Author: Jagharian Tania

"THE BLACK SEA TRUST WILL SEEK CREATIVE WAYS TO ENHANCE THE ROLE OF
CIVIL SOCIETY IN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT"

(The exclusive interview of Mark Cunningham, Program Officer with the
German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the Lead Coordinator
of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, to Armenian Mediamax
news agency, December 2006)

– In June 2006, the GMF announced the establishing of the Black Sea
Trust. What work has been carried out during this half a year, and
when will the Black Sea Trust start fully functioning?

– On June 5, 2006 GMF, in cooperation with the U.S. and Romanian
Governments, officially announced the intention to create the Black
Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation at the Black Sea Forum held in
Bucharest, Romania. This announcement is the result of more than three
years of discussion and refinement of the Black Sea Trust concept. In
addition, the Black Sea Trust builds on two years of GMF programming
in the Black Sea region including: study tours for policymakers, think
tank professionals, and journalists; events in Washington, DC and
other European capitals highlighting the geostrategic importance of
the region; and several publications arguing for the formation of
stronger regional identity.

Over the past 6 months GMF has been working with all it partners to
lay the early groundwork for the Trust. We hope to have the Black Sea
Trust fully operational by the summer of 2007.

– The solution of what tasks is a priority for the Black Sea Trust?
What was the reason for the decision to establish such a structure,
and what model was used as a basis for that?

– Until now, international assistance to the countries of the Black
Sea has not focused on promoting regional collaboration, deepening
good governance and practices, and forming strong cross-border bonds
as a component part of promoting regional identity, stability, and
growth.

There have been some inter-governmental efforts to develop the
region’s political and economic stability with the establishment of
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in 1992, the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in 1993, the Black Sea Trade and
Development Bank in 1997 and GUAM (a coordination mechanism between
former Soviet republics Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova).

The Romanian government has also been proactive in strengthening a
sense of regional identity amongst all the littoral states. Their most
notable initiative was the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and
Partnership, which took place in Bucharest, June 5, 2006. But
significantly less attention has been placed on the interaction
between citizens and government or regional cooperation with a focus
on stability, democratization, rule of law, and human and civil
rights. A vibrant civic culture and active participation in the
governing process are crucial to the development of mature political
systems in this region. Over the long term, greater citizen
engagement and tighter links between the institutions of civil society
and those of local and national governments will be critical for both
democratic stability and performance.

GMF, USAID and the Mott Foundation have joined forces before, creating
in 2003 the award-winning Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), upon which
the Black Sea Trust is modeled. BTD is a $35 million fund that has
given out millions of dollars in grants promoting regional cooperation
and reconciliation, civil society development, and democracy-building
ideas and institutions throughout the Balkans.

The Black Sea Trust will provide grants through three program areas:

1) Civic Participation, which will focus on empowering citizens to engage
with their elected officials on issues of local and national concern;
2) Cross-Border Initiatives, which will support efforts across the Black Sea
to build networks of like-minded citizens and officials seeking to share
best practices and jointly tackle common problems; and
3) East-East Cooperation, which will fund linkages between groups in Central
Europe with their counterparts in the Black Sea region.

– Which organizations represent donors of the Black Sea Trust, and how
much is the capital of the Black Sea Trust?

– In order to promote the democratic reform, regional cooperation, the
development of civil society, and good governance in the Black Sea
region, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is
creating the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a $20 million
plus, grantmaking initiative that will be in operation for at least 10
years. Initial donors to the Black Sea Trust are expected to include
GMF, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Romanian government.

– Which of the Black Sea region states support the Black Sea Trust,
and what kind of support is it?

– For now only the Romanian Government has made a formal commitment to
support the work of the Trust. The Black Sea Trust, through the
financial management of GMF, will house funds from a variety of
donors. Each donor could potentially attach specific requirements for
the use of its funds, and the Black Sea Trust mechanism will be
structured in a way to accommodate those requirements. The Trust
mechanism has been very effective in managing different pools of
funding. The Black Sea Trust hopes to benefit from additional support
from other countries of the wider Black Sea region over the course of
its life.

– The Black Sea Trust will be providing grants to NGOs, media, etc. in
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia,
Turkey and Ukraine. Will any preference be given to any concrete
states or projects, directed to the stimulation of regional
cooperation?

