Author: Ekmekjian Janet

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN EUROVISION 2010
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com
May 19 2010
SC

Eva Rivas, who is nominated as the most beautiful woman in the
2010 Eurovision Song Contest, may well be the winner of this year’s
competition taking it to Armenia for 2011. Here is why.

Describing her first rehearsal in Oslo OIKOTIMES’ writer Lilian Brunell
writes how she was impress by the song Apricot Stone that Rivas will
sing presenting Armenia. Brunell writes referring to Apricot Stone:
"it’s a song that goes immediately into my hearth and it feels so
genuine! I think this entry will apply to the TV-viewers.

An apricot will of course be on the stage." Then she continues that
"Eva has already been appointed as the most beautiful woman in ESC
2010 and she definitely has the tallest hair of the contest."

Considering that Eva Rivas has been leading in charts, she may have
a great shot at becoming the 2010 Eurovision winner.

We reported earlier that there will a little magic on the state and
that an apricot stone (bit) will become a tree. On May 27 she will
have her first performance.

After Eva’s rehearsal the director of the Armenian delegation Diana
Mntatsakanyan said that she was very pleased by Rivas’ performance.

Eva said her song is about a love of motherland and not only about
love to Armenia, but rather a love toward a motherland for any person
in the world.

* Watch Eva Rivas’ First Eurovision Rehearsal

Eva had a very interesting promotion tour leading to the Eurovision
2010 contest. She traveled in many European countries and wherever
she went she planted an Apricot tree as a reminder for her song and a
symbol of Armenia. Apricot has a national symbolic meaning in Armenia.

Today reports surfaced in the Armenian media that a famous duduk
player Jivan Gasparian will play the duduk part during Eva’s
performance. Gasparian’s performance has been featured in such
Holliwood movies like Gladiator and Seige. Has been nominated for
Grammy and has raise a generation of Duduk players like Pedro Eustache,
who is one of the lead musicians working with Yanni.

By the way, speaking of Yanni. Eva Rivas is half Greek. Some observers
say her beautiful song may earn her the support of Greek voters
as well.

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT OFFERS UKRAINE TO JOIN CSTO

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 18, 2010 – 15:50 AMT 10:50 GMT

Ukraine is welcome to join the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan as
member states, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated.

As the President noted during the meeting with Ukrainian students
in Kiev, "Russia respects neutral status of Ukraine, trying to be
understanding of the country’s doubts."

The Russian leader also assured that Black Sea Fleet will not be used
for attacking neighbouring countries, nr2.ru reported.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSES BILL ON LIMITING IMMUNITY OF SOME OFFICIALS

Panorama.am
18/05/2010

The National Assembly approved in the first reading Tuesday the
bills on Prosecutor’s Office, Special Investigation Service (SIS)
and the one on making amendments to the Electoral Code submitted by
the Government. The amendments foresee limitations of the immunity
of some officials, as the Armenian Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan
said at the National Assembly sitting Monday.

According to him, the passage of the bills will lift the immunity
of the deputy candidates, central election committee members,
members of the regional committees, the candidates of municipal and
administrative units.

The endorsement of the bills came after the demand of the Council of
Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).

"LEAKAGE WITH A LITTLE DOSAGE FOR MEDIA": ALEXANDER ARZUMANYAN

Tert.am
18.05.10

It was just "a little dosage of outflow for the media," former Foreign
Minister of Armenia and currently a representative of the Armenian
National Congress (HAK) Alexander Arzumanyan said at a press conference
today, referring to a May 17 publication by the Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Earlier Hurriyet had written that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan will during his visit to Baku try and convince the Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev to satisfy with only two regions – Kelbajar
and Fizuli – that Armenia will supposedly return to Azerbaijan.

"I think that was just an outflow with dosage given to the media
which made it clear Erdogan and [Russian President Dmitry] Medvedev
have reached some agreements, and Erdogan, by visiting Baku, not only
speaks about the return of those two regions, but it is rather part
of a new road map," said Arzumanyan, adding that time will prove the
credibility of that publication.

He also said that the return of the territories is mentioned in all
parts of the renewed Madrid Principles, adding that any one-sided
concession will be unacceptable.

ARMENIAN LIVING HILLS

GreenMuze
sign/2659-armenian-living-hills-.html
May 16 2010

Designed to absorb CO2 and heat, the living mountain also utilizes
rainwater capture to irrigate the vegetation building skin as well
as using geothermal heat pumps for temperature controls.

"Lace Hill not only conserves its own resources within, but also
gives back to Yerevan, passively cooling portions of Yerevan during
the summer," describes the architects’ website of the project. "The
project forgoes making an accumulation of object buildings perched
over the city, and instead makes one building, creating public spaces
within and on it, seamlessly blending with its context. It offers an
alternative to typical development."

The human made mountain offers hotels, offices, and retail space while
providing a living habitat for birds, insects and other small animals.

PM Erdogan to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh issue on visit to Baku

May 16, 2010 – 17:25 AMT 12:25 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Baku, scheduled
for May 16, will focus on several areas, including a natural gas price
agreement and a visa deal. Discussion on Nagorno-Karabakh issue are
also on Prime Minister’s agenda, Sunday’s Zaman reported.

HULIQ.com, SC
May 15 2010

Eurovision 2010: Armenia’s Eva Rivas To Stage Magic

Armenian delegation will head to Oslo to participate in Eurovision
2010 song festival on May 17, Tert.am learned from the Director of the
Special Projects of Armenian Public TV Diana Mnatsakanyan.

The representative of Armenia will have her first rehersal before the
Eurovision 2010 contest on May 18 at 8AM local time. The show is
completely ready. All the details are prepared. However, Ms.
Mnatsakanyan did not want to reveal what will be staged during the
actual competition. Armenia has been keeping it all secret.
Mnatsakanyan also said that not revealing the details is part of the
rules of the competition, but also added the interest will diminish if
the details were to be revealed.

Yet, she still revealed some details of what Eva Rivas will actually
stage when she sings her already high-rated song Apricot Stone.

* Watch Eva Rivas Performing Apricot Stone

Mnatsakanyan said that Eva Rivas’ performance during the Eurovision
2010 contest will have some theatrical aspects. It also will have a
small surprise. There will be an element of magic performed on the
stage while Rivas sings Apricot Stone.

Her costume will have open and soft tones. The dress will have some
Apricot colors.

Eva Rivas will have her first performance on May 27th, during
Eurovision 2010 festival’s 2nd semi-final. She already has had very
successful promo tours in Armenia, Germany, Belgium and Ukraine. Her
tours were particularly successful in Greece, Cyprus and Russia as
Rivas is half Armenian half Greek. She lived most of her life in the
Souther Russia and is from Rostov on Don.

Before heading to Eurovision 2010 Rivas will also spend a day in Lyon,
France where she will participate in a concert with top Armenian
singer Arman Hovhannisyan. Rivas is considered one of the favorites to
win the 2010 Eurovision song festival as she has had very high
rankings in winner odds.

Written by Armen Hareyan
HULIQ.com

R. SAFRASTYAN, "RUSSIA WILL NEVER UNDERTAKE SUCH STEPS WHICH WILL DESTABILIZE THE SITUATION IN ARMENIA"

ARMENPRESS
MAY 14, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS: "Russia will never undertake such steps
which will destabilize the situation in Armenia," Ruben Safrastyan,
director of the Oriental Studies Institute of the National Academy
of Sciences, said today at a meeting with journalists. He noted that
Russia is not the allied of Armenia only by words; actually it is
Armenia’s military allied and has economic profits.

R. Safrastyan, referring to the cooperation of Russia and Turkey,
noted that the main reason of rapprochement is the change of the
balance after the Russian-Georgian war.

"The role of the USA fell, and the role of Russia grew, in those
conditions Turkey almost stayed out of regional processes, and the
attempts of that country to create a union with Tbilisi and Baku
were not successful, and it is one of the reasons why Turkey tries
to improve the relations with Armenia," the specialist of Turkish
studies noted.

R. Safrastyan considered the relations of Turkey and Russia
an economic, but not a political rapprochement. In regard to the
Karabakh process, the speaker said the involvement of Turkey in that
process does not stem from the profits of Russia, as Russia is the
only regional country which is involved in it, and the involvement
of another regional country is not profitable for the latter. In
this respect R. Safrastyan also stressed the position of the Minsk
group co-chairs.

Referring to the possible influence of the Russian cooperation with
Turkey on Turkish-American relations, the speaker said that Turkey
has quite serious relations with the USA, and the USA in its turn
knows that Turkey is its important allied in the region. "But having
relations with Russia Turkey tries to raise its reputation," R.
Safrastyan said.

"I think it is high time for raising the issue on the Armenian
Genocide; Armenia must move that issue to the legal field," the
speaker said, and referring to the Armenian-Turkish relations he
stressed that Turkey is interested in regulating the interstate
relations with Armenia and in opening the borders, but it wants to
make a profit on it as much as possible.

"The undertaking of the negotiation process and its suspension by us
spoke of the independent diplomatic line in the Armenian diplomacy."

the specialist of Turkish studies said noting that Turkey is planning
interstate relations with Armenia taking into consideration the global
geological-political shifts.

The Messenger
May 14 2010
Georgia

Migration issues in Armenia

The UN office in Yerevan has presented its report on migration and
human development perspectives and challenges which shows that since
the collapse of the Soviet Union 19 years ago between 700,000 and
1.3 million people from Armenia have emigrated for mostly social,
economic and employment reasons. The report says that between 1998
and 2001 the population of Armenia decreased 30%, around one million
people leaving the country at that time.

If the programme for facilitating the return of labour migrants to
Armenia does not start working efficiently in the near future Armenia
will be left by extra 2-300 thousand people. Of course such a tendency
negatively affects the country’s overall social and economic situation
and development.

MOVSES HAKOBYAN: ‘THE NKR DEFENSE ARMY HAS BEEN ENSURING THE SECURITY OF ARTSAKH QUITE EFFICIENTLY’

ARMENPRESS
MAY 12, 2010
STEPANAKERT

STEPANAKERT, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS: ‘Within the 16 years of the
cease-fire, the Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has been
safeguarding the security of the people of Karabakh quite efficiently:
this is our greatest achievement,’ RA Defense deputy Minster Lieutenant
General Movses Hakobyan told journalists today. During the meeting
with the group of journalists, who went to the front line of the
borders between Karabakh and Azerbaijan on the 16th anniversary of
declaration of cease-fire, Movses Hakobyan mentioned that no serious
cases have been registered in the front lines within this period,
except for cases of breaking the cease-fire by Azerbaijan by using
various types of small weapon.

‘The level of fighting readiness of the NKR Armed Forces is quite
high: planned and sudden tests restate this,’ Lieutenant General
Movses Hakobyan said. He says a slew of works have been carried
out to raise the safety of front lines for ‘ensuring the defense of
lives of the soldiers in the fronts’. He also informed that strong
efforts are currently being exerted in the direction of improving
the educational base of the Armed Forces. The issue of enriching the
arms is on focus as well. The NKR Defense Army has bought a slew of
arms, especially anti-aircraft defense system means, which give an
opportunity to hit low-flying helicopters and planes. Autopark of
the Armed Forces is being enriched as well: it is as big as that
of the Russian Federation.’We do our best to raise the level of
moral-psychological readiness of our army,’ Movses Hakobyan added.

As to the cases of breaking the cease-fire by Azerbaijan, Movses
Hakobyan mentioned that the cases are connected with ceremonies held
in Nagorno Karabakh, among them May 9, recruitment ceremonies, etc.

‘These actions are the result of fear of the Azerbaijani Army,’
Movses Hakobyan said. He added that it is quite important for Armenian
journalists not to attribute to any Azerbaijani source in order to
avoid their participation in the Azerbaijani propaganda. As to the
possibilities of breaking of a war, he said: ‘As an individual I am
against any war, but as a deputy Minister I will go on punishing the
enemy for that Azerbaijan understands a war is something negative
and stopps holding the machinegun soldiers in the front lines,’
RA Defense deputy Minster Lieutenant General Movses Hakobyan said.

Movses Hakobyan says the Armenain Armed Forces do not need recruiting;
the army is being replensihed with soldiers serving on a cantractual
basis.