Author: Boshkezenian Garik

T. BALAYAN SAYS STATEMENT OF TURKISH FM ABOUT COMING MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI FMs IN ITALY IS BASED ON INFORMATION WHICH DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO REALITY

ARMENPRESS
JUNE 4, 2009
YEREVAN

The statement of the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davudoghli
about the coming meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers in Italy is made on the basis of information which does not
correspond to reality, spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry
Tigran Balayan told Armenpress, commenting on the statement of Turkish
foreign minister.

8MLN CUBIC METERS OF GAS SUPPLIED TO ARMENIA THROUGH IRAN-ARMENIA GAS MAIN IN MAY

ARKA
June 3, 2009

YEREVAN, June 3. /ARKA/. This May Armenia received around 8mln cubic
meters of Iranian gas through the Iran-Armenia gas main, RA Minister
of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan told reporters during
his visit to the Yerevan heat and power plant.

"At present the line pressure meets the capacity of the Armenian gas
system," the Minister said.

Iran started supplying gas to the Iran-Armenia gas main on May 15,
2009.

Under a preliminary agreement, the Gas for Electric Power program is
being implemented. The Iranian gas will be converted into electric
energy for the export to Iran – 3kwh against one cubic meter.

In 2004, the Armenian Government initiated the construction of an
Iran-Armenia gas main.

Armenia had been importing natural gas from Russia through Georgia.

The ArmRosgazprom CJSC is exclusive distributor of the Russian gas
in Armenia. The company was founded in 1997 by the Gazprom OJSC (80%)
and the RA Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (20%).

SARGSYAN-ALIEV MEETING: KREMLIN DOES NOT EXPECT A BREAKTHROUGH

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 15:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Kremlin does not expect a breakthrough in NKR
conflict settlement after trilateral meeting of Russian, Azeri and
Armenian Presidents, due today in St. Petersburg. Still, we intend to
use this possibility to strengthen direct dialogue between interested
parties, RF President’s Assistant, Sergey Prikhodko stated.

"First, Azeri and RA President will have a meeting to discuss NKR
conflict settlement, followed by separate meetings of Dmitri Medvedev
with Ilham Aliev and Serzh Sargsyan. In the evening, RF President
will invite his colleagues to formal dinner to hold a trilateral
discussion."

"We do not expect to make a significant breakthrough or achieve any
new agreements. We’re striving to support direct communication between
RA and Azeri Presidents," ITAR -TASS cited Prikhodko as saying.

Medvedev-Sargsyan meeting will focus on further development of trade
and economic collaboration, including overcoming financial crisis
consequences, RF President’s assistant noted.

MENDING TURKISH-ARMENIAN TIES TO DRAG ON FOR YEARS: CRISIS GROUP REP

AzerNews Weekly
June 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Hopes for a speedy normalization of strained relations between Turkey
and Armenia, marred by history-long tensions, have been shattered,
says a representative of an international group working to prevent
conflicts worldwide.

CNN Turk TV channel quoted Sabine Freizer, the International Crisis
Group (ICG) Europe Program Director, as saying that relations between
the two countries were to normalize by August 2009. However, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan`s comments during a visit to Baku
May 12-13 that Turkey will not open up its border with Armenia before
the occupation of Azerbaijani territories ends had somewhat set back
the normalization process, she believes.

According to Freizer, Erdogan`s statement appears to conclude that
the mending of Ankara-Yerevan ties will be prolonged for several
more years.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to its occupation
of Azerbaijani territories and its claims on alleged World War I-era
genocide. However, there have lately been signs of normalization
in Ankara-Yerevan ties. The two countries` leaders attended a 2010
World Cup qualifying soccer match together in Yerevan in September
2008. Since then, diplomatic efforts aimed at mending ties intensified,
and some reports circulated earlier that Turkey would soon open its
border with Armenia, sparking an outcry in Azerbaijan.

INDIVIDUAL SKATERS ANI AND GEGHAM VARDANIANS TO HOLD TEACHING AND TRAINING GATHERING IN LOS ANGELES

Noyan Tapan
June 3, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 3, NOYAN TAPAN. On June 2, figure skaters Ani and
Gegham Vardanians left for the USA. There they will prepare for
the International Olympic Rating Tournament which will be held on
September 24-30 in Oberstdorf, Germany. In order to take part in
Vancouver-2010 Winter Olympic Games they should take a place in the
first six in that tournament.

In Los Angeles Vardanians will train with a famous specialist
Rafayel Harutyunian. The private trainer of the individual skaters
Armen Asoyan, who is the pupil of R. Harutyunian at Yerevan Figure
Skating sports school, will also participate to the teaching and
training gathering.

SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IS ARRIVING IN YEREVAN

Lragir.Am
13:28:34 – 01/06/2009

>From June 1 to June 2, the minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria Walid
al-Mouallem will be visiting Armenia on a working visit. He is to
meet with the Armenian leadership.

THE ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL OBSERVERS NOT UNAMBIGUOUS
Lusine Vasilyan

"Radiolur"
01.06.2009 17:33

Unlike international observers, the local ones do not assess the
elections for the Yerevan City Council unambiguously. Some of the local
oorganizations have already publicized their preliminary assessment.

According to the assessment of the Head of the Transparency
International Organization, Amalia Kostanyan, the electoral system
of Armenia was finally ruined by yesterday’s elections. Observers of
the organization worked at polling station #33 of the 8th electoral
district. To remind, this was the district where the Heritage lost
its places in the electoral commissions.

Head of the Transparency International said the whole process was
accompanied by infringements of different scale, there was great
crowding and stuffing at polling stations. "We think that the elections
should be declared invalid at least in the 8th district. According to
our information, this was the worst district, there were no opposition
representatives in the electoral commissions. Even if there were,
they would hardly be able to change anything in the atmosphere of
terror, fear and criminal at the precincts. We really tried, but we
were physically unable to stay at the polling stations till the end,"
Amalia Kostanyan said.

Artsvik Minasyan has voted for the sake of the future

armradio.am
31.05.2009 14:54

Artsvik Minasyan, who heads the proportional candidate list of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Party, cast his vote at polling station #4/17. He told
reporters they had spared no effort to prevent the election frauds. In
case such cases are registered, there are legal tools and opportunities
to fight those, the candidate said.

According to Artsvik Minasyan, the cooperation with other political
forces will depend on the outcome of the elections. `In these elections
we cooperate with all forces that prefer fair voting. I hope this
cooperation will yield results and we will hold fair elections,’ he
said.

Artsvik Minasyan said he had voted for the City Hall, for the Armenian
dignity, for proud Armenia and for the sake of the future.

Over the day Artsvik Minasyan will visit the ARF Civil Assistance
Center and the ARF Supreme Body to follow the process of elections.

PRESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY HAS TO REMAIN A PRESIDENT BUT NOT A SALESPERSON, REPRESENTATIVE OF OPPOSITION THINKS

ArmInfo
2009-05-29 19:04:00

ArmInfo. President of the country has always to remain a president
but not a salesperson, representative of opposition, ex-premier Hrant
Bagratyan said when making a speech at today’s rally of the opposition
dedicated to ending of the election campaign on Yerevan mayor election,
when commenting on the rumors about possible appointment of Robert
Kocharyan to the post of an independent director in the Directors
council of the Russian ‘Sistema’ company. ‘We are aspiring the
ex-president of Armenia not to turn into a salesperson’, – he said
and called everybody to vote for Armenian National Congress.

STEPAN SAFARYAN ASSESSES THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN AS MONOTONOUS AND BORING
Siranush Muradyan

"Radiolur"
29.05.2009 15:39

"The process of the campaign of the elections for the Yerevan City
Council did not differ from that of any other elections. Furthermore,
it was monotonous and boring, representative of the Heritage faction
Stepan Safaryan told a press conference today.

"There were no debates, no conflict of opinions. We saw no dialogue as
such. Everyone was just presenting his platform, and that’s all. The
society had no opportunity to see how the political forces assess each
other’s programs. This culture is still missing among us," he said.

The opposition Deputy views the Armenian National Congress, the
Republican Party and the Prosperous Armenia Party as main rivals.

Stepan Safaryan found it hard to say which political force would
get more votes and preferred to refrain from any predictions. As
for voter turnout, the Deputy does not expect great activeness,
but predicts 60% participation.

The Heritage Party will execute control on the election day. It will
hold briefings every four hours to present its remarks and report
about the frauds.