Author: Emil Lazarian

Armenian Assembly of America
122 C Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE
April 30, 2004
CONTACT: David Zenian
E-mail: [email protected]

ASSEMBLY ACTIVISTS MARK ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DAY IN WASHINGTON

Washington, DC — Armenian activists from across the United States, in
Washington for the Assembly’s National Conference and Banquet, gathered for
a memorial service at the Bethlehem Chapel of the National Cathedral April
18th to commemorate the 89th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The hour-long inter-denominational service was organized by Diocean Legate
Bishop Vicken Aykazian and joined by the Archbishop of Baltimore Cardinal
William H. Keeler, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches
Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, the Rabbi of B’nai Israel Congregation Mathew Simon,
Vicar of the Washington National Cathedral Right Rev. A. Theodore Eastman,
pastor of St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church Father Vertanes Kalaydjian, the
St. Mary Church choir and Orthodox, Presbyterian and Armenian clergy.

The deeply moving and emotional service for the repose of souls,
Hokehankist, which this year coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day, or
Yom HaShoah, was also a celebration of life and a reflection of the unity of
purpose and values shared by inter-faith communities in the United States.

The congregation, many of whom traveled hundreds and even thousands of miles
to Washington, heard Cardinal Keeler, Rev. Dr. Edgar and Rabbi Simon speak
of their personal experiences and understanding of the Armenian Genocide.

The more than 250 participants in the Genocide memorial service included
members of the Assembly, the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the
Eastern and Western Diocese of the Armenian Church — the cooperating
partners of the Assembly’s April 18-20 National Conference and Banquet.

In his brief address, Rabbi Simon said it was no coincidence that this
solemn day in the history of the Armenian people this year coincided with
the Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“On July 16, 1915, nine decades ago, the American Ambassador to the Ottoman
Empire sent a telegram to the secretary of State in Washington warning
America that a ‘campaign of race extermination is in progress against
peaceful Armenians.’ In the language of the Torah, ‘Your brother’s blood is
crying …’ Yet the crying has continued through the decades. Sadly it shall
until we learn the correct answer to God’s first question: ‘Where is your
brother Abel?’ and the answer is, we are our ‘brother’s keeper’,” Rabbi
Simon said.

In his homily, Cardinal Keeler said it was not until his visit two years ago
to Armenia and a tour of the Genocide Memorial on the hills overlooking
Yerevan that he fully understood the magnitude of what the Armenians endured
in the early years of the 20th century.

“We now reflect together on one of the most tragic events of the 20th
century, the terrible slaughter of so many Armenians in what is aptly
described as genocide, one of the number of events in Armenian history that
brought so many to martyrdom,” Cardinal Keeler said.

In his own homily, Rev. Dr. Edgar underlined the importance of learning from
the lessons of the Genocide to avoid future injustice and bloodshed.

“It is important for us to remember what happened in 1915 to Armenians, what
happened 10 years ago to Rwandans and what will inevitably happen over and
over again. If we do not speak out against injustice wherever it might be
found, history will repeat itself. We have to always ask: When will we ever
learn?” Rev. Dr. Edgar said.

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide
organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian
issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

NR#2004-049

Heir to Air: Popular newspaper editor takes over MP-owned television company
30 April 2004

By Zhanna Alexanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The editor of a leading oppositional newspaper has taken over leadership of
a Yerevan television company that has tangential government affiliation.
The new director.

Aram Abrahamyan, editor of Aravot (Morning), Armenia’s leading daily, has
been named director of the former Kentron (Center) television company, an
enterprise recently purchased by pro-government National Assembly member and
businessman Murad Guloyan. The newly-named company will air May 10.

The TV company was previously owned (for one year) by another MP, Gurgen
Arsenyan. Recent coverage by the channel of oppositional party
demonstrations was not favorable for the government, leading to speculation
that Arsenyan was later pressured by authorities to sell the company.

The appointment has raised questions of whether the oppositional journalist
and the MP-owned television company will have matching ambitions for how the
station should position itself in Armenia’s media, broadly divided according
to political persuasion.

Media observers are further intrigued that Abrahamyan will be inheriting a
channel that, in its inception two years ago, helped kick A1+ off the
airwaves, stirring a controversy alleging government censorship which
continues these two years later.

(In April 2002, A1+, the republic’s leading oppositional channel, lost its
license in a disputed bidding war in which a presidential-appointed
commission gave the license to Sharm, primarily an entertainment and
advertising company that did not even have a reporting staff at the time.
Guloyan bought the company last week .)

Abrahamyan was in fact a co-founder, with Mesrop Movsisyan, of A1+ in 1991
and until the channel lost its license, was host of its most popular talk
show, “Post Script”.

Abrahamyan says he puts his journalistic reputation behind his new role and
that Aravot television will in fact join efforts to see A1+ resume
broadcast. But he says any speculation that Aravot will become the new A1+
are “absurd”.

“The Aravot TV, which I will be heading will become a rostrum from where we
will always speak about the opening of A1+,” Abrahamyan says. “I will be
participating in all kinds of events (marches, demonstrations) which will be
organized in support of A1+.”

Abrahamyan goes so far, in fact, to say that should the National TV and
Radio Commission hold a contest for the 37 th frequency (currently held by
Aravot, but previously belonging to A1+), “we will not take part in it and
will do everything possible to help A1+ win the contest”.

The new director dismisses notions that either his newspaper or his
television company should be labeled.

“Political figures can be oppositional or pro-governmental but these
categories must not touch us,” he says.

Guloyan, who is in his first term as MP, was elected on the ticket of the
Republican party (though he, himself, is not a member). Not a well-known
figure in Armenia, he is the owner of Milta, a food-production company. He
comes from the same village as Armenian strongman Gagik “Dodi Gago”
Tsarukyan. Some interested parties have speculated that the powerful
millionaire is behind the purchase of the television company, which is
believed to have sold for $500,000.

Recent news programming (prior to Guloyan’s purchase) by Kentron was praised
by Abrahamyan, especially for its coverage of the violent April 13 clash
between State police and oppositional protestors.

Kentron, “was the most independent media among all others,” Abrahamyan says.

But others are claiming that those very reports riled the government and
that Arsenyan was “forced” by high-level government officials to sell his
company because of his company’s broadcast of the clashes between police and
demonstrators.

It is an opinion shared by A1+ director Mesrop Movsesyan.

Movsesyan says that, when A1+ was denied its license, President Robert
Kocharyan promised to create another company like it. Kentron, Movsisyan
says, was to have been that channel.

“The president wanted to do that via Gurgen Arsenyan,” Movsisyan says, “but
when Arsenyan stumbled, he was forced to sell Kentron.”

Unofficial talk in Yerevan is that Kocharyan in fact called a meeting with
Arsenyan following the broadcasts of the April 13 events.

Ashot Kocharyan, spokesman for the President told ArmeniaNow there is no
record of a meeting between the President and Arsenayn. The spokesman had no
comment on rumors to that effect.

ArmeniaNow attempted to get Arsenyan’s version of the claims. He said he is
reserving comment on the matter until after the new company begins its
broadcast. Asked whether Arsenyan had been pressured into selling Kentron,
an assistant for Arsenyan said the MP “does not wish to speak about it now”.

Movsesyan, meanwhile, criticizes his former colleague Abrahamyan for taking
the directorship of a company that effectively put A1+ off the air.

“By making that decision, he (Abrahamyan) demonstrated that he has changed
his team,” Movsisyan said. “Of course, this country always needed an
imitator like Aram in the struggle of freedom of speech, and such person was
found. Aram is a good journalist and he can create an imitation of an
independent channel. I’m only surprised that he agreed to that.”

Abrahamyan, though, refutes accusations that he has switched his political
allegiance by assuming a position seen as connected to the government.

The journalist says he is confident the new owner will not use the
television company as a rostrum for advancing his politics.

“It’s just a business for him to make investments for gaining profits in the
future,” Abrahamyan says. “I’m sure this is the only way for creating
independent media. Media, but not the means for propaganda.”

Abrahamyan, a musicologist by profession, graduated Yerevan State
Conservatory and defended his Ph.D. thesis. He served as press secretary for
the first president after independence, Levon Ter Pertrosyan. He became
editor of Aravot newspaper in 1994.

Before hosting the A1+ talk show, Abrahamyan had been host of various music
programs.

“I always dreamt of working in TV,” he says. “When I first came to TV in
1983 I realized it was my world and I had always been dreaming of working
there.”

His aim at Aravot TV, he says, is to direct a company that serves the public
need for reliable information.

“The strategic goal of the TV company is to become an informational and
public channel like Freedom radio station,” says Abrahamyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Outbreak in Aygabats: Animal deaths, threat to humans continue to plague
village
30 april 2004

By Marianna Grigoryan
ArmeniaNow.com reporter

A case of human anthrax infection is believed to have been found in the
Aygabats village of Shirak region. Last week, ArmeniaNow reported an
outbreak of the disease that had caused the deaths of 40 cattle. Tigran
Sahakyan.

On Tuesday (April 27), villager Harutyun Khachatryan, who had been in
contact with the infected animals, showed symptoms of anthrax infection and
was taken to hospital in Gyumri.

Doctors say Khachatryan is in satisfactory condition, but, in the village
tensions are high, as animals continue to die.

“This week the number of dead animals in the village has reached 48,” says
head of the village Gagik Altunyan. “The village is still in quarantine,
members of the committee pay frequent visits and do tests, but our situation
is still unclear.”

