Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

FOUR NEW CASES OF HIV REGISTERED THIS YEAR

Armenpress
Feb 12 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS: Armenian doctors have diagnosed four
new cases of HIV this year, all carriers are citizens of Armenia. Last
year 66 such cases were reported.

According to the latest data of Armenian health authorities, out of
the officially registered 433 HIV/AIDS carriers 419 are Armenian
citizens. The majority of these people are men between 20-29, 145
were diagnosed with AIDS. The first case of AIDS was registered in
Armenia in 1988. Since then tens of AIDS carriers died.

Most infection comes about through the intravenous injection of drugs
and through heterosexual contacts. The economic crisis, unemployment,
labor migration and the rapid growth of HIV rates in the region
contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Armenia.

AMERICANS HOST DYP MEMBERS IN ANKARA

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 10 2007

Nancy Mc Eldowney, the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in
Ankara, hosted True Path Party (DYP) officials at a working dinner
on Thursday.

DYP deputy chairmen Nedim Bilgic, Gultekin Uysal, Umut Arýk, Hatay
deputy Mehmet Eraslan, Denizli deputy Ummet Kandoðan and Ankara
provincial chairman Bulent Kuþoðlu were in attendance.

Issues ranging from the Armenian genocide resolution, the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) and Iraq to the rise of nationalism and the
murder of Hrant Dink were discussed. The Americans asked about DYP
leader Mehmet Aðar’s new policy of "politics on the plain," upon
which the DYP’s top-ranking officials expounded.

Mc Eldowney stated that the US administration was doing its best
to halt the Armenian genocide resolution. "Although the current
administration is against the Armenian resolution, it does not have the
majority. So there is a risk. We will do our best. The resolution was
introduced by the Democrats, and they are currently in the majority,"
she said.

Turkish-American relations would be disrupted in the event the
resolution passes, the DYP officials warned. If the US fails to keep
its promises concerning the PKK, passage of the resolution might
increase anti-American sentiment in Turkey, they cautioned.

–Boundary_(ID_VyyU3vZRzZAUtiL9i4AzJA) —

ARMENIA WILL BE DEPRIVED OF RIGHT TO HAVE DEPUTY DELEGATION IN PACE IF
ELECTORAL RIGGINGS ARE COMMITTED AGAIN, CE ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVE
SAYS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The powers of the Armenian
delegation in the PACE will be suspended in case of riggings during
the parliamentary elections. Boyana Urumova, Special Representative of
Council of Europe (CE) Secretary General to Armenia, stated this at
the February 9 press conference. She quoted the Council of Europe
resolution on the commitments and obligations of Armenia, according to
which "none of the elections held in Armenia since the country’s
joining the Council of Europe has been free and fair." B. Urumova said
that the CE waits for the Armenian authorities’ invitation to send an
observer group. According to her, this time the observer group intends
to start its mission before the elections – in April and to follow the
process of pre-electoral campaign. Besides, as B. Urumova underlined,
the CE wants to cooperate with the RA Central Electoral Commission,
having an international expert in his body. In her words, the CE
attaches importance to the existence of equal conditions for all
political organizations and figures participating in elections in
terms of expressing their views in the mass media. She noted that now
the CE Armenia Office together with the Caucasian Media Institute is
conducting a monitoring of independent mass media. Commenting on the
RA defence minister Serge Sargsian’s statement that "it is not a good
thing that the army supports its minister", B. Urumova noted that
"S. Sargsian also said that he is in favor of holding free and fair
elections."

WORK WAS ASSESSED AS GOOD

Azat Artsakh Daily – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
08-02-2007

The NKR Rescue Service reported a few days ago on the work of the
service in 2006. It became known that last year trainings were held
for the population in the capital and rural areas on the prevention of
disasters and protection of people. It was noted that no outbreaks of
epidemic had been reported, a few cases of dead domestic and wild
birds were reported, caused by food poisoning and other bird diseases
known in NKR before. The new fire brigades of the NKR Rescue Service
in Askeran and Hadrut were provided with equipment and training. `The
fire brigades are ready to carry out fire security tasks,’ said Ashot
Verdian, the head of the operational department. In the end the
director of the Rescue Service Vyacheslav Arustamian assessed the work
of the service as `good’ and pointed to the shortcomings.

LAURA GRIGORIAN.
08-02-2007

Turkey: US envoy says USA committed to fighting terrorism

Milliyet website, Istanbul
8 Feb 07

Text of a report by Sami Kohen: "Are we not on the same page as the
United States?" published by Turkish newspaper Milliyet website on
8 February

Talks between Turkey and the United States, especially with respect
to overcoming the different points of view regarding northern Iraq,
the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and the Armenian problems, are
intensifying.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s current visit to the United States
is one link in this chain of meetings. Just recently Defence Minister
Vecdi Gonul was in Washington. A delegation of Turkish lawmakers has
just returned from the United States and Chief of Staff Gen Yasar
Buyukanit is off to Washington next week.

