Author: Mamian George

66 PEOPLE AWARDED WITH MEDALS ON ARMENIA’S DAY OF ARMED FORCES

Tert.am
27.01.10

On the occasion of the Day of Armed Forces in Armenia, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on January 25 awarding medals
to a group of Defense Ministry officers and some former fighters of
the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

According to the press release issued today by the president’s
press office, the medals were awarded to those who made a significant
contribution to ensuring the military preparedness of the armed forces,
as well as for having displayed bravery and devotion while defending
Armenia’s borders.

A medal of first degree was granted only to Seyran Vanetsyan for
Services Delivered to the Nation. A second degree medal for Services
Delivered to the Nation was granted to 12 officers; among them,
Deputy Defense Minister Ara Nazaryan and Head of Defense Ministry
Staff Garnik Hayrapetyan.

Medals for bravery were granted to 13 people. A total of 66 people
were awarded medals by the president.

IBRAGIMOV SAYS TURKEY KNOWS ARMENIA WILL NOT LIBERATE NKR SURROUNDING TERRITORIES

Panorama.am
16:22 27/01/2010

Armenia’s Constitutional Court decision confirmed that the protocols
doesn’t oppose to Armenia’s official policy, political expert Rovshan
Ibragimov told 1news.az . "Armenia’s Constitutional Court confirmed
that the protocols aren’t anti-constitutional, which introduction
emphasized about the recognition of Genocide and necessity of
territorial integrity," expert said. Ibragimov reminded of Turkey’s
statement emphasizing that RA Constitutional Court supposed some
preconditions. He said Ankara is sure Armenians aren’t intended to
liberate Karabakh surrounding areas because of the protocols. Expert
said Turkey searches for ways out of this situation trying to reject
the signing of protocols, but it’s significant that representatives
of USA, Russia and France were present at Zurich ceremony and that
they are looking forward to some advancement.

CHAIRMAN OF PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE STRESSES DIVERSIFICATION OF ECONOMY AND FIGHTING SHADOW SECTOR

ARKA
Jan 27, 2010

YEREVAN, January 27, /ARKA/. Gagik Minasian, chairman of a
parliament committee on financial-credit and budget issues, said
today diversification of the economy and fighting the shadow sector
are the guarantees of future economic growth.

Speaking at a news conference he said Armenian economy was hit
severely by the global economic crisis and one of the reasons of
problems faced now by the economy is its low level diversification

He said the government plans to invest additional funds in diamond
cutting industry in a bid to diversify the economy.

Armenia has asked lately Russia to provide it with a $120 million to
boost the diamond industry, which was the country’s major economic
locomotive in early 2000th, but has plunged in recent years.

According to Gagik Minasian, the government should support also
traditional sectors, such as construction and mining. He next
emphasized fighting against the shadow economy, saying it will
facilitate business running and application of anti-trust legislation.

ARMENIAN CHURCH BISHOP VISITS YELLOWKNIFE
Elizabeth McMillan

Northern News Services
Monday, January 25, 2010

ishop Bagrat Galstanian of the Armenian Church of Canada was in
Yellowknife on Jan. 19 to conduct a service commemorating a belated
Armenian Christmas, which is celebrated on Jan. 5 and 6. Artur, left,
Robert, Angelina and Narine Margaryan greet him at the entrance of St.

Patrick’s Catholic Parish where Galstanian held an Armenian Church
service last week. – Elizabeth McMillan/NNSL photo

Far-flung flock

SOMBA K’E/YELLOWKNIFE – The sweet smell of 75 different types of
flowers wafts from a vial of Holy Muran or Holy Oil that Bishop Bagrat
Galstanian prepares to use in his service.

"It’s the only remaining substance from our historical past. It has a
huge, major significance in national life because it’s the bond that
keeps Armenians together," he explains.

Galstanian, primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada,
was in Yellowknife on Jan. 19 to conduct a special service in honour
of Armenian Christmas. Like the Holy Muran he brought, the bishop
drew the Armenian diaspora together.

A familiar face to parishioners, he greeted people by name, stooping
to hug children and kiss their foreheads.

"It has been our mission to reach out to them, to make them feel
that even though geographically they live far away from our major
communities in Canada … they are part of our community … and
they’re not (missing) the sacraments and the communion," said
Galstanian.

The church has 15 parishes around Canada, but none in the NWT or
Alberta. Galstanian, who is based in Montreal, visited the cities of
Calgary, Edmonton and Yellowknife last week.

For almost a decade, Armenians have been working and living in
Yellowknife but they have no established parish in the city. There
are approximately 60 Armenian immigrants living in the Yellowknife,
many of whom work in the diamond industry. Tuesday night’s service
was an opportunity for people to speak in their native language and
gather with members of their community.

"We want to stress the importance of celebrating our feast days in
their daily lives. It’s not only a spiritual visit to them, it’s also
to get to know them, to see the families, to get to know the families
that were born here," said Galstanian. "It brings the community
together. I don’t know the last time they were gathered together."

