Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTY HAKOB HAKOBIAN NOT TO LAY DOWN HIS MANDATE

NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The autumn session of the RA
National Assembly started on September 15. 94 issues, including 12
international agreements, are on the agenda of sittings to be held
on September 15-17.

Among these issues is the conclusion of the NA Ad Hoc Committee on
the Inquiry into the March 1-2 Events in Yerevan and their Reasons.

The above mentioned ad hoc committee was set up on June 16, 2008
and it was to report on the results of its work by October 25,
2008. However, later the period of the ad hoc committee’s work was
extended three times – by decisions of the National Assembly, and
the current deadline is September 15.

By the way, Hakob Hakobian – an accused person under the criminal
case opened in relation to the March 1-2 events, a NA deputy released
under an amnesty – took part in the NA session after a long absence.

In response to questions of reporters, H. Hakobian said that unlike
deputy Khachatur Sukiasian, who was charged in connection with the
same events and recently gave up his mandate, he has no intention to
lay down his mandate of NA deputy. In his words, he is not offended by
the act of his colleagues – National Assembly deputies who approved the
RA prosecutor general’s petition of March 4, 2008, on involving Hakob
Hakobian and three other NA deputies – Khachatur Sukiasian, Myasnik
Malkhasian and Sasun Mikaelian as accused persons and arresting them.

H. Hakobian declared he will continue being a supporter of the first
President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian.

ARMENIAN STUDENTS AMONG BEST AT UN CONFERENCE

Tert.am
Sept 16 2009
Armenia

A nine-member Armenian delegation participated in the first annual
Global Model United Nations conference titled "The Millennium
Developments Goals – Lifting the Bottom Billion out of Poverty,"
which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, August 2-7, states a press
release issued by UN Armenia Office today.

The students from different universities in Yerevan were among 700
best students from the national Model UN programs representing 60
countries. The event was organized by the UN Department of Public
Information in cooperation with the World Federation of UN Associations
(WFUNA).

"Youth represent a top priority for the United Nations and, I am
convinced, this youth gathering was an excellent opportunity for you
to develop your leadership and communications skills that you will
use throughout your lives, and why not as part of the UN family,"
said Resident Coordinator of UN Armenia Office Ms. Consuelo Vidal.

"We learned more about how the UN functions and had a unique
opportunity to talk to many UN officials. The UN DPI also provided
training materials and online tools that allowed us to collaborate
using new communication technologies," said Aram Voskanyan from the
Yerevan State University, head of the Armenian delegation in the
Global Model UN and deputy president of the Armenian UN Association.

POMEGRANATE FILM FESTIVAL SET FOR ARMENIAN CULTURAL CENTRE

insideTORONTO.com
Sept 16 2009
Canada

The Pomegranate Film Festival is poised to make is fourth year
celebrating Armenian cinematography more exciting than ever.

There will be a launch party on Friday, Sept. 24, followed by a
weekend of Armenian-themed films from around the world, all taking
place at the Armenian Cultural Centre on 45 Hallcrown Place, near
Victoria Park Avenue and Hwy. 401.

"There are incredible directors, producers and actors in Europe and
Armenia who are making films about Armenians and not a lot of people
are aware of this, so it’s interesting to bring them to the forefront
of people’s mind," said festival chair Anoush Thorose.

Active in the Armenian cultural scene in her youth, Thorose hadn’t
been as involved in her community as much as she would have liked as
an adult. Educated as a photographer and passionate about the arts,
helping to organize the Pomegranate Film Festival was a natural move
for her during its second season in 2007.

With more and more people sponsoring and attending the films each year,
Thorose is hoping for the best year yet. To help ensure everyone
has a great time, there have been some exciting changes made from
previous years.

The festival officially starts one day earlier, featuring a launch
party where guests can meet and greet some of the directors and stars
of featured films as well as get reacquainted with other Armenian
film buffs. After that, screenings will begin, followed each night
by question periods with people involved in making the films.

