Author: Toneyan Mark

PACE observers to arrive in Armenia on February 18

armradio.am
16.02.2008 15:10

A 27-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE), headed by John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), will
visit Armenia from 18 to 20 February 2008 to observe the presidential
election together with observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR)
and the European Parliament.

The delegation members will meet the candidates in the election, the
Chairman of the Central Election Commission and representatives of NGOs
and the media; they will then travel to various parts of the country to
observe the conduct of the poll on 19 February.

A PACE pre-election delegation which visited Yerevan from 29 to 31
January 2008 said that it was "heartened by the clearly expressed will
of the authorities to hold fully democratic elections in line with
Armenia’s commitments to the Council of Europe". But it felt that
continued efforts were needed in organising the elections so as to
ensure public confidence in the electoral process.

The observers will present their conclusions at a joint press
conference at on Wednesday 20 February.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Majority of Armenian voters decided on their candidate

16.02.2008 15:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 2 million 390 thousand ballot papers
have been printed for the February 19 presidential
election.

Meanwhile, the OSCE/ODIHR mission issued an interim
report which says that the Central Electoral Committee
is well prepared for the forthcoming election.

`Sometimes the election rhetoric was harsh. The
rallies were mostly peaceful except for two of Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, when collision took place. As to media
activities, coverage of candidates’ campaign was
mostly fair. The only candidate subjected to online
editions’ criticism was Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Comments
on other presidential hopefuls were either positive or
neutral,’ the report says in part.

Law enforcers reported receipt of 52 alerts of
election violations. 11 criminal cases were initiated.
19 complaints were rejected.

Majority of Armenian voters decided on their
candidate. According to Socio service, 76% are going
to attend polling stations. At that 7% do not know
whom to elect yet.

The leader of race is Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan
with 53,1%. He is followed by Orinats Yerkir party
leader Artur Baghdassaryan (12,6%), Levon
Ter-Petrosyan (11,3%), Dashnaktsutyun candidate Vahan
Hovhannisian (6,4%), National Unity party leader
Artashes Geghamyan (6,1 %.).

The anti-rating is topped by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. More
than half of the respondents (51,2%) said they will
never support Armenia’s first President. The other
candidates’ anti-rating varies from 4% to 8%.

The results of surveys conducted among 1600 people
from 64 towns and villages of Armenia allow to presume
that the outcomes of the elections are quite
predictable.

Members of the Supreme Spiritual Council called on the
nation not to yield to agitation provocations and obey
the call of soul and conscience, Armenian media
reports.

ARF-EXPELLED POET SLAMS EX-PRESIDENT

ARMENPRESS
Feb 14, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS: A well-known poet and a former
longtime member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF),
expelled from it after endorsing publicly prime minister Serzh
Sarkisian’s presidential bid, denounced today ex-president Levon
Ter-Petrosian for ‘disseminating hatred and anger.’ Speaking at a
news conference, the poet, Razmik Davoyan, blamed also presidential
candidates for their lavish election promises irrespective of whether
they are able to fulfill them. He said what Ter-Petrosian promises
is infeasible at all.

Davoyan said when in 1989 Soviet tanks were brought to Yerevan to
thwart rising popular movement for unification of Nagorno-Karabakh
with Armenia and when a crowd on Freedom Square wanted to break the
cordon of Soviet troops he was one of few people to hold them back
realizing that it was a provocation that could cost tens of lives.

"Some time later I met Levon Ter-Petrosian and spoke about that day’s
events and he said even if 200,000 people had died that day that would
not have been a big loss.’ Davoyan argued that these words prove that
Ter-Petrosian must not be allowed to become president of this country.

Razmik Davoyan was expelled from the ARF after in an interview with
Public Radio he said that prime minister Serzh Sarkisian was the only
candidate with a weighty track record deserving to be the country’s
next president.

His remarks ran counter to ARF’s laws that ban party members from
defying or acting against party decision. Earlier this year ARF
nominated a deputy parliament chairman Vahan Hovhanesian as its
residential candidate to contest the February 19 election.

BELARUSIAN EXPERTS WILL ARRIVE IN YEREVAN TO INVESTIGATE THE REASONS OF THE PLANE CRASH

armradio.am
14.02.2008 12:24

Experts of the Ministry of Transport of Belarus, the Aviation
Committee and Belavia Company will arrive in Yerevan to participate
in the investigation of the reasons of the passenger plane crash,"
Executive Director of the Belavia Air Company Anatoly Gusanov declared
today. According to him, the specialists will arrive in Moscow and
later in Yerevan.

