Author: Zargarian Hambik

Electoral headquarters of the candidate for president Vazgen Manukyan:
Resignation of the first Armenian president Ter-Petrosyan in 1998 is
direct result of the events of 1996

2008-01-14 20:30:00

ArmInfo. Resignation of the first Armenian president Ter-Petrosyan in
1998 is direct result of the events of 1996 caused by falsification of
the results of the presidential election, statement of the electoral
headquarters of the candidate for president, the leader of the National
and Democratic Union Vazgen Manukyan says.

To note, Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s statement made at the press-conference
on 11 January caused this statement. When commenting on the events of
1996 Ter-Petrosyan said if he and his team is forced to argue on the
results of the election, it will take place in line with legislation.

According to today’s statement of Vazgen Manukyan’s electoral
headquarters, "if Ter-Petrosyan condemns the wave of people’s
indignation in 1996, the shaft of his critics will be directed not only
against Vazgen Manukyan but also against aspiration of the people to
form power via the democratic election. If official election of 1996
were fair and Levon Ter-Petrosyan gained the amount of the votes
mentioned that time, in that case his resignation would be hardly
accepted by the people", – the statement says.

CSTO PROPOSES HOLDING MEETING OF FIVE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING IN POST-SOVIET SPACE

arminfo
2008-01-11 14:22:00

ArmInfo. Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) proposes
holding a meeting of the leaders of the 5 international organizations
operating in the post-Soviet space in 2008: Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), EurAsian Economic Community (EurAsEC), and CIS, Secretary
General Nikolay Borduzha told journalists, Friday, BelaPAN reports
CSTO referring to RIA Novosti. ‘We propose holding the meeting of these
five organizations to discuss the existing and future problems in the
post-Soviet space, particularly, illegal drug traffic prevention and
border management. We have many topics and problems to discuss. We
work independently. Why don’t we combine efforts? ‘ N. Borduzha
said. He said CIS and EurAsEC leaders have already agreed to attend
the meeting, which will be ‘a serious step forward’.

H.RES.106 SUPPORTER TOM LANTOS COMPLETING SERVICE IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.01.2008 13:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of the House Affairs Committee, Democrat
Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo, San Francisco) is completing his service
due to ill health.

Congressman Tom Lantos released the following statement:

"Routine medical tests have revealed that I have cancer of the
esophagus. In view of this development and the treatment it will
require, I will not seek re-election.

"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the
Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have
received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of
serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress. I
will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to
this great country."

Tom Lantos was elected to Congress in 1980 and is in his 14th term in
office. His Democratic colleagues elected him chairman of the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs in January 2007. He is a senior member
of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, Tom is the
founding co-chairman of the 24-year-old Congressional Human Rights
Caucus, which Annette has directed as a volunteer since its inception,
the congressional press unit said.

On October 10, 2007, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs under
the chairmanship of Congressman Lantos passed the Armenian Genocide
resolution, H.Res.106 with a vote 27 to 21.

DEAR FRIEND, WE ARE ASKING YOU FOR A FAVOR

AZG Armenian Daily
11/01/2008

12 year-old Gagik Babayan is suffering from nephritic deficiency. Both
the kidneys are not functioning, and the kid’s life is maintained due
to regular blood rectification. The father of the child is ready to
give his own kidney to save his life, but the family lacks money for
the transplantation surgery. We ask all the kind-hearted people to
take part in the marathon and donate money for saving the kid’s life.

Helping the child you shall show your love and anxiety.

Russian Federation

INTERMEDIARY: "BANK FOR FOREINGN TRADE", OJSC ("ÂÍÅØÒÎÐ& #xC3;ÁÀÍÊ" ÎÎÎ),
RUSSIA, MOSCOW

SWIFT CODE: VTBR RU MM

BENEFICIARY`s BANK: 30112840555550000059

"VTB BANK (ARMENIA)" CJSC (FORMERLY – ARMSAVINGSBANK), YEREVAN, ARMENIA

SWIFT: ARMJAM22

BENEFICIARY: Account N 160442125961

>From all country, but no from Russian Federation

INTERMEDIARY: AMERICAN EXPRESS BANK GMBH

SWIFT CODE: AEIBDEFX

Frankfurt Am Main, DE

BENEFICIARY`s BANK: 18159006

"VTB BANK (ARMENIA)" CJSC (FORMERLY – ARMSAVINGSBANK), YEREVAN, ARMENIA

SWIFT: ARMJAM22

BENEFICIARY: Account N 160442225969

Tel: 093 916-839, 010 612-201

–Boundary_(ID_wohqH+MOs64tf7c2z8H57Q)–

RUSSIANS PLAN TO RESTORE RAILWAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN

Lragir
Jan 10 2008
Armenia

On January 10 the minister of communication and transport Andranik
Manukyan stated in a briefing that the Russian Railways which is the
only tenderer for the Armenian Railways and will most probably win
the tender, plans to restore railway communication with Turkey and
Azerbaijan in 2009-2010.

The minister says in 2009 the Russian company plans to restore
communication between Armenia and Turkey and in 2010 with Azerbaijan.

The minister repeated that the Russian manager plans to invest about
600 million dollars in the Armenian railway infrastructure, and as
soon as the blockade of Armenia is lifted, the investments will reach
21 billion 100 million dollars. Andranik Manukyan says according to
the bid package, the Russian company bids one-time payment of 1.7
million dollars to the government of Armenia. Andranik Manukyan says
the bid is under consideration.

He says the Russian company’s bid for the concession is favorable,
and as soon as the Russian Railways takes up the management of the
Armenian railway, it will improve the state of the railway, repairing
the dangerous parts of the rails in the north of Armenia, replacing
the trains, the infrastructure, build new rails, modernize and boost
cargo shipment capacity.

At the same time, the railways remain the property of Armenia,
Andranik Manukyan explained. He says Armenia thinks the management
by the Russian company will be more effective than by the ministry
which now controls the Armenian railways, ARKA reports.

The result of the tender will become known on January 15. The only
tenderer is the Russian Railways which will win the tender. An Indian
company had also bid for concession but it stopped halfway.

LEDRA STREET CEMETERY: THE GOVERNMENT TO THE RESCUE

21-10- 2007

Armenian MP Vartkes Mahdessian has announced that the Cyprus Government
has approved CY 90,000 (US $ 220,000) for the restoration of the old
Armenian cemetery near the Ledra Palace.

According to our MP the restoration would cost about CY 125,0000 (US
$ 300,000) and the CY 90,000 pound injection from the Government of
Cyprus gives the Church the opportunity to start work on this long
overdue project and finish the restoration project which had failed
miserably more than 2 years ago.

Nearly 2 years on, the cemetery is now in an even worse state. Historic
headstones lie in a heap at a place where once the descendants of
over 400 souls were buried.

Fortunately, thanks to many individual efforts, and particularly
Cypriot MP Vartkes Mahdessian, who since his election was lobbying
hard for the funds, it is expected tenders to open in a few mounths
and start the renovation work by the second half of 2008.

The Cyprus Armenian Prelature had started digging up the graves, as
part of its plan to put remains together in a new communal pit adjacent
to the small chapel, do some restoration work and convert the area to
a historical and architectural monument, while rumors were ripe that it
would be sold to real estate developers, converted to a car park etc.

In April 2005, the restoration work at the cemetery was halted after
the Ministry of the Interior took out an injunction to stop the work
because of serious planing and implementation errors and illegalities,
not to mention the outcry of many community members.

In 2006 The Nicosia Municipality had threatened to sue the Armenian
Church for failing to implement a court order demanding that the
300-year-old Armenian cemetery be restored back to its original state.

SAMAD SEYIDOV: AZERBAIJAN DOES NOT OBJECT TO ANY INTERNATIONAL MISSION’S VISIT TO OUR COUNTRY

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 9 2008
Azerbaijan

There is no need for Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE)
appointing special rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Working Group functions in Azerbaijan efficiently and appointment
of the rapporteur will not be in the favor of the situation, head
of Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov told
the APA.

He said that he does not believe that taking such step will cause
constructive achievement in this direction.

"I do not believe that there will be constructive achievement with
such step. I regard that the pardon decree signed by the head of the
state is very large, thorough, humanist step. Most of the imprisoned
journalists were released under pardon decree. This decree will have
very positive, great influence. All international organizations,
as well as Council of Europe expressed its position to this pardon
decree," he said.

