Author: Frangulian Shushan

CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA LOWERS LUSAKERT POULTRY’S RATING

ARKA
July 27, 2009

YEREVAN, July 27. / ARKA /. The Central Bank of Armenia has lowered
the rating of the Lusakert Hennery Ltd., by awarding it the "G" rating
(the third letter of the Armenian alphabet).

The Public Relations Department of the Central Bank reported that
the previous rating of a "B minus" (the second letter of the Armenian
alphabet), was granted on March 25, 2008.

The Central Bank of Armenia published a rating of Armenian enterprises
in September 2005 for the first time. In 2005, the Central Bank
monitored 30 companies, of which only 15 received a high rating
class. In accordance with the principles of assigned ratings, the
bank publishes only the names of those companies, which have been
given high ratings. The Central Bank will publish the companies with
low rating only if it has the company’s permission to do so.

The Central Bank is ready to accept the bonds of the companies
that received the highest rating (A, B, G), as a deposit for REPO
transactions with banks.

For these companies the Central Bank also provided a reduced scale of
assessment of credit risks in lending by banks. The published rating
of the Central Bank covered 39 companies.

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF VLADIKAVKAZ LAUNCHES OFFICIAL INTERNET PUBLICATION

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
27.07.2009 20:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian community of Vladikavkaz launched the
official web-site of the Erebuni newspaper of the Armenian National
Cultural Society. The home page () tells that its
creation is conditioned by the large number of Armenians living in
North Ossetia: more than 23000 people.

"We certainly need a publication, telling about the culture of Armenia
– one of the oldest on earth, the national traditions and rituals
(sometimes forgotten), highlighting the lives of its countrymen,
the problems and joys those people who praises and proudly bears the
title of the Armenians in the Ossetia land," the welcoming speech on
the home page says.

LEVON ARONIAN, VLADIMIR HAKOBIAN AND GABRIEL SARGSIAN TO TAKE PART IN THE MAINZ CHESS FESTIVAL

ARMENPRESS
July 27, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 27, ARMENPRESS: Within the frameworks of the
international chess festival held in August in the German Mainz
town the Armenian Grand master Levon Aronian will take part in the
"960 Chess" world Chess Tournament together with Sergey Movsisian,
Viorel Bologan and other grand masters. With grand master Vishvanatan
Anand, Arkadi Naydich and other German grand masters L. Aronian will
also take part in the fast chess world cup.

An official from the Armenian Chess Federation told Armenpress that
the Armenian grand masters Vladimir Hakobian and Gabriel Sargsian
within the frameworks of the same festival will take part in the
Ordix tournament together with Etien Bacro, Alexander Grishchuk and
other grand masters.

ARMENIA’S AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EU COUNCIL

armradio.am
28.07.2009 12:28

The Head of the Armenian Representation at the European Union,
Ambassador Avet Adonts presented his credentials to Frank Belfrage,
the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, which presides
over the European Union.

Congratulating Ambassador Adonts on appointment, the President of the
EU Council expressed appreciation for the trends of deepening of the
Armenia-EU relations. The interlocutors referred to the opportunities
of cooperation under the Eastern Partnership Program, emphasizing
the importance of cooperation in a multifaceted format.

Ambassador Adonts presented the latest developments in the negotiations
on the Karabakh conflict settlement and the current state of the
Armenian-Turkish relations.

The Swedish Foreign Minister reconfirmed EU’s support for the peace
process mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

ARMENIANS’ RICH CULTURE TO BE THEIR FIRST PRIDE, FOREIGN GUEST SAYS

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
YEREVAN
JULY 27, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. American Armenian
Bruce Bogosian who is in Yerevan these days, visits Armenia for
the second time, and this visit proved his positive expectations
from Armenia.

"Before coming here, I gathered enough information about Armenia from
my friends, books, internet sites. The expectations were more than
justified, and my opinion formed about Armenia that it was a modern
European country was proved," American Armenian Bruce Bogosian said in
the interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent. "Everything is wonderful,
except the traffic in Yerevan. It is merely terrible: one do not
orient when he can pass his way," he said with indignation. At the
same time, in B. Bogosian’s words, Yerevan evenings are wonderful:
"One may always enjoy a cup of beer with your friends and also enjoy
the calmness of evening Yerevan "

B. Bogosian was present at the Golden Apricot film festival which
he greatly enjoyed though he has had no possibility to watch all the
films prefered by him.

