ARMENIANOW.COM DIJESTS JULY 29, 2005
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News Digest July 25th – July 29th 2005
By Ruzanna Amiraghyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
Parliamentarians of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia met in Dublin on
July 25 th. The Armenian delegation was headed by Vice Speaker Tigran
Torosian, who said that the meeting followed negotiations held within
the framework of the South Caucasian parliamentary initiative. To
remind, at that time the parliamentary leaders signed a memorandum on
the formation of an Interparliamentary Assembly of the South
Caucasus. The Azeri delegation claimed that efficient steps would be
undertaken only after the settlement of the Karabagh conflict.
A Renault bus with 38 Iranian tourists caught fire in the Vayots Dzor
region of Armenia on July 25 th. Nobody was hurt but the bus was
destroyed in the fire, which apparently was caused by overheated
brakes.
Defense Minister Serge Sargsian addressed the Third Pan-Armenian Youth
Forum on the issue of the possible resolution of the Karabagh problem,
saying: `I formed my opinion long ago and I am convinced that the
Karabagh problem can be settled on the basis of compromise only.’
He stated that no conflict in the world had been without
compromise. During parliamentary hearings, Sargsian noted that the
Armenian party has already made certain concessions and that he is
against the return of the territories.
The building of Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi railway is Georgia’s internal
affair, Armenia’s Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan stated in Tbilisi
on July 25th. In his words, Armenia can only express its opinion, but
cannot interfere directly.
`In the course of our previous visits representatives of the Georgian
Government noted that they will assist us in opening the
Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway. It matters for Georgia for the territory
to be linked with Turkey. It is natural that launching the existing
line is cheaper and more profitable than investing large sums to build
a new one,’ Margaryan stated.
Georgian MP Beso Jugeli stated tthat an Armenian Tobacco Factory will
open in Tbilisi on August 5 th. He said it would produce about 32
brands of cigarettes from Armenian raw materials. Local residents will
staff the factory and initial production will be sold in
Georgia. After the meeting of Armenia’s Premier Andranik Margaryan
with Georgia’s Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze, Jugeli stated
that the volume of investment by Armenian enterprises into the
Georgian economy is some $4 million.
Tehran and Kiev proposed the formation of a penta-lateral commission
with Armenia, Georgia and Russia for the study, design and
construction of the Iran-Ukraine gas pipeline through Armenia, says a
memorandum signed by representatives of the two countries in
Tehran. Iran’s deputy oil minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian
stated that Ukraine is interested in importing 20-30 billion cubic
meters of gas per year. Ukraine is also ready to permit Iran to use
its infrastructure to transport 20 billion cubic meters of gas to
Europe annually.
According to an agreement signed in July, Bi Line Company became the
official distributor in Armenia of all products of Microsoft
Corporation. Bi Line’s Director General Artak Zakaryan reported that
Microsoft plans to increase the volume of sales in Armenia to $1
million.
Armenia has allocated $350,000 to implement programs in the
Samtskhe-Javakhk region of Georgia populated by Armenians, Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan said during his visit to Tbilisi. Part of
the money will be used to repair Armenian schools in the region.
Two Turkish soldiers and two Kurdish rebels were killed in a skirmish
with Kurdish units in Eastern Turkey close to the Armenian-Iranian
border on July 27 th. Since May 2005, 33 Turks and 44 Kurds have been
killed.
Armenia ranked 42 nd in the 2005 annual report on World Economic
Freedom issued by the Heritage Institute and the Wall Street
Journal. It is the only CIS member-state in the list to be rateed a
`partly free economy’.
During a meeting with European parliamentarians of Turkish origin,
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on them to help
launch a campaign to prevent European parliaments recognizing the
Armenian Genocide. He urged German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Belgian
parliamentarians of Turkish origin to oppose activities of the
Armenian Diaspora targeted at Genocide recognition. However the
deputies said Europe is tending to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide
and that Turkey should carry out active lobbying against this
phenomenon.
Dr. Mohamed El Baradei, the Director General of the International
Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA), arrived in Armenia on July 27 th to hold
meetings with the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Minister of Energy. He was also due to visit the Metsamor
Nuclear Power Plant.
