Author: Navasardian Karapet

OSCE PA CHAIRMAN EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE THAT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA WILL CORRESPOND TO HIGHEST STANDARDS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 05 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The growth of OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly’s interest in the region in the recent period was mentioned
at the February 5 meeting of RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Chairman Goran Lennmarker who is in
Armenia on a regional visit. NT was informed about it from RA Foreign
Ministry Press and Information Department.

At the meeting they touched upon the Nagorno Karabakh settlement. In
this connection G.Lennmarker attached importance to formation of
an atmosphere of confidence, to which Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s
involvement in EU New Neighborhood Policy and implementation of joint
programs will contribute.

The interlocutors also touched upon the parliamentary elections to
be held in May in Armenia. OSCE PA Chairman expressed confidence that
the elections will correspond to the highest standards.

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`FREEDOM TO ZHIRAYR SEFILYAN AND VARDAN MALKHASYAN’
[06:23 pm] 02 February, 2007

more images A number of citizens participated in a
protest action in protection of Zhirayr Sefilyan and
Vardan Malkhasyan. They walked from the Chamber music
hall towards the Government building. They are
accompanied policemen the number of which was hardly
less their own. The participants of the action sang
patriotic songs and cried out `Freedom to Zhirayr and
Vardan’. Reaching the Government building they stood
with their backs to it.

Brother of Zhirayr Toros Sefilyan was also present at
the meeting. He said that he has seen his brother
twice, and all is well with him. Toros Sefilyan wanted
to meet Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan, but `they
have kept me waiting for a week’.

Founder of `Union of volunteers’ Samvel Haroutyunyan
announced that the suit is not against Vardan
Malkhasyan and Zhirayr Sefilyan: it is against the
wishes of the Armenian martyrs and our national
dignity. `We have had more than 6000 martyrs in the
Artsakh war. They wanted to have a free, independent
and powerful Armenia’.

According to him, Sefilyan’s arrest testifies to the
fact that the authorities are going to be re-elected
on May 12 Parliamentary elections. `We announce that
we are not going to allow that. We will prevent that
anti-national action’, Samvel Haroutyunyan claimed.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian Genocide recognition factor can become a tool to pressure for Armenia
01.02.2007 18:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The resolution of recognizing the Armenian Genocide
by the U.S. Congress does not mean anything and does not change
anything itself. It does not have power of law, said director of
Caucasian Media Institute, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan
during an interview to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist. In his words,
the resolution is just a call, which makes initiate some changes. `The
Armenian Genocide recognition factor can become a tool to exert
pressure for Armenia. Armenia is a tiny nation and it cannot influence
on Turkey but it can do that through the U.S.A.,’ he stressed.

The Armenian political scientist also said that Armenian policy on
Turkey should be `not from down to up, as it is now, but from up to
down.’ `We must be concerned with the events in the neighboring
country, welcome all positive changes and wish it not only as
Armenians, but also as Europeans, as members of the Council of
Europe. We must understand and try to help. Let’s just imagine what a
difficult way Turkey must cover on the way of democracy, freedom of
speech and human rights protection. For Armenia it is important not
Turkey’s membership to the European Union, but the process of it. The
same concerns and the borders: not the opening of borders, but talks
over it. Once I have said, that we should swing the carrot in the form
of EU membership in front of Turkey’s nose and now I repeat it,’
stressed the Armenian political scientist.

HEADS OF YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS MENTION IMPORTANCE OF INCREASE OF ROLE OF
YOUTH IN POLICY

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, NOYAN TAPAN. "During the four years after the
last elections, the youth essencially activized its activity within
the framework of the Republican Party of Armenia." Karen Avagian, the
head of the RPA youth branch stated about it at the February 1
discussion, dedicated to the role of youth in the policy.

He assured that the yough wing of the party will have the most active
participation in the pre-electoral campaign. K.Avagian stated that
during the recent few years the number of young members of the RPA
considerably added what is provided by the high auhtority of the
party. In his words, the number of youth in the RPA at the moment is
about 20 per cent.

Samvel Farmanian, the head of the "Orinats Yerkir" (Country of Law)
party youth wing express anxiety with many unsettled social problems
of the youth. In his words, many young people leave Armenia because of
absence of work. He mentioned that the "Orinats Yerkir" party attaches
much importance to solution of social problems of the youth as well as
holding of reforms in the sphere of higher education. In his words,
the quality of the ruling elite is the cause of many problems in
Armenia. At the same time, S.Farmanian considered uncorrect the
question about the issue if fall of the quality of the ruling elite is
connected with the "Orinats Yerkir" party’s leaving the coalition.

Hayk Asatrian, the head of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun youth wing expressed
his anxiety on the issue that "the youth is not a politically mature
force," what gives possibility to some politicians to use the youth as
an instrument in the policy what is inadmissible.

All the three participants of the discussion assured that the youth
will occupy its worthy place in the proportional lists of the
mentioned parties.

Russia’s relations with Armenia are of strategic nature

ArmRadio.am
01.02.2007 17:16

Russia has strategic relations with Armenia, President of the Russian
Federation Vladimir Putin stated at today’s press conference. `We have
very stable, trustworthy relations with Armenia, which are of
strategic nature. Nevertheless, Armenia pay for gas in market
prices,’ said the Russian President. He noted that market prizes do
not distort the good relations with Armenia.

