Author: Zakarian Garnik

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
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HIS HOLINESS ARAM I BEGINS FIVE-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT
TO THE MALANKARA ORTHODOX SYRIAN CHURCH IN INDIA

On Tuesday 23 February 2010, His Holiness Aram I left for India today in
response to the invitation of His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Didymus I,
Catholicos of the East and Malankara, of the Orthodox Syrian Church. His
Holiness is accompanied by Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, Prelate of Tehran
(Iran), Bishop Nareg Alemizian (Ecumenical Officer) and Father Mesrob
Sarkissian (Staff-Bearer).

While in India he will meet with Heads of Churches and other Communities.
His Holiness will also lecture at the Kottayam Orthodox Theological Seminary
and address clergy, theologians and academics in different institutions that
he will be visiting.

On his way back Catholicos Aram will visit the United Arab Emirates and meet
with Armenian communities in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharja.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

KIM AND WINE
Hakob Badalyan

os16911.html
16:14:39 – 22/02/2010

Only those too lazy do not dwell on the Armenian and Turkish
normalization process and this circumstance seems to have aroused
a mess of assessments and it is time for the TV and Radio National
Commission to work out a list of measurements for conversations and
assessments to the Armenian and Turkish process. The measurements,
say, have to keep the process far from erotica or pornography.

At least, the interview with the U.S. model, Armenian-born Kim
Kardashian to Hurriyet Turkish paper creates grounds for such
thoughts. Kim dwelt on the settlement of the Armenian and Turkish
relations. Kim Kardashian did not become famous for her geopolitical
knowledge and ideas but her body. In addition, it was a porno-video
showing Kim having sex with her boyfriend in a hotel room that appeared
in internet several years ago and brought her fame. The authors of
the video were Kardashian herself and her boyfriend.

So this pretty girl decided to dwell on the Armenian and Turkish
normalization process. "Even my surname contains Turkish roots. As far
as I know, my surname, translating from Turkish, would mean "brother".

Besides, we called vegetables and fruits with Turkish names for many
years in my family. So, we have much in common", says Kim. The fact
that Armenians and Turkish have much in common is not a secret and
Kardashian is quite well-informed in this relation but the proof of
it cannot be her surname or the Turkish names of fruits and vegetables.

For example, Armenians, instead of "thanks" say "merci", but this does
not mean that Armenian and French people have much in common. So, Kim
Kardashian had better prepare for the interview better. For example,
she could consult an American-Armenian lobbying organizations which,
I am sure, even free of charge, or at least with discounts, would
present consultation to the pretty Armenian girl how to give an
interview to the Turkish media.

"Though I am not interested in politics, but I know that neighbors
are to live in a friendly and comprehensible atmosphere. Our nations
are neighbors and I know they had a difficult history, that is why I
understand it is time to treat old injuries", says beautiful Kim. Of
course, it is more pleasant to hear the propaganda of the Armenian and
Turkish process from Kim Kardashian rather than from the politicians
who have been carrying out propaganda for the government for already
two years. More, if the Armenian authorities were smart, they would not
let the Turks to precede us and to use the treasure which is called Kim
Kardashian. If the Armenian government involved Kim in the Armenian
and Turkish process, the Armenian society is undoubted to get great
pleasure from the Armenian and Turkish process and wanted Kim more
and more and more…to give interviews and propagate the rapprochement.

While now this pleasure gets the Turkish society. Measurements are
to be set to deprive the Turks from this pleasure.

AZERBAIJAN FIRES AT POSITIONS OF NKR DEFENSE ARMY

ArmInfo
2010-02-22 09:54:00

ArmInfo. On the night of February 18-19 and in daytime on February
19 the Azerbaijani armed forces broke the ceasefire regime on the
line of contact with Nagorny Karabakh armed forces, the NKR Defense
Ministry press-service reported.

ArmInfo correspondent to Stepanakert reported that Azerbaijan fired
at the NKR Defense Army positions from small and sniper weapons in
direction of Horadiz, Jraberd, Nuzger, Karmiravan, Talish, Karachuk
Mountain and others. After response by the NKR Defense Army, the
rival stopped firing, the NKR Defense Ministry reported.

16:59 19/02/2010 » Politics
Panorama.am

Lebanon’s disposition over Nagorno-Karabakh not changed, MFA says

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Dr. Eali Shami received today the Armenian
Ambassador to Lebanon Ashot Kocharyan. According to Lebanese media,
they discussed bilateral relations and matters of mutual interest.

Minister Ali Shami reaffirmed that official position of Lebanon
towards Armenian and Azerbaijan has not changed since Lebanon has
diplomatic and friendly relations with both countries.

Minister Ali Shami said that Lebanon supports international efforts to
settle disputes and conflicts in peaceful way in conformity with the
interests of all parties concerned.

FOREIGN JOURNALISTS SAID NOT ALLOWED TO PUT ALL QUESTIONS TO AZERI PRESIDENT

Azadliq
feb 16 2010
Azerbaijan

The office of the Azerbaijan president is said to be preventing
foreign journalists from putting any questions they want to ask when
interviewing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, opposition daily
Azadliq has said.

The president cannot be asked questions about "dictatorship,
corruption, monarchy, democracy, human rights and the election",
the paper said, quoting what it said was a reliable source.

However, issues concerning the Nagornyy Karabakh problem and foreign
policy can be asked, according to the report. An influential US
newspaper, the report said, refused to interview the president when
faced with these unexpected conditions prior to interviewing the
president.

