Author: Chaltikian Arsine

VOROTAN HPP REDUCES POWER GENERATION OVER 1Q, 2009 BY 35,6%

ArmInfo
2009-04-06 12:59:00

ArmInfo. "Vorotan HPP Cascade" CJSC reduced the power generation over
the first quarter, 2009, by 35,6% – to 163,649 mln kWh against 253,8
mln kWh over the similar period, 2008, the CJSC told ArmInfo.

The source explained the sharp reduction of the power generation by
shortage of water as a result of small quantity of rainfall over the
first three moths, 2009. Electric supply over the reporting period
reduced to 161,986 mln kWh against 251,7 mln in 1Q, 2008.

To recall, Vorotan HPP Cascade consists of three hydropower plants
with total capacity of 404 MW. The Cascade operates all year
round due to the two water storages and plays an important part in
frequency regulation during power exchange from Iran to Armenia and
backward. Armenia receives electric power from Iran in wintertime and
returns it in summer. The annual balance of overflows is zero. "Vorotan
HPP Cascade" is a joint- stock company with 100% share of the state
and is under jurisdiction of the Energy Ministry of Armenia.

Bitter Turkey finally lifts veto on Danish PM as Nato chief
* Ian Traynor in Strasbourg
* The Observer,
Sunday 5 April 2009

Denmark’s prime minister was appointed the new Nato chief yesterday
following 24 hours of brinkmanship and bitter dispute over religion
and liberty that risked turning the western military alliance into the
hostage of a clash with Islam.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen was named Nato secretary-general after President
Barack Obama intervened in a row between the Dane and President
Abdullah Gul of Turkey, which had earlier vetoed the appointment.

As the single big Muslim country within Nato, Turkey had refused to
yield on the appointment of Rasmussen because of his defence of free
speech during the Danish cartoons crisis three years ago and because
Denmark is host to a Kurdish rebel TV station broadcasting to Turkey.

Rasmussen was supported by most leading European states, with the
German chancellor, Angela Merkel, his keenest advocate.

The row with Turkey threatened to mar what was planned to be a
celebration of Nato’s 60th birthday at a summit staged jointly by
France and Germany on both sides of the Rhine.

Turkey yielded at the very end after the summit was extended by two
hours and heads of state and government met alone to try to strike a
deal. A European foreign minister told the Observer that Turkey backed
down when it was promised membership of the European Defence Agency,
increasing Ankara’s clout in the EU’s defence affairs.

Despite the final agreement, the dispute meant that the toxic
arguments over religious values, blasphemy and liberties that have
raged between the western and Islamic worlds since 9/11 have
penetrated the inner sanctum of Nato for the first time. Obama and the
other 27 national leaders of Nato sought to forge a consensus on the
Danish candidate at a dinner in the German spa town of Baden-Baden on
Friday night. But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister,
refused to budge. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, then
spent hours on the pho London on Friday, Erdogan accused Rasmussen –
who had just announced that he was quitting Danish politics – of
playing host to "terrorists" linked to the PKK Kurdish guerrillas
fighting the Turkish state. "The mouthpiece of the terrorist
organisation in my country is broadcasting from Denmark. How can
someone who did not stop this safeguard peace?", Erdogan
declared. "Nato is an organisation whose duties are to ensure peace."

The Turkish leader also complained that Rasmussen had spurned his
pleas during the 2006 cartoon crisis to make a gesture to defuse the
tensions with the Islamic world. "How can those who made no
contribution to peace at that time contribute to peace now?"

Olli Rehn, the top EU official in charge of negotiating Turkey’s
accession to the union, said Erdogan had blundered and that Ankara’s
threatened veto threw into greater doubt Turkey’s commitment to
freedom of expression.

Agence France Presse
April 5 2009

Armenia Foreign Minister To Visit Turkey This Week – Report

MOSCOW (AFP)–Armenia’s foreign minister will visit Turkey this week,
the Interfax news agency reported Sunday, in the latest sign of
thawing ties between the two countries after decades of bitter enmity.

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian begins a two-day visit
Monday to attend a U.N. cultural forum in Istanbul, the news agency
said, citing the foreign ministry in Yerevan.

Officials from the two countries have stepped up contacts in recent
months, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, who held a landmark bilateral
meeting in January.

Nalbandian visited Turkey last November.

Turkey and Armenia have no formal diplomatic ties and their border has
been closed for more than a decade amid deep differences over the
First World War massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

Armenia and a number of other countries have called the killings a
genocide, but Turkey rejects the label and disputes the number of
dead.

