Author: Tvankchian Parkev

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 16 2006

Elmar Mammadyarov: Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity not discussed
as international community recognizes it

[ 16 Dec. 2006 13:03 ]

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev also reaffirmed that territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan is not a subject for discussion in the
settlement process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict as the international
community recognizes the territorial wholeness of Azerbaijan,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said, APA reports.

Commenting on Armenian FM Vardan Oskanyan’s statement `Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity is not a subject for discussion’, Elmar
Mammadyarov said Nagorno Karabakh conflict can only be settled on the
basis of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
`That’s why Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is not a subject
matter for discussion in this process,’ underlined Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister.
Mr. Mammadyarov said the OSCE MG co-chairs informed Miguel Angel
Moratinos, Foreign Minister of new OSCE-chair Spain, of the ongoing
negotiations on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
He said the new OSCE Chairman-in-Office will pay a visit to
Azerbaijan next year.
`The exact date of the visit has not been fixed yet. Spanish embassy
will be opened in Azerbaijan during the visit,’ he underscored. /APA/

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1 AMERICAN AVENUE
YEREVAN, ARMENIA
TELEPHONE (+374 10) 464700
FAX (+374 10) 464742
E-MAIL: [email protected]

December 15, 2006
Gyumri American Corner, in Partnership with U.S. Embassy, Launches Website
On December 15, the Gyumri American Corner, in partnership with the U.S.
Embassy in Armenia, launched its first website:
The bilingual English-Armenian webpage
provides information about the American Corner’s mission, services, and
upcoming events. It also includes an electronic database of the resources
available at the American Corners in Armenia, allowing patrons to search for
materials on the web.
American Corners are small American-style libraries located throughout the
world that help increase mutual understanding between the United States and
the host country. A network of over 360 American Corners is operating
globally through partnerships between the U.S. Department of State and local
host organizations. American Corners provide information about America in a
variety of formats, including reference books, works of fiction, journals,
and videos. These resources focus on such topics as studying in the United
States, American society, U.S. history, conducting business in the United
States, and English as a Second Language. The Corners also provide computers
with Internet access, and offer a variety of public programs including
speakers and workshops. The American Corners are open to the general public
and access is free of charge.
There are currently two American Corners in Armenia–one in the Gyumri
Branch of the Armenian Center for Scientific and Technological Information,
and one in Yerevan City Central Library. The U.S. Embassy hopes to open
additional Corners in Armenia in the future. American Corner Gyumri
officially opened on June 28, 2005. This Corner currently houses four
computers with Internet access and over 500 books. The Corner also holds a
variety of public events, including movie showings, presentations by
Armenians who have lived or studied in the United States as part of the
"Armenian at the American Corner" series, and lectures by an American every
third Wednesday of the month as part of the "American at the American
Corner" series.
For more information, please visit

ECOLOGICAL SUBSTANTIATION OF STRATING TEGHUT DEPOSIT’S OPERATION
CALLED INTO QUESTION

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. Despite the positive conclusion of
the State Ecological Expert Group on the development of the Teghut
copper-molybdenum deposit, this issue remains open and requires
further discussion. This was the opinion of most participants of the
round table organized recently by the Vanadzor Aarhus Center with the
support of the OSCE Yerevan Office. The then governor of Lori marz
Henrik Kochinian, the executive director of the company Armenia Copper
Program (ACP) Gagik Arzumanian, the director of Hayantar (Armforest)
Martun Matevosian, the community heads of the villages of Shnokh and
Teghut, members of the State Ecological Expert Group, as well as
representatives of various NGOs and the press took part in the
discussion. Among unconditional supporters of the Teghut deposit’s
development are ACP, the regional administration of Lori marz, and the
community heads of the villages of Shnokh and Teghut – Haykaz
Kochinian (the former governor’s brother) and Harutyun Meliksetian. By
estimates of the company, 510 ha of forest has to be cut down.
According to independent experts, the felling area will be three times
as much. "The disastrous state of forests in Armenia does not allow us
to lose the remainig forest," independent expert Anush Nersisian from
the Institute of Botany of the RA National Academy of Sciences
said. She pointed out that this will lead to destruction of not only
trees but also some unique species of plants and animals in the unique
Teghut ecosystem. Much damage may be done to water resources as
well. Although the author of the project on operation of the Teghut
mine Hovik Nikoghosian assures that the damage will not exceed 10%,
the villages of Shnokh and Teghut are under real threat of being left
without water. Yet another prolem is related to the health of people
who live near the future mine, to which dust with heavy metals will
move. There is no conclusion of the Ministry of Health which is
required in such cases. The conclusion of the Ministry of Agriculture
on possible damage to agricultural lands is also absent. According to
the head of the Public Center on Legal Environmental Protection Aida
Iskoyan, the main point is that a deposit to be kept as the country’s
strategical resource for future generations will be put into
operation. The State Ecological Expert Group’s conclusion should have
contained a comprehensive analysis. However, as it turned out during
the round table, the expert group made its decision without
appropriate conclusions submitted by the direct interested parties –
Armforest, the Ministry of Health, etc. Besides, the director of
Armforest Martun Matevosian stated that an expert assessment of damage
to forest may be presented only after the investory that they have not
completed yet. The ecological expert group’s document did not also
contain a written opinion of the territorial nature protection
inspection of Lori marz which expresses a negative conclusion about
the project. There is an impression that the State Ecological Expert
Group is under pressure. So the ecological community took a decision
to hold another hearing in Yerevan.