INFLATION CONCERNS PROMPT SECOND INTEREST RATE HIKE OF 2010 BY CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA
by Venla Sipila

World Markets Research Center
Global Insight
February 17, 2010

The board of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has decided to lift
the central bank’s refinancing interest rate by 50 basis points,
Reuters reports. The move takes the policy rate to 6.0%, and follows
a similar step enacted only in January (seeArmenia: 22 January
2010:). The central bank took the decision in response to accelerating
inflation, noting that the 7.0%, annual price growth seen last month
exceeded the upper boundary of the CBA’s inflation target band by 1.5
percentage points. This latest inflation result represented further
intensification in Armenian inflation pressures, after these started
to rise already towards the end of 2009, even if the average annual
inflation rate for last year had posted a relatively moderate 3.4%
(seeArmenia: 3 February 2010:and5 January 2010:). The CBA hopes that
gradual tightening of monetary policy will bring the inflation rate
closer to the central target of 4.5%.

Significance:The monetary tightening move confirms the revision in the
CBA’s policy stance; it was the second interest rate hike this year,
after three months of stable rates, following a 25-basis-point cut
in September 2009, the seventh successive easing move. However, the
main function of the Armenian policy interest rate is still that of
acting as an indicator of the central bank’s inflation expectations,
rather than being an effective monetary policy tool with any notable
impact on market interest rates and liquidity. Then again, cost-side
inflation pressures are indeed likely to increase somewhat, whereas any
notable increase in demand-side inflation is likely to take some time
to emerge, given that the Armenian economic recovery will start from an
extremely weak position. Encouragingly, the CBA has earlier indicated
that it is going to retain its flexible exchange-rate policy. This
will help in managing the still very high financial risks, related
to Armenia’s deep external imbalances, and in controlling inflation,
especially when foreign currency inflows eventually recover. On the
other hand, given Armenia’s wide external financing requirement,
the risk of potential downward pressure on the dram exchange rate
still persists, and any rapid depreciation would feed into inflation
pressures via import costs.

DAVID SHANAZARYAN: RUSSIA NEEDED THE SIGNING OF THE PROTOCOLS ONLY
Lusine Vasilyan

"Radiolur"
18.02.2010 15:39

Representative of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) David
Shahnazaryan is confident that the Armenian Parliament will ratify
the Armenian-Turkish protocols first without any reservations.

ANC representative notices some changes in Russia’s position. "I
have an impression that Russian needed the signing of the protocols,
not the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border," David Shahnazaryan
told a press conference today.

Speaking about the Karabakh issue, Shahnazaryan said the negotiations
are at a very interesting stage. He notices trends of changing the
format of the settlement process or launching a parallel process. As
a ground for this he recalled the OSCE Chairperson’s visit to the
region and some of his remarks.

"The situation is unprecedented: the OSCE Chairman-in-Office arrives in
the region and presents the proposals of his country’s president. I
wonder whether the Minsk Group Co-Chairs are familiar with those
proposals. There is an impression that attempts are being made to
launch a parallel process of settlement. The probability of this is
not great, but these attempts obviously influence the pace of the
process," David Shahnazaryan said.

FRENCH EMBASSY IN AZERBAIJAN: ‘FRANCE PREFERS NEUTRALITY IN RELATIONSHIP WITH AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA’

ArmInfo
2010-02-17 13:25:00

ArmInfo. The embassy of France in Azerbaijan issued a statement on
military cooperation agreement signed between France and Armenia,
the embassy told APA.

"On February 10, 2010, defense ministers of France and Armenia signed
a technical agreement on cooperation in the field of defense in Paris.

The text of the agreement, which has common content, covers the issues
of administrative cooperation between the defense ministries. The
agreement is about the defense and security agreements, as well as
organizing of armed forces (democratic control over the armed forces,
organizing command, administration and staff management, military and
language education, public relations, lawmaking, military history,
military court, military healthcare). The agreement specifically showed
that it has no classified exchange of information and materials. The
agreement aims to specify content of the consultations between the
defense ministries of both countries. France prefers neutrality in
its relationship with Azerbaijan and Armenia in accordance with its
position of co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict and this agreement doesn’t overshadow the
neutrality. Just in the essence of this neutrality, France offers to
Azerbaijan to sign similar agreement. The government of Azerbaijan
has not responded the France’s offer still", said the statement.

NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV’S OFFERS ON NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT PRESENTED TO AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV

APA
Feb 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Foreign
Minister of Kazakhistan Kanat Saudabayev presented President Nursultan
Nazarbayev’s offers on the solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, APA reports citing "Kazakhistan
Today" website.

Kanat Saudabayev said at the press conference in Baku yesterday that
Nursultan Nazarbayev took part in the negotiations together with
Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1991 and that issue had been in
the focus of his attention since then.

Armenian president wishes Barack Obama pronounced the word ‘Genocide’

2010-02-14 10:39:00

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in his interview with
Al Jazeera he wished US President Barack Obama pronounced the word
"Genocide".

Asked of US President Barack Obama’s statements concerning the issue
of the Armenian Genocide during his election campaign, Serzh Sargsyan
replied that the US leader stayed loyal to his word and did not change
his opinion though he did not react to this problem to the extent he
did before being elected president. In addition, asked whether he
wished Barack Obama had pronounced the word "Genocide", the Armenian
president replied: "Of course".

To recall, despite his numerous promises to recognize the Armenian
Genocide during the pre-election campaign, Barack Obama failed to
qualify the events of 1915 as "Genocide" in his April 24 speech and
used the term "Mets Yeghern", which has no international-legal
significance.