ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN EQUALLY POLLUTE ARAX
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
10/08/2006
Today, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan do not have universal
standards for assessing the quality of water resources. They are
necessary in order to speak a ‘common language’, for understanding
what one means saying ‘clear water’ or ‘polluted water’,” Rafael
Hovhannisian, chairman of the Union of Armenian Ecologist stated
yesterday. Mr. Hovhannisian also supervises the project of the Eurasia
Foundation “Application of International Standards for Governing Water
Resources of Kura and Arax”. He informed that the field study that
had simultaneously launched in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan is over.
Mr. Hovhannisian also said that Armenia and Azerbaijan equally pollute
Arax. Arax passes through densely populated areas and nothing is
done to remove the sources of pollution. He suggested introducing
standards of river pollution in both countries.

MARXIST PARTY CHAIRMAN ADVISES SERZE SARGSYAN TO TAKE POWER BY FORCE
Panorama.am
16:23 09/08/06
“The Republican junta has finally got hold of the absolute power in
the country with its party conference. Since 1998, this is the second
time that the military machine passes to a party which possesses
also the parliamentary and the executive powers,” Davit Hakobyan,
Marxist Party chairman, told a press conference today.
Hakobyan labels the recent assembly of the Republican Party as “palace
coup d’etat,” also saying in the language of political science it
may be called “bonapartism, juntaism, political blackmail.”
Hakobyan advises “Serze the Liberator,” as he sarcastically calls Serze
Sargsyan, to start the political active campaign with a “royal gambit.”
Moreover, the Marxist is sure that the “throne” must be taken by
force by January, otherwise, the Republican Party will have no
such chance after the parliamentary elections. “Either Serze the
Liberator will become the owner of the throne by January, or else
he will never be because the situation will be different after
the parliamentary elections,” Davit Hakobyan assures. The Marxist
even forecasts resignation of the president by his own will in
October-November.

HILARY CLINTON AND MARXISTS TO COME TO POWER AT THE SAME TIME: HEAD OF MARXIST PARTY
Panorama.am
16:33 09/08/06
“If Hilary comes to power, we will definitely do so,” Davit Hakobyan,
chairman of Marxist Party of Armenia, told a press conference today,
also saying that he had forecasted back in 2004 that Hilary Clinton
will become the president of the United States.
The Marxist is sure that Armenia direly needs a diplomatic “time
out.” Hakobyan forecasted major political developments, saying they
will start with the resignation of President Kocharyan.
The leader of the Marxist Party indicated that they will go to
elections without teaming up with any political party. Asked whether
the Marxist Party will receive the vote of confidence by the people,
Hakobyan replied, “If a nation puts its educated sons in a secondary
position and gives the parliament as a seat for criminal and political
theaters, that nation has no right for existence.”

EIGHT CHANGES IN ELECTION CODE IN 7 YEARS
Panorama.am
17:51 09/08/06
“The National Assembly will set for the 8th amendment of the Election
Code in fall,” Felix Khachatryan, representative of Justice block
at the Election Committee, told reporters today. In his words, it
is not a good indicator to make 8 amendments of the Election Code
in the course of 7 years. Khachatryan agrees with Venice Committee,
which said, “The biggest problems are not with the Election Code but
how, actually, they the elections are conducted.”
However, Khachatryan informed the reporters that 100 changed are
expected in a law, which has only 141 articles. He said election
committee members are going to be paid for their jobs, according to
the amendment.
Khachatryan expects this change to diminish election
fraud.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIVE WORKS FOR NEW ARMENIAN ANTHEM TO BE PRESENTED FOR PUBLIC APPROVAL
Armenpress
Aug 09 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS: The commission set up to select the
works for the new Armenian anthem has selected the best five works
from the 85.
Armenian Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Hasmik Poghosian said that
by the majority of the voices the work of Tigran Mansurian based on
the poem of Yeghishe Charents took the first place, then comes Yervand
Yerznkian’s work based on the poem of Ararat II, Edgar Hovhannissian’s
work based on the poem of Vahagn Davtian, Aram Khachaturian’s work
based on the poem of Arsen Soghomonian and finally comes the work of
Robert Amirkhanian based on the poem of Ludwig Durian.
The first round of the competition was summed up by three
hearings. Poghosian said that the above mentioned works will be
presented to the public, until that they will develop the system by
which people will express their opinion about the works. They are also
going to work out mechanisms on how they will take into consideration
the opinions of the people.
The minister assessed the work of the commission as unbiased and
effective and noted that all the discussions were conducted in a
working atmosphere.
The public hearings of the second round will be organized by the end
of the month.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FIRST OPEN AIR PAN-ARMENIAN PHOTO-FESTIVAL KICKS OFF
Armenpress
Aug 09 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS: First Pan-Armenian photo-festival
entitled “Under the Open Sky” kicked off today in the Moskovian garden
in Yerevan, with the participation of 40 professional photographers
and beginners from Armenia and Diaspora.
The open air photo-festival has been organized by the National
Association of Armenian Photographers in cooperation with “Vega”
company. The festival will last for three days. It presents 200 works
related to different themes, including the crash of the Armenian
airplane A-320, on May 3.
The head of the National Association of Armenian Photographers Sergey
Hakobian said that the festival has been organized during one month
and a half and is aimed at the development of photography in Armenia.
“Armenian photographers have great potential and our association will
do everything possible to make the festival Pan-Armenian and annual,”
he said, adding that in future they will try to establish relations
with a number of international organizations dealing with photography
and participate in international festivals presenting Armenia with
the eyes of Armenian photographers.
The head of the association also noted that photographers from Turkey
and Iran also presented their works, though because of short time
many of the representatives of Diaspora could not participate in
the initiative.

