerevan Press Club with the assistance of
Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Representatives of media, journalistic and human
rights NGOs took part in the seminar.

The Head of the Public Relations and Information Department of RA Human
Rights Defender, Grigori Grigoriants told about the cooperation between the
ombudsman and media. The Chairman of Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik
Ishkhanian introduced to the human rights situation in Armenia. The speech
of RA Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunian dealt with media coverage of
the ombudsman’s reports. YPC President Boris Navasardian summarized the
trends of the ombudsman’s institute coverage by the Armenian media, based on
the monitoring findings implemented by Yerevan Press Club on March-April
2009. The reports of the Head of the Civil Society Institute Artak
Kirakosian and the Advisor to the Human Rights Defender on Military and
Military Servicemen Issues Alexander Avetisian were on the cooperation
between human rights organizations and the ombudsman.

SUIT OF LEVON KOCHARIAN VERSUS "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK" FOUNDER PARTIALLY SECURED

On June 5 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash
communities of Yerevan read out the decision on the suit to protect the
honor and the dignity of Levon Kocharian, younger son of RA Second President
Robert Kocharian, against the founder of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily,
"Dareskizb" LLC. As it has been reported, the court hearings of the suit had
started on April 23, 2009. The reason of the lawsuit was the editorial "The
Adventures of Robert’s Son in Dubai", published in "Haykakan Zhamanak" on
February 6, 2009. The piece informed about Levon Kocharian’s detention by
police of Dubai, UAE, in the end of 2008. The plaintiff demanded to oblige
the daily to publish a refutation and to compensate for moral losses in the
amount of 16 million and 120 thousand AMD, about $ 43.500 (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, April 17-23, 2009).

The court partially secured the demands of the suit, by obliging the
newspaper to publish a refutation, to pay off a sum of 3 million and 620
thousand AMD, and to compensate the sue charges of 72 thousand AMD. As YPC
was informed by "Haykakan Zhamanak", the founder of the daily intends to
appeal the decision with the upper court jurisdiction.

HEARINGS ON THE CASE OF ASSAULT AGAINST THE HEAD OF "INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISTS" NGO STARTED

On June 4 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash
communities of Yerevan started the hearings on the case of assault on the
Head of "Investigative Journalists" NGO Edik Baghdasarian. As it has been
reported, on November 17, 2008 having left the building, where the
"Investigative Journalists" office is located, Edik Baghdasarian headed
towards his car when he was assaulted by three strangers. The offenders
started beating the journalist, struck him with a stone on his head. Edik
Baghdasarian was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with brain concussion.
Kentron Police Department of Yerevan instituted criminal proceedings on the
incident (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 20-27, 2008 and November
14-19, 2008). The charge on Article 258 of RA Criminal Code ("Public
disorder") was brought with Karen Harutiunian, who appeared in court as one
of the assaulters of Edik Baghdasarian.

Meanwhile, the piece about the beginning of litigation, published on the
same day in "Hetq", online-publication of "Investigative Journalists", was
emphasized: "The law enforcement bodies, however, did not reveal the other
two with whom 20 years old Karen Harutiunian made the attack (…), and the
client of this crime. K.Harutiunian not only denied his involvement in the
incident but refused to give evidence, either. Nevertheless, the
investigation took the charges pressed against him for granted (…)."

At the session of June 4, the court examined the victim and the part of the
witnesses. During the court hearings of June 10 Karen Harutiunian did not
plead guilty. The prosecution demanded to sentence the criminal to five and
a half year of imprisonment. The next session is assigned on June 19.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:

GOLDEN APRICOT STARTS

LRAGIR.AM
15:38:22 – 10/06/2009

The "Golden Apricot" International Film Festival will be hold for
the 6th time this year, from June 12 to June 19. The festival reached
almost 430 requests from 65 countries, from which 110 films from 40
countries were selected.

The festival will have 3 competition programs: international
competition, Armenian panorama and retrospective.

The festival will be open by the film "First Circle", the producer
of which the Armenian-French Alan Terzyan. In this film, the role of
the criminal is performed by the French famous actor Jean Renault.

The Golden Apricot will have a special event this year, Sergey
Parajanov’s 85th anniversary and on the occasion of the 40th
anniversary of the "Color of Pomegranates", the Armenian version of
the film will be shown.

