Author: Karagyozian Lena

HEADS OF STATE NEWS AGENCIES DISCUSS ISSUES ON PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATIONS DEDICATED TO THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY IN THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

ARMENPRESS
NOVEMBER 23, 2009
MINSK

The council of the state news agencies of the CIS countries called
today its tenth session to discuss issues on the joint preparation
for the celebrations dedicated to the 65th anniversary of victory in
the Great Patriotic War.

The program of preparation to this event includes particularly
publication of a memorial calendar, conduction of special photo
contest, implementation of joint Internet project. The members of
the council will also discuss the events dedicated to the year of
veterans of the Great Patriotic War which will be conducted in 2010
in CIS countries.

The session will also discuss issue on preparation of journalist
staff for the news agencies, issues on possibility of cooperation
with the leading educational establishments of the CIS countries. The
participants of the session will also discuss prospects of cooperation
in creation of joint information product.

The information council consists of state news agencies of Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,
Tajikistan. The council is headed by the general director of ITAR-TASS
Vitali Ignatenko.

Life in a city of three faiths

Story from BBC NEWS:
mmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8369687.stm

Publi shed: 2009/11/21 11:46:44 GMT

Jerusalem’s Old City is a district containing a number of holy sites
venerated by Muslims, Christians and Jews. The BBC’s Heather Sharp,
who moved into a home within its walls last year, reports on daily
life in a dense tangle of narrow, winding alleyways.

Our first night was a disaster.

We had finally got the keys to our new home. A wiry teenager had
wheeled our bed on a handcart through the narrow, carless streets.

But as we turned out the light, Arabic pop music, cheers and whistles
blasted in through the window of our new flat as neighbours celebrated
a wedding.

And after just a few hours sleep we were jolted awake by the sound of
a massive, room-shaking bang.

We eventually worked out that it was not the start of the third
intifada, or Palestinian uprising. It was just a cannon fired to
signal the start of the day’s fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

Uneasy truce

Jerusalem is a divided city in a divided land. And at its heart, is
the Old City, itself divided into Muslim, Christian, Jewish and
Armenian quarters.

It is home to Judaism’s holiest site, Islam’s third holiest and the
spot where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified.

Control of the area is one of the toughest issues facing anyone trying
to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

But even so, an uneasy coexistence is lived out day-to-day, all be it
under the watchful eyes of clusters of armed Israeli police.

Orthodox Jews in black coats and fox fur hats pick their way through
shouting Palestinian street hawkers, as they go to pray at the Western
Wall.

There are single shops where tourists can pick up a Jewish menorah, an
olive wood crucifix, or a plate depicting al-Aqsa mosque.

And I have watched two young men who run neighbouring coffee shops,
one Muslim, one Jewish, tease and hug each other in an open display of
friendship.

But relations are not often so cordial.

At politically volatile times, like Muslim Friday prayers during the
Israeli operation in Gaza, the police presence multiplies
dramatically, and tensions with it.

Pungent aromas

I once showed two Israeli guests the route to see my favourite rooftop
view. "When do we get kidnapped?" they half-joked anxiously, as we
walked through the Muslim quarter.

We live in the Christian quarter, home to Palestinian and Israeli-Arab
Christians.

Nearby is one solitary house displaying an Israeli flag. Skull-capped
children play behind high fences, watched by security guards. It is
part of the political struggle, house by house, for control of the old
city.

And when the Jewish residents and the Palestinians who live next to
them meet on the streets they pass in stony silence.

But while controversy is never far away, the sights and sounds of the
Old City are often far more mundane.

There are cats everywhere. From mangy, yowling toms to adorable,
defenceless kittens, they especially like to roam the meat market,
with its bewildering array of animal innards.

And there are the smells, incense wafts from churches mixing with the
aroma of roasting Arabic coffee, and the pungent reek of rotting
vegetables.

Car-free streets

The only vehicles that can navigate the narrow streets are hand carts
and small tractors, which groan their way up special concrete ramps on
the stone steps.

` We hear the bells from the Holy Sepulchre church, the horn
announcing the start of the Jewish Sabbath, and at dusk every night
the Muslim call to prayer echoes over the forest of rooftop satellite
dishes ‘

When we recently moved to a larger flat, we hired one of these
tractors, piled our possessions into its trailer and watched them
lurch their way to our new home.

Without car access there is a lot of carrying to do. We decided to
start a roof garden. The locals looked on in bemusement as we slogged
past carrying armfuls of foliage and backpacks filled with sacks of
compost.

