TIGRAN PETROSYAN – THE CHAMPION OF IRAN
ArmRadio.am
09.01.2007 13:29
Within "Rahahan" club Armenian chess player Tigran L. Petrosyan
achieved champion’s title in the club chess tournament of Iran,
Armenpress was told at the Armenian Chess Federation.
ARMENIAN, AZERI FOREIGN MINISTERS TO MEET IN MOSCOW ON 23 JANUARY
Mediamax news agency, Armenia
Jan 9 2007
Yerevan, 9 January: Under a preliminary agreement, the next meeting
between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Vardan
Oskanyan, and Elmar Mammadyarov, will be held in Moscow on 23 January,
the Armenian foreign minister told a news conference today.
To recap, the last meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
foreign ministers took place on 14 November 2006 in Brussels.
ARMENIA POSTS RECORD-HIGH TRADE DEFICIT
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 8 2007
Armenia’s external trade deficit reached a new record-high level
last year, surpassing the $1 billion mark due to flat exports and
a stagnant manufacturing sector, according to government statistics
reported on Monday.
Official figures cited by the Regnum news agency show the country’s
net imports soaring by almost 21 percent to $1.95 billion in the first
eleven months of 2006. Armenian exports stood at just $895 million,
0.3 percent up from the same period in 2005.
The widening trade deficit reflects a 1.2 percent drop in industrial
output that was registered by the Armenian government from January
through November. By contrast, Armenia’s Gross Domestic Product as
a whole was on track to grow by over 13 percent in 2006. The robust
growth is largely driven by the booming construction and services
sectors.
The government has repeatedly blamed the negative manufacturing trend
on a continuing downturn in the global trade in refined diamonds,
one of Armenia’s main export items. The Armenian diamond industry
remained largely stagnant as a result.
Some local economists say the lack of growth in the already modest
exports is the result of dramatic appreciation of the Armenian dram,
which has gained as much as 40 percent in value against the U.S.
dollar over the past three years. The Armenian Central Bank says the
dram has been bolstered by a similarly steep rise in cash remittances
sent home by hundreds of thousands of Armenians working abroad.
This explanation is dismissed by opposition politicians and economists
critical of the government. They accuse the authorities of exchange
rate manipulation, a charge strongly denied by the latter.
The official figures also show that the European Union remains
Armenia’s number one trading partner, accounting for 34.4 percent of
its $2.85 billion commercial exchange during the 11-month period. It
rose by 13 percent in absolute terms.
The volume of Armenia’s trade with Russia, its closest ally, was
again far more modest: $376.8 million or 13.2 percent of the total.
The National Statistics Service also registered a 4 percent fall
in U.S.-Armenian trade which totaled $152.6 million during the
same period.
Why India’s import pipelines have remained pipe dreams?
Submitted by aftababedin on Sun, 2007-01-07 12:26. Indian Muslims, CA
By Bhamy V. Shenoy
In less than 10 years from conceptualisation to start-up, the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline of 1,760 km and the Shah Deniz Gas
Pipeline of about 1,000 km have been built in the Caucasus. In India,
for more than 20 years we have been talking about gas pipelines from
Qatar, Iran, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Not one has been
built. Not even one is on the drawing board.
Millions of rupees have been spent on endless number of feasibility
studies.
Even more important, precious time to diversify energy sources for
national security has been lost. India should be able to learn from
the experience of building these pipelines in the Caucasus.
As the West learnt that there was billions of oil to be exploited
beneath Caspian Sea, a New Great Game started.
The old Great Game played in Central Asia was to get access and rule
India.
The New Great Game was to divert the black gold to Western markets
avoiding Russian territory and Iran.
There were many complications in the development of an oil pipeline to
transport oil from Azerbaijani section of Caspian Sea to the
market. The shortest pipeline would have been to build a pipeline
through Iran. Because of the US trade embargo, it was ruled out.
The second would have been to expand the existing pipeline through
Russian territory and move crude oil over the Black Sea.
