ARMENIAN COMPANY DEVELOPS INVESTMENT PROGRAM FOR HEAVY MACHINE BUILDING
PLANT OF KRSNOYARSK
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The advisors of Ameria CJSC (Armenia)
have developed an investment program for the Heavy Machine Building
Plant (HMBP) of the city of Krasnoyarsk (Russia). The program’s
purpose is to attract invsetments to up 150 mln dollars for the
purpose of purchasing the necessary technologies and current assets
and conducting a policy of sale by lease. The program envisages
to increase annual sales to 400 mln USD by 2010. The Heavy Machine
Building Plant of Krasnoyarsk is one of the world’s leading companies
producing heavy excavators and mining equipment. In early 2000,
the plant had financial difficulties. The plant’s new management,
which is cooperating with Ameria, has started the restoration and
modernization of the existing capacities. Head of the Business Advice
Unit of the Ameria Company Gagik Sahakian said that it is envisaged
to implement an accelerated process of restoration of Krastyazhmash’s
trade mark in the near future. Ameria was founded in 1998.
The company provides services in four main spheres: business advice,
audit, accounting and tax advice, legal advice, and investment and
banking advice.
Ameria has numerous customers not only in Armenia but also in Russia
and other countries.

2006 PROGRAM ON REPAIRS AND IMPROVEMENT OF TECHNICAL CONDITION OF
VOROTAN-ARPA-SEVAN TUNNEL APPROVED
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, NOYAN TAPAN. At the April 20 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the 2006 program on maintenance, improvement of
the technical condition and repairs of the Vorotan-Arpa-Sevan Tunnel
envisaged by the RA Law on the 2006 State Budget of the Republic of
Aermenia. NT was informed about it from the RA Government Information
and PR Department. The above mentioned law envisages the allocation
of 1 bln 320 mln 690 thousand drams for this purpose. Of this sum,
1 bln drams (about 2.2 mln USD) will be allocated for repair work
of Arpa-Sevan Tunnel No.2 of the Vorotan-Arpa-Sevan hydroelectric
generating station, while the remaining sum is envisaged for the
operation of this hydroelectric station and the maintenance of the
state organization “Department for Operation of Vorotan-Arpa-Sevan
Tunnels”. It was noted at the sitting that the list of work and
services for 2006 is part of the extended program on restoration and
repair work of the tunnel, for the completion of which about 11.5
bln drams is needed, as shown by preliminary estimates. Most of work
done with the funds allocated for 2006 is of preparatory character,
which will allow to restore the most destroyed fragments of the tunnel
within the next few years.

ACCORDING TO TURKISH NEWSPAPER, 65% OF PBS STATIONS AIRED ROND TABLE
FOLLOWING DEMONSTRATION OF “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”
ISTANUL, APRIL 20, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The film “The
Armenian Genocide” of Andrew Goldberg was aired on April 17 by the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Citing BBC Radio, the newspaper
“Marmara” (Istanbul) reported that over 348 TV stations aired
the film. Prior to the airing, it was announced that many Armenian
organizations and families have assited with the film making. According
to the one-hour film, the mass extermination of the Armenians in Turkey
started in the 1890s under Sultan Abdul Hamid. During their deportation
in 1915, the Armenians were killed on the orders and decison of the
central authorities. Such leaders of “The Young Turks” as Enver Pasha,
Taleat Pasha and Jemal Pasha were sentenced to death and pleaded guilty
to committing the genocide. It is noted that the Armenian massacres
are qualified as a genocide. Taner Akcham, of the Minnesota University
(US), Fatma Myuge Gochek, of Michigan University, historian Halil
Berktai express their opinions in the film, their position on the
issue of the Armenian Genocide differing from the official position
of the Turkish state. The documentary also features some ordinary
citizens of Istanbul and Eastern Anatolia, telling in Turkish or
Kurdish what they heard from their grandparents, undelining that,
to put it simply, these events were massacres. Some young Turks note
that there is no information about such a genocide in the history of
Turkey they know and that “the Turkish people is not the one to have
committed a genocide”. At the same time, the Turkish daily “Sabah”
reported in the April 18 issue that following the demonstration of
“The Armenian Genocide”, 65% of PBS TV stations aired a round table
with the participation of American Armenian scientist and writer
Piter Balakian and progressive Turkish intelelctual Taner Akcham,
from one side, and such deniers of the Armenian Genocide as Turkish
historian Omer Turan and American historain Justin McCarthy, from the
other. To recap, prior to it, tens of thousands of Armenians from the
US and many other countries called on PBS not to broadcast the round
table, pointing out that the Armenian Genocide is an established fact,
and the issue of whether it was committed indeed should not be made
a subject of debate.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CI TARGETS CORRUPTION IN ARMENIA
Lragir.am
20 April 06
The National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI) today convened a roundtable on
“Corrupt Society: Who is to Blame?” The meeting brought together social
and political activists, human rights advocates, analysts, experts,
and media representatives. Members of world donor organizations were
likewise invited to the event.
NCI coordinator Hovsep Khurshudian welcomed the audience with opening
remarks. “One of the key problems facing the Armenian society is
corruption by the ruling authorities and this vice has also spread onto
a large segment of the body politic like a virus. The mentality of and
the mode of operation by many has become fraudulent, and based upon
petty self interests, the deception, the swindling, and the abuse
of official and social status have grown to be ordinary and even
acceptable occurrences,” he said. In Khurshudian’s words, the first
ones to fight against this phenomenon that aims at damaging different
social strata must be the media, the NGOs, the political parties, and
the international donor associations in particular by whose subsidies
the civil society is established to a great extent. According to
Khurshudian, at times the financing by these associations is itself
turning into grounds for corruption and this is impermissible.
In his intervention, the first speaker, chairman Karen Hakobian of
the “Huis” NGO briefly presented the history behind and the cases of
corruption inside the “Professionals for Civil Society” NGO. He stated
that they had even appealed to the court in order to tackle this evil,
but it had become clear that the court’s ruling was already made prior
to hearing the case. In Hakobian’s words, this is not a single instance
and has become prevalent and widely accepted. All this, according
to Hakobian, brings about the incorrect handling of grants. He also
pointed out that since the Machiavellian precept of “the end justifies
the means” is still widespread and the constitutional amendments are
passed by way of falsifications in Armenia, these allotments cannot
serve their true purpose: the better protection of human rights and
societal interests.
During his talk concerning “Legalized Arbitrariness at the National
Academy of Sciences,” the next speaker, Academician Anri Nersisian
charged the Academy’s former president Fadey Sargsian of violating
numerous rules and regulations, unlawfully privatizing the property
belonging to the Academy and ineffectively managing the state funding
being made to the Academy. In Nersisian’s firm belief, this comes to
prove that Sargsian had acted in marginal self gain and usurped to
a large extent.
In her intervention on “Art and the ‘Distribution’ of Funding,” art
expert Susanna Giulamirian talked about the story of an unsuccessful
attempt at providing a grant. As the tale goes, since individual
petitions are not accepted for unknown set of rules, Giulamirian had
to appeal to a local social association in order to petition the “Open
Society Armenia” NGO for sponsoring a project called “European-style
Remodeling in the Post-Soviet Space.” And by winning the grant, she
started the project which also included the holding of an exhibition of
the works by arts and craftsmen of the region. However, the chairman of
the “Actual Art” local social association, through which the funding
project was introduced to the “Open Society Armenia” NGO, demanded
ten percent of the financial support. Giulamirian naturally refused.
Then “Actual Art’s” chairman started to threaten the latter as a
result of which Giulamirian made an appeal to “Open Society Armenia”
so as to change her partnering association. But she was denied on
the grounds that her evidence concerning the local NGO’s dishonest
conduct was impossible to confirm. Subsequently, Susanna Giulamirian
was compelled to discontinue the grant.
The remainder of the session was devoted to exchanges of views and
policy recommendations among the public figures and policy specialists
in attendance. Also noteworthy were interventions by Armenia’s first
Ombudswoman Larisa Alaverdian; Valery Brusov Yerevan State Linguistic
University professor Hrach Tatevian; legal attorney Zaruhi Postanjian;
research director of the Armenian Center for National and International
Studies Stiopa Safarian; chairman of Armenian Helsinki Association
Mikael Danielian; Ruzan Khachaturian from the People’s Party of
Armenia; Tamar Gevorgian of the United Labor Party; Gevorg Kalenchian
from the Heritage Party; Vazgen Karapetian of the Catholic Relief
Services; Gohar Armenakian from the Soldier’s Protection Committee;
chairwoman Artemis Lepejian of the “St. Sandukht” NGO; Vakhtang
Siradeghian from the Transparency International Organization; members
of other social organizations; men and women of arts and crafts;
and many others.
NCI Press Service

Armenian president, US mediator discuss Karabakh
Arminfo
20 Apr 06
Yerevan, 20 April: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan received the
US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Steven Mann, in Yerevan today.
The sides discussed the status of the negotiating process on the
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, as well as prospects for
resolving the problem, the presidential press service has told Arminfo.

Armenian president wants “clearer” cooperation with EU
Mediamax news agency
20 Apr 06
Yerevan, 20 April: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan received a
delegation of the EU troika led by Austrian Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs Hans Winkler in Yerevan today.
Kocharyan gave a positive assessment to the EU’s growing interest
in the South Caucasus and spoke about the importance of the final
adoption of Armenia’s Action Plan within the framework of the European
Neighbourhood Policy, the presidential press service told Mediamax
today.
The president said that this document will make future cooperation
between Armenia and the EU “clearer and more understandable”.
“We consider the Action Plan to be a clear reference point in our
relations, which will make it possible to implement more coordinated
and purposeful reforms,” Kocharyan said.
The Armenian president briefed the delegation of the EU troika on the
latest developments in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict settlement and
Yerevan’s approaches to the development of regional cooperation and
energy security.

Armenian foreign minister, EU reps discuss energy, regional issues
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
20 Apr 06
[Presenter] Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and the EU
troika have discussed Armenia’s cooperation with this organization.
The delegation is led for the fist time by Hans Winkler, secretary
of state for foreign affairs of Austria, which currently chairs the EU.
The main issue which was discussed at the meeting was the Wider Europe:
New Neighbours programme of the European Union, the third stage of
which will start in May.
Vardan Oskanyan briefed the EU delegation on the latest developments
in the Karabakh settlement, Armenia’s positions and approaches. The
sides also discussed energy issues, Armenian-Turkish relations and
possible developments connected with Iran.
[Vardan Oskanyan, captioned] The third stage of the talks on Armenia’s
Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy
will be held in Yerevan in early May. This is a serious document
which will be a guideline for the future development of relations
between Armenia and the EU.
The main issue which we discussed was the development of democratic
institutions in Armenia. The state secretary paid special attention to
the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia. The
EU is following these developments.
[Hans Winkler, speaking in English with Armenian voice-over, captioned]
The South Caucasus region is of great importance to the EU, and Austria
wants to establish close relations with the South Caucasus countries
during its chairmanship. We discussed the New Neighbours programme. We
hope that the discussions will be finished soon and that this programme
will be a basis for close cooperation between Armenia and the EU.
We also talked about the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. The European
Union wants stability in the region and a speedy resolution to
the conflict. We are ready to render the necessary support to the
settlement of the conflict. We are sure that the settlement of the
conflict will promote stability in the region.

Armenian defence minister praises Karabakh military drills
Arminfo, Yerevan
19 Apr 06
Stepanakert ,19 April: “We have repeatedly said and will continue
to say till the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict that
Armenia is the guarantor of Nagornyy Karabakh’s security,” Armenian
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, who is taking part as an observer
in a combined exercise in Nagornyy Karabakh, has told an Arminfo
special correspondent in Stepanakert.
He rated highly the military exercise and noted that it was held in
conditions very close to the war-time conditions and that it differed
from a true battle only by the fact that “ammunition was used 10 times
less”. He also noted that he considered as inappropriate “the fuss
kicked up by Azerbaijan over the exercise held in Nagornyy Karabakh”.
“Should we also be indignant that they held a military exercise just
50-60 km away from here two weeks ago? This is a normal military
process, which means that the army life continues. Irrespective of
the fact that we have always been for the peaceful settlement of the
problem, our army should constantly improve,” Serzh Sarkisyan stressed.
Asked about whether Nagornyy Karabakh should be involved in the
negotiating process, the minister said: “Certainly, Nagornyy Karabakh’s
participation in the talks is desirable, but I do not consider that
the format of the negotiations will be changed in the near future.”
Serzh Sarkisyan said that by making unacceptable proposals Azerbaijan
“is attempting to snatch more for itself”. “If each side continues
to try and snatch openly more for itself, we will hardly be able to
reach an agreement,” the defence minister noted.
Assessing the situation on the contact line of the armed forces, Serzh
Sarkisyan said: “We never violate the cease-fire, we just respond
to hush the fire.” Serzh Sarkisyan believes the domestic political
situation in Armenia is normal. The political processes in Armenia
are going on normally, which has a favourable impact on the process
of the Karabakh settlement, he said.

Troops in disputed Caucasus enclave complete week of military exercises
AP Worldstream; Apr 20, 2006
Ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh wrapped up a week of
military exercises on Thursday in the disputed enclave’s annual
show of force toward Azerbaijan, which lost control of the enclave
following a war in the early 1990s.
About 1,500 soldiers took part in the exercises, which centered mainly
around the central Agdam region, about 375 kilometers (230 miles)
west of the Azerbaijani capital Baku, near the so-called line of
control that separates ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.
The drills, which included forces repelling attacks by mock enemy
forces, were observed by the defense minister and chief of general
staff from Armenia, which has long provided military and economic
support for its brethren in the enclave.
Lt. Gen. Seigan Oganyan, commander of the enclave’s forces, made
clear to reporters that the training was intended to be a signal
to Azerbaijan.
“In the event of any demonstration of aggression by Azerbaijan, the
defense army of Nagorno-Karabakh will answer with adequate measures,”
Oganyan said.
Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but is populated mostly by
ethnic Armenians. Clashes regularly break out between the two sides
and Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliev have traded increasingly bellicose statements since talks
to resolve the enclave’s status broke down in February.
At least 30,000 people have been killed and 1 million made refugees
during six years of open conflict that ended with a cease fire in 1994.
The lack of final resolution over the enclave’s status has long tied
up investment in the strategic, oil-rich Caucasus region.

Russia not to use energy facilities to pressurize Armenia – minister
Arminfo
20 Apr 06
Yerevan, 20 April: “Diversification depends not so much on who owns
energy facilities but on how much these energy facilities and their
energy supplies have been diversified,” Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan said at a joint press conference with Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs of Austria Hans Winkler in Yerevan today
when asked about the handover of the fifth unit of the Razdan thermal
power plant to Russia.
“I believe that these should be diversified but not the owners or
managers of the facilities. The facilities are located in Armenia,
and even if they have been privatized or handed over for long-term
management, this has been done on clear-cut conditions,” the Armenian
foreign minister said, adding that these conditions could not run
counter to Armenia’s energy demands.
Asked about whether he ruled out the handover of the Iran-Armenia
gas pipeline to Russia, the minister admitted that he did not know
the answer. “Talks are under way in this connection,” Oskanyan said.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that there was no pipeline yet and that
at issue was not the handover of the pipeline but who would build it
or fund its construction. The minister said that he did not hold the
talks and therefore did not know the details.
“But if you ask whether I rule out the possibility of handing over
the pipeline to Russia, I would answer that nothing can be ruled out.
On the other hand, one should not make hasty conclusions without
knowing the details,” Oskanyan said.
He did not agree that the concentration of Armenia’s energy facilities
mainly in Russia’s hands could be used as a lever to pressurize
Armenia, especially in the Karabakh settlement. “This issue should
not be linked to the Karabakh problem,” Oskanyan said.
He said this problem should be viewed “through the prism of a mixture
of what is desired and what is possible”. The minister said that of
course, diversification would have been desirable so that part of the
energy facilities were in the hands of Armenians, part in the hands
of Russians and perhaps part in the hands of Europeans.
“But it has happened so that there is indeed a slight tilt towards
Russia,” the minister said. He pointed out that one should not
worry as long as agreements were observed. “I am sure that there are
provisions in these agreements ensuring the republic’s energy security
and diversification,” the Armenian foreign minister said.