Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT DISCUSSES PRIORITY ISSUES OF LORI WITH GOVERNOR OF LORI PROVINCE

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 6 2007

YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian met
with the Governor of Lori region of Armenia Aram Kocharian to discuss
the priority issues of Lori region.

The President expressed his concern about the rates of housing
construction in the rural areas of the region for the families who
had lost their houses in the earthquake, the presidential press
service reported.

The President and the Governor also discussed issues on starting the
operation of the large-scale industry enterprises and the 2007 rural
development programs.

Armenia’s President gave instructions on the matters discussed.

BOXING: BURGOS SURVIVES SURGERY BUT IN COMA AFTER LOSS TO AUSSIE

Agence France Presse — English
March 5, 2007 Monday 4:48 PM GMT

Mexican flyweight fighter Victor Burgos remained in a coma on Monday
following brain surgery to remove a blood clot after his loss here
on Saturday to undefeated Australian Vic Darchinyan.

The Armenian-born Darchinyan, 28-0, stopped Burgos at 1:27 of the
12th round to retain the International Boxing Federation flyweight
crown, finishing with a battering of blows to the head that worried
ringside doctors.

After going to his corner and slumping wearily to his stool, Burgos
was taken from the ring on a stretcher and sent to a hospital where
he immediately underwent surgery to remove the blood clot from his
brain and reduce swelling.

Burgos remained in a medically induced coma at Los Angeles County
Harbor Medical Center in nearby Torrance, with doctors saying he showed
signs of movement that were a positive sign for a possible recovery.

Burgos, 32, of Tijuana has a record of 39-15 with three drawn. He
won the IBF junior flyweight crown in 2003 and moved up in weight
two years later.

"I know he’s fighting right now to come through this because a brave
fighter is what he has always been," said Don King, Burgos’ promoter.

"Now we need God’s help to see him back to health."

From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Haigazian University
Rue Mexique – Kantari
P.O. Box 11-1748
Riad El-Solh 1107 2090
Beirut – Lebanon

Haigazian University Features "The Armenian Genocide" of Time Magazine

Beirut, On Friday the 3rd of March 2007, the Book Club of the Haigazian
University’s Women’s Auxilary featured the 52-minute documentary on the
Armenian Genocide, prepared by the French director Laurence Jourdan, and
distributed by the European edition of Time magazine in its Feb. 12, 2007
issue.

Around 50 people gathered in the movie theatre of Club La
Marina, Dbayeh watched the well prepared DVD, which features mass
deportations from Armenia during the First World War, live testimonies of
the genocide survivors, in addition to written correspondences of foreign
ambassadors to their countries, reporting atrocities undertaken at the time.

Mayda Keleshian, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary, gave a
short presentation on the circumstances under which this documentary was
prepared. In fact, it was in response to a Turkish DVD distributed formerly
by Time magazine, on its June 6, 2005 issue, as a paid advertisement
promoting tourism in Turkey, which shows up to be a denialist propaganda on
the Armenian Genocide.

This documentary was the fruit of the dedicated work of many
organizations, to whom the whole Armenian nation should be thankful:
Memoire 2000, the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France,
Comite de Defense de la Cause Armenienne, j’Accuse, the Movement against
Racism and for Friendship among People, Switzerland-Armenia Association,
the French Association of Armenian Lawyers and Jurists, the
European-Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy and the California
Courier newspaper.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Dual citizenship – a step towards unification of the Armenian Nation.

The Israeli form is more applicable for Armenia, the 2/3 of whose
nation is spread all over the world.
28.02.2007 GMT+04:00

The RA National Assembly passed a bill on citizenship in its second
and last reading. 66 deputies voted for, 5 were against. Those having
dual citizenship may have a vote in elections in Armenia only if they
have residence registration in their own name. This stipulation also
anticipates those citizens’ registration at the enlistment
office. Those being 18 and over, and having permanent residence in
Armenia over the last 3 years, capable of expressing themselves in
Armenian and being familiar with the country’s Constitution may be
granted Armenian citizenship.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Besides Armenian citizenship may be obtained when
either the husband or the wife is Armenian or the child of a married
couples has Armenian citizenship, or when one has Armenian
origins. Those having been revoked the Armenian citizenship after
January 1, 1995 may also obtain Armenian citizenship. According to the
Document, request for obtaining Armenian citizenship may be turned
down for those who are of some danger to the national or public
security. Revocation of the citizenship is not necessarily to be
founded. According to law, anyone having dual citizenship may serve
in the Armenian Army, however, if they have done their military
service in another country for minimum 12 months, or have done
alternative military service for 18 months minimum, they have the
right not to serve in the Armenian Army. Parliamentary amendments do
not free the Armenian citizens holding the citizenship of another
country at the same time, from serving in the Armenian Army. Meanwhile
those having dual citizenship may not put forward once candidacy for
President or NA Deputy. They cannot be Member of Constitutional Court
either.

