Author: Tambiyan Samvel

CERTAIN CHANGES

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 31, 2008
Armenia

Certain changes are expected in the structure of the Foreign
Ministry. As Edward Nalbandyan underscored yesterday a board has
been formed in the Foreign Ministry yesterday, in order to discuss
and take the decision at the principle of the board.

It is planned to create a rather large department, which will be
engaged in the contacts with the Mass Media.

"These changes tend to bring the activity of this body in compliance
with the requirements of today and tomorrow."

ZURABYAN RELEASED

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 30, 2008
Armenia

By the instruction of the Prosecutor General the precautionary
measure against Ararat Zurabyan was changed yesterday, the detention
was changed by the signature of not leaving the country. Which means
today you can meet him in the Northern Avenue.

At the moment 14 accused are under detention in connection with March
1-2 developments.

82 criminal cases regarding 95 persons have been sent to the court
by the special investigative service, the investigation of 73 cases
is over. Five people have been justified, 31 have been detained,
4 people have been fined and 70 are on probation.

ARMENIAN CORRESPONDENT MISINFORMED EDITORIAL OFFICE OF 1NEWS ‘HAVING APPROPRIATED’ THE INTERVIEW WITH ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL AND MAKING TV CHANNEL ‘H2’ ANSWERABLE FOR THAT

ArmInfo
2008-07-28 16:49:00

Armenian correspondent misinformed editorial office of 1NEWS "having
appropriated" the interview with Armenian prosecutor general and
making TV channel "H2" answerable or that. As the letter of the
director of 1NEWS Gyunel Gasanova directed to ArmInfo says, the
"nameless" correspondent explained that he got permission to use
the interview for 1NEWS from a broadcaster of the second Armenian TV
channel, but he did not mention his name. ‘Understand me correctly,
if I coordinated this with press-secretary of the prosecutor general,
I would be not only refused but not allowed to write for your site. I
can say that here the broadcaster of the second Armenian TV channel
acted unfairly’, – Armenian correspondent sent a letter to the
editorial office to justify his action.

To recall, press-secretary of Armenian prosecutor general Sona Truzyan
told ArmInfo that allegedly an exclusive interview with the prosecutor
general published at Azerbaijani site on 18 July
is reprinting of the interview with the second Armenian TV channel
"H2", broadcast on 30 June.

Press-secretary blamed the nameless correspondent for breaking the
professional ethics.

UNLIKE ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA HAS NO ALTERNATIVE TO JOINING NATO

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.07.2008 16:23 GMT+04:00

Unlike Armenia and Azerbaijan, Georgia has no alternative to joining
NATO, Georgian political scientist Soso Tsiskarishvili said during
a Yerevan-Tbilisi TV space bridge.

"Georgia has made a sensible choice. Its geopolitical function is
to be a link in global security. In this case Kars-Baku project will
contribute to regional integration and stability," he said.

For his part, Armen Ashotyan, member of the RA parliament and the
Republican Party of Armenia, said that dividing lines appeared in
the Caucasus after the USSR decline. "The necessity of demarcation
of borders will emerge after Georgia joins NATO. But Armenia respects
the choice of Georgian people," he said.

According to Director of Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan,
Georgia’s joining NATO is a political reality and is a matter of
time. "It may happen in five or even 20 years," he said.

"Georgia’s orientation to the West has no alternative. The problem
is whether Armenia and Georgia will be strong enough to maintain good
relations," Iskandaryan said.

