Author: Zaminian Bedik

ARMENIA: GOVERNMENT COALITION PARTIES DUKE IT OUT OVER YEREVAN VOTE
Marianna Grigoryan

Eurasianet

May 22, 2009

With the election for Yerevan’s City Council 10 days away, the campaign
is becoming bruising. But it’s not jockeying between the government
and opposition that has emerged as the chief source of rancor. Instead,
the campaign has opened a window on a simmering power struggle within
the governing coalition.

In terms of political pull, organization and financial resources,
the governing Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and its partner, the
Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), are the heavyweights in the country’s
three-party coalition government. The third coalition party, Rule
of Law, is widely seen as a lightweight without the political heft
needed to fight on its own.

The April 27 departure of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation from
Armenia’s ruling coalition cleared the way for both the RPA and
PAP to jostle for additional influence, observers say. Prosperous
Armenia holds the government portfolios for labor and social welfare,
but several deputy ministerial posts remain up for grabs.

Both parties are striving to secure one of the country’s most
influential political posts — Yerevan mayor.

That is why party leaders and their respective supporters are taking
the campaign very seriously. The outcome of the May 31 City Council
voting will largely determine the mayoral race, as the city’s chief
executive will be elected by the new council members.

The budding rivalry is by no means limited to a war of words. The
two sides have also gotten physical. The first headline-grabbing
fight between RPA and PAP activists took place in Yerevan on May 12,
followed by some minor incidents. The latest scrap took place on May
18 in Yerevan’s Ajapnyak District. Gunfire, as well as fistfights
and verbal insults, marked the occasion, local media reported. Seven
individuals from both parties were detained, according to police. [For
details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

One opposition daily newspaper, Haykakan Zhamanak, reported that
Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian and General Prosecutor
Aghvan Hovsepian, accompanied by motorcades, had arrived on the
scene to mediate a "ceasefire" during the Ajapnyak scuffle, but had
failed to end the confrontation. Prosperous Armenia has denied the
report. The claim could not be independently verified.

Police spokesperson Sayat Shirinian stated that the seven
detainees asserted that they had just been carrying on "a political
discussion with loud voices." But political analysts and opposition
politicians object that more than a taste for robust political
debates characterizes relations between the Republican Party and
Prosperous Armenia.

"There’s a struggle for leverage and authority in the
government. Everyone wants to fight to keep his stake," independent
analyst Andranik Tevanian said. "Both the RPA and PAP do their best
to get as many votes as possible to strengthen their positions."

Anahit Bakhshian, a senior member of the opposition Heritage Party,
agrees. "What I see is an arduous desire to come to power at any cost,"
Bakhshian said. "I also see that there are controversies going on
within the government" about the city elections and the division of
roles within parliament, she continued.

The RPA and PAP leaderships are trying their best to dampen talk of a
rivalry. Naira Zohrabian, a parliamentarian for Prosperous Armenia and
the campaign manager for the party’s Yerevan City Council campaign,
adamantly dismissed the notion of a power struggle. "There are no
problems inside the coalition at all," Zohrabian asserted. "But one
should understand that we have various interests, and we can’t avoid
this kind of situation." Party members have been ordered "not to give
in" to "provocations," she added.

Republican Party spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov also cited
"interests," but asserted that "there are no problems inside the
coalition."

"Disturbances during the campaign may be the result of a clash of
interests, be that of a social or other nature. There is no need to
politicize all that," Sharmazanov said. "A couple of incidents can’t
interfere with . . . the campaign."

Brawls characterized relations between the Republicans and Prosperous
Armenia also during the 2007 parliamentary election campaign. Following
the March 2008 crackdown on opposition protestors, the Republican
Party formed a coalition with Prosperous Armenia, Rule of Law
and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation to restore political
"stability." [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The persistence of brawls only indicates that both the Republicans and
Prosperous Armenia believe that there is still room for maneuver, noted
independent political analyst Yervand Bozoian. "Developments like these
are unavoidable in a country like Armenia, where the political system
is not quite formed yet," Bozoian said. "The struggle becomes visible
when the forces are almost equal, as is the case with the RPA and PAP."

Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based
in Yerevan.

