Author: Andres-Papazian

KARAPET KALENCHYAN: TURKISH-KURDISH CLASHES BEAR THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN FORCES

ARMENPRESS
JULY 29, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: “Turkish-Kurdish clashes, right,
are inner issues, but they bear the impact of the foreign forces,”
administrative director of the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS) Karapet Kalenchyan told Armenpress.

According to him, when tension in the Turkish-American or Turkish
Israeli relations is becoming notable the Kurdish factor becomes
active inside Turkey.

“For normalizing relations with the USA Turkey may even go to certain
concessions in the Armenian-Turkish relations,” Kalenchyan said.

According to him, Turkey faces the greatest threat – possibility of
creation of independent Kurdistan – thus this may force it to adopt
milder position in other issues on which the USA may have impact –
particularly in Armenian-Turkish relations.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT THE CONFLICTING REGION OF THE NKR IN EARLY SEPTEMBER

ARMENPRESS
JULY 29, 2010
VIENNA

VIENNA, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Ambassador
Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United
States, Ambassador Igor Popov of the Russian Federation) met with
the members of the Minsk Group July 28 in Vienna, Austria. Armenpress
reports, citing the OSCE official website, that they have circulated
a message related to the meeting.

They briefed the Minsk Group on recent developments in negotiations on
the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including:
discussions held in St. Petersburg June 17, 2010 by the presidents
of the Russian Federation, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; the meeting of
the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries
with the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia July 17, 2010;
and the joint statements issued by the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries
in Muskoka and Almaty.

The Co-Chairs stressed that the efforts made so far by the sides of
the conflict have not been sufficient to overcome their differences,
and that additional actions are needed to reinforce the ceasefire and
demonstrate a spirit of compromise. To assist the parties in their
efforts, the Co-Chairs plan to visit the region in early September.

From: A. Papazian

Vartan House Blend
– Cigar Reviews – PuffingCigars.com
Submitted by Anthony on July 14, 2010

About a week ago I was up in the Scottsdale area and decided to stop
into one of my favorite B&M shops, Ambassador Fine Cigars. While
perusing the cavernous humidor looking for the new Davidoff Puro D’oro,
one of the friendly, well manicured, Ambassador employees struck up a
conversation with me. As we discussed cigars, I mentioned that I was a
writer for Puffing Cigars and he decided to give me one of their house
blends to try.

The cigar that was given to me is entitled the Vartan and it shares the
namesake of the stores proprietor and legend Vartan Seferian. As the
story goes it is a blend designed by Vartan himself and then produced by
the Davidoff family. The Vartan’s exterior is a smooth
Connecticut-Habano hybrid wrapper grown in the ever popular Connecticut
growing fields of Ecuador. Both the binder and filler are comprised of
Dominican tobaccos, and fill out the cigar nicely without any noticeable
soft spots.

Construction: As mentioned above the cigar has a smooth texture too it,
and has a solid construction value, in that it does not have any soft
spots. I do have to mention for full disclosure sake, that mine had
some unraveling issues towards the cap and foot of the cigar.
Thankfully, they were not major issues and could be smoked through
without too much difficulty.

Draw: The draw was solid and allowed for some slight resistance in the
inhalation. I cut my cap minimally and was able to achieve an excellent
draw, which goes to show the fine construction of this cigar.

Burn: The Vartan Blend burns smoothly throughout, and I was pleased to
not have to touch it up at all. Even with the wrapper issue, I was able
to let it naturally burn through the unraveled parts without correcting
the burn path, which was nice. The ash was tight striated grey ash and
would remain firmly on the end of the cigar until one was ready to doff
it off into the ashtray.

Flavor: The Vartan Blend smokes like a Davidoff to me in the fact of its
simplicity of flavor. Most Davidoff’s tend to pick one creamy flavor
note and stick to it from start to finish, so does the Vartan blend. It
starts off with a little hint of bitterness and then builds into a
strong leather tone for the rest of the smoke. It is pleasant and
creamy from start to finish, but rarely deviates from the leather notes.
At one point I detected an earthy tone, but it was fleeting.

Final Verdict: As of print this cigar is only available at the
Ambassador store and their online website. The Vartan blend is a fine
consistent cigar that reflects the Ambassador name well. It is easy to
see how this blend was produced by the Davidoff house because it tends
to be consistent in both construction and taste. While the price point
for the robusto is around $14 and probably a bit steep for the average
consumer, it does serve as a fine example of a premium smoke. If you
are looking for a complex cigar this would probably not be the stick for
you, but if you are looking for a creamy mellow luxurious smoke, then
the Vartan Blend is a fine cigar to enjoy on a lazy summer afternoon.

Cigar Reviews. Cigar News. Cigar Lifestyle & Culture

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN SENDS MESSAGE OF CONDOLENCE ON THE OCCASION OF DEMISE OF ARAX DAVTYAN

ARMENPRESS
JULY 29, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
has sent a message of condolence on the occasion of demise of Arax
Davtyan. Presidential press service told Armenpress that the message
states, “With greatest sorrow I learned with about the demise of
distinguished singer, master of the opera art, Armenian people’s
artist Arax Davtyan.

Arax Davtyan’s sublime lyric soprano won the opera stages of the
world. The fastidious funs of the song art looked forward to her
new interpretations of the classical song-list in the world famous
halls of America, Asia and Europe. Arax Davtyan’s talent glittered
not only on opera stages and in concert halls, but in the spheres of
movie and pedagogy as well.

At this hard moment of loss I express my deep condolence to the
relatives and friends of Arax Davtyan, to the funs of her art.

From: A. Papazian

Berlusconi says he can sing better than Aznavour
(AFP) – Jul 19, 2010

MILAN – Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday said he could
sing better than French songwriting legend Charles Aznavour during an
event on top of the northern city of Milan’s cathedral.

“Someone wrote that I would have sung with him, but my institutional
position prevents me from doing so. Also, I would have surely been
better than him,” joked Berlusconi while introducing Aznavour, the ANSA
news agency reported.

Berlusconi, who was a cruise ship crooner in his youth, was presenting
Aznavour after receiving an institutional prize for his political career
amid the pinnacles and spires that overlook the roof of the gothic
cathedral.

Before beginning his concert, Aznavour replied saying Berlusconi was
“the most prestigious artist to have ever opened a show for me.”

In receiving the prize, Berlusconi touted his government’s achievements,
including solving a rubbish crisis in the southern town of Naples and
successes in the fight against organised crime, ANSA reported.

Berlusconi also took credit for halting the Russia-Georgia crisis in
2008 and for bringing France and the United States closer together.

The event marked the first time Berlusconi visited the cathedral since a
man with a history of mental problems hit him in the face with a replica
of the church after a rally on December 13 2009.

The attack left the 73-year-old billionaire with a broken nose and two
teeth knocked out.

From: A. Papazian

LETTER OF RA NA SPEAKER HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN TO NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT JOHN TANNER

NOYAN TAPAN
JULY 29, 2010
STEPANAKERT

YEREVAN, JULY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Letter of RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan
to NATO Parliamentary Assembly President John Tanner.

“Dear Mr. Tanner,

I am addressing you in regards to a possible report on the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, which is envisaged to be prepared for the
discussion at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Talking frankly,
I am surprised that such a step may have been taken without proper
consultations with the members of the Armenian Delegation to the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly.

As is known, currently the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process runs under
the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen – USA, France and
Russia. It is our strong conviction that given the confidentiality,
specificity and delicacy of the negotiations, the initiatives held in
formats other than the Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, even with a good
intent, preclude a great danger of jeopardizing the negotiation process
and undermining the mediation efforts. Therefore, any initiative on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution requires prior consultations
with the Co-Chair States of the Minsk Group, having in view that the
USA and France are both NATO members.

The attempts of Azerbaijan to raise the Nagorno-Karabakh issue within
different international formats are aimed at advertising Azerbaijan’s
own perception of the conflict resolution with disregard of the
entirety of principles proclaimed by the Co-Chairs as the basis for
the conflict resolution. It is worth mentioning that the Co-Chair
countries voted against the resolution proposed by Azerbaijan at
the UN General Assembly session in March 2008, by stating that the
“resolution selectively propagates only certain of the principles
[of the conflict resolution] to the exclusion of others”.

Just a few days ago, exactly on July 17, Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs
of France Bernard Kouchner, and Deputy Secretary of State of the
United States of America James Steinberg issued a statement where they
reconfirmed the principles and elements of the conflict resolution
stated by the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chair countries
at the G8 Summit convened on June 26, 2010 in Muskoka. They once
more stressed the point that the mentioned principles and elements
have been conceived as an integrated whole and that any attempt to
give preferences over other principles would make it impossible to
achieve a balanced solution.

With due respect to such an authoritative organization, as the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly, we consider it our duty to remind that not in
the distant past we had already experienced that the NATO PA report on
Nagorno-Karabakh had provoked selective references, unsubstantiated
interpretations, and wrong speculations. I believe that the report
in no way has contributed to the creation of a favorable environment
for the settlement process. I do not see any reason why this new
initiative may yield a different result.It was due to the clear
understanding of the sensitivity of the issue that the Secretary
General Rasmussen and other NATO high ranking officials voiced their
strong support for the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group on different
occasions and stressed that NATO did not have direct involvement in
the issue nor did it play a role of its own in the mediation process.

Based on these concerns, Honorable Mr. President, I would like to
strongly advise and suggest that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
refrain from addressing the issue on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. ”

From: A. Papazian

PRESIDENT OF THE ARTSAKH REPUBLIC RECEIVED A GROUP OF YOUTH FROM DIASPORA

NOYAN TAPAN
JULY 29, 2010
STEPANAKERT

On 29 July President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan received
a group of youth from Diaspora, who have partaken in the “Aspet”
military-athletic camp.

The Head of the State noted the importance of young people from the
Diaspora participating in such undertakings organized in Artsakh
considering it a pivotal component of patriotic upbringing as well
as strengthening the Motherland-Diaspora ties.

According to the Central Information Department of the Office of the
NKR President, Artsakh Republic minister of education and science
Vladik Khachatryan was present at the meeting.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA AND SERBIA INTEND TO BOOST BILATERAL COOPERATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 29, 2010 – 15:06 AMT 10:06 GMT

On July 29, the RA government approved signing of an agreement with the
Serbian government on economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Karine Minasyan said that the
document envisages development of bilateral cooperation in those
fields, which present interest for the two countries.

From: A. Papazian

EU TO FINANCE SECOND STAGE OF ACTION PLAN ON NUCLEAR SECURITY AT AMOUNT OF 11MLN EUROS

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 29, 2010 – 15:36 AMT 10:36 GMT

On July 29, the RA government approved the offer on signing of a
financial agreement with the European Commission on the second stage
of 2009 action plan on nuclear security.

Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Karine Minasyan said that the
total cost of the program makes 11mln euros. It is expected that the
program implementation will ensure appropriate level of security
at the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant up to its shutdown. Besides,
a strategy will be developed on nuclear waste management.

From: A. Papazian

ASHOT MARTIROSYAN: OPERATION OF METSAMOR NPP IS SAFE

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 29, 2010 – 15:37 AMT 10:37 GMT

On July 29, Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee
Ashot Martirosyan said that international experts of IAEA and other
organizations will be on a visit to Armenia on August 2-6 to study
the platform of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

Results of studies carried out by Armenian experts for several years
will be provided to their international colleagues, Martirosyan told
a press conference in Yerevan.

“Upon completion of the materials study, the international experts
will make an official statement,” noted Ashot Martirosyan.

He stressed that, according to the previous conclusion of experts, the
NPP’s operating energy unit is completely safe. Besides, it is under
permanent control of both Armenian and international organizations.

Martirosyan also said that Armenia should submit a report on the
NPP’s safety for three years. “The previous report submitted in 2007
was approved by American and European experts,” he noted.

Martirosyan stressed that $80mln has been spent for the NPP’s safety
since 1990. According to him, this is not the upper limit, as works
are continuously carried out to strengthen the operating energy unit’s
safety. Besides, active works are implemented to launch a new energy
unit, said Martirosyan

From: A. Papazian