CONFERENCE IN VILNIUS MARKS NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN CIS
NAIRA HAIRUMYAN

Lragir.am

09 May 06

The international conference `Common Vision for Common Neighborhood’
in Vilnius somehow passed unnoticed by us. It was the first big
event, organized by the Community of Democratic Choice. The core of
this organization are Ukraine, Georgia and several other countries
which have chosen the path of democracy or have carried out a `fruit
or flower’ revolution. Analysts said this organization may gradually
come to compete with the CIS. Especially that the representatives of
Georgia and Ukraine are already considering seceding from the CIS and
joining NATO. It is notable that one of the maintopics of the
conference was the ways of protecting the South Caucasus from Russian
influence.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the conference, accusing
Russia of an antidemocratic policy and intervention with the affairs
of its neighbors.

The key accusation was the use of energy for political coercion. The
statement of the conference puts it clearly that Europe should support
democracies in Eastern Europe, having the prospect of joining the
EU. It was suggestedto develop a common approach of the West towards
Russia. Official Brussels is advised to set up close ties with
Kaliningrad to relieve the international isolation of this region,
imposed by Russia.

In the meantime, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made
interesting statements. She advised Russia to recognize the lawful
interests of the United States in the post-Soviet territory. Most
analysts define this as a preparation for the G8 Summit to take place
this summer in Saint Petersburg.

Apparently, there are going to be great rows. Aspirations are not
concealed. An insight in the energy policy of Moscow is enough to
understand the imperialistic moods in this country. Moscow is doing
everything to bar NATO from the post-Soviet territory. This policy is
especially apparent in Armenia. The evidence to this is the increased
price of gas, the `seize’ of several important units of the energy
sector by Russia, as well as intensifying Russian propaganda in
Armenia and even in Karabakh. If in the past 15 years even the Russian
NGOs were reluctant to be present in Karabakh, presently an event is
held in Stepanakert every week on the money of Russian
foundations. Even the Azat Artsakh Newspaper publishes a loose leaf
entitled Russia Today.

Why should Russia need to control the situation everywhere and fight
against the West? It is hard to understand. Once the former president
of Russia Yeltsin made a sensational statement that Russia could
easily join NATO. It caused a shock in Russia and beat the arguments
of Russophobes in the West. The tense relations between Russia and the
West calmed down, but President Putin not only brought back tensions
but is also increasing pressure day by day.And this cannot but result
in a clash.

The Washington Post writes that the West has already come to
understand that it is pointless to persuade Russia to be democratic,
and prefers issuing an ultimatum in the form of advice to Russia. At
the same time, the Wall Street Journal reports that before Cheney’s
anti-Russian statement Bush had had meeting with the heads of
non-democratic Eastern countries, such as the president of Azerbaijan.

The Russian foreign minister Lavrov reminded that bloodshed was
prevented in Moldavia and Georgia and the territorial integrity of
these countries was maintained thanks to the Russian peacemakers. It
is interesting to know who gave the evaluation, either positive or
negative, that the territorial integrity of these countries was
preserved. But was it preserved at all? When we asked a Russian
political expert why the entrance of one country or another to NATO
would be dangerous, he said it would mean loss of sovereignty. How
about the Baltic states, we enquired? He found it difficult to answer.

Maybe he started to doubt that the danger of NATO is a post-Soviet
myth, imposed on Russians, as well as Armenians.

It is reported that certain arrangements on the principles of
resolution of the Karabakh conflict might be reached in the G8 Summit.
However, judging by controversies between the Minsk Group co-chairs,
this time the peace talks are likely resemble a race `who can run
farther.’

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHERE SOCHI DISPATCHER DISAPPEARED?

Lragir.am
09 May 06

There is a pack of documents stating that the A320 which crashed in
Sochi was repaired and examined several times a year, said the owner
of Armavia Airlines Mikhail Baghdasarov May 6 in an interview with
Gazeta.ru. He saidthe specialists of Sabina Technics deal with minor
repairs in Armenia, but planned repairs are done in Belgium. With this
regard Mikhail Baghdasarov was surprised by the news release of the
spokesperson of the Belgian company who announced that the plane of
Armavia Airlines had not been repaired in Belgium.

Baghdasarov stated that either the author of this statement is not
competent, or hides the truth on purpose.

At the same time, the owner of Armavia rejects any relation between
the accident in Sochi and another A320 of Armavia which burnt down in
Belgium.

Moreover, the owner of Armavia gives a rather interesting assessment
of the two accidents. He says what happened in Belgium was an
accident, and for the plane crash, he says everything will become
clear. Mikhail Baghdasarov’s self-confidence is not weakened by the
fact that the black boxes are stilllying at the bottom of the sea.

`I believe that they will be found. Although there are still some
questions.

The plane was going to land normally. Why was the pilot instructed to
makea second attempt? The plane had almost landed whereas it was
ordered to makea second attempt, although they could only advise
to. And where is the dispatcher now? He cannot be found,’ said Mikhail
Baghdasarov. He stated that the dispatcher might be hiding somewhere,
fearing revenge of the relatives of victims. Baghdasarov reminds
another crash involving a plane with young children, which was caused
by the mistake of the dispatcher, when one of the parents took revenge
on the dispatcher.

ARMENIA NEEDS SMALL AVIATION

Lragir.am
09 May 06

Dmitri Atbashyan, who formerly led the Civil Aviation of Armenia,
states that a political situation has occurred in Armenia when all the
rules of management are violated. `It is impossible to entitle the
same agent to three functions: planning, management, control.’
Atbashyan says it has been a long time that the aviation of Armenia
was not upgraded. `Whereas, formerly,600 new specialists used to enter
Armenia annually. Only 300 natives of Armenia used to study at the
aviation colleges of Kiev.’ Atbashyan says currently training a pilot
costs 300 thousand dollars in Russia, one million dollars in the
United States. `I would not think that the owner of Armavia would give
so much money to train specialists,’ announces Dmitri Atbashyan and
suggests ways out.

If the way out is to train amateur pilots, training an amateur pilot
costs 3000 dollars. `But an amateur pilot may become a professional
after 1500 hours of flight.’ And before becoming a professional pilot
an amateur pilot could fly on small helicopters inside Armenia. There
is demand for flights inside Armenia, especially among
businesspersons, assures Dmitri Atbashyan. The National Aviation
Society he heads has two small helicopters. `There have been cases
when a person needed to get to the north of Armenia, Tashir, then the
south of Armenia, Meghri, as soon as possible. He was ready to pay,’
Atbashyan gives another reason for developing small aviation in
Armenia, and announces without specifying names that a public official
once vowed that he would not allow Atbashyan’s plans to come into
being.

GENERAL MANVEL WILL NOT ALLOW, NOT EVEN A PATCH OF LAND

Lragir.am
09 May 06

Deputy Minister of Defense Manvel Grigoryan, the leader of the Union
of Yerkrapah Volunteers, addressing the celebration of the Day of
Yerkrapah on May 8, announced that Armenia will never give up five of
the liberated regions. `

The announcements of certain politicians on returning these areas in
our and foreign mass media cannot be true, because these areas are
populated, and it is common knowledge that territory belongs to those
who live there,’ stated Manvel Grigoryan. Manvel Grigoryan thinks the
Armenian people must be unified, for the strength of any nation is its
unity. `Every election, every political event is nothing compared with
the unity of the Armenian nation. This unity enabled our victory,’
stated Manvel Grigoryan. He rejects the stage by stage resolution of
the conflict over Karabakh, which supposes returning the territories
controlled by the Armenian armed forces. `Nothing of the like. I do
not understand and accept this. I exclude the return of the areas. I
am ready to prevent the return of the regions whenever such attempts
are made,’ announced Manvel Grigoryan.

YERKRAPAH PARTY ON DIFFERENT DISHES

Lragir.am
09 May 06

The Union of Yerkrapah Volunteers will not run for parliament in 2007 as a
separate political force, announced the leader of the Union, Deputy Minister
of Defense Manvel Grigoryan on May 8, the Day of Yerkrapah. According to him,
since there are Yerkrapah members in almost all the political parties, it is
difficult and early to state which political force Yerkrapah will support in
the election 2007. `There will be a time, I will tell you, when our people
will be in the parliament, but on different dishes,’ said Manvel Grigoryan. `

We will support the Armenian people, those who are honest and love their
people,’ stated the leader of the UYV.

FRENCH TO BRING NEW EQUIPMENT

Lragir.am
09 May 06

New French experts will join the search team, working in the place of
the crash of the Armenian A320 in the morning of May 3 in Sochi. They
are to arrive in Sochi on May 9. The French have brought special
apparatus for a more precise search for the black boxes. Vladimir
Derkunov, the head of the search headquarters, announced this on May
8. He said the new French equipment will allow to detect the black box
at the bottom of the sea and differentiate it from the fuselage of the
plane. The French have also brought special equipment to lift the
black boxes from the bottom of the sea.

WHO SPOILT VAZGEN AND VANO

Lragir.am
09 May 06

Robert Kocharyan should rule the country, for when the All-Armenian
Movement was plundering the country, Robert was sitting in the trench
with Serge, said art critic Henrik Igityan May 8 at the Hayeli
Club. He also made a political statement; all the parties should be
disbanded, and only one should be left, which would be led by a
patriotic devotee, someone like Garegin Nejdeh.

There is an obstacle for Igityan’s idea, maybe a small but a very
significant one. There are no nejdehs. `Neither within the
government, nor within the opposition,’ says Henrik Igityan. Even
within the government, whoseyears passed in the trench, according to
Igityan, gives the right to govern a country.

Igityan can see nejdehs in the trench, but all of them are dead.

`I can see there. Leonid, for example, Monte, for instance, Vazgenin
the beginning, when he gathered 300 people and went there, who was
later spoilt by Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his gang. He spoilt both
Vazgen and Vano. Both were good guys,’ says Henrik Igityan.

New allegations in old style
Editorial

Yerkir.am
May 05, 2006

Recently, several publications ran articles containing false
allegations against the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. This
prompted National Assembly’s ARF faction secretary Hrayr Karapetian to
make a statement on the National Assembly floor.

“Recently, several publications, using known methods, have been
printing articles against prominent ARF figures and officials,” he
said in the statement.

“The articles aim at discredit the ARF and trigger a mistrust in the
ARF figures and officials in the context of elections. Those who
organize this campaign that has far-reaching goals against the ARF,
are disturbed by the ARF popularity and especially in the fields where
the ARF representatives have shown great success.”

He also warned that such activities against the ARF were never
successful in the past too since the people have long offered their
assessment of the party and those who spread lies about it. Karapetian
reminded the infamous TV statement made by the first Armenian
president, Levon Ter-Petrosian, who sounded similar ungrounded
allegations against the ARF.

“I am confident that like in the past, this time too, our people would
express their clear attitudes,” Karapetian concluded.

ARF Lebanon Central Committee issues statement over Abdul Hamid II clock

Yerkir.am
May 05, 2006

Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Lebanon Central Committee
issued on April 26 a statement in protest of placing a plaque in
memory of Abdul Hamid II in a Tripoli square after the renovation of
the Hamid clock.

“It is disappointing that this initiative that offends deeply the
dignity of the Armenian people has coincided with the commemoration of
the 1915 Armenian Genocide `which has killed more than 1.5 million
Armenians — perpetrated by the Turks,” the statement said. “We
strongly condemn that initiative which is equal to disrespect of the
collective memory of the Armenians.”

It further said that on May 17, 2000, the Lebanese Parliament
recognized the Armenian Genocide in a resolution that stated: “On the
occasion of the 85th anniversary of the Genocide perpetrated by the
Ottoman government in 1915 that took the lives of 1.5 million
Armenians, the Lebanese Parliament condemns the collective massacre
carried out against Armenians and expresses its support to its
compatriots as well as notes that the international recognition of the
Genocide is the key condition to prevent such crimes in future.”

“Therefore we state that it is wrong to go back and the decision of
the Tripoli city council should be on line with the Lebanese
Parliament policy,” the statement concluded.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

From: [email protected]
Subject: Is amnesty of capital possible?

Is amnesty of capital possible?

Yerkir.am
May 05, 2006

One of the main peculiarities of the transition period is the
semi-legal accumulation of capital through shadow processes. It is not
possible to speak about proper accumulation and legal circulation of
capital in a context when massive privatization and decentralization
deals are made and the economic entities have an opportunity to act
under the inadequate supervision of undershaped and weak state
institutions.

What is amnesty?

The experience of many countries shows that the transition periods
have their logical ends when capital accumulated in this or that way
is finally legalized which ensures the further efficient use of such
capital. This is possible when the political elite of the country and
the society at large manage to have a process of capital amnesty. This
allows establishing an atmosphere of mutual trust between the state,
the society and the businesses which will finally become the
cornerstone of social accord in the country.

What does capital amnesty mean and how should it be achieved? Here it
is very important that the society on the one hand (represented by the
voters, the political parties and other institutions of civil society)
and the business community of the other hand realize the importance of
capital amnesty, i.e. disclosing the capital accumulated through
illegal means, mostly through tax evasion.

The main goal of capital amnesty is to mobilize additional resources
for the operation of the economic system especially through returning
financial and material resources transferred abroad. Of course, it is
very difficult to estimate the volume of such resources. However,
there is no doubt that we are speaking about significantly large
amounts that could be used to create a significant number of jobs in
the country.

Of course, it will sound naive to think that all illegally accumulated
financial resources transferred abroad could be returned. A
significant portion of such resources have `emigrated’ from the
country together with people who invested their money in real estate,
stocks, businesses. Some share of ` emigrated’ capital has been
returned in the form of `foreign’ investments. Such ` foreign’
investments are in reality Armenian investments coming from abroad
because in this way the investors can conceal the shadow or often even
criminal sources of their money on the one hand, and enjoy profit tax
privileges envisaged for foreign investments on the other.

So we can see that the so-called `foreign investments’, at least
partly, are a process of legalization and return of money illegally
accumulated in Armenia and transferred to foreign banks. In other
words, this is another way of capital amnesty that has been
institutionalized (through laws or various certification processes,
etc.).

It is very important for capital or tax amnesty that the secrecy of
any information made available to the state should be ensured. Such
information can be transferred by financial brokers. Guarantees should
be given that the tax or law enforcement agencies will not start
investigations to check the legality of the capital.

By Mher Ohanian