Author: Topchian Jane

Cellular-News
April 19 2009

VivaCell Launches 3G Coverage in Armenia

– Armenian network operator, VivaCell-MTS has announced the launch of
its 3G network – covering the capital city, Yerevan along with Gyumri
and Vanadzor. Although it can be presumed that coverage will be
expanded, the operator did not outline any details.

Last December, Intracom Telecom, a part of Sitronics has signed a
US$24 million contract with VivaCell-MTS for the expansion of its GSM
network. Under the terms of that contract, Intracom Telecom will
provide Infrastructure works, Installation and Integration services,
in cooperation with Alcatel-Lucent who will be the main equipment
vendor.

Figures from the Mobile World show that the operator ended last year
with just over 2 million customers, and a market share of around 68%.

COULD BE FATAL FOR ARMENIA

A1+
06:26 pm | April 17, 2009

Politics

Leader of the "Heritage" party Raffi Hovhannisyan is going to
follow-up very closely on the upcoming Yerevan city council elections,
including the speeches and approaches of opposition and pro-government
candidates. Raffi Hovhannisyan will make a selection with conscience
and under guidance of the "Heritage" party’s exhort.

"A1+" asked Hovhannisyan if the "Heritage" is going to take part
in the campaign of the opposition, that is, the Armenian National
Congress. In response to that, Hovhannisyan said that the party
administration has not made such a decision, yet party members are
free to decide for themselves.

Why doesn’t "Heritage" trust its seats in the electoral commission to
the ANC? In response, Hovhannisyan said: "We value the importance of
the democratic electoral process and must respond to the imperative
for public control. We are also part of the opposition and are not
the only one. We will fulfill our civil duty in terms of securing the
control by calling on the public to support the opposition on May 31,"
said the party leader.

Hovhannisyan weighed in on the the Turkish-Armenian "football
diplomacy" and drew comparisons with the Chinese-American "ping-pong"
diplomacy.

"This is the continuation of the Chinese-American precedent. The
only difference is that it was symmetrical, but the Turkish-Armenian
diplomacy is asymmetrical. One side has lost its lands, while the other
continues its disavowal. I don’t know what the Armenian authorities
are putting on the agenda, but we have to make it symmetrical again,"
said Hovhannisyan.

He stated that the signing of a document with Turkey may be fatal for
Armenia and called on Armenian authorities to understand the gravity
of the situation.

"I think that the time is near. The prime minister of our neighboring
country has made a statement and Armenia must try to keep its
balance. It is clear for everyone that we can do that in the case
of having legitimate authorities whom the people trust," said Raffi
Hovhannisyan.

The restoration of faith and trust is needed in order to establish
democracy, release political prisoners and secure freedom of speech
in the country.

Will U.S. President Barack Obama say the word "genocide" in his April
24 address? Raffi Hovhannisyan had this to say to that:

"We lost a homeland, an entire civilization. It would be nice if the
U.S. President used the term. But who am I to ask, beg or threaten
him to use it. It is up to him to decide as a representative of
American integrity. I think that he should also think about that,"
said Raffi Hovhannisyan.

LATVIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: "LATVIA’S POSITION ON NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT REMAINS UNCHANGED"

APA
April 17 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Viktoria Dementieva – APA. "Latvia’s position on the principle
of protection of territorial integrity with regard to Nagorno Karabakh
conflict remains unchanged," Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins
said, APA reports. Foreign Minister said Latvia respected territorial
integrity of other states.

"The best way to solve Nagorno Karabakh is to hold negotiations. I
understand that this is not a simple process, but I reiterate that
we support territorial integrity of states," he said.

TOP BUSINESS GROUP OFFERS A ‘MODEL ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP’

Hurriyet
April 15 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Both Turkey and the US government need to focus their
efforts in improving economic relations, according to a Turkish
Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association report. Both sides need
to develop programs to encourage Turkish and American companies located
in Turkey or its surrounding countries to engage in joint ventures,
says the TUSÄ°AD report

The Turkish Industrialists’ And Businessmen’s Association, or TUSÄ°AD,
has urged both the United States and Turkish governments to put
determined and concerted efforts into making economic relations a
relatively significant component of their partnership.

