Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

It is proposed creating private compulsory enforcement system in
Armenia

YEREV AN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The team of the program studying the
current compulsory enforcement system in Armenia and the expediency of
introducing a private system has proposed creating a private,
self-sufficient and self-financed system of enforcement of court acts
and decisions in the country and discontinuing the functions of the
current state system. This World Bank-financed study was done by
consulting companies DPK Consulting (the U.S) and Ameria (Armenia) and
the Program Implementation Office of the Ministry of Justice that
propose creating a parallel private system competing with the state one
– as an alternative, as well as a third version: the gradual
introduction of a private system, during which the functions of the
state system will be reduced.

The program executives propose compulsory enforcement-related reforms
in Armenia, in particular, a new law on compulsory enforcement system.

The program head Joseph Traficanti said that the problems of the
service on compulsory enforcement of court acts are system ones in
Armenia. According to him, an educational visit of 5 persons from
Armenia to three countries: Macedonia, Bulgaria and Estonia was
financed under the program. The experience of the indicated countries
was studied during the visit. J. Traficanti said that a private system
will be of great use to Armenia: one of its positive aspects is that it
is neutral for the state in terms of expenditures. In reality the
system is a semiprivate one as its activities are regulated by a state
body and sums collected are also managed at the state level.

In the words of Nevenka Ivanovska, an expert representing Macedonia’s
compulsory enforcement system, Macedonia, Estonia, the Netherlands,
Latvia and Lithuania are examples of positive experience for Armenia
because the efficiency of activity has increased threefold after the
introduction of a new system in these countries.

The Armenian government will examine the conclusions of the study and
make a respective decision.

DECISION OF PACE MONITORING COMMISSION IS RESULT OF OUR CONSISTENT AND DECISIVE STRUGGLE: COORDINATOR OF CENTRAL OFFICE OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

ArmInfo
2008-12-18 19:53:00

ArmInfo. The decision of PACE Monitoring Commission is result of our
consistent and decisive struggle, says the coordinator of the Central
Office of the opposition Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabyan.

The tough decision of the commission was somewhat surprising as
for a long time the CE had rejected the arguments of the Armenian
opposition concerning facts of human rights and democracy violation
in Armenia. "Now, at last, the international community has officially
recognized that our arguments were true and has agreed that Armenia
is being ruled by a dictatorial regime. It is the present bandocratic
regime that is to blame for this huge blow on the international image
of our country," Zurabyan said.

Asked what steps the authorities will take in the current situation
in the opposition’s opinion, Zurabyan replied: "I don’t know what the
authorities will do. But one thing is clear: the only way to improve
the situation both in the international arena and inside the country
is to release all the political prisoners immediately". Zurabyan added
that the National Congress headed by the first president of Armenia
Levon Ter-Petrossyan "will continue its fight for establishment of
democracy in Armenia till final victory".

APOLOGY A STEP TOWARD DEALING WITH GENOCIDE

Hurriyet
Dec 19 2008
Turkey

WASHINGTON -The petition for an apology to Armenians for events in
1915 is sparking international debate. While some Armenians feel this
petition is the beginning of Turkish recognition of the so called
Armenian genocide, the petition organizers say it is just meant to
break the taboo on debate

A leading U.S. Armenian group late Wednesday said a move by a group
of Turkish intellectuals to collectively apologize for 1915 incidents
effectively meant the beginning of a process that would lead to Turkey
facing "its genocidal past."

"An irreversible trend has commenced in Turkey. Over 12,000 people in
Turkey want history to be recorded truthfully, having already signed
the Internet-based petition apologizing for what they call the ‘great
catastrophe’ that befell the Armenians of Ottoman Turkey in 1915,"
said Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of
America, or AAA.

"This public apology is a first step in that direction and will
inevitably lead to Turkey coming to grips with its genocidal past,"
Ardouny said, according to an AAA statement.

However, Cengiz Aktar, widely considered the architect behind the
petition, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review that the
purpose of the petition was not about genocide. "Let anyone say what
they will, this is not a campaign about the genocide debate."

"This is about private individuals, citizens, acting according to the
voice of their conscience, and apologizing for the last 90 years this
topic was not even discussed," said Aktar, a BahceÅ~_ehir University
academic. Pointing out that the topic had always been a taboo, but
still so far 13,500 signatories have broken it, he said. "It has never
been discussed like this before. Next time it comes up, everybody
should take into account the 13,500 people who feel this way."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear Wednesday he would
not join the apology effort, and said, "I personally do not support
this campaign. If there was a crime, then those who committed it can
offer an apology. My nation, my country has no such issue."

