Author: Zakarian Garnik

Scotsman

Hughes wants more Hibs stars to earn an international call-up

Published Date: 03 October 2009

By DAVID HARDIE

HIBS boss John Hughes today claimed that watching eight team-mates
leave to play for their countries will spur more of his Easter Road
stars to join the international jet-set.
The Edinburgh club will have players in virtually every corner of the
globe over the course of next week with Derek Riordan, newly recalled
to the Scotland squad, facing the 12,000-mile round trip to Japan.

Sol Bamba will clock up almost as many air miles as he flies to
Blantyre in Malawi for the Ivory Coast’s penultimate World Cup
qualifying match while Moroccan aces Merouane Zemmama and Abdessalam
Benjelloun will be travelling to Libreville in Gabon in a bid to
resuscitate their countries hopes of making next summer’s finals in
South Africa.

Meanwhile, Yves Ma-Kalambay will be part of the Belgian squad
preparing for the visit of Turkey while teenage defender Callum Booth
makes the journey to Austria where Scotland’s Under-19 side will take
on the host nation, Romania and Armenia in a European Championship
qualifying tournament.

Much closer to home Paul Hanlon and David Wotherspoon will take the
short trip along the M8 to Paisley for Scotland’s Under-21 Euro
qualifying match against Belarus.

While admitting to the natural concerns of injury and fatigue which
every manager endures in watching players depart for international
duty, Hughes insisted he’d be delighted to see even more do so in
future.

"For the players it is great experience, rubbing shoulders with the
best other countries have to offer. It undoubtedly makes them better
players and I’d like to think others will be watching them leaving and
saying to themselves ‘I want a bit of that’," he said. "I’d never
stand in the way of any of my players turning out for their countries,
it’s a great honour for them and reflects wonderfully on the club as
it is by playing for Hibs that their chance of international football
has come about in the first place."

Serzh Sargsyan: Signing of an agreement on settlement of the Karabakh
conflict not realistic in the near future

2009-10-03 13:19:00

ArmInfo. Signing of an agreement on settlement of the Karabakh conflict
is not realistic in the near future, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
said at the meeting with the Armenian communities of Europe in Paris.

As regards the concerns of come political forces about linking of the
Armenian-Turkish and Karabakh processes, the president said: "There is
an exact format of negotiations for settlement of the Karabakh
conflict. The initialed protocols bear no relation to the problem of
Artsakh. Evidently there is no slightest hint of Nagorny Karabakh." The
president said the stand of the Armenian party is clear: the issue of
the Karabakh conflict settlement is not and cannot be in the spectrum
of the Armenian-Turkish relations. "Moreover, the Karabakh process
requires hard and long work, which allows supposing that signing of an
agreement on settlement of this issue is not realistic for the near
future," the president said.

COPS BROUGHT TO BOOK

Daily News & Analysis
Thursday, October 1, 2009 2:56 IST

Mumbai: The verdict is out. Maharashtra State Police (MSP), who are
supposed to maintain law and order of the state, have been found
guilty of assaulting and harming Uzbekistan players with chairs
during their division-1 match of the 76th All India and South Asia
Rugby tournament at the Bombay Gymkhana on Tuesday.

As a result, one has been banned for life, five have been banned for
five years from playing any competitive national level rugby game
while the manager and the team got one year suspensions on Wednesday.

A three-member committee consisting of Salim Tayyebji, David Purdy
and Darius Moos, all former players, studied the video footage and
made the decision against the MSP on Wednesday. "The punishment we
have given them is very lenient considering the state of rugby in
the country," said Purdy. Purdy pointed that it was a foul tackle
from an MSP player which sparked the violence.

Even Greg Davey, development manager of Rugby India, who actually
brought the situation under control on the fateful day, said he
was appalled with the incident. "Never in the 40 years I have seen
something like this, it is absolutely unacceptable," said a visibly
upset Davey.

The players and coach from both the sides gave their
versions. Uzbekistan team defended while MSP were speechless. The
committee was unanimous and the decision was conveyed to the
policemen. Purdy said that if the team wasn’t from India, all the
players and the team would have been banned for life. "International
rules say that no weapons or objects are allowed on the field, they
flouted the rules without even acknowledging the presence of match
officials," explained Purdy.

