Author: Chakrian Hovsep

PETROL PRICES WENT UP AGAIN

A1+
12:37 pm | June 04, 2009

Society

Petrol prices have gone up by 20 drams at petrol stations in Yerevan
and the "Regular" petrol is currently sold at 330 drams instead of 310.

"They kept the prices the same until the elections and then raised
them by 20 drams. We had just adjusted to paying 310 drams and all
of a sudden we see a rise of prices," said driver Vahe to "A1+",
while another driver said that they were expecting the rise.

"A1+" tried to find out the reason for the petrol price increase from
the "Flesh" gasoline providing company.

The director of the company Mushegh Elchyan tied the petrol price
increase to the rise of international prices.

"Prices will not change within the next 10 days, however after that
it will depend on the international prices," said Elchyan.

TURKEY’S STATE MINISTER: "TURKEY WILL NOT OPEN THE BORDERS WITH ARMENIA UNLESS NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT IS SOLVED" – EXCLUSIVE

APA
June 4 2009
Azerbaijan

Istanbul. Vugar Mustafayev – APA. Turkey does not intend to open
borders with Armenia unless Nagorno Karabakh conflict is solved,
Turkey’s State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan told APA’s
employee sent to Istanbul.

Caglayan said in Nagorno Karabakh problem there is a fact of the
occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

"Turkey will not open the borders with Armenia or establish any
economic relations unless the problem is solved," he said.

"During his recent visit to Azerbaijan at the meeting with President
Ilham Aliyev Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan once more
expressed the position of official Ankara on the issue. President
Abdullah Gul also stated several times that the Nagorno Karabakh
problem should be solved first," Turkish Minister underlined.

The State Minister said social and economic development of the states
of the region was important for establishing peace in the Caucasus.

Zafer Caglayan also took a stance on Armenian leadership’s policy
concerning the so-called Armenian genocide and propaganda carried
out in the world.

"We have stated several times that this issue should be investigated by
the historians basing on archival documents. I call on the world states
not to be unfair towards Turkey while passing any decision," he said.

IGOR KLIMKO DENIES INFORMATION ABOUT CLOSURE OF BEELINE OFFICES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009

/PanARMENIA N.Net/ ArmenTel’s (merchandise mark Beeline) General
Director, Igor Klimko denies the information on closure of Beeline
service offices at the news conference today. According to Mr. Klimko
Armentel hasn’t closed its offices on Saryan and Teryan streets,
moreover according to him, they have never had an client service office
on Teryan street. The office on Saryan street was closed in 2001. "I
am very much surprised, that the mass media outlets have remembered
about that 8 years later," he said. A day before some Armenian media,
quoting each other, reported on the closure of Beeline’s offices on
Vazgen Sargsyan, Saryan and Teryan streets.

SPECIFIC WEIGHT OF BUDGET DEFICIT IN GDP TO BE RAISED TO 7,5%

ArmInfo
2009-06-02 13:12:00

Specific weight of the budget deficit in Armenia’s GDP will be raised
from 5% to 7,5%. The relevant proposal, advanced by the Armenian
government, was introduced by Finance Minister of Armenia Tigran
Davtyan in the parliament today.

Having introduced the draft law ‘On Alterations and Amendments to the
Law ‘On Budget System’ in the first reading, T. Davtyan emphasized that
the necessity of introducing alterations to the law has been aimed
at activating the process of state funding of the social projects on
mitigation of consequences of the global economic crisis. Naturally,
the crisis affected the revenue side of Armenia’s state budget and
caused its reduction. In view of this, it is scheduled to attract
considerable funds to continue the social programmes. The government of
Armenia is negotiating with the international financial institutes and
states for attraction of serious credit funds, that has given occasion
to introduction of alterations to the law. However, according to the
minister, it does not mean that the government will reach out for the
ceiling of 7,5%. He added that all the programmes of social nature,
including housing construction in the area of Spitak earthquake,
will be implemented without fail. T. Davtyan recalled that 1% budget
deficit makes up about 31 bln drams in Armenia’s GDP. So, 2,5%
increase of the deficit rate will make up about 70 bln drams.

