Author: Vanyan Gary

BALANCE OF FORCES IN REGION IMPORTANT TO ARMENIA

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 14 2007

YEREVAN. March 13. /ARKA/. Retaining of balance of forces in the
region is of principled importance to Armenia, the member of the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun high authority, Minister of Science and Education
Levon Lazarian reported on Monday. He said that mechanisms to ensure
regional balance of forces have strategic significance for the future
of our country and people," Lazarian said.

According to him, retaining of regional balance should be viewed in
three planes: civilized, political, and national.

"Values of different civilizations collide in our region, and our
people is one of the few Christian nations not considered alien in
the Muslim world and retaining close ties with the European system
of values considered a fundament of the Christian civilization,"
Lazarian reported.

According to him, this makes Armenia an important factor of retaining
regional balance from the viewpoint of a civilization. Besides this,
global interests face each other in the region from a political
viewpoint.

"A one-sided polarization of forces does not ensure positive
development of our people. We have to do everything to balance the
most different political interests, and it is of high strategic
importance for us," he said.

The ARFD representative also pointed to the important of providing
balance at the national level, because the Armenian people, dispersed
all over the world, "living in different conditions, needs provision
of mechanisms of balance that will lessen natural and objective
disagreements in our life and activity".

According to Lazarian, from these realities proceeds the country’s
complimentary policy, by which Armenia has achieved concrete successes
and obtained confidence and authority in the world.

Lazarian also added that Armenia does not want its bilateral relations
to be conditioned by the relations of third countries.

DPA REMOVED STATEMENT "THE UN INTERPRETS A MASSACRE AS A GENOCIDE" FROM ARCHIVES

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.03.2007 19:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Berlin ambassador M. Ali Irtemcelik
objected to the statement that the German agency DPA used in its
article published on February 14: "The UN interprets a massacre as a
genocide." The DPA has removed the statement from its archives and
announced it to its subscribers. Turkey’s ambassador sent a letter
to the agency two times and the agency accepted their fault in the
end. The agency announced that they have modified their records. In the
news of DPA under the title "Turkish ambassador: not genocide" it said:
"Turkish ambassador Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik emphasized that the concept
of ‘genocide’ was defined in the UN’s agreement in 1948. Irtemcelik
pointed out that there is no proof that one of the UN’s organs accepted
this definition and that the issue was only dealt by a sub-committee,"
reports Sabah newspaper.

YOUNG WRESTLERS OF ARMENIA GET 6 PRIZES AT SOFIA INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan
Mar 13 2007

SOFIA, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The youth international tournaments
of Greco-Roman and free style wrestling held in turn finished in the
capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, on March 12. More than 220 sportsmen from
more than 16 countries placed orders. Among the sportsmen representing
Armenia in Greco-Roman style of wrestling, Babken Karapetian
(50 kg, Etchmiadzin) nd Artur Shahinian (84 kg, village of Apaga,
Etchmiadzin) won the 1st place, Norayr Khachatrian (55 kg, Yerevan)
got the 3rd place. In the free style wrestling Garnik Mnatsakanian
(55 kg) was the 2nd and Samvel Aghayan (66 kg) and Gevorg Avsharian
(74 kg) were the 3rd. All the three wrestlers are from Yerevan.

ARMENIA REACHED REAL PROGRESS IN IPAP REALIZATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.03.2007 16:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The idea of NATO-Armenia Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP) aims at conducting NATO’s policy in the region. From
the other hand, we assist the country in democratic and military
reforms, Deputy Secretary-General of NATO Jean Fournet told in the
interview to PanARMENIAN.Net. He said, from the political viewpoint
it aims at establishment of democratic civil society, rule of law,
reforms in the sphere of state governance.

"From the military point of view our goal is to reform the army
bringing it closer to international standards and provide security
systems. In this regard I want to underline, that Armenia has reached
real progress in realization of IPAP. Generally the leadership of the
Alliance is satisfied with the already reached results and interim
reports of NATO experts, who visit the country, proof it. Naturally, it
is impossible to realize the whole volume of the program during several
months, but I am sure within the next few years all points fixed in
IPAP will be fulfilled," the NATO Deputy Secretary General stated.

Armenian opposition movement stages another election rally

Arminfo
9 Mar 07

Yerevan, 9 March: Leaders of the Alternative public movement and the
Impeachment bloc intend to continue rallies in central Yerevan until
the number of their participants reaches at least 50,000.

"I am happy that I am not alone on this square. The power of skinheads
forces to make Armenians feel alone in their homeland. We will stand
on this square until all people who consider themselves worthy
citizens and feel responsibility for the future of the country will
leave their armchairs and join us," the editor of Haykakan Zhamanak
newspaper and one of the leaders of the Impeachment bloc has said from
the rostrum of Alternative’s rally.