Samad Seyidov responding to the question "Who Azerbaijani delegation
wants to see in the post of PACE President?" stated that discussions
on this direction continue.

"CE has not yet defined who will participate in the elections. Any
country’s making decision on it would not be better, as CE has not
yet made a decision on it," he said.

Samad Seyidov commenting on the change of the format of mission on
the protection of cultural-historical monuments in South Caucasus
noted that Azerbaijani side does not object to any international
mission’s visit to our country.

"Visit to any country, as well as visit of this mission should be
carried out in the framework of adopted international rules. There
are principles of the organization of the visit, and one of them is
that those who want to visit Nagorno Karabakh-the area which is out
of the control of our country should pass there from the area which
is under control of Azerbaijan. We do not accept the other variants.

We do not create any problem," he said.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 2 2008

2008 to be a reform year

by Fatma Disli

Much has been said about the year 2007. While some said it was a
brilliant and thrilling year, others said it was disappointing and
full of nightmares. But it is over now, and we have a newly born year
in front of us. There are various expectations from the new year, but
there is almost a consensus that this year needs to see the
expeditious implementation of reforms that were delayed due to the
political turmoil that haunted the country last year. There are also
expectations that the government will shed some light on a number of
attacks that were committed against non-Muslim citizens in 2007 that
damaged Turkey’s image in the international arena.
Zaman’s Mümtaz’er Türköne predicts that 2008 will be dominated by
major reforms in all fields, which he thinks will be facilitated by
the drafting of a new constitution. `Radical reforms are a must for
the year 2008. Most importantly, the society is expecting these
reforms. There is a government in power that received the vote of one
out of every two voters. The presidency is ready to pave the way for
reforms. We have many reasons to boost our expectations for the year
2008,’ says Türköne. `Humans live as long as they harbor hope. Our
hopes are raised by the settled stable environment in the country.
Turkey now needs to make the major reforms it has delayed for years,
and it needs to rid of obsolete institutions,’ he adds.

Radikal’s Hasan Celal Güzel expects a newly written constitution to
be the most significant development of the new year. He believes that
the adoption of a democratic and pro-freedom constitution will be the
start of a new period in Turkey. In the foreign policy area, he
suggests that Turkey should launch a new action plan. He advises that
it should further develop its recently improved relations with the US
and Central Asia. In general, he urges engaging in intense relations
with all of Turkey’s neighbors as well as the Middle Eastern
countries. He also strongly recommends speeding up reforms to
accelerate the EU accession process. `2008 should be a year of
reforms. The reforms that were blocked by the outgoing president
should be completed this year,’ he contends. For Turkey’s fight
against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists, Güzel
notes that the cross-border operations that were launched in late
2007 should also continue in 2008 along with social and economic
measures for the country’s southeastern region aimed at rooting out
the social base of the PKK.

Referans’ Cengiz Çandar hopes that the government will crack down on
the organizations and gangs who target non-Muslims in Turkey in 2008,
recalling the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and
the murders of three Christians at a publishing house in Malatya last
year, which still remain unexplained. `I call on all the newspapers
in Turkey to spare space for this issue on their front pages every
day and wage a democratic campaign. I call on all the nongovernmental
and business organizations to keep this issue hot on their agenda in
an attempt to get concrete results. No matter what you do, you cannot
save the honor and dignity of being a Muslim and Turk as long as you
don’t stand up for the rights of our non-Muslim citizens and expose
the perpetrators of the crimes committed against them,’ he says.

Rezonansi, Georgia
Dec 26 2007

Resources for Abkhaz conflict resolution has been included in US
budget.

Americans will finance elaboration of Transcaspian pipeline projects
too

by Nino Prangishvili

Money for conflict resolution

The US Senate has approved the country’s 2008 budget. According to
the budget, next year, the US Department of State will receive 402m
dollars for the development of democratic processes in the
post-Soviet area. The adopted document says that a large portion of
this money should be used for the resolution of the Abkhaz and
Nagornyy Karabakh conflicts.

In addition, according to Assistant Secretary of State Daniel
Sullivan’s explanation, the money allocated by the Senate will also
be spent on the elaboration of the Transcaspian oil and gas pipeline
projects which will allow Europe to receive oil and gas from Central
Asia via Azerbaijan and Georgia, bypassing Russia.