And there was the time I found myself trying to lug an electric
radiator through crowds of South Korean Christian pilgrims, as they
were reflectively walking the route Jesus is said to have taken to his
crucifixion.

An acquaintance recently rang up and heard clanging monastery bells in
the background. "You live in the Old City? How do you stand all that
religious noise?" he asked.

We hear the bells from the Holy Sepulchre church, the horn announcing
the start of the Jewish Sabbath, and at dusk every night the Muslim
call to prayer echoes over the forest of rooftop satellite dishes.

Most of the time it is part of the furniture in this unique place
where the world’s three major monotheisms meet.

But I have to admit, when Ramadan came round again, and the massive,
unexpected boom of the cannon erupted, a few very unholy words passed
my lips.

How to listen to: From Our Own Correspondent

Radio 4: Saturdays, 1130. Second weekly edition on Thursdays, 1100
(some weeks only)

World Service: See programme schedules

Download the

Listen on

Story by story at the

FAMOUS COMPOSER ROBERT AMIRKHANIAN CELEBRATES 70TH BIRTHDAY

NOYAN TAPAN
NOVEMBER 19, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. A concert dedicated to the 70th
birthday of the renowned composer, recipient of a Surb Mesrop Mashtots
order, People’s Artist of Armenia Robert Amirkhanian took place in
Yerevan on November 18. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan with his
spouse attended the event.

Popular singers and bands took part in the concert organized by
the Ministry of Culture, the Union of Composers and the Union of
Musicologists of Armenia.

In the words of R. Amirkhanian, his creative activity is valued not by
the number of years, but by his songs which are reflected in Armenian
eyes (NT: "Armenian Eyes" is a famous song by R. Amirkhanian).

TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN DENIES REPORTS ON ARMENIAN NUCLEAR SHIPMENT

APA
Nov 19 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. "I am not aware of nuclear shipment
for Armenian reactors via Turkey", said Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs Araz Azimov, APA reports. The Deputy Minister called
Armenian nuclear reactors a threat for the region: "Azerbaijan and
other countries, more experienced European countries want Armenia to
take certain actions toward this. They demand to close the nuclear
power station in Armenia because of its poor security and higher
seismic activeness in the region and Armenia. Russia and Armenia
elaborated joint plan to improve maintenance or to repair this
station. The nuclear reactors are now under the Russian ruling and
control. This is bilateral work of Russia and Armenia to supply these
reactors, which located in Armenia and are under the Russian control.

If Russia intends to do something we can accept it positively. It
is technical issue whether nuclear shipment for the reactors will be
delivered via Turkey or not. This transit could be seen as exclusive
case while Armenian-Turkish borders are closed".

Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilic denied reports on nuclear
shipment for Armenian reactors via Turkey. "If the Turkish-Armenian
borders are closed there cannot be a transit".

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

November 19, 2009
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER TO COSPONSOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

— Decision by Senator Reid Comes in the Wake of Senate Week
in the ANCA "Countdown to Erdogan" Campaign

WASHINGTON, DC – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has
informed the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) that he
will once again support legislation calling for U.S. reaffirmation
of the Armenian Genocide.

"We want to offer our appreciation to Majority Leader Reid for
joining with his colleagues in supporting this legislative effort
to put America on the right side of the Armenian Genocide issue,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "We look
forward to working with Senator Reid and our other friends in the
leadership of the Senate and the Foreign Relations Committee as the
Armenian Genocide Resolution moves to a Committee vote and adoption
by the full Senate."

Spearheaded by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and John Ensign (R-NV),
the Armenian Genocide resolution (S.Res.316) also enjoys the early
support of Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Russ Feingold (D-WI),
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse
(D-RI).

Senator Reid’s cosponsorship comes as Armenian Americans across the
country continue to participate in the ANCA "Countdown to Erdogan"
campaign – a four-week, grassroots campaign urging President Obama
to speak truthfully about the Armenian Genocide when he meets on
December 7th with Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan. The first week
of the campaign focused on Senate action, with thousands sending
ANCA WebMails and participating in a national call in day to Senate
offices in support of S.Res.316.

On each day until December 7th, the ANCA is organizing a new action
– ranging from online advocacy, call-in days, social networking,
coalition-building, community outreach, and fieldwork. Information
on the campaign is posted at

Last month, Majority Leader Reid formally shared the reservations
of the Silver State’s Armenian community regarding the dangers of
the recently signed Turkey-Armenia Protocols with Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.

