Author: Zargarian Hambik

RosBusinessConsulting Database
August 13, 2008 Wednesday 12:24 PM EST

CSTO condemns Georgia’s genocide against Ossetians

Georgia has committed genocide against the people of Ossetia, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) has announced, according to the assembly’s Chairman and State
Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov. CSTO member states have been engaged in
consultations for several days now, ending up with a joint
statement. Gryzlov stressed that the countries shared the same view on
developments in South Ossetia. In a joint statement, the members
warned against the obvious threat posed by the bloodshed unleashed by
the Georgian leadership and its serious consequences, with the death
toll of thousands of people, destroyed infrastructure and peaceful
settlement in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone seriously
jeopardized.

The CSTO, an organization comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, stated that such
criminal actions should be unambiguously condemned by the
international community, and called on parliaments of other countries
to heed their message.

RECEB TAYYIP ERDOGAN: "WE WISH THE SOONEST SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT"

Today.Az
15 August 2008 [14:37]
Azerbaijan

Next week Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will discuss initiative
of the platform of security and cooperation in the South Caucasus
with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Turkish Prime Minister
Receb Tayyip Erdogan told reporters at the press conference in Bodrum,
Turkey, APA reports.

Erdogan said he wished for Azerbaijan and Armenia to participate in
the newly-established union. "We want to see Azerbaijan in the new
platform. Armenia can contribute to the peace and stability in the
region by joining this platform". Speaking about the Nagorno Karabakh
settlement process Erdogan said they wished for this conflict to be
solved in a short time.

"Despite efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, this conflict continues
for almost 13 years and there is no result yet. We wished for soonest
solution to this conflict".

GEORGIAN-OSSETIC ARMED CONFLICT HAS NO IMPACT ON CARGO TRAFFIC FROM GEORGIA TO ARMENIA

arminfo
2008-08-12 13:19:00

ArmInfo. Georgian-Ossetic armed conflict has had no impact on
cargo traffic from Georgia to Armenia, Minister of Transport and
Communication of Armenia Gurgen Sargsyan said at a press conference
Tuesday.

He said the Georgian port Poti operates and all the cargoes for Armenia
are shipped without problems. Sobut 60 carriages of cargoes were
supplied to Armenia from Georgia last night including 10 carriages
of petrol, 12 carriages of aviation kerosene, 4 carriages of grain
and other commodities.

In the meanwhile, he said, demand for petrol and some food products
grew 3-4 times in Armenia due to artificial excitement. Petrol is
sold with some limitation – 10 liters per person and the tariff at
some petrol stations in the country rose to 600 drams per liter. The
minister explained that the excitement is groundless and pursues
speculative goals. He assured that the necessary demand for petrol
in the country is satisfied and petrol supply to the country is
regular. He underlined that only 18 carriages of grain are now
in Georgia that were shipped at Poti and are currently on the way
to Armenia.

VAHRAM ATANESSYAN: MEDIATORS MUST BE HONEST WITH CONFLICTING PARTIES

arminfo
2008-08-11 12:59:00

ArmInfo. Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is ready to join in the negotiating
process and to undertake its share of responsibility for peace,
stability and further cooperation between the two nations, the
chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National
Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Vahram Atanessyan said during
a press-conference today.

Atanessyan said that both the conflicting parties and the mediators
believed that the last meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan was constructive. He pointed out that, unlike the restrained
joint statement by the OSCE MG co-chairs, in an interview to Interfax
the US co-chair Matthew Bryza expressed his personal opinion, which has
received wide response in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In
that interview Bryza said that Nagorno-Karabakh would decide itself
if to be part of Azerbaijan or to be independent. But in his later
interview to the BBC office in Azerbaijan he tried to correct his
earlier statement by means of vague diplomatic wordings.

Atanessyn believes that the mediators must be honest with the
conflicting parties and must inform the public about the proposals
that are presently on the negotiating table. "Any proposals coming
from the internal political situation in one of the conflicting
states are inadmissible. When giving an interview to BBC office
in Baku Bryza was trying to avoid escalating the internal political
situation in Azerbaijan before the forthcoming presidential election,"
Atannessyan said.

It may seem that Nagorno-Karabakh has already given its consent to
some future referendum. But in fact it has not.

NKR has repeatedly said that it will show interest in elimination of
the consequences of the armed stage of the Nagorno Karabakh-Azeri
conflict if Azerbaijan shows interest in recognition of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.

Since the establishment of cease-fire in 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh
has been a full party to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and is
responsible for the balance of forces in the region. This balance
cannot be changed without consideration of the national interests of
Nagorno-Karabakh. And the national priority of NKR is international
recognition of its de facto independence. All other issues can be
discussed in this context only.

4th ANNUAL ARMENIAN FESTIVAL OF ORANGE COUNTY TO TAKE PLACE IN SEPTEMBER

Noyan Tapan

Au g 11, 2008

LOS ANGELES, AUGUST 11, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. 4th Annual
Armenain Festival of Orange County will take place on September
13-14 in Laguna Hills Community Center. The Armenian Festival is
a pan-Armenian, non-political public tax-exempt organization which
donates a portion of net proceeds each year to charities.

THE 29TH OLYMPIC GAMES BEGIN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published On Aug 09, 2008
Armenia

The 29th Summer Olympic Games yesterday began in Beijing, the capital
city of China.

The games were opened by the Chinese President Hu Tszintao and Head
of the International Olympic Committee Jack Roguey.

This year, the procedure of the countries’ participation in the Olympic
parade was changed. Armenia, formerly appearing in the first rows, was
this time the 74th country, in accordance with the Chinese alphabet.

In these Olympic Games, Armenia will represent 25 sportsmen in 7
forms of sports, including weigh-lifting and Greco-Roman wrestling
(6 sportsmen in each), box (4 sportsmen), free-style wrestling (3
sportsmen), judo and athletics (2 sportsmen in each), shooting and
swimming (1 sportsman in each).

President Serge Sargsyan was also present at the opening ceremony of
the Olympic Games in Beijing.

OFFICIAL BLAMES US MEDIATOR FOR INCONSISTENCY

AzerNews Weekly
Aug 6 2008
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman has blamed US co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict for inconsistency in his statements.

"It is difficult to comment on Matthew Bryza`s statement regarding
the conflict settlement, as the statements he makes are expressed
tomorrow absolutely differently or refuted. I thereby suggest that
he be approached to clarify his views himself," Khazar Ibrahim told
a news conference Monday.

Bryza had told reporters in Moscow that the future status of Upper
Garabagh, an Azeri region under Armenian occupation, will be determined
through a referendum among its population.

Ibrahim emphasized that all Azeri citizens are to take part in the
referendum, in accord with the country`s Constitution.

"If we are talking about the principle of self-determination, this
issue can be solved only within territorial integrity, in line with the
Helsinki Final Act, which does not contradict Azerbaijan`s interests."

Ibrahim said that despite various statements being made, Baku`s
position on the issues currently on the negotiating table remains
unchanged. The conflict will be settled strictly stage by stage. In
the initial stage, Armenian armed forces will be withdrawn from the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Displaced persons will return
home, and only after normal conditions are created between the Azeri
and Armenian communities of Upper Garabagh will the region`s status
be determined within Azerbaijan.

"This is the only way to settle the conflict," the spokesman said.

U.S. MEDIATING MISSIONS IN SOUTH CAUCASUS CAN PROVOKE ESCALATION OF CONFLICTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.08.2008 13:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. mediating missions in South Caucasus can
provoke escalation of conflicts in Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia and
South Ossetia, said Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan, chairman of Mitq
analytical center.

"Matthew Bryza’s contradicting statements arouse tensions in the
conflict zones. American diplomacy neglects historical realities,"
he told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter when commenting on Bryza’s recent
statement that Nagorno Karabakh residents will themselves decide
whether their republic will return under Azeri control or will be
independent.

ARMENIA AIMS TO FIRM UP THREE-YEAR GAS PRICE DEAL WITH RUSSIA BY SEPTEMBER
by Andrew Neff

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
August 1, 2008

Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Moysisian told
reporters this week that the government is expecting to sign a new
gas price deal with Russia’s Gazprom in September. Interfax reported
that Gazprom plans to increase its gas export price for Armenia to
$165US per 1,000 cm, up from $110US per 1,000 cm at present. Gazprom
CEO Alexei Miller met with senior Armenian officials in May, with the
two sides agreeing to bring Russian gas prices to Armenia up to the
"European" level by 2011 (seeArmenia: 20 May 2008:). Moysisian told
reporters that Armenia is looking to sign a three-year deal with
Gazprom, although he said that the price has yet to be determined.

Significance:At the moment, Armenia is entirely reliant on Russian
gas imports to meet domestic demand, giving it little leverage in
price negotiations with Gazprom.

However, Armenia, which is also linked to Iran via a new pipeline
and will eventually have the possibility of sourcing gas from Iran,
managed to lock in a bargain price of $110US per 1,000 cm back in
2006 for a three-year period by agreeing to hand over various energy
assets to Russian entities (seeCIS: 7 April 2006:). Armenia is likely
looking to strike a similar deal with the Russian gas giant this
time around in order to keep prices stable–even if higher, at $165US
per 1,000 cm–through the end of 2011. The Russian gas firm may not
be so amenable to a three-year freeze in prices this time, however,
given the lack of assets that Armenia has to offer in exchange, so
a deal under which Russian gas prices to Armenia rise each year over
the next three years is perhaps a more likely outcome.

BEATING TWO POLICEMEN COSTS 100.000 AMD

A1+
29 July, 2008

Today Confidant of Levon Ter-Petrossian, painter Tigran Baghdasarian
has been fined 100.000 AMD for offering resistance to the police on
March 1. The decision was made in the Kentron and Nork-Marash General
Jurisdiction Court, by Judge Armen Khachatrian.

The latter noted that the preliminary sum for fine was fixed to be
350.000 AMD, but taking into consideration the fact that Baghdasarian
had been under detention between March 1 – May 12, the fine was
reduced to 100.000 AMD.

Reminder: Tigran Baghdasarian is accused under Article 316 /using
violence against the authority/.

Lawyer Ara Zakarian was discontent with the decision and stated his
intention to appeal it in the Court of Concession.