Author: nina hovnanian

BURBERRY TO ENTER ARMENIA’S MARKET?

news.am
May 27 2011
Armenia

World famous luxury retailer Burberry will probably appear in the
Armenian market.

In a statement issued on Thursday the company’s representative said
Burberry continued to enter new markets, such as Armenia, Egypt,
Israel and Mongolia via franchise agreements.

It is also mentioned that 16% of retail and wholesale revenues falls
on emerging markets such as China, India, Latin America, the Middle
East, Russia and Turkey, AFP reports.

The company reported that annual pre-tax profits jumped 39% this year.

The UK’s luxury fashion house has 174 retail stores, 199 concessions
in department stores and 44 outlet branches around the world.

PRESIDENTS’ JOINT STATEMENT ON KARABAKH DEMAGOGUERY-RUSSIAN EXPERT

news.am
May 27 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – The joint statement by the Presidents of Russia, France and
the United States on the Karabakh conflict, adopted at G8 Summit on
May 26, is demagoguery, the head of the analytical department at the
Institute for Political and Military Analysis Alexander Khramchikhin
told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“Well, what would they do if the conflicting parties fail to come to
agreement? Nothing,” the expert said. He stressed that the parties’
positions have remained unchanged within the recent years.

“No one has so far understood who is right or wrong or on what
terms the parties will agree and so on and so forth. All this is
demagoguery. Today it is not supposed to say “it is your business
and is up to you to decide”, for this reason they express “concern”,”
Khramchikhin said.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, Presidents of Russia,
France and USA issued a joint statement on Nagorno-Karabakh within
the framework of G8 Summit, Thursday.

“We, the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chair countries —
France, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America
— are convinced the time has arrived for all the sides to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to take a decisive step towards a peaceful
settlement.

We reiterate that only a negotiated settlement can lead to peace,
stability, and reconciliation, opening opportunities for regional
development and cooperation. The use of force created the current
situation of confrontation and instability. Its use again would only
bring more suffering and devastation, and would be condemned by the
international community. We strongly urge the leaders of the sides
to prepare their populations for peace, not war.

As a result of efforts by the parties and the Co-Chair countries at
all levels, significant progress has been made. The latest version
of the Basic Principles, as discussed in Sochi on March 5, lays a
just and balanced foundation for the drafting of a comprehensive
peace settlement. This document, based on the Helsinki Final Act and
elements outlined in our joint declarations in L’Aquila in July 2009
and Muskoka in June 2010, provides a way for all sides to move beyond
the unacceptable status quo.

“We therefore call upon the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to
demonstrate their political will by finalizing the Basic Principles
during their upcoming summit in June. Further delay would only call
into question the commitment of the sides to reach an agreement. Once
an agreement has been reached, we stand ready to witness the formal
acceptance of these Principles, to assist in the drafting of the
peace agreement, and then to support its implementation with our
international partners,” reads the statement posted on the website
of the White House.

REFORMING TAX AND CUSTOMS SYSTEM REQUIRES SERIOUS EXPENDITURES; SRC CHIEF SAYS

/ ARKA /
May 27, 2011
YEREVAN

Reforming Armenia’s tax and customs system will require significant
financial resources, head of the State Revenue Committee (SRC),
Gagik Khachatrian told reporters following a meeting with president
Serzh Sargsyan.

“We discussed a set of questions about how to impart a new quality to
tax and customs reforms. Quite a lot of work in the system has been
done. During the meeting we discussed further steps. The president
set new tasks “, Khachatrian said.

According to him, implementation of reforms requires a significant
financial investment, but he could not say exactly how much. He
said the funds are needed to improve the electronic control system
to a higher level, technical re-equipment, modernization of border
crossing points.

Reforms in tax and customs administration started in early 2011. As
part of reforms communal tax inspections have been upgraded, electronic
reporting terminals installed. In addition, work is underway to reduce
personal contacta between tax inspectors and the public to minimum
through introduction of electronic control systems.

The purpose of the reforms is to increase efficiency and transparency
of tax and customs structures and make institutional changes.

BOGHOSSIAN NIE AVOIR TOUCHE DE L’ARGENT

Le Parisien
Mardi 17 Mai 2011
France

Alain Boghossian, l’entraîneur adjoint de l’equipe de France, a assure
hier ne pas avoir touche d’argent pour participer mercredi dernier a
un match amical a Grozny. ” C’etait une initiative privee, a declare
Boghossian. J’ai pris des conges pour pouvoir jouer ce match. Il n’a
jamais ete question d’argent. C’est un joueur qui m’a fait la demande.

J’ai accepte parce que cela concernait des oeuvres caritatives et
humanitaires, pour des enfants. ”

Selon plusieurs sources, la participation des quatre joueurs francais
(Boghossian, Barthez, Papin et Amoros) a, en effet, ete obtenue grâce
a une promesse de don faite par le controverse president tchetchène,
Ramzan Kadyrov, a l’association Neuf de coeur, fondee par JPP.

” Cette region du monde n’est pas loin de la terre de mes ancetres,
a ajoute Boghossian, d’origine armenienne. Ce sont des peuples qui ont
souffert. Je me sens proche d’eux par rapport a mes origines. Il n’y
avait aucune connotation politique ou financière, je ne connaissais
pas le regime en place. ”

Canal + a affirme dimanche dans un reportage que les joueurs presents
au match avaient touche de 20000 a 50000 (EURO) pour se rendre en
Tchetchenie et recu des mains du chef de la police locale des montres
serties de diamants au moment de leur depart. ” Je recois une montre,
a insiste l’adjoint de Laurent Blanc. Je suis surpris mais un cadeau
ca ne se refuse pas. On n’a rien a me reprocher. ” Boghossian, qui
a promis de faire don de la montre a une oeuvre caritative, s’est,
depuis son retour, entretenu avec Fernand Duchaussoy, le president
de la Federation francaise. ” Il n’y a pas de problème entre nous “,
a-t-il poursuivi. Si la FFF n’avait fait hier soir aucun commentaire,
Chantal Jouanno a, elle, reagi sur RMC : ” C’est une nouvelle affaire
et on s’en passerait bien. On fera toute la lumière “, dit la ministre
des Sports.

