Author: nina hovnanian

AZERBAIJAN LEAVES BEHIND MANY EUROPEAN AND ASIAN COUNTRIES IN ITS CORRUPTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 1, 2011 – 19:59 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
issued a survey on Life in transition.

In the course of the research carried out by the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in collaboration with the
World Bank at the end of 2010, about 39000 households in 34 countries
have been questioned. The polls have been conducted mainly in former
communist countries of Western Europe and several CIS countries.

Namely this region suffered most of all from crisis, according to
the bank’s official web site.

This is the second survey of its kind (the first report was issued
in 2006).

The research provides vivid evidence of how lives have been affected by
the global economic crisis and its aftermath, all against the backdrop
of the two decades of social, political and economic transition.

The corruption chapter of the survey concludes that, on the whole,
people do not consider that corruption level decreased for the last
4 years. In fact, all respondents think the most corrupted areas are
road police, medical organizations and civil courts. The survey shows
that Azerbaijan is among top leaders in all spheres of corruption. On
the average 65% respondents in Azerbaijan mention that unofficial
payments are of frequent or permanent nature in those spheres.

As regards Armenia, this rate is ranging within 17%, on the average.

The highest rate in Armenia is in health care sphere making 28%.

Except for Azerbaijan, relatively high rate of corruption, according
to respondents, is fixed in Kirgizia, Albania, Turkey, Moldova and
Ukraine. In these countries the rates are dependent on the spheres.

PRESIDENT: PACE HOPES FOR CONCRETE RESULTS OF BAKU-YEREVAN DIALOGUE
by A.Maraton

Trend News Agency
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
June 29, 2011 Wednesday
Baku, Azerbaijan

June 29–ASTANA, Kazakhstan — The Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) supports dialogue between Azerbaijan and
Armenia and hopes that this dialogue will be accompanied by concrete
results in the future, PACE President Movlud Cavusoglu told Trend.

The PACE has disappointed over that the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia have failed to reach agreement in Kazan, he said.

“PACE, of course, supports dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
we support the continuation of the two countries’ presidents’ meetings
under the chairmanship of the Russian President,” Cavusoglu said.

The summit of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia ended
Friday in Kazan without reaching an agreement on the basic principles
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, but the sides mentioned
the progress towards this goal, the joint statement said.

“The Heads of State highlighted the achievement of mutual understanding
on a number of issues, the solution of which contributes to creating
conditions to approve the basic principles,” the statement said.

The document says that the meeting participants reviewed the activities
conducted to agree upon the project of basic principles.

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. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

LOCAL KARATE STUDENTS HARVEST HONORS AT MEET

The Daily News
06-30-2011

FORT MOHAVE – Five students from Mohave Valley Karate in Fort Mohave
brought home nine trophies from the USA World Championships held in
Las Vegas, this past weekend. The students ranged from ages 6 to 28,
and from white to green belt in rank.

Most of the students competed in three different events: point
sparring, continuous sparring and kata, a detailed pattern of executing
specific moves. All five students were competing in the tournament
for the first time.

Shihan Tom Pillsbury, the students’ instructor, said the world
championships provided a tremendous challenge for his students.

“We have brought students to this tournament in the past, but it has
changed a lot over the years,” he said. “The rules now allow far more
contact than before, and that was especially challenging for our 6 and
10 year old students. I was particularly impressed with the way they
both handled the pressure and unusual circumstances of the continuous
sparring event, which turned out to be a real battleground, especially
against some of the eastern European schools’ students who have been
taught to be extremely aggressive.”

Both Dylan Conklin, 10, and Maui Blaylock, 6, maintained their
composure and used solid defense and attack techniques in their
sparring, Pillsbury said. “My adult students, Cameron (Miller), Kelly
(Blake) and Brad (Blake), also competed extremely well in their events,
especially considering the level of competition they faced.

There were seasoned competitors from the western United States, Hawaii,
Mexico, the United Kingdom, and a strong contingency from Armenia in
their divisions.”

Blaylock finished third in continuous sparring, white to brown belt
while Conklin finished second in point sparring, purple to green belt;
third in continuous sparring, purple to brown belt; and third in
kata, purple to green belt. Miller, 16, finished third in continuous
sparring, white to orange belt. Kelly Blake, 27, finished second in
point sparring and second in kata. Brad Blake, 28, brought home a
first place trophy for point sparring, blue to green belt, and first
place in continuous sparring, blue to brown belt. All five students
are Fort Mohave residents, and have been in training from as little
as three weeks to as long as several years.

