Author: Boshkezenian Garik

IN ORDER THAT ENERGETIC SYSTEM WORKS WITH GREAT PROFIT

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
December 17, 2008

Today, the NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan has conducted a
conference with participation of the executives of the Republic’s
energetic system.

During the conference the results of 2008 were summarized and the tasks
for 2009 were outlined. The data of this year were presented by Valeri
Balayan, the Head of the Department of Industrial Infrastructures
adjunct to the NKR Government. He particularly noted that in 2008 more
than 350 mln drams investments were made in the energetic system,
while according to the affirmed programme, this index should have
formed 850 mln drams. The investment underfulfillment was justified
by the technical unavailability of the system. However, according
to other indices some changes for the better were recorded. It
was underlined that in 2008 the technical damages in the energetic
system of the Republic decreased by 9.6 percent in comparison with
the previous year and the total index of the year will form 15.7
percent. It was noted for comparison that in 2006 the energetic
losses formed 24.9 percent. According to Valeri Balayan’s assurance
the experience of the past few days (when gas supply was considerably
reduced in the Republic) showed that the energetic system today is
more secure and is ready to operate regularly under more overladen
conditions. According to the Chief Executive of the sphere some
technical and organizational improvements should be introduced in the
electricity system of the Republic reducing the commercial losses to
1-2 percent and the technical ones to 14 percent.

Appraising the achievements of the year in the energetic sphere at
their true worth the NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan simultaneously
expressed his dissatisfaction with the insufficient work of separate
regional branches. He addressed his remarks mainly to the regional
electro-distributive systems of Martakert, Askeran and Hadrout
demanding to take necessary steps to improve the situation. The Head
of the Government emphasized that it is necessary to have such an
energetic system, which will not be a burden for the state, moreover,
will work with great profit and will safely secure the economic
development of the Republic.

Congratulating the power engineering specialists in connection with
the forthcoming professional holiday the NKR Prime Minister charged
the executives of the sphere with the tasks to considerably reduce the
losses in the electro-distributive systems, to apply relevant punitive
measures and to present organizational proposals. The Prime Minister
demanded as well to form and to present the activity programme of
the system for 2009 with detailed estimate and development tendencies.

NKR AUTHORITIES HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED THE DOCUMENT

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
17 Dec 2008
Armenia

As reported by NKR Foreign Minister G. Petrosyan, the authorities
of Nagorno Karabakh have not yet received the "technical document"
envisaged within the frameworks of the Helsinki meeting. The idea of
the document had been proposed by Co-Chair of the MG Group Bernard
Fassier.

"The authorities of Nagorno Karabakh have not yet received such
document, but since the country has been recognized as a conflicting
party based on the fundamental documents of the OSCE, we anticipate
the OSCE Co-Chairs to submit the document in the near future," he said.

ARMENIAN PREMIER: CAREFUL AND HARSH FINANCE POLICY OF ARMENIA IS JUSTIFIED IN THE PRESENT CONDITIONS

ArmInfo
2008-12-16 12:54:00

ArmInfo. Careful and harsh finance policy of Armenia is justified in
the present hard conditions, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan
said in an interview with Golos Armenii newspaper.

He also added the situation in Armenia is still quite stable. It is
connected with the fact that the banking system of the republic is
one of the most reliable in the world. Central Bank is conducting
a sound policy and Armenian banks are very careful though causes
criticism from the side of the real sector of economy.

OBAMA’S TURKISH PARTNERS: A DEMOCRATIC TURKEY THAT HAS RESPECT IN MUSLIM CAPITALS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE WEST NEEDS
By Mustafa Akyol

Newsweek
December 15, 2008

For years Ankara’s foreign policy was fixated on a few narrow
topics–how to handle the Greeks, the Kurds and Armenians–and Turkish
policymakers seemed unable to solve even these chronic problems, let
alone the problems of others. But these days Turkey has tackled such
regional concerns with a new gusto–making the first real headway
on the Cyprus issue in decades, for instance–while playing a far
larger role in global affairs. In May Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s government mediated indirect peace talks between
Syrian and Israeli officials in Istanbul. The talks are now ongoing,
and further meetings have reportedly been scheduled. Erdogan also
recently stepped forward to offer help to U.S. President-elect Barack
Obama to deal with Iran, which Turkey’s prime minister and many others
expect to be Obama’s biggest foreign-policy challenge. On November
11 Erdogan told The New York Times his government was willing to be
the mediator between the new U.S. administration and Tehran. "We are
the only capital that is trusted by both sides," he reiterated later
in Washington. "We are the ideal negotiator."

