Category: News

At Risk: Sanctions in Georgia reveal Armenia ‘s regional vulnerability
ArmeniaNow.com
March 19, 2004
By Julia Hakobyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
An agreement was reached late yesterday (March 18) that should ease
concerns that Armenia would suffer as a result of political unrest in the
autonomous republic of Ajaria on Georgia ‘s Black Sea coast.
The presidents during last weekends meeting in Yerevan..
Long-standing tensions between Georgia and Ajaria increased early in March,
when Ajaria leader Aslan Abashidze expressed concern that the central
authorities seek the “total control of Ajaria.”
Last Tuesday, President Mikhail Saakhasvili imposed sanctions on the
autonomous republic in retaliation after armed loyalists of Abashidze fired
upon a presidential motorcade as Saakhasvili attempted to visit Ajaria last
Sunday. The Georgian president had just completed a weekend meeting in
Yerevan with President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan.
Saakhasvili called the incident “a serious challenge for Georgia “.
Merchants and officials in Armenia feared that the sanctions would cripple
trade in Armenia , which – suffering from blocked borders with Azerbaijan
and Turkey – relies on sea trade through the Ajaria port city of Batumi .
But following a five-hour meeting with Abashidze yesterday, Saakhasvili
lifted sanctions, effective today.
As the sanctions were announced, Armenian officials scrambled to organize a
secondary route from the Ukraine , utilizing the Georgian port of Poti .
More than 90 percent of Armenia ‘s imported and exported goods go through
Georgian ports, with more than 1,000 freight cars of food and fuel per month
coming from Batumi . And, while some trade could still be accomplished via
Poti, that port does not have a petroleum terminal, leaving Armenia reliant
on the Batumi access.
As sanctions were imposed, Flesh Company, one of Armenia ‘s large oil
traders announced that it has petrol reserve for 20 days and did not rule
out the possibility of price increases if the situation remained.
The events in neighboring Georgia made Armenian officials talk of the
necessity of strengthening relations between countries.
“Armenia is for constructive dialogues and peaceful solutions not only
because of its trade interests, but first of all because of the stability in
the region,” says Stepan Margaryan, the Armenian Prime Minister’s advisor
for regional issues.
“Events like this only underline the necessity of elaborating and deepening
relations. We are independent states, but we are small states and economic
or political crisis in one country immediately affect the stability in
another country,” he says.
Bozoyan says the two nations share common economic concerns.
Margaryan says neither Armenia nor Georgia has a strong enough economy to
ignore each other’s interests.
Presently, trade between Georgia and Armenia amounts to about $20 million
per year, “which is very low for neighbors,” Margaryan says. The advisor
proposes that Armenia and Georgia consider developing a single economic and
trade zone which would be attractive to international investors and
partners.
During 12 years of independence, no mutual venture has been established
between Georgia and Armenia , even though the countries have friendly
relations.
“Today Georgia cuts rates for Armenian goods 24 percent for oil products and
17 percent for the rest,” Margaryan says. “But it makes a 50 percent
discount for Azerbaijan . Besides, Georgia maintains a $1,500-$2000 tariff
per freight car coming to Armenia , which also affects business.”
During Saakashvili’s weekend visit to Armenia , the leaders of both
countries vowed to promote regional cooperation and bilateral ties.
Saakashvili described Armenia as an ideal partner, saying that his country
has much to learn from Armenia .
Yervand Bozoyan, political analyst of the Media Center non governmental
organization describes Saakashvili as a strong leader and also shares the
opinion that Armenia ‘s economic success is directly connected with the
situation in its neighboring countries.
Bozoyan says that Saakashvili’s sanctions on Ajaria were also conditioned by
the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia and Saakashvili’s intention
not to allow Ajaria’s leader’s party to enter the parliament.
“Ajaria is a state within the state with the totalitarian leader Abashidze,
who represents the strong and old Ajarian clan which ruled Ajaria for
several centuries. In fact Abashidze wants to gain total autonomy from
Georgia , despite it participated in Georgia’s presidential elections,”
Bozoyan says.
A Georgia-Ajaria border check point..
The Autonomous Republic of Ajaria, with a population of about 300,000, was
created in 1921, populated by Muslims in the primarily Christian country.
Bozoyan says that on the one hand Saakashvili has to allow the autonomous
republic certain independence. But on the other hand Georgia risks raising
tensions with the rest of its minority-populated regions, including
Abkhazia, South Osetia , the Armenian populated Javakhk and Azeri populated
Marneuli.
The analyst says it is difficult to predict future developments in
Tbilisi-Batumi relations, but it is apparent that the image and rating of
the Georgian leader will be much conditioned by his ability to resolve the
conflict within his country.
And Bozoyan hopes the events in Georgia , which demonstrated the
vulnerability of Armenia ‘s landlocked economy, will push Armenian
authorities to promote developing a regional economical zone and elaborate
new projects.

