Author: Kafian Jirair

CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN-ARAB CULTURAL TIES HELD IN CAIRO

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2009 21:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian center of Cairo University has hosted an
international scientific conference on Armenian-Arab cultural ties,
which brought together over 25 scientists from Armenia, Egypt, Syria
and Lebanon.

"Activity of the Armenian center in Cairo University is the evidence
of friendly relations between Armenia and Egypt," Egyptian Deputy
Minister of Education Mohamed Haber said in his opening remarks.

For his part, Armenia’s Ambassador to Egypt Ruben Karapetyan said that
besides the conference, 5 books dedicated to Armenian-Arab relations
and life of the Armenian community of Egypt were published.

An exhibition of books about the Armenian Genocide, the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict and history of Armenia was also organized, the RA
MFA press office reported.

KARABAKH ACCUSES OSCE OF IGNORING VIOLATIONS OF CEASEFIRE DEAL BY AZERBAIJAN (PART 2)

Interfax
March 16 2009
Russia

The OSCE’s passive attitude toward increasingly more frequent
violations of a ceasefire deal by Azerbaijan negatively influences the
situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the Nagorno-Karabakh
Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry reported earlier that "Azerbaijan
once again violated the ceasefire at the southeastern section of the
contact line between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azeri armed forces in
the early hours of March 13, in which a Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army
serviceman on duty was killed by sniper fire."

Commenting on the incident to Interfax on Saturday, the Nagorno-
Karabakh Foreign Ministry called it symptomatic that the incident had
occurred the next day after the office of OSCE chairman-in-office’s
personal representative Andrzej Kasprzyk monitored the contact line
at this same area.

"This incident, which led to a loss of life, happened because of
the absence of a public response by the office of OSCE chairman-in-
office’s personal representative Andrzej Kasprzyk to increasingly more
frequent ceasefire agreement violations on the part of Azerbaijan,
which now occur even during monitoring conducted by the office of
the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office," the
Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry said.

"The absence of a political qualification of such actions, which
Stepanakert has repeatedly pointed to, only encourages the aggressor,"
it said.

"Azerbaijan does not even see fit to consider a proposal on withdrawing
snipers from the frontline as a confidence-building measure, which the
foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group made at an OSCE ministerial
session in Helsinki on December 4, 2008," the ministry said.

A serviceman of the Defense Army of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-
Karabakh Republic was killed at the contact line between Azeri and
Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces in the early hours of March 13, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement circulated in
Yerevan on Friday.

The serviceman, whose name has not been made public, was killed by
a sniper bullet at the southeastern section of the contact line,
the Foreign Ministry said.

MAYBE "MIASIN" HAD BETTER DEMAND YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD DISMISSAL
Hakob Badalyan

Lragir.am
12:14:35 – 17/03/2009

On these days, the president of Bolivia Morales accused the
Police and other law enforcement bodies of cooperation with the
U.S. Investigations Services.

Morales seems to be worth of applauses for being aware of what happens
in his government system but, when we go into details of the situation,
we realize that Morales, in fact, does not keep under control the
situation and his governmental system is overwhelmed with foreign
agents. However, in reality, everything is much clearer: Morales
makes such a statement to create an impression of an external enemy
for the society to think that the king tries his best to struggle
against foreign agents in order to save his country.

The action of the "Miasin" youth organization caused much response in
Armenia. The evaluations were different: from lauds up to complaints
and condemn. But everyone admits that there is a great amount of the
corruption in the Armenian educational system. From this point of you,
like in case of Morales, the Miasin seems to be absolutely right when
sticking in the streets pictures of corrupt professors. Of course,
after, not everyone was found out to be corrupt or some others were
not professors. But there is almost no doubt that, if it is needed,
the Miasin will be able to prove in court its innocenc e and its
being right. Not casually, the president Serge Sargsyan took part
in the celebration of the anniversary of that organization and,
strangely, the pictures appear on the street walls several days after
this celebration.

So, the heroes of the pictures should never think that the organizers
have no proof.

But the point is different. Sure, the authors of the action do not
have facts, but they are able to have them as soon as it is necessary,
because the relevant bodies would have already made steps in this
connection. After all, only one professor of the Yerevan State
University has been arrested so far, but this does not mean that
there are no grounds to arrest other professors. Merely, there is
no expediency for now. Now, it is enough to stick their pictures and
follow the professors’ attitude. This does not surely mean that the
professors are forbidden to take bribes any more.

