Author: Antonian Lara

IRAN’S REGIONAL AMBITIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ISRAEL, IRAQ, AND THE GULF STATES
Amir Taheri

Die Judische, Austria
target=home&Param_Kat=3&Param_RB=5&Par am_Red=8206
July 18 2007

Iran’s national interest would be to regard Israel as a strategic
ally and partner because Iran does not want a Middle East which is
entirely Arab. But the Islamic Republic wants to lead the Muslim world,
create an Islamic superpower, and save mankind from a Judeo-Christian
conspiracy.Jerusalem contains the al-Aqsa Mosque, but it is a Sunni
mosque. Iranians are Shi’ites and cannot pray there because their
prayers would not be accepted. So liberating Jerusalem is a totally
useless project from an Iranian religious perspective.

· The majority of the Shi’ite clergy, in Iran and elsewhere, are
against the Iranian regime. There are more Iranian mullahs in prison
today than workers or intellectuals. All of the grand ayatollahs
are now bitter enemies of the regime because it is a distortion of
Shi’ite theology.

· Those who are fighting the regime inside Iran are mostly industrial
workers, who have been on strike in many areas. Another group fighting
the regime is women, who are very active, especially in hundreds
of NGOs. The regular Iranian armed forces, as distinct from the
Revolutionary Guards, are also unhappy with the present situation.

· The real issue in Iran is how it can find a way to emerge from its
revolutionary experience, keep part of it, discard other parts, and
really become a nation state. Once Iran has become a nation state,
instead of a country devoted to an abstract cause, then it will
display normal behavior and not be an existential threat to anybody.

Defining Iran’s National Interests

There are 7 million Azeris in the Republic of Azerbaijan and about
15-18 million Azeris in Iran. Yet, paradoxically, Iran is supporting
Armenia against Azerbaijan because the Republic of Azerbaijan is
pro-Western and pro-American. The only yardstick that matters for
the Islamic Republic is not Iran’s national interests, but its enmity
toward the United States.

Iran’s national interest would be to regard Israel as a strategic
ally and partner because Iran does not want a Middle East which is
entirely Arab. It is in Iran’s interest to have a Middle East in which
there are also Persians, Kurds, Turks, Jews, Maronites, Christians,
and Copts. If there was no Israel, all the negative energies of Arab
chauvinism and pan-Arabism would be directed against Iran.

Israel should normally be Iran’s best ally in the region, but the
Islamic Republic wants to lead the Muslim world, create an Islamic
superpower, and save mankind from a Judeo-Christian conspiracy. Since
the Arabs and the Sunni Muslims who are the majority are reluctant
to accept Shi’ite Iran as a leader, Iran’s response is to tell the
Arabs to destroy Israel under Iran’s leadership.

The destruction of Israel has thus become a device to avoid any
theological discussions. In British mosques, for instance, God makes
a cameo appearance every now and then, but the discussions have become
entirely political.

Since there are many different Islamic sects and many different
interpretations, the best way to prevent dissension is to avoid
religion and talk about politics – Israel, Chechnya, Kashmir, the
liberation of Andalusia – issues about which all Muslims can agree.

Iran has created a special corps to liberate Jerusalem, but suppose
Iran were to actually liberate Jerusalem. Jerusalem has no natural
resources and is of no strategic value. It has the al-Aqsa Mosque,
but it is a Sunni mosque. Iranians are Shi’ites and cannot pray there
because their prayers would not be accepted. So liberating Jerusalem
is a totally useless project from both an Iranian religious and
national perspective.

The real issue in Iran is how it can find a way to emerge from its
revolutionary experience, keep part of it, discard other parts, and
really become a nation state. Once Iran has become a nation state,
then it will display normal behavior and not be an existential threat
to anybody. A nation state’s demands are tangible and quantifiable.

They are about borders, sharing water, markets, access to raw
materials, influence, security, and geo-politics. The problem with
a country devoted to a cause is that a cause is an abstraction. A
defender of a cause wants everything and has no interest in
negotiations.

