Author: Jabejian Elizabeth

Panorama.am

18:24 05/05/2007

AJK LEADER DOUBTS VALIDITY OF SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES

Shavarsh Kocharyan, chairman of Armenian Democratic Party (AJK), told
reporters at Azdak Club that new technologies are applied to
disappoint the public to refrain from going to polls. Kocharyan said
an image is built that votes are `purchased’ anyway.

He complained on sociological studies saying they suggest that only 20
percent of public supports the opposition. `According to sociologists,
45 percent of voters will vote for the Armenian Republican Party and
Prosperous Armenia taken together. Dashnakcutiun is supported by 10
percent of votes. MAK and People’s Party of Tigran Karapetich will
also overcome 5 percent limit. If we add to this list of obviously
pro-authority parties also Orinants Yerkir with its 10 percent of
votes and former record in government, it will turn out that 80
percent of public want to re-elect the current authorities or
political forces supporting them,’ Kocharyan said.

`Who will believe that only twenty percent of our population is in
opposition to these authorities?’ Kocharyan raises a rhetoric
question.

Source: Panorama.am

According to international experts, the construction of a new NPP in
Armenia won’t need much funds

Arminfo Agency
2007-05-06 00:13:00

According to the international experts, the construction of a new NPP
in Armenia won’t need much funds and there will be no shortcomings in
financing. This opinion was expressed by the scientists at the second
international conference on prevention, revelation and resistance to
the nuclear and radiation danger, held in Yerevan, Saturday.

The scientists think that the volume of financing will depend on how
much electricity the country needs. There are four construction
technologies for nuclear power plants: US, Russian, European and
Asian. The scientists consider that Armenia should use the Asian model
for seismic security reasons. All the Korean and Japanese NPPs are
based on this technology.

To note, technological resource of the present power bloc of the
Armenian NPP expires in 2016. In spring 2007, a strategy on taking the
ANPP out of service will be submitted for the Armenian Government’s
approval.

INCIDENT IN MOSCOW UNIVERSITY IS A PROVOCATION BY THE ARMENIANS AGAINST THE AZERBAIJANIS

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 3 2007

Russia, Moscow / corr. Trend R.Agayev / "The incident which occurred
in Moscow-based Russian University of Friendship of People was
a provocation by the Armenians against the Azerbaijanis," said
the President of Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of the Russian
Azerbaijanis (AZERROS), Soyun Sadikov, after a meeting with the Head
of the University Provost Gladush.

"The provocation of the Armenians against the Azerbaijanis was aimed
at showing the Azerbaijanis under a bad light, given the friendly
relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. We remember well the Sumgayt
incidents and other tragedies of history when Armenians, by committing
provocations, spread rumor all over the world that the Azerbaijanis
are wild and it is impossible to live together with them. Using such
tainted methods, they prepared a plan to occupy the territories of
Azerbaijan. Therefore it is important, especially to young people,
to be aware that such provocations are non-comparative.

Possibly such provocations serve some internal ambitions of Armenia
related to the forth-coming parliamentary elections," Sadikov said.

In addition, he stressed that according to the representatives of
the University, the Armenians who caused the incident also included
those who are not students of the University and it testifies again
that the Armenian provocation is purposeful.

"Clever, steady and progressive Azerbaijani youths are the future
of Azerbaijan and only with their help is it possible to return
Nagorno-Karabakh and other lands of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia.

Therefore, it needs to act cleverly. For this purpose, it needs
to intensify the propaganda in Russia, spread real information on
Azerbaijan, Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, rich
historical and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan," Sadikov said.

Moreover, AZERROS President stated that Russia should understand
that supporting the separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh is dangerous
for Russia itself, a multi-national country that is risky to be
divided into tens or hundreds of separatist republics. "Recognizing
Nagorno-Karabakh is dangerous for Russia. Russia has not recognized
Kosovo where the ethnic Albans who have their sovereign State and
are located in this Serbian region expelled Serbian minorities from
there. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is same – the Armenian
majority who absurdly claim for self-appointment right expelled
the Azerbaijanis from their Native lands through genocide, ethical
cleansing, aggression and separatism and the Armed Forces of Armenia
occupied several districts of Azerbaijan surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh,"
said the Leader of Autonomy of the Russian Azerbaijanis.

According to Sadikov, the Azerbaijani youths may influence the public
opinion of Russia because they represent economically developing,
rich and stable Azerbaijan which is more important for Russia as a
strategic partner than Armenia. " Russia can benefit from possessing
rich Azerbaijan, but not Armenia which has not got any strategic and
economic potential," said Sadikov.

