Author: Toneyan Mark

State of competition in Armenian marzes to be assessed this year

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2010 the RA State Commission for
the Protection of Economic Competition plans to assess the state of
competition in Armenian marzes (provinces). The commission chairman
David Harutyunian told reporters on January 22 that previously there
were some attempts to do such work in marzes, but this time
large-scale work will be carried out to ascertain the situation there.

The commission also envisages improving the methodologigal base this
year. "It is no secret that in addition to the legislation, the
methodology forms a basis for activities of each body. We have much
work to do in this direction," D. Harutyunian said. The commission in
cooperation with the RA Ministry of Finance will work out
methodological instructions, based on which some steps will be taken
in the market of state purchases.

D. Harutyunian attached importance to retraining the commission
members. They do not have profound knowledge of all commodity markets
which will be needed during studies of these markets, so the
commission is going to create expert teams for each sector.

Court Proceedings Commence in Armenian Spy Case

Tert.am
18:48 – 23.01.10

The trials of Armenian citizen and former Defense Ministry employee G.
Hayrapetyan and Iranian citizen B. Baghery of Azeri descent , both of
whom are accused of high treason for spying, and obtaining and keeping
weapons illegally began in Yerevan’s Court of First Instance in the
boroughs of Avan and Nor Norq yesterday.

RA General Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan was appointed to the case
during yesterday’s court proceedings.

Hayrapetyan is charged with Article 299 Section 1 of the RA Criminal
Code (high treason by spying) and Baghery is charged with Article 235
Section 1 (illegal procurement and keeping of weapons and ammunition)
and also with Article 302 of RA Criminal Code (spying conducted by a
foreign citizen).

Investigation has revealed that Hayrapetyan had been recruited by the
Azerbaijani Special Services and tasked with collecting and sending
them information about the fighting and defense capabilities of
Armenia’s military armed forces, as well as some materials meant to be
used for anti-Armenian propaganda.

On September 1, 2009, Hayrapetyan received his last task from Baghery
who had come to Armenia. A search in Hayrapetyan’s apartment revealed
weapons and ammunition.

In yesterday’s session, the prosecutor has published its accusations.
Hayrapetyan has pleaded completely guilty for obtaining and keeping
weapons and ammunitions illegally, while for a high-treason accusation
by spying he has pleaded partially guilty.
Baghery has not pleaded guilty at all.

The Court has ruled that the trial will continue behind closed doors
as the evidence included in the case contains state secrets.

TURKEY’S WAY TO EU MEMBERSHIP PASSES THROUGH ARMENIA

Aysor
Jan 22 2010
Armenia

National Consent Party’s chairman Aram Haroutyunian says if Turkey’s
Parliament doesn’t ratify Armenia-Turkey documents, Armenia will
lose nothing.

"In a chess-language, Turkey is at ‘zugzwang’ when its each step
plays the devil with it. Turkey’s way to EU membership passes
through Armenia. So regardless of the results, chess or football —
we initiated — ends in favor of Armenia," said Aram Haroutyunian.

MHP WANTS WITHDRAWAL OF ARMENIA PROTOCOLS

Today’s Zaman
Jan 21 2010
Turkey

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli has demanded
that the protocols signed by Armenia and Turkey to normalize relations
between the two countries be withdrawn from Parliament.

Following Ankara’s reaction to an Armenian Constitutional Court
ruling approving the protocols but at the same time establishing
"restrictions" on their implementation, the MHP released a written
statement.

MHP officials claimed that this new situation showed that the protocols
would not change an article in the Armenian Declaration of Independence
defining eastern Anatolia as "Western Armenia." The MHP statement
also said that the ruling by Armenia’s top court emphasized that the
protocols concern bilateral relations only between Turkey and Armenia
and leave out the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is
under Armenian occupation. Calling the present situation "shameful,"
the MHP claimed that the Turkish nation had been "deceived."

Armenian National Committee – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

January 21, 2010
Contact: Tamar Baboujian
Email: [email protected]

ANC-WR LAUNCHES CENSUS 2010 CAMPAIGN

GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA – The Armenian National Committee – Western
Region (ANC-WR) recently launched the "ANCensus 2010" campaign.
Working in partnership with the Census 2010, the ANC-WR seeks to
boost the participation rate of Armenian Americans in the 2010
Census count by educating the community and increasing awareness
about the significance of the headcount.

The ANC-WR Census 2010 campaign efforts are supported in part by a
grant from the California Community Foundation. The grant will
assist the ANC-WR to conduct an aggressive community outreach
campaign for the 2010 Census. The goals of the ANCensus 2010
project include maximizing Armenian American participation in the
2010 headcount and informing the community to indicate "Armenian"
as their race on the questionnaire.