Three Uzbek players suffered head injuries while one fractured his
thumb during the commotion.

When contacted by DNA, DGP of the Maharashtra Police, SS Virk, said
that till now they haven’t received any formal communication from the
organisers. But he said that once the information they will decide
the future course of action against the officers involved in the
fracas who brought the whole unit into disrepute.

Meanwhile in the first plate semifinals between Armenia and Army Green,
the latter moved into the title round after the spin of coin. After
slugging out for 80 minutes of regulation time and another 20 minutes
of extra time the teams were locked at 5-5. Due to bad light, the
match officials with the consent of two teams decided to go for the
spin of coin.

DAVID KRIKORIAN ACCUSING CONGRESSWOMAN JEAN SCHMIDT FOR TAKING "BLOOD MONEY" FROM TURKISH GOVERNMENT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.10.2009 01:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In U.S. the Ohio Elections Commission is set to
rule on whether a challenger made reprehensible false statements when
he claimed that a Republican incumbent Jean Schmidt from Ohio’s 2nd
Congressional District had taken "blood money" from Turkish interests.

"This is not an acceptable way to campaign; you can’t just run out
and accuse people of taking bribes," Bruce Fein, an attorney with
the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund, said.

The case is known as Schmidt v. Krikorian, Miami Herald reports.

Participants include Fein’s opposite number, Armenian-American lawyer
Mark Geragos, whose past clients have ranged from former California
Rep. Gary Condit to convicted wife murderer Scott Peterson. Fein,
a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration,
and Geragos have been regular guests on various cable-television shows.

"These Turkish organizations and operatives, if they can’t do it
by money, they do it by blackmail, so they collect information on
sexual lives and other information like that," Sibel Edmonds, who
served several months as a part-time contract translator for the FBI,
declared in an Aug. 8 deposition.

Turkish Embassy officials couldn’t be reached for comment, but Fein
dismissed Edmonds’ claims as a "phantasmagoria" and an "utterly
ridiculous concoction." Edmonds didn’t play any role in challenger
David Krikorian’s campaign, and Fein contends that Edmonds was summoned
as a witness in order to create a buzz with "salacious" allegations.

"It’s certainly an opportunity to delve deeper into the extent of
foreign government manipulation of the American political system,"
said Elizabeth Chouldjian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian National
Committee of America.

Krikorian, who ran as an independent last year but has since identified
himself as a Democrat, claimed that Schmidt’s opposition to the
Armenian Genocide resolution was tied to her ign contributions.

"I ask the people of Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District to ask
themselves if our representative should be taking money from a foreign
government," Krikorian declared in one campaign flier.

The contributions alluded to included money that Schmidt raised in
a February 2008 event at a restaurant called Cafe Istanbul, where
participants included Turkish Coalition of America President Lincoln
McCurdy.

"We have a member of Congress from Ohio who is willing to stand up
to the Armenian lobby, and it is important for the Turkish community
to support her," a fundraising e-mail from the Turkish Coalition of
America said.

Schmidt, though, said that she didn’t ask people why they contributed
to her campaigns, declaring her "hope that it’s because they believe
I’m a great American."

Contributions to campaigns by foreign governments are illegal. McCurdy
said in his deposition that his organizations relied on U.S. citizens
and legal residents for campaign contributions.

If the commission decides that Krikorian lied or spoke with
"reckless disregard" for the truth or falsity of his statements,
commissioners could reprimand him or forward the case for possible
criminal prosecution under an Ohio "false statement" law.

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS CONSTANTINE ORBELYAN

armradio.am
30.09.2009 12:45

On September 29 President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako
Sahakyan met famous Armenian composer, People’s Artist of the USSR,
Constantine Orbelyan.

The Head of the State rated high the input of the maestro in the
development of culture and expressed hope that the well-known
composer would continue to wage an active and creative way of life
in the future.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the development of
culture and musical art in Artsakh. NKR minister of culture and youth
affairs Narine Aghabalyan partook at the meeting.