Meanwhile, there are people who regard these talks as "actors not being
on the same page". Really, as far as the public has been made aware to
date these meetings have failed to produce anything visible, at least
nothing in the way of meeting Turkey’s expectations. The Turkish side
is telling its American counterparts what it wants, what it expects
and what its complaints are. Similarly, the American side is telling
its Turkish counterparts where they stand and what the problems are.

Can it go any further than this?

Foreign Minister Gul says: "I saw an attentiveness in Washington I
had not seen last year. They feel compelled to do something. I will
not talk much about this but there is some commitment."

When?

What we heard US Ambassador Ross Wilson say when he spoke with a
group of columnists in Istanbul yesterday was along those lines.

We spoke with him about two "critical issues" in particular. One was
about the situation in northern Iraq, the PKK presence there and the
future of Kirkuk.

When we reminded him that the Turkish-US talks that have been going
on regarding this topic for some time had turned into a "dialogue
between deaf people" Wilson objected to this. "Speaking as somebody
who has attended most of these meetings I can say that this is not a
‘dialogue of the deaf’." But he did state that he was aware of Turkey’s
expectation and disappointments. He emphasized that despite this their
efforts were still continuing and that "visible" results would soon
be achieved.

When and like what, for example? Echoing Foreign Minister Gul,
Ambassador Wilson said he would "not divulge much more" and added,
"You cannot announce in advance what your counter-terrorism plans are."

Despite this, Wilson stated that some results were being achieved
right now as a result of the counter-terrorism envoy’s efforts. He
linked the raids against the PKK in France and Belgium and the arrests
made to these efforts.

We also asked this of the ambassador: What will the United States
do if Turkey mounts a cross-border operation? We know that certain
official voices in Washington have noted their opposition to this
eventuality. Wilson preferred to leave this question unanswered.

In fact, Turkey has always expected the United States to make an effort
to put an end to the PKK presence in northern Iraq. Is this a case
of "not putting in the right cc’s?" Should Baghdad and northern Iraq
also be cc’d? Ankara is trying to resolve this business "exclusively"
through Washington.

What if it gets passed?

The second important topic of our interview with the US ambassador
concerned the "Armenian genocide bill" being submitted to the House
of Representatives.

Wilson emphasized that this was not a "law" only a "ruling" and that
it was not binding on President Bush or his administration.

Frankly, the American officials and diplomats are afraid that this
ruling will get passed this time. In fact, Wilson is planning to go
to Washington next month to do some "lobbying".

He is aware that if this ruling is passed it will have a very adverse
impact on Turkish-US relations. But despite this he says: "But there
are so many other issues out there: Iraq, the PKK, Cyprus, the EU,
Iran, the Middle East etc, we need to work on these together. Any
breakdown in relations will be harmful for both sides. We need each
other more than ever before."

BRYZA: YEREVAN AND ANKARA CANNOT REACH RECONCILIATION VIA POLITICAL DECISIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.02.2007 13:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Political or diplomatic statements are not proper
to solve the problem of determining the tragic events of 1915, stated
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, OSCE MG Co-Chair Matthew
Bryza to journalists on the eve of Turkish foreign Minister’s visit
to Washington. He assured that "we all are united in the opinion
that the events in 1915 are terrible tragic." "It is horrible. But
this problem has so much sides and there are a lot of views on this
problem that political leaders cannot provide justice just giving it
a determination. We’d like educated people, professors, philosophers,
historians to be given possibility to carry out positive and impartial
discussions on the causes of what happened, which will allow Armenian
and Turkish communities to reconcile with their past and with each
other. You cannot reach it via political decisions," Matthew Bryza
stated, adding, "We’d also like to see Armenian-Turkish relations
improved." "As a CO-Chair of OSCE MG I understand how much it is
difficult. I realize the role of Nagorno Karabakh in this problem
very strongly. Despite it, we’d like to see corresponding steps aimed
at improving relations between Armenia and Turkey, since it proceeds
from interests of all sides.

It proceeds from interests of Turkish businessmen, it is also a good
chance for long term regional stability and peace. But I realize how
all this is difficult," the American diplomat stressed.

Speaking on possible steps of improving Armenian-Turkish relations
Matthew Bryza reminded that Armenian and Turkish governments "speak
about historic commissions and diplomatic debates." After Hrant Dink’s
tragic murder discussions over 301st article of Turkish Penal Code got
more intensive character. We understand that it is difficult for the
Turkish government to declare invalid this article because of political
realities. But it would be fine if the issue of 301st article would
be removed from the agenda, since it allows to condemn Turkey. We are
friends for Turkey. We hope Turkey considers us as one of the closest
friends in the world. And we want to do everything possible to assist
traditions of tolerance and co-existence of all ethnic and religious
communities in Turkey. 301st article yet hampers this problem. It
has magnetic influence on Europe’s mentality and makes everyone
concentrate on that problem and not on the whole Turkish history,"
stated Mathew Bryza, Mediamax reports.

ARMENIAN CB TO IMPLEMENT NEW ELEMENTS OF SUPERVISION OVER THE BANKING ACTIVITIES

Mediamax Agency, Armenia
Feb 5 2007

Yerevan, February 5 /Mediamax/. The Central Bank of Armenia intends
to have the Armenian commercial banks secure transparent activities,
CB Chairman Tigran Sarkisian stated in Yerevan today.

Mediamax reports that speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today,
Tigran Sarkisian noted that in 2007 the CB will implement new elements
if supervision over the banking activities.

Corresponding legislative changes will be presented to the Armenian
parliament, according to which the banks will have to be open not
only for the Central Bank, but also for the society.

Tigran Sarkisian noted that the Central Bank commits itself to
gathering all the tariffs and the services of commercial banks into
one single document and present it to the society.

In 2007, the Central Bank will also publish all the administrative
measures towards this or that bank and the reasons for using those
measures. Tigran Sarkisian believes that this will allow increasing
the trust of the population towards the banks and will make their
activities more predictable and open for the society.

ARMENIAN CITIZENS ARRESTED FOR CONTRABAND WITH CIGARETTES

Yerevan, February 5. ArmInfo. The press-service of the Federal Tax
Service (FTS) has spread an information about the completion of a
"multimonth international operation " for suppression of activities
of a group of contrabandists who had been supplying the Russian
cigarettes to Europe.

According to the information of FTS’s press-service, "the
contrabandists were dealing with illegal export of tobacco production
to the Western European countries within 2004-2006". The group "had
an inter-ethnic character and supported stable relations with natives
of Georgia and Chechnya, permanently living in EU countries. They
were entrusted with a task of selling the illegal goods in Europe.

The system was worked out in details. According to the data of FTS,
the investigation even suspected "regarding a possible use of these
means for financing of illegal armed formations in Caucasus".

Panorama.am

20:12 01/02/2007

YOUTH WING OF ORINATS YERKIR BELIEVES NEW QUALITY ELITE IS NEEDED

Samvel Faramanyan, chairman of youth union of Orinats Yerkir (OY),
shared his opinions on the role and mission of the parliamentary
elections. In his words, `The election may help the society to regain
faith in its own power. In the political terms, it will open an
opportunity to build democratic institutions in Armenia. In the
international terms, it may step up the credits of Armenia in the eyes
of the international community.’

Samvel Faramanyan believes the parliamentary elections have one more
important function. He said, `Many challenges of Armenia are connected
with the quality of political elite.’ Therefore, the elections may
help to produce a political elite with new qualities.

Source: Panorama.am

DEAL FOR TAKEOVER OF DEAL FOR TAKEOVER OF <ARMENTEL>OJSC, CARRIED OUT BY
HSBC, ENTERED

Yerevan, February 1. ArmInfo. The deal, carried out by the British
HSBC investbank (for takeover of Yerevan, February 1. ArmInfo. The
deal, carried out by the British HSBC investban&A-Intelligence
analytic group of "Merger and Takeover " journal.

As the BizTorg.ru reports, according to the rating, the deal is in the
seventh position. The first place in the rating of financial
consultants was taken by Deutsche UFG investbank due to the
participation in the deal for merger of AAs the BizTorg.ru reports,
according to the rating, the dea As the BizTorg.ru reports, according
to the rating, the deal is in the seventh position. The first place in
the rating of financial consultants was taken by Deutsche UFG
investbank due to the participation in the deal for merger of Glencore
Companies , consulting of ???-BP during sale of OJSC to Sinopec
group. The result of 2006 for the second one also looks well – sev "As
of today, the Deutsche UFG is an absolute leader both by quantity and
the volume of deals in the Russian market of M&A. The volume of deals,
in which we took part in 2006 ????, exceeded $25 bln., that is about
21% of the market, the President of Deutsche UFG, Ilya Scherbovich,
says. We have succeeded to achieve such results due to our command,
which is the strongest in the Russian market of investment-banking
services".