YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2004

HIGHLIGHTS:

YPC ANNUAL AWARD

INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES AND MEDIA

WHAT DOES THE PLAINTIFF WANT?

APPEAL OF “INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS” DECLINED

MEDIA RESPONSE TO SUPERSYSTEM

OVER THIRTY FREQUENCIES TO BE COMPETED FOR

INTERNEWS ARMENIA AWARDED TV JOURNALISTS

PTA YOUTH CHANNEL CHANGES ITS NAME

YPC ANNUAL AWARD

On September 22 at the Business Center of American University of Armenia the
Annual Award ceremony of Yerevan Press Club was held. The award was
established in 1998 to encourage the greatest accomplishments of journalists
and media organizations of Armenia (see YPC web-site, www. ypc.am , “Awards”
section). This year the ceremony was organized by Yerevan Press Club jointly
with “Partnership for Open Society” initiative.

The jury, who determined the awardees, included: Vardan Aloyan (Director of
CS Publishing House, previously, the former Chief Editor of “Respublika
Armenia” newspaper), Arshavir Gazazian (Correspondent of “Deutsche Welle”
radio station in Armenia), Ruzan Khachatrian (Correspondent of Radio
“Liberty” Armenian Service), Nune Sargsian (Executive Director of Internews
Armenia), Vigen Sargsian (External Relations Officer of the World Bank
Mission in Armenia).

The YPC awardees for this year are:

The web site of “A1+” TV company – for being up-to-date and
becoming an established online medium;

Hakob Berberian, photojournalist – for creative depiction of social
problems;

Armen Melikbekian, sports commenter of the Public Television of Armenia –
for competent and impartial commenting on the Spain and Europe Football
Championships;

“Photolure” news agency – for creative progress in 2003-2004;

Atom Margarian, observer of Radio “Liberty” Armenian Service – for the best
coverage of economic issues;

Hranush Hakobian, chairwoman of the Standing Commission of the RA National
Assembly on Science, Education, Culture and Youth Issues – for being open
and transparent in work and for effective cooperation with journalists.

Traditionally special prizes were conferred on awardees by missions of
international organizations and public sector.

The Media Diversity Institute Coordinator in Armenia Artur Papian awarded
Hakob Berberian.

The Head of World Bank Mission in Armenia Roger Robinson granted a prize to
Atom Margarian.

The Chairwoman of the Journalists Union of Armenia Astghik Gevorgian
conferred a special award to Armen Melikbekian.

Hranush Hakobian, the web site of “A1+” TV company and “Photolure” news
agency were awarded prizes by “Partnership for Open Society” initiative.

INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES AND MEDIA

On September 19-21 in Tsaghkadzor seminar “International Structures and
Media: Relations and Ethics” was held, organized by Yerevan Press Club with
the assistance of Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The seminar brought together
representatives of media and international organizations. The presentations
and discussions were devoted to the Armenian media coverage of international
structures, in particular, the Council of Europe, UN, the Open Society
Institute, USAID, the role of these organizations as an information source
on developments of interest to Armenia. The event was a part of a joint
project of YPC and Friedrich Ebert Foundation, aimed at the development of
media self-refutation mechanisms and principles of journalistic ethics in
Armenia. The theme of the last seminar was prompted by the active interest
of media during the recent months to international organizations and the
urgency of the problem of maintaining professional norms while covering
their activities.

WHAT DOES THE PLAINTIFF WANT?

On September 20 the RA Court of Appeals dismissed the suit of the resident
of Khachpar village of Ararat region Marineh Gabrielian versus the Chief
Editor of “Ararat” regional newspaper Karineh Ashughian because of the
absence of the plaintiff’s representative from the hearings. Marineh
Gabrielian had challenged with the Court of Appeals the ruling of the
primary jurisdiction court of Ararat region, Masis city, of December 23,
2003, according to which the suit on compensating the material damage was
left unconsidered for the same reason – the absence of the plaintiff’s
representative at the court session (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, December
19-25, 2003). Marineh Gabrielian had demanded to compensate her expenses of
125,000 drams (about $ 220), incurred, as she alleged, during the previous
litigations between the parties in 2001-2002 (see details in YPC Weekly
Newsletter, November 7-13, 2003).

While commenting on this lengthy litigation, Yerevan Press Club noted that
having taken the plaintiff’s side and obliging the Chief Editor (in July
2002) to publish a refutation for the communication confirmed by 115 people,
the court actually created a dangerous precedent. The plaintiff, inspired by
her success, went further and is now demanding to be compensated the
material damage, at the same time, strange as it may seem, not going into
the trouble of either being present herself or sending a representative to
the court session.