A Moment of Disequilibrium in the Middle East

The status quo in the Middle East has been shattered as a result
of the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Now we are in a moment of
disequilibrium. The new Middle East will either be an American Middle
East – democratic, pluralistic, and capitalistic – or it will be a
Khomeinist Middle East. These are two different visions and they are
in competition.

Iran’s original calculation was to wait until President Bush finishes
out his term, but in recent months the leadership of the Islamic
Republic seems to have decided that it does not have to wait Bush
out – that Bush is already finished and the "good Americans" will
soon be back in power. Therefore, the Islamic Republic has gone on
the offensive, as can be seen in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan. For the first time since 1988, the Islamic Republic navy
is stopping ships, seizing British sailors. It is also intensifying
attacks on allied forces in parts of Iraq that were not affected
by insurgency. The Iranians want to take the credit for themselves
(instead of allowing al-Qaeda, or the Baathist remnants to do so)
and to proclaim themselves as the leaders of the region.

Everybody in the region is being affected. The Arabs in the Persian
Gulf are afraid of even the peaceful use of Iran’s nuclear energy
because the Iranian nuclear plant is less than 32 kilometers from
Kuwait. Polluted water will pour into the Gulf where Kuwaitis get
90 percent of their water through desalination. The nuclear plant
has a German design, but it was built by a Russian company, the same
company that built the Chernobyl reactor. Also the plant is located
in one of the most active earthquake zones in the world. Scientists
at Tehran University sent a report to the regime that this was the
wrong site for a nuclear plant.

The Arabs, Russians, Europeans, and Pakistanis all assume that if
they pressure the Islamic Republic, the Iranians would make a deal
with the Americans. They also assume that the Americans will take
care of the Iranians if they really get out of hand.

The Saudis have created a group of eight – six Gulf Cooperation
Council member states plus Egypt and Jordan. They also created another
group of seven with Islamic countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and
Malaysia plus Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan, and for the first time
excluded Iran. The Saudis are laying markers for a third vision of
the Middle East, one that would be different from the American and
Iranian visions.

Fighting the Iranian Regime

The majority of the Shi’ite clergy, in Iran and elsewhere, are against
the Iranian regime. There are more Iranian mullahs in prison today than
workers or intellectuals. Of all the grand ayatollahs, the last one who
was still cooperating with the regime until the 1980s was Montazeri,
who was supposed to be Khomeini’s successor. They are now all bitter
enemies of the regime because it is a distortion of Shi’ite theology.

One can help the Iranian people by helping those who are fighting
the regime inside Iran. These are mostly Iranian industrial workers,
who have been on strike in many areas. The Islamic Republic wants to
introduce a new labor code which they call Islamic, but it is really
slavery in which the worker has absolutely no rights.

Another group fighting the regime is women, who are very active,
especially in hundreds of NGOs. Segments of Iranian society such as
legal and medical associations, who elect their own leaders, have
liberated themselves in some degree from the regime. The regular
Iranian armed forces, as distinct from the Revolutionary Guards,
are also unhappy with the present situation.

The forces in Iran that are represented as revolutionary are shallow,
and they maintain their power because they control the instruments of
coercion – they can kill people, and they control the oil money. They
have 3-5 million people linked to them through the distribution
of favors.

Iraq: Situation Not as Bad as People Think

The Americans achieved all their objectives in the war in Iraq: they
toppled Saddam Hussein and broke his war machine. The Iraqis wrote a
constitution, held elections, and did what was necessary to create a
new system. In terms of war aims, this has been a very successful war.

If things are going badly in Iraq, the Iraqis will start leaving
in droves. Indeed, many Sunnis have left Iraq and are becoming new
refugees in Jordan and Syria. At the same time, many Shi’ites and
Kurds have returned to Iraq.

When things are going badly in Iraq, the flow of pilgrims to the holy
shrines in Najaf and Karbala slows down. According to this criterion,
the situation in Iraq is good because since the liberation, Iraq
has hosted some 12 million pilgrims from all over the world, for the
first time since the late 1980s. It makes Iraq the number one tourist
destination in the Middle East. In addition, the Iraqi dinar has been
appreciating against both the Iranian rial and the Kuwaiti dinar.