"According to international norms, the investigation of the plane
crash is carried out in the country on the territory of which it
has occurred.

Belarusian experts will work with their Armenian colleagues," Anatoly
Gusanov said. He noted that he can say nothing about the reasons
of the crash. Things will become clear only from the content of the
flight recorder. "Weather could not have affected the flight. However,
this version should not be excluded either," the Executive Director
of the Belavia Company noted.

Belavia Company is searching for ways to transport the passengers
to Minsk.

"Either we shall send an additional plane to Yerevan, or will take
them to Moscow and later to Minsk depending on the situation,"
Mr. Gusarov said.

OYP "DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE REAL STANCE OF THE EX-PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA"

Mediamax
February 14, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. "Artur Baghdasarian is a candidate, claiming
to occupy the first and not the second place during the upcoming
elections", Heghine Bisharian, Head of his pre-election staff, stated
in Yerevan today.

Mediamax reports that Heghine Bisharian stated that "the rating of
Serzh Sarkisian is not high enough for him to be able to gain victory
in the first round". According to her, neither of the candidates can
win in the first round of the elections.

Heghine Bisharian noted that the victory of Artur Baghdasarian in
the first round is possible only if the opposition gets united around
him, which is not yet taking place. "However, such development of the
evens is quite likely after our candidate enters the second round",
she stated.

Answering the question on the possible unification of Artur
Baghdasarian and Levon Ter-Petrosian, Heghine Bisharian stated that she
"does not understand the real stance of the Ex-President, who says one
thing during talks in the evening, and next morning "Haykakan Zhamanak"
newspaper, which supports him, writes a completely different thing".

Lragir, Armenia
Feb 15 2008

U.S. OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION UPGRADES ENGLISH LANGUAGE
LABORATORY

U.S. Charge’ de Affaires, a.i. Joseph Pennington and Armenian Deputy
Minister of Defense Mikayel Harutiunian inaugurated the recently
upgraded language laboratory at the Aviation Institute in Yerevan on
Friday, February 15. The U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation
(ODC) provided the $93,000 upgrade which featured fifteen new desktop
computers. The new computers will enable Armenian military students
that use the English language laboratory to individually utilize
language learning software. Each student station is networked to the
instructor’s computer to provide flexibility for instruction. The
laboratory, which was originally set up by the U.S. contractor Dal
Media Solutions in 2006 and funded through ODC at a cost of $92,000,
is already equipped televisions, CD players, and DVD/VHS players to
help students learn English. Its purpose is to prepare Armenian
military personnel for study in U.S. military training facilities.
About twenty-five Armenian officers and sergeants attend military
courses each year in the U.S. though the ODC’s International Military
and Education (IMET) program. This same program, currently funded by
the U.S. State Department, is what also provided the funding to
upgrade the laboratory

The new lab upgrade will help fulfill the joint goal of the U.S. ODC
and the Armenian Ministry of Defense to centralize English language
instruction standards, and develop an intensive English language
course to support Armenian military personnel preparing for their
studies in the U.S. The ODC plans to provide an American English
language instructor later in the year to assist with instruction and
English course standards.

The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance in the Armenian defense
sphere. The U.S. ODC works for the U.S. Chief of Mission in Armenia
and the U.S. European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.

U.S EMBASSY TO ARMENIA

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 14 2008

OSCE monitoring on contact front line in Azerbaijani region held
smoothly

14 February 2008 [17:27] – Today.Az

A monitoring was held at the contact front line of Azerbaijani and
Armenian armed forces near Tapgaragoyunlu village of Geranboy in line
with the mandate of the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office Thursday.

Novosti-Azerbaijan reports with reference to spokesman for
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry Ilgar Verdiyev that the monitoring took
place without any incidents.

Azerbaijan was represented by personal representative of OSCE
chairman-in-office Andjey Kaspshik and his field assistants Imre
Palatinus and Jaslan Nurtazin.

Armenia was represented by the field assistants of the personal
representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office Antal Kherdich and
Miroslav Vymetal.