That would have crowded narrow Bosphorous, which was already
congested. The third alternative would have been to build a pipeline
from Azerbaijan to Armenia to Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
Since Turkey and Armenia had the historical baggage of genocide of
Armenians by Turkey, that was ruled out. That left the only other
alternative of constructing a pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan to
Tbilisi in Georgia and Ceyhan in Turkey.
Since this pipeline had to be built over the mountains at an altitude
of 2,930m and also environmentally sensitive area of Borjomi where
Georgia’s famous mineral water springs exist, many experts used to
claim that constructing a pipeline was technically not possible.
There were also several political problems.
Russia wanted Caspian oil to move through its territory for
geopolitical reasons. The US and European Union (EU) wanted to ensure
that crude oil does not move through any state controlled by or
friendly with Russia.
There were doubts about political stability of Georgia. Since the
pipeline in Georgia is buried close to Armenia and in Turkey close to
Kurdish area, there is always the potential of sabotage.
People in Georgia are very poor and there is every likelihood of oil
being stolen.
In fact today, there are many instances of oil pilferage in Georgia
from another smaller pipeline from Baku to Supsa on the Black Sea.
There were 11 oil companies investing in the construction of the
pipeline.
Some of them like BP, Total and Statoil with deep pockets could easily
finance the full amount of $3.6 billion. Still they wanted to borrow
money from the World Bank, EBRD and other private banks to ensure
smooth operations and avoid any political interference.
International NGOs were also involved to ensure social justice to the
poor living along the pipeline route both in Georgia and
Azerbaijan. Protests by environmental NGOs were fierce throughout the
construction of the pipeline despite all the precautions taken by the
lead company BP. As a consultant to Georgian government I was involved
in some of these discussions.
Despite all the obstacles, this historical oil pipeline was completed
in 2005 and started to function this year.
Parallel to the route of oil pipeline, another gas pipeline called
Shah Deniz gas pipeline is being constructed and will be ready before
the end of this year. This must be a record for the oil industry.
After finding gas reserves in 1999, gas production will start flowing
within seven years to its market in Georgia and Turkey.
Countries like Qatar, Iran and Turkmenistan surround India with huge
gas reserves on the west and Bangladesh and Myanmar on the east.
Many MOUs have been signed with each of these countries for buying
gas. But no project has materialised so far. Like in the case of BTC
and Shah Deniz, the US has been involved with Bangladesh pipeline, but
not in an active way.
For the Caucasus pipeline, the US even created a special office to
promote these pipelines.
Private companies like in the case of BTC and Shah Deniz mostly own
the gas reserves to the east of India.
But what is missing is some institution like the US government to give
not just the political support but also financial backing.
Though it had the need for its own gas reserves, Azerbaijan did not
like to keep them for its own use unlike Bangladesh. Also, the
Bangladesh politics is preventing signing any kind of contract with
India to sell its own gas reserves. It is also not allowing transit
routes to Myanmar gas.
Problems are of different kind on the western front.
Laying pipeline from gas rich Qatar to India is very expensive
economically.
Unlike the pipelines in Caucasus, protecting the pipeline under the
sea from any potential sabotage is not easy.
Another factor is that the government companies involved on both sides
do not have the entrepreneurial background to find solutions to
several problems that will come up on a complex project like this.
In BTC and Shah Deniz, BP and other private oil companies were very
keen on monetising their oil and gas reserves. It is missing in the
case of Qatar, Iran and Turkmenistan. It is the national oil
companies, which are involved on both the sides with bureaucrats
trying to negotiate the contractual terms.
It is high time India tries to bring in the talents of private oil
companies to negotiate by giving them a chance to invest in the
project. Otherwise our pipelines will remain pipe dreams for years to
come.
(Bhamy V. Shenoy is an international energy expert. He can be
contacted at [email protected])
IranMania News, Iran
Jan 2 2007
Iran’s Armenians celebrate New Year 2007
Monday, January 01, 2007 – ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, January 1 (IranMania) – Iran’s Armenian Christian community
held a ceremony at Sarkis church Sunday night to celebrate New Year
2007, IRNA reported.