– The countries included initially in the Black Sea Trust’s work are:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Turkey,
Ukraine, and the regions of Russia bordering on the Black
Sea. Initially, the majority of grants will be directed towards the
Caucasus, Ukraine, and Moldova. Approximately $2 million will be
given out each year within three programs: Civic Participation, Cross
Border Initiatives, and East-East Cooperation.

– Do you think that the Black Sea Trust can back initiatives, directed
to establishing a more favorable atmosphere in the relations between
Armenia and Turkey, Russia and Georgia?

– We hope to engage civil society in looking for creative ways in
which we can address very difficult and complicated set of issues. The
broadest goal of the Black Sea Trust is to assist the countries of the
Black Sea region in achieving their stated aspirations of joining the
transatlantic community. This will require these countries to
undertake significant social, economic, and political reforms
internally and to improve cooperation across this turbulent
region. While the German Marshall Fund will continue to work with the
Black Sea countries on a variety of policy dialogues, peer-to-peer
exchanges, and high level discussions in Brussels, Washington, and
other key Euro-Atlantic capitals, the work of the Black Sea Trust will
be focused on the building blocks of political reform in the region.

– Russia and Turkey do not have peculiar enthusiasm in connection with
the new initiatives in the wider Black Sea region. Won’t that
circumstance hinder the work of the Black Sea Trust?

– The Black Sea Trust in-keeping with the mission and programmatic
focus of the GMF, will serve as a neutral interlocutor aimed at
promoting a stronger regional identity for the benefit of all
countries within the wider Black Sea region.

– Will the Black Sea Trust fund programs, assisting the settlement of
the conflicts, existing in the South Caucasus?

– While the Black Sea Trust will not actively pursue initiatives
specifically focused on the resolution of the regions conflicts, the
Trust will seek creative ways to enhance the role of civil society in
conflict management. The four unresolved conflicts present major
obstacles to strengthening regional cooperation and establishing peace
and stability in the region. Civil society can play a key role in the
decision-making process on the national and regional level as well as
play a diplomatic role in situations where official channels cease to
function. Civil society can also disseminate information and provide
analysis regarding potential solutions and generating public and
international support.

THIRD AFTERSHOCK REGISTERED IN ARMENIA

Yerevan, January 12. ArmInfo. The National Seismic Protection Service
of Armenia told ArmInfo that another aftershock was registered 18 km
south-west of Gavar, a town in the Gegharkunik region of Armenia, at
5:40 PM local time. The magnitude in the epicenter was 4-5 points.

To remind, today, a 2.8-point earthquake took place at the same place
at noon, and two 2.5 and 2.9-point aftershocks were registered at
12:55 PM and 12:57 PM respectively.

A NEW THEORY ON ROMANI HISTORY

Romano Vod’i, Czech Republic
Jan 10 2006

A new theory on Romani history based on ongoing research into
recorded and factual evidence is being prepared by Ronald Lee and
other scholars, including Ian Hancock, Marcel Cortiade and Adrian
Marsh. Using language studies, blood groupings, DNA tests and the
factual evidence in the writings of the period by Firdausi and other
scholars at the Ghaznavid court of Mahmud and later, the Persians,
Armenians, Turks and Greeks, the theory suggests that a group
of Indians numbering in the thousands were taken out of India by
Mahmud Ghazni in the early 11th century and incorporated as ethnic
units, along with their camp followers, wives and families, to form
contingents of Indian troops to serve in the Ghaznavid Emirate in
Khurasan as ghazis and in the bodyguard of Mahmud and his successors.

The existence of such troops is well documented in contemporary
histories of the Ghaznavids, as is their participation in the battles
in Khurasan. The theory goes on to explain that in 1040, the Ghaznavid
empire was overthrown by the Seljuks and that the Indian contingency,
numbering around some 60,000, were either forced to fight for the
Seljuks and spearhead their advance in their raids into Armenia,
or fled to Armenia to escape them. In any event, the Indians ended
up in Armenia and later, in the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. These
proto-Romanies remained in Anatolia for two to three hundred years
and during that time they abandoned their military way of life and
took up a nomadic lifestyle based on artisan work, trading, animal
dealing and entertainment.

Gradually, small groups wandered westwards across the Bosporus to
Constantinople and from there up into the Balkans to reach Central
Europe by 1400, leaving local groups in all the regions they had passed
through. Roma made their home in almost all countries of Europe where
it has been, and still is, the failure of all of the governments of
those countries to provide protection for Roma against persecution
and massive discrimination by the police, local authorities and the
local population that are the causes of the present conditions. Under
the Geneva Convention on Refugees, this is tantamount to official
persecution and allows Roma to seek refugee status in signatory
countries.

Little action is taken to prevent massive job discrimination in the
workplace, housing and public sectors. In Romania and elsewhere,
employment ads in the local papers are allowed to state: No Roma
wanted or words to this effect. Roma are in effect living in a state of
Apartheid in the New Democracies. In the Czech Republic signs appear
in windows of discotheques, cinemas and restaurants stating: No dogs
or Gypsies allowed! Now that Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Poland are EU members and the other new democracies that have large
Romani populations are in line for EU membership in the near future,
it remains to be seen whether conditions will improve for the Roma,
or will proposed improvements be endlessly delayed or even abandoned.

If the evidence of the treatment of Roma in some of the
long-established EU countries is any example, such as the deplorable
refugee camps in Italy, the campsite problems in Britain, prejudice
and actual persecution in Germany, Austria, France, Britain, Italy
and elsewhere, the future of Sinti and Roma in Europe is not all
that promising. The problem is not so much one of ethnic or national
rights of Roma as minorities, where the present focus now lies, but
of fundamental human rights as guaranteed under the United Nations
Charter of Human Rights.

servis/z_en_2007_0002

–Boundary_(ID_tVo6vz/wBiMV zURSEECsTw)–

Russia’s Anti-Fascists Fight Back

by Nickolai Butkevich
3 January 2007

Attacks by Russian right-wing extremists appear to be picking up at
an alarming pace.

Russians are often accused of being politically apathetic. In the
face of the stifling political conformity and media censorship of the
Putin era, most have reacted with a shrug, seemingly content that at
least the chaos and privations of the 1990s have been put firmly
behind them.

The main exceptions to this rule are the politically active segments
of the country’s youth, dominated largely by extremists of both the
left wing and nationalist right. Both extremes appear to be growing
in both membership and political clout – witness the unconscionable
inclusion of the National Bolsheviks in the "Other Russia" coalition
and the growing flirtation between certain State Duma deputies and
neo-Nazi groups.

But there are also healthier trends at work in Russia’s youth
culture, specifically the small but growing ranks of anti-fascists.
Unfortunately, this fledgling movement has come under increasing
attack by neo-Nazis and is subject to indifference and often outright
hostility from the police.

In 2006, neo-Nazi youth groups escalated their campaign of murders
and assaults against anti-fascists in an organized effort to squash
the only segment of Russian society that actively opposes their plans
to create a "Russia for the Russians."

MERE HOOLIGANISM?

Several recent reports illustrate the extent of the problem.

The most recent of these incidents took place on 22 December when
neighbors discovered a bomb placed outside the home of anti-fascist
activist Tigran Babadzhanian in Moscow. According to articles
published in the national daily Komsomolskaya Pravda on 23 and 25
December, a poster attached to the bomb had a swastika drawn on it
along with racist threats against the Babadzhanian family, who are
ethnic Armenians. Babadzhanian regularly attends anti-fascist events
and visits neo-Nazi Internet forums to argue against their extremist
ideology. A police source told the newspaper that neo-Nazis regularly
harassed him and painted threats on the walls of his building.

Police tried to disarm the explosive device, but it went off and
injured four officers and a police dog. Despite the evidence pointing
to a hate crime – three suspects identified by police allegedly
belong to an extremist nationalist gang – investigators are treating
the incident as a case of simple "hooliganism."

Russian police often appear to take this approach when faced with
racially-motivated violent crime. Take, for example, the murder of
the Moscow-based anti-fascist activist Aleksandr Ryukhin. Last 16
April, Ryukhin and a friend who managed to escape were stabbed by six
youths. In the apartments of the three suspects apprehended thus far
in the case, police found nationalist literature and leaflets as well
as video recordings of attacks on other victims. Moreover, the
suspects have been linked to extremist neo-Nazi groups including the
infamous Slavic Union (SS in Russian).

Nevertheless, according to a 30 November posting on the Russian human
rights website hro.org, the three will be charged with "hooliganism."
Investigators, however, have indicated that the three suspects who
are still at large will be charged with murder – if they are ever
caught.

