Author: Chatinian Lara

NEW TERMINAL OF ZVARTNOTS AIRPORT TO ACCOMMODATE 2M-3M PASSENGERS A YEAR

/ARKA/
July 27, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, July 27. /ARKA/. The new arrivals and departures terminal of
Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport will accommodate between 2
million and 3 million passengers a year, Artem Movsisian, the head
of the Armenian Civil Aviation Department (ACAD), told journalists
on Friday.

Some $160 million will be invested in the construction of the new
terminal.

The construction began in early 2008 and according to the project,
the building will start operating in late 2011. "The airport is the
main and important gateway to Armenia, and the country’s president
keeps an eye on the construction process," Movsisian said. He said
that the construction of high quality. "The concessionaire wants to
make the Armenian airport one of the most attractive ones in the world;
I hope he can do that," Movsisian added.

Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian said that this ambitious
project will allow meeting the demand for the 10 to 15 years to come,
also when taking into account the projected number of the visitors
as the airport’s design allows expanding its functions. "This is a
serious investment program that attracts large international financial
companies that, in turn, could bring investments into other fields
of the Armenian economy," Yeritsian added.

The total area of the new terminal will be 34,0 00 sq. m. to include
passenger check-ins, stores and restaurants as well as a new large
arrivals section. The new building will have a new two-level parking
lot on 20,000 sq. m. for 600 vehicles. A green lawn will be on top
the parking lot.

The previous phase of the construction of the arrivals and departures
hall, built in 2004-07, cost $84 million.

Armenia International Airports, CJSC, runs the Zvartnots International
Airport under the 30-year concessionary management agreement given
by the Armenian government in 2001. American International Airports
of Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentine of Armenian origins, owns the
company.

Bryza may be appointed U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan
25.07.2009 11:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Current Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza can yet be appointed as
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
`I would like to work in Azerbaijan, as South Caucasus is of great
interest to me. I am a career diplomat and the rules prohibit us from
working in Washington more than 6 years. However, I have already
worked for 13 years. So, I should leave my country,’ Mr. Bryza said.
`It’s up to the President to decide where I will continue my
diplomatic career. I think I will know it in the near future,’ he
said, RFE/RL reported.
Matthew Bryza has served as OSCE MG Co-chair since 2006. This year,
the United States and Russian plan to replace their mediators.

ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS DOES NOT MEAN RECOGNITION OF TURKEY’S BORDERS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
24.07.2009 17:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "We will go to Turkey to play football, if there
advancement is achieved over opening the roads between Armenia and
Turkey. It is necessary to stress that we wish to open a road between
Armenia and Turkey, not the border, since who said that the existing
line is the true boundary between the two countries?", Galust Saakyan,
the head of the parliamentary fraction of the Republican Party of
Armenia told a press conference today.

According Galust Sahakyan, the problem of opening the roads between
Armenia and Turkey is on the agenda of world powers. A goodwill of
Turkey’s authorities is apparent today, but since there are different
problems inside the country, so the Turkish authorities make different
statements, he said.

"Establishment of diplomatic relations does not mean recognition of
Turkey’s borders," Galust Saakyan said, answering the question of a
PanARMENIAN.Net adding: "Recognition of the Turkish state on the part
of Armenia and establishment of diplomatic relations with Turkey does
not entail recognition of its borders."

NKR PRESIDENT BAKO SAHAKYAN MEETS THE DELEGATION OF THE PUBLIC COUNCIL OF ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
July 24, 2009

STEPANAKERT, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS: On 23 July President of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met a delegation of the Public Council
of Armenia led by the head of the structure Vazgen Manoukyan, which
arrived to Artsakh on the same day.

Press Office of the NKR President told Armenpress that a wide range
of issues related to domestic and foreign policy issues was discussed
at the meeting. Special attention was paid to processes taking place
in the two Armenian republics, to the importance of studying public
opinion and trends as well as to enlarging cooperation in these fields.

The Head of the State underlined the role of the Public Council
for the state and the society, noting promising expectations about
cooperation prospects with this structure.

CIS LEADERS DISCUSSED HORSES, ECONOMY AND NAGORNY KARABAKH CONFLICT
Natalia Korchmarek

RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
July 21, 2009 Tuesday

The leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan,
and Moldova met with the presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
in Moscow on Saturday. The meeting was planned as a replacement for
the traditional summer summit of the CIS leaders. The leaders of
the Commonwealth of Independent States and the heads of two newly
independent Caucasus republics met for a horse race at the Moscow
racetrack, which they had attended several times before.

The 10-heat race of Arabian purebreds and Orlov trotters was
impressive, with Russian stud Monomakh taking the Russian President’s
Prize. In the meantime, the VIP guests were talking politics. Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev
focused on the planned Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and
Belarus. Medvedev told his Tajik colleague, Emomali Rahmon, that he
would attend the ceremony of commissioning the Sangtudin hydropower
plant in Tajikistan.

The leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia also discussed political
problems. Togrul Sofiyev, an independent political analyst from
Azerbaijan, told the newspaper: "Was it good for Azerbaijan that
its horse ended the race in last place? Of course, not. The same
can be said about the results of the meeting between the leaders of
Azerbaijan and Armenia. In general, bilateral talks have been marking
time for years."

Economic talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Kazakh
leader Nazarbayev were much more important, especially in view of
the agreement on the Nabucco gas pipeline signed between Austria,
Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey in Ankara on July 13.

"DINAMO"-"PYUNIQ" – 3:0

Panorama.am
12:32 22/07/2009

Armenian football fans feel disappointed after "Dinamo"-"Pyuniq"
Champions’ League rating second round match. The Armenian champion
has been defeated in Zagreb by 0:3 scores and is currently left out
of the future meetings.

