President.am
4/13/05

President Kocharian held a meeting with the newly elected leadership of the
Industrialists and Businessmen Union

Today, President Kocharian held a working meeting with the newly elected
leadership of the Industrialists and Businessmen Union.
The leaders of the Union presented to the President issues raised during the
last general meeting of the Union, and asked for President’s assistance in
addressing those issues.
Discussed at the meeting with the President were issues pertaining to the
promotion of equal competition, assistance to local producers, especially
those who export their production, import of industrial machinery,
mitigation of currency fluctuations effects and other relevant issues.
Robert Kocharian noted that decisive steps were taken for the elimination of
protectionism and promotion of equal opportunities for competition. As an
example, President Kocharian mentioned inspections conducted by the
Presidential Oversight Board with regard to the entrepreneurs related to the
leadership at the Tax and Customs Administrations, as well as taxes paid by
300 major businessmen, social payments, and reports on the actual number of
employees. “The most efficient method in this area is high transparency,
which will reveal all the shortcomings, and will make it easier to address
them”, noted President Kocharian.
According to the President it is equally important that businesses make
proposals for more effective managing of these issues.
Speaking about taxes on imported industrial machinery, President Kocharian
mentioned that acknowledging the urgency of the matter the corresponding
instructions have been issued for the relevant structures. The President
said that a new package of proposals related to these issues is being
prepared in consultations with the international financial institutions.
President Kocharian assured the businessmen that avenues for addressing all
the raised issues would be explored thoroughly and the most effective ones
would be implemented.
Robert Kocharian wished the entrepreneurs success, mentioning once again,
that while promoting their businesses they should paid the utmost attention
to strict adherence to their tax responsibilities.

A1plus

| 14-04-2005 | Politics |

`COMMUNITY AND RIGHT’ NGO AGAINST `ORINATS YERKIR’ PARTY

Non-governmental organization `Community and Right’ flatly refuses to
cooperate with «Orinats Yerkir» party. «We will not support a party that is
a leader in electoral violations, spreading false statements and trying to
mislead not only numerous members of our party, but also the society», said
president of the `Community and Right’ NGO Samvel Lazarian at the
press-conference in `Pakagits’ club today.

The controversy between the parties was caused by the circumstance that
according to the `Community and Right’, `Orinats Yerkir’ gambles on its
political consultations and incorrectly presents the list of its
«supporters».

In «Iravunk» weekly NA speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan called upon political and
public organizations to unite so that the upcoming elections of local
self-government bodies be free and fair. Later follow-up responses to
Baghdasaryan’s appeal were published in `Aravot’ daily. However, after
reading the published materials Samvel Lazarian, president of `Community
and Right’ NGO, reported: `Orinats Yerkir party published private
conversations and individual opinions, thus transforming in particular the
response of `Community and Right’ which has nothing to do with the stand of
our organisation. During the past years we have always supported fair and
democratic elections, and never adhered to any political trend’.

In fact, a representative of Orinats Yerkir had a telephone conversation
with Anahit Ghahramanyan, vice-president of the said NGO (also an Orinats
Yerkir member). She welcomed the idea on behalf of the president and called
on other NGOs to join the process.In this regard Mr. Lazarian addressed the
NA, spoke with members of Orinats Yerkir. The latters promised to make the
necessary corrections, but nothing has been done so far.

By the way, Samvel Lazarian is non-party and doesn’t accept any of the
functioning parties. Perhaps, `Community and Right’ NGO will also enter the
political field in the near future.

Alain Manoukian posts operating profit

Les Echos – France
Apr 14, 2005

French clothing and footwear chain Alain Manoukian has posted an
operating profit of 0.1m euros for 2004, as well as a reduction in its
net loss to 2.8m euros, from 10.7m euros in 2003. Turnover fell by 8.2
per cent, to 134.3m euros.

The group expects to return to net profit this year, after cutting the
number of its products, reducing the proportion of discount items, and
increasing supplies from China, India and Turkey. Part of the decline
in turnover was the result of the sale of seven loss-making stores in
2004, which is expected to reflect positively on its operating profit
this year. To return to growth, the group aims to expand outside
France, possibly in China, where it has six franchises.

