PEOPLE’S PARTY OF ARMENIA REMAINS ONE OF MOST ACTIVE AND PRINCIPLED
FIGHTERS FOR POWER CHANGE
YEREVAN, October 23 (Noyan Tapan). “I am convinced that the People’s
Party of Armenia has the necessary potential and in a short time the
party will be able to carry out Karen Demirchian’s behests.” Aram
Sargsian, member of the political board of the “Hanrapetutyun” (
“Republic”) Party and former Prime Minister, stated this at the 5th
party congress of the People’s Party of Armenia on October 23. He
expressed his gratitude to the leaders of the People’s Party of
Armenia for a 5-year successful cooperation and mentioned that despite
some disagreements “the two parties hane been and will remain
unified.” In his speech of welcome Ruben Tovmasiam, the first
secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia,
expressed confidence the People’s Party of Armenia will remain one of
the most active and principled fighters for the change of power in the
country. Among the speakers were the leader of the Democratic Party of
Armenia Aram G. Sargsian, the leader of national democrats Shavarsh
Kocharian, the Chairman of the Liberal Progressive Party Hovhannes
Honannesian and others.

GERMANY PLANS TO ASSIST ARMENIA IN DEVELOPING MORTGAGE MARKET
YERENAN, October 23 (Noyan Tapan). The process of creating
infrastructures necessary for the long-term mortgage crediting in
Armenia may finish in 2008-2010. The CB Chairman Tigran Sargsian told
journalists about this on October 22. According to him, the mortgage
market cannot develop without “long money”, and in order to create
this it is necessary to have developed pension funds, investment and
insurance companies. According to T. Sargsian, in these three
directions Armenia must implement smooth reforms. “Long money” will
enable the banks to provide mortgages of 30-35 years maturity instead
of credits of 3-7 years maturity, which are presently provided. At
present the crediting resources of Armenia’s commercial banks are
formed by deposits of up to 5 years maturity. It was noted that in
2002-2003 the banks provided mortgage credits of only $7.1 million,
most of which was provided to the banks’ employees. According to the
CB Chairman, the respective legislative field should be improved in
order to develop the mortgage market. The banks implementing mortgage
crediting should be “protected” and, if necessary, have no problems
selling the security. According to T. Sargsian, the problem of
securities is of great importance: it should be possible “to buy and
sell” credits. It is envisaged to set up secondary operators in order
to conduct the purchase and sale of mortgage bonds. T. Sargsian also
stated that at present a mortgage crediting program is being developed
with the German government, and if the German side provides
assistance, the development of this field will be considerably
promoted in Armenia. It was also mentioned that the meeting of the
Armenian-German Fund’s Board of Trustees will be held on November 1 in
Germany.

LEADER OF PEOPLE’S PARTY OF ARMENIA CONSIDERS RADICAl CHANGES IN
ARMENIA AS NECESSARY
YEREVAN, October 23 (Noyan Tapan). ” The present authorities are an
obstacle to the democratic development of the country.” Stepan
Demirchian, Chairman of the People’s Party of Armenia, stated this at
the 5th party congress on October 23. He characterized the political,
economic and social situation in Armenia as extremely difficult and
pointed out the necessity of radical changes. According to him, “the
authorities are stuck in lies and falsification” and are trying to
suggest to the society that the opposition has exhausted itself in
order to bring to the political arena the “pocket oppostion”, which is
under the authorities’ control. S. Demirchian expressed his perplexity
that the authorities violating the Constitution frequently speak
actively about the constitutional amendments. In his view, the
amendments proposed this year are enen more unacceptable than those
proposed last year. S.Demirchian assured that the party has its own
package of constitutional amendments and in particular supports a 100%
proportional order of the National Assembly election, which will
promote the development of parties and help to remove the
“parties-opportunists” from the political field. Touching upon the
issue of the economic situation in the country, S. Demirchian
declared: “Armenia resembles not a “Caucasian tiger” but a banana
republic with a poorly developed economy and lost scientific and
technical potential.” S. Demirchian stated that the People’s Party of
Armenia will again be in the vanguard of struggle to promote the rule
of law and establish justice in the country. Appreciating highly the
activities of the “Justivce” bloc, he, however, noted that the bloc
cannot be increased since it was created at the time of the election.