“All five are exceptional students and representative of the quality
of students in the dojo,” Pillsbury said. “I am extremely proud of
their efforts. Tournament competition is not a requirement for my
students, but it gives them an opportunity to use their training
with someone other than their classmates, and they saw how well the
techniques work.”

Mohave Valley Karate is a dojo operating at 5221 S. Highway 95 in
Fort Mohave. The dojo offers training from ages 5 to adult, with a
focus on teaching Wa-Te-Ryu, a traditional Okinawan karate style.

According to Pillsbury – who himself holds a 6th degree black belt in
Wa-Te-Ryu as well as a 3rd degree black belt in Okinawa-Te Karate –
Wa-Te-Ryu is a particularly effective style that includes the practical
application of hand, foot, elbow, and knee strikes, judo, jujitsu,
joint locks, apprehending techniques and methods of escape from all
holds. For more information, call 928-716-5288.

© 2011 The Associated Press.

Germany’s C.A.C. interested in Nairit

14:24 ¢ 01.07.11

German company C.A.C. has shown interest in becoming the operator of
the Nairit, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources told Tert.am.

A tender for an operator was announced earlier this year, with its
original dateline of June 15 having been prolonged to June 30.

The new operator is supposed to implement the project of developing
and reconstructing the Nairit in 2011-19, which is estimated $512.26
million, out of which $145.8 million is the company’s debts.

Other companies, such as Siemens (Austria, Sweden), Foster Wheeler
(France), Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz GmbH ` C.A.C.-Õ¨ (Germany) and Air
Liquide-Õ¨ (France) have also shown interest in the project.

Tert.am

Woman died because of gynecologist’s mistake

06:09 pm | June 29, 2011 | Social

The preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated against
the gynecologist F. Madoyan for improper implementation of
professional duties has been completed in the Shirak region police.
The prosecutor supervising the preliminary investigation of the
criminal case has confirmed the bill of indictment.

During the preliminary investigation it has been stated that the
gynecologist of Gyumri Polyclinic 1 F. Madoyan on June 18, 2010
examined the patient E. Yeghoyan and decided to analyze the fat on the
cervix. According to the preliminary investigation body the doctor
implemented his professional duties improperly as there was no
necessity to analyze the fat on the cervix during which he had
injected “Lidocaine” as a result of which E. Yeghoyan had anaphylactic
shock and died without coming to consciousness.

F. Madoyan has been charged according to the RA Criminal Code Article
130, part 2 and he signed a written pledge not to leave the country.
The criminal case has been sent to the Court of First Instance of
Shirak Region, reports the press service of Prosecutor General’s
Office.

Georgia calls on world to use `Georgia’

19:01 – 27.06.11

The Republic of Georgia has called on foreign countries to use the
English-language version of the country’s name – Georgia – rather than
other versions.

Deputy Georgian Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said Georgia has
already sent official requests to other countries over the issue.

`We took this initiative long ago, and have sent written requests to
several countries so that `Vrastan’ [also Gruzia] be renamed into the
country’s English version of `Georgia’,’ she was quoted as saying.

Kalandadze also said that South Korea has already responded to their
request, and the country is now referred to as `Georgia’ there.

Further, she said that Georgiia will continue efforts to have all
countries use the English version of the country’s name.

Tert.am

Kurds declare de facto sovereignty in Diyarbekir – Turkish journalist

12:50 – 01.07.11

The independent members of the Turkish parliament have actually
declared sovereignty in the town of Diyarbekir, a Turkish journalist
has said.

In an interview with Euronews, Bejan Matur, a columnist for the
government-run newspaper Zaman, addressed the post-electoral
developments in Turkey, particularly, the independent Kurdish MPs’
decision to boycott the parliament sessions, and the possible progress
in the settlement of the Kurdish issue.

Matur, who is an author of numerous articles and a book about Kurds,
said the current situation in the country prevents Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan from enjoying what she called the fruits of his
victory.

“There were quite different expectations and ambitions in the
pre-election period. Nothing was known about the re-arrangement of
forces after the election. But the situation became quite clear early
in the morning on June 13. The ruling Justice and Development party
had held a victory. Besides, we witnessed the high self-discipline of
the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy party,” she said, considering both
political parties winners in the recent parliamentary polls.

