Author: Basmajian Ani

ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN COMPANIES INK NEW AGREEMENTS

ARMENPRESS
September 14

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS: Russia’s transport minister Igor
Levitin said today in Yerevan that Russian-Armenian trade grows
annually 70 percent and Russian investments in Armenia will reach
$500 million by the end of this year.

Igor Levitin is the Russian cochairman of the bilateral
inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation. He was heading
a Russian delegation that came here for a recurrent meeting of the
commission.

The Russian minister said his country’s relations with Armenia are
based on partnership, "which is backed up, particularly, by friendly
relations between top officials on both sides."

"Russian business trusts Armenian authorities and this amount of
investments is not the limit," he said, adding that by next meeting
of the commission the volume of Russian investments in Armenia
will increase drastically as Russia plans a set of big investments
projects here.

The Armenian cochairman of the commission, prime minister Serzh
Sarkisian, attributed the growth in Russian investments to ‘a regular
dialogue between Russian and Armenian presidents."

Before to wrap up the session Serzh Sarkisian and Igor Levitin signed a
plan of long-term actions designed to boost bilateral cooperation. The
next session will be held in 2008 September in Moscow.

Also Mikhail Baghdasarov, the owner of Armenia’s biggest Armavia
carrier and Mikhail Poghosian, director of Russian Sukhoi Civil
Aircrafts company, signed an agreement whereby the Russian company
will sell five Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircrafts to Armenia.

Armavia also signed another agreement with Russian VTB bank to get
a credit for buying the aircrafts. A Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft
costs $50-$60 million.

CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY NEWS OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA RELATIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mary Platt

9/12/2007 (714) 628-7271

Armenian Genocide to be Examined at Chapman University on Tuesday,
Sept. 25, 7 p.m.

Professor Richard G. Hovannisian of UCLA, Recognized as One of the
World’s Preeminent Scholars of Armenian History, Speaks at Chapman as
part of the Holocaust Lecture Series

ORANGE, Calif. – A UCLA professor who is recognized as one of the
world’s preeminent expert on Armenian history will give a lecture,
`Must We Still Remember? The Armenian Genocide as Prototype,’ on
Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Bush Conference Center, 404 Beckman
Hall on the Chapman University campus in Orange. Dr. Richard
G. Hovannisian, professor of Armenian and Near Eastern history and
holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian
History at UCLA, will speak as part of Chapman’s Schwartz Holocaust
Lecture Series. The event is free of charge and open to the
public. Call (714) 628-7377 or go to
for more information.

The Armenian Genocide – also known as the Armenian Massacres – is
widely acknowledged by Western scholars to be the first systematic
genocide of the modern age. As soldiers faced each other on the
battlefields of World War I, hundreds of thousands of Armenian
civilians – men, women and children; perhaps as many as 1.5 million –
were singled out and murdered throughout the Ottoman Empire between
1915 and 1918. Under cover of war, the Armenian population was
subjected to deportation, mass execution and brutal death marches. A
fortunate few escaped and were hidden by their Turkish or Kurdish
neighbors and friends. Today, 21 countries officially recognize these
events as genocide; the government of the Republic of Turkey, however,
rejects the characterization of the events as genocide. The United
States does not officially use the word `genocide’ to characterize the
events, but 40 of the 50 states have adopted resolutions recognizing
the Armenian Genocide as a historical event. The controversy over
nomenclature continues, and will be addressed by Dr. Hovannisian in
his talk.

Dr. Hovannisian is the author or editor of many books, including
Armenia on the Road to Independence (1967); The Republic of Armenia, 4
volumes (1971-1996); The Armenian Holocaust (1980), and most recently
Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Confronting the Armenian Genocide
(2003) and The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies
(2007). He is currently editing and contributing to a series of
volumes on historic Armenian cities and provinces. He is the first
social scientist living abroad to be elected to the Armenian National
Academy of Sciences, and in 2007 was the first recipient of the `I
Witness Award’ of the Jewish World Watch.

