Author: Kafian Jirair

INCIDENT: ARMAVIA A320 NEAR TIBLISI ON JAN 11TH 2009, TURBULENCE AT CRUISE LEVEL THOUGHT TO BE A380 WAKE
By Simon Hradecky

The Aviation Herald

Jan 12 2009
Austria

An Armavia Airbus A320-200, flight U8-968 from Sochi (Russia) to
Yerevan (Armenia), was enroute about 30nm north of Tiblisi (Georgia),
when the airplane encountered severe clear air turbulence, which
caused the autopilot to disconnect and threw the airplane into steep
banks three times. The crew managed to regain control of the airplane
and completed the flight without further incident. No injuries have
been reported.

Armavia reported, that their aircraft was cruising 1000 feet below
an Emirates Airbus A380-800 registration A6-EDB flight EK-201 enroute
from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to New York,NY (USA) and suspects,
that the turbulence was caused by wake vortices created by the A380.

ASSISTANCE TO CULTURAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION CREATED IN ARMENIA

NOYAN TAPAN

Jan 12, 2009
YEREVAN

The process of full establishment of cultural education system in
Armenia is in the focus of attention of the RA Ministry of Culture. As
Minister Hasmik Poghosian mentioned at the January 12 press conference,
large-scale work was done in this direction in 2008. In particular,
2062 students of country’s 139 communal music and art schools’ folk
instruments departments were financed within the framework of the
program under the title Teaching of National Instruments in RA Art
and Music Schools. From 2009 this program will also involve children
studying at wind and stringed instruments departments.

The Minister said that an Assistance to Cultural Education Foundation
with 10 regional representations was created last year for the purpose
of promoting aesthetical education. Foundation’s mission is to provide
teaching-methodical and practical assistance to country’s music and
art schools. H. Poghosian also said that with Ministry’s financing
54 children had a possibility to take part in various international
festivals and competitions.

According to H. Poghosian, 32 titles of music books were published
last year, including methodical manuals written for modern Armenian
composers’ various instruments, textbooks, and scientific works,
part of which was free of charge distributed among the basic schools.

Republican and international competitions, festivals, and other
events were held to develop music art. The Prospects of 21st, the
National Gallery, Arno Babajanian festivals, Aram Khachatrian 4th
International Contest, and others are among them.

72.2% of construction done with population’s financial resources in
Armenia in January-November 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Construction work of 757 billion 806
million drams (over 2 bln 478.1 mln USD), including building and
assembly work of 694 bln 83.1 mln drams, was carried out in Armenia in
January-November 2008. Construction grew by 1.6%, building and assembly
work by 9.3% in comparable prices as compared with January-November
2007. Construction volumes declined by 33% in November 2008 on the same
month of 2007, whereas in November 2007 construction volumes grew by
18.9% on the same month of the previous year.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, in January-November
2008, 7% of construction work was done with state budgetary
allocations, 0.1% – at the expense of the RA government’s reserve fund,
0.1% – with community resources, 0.6% – with credit resources of the
World Bank, 2.8% – with humanitarian aid, 17.2% – with resources of
private organizations, and 72.2% – with the population’s resources.

GAS SUPPLY TO ARMENIA THROUGH GEORGIAN TERRITORY TO BE RESTORED IN 5 DAYS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 10, ARMENPRESS: The gas supply to Armenia from
Georgia will be restored in five-day period. Georgian Energy Minister
Alexander Hetaguri told today the reporters that the restoration works
of the Kazakh-Saguramo sector of the gas pipeline are carried out
24-hours a day so that the gas supply to Armenia be restored as soon
as possible.
Press secretary of `Armrusgasprom’ company Shushan Sardaryan told
Armenpress that a group of specialists from Armenia left for Georgia
and is in the place of the accident participating in the restoration
works.
Currently the gas supply in Armenia is ensured from reserve stores.

World Politics Review
Jan 6 2009

In Aftermath of Georgia War, a More Stable Caucasus

Emil Sanamyan | 06 Jan 2009
World Politics Review

For most observers, the brief war between Russia and Georgia last
August only underscored the instability of the Caucasus region and the
dangerous potential energy stored in its so-called frozen
conflicts. Remarkably, though, the war’s immediate impact has actually
led to a relatively more stable regional status quo.