ON WHAT SIDE OF THE HOLOCAUST ARE YOU ON? OLMERT AND ISRAELI HYPOCRISY
Terry Scott

The People’s Voice, TN
Dec 14 2006

Is it cheeky or just magnificent Israeli chutzpah for Ehud Olmert to
ask the new Pope to condemn Iran’s "Holocaust Conference" in the face
of the worst chapter of human rights abuses against the Palestinians?

Arrogant, diffident and pugnacious Mr. Olmert actually has the cojones
to go to the Vatican and tell the Pope to condemn a conference on
the most untouchable of taboo topics in modern history at the same
time as disallowing the United Nations fact-finding team from being
granted visas to conduct their study of Beit Hanoun??? Has the Anglican
Church become so distant from the Catholic mothership, that Archbishop
Desmond Tutu’s public humiliation by the Israelis can mean so little
to this German pontiff?

[More:]

Is it me or do you also have the distinct nauseating feeling that
Israeli politicians have made the entire world their playground to
stride so brazenly and arrogantly demanding and criticising whatever
they please?

Perhaps the not-to-be-trusted Olmert thought that Pope Benedict’s
comments about Islam earlier this year insinuated a "warming up" of
relations with the Jewish State and that the more recent tete-a-tete
with his German counterpart Merkel, signaled a reconciliation of German
and Jewish interests. What else did Olmert ask from the Germans this
time, more money for "reparations" that no other holocaust equivalent
group received: the Armenians from the Turks?

Cambodians from Pol Pot? Chileans from Pinochet? Japanese from the
Americans?

The Vatican ought at the very least to follow through with the
agreement that was signed with the PLO in early 2000 with these
little-followed goals:

Calling for a peaceful solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,
which would realize the inalienable national legitimate rights
and aspirations of the Palestinian People, to be reached through
negotiation and agreement, in order to ensure peace and security
for all peoples of the region on the basis of international law,
relevant United Nations and its Security Council resolutions, justice
and equity;

Declaring that an equitable solution for the issue of Jerusalem,
based on international resolutions, is fundamental for a just and
lasting peace in the Middle East, and that unilateral decisions and
actions altering the specific character and status of Jerusalem are
morally and legally unacceptable [source].

Did Benedict remind Ehud Olmert of these agreements?

n/blogs/voices.php/2006/12/14/p12921

YEREVAN HINTS AT IRAN PIPELINE DELAY
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 14 2006

The Armenian government on Thursday stopped short of explicitly denying
reports that the ongoing work on a major natural gas pipeline from
Iran will not be complete, as planned, by the end of this month.

Energy Minister Armen Movsisian said last month that the first
41-kilometer section of the pipeline passing through south-eastern
Armenia will be inaugurated on December 20. His deputy Ara Simonian
also spoke of a late December deadline for finishing the Iranian-funded
construction.

But citing unnamed government sources, the Yerevan daily "Haykakan
Zhamanak" reported on Thursday that the pipeline will not come on
stream before next summer.