The Schwartz Holocaust Lecture Series at Chapman University is
presented by Chapman’s Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education and is
funded by the Jerry and Sally Schwartz Holocaust Education Fund,
managed by the Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Orange
County, in cooperation with the Jewish Community Center of Orange
County.
###

JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL FORMALLY RECOGNIZED EVENTS OF 1915 AS GENOCIDE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
2007-09-12 16:33:00

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Boston
credited the Armenian Assembly of America for raising public
awareness of the Armenian Genocide, which led the organization to
formally recognize the events of 1915 and to successfully encourage
the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to do the same, Armenian Assembly
of America reports.

During the JCRC’s annual meeting in Boston, Executive Director Nancy
K. Kaufman thanked the Armenian Assembly and the ADL for "being such
bold and courageous partners for change."

"At the request of the Armenian Assembly of America, JCRC took a
public position on this over two years ago at the time of the 90th
anniversary of that genocide, when we issued a statement that said:
‘The Armenian Genocide represented a failure of the international
community to intervene against the worst possible crime, the
destruction of people. We must never forget the Armenian Genocide and
maintain our guard against those, who deny its occurrence," she added.

To note, the ADL reversed its longstanding policy and acknowledged
the Armenian Genocide last month, following repeated calls by members
of the Armenian, Jewish and other communities to persuade the human
rights group to change its position. Prior to this, two members
of the ADL Board, Stewart Cohen, a former chairman of the Polaroid
Corp., and Boston City Council member Mike Ross, both stepped down
after Tarsy was fired for breaking rank with national ADL policy and
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

Following Tarsy’s departure, Kaufman sent a letter to some 40 prominent
Jewish leaders in Massachusetts, urging them to pressure the ADL to
recognize the genocide and support Tarsy.

"I have never gotten such unanimous support for any position by the
JCRC as I have in the last few days on this one," Kaufman told the
Boston Globe last month.

"It doesn’t matter where people are on the political spectrum – left,
right, middle – people are really standing behind this, because it
strikes at the core of what it means to be a Jew and never again
means never again."

In 2005, Assembly leaders met with their JCRC counterparts to
encourage the organization to publicly acknowledge the events of
1915 as genocide. As a result of that meeting, the JCRC released a
statement in April 2005, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.

To date, the following Jewish-American organizations support the
Armenian Genocide resolution: American Federation of Jews from Central
Europe (New York, NY), American Jewish World Service (New York, NY),
Center for Russian Jewry with Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (New
York, NY), Jewish Social Policy Action Network (Philadelphia, PA),
Jewish War Veterans of the USA (Washington, DC), Jewish World Watch
(Encino, CA), Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Wyncote, PA)
and The Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring (New York, NY).

JCRC works to promote a society that reflects the best of American
and Jewish values – in Greater Boston, Israel and around the world –
by convening and mobilizing the Jewish community. Through advocacy,
organizing, service and partnerships, JCRC pursues social justice,
ensures a vibrant Jewish community and builds a network of support
for Israel.

The ADL is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish organizations
in the United States and has been working to combat anti-Semitism
and bigotry for more than 90 years.

IS ABSENCE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE IN EP RESOLUTION ON TURKEY EXPLAINED BY AUTHOR’S UNWILLINGNESS TO "OPEN THE OLD DEBATE"?

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.09.2007 19:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I did not want to open the old debate. The most
important thing is that Turkey has good relations with its neighbors,
also with Armenia.

Studies show us that the closed borders have huge negative impacts on
the economy. In a global world you should have good relations with
your neighbors, and while doing that you should also reconcile with
the past," European Parliament member Ria Oomen-Ruijten (Conservative,
Netherlands), said explaining the absence of the Armenian Genocide
issue in her draft resolution on Turkey, reports Turkish Daily News.

Meanwhile, the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy
(EAFJD) is mobilizing Armenians from throughout Europe to seek to
reverse a series of serious shortcomings in a draft resolution on
Turkey, prepared by Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten (Conservative, Netherlands),
for the consideration of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs
Committee.