One person who has publicly taken issue with the tendency to charge
assailants of anti-fascists and ethnic minorities with hooliganism is
Irina Kacharava, the mother of St. Petersburg anti-fascist leader
Timur Kacharava, who was killed in November 2005.

In a 1 December interview on hro.org, Irina Kacharava gives police
credit for arresting seven suspects in her son’s murder. But she said
the official explanation that Timur was killed "as a result of
hooliganistic actions" both defames her son by implying that he was a
common street brawler who got what was coming to him, and plays down
the planned nature of the killing.

Timur Kacharava, a vegetarian and a pacifist, was killed after
distributing food to homeless people, his mother said, activity that
would hardly be of interest to a "typical hooligan." He had been
attacked before, on the metro and on the street. As they beat
Kacharava, his assailants taunted him by asking: "What do you think,
is it good to be an anti-fascist?"

THE BACKLASH

As 2006 drew to a close, assaults on anti-fascists appeared to pick
up at an alarming pace. According to a 27 November article in the
newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, police covered up a brawl involving
an estimated 200 neo-Nazis and anti-fascists on 18 November at
Moscow’s Baumanskaya metro station. Dozens were injured in the fight
and several arrests were made on both sides.

St. Petersburg was the scene of two violent attacks in December. As
dozens of anti-fascist demonstrators gathered for an anti-war rally
on 3 December, some 30 neo-Nazis assaulted them, screaming "Forward
Russia!" Then, on 10 December, skinheads attacked a group of
anti-fascists who were handing out food to homeless people.

The problem is not confined to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Similar
attacks occurred in 2006 in Lipetsk, Ryazan, Syktyvkar, Oryol, and
Vladivostok.

Disgracefully, the Russian government has mostly ignored this issue.
Several attacks against anti-fascists remain unsolved and top
officials have consistently failed to condemn them. This may have
something to do with the political views of these activists. Many –
with the exception of the ersatz anti-fascists from the pro-Putin
"Nashi" movement – embrace a brand of far-left politics that is
extremely critical of the Kremlin. Additionally, some elements in the
anti-fascist movement have become increasingly violent. They justify
their readiness to fight back by saying that the government is not
doing enough to suppress skinhead violence.

This is not, I’m afraid, a hollow argument. If law enforcement
officials continue to cover up reports of neo-Nazi violence while at
the same time the government caters to nationalists by banning
foreigners from trading in markets and launching police sweeps
against ethnic Georgians, the counter-reaction from anti-fascists and
many other victims of nationalist violence in Russia will only grow
fiercer. If the cliche about young people being the nation’s future
has any merit, it’s clear that the country can ill afford to lose
such politically active and well-intentioned youths to the
temptations of extremism.

Nickolai Butkevich is research director at the Union of Councils for
Jews in the Former Soviet Union.

UKRAINE OFFERED AZERBAIJAN ACCESS TO OIL PIPELINES LEADING TO EUROPE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.12.2006 13:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich
offered Azerbaijan access to the Ukrainian oil pipelines leading
to Europe. "Ukraine is interested in organization of light Caspian
oil via the Baku-Supsa-Odessa-Europe route and participation of
Azeri companies in the project," Yanukovich said at a meeting with
Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Artur Rasizade. For his part Ukrainian
Minister of Fuel and Energy Yuri Boyko explained that Azerbaijan
annually intensifies oil output with 6-7 million tons and needs extra
ways of transportation. He backed Azerbaijan’s participation in the
joint venture that will own the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline.

Yanukovich said Ukraine is capable to ensure the oil quality. Presently
the state earns some $300 million per year on oil swap. With
Azerbaijan, the sum can increase with $50 million. In early December
2006 Azeri President Ilham Aliyev stated that the government is due
to consider the reduction of oil transit via Russia. Later the Prime
Minister refuted the information and said Azerbaijan will follow the
current schedule, reports Lenta.ru.

RULING PARTIES IN ARMENIA CONFLICT WITH THEMSELVES WHEN TALKING OF INTENTION TO HOLD FAIR ELECTIONS: STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN

Yerevan, December 27. ArmInfo. "The ruling parties in Armenia
conflict with themselves when talking of an intention to hold fair and
democratic elections", the chairman of the People’s party of Armenia,
Stepan Demirchyan, said in an interview to ArmInfo.

