Month: December 2008

NKR PRESIDENT’S MEETINGS IN SWITZERLAND

armradio.am
01.12.2008 10:43

On 29 November President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako Sahakyan
arrived in Geneva. On 30 November the Head of the State held a meeting
with entrepreneur Vardan Sermakes, Central Information Department of
the Office of the NKR President reported.

A wide range of issues related to activities currently being carried
out in Artsakh and prospects of new investment projects were discussed
at the meeting. Special attention was paid to the development of
banking and sports spheres.

NKR finance minister Spartak Tevosyan, executive director of Artsakh
Bank closed joint stock company Kamo Nersesyan and other officials
partook in the meeting.

DECEMBER 1ST IS WORLD AIDS DAY
Marianna Gyurjyan

"Radiolur"
01.12.2008 13:04

Today is the 1st of December, the World AIDS Day, the day when
individuals and organisations from around the world come together
to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. 2008 marks the 20th
anniversary of World AIDS Day.

In 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the first World
AIDS Day in an effort to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS issues,
including the need for support and understanding for people living
with HIV/AIDS. The day is also an opportunity to highlight the need
for continued development of education and prevention initiatives.

Over the past 20 years, World AIDS Day has been established as one of
the world’s most successful commemorative days. It is now recognized
and observed by millions of people in more than 190 countries around
the globe.

In 2004 Armenia started implementing a state HIV/AIDS prevention
program.

This year 111 new HIV cases were registered in Armenia. Males prevail
among HIV carriers.

Most HIV cases have been registered in Yerevan. Shirak marz comes
second.

The main routes are the heterosexual relations and the use of
drugs. In some cases the disease has passed from mother to the child,
or contamination has taken place in a homosexual way.

"The results of investigation of 2005-2007 showed that the biological
and behavioral indices have improved," say s Samvel Grigoryan,
director of the center of AIDS prevention, adding that the HIV among
drug addicts has decreased from9.3 to 6.8 percent.

"The spread of the disease can be prevented by means of a targeted
complex program," Samvel Grigoryan says.

"People with AIDS have no problem with treatment in Armenia, scientific
head of the "Armenikum" program Emil Gabrielyan says. In his words,
about 60 persons underwent treatment this year.

TURKEY SUPPORTS THE KARABAKH SOLUTION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP

armradio.am
01.12.2008 15:51

Turkey supports the format of the OSCE Minsk Group to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ali Babacan, the Turkish Foreign Minister,
told a press conference held on the results of the talks with the
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a very complicated issue and could
be settled only through negotiations, Babacan believes.

According to Babacan, essential steps are needed to take to settle
the issue.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia depend on Turkey-Azerbaijan ties,
Turkish Foreign Ministers Ali Babacan said to journalists in Baku.

Turkish Foreign Minister said Azerbaijan and Armenia are holding
intensive talks and possible positive result of these talks will have
an impact on the Turkish-Armenian bilateral relations.

BABACAN: ALL COUNTRIES OF THE REGION SHOULD SIT AT BARGAINING TABLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2008 12:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met
Monday with his visiting Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan to discuss
regional developments and the ways to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

"I briefed Mr. Babacan on Azerbaijan’s position on the Karabakh
problem. We also referred to the Caucasus platform, energy projects
and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars link," Mammadyarov told a news conference.

For his part, Mr. Babacan said Azerbaijan and Turkey enjoy a particular
relationship. "There are problems in the region and they are all
solvable. The current diplomatic activity should yield result. We
can’t leave our problems over to the future generations. The ongoing
Azerbaijan-Armenia and Turkey-Armenia dialogue can have a positive
impact on the situation," he said, Day.az reports.

Touching on the Caucasus platform, the Turkish Minister said all
countries of the region should sit at bargaining table.

TURKEY WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN IN KARABAKH ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2008 13:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey endorses the format of the OSCE Minsk Group
for resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Turkish Foreign
Minister said.

"The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is a very complicated problem which
should be resolved via talks. Serious steps should be taken and Turkey
is ready to support Azerbaijan," Ali Babacan told a news conference
in Baku.

The Turkish-Armenian relations depend on relations between Turkey
and Azerbaijan, according to him.

"A positive outcome of the intense talks between the Foreign Ministers
of Armenia and Azerbaijan could contribute to the Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation as well. The Karabakh conflict is a problem of the
entire region. We will be always side by side with Azerbaijan, as we
have been since 1918," Babacan said, Trend Azeri news agency reports.

CORRUPTION CONTROL IN ARMENIA NEEDS LEGISLATIVE CONTROL

ARKA
Dec 1, 2008

YEREVAN, December 1. /ARKA/. The battle against corruption in Armenia
needs legislative control, Secretary of the RA National Security
Council Artur Baghdasaryan said.

"Numerous Armenian laws pose corruption risks," Baghdasaryan said
at a conference on the prevention, detection and investigation of
corruption crimes.

He said that laws without any corruption risks are impossible in the
country, but they must be reduced to a minimum.

In this context Baghdasaryan stressed that the RA Government,
Ministry of Justice and other government agencies must show more
serious approach to this matter, which will enable them to reduce
the risks to a minimum by means of serious reforms.

"Besides, we need institutional reforms because inefficient
agencies supposed to battle corruption are unable to make progress,"
Baghdasaryan said.