Hrant Babasyan said he was looking forward to seeing Galstanian again
because it brought people together. He said in cities like Montreal,
there are thousands of Armenians, but in Yellowknife, where there isn’t
even a parish, it’s more difficult to bring the community together.

"It’s for the spiritual, not only the physical," said Babasyan,
who came to Yellowknife in 2000.

"It’s an inspirational moment for me," Galstanian said. "When I
visit them I see their lives here. We don’t see each other often,
but I want to see them spiritually healthy and sound."

It was his fifth visit since 2004.

The service was held at St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish and more than
a dozen families attended. Because the Armenian Church is orthodox,
many beliefs differ from the Roman Catholic Church, though some members
of the community do attend services there, as they do elsewhere.

At the entrance of the nave, a cross-stone, or Khachkar, an inlaid
cross depicting the risen Christ, etches out a space for the Armenian
faith, even after the bishop has left.

THE NEVER-ENDING EXODUS OF CHRISTIANS FROM MIDDLE EAST
By Robert Fisk

Belfast Telegraph
n/columnists/robert-fisk/the-neverending-exodus-of -christians-from-middle-east-14650916.html
Monday, 25 January 2010

Was I the only one to react with a total lack of surprise to the news
that Muslim Afghan soldiers are fighting Muslim Taliban fighters with a
coded inscription on their rifle sights from the Bible’s Book of John?

Could Holman Hunt have imagined that his Light of the World (Jesus,
no less, painted in 1854) would be guiding the path of American as
well as Afghan army bullets into the hearts of the Muslim Taliban?

Possibly. So it turns out that another bunch of religious nutters, the
makers of Trijicon rifle sights in the US, believe the inscription is
"part of our faith and our belief in service to our country".

Not since the Serbs and Lebanese Phalangists set off to massacre and
rape their Muslim enemies over the past three decades with pictures
of the Virgin Mary on their rifle butts has there been anything so
preposterous. Indeed, ’twas I who first spotted two American M1A1
Abrams tanks parked in central Baghdad in 2003 with "Crusader 1"
and "Crusader 2" painted on their barrels. Don’t tell me no one in
the Pentagon (or MoD, which has an order in for another 400 Trijicon
sites) didn’t query that weird "JN8:12" on the equipment.

No wonder then – and here’s a real tragedy – that Christians are in a
state of perpetual exodus from the Middle East. In Egypt, six Coptic
Christians were killed at Christmas, along with a Muslim policeman,
when local Muslims attacked them.

The Copts are maybe 10% of their country’s 80m people but they
are heading in droves for America. One problem they have is seeking
official permission to build churches in Egypt – and if they get this
permission, sure enough, up will pop a mosque right next door.

Courtesy of that great Bible-reader George W Bush, the Christians of
post-invasion Iraq are still fleeing sectarian violence for the West.

They’ve been murdered and burned out of their homes. Why, even the head
of the superior Islamic council of Iraq, Ammar al-Hakim, turned up in
Beirut this week to tell the Maronite Catholic patriarch of Lebanon
that he was doing "all he could" for his Iraqi Christian brothers and
sisters. Algerian Islamists have just burned a Protestant church in
an apartment in Tizi Ouzou.

There’s not much point, of course, in looking for the last known
resting place of one and a half million Christian Armenians, because
they were mass-slaughtered by the Turks in 1915 – although neither
Bush nor his successor will call it a genocide because they are
frightened of Muslim Turkey.

But I was heartened to read a fine article by Jihad Zein in the
Lebanese newspaper An Nahar last week. He believes that governments
in the Muslim world have been repressing societies but – and I hope
I have grasped his complex argument correctly – repressed societies
are now repressing minorities.

The Zein thesis is that Middle East rulers have abandoned the idea
of cultural authority in the interests of safeguarding the security
of their political society.

The Fisk thesis is that minorities don’t count any more.

But don’t bet on it. Was it not the army of Israel which named its 1996
bombardment of Lebanon "Grapes of Wrath", an operation which included
the atrocity at Qana, when 106 Lebanese civilians were torn to bits by
Israeli shells? And did not Grapes of Wrath take its name from chapter
32, verse 25 of the Book of Deuteronomy in which it is said that
"the sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young
man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of grey hairs".

All in all, a good description of the massacre at Qana.

Or of those innocent Afghan villagers torn to bits in Nato’s heroic
air strikes. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that DY32:25 is
inscribed on Nato’s bombs. Work that one out.

Hrayr Karapetyan: The war is not over
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
26.01.2010 15:28

Members of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction have not yet decided whether
they will apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get information
about the agreements reached during the trilateral meeting in Sochi,
Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defense,
National Security and internal Affairs Hrayr Karapetyan told a press
conference today. He did not attach much importance to the meeting,
saying it yielded no results.

