His popularity waned during his rule as he sold Armenian electrical capacity to Georgia while limiting electricity's availability to Armenia to 4 hours per day in order to fund the war against Azerbaijan, a move regarded as necessary by the Armenian Army. He was also unpopular with many because he banned the nation's leading opposition party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF- Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiune), jailed its leadership, and shut down Yerkir, the country's largest daily newspaper.Hefty charges indeed. As someone who lived through the early 1990s in Armenia, anyone who considers voting for him because he is a voice of change, reason, or otherwise the lesser of two evils, is simply insane.
He was forced to step down in February 1998 after advocating additional concessions to Azerbaijan in the resolution of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Ter Petrosyan's key ministers, led by then-Prime Minister Kocharyan, refused to accept a peace plan on Karabakh put forward by international mediators in September 1997. The plan, accepted by Ter-Petrosyan and Azerbaijan, called for a "phased" settlement of the conflict which would postpone an agreement on Karabakh's status, the main stumbling block. That agreement was to accompany the return of most Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh and the lifting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish blockades of Armenia.
After a clear-cut victory over the Republic of South Africa, the Armenian under-20 hockey team beat Turkey 13:1 within the framework of the World Hockey Championship.One wonders how Australia can be anywhere near the top in an ice-based game! Oh well, we won and that's all that matters.
It is due to mention that our team won over Turkey during a 2007 tournament as well. Presently, Armenia and Australia top the fixture list. Armenia will compete with New Zealand on January 20.
At a short ceremony led by Mr Dink's close friends and family, crowds of people marked his murder at 1457 (1257 GMT) on 19 January 2007 with a moment of silence outside the offices of the Agos newspaper.Shouldn't something as crucial as this trial, at least to Turkey's future as a member of the EU, be highly public so that the entire world can see whether justice is being served or merely covered up? This simply inspires more due suspicion from the Armenians, Turks, and the world at large.
The trial, which began in July, is being held behind closed doors because the alleged gunman, Ogun Samast, is 17 years old.
Mr Dink's family has accused the authorities of collusion, and the court is also considering allegations of a cover-up.
The Minister said that Armenian roads should be equipped in line with advanced international standards and give comfort to drivers. Manukian reported that the new road marking will be made with reflecting paints to lighten the traffic under the conditions of bad visibility.Oh, and all of this is supposed to be done in the next four years and cost 5.5 billion AMD, or a little over $18 million with today's exchange rate. Call me cynical, but unless there is a fair bidding system for contractors, better yet separated by region, then this would serve as just another means of channeling funds to preferred businessmen.
In the town of Ararat - about an hour's drive south of Yerevan, Armenia's capital - investors from Russia have moved in to take control of what is believed to be one of the biggest gold-mining operations in the country.But there's more to it than that.
Azerbaijan says a considerable amount of the Zod mine is in its territory, at present occupied by the Armenian military.And let's not forget the previous owners:
In 2002, AGRC was taken over by a company controlled by the family of Indian mining billionaire Aneel Agarwal. But its operations were closed down after the Armenian authorities accused the company of reneging on various licensing agreements. The company was charged with tax fraud and environmental violations and ordered to pay millions of dollars in fines.Besides the laughable notion of the Armenian government charging anyone with tax fraud, this is yet another nail in the coffin that is Armenia's economic future. We've given away nearly everything in the name of short term profits, but what of the future?