ROSTOV GETS READY FOR SARGSYAN’S VISIT

News.am
17:47 / 09/29/2009

Armenian community of Russia will meet the RA President conducting
signatures collection against Armenia-Turkey Protocols. The list
of participants at Rostov meeting with Serzh Sargsyan October 7
is compiled, the Yerkramas daily Chief Editor Tigran Tavadyan told
NEWS.am.

Serzh Sargsyan went on a Pan-Armenian tour over 5 large cities aimed
to learn Diaspora stance on Armenia-Turkey Protocols.

"Definitely, the Protocols arouse concern. The signatures collection
campaign against the Protocols is being conducted. We are as concerned,
as the entire Diaspora," Tavadyan underlined.

Commenting on the rumors, namely that Protocols’ opponents will allow
participating in the meeting with Sargsyan, the Chief Editor said:
"I was invited to the meeting, but I am against the Protocols. So far,
this is the case. I do not know, whether something changes by October
7, but I think hardly. I am unaware of the other details."

According to him, there are many people among the participants, that
are ignorant of the Protocols’ content. "People not participating in
community’s events are invited," Tavadyan pointed out. He considers
there will be no protest actions in Rostov-on-Don, but the results
of signature campaign will be handed to the President."

RA PRESIDENT’S PAN-ARMENIAN TOUR RIGHT MOVE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
29.09.2009 13:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA President’s Pan-Armenian tour is the right but
a bit belated move, according to Alexander Iskandaryan, director of
Caucasus Institute.

"Diaspora is too sensitive about the Armenian-Turkish relations,
since the Armenian Genocide is the issue of their identity," he told
a news conference on Tuesday.

"It’s impossible to make Diaspora change position on Armenian-Turkish
relations but it’s essential to carry out explanatory work. President
Sargsyan’s tour will be an attempt to explain to Diaspora what the
Armenian leadership intends to do," he said.

INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE LAUNCHED IN TSAGHKADZOR

Panorama.am
12:31 28/09/2009

International regional conference will be hosted in Tsaghkadzor from
29 to 30 September. The highlight of the conference is improving
educational projects, drafting the news ones, Armenian MFA PR
department reports.

The organizers of the conference are the Armenian Ministry of
Education and Science, UNESCO office in Moscow and International
Educational Bureau in Geneva with Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
UNICEF Armenia as co-organizers of the conference. 21 experts from
CIS – Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Middles East states, as well as
representatives from UNESCO and International Bureau of Education.

Central Bank registers Artashat branch of ProCredit Bank

2009-09-25 12:04:00

ArmInfo. Central Bank of Armenia has registered a new regional Artashat
branch of ProCredit Bank. According to Armenia’s CB press service data,
this decision was made by CB chairman on September 23.

To note, along with Artashat branch, ProCredit Bank has 9 branches in
Armenia, 6 of which are in Yerevan, 1 in Vanadzor and 1 in Gyumri. The
credit portfolio of ProCredit Bank makes up $24.8 million, the deposit
portfolio – $14.5 million. Shareholders of ProCredit are: ProCredit
Holding AG (67,49%), KfW German Bank (15,84%), as well as the European
Bank for Development and Reconstruction (EBRD) -16,67%.

World Bulletin

Turkish opposition leader calls to reset EU relations

Main opposition leader in Turkey has called for "a new understanding"
in relations with the European Union
.
Friday, 25 September 2009 09:27

Main opposition leader in Turkey has called for "a new understanding"
in relations with the European Union.

"We need to reset relations with the EU, which would help us solve
great many issues," Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican People’s
Party (CHP), was quoted as telling EU ambassadors in a luncheon
Thursday in Ankara.

Baykal said Turkey-EU relations has seen a relatively slow pace of
progress over the last years and "they even came to a stand still."

"It is very difficult to be realistic and optimist at the same time
about the EU issues. We need a change in relations," Baykal said.

Baykal said the Cyprus issue should be seen as a leverage against
Turkey in its relations with the European Union.

Baykal is known his harsh speech against Turkish government’s thaw
with Armenia and also "democratic move" for Kurdish population.