Author: Chaltikian Arsine

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs arriving in Armenia tonight

ArmRadio.am
21.05.2007 11:11

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will arrive in Yerevan tonight, Acting
Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan
told ArmInfo.

In the framework of the visit the Co-Chairs are due to meet with the
President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian. The mediators will depart from Yerevan on May 23.

Let us remind that this not all the Co-Chairs are going to visit the
region. The mediators will leave Yerevan for Baku. It’s not certain
so far whether the Co-chairs will pay a visit to Nagorno Karabakh or
not.

NineMSN, Australia
May 19 2007

Armenian president’s supporters win vote
Saturday May 19 22:57 AEST

Armenian parties which support President Robert Kocharyan have won
last week’s parliamentary election, the central election commission
says, citing the first official results.

The Republican party, led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan who is the
favoured successor to Kocharyan, won 65 seats in the 131-seat
parliament, according to election officials.

The pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia came second with 25 seats
followed by Dashnaktsutiun with 16 and Orinats Yerkir (Country of
laws) with 9.

The vote, which took place last Saturday, is regarded as a test of
democracy in the country and a dress rehearsal for a presidential
contest next year.

REPUBLICANS SIGNAL END OF COALITION RULE
By Astghik Bedevian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 17 2007

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) may allot some government
posts to other political groups but is unlikely to form a genuine
coalition government, one of its leaders said on Thursday.

The HHK has shared power with President Robert Kocharian and the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) for the past
several years. Its top leader, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, said
on Wednesday that he wants to make his new cabinet as broad-based
as possible despite winning an absolute majority in Armenia’s newly
elected parliament. But he stopped short of calling for the formation
of another coalition.

Galust Sahakian, another senior Republican, argued that the HHK
regards its landslide victory in Saturday’s parliamentary elections
as a popular mandate to have a "monopoly" on power and does not want
the kind of a power-sharing deal which it had cut with Dashnaktsutyun
and the Orinats Yerkir Party following the previous legislative polls.

"A coalition document is not even being discussed," Sahakian said.

"Even if it is discussed, it will be nominal and will not mean an
in-depth approach to coalition building."

But he said the Republicans are ready to share some of their power
even with those parties that failed to win any parliament seats. He
did not deny that this applies to the pro-establishment United Labor
Party and the opposition National Unity Party (AMK) that won less
than 5 percent of the vote needed for entering the National Assembly
under the proportional representation system.

"Of course, if political forces cooperate [with the HHK] they may
get [government] levers within the framework of that cooperation,"
Sahakian told reporters.

Observers note that unlike virtually all other opposition leaders,
the AMK’s normally outspoken leader, Artashes Geghamian, has refrained
from alleging vote rigging or criticizing the government so far.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN: "GRIEF OF GOHAR GASPARIAN’S DEATH TO BE COMPENSATED BY FACT OF ETERNITY OF HER ART"

Noyan Tapan
May 17 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. "The singer deserved the "Nightingale
of Armenia" people’s name for dozens of years brought glory with her
unique voice to the Armenian singing art, being the best performer
of both European and Armenian composers’ operas and vocal works,"
is said in the message of condolence of RA National Assembly Speaker
Tigran Torosian on the occasion of the death of Gohar Gasparian, a USSR
People’s Artist, Socialist Labour Hero, Mesrop Mashtots order-bearer,
Yerevan Conservatory Professor.

According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA NA
Public Relations Department, it is mentioned in the message that
the achievements of the Armenian music art already become classic
are connected with G. Gasparian’s word. In T. Torosian’s words, the
singer proved with her creation the reality of a man’s voice’s having
no borders of excellence, clearly and whole-heartedly reproducing and
making accessible to her listeners of many thousands to the boundless
world of music.

"After leaving the big scene, she worked for long years at the
Yerevan Conservatory, passing secrets of her unique art to the youth
who continued the mission of presenting the Armenian music art on
Armenian and world scenes," is said in the message.

Expressing condolence to G. Gasparian’s relatives and admirers of the
singer’s art, the NA Speaker expressed confidence that the grief of the
singer’s death will be compensated by the fact of eternity of her art.

