Author: Dabaghian Diana

ALI HASANOV: "CONCERN OF AZERBAIJANI PUBLIC AND MEDIA OVER TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS IS UNDERSTANDABLE"

APA
Feb 19 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. "Unfortunately, the issue on Turkey’s
retracting from the term of Nagorno Karabakh to establish relations
with Armenia is covered partially in Azerbaijani media.

We know this issue as much as Azerbaijani media does. According to
Armenian service of Radio Liberty, Turkey decided to open borders,
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and retracted from its
previous position in order to make this decision. Unfortunately,
Turkey’s official bodies neither refute, nor confirm these reports,"
chief of socio-political department of the President’s Office Ali
Hasanov said, APA reports.

The department chief said mass media covers understandable concern
and discontent of Azerbaijani public and media.

"It was always said during the presidency of Turgut Ozal, Suleyman
Demirel and by Erdogan during AKP’s ruling that political, economic,
cultural or diplomatic relations will not be established with the
aggressive state unless Armenia releases the occupied Azerbaijani
territories, refugees and IDPs return to their native lands,
peace is established in the South Caucasus and between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. We believe this word and think that it is still so. But
ask Turkish ambassador in Azerbaijan and other our Turkish friends
why the issue is not made clear," he said.

Ali Hasanov believes that Azerbaijan’s public opinion is not
insignificant for Turkish authorities.

"The relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are higher than the
relations between two states. We have always made political and
historical statements about eternal alliance. It is the duty of
Turkish and Azerbaijani official and unofficial bodies to protect
this alliance," he said.

POLICE OFFICERS PROHIBITED THEM FROM APPROACHING THE CEC

A1+
[08:13 pm] 19 February, 2009

Dozens of police officers were waiting for members of the "Special
Regiment" movement today, which marks one year since the Armenian
presidential elections.

Some police officers were waiting in cars and were led by Commander
of the patrol service regiment Robert Melkonyan and his deputy
Valeri Osipyan.

The "Special Regiment" youth movement was planning to hold a picket
and put on a show in front of the building of the Central Electoral
Commission.

Around 2:20 p.m. today nearly 40 youth were walking from Koryun
Street to the Central Electoral Commission with signs and tricolor
flags in their hands. But the youth had not taken a couple of steps
before the police officers prohibited them to move forward.

After the youth announced that they were only 40 people and have
the right to organize a march, Robert Melkonyan stole the signs of
one of the members and broke it. The other police officers did the
same and pushed the youth back, including Deputy of the "Heritage"
faction Zaruhi Postanjyan. Not after the pushing and shoving of police
officers did activists start to move back and yell "Serzhik, leave"
and "Shame on you".

Police officers pushed the youth back into the building of the Armenian
National Congress located on Koryun Street.

When member of the Armenian National Movement Aram Manukyan tried to
find out from Robert Melkonyan why they were pushing the youth back
and breaking the signs, the high-ranking police officer started to
push Aram Manukyan too. They pushed everybody back and closed the
door. Swearing was heard from both sides and the police officers
even started pushing the girls and did not allow journalists to do
their job.

Deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan demanded Robert Melkonyan to give her a
document stating that police officers have the right to drive away
a crowd.

"Show me the decision for attacking the youth members or breaking
their signs," said Zaruhi Postanjyan. But Robert Melkonyan refuted
that and said that nothing like that had happened (the clips taken by
"A1+" clearly show how Robert Melkonyan breaks the sign-ed.)

GOVERNMENT LOAN TO HELP MAINTAIN DEVELOPMENT AND JOBS IN ZANGEZUR COPPER-MOLYBDENUM FACTORY

ARKA
Feb 20, 2009

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. The loan allocated by the Armenian
Government to Zangezur cooper-molybdenum factory will be used for
keeping the development of the enterprise on and for maintaining
the jobs, Director of the factory Maxim Hakobyan said at Novosti
International Press Center.

Armenian Government made a decision to extend a $10mln worth
loan to Zangezur copper and molybdenum factory at its sitting
yesterday. Armenian Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan said that
these investments are part of government efforts to overcome the
world crisis effects.

Director of the factory said that four years ago the government
and the stockholders signed an agreement on development of the
field. According to him, implementation of the first stage of the
program made production output grow by 50% over four years and helped
create 400 new jobs.

"The amount allocated will be directed to implementation of the
second part of the program, i.e. ensuring development, output growth,
maintaining jobs and salaries," Hakobyan said.

Investments in enterprise totaled about $330mln over the last four
years, he said.

"We used these amounts mainly to purchase modern and high-efficiency
equipment," director of the company said.

Hakobyan also said that the government-provided funds will help to
keep about 2,000 employees of 30 satellite enterprises. Besides, the
program will ensure a 35% growth of molybdenum production and a 75%
increase in cooper production. Permanent work will be provided to
10,000 people and another 200-300 new jobs will be opened by the end
of this year or the beginning of the next year.

