RFE/RL has updates on various stories that it has covered extensively in the past week and which have also featured prominently on this blog. And as the spread of bird flu appears to be foremost in the minds of many, it seems only natural that the global media appears to have been ‘infected’ the most.

For Armenia, the fact that neighboring Turkey is suffering raises some concern here although RFE/RL reports that not many businessmen involved with the poultry market appear to be taking newly introduced restrictions from the government seriously.

The State Veterinary Inspectorate announced on January 10 that market traders across the country can no longer sell poultry and wild birds without a special license from the agency which is subordinated to the Armenian Ministry of Agriculture. The measure was part of government measures taken in response to a bird flu outbreak in eastern Turkish regions close to Armenia that has killed at least three people.

But at the bird market in Yerevan’s Kanaker-Zeytun district it was business as usual, with live chickens and pet birds such as pigeons and parrots available for sale in large numbers. Traders there told RFE/RL that nobody has even tried to enforce the serious curbs ban on their business.

“I have my clientele and my business is going on as usual,” said one of them.

“Yes, they’ve told us about [the restrictions], but nobody is asking for any documents,” said another trader.

Perhaps the funniest quote in the piece comes from Petros Hakobian, Deputy Head of the Kanaker-Zeytun District of Yerevan and, ahem, coincidently the owner of the local market.

He at first claimed to be unaware of the government restrictions and said he will ban poultry trade only if “a single bird flu case is registered” in Armenia. “I am the owner and must pay taxes. In order to be able to do that I have to work,” he said.

“Their sale is indeed banned,” Hakobian confessed later in the interview. But he claimed that his traders simply want their birds to “breathe some fresh air” and that he can not stop them doing that.

Meanwhile, following speculation that the new Prosperous Armenia party of oligarch and MP Gagik Tsarukian (AKA Dodi Gago) might back the Serzh Sarkisyan’s possible candidacy in the 2008 presidential elections, the Defense Minister denies that there is any link between his political aspirations and the former arm wrestler who obviously wants to protect his business interests in the long-term.

Sarkisian, seen as Kocharian’s most likely successor in 2008, contested the last Armenian parliamentary election in an alliance with Prime Minister Andranik Markarian’s Republican Party (HHK). He said he will clarify “at the beginning of February” whether he will again run for parliament on the HHK ticket.

Speaking to journalists last week, Markarian admitted that the powerful defense chief may not team up with his party next time around. Such a development would deal a blow to the Republicans’ hopes of retaining the largest faction in the National Assembly.

Tsarukian is believed to be close to Kocharian and has common business interests with one of Sarkisian’s two brothers. The former arm-wrestler’s Multi Group company comprises over 40 small and large businesses.

In other news, Armenia’s momentum towards European and regional integration seems to gaining pace compared to other years, and not least since the election of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in neighboring Georgia. Prior to the November 2003 Rose Revolution relations between the two countries appeared pretty much non-existent, but now they definitely seem to be strengthening.

Georgia is interested in developing the kind of “strategic” relationship with Armenia which it already has with Azerbaijan, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said during an official visit to Yerevan on Monday. He also indicated Tbilisi’s desire to import Iranian natural gas through a pipeline currently constructed in southeastern Armenia.

Officials said his meetings with President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Markarian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian touched on a wide range of issues of mutual concern, including bilateral economic ties, unresolved conflicts in the South Caucasus and ways of spurring regional integration. No concrete agreements were announced after the talks.