Zaman Online, Turkey
July 27 2008

Obama, hope, change and headaches

ANDREW FINKEL

The two trips could not have been more different. When President
George W. Bush came to ?Ä?°stanbul for a NATO summit in 2004, the city
was locked down tighter than Baghdad’s Green Zone. It was not a visit
to the city and its people, but a bubble descending from outer
space. Security was tight enough for Barack Obama as he scooted
through northern Europe, but it’s tight when the Rolling Stones go on
tour, which is what the presidential nominee’s speech in front of
200,000 Berliners vaguely resembled. He is not president yet, but the
election seems Obama’s to lose, not McCain’s to win, and it’s the
brave soul who believes he will drop the ball.
The Obama message, "the world doesn’t have to hate the US," was
intended to win him a greater share of the center of the center ground
next November. Inadvertently, he confirmed that he had Europe’s
vote. "O-barmy for Barack" was plastered over the front page of
(London’s) The Sun alongside the higher-brow press. This popularity,
and an Obama presidency in general, poses a curious challenge for
Turkey — and not for the bizarre reason that he might refrain from
twisting the arm of the House of Representatives if it tried to
recognize an Armenian genocide. The truth is that Turkey has grown
strangely comfortable with an unpopular American president.

Although President Bush does not actually appear as a co-defendant on
the charge sheet in front of the Constitutional Court, the United
States is named as being behind some of the misdeeds for which the
prosecutor wants the governing Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) shut down. The prosecutor’s office, in common with the sinister
Ergenekon plotters (who paradoxically are themselves up for trial),
sees Washington as trying to turn Turkey into a tame Islamic state
that can do its bidding to implement a Greater Middle East Project. It
will come as something of a shock to have a US president who renounces
imperial ambitions and intends to do what Turkey publicly wants but
privately fears: allow the Iraqis to solve their own problems
themselves. And imagine Ankara having to blame its own policies and
not Washington’s sinister intentions for trouble in its own Southeast.

For a little while at least, Turkey might even be forced to suspend
its faith in plots and conspiracies. For a little while, too, those
who believe they can manipulate Turkish public opinion with plots and
conspiracies might decide they might need to adopt a different
strategy.

Those weaned in Turkey on the politics of conspiracy and cynicism are
not about to take Obama’s commitment to change seriously. They pray he
is not the goody-two-shoes he appears. In time, America will be up to
its old tricks, they speculate, even if its new president looks
trimmer in his suit and has a far less goofy smile. But then Turkey
will be desperately out of step, certainly with the crowds who cheered
Obama in Berlin, and probably with the rest of the world. A
charismatic Obama will set a tone that will leave many Turkish
politicians feeling like the homely girl at the ball who doesn’t get
asked to dance. Imagine Deniz Baykal declaring to adoring throngs that
he believes in change or Devlet Bah?Ã?§eli (famous for having thrown a
hangman’s noose into the crowd at an election rally) campaigning on a
program of hope. And of course, a snap poll is no remote possibility
in Turkey if the Constitutional Court does its worst. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdo?Ä?an has always been a feel-good candidate, at
least for those who voted him in, and certainly when his party came to
power in 2002 it brought with it an expectation of great
transformation. However even if the judges decide to acquit both him
and his party, he will have been bruised by the whole affair. Next to
Bush, he looked spruce, but he will have to consider how to be in the
same room as Obama without looking like yesterday’s man.

27.07.2008

IN FISCAL YEAR 2007-2008 YBC REGISTERED A 24% GROWTH OF SALES OF ARARAT PRODUCTS

ArmInfo
2008-07-24 18:40:00

In fiscal year 2007-2008 Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC) registered a
24% growth of sales of ARARAT products. This indicator reached to
4.2mln liters thanks to the extension of the sales share in traditional
markets and entrance to the new markets, President and General Manager
of YBC Cedric Retailleau said during a press-conference today.

The sales growth is particularly outstanding in Russia (29%), Ukraine
(26%), the Baltic States (55%), Kazakhstan and Armenia (14%).

The progress is tangible in such important European markets as Germany,
Poland, the Czech Republic. The geography of export of ARARAT is
enlarged as well. Hereinafter, the Armenian brandy in the face of
ARARAT will be represented in such markets as Vietnam, Mongolia,
Turkmenistan, Australia, etc.

In 2007-2008 continuing its premiumization policy, i.e. the extension
of share of more aged brandies in the total sales, YBC registered a
21% growth of super-premium category of the ARARAT range in terms of
shipment to different countries.