SOME FORCES IN BRATISLAVA TRY TO COMPROMISE LEADER OF ARMENIAN
COMMUNITY
BRATISLAVA, October 22 (Noyan Tapan). One of the private TV companies
of Bratislava broadcasted disinformation compromising the activities
of the Armenian representation in Slovakia, as well as the personality
of leader of the Armenian Community of Slovakia Ashot Grigorian. It is
interesting that these materials were submitted several days prior to
the beginning of the discussion on the issues of the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s possible membership in the European
Union at the National Assembly of Slovakia. Mr. Grigorian has always
made every effort directed at decisions making in favor of the
Armenians in the Slovakian parliament and other state instances. It is
natural to suppose that this attempt of compromising was initiated or,
at least, financed by the anti-Armenians circles. To recap, Ashot
Grigorian also directs his efforts at the development of the
Armenian-Slovakian economic relations, as well as at the stimulation
of foreign investments in Armenia. In particular, he is an active
participant of the Pan-Armenian business-forum, which was held in
Yerevan last week. A delegation of Slovakian businessmen also arrived
in Armenia along with him. The Slovakian businessmen got acquainted
with the great number of Armenian investment programs and found
partners. A. Grigorian also made quite an interesting report devoted
to the possibilities of the attraction of the funds of the European
Union to foreign investments in Armenia.

THERE IS NO STATE STRUCTURE CONTROLLING ACTIVITIES OF RELIGIOUS
ORGANIZATIONS IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, October 22 (Noyan Tapan). “The registration neither made the
activities of the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” sectarian organization active
nor passive. They always worked in an active way, and the more the
number of the adherents of the sect was, the more their state
increased and the more the number of doors they knocked at grew,” said
ethnographer Hranush Kharatian, Chief of the Department on Issues of
Religions and National Minorities attached to the RA government,
during a meeting held at the “Pakagits” (“Brackets”) club on October
21. According to her, the Department studied the statutes of the
“Jehovah’s Witnesses” sect before the registration and indicated many
theses contradicting to the current legislation. But the RA Ministry
of Justice registered the sect, it thinks that the statutes is
amended, and there are no grounds to refuse registration to
them. Hranush Kharatian mentioned that there is the necessity to
introduce amendments into the law “On Freedom of Conscience” approved
in 1991. According to her, there is no state structure controlling
the activities of the religious organizations in Armenia today, and
naturally they will operate without any control. At the same time, it
was mentioned that the amendments into the current law will not be
directed at the restriction of the activities of the operating
religious organizations. The fact how tolerant are these or those
registered religious organizations to the state religion of Armenia is
an important circumstance. Hranush Kharatian also mentioned that
Armenia has many religious organizations having state registration
today, whose activities aren’t almost felt.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRESENTS ARMENIA’S APPROACHES TO
REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PROCESSES TO BRITISH MPS
YEREVAN, October 22 (Noyan Tapan). The agenda of Armenian-British
cooperation, the process of the integration of Armenia in the European
structures and the role of the British MPs possible in these processes
were discussed during the October 21 meeting of RA Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs Tatul Margarian with representatives of the United
Kingdom-Armenia Friendship Group of the parliament of the United
Kingdom. According to the press service of the RA Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Deputy Minister informed British MPs about Armenia’s
approaches to the regional and international processes, as well as
about Armenia’s steps undertaken in the direction of the resolution of
the available problems. Touching upon the work directed at the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Tatul Margarian confirmed that
Armenia is loyal to the principles of the peaceful settlement of the
problem. He thanked the British MPs, in particular, Baroness Caroline
Cox for multilateral support in the realization of the just
aspirations of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.