"It’s a very casual meet-and-greet," said Thorose. "It’s a chance
for the audience to talk to the directors and talk to us and make
the whole thing a little more social."

Additions like the launch party took a great deal of work and
organization, but Thorose and the other committee members made
sure to keep their focus on the films being served up for public
consumption. Striving to reach a broader audience, this year’s
selections are going to take a different direction.

"We have tried to include a lot of more exciting films. In the past
our films have been great, but we have had a lot of films with subject
matter a lot more sombre," said Thorose. "This year we have really
tried to up the spirits a little bit with more romantic comedies
and action-thrillers and that sort of thing to make a more exciting
line-up."

If the festival is as popular as its organizers hope, there is even a
chance to make a small profit. Since the Pomegranate Film Festival is a
not-for-profit organization, all the revenue left over after operating
costs will be devoted to growing the Armenian cinema community. Every
year one worthy Armenian-Canadian filmmaker is selected to receive
the Pom Grant, which helps to continue the expression of Armenian
culture through film.

Since all the board members for the Pomegranate Film Festival are
volunteers, the recipient of the Pom Grant is the only one to actually
get paid in cash.

But for Thorose, money isn’t the only way to be rewarded.

"It’s a lot of fun. There is a lot of hard work leading up to it,
but once the weekend of the festival rolls around, everyone has a
lot of fun," she said. "It’s so much fun we can’t help but do it all
again the next year."

All foreign language films will have English subtitles. For
a full schedule of screening and ticket information, visit
.

MINISTRY OF DIASPORA AND HANDYUC TEAM SIGN MEMORANDUM ON CREATION OF PAN-ARMENIAN PORTAL

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
SEPTEMBER 12, 2009
YEREVAN

The RA Ministry of Diaspora and Hanguyc team on September 8 signed
a memorandum, under which the sides will contribute to the creation
of a pan-Armenian portal of national significance. Being aimed at
preserving the Armenian identity, the portal will become an important
tool for regulating Armenian information flows, Information and PR
Department of the RA Ministry of Diaspora reported.

The Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobian attached importance to the
use of high technologies for unifying the Armenians scattered around
world, and to the full use of the nation’s potential for the purpose
of strengthening the Homeland. In this respect she pointed out the
necessity of certain programs, in particular those related to the use
of Armenian in the Internet, making translations from other languages,
as well as translations from Western Armenian into Eastern Armenian
and vice versa. She said that the Armenian people can be informed
about any project, news, problem through the Internet and expressed
her satisfaction with the availability of Internet tools which enable
to regulate information flows from Armenia to the Diaspora and in
the opposite direction. "I am convinced that we will have an Armenian
Google, but as the minister of Diaspora I dream of having an Armenian
CNN," she noted, adding that the establishment of an Armenian search
system will contribute to the creation of all-Armenian television. "It
is time for our powerful high-tech organizations to unite and solve
numerous problems related to preservation of the Armenian identity,"
she underlined, noting that 3rd forum ArmTech 2009 will be held in
San Francisco on November 6-10, an event of great signifiance for
the organization of experts’ repatriation.

The purpose of the memorandum is to unify the Armenians around
Armenia’s independent statehood by encouraging Homeland-Diaspora
cooperation.

The Ministry of Diaspora and Hanguyc team () will also
help with the establishment of an Armenian Internet search system
that will later assume the role of a national local regulator by
uniting all Armenian websites into a single system and reducing the
gradually increasing outflow of money in this sphere.

The sides will also carry out work on the creation and active
development of an Armenian Internet with Armenian contents,
thanks to which Armenians living in Homeland and Diaspora will
have the opportunity to be in constant contact via various means of
communication and overcome the existing time, linguistic, distance and
other barriers. This network may form a basis for a virtual "Armenian
world" which will include a number of professional networks allowing
to consolidate the intellectual, cultural and scientific potential
of Armenians living in various countries and use the joint activities
of the professional network’s members for the welfare of the nation.

The memorandum was signed by Head of the Ministry’s Information and
PR Department Tigran Harutyunian on behalf of the Ministry and by
the team head Mher Abrahamian on behalf of Hanguyc.

Aysor, Armenia
Sept 12 2009

The Turkish nationalists refuse to discussing the Armenian issue

The Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmed Davudoghlu had informed
beforehand that he was going to discuss the settlement of the
relations with Armenia before the parliament would start the works
with the political parties of the country, and had expressed his
desire to meet the leaders of the political parties of the country.

The Turkish `Sabah’ newspaper informs that of the opposition parties,
that gave a positive answer to the suggestion of Davudoghlu, were the
Democratic-Republican and `Democratic society’ parties. The
`Natioanlist’ party has refused that suggestion. The latter is the
wing of Turkish extremist party called `Grey wolves’.

The launch of the signed records of inner political discussions with
Armenia was the meeting of Davudoghlu and Mahmet Ali Shahin the
Speaker of Turkish parliament. After the close door meeting that
lasted for 1 hour Davudoghlu answered the questions of the
journalists. He explained that he had a very interesting discussion
about the regional developments, improvement of the relations with
Armenia, the present situation of NKR conflict and the relations
realized in the Near East.

`In the external policy we are especially interested in the
developments in Caucasus and the improvement of the relations with
Armenia. Till now I have presented all the works implemented in this
direction to Mister Shahin. This will also be discussed with the
public. We are ready to discuss all the records with the political
parties and public organizations’, – Davudoghlu said.

AZERBAIJAN MAY ALSO OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA?

PanARMENIAN.NET
09.09.2009 12:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan is ready to open its border with Armenia
and establish formal relations if Yerevan returns five regions adjacent
to Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani official has said.

Elkhan Polukhov, spokesperson for Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, said Tuesday that Azerbaijan may consider opening its
borders with Armenia in case of a breakthrough in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. "It has been said in earlier statements from Azerbaijani
officials that Azerbaijan is ready to open borders and restore dialogue
with Armenia if the first stage of a plan to resolve the conflict is
implemented," he said, Today’s Zaman reported.

Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey and a key natural gas supplier
for the proposed Nabucco project destined to reach Europe, earlier
criticized Turkey’s own plans to open its border with Armenia,
closed in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan in its war
with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh.

ARMENIAN PUBLIC SERVICES REGULATORY COMMISSION [PSRC] FIXES NEW TARIFFS FOR INTERCONNECTION OF NETS OF MOBILE OPERATORS IN CASE OF TERMINATION OF INTERNATIONAL CALLS TILL 1 JANUARY 2010

ArmInfo
2009-09-09 11:32:00

ArmInfo. PSRC has fixed new tariffs for interconnection of nets of
mobile operators in case of termination of international calls from
1 October 2009 till 1 January 2010. According to the decision adopted
by the PSRC today, the tariff was fixed 40 drams per minute (without
VAT). These tariffs are used for reciprocal payment of the mobile
operators and are not collected from a subscriber. To recall, in August
PSRC fixed tariffs for similar services of the mobile operators in
2010-2011. Beginning from 1 January 2010 the tariff for termination of
international incoming call in the mobile net will amount to 11 cents
per minute (beginning from 1 July 2011 – 12 cents per minute). As the
head of the telecommunication department of the PSRC Gevorg Gevorgyan
said, in the near future the commission will adopt similar tariffs
for termination of international calls in the fixed telephone net.

