Author: Boshkezenian Garik

HIGHEST PROFITS IN THE FIRST HALF GAINED BY ‘HSBC BANK ARMENIA’,
ARDSHININVESTBANK AND CONVERSE BANK

Yerevan, July 28. ArmInfo. In the bank system of Armenia, for the fist
half of 2006, the highest profits were gained by ‘HSBC Bank –
Armenia'(AMD 1,5 billion or $3,5 million), Ardshininvestbank (AMD 1,1
billion or $2,5 million) and Converse Bank (AMD 955 million or $2,3
million). According to the bank ranking by ArmInfo, the fourth place
by profits belongs to ACBA Bank – AMD 702,4 million or $1,7 million,
fifth – Unibank – AMD 619,3 million or $1,5 million. The
profitability of assets (profits in assets ratio – ROA) is highest at
the Armenian Development Bank (ADB) – 4,34%, then come Converse Bank –
2,94%, Incecobank – 2,30%, Unibank – 2,28% and Cascade Bank –
2,16%. By the ROE indicator is leading HSBC Armenia Bank – 20,30%,
then come Unibank – 16,11%, Artsakhbank – 16,07%, ADB – 11,33%,
Ardshininvestbank – 10,54% The total surplus earnings of the Armenian
banking system in the first half of 2006 made up AMD 8,2 billion or
$19,6 million, having grown by 59,1% compared with the corresponding
period of 2005. 20 of 21 commercial banks of Armenia worked with
profit in the period under review. Their total surplus earnings made
up AMD 8,2 billion or $19,6 million. The only bank to work with loss
was ITB bank – AMD 18,4 million or $43,9 thousand.

The total capital of the Armenian banking system grew by 8,1% in the
considerable period and by 33,3%in yearly respect, making up AMD 102,2
billion ($243,9 million). This growth is resulted from increase of the
incomes and of the authorized capital stock – 29,4% in yearly respect
and 8,5% in the considered period, which equaled AMD 65,4 billion
($156,3 million) by the end of June 2006. Authorized capital stock
increase was highest at BTA Invest Bank – 207,7%, then come
Ardshininvestbank – 150,1%, ‘VTB- Armenia’ (formerly Armsavingsbank) –
149,5% and Cascade Bank – 62,9%. In general, the authorized capital
stock was increased by 9 banks. In annual respect capital stock
decreased only at one bank – ITB, by 2,1%, and in the second quarter
of 2006 – at 5 banks.

Considerable yearly growth of capital was registered at BTA IncestBank
(252,6%) and ‘VTB-Armenia’ (124,3%).

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
July 28, 2006

In 2 years Azerbaijan not to need int’l humanitarian assistance to
refugees – UNWFP Exective Director

Source: Trend
Author: S.Agayeva

28.07.2006

In two years the Azerbaijani government will not need international
humanitarian assistance rendered to refugees and infernally displaced
people, James Morris, the UN World Food Program (UNWFP), told a news
conference in Baku on 28 July.

Morris said that the leadership of WFP is satisfied with the
cooperation with the Azerbaijani government. `We appreciate the fact
that the government has undertaken a commitment to remove the refugee
camps by the end of next year,’ he stressed.

Since 1994 humanization assistance has been rendered to over 500,000
refugees and internally displaced people from Azerbaijan and it was
decided to prolong the program for 2 years more. `In this period we
will render food assistance to 33,000 people of this category. It is
a long-term activities of the organization,’ he noted.

So far, the Azerbaijani government has received around $120m in
humanitarian assistance. However, the number of natural disasters
rose and the military conflict and therefore the WFP should attach
more attention to the humanitarian assistance namely in hot-points of
the Earth.

The UNWFP Executive Director expressed his hope that the cooperation
with the Azerbaijani government will bear fruits and social problems
of refugees and internally replaced people will be partially
resolved.

Addressing the news conference the Vice Premier, also the chairman of
the State Committee on Refugees and internally Displaced People, Ali
Hasanov, thanked the organization for the assistance in the
resolution of the problem, the UNWFP is the organization which has
been involved in rendering assistance to this category. He also
hailed the decision by the organization the extension of the term of
program, noting that for the time being the government was in no
condition to resolve the problem of refugees and internally displaced
people by itself.

`Until full resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict the refugees and
internally displaced people will not return to their native lands, he
underlined.

Turkish court acquits author Perihan Magden

Guardian Unlimited; Jul 28, 2006

Turkish writer and journalist Perihan Magden has been acquitted of
charges under Article 301 of the Turkish consitution.

Istanbul’s second criminal court of first instance ruled yesterday
that an article defending the rights of a conscientious objector
amounted to "heavy criticism conveyed within the scope of freedom of
expression" and did not constitute a crime.

In her column, published in the weekly Yeni Aktuel magazine last
December, Magden defended conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan who was
sentenced to a record four-year term in a military prison for
disobedience after refusing to wear his military uniform. She argued
that Turkey needed to establish a civilian service as an alternative
to compulsory military conscription.