He said that he had made a mistake by not interfering when 150,000
people went to opposition rallies in 2003 but some opposition leaders
went to drink tea. "It was necessary to say then ‘go wherever you
like, we will take over the rostrum ourselves’," [Haykakan Zhamanak
editor Nikol] Pashinyan said.

Vahagn Khachatryan, former mayor of Yerevan when the Armenian
Pan-National Movement was in power, said that Armenian authorities
will not manage to infringe the freedom of speech in the country. "We
realize that the management and employees of TV channels do not act on
their will. The regime dictates to them . There is no need to conduct
any monitoring of the media. Taking into account air time given to the
Republican Party of Armenia, the Prosperous Armenia Party and the
People’s Party, the forthcoming parliamentary election can be declared
rigged," Khachatryan said.

[Passage omitted: other speakers]

About 500 participants attended today’s rally of the Alternative
movement which was the third of the kind. This is more than twice less
than the number of participants in the previous rally.

PanARMENIAN.Net

U.S. to give $6.5 million for conducting free and fair elections in Armenia
10.03.2007 13:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The American side through its Embassy in Armenia
assigned $6.5 million for conducting free and fair elections in this
country, Vice-President of `Millenium Challenges’ American Corporation
John Hjuko stated in Yerevan. He said, the Armenian authorities are
going to do everything in order to conduct the upcoming elections
democratically. `I’ve brought a clear message for the Armenian
authorities. It is necessary to deepen democracy in the republic and
the upcoming parliamentarian and presidential elections in Armenia
must fix a serious progress in the development of democracy considered
with previous elections,’ John Hjuko stated. He said, during his
meeting with leaders of the country Prime Minister and the NA Speaker
of Armenia promised him that the Armenian leadership will do
everything possible to hold free and fair elections in the country.

Speaking about cooperation between Armenia and the `Millenium
Challenges’ Corporation, John Hjuko stressed that his organization
insists on keeping three main parameters in those countries, which
claim to get financial means for realizing the projects of ‘Millenium
Challenges’. `Our priorities remain the same-development of democracy,
investments to `human resources’ and establishment of economic
freedoms,’ John Hjuko stated. Armenia received $225 million grant from
the American Corporation for developing her agriculture in the past,
`Interfax’ reports.

Parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held May 12 this
year. Registration of party lists and candidates will take place from
April 2 till April 7. The electoral campaign will launch soon after
this process and will last till May 10. The Armenian National Assembly
has 131 members.

Indiatimes, India
March 8 2007

Anand draws with Aronian, inches closer towards title

PTI

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LINARES (Spain), Mar 8: Title contender Viswanathan Anand shunned
risks and played out a safe draw with defending champion Levon
Aronian of Armenia to retain his slender half point lead after the
12th round of the Morelia-Linares Chess tournament underway here.

With just two rounds to go in the category-20 event, the Indian ace
took his tally to 7.5 points out of a possible 12 and will now meet
Hungarian Peter Leko and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the last two
rounds.

On the other hand, 16-year-old Magnus Carlsen of Norway continued
with his impressive run and remained on the heels of Anand after
splitting point with top seed Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. Carlsen
took his tally to an impressive seven points and remained in sole
second spot.

The other two games of the day ended decisively with Russian Peter
Svidler accounting for an out-of-sort Leko and Ivanchuk going down
rather tamely against another Russia Alexander Morozevich.

As things stand, Svidler moved to sole third spot after the victory
with 6.5 points and maintained the tag of being the only unbeaten
player in the tournament while Aronian was pushed to fourth spot on
six points. Topalov, Ivanchuk and Morozevich share the fifth spot
having 5.5 points apiece while Leko, after his dismal show, is now
firmly in the cellar on 4.5 points.

In the remaining two rounds, Anand’s main contender will be Carlsen
only as the Norwegian boy-wonder has to meet Svidler and Leko in
final outings here.

Svidler is hard to put down in current form while against Leko and
Carlsen will play with black pieces in the tie. In all likelihood,
one point from the remaining two games should be enough for Anand to
grab the title.

Today is the final rest day of the marathon event and the battle
resumes on Friday for the final leg now.

Anand played out a theoretically equal Anti Marshall to draw with
Aronian who played black. The routine opening moves were blitzed out
in quick time and the players signed peace in just 23 moves in this
shortest game of the day.

Svidler was the pick of day as he put an end to his all-draws with an
emphatic victory over Leko who suffered his third loss in the event.

The Sicilian Najdorf by the Russian came good as black as Leko went
haywire in the middle game to allow a dangerous attack.

Svidler wrapped the issue in just 36 moves.