In a October 30, 2009 letter to ANCA-Nevada activist Razmig
Libarian, the Senate leader reported that he had recently written
to Secretary Clinton to pass along the concerns of his state’s
citizens of Armenian heritage, and to encourage her to meet
directly with the national leadership of the Armenian American
community regarding the state of Turkey-Armenia relations.

RA CENTRAL DEPOSITORY TO LAUNCH INTEGRATION PROJECT IN 2010

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
19.11.2009 17:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2010, RA central depository will launch an
integration project with foreign depositories, NASDAQ OMX Armenia
Director General Armen Melikyan told a news conference in Yerevan. The
main task lies in establishment of mutual relations between regulators,
brokers, stock market and central depository in order to establish
proper control over the market in view of border opening.

Armen Melikyan noted that central depositories’ integration process
is similar to correspondent account system between foreign banks.

"Correspondent accounts will be open in other depositories, allowing
our brokerage companies to keep stocks, purchased for their clients,
locally," NASDAQ OMX Armenia Director General said, adding that the
project will probably be launched next year.

In this context, he noted that in perspective the project could be
implemented in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kirgizia. "Russian market is
not yet ready legislatively; currently negotiations are conducted by
Central Depository. Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine are of particular
interest. A possibility of integration with Baltic states’ central
depositories is also envisaged," Armen Melikyan concluded.

NASDAQ OMX Armenia is the new name of the Armenian Stock Exchange
ojsc (renamed on January 27, 2009), however, it is also used to
refer jointly to the stock exchange and the Central Depository of
Armenia ojsc (CDA), as the both companies have been members of the
NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. since early 2008. NASDAQ OMX Armenia and the
CDA are the major securities market infrastructure institutions in
Armenia. Since their inception in 2000, both companies had operated as
self-regulatory organizations established by member broker companies,
up until demutualization in 2007.

NASDAQ OMX Armenia is a part of the world’s largest exchange company,
the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

DIRECTOR OF THE KHOSROV FOREST STATE RESERVE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION SHOT DEAD

armradio.am
19.11.2009 15:04

On November 19, at about 23:50 Director of the "Khosrov Forest
State Reserve" non-profit organization Samvel Shaboyan, born 1958,
was killed at Myasnikyan Avenue of Yerevan.

The Police found traces of 30 shots on the back right door of the
"Toyota Prado" belonging to Samvel Shaboyan.

The Police are taking investigation and search operations identify
and find the criminals.

A criminal case has been launched; investigation is under way.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT FACILITATES PROCEDURE OF PROVIDING FOREIGNERS WITH JOB PERMISSION

ARKA
November 18, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, November 18, /ARKA/. Armenian parliament has passed today
in the first reading a set of changes to the Law on Foreigners
facilitating the procedure of providing foreigners with job
permissions.

A deputy economy minister Vahe Danielian said the changes are aimed
at improving the business environment of the country, regulation and
simplification of its labor market.

He said one of the changes allows Armenian companies without foreign
investments to hire foreigners without additional permissions for
the entire term of the labor contract.

Under the current law, job permission to foreigners is given for 12
months and it may be extended only once for another 12 months. After
the expiration of that term a foreign worker must leave Armenia and
may be accepted to an Armenian company only after 12 months. Vahe
Danielian described this rule as ‘unjust and discriminative.’

He said lifting this ban would allow to make Armenian labor market
more competitive and stimulate its business environment.

ADANA: 1909: HISTORY, MEMORY, AND IDENTITY FROM A HUNDRED YEAR PERSPECTIVE

AZG DAILY
18-11-2009

Armenian Genocide

>From Nov. 6-7, Sabanci University (Istanbul) just hosted an
international workshop entitled "Adana: 1909: History, Memory,
and Identity from a Hundred Year Perspective." The workshop included
scholars from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy,
and Turkey. The event was sponsored by Gomidas Institute (London),
Sabanci University, Istanbul Bilgi University History Department, the
International Hrant Dink Foundation, and Bogazici University History
Department. A capacity audience filled the lecture theatre and included
professors, students, journalists, and members of the public. There
was simultaneous translation between English and Turkish. The papers
that were presented will be published in English and Turkish editions.

In their opening remarks, Cengiz Aktar and Ara Sarafian welcomed
the participants and pointed to new opportunities for holding such
meetings in Turkey today. They explained that the Adana 1909 workshop
was organized to mark the centennial of the Adana massacres. It began
with a call for papers in Turkish, Armenian, and English, and the
presentations at the workshop reflected the different interests of
the participants.

