Author: Chavushian

HAWAIIAN ISLANDS RECOGNIZES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

HONOLULU
APRIL 7, 2009
NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY

The Hawaiian Islands, President Barack Obama’s native land, is
the 42th state recognizing the Armenian Genocide: state’s House
of Representatives adopted a resolution condemning that crime and
mentioning Turkey’s continual denial of the crime. The Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) reported this.

The resolution that was adopted unanimously on tbe day of
U.S. President’s visit to Turkey announces April 24 "day of recognition
and commemoration of the 1915 Armenian Genocide." Thus the Hawaiian
Islands becomes the 42th state recognizing the Genocide.

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said that Hawaiian Islands’
recognizing the Armenian Genocide today reflects the wave of protection
of civil society rising all over the United States and aimed at a
strong and moral American position to all genocides. He also expressed
the hope that soon the President will carry out his promise and will
recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The House resolution mentioned that "nearly 1.5 million Armenian men,
women, and children living in the Ottoman Empire were killed during
the cruel genocide" and the "Armenian Genocide has not been recognized
by the Republic of Turkey yet." It is also mentioned that "this body
joint the American Armenian community of the Hawaiian Islands and the
Armenians all over the world by recognizing and honoring the memory
of those killed and persecuted during the Armenian Genocide and calls
people all over the world for not forgetting these terrible crimes
committed against the mankind."

SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT: ARMENIA IS SATISFIED WITH RESULTS OF DISCUSSIONS OF EASTERN PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

ArmInfo
2009-04-07 18:15:00

ArmInfo. The EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative is opening up new
opportunities for Armenia, Speaker of the national Assembly of Armenia
Hovik Abrahamyan said during the 10th meeting of the Armenia-EU
cooperation committee.

He said that Armenia was satisfied with the results of the discussions
of the initiative. "We are firmly resolved to use the opportunities
offered by this initiative. I hope that the European Parliament’s
structures in the South Caucasus will be unbiased and their efforts
will be aimed at forming an atmosphere of cooperation and confidence
in the region," Abrahamyan said.

WORLD HEALTH DAY

A1+
01:46 pm | April 07, 2009

Society

The World Health Organization is today recommending six core
actions that governments, public health authorities and hospital
managers can undertake to make their health facilities safe during
emergencies. These include training health workers, designing and
building safe hospitals, retrofitting existing health facilities to
make them more resilient and ensuring staff and supplies are secure
during natural disasters, conflicts, outbreaks and other emergencies.

To mark today’s celebration of World Health Day, WHO is focussing
attention on the large numbers of lives that can be saved during
earthquakes, floods , conflicts and other emergencies if hospitals
are better designed and constructed and health staff well trained
to respond.

"With our world threatened by the harmful effects of climate change,
more frequent extreme weather events and armed conflicts, it is
crucial that we all do more to ensure that health care is available
at all times to our citizens , before, during, or after a disaster"
said WHO Director – General Dr. Margaret Chan.

Too often, health facilities are the first casualties of
emergencies. This means that health workers are killed and wounded,
that services are not available to treat survivors and that large
investments of valuable health funding in health facility construction
and equipment are squandered.

Relatively inexpensive investments in infrastructure can save lives
during disasters. Retrofitting non-structural elements in an otherwise
structurally sound facility costs about 1% of the hospital’s budget
but will protect about 90% of its value.

Infectious disease outbreaks are another form of public health
emergency that staff should be trained for. In areas affected by
conflicts, hospitals and clinics should be allowed to function
by all parties in line with international humanitarian law WHO is
urging all ministries of health to review the safety of existing
health facilities and to ensure that any new facilities are built
with safety in mind. Practical and effective low cost measures such
as protecting equipment, developing emergency preparedness plans and
training staff can help make health facilities safer, better prepared
and more functional in emergencies

The six core actions that governments, public health authorities and
others who operate hospitals and health care facilities can take are:

1. Assess the security of your hospital 2. Protect and train health
workers for emergencies 3. Plan for emergency response 4. Design and
build resilient hospitals 5. Adopt national policies and programmes
for safe hospitals 6. Protect equipment, medicines and supplies

More information about the World Health Day 2009 campaign on improving
health facility safety, preparedness and response to emergencies can
be found on html
and

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

07 April, 2009

Yerevan, April 3, 2009 – The Hayastan All Armenian Fund has begun
construction of a major water-supply project in Artsakh’s Hadrut Region.
Co-sponsored by the fund’s French affiliate and the government of Nagorno
Karabakh, the initiative will provide potable-water service to three
villages: Metz Taghlar, Azokh, and Drakhtik.

Slated to be completed by the end of 2009, the project includes water-intake
and treatment facilities, which will be built on the shore of the
Ishkhanaget River, as well as a 22-kilometer water pipeline. In addition,
each of the three villages will have a reservoir and an internal
distribution network.

"Providing these villages with drinking water is tantamount to helping
secure their very future," said Ara Vardanyan, the Hayastan All Armenian
Fund’s acting executive director.

"Water has always been scarce in our village," said Vlad Danielyan, the
mayor of Taghlar. "Our fountains, which were built over 300 years ago, don’t
work well. What’s worse, they almost completely dry up during summer."