To recall, at present 2 mobile operators are acting in Armenia – CJSC
ArmenTel (Beeline brand) and K-Telecom (brand ‘VivaCell-MTS’). The
third mobile operator Orange Armenia, subsidiary of France Telecom,
will start functioning till the end of 2009.
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Content-Description:

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
From: [email protected]
Subject: Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission [PSRC] fixes new tariffs for
interconnection of nets of mobile operators in case of termination of

Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission [PSRC] fixes new tariffs
for interconnection of nets of mobile operators in case of termination
of international calls till 1 January 2010

2009-09-09 11:32:00

ArmInfo. PSRC has fixed new tariffs for interconnection of nets of
mobile operators in case of termination of international calls from 1
October 2009 till 1 January 2010. According to the decision adopted by
the PSRC today, the tariff was fixed 40 drams per minute (without VAT).
These tariffs are used for reciprocal payment of the mobile operators
and are not collected from a subscriber. To recall, in August PSRC
fixed tariffs for similar services of the mobile operators in
2010-2011. Beginning from 1 January 2010 the tariff for termination of
international incoming call in the mobile net will amount to 11 cents
per minute (beginning from 1 July 2011 – 12 cents per minute). As the
head of the telecommunication department of the PSRC Gevorg Gevorgyan
said, in the near future the commission will adopt similar tariffs for
termination of international calls in the fixed telephone net.

To recall, at present 2 mobile operators are acting in Armenia – CJSC
ArmenTel (Beeline brand) and K-Telecom (brand ‘VivaCell-MTS’). The
third mobile operator Orange Armenia, subsidiary of France Telecom,
will start functioning till the end of 2009.

AMBASSADOR ROBERT BRADTKE APPOINTED AS NEW CO-CHAIRPERSON OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP

ARMENPRESS
SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS: Robert Bradtke has been appointed
a new co-chairperson of the OSCE Minsk Group.

According to the statement spread by the USA Department of State
Bradtke has a 36 year’s diplomatic experience as well as extended
knowledge in the sphere of the European security policy.

By July 2009 he was the Ambassador of USA to Croatia and prior to
that, he served from 2001 to 2004 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

"We have informed the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan of
Ambassador Bradtke’s appointment who looks forward to his first trip
to the region in the coming weeks," the message of the Department of
State says.

"The United States understands the critical importance of achieving
a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We welcome
recent positive dialogues between President Sargsian of Armenia and
President Aliyev of Azerbaijan," the message says.

R. Bradtke replaces Matthew Bryza, who is considered to assume the
post of the Ambassador of the USA to Azerbaijan.

AMOUNT OF MONEY SEIZED BY SERVICE FOR COMPULSORY ENFORCEMENT OF COURT DECREES TRIPLES IN FIRST HALF OF 2009

Noyan Tapan
September 7, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of acts of execution sent
to courts by the Service for Compulsory Enforcement of Court Decrees
(CECD) grew considerably in the first half of 2009. According to the
press service of CECD, there were 42,743 proceedings in the indicated
period compared to 31 thousand in the previous six months. The amount
of the seized sums of money almost tripled. The amount of property
put up to electronic auction doubled: as of June 1, 2008, property
of a total of 151 million drams was auctioned, whereas as of June 1,
2009, its value exceeded 340 million drams (about 920 thousand USD).

In the words of Head of CECD Analysis and Inspection Unit Robert
Minasian, the growth in the number of acts of execution from the
banking system was especially significant – in connection with
nonrepayment of loans. There was also an increase in sums seized
in favor of phone operators, as well as the sums seized from legal
entities in the form of salary arrears.

ARMENIA’S INVOLVEMENT WITH NABUCCO GAS PIPELINE PROJECT NOT REALISTIC: ECONOMIC EXPERT

Today.Az
/55366.html
Sept 7 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan will never agree with Armenia’s involvement with the Nabucco
gas pipeline project, Azerbaijani parliament’s standing economic policy
committee chair Vahid Ahmadov said commenting on media reports about
Armenia’s possible involvement with Nabucco.

"I think these reports are untrue," Ahmadov said. "I believe Armenia’s
participation in Nabucco is not realistic until Karabakh problem is
resolved and Azerbaijan’s occupied lands are freed," the MP said.

Some media disseminated reports about possible accession of Armenia to
Nabucco. The statements came immediately after news about forthcoming
reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey later last week.