APPEAL OF “INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS” DECLINED

On September 16 the RA Court of Appeals refused the suit of “Investigative
Journalists” NGO versus the Yerevan municipality. As it has been reported,
in early July the organization challenged the ruling of the court of
primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan of
June 21 that refused securing the demand of the plaintiff to the
administration of the capital to provide it with documents necessary for
journalistic investigation (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, July 2-8, 2004). The
documents in question were the resolutions of the municipality of 1997-2003
on the constructions in the public green zone around the National Opera and
Ballet Theater. The ruling of the court of primary jurisdiction had the
motivation that the organization had not attempted to get the information
needed from other state agencies before addressing the municipality, and its
inquiry was not specific enough. On their behalf “Investigative Journalists”
sent a new inquiry to the municipality, listing all the enterprises of
interest that are operating today on the territory around the Opera and
Ballet Theater.

At the hearings of the Court of Appeals, the municipality representative
read out the response to this query that said in particular: “The document
package on the enterprises that use the land is addended by State Register
certificates. The State Register certificates the names of the founders of
enterprises are not specified, therefore, the information on land allocation
to the enterprises specified by you cannot be provided.” Although inquiry
was centered not around the names of the enterprise owners, but on the
legitimacy of them being allocated the territories, and dismissing the
argumentation of the plaintiff on access to information in accordance with
the legislation in force in Armenia, the court of secondary jurisdiction
refused the appeal of “Investigative Journalists”. The organization
announced that it intends to challenge the decision with the RA Court of
Cassation.

MEDIA RESPONSE TO SUPERSYSTEM

During the opening of “CS Media City” holding on September 4, 2004 (see YPC
Weekly Newsletter, September 3-9, 2004), the Armenian President Robert
Kocharian by pushing a button launched a system capable of transmitting 50
TV channels in gigaherz frequency spectrum. Over some time already this
system (referred to as “supersystem”) and its owner, the previously unknown
“A UP” company, have been advertised on “Armenia” TV channel. The launch
give a rise to a torrent of publications in Armenian press that, apparently,
is going to be continued, and that questions the arguments usually quoted as
motivation for depriving “A1+” TV company of air.

On September 9 “Aravot” daily published an article by observer Anna
Israelian “There Goes the Supersystem!”, which quotes the Head of Licensing
and Methodology Department of National Commission on Television and Radio
Ishkhan Vardanian: “Presently NCTR has no vacant GHz frequency. We did not
provide frequency in this spectrum to any company. “A UP” company, whose
commercial can frequently be seen on air, is unknown to us, it has no
license. (…) The Commission has already warned the appropriate bodies of
the need to take steps to stop the illegal broadcasting.” The question of
why then in this spectrum AATV company is broadcasting nowadays was answered
by Mr. Vardanian to the effect that AATV has had a ten-year license since
1997, of which it was deprived during the re-licensing of 2001, since the
license was granted not for broadcasting but for other services. “However,
the investments are protected by the law and if due to a law amendment
economic process is obstructed, the investor has a right to continue the
activities for five years. In any case, today, these frequencies are subject
to licensing by competition. I find it hard, however, to predict, when the
competition will be held”, Ishkhan Vardanian added. It should be noted that
the list of TV and radio frequencies, received by Yerevan Press Club after
an inquiry filed with NCTR, the 2501-2700 MHz spectrum in question is listed
as subject to listening by competition.

The Chairman of “Investigative Journalists” NGO Edik Baghdasarian
highlighted some questionable points in the activities of “Armenia” TV
channel and the newly-established “CS Media City” in his article “Having
Seen a Button, Do Not Press It”, published in “Aravot” daily on September
16.

The piece of Ara Meliksetian “Framing in Public” (“Golos Armenii” newspaper,
September 18) says in particular: “Apparently, the unpleasant story of
“Armenia” TV channel could have gone without a scandal, but for the
particularly sensitive attention of the colleagues to the fate of another
Armenian broadcaster, “A1+” TV company. Hardly any journalist would have
questioned the legitimacy of the diligently advertised television novelty,
presented by “Armenia”, had there been no reasonable question: how come
there is a frequency for a new re-broadcasting project, while none can be
found for “A1+” TV company? The search for an answer to this very natural
question resulted in a quite incidental disclosure of one of the biggest
frauds of our reality. And it is big only because the head of the state was
unwillingly involved in it.” “Apparently, Robert Kocharian himself did not
have suspicions on the legitimacy of the occurrence”, Ara Meliksetian
thinks. “He was, roughly speaking, simply framed. He was, as the saying
goes, played a dirty trick on.” In the opinion of the author of the article,
the President was framed by “various state agencies” and the “many-faced
people surrounding him”, “but the worst thing that the response of the head
of the state is still unknown to the public at large”.