Reuters
Oct 24 2004
Global Warming Seen as Security Threat
By Ed Stoddard
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) –
Rising sea levels force millions of Bangladeshis into India, fueling
ethnic and religious tensions that end in bloody riots. In Africa,
crops wither in the parched landscape of a once-lush nation, bringing
strife to the countryside and leading city dwellers to clash with the
army as they loot shops for food.
As Russian lawmakers ratified the Kyoto protocol on climate change on
Friday after years of dithering, grim scenarios like these may have
been on the minds of some.
A growing number of analysts argue that global warming linked to
greenhouse gas emissions is not just a “green issue.”
They argue it might eventually top terrorism on the global security
agenda, provoking new conflicts and inflaming old ones.
“The biggest security problem from global warming would be forced
migrations, the dislocation of people because of flooding or
drought,” said Steve Sawyer, climate policy adviser for environmental
group Greenpeace.
“Or drastic ecosystem change could change the resource base and
uproot rural people. Forced migrations of people almost always cause
problems.”
Former Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson said earlier this
year that global warming posed a greater long-term threat to humanity
than terrorism because it could force hundreds of millions from their
homes.
Russia’s ratification of Kyoto cleared the way for the long-delayed
climate change pact to come into force worldwide.
Kyoto obliges rich nations to cut overall emissions of heat-trapping
carbon dioxide to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12, by
curbing use of coal, oil and natural gas and shifting to cleaner
energies like solar or wind power.
The United Nations projects that temperatures may rise by 1.4-5.8
Celsius by the year 2100. That could raise sea levels, swamp
low-lying states, and bring desertification or floods.
Even if fully implemented to 2012, Kyoto would only curb the
projected rise in temperatures by 0.15 Celsius. Anything more would
require far deeper cuts likely to cost trillions of dollars.
POOR BEAR THE BRUNT Climate change is taking its worst toll on the
developing world, although the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions stem
from rich nations.
Global warming may already be a source of violence in heavily
populated central Nigeria, where nomadic cattle herders and peasant
farmers have been locked in conflict over scarce land for decades as
the Sahara Desert creeps southwards.
“The frequency and impacts of natural disasters are on the rise,
driven in part by an unpredictably changing climate. The poor are the
most threatened by these catastrophes and the least equipped to
recover,” says the International Institute for Sustainable
Development.
“Evidence is emerging that many conflicts around the world are driven
by natural resource scarcity or inequitable access and
benefit-sharing.”
A United Nations and Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) report released on Friday looked at the ecological
roots of conflict in the tension-ridden Southern Caucasus region,
which includes Chechnya.
“Environmental degradation and the use of natural resources are
identified as factors that could deepen contention in areas of
existing conflicts as in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and
Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions of Azerbaijan,” it said.
Another recent study, the Southern African Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment (SAMA), stressed that many conflicts in Africa were driven
by land degradation.
Some analysts see global warming contributing to conflict over
dwindling water supplies. But one U.N. study found that 3,600 water
agreements had been recorded over the past 4,500 years — suggesting
that people can cooperate when it comes to this vital commodity.