ARMENIAN HOUSEHOLDS RECEVIE MONEY TRANSFERS FOR $940 MLN IN 2005
ArmRadio.am
10.08.2006 11:14
Armenian households received money transfers for about $940mln,
Karine Karapetyan, head of the department for external statistics, the
statistical administration of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), told
journalists according to the results of a survey, organized by the CBA.
She said that $750mln of the transfers from the abovementioned amount
entered Armenia by means of the banking system. “It amounts to 78%
of the total amount of all money transfers,” she said.
In general, Karapetyan reportd that over the last three years
(203-2005) the annual increment of transfers to Armenia amounts to 37%
on average. “Their share in GDP amounts to about 15%,” she added.
In the survey organized under the support of the World Bank in
February-April 2006, 2000 Armenian households, and receiving transfers
from abroad, 2000 respondents in Moscow, making transfers, and also
a few Armenian organizations that operate reception and allocation
of transfers were involved.
The methodology of the survey was worked out by the CBA, and its
conduction was implemented by Alphaplus Consulting Company, ARKA
Armenian News Agency reported.

AMERICAN DOLLAR RATE FALLS LOWER 400
ArmRadio.am
10.08.2006 11:20
The USD exchange rate on Armenia’s foreign-exchange market has
fallen lower than AMD 400/$1 thereby passing one more psychological
minimum. Some Armenian banks and exchange offices have set the
following exchange rates: AMD 393-397/$1 (purchase) and AMD 397-405/$1
(sale).
This caused stock-jobbing on the country’s foreign-exchange
market. Most exchange offices are closed for lack of sufficient cash
as well as because of uncertainty. Long queues have formed in front
of working exchange offices.
The CBA-set USD average exchange rate is AMD 399/$1 CBA experts
believe that the US dollar will continue its fall even down to AMD
350/$1 before the end of next week if the CBA does not interfere and
start buying up dollars.
Other experts and dealers believe that the USD would be falling at
a higher rate but for the auctions on the Armenian Stock Exchange,
which at least allows the developments on the foreign-exchange market
to be followed and possible exchange rate on the following day to be
forecast. All funds deposited with the stock exchange by banks have
run out.
According to experts, the main factor of the USD behavior is huge
USD flows into the country. The matter concerns not only transfers
for individuals, but also funds of enterprises.
Also, to maintain the foreign-exchange position, banks are selling US
dollars on a large scale.Experts consider the fall in the EUR exchange
rate normal, connecting it with the AMD revaluation against the USD
and with international trends in the EUR/USD ratio.
9.79% USD depreciation against the AMD has been recorded in Armenia
since the beginning of 2006, with 2.41% EUR depreciation.
It is noteworthy that the current exchange rate is almost equal to
that 11 years ago: in 2005 the USD/AMD exchange rate was $1/AMD 406 at
the beginning of the year down to $1/AMD 402 at the end of the year,
while in 1995 it was $1/AMD 405.88.
During 13-tear history of the Armenian national currency, the highest
MD exchange rate was recorded in March 2003 – AMD 591.76/$1 at the
CBA-set nominal exchange rate. Since them, the Armenian dram has
actually revaluated by 45.76%, whereas the USD has devaluated against
the AMD by 31.39% or by AMD 185.83, ARKA Armenian News Agency reported.