Armen Hakobian in article “The Secret Supersystem of ‘Armenia'” (“Hayots
Ashkhar” daily of September 10) named the situation in place “a scandal in
the noble family”. “It has become known from trustworthy sources that the
head of ‘Armenia’ Bagrat Sargsian was yesterday summoned to the
administration of the President, where he was demanded explanations on what
happened”, the author writes. Besides, he notes that the broadcasting
without a license, along with unconscientious advertising are criminal
offences by Armenian legislation.

Yet, the advertising of the supersystem on “Armenia” TV has already been
stopped, but the situation still needs a consistent explanation by all the
persons and state institutions involved.

OVER THIRTY FREQUENCIES TO BE COMPETED FOR

On September 17, the National Commission on Television and Radio announced
broadcast licensing competitions on 30th UHF of Artashat (Ararat region) and
on two FMs in Yerevan – 100.6 and 101.1 MHz. Besides, the competitions were
announced for two FM-packages in a number of Armenian cities. The first
package includes eight frequencies: 106.1 of Noyemberian, 105.5 of Berd,
105.9 of Amasia, 104.2 of Stepanavan, 104.2 of Sisian, 105.1 of Goris, 104.7
of Kapan, 102.9 of Meghri. The second package includes twenty frequencies:
107.1 of Sevan, 106.6 of Gyumri, 106.3 of Vanadzor, 106.7 of Sisian, 105.4
of Meghri, 107.2 of Kapan, 105.6 of Goris, 102.8 of Jermuk, 104.8 of
Yeghegnadzor, 102.2 of Stepanavan, 100.4 of Ashtarak, 105.3 of Spitak, 105.5
of Hrazdan, 103.7 of Gavar, 100.2 of Dilijan, 101.6 of Ijevan, 103.6 of
Noyemberian, 100.5 of Artashat, 100.4 of Armavir, 101.3 of Echmiadzin.

The deadline for bids in the competition is on December 15, 2004. The
National Commission will consider the bids on December 28.

None of the frequencies mentioned is currently broadcast on. As it has been
reported, earlier, on September 16, the National Commission announced
competitions for five vacant frequencies, too (see YPC Weekly Newsletter,
September 10-16, 2004).

INTERNEWS ARMENIA AWARDED TV JOURNALISTS

On September 18 the results of competition of TV newscast among private TV
companies, held by Internews Armenia with financial assistance of USAID,
were announced. The prize in the nomination “News program of Yerevan-Based
TV company” was awarded to “Horizon” newscast of “Shant” (Yerevan), and
journalist of the same channel Artak Hovhannissian became an awardee in
nomination “Report on specific events: at the right time and place”. The
winner in the nomination of “News program of regional TV company” is
“Fortuna” TV (Stepanavan). The award “Special report: special approach” was
granted to Nerses Matinian (“Interkap” TV, Vanadzor). In two nominations
“Mirror: thematic report on the role of media” and “Journalistic
investigation: closed folder” no prizes were conferred. Also, two special
prizes were awarded to “Yerkir-Media” TV for the best launch and innovative
approach and Hakob Badalian (“AR” TV) for unique style. Incentive awards
were granted: “Keen glance” – Hasmik Ohanian (“Kentron” TV), “Promising
start” – Christina Mkrtchian (“Shant” TV, Gyumri) and Irina Hovhannissian
(“Yerkir-Media”).

PTA YOUTH CHANNEL CHANGES ITS NAME

Since September 20 the channel for youth of the Public Television of Armenia
“First Channel-Yerevan”, aired on 48th UHF of Yerevan, started to broadcast
with a new logotype “Nor Alik”. The programming policy of the channel has
changed, too: from now on it will not be airing the programs of PTA “First
Channel”.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________________
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
375007, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 1) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 1) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:

PRESS RELEASE

September 23, 2004

American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576

Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: [email protected]

AUA Appoints Dr. Lucig Danielian Dean of Political Science

Oakland, CA – The Board of Trustees of the American University of Armenia
Corporation (AUAC) approved the appointment of Dr. Lucig Danielian as Dean
of the School of Political Science and International Affairs. AUAC Trustee
and Chair of the Search Committee, Dr. Wlad Godzich of the University of
California, Santa Cruz, noted, `Dr. Danielian has an outstanding commitment
to the development of Armenia and a strong record of service to the
University as Associate Professor, Associate Dean, and Director of the
Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis.’

Dr. Lucig Danielian earned her Doctoral Degree in Communications from the
University of Texas at Austin in 1989. Dr. Danielian was Assistant
Professor of Political Communication at the University at Albany, State
University of New York, from 1988-1994, where she received a University
Faculty Fellowship for research conducted on mass communication and
democratic movements in Armenia, USSR. She has been the recipient of the
Harvard University Goldsmith Research Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, an IREX
Advanced Research Fellowship, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from
the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned
Societies Joint Committee on Soviet Studies.

