Author: Torgomian Varazdat

SO FAR, 6 CRASH VICTIMS ARE REPORTED TO BE RA CITIZENS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.07.2009 17:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The plane which crashed in Iran was carrying 153
passengers (including 2 children) and 15 crew members, Deputy Head
of Civil Aviation Department Arsen Poghosyan told a news conference
today. So far, 6 crash victims are reported to be Armenian citizens,
with 2 being crew members. Their names are Ashot Nersisyan, Arthur
Grigoryan, Karine Margaryan, Ara Siroyan Grigor Barseghyan and Suren
Soghomonyan (the latter 2 being flight engineers). The exact number
of Armenian citizens is being clarified. There was a total number of
35 passengers bearing Armenian surnames.

Among the passengers who died on board the plane there were also 3
Georgian citizens. All the rest were citizens of Iran.

UKRAINIAN RADA TO RETURN WORSHIP FACILITIES TO CHURCHES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.07.2009 10:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Along with representatives of the Church Council,
Head of the Ukrainian diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
Archbishop Grigoris Buniatyan attended Monday a meeting with Prime
Minister Yulia Timoshenko, who informed that a legislation envisaging
return of worship facilities to churches will be introduced in Supreme
Rada next week.

She also pledged to tackle religious problems in the country.

HRANUSH HAKOBIAN RECEIVES DIASPORAN ARFD FIGURES

Noyan Tapan
July 14, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 14, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Minister
of Diaspora Hranush Hakobian received Diasporan ARFD figures –
participants of the All Armenian Conference on Armenian-Turkish
relations and Nagorno Karabakh problem held in Artsakh, ARFD Syrian
Central Committee member, Aleppo Sahakian school headmaster Jirayr
Reisian, Israel Hay Dat Office Executive Georget Avagian, ARFD Western
Europe Central Committee members Zareh Minasian and Dro Ekmekjian
(France). The guests in their talk with the Minister presented the
goals of the Artsakh conference, the range of the issues discussed,
and the national significance of the decisions made.

According to the ARFD figures, the problems discussed at the conference
completely involve the problems faced by the Armenian people and
the Armenian state, the starting point of which is the problems the
Armenians worldwide are concerned with: the Armenian Genocide, the
Armenian Cause, and there is a need of showing a common approach in
any issue regarding them.

They expressed their concern in the respect of making competent the
Armenian communities and especially Armenian youth of Diaspora over
the above mentioned approaches and involving the Armenian youth in
national issues.

Minister Hranush Hakobian attached importance to holding of such a
representative conference on problems all Armenians are concerned with.

According to the RA Ministry of Diaspora Press and Public Relations
Department, the meeting participants discussed issues regarding
preservation of the Armenian identity, in particular, attached
importance to solving the issue of providing assistance to the only
Armenian everyday school in the city of Marseille, France.

The Diasporan figures also expressed concern over issues related to
transportation of textbooks, fiction as there are libraries that have
not received literature printed in Armenia more than 20 years. The
guests also inquired about the process of the program Come Home
and expressed readiness to assist 50 children in October to come to
Armenia from France and to take part in the program.

AUGUST WAR COMPLICATED GEORGIAN RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA: OPPOSITION LEADER

Trend
July 7 2009
Azerbaijan

Unwise steps by the Georgian authorities, involving Georgia to war
with Russia in August 2008, evolved new problems in the relations
with other neighbors, the leader of the Alliance for Georgia Irakli
Alasaniya told Trend News.

This war led to definite overestimations in region, Alasaniya stated.

Large-scale military operations broke out in the unrecognized
Republic of South Ossetia in the night of Aug.8. Georgian troops
entered Tzkhinvali. Later Russian troops entered the city and drove
Georgian military back. At the end of August, Russia recognized the
independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In response, Georgia broke
off diplomatic relations with Moscow and declared the unrecognized
republics occupied territories.

Alasania said some problems also appeared in relations with Armenia,
because Georgia is facing a danger of separatist movement by the
densely populated large national communities.

"Of course, neither official Baku, nor Yerevan will favor separatist
trends. But Russian special service organizations will work actively
here and it is necessary to observe attentively these developments
in regions, especially in Samtzkhe-Javakheti populated by Armenians."

NATO IS NOT AIMING AT DEPLOYING PEACEKEEPERS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH – ARMENIAN ENVOY

Interfax
June 30 2009
Russia

NATO is not aiming at being involved in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenian ambassador to NATO Samvel Mkrtchian
has said in an interview with Azg newspaper on Tuesday.

"NATO has stated on numerous occasions that it does not have the
objective of being involved in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict
or deploying peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

The possible deployment of peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh "may
become the subject of discussion only after political agreement is
reached on settling the conflict involving all the sides including
Karabakh itself, of course," Mkrtchian said.

"The NATO approach to the issue is clear. While not being involved in
the conflict settlement the alliance hopes for its peaceful settlement
and supports OSCE and the Minsk group," the diplomat said.

ARMENIA FM VISITS HUNGARY AND ROMANIA

armradio.am
09.07.2009 11:20

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will pay a short visit to Budapest
and Bucharest, where he will have meetings with the Foreign Minister of
Hungary Peter Balazs and Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu.

Minister Nalbandian will return to Yerevan on July 10, Press and
Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.

THE RIGHT TO DETERMINE NKR STATUS BELONGS TO KARABAKH PEOPLE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.07.2009 19:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On July 8, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
met MG OSCE Co-Chairs: Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard Fassier, Matthew
Bryza, and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office,
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. The meeting focused on preparation for
the oncoming meeting between RA and Azerbaijan Presidents.

