Armenian News
RFE/RL Report
Armenians Urged To Vacation In Karabakh
An 18th century fortress in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh.
08.07.2009
Lilit Harutiunian
An 18th century fortress in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh.
08.07.2009
Lilit Harutiunian
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian berated Armenia's travel agencies on
Wednesday for lacking interest in Nagorno-Karabakh and sending
thousands of holiday-makers to Georgia and Turkey instead.
Georgia's Black Sea region of Ajaria has emerged in recent years as
the most popular destination of Armenians going on vacation in summer
months. They are attracted by its seaside resorts and prices that are
often significantly lower than in similar locations in Armenia. A
growing number of Armenians also spend their summer holidays on the
Turkish Mediterranean coast.
Sarkisian publicly complained about that as he met with
representatives of about two dozen local travel operators. He said
they should now pay much greater attention to resorts in Armenia and
especially Karabakh, which is famous for its mountain scenery and
ancient Armenian monasteries.
`If you don't advertise [Karabakh] you will naturally have no
clients,' he said. `People don't even know what opportunities exist
in Karabakh, what the tariffs there are. They don't know that things
are marvelous, service is marvelous there. Why aren't you promoting
[Karabakh] day and night?'
`Kobuleti [Georgia] and Antalya: you advertise them so much that even
a person who will never go there knows about those places,' added the
prime minister.
A representative of Karabakh's tourism development agency present at
the meeting offered the travel agents financial incentives to bring
more Armenian tourists to the disputed region. He said the total cost
of a five-day holiday tour of Karabakh will now range from 70,000
drams ($193) to 110,000 drams per person.
Some of the agents sounded incredulous about the offer, saying that
they have until now dealt with higher travel and accommodation costs
in Karabakh. `Unless we see that [price package] with our own eyes we
won't send any tourists there,' said Ruben Grigorian of the Rumea
travel agency.
`So you should be the first tourists,' commented Sarkisian. It was
decided that a group of travel agents will leave for Karabakh on
Monday to assess the tourism infrastructures and tariffs on the ground.
ARMENIA FM: FOREIGN MINISTER OF AZERBAIJAN IS NOT THE ONE
TO DECIDE UPON THE STATUS OF ARTSAKH
armradio.am
08.07.2009 17:02
On July 8 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard Fassier
and Matthew Bryza, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
During the meeting discussed were issues related to the preparation
of the forthcoming meeting of the Presidnts of Armenia and Azerbaijan
in Moscow.
Turning to the negotiation process in the framework of the Minsk Group,
Minister Nalbandian stressed the necessity of the full participation
of the Karabakhi side in the process as an effective guarantee of
the peace process.
The Co-Chairs expressed regret that the weather conditions did not
allow them to travel to Stepanakert.
Commenting on Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov's
statement about providing autonomy to Nagorno Karabakh within
Azerbaijan, Edward Nalbandian said the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan
is not the one to decide upon the status of Artsakh, and the regigh
belongs to the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
armradio.am
08.07.2009 17:02
On July 8 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard Fassier
and Matthew Bryza, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
During the meeting discussed were issues related to the preparation
of the forthcoming meeting of the Presidnts of Armenia and Azerbaijan
in Moscow.
Turning to the negotiation process in the framework of the Minsk Group,
Minister Nalbandian stressed the necessity of the full participation
of the Karabakhi side in the process as an effective guarantee of
the peace process.
The Co-Chairs expressed regret that the weather conditions did not
allow them to travel to Stepanakert.
Commenting on Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov's
statement about providing autonomy to Nagorno Karabakh within
Azerbaijan, Edward Nalbandian said the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan
is not the one to decide upon the status of Artsakh, and the regigh
belongs to the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
WITNESS SAW DINK MURDER SUSPECT AT GENDARMERIE
COMMAND
Today's Zaman
07 July 2009, Tuesday
A witness who testified yesterday in the murder trial of Hrant Dink,
a Turkish-Armenian journalist assassinated by an ultra-nationalist
teenager in January 2007, stated that he saw one of the prime suspects
in the case at the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command before the murder.
The Ýstanbul 14th Higher Criminal Court continued hearing evidence in
the Dink murder trial yesterday. Veysel Þahin, who said he was invited
to Trabzon as a "guest intelligence officer," had seen Yasin Hayal at
the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command during his time there between 2003 and
2005. He also recalled asking a colonel named Þinasi and an intelligent
unit chief called Feridun who Hayal was, and the two men responding,
"He is a good kid."