Two peculiarities of the Iranian Minister’s visit to Armenia

armradio.am
04.04.2009 18:17

President Serzh Sargsyan received the Minister of Roads and
Communication of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hamid Behrahani. The
President underlined two important peculiarities of the Minister’s
visit to Armenia. First, the project of construction of the
Iran-Armenia railway was concretized. Secondly, the visit precedes the
Armenian President’s official visit to Iran and provides an opportunity
to once again speak about the expansion of bilateral cooperation.

President’s Press Office reports that the parties agreed that Armenia
and Iran are very close friends and neighbors. According to Serzh
Sargsyan, this friendship has been many times prove, especially in
difficult times.

The President attached importance to the enlargement of opportunities
for contacts between the two countries, the implementation of long-term
programs, ascribing great significance to the construction of direct
railway between Armenia and Iran, which will be of great importance for
the whole region.

Iran’s Minister of Roads and Communication said a working group has
already been set up for the practical preparation of the project. A
preliminary Memorandum of Understanding on the construction of the
railway was signed in Yerevan. The final document will be signed during
president Serzh Sargsyan’s official visit to Iran.

PanARMENIAN.Net

CBA gives positive assessment to banks’ merger
04.04.2009 16:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In financial crisis circumstances, when rules of
game become tougher and only the strongest survive, Armenian Banking
System will probably see the merger of some banks, CBA Chairman Arthur
Javadyan believes. ”A merger of some banks will probably take place
in near future. I consider it a positive process, which will enable
banks to jointly struggle against crisis,” Javadyan said, giving
positive assessment to banks’ merger.

There are 22 banks functioning in Armenia. According to CBA Chairman
supposition, 4 of them will be subjected to merger.

RAILWAY TO LINK IRAN, ARMENIA TO BLACK SEA

PRESS TV
April 4 2009
Iran

Iranian Minister of Road and Transportation Hamid Behbahani, (l),
meets Armenian counterpart Gurgen Sargsian

Iran and Armenia have agreed to build a railway that would connect
the two neighboring countries and boosts economic cooperation.

Iranian Minister of Road and Transportation Hamid Behbahani said that
the construction of the 470-kilometer (292-mile) railway, the bulk
of it passing through Armenian territory, would take at least five
years and cost up to USD 1.2 billion (892 million euros).

"The railway construction will amount to a restoration of the historic
Silk Road," he said.

Behbahani, who signed a memorandum of understanding with his Armenian
counter part Gurgen Sargsian, said on Friday that the two hope to
attract much of the required funding from the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The railway is especially important to Yerevan as it would connect
the northern lake city of Sevan to the southern city of Meghri,
which borders Iran.

For his part, the Armenian official said, "The railway will ensure
transport links from South and Central Asia, the Far East, through
Iran and Armenia’s territory towards Georgia’s Black Sea ports,"
a move that enhances trade volume between the two country.

The final version of the document would be signed during Armenian
President Serzh Sarkisian’s upcoming visit to Tehran.

Armenian-Iranian trade amounted to a modest USD 226.6 million last
year. The amount is expected to rise sharply when the railway is
completed.

RADICAL RELIGIOUS GROUP MEMBER: "THE CAUCASIAN MUSLIMS OFFICE OFFERED ME IMAMAT AND TEACHING"

APA
April 2 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Ramil Mammadli -APA. The hearing on the case of former officer
of Azerbaijani Army Kamran Asadov and 19 others was continued in the
Military Court of Grave Crimes on Thursday. APA reports that judge
Islam Neymanov presided over the process. Accused Hajibala Huseynov
answered the questions of the judge and prosecutor, who asked him
about the ideas from the CD-recorded messages he had and operations
in Iraq, Chechnya and Afghanistan.

Judge Rashid Huseynov asked Hajibala Huseynov about his Islamic
mission.

Huseynov said he never called for the armed jihad and anti-State
activity. He said he got a religious education to be Imam. He
talked about the Caucasian Muslims Office’s attitude to him. He said
Sheikh-al-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh met with him and other students
on their graduation from the Baku religious lyceum in 2003. "They
presented me Holy Quran and offered me Imamat and teaching in one
of the mosques of Gazakh. I am invitatory of Islam and making clear
the religious disputes in my messages. I never group the people and
never call for the fighting".

There were disputes between prosecutor Oruj Jalilov, judge Islam
Neymanov and accused persons, arisen from Huseynov’s speech "I hate
Armenians and if I kill five Armenians in Syria, they will arrest
me. Azerbaijan will judge me again instead of defending. There are
Armenians in Azerbaijan too. You will arrest me if I kill them".

