Author: Zakarian Garnik

ALAVERDI IS BECOMING SOCIALLY VULNERABLE

A1+
[05:15 pm] 17 December, 2007

more images Alaverdi’s copper-molybdenum factory will likely close
down in 2008. The factory belongs to "ACP" CJSC. Local residents are
seriously concerned over the factory’s impending closure as it feeds
over 1100 families.

"The closure will cause unemployment. We shall return to the 90s. Today
we can hardly afford our bare necessities with salaries. What will
become of us if the factory is closed down? It is an anchor of hope
for many families," residents say.

34-year-old Hrachia Mikayelian compares the closure with a son’s death.

"ACP" Director Nikolay Feofanov states the closure is determined by
high taxes of gas, electricity and waste.

Nikolay Feofanov states the employees will get jobs at Teghut’s
copper-molybdenum mine. But the construction of roads of this
infrastructure will take four years.

Today, the specialists of the factory get a salary of 75 thousand AMD
a month. They can hardly afford daily bread with the sum. Judging by
the current scene in the town we can assume that Alaverdi will soon
become socially and ecologically vulnerable.

ANOTHER PRIEST ATTACKED IN TURKEY; THE VICTIM OF STABBING RECOVERING

MEMRI, DC
en/4160.htm
Dec 18 2007

After the killings in the past year of priest Santoro in Trabzon;
of the Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul; brutal
murders of three Christians in Malatya, now came the stabbing in
Izmir of Adriano Francini, a priest at Church Saint Antoine.

Police has arrested a 19 year old suspect who is being interrogated.

Turkey’s mainstream media is accusing the AKP government for a possible
cover-up of the Hrant Dink and Malatya murders.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT: THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN THE SOLUTION TO MILITARY CONFLICTS" STARTS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 18 2007

International conference "Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: the role
of youth in the solution to military conflicts" started in Baku,
APA reports

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and Youth and Sport Ministry organized
2-day conference. Over 40 conflict analysts, explorers, representatives
of international youth organizations, media representatives from 22
countries attend the event. While delivering speech Azad Rahimov,
Youth and Sport Minister stated that over 80 representatives of
various nations and national ethnic minorities live in Azerbaijan
and they are citizens of equal in rights and actively participated
in the development of independent Azerbaijan Republic, establishment
of democratic society, protection of territory integrity.

"This tolerance in Azerbaijan and national solidarity can be example
for all states," he said. Firudin Sadigov, chief of the working group
of State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons
noted that 4354 Azerbaijanis were missing.

"The witnesses stated that some of them are held hostage by
Armenians. But Armenia stated that there are not hostages in its
territory," he said. He stated that 1393 people were released from
Armenian captivity. Tofig Musayev, Deputy Director of Treaty-Legal
Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Kamala
Imranli, official of Department and Galib Israfilov, Deputy Head
of Security Affairs Department gave information to the attendees
about history of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, location of Armenians in
Azerbaijan and deportation of Azerbaijanis from present Armenia./APA/

ARMENIAN BLOGGERS PROTEST AGAINST ‘AZERBAIJANI DAYS’ HOLDING IN YEREVAN

2007-12-17 17:36:00

ArmInfo. Armenian bloggers protest against ‘Azerbaijani Days’ holding in
Yerevan.

Armenian bloggers expressed their protest today at the opening
ceremony of the Azerbaijani Days. When the head of the Caucasus
Peace-making Initiatives Centre, one of the initiators of the event,
Georgiy Vanyan was making a speech, four young men came up to him
and gave him soap. Vanyan did not react and the bloggers left the
hall. Journalists tried to clarify why the bloggers acted in such a
way. First they did not want to answer the question, but then one of
them, Tigran Kocharyan, said that Armenian bloggers think that ‘this is
the wrong and untimely event, taking into account absence of tolerance
towards Armenians in Azerbaijan’. ‘We think this is just a way to earn
money, which will bring nothing kind to Armenia or Azerbaijan. This
is a way to beg something at the expense of the people’s dignity’, –
the bloggers said. ‘We don’t want to insult them, as Azerbaijanis are
not guilty for arriving here, and we don’t want to help the organizers
of the event to gain scores. For this reason we abstain from insulting
them. We simply gave them soap as a gift to use it in a right way’.

When commenting on the incident the head of the ‘Mkhitar Sebastatsi’
educational centre Ashot Bleyan said of the necessity of paying more
attention at the frozen conflicts and wished the year 2008 to become
a year of normalizing relations with Azerbaijan. He also said that the
given event is an education but a political one. ‘There is no politics
here. The point is to learn each other better. And this is regarding
not only Azerbaijan, but also Georgia, Turkey and Iran. Community
should be tolerant, and all the layers of the society should take
part in it’, – Bleyan said and added that if any educational centre
of Azerbaijan initiates the similar event, he will go to Azerbaijan
with pleasure.