STUDY DATA FROM V.V. PARAZIAN AND CO-AUTHORS UPDATE KNOWLEDGE OF CONDENSED MATTER

Science Letter
May 19, 2009

"We investigate the angular distribution of positrons in the coherent
process electron-positron pair creation process by high-energy photons
in a periodically deformed single crystal with a complex base,"
researchers in Yerevan, Armenia report (see also Condensed Matter).

"The formula for the corresponding differential cross section is
derived for an arbitrary deformation field. The case is considered
in detail when the photon enters into the crystal at small angles
with respect to a crystallographic axis," wrote V.V. Parazian and
colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "The results of the numerical calculations
are presented for SiO2 and diamond single crystals and Moliere
parameterization of the screened atomic potentials in the case of
the deformation field generated by an acoustic wave of S-type."

Parazian and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Physics – Condensed Matter (Angular distribution of positrons in
coherent pair production in deformed crystals. Journal of Physics –
Condensed Matter, 2009;21(18):85401).

For additional information, contact V.V. Parazian, Institute Applied
Problems Physics, 25 Nersessian St., Yerevan 0014, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Physics – Condensed
Matter is: IOP Publishing Ltd., Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol
BS1 6BE, England.

ARMENIA TO START NUCLEAR PLANT BUILD IN EARLY 2011

AzerNews Weekly
May 20 2009
Azerbaijan

Armenia will tackle construction of a new nuclear power plant in
early 2011, Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan has said.

He said that, according to preliminary estimates, building the station
will cost about $5 billion and it will be constructed in the area of
the existing Metsamor facility.

The Armenian government said last week that WorleyParsons, a major
Australian provider of services to the energy and complex process
industries, has won a tender announced for the project, and both
sides hope to sign a relevant agreement soon.

Movsisyan said the next step is completing engineering work for the
power plant and selecting an investor through another tender.

The power station currently in operation supplies over 40 percent of
Armenia`s needs for electricity. The new facility will have a capacity
double that of the Metsamor plant.

Metsamor, a Soviet-era power plant, is slated for demolition in 2017.

ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO TAKE PART IN THE 5TH INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF WEAPON MILEX-2009 IN MINSK

ArmInfo
2009-05-20 12:03:00

ArmInfo. An international exhibition of arms and military machinery
MILEX-2009 was opened in Minsk on 19 May, CSTO press-secretary Vitaliy
Strugovets told ArmInfo.

Armenian defence minister’s press-secretary, Colonel Seyran
Shaksuvaryan told Arminfo that Armenian delegation is also taking
part in the exhibition, which will be held till 22 May.

139 enterprises, scientific and research institutes, universities
and other organizations from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Sweden
took part in the MILEX-2007 exposition. A total of 3 000 exhibits
were presented during the forum.

The goal of the exposition is to showcase the products of the military
enterprises and the companies manufacturing dual-use products, to
facilitate contacts between the producers and customers of the military
equipment, to sign contracts and agreements on the modernization of
military equipment as well as to popularize military machinery and
raise the prestige of the army.

As CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha said, official delegations
of 26 countries are going to attend the exhibition.

RESOLUTION ON SOUTH CAUCASUS ADOPTED BY BUNDESTAG RELATES TO NAGORNO KARABAKH PROBLEM

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
20.05.2009 14:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On May 15 a resolution on the South Caucasus was
adopted by the German Bundestag, which also touches upon the settlement
of Nagorno Karabakh problem, Victor Engibaryan, head of the European
movement in Armenia, told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"Necessity of withdrawal of troops from Nagorno Karabakh
and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan are mentioned in the
resolution. Actually, the resolution carries recommendation character,
said Mr. Engibaryan.

According to him, Bundestag’s resolution says that the conflict should
be settled in the framework of documents adopted by UN, OSCE and the
Council of Europe.

"It’s worth mentioning that Bundestag’s resolution suggests the
government to assist to the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict in
the framework of EU with Russia, U.S. and Turkey as mediators. This
is unacceptable. Germany is not a small country and this resolution
can become a beginning in a chain of other similar resolutions,"
said Victor Engibaryan.

According to Mr. Engibaryan, one of the main reasons Bundestag adopted
of such a document is the fact, that Armenia has not had an ambassador
to Germany for the last several month.

