GEORGIA AND IRAN SIGN AGREEMENT OF ELECTRICITY SUPPLY THROUGH ARMENIA
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
Iranian Gas Shipment Still Being Discussed
Within the framework of his Iranian visit, Georgian foreign minister
Gela Bezhuashvili met with the country’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
on October 23.
The aim of the visit of Gela Bezhuashvili and Georgian minister of
energetics Nika Gilauri was to discussion of bilateral relations
between the two counties in the sphere of economics. More precisely,
the Georgian side was interested in possibility of gas and electricity
import from Iran.
IRNA news agency reports that on October 24 Nika Gilauri and his
Iranian counterpart Parviz Fatah signed an agreement on Iranian
electricity supply to Georgia via Armenia’s territory.
Such a turn in Georgian-Iranian relations has good reasons: by the help
of Iran, Georgia is trying to abolish its overdependence on Russian
gas; the Iranian side is paving a road for gas shipment through the
South Caucasus.
The Iranian Ministry of Energetics informs that according to the
agreement Iran will begin shipment of 50 megawatt electricity through
Armenia to Georgia in late November gradually increasing this amount to
300 megawatt. Besides, the Iranian suggested to expand the shipment
of electricity to Russia via Georgia’s territory. To that end in
three months Iran and Georgia invite Russia to join them.
As to a more vital issue for Georgia – shipment of the Iranian gas –
it’s still being discussed.

ARMENIAN TO LEAD CYPRIOT POLITICAL PARTY
By Georges der Parthogh
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
Marios Karoyan, Armenian born Cypriot politician was elected chairman
of the ruling “Democratic Party” (DIKO), thus becoming the Armenian
with the highest in the 46 years of the Cyprus Republic.
At an island wide election involving some 14, 000 members and
followers of the party formed 30 years ago by the late president of
the republic, Spyros Kiprianou, Karoyian clinched 62,6 percent of
the votes as against 37.4 percent of his opponent acting party leader
Nicos Kieanthous.
Karoyian now replaced President Papadopoulos who stepped down as
party leader this month, saying that he wanted to make room for
younger people.
During a bitterly contested election campaign Karoyian suffered “below
the belt” attacks by some leading DIKO members for his Armenian
ancestry, stressing that he had not done military service in the
Greek Cypriot National Guard.
Under the provisions of the Cypriot Constitution, members of the
minority groups, namely, Maronites, Latins and Armenians, are exempt
from military service.
Karoyian, a former football star in AYM the Armenian Young Man’s
Association, came into political limelight in 1991, when the then
President of the Cyprus House of Representatives, Alexis Galanos,
chose him as his personal assistant. Later, He was picked by President
Kouprianou and Papadopoulos as top political adviser.
He also served as government spokesman.
He appeared deeply moved as he was proclaimed the now leader of DIKO,
flanked by the two sons of the late Spyros Kiprianou, including Markos
who is European Union Commissioner for Health.
It will be recalled that Syprus Kiprianou was one of the first
politicians who raised the question of the Armenia genocide at the
United Nation’s General Assembly when he was foreign minister under
the then President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios.

ARMENIAN AND FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS ARMENIAN-FRENCH RELATIONS
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
On October 24, the French and Armenian Foreign Ministers Philip
Doust-Blazy and Vartan Oskanian held a meeting in Paris. In the course
of the meeting, they discussed the Armenian-French relations.
The press and information department of RA Foreign Ministry informed
that during the meeting, the sides also discussed the Karabakh conflict
peaceful settlement process and the organization of events within the
framework of Armenia’s Year in France. The sides highly appreciated
the coming session of the Armenia-EU Cooperation Council that is
slated on November 14. In the course of the session, the parties
will sign the program of actions under the New European Neighborhood
Policy. This will contribute to deepening of bilateral cooperation. At
the meeting, the foreign ministers also touched upon regional issues,
particularly, the impact of the aggravated Russian-Georgian relations
on the situation in the region of the South Caucasus.

