DJ VIMPELCOM CEO: ARMENIA, GEORGIA CAPEX IN LINE WITH STRATEGY
Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
November 16, 2006 Thursday 7:22 PM EET
Capital expenditure plans for Georgia and Armenia will generally
follow OAO Vimpel Communications’ pattern of investment in second-tier
countries, Chief Executive Officer Alexander Izosimov told Dow Jones
Newswires on Wednesday.
That is to say $100 per subscriber, Izosimov said. He added that the
company could reach one million subscribers – and $100 million in
expenditures – in both countries in about 36 months.
Izosimov said he couldn’t disclose more specific numbers or timeframes
at the moment.
In the case of Armenia, the deal in that country has just won approval
from the Armenian government and it is too early to talk about set
numbers, Izosimov said.
“We are very happy to see the Armenian government give its blessings,”
he said. “We have yet to finalize a capex plan.”
VimpelCom last week bought 90% of Armenian operator Armentel from
Greece’s Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA or OTE, for
EUR341.9 million in cash and EUR40 million in debt. The deal met
official approval last week.
Izosimov was in New York to celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary
of listing in the New York Stock Exchange. VimpelCom, as it is more
commonly known, is Russia’s No. 2 mobile phone provider after OAO
Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS.
“We already entered key markets” outside Russia, such as Ukraine,
he said. “We’re now going through the second-tier (countries)” and
Armenia and Georgia are important for the company’s strategy in the
Caucasus region, Izosimov said.
In terms of measuring its growth, the company is now focusing on
“real, quality subscribers” rather than raw subscriber numbers based
on phone card sales.
Real subscribers are people who not only buy mobile phone cards but
also use them in a chargeable transaction in three months’ time,
he said.
“Our aspiration is leadership,” Izosimov said. “We are very close,
we are a stone’s throw from closing the gap.”
Izosimov said relations between Russia and Georgia aren’t interfering
with company’s business in Georgia.
Relations between the two countries have become strained, with Georgia
recently vowing to reduce its dependence on Russian gas and in an
apparent effort to counteract pressure from its neighbor.
“It has not affected at all. We enjoy great support from the (Georgian)
government,” he said.
In September, VimpelCom posted a 23% rise in second-quarter net
profit, driven by price increases and tight cost controls. Net profit
increased to $194.9 million from $158.8 million a year earlier,
and revenue rose 46% to $1.12 billion from $769.8 million.
Shares of VimpelCom in New York were down 0.2% at $66.50 in early
afternoon trade Wednesday, when most Russian American Depositary
Receipts were seeing red.

ARMENIA PLANS TO MAINTAIN SMALL IRAQ PRESENCE
Agence France Presse — English
November 15, 2006 Wednesday 11:21 PM GMT
Armenia intends to extend the stay of its tiny contingent of 46
peacekeeping personnel serving under the US-led coalition in Iraq, the
country’s defense minister said Wednesday following a trip to Baghdad.
“We have appealed to the national assembly of Armenia with a request to
extend the term of our contingent in Iraq, and we hope that parliament
will give its assent,” Serzh Sarkisian told journalists at Yerevan’s
airport.
“We can’t just be consumers of security, we need to take part in the
process,” he said.
During his trip Sarkisian met Iraq’s defense minister Abdul Qadr and
the leadership of coalition forces and discussed the security of the
country’s 20,000 strong Armenian Diaspora as well as the coalition’s
long-term plans, a spokesman for Armenia’s defense ministry said.
Armenia’s forces in Iraq include 30 drivers, 10 sappers, three doctors
and three officers.

