TURKEY OWES 41 BILLION DOLLARS TO ARMENIA
Lragir
Dec 20 2007
Armenia
The ex-Armenian ambassador to Canada Ara Papyan came to this conclusion
after making some calculations. He stated this during the parliamentary
hearings on the Armenian and Turkish relations.
According to him, a special working group was set up during the
conference in Paris in January 1919 which had assessed the damage
inflicted on the Armenian people.
AZERI MINISTER AGAINST "WEEK OF AZERBAIJAN" IN ARMENIA
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2007
[Presenter] The Armenians are trying to cover up their aggressive
actions by holding A Week of Azerbaijan in Yerevan. [Azerbaijani]
Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Qarayev has said that residents
of the areas under occupation should have been notified of this
action beforehand.
[Correspondent over video of Qarayev] Holding A Week of Azerbaijan
in Armenia is a hasty and premature step by the hostile country. The
Armenians should have informed the residents of the areas under their
occupation before holding A Week of Azerbaijan. Qarayev thinks that
the holding of A Week of Azerbaijan in Armenia has only one aim
[Qarayev, speaking to microphone] The aim is to tell the international
community that there is no problem between us [Armenia and Azerbaijan],
that we are friends, and that politicians are to blame for this
[conflict between Azerbaijani and Armenia]. They say that a completely
different atmosphere should be formed. But the Azerbaijani people can
never adapt to this atmosphere because we will not be ready for any
serious exchange [of opinions] with public figures of the occupying
country until we regain control of our territories.
BAKU URGES INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS MEMBERS TO TOUR KARABAKH VIA AZERBAIJAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.12.2007 13:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "If the international community and international
organizations recognize Nagorno Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan,
it means that the visits of representatives of these organizations
should be carried out via the territory of Azerbaijan," he said.
At that, Mr Mammadyarov noted that "given the heavy schedule, the
OSCE MG Co-chairs sometimes have to travel to Karabakh via Armenia
but we have already informed them about our demand," he said,
1news.az reports.
GEVORK DAVTIAN VOTED AS BEST ATHLETE OF YEAR
ARMENPRESS
Dec 18 2007
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: Armenian weightlifter Gevork Davtian,
a Europe champion and a world vice-champion has been voted by sport
journalist as the Best Athlete of the Year.
Armenia’s men’s chess team has been voted as the Best National
Team. The poll was conducted by the Armenian Federation of Sport
Journalist.
EVERYONE IS VIEWED AS EQUAL
Lragir, Armenia
Dec 18 2007
In a news conference on December 18 the reporters asked the foreign
minister Vardan Oskanyan what approaches other countries and
international organizations have toward the Armenian presidential
election and the main candidates Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Serge
Sargsyan.
"Nobody has singled out a duel between the prime minister and Levon
Ter-Petrosyan. There are presidential candidates who are viewed as
equal," Vardan Oskanyan says. He thinks conclusions on the likely
candidate will be made as the election will draw nearer.
"When polls suggest the leaders. Only then can we say these two are
competing. For the time being, everyone is viewed as equal.
Especially when we take into account real polls, at least the
picture is other. There are at least three candidates before Levon
Ter-Petrosyan," Vardan Oskanyan says. He also stated that the Armenian
government, the president and the prime minister are determined to hold
a legitimate election. Vardan Oskanyan also said all the international
observation missions which wish to observe the presidential election of
Armenia – the CoE, the European parliament, the OSCE, ODIHR – will get
invitations, for both long-term and short-term observation. Invitations
have been sent to some of them. I mean the Council of Europe and the
European Parliament. The minister says he is preparing the invitation
for the ODIHR.
He also stated that he hopes at least the complementary foreign
policy will be carried on because it has proved effective over the
past decade.
ARARATBANK ISSUES SHARES FOR FIRST TIME
Noyan Tapan
Dec 18 2007
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, NOYAN TAPAN. 5 Armenian companies issued bonds
this year, with Araratbank being the first one to initiate a public
offer of shares, the deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA) Artur Javadian said at the December 18 press conference.
The director of Araratbank’s dealing center Davit Harutyunian stated
that the bank on December 17 started to place ordinary nominal shares
of the total amount of 381.5 million drams (about 1.25 mln USD) through
a direct public sale, which will end on January 21, 2008. The nominal
value of a share is 5,000 drams, the placement price is 5,900 drams
which is lower than the accounting price. The number of shares will
make 70 thousand, and if the demand is lower, the placement will be
considered as invalid. According to D. Harutyunian, studies showed
that demand will exceed supply and will be greater than the maximum
number of shares – 76,300. After placement of this quanity of shares,
the subscription will end. The subscription advantage will be given
to those to submit bids earlier.
According to plans of Araratbank, it was envisaged that the bank’s
assets will make 21 billion drams in late 2007 and this index
has already been exceeded. It is forecast that in late 2008, the
bank’s assets will make 45 billion drams, while in late 2009 –
65 billion drams. It is forecast that in late 2007, the overall
capital of Araratbank will make 5 bln 50 mln drams, in late 2008 –
6.6 bln drams, and in late 2009 – 8.6 bln drams. The bank’s profit is
forecast to make 307 mln drams in 2007, 672 mln drams in 2008, and 922
mln drams in 2009. It is forecast that the average price of a share
of Araratbank will make 6,571 drams in 2008 and 6,980 drams in 2009.
In the words of A. Javadian, Araratbank has its proper place
in Armenia’s financial system. It is a participant in several
international programs being implemented in Armenia. According to him,
Araratbank’s assets grew by 170%, liabilities – by 345%, capital –
by 20%, deposits – by 360% and crediting of the economy – by 70%
in 11 months of 2007 on the same period of 2006.
The executive director of Araratbank Ashot Osipian said that in 2008
the bank envisages another three issues of shares and a regular
issue of bonds (in March). In his words, the fact that in 2006
Swedish-Finnish OMX AB company started negotiations on purchase
of the Armenian Stock Exchange has given a positive impulse to the
issue of securities by the bank. The above mentioned deal has already
been concluded, and, according to A. Osipian, those to place their
shares on the Armenian Stock Exchange will receive the opportunity
to place them in the countries where OMX AB operates. It was stated
that Araratbank’s shares will be listed on the Armenian Stock Exchange.
A. Osipian added that the mortgage credits of Araratbank currently
amount to 1.35 billion drams and will make 1.6 billion drams at the
end of the year.
The amount of credit investments makes 7.7 bln drams and will reach
8.5 bln drams at the end of the year.
D. Harutyunian reminded that the international rating company Global
Rating Group assigned Araratbank "B-, forecast – stable" rating
in May 2007, which in September was replaced with "B+, forecast –
stable" rating.
AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER BELIEVES DOCUMENT SUBMITTED BY OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS ‘NORMAL’
2007-12-19 11:13:00
ArmInfo. ‘If an agreement is reached on any principle on the settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, it will be made public’, Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists, APA reports.
The minister underlined that public diplomacy may have a positive
influence on the process only after peace is maintained. Elmar
Mammadyarov said that the sides were presented a new document on the
settlement of the conflict at the meeting of OSCE Minsk co-chairs
with Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers in Madrid. "We
were presented a new document in Madrid. We are working on this
document. Though there are no new proposals in the document, there
are some new points. We consider the document normal, of course we
have some remarks. But we are ready to work on the document," he said.
DAYS OF AZERBAIJAN IN ARMENIA
AZG Armenian Daily
18/12/2007
In the framework of "Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey; a step toward dialogue"
program, on December 17-20, Days of Azerbaijan are being held in
Yerevan Mkhitar Sebastatsi College with the assistance of the Embassy
of Great Britain.
Azerbaijani law enforcement organizations, representatives of
intellectuals and mass media participate in the event.
On December 17 took place the opening ceremony of the school, college
and Law Enforcement School, handing of the prizes to the winners of
composition, poster and picture competition.
The same day Ashot Bleyan delivered speech under heading "Role
of education in the context of settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict".
The theme is familiar to us from his visit to Baku where he delivered
his peculiar theory to settle Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict at the
price of surrendering Kharabakh.
USA AND CO-CHAIRS OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP DON’T BELIEVE AN ALTERNATIVE OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT BY MEANS OF WAR
2007-12-17 18:23:00
ArmInfo. The USA and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group don’t
believe an alternative of the Karabakh conflict settlement by means
of war, US Charge d’Affaires Joseph Pennington said at the briefing
in Yerevan.
He also added that the OSCE MG work is underway and the USA is for
its development. He thinks that much progress was achieved within
the frames of the process. He also said that it is expected that the
American co-chair will arrive in Yerevan shortly and answer all the
questions of journalists regarding the details of the OSCE MG activity.
‘LOST IN HOLLYWOOD’ SYSTEM OF A DOWN | 2005
by Geoff Boucher, [email protected]
>From the Los Angeles Times
December 14, 2007
In the mid-1980s, Daron Malakian was a shy youngster living in an
apartment near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine
Street, and his parents spent much of their time trying to shield
his eyes from the seedy parade of Hollywood’s sidewalks.
"From the playground of my school," Malakian recalled, "we would see
prostitutes and transvestites, guys holding hands, the homeless people,
all these things my parents really didn’t want me to see."
That playground was at the Rose and Alex Philibos Armenian School,
the same campus where two other future members of the metal band
System of a Down went to class. There, all of the boys were immersed
in the traditions of their shared Armenian heritage, but when they
rode their bikes home they passed through that chaotic asphalt theater
of Hollywood.
"It was only as I got older that I realized that not everybody grows
up like that," Malakian said.
His home life, meanwhile, was a study in artistic expression; he is
the only child of Vartan Malakian, a highly regarded painter who was
also a key choreographer in the 1970s dance community of his native
Iraq, and Zepur Malakian, a sculptor born in Iran. By 2005, Hollywood
was less scruffy, but those old memories lingered in the mind of
Malakian’s mind. By then, he had become famous to metal fans as the
guitarist and songwriter in System, the deeply eccentric L.A. band
whose sound veers from fever-dream mutter to wailing thunder, often
in the same song. "I wanted to write a song," he said, "about the
way Hollywood was." The result was the moody "Lost in Hollywood,"
which he calls "the System song I’m most proud of."
I’ll wait here, you’re crazy Those vicious streets are filled
with strays You should have never gone to Hollywood They find you,
two-time you Say you’re the best they’ve ever seen You should have
never trusted Hollywood.
The lyrics are "about the broken dreams, all the people that come here
and don’t make it," he said, and it’s a collage of images regarding
the music industry, the vapid people who come to L.A. to exploit
others and the beautiful dreamers who are promised fame but end up
"out on a street corner, alone, smoking cigarettes."
As a kids, Malakian and his friends would scale a cement wall that
took them to a low rooftop with wood planks and a view looking south
on a corner of Santa Monica Boulevard. Years later, the shy boy wrote
with jagged emotions about that view from the past.
I was standing on the wall Feeling ten feet tall All you maggots
smoking fags on Santa Monica Boulevard This is my front page This is
my new age