This surge of interest in becoming something of a global
peacemaker is in part the result of the ongoing process of Turkish
democratization. The nation’s old elite consisted of the more
isolationist Kemalists, the dedicated followers of Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, who established a republic without democracy in 1923 to
westernize and secularize the nation. For many decades to come,
society remained divided between the dominant Kemalist center and
the more traditional periphery it kept under its thumb. But things
fundamentally changed after the election victories of Erdogan’s
Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002 and 2007. The "other
Turkey" was now out of the periphery and into power, and while it
proved to be more religious than the old elite, it also proved to be
more pro-Western, and more committed to the European Union accession
bid than its growingly xenophobic secular rivals.

This was not simply a convenient tactic, as some have argued. Turkey’s
conservative Muslims had been undergoing a silent reformation since the
1980s, as evidenced by the country’s growing "Islamic bourgeoisie,"
which sees its future in global markets, not Sharia courts. Ideas
about the compatibility of Islam and liberal democracy flourished,
as recently evidenced by headscarved women rallying in the streets
for civil liberties for all.

Meanwhile, Ahmet Davutoglu, an erudite scholar who became Erdogan’s
chief adviser, outlined a new foreign-policy vision. Turkey had
unwisely denied its cultural links with the Middle East for decades,
he argued, but the time had come to turn Turkey into a "soft power"
that exports peace, stability and growth in its region. Hence came the
rapprochement in recent years and months with Greece, Lebanon, Iraq,
Iraqi Kurdistan and most recently Armenia, where President Abdullah
Gul paid an ice-breaking visit in September.

Kemalist Turks dislike this "neo-Ottoman" approach, which prescribes
closer relations with other Muslim nations. When Erdogan greets his
Arab counterparts "in the name of God," they are horrified and argue
that the country’s secular principles are under threat. And to garner
support from Westerners who are concerned about political Islam,
for good reasons, they try to depict the AKP as Taliban in sheep’s
clothing. But, in fact, a democratic Turkey that has respect in Muslim
capitals, that can speak their language and that is willing to use this
leverage for peace and reconciliation is exactly what the West needs.

Some in the West fear this approach as well, taking notice of AKP’s
interests in Islam and the rampant anti-Americanism in Turkey, and
sometimes conflating and confusing the two. Yet that anti-American
wave is a reaction to the Iraq War and its aftermath. By empowering
the Kurds in the north, the post-Saddam era unleashed the deepest
of all Turkish fears: the emergence of a Greater Kurdistan. In other
words, anti-Americanism is almost a derivative of anti-Kurdism, and,
not too surprisingly, is strongest in the nationalist circles, which
include the Kemalists. These groups, represented by the two main
opposition parties, deride the AKP as American puppets and Kurdish
collaborators. A 2007 bestselling book, whose Kemalist author was
covertly financed by the military intelligence, even argues that both
Erdogan and former AKP member President Gul are actually covert Jews
who serve "the elders of Zion" by undermining Ataturk’s republic.

Turkey’s new elites are not covert Jews as some fringe Kemalists
fantasize, of course. But neither are they creeping Islamists as
smarter Kemalists portray. In fact they are Muslim democrats, who
can both take Turkey closer to becoming a true capitalist democracy
and inspire other Muslim nations to follow a similar route. For
sure, they need to combat ugly nationalism inside their borders and
take continued steps toward deepening liberal reforms. With such a
combination of sound domestic leadership and visionary foreign policy,
they would be ideal partners for the Obama administration in its own
effort to reach out to the troublesome actors in the Middle East.

Akyol is a columnist for Istanbul-based Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.

AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA PROPOSED TO SETTLE DISAGREEMENTS WITHIN 2009

Lider TV
Dec 10 2008
Baku

Azerbaijan and Armenia will resolve all disagreements regarding the
settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict during 2009. Bernard
Fassier, French co-chairman of the [OSCE] Minsk Group, has said
that a precise schedule to agree on main principles [of the conflict
settlement] was submitted to the parties to the conflict at the OSCE
Ministerial Council in Helsinki [on 5 December]. According to the
schedule, a draft peace agreement should be prepared by late 2009. The
schedule is reflected in a technical document concerning the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict that was submitted to the Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers at the Helsinki summit.

