Author: Antonian Lara

UNIFORM STATE EXAM PREPARATION STARTS IN ARMENIAN SCHOOLS ON JAN 31

ARKA
Jan 15, 2009

YEREVAN, January 15. /ARKA/. Evaluation and testing center of Armenian
Ministry of Education and Science announces start of preparations
for state finals and uniform (entrance) examinations for 2008-2009
academic year school-leavers in institutions with secondary (full)
education programs.

The preparation relates to the exams on the following subjects:
Armenian language and Armenian literature, mathematics, history
of Armenia, general history, chemistry, physics, foreign language
(English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Persian and Italian),
geography and biology, says the center’s report.

School-leavers (entrants) have to fill in an application. The documents
to be submitted together with the application are a 3*4 photo, a copy
of passport and a copy of birth certificate. Apart from it, applicants
have to transfer 1,500Drams to the account of the center in Bank VTB
(Armenia) to participate in each of the examinations and attach the
receipt of the payment to the application.

Participation in the examinations is free for those demobilized after
the binding call-up service, congenital disabled of the age under
18, children of military servants who died while protecting the RA,
as well as for citizens under the age of 23 left with no parents’
care. People belonging to any of these categories have to attach the
respective documents to their applications.

The deadline for submitting an application is March 16 2009.

SERZH SARGSYAN: IN CERTAIN DIRECTIONS OF DEFENSE COMPLEX DEVELOPMENT ARMENIA SHOULD ASSUME THE LEADING ROLE

ArmInfo
2009-01-14 00:10:00

ArmInfo. On Jan 13 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held a working
meeting, which covered the results of the first stage of strategic
revision of defense. This process consisting of 5 stages is to be
completed by April 2010.

As the Armenian presidential press-service told ArmInfo, the president
said he visits the military units frequently and personally observes
the work being done, as well as the life conditions, moral atmosphere
and combat training of soldiers. The progress is obvious and has a
firm basis, he said.

"The defense system is a complex which should keep up with the
times. Taking this into account, we should not only be able to possess
information about current processes, but we ourselves should assume
the leading role in certain directions. Henceforth we should match
the best indicators", Sargsyan said. He added that reforms must go
without "days off" the way the Armed Forces do.

Sargsyan pointed out that the inter-department commission was
working in close compliance with the schedule under the control of
the secretary of the Security Council and the Defense Minister.

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan reported on the implementation of the
project to assess security level and potential threats. He pointed
out that the project was aimed at ensuring the long-term development
of the defense sector and its preparedness for present and possible
challenges.

While summing up the results of the meeting Sargsyan pointed out that
one must not be dogmatic in assessing potential threats and that in
the near future such assessments must be revised.

DENO GOLD MINING COMPANY NOT TO BE SOLD

Noyan Tapan

Jan 13, 2009

KAPAN, JANUARY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. Robert Falleta, director general of
Deno Gold Mining Company – the former Kapan Mining and Processing
Enterprise, denied the information that the financial state of
Dundee Precious Metals is not good and it intends to sell Deno Gold
Mining. "I as the director general has heard about it for the first
time. I would be the first to be informed about such a thing," he said.

60% of the enterpise’s employees have been laid off. No ores are mined,
the plant and mine are not operating. According to R. Falleta, the
employees are participating in training courses and the improvement
of the enterprise. It was mentioned that the laid off employees will
work by turns: if an employee of the same speciality is laid off for
a month, while his colleague is working, the latter will be laid off
next month.

R. Falleta found it difficult to say what will happen in 3 months. "The
truth is that no one can say what will happen in 2009. Unless the
economic situation changes in the world, the relaunching of the
enterprise is likely to be delayed. But we have programs and we are
working in this direction," the director general stated.

ARMENIA ADHERED TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF CSTO ACTIVITY

TREND News Agency
Jan 13 2009
Azerbaijan

President Serzh Sargsyan today received the Secretary General
of the Collective Security Treaty organization (CSTO) Nikolay
Bordyuzha. Armenia currently presides over the Organization, and
President of the CSTO Board Serzh Sargsyan discussed with Nikolay
Bordyuzha issues related to the organization of the recurrent summit
of the Organization, and shaping its agenda.

The Armenian President attached importance to the constant
improvement of CSTO activity and noted that it will allow resisting the
contemporary challenges more efficiently. According to Serzh Sarhsyan,
this was the main purpose of the previous non-official summit of SCTO
Heads of State held in Kazakhstan in December, reported Public Radio.

Noting that the military-political cooperation is one of the pivotal
directions of CSTO activity, President Sargsyan said Armenia will
uphold the efforts for coordinating the joint work, making full and
more effective use of the existing potential.

Reference was made to the main issues the Organization faces and the
ways of their resolution.

Agence France Presse, France
Jan 9 2009

Turk prosecutor probes campaign of apology for Armeanian deaths:
report

ANKARA, Jan 9 2009

A Turkish prosecutor on Friday launched an investigation into an
Internet petition that apologises to Armenians for the World War I
massacres of their kinsmen, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The probe was launched after several Ankara residents filed a
complaint asking for the organisers and signatories to be punished for
"openly denigrating the Turkish nation", an offence that carries two
years in prison, the report said.

Should the prosecutor decide to bring formal charges at the end of the
investigation, he will have to seek approval from the justice
minister.

The petition, drafted by a group of university professors and put
online on December 15, states that the signatory "does not
accept… the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman
Armenians were subjected to in 1915." It ends with an offer of
apologies.

By 1300 GMT Friday, nearly 27,000 people — among them intellectuals
and artists — had signed the text.

Although the petition did not use the term "genocide" in a bid to
prevent legal complications, it was nonetheless slammed by
politicians, diplomats and even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
whose government is trying to normalise relations with Armenia.

Although neighbours, Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and
their relationship has been taken hostage by deep differences over the
1915-1917 massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, the
predecessor of Turkey.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were systematically
killed by Ottoman Turks as their empire fell apart — a claim
supported by several other countries.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided
with invading Russian troops.

The two countries, however, have been pursuing a tentative dialogue
process to resolve their disputes and the chances of a rapprochment
were boosted when President Abdullah Gul visited Armenia in September,
becoming the first Turkish head of state to do so.

Violence also committed against Vardges Gaspari in prison cell, ANC says

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The head office of the Armenian
National Congress (ANC) received a letter bearing the date "December
26" from prisoner Vardges Gaspari. According to the letter, at 10:30 am
on December 23, 2008, ten people in "camouflages" entered his cell and
subjected him to physical violence. The next day he applied to the head
of the prison with the request to open a criminal case in connection
with this fact, but his application remained unanswered.

The ANC head office reminds that it has received several times alarm
calls that "the political prisoners are subjected to torture and
violence in their places of imprisonment. In addition to Grigor
Voskerchian, Gevorg Manukian and Armen Khurshudian, Vardges Gaspari is
the fourth persons who is known to have been subjected to torture".
According to ANC, the regime resorts to this step "in order to create
an atmosphere of fear and despair, extract applications for pardon from
political prisoners and use this as an argument to avoid the impending
punishment at the upcoming session of PACE".

The joint statement of the persons accused in "the case of the seven"
appeals to supporters of the opposition "to be present together with
the whole people at the court building on January 9, but not to enter
the courtroom".

"The regime faces the reality that our trial, which has caused national
protest and received international publicity, will turn into a trial
against itself by exposing the whole picture of illegalities and crimes
committed by the ruling gang and its leaders. In order to avoid this
perspective, a guileful provocation was planned in the courtroom at the
December 27 trial: to make a decision on holding a closed-door trial by
creating a confusion in the courtroom. Thanks to the appeal made by the
Armenian National Congress the day before and the fact that you did not
enter the courtroom, the planned provocation was foiled," the statement
reads.

Science Letter
January 6, 2009

HYE BOOKS;
New Book Promotes End to 75-year Split: Armenians Talk Peace, Unity
After 1933 Christmas Eve Murder

A new book by veteran CBS News correspondent Terry Phillips is
sparking grassroots peace talks 75 years after a brutal assassination
split the Armenian Apostolic Church in the United States (see also Hye
Books).

Murder at the Altar, a historical novel published by Hye Books
(), investigates the Depression-era killing of
Archbishop Ghevont Tourian in New York City. On Christmas Eve 1933,
the spiritual leader of this ancient Christian denomination was
stabbed to death as he led a Sunday morning procession down the center
aisle of Holy Cross Church. The vicious crime was reported on the
front page of every Manhattan daily newspaper.

"For three-quarters of a century, Armenians have treated the murder as
a taboo subject," says author Terry Phillips. "To this day, the church
remains divided along political lines. But people are finally willing
to talk about that painful event, understand why it happened and move
toward possible reconciliation."

Since the book was published earlier this year, Phillips has been
leading unprecedented, coast-to-coast discussions about the Tourian
assassination.

"I am extremely gratified by the overwhelming public interest," he
says. "Except for a few fringe extremists, the book has been very well
received. Everywhere I go, people say it’s about time that someone
told this story."

Based on fact, Murder at the Altar is a dramatized account of the
Archbishop’s killing. It grew out of a dispute over the Armenian
movement for independence from the Soviet Union. Tourian was attacked
for refusing to take sides in the conflict. After his slaying, the
church separated into two factions, identical in every way except for
partisan politics.

"Seventy-five years later," Phillips notes, "church officials remain
divided by past animosities. Today, there is no Soviet Union. Armenia
is independent. Why stay split? Why stay silent?"

Phillips covered the fall of the Soviet Empire and reported conflicts
throughout the USSR as well as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti.

Murder at the Altar is available through retail bookstores and
websites.

Keywords: Hye Books.

This article was prepared by Science Letter editors from staff and
other reports.

The Community Journal, MA
Dec 31 2008

Local missionary departs for Armenia again

"God is giving me the opportunity to use all these lessons and
experiences in His service." ‘ KAARINA A. HAM

Kaarina A. Ham

Dr. Kaarina A. Ham is spending the next weeks or so getting ready for
her new term of service in Armenia.

Ham, a native of South Ashburnham, is focused on extending youth and
young adult ministry programs to schools and churches in both the
urban and outlying areas of Armenia. Ham has ministered in the
Republic of Armenia since 2004.

"It’s a matter of diplomacy. ¦ With proper respect for the leaders,
they’re welcoming," she said in a 2006 interview with the Journal.

Ham said there is great openness to learning the basics of the
Christian faith in Armenia. She has served as a missionary to the
former Soviet Union since 1979. She worked with the Slavic Gospel
Association, first, and then worked with Youth for Christ
International.

In 2006, she became the founder and general director of HOPE Armenia
Ministries. This new mission focuses on youth evangelism and young
adult discipleship in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia; and on biblical
training seminars at the Lighthouse Training Center near Lake Sevan,
in North Central Armenia.

"God is giving me the opportunity to use all these lessons and
experiences in His service," she said in the 2006
interview. "Pioneering, directing, teaching, training, evangelizing,
discipling. He’s even adding a few: establishing, administering,
renovating. Isn’t this just like the Lord?"

Once an empire extending from the Black to Caspian Seas, the present
Republic of Armenia is a semi-arid, land-locked, mountainous nation in
the lower Caucasus region comparable in size to Maryland in the United
States.

Today Armenia is bordered to the west by Turkey; to the north by the
former Soviet Republic of Georgia; to the east by the former Soviet
Republic of Azerbaijan, and to the south by Iran.

Over the last 30 years, she has focused her efforts first in the
Soviet "satellite" nations of East Central Europe, then in Moscow and
Samara in Central Russia, to provide Christian discipleship and
leadership training for teenagers and young adults.

Like each of the 15 former Soviet Republics since the demise of the
Communist system, Armenia has struggled to move forward politically
and economically, according to Ham.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, thousands of Armenians of the
Diaspora (primarily the U.S., Canada, France, Russia, Lebanon, Syria,
and Iran) have flocked to the homeland each year to assist in
religious and cultural philanthropic ventures.

In the wake of the failed Soviet experiment, with its Marxist-Leninist
atheistic ideology, Ham noticed a great interest in Christian faith
among young people, who are eager to learn more about their historic
status as the first Christian nation, according to Ham.

In 301 A.D., King Tiridates III declared the Armenian Apostolic
Orthodox Church to be the national religion. 1,700 years of Armenian
Christian faith were celebrated recently in 2001, according to Ham.

Ham graduated from Oakmont Regional High School and then went on to
educate herself at Eastern Nazarene College and Fuller Seminary, in
Pasadena. She earned three Master degrees and a Ph.D., steeping
herself in theology, counseling, adolescent psychology and cultural
anthropology. Her foctoral thesis explored the way Protestants are
perceived in Eastern Orthodox lands, a fitting study for her future
endeavors.

Ham is also the daughter of the former pastor of the Peoples Church in
Ashburnham.

A service of dedication will be held on Sunday, Jan. 4, at 10:30
a.m. at Peoples Evangelical Congregational Church, 56 South Main
Street in South Ashburnham, to which the public is invited.

GLOBAL CRISIS, TENSE POLITICAL SITUATION HIT ARMENIA’S MORTGAGE MARKET

ARKA
Dec 29, 2008

YEREVAN, December 29. /ARKA/. The global financial crisis, the tense
political situation in Armenia and the Georgian war hit the country’s
mortgage market in 2008, said Manuk Vardanyan, chairman of the RA
State Committee of Real Estate Cadastre (SCREC).

"The mortgage market is sensitive and any political process and
global developments influence the mortgage market," Vardanyan said,
adding 2008 was a hard year for Armenia. "The presidential election
in Armenia, the post-election conflict, the global financial crisis
and the war in our neighbor country have hit the local mortgage market
hard," he continued.

According to the SCREC chairman, prices of property alienation deals
hit a ten-year low in 2008. The local mortgage market has seen a
setback since August 2008, with 35% of total transactions being
effected in Yerevan, compared to 45% in the same period last year.

"This does not mean invigoration of mortgage business in Armenia’s
regions," Vardanyan said, pointing out a considerable decline in
property business in Yerevan.

At the same time, the SCREC chairman said Armenia did not see a
decrease in property transactions this year, with 160,000 deals being
made this year, compared to 155,000 in 2007.

ARMENIA LAYS CLAIM TO OVER 20 CHURCHES IN GEORGIA

Hayots Ashkharh
Dec 20 2008
Armenia

"Armenia protests"

Negotiations with the Georgian side are under way and they [the
Georgian side] promised to solve the issue of six churches of the
Armenian Apostolic Church’s Armenian Diocese in Georgia. The churches
are considered to be "disputed" and are not under the diocese’s
subordination.

According to the head of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, bishop
Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, the Armenian side has clearly stated its
approach that it is against setting up any committee in connection
with the issue of six closed Armenian churches (Norashen, Saint
Nshan, Shamkhoretsots Saint Astvatsatsin, Mughni Saint Gevorg and
Saint Minas in Tbilisi, and Saint Nshan in Akhaltsikhe [predominantly
Armenian-populated town in southwestern Georgia]). These [churches]
are Armenian, the evidence is Armenian records, and these churches
cannot be disputable. The Armenian side can only discuss the issue
of over 20 already Georgianized Armenian churches. Seven of them are
in Tbilisi alone.