He wondered what hindered them to do it during the previous election
campaigns. According to him, all the political parties in the ruling
coalition are directly responsible for mass falsifications of 2003
presidential and parliamentary election results. "When no objective
assessment is given to the past elections nut only vain theoretical
discources are made about fair elections, it is impossible to perceive
them seriously. The representatives of ruling parties flaunt by
standard phrases about the violations which did not allegedly affect
the final results of elections or they use the policy of double
standards during assessment of 2003 presidential and parliamentary
campaigns. And after all they dare to offer to sign some memorandums
on the intention of holding the next elections fairly and justly",
S. Demirchyan said.

"I repeat once more that specific steps are necessary. I would like
to especially note that falsifications are an essential part of the
present RA authorities without which the regime will just loose its
significance", S. Demirchyan concluded.

Scotsman, UK
Dec 24 2006

Bethlehem – the last place you would want to be for Christmas

ANNETTE YOUNG
IN BETHLEHEM
CHRISTMAS cheer is hard to find in this year in Bethlehem.

Inside the West Bank town’s Church of Nativity – the birthplace of
Jesus Christ – preparations were being made for Midnight Mass,
overshadowed by worsening violence between Palestinian factions and
an international aid boycott.

But outside in Manger Square, an Arab Christian youth scoffed when
asked about the expected attendance of Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas.

"Bethlehem is the last place in the world where I would want to be
for Christmas," he said. "Hamas and Fatah should remember the enemy
is not each other but Israel, and the longer they fight one another
the better it will be for the Israelis."

The Palestinian president’s visit to the beleaguered town comes after
gunmen from his Fatah faction spent the last week battling their
Hamas counterparts on the streets in Gaza and the West Bank.

Years of feuding and rivalry between the two Palestinian factions
came to a head when Abbas called for fresh presidential and
parliamentary elections in an attempt to remove the Hamas-led
government.

Abbas and his Fatah advisers believe such a move will allow for the
establishment of a government that would be more acceptable to the
West and thus end an international aid boycott in place since the
Islamist movement came to power in March.

Hamas immediately rejected the Palestinian president’s call,
describing it as a coup. However, Abbas has yet to name an election
date and both sides are still talking of last-minute attempts to
establish a national unity government.

Inside the Bethlehem Peace Centre located in Manger Square, its
director, Michael Nasser, tries to remain resolutely upbeat: "In view
of what’s going on at the moment, it’s important for people always to
remember that this is where the ‘Prince of Peace’ was born.

"What’s happening elsewhere in Palestine should hopefully not affect
us here since this town is not only for the Palestinians but is there
for the whole Christian world."

For Christian pilgrims making their way to Bethlehem, they have to
pass through Israel’s controversial separation barrier that now loops
its way around three sides of the town, cutting it off from the
southern edge of Jerusalem normally only a five-minute drive away.

Much of the barrier surrounding Bethlehem is an eight-metre tall
concrete wall and while foreigners are able to visit the town, local
residents cannot leave without applying for a permit from Israeli
authorities.

Israeli officials say the barrier is necessary to stop Palestinian
suicide bombers from entering Israel and that it could be re-routed
or torn down if violence ceases and peace talks resume. But
Palestinians say the barrier’s route is a de facto border and its
existence prevents the creation of the viable state they seek in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in 1967.

Before the Palestinian uprising began in 2000, Bethlehem attracted
more than 90,000 pilgrims a month. At Christmas in 2005, about 20,000
visitors made their way there. However, its mayor, Dr Victor
Batarseh, said the town would be "extremely lucky if we come anywhere
close to that figure this year".

Of Bethlehem’s 30,000 residents, the number of Christians has
dwindled from about 85% in 1948 to just 25%. The Palestinian
uprising, along with the barrier’s construction, has taken its toll
on the Christian population, who due to large diaspora communities
elsewhere are able to emigrate to places such as the United States,
Latin America and Canada.

In addition, the Islamisation of Palestinian society has weakened the
Christian community’s position, although Bartaseh denied that
pressure from Muslims was a contributing factor.

"The [Israeli] occupation is solely the cause of Christian families
leaving here and seeking a life elsewhere," he said. "We happily live
in co-existence with our Arab Muslim brothers."

Bartaseh, who was recently quoted as saying there was a danger of
there being no Christians living in Bethlehem at all within a
generation, was far more circumspect when approached by Scotland on
Sunday, saying: "Of course, there will always be Christians here as
long as we have hope."