BAKO SAHAKIAN: PEOPLE OF NAGORNO KARABAGH HAVE BEEN ALWAYS DEDICATED TO PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY

De Facto
Dec 12, 2008

STEPANAKERT,12.12.08. DE FACTO. On December 9 NKR President Bako
Sahakian delivered a welcoming address to participants of the
"Human 9Rights Protection in the Practice of Constitutional Justice"
conference, which is held at the sitting hall of the NKR National
Assembly. According to the information DE FACTO received at the Central
Department of Information of the Office of NKR President, in his speech
the President said the following: "Dear participants of the conference,
I welcome holding in Stepanakert the authoritative conference in
connection with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the Day of the NKR Constitution. It is very important
that the event is organized on a very high representative level and
is academic in its nature.

The people of Nagorno Karabagh have been always dedicated to the
principles of liberty and democracy as well as to creating such a
jural state where the dignity and freedom of the human being and the
citizen are of utmost value.

The adoption of the NKR Constitution has confirmed once again the
irreversibility of this process, the will and aspirations of our
people to realize the right to live in free and just society that
secures equal development opportunities for everybody.

This conference is a good pretext to value the achievements of the
NKR in protecting human and citizen rights and freedoms as well
as in forming democratic and civil society. The state as the most
important guarantor of human and citizen rights protection will keep
being consistent and will further activate its efforts in this sphere.

I wish success and effective work to the participants of the
conference."

WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS MADE AZERBAIJAN’S FUTURE RATHER VAGUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.12.2008 16:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Caspian oil and gas makes 4 per cent and 7 per
cent of the world resources respectively, what is undoubtedly not
enough to boast a glut of wealth, a French expert said.

"Two thirds of the oil world resources are concentrated in the
Middle East, a high-risk zone. As to Azerbaijan, it has 7 billion
barrels. To compare, Turkmenistan has 1 billion while Kazakhstan has
40 million. So, any oil pipeline from the Caspian region to Europe
is non-remunerative without Kazakh oil. Furthermore, Kazakhstan
can choose routes. Kazakh pipelines can stretch to Russian, China,
Persian Gulf and finally to Baku," Petros Terzian, head of Paris-based
strategic research foundation, said in Yerevan on Tuesday.

"The oil fields in Azeri, Shirag and Gyuneshli will be exhausted
in some 10 years. Moreover, after the status of the Caspian Sea is
determined, investments in oil extraction will become unprofitable,"
he said.

Mr. Terzian reminded that Azerbaijan’s current oil income is equal
to the republic’s state debt.

"Baku can make a breakthrough with $100 for a barrel, what is,
however, hardly probable for near-term outlook. The world financial
crisis made Azerbaijan’s future rather vague," he said.

MASS VIOLATIONS CONTINUE

A1+
[05:24 pm] 10 December, 2008

Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor office (HCAV) issued a statement
today which holds,

We receive December 10, International Human Rights Day, with numerous
human rights violations taken place during 2008.

This year the situation of human rights did not make any
progress. There have been mass violations, moreover the warnings for
human rights violations were deliberately out of attention. Tens of
citizens were pursued for their political views. Ashot Manukyan, the
head of Pan Armenian Movement-Lori regional council was sentenced
to a 6-year imprisonment based on obviously false testimonies. 47
citizens of Lori region, who were representatives of the opposition,
were illegally brought to police departments and their houses
were illegally searched. The well known murders, the murders of
Lori regional Prosecutor and of the 4 citizens in Spitak town are
still unrevealed. Since 2000 about ten cases of murder have not
been disclosed.

With this statement we are expressing not only our concern about the
extremely bad situation of human rights, but also deliberate inactions
of authorities in restoring the violated human rights. This will lead
to legally formed totalitarianism in the country.

We cannot tolerate existence of such a situation and call all the
citizens, public and political organizations not to lose their hope and
become disappointed, but to be decisive in the fight for establishing
a state system defending human dignity in Armenia.

Totalitarianism won’t work.