On January 28 Armenia will celebrate the Army Day. Asked to assess the
possibility of resumption of military actions in light of the militant
statements of the neighbor country, Hrayr Karapetyan said: "We have
to understand that the war is not over, there is a cease-fire. The
threat is always there, taking into consideration the frequent
bellicose statements made by the President and the Defense Minister
of Azerbaijan. However, if during the first war the aggressor lost
seven regions, this time it will lose its sovereignty, since the
Armenian Army is much more powerful today."

MINISTRY OF FINANCE: ARMENIA TO RETURN TO NATURAL GROWTH POLICY IN 2010

ARKA
Jan 25, 2010

YEREVAN, January 25. / ARKA /. Armenia in 2010 will return from the
anti-crisis policy to a policy of natural growth, Minister of Finance
Tigran Davtyan said at a press briefing on Saturday.

"Armenian Ministry of Finance in 2010 has identified three major
programs, the first of which is the return from anti-crisis measures
to the policy of stable economic development," he said.

Head of the Ministry of Finance recalled that in 2009 because of the
negative impact of global financial and economic crisis, the Government
was forced to move to the implementation of anti-crisis policy.

According to Davtyan, the rapid transition to the anti-crisis policies
promptly implement the redistribution of public spending and suspend
the implementation costs, which had no significance for the republic.

The second program to be implemented in 2010, as the minister said,
is to continue building the country’s budget on a program basis,
and the third pillar was the reform of the procurement system.

Speaking about the situation in 2009, the head of the Finance Ministry
said that last year was difficult for the economy because of the
adverse impact of global crisis, and difficult for the finance
department, which bore direct responsibility for the macroeconomic
situation in the country.

Despite the difficulties, according to the Minister, the Finance
Ministry was able to meet all its objectives: to ensure macroeconomic
stability, without which the implementation of economic programs and
crisis action becomes impossible.

According to Davtyan we were also able to maintain stability of the
financial, economic and banking system of Armenia, to ensure the
normal progress of the budget process, which resulted in making of
the expenditure budget, filled with all the social obligations that
have been scheduled yet in the pre-crisis period.

The minister said that despite the difficult situation, the Finance
Ministry managed to carry out a number of reforms, in particular,
to strengthen the system of internal audit in 2009.

Armenian Freestyle Wrestling Championship winners announced
23.01.2010 18:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the first tournament day, January 23, Armenian
Freestyle Wrestling Championship hosted sportsmen in 55, 60 and 66 kg.
weight categories.

As head coach of Armenian freestyle wrestling team Araik Baghdadyan
told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, champion titles went to:

55 kg weight categoty
1st place -Mihran Jaburyan
2nd place – Ashot Terteryan
3nd place -Gegham Babakhanyan and Matevos Saryan

60 kg weight categoty
1st place – Artur Arakelyan
2nd place -Artem Nalbandyan
3rd palce – Ararat Martirosyan and Hayk Yekhshatyan

66 kg weight categoty
1st place – Zhirayr Hovhannesyan
2nd place – David Safaryan
3rd place – Hamayak Hovsepyan and David Apoyan

The championship, to be completed on January 24, hosts 100 wrestlers.

Freestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practiced
throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two
styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with
track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history.
American high school and college wrestling is conducted under
different rules and is termed scholastic and collegiate wrestling.

Freestyle wrestling, like its American counterpart, collegiate
wrestling, has its greatest origins in catch-as-catch-can wrestling
and, in both styles, the ultimate goal is to pin your opponent to the
mat, which results in an immediate win. Freestyle and collegiate
wrestling, unlike Greco-Roman, also both allow the use of the
wrestler’s or his opponent’s legs in offense and defense.

According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling
Styles (FILA), freestyle wrestling is one of the four main forms of
amateur competitive wrestling that are practiced internationally
today. Others of the main forms of wrestling are Greco-Roman and
Grappling (also called submission wrestling).

Interfax, Russia
Jan 20 2010

Sargsyan, Karabakh mediators discuss upcoming Armenian-Azeri meeting

YEREVAN Jan 20

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan discussed organizational aspects of
the proposed meeting with the Azeri president with mediators in the
Karabakh settlement on Wednesday.

Sargsyan has received the co-chairman of the Minsk Group for the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – Robert Bradtke (U.S.),
Yury Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Facier (France) and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s envoy Andrzej Kasprzyk, the
Armenian presidential press service told Interfax.

"The parties discussed the current stage in the settlement and the
upcoming summit meeting," the press service said.

The date and place of the upcoming Armenian-Azeri summit has not been
officially confirmed yet.

Trend, Azerbaijan
Jan 22 2010

Enough preconditions exist to solve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Gennady Burbulis

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 22 / Trend News U. Sadikhova /

"We have enough preconditions to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict," adviser to Chairmen of Federation Council in Russia Gennady
Burbulis said.

The OSCE mission is a good platform and security for this, Burbulis said.

"My position coincides with the generally accepted position. Most
Russians share it. The Nagorno-Karabakh must be solved by preserving
the Azerbaijani territorial integrity," Burbulis said while meeting
with students of Baku Slavic University today.

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.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. General Assembly’s
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.