According to Anver Aliyev, a member of the Central Electoral
Commission of Azerbaijan, 44 per cent of Azerbaijani voters (about 1.5
million people) do not yet have personal identity cards to allow them
to participate in the parliamentary election this autumn. `If during
three years only 3 million people have received identification
documents then how can a million and a half get them in three months?’
said Aliyev. However, the head of the Central Electoral Commission,
Mazair Panahov, sees no grounds for concern since the Interior
Ministry has asserted that all voters will get identification
documents in time. Sources: , ,
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Sport Digest: Armenia’s U-19s come of age on European stage
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow Reporter
Football
Out but not down: Armenia’s U-19s national team returned with pride
this week from the European Championship finals in Northern Ireland.
The team failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament from
their qualifying group, but impressed observers with battling
performances against England and France.
Armenia had an opportunity to qualify until the final day of the group
event. They lost 0-2 in their opening match against Norway, but kept
their hopes alive with a 1-1 draw against England.
They needed a win in the final game against France, preferably with a
two-goal margin, to be certain of entry to the semis. However, Les
Bleus won 1-0 on Saturday, leaving Armenia bottom of Group B with one
point.
Armen Melikbekyan, the deputy executive director of the Football
Federation of Armenia, felt that the tournament had provided great
experience for the young squad. It was the first time that Armenian
footballers had taken part in a championship finals at any level.
`Armenia dropped out of the tournament, but when you look back at the
matches played by our team and at the level of their play, you get a
feeling that everything might have turned out the other way,’ he says.
Experts pointed to the maturity of Armenia’s play in all areas –
defense, midfield, attack – as well as the team’s ability to stay in
every game until the final whistle. Against England, for instance,
Armenia leveled the game only five minutes from time and came close to
snatching victory in the dying minutes.
In a press conference in Yerevan on Wednesday, the team’s head coach
Samvel Petrosyan and delegation head Artak Mnatsakanyan both said that
they were pleased with the football shown by team in Northern Ireland.
`It would not cause me pain if we had lost to those teams 0-3 or 0-4,
which would simply mean that we are weak and way behind. Imagine that
we didn’t yield to those teams, but even had chances to win,’ the
coach said.
Petrosyan complained of some misjudgments by the referees, which he
thinks influenced the outcomes of some matches and also regretted
Edgar Manucharyan’s failure to convert quite a few goal-scoring
chances throughout the tournament. He feels the best is yet to come
from his players.
`We only have five players in the squad whose age will not allow them
to play in the U19 team next season, so there is more to come from the
younger players who will be around next season,’ he said.
And the next season for Armenia’s U19s starts already in October. The
first qualifying round for the next European championship will be held
in the Latvian capital of Riga on October 17-23.
Armenia will play in Group 12 against Serbia & Montenegro, Ukraine and
Latvia.
UEFA Cup
Thursday July 28: second-leg matches
Lokomotiv Tbilisi (Georgia) v Banants (Armenia) – 0-2 (3-4 on
aggregate)
Mika (Armenia) v Mainz (Germany) – 0-0 (0-4 on aggregate)
Yerevan’s Banants pulled off a shock against Lokomotiv, overcoming a
deficit at home to register the two-goal victory they needed in
Tbilisi to progress into the next round of the UEFA Cup. Ashtarak’s
Mika had no such luck, going out after a goalless draw against the
German team.
The draw for the second qualifying round in the UEFA Cup is to be held
today (Friday).
Chess
Twelve reaches three: An Armenian 12-year-old finished in third place
at the world junior chess championships, which ended in the French
town of Belfort on Thursday.
Samvel Ter-Sahakyan from Vanadzor was close to winning the tournament
before the last day of the event, Armenpress news agency reports. He
won his final game, gaining 8.5 points out of a possible 11 and
matching the results of India’s Srinat Narayanay and Russia’s Sanan
Syugirov.
However, the Armenian representative yielded first and second places
after additional coefficients were taken into account.