The outbreak started after April 15 when animals began to die following
anti-anthrax vaccinations.

The chief veterinary doctor of the republic Anushavan Aghajanyan visited the
village and expressed a preliminary opinion that the reason of the cattle’s
death was anthrax.

A special committee was formed to determine if the cause of the outbreak was
the vaccine. Tests were sent to Moscow for evaluation.

Minister of Agriculture David Lokyan would not reveal the name of the
company producing the vaccine. He did say, however, that if tests proved the
vaccine was faulty, compensation for the villagers would be demanded of the
company.

“Information that the reason of deaths in Aygabats is our vaccine is
slander,” said director of Biopreparat LLC Tigran Sahakyan.

Sahakyan says that only 15 days ago more than 400 cattle in the Vayk region
were vaccinated with the same vaccine and there have been no ill effects
since.

“The vaccine has been produced during five years by the same scientific
group and during those years we have done 10 million vaccinations of animals
in different regions of the republic,” says Sahakyan. “And there’s never
been such a case. Though it’s true that vaccination time coincided with the
time when animals died, that alone is not enough to accuse out company. If
during five years we provided the vaccine with absolutely no problems, this
already shows for itself.”

Sahakyan says that before the vaccine is administered it is tested by
specialists and that such tests revealed no problems with the medicine
applied in Aygabats.

The vaccine .
“There are no components in the vaccine which can cause anthrax,” he says.
“The product itself can fight against anthrax but it cannot cause that
disease.”

Doctor of veterinary sciences, Meruzhan Zadayan was among scientists
investigating the Aygabats case and says the vaccine is not to blame.

“The anti-anthrax serum is one of the few vaccinations that has strict
rules,” says Zadayan. “It is obvious that these rules have been violated in
the village.”

According to the specialist, the vaccine cannot be used for instance on
animals in the last stages of pregnancy, or during cold or hot weather, or
on exhausted animals. Nor can it be combined with other vaccines. (In
Aygabats at the time of vaccination, nights reached temperatures below
freezing.)

According to Zadayan the anti-anthrax vaccine was used on cows and mixed
with a separate vaccine for another disease.

“I don’t want to rush, but the problem in Aygabats is obviously different,
there are indexes of several diseases,” says Sahakyan. “Not only
non-vaccinated cattle has died but dogs and cats as well. They do not get
infected with anthrax.”

A1 Plus | 18:10:01 | 28-04-2004 | Social |

“GREEN SLAUGHTER” IN YEREVAN

This morning the residents of N 143 building of South-Western block
have held a protest action demanding to preserve the park they have
themselves planted nearby their houses. It has been given to someone
to build a shop there.

The residents are more concerned about the fact that Municipality has
rejected their application on improving and protecting the territory.
People say the park where the Monument for War Fighters is located was
sold at an auction. Trees were already cut for constructing the shop.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Council of Europe hearings on Armenia of benefit to Turks, Azeris – premier

Arminfo
28 Apr 04

YEREVAN

The discussions on the internal political situation in Armenia during
the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe [PACE] totally meet the interests of Turkey and Azerbaijan,
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan said at the Armenian
National Assembly today.

According to Markaryan, this is proved by the fact that the Turkish
and Azerbaijani parliamentary delegations have voted for the inclusion
of this issue in the agenda of the PACE spring session. Rumours are
being disseminated in Strasbourg now that several opposition MPs have
been deprived of their immunity in Armenia, he said.

Markaryan believes that all this is being done to discredit Armenia in
the international arena and worsen the internal political situation in
the republic. “What is going on in Armenia and Strasbourg at the
moment is of benefit to Azerbaijan and Turkey,” he added.

At the same time, Markaryan expressed his confidence that the Armenian
delegation will not lose its mandate in PACE. Armenian Defence
Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has expressed the same opinion.

KDKA-TV

Europe’s new outsiders between bitterness and hope as EU enlarges

Friday April 30, 2004
By DAVID McHUGH
Associated Press Writer

While new European Union members celebrated Friday, their left-out neighbors
stood outside the rope and watched the party, wondering when or if they will
join Europe’s exclusive club of the stable and prosperous.

An entire swathe of countries, from Belarus and Russia in the north to
Albania in southern Europe, are seeing their relative poverty and outsider
status reinforced with the eastward push of the union’s borders at the
stroke of midnight.

Some, like Croatia and Romania, have a chance to get in over the next
several years. Others, burdened by shriveled economies and international
concern about human rights, can only dream of meeting the tough requirements
for economic reform and democracy.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, leader of one of the biggest outsider
nations, testily accused the EU of erecting a new wall to replace the ones
torn down at the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“We regard it as historically unjust that we are outside this system,” he
told a Warsaw conference this week. “We are not asking for charity, we are
simply announcing to Europe that there is such a country as Ukraine.”

Kuchma’s emotional reproach was greeted with a bland thank you from EU
enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen, sitting on stage a few feet away
at the privately organized European Economic Summit.

He left no doubt, however, where Kuchma stands.

“For the time being, accession of the Eastern European countries Russia,
Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine is not on our agenda,” Verheugen told reporters.
“It makes no sense to make promises which are not realistic.”

The newcomers are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta, and Cyprus. And there’s a clear pecking
order for outsiders.

The former Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Macedonia and former Soviet
satellites Romania and Bulgaria have applied for EU membership and could
start getting in as early as 2007.

Turkey, eager to become the EU’s first Muslim-majority member, saw a setback
Thursday when French President Jacques Chirac said Ankara likely will not
meet the bloc’s conditions for another 10-15 years.

In the Balkans, Serbia and Montenegro and even impoverished Albania have a
theoretical chance to get in years down the road.

Others have no real chance for now. Russia has dismissed the prospect of
getting in, and its view of Caucasus nations such as Georgia and Armenia as
belonging in its sphere of influence may place a long-term lid on any faint
hopes there.

Then, there’s isolated, authoritarian Belarus, which refused permission for
an EU enlargement ceremony in the capital Minsk and canceled a visit to the
Warsaw economic summit by Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has struggled economically since becoming independent
with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. European officials have
expressed concern about the pace of democratic progress, most recently
criticizing local elections won by a pro-presidential party this month amid
accusations of widespread vote fraud.

Killings of independent journalists have alarmed human rights observers, and
corruption, bureaucracy and a weak legal system weigh on Ukraine’s economy.

Still, Ukraine and Belarus may be able to get more aid and sympathy at the
urging of Poland, which shares a border with both.

Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski was the only figure to publicly
console Kuchma, promising to try to “change views of Ukraine” and vowing
that “the message from Warsaw is: The door remains open.”

Other distant outsiders at the economic summit, such as Georgia’s new
President Mikhail Saakashvili, choose to look on the bright side.

“We are working on it every day,” said Saakashvili, whose country
struggles to keep the electricity on in its cities and has lost control of
the Black Sea province of Abkhazia to separatist rebels.

“We are going to go for it, whatever it takes I think we can make it, so
you should welcome us and wait for us.”

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russia’s economic diplomacy
Vladimir Radyuhin
5/1/2004

RUSSIA’S UAZ Automotive Factory has set up a joint venture
with an Indian company to assemble famous Ural off-road trucks and
buses in West Bengal; two Russian power firms tied up with India’s
Soma to build a hydropower station in Arunachal Pradesh; Silovye
Mashiny corporation signed a contract to supply Russian electric
turbines to NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation).

These are but a few recent examples of growing interest Russian
business takes in Indian and other foreign markets.

Encouraged by Russia’s re-emergence as a global political player and
boosted by five straight years of economic growth after a decade of
decline, captains of Russian business have entered the path of
international expansion.

The Norilsk Nickel giant last month laid out $1.16 billion to buy a 20
per cent stake in South African gold miner, Gold Fields, which has 4.3
million ounces of annual gold production and 84 million ounces of
mineral reserves. A month earlier, Tatarstan’s Tatneft oil major
snapped up Turkey’s Tupras, which controls 87 per cent of the
country’s refining capacity, for $1.3 billion.

More investment projects are in the pipeline. Russia’s natural gas
monopoly, Gazprom, has teamed up with GAIL India Ltd. to develop
offshore gas fields in the Bengal basin, the Russian premium telecom
corporation, Sistema-Telecom, is ready to sink $1 billion in Indian
mobile telephone industry, while the aluminium giant, RusAl, is
waiting to pounce on the National Aluminium Company (NALCO) when its
disinvestment plan is reactivated.

The President, Vladimir Putin, told the nation that Russia was still
facing a win-or-die battle it had fought in the Cold War, even if the
rules of the game had changed.

“There is a tough, competitive battle going on in the world,”
Mr. Putin told the country in his annual teleconference in
December. “As different from the past, this battle has moved from the
realm of military conflict to economic competition.” Accordingly,
Mr. Putin has recast Russia’s foreign policy priorities, charging the
Foreign Ministry with the overriding task of helping Russian business
abroad. The move has won the praise of Russian businessmen.

“I think there is a gradual revolution taking place in foreign
economic relations,” said Mr. Kakha Bendukidze, co-owner of Silovye
Mashiny, which won the electric turbine tender in India earlier this
year. “There is a growing recognition in the Foreign Ministry and in
the Economic Development and Trade Ministry that they need to support
Russian businesses abroad, including attempts to make investments
outside Russia.”

For the first time in more than a decade the Russian Government has
set aside a modest $500 million in state guarantees in this year’s
budget to support exports. In a more significant move, a new law will
come into force this summer that simplifies rules for transferring
cash out of the country for investment purposes.

The first stage in Mr. Putin’s global expansion plan is to win back
the former Soviet states. As the U.S.-led NATO moves troops to
Russia’s borders, Moscow is pushing to reassert its domination in
neighbouring markets. It wields the most powerful weapon at its
disposal, energy, being either the sole supplier of oil and gas to
ex-Soviet republics or providing the only route for their energy
exports to outside markets.

The state-controlled electricity monopoly, United Energy Systems
(UES), has brought under control four-fifths of Armenia’s
hydroelectric power capacities and bought up most of Georgia’s energy
facilities. The UES has acquired stakes in electricity assets in
Kazakhstan, is about to buy major stakes in 10 of the 27 Ukrainian
energy companies, and plans to participate in the disinvestment of
power assets in Moldova. In Kyrgyzstan, UES has set up a joint venture
with two local companies to build a cascade of two hydropower stations
on the Naryn River in the mountains that will meet the electricity
needs of Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian states.

“We have very aggressive plans that cover most countries of the CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent States),” the UES chief , Anatoly
Chubais, said in a recent interview.

Russia’s Gazprom controls practically all natural gas flows to and
from former Soviet republics. Even energy-rich Azerbaijan imports from
Russia over half of its gas needs to the tune of 4.5 billion cubic
metres. Earlier this month, Gazprom signed a deal with Uzbekistan to
develop a major gas field in that Central Asian republic that could
entail an investment of $1.4 billion in Uzbekistan’s energy sector. In
January, Russia’s oil major, Lukoil, signed an accord for the
investment of $3 billion into joint development of Kazakhstan’s oil
and gas fields in northern Caspian.

Russia’s aggressive economic expansion is reflected in growing mutual
trade with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which unites
12 out of 15 former Soviet states. Russian trade with CIS registered a
30 per cent hike last year, increasing at a higher pace than with
other countries. This helps Russia resist Western attempts to weaken
its positions in the former Soviet Union.

Earlier this month, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Russia said his country
planned to increase oil exports to and across Russia from the current
20 million tons a year to 250 million tons by 2020. In other words,
Kazakhstan will pump all its oil exports through Russian pipes, making
the U.S.-pushed $3.6-billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline a
profit-losing project, as Azerbaijan admittedly does not have nearly
enough oil to fill the pipe.

Russia’s Minister for Industry and Energy, Viktor Khristenko,
described the Russia-driven integration of energy systems in the
former Soviet states as “an instrument of solving political issues in
the CIS.”

Ukraine’s political elites may have declared a strategic choice in
favour of Europe, but the country’s economic interests push it towards
Russia. According to some information, Russian investors control about
80 per cent of Ukraine’s oil refineries, practically all non-ferrous
industry, a quarter of privatised electricity companies, half of cell
phone operators and 30 per cent of dairies. By the time Ukraine is
ready to join NATO and the European Union, most of its industry will
belong to Russian business.

Russian expansion into neighbouring economies has been a major factor
behind Moscow’s successful efforts to push reintegration plans in the
former Soviet Union. Even Ukraine, which had long rejected these
plans, signed last September a common market pact with Russia,
Kazakhstan and Belarus which envisions a customs union, free movement
of goods, capital and labour, and unification of tax, monetary and
foreign trade policies.

Winning commanding heights in former Soviet economies gives Russia a
stepping-stone to expansion beyond the former Soviet borders.

“We are not going to confine our expansion to the CIS,” Mr. Chubais
said last week. Having restored unified electricity grids with the
former Soviet republics, the company now plans to buy assets and
export electricity to a total of 12 countries from Norway in the north
to Slovakia in the west, Iran in the south, and China in the east.

Energy is the driving motor of Russian expansion. LUKoil, Russia’s
second biggest oil producer, won the rights in January to develop a
potentially huge gas field in Saudi Arabia in a tie-up with Saudi
Aramco. The deal strengthened newly emerging links between the world’s
two biggest oil producers that could give Russia greater leverage in
global energy markets. Gazprom, which is the major supplier of natural
gas to Europe, is in talks with Ukraine, Germany, France and Italy to
set up a gas transportation consortium that will help consolidate
Europe’s dependence on Russian energy. The energy tool has helped
Russia win important trade concessions from the E.U. ahead of its
expansion into Eastern Europe next week.

As one analyst put it, “In the old days of the former Soviet Union,
Russia’s political clout was measured by the 14,000 nuclear missiles
it had pointing west; now it’s measured by the pipelines it has
pointing west.”

