GAGIK GRIGORIAN RECEIVES BRONZE MEDAL IN EUROPEAN WEIGHTLIFTING YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP
NOYAN TAPAN
JU LY 29
European Weightlifting Youth Championship finished on July 27 in the
city of Amien, France. Representative of the Armenian national team
Gagik Grigorian (85 kg, Gyumri) showed 135 kg result in the clean
and jerk exercise and received a bronze medal, lifted 155 kg weight
and took the 4th place with 290 kg biathlon result.
JURY STILL OUT ON ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S FIRST 100 DAYS Margarit Yesayan
Aravot July 19 2008 Armenia
"The president is a human being, too"
In a conversation with Aravot, while replying to our request –
to enumerate a few personal qualities of President Serzh Sargsyan,
a member of the board of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun and the leader of the Dashnaktsutyun [parliamentary]
faction, Vahan Hovhannesyan said: "He is a kind person, devoted to
friends, frank, speaking the folk language, and he has an honour. But,
generally, I do not believe that discussing the personal qualities of
presidents is correct; he is first of all a president, and then only
a human being." While responding to our comment that the president is
also a human being, Hovhannesyan said: "It is impossible to become a
president by being a human being, but after one becomes, nevertheless,
he is first a president, and then only a human being."
What kind of president is Serzh Sargsyan?Political forces evaluate
his 100 days
Opinions vary – the radical opposition believes that he is not
a president, another layer of society is sure that he is a good
president, others still do not understand anything about what happened
and are in unclear expectations; the fourth [as given] ones believe
that if he strives a lot – he will make a good president; the fifth
ones believe that nothing will succeed no matter how much effort he
makes. Today many people, both from the government and opposition
camps, accept in separate and private meetings that judging by
some of Serzh Sargsyan’s personal qualities he is on the route to
becoming a good president, but the post-election developments, the 1
March [unrest in Yerevan] detainees, the casualties and the political
jealousy of some of his friends hinder him a lot. Very big efforts and
political will are necessary to overcome all this and move forward. The
predominant opinion is that after he was sworn in on 9 April, the
president’s first step should have been to make a political decision
and release prisoners. The leader of the People’s Party of Armenia,
Stepan Demirchyan, is of the same opinion. While assessing, at our
request, the president’s 100 days in office, he said: "The country
is still in a political, social, economic, and moral-psychological
crisis after 100 days and no positive trends are noticed. A total of
100 days are, of course, not a big term, but there are steps which
were possible and should have been taken, first of all – releasing
political prisoners, ensuring an impartial investigation into the 1
March events, and holding those actually guilty accountable."
Vahan Hovhannesyan, member of the board of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation – Dashnaktsutyun and leader of the Dashnaktsutyun faction,
said when describing President Serzh Sargsyan that he [Sargsyan] had
expressed resoluteness to carry out positive reforms. "Of course,
100 days are not enough, and it may seem to some people that the
reforms which have been carried out are still pretentious ones; this is
understandable, as reforms in Armenia require time. I believe that we
should expect the results by the end of the year." While answering our
questions about what mistakes the president made in the past 100 days,
Mr Hovhannesyan said: "It is difficult to note prominent mistakes, at
least in this period. Maybe, the reaction to Turkey’s suggestion to
establish the [joint Armenian-Turkish commission to study events of
1915] commission is disputable, but this is, I believe, an editorial
fault, and clarifications were made in the end, including those by
the foreign minister, which explained that the talk is about an option
once offered to [former President] Robert Kocharyan."
Hovhannesyan said that we had no right to say about some of the
currently implemented reforms that those are an imitation, as they
are already yielding actual results in the business, customs and
tax fields. Will those be long-lasting ones? – "The answer to this
question will be given only when these changes become irreversible. I
believe that time has not come yet, but it is round the corner."
The secretary of the Prosperous Armenia party, Aram Safaryan, said
Serzh Sargsyan is "a very bold, very hard-working person who listens
to others’ opinions and adheres to decisions made by himself".