Accused Kamran Asadov said that there were 40 thousand of Armenians
in Baku. "Why you don’t expel them from Baku?"

The prosecutor and the judge protested these ideas.

The hearing will be continued in the second half of the day.

Kamran Asadov, Bakhtiyar Orujov, Farid Jabbarov, Elshan Mammadov,
Kamran Babayev, Samir Mehbaliyev, Terlan Karimov, Edgar Aliyev,
Ramil Karimov, Shirvani Babayev, Samir Aliyev, Yashar Maharramov,
Orkhan Alizadeh, Hajibala Huseynov, Azer Ibadov, Shahriyar Maharramov,
Ramin Jalilov, Rovshan Abdulaliyev, Ilkin Ismayilov and Vugar Aliyev
are accused of setting up a radical religious group, attempting to
start military struggle, attacking on LUKoil petrol station in Baku,
preparing terror attack on the U.S. and UK embassies in Azerbaijan.

TURKISH – AMERICAN RELATIONS IN OBAMA PRESIDENCY
By Sedat Laciner

Journal of Turkish Weekly
April 1 2009

During the Bush presidency, the relations between Turkey and
US were severely damaged. The Washington administration has an
immense responsibility in this case. Turkey gave full support to
the US’ combat against terror. In this regard, Ankara sent Turkish
soldiers to Afghanistan and acted in accordance with its Western
allies in order to capture the militants of Al-Qaeda in Turkey
or anywhere. Meanwhile, Turkey undertook a constructive role in
the Middle East problems. However, when the Turkish Grand National
Assembly (TBMM) rejected the US’ request to base US troops in Turkey
for an assault on Iraq on March 1, 2003, the US’ Turkey policy was
completely changed. As a result, Washington started to implement a
"punishment strategy’ against Turkey. Turkey is a democratic country
and the government must implement its policies in line with the
decisions of the parliament. The Turkish Government sincerely wanted
to pass the 1 March Parliament Note (tezkere) to allow the US troops
to use Turkish territories, yet the Government had no option but to
implement the taken decision.

The rejection decision of the Turkish Parliament cost Turkey
a lot. Turkey lost billions of dollars in an economic crisis
environment. However the US lost very little. Of course, if it
were possible for the US troops to use Turkey’s territory, it
would definitely become easier for US to invade Iraq. But, the
US administration made a fatal mistake. They did not pay enough
attention to the Turkish parliament, Turkish people and did not
respect Turkish pluralism. In this period, the US promised to provide
a huge credit at an amount of about 30 billion dollars and thought
that Turkey could not reject its request to use Turkey’s territory
(because, Turkey was trying to recover its economy after the 2001
great economic crisis). The US expected to exploit from Turkey’s
difficult situation. The sarcastic expressions of some American
politicians including President Bush caused a negative impact on
Turkish parliamentarians and Turkish people. By the way, the Turkish
Army, which makes declarations on almost everything, did not make
any statement regarding the US-Turkey military co-operation on Iraqi
operation. So, thanks to the Army’s impartial position, many Turkish
politicians thought that the US operation against Iraq was not vital
for Turkish interests. As a result Turkish democracy decided and
it said "no’ to the US soldiers. If the US could use Turkish route,
of course the risks in the operation would have been decreased a lot.

Although the US could not enter Iraq from Northern part of Turkey,
the US was surprisingly not seriously affected in terms of military
bases from Turkish decision. One of the most important reasons for
this was the errant strategy of Saddam Hussein. Saddam did not presume
that Turkey would refuse permission for US troops and deployed a large
amount of soldiers in the northern part of the country. Meanwhile, the
Iraqi Kurdish collaborators (Barzani and Talabani) with the US in the
North also prevented the passage of Saddam’s soldiers. Thanks to these
developments, Iraq was occupied by US troops in a very short time and
it was brought under the control of US with very few casualties. In
this regard, it is not possible to say that the Turkey’s rejection
of the US paved the way to a big tragedy, as the Vice President of
US Dick Cheney and some other politicians had claimed in the recent
past. The US did not have many difficulties during the invasion of
Iraq, but after the invasion.