The institute of dual citizenship has been functioning for a rather
long time, so it is well known to international and constitutional
right in all its aspects, as well as in the way it is implemented.
Countries recognizing dual citizenship, must sign a contract, where
the salvations of all possible disputable questions are
stipulated. Only after signing this contract dual citizenship may be
applied in the given country. This means that if Armenia doesn’t have
the above mentioned contract with, suppose, USA or Great Britain, dual
citizenship will be merely declarative for the Diaspora in these
countries. In 1940 in the USA bill on Citizenship was passed, which
limited the rights of the American citizens taking part in the
elections of another country. Those having dual citizenship must pay
the bills according to the laws of both countries, if no contract of
tax avoidance is signed between those two countries. Being within the
boarders of one country, the dual citizenship holder may not count on
the protection of the other country’s Government. Similar laws are
also applied in Great Britain. If one holds citizenship of a different
country, he doesn’t lose the citizenship of Great Britain. Even if one
is granted UK citizenship and at the same time holds citizenship of
another country, which doesn’t recognize dual citizenship, the
Government of this country has the right to demand renouncement of the
UK citizenship.

The Israeli form is more applicable for Armenia, the 2/3 of whose
nation is spread all over the world. The Declaration of Independence
of Israel, adopted in 1948, states; ` The State of Israel will be open
to Jewish immigration and will receive all the Jews spread all over
the world; it will strain every effort for the development of the
country for the welfare of its people.’ In fact any Jew arriving in
Israel from another country may obtain Israeli passport without any
bureaucratic protractions, not being obligated to renounce the first
citizenship. As for taxes, according to unwritten law every Jew
assigns his so-called `1/10′ to the Government.
«PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION COULD NOT FORM A JOINT ELECTORAL BLOCK

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.03.2007 15:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) approved its
electoral list, which contains 112 names.

The first three places occupy Armenian PM, RPA Chairman Andranik
Margaryan, Minister of Defense and head of RPA Political Council
Serzh Sargsyan is on the second place and RA NA Speaker and Deputy
Chairman of RPA Tigran Torosyan occupies the third place.

The People’s Party of Armenia (PPA) also has published its list. It
contains 73 names. The first 10 places include: Stepan Demirchyan,
Albert Bazeyan, Grigor Harutyunian, Stepan Zakharyan, Stepan Minasyan,
Vardan Lazarian, Artak Sargsyan.

Progressive Communist Party of Armenia (Leader-Vazgen Safaryan) will
participate in the coming parliamentary elections on proportional
and majority systems. The Liberal Progressive Party of Armenia (LPPA)
is going to take part in the elections individually. The party’s head
Hovhannes Hovhannisyan said, LPPA will participate in the elections
on proportional and majority systems.

"National Democratic Union" party (leader-Vazgen Manoukyan) will not
take part in the elections to the RA NA. The executive committee
of the party during its session decided not to participate in the
elections either on majority or proportional systems. The possibility
of participation in the lists of other parties is also excluded.

Earlier opposition declared about its intentions to form an electoral
block, which would include "National Democratic Union", Republic",
"Heritage" and "Armenian National Movement" (ANM) parties. But the
opposition could not join in a block. During its session "Republic"
party decided to take part in the elections individually and approved
its proportional list. ANM also declared about its intentions to
participate in the elections individually.

YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY OUT OF POLITICAL ACITIVITIES

Panorama.am
18:51 01/03/2007

Aram Simonyan, rector of Yerevan State University (YSU) said today
YSU is out of political activities.

However, the university management does not stop the faculty and
students to engage in politics out of the institution. "We have
students who are supported of Armenian Republican Party (HHK),
Prosperous Armenia, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnakcutiun),"
Simonyan said.

The rector of the institution said it is prohibited to engage in
political activities within the building of the university. "The
institution belongs to people. We are a state institution and the
state interest is primary for us," he said.

WE NEED FORCEFUL PROPAGANDA

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
01 March 07

On February 26 the parliamentary factions and groups of the NKR
National Assembly held a news conference on the anniversary of the
tragedy in Sumgait.