Iraqi agriculture has made a comeback and for the first time since
the 1950s Iraq is self-sufficient in food after peasants reclaimed
their lands and started growing on it. They are even exporting a lot
of food to Iran. Furthermore, the appearance of thousands of small
businesses everywhere shows that the situation in Iraq is not as bad
as people think.

–Boundary_(ID_nns52SzbIgrbwTJ3b3FUFQ)–

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ILLEGAL – AZERI CEC

Interfax, Russia
July 18 2007

BAKU. July 18 (Interfax) – The Nagorno-Karabakh presidential elections
scheduled for July 19 are illegal, head of the international relations
department at the Azeri Central Elections Commission (CEC) Rovzat
Gasymov said.

"Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan, and any electoral
process on Azeri territory should be guided by the Azeri Constitution
and legislation," he told Interfax.

"In the current conditions this should be called a political game of
a separatist regime, not elections," Gasymov said.

KOSOVO — "AN EXAMPLE" FOR SEPARATIST KARABAKH

Reuters, UK
July 18 2007

More STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan, July 17 (Reuters) – International
recognition of Kosovo as an independent state would give new impetus
to the sovereignty claim of Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh,
a senior separatist said on Tuesday.

Those opposing independence being granted to Serbia’s province
of Kosovo say it will set a legal precedent that could re-ignite
separatist disputes elsewhere, especially in the former Soviet Union,
scene of four unresolved "frozen conflicts."

"The Kosovo model of conflict settlement could be an example for the
resolution of other conflicts," Nagorno Karabakh’s separatist minister
Masis Mailyan told Reuters in an interview.

"If it (Kosovo) is recognised, then it is interesting to me in that
an unrecognised country has won recognition in spite of the opinion
of its former sovereign rulers."

"In this sense the Kosovo model is an interesting one for us. That
is to say, we could achieve recognition under a new scenario."

Russia is blocking a Western-backed proposal to set Kosovo on the
path to independence, citing the fact that Belgrade does not want to
relinquish sovereignty over its province.

Kosovo’s Albanian majority has warned that could force it into a
unilateral declaration of independence. If this happens, the United
States and some European states have indicated they may recognise
Kosovo as a sovereign state.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s fight to split from Azerbaijan was the bloodiest
of the former Soviet Union’s separatist wars, with about 35,000 people
killed and over a million forced to flee their homes.

The ethnic Armenian majority drove out Azerbaijan’s forces and now
runs its own affairs with support from neighbouring Armenia, but no
state has recognised the region’s independence.

Mailyan said Nagorno-Karabakh would keep pursuing a negotiated
settlement with Azerbaijan in the hope that would lead to international
recognition. Peace talks lasting more than 15 years have failed to
make significant progress.

But he said recognition for Kosovo would encourage Nagorno-Karabakh
to pursue a second track, to lobby foreign states and international
organisations to grant it recognition with or without Azerbaijan’s
consent.

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, separatists in Georgia’s
South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, and in Moldova’s breakaway
Transdniestria, are also seeking international recognition and say
they are following developments in Kosovo with interest.

COURT ACQUITS ROYAL ARMENIA COMPANY LEADERSHIP

arminfo
2007-07-16 13:10:00

First Instance Court of Yerevan Center and Nork-Marash communities
rendered judgment of acquittal on the case of Royal Armenian Company
leadership, Monday.

Judge Pargev Ohanyan acquitted Royal Armenia Director Gagik Hakobyan
and Deputy Director Aram Ghazaryan. The court made a decision on
initiation of a criminal case against "FIG" Company Director Vache
Petrosyan for misinterpretation.

To recall, G. Hakobyan and A. Ghazaryan were arrested in October 2005
for forging commercial invoices and counterfeiting of 1.5 bln drams.

SHOAH CLASS ACTION SUIT

0,1518,494312,00.html
July 13, 2007

Children of Holocaust Survivors to Sue Germany

A class action suit is to be filed in Israel against the German
government on behalf of the children of Holocaust survivors who are in
urgent need of psychological treatment.