The problems of the US in Iraq did not begin during the invasion, but
later. The US easily occupied Iraq easily but could not administer the
occupied territory. The US soldiers created serious problems in the
region due to their wrong strategy, human rights violations, and being
unaccustomed to the indigenous people. At this point, Turkey offered
help to the US and the Turkish parliament ratified the decision to
send Turkish troops to Iraq to help the US as a result of the intense
efforts of the Erdogan government. However, the US did not show any
desire to accept Turkey’s attempts and made a special effort to keep
Turkey and Turkish approach outside Iraq and outside the region. It
can be said that the policies of the Bush administration regarding
the Iraq issue were founded on the ground of punishing Turkey and
to keep it outside the Middle East and Iraqi issues. In addition,
the US did not give any support to Turkey in combating terrorism
during this period, especially between the years 2003 and 2007.

Furthermore, many people in Turkey even stated that the US supported
PKK terrorism. During this period, Turkish public opinion showed a
strong and unprecedented reaction against the US’ approach to PKK
terrorism and the Kurdish issue. Almost every political group in
Turkey thinks that the US was not candid about the PKK terrorism. In
this context, the terrorism problem still remains the most important
issue between the two countries.

This mistakes which occurred during the Bush administration
would definitely pave the way to further problems in the upcoming
years. Unfortunately, some people in Washington think that Turkish
society can forget the bad things easily. Yet, this is not a true
analysis. One of the most significant reasons for the Turkish
parliament’s rejection of the 1 March Bill was the repercussions
from the two countries’ previous run-ins. The Turkish intellectuals,
bureaucrats, media, experts, and even laymen do not forget the
US’s biased behaviors regarding the 1964 Johnson Letter, the US’s
arms embargo on Turkey respecting Cyprus, and pro-Greek stance of
the US in many occasions and the Armenian issue. Unfortunately, the
Bush administration added new damaging even traumatic memories to the
previous ones. Besides, the US soldiers headed bag the Turkish soldiers
in northern Iraq. With these actions, the US not only punished, but
also insulted Turkey. All of these bad memories would be remembered by
the Turkish people and affect the relations between the two countries
in the future. I am sure that no single Turkish soldier and citizen
can forget the bag affair in coming years.

In this context, the new president must be aware of this heritage with
good sides and with the sins and try to take action to eliminate the
bad memories. He should ease the damages in the relations.

What Obama Presidency Should Do?

First of all, the new president Barack Obama must give full support
to Turkey about combating terrorism via a strong message. Although
Iraq has been kept under the control of the US for about six years,
up to now, the US military forces has not caught or arrested or judged
any PKK terrorist. The PKK became stronger under the US occupation
rule. In the following days, if the Obama administration could make
a contribution by apprehending a famous name from the PKK, it would
positively affect the US’ image in the eyes of Turkish people. The US
should do something in the PKK issue really important valuable to the
Turkish people because the people here see the US somehow responsible
for the increasing PKK terror.

Secondly, Obama must not act in line with the desires of the
ultra-nationalist Armenian Diaspora. The US should keep its
impartiality in the issue. While a historical dialogue process has
been launched between Ankara and Yerevan, any radical expressions
from Obama could damage this process. Obama should concentrate on
today’s problems rather than historical Armenian claims and support
the efforts of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. He should
not be emotional but realist. The only aim should be to establish
Turkish-Armenian friendship on mutual interests of US, Armenia
and Turkey. Turkey defends a regional integration between Turkey,
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. If the Karabakh and other occupied
territories problem could be solved with the US’ help, Turkey could
be the locomotive of Caucasian integration. The stability and more
co-operations in the Caucasus will put an end to the Armenian isolation
and strengthen the Western energy security making Nabucco and other
east-west energy corridors more possible. If Obama concentrates on
the disagreements between Armenians and Turks and if he allows the
ultra-nationalist Armenian diaspora lobbyists to drive the relations
Turkish, Armenian and American interests would be undermined. We
should now focus on Armenia’s and the region’s needs. Armenia should
not be a prisoner of the extremists’ and Russia’s narrow and conflict
based policies. Georgia War clearly proved that Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Turkey need each other.

Third, the EU membership of Turkey is of vital importance in terms
of the peace in the Middle East and the relations between the West
and the East. In conjunction with the full membership of Turkey, the
EU would have a Muslim member country for the first time. Becoming
an equal and strong member of the EU, Turkey can make significant
contributions to the stability and development of the Middle East
and greater East. Besides, Turkey would prove to construct a frank,
constructive, and beneficial relationship for both sides between the
Muslim and the Western worlds. In this way, Turkey could be a model
country and success story for the Muslim world and help to eliminate
the region’s extremist religious groups. If the EU rejects Turkey
due to the religious differences, this great mistake would be a
great signal to the Muslim peoples in the world. The US can play a
constructive role in bridging Turkey and the EU.

