PUNISHMENT OF A SINGLE DEPUTY BOYCOTTING A SESSION OF THE PARLIAMENT CANNOT BE CONSIDERED POLITICAL PERSECUTION
Yerevan, April 8. ArmInfo. Punishment of a single deputy boycotting
a session of the National Assembly cannot be considered political
persecution, said to ‘Voice of Armenia’ newspaper Vahan Hovhannisian,
Vice Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly.
Mr. Hovhannisian stated that the National Assembly must be respected
as a state institution, irrespective of its ‘content’. He said that
taking part in the sessions of the parliament is the compulsory
commitment of each deputy and those neglecting their duty must be
brought to responsibility, although the public may consider the
punishment as political persecution. Mr. Hovhannisian said that the
question of official punishment for scamper-deputies will be raised
in the Constitutional Court.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: DEAL ON SALE OF HRAZDAN-5 WILL CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN GOODS’ EXPORT
Yerevan, April 8.ArmInfo. The deal on sale of the fifth block of
Hrazdan HPP will have positive impact on the economy of Armenia and
will contribute to development of export of the Armenian goods. RA
President Robert Kocharian said this during his visit to Kotayk.
According to him, thanks to this deal, Armenia will be provided with
Russian gas at low prices for three years. As for the discontent
of the opposition about the deal, he said that there are political
forces in Armenia that are always discontent with something.

PRESS SECRETARY OF THE PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA DENIES RUMORS OF HIS TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH SECRETARY OF STATE RICE
Yerevan, April 8. ArmInfo. The rumors about telephone conversation
between President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharian and
USA Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice are false, stated to REGNUM
press secretary to the President Victor Sogomonian. He said that the
last conversation between the officials took place in February 2006,
before the meeting in Rambouillet.

TO THE VICE SPEAKER’S OPINION THE FORMER HEAD OF THE PRESIDENTIAL BOARD HAS NO SERIOUS PROBLEMS
Yerevan, April 8. ArmInfo. The former head of the Presidential Board
Artashes Tumanian has no serous problems, said to ‘Voice of Armenia’
newspaper Vahan Hovhannisian, Vice Speaker of the Armenian National
Assembly.
Mr. Hovhannisian said that Artashes Tumanian decided to do in for
politics and there’s nothing unnatural about it. Let us remind that
Mr. Tumanian, founder of the ‘New Country’ (Nor Yerkir) party, left
the party and cancelled the constituent session, refusing to explain
the reasons which caused debates among the politicians of Armenia.

ARMENIA PAID WITH ITS ENERGETIC INDEPENDENCE FOR THE RUSSIAN GAS
Yerevan, April 8. ArmInfo. The last deal with Gazprom was a serious
blow to the economical independence of Armenia, said in an interview
to ArmInfo Edward Agadjanov, independent economist.
To his opinion, handing all the energetic factors to Russia was a
serous mistake by the Armenian authorities. The expert said that
Armenia has lost its blocking share holdings by increasing Gazprom’s
share in ArmRosgazprom. Mr. Agadjanov said that Armenia could receive
aid from foreign donors for reducing the consequences of raise gas
prices if those objects were not given to Russia.
To Agadjanov’s opinion Russia did not succeed in preventing Iran from
entering the European market by blocking the way through Armenia. He
said that Iran still can enter Europe via Azerbaijan. Nevertheless
he admitted that Iran depends on Russia in sense of transporting
its recourses.
The matter is that the 5-th bloc of the Hrazdan HPP was sold to Russian
Gazprom for $248,8 million. The first part of the Iran-Armenia pipeline
is also to be handed to the Russian side by the agreement. This deal
aims recompensing the raise in gas prices for Armenian consumers.

ARMENIAN PREMIER SAYS SALE OF POWER PLANT’S UNIT TO STRENGTHEN ENERGY SECURITY
Mediamax news agency
10 Apr 06
Yerevan, 10 April: The sale of the fifth unit of the Razdan thermal
power plant is “the most successful deal in the energy sphere which
will strengthen Armenia’s energy security”, Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Markaryan said in Yerevan today.
The head of the government said that the decision to sell the fifth
energy unit of the Razdan thermal power plant to the ArmRosGazprom
close-type joint-stock company is not connected with an increase in
the price of Russian gas supplied to Armenia, Mediamax reported.
Andranik Markaryan said that the decision to sell, upgrade and put
into operation the unfinished energy unit was planned long ago.
Andranik Markaryan noted that apart from money to be paid for
purchasing the facility, the Russian side pledged to invest 140m
dollars in two years’ time in the reconstruction and upgrade of the
fifth energy unit of the Razdan thermal power plant.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MP HITS OUT AT US DESCRIPTION OF ARMENIAN OPPOSITION AS “WEAK AND CAPRICIOUS”
Arminfo
7 Apr 06
Yerevan, 7 April: The description of the Armenian opposition as “weak
and capricious” by the US State Department report has deeply irritated
MP Agasi Arshakyan, deputy chairman of the National Unity Party.
“And I am not of a good opinion about them, the application of double
standards by the US Department of State is well-known,” Arshakyan told
our correspondent. The opposition and the authorities have equal power,
he said.
“The Armenian authorities are discredited and try to discredit the
opposition as well. We have no opportunity to prove our righteousness
before the people,” Arshakyan said. The Armenian people chose Western
values in the early 1990s, but later, they were disappointed because
of double standards of the West, he said.
“You turned a blind eye to demonstrations with involvement of thousands
of people in Armenia where 3m people live and kicked off a furore over
4,000-5,000 protesters in Belarus with 20m population,” Arshakyan
said in an address to US diplomats and described actions of the US
State Department as a manifestation of political corruption by the
West and encouraging weak governments in exchange of concessions.
He also said that the US criteria for freedom of conscience do
not coincide with Armenian criteria. “Favourable attitude towards
totalitarian and destructive cults is a trivial issue for us. We know
that Europe has values which are more proper to our people rather
than encouraging destructive sects and homosexuals,” the opposition
MP said. He also said that sects, which were banned in a number of
democratic countries, operate freely in Armenia.

VELTI RAISING £10M FOR EXPANSION IN BALKANS AND TURKEY
By Maija Palmer,IT Correspondent
FT
April 10 2006 03:00
Velti, the Greek mobile phone technology company, will on Monday
announce plans to list on London’s Aim in a move expected to raise
£10m in new money and value the company at up to £35m.
The company, whose financial backers include Nicholas Negroponte, the
founder of the MIT Media Lab, is planning to use the funds to increase
its presence in the Balkan and Turkish telecommunications markets.
Velti provides software and services that allow mobile phone operators
– including Vodafone Greece – to track and manage the content that
their subscribers access. It also provides technology for media
companies wanting to offer content or run promotions over the mobile
phone network. Velti currently works with mobile phone operators
and content companies in Greece, Turkey, Armenia and Cyprus but is
planning to expand its business into Romania and Bulgaria as well as
deepening its penetration in Turkey.
Alexandros Moukas, chief executive, said it was an optimal time to
enter these markets.
Mobile phone penetration in the Balkans is still about 60 per cent,
lower than levels in the rest of Europe, but growing quickly.
Both Vodafone and OTE, the Greek mobile phone operator, have signalled
plans to expand in the region.
Velti, which was founded in 2000 and employs 90 people, has seen
recent strong growth. Revenue rose 31 per cent to â~B¬4.9m (£3.4m)
in 2005 while pre-tax profit jumped from â~B¬29,000 to â~B¬1.1m.
–Boundary_(ID_b9+Tt/Iu/Zf1W6ILC/vvNw)- –

UNITING THE NATION
Editorial
Yerkir.am
April 07, 2006
The dual citizenship is a unilateral obligation the Republic of Armenia
assumes under the international law to make Armenia the spiritual
homeland of all Armenians and partly offset the history’s wrinkles
and contribute to repatriation.
The dual citizenship stems from the unique situation of the Armenian
people because we are a nation, which has found itself spread all
over the world after undergoing a genocide in its homeland at the
end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
The Armenians of Diaspora have for decades preserved their culture,
national identity with a vision to have an independent state and
return to their homeland.
Any Armenian who has a national dignity wants to see Armenia as the
homeland of the entire nation.
Currently, only one-third of the Armenians reside in the independent
homeland. This situation calls for a united national identity, which
would include close cooperation in such areas as ethno-culture,
language, spiritual and traditions, and would formulate a joint
responsibility for the homeland and future of the Armenians based on
national and historic memory.

AN AZERI AUTONOMY IN ARMENIA?
By Gayane Movsessian
Yerkir.am
April 07, 2006
The spring session of PACE will be held in Strasbourg on April 10-13. A
report titled “Refugees and Displaced Persons in Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Georgia” prepared by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and
Population will be discussed during the session. The report has been
prepared by Boris Sileviks (Latvia, socialist faction).
The information presented in the report has caused a shock in
Baku. According to the report, 235 thousand refugees from Azerbaijan
live in Armenia. 15 thousand people were granted Armenian citizenship
in 2001 and 16 thousand in 2002. The refugees that are granted
citizenship lose their refugee status.
In Azerbaijan, the report states, there are 560 thousand internally
displaced persons from the territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabagh
and only 8606 refugees. 8500 of them are Chechens, over 100 refugees
are from Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. The Azeri refugees from Armenia
that have received Azeri citizenship are no longer considered refugees.
Baku insists that the number of refugees from Armenia is 250
thousand. Azerbaijan is concerned that the refugees that were granted
Azeri citizenship have lost their right to return to their previous
place of residence which is Armenia. Currently Baku is exploring
the possibilities of depriving these people of their citizenship and
restoring their refugee status.
“From the legal and judicial perspective, these 250 thousand people
should not be considered citizens of Azerbaijan. The Azeri constitution
allows the president to grant citizenship to individuals that request
citizenship. However, there have been no such applications.
Citizenship was granted to refugees from Armenia with no previous
application procedures. This means that procedural violations occurred
when granting citizenship,” the Azeri representative to PACE Gyultekin
Hajiyeva stated.
She proposes to deprive the former refugees from Azeri citizenship
and grant them legal residence status. Hajiyeva believes the
Azeri government has to do its best to settle this issue as soon
as possible. “I have discussed the issue with relevant agencies
in Azerbaijan.
They supported my position and I hope the issue will be settled
soon. In any case, it is in Azerbaijan’s interests.” Commenting on
the situation with refugees, member of the international relations
committee of the Azeri parliament Sabir Rustamkhanli noted, “Hundreds
of thousands of refugees were granted Azeri citizenship in 1998
so that they could participate in the elections. This was in the
interests of some forces.”
It looks that today Azerbaijan no longer needs the votes of the
refugees from Armenia. It should be noted that in 2005 the leader
of the refugees, ex-minister of healthcare Ali Issanov was arrested
in Azerbaijan for “attempts of seizing power and forming military
groups”. The Azeri leaders’ statements sound as if they were speaking
about some sheep and not human beings.
Baku is increasingly concerned that the refugees will not want
to return to Armenia, which our ambitious neighbors call “Western
Azerbaijan”. An association has been established in Azerbaijan called
“return to Western Azerbaijan” that includes Azeri refugees from
Armenia.
The leader of the association Rizvan Talibov calls on the Azeri
refugees to return to Armenia and demand autonomy that would be
similar to the autonomy that the Armenians in Nagorno Karabagh will
have. Judging from the statements made by Azeri political leaders
this idea was not authored by Talibov. As they say, there is no smoke
without fire.