Morozevich also won with black against Ivanchuk from a Scotch opening
game. The age-old variation opted by Ivanchuk allowed enough counter
play for Morozevich to get the complexities he was looking for and
the ensuing tactical manoeuvres ensured his bounce back from the last
spot.

Carlsen drew with Topalov from a Symmetrical English opening. Playing
white Topalov could not get much out of the opening against his well
prepared opponent and it took just 25 moves for both to decide to
split the point.

Parings, Round 13: Aronian v Ivanchuk; Carlsen v Svidler; Morozevich
v Topalov; Anand v Leko.

CHOICE IS YOURS NGO IS GOING TO OBSERVE NOT ONLY PROCESS OF ELECTIONS, BUT ALSO PREELECTION CAMPAIGN

Noyan Tapan
Mar 06 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. For the present, Choice is Yours
NGO is the only organization, which has been officially registered
for carrying out observation mission during RA parliamentary
elections. NGO’s Chairman Haroutiun Hambartsumian reported this at
the March 6 press conference. He reminded that the organization had
estimated holding of 2005 referendum on constitutional amendments
as "negative," which called forth discontent of even European
observers. In H. Hambartsumian’s words, Choice is Yours organization
has 4 thousand observers who have been involved voluntarily, are
not members of any party and are not paid. Their only goal is to
contribute to holding of fair elections. H. Hambartsumian said that
the organization will observe not only the process of elections,
but also the preelection campaign, which starts from April 8. In
his words, formerly the organization had managed to observe 60-70%
polling stations, while this time it will have observers at all
polling stations, electoral districts and at CEC. The observation will
be carried out in the whole process of elections and calculation of
votes. H. Hambartsumian said that the law does not permit observers to
apply to the court with accusation of electoral falsifications. Their
only opportunity is to inform the public about them.

ARMENIAN GROUP GEARS UP FOR VOTE MONITORING
By Hovannes Shoghikian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 6 2007

Armenia’s largest election-monitoring organization said on Tuesday that
it will observe the May 12 parliamentary elections with a record-high
number of volunteers.

The group, It’s Your Choice (IYC), plans to deploy observers in
virtually all of the country’s 2,000 or so polling stations on
voting day. It was able to cover only between 60 and 70 percent of
the precincts during previous Armenian elections.

According to the IYC chairman, Harutiun Hambartsumian, the effort
will require the mobilization of as many as 4,000 people committed to
fostering democratic change in Armenia. The number of IYC observers
has been considerably lower in the past.

Speaking to journalists, Hambartsumian said his Western-funded
organization hopes that the forthcoming elections will mark a major
improvement over the previous polls that were marred by serious
irregularities reported by both domestic and international observers.

"Unfortunately, up until now we have reported more shortcomings than
positive things," he said.

Hambartsumian expressed concern about some of the recently passed
amendments to Armenia’s electoral code that were supposed to
complicate fraud. He was particularly critical of a provision allowing
various-level commissions to meet and make decisions without a quorum.

The IYC’s most recent vote monitoring report came in the wake of the
disputed constitutional referendum of November 2005. The 12-page report
concluded that the vote failed short of democratic standards because
of "serious violations of the electoral process, illegal voting and
especially ballot box stuffing."

The Armenian elections will also be monitored by over 300 Western
observers representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. Their findings will be particularly important for the
international legitimacy of the vote. The first long-term OSCE
observers are expected to arrive in Yerevan next week.

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF LABOR, ILO DELEGATION DISCUSS COOPERATION PROGRAMS

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 6 2007

YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. RA Minister of Labor and Social Affairs
Aghvan Vardanyan held a meeting with a delegation of the International
Labor Organization (ILO) headed by Deputy Director of the ILO Office
for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Alena Nesporava.

The Public Relations Department, RA Ministry of Labor, reports that
during the meeting Minister Vardanyan provided the delegation with
detailed information on the spheres of planned further cooperation
between Armenia and the ILO.

The Minister pointed out that the Ministry is considering the issue
of preparing national reports on ratification of six ILO conventions.

He pointed out that this process requires the ILO’s technical
assistance.

Minister Vardanyan also stressed the importance of organizing
retraining courses for senior students and graduates of higher
schools. He also proposed establishing direct contacts between the ILO
relevant structures for the purpose of developing and strengthening
the RA National Institute of Social Research and Labor.

According to Vardanyan, the "Worthy Work" program is currently under
revision. He pointed out that a document on the implementation of
the program is to be signed at the end of 2007. Thereafter, a working
plan for the following two years will be elaborated.

In their turn the ILO delegation members gave assurances that all
the issues raised by Minister Varsdanyan will be indicated in the
cooperation plan. The ILO delegation is to hold meetings with all
the sides of social cooperation.