Author: Talalian Arpi

BARACK OBAMA AND NICOLAS SARKOZY ARE NOBEL PRIZE NOMINEES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.06.2009 20:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A record 205 candidates are in the running for
this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, including 33 organisations, the Nobel
Institute said on Friday, with US President Barak Obama and France’s
Nicolas Sarkozy known to be on the list, AFP reports.

In 2005 199 candidates were competing for the prestigious
prize. The names of nominees are kept secret by the institute for
50 years. However, those who are entitled to nominate are allowed to
reveal the name of the person or organisation they have proposed.

Both Obama and Sarkozy are already known to be on the list, although
observers say it is unclear if either leader has a real shot at
winning the much-coveted laurel.

"Sarkozy has clearly been very active on the international stage,
in Georgia and in the Middle East where he has tried to help bring
an end to the Gaza war, but he has yet to truly show a breakthrough,"
," Gunnar Soerboe, head of the Christian Michelsen Institute told AFP.

Thousands of people are eligible to submit nominations, including
members of parliament and government worldwide, university professors,
previous laureates and members of several international institutes. The
Nobel Committee that awards the prize is also eligible to nominate
candidates.

According to Stein Toennesson, head of the International Peace Research
Institute in Oslo (PRIO), the most high-profile candidates did not
always figure among the most likely winners.

Other known contenders for this year’s prize include former
French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt and Chinese dissident Hu
Jia. Hu Jia was considered a front-runner for the 2008 prize.

The Cluster Munitions Coalition is also known to be on the list after
it played a central role in getting nearly 100 countries to sign a
treaty last year in Oslo banning cluster bombs.

This year candidates are of very diverse geographical origins. The
name of the winner will be announced in early October, and the award
will be presented at a formal ceremony held as tradition dictates
on December 10. Last year’s winner was former Finnish president and
career diplomat Martti Ahtisaari for his efforts on several continents,
over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. In
2007 the winner was a former U.S. president Albert Gor.

RA EX-FOREIGN MINISTER COULD BE SET FREE RIGHT IN THE COURTROOM

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.06.2009 11:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In Shengavit regular court a sentence was passed
for RA ex-Foreign Minister Alik Arzumanyan and Suren Sirunyan,
who were imprisoned after March 1, 2008 events and found guilty in
accordance with part 1, article 225 RA Criminal Code (Organization of
mass disorders, aggravated with violence, pogroms, property damage,
use of firearms, explosives or armed deforcement).

According to court sentence, Alik Arzumanyan is sentenced to 5 years
and Suren Sirunyan to 4 years of imprisonment. It is expected that
according to points 4 and 6 of June 19 RA NA Resolution on Amnesty,
the accused will be set free right in the courtroom.

UAE FOREIGN MINISTER DUE IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
20.06.2009 12:12

The delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of the United Arab
Emirates, Abdallah Bin Zayid Al Nahyan, is arriving in Armenia today
on a two-day official visit.

Within the framework of the visit the UAE delegation is expected to
have meetings with the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, Speaker
of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan and Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian.

During the meetings reference will be made to the Armenia-UAE
trade-economic relations. The agreement on "Provision of lands for
founding diplomatic representations in the Republic of Armenia and
the United Arab Emirates" and the memorandum of understanding on
"Lifting the requirement for persons having diplomatic passports to
receive a visa" will be signed.

POST-ELECTORAL UNREST IN IRAN – INTERNAL CONFLICT INSIDE THE STATE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
18.06.2009 19:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Post-electoral unrest in Iran is the state’s internal
affair, so I don’t find it right to make any assessments, Caucasus
Institute Director Alexander Iskandaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
correspondent. Tense situation in Iran following presidential elections
will not affect neighboring states, let alone change Tehran’s attitude
to Armenia. "I’ll again repeat myself by saying that it’s a conflict
inside the state, so it’s better to refrain from making assessments,"
he stressed.

It’s already a week Iran has seen mass protests. Over 1 million
people have today gathered in streets to support opposition leader
Mir Hossein Musavi. Almost the entire town is participating in the
demonstration. According to official results published by Iranian CEC,
winner in presidential elections is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who received
62.6% of votes. Reformer Mir Hossein, 33.7%, came next, followed by
Mohsen Rezai (1.7%) and Mehdi Karrubi (0.85%).

ANTI-DRAUGHT METHODS WERE DISCUSSED IN YEREVAN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
18.06.2009 00:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 17 a discussion of anti-draught methods
was held in Yerevan. The discussion was dedicated to International
Draught Prevention Day.

The event was organized by "Green Path" Social Organization for
Agriculture Support and Orus Center.

"Green Path" introduced a new project entitled "Stable management of
land resources in degradation decrease and struggle against poverty
in South Caucasus", implemented jointly with REC Caucasus and CENN
and sponsored by EU.

Experts discussed economic and ecological importance of draught
prevention and presented works on degradation dynamics analysis in
Hrami -Debed and Alazani -Iori river basins.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

AGBU Young Professionals Group in Burgas Hosts Successful Kick-Off
Concert Event

On April 22, 2009, the AGBU Young Professionals of Burgas (YP Burgas)
co-sponsored a Genocide commemorative concert with the city’s
municipality that brought in over 200 people from the local Armenian and
Bulgarian community, including several representatives from the
Municipality of Burgas, AGBU Burgas, the priest of the Armenian Church
of Burgas, and the media.

The event took place at the Burgas Concert Hall and aired on a local
public television station, TV SKAT. YP Burgas chairman Levon Manukyan
served as the conductor of the show, which was a Genocide commemorative
play and musical performance written by Julia Manukyan. The concert
began with a performance of the Armenian liturgy by the city’s Armenian
Chamber Choir and followed with poetry readings, solo piano renditions
and Armenian pop songs. The script and selected texts featured music,
and video images which created a performance memorial for the Armenian
Genocide of 1915. A dinner reception followed the concert.

The newly established YP Burgas is being headed by Manukyan and
secretary Kevork Tanielian under the guidance and encouragement of
Roupen Chavoushian, AGBU Plovdiv chairman. With 15 current members, YP
Burgas is the third AGBU Young Professionals group in Bulgaria.
Following this initial concert, the group is planning music and poetry
evenings, an Armenian arts festival and sports competitions. On June 1,
the group also hosted a ceremony for 30 kids and parents for "Children’s
Day," which featured games, quizzes, a talent show and refreshments.

"Our goal is to bring the young Armenian professionals in Burgas
together as often as possible," said secretary Kevork Tanielian. "We
also hope to popularize Armenian culture to the Bulgarian community."

The AGBU Young Professionals are committed to preserving and promoting
the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural, and
humanitarian programs. For more information on the AGBU Young
Professionals, please contact the AGBU YP Liaison at [email protected]
or (212) 319-6383.

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually serving some
400,000 Armenians on six continents.

EUROPEAN COURT STARTS DINK CASE REVIEW

Today’s Zaman
June 17 2009
Turkey

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has begun to review the
case of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was
tried and convicted under Article 301 restricting freedom of speech.

Dink’s lawyers applied to the ECtHR on Jan. 11, 2007, days before his
murder, arguing that Dink was being tried for "insulting Turkishness"
and that the reason for his trial was in contravention of the European
Convention on Human Rights’ principles of freedom of speech, fair
trial and legality of given punishment. They also argued that Dink
was treated differently because he was Armenian.

Dink was shot dead outside the offices of the Agos newspaper in
Ä°stanbul in 2007. One of the family’s lawyers, Fethiye Cetin, had
said that Dink’s murder was committed following a long period of
preparation, stretching as far back as 2004.

The lawyers for Dink’s family had applied to the ECtHR in 2008 and
again in 2009, arguing the Turkish state did not take precautions
to prevent Dink’s murder. They had first appealed to the Ä°stanbul
Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding seven policemen, including
former Trabzon police intelligence chief Engin Dinc and former
counterterrorism team head Yahya Ozturk, claiming that these officers
had obstructed justice. The Istanbul chief public prosecutor sent the
appeal to the Trabzon Public Prosecutor’s Office, which decided on
Jan. 10 against opening a court case against the policemen. The lawyers
appealed the decision to the nearest high criminal court, in Rize, but
last week the court in Rize also decided not to open a case against
the policemen. "The suspects did not commit murder by negligence and
were not aware of the murder plans," the Rize court said.

The ECtHR asked the Turkish government to provide detailed
information on the Dink case to address the issue of the alleged
discriminatory acts. The court will also evaluate the concept of
"insulting Turkishness."

COOPERATION AGREEMENTS REACHED WITH NEWLY-ELECTED FOREIGN MEMBERS OF RA NAS

Noyan Tapan
June 16, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Agreements on cooperation in 21
directions have been reached with the Diasporan Armenian scientists
– newly-elected members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
of Armenia, NT correspondent was informed by the RA NAS President
Radik Martirosian.

It should be mentioned that last year the candidates for RA NAS foreign
membership were offered the following conditions: 1) they shall come to
Armenia every year and take part in an annual reporting back meeting
of the NAS, 2) they shall deliver scientific reports, 3) they shall
become acquainted with scientists and scientific bodies of Armenia
and discuss the opportunities for implementation of joint programs
and participation in international projects, 4) they shall assist
in sending a young Armenian scientist on a mission to a scientific
organization in their own country.

