Politics


2008-02-11 21:26:00 Constitutional Court of Armenia rejects claim of Levon Ter-Petrossyan
ArmInfo. The Constitutional Court of Armenia has dismissed the claim of presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossyan.

To remind, Ter-Petrossyan says that the obstacles created to his campaign make impossible his further participation in the presidential race.

Particularly, Ter-Petrossyan says that for three months already Hailur news program on Public TV has been steadily canvassing against him contrary to articles 18, 20, 22 of the Electoral Code and articles 11 and 28 of the law on radio and television. Many of the presidential candidates as well as President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan keep insulting Ter-Petrossyan. The TV time given to Ter-Petrossyan is not convenient for effectively parrying the black PR against his cnadidacy.

Ter-Petrossyan asks the Constitutional Court to stop this illegal practice and to recognize the above-mentioned obstacles are unsurmountable.

To remind, the Electoral Code stipulates that an election should be put off for two weeks if there are unsurmountable obstacles to the campaign of one of the candidates. If the relevant authorities fail
to remove the obstacles, the Central Electoral Commission should appoint new election within 40 days after the two-week period.

The proxy of Levon ter-Petrossyan, lawyer Ruben Torossyan says that he was ready for dismissal. "By dismissing the claim the Constitutional Court has paved the way for new illegal practices. Even though the court admitted the presence of certain illegal actions against Ter-Petrossyan and his campaign it said that they were not within its competence," says Torossyan.



2008-02-11 19:49:00 Azerbaijan agrees to conduct of conference with participation of Armenian MP
ArmInfo. Azerbaijan agrees to the conduct of a conference of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the participation of Armenian MPs, the first vice speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, the chairman of the parliamentary safety and defense committee Ziyafer Askerov.

Trend news agency (Baku) reports that last week the chairman of PACE Ad Hoc Committee on Nagorno-Karabakh Lord Russel Johnston visited Azerbaijan and Armenia to discuss the possibility of conduct of a
conference with the participation of Armenian and Azeri MPs in Strasbourg in Apr 2008.

"At the same time, we object to bilateral cooperation with Armenia prior to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Askerov said. "We want such meetings to give real results. We have taken part in a number of such events but none of them have given tangible results so far. We also want international organizations to show a serious approach to the fulfillment of PACE resolution on
Nagorno-Karabakh and to exert pressure on Armenia in the matter," Askerov said.



2008-02-11 16:39:00 Erdogan, Oskanian spar over Armenian issue at Munich conference
ArmInfo. An international security conference held in Munich over the weekend was the scene of a quarrel between Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenia's Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, with Erdogan accusing the Armenian side of avoiding dealing with historical facts related to the period of the Ottoman Empire, Zaman reports.

The source reports that opening the 44th annual Munich Security Conference, Erdogan also reiterated an offer he had extended to Armenian President Robert Kocharian in 2005 that calls for a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian experts to study the historical facts related to the period of the Ottoman Empire. The call has remained unanswered by Yerevan to date. "At the moment, the Armenian
foreign minister is also here. : There is no such thing called genocide in our culture and civilization. It is not possible for us to accept this, either. We are ready for any confrontation and are ready to speak with information and documents," Erdogan said. When Oskanian interrupted his remarks by saying "You are speaking about peace, but our border is closed," Erdogan continued: "Mr. Oskanian, look, when I became prime minister, as you know, there were no air links between Armenia and Turkey. I came, I opened
the doors for airline transportation. Cargo transportation flows from Armenia to Istanbul now as well." "I have no problem with my Armenian citizens. We get along extremely well with them. Other than that, more than 40,000 Armenians have come to my country. I wonder why? You should ask yourself, why did they come? : Because Turkey is a country of peace", he told Oskanian.



2008-02-11 16:37:00 Press Secretary of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's campaign headquarters refrains from comments on candidate's visit to Moscow
ArmInfo. Press Secretary of the presidential candidate, ex-president Levon Ter- Petrosyan Central Campaign Headquarters Arman Musinyan refused to comment to ArmInfo on Monday visit of the candidate to Moscow. Relevant information occurred in Russia Media, today.

There is no official information confirming the visit so far. Whereas, Regnum reports that Head of the ex- president's campaign headquarter, the former foreign minister Aleksander Arzumanyan accompanies the candidate to Moscow.



2008-02-11 15:52:00 Central Electoral Commission of Armenia presents its refreshed web-site
ArmInfo. The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia presented its refreshed web-site www.elections.am, Monday.

CEC Chairman Garegin Azaryan said that the refreshment of the web-site in Armenian and English became possible with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. According to him, the refreshment makes the process of vote tabulation of not only the forthcoming presidential election, but all the following ones in Armenia as quick and open as possible. The results of vote tabulation will be
reflected on the screen, and any inaccuracy will be fixed immediately. Garegin Azaryan added that a voter only has to type his name or surname or the number of the polling station where his name is supposed to be, and he/she can easily check whether his surname is registered on voting lists.



2008-02-11 15:50:00 Presidential candidate, Orinats Yerkir party leader, A. Baghdasaryan sure he will enter second round of presidential election
ArmInfo. I am sure presidential election will be in two rounds and I will enter the second round, presidential candidate, Orinats Yerkir party leader, A. Baghdasaryan said at a meeting with a number of public organizations, Monday.

'I cannot guess who will enter the second round Serzh Sargsyan or Levon ter-Petrosyan>, he said. The candidate is dissatisfied with the results of sociological polls conducted particularly by Gallup and the ratings of presidential candidates. A. Baghdasaryan proposed organizations to conduct polls by own human resources. 'If these polls show that my opportunities are limited, I will join a third candidate', he said. Nevertheless, he added that his supporters are more than 100,000 people and joining a third party
must be grounded and clear to public.



2008-02-11 14:50:00 Amount of damage caused to the Armenian Justice Ministry by fire being estimated
ArmInfo. The amount of damage caused to the Armenian Justice Ministry by fire is currently being estimated.

Press-secretary of the Armenian Justice Minister Lana Mshetsyan told ArmInfo correspondent that about 50% of equipment, including computers with important information, were saved from the fire by the employees of the Justice Ministry. In addition, 90% of archive of the Department of registry and notary was carried out of the building. As the third and fourth floors mainly suffered from the fire, the department headed by Deputy Justice Minister, the authorized representative of the Armenian government in the
European Court of Human Rights Gevorg Kostanyan was damaged to a serious extent. The documentation of the second floor where experts' department was, suffered less. "We'd like to thank all the employees of the Police, who took part in saving the ministry's documentation and equipment from complete destruction", Mshetsyan noted.



2008-02-11 14:46:00 All subdivisions of RA Justice Ministry work in full regime
ArmInfo. All subdivisions of RA Justice Ministry have been working in full regime since morning, JM's spokeswoman Lana Mshetsyan told ArmInfo.

Currently, the Ministry's employees are placed in different buildings under control of the Justice Ministry. In particular, RA Justice Minister Gevork Danielyan will be temporarily work in the building of the Enforcement Service. The Ministry's administration, including the registry office and notary, have moved to the State Register's building. Deputy Minister, authorized representative of RA government in the European Court Gevork Kostanyan will work in the building of the Criminal- Executive Department, where
all the Ministry's employees will expectedly move 2 months later.

The fire in the building of RA Justice Ministry happened on February 9 night. The flame destroyed three-quarter of the Ministry's building: the roof, as well as the third and fourth floors burned out
completely. No victims and injured.



2008-02-11 12:49:00 Constitutional Court starts considering presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan's application
ArmInfo. The Constitutional Court of Armenia has started considering the presidential candidate, ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan's application. His campaign agent, lawyer Ruben Torosyan, lawyer Robert Sanoyan, and a member of Republic Party Board Artak Zeynalyan represent the candidate.

