CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY WILL BECOME A PRIORITY SPHERE OF THE ARMENIAN ECONOMY
Yerevan, September 6. ArmInfo. In the nearest future the construction
industry will become a priority sphere of the Armenian economy, said
director of AEPLAC Tigran Jrbashian during the presentation of the
‘Armenian Economy – 2005’ annual report.
To the opinion of Mr. Jrbashian the construction market will swiftly
develop due to considerable demand – Armenia has disadvantage of
numerous CIS states in accommodation space per head. Mr. Jrbashian
said that the growth of the Armenian economy in the coming years
will mostly depend on the competitiveness of Armenian goods on the
foreign market. He said that the Armenian export should be enhanced
by developing the finance sector. The Armenian currency (AMD) will be
go on consolidating until the finance sector becomes able to transform
the population incomes into investment savings.

OUTGOING US ENVOY SAYS ARMENIAN TIES “VERY DEVELOPED”
Arminfo
7 Sep 06
Yerevan, 7 September: US ambassador John Evans has highly assessed
the level of Armenian-US relations, he told Armenian Public TV.
The ambassador’s mission in Armenia is coming to an end.
He said that Armenian-US relations were very developed, and the sides
were closely cooperating in the diplomatic and strategic fields, as
well as in the social and economic spheres. “The most important thing
is to ensure balance between these areas,” ambassador Evans noted.
He added that Armenia was moving in the right direction, developing
democracy, and there were all prerequisites in these terms for Armenia
to become a leader of democratic processes in the South Caucasus
region. “However, the process of democratization is daily work in
all countries. This is a goal everyone aspires to,” the diplomat
noted. He added that the US embassy is developing programmes aimed
at strengthening democracy in Armenia, which envisages the holding
of democratic elections. “Armenia’s future is a path of democratic
development,” he concluded.

ARMENIA HAS POTENTIAL FOR BECOMING LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES IN SOUTH CAUCASUS
Yerevan, September 7. ArmInfo. US Ambassador in Armenia John Evans
highly evaluates Armenian-US relations.
In an interview to Armenian Public Television Evans says that
Armenian-US relations are very well developed and the sides tightly
cooperate in diplomatic, strategic, social and economic spheres. The
main point is to ensure balance between those spheres, says Evans.
He notes that Armenia is moving in the right direction in its efforts
to develop democracy and there are all prereqisites for the country
to become the leader of democratic processes in the South Caucasus.
However democratization is a daily work in all countries – a goal
everybody seeks to achieve.
Evans says that the US Embassy is working out programs to strengthen
democracy in Armenia and to ensure democratic elections in the
country. Armenia’s future is the road of democratic development,
says Evans.

KARABAKH LEADER, BREAKAWAY DNIESTR REGION’S REP DISCUSS RELATIONS
Arminfo, Yerevan
7 Sep 06
Stepanakert, 7 September: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic, Arkadiy Gukasyan, has received members of a delegation
from Moldova’s Dniestr Region – Lyubomir Ribyak, the chairman of
the parliament’s commission on foreign affairs and Sergey Simonenko,
the deputy chief of the department on foreign affairs of the Foreign
Ministry – who are in Stepanakert to attend the festivities to mark
the 15th anniversary of Karabakh’s independence.
The sides discussed a number of issues concerning the economic
development of both republics and a peaceful solution to conflicts
in the post-Soviet area.

EIGHT ARMENIAN BOXERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP
ArmRadio.am
07.09.2006 18:00
The youth boxing national team of Armenia left for the city of Agadir,
Morocco. Eight sportsmen included in the national team will take part
in the world championship. The team comprises Hayk Mkrtchian (48 kg),
Derenik Gizhlarian (51 kg), Azat Hovhannisian (54 kg), Robert Yeghisian
(57 kg), Ara Pluzian (60 kg) Arman Hovikian (64 kg), Tsolak Ananikian
(81 kg) and Vagharshak Aslanian (heavy weight category). The delegation
is headed by Secretary General of RA Boxing Republican Federation Levon
Hovhannisian. The world championship will be held on September 6-17.