More than 60 former ambassadors, other diplomats and some lawmakers
have also denounced the apology campaign. Despite this, Ardouny
said, "Momentum is building and support continues to increase
dramatically. Within a few hours of the apology’s release, over 2,500
people added their signatures and made encouraging comments."

He said U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect
Joe Biden were "both on record as supporting Turkey’s reconciliation
with its past."

During the election campaign Obama pledged to recognize the 1915
incidents as "genocide" if elected president. Turkey has warned
that any such recognition by the United States will hurt bilateral
relations in a major and lasting way.

New leader in House In another development, the Armenian caucus in
the U.S. House of Representatives, a powerful lobby of pro-Armenian
lawmakers, has selected Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, as
its next Republican co-chair.

Kirk will replace Joe Knollenberg, a Republican from Michigan,
who lost the Nov. 4 congressional election in his district to his
Democratic rival.

Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, continues to be the Armenian
caucus’ Democratic co-chair.

"I am honored and excited to serve alongside congressman Pallone as
co-chair of the Caucus on Armenian Issues," Kirk said.

"The Caucus on Armenian Issues is well-known for its work to strengthen
the U.S.-Armenia relationship and recognize the Armenian genocide,"
he said.

–Boundary_(ID_gDfQHKC67MMrLG0bcRlD9Q)–

ARMENIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY TENDS TO LOOSE ITS ADVANTAGE OF A GOOD QUALITY TO PRICE RATIO
Aram Gareginyan

ArmInfo
17.12.08

Interview with Marketing consultant of Armenian Tourism Development
Agency and USAID/CAPS in Italy, Nadia Pasqual

Ms. Pasqual, which tourism fairs in Italy have been visited by Armenian
tour operators in 2007 – 2008? Speak on the impact of the participation
on the Italian tourism market.

This year, together with 5 Armenian tour operators, ATDA (Armenian
Tourism Development Agency), governmental entity that is entitled to
promote Armenian tourism abroad, has participated to BIT – the most
influential international tourism fair in Italy, which has been held
on February 21 – 24 in Milan. The Armenian stand has been visited
by dozens of tour operators and journalists, who were interested in
visiting the country to provide coverage for specialzed editions. To
those editions was distributed a package of information on Armenia,
as well as maps, brochures in Italian and CDs with images. Relations
with journalists are essential to obtain maximum visibility of Armenia
– either commercial, to attract more tour operators, or general – to
ensure the attention of milions of "would-be" tourists. In 2007, as a
result of ties, which had been set at BIT and another international
tourism fair in Rome, GLOBE, ATDA e CAPS organized two fam trips,
which brought to Armenia 11 journalists and 9 representatives of tour
operators. Eventually, only in 2007 Armenia had been a headline of
more than 50 articles, acquiring desired visibility for more than a
million of readers and 13 000 tourism enterprises. In that same period,
the number of tour operators to sell trips to Armenia has grown by 20%.

>From the beginning of 2008, another 30 articles on Armenia have
appeared in Italian tourism editions. At BIT, Armenian operators have
had an opportunity to establish new business contacts and refresh
the existing ones. As for now, more than 50 tour operators and travel
agencies in Italy sell trips to Armenia. Most of them have included
Armenia into their catalogues and Internet sites.

For various reasons, Armenia chose not to participate to the GLOBE
08 travel fair in March, held in Rome. Instead, they selected TTG
Incontri, the most notable business to business travel trade fair
in Italy, held in Rimini on October 24 – 26. With its participation
to those venues, Armenia intends to enforce its image as a favorable
tourism destination on the Italian market, which showed a continuous
trend of considerable increase of leisure tourist arrivals to
Armenia. Number of Italian visitors, registered at the information
center in Yerevan, has grown to approximately 62% in 2007 compared
to 2006. The pace of growth of Italian visitors, in terms of tourist
arrivals, is the third highest among European countries and absolutely
highest among European countries which do not have direct aerial
communications. These data confirm the success of the global approach,
executed by ATDA and CAPS in the promotion of Armenian tourism.

The promotion, with its target to geographic marketing, along
with professional quality activities, meant that Italian tourists
and tourism industry now know the country better. Before that, the
promotion of Armenia would come to the participation to one tourism
fair yearly, with an opaque impact on the market.

On the whole, what operational opportunities does the Italian market
provide for Armenian tour operators?