Safaryan also said: "Serzh Sargsyan’s presidency coincided with 1
March [post-election unrest in Yerevan, clashes between security
forces and protesters resulting in 10 dead] and its consequences. I
want to emphasize that there was an accumulated lack of democracy in
our society from the previous 17 years and this lack had to express
itself in some way; I believe that the processes which have been
carried out in Armenia within the last three months under the auspices
of Europe are quite profound. He got power at a very difficult time,
and I believe that the large-scale reforms that he has started will
be accomplished by the end of the year. [passage omitted]."
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR BETTER TIES WITH NEIGHBORING TURKEY
Today’s Zaman
July 22 2008
Turkey
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan called on Monday for closer ties with
Turkey, 15 years after the two nations severed diplomatic relations
over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
They are also at odds over the question of whether ethnic Armenians
killed during the First World War were victims of genocide. Armenia
and Turkey broke off diplomatic links in 1993, when Ankara closed
the border and backed Azerbaijan during its war with Armenia over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a mainly ethnic Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan. "The improvement of ties between Armenia and Turkey
is mutually beneficial. "I think we should improve our relations,"
Sarksyan told a news conference on Monday. "The important thing is that
in relations between Armenia and Turkey a trend is taking shape for
being ready to start a healthy discussion of the existing problems."
Sarksyan said earlier this month he had invited his Turkish
counterpart, Abdullah Gul, to visit Yerevan and watch a football match
in September. "The visit of Gul to Armenia could turn this trend into
a stable and positive movement," Sarksyan said, adding that Armenian
diplomats had recently met Turkish colleagues.
Armenian forces control the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia and
Azerbaijan are involved in a long-running peace process but are
still officially at war over the mountainous area. The tiny ex-Soviet
republic of Armenia is sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaijan in a
region that is emerging as an important transit route for oil exports
from the Caspian Sea to world markets, though Armenia has no pipelines
of its own. Armenia also wants Turkey to recognize what it calls a
systematic genocide during World War One.
PanARMENIAN.Net
RA President: we will build democratic, developed and powerful Armenia
together 18.07.2008 19:37 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan issued a
statement marking his 100 days in office, the RA leader’s press
service reported. The statement says,
`Dear Compatriots,
One hundred days ago I assumed the Office of the President of
Armenia. Hundred days are just a symbolic occasion to summarize the
accomplished works and to once again highlight the priorities on the
development agenda for our country. During the last hundred days my
activities have been aimed at dealing with the expectations, dreams
and demands of the hundred of thousands of our fellow citizens, at
creating a base to continue the reforms which are imperative for the
further advancement of our state.
It concerns all the areas of activities, internal and foreign
policies, further strengthening of national security and armed forces,
police and judicial system, efficient economic policy, including the
activities of the customs and tax administrations. There are some
areas where we have been able to achieve results in short period of
time. The others will also show improvements very soon.
I have started to implement my program which was approved by many of
you and contains solutions to many important and concrete
problems. Last hundred days have shown that some of these solutions
will be put into action much sooner than we planned, the others
require more time but not longer than planned.
I am not asking you to be patience, believe me, I am not patience
myself and I want to see the problems of injustice and indifference
solved as soon as possible, I want to see the positive results of our
fight against corruption and poverty.
After hundred days in office I want to ask each of you to answer the
following question: what changes have taken place in our country in
the last hundred days? Ask also your friends, neighbors and relatives.
Unfortunately, some people are pessimistic about the work carried out
nowadays. I am determined to reverse their pessimism with my
persistency. Activities carried out today are nothing like one-month
programs of `Safe driving’ or `Clean hands’. Our work will not be
restricted by any kind of `hundred days’. This working model will
become a natural way of life.
I am sure that an observant eye will notice an important change in our
internal life: concern for people, for the citizens of Armenia, for
his dreams and problems, consideration for his well-being and for his
vision of our newly independent state. I realize that we have almost
nothing, nothing except human resource, except our people. They are
the citizens of Armenia, our brothers and sisters in the
Diaspora. These people must be free and well-educated, competitive and
well off, exemplary in their decency and as well as law abiding.