Over 1 million Jews were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp
during the Holocaust. Now children of Holocaust survivors are filing a
class action suit against the German government.
A class action suit is to be filed in Israel against the German
government on behalf of the children of Holocaust survivors.

The lawsuit, which will be filed in Tel Aviv on Sunday, will demand
that the German government pay for the psychological treatment of
children of Holocaust survivors living in Israel (more…).

The suit is being filed by the Fisher Fund, an Israeli charity that
helps Holocaust survivors, and will represent tens of thousands of
Holocaust victims’ children. The fund expects the number registered for
the class action suit to soon reach 30,000 people, due to enormous
media interest in Israel.

The suit is intended to benefit an estimated 15,000 children of
survivors in Israel who are in need of psychological treatment as a
result of being raised in dysfunctional homes. They suffer from
depression, anxiety and other psychological disorders.

However there is little money available to pay for treatment — neither
from the Israeli government nor from other sources like the Conference
on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which only supports direct
survivors of the Holocaust and victims’ heirs.

The class action suit is being filed after informal negotiations with
the German government over a solution to the problem broke down. "We
tried to negotiate out of court," Baruch Mazor, general director of the
Fisher Fund, told SPIEGEL ONLINE Friday. "We had a very good contact in
the German government, whom we met once. But he was instructed very
strongly by the government in May not to talk to us any more, and he
refused to take our calls. So we had no choice but to go to court."

He said there was "huge pressure" from the children of survivors,
hundreds of whom came to a meeting the Fisher Fund recently held in Tel
Aviv, to go to court after the negotiations broke down.

The Fisher Fund stresses that all they want is a solution to an
"objective problem" and that the money will only be used to pay for
treatment and an accompanying cultural project where interviews with
children of survivors would be filmed. The money would not be given as
compensation to survivors’ children.

The suit contains case studies detailing the condition of five children
of survivors, who volunteered their medical records and who are
suffering from various levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The suit also includes a professional opinion by a top Israeli
psychiatrist who confirms that clinical research shows a high frequency
of emotional disorders among the children of survivors and identifies
them as suffering from PTSD.

It is not clear what chance the suit has of success. The German Finance
Ministry told SPIEGEL ONLINE in a statement given in April that a class
action suit is "unlikely to succeed."

If the case does not succeed in Israel, Mazor says the Fisher Fund may
file another suit in a German or international court. They are already
collecting money to do so, he said. "But if the Tel Aviv court
recognizes that the second generation are also victims, then that is
already a significant step," he said.

Mazor spoke of "a huge and very positive reaction" to the Fisher Fund’s
campaign in Israel, where the case was featured in several leading
Israeli newspapers Friday as well as on a leading radio station. "It’s
not just a lawsuit, it’s the beginning of a movement," he said.
"Germany will somehow have to react to the problem. It will have to
adopt not only a legal position but also a moral position."

"People in Israel feel we are doing something moral and important," he
said. "They say we are doing holy work."

dgs

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TURKISH WAR MACHINE WITH
140,000 SOLDIERS, REVVING
ITS ENGINES FOR NORTH IRAQ

It is not a matter of "if" but on the "when" of the first Turkish shot
on Iraqi land