Dangerous Build-up

The wars of the early 1990s, in which newly independent Georgia and
Azerbaijan lost control of their Soviet-era ethnic minority regions,
became formative experiences for the two young nation-states. In both
countries, the popular nationalist narrative continues to promote the
"return" of the breakaway territories as a sine qua non of their
existence.

The republics’ post-Soviet economic recovery — fueled in part by
Western-sponsored Azerbaijani energy production exported via Georgian
transit routes — left them more confident about their ability to
revise the status quo in their favor. The subsequent political
transition in 2003, in which both countries replaced their Soviet-era
leaders, reinforced the conviction.

In Georgia, the "revolutionary" government of Mikhail Saakashvili
unseated the stability government of Eduard Shevardnadze. Saakashvili
moved to upgrade the Georgian military, raising its annual budget —
to $1 billion in 2007 — and, with it, the pressure on both South
Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev succeeded his dead father, Heydar Aliyev,
as president in the best traditions of Middle Eastern politics. But
even in the absence of a popular "color revolution," growing oil
revenues have led to a more hard-line approach with regard to the
Armenian-supported separatist province of Nagorno-Karabakh. As in
Georgia, the military budget grew — to close to $2 billion — and for
the past several years, hardly a week has passed without an
Azerbaijani official threatening a new war over the province.

There have been several escalations in recent years in all three
conflict areas, but things began to get increasingly out of hand in
the first half of 2008.

Georgia repeatedly sent its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly
over Abkhazia, eliciting flyovers and attacks by the Russian air
force. There were also bombing campaigns in Abkhazia and increased
mortar attacks and assassination attempts in South Ossetia.

In Karabakh, where — unlike Ossetia or Abkhazia — extensive trenches
and minefields forming a de facto border separate the two opposing
forces, the sides fought one of the deadliest skirmishes in
years. Azerbaijani aircraft also began flying closer to the Line of
Contact, apparently seeking to trigger an Armenian response.

By summer, conditions were ripe for escalation, and the smell of war
was in the air.

What Changed in August

When Georgia launched its attack on South Ossetia on Aug. 7, few could
have imagined the rapidity and intensity of the Russian response.

Speaking on the night of the attack, Assistant Secretary of State Dan
Fried said there was "no evidence" of Russian involvement, and that he
expected Russia to help "restrain" the Ossetian side.

In Azerbaijan, a spokesman for the foreign ministry welcomed the
Georgian operation, saying that it could chart a new course for
"resolving" the Karabakh conflict as well. But once Russia responded
to the Georgian operation with massive force, Azerbaijani officials
and pundits became unusually silent.

In the West, the response was one of surprise and anger.

"This decision to invade Georgia was . . . simply stupid," the State
Department’s Caucasus manager, Matt Bryza, told RFE/RL-Georgia a week
after the war.

Nevertheless, this "stupid" war helped restore Russia’s image as the
sole hegemon in the Caucasus.

In the past, Azerbaijan may have hoped for a "controlled" escalation
in Karabakh as a form of political pressure against Armenia. But
following the war in Georgia, the potential consequences of such an
escalation, if exploited by Moscow, became rather apparent.

Days after returning from the Beijing Olympics, Azerbaijan’s Aliyev
traveled to Moscow, where he assured Russian leaders of his
determination to resolve all conflicts by peaceful means. Soon after
that, he sat down with the presidents of Russia and Armenia to sign a
declaration pledging a political settlement to the Karabakh conflict.

On a visit to Armenia this fall, the State Department’s Fried conceded
to RFE/RL-Armenia that the "danger [of war in Karabakh] has somewhat
receded because [of] the war in Georgia."

The New Status Quo

"Saakashvili should get a Nobel peace prize for bringing Armenia and
Azerbaijan together," Georgian publisher Malkhaz Gulashvili wrote
recently, with no small amount of sarcasm.

But the Georgian president is unlikely to be so honored, either abroad
or in his own country. His gamble humiliated Georgia militarily and
resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians. With
the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia now formally recognized
by Russia, Georgia is left building new de facto borders around its
two former provinces.

While that makes another war much less likely in the foreseeable
future, there are less fortunate consequences of the new status quo as
well. In the words of the Georgian president, "[T]he reputation that
America has gained since the Cold War [has gone] to hell." As have
efforts to build democratic systems, to a certain degree, leaving
countries in the region more likely to favor the seemingly more
effective — and obviously more authoritarian — Russian political
model. Unless, that is, the United States or Europe offers new
credible alternatives.