Suspects Ogun Samast, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ahmet Ýskender and
Ersin Yolcu, as well as Hrant Dink's wife Rakel, daughter Delal and
brother Orhan Dink, journalist Adalet Aðaoðlu, former head of the
Ýstanbul Bar Association Yucel Sayman, journalists Ali Bayramoðlu,
Oral Calýþlar and Yavuz Baydar and a delegation of lawyers from the
Paris Bar Association attended the trial yesterday.
The court also heard another witness, Mesme Havva, who was at the crime
scene on the day of the assassination. Havva told the court that she
was working at a store not far from the crime scene and said she was
walking to a nearby bank on the day of the murder when she heard a
gunshot which led her to believe that her friend walking next to her
was shot.
She said when she saw that the person who was actually shot was
Hrant Dink, a personal acquaintance as he was a frequenter of
the store where Havva works, that she heard Dink yell out, "I've
been shot." The witness said there were two people and continued,
"The second time, they shot his head, he turned around. I asked the
one who pulled the trigger 'why did you shoot him, son?' He waited,
perhaps to make sure that he was dead, and then that one ran off."
Havva also said she tried to help Dink up to get him to a hospital
after she was shot, but that people at the scene told her not to
touch Dink's body until the prosecutors arrived. Havva also said she
testified to the police twice, once before hit-man Ogun Samast was
captured and another time after that, saying she had identified one
of the suspects in the line-up she had been shown by the police.
She said at the time of the shooting, she saw someone standing aside
when Samast was pulling the trigger, and noted that he started to run
together with the hit-man, adding that one of the two ran into a girl
holding a purse, who mistakenly thought they were purse snatchers.
During yesterday's session, Havva was asked to identify Samast in the
room one more time. She replied, "Yes I think this was him. I can't
be too sure, his face was all wrapped up because it was winter,"
at which point Samast started to laugh. The witness, agitated by
Samast's reaction, angrily retorted, "What are you laughing at?" The
presiding judge ordered silence in the courtroom.
Havva also said she had been fired by her boss and her husband had
stopped talking to her because she has been standing as a witness in
the trial.
When asked to identify the second person at the scene she pointed her
finger at Hayal, another one of the primary suspects in the murder
case. Hayal, who spoke after being singled out as the second person
at the crime scene, started his words saying he was sorry about his
earlier aggressive behaviors in the court. He denied the witness'
testimony, saying that the police had established the validity of
his alibi that he was in Trabzon at the time.
Presiding Judge Erkan Canak read out loud an affidavit by witness Mesut
Oz, in which the witness said he had seen Ogun Samast and another man,
who he said was "short and round," stand and watch Dink for a long
time, standing next to a lamppost outside a cafe where Dink and he
were having coffee three or four days before the murder. Oz wrote
that he identified Samast on the television the day of the murder,
but said he did not see the other man on television.
Today's Zaman
07 July 2009, Tuesday
A witness who testified yesterday in the murder trial of Hrant Dink,
a Turkish-Armenian journalist assassinated by an ultra-nationalist
teenager in January 2007, stated that he saw one of the prime suspects
in the case at the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command before the murder.
The Ýstanbul 14th Higher Criminal Court continued hearing evidence in
the Dink murder trial yesterday. Veysel Þahin, who said he was invited
to Trabzon as a "guest intelligence officer," had seen Yasin Hayal at
the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command during his time there between 2003 and
2005. He also recalled asking a colonel named Þinasi and an intelligent
unit chief called Feridun who Hayal was, and the two men responding,
"He is a good kid."
Suspects Ogun Samast, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ahmet Ýskender and
Ersin Yolcu, as well as Hrant Dink's wife Rakel, daughter Delal and
brother Orhan Dink, journalist Adalet Aðaoðlu, former head of the
Ýstanbul Bar Association Yucel Sayman, journalists Ali Bayramoðlu,
Oral Calýþlar and Yavuz Baydar and a delegation of lawyers from the
Paris Bar Association attended the trial yesterday.
The court also heard another witness, Mesme Havva, who was at the crime
scene on the day of the assassination. Havva told the court that she
was working at a store not far from the crime scene and said she was
walking to a nearby bank on the day of the murder when she heard a
gunshot which led her to believe that her friend walking next to her
was shot.
She said when she saw that the person who was actually shot was
Hrant Dink, a personal acquaintance as he was a frequenter of
the store where Havva works, that she heard Dink yell out, "I've
been shot." The witness said there were two people and continued,
"The second time, they shot his head, he turned around. I asked the
one who pulled the trigger 'why did you shoot him, son?' He waited,
perhaps to make sure that he was dead, and then that one ran off."