Dutch Jeremy Bernascondi arrived in Armenia within the framework of
Golden Apricot also liked Armenia and Armenians, but, however, he
would not agree to dwell here, if only for the reason, that living
in Armenia, he would have to refuse cycling. "The traffic here
is terrible. It has a very negative influence on us, new comers,"
the Dutch guest said, adding: "Instead, one will never be bored:
I especially liked the evenings in Yerevan, when the life seems to
newly start."

"Before coming to Armenia I knew about your country what every
foreigner knows: the genocide is spoken about. I got to know here about
the Nagorno Karabakh problem as well and understood why my Armenian
friends feel hurt when I compare Armenians and Azeris and say that they
are like each other in some senses," Bernaskondi said. And another
observation: in Dutch Bernaskondi’s words, "it is clear that it is
a honour for Armenians to have a compatriot like Charles Aznavour
but I do not think, either, that there is need to mention his name
so often. There are also many talks about Ararat.

While Armenia has a rich history and that is what one must be
proud of."

126 CONGRESSMEN SIGNED RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

AZG Armenian Daily
25/07/2009

Armenian Genocide

126 congressmen have already signed the resolution 252 of the
U.S. Congress on Armenian Genocide, Arpi Vardanian, the director of
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh offices of Armenian Assembly of America
told the reporters at news conference. But still efforts are made to
double the number of pro-s to the resolution, she said.

Note that the resolution calls on the U.S. President to guarantee
USA foreign policy comprehension and understanding of human rights,
ethnical filtration and Armenian Genocide justified by U.S. documents.

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA ORGANIZES VISIT OF DIASPORAN ARMENIAN REGULAR STUDENT GROUP TO ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. In 1988 the Armenian
Assembly of America, which is one of the biggest NGOs of American
Armenians, came up with an initiative of sending American Armenian
students to Armenia.

The first students came to Armenia by that project called Summer
Student Program in 1989. From 8 to 10 students usually come to Armenia
every year.

AAA assumes part of program’s financing and the other expenses are
covered by students. Students spend 2 months in Armenia and can live
with their relatives or stay at any Armenian family chosen by AAA or
can rent an apartment.

A group consisting of 8 students also came in 2009. "Students come not
for changing Armenia but for Armenia to change them," Arpi Vardanian,
the Director of AAA Armenian and NKR Offices, said. In her time she
was among the persons preparing this program.

Students – members of the group work 5 days a week and over the
weekends see Armenia’s sights, organize meetings with officials,
celebrities. According to Mrs Vardanian implementing the program,
they try to choose as interesting job for students as possible: they
often work at two places and spend their leisure as they like. Besides
office work, students as volunteers assist NGOs functioning in Armenian
villages. As most of the students do not know Armenian or speak Western
Armenian, they also attend Armenian language courses. Mrs Vardanian
said while presenting the goals of implementing the program: "Students
come to Armenia to be able to get acquainted with themselves better,
to know who they are as persons, to imagine and understand what is
Armenia, what challenges this country faces, how the Armenians live,
what problems they have. I do not want them to continue living by
only hearing others’ opinion of Armenia. Besides, coming to Armenia
they change, grow mature, become more independent. That work is very
important for them to understand that Armenia has grown very much but
in many things differs and even lags behind other countries: there can
be a problem of lack of equipment necessary for work, a problem with
computers or the electricity can be cut off. Students come here and
begin to understand how difficult it is to work under the conditions
and to succeed. Therefore any little success should be encouraged,"
Arpi Vardanian said.

Sofi Mnjoyan is among the participants of this year’s
summer program. She learnt of this program from last year’s
participants. "Formerly I came to Armenia as a tourist for a week
or two but I wanted to somehow improve country’s condition, to
work here, to find out whether I can get accustomed to life here,
to see not "tourist" but real life." Sofi plans to return to Armenia
after finishing her studies, in 4-5 years and to work here. She is
a pharmacist by speciality. She works here at AAA Yerevan Office and
drugstore, both voluntarily. As Sofi was born and for some time lived
in Armenia, she was more or less acquainted with the country. And
what about the others? Sofi says that the other members of the group
"were not disappointed very much." And adds: "They expected less from
Armenia, they expected to see that there is no water, no electricity:
they found Armenia in a better condition than had expected. Yerevan is
rather europeanized, especially the center. They were only disappointed
with the relations between a woman and a man. We speak much that women
and men are not in an equal condition in Armenia, no woman sits on the
front seat of a mircobus or taxi, coffee should be made by a woman
without fail, washing up the plates is also only woman’s business:
they are not used to such things in the U.S.

We also did not like the fact of deceiving us in shops or on the
market: from the manner of speaking or clothes they understand that
we are foreigners and try to sell to us for 3000 drams foodstuffs
costing 300 drams. As to the rest things, we are content with them,"
Sofi Mnjoyan said.

Students try to see Armenia with new eyes. They like the fact that
there are many department stores and in this respect Armenia is like
America and European countries. They like it that education quality is
higher here: even people having no higher education have idea about
everything: "People in America are not interested in such things:
few know where is Armenia, there are even people who don’t know the
place of such big states as India," Sofi says.

Commenting upon some American Armenians’ opinion that Armenia is not
a place to live she said that in some issues, certainly, it does not
correspond to American standards, but not all American Armenians are
of this opinion. Sofi herself knows many American Armenians, who have
left their comfortable life in America and have moved here. However,
in this case she attaches importance to other problems: "When we met
the Deputy Mayor, we asked him whether Armenia is ready to receive
Diasporan Armenians. It is known that there are many people here who
graduate from a university but fail to find a job. He answered that
now Armenia is really not ready for Diasporan Armenians’ return: it
will take 5 or 6 years for the situation in Armenia to be improved,
to be more or less brought closer to American or European standards. It
is also important whether a person can get accustomed to the conditions
here when you even do not know if the law will protect you or not."

"If people are ready to accept Armenia the way it is without trying
to artificially find a similarity between it and U.S. or European
countries, they can come here," Arpi Vardanian expressed her opinion
over this subject at the end.

SERZH SARGSYAN VISITS ARMENIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS CJSC

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 24, RA President Serzh Sargsyan
visited the Armenia International Airports CJSC to get acquainted
with the construction work being done in airport’s public zone.

The construction of the complex was launched in 2008. The complex
will put into operation in 2011, after which Zvartnots International
Airport will be able to serve 3 million passengers a year.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA President’s Press Office,
S. Sargsyan also walked about the already operating departure and
arrival halls, got acquainted with the new technical systems and
organization of the process of passengers’ service.

TURKISH ‘DEEP STATE’ SUSPECTED OF SILENCING WITNESSES
Damaris Kremida

Crosswalk.com
ws/religiontoday/11606436/
July 23 2009

MALATYA, Turkey (Compass Direct News) – Under the pretext of recovering
from medical treatment he received earlier this month, a key suspect
in the murders of three Christians in southeast Turkey dodged court
for the second time, further stalling the legal process, prosecuting
attorneys said.

Journalist Varol Bulent Aral, one of the suspected "middlemen" who
allegedly incited five young men to brutally murder Turkish Christians
Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske at
the Zirve Publishing Co. in Malatya two years ago, again failed to
show at a hearing on Friday (July 17).

The three Christians were bound and tortured before they were
murdered on April 18, 2007 at the Christian publishing house, where
they worked. Suspects Salih Guler, Cuma Ozdemir, Hamit Ceker, Abuzer
Yildirim and alleged ring-leader Emre Gunaydin were caught trying to
escape from the scene of the crime.

Aral was admitted for mental health treatment a few days after the
last hearing in June and was released from the Adiyaman penitentiary
hospital on July 8. The gendarmerie, however, failed to produce him
in court on Friday (July 17) claiming that he was recovering from
treatment.