Despite the fact that, formally, the project of assistance to the
post-Soviet countries was devised by a Congress subcommittee,
Kommersant newspaper says that its real author is Tom Lantos,
chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Russia’s old
opponent.

How will the events unfold should the projects created by the United
States be put into operation and how effective will their
implementation be for Georgia? Political analyst Soso Tsintsadze said
that the US Senate allocates the money for this purpose every year.
He also said that the allocated 402m dollars seems like a large
amount to us but, according to Tsintsadze, this is very little for
the global problems that the projects we are talking about.

Links to Kosovo

As for the Abkhazia and Nagornyy Karabakh issues, Tsintsadze is quite
sceptical about the prospects of resolving them. According to the
political analyst, the US Congress has been allocating this kind of
assistance every year since 1946. The difference this time is that
the separatist regions have been specified. The political analyst
provides his own explanation regarding this issue.

"In the past, this money was called assistance allocated for people
struggling against the Soviet totalitarian system. It is for the
first time, however, that the money has been allocated for concrete
separatist regions. I think that this is related to the Kosovo
problem because Washington is the main driving force on which their
[Kosovo’s] tactic is based. Washington is not really sure that
Azerbaijan and Georgia will fully agree with its policy. Basically,
the norms of precedent and international law are being violated here.

"They know well that the Georgian public will not be especially
delighted by the US proposal regarding Kosovo. This is why money has
been allocated to settle the Abkhazia and Nagornyy Karabakh problems.
It is a fact that this money has to be spent so that an agreement on
the issues of protection of territorial integrity is reached. I do
not think, however, that this will be effective.

"Russia has firmly decided today that Europe should be completely
dependent either on the Russian gas or on the gas delivered via
Russia. A whole knot of contradictions has taken shape here. The fact
that the Senate has allocated a certain amount of money to this end
is a usual, annual event. The Abkhazia and Nagornyy Karabakh issues
are the only new thing about it," Tsintsadze said.

Transcaspian projects

Economic expert Gia Khukhashvili said that the Untied States is
trying to weaken Russia’s influence in energy markets, including
Europe, by means of alternative projects. He too, however, is
sceptical about the effectiveness of this step.

"Unfortunately, the situation is certainly not good today. For
example, a short while ago, Putin and [Kazakh President Nursultan]
Nazarbayev held a meeting and signed a project of construction of a
pipeline along the Caspian coast for the transportation of the
Turkmen gas, with the carrying capacity of 25m cu m of gas [as
published]. Therefore, the projects elaborated by the US Senate will
not be able to ensure good prospects to the implementation of
Transcaspian projects bypassing Russia in the future.

"Naturally, this amount is too small for the settlement of such
issues since Russia has high stakes in them. For, example, it
controls the energy carriers of Central Asia. I think that the
situation is not good in this regard today," Khukhashvili noted.

[translated]

TWO BIG TRANSPORT JUNCTIONS PUT INTO OPERATION IN YEREVAN ON DECEMBER 28

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The estacade of
Baghramian-Kasian-Kievian streets’ crossroad and the tunnel built in
the Baghramian-Orbeli crossroad were put into operation on December 28.
RA President Robert Kocharian, Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharian, other
high-ranking officials were present at the transport junctions’ opening.

The newly built estacade is 226 meters long, 9 meters wide. Combining
with the tunnel of Baghramian-Orbeli crossroad, cars can
uninterruptedly run without traffic lights and crossings from
Baghramian-Proshian crossroad to Kievian, Kasian streets and Komitas
Avenue.

As Y. Zakharian mentioned, this regular big road construction junction
is very important in the general urban development programs of
regulating the rhythm of Yerevan’s traffic. According to him, the
projects of transport junctions were ready as early as in the 1980-s,
but they managed to implement them only now. According to the Mayor, we
should appreciate the work of the builders, who were able just in a few
months to finish construction, which would take more than a year under
other approaches.

According to Y. Zakharian, the positive shifts in Yerevan’s urban
development sphere are conditioned by economic stability established in
the country, which by operation of each structure is not only
strengthened, but also opens new development prospects.