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL IS SATISFIED THAT ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA WERE CONSIDERED TO BE LARGELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
May 15 2007

Yerevan, May 15. /Mediamax/. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer "noted with satisfaction that this weekend’s parliamentary
elections in Armenia were considered by international monitors to
be largely in accordance with Armenia’s OSCE and Council of Europe
commitments".

Statement by the NATO Secretary General on the parliamentary elections
in Armenia reads this, Mediamax reports.

"I encourage the Armenian authorities to investigate thoroughly all
complaints and to address the remaining problems identified by the
international observers. NATO will continue to support Armenia’s reform
efforts and to continue our strong cooperation in the Partnership
for Peace", Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stated.

Mediamax notes that democratic reform is one of the key directions
of the Armenian Individual Partnership Action Plan /IPAP/ that came
into force in January, 2006.

ARMENIA REACHES NEW STAGE OF DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT

Arka News Agency, Armenia
May 14 2007

YEREVAN, May 14. /ARKA/. Armenia has reached a new stage of democratic
development, Aaron Adibekyan, director of Sociometer independent
sociologic center, said on Monday.

In his opinion, now people having reached success in various areas
appeared in political arena.

Adibekyan thinks these parliamentary elections show that organizational
resources and relations with the community, not bribery and
administrative capacity play the key role now.

As an example, he pointed out that the success of Republican Party,
Prosperous Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun in parliamentary elections was
mainly due to their strong organizational resources.

22 parties and one bloc competed for seats in National Assembly.

According to Central Election Commission’s latest report, Republican
Party of Armenia scored 32.8%, i.e. 457thnd 32 of 1mln 351thnd 669
votes cast on Sunday. Prosperous Armenia won 14.7% (200thnd 443)
and Dashknaktsutyun 12.7% (177thnd 192).

Only two opposition parties – Orinats Yerkir with its 6.8% or 95thnd
256 votes and Heritage with 5.8% or 80thnd 890 votes – got seats
in parliament.

The remaining 16 candidate parties and one bloc failed to cross
a five-percent benchmark (5% for parties and 7% for bloc) though
pro-governmental United Labor Party and opposition National Unity
and New Times came close to it.

Central Election Commission says 1 million 351 thousand 669 or 59.9%
have voted on polling day.

According to Armenian Police Department’s figures 2 million 285
thousand 830 people are eligible to vote in the country.

13 thousand 808 representatives of 53 local organization and 767
members of six international missions observed the elections.

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER’S PARTY TAKES MOST VOTES IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION; OBSERVERS NOTE IMPROVEMENTS

The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
May 14 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia: The party of Armenia’s prime minister garnered the
most votes in parliamentary elections, officials said, as foreign
observers praised the vote and opposition parties accused authorities
of fraud.

Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian’s Republican Party was leading in
the list of five parties topping the 5 percent minimum for seats
in the 131-seat National Assembly, the Central Elections Commission
said Sunday.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, meanwhile, commended the vote, saying it was, on the whole,
better than the previous one four years ago.

"The election campaign was dynamic with extensive media coverage.

Election day was calm, with no major incidents reported, but a few
cases of fraud schemes were observed," the OSCE’s election monitoring
team said in a report. "Some procedural problems arose during the
count and tabulation of votes as well as isolated cases of deliberate
falsifications."

The organization also said there were some problems and inconsistencies
in election regulations, and officials were slow to correct
irregularities.

The EU also praised the elections, saying they were "on the whole,
conducted fairly, freely and largely in accordance with the
international commitments which Armenia had entered into."

Central Elections Commission figures said the Republican Party,
with 32.8 percent of the vote, was trailed by Prosperous Armenia,
with 14.7 percent, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, with
12.7 percent. Two other parties, Country of Law and Legacy, got less
than 10 percent each, but enough to obtain seats in parliament.

Of the 131 seats, 90 are chosen according to proportions that parties
get nationwide and 41 in single-mandate contests.

Roughly 1.37 million people, or about 60 percent of registered voters,
cast ballots in Saturday’s election, officials said.