Particularly, the applications says: 'Due to the obstacles created to the campaign of the presidential candidate Ter-Petrosyan, it has become impossible for him to further campaign in conformity with the Election Code of Armenia'. Thus, the application says the news program on the Public Television 'Haylur' has been broadcasting programs campaigning against Levon Ter-Petrosyan for three months
hereby violating articles 18.20.22 of Election Code and articles 11 and 28 on the Law on Television and Radio. The application also indicates at the inconvenient airtime provided to the candidates that
give no single chance to soften the anti-propaganda of 'Haylur'. L. Ter-Petrosyan's campaign headquarters took all the measures stipulated by the law to prevent the violations of the law, but
useless. The claimant asked CC 'to recognize the obstacles to Ter-Petrosyan's campaign invincible'. The CC is studying the case. Article 52 of the Armenian Constitution says that in case of invincible obstacles to the campaign of one of the presidential candidates, the election are postponed for 2 weeks. In case the obstacles recognized invincible are not liquidated, new election are declared and the voting is scheduled for the 40th day after the above two-week term.

Lawyer Ruben Torosyan told ArmInfo the Constitutional Court is to assess how serious are the obstacles created to Ter-Petrosyan.

The Court rejected the petition of Ter-Petrosyan's lawyers to invite Aleksan Haroutunyan, head of Armenian Public television Council, and Garegin Azaryan, CEC Chairman, 'in order they explain why did
'Haylur' program mislead electors on the day of Ter-Petrosyan's application referring to a statement by Armenian CEC that Ter-Petrosyan has not applied for self-withdrawal so far. They are well aware that Ter- Petrosyan has no intention to withdraw his candidature', Torosyan said. Nevertheless, the Court rejected the petition for it exceeded the frames of the case considered. The hearings are continued.



2008-02-11 11:05:00 Karabakhi analyst thinks recognition of Nagornyy Karabakh fully-fledged party to the conflict is the way out from deadlock
Arminfo. Karabakhi analyst David Karabekyan thinks that Nagornyy Karabakh should be
recognized a fully-fledged party to the conflict as this will promote taking the Karabakh settlement process from deadlock, as he told Arminfo correspondent in Stepanakert.

He also added that "actually the intermediaries and the world community should understand that at present security of Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh as well as their economy should not exist and
develop isolated especially in the conditions when Azerbaijan increases its military expenditure, and regional and sun-regional integration processes are developing". "For this reason, when resolving the problem of status, security and borders the intermediaries should stem from the necessity of definition of secure borders of Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh to Azerbaijan, but not only of secure borders of Nagornyy Karabakh", - Karabekyan concluded.



2008-02-11 11:00:00 RA Police: Threats to 'Orinats Yerkir' party leader, RA presidential contender Artur Baghdasaryan are of no real danger for his life
ArmInfo. The threats to the "Orinats Yerkir" party leader, RA presidential contender Artur Baghdasaryan are of no real danger for his life, the message of RA Police reads.

According to the message, during the meeting with Head of the Central Criminal Investigation Department of RA Police, OY party leader told of 4 cases of threats to him. He said that some unknown persons in the town of Vanadzor threatened to murder him. Such threats were also received from an unknown citizen during the past meeting in Yerevan. According to A. Baghdasaryan's statement, during the meeting, he saw three persons on the roof of the business-center. Moreover, he noticed something, resembling a pistol
holster, in the hands of one of them. The third threat about
bodily harm was contained in the letter of some citizen of the USA. However, this letter was not delivered to the law machinery. One more fact of threat was fixed: an unknown person called to the cell phone of the father of OY deputy Chairman Mher Shahgeldyan and just said: "Be careful!". Thus, this call does not directly concern OY leader. As the message emphasizes, all the above-indicated facts were examined and assessed. According to the conclusion, the threats to OY party leader are of no real danger for
his life.

To recall, Artur Baghdasaryan informed of the threats to his address at February 3 meeting.



