BOARD OF RA CENTRAL BANK DECIDES TO CANCEL
REGISTRATION OF 88 ISSUERS AT ARMENIAN STOCK EXCHANGE
AZG Armenian Daily #135, 20/07/2006
According to the press service of RA central Bank, the Board of
RA Central Bank took the decision not to object the cancel of the
registration of 88 other issuers under review at the Armenian Stock
Exchange. The same decision was taken for other nine CJSCs last
month. Thus, from the shares registered at the stock exchange of about
190 issuers, not less than 100 are left at present. The experts state
that these steps of RA CB are conditioned by the May 25,2006, decision
of RA CB. According to this decision, the existence of independent
capital of AMD 500 million is a compulsory criteria for the status of
an issuer to pass the listing at the stock exchange for the OJSCs. The
rest of the companies with less amount of capital may preserve their
registration. Earlier, the compulsory limit for an OJSC to pass the
registration was AMD 5 million. The experts state that such decision
of CB is the first positive step for the development of the organized
market of securities after RA CB received the legal right to carry out
the function of the financial regulator. According to the experts,
it’s senseless to make the issuers under review exist at the market
fictitiously, as hardly any company may “boast” about its popularity,
by the existence of the principles for corporate management and the
minority defence system. The experts state that there are many pocket
but totally non-transparent companies that do not need to attract the
capital from the stock exchange, do not want to be open and aren’t
interested in the foreign investors. According to the experts, after
“cleansing” the organized market of the securities, the most leading
and organized companies will remain in the market. At present there
are 190 OJSCs included in the listing of the Armenian Stock Exchange
and not more than 40 of them will remain at the market of securities.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB GIVES AWARDS TO BEST JOURNALIST OF ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily #135, 20/07/2006
The Yerevan Press Club gave awards to the best Armenian journalist of
this year, today. This year the prize “For Professional Highlighting
of the Recent Football Events” went to Senik Kara-Poghosian. The prize
“For Contribution to Highlighting of Various Viewpoints in Actual
Issues” went to Nver Mnatsakanian, author of “Perspectiva” program.
Hovhannes Yeranian, cultural observer of “Yerkir” newspaper received
the prize “For Devotion to the Theme.” “Yerevan” magazine was awarded
“For the Best Presentation of Armenia in Abroad.” Besides, Ashot
Gazazian received a prize for making journalism a literature in his
“In the Shadow of the Sun” book. In the course of the ceremony, Boris
Navasardian, chairman of YPC, promised to assist the local journalists
to participate in various arrangements not only in Armenia but also
in abroad.
By Sousana Margarian

WINNERS OF YEREVAN PRESS CLUB 2006 AWARD DETERMINED
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Senik Kara-Poghosian, author and
announcer of the “Proffootball” program of the Shoghakat TV company,
“Yerevan” literary journal, Nver Mnatsakanian, author and anchor of
the “Herankar” program of the Shant TV company, Hovhannes Yeranian,
cultural commentator of the Yerkir newspaper, author of the Gzrotsner
(“Drawers”) program of the Public TV company of Armenia and Ashot
Gazazian, Armenian correspondent of the Deutsche Welle radio station,
for his book “Under the Shadow of the Sun”, were awarded prizes of
the Yerevan Press Club 2006.
As Boris Navasardian, President of the Yerevan Press Club mentioned
during the July 18 award giving ceremony, the results of the annual
competition show that the professional level of the journalists
raised during the last 15 years. At the same time he mentioned that
the split of the juornalist field, adherence of the journalists to
different political camps and the implementation of orders are among
the serious problems of journalism.
Touching upon the facts of violences and pursuits towards the
journalists, B.Navasardian said that they decreased during the last
years as, in his words, “the journalists themselves did not provide
occasions to pursuit them.” However, the President of the Yerevan
Press Club did not exclude that such facts would be registered during
the coming elections.

“LAW-ENFORCING BODIES ARE NOT ABLE TO SECURE JOURNALISTS’ SAFETY,”
REPRESENTATIVES OF MASS MEDIA AND NGO DECLARE
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. “Journalists are deeply concerned
that parallel with the approaching of the parliamentary elections in
Armenia the pressure towards representatives of mass media strenghtens
and the threats to their address become frequent. These are done by
those people and forces who have bases to be concerned of criticism
and of disclosings of some sides of their activity.” This is said in
a joint statement made by the heads of mass media and journalist and
other NGO’s of Armenia.
According to the statement, two strange incidents happened during
the last week only: Edik Baghdasarian, Head of the Investigating
Journalists NGO received requital warnings towards himself, and Gagik
Shamshian, photo-journalist of the Chorrord Ishkhanutiun newspaper
was attacked for doing his professional
responsibilities.
The authors of the statement are convinced that “the law-enforcing
bodies are not able to secure safety of the journalists and to arrest
the criminals”.
They call to discuss the issue of changing the precautionary
measures towards Arman Babajanian, to effectively investigate and
punish those who attacked Gagik Shashian, to investigate thoroughly
the circumstances connected with the anonymous threats towards Edik
Baghdasarian. “The atmosphere, in which the parliamentary elections
will be held in several months, is totally conditioned with the
readiness of the state to defend its citizens from the hooligans who
try to take posts at any price and to have respect for the democratic
institutes, in particular for the press,” the statement reads.
Habok Avetikian, editor-in-chief of the Azg daily, Aram Abrahamian,
editor-in-chief of the Aravot daily, Nikol Pashinian, editor-in-chief
of the Haykakan Zhamanak daily, Vardan Haroutiunian, President of
the Right and Freedom center and Avetik Ishkhanian, President of the
Helsinki Committee of Armenia signed the statement.

PRESS RELEASE
The Heritage Party
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 58.08.77, 52.22.38
Fax: (+374 – 10) 54.38.97
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website:
July 20, 2006
Heritage Calls News Conference: Headquarters Reopened?
Yerevan–Today the Heritage Party held its first press conference in its
offices since their being put under illegal lock on March 4, 2006, by the
management of the Paronian Theater. After months of disrupted office
operations, political persecutions, and judicial hassles–and accepting as a
legal basis the June 26 verdict of the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s
Central and Nork-Marash communities, which went into effect on July 12–the
party’s board members, in the presence of several media representatives,
opened the office doors at noon and then proceeded inside. These doors had
been sealed for unsubstantiated reasons by marshals from the Service for
Mandatory Execution of Judicial Acts (SMEJA) on May 30, only one day after
the office’s reopening pursuant to the Court’s injunction. SMEJA and the
theater’s representatives refused to be present at the reopening of the
office. When entering the premises, the Heritage officials and the
accompanying participants in the press conference noticed that the seal
placed on the door of the office’s fifth floor had been broken and one of
the windows was open.
The opening remarks of the news conference were made by the Heritage’s
political secretary Vardan Khachatrian. “All that which the party has gone
through recently is for us merely one in a long series of phases of our
political quest for liberty, democracy, and the rule of law. This clearly
proves that the coming together of noble, ethical, and untainted forces has
no viable alternative,” Khachatrian stated.
Responding to questions posed by the members of the media, Khachatrian also
gave details about the party’s main priorities and concerns as well as the
courses of action it plans to take. In his words, the Heritage Party has
already initiated multi-level consultations to consolidate the political
field and civil society, the results of which should become more tangible by
autumn.
The press conference also touched upon the Heritage Party’s position on the
regulation of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict. In this respect, Vardan
Khachatrian underscored the imperatives of Mountainous Karabagh’s
participation in the peace negotiations and the resolution of the conflict
within the context of the supremacy of human rights. Khachatrian also
revealed that, in addition to its ten-point plan as detailed on its website,
the party will soon prepare a comprehensive analysis of the Karabagh issue
and convene a special round-table policy discussion devoted to it, “since a
just settlement on Artsakh is the most crucial challenge facing the Armenian
nation and its future,” Khachatrian concluded.
Founded in 2002, Heritage has regional divisions throughout the land. Its
central headquarters are located at 7 Vazgen Sargsian Street, Yerevan 0010,
Armenia, with telephone contact at (374-10) 580.877, fax at (374-10)
543.897, email at [email protected], and website at

SERGE SARGSIAN JOINS RPA
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Serge Sargsian, RA Defence Minister,
Secretary of the National Security Council under RA President,
has become a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). Party
Spokesperson Arshak Zakarian informed radio Liberty on July 18 that
“Serge Sargsian’s application has been sustained: he is already a
party member.”
He said that the party’s coming congress will decide what position
Serge Sargsian will occupy in the party. RPA congress will be held
on July 22.

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
ESTAB LISHMENT OF THE “KHATCHIG BABIKIAN FUND” IN ANTELIAS
A new Fund under the name “Khatchig Babikian Fund” has been founded
in the Catholicosate of Cilicia. The first steps of this Fund’s
establishment had been taken five years ago by Minister, Member of
Parliament and chairman of the Catholicosate’s Central Council, the
late Mr. Khathcig Babikian, esq., who had at the time consulted with
His Holiness Aram I on the matter.
The initial agreement was that the Fund will function under the
leadership of the Catholicosate of Cilicia and in coordination with
the Babikian family through a joint committee.
However, the different approaches and visions the Babikian family
had towards the Fund led the creation of two separate Funds under the
same name and the division of the Funds capital equally, between the
Catholicosate of Cilicia and the Babikian family. This decision was
taken with the clear understanding that the major goals and priorities
established by late Khatchig Babikian and conveyed to His Holiness
in written will be fully respected and implemented.
Most of the lands inherited from Mr. Babikian to the Fund have already
been sold. The sum of U.S. $ 4.500.000, which constitutes the half of
the amount generated from the income of this sale, has been stored in
a Swiss bank under the supervision of the Catholicosate of Cilicia. A
small number of lands remain to be sold.
The Fund’s capital will not be touched. The interests will be used
for the educational, cultural and humanitarian needs of the Armenian
Community of Lebanon. A special committee headed by His Holiness Aram
I will oversee the Fund’s management. The committee’s members are:
Andre Tabourian, Vosgeperan Arzoumanian and Yervant Pamboukian.
The Fund will soon announce its grants for the year 2006.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
history and mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

DEVELOPMENT AID CAN BE GEARED TOWARD CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN ABKHAZIA
by Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor — The Jamestown Foundation
Monday, July 17, 2006 — Volume 3, Issue 137
Georgia is preparing to exercise its sovereign right to demand the
termination of Russian “peacekeeping” operations on its territory
and their replacement with genuine international peacekeeping missions.
Concurrently, Tbilisi is redoubling efforts to unfreeze not the
conflicts as such (these are not and never were “frozen”) but rather
to unfreeze the frozen negotiations toward political settlements
in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Within this context, the role of
international donor agencies and the functions of development aid in
the secessionist enclaves requires some overall political rethinking
and adjustment of goals on the ground.
Until now, those agencies and aid programs have basically aimed
to bring at least minimal improvements to living conditions in
the conflict-torn enclaves. Rarely, if ever, was Western-funded
development assistance conceived as a tool for advancing political
resolution of the conflicts, let alone resolution on terms consistent
with Western interests. This approach should and can now begin to
change by correlating development aid programs more directly with
the goals of conflict resolution. Free from Russian influence on
their decisions, donor agencies are potentially valuable vehicles
for promoting those goals.
A new approach along these lines can now be tested in Abkhazia. For
example, international development aid can contribute significantly to
the rebuilding and resumption of operations of the railroad section
between the Psou and Inguri Rivers. A linchpin in the pre-1991
Trans-Caucasus railroad, that section was destroyed in the 1992-93
war and awaits reconstruction in a package deal that would also
provide for the Georgian refugees’ safe and orderly return to the
Gali district. Russia’s state railways company lays claim to operating
that section once it is restored.
To ensure politically neutral operation of that section, donor
agencies could facilitate the formation of a Georgian-Abkhaz joint
technical group. Georgian managers and personnel who ran that railroad
prior to 1992 were turned into refugees as a result of the conflict,
and the relevant technical documentation is in Tbilisi since those
events. Having the railroad operated by a joint Georgian-Abkhaz
group is clearly preferable to a Russian takeover that would advance
Abkhazia’s de facto incorporation into Russia.
Moreover, Russian operation of that railroad would probably involve
deployment of railway troops — a specifically Russian institution that
handles many aspects of civilian transport — to Abkhazia on the excuse
of protecting that railroad. Meanwhile, an example of Georgian-Abkhaz
technical cooperation exists at the Inguri hydroelectric power plant,
jointly and continuously operated since 1994.
Donor agencies’ strategy to promote small-scale private-sector
projects particularly in farming can also be adjusted to advance the
resolution of this conflict. In the Ochamchire district, for example,
such assistance can be channeled to joint farming projects that would
be undertaken by local Abkhaz residents and Georgian refugees who
would be returning to their homes in that district. Such projects
can promote the goal of reversing the ethnic cleansing of Georgians
— a goal that can be achieved gradually and with proper economic
incentives to both sides and is central to a political resolution
of the conflict. Also in the Ochamchire district there is need for
an inventory of Georgian-owned houses, preparatory to their eventual
rebuilding to accommodate any returning refugees.
In the Gali district, Georgian refugees have returned in fairly
large numbers to their homes in an unorganized movement that the
Abkhaz authorities could not stop. However, Abkhaz authorities
are subjecting those Georgians to various forms of discrimination
and intimidation. Those problems — as well as organized crime
in the Gali and Ochamchire districts — can best be handled by
an international police force of several hundred, not by military
peacekeeping troops, let alone by Russian Army “peacekeepers.” For
their part, donor agencies are well placed to support the provision
of Georgian-language education in Gali for the returnees’ children,
whom the Abkhaz authorities currently deprive of that right. It
is also clearly necessary at this stage to support the creation of
community representation of refugees who returned to Gali.
Ongoing demographic trends in Abkhazia would also seem to warrant an
adjustment in the aid focus and a more direct correlation of assistance
programs to conflict-resolution goals. According to broadly convergent
estimates by all sides involved, the number of resident ethnic Abkhaz
has dropped to between 50,000 and 60,000 (from an estimated 90,000
a decade ago) through social hardships and emigration. The number of
resident Armenians has slowly but steadily increased to some 55,000
and may rise further, mainly through immigration from Russia’s nearby
Krasnodar krai, where the authorities condone harassment of Armenians.
And the number of returning Georgians in Abkhazia has reached some
55,000, most of them in the Gali district.
These numbers and these proportions suggest that some political and
aid dimensions of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction
are manageable at the local level. By the same token they underscore
the need to face up to Russia’s challenge at the international level,
first and foremost by pressing for withdrawal of Russian troops to
clear the way for local processes toward political settlement.
–Vladimir Socor

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON SOUTH CAUCASUS TO VISIT ARMENIA ON JULY 24-25
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Peter Semneby,
EU Special Representative on South Caucasus, will visit Armenia on
July 24-25. As Regnum IA was informed from the European Commission
mission in Armenia, the schedule of EU representative’s visit is
being worked out at the current stage. It is supposed that Peter
Semneby will meet with RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, as well as
other high-ranking officials. Issues concerning Armenia-EU relations,
as well as Nagorno Karabakh settlement negotiations will be discussed
within the framework of the visit. Peter Semneby will leave Yerevan
for Azerbaijan and Georgia.

DEZINFORMATSIYA ALIVE BUT TRANSPARENT
by Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor — The Jamestown Foundation
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 — Volume 3, Issue 139
Two forgeries now circulating in Europe and North America bear the
classic imprint of Soviet disinformation, presented, however, in
modern-looking packaging developed by Modest Kolerov’s department of
the presidential administration in the Kremlin.
One of these forgeries attempts to portray Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili as suffering from “psychiatric disturbances.” Handed out
discretely to Western journalists in recent weeks, this “study” is
attributed to mental health institutes with prestigious-looking titles
in six West European countries. However, the document is written in
awkward English and with occasional telltale Russianisms (“convinced
in,” “diceased.”) It purports to “diagnose” Saakashvili with various
psychiatric “syndromes” and “dysfunctions” without substantiating these
in any way, resorting instead to simple assertions and occasionally
innuendo. Significantly, no direct claim is made that any of those
six institutes ever examined or interviewed the Georgian president;
instead, their “contribution to the study” is acknowledged.
The “study’s” political goals are also apparent in the forecasts it
derives from that “diagnosis.” It warns that the Georgian president
may provoke social and military conflicts and that he tends to situate
himself in opposition to the Georgian public.
To lend credence to such predictions it patently misrepresents
Saakashvili as an insecure, “paranoid” personality; and his
public speaking style as reflecting those alleged traits as well as
difficulties of expression while under pressure. In reality, however,
this Georgian president’s defining message is one of optimism and
confidence in the nation, while his speaking style in English and
Russian makes him undoubtedly one of the most effective political
orators in today’s international arena (albeit one in which oratorical
talent is in short supply). Even as this “study” was being circulated,
the June meeting of Saakashvili with Russian President Vladimir Putin
in St. Petersburg saw a relaxed and articulate Georgian president
easily dominating his stilted Russian counterpart throughout their
lengthy joint news conference (see EDM, June 16).
Economist correspondent Edward Lucas has wittily debunked
the psychological “study” on his widely read blog
(, edwardlucas.blogspot.com).
Concurrently with the anti-Georgian “study,” a report on Transnistria
was released apparently by the same workshop or a related one, with
false attribution to seven highly reputed academics from leading U.S.
and British universities. This report backs Transnistria’s “right” to
secede from Moldova and to be granted international recognition. The
document misdescribes Transnistria as a “democratic” polity meeting
the criteria of state sovereignty under international law. It passes
over in silence Russia’s military and economic support that enabled
Transnistria’s secession from Moldova.
Some parts of this report are easily recognized as having been lifted
from an earlier report about Karabakh. Other parts are written in
awkward English. The news agency Regnum, a Kolerov outlet (he was
its founder and chief executive prior to his move into the Kremlin)
first publicized this report.
The seven purported co-authors have, in the meantime, denied any
involvement in the preparation of the report on Transnistria and
asked that their names be removed from the authors’ roster. Some
other scholars, whose work is referenced in the report’s footnotes
in distorted or misleading ways, have similarly asked for removal of
those references. Indeed, most of those names have in the meantime
disappeared from the website of the organization that sponsors
this report.
The sponsoring organization, the “International Council for Democratic
Institutions and State Sovereignty,” at , was found to
share an IP address with when it posted the
report. The bogus reference to democratic institutions and state
sovereignty reflects this Council’s function to so describe the
post-Soviet secessionist enclaves and advocate for their recognition.
Meanwhile, that same “Council,” along with something called the
“United Euro-Atlantic Forum,” has released a report criticizing
Ukraine’s cooperation with the European Union in enforcing customs
regulations against Transnistria’s “external trade.” Titles of
disinformation outlets that use misleading references to Western values
(the “Free Europe Foundation,” also propagandizing for recognition of
the secessionist enclaves, is another case) are typical of Kolerov’s
growing network of such organizations.
–Vladimir Socor