"The construction of the Iran-Armenia pipeline is proceeding according
to plan, and everything will be done to complete it on time,"
Lusine Harutiunian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Energy Ministry
told RFE/RL.

"We have said that it will be complete before the end of the year.

Now everything is being done to meet that deadline," she said.

But Harutiunian added that this will happen only "if the weather does
not create surprises." "We can’t tell you a concrete day at this point
because it is now winter and working in such climate conditions is
not easy," she said without elaborating.

The under-construction pipeline was supposed to diversify the
landlocked country’s energy resources that mainly come from Russia
at present. But it is now widely expected to be incorporated into
a Russian-controlled company that owns Armenia’s gas distribution
network. The takeover would be part of a controversial deal that
enabled Armenia to temporarily avoid a steep rise in the price of
Russian gas in return for hading over more energy assets to Gazprom
Russia’s state-run gas monopoly.

FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA BECOMES DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL GOLD INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION OPERATING IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 14 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 14, NOYAN TAPAN. Former US ambassador to Armenia
Harry Gilmor who held this position in 1993-1995, was elected
as independent director of the international cooperation Global
Gold. NT correspondent was informed about it from the press service
of the corporation’s Armenian office. Global Gold is engaged in the
mining, development and research of gold ore industry in Chile and
Armenia. The corporation is registered in the US, with its market value
making 30 million USD. Recently Global Gold increased its capital by
another 13 million USD. In Armenia the corporation operates in the
Northern-Central zone where the Hankavan and Tuchmanuk deposits as
well as 13 other explored areas are located.

PACE: UPCOMING ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA MUST MEET TO EUROPEAN STANDARDS

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 18:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The PACE Monitoring Commission warned Armenia, that
the upcoming elections must meet the European standards. "Armenia
must perform progress, fixed in the way to democracy and European
integration. The upcoming elections must meet the European standards
as free and fair. The coverage of election campaign in Media must
be objective and express different points of view,’ says the draft
report of the commission, published in Paris yesterday. The Monitoring
commission welcomes the constitutional reforms in Armenia, underlining
that "Only the adopted laws are not enough to fulfill democratic
reforms in the country: the laws must be implemented." The commission
warned that in order to fulfill the Constitution it is necessary to
improve the politic atmosphere and dialog between the ruling coalition
and the opposition." The report will be discussed during the January
session of PACE, RFL Radio Liberty reports.

ARGENTINEAN SENATE UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED A LAW ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2006 13:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Argentinean Senate unanimously adopted a law,
according to which April 24 will be marked as 24 "Day of action for
the tolerance and the respect between the people" in Argentine. "By
this unanimous vote, Argentina recognizes officially the reality of
the Armenian Genocide committed by Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923, Jean
Eckian, an independent French journalist told to the PanARMENIAN.Net
correspondent. Present in the enclosure of the Senate during the
vote, Armenian ambassador, S.E. Vladimir Karmirshalyan declared:
" I share the joy and the pride with present people, all Community
and all Armenia. Argentina showed, once again, its devotion – has
the Cause of the human rights and its serious comprehension of the
aspirations of the Armenian people ". The law should be promulgated
soon by the Argentinean president.

GEORGIA BANS RUSSIAN MILITARY TRANSPORT FLYOVERS

Kommersant, Russia
Dec 12 2006

At the end of last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded
that Georgia "immediately stop its sabotage of the Agreement on the
Organization of Transit of Military Cargo and Personal across Georgian
Territory" and again accused Tbilisi of inflaming tensions in bilateral
relations. Kommersant has learned that Tbilisi responded today. Georgia
is demanding that the Russian Ministry of Defense pay its debt for
the servicing of military planes when the fly over Georgian territory.

At the end of last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded
that Georgia "immediately stop its sabotage of the Agreement on the
Organization of Transit of Military Cargo and Personal across Georgian
Territory" and again accused Tbilisi of inflaming tensions in bilateral
relations. Kommersant has learned that Tbilisi responded today. Georgia
is demanding that the Russian Ministry of Defense pay its debt for
the servicing of military planes when the fly over Georgian territory.