Russian business has even made first inroads in the
U.S. market. LUKoil has bought 2,100 gas filling stations in the East
Coast and plans to bring up the number to 3,000 stations, while the
steel giant, Severstal, has purchased the Michigan-based Rouge
Industries for $286 million.

A World Bank report released earlier this month concluded that
Russia’s 23 largest business groups control more than a third of its
industry. This is an upshot of Boris Yeltsin’s corruption-ridden
privatisation deals of the 1990s.

However, rather than reverse privatisation or break up monopoly
groups, Mr.

Putin has instead used them as locomotives of Russia’s expansion to
global markets under government control. Oversees acquisitions may
eventually transform Gazprom, LUKoil, Norilsk Nickel and other Russian
industry tycoons into multinational corporations. This fits into
Mr. Putin’s strategy of building up Russia’s economic clout globally
and in the former Soviet Union, and convert it to political clout.

………………
The Hindu

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Source: BBC
Wednesday, 21 April, 2004, 15:34 GMT 16:34 UK

Country profile: Armenia

A landlocked republic with Turkey to the west and Georgia to the north,
Armenia has seen great changes since the break-up of the Soviet Union in
1991.
Once dubbed the Soviet ‘silicon valley’, Armenia’s economy collapsed when
its old markets disappeared.

OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

It has since recovered significantly, but job creation and poverty reduction
have not kept pace with growth. Armenia also suffers from a trade blockade,
imposed by neighbouring Turkey and Azerbaijan since the dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict over the predominantly Armenian-populated region in Azerbaijan
overshadowed Armenia’s return to independence in 1991. Full-scale war broke
out the same year as ethnic Armenians in Karabakh fought for independence,
supported by troops and resources from Armenia proper. A ceasefire in place
since 1994 has failed to deliver any lasting solution.

Armenia has always experienced waves of emigration, but the present exodus
is causing much alarm. It is estimated that Armenia has lost 20% of its
population in recent years, as young families leave for what they hope will
be a better life abroad. The negative consequences for the economy have been
widespread.

Around 50% of Armenians live below the poverty line. Corruption and
political killings add to the sense of a society under threat.

Gunmen who stormed the Yerevan parliament in 1999, killing the prime
minister and other politicians, said the plight of the Armenian people was
the reason for the bloodshed. Analysts believe that there were more complex
political factors involved as well.

The government is trying to promote tourism and technology parks. But
foreign investors are reported to be extremely wary.

FACTS

OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

Population: 3.1 million (UN, 2003)
Capital: Yerevan
Major languages: Armenian, Russian
Major religion: Christianity
Life expectancy: 69 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 dram = 100 lumas
Main exports: Processed and unprocessed diamonds, machinery, metal products,
foodstuffs
GNI per capita: US $790 (World Bank, 2002)
Internet domain: .am
International dialling code: +374

LEADERS

OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

President: Robert Kocharyan

President Kocharyan
President Kocharyan is a former president of the self-proclaimed
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. He became Armenian prime minister in 1997 and was
elected president the following year on a platform of ensuring the existence
of Karabakh and boosting the Armenian economy.

Mr Kocharyan’s reelection as president in 2003 was followed by widespread
allegations of ballot-rigging.

He went on to propose controversial constitutional amendments on the role of
parliament. These were rejected in a referendum the following May at the
same time as parliamentary elections which left Mr Kocharyan’s party in a
very powerful position in parliament.

There were mounting calls for Mr Kocharyan’s resignation in early 2004 with
thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in support of demands for a
referendum of confidence in him.

A Communist Party official in Soviet times, Mr Kocharyan is no longer a
member of any political party.

The Armenian president has said he wants to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh
question and has held meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart. But while
he acknowledges the importance to peace of compromise on both sides, he
insists that the people of Nagorno-Karabakh must be guaranteed the right to
exist within safe borders and that a link with Armenia must be maintained.

Mr Kocharyan was born in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1954 and trained as an
electrical engineer in Yerevan.

Prime minister: Andranik Markaryan
Foreign minister: Vardan Oskanyan
Defence minister: Serzh Sarkisyan

MEDIA

OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

Armenia’s government oversees national TV and radio. The national public TV
service can also be seen in many districts of neighbouring Azerbaijan. The
main Russian TV channels are widely available.

Libel and defamation are punishable by prison terms and journalists have
been sentenced under these laws. All print and broadcast media must register
with the Justice Ministry.

In 2003 the US-based NGO Freedom House downgraded its assessment of the
media climate in Armenia from “partly free” to “not free”, citing the use of
security and libel laws to silence criticism and the closure of a private TV
station in 2002.