Moreover, the minister said, the government does not intend to issue
public securities for redemption of the budget deficit. The budget
deficit will be funded on four directions: credit funds of the World
Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and the
Russian Federation. Credit funds at the rate of $800 mln will be
attracted in the current year. The attracted funds will allow to
successfully implement the available programmes and reduce the bank
interest rates. The created interdepartmental working group carries
out a permanent monitoring of macroeconomic stability in Armenia
which indicate growth of the budget deficit as of today by 6-10%.

The executive power has already frozen some programmes to the
total sum of 93 bln drams and postponed their implementation for
the 4th quarter, 2009. T. Davtyan emphasized that the first signs
of stabilization of Armenia’s economy will become apparent in 2010,
by the governmental forecasts.

A GOOD REASON TO CLOSE THE ROADS

Lragir.Am
11:52:48 – 01/06/2009

On May 31, on the day of the Yerevan Mayor Election, columns
of mini-buses were coming to Yerevan from the regions of
Armenia. According to Heghine Bisharyan, those were supporters of the
political forces, who were coming to support their favorite forces
and the opposition assures that those people were being taken to
Yerevan to vote for the people who are absent from Yerevan.

Today, on June 1, the opposition is going to hold a rally near
Matenadaran. Perhaps, we may be sure that today the roads from Yerevan
to the regions will surely be closed and one will only be able to go
to the regions but not vice versa.

The governmental reason for it will be the fact that as the day
before, a great number of supporters of the political forces, in
particular supporters of the OYP, came to Yerevan, it created a strict
lack of habitants in the region, which is question of the national
security. Consequently, unless the supporters, who came to Yerevan,
go back to the regions, transportation from Yerevan to the regions
will be forbidden.

In addition, the government may take advantage of this circumstance
for all the rallies of the opposition within the forthcoming several
months. The point is that they may always state that the great part of
the supporters of the political forces, who came to Yerevan on May 31,
is still in Yerevan.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION WAIVES ALL MANDATES OBTAINED AFTER ELECTIONS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.06.2009 20:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the meeting held today in Yerevan,
ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan declared of opposition’s intention
to waive all mandates obtained after elections to Yerevan Elder’s
Council. Armenian opposition, he said, will not start dialogue with
authorities and any document signed with President will have no legal
force for it.

According to CEC preliminary results, parties topping the are:
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) – 190171 votes (47.39%), "Prosperous
Armenia" – 91141 votes (22.71%) and Armenian national Congress –
69871 votes (17.41%).

MUSA DAGH PHOTO COLLECTION TO BE PART OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM OF AMERICA

AZG Armenian Daily
02/06/2009

Armenian Genocide

Rare and historically significant photographs of the Armenians of Musa
Dagh will be among the Genocide-era images featured in the Armenian
Genocide Museum of America (AGMA), thanks to the generosity of a
private collector who is providing the museum with exclusive access
to the photos.

Very few families survived the Armenian Genocide without loss of
life. Pictured is the family of Krikor Boursalian of Yoghunoluk
village, Musa Dagh. The picture was taken at the Port Said refugee
camp in Egypt sometime between October 1915 and summer 1916.

This unique collection of black-and-white photographs, dating from
1915 to 1939, is the life’s work of Dr. Vahram Shemmassian, a Los
Angeles-based historian who is the world’s leading expert on the
Armenians of Musa Dagh.

"We are profoundly grateful to Dr. Shemmassian for allowing the museum
to use his priceless photo collection to help tell the heroic story of
the Musa Dagh Armenians against the backdrop of the larger and much
more tragic story of the Armenian Genocide," said Van Z. Krikorian,
AGMA Board Trustee and Building and Operations Committee Chairman. "In
addition, as the foremost authority on the subject of Musa Dagh,
Dr. Shemmassian is able to provide authentication of the evidence
documented in these photographs."

Krikorian said the Musa Dagh photo collection is the fourth significant
collection of Genocide-era visual materials which, in the past year,
have been made available for use by AGMA. AGMA has been granted access
to the archives of the Near East Foundation and the Armenian Genocide
Museum-Institute in Yerevan, Armenia, and has received a donation of a
privately-held research library containing books, maps, photographs and
other materials focused on the Armenian Genocide and its documentation.

Dr. Shemmassian has also undertaken pioneering research on the fate
of Armenian women and children during and in the aftermath of the
Genocide, another focus area of the museum. Shemmassian, who is
currently Director of the Armenian Studies Program at California
State University, Northridge, said the Armenian Genocide Museum in
Washington, DC is a "perfect match" for his collection.

"The thousands of people who will visit the museum will be able to look
into the faces of those brave Armenians of Musa Dagh and learn of their
unique story," Dr. Shemmassian said. "They resisted and most of them
survived, but they were forced to leave their homes. These photographs
document the trying conditions and difficult challenges that the
displaced Musa Dagh Armenians faced as survivors and refugees."

According to Dr. Rouben Adalian, Director of the museum’s research
arm, the Armenian National Institute, "The story of Musa Dagh is one
of the rare instances during the Armenian Genocide era where Armenian
villagers, who were targeted for annihilation by the Ottoman Turkish
Army, put up an organized resistance for 49 days and were eventually
rescued by Allied warships patrolling the Turkish coast."

Adalian said, "There are no known photographs of the actual defense
of Musa Dagh, however, the rescue and delivery to safety in Egypt of
over 4,000 survivors made headline news." The Austrian author Franz
Werfel also immortalized the gripping events in his "Forty Days of
Musa Dagh," which became a best-seller upon its release in 1933 and
was subsequently translated into numerous languages.

The AGMA recently received a copy of the Dutch edition of "Forty Days
of Musa Dagh" from a Canadian donor whose family had lived through
World War II. Adalian added, "The book is important supplemental
material to the Musa Dagh photo collection, and points to the
world-wide impact of the story of the resistance of the Armenians of
Musa Dagh."

"Franz Werfel’s book was widely read in Europe and made the Jewish
author unpopular with the Nazi regime, prompting Werfel to flee
Austria in 1938," Adalian said. He noted that according to Professor
Yair Auron of the Open University of Israel, Werfel’s novel was a
source of inspiration and reflection for Jews who were trapped by the
Nazi occupation of Europe. In one historical account, a Holocaust
survivor from the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania stated: "Our analysis
of the book indicated that if the world did not come to the rescue
of the Armenians, who were Christians after all, how could we, Jews,
expect help? No doubt Hitler knew all about those massacres and the
criminal neglect by the free world, and was convinced that he could
proceed with impunity against the helpless Jews."

RENOWNED RUSSIAN ACTOR VYACHESLAV NEVINNY DIES AT 75

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.06.2009 14:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Renowned Russian theatre and film actor, People’s
Artist of the USSR Vyacheslav Nevinny died Sunday at the age of 75.

Vyacheslav Nevinny was a popular actor of the MKhAT (Moscow Art
Academic Theatre) and also acted in 70 films, including The Chairman
(Predsedatel) (1964), The Garage (Garazh) (1979), Guest from the
Future (Gostya iz budushchego) (1985), Dead Souls (Myortvye dushi)
(1984), Ruslan and Lyudmila (1972), etc. In addition to that, many
favorite heros of Russian animated cartoons speak in his voice.

In 2005 the actor underwent a most serious operation with amputation
of his left foot due to gangrene that had started as complication of
his diabetes. In 2006 doctors had to amputate his right leg as well.

His colleagues say his every role was a visual aid of acting technique.

APA, Azerbaijan
May 30 2009

KLO condemns Polad Bulbuloglu’s intention to visit Nagorno Karabakh
with Armenian ambassador to Russia

[ 30 May 2009 14:48 ]

Baku. Elnur Mammadli ` APA. Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO)
issued a statement condemning Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad
Bulbuloglu’s intention to visit Nagorno Karabakh with Armenian
ambassador to this country.

The organization’s press service told APA that such steps served for
Armenia’s interests and justification of their aggressive actions.