TUSÄ°AD Chairwoman Arzuhan Dogan Yalcındag, introduced TUSÄ°AD’s
"Reconstructing the Alliance: A New Era in Turkish-US Relations Ä~^ A
Turkish Perspective" report at a seminar in Washington on Monday. The
TUSÄ°AD report, covering various issues such as Turkey’s European
Union bid, regional security, the Armenian issue, energy policies
and economic relations, as well as concrete policy proposals on these
issues, was announced at the Brookings Institute.

Those who participated in preparing the report included Soli Ozel,
professor at Bilgi University and advisor to the chairman of board of
TUSÄ°AD, and Å~^ahnaz Yılmaz, associate professor of international
relations at Koc University and Abdullah Akyuz, TUSÄ°AD’s Washington
representative.

"In our view the United States continues to be Turkey’s indispensable
partner in transatlantic relations," the TUSÄ°AD report said. "By
the same token membership in the European Union remains Turkey’s most
important strategic and civilizational goal. The role of the United
States in promoting closer links between Turkey and the EU had been
critical in the past. Therefore, even if there are limits to American
influence over the EU in decisions concerning ‘deep integration,’ we
expect that Washington will continue to play that constructive role,"
the report said.

"Being the largest and most dynamic market economy in the region,
Turkey now plays an important role in Eurasia and the Middle East in
promoting the economic foundations of liberal democracy in a distant
future," said the report, adding that particularly the United States
often underestimated the economic aspects of Turkey’s increasing soft
power in the region.

Therefore, TUSÄ°AD called upon the U.S. government to underline the
importance of Turkey’s role in the integration of its neighboring
countries into the global markets. Programs need to be developed
and implemented to encourage Turkish and American companies
located in Turkey or its surrounding countries to engage in joint
ventures. TUSÄ°AD also urged the Turkish government to establish a
special unit that would only focus on the increasing amount of trade
relations between Turkey and the United States. The Turkish government
should also provide further support for Turkish companies investing
in the United States, said TUSÄ°AD.

Assistance to the US

"From this perspective, we come to the conclusion that Turkey can
be of significant assistance to the United States in dealing with
the problems of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and the Caucasus,
as well as in moving the moribund Middle East peace process forward,
which will be crucial for rebuilding Turkish-American partnership in
a new era," said the report.

>From energy to enhanced trade to cooperation in attracting foreign
investment, common economic interests are likely to proliferate if and
when Turkey’s neighboring regions can enjoy a political environment
that is conducive to economic development, said the report.

TUSÄ°AD urged the U.S. government to address the issue of the Armenian
resolution not only as a matter of domestic politics with respect to
the Armenian-American population. "Keep in mind the extremely adverse
effects on Turkish- American and Turkish-Armenian relations if it
passes," said the TUSÄ°AD report. The United States was also encouraged
to support the idea of forming a "Joint Historians Commission"
for an objective analysis of historic facts and for encouraging the
discussion of this issue on a more academic and objective international
platform. "Rather than focusing on the claims of the Armenian diaspora
in the United States, try to foster cooperation between Armenia and
Turkey, which will be more constructive and will be more likely to
yield strategic as well as political results," said the report.

Iraq and Nabucco

"A premature departure, particularly if the Iraqi state is still
incapable of providing security for all, will destabilize the country
and lead to a promiscuity of violence," TUSÄ°AD said on the issue
of Iraq. The United States was also urged to cooperate with Turkey
further to cut off all supply routes and logistical support for the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

TUSÄ°AD also requested that the U.S. encourage economic integration
of Turkey and northern Iraq through energy projects, trade and
investment. "Provide support for the Nabucco project, by facilitating
the formation of the necessary legal and infrastructure framework to
plug Iraqi natural gas to Nabucco before the withdrawal of American
troops from Iraq."

The United States was also urged to be more actively engaged in the
Middle East peace process. In the Middle East, the United States
should make use of Turkey’s accumulated experience in the region,
said the report, adding that the country should also focus on finding
a formula to integrate Hamas into the political process and assist
the Palestinians with nation-building practices and institutions.