According to estimates, nearly 200,000 Christians are living in Iran.
Archbishop of Tehran Sebu Sarkissian felicitated the New Year and
wished success and health for the Christians.
He called for establishment of peace and tranquility throughout the
world.
During the ceremony, special prayers were said and religious songs
were played.
At the end of the ceremony, New Year’s bread was distributed among
large number of Iranian Armenians attending the celebration.
The Armenian community goes to churches in Iran on the first day of
January and the Archbishop says New Year prayers.
–Boundary_(ID_/zE1wMnc1G4Zy5UJVVZjHg)–
"The truth about Cyprus" is a lie
Israelinsider.com
By Argyros George Argyrou January 1, 2007
The article "The truth about Cyprus" by Rachel Salomon is a complete
pack of unsubstantiated lies and Turkish hate-filled propaganda that
the gullible Salomon who, as she has admitted, is working for the
Turkish government, has fallen for hook, line and sinker.
In paragraph two Salomon falsely claims that the British allowed
Greeks to settle in Cyprus in 1879. This is a lie since Cyprus has
been a Greek island for over 3,500 since Mycenaean times and Greeks
have always lived on the island continuously until the present day. Up
until 1879 only 5% of the population of the island was Turkish
speaking and the rest were Greeks. This Turkish speaking population
was mainly the result of forced conversions of the island’s Latin
communities to Islam. From the time when they took control of the
island in 1879, the British, in order to implement a policy of divide
and conquer, imported thousands of mainland Turks to work for them and
this brought the Turkish speaking population up to 18%. There was
never a Turkish quarter of Nicosia for any Greeks to march
through. What is now the Turkish quarter of Nicosia is what was
originally the Armenian quarter until Turkish terrorists ethnically
cleansed the Armenians and occupied their homes in the early 1960’s.
Greek patriotic songs were not about slaughter but about freedom from
brutal Turkish oppression. Christians in the Ottoman empire were
treated as second class citizens and had to pay extortionate taxes
including a Child Tax where their children — boys and girls — were
taken as slaves to be converted to Islam and forced to serve out the
rest of their lives in the Sultan’s army or harem. In 1923 Turkey was
forced to renounce all claim to Cyprus by the Lausanne Treaty and all
Turks in Cyprus were supposed to have been repatriated to Turkey.
The constitution that the British imposed on Cyprus in 1960 violated
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by giving the 18% Muslim
minority unjustifiable privileges and through institutional
discriminations against the Greek Cypriot Christian majority and
treating them as second class citizens. The Muslim minority was
effectively treated as if it made up 50% of the population and given
de facto rule of Cyprus through an undemocratic blanket right of veto
which they used to paralyze the government.
After President Makarios announced his decision to make 13 amendments
to this unviable and undemocratic constitution to bring it in line
with Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Muslim minority pulled
out of the government and began a violent armed rebellion and campaign
of terror with Turkish weapons and explosives secretly smuggled into
Cyprus by Turkey with the help of members of the British army and the
Americans, their NATO allies. They immediately began attacking police
officers and police stations and taking people hostage in December of
1963.
Contrary to Rachel Salomon’s lies in paragraph six, the Akritas Plan
was not about annihilating the Turkish Cypriots but was about how to
reform the racist constitution while preserving peace on the island,
in a civilized manner, which was being threatened by the recent
discovery that arms and explosives had been supplied by Turkey and
Britain to Muslim extremists who were members of the TMT terrorist
organization founded by Rauf Denktash in the 1950’s which attacked
both Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike in order to drive them apart.
This violence, which the United Nations Security Council attributed to
illegal Turkish aggression in violation of Article 2 Paragraph 4 of
the UN Charter, resulted in the death of 350 Turkish Muslim terrorists
and 200 Greek policemen and civilians, not 600 innocent Turkish
Cypriot men, women, and children as Salomon falsely claims.