HERITAGE NOT JEALOUS OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

Tert.am
27.05.11

Heritage party does not like, and hence cannot be jealous of, the
opposition Armenian National Congress, Armen Movsisyan of the Heritage
party faction in parliament has told reporters.

“There’s no liking; and nor even an ordinary sympathy that could make
us jealous. So, I don’t admit that notion,” said the parliamentary
opposition member. “I hail the dialogue as that could make the
situation on the political arena clearer.”

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY EXCLUDES POSSIBILITY OF NEW WAR IN KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 27, 2011 – 15:44 AMT

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the Ministry
believes that there will be no new war in Nagorno Karabakh.

“The chances for a peace settlement of the conflict are better now
than earlier. We work to bring it closer. There are not grounds to
state that we are on the verge of a new conflict,” Ryabkov told
journalists in his comments on the May 26 statement adopted in
Deauville by Medvedev, Obama and Sarkozy with respect to the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict resolution.

“A huge and coordinated work was implemented to resolve the situation,
and there are chances for recording progress and reaching compromise,”
RBC quoted Ryabkov as saying.

The leaders of the United States, France and Russia called on Armenia
and Azerbaijan to move toward a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. “We…are convinced that it is time for the sides
in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh to take a decisive step toward
a peaceful resolution (of the conflict),” said a joint statement by
Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev. “We
firmly call on the leaders of the sides to prepare their people for
peace, not war,” the statement said. “We call on the presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will and finalize…the
basic principles (of a peace agreement) during the forthcoming summit
in June.”

The Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are slated to meet in
June in the Russian city of Kazan, the next in a series of trilateral
meetings on the conflict.

EXPERT: TURKEY WANTS TO SHOW “WHO’S THE BOSS”

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 27, 2011 – 08:35 AMT

Turkey’s main problem today is the formation of Independent Kurdistan,
which is insistently supported by the U.S., a Russian expert said.

“The land for Kurdistan is supposed to be territories of Iraq and
Turkey. It can also include some of Iran, Syria and Armenia’s,”
director of Political and Social Research Institute for Black
Sea-Caspian region Vladimir Zakharov told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to him, since 2008 Turkey with has all its strength tried
to show “who’s the boss”, i.e. who is the leader in the region.

“Remember that after the Georgian-Russian 5-day war, Turkey came out
with South Caucasus Security Platform,” he said.

The expert, however, emphasized that Ankara will carry out its
regional policy jointly with Russia. “The tandem will try to set its
“order” in the Caucasus. And, I think, the coming six months will be
determinative,” Zakharov stressed, adding that everything depends on
U.S.’s decision on Iran.

TURKEY’S MUSIC TV CHANNELS AIR ARMENIAN MUSIC VIDEO

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 27, 2011 – 15:42 AMT

Turkey’s leading private music TV channels as well as the country’s
state-run broadcaster have broken new ground in airing the first
Armenian music video on popular stations in the nation’s history,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.

“Namag” (Letter) by Sibil Pektorosoglu, an Istanbul Armenian, has been
gaining mainstream popularity and can now be heard echoing from shops
along the city’s iconic Ä°stiklal Avenue. The lyrics were written by
master Armenian poet Hovhannes Shiraz while the singer’s music video
was produced by one of Turkey’s most famous directors in the field,
Ozkan Aksular.

Pektorosoglu said it was like a dream to release her album and
broadcast her music video on Turkish television. “When I hear my
songs on Ä°stiklal Avenue, I cry,” she said.

“Music is universal, it is above all identities. I can’t breathe
without singing; this is why this album is loved that much by my
listeners,” she said.

The song was the result of collaboration between Armenian and Turkish
artists. Pektorosoglu’s album was arranged by Cenk TaÅ~_kan, an
important figure on the Turkish pop music scene for more than 40 years.

Also an Istanbul Armenian, TaÅ~_kan’s real name is Majak ToÅ~_ikyan;
asked why he chose to use a Turkish name rather than his birth name,
he said: “Turkish artists, as well as many foreign artists, do not
use their own name. Changing my name does not mean that I have changed
my soul.”

AZERBAIJAN JOINS NAM TO LOBBY FOR ANTI-ARMENIAN RESOLUTIONS ADOPTION BY UN

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 27, 2011 – 14:55 AMT

Head of European Integration NGO Karen Bekaryan said Azerbaijan has
joined the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to lobby for anti-Armenian
resolutions adoption by the UN General Assembly.

“Earlier, members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference were
supporting Azerbaijan in the UN, while NAM states will also do so after
Azerbaijan’s joining it,” Bekaryan told a press conference in Yerevan.

Nevertheless, the expert sees also positive aspects in the current
situation. “Earlier, the West considered the region as a whole; now
approaches to the South Caucasus countries differ, including foreign
policy priorities,” Bekaryan said.

He expressed strong belief that Baku’s membership in the Non-Aligned
Movement does not reflect the will of Azerbaijani people.

KARINE KIRAKOSYAN DISMISSED FROM THE OFFICE

ARMENPRESS
MAY 27, 2011
YEREVAN

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan dismissed Karine Kirakosyan
from the office of the head of the Government-affiliated State Property
Management Department, press office of the government reported.