The town’s Christian community did receive a boost last week when a
delegation of British church leaders, led by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, made a Christmas pilgrimage as a move
of solidarity with its Christian residents.

Williams condemned the barrier, saying it was "a sign not simply of
the passing problem in the politics of one region; it is a sign of
the things which are deeply wrong in the human heart itself."

"We’re here to say that the sufferings of the people here are ours
too," said Williams, joined by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor; the Free Churches’
Moderator in England, the Reverend David Coffey and the Primate of
the Armenian Church of Great Britain, Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian.

"We want to do what we can to alleviate them and we hope to see a
Bethlehem that is open for all pilgrims," he told a gathering at the
Bethlehem Peace Centre.

However, while he was speaking, the violence continued.

On Friday, Fatah gunmen opened fire on Hamas members preparing for a
rally in the West Bank city of Nablus, wounding at least nine.

Gunfights also erupted near the Hamas-controlled foreign ministry and
President Abbas’s Gaza residence. It died down as Muslim clerics and
other mediators worked to restore a ceasefire. Abbas was not in Gaza
at the time.

On Friday, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas urged gunmen to
spare Palestinian blood, and said government officials were working
to bring the violence under control.

In the meantime, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, were
meeting last night to discuss the thorny issue of the release of
Palestinian prisoners.

It has been hoped a deal on the release of Israeli soldier Gilad
Shalit in exchange for Palestinian prisoners could be concluded by
the Islamic festival of Id al-Adha that falls this coming Friday.

However, sources in Olmert’s office have said that the prime minister
was unwilling to release any Palestinian prisoners unless Shalit is
set free beforehand.

IN ISTANBUL TWO STUDENTS WELCOME PAMUK WITH POSTERS THAT SAY ‘THERE HAD BEEN NO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily
22/12/2006

On December 21, participating in "Orhan Pamuk and Literature"
colloquium at the Istanbul "Sabang" University, famous Turkish writer
met with the students. "Milliet" informed that this is the first
meeting of Pamuk with his readers after receiving the Nobel Prize
in Turkey.

By the end of the conference, two Turkish students, as a sign of
protest raised posters with the following message "There Had Been No
Armenian Genocide." While Orhan Pamuk was calmly looking at the two
students, the rest of the auditorium began resisting them and made
them leave the conference hall.

It’s worth mentioning that Orhan Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize for
Literature, aroused protest of the majority of the Turkish people,
when he touched upon the massacres of 30 thousand Kurds and 1 million
of Armenians in the interview to a Swiss newspaper.

Nevertheless, when Pamuk received "The Peace Prize" of the Writers
Union of Germany, he repeated his statement. He said: "I clearly
repeat that I said that 1 million of Armenians and 30 thousand of
Kurds were killed in our country. And I am responsible for my words."

PRICES OF SOME GOODS ARE UNREASONABLY HIGH IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Economic entities with a
dominating position operate in the country’s butter, eggs, meat
products, granulated sugar, beer, cement, gasoline and diesel fuel
markets, and there is a probability of using unreasonable prices and
anticompetition agreements. It was stated at the December 19 sitting of
the RA State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition. Besides,
it was noted that as a result of 40% appreciation of the Armenian
dram against the US dollar, importers raise prices of goods by
40-89%, which represents an anticompetition phenomenon. Moreover,
under conditions of a decline in the cost prices of some goods, a
growth in sale prices of these goods has been observed: for example,
the cost price of an egg is 32 drams (about 0.87 USD), whereas it
is sold for 71 drams. The granulated sugar importing and selling
companies have indicated different prices. The commission decided to
warn economic entities to review sale prices within 5 days and take
measures to prevent and rule out the unreasonable rise of prices
and the use of such prices due to anticompetition agreements. Those
with a dominating position were told to present to the commission
information about measures on reviewing sale prices by January 20,
2007. The commission will implement a monitoring of sale prices in
the country’s markets from December 20, 2006 to January 20, 2007.

NKR WATCHES ACTIVITIES OF PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF UNRECOGNIZED REPUBLICS

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.12.2006 15:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of
unrecognized republics – Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdnistria –
is being held in Moscow.

Three unrecognized republics are discussing prospects of expansion of
cooperation. Representatives of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic are also
present at the sitting. The Parliamentary Assembly of unrecognized
republics was formed September 30 in Sukhumi with headquarters in
Moscow, reports GHN.