European Union launches high-tech project in Armenia
Arminfo
19 Mar 04
YEREVAN
The implementation of a European Union project to develop information
technology has begun in Armenia, this was said at the presentation
ceremony today.
The project, which will end in 2005, will cost 1.2m euros in
total. The project consists of two parts – the provision of training
and the creation of relevant legal acts.
Passage omitted: minor details

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 21, 2004 Sunday 8:42 AM Eastern Time
Armsberbank gets ready to buy Georgian Bank
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armsberbank is getting ready to buy the Georgian Bank, Armsberbank
Board Chairman Mikhail Bagdasarov told Itar-Tass on Sunday.
He said representatives of the Armenian bank in Tbilisi for auditing
the Georgian Bank. They will come back to Yerevan several days from
now, and the picture will be clear, Bagdasarov said.
“The Armsberbank acquisition of the Georgian Bank, which has a wide
network of offices, will promote better integration between Armenia
and Georgia,” he emphasized.
“There are agreements to the effect with the Georgian administration,
bank shareholders and the Georgian Central Bank. It will be the first
large Armenian acquisition in Georgia,” Bagdasarov said.

Armenian leader says devolution of power needed
Mediamax news agency
19 Mar 04
YEREVAN
The country leadership will continue the policy of devolution of
power, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said in Yerevan today.
At a working session today with the leadership of Yerevan’s Kentron
(Centre) community, the Armenian president said: “It is obvious that
the government should not deal with day-to-day problems of the
people. But, the government should ensure the implementation of credit
programmes in the sphere of water supply, heating and so on. However,
self-government bodies should be responsible for their
implementation,” the head of state said.
Passage omitted: similar ideas are reiterated

Batumi News
March 20 2004
Blackout in Georgia may linger on over parliamentary elections

Din White, director general of the Georgian Unified Energy
Distributing Company fails to set the date for the power crisis
reduction. Meanwhile, he stressed on the measures taken to reach the
goal. Mr. White said the blackout results from the decrepit system,
mismanagement and absence of investments.
`The Caucasioni high voltage power transmission link has been
switched off since March, we have no dates for restoring it. We are
posed to the deficit of water supplies in the `Engurhes’ power
station, instead of 200 mgwt. it can aggregate 50 mgwt. power
presently’, – Din White said.
Mr. White said they are relying hopes the power deficit will slacken
in some regions after they reach negotiations with Armenia on power
import; however, most Georgian regions are going to remain blackout.
`We have no outlook yet for having better power supply by the
Parliamentary elections March 28, the crisis is in its critical phase
for the week on, we depend on better weather conditions and restoring
of the `Caucasioni’ transmission wire, – the director general quoted.

Azeri police disperse nationalist group’s picket, detain three
ANS TV, Baku
21 Mar 04
A group of people has gathered outside Qiz Qalasi Maiden Tower . But
this time they gathered for a different reason – for a protest
action. Young members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization staged
an unsanctioned action under the slogans “Well-done Ramil” Ramil
Safarov murdered an Armenian officer in Budapest and “We will avenge
the victims of Xocali” town in Karabakh whose Azeri residents were
massacred by Armenian troops in 1992 .
Five minutes into the action, police officers arrived and seized the
slogans from the protesters. They tried to disperse the protesters and
move them further away from the Maiden Tower.
The chairman of the organization, Akif Nagi, said that the policemen
took three of their members, Rovsan Fatiyev, Manaf Karimov and Mursal
Hasanov, to police station No 9.