The press

Aravot – private
Ayots Ashkar – private
Ayastani Anrapetutyun – founded by Armenian parliament
Aykakan Zhanamak – founded by opposition Democratic Homeland Party
Azg – founded by Liberal Democratic Party
Golos Armenii – private
Iravunk – founded by Union of Constitutional Law party
Respublika Armenia – founded by Armenian Presidential Executive Staff,
parliament and government
Yerkir – founded by Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun
Television

Public TV of Armenia – national, state-run
Armenia TV – national, commercial
Prometheus TV – national, commercial
Radio

Public Radio of Armenia – national, state-run
Hai FM – first private radio station

Hit FM – private, Yerevan FM station
Radio Alfa – private, Yerevan FM station
Radio Van – private, Yerevan FM station
News agencies

Arka – private
Armenpress – state-run
Noyan Tapan – private
Mediamax – private
Arminfo – private

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian bishop dies of cancer

AP Online
May 01, 2004

Archbishop Zareh Aznavorian of the Armenian Orthodox Church has died
of lung cancer, a church statement said Saturday. He was 57.

Aznavorian, chairman of the religious council and director of the
Christian Education Department of the Armenian Orthodox Church of
Cilicia, died Friday at the church’s seat in Antelias, north of the
Lebanese capital, Beirut, the statement said.

The bishop, whose condition deteriorated in the past few days, had
received treatment in New York before returning to Beirut last month.

Born in Beirut in 1947, Aznavorian studied priesthood in the Antelias’
seminary and later in the Rome Theological University.

In the early 1980s, he was the Armenian Orthodox Vicar of Cyprus based
in Nicosia.

In the past few years, Aznavorian had been engaged in translating the
Old and New Testament from archaic Greek and Hebrew originals into
modern Armenian.

He will be burned in Antelias on Monday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia
to the United Nations
119E 36th street, New York, NY 10016
Tel.: 1-212-686-9079
Fax: 1-212-686-3934
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

May 1, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Armenia’s Minister for Nature Protection participated at the 12th
session of the Commission on Sustainable Development

>From April 28-30, 2004, the delegation of the Republic of Armenia, headed
by H.E. Vardan Ayvazyan, Minister for Nature Protection, participated at the
High-Level Segment of the 12th session of the Commission on Sustainable
Development, held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The
High-Level discussion focused on the issue of sanitation and human
settlements.
During the session Minister Ayvazyan made statements on water and
sanitation, which are considered to be core elements for sustainable
development. In his remarks he noted that the United Nations and its
agencies and funds, as well as international financial institutions could
play an important role in the implementation of national programs aimed at
addressing water and sanitation challenges in the country. He urged to focus
on rehabilitating dated sanitation systems and providing for new
environmentally and ecologically sound technologies.
Speaking about water issues, the Minister noted that Armenia suffered some
serious water problems, including water quality. Much of the water came
from underground, and was of a good quality. By passing through obsolete
water supply systems it loses its quality. Moreover, 50% of the water
entering the system gets lost due to leakage. In 2002, the country had
adopted a Water Code, with a focus on basin management, the first to be
developed and implemented in the South Caucasus. It had helped to introduce
integrated water resource management in the country.

Full texts of Minister Ayvazyan’s statements:

Statement by H.E. Vardan Ayvazyan
Minister of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia
at the High-Level Segment of the 12th session of the
Commission on Sustainable Development
April 30, 2004
(Statements and interactive discussion focusing on “Water”)

Dear Chairman,
Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

For the Republic of Armenia, a mountainous country situated in an arid
region of the South Caucasus, the problems of the protection of water
resources, water quality, and access of the population to clean and safe
water are actual problems not only from ecological, but also from economic
and social perspectives.

In this regard it is worth mentioning here that the sustainable management
of the water resources remains one of the most important issues in Armenia.
The absence of an integrated approach to the management and use of water
resources in the period of economic crisis of the 1990s led to such negative
consequences as decline in the access to water supply, deterioration of the
water quality and gradual degradation of the corresponding infrastructure..

It should be mentioned that more than 90% of the drinking water used in the
country is formed out of the underground water sources. This water is of
quite a high quality, but as it passes through water supply systems, which
are very dated and do not correspond to sanitary requirements, the quality
of the water significantly deteriorates. Moreover, 50% of the water entering
the system gets lost due to leakage.

In the water policy of our country great attention is paid to the question
of financial assistance from international financial institutions for the
implementation of national water programs. In this connection I would like
to emphasize the activities of the UN Agencies, the World Bank, and other
financial institutions, as well as the donor countries aimed at assisting in
the implementation of environmental programmes, particularly in the field of
water resource protection, such as the restoration of the ecological balance
of the lake Sevan, which is one of the unique natural water reservoirs on
the planet. According to expert estimates, this freshwater mountain lake,
situated 2000 meters above the sea level, is the only perspective source for
drinking water in the South Caucasus. Starting from the 1930s, the water
resources of the lake were used for agricultural and energy purposes, which
resulted in the drastic decrease of the water level for about 19,5 meters.
Activities undertaken by the Government of Armenia during the last few years
led to the increase of the water level for about 1 meter.

