Month: March 2007

NGOS RAISE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

Panorama.am
18:50 01/03/2007

Today 26 environmental NGOs announced about the formation of coalition
"SOS-Teghut" which aims to bring the implementation of Teghut mines
into the legal field. The NGOs told a press conference today that
several international treaties are violated in case Teghut mines
are processed.

The members of a coalition submitted an open letter to the president
of the Republic today. Nazeli Vardanyan, head of Armenian Forests NGO,
said they will wait for the president’s answer and after that they will
apply to Constitutional Court and international institutions. NGOs
say several ecological disasters are expected in case Teghut mines
are processed.

DEPUTY SAYS 5 YEARS NEEDED FOR DEPUTIES TO LEARN PARLIAMENT LIFE

Panorama.am
18:48 01/03/2007

Paruir Hairikyan, chairman of National Self-Determination Union (AIM),
believes that there are no profound lawyers in the parliament causing
incomplete laws. Speaking about the Law on Dual Citizenship, he said
that some citizens may have the right to vote without any expenses
whereas others have to spend thousands dollars to come to Armenia
in order to vote. Hairikyan said that many citizens will apply to
Constitutional Court to discuss the violation of their right to vote.

In a debate with Hairikyan, Rafik Petrosyan, chairman of state and
legal committee at the National Assembly, praised the Election Code
saying it has advantages that in case put into practice will ensure
"free, fair and transparent elections" in Armenia. Hairikyan believes
that the election order must have been defined in Constitution to
have free elections in Armenia.

Hairikyan believes the election order must have been 100 percent
proportional.

He also believes that the parliament term should not have been made 5
years instead of 4. "A country like the United States holds elections
every two years," AIM leader said. Petrossyan argued that long term
is needed for the deputies "to learn the parliament life."

UNESCO FACT-FINDING MISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE STATE OF MONUMENTS

ArmRadio.am
01.03.2007 14:22

UNESCO will send a fact-finding mission to investigate the state
of religious, cultural and historical monuments in the Autonomous
Republic of Nakhijevan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh,
declared the Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz
Garaev, Azeri APA agency reports. According to him, the visit will
fall in the middle of May.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN MET WITH LORI MARZPET

ArmRadio.am
01.03.2007 15:27

Urgent problems of Lori Marz were discussed during today’s working
meeting of President Robert Kocharyan and Marzpet Aram Kocharyan.

The President expressed concern about the pace of construction
of dwellings for families left without shelter as a result of the
earthquake.

Reference was made to the exploitation of large industrial enterprises,
as well as the 2007 programs to promote agricultural development.

The President gave some recommendations on the issues discussed.

TWO-YEAR ANTICORRUPTION PROGRAM LAUNCHED IN ARMENIA

ArmRadio.am
02.03.2007 10:32

The Eurasia Foundation Armenia (EF) launched a two-year anticorruption
program to increase the role of Armenia’s government, civil society and
the media in the fight against corruption. The program is supported
by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and the US Agency for
International Development (USAID).

This new initiative will increase the role of the Armenian Government,
civil society and media in the fight against corruption through a
combination of trainings, international study tours, grants and network
development. The program’s first year will include a series of training
seminars for civil society organizations, government officials and
the media on a range of topics including investigative journalism;
monitoring of government spending; and development of internal
policies and procedures for promoting government accountability and
transparency. Following the completion of the training component,
EF will conduct a grant competition among local NGOs, media outlets
and journalist associations to support projects that reduce the risk
of corruption and build partnerships between sectors for improved
government accountability.

Study tours for government officials to Europe and the CIS will
promote understanding of existing approaches to promoting government
transparency. A network of government officials, civil society
organizations and the media will also be convened by EF to develop
coordinated anticorruption strategies and promote policy reform. The
network will design and manage a web-based anticorruption resource
center that will provide the public with access to electronic resources
including training curricula, tool kits and case studies.

"Eurasia Foundation believes that the fight against corruption is
essential in order to alleviate poverty and to promote Armenia’s
economic and democratic development. We also understand that success
in the fight against corruption requires the participation of all
segments of society, including the media, business, civil society,
and the government. EF’s newest anticorruption initiative is unique
because it will promote partnership between all parts of our society
for improved transparency in all sectors," stated Ara Nazinyan,
Country Director for EF Armenia.