The Italian tourism market, with its annual turnover of approximately
20 bln euro, is the fourth largest market of outgoing tourism in Europe
and the sixth in the world. That is why, after a thorough analysis,
regular promotional activities have been launched, which made it
possible for the Italian tourists and operators to discover Armenia
as a destination. The work was ever more important, considering that
before the participation of Armenia to external tourism fairs had
not been backed with PR and marketing activities. I suppose that
investments in the promotion of Armenian tourism will be continued
and expanded in Italy in the near future, because the Italian market
is very dynamic and interested in Armenia.

Armenia was featured in the "La Stella del Sud" ("The Southern Star ")
television broadcast. What impact has it had on the Italian audience
and business community?

The show attracted certain attention. Despite not very favorable
airtime – 9.30 a.m. on Sunday morning, it gathered more than 22% of
audience share. I have not directly been contacted by the audience,
because the Armenian tourism agency had not been mentioned. But quite
a number of tour operators contacted me shortly after to reiterate
the necessity of major investments to get Armenia publicized through
TV and other advertisement formats.

What actions or programs have been planned for the near future to
promote Armenia as a tourism destintaion in Italy?

At the end of October Armenia participated at TTG Incontri travel
fair in Rimini. Besides, the official Armenian tourism website,
is being restyled and translated into Italian. We
look forward to increasing the distribution of new booklets in Italian,
which we hope to distribute also through the Armenian Embassy in Rome,
and offering the opportunity to Italian tour operators to reprint
them. The organization of further fam trips for tour operators and
journalists and a roadshow for tour agents in the largest cities of
Italy is also being considered.

What factors are mostly cited by Italian tour operators as primary
obstacles for their activities in Armenia?

Italian tour operators complain for high prices for accommodation and
the=2 0lack of parking areas with bars and toilets along the roads
in the regions.

They did not say what the desirable prices should be, but they
complain that the prices for services of all kinds are constantly
moving up, and the hotels are among the most expensive items in
package tours. With all this, the prices are still acceptable – in
fact, traveling through Armenia is attractive for its good ratio of
quality and price, let alone the novelty of the destination, which
in Italy is still little known.

What kind of package holidays are most demanded by Italian tourists?

Italians are mostly interested in cultural tourism of traditional
format (guided tours). Demand for natural tourism and adventure
tourism is growing, but they attract only small groups of people
at the moment. For now, promotional efforts are focused on gaining
renown for Armenia as a destination of cultural tourism. In the
future, it would be interesting to promote natural tourism – mostly
for independent tourists and the younger ones.

Thank you

PREMIER: NO ARREARS WITH PENSION PAYMENTS IN THRESHOLD OF NEW YEAR

ARKA
December 16
YEREVAN

There will be no appears with pension payments in the threshold of
the New Year, said RA Premier Tigran Sargsyan answering a question
of the hot line of the Golos Armenii paper.

"There will be no appears. Pensions will be paid fully and in time.

Especially in the month of the New Year. Pensions will be paid in
Yerevan from December 3 and from December 10 in the regions," he said.

TURKISH ACADEMICS LAUNCH SIGNATURE COLLECTION CAMPAIGN APOLOGIZING TO ARMENIANS

Athens News Agency, Greece
December 15, 2008 Monday

Ankara (ANA-MPA / A. Ambatzis) — An online signature collection
campaign was launched Monday by Turkish academics in support of a text
apologizing to Armenians for the 1915 "events" (Armenian genocide).

The text the Turkish people are being called to sign is posted on
the website "ozurdiliyoruz.com".

The initiative belongs to university professors Baskin Oran,
Cengiz Aktar, Ahmet Insel and Ali Bayramoglu and the campaign,
which is expected to last one year, has the support of 275 Turkish
intellectuals.

RA FM: ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES TO CONTINUE PROCESS OF REFORM

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.12.2008 16:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian government has undertaken precise
steps to fulfill PACE 1609 and 1620 resolutions, the Armenian Foreign
Minister said.

"Of course, it’s impossible to resolve all problems in one day, but
Armenia has carried out a great deal of work with the assistance of
international structures," Edward Nalbandian said during a joint news
conference with OSCE Secretary-General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.

"We are fulfilling PACE recommendations proceeding from interests of
the Armenian people," he said.

DOGS HAVE GONE MAD

A1+
[12:22 pm] 16 December, 2008

Recently, abandoned dogs are attacking other animals in the Voskepar
village of the Tavush Marz. The furious dogs have already attacked
two calves and one donkey. Police are taking measures to get rid of
the mad dogs, but there are a lot of them.