"EUROFEST 2009" ARMENIAN JAZZ BAND AWARDED GRAND PRIX

Panorama.am
18:35 19/05/2009

Jazz musician Armen Tutunjyan told the journalists today that
"Eurofest-2009" international contest held in Bucharest has remained
under the shadow of "Eurovision" contest, while Armenian "Art voices"
jazz band has been awarded Grand-Prix.

"Eurofest" was divided into three genres – classical, pop and
jazz. More than 20 European countries attended the contest.

Tutunjyan said that 12 countries took part in jazz section and Germany,
Israel, Hungary and Armenia were qualified to the final; that in the
final Armenia became the winner.

VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: NONE OF PARTIES TO KARABAKH CONFLICT CAN AVOID COMPROMISES

ArmInfo
2009-05-15 14:03:00

ArmInfo. One can humanly understand the expectations of a magic turn of
events from every meeting, but this is quite naive from the political
viewpoint. One should not study the Karabakh conflict settlement in
the context of events. It is necessary to view it in the process,
the former co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov said at
a press conference at the ‘Novosti’ Press Center in Yerevan, Friday.

Ambassador Kazimirov highlighted that the settlement of the given
issue is a long way requiring patience, firmness and readiness of
the parties. ready?

The leaderships of the parties evidently fail to prepare their
publics for compromises>, he said. V. Kazimirov is sure that it is
necessary to think of compromises since it is simply naive to think
that one of the parties will get everything it demands. ‘They should
compromise. There is no other way’, he said.

Nevertheless, V. Kazimirov regrets that Nagorny Karabakh is not
involved in the negotiation process. ‘Russia has always proved that
there are three parties to the conflict. Although the military conflict
is between two parties, they are three from the political point of
view. Yerevan and Stepanakert had close but not similar approaches’,
Kazimirov said. Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have already met
4 times and are going to have the 5th meeting, which is positive, he
said and highlighted that the negotiations are held in the spirit of
‘nothing is coordinated until everything is coordinated’.

OSCE MINSK GROUP REPRESENTATIVES TO VISIT REGION SOON: AMERICAN CO-CHAIR

Today.Az
cs/52330.html
May 15 2009
Azerbaijan

All three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit region in a
couple of weeks, U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza
told Trend News over telephone.

"Possibly we will pay a visit to the region together with the co-chairs
soon. Bu we have not fixed exact time," Bryza said.

Bryza said he may follow French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier, who is in
Azerbaijan at the moment, very soon.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed
forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently
holding the peace negotiations.

WORLEYPARSONS INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM WILL TAKE UP NEW POWER UNIT CONSTRUCTION IN ARMENIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.05.2009 15:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ WorleyParsons International Consortium won a tender
for new nuclear power unit construction in Armenia, announced on
Feb. 23, 2009, RA State Purchases Department Press Service reported.

WorleyParsons will assist RA Government throughout the course of
construction.

WorleyParsons Limited ASX: WOR is a large Australian provider
of professional services to the energy, resource, and complex
process industries. It is often cited as being Australia’s largest
engineering firm and is also one of the world’s largest engineering
design firms. The company has a market capitalization greater than
AU$4 billion, and makes up 0.29% of the S&P/ASX 200 index (June 2008).

Armenian plans the construction of a 1000-megawatt nuclear power unit,
construction costs totaling around USD 5 billion. In 2006 the Armenian
Government abolished state monopoly for new nuclear power units to
attract foreign investments. Construction works will be launched
in 2011.

SHUSHI BENEVOLENT FUND ON THE VERGE OF CLOSURE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
12.05.2009 19:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Shushi Benevolent Fund is on the verge of closure,
Head of Shushi Benevolent Fund, Bakur Karapetyan told a news conference
in Yerevan. "All through the period of its activity the Fund has
been receiving financial assistance from Diaspora. We never received
any assistance from RA Government. Currently, because of complicated
financial situation, the fund has to freeze part of its programs,"
Bakur Karapetyan stated.

Head of Shushi Benevolent Fund reported that until now no reply from
Armenian entrepreneurs has been received since April when he sent
out letters requesting for financial assistance.

Shushi Benevolent Fund was founded in 2000. The Fund has implemented
a number of programs to increase international community’s awareness
of NKR and was planning recently to set up a museum in Shushi.