AUA President, Dr. Haroutune Armenian, welcomed the newly appointed Dean,
`We are confident that Dr. Danielian’s experience in Armenia and at AUA will
help lead our institution into new directions and impact the development of
Armenia and the region.’ Dr. Lucig Danielian has been teaching at AUA since
1995, has served as the Associate Dean of the School of Political Science
and International Affairs since 1999, and has developed the Turpanjian
Center for Policy Analysis into a beehive of activity and research over the
last five years. She is an active member of several academic and
professional organizations, including the American Political Science
Association, and serves on the boards of several Armenian organizations and
publications, including the Open Society Institute Armenia Assistance
Foundation. Dr. Danielian has published in journals such as the American
Journal of Political Science and the Journal of Communication, is the author
of several book chapters and has many publications directly related to
Armenia and public policy.

AUA’s School of Political Science and International Affairs’ primary focus
is to provide analytical, reasoning and problem solving skills through the
study of international, comparative, and domestic governmental institutions
and processes. The School’s approach is multi-disciplinary with strong
emphasis placed upon providing students with a comprehensive understanding
of democratic governance at the local, national, regional and international
levels.

—————————————-
The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit educational
organization in both Armenia and the United States and is affiliated with
the Regents of the University of California. Receiving major support from
the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight
graduate programs. For more information about AUA, visit

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

September 23, 2004
___________________

CAMBRIDGE ACYOA TO HOST ARCHBISHOP’S TOURNAMENT IN OCTOBER

Two years ago it returned. And this fall, it will be bigger and better
than ever.

The Holy Trinity, Cambridge, MA, chapter of the Armenian Church Youth
Organization of America (ACYOA) will host the 2004 Archbishop’s
Tournament on Columbus Day weekend, October 8 to 10, 2004.

The ACYOA reactivated the Archbishop’s Tournament two years ago,
introducing a new generation of young Armenians to the fun and
excitement of the weekend.

“Most of our youth never had the chance to participate in this event,
because it was discontinued,” said ACYOA Central Council Member
Christopher Tashjian, who is also a member of the Holy Trinity chapter.
“But I know that they will not want to miss this experience!”

What began as a men’s basketball tournament in 1971 sponsored by
Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, then-Primate of the Eastern Diocese, has
grown and evolved in its latest incarnation. This year’s weekend also
includes a women’s basketball competition. The tournament — which will
be held in state-of-the-art facilities — is also organized in a unique
format this year. Teams will no longer quit playing after one loss,
giving everyone more time on the court.

The weekend full of games and activities begins on Friday, October 8,
with an evening of fun and fellowship at the restaurant Sonsie, located
on Newbury Street in Boston. Following the games and presentation of
trophies by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern), will be a dance on Saturday night,
featuring the popular singer, Puzant of Montreal.

Participants will join together on Sunday for a special Divine Liturgy
at the Holy Trinity Church, which will be followed by a reception
celebrating the 10th anniversary of the priestly ordination of the
parish’s priest and long-time supporter of ACYOA, Fr. Vasken Kouzouian.

Most of the venues for the weekend are located just minutes from
historic central Boston, so along with making new Armenian friends and
hitting the basketball court, even the least athletic participants will
have fun visiting the popular tourist attractions.

Everyone is invited to attend or compete in the Archbishop’s Tournament.
For more information, contact Chris Tashjian, [email protected],
or Ani Bagdasarian, [email protected].

— 9/23/04

VARTAN OSKANIAN: “KARABAGH IS INVALUABLE”

Azg/am
23 Sept 04

One Can’t Frighten Armenia with Statements That It Is Left Without
Energetic and Transportation Projects

“Nagorno Karabagh is invaluable. If someone connects the regional
energetic and transportation projects with the issue of Nagorno
Karabagh, I can definitely say that we can make no connection between
them, as Nagorno Karabagh is invaluable and we can exchange it neither
with railways nor oil pipelines and roads,” Oskanian said in
yesterday’s press conference.

“One can’t frighten or bother Armenia with statements that it is left
without the energetic and transportation regional projects, and we
should make concessions and prompt the settlement of the issue. We
absolutely reject this argument and one can’t frighten Armenia with
that. Maybe that was possible in 1992. At present Armenia can not
only survive without that, but also develop and during the next
century it will develop without railways and oil pipelines,” Oskanian
said.

According to the calculation of the experts, Armenia would get $50
million annually, if all the oil and gas pipelines, as well as the
railroads pass through its territory. This sum makes only 10 % of our
country’s budget.

Oskanian said that Armenia is ready to be involved in the regional
programs, if “the other side wishes.” Particularly, he said, that
Yerevan is ready to open Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railroad that stopped
functioning because of Turkey’s blockade of Armenia since
1993. According to trustworthy diplomatic sourcesof Azg Daily, the
Armenian side offered Turkey to open this railroad, besides, Yerevan
would demand no transportation taxes.

Ra Foreign Minister is to leave for New York to participate in 59-th
Session of UN Assembly. According to preliminary agreement, the
meeting of Oskanian with Abdullah Gul is envisaged. Oskanian said that
Armenia hasn’t changed its position, as regards achieving positive
results without preconditions. “The issue remains unchanged, i.e. to
fix development in Armenian -Turkish Relations, to open the railroad,
to establish some bilateral exchanges, to open the border-gate and to
establish diplomatic relations, as the final goal,” he said.

Oskanian stated that at present no agreement has been reached yet for
the meeting with Abdullah Gul. “I think there will be some break
before gettingnew instructions from the presidents. Our evaluation is
the following: the foreign ministers have completed the first stage of
the negotiations, four meetings took place. We are expecting new
instructions from the presidents. If we get the instructions, we can
say that the negotiations on the level of foreign ministers will enter
the second stage, that will be higher and closer to the settlement of
the issue from its qualitative aspect than the first one,” Vartan
Oskanian said.

Presidents Robert Kocharian and Heydar Aliyev have reached a definite
stage in the negotiation process. In reply to the question whether
Azerbaijan preserves the consistency of the negotiations, Oskanian
said: “The possibility of consistency isn’t denied. I can’t say that
consistency is preserved. Anyway, some variant of consistency is being
discussed and it isn’t rejected by Azerbaijan.”

In response to the question put by Azg Daily, whether a negotiation
basis was created as a result of the four meetings of the foreign
ministers, Oskanian answered, “According to the foreign ministers,
some basis was created and passed to the presidents. There were some
expectations that the presidents will give consent or give special
instructions to the foreign ministers to continue in that
direction. There was such an expectation, but that wasn’t achieved
during the meetings of the presidents (in Astana). Certainly, it
doesnâ=80=99t mean that the presidents rejected that. Kocharian and
Aliyev positively estimated the work done by the foreign ministers and
I believe that the things that were submitted to the presidents are in
the center of their attention and they will continue discussions
around them. After coming to conclusion, there may be definite
instructions given to both OSCE Minsk group and the foreign
ministers.”

Touching upon the fact that Armenian officers were not allowed going
to Baku to participate in NATO military exercises, Vartan Oskanian
said, “It was a good opportunity to restore trust between the two
armies. If Azeri government yielded and was under the pressure of some
minority’s demands, we are seriously concerned with the fact whether
new Azeri authorities will be able to make serious mutual concessions
in Nagorno Karabagh settlement issue.”

Oskanian evaluated unacceptable the report of Terry Davis, OSCE
Karabagh Issue Reporter. “That report has no legal status at
present. It is still being discussed. The reporter has been
changed. The newly appointed reporter should prepare his own report,
taking into account the report of Davis or ignoringit,” he
said. Oskanian is also concerned with the statements of the newly
appointed reporter, Stinckson. They are not in the interest of
Armenia.

By Tatoul Hakobian

DALLAQYAN SIGNING UNDER OSKANYAN’S STATEMENT

A1Plus
23-09-2004

‘Justice’ Bloc Secretary Viktor Dallaqyan labeled the statement by
Armenian FM Vardan Oskanyan who said `Karabakh is priceless’ as the
one of a field commander but announced he was as well signing under
it. But Dallaqyan disagrees to the standpoint of the Minister that
Armenia can progress without participating in the regional
developments, without railway, gas pipe line and opened frontiers.

Mr. Dallaqyan drew parallels between the present Armenia and the one
in the beginning of the last century saying he had found numerous
similarities between those 2 states, particularly how they both became
independent, their problems with the neighboring countries, June of
1919 when Authorities falsified the election results, etc.

Viktor Dallaqyan advised to look through `People’ Newspaperof People’s
Party of Armenia of that time. The party boycotted the elections and
the newspaper published it.

Talking about settlement of Karabakhi conflict, Dallaqyan again said
that the not elected president, who doesn’t enjoy trust of people,
canâ=80=99t find solution to the problem. `When in 1999 December in
Istanbul Kocharyan signed the paper on recognition of the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, Karabakhi problem reached a deadlock’, he
thinks.

He also considers risky that some super states – Russia, China, have
started announcing that they recognize the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan. Dallaqyan called such developments as the `consequence of
the weak policy conducted by the not elected Authorities’.

The standpoint saying the Azerbaijani Authorities are anti-popular and
not elected, either, but the international society mainly shows
stances not favorable for Armenians, was posed to Dallaqyan combined
with the question on what ` Justice’ Bloc version over the conflict
settlement was: `The principle of self-determination of the nations
and recognition of Karabakh as a negotiating part’ , he said.

CORRUPTION FLOURISHING IN REPUBLIC

A1Plus
22-09-2004

On Wednesday, presidential adviser Bagrat Yesayan, speaking in
Yerevanâ=80=99s Congress Hotel at a seminar focused on anticorruption
program, said positive changes is being implemented slowly.

In his words, the government’s anticorruption program that promptedso
much criticism from the opposition led to improvement of court and tax
systems.

Yesayan said organizations will participate in the program
implementation.

Armenian Democratic Union’s member Anahit Aghayan was not so
optimistic about the program. Contrary to Yesayan’s opinion she said
she thought theprogram would produce little effect unless the
community and the opposition participate in it.

She said by-election recently held in 44th constituency showed the
corruption is flourishing in the republic. In her opinion, all
anticorruption programs must become the law. Otherwise not a single
corrupted person will be punished, Aghayan said.

OFFICE OF THE UN POPULATION FUND WAS FOUNDED IN YEREVAN IN 1995. THE
FUND RENDERS ASSISTANCE TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES SUCH AS ARMENIA TO
COMBAT THE PROBLEMS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN SOCIETY, AIDS CONTROL,
MEDICAL SERVICES, DATABASE DEVELOPMENT.

Oksana Musaelyan
ARMINFO, 14 September, 2004

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, new assigned country director for Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia, representative for Turkey, who is on her first
fact-finding visit to Armenia, answered Arminfo’s questions

Q: What new projects and programs is UNFPA planning to implement in
Armenia, and the target groups that will be covered by them?

A: UNFPA in Armenia of course has been focusing on saving the lives of
women, particularly in situation when women are pregnant and have been
dying on pregnancy relating causes, problems of delivery etc. In the
past work we have found that the best way to deal with it through what
we call “emergency obstetric care”, combined with access to antenatal
care and family planning services, UNFPA in Armenia has funded a
special mobile unit of doctors who go out through all the corners of
the country. It has also supported “travelling doctors” in some
regions of Armenia, as well as helped improve access to family
planning services across the country. As a result, over the past
decade we have managed to help bring down the number of mortalities
relating to pregnancies from about 45 every year to 5- 6 a year. In
terms of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) which is an internationally
accepted indicator for the maternal mortality, it has decreased from
40 per 100,000 live births in 1999 to as low as 16.4 in 2003. So, it
has almost been eliminated, and we can say Armenia in this sense is
almost at the same level as developed countries. But we still think
that more work is needed in this area to ensure sustainable and
durable results. Thus, this mobile unit has been working from Yerevan,
so in the new program we are suggesting that we also provide some
equipment and training for doctors to do the same work in some other
regions of the country. Exactly where that will be has not been
decided yet, but we just feel that we need to get closer to some of
the remote districts.

Q: How can you evaluate the problems facing Armenia, what should be
done to improve the situation, and the assistance of UNFPA to
alleviate and solve the existing problems?

A: There is another area where women are affected by fatal disease –
cervical cancer, basically, because women do not go to regular
oncological check-ups. In the new program we will start doing a
survey of the entire country both on cervical cancer and STIs
(sexually transmitted infections) through testing women of
reproductive age on the voluntarily basis to see how prevalent these
diseases are. Cervical cancer is one of the types of cancer that is
eminently preventable, simply by going to regular check-ups, you will
catch that there is a very small procedure, and you can go on with
your life without any problems. So of course, we are not in here to
see that when something is so preventable, people are still dying of
it. This is something that we would like to help do something about.

The other fatal disease is HIV/AIDS, so we will continue a lot of
advocacy work that we have been doing with community groups, young
people. We want to try in the new program to reach a lot more men. In
the past program we have found that our community meetings, round
tables are mostly attended by women. Men don’t really come to the
meetings. So as a new thing we will be trying to target men through
the social and institutional structures where there are a lot of men,
such as the army, may be the police, any uniform services. We will be
thinking also of sport clubs and other things where we see men
coming. Then, we will of course continue our work on the reproductive
health and family planning, which has been quite successfully in the
past program. We believe that together with the governments we have
been able to help considerably reduce abortions.

Q: What other means could be in help to reduce the number of abortion
in Armenia?

A: Surely, we still feel that the current level of abortions is quite
high, so through other, modern contraceptive means we can bring this
down even more. Why do we think it’s high? Because abortion sometimes
leads to complications, infections resulting in infertility, which for
a country with low fertility like Armenia, is a serious problem. So we
feel that we still need to bring the rate of abortion down and to
increase the general use of contraceptives. So we will continue this
program, working through the primary health care structures, NGOs,
community groups, training, medical staff trainings, journalists’
trainings, training of local officials, elected officials,
parliamentarians and so on. We really want to increase the knowledge
both on the family planning and also sexually transmitted infections,
including HIV/AIDS. A new emphasis of the already ongoing programs
will be targeting men’s involvement, and will also focus on the young
people and youth friendly services, making sure that young people feel
well going into the health center and not feel intimidated to talk
about their problems with the doctors, nurses and that they receive
proper confidential services. In terms of the new initiatives, as I
mentioned earlier, it will be in the area of cervical cancer; so these
are some things that we will be looking at.

Q: What commitments or provisions have been reached in the course of
your meetings with the Armenian ministries?

A: It was just a fact-finding mission, but I would highlight specific
commitment made by the Ministry of Education, to include a healthy
lifestyle curriculum into the national curriculum starting by 2006 in
schools of 8, 9, 10 grades and higher education institutions. It will
be a comprehensive program, which will include all aspects of health,
including reproductive health (RH) education. In the past programs we
were already helping the MOES develop the national curriculum for
schools in terms of education on reproductive health, health in
general and healthy lifestyle. Generally, our collaboration with our
Armenian counterparts in the ministries is very open, transparent;
both side clearly understand that UNFPA can help raise some of the
issues, to build the technical skills, and help improve access to RH
information and services. I find the relationship to be incredibly
fruitful. By the end of this year all the ministries, NGOs,
parliamentarians that we work with will have developed the activities
under the UNFPA Country Program Action Plan (CPAP) for 2005-2009, and
it is envisaged that at the end of the year the Armenian government
and UNFPA will sign the CPAP.

Q: How much is the annual budget of UNFPA Armenian office?

A: UNFPA is not rich, it has $500.000 annually for the projects in
Armenia that is not really much taking into account the mentioned
problems facing Armenia today. That’s why the budget is used in a very
targeted way. For example, with the “emergency obstetric care” we are
able to save 40-50 lives every year for less than $10,000, which was a
UNFPA contribution to the establishment of the emergency obstetric
care mobile service. This of course does not reflect the operational
costs of the service, which is covered from the health budget. So
it’s very cost effective.

Q: How can you generally estimate the situation in the region? What do
you think on problem of gender disparity in Armenia?

A: In terms of general demographic trends that we have to look at, we
see, for example, large migration out of the country, quite high level
of infertility, low fertility rate in general when families have few
children, a great number of older people outside of reproductive
age. The policy-makers, of course, are well aware of if. But a lot of
the planning that goes at the local, district and the national level
demonstrate that these issues aren’t really taken into account. What
we would like to do is really engage in a broader dialog about what
does it mean for a country when you have people migrating, low
fertility and an aging population. What does it mean in terms of
social services when you have to provide for women in reproductive
age, senior citizens and young people. Obviously, in terms of the
general problems, for example the part of the poverty reduction
strategy of Armenia shows real commitment of the government as well as
the NGOs to improve the quality and the access to health care. If we
look at this year, we will see the commitment to increase the health
budget by 38%, which is a quite good indicator especially in
comparison with the other countries in the region. Of course, it is on
the very low level, Armenia needs a lot of investments in health care,
but the commitments to invest in the area is very good. But general
health care, the quality and the accessibility of health care are the
problem that we have to look at. It is not necessarily something that
UNFPA should interfere with, but we see it as a part of enabling
environment for us to do our job better. In terms of advocacy and
awareness raising, we still face the fact that the culture of
awareness of general health issues as well as reproductive health
issues is still quite low. UNFPA and other organizations have managed
to help the governments increase this awareness. Another thing to
praise is the adoption of the law on reproductive health and
reproductive rights, and it is incredibly impressive achievement that
took a long time for some cultural change to happen, but this was a
very important step. Now it needs to be implemented: doctors, local
officials, media — everybody need to be trained, and understand what
this law means, what are the rights for the individual in term of this
particular law. So there is a strong need for more advocacy,
information, general campaigning on health problems that are
threatening lives and general well-being of the population, as well as
on broader issues of the population dynamics, social-economic
development and poverty reduction. Armenia has a desperate poverty
with high rates of social, economic, and political inequality. This
issue has to be addressed through decentralization processes, through
fiscal decentralization, and through real commitment to invest in
social sector of the country to deal with some of these issues. In
terms of gender, for example, I see a lot of general equality on the
surface, but there are a lot of issues relating to wage inequalities
of men and women, which need to be addressed. I think probably, one of
the issues which I have found is most disturbing but is very hard to
document is a high level of domestic violence against women, and, in a
sense, existence of some cultural, family values that make this
acceptable. Demographic and health survey that was done in 2000 had a
module on the attitudes of men and women of all age groups to the
question “Do you feel that beating of a wife by a man is justifiable?”
Across the country the majority said “YES”, and not only men but also
women. When you look at the age distribution of the answers, young
people answer the same as their grandparents. There is really no
difference in terms of acceptability now. If you look at all the
International Conventions on the human rights, any violence against
woman that takes away a woman’s dignity is not acceptable, so this is
of course something to look at. While there are a lot of reasons why
it is difficult to address this issue, initially UNFPA has been trying
to see what we can do to inform people about this, make people aware,
bring discussions out, because a lot of the problems are kept inside a
family. We have been also trying to generally advocate women’s rights
issues, make sure that also young children understand the value of the
human rights.

