Author: Alex Jidarian

ARMENTEL: DON’T CALL BACK TO UNKNOWN INTERNATIONAL NUMBERS

ArmInfo
2009-11-12 18:28:00

ArmInfo. ArmenTel urges its subscribers not to call back to unknown
international numbers.

Head of ArmenTel’s Customer Service Burastan Movsissyan says that one
of the most widely spread ways to get money out of cellular clients is
to make him call back to an unknown long distance call, get no answer
and, as a result, pay a bill for the call or even for some additional
services provided to the recipient number. Movsissyan also advises
not to respond to SMSs urging customers to take part in some prize
draws by sending paid messages. "As a result, our customers come to
our office and claim their prizes. But we have nothing to do with the
people organizing such draws. We notify our customers of all draws
we organize," says Movsissyan.

AZERBAIJAN DISMISSES ARMENIAN PLAN FOR AIRPORT IN KARABAKH

news.az
Nov 11 2009
Azerbaijan

Arif Mammadov International organizations will not recognize the
airport that Armenians are planning to build in Shusha, Arif Mammadov,
head of Azerbaijan’s State Civil Aviation Administration, has said.

Shusha lies in the occupied Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"If any aircraft lands in that airport, the Azerbaijani side will
take appropriate legal action against the airline. I don’t think
this airport will be recognized by international airlines either,"
Mammadov said.

He said that there is a similar situation in Cyprus, where
international organizations and airlines do not recognize the airport
in Northern Cyprus as an international airport.

Mammadov said that the State Civil Aviation Administration and
Ministry of Defence regularly bring to the attention of international
organizations the fact that Armenia violates international conventions
and rules in using Azerbaijani airspace.

Melkonyan savouring national serviceWednesday 28 October 2009
by Khachik Chakhoyan

Samvel Melkonyan thinks his decision to return to former club FC
Banants at the beginning of the season has been justified by his
recall to the Armenia squad after a year-long absence.
Difficult time Melkonyan joined FC Metalurh Donetsk from the
Yerevan-based outfit in 2008 but failed to settle in Ukraine, making
just 16 Premier League appearances for the club, nine of which came as
a substitute. His failure to earn a regular place in the Metalurh team
cost Melkonyan his place in the Armenia setup and only served to
compound what the midfielder described as a "hard period for me".
Feeling at home
"For sure I really wanted to play and do my best," he told
uefa.com. "I received a call-up to the national team for the last two
World Cup qualifying games against Spain and Turkey. As far as I know,
the coaching staff were satisfied with my performances. Hopefully I
made the right decision when I moved back to Armenia. Banants are my
native club and I feel like a fish in water here."
‘Good shape’
Armen Gyulbudaghyants was appointed Banants coach at the end of the
2008 season and the trust he immediately placed in Melkonyan has been
rewarded with some stirring performances. In 21 appearances in the
Bardzraguyn khumb this term, the 25-year-old has struck a career best
eleven goals, including five in his last four matches. "It is mainly
[down to] Gyulbudaghyants why I am getting regular playing time and
feel in good shape," said Melkonyan. "I understood that he trusted me
and it gave me confidence."
‘World-class player’
The respect is mutual, with Gyulbudaghyants adding: "Melkonyan can be
useful for any team. I’m sure that he can be an example for young
players. He has everything that a world-class player should have. He
just needs to be more confident."
Injury problems
Confidence was clearly not something which affected Banants in the
early stages of the campaign, however. The capital club won six of
their opening seven matches and reached the Armenian Cup final =88′
losing 1-0 to FC Pyunik =88′ yet with two games of the season
remaining they find themselves fourth in the eight-team championship,
16 points off the pace. "I don’t know what has happened," added
Melkonyan of the side’s mid-season slump.
"Every club has ups and downs. Maybe we had too many injuries. We’ve
never played with our best squad."
No distractions
For now, though, Melkonyan is simply delighted to be back in the
international fold and is focusing on ending the season on a high. "I
was glad to get an international call-up even though I have played for
the national team before; I wanted to prove that I am good enough to
perform for Armenia," he added. "At the moment I’m concentrating on
the league. We have two more games where we have to take six
points. If I have some offers I will be ready to discuss them."

©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.

ALLOCATION FROM FRENCH ARMENIAN BENEFACTOR GRIGOR SHAHINIAN’S WILL IS MADE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF CARDIOLOGY HOSPITAL IN GORIS, A NUMBER OF OTHER FRENCH INSTITUTIONS TAKE PART IN THE PROGRAM

Noyan Tapan
Aug 17, 2009
Goris

GORIS, AUGUST 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to the
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, a Cardiology hospital has been built in
Goris, which will function as a branch of Yerevan Center of Cardiology
and serve population of southern regions of Armenia and Artsakh.

The construction program of the hospital is financed by the
Fund’s French affiliate, the French-Armenian Doctors’ Assosiation
(Association de Sante Franco-Armenienne, ASAF) based in Marseille,
and the department of the southern region of Bouches-du-Rhone. The
considerable part of the amount is allocated from the will of
benefactor Grigor Shahinian.

According to the Public Relations Department of the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund, thanks to the newly built construction the
patients, instead of reaching Yerevan, will have access to high-quality
healthcare at this center which will secure accessible and qualified
healthcare.

The floor of the basement of the hospital, the outer walls and the
root are already built. The construction works of the boiler house,
reservoir, the inner system of water supply are in the process.

MEETING OF PRESIDENTS TO BE HELD ON JUNE 4 IN ST. PETERSBURG: FRENCH CO-CHAIRMAN OF MINSK GROUP

Trend News Agency
May 29 2009
Azerbaijan

The meeting of the Presidents will be held on June 4 in St. Petersburg,
French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier briefed
the media.

"The talks in Baku were normal. We did not expect a special break. This
was the preparation work for the meeting of the Presidents in
St. Petersburg," said U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group
Matthew Bryza.

"In my opinion, this will be an interesting meeting – Bryza
said. – Co-chairmen expect significant progress from the meeting
in St. Petersburg. The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was
constructive in Prague, and we expect the same reaction from the
President of Armenia Serj Sarkisyan. Tomorrow we will meet with
Sarkisyan and look forward to constructive negotiations".

With regards to the statement that the OSCE Minsk Group has not been
able to achieve progress in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
for a period of 18 years, Fassier replied: "If reaching an agreement
would be in force of the Minsk Group, the agreement would be signed. It
does not depend on us. We can not tell the Presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia to be smoothed over the conflict. "According to him,
it depends on the political courage of both Presidents.

Bryza said that the OSCE Minsk Group could achieve more, but the
meeting on 4 June can bring something specific and unexpected.

Fassier said that Turkey is an important member of the Minsk Group
and supported the efforts of the co-chairmen on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement.

Buffalo News , NY
April 26 2009

Poems bear witness to the world’s horrors

Lucy Kogler

Little did T. S. Eliot know when he wrote the first five words of `The
Wasteland’ in 1920 ‘ `April is the cruelest month’ ‘ just how
portentous his words were.

April is the month in which poetry is celebrated and genocide
memorialized. The six genocides commemorated are: April 6, Bosnia and
Herzegovina; April 7, Rwanda; April 17, Cambodia; April 18, present
Darfur; April 21, the Holocaust; and April 24, Armenia.

These two occasions would seem to be at odds, but I don’t think so. I
believe that National Poetry Month is the corollary to Genocide
Awareness Month.

National Poetry Month gives us the opportunity to celebrate our
ability as humans to use words to explain and glorify our
world. Genocide Awareness Month gives us the opportunity to
acknowledge

our capacity for evil. The desired outcome of focusing our attentions
on atrocities is that a global intolerance for further occurrences
will be generated.

We are creatures who need to explain and illuminate. We need to give
voice to our rage, fear, hope and joy. We need to share our
experiences. Ultimately a poem is a memory, thought or experience put
into words. A poem organizes what is chaotic and terrifying.

A poem tells the story of the disappeared, of the butchered, of the
gassed, of the starved.

A poem is an image of something seen by the dead ‘ hidden in a wall,
written on a leaf, memorized and rebirthed by survivors.

A poem is a song heard in ditches, in forests, in tents, in barracks,
in transports. Poems bear witness. It is the obligation of not only
the witness, survivor, poet, but of the words themselves, to give life
to the horror. One need only recognize the pulse of humanity and not
the specific author in order for the words to be alive and present. It
is our own voice we hear as we read these poems, and by hearing our
voice transported to the situation, we make alive our conscience and
force awareness.

Carolyn Forche is the editor of an incredible and important anthology
of poetry: `Against Forgetting.’ In it are poems from the wars and
genocides of the 20th century starting with the Armenian
genocide. Reading the political poetry of the 20th and 21st century
should be an essential part of everyone’s education.

I remember being given a poetry anthology, `A Gathering of Poems,’ as
a teenager by one of my friends. I was home from school, sick, and
feeling sorry for myself. I opened it and found the poem by a young
girl who had been in a concentration camp. I still remember the words
and why I wanted to memorize them:

From tomorrow on I will be sad From tomorrow on Not today, today I
will be glad And every day no matter how hard it may be I will say
>From tomorrow on I will be sad And not today. I still use this poem as
fortitude

when confronted with an intolerable situation. Poetry will always be
the most immediate and the most intimate way in for me.

This month at Talking Leaves Books we will be handing out a `Books of
Conscience’ flyer prepared by the independent booksellers association.
On Thursday we will be handing out poems for `Poem in Your Pocket
Day.’ As Buffalo’s oldest independent bookstore, we take our
responsibility to make available the writing that will keep us free
from tyranny very seriously. Let’s be utterly aware this month, and
for longer!

36.html

OPPOSITION CHARGES ERGENEKON IS ‘REVENGE’

Hurriyet
April 15 2009
Turkey

ANKARA – The latest wave of detentions in the Ergenekon investigation
sparked harsh reactions yesterday from Turkey’s opposition parties
as they expressed their concern that the law was being abused for
political gain.

Addressing their parties’ parliamentary group meetings yesterday,
both Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal and
Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, leader Devlet Bahceli criticized
the course of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation.

"The Ergenekon probe is a political move, not a juridical one. It is a
case that is motivated by politicians and has political targets," said
Baykal. "If there is such an organization, who founded and directed
it? Today, more than 100 people were included in the probe. If it is
an organization established against the ruling Justice and Development
Party, or AKP, why is the name of the AKP not in the indictment?"

According to Baykal, although no one knows exactly what the aim of
the Ergenekon organization is, there has been an intention to expand
the case to cover certain segments of society. The case has lost its
juridical features and it expanded to cover many irrelevant figures,
he said.

Recalling that the case of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party,
or PKK, was finalized within a year, Baykal said there had still
been no indictment in the Ergenekon case, though the detentions
continued. "There is a Rabbi [Tuncay Guney], secret witnesses
and some telephone records. There are claims [made by Guney] under
pressure. These are what the probe has been based on," he said. "The
murder of the top judge of the Council of State and the Republican
rallies are the Ergenekon activities aimed at toppling the government,
according to the probe. They expect the court and the public to
believe in this.

Did common sense and rationality commit suicide?" Noting that it
was not the duty of the prosecutor to make extra-judicial killings,
Baykal said the Ergenekon case has been turned into a symbol of
horror. He said no one knew why members of the Association in Support
of Contemporary Living, or CYDD, and BaÅ~_kent University Rector
Mehmet Haberal and other rectors were detained or why the house of
CYDD Chairwoman Turkan Saylan was searched. The MHP’s Bahceli said
the country’s laws were being abused for political purposes. "There
are widespread concerns that the laws are being abused for political
gain and used as a means of oppressing and deterring people," he said.

In another meeting yesterday, Education Minister Huseyin Celik
said CYDD Chairwoman Saylan was not subject to the Ergenekon probe
as a result of her organization’s educational activities or the
scholarships it distributes to girls. "Some media institutions,
however, relayed the issue as if those who support Republican values
are being silenced. This is not acceptable," Celik said.

IMF Approves US$540 Million Stand-By Arrangement for Armenia

armradio.am
07.03.2009 12:38

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today
approved a 28-month SDR 368 million (about US$540 million) Stand-By
Arrangement for Armenia to support the country’s program to adjust to
the deteriorated global outlook, restore confidence in the currency and
financial system, and protect the poor. The approval makes the amount
equivalent to SDR 161.5 million (about US$237 million) immediately
available and the remainder in nine installments subject to quarterly
reviews. The Stand-By Arrangement entails exceptional access to IMF
resources, amounting to about 400 percent of Armenia’s quota. It was
approved under the Fund’s fast-track Emergency Financing Mechanism
procedures.

The authorities’ program is based on a consistent set of measures
regarding exchange rate, monetary, financial, and fiscal policies, as
well as continued structural reforms.
Key elements include:

¢ Return to a flexible exchange rate regime. The Central Bank of
Armenia (CBA) announced on March 3 that it will no longer intervene in
the market, except to smooth extreme volatility, and raised its policy
interest rate by 100 basis points. Following the announcement, the dram
depreciated about 20 percent, and since then, has broadly remained in
that range.

¢ Strengthening of the financial sector to maintain stability and
confidence. Key aspects of the CBA’s policy response include liquidity
support operations, as needed, and enhanced banking supervision.

¢ A revision of fiscal priorities to maintain macroeconomic stability,
while protecting social outlays and public investment, in light of the
expected revenue shortfall. The authorities intend to cut back on
non-priority spending while providing an increase in social spending of
0.3 percent of GDP, relative to the budget, to protect the poor through
well-targeted social safety nets. Additional external financing will be
used to boost public investment.

Armenia’s gross external financing requirements are projected at about
US$1.6 billion for 2009, and will remain elevated through 2011, albeit
with a slight downward trend. The Stand-By Arrangement will cover a
large share of the country’s 2009-2011 financing gap. Additional
financing will be provided by Armenia’s donors and international
partners, including the World Bank.

Following the Executive Board discussion on Armenia, Mr. Murillo
Portugal, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said:

`Since the approval of a low-access PRGF arrangement in November 2008,
Armenia has been confronted by a variety of major external shocks.
Reflecting the sharp deterioration in global economic conditions,
private transfers and capital inflows slowed considerably, while and
international commodity prices have dropped severely affected,
affecting mining exports and production. In light of a rapid decline in
international reserves and growing financing needs, the authorities
have requested additional financial assistance from the Fund.

`With the adverse global developments, real growth is expected to
contract in 2009, reflecting the downturn in Russia and other countries
in the region. Falling international prices, lower growth, and exchange
rate depreciation will help reduce the external current account
deficit. Medium-term prospects remain good, but Armenia is vulnerable
to the possibility of a deeper regional downturn and political tensions
in the region.

`Sound policies are essential to maintain macroeconomic stability. The
recent return to a flexible exchange rate will help cushion the impact
of the global downturn and eventual further regional deterioration. An
appropriately tight monetary policy is necessary to contain the
inflationary pressures stemming from the depreciation and support
demand for dram-denominated assets. Contingency plans are available to
help address any While potential negative impact of the depreciation on
the financial sector seems unlikely, contingency plans are available to
help address any such effects. In light of the expected revenue
shortfall, fiscal policy will remain prudent, protecting social outlays
and public investment by reducing non-priority spending.

`Maintaining the structural reform agenda will contribute to
macroeconomic stability and a strengthened business environment. Key
elements include the completion of the unfinished tax policy and tax
administration reform agenda, and progress on financial sector reforms.

`The Fund is confident that the policy package put in place by the
authorities is appropriate and strong,’ Mr. Portugal said.

ARTSAKH HPP TO MAKE FIRST IPO IN ARMENIA

ARKA
March 3, 2009

YEREVAN, March 3. /ARKA/. The Artsakh HPP OJSC will make the first
initial public offering (IPO) to the amount of 3.45bln AMD in Armenia.

The Armenbrok OJSC, consultancy and underwriter for the issue,
reported that Artsakh HPP will issue 3,285,715 shares, the nominal
value of one share being 1,050 AMD.

The funds will be directed to the construction of three small
hydro-power plants in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), on the
River Tartar. The new HPPs will satisfy 85% of the NKR’s energy needs.

The IPO is part of the reforms being implemented by the NKR Government
in the energy sector and aimed to ensure the country’s energy security
and independence.

The issue of shares on the Armenian market is the first, unprecedented
large-scale public investments program. The program allows residents
and foreign citizens and organizations to effectively invest spare
funds and enjoy all the rights and privileges.

The issue will be floated in conformity with the Armenian
legislation. The prospectus is to be registered by the Central Bank
of Armenia (CBA). After the issue has been completed, the company
will apply to the NASDAQ OMX Armenia for listing of its shares.

The Artsakh HPP OJSC is one of the leading energy-generating companies
in the NKR., which currently satisfied 40-6- per cent of the country’s
energy needs. The company generates energy by means=2 0of Sarsang
Hydro. The designed capacity of the HPP is 5MW, its annual energy
output being 60-140mln kwh.

The Armenbrok OJSC is one of the leading specialized investment
companies on the Armenian capital market. It launched its activities 14
years ago. The company provides the full range of investment services,
including the placement of securities and business consultations. The
company’s total capital exceeds 1.1bln AMD.

ANALYST ARMEN AGHAYAN: TIMES OF OPPOSITIONISTS LACKING IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT HAVE ALREADY PASSED

Noyan Tapan
Feb 16, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. There are preconditions
for national-political ideological change of generations in
Armenia. Political analyst Armen Aghayan reported at the February
16 press conference presenting an expert report under the title
Armenia: First Post-electoral Year: Developments and Changes in Public
Consciousness. According to the analyst, in the 2008 elections and
post-electoral developments the "12-year opposition lacking ideological
content finally passed away." "Lacking ideological content, as it
refused to formulate any ideological alternative to the foreign,
domestic or economic policy of the authorities, it only accused
the latters of various crimes, mainly, of seizing the power, and
declared restoration of legal power in the country its only goal,"
A. Aghayan said.

In his opinion, already in the past parliamentary elections it became
clear that the times of oppositionists lacking ideological content
have already passed: "One thing is clear: the opposition of the new
kind that cannot become fully-fledged without a serious ideological
and organization basis, will have a greater possibility of carrying
out a power shift," he said.

As A. Aghayan predicted it, from 2009 political fermentations will
proceed not so much over the problem of power shift as the problem of
"opposition shift." And the analyst expects nothing from the Armenian
National Congress March 1 rally. According to him, if the opposition
failed to carry out a power shift in 2008 February-March, it will
especially fail to do it in 2009 March. In A. Aghayan’s opinion,
the current opposition has a problem of keeping its positions in
the political sphere and succeeding in the forthcoming parliamentary
elections.