The Committee is set to examine the Oomen-Ruijten resolution on
Thursday 13 September. Her measure congratulates Turkey for its
past progress and outlines a number of areas in which it has not met
European standards. The European Armenian Federation, having reviewed
the resolution, has found that it represents a retreat from the 2006
Eurlings report and, in light of it unbalanced presentation of the
facts, a clear step back from the more principled positions adopted
in reports adopted by the Parliament since 2000.

EXHIBITION "ARMENIA SACRA. RETURN HOME" LAUNCHES IN YEREVAN

ARKA
11 Sept 2007

YEREVAN, September 11. /ARKA/. The exhibition "Armenia Sacra. Return
home" earlier exhibited in Louvre launched in the History Museum
of Armenia.

"For the first time cultural and historical values in big quantity,
including khachkars (cross-stones) were taken away from Armenia and
exhibited abroad," said Armenia’s Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan during
the exhibition.

He said that about 2.5mln people visited the exhibition in Paris.

"Many visitors were interested in seeing khachkars in their historical
motherland. One of the objectives of the last year was to evoke such
interest."

In his turn, Catholicos of All-Armenians Garegin II said that during
the exhibition in Paris, French people had the occasion of getting
acquainted not only with the culture of the Armenian nation, but also
with the depth of its faith.

"The events held within Armenia’s Year in France not only strengthened
the countries’ cultural ties but also their centuries-old friendship,"
he said.

Over 200 exhibits of the Christian heritage of Armenia, including
32 khachkars that date back to 4-18 centuries were exhibited in
the exhibition "Armenia Sacra. Return home", which will last till
November 30.

Not only treasures from Echmiadzin entered the exhibition, but
also samples of other historic, religious and cultures centers of
Armenia, in particular, manuscripts from Matenadaran, patterns from
Armenia’s History Museum, as well as exhibits form various museums
of the Diaspora.

For the exhibition the khackhars were provided from various museums
of Armenia, as well as from Old Jugha, Paris museum, congregation of
Mkhitarists from the St. Lazar Island in Venice. Over 300ths people
visited the exhibition in Louvre.

The Year of Armenia started in France on September 21, 2006 – on the
Independence Day of Armenia, and terminated on July 14, 2007 – on
the Bastille Day. Within the Year of Armenia 850 cultural, economic
and charitable events were held in 165 cities of France.

Among the biggest events were the exhibition of manuscripts and
historic folios "Armenia: magic of scripts", exhibition of khachkars
"Armenia Sacra" (Holy Armenia), as well as exhibition of such
famous Armenian artists as Arshil Gorky, Martiros Saryan, as well as
retrospective demonstration of Sergey Parajanov’s films.

BAKO SAHAKYAN: THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE TO THE FULL PARTICIPATION OF NKR IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS

armradio.am
07.09.2007 17:42

The inauguration of the President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Bako Sahakyan was held in Stepanakert today.

In his inaugural address Mr. Sahakyan said:

"Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia, Honorable Mr. Arkady
Ghoukasyan, Your Grace, Respected Chairman of the National Assembly,
Distinguished deputies and guests, Ladies and gentlemen

Assuming high and responsible post of the President of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic I would like to thank in the first place our people
for active participation in the July 19 Presidential elections
and my constituency for confidence. I appreciate the position of
those citizens who voted for other Presidential candidates too. This
means that they are concerned about development and progress in our
country. These visions will be definitely taken into consideration.

The past elections once again vindicated a unified will of the people
of Artsakh to live in a free and sovereign historical motherland.

Simultaneously, they demonstrated a decisive role of the country’s
public sector in forming the state’s supreme authority. In the coming
five years we will continue to build free and prosperous country
securing for this very purpose cooperation between all strata of
our society.