ANKARA – by Jacques N. Couvas – The button of the stopwatch counting
down the invasion of northern Iraq by the Turkish army was probably
pressed on Tuesday, at an impromptu meeting between Turkish President
Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The two men have, in theory, scheduled meetings on Thursdays,
which are often not maintained, as they do not see politically
eye-to-eye. The surprise meeting on Tuesday has sparked speculation
that the assault is near. Cynics, however, say this is just another
coup de theatre, which aims at shaking from the shoulders the United
States and Iraq, who are clearly opposed to military action against the
Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) on Iraqi soil.
False alarms have been almost a routine since the beginning of
this year, when the general staff of the armed forces energetically
requested the government’s approval to move into northern Iraq in large
numbers in order to avenge the weekly casualties by the army in eastern
Turkey, caused by PKK armed militants stationed in refugee camps and
villages in Iraq.
The Turkish army has been drawing plans since last year for a
"total cleanup" of that region, but the government has avoided
responding clearly. A wait-and-see strategy has prevailed within the
Justice and Development Party (AKP), the ruling political formation.
Other events this week corroborate the growing belief that the
incursion is near. The U.S. ambassador to Ankara on Monday had to
publicly reject in dismay allegations by the Turkish press that his
government has been selling weapons to PKK members. The United States,
as well as the EU and Turkey, consider this organisation a terrorist
one.
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, head of the general staff, speaking on
Tuesday at a security conference in the Mediterranean resort city of
Antalya, criticised the international community for what he claims was
lack of foreign understanding for the situation and cooperation with
Turkey to "combat Kurdish terrorism" in Iraq directed against his
country.
Gen. Buyukanit came out of a short period of silence on the
subject, to which he had retreated after Prime Minister Erdogan had in
late June declared that he did not plan to allow in the short-term
massive military action in the neighboring country. In Antalya,
however, he was outspoken.
"While we maintain our struggle against this terrorist
organisation," said Buyukanit referring to the PKK, "and expect
international cooperation in this struggle, we are having difficulty
understanding some positions and attitudes that we face. These
attitudes not only disappoint us but contradict the basic notion that
combating terrorism requires better cooperation."
More indicative, perhaps, of the signs of an impending incursion
into Iraq by Turkish forces is the recent escape of a small group of
PKK members who fled a refugee camp in North Iraq and crossed the
border to Turkey to seek asylum.
At a press conference this week, organised by local authorities,
they claimed that large numbers of Turkish Kurds were fleeing the
region in anticipation of a Turkish advance, and that Turkish artillery
was abundantly shelling PKK combatant positions.
There is suspicion, however, among observers that the escape and
revelations may have been orchestrated by Turkish security services,
within the context of psychological warfare, either to incite PKK
activists in Northern Iraq to abandon the region, or to prepare the
Turkish opinion for future events. Either way, such incidents and
information from "beyond the enemy lines" are typical of
pre-intervention activity and carry a message or a warning.
The meeting on Tuesday between the two Turkish leaders also
indicates that Erdogan is in a situation where he has either to comply
with the military, supported by and supporting Sezer, or face the
consequences of his moderate approach to the handling of the Kurdish
problem.
Not that long ago, on June 13, the prime minister rebuked
insistence by the military to cross the border into Iraq. This was
consistent with earlier statements of intent to build productive
relationships with political chiefs in northern Iraq rather than punish
their constituents for their support to the PKK.

click here for the remaining article.

TURKISH DAILY NEWS ON GENOCIDE BILL: TROUBLES THREATEN TURKEY

09.07.2007 – /PanARMENIAN.Net – Cuneyd Zapsu, a top adviser to Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that a secret meeting was
held with Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy
Pelosi this February on H. Res. 106 – the Armenian Genocide bill.
Richard Holbrooke, a Democrat and a former top diplomat,
arranged and attended the meeting. Holbrooke is known for his role in
putting an end to the war in Bosnia as assistant to the Secretary of
State in former president Bill Clinton’s administration, Turkish Daily
News reports. Zapsu voiced the Turkish government’s concerns over the
resolution, saying its passage by the House would seriously hurt
bilateral ties with Ankara. The Pelosi-Zapsu meeting took place shortly
after Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also visited the U.S. capital in
early February. But neither Gul nor three Turkish parliamentary teams
visiting Washington one after another succeeded in their "struggle"
against the bill and had talks with the House speaker.
At the same time the newspaper reminds that a number of worrying
developments are taking place in recent weeks for Turkey, since the
number of representatives cosponsoring the measure in late June rose to
218 in the 435-member House. "Obtaining the support of 218 lawmakers
does not automatically enable the Armenians to force a House floor vote
for the resolution, but means the overcoming of a psychological
threshold. The resolution likely would reach the House floor agenda any
time after early September, when Congress returns to work after a
summer recess in August. But still this would come after critical
parliamentary elections in Turkey on July 22," the newspaper underlines.

