Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 27 2011

A Karabakh-dedicated concert held in Stuttgart, Azerbaijan sends note
to German Foreign Ministry

27 August 2011 [15:53] – Today.Az

Azerbaijan has sent a note to the German Foreign Ministry demanding
to prevent holding of a concert dedicated to the Nagorno-Karabakh
separatist regime in the German city of Stuttgart, Azerbaijan’s
Foreign Ministry said.

Within the Days of Armenian Culture in Stuttgart, a concert “20th
anniversary of Artsakh” dedicated to the so-called “20th anniversary
of independence” of the puppet regime in Nagorno-Karabakh is scheduled
for Sept.16-22.

At the same time, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Germany has sent a letter
to Stuttgart mayor asking not to allow this Armenian provocation on
political propaganda of the occupation regime and prevent deceiving
the German public.

/Trend/

From: Baghdasarian

news.am, Armenia
Aug 27 2011

Authorities-opposition dialogue will resume in Armenia – expert

August 27, 2011 | 18:47

YEREVAN. – Armenian authorities and opposition Armenian National
Congress (ANC) are trying to use the incident between ANC activists
and the police to snatch additional dividends from the negotiation
process, the deputy director of Caucasus Institute Sergey Minasyan
told Armenian News – NEWS.am, adding that in such situation, someone
will sooner or later “go too far”.

“This is what happened with the delegation of ANC. They try to
influence on coalition working group with their demarche and
suspension of the process,’ said the expert.

On the other hand, according to Minasyan, the dialogue of the
authorities and ANC is based on the interests of both parties, which
will inevitably lead to a resumption of the process in one form or
another.

“I believe that in September the sides will come to a solution and
will resume the dialogue but in a way that no one’s face hits the
dirt,’ Minasyan added.

From: Baghdasarian

news.am, Armenia
Aug 27 2011

Armenia does not want to depend on gas pipeline through Georgia

August 28, 2011 | 01:35

YEREVAN. – WikiLeaks website published another cable from U.S. Embassy
to Armenia. It dwells in details on the construction of the gas
pipeline between Armenia and Iran.

`Armenian officials have again proposed a gas pipeline from Iran to
Armenia as a way to alleviate Armenia’s concerns about the future
diversity of energy sources. Other key factors, however, including the
price of gas and the size of the pipeline, do not figure into the
proposed deal, indicating that there is significantly less to the
agreement than it appears and that the pipeline is still more a
farfetched desire of the government than a realizable goal,’ the
February 24, 2004 cable reads.

Armenia has long seen a potential gas pipeline from Iran as way to
guarantee their energy supply after the inevitable nuclear power plant
(ANPP).

Armenia’s demand for gas from Iran is not strong enough to justify the
expense of building a pipeline. A pipeline only makes sense if the
donor community would pay for it (perhaps in exchange for closing
ANPP), or if the price of gas from Russia were to rise to such levels
that a pipeline would become competitive for private investment.

Anticipating the inevitable closure of ANPP, Armenia expects to pursue
some strategy that reduces its reliance on the gas pipeline through
Georgia.

While an Iran-Armenia pipeline would be more expensive than buying
Russian gas, it may well be the cheapest among Armenia’s other
options.

But as long as the Armenian government is unwilling to pass the extra
costs of diverse sourcing on the consumers, and no international
donors are forthcoming, there is little or no possibility of an
Armenian-Iranian gas pipeline project getting off the ground, the
cable reads.

From: Baghdasarian

news.am, Armenia
Aug 27 2011

Number of sectarians in Armenia strongly exaggerated – Etchmiadzin

August 27, 2011 | 14:46

YEREVAN. – The information spread by representatives of NGOs that
there are 300 thousand followers of different sects in Armenia is
untrue, father Artenyan told a press conference on Saturday.

The priest argued that based on these incorrect data, society began to
express indignation with Armenian Apostolic Church and accuse it of
inaction.

`AAC is doing everything it has done for centuries. I am not
suggesting that the Church has no disadvantages but we try to do
everything possible to meet the spiritual needs of people,’ said the
priest.

According to him, the announced number of followers of various sects
is greatly exaggerated and there is no official information at all.

`Some NGOs have decided that there are 300-350 thousand sectarians in
Armenia. At the same time they claim that all these `sects’ do not
belong to apostolic faith.

That is, these 300 thousand people include Catholic Armenians,
Yezidis, Assyrians, Russians, Greeks and followers of other churches,
which the AAC does not consider sects. According to official
statistics, 180 thousand Catholic Armenians and 40 thousand Yezidis
live in Armenia. Therefore, the number of sectarians makes about 100
thousand people,’ he said.

From: Baghdasarian

news.am, Armenia
Aug 27 2011

Armenian authorities not interested in dialogue with opposition –
Hunchakian party

August 27, 2011 | 14:33

YEREVAN. – Armenian authorities are not interested in pursuing the
dialogue with oppositional Armenian National Congress (ANC), chairman
of ANC member Hunchakian party Lyudmila Sargsyan said to a press
conference on Saturday.

`In the course of the dialogue we expected to reach mutual
understanding, something we did not see on behalf of the authorities.
That is why ANC suspended the dialogue over the incident with activist
Tigran Arakelyan,’ said Sargsyan, adding that ANC leader Levon
Ter-Petrosyan will elaborate about the renewal, suspension or
interruption of dialogue during ANC rally on September 9.

`If the dialogue does not continue, our future steps will be
determined by the demands of the people. It is under the pressure of
people that the authorities will change,’ she said.

Earlier ANC gave the authorities 24 hours to `decide on the status of
Tigran Arakelyan’ which already ran out. On Friday ANC suspended
participation in the 7th round of government-opposition dialogue. On
Friday morning ANC rep. Samvel Abrahamyan came to the meeting, saying
ANC delegation considered it inexpedient to come to the meeting. The
general opinion is ANC representative group did not show up for the
meeting because Tigran Arakelyan is still in confinement.

From: Baghdasarian

Iran to unveil its first home-made passenger plane

August 27, 2011 – 14:21 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran plans to unveil its first home-made passenger
plane by the end of October, an Iranian aviation official announced.

Managing-Director of the Aviation Industries Organization of the
Iranian Defense Ministry Manouchehr Manteqi stated that the first
totally Iranian plane, with a capacity of 100 passengers, will be
unveiled in the Iranian calendar month of Mehr (September 23-October
22), Fars News Agency reported.

Manteqi also hailed the country’s achievements in the aviation
industries, noting that the Islamic Republic is one of the regional
powers in aircraft overhaul and maintenance.

Earlier, the Kyiv headquarters of Antonov Aerospace Company and Iran
Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company have signed a contract to
manufacture 78 Antonov-148 aircraft.

Dmitry Kiva, the chairman of the Kiev headquarters of the Antonov
Aerospace Company, made the remarks at the Paris Air Show in June, and
expressed the hope that all the planes would be manufactured by the
end of 2011.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenian expert compares Baku propaganda politics to prostitute’s behavior

August 27, 2011 – 13:24 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – However weird it may seem there is no informational
war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, an Armenian expert said.

According to Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan, there is a virtual space
created by Azerbaijan, where it `fights’ against itself.

`That way Azeri are trying to convince their people that they have
been victorious in that field as well, but in reality all they have
been doing during the past six months is arguing the speeches and
statements by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. That is to say the
main goal of the Azerbaijani media is to refute statements made by the
Armenian officials,’ he said.

At the same time, Melik-Shahnazaryan noted that Azerbaijan is
presently in a very complicated situation as it recently has been
subject to criticism by the international organizations in terms of
democracy and tolerance. `Meanwhile the information war with Iran is
aggravating and the tense relations with Tehran. Moreover, relations
with considerably worsened with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
and Russia,’ he noted.

The expert compared Baku’s propaganda to the behavior of a prostitute,
as the government of the country declares that they are in good terms
with many countries, however has failed to establish normal relations
with at least one of them so far.

From: Baghdasarian

Aravot: Official visiting porn website to receive 4 times more in salaries

11:22 – 27.08.11

The paper claims that Armen Gevorgyan, who had been fired as adviser
to the minister of economy for visiting a porn website with his mobile
phone during a conference earlier this year, has now been appointed by
a decree by Economy Minister Tigran Davtyan as an adviser to the
director of the Gyumri Technopark.

The paper further explains that if Gevorgyan received 150,000 drams
(approx. $410) in salaries for giving advice to the minister of
economy, he will now receive four times as much – 600,000 drams – for
advising the director of the Gyumri Technopark.

Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

news.az, Azerbaijan
Aug 26 2011

Pakistan to continue to extend support to Azerbaijan on Karabakh issue
Fri 26 August 2011 12:19 GMT | 8:19 Local Time

Pakistan greatly values its close brotherly relations with Azerbaijan.

Chairman Senate of Pakistan Farooq H. Naek Friday said Pakistan
greatly values its close brotherly relations with Azerbaijan which is
based on historical, cultural and religious commonality.

Talking to the newly appointed Ambassador of Azerbaijan to
Pakistan,Dashgin Shikarov who called on him here at the Parliament
House he said the two countries enjoy commonalities of views on
various regional and international issues.`The support that we extend
to each other on different issues is the manifestation of our strong
ties,’ he added.Expressing his satisfaction over the close cooperation
between the two countries in different fields, the chairman said the
bilateral trade and economic cooperation can be greatly enhanced, the
bilateral trade volume which stands at USD 11.55m per annum is not
commensurate with the potential that exists between the two countries,
there exists tremendous scope for cooperation in the field of defense.

`Our two countries must jointly explore further avenues of cooperation
in this field,’ he further added.

The Chairman appreciated Azerbaijan’s support to the cause of Kashmir
and Pakistan’s endeavors for peaceful settlement of the dispute in
accordance with the UN resolution and wishes of Kashmiri people.

Naek said Pakistan will continue to extend principle support to
Azerbaijan on the Nagorno Karabakh issue and other territories
illegally occupied by Armenia.
He also underscore the need for more frequent Parliamentary exchanges
and people to people contact for mutual advantage and said that such
contacts help consolidate the existing ties.

The Ambassador thanked the Chairman for receiving him at the
Parliament House and assured him that he will make all possible
efforts to further strengthen the friendly relations between the two
countries.

The Chairman congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment as
Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Pakistan and hoped that he will use his
good offices to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two
countries.

APP

From: Baghdasarian

Mediamax, Armenia
Aug 26 2011

Chess to be taught only in primary school in Yerevan

Friday 26 August 2011 13:58

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Head of the Department of General Education of
Yerevan Mayor’s Office Gayane Soghomonyan stated today that chess
classes will be taught in Yerevan schools in 2-4 grades twice a week.

Addressing the press conference, Gayane Soghomonyan said that all the
capital’s schools have teachers who have undergone preliminary
training and received certificates, Mediamax reports.

`The head of state attaches a great importance to teaching chess in
schools’, said the head of the Department and added that it will
contribute to developing pupils’ logic and thinking.

She also stated that separate rooms for chess classes are being
established in schools which will be supplied with relevant equipment
and five titles of books.

From: Baghdasarian