AP INTERVIEW: CELEBRATED TURKISH NOVELIST RECOUNTS STRUGGLE WITH ULTRANATIONALISTS
Suzan Fraser
AP Worldstream
Sep 07, 2006
For best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak, September promises to
be a month of joy and tribulation.
Nine-months pregnant, the University of Arizona literature professor
is set to give birth to her first child. Another important date looms:
the start of her trial on charges of “insulting Turkishness” in her
novel that deals with the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.
In a quiet cafe in the backstreets of Istanbul’s historic Beyoglu
district _ where Turks, Armenians, and Jews once lived in harmony _
Shafak reflected on the peculiarities of a case in which it is nothing
she said herself that is being put on trial, but words she gave to
a fictitious Armenian character.
“I think my case is very bizarre because for the first time they are
trying fictional characters,” Shafak, a striking woman with unruly
locks of blond hair, told The Associated Press.
If convicted Shafak, who divides her time between Tucson, Arizona,
and Istanbul, could face three years in prison. Turkey has refused
her request to delay the Sept. 21 trial because of her pregnancy.
The case will be closely watched by the European Union, which has
repeatedly insisted that Turkey abolish laws that limit freedom of
expression if it is to fulfill its dream of joining the elite club
of nations _ which sees itself both as an economic bloc and a beacon
of liberal, democratic values.
Shafak said the law on insulting Turkishness “has been used as a
weapon to silence many people. … My case is perhaps just another
step in this long chain.”
That chain includes Turkey’s best known novelist Orhan Pamuk _ a
perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature _ and dozens of
other writers and intellectuals forced to defend themselves against
charges of “insulting Turkishness.”
Shafak says he has received hate mail from nationalists calling her a
“pawn of the enemies of Turkey.”
Although most of the cases have been dropped for technical reasons _
such as the case involving Pamuk _ and no one has ended up in prison,
the trials have raised serious questions about whether Turkey is
ready to embrace European values.
To Shafak, the trials, brought forward by a coalition of
ultranationalist lawyers, are an attempt to resist EU-inspired changes
toward a more democratic and pluralistic Turkey that some see as
a threat to the powerful central state, which has strong ties to
the military.
Yet Shafak sees reason for hope: The surge in nationalism, she
says, is a clear sign that Turkey is truly undergoing a momentous
transformation.
“This ultranationalist movement is taking place not because nothing
is changing in Turkey, but just the opposite, because things are
changing,” said Shafak. “The bigger the transformation, the bigger
their panic.”
Shafak’s novel, “The Bastard of Istanbul,” touches upon the massacres
of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, telling
the tale of a Turkish and an American-Armenian family whose lives
become intertwined.
The book also deals with other taboos _ domestic violence and
incestuous rape _ which are rarely discussed in this conservative,
predominantly Muslim country.
But it was the fictional Armenian-American characters in the book who
are sending Shafak to court. In one passage, a character is deeply
concerned about the prospect of his niece being brought up by a
Turkish stepfather.
“What will that innocent lamb tell her friends when she grows up?” the
man asks. “(That) I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who
lost all their relatives to the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915,
but I myself have been brainwashed to deny the genocide because I
was raised by some Turk named Mustapha!”
Later, a radical Armenian-American blogger who goes by the name of
Lady Peacock/Siramark writes: “Do you think (the Turks) are going
to say: Oh yeah, we are sorry we massacred and deported you guys,
and then contentedly denied it all.”
Turkey insists that the mass evacuation and deaths of up to 1.5 million
Armenians during World War I was not a planned genocide. Labeling
it as such can be considered a criminal offense. The book has sold
60,000 copies since it was published _ considered a big hit in Turkey
where readership is low.
The daughter of a female diplomat who raised Shafak alone _ her father
left when she was young _ the novelist said she first became aware of
the Armenian issue after Armenian militants killed dozens of Turkish
diplomats in the 1970s and 1980s.
“My very first acquaintance with the word Armenian was so negative,
it just meant someone who wanted to kill my mother,” Shafak said. “I
then started to ask questions, ‘why so much hatred against Turkish
diplomats? What is behind this?'”
She does not take sides on the genocide debate, but criticizes Turkey
for what she calls a “collective amnesia” of the atrocities.
“Turks and Armenians are not speaking the same language,” she
explained.
“For the Turks all the past is gone, erased from our memories. That’s
the way we Westernized: by being future-oriented… The grandchildren
of the 1915 survivors tend to be very, very past-oriented.”
The English version of “The Bastard of Istanbul” is to be published
next year.