Prosecuting attorneys pointed out that the reason the gendarmerie did
not bring him to the June hearing from the penitentiary in Adana,
nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Malatya, was due to lack of
funds – yet the gendarmerie seemed to have no trouble finding funds
to take him for treatment in Adiyaman, which is the same distance
from Adana as is Malatya.

"Last time [in June] they said they couldn’t bring him because of
insufficient funds," said prosecuting lawyer Erdal Dogan. "This is
unacceptable… now in the same way they make excuses, saying they
took him to the hospital. It seems they are mocking us, especially
since previous health reports said that he was in good health."

Prosecuting attorneys also pointed out that it was suspicious that
Aral was admitted to the hospital only days after a court order that
he appear at the July 17 hearing.

"It seems to us that they are trying to silence him by making him
evade court," said prosecuting attorney Dogan of the "deep state"
officials that he and his colleagues believe masterminded the murders
of the three Christians. "I truly hope that is not the case."

Charged with high-security cases, the gendarmerie are holding Aral,
but some believe the gendarmerie and its intelligence services are
connected with Turkey’s "deep state."

In the last year, nearly 150 people have been arrested in Turkey
under suspicion of being connected to a cabal of retired generals
and politicians called Ergenekon, accused of trying to overthrow
Turkey’s Islamic-leaning but secular government. Some key figures
of the Ergenekon case are believed to be behind the Malatya slayings
and the murders of Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, killed in
the Black Sea coastal town of Trabzon in February 2006, and Armenian
Christian editor Hrant Dink, who was shot in front of the weekly Agos
three months before the slaughter in Malatya.

The Malatya and Ergenekon prosecutors, however, are still researching
links between the murders and have yet to try them jointly.

Aral has been arrested in conjunction with both cases. In a previous
statement, he had complained that retired Gen. Veli Kucuk, who has
also been arrested in connection to Ergenekon, had threatened him about
testifying. Aral testified to the Ergenekon case state judges privately
in May, but the content of his testimony has not been publicized.

Judges have found the phone numbers of ultranationalist lawyer Kemal
Kerincsiz and Sevgi Erenerol, spokesperson for the Turkish Orthodox
Church – a Turkish nationalist denomination – in Aral’s personal
phone book. Both figures are accused of playing leading roles in
Ergenekon and spearheaded prosecution of Christians Hakan Tastan and
Turan Topal for speaking to people about their faith.

While in prison, alleged ring-leader Gunaydin testified to the state
prosecutor that Aral had contacted him and instructed him to carry
out the murders. Gunaydin had also testified that Huseyin Yelki,
who worked as a volunteer at the Zirve office, had planned details
of the crime with him.

Yelki is still obligated to appear at every court hearing and continues
to be a suspected middleman. Thus far, however, his testimony has
yielded no clear indication of his role.

Burcu Polat, Gunaydin’s girlfriend, also failed to appear in court
on Friday, telling police that she was not ready because she is a
student in Balikesir, in northwest Turkey. The prosecution noted in
court that universities are not in session and requested that the
court find her guilty of not fulfilling her duty to appear in court.

The court again has ordered Aral and Polat to appear in court at the
next hearing on Aug. 21.

INTERVIEW: CRISIS VINDICATES ARMENIA CENTRAL BANK’S CONSERVATIVE POLICY
Ben Aris in Yerevan

Business New Europe
VIEW_Crisis_vindicates_Armenia_central_banks_conse rvative_policy
July 22 2009

Armenia’s bankers used to curse the Central Bank of Armenia. Business
was booming and entrepreneurs wanted the bank to loosen the fiscal
reigns a bit so they could grow faster, but the CBA stuck to its
conservative regime based on the Dutch model of prudent growth and
caution. Then the world’s financial system fell to pieces last autumn
and as the dust settles, Armenia’s bankers and businesses find they
are amongst the few left standing in the region. The CBA’s policies
have been vindicated and the country’s banking sector is amongst the
world’s healthiest.

That’s not to say the country wasn’t affected. "In October 2008,
Armenia was seriously affected by the international crisis via a
downturn in trade," Arthur Javadyan, governor of the CBA, tells bne
in an exclusive interview. "The effect was immediate; for example,
construction production fell by 56% between January and May of this
year and things like retail turnover and brandy production also fell
on the back of falling demand, especially in Russia."