Armenpress

STUDENTS PROTEST AGAINST GEORGIA’S NATIONAL POLICY

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS: Several Armenian student organizations,
united in the Student Council, organized today a protest action outside
Georgian embassy in Yerevan demanding that central Georgian authorities stop
their discriminatory policy against Armenians in that country.
Before reaching the embassy building in downtown Yerevan they marched
through several streets shouting “No to white genocide,” “Stop Georgianize
Armenians.”
Arsen Palian, a member of the Council’s board, said their goal is to
convey their concerns over the fate of Georgian Armenians to that country’s
ambassador to Armenia. “Georgian authorities must give up their plans to
implement their national policy at the expense of a friendly nation,” he
said.
He said the letter they conveyed to the ambassador asks him to come up
with a statement that Georgian authorities will respect Georgian Armenians’
rights.
Another students said they were assured by the ambassador that Meskhetian
Turks deported from Georgia in 1944 by Stalin would not be resettled in
areas populated by Armenians and that the issue of teaching Armenian
language at Armenians schools in Georgia would be revised

Calif. Treasurer Taking on Schwarzenegger

Associated Press
April 14, 2005

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO – How could California’s charisma-challenged state
treasurer even dream of trying to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Phil Angelides cites the advice he gives his three daughters: “It never
matters what the odds are. What matters are your beliefs, and what you
do to pursue them.”

The 51-year-old Angelides has become the first Democrat to officially
announce he is running against Schwarzenegger, who is expected to seek
re-election in 2006.

Despite some recent setbacks, Schwarzenegger remains popular in a state
that has almost always elected its governors to second terms. But
political observers warn that he should not underestimate Angelides, a
man regarded as shrewd and aggressive by his friends, ruthless and
mean-spirited by his enemies.

Angelides’ challengers in the June 2006 primary are likely to include
state Controller Steve Westly, a former eBay executive with a
multimillion-dollar fortune, and Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Stylistically, the tall, thin and generally scowling Angelides
(pronounced an-jeh-LEE-dis) has none of Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood
glamour. But he insists that going up against a former action hero and
bodybuilding champion only makes the contest more alluring.

“It will give me the chance to debate California’s future on a stage no
one else has ever had,” Angelides said. “This will be more visible than
any other governor’s race in the country.”

Soon after Schwarzenegger got elected in a recall election in 2003,
Angelides positioned himself as the “anti-Arnold,” portraying the highly
popular Republican as an out-of-touch plutocrat who failed to keep his
campaign promises – a strategy that was seen as foolhardy until
Schwarzenegger suffered some reversals of fortune.

Assailed by teachers, firefighters and other public employees,
Schwarzenegger last week scrapped his effort to privatize state
pensions, the latest in a series of retreats in the face of opposition
from unions and other Democratic constituencies. Polls show his approval
ratings dropping below 50 percent for the first time.

“Arnold was elected because he said he was going to do extraordinary
things for people, but he’s turned out to be an enormous
disappointment,” Angelides said. “The thing I find most mystifying is
why someone who came in with such enormous political capital chose not
to use it.”

A Sacramento native of Greek descent, Angelides got his start in
politics as a student at Harvard, protesting the Vietnam War and
campaigning against President Nixon in 1972. Angelides went on to make a
fortune as a real estate developer before returning to politics
full-time. As state Democratic chairman in 1992, Angelides helped Bill
Clinton win California.

But he also came under fire during that year’s bruising Senate contest,
in which Barbara Boxer narrowly beat GOP candidate Bruce Herschensohn
after a last-minute leak from a Democratic operative that Herschensohn
had visited strip clubs. Angelides denied involvement in the leak but
later said the information was fair game.

“Angelides is a mean-minded, terrible partisan hack,” said GOP
strategist Ken Khachigian, who ran the Herschensohn campaign and
previously worked for Nixon and President Reagan. “Arnold can expect a
mean gut fighter who’ll run a very hard-hitting, dirty campaign. He’ll
stoop to anything.”

During his first race for treasurer in 1994, Angelides was widely
criticized for an ad linking a primary opponent who did not support
abortion rights to the murder of a Florida abortion doctor. Angelides
won that primary but lost the general election. He ran again and won in
1998, and was re-elected in 2002.

An ardent believer in using the tools of government to help the
underprivileged, Angelides is adamant that wealthy citizens should pay
higher taxes. That view has led Republicans to ridicule him as a
tax-and-spend liberal.

Angelides has also leveraged his role as an officer of CalPERS, the
nation’s largest state pension fund, to push for greater transparency in
the financial markets.

“He’s smart, he’s aggressive, and he’s creative,” said New York Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer, who claims he and his fellow Democrat are “joined
at the hip” in their work crusading for corporate accountability.

;u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_el_gu/schwarzenegger_opponent

Armenpress

PRESIDENTIAL OVERSIGHT SERVICE REVEALS BREACHES IN STATE-RUN UNIVERSITIES

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS: Vahram Barseghian, the chief of a
presidential oversight service, told a news conference today that the
service revealed a chain of serious breaches in the higher education system
(state-run universities) after a series of studies.
He said one of the findings is that too many first-year students were
transferred to other universities after the first semester, overall 225
students, violating the proportion of specialties each of these universities
have to teach under a state order.
He said the impression is that there were additional examinations for
some specialties. He said in some instances students majoring in one
specialty were transferred to another state-run university to major in a
subject that was radically different from what they studied before. He said
a student majoring in veterinary was transferred to another university to
continue majoring in psychology. Some others to major in banking, history
and so on.
Barseghian said the impression is that some state run universities act as
donors for others. For instances, 24 students were transferred from Gavar
State University. He said the breaches show that there is an urgent need to
improve some mechanisms concerning the transfer of students from one
state-run university to another.

Pan Armenian News

ACTING GOVERNOR OF RUSSIAN PERM REGION ARRIVING IN ARMENIA APRIL 18

14.04.2005 08:31

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Acting Governor of the Perm region of Russia Oleg
Chirkunov will pay a formal call to Armenia on 18-20 April, Novy Companion
news agency reported. The visit was already planned in February in the
course of the arrival of the Armenian delegation headed by Ambassador to
Russia Armen Smbatian in Perm. The Armenian party showed interest toward the
development of tourism in Prikamie, agriculture and chemical industry.
Within the framework of the visit the head of the region will meet with
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, President Robert Kocharian, His
Holiness Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, Governor of
Gegharkunik region Stepan Barseghian. The visit program also includes visits
to the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Armenia, Armenian State
Architectural University, Wine, vodka and brandy factory, Holy Echmiadzin.
The delegation will include Perm businessmen, among them Chairman of the
Committee of Directors of Metafrax JSC Armen Gharslian. A number of
agreements, including those with the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of
Armenia, are expected to be signed in the course of the visit.

TRIAL OF MILITARY INSTITUTE STIDENT SUICIDE CASE STARTS ON APRIL 14

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, NOYAN TAPAN. The trial of the case of suicide
committed by Vardan Movsisian, a student of Military Institute after
Vazgen Sargsian, in Akhtanak Park on October 28, 2004, started at the
court of first instance of Yerevan’s Avan and Nor Nork communities on
April 14. NT correspondent was imformed about this from the office of
Judge Khachatur Baghdasarian, chairman of the trial. To recap, in
connection of this case, charges have been brought against 6 students
of the same institute. 3 of them, having the rank of sergeant, are
charged under Article 375 of the RA Criminal Code “Abuse of Power,
Transgrassion of Authority or Administrative Dereliction” and Article
38-359 Part 1 and 3 “Complicity in Breach of Relations Prescribed by
Field Manuals, between Servicemen not Subordinated to Each Other”. The
other three are charged under Article 359 Part 1 and 3 “Breach of
Relations Prescribed by Field Manuals, between Servicemen not
Subordinated to Each Other” and Article 38-375 Part 1 and 2
“Complicity in Abuse of Power, Transgrassion of Authority and
Administrative Dereliction”.

Agence France Presse
14 avril 2005 jeudi 8:33 AM GMT

Génocide: deux organisations critiquent la “mascarade” de la
commission conjointe

PARIS

Deux des principales organisations arméniennes françaises ont dénoncé
jeudi la “mascarade” que constitue à leurs yeux la proposition du
Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan de créer une commission
conjointe avec l’Arménie pour enquêter sur les massacres des
Arméniens de 1915.

“Cette proposiiton est une mascarade, c’est une tentative de
diversion qui, sous l’apparence d’un discours d’ouverture, réaffirme
la négation du génocide”, a affirmé dans un communiqué Harout
Mardirossian, président du Comité de défense de la cause arménienne,
à dix jours de la commémoration du 90ème anniversaire de ce génocide,
le 24 avril.

“Nous appelons les dirigeants européens à ne pas tomber dans le piège
tendu par la Turquie, puisque le génocide arménien est indiscutable
et sa réalité non négociable”, ajoute-t-il.

Pour Mourad Papazian, président du Parti socialiste arménien, “les
historiens ont déjà fait leur travail sur la base d’archives
internationales”. “L’ONU et le Parlement européen ont reconnu le
génocide arménien ainsi qu’une vingtaine d’Etats dont la France. La
vérité a été établie. Toute mise en cause des conclusions s’apparente
à une démarche négationniste”, ajoute-t-il.

La communauté arménienne de France compte entre 400 et 500.000
personnes.

Mercredi, le ministre des Affaires étrangères d’Arménie, Vardan
Oskanian, a affirmé que la sécurité de l’Etat arménien dépendait de
la reconnaissance par la Turquie du génocide arménien de 1915.

M. Oskanian a dit souhaiter que la question de la reconnaissance du
génocide arménien par Ankara constitue l’une des conditions à de
futures négociations d’adhésion de la Turquie à l’Union européenne.

La Turquie a reconnu l’Arménie à son indépendance en 1991 mais sans
établir de relations diplomatiques en raison du profond différend sur
le génocide. La frontière entre les deux pays est fermée depuis 1993.

Les massacres et les déportations d’Arméniens entre 1915 et 1917 ont
fait entre 1,2 million et 1,3 million de morts, selon les Arméniens,
et jusqu’à 300.000 morts selon les Turcs.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Le Télégramme , France
14 avril 2005

Génocide arménien. La Turquie fait un geste d’ouverture

Quatre-vingt-dix ans après les faits, la Turquie accepte de débattre
des massacres d’Arméniens de 1915-1917.

Officiellement, pour la Turquie, il n’y a pas eu de génocide arménien
en 1915-1917. Elle reconnaît que des massacres ont été perpétrés et
que de nombreux Arméniens sont morts de fatigue, de maladie ou
d’attaques commises notamment par des bandes kurdes lors de leur
déportation.

Mais elle affirme qu’il s’agissait d’une répression dans un empire en
déclin contre une population coupable de collaboration avec l’ennemi
russe, dans un contexte de guerre, et que des dizaines de milliers de
Turcs ont été tués au même moment par des rebelles nationalistes
arméniens.

Les massacres et les déportations d’Arméniens ont fait plus d’un
million de morts, selon les Arméniens, et jusqu’à 300.000 morts selon
les Turcs.

Réponse à une campagne arménienne

Pour la première fois, pourtant, le Parlement turc a débattu hier sur
ce sujet. Dans un contexte il est vrai particulier. Il s’agit pour la
Turquie de prendre des contre-mesures face à une campagne arménienne
pour la reconnaissance en tant que génocide des massacres
d’Arméniens.

C’est lors de ce débat que le ministre des Affaires étrangères
Abdullah Gu l a annoncé que le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip
Erdogan avait écrit au président arménien Robert Kotcharian , lui
proposant la création d ‘ une commission conjointe afin d ‘ enquêter
sur les massacres des Arméniens.

Pour Abdullah Gul, la mise en place de cette commission constituera
it un premier pas vers la normalisation des relations avec l ‘
Arménie.

La Turquie, où vivent actuellement 45.000 Arméniens, a reconnu
l’Arménie à son indépendance en 1991, mais sans établir de relations
diplomatiques, en raison du profond différend sur le s massacres . La
frontière entre les deux pays est fermée depuis 1993.

Pas d’ extermination systématique et massive

La position turque, qu’Abdullah Gul a ré pétée hier, ne semble
cependant pas près d’évoluer. Le ministre des Affaires étrangères a
affirmé que l ‘ administration ottomane n ‘ avait jamais ordonné une
extermination systématique et massive de la population arménienne sur
son territoire.

« La Turquie est en paix avec son histoire dont elle est fière » ,
a-t-il encore di t .

Le ministre s ‘ en est aussi pris à plusieurs pays, dont la France,
qui ont reconnu dans leurs parlements les tueries d ‘ Arméniens comme
un génocide.

Certains hommes politiques de l’Union européenne ont appelé la
Turquie à un « travail de mémoire » et affirmé que le sujet serait
une des questions que la Turquie devrait régler avant le début de ses
négociations d’adhésion à l’Union, programmé pour le 3 octobre.

GRAPHIQUE: Photo, Legende: Le ministre des Affaires étrangères turc
Abdullah Gul (à gauche), avec Jean-Claude Juncker, président en
exercice de l’Union européenne. Le travail de mémoire sur les
massacres d’Arméniens est l’une des questions à régler avant le début
des négociations d’entrée dans l’UE. (Photo AFP)