ARMENIAN, BUNDESTAG PRESIDENTS DISCUSS RELATIONS
Public Television, Armenia
Nov 16 2006
[Presenter] The Armenian and Bundestag presidents took part in the
opening ceremony of the new building of the Armenian embassy in
Berlin’s Charlottenburg district.
President Robert Kocharyan and President of the Bundestag Norbert
Lammert held a meeting at the new Armenian new embassy in Germany
and discussed the development of Armenian-German relations.
[Correspondent reporting from Berlin] The new building of the Armenian
embassy in Germany was opened in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district.
President Robert Kocharyan’s meeting with President of the Bundestag
Norbert Lammert at the embassy was symbolic. The Armenian president
said that the opening of the embassy building reflects the development
of Armenian-German relations, which has been noticeable in the last
few years. Robert Kocharyan noted that bilateral economic and political
relations are deepening and assistance programmes are acquiring a new
quantitative nature. The Armenian president said that there were no
relations a few years ago. Today Armenia seriously intends to develop
relations with Germany.
Germany’s forthcoming presidency of the European Union [EU] will
have a positive influence on these relations. Germany attaches
great importance to the integration of the South Caucasus within the
framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy.
The president of the Bundestag described as symbolic the opening of
the new building of the Armenian embassy in Germany two days after
the signing of Armenia’s Action Plan in Brussels. Armenia opens the
embassy in Germany which will chair the EU from 1 January 2007.
After the meeting, Robert Kocharyan and Norbert Lammert took part in
the opening ceremony of the embassy.
[Norbert Lammert, speaking in German with an Armenian voice-over]
The opening of the embassy symbolizes the level of Armenian-German
relations. These relations have been developing between the
governments. But it is necessary to develop interparliamentary
relations as well.
[Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan] Armenia deserves to have
an embassy building in Germany. Every time we open an Armenian embassy
abroad, we confirm our presence and Armenia’s independence.
In 15 years of independence, Armenia has opened embassies in more that
35 countries and this is the best manifestation of our independence.
[Correspondent] Representatives of Germany’s Armenian community,
diplomats, members of the Armenian and German governments took part
in the opening ceremony.

ARMENIAN, GERMAN LEADERS DISCUSS BILATERAL RELATIONS
Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
Nov 16 2006
Yerevan, 16 November: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met German
Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today.
The two countries’ leaders discussed bilateral relations and noted that
they have considerably improved over the last few years, a Mediamax
correspondent reported from Berlin. The sides also noted that the
German government and private investors are playing an important role
in implementing various economic projects in Armenia.
Kocharyan and Merkel also discussed issues related to prospects of
Armenia’s integration into Europe. From 1 January 2007, Germany will
take over the presidency of the European Union for six months and
the European Neighbourhood Policy will be one of the priorities of
its presidency.
The Armenian president and the German chancellor also exchanged
views about the situation in the South Caucasus and touched on
Armenian-Turkish relations in the context of the talks on Turkey’s
membership of European Union.

ARMENIA SAYS PULLING TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ “SENSELESS”
Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
November 15, 2006 Wednesday 02:34 PM EST
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said it would be “senseless”
to withdraw Armenian troops from Iraq.
“The National Assembly of Armenia will consider the possibility of
extending the mandate of peacekeepers in Iraq. It’s a necessity,”
the minister said on Wednesday upon return from Baghdad, where he
had had talks with coalition troops commanders.
In his view, “Armenia cannot remain only a consumer of international
security but should make its own, even though modest, contribution
to this process.”
He said the small but well trained contingent was carrying out its
mission on the level.
The national Iraqi government will take control of some provinces in
the spring of next year and the end of next year the Iraqi army and
police may control the whole country.

SWISS RIGHT-WINGERS TARGET ANTI-RACISM LAWS
Agence France Presse — English
November 16, 2006 Thursday 7:01 PM GMT
Switzerland’s largest political party, the right wing Swiss People’s
Party (SVP), said Thursday that it wanted to dismantle the country’s
anti-racism laws.
SVP leaders said that freedom of speech was endangered by the
legislation which was only adopted 12 years ago after being approved
by 54.6 percent of Swiss voters in a referendum.
“A suppression of the law could be backed by a majority now,” SVP
president Ueli Maurer said.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set
up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of
the UN Convention Against Racism.
Currently the SVP has two ministers in the four-party, seven member
Swiss collegial government, including the Justice Minister Christoph
Blocher.
Blocher caused an uproar and was formally rebuked by his cabinet
colleagues in October after he criticised the Swiss anti-racism law
during an official visit to Turkey and reportedly suggested it should
be revised.
Apart from outlawing racist comments in public, the legislation also
prohibits the negation of genocide.
The Swiss lower house of parliament in December 2003 recognised the
massacre of Armenians by Turkey in 1915 as genocide, angering the
Turkish government and straining relations between the countries.
The SVP gained 27 percent of the vote in the last general election
in Switzerland in 2003, leapfrogging over its main political rivals.
It was also a driving force in a referendum earlier this year that
backed tougher new legislation on asylum proposed by the government.