Emil Sanamyan is Washington editor and bureau chief for the Armenian
Reporter.

Image: Map of the Caucasus (Wikimedia Commons image, licensed under
the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2).

aspx?id=3121

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Jan 2 2009

Armenian PM Defends Economic Policies In Face Of Global Crisis

The Armenian prime minister believes the set of measures foreseen by
the government will help Armenia cope with the negative consequences
and minimize the impact of the continuing economic crisis in 2009.

Tigran Sarkisian said more investments in infrastructure development
and several large projects to be launched by the state will provide
new jobs for people to offset possible redundancies elsewhere.

"We should essentially increase our spending in such directions as
infrastructure development, including road and housing construction,
rehabilitation efforts in the [1988 Spitak] earthquake area, projects
in the energy sector, irrigation and drinking-water-supply systems,
which coupled with a drastic increase in lending to small and
medium-sized enterprises will create new jobs," Sarkisian said in an
interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week.

"Besides we also plan to carry out several large projects that will
provide essentially help in dealing with the consequences of the
crisis," he continued. "These, in particular, include the construction
of the north-south highway with the assistance of the Asian
Development Bank, a program which has regional significance and is due
to be carried out jointly with Georgia, as well as the construction of
a new nuclear power plant, and the construction of an Iran-Armenia
railway. All these programs also imply the creation of new jobs."

Sarkisian also referred to some international evaluations, including
those made by Moody’s International ratings agency, predicting
stability for Armenia in the immediate future.

But he added: "All predictions made in the world today change every
week and it is conditioned by the circumstance that the global
financial and economic crisis is gathering new momentum and there is
no methodology or institution that would be able to make precise
predictions as to how long this crisis will last and what impact it
will have on developing countries. So, I think it would be more
correct if instead of spreading pessimistic sentiments, which by
itself creates negative expectations and deepens the crisis, we should
speak realistically."

Sarkisian concedes that Armenia is expected to end the year with a
tremendous foreign-trade deficit, with imports exceeding exports
nearly fourfold.

But he cited the example of the United States, which "in the past 28
years has imported more goods than it exported and by no means is
among the world’s worst economies."

"Naturally, Armenia has a very serious problem, that is, structural
readjustments are taking place, a new structure of the economy is
emerging, and we should be able to understand what the future of our
economic system is and what structure our economy should have,"
Sarkisian said.

"Many dream of the day when we will have a strong machine-building
sector, when we will manufacture and export goods like those in China
or India. But I think all realize well it is not a future for us," he
added. "Our strategy is to focus on an economy based on labor and
intellect rather than materials, which means that we should primarily
pay attention to the balance of payments, not the export of
commodities, but the export of services, and carrying out economic
activities not only in the territory of Armenia, but also in its
worldwide diaspora."

The prime minister is hopeful that Armenia will manage to carry out
successful reforms required for continued U.S. government aid under
the Millennium Challenge Account.

"We have, indeed, made pledges to our own people to make these
reforms, also in terms of forming a system of good governance. It is
not a secret that we do have numerous difficulties, such as
corruption, bribery, an ineffective governance system, low revenues,
the presence of more than a hundred thousand socially vulnerable
families, and we should overcome these difficulties also due to the
Millennium Challenge Account program," Sarkisian said.

"We are extremely grateful to our American partners for the technical
assistance that they have rendered to the Armenian government so that
we can overcome all these existing difficulties," he
added. "Therefore, we have developed a clear program, which has also
been appreciated by the Millennium Challenge Account office. And the
program of these measures has a timetable and people who is in charge
of ensuring its proper execution."

Government Reforms

Sarkisian also rejected allegations by some government critics that in
the past several months the central bank has reneged on its adopted
"floating" policy for currency exchange rates and has sought to keep
the national currency from depreciating against major world currencies
with financial interventions on the foreign-exchange market.

"Our concept that we have developed together with the International
Monetary Fund in 1993 implies that Armenia sticks to the so-called
"floating" exchange rate policy for its national currency, which means
that it is formed by the supply and demand existing on the market. We
have remained committed to this policy and will stay committed to it
in the future. We are not going to make artificial interventions in
the formation of the exchange rate because it is fraught with many
consequences," he emphasized.