`We are building partnership relations with everyone. Of course, we
have closer relations with some countries, for example, with the CIS
as a whole. However, there are problems here. For instance, we do not
manage to normalize our relations with Georgia,’ Vladimir Putin
noted. At the same time he expressed hope that the return of the
Russian Ambassador to Tbilisi will become the first step on the way of
resuming the relations with the country.

NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands
Feb 1 2007

Bot: Turkey Not Involved In Election Of D66 MP

THE HAGUE, 02/02/07 – Foreign Minister Ben Bot is convinced that the
Turkish government was not involved in the distribution of an email
calling on Turks in the Netherlands to vote for centre-left D66 MP
Fatma Koser Kaya in the 22 November general elections.

TV programme NOVA reported in December that the Turkish government
called on Turks in the Netherlands via e-mail to vote for Koser Kaya,
who is of Turkish origin. According to NOVA, an e-mail bombardment
was sent one day before the elections to Turkish organisations in the
Netherlands from the Turkish general affairs ministry, by an advisor
of the Turkish Religious Affairs Minister.

The e-mail called on the electorate to vote for Koser Kaya because
D66 "is the only party that does not recognise the Armenian question
as genocide," NOVA reported. Apparently, the email was successful, as
Koser Kaya was the only one of the 150 MPs elected thanks to
preference votes.

Following the allegations, Bot requested clarification from Turkey.
Yesterday he wrote in reply to questions from conservative (VVD) MP
Hans van Baalen that the author of the email must have been a Turk
living in the Netherlands, who used an American internet forum. The
Turkish government has guaranteed that it was not responsible for the
email campaign, although it will investigate the matter further,
stated Bot.

Armenpress

ARMENIAN TAXMAN ATTRIBUTES GROWTH TO IMPROVED
ADMINISTRATION

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, ARMENPRESS; Armenia’s state
taxation services attributed a 27 percent rise in the
volume of collected taxes last year against the
previous 2005 to improved administration. Overall
229.7 billion drams in taxes were collected in 2006.
Robert Kocharian, a deputy head of the state
taxation service, said progress was reported also in
the structure of collected taxes. Particularly, the
share of direct taxes-income and profit taxes, grew.
Robert Kocharian said the state taxation service
has designed a plan of actions to continue the
crackdown on shadow sector. ‘Economic growth and
improved tax administration are the best evidence of
our work,’ he said

Panorama.am

19:36 29/01/2007

INDEPENDENT DEPUTY SAYS HE MAY NOT TOLERATE ATMOSPHERE IN NA

`Recently people are asking me to run for elections. It is a question
whether I will participate. It is very likely that people like me
cannot tolerate the reality currently created at the National Assembly
and the next assembly,’ Tatul Manaseryan, NA independent deputy, told
Panorama.am.

Speaking about the opinion that opposition must form blocks around
ideological similarities, Manaseryan said, `I do not like such
artificial statements. We must become the owners of our country. We do
not need artificial ideas. The people want to see who will lead them
to a more prosperous life. It is not correct to see who is
pro-American and who is pro-Russian.’

Source: Panorama.am

PROJECT FOR BUILDING OIL REFINERY IN MEGRI HAS YET TO BE CONSIDERED,
WHILE THE FIGURES REPORTED BY MASS MEDIA ARE STRONGLY EXAGGERATED

Yerevan, January 29. ArmInfo. The project for building an oil refinery
in Megri, Armenia, has yet to be considered, while the figures reported
by some local mass media are strongly exaggerated, says the spokesman
of the Armenian President Viktor Sogomonyan.

The Armenian side has yet to negotiate the project with the Russian and
Iranian sides. They have yet to decide how to use the refined oil.

To remind, Russian sources have reported that Gazprom Neft is going to
build an oil refinery in Armenia and an oil pipeline Iran-Armenia. The
total cost of the project is $1.7bln + $1bln more on infrastructure.

Reuters, UK
Jan 28 2007

Attackers stone Turkish church

Sun 28 Jan 2007 15:32:31 GMT

ISTANBUL, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Unidentified attackers threw stones at a
church in the northern Turkish town of Samsun on Sunday in the latest
attack on Christians in predominantly Muslim Turkey, Anatolian news
agency said.

Windows were broken but Mehmet Orhan Picakcilar, a priest at the
Agape Church, was quoted as saying there were no casualties.

"This does damage to Turkey. This attack depicts Turkey in a bad way
before international public opinion," Picakcilar said.

The attack happened hours after a nationalist protester with a
handgun made a brief attempt to hijack a commuter ferry in the
Dardanelles strait on Saturday.

Passengers said he had been angered by pro-Armenian sentiment in
Turkey after the Jan. 19 killing of the Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant
Dink, which prompted large pro-Armenian protests.

Growing nationalism among young people from Turkey’s Black Sea towns
has come under the spotlight since the teenager suspected of killing
Dink and his alleged supporters were found to have come from the town
of Trabzon.

A Catholic priest was killed in his church in Trabzon last February
by a Turkish teenager. The killing was believed to have been part of
protests in Islamic countries against cartoons in Danish newspapers
that mocked Prophet Mohammad.

Christians in secular Turkey — Armenians, Greeks, Syriacs,
Catholics, some Evangelical denominations and Jehovah’s Witnesses —
make up less than one percent of the country’s 72 million people.

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