R. Martirosian pointed out that the Diasporan Armenian scientists
had readily accepted these conditions. According to him, agreements
on staff training and retraining, implementation of joint research,
joint preparation of post-graduate students and other issues were
reached. Besides, it is envisaged opening a branch of the International
Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (Italy) in the RA NAS system.

Among the agreements reached are also those on the strengthening
and expansion of the source of minerals in the mining industry of
Nagorno Karabakh, the discussion of issues related to the exploration
prospects of possible oil and gas accumulations, the cooperation
on the introduction of the technology of food preparation with solar
energy, and the proposal to sign an agreement on scientific cooperation
between the academies of sciences of Armenia and Tatarstan.

STUDENTS OF GYUMRI INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTER VISITED VIVACELL-MTS

RIA Oreanda
Economic News
June 15, 2009 Monday
Russia

Yerevan. OREANDA-NEWS . June 15, 2009. Today, an open doors event was
held at VivaCell-MTS Headquarters for a student delegation headed by
Professor Jason-Paul Kazarian, the President of Gyumri Information
Technology Center (GITC). This was a student driven initiative to
get a broader view of telecom technology, economy and business of
Armenia. Last month VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian was
hosted at GITC, where he delivered a public presentation about the
Companys operation, core values and business strategy. Students from
GITC embarked on a 1 day study tour to Yerevan in order to learn more
about modern telecommunication technologies from the Armenias leading
mobile operator.

The open doors event at VivaCell-MTS Headquarters for the students of
Gyumri began by a walk through the Companys Service Center, where the
students were introduced to the concept of co-branding and customer
care and its technology, including the innovative queuing system
launched at the end of the last year. Then VivaCell-MTS General Manager
Ralph Yirikian introduced the students to the Companys major centers
of operation. The first site was Call Center, where the students got
first-hand information about the newly-introduced and the most recent
version of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, which makes it easy
for subscribers to activate or deactivate a range of non-voice products
and services such as GPRS/EDGE and high-speed mobile Internet. Then the
General Manager guided the students to the Core Unit of the Technical
Department, where the Switch Section is located the center of network
management. Here Ralph Yirikian presented VivaCell-MTS successful
strategy of technical development of the network and the Value
Added Services (VAS), provided by the Company. Students learned how
mobile communication is set up, how the signal is transmitted and how
connection is made between subscribers phone and base station. During
the walk through Ralph Yirikian also presented the Companys successful
strategy of customer development. The final destination of the walk
through the Company was Information Systems Department, where the
students got acquainted with operation of the Billing Unit.

After the walk through, Yirikian invited the students for a meeting at
Zvartnots conference hall of the Company, and answered a variety of
questions regarding 3G, broadband Internet, MMS, WAP and GPRS/EDGE
technologies. The students got a feel of the marketing strategy
at VivaCell-MTS.

The tour ended on a high note with a proposal to have student
internship programs in the coming years between VivaCell-MTS and
GITC. Ralph Yirikian addressed the students and their professors about
need to further strengthen ties between the GITC and telecom industry:
Nowadays, mobile operators face increasing demand from consumers
for data products and increased data rates. Mobile operators switch
their focus to offering new and innovative services. Therefore,
todays universities should become more relevant to their role of
contributors to society by fostering innovation. Students should be
equipped with knowledge of modern technology and tools for the rapid
development and deployment of value-added services on mobile networks.

VivaCell-MTS is committed to share its experience with the students
in order to truly broaden their educational horizons.

GITC was established in August 2005. The program offers a post graduate
study to graduates from higher technical educational institutions with
engineering and scientific backgrounds. The major focus of courses
in the Center is IT-related subjects. The Research and Development
Laboratories Center aim to grow the research potential of the Center
and create a basis for sustainable operations in the future. The
main focus of the Center is to develop the IT potential in rural
areas, and major cities other than Yerevan, as a means to create job
opportunities and utilize local human potential for growing economy.

YEREVAN’S "ARTASAX" SAXOPHONE QUARTET TO PERFORM IN ULIKHANYAN CLUB ON JUNE 17

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
16.06.2009 13:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 17 Yerevan’s "ArtaSax" saxophone quartet
will perform in Ulikhanyan club. "ArtaSax" quartet members are:
Armen Unsnunts (soprano and alt – saxophone), David Nalchajyan (alt
– saxophone), Vahagn Grigoryan (tenor- saxophone), Arsen Sahakyan
(alt and baritone – saxophone).

"ArtaSax" will perform works of Komitas, Piazzola and other composers.

"ArtaSax" features a mixture of classic, jazz and folk music. Quartet
members, who received academic music education, aim to enrich musical
world of Armenia.