In addition, the President of AZERROS stressed that during the meeting,
an agreement was reached with the Head of the University to prosecute
each student which are believed to have committed provocation. "We will
follow till the end the situation with Azerbaijani Agaly Alishev so
that the offenders are punished. We appealed to the law-enforcement
bodies and they stated that criminal cases have been filed. In
addition, we will hire special advocates to protect the interests of
wounded Alishev," Sadikov stressed.

Moreover, it was decided during the meeting to notify each other of
planned cultural and other events to prevent such incidents.

HEAVY FLOW OF REMITTANCES TO ARMENIA MAY HINDER EFFORTS TO DETECT FUND TRANSFERS IN SUPPORT OF TERRORISM, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT BELIEVES

Mediamax Agency, Armenia
May 2 2007

Yerevan, May 2 /Mediamax/. The Financial Monitoring Center (FMC),
a U.S. – supported financial intelligence unit within the Central
Bank of Armenia, received 23 suspicious transaction reports in 2006.

Mediamax reports that this is said in the annual Country Reports on
Terrorism released by the U.S. State Department.

"After analyzing the reports, the FMC developed five suspicious
transaction cases; three of the cases were subsequently referred
to the Prosecutor General’s office for further investigation", the
report reads.

It is noted in the document that "the heavy flow of remittances,
however, may hinder efforts to detect fund transfers in support
of terrorism".

RECURRENT MISINFORMATION OF AZERBAIJAN REFUTED

ArmRadio.am
02.05.2007 16:45

The Armenian State Commission on Hostages, Prisoners and Missing
Persons rejected the information of Azeri media about "the intention
of Samir Mamedov to leave for a third country.

Head of the workgroup of the State Commission Armen Laprielyan told
ArmInfo that the information does not correspond to reality. "Up to
now Samir Mamedov has not expressed such will," Kaprielyan noted.

"Soldier of the Azerbaijani Army Samir Mamedov passed to the Armenian
side on his own will in December 2006. Mamedov refuses to return to
motherland. The soldier explains his decision with the crude attitude
and pressures on the part of his fellow servicemen and the leadership.

Azeri media have disseminated a number of reports in which they
state about the intention of Samir Mamedov to leave for a third
country. According to the same reports, the Azeri side learned about
this intention from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

THE NUMBER OF VOTERS REACHES 2,301,662

ArmRadio.am
02.05.2007 17:50

As of May 2, the total number of Armenian electors reaches 2,301,662
people, the Head of the Passport and Visa Department of the Armenian
Police Alvina Zakaryan started during a briefing in Yerevan today.

Alvina Zakaryan reminded that as of April 2, the general number of the
electors made 2,328,747 people. Thus, as a result of the clean-up of
voting lists, carried out last month, the number of electors decreased
with 27,085.

In particular, 8,895 call-up age young men, 1,946 citizens, having
changed their place of residence and 614 people, who have passed away,
were withdrawn from the lists.

Alvina Zakaryan informed that "we also clarify the lists, based on the
appeals of various political parties", noting that "Orinats Yerkir"
is the most active from this point of view."

"There is not much time left before the elections, and our work is
coming to an end. We will publicize the final voting lists on May 11",
Alvina Zakarian concluded.

OSKANIAN AND FRIED DISCUSSED KARABAKH CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.04.2007 13:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Presidents of Estonia and Lithuania, Prime
Minister of Belgium, Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Germany, Sweden,
Belgium and Canada, NATO Secretary General, CoE President and PACE
Commissioners as well as Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
took part in Brussels Forum 2007 initiated by the German Marshall
Fund and Bertelsmann Stiftung.

In the framework of the Forum Minister Oskanian met with Daniel
Fried, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian
Affairs. The parties discussed the current stage of the Armenia-U.S.
relations and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. They also
referred to the State Department’s annual country report on human
rights and the discrepancies that emerged over some wordings.

Vartan Oskanian also met with Georgian Foreign Minister Gela
Bejuashvili head of the Azeri Milli Mejlis committee on foreign
affairs Samed Seyidov to discuss bilateral relations and prospects
of settling the existing conflicts, the RA MFA press office reports.

A RUSSIAN POLITICAL ANALYST SAYS U. S. MILITARY INTERFERENCE TO IRAN CANNOT SOLVE IRANIAN NUCLEAR ISSUE, ON CONTRARY MAY AGGRAVATE IT

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
May 1 2007

U. S. A., Washington/ Trend , corr. A. Gara/ Dmitriy Trenin, a
political analyst, the Deputy of the Director of the Moscow Carnegie
Centre, considers that U. S. possible military interference to Iran
cannot solve the issue around the Nuclear Programme of this country,
but on the contrary it may aggravate it.

In his interview to Trend, which was taken in Washington, Mr. Trenin
expressed a hope that the U.S. military interference to Iran would not
take place, however he added that it might happen. "We still have an
opportunity to solve the Iranian nuclear issue more effectively than
a military interference that, in my opinion, could not settle this
problem. If you remember, in 1981, the Israeli Air Force efficiently
stroke on Iraq and destroyed the nuclear reactor of Osirak on the
territory of this country.. The Iraqi Nuclear Programme was settled
this way. Today it is very difficult to rule such a military operation
due to some technical reasons," said the Russian political analyst.

According to Mr. Trenin, the involvement of such countries like
Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia in the U. S. possible military blow on
Iran is quite possible. "However, I do not think that Azerbaijan will
closely cooperate with Americans if they launch this military attack,"
he said by adding that the U. S. policy is subjected to changes, but
the geopolitical neighbourhood with Iran is not. At the same time,
Armenia is not as close to U. S. in this issue as Azerbaijan. Georgia,
in its turn, hopes that Iranian gas will become an alternative to
Russian one, and Georgian cooperation with Americans in this issue
will have a blow on Georgian-Iranian relations.

The political expert added that possible military actions, which
might be taken against Iran, would create a chaos that would rapidly
change the situation in the whole region for the worse. " Russia
will certainly be far from the possible American attack. It will
not support Iranian Army, but will blame Americans for the hostages
they launched. Military actions will make happy nobody, particularly
cannot solve the Iranian nuclear issue. I hope that U. S. will change
their mind toward trying another way out of the existing situation,
which will include elements on putting obstacles, containment, and
peaceful co-existence," he added.

According to the Russian political analyst, Iran is the largest
country in the region and will remain being it. " Iran is one of those
countries that zealously keeps its centuries-oil traditions, and one
should keep in mind that it is impossible to break Iran for a long
time. Iran is currently on the rise. Therefore, there is an issue of
how to integrate this country to turn it into a stabilizing force for
the security and prosperity in the whole region," concluded Mr. Trenin.

BH’S ELECTORATE HAS NOT FINALLY FORMED YET, AHARON ADIBEKIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 27 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the data of surveys
conducted by Sociometer sociological center on April 21-22,
51-56% Yerevan voters are going to take part in the parliamentary
elections. 13% of them are going to vote for the Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) and 11% for the Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia)
Party. Center’s head Aharon Adibekian reported at the April 27 press
conference.

A. Adibekian considers as characteristic the circumstance that
16% Bargavach Hayastan’s supporters have not oriented themselves
finally yet and have not made up their mind. This circumstance, in
A. Adibekian’s words, is conditioned by "too populist" speeches of BH
members and individual "sizes" of party head Gagik Tsarukian, which,
in sociologist’s words, do not inspire confidence to voters at all.

As A. Adibekian affirmed, the National Unity, ARFD, Zharangutiun
(Heritage) and Orinats Yerkir parties will also get over 5% barrier. He
said that 4% voters residing in Yerevan support the People’s Party.

A. Adibekian added that the data of surveys held lately by the
Populus British company in Armenia coincide with the data of
Sociometer. However, as he mentioned, representatives of political
forces discontent with these data did not respond in any way to the
work done by Populus and did not say that this company "has sold
itself" and carries out a special order, while such accusations are
often addressed to Adibekian.

To recap, according to the data of Populus’ survey publicized on
April 20, RPA would receive 31% votes and BH 27% votes.

WHICH IS THE OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT AND WHICH IS THE REAL ONE?
By Ara Martirosian

AZG Armenian Daily
27/04/2007

‘Azg’ daily received an e-message from our reader Sergey Karayan living
in USA. He wonders about the differences of the information announced
by the National Statistic Service: in one issue the percentage
of unemployment by December 2005 is 7%, and in another one it is
30%. Let’s clarify the above-mentioned contradictions in these issues.

The 7 per cent are those who applied and were given an unemployment
status by the Employment State Service of the Ministry of Labor and
Social Issues.

It means that they are officially unemployed. And what about the 30
per cent, it’s the real index of unemployment in Armenia according
to the statistical analyses of the households made by the National
Statistic Service. These are the people, who did not apply to the
Employment State Service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues,
but tried to find jobs by the private employment offices, relatives
or put their ads on the newspapers. They don’t have jobs but they are
ready to work. It means, that according to the International Labor
Organization’s methods they are considered to be unemployed.