KLO noted that it was an illogical step while Armenia did want to
withdraw from its occupied territories, committed arsons there and
obviously held military trainings in those territories: `Polad
Bulbuloglu’s insistence on this initiative causes serious question and
anxiety and makes doubts on his turning into the tool of Russian and
Armenian policy’.

KLO says that Azerbaijani government should investigate
P. Bulbuloglu’s activity and reconsider the issue whether he deserves
the post he is holding or not.

People’s Weekly World
May 30 2009

COMMENTARY
Psychopaths wanted for high court appointment

Author: Emile Schepers
People’s Weekly World Newspaper, 05/30/09 15:20

Wow, is Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first nominee to the
Supreme Court, ever in for it!

Mark Kirkorian of the anti-immigrant `Center for Immigration Studies’
told the press this week that it is incorrect to pronounce her name
SotomayOR with the accent on the last syllable as she and anybody who
knows a smidgeon of Spanish pronounces it, but that the name should be
pronounced `SotoMAYur," with the accent on the second to last
syllable. Why? Because this is America, and people should Americanize
the pronunciation of their foreign names if they want to stay here. We
have reliable information that Kirkorian, for example, pronounces his
typically Armenian name as `Chumley’.

This is the tip of the iceberg of the racist and sexist attacks and
insults to which Ms. SotomaYOR is being subjected as her confirmation
proceeds. Worse than refusing to patriotically mispronounce her own
name, she confesses to being influenced by her environment. And
horrible to relate, President Obama has said he was looking for judges
who exhibit `empathy."

The Republican right ran to their dictionaries to look up `empathy’
and found that it means `ability to understand the feelings of
others," or some such commie claptrap. So of course, they’re `agin”
it. `Empathy’ has no place on the Supreme Court.

Well, I did some research and found out that by definition, a person
without empathy is a `psychopath." Yes, psychiatrists define
psychopaths as people who are unable to exhibit `empathy or remorse."
So if the right wants people without empathy on the Supreme Court,
what they are really looking for are psychopaths in black robes.

I think this is perfectly reasonable. After all, psychopaths have had
distinguished careers in both the executive and legislative branches,
so why not in the judiciary also? Having an all-psychopath, no-empathy
bench would solve several current legal dilemmas like the argument
over whether people who are actually innocent should be executed
because their incompetent legal counsel did not file appeal papers on
time (I kid you not, this is actually being discussed).

But there is another problem. Judge Sotomayor is quoted as having
suggested in a 2001 speech that the environment in which she and other
judges grew up might have a positive influence on their ability to
understand their duties. Of course, Ms. Sotomayor grew up as a
working-class daughter of Puerto Rican parents, and was not born with
a silver spoon in her mouth.

Most people who read her whole 2001 statement conclude that it’s just
common sense. Judges like anybody else are influenced by their life
experiences, and this is bound to be reflected in some of their
rulings.

It is also ridiculous and offensive to claim that a Puerto Rican woman
from a working class background would be negatively affected, as a
judge, by her life experiences, but a white male from an elite
background would only be positively impacted by his own life
experiences. It is tantamount to saying that only rich white men are
eligible to do the judging.

As a friend said `anybody who believes this nonsense must be living on
another planet."

So maybe that is the solution to the dilemma of judges being
influenced by their life experiences: Find Supreme Court candidates
from other worlds beyond our solar system. They would have been
influenced, perhaps, by their experiences growing up on their own
planets, but not by the human situations which the form the context of
the cases on which they are supposed to rule, which is what we are
trying to avoid here.

Of course, being brought in from outer space would mean that they are
not U.S. citizens and therefore ineligible for judicial
appointments. But that can be solved as it was for media mogul Rupert
Murdoch, who suddenly was made a U.S. citizen, butting ahead in line
in front of several tens of millions of people so he could own TV and
radio stations here.

So how’s that for a plan? Psychopathic space cadets for the Supreme
Court!

The Republican right should be very pleased with that, as they would
have plenty of candidates for future openings, including a former vice
president.

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