Author: Andres-Papazian

RA NA Speaker invites his Iraqi counterpart to visit Armenia

May 4, 2011 – 12:34 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Armenian ambassador to Iraq Murad Muradyan met with Speaker of the
Iraqi parliament Usama al-Nujayfi to discuss bilateral
inter-parliamentary ties and their development.

Al-Nujayfi praised active participation of Armenians residing in Iraq
in the country’s public and political life, what serves as a sound
ground for boosting political, economic and cultural relations between
Armenia and Iraq.

Muradyan conveyed invitation of the Speaker of the Armenian parliament
Hovik Abrahamyan to al-Nujayfi to visit Armenia and expressed hope
that mutual visits will give a new impetus to the relations
development.

Muradyan also met with Iraqi Minister of Higher Education Ali Al-Adeeb
to discuss opportunities for cooperation, the RA MFA press service
reported.

From: A. Papazian

Vahan Hovhannisyan elected Vice President of Euronest PA

Aysor.am
Wednesday,May 04

Head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to the Euronest
Parliamentary Assembly, Vahan Hovhannisyan was elected Vice President
of Euronest PA at the constituent meeting of the organization, NA
press office reported.

According to the source, in his speech, Speaker of the Armenian
National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan noted that Armenia attaches much
importance to intercultural dialogue in the region for establishing an
atmosphere of confidence and cooperation between different religious
and ethnic communities.

`All this will contribute to democratic development, improvement in
living standards, creation of preconditions for peace, stability and
security,’ H. Abrahamyan said.

From: A. Papazian

Chairman of Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech: Independent
judiciary system is the pledge of ensuring freedom of speech

arminfo
Tuesday, May 3, 19:56

An independent judiciary system is the pledge of ensuring freedom of
speech, Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of the Committee for Protection of
Freedom of Speech, said at today’s press conference in Yerevan. “We
should strive to ensure independence of judicial instances, which will
by itself rule out any possible repression and unfair conclusions
about the press”, he said.

At a press conference dedicated to the World Press Freedom Day,
Melikyan also touched on the problems in the mass media.

“Today international experts rank Armenia as a non-free country from
the viewpoint of freedom of speech and media. The indices of the past
few years are most dispiriting, as regress is observed in this
dimension”, he said.

However, Melikyan also pointed out that alongside with pressure on
mass media, the media themselves have serious problems: “The main
problem of mass media in Aermenia is their inconsistency. Most part of
the press is part of the political system”, said the expert and added
that another serious problem is non- observance of the rules of
ethics.

In this context, Edik Baghdasaryan, the president of Investigative
Journalists NGO, called on the journalists to observe the rules of
ethics and abstain from ungrounded swearing.

“Sometime it is possible to gain more by means of a relevant turn of
phrase, than by simple swearing”, he stressed.

To note, on May 3 1991 the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of press
freedom principles put together by African newspaper journalists, was
signed. Two years later the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed
this day a World Press Freedom Day.

From: A. Papazian

Tigran Karapetyan: People’s Party to convene shortly to study alliance
with other political forces

arminfo
Tuesday, May 3, 19:24

Leader of the People’s Party Tigran Karapetyan said his party is ready
to join any other patriotic force and will convene on May 10 at 4:00pm
in the Government session hall for that purpose. Certain political
forces of the country will be invited to PP’s Congress. “The issue of
alliance with other forces will be finally settled during the
congress,” Karapetyan told reporters, Tuesday.

As regards the Armenian National Congress’s policy towards the
authorities, he said that the current staff of ANC leaders comprises
people who previously took high posts. This makes them a peculiar part
of the system.

“This is just a game. ANC and the authorities have made an arrangement
not to lose control of the situation,” Karapetyan said. He said ANC’s
measures and steps are a veiled consensus the opposition party has
resorted to in order to get seats in the parliament.

“The fight of the two forces over the last three years has brought
nothing good to the people following them,” Karapetyan said.