She noted that the Republican People’s Party had suffered disappointment.

“But looking upon the situation after the inauguration ceremony we see
it casts shadow upon the victory of the ruling Justice and Development
Party,” she said.

As for the de facto souvreignty of the independent Kurish MPs, the
analyst noted that they now conduct all their meetings Diyarbekir.

She further stressed the importance of PKK leader’s role.

“Ocalan’s factor is very important here. He makes calls for peace. Now
he speaks about July 15 [the deadline set to Ankara]. It remains to be
seen whether that time limit will extend to September 15,” she added.

Asked whether Ocalan may be set free upon the completion of the
process she said: “All this is aimed at releasing Ocalan. I can’t say
whether that will happen in three or five years, but that’s the final
goal.”

Tert.am

news.az, Azerbaijan
July 1 2011

Majority of Baku residents advocate peaceful resolution of Karabakh conflict
Fri 01 July 2011 12:11 GMT | 8:11 Local Time

Majority of Baku residents believe that Azerbaijan will be able regain
its occupied lands in case of resumption of war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Asked whether Azerbaijan can solve the Karabakh conflict by military
means if necessary, 58% said `yes’, 22% – said “rather yes than no” 6%
– “no,” 4% – “rather no than yes” while the remaining 10% were
undecided, according to a survey conducted by the Monitoring Centre
Ray (Opinion).

Asked in what ways the Karabakh conflict can be solved, 63% of
respondents preferred talks while 33% preferred military way.

The poll also revealed significant public interest in the military
parade held on 26 June in Baku on the Day of Armed Forces and 20th
anniversary of independence of Azerbaijan. Almost all respondents
(94%) know about the event or watched it on TV, 3% – keep track of the
events, the remaining heard about the parade first from the
interviewers or were undecided.

The survey showed that Baku residents welcomed the military parade:
88% approve it, 8% – reacted neutrally, and 4% – were undecided or
indifferent to the military parade.

Almost all respondents (92%) appreciated creation of the country’s
defense industry.

The respondents were asked to answer the following question: “If
someone in your family was called to the army, what would you prefer:
he serves in the army or avoids it?’

Some 84% of Baku residents said they would like to see their relative
to be called up for military service; 8% found it difficult to answer,
and another 8% admitted that they want their children to avoid
military conscription.

Interfax-Azerbaijan

Hindustan Times, India
July 3 2011

60-yr-old is last surviving Armenian in city

Aarefa Johari, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, July 03, 2011

When Zabel Joshi married a Gujarati businessman and moved from Lebanon
to Mumbai in 1972, she was one of many Armenians migrating to India.
Today, Joshi is the only person of pure Armenian ethnicity left in
Mumbai. Originally from the small mountainous country in Eastern
Europe, the Armenians are a business-oriented community that settled,
in India, in port cities such as Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. Kolkata
still houses close to 150 Armenians, but their numbers dwindled
rapidly in Mumbai over the past 50 years, leaving only three Armenians
in 2008.

After the demise of Rosie Eknaian, 95, two years ago, and Nvart Mehta,
100, this April, Joshi is now the sole bearer of this historical
legacy.

`Adjusting to Indian culture was easy because both Indians and
Armenians are very conservative and family-oriented,’ said Joshi, a
Juhu resident who did not wish to be photographed.

With no more fellow Armenians to interact with, Joshi strongly feels
the absence of community gatherings.

`We would meet every Sunday after prayers for lunch or tea,’ said
Joshi. `I miss the presence of my own people, language and prayers.’

news.am, Armenia
July 2 2011

Armenian President attends famous artist’s exhibition in Kiev

July 02, 2011 | 16:15

KIEV. – The exhibition of famous Armenian artist Vardges Surenyants
opened at National Museum of Literature of Ukraine.

Armenia’s Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosyan and her Ukrainian
counterpart Mikhail Kulinyak opened the exhibition.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who is on an official visit to
Ukraine, also attended the opening ceremony.

`The opening of the exhibition symbolizes the unity of Armenian and
Ukrainian people. Today all those present will have an opportunity to
see the pearls of Armenian art and feel the spirit of Armenia,’
Kulinyak stressed, UKRINFORM reports.