Probably, the professors are demanded to take bribes calmly and not
to get engaged in other things, especially in this chaotic times.

The rightness of the Miasin action seems logic and fair only at first
instant. In reality, this action is less logic than the statement of
Morales. The point is that the university system in Armenia is ruled
by the boards.

For example, the Board of Yerevan State University heads Serge
Sargsyan. Has anyone of the Miasin members ever asked what steps the
board headed by Serge Sargsyan made in the relation with corruption
at Yerevan State University?

Or, perhaps, they have asked, and only after organized their
action. Serge Sargsyan may have hinted them the names of corrupt
professors and may even have provided them with the pictures. Perhaps,
Serge Sargsyan admitted that though heading the State University
board for so many years he was not able to root out the corruption at
the university and turned to the youths of the Miasin for help. But,
in this case, it would be fair of Serge Sargsyan to rely on the law
enforcement bodies instead of Miasin, and to admit that he had asked
help from that organization, so the head of the State University
could not blame the members of the youth organization, but Serge
Sargsyan for giving them that idea. It would be honest too if Serge
Sargsyan decided to resign from State University Board Head Office
just because he has not been able to register a small progress in the
struggle against corruption during the years of heading the university
board. Miasin would be honest too if presented such a demand to Serge
Sargsyan. Otherwise, Morales seems to make a figure of a kind king
at the background of the law enforcement bodies, and Serge Sargsyan
tries to do the same thing at the background of the professors.

Interfax, Russia
March 13 2009

Press photographer covering student protest severely beaten in Yerevan

YEREVAN March 13

A press photographer of the Yerevan- based newspapers Morning and The
Fourth Estate was severely beaten on Friday.

Gagik Shamshian attempted to take pictures of students at the State
Linguistic University, this caused a verbal exchange with the
university guards, which then grew into a fistfight.

According to police accounts, Shamshian, 38, was beaten by Karen
Miridzhanian, 33, the chief of the university security service, who
was then brought to the Yerevan city central police department.

Police also said Shamshian was at the Nairi medical center with
injuries to his internal organs and internal hemorrhaging.

Armenian media reported that students and members of the youth
movement Together protested against bribery near the university on
Friday.

Journalists, including Shamshian, attempted to enter the university
following the protest, but security guards barred the entrance, which
caused the conflict involving Shamshian.

Armenian Human Rights Commissioner Armen Arutyunian said similar
incidents went unpunished before.

"I am urging the law enforcement agencies to take all necessary
measures to find those responsible for the incident and hold them
liable," he said.

va nb

Santa Monica Daily Press
March 13 2009

Building the perfect man

March 13, 2009

I remember in my tweens, riding in the back seat on the way home from
church and telling my mother that when I became an adult, I would get
a nose job. My mother said something along the lines of, "Well, when
you’re an adult, you can make that decision." I took that as her being
supportive, her being sympathetic to my plight of having been cursed
with what plastic surgery Web sites call an "ethnic" nose ‘ my
father’s nose.

I never did get rhinoplasty. It’s not that I’m against plastic
surgery. No, on the contrary, I love it. My freshman year of high
school, I listened enthralled as my English teacher described how a
surgeon had peeled down her face to chisel off a calcium deposit on
her forehead, and then pulled her face back up like he was making a
bed. Plastic surgeons, good plastic surgeons, can perform miracles.

A few weeks ago, I was forwarded a fun list: The Most Desired
Features. Patients of plastic surgeons Dr. Toby Mayer and Dr. Richard
Fleming bring in glossy pages torn from magazines. Give me Angelina
lips, patients say. Beyonce eyes. Cheeks like Heidi Klum.

I can’t imagine tearing a nose out of a magazine and taking it in to a
doctor the same way, in high school, I walked into a hair salon at the
mall and asked for a "Rachel." But women do tear noses out of
magazines, and last year, the noses most torn out belonged to
Katherine Heigl, Amy Adams, and Michelle Williams.

