Author: Nalchajian Markos

2,8% GROWTH OF SUBSCRIBERS OF VIVACELL-MTS AS OF LATE 2009

ArmInfo
2010-01-25 11:16:00

ArmInfo. The number of subscribers of VivaCell-MTS in Armenia as
of late 2009 grew by 2,8% to 2,07 mln, as compared to late 2008,
the Company press service reports.

The subscriber base increased by 1,2% as compare to late November
2009. Total number of subscribers of MTS Group as of late 2009 made
up 97,81 mln, having increased by 7,1%, as compared to late 2008.

VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJSC) is one of the biggest taxpayers of
Armenia. The company renders mobile communication and wireless
Internet services.

Interfax, Russia
Jan 22 2010

Normalization talks could fail if Turkey does not change its policies
– Armenian official (Part 2)

YEREVAN Jan 22

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has said he does not rule
out that negotiations between his country and Turkey could end in a
failure.

"If Turkey is not ready to ratify the protocols, if it continues to
use the language of ultimatums, to set preconditions and to obstruct
the process, I do not rule out that our talks will be disrupted.
Although I do not want to make any predictions, I do not rule out any
possibilities," Nalbandian said at a news conference on Friday.

"I do not think that the international community will understand
Turkey’s attempts to shoulder the blame for the failed [negotiating]
process onto Armenia," the minister said.

"It is ridiculous to insist" that Armenia is dragging out the
normalization process with Turkey because Turkey itself has not made
any progress in the issue since October 2009, he said.

"We hope that Turkey will stay committed to the true letter and spirit
of the protocols and its obligations, and that it will agree to ratify
[the protocols] without any preconditions," Nalbandian said.

Armenia is ready to ratify these protocols without any preconditions,
the minister said.

All remarks made by Turkey that a ruling recently issued by the
Armenian Constitutional Court allegedly contains preconditions are
inappropriate and untrue, he said.

Armenian government approves business environment improvement program

YEREVAN, January 21. /ARKA/. Armenian government approved a business
environment improvement program on Thursday.

Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan, speaking at Thursday’s
cabinet meeting, said the program has already been discussed in
various concerned agencies.

`There are some problems with Yerevan municipality in those projects
related to digitalization of cadastre cards and provision of them to
investors. Terms of implementation create some problems as well. The
deadline is February 1, but it is proposed to postpone the completion
for March 1,’ the minister said.

However, Yeritsyan finds this postponement unreasonable, since, if so,
the steps will lose their urgency.

The single rules are planned to be set for tax accountability and
inspections as part of the program. -0—

AZERBAIJAN’S RULING PARTY: ARMENIA IS MORE INTERESTED IN APPROVING OF PROTOCOLS SIGNED WITH TURKEY

Trend
Jan 21 2010
Azerbaijan

The processes prove that Armenia is more interested in approving the
protocols signed in the Swiss city of Zurich and the opening of borders
with Turkey, New Azerbaijan Party deputy executive secretary said.

"Armenian Constitutional Court’s positive evaluation of the protocols
signed with Turkey testifies it," New Azerbaijan Party deputy executive
secretary, MP Mubariz Gurbanli said on the website of the party.

Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10.

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey were broken due
to Armenian claims of an alleged genocide and its occupation of
Azerbaijani lands. Their border closed in 1993.

According to Gurbanli, earlier Armenia said that it will submit
these protocols for discussion after their approval in the Turkish
Parliament. "But the course of events shows that occupier has receded
from their claims. All this shows that the most interested party in
the opening of the borders is Armenia. There are views that there
are forces opposing the protocols in this country among the Armenian
lobby. It is a clear example of the Armenian guile and hypocritical
policy on this issue ", deputy executive secretary said.

He said a few days ago the Turkish Parliament said that the border
will not open unless there is progress on Nagorno-Karabakh issue. "The
opening of borders would give a breath to Armenia, which is in a
difficult economic situation. But Turkey’s position in this matter
is clear," New Azerbaijan Party deputy executive secretary said.

Recalling the recent telephone conversations between foreign ministers
of Turkey and Armenia, Gurbanli thinks that the Armenian side has
implored Turkey. "Turkey retains its conditions concerning the border
opening. In general, there are serious processes in the region. These
processes also prove strengthening of Azerbaijan’s position ", he said.

