VIKTOR DALLAKIAN: ARDARUTIUN BLOC IS READY TO COOPERATE WITH COALITION FORCES
IN ISSUE OF RETURNING DEPOSITS

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). The Ardarutiun faction boycotting
NA sittings took part in the signature collection on the issue of
calling a special session dedicated to returning of deposits and the
session attaching importance to this issue. The session was boycotted
by the order of some forces representing the coalition and by RA
President. Viktor Dallakian, Secretary of Ardarutiun (Justice) faction,
made this statement during the December 20 press conference. “The
opposition had come to work and where were the others?” the MP
mentioned reminding the appeals to work together addressed to the
opposition. According to him, the failure to hold the special session
also shows presence of serious problems within the power. Dallakian
assured that at the press conference held during the President’s
visit to Lori marz the President, in fact, ordered to fail the special
session. According to the MP, the goal of the President was to show
to the Prime Minister that he has no majority in the parliament, to
show to the NA Speaker that he has 44 supporters in this issue (44
out of 66 MPs participating in the signature collection registered
for participation in the session: NT) and to make the Dashnaktsutiun
understand that though there was the issue of returning the deposits
in their pre-electoral program everything will be done in accordance
with the will of the President. Declaring that he doesn’t want to give
advice to anybody the speaker mentioned that in a civilized country the
head of the parliament attaching importance to the solution of such
issue would either vote against the draft budget not stipulating the
deposits or would come out of the political coalition. Speaking about
the statement of RA President that no issue of returning the deposits
was touched upon in his pre-electoral programs, Dallakian referred to
the part of 1998 pre-electoral program of the President envisaging
“elaboration of opportunities solving the issue of compensation of
the deposits the people had with the former Savingsbank.” As for the
President’s proposal to establish a commission attending to this issue,
according to Dallakian, establishment of a commission is the best way
of “burying” any issue. The MP also mentioned that his legislative
initiative connected with returning of the deposits is the only
one put to the agenda of the NA large session in 2003 October. The
draft for the first time suggested to stipulate by the law that the
state is indebted to the population, declared that the debt should be
paid off and this should be done through a program approach. If the
government possessing the whole information submits such a program
that will be approved by the parliament and signed by the President
the legislative and executive bodies will assume the responsibility of
returning the deposits, so a political consensus will be made and no
political force may speculate the issue connected with returning of
the deposits any longer. According to the author of the initiative,
the draft suggested establishment of a fund accumulating the sums
necessary for returning of the deposits. Dallakian qualified the
variant of returning the deposits from the state budget as a “deceit
in relation to depositors” as the budget revenues almost completely
are recieved from taxes. According to him, the resources of the
above-mentioned fund may be received from the privatization sums, sums
of concession agreements, proift tax and so on. Dallakian mentioned
that appearance of a large money mass on the market in a short term
will lead to inflation and fall of economy, so the issue of sums and
terms should be solved by the government with participation of the
Central Bank. As for the equivalent, the former exchange of rouble
against dram at 200:1 correlation was a result of artificial approach
and the US dollar had no real exchange rate in the Soviet Union. So,
the correlation of cost of gold in 1991 and in the year of repayment
of the deposit may be considered as a criterion of the exchange
rate. These are the reasons compelling the draft author not to fix
any figures and reserve the calculations for the government. The bill
on returning of the deposits also suggested giving not sums but notes
of hand to the depositors fixing the concrete sums ans the terms of
their returning. A depositor may sell the note of hand or keep it for
his legatees. Dallakian assured that there will be no accusations
of deceiving people in case of following to these principles and
the issue may be solved as a result of a political consensus. He
considered it possible that these approaches will be admissible for
the ARF Dashnaktsutiun and Republican Party of Armenia making part of
the coalition. As for the Ardarutiun faction, it is ready to cooperate
with the coalition forces in the issue of returning of the deposits.

Press Release

FEDERATION OF ARMENIAN ORGANISATIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS (FAON)
24 April Committee
Weesperstraat 91
NL – 2574 VS The Hague
Contact: M. Hakhverdian
Tel. 070 4490209
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

The Netherlands recognises Armenian Genocide

The Hague, 21 December 2004 – The Armenian Federation announces with
satisfaction that today the Dutch Parliament has adopted unanimously
a motion concerning the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Armenian community of The Netherlands has been insisting at the
Dutch Parliament and the government on recognition of the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 for many years. Especially last year, in the run-up
to and during the Dutch presidency of EU, the 24 April Committee
of the Armenian Federation has persistently campaigned to bring the
Armenian question under the attention of the Members of Parliament
and the Dutch public.