Taking the opportunity I would like to thank all foreign state and
nongovernmental structures, international organizations, mass media
that carried out observation of the July 19 elections and covered this
important for our state event. The assessments of the observers will
substantially contribute to the rating of our country as an effectively
functioning state worthy of international recognition. We also highly
appreciate their remarks and suggestions, which will be taken into
consideration in elaborating further democratization of our country.

These assessments prove that the foundation of our independent
statehood is quite firm. In this context I would like to express my
respect and gratitude to the first President of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan to his
merit and contribution to NKR’s declaration as an independent state,
effective organization of the republic’s defense against aggression,
development of state institutions, economic recovery in the first
postwar years, as well as for his input in just settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Achievements in the recent period gave me a right to thank on behalf
of people second president of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arkady
Ghoukasyan.

Under his leadership in the last ten years our country registered
considerable progress in carrying out socioeconomic reforms,
democratization of public and political life, and finally adopted its
basic law – the Constitution. We are confident that Mr. Ghoukasyan
will continue to use reach experience of state, political and national
figure for the interests of the Motherland.

Dear friends,

During the campaign I got another chance to visit almost all
settlements of the republic and get acquainted with problems and
concerns of our people. It was very much important for me see and hear
about all these issues. In the coming five years we will definitely
take into account suggestions and advice given during these meetings.

The main goal of my presidency will be to have a viable, socially just,
economically developed, and politically stable state. The strength
of such a state to a greater extent is derivative from our policy
towards the needs of the youth and socially vulnerable strata. The
authorities have much to do in this field.

Being guided by the Constitution we will continue to build a state,
which will protect the interests of its citizens. Ethnic minorities
will enjoy special protection.

We have a clear-cut agenda of challenges facing our republic. To
address them we need to reshape the policy of socioeconomic development
and put special emphasize on exploring investment resources directing
them into the most perspective fields. Available scientific and
intellectual potential will also serve this purpose.

International recognition of the Artsakh Republic, which is a pillar
of our foreign policy, will give a serious impetus to the pace of
our development.

This is also in the interests of the region. NKR Defense Army will be
ready to rebuff any attack against our state and society. The issues
of army building, strengthening defense capacity, solving social
problems of the servicemen will be always in the focus of attention.

We are exclusively adherent to the principles of peaceful settlement of
the Karabagh-Azerbaijan conflict. Highly appreciating the efforts of
international mediators, we hope that our opponents will eventually
realize that there is no alternative to the full participation of
the Nagorno Karabagh Republic in the negotiation process.

Ladies and gentlemen,

International recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is the
most important task that requires hard work to further consolidate
potentials of Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora and deepen traditional
cooperation. Our strength is in our unity.

At the end I would like to thank all those who have congratulated
me on my election. I assure you that all my energy, knowledge, and
experience will be used for the good of our nation."

RA JUSTICE MINISTRY PUBLISHED VERDICT OF EUROPEAN COURT ON CASE OF ‘MKRTCHYAN AGAINST ARMENIA’ TRANSLATED INTO ARMENIAN

arminfo
2007-09-07 16:42:00

ArmInfo. RA Justice Ministry has published the first verdict of the
European Court on the case "Lazarian against Armenia" translated
into Armenian. As Justice Minister’s spokeswoman Lana Mshetsyan told
ArmInfo, the verdicts are available on the Justice Ministry’s official
sites: ,

"Thus, the obligation, assumed by RA Government within the frames of
the European Convention on human rights, on the necessity of official
translation and publication of verdicts into the national language
has been met", L. Mshetsyan said. She added that the verdicts are also
available on the pages of the publication "Pashtonakan Teghekagir".

To note, 6-7 cases are presently waiting for a verdict in the European
Court on human rights, among which are the court decisions on suits
of the "A1+" and "Noyan Tapan" companies. The EC has already passed
a sentence on the cases from Armenia: "Lazarian against Armenia"
and "Harutyunyan against Armenia".

