Author: Ekmekjian Janet

SFEIR: POLL RESULT AVERTED TAKEOVER BY IRAN, SYRIA
By Therese Sfeir

Daily Star
June 12 2009
Lebanon

Siniora wants Hariri to be premier

BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said in comments
to be published Friday that had the opposition won the June 7
parliamentary polls, "Syria and Iran would have taken control of
our country." "They [the opposition] wanted to take over Lebanon,
but now President Michel Sleiman rules Lebanon," the patriarch told
Al-Massira magazine.

Sfeir said that while Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon,
"it still has some ambitions in Lebanon."

Syria ended its 30-year military presence in Lebanon in 2005,
amid a wave of anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon following the
assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

Many blamed the killing on Syria, but Damascus has repeatedly denied
involvement.

On Thursday, former US President Jimmy Carter, currently on a visit to
Damascus, told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Lebanon’s elections
were "a real success."

Carter said he had wished to hold talks with Hizbullah officials,
but added that they "refused to meet with us."

Carter headed an elections monitoring mission during Lebanon’s
elections on Sunday.

In other news, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana
will arrive in Beirut Friday for a two-day visit, during which he will
meet with President Michel Sleiman, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh,
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri.

Sleiman and Siniora held talks at Baabda Palace Thursday. Siniora
told reporters following the meeting that he nominated Future Movement
leader MP Saad Hariri to head the new government.

Solana will also meet with the members of the Loyalty to the Resistance
parliamentary bloc.

The chief of European diplomacy will hold a news conference at the
Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday, before leaving the
capital.

Hariri said Thursday that he was willing to offer Hizbullah and
its allies in the opposition "guarantees," in return for forming an
"efficient government."

During an interview with the Financial Times, Hariri said: "What is
needed at this point is for the majority to offer the opposition some
guarantees on specific issues, and to form a cabinet that is capable
of fulfilling these guarantees."

The Future Movement leader also held Israel responsible for hampering
peace efforts in the Middle East. He described Israel’s statements
about the Lebanese elections as "absurd."

Hariri also rejected claims that the election of US President Barack
Obama helped him and his allies in the March 14 Forces to win the
elections.

In other developments, the Cabinet will convene on Friday for the first
time after the elections. The session, which will be held at the Baabda
Palace, will see the discussion of the 2009 draft budget. Sleiman
met with Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide, MP Ali Hassan Khalil,
on Thursday to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt condemned
"attacks launched by some parties against the Armenian community."

In a statement Thursday, Jumblatt criticized those "who are describing
the Armenians and the Tashnag party as outsiders."

The PSP leader noted that the Armenians contributed to building
the Lebanese state and were one of the pillars in establishing the
national pact. "A disagreement between the Tashnag party and another
political party does not make the Armenians outsiders," he added.

Separately, Siniora stressed Thursday his keenness on preserving the
unity of the Lebanese and principles of Arabism.

Addressing visitors in the Sidon town of Majdalyoun, Siniora said:
"We want to protect the Lebanese people’s unity, their Arabism,
and the unity of Muslims."

"We also want to preserve coexistence, regardless of the misbehavior
of some parties," Siniora added.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea reiterated his
rejection of the vetoing third in the Cabinet. After a meeting with
Siniora on Thursday, Geagea said: "Our stance is clearly against the
veto power in government because it brings nothing new."

Meanwhile, MP Marwan Hamadeh warned that the majority March 14 alliance
would not accept the re-election of Berri as Parliament speaker unless
a number of issues, including the premiership and cabinet formation,
were settled.

In remarks published by pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat Thursday, Hamadeh
stressed the need for a "complete basket," rejecting the re-election
of Berri before settling other issues.

In a news conference Wednesday, Former Minister Nassib Lahoud said
the elections "confirmed that the Lebanese people can rely on the
democratic game as a peaceful means for governance."

However, Lahoud added that the March 14 Forces would have been able to
achieve a wider majority if it had avoided major mistakes, especially
in the districts of Metn and Kesrouan.

Lahoud called on the March 14 Forces to "rectify their practices and
mistakes in order to benefit from experiences of the past phase."

THREE SCRIPTS NOMINATED FOR ARMENIAN AWARD

Hollywood Reporter
nt_display/world/news/e3i510515663761ce34422b70879 80eda4f
June 11 2009

Winner announced at the end of August

The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance has selected three finalists for
the second biennial Lillian and Varnum Paul Screenwriting Award.

They are "Music for Strangers" by Eric Nazarian, "Moskvitch, My Love"
by Levon Minassian and "The Bedouin" by David Deranian and Anthony
Zanontian.

Entries were required to be full-length, unproduced film scripts
written in English and based on Armenian themes.

The three finalist screenplays will be evaluated by an honorary jury
including filmmaker, Atom Egoyan; producer and vp of development at
Alcon Entertainment, Steve Wegner; and literary agent-turned-director
Michael Peretzian.

The winner of the $10,000 award will be announced at a private ceremony
in Los Angeles during the weekend of Aug. 28-30. This year’s ceremony
will include a screening of an outstanding new film by an Armenian
filmmaker and will be followed by a cocktail reception. Tickets will
be available for this exclusive event by invitation only.

TURKISH LABEL TO RELEASE CD TITLED ‘MEDZ YEGHERN: 1915 ORATORIO’

sh-label-to-release-cd-titled-%e2%80%98medz-yegher n-1915-oratorio%e2%80%99/
Jun 11, 2009

ISTANBUL-A music label in Turkey is preparing to release an album
by world-renowned Armenian composer Khacadur Avedisyan, titled Medz
Yeghern-1915 Oratorio, dedicated to the Armenian Genocide of 1915,
the Turkish Hurriyet Daily reported on Thursday.

"I have attempted to release the album in Turkey for many years,"
Hasan Saltuk, the owner of Kalan Music, told Hurriyet. "It was not
easy to reach the composer’s family. Also, there were no original
records of the album."

Saltuk accidentally found the original records during a trip to
Paris. With the help of a friend’s son from the Netherlands, Saltuk
reached Avedisyan’s son, Mikayel Avedisyan. He then encountered another
problem. The composer willed that the album should be released only
with the title "Genocide – 1915 Oratorio."

That would not have worked in Turkey, where it is illegal to describe
as Genocide the systematic massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Turkish government between 1915 and 1923. Saltuk said he was
able to persuade Avedisyan’s son to allow the album to be released
with the title "Medz Yeghern – 1915 Oratorio" rather than "Genocide –
1915 Oratorio."

"I was sued many times because we released music belonging to different
Anatolian ethnic cultures in their original languages," he said.

Khachadur Avedisyan was born in 1926 in Armenian’s second largest town,
Gyumri. At 25, he was the first Armenian artist to win gold medals at
international competitions in Berlin and Moscow. As well as classical
music, he worked on Armenian folk music and played traditional folk
instruments. He formed the folk music unit at the Gomidas National
Conservatory in Yerevan in 1978. He worked as the art director of
the National Dance Group and later for Tatul Altunyan Music and Dance
Group in 1958. He continued composing music at the same time.

ARMENIA-TURKEY FOOTBALL MATCH – 2:5

Panorama.am
14:41 10/06/2009

On June 9 Armenian youth team had its second match with Turkish youth
team in Vazgen Sargsyan "Republican" stadium in the frames of Europe
Youth Championship 2011 electoral round. Just in the beginning of the
match the guests opened the score. Both teams showed equal struggle
and created several chances to kick the goal. Till the end of the
first round the Turkish kicked another goal.

Before Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan kicked the first goal in the 70th
minute, the Turkish have made the score 0:4. In the end of the match
Artak Dashyan kicked the second Armenian goal but the final score
stopped in 2:5 for the Turkish team.

RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMS HIS READINESS TO VISIT ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-06-10 17:34:00

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin confirmed his readiness to visit
Armenia at a meeting in Moscow with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan as part of EurAsEC Interstate Council session on June 9,
Premier Tigran Sargysan told media.

Tigran Sargsyan said the terms of the visit will be specified at the
diplomatic level later. ‘It is not a secret that we live in a rapidly
changing environment. Due to the global financial and economic crisis,
we become witnesses to unexpected and unpredictable events. So, the
day of the visit of the Russian premier cannot be specified so far’,
he said.

Earlier in February 2009 Vladimir Putin accepted the official
invitation by Tigran Sargsyan to visit Armenia. The visit was planned
for May 2009.

75 DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF VAHAN CARDASHIAN TO BE COMMEMORATED IN 2009

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
09.06.2009 17:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 75 death anniversary of Vahan Cardashian, who made
a significant contribution to Armenian Nation’s history, will be
commemorated in 2009.

Little is known about the work of Vahan Cardashian in Armenia; still,
it is to him that Armenians owe their victory in US Senate. Cardashian
gained support for the Armenian cause by uniting American society
against American-Turkish agreement signed in Lausanne in 1923. Thanks
to his efforts, US Senate refrained from adopting Lausanne agreement,
documentally confirming US President Woodrow Wilson’s arbitral decision
on Armenia.

Vahan Cardashian was born in Gesaria. He received his law degree
from Yale University, New York and was a colleague of Armen Karo
(Armenia’s Ambassador to the United States of America).

>From 1911 to 1915, Cardashian represented the Ottoman Embassy and its
New York consulate. He resigned his post in 1915 when he learned that
his mother and sister were among the victims of the 1915 Genocide;
soon he became active in the American Committee for an Independent
Armenia (ACIA) In 1918 Vahan Cardashian was appointed director of
the A.R.F. central committee media office. During this period he
closed his private practice and allocated his time and wealth to the
Armenian Cause.

In 1919, Vahan Cardashian established the (ACIA), the predecessor
of the Armenian National Committee. Its membership included many
prominent American and Allied leaders including James V. Gerard,
the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Charles
Evans Hughes (later appointed Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court), Elihu Root and others. Its goal, as implied by its title,
was to seek the independence of Armenia along the lines recommended
by President Wilson. The ACIA had its central offices in New York
City with 23 regional offices in 13 states.

Vahan Cardashian died in long island at the age of 51.

EFINITE FORM OF VOTING REFLECTING PEOPLE’S WILL TO BE USED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT: U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE

Trend
June 8 2009
Azerbaijan

On June 9, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State on European and Eurasian
Affairs Philip Gordon stated in Yerevan that a definite form of voting
which will reflect people’s will will be used in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement process.

Mediamax reported that Gordan made this statement in the briefing in
Yerevan, when commenting on the Azerbaijani officials’ statement about
impossibility of the Nagorno-Karabakh’s separation from Azerbaijan
through a legal way.

The American diplomat noted that the settlement in the balanced
form must reflect three basic principles, including the right to
self-determination, territorial integrity and non-use of forces.

NAIRA ZOHRABYAN WILL HEAD THE COMMISSION

LRAGIR.AM
12:07:51 – 08/06/2009

After appointing the head of the parliamentary commission for
Euro-integration issues, Avet Adonts Ambassador of Armenia to Belgium,
Vahe Khurshudyan from the Bargavach Hayastan party (Prosperous Armenia)
will take his parliamentary mandate. Naira Zohrabyan from BHK will
hold the office of the head of NA the commission.

"CHILDREN SUFFERING LEUKEMIA" FUND GRANTED 2 899 030 AMD

Panorama.am
18:06 05/06/2009

2 899 030 AMD, collected by the initiative of "Star" for the
"Charitable fund for children suffering leukemia", has been disposed
to R. O. Yolian’s Blood Center chaired by Smbat Daghabashyan.

The net of "Star" supermarkets collected the money in the frameworks
of "Help children together" action. The action was organized on the
occasion of the children’s protection day missioned at finding money
for the center.

The director of the center said that Star was the first to support
the fund. He said that the collected money would be spent to invite
doctors from abroad, to buy modern equipments and to solve some
repairing activities.

SAINT PETERSBURG ECONOMIC FORUM KICKS OFF TODAY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 10:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Saint Petersburg Economic Forum kicked off in
Russia today.

The premier economic event and is set to be attended by a roll-call
of its main economic players, who will focus on global development,
prospects of international financial institutes and banking sector.

Organizers hope signed contracts will surpass last year’s total of
$US 13.5 billion.

The forum’s agenda will include oil price, modern logistic systems,
dialogue between economic agents from the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) member countries, energy efficiency, social policy,
market and financial projects, investments, as well as the new model
of market economy, in the context of the world economic crisis.

Some 12,000 police officers will ensure security during the event.

Pulkovo International Airport is getting ready to receive around 150
business flights