The program is based upon recommendations generated by an International
Anti-Corruption Conference, which was organized by Eurasia Foundation
in April 2006 in cooperation with the National Assembly of the Republic
of Armenia, UNDP and OSCE. It also draws upon lessons learned from
other EF initiatives for promoting government transparency, increasing
citizens’ awareness of their legal rights when dealing with government
officials, and providing the public with information on how to protect
these rights.

ARMENIA TO HAVE A WORLD-CLASS COACH

ArmRadio.am
02.03.2007 11:28

In August Armenian figure skating coach Marina Barseghyan will take
a special exam to get certified as a world-class coach.

President of the Figure Skating Federation Samvel Khachatryan
told Armenpress that thereafter Armenia will have its own coach at
international figure skating tournaments, which is very important in
this sport.

ARMENIA RANKS 123RD IN THE RATING OF WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENTS

ArmRadio.am
02.03.2007 13:23

Armenia occupies the 123rd position in the rating of women
representation in Parliaments, says the report of the Secretary General
of the UN Interparliamentary Union, which includes the statistics of
women representation in Parliaments.

According to the report, with respect to the representation of women
in Parliaments in post-Soviet countries, the situation is better
in Belarus, where women comprise 29.1% of the MPs. Thus, Belarus
is the 21st in the above-mentioned rating. Russia is 99th, Ukraine
ranks 105th. It is mentioned in the report that in many post-Soviet
countries the indices of women’s representation in Parliaments were
incomparably less than the average of 17%. Thus, women comprise about
11.3% in the legislative body of Azerbaijan, 10.4% in Kazakhstan, 9.4%
in Russia and Georgia, 8.7% in Ukraine and 5.3% in Armenia. There is
no woman in the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

15TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIA’S MEMBERSHIP TO THE UN

ArmRadio.am
02.03.2007 13:41

15 years passed after the day when eight former USSR member states –
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – joined the UN. On March 2, 1992 state
flags of these countries were raised in front of the organization’s
headquarters.

Because of the civil war Georgia became a UN member a few months
later – in July 1992.

The three ex-Soviet Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – had
joined the organization in September 1991. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus
were among the founders of the United Nations Organization in 1945.

Today the UN has 192 member states.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEGHARDAVANK CHOIR TO LEAVE WITH CONCERTS FOR GERMANY

Noyan Tapan
Mar 02 2007

GEGHARD, MARCH 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The Geghardavank choir headed by
abbot monk Ghevond Ghevondian will leave for Germany where it will
have concerts. The artistic head of the group is Artistry Candidate,
Assistant Professor Mher Navoyan, and the choir-master is Anahit
Papayan. This concert tour was organized under the UNESCO patronage,
within the framework of cooperation of Surb (Saint) Geghardavank
and medieval Lorsch Monastery in Germany. Cooperation of the
two monasteries started in 2001, when the representation of the
Lorsch Scientific-Research Institute visited Armenia, particularly,
S.Geghardavank. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the Information Services
of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the next tour of the choir to
Germany is the second one. Concerts will take place in the cities of
Munich, Augsburg, Stuttgart, Lorsch, Hanau, Darmstadt and Frankfurt
am Main. Armenian spiritual and people’s songs are involved in the
concert program. Under the patronage of Archbishop Garegin Bekchian,
the primate of the Armenian diocese of Germany, the choir will have
concerts for the Armenian community of the cities of Cologne and
Hanau on March 9 and 10.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKS RESPOND ARMENIANS AND WHOLE WORLD WITH OPENING OF AGHTAMAR

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 02 2007

ANKARA, MARCH 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Aghtamar church
which has been restored already for three years, will open on April
15. Yusug Halacoglu, the Chairman of the History Institute of Turkey
stated about it.

According to Marmara, Turkey spent on the restoration works 4 mln
liras, and in the Turkish historian’s words, this fact proves that
Turks "do not at all damage foreigners’ monuments after capturing
Anatolia." "No monument was destroyed in Istanbul, while only 2
thousand of 22 thousand Turkish monuments remained in Balkans," he
complained. "Opening of the Aghtamar church will become a response
given to Armenians and the whole world, Halacoglu stated.