Edmonton Sun (Alberta, Canada)
March 21, 2004 Sunday Final Edition
RISK EQUALS REWARD
Two Edmonton brothers, barely out of their teens, go to work as
furniture manufacturing reps.
Their parents, originally Armenians from Turkey, come to the city via
Venezuela with nary a dime in their pockets.
George and Jack Saroukian go on to open their own upper-end furniture
store. Finesse Furnishings opens as a small store on 51 Avenue.
Eighteen years and a detour through the west end later, they are in
their beautiful new $25-million digs in what was the old IKEA site
off Calgary Trail. The new store is almost three times bigger than
its west-end predecessor.
In just two months, Finesse Furnishings opens in Montreal. Three more
Canadian locations are planned. Headquarters, the Saroukians promise,
will always be Edmonton.
– Moving on from Redtail Landing is Jamie Driscoll. He is now “head
pro” at the new ReTee Golf Centre.
“We’re an indoor practice facility,” says Jamie, “with 20 swing
stations and a 15-metre gallery.” ReTee will offer golf instruction,
with a specialty in working with special- needs individuals. Jamie
and his wife, former figure-skating champ Lisa Sargeant-Driscoll, are
the parents of autistic four-year-old Tanner. “Our hope is to one day
start a foundation for autistic children,” says Jamie.

A1 Plus | 21:01:30 | 19-03-2004 | Social |
“A1+” TV COMPANY MAKING AN ANNOUNCEMENT
2 years ago, on April 2, 2002, TV and Radio National Committee deprived
“A1+” TV Company of the broadcasting license.
During the 2 past years “A1+” partook in 8 tenders for frequency ranges and
disputed against TV and Radio National Committee decisions in all the Court
instances. Both tenders and Court decisions were made by breaking laws,
which aimed at blocking “A1+” return to broadcasting area. Making TV air
manageable Authorities conducted illegal elections, bereaving people of the
right and chance to receive unbiased and full information.
Fund for Speech Freedom Support is holding a protest action on April 2.
The initiative group protecting “A1+” TV Company calls upon everybody who
values speech freedom, to take part in the march and meeting for “A1+” on
April 2.
We demand:
1) to hold a tender for free frequencies
2) to involve the representatives of social organizations in rating
assessment of the tender proposals. We expect for quick satisfying of the
above demands or else we will keep protesting.
The march will start at 2:00 PM near “A1+” TV Company building /Grigor
Lusavoritch, 15/.
The meeting will take place on Freedom Square, at 3:00 PM.
Those who are concerned about speech freedom and interested in this action,
may phone 585427, 560716, 564299, or e-mail on [email protected].
—

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Mid-Lent ceremony at Sourp Neshan
Mother church in Beirut, Lebanon
Antelias, Lebanon – On the occasion of mid-Lent (Michink), His Holiness
Aram I, invited by the primate of the Armenian Diocese of Lebanon Bishop
Kegham Khacherian, presided over a Sunrise ceremony (Arevakal) in Sourp
Neshan Mother church in Beirut, Lebanon, 17 March 2004, with the presence of
Seminary students, who performed Armenian Church hymns.
Mid-Lent coincides with the 20th day of Lent, a 40-day period of penitence
and fasting observed from Ash Wednesday to Easter by many churches.
Present for the Sunrise service were members of the Cilician Brotherhood,
prelates of the Canadian, Eastern, and Western Prelacies, and also
representatives of their Lay Councils, and faithful.
Following the church service and the welcoming remarks of the Primate of
Lebanon, His Holiness delivered a speech. His Holiness said: “The Light of
our Christian faith must be reflected in the life of every Armenian
faithful”, taking his theme from one of the hymns of the Sunrise service
which praises Christ, the source of Light with the words “Let your rational
Light dawn within us”. His Holiness went on to say, that “this rational
Light must shine forth within the Armenian Church, within the Armenian
family and within our Armenian fatherland”.
Following the church service, the Board of Trustees and the Ladies’
Auxiliary hosted a traditional luncheon in honor of His Holiness Aram I.
##
View printable pictures here:
***********
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

THE WINNER KAREN ASRIAN
Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
19-03-2004
On March 17 took place the closing ceremony of the international chess
tournament devoted to the 75th anniversary of the ninth champion of
the world Tigran Petrossian. The first place of the tournament was won
by grand master of chess Karen Asrian who had 6 points of the 9
possible. The second place was taken by the representative of Poland,
grand master Bartlome Macheya with 5.5 points. The representative of
Armenia, grand master Gabriel Sarghissian took the third place (5
points). The prize winners received money prizes and presents. The
other participants and guests also received presents. By the decree of
the NKR president the Medal of Gratitude was conferred on the guest of
honour of the tournament, the tenth champion of the world Boris
Spassky. The medal was delivered by NKR prime minister Anoushavan
Danielian.
ANAHIT DANIELIAN.
19-03-2004