DEAL ALLOWS ALL ALL EU AIRLINES TO TRAVEL TO ARMENIA

Monsters and Critics.com
Dec 9 2008

Brussels – The European Union has signed an aviation agreement with
Armenia allowing any European airline to fly to and from the Asian
republic, officials in Brussels said Tuesday.

The deal, which caps three years of negotiations, replaces a set of
bilateral arrangements agreed by Armenia with some of the EU’s 27
member states.

‘The agreement recognizes that airlines in the EU are not any longer
national airlines, and all of them will thus have non- discriminatory
access to the air transport market between the EU and Armenia,’
EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said.

EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said
facilitating transport links represents ‘a crucial and very visible
component in our policy to enhance people-to-people contacts and
improve business links between the EU and Armenia.’

The EU expects the deal to lead to further increase in passengers
numbers between the EU and Armenia. These increased from 166,000 in
2006 to 204,000 in 2007.

NO ISSUE IN RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND GEORGIA SHOULD GIVE CAUSE FOR POLITICAL SPECULATION, GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS

Noyan Tapan

Dec 9, 2008

TBILISI, DECEMBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The governmental delegation headed
by the RA prime minister Tigran Sargsyan on December 9 left for
the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi for a one-day working visit
in order to take part in the 7th sitting of the Armenian-Georgian
intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation.

According to the RA Government Information and PR Department, prior
to the sitting T. Sargsyan had a tete-a-tete talk with the Georgian
prime minister Grigol Mgaloblishvili.

Then the prime ministers of the two countries met with the working
group of the intergovernmental commission and participated in the
regular sitting of the commission, during which the sides discussed
the implementation process of the decisions taken at the previous
sitting held on October 15, 2007, issues related to the current state
and development prospects of the legal and contractual basis between
the sides, the long-term directions of developing the trade and
economic cooperation, as well as issues of cooperation in transport,
agriculture, energy, health care and social security, education and
culture, environmental protection, and tourism. The demarcation process
of the state border between Armenia and Georgia was also discussed.

The prime ministers of two countries said that the good-neighbourly
relations between Armenia and Georgia are developing successfully. They
expressed a hope that the 7th sitting of the intergovernmental
commission will become an additional stimulus for deepening and
extending these relations. Both sides attached importance to the work
on fulfilment of the agreements reached between the presidents of the
two countries during the visit of Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan
to Georgia this year.

T. Sargsyan and G. Mgaloblishvili were unanimous in the opinion that
it is necessary to conduct an open, transparent and comprehensible
policy, underlining that it should be visible to the great powers
having interests in the region. They expressed confidence that
the documents to be signed will give new impetus to the interstate
relations, noting that the governments of Armenia and Georgia will
do painstaking work in the near future with the aim of implementing
the agreements reached. According to them, during their tete-a-tete
talk, they addressed issues of mutual interest and those of regional
importance. The problem of Armenian Norashen Surb Astvatsatsin Church
was discussed as well. It was pointed out that the centuries-old
friendly links unify the Armenian and Georgian Churches. The
prime ministers underlined the importance of the initiative of
the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church regarding creation
of a joint commission to discuss and solve the problems related
to Norashen Surb Astvatsatsin Church and other churches through a
dialog. In this connection the Georgian prime minister said that no
issue in the relations between the two countries should give cause
for political speculation.

The ceremony of signing joint documents took place at the conclusion
of the sitting of the intergovernmental commission. The two prime
ministers signed the protocol summarizing the results of the 7th
sitting of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for
economic cooperation. The Armenian minister of economy Nerses Yeritsian
and the Georgian minister of economic development Ekaterine Sharashidze
signed the protocol on making amendments to the Agreement on Free
Trade between the Governments of Georgia and Armenia of August 14,
1995. The Armenian deputy minister of culture Gagik Gyurjian and the
Georgian deputy minister of culture, monument preservation and sports
David Kiria signed the 2008-2010 Program on Cooperation between the
two ministries.

It was decided to hold the next – 8th sitting of the intergovernmental
commission in Yerevan in 2009. The date and agenda will be determined
later.

Then T. Sargsyan and G. Mgaloblishvili gave a joint press conference.

During the visit the prime minister Tigran Sargsyan met with the
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, visited the Armenian embassy
in Georgia, the Armenian Norashen Surb Astvatsatsin Church, and the
Pantheon of Prominent Armenian Writers and Public Figures.