Q: How much do the conflicts affect the wealthfare of the population,
what are the most vulnerable groups or spheres suffering the
conflicts? Does UNFPA have its model on conflict resolution within the
framework of its activities?

A: We try to focus our activity on the most vulnerable group: young
people, women, old people and among them there is a very large
population of internally displaced people. Conflicts affect women and
children disproportionately. A lot of the issues that we see in the
three Caucasian countries are similar in terms of a need of more
awareness raising, the need to address issues relating to the rights
of women, the need to address general accessibility to family planning
and to reproductive health services. There are slight differences in
emphasis of the programs in this region, but UNFPA, regardless of the
political situation in the region, is always trying to address exactly
these issues, and therefore there are many similarities in the
programs of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Armenian foreign minister, OSCE envoy discuss Karabakh

Arminfo
22 Sep 04

YEREVAN

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan met the special envoy of the
OSCE chairman-in-office on the Nagornyy Karabakh issue, Filip
Dimitrov, today.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry has told Arminfo
that after saying what the purpose of his visit to Azerbaijan and
Armenia was, the special representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office
said the current OSCE leadership attached particular importance to
resolving the Karabakh conflict.

Vardan Oskanyan, in turn, welcomed the appointment of a special envoy
and provided detailed information to his counterpart about the
negotiating process in light of the meeting of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents in Astana and the latest meeting of the foreign
ministers of the two countries.

At Filip Dimitrov’s request, the Armenian foreign minister provided
explanation of some settlement-related issues.

As part of his two-day visit, Dimitrov will meet Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan, Speaker of the National Assembly Artur Bagdasaryan
and Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan.

First stage in Karabakh talks over, Armenian foreign minister says

Arminfo
22 Sep 04

YEREVAN

Any meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, regardless of
their outcome, are a positive phenomenon and lay the foundation for
further steps, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said in
Yerevan today, commenting on the 15 September meeting of Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in
Astana.

Asked whether a continuation of [former Azerbaijani President] Heydar
Aliyev’s course in the Karabakh settlement was possible, the Armenian
foreign minister said only that “a gradual continuation was not ruled
out” because “one option has not been rejected by the Azerbaijani
side”.

“But I cannot officially confirm the fact of a gradual continuation,”
Oskanyan said. He also added that he could not “intervene in the
essence of talks between the two presidents”.

“When the presidents think it appropriate, they will do so. I cannot
comment on the contents of their meeting,” Vardan Oskanyan said.

He noted that it was premature to talk about the essence of the talks
and to inform the public of it at this point. “Not at this stage. But
when the necessary stage is reached, the issue will be put on
discussion,” he said.

As for the next meeting of the two foreign ministers, Oskanyan said
there is no agreement to that effect yet. At the same time, the
minister said there might be a pause in the meetings. He added that
the four meetings held were the first stage which “raised” some
issues. If there is a corresponding instruction, the foreign ministers
will then embark on the second stage which will be closer to the
settlement of the issue.

Armenia pleased with OSCE mediators’ work, minister says

Arminfo
22 Sep 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian side is pleased with the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group
in the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said at a news conference in Yerevan today.

He said the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are only mediators in
resolving the conflict and that a lot depends on the parties to the
conflict.

“In general, however, Armenia is giving a high assessment of their
activity,” Oskanyan said.

Asked about the reasons for the discontent of the Azerbaijani side,
which always expresses a negative opinion about the Minsk Group’s
work, Vardan Oskanyan said this was explained by the fact that “their
lop-sided position is not reaching out to the co-chairs”.

At the same time, the Armenian foreign minister did not agree with the
opinion that Russia had stepped up its role in resolving the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict.

“Trilateral meetings of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian
presidents were held in the past as well. The meeting in Astana was
one in a series of meetings within the framework of the CIS summit,”
Oskanyan said and added that Russia was a country co-chairing the OSCE
Minsk Group and that a solution to the Karabakh problem was also in
its interests.