Armenian-Russian Trade Turnover Grows 19.5 Percent In Jan/Aug 2008

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN TRADE TURNOVER GROWS 19.5 PERCENT IN JAN/AUG 2008

ARKA
Oct 1, 2008

YEREVAN, October 1. /ARKA/. Armenian-Russian trade turnover grew
19.5 percent in Jan/Aug 2008 to $482.4 million, National Statistical
Service of Armenia reports.

Export from Armenia to Russia reached $136.4 million (19% of Armenia’s
total export) by late August after growing 9% over the period between
January and August 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier.

Russian goods worth $346 million were imported in Armenia in Jan/Aug
2008 (24.2% growth).

Import from Russia totals $397.8 million (15.9%) or 15.2 of total
import.

Russia’s share in Armenia’s foreign trade turnover was 14.6% in
Jan/Aug 2008. It means Russia retained its supremacy over other
importers in Armenia.

Share of Commonwealth of Independent States in Armenia’s foreign
trade turnover was 30.6% in Jan-Aug 2008 (32.6% at the same period
a year earlier).

Armenia’s foreign trade turnover S3308.9 million after growing 24.5%,
compared with the same period of the previous year. Export totaled
$696.8 million and import $2612.1 million.

Armenia To Participate In Sitting Of CIS Antimonopoly Interstate Cou

ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN SITTING OF CIS ANTIMONOPOLY INTERSTATE COUNCIL IN ASTANA

ARKA
Oct 1, 2008

YEREVAN, October 1. /ARKA/. Chairman of Armenia’s State Commission
for Protection of Economic Competition Ashot Shakhnazaryan left
for Astana yesterday to participate in the 28th sitting of CIS
Antimonopoly Interstate Council, the press service of the Commission
reported. Shakhnazaryan is to make a report at the sitting, says the
press release.

Results of joint studies in airfreight market and wheat and
telecommunication market study process are to be discussed at the
sitting.

In the scope of the sitting, a conference on role of antimonopoly
policy in raising competitiveness will be held on October 3.

The next sitting of the CIS Antimonopoly Council is to be held
in Yerevan.

Cigarette and passive way of living make heart attack younger

Panorama.am

18:13 27/09/2008

CIGARRETTE AND PASSIVE WAY OF LIVING MAKE HEART ATTACK YOUNGER

Heart attack disease in Yerevan is getting younger as youth of the age
of 20-22 is suffering of the disease, says Artyom Petrosyan, the
director of Ambulance service of Yerevan.

`If once such cases were unique, today it is changes. And the fact
that more often youth suffers from heart disease, we are the only
guilty, as we are used to live a passive life, we smoke and. Hence the
aftermath should be expected,’ he said. Panorama.am visited gym halls
to find out who are the general consumers of the gyms. According to
the representative of a gym hall in Yerevan, most of the time youth
visits gym halls to have strong muscles, etc.

A. Petrosyan said that it is preferable to pass prophylactic check at
least once a year. Unfortunately, this is not common to Armenians.

Source: Panorama.am

Baku: Turkish President And UN Secretary General Discuss Situation I

TURKISH PRESIDENT AND UN SECRETARY GENERAL DISCUSS SITUATION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

Today.Az
27 September 2008 [12:42] – Today.Az
Azerbaijan

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and UN Secretary General Pan Gui Mun
met in the framework of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly.

Day.Az reports with reference to Turkish Anadolu, that the Turkish
President informed about his visit to Armenia.

He said the visit creates opportunities for normalization of not only
the Turkish-Armenian relations, but also of the whole South Caucasus.

In turn, the UN Secretary General welcomed Gul’s visit to Yerevan,
calling it a positive step.

Laying NABUCCO Gas Pipeline Via Territory Of Armenia Rule Out

LAYING NABUCCO GAS PIPELINE VIA TERRITORY OF ARMENIA RULE OUT

ArmInfo
2008-09-25 14:54:00

ArmInfo. Azerbaijani Government has not received any proposal on
changing of Nabucco gas pipeline project, Head of the Public Policy
Department of the President’s Office Ali Hasanov told journalists,
Azerbaijani media report.

As regards the reports on Nabucco pipeline’s passing via territory of
Armenia, Ali Hasanov said there was no serious ground for changing
Nabucco route. He said the pipeline’s route had already been
determined. "Azerbaijan has stated for many times that it would not
cooperate with Armenia until the returning of territories occupied
by Armenia, restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereign rights over these
territories and establishing peace in the South Caucasus".

According to recent reports by some Turkish mass media, official Ankara
and Yerevan achieved an agreement to lay the pipeline NABUCCO via the
territory of Armenia. The designed capacity of the pipeline is 26-32
billion c/m of gas annually. The construction is to be completed by
2013. The project costs 7.5 billion EUR. At present Romania, Bulgaria,
Austria, Hungary, Germany and Turkey take part in the Nabucco project.

Ton Of Drugs Seized In CSTO Operation In Tajikistan

TON OF DRUGS SEIZED IN CSTO OPERATION IN TAJIKISTAN

RIA Novosti
15:06 | 26/ 09/ 2008

DUSHANBE, September 26 (RIA Novosti) – More than 954 kg (2,101 lbs)
of drugs were confiscated in Tajikistan in the course of the special
operation of regional security organization members between September
16 and 22, country’s police official said Friday.

A spokesman for the Tajik Drugs Control Agency said the drugs were
confiscated during the first stage of the Channel-2008 anti-drugs
operation, conducted by members of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO).

"Within the stated period law enforcement bodies in cooperation with
border guards detected and stopped 38 crimes, connected with smuggling
and trade of drugs," the spokesman said.

The operation, he added, was monitored by representatives of law
enforcement bodies from Azerbaijan, China, Latvia, the United States
and Ukraine.

The CSTO is a security grouping comprising the former Soviet republics
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan.

Narcotics trafficking is an acute problem for the Central Asian
republics due to the constant flow of illegal drugs from neighboring
Afghanistan, the world’s largest heroin and opium producer. The drugs
are then smuggled via Russia’s Urals region onto Western Europe.

A Day In The Life Of Coexistence

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF COEXISTENCE
By Seth J. Frantzman, [email protected]

Jerusalem Post
Sep 24, 2008 22:02
Israel

In its book review section on August 23, the Economist included two
books by the late Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim. Although the review
was ostensibly about music, which the books are also ostensibly about
(Everything Is Connected: The Power of Music by Barenboim and Music at
the Limits by Said) the article was titled "Friends across the divide"
and included the cliche "working together from opposite ends of the
Israeli-Palestinian divide."

The article thus claims that Barenboim and Said are practicing
"coexistence" and "learning about the other" when they discuss music
and discuss politics. Thus Barenboim’s West-East Divan Orchestra
which he founded with Said in 1999 is part of this coexistence. The
article once again reminds us of the how most coexistence is really
just about two people who already agree masquerading as coexisting.

It was the same story with a BBC article on August 28, entitled
"Summer camp sows seeds of peace," which is ostensibly about the
Seeds of Peace organization which sends young Palestinian and Israeli
teenagers to the Maine woods for summer camp where they learn about
"the other" and practice coexistence. The BBC showcases two girls
who are practicing this coexistence, Nadia Tibi, the Israeli, and
Majdoline Shahed, the Palestinian.

But Tibi and Shahed are both Arabs – and presumbably both Muslim –
the only difference being that one is from Israel and the other from
the Palestinian territories.

Then there is the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker
non-profit, whose "Profiles of Peace: celebrating 40 years of Israeli
and Palestinian peace builders" ostensibly provides profiles of Jews
and Arabs who are practicing peace. But the only Jews selected seem
to be the most extreme anti-Israel voices and most of them are only
Israeli in citizenship, they were almost all born in the United States
or elsewhere. They include Jeff Halper, who recently went to Gaza
illegally to campaign on behalf of Palestinians, and Amira Hass,
who lived in Gaza for the better part of a decade reporting only
on Palestinians.

The Palestinians, such as Jad Issac, practice peace by doing the same
thing the Israelis do, working with Palestinians and encouraging
Palestinian nationalism. This coexistence project doesn’t involve
people who are coexisting at all, they all agree on their condemnation
of Israel and they all focus exclusively on the rights of Muslim
Arab Palestinians.

RETURNING TO Barenboim and Said, it is worthwhile examining just how
much of a charade it is to claim they are different in any way. Both
were born to wealthy families. Both enjoy the music of Richard Wagner,
the famous anti-Semite who inspired Hitler, and they both condemned
Israel at every opportunity to the extent that Barenboim even holds
Palestinian citizenship, just like Jeff Halper.