The outreach campaign also allows for re-granting opportunities to
Armenian American nonprofit organizations. The ANC-WR will
distribute grants in the coming months to those Armenian American
organizations that are willing to conduct Census outreach work.
Organizations must submit proposal applications by Friday, February
5, 2010. For more information on re-granting opportunities, please
visit ANCensus2010.org or call the ANCensus 2010 Hotline at (888)
666-4761.

"One of the primary goals for the outreach campaign is to increase
the number of Armenian Americans who participate in the 2010 census
and ensure that the questionnaires accurately reflect our ethnic
group," said Tamar Baboujian, Director of the ANCensus 2010
Project. "We are thankful to the California Community Foundation
for giving us the opportunity to conduct and execute this campaign
in a sophisticated and efficient manner."

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest
Armenian American grassroots community organization in the Western
United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices,
chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and
affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR works to
promote understanding regarding issues of concern to the Armenian
American community.

RUSSIA OPENS NEW OFFICE IN UPPER LARS CHECKPOINT

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 15:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia opened a new office in the Upper Lars
checkpoint area. Now, the frontier territory with Georgia can be
accessed only with special permits. "There were the frontier zone
previousely here, but the post was located 12 km far from here," head
of press office of Russia’s FSB border department in North Ossetia,
Alexander Solod said.

The border between Russia and Georgia is locked yet. However,
a preliminary agreement on opening of the "Upper Lars checkpoint"
was already reached, Georgia Online wrote.

ARMENIA, IRAN WILLING TO BROADEN COOPERATION

armradio.am
21.01.2010 17:47

Ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad discussed regional and global developments today, Iranian
IRNA agency reports.

At the meeting, the Iranian President said that the current regional
as well as global developments would benefit independent and
justice-seeking nations around the globe.

Regional countries have enough potential to attain peace, welfare
and tranquility through mutual cooperation, he pointed out.

Existing ties between Iran and Armenia are very friendly, said
the Iranian President, adding that the two sides are determined
to implement joint projects and play an active role in regional
developments.

Robert Kocharyan said, in turn, that Armenia is willing to broaden its
relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and underscored that the
two sides enjoy capacities to increase the current level of bilateral
relations and regional cooperation.

ARMENIA, IRAN TO COOPERATE IN SOCIAL AREA

ARKA
Jan 21, 2010

YEREVAN, January 21. /ARKA/. On Thursday, Armenian government gave
its consent for signing an agreement with Iran on cooperation in
social area.

Mkhitar Mnatsakanyan, Armenian labor and social minister, said that
the agreement would develop cooperation between the two countries’
labor and social ministries.

The agreement implies cooperation in labor, employment, pension and
social insurance areas.

The cooperation will also be focused on problems related to families,
women and children.

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA, TURKEY HAVE A PHONE CONVERSATION

armradio.am
21.01.2010 11:23

At the initiative of the Armenian side a phone conversation took
place between the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davudoghlu.

Edward Nalbandian expressed its bewilderment at the statement of
the Turkish Foreign Ministry about the decision of the Armenian
Constitutional Court. The minister noted that seeing pre-conditions
and contradiction to the basic goal of the protocols in the decision
of the Armenian Constitutional Court raises surprises.

Armenian foreign minister expressed concern that since October 2009
no progress has been registered in the process of ratification
of the protocols in Turkey. At the same time the Turkish side is
continuatively and openly making attempts to forward pre-conditions:
it creates an impression of searching reasons and endangers the whole
process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

Armenian foreign minister, positively assessing the fact that the
Turkish side by January 18 statement publicly reiterated harmfulness
of forwarding pre-conditions, suggested his Turkish counterpart to stay
devoted to the spirit of the protocols and move forward more quickly.

Minister Nalbandian added that the ratification process in Armenia
is going on according to the established schedule and without
unnecessary delays which may be testified by the decision of the
Armenian Constitutional Court made a month earlier.

Edward Nalbandian reiterated that it is necessary to seek the quick
ratification and implementation of the protocols restraining from
steps which may cause failure of the process.

ERDOGAN REAFFIRMS ANKARA’S DISPOSITION: ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION LINKED WITH KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Panorama.am
18:11 20/01/2010

Turkey’s PM Tayyip Erdogan referred to the Armenian Constitutional
Court’s decision at a press conference following his meeting with
the Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu, Turkish Zaman Daily says.

"As a Turkish state, we can never take a constrained agreement. There
are approaches hidden between words, sentences," he said.

Turkish PM urged Yerevan to make changes, otherwise the process will
essentially suffer.

Erdogan reaffirmed Ankara’s disposition: Armenian-Turkish normalization
process will take a rapid course once there is any progress in
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.