IRAN, ARMENIA INSIST ON ENERGY, TRANSPORT TIES

Mehr News Agency
April 14 2009
Iran

Tehran, 14 April: Iran and Armenia on Monday [14 April] discussed
avenues for developing ties especially in energy and transport sectors.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Tehran on Monday at the
head of a high-ranking economic and political delegation.

Bilateral relations should be expanded in different fields including
trade, energy, and transportation, President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad
Enhanced Coverage LinkingMahmud Ahmadinezhad -Search using: Biographies
Plus News News, Most Recent 60 Days told a joint meeting of senior
delegations from Iran and Armenia held in the presidential office.

Ahmadinezhad said Tehran considers developing ties with Armenian as
a foreign policy priority and called for regional and international
cooperation with Yerevan.

The growing cooperation between Tehran and Yerevan must be expanded
in all areas, the two presidents stressed in their private meeting in
which they also discussed the most important regional and international
issues.

The two presidents insisted that regional and international
developments have made close cooperation between Iran and Armenia
imperative.

At a press conference on Saturday in Yerevan, Sargsyan stated that
the global economic crisis will not affect the implementation of
Tehran-Yerevan joint ventures.

Yerevan places paramount importance on proposed projects and those
under way, such as the oil pipeline, the joint railway, and the
hydroelectric power plant, Sargsyan said.

Iran and Armenia reached a primary agreement in 2007 on the
construction of a 300-kilometre oil pipeline from the Iranian city
of Tabriz to the Armenian border city of Meghri.

The two countries also reached an agreement in Yerevan on 4 April,
2009 to establish a railway that would connect the two countries to
the Black Sea as a strategic transit route.

The 470-kilometre railway would take five years to build and cost up
to 1.2 billion dollars to complete.

The two countries have also agreed to build a hydroelectric power
station on the border Aras River that will produce 800 million
kilowatts of electricity per annum.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS SUPREME RELIGIOUS LEADER OF IRAN

Trend News Agency
April 14 2009
Azerbaijan

Supreme Religious Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei received the
President of Armenia Serj Sargsyan, Iranian IRNA news agency reported.

During the meeting, Khamenei stressed the need for serious
implementation of contracts signed by the President of Armenia
in Tehran.

Khamenei said the United States and some European countries supported
Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war. "There are obvious and hidden
hands of big powers in the conflict in the region," said Khamenei.

Supreme Religious Leader of Iran stressed the importance of ensuring
stability between Armenia and neighboring states.

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER GETS AQUAINTED WITH THE ACTIVITY AND THE EXISTING ISSUES OF "ALISHAN" COMPANY WHICH DEALS WITH REPROCESSING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

ArmenPress
April 14 2009
Armenia

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS: Accompanied with the Armenian
Agriculture Minister the Prime minister visited today the Masis
"Alishan" company, got acquainted with the activity of the company
dealing with reprocessing of fruit and vegetables, the achievements
of the last seven years after the establishment of the company and
the existing issues. Tigran Sargsian also got acquainted with the
vegetable-garden economy which was established at the beginning of
this year through the implementation of newest technologies.

Public relations department of the Armenian government told Armenpress
that the Prime minister noted that the agriculture and particularly
reprocessing of agro product are the priorities of our economy and
stressed that the operative headquarter established in the Armenian
government attentively studies all the initiatives and suggestions
directed towards the development of the sphere with an aim to provide
a possible support by the state.

Among the issues existing at present in the "Alishan" company the
Prime minister pointing out to the issue of relations with the tax
field and filling in of the circulating means and ensured that they
will be discussed by the operative headquarter.

"The third thing is the positive experience of the vegetable-garden
economy the company has and spread of this experience in other regions
of Armenia.

The enterprise is ready to support the private sector and the state
in the issue of spread of the experience, which is also interesting
for us.

I think that the enterprise will have a good future in Armenia", –
the Prime minister said.

DID THE POLICE WANT TO LEAVE A MEMORY TO SERGE SARGSYAN?
JAMES HAKOBYAN

12:00:21 – 10/04/2009
LRAGIR.AM

The police celebrated Serge Sargsyan’s swearing-in anniversary in a
very special way, showing whom in reality Serge Sargsyan’s government
gave the possibility of being the master of the situation. Two days
running, the police, led by unknown reasons, persecuted the
participants of the `political walks’, who, as it is well known, are
supporters of the opposition and voice their complaints in this way.

Like every action of the Police, this one also arouses the question
whether the order to impede the walks came from the presidential
office, from the National Assembly, or maybe from the government, or
it was the initiative of the police. The police probablly thought that
revoking Yerevan centre of the pas year might be a good present for
Serge Sargsyan in connection with the anniversary of his inauguration
when only Serge Sargsyan and the leadership were at the centre who had
come to the Opera House to congratulate him.

However, if the problem were such kind of a present, the Police would
probably cover the hole in the Opera Square with a plank, bring back
the statues of Tumanyan and Spendaryan for a couple of hours and would
inform Serge Sargsyan that he could come there and remember. It is not
known what was reported to Serge Sargsyan this time. But it is
interesting how the police explained to Serge Sargsyan the repression
against the peaceful walkers at the centre of Yerevan on the
anniversary and on the eve.

Possibly, however, Serge Sargsyan explained to the policemen the
reason they should do that, that is the reason why they should impede
the walks. Serge Sargsyan and the police probably misunderstood each
other, and once the government starts not understanding something, it
gives way to violence, at least for a little intimidation.

However, this does not mean that they launch repressions without
awareness. Of course they do not. They do something because they do
not understand something but they understand what they do. In order to
understand this people do not need to walk, they need to stay at home
and watch TV, and see the marvellous progress the country has had
during Serge Sargsyan’s office. But they go out instead and walk with
some political aims and impede the government to carry out their
solemn mission of cleaning the city.

Statement on the Package of Draft Amendments to Broadcast Legislation

2009/04/10 | 09:24 ]
society

The agenda of the RA National Assembly includes the second hearing of
the package of draft amendments to the RA Laws `On Television and
Radio’, `Regulations of the National Commission on Television and
Radio’, `Regulations of the RA National Assembly’, `On State
Duty’. Despite the few improvements against the previous version of
the package strongly criticized by our organizations in the statement
of February 3, 2009, the document, as we see it, remains far from the
demands of the time.

Any legislative initiative on television and radio must today be
assessed from the perspective of solving the four cornerstone problems
of the Armenian broadcast sphere:

– ensuring the independence of the National Commission on Television
and Radio – the body that regulates the activities of TV and radio
companies;

– real reformation of the Public TV and Radio Company, inclusion of
– PTRC in the field of legal regulation, creation of mechanisms of its
– responsibility and accountability to the society; formation of new
– legal conditions of impartial and transparent broadcast licensing
– competitions; revocation of the ban on allocation of frequencies.

The legislative changes that do not entail basic solutions to the
problems above can be only seen as cosmetic. In this regard the
improvement of certain provisions of the draft law package on
broadcasting, proposed for the second hearing by the RA National
Assembly, are nothing but a reform imitation and do not in any way
contribute to overcoming the total control of the authorities over the
TV and radio air in Armenia.

As a main argument to support the package its authors refer to the
positive assessment of the Council of Europe expert. Meanwhile, the CE
assessment, while phrased in a very polite and cautious manner,
contains criticism of a number of important clauses of the drafts. In
particular, this document clearly states the absence of due guarantees
to the independence of the National Commission on Television and Radio
and the Council of Public TV and Radio Company, as well as about the
incompliance of the PTRC structure to the internationally accepted
standards of good governance.

Even if one shares the satisfaction of the CE expert with most of the
remaining provisions of the package, the two mentioned shortcomings,
referring to the cornerstone issues of the broadcasting legislation,
render the voting of the RA NA deputies for the package
questionable. What is the value of amendments to the RA Law `On
Television and Radio’, if they do not call for a basic review of the
mechanisms permanently criticized over the past 12 years, ever since
the debate of the broadcast legislation started?

It is quite surprising that the Council of Europe expert, assessing
the package of the draft law on regulating the broadcasting,
overlooked the recommendations of the Resolutions of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe 1532 (2007), 1609 (2008), 1620
(2008) and 1643 (2009). Addressing the issues of Armenia’s compliance
with its commitments to the Council of Europe and functioning of
democratic institutions in the country, these Resolutions, proceeding
from the political situation in the country, define the agenda of
reforms, also with regard to media. The recommendations raise the
issues of independence of the regulatory body, the transparency of
broadcast licensing competitions, and the possibility of `A1+’ TV
company taking part in them, the ban on frequency
allocation. Considering the draft package without taking into account
the four most recent PACE recommendations on Armenia, the Council of
Europe expert, on the one hand, actually overlooked some questionable
provisions of the legislation in force (first of all, the ban on
frequency allocation), and on the other – assessed a whole number of
legislative innovations without taking into account the problematic
practices of late (transparency and impartiality of broadcast
licensing competitions).

The expert welcomes the expansion of Article 50 of the RA Law `On
Television and Radio’ that call for the provision of `full reasons’ to
the applicants that were refused a license. A reference is made here
to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of June 17, 2008
on the case of `A1+’ TV company founder, `Meltex’ LLC. Yet, in
essence, the new draft law proposes nothing new with regard to
justification of license refusal, the mechanisms of defining criteria
that NCTR members should be guided with during the assessment of the
applications are still not prescribed.

One could have quoted a number of other examples of the insufficiently
thorough analysis of the draft law package by CE expert. Yet the
problem lies not with the particularities, but with the technique that
the media legislation is being shaped with in Armenia. Despite the
fact that a working group of local experts is set up adjacently to the
specialized standing committee of the National Assembly, the recent
drafts have not been discussed with this working group. The
international experts meet and discuss drafts only with their authors
or MPs interested in the draft promotion. Objections, comments,
clarifications as to the problems of practical applications of certain
clauses that the representatives of Armenian media community could
share, public debate – all this is of no interest to any one for a
long time already. Such closed process of legislation formation cannot
yield other results than the ones we have today.

Meanwhile, when the authorities are interested to promote certain
initiative, even if extremely unprofessional in its development, it is
immediately in the limelight of attention, debate is raised about it
on all TV channels. A vivid example of this is the draft law on
introducing new provisions to the Civil Code, stipulating moral damage
compensation, that has made so much noise lately. The vehement
endorsement of this initiative can be hardly regarded as anything
other than an attempt to divert the public attention from real
problems in media, obstruction of efforts of journalistic
organizations in legislation and media self-regulation.

Unfortunately, such red herrings have been used more than once and run
contrary to the policy of strengthening civil society as declared by
the RA authorities.

Proceeding from this, we call on the RA National Assembly:

1. To revoke from circulation the package of draft laws on
broadcasting and to come back to it after thorough review and
improvement in accordance with the international commitments of
Armenia and the suggestions of the working group at the RA National
Assembly Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth
and Sport Issues. Otherwise we see no point in further
participation in the working group and shall call back our
representatives from it;

2. To immediately include a draft law on abolishing the ban on holding
broadcast licensing competitions in the agenda of the National
Assembly. To refuse from the idea of digitalization at the expense
of free competition and media plurality. To hold open debate of the
TV and radio broadcast digitalization program;

3. To delay the initiatives related to new forms of journalistic
liability for defamation until the completion of processes aimed at
improving the broadcast legislation, guaranteeing true public
service broadcasting, pluralistic private TV and radio, media
accountability system formation. The attempts of prioritizing the
issue of legal liability of journalists damaging the development of
civilized media market will be viewed by us to be directed at the
restriction of free expression in Armenia.

April 9, 2009
Yerevan Press Club,
`Internews’ Media Support NGO,
Media Diversity Institute-Armenia,
Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression,
`Asparez’ Journalist’s Club,
Vanadzor Press Club

Washington Post
April 11 2009

LITERARY CALENDAR April 13-19, 2009

[parts omitted]

Thursday 16 April, 7 P.M. Peter Balakian, author of The Burning
Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response, discusses his
translation (with Aris Sevag) of Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the
Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918, by Grigoris Balakian, a priest and
Balakian’s great uncle. Barnes & Noble, 4801 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda,
Md., 301-986-1761.