But Said’s masquerading as a Palestinian Arab is almost as comical as
Barenboim’s attempt to masquerade as an Israeli Jew. Said spent less
than a few years of his life in Jerusalem and this was not because
he was barred from going there. He spent his childhood at one of his
parents’ multiple homes in Egypt and Lebanon, living with servants,
and later immigrated to the US. His father had American citizenship
because he had volunteered to fight in World War I, and Said spent a
few of his youthful summers in the Maine woods at camp, perhaps the
same camp where Seeds of Peace is now located.

Said was an Anglican Christian, and his English was better than his
Arabic. His parents were disdainful towards the culture of the Middle
East and made fun of the idea of an "Arab general" leading the Arabs
against Israel in 1948. Said’s early experience at coexistence with
others was with his family’s Jewish female servants and his Greek and
Armenian drivers. His house was located in a posh area alongside the
houses of Europeans who resided in Egypt, and he rarely even met the
Arabs he would spend his life defending.

He was so ensconced in European culture that on one summer holiday
in Jerusalem he was taken to a photo studio in the Old City where he
dressed up in fake Beduin clothes alongside his sister and had his
photo taken by an Armenian photographer, much as many Europeans used
to do at that time (dressing up like Lawrence of Arabia) and much
as Americans do in Tombstone, Arizona when they dress up as cowboys
and play the part of Billy the Kid. Said captions this photo in his
autobiography Out of Place, "traditional Palestinian dress" but his
wealthy Arab family never dressed this way and no wealthy Jerusalemite
Arab family did either. Later Said would term this portrayal of the
romantic Arab world of Lawrence of Arabia, "Orientalism," a term that
applied, ironically, as much to himself as those he critiqued.

But just as the Argentinian-born Barenboim plays the Israeli, a country
he has rarely resided in, to claim that he is somehow critiquing
his country, Said played the Palestinian. Neither had anything to do
with Israel or the Palestinians in their daily lives and neither was
ensconced in the everyday culture of a place such as Jerusalem. They
aped the culture and recalled a few youthful moments spent in the
country to weave a tale of coexistence and Arab-Israeli conflict into
their writings and professional lives as an academic and a musician.

Together they symbolize the extent to which coexistence more often
than not means two people who have everything in common pretending
that they are from different backgrounds to make themselves more
interesting to the outside world.

Why Is The U.S. State Department Concerned?

WHY IS THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT CONCERNED?
Kima Yeghiazaryan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
24 Sep 2008
Armenia

Yesterday, the US State Department published its annual report on the
"International Religious Freedom"

Of course, it was possible to assume that the report would touch upon
(and it really did) the total sects which are becoming overwhelmingly
widespread all over the world, and its authors would take "Jehovah’s
witnesses" and the adherent of many other religious sects under their
wardship. Acting in support of the total sects, they would point out
to manifestations of a "negative attitude" towards them in different
countries and various other infringements and facts "violating"
the rights of the people engaged in soul hunting.

"Restrictions on Religious Freedom" – such is the title of the section
where, astonishing though it is, we discovered the names Levon
and Lyudmila Ter-Petrosyans and, what’s even more, found out that
this particular section of the report describing the situation with
religious freedoms in Armenia was mostly devoted to the accusations
allegedly published against the leader of the "orange" revolution.

This is what was revealed as a result of the studies of the US
State Department, "In May and June 2008, the pro-government ‘Hayots
Ashkharh’ and ‘Golos Armenii’ newspapers=2 0published anti-Semitist
and anti-Masonic accusations against former president and currently
opposition leader L. Ter-Petrosyan. Local observers viewed the
inflammatory articles as attempts to portray the opposition leader
as a traitor to the country and stir up anti-Semitist sentiment in
a country traditionally known for its welcoming attitude towards Jews."

Let’s put aside the inaccurate translation. If we have published
anti-Semitist and anti-Masonic accusations against LTP, then the
cherished hero of the State Department report really turns out to be
a Mason and a Semitist; we have just added the prefix "anti-" while
labeling him as someone possessing the above-mentioned characters
(which leads to the assumption that we have done a very good job). But
this is among other things.

The series of "provocative" publications is not restricted to us.

The authors of the report refer to one of the news broadcasts of
"H1" TV Channel, pointing out that on February 27, 2008, H1’s news
program presented the coverage of the post-presidential election
opposition rally, "focusing primarily on an Israeli flag – one of
the many nations’ flags in the crowd -with the intention of vilifying
Ter-Petrosyan whose wife is Jewish".

To begin with, let’s first of all touch upon the last falsification
published in the section devoted to L. Ter-Petrosyan.

What the20whole Armenian world saw on the Theatrical Square on February
27 was the swaying flag of Israel (in addition to a few worn-out
tri-colored flags). Why do they speak about "many nations’ flags"?

Maybe, the representatives of the State Department who wrote a
report based on the remarks of the "local observers", i.e. the
"grant-consuming" human rights defenders and political scientists
of the Armenian Pan-National Movement who had revealed "inflammatory
publications", should have tried to make out everything on their own.

The episodes were shown many a time; they could have watched them
in the slow mode. And in that case, they would have focused on the
Israeli flag because even if they had used a magnifying glass, they
wouldn’t have seen the flag of any other country on the square.

But let’s put aside this issue too. What comes out? If LTP instructs
his activists to bring the Israeli flag to the square and sway it with
enthusiasm, and he himself dances enthusiastically in the frameworks
of the "Song and Dance Festival" (naturally, becoming a laughing
stock), and all that is shown on television, does it mean that the
activist is being "vilified"? And how come that all this is "viewed"
as an attempt of stirring up anti-Semitist sentiment in the country.

Such absurdities may only pass across the minds of the "local=2 0
observers" and be immediately "recorded", thus becoming the contents
of the State Department report.

We treat the Jews with respect, like the representatives of all
the other nations. So there’s no need "to mix one’s private affairs
with the state ones". Hence, the advocates of colored revolutions
had better distinguish Lyudmila Ter-Petrosyan from the whole Jewish
nation. Being the bearer of her revolutionary husband’s ideology,
she is no less enthusiastic about the plans of destabilizing our
country and crowning the long-lasting and exhausting struggle of the
liberators with victory.

And in one of our articles published in May, we spoke about this,
noting that "Involving Lyudmila Ter-Petrosyan in the leadership of
their infra-structures operating in Armenia, the Jewish and Masonic
organizations of the United States, the Russian Federation and the
Near East didn’t manage to maintain a permanent and reliable contact
through her and provide assistance to Levon Ter-Petrosyan."

Once we have already informed the reader that the principal goal of L.

Ter-Petrosyan’s one-day visit to Moscow in mid-January 2008 was the
meeting with Jewish Leonid Gozman, Vice Chair of the union of the
right-wing forces of the Russian Federation. The confidential meeting
that lasted 6-7 hours was naturally very effective. The sums flew
into Armenia through different organizations and were inv ested in
political processes prior to the campaign that was about to start.

And we wonder why the representatives of "Big East", a powerful
Jewish-Masonic organization that has unlimited financial and political
resources, arrived in Yerevan in mid-January? What plans were they
drawing up with Hovhannes Igityan, one of the closest people of LTP?

Well, don’t we have the right to ask that question? Especially
considering the fact that the same Igityan fled from the country
after the incidents of March 1 and reached Strasburg, and it is quite
well-known what kind of lobbying activities this revolutionary figure
carried out there in an effort to convince the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe to apply sanctions against Armenia.

Don’t we have the right to ask LTP why the members of the
Jewish-American committee are going to arrive in Armenia at the end
of May?

They also met with the revolutionary leader with the purpose of
receiving a report on the activities accomplished.

Is it a secret that the idea of setting up an Armenian National
Congress was proposed to L. Ter-Petrosyan by the same Jewish-Masonic
circles?

Let alone the elucidations of the American and Russian media which
presented the "liberation movement" in the best manner, being under
the influence of the Jewish lobby.

That’s to say, if we are making attempts to find out the people
who gave instructions to LTP, raise concerns about the alternatives
imposed on us by the Jewish circles or bring Ter-Petrosyan to power,
then … We are trying to stir up anti-Semitist sentiment, according
to the State Department report. What brilliant logic!