ARF DASHNAKTSOUTIUN PARTICIPATES IN SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL MEETING

Yerkir.am – July 06, 2007 – ARF press service reported that a Socialist
International council’s meeting was held at the International Labour
Organization’s headquarter in Geneva on June 29-30. Over 400
representatives from 120 political parties participated. The ARF was
represented by ARF Bureau member Mario Nalbandian and ARF Supreme Body
of Armenia representative Armen Rustamian.
SI president George Papandreou from the Greek party PASOK and
many other spoke at the opening ceremony.
The SI council discussed the conflicts in the South Caucasus
region among other conflicts, like Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Lebanon,
Western Balkans, Columbia, Nepal.
Armen Rustamian was the chief reporter on this issue, who was
followed by Azerbaijani Socialist Democratic Party co-chairman Araz
Alizade and Poland’s Left Democratic Alliance member and European
Parliament member Tadeus Ivinsky.
The SI council’s meeting also discussed global climate and
energy issues.
The Commission for a Sustainable World Society was elected.
The meeting adopted resolutions. The resolution on the South
Caucasus conflicts was mainly based on Armen Rustamian’s report.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Mario Nalbandian and Armen
Rustamian had several meetings with the participants of the meeting.
News in Brief – by Sevag Devledian
On July 13, the earthly remains of Alex Manoogian, National Hero of the
Republic of Armenia, Life President of the AGBU and national benefactor
of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, along with those of his wife,
Marie Manoogian, will arrive in Armenia. The interment service will
take place in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin on July 17 at 10:00
am, at which time the remains shall be committed to the earth in sight
of the Treasury Museum built through their sponsorship. The funeral
will take place with full state Honor’s and church services, under the
presidency of His Holiness Karekin II and with the participation of the
President of the Republic of Armenia, high ranking state officials, the
children and family of the Manoogians. The bodies of the benefactors
will lie in state in the Monastery of St. Gayane until July 17, where
Armenians can offer their prayers and respect.
New information was published concerning the murder of Hrant Dink, the
former editor-in-chief of the Weekly Akos, as well as the attack
organised against the State Council (Supreme Instance of Appeal). The
new details were revealed during the investigation conducted against
the Turkish "Movement of the Union of Patriotic Forces." This
information was provided by the Turkish press. Taner Unal, the detained
Chairman of the Union, declared that retired Captain Mussafer Tekin is
the initiator of the assault organised against the State Council
(Supreme Instance of Appeal), as a result of which one judge was killed
and 4 were injured. The name of Hrant Dink was touched upon during the
secret listening of the phone conversation of the members of the Union
during the investigation. The contents of the conversation between
Vehbi Shanle, the detained Deputy Chairman of the Union, and a Nezhat
Mete ran as follows: "Hello, what news? Hello, everything is OK. Was it
our friends who killed that man yesterday? Yes, it was our friends.
Have they been discovered? No, no, do not worry, they have not been
found."
The minister of agriculture Davit Lokyan said in his address to the
Armenian Apricot International Conference in Yerevan 6 thousand
hectares of apricot orchards were restored in 2002-2007. He said it is
possible to produce 200 thousand tons of apricots, and the government
is making efforts to use new technologies for processing the harvest.
Armenia criticised NATO and the European Union on Friday for turning a
blind eye to Turkey’s long-running blockade of its borders, saying
Ankara’s refusal to open land routes was costing the small, landlocked
state a third of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). "Europeans are shy
over these issues. They love to talk about human rights, about
democratic values but it’s much easier to talk rather than to implement
anything," Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan told Reuters in an interview.
The Union of Armenian Writers plans to create a special body that will
be advertising Armenian literature abroad. Hovhannes Gregorian, the
secretary of the Union, told Armenpress the body will be investigating
in which of world countries Armenian literature may be in demand and
which country’s literature may be popular in Armenia.
Sports – by Sevag Devledian
The Grand Slam dreams of Marcos Baghdatis will have to wait, but in
this year’s Wimbledon, he was able to record one of the longest matches
against Djokovic, a five set five hour thriller in the quarter finals.
Edmond Aynedjian’s run at the Junior Tennis Championships of Paphos
came to end in the semis of the event as he lost to Andreas Aravis of
the Famagusta Club 2-0
Defending IBF and IBO world flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan was
stunned on Saturday night as challenger Nonito Donaire powered his way
to 112lb glory, knocking out the unbeaten Armenian in five dominant
rounds at The Harbour Yard Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA.
The European Judo Youth Championships were concluded last week in
Malta. Seven sportsmen represented Armenia in the championship. Gor
Khorotian (Yerevan) took the bronze medal among 24 judoists in the 90
kg weight category.

GIBRAHAYER E-MAGAZINE TAKING A BREAK

As of next week, Gibrahayer e-magazine will be taking a summer break.
It will resume publications on the first week of September 2007
Gibrahayer e-magazine – Nicosia – Cyprus

g i b r a h a y c a l e n d a r & e v e n t s
Wednesday 11 July, 2007 at 10:00 am – Swiss Armenian saxophonist Araxi
– who gave a few concerts in Cyprus last year will be performing at
Orpheas Jazz Club near Famagusta Gate together with club owner Eric
Simonian. For more information please call 99697259
18 July – 5 August – Khalkidiki Summer Camp – Greece – by The Armenian
Relief Society (HOM) of Macedonia and Thrace. Applications are invited
from boys and girls aged 10-17 who wish to attend. Departure from
Cyprus July 17, return to Cyprus August 6. Participation: 280 euros.
Applications to be submitted until 30 June 2007 to Vera Tavitian Tel
99520071 and Maral Adourian Tel 99469634.
Friday 10 – Friday 17 August, 2007 – Annual Summer Camp of the Armenian
Youth Federation of Cyprus at the Girls Guide Troodos Camp for ages
10-19. Participation fee 50 cyp. Special discounted prices for members
of the same family. A fun, educational and sporting program will be
organised by the Organising Committee of Panagoum.
9-15 August in Armenia and in Artsakh – ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Students
and Youth organisation’s camp/gathering with the participation of youth
from Armenia, Artsakh and the diaspora. For further information on
participation from Cyprus please contact Vicken Sarkissian on 99608423.
8-9 September – Friendly match at the Antonis Papadopoulos stadium in
Larnaca, as the National Football team of Armenia visits Cyprus.

MEDIAMAX AND ARMENIAN STOCK EXCHANGE PRESENTED THE "EXCHANGE QUOTATIONS IN THE CELL PHONE" JOINT PROJECT

Mediamax
Jul 12 2007

Yerevan, July 12 /Mediamax/. Mediamax News Agency and the Armenian
Stock Exchange (Armex) presented the "Exchange quotations in the cell
phone" joint project in Yerevan today.

>From now on, the interested subscribers of "ArmenTel" and "VivaCell"
mobile operators can follow the currency trading in the Exchange and
the formation of the weighted average rate in on-line mode, as well
as receive information on the cost of securities and the yield of
the bonds.

About 3 months ago, Mediamax Agency turned to the Armex with a
proposal to jointly elaborate the product. Receiving the consent of
Armex, Mediamax attracted the third partner to the realization of
the project – Mobbis Company, which is specializing in the sphere of
mobile communications.

The project was supported by the Central Bank of Armenia and the
Swedish OMX Exchange Operator, which will become the new owner
of Armex.

During the news conference, which took place today, the "Exchange
quotations in the cell phone" project was presented by the Director
of Mediamax Agency Ara Tadevosyan, the Executive Director of Armex
Armen Melikian and the Director of Mobbis Hovhannes Qeshishyan.

Speaking during the presentation, the Board Member of the Central Bank
of Armenia Amalia Saribekian welcomed the initiative of Mediamax,
noting that the "Exchange quotations in the cell phone" project
will assist the increase of transparency of the financial market and
raising the awareness of the society.

To receive information on the best bids and asks for purchase or sale
of a dollar/euro, the price and the volume of the latest deal during
the trading session in the Armex (from 11:00 to 15:00 on work days),
the subscriber of "ArmenTel" or "VivaCell" should send USD1 or EUR1
SMS to the 1500 short number.

To receive information on all the bids and asks for purchase or sale
of a dollar/euro and all the deals, concluded in the course of the
trading session in the Armex, (from 11:00 up to 15:00 on work days),
the subscriber of "ArmenTel" or "VivaCell" should send USD2 or EUR2
SMS to the 1500 short number.

To receive information on all the deals concluded and the formed rates
after the conclusion of the trading session in the Armex (from 15:01
up to 23:59 on work days), the subscriber of "ArmenTel" or "VivaCell"
should send USD or EUR SMS to the 1500 short number.

To receive information in the price of securities or the yield of the
bonds, the subscriber of "ArmenTel" or "VivaCell" should send the word
Armex and the Exchange code of the company the subscriber is interested
in, to the short number 1500, for example, Armex HEZB or Armex ARKBB1.

The cost of each of the above-mentioned services is 150 AMD (including
VAT) for each message received by the subscriber.

Detailed information on the project is places on

RF VICE PRIME MINISTER PROMISED TO RETURN ARMENIAN APRICOTS TO RUSSIA

arminfo
2007-07-12 11:03:00

The first vice Prime Minister of RF Sergey Ivanov indicated necessity
of organizing a ferry transportation of apricots from Armenia to
Russia through the Georgian Poti port and the Russian "Caucasus". "We
have promised and we should redeem the promise" , S. Ivanov said at
yesterday’s session of the Naval Board.

During the April visit to Armenia, S. Ivanov discussed solution of
the transport problem with RA President Robert Kocharyan and Prime
Minister Serzh Sargsyan as to increase the goods turnover between
the two countries.

The matter concerned assurance of summer transportation of 10,000
tons of the Armenian apricots to Russia. As Ivanov said, " it is very
important to organize an uninterrupted delivery of apricots within
July". "We understand seasonality and importance of assuring the
export of apricots, which are in great demand in the Russian market",
Ivanov told the Armenian interlocutors.

They also agreed to pay more attention to assurance of security of
the railway ferry between the Russian "Caucasus" and the Georgian
"Poti" ports, by which cargo is conveyed from Armenia and back. Serzh
Sargsyan thinks that Russia and Armenia should work over improvement
of the motor-container ferry carriages as well, as there are freights
in Armenia which are not subject to railway transportation, the
ITAR-TASS reports.

THEY CALL BAKO SAHAKYAN TO WITHDRAW HIS CANDIDACY

A1+
[12:35 pm] 10 July, 2007

"The Social Democratic Hnchakyan Party" has disseminated an
announcement on the eve of 19 July presidential elections in
Nagorno-Karabakh. The party is very much concerned about the processes
around the presidential elections in Karabakh.

"Recently, information is circulating in the media that one of the
presidential candidates in the NKR, namely Bako Sahakyan, is drug
addicted. This information was disseminated by a political analyst
Igor Muradyan, whose opinion should be taken into consideration
and appropriate conclusions should be made on them. In case Bako
Sahakyan is elected, the Azerbaijani authorities will use this in
various international institutes and Karabakh will be observed as
a transit passageway for narcotics. According to our sources, Bako
Sahakyan does not have even a 10-year registration in Karabakh",
says the announcement.

"The Social Democratic Hnchakyan Party" appeals to Bako Sahakyan and
offers him to withdraw his candidacy for the sake of Nagorno-Karabakh.

ARMENIAN SPORTSMEN TAKE 9TH PLACE IN TEAM STRUGGLE IN FIRST SPORTS GAMES OF MEMBER COUNTRIES OF BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION ORGANIZATION

Noyan Tapan
Jul 10, 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian delegation, which took
part in the first sports games of the member countries of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation Organization returned to its native country
from the city of Trabzon in Turkey on July 9. Yeghish Davtian, the
Head of the delegation, informed a Noyan Tapan correspondent that
about 2 thousand and 5 hundred sportsmen from 11 countries, including
38 from Armenia, took part in these sports games. The latters took
part in 5 out of 11 kinds of sport included in the program of these
games. The Armenian representative team took 9th place in the team
struggle with the calculation of medals: everybody was awarded with
medals, except football players. As for the delegates of Russia,
Turkey, and the Ukraine, they took first three places.

The next games will take place in the city of Constantsa in Romania
in 2010.