In 1965 the UN Secretary General Galo Plaza noted in the Galo Plaza
report on the violence that the Turks wished to ethnically cleanse the
Greek Cypriot majority which made up 82% of the population and owned
90% of the land and property on the island from their homes in the
north and turn it into a purely Turkish state. To this end they began
withdrawing into Turkish-only enclaves under TMT intimidation and
seized and fortified the Armenian quarter of Nicosia from which they
burst out and captured the Nicosia-to-Kyriania main highway to use as
a bridgehead for a Turkish invasion, which was prevented by
intervention from US president Lyndon Johnson.
Paragraphs 8, 9 and 10 are complete and utter hate-filled lies. The
objective of coup against Makarios in 1974 planned by the American CIA
who Nicos Sampson was working for and its objective was to partition
Cyprus between Greece and Turkey by giving the Turks a base in the
north, something which Makarios would not allow.
Paragraphs 12 is another total fabrication. Over 200,000 Greek
Cypriots who made up over 82% of the populations were brutally
ethnically cleansed from their homes in the north through barbaric
acts committed by invading Turkish forces as is shown by the first two
reports of the European Commission of Human Rights, "Turkey’s invasion
in Cyprus and aftermath (20 July 1974 – 18 May 1976)" and "Turkey’s
invasion in Cyprus and aftermath (19 May 1976 – 10 February 1983)".
Rachel Salomon’s comments likening the Greek Cypriots to Adolf
Hitler’s Mein Kampt and The Nazi Final Solution are truly disgusting
and downright lies. Mustafa Kemal’s genocide over 1.5 million
Armenians, 2 million Greeks and 500,000 indigenous Assyrians in
Asia-Minor was the inspiration of Hitler’s decision to exterminate the
Jews and this genocide has been continued against the Greek Cypriots
in Cyprus since, unlike Germany, Turkey has never recognized or been
made to pay the price for its crimes against humanity. Views
expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of
israelinsider.
IN 2006, "BANK ANELIK" BEST OF ALL COOPERATED WITH THE DEPOSIT GUARANTEE FUND
Banks.am, Armenia
Dec 28 2006
Yerevan, December 28 /Mediamax/. "Bank Anelik" is declared the best
among the commercial banks of Armenia as to the level of cooperation
with the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Armenia.
Mediamax reports that during the reception, which took place in the
Central Bank of Armenia on December 27, CB Chairman Tigran Sarkisian
presented the Chairman of "Anelik" Bank Samvel Chzmachian with the
corresponding certificate.
Tigran Sarkisian noted that from now on at the end of each year the
Deposit Gaurantee Fund of Armenia will be naming the bank, which better
than all the others has cooperated with the Fund during the year.
TAN: WE EXPECT US ADMINISTRATION TO ACT WITH COMMONSENSE
New Anatolian, Turkey
Dec 28 2006
Ankara yesterday called on the U.S. administration to act with
commonsense against efforts in the U.S. Congress — now controlled by
the Democrats — to adopt a resolution recognizing Armenian genocide
claims.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan, in his weekly press
conference, yesterday, expressed Ankara’s displeasure at efforts by the
Armenians diaspora to take advantage of recent political developments
in the U.S. to have their genocide claims recognized by Congress.
Tan described the relations between Turkey and the U.S. as "strategic
and multidimensional."
"The U.S. administration has been pursuing a commonsensical approach
so far. We believe that the U.S. administration will maintain relations
with the same understanding. Relations between Turkey and the U.S. have
importance beyond these small calculations. We have close cooperation
with the U.S. We will continue informing them on the issue at all
levels. We expect the U.S to act with commonsense in the following
term," he underlined.
Commenting on recent statements by Armenian officials proposing a
normalization of relations without putting forward recognition of the
so-called genocide as a precondition, Tan underlined that Turkey’s
constructive proposal on the issue still awaits a positive response
from Yerevan.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a letter to Armenian
President Robert Kocharian last year proposed the establishment of
a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian historians to investigate
the 1915 incidents, in order to put an end to the major controversy
between two capitals.