DEVELOPMENTS OF INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS TO BE USED AT PURE IRON PLANT AND "ALMAST" PLANT

Noyan Tapan
Sep 7, 2007

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. It is envisaged to use the
technologies of obtaining milybdenum powders, which were developed
by the Institute of Chemical Physics of the RA National Academby
of Sciences, at Pure Iron Plant producing molybdenum alloys,
NT correspondent was informed by Suren Kharatian, head of the
self-propagating high-temperature synthesis kinetics laboratory and
of the chair of chemical physics of Yerevan State University.

According to S. Kharatian, the institute has developed technologies
for obtaining pure molybdenum and molybdenum disilicide powders from
molybdeum oxide. Negotiations on transferring these technologies are
being conducted with the plant. S. Kharatian expressed a hope that the
production of the above mentioned powders will be organized at Pure
Iron Plant. "If we compare the technologies of otaining molybdenum
powder, we see that our technology based on the self-propagating
high-temperature synthesis processes is a complex and expensive
one. But the purity of the substance obtained is much higher,
therefore, it is several times as expensive as those obtained by
using other technologies."

S. Kharatian said that some amounts of nickel and cobalt powders
obtained through the technologies developed by the institute are now
used for production of cutting tools at Yerevan’s Almast Plant. These
powders are also used at the plant as a catalyst in artificial
diamond synthesis. He expressed a hope that the cooperation between
the institute and "Almast" Plant will expand.

"IS SOMEBODY SAYING SOMETHING TO ME?": KAREN KARAPETYAN

Panorama.am
20:03 07/09/2007

"The Republican party will win convincingly in the upcoming
presidential elections," Karen Karapetyan, leader of the Republican
party advisory committee, said today. Continuing on the theme of the
elections and yesterday’s comment by Dashnaktsutyun, that they would
be the Republican’s main opponent during election time, Karapetyan
brought up a joke now being told in the country: "Is there someone
saying something to me? They say yes, it is me, then they say, is
there someone saying something to me and him?

And they say, no." According to that, Karapetyan says, a person thinks
that when he tries to explain his role, the first thing he does is
meets with those with great capabilities, but added in this case he
doesn’t think Dashnaktsutyun is working with any other political
force. Karapetyan says he is trying to grasp what Dashnaktsutyun
meant in their announcement.

Returning to the common question about the possible candidacy of
Levon Ter Petrosyan, Karapetyan said, "I don’t speak about subjects
that don’t exist. When he announces his candidacy, we will return
to the subject. We have confidence in our strength. In that context,
we think that there is no alternative to Serge Sargsyan."

Concerning news circulating that in the event Serge Sargsyan is
elected president that Karapetyan is the probable candidate for
prime minister, he answered in the following way: "The Constitution
clearly states that the NA president will present the prime minister,
who will present the newly-elected president, which to me is a good
version to me. I only ask to not become emotional," he advised.

In any event, Karapetyan asked the journalists for forgiveness,
on behalf of all members of his party who haven’t behaved correctly
with the press.

LARISA ALAVERDYAN: "RECOGNITION OF KARABAKH’S INDEPENDENCE WILL PROMOTE NEGOTIATION PROCESS"

Panorama.am
14:56 06/09/2007

"The recognition of Nagorno Karabakh’s independence is a legally
favorable process for the region," member of "Zharagutiun" party and
a deputy of parliament, Larisa Alaverdyan, told a press conference
today. In her words, as a statehood, Nagorno Karabakh is no worse
than Armenia in terms of legal, political structure.

The deputy of NA assured that recognition of Nagorno Karabakh’s
independence will not hinder OSCE Minsk Group talk process, but
on the contrary, "Azerbaijan will see that Nagorno Karabakh is an
established independent statehood, and, may change its disposition
to the negotiation process."

Larisa Alaverdyan assured that none of the political parties have
clearly stated their dispositions in the political realm on Nagorno
Karabakh. "I believe that the National Assembly must have its
disposition on Karabakh," the author of the known initiative stated.