2008-02-11 10:11:00 Republic party representative on presidential campaign of first president
ArmInfo. 'Specific program must be chosen during presidential campaign in Armenia', a member of Republic Party Political Council Suren Surenyants told ArmInfo.

At the same time, he stressed that the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan's entering the campaign did not make the campaign exclusively ideological. 'People, our public, still make their choice on the principle of voting "for" or "against". However, the first president's campaigning has already settled two important tasks. First, the presidential campaign is no longer formal and the country has got real election. Second, at least, we have a real campaign program in the country due to Ter-Petrosyan',
S. Surenyants said.

He stressed that Levon Ter-Petrosyan very precisely presents his program and one must perceive his words within the context. For instance, a provision in the program says that it is necessary to
create professional army in the perspective. 'Levon Ter-Petrosyan's words were lift out from the context and speculations were started on it replacing it by such absurd ideas as army dismissal. Whereas, our candidate has repeatedly stated that only after settlement of Karabakh conflict and the relations with Turkey, it is possible to create professional army', S. Surenyants said.



2008-02-11 10:10:00 Influence of external factor on presidential election in Armenia to be minimal: 'Republic' party representative
ArmInfo. 'Influence of the external factor on the presidential election in Armenia will be minimal, as two candidates, well-known and predictable for the world community, are unambiguous favourites of the election campaign>, member of the "Republic" oppositional party's Political Council Souren Sourenyants told ArmInfo.

He said that interference of the external factor just under these circumstances becomes minimal. As for several reportages and one programme by the Russian state TV channels with apparent political
direction in favour of RA prime minister, the oppositionist explains it by a simple inertness. "Very authoritative Russian prints placed the most weighted materials on their pages, so, several reportages by Russian TV channels are a result of inertness. Russia is a non-democratic country, therefore, materials in the spirit, inherited from the communist times, may go on the air from Moscow", S. Sourenyants said. He also ruled out probability of commercial agreements, which explain appearance of several partisan
reportages on the Russian TV channels, however, he
expressed hope that will not affect the election campaign in Armenia.

"In cases when the main political struggle goes among the two known and predictable candidates, the world community stipulates its position, as a rule, by public moods in a state where the election
are held", S. Sourenyants emphasized.



2008-02-11 10:09:00 There is political need in holding meetings in Armenia: 'Republic' party representative
ArmInfo. "There is a political need in Armenia in holding meetings, and we use them as a very efficient mechanism of coersion on the authorities. They will understand even till February 19 how risky it is to resort to falsifications during the presidential election", member of the "Republic" party's Political Council Souren Sourenyants told ArmInfo.

He said that the meetings, in general, are of importance as they reflect the political situation as on a specific moment. Asked about the chances of "Republic" party- supported presidential contender Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the oppositionist replied that they are much higher now than before the official start of the election campaign, S. Sourenyants said.

The "Republic" party representative emphasized that the present authorities are not able to act by civilized methods any more in the developed internal political situation in the country, which has
been caused by RA first president's participation in the election. "The events in Artashat, where the authorities tried to hinder holding of L. Ter- Petrosyan's election meeting, using hooligans, have brightly proved it. Meanwhile, such actions indicate that the authorities see a very strong and influential candidate in the person of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who has great chances for victory", S. Sourenyants said.



2008-02-11 10:06:00 'Republic' party representative: I would not emphasize role of our political force in Levon Ter-Petrosyan's election campaign
ArmInfo. I would not emphasize the role of our political force in the election campaign of Armenia's first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan>, member of the "Republic" oppositional party's Political Council Souren Sourenyants told ArmInfo. He said that there is a Central campaign headquarters of
the presidential contender, in coordination with which the responsibility for specific sections of work among different political parties and organizations, supporting Ter-Petrosyan's candidacy, has been distributed. At the same time, S. Sourenyants said that the "Republic" party takes the most direct and active part in the election campaign. In particular, Chairman of the Political Council Aram Sargsyan is member of L. Ter-Petrosyan's Central campaign headquarters. Other members of the Council
superintend the work of a number of regional and communal headquarters. "We are involved in the organizational and propagandistic work as much as possible. All-over, where we have party structures, the "Republic" party members take active part in L. Ter-Petrosyan's election meetings as well", Souren Sourenyants said.