All the parliament forces condemn this horrendous crime. "Sumgait was
the picture of Azerbaijan of the early 20th century displayed late in
the 20th century, " said Armen Sargsian, ARF-Movement 88 group. Arthur
Tovmassian, Hayrenik faction, said: "The events in Sumgait are the
continuation of the Armenian genocide in the beginning of the past
century." According to him, the Azerbaijani authorities had tried
to stage similar acts in other areas but failed. The leader of the
Democratic faction Vahram Atanessian emphasized that the events in
Sumgait were perpetrated a week after the February 20, 1988 decision
of the NKR Soviet of Deputies. It was the reaction of Azerbaijan to
the constitutional claims of the Armenians of Karabakh. There were also
proposals. "We intend to mark this day not only as the day of memory of
victims of Sumgait but also as a day of protest of Armenians against
the anti-Armenian policy of Azerbaijan," said Armen Sargsian. The
other parliament forces agree on this evaluation of these events. And
not only on these events. The leaders of the parliament factions
assured that the political forces are unanimous on all the important
issues of the Armenians of Artsakh. As an example, they pointed to the
hearings at the NKR parliament on the Karabakh issue and the document
adopted during these hearings. However, the political forces are not
enough, the entire society should act unanimously, they say. The
leaders of the factions touched upon the events of Khodjalu, more
exactly the false information the Azerbaijani propaganda machine is
constantly supplying. The parliamentary forces agree that Sumgait and
Khodjalu are not equal. In the end the leaders of the factions made a
statement. "The massacres perpetrated by the Azerbaijani authorities on
February 27-29 in 1988 were not given an adequate political and legal
evaluation, the organizers were not punished, and the international
community never learned their names," the statement runs. As a result,
the Azerbaijani authorities went on with ethnic cleansing in Khanlar,
Kutkashen, Vardashen and Shamkor regions and Mingechaur in November
and December 1988, Kirovabad in 1989, Baku in 1990, the members
of parliament announced. With regard to the events in Khodjalu, the
representatives of the parliament forces stated that by falsifying the
reality in Khodjalu the Azerbaijani authorities first of all deceive
their people hiding the truth that the village had become a theatre
of internal political struggle for power in Azerbaijan. However, it is
necessary to be able to convey this to the international community. "
Unfortunately, we do not have established propaganda," said Vahram
Atanessian, adding that some efforts are nevertheless made.

AS SHAVARSH KOCHARIAN AFFIRMS, OPPOSITION’S DIVISION WAS PREDETERMINED

Noyan Tapan
Mar 01 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The opposition failed to unite on the
threshold of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, as there was
no iedological axis necessary for unification. Shavarsh Kocharian,
Chairman of National Democratic Party, made such a statement at the
March 1 press conference. In his words, the Ardarutiun (Justice)
bloc formed before the 2003 elections included forces with different
ideologies, which were united by the idea of necessity of system
reforms. But when the opportunity to implement real reforms in the
country through constitutional amendments was created, the opposition
stepped back "being afraid of protecting their own achievement." As
NDP Chairman affirmed, starting from that moment the opposition’s
division was predetermined.

S. Kocharian reminded that the draft constitutional amendments
submitted to NA in first reading strengthened authoritarianism
for even more, which was prevented and the principles of power
differentiation was deepened and this was done thanks to opposition’s
pressure as well. As regards the power camp, in S. Kocharian’s words,
it is always consolidated, irrespective of the fact in what way
it presents itself to the public. The NDP Chairman said that power
forces will never permit the competition among them to endanger the
common interest: that is, to reproduce themselves and to retain the
power. S. Kocharian refuted the rumors that preelection agitation
of NDP, as well as other opposition forces running for the elections
independently is financed by the authorities. In his words, by this
logic all opposition forces in Armenia are mercenary, as all of them
will take part in the elections on their own. The NDP Chairman said
that all talks about the election results’ being predetermined and
opposition leaders’ being mercenary have the goal to deepen public’s
disappointment and to incite people not to go to elections.

CONCERTS OF ARMENIAN STATE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PASS IN CROWDED HALLS IN FRANCE

Noyan Tapan
Feb 28 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The concerts of Armenian
State Philharmonic Orchestra held on February 5-16 in seven French
cities passed in crowded halls. As Edvard Topchian, Orchestra’s Art
Director and conductor, reported at the February 28 press conference,
in spite of the Orchestra’s busy concert schedule, the musicians
performed excellently presenting themselves to the foreign spectator
as high-class professionals.

During its concert tour the Orchestra performed works of Aram
Khachaturian, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Rakhmaninov. In E. Topchian’s
words, the French spectator showed especially warm feelings towards
A. Khachaturian Symphony N 2 and his "Dance of the Swords." The head of
the Orchestra said that the local press widely covered the performances
of the Philharmonic Orchestra and La Gazette wrote that the concerts
of the Armenian State Philharmonic Orchestra were the culminating
point of the events held within the framework of Year of Armenia in
France. It was also mentioned that Ambassador or Armenia to France,
Edvard Nalbandian provided great assistance to the organization of
the concerts.

MURDERS OF HRANT DINK AND GURGEN MARGARYAN WERE THE RESULT OF THE ANTI-ARMENIAN POLICY OF TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN

armradio.am
28.02.2007 17:55

The assassinations of Hrant Dink and Gurgen Margaryan were the result
of the anti-Armenian policy of Turkey and Azerbaijan, Director of
the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan said at today’s
press conference.

The later represents the Defense Ministry of Armenia at the court
hearings on the case of murder of Gurgen Margaryan. In his words, the
clan of Aliyevs is engaged in anti-Armenian propaganda, and it’s worth
mentioning that it is done not only by Ilham Aliyev but also his wife
and his daughter Leila, who organized an event in Moscow dedicated
to the Azerbaijani interpretation of Khojalu tragedy. However, as
Hayk Demoyan noted, the Azerbaijani authorities keep silent about
the crimes against their own people.