The motion was introduced during the debate on the outcome of
the European Summit of last Friday in connection with the start of
accession negotiations with Turkey. In that debate nearly all fractions
asked the government about the absence of the Armenian Genocide issue
in the Presidency conclusions. This in spite of commitment by among
others France and the European Parliament and also by Dutch Foreign
Minister Bot himself, who ensured the Dutch Parliament that the
Armenian question has always been brought up at the meetings with
the Turkish colleagues. The majority of the Parliament Members had
asked to pay attention to this point.

In the motion adopted by the Parliament the government is asked “to
bring up the recognition of the Armenian Genocide continuously and
expressly in the dialogue with Turkey”.

This motion has been introduced by the Chairman of Christian Union
fraction Mr. Rouvoet and supported by all other political parties in
the Parliament.

President Kocharian held a working meeting on the reforms in the social security system

President.am
21.12.2004

Today, President Kocharian held a working meeting on the reforms in
the social security system. Present at the meeting were the Prime
Minister of Armenia, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, President
of the Social Security State Fund, President of the Central Bank and
representatives of other structures.

The President of Armenia draw attention to the fact that while
some issues pertaining to the reforms in the social security sphere
were discussed and a number of state bodies took certain steps to
implement them, still there was no general and overwhelming plan of
reforms. “There is no document which would contain a timetable and
names of those responsible for what should be done, and on what is
required from the corresponding ministries and structures. Meanwhile,
reforms require coordinated and persistent work,” said the President.

According to President Kocharian, reforms in the social security
sphere are the most difficult and time-consuming ones, but putting
together portions of the accomplished work it is possible to create a
coordinated plan, which can be implemented starting next year. “These
reforms assume systematic activities which cannot be done only by
the Ministry of Social Affairs. A number of other structures should
be involved as well. It is necessary to make clear where we stand
today, and what must be done to make a breakthrough next year,”
stressed Robert Kocharian.

President Kocharian assigned the participants to the meeting to
create a working group of reform experts from different agencies,
which in one month would develop a comprehensive plan of reforms on
the basis of the work conducted up to now.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

64% OF SURVEYED FROM VARIOUS REGIONS OF ARMENIA SUPPORT ARMENIA’S JOINING EUROPEAN UNION

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). Of the 2,000 people surveyed
in various regions of Armenia, 64% are in favor of the country’s
joining the European Union, the overwhelming majority of them being
convinced that it will take Armenia about 15 years. These are the
results of the survey conducted by the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS). A surevey of 100 experts was conducted
in parallel with this. 92 of the 100 experts were in favor of the
country’s unconditional joining the EU. This data was presented at
the December 21 final seminar-discussion at the ACNIS. According to
Stepan Safarian, an ACNIS expert, the social-economic aspect was the
most attractive aspect of joining the EU for the participants of the
public survey and most of them had hopes of improving their social
position after Armenia’s becomimg a member of this organization, while
the most decisive aspect in the experts’ choice was their aspiration
for an irrevocable establishment of democratic values. The expert
paid attention to a considerable difference in the outcomes of the
public survey and the expert survey with respect to the issue how
much Russia is interested in Armenia’s joining the EU. Thus 50.6%
of the population believes that Russia will contribute to the RA
joining the EU, whereas only 14% of the experts take this view. 60%
of the experts believe that the RF will hinder Arm enia from joining
the EU. The percentage of those with a negative attitude to the US in
this issue is not big: only 16.2% of the participants of the public
survey and 5% of the experts believe that the US will hinder Armenia
from joining the EU. The majority of the experts hold the view that the
US is interested in Armenia’s becoming member of this largest political
and economic union. Among the main foreign political questions that
respondents were asked was the question about their attitude to the
issue of sending Armenian troops to Iraq. According to the survey
results, 67% of the experts and 70.5% of the population were opposed
to this measure. The seminar was attended by represntatives of various
political forces, NGOs, as well as by scientists.

FEDERATION OF EUROPEAN BANKS TO DISCUSS ISSUE OF ARMENIA’S MEMBERSHIP IN 2005 APRIL

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). The Council of Federation of
European Banks will make a final decision about membership of the
Union of Armenian Banks during the April 1 2005 meeting. According
to the Union of Armenian Banks, the bid of Armenia has already been
approved. The membership to the Federation of European Banks will
permit the Union of Armenian Banks, in particular, to participate in
bank conferences and the World Bank Forum, to enter the database of
Federation of European Banks. At present bank unions of 35 countries
are included in the Federation of European Banks. Only Russia among
the CIS countries is a member of the federation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NDU LEADER CALLS ON ARDARUTIUN FACTION TO PARTICIPATE IN NA DISCUSSION ON
ISSUE OF SENDING ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN TO IRAQ