Metz Taghlar, Azokh, and Drakhtik – which are home to some 2,750 residents –
are located on the highlands of Hadrut, one of Artsakh’s most mountainous
regions. Residents of the three villages agree unanimously that the future
vibrancy of their communities depends on a permanent solution to the water
issue. That solution is now close at hand, thanks to the project launched by
the Hayastan All Armenian Fund.

ARMENIAN COOPERATION WITH EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS HAS BEEN DISCUSSED

Panorama.am
14:38 06/04/2009

Inter-institutional committee session of Cooperation of Armenian
Authorities with the European Institutions took place today chaired
by the Secretary General of National Security Committee Arthur
Baghdasaryan. The committee has discussed and adopted the schedule
of "Armenia-EU activities plan" for 2009-2011, the press service of
the Committee reports. According to the source the messages by the
Head of European Commission Delegation to Armenia Ambassador Raul De
Luzenberger and Foreign Affairs Ministry on "Eastern Partnership"
initiative of the European Union were read. The Committee made
a decision to present the schedule of the activities plan to the
President to be adopted.

SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAYS TO INVEST OVER 14 BILLION RUBLES IN 2008-2038

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.04.2009 14:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ South Caucasus Railways CJSC will fulfill its
concession agreement and invest over 14 billion rubles.

The investments amounted 2.5 billion rubles (cash budget), 1 billion
of which was realized through basic assets, the SCR press office
told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The rest of the funds will be passed on to 2009 investment program.

Actually, 61.14% of concession obligations was fulfilled. At that,
75.74 million was spent on infrastructure modernization.

Investment program for 2009 will total 2.8 million.

Focus, Bulgaria
April 4 2009

DHA: Azerbaijan opposes opening of Turkish-Armenian border before
Nagorno-Karabakh issue is solved

4 April 2009 | 16:58 | FOCUS News Agency

Baku/Ankara. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed
concern over the perspective to open Turkish-Armenian border before
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is solved, saying the opening would
contradict to the country’s national interests, Turkish Dogu Haber
Ajansi /DHA/ agency informs.

Answering a question of the Azerbaijani news agency APA, Foreign
Ministry Spokesperson Elhan Poluhov highlighted that such a step would
be interpreted as `an inclination to encourage Armenia’s conquering
policy towards Azerbaijani territories.’

When Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov visited Georgia on
Thursday, he said that `if the border is opened before the withdrawal
of the Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the
opening would be against Azerbaijan’s national interests.’

This opinion has been presented to Turkey’s leadership, the minister
said, cited by the Turkish press.

ARPI VARDANYAN HOPES OBAMA WILL KEEP HIS PROMISE

Panorama.am
17:06 03/04/2009

Arpi Vardanyan, the director of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh offices
of the Amrenian Assembly of America says that the President of the
U.S. Barack Obama will keep his promise and will recognize Armenian
Genocide. A. Vardanyan says that Obama has been announcing about it
not once and they are sure he’ll keep his promise.

Regarding Obama’s visit to Turkey, Vardanyan says that they are going
to discuss American-Turkish relations. "We think that another chance
is given to remind the Turkish party about Obama’s promise. We are
sure that irrespective of the pressure by the Turkish party Obama
will keep his promise," said Arpi Vardanyan.

HAGUE ONLY FOR TECHNICAL REASONS

LRAGIR.AM
15:05:11 – 03/04/2009

In what state is the process of bringing Robert Kocharyan to the
international court which was took up by the opposition? This question
was asked to the HAK representative David Shahnazaryan, on April 3,
at the National Media club. Shahnazaryan answered that the process
started with a signature collecting action, and now it has showered
just because of technical questions. When it is again activated,
David Shahnazaryan did not inform, saying that he could not say
anything about the terms. However he stated that Robert Kocharyan
should not think that he will be able to avoid responsibility for
March 1 "however hard Samvel Nikoyan or others try to state what did
or did not do Robert Kocharyan, or the generals or the policemen on
March 1", noted David Shahnazaryan.

THE KASAKH RIVER IS FILTHY – SO WHY CAN’T IT BE CLEANED?

2009 /04/03 | 11:58

Ecology important

So filled with household trash is the Kasakh River, that one really
can’t tell if the waters are flowing at all.

Mr. Hayk Haykyan, an assistant to the Agricultural Minister, confesses
that he can’t remember when the river was last cleaned

Mr. Haykyan states that the cleaning of the river isn’t included
in this year’s budget. The only rivers to be cleaned are the Arax,
Hrazdan, Aghstev and Vedi. He noted that the minister personally visits
the regions, checks the situation and prioritizes the necessary work.

Artur Ayvazyan, who heads the Agricultural and Environmental Division
at the Armavir Regional Authority, states, "There is no doubt that the
Kasakh River needs to be cleaned. This is based on our examinations
of the rivers that flow in the Armavir Marz. We’ve taken the matter
to the ministry. Whether or not the Kasakh will be included in a
clean-up program is up to the ministry."

Mr. Haykyan noted that the prioritization of rivers for clean-up is
based on the acreage of lands that particular rivers irrigate. While
he didn’t refute the fact that the Kasakh irrigates a large area of
land he confessed that his hands were tied if no money was forthcoming
from the state government.