Havva also said she tried to help Dink up to get him to a hospital
after she was shot, but that people at the scene told her not to
touch Dink's body until the prosecutors arrived. Havva also said she
testified to the police twice, once before hit-man Ogun Samast was
captured and another time after that, saying she had identified one
of the suspects in the line-up she had been shown by the police.
She said at the time of the shooting, she saw someone standing aside
when Samast was pulling the trigger, and noted that he started to run
together with the hit-man, adding that one of the two ran into a girl
holding a purse, who mistakenly thought they were purse snatchers.
During yesterday's session, Havva was asked to identify Samast in the
room one more time. She replied, "Yes I think this was him. I can't
be too sure, his face was all wrapped up because it was winter,"
at which point Samast started to laugh. The witness, agitated by
Samast's reaction, angrily retorted, "What are you laughing at?" The
presiding judge ordered silence in the courtroom.
Havva also said she had been fired by her boss and her husband had
stopped talking to her because she has been standing as a witness in
the trial.
When asked to identify the second person at the scene she pointed her
finger at Hayal, another one of the primary suspects in the murder
case. Hayal, who spoke after being singled out as the second person
at the crime scene, started his words saying he was sorry about his
earlier aggressive behaviors in the court. He denied the witness'
testimony, saying that the police had established the validity of
his alibi that he was in Trabzon at the time.
Presiding Judge Erkan Canak read out loud an affidavit by witness Mesut
Oz, in which the witness said he had seen Ogun Samast and another man,
who he said was "short and round," stand and watch Dink for a long
time, standing next to a lamppost outside a cafe where Dink and he
were having coffee three or four days before the murder. Oz wrote
that he identified Samast on the television the day of the murder,
but said he did not see the other man on television.
ECONOMIC SLUMP IN ARMENIA MAY EXCEED 16%
PanARMENIAN.Net/
07.07.2009 12:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said economic
slump in the republic may exceed 16%.
"The slump is conditioned by problems in construction industry,
which has a multiplicative impact on all other sectors of economy,"
Mr. Sargsyan said during "Impact of the Global Crisis on Armenia:
Short- and Long-run Perspectives" international conference.
"We expect deterioration in the coming months but the situation may
improve by the yearend," he said.
The economic slump in Armenia made 15.7% during the period from
January to May. The slump in construction industry reached 56.1%.
PanARMENIAN.Net/
07.07.2009 12:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said economic
slump in the republic may exceed 16%.
"The slump is conditioned by problems in construction industry,
which has a multiplicative impact on all other sectors of economy,"
Mr. Sargsyan said during "Impact of the Global Crisis on Armenia:
Short- and Long-run Perspectives" international conference.
"We expect deterioration in the coming months but the situation may
improve by the yearend," he said.
The economic slump in Armenia made 15.7% during the period from
January to May. The slump in construction industry reached 56.1%.
ARMENIA'S BUDGET DEFICIT TO BE COVERED BY WB, IMF,
ADB AND RUSSIAN CREDITS/PanARMENIAN.Net/
07.07.2009 14:56 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia's State Budget deficit will be covered
due to allocations from World Bank, International Monetary Fund,
Asian Development Bank, as well as the Russian credits, RA Finance
Minister Tigran Davtyan said today during a press conference devoted to
"Global Crisis Impact on Armenian Economy: Long-term and Short-Term
Prospects", "Negotiations with all four parties are over, and
relevant international structures have already adopted decisions,"
he said. Negotiations with ABD which started early this year have
already finished. This creates a strong guarantee for funding the 2009
budget, he said, adding that half of IMF resources and some amount
of the Russian credits will be used for covering the 2010 budget. "We
are already considering prospect for fulfilling next year's budget,"
he said.
Even the investments above will not decrease Armenia's external
debts. "After attracting all the resources, our debts will still
remain at risk," Mr. Davtyan noted, adding that volumes in that
context will increase, but because Armenia had good base indices at
the beginning of the year (13%), the 2010-11 credit programs will
lower the specific weight of Armenia's external debts to 30-38% in
relation to GDP (external debts with 50% specific weight are at the
highest risk). "Such debt is acceptable and controllable," he said.
Budget deficit will be funded by Asian Development Bank ($80 million)
and World Bank (about $50 million), Russian credits ($ 50 billion)
and International Monetary Fund ($ 150 million).
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