Mikhail Kamynin, a spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said
that the ministry was referring to "Georgia’s ignoring the request
for the fulfillment of planes flights by Russian planes between
December 8 and 22" to the Russian military base in the Armenian city
of Gyumri. Although the appropriate request was sent in a timely
manner to Tbilisi, according to Kamynin, it was "simply left without
reply." Moscow took that as an "intentional attempt to impede not
only normal functioning of the base at Gyumri," but the withdrawal of
Russian of Russian forces from Georgia as well. On Saturday, Georgian
Ambassador to Russia Irakly Chubinishvili was summoned to the Russian
Foreign Ministry, where he was informed of the Russian position.

At the Georgian Foreign Ministry, the Kommersant correspondent
was told that a response to the Russian statement would be made on
Monday. The Georgian Ministry of Defense told Kommersant that that
ministry "is not sabotaging Russian military planes" since servicing of
planes flying over Georgian territory is carried out by the civilian
Gruzaeronavigatsia."

An employee of Gruzaeronavigatsia who wished to remain anonymous said
that Russia owes Gruzaeronavigatsia a significant sum of money for
servicing its military aircraft. The source refused to name the exact
sum, but noted that "if the Russian side prohibited air flyovers from
Georgia to Russia on the pretext of mythic debts for the servicing of
nonexistent Georgian air companies, the Georgian side would also have
the right to rise the question of covering the debt of the Russian
Defense Ministry in relation to Gruzaeronavigatsia. For service of
flyovers across the territory of Georgia."

EBRD TRANSITION REPORT SEES RAPID GROWTH IN ARMENIA

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Dec 12 2006

YEREVAN, December 12. /ARKA/. Fuelled by the rapid expansion of the
construction, service and agricultural sectors Armenia’s economy has
grown by 13.9 per cent in 2005, the EBRD says in its latest Transition
Report. Increased foreign investment, a high inflow of remittances,
strong private consumption and an increase in exports also contributed
the economy’s strong performance.

Construction, services and investments driven by remittances and
bilateral grants will help to maintain Armenia’s economic momentum in
the short term, the EBRD expects. However, a combination of continued
currency appreciation and high energy prices that led to strengthened
inflationary pressures pose a significant risk in the medium term.

As the EBRD’s latest Transition Report finds, economic growth
across countries from central Europe to central Asia is being driven
increasingly by domestic consumption.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Mongolia grew fastest
at 6.6 per cent in 2005.

Georgia saw its economy grow by 9.3 per cent in 2005 due to a healthy
performance of the financial sector, increase in exports in 2005,
improved external debt position and increased budget revenues,
partially due to large-scale privatisations.

Within the Caucasus, Azerbaijan has become one of the world’s fastest
growing economies with growth of over 26 per cent due to the expansion
of its oil sector with the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
this year. Armenia and Georgia on the other hand, countries which
do not have significant energy resources, have benefited from robust
private consumption, rapid credit growth and strong remittance flows.

In Russia, growth is estimated to have reached 6.4 per cent in 2005
(7.1 per cent in 2004, projected 6.5 per cent in 2006). Foreign
investment into Russia has grown, as has outward investment from
Russia into other countries as Russian companies look for business
opportunities abroad. A major challenge for Russia, as well as other
commodity-rich countries, is to continue the diversification of their
economies, and not become overly dependent on high commodity prices
for growth.

In south-eastern Europe (SEE), a revival of some industries, such as
the metals sector, expanding exports, and strong domestic demand,
fuelled by credit growth, contributed to growth of 4.7 per cent in
2005, down from 6.9 per cent in 2004 mainly due to a slowdown in the
region’s largest economy, Romania.

In central eastern Europe and the Baltic states (CEB), low interest
rates and financial service innovations such as mortgage lending
promoted strong domestic demand and export growth that saw the region
grow by 4.7 per cent. Growth fell from 5.2 per cent in 2004, mainly
due to a slow down in Poland.

The Transition Report 2006 provides a detailed assessment of progress
in transition, combining both region-wide and country-by-country
analysis of the reform process. It also provides an account of
macroeconomic performance and looks at the region’s prospects. The
series of Transition Reports began in 1994 and provide a valuable
record of the historic political and economic reforms in CEE and the
CIS and their impact on economic performance.

The EBRD, owned by 60 countries and two intergovernmental institutions,
aims to foster the transition from centrally planned to market
economies in central and eastern Europe and central Asia.