Sarkisian also spoke in favor of creating equal conditions for
competition in the agricultural sector, though he said this would not
include protectionism. He also said that beginning next month, large
agricultural enterprises will have to pay value-added taxes like
enterprises in other sectors do.

"This strategy implies that agriculture, like in any country of the
world, should also be taxable," he said, noting that the sector has
been exempted from all taxes thus far.

The prime minister also reiterated the government commitment to fight
corruption and stressed the role of the active engagement of
civil-society organizations and opposition political parties in the
anticorruption measures.

"That’s why I urged all opposition political parties to have an active
participation in our anticorruption program, in particular through
monitoring, which is one of the key instruments," Sarkisian said,
adding that this control will essentially increase public faith in the
program and will raise its efficiency.

Rejecting Restrictions

Responding to the question about the state of democracy in Armenia in
a year that has seen plenty of criticism from various international
organizations of how Armenia has been handling its worst-ever internal
political crisis, Sarkisian said: "Freedom of speech, democratic
values do not imply that our country should be sliding into
chaos. Freedom of speech is not arbitrariness. People should also have
a sense of responsibility."

In particular, he responded to opposition claims that the authorities
restrict its freedom of assembly by refusing to provide space for its
political gatherings.

"We provide the government conference hall to organizations on a
contractual basis and if so, the rules stipulated by the contract must
be respected," he said. "We have added one point to our contract that
if an organization fails to observe the rules, then it does not get
the conference hall at the second time of asking. This is a democratic
approach…. If we do not respect our word ourselves, no one will
respect it."

Sarkisian also denied any political implications behind the
parliament’s decision to suspend the tenders for TV frequencies in
view of the mandatory digitalization of broadcasting in the
country. Government critics say the move is primarily aimed at
preventing A1+, a television station critical of the authorities, from
returning to the air after it was controversially pulled off in 2002.

Sarkisian said he regrets that the decision to postpone tenders for TV
frequencies has become a matter of political speculation.

"All international organizations with which I have dealt with
regarding this matter fully accept our reasons. Furthermore, we had no
alternative to this decision," he said. "We could not announce a
competition for two years because we have an international commitment
to achieve digitalization in the broadcasting sphere and time should
be given to the private sector to get ready for the tenders in which
this transition that we must complete within five years should be
considered."

The prime minister also disagrees that financial penalties against
Bjni, a leading mineral-water producer, are in any way linked to its
owner, pro-opposition lawmaker Khachatur Sukiasian, who has been in
hiding since the start of the government crackdown on opposition
members who backed to former President Levon Ter-Petrossian in the
February presidential election.

"I do not agree that there is any political persecution in this
case. But I agree that one must not be persecuted for political views,
especially in the economic sphere," he said. "As for Bjni, it is
obvious that the company made serious violations, evaded taxes. And I
would want you to focus on this issue in the first place. Didn’t it in
fact evade millions in taxes? It is essential to answer this question
and by answering it we will refrain from such political speculations.

"The exercise of tax control started a long time ago and it concerned
not only Bjni, but also other enterprises, including those working in
the same sphere. Such violations were found at many enterprises. But
unlike Bjni those enterprises admitted their fault and fulfilled their
tax obligations. Meanwhile, Bjni is trying to politicize the matter to
avoid fulfillment of obligations that it has toward the state budget,
which is inadmissible," the prime minister concluded.

Source: RFE/RL
By Anna Israelian, Ruben Meloyan
Friday, 2 January 2009

ARDSHININVESTBANK TO HAND PRIZES TO 30 WINNERS OF 2ND PHASE OF "ACTIVE CLIENT" ACTION IN FEBRUARY 2009

ARKA
Dec 29, 2008

YEREVAN, December 29. /ARKA/. Armenian Ardshininvestbank is to hand
presents and certificates to 30 winners of the second phase of "Active
Client" action in February 2009, Head of Remittance Department of
the bank Tigran Shahinyan said.

The action started in November this year, will be continued next year
and is to become a good tradition, he told journalists Saturday.

The action was held by the bank together with Contact international
money transfer system. The first stage of the action was held in the
period from November 15 to December 15. Desk clocks and soft toys
were presented to the first stage winners.

The second phase of the actions is to last till February 15.

Shahinyan said that all people who sent or received money
through Contact remittance system in November participated in the
action. Frequency of remittances was considered in selecting winners.