In the non-competition part of the festival, there will be Yerevan
premiers of different films. With the title "One day in Europe",
the festival will present the best European films.

The Golden Apricot International Film Festival is hold with the
assistance of the Armenian Ministry of Culture. The General sponsor
of the festival is the VivaCell-MTS Company.

OLIGARCHS GET RICHER ON THE ACCOUNT OF UNPAID TAXES AND SUPER PROFIT
Nano Arghutyan

LRAGIR.AM
18:35:16 – 10/06/2009

Newspapers are overwhelmed with rumors that a watershed created
between the government and National Assembly of Armenia in the form
of the package of tax amendments. No one voices anything, but it is
understandable that the government decided to take the bull by the
horns and implement the pledge given at the beginning of this year,
"to bring the major business in the tax field". The parliament is
also assuring that the true intentions of the government were to
establish their own control over the business, and the state will not
get anything from this. As the saying goes, the usual redistribution
of property.

How the things are in reality is not known. In any case, nothing
concrete is said, the discussions are not carried out on the economic
plane, but on the political or on the personal one. The parliamentary
members, dwelling on the contradiction of the bill of the government to
the Constitution, do not clarify to what articles it contradicts. Gagik
Tsarukyan states that he is not going to interfere in the adoption
of the law in order not to be accused of bias. The Republican Party
does not bring weighty arguments either, assuring that "this way is
needed". The Dashnaktsutyun and the Heritage are again against for
political reasons. There seems to be no one else.

And if you look at the bill not from the point of view of a businessman
but an ordinary citizen, it will bring nothing new. According to
the authors of the bill, the presence of tax inspectors in the
major enterprises is aimed at the control of the actual volume of
products manufactured and sold, and thus paid taxes. No one hides
the real scale of products, they are recorded by the tax bodies,
perhaps with some omissions. The local oligarchs get richer at the
expense of unpaid taxes and super profit, and who wants to help the
state, should settle right this area. If a product is sold at almost
its double cost, this means that the manufacturer or importer robs
people. The state must stand up for people, creating such conditions
for the major importers to be unprofitable to have super profit. Here
is the law, which would be unanimously welcomed. But now, apparently,
the state supports the importers.

Commenting on the bill, the parliamentary member from the ARF Vahan
Hovhannisyan said that the government should recognize that its whole
economic policy failed. Perhaps that is true. The external state
debt of Armenia by the end of 2008 amounted to 1.577 billion. Such
data has been presented by the Deputy Minister of Finance Atom
Janjughazyan. According to him, the external debt of Armenia on the
basis of the data of 2008 amounted 13, 2% while the country’s GDP in
2007 was 15.7%.

"Armenia’s external debt has recently exceeded 1.5 billion dollars
and with the further growth of the negative foreign trade surplus in
the next few years this figure could be critical for the economy",
– said the academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Abel
Aganbegyan. "The import in the country is 5.5 times higher than the
exports. Armenia’s debt is now rising disastrously, and we should
think about reducing the food imports on the account of the local
production growth", – said the academician.

The academician noted that the current monetary policy of the Armenian
authorities is not directed at the development of the import. "If you
keep the dram at that level, your import will destroy all the scores
and it will become unprofitable to produce anything in Armenia. It
is necessary to protect your economy ",-said the academician.

VOTING ON THE TAX PACKAGE DELAYED FOR 15 DAYS
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
10.06.2009 15:51

The National Assembly today returned to the issue of the tax package.

Speaking at the Parliament, Deputy Minister of Finance Suren Kareyan
said the government was suggesting to delay the voting on the bill
for 15 days.

Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan added
that discussions on the package have been held in the Standing
Committees. "There have been a number of discussions with the chairmen
of Standing Committees, the Government and the Prime ministers,
and have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to discuss the
concerns of the Deputies once again and find solutions.

The Parliament adopted more than more than 10 bills discussed
yesterday.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS IS GOING TO DISPUTE RESULTS OF ELECTIONS INTO COUNCIL OF ELDERS OF YEREVAN AT COURT

ArmInfo
2009-06-09 09:55:00

ArmInfo. We are going to dispute results of elections into Council
of Elders of Yerevan at court, the representative of the Central
Office of the Armenian National Congress Avetis Avagyan said during
a press-conference today.

"We must use all legal means to show our people what kind of system
we have. The Central Electoral Commission has ignored our appeal
against the results of the elections," Avagyan said.

To remind, Chairman of the CEC Garegin Azaryan said that the ANC’s
appeal was formulated improperly. "I think that the CEC should care
for the content more than for the form," Avagyan said.

"We are not going to relinquish our mandates till the end of the
electoral process. For us the election will not be over for as long
as the trial goes on."

THE BILLIONAIRE WHO BEAT HEZBOLLAH

Forbes
/hariri-lebanon-march-face-markets-hezbollah.html
June 8 2009

Tycoon Saad Hariri’s anti-Syrian bloc wins after an election campaign
greased with money and fear.

LONDON — If George W. Bush had still been President of the United
States, he no doubt would have trumpeted the Lebanese elections on
Sunday as a triumph for democracy and Western values, despite the clear
sectarian divides still scarring the country. Instead, the task fell
to Saad Hariri–the Sunni Muslim billionaire whose carefully-groomed
facial hair betrays his Saudi upbringing–to try and paint the victory
of his anti-Syrian electoral bloc as moderation’s defeat of extremism.

"Democracy won today," said Hariri, in a victory speech overnight,
"and the bigger winner is Lebanon." His father, Rafik Hariri, whose
sprawling business empire and Oger conglomerate led him to be known as
"Mr. Lebanon," was assassinated in a car-bomb attack in 2005. Since
then, the Saudi-born Saad has personified resistance to Syrian and
Iranian intervention in Lebanon, heading the so-called "March 14"
alliance alongside various Christian, Druze and Armenian parties,
named after the date when massive protests over Rafik Hariri’s murder
pushed Syrian troops to withdraw from the country.

Judging by this election, it takes fear and money to promote democracy
in Lebanon. Government supporters feared that the Shia Muslim militant
group Hezbollah, seen as an armed puppet of its backers in Syria
and Iran, would win a parliamentary majority with its own allies
and spark a national crisis. The Hariri bloc knew how to exploit
this fear on the campaign trail when it claimed that a victory for
the Hezbollah-led opposition would lead to a tripartite sharing of
government and administrative posts between Shia Muslims, Sunni
Muslims and Christians. They are currently only shared two ways,
between Muslims and Christians.

A related fear was also how the international community would react to
a Hezbollah victory. American Vice-President Joe Biden visited Lebanon
last month to say in no uncertain terms that a Hezbollah-led government
should not expect American aid to flow as freely as before. U.S. ally
Saudi Arabia is also a strong financial backer of Lebanon, supporting
Sunni interests in the deeply-fragmented country. And although Israel
failed to bomb Hezbollah out of existence in the 2006 Lebanon War,
an electoral victory for the Shia group might heighten the chances
of another conflict.

Then there was money. Cash came in handy when flying Lebanese
expatriates into the country to cast their vote on Sunday, a tactic
which all sides reportedly dabbled in. Tales abound of parties buying
$700 plane tickets for citizens abroad, with Iran, Syria and rival
Saudi Arabia reported to be contributing to a $1 billion travel pot in
total splashed across the country. Evidently March 14 still managed to
tip the balance in this arena, with Hezbollah’s main Christian ally,
Michel Aoun, failing to tear crucial votes away from Christian allies
of Hariri like the right-wing Phalangists.

It would be unfair to see this as a stolen election, however. Hezbollah
clearly did not do itself any favors by talking up its achievements
of May 2008, when it turned its guns inwards for the first
time and stormed Sunni neighborhoods to extract veto power from
the government. Nor did it cut a convincing figure as a party
of establishment politics rather than pugnacious opposition,
particularly at a time when Lebanon and Syria are finally moving
towards a rapprochement and when Lebanon’s crippling public debt
requires a healthy dose of stability.

So what next for Saad Hariri and his victorious movement? IHS
Global Insight analyst Gala Riani thinks that he and March 14 will
have the upper hand in negotiating a new coalition government with
Hezbollah–a necessary evil considering March 14 won just 71 seats
out of the 128-seat parliament. Talks could see Hezbollah stripped
of some of the extra powers it wrestled out of the government last
year, such as the blocking minority in the cabinet for it and its
allies. Hariri could even end up as prime minister, even though he
does not seem eager to take on the role of government head.

One thing looks certain: Lebanon’s ever-shifting political alliances
will not stay fixed for long. "There is scope for unexpected
alliances," said Riani, "and not for the first time."