Author: Chilingarian Babken

ARMENIAN VETERANS TO RECEIVE COMPENSATIONS FOR "FROZEN" SOVIET DEPOSITS

PanARMENIAN.Net –
April 6, 2010 – 17:23 AMT 12:23 GMT

As Armenia’s Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan told journalists on
April 6, the Armenian government initiated a pre-term compensation
of the "frozen" deposits of the Great Patriotic War veterans to the
amount of AMD800 million.

A PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent in the parliament reported that the
government submitted this amendment to the Law on Armenia’s State
Budget for 2010 for the parliament’s discussion on occasion of 65th
anniversary of Victory.

According to the Minister of Finance, upon adoption of the amendments
by the RA National Assembly, the government will fulfill the payments
even before May 9, while this process will last until the end of 2010.

3.7thous. veterans will receive compensations for the "frozen deposits"
on a priority basis.

ARMENIA TIGHTENS GAMBLING INDUSTRY WITH FATF PRINCIPLES

HULIQ
April 6 2010
SC

The gambling industry of Armenia is about to experience a major
overhaul using concepts developed from the Paris-based Financial
Action Task Force (FATF) to guide the industry. The idea behind the
reform is to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and other
illegal activities from taking place.

Armenia’s Deputy Finance Minister, Vardan Aramyan, made the
announcement Tuesday in keeping with recent actions taken to move
Armenia’s casinos away from all cities such as the capital Yerevan.

The country’s three largest resort towns, Jermuk, Tsaghkadzor and
Sevan would instead play host to the country’s gambling halls.

The pullback of Armenian casinos takes its lead from FATF principles.

The policies issued by the FATF include the Forty Recommendations on
money laundering as well as the 9 Special Recommendations on Terrorists
Financing. These recommendations make it harder for money laundering
to occur, while implementing policies that keep thorough records of
customers and customer transactions.

According to Aramyan, the new bill aids "Larger companies in
this sector" which "are more disciplined and have control systems,
separate subdivisions to fight against money laundering and financing
of terrorism. Smaller companies are less disciplined, more negligent,
and that is conditioned by their abilities."

Currently, Armenia is home to 11 casinos and 103 gambling halls. The
passage of the ‘RA Concept on Regulation and Control of the Gambling
Business Sector’ on April 1 ensures more state control over the halls
including regular visitor quantity counts and higher annual fees.

The gambling sector in Armenia is an important part of the country’s
economy. It provides much needed revenue that pays for infrastructure
and other improvements. Being a small country with a tiny population
and having neighbors like Iran and Turkey (each has 72 million
population) Armenia’s gambling industry is poised to benefit from
those markets. Only recently during the Iranian Novruz celebration
more than 15,000 tourists from Iran visited Armenia in one week.

The new FATF- sanctioned laws will hopefully clean up the sector
without hurting profits.

Written by Lani Shadduck HULIQ.com

fightnews.com
April 3 2010

Darchinyan-Donaire rematch?

By Ray Wheatley ‘ World of Boxing

WBC/WBA super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (34-2-1, 27 KOs) looks
set to clash with Nonito Donaire (23-1, 15 KOs) on August 21 in Los
Angeles. Darchinyan lost his IBF and IBO flyweight titles to Donaire
in a stunning fifth-round stoppage in July 2007 and has been chasing
Donaire ever since. `The Raging Bull’s’ WBA and WBC titles will be on
the line against WBA interim champion Donaire. `We are just waiting on
acceptance and confirmation from the Donaire camp,’ said Darchinyan’s
manager Elias Nasser, `everything else has been organized. There’s a
very large contingent of Armenian fans and Filipinos who live in
California and we are expecting a lot of Mexicans to be supporting
Vic, as well.’
Nasser said he was looking at a warm-up fight for Darchinyan in either
Los Angeles or Australia.

`It won’t be a walkover opponent, we are looking at the Indonesian
Angky Angkota (23-5, 14 KOs),’ Nassar said. ‘He lost his last fight on
a cut eye to Jorge Arce (for the vacant WBO super flyweight title on
January 10 in Mexico).’ Darchinyan vs Agkota could be promoted in
Sydney by Australia’s leading promoter, the Grange Gym.

Darchinyan has been based in Australia since 2000 when he represented
Armenia at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He began his professional career
under the guidance of former three time world champion Jeff Fenech and
captured the world IBF flyweight title with Fenech as his trainer and
manager. Darchinyan’s best wins were KO victories over Jorge Arce and
Christian Mijares. Darchinyan’s promoter is Gary Shaw.

TURKISH ENVOY TO RETURN TO US AS TENSIONS EASE

Agence France Presse
April 2 2010

ANKARA — Turkey said Friday its ambassador would return to the
United States next week, signalling easing tensions in a row sparked
by a House panel vote branding the World War I massacres of Armenians
as genocide.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed "positive developments"
in efforts to end the month-old spat, saying he himself would also
go to Washington to attend a nuclear security summit on April 12-13.

"Before I attend this gathering, I will send the ambassador to the
United States next week," Erdogan told reporters.

Ankara recalled Ambassador Namik Tan on March 4 immediately after
the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a
resolution branding the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Warning of a showdown between the two NATO allies, Ankara urged
Washington to stop the bill from advancing to a vote at the full House.

The non-binding resolution calls on President Barack Obama to ensure
that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide"
and to label the killings of Armenians as such in his annual statement
on the issue.

"There have been some positive developments" since US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
had a telephone conversation last week, Erdogan said.

"I hope these positive developments will continue also in April,"
he added.

Erdogan appeared to refer to April 24, the day Armenians commemorate
the killings, and US presidents come under pressure from the Armenian
diaspora to use the "genocide" word in their annual message.

Washington has traditionally condemned the 1915-1917 killings, without
dubbing them a "genocide", wary not to strain ties with a key Muslim
ally in the Middle East.

Obama pledged during his election campaign to recognise the massacres
as genocide, but has so far refrained from doing so.

Davutoglu said Thursday that Washington had conveyed "increasing
messages easing our concerns and meeting our expectations … and
(showing) that the strategic dimension of Turkish-US relations is
being understood."

The tensions have added further uncertainty to an already fragile
deal that Turkey and Armenia signed in October with US support to end
decades of hostility, establish diplomatic ties and open their border.

Clinton had urged the committee not to hold the vote and said after
its approval that "we do not believe the full Congress will or should
act on that resolution."

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished in deportations
and orchestrated killings under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Turkey counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as
many Turks perished in civil strife when Armenians rose up against
their Ottoman rulers and sided with Russian forces invading the
crumbling empire.

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION SECRETARY GENERAL TO VISIT ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2010-04-02 12:02:00

ArmInfo. Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication
Union Dr. Hamadoun Toure will pay a visit to Armenia on April 6-7.

Dr. Hamadoun Toure is expected to meet with Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, Minister of Transport and Communications Manouk Vardanian,
and Prime Minister Tigran Sargrsyan. Within the framework of the
visit Hamadoun Toure will attend the Museum-Institute of Armenian
Genocide and the Armenian- Russian (Slavonic) University. The problems
and prospects of telecommunication technologies in Armenia will be
discussed at a Roundtable.

ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and
communication technology issues, and the global focal point for
governments and the private sector in developing networks and services.

ITU is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and its membership includes 191
Member States and more than 700 Sector Members and Associates.

Armenia joined ITU in 1992.

REINFELDT WELCOMES TURKISH AMBASSADOR

The Local

April 1 2010
Sweden

Dictionary tool Double click on a word to get a translation

Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt welcomed Turkey’s ambassador
to Sweden, Zergun Koruturk, back to Stockholm on Thursday after her
recall to Ankara following the Swedish parliament’s recognition of
the Armenian genocide.

Fredrik Reinfeldt "welcomes that she is coming back to Sweden. It’s
good that our diplomatic relations are (maintained)," the prime
minister’s spokesperson Roberta Alenius told AFP.

Ambassador Zergun Koruturk arrived in the Swedish capital on Tuesday.

Before her departure, she told reporters in Ankara her return to
Sweden became possible after the Swedish government distanced itself
from the parliament’s decision.

"The Swedish government has clearly said that the decision would not
be put into practice," Koruturk was quoted by the Anatolia news agency
as saying.

Koruturk was summoned back to Ankara on March 11th after the Swedish
parliament voted by a narrow margin a opposition-led resolution to
recognise the Ottoman massacres of Armenians during World War I as
genocide, despite the government’s advice not to do so.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt later expressed regret
over the parliament’s decision to Ankara, a move which his Turkish
counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called "very positive".

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt also said that the position of his
government, which supports Turkey’s entry into the European Union,
"remains unchanged".

"Our foreign minister also met his Turkish counterpart and he met
some Turkish groups living here, so we’ve been involved in this,"
Alenius said.

"We had good relations with Turkey and want this to continue,"
she added.

INFLATION IN ARMENIA WILL BE CLOSE TO BUDGET TARGET

Tert.am
14:14 ~U 31.03.10

This year we’ll see an inflation that’ll be close to the target index
based on the budget, said RA Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan at
a press conference today.

Earlier, it had been reported that the target inflation, stipulated
by budgetary law, level was restricted to 4 ± 1.5%; however, Armenian
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan had recently announced that a level
of 6.5% is more likely.

In order to soften the blow of a rise in gas prices, the government
will be raising family benefits by 3,500 AMD beginning on May 1 and
pension payments by 2,500 AMD beginning on Nov. 1.

That’s as much as we can do, said the finance minister.

AZERBAIJAN CONSTANTLY DERANGES OSCE MONITORING

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2010 11:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE mission holds a planned monitoring of
the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces near the
village of Berkaber, Tavush region.

"Azeri servicemen have developed a habit of firing upon the Armenian
territory from large-caliber weapons," said Armen Ghularyan, governor
of Tavush region of Armenia. "We take no notice of Kalashnikov gun
fire. It’s like throwing stones. But the caliber of Azeri-used weapons
is constantly growing."

As a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent reported from Tavush, the
Azeri side continually frustrates OSCE monitoring of the frontline
alleging incapability to ensure officers’ security. "The Armenian
side guarantees not 100% but 1000% security," he quoted Mr. Ghularyan
as saying.

For his part, frontier commissioner Andranik Mkrtumyan reminded that
Azerbaijan rejected the proposal on withdrawal of snipers put forward
during last year’s OSCE Summit in Helsinki.

SERZH SARGSYAN SENT HIS SYMPATHIES TO DMITRY MEDVEDEV

Tert.am
12:20 30.03.10

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sent a letter to his Russian
counterpart expressing his condolences in relation to the two damaging
metro explosions in the Russian capital that left at least 38 dead
and many injured.

The letter reads: "Mr. President,

Please accept my heart-felt condolences on the occasion of March 29
terrorist attacks in the Moscow subway which claimed numerous lives.

Armenia strongly condemns any manifestation of terrorism. The time
has come to eradicate this evil of modern time through the joint and
uncompromising actions of the international community. I am confident
that everything will be done to hunt down and bring to justice those
responsible for these acts.

Please, convey my sympathies to the families and friends of the
victims. We mourn with you and the people of the Russian Federation."

ISRAEL NOT READY YET TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmInfo
2010-03-30 16:20:00

ArmInfo. Anti-Turkish sentiments in Israel will probably grow but
the Knesset is not ready yet to recognize the Armenian Genocide,
says local expert Artak Grigoryan.

He said that over long years the Armenian-Israeli relations have
been connected with the fact that Israel was enhancing cooperation
with Turkey, while Armenia, staying in blockade, was developing
relations with Iran. The Armenian-Israeli relations are defined also
by other factors, in particular, the Christian churches belonging
to the Armenian Apostolic Church in Israel. "If Knesset discusses
the issue of Armenian Genocide, this will not change the foreign
political course of Tel- Aviv. The scientific circles of Israel have
an exact and fair position on the Armenian Genocide, but when this
issue enters the political field, the situation changes sharply with
the political expediency and interests," A. Grigoryan said. He thinks
that Israel will not worsen relations with Ankara.