Author: Antonian Lara

AZERBAIJANI PREPARED ARMENIA’S REPRESENTATIVES FOR EUROVISION-2009

APA
May 12 2009
Azerbaijan

Moscow. Ulkar Gasimova – APA. Clothes, hairdo, makeup, choreographic
etudes and stage decoration of Armenia’s representatives in
Eurovision-2009 song contest Anush and Inga have been arranged by
Azerbaijani Aslan Ahmadov, APA reports quoting Novosti-Armenia.

Aslan Ahmadov is one of the founders of Fresh Art Company that arranged
the performance of Armenian representatives. Together with the other
founders David Gevorkov and Alexander Siradekyan he arranged special
composition for Anush and Inga. Founders of Fresh Art said they were
proud of preparing Armenia’s representatives for Eurovision-2009.

"We are proud that we have been commissioned to represent mighty and
ancient state Armenia with not simply a song, but an extraordinary
song reflecting ancient culture and ethnos."

Aslan Ahmadov, who arranged the performance of Armenian representatives
in Eurovision-2009, was born in Baku in 1973. He graduated from Art
University in Baku in 1994 and moved to St. Petersburg. Together with
Armenians David Gevorkov and Alexander Siradekyan he founded Fresh
Art Company. APA’s special correspondent covering Eurovision-2009 song
contest asked Aslan Ahmadov to comment on it, but he refused to do it.

THE NUMBER OF THE NKR VISITORS IS INCREASING

ARMENPRESS
May 7, 2009

STEPANAKERT, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS: According to the data of the NKR
Foreign Ministry’s Consular Service, the number of foreign citizens
who visited the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the first quarter of 2009
increased about twice, compared with the same span of 2008. NKR MFA
Press Service told Armenoress that prevailing are citizens of France,
Iran, Great Britain, Holland, Russia, Poland, and others.

According to the NKR MFA Consular Service, in spite of the world
financial crisis, a stable trend of increasing the number of foreign
citizens visiting our Republic is fixed. They are mainly tourists,
the peak of their visits to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic falling on
the period between May and September.

BERLIN CONTACTS ANKARA OVER CONSUL CONTROVERSY

Earthtimes.prg
May 7 2009

Berlin – Berlin has spoken to Ankara about controversial reported
remarks by a Turkish consul, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday
in Berlin, without disclosing what Germany asked for. There has been
outrage in Germany at reports that Consul General Hakan Kivanc, who
is based in Dusseldorf, claimed that Germans "would like to tattoo
the letter T" into the skins of immigrant Turks and "do the same to
them as was done to Jews under the Nazis."

Witnesses allege Kivanc made the remark at a private social event on
February 22. Kivanc denied making the remark and others like it.

"We are currently in contact with the Turkish side about it," the
German Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The conversation by telephone
took place between senior diplomats.

After two witnesses made sworn statements against Kivanc, centre-
right German political figures accused him of insulting Germans and
demanded Ankara remove him.

The allegations were not made public until the end of April by the Mor
Gabriel Initiative, a group representing people in Germany who belong
to the religious and ethnic minorities of Turkey, including Arameans,
Alawites, Armenians, Greeks and Kurds.

Ismail Coban, an artist who was among the six people who were dining
with Kivanc when the remarks were reportedly made, criticized the
publication of a private conversation as a breach of "our values."

He said Thursday the meeting had been a relaxed chat with drink and
food, where nobody had been writing down what was said.

REMARKS BY CLINTON, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER NALBANDIAN

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 5, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian before their meeting
Treaty Room
Washington, D.C.
May 5, 2009

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, good morning, and it’s a great pleasure to
welcome the foreign minister here today. The relationship between
the United States and Armenia is a very lasting and durable one. The
Obama Administration is committed to broadening it, deepening it,
working with Armenia to assist them in their continued development and
aspirations. And it’s a great pleasure to welcome the minister. And
I look forward to our talks, sir.

