Author: Tambiyan Samvel

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN: SHAMEFUL STIGMA OF "POLITICAL PRISONER" SHOULD BE ERADICTED IN COUNTRY

Noyan Tapan
Jun 20 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Official petitions signed by the
members of the RA National Assembly "Heritage" faction were filed,
with the request to release Alexander Arzumanian, Zhirayr Sefilian
and Vardan Malkhasian from preliminary detention during their trials.

NT was informed from the press service of "Heritage" that the petition
concerning the former Armenian foreign minister A. Arzumanian was
filed to the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, while petitions
concerning the leader of the social initiative "Protection of
Liberated Territories" Z. Sefilian and the member of the political
board of the "Fatherland and Honor" Party V. Malkhasian – to Judge
Mnatsakan Martirosian.

In this connection the leader of the faction Raffi Hovannisian sent a
letter to the speaker of the National Assembly Tigran Torosian and all
deputies, asking them to put their signatures and join the appeal for
release of "the three". "In the coming years of our public service,
we should eradicate the shameful stigma of "political prisoner",
also its theory, practice and even phenomenon in our country,"
R. Hovannisian said.

ACCORDING TO AMERIA’S STUDY, ABOUT 5.5% JOB INCREASE EXPECTED IN ARMENIAN EMPLOYMENT MARKET THIS YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Jun 18 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The surveys conducted by Ameria
company among Armenian employers show that an about 5.5% planned job
increase is expected in the Armenian employment market this year. 23%
of surveyed employers envisage up to 10% salary growth, 11% of them –
up to 20% salary growth. 19% of surveyed employers envisage up to 10%
growth of annual turnover, in the opinion of 13%, this growth may
reach 20%.

In February-May 2007, Ameria company conducted a fundamental study
of the labor market under the Social Protection Sector Management
Program at the request of the State Employment Service agency and
with financial assistance of the World Bank. Problems of employment of
noncompetitive groups on the labor market of Yerevan and all Armenian
marzes were studied.

According to a press release submitted to NT, most employers are
well dsiposed in terms of giving jobs to members of noncompetitive
or vulnerable groups but they consider the existence of necessary
professional skills as the most important condition for employing
such people. Whereas, according to this study, about 46% of members
of noncompetitive groups have secondary education, 29% – specialized
secondary education and only 12.6% – higher education.

The study showed that those surveyed attach importance to computer
knowledge in addition to high educational level.

DISTRIBUTION OF REPUBLIC’S PRESIDENT’S PRIZES TO BE HELD ON JUNE 18

Noyan Tapan
Jun 15 2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The Hayastan All Armenian Fund has
been giving Prize of President of the Republic since 2001 in spheres
of the humanities, physics, medical science, art, literature, as well
as Youth Prize of President of the Republic is given in the spheres
of painting, cinema, literature and classical music. This year the
distribution of prizes will take place on June 18.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from Fund’s Public Relations Department,
since 2005 prizes have been also given to persons having made a
considerable contribution in the issue of recognition of Armenian
Genocide.

This action is financed by the Robert Poghosian and Sons Fund. In
total, 62 prizes have been given to 94 people so far.

IN 2008 THE US AND RUSSIA WILL RIVAL TO BE FIRST IN CONGRATULATING AZERBAIJAN ON ITS VICTORY: RUSSIAN POLITICAL EXPERT

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 14 2007

Russia, Moscow / corr Trend R.Agayev / It is not worth it to be
optimistic and consider that any progress between the United States
and Russia on the Gabala Radar Station could lead to the resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to political expert,
head of the Department of Inter-Nation Relations of the Institute of
Political and Military Analysis, Sergey Markedonov .

Commenting on the results of talks between the President of Azerbaijan
and Armenia in St. Petersburg on 9 June, Markedonov noted that he
does not see any ground to state that any progress is possible. There
are no compromises in approaches and compromises in the figures, and
these compromise are not predicted, while statements by mediators
are an attempt to justify their activities, or more exactly their
inactivity, because no real projects are being offered," he added.

Over fifteen years of conducting talks on resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh, all possible, even the by-package, by-stage
resolution, and exchange of territory, has been offered. They will
hardly offer something new. Karabakh cannot be considered the Western
bank of the Jordan River and the Gazza Sector. This is a Jerusalem
sacred for both Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

If progress between the United States and Russia in the issue of
joint use of the Gabala Radar Station leads to any result, this will
be the resolution of the problem. "Indeed such attempts will be taken
by Azerbaijan and it is logical. I am not sure that it will produce a
serious breakthrough, both the United States and Russia have factors
that restrict a pro-Azerbaijani policy," Markedonov stressed.

