Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

COE IS NOT SATISFIED BY AZERBAIJAN’S FULFILLMENT OF ITS COMMITMENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.04.2007 17:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In Strasbourg the session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) accepted Monitoring
Committee’s report on Azerbaijan’s fulfillment of its commitments
in front of EU. Efforts of the Azeri delegation to soften the most
critical points addressed to the Azeri authorities were not crowned
with success, Turan reports. During discussions of the report member
of Azeri delegation Samed Seidov distinguished, who said there is a
lot of progress in Azerbaijan and even politicians and human rights
activists who have arrived in Strasbourg, confess it and express
their support. However Seidov’s words were ironically ignored by
Andres Herkel, who expressed his disagreement with, as he said,
Azeri delegation head’s "magnificent" speech. Number of political
prisoners has decreased in Azerbaijan, but it does not mean solution
of problem. Corruption prospers in the country, and there is anarchy
in the judicial system. Courts are not independent. Freedom of assembly
is not provided. The parliament does not have enough powers. Elections
are falsified.

Representatives of opposition are not included in parliamentarian
delegation. Touching upon the problem of political prisoners, Tony
Lloyd said it is the result of "absence of justice in courts". Leo
Platvoet drew attention to the fact that the growth of economy that
the Azeri authorities like to talk much about, has resulted in the
growth of corruption, and not in improvement of welfare of population.

The report particularly mentions the importance of PACE control over
the commitments that Azerbaijan promised to fulfill in connection with
the coming presidential elections of 2008, which "must be the first
elections in country’s history meeting international standards." It
is necessary to urgently solve the issue of electoral commissions,
which must enjoy the trust of both electorate and all political forces.

"Corruption remains the main problem in Azerbaijan that touches
all layers of society and threatens economic, social and political
development of the country. Criminal prosecution for slander leads
to intimidation and self-censorship in media," the report says.

CIS IPA MONITORING GROUP TO ARRIVE

A1+
[01:35 pm] 17 April, 2007

On April 19, CIS IPA of RF delegation headed by Anatoly Torshin,
vice-chairman of FC ( Council of Federation) as well as Michael Krotov,
General Secretary of CIS IPA is due to come.

According to RA NA PR information, meetings with Garegin Azaryan, CEC
chairman as well as with members of Republican Party, Dashnakcutyun
Party, United Labor Party, ‘ Prosperous Armenia’ and those of
‘Justice’, ‘Country of Law’ factions are expected on the very day of
their arrival.

On April 20, meetings are also expected with RA Attorney General Aghvan
Hovsepyan, NA chairman Tigran Torosyan, RA president Robert Kocharyan.

The delegation will hold a debriefing at NA press conference.

THE TOPOL IS BETTER THAN THE PIONEER: HOW RUSSIA WILL RESPOND TO THE AMERICAN ANTI-MISSILE UMBRELLA
By Nikolai Khorunzhii
Translated by Elena Leonova

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 16, 2007 Monday

RUSSIA’S INTERMEDIATE-RANGE MISSILE OPTIONS; Following the announcement
of US plans for deploying missile defense system elements in Poland
and the Czech Republic, Russian experts have started discussing
reponse measures. These measures include the possibility of Russia’s
withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Following the announcement of US plans for deploying missile defense
system elements in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russian experts
have started discussing reponse measures. These measures include
the possibility of Russia’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987.

"Russia has reasons for returning intermediate- and short-range
missiles to its arsenals." This statement from Chief of the General
Staff Yuri Baluyevsky launched the debate about whether we should
withdraw from the INF Treaty.

To be more precise, withdrawal from the INF Treaty has become a
substantial argument for the Russian military in other situations as
well. In August 2006, for example, when former US Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld invited former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to
join the American initiative to replace nuclear warheads on ICBMs
with conventional warheads, Ivanov responded by advising his American
counterpart to think about withdrawing from the INF Treaty.

Even earlier – back in 2001, when we were discussing our "asymmetric
response" to America’s withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
(ABM) Treaty in 2002 – Lieutenant-General Vyacheslav Romanov, head
of the National Nuclear Threat Reduction Center, said that if the
Americans deployed a national missile defense system, Russia would
respond by rebuilding its intermediate- and short-range missile group.

More flexible projects are being proposed now. For example, we could
pull out of the INF Treaty, but confine ourselves to equipping
the missiles in question with conventional warheads, not nuclear
warheads: so they would not pose a threat to Europe or China. And
if the USA refuses to update the treaty, leaving Russia with the
option of complete withdrawal (that is, possessing intermediate-
and short-range missiles with nuclear warheads), Europe and even
China would perceive this as Washington ignoring their interests.

All this sounds very elegant. But while strategic missiles may be
regarded as all-purpose, suitable for use across all directions and
distances, intermediate-range missiles are more specific in their
targets: any country within 5,500 kilometers of the launching point.