Dr. Mayer and Dr. Fleming take note of which celebs’ features are most
requested ‘ they’ve been tracking this for the past 10 years ‘ and put
out their annual list.

I have spent far too much time the past couple of weeks thinking about
the list, studying the list, surfing the web for photos of
celebrities, contrasting Robert Pattinson’s jawline to George
Clooney’s. I have spent far too much time building a Franken-man.

The rule was simple: I could only use most-desired parts. Not since
junior high, when I wallpapered my bedroom with "Beverly Hills 90210"
posters from "Tiger Beat," have I spent so much time thinking about
which pretty boy is prettiest. But here he is, my Franken-man.

He has Josh Duhamel’s nose, James Franco’s eyes, Will Smith’s chin and
jawline, Wentworth Miller’s lips, Johnny Depp’s cheeks, and Matthew
McConaughey’s body.

This is not the way plastic surgeons operate.

In a conversation with Dr. Mayer, I asked him if he could show me on a
computer what I would look like with a different nose. He said no, but
his son, who is great with computers, could. Being a good plastic
surgeon and being good at Photoshop are two different things.

Dr. Mayer suggests that if you want to get an idea of how you will
look with plastic surgery, you should look at your plastic surgeon’s
work. For example, if you are considering plastic surgery from Michael
Jackson’s doctor, look at Michael Jackson; I most certainly don’t want
a nose job from that guy.

I’m over wanting a nose job at all.

Last year, I traveled to Armenia to see the country where my
grandfather was born. On the first day of my vacation, my guide
pointed out the car window to The Mountain of Ara, and began telling
me a legend. Ara the Handsome is the Armenian equivalent of Adonis,
the prettiest of pretty boys. An evil, Assyrian queen named Shamiram
(also known as Semiramis) was so captivated by Ara’s
Photoshop-good-looks that she tried everything to woo him away from
his wife and country.

Shamiram wasn’t good with rejection. She decided that if she couldn’t
have Ara, no one could. She wanted him dead, so she declared war on
Armenia, and after Ara was killed in battle, she had his body placed
on a mountaintop. Some sources say that mythical dog-like creatures
licked Ara back to life, but others say that Ara’s body became part of
the mountain.

"If you look," my guide said, pointing to the mountain’s peak, "you
can see the nose."

Ah, the nose. The most desired nose.

To check out the complete list of Most Desired Features, visit

Mar iel Howsepian digs black coffee, fairy tales and a man in
coveralls. She lives in Santa Monica and can be reached at
[email protected].

PanARMENIAN.Net

Barack Obama maintains military aid parity for Armenia and Azerbaijan
13.03.2009 20:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill for
2009 financial year providing the maintenance of military aid parity
to Armenia and Azerbaijan; $48 million in assistance to Armenia and
another $8 million for Nagorno Karabagh, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America to PanARMENIAN.Net.

`We would like to thank Chairwoman Lowey, Chairman Leahy, and all the
supporters of Armenian American concerns on their two panels for
reaffirming military aid parity, approving a robust aid package for
Nagorno Karabagh, and doubling the Bush Administration’s patently
insufficient $24 million aid request for Armenia,’ said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. `We look forward, in the
coming year, with a new Administration in the White House, to working
with our Congressional friends to restore U.S. aid to a level
commensurate with actual needs in Armenia, the many challenges she
faces in the region.’

Armavia to launch Yerevan-Tbilisi-Moscow flight in mid-March

2009-03-10 12:47:00

ArmInfo. Armavia national air carrier will launch
Yerevan-Tbilisi-Moscow flights starting March 14, Armavia press service
told ArmInfo Tuesday.

The company will make two regular flights daily in the morning and in
the evening. Armavia makes flights to over 30 destinations in Europe,
Asia and CIS. At present the company’s air-fleet comprises
two A-320, two A-319 airbuses as well as one Tu-134 and one Il-86
(currently repaired). On March 17 the company is expected to obtain
another A- 319 airbus.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 12 2009

Ambiguity surrounds participants at water summit

Days ahead of the upcoming 5th World Water Forum (WWF) in Ä°stanbul,
there is still no clarity over the level of representation that will
be seen from participant countries, with different official
organizations making conflicting statements on the issue.