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN END TALKS ON UN KARABAKH RESOLUTION – SPOKESMAN
Mediamax news agency
7 Sep 06
Yerevan, 7 September: Armenia and Azerbaijan have, in fact, completed
the talks over the text of a UN General Assembly resolution concerning
the situation in districts adjacent to Nagornyy Karabakh, Vladimir
Karapetyan, acting press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry,
has told Mediamax.
“The negotiations have almost been completed. It will be probably
submitted to the UN General Assembly on 7 September. At the moment,
we think that we can agree on the text of the resolution which will
be acceptable to the Armenian side. It must be noted that the Armenian
side has already agreed to an OSCE mission visiting the areas affected
by fires. If the core of the resolution will be UN support for the
OSCE mission, we will consider it to be a constructive result,”
Karapetyan said.

ARAM SARGSIAN IS READY TO TURN TO THE COURT
Margaret Yesayan
Aravot.am
07 Sept 06
And prove that Frenchmen and RA authorities “have drunk” the Armenian
Cognac.
Erve Karof, the president of Brandy Factory of Yerevan has sent an
open letter to NA parliamentarian, DPA leader Aram Sargsian as the
latter accuses the factory of not saving the valuable, old alcohol
of Armenian brandy and intention to sell the factory. It’s known
that according to the agreement signed between the RA government and
“Perno Rikar” the owners of the factory are obliged to save and not
to expire the old base alcohol of cognac. It seems, the director of
factory threatens Aram Sargsian in his open letter: ”I inform you
that we assume us the right to arrange actions against you that will
be necessary for defending our interests”.
This story has started some years before when Aram Sargsian has
addressed questions to the RA government for many times to find out
what happens at the brandy factory. The government has sent a short
answer to Aram Sargsian, which says nothing. The parliamentarian has
asked the same question from the NA pulpit, and the NA minister has
answered that time that there is a truth in the parliamentarian’s words
and the prosecutor’s office is engaged in it. Aram Sargsian has talked
to the prosecutor general lately, and the latter has informed him
that they are engaged in cases of alcohol takeover. The parliamentary
meant just it. Once the director of the factory and Aram Sargsian
have flied together on plane. DPA told about the conversation in the
plane; ”As you have noticed there is a threat in the open letter,
and I’m not surprised. When I was introduced to Mr. Karof in plane I
didn’t pay attention to his words but now I understand that it is in
his style. We were talking in Russian: he has worked in Moscow and
has learned the lexicon of oligarchs. I want to say that I’m ready
to prove in legal form that my facts are true or I want to remind
that I have no problem to solve my problems in other way.”
Aram Sargsian said that open letter was simply an advertising pamphlet
as there was no elucidation about the certain questions. He doesn’t
say whether he admits my accusation or doesn’t. The point is our
national wealth, which has been sold very cheaply to the Frenchmen. I
want to stress that my accusations aren’t addressed to France, I’m
simply surprised how the representative of French people can make
such declaration.” Aram Sargsian is sure that the RA government is
guilty because it sold an enormous and serious factory by $28 million,
which gave us a golden profit.
Besides the government doesn’t follow at all how the points of
agreement are realized. According to their official facts, they
have already sold a plenty of cognac/ two times more than the base
alcohol is/ but they haven’t stored up enough. This means we won’t
have appropriate alcohol for the variety of Armenian brandy and the
best cognac trademarks will disappear. I think that just because
of our government this person assumes him a right to speak to the
NA parliamentarian in that way. Aram Sargsian also thinks that
not only the French side but also the Armenian government must be
responsible. ”I will fight until we get rid of these authorities,
there isn’t another way”.
–Boundary_(ID_EM0moBPlCnwgh0xwd 13C3A)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINOR ARMENIAN PARTY CALLS FOR REVOLUTION “TO GET RID OF REGIME”
Regnum, Moscow
6 Sep 06
6 September: The opposition New Times Party [NTP] believes that
the recent events in Armenia – the killings of the head of the
investigation department of the Armenian Tax Service, Shagen Ovasapyan,
and the incumbent head of the village of Dalar, as well as the beating
of the editor-in-chief of Iravunk newspaper, Ovanes Galadzhyan – show
that it is high time for the resignation of heads of law-enforcement
agencies.
The press service of the party said that the security agencies
prosecute political parties instead of fighting criminal elements. The
state agencies’ activities are aimed at keeping power for their own
benefit, the party said.
A domestic policy and socioeconomic atmosphere in the country are
being destroyed because of the lack of radical and structural changes
which undermines all spheres of public life as well. The leadership
of the party believes that now it is more than important to get rid
of the criminal regime through revolution. Given this, the NTP calls
on the public to unite and resolutely fight crime to exclude criminal
elements from public life.

ARMENIAN PAPER CRITICAL OF RUSSIAN MP’S INITIATIVE ON CIS BREAKAWAY REGIONS
Armenian newspaper 168 Zham, Yerevan
7 Sep 06
Text of Armen Bagdasaryan’s report by Armenian newspaper 168 Zham
on 7 September headlined “‘Deputy commander for political affairs’
of the outpost”
Yesterday [6 September] the number of “great friends of the Armenian
nation” has increased. The deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma,
Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, said in Moscow that referendums should be
held in the post-Soviet unrecognized states: Dniester, South Ossetia,
Abkhazia and Karabakh and those states should become independent. But
do not think that Zhirinovskiy is a holy man as five minutes later
he said that it would be better if the unrecognized states join
Russia. Generally speaking, he thinks that all former Soviet republics
should also join Russia so that to live better.
They say in Russia: “What the authorities think, Zhirinovskiy
says.” What he said was really painful for us as it showed real
traditional politics of Russia towards Armenia.
Let us explain. Abkhazia is striving to become independent from Georgia
and there is impression that it would not be against unification
with Russia.
South Ossetia also wants to join Russia as it intends to unite with
Russia’s North Ossetia. The Dniester region is not an ethnic entity
as Russians and Ukrainians live there jointly, and they simply do not
want to remain within Moldova. It is no secret that in all these three
conflicts Russia has secretly supported the unrecognized republics.
The situation is absolutely different in case of Karabakh. Here there
is an independent state: the Republic of Armenia (which incidentally
does not border Russia). It is not clear why the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh
republic] should fight for the secession from a foreign state and
join another foreign state where more Armenians have been killed
over the recent several months than during the liberation of Shushi
[fighting over the Karabakh town of Shushi in 1992].
The most funny thing is that the Russian traditional political
establishment thinks that we are simply softies. The reality is that
Russia has interfered in Karabakh’s destiny three times (during the
rule of tsars, in Soviet times and nowadays), and all three times
the problem was settled in favour of Azerbaijan. Russia, in fact,
only verbally is our “strategic partner”, but in reality it treats
Armenia as a slave: it closes roads when it likes, takes what it
wants for debt and so on.
As for the unsettled conflicts, it is evident that here Russia plays a
serious role as well. The point is that a settlement of the post-Soviet
conflicts, including Karabakh, is not beneficial for Russia. If
the Karabakh conflict is settled, Armenia will get rid of Russia’s
influence and will stop being Russia’s outpost. For this reason it is
clear that Russia should do its best that the conflict is not settled.
But they in Russia already see that Armenians have already started
realizing this. They see that two simultaneous processes go on
in Armenia: anti-Russian mood is growing and processes around the
Karabakh settlement are becoming more active. How to stop that? This
is what Vladimir Volfovich [Zhirinovskiy] said in this regard: “What
compromise is all this about? Never. They are your historical lands
including [Azerbaijani exclave of] Naxcivan. Do not agree to anything,
we are with you.”
We have already seen several times what their “we are with
you” means. As a rule, not a single Armenian remains on these
territories. Instead, patriotic spirit grows certainly in accordance
with the slogan “forever with the Russian people”.