Dwelling on negotiations conducted within MG OSCE frameworks,
Nalbandian emphasized the importance of NKR’s participation in
negotiations, to guarantee peacemaking process effectively.

After the meeting with MG OSCE representatives, upon journalists’
request, Edward Nalbandian commented on the statement of Azeri Foreign
Minister on allowing NKR autonomy inside Azerbaijan. "The right to
determine NKR status belongs to Karabakh people and not to Azeri
Foreign Minister".

ARMENIA RANKS 64TH BY TRADE PROMOTION INDEX AMONG 121 COUNTRIES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
07.07.2009 18:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia ranks 64th by trade promotion index,
according to the "Promotion of international trade – 2009" report,
the Economy and Values Research Center reports. Armenia ranks second
among the CIS countries by trade promotion index.

International Economic Forum held a comparative analysis for 121
countries on promoting international trade in 2009. The Economy
and Values Research Center, being a partner of the international
competitiveness network, presents final results of the 2009 report. The
aim of the study was to analyze policies to promote trade in different
countries.

Singapore and Hong Kong showed best records among others.

DINK MURDER CASE – EUROPEAN LAWYERS WILL MONITOR EVERY HEARING

Bianet
07 July 2009, Tuesday

Niore of the Paris Bar Association has announced that delegations
from different European bar associations will attend every hearing.

Erol ONDEROÐLU [email protected] Istanbul – BÝA News Center06 July 2009,
Monday Today, 6 July, the tenth hearing of the Hrant Dink murder case
is taking place at the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court.

The hearing is being attended by Vincent Niore from the Paris Bar
Association, Alexandre Aslanian from the Union of French Lawyers with
Armenian Origin (AFAJA) and Yves Oschinsky, president of the Brussels
Bar Association.

Niore told bianet that a delegation of European bar lawyers will
attend every hearing: "From now on, we intend to observe the trial
with other bar associations in Europe."

Demand for justice

Niore took part in the "chain of conscience" that was formed in Beyoðlu
on Saturday to demand the trial of all those responsible for the
murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007.

He said he was "deeply affected" by the display of brotherhood and
friendship at the event.

Following the murder of Hrant Dink, the trial began on 2 July
2007. Although gross negligence, if not worse, has been suspected
to have taken place within the intelligence and security forces,
no public official is no trial in the main murder case.

Eight gendarmerie officers are being tried in a separate case, the
merger of which with the main case has been demanded repeatedly by
the Dink family lawyers. The officers are being tried for negligence.

ECHR has begun to consider the case

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has collected and merged
applications concerning the case and has directed a list of questions
at Turkey, to be answered by November.

Because complaints about negligence in the murder did not bring any
results, lawyers have appealed to the ECHR, which is now examining
files on the Trabzon, Istanbul and Samsun police force and the
Trabzon gendarmerie.

The court has asked Turkey whether the state fulfilled its duty of
protecting the life of Hrant Dink, and whether the journalist was
discriminated against because he was a citizen of Armenian origin.

Prior to his murder, the editor of the weekly Turkish-Armenian Agos
newspaper was handed a suspended six-month prison sentence under
Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code for a series of articles entitled
"Armenian identity".

At a time when he was facing more and more threats on his life,
he appealed to the ECHR against the sentence. Two weeks later, he
was killed.

After his death, family lawyers added further appeals to the ECHR
because no officials from the Trabzon police or gendarmerie or the
Istanbul police have been taken to court.

The last application to the ECHR concerned the "souvenir pictures"
which Samsun police officers took of suspected gunman Ogun Samast
after catching him at the Samsun bus station in the night of 20
January 2007. No officer was tried. (EO/TK/AG)

Click here for pictures of the gathering of "Hrant Dink’s Friends"
prior to the court hearing in Beþiktaþ.

FIRST THREE MONTHS OF EU EXPERTS GROUP ACTIVITY IN ARMENIA SUMMED UP

Noyan Tapan
July 6, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Since April members of the European
Union advisory group have been holding consultations in more than
10 RA Ministries on the reforms carried out in the country. The July
3 joint meeting of the group and AEPLAC commission was dedicated to
summing up group activity’s first three months.

According to group head Rolf Boehnke, the group submitted a draft
anti-corruption program On Preventing Corruption, worked out a document
on public reforms, presented proposals on public services, national
actions plan on human rights. The group provides advisory assistance in
the direction of creation of a Diplomatic Academy in Armenia, Armenia’s
joining the European Union Free Trade Agreement. It also works in
the direction of raising the efficiency of the tax and customs systems.

RA National Security Council Secretary Artur Baghdasarian said that
the 2009-2011 program envisages implementation of concrete programs
and events in nearly 200 directions. 20 interdepartmental working
groups have been already formed, which are engaged in carrying out
reforms. He emphasized that the Armenian authorities expect more
active involvement of EU experts in this work.

Head of the European Commission delegation in Armenia Raul de
Luzenberger said that concrete results have been achieved after three
months’ work, and it is envisaged to implement a number of programs
in the future, as well.

The Ambassador of Lithuania presiding in EU, Giedrius Apukas
attached importance to development of administrative resources at
the ministries, which will contribute to country’s prosperity in
the future.

UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Consuelo Vidal gave assurance
that the program is very important from point of view of achieving
the goals of the European Union Neighborhood Policy.