URL:

ANGRY MANUKIAN RULES OUT SUPPORT FOR TER-PETROSIAN
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Feb 13 2008

Opposition candidate Vazgen Manukian angrily rejected calls to bow
out of the presidential race in favor of his longtime rival, former
President Levon Ter-Petrosian, during a rare campaign trip outside
Yerevan on Wednesday.

Campaigning in the central Aragatsotn region, Manukian was repeatedly
asked by voters unhappy with the government why he has not joined other
opposition leaders in supporting Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s main
challenger. The leader of the National Democratic Union (AZhM), a once
influential opposition party, was visibly annoyed by such questions.

"Do you really not understand whom to elect?" he told a small crowd in
the town of Talin. "You have seen each [of the presidential candidates]
for the past 20 years. Don’t we know who sold out, who swindled you,
who was broken up. Should we start explaining that again?"

"If you can’t unite, what can the people do?" one pro-opposition
woman said, interrupting him. "You only discredit each other, saying
everything about each other. This is wrong. These poor people don’t
deserve that."

"There are two candidates whom I will never support," responded
Manukian. "One is Serzh Sarkisian, the other is Levon Ter-Petrosian.

We can join forces with everyone else."

Manukian said a government headed by Ter-Petrosian would "the same
as the existing one" and urged locals to remember the ex-president’s
controversial track record in power. "Have you forgotten everything?"

he asked. "I don’t understand. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t.

"I don’t want an Armenia of Serzh Sarkisian. I don’t want an Armenia
of Levon Ter-Petrosian. We can build a much better Armenia. Why don’t
we follow that path?"

An elderly man objected that Ter-Petrosian’s endorsement by other
prominent oppositionists would increase chances of regime change in
the country. "Don’t vote for me," angrily retorted Manukian. "Vote
for them and you’ll get the Armenia you want."

"I’m sorry, my dear Vazgen, but you are wrong," said the man.

Manukian similarly seethed with rage in the nearby large village of
Parpi when he was asked the same question by the pro-Ter-Petrosian
head of the local chapter of the influential Yerkrapah Union of
Nagorno-Karabakh war veterans. The AZhM leader countered that
Yerkrapah and its late leader, Vazgen Manukian, played a decisive
role in forcing Ter-Petrosian to resign in 1998 over his conciliatory
views on the Karabakh conflict’s resolution.

"Have you changed your view on Karabakh? No," he told the war
veteran. "Has [Ter-Petrosian] changed his view? No, he has made
that clear."

"You silently complied with whatever Vazgen Sarkisian said," continued
Manukian. "He said ‘topple Levon’ and you toppled him. Now Vazgen
Sarkisian’s brother, Levon, Manvel [Grigorian] are saying ‘topple
them and bring back Levon.’ If you do that, what kind of Yerkrapahs
(country defenders) will you be? You will not defend the country? You
will defend yourself."

The bitter remarks undescore the long-running feud between Manukian
and Ter-Petrosian. The two former scholars became the top leaders
of the 1988 movement for Armenia’s unification with Karabakh before
jointly heading the country’s first post-Communist government in
1990. Manukian subsequently quit the government and challenged the
incumbent Ter-Petrosian in the hotly disputed presidential election
of 1996.

Ter-Petrosian sent troops to the streets of Yerevan at the time to
quell violent opposition protests against the official vote results
which showed him narrowly defeating Manukian. The latter still claims
to be the rightful winner of the vote and holds the ex-president
responsible for Armenia’s post-Soviet culture of election fraud.

Speaking to RFE/RL in Talin, Manukian criticized another prominent
opposition leader, Raffi Hovannisian, for throwing his weight behind
Ter-Petrosian. "I don’t think that such alliances set a good example
for future generations in the political spectrum," he said, arguing
that Ter-Petrosian and Hovannisian have "huge differences" on Karabakh
and other major issues.

TURKISH CATHOLICS PREPARE TO CELEBRATE YEAR OF SAINT PAUL

Independent Catholic News
Feb 13 2008
UK

In Tarsus and Antioch, where the Apostle Paul lived and preached,
Catholics are preparing celebrations for the Pauline Year marking the
2,000th anniversary of Saint Paul’s birth which will take place from
June 28, 2008 to June 29, 2009.