Baku: Baku Wants To See Turkey As Co-Chairman Of OSCE Minsk Group

BAKU WANTS TO SEE TURKEY AS CO-CHAIRMAN OF OSCE MINSK GROUP

TREND Information
25.09.08 10:57
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September /corr. Trend News I.Alizade / Official
Baku wants Turkey to more closely participate in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement as a mediator. Azerbaijan would like Turkey to
become Co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Head of the Foreign
Relations Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan,
Novruz Mammadov, said.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

Turkey is a friendly, fraternal country and strategic partner
of Azerbaijan, and it is represented in the Minsk Group. But the
formation of the chairmanship to the Minsk Group is realized via
consensus. I consider that the probability of Armenias consent to
Turkeys chairmanship equals zero. Therefore it is impossible to speak
about this extensively, said Mammadov.

According to him, leaderships of Turkey and Armenia held discussions
for several times.

Mammadov said that due to the recent processes, Turkeys leadership
makes certain statements.

If as a result of the efforts made by the Government of Turkey in the
last negotiations with the Armenians for the solution of conflict,
they can convince the Armenian side of consent to representation
in the Minsk Group, a number of questions can be clarified. If an
agreement is reached upon the format, cochairmen, it can come out
that Turkey will become the cochairman of the Minsk Group. But I do
not consider this real, he added.

He said hat considering that today South Caucasus is one of the
sensitive regions of Eurasia, the events between Georgia and
Russia affected the processes in the world and the international
relations. Also these events created a new situation in the
international relations.

Therefore, taking into account the processes in the foreign relations,
several analysts, centers declare that possibly the cochairmen or the
format of the OSCE Minsk Group will change. Here the discussions deal
with the change in the format. Because in these processes, tension
arose between Russia and the USA, and each of these countries stand
on the different positions contrary to each other, said Mammedov.

He also added that despite this, still the agenda does not include
and is not expected to include a change to the cochairmen or format
of OSCE Minsk Group. In such questions it is necessary to be to
patient. Simply, as the cochairmen of the Minsk Group visited the
region individually, an opinion appeared regarding the change to the
cochairmen-countries or format, said Mammadov.

Bush Adminisration’s Ambassadorial Nominee For Turkey To Face Senate

BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S AMBASSADORIAL NOMINEE FOR TURKEY TO FACE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS PANEL

AZG Armenian Daily
25/09/2008

USA-Armenian Genocide

Ending Denial through Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, Ending
the Blockade are Key Issues to be Addressed

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has scheduled the nomination
hearing of Bush’s Ambassadorial Nominee for Turkey, James F. Jeffrey,
for Wednesday, September 24, 2008, reported the Armenian Assembly
of America (Assembly). "We are hopeful the nomination hearing is
not a question and answer session, which in the past has resulted
in equivocating on the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide and
America’s proud record of humanitarian intervention," said Assembly
Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "This represents a critical
opportunity for the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey to go further than
Ambassador Yovanovitch and this time to squarely affirm the Armenian
Genocide. The U.S. record of affirmation is clear as evidenced by
the 1951 U.S. filing before the International Court of Justice. The
Armenian Genocide is an historical fact and Mr. Jeffrey would be well
served to follow in the tradition of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau,"
continued Ardouny.In addition to its campaign of denial and application
of article 301 of its penal code, which punishes discussion of the
Armenian Genocide, for more than a decade, Turkey, in coordination
with Azerbaijan, has blockaded Armenia. The Turkish blockade not only
costs Armenia hundreds of millions of dollars, but also undermines
the stated U.S. policy goals of regional cooperation and economic
integration in the South Caucasus Region. While Turkey’s President
Gul did accept the bold invitation by Armenia’s President Serzh
Sargsian to visit Armenia on the occasion of a soccer game between
the two countries earlier this month, more concrete steps are needed,
including establishing working diplomatic relations and a process of
normalization that removes blockades, opens borders, restores economic
relations, and strives toward the peaceful resolution of differences
and disputes in the region. In fact, the U.S. Administration has
repeatedly called upon Turkey "to restore economic, political and
cultural links with Armenia."Jeffrey, a career member of the Senior
Foreign Service, currently serves as Assistant to the President and
Deputy National Security Advisor at the White House. Prior to this,
he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of
Near Eastern Affairs. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy
Chief of Mission in Baghdad, United States Ambassador to Albania,
and three other assignments in Turkey. Ambassador Jeffrey received
his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and his master’s
degree from Boston University.