December 12, 2007

Hovnanian chief says Fed should have cut rates further, denies sale
speculation

BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE Red Bank-based Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. Chief
Executive Officer Ara Hovnanian said he is disappointed the Federal
Reserve didn’t cut interest rates more and it’s difficult to determine
if the housing market has hit bottom. "I would have hoped for a
little bolder move,” Hovnanian said in an interview. "There’s a lot
of fear and uncertainty, so I just think it would have been a good
step for psychology” to cut rates more, he said.

Hovnanian said it’s "hard to tell” if the worst is over for housing,
and that December sales have improved. The company, the largest
homebuilder in New Jersey, has lost 75 percent of its market value
this year through Tuesday, making it the second-worst performer among
the 15 largest U.S. homebuilders.

The Federal Open Market Committee Tuesday lowered the benchmark rate
by a quarter-point to 4.25 percent, the third reduction since
September as the central bank tries to contain the subprime credit
crisis.

Homebuilders have lost $31 billion in market value this year. New home
sales fell 24 percent in October from a year ago and prices declined
for the first time since 1994.

The company is trying to weather the decline by trimming the inventory
of unsold homes and paying down $400 million in debt, Hovnanian said,
adding his bonus for the year "will be zero.”

"We have been through these kinds of cycles many times in our 50 year
history,” he said. "We’re trying to reduce overhead.”

Hovnanian denied investor speculation that Toll Brothers Inc., the
biggest U.S. luxury homebuilder, offered to buy the company.

"There is a new rumor every week. No, we’re not for sale,” Hovnanian
said.

The builder said on Nov. 6 that 40 percent of its customers canceled
contracts to buy homes in the fourth quarter as stricter lending
standards made it tougher to obtain mortgages.

The cancellation rate compared with 35 percent for the fourth quarter
of 2006. The company delivered 3,969 homes in the three months ended
Oct. 31, down 19 percent from a year ago, and net contracts fell 10
percent.

Hovnanian said last month that sales "seriously deteriorated” in
October and blamed tighter home-loan underwriting. Today, he said
sales are improving.

"Things have definitely picked up in December,” he said.

KURDISH PROBLEM WON’T STOP TURKEY FROM RECOGNIZING KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2007 16:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "There is no parallelism between the Kosovo problem
and the Kurdish problem. Our policy on Kosovo is designed totally
independent of our internal problems," said a Turkish official,
who did not want to be named.

The West supports independence for the Albanian-majority territory
and it seems Turkey will not wait long, once European Union member
states and the United States recognize Kosovo’s independence.

Despite the fact that EU leaders are expected to emerge from Friday’s
summit without agreement on the future of Kosovo, Turkish officials
seem confident that both the declaration of independence and the
recognition by the West is on an irreversible course.

"Kosovo is at the point of no return. It’s been de facto independent,"
said a Turkish diplomat.

"Turkey is in an awkward position. As far as the Cyprus issue is
concerned, it will be a positive development, but as far as northern
Iraq is concerned, it should not make Turkey happy," said Sabri Sayari
from Sabanci University. "Kosovo’s independence will strengthen the
hands of northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey. It will also
strengthen the hands of the northern Iraqi Kurds, whose aspiration
for independence is fiercely opposed by Turkey, which fears its own
Kurdish population might be affected by developments next door."

"Independence of Kosovo has the risk of setting a precedent for
other breakaway regions. But I don’t think that will stop Turkey from
recognizing Kosovo.

The Kurdish issue and the situation in Kosovo are not the same,"
said Sayari.

"Some of the breakaway regions are near Turkey, such as the
Transdniestria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh. On the
Nagorno Karabakh dispute Turkey supports the Azerbaijani government
that lost control over the Armenian dominated region. Turkey might
not be the first one to recognize Kosovo. But non recognition will
cause resentment among those of Balkan decent," said Turan of Istanbul
Bilgi University, the Turkish Daily News reports.

UAE AND ARMENIA TRY TO ESTABLISH TRADE AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Noyan Tapan
Dec 13, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues of trade and economic
cooperation between Armenia and the United Arab Emirates were the main
subject of negotiations of the Armenian president Robert Kocharian and
the president of the UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayid al Nuhayyan and the
country’s vice-president and prime minister Sheikh Maktum bin Rashid
al-Maktun in Abu Dhabi. During the working visit of Robert Kocharian
to the UAE, agreements were signed on cooperation in agriculture and
tourism and on consultations between the foreign ministries of the
two countries.

ARMENIA’S GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES AMD 14MLN FOR PUBLISHING OF ARMENIA’S REFORMED ELECTION CODE

ARKA News Agency , Armenia
Dec 13 2007

YEREVAN, December 13. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Government during its Thursday
session allocated AMD 14mln 25ths for publishing new edition of the
country’s reformed Election Code in the "Official bulletin."