As the importer of the products of the world’s 2nd producer of
wine and spirit beverages the Group Pernod Ricard, YBC in 2007-2008
increased the sales of the imported Group products by 40%. The growth
is particularly attained by such famous products as Ballantine’s
(72%), Havana Club (75%), Olmeca (51%), Beefeater (18%).

TURKEY TO MEDIATE IRAN-WEST TALKS

RIA Novosti
July 24 2008
Russia

On his way back from the inconclusive Geneva talks between Tehran and
the Iran Six over the disputed Iranian nuclear program, Tehran’s chief
nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili stopped in Ankara and held talks with
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babajan.

Babajan, who also met with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki
that same day, flew to Washington after the talks ended.

Tehran, which must reply to the Iran Six proposals offering the
required amount of enriched uranium and state-of-the-art technology to
Iran in exchange for freezing its enrichment activities by August 2,
must accept the offer or face all-out political isolation.

"We are in the strongest possible position to demonstrate that if Iran
does not act then it is time to go back to that (sanctions) track,"
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in her first comments
after Washington broke from its usual policy and joined nuclear talks
with Iran in Geneva on Saturday.

Iranian religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly barred
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from making any decisions on the national
nuclear program. On July 23 Ahmadinejad, who was obviously taken aback
by Western demands, said Iran would not deviate by one inch from its
nuclear program.

It is therefore unclear whether Ankara will manage to save the
situation and find a compromise.

Turkey has already said it would not take part in official talks, and
that its main objective was to tone down the negotiators’ positions. It
would be an understatement to say that Ankara and Tehran can profit
from an alliance.

Turkey, which is still on track to become a member of the European
Union, wants to score additional points, while Iran is playing for
time. And no mediator can join the talks overnight.

Ankara wants Iran to assist in solving the Kurdish problem in
Iraq, while Tehran would like to pump natural gas to Europe via
Turkey. Moreover, Turkey is ready to mediate peace talks between
Israel and Syria. Iran wants to mediate negotiations between Turkey
and Armenia and between Armenia and Azerbaijan, another South Caucasian
state patronized by Ankara.

The concerned parties will be unable to compromise on the Iranian
nuclear program unless they heed the interests of Egypt, Israel,
Jordan and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

A regional conference could be convened to discuss the Iranian nuclear
program, enabling everyone to speak their mind on the issue, while
the United States and the EU would deal with Israel.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit recently said Iran would
be unable to solve its nuclear problem without the support of regional
states, and that Tehran should also pay attention to their interests.

Each time the international community starts discussing the Iranian
nuclear program, the Arab world reiterates its support for Tehran’s
right to develop civilian nuclear facilities. This ambiguous
stand implies that the Iranian nuclear program may have military
implications.

Washington still prefers to negotiate separately with Arab
countries. On July 21, Rice met in the UAE with the foreign ministers
and other officials of the six Arab monarchies of the Gulf, namely,
Bahrein, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi
Arabia, as well as Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, briefing them on the
nuclear stand-off with Iran.

Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns was scheduled to
brief Rice on the results of the July 19 Geneva talks involving chief
EU foreign policy negotiator Javier Solana and Saeed Jalili, secretary
of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, during her stay in Abu
Dhabi and to assess prospects for subsequent negotiations with Tehran.

Joint U.S.-French-British naval exercises in the region are strong
evidence that Iran may face political and economic isolation.

Washington is now pursuing a more active policy with regard to
the Iranian nuclear program, because it does not want the next
administration to tackle this issue. Most importantly, major European
powers, namely Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, have
also started getting tough on this issue.