Tan said concrete progress could not be made towards a normalization
of relations so far because of the negative approach of Armenia
towards Turkey’s proposal. "A joint committee would be a mechanism
that eliminates differences of interpretations with regards to the
1915 incidents and functions as a confidence-building tool between
Turkish and Armenian peoples," Tan said.
He also underlined that yielding a result from the efforts depended
on a more flexible and constructive approach by Yerevan (to overcome
bilateral and regional problems) and Armenia’s acting in line with
the international laws.
Asked whether Ankara had protested to Baku about the mistreatment of
Armenian-origin Turkish citizen Burak Bedikyan who is not allowed
to enter Azerbaijan, Tan said that the Turkish side has asked
for information from Azeri authorities and are still waiting for
a response.
PARIVODIC: THERE WILL BE NO COMPENSATION FOR THE LOSSES OF ZASTAVA ORUZJE
EASTBUSINESS.ORG
December 28, 2006 Thursday 4:38 PM (Central European Time)
The Serbian Minister of International Economic Relations, Milan
Parivodic, said Wednesday that it would be better for the employees
of Zastava Oruzje, the Serbian weapons manufacturer, if they were
working rather than protesting.
Commenting on the protest of the company s workers because of the
ban on exports to Armenia, he said that the company went ahead at its
own risk and made a business deal which cannot be conducted without
proper state-issued permits.
He added that all business deals involving the export of weapons
require the approval of the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs and
Internal Affairs, on the basis of which the Ministry of International
Economic Relations issues a permit. He added that in addition to
this a licence for transport is also required and that, in the case
of Zastava, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give its approval.
The Minister also said that the efforts to change the regulations
and simplify the procedure for exporting weapons are under way,
so that in the future only one permit will be needed instead of two.
A group of employees of Zastava Oruzje has been protesting for three
days in the Kragujevac Town Hall, because of the ban on the export
of arms to Armenia and Wednesday they invited the other workers to
join them.
HIGH COURT REFUSES TO RELEASE ‘COUP PLOTTERS’
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 27 2006
An Armenian appeals court refused on Wednesday to order the release
of a Lebanese-Armenian nationalist activist pending the politically
charged investigation into his alleged plans to forcibly topple the
government in Yerevan.
The Court of Appeals also upheld late Tuesday the pre-trial detention
of a senior member of a small opposition party who is facing the
same accusations.
Zhirayr Sefilian, the leader of a hard-line pressure group opposed to
any concessions to Azerbaijan, and Vartan Malkhasian of the Fatherland
and Honor party were arrested earlier this month and charged under
an article of the Criminal Code that deals with public calls for a
"violent overthrow of constitutional order."
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) says they set up a
clandestine organization, called the Alliance of Armenian Volunteers
(HKH), to mount an armed uprising against the government during
parliamentary elections expected next spring. NSS officers also rounded
up and briefly detained about 30 other presumed members of the group.
Sefilian and Malkhasian, who deny their accusations as politically
motivated, were remanded in pre-trial custody by a Yerevan court
of first instance on December 12. The court refused to release them
on bail, saying that they could flee the country, obstruct justice
or exert "illegal influence" on investigators. The Court of Appeals
accepted this line of reasoning despite claims to the contrary made
by the suspects’ lawyers.
The charges stem from a December 2 meeting of HKH activists in
Yerevan. Addressing them, Sefilian warned that "we will crack the head
of anyone who will dare to surrender land" to Azerbaijan, adding that
"there are many people in our country who are ready to do that."
The Lebanese Armenian, who is a prominent participant of the war
in Nagorno-Karabakh, urged supporters to organize themselves before
attempting "to solve the matter with arms."
"Getting rid of this criminal regime is a matter of national
salvation," Malkhasian stated, for his part. "We must fight them with
their methods. Blood and fire on the enemy!"
Sefilian’s lawyers insisted on Wednesday that these statements did not
contain explicit calls for a violent overthrow of the ruling regime.