The forum, accepted as the most extensive international event
concerning world water usage, will hosted by Turkey with the
cooperation of the World Water Council from March 16 to 22 in
Ä°stanbul. Foreign Ministry officials have declined to give specific
information on confirmed participants of the summit. While Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s participation was reported last week
and confirmed by the WWF Secretariat, it has emerged that he will not
participate in the summit.

Nonetheless, it has also emerged that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
will join the summit.

While confirming Ahmadinejad’s participation, the WWF Secretariat had
also announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would join the
summit. However, Foreign Ministry officials were not able to confirm
such participation, either.

Iranian Embassy officials in Ankara, speaking with Today’s Zaman last
week, had said they were working on Ahmadinejad’s Ä°stanbul visit,
noting that the president had been invited. The same officials,
however, suggested yesterday that no special invitation was received
by Ahmadinejad, saying only an invitation for the forum was received
by Tehran.

When asked about the official level and the addressee mentioned in the
invitation, the same officials responded that these kinds of facts
were not mentioned in the invitation. However, the absence of the
official level and addressee is not common in diplomatic
correspondence.

Turkish officials said the summit of heads of state and government was
limited to 15 countries, including Turkey, while, nevertheless, they
also said that the invitations were extended to 30 countries.

According to Turkish officials, the participation of the following
leaders has been confirmed: the prince of Monaco; the presidents of
Iraq, Somalia and Tajikistan; the prime ministers of Azerbaijan,
Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, South Korea and Tuvalu; the Netherlands’ crown
prince; and a former prime minister of Japan.

A Greek Cypriot minister is also expected to participate in
ministerial level part of the forum. Since Ankara doesn’t officially
recognize the Greek Cypriot government, the invitation to Nicosia has
been conveyed by the World Water Council. Armenia, with which Turkey
doesn’t have diplomatic relations, will also be represented at the
forum, but the level of Yerevan’s participation is not yet clear.

12 March 2009, Thursday
SERVET YANATMA ANKARA

Interfax, Russia
March 7 2009

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs welcome Azeri, Armenian leader’ intention
to meet

BAKU March 7

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for settling the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict welcome Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s and
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s intention to meet.

"The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed their desire to
continue meeting regularly. The Co-Chairs will therefore seek to
organize a summit of the two Presidents in the coming months to
discuss the key unresolved issues within the Basic Principles for the
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," says a joint
statement signed by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Ambassador Yury
Merzlyakov of Russia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza of the U.S., and Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, available
on the OSCE website.

Merzlyakov, Bryza, and Fassier welcomed "the frank and open
discussions of these issues with the two Presidents since their last
meeting in Zurich." They said they "hope to continue to make progress
in the talks by clarifying and narrowing the differences between the
sides so that a peaceful settlement can be reached in the soonest
possible timeframe," the statement says.

Ashot Grigorian: Establishment of South Caucasian Confederation will
strengthen South Caucasus-EU contacts

62

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The South Caucasian countries should
unite, establish a confederation to be able to develop their future
without external influences, especially without Turkey’s influence.
Ashot Grigorian, the Chairman of the Forum of Armenian Associations in
Europe (FAAE), the head of the Armenian community in Slovakia,
expressed such an opinion at the March 6 press conference. According to
him, the six South Caucasian states, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia should unite approximately by the
example of the 1918-1920 confederation. That unit, as he formulated it,
deepening its contacts with the European Union will have an economic
flight under the EU roof. After it, according to A. Grigorian’s
observation, the South Caucasian countries can receive the status of a
EU associate member in five years.

A. Grigorian stated that a strategic center can be established in
Bratislava within the framework of Eastern Partnership to ensure
EU-South Caucasus development. "As well as to establish a
representation in Yerevan for the development programs to proceed with
the mediation of Bratislava and Yerevan," A. Grigorian proposed. He
also said that Slovakia can "become an out-post for EU in the South
Caucasus."

A. Grigorian introduced the above mentioned proposals to Peter Semneby,
the EU Representative for the South Caucasus, a month ago, and it was
decided to discuss them at the next EU Economic Forum to be held in
2009 September. "We will also try to receive financial assistance from
Slovakian government," A. Grigorian said. He also said that besides
meeting P. Semneby, he also held some discussions with representatives
of Georgia and Azerbaijan, as well as with the RA Foreign Minister.