Under the agreement of privatization of a major Armenian mining
enterprise, Zangezur cooper-molybdenum factory in Kajaran, the control
stock (60%) of the company’s shares were transferred to the German
"Cronimet", 15% to "Pure Iron Plant" open joint stock company, 12.5%
to "Armenian molybdenum production" CJSC and the remaining 12.5% to
"Zangezur Mining" LLC.

The investment program of Zangezur cooper-molybdenum factory for
2005-2020 totals $240mln and is to be implemented in two stages –
in 2005-2008 and in 2008-2020. The first stage investments are to
total $157mln. The program anticipates modernization of open-cut mine,
processing plant, tailing dump, outer networks and buildings, as well
as protection of environment and labor safety measures.

NERSES YERITSYAN ON FREE TRADE WITH EU: NOT THE LAWS BUT THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IS THE PROBLEM

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.02.2009 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenia-European Commission held a meeting
in Yerevan Wednesday to map out a preparatory process for future
negotiations on free trade agreement.

The meeting was presided over by RA Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan
and Mrs. Ewa Synowiec from the EC Directorate General for Trade.

"This meeting is crucial to the further integration of Armenian
business into European markets," Minister Yeritsyan said.

He added that EC requested a report on the influence of free trade
agreement implementation on Armenia’s economic growth.

Asked whether Armenia’s legislative framework is ready for conclusion
of the agreement, Nerses Yeritsyan said that not the laws themselves,
but their implementation is the problem.

The Minister noted that a thorough work will be conducted in
the following directions: overcoming technical trade barriers:
certification, standardization, hygiene and sanitary, requiring
substantial investments into corresponding substructures, creation
of laboratories, contributions to science as well as creation of
legislative framework for intellectual property protection.

He added that institutional changes in the sphere of state purchasing
and competitive environment are also in order.

According to the Minister, the EU is committed to continue assistance
to Armenia to speed up the process of reforms envisaged by the European
Neighborhood Policy.

YOUNG ARFD MEMBERS OF GREECE ORGANIZE ACTION OF PROTEST ON OCCASION OF AZERI PRESIDENT’S VISIT TO GREECE

Noyan Tapan
Feb 18, 2009

ATHENS, FEBRUARY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Greece was accompanied by an action of protest
organized by the ARFD Youth Union of Greece. According to the Azat Or
(Free Day) newspaper, Azeri President’s peace was broken, when the
action of protest participants voiced "Karabakh is ours!" at the
moment he entered Greece Chamber of Commerce.

An hour before the meeting of Greek and Azeri businessmen young
ARFD members, who had gathered in front of the Chamber of Commerce,
hoisted the state flags of Armenia, Greece, and Artsakh, as well as
a placard with the inscription "Aliyev, stop the aggression, Karabakh
is already independent."

According to the Azat Or, Azeri President’s smile froze on his face,
when coming out of the armoured car he looked at the crowd gathered
on the opposite pavement and heard the voice of fair complaint and
request of the Armenians.

"The Azeri bodyguards responsible for Azeri President’s security rudely
treated representatives of Armenians exercising their democratic right
of action of protest and demonstration hindering the entrance of Azat
Or’s editor and Armenian photographer photographing the gathering to
the meeting hall. And Greek Police forces surrounded their compatriots
expressing their complaint on the pavement in front of the meeting
building," the newspaper reported.

In spite of policemen’s attempt to repulse the demonstrants the
latters refused to leave and met with applause President of Greece
Karolos Papoulias, who arrived a little later.

During the meeting with Greek businessmen the Azeri President once
more used the chance to voice anti-Armenian statements again touching
upon "issues of seizing Azerbaijan’s lands by Armenia and issues
of refugees."

GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
19.02.2009 14:26

The delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of Georgia Grigol
Vashadze will arrive in Armenia for an official visit.

Within the framework of the visit Grigol Vashadze will have meetings
with the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of Georgia will visit
Tsitsernakaberd to lay a wreath at the memorial to the Armenian
Genocide victims.

EU PREPARES TO LAUNCH A LOW-FLYING EASTERN PARTNERSHIP

FT
February 17, 2009 11:03am

Apart from all their summits on the recession and financial crisis,
European Union leaders are planning to get together in Prague on
May 7 to launch something called the "Eastern Partnership". This is
an initiative designed to draw six post-Soviet states – Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – closer to the
EU, without holding out an explicit promise of membership at some
future date.

Let’s hope that fate treats the Eastern Partnership more kindly than
it has done the EU’s Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), a similar
initiative for the bloc’s southern neighbours. This project, the
brainchild of French President NIcolas Sarkozy, was launched in Paris
to great fanfare in July. Then it nose-dived in January when the Gaza
war broke out.

Libya, never an enthusiastic supporter of the UfM in the first place,
said scathingly that the project was "a motionless corpse" and "the
time-wasting, play-acting and ridiculous spectacles must end". Of
course, Libya doesn’t speak for everyone in north Africa and the
Middle East. But there can be no doubt that the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is a curse on the UfM.

As for the Eastern Partnership, it seems another example of how the
EU often has its heart in the right place, while lacking the power,
conceptua l vision and unity of purpose to do what it aspires to
do. If the partnership had been in place a year ago, it wouldn’t
have done much to affect the course of last August’s Russian-Georgian
war, or January’s Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis, or Ukraine’s present
economic meltdown.

All six states covered by the Eastern Partnership exist in the shadow
of Russia, some more comfortably than others. The EU’s offer of free
trade deals, visa facilitation arrangements and seminars to improve
understanding of EU laws simply does not match the military, political
and economic influence that Russia can wield in the region. After
all, one of the favoured six – Georgia – was in effect partitioned by
Russia a mere six months ago, in spite of all the EU’s protests, after
Moscow’s recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

That doesn’t mean the EU should remain inactive. But the Eastern
Partnership’s credibility isn’t helped by the open secret that Poland
and Sweden proposed the initiative last year largely to counter-balance
Sarkozy’s UfM.

However, perhaps the most glaring weakness of the UfM and the
Eastern Partnership is that the EU, at the insistence of its
budget-conscious governments, is committing only limited funds to
both projects. This hasn’t gone unnoticed in the places where it
matters. "They have one common problem – they don0t have dedicated
finances and support. Whatever isn’t supported by a line in the budget
usually doesn’t fly very high," one interested observer said serenely
last week.

Who was he? Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to the EU in
Brussels.

WPS Agency, Russia
What the Papers Say (Russia)
February 12, 2009 Thursday

ASSISTANCE FEE

by Yuri Simonjan

MOSCOW MAY ASK ARMENIA TO JOIN THE RUBLE ZONE IN RETURN FOR A LOAN;
Yerevan and Moscow signed a preliminary agreement on a loan to
Armenia. The $500 million are supposed to aid survival of Armenian
economy in the crisis.

Vardan Aivazjan, Chairman of the Commission for Economic Affairs of
the National Assembly (parliament), said Armenia might join the ruble
zone by way of paying the loan back. "If Russia insists, the National
Assembly will decide the matter," he said. "It is actually the
Armenian people that will have to decide."

Armenia is somewhat disappointed because it had asked for $1 billion
and counted on getting the money. After all, Moscow had loaned $2
billion to Kyrgyzstan and Belarus each. Much to Yerevan’s chagrin, the
Kremlin agreed to loan it only half the sum. Armenia will appeal to
China and international financial establishments for the remaining
half a billion.

Commenting on the situation, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Nikolai
Pavlov admitted existence of the idea to extend the ruble zone to all
CIS countries. "Considering the crisis under way, the issue is off the
agenda at this point," the diplomat said.

"Russia and Belarus have been working on the Union state for… how
long? Even they cannot agree on principles of a common monetary
unit. And what does Armenia have to do with it?" political scientist
Andranik Tevanjan said.

Official Yerevan in the meantime desperately needs finances to quell
protests and the opposition. Armenian National Congress Coordinator
Levon Zurabjan said mass protests were scheduled for March 1,
anniversary of brutal dispersal of a peaceful manifestation where 10
protesters were killed. "We informed the city administration,"
Zurabjan said. "Political and social issues will be raised at the
rally."

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 28, February 12, 2009, p. 2

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 13 2009

Armenian opposition confirms plans to hold rally on 1 March

Yerevan, 13 February: The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC)
has "a firm intention" to hold a rally in central Yerevan on 1 March,
Arman Musinyan, the press secretary of the ANC leader, former Armenian
President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, said in Yerevan today.

Musinyan said that the decision of the municipality to change the
venue of the rally and forbid a march has not been given to the
organizers of the rally in the form and deadline provided by law. "All
the further steps of the Armenian opposition will be presented at the
rally, and their content depends on the events and circumstances
preceding the rally, Musinyan said. "Being a union of political
parties, ANC does not claim to take up the role of a separate
political force but will actively participate in all internal
political processes, including in the election of the Yerevan Council
of Elders slated for this year," he said. Musinyan said there is a
growth of "domestic public activity, conditioned by both the efforts
of the ANC and the meaningless political steps by the authorities". He
added that the recent speeches by the Armenian president [Serzh
Sargsyan] at the Munich Security Conference and at the congress of the
Prosperous Armenia party "virtually made no sense".

IN GEVORG DANIELIAN’S AFFIRMATION, THERE IS NO BRIBERY AND ABUSES IN LEGAL ACTS OBLIGATORY EXECUTION SPHERE

Noyan Tapan

Feb 10, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. There is no bribery, abuses in
the sphere of the legal acts obligatory execution, RA Minister of
Justice Gevorg Danielian stated in his exclusive interview to Noyan
Tapan correspondent.

The Minister said that a positive shift can be recorded even without
amending the law, through changing the order, the demands. According
to the Minister, the change of specialists also improved the situation:
heads of three sibdivisions were changed, the changes still continue.

The evidence of a noticeable improval in the structure is also the fact
that the sum collected in the sphere in 2008 is three-fold more than
the index of the previous year. The number of application-complaints
has also decreased.

Among issues subject to improval the Minister mentioned issues of
property search, assessment, the Minister, in particular, does not
consider realistic putting property to auction at a price 75% lower
than the real cost.

According to him, the expediency of privatizing some spheres is also
discussed at the Ministry.