The action was held in all capital and regional departments of
Ardshininvestbank, Shahinyan said adding that the Contact system
operates mostly in CIS countries and transfers are made mainly by
labor migrants working in Russia.

Ardshininvestbank received its license on banking activities from the
Central Bank of Armenia on February 27, 2003. The main stockholders
of the bank are "Region" investment financial corpora tion (86.82%)
and the International Financial Corporation (10%).

Arshininvestbank is an affiliated member of MasterCard/Europay
international payment system and a stockholder of local transfer
system Armenian Card closed joint stock company As of the end of
September, the bank’s capital was 22.7bln Drams, assets 119.2bln Drams,
liabilities 94.5bln Drams, credit assets 79.8bln Drams and retained
profit 4.1bln Drams.

Currently, Ardshininvestbank is effecting private transfers also
through MoneyGram, Migom and Bistraya Pochta. The bank is cooperating
with a number of Russian banks, such as Promsvyazbank, Socgorbank,
For a bank and Sberbank.

The bank has 55 branches, including 6 branches in Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic and a representative office in Paris. ($1=308.42Drams).

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
Dec 24 2008

Ethnic Azeris to stand in Canada parliamentary election

24-12-2008 20:25:18

Ethnic Azerbaijanis will run for parliamentary elections to be held in
Canada in 2012, according to Aslan Khalidi, a member of the New
Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada.

Khalidi told reporters that the Azerbaijani communities had worked
together to nominate Azerbaijanis for the parliamentary election.

"Some Armenian members of the NDP have left the party as the number of
its Azerbaijani members has increased. Now, Armenians are beginning to
be represented in the Liberal Party of Canada," he said.

Khalidi said Canada`s citizens of Azerbaijani origin have to first
learn English in order to be represented in the country`s parliament.

Thirty-five members of the NDP are currently represented in the
Canadian parliament.

A1+

NEVERTHELESS, THERE WAS ONE GOOD THING THIS YEAR
[08:44 pm] 27 December, 2008

Head of the ruling parliamentary faction Galust Sahakyan believes that
the most important event of the year was that Armenia elected a
president who is dedicated, experienced and instills hope in the
people.

`The events of March 1 are the tension and the approach that left a
trace in our reality, especially since we had deaths,’ Sahakyan went
on to say.

Didn’t the events have anything to do with the most important event
mentioned, that is, the presidential elections? In response, Galust
Sahakyan said:

`The two have nothing to do with each other. One of them is the result
of political processes, while the results of the other were determined
by whim.’

Sahakyan expressed his great desire to pass a law on `chatterboxes’
next year. As a rule, the ruling party doesn’t like the active role of
the minority factions and it is foreseen that the bill is `targeted’
first of all against `Heritage’.

`Galust Sahakyan could not have made an allusion to us because
`Heritage’ has never gossiped and obviously hasn’t made any decisions
that would hurt our national interests and statehood,’ told `A1+’ head
of the `Heritage’ faction Armen Martirosyan.

Armen Martirosyan weighs the year as very bad in terms of elections
and post-election developments.

`I oppose the declaration of a state of emergency; I don’t accept the
events on the morning of March 1 initiated by the administration. I
think that the reputation of our country went down due to the
statements and decisions made by different notable international
organizations and to wrap things up, the statement made by the PACE
Monitoring Committee according to which Armenia will lose voting
rights if political prisoners are not released by January 27,’ said
Martirosyan. He added that the year was also bad taking into account
the developments of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the statements made
by the OSCE co-chairmen and different international organizations, as
well as the fact that Armenia’s positions and state interests are
rather weak.

Nevertheless, there was one positive thing this year for head of the
minority parliamentary faction:

`We really saw citizens fighting for their rights. We already have
citizens with a state mindset who must stand up for their statehood.’

ARMENIA TO CHANGE POSITION ON KARABAKH, BAKU SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.12.2008 15:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Agreement on Nagorno Karabakh has a fifty-fifty
chance to be signed, an Azeri political scientist said.

"The sides have advanced toward conclusion of an agreement on Madrid
principles. I think, next year will offer better opportunities for
conflict resolution," Rasim Musabekov said.

"At that same time, Armenia fell in complete dependence on its
strategic patron. There are some reasons to suppose that it can change
its position on the problem, which will be rated to instigation to
war," he said, 1news.az reports.