Author: Tumanian Talar

ARF CANDIDATE BRINGS UP PRIVATIZATION

Lragir
Jan 31 2008
Armenia

On January 30 the presidential candidate from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
Vahan Hovanisyan told reporters diversification of some strategic
sectors is necessary, and there is possibility. Vahan Hovanisyan
said this in answer to the question how he intends to tackle this
situation when our entire energy sector is run by Russian state and
privately-owned companies. The Armenian presidential candidate said
there is a possibility of diversification, especially that we have
such a neighbor as Iran, and the tensions in the Iran-West relations
tend to calm down. Nevertheless, Vahan Hovanisyan does not think it is
not so important who runs one sector or another as how the government
controls it.

"If something is privatized to the foreign capital, we must employ
mechanisms which guarantee the system of security. I think this needs
some elaboration. Moreover, apart from strategic infrastructures and
privatization by foreigners, privatization in our country went on
along with the law but not always compliant with the law.

Reconsideration is necessary," stated the presidential candidate Vahan
Hovanisyan, saying that the regulatory function of the government
underlies their concept of government.

OSKANYAN MET OBSERVERS

Lragir
Jan 31 2008
Armenia

On January 31 the Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan met
with the observation mission of the PACE commission led by the vice
president of the PACE John Prescott.

The interlocutors shared views on the preparations for the presidential
vote. The PACE delegates shared impressions from their meetings with
the Armenian government officials, presidential candidates and NGOs,
the press release of the foreign ministry runs.

Minister Oskanyan underlined the importance of the observation
mission. He clarified on some amendments to the law on dual
nationality. The minister also said hopeful that the international
observation missions will observe progress, promoting democracy
in Armenia.

KOCHARIAN HAILS DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN TIES

Russia & CIS Presidential Bulletin
January 29, 2008

Kocharian has discussed bilateral cooperation with State Duma Speaker
Boris Gryzlov.Speaking about a Armenia-Russian partnership, the
Armenian president noted that bilateral economic ties have become
a leading force of Armenian-Russian cooperation, which resulted in
the fact that Russian investments were attracted to various Armenian
industries, the presidential press service told Interfax.

Kocharian also hailed the development of a bilateral partnership in
the energy and transport area.

Gryzlov stressed that according to expert forecasts bilateral trade
will reach $1 billion, the press service said.

The parties also highlighted the importance of an agreement signed
between United Russia and Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian
Republican Party, which promotes a more practical and systematic
cooperation between the political parties of the two countries.

POLICE SET TO PROSECUTE ‘DELINQUENT’ TER-PETROSIAN SUPPORTERS
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 29 2008

The Armenian police launched criminal proceedings on Tuesday against
supporters of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian who drove through
the streets of Yerevan on Monday in a motorcade of more than a hundred
cars led by the opposition presidential candidate.

The collective ride, not sanctioned by municipal authorities, lasted
for more than an hour and ended in a rally in the city’s northern Avan
suburb. It was aimed at drumming up popular support for Ter-Petrosian
and possibly exerting psychological pressure on the government.

A statement by the police said that the motorcade disrupted traffic
in the city center and that participants of the car parade defied
orders by road police officers and threatened to use force against
them. It said a criminal case has been opened under a corresponding
article of the Armenian Criminal Code.

The police did not immediately charge any of the Ter-Petrosian
campaigners. Instead, it reportedly impounded cars belonging to some
of the ex-president’s close associates, including the chairmen of
the former ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement and the radical
opposition Hanrapetutyun party.

Also, law-enforcement authorities announced late Monday the launch of
a separate criminal investigation into a violent incident that marred
Ter-Petrosian’s weekend campaign rally in the central town of Talin.

Several Ter-Petrosian loyalists reportedly threw punches at a man
who heckled the ex-president as the latter was about to address
local residents. According to media reports, the man, identified as
Sarkis Karapetian, was assaulted after telling Ter-Petrosian that
"the people of Talin are not with you."

The Office of the Prosecutor-General identified three alleged attackers
of Karapetian, among them a local leader of Hanrapetutyun, but would
not say if any of them have already been formally charged with assault.

Ter-Petrosian’s election campaign headquarters was quick to condemn
both criminal cases. "These actions are aimed at stemming Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s triumph in the presidential elections and taking the
pre-election situation out of control," it said in a statement. "We
warn Armenia’s kleptocratic authorities that they will bear full
responsibility for unpredictable consequences of these actions."

The statement described the violent incident in Talin as a government
"provocation." It also claimed that the police have "effectively
paralyzed" the Ter-Petrosian campaign in Talin by summoning its
activists for questioning en masse.

Also reacting to the Talin incident were two nationalist activists
controversially imprisoned by the Armenian authorities. Like
Karapetian, Zhirayr Sefilian and Vartan Malkhasian are veterans of the
1992-1994 war in Karabakh. In a joint statement from their prison,
they alleged that the attack victim is a government agent who had
been paid by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian to spy on war veterans
unhappy with Armenia’s leadership.

Sefilian and Malkhasian, who support Ter-Petrosian’s presidential bid,
at the same time urged the ex-president’s loyalists to "beware such
provocations and be more tolerant in the future."

In a related development, the police also commented on reports
that they forcibly closed Ter-Petrosian’s sole campaign office in
the southeastern town of Kapan on Monday. The office head, Roman
Navasardian, told RFE/RL that he and his comrades were forced out
of the premises after their owner unexpectedly decided to terminate
their lease.

A police statement said that law-enforcement officers in Kapan simply
intervened in a bust-up between the owner, identified as "citizen A.,"
and individuals who occupied his property "by fraudulent means."

POLICE DID NOT PURCHASE NEW WATER-CANNONS, POLICE HAVE ENOUGH WATER-CANNONS AT THEIR DISPOSAL

Noyan Tapan
Jan 28, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of water-cannons on
the balance sheet of the police troops is sufficient to prevent mass
riots. The head of the RA Police PR and Information Department Sayat
Shirinian stated this at the January 25 press conference, denying
the information disseminated by the electronic mass media that in
recent period the police purchased new water-cannons with the aim of
preventing mass riots.

S. Shirinian also denied the information spread by the mass madia that
personnel of the RA police regiment for protection of water facilities
went on not limited in time strike on January 24. They raised the
issue of paying salary arrears as quickly as possible. The police
representative confirmed that the problem of salary arrears exists
indeed, and "the heads of the police have intervened and these debts
will be paid soon according to an established schedule."

A1+

ARONIAN IS IN THE LEAD
[12:21 pm] 28 January, 2008

Armenian Grand Master Levon Aronian played a tie with
Judith Polgar, Hungary, in the 13th round of the Corus
International Chess Tournament held in Wijk aan Zee,
Holland. Gaining 8 points, Aronian became the winner
of the tournament together with Magnus Carlsen,
Norway.

The matches Carlsen-Rajabov, Anand-Kramnik,
Topalov-Adams, and Ivanchuk-van Vely also ended in a
draw. Gelfand won over Yelyanov and Leko over
Mammadyarov in the 13th round.

It is due to mention that Aronian has won the
tournament with additional scores for the second time.

Rajabov and Anand share the third place with 7.5
points each. Kramnik took the seventh place.

Khikmet Gaji-zade: If Kosovo independence is recognized unilaterally,
both Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will appeal to this precedent

2008-01-28 13:36:00

ArmInfo. ‘If Kosovo independence is recognized unilaterally, both
Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will appeal to this precedent’, an
Azerbaijani political expert Khikmet Gaji-zade told the Day.az. Asked
about the peculiarity of the conflict, the political expert said that
there is no unambiguous scientific-legal answer to this question: ‘We
shall say that Karabakh is quite another case, while Armenia and Russia
will say that this is essentially the same. Those having more forces
will be right. In general, it is too dangerous for us’.

Agence France Presse — English
January 26, 2008 Saturday 9:54 PM GMT

General, lawyer jailed for murder plots in Turkey: Anatolia

ISTANBUL, Jan 26 2008

A retired Turkish general and a high-profile lawyer were jailed
pending trial Saturday as part of a crackdown on an ultra-nationalist
group that reportedly plotted to kill Nobel laureate novelist Orhan
Pamuk and Kurdish activists, Anatolia news agency reported.

It was not immediately known what charges the suspects face. The
probe is being carried out behind the shield of a secrecy law that
restricts media coverage.

Retired general Veli Kucuk has been accused of organising
extra-judicial killings of Kurds in the 1990s, but never stood trial.

Attorney Kemal Kerincsiz, meanwhile, is notorious for having
initiated legal proceedings against Pamuk and ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed last year, as well as other
intellectuals who contested the official line on the World War I
Ottoman era massacres of Armenians.

The two were arrested along with six other suspects, among them a
retired colonel and a well-known gangster, Anatolia reported.

The arrests bring to 13 the number of suspects remanded in custody
after the police rounded up more than 30 people this week as part of
a probe into the discovery of hand grenades and bomb detonators in a
house in Istanbul in June.

Media reports said the suspects planned to assassinate Pamuk, the
winner of the 2006 Nobel literature prize, prominent journalist Fehmi
Koru and Kurdish politicians Leyla Zana, Osman Baydemir and Ahmet
Turk.

Police are also reportedly investigating whether the suspects were
involved in several politically motivated attacks that shocked Turkey
over the past two years, including the murders of Dink, Italian
Catholic priest Andrea Santoro and a senior judge.

Dink’s family has raised vocal accusations that the journalist’s
self-confessed teenage assassin was incited by people who remain at
large and enjoyed the protection of some members of the security
forces.

The media have linked the suspects to the "deep state" — a term used
to describe members of the security forces who act outside the law
for subversive purposes or to preserve what they consider Turkey’s
best interests.

U.S. PROVIDES DEMINING EQUIPMENT TO ARMENIAN DEMINING UNIT

Lragir
Jan 25 2008
Armenia

Mine detection and disposal equipment provided by the United States
arrived at the Armenian Humanitarian Demining Unit this week, timed to
correspond with the arrival of U.S. Kansas National Guard soldiers who
are working to familiarize the Armenian unit with their new equipment.

The U.S. mine detection and explosive protective equipment, valued
at about $300,000.00, will be used by the Armenian unit to support
their humanitarian demining mission in Armenia. The equipment will
also support their deminers that deploy from Armenia to work with
the Coalition Forces in Iraq, where they conduct demining and mine
disposal missions.

The delivery of the mine detection and disposal equipment marks
the start of a larger program of U.S. assistance to the Armenian
Humanitarian Demining Unit in 2008. The unit, which was initially
funded in 2003 through a USAID program, will receive additional
training and equipment to enhance their capability, through the US
Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC). The ODC will team up
with the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) office based in the U.S.

European Command in Germany to provide the training in March, while
the additional equipment will be provided throughout this year.

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

PARAVON MIRZOYAN: "IT DOES NOT MATTER, WOMAN IS NAKED OR NOT"

Panorama.am
20:27 25/01/2008

"After getting state prize, I understood that people evaluate my art,"
said Paravon Mirzoyan, who was awarded in January 23.

Woman is artist’s muse, as well as nature, world, beauty, sun. "It
does not matter woman is naked or not, I need to understand her nature,
her world," he said.

According to Mirzoyan, being a director of National Gallery does
not obstruct him to create. He said that he presented 13 works in
2006-2007, thus his position does but contributes to create and
keep working.