Dear Compatriots,
I have always been frank and open with you, and today I also expect
sincerity from you. I ask for sincerity since we need optimism to
implement even greater programs and projects.
Even a small undertaking requires corresponding mood, and we, as a
society, must adopt a mood of great undertakings, get ready for great
changes, properly assess the process of our state building, and walk
the road of healing our society from the diagnosis to the cure.
Never forget that you are the free citizens of independent Armenia,
and today we are writing together the new page of our history. What
will be written on that page depends not only on the President but on
all of us. Next pages will be written by our children and
grandchildren. What kind of pages we will leave them depends greatly
on us, on our country.
I want them to live in a free country, in a democratic, developed and
powerful Armenia and that is the objective of my work.
And we will build that Armenia together.’
IvyLeagueSports.com, NJ
July 19 2008
Yale’s Harutunian to the USFA Hall of Fame in 2009
Created: 7/19/2008 12:27:07 PM
Courtesy of Yale Sports Publicity
Yale Fencing Head Coach Henry Harutunian was elected for induction to
the United States Fencing Hall of Fame in the summer of 2009.
Harutunian, who has coached at Yale since 1969, will join Gilbert
Rosiere, Jose Velarde, Arkady Burdan and Sherry Posthumus in the 2009
enshrinement.
"It is the highest honor," said Harutunian, who has served as coach
for the U.S. Olympic Fencing team. "Being selected represents a
lifetime recognition. I’ve done whatever I can in my life to serve
this country, and they have recognized that by putting me in the hall
of fame. I am honored to join the great ones of the past."
For more than 30 years, Yale fencers with the will have been counting
on Harutunian to hone their skill.
Harutunian has produced numerous All-Americans and an NCAA men’s foil
and women’s sabre champion during his tenure. Remarkably, a number of
those honored had never touched a weapon before coming to Yale. The
men are 238-125 (.656) under his guidance and captured the NCAA sabre
title in 1994. The women, meanwhile, have a 269-69 record (.796) and
have won three national titles (1982, 1984, 1985).
Harutunian, the 1996-97 USFCA Coach of the Year, had a distinguished
career as a fencer and coach in his native Armenia. He was named
eminent coach of the Republic of Armenia in 1963, while serving on the
coaching staff for the Soviet national team from 1962-1966.
One of his pupils made the U.S.S.R. Olympic team in 1956 and went on
to become the first Soviet to claim the individual epee title at the
Junior World Championships in 1958. Harutunian came to the United
States in 1966 and coached at Brandeis for three years prior to
joining the Yale staff.
Before long, Harutunian had joined the U.S. coaching elite. He began
working with the American national team in 1977, and in 1984, he
served as one of three U.S. Olympic coaches. He also coached the
Americans in the 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games and in the 1979,
1981, 1983, 1991 and 1993 World University Games.
Harutunian was named Coach of the Year by the National Intercollegiate
Women’s Fencing Association in 1982 and by the IWFA in 1984 and 1985
at the NCAA Championships. In 1986, the U.S. Men’s Fencing Coaches
Association selected him Coach of the Year.
He has also choreographed stage fencing for both theater and the
screen, and has acted in films. Harutunian’s philosophy of fencing is
guided by the following passage from The Works of Moliere: "The eyes
which watch and warn, the brain which evaluates and decides, the hand
which executes the decision must harmonize precision and speed to give
real life to the sword."
le.asp?intID=6687
CHEMISTRY PROBLEMS ARE DISCUSSED
Panorama.am
16:53 17/07/2008
Today "Modern Problem of Chemistry of Armenia" scientific
conference started in the National Academy of Sciences. The conference
will last two days. The mission of the conference is to examine the
modern problems of chemistry in Armenia and their perspectives to be
improved. Totally 117 report are to be presented in the conference.
The scientists discussed the problems of improving the condition of
chemistry in the country and of using the local elements to get other
materials. The conference is organized by Chemistry Company of Armenia.
FELIX PIRUMIAN APPOINTED ADVISER TO RA PRESIDENT
NOYAN TAPAN
JU LY 17
Under RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s July 16 decree, Felix Pirumian
was appointed Adviser to the RA President. Noyan Tapan was informed
about it by the RA President’s Press Office.