Conscription in Turkey is obligatory for men over 20, and the country
does not recognise the right to conscientious objection. Objectors
have also been prosecuted on charges of turning people against the
military. Magden faced up to three years in prison had she been
convicted.

Despite pressure from the EU – which Turkey hopes to join – to improve
freedoms, the Turkish government has no plans to change such laws,
saying where appropriate the charges are eventually dropped and
defendants are acquitted. EU officials argue that even if charges are
dropped, the threat of prosecution remains as a deterrent, and stress
that freedom of speech is a "key principle" in determining a state’s
eligibility to join the EU.

Magden is one of a string of writers and journalists to stand trial
for expressing opinions. Earlier this month the case against the
bestselling author Elif Shafak, charged under Article 301 for
"insulting Turkishness" in her latest novel, was reopened.

The novelist Orhan Pamuk faced similar charges for commenting on the
mass killings of Armenians by Turks around the time of the first world
war. The charges against Pamuk were dropped for technical reasons late
last year amid intense international pressure.

HISTORY OF WAR IS WRITTEN BY DISHWASHERS

Lragir.am
27 July 06

Several commanders of squads in Karabakh war wrote a letter to the
president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, demanding to improve the hard
social state of the liberation soldiers. The liberation soldiers
offer a list of social demands, starting with the status.

"The most important of these demands is the adoption of a status of
participants of Artsakh liberation war. You see, there are participants
of the Patriotic War, veterans of foreign legion, in Ethiopia, where
a civil war took place, there are two groups of veterans. How about
us? Are we Tahiti? They do not recognize the independence of Karabakh,
let alone they recognize that there was a war. They are afraid of
losing their money," stated the commander of the squad Artsakh Mikael
Apresyan July 27 at the Pastark Club.

"Hence, we have something interesting. Everybody says we won the war,
but there are no people, in other words, there is not a category of
people who participated in the war. It is very strange, the nation
fought, but there are no warriors," adds Arkady Karapetyan, one of
the pioneers of the Karabakh movement and commander during the war,
who is presently the head of Yerkrapah Union in Artsakh.

The veterans of war say most of the real fighters are now jobless,
homeless, can hardly make both ends meet, whereas heroes, who emerged
out of nowhere, live in villas, ride in expensive cars, get different
awards for military service.

"Now that they distribute awards, they mainly distribute them to
people who did not participate [in the war]. It makes us furious.
Hence people who were in Russia, in Moscow, anywhere else in those
years, are now making decisions and it is not clear who they are
and what they do," says Arkady Karapetyan, one of the pioneers of
the Karabakh movement, who assures that he knows who did what during
the war. Karapetyan points the books, which allegedly tell about the
movement and war in Karabakh but in fact tell nothing about those
years of the movement, in which the present government had no role.
Mikhael Apresyan, the commander of the squad Artsakh gives an example
of such a book.

"You should read it, it is entitled "Liberation", by a certain Martin
Baghdasaryan, who deserves a punishment. Imagine these people were
awarded posthumously, whereas these people are driving about here in
jeeps," says Mikhael Apresyan.

"This Martin, for instance, who wrote the book, used to wash dishes
in a squad in the village of Hatsik," says Arkady Karapetyan. He says
it is also a service, which cannot be ignored. Karapetyan says they do
not want to be alone to get the laurels. "However, Martin who used to
be a dishwasher, he does not know how it was in the trenches, and who
was in the trenches. This is the problem," says Arkady Karapetyan. The
veterans of war, who extended their demands to the president, set a
timing of ten days. These ten days have passed but there is no answer
yet. However, the veterans do not answer either what they will be doing
next. More exactly, they answer but they say they won’t do anything.

"We are still working out this process, it is early to tell you
something," says Mikael Apresyan. "We are gathering signatures among
our guys, among the population, who will join us. Then we’ll see.
Maybe after the holidays they will start thinking anew. It will be
clear in late August," says Arkady Karapetyan with a smile.

The veterans do not think there is someone in the ruling elite, who
will solve the social problems of thousands of liberation soldiers.
"This disorder, I do not know how to call it, will not solve. One
hundred million, will they give one hundred million to pay benefits
to these guys?" says Mikael Apresyan.

"You see, we do not believe Tsar Batushka, we do not believe that
someone will solve the problems. Why? He’s a weak guy, we haven’t
lived normally after independence to get rid of this weakness, and
now they are imposing this slavery on our youth. This man comes to
power, they take him to Paris, America, this poor guy sees, is afraid,
and he cannot understand what he can do to recover the country he
heads from this state. In other words, if we, the people, do not get
a firm footing on this land, not an official will solve this problem
normally," states Arkady Karapetyan.