New Azerbaijan Party was founded in 1992 by Azerbaijani National
Leader Heydar Aliyev. That time he was a chairman of Nakhchivan Supreme
Majlis. Now Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev heads the organization.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

SENIOR AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL: IT IS HARD TO MAKE ARMENIA WITHDRAW FROM NONCONSTRUCTIVE STANCE WITHOUT PRESSURE

Today
Jan 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Over the past two years, Russia, the United States and France have
been more active in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, senior official of
the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov said.

However, there is insufficient pressure on Yerevan , he said.

"Without pressure it is hard to make Armenia to withdraw from the
nonconstructive stance in the negotiations on settlement of the
conflict," Hasanov noted.

/Trend News/

URL:

CYPRUS MEDIA BOSS SHOT DEAD IN NICOSIA

Gibrahayer – Nicosia
Jan 10

(FinancialMirror.com and other sources) – Andis Hadjicostis, CEO of
the family-controlled Dias media group and Sigma TV, was gunned down
as he was leaving his home in the capital’s diplomatic neighbourhood
of Engomi on Monday night.
The murder took place just after 8:30pm, according to initial
police reports, that added on Tuesday morning that the gunman probably
killed Hadjicostis with a shotgun and not a revolver, as no bullet
shells were found.
Neighbours said they heard two shots, but no one saw the gunman
who got away. Reports suggested the killers lay in wait for
Hadjicostis and shot him as he got out of his vehicle. After firing
two shots which hit him in his chest and back, they fled the scene on
a motorcycle.
Police cordoned off the area, within walking distance from the
U.S., Russian, French and Egyptian embassies, while their searches
were focused on nearby fields from where the assailants escaped.
Politicians and community leaders alike condemned the murder of
the 41-year-old, credited with the creation of the Sigma TV station,
as well as modernising the media empire of radio stations, newspapers
and magazines founded by his father and current chairman, Costis
Hadjicostis. Sigma switched to classical music all evening, while all
other TV channels interrupted their programmes with special bulletins.
Tuesday’s newspaper headlines led on the murder, while the
group’s Simerini wrote `Cowardly murder – they killed Andis
Hadjicostis in cold blood’. In a front-page editorial, the newspaper
said `We will not submit to terrorism’.
Cypriot parliamentary speaker Marios Garoyian condemned the
killing. "He was a great person, a friend, a person who never harmed
anyone… We will not let lawlessness, crime or murders prevail. Our
democracy is strong enough to withstand all of this," Garoyian said.
Criminal activity targeting media figures in Cyprus is
extremely rare. Police did not say what the motive for the killing may
have been but said the investigation was still at an early stage.

RA VICE PRIME MINISTER AND UAE MINISTER OF NATURE PROTECTION DISCUSS COOPERATION IN AGRICULTURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.01.2010 17:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the framework of the World Future Energy Summit
RA Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration
Armen Gevorgyan met the Minister of Nature Protection Rashid Ahmad
Bin Fahadi.

Cooperation possibilities of both countries were discussed during the
meeting. The officials tuched upon the possibility of agricultural
products’ export.

RA Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan spoke about investment
opportunities in the field of agricultural production in Armenia.

Armen Gevorgyan invited Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad to visit Armenia.

ARMENIAN GUNMAN SHOT WHILE TRYING TO CROSS OVER CONTACT LINE TOWARDS AZERBAIJAN’S FUZULI REGION

APA
Jan 20 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA. An Armenian gunman was shot dead
while trying to cross over the contact line towards Fuzuli region
of Azerbaijan.

His identity has not been confirmed yet, local residents told APA.

The Armenian gunman didn’t pay attention to the warning of Azerbaijani
soldiers and was shot dead by a sniper. His body was taken to the
military hospital of Fuzuli region. A gun was found near him during
the examination, but it has not been specified yet whether he was a
civilian or militant.

Press service of the Defense Ministry was not available to confirm
the report.

TURKEY FRUSTRATED WITH GENOCIDE REFERENCE BY ARMENIA COURT
Fulya Ozerkan

Hurriyet Daily News
rustrated-with-genocide-reference-in-armenia-court -reasoning-2010-01-19
Jan 19 2010
Turkey

Foreign Ministry sources say the reference in an Armenian court
decision to a declaration rejecting even the questioning of the 1915
killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire is against
the essence of the normalization process with Yerevan

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian (l) and Ahmet Davutoglu
(2nd from right) at after signing the protocols.

