Author: Chmshkian Vicken

OSCE TO CONDUCT MONITORING OF CONTACT LINE BETWEEN NKR, AZERI FORCES JULY 15

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.07.2009 12:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Office of the Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office appealed to the NKR authorities for their
support in holding the scheduled-for-July 15 monitoring of the NKR
and Azeri armed forces’ contact-line in the Askeran direction.

>From the NKR Defense Army positions, the monitoring will be held by
Coordinator of the OSCE Office, Lieutenant-Colonel Imre Palatinus
(Hungary), Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Vladimir Chuntulov (Bulgaria) and Jaslan
Nurtazin (Kazakhstan). The monitoring mission will be accompanied
by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Ministry of Defense From the opposite side, the monitoring will be
held by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