That includes China and Europe. And is there any fundamental difference
between replacing nuclear warheads with conventional warheads on
ICBMs, as Rumsfeld proposed, and doing the same with intermediate-
and short-range missiles? Either way, the threshold of use is lowered.

Another equally artful option is being discussed: asking all countries
that possess intermediate- or short-range missiles to sign the INF
Treaty. That means China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Iran, and
some Middle East countries. If any of them refuse, we can announce
that Russia is withdrawing from the INF Treaty, while agreeing with
the United States that these missiles will be deployed only on the
territory of the countries that own them (so there shouldn’t be any
American missiles in Europe). And what if the Americans refuse? After
all, Russia doesn’t have any intermediate-range missiles – not even at
the design stage – but the United States is making rapid progress on
developing an intermediate-range missile for its submarines. And the
intimidated Europe would appeal to the United States for help. Then
the deployment of American intermediate-range missiles in Eastern
Europe would cause more problems for our country’s strategic nuclear
forces than it did in the 1980s, since NATO has now moved closer
to our borders. Those American missiles would be able to reach our
missile launch bases in minutes.

Moscow is capable of resuming production of missiles with a range
between 500 and 5,000 kilometers, within a relatively short time.

These could be Soviet-era designs like the RSD-10 Pioneer, destroyed
in compliance with the INF Treaty, or modern Iskander systems.

The Pioneer was indeed a good missile. The Soviet military greatly
regretted having to destroy its Pioneers after the INF Treaty came
into effect. However, unlike the Topol ICBM that followed it, the
Pioneer did not have the technology required to penetrate missile
defense systems. Russia plans to produce 17 Topol-M missiles this
year, compared to three in 2006. Then again, Strategic Missile Forces
Commander Nikolai Solovtsov said at a recent press conference that
his subordinates will take delivery of seven Topol-M systems this
year. There are also some problems with the new Bulava naval missile;
plans to equip a whole series of new Project Borei submarines with
Bulava missiles may be disrupted. And on top of all this, Russia
may now face the unanticipated costs of producing intermediate-range
missiles.

Mikhail Barabanov, science editor at "Eksport Vooruzhenii"
(Arms Exports) magazine, has calculated that producing 50-100
intermediate-range missiles would cost the same as producing several
dozen Topol-M ICBMs. Thus, it would be better to have more of the
all-purpose Topol missiles, rather than upgraded Pioneers which would
be limited in application.

As for short-range missiles, there are proposals to increase the range
of Iskander tactical missile systems from 280 to 500 kilometers. Russia
plans to acquire only 60 of these systems over the next nine years;
but 500 kilometers does not mean "from 500 to 1,000 kilometers,"
even with the help of wishful thinking. So it’s a stretch to count
the Iskander as part of the short-range missile class.

It has also been suggested that Russia should withdraw from the
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. But we wouldn’t
scare anyone by doing that, since we lag behind NATO across all
conventional arms indicators. Equating NATO with the CIS Collective
Security Treaty Organization (Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) is unlikely to succeed; their scale simply
isn’t comparable, and there is hardly any contact between the two
organizations.

These days, the tasks of the politically frightening intermediate-range
ballistic missiles could be performed by far less costly air-launched
cruise missiles. According to the Rosbalt agancy, Russia conducted
successful tests two years ago of the Kh-555 cruise missile, with
a range of up to 5,000 kilometers, accurate to 18-26 meters, flight
speed up to 936 kilometers per hour at altitudes between 40 and 110
meters. All these qualities enable the Kh-555 to penetrate missile
defense systems. The ARMS-TASS agency reported recently that India and
Russia have launched joint efforts to develop a promising supersonic
cruise missile. Such a missile might be an appropriate "asymmetric"
response to US plans for deploying missile defense elements in Poland
and the Czech Republic.

YEGHEGNADZOR AND ARABKIR LEFT OUT OF FUTURE COMPETITION IN ARMENIAN
MEN VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The first tour of Armenian men
volleyball championship finished on April 15 on the Kilikia training
ground. FIMA is at the top of the tournament table with 10 points
after 5-day competition. Kilikia has 9 points and PPV Dinamo 8
points. Vanadzor takes 4th place with 7 points. The next two places
are taken by Yeghegnadzor and Arabkir teams, which were left out of
the future competition.

The second tour of the tournament will be held on May 17-22.

TALAT PASHA MOVEMENT TO PROTEST AGAINST ARMENIAN LIES IN PARIS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 13 2007

Rally and conference exposing Armenian lies on so called "Armenian
genocide" are to be held in Paris, APA’s Eastern Europe bureau
reports. Turkish Worker’s Party and Talat Pasha Movement will hold a
rally and conference in protest against the French National Assembly
(Lower House of Parliament) law making it a crime to deny that
Armenians suffered Turkish savageries and Armenian historical crimes.

Azerbaijani and Turkish community representatives from Europe and
Turkey will arrive in the French capital on this occasion. The
conference is to be held in "Eurosites Plaine Saint Denis" Centre
in Paris. After presidential elections in France, the Talat Pasha
Movement chaired by Rauf Denktas, former president of the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus will hold a rally to Bastille in the
centre of Paris.

WILL ARMENIA TURN ORANGE?

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 11 2007

MOSCOW. (Political analyst Nikolai Vavilkin for RIA Novosti) – This
year will be one of the most important in Armenia’s post-Soviet
independent history.

With the parliamentary election set for May 2007 and the presidential
election for March 2008, this South Caucasian republic is in for 12
months of intense election battles.

The winner of the presidential race could be determined by the
parliamentary election. Under the 2005 constitution, the party that
wins control of parliament will nominate the prime minister and the
speaker, and will have an opportunity to fight for the presidency
in 2008.

Presidential elections in all former Soviet republics carry the
risk of political upheavals. There has not been a change of power
at all in some of them, including Kazakhstan and other Central Asian
republics. But elections in Ukraine and Georgia were accompanied by
upheavals later called "orange" or "color" revolutions, with public
clashes, turbulent demonstrations, and a transfer of power to a new,
less legitimate government.

When election results are contested in a former Soviet republic, the
West, represented by state and supra-national democratic institutions,
usually denounces the excessive use of administrative resources by the
ruling party. Partly with that as a justification, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union, the
administrations of the United States and EU countries, and other
Western agencies invariably take the side of the force that contests
the election results.

The pro-government political parties in Armenia appear to have the
strongest positions now. Many believe that they will share victory in
the parliamentary elections and therefore posts in the government and
the leadership of the new parliament. This is quite likely because the
current Armenian opposition parties are dependent on their leaders,
and the general public knows very little, if anything, about their
programs.

The forces that rely on Western political and social values and
development paths stand apart from the other opposition parties. One
of them is the party of the former speaker of parliament, Artur
Bagdasaryan. Another is the movement led by Raffi Ovannisyan, former
minister of foreign affairs and a U.S. national who has become an
Armenian citizen.

Inspired by the example of neighboring countries, the new pro-Western
forces in Armenia attend all meetings of international organizations,
tirelessly proclaim their commitment to European values, and complain
that Armenia is so far not up to the European mark.

European organizations give such figures a pat on the back and try
to involve them in their activities. Some of these figures have
earned quite a reputation, while others are staying in the shadows,
and their involvement in the work of foreign organizations has so
far remained unnoticed by the Armenian, let alone Russian, public.

Shavarsh Kocharyan, a deputy in the Armenian parliament, was on
the Armenian delegation to PACE for several years and was removed
in 2006. This, however, has not stopped him from maintaining, and
possibly strengthening, his ties with that influential European body.

Since leaving, Kocharyan has been invited to Strasbourg three times,
attending PACE meetings on trips paid for by the organization.

The heads of the Council of Europe’s observer missions at elections
are traditionally appointed by one of the CE parties on a rotating
basis. When the head of a mission for the Armenian elections was
selected, it was the turn of the European Democrats, a party dominated
by ethnic Russians. Many expected that the post would be given to a
Russian, but the PACE Bureau changed the rules of the game, and the
post was given to Leo Platvoet of the Netherlands.

A change in Armenia’s policy, or a political destabilization of the
republic, could undermine Russia’s influence in the region, which
largely depends on its alliance with Armenia. Therefore, Russia needs
Armenia to remain stable and stick to the same policies after the
parliamentary and presidential elections. It will also benefit if
the forces wishing to strengthen the alliance with Russia remain at
the country’s helm.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

RUSSIAN PM CONGRATULATES HIS NEW-APPOINTED ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

Arka News Agency, Armenia
April 9 2007

YEREVAN, April 9. /ARKA/. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov
sent Friday a message Serge Sargsyan congratulating the latter on
his appointment to the post of Armenian prime minister.

In his message, Fradkov said that Armenian-Russian relations have
considerably developed for recent years.

He pointed out that political ties are increasingly becoming closer
and economic cooperation is growing.

Fradkov also stressed Sargsyan’s contribution to military and economic
cooperation between the two countries.

He expressed hope that Sargsyan will keep doing the same also at the
prime ministerial post.

Fradkov wished success to the newly appointed Armenian PM.

TURKISH-ARMENIAN CONCERT CANCELED DUE TO THREATS
Debbie Lehmann

The Brown Daily Herald, RI
April 9 2007

A Turkish-Armenian concert scheduled for Friday was canceled on
short notice after the Armenian musicians and the president of the
Armenian Students Association received threats from members of the
Armenian community.

ASA and the Turkish Cultural Society organized the concert, titled
"The Armenian Composers of the Ottoman Period," to promote dialogue
between their communities. The concert was dedicated to Hrant Dink,
a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was assassinated in January outside
his newspaper office by a Turkish nationalist who later confessed
to the killing. Dink had been a target of nationalist anger for his
articles about the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in 1915 that
many have called a genocide.

A member of TCS, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive
nature of the situation, told The Herald the groups started talking
about co-sponsoring the event roughly six months ago after members of
TCS wrote a column in The Herald that touched on historical relations
between Turks and Armenians. The two groups then began discussing
the need for joint events to encourage conversation, according to
the TCS member.

The TCS member wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the Armenian
musicians and the president of the ASA did their best to resist the
"warning messages" they received. However, he wrote that "the situation
got serious," and the musicians, followed by the ASA, withdrew from
the event. The musicians and the ASA are now "in a very difficult
position against some parts of their community," he wrote.

Ruben Izmailyan ’09, president of the ASA, said he was disappointed
the event was canceled but declined to comment further.

TCS is also "very sorry the event did not happen," the member wrote
in his e-mail.

"For people who had issues, I think that the appropriate response
was not to attend, instead of forcing it to cancel," he wrote. "I
think this was an honest effort on both sides aiming at nothing but
to enjoy common music and food and make friends regardless of views
on the past."

The member went on to write that he finds it "illogical" that people
in both the Turkish and Armenian communities asked the other side to
change its views before considering dialogue.

"I thought dialogue was about talking, negotiating and persuading
each other," he wrote. "There is a clear contradiction."

Still, efforts to plan the event were not entirely useless, the
member wrote. TCS received messages of support from both Armenians
and Turks. One Armenian woman did not hear about the cancellation and
still came from Cape Cod for the concert. In addition, TCS members went
out to dinner and engaged in conversation with an Armenian medical
student at Brown, who also came to the concert without knowing it
had been canceled.

TCS members have a wide range of views about Armenian-Turkish
relations, the member wrote, but they agree that "healthy, constructive
dialogue is needed for a solution." TCS will continue to look into
ways to create this dialogue, the member wrote.

"Now, I am convinced that bringing open-minded, reasonable people of
both sides together is the solution," he wrote. "If not, those people
would not be so afraid of it."

edia/storage/paper472/news/2007/04/09/CampusNews/T urkishArmenian.Concert.Canceled.Due.To.Threats-282 9725.shtml

SHIRAK AIRPORT IN GYUMRI, ARMENIA, TO BE BROUGHT TO 1-CLASS LEVEL

Arminfo
2007-04-06 14:58:00

It is scheduled to start upgrading of the airport "Shirak" in Gyumri
in May, 2007, and complete it at the end of 2007, Head of the Central
Department of RA Civil Aviation Artiom Movsissyan told ArmInfo. After
upgrading, Shirak airport will not be passed under control of a
private company but the state, A. Movsissyan said. A total of 2,2 mln
drams (about $6 mln by the current rate ) were allocated by Armenia’s
budget for its upgrading, 1,7 mln drams of which will be invested to
repair the landing strip, the taxiways and parks, and 500 mln drams –
to install a runway lighting system. After upgrading, "Shirak" will
become the 1-class airport and foreign air companies will be able to
use that as an alternative one for carrying out international flights,
in force majeure connected with worsening of the weather in Zvartnots
airport of Yerevan. They avoided using this airport so far because of
the poor equipment and insufficiently flat landing strip, A. Movsissyan
noted. By unconfirmed data, the Argentine businessman Eduardo Eurnekyan
is concerned about getting airport "Shirak" under concession control.

NEW HEAD OFFICE OF HSBC BANK ARMENIA OPENS IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Apr 05 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The new head office of HSBC Bank
Armenia opened at 66 Terian Street, Yerevan. A new branch of the bank
is located in the same building. The bank’s former head office was
registered as a branch at 9 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan.

General Executive Director of HSBC Bank Armenia Anthony Turner said
at the March 5 press conference that another 3 branches of the bank
will open in Yerevan by late 2007, as well as the number of cash
dispensers will be increased from 21 to 44.

According to him, HSBS Bank Armenia will continue providing mortgage
credits at 12% interest rate, attempting to reduce it to 10.5% in the
future. The bank will soon start implementing a program of crediting
small and medium enterprises.

Presenting the 2006 financial report of the bank, A. Turner said that
the total amount of deposits of the bank’s customers made 70 bln drams
(about 193 mln USD) in the indicated period, with a 11% growth in
Armenian drams and a 37% growth in US dollars on the previous year.

"Since 1999, HSBC Bank Armenia has paid a sum equialent to 21
million dollars as dividents, which shows a high level of the
bank’s profitability," Director of the bank’s financial unit Ruzanna
Shahinian stated.