Author: Chakrian Hovsep

BSEC REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS WAYS OF CULTURAL COOPERATION
Marianna Gyurjyan

"Radiolur"
04.03.2009 12:22

Two-day roundtable discussions dedicated to the founding of the
"Cultural news of the Black Sea region" periodical kicked off in
Yerevan today within the framework of Armenia’s Presidency of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC).

Participants of the discussion focused on the Cooperation in the field
of maintenance and reconstruction of historical-cultural monuments
in the Black Sea Region."

Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan welcomed the "Cultural collage"
exposition under way parallel to the roundtable. It displays items
brought from BSEC member countries

An exhibition of children’s pictures titled "Sunny sky to the Black
Sea" will present works by young artists from Georgia and Bulgaria.

US REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMENIA "BIASED" – RULING PARTY MP

Aravot
Feb 28 2009
Armenia

MP Eduard Sharmazanov of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia has
described the criticism of the US State Department 2008 Human Rights
Report: Armenia as "subjective and one-sided". Sharmazanov objected to
a provision in the report, which said that the Armenian government
"did not let citizens to freely exercise their right to change
the government", saying that elections are a way for changing the
government in Armenia and that Serzh Sargsyan was elected president
by the majority of votes in an election that "complied with all
accepted international standards". The following is the text of
Margarit Yesayan’s report by Aravot daily newspaper on 28 February
headlined "’Subjective and one-sided,’ this the way the spokesman
for the Republican Party of Armenia, Eduard Sharmazanov, describes
the US State Department’s annual report"

Under the US State Department’s 2008 Human Rights Report – the
situation in Armenia has essentially aggravated over the past year, the
authorities and their representatives numerously violated human rights.

According to assessments of Americans, corruption remains to be
a serious problem in the judiciary and legal systems, cases of
human rights violations were recorded; the conditions in prisons
are bad; suspects are intimidated; violence against convicts
continues. Representatives of the authorities do not accept these
strict evaluations of the Department of State’s report.

MP Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman for the [ruling] Republican
Party of Armenia, simply announced that that the State Department’s
evaluations are subjective and wide of the mark. The MP told Aravot:
"Agreeing that there are problems in different spheres in Armenia,
including in the sphere of human rights and others, however, I assess
the State Department’s latest annual report biased and one-sided."

Asked what arguments he has to prove the opposite, Mr Sharmazanov
said: "The report says that ‘the authorities did not let citizens to
freely practise their right to change the government’. I must inform
our American colleagues that they forgot very soon that our people,
the public changes the authorities via elections and as a result of
elections. Our election complied with all accepted international
standards, the then prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan , was elected
president by the majority of popular vote in the election; so in what
way apart from this should our citizens carry out their rights? I
would also like to remind that numerous ballot boxes were opened after
the election upon demands of the opposition representatives in their
presence, and Ter-Petrosyan’s votes did not grow as a result. The
report also says that policemen beat citizens, but there is no mention
of beatings of policemen. It is said that there was a revenge on the
part of the authorities, but according to an unclear logic, the State
Department turns a blind eye to fundamental principle of democracy –
Ter-Petrosyan’s steps to reject pluralism. I would like to remind
that he was rejecting the calls by the authorities for tolerance for
months – continuing to tend to revenge.

We reminded Sharmazanov that the State Department’s report spoke
quite a lot about non-free state of mass media, it says that the
equality was not ensured in the press and TV, the non-governmental
media outlets were silenced during the [1-20 March 2008] state of
emergency, and so on.

Sharmazanov opposed this approach, saying: "I would like to advise
them to once again objectively observe the Armenian press and TV of
that time and see that there is no place for more criticism; what
other way and how much one should criticize what was not done?; which
figures did not receive an opportunity to speak? I would like to say
also that our partners, who prepared the report contradict their own
previous evaluations. In particular, during the meeting with President
Serzh Sargsyan [former] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
that Armenia is on the route of progress in democratic reforms,
probably taking into consideration the circumstance that starting
from the first day of President Serzh Sargsyan’s rule the political
will aimed both at carrying out legislative reforms in the TV and
radio sphere and at solving issues of comprehensive disclosure of
the 1 March and many other issues was apparent.

IMF FORECASTS GDP REDUCTION IN ARMENIA IN 2009

ARKA
March 3, 2009
YEREVAN

IMF forecasts a GDP deficit in Armenia this year, said IMF Permanent
Representative in Armenia Ninke Oomes.

According to IMF projections, red ink of Armenia’s GDP will reach 1.5%
this year. The country posted 7% GDP growth last year, compared to 14%
in 2007.

IMF forecasts 8% inflation in Armenia by end-2009, Oomes said.

Russia Today
March 1 2009

European women orchestrating sex slavery

01 March, 2009, 13:34

In Europe, most slaves nowadays are bought and sold for one reason ‘
sex, so it’s no surprise that most victims are women. What is
surprising is that sex slavery is an industry dominated by women.

One divorced mother from Armenia reportedly testified that out of
desperation she agreed to take a job in Dubai. She thought she was
going to be working in a store, but when she got to Dubai she found
out she would to be a prostitute.

`I visited several clients of different nationalities in the Al-Harmud
Hotel and had sex with them. I was in an impossible situation¦" she
said. Her passport had been taken, she couldn’t speak the language,
and she didn’t have any money.

Without further details, most people would likely assume that a man
was responsible for trapping this woman in such a demeaning
situation. However, she was recounting details in her testimony
against another Armenian woman, Marine Poghosyan, who was convicted
and sentenced for only 18 months.

Read more

Women exploiting women
This case from Armenia is not an isolated event. Several agencies and
organizations have details of women’s involvement in sex
trafficking. The problem is that there wasn’t a comprehensive method
to share and analyze that information’ that is until a report that was
recently released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC).

The reports shows that worldwide 60% of those convicted for human
trafficking are women. In some countries in Europe the figures are
higher.

Human trafficking is the politically correct term for modern slavery
and the most common form of human trafficking is sex exploitation,
which appears to be the ladies crime of choice in parts of Europe.

In many European countries men outnumber women in the sex slave
industry, but the UNODC report shows that women are convicted more for
human trafficking than for all other crimes. For example, in France,
women only represented 10% of the convictions for all other crimes,
but women represented 32% of the convictions over human
trafficking. Moving into East Europe, the differences become more
drastic.

Sex Slavery nothing new
The UNODC report didn’t unveil the problem of sex slavery in
Europe. Sex slavery is a problem that European authorities are well
aware of in their societies.

`It’s very common practice to persuade a woman that she can work in
Germany or the UK or France and she can earn 100 euros a day¦ and
the reality is that she will earn that money and probably much
more. However, she won’t see any of it,’ said Hamish McCulloch, the
former Assistant Director for Trafficking in Human Beings at Interpol.

Countries in Western, Southern and Northern Europe, such as the UK,
are recognized as sex slave destinations. Central and East Europe are
recognized as source countries and some have noted the visibly
diminishing numbers of young women.

What the UNODC report did was to unveil a trend that put a new face on
the perpetrators.

`Crime, organized crime in particular, is typically a male activity,’
the report said. `It might be assumed that human trafficking, where
violence and threats are keys to the business, would likewise be
overwhelmingly male dominated.’ Unfortunately, in regards to human
trafficking, this is not the case.

Michelle Smith for RT

/European_women_orchestrating_sex_slavery.html

Middle East and North Africa Report (Amman, Jordan)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
February 25, 2009 Wednesday

Dubai imports of toys and baby accessories worth over AED603 million –
Dubai Ports statistics

by Middle East and North Africa Business Report, Amman, Jordan

Feb. 25–A growing percentage of toys imported into Dubai remains
within the country for local consumption, as re-export of toys in the
GCC dropped continuously during the last two years, according to Epoc
Messe Frankfurt, organizers of the Middle East Toy Fair. "The latest
figures available from the Dubai Port has shown that more imported
toys remained in the country during the three-year period under review
from 2005 to 2008, as the amount of re-exported toys declined during
the period," said Ms. Elisabeth Brehl, Managing Director of Epoc Messe
Frankfurt, organizers of the Middle East Toy Fair.

"The GCC toy market relies heavily on imports as there is hardly any
regional production of toys. With most of the worldwide production
facilities for toys in Asia, the majority of toys are shipped from
that region. However, 7% are imported directly from Europe and 3% from
the US and Canada."

Ms. Brehl added that the import of toys to Dubai has grown over 16% in
2007. Re-exported toys in 2007 equated to a value of over AED 334
million. This figure emphasizes the role of Dubai as a distribution
hub in the region. In the past years, the city has established itself
as the central logistic and trading hub for the Middle East region
because of the relatively simple import and re-exports procedures at
the Dubai Ports. Countries like Iraq or Libya, which are difficult to
reach directly for manufacturers, are served from Dubai through
various distributors, exporters and other trading companies.

"The increased demand for toys and baby accessories are an indicator
of the increased population and favorable demographics in the United
Arab Emirates."

According to the latest available figures compiled by the Dubai Port,
in 2006 and 2007, the toy imports were valued at AED 518 million and
AED 603 million respectively, indicating an increase of 7%. In 2005,
2006 and 2007, the re-exports were valued at AED 348 million, AED 339
million, and AED 334 million respectively; or a decline in the value
by 2.65% (2005) and1.3%(2006).

Dubai’s top 12 major re-export destinations in the GCC, CIS and
African countries, in this order of importance are — Iran, Iraq,
Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan,
Bahrain, Azerbaijan, and Sudan. While the top countries exporting
toys, and baby accessories to Dubai are China, European Countries, US
and Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

In view of the increase in toy imports in this country, the
international exhibitors wishing to tap the growing economy of this
region stand to gain. Ms. Brehl said "The GCC and the Gulf countries
are slightly affected by the economic downturn, but its growing young
population ensures that there will be continuing growth and demand for
toys, baby accessories and school stationery."

"These past few years there have been concerns about unsafe toys
manufactured in Asia. The issue of toy safety and age appropriate toys
was emphasized by members of the Toy Industry Association (U.S.)
during the Middle East Toy Fair exhibition; as well as the continued
presence of the Dubai Municipality."

The Middle East Toy Fair is the region’s biggest trade exhibition for
toys, baby and infant products, stationery and back-to-school
products, games, hobbies, gifts, apparel and licensing. The specific
areas will give visitors and exhibitors a place to source products and
build new business relationships.

It is a unique platform for exhibitors to network with one another and
meet major buyers, key industry players, and educators involved in the
shaping of the Middle East toy market.

Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2009

Top Russian official comes with important task

Head of Russian presidential staff Sergey Naryshkin is coming to Baku
with an important task, opposition daily Yeni Musavat said on 23
February.

Paper lists recent events that have raised Baku’s concern:
Russian-Armenian arms deal worth 800m dollars; formation of the rapid
response forces under the Collective Security Treaty Organization that
are able to intervene if Azerbaijan decided to liberate its occupied
lands; plans to build joint Russian-Armenian air defence system;
assassination of Azerbaijan’s Air Force chief which is believed by
some people to be committed by Russian secret services.

Analysing the negative factors given above, the report suggests that
the head of Russian presidential staff Sergey Naryshkin comes with an
important task.

The Fresno Bee
Local briefs
Friday=2C Feb. 27=2C 2009

Congressman to attend Fresno council session

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, will hold a workshop on issues
facing the central San Joaquin Valley on Sunday at a special session
of the Fresno City Council.

The discussion will focus on water and real estate foreclosures, but
other topics may be discussed, Council President Cynthia Sterling
said. The meeting will start at 3 p.m. in council chambers.

Schiff also will be featured at a forum sponsored by the Armenian
National Committee Central California Chapter at 4 p.m. Schiff is a
congressional leader in advocating recognition of the Armenian
genocide.

The forum will give Valley residents an opportunity to ask Schiff
about the April 24 Armenian genocide recognition — and concerns about
Turkish-American relations if the day is recognized by the U.S. Schiff
has been a leading voice in efforts to have states help descendants of
genocide survivors pursue personal insurance claims.

The event will take place at the Armenian Community Center, 2348
Ventura St.

html

NALBANDIAN ENDS HIS MEETINGS IN SYRIA

A1+
[12:07 pm] 27 February, 2009

Within the framework of his visit to Damascus, the Foreign Minister
of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, had a meeting with the President of
Syria, Bashar Al-Asad.

Conveying the Armenian President’s message and an invitation to
visit Armenia, Edward Nalbandian said our country is interested in
expanding and reinforcing the mutually beneficial cooperation with
Syria – one of the leading countries in the Arab world.

Greeting the Armenian Foreign Minister, the President said Syria
attaches importance to the development of multifaceted relations with
Armenia, underlining that they have the necessary political will and
a broad legal-treaty basis for it.

President Al-Asad and Minister Nalbandian exchanged views on the
settlement of issues existing in the Middle East. The Armenian Foreign
Minister presented the process of negotiations on the Karabakh issue
and the opportunities for normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations.

President Asad welcomed Armenia’s steps towards establishment of
relations with Turkey, expressing confidence that those will contribute
to the reinforcement of stability and security in the region. The
President of Syria asked to convey his greetings to RA President
Serzh Sargsyan and said he would be pleased to visit Armenia this year.

THE TURKISH OFFICIALS STRESSED U.S. SHOULD "GIVE UP SUPPORTING ISRAEL"

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2009 23:55 GMT+04:00

The new U.S. administration broke its silence over the Davos crisis
urging Turkey to fix its strained relations with Israel, while Turkey
reiterated its position that a solution to the Middle East issue is
impossible without including Hamas, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

As it is mentioned in the article, the exchange of messages came
during the talks that George Mitchell, the Middle East envoy of
the U.S. President Barack Obama, held during his two-day visit to
Ankara. Mitchell met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on Thursday.

Mitchell said Turkey can have a significant influence on the
U.S. efforts to reach a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

"As an important democratic nation with strong relations with Israel,
Turkey has a unique role to play and can have significant influence
on our efforts to promote comprehensive peace in the Middle East,"
he told reporters after his meeting with Erdogan.

Mitchell underlined that "Turkey is an important ally of the U.S." and
the Washington administration welcomes Turkey’s decision to attend
a donors conference on Gaza scheduled on March 2 in Egypt.

According to the Turkish agency, during the meeting, diplomatic sources
said, Turkey reiterated its stance that a peace agreement cannot be
reached without including Hamas in the equation. The Turkish officials
stressed that the U.S. should "give up supporting Israel", according
to the diplomatic sources. Turkey urged the U.S. to pursue a balanced
diplomacy in the Middle East after "a too pro-Israel approach of the
George W. Bush administration," sources added.

"I told Hamas to recognize 1993 Oslo peace negotiations because
continuity is of vital importance in state policies. We have urged
Hamas to take into account that continuity," Erdogan told Mitchell.

Erdogan also said that Turkish government was pleased with efforts
of the Obama administration for quest of a longlasting solution in
the Middle East.

However, he said the Turkish government expected international and
U.S. efforts to open border crossings to Gaza to supply humanitarian
aid to 50,000 Palestinian people who are living in tents.

RELIGIOUS LESSONS NOT COMPULSORY IN TURKISH SCHOOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.02.2009 18:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A Turkish court reaffirmed earlier rulings on
Tuesday that religious lessons are not compulsory in schools regardless
of faith.

A court in the southern province of Antalya ruled in favor of an Alevi
family who demanded their daughter be exempt from participating in
religious lessons at the primary school she is attending.

The local administration had defended that only Christian and Jewish
students would be exempt from participating in religious lessons in
accordance to the law that excludes Alevis.

Turkish courts have ruled to halt the implementation of compulsory
religious education in related applications. The European Court of
Justice (ECHR) also ruled against Turkey in a similar case.

"The ruling sets a precedent. Those wanting to be exempt from
participating in compulsory religious lessons should file suit,"
the student’s lawyer Nusret Gurgoz said, Anatolian Agency reports.