"I voted for the authorities because I can now see the possibility
of a better life which they will grant me," said Sarkis Ambartsumian,
a 44-year-old scientist.

The Country of Law party, meanwhile, said it had noted "mass
election violations," including bribery and improper balloting and
vote-tallying. The party’s representative to the election commission
refused to sign the final protocol and promised to file suit against
election officials to keep final results from being published in the
official register.

Election officials refused to comment on the allegations.

More than 1,000 opposition party members and activists later rallied
in a Yerevan square, vowing to press their fraud claims.

"They stole our votes again," said Narine Saakian, a 52-year-old
homemaker. "The authorities are becoming more and more cynical with
every passing year in their efforts to enrich themselves at the expense
of simple people. I go to these radical rallies out of desperation."

Most political observers said Republican Party would likely join with
Prosperous Armenia and Armenian Revolutionary Federation to form a
ruling coalition and return Sarkisian to the post of prime minister.

Prosperous Armenia is a comparatively new player on the political
scene, having been formed in 2004, and its origins are unclear. Some
observers suggest it was formed at the initiative of President Robert
Kocharian as a way to have a counterbalance to the Republican Party.

All the main parties call for addressing economic and social problems,
including finding ways to increase the population of about 2.9
million. The population has dropped sharply in the post-Soviet period
as the birth rate declined and an estimated 900,000 people emigrated,
largely because of economic problems.

The tiny South Caucasus nation has few natural resources and its
economic development is restricted by the closing of its borders with
Azerbaijan and Turkey – both of which were shut in protest against
ethnic Armenian troops taking control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory
in Azerbaijan, during a six-year conflict in the early 1990s.

USINFO.STATE.GOV
10 May 2007
U.N. Security Council Begins Debate on Kosovo Resolution
U.S. officials press for independence; Russia favors more talks
By Vince Crawley and Judy Aita
USINFO Staff Writers
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

Washington — The United States and Europe have submitted a preliminary
draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council that would set the groundwork
for internationally supervised independence for Kosovo, a move that senior
U.S. diplomat R. Nicholas Burns says is `inevitable.’

Russia, which wants talks to continue between Serbia and Kosovo, has
submitted a separate preliminary draft. The joint U.S.-European draft
proposal includes a suggestion by Russia to create a special envoy to
safeguard the rights of Kosovo Serbs, and Burns said he would welcome other
Russian proposals for Kosovo. However, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
said that some points in the two drafts "clearly cannot be reconciled."
The Security Council held a public discussion May 10 on its April
fact-finding mission to Serbia, Kosovo and European capitals. Council
diplomats also are beginning work on a resolution that would endorse U.N.
special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s proposal for supervised independence for
Kosovo. (See related article.)
`We want the Russians to work with us,’ Burns said in an interview with
Bloomberg Television May 9 in Berlin. `We hope that Russia in the end will
decide to be with the mainstream in the world and lead the way towards peace
and security for the people of Kosovo.’
Russia’s views are important because Moscow holds a veto vote in the
Security Council. The United States holds the rotating Security Council
presidency for the month of May and would like the Kosovo resolution to pass
before the end of the month.
`We want to push very hard at the United Nations over the next several weeks
to see the way forward so the U.N. will support a process that will lead to
Kosovo’s independence,’ Burns said in a separate news interview with
Reuters. Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, was in
Berlin May 9-10 for talks in preparation for the Group of Eight Summit
scheduled for June in Heiligendamm , Germany.
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations
since 1999. Ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo’s 2 million people
and strongly favor independence. Kosovo’s minority Serb population is
protected by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR). The United States and
European allies seek a new U.N. resolution to replace Security Council
Resolution 1244, which currently governs Kosovo. The new resolution would
not grant independence. Instead, it would replace U.N. administrators with a
European Union administrator, would continue the deployment of KFOR and
would allow Kosovo authorities to declare independence while remaining under
international supervision.
`We think this process is inevitable,’ Burns said May 9 in Berlin. `We know
this is a difficult issue for Serbia. We want to maintain very good
relations with Serbia. I think you will see us pressing for protections of
the minority rights of Serbs in the resolution; and making sure that the
United Nations and the EU and NATO are all focused on the issue of Serb
minority rights. It is very important that the future of Kosovo be one where
Serbs can live freely, where their churches and historic sites and
monasteries are protected from any kind of threat.’
At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, president of the
Security Council for May, said that Kosovo "is a difficult issue, a delicate
issue" for the Security Council. The council’s mission to the region showed
that there was no potential for compromise between Serbia and Kosovo on
independence, Khalilzad said May 10. "Nothing further from talks can come
about," he said, adding that the passage of time will not change the
polarization.
Delay could destabilize Kosovo and the Balkans, Khalilzad said. "More delay
is a prescription for rising resentment and economic stagnation and
unsupervised independence."
"In my judgment the majority of the council members support [Ahtisaari’s]
proposed plan," Khalilzad told journalists after the meeting. He called for
"open-mindedness" during the negotiations to reach the broadest possible
support for a resolution that would move the status of Kosovo forward.
"The set of circumstances that brought us to this point exist nowhere else
in the world. We recognize this is a unique problem and Mr. Ahtisaari has
proposed a unique solution," the ambassador said.
The United States "does not find the path forward to be perfect or easy,"
Khalilzad said, but Ahtisaari’s plan "is the best option for bringing an end
to the last chapter in the resolution of the former Yugoslavia."
Transcripts of Burns’ comments to ARD, Bloomberg Television, at a press
roundtable and Reuters are available on the State Department Web site.
See also "Independent Kosovo Only Solution, U.S. Envoy Wisner Says," "Draft
U.N. Plan Would Protect Minority Groups in Kosovo" and "U.S. Believes an
Independent Kosovo Would Not Set Precedent."
For more information on U.S. policies in the region, see Southeast Europe.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: )