ARMENIA, MACEDONIA RAPPED FOR RIGHTS ABUSE BY COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Agence France Presse — English
November 16, 2006 Thursday 3:49 PM GMT
Rights abuse remained rife at the hands of police and prison
authorities in Armenia and Macedonia, the Council of Europe’s Committee
for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) said in separate reports issued
this week.
Reporting Thursday on an ad hoc visit to Armenia in April 2004,
triggered by complaints of police brutality during an anti-government
protest, the CPT said some of the allegations of misconduct were
substantiated, including police punches, blows and kicks against
protestors and the use of Russian-made “sound/light bombs”, also
known as electric truncheons.
“The CPT calls upon the Armenian authorities to make it clear to all
police and National Security Service staff that the ill-treatment of
persons in custody is illegal,” the report said.
The committee, which said the authorities had collaborated with
its investigators, asked to receive copies of follow-up forensic
reports on the incident and to be kept informed of investigations
into complaints of police misconduct.
Given the lack of trained anti-riot squads, it also urged that
the country provide specific training for police regarding crowd
control and ensure that allegations of misconduct by detainees be
systematically recorded by judges as well as by medical staff.
In a separate report on Macedonia, summing up the CPT’s fifth visit
to the country, also in 2004, the committee looked at how detainees
were treated by law enforcement agencies and examined accountability
for ill-treatment as well as the situation in remand prisons.
While there were no complaints at Geevvelija or Stip remand prisons,
there were problems at the overcrowded Skopje prison, where one inmate
showed bruises consistent with beatings.
Showers were allowed only every two weeks.
The CPT said ill-treatment by police remained significant, citing
“severe beating with batons or wooden sticks to extract a confession.”
“The CPT recommends that senior police officers regularly instruct
their subordinates that ill-treatment will not be tolerated,” the
report said.
It also reminded the authorities of the right of people being held
in custody to be guaranteed access to doctors.

NATO UNAFFECTED BY TURKEY-FRANCE MILITARY ROW: OFFICIALS
Agence France Presse — English
November 16, 2006 Thursday
NATO’s operations will not be affected by a decision by the Turkish
army to suspend its military relations with France, officials at the
defence alliance said Thursday.
Turkish army chief General Ilker Basbug made the announcement late
Wednesday in retaliation to a French parliamentary bill which would
make it a crime to deny that the World War I massacre of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.
“It’s a bilateral issue. It won’t affect their relations at NATO,”
an official in Brussels said.
Both French and Turkish troops were operating in Kabul, he added.
“They’re there today,” he stressed.
French and Turkish troops operate side-by-side in the Afghan capital,
under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF),
combatting a fierce insurgency by Taliban rebels.
However, General Basbug told reporters in Ankara that high-level
visits between the two countries had stopped, according to the Turkey’s
semi-official Anatolia news agency.
Turkey has warned that bilateral ties will suffer a great blow if
France adopts the bill, which foresees one year in jail for anyone
who denies that Armenians were the victims of genocide by Ottoman
Turks between 1915-17.
The bill was approved by the lower house of the French parliament last
month but still needs the approval of the Senate and the president
to take effect.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings during the last years of the Ottoman Empire,
modern Turkey’s predecessor.
But Turkey rejects the use of the term “genocide”, saying some 300,000
Armenians died when the Ottoman Empire fell apart, but at least as
many Turks did too.
“This doesn’t concern NATO,” a diplomat at the military organisation
agreed. “We don’t foresee any difficulties in the NATO sphere. There
won’t be any impact on the functioning of the Alliance”.
Top military officers from NATO and Partner nations were completing
two days of talks in Brussels Thursday, two weeks ahead of a NATO
Summit in Riga, to shape and inform military advice for the North
Atlantic Council.

ANKARA RENOUVELLE A EREVAN SON OFFRE POUR LA CREATION D’UN COMITE D’HISTORIENS
Agence France Presse
16 novembre 2006 jeudi 6:23 PM GMT
La Turquie a renouvele jeudi a l’Armenie son offre pour la mise en
place d’un comite mixte d’historiens des deux pays charges de faire
la lumière sur les massacres d’Armeniens sous l’Empire ottoman qui
empechent les deux pays d’avoir des relations normales.
“Nous pensons que ce comite sera un mecanisme très benefique pour la
normalisation des relations entre les deux pays”, precise un communique
du ministère des Affaires etrangères.
La Turquie a propose l’an dernier la mise en place de ce comite mais
elle a ete refusee par Erevan.
Cependant, souligne le document, malgre le refus des autorites
armeniennes de donner suite a la proposition d’Ankara, “des
responsables des deux pays se sont rencontres trois fois depuis avril
2005 pour discuter de cette affaire”.
“S’il est cree, ce comite permettra d’applanir les differences
d’interpretations concernant les evenements de 1915 et contribuera
a la normalisation des relations”, ajoute le texte.
La Turquie n’entretient pas des relations diplomatiques avec l’Armenie
voisine en raison du profond differend sur les evenements qui se sont
deroules dans les dernières annees de l’Empire ottoman en declin,
de 1915 a 1917.
La frontière entre les deux pays est fermee.
Les massacres et deportations d’Armeniens dans l’Empire ottoman ont
fait plus de 1,5 million de morts, selon les Armeniens, 250.000 a
500.000 selon la Turquie, qui recuse categoriquement la notion de
genocide reconnue notamment par la France, le Canada et le Parlement
europeen.
–Boundary_(ID_xmwErOmecRi8y+ 1oVf/HBg)–

GEL DE LA COOPERATION MILITAIRE: LES RELATIONS FRANCO-TURQUES A L’EPREUVE
Par Christophe De Roquefeuil
Agence France Presse
16 novembre 2006 jeudi 1:05 PM GMT
Le gel de la cooperation militaire de la Turquie avec la France,
annonce par l’armee a Ankara, traduit la degradation du climat entre
les deux pays mais ne devrait avoir, selon Paris, que des effets
limites.
Cette suspension, première mesure de retorsion après le vote par
l’Assemblee nationale en octobre d’une proposition de loi reprimant la
negation du genocide des Armeniens en 1915, survient dans le contexte
deja tendu des difficiles negociations d’adhesion de la Turquie a
l’Union europeenne.
Le porte-parole du ministère de la Defense a assure jeudi que l’annonce
faite la veille par le chef de l’armee de terre turque n’etait pas
“le signe d’une crise ou d’une difficulte majeure” avec Ankara.
Sur le plan pratique, Paris envisage des effets limites sur la
cooperation militaire bilaterale, sans consequence pour les operations
multinationales où les deux pays sont presents (Afghanistan, Bosnie,
Kosovo, Liban, Republique democratique du Congo).
Paris a egalement cherche a minimiser la portee des declarations
du general Basbug, soulignant qu’il s’etait exprime de manière
“informelle” lors d’une reception.
“A ma connaissance, nous n’avons pas eu de communication officielle a
ce sujet de la part des autorites turques”, a declare le porte-parole
du ministère des Affaires etrangères.
Les menaces contre les achats de materiel militaire, que le general
Basbug n’a pas mentionnees, existent mais ne sont pas nouvelles,
fait-on valoir a Paris.
La France tente depuis longtemps d’eviter des represailles
en soulignant que nombre de fournisseurs “francais” sont en fait
largement europeens, comme la societe franco-germano-espagnole
Eurocopter, filiale du groupe EADS, en lice pour une marche de 52
appareils civils et militaires.
Mais quelles que soient ses consequences pratiques, la mauvaise humeur
des militaires turcs s’inscrit sur fond de malaise croissant et de
polemiques a repetition entre les deux pays.
Le contexte politique dans les deux pays, où des elections sont
prevues en 2007, n’aide pas a calmer le jeu.
L’entree de la Turquie dans l’UE est devenu un thème recurrent du
debat francais, tandis que le desenchantement vis-a-vis de l’Europe
et le mecontentement a l’egard de la France progressent en Turquie.
“La France est en train de devenir un bouc emissaire pour les Turcs
dans un contexte de surenchère nationaliste, tout comme la Turquie
est devenue un bouc emissaire en France sur l’elargissement de l’UE”,
relève Dorothee Schmid, specialiste de la Turquie a l’Institut francais
des relations internationales (Ifri).
Le president Jacques Chirac avait provoque la colère d’Ankara lors
d’une visite en Armenie fin septembre, où il a estime que la Turquie
devrait reconnaître le genocide armenien si elle voulait entrer
dans l’UE.
La polemique s’etait aggravee avec le vote quelques jours plus tard
par l’Assemblee d’une loi punissant toute negation de ce genocide. Le
texte doit toutefois encore etre approuve par le Senat pour entrer
en vigueur.
Une large majorite de Francais (58%) se disent opposes a un
elargissement de l’UE a la Turquie, contre 28% qui y seraient
favorables, selon un sondage publie en octobre.
Le principal candidat de la droite a la presidentielle, Nicolas
Sarkozy, est resolument hostile a l’adhesion d’Ankara, avec qui il
propose de negocier un simple “partenariat privilegie”.
La favorite des sondages a gauche, Segolène Royal, n’a pas ferme la
porte a une entree de la Turquie, mais prône une “pause” pour tout
nouvel elargissement de l’UE.
–Boundary_(ID_kC3jtwhsJRpjIqtn8pQwpQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress