Author: Kafian Jirair

50 SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN ARMENIA PASSED ADVANCED TRAINING COURSES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.07.2009 16:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over 70 teachers of 50 Armenian Sunday schools
passed advanced training courses.

Courses were organized by Holy Echmiadzin’s Christian Education Center
with the assistance and blessing of Catholicos of all Armenians,
Garegin II and under the aegis of World Vision International Charity
Organization.

Training program included lectures, seminars and discussions on
various subjects.

BEELINE LAUNCHES "ARMENIANS’ WORLD" SERVICE FOR CORPORATE CLIENTS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.07.2009 20:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On July 1, ArmenTel company (trade mark: Beelibe)
launched Armenians’ World service for corporate clients. The new
service enables subscribers to make international calls via VoIP
telephony at reasonable costs.

For making their calls, subscribers are required to press the following
buttons on their mobiles: *88* 00 (country code) (called subscriber’s
number). The service activated automatically allows subscribers to
make phone calls in any direction.

Information on codes and call prices is available on the company’s
Web site.

NIKOL PASHINYAN ARRESTED

armradio.am
01.07.2009 16:29

On July 1st Nikol Pashinyan, who was under search, appeared
voluntary. He was arrested and taken to the "Kentron-Yerevan"
Penitentiary by the policemen of the Police Kentron Department.

His voluntary surrender was formed according to the law, the Office
of the Prosecutor General of Armenia reported.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE 20MLN AMD SUPPORT TO MUSIC SCHOOLS IN SYUNIK REGION

ARKA
June 30, 2009

KAPAN, June 30. /ARKA/. The RA Government will provide 20mln AMD
support to the students of music schools in the Syunik region, Armenia,
RA Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan reported at the RA Government’s
meeting in Kapan.

"Last year, 144 students received 11mln AMD financial aid, and this
amount will reach 20mln AMD this year," Poghosyan said.

The Minister said that the primary task is to provide regional music
schools with musical instruments.

"We also consider it necessary to open a branch of Yerevan State
Conservatoire in the region," Poghosyan said.

Speaking of the problem of companies for Kapan and Goris theaters,
Minister Poghosyan pointed out that the problem has not yet been
resolved despite the fact that Kapan State College of Art and the
Syunik branch of the Academy of Cinema and Art are working in the
region. She reported that two stage directors from Yerevan will soon
come to the region to deal with the problem.

"The theater building in Kapan has been renovated this year, and
could hold the Armmono theater festival here," the Minister said.

Poghosyan said that the Goris theater is not in a good state now. The
theater was involved in the renovation program launched by the RA
Ministry of Urban Development, but the program was suspended.

Poghosyan also expressed the confidence that the renovation of the
building will be completed under the development program in the Syunik
region in 2010-2013.

EBRD TO GIVE ARMENIAN ELITE GROUP $5.5 MILLION AS CREDIT AND 130,000 EURO IN GRANT

ARKA
June 30, 2009

YEREVAN, July 1. /ARKA/. On Wednesday, European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development and Elite Group, Armenian CJSC, will sign an agreement
on mid-term loan.

Under the agreement, the EBRD will lend $5.5 million to the
construction company and give 130,000 Euro in grants to encourage
energy-saving innovations.

Paul-Henri Forestier, EBRD regional director, is reportedly come to
Yerevan to sign the document.

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, members of the Government
and businessmen will be present at the signing ceremony.

Elite Group engages in construction, interior decoration and service
of houses.

TECHNICAL SECURITY CONCEPTION TO BE WORKED OUT IN ARMENIA

NOYAN TAPAN
JUNE 30, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The working group on elaboration of
technical security conception convened its first sitting on June 29,
which was conducted by National Security Council Secretary, Chairman
of the Interdepartmental Commission on Coordination of Armenia’s
Cooperation with European Structures Artur Baghdasarian.

Mentioning that conception’s elaboration is envisaged by the National
Security Strategy and Armenia-EU 2009-2011 program, A. Baghdasarian
attached importance to formation of a modern system of technical
security, study of the best European experience in this sphere and
perfection of the legal sphere.

According to the Press Service of the National Security Council,
at the sitting it was decided to work out the draft conception and
legal acts proceeding from it in cooperation with European experts,
in as short period as possible and to submit it for approval in the
established order.

RUSSIA TO BUY AZERI GAS FOR $350 PER 1,000 CU M

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
30.06.2009 13:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia is ready to purchase Azerbaijani natural
gas at a record price of $350 per 1,000 cu m to try and make a rival
Western-backed gas pipeline project unfeasible, a business paper
reported on Tuesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid a visit to Azerbaijan on Monday,
during which Gazprom signed an agreement with the State Oil Company
of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to buy 500 million cubic meters of gas
from Azerbaijan annually from January 1, 2010, with supplies expected
to increase in the future.

According to Kommersant, it was reported later on Monday that an
inter-governmental agreement on the construction of the rival Nabucco
gas pipeline bypassing Russia could be delayed.

The agreed gas price with Azerbaijan is higher than the $300 per 1,000
cu m that Russia offered to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan earlier in
the year.

The $10 billion Nabucco pipeline, backed by the European Union and the
U.S., is intended to link energy-rich Central Asia to Europe through
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria,
bypassing Russia and Ukraine. Construction has been tentatively
scheduled to begin in 2010.

Russia’s transit disputes with its former Soviet neighbors have
raised concerns that Europe is too dependent on Russia for its energy,
RIA Novosti reported.

ARMENIA, ARTSAKH MARK THE DAY OF MISSING PERSONS
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
29.06.2009 15:28

Today Armenia and Artsakh mark the Day of Missing Persons. The
Komitas Chamber Music House will host a commemorative event on this
occasion. Before that Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, members of
the Commssion on the Missing Persons, Prisoners of War and Captives,
relatives of the missing persons, and soldiers of the liberation war
visited Yerablur Pantheon this morning to pay tribute to the memory
of the missing.

"Today we remember our friends, whose fate is unknown," Defense
Minister Seyran Ohanyan said and informed that the Commission on the
Missing Persons continues the research to find out something about
the fate of the 300 Armenians that are missing.

"The Commission works according to the plan. There is only one negative
thing: we cannot cooperate with state structures of Azerbaijan, which
would greatly help the search works. We establish contacts only with
non-governmental organizations of Azerbaijan," Seyran Ohanyan said.

MAXIM SEVCHENKO SAYS HE HAD NO INTENTION TO INSULT ANYONE BY HIS INTERVIEW WITH AZERBAIJANI MEDIA

ArmInfo
2009-06-26 17:06:00

ArmInfo. ‘I don’t understand why many in Armenia have been offended
by my interview with an Azerbaijani news agency. I had no intention to
insult anyone. We in Russia have very little information on the ethnic
space of this region since the old ties have been broken. Naturally, I
use the books which are accessible>, Maxim Shevchenko, the host of the
TV program ‘Judge by Yourself’ on the First Russian Channel, a member
of the Russian Public Chamber, says in an interview with ArmInfo.

Shevchenko’s interview to Azerbaijani media aroused dissatisfaction
in Armenia and Karabakh. In particular, Shevchenko said that ‘the
Karabakh people are divided into Christians and Muslim. It is actually
one nation, one ethnos. Karabakh people stand out from Armenians as
well. It is an ancient ethnos of the Caucasus: Albans, part of them
is Christians, the other part is Muslims’.

In this context, M. Shevchenko said that he would like to listen to the
opinions of Armenian and Karabakh scientists that may be true. ‘It
is not a matter of political stand. It is a matter of possible
insufficient knowledge after all. I am not a specialist in ethnology
and ethnography. I have relatives born in Karabakh. Therefore I can
notice some things but these are not professional judgments. I’d be
happy to occur at a seminar when Armenian and Azerbaijan scientist
would exchange their vision of the history in the region like in the
Soviet period of time within the frames of the Academy of Science.

Without such scientific dialogues the world becomes poorer. When
I visit Karabakh I will be happy to listen to their opinion and
judgments. It will make my vision of the region much richer, in
particular, of the Ancient Albania and the ethnic groups residing
there. I admit that I know too little about this’, he said.

EU TO SUPPORT ANY EFFORTS IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT: SPECIAL ENVOY

Trend
June 25 2009
Azerbaijan

Kazakhstan, Astana, June 25 /Trend News, K.Konirova/

The European Union (EU) will support any efforts in the Karabakh
settlement, EU Special Envoy on South Caucasus Peter Semneby said at
the Security Forum of the Council of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership
(CEAP) in Astana on June 25.

"At present the situation in the conflict zone has a depressive
character and a ceasefire does not indicate absence of problems in
the settlement of this conflict," Semneby said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed
forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently
holding the peace negotiations.

A total of 30 people were killed in the conflict zone only in 2008,
he said. "We should follow the situation to advance in a correct
direction," he added.

"This is too bad that the EU does not seriously approach the situation,
but even in this case, the steps taken by Turkey and Armenia to
stabilize the situation in the region are too praiseworthy," the EU
special envoy said.