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
May 11 2007

Spokeswoman for OSCE/ODIHR stated that the refusal to receive Turkish
observers `evidences the insufficient transparency of the
pre-election campaign in Armenia’

Yerevan, May 11. /Mediamax/. Spokeswoman of the OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) stated that the
refusal to receive the Turkish observers `evidences the insufficient
transparency of the pre-election campaign in Armenia’.

Mediamax reports that the OSCE ODIHR Spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir
said:

`The very fact of refusing to receive the observers evidences the
insufficient transparency of the pre-election campaign. This is a
violation of an important principle of OSCE in the practice of
observation for the elections. As, inviting one observer, you also
invite the representatives of all the 55 member-states of OSCE’.

At the same time, Urdur Gunnarsdottir stated, the decision of Yerevan
will not bring about sanctions from the part of OSCE.

`In such cases, OSCE does not provide for applying sanctions. As the
aim of our organization is to assist holding elections and send
observers; this is a political task and not a legal one. I cannot
tell what the consequences of this step will be for Armenia, but it
is definite that there will not be sanctions applied by the OSCE’,
the Spokeswoman for the OSCE ODIHR stated in an interview to the
`Deutsche Welle’ radio.

Mediamax reminds that on May 9 the Spokesman of the Armenian Foreign
Ministry Vladimir Karapetian commented on the refusal of the official
Yerevan to grant visas to eight representatives of Turkey, who were
going to observe the parliamentary elections in Armenia on May 12
within the OSCE Mission.

`Turkey maintains a closed border with Armenia and refuses to
establish diplomatic relations. Under these circumstances, to expect
to send observers is a bit disingenuous’, Vladimir Karapetian stated.

According to him, `Armenia regrets that Turkey did not demonstrate
sensitivity in relation to its citizens-representatives participating
in the OSCE observer mission to Armenia, given the absence of
relations between our two countries’.

`Turkey cannot choose and select which kinds of political relations
it wishes to have with Armenia, and which it does not wish to have.
Political and diplomatic relations are not entered into selectively’,
Vladimir Karapetian stated.

`Armenia understands the concern of OSCE members regarding Armenia’s
OSCE commitments, and reaffirms that we remain faithful to those
commitments. But we expect that participating states will also expect
Turkey to adhere to its commitments to engage in normal, neighborly
relations with Armenia’, the official representative of the Armenian
Foreign Ministry stated.–0–

Boston Globe, MA
May 11 2007

Ex-official, bar association settle discrimination suit
May 11, 2007

THE REGION

A former executive director of the Massachusetts Bar Association has
settled a gender-discrimination lawsuit against the organization for
an undisclosed amount. Abigail A. Shaine sued the bar and
then-president Kathleen M. O’Donnell in 2004, alleging that she and
other senior female administrators had been wrongfully fired. Bar
officials said Shaine was removed for incompetence and called her
accusations "hollow." As part of the settlement, Shaine wrote a
letter of apology to O’Donnell, saying she had "come to believe that
I was mistaken in making those charges." O’Donnell, a Lowell
attorney, called the settlement "a very nice resolution." Shaine, who
lives in New Hampshire, declined to comment. (Sacha Pfeiffer)

Senate passes bill aimed at preventing data theft
The Massachusetts Senate passed a bill designed to better protect
consumers against data theft. The bill mirrors one the House approved
Wednesday. Both would require companies to promptly notify customers
if personal data are stolen. Credit-reporting companies would be
required to lock consumer credit reports upon request. A majority of
states have similar requirements. Some House-Senate differences
remain, such as fees reporting companies could charge, but Senator
Michael Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat and one of the sponsors, said he
expects to reconcile the differences quickly. (Ross Kerber)

Finance chief dismissed, company names successor
3Com Corp., a Marlborough maker of computer-networking equipment,
fired chief financial officer Don Halsted and named Gerber Scientific
Inc. finance chief Jay Zager to succeed him. Zager, 57, will get an
annual salary of $400,000, a signing bonus of $200,000, and
restricted stock and options, 3Com said in a regulatory filing.
Halsted will remain with 3Com through the transition and get
severance equal to one year’s salary. (Bloomberg)

Armenian memorial wins support for Greenway site
More than 120 people attended a North End meeting Wednesday about the
future of a half-acre near Christopher Columbus Park on the Rose
Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. The crowd overwhelmingly supported a
proposed gift from the Armenian Heritage Foundation for a park,
designed with a labyrinth and sculpture by a team including Boston
architect Donald Tellalian, that would memorialize the 1915 Armenian
genocide. Greenway officials, including conservancy chairman Peter
Meade and mayor’s task force cochairman Rob Tuchmann, said the
process followed by other future occupants of the parks has been
violated in this instance. They seek a moratorium on memorials on the
Greenway. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Moody’s gives CareGroup bond rating upgrade to A3
CareGroup Inc., a nonprofit corporation that holds debt for Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center , Mount Auburn Hospital, and New
England Baptist Hospital, received a bond rating upgrade from Moody’s
Investors Service, to A3 from Baa1. The upgrade follows a financial
turnaround of Beth Israel Deaconess and the other entities in
CareGroup, Moody’s said. Other than holding debt, the group no longer
acts as an organized healthcare network, but Moody’s still considers
it one because the hospitals associated with it collectively hold
$572 million in debt. (Christopher Rowland)

Commerce Group sued by Calif. insurance bureau
Commerce Group Inc. said a California organization has sued it for,
among other things, allegedly misusing trade secrets. The California
State Automobile Association Inter-Insurance Bureau sued in a
California Superior Court April 25, the Webster automobile insurer
said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. CSAA claims
Commerce, by hiring several former employees of the insurance bureau,
misappropriated trade secrets or other information about the bureau
and engaged in unfair business practices and competition. "The
company intends to vigorously defend itself against CSAA’s
allegations," Commerce Group said in the filing. (Dow Jones)

Inverness Medical tops Beckman Coulter bid
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., a Waltham maker of home pregnancy
and fertility tests, raised its offer for Biosite Inc. to $1.91
billion, topping Beckman Coulter Inc.’s bid for the maker of
emergency-room medical tests. The cash offer of $92.50 a share
exceeds the company’s earlier $90 bid. Biosite said it is "reasonably
likely to lead to a superior proposal" from Beckham Coulter, a
producer of diagnostic tests and equipment that had bid $90 on May 2.
(Bloomberg)