For the United States it is an authoritative Armenian lobby, and
similarly, the Armenian community in Russia is 1,000,000 strong. The
political expert is sure in the intensification of talks on Kazakhstan,
appearance of new or projects introduced as new, whereas the settlement
is presented as impossible at present.

As to success of the United States, or Russia in the Gabala issue,
the political expert stressed that the project has two components
– political and military. With respect to military constituents,
Markedonov said that even dilettantes understand that radar cannot
blow up missiles. "It can only note the launch of the so-called
possible enemy, but cannot blow them up. It certainly does not
cancel the missile-defense system. Some Western media wrote, and
not accidentally, that ‘Putin accepted our truth and acknowledged
that there is a need for a missile defense system. That is all what
concerns the military constituent." Markedonov noted.

As to the political constituent, the political expert said that it is
necessary to note that the United States and Russia need Azerbaijan as
stable and secular, even if authoritarian. " Russia does not have any
interest here, while the United State might have. The United States
forgives Azerbaijan for stepping back towards traditional canons on
human rights, democracy, etc. In 2003, like in 2005, Russia and the
United States received the Azerbaijan presidential elections in a
regular way. But I think in 2008, the United States and Russia will
rival to be the first in congratulating Ilham Aliyev [the Azerbaijani
President] on his victory," Markedonov stressed.

The Russian political expert said that in political sense, Russia ad
the United States need stable, secular and modern Azerbaijan, i.e. a
point of contact. " it seems only possible to find common spheres
of cooperation between the United States and Russia, in particular,
in the South Caucasus. It can be fully realized," he emphasized.

House Appropriations Committee votes for parity in military assistance for Armenia and Azerbaijan

Yerkir
13.06.2007 17:41

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Today, the House Appropriations Committee passed
the Fiscal Year 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill,
which included a number of provisions to assist and support Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh.

Mr Sean Oblack, press secretary for Representative Adam B. Schiff (D –
CA) has said that as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on
State and Foreign Operations, Rep. Schiff requested strong funding for
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and pivotal language affecting the region,
much of which was incorporated into the measure. The bill funds the
U.S. international affairs budgets, including the U.S. Department of
State, foreign military support programs through the Department of
Defense, and most foreign aid.

The bill will now be sent to the floor for a vote before the full
House.

"Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are good friends and allies of the
U.S. and this bill represents the strength of our close relationship,"
Schiff said.

"I am pleased that they will get this needed assistance, which will
greatly benefit the people of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh."

The Fiscal Year 2008 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs
Appropriations bill:

* Provides $68 million in aid to the Republic of Armenia;

* Urges USAID to allocate up to $6 million to Nagorno Karabakh in
humanitarian assistance;

* Ensures assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan is
maintained by providing Armenia with $3 million in Foreign Military
Financing funds and $300,000 in International Military Education and
Training assistance;

* Prevents further changes to the conditional waiver of Section 907 of
the FREEDOM Support Act, which restricts U.S. aid to Azerbaijan until
the President determines and reports to Congress that Azerbaijan is
taking steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force
against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh; and

* Provides a confidence-building measure to advance a peaceful
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

DECISION ON CONTINUING ARMENIA-"MILLENIUM CHALLENGES FUND" COOPERATION TO BE ADOPTED IN DECEMBER

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.06.2007 14:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Compact of the "Millenium Challenges" is
progressing well in Armenia, CEO of the "Millenium Challenges
Corporation" (MCC) Ambassador John Danilovich stated at opening
ceremony of MCC new office in Yerevan said. "We have begun
training farmers to improve their profitability with the Water to
Market Activity and design of the first phase of the Rural Roads
Rehabilitation Project is nearing completion. Additionally, the
early design phase of the Irrigated Agriculture Project is out for
competitive bids, with first construction expected to begin this
autumn," Danilovich underscored.

The CEO of the "Millenium Challenge Corporation" also welcomed the
Armenian parliamentary elections and congratulated the Armenian people
on a more successful poll than previous elections. "It appears that
this election was an improvement towards international standards, but
we continue to closely watch the process of investigating allegations
of irregularities. As with all MCA countries, the MCC Board at its
annual selection meeting in December will make a decision on Armenia’s
continued eligibility," the CEO said.