OUR COUNTRY RANKED 101ST IN FREEDOM OF PRESS 2005 REPORT
By Ruzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
According to the rating elaborated by “Reporters without Borders”
organization, Armenia is ranked 101st among 107 countries, behind
not only Georgia (99), but also Turkey (98). Particularly, this year
Armenia managed to institute a number of suits against journalists
and deserved the criticism of the European structures.
In the South Caucasus, the freedom of mass media sources is sharply
violated in Azerbaijan (141st). The murder of independent journalist
Elmar Husseynov in March testifies to the violence and harassment
applied against the journalists. Meanwhile, gradually, the attacks
on press freedom increase in the course of the pre-election activities.
Russia occupies the 138th place, Ukraine – 112th, Tajikistan –
114th, Khyrghyzia – 111th, Kazakhstan – 119th. The highest level of
press freedom is observed in Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Island, the
Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. The situation with press freedom
is the worst in Eritrea, Turkmenistan, and Northern Korea. The USA
ranks the 53rd in the list because of George Bush’s statement that
any journalists who dares to cast doubts on the justice of “the war
against terrorism” will be suspected, as well as because of the right
of federal courts to demand sources of information from the media.
The organization applied to various journalists, experts, foreign
mass media sources, urging them to inform about all kinds of cases
of violence or limitations applied against the journalists and the
freedom of speech.
Elsa Vidal, Head of CIS Countries Department, informed that the
Armenian journalists and experts pointed out many cases of violence
against the journalists, particularly, two journalists were threatened
and five were attacked.
According to “Reporters without Borders” organization, Armenia
fixed regress from the viewpoint of the freedom of speech. Thus, in
2003-2004, our country occupied the 90th place in the rating list,
while last year it sharply moved to the 102nd.

ANOTHER MEETING OF ARMENIAN WRITERS IN GLENDALE
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
Recently, the regular meeting of the Armenian Writers’ Union of
California took place at the Glendale Public Library. In the course
of the meeting, chairman of the union Grish Davtian represented the
newly issued publications of Poghos Goubelian’s “African Symphony”
and Termine Manounkian’s “Smile, My Dear” and “Adagio” verses, as
well as Astghik Topchian’s “Home” and Gousan Apor’s “Heart’s Spring.”
Besides, during the meeting, some of the present writers also
represented extracts from their pieces, held speeches. Particularly,
poet Nerses Ter-Mesropian represented the opening of the festive
arrangements dedicated to the Day of the Armenian Culture and the
fact that this holiday is included in the calendar of the Armenian
national and church calendars.

ITB BANK TO GET GERMAN DEPOSITS
By Ara Martirosian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
According to the information disseminated by the International Trade
Bank (Armenia), the bank became one of the participants of the program
initiated by the German KfW organization. The program is called
“For Development of the Real Estate Stable Market.”
In this connection, Ara Kitbalian, Executive Director, expressed the
opinion that this program will make the banks decrease the mortgage
deposit percents and prolong the payment deadlines. The Bank is going
to allocate mortgage deposits from its own sources, as well.
Besides, the bank informed that “ITB”(Armenia) bank belongs to
“Makarios” holding that united about 60 various companies in Austria,
in the Great Britain, in Ireland, in Switzerland, in Cyprus and in
number of CIS states.

‘OUR ULTIMATE AIM IS TO GIVE THE VILLAGERS A CHANCE TO GET RICH’
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006
The United Nations Development Program and “Hayastan” Pan-Armenian
Fund have decided to unite their efforts and abilities in reducing
rural poverty in Armenia.
Yesterday, the sides signed a memorandum of mutual understanding.
Director of “Hayastan” Pan-Armenian Fund, Naira Melkumian, and
UN permanent coordinator in Armenia, Consuelo Vidal, emphasized
the importance of cooperation of rural communities and local
authorities in productive implementation of the program. The rural
communities will be selected based on the level of poverty and the
level of unemployment. Border villages will also be included in the
program. Consuelo Vidal said that a group at the Armenian Foreign
Ministry engaged in this issue and the UN already have a common
elaborated program. The UN permanent coordinator underscored that
while studying the problems of rural communities, people themselves
indicate their needs and priorities that include social issues as well.
“I am sure that the result of this cooperation will be decisive in
terms of reducing poverty. Our ultimate aim is to give the villagers
a chance to get rich,” Naira Melkumian said.

KARAPETYAN STILL HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CRASH
A1+
[07:05 pm] 25 October, 2006
The RA authorities try to consign to oblivion the May 3 crash of
airplane A-320, leader of New Times party Aram Karapetyan claims.
The leader of New Times party announced today that he is going to
ask a number of questions to RA Public Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan in
order to find out which one of the versions of the crash circulating
in Armenia and Russia correspond to the reality.
Aram Karapetyan himself has his sources in the National Security
Service. According to his sources, the first telegram received by
the Armenian Aviation Service immediately after the crash was the
following, “It disappeared from the radar screen”. One question to
Aghvan Hovsepyan is: “Did they pay attention to the fact that this
expression is used when the plane explodes?”
The specialists with whom Mr. Karapetyan talked claimed that the
content of the telegram does not exclude the possibility of explosion.
The second question: Did the criminal grouping in the plane try to
force the pilots to make a landing in Sochi and not to return to
Yerevan? Was the pilot beaten up? Aghvan Hovsepyan also has to answer
if there was much money, gold and precious stones on board. He must
also answer why the plane did not return to Yerevan when the Sochi
dispatcher warned that it was impossible to land. Who forced the
pilot not to obey the warning of the dispatcher?
Aram Karapetyan also wonders if the workers of the airport security
service checked the luggage of the VIP passengers. In case they
did, were there weapons or explosives there? Are the protocols of
check-ups kept?
It is true that the International Aviation Committee took only six
of the necessary 40 parameters from the French?
These were the main questions which according to Aram Karapetyan
could pour light on the reasons of the May 3 air crash.
By the way, Mr. Karapetyan’s source in the National Security Service
also informed him that once in every three months a similar plane
takes a luggage of gold and drugs to Sochi. It also informed that
the Armenian A-320 plane which burnt in a hangar in Brussels a day
later contained the whole technical pack concerning the crashed plane.

WHO CAN CHEAT RAFIK PETROSYAN?
A1+
[07:14 pm] 25 October, 2006
“It is impossible to cheat Rafik Petrosyan”, announced the head of the
NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs during the discussion
of the draft on “Alienation of property for state and public needs”.
In this case the one who failed to cheat him is the RA Government which
took out an article from the draft according to which the residents
who have received compensation can no more appeal previous decisions.
Rafik Petrosyan claims that now the Government has introduced a new
complicated article who on the whole is the same.
Minister of Justice David Haroutyunyan persuaded the deputies to
adopt the draft which has thrice been rejected. The Minister even
blamed the Parliament noting that today the citizens suffer because
of the absence of the law.
V. Lazarian from “Justice” faction who has introduced a 9-page pack
of offers about the draft announced that not the NA is guilty for not
adopting the law but he Government which does not introduce a draft
worthwhile adopting.
The discussion will continue tomorrow.

WILL SERGE SARGSYAN SIGN THE AGREEMENT OF PEACE?
A1+
[07:38 pm] 25 October, 2006
Hardly had the time of questions and answers with the Government
started when Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan left the session hall. The
group of journalists ran after the Minister asking him questions
while he was walking towards the end of the corridor to have a smoke.
– You signed the agreement of ceasefire. It is possible that you will
sign the agreement of peace too? , asked the correspondent of Radio
station “Freedom”. Serge Sargsyan answered reluctantly,
– I think that maybe the President of Armenia…
– Will you be President by then?
– I don’t know; if you help us to organize free, fair and transparent
Parliamentary elections in 2007, then we shall see.
– Do you think you will be elected President if the elections are
free and fair?
Serge Sargsyan failed to answer this question as another one sounded
at that very moment; the Minister said he cannot answer two questions
at a time.