NKR PARLIAMENT ADOPTS A NUMBER OF LAWS
STEPANAKERT, October 22 (Noyan Tapan). On October 20, a regular
plenary sitting of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic National Assembly, at
which 13 issues were considered, took place. The Laws “On Mass
Information”, “On the Freedom of Information”, “On Minimal Basket of
Goods and Minimal Consumer Budget”, “On State Agrarian Inspections”,
“On Cash Activity”, “On Tourism and Traveling Activity” (in the first
reading), “On Legal and Social-Economic Guarantees for People Deported
in 1988-92 from Azerbaijan and Granted the NKR Citizenship”, “On
Citizens Evading Military Service with the Violation of the
Established Regime” were adopted without any disagreements. According
to the Information and Analytical Department of the RA NKR Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, after long discussions, the draft of the NKR Electing
Code was adopted in the first reading. The Electing Code will
virtually replace three acting laws, which regulate issues related to
the elections of the republic’s president, deputies of the National
Assembly and local self-governance bodies.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“KARABAKH-TELECOM” CJSC CONTINUES ITS BOOSTING ACTIVITIES IN NKR
STEPANAKERT, October 22 (Noyan Tapan). The “Karabakh-Telecom” CJSC
operating in the NKR has some problems with international
organizations, but it continues its boosting activities in the
republic. Boris Alaverdian, Minister of Industrial Infrastructures and
Urban Development, told NT’s correspondent about it in response to the
statement of Minister of Communication and Information of Azerbaijan
Ali Abasov that alLegedly international organizations stopped roming
communication with “Karabakh-Telecom”. According to Boris Alaverdian,
the widening of communication conducted by the company and its
regulation in the territory of the republic is more considerable
today. Ralf Yerikian, Executive Director of “Karabakh-Telecom”,
refused from comments.

The Moscow Times
Monday, October 25, 2004. Page 16.
Safin Masters Madrid, Sharapova Loses
The Associated Press
Alvaro Hernandez / AP
Safin enjoying a shower of champagne courtesy of models at the ATP Masters
Series tournament in Madrid on Sunday. In the final, Safin beat David
Nalbandian 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.
MADRID — Playing some overpowering tennis, Marat Safin ground down David
Nalbandian of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 Sunday to win the $3 million Madrid
Masters.
In Zurich, fellow Russian Maria Sharapova had less luck, losing to underdog
Alicia Molik of Australia in the final of the Swisscom Challenge 4-6, 6-2,
6-3.
The Madrid final pitted players ranked ninth (Safin) and 10th in the world,
but the day belonged to the Russian, whose win edges him closer to a berth
in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Houston next month.
Safin had 14 aces in the match that lasted 1 hour, 52 minutes. Nalbandian,
who didn’t lose a single set en route to the finals, had just one.
Of his first nine service games, Nalbandian lost four. When he did break
Safin, once in each of the first two sets, a determined Safin broke back
almost immediately.
The winner pocketed $534,000 and 100 points in the Race and Entry Rankings.
Safin overtook Tim Henman of Britain for sixth place. Of the eight
invitations, four are locked up, leaving four to be decided in the next few
weeks.
Nalbandian, the 2002 losing Wimbledon finalist, stayed in 10th spot.
Some of the biggest names in tennis were absent due to injury or other
reasons, notably the top three players in the world — Roger Federer, Andy
Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.
In Zurich, Olympic bronze medalist Molik ended Wimbledon champion
Sharapova’s 12-match winning streak, inflicted the 17-year-old Russian’s
first defeat in a final, dashed Sharapova’s attempt to take three successive
trophies after wins in Seoul and Tokyo, and denied her a seventh career
title.
“Bad luck,” Molik said, addressing Sharapova during the prize ceremony at
Zurich’s Schluefweg Stadium. “We had a good match. I’m looking forward to
more of these battles in the future.”
Molik, 23, also avenged her straight sets defeat by Sharapova in the
quarterfinals of June’s DFS Classic in Birmingham, England — the pair’s
only previous meeting — and captured a third WTA trophy for her collection,
after victories last year in Hobart, Australia, and in August in Stockholm,
Sweden.
Molik felled two of Sharapova’s compatriots — Vera Zvonareva and Nadia
Petrova — on her way to the final of the $1.3 million Swisscom Challenge.
Molik said she was unfazed after she dropped the first set Sunday.
She likewise bounced back in her semi Saturday against champion Patty
Schnyder of Switzerland, defeating the home favorite 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
“That’s something I’ve been doing all week,” Molik said. “I’ve been keeping
my cool.”
No. 4 seed Sharapova knocked out Venus Williams in straight sets in Friday’s
quarterfinals. In her all-Russian semi Saturday, she beat Yelena Dementyeva
4-6, 6-2, 6-3.