FOREIGN MINISTER NALBANDIAN: Thank you, Madame Secretary. Thank you
very much for your warm welcome. Our meeting is a good opportunity
to move forward our bilateral agenda and to discuss a wide range of
issues. We are determined to strengthen, to deepen, to enhance our
friendly partnership with the United States. This is the main message
of my visit to Washington. And I would like to use this opportunity
to express our thanks to the Administration of the United States,
to Madame Secretary, and to the State Department for all constant
efforts to help to support the normalization process with Turkey and
settlement – peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Thank you very much.

SECRETARY CLINTON: It’s an honor to assist. Thank you, Mr. Minister.

FOREIGN MINISTER NALBANDIAN: Thank you very much.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all very much.

U.S. APPRECIATES HIGHLY ARMENIA’S INPUT IN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PROVISION

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.05.2009 12:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Currently in Washington, Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian met with U.S. President’s National Security Adviser,
General James Jones to discuss issues related to U.S.-Armenian
relations and regional security provision.

General Jones appreciated highly Armenia’s participation in peacemaking
missions and input in international security provision.

The officials also dwelled on normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations and settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the RA MFA
press office reported.

INTENSIFICATION OF RELATIONS WITH EASTERN COUNTRIES IS IN THE EU’S VITAL INTEREST

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2009 19:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Eastern Partnership Summit to strengthen EU links
with Eastern Europe and South Caucasus The first Eastern Partnership
(EP) summit in Prague on 7 May will gather leaders from the EU Member
States, EU institutions and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia,
Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to launch this new framework of
reinforced bilateral and multilateral cooperation. This ambitious
initiative will lead to deepening of political and economic relations,
more energy security, increased mobility and will give an additional
boost to pro-democratic and market oriented reforms in partner
countries.

President Jose’ Manuel Barroso will represent the European Commission,
accompanied by Commissioner for External Relations and European
Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The Summit will be hosted
by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek representing the rotating
EU Presidency.

"The time has come for a visible step change in relations with our
East European neighbors" – said President Barroso. "It’s in the EU’s
vital interest to intensify relations with these countries aiming for
political association and economic integration in order to promote
more stability and security on the EU’s Eastern border. Through the
Eastern Partnership the EU also shows its solidarity with the partners
so deeply affected by the consequences of the current financial and
economic crisis," Euro Committee press release cited him as saying.

RATIFICATION OF THE KARS AGREEMENT WOULD MEAN REFUSAL FROM CERTAIN TERRITORIAL CLAIMS
Alisa Gevorgyan

"Radiolur"
05.05.2009 17:22

The ratification of the Kars Agreement by the National Assembly will
mean that Armenia refuses from certain territorial claims, Dean of
the Chair of History of the Yerevan State University, Professor Edik
Minasyan told a press conference today.

Today the Turkish press is flooded with information that the first
point of the road map envisages ratification of the Kars Agreement
by the Parliaments of Armenia and Turkey.

The historian hopes that the truth about the content of the document
will be finally made public, and the information about the ratification
of the Kars Agreement is simply a trick characteristic of Turkish
diplomacy. However, the historian is not very optimistic about this.

The Kars Agreement was signed in 1921 by two subjects not recognized by
the international community, Ottoman Turkey and Soviet Armenia. Under
the Agreement Armenia yielded 24 thousand sq. km. to Turkey. Repeated
ratification of the Agreement has long been on the agenda of official
Ankara.

‘VIVACELL-MTS’ AND FPWC CREATE PEACE PARK IN FRONT OF ST. GRIGOR LUSAVORICH CHURCH

ArmInfo
2009-05-04 10:32:00

On May 2nd, 12:00 o’clock a big tree planting event took place near
St. Grigor Lusavorich Church, which symbolized the creation of the
Peace Park.

>From April 15th to May 2nd the Foundation for the Preservation of
Wildlife and Cultural Assets in the Republic of Armenia with the
support of VivaCell-MTS organized a series of environmental events
dedicated to the Earth Day.

In the framework of the Green Generation campaign tree planting and
garbage collecting events, children nature painting exhibitions
were implemented in different marzes of Armenia. The peak point
of the first series of events was the big Earth Day celebration in
Yerevan. Members of Government, Armenian Apostolic Church, Yerevan
Municipality and representatives of foreign missions in Armenia
(Head of OSCE Yerevan office Sergey Kapinos, Ambassadors of U.S.,
Germany, Poland and Great Britain to Armenia, UN RC / UNDP RR Consuelo
Vidal) and all those who’d like to join Armenia’s Green Generation
participated in the Yerevan event.

Protection and maintenance of natural environment in Armenia is one of
the causes to which VivaCell-MTS is committed as a corporate citizen.

Implementation of environmental awareness campaigns aimed at
behavior change is considered to be one of the most effective means
of environmental protection. This is the reason why VivaCell- MTS is
sponsoring and providing ongoing support to the environmental events
of national magnitude organized by FPWC.

AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 30, 2009 Thursday

NEARLY 60% OF ABLE-BODIED ARMENIANS UNEMPLOYED – REPORT

58% of able-bodied population in Armenia is unemployed. As of April 1,
the number of jobless citizens has increased by 99,000 and 20.7% of
them are youths, according to the Kavkazskiy Uzel (Caucasus Joint)
website. Artak Simonian, deputy head of Armenias employment service,
has said unemployment is a pressing problem particularly in the South
Caucasus republics regions. The number of job-seekers in the country
has risen 10% in comparison with 2008. According to World Bank
estimates, 172,000 more people will be left without jobs in the
country of 3.5 million in 2009 and 2010. The number of poor people
will total 906,000. The WBs report also says that the Armenian
governments efforts to reduce poverty are inefficient.

Russian guards take up duties on Abkhaz, S. Ossetia borders

19:22 | 02/ 05/ 2009

ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russian border guards have started
their duties as part of a joint border-protection agreement concluded
between Russia and two former Georgian republics, a border service
spokesperson said on Saturday.

The border deals, which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed with
the two republics at a ceremony in the Kremlin on Thursday, have been
condemned by NATO for being a "clear contravention" of a
French-brokered cease fire agreement.

"Border guard units…have started their duties on protecting the
borders in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Sergei Livantsov said without
giving details of how many personnel were involved in the operations.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states
after a brief war with Georgia.

The border agreement comes at a time of heightened tensions between
Moscow and the military alliance, following planned NATO exercises in
Georgia due to start later in the week and the expulsion of two Russian
NATO envoys over spying claims.

The NATO exercises have been slammed by Russia despite reassurances
that they will not involve light or heavy weaponry. Some 19 NATO
countries and 1,300 troops are expected to participate, although
Serbia, Moldova and Kazakhstan have withdrawn.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said earlier, "NATO’s plans to hold
exercises in Georgia…are an open provocation. Exercises must not be
held there where a war has been fought," and warned that the exercises
could have negative consequences for those who made the decision to
hold them.

NATO announced the expulsion of the two Russian diplomats, one of whom
is the son of Russia’s EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov, on Thursday. The move
follows a spy scandal involving an Estonian official, Herman Simm, who
was jailed for 12 years for handing over secret documents to Russian
intelligence operatives.

Russia’s foreign ministry called the move "scandalous" and added
"Naturally, we will draw our own conclusions about this provocation."

According to Nesterenko, the new borders agreements, "are designed to
strengthen security and stability in the region, and do not interfere
with the current search for acceptable formats of international
presence [in the region]."

Under the agreements, Russia will guard the Abkhaz and South Ossetian
borders, including maritime frontiers, until both republics form their
own border guard services. The agreements, for an initial five years,
can be renewed upon their expiration.