He also drew the participant’s attention to putting into action the
statutory acts, pointing out that much work has yet to be done in
the country.

"This issue in is the highlight of the National Security Council
and Armenian President, so corruption control issues will be among
the items on the agenda of the Council’s meeting next January,"
Baghdasaryan.said.

WORKSHOP OF ORGANIZATIONS AGAINST GENOCIDE DENIAL TO BE HELD IN BRUSSELS

armradio.am
01.12.2008 11:06

The European Armenian Federation invites all the organisations
working against genocide denial – associations of genocide victims’
descendants, associations of Human Rights and associations fighting
against racism, xenophobia and denial – to a workshop that will be
held in Brussels, at the beginning of 2009. This meeting will aim
to prepare the implementation of the EU Framework Decision against
Racism and Xenophobia in the laws of the EU member States. Experts
of the European Commission and political leaders of the European
Parliament will also take part in the meeting.

The Framework Decision against Racism and Xenophobia gives a
legislative framework to harmonise the penal laws of the member
States in the area of racism and xenophobia with a special focus on
genocide denial. A political agreement has been reached about this
Decision and it was formally adopted this Friday 27 November by the
European Council.

However, the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Latvia, France and Poland
stated some restrictive remarks.

>From now on, the member States have to transpose this Framework
Decision in the national laws in a two years period. There is no
mandatory specification on the way with which they will have to
implement the Decision but they are bound to provide an effective
compliance to its provision: an individual who would be targeted by a
penal decision which would not comply to the Framework Decision could
then file a case in the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

Actually, when genocide deniers from foreign States are threatening
European citizens, it is crucial that the relevant organisations
mobilise to ensure that in each Member State an appropriate
implementation of the Framework Decision is made.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy has
continuously worked with legal experts from the European institutions
to ensure the wording of this Framework Decision will effectively
penalise the genocides deniers.

The European Armenian Federation will communicate further details
about the workshop it will organise in Brussels.

ARMAN MUSINYAN: MAXIMALLY EFFECTIVE SOLUTION TO THE KARABAKH ISSUE SHOULD BE FOUND
Siranuysh Muradyan

"Radiolur"
01.12.2008 16:25

The Nagorno Karabakh settlement is a national security issue and
it’s important to find a maximally effective solution to it, Levon
Ter-Petrosyan’s Press Secretary Arman Musinyan told a press conference,
noting that an effective solution will depend on the powerfulness of
Armenia and the weakness of Azerbaijan at that point. According to
him, there are different views on the Karabakh conflict settlement
n the Armenian National Congress.

Arman Musinyan is assured that the Karabakh conflict settlement process
has greatly accelerated and it’s not ruled out that an agreement on
principled issues may be reached in the near future. According to him,
one should not think that the final treaty is going to bi signed;
the question refers to defining the principles that will serve as a
basis for talks. The Maindorf declaration will result in the signing
of some framework agreement, Mr. Musinyan considers.

Arman Musinyan informed that the Armenian National Congess intends
to convene an open meeting in December. It has been preliminarily
scheduled for December 12, but it still needs to be fixed. Participants
of the meeting will discuss issues related to the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement, internal political and economic situation in
the country.

THERE ARE 156.7 THOUSAND DISABLED PEOPLE IN ARMENIA

A1+
[12:20 pm] 01 December, 2008

It is already a few months 42-year-old Sveta has settled in Yerevan
with her four-member family. Sveta’s eldest son entered university
in 2008, and the family had to move to the capital from the village
of Arzakan. Mrs. Sveta says she has encountered difficulties since
the first day of removal.

Mrs. Sveta is a second-degree invalid. She says she would be glad
to lighten her family’s burden by doing everyday shopping but
unfortunately she cannot.

"My family has always supported me. Yet, I always feel ashamed and
depressed when in a company. I wish I could get in touch with people
like me," says Mrs. Sveta.

Note that in order to raise the awareness of disabled people and their
families the government has declared a month’s campaign of protecting
the rights of people with disabilities.

"Nowadays one can rarely see disabled people in the city as our
streets and vehicles are not convenient for them. All structures
and orgnisations dealing with the issues of the disabled are taking
every possible effort to be helpful to them," said Zaruhy Botanyan,
representative of the "Bridge of Hope" NGO.

She finds that one of the achievements of the sphere is that Armenia
became engaged in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities in 2007. The National Commission looking into the issues
of handicapped people also has a key role in the sphere.

Note that according to the RoA Ministry of Labor and Social Issues
there are over 156.7 thousand disabled people in Armenia and 42
percent of them are women.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NOTARY EXAMS HELD IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
01.12.2008 15:10

According to the decision of the Armenian Government adopted in
2002, every two years notary candidates should take qualification
exams. Fifteen candidates participated in the recurrent exam today.

According to the Head of the Notary Department of the Ministry of
Justice of Armenia Mariam Gaboyan, the previous exam was held on July
1st. Twenty-one candidates partook in the exam, none of which passed
it. None of the participants received a positive grade, that is why
the ministry of Justice decided to hold a special exam today.

The candidates enrolled in the list have the right to wait for five
years until there is a vacant position. If there is no vacant position
in five years, the candidate loses the happy chance and everything
starts over.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress