Author: Chakrian Hovsep

HEAT SUPPLY SYSTEMS OF 45 RA CITY SCHOOLS ALREADY RESTORED WITH WORLD BANK CREDIT PROGRAM

Noyan Tapan
Dec 13 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The heat supply systems of 45
rural schools of the republic were restored during the recent one year
within the framework of the city heating credit program of the World
Bank. As Tamara Babayan, the Director of the Restored Energetics and
Energy Economy Fund implementing the program informed journalists on
Decemberr 12, heating supply systems of 100 schools of 47 cities are
envisaged to restore within the framework of the program. The total
value of the program is 6.2 mln U.S. dollars, 5 mln dollars of which
are the WB credit, the rest is the RA Government’s co-financing.

In T.Babayan’s words, according to 2005 data, 202 schools of the cities
of the republic, except Yerevan, where about 87 thousand pupils study,
has the heating program. The Fund Director also stated that about 19
mln drams (about 50 thousand U.S. dollars) are spent on restoration
of the heating supply of one school.

HEALTH STATE OF G.ABDALIAN AND HER 3 GRANDCHILDREN MADE ATTEMPT OF SETTING THEMSELVES ON FIRE IS STABLE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 13 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The health state of Gyulizar
Avdalian and her 3 grandchildren of the Yezidi origin, made an attempt
of setting themselves on fire during the action of protest in front
the of the RA President’s residence on December 7, is stable and is
estimated as of middle seriousness.

Hovsep Shamakhian, the Chief of the Burn Department of the
Traumatology, Orthopedics, Burns and Radio-Therapy Center informed
the Noyan Tapan correspondent about it. He mentioned that the latters
got burns of the 2nd and 3rd categories. In H.Shamakhian’s words,
G.Avdalian and Roman Avdalian from the children are in comparatively
poor state. To recap, G.Avdalian is the mother of Kyaram Avdalian
killed in the consequence of the incident taken place in the village
of Lchashen on November 6. She demanded to remove the examination of
the case of murder of her 42-year old son from the Prosecutor’s Office
of the marz of Gegharkunik to the RA Prosecutor’s Office. To recap,
a criminal action was brought on the occasion of the fact of setting
on fire, a preliminary investigation is being held. In G.Avdalian’s
words, she did not want to injure the children, she simply did not
notice that petrol was filled on the children as well.

RENOVATED KINDERGARTEN IN VERISHEN READY TO PROVIDE IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL AND CARE CONDITIONS

ArmRadio.am
13.12.2006 14:52

On December 14, 2006 at 13:00 the official opening ceremony of the
kindergarten in Verishen village will take place. The kindergarten
was renovated through the US Embassy and USAID-funded Community
Self-Help Fund (CSHF) program, which is implemented by Save the
Children. Representatives of the US Embassy, USAID, Save the Children,
Syunik Marzpetaran, Verishen local government and the community will
participate in the event.

The kindergarten of Verishen village (2,250 residents) is a two-storied
building constructed in 1974. Until 2001 the kindergarten functioned
with 120 children enrolled, including 30 from the neighboring Akner
village, and run by 18 staff. Strong winds in 2001 swept away the roof
of the building due to which the rainwaters systematically penetrated
into the building and flooded the interior. This led to complete
destruction of the building – sanitary units and heating system went
out of order, hindering the functioning of the kindergarten. Though
in 2002 the building’s roof was renovated through the funding from
World Vision, however the overall problem still existed. Due to poor
hygiene and heating conditions the number of children enrolled in the
kindergarten gradually decreased which resulted in the final closure of
the kindergarten in 2004. As the re-opening of the kindergarten was of
vital importance for the village, the local authorities intensively
began seeking funding for the renovation of the building. In 2005
Jinishian Family Foundation helped renovate the sanitary units of the
kindergarten. However, the kindergarten still had major unresolved
problems, which impeded the kindergarten’s functioning.

Thus the kindergarten administration applied to Save the Children for
a CSHF program grant to renovate the heating system and finalize the
internal renovation.

The Community Self-Help Fund program helped renovate and upgrade
the kindergarten’s kitchen, laundry, health post, events’ hall, 3
playrooms and 3 bedrooms, and install a gas boiler and an internal
heating system. As a result, the heating system and the building’s
premises were improved, and the kindergarten finally got ready to
receive children in proper educational and care conditions. After
the kindergarten’s re-opening, 90 children will begin attending it,
and 18 staff will be hired.

The total cost of the project was USD 26,599 of which USD 18,199
was provided by the Community Self-Help Fund, while USD 8,400 (about
32% of the project cost) was contributed by the Verishen and Akner
villages municipalities in form of labor and construction materials. In
addition, the local dairy producing company "Elola" LTD committed to
provide dairy products in the amount of about USD 180 per month.

TURKEY’S TERMS INADMISSIBLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Any proposals on formation of a bilateral commission
of historians on investigation of events of 1915 are absolutely
inadmissible, said political scientist, director of the Caucasus
Media Institute Alexander Iskandaryan. The Armenian Genocide is a
crime that must be recognized. Armenians do not doubt the fact of
Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Telling an Armenian that there was no Genocide is the same as telling
a Jew that there was no Oswiecim and Dachau," he emphasized.

The Armenian political scientist remarked that the Armenian Genocide
issue cannot be a precondition for opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border. "If opening of the border and normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations depend on the issue the relations will
never be normalized," he said.

Turkey’s proposals are inadmissible. It especially refers to the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

Turkey is a third state and has no right to interfere.

Armenia’s interference into the Cypriot issue would look the same way,"
he said.

KOCHARIAN AGAIN SLAMS ARMENIAN TAX COLLECTION
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 8 2006

President Robert Kocharian again lambasted Armenia’s tax and customs
authorities on Friday, saying that the amount of taxes collected
by them remains too low and "does not correspond to the existing
potential."

The criticism came at a special meeting between Kocharian and a group
of top officials, including Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, Finance
Minister Vartan Khachatrian and Central Bank chief Tigran Torosian. The
heads of the State Tax Service (STS) and the State Customs Committee
(SCC) were also in attendance.

"In the president’s words, some work has been done in the past few
years to improve the tax and customs administration, but it is still
far from being satisfactory," Kocharian’s office said in a statement.

The head of state was cited as demanding a "qualitative change" in
the work of his government’s two revenue collection agencies next year.

The Armenian budget for 2007, approved by parliament last week,
calls for an almost 16 percent increase in public spending which is
projected to total a record-high 558.7 billion drams ($1.51 billion).

This will require a corresponding rise in tax revenues, something
which was stressed by Kocharian during the meeting.

According to official data released by the Finance Ministry, the STS
and SCC collected 346 billion drams in combined revenues during the
first ten months of this year. This represents an almost 20 percent
rise from the same period in 2005, putting the government on track
to meet its 2006 budgetary targets.

Despite having grown steadily over the past decade, the tax revenues
are still worth less than 15 percent of Gross Domestic Product,
one of the lowest rates in the former Soviet Union highlighting the
scale of tax evasion in Armenia. Kocharian’s chief economic adviser,
Vahram Nercissiantz, has repeatedly singled out the disproportionately
low figure as a key economic challenge facing the country.

"It is evident that considering our robust economic growth, it should
have been possible to collect much more tax revenues," Nercissiantz
admitted in a RFE/RL interview last June. He said Armenia’s continuing
double-digit economic growth makes the tax shortfall particularly
glaring.

Kocharian was reported to instruct the tax authorities to tackle the
problem by eliminating unspecified legal loopholes for tax avoidance
and creating a level playing field for all Armenian businesses. It
is not clear if he agreed with a widespread perception that wealthy
government-connected entrepreneurs get away with grossly underreporting
their earnings.

The latest list of the country’s 300 largest corporate taxpayers made
public by STS last month shows that many of the so-called "oligarchs"
continue to post modest profits contrasting with their conspicuous
wealth. Gagik Tsarukian, arguably the most influential and ambitious
of them, was again a case in point. The biggest of the companies
known to be owned by him held a lowly 76 place in the STS rankings,
with only 411 million drams ($1.1 million) in taxes and other duties
paid from January through August.

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

ACUS A LECTURE SERIES FOCUSES ON THE FOUR HIERARCHICAL SEES OF THE ARMENIAN
CHURCH

The Armenian Church University Students’ Association’s lecture series
continued this Saturday with a special focus on the Four Hierarchical Sees
of the Armenian Church.

On Saturday 2 December 2006, lecturer V. Rev. Fr. Yeghishe Manjikian
presented a brief history of the four Holy Sees, focusing on their
establishment and mission. He spoke in detail about the two Armenian
Catholicosates, their history and brotherly relations over the centuries. He
also talked about the past and present role of the Patriarchal Holy Sees of
Constantinople and Jerusalem.

The lecturer also touched on temporary sees such as that of the
Catholicosate of Aghtamar and the relocation of the Holy See.

The question and answer period that followed, centered on the Catholicosate
of Cilicia’s mission and service.
##
View the photos here:

*****

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the youth
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

NKR SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSED CURRENT STAGE OF KARABAKH TALKS

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Dec 5 2006

December 4 the NKR Security Council sitting was held in Stepanakert.

The sitting was presided over by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
President Arkady Ghoukassian.

According to the information DE FACTO got at the NKR President’s
Administration, in the course of the sitting Arkady Ghoukassian
granted a hearing to the situation along the NKR and Azeri Armed
Forces’ contact line. Then the state’s head acquainted those present
with the outcomes of the meetings held during his visit to the U. S.
Arkady Ghoukassian highly estimated the Diaspora’s participation in the
TV marathon targeted at fund raising for the implementation of Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund’s program on the restoration and development of the
NKR Hadrut region. The Nagorno-Karabakh President noted, in part,
that the TV marathon’s results again testified to the Armenians’
belief in the future of Artsakh and its people.

Then the sitting’s participants discussed the issues included in the
agenda. In part, they considered the Karabakh talks and the preparatory
works on the referendum on the NKR Draft Constitution.

The interlocutors exchanged opinions on the NKR Draft State Budget
for 2007 elaborated by the government.

Familiarizing himself with the current issues and the work carried
out by the government, the NKR President gave corresponding orders.

AZERBAIJAN NOT TO BE REPRESENTED IN EUROVISION-2007

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2006

Azerbaijan will not be represented in Eurovision-2007, because
Azerbaijan Tele-radio Programs Closed Joint-Stock Company is not a full
member of European Broadcasting Union so far, APA’s bureau reports.

Georgia, Montenegro and Czechia will join the competition. 43 countries
appealed to participate in the competition. 29 countries will compete
in semi-final on May 10. 10 of them will pass to the final. According
to the results of Eurovision-2006, 14 countries, as well as Russia
and Armenia have already passed to the final on May 12.

Azerbaijan will join the competition in 2008, as AzTV will be a full
member of European Broadcasting Union, AzTV Music Office told APA.

Finland was the champion of Eurovision-2006.

TURKEY CONDEMNS ARGENTINIAN RESOLUTION ON "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Dec 1 2006

Ankara, 1 December: Turkey has condemned approval of a resolution
on so-called Armenian genocide [passed] by Argentinian House of
Representatives, noting that this initiative did not comply with
historical facts and the international law.

Releasing a statement, Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recalled
that Buenos Aires House of Representatives adopted a resolution making
2 April "the day of tolerance and respect among peoples in the memory
of Armenian genocide".

The statement noted, "Turkey offered that 1915 incidents should be
examined by Turkish and Armenian historians but this proposal was not
backed. We condemn the approval of resolutions (by various parliaments
on the so-called Armenian genocide)."

The statement also stressed that Argentina’s initiative did not comply
with spirit of bilateral relations between Turkey and Argentina.

AZERBAIJANI AMBASSADOR GIVES INTERVIEW TO KUWAIT’S "AL-WATAN" NEWSPAPER

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2006

Kuwait’s Al-Watan newspaper has published an interview with
Azerbaijan’s ambassador in this country Shahin Abdullayev, Foreign
Ministry said.

The interview dealt with political, economic, cultural life of
Azerbaijan and its history.

Ambassador, S. Abdullayev touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh and consequences of the policy of ethnic purge
and aggression pursued by Armenia.

According to him, President Ilham Aliyev pays attention to not only
to oil and gas industry but also non-energy sector, in particular,
agriculture and overall development of regions. The diplomat answered
the questions regarding large-scale economic, infrastructure projects
in the region.

On the Azerbaijan-Kuwait relationship, S. Abdullayev said
both countries have deep-rooted bilateral relations, and highly
appraised Kuwait’s supporting Azerbaijan in the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He highlighted the importance of developing
economic, political, cultural and tourism ties.