The first paper was an unusual one, as it was a discussion of Turks
who saved Armenians in 1909. The fact that Armenians were massacred
was a given, and the speaker presented a sensitive examination of
righteous Turkish officials who saved potential victims. The speaker
used Ottoman records to show how Ottoman Armenians petitioned the
state to recognize one such Turkish official for his role in saving
an entire community. This first paper took some of the sting out of
the workshop, where the audience could sympathize with the Armenian
victims of 1909 without vilifying "Muslims" or "Turks" as single
categories. Subsequent papers followed with the same sensitivity.

Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute) and Zakarya Mildanoglu (independent
researcher) discussed Armenian records related to the events of 1909.

Sarafian introduced Hagop Terzian, who published a powerful report
in 1912, on the 1909 events. Terzian included his own testimony
in Adana city, as well as the testimonies of others in smaller
communities. Sarafian argued that Terzian’s text had a certain popular
force-of-argument that challenged official accounts that tried to play
down the incidents. Sarafian quoted Terzian to stress the devastating
role of the newspaper "Itidal" in agitating and fermenting violence
against Armenians. Zakarya Mildanoglu presented the Adana massacres
through the Armenian periodical press with many illustrations from
different journals. His accounts included satire as a powerful tool to
convey what had happened to Armenians. (Mildanoglu was also responsible
for a separate exhibition of photographs depicting the Adana
massacres. These images and texts were displayed at the workshop.)

The role of American missionaries as witnesses was discussed by Lou
Ann Matossian (Cafesjian Family Foundation) and Barbara Merguerian
(Armenian International Women’s Association), with powerful papers
related to events in the cities of Adana and Tarsus. Tarsus was
also the focus of Oral Calislar, a well-known Turkish journalist who
presented the testimony of Helen Davenport Gibbons in her book Red
Rugs of Tarsus. Calislar, who has published the Turkish translation
of this work, gave a personal reflection regarding his native Tarsus.

(The Gomidas Institute has just published a critical English edition
of the Red Rugs of Tarsus.)

The reality of Armenian losses was stressed by Osman Koker, who
gave a fascinating paper on Armenian communities in Adana province,
illustrated by photographs and postcards. He included images from
Antioch, Alexandretta, Marash, Beylan, Sis, Adana, Tarsus, and
Koz Olouk.

Sait Cetinoglu (Belge Uluslararasi Yayincilik) gave a forceful
presentation on the organization and plunder of Armenian properties in
1909, while Asli Comu (Cambridge University) gave a solid paper based
on land records from the Adana region in the 1920’s. These records gave
new insights into how Armenian properties were broken up and par celled
out to Muslim refugees. The actual number of Armenian casualties during
the massacres was discussed by Fuat Dundar, who raised some questions
about the demographics of the Adana massacres based on his work on
the massacres of Abdul Hamid II and the Armenian Genocide. The fate of
Armenian orphans following the Adana massacres became a major concern
for Armenian community leaders. Nazan Maksudyan gave a moving paper
on the fate of such orphans, especially in "foreign" orphanages. One
key concern was assimilation in government-run orphanages where the
language of instruction was Turkish and not Armenian.

Each session was chaired by a senior scholar and was followed by a
discussion. The workshop thus benefited from the presence of additional
senior scholars, such as Selim Deringil, Caglar Keyder, Mete Tucay,
and Hulya Adak.

The organizers considered the workshop a success, Armenian Weekly
reported.

ARMENIA’S YOUTH SOCCER TEAM BEAT ITS IRISH RIVALS 4:1

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.11.2009 18:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In Euro 2011 qualification match, Armenian youth
soccer team beat its Irish rivals 4:1. Likewise the match with
Estonians which ended 1:1 Armenian sportsmen began the game actively,
scoring the first goal during the 30th minute. At the start of match,
Hovhannes Goharyan managed to keep the ball with the help of two
fullbacks, making a pass to Henrik Mkhitaryan. Half-back kicked the
ball to the rival’s fence with a strong blow. Henrik Mkhitaryan also
stood out in the second round, evening the score during the 61st
minute. Four minutes later Ireland’s Killian Sheridan scored the
only goal of his team. Match ended 4:1, with the third goal scored
by Goharyan and the fourth coming off hat-trick author Mkhitaryan’s
penalty kick

Second group’s standing for Euro-2011 qualification tournament is
as follows.

Switzerland (13 point) Turkey (9) Estonia (8) Georgia (5) Armenia
(4) Ireland (4)