RA DEFENCE MINISTER CONTENT WITH GERMAN SIDE’S PARTICIPATION IN ELABORATION OF RA NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. At the December 19 meeting, RA
Defence Minister, Secretary of the National Security Council under
RA President, Serge Sargsian and Ambassador of Germany to RA, Heike
Renate Peitsch touched upon the bilateral events scheduled by the
2007 defence cooperation program attaching importance to training
and retraining of Armenian officers at German military educational
institutions. Mentioning that in 2006 Armenia and Germany cooperated
not only in defence, but also in security spheres, S.Sargsian expressed
gratitude to the German side for its participation in the elaboration
of the Armenian National Security Strategy. According to RA Defence
Ministry Press Service, in the issue of elaboration of RA military
doctrine the sides attached importance to the assistance to be provided
by specialists of the German Defence Ministry in the future.

PRICES OF SOME GOODS ARE UNREASONABLY HIGH IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Economic entities with a
dominating position operate in the country’s butter, eggs, meat
products, granulated sugar, beer, cement, gasoline and diesel fuel
markets, and there is a probability of using unreasonable prices and
anticompetition agreements. It was stated at the December 19 sitting of
the RA State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition. Besides,
it was noted that as a result of 40% appreciation of the Armenian
dram against the US dollar, importers raise prices of goods by
40-89%, which represents an anticompetition phenomenon. Moreover,
under conditions of a decline in the cost prices of some goods, a
growth in sale prices of these goods has been observed: for example,
the cost price of an egg is 32 drams (about 0.87 USD), whereas it
is sold for 71 drams. The granulated sugar importing and selling
companies have indicated different prices. The commission decided to
warn economic entities to review sale prices within 5 days and take
measures to prevent and rule out the unreasonable rise of prices
and the use of such prices due to anticompetition agreements. Those
with a dominating position were told to present to the commission
information about measures on reviewing sale prices by January 20,
2007. The commission will implement a monitoring of sale prices in
the country’s markets from December 20, 2006 to January 20, 2007.

AEPLAC DIRECTOR: FREEZING TURKEY-EU NEGOTIATIONS IS TO THE ADVANTAGE OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Freezing the negotiations
on Turkey’s joining the European Union is to the advantage of
Armenia in terms of formation of some preconditions for opening
the Armenian-Turkish border. The Director of the Armenian-European
Policy and Legal Advice Centre (AEPLAC) Tigran Jrbashian expressed
this opinion at the December 19 press conference. According to him,
the opportunties to be created as a result of opening the border are
most important, as these opportunities are related to a decline in
transportation costs of Armenian goods to Europe via Mediterranean
ports. In the speaker’s opinion, by opening its border with Armenia,
Turkey in its turn may create favorable conditions for Eastern Turkey’s
development because Armenia is more developed than the eastern regions
of Turkey. In his words, in terms of its economy Western Turkey
is three times as much developed as Eastern Turkey (by its economic
product per capita), and during the negotiations the EU put forward the
requirement that Turkey should solve the problem of disproportional
regional development. T. Jrbashian said that the "cheapest version"
of the problem’s solution is to open the Armenian-Turkish border.

ZHARANGUTIUN PARTY LEADER’S MEETING WITH VANADZOR RESIDENTS FAILS

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Zharangutiun (Heritage) Party leader
Raffi Hovannisian’s meeting with residents of Vanadzor scheduled for
December 16 at Vanadzor H.Abelian State Dramatic Theater failed. Noyan
Tapan was informed about it from the Party’s Press Service. According
to the report, in spite of the agreement on renting the area reached
in advance and the agreement signed by the established order, the
theater leadership refused to provide them the territory on a number
of invented pretexts. In spite of this, many residents of Vanadzor
gathered in the square near the theater. Vardan Khachatrian, Chairman
of the Party’s Board, answered their questions. The latter declared
that against the obstacles, "Raffi Hovannisian will realize his right
of RA citizen and both in Vanadzor and in any place of Armenia will
frankly and openly speak with the people." According to the report,
the authorities’ affirmations that equal conditions and rights are
provided for all political figures in Armenia do not correspond to
reality. "Moreover, within the framework of the order from above,
all RA TV companies, both state and private, are closed before the
Zharangutiun’s founder," the party’s report read.

COURT STARTS EXAMINATION OF FALSE INFORMATION CASE REVEALED DURING INVESTIGATION OF SHAHEN HOVASAPIAN’S MURDER CASE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The court of first instance
of Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork-Marash communities on December 18
started examining the case of false information revealed during the
investigation of the case of killing Shahen Hovasapins, the head of
the operative-investigative department of the State Tax Service. The
accused – the officer of the RA Police Davtashen Unit Gevorg Gevorgian
and the deputy head of the Bagratashen crossing point Artavazd Melikian
denied chargers against them. According to the case materials, having
agreed beforehand with A. Melikian, G. Gevorgain (with the aim of
taking revenge) sent an anonymous letter, in which he accused the
aggrieved parties Sahak Arsenian and Zhirayr Hayrapetian of killing
Sh. Hovasapian. According to the testimonies of witnesses and aggrieved
parties, the motive for taking revenge was that G. Gevorgain suspected
that S. Arsenian told his girlfriend about his being married, while
Zh. Hayrapetian dated her. This prompted G. Gevorgain to "take
measures" by sending false information about these two persons. 3
witnesses were questioned at the court sitting, including the two
girlfriends involved in the love affairs, and the two aggrieved
parties. The court decidedd that the other aggrived parties and
the accused will be questioned, after which the main evidence will
be examined.