The basic staff of Armenian team has been changed as it was
supposed. In the beginning of the match Armenian footballers took
the initiative. It seemed that "Dinamo" left the center allowing our
footballers to play. Most probably the rival wanted our team to feel
tired and to kick the deserved goals.

ARCHEOLOGISTS CONTINUE SEARCH FOR ANCIENT ARMENIAN CITIES IN KARABAKH

Asbarez Staff
Jul 21st, 2009

STEPANAKERT (ArmRadio)-As international mediators continue to seek
a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, archeologists in the
mountainous republic are searching for the remains of ancient Armenian
cities in Karabakh, buried under the sands of time.

The Armenian specialists came close in 2005, when they found one of
four Tigranakert cities built by Armenian King Tigran the Great on
the liberated land of Aghdam, to the southeast of Martaket region.

"For me this is Troy, this is how I would assess it," said Vardges
Safaryan, member of the Tigranakert expedition. "We continue finding
different items here, but it’s not the most important. What’s important
is that the city once existed here,"

According to Safaryan, the city, founded sometime in the 80s B.C.,
survived through the 15th century, which explains the presence of not
only Hellenic monuments, but Christian ones as well. Among the findings
were two main walls and the towers of the Hellenic styled city and
an Armenian church built sometime between the 5th and 7th centuries,
in which was found a clay, dish-like item with an engraving that reads
"My, Vache, the slave of God."

"This inscription dates back to the 6th-7th century, and it is the
most ancient Armenian inscription found on Karbakh soil20to date,"
said Safaryan.

The authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh have attached a great deal of
importance to the excavations of Tigranakert and the government has
been financing the project for approximately two years now.

ARMENIAN CHESS-PLAYER BECOMES CHAMPION OF BELGIUM

Noyan Tapan
July 17, 2009

BRUSSELS, JULY 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. International master
Mher Hovhannisian who lives in Belgium won the chess champion title
of that country. According to the Azg daily, he gained 6.5 points out
of the possible 9. Alexander Tkeubadze also had the same results. A
contest with quick chess rules was held between them to decide the
champion, in which the Armenian chess-player succeeded.

INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY INTO CONDITIONS IN WHICH ARMENIAN SOLDIER CROSSED BORDER TO AZERBAIJAN: ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY

Today.Az
cs/53876.html
July 17 2009
Azerbaijan

"Armenian defense ministry is investigating the reasons behind
soldier’s leaving military unit," Armenian defense ministry
spokesperson Seyran Shahsuvaryan said.

"The investigation is under into conditions in which he crossed border
to Azerbaijan," Shahsuvaryan said.

19-year-old soldier of the regiment 549 of the Armenia army Karen
Arturyunyan crossed border to Azerbaijan on July 15 in the area of
the Gadabay region due to torture in the Armenian army.

FLESH, BONES AND HORROR AT IRAN PLANE CRASH SITE
by Hiedeh Farmani

Agence France Presse
July 15, 2009 Wednesday 4:07 PM GMT

Relief workers scoured farmlands Wednesday seeking human remains amid
the debris of the crashed Iranian airliner while shocked relatives
looked on, hoping that at least the remains of their loved ones might
be found.

But the news the rescuers brought back was bleak.

"There is not a single piece which can be identified. There is not
a single finger of anybody left," said one relief worker, standing
next to a body bag filled with human flesh.

The Caspian Airline Soviet-era designed Tupolev Tu-154 plane caught
fire mid-air and crashed Wednesday morning into farmlands in the
village of Janat Abad in Iran’s northwestern province of Qazvin,
just minutes after it took off from Tehran for the Armenian capital
of Yerevan.

All 168 people, including 153 passengers and 15 crew members, on
board were killed in the worst plane crash in Iran in years.

The impact of the crash caused a vast crater which was littered with
debris, shoes and clothing.

"When I arrived at the site, I was literally walking on bits and
pieces of flesh," Fatemeh, a 15-year-old girl told AFP.

Grey-haired Arlen Stepanian was crying as he waited for relief workers
to find something to help identify his two dead daughters who were
aboard the plane.

One daughter, Shogher, had told him minutes before take off that the
plane was facing a problem.

"They were going with their friends on holiday. I had not seen them
for a week. Shogher talked to me from the plane and said the flight
was delayed as there seemed to be a problem with the plane," Stepanian
told AFP.

He said he received her call at 10:52 am (0622 GMT). The plane took
off from Tehran’s international Imam Khomeini airport at 11:33 am
and crashed 16 minutes later.

"Their mother is at home. She is in a total shock," he said, waiting
near the massive crater from which smoke was still rising hours after
the disaster.

Dozens of policemen and relief workers were preventing relatives from
getting right up to the crater, but the scene even from a distance
was one of horror and devastation.

Many relatives poured out their anger at Caspian Airlines, saying
its planes could not be trusted.

"I hate these planes. With so much travel between Iran and Armenia,
there have to be better planes," said Alex, 24, an Iranian of Armenian
origin who lost around dozen friends and relatives in the crash,
including children.

Another man who was mourning the death of his sister-in-law too
claimed the airline used faulty planes.

"I travel a lot to Armenia, but I never fly on a plane. I don’t trust
them," said the man, whose sister-in-law perished while on her way
to meet her daughter studying in an Armenian university.

"Have you every flown in a Caspian plane? Its seats are all rickety."

As he spoke, several local villagers were seen carrying away broken
parts of the plane, while some took pictures of each other holding
the debris.

"I was driving my tractor when I saw a big fire in the sky," said
18-year-old farmer Ahmad.

"There were burnt parts scattered across the ground and I followed them
and arrived at the crater. You could not believe your eyes. Nothing
was left, but just a big hole with fire coming out of it."