In 2002 the new Water Code of Armenia was adopted. One of the main ideas of
the Water Code is the creation of basin management system that will
contribute to the sustainable use and integrated water resource management.
I would like to mention that Armenia is the first country in the South
Caucasus to introduce the basin management system. In the same year the
National Council on Water, headed by the Prime-Minster, became operational.
Since then more than 100 normative and regulatory acts have been elaborated
and adopted. The establishment of basin management bodies continues. The
articles of the Water Code are being vigorously implemented. Financial
assistance from our international partners in this phase could greatly
contribute to the sustainable water resource management.

One of the priorities of the Armenian Government is the elaboration of the
National Water Policy and the National Water Programme. In the National
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper special attention is paid to the
advancement of the irrigation system, which aims to increase the
effectiveness of the agricultural activities and mitigate the
desertification processes.

The improvement of the financial mechanisms in the water sphere would aim at
achieving a speedy resolution to the water problems in Armenia in the
context of country’s sustainable development. Armenia’s joining the
strategic partnership on water in Johannesburg was in compliance with that
approach. I consider the EU’s Water Initiative and its component for the
Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and the Central Asia, in particular, a
good basis for the development of real mechanisms of cooperation aimed at
the realization of both the decisions of World Summit on Sustainable
Development and the regional and national action plans. This would be our
contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the
field of water resources.

In conclusion I would like to state that the Government of the Republic of
Armenia recognizes that the effective and comprehensive management of the
water resources could provide for the sustainable and environmentally
justified economic development of the country.

Statement by H.E. Vardan Ayvazyan
Minister of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia
at the High-Level Segment of the 12th session of the
Commission on Sustainable Development
April 30, 2004
(Statements and interactive discussion focusing on “Sanitation”)

Dear Chairman,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As it was stated in Johannesburg, ensuring availability of safe water and
adequate sanitary conditions is a core element for sustainable development.
Creation of a healthy environment and prevention of adverse impact of
unfavorable environmental factors on the health of the population are
several of the main goals that were duly reflected in the national
programmes and action plans adopted by the Government of Armenia in the
recent years. Water-resource management, water supply and sanitation are
considered to be determining factors. The implementation of these programmes
implies intersectoral cooperation and integrated planning. Support from
international organizations, and that of the UN agencies in particular, can
be very instrumental and play a positive role in implementing these
programmes.
It should be noted here that the economic mechanisms regulating the
reduction of water pollution are not yet sufficient in Armenia. We are
actively working towards the creation of appropriate legal and institutional
systems, which could provide for the allocation of financial resources to
the end of solving the acute problems in the water sector.
The 1990s were marked by economic crisis and decline of the industrial
production by over 70% in Armenia, whereupon the untreated or poorly treated
municipal and agricultural wastewater became the main source for the water
pollution.
In most of the human settlements, the wastewater drains into water objects
either bypassing the treatment plants or, if they go through treatment
plants, gets an inadequate treatment. The problem is exacerbated by the mere
fact that none of the existing 20 wastewater treatment plants in Armenia
function in full capacity. Wastewater undergoes a partial mechanical
treatment only.
All treatment plants were put into operation before 1990 and the
technologies applied there do not correspond to the actual demands. In
addition, these technologies were developed taking into account the low-cost
of the energy consumption at the time, and their utilization presently is
associated with colossal expenses.
It is also worth mentioning that with the projected economic growth and
recommencement of industrial activities the water quality can deteriorate
because of the absence of necessary infrastructure for wastewater treatment.
In this respect, I would like to draw your attention to a point which was
rightfully brought up in paragraph 46 of the Document on Sanitation
(E/CN.17?2004/5), stating that there is a necessity for shifting the
evaluation of sanitation system from the monitoring of the existence or
absence of appropriate infrastructure to the efficiency of its functioning.
As far as Armenia is concerned, the problem is not the absence of such
infrastructure, but rather its poor functioning and deterioration.
Accordingly, for countries like Armenia, the rehabilitation and
modernization of the wastewater treatment plants through the utilization of
modern technologies, as well as the construction of new ones are a priority
as far as the provision of safe water and quality of surface and ground
water is concerned. The latter is an integral part of our national policy in
the field of water resources. To solve these problems under current
conditions great financial resources are needed, and the Armenian Government
is creating stimulating economic mechanisms today to attract these
resources.
The problems existing in Armenia related to the condition of water resources
and sanitation can be solved gradually parallel to the economic development
of the country, the possible increase of the state budget capacities, the
creation and implementation of new mechanisms for a target-oriented
financing and with adequate environmental administration, as well as
significant financial assistance for the national programmes by
international financial institutions.

END

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress