PARK OF LEON TO BE PLANTED IN YEREVAN
Panorama.am
13:41 09/10/06
A park of Leon will be planted in Yerevan on 4.5 thousand cubic meter
space. Respective agreement was reached with greens department of
Paris municipality during the recent visit of French delegation to
Yerevan, David Gevorgyan, external relations department head, told
a briefing today. In his words, an expert group will arrive soon to
decide the location. The opening of the park is expected in the year
2007.

ECONOMIST SAYS CONSTRUCTION PLAYS MAJOR ROLE IN GDP GROWTH
Panorama.am
14:10 09/10/06
Economist Eduard Aghajanov said today Armenian authorities always
praise two-digit growth of GDP overlooking decline in industry. In
his words, industry plays no role in GDP growth. He called the country
construction-agrarian state. Aghajanov pointed out that construction
plays major role in gross domestic product, making up 21.6%, whereas
the industry is only 15%. Aghajanov said Azerbaijan reported 34.4%
GDP growth with 40% in industry. He said Azerbaijan targets $24.5
billion GDP next year whereas Armenia cannot have more than $8
billion.

PARLIAMENT SPEAKER EXPECTS “GOOD REPORT” OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ON ARMENIA
Panorama.am
17:02 09/10/06
Tigran Torosyan, speaker of parliament, told a press conference today
that Council of European (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly (PA) monitoring
committee may submit a “good report” on constitutional changes and
legislative improvements in Armenia.
Summing up CoE PA fall session, Torosyan said the committee reported
on the visit to Armenia giving positive assessments to the legislative
improvements followed by constitutional changes. The committee made
an exception for Stepan Demirchyan from the opposition allowing him
to participate in the committee session.
Torosyan praised Resolution 1416 which says that Armenia and Azerbaijan
must not increase their military might. Torosyan said the international
community must be persistent in the implementation of this resolution
urging to impose pressures on sides.
“It may be a very important and prospective document,” Torosyan
said. The speaker also told reporters that Azerbaijani delegation
opposed the document saying, “Until Karabakh conflict settlement
they see no possibility of such document.” However, Torosyan said
Azerbaijan’s speech made no effect.

MOSCOW MAYOR NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN FESTIVITIES TO YEREVAN
Panorama.am
14:13 09/10/06
Delegations from Moscow, Odesa, Minsk, Ajaria, Rostov-na-Donu and
Madagascar are going to pay visit to Yerevan on the occasion of
2788 anniversary of Yerevan, David Gevorgyan, external relations
and information department head at Yerevan municipality, told a
briefing today.
In his words, mayor of Moscow, Yuri Lujkov, is not going to visit
Yerevan this year. The Russian delegation will be headed by the
perfect of Northern region of the Russian capital. Prime Minister
Levan Varshalomidze will spearhead the delegation of Ajaria.
Gevorgyan mentioned that delegations from Marcel, Budapest and
Stavropol are also expected.
Reminder: Festivities dedicated to the 2788 anniversary of Yerevan
will take place on October 13-14. On October 13, an exhibition will be
held at the Museum of Yerevan History. Festivities will be held in all
communities of Yerevan. On the same day, at 14: 30 a photo contest –
festival under the title “Yerevan in my eyes” will be held in the lobby
of municipality. At 19:00 opening ceremony will be ceremonially held
at the Opera House. At 20:30 annual contest-festival will be held at
the Square of Freedom (Yerevan in My Songs).
A concert will be staged and salute shot on October 14 at 19:00
at sports-concert complex after Karen Demirchyan. At 22:00 festive
salutes will be held in all communities of Yerevan.

NA SPEAKER DENIES PRIME MINISTER’S INVOLVEMENT IN BEATING OF REPUBLIC PARTY BOARD MEMBER
Panorama.am
17:11 09/10/06
Tigran Torosyan, speaker of parliament, denied any involvement of Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan in beating of Suren Abrahamyan, member
of Republic Party board who was also former mayor of Yerevan, former
interior minister and former chairman of Armenian Football Federation.
“I condemn any violence against any person,” the speaker said today
also saying it seems strange to him that the prime minister is blamed
in the incident especially prior to investigation. “I think it will
be unveiled that neither HHK nor Andranik Margaryan have any relation
to the incidence.” In his opinion, Abrahamyan gave way to provocations.
Torosyan also denied that HHK member, and National Assembly deputy
Hakob Hakobyan is arrested. “If the deputy were arrested, I would
know about it,” he said.

“VICTIMS: PLACE, RIGHTS AND ASSISTANCE” ON THE AGENDA OF THE 27TH CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN MINISTERS OF JUSTICE IN YEREVAN
Panorama.am
18:07 09/10/06
The Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe”s 46 member States
will meet in Yerevan (Armenia) on 12 and 13 October to find new
ways of promoting and developing support and assistance to victims,
facilitating their access to justice and ensuring that victims of
crime do not also become victims of administrative procedures and
bureaucracy.
The President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, and the Council of
Europe”s Director General of Legal Affairs, Guy de Vel, will address
the participants when the conference opens on Thursday 12 October at
9 am (the meeting will be open to the press until 10.30 am).
During the conference, the ministers present will sign a number of
Council of Europe treaties.
The increasing rate of criminality as well as the threat and the acts
of terrorism demonstrate the need for member States to promote the
individual”s security and dignity and respond to violence by devising
and implementing social and judicial measures to assist the victims.
The conference will provide an opportunity to review existing standards
and practices in the member countries, as well as any shortcomings
in them or their implementation, and identify needs for additional
instruments.
The Council of Europe adopted a new recommendation on assistance to
crime victims (Rec (2006) 8) in June 2006. The Council of Europe
has long regarded aid for victims as a priority, having adopted a
Convention on the compensation of victims of violent crimes in 1983
and the Convention on the prevention of terrorism and the Convention
on action against trafficking in human beings in 2005.
Council of Europe Press Division
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LEADER OF NTP CONCERNED ABOUT RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN CONFLICT
Panorama.am
18:11 09/10/06
Aram Karapetyan, chairman of New Times Party (NTP), forecasted “very
bad times” for Armenia if the country cannot find way to protect her
interests in the Russian-Georgian conflict. Karapetyan criticized the
Armenian authorities who, he said, blame everybody except themselves.
Unlike his opposition partners who blame Russia for ignoring Armenia’s
interests, Karapetyan blamed Georgia for strict actions. Karapetyan
unveiled very interesting data saying the mafiozi of Georgian decent in
Moscow will lose $8-10 million per month if the conflict continues. He
said of coarse Sahakashvili cannot recover the damage. Karapetyan
thinks Sahakashvili must think about his citizens living in
Russia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SUREN ABRAHAMYAN BEATEN DEMANDING HE BEGS PARDON
Panorama.am
18:13 09/10/06
Suren Abrahamyan, board member of Republic Party (RP) told a press
conference today that he was beaten by a person in black who “was a
skinhead in his essence.”
Abrahamyan said the attack was made yesterday at 10:30 a.m.
Aram Sargsyan RP board chairman said the violence against Abrahamyan
is directed against their party.
“It’s pointless to try to frighten us,” he said.
RP another board member thinks that the attack was made because of
Abrahamyan’s recent statements which said that political criminal is
concentrated in top ruling structures and is headed by Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan who Abrahamyan called a criminal, too.
Suren Abrahamyan said he believes Andranik Margaryan is guilty in
the attack “no matter he ordered it or not.”
General Abrahamyan said he is a man of contribution to Armenia and
he had “to beg for assistance on his knees” in his own country. He
said it goes beyond any morality.

SARKOZY SETS TERMS TO AVOID FRENCH ARMENIA VOTE
Gulf Times, Qatar
Oct 10 2006
Some 500 of the leftist Turkey’s Worker Party hold a black wreath
reading “France stop! Massacres of Armenians is a lie” as Turkish
riot police block their way to French Consulate in Istanbul yesterday
PARIS: French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday set three
conditions for Turkey to avoid a vote by French deputies on a bill
making it a crime to deny Armenians suffered genocide at the hands
of Ottoman Turks. Parliament, dominated by the Union for a Popular
Movement that Sarkozy leads, is due on Thursday to discuss an
opposition Socialist bill on Armenian deaths during World War I.
Turkey strongly denies the 1.5mn deaths constitute genocide.
Though the conservative majority in parliament opposes the bill, Turkey
fears many opponents will vote for the bill for fear of upsetting
France’s 400,000-strong Armenian diaspora ahead of presidential and
parliamentary elections next year.
Sarkozy, conservative frontrunner for the presidential race and
a long-standing opponent of Turkey’s EU entry, said he had set out
conditions for avoiding a vote in a telephone call with Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan.
“The first is that there is a bilateral commission between Armenia and
Turkey which has equal representation, so that these two countries can
conduct the work of acknowledging history,” he told France Inter radio.
“The second condition is that Turkey reopen its borders with Armenia.
And the third condition is that Turkey gives up its penal law which
forbids people speaking of the genocide in Turkey.”
He said he was not sure whether he had convinced Erdogan but added
that the Turkish premier had taken note of them.
Erdogan on Sunday criticised the bill and Turkish lawmakers warned
last week that illegal Armenian immigrants in Turkey may be expelled
and French trade hurt if the measure were passed.
According to officials at the Turkish prime minister’s office, Erdogan
defended Turkey’s position in the phone conversation with Sarkozy.
“We are the open and transparent side. We have been unable to receive
the necessary response (from Armenia) to our well-intended proposal
to set up a joint commission, and Article 301 has nothing to do with
this issue,” the officials quoted Erdogan as saying.
Article 301 in Turkey’s penal code is used to prosecute writers and
journalists for insulting Turkish identity or state institutions. The
EU says the article must be scrapped, but Turkey has asked for
more time.
Ankara strongly denies estimates that 1.5mn Armenians perished at
the hands of Ottoman Turks in a systematic genocide, saying large
numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in a partisan
conflict raging at that time.
Sarkozy also said Turkey was not guaranteed EU entry even if it
accepted calls for it to admit Armenians suffered genocide.
Turkey began its EU entry talks last year, though is not expected to
join for many years. – Reuters.

DEVELOPMENT TIED TO SOVEREIGNTY, SAYS SEZER
Turkish Daily News
Oct 10 2006
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Monday that the only way to
properly exploit the country’s resources fully is by preserving
national unity and sovereignty.
Speaking at the conference “Strategic Foresight: The World and
Turkey in the 100th Anniversary of the Republic in 2023,” organized
by the Eurasia Strategic Studies Center in Ankara (ASAM), Sezer said:
“Such studies should be carried out by non-governmental organizations
on the basis of scientific and academic criteria. Such initiatives
will have positive impacts on the development of democratic culture
in our country.”
“Strategic foresight entails that states develop the ability of
planning and using their own capabilities and resources. If we preserve
our national unity and sovereignty, we can succeed in benefiting
from our national and natural resources as well as technological
opportunities in the most influential way. Therefore, our republic
is based on the principle of national unity and sovereignty,” he said.
“Strategic foresight studies revealed that Turkey is expected to
become one of the 10 biggest economies in the world in the next
two decades. In order to reach this target, we should generalize
prosperity, speed up the development of technologic progress and
avoid the destructive impact of globalization,” he said.
Sezer stressed: “Turkey’s contributions to regional and international
security and stability cannot be ignored. Today’s regional and global
conditions show that the world will need Turkey’s contributions in
the future.”
“The issue of energy is an indispensable part of strategic foresight
and designs. In our age, energy security has become synonymous with
national security. Turkey’s position in the East-West and North-South
energy corridors constitutes an important dimension in strategic
equations. Turkey aims at creating a zone of cooperation in its
region. Therefore, our country is trying to do everything in its
power to contribute efforts to find peaceful solutions to disputes
in the Middle East, Balkans and Caucasus,” he added.
Meanwhile, ASAM Chairman Faruk Loðoðlu said that democracy, rule
of law, human rights and especially secularism were the main values
of contemporary civilization, and he highlighted the importance of
preserving those values for a better future.
Bahceþehir University Rector Suheyl Batum stressed that political
decision-making mechanisms in Turkey cannot produce the desired
strategy, adding: “Turkey will inevitably face major problems, such
as the recent developments in Iraq and Iran, besides the EU-sponsored
Cyprus and Armenia issues. Political actors in Turkey cannot produce
strategies. In fact, we have to develop long-term strategies instead
of daily ones.”
–Boundary_(ID_U6GgsJWFCNoISILvBCfqKA )–