INTERESTS OF GOLD MINERS AND LAKE SEVAN

Panorama.am
18:08 11/12/2008

Today in the frames of "The risks of Gold Mining for Lake Sevan"
round table meeting "Golden Mine for Sevan" film presentation has
been conducted, said Inga Zarafyan, the President of "Ecolur" NGO
to Panorama.am.

"It has been found out that "GeoProMining" company which is the owner
of Ararat Gold Recovery Company and Sotk mining plans to transfer
the production from Ararat to Sotk. In fact this is not a new idea,
as in 2005 "Vedanta Resources" Indian Organization had some plans on
this issue, but their project has been rejected by the Ministry of
Environmental Protection," said Zarafyan.

Currently the company has started its activities and Lake Sevan is
in danger.

JOINT STATEMENT BY ARMENIA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION ON THE EU MIGRATION MISSION TO ARMENIA

armradio.am
12.12.2008 18:47

An EU mission visited Yerevan on 10-12 December 2008 with the purpose
of strengthening the dialogue on migration issues between Armenia
and the EU.

The meeting took place in the framework of the European Neighbourhood
Policy, as well as of the EU Global Approach to Migration, which
was extended in 2007 to the Eastern region neighbouring the EU. This
migration mission is the first to take place in this region.

The EU mission met representatives from various Ministries and Agencies
of the Republic of Armenia, international organizations and NGOs
working in the area of migration and asylum. The dialogue reflected
a comprehensive and balanced approach to migration and asylum , and
thus covered a large number of issues such as promotion of migration
management and legal migration opportunities; integration policies;
asylum and protection matters; tackling of illegal immigration and
enhanced border control; and broader migration and development matters
involving, inter alia, remittances, diasporas and the brain-drain.

The EU side was led jointly by Mr. Jean-Christophe Peaucelle,
representative from the EU French Presidency, and Mr. Francisco
Bataller M., representing the European Commission. The EU delegation
included other officials from France and the Commission, as well as
from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland,=2 0Portugal, Romania and
Sweden. The Armenian side was led by Mr. David Hakobyan, Deputy Head
of the Migration Agency of the Ministry of Territorial Administration,
and included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Health and the Police of
the Republic of Armenia.

The mission was received by His Excellency Mr. Edward Nalbandian,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Her Excellency Mrs. Hranush Hakobyan,
Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia,.

The dialogue produced a fruitful and comprehensive exchange of
information, views and experiences, including on the following
topics: â~@¢ the need for a comprehensive approach to migration
â~@¢ legislation and policies in the areas of migration and asylum,
including migration management systems and their implementation in
accordance with international standards of protection and respect
for refugee rights â~@¢ the recent European Pact on Immigration and
Asylum and the latest developments as regards the EU Global Approach on
Migration â~@¢ visa facilitation â~@¢ legal migration: special emphasis
was given by both sides to the ways and means of its regulation taking
into account the needs of labour markets â~@¢ the EU "blue card"
directive and new EU legislation on legal migration â~@¢ readmission
and return issues including assistance for the reintegration of
returnees while fully respecting their human rights â~@¢20border
management, security of travel and identity documents including
introduction of biometric identification documents and development of
databases â~@¢ effective fight against trafficking in human beings
and the implementation of the National Action Plan to this end â~@¢
contribution of migration and migrants (Diaspora) to the development
of the countries of origin, including through remittances: ways and
means for channelling the remittances towards economic development
of the country â~@¢ issues related to asylum seekers, refugees and
internally displaced persons; and their integration â~@¢ Armenia-EU
migration cooperation: both sides emphasize the importance of efficient
and complete implementation of migration related regulations including
through improved coordination â~@¢ regional cooperation: both parties
underline the importance of the regional dimension of migration. In
this respect they are looking forward to the Prague Conference in
April 2009 under the Czech Presidency which will also address the
issue of regional cooperation on migration in the Black Sea Region
â~@¢ the Armenian delegation expressed its interest in the concept
of Mobility Partnership.

Both sides agreed on the importance and usefulness of a more systematic
dialogue on migration issues and agreed on organizing a follow-up
meeting by the local representative of the EU Presidency and the
Commission Delegation.

There will be a report on the follow-up to this =0 Amission at the
next meeting of the Joint Cooperation Council.

–Boundary_(ID_vraTwFLLuuFJoKOxSZwlxA)–