The Bishops of Turkey have stated: "The Catholic Church in Turkey will
open the Pauline Year on June 22, 2008 in Tarsus with a Mass celebrated
by Cardinal Walter Kasper. Following the solemn opening of the year,
a symposium will be held on Saint Paul in Tarsus and Iskenderun (June
22-24). The event also forms a part of the itinerary of a national
pilgrimage following the footsteps of the Apostle through Tarsus,
Antioch, Ephesus, as well as other initiatives accompanied by our
Orthodox and Protestant brothers."

Tarsus and Antioch, especially, will be sites visited by an
ever-growing number of pilgrimage groups from all over the world. For
this reason, the Church has asked the Turkish government for permission
to celebrate Masses and hold prayer encounters and catechesis in the
Church of St Paul in Tarsus, which is currently a museum.

The modern-day city is built upon the exact location of ancient
Tarsus. Officially speaking, there is not a large Christian presence
there, nor are there many churches. Historians recall that in 1884 a
church was opened by an Italian Capuchin named Fr Giuseppe da Genova,
but it was later closed following the First World War.

The only official Christian presence that exists today in Tarsus is
formed by three Italian religious sisters. The Church of St Paul,
where numerous pilgrims will be able to enter, has been a church
for both Byzantine and Armenian Rites. Later, it was used for years
for military storage. Finally, it was made into a museum. For the
Turkish Bishops, who have written a letter to their faithful on the
occasion of the Pauline Year, it seems to be of great importance
drawing pilgrims’ attention to the places from the life of St Paul,
which are "an inheritance for all of Christ’s disciples; however,
particularly for those of us who are children of this land that he
saw at the start of its history, where he preached Christ, and where
he bore testimony to Him in so many trials."

In Antioch, the local Catholic community is preparing to welcome
visitors. Antioch of Orontes (with a current population of 200, 000)
was birthplace to the first Christian communities spoken of in the
Acts of the Apostles. There, disciples of Christ were first called
Christians.

In the very same neighbourhood where the disciples met to pray,
there is today a small Christian community of about a dozen Catholic
families, as well as a considerable number of Greek Orthodox who speak
Arabic who come together for sharing their faith and spiritual growth,
taking their strength from the Eucharist and the Word of God.

The local Catholic community, under the care of Capuchin friar Fr
Domenico Bertogli, is active in works of social service, as well as
pastoral ministry that work to keep Christians from having to emigrate
to other cities or countries for economic reasons.

In light of the upcoming pilgrimages, transportation has improved
between Antioch and Istanbul. From the capital to Hatay (Antioch’s
airport, located 25 km from the city), there will be trips twice a
day: in the morning at 7am going to Istanbul and in the afternoon at
7.30pm from Istanbul to Antioch.

The local Christian communities have found many positive
results since the creation, one year ago, of their website:
akya.

BLACK SEA TRADE & DEVELOPMENT BANK TO EXTEND $5MLN LOAN TO ARMENIA’S ARMECONOMBANK FOR SME

ARKA News Agency
Feb 13 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, February 13. /ARKA/. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank
(BSTDB) is to extend a $5mln loan to Armenia’s Armeconombank for small
and medium enterprises (SME). The respective loan agreement between
Armeconombank and BSTDB was signed on February 12 2008, the bank’s
press service reported.

The lending under the loan program is to be provided in accordance with
the regulations and criteria for extending credits to SME developed
by the BSTDB, says the report.

Under the program, Armeconombank is to allocate credits for up to
five years to enterprises operating in the fields of production,
trade and services. Maximum amount of credit to one borrower is to
total $400,000 or the equivalent in Armenian Drams.

"This deal of Armeconombank once more proves the bank’s commitment
toward its policy of supporting further development of small and
medium business in Armenia," the press release says.

"Armeconombank" Open Joint Stock Company was registered on August
26 1991. More than 75% of the bank’s shares belong to the principal
shareholders – EBRD (25% + 1 share) and the founders of "SIL" concern
Sukiasian family (50.6%).

As of January 1 2008, assets of "Armeconombank" were over 50.4bln
Drams, total capital – 8.4bln Drams, and net profit as of the end
of 2007 – 1.8bln Drams. The bank has 45 branches operating in the
territory of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international
financial organization founded in 1999. The following countries are
members of the BSTDB: Greece, Russia and Turkey (16.5% of authorized
stock each), Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine (13.5% each), Albania,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova (2% each). On February
6 2003 the BSTDB started its first program in Armenia – a joint
financial program, "Izmirlian", aimed at support to small and medium
enterprises. ($1=309.82Drams).