In addition, he said, ANC monopolizes the opposition bloc creating
numerous obstacles to other forces. “For instance, we hardly managed
to apply for a rally in front of Matenadaran for May 5. Since May 1
all the days were reserved by ANC though no rallies were organized,”
he said.

From: A. Papazian

Armenia’s leading operator joins hands with the “Matter of Honor”
organization to implement essential projects in the regions of Armenia

arminfo
Tuesday, May 3, 19:57

VivaCell-MTS, a subsidiary of “Mobile TeleSystems” OJSC, announces
implementation of development projects in Armavir and Ararat regions
in the frame of cooperation with the “Matter of Honor” charity
organization.

Armenia’s leading mobile operator allotted AMD 90 million to the
“Matter of Honor” Armenian-Russian charity organization for
reconstruction of public premises in Ararat and Armavir regions.
Repair works are underway in the kindergarten in the village of
Zovashen, Ararat region, including repair of the building rooftop,
replacement of doors and windows, and installation of wooden flooring.

The village will soon have a Park of Armenian-Russian Friendship, to
be laid with the “Matter of Honor” NGO.

The monument in Armavir built in memory of the Russian soldier who
saved the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin from the Persian attack in
the battle of Oshakan is part of this cooperation as well.

“Armenians have always been among those civilized nations, who have
appreciated the friendship between people. We, Armenians, express our
appreciation of the Armenian-Russian relations particularly by means
of the culture. These efforts are the proof of it,” said VivaCell-MTS
General Manager Ralph Yirikian. “The art of living beautifully bliges
to appreciate both the man-made and the natural values. This park is
the embodiment of the two,” VivaCell-MTS General Manager
commented on the plans of creating Park of Friendship in Zovashen.

From: A. Papazian

Hakob Avetikyan: Journalists themselves restrict freedom of speech

arminfo
Tuesday, May 3, 19:54

95% of the claims against the mass media concern the printed press,
and the key goal of the claimants is the bankruptcy of newspapers,
which, in its turn, leads to closure of the newspapers,
Editor-in-Chief of Azg Daily Hakob Avetikyan told jourbalists.

“It would be noteworthy if the family of the second president of
Armenia Robert Kocharyan demanded 1 dram as a compensation when suing
the well-known newspaper. This would demonstrate their desire to
restore the justice or simply to punish the offender. And this 1 AMD
would become a symbolic amount”, said Avetikyan.

When speaking of the freedom of speech in Armenia, Avetikyan pointed
out that there is no freedom of speech as such in Armenia, and the
claim of the Kocharyans against “Hraparak” (“Square”) newspaper shows
that very often it is the media’s fault.

“We should feel responsibility for what we write, and in this case
we’ll be able to change this situation, but this does not mean that
one must shut eyes to the obvious things”, he said.

To recall, Robert Kocharyan sued “Hraparak” and demands that the
editorial staff of the newspaper should pay 6 mln AMD (16.2 thsd USD)
compensation for insulting his family’s honor and dignity. The reason
for the claim was the article “Kocharyan being destroyed, Tsarukyan
being explained?”.

From: A. Papazian

Bird flies into engine of Armavia’s Sukhoi SuperJet-100 during landing

arminfo
Wednesday, May 4, 13:34

A bird flew into the engine of Armavia’s new Sukhoi SuperJet-100
during landing on Tuesday evening.

Fortunately, the jet successfully landed at Armenia International
Airport, Armavia press-service told ArmInfo. The plane was making
Astrakhan-Yerevan flight. After relevant examination the jet was
allowed to Yerevan-Tehran flight.

On April 19 the presentation ceremony of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 SN
95007 to the Armenian national air carrier Armavia took place. The
liner is named after the first spaceman Yuri Gagarin. Head of the
Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Naryshkin was present at
the ceremony.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the
75- to 95-seat category. SSJ100/75B and SSJ100/95B for short distance
and SSJ100/75LR, SSJ100/95LR for long distance. Longer variants based
on extended fuselages, called the SSJ 100-110 and the SSJ 100-125, are
also planned, as well as business, VIP and cargo variants.

From: A. Papazian

A pottery jar with a human skeleton of Hellenistic period found in
capital of Nagorny Karabakh Republic

arminfo
Wednesday, May 4, 17:23

A resident of Stepanakert Yuri Hayrapetyan has found a big pottery jar
with human remains during construction work in his yard. ArmInfo’s
correspondent to Stepanakert reports that specialists say the find
belongs to the 2nd-1st centuries BC.

Vardges Safaryan, a local archaeologist, says the given territory is
known with its jar burials. Yet in the 30s of the 20th century famous
archaeologist Gummel organized excavation in the given area of
Stepanakert and part of the items found then are now exhibited in the
NKR Local History Museum.

All the 32 teeth of the man, probably a fighter, buried in the pottery
jar were preserved. Besides the skeleton, two arrowheads, glass beads,
bronze buttons were found in the jar. Vardges Safaryan says that the
finds in the jar are very like to the finds of Hellenistic period
found during excavations of the ancient Armenian
town – Artsakhi Tigranakert in the territory of the present Askeran
region of NKR.

“All this once again shows that Armenians lived in the given
territories since Hellenistic period,” the archaeologist says.

From: A. Papazian

Federal Bailiff Service of Russia interested in cooperation with
Judicial Acts Compulsory Enforcement Service of Armenian Justice
Ministry

arminfo
Wednesday, May 4, 17:25

The ribbon cutting ceremony of the Museum of Judicial Acts Compulsory
Enforcement Service (JACES) timed to the 13th anniversary of creation
of this structure took place at the building of Armenian Justice
Ministry on May 4. JACES Head Mihran Poghosyan and Director of the
Federal Bailiff Service of Russia Artur
Parfenchikov attended the ceremony.

Poghosyan told journalists that over the past 13 years JACES has
gained considerable success in its activity, particularly, a new
e-governing system has been introduced, which allows considerably
simplify and accelerate the document circulation process and relieve
the load on the JACES employees.

In addition, JACES has established close cooperation with similar
structures of other countries, including with Russia. In this context,
Parfenchikov stressed that good interstate relations, similarity of
tasks in the specified structures mostly contributes to quite
effective interaction between them.

“We are interested in both the JACES software system and the procedure
of measures currently being taken by JACES. The Russian parry is ready
to borrow all the positive things and also share its own experience.
We take part in the work and discussions of the International Union of
Bailiffs, and our positions in these debates
are almost always similar”, said Parfenchikov.

From: A. Papazian

MCC CEO visits MCA-Armenia sites in Armavir Marz

armradio.am
04.05.2011 16:44

Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
Daniel W. Yohannes visited two MCA-Armenia sites in Armavir marz today
to review the results of the five year MCA-Armenia Program.

Mr. Yohannes visited the `Koncer’ Cannery, which is one of the 225
enterprises supported by the Post Harvest, Processing and Marketing
(PPM) component of MCA-Armenia’s Water to Market Activity (WtM).
MCA-Armenia support to he `Koncer’ Cannery highlights how PPM supports
Armenian farmers through linking farmers to processing companies,
creating fruit and vegetable collection/consolidation centers and
through training and technical assistance. Approximately 400 farmers
will benefit from the PPM project through improved access to markets
and higher prices for their goods.

Mr. Yohannes also visited the Tsakhkunq community, where MCA-Armenia
has rehabilitated more than 2,000 km of the tertiary canal system.
Overall, the MCC has invested more than 10 million USD in Armavir marz
through its canal rehabilitation projects, farmer trainings, and other
agribusinesses activities. By the project’s completion in September
2011, MCA-Armenia’s investment in Armenia’s tertiary canal system will
total over 14 million USD and span 90 communities. Farmers benefiting
from the canal rehabilitation projects cover 15% of project costs. To
date, projects have been completed in 25 communities in Ararat,
Armavir, Aragatsotn, Vayots Dzor and Lori marzes.

While visiting the sites, Mr. Yohannes spoke with program
beneficiaries and partners, asking questions about the program’s
successes and overall impact on the communities.

From: A. Papazian