Consequently, Ankara will have trouble mediating the talks between
Iran and the West. More to the point, the outcome and the long-term
situation in Iran will still depend on Tehran.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not
necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

FRANCE SEEKS BETTER SECURITY AND DEFENSE TIES WITH TURKEY

Turkish Daily News
July 24 2008

In a move to repair defense and military ties, Paris dispatches
a high-level ambassador to Ankara to inform Turkish officials of
Sarkozy’s newly announced White Book. ‘Turkey is one of the few
countries that we have chosen to present our new defense and security
strategies to,’ says D’Aboville

SERKAN DEMÄ°RTAÅ~^/Analysis ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

A top French diplomat yesterday brought Turkish officials up to date on
the recently published White Book on defense and security strategies,
a move that is being interpreted as Paris’ intension to seek to mend
damaged bilateral ties in the military field.

"Turkey is a very important country for us. Turkey is one of the
few countries that we have chosen to present our new defense and
security strategies to," Benoit D’Aboville, chief advisor at the
National Audit Office, told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

Turkey and France have experienced bitter times in recent years after
Paris recognized the 1915 deaths of Armenians as genocide and tried to
pass a law punishing the denial of the genocide. The harshest reaction
came from the Turkish military, which still affects bilateral military
ties. Turkey excluded French companies from defense procurement
tenders and even closed its airspace to French military aircraft.

D’Aboville admitted that there were still some difficulties in
bilateral military ties but said the two countries have an excellent
cooperation in NATO, especially in the operations in Afghanistan,
Bosnia and in Kosovo. "Our troops are working together in some very
dangerous zones in Afghanistan," he said. Turkey and France rotate
the command of the NATO’s ISAF mission in Kabul.

On June 17, French President Nicholas Sarkozy unveiled the White Book,
a blueprint for France’s short term and strategic planning in the field
of domestic and foreign security, detailing new threats stemming from
globalization, introducing new structures to better organize and better
finance its cost. Another dimension of this security understanding is
France’s full participation in the structures of NATO, after nearly
four decades of its withdrawal from the alliance’s military command.

Return to NATO

"In fact, we have not much need to return to NATO," a high-level
French diplomat said. "But President Sarkozy considers NATO as a
family and he believes that France should be side by side with the
other members of the family," the diplomat added.

However, Paris has not yet officially announced its decision to
return to NATO. There are a number of countries which welcome Paris’
intension, according to diplomats. "Our return will let our officers
get better positions in the command structures. Nothing more. We’re
already very active and efficient within NATO. More than 4,000 French
troops are serving for the alliance, which makes 10 percent of all
29 countries’ contributions," another diplomat added.

No need for approval

A French return to NATO has been on Turkey’s agenda for some time as
well. According to unconfirmed reports in the Turkish press, Ankara was
seeking to bargain with Paris to allow the latter’s full participation
in NATO in return for compromises such as less resistance to Turkey’s
bid to join the European Union.

Turkish diplomats never confirmed such intensions but some academics
strongly advised it to the government. "I think Turkey should veto
a French return. France recently decided to put Turkish entrance in
the EU to a referendum. Therefore Turkey should show that it also has
some cards to play," Cagrı Erhan, an academic and foreign relations
expert said.

But according to French diplomats, there will be no process of approval
in the NAC, the highest decision-making body of the alliance, if
France decides to fully return. Furthermore, a French diplomat stated
that there was no uneasiness on the Turkish side on a French return
to the alliance. "Why would Turkey be against of it?" a diplomat asked.

"We have not heard of any uneasiness from Turkish diplomats on our
full return to NATO," a French diplomat said. "Such a thing would
only make French taxpayers happy."

–Boundary_(ID_HNc6BXJgc4PmadxCz7xEk Q)–

HSBC BANK ARMENIA IMPROVES AMD MONEY TRANSFER PROCESSES

ARKA
July 23

HSBC Bank Armenia has improved the process of money transfers in drams,
the bank’s press office reports.

Money transfer system and technologies has been modernized and as
a result, the transfer became faster. The modernization also left
little room for errors.

Fore example, transfers on warrant for payment received before 14:00
can be operated before 16:00 on the same day.

The bank’s press office quoted General Executive Director of HSBC
Bank Armenia Tim Slater as saying that the bank, acknowledging the
importance of its clients’ transfers to tax and customs agencies,
has decided to operate these transfers on the schedule changed by the
end of every month and quarter. The schedule will be adjusted to that
of the Central Bank of Armenia.

The head of the bank said that the Central Bank works on extended
schedule in such cases.

He said HSBC Bank’s branches work on Saturdays, if the closing day
of a month or a quarter is Saturday.

Slater said that the bank’s transfer unit will work on Saturdays.

Besides, to make the service perfect, all the branches of HSBC Bank
Armenia started working on extended schedule – until 18:00 in working
days and 14:00 on Saturday.

HSBC Bank Armenia CJSC, a subsidiary of HSBC Bank plc, was registered
on September 25, 1995.

HSBC Bank pl c holds 70% of shares of HSBC Bank Armenia, and the
remaining 30% belong to Armenian investors overseas.

The bank has 10 offices in Yerevan.

The bank’s assets totaled AMD 105.5 billion and capital AMD 13.2
billion by late June.

The bank’s profit for the first half of this year amounted to AMD 1.7
billion and balance profit on capital account AMD 10.5 billion. ($1 –
AMD 301.41).

LAKE BLUFF CHURCH TAX CASE GETS STATE’S ATTORNEY’S HELP

Chicago Tribune
July 23 2008
IL

Office’s financial investigators to aid appeal of $80,000 break By
Susan Kuczka | Chicago Tribune reporter 2:29 PM CDT, July 23, 2008

Financial investigators with the Lake County state’s attorney’s
office plan to assist the Village of Lake Bluff in its appeal of a
property-tax exemption the state granted last month to a resident
who contends he turned his lakefront mansion into a church, State’s
Atty. Michael Waller said.

"Clearly the ruling by the Department of Revenue is in error, and
most people consider it to be outrageous," said Waller, who directed
members of his Civil Division to review documents that homeowner George
Michael supplied to officials in support of his tax-break request.

State officials granted Michael an exemption on his annual $80,000
property-tax bill after the Realtor and bank company official presented
affidavits showing he had converted his $3 million North Shore home
into the Armenian Church of Lake Bluff.

Michael, who obtained a pastor’s degree from an online religious site
in 2006, told officials that he converted part of his home into a
church in 2007 so his disabled wife and daughter would not have to
travel to an Armenian church in Chicago the couple previously attended.

In February the Lake County Board of Review refused to grant Michael
the tax exemption, ruling that the use of the property in the exclusive
Shore Acres subdivision along Lake Michigan appeared more consistent
with a residence than a church, board Supervisor Martin Paulson said.

The board’s ruling prompted Michael to take his case to state
officials, whom he gave a copy of his clergy license from the Church of
Spiritual Humanism, the church’s affidavit of organization, copies of
weekly church bulletins and other evidence to support his contention,
said his attorney, Mark Belongia.

Michael also presented a copy of a quitclaim deed from March 2007 that
transferred ownership of the couple’s house to the Armenian Church
of Lake Bluff and an October 2007 bank statement from Citizens Bank &
Trust in Chicago. Michael is vice chairman of the bank, Belongia said.

Following the Revenue Department’s June 24 ruling to grant the
exemption, village officials used the same affidavits that Michael had
presented to the state to fine him $115,000 for allegedly operating a
church without the required zoning permits. Michael notified village
officials July 3 that he would stop hosting Sunday services for about
a dozen church members while he appealed the fine.

Village officials, meanwhile, plan to contest the state’s tax-exemption
decision, citing lost tax revenue. A hearing on the village’s appeal
is scheduled for July 31 at the Revenue Department offices in Chicago,
a department spokesman said.

Local school, park district and library district officials also have
complained that the exemption will harm their budgets. And other
residents have said they are concerned that they might have to cover
the loss.

Waller said he asked his investigators to assist Lake Bluff in its
appeal after he learned about the exemption in a July 17 Chicago
Tribune article.

"The ruling is going to affect other residents who will have to pick
up the difference on their tax bills so I think it’s a matter of
public interest that the county weigh in," he said.