Finally the US must keep its promises in Cyprus. Turkish side fully
support the Annan Plan, however while the Greeks strongly rejected the
UN Peace Plan. The US and the EU promised a lot to Turkish Cypriots
and Turkey before the referendum. However the side who was punished is
the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey. The US and the EU did not keep their
promises. Turkish people are frustrated with the double standards in
Cyprus issue. People here think that the EU and the US support the
Greek Cypriots because of religious solidarity. I hope Obama will
keep the US’ words to the Turkish Cypriots.

G20 SUMMIT OPENS IN LONDON

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.04.2009 11:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ World leaders have gathered in London’s Docklands
for key talks at the G20 financial summit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany and France will push for
major changes to the global financial system to tackle the economic
crisis. Speaking at a joint press conference with French President
Nicolas Sarkozy before the summit, Merkel reiterated her demand for
improved regulation of financial markets.

Sarkozy added that new regulations were essential for market
recovery. He said he is confident that US President Barack Obama
would join the effort for immediate reforms.

However, critics of the G20 summit point to the lack of a new
coordinated fiscal stimulus package – something Mr Brown and Mr Obama
had originally hoped would be included.

On Wednesday, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama both warned that the new
financial system to emerge from the current crisis would have to be
different from that which led to the economic meltdown of the last
year. However, both leaders expressed optimism that the crisis could
be tackled this year.

Mr Obama urged the world not to "short change the future" because of
fear over the current economic crisis.

The American President, at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown
at the Foreign Office, said people needed to plan for a recovering
economy.

G20 leaders are reported to agree on assigning $750 billion to tackle
the crisis.

NA SPEAKER HIGHLY ASSESSES THE PRESENT LEVEL OF ARMENIAN-GERMAN RELATIONS

ARMENPRESS
March 30, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS: Speaker of Armenian parliament Hovik
Abrahamian received today the German State Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Gernot Erler and the head of the German-South Caucasian parliamentary
group of German Bundestag Steffen Reiche. Deputy Armenian NA Speaker,
head of the Armenia-Germany friendship parliamentary group Arevik
Petrosian, deputy FM Karine Ghazinian and German ambassador to Armenia
Andrea Wiktorin were also present at the meeting.

Public relations department of the Armenian parliament told
Armenpress that the NA Speaker highly assessed the present level
of Armenian-German relations, noting that the political dialogue
with Germany is important in bilateral as well as in the context of
development of cooperation with Europe, which is also conditioned by
the increasing interest of Germany and EU towards the developments
in the South Caucasian region.

Mr. Abrahamian stressed the importance of development of
inter-parliamentary relations noting that probably in autumn the
Armenian NA will host the Speaker of German parliament which will
be a new impetus for the enhancement of cooperation between the two
states. The interlocutors also highlighted promotion of mutual visits,
communication as well as implementation of exchange of information,
expertise of the legislation.

Referring to the process of Karabakh conflict regulation the NA
Speaker Hovik Abrahamian noted that Armenia stresses the importance of
mediation of OSCE Minsk group as a functioning format of negotiation
process in conflict regulation and that Armenia is for the peaceful
regulation of the conflict.

Mr. Abrahamian expressed confidence that the sides should stay back
from undertaking steps which may create additional tension in the
peaceful process and that Azerbaijan impedes this process with its
warlike statements. The NA Speaker stressed that recognition of the
right of Karabakh people to self determination and the implementation
of this right, the land communication between Nagorno Karabakh and
Armenia as well as guarantees of security of Nagorno Karabakh people
must be the bases for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict regulation.

H. Abrahamian expressed gratitude to the German side for their unbiased
position. In the context of regional security and stability the NA
Speaker stressed the importance of development of Armenian-Turkish
relations noting that Armenia is ready for establishment and
development of inter-state relations without pre-conditions.

German State Minister of Foreign Affairs Gernot Erler, stressing the
importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two states,
pointed out to the cooperation between the parliamentary friendship
groups and expressed gratitude to the NA Speaker for the support to
the International parliamentary scholarship.

G. Erler informed that within the frameworks of German cultural days
which will be held in Armenia, numerous events are intended to be
held which will enhance the Armenian-German friendly relations in
different spheres. The State Minister considered the Armenian steps
towards consolidation of relations with the neighbors as positive,
particularly the progress in the Armenian-Turkish relations. In the
context of Karabakh conflict regulation he considered the restarting
of direct communication between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
as important.

During the meeting they also referred to the inner-political situation
of Armenia, fair and stressed the transparent conduction of elections
of Council of Yerevan elders.