Armenia was included in the Compact on March 27, 2006.

It supposes assignation of $235 million for developing agriculture and
reducing the level of poverty. The compact includes a USD 67 million
project to rehabilitate up to 943 kilometers of rural roads. It also
includes a USD 146 million project to increase the productivity of
approximately 250, 000 farm households.

GEORGIAN ARMENIAN DIOCESE WISHES TO RETURN SIX CHURCHES BELONGING TO IT

TBILISI, JUNE 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Today the Georgian
Armenian Diocese has only 21 functioning churches and wishes to return
the churches that have belonged to the Georgian Armenian Diocese of
Armenian Apostolic Church for many centuries, but were seized in the
Soviet period (for instance, Tbilisi’s Surb Nshan) or or they just
tried to make them Georgian (for instance, Norashen Surb Astvatsatsin
Church). Today the number of such churches having "indefinite" status
for the Georgian side is six (Tbilisi’s Norashen Surb Astvatsatsin
Church (15th century), Surb Nshan Nikoghayos Church (18th century),
Havlabar’s Yerevantsots Surb Minas Church (19th century), Mughni Surb
Gevorg (14th century), Shamkhoretsots Surb Astvatsatsin Church (19th
century) and Akhaltsikhe’s Surb Nshan (19th century)). The Diocese
wishes to use these churches for completely taking care of the
community’s spiritual needs.

The arguments over belonging of the churches emerged long ago in
Georgia. This disagreement between the Georgian Diocese of Armenian
Apostolic Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church emerged after getting
independence by Georgia. Eight Armenian churches were seized and turned
into Georgian churches over the past seventeen years. Wall pictures,
khachkars (cross-stones) and another Armenian elements were eliminated
in this process.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from the Information Services of the Mother
See of Holy Etchmiadzin, in connection with the problem Catholicos of
All Armenians Karekin II sent official messages to Patriarch-Catholicos
of Georgian Church Ilia II and Georgian President M. Saakashvili.

Various structures of Georgian Armenian community, non-governmental
organizations, Union of Armenians in Georgia sent letters to the
President of the Republic of Georgia and Patriarch expressing protest
in connection with this barbarity. In particular, two questions were
officially raised before the Georgian state and Church: the status of
Georgian Armenian Diocese (as no other church except the Georgian one
is registered and has any status in Georgia) and return of historic
Armenian churches to Armenians in Georgia (as currently no church
belongs to the Georgian Armenian Diocese de jure).

In fact, the problem has not been solved so far.

"COW" TO GO ON STAGE AT ARMENIA HIGH FEST

Mehr News Agency, Iran
June 8 2007

TEHRAN, June 8 (MNA) — The Iranian puppet show "Cow" produced by
the Organization for the Intellectual Development of Children and
Young Adults (IIDCYA) is to participate in the ‘High Fest’ Fifth
International Performing Arts Festival in Yerevan, Armenia.

Playwright Hamed Zahmatkesh said on Friday that the play was scheduled
to be performed first in a public show in Yerevan, but the festival’s
secretary proposed that the troupe take part in ‘High Fest’ before
its public performance.

Performances from France, Italy, Germany, England, and Poland are to
participate in the event which takes place from October 4-14, 2007.

Since 2006, the High Fest has welcomed entries from performing arts
companies and artists in many genres. In the theatrical sphere entries
include drama, comedy, mime, movement, circus, street performances
and puppet/marionette shows. In the field of music entries are opera,
classical, contemporary, jazz, and folk.

Mehdi Farshidi and Zahmatkesh have written and designed the show and
will also direct the performance and handle the puppets which have
been designed by Hanieh Zahmatkesh.

"Cow" depicts the story of two men who are traveling to the land of
‘nowhere’ carrying their suitcases. On the way, they meet a cow and
this event causes their lives to change.

THE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS HAD VERY HONEST AND OPEN TALKS WITH THE ARMENIAN LEADERSHIP

ArmRadio.am
08.06.2007 11:53

"We held very honest and open talks with Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian," American Co-Chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza stated to a press conference
in Yerevan.

He said, qualitative changes took place in the works of the Minsk
Group – it began to work more actively.

"As you know, I am optimist by nature; however I do not see special
progress after the meeting between Armenian and Azeri Presidents
in Saint Petersburg. The circle of differences becomes narrower,
but they exist.

Namely for that reason we’ve arrived in the region to settle a number
of issues," Bryza said.

The American diplomat particularly underlined that he had not told
anything about returning the 7 regions around Nagorno Karabakh to
Azerbaijan. "I was speaking about returning territories without naming
any figures, and I do not think that I have disclosed anything from
the negotiation process.

The OSCE Minsk Group perfectly knows that there exist Nagorno Karabakh
territories, which are occupied by Azerbaijan. But negotiations over
them are under the competence of Foreign Ministers of both countries,"
the American diplomat underlined.

He also noted that every side of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has
its own stance.

"The issue of Nagorno Karabakh status and its security is the main
one not only for the Karabakhi population, but also for the OSCE
Minsk Group," Bryza said. According to the American diplomat, the
Presidents must settle all issues, the Minsk Group just offers them
ways of resolution.

"Proposals of OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement lie on the bargaining table, and we think that they may
become a basis for working out principles of conflict settlement,"
French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier stated
to a press conference in Yerevan. He said, it is possible to
reach agreements on basic principles, and "that’s why we are
optimists." "Armenian and Azeri Presidents must evaluate our proposals
and decide what points they agree and what points they do not agree
on. And this does not depend on the Minsk Group," Fassier noticed.

He underlined that a "breakthrough" in talks is possible when
Presidents begin to trust each other and come to a balanced and just
solution. Then Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers will begin to
work out a peace treaty," the French mediator underlined.

As for the participation of Karabakh representatives in the
negotiation process, Bernard Fassier once again repeated that sooner
NKR participates in talks, the better. "Now we discuss this issue with
the Azeri side. But we have not reached the point yet to speak about
details of agreement. We are preparing bases, and nobody, including
the Minsk Group knows when the sides will come to a solution," the
Co-Chair said, adding that meetings with Arkady Ghukasyan are necessary
for clarifying issues concerning the stance of Nagorno Karabakh.

"From the legal viewpoint the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region
(NKAR) was a part of the Azerbaijani SSR. Now Nagorno Karabakh is an
unrecognized state and the issue of its borders and who it belongs to
is an issue of international law," Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group Yuri Merzlyakov stated to a press conference in Yerevan. He said,
after the collapse of the USSR Karabakh turned into a subject from the
object of international law. "That’s why the issue of who it belongs
to is so painful. At the press conference in Baku I underlined that
Nagorno Karabakh was part of Azerbaijani SSR and not of Azerbaijan,"
he added.

At the same time the Russian mediator noted that OSCE Mink Group
recognizes the principle of territorial integrity of states. "If
not this, can you imagine what would happen in the whole world? I
perfectly know that till 1917 Nagorno Karabakh was part of the Russian
Empire. The history is necessary in order to settle conflicts, but it
is necessary to proceed from international law," Merzlyakov underlined.

VAFA GULUZADE: US WON’T ENGAGE IN SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH PROBLEM UNLESS IT STRIKES ON IRAN

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 7 2007

"I see no perspective in the coming St Petersburg meeting of head
of states of CIS. Russia intends to discuss issues of leading joint
policy with Azerbaijan and Armenia if the US attacks on Iran",
political scientist Vafa Guluzada told APA. According to him, the
summit will not debate Nagorno Karabakh issue.

"There is no favorable ground for the discussion of Nagorno Karabakh
problem. Because, states have not changed their position- Armenia
wants Karabakh to be independent while Azerbaijan wants to settle
the conflict within its territorial integrity. Russia’s position
is unchanged. Russia wants freezing the Karabakh issue and uses
the conflict as the lever in stopping Azerbaijan and Armenia from
joining NATO.

As to the position of the US, it will not get engaged in the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict until it has attacked
Iran. The settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict needs Russia’s
collapse. This process is underway. If Russia retreats from pursing
policy on freezing Karabakh conflict this problem could find its
solution.

Rasim Musabeyov told APA he does not share optimistic views on the
settlement of Karabakh conflict soon. "The hopes on the settlement
of Nagorno Karbakh conflict have not proved to be true until today.

During the meeting in St Petersburg besides co-chairs, Russian
President and Foreign Minister can influence Armenia. If Russia uses
its levers then certain progress can be made. I think after the St
Petersburg meeting, Azerbaijani government will seize an opportunity
of choosing more exact policy."