Author: Tamamian Anna

VIVA EL MATADOR!
By Amy Nicholson

StandardNet
April 2 2010

More than four decades ago, Artoosh Hasratian and his brother, Tony
Hasratian, opened an Armenian restaurant in Ogden.

Soon after, they converted it to a Mexican restaurant — and the
Ogden location is still thriving in the original location today.

In 1976, Artoosh Hasratian opened a separate El Matador restaurant on
Main Street in Bountiful, where he has gained a following of regulars
over the years.

In 2005, Costco purchased Hasratian’s land in Bouniful, enabling him to
build a state-of-the-art facility a little farther east on Main Street.

"We are known for our chili verde," Hasratian said. The Viva Zapata
($8.59) is a flavor-packed chili verde burrito topped with extra
chili verde sauce.

The Veracruz ($10.29) is a popular dish with two cheese enchiladas,
one beef taco and two golden fried jumbo shrimp. A smaller version,
De Rosa ($7.99), includes the taco, one enchilada and one shrimp.

Hasratian said everything is prepared from scratch. The recipes are
his and his brother’s originals. They are particular about their meat,
using only beef from sirloin and hand-trimmed chicken breasts. They
offer complimentary salsa with chips and a unique house enchilada
sauce.

The Cha Cha Bowl ($9.29) is a salad topped with sweet pork cut from
the center pork tenderloin. "It’s the best there is," Hasratian said.

It is served with Mango Peach Tango Salsa.

Chimichangas ($9.49), Taco Salads ($7.99), and steak or chicken Fajitas
($11.49) are also popular.

The staff welcomes families, offering a children’s menu along with
a selection of American dishes such as the Halibut Plate ($8.99)
with salad and fries.

Hasratian said the restaurant business has been good to him.

"It’s been wonderful. It has been absolutely a great adventure,"
he said.

0/04/01/viva-el-matador

US CO-CHAIR OF MINSK GROUP DISCUSSES KARABAKH WITH FORMER PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA

Yerkir
01.04.2010 12:21

Yerevan (Yerkir) – The US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Robert
Bradtke, had a meeting with former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
on March 27.

Kocharyan’s press secretary, Victor Soghomonyan, has confirmed the
report by Radio Liberty. He said the meeting had been held on the
initiative of the American side. The officials discussed the current
stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

ANKARA SAYS ERDOGAN WILL NOT ATTEND NUCLEAR SUMMIT

news.am
April 1 2010
Armenia

The information spread by media on Turkish Premier’s decision to
leave for Washington is untrue, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil
Cicek stated after a 7-hour session of Ministerial Council on March 31.

According to him, it is unclear whether Erdogan will go to the U.S. or
not, Turkish Haberler reports. "The discussions on the matter are
still underway. U.S. House of Representative nailed Turkey on charge,
which we do not accept. We tried hard to prove that the historians’
decisions do harm if voiced by politicians," Cicek noted.

Turkish Deputy PM also referred to the Armenia-Turkey Protocols. "If
Turkey signs any document or agreement, it can be master of its own
signature. However it is necessary for the international community
to see the sabotage by Armenian side. RA Constitutional Court’s
judgement brought the process to a stalemate. Once both sides meet
their commitments, there will be a sense to talk," Cicek outlined.

TIGRAN URIKHANYAN: ARMENIA’S INTERNAL POLICY NEEDS CHANGES

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2010 17:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s internal policy needs changes, according
to Progressive Party chairman Tigran Urikhanyan.

As he told a news conference in Yerevan, foreign policy is seriously
affecting internal policy in Armenia, which undergoes changes
every day.

Tigran Urikhanyan slammed Armenian government’s activities, noting
that Armenian Prime Minister has to resign.

Dwelling on Armenia-turkey Rapprochement, Urikhanyan said that the
process is linked to Karabakh conflict settlement, though the fact
is not mentioned in Protocols. At the same time he acknowledged to
seeing no pressure on Turkey on behalf of international community.

ERDOGAN AND MERKEL TO DISCUSS GENOCIDE ISSUE

Panorama.am
11:43 30/03/2010

Region

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is paying two-day visit
to Turkey, had a meeting with Turkey’s PM Tayip Erdogan. After the
meeting German Chancellor and Turkish PM conveyed a news conference,
Turkish CNN Turk reported.

To a German reporter’s request whether the issue of Armenian Genocide
was discussed during the meeting, Erdogan nodded "yes". The votings
of Sweden and USA have been thoroughly discussed and concluded that
those resolution obstruct the normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties.

"Let the historians settle that issue, Parliaments aren’t places to
discuss them," Erdogan stated adding that Davutoglu called Clinton
and expressed Ankara’s concerns over it.

Germany’s Merkel underscored: "It’s necessary the ties between Armenia
and Turkey to advance. Hopeful steps are made in this respect."

It’s also notified that Erdogan’s offer to found Turkish schools in
Germany has been differently received this time.

It’s worth reminding that earlier Germany’s Chancellor declared that
Turks living in Germany should attend German schools but yesterday
she stated that the sides have already made agreements. Turkey’s PM
offered changing visa entrance regime, and the Germany’s Chancellor
answered that issue should be thought.

Germany’s Angela Merkel is supposed to meet with Turkey’s Abdullah Gul.

ARMENIA HAS LONG AGO ADOPTED THE MADRID PRINCIPLES AS THE BASIS OF THE NEGOTIATIONS
By Hovik Afyan

Azg Daily
March 30 2010
Armenia

RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan received yesterday the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-chairs arriving in Yerevan from Stepanakert.

The Co-chairs presented Nalbandyan the results of the Karabakh
meetings. The head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry underlined that
Armenia had adopted the Madrid Principles two years ago.

"The Madrid Principles, as the basis of the negotiations, were
adopted by us two years ago and remain the same as they were",
Nalbandyan underscored.

17-YEAR-OLD VALENTINA YEGHIAZARYAN DIES IN 1ST GRADSKAYA HOSPITAL

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
30.03.2010 15:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 17-year-old Valentina Yeghiazaryan died in 1st
Gradskaya hospital following March 29 Moscow subway blasts, Armenian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said.

According to Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Hasmik
Martirosyan, 18, and Anna Porkashayan, 55, are still kept in N36 and
64 hospitals respectively.

Two explosions blasted Moscow’s subway system as it was jam-packed
with rush-hour passengers, killing 38 people and wounding 121 on the
morning of March 29. 73 were taken to Moscow hospitals, 10 offered
ambulatory care.

The first attack took place at 7:52 a.m. (04:52 GMT) at the Lubyanka
station, located a short distance from the headquarters of the Federal
Security Service (FSB). The second blast detonated some 40 minutes
later at the nearby Park Kultury station, within walking distance of
the Kremlin.

Aysor, Armenia
March 27 2010

Armenia to join the `Planet Hour’ action

Today at the evening at 20:30 the citizens of the whole world are
encouraged to switch off the lights for 1 hour to show their support
to the straggle against the climate changes. The action that was
organized the central office of the UNO is called `The Planet Hour’.

As the Officer-in-Charge of UN Department of Public Information Armine
Halajyan informed to Aysor.am it is the second time already that
Armenia joins this action, which is aimed at our country having a
small contribution in the international activity.

The event for the first time launched in 2007, in the Sidney city of
Australia. More than 50 million people partook in this event in the
whole world on 2008. In 2009 partook around 1bn people from around
4000 countries in the world. This year the `Planet Hour’ includes 6000
cities.

The Ministries of the RA Nature protection and Yerevan Municipality
will support this action and on the above mentioned hour the lights of
the city will go off.

`Armenian Eagles’ March Today

14:37 – 27.03.10

In the framework of its first congress, Armenian Eagles patriotic NGO
organized a march today, which began from the Martiros Saryan statue
in central Yerevan and ended near Matenadaran (Mashtots Institute of
Ancient Manuscripts) where the head and the board members of the
organization delivered speeches.

Founding Director of Armenian Eagles Khachik Asryan presented the
ideology, objectives and programs of the organization. He also
mentioned that it is not a political organization, though Armenian
Eagles will take up political issues when it comes to national, state
and patriotic issues with an overall aim `to preserve the state and
seed patriotism among patriots.’

Asryan also presented to the public the names of the board members,
among them RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, RA National Security
Secretary Artur Baghdasaryan and other high-ranking officials and
dignitaries.

In its two months of operation, the organization has acquired 8,217
members and created 65 regional institutions of which 28 are in Syunik
marz (province).

Tert.am

PACE co-rapporteurs welcome readiness of Armenian authorities to
develop ‘operational diagram’ on implementation of reforms

2010-03-26 11:42:00

ArmInfo. PACE Co-rapporteurs on monitoring of fulfillment of the
commitments by Armenia to the Council of Europe, John Prescott and
George Colombier, welcomed the immediate response by the Armenian
authorities to the call to develop an "operational diagram" on
implementation of the reforms recommended by the Assembly experts
after the post-election collisions in March 2008.

As PACE told ArmInfo, Prescott and Colombier marked with satisfaction
a wide spectrum of reforms declared by the authorities in response to
the previous recommendations. According to the co-rapporteurs, they
would also like to emphasize that implementation of reforms is of
topmost. Prescott and Colombier also emphasized the importance of
implementation of the reforms recommended by OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in its report. As the
co-rapporteurs said, ODIHR indicated serious problems related to the
functioning of the judicial system in Armenia, and they would like to
have a vision of when the authorities intend to fulfill these
recommendations. According to them, they expect the promised specific
results on the work done, as well as the opinions of CE different
departments which assisted the Armenian authorities on this way. The
co-rapporteurs say they hope to agree a clear, detailed and unique
operational diagram for Armenia together with RA National Assembly,
including the terms for implementation of the basic reforms, after
different political forces in Armenia will be heard.
They added that these reforms are in favour of all the Armenians in
the longer term, since no one wants reoccurrence of March, 2008,
events.