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). The December 21 meeting of
different political forces organizied by the Forum of Intelligentsia
was dedicated to discussion of the opportunities of sending Armenian
servicemen to Iraq. The leaders of National-Democratic Union, Nor
Zhamanakner (New Times) party, Constitutional Right union, Democratic
and People’s parties, Hayrenik National Front participated in the
discussion. Perch Zeytuntsian, a well-knomn writer, called on not to
consign to oblivion the assistance of the Near East countries to the
Armenians who escaped from the Genocide. “One mustn’t be ungrateful and
endanger the Diaspora. I respect pragmatism but not when it exceedes
the limits of morals. We remember about the Diaspora at the time
of telethons when its representatives allocate millions of dollars
but forget about security of our compatriots.” Rafael Ghazarian,
an academician of RA National Academy of Sciences, reminded that
10 Christian churches were blown up from the beginning of the Iraq
war: “Hundreds of thousands of Christians have already left Iraq,
can you imagine the consequences of the analogous processes in
the other countries of Near East?” Vazgen Manukian, Chairman
of National-Democratic Union, an MP, declared that the current
authorities destroy the national construction built for centuries,
which supposes unity of Armenia and Diaspora and friendly relations
with the world. V.Manukian called on the members of Ardarutiun
(Justice) faction to leave aside the boycott and come to the NA on
December 24 in order to participate in the discussion of the issue of
sending Armenian servicemen to Iraq. He called on the political forces
and intelligentsia to continue analogous discussions till the the full
solution of the issue. Aram Karapetian, Chairman of Nor Zhamanakner
party, called on the NA not to submit this issue for discussion. “The
President and Defence Minister, as well as the parliament will bear
the responsibility for this decision.” He gave assurance that the
reason of this “political adventure” is not the pressure exerted by
US but the initiative of the very Armenian authorities.

ARMENIAN CULTURAL DAYS HELD IN SHARJAH ON DECEMBER 11-16

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). The Armenian cultural days were
held in Sharjah on December 11-16. The string orchestra after Komitas,
the “Shoghakn” ethnographic group and the ensemble of dudukists of
prominent artist Gevorg Dabaghian performed within the framework
of the cultural days. The cultural days completed with the “Game”
performance of Mnjakhagh theater. RA Minister of Culture and Youth
Affairs Hovik Hoveyan said during the December 21 press conference that
the official opening of the cultural days was held at the Arts’ Museum
of Sharjah with the exhibition of the works of Haroutiun Boyajian and
Karo Yeghiazarian, then the presentation of the book “Pages from the
History of Armenian-Arab Cultural Relations” published in Arab was
held at the conference hall of the Expo Center of Sharjah. Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to the United Arab
Emirates Arshak Poladian is the author of the book. The Ambassador also
spoke about the Armenian-Arab relations – from the Middles Ages to our
times. H. Hoveyan mentioned that the practical program on cooperation
for the upcoming two years was signed between the two countries as a
result of the visit. The purpose of the document is to develop and
strengthen cultural cooperation between the two countries, which,
according to the Minister, will contribute to the deepening of the
friendly relations. According to the program, it is expected that
the Arab cultural days will be organized in Armenia in 2005, and the
exhibitions of book and other printed products will be organized in
Sharjah. The Minister also said that the Armenian art critics visited
the newly constructed church of Gregory the Illuminator in Sharjah,
met with the Armenian Community of the United Arab Emirates, the head
of the council of elders, Head of the Diocese Ter Aram Deirmejian, and
200 books published in Armenia were given to the Ohannesian Gymnasia.

YEREVAN OFFICE OF VDI INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION OF IT SPHERE IS GOING TO
INCREASE TWICE AS MUCH VOLUME OF WORK

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). The Yerevan office of the
Vested Development Inc (VDI) international corporation carried out
the elaboration of programs on system provisison, the reformation of
projects, the elaboration of the data protection bases of the companies
of corporative government and the management systems of documents and
business during the year of its activities. Lev Sevilyan, the Director
of the office, said during the ceremony of summing up of the results of
the activities of the Yerevan Office for a year and the presentation
of VDI that 35 Armenian specialists of the office participated in
the elaboration of 12 programs and projects implemented by VDI. He
mentioned that the activities of the office will be widened next year
and the number of employees will reach 50 till the end of 2005. The
company will carry out not only the elaboration of different systems
and programs, but it will be a subcontractor in the sphere of system
service. Lev Sevilyan mentioned that the specialists of the sphere of
programming taken to job often have secondary vocational education. In
the future thay are retrained at the centers of Moscow and Yerevan, as
well as perfect themselves during the implementation of joint programs
with the specialists of VDI. Artak Ohanian, the Director of Business
Development Department of VDI, in his turn, mentioned that the opening
of tbe office in Armenia is mainly conditioned by the professional
skills and knowledge of the Armenian specialists. At the same time,
he stressed that the shortage of skilled specialists is the main
problem of the sphere of information technologies in Armenia. Artak
Ohanian also said that at first VDI started operating in 1993, then the
central office was opened in Boston (the US) in 1997 due to skilled
specialists. Besides the central office the company has another
five offices – three in Russia, and by one in Ukraine and Armenia
(with a total of 350 specialists). The company cooperates with the
companies of 20 countries (the US, Canada, countries-members of the
European Union), in particular, in the sphere of high technologies,
finances, insurance, telecommunication, energy and information.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“THE ARMENIAN-TURKISH DIALOGUE IS POSSIBLE IN CASE OF COURAGEOUS VIEW ON
HISTORY AND TRANSFER FROM IT TO THE FUTURE,” WRITES TURKISH JOURNALIST