A top Armenian court’s reference to the 1915 killings of Armenians in
its reasoned decision about the constitutionality of protocols that
could pave the way for diplomatic relations with Turkey has drawn
ire from Ankara.

"It has been observed that this decision contains preconditions and
restrictive provisions that impair the objective and spirit of the
protocols," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement
late Monday. "This approach cannot be accepted on our part."

The Armenian court’s Jan. 12 decision established that the protocols
with Turkey conform to the country’s constitution, but Article 5 of
its six-page reasoned decision makes reference to Armenia’s Declaration
of Independence in a way that has provoked Turkey.

"The RA Constitutional Court also finds that the provisions of the
Protocol on Development of Relations between the Republic of Armenia
and the Republic of Turkey cannot be interpreted or applied in the
legislative process and application practice of the Republic of
Armenia as well as in the interstate relations in a way that would
contradict the provisions of the Preamble to the RA Constitution and
the requirements of Paragraph 11 of the Declaration of Independence
of Armenia," read the non-official English translation of the court’s
reasoning.

More precisely, the court decision stipulated that the agreement must
not contradict Paragraph 11 of the Declaration of Independence, which
is the section that angered Ankara. It states, "The Republic of Armenia
stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition
of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."

Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said the court’s reference to a
declaration rejecting even the questioning of the 1915 killings of
Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire is against the essence
of the normalization process with Yerevan.

The protocols signed between the foreign ministers of Turkey and
Armenia in Zurich in October 2009 included the establishment of
a sub-commission to look into the 1915 events. Ankara now says
the Armenian court’s reasoning contradicts fundamental aspects of
the protocols and is putting a precondition on normalization of
Turkish-Armenian relations.

"Turkey, in line with its accustomed allegiance to international
commitments, maintains its adherence to the primary provisions of the
protocols. We expect the same allegiance from the Armenian government,"
the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

Karabakh link

Another source of uneasiness in Ankara is Article 4 of the court
reasoning, which stipulates that the mutual obligations being
undertaken by the protocols are under the principles of international
law, exclusively of a bilateral interstate nature and cannot concern
any third party. That provision is interpreted as a neutralization of
Turkey’s linking the opening of the border with Armenia to a solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

"We have launched a process of normalization in relations with
Armenia and in good faith taken steps that include the signing of
the protocols," Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told the
Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "We have often expressed our
views about what the necessary conditions are for the maintenance of
peace and stability in the Caucasus."

The Turkish government submitted the protocols to Parliament, but they
have not been submitted for ratification because they depend on the
progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh territorial conflict. This conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan was tied to the normalization process
after Turkish leaders warned it would be hard to pass the protocols
without any progress toward a resolution to the Karabakh issue. Ankara
says the ball is in Armenia’s court now.

Burcu Gultekin Punsmann, a Caucasus expert at the Turkish think
tank TEPAV, said the diplomatic agreements were a product of
consensus between the states concerned and argued that the Armenian
constitutional court’s reasoning was putting limits on points for
which the sides had already reached an agreement.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and their border has
been closed since 1993, after Armenia’s invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Azerbaijani territory. The foreign ministers of both countries
signed two protocols in October 2009 in Zurich. The first, covering the
establishment of diplomatic relations, and the second, on the further
development of bilateral relations, are accompanied by an annex that
sets a clear timetable for the implementation of both protocols.

Armenian party slams Ankara’s reaction as ‘factitious’

An official from the ruling Armenian Republican Party has called the
Turkish Foreign Ministry’s reaction to the Armenian court reasoning a
"factitious" excuse to delay the signing of the protocols, the Anatolia
news agency reported Tuesday.

The party group’s secretary in parliament, Eduard Å~^armazanov, said
the court would not take any steps that contradict the country’s
constitution.

Armenia’s Democratic Party leader, Aram Sarkisian, said the court
decision was correcting the mistakes made by the Armenian Foreign
Ministry. "Turkey could slow down the negotiations and even reject
the protocols," the news agency quoted him as saying. "We need to
understand that we should act in line with our country’s interests."

EUROPE MUST SUPPORT KARABAKH AND PEACE
Nicolas Tavitian

AGBU Europe Campaign
Jan 18, 2010

International co-operation and conflict resolution are among the
European Union’s core values. The reconciliation between France and
Germany after World War II is the ultimate reference in conflict
transformation, and served as inspiration for many an attempt at
resolving disputes since 1991.

Then, as now, the European institutions combined economic development
with international cooperation to promote understanding between
nations. Today, the EU funds projects everywhere in Europe and in its
neighbourhood, including in conflict areas. It is particularly keen
on promoting cooperation across borders in all regions of Europe,
including in the fractious Balkans, in Cyprus or between Greece and
Turkey for instance. With creditable single-mindedness, the EU has
promoted humanitarian or development assistance in conflict zones.

In conflict areas, the Union also promotes "confidence-building"
initiatives and programmes aimed at supporting the civilian populations
who suffered from conflicts and their aftermath.

In Ossetia and Abkhazia, for instance, millions have been spent on
economic assistance. After the war of August 2008 between Georgia
and Russia, the EU redoubled its support with reconstruction and
humanitarian assistance [1].

In sum, Europe is present everywhere in Europe. Except in Karabakh.

Since the end of the war over the territory, in 1994, the European
Union has accepted no contact with the authorities of Karabakh or
with its civil society, has granted absolutely no humanitarian or
economic support to Karabakh and has authorized no confidence-building
measures. The EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus,
Peter Semneby, has never been to Karabakh, though he regularly travels
to Sukhumi (Abkhazia) and to Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). Two republics
which EU Member States do not recognize as independent countries any
more than they recognize Karabakh.

Since the war, Azerbaijan’s approach has been to blockade Karabakh and
exclude it from negotiations about its own future. But Azerbaijan’s
policy of isolating Karabakh is neither effective nor justifiable. If
Azerbaijan is serious about conflict resolution, it will have to
accept to talk with the leadership of Karabakh proper and to engage
in confidence-building between the societies of Azerbaijan and of
Karabakh.

[The] Azerbaijani army and society should be ready to liberate our
lands from occupants any time in every possible way. Heydar Aliyev,
President of Azerbaijan. 25, December, 2009 Yet the EU itself is
acting as if it had joined this boycott, in stark contradiction with
its values and practices in almost every other part of the world.

Isolating Karabakh is an ineffective policy from the point of view of
conflict resolution and reconciliation; it is also immoral. It is now
universally recognized that populations should not be held hostage to
international conflict. It is this logic which has led the Union to
provide support to populations, regardless of their country’s regime.

The EU even funded humanitarian aid in such pariah states as Iraq
under Saddam Hussein, in Myanmar and in North Korea as well as in
non recognized states such as Transnistria, Kosovo and many others.

In stark contrast with EU policy, the USA, for one, do provide
humanitarian aid to projects in Karabakh. The US Congress voted a
new budget of 8 million in December 2009.

The argument in favour of engaging with Karabakh and its society
is overwhelming and AGBU Europe is now running a campaign urging
the European institutions to establish contact with the leadership
in Karabakh without waiting any longer and to provide humanitarian
assistance to the people of Karabakh.

The organisation is also calling upon the EU to promote
confidence-building measures between Armenians in Karabakh and Azeris.

Without such confidence-building measures, the Minsk Group peace
negotiations are unlikely to bring about a lasting peace, regardless
of the skill or imagination of the diplomats involves.

Additionally, in view of the threats of war repeatedly made by
the leadership of Azerbaijan, AGBU also calls upon the European
institutions to consider deploying a presence on the contact line
between the Armenian and Azeri soldiers. This should help prevent
the resumption of a war.

AGBU began its work in support of Karabakh at EU level in 2008. The
organisation hosted the first visit by NK representatives to the EU
institutions since 1999. It has also recently had the opportunity to
hold a round table to bring to the attention of EU decision-makers
the numerous instances of destruction of Armenian heritage which have
recently taken place in Azerbaijan.

Raising these concerns has already borne some fruit. The European
Commission organized an informal meeting bringing together
representatives of civil society in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Karabakh
and it is currently studying measures to be set in place to help
promote exchanges between Armenians and Azeris. But much remains to
be done and AGBU Europe calls on all people of goodwill to contribute
to disseminating its message to decision-makers in EU Member States.

Of all "non-recognized" territories in Europe, Karabakh has suffered
the most from a brutal repression, from the war, and from a 17-year
blockade. It deserves the humanitarian support of the European Union
and will obtain it, if its case is made.

1. A complete, official report on the subject is available at:
ov09.doc