As the situation deteriorated in the first quarter, the CBA took
the dramatic decision to devalue the dram by about 22% at the start
of March, falling from 306 to the dollar to about 380. Since then,
it has recovered to 360, which the CBA considers to be its fair
value. "The economy has adjusted to the new exchange rate. There has
been a general decline in the world economy and this means that the
exchange rates have to be adjusted, but there is no pressure on the
currency now and the CBA has not had to intervene on the currency
market at all in the last three months," says Javadyan.

Expecting the economy to contract by some 7-8% at the start of this
year, the actual contraction of 15.7% in the second quarter came as a
shock. But since then, deals have been cut with both the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and Russia to raise over a billion dollars in loans
and the economy had begun to stabilise by June. "The [international
financial institutions] stepped up to the plate as spring arrived and
implemented a growth promotion package that includes things like road
construction, earthquake zone protection, as well as credit lines for
[small and medium-sized enterprises] to lay the basis for strong growth
recovery in the medium term. We expect a 6-7% decline in the economy
as a whole for 2009, up to 9% – depending on which state organ you
ask – with growth of 1-1.5% returning in 2010," says Javadyan.

Bounce back

On the face of it, those numbers look awful, but Armenia remains in a
good position to bounce back relatively quickly thanks to the prudence
of the CBA and the relatively underdeveloped state of the economy. The
collapse of the construction sector was a severe blow, as it was one
of the most important engines of growth. Most of the banking sector’s
non-performing loans are overdue mortgages, but credits by banks to
the construction sector account for only 0.5% of their total loans,
says Javadyan. "The owners of construction companies are mostly tycoons
and they can simply wait until times get better again," says Javadyan.

Still, the CBA is working to put in place the institutions to support
the market, irrespective of how rich the company owners are, and
recently established a state mortgage agency together with the World
Bank’s International Finance Corporation to refinance mortgage loans,
which is designed to support the secondary market as well as the
construction industry.

The multilateral loans will be key in restarting economic growth
and Javadyan sees the crisis as a cathartic pause more than real
disaster. "The World Bank has given us a $700m loan, which will be
used on three programmes to build infrastructure that is designed to
help during the crisis and promote growth afterwards," he says. "There
is another $700m from the IMF under the standby programme, which we
will use to support the currency." And the Russians also kicked in a
$500m loan that will be used on infrastructural projects as well as
a refinancing of loans programme.

Most of the aid has been aimed at the banking sector. After running
a tight monetary policy until the devaluation, the CBA has since
significantly loosened its control and pumped liquidity into
the sector. Amongst other things, the banks were given access to
longer-term money after the repurchase agreement terms were extended
from one week to three months. And the CBA also pumped in more
liquidity by buying back treasury bills on the domestic exchange – the
most developed part of the domestic capital market – to return cash
to banks to the tune of AMD20bn ($55m) since April 1. More liquidity
was provided through dram forex swaps. In addition, the central bank
intends to create some new lending instruments, says Javadyan, using
part of the Russian money to further bolster the position of banks
with loans targeted at the agricultural and small business sectors
by pre-financing loans – the bank offer credits and once these have
been approved, they can apply to the CBA for refinancing.

Like elsewhere, NPLs are a growing problem, but as retail lending had
only just started in earnest, neither the banks nor the consumers
had enough time to run up big debts. "NPLs in the sector are about
6.5% now, which is good compared our neighbours and even the EU. But
consider that the capital adequacy ratio for the sector is over 27% –
well above the mandatory level of 12% – and the sector is in a pretty
comfortable position," says Javadyan.

The CBA does regular stress tests and has been anticipating any
problems. And it’s the CBA’s prudence that is largely responsible
for the lack of problems the sector enjoys today. "Still, the bank
sector is small, not very transparent and we still have problems
with corporate governance. More than 65% of the bank sector assets
are controlled by seven entities – mostly international banks, while
our oligarchs control only a few banks," says Javadyan. "So we should
continue to be very tough with the regulation of the bank sector and
I was at a recent meeting of the central bankers club where everyone
now seems to be going in this direction."