ISTANBUL, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). Two wrong approaches always throw
obstacles for the Armenian-Turkish dialogue. According to the first
approach, there is no history at all, according to the second one,
it is only history that exists. Turkish journalist John Dyuntar
expresses such an opinion in his regular article. Both of these
approaches, according to the Turkish journalist, make the dialogue
impossible. That’s why they become a reason for the fact that the
supporters of the both of these viewpoints become opponents and start
assuring the third sides that it is they who are right. Meanwhile,
according to Dyuntar, the decision consists of the courageous view
on the history and in transfer from it to the future. In Yerevan
the Turkish journalist had met with Babken Ararktsian, the former
Chairman of the RA parliament, the leader of the “Armat” (“Root”)
organization. B. Ararktsian said that his family is from Van by
birth. He also said that he wants the issue of the Armenian Genocide
not to hinder the Armenian-Turkish relations. John Dyuntar reports that
100 students study at the Department of Turkish Studies of the Yerevan
State University at present. 5,000 tourists from Armenia visited Turkey
last year. But he is puzzled in connection with the fact that meanwhile
the way from Yerevan to Istanbul lasts two hours, it is impossible
to cross the boarder through Kars by land, which takes only half an
hour. It is a great obstacle for trade, and Georgia takes advantage
from it. The dialogue between the two countries, according to the
journalist, may benefit from the circumstance that the Armenians have
friendly attitude towards Islam today, as the Arabs received their
refugees in 1915. According to the Istanbul “Marmara” newspaper, John
Dyunrtar also told about the meeting with Catholicos of All Armenians
Karekin II, during which the Supreme Patriarch positively estimated
the visit of representatives of the Turkish intelligentsia and said
such mutual relations help to resolve the available problems. When
the Catholicos was asked if he wants to visit Turkey, he answered
that he ought to visit all his flocks and, of course, wants to visit
Turkey. Karekin II emphasized that one should not turn the issue of
the Genocide into the theme of discussion, as it is an irrefutable
fact. As for the war of religions and civilizations, the Catholicos
of All Armenians said no war is waged in the name of the religion,
all the wars are of political nature.

EDUARDO ERNEKIAN INVESTS IN ARMENIA’S AGRICULTURAL SPHERE

YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). On December 21, at Zvartnots
Airport Director of the Tiera de Armeni company Anna-Christina
Shirinian and shareholder of Max Group Khachik Manukian signed an
agreement on joint activities. According to the agreement, at least
1,600-1,700 hectares of apricot orchards, 200-300 hectares of peach
and plum orchards and 500 hectares of grapevines are to be planted
in the area of 6 thousand hectares (3 thousand ha was sold to Tiera
de Armeni) located near the settlement of Baghramian (Armavir marz)
and belonging to Max Group. According to Khachik Manukian, it is
envisaged to start the construction of a fruit processing plant
with a processing capacity of 40 thousand tons of fruit per year at
the end of 2005. The harvest is expected in 5 years, meanwhile 20-25
million dollars will be invested. Tiera de Armeni, which was recently
registered in Armenia, is owned by Eduardo Ernekian. The American
International Airports company also belonging to the multimillioner
from Argentina implements the management of Yerevan’s Zvartnots
Airport. Max Group, one of Armenia’s big multiprofile companies,
has 15 thousand 200 hectares of land in the country’s various
marzes. Its shareholders are Khachik Manukian, Harutyun Pambukian
(both deputies of the NA) and Mher Bagratian. Kh. Manukian also stated
the two sides will make equal in amount investments, the Argentinian
side will implement the management of the business and the Armenian
side will carry out the agricultural work. The Airport lawyer Armen
Ter-Tachatian announced that profit made by Tiera de Armeni will
not have a commercial significance, it will go to a special fund
established by Ernekian and used to develop the agriculture.