ARKA News Agency
Dec 21 2004


70% of citizens of Armenia are against sending armenian servicemen to
Iraq

RA President orders to form a work group of experts in the sphere of
social security

Freedom house research states that Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are
"partially free states

Armenian Genocide and Territorial losses on Russian State TV

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70% OF CITIZENS OF ARMENIA ARE AGAINST SENDING ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN TO
IRAQ

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. 70% of citizens of Armenia are against
sending Armenian servicemen to Iraq for them to participate in
reconstruction work, as stated Hovsep Khurshudyan, the expert of
Armenian Centre for National and International Studies (ACNIS).
According to him, only 15,6% of the respondents were for sending
Armenian peacekeeping forces to Iraq, 13,9% found the question
difficult to answer. 24% of 100 experts who participated in the
survey were for sending, 67% were against it, and 9% found the
question difficult to answer.
100 experts and 2002 respondents from Yerevan and all 10 marzes of
Armenia participated in the study of ACNIS. The main objective was to
study the public opinion concerning 5 issues: Eurointegration,
Armenia-Diaspora cooperation, tolerance, problems of minorities and
situation in educational system.
The Armenian Centre for National and International Studies (ACNIS)
NGO was founded in 1994 by the former RA Foreign Minister Raffi
Hovhannisyan. A.H. –0--

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RA PRESIDENT ORDERS TO FORM A WORK GROUP OF EXPERTS IN THE SPHERE OF
SOCIAL SECURITY

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharyan ordered
to form a work group of experts in the sphere of social security.
According to RA President's Press Service Department, Kocharyan noted
at today's session that the government lacks full-fledged program on
social security system reformation. "The reforms imply coordinated
work which will concern not only the RA Ministry of Social Affairs.
Some other departments will be involved in it", he said.
According to the President, on the base of several measures taken by
various departments, a single program can be developed, which may be
implemented already next year. Kocharyan ordered that the work group
submits in a month the common conception of reforms.
RA Prime-Minister Andranik Margaryan, RA Minister of Labour and
Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan, Chairmen of the State Fund of Social
Insurance and of CBA participated in the session. A.H. –0--

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FREEDOM HOUSE RESEARCH STATES THAT ARMENIA AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH ARE
"PARTIALLY FREE STATES

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/ Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are
"partially free states", according to the results of 2004 global
research conducted by Freedom House, which is American rights
advocacy organization. According to the annual report of the
organization, human rights in Armenia get worse. "Suppression of
peaceful civil demonstrations by the authorities testifies to the
fact that non-democratic ruling prevails in the country", according
to the research.
Freedom House gives evaluation by 7 point scale, where one point is
awarded for the best results. According to the scale, Armenia was
awarded 4 points in the sphere of civil freedoms and 5 –in political
freedoms. Nagorno-Karabakh was awarded 5 points for each category.
In East Europe positive growth is recorded in Georgia and the
Ukraine, where all national protests caused the change of the results
of the falsified elections. Russia is the only of the countries which
lowered its rating in 2004, having become a "not free" from
"partially free" country. Of the free countries of the West Europe
only Turkey is recognized as "partially free".
On the whole, according to the research, the level of freedoms in the
world increased in 2004: 26 countries had positive results, and 11
countries worsened their results. Out of 192 countries of the world
46% are free, 26% are not free, and the rest are partially free. The
most regressive countries are called 8 countries like Burma, Cuba,
Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. A.H. –0--

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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND TERRITORIAL LOSSES ON RUSSIAN STATE TV

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. The Russian Cultural Fund and Rossia
State TV Channel in association with the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation's (ARF) Moscow office, have produced a documentary called
"Who Had Paid Lenin?". As the Press Service of ARF told ARKA, the
documentary tells the truth about the 1917 October coup. Based on
rich documentary material, the film shows for the first time that the
Bolsheviks seized the power using Kaiser Germany's funding under the
plan offered by Parvus. The fact is that the October coup was the
result of the cooperation between Parvus and Lenin. As a reward for
the assistance to seize the power, the Bolsheviks signed the
Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany, getting out of the war and making
vast concessions to Germany and its allies. In the film, ARF Bureau
member and Armenian National Assembly vice speaker Vahan Hovhannisian
speaks of the October coup impact on the fate of the Armenian people.
He speaks of the devastating consequences the Bolshevik coup for the
Armenians. By the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, not only the Russian troops
-- so close to a victory -- were withdrawn from Western Armenia, but
also the Kars and Ardahan regions of Eastern Armenia were surrendered
to Turkey. Later on, the concessions made by the Bolshevik government
to Turkey, were sustained in the 1921 Moscow and Kars treaties.
Also, the film contains documentary footage of the Genocide. "Who Had
Paid Lenin?" will debut on the Rossia Channel no December 22 at 11:35
p.m. Moscow time. L.V. –0--

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