ARMENIANS TO CROSS RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN BORDER LATE TODAY

Panorama.am
16:20 27/07/06

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanyan expressed his
hope that soon the Armenian nationals will be able to cross Ergnety
checkpoint which has been idle for some time but hopefully will help
Armenians to get to their motherland since Verin Lars check point is
closed. Gharibjanyan informed reporters that Zurab Noghaideli, Georgian
prime minister, has arrived in Tbilisi early today. He has a memorandum
from the Armenian government waiting on his table. The memorandum
asks the Georgian authorities to permit the Armenian nationals to
cross the border. Gharibjanyan assured that the checkpoint near
Ergneti residential area is dysfunctional but he hoped that Georgian
authorities would use the idle checkpoint to enable Armenians to
come to Armenia through Georgia. Gharibjanyan said Georgian foreign
ministry has already approved the memorandum from the Armenian
government. The deputy minister assured that the problem is between
Russian and Georgian authorities. He advised Armenian nationals to
use Novorosisk-Poty port while coming from Russia. /Panorama.am/

SALE OF 90% OF ARMENTEL SHARES IS LIKELY TO COMPLETE IN LATE AUGUST

AZG Armenian Daily #139, 26/07/2006

Economy

It is expected that the sale of 90% of ArmenTel shares will be
completed in late August. OTE headquarter informed about this,
today. According to the source, the board of OTE company didn’t make
any official statements about the terms of the sale. "But there are
all grounds to suppose that the sales results will be known already
in end August," it stated. The Russian mass media informed that 90%
of ArmenTel shares will be sold to the Russian "AFK Sistema" and VTEL
Holdings / Knightsbridge Associates the international consortium.

By Ara Martirosian

Caspian Energy Exports & the Black Sea Corridor

Friday, July 28, 2006

Location:

The Grand Ballroom
Willard Hotel
14th & Pennsylvania

Agenda:

09:00 a.m. – 09:15 a.m. Coffee and Registration

09:15 a.m. – 09:20 a.m. Opening Remarks
Glen E. Howard
President, Jamestown
Foundation

09:20 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Introduction
Ambassador Steven Mann
Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary for South & Central Asian Affairs
U.S. State Department

9:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Keynote Address
Traian Basescu
President of Romania
"Romania: An Energy Gateway to Western Europe"

10:15 a.m. – 10:35 a.m. Questions and Answers

CASPIAN ENERGY & THE BLACK SEA CORRIDOR

10:35 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Matt Bryza
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia
U.S. State Department

Richard Ennis
Managing Director, Head of Natural Resources, ING Capital LLC
"Romania’s Role in Black Sea Oil Transport"

Edward C. Chow
International Energy Consultant
"Conditions & Opportunities for Caspian Energy Exports to Europe"

Vladimir Socor
Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation
Overview and Conclusions: "The Changing Geopolitics of Eurasian Energy"

12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Questions and Answers

Closing Remarks

RSVP by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 27, 2006
[email protected]

Grand Master of Armenia Lilit Lazarian plays a draw with ex-World Champion Maya Chiburdanidze

ArmRadio.am
25.07.2006 13:10

Today Grand Master of Armenia Lilit Lazarian played a draw with
ex-World Champion Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia in the first round
of the "Ural Cup – 2006" international chess tournament held in
Krasnoturinsk, Russia.12 leading woman chess players are participating
in the tournament, including ex-World Champion Antonetta Stefanova
of Bulgaria, Chzyu Chen of Qatar and Viktoria Chmilite of Lithuania.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

THE DIOCESES OF THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA SUPPORT LEBANON

In light of the war situation in Lebanon, His Holiness Aram I issued a
pontifical circular to all the dioceses of the Catholicosate of Cilicia,
asking them to support Lebanon through the Lebanese embassies in their
respective countries and the local leaders of Lebanese Christian and Muslim
communities.

All the dioceses expressed support for Lebanon, calling for an immediate and
full ceasefire and participating in the humanitarian aid efforts through the
Lebanese embassies in their countries, where special committees have been
formed for the provision of medicine, food, clothes and other essential
material to Lebanon.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the dioceses of
the Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the Catholicosate,
The Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative
center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

GREY CADRINAL COMES OUT OF SHADE

Yerevan, July 21. ArmInfo. "RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsian
belongs to rare people that are political factors themselves and his
membership to the Republican Party greatly increases its authority,"
Armen Ashotian, member of RPA, stated at today’s press conference.

He added that Sargsian’s political authority is well known even out
of Armenia’s borders. At the same time, he expressed bewilderment
about the insinuations of some political figures about Sargsian’s
membership to RPA. Ashotian stated that never ending statements
on political crisis made by some of the political parties’ leaders
testify to their intention to spread their inner political crisis
on the whole political field of Armenia. The ideological platform
of RPA is based on the values of a national-conservative party in
the classical European sense of this definition. The ruling party is
going to cooperate with the local big entrepreneurs, paying special
attention to the defence of the national interests. RPA is going to
work with the classical slogan of the World War II: "Everything for
Front, Everything for the Victory!" Ashotian believes that in the
parliamentary elections in 2007 RPA will receive 35-40% of the votes.

Ashotian said nothing about the prospects of his opponents,
particularly about the newly founded "Prospering Armenia" party,
stating that this party hasn’t been established as a political
structure yet.