FROM PRESIDENTIAL TO MINISTERIAL GOVERNMENT?
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
10 Aug 06
All the signs of anarchy are apparent in Armenia: lack of law,
indifference towards citizens, obsession with killings. And perhaps
the most vivid example of the lack of power is apparent: President
Robert Kocharyan almost does not react to the highly important events
in the country, which are already involving almost all the spheres,
including political, non-governmental, economy, finance. In broad
daylight criminals shoot at each other in the streets and scandalous
assassinations take place, the president keeps silent, the exchange
rate of the dollar drops lower and lower, emptying the pockets of the
population, the president remains silent, the political system is led
to a one-party system, Robert Kocharyan is again silent (the speaker
is Robert Kocharyan’s, but is not Robert Kocharyan), the cause of
the mysterious crash of the Armenian plane, which is as mysterious,
is published, Robert Kocharyan is again silent, the Russians once
again block the only motorway of Armenia, the president of Armenia
is silent. In this situation the society has every reason to suppose
that Armenia does not have a president, that there is no presidential
government in Armenia any more.
If the president does not speak, it does not mean, of course, that he
does not have power. However, similarly we may suppose that he does not
speak because he does not have power. In this case, it is necessary to
find out who has real power in Armenia. The public and political chaos
and “maneuvers” inside the government prompt that power in Armenia
does not have a factual leader now, and all the processes underway
are intended to get hold of power. But if the country does not have
a leader now, nevertheless, there must be someone who directs these
processes. And eventually the one will become leader who directs the
processes leading to leadership.
Consequently, the question occurs who directs the ongoing processes,
namely the assassinations, the exchange rate, one-party system, the
blockade by the strategic friend, the chronology of the plane crash.
The public probably has the answer to this question, which they did
not learn from a prophetic dream or did not tell by a coffee cup,
it is rather due to a surge of information and propaganda. It is
consistently instilled in the public that power is gradually passing
to the minister of defense. In this case, the silence of the president
directly boosts the effect of propaganda.
Does it mean that Robert Kocharyan’s silence approves the forming of
the governmental image of Serge Sargsyan? It might be too ingenuous
to think that Robert Kocharyan does not realize the situation. And
maybe he realizes and keeps silent. However, if he consciously keeps
silent and approves the actions of Serge Sargsyan, it does not mean
that the president agrees to these actions in reality. The aides
of the defense minister also understand this, and after the early
conference of the Republican Party they do not encourage the actions
of the “boss”, they mourn that he made a mistake by relying on the
criminal, and there is only one thing left to do – capture the post
of president until January.
And it is natural that in this situation the best option for Robert
Kocharyan is to keep silent, let Serge come and take the post of
president until January, if he can. Maybe Robert Kocharyan thinks
so and is waiting. One should note that waiting is not a problem
for him, he knows how to wait. There is a circumstance, however,
that may turn into a trick on Robert Kocharyan. The point is that
the defense minister may not step up an offensive to capture the post
of president. After all, the president of the Chess Federation knows
what a king is if there is nobody around him, no pawns, no figures,
no queen. Consequently, the defense minister attacks these figures.
And it should be noted that he is rather successful. All the junior,
medium and senior officials yield to him one by one. And the reason
is not the skills of Serge Sargsyan but the silence of the president
rather. The officials need protection, consequently they are vulnerable
to all kinds of blackmail. The same Yervand Zakharyan, who has felt
for a number of times the reproach of Robert Kocharyan, feels that
the president may seriously reproach him one day, therefore he is
seeking for protection in the political party of the defense minister,
which used to be the prime minister’s.
The rest act similarly. And in this case Serge Sargsyan will no more
need the post of president. He will control the situation and nothing
will disturb him to prepare for the year 2008. And perhaps this is
the reason why his “spokesmen” trumpet that either until January or
never. Most probably, the real purpose of this is to guarantee the
silence of Robert Kocharyan, which will guarantee the undisturbed work
of the defense minister. He needs rest until January, after January
his power will be enough to make any president silent, independent
from the president’s will.

WHEREAS SERGE SAYS AGHDAM IS NOT OUR HOMELAND
Lragir.am
10 Aug 06
The union of NGOs Yerkir for Repatriation and Settlement (chair Sevak
Artsruni) initiated and funded the expedition for Tigranakert of
the Armenian Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, led by Doctor
Hamlet Petrosyan. On the very first days of excavations near the city
of Aghdam the expedition made a sensational discovery. They found
the citadel built by the Armenian King Tigran the Great (95 – 55 BC)
built in an advanced Hellenic technique, which is the best evidence
that the town of Tigranakert of Artsakh was located in the place
where excavations are carried out. One of the terraces in the part
of the town surrounded by a wall is dug as well. The excavations in
the urban part of the town and the adjacent burial places have begun.
The excavations prove the presence of the Armenian identity in the
lower part of the Khachenaget River (the former region of Aghdam)
since at least the I century BC.