“THE FALSIFIERS ARE BETRAYERS”
A1+
[08:51 pm] 11 April, 2006
“Now the favourite moment of many deputies starts,” the NA vice-speaker
Vahan Hovhanessyan said these words in his speech the key issue of
which was the sale of the 5th block of the Hrazdan heat-electric
generating plant to the Russian side.
“Isn’t there anyone who can advise Robert Kocharyan not to estimate
criminal deals as a successful ones?”
said the member of the “Justice” party Grigor Harutyunyan. The
latter also spoke about other “successful deals,” such as “ArmenTel,”
Yerevan Brandy Company and “ArmFilm.” His oratory question was soon
answered in the same way by his partner, the Deputy of the “Justice”
Party Stepan Zakaryan, “Who has such a right?” he said and brought
the following example, when the Minister of Science who did not
approve of Andre’s song was offered to go on hunger-strike. And
the only reason was that “they did not approve of the things liked
by Robert Kocharyan’s team.” Judging from the above mentioned the
oppositional deputy concludes that our authorities are divided into
“the 1st, 2nd and 3rd categories.” In Stepan Zakaryan’s opinion the
tragedy of our country is not in the fact of having “Kadj Nazars,”
but in the fact of having “Lord Sakos who make Nazars brave.”
While enumerating the advantages of the possibility of giving Hrazdan
energy block to the Russian side or the possibility of its keeping
a state property Victor Dallakyan announced that they threaten the
security of the country.
The Deputy Manuk Gasparyan expressed his suspects on “our authorities’
putting money into their pockets” after the deal. By the way, while
the oppositional deputies spent their 3 minutes on the criticism of
the last bargain, the member of the Republican Party Sukias Avetisyan
thanked the Armenian officialdom in the name of all Armenians for
the decision on “gas price abate.”
The Deputy Shavarsh Kocharyan focused on the settlement of external and
internal problems of the country. He claims that we must provide real
economic growth and enlarge our army. “The latter is a more serious
task,” he says bringing the following datum; the 50% of women under 50
are not married and have no children. “Armenia must become a social
country as is written in the Constitution,” added Shavarsh Kocharyan
saying that people falsifying the 2007 elections are betrayers.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE SIDES CAN BE PLEASED BY 80%
A1+
[11:54 am] 12 April, 2006
The OSCE Minsk group French co-chair Bernard Fassier will arrive in
Armenia from Baku today. During the concluding press conference in
Baku he said, “We cannot take decisions instead of the two states. The
decision taken by us can cause serious problems as no way of peaceful
settlement can fully justify the expectations of both sides. But I
can say that there is a way out which can justify the expectations of
the sides by 80%. But the final decision is to be made by the heads
of the countries.”
The regional visit of Bernard Fassier is to be discussed during the
Moscow meeting of the co-chairs, agency “Trend” reports. After the
meeting the Minsk group US co-chair Steven Mann will arrive in the
region. Till the end of April the Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov
will come to the region too.
At the beginning of May the co-chairs will meet in Moscow and discussed
the April meetings. Later on they will visit the region together. The
aim of the visit is to prepare the new meeting of the Armenian and
Azeri Presidents the date of which is not yet known.
After that the co-chairs will represent new approaches towards the
peaceful settlement of the conflict to the Presidents.

THE PACE PRESIDENT THREATENS
A1+
[12:23 pm] 12 April, 2006
“The country which tries to solve the Karabakh conflict by the military
way will be excluded from the CE”, announced the President of PACE
Rene van der Linden.
According to the website day.az, the PACE President also mentioned
that does find it possible to keep a country in the CE which can use
armed forces in case of restarting military operations in Nagorno
Karabakh, “In that case we will have to reconsider the membership of
that country.”
Rene van der Linden called on all the sides of the Karabakh conflict
to refrain from militant statements and to realize that the conflict
can be settled only by the peaceful way.

SEPARATE CALLS HAVE SPECIAL STRATEGY
A1+
[04:39 pm] 11 April, 2006
The OSCE Minsk group co-chairs will visit the region in May on the
issue of the Nagorno – Kharabakh conflict. According to the “Trend”
agency, the OSCE Minsk group French co-chair Bernard Fassie who
visited the region without his companions declared about the coming
call in Baku.
The French co-chair claimed that the separate calls of the Minsk group
co-chairs to the region will contribute to the new phase establishment
of the negotiation procedure between Armenia and Azerbaijan and
will help to reveal the positions of the sides towards the conflict
settlement. He also mentioned that the mediators “worked hard” last
year but there was no progress during the presidents’ meeting in
Rambouillet. He voiced hope that the “new possibilities” given by
the Minsk group co-chairs in the negotiating stage will pave a way
for the future meeting of the Armenian and Azeri presidents.
Bernard Fassie mentioned that he arrived in Azerbaijan with concrete
suggestions but he did not reveal their contents. He only assured
that there was nothing special in them. The OSCE Minsk group French
co-chair Bernard Fassie met the Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedjarov
today. It was a closed meeting and no announcements were made after it.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE BOOKMAKERS DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANDRE
A1+
[05:25 pm] 11 April, 2006
The international bookmaking companies have already initiated to take
stakes on the results of the “Eurovision – 2006.”
The bookmakers estimated that the chances of the Armenian
representative Andre in the “Eurovision – 2006” are very low; the
index of his getting into the final phase is equal to 4.0. Thus,
they think that practically Andre cannot be involved in the list of
final participants.
Let us mention that the index of Dima Bilan presenting the Russian
Federation is1.22. The stake on Amdre’s not being involved in the
finals is 1.15 point.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHEN IN THE GOVERNMENT YOU MUST REFUTE
A1+
[06:43 pm] 11 April, 2006
The rumors that the Russian company “GasProm” took the 40% of the 45%
Government shares of the “ArmRusGasArd” company in order to abate
the gas price are not refuted. Let us remind you that the government
sold the 5th block of the Hrazdan heat-electric generating plant to
“GasProm.” As a result of the deal the Government will give most of
the money for the gas price subsidization.
So far the executive branch officials and the Prime Minister
made an announcement that only the Hrazdan energy block will be
given to Russia for 188 million USD. According to the contract
provisions the RA Government has a 25 – year cooperation program with
“GasProm.” The contract highlights the strategy principles of gas
and energy cooperation. The year 2006 will be the most significant
from the above mentioned 25 years. According to “GasProm” they will
take the Hrazdan 5th energy block and “other objects of Armenian
gas sphere” by the last contract with the RA Government. The list of
the objects is kept in secret but we are informed that they will be
finally given to the Russian side by January 1, 2007. Our Government
officials periodically declare that the Armenian – Iran gas main will
be exploited by the end of 2006. Thus, by the deadline of the contract
with “GasProm” the next property of the country will be ready and it
will likely be given to the partner country.
The most striking point of the contract signed between Armenia and
“GasProm” is the following, “By the end of the deal the “GasProm”
company will have the overwhelming share of high quality in the company
“ArmRusGasArd.”
The RA Government and the Russian company “GasProm” have equal 45%
shares in “ArmRusGasArd,” the 10% of the shares belongs to the company
“Itera.” The rumors that the Government refused most of its share
in favor of “GasProm” are not warranted. The press secretary of
“ArmRusGasArd” Shushan Sardaryan said that the negotiating side is
the Government, and only the Government can give an answer to the
question. They did not refute the news. It was not refuted by the
Government press service representative Mery Harutyunyan either. The
latter gave a diplomatic answer, “I informed the mass media about
the Government decision. There is no mention about the shares in it.”
We can get further information on shares and the Iran – Armenian gas
main from the May decision of the Government when the deadline of
the deal with “GasProm” expires.

SERGE SARGSYAN’S ECONOMIC DISCOVERIES
A1+
[06:00 pm] 11 April, 2006
Today the Defence Minister Serge Sargsyan presented the journalists
the full story of the 5th block of the Hrazdan power station which
turns out to have a 5 – year history and is the initiative of the
Russian side. “Then “RAO EES and GazProm” wanted to buy the 5th block
on condition that Armenia must fully take the produced electricity
but the deal was not profitable for us as we had cheaper electricity
sources then. We gave them a negative answer, and now when the
conditions have become more profitable we give a positive answer.”
In one word, Serge Sargsyan considers the bargain a “favourable”
one. “The strangest is the thing that everybody seems to be concerned
with the deal without having the slightest notion of the 5th block. It
resembles a -three – storey building which only has a cellar and
nothing else.”
The Defence Minister tried to explain the favourable outcome of the
deal to the journalists from economic point of view. According to
him the construction of the block requires at least 180million USD
expenditure and the constructed block will return the sum invested only
in 10 years’ time. “It means that we would have a profitable energy
station only in 2017. And only Nastradamus could answer the question
whether we could have any profit or not,” says Serge Sargsyan. What
do we need now as a country and as a nation? To sell the thing we
don’t possess with 250 million USD or to wait till we have some money
in 2017?”

TOTAL ROBBERY AND “ESTRANGEMNT”
A1+
[07:55 pm] 11 April, 2006
The bill on the “account establishment on the program implementation of
the 2001 – 2003 state property privatizations” was put on the agenda
of the NA session yesterday. Today the NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan
and other important figures criticized the “estrangement” policy
of the Government “as a result of which the RA budget had a loss of
milliards AMD.” Arthur Baghdasaryan inquired why the same territory
is sold for 1000 AMD in one case and for 100 000 AMD in another. The
Chief of the State Property Department Karine Kirakosyan answered that
the price is determined by a number of factors; the activity index,
actives and liabilities of the enterprise are taken into account.
Before answering Arthur Baghdasaryan’s questions Karine Kirakosyan
claimed that neither educational nor primary educational institutions
were alienated or privatized. The NA Speaker informed her that 535
nursery schools and 250 libraries were already privatized.
Today the Opposition was also very active. The vice-deputy of
the “Justice” party Victor Dallakyan divulged all the cases of
privatization which were realized directly and the buyer was known
beforehand; for instance, the company “Orbita” was estimated 150
million AMD whereas it was privatized with 150 million AMD. Let’s
bring another example, “Light” LTD was estimated 106 million AMD
whereas it was privatized with 10 million 825 thousand AMD.
The member of the party “Orinats Yerkir” (“Country of Law”) Hovhannes
Margaryan brought other examples of privatization and 6 examples of
companies alienated with lower price. The member of the party “National
Unity” Aghasy Arshakyan announced that the country is subjected to
total robbery, “the economy was destroyed and sold for nothing.”

IN THE SCOPES OF ARMENIAN – ITALIAN CULTURAL COOPERATION
Panorama.am
15:53 11/04/06
“In 2006 the historical-architectural monuments Kobayri, Kharberd
and Yereruyk will be restored in Armenia,” announced deputy of the
RA Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs Gagik Gyurjian. As he said,
the Italian government in the face of Italian Embassy in Armenia as
well as Milan research centre of Armenian culture and documentation
will render assistance to the Ministry of Culture in carrying
out the above mentioned works. The financial assistance of Milan
Research Centre will be 35 thousand euros this year. As the Deputy
of the Minister mentioned the restoration works will be organized in
accordance with modern international restoration standards. Besides,
the Italian government has announced about the beginning of training
for restoration of historical-architectural monuments. As the first
secretary of Italian Embassy in the RA Roberto Noccelli mentioned the
Italian Foreign Ministry annually lets scholarships for 26 months’
term to study Italian language and culture. This year part of the
scholarship will be given to young Armenian architects under 35 who
will be able to be educated in any of higher educational institutions
in Italy paying 50% of the tuition fee only. A scholar will receive
619 euros monthly excluding the food and trip expenses. Those who
would like to pass the training must know Italian. the applications
are admitted from March 22 to April 22.

WHO IS GOING TO THROW WAR-CALLS TO MILLENNIUM?
Panorama.am
15:43 11/04/06
The question of the election of the head of “War-calls of Millennium”
program has been much spoken about recently. And the most frequently
state name in that context is the name of Incubator of Enterprises
fund president Bagrat Yengibaryan.
The latter mentioned that he has received such an invitation and
is going to receive the responsibilities of the head of the above
mentioned program. “I have a very serious thing to lose; that is the
achievements of the fund. On the other hand I see serious demand for
human resources in that very program which coincides with my abilities
and career.
That is to say, there are adequate conditions, and it would be wrong
of me not to try it,” he said.