WINTER HOLIDAYS START AT ARMENIAN SCHOOLS FRON DECEMBER 25

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Winter holidays have been announced
at Armenian comprehensive schools from December 25, 2006 to January 22,
2007. NT correspondent was informed from Lilit Galstian, spokeswoman
for the RA Ministry of Education and Science that for first formers the
winter holidays will be longer by two weeks than usual. L. Galstian
said that as in previous years, this year the duration of winter
holdays (frim December 25 to January 7) will increase by two weeks
at the expense of autumn holidays (October 30 – November 5) and the
upcoming spring holidays (march 19-25). Only first formers have 1-week
autumn and spring holidays.

ARMENIA GAS SUPPLY IN JEOPARDY OVER PIPELINE BREAK IN GEORIA: GAZPROM

Agence France Presse — English
December 19, 2006 Tuesday 5:54 PM GMT

Armenia could face a gas shortage this winter if a burst pipeline
in neighboring Georgia is not repaired quickly, Russian gas monopoly
Gazprom warned Tuesday.

"Armenia has not received Russian gas in the necessary volumes for
the past two days due to a burst gas pipeline on Georgian territory,"
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in a statement.

The break in the pipeline occurred on Sunday for reasons still not
known to Gazprom and "it is obvious that if repair work drags out for
an extended period Armenia could be without gas in its underground
storage tanks this winter."

"This is a very troublesome situation," Kupriyanov warned.

"We and our Armenian colleagues are counting on everything possible
being done quickly to restore Russian gas shipments to Armenia through
Georgian territory," the statement said.

Armenia was currently receiving one-third of its gas through an
alternative pipeline while drawing on its underground reserves to
meet the remainder of its needs, it added.

AUTHOR CLEARED OF INSULTING TURKEY’S FOUNDING FATHER

Agence France Presse — English
December 19, 2006 Tuesday 12:44 PM GMT

An Istanbul court on Tuesday cleared a best-selling author of charges
of insulting modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in a book
about his wife at a time of EU pressure on the country to ensure
freedom of speech, the writer’s lawyer said.

Veteran journalist Ipek Calislar risked up to four-and-a-half years
in jail under a special law to protect the legacy of the much-revered
Ataturk for insulting him in a biography about his wife Latife Ussaki.

She was charged along with Necdet Tatlican, an editor of the
mass-selling daily Hurriyet, which published excerpts of the book.

The judge ruled Tuesday in the second hearing of the trial that the
alleged offense had not taken place and acquitted both defendants,
attorney Fikret Ilkiz told AFP.

In her book "Latife Hanim", released in June, Calislar draws a fresh
portrait of Ataturk’s enigmatic wife, whose image to Turks has been
one of a shrill and bossy shrew blamed for the collapse in 1925 of
her short-lived marriage with the national hero.

The passage that landed Calislar in court quotes a witness as telling
how Ataturk, facing an armed attack by a political opponent, put on a
chador to disguise himself as a woman to flee the presidential palace
in Ankara.

The suit was filed on a petition to the court by a reader of the book,
Huseyin Tugrul Pekin, who wrote: "It is the greatest insult to claim
that Mustafa Kemal, whose courage none of us would dare judge, did
something like that."

Dozens of Turkish intellectuals, among them 2006 Nobel literature
laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been put on trial over the past year for
dissident views.

Most of them have been charged over remarks contesting the official
line on the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire under
a controversial penal code article which makes it a crime to insult
"Turkishness" and state institutions.

The European Union has warned this goes against European standards
on freedom of speech which the country must meet if it is to join
the bloc.

No one has been imprisoned under the provision, but the appeals
court in July confirmed the suspended six-month sentence against
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, setting a precedent for 70
other pending cases.

IF WORKS ON RUSSIAN GAS PIPELINE TAKES LONG, ARMENIA MAY BE WITHOUT GAS IN WINTER

Yerevan, December 19. ArmInfo. Armenia may be left without gas
supplies of the underground storages this winter if works on Russian
gas pipeline drag long, Sergey Koupriyanov, Official Representative
of Gasprom, told journalists today.

He said that the repairs will most probably drag on. However, Russian
and Armenian specialists are doing their best to restore the pipeline
as soon as possible. Now 1/3 of gas is supplied by lo capacity reserve
gas pipeline, while the rest is taken from underground storages
in Armenia.

Kupriyanov said that Gazprom does not know what caused the breakage.

For two days already Armenia has not been receiving enough Russian
gas because of gas pipeline breakage in Georgia. The Georgian side
says that the breakage was caused by landslides.

TO FULFILL EU DEMANDS ON LIVING STANDARDS IN TURKISH REGIONS – IS TO OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA

Yerevan, December 19. ArmInfo. The easiest way to fulfill demands of
European Union (EU) to equal living standards of population in Turkish
regions, is to open borders with Armenia, said Tigran Jrbashyan,
Armenian Director of Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre
(AEPLAC), at the meeting with journalists today.

Among the 35 points discussed by EU with Turkey on its membership
in EU, negotiations over the 8 were suspended, and the other 27 are
actively negotiated.

"First of all Turkey will gain if the blockade is opened. EU mentions,
as the most acute problem, unequal distributed Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in Turkish regions. The inequality in the regions bordering
with Armenia falls three times. The easiest solution of the problem
is opening of the frontier. The onshore cargo transportation will
decrease Armenia’s expenses", T. Jrbashyan pointed out.