AZERI, ARMENIAN SERVICEMEN JOIN MILITARY EXERCISES IN GEORGIA
AssA-Irada
July 15, 2008 Tuesday
Azerbaijan
The United States and Georgia launched joint military exercises in the
military base close to Tbilisi on Tuesday. Azerbaijani, Ukrainian and
Armenian servicemen will participate in the exercises to last three
weeks. 1000 US, 600 Georgian and about 90 Azerbaijani and Armenian
military men have been involved in the training. A representative of
the Georgian Ministry of Defense Murat Kamaure told reporters that
the latest military exercises were called prompt response, noting
that the servicemen of neighboring countries taking part in those
drills will benefit from each others experience. Kamaure said that
similar training would be held in future as well.
5
HARPER’S Magazine
July 15, 8:37 AM, 2008 · Washington Babylon · Previous · Next
Lobbyist-arranged Op-eds?
By Ken Silverstein
Following up on that Sunday Times of London story about its sting on
lobbyist Stephen Payne, regarding the former administration official
caught seeking to sell access to the White House, The Times posted a
confidential brochure prepared by Payne’s firm, Worldwide Strategic
Partners, which detailed its alleged prior activities on behalf of the
government of Azerbaijan.
The brochure said the firm worked closely with a number of people to
`boost positive U.S . public perception about Azerbaijan,’ including:
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison; A. Elizabeth Jones, a former State
Department official and now a lobbyist at APCO Associates; and Gary
Bauer, the Christian right leader. The brochure said the three had
written friendly op-eds on behalf of Azerbaijan. Here are what may be
the three (or at least three of) the op-eds the brochure referred to:
June 11, 2005, op-ed by Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrought an enormous amount of human
suffering. The destructive storms also demonstrated the need for
the US to identify new sources of energy¦ One nation holds great
promise. Azerbaijan, located between Russia and Iran, sits atop
major proven oil reserves on the coast of the Caspian Sea.
September 13, 2005, op-ed by Gary Bauer:
Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic located directly between
Russia and Iran, has worked for a decade to align itself with
the U.S. and Europe through a continuing process of
democratization and economic engagement. Azerbaijan has also
been a firm supporter of the U.S.-led war on terror, signing
every one of the international counter-terrorism conventions and
protocols tracked by the U.S. State Department.
November 2, 2005, Elizabeth Jones:
Azerbaijan, a nation with a Turkic and majority-Muslim
population that regained independence after the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, has parliamentary elections scheduled Nov.
6. President Ilham Aliyev has worked hard to avoid the missteps
of the election in 2003 and correct the problems that election
observers catalogued then. His stated goal is assuring an
environment during the election campaign, culminating on the day
of the vote, which can be fairly judged to have promoted a free
and fair election. Steps taken by his government to date are
encouraging.
All terribly upbeat op-eds about a government still best known for
rigging elections and massive corruption. But arranging these sorts of
opinion pieces, as I disclosed in my undercover story for Harper’s last
year, is all in a day’s work for Washington lobbyists. APCO, one of the
firms I met with, told me it had one person on staff who did nothing but
plant opinion pieces, and had succeeded in placing thousands of them.
By the way, my book based on the lobbying story, `Turkmeniscam: How
Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship’ will
be published on September 23 and promoted here without relent between
now and then.
VICTIMS OF "CHERYOMUKHA"
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 16, 2008
Armenia
Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan informed Council of Europe Human
Rights Commissioner Tomas Hammerberg the names of those policemen who
used special means during March 1-2 developments due to which three
people died.
According to the Spokeswoman of the Prosecutor’s Sona Truzyan,
four policemen have used those special means (such as tear gas
"cheryomukha"), and they should clarify who of them was guilty for
those three deaths.
"We must clarify because of which policemen, from those four, these
people died…that is why we appealed to Mr. Hammerberg to send
corresponding experts to help us clarify this and many other issues,"
Sona Truzyan said.
The Prosecutor General expressed readiness to send all the necessary
documents to overseas for examination.