The RA Government’s public relations department told ARKA that the
means are directed to the Ministry of Justice.

According to the Government’s decision, 17ths copies will be directed
to the country’s Central Election Committee.

Changes and supplements to Armenia’s Election Code were adopted by the
National Assembly on November 16, 2007 and were signed by Armenia’s
President Robert Kocharyan on November 17, 2007.

National Assembly Chairman Tigran Torosyan said that the main aim of
the changes is to remove the shortcomings that were revealed during
the parliamentary elections in May, and to improve the electoral
legislation on the eve of presidential elections on February 19,
2008.

ELMAR MAMEDYAROV VS. SAFAR ABIYEV

PanARMENIAN.Net
Analytical Department
11.12.2007 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As it has already been mentioned more than once,
belligerent announcements periodically published in the Azeri Mass
Media, as well as the "facts about the disturbances of the seize
fire by the Armenian armed forces" , have a very good effect on the
Azeri nation, but a very negative one on the image of the country
abroad. Hardly Ilham Aliyev will declare about his readiness for
war in his meeting with Putin, Bush or the EU. Moreover, the EU
Secretary-General Javier Solana emphasized the inadmissibility of
the resolution of the conflict by the help of force, mentioning,
that the EU will not allow the events to take a worse direction.

According to the professor from San-Andres University in Buenos Aires
Khachik Ter-Ghukasyan, such belligerent statements of Azerbaijan
or any other country are first of all instruments of pressure on
the population. "But on the other hand, Ilham Aliyev can make such
statements due to $1 billion defense budget. However, it doesn’t mean
that he will be allowed to deteriorate the situation. Neither the U.S.

nor Russia will tolerate it. It’s nothing but bluff and
speculation. But Azerbaijan is well armed, furthermore, with the
most modern weapons. And this is why Armenia should take these kind
of statements rather seriously and shouldn’t forget the syndrome of
the defeated that reigns there. Calls for the war are just meant
to unite the nation, which by itself may become a reason of war,"
says Khachik Ter-Ghukasyan.

However the statement that became the real surprise was the one made
by Elmar Mamedyarov, who spoke against the thesis saying that the
Karabakh Conflict may be resolved only by means of force. According
to him, the peaceful process needs to be continued, and talks about
force implementation should be put an end to.

"It would be rather interesting to know the reaction of the Minister
of Defense of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev, who spoke about the readiness
of the official Baku to liberate their territories occupied by the
Armenians by force of arms. The Minister even brought examples of some
arithmetic calculations according to which there a 100% possibility
of war. It is possible that the Azeri party demonstrates all the
possibilities through the two ministers, or it is also possible that
the diplomat does his job and the military official does his. There
is one more thing among what Elmar Mamedyarov said which is worth
mentioning. "Our negotiators carry out campaign against illiteracy
for the Armenians, explaining the essence of their national interest
to them. Most likely either the Armenians haven’t made up their mind
in this issue yet, or we do not provide the necessary information,"
said Mamedyarov.

By the highest standards there is nothing unusual in Mamedyarov’s
speech. It is in the responsibility of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs to try to correct the situation. In both cases the statements
were sanctioned by the President of Azerbaijan, without which the
diplomats and military officials simply do not have the right to
say anything. This is stated in the Constitution of Azerbaijan: the
inner policy of the country is decided by the Head of the State, and
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brings it to life. The same concerns
the statements made by the Minister of Defense which cannot be made
without any authorization. There is another thing that surprises most,
does Baku really think that different sort of anti-Armenian statements
disseminated in the internet reach the simple citizens, who are not
only deprived of internet, but also electricity from time to time,
and that is in a country rich in oil and gaz…

AZERBAIJANI CITIZEN IN ARMENIAN CAPTIVITY UNDERGOES MEDICAL EXAMINATION

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 13 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Jaliloglu / Anar Aliyev, a resident of
Terter District of Azerbaijan, who was returned back on 12 December
after 5 months in the Armenian captivity, exclusively informed Trend
regional correspondent about details of his captivation.

Aliyev said that on 2 August he was going up along the Terter River
running near his house at about 17:00-18:00pm, when he met with
two people in camouflage. Soldiers asked Aliyev to assist them. As
a result, Aliyev was taken a captive and was delivered in unknown
direction with bandage-closed eyes.

Aliyev also said that over 5 years he was kept in one and the same
room. Speaking about conditions of his maintenance, he said that
they did not torture him and did not suffer any problem with food
and water. Aliyev said that he was allowed to answer his parents’
letters and the letters were written under pressures.

After the handing over to Azerbaijan on 12 December Aliyev underwent
medical examination and no problem was observed with his health.