Economy


2008-02-11 21:15:00 Pilots of bankrupt 'Armenian Airlines' are paid arrears of wages at last
ArmInfo. The Armenian government has paid all arrears of wages to the employees of the "Armenian Airlines" company, which became bankrupt in 2004. Having received the wages accrued over
4 years, the pilots expressed their gratitude to Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and leadership of the General Department of Civil Aviation (GDCA), Press-secretary of GDCA of Armenia Gayane Davtyan told ArmInfo.

In 2004, when the "Armenian Airlines" company was dissolved, the organization owed a total of 1,978 bln AMD to 744 employees. Later, 131 employees were paid 71,7 mln AMD. In 2007, the government
allocated 56,6 mln AMD from the surplus fund, which reduced the arrears of 100 more employees of the bankrupt company. 234 employees were paid the arrears of wages completely, for which 113,7 mln AMD had been allocated. In addition, 169 employees were paid arrears of doles worth a total of 36,7 mln AMD, and the families of 8 fallen pilots were paid arrears worth 12,4 mln AMD. The Armenian government also paid the debts to the company's employees who got occupational diseases. At the moment, the government still
owes to 82 out of 744 employees, and these arrears will be paid in the near future as 1,302 bln AMD have already been allotted from the state budget for this purpose.

To recall, on April 13, 2007, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan gave an instruction to consider the demands of the air company's employees and repay the accrued arrears of wages.



2008-02-11 12:44:00 Vazgen Manukyan proposes restoring law on simplified tax
ArmInfo. Presidential candidate, Leader of National Democratic Union Vazgen Manukyan proposes restoring the law on simplified tax. V. Mankyan expressed the idea to journalists at a meeting organized by the Club of Economic Journalists, Monday.

He said the recent abolition of the law has really affected the small and medium-size business. NDU Leader believes the given law has become a good impetus for development since small businessmen avoided serious accounting and taxation agencies did not inspect them. All this has reduced corruption risks. V. Manukyan believes it necessary raising the tax-deductible item from the previous 50 million to 300 million drams annually. He said development of economy must be based on small and medium-size enterprises
and not large productions.

The candidate is sure that the largest problem of the present economic situation is corruption at the highest level and integration of the authorities and large business. That is why shady economy is
mainly "at the highest level", the candidate said. 'We propose system changes and democracy', V. Manukyan said. He told journalists he has no intention to join any other political force to get the post
of the prime minister. 'I have already been on the post of the premier and left to the opposition', he said.



2008-02-08 13:34:00 New code to VivaCell cellular operator
ArmInfo. Public Services Regulatory Commission adopted a decision today to give a new code to VivaCell cellular operator (077).

As external adviser of the company Vahan Harutyunyuan told journalists, more than half of the codes given earlier are already used, the codes 093 and 094 were used by more than 80% and 60% respectively. He also added that the new code is necessary for further development of the company and for giving new services of the third generation in GSM standard. Press-service of the Public Services Regulatory Commission says that they are going give a new code 055 to the third cellular operator which will enter the Armenian
market in 2008.

To note, at present there are two cellular operators in Armenia: CJSC "ArmenTel", 100% shares of which belong to OJSC "Vympelcom" and "K-Telecom" (trade mark VivaCell), 80% of shares of which belong to MTS. There are about 2mln cellular phone users in Armenia, 65% of which use VivaCell.


Finance and banks


2008-02-12 11:26:00 Exchange rate of dram against US dollar and EUR
ArmInfo Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 309 drams for 1 dollar, 449 drams for 1 EUR and 12,29 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 311 drams for 1 dollar, 453 drams for 1 EUR and 12,5 drams for 1 Russian ruble.