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TURKEY-ISRAEL SHARE VIEWS ON IMPROVING TIES AFTER RECENT FLARE UP

Hurriyet
Feb 24 2009
Turkey

Turkey shared the view of Israel in regard to improvement of relations,
a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Turkish authorities were evaluating the response of Israel to the
note of Turkey regarding the Israeli Commander of Ground Forces Avi
Mizrahi’s remarks, Burak Ozugergin, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry,
was quoted by Anatolian Agency as telling a press conference.

Israeli Ambassador in Ankara Gabby Levy conveyed the response to
Turkish authorities on Monday and the importance of continuation of
Turkish-Israeli relations was underlined in the response, Ozugergin
told reporters.

Israel’s response of note was sent to the Turkish Prime Ministry and
General Staff, he said.

Israel reiterated Monday in a diplomatic note it delivered to Turkey
that Mizrahi’s harsh remarks relating to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
do not represent the official position of the Jewish state.

Mizrahi said earlier this month that Erdogan, who severely criticized
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, "should first look in the mirror",
and accused Turkey of "committing a massacre of Armenians, as well
as suppression of the Kurds".

After Mizrahi’s remarks, Turkey summoned the Israeli ambassador
to the Foreign Ministry and handed a note of protest demanding
clarification, while the military denounced them as "excessive,
unfortunate and unacceptable".

The Israeli army chief telephoned his Turkish counterpart last week
to apologize for Mizrahi’s harsh remarks in an effort to prevent a
deterioration in military relations with Turkey. Israel’s Chief of
General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi also sent an official letter
to the Turkish General Staff regarding the issue.

ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION TO VISIT BELARUS IN FIRST HALF OF 2009

Trend News Agency
Feb 24 2009
Azerbaijan

A parliamentary delegation of Armenia led by Chairman of the
National Assembly Ovik Abramnyan will visit Belarus in first half
of 2009, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Grair
Karapetyan said during the third session of the Belarusian-Armenian
inter-parliamentary commission for cooperation on February 24,
BelTA reported.

According to Grair Karapetyan, the visit will promote even closer
inter-parliamentary links between the two countries. He noted that the
political contacts between Belarus and Armenia have been developing
quite successfully. The sides have been cooperating both on a bilateral
basis and in the international arena. Belarus and Armenia have signed
more than 60 bilateral treaties, agreements and protocols in all areas,
"The potential is quite sufficient to develop the relations further,"
Grair Karapetyan said.

At the same time, there are many issues that remain unsettled, and
though the existing legal-treaty basis is sufficient for expanding
cooperation, it requires further polishing, Grair Karapetyan said. The
countries have huge potential for boosting cooperation in agriculture,
manufacturing industry, technology, culture and other areas. There
is a need to intensify regional cooperation. Grair Karapetyan, when
meeting with chairmen of the two houses of the Belarusian parliament
on February 23, suggested organizing a special conference to discuss
regional cooperation between Belarus and Armenia.

With a view to intensifying inter-parliamentary links, he suggested
exchanging the lists of the delegations of the two countries accredited
in the international parliamentary organisations. "The work will be
continued in the spirit of mutually beneficial cooperation and will
help bring our nations closer," Grair Karapetyan believes.

For his part, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives of the
National Assembly of Belarus, Valery Ivanov, said that for further
successful development of bilateral cooperation, Belarus and Armenia
need to unify regulations, customs clearance, to intensify interaction
between business and companies. "We have possibilities and desire. The
main point now is to start working," he said.

The key issue on the agenda of the session of inter-parliamentary
commission was energy security of Belarus and Armenia. The commission
also considered the implementation of previous decisions.

The next session will focus on trade, economic and cultural relations
between Belarus and Armenia, military and technological cooperation,
interaction in science, medicine, health care and agriculture industry.

TBILISI SPREADS FEAR IN AKHALTSIKHE AND AKHALKALAKI

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.02.2009 17:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Tbilisi is spreading fear in Akhaltsikhe and
Akhalkalaki, ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs
Office Director Kiro Manoyan said.

"Nevertheless, Armenia has no right to interfere in Georgia’s domestic
affairs, as it will be a violation of the republic’s commitments to
the Council of Europe," he told a news conference today.

"On the other hand, Georgia spares no effort to evict the Armenian
population whose only wish is to leave peacefully in their native
land," he said, reminding that late Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan
requested for establishment of Armenian consulate in Javakhk but
was rejected.

RUSSIA AND TURKEY MAY BE INVITED TO TAKE PART IN EU ‘EASTERN PARTNERSHIP’ PROGRAMME

ArmInfo
2009-02-24 12:38:00

ArmInfo. "Russia and Turkey may be invited to take part in
consultations on EU ‘Eastern Partnership’ programme which is called
to bring together the European Union and six countries of the former
Soviet Union – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and
Ukraine", Foreign Minister of France Bernard Kouchner said at a
press-conference in Brussels held upon the results of the regular
session of EU Foreign Ministerial Council, France Press reports.

To note, it is envisaged to increase the volumes of assistance to
these states to 350 mln Euro according to the ‘Eastern Partnership’
programme.

Sunday Business Post, Ireland
Feb 22 2009

Arshak has plenty of reasons to smile

Sunday, February 22, 2009 By Carol Hayes

Addis Arshak was on a trip to America when he had his teeth whitened –
and had an idea for a new business venture.

Brite Smile, which he set up last year, offers professional
teeth-whitening services either in salons or in a client’s home.

“During a trip to America, I got my teeth whitened in a shopping mall
by a mobile whitening unit. I was a smoker and, in addition, was quite
partial to a few cups of coffee a day, which doesn’t do your teeth any
favours,’ said Arshak.

“While being solicited by the sales representative, I had the
opportunity to view the results on other customers, which – along with
the competitive price – convinced me to take the plunge myself. I came
away quite stunned and impressed.

The idea of the mobile unit started from this experience. However, I
think at Brite Smile, we have evolved the idea of the mobile unit into
a more comprehensive business model.’

Arshak’s family is Armenian, but he was born in England. H e moved to
Ireland when he was four and grew up in Limerick. He was educated in
both Ireland and Britain and has a degree in engineering design and an
award from the London New Designers Show under his belt.

“My parents are both university professionals and believe that hard
work and education will get you a long way in life. I think my drive
to succeed has been a direct consequence of my upbringing,’ said
Arshak.

He said the company had managed to keep overheads down by being an
outsourcing service to salons nationwide. “This also allows us to
target a larger demographic. With this in mind, we can manage to
undercut all our competitors and still be profitable.’ `In addition,
we are helping salons provide this service locally and to a higher
level of safety,’ he said.

Before founding Brite Smile, Arshak worked as a medical products
designer and as a product design manager for an Irish home ware
company, designing products for mass production.

This industry experience and the help of his family were invaluable
resources when setting up his own business.

Ma’an News Agency, Palestinian Territories
Feb 22 2009

Muslim-Christian group: Israel demolishing entire neighborhoods
Date: 22 / 02 / 2009 Time: 15:58

[Ma’anImages]
Jerusalem ` Ma’an ` A panel of prominent Muslim and Christian leaders
accused Israeli authorities on Sunday of `escalating their war against
Jerusalem."

The group, Jerusalem’s Islamic-Christian Panel, called for Arab and
international actors to `stand firm’ against Israel and `rescue the
holy city.’

Panel Secretary-General Hassan Khater said Israel is `expanding its
persecution against Jerusalemites by targeting entire neighborhoods’
with land confiscation and home demolitions.

He added that residents of the Al-Bustan neighborhood, south of the
Al-Aqsa Mosque, `are now in real danger,’ especially after the city’s
Regional Committee for Planning and Construction cancelled a plan
suggested by its residents.

The committee rejected the appeal after approving another one for the
same area presented by the Israeli municipality to remove the largest
section of the neighborhood, as well as its 1,500 residents, in order
to turn the site into a public park.

Khater told Ma’an that Israel `is trying to fool the residents by
swapping their houses with others in Beit Hanina and elsewhere.’

He added, `This serious development reflects the amount of disdain the
Palestinian Jerusalemites suffer from, and at the same time reveals
the extent of the ongoing process of shifting Jerusalem to a pure
Jewish city, ongoing since the Israeli occupation divided the city in
1967.’

The head of the Islamic-Christian group described iron-gate closure of
parts of the city and new openings between Jerusalem and the
neighborhoods of Ar-Ram and Dahiyat Al-Barid as a policy aimed at
displacing residents of Jerusalem from their city.

`This dangerous step separates more than 60,000 Jerusalem citizens
from their city and has rendered their access to it very difficult and
complicated,’ he added.

Khater explained that Israeli authorities have so far succeeded in
displacing tens of thousands of Christian Palestinians through
imposing difficult living conditions on Palestinians, in general.

He explained that the percentage of Christians in the Holy Land has
dipped to just one percent, while it stood at five percent just
decades before.

`We will take advantage of the pope’s visit on 8 May to call his
attention to the Israeli conspiracy against the presence of the
Christians in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, in general, which has
resulted in a continuous decrease in their numbers,’ he said.

Khater called on the pope to dedicate a portion of his visit to
checking up on the Christian and Muslim residents of Jerusalem.

He added, `Despite the utter condemnation of Israeli TV Channel 10’s
mockery of Jesus Christ and his mother Mary, peace be upon them, we
affirm that oppression and racism against Christians and Muslims in
Israel is escalating.’

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized on Sunday for the
television channel’s spoof of Christian figures, which at one point
sarcastically insisted Mary was not actually a virgin.

Khater highlighted that Christian clerics are subject to mockery and
harassment by radical Jewish residents on their way to the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher, and that settlers often spit on the cross and on
clerics while passing through the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old
City.

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75,700 unemployed in Armenia late in Jan

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. A total of 75,700 unemployed were
officially registered in Armenia at the end of this January ` an annual
increase of 4.7%.

Head of the RA Statistical Service Stepan Mnastakanyan reported an
increase of 1.4% in the number of officially registered unemployed this
January as compared with last December.

Mnatsakanyan did not report the number of labor migrants that returned
to Armenia during the period under review.

According to the official statistical data, a total of 74,700
unemployed were officially registered in Armenia late last December `
an annual decrease of 0.5%. Last December, an increase of 0.5% was
registered as compared with last November. `0–

Armenian Ardshininvestbank gets ISO 9001:2000 certificate

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. An international certificate of quality
management systems ISO 9001:2000 has been issued to Ardshininvestbank
(Armenia).

The certificate was issued to Ardshininvestbank by the AB
Certification, an independent French audit firm, last December on the
basis of an auditor’s favorable conclusion on the bank’s meeting the
international quality management standards.

The certificate is evidence that the bank’s activities and services
meet the international standards.

During the certification process the bank was cooperating with
Integrated Management Solutions, an organization with international
experience.

The ISO 9001:2000 certificate is the result of the bank’s hard work to
introduce modern high-quality services, said Board Chairman Aram
Andreasyan. He stressed that few Armenian banks have been issued this
certificate.

Last year, Moody’s international rating agency assigned to
Ardshininvestbank the long-term national currency rating Ba1, long-term
rating Ba3 and short-term rating Not Prime (foreign exchange deposits),
as well as a financial stability rating `D-‘.

At present the Ardshininvestbank CJSC has 49 branches, with six of them
in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as a representative office in Paris. The
bank has 157,000 clients (individuals and legal entities).

Last year the bank registered the largest net profit, the second
largest credit investments and total capital and the third largest
assets and liabilities.

As of December 31, 2008, the bank’s capital reached 25.9bln AMD, assets
113.8bln AMD, liabilities 87.9bln AMD, credit investments 74bln AMD,
after-tax profit 5.9bln AMD. `0–

Conversebank of Armenia to hold joint action with Money Gram on March 1
` April 7

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. Conversebank of Armenia is to hold a
joint action with Money Gram international payment system.

Clients are to get three presents while receiving remittances through
Money Gram in any of Conversebank’s branches in the period from March 1
to April 7, the bank reported.

Conversebank joined Money Gram system on December 2, 2008.
`’Conversebank” Closed Joint Stock Company was registered on December
20 1993. Since February 2007 Argentinean businessman of Armenian origin
Eduardo Ernekian has been holding 95% of the bank’s shares. Armenian
Apostolic Church owns the remaining 5%. Conversebank has 25 branches,
including eight branches in Yerevan.

By the end of December 2008, the bank’s assets had totalled 71.9bln
Drams, liabilities 58.7bln Drams, total capital ` 13.1bln Drams, credit
investments ` 44.1bln Drams. Profit after tax was 2.1bln Dramas for the
year 2008. ($1=305.41Drams). N.V. `0–

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian Writers Association in California instituted an annual
literature award
21.02.2009 16:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A meeting of Armenian Writers Association was held
in the beginning of February in Glendale public library. In the
framework of the meeting the public writer and editor Grant Simonyan
donated $1000 to Armenian Writers society in California. Half of the
sum is intended for the publication of verses by poetess Hranush
Aryants.

During the meeting an official declaration was made about the
institution of an annual literature award after Hrant and Manush
Somonyans to be bestowed in Best Poet and Best Prose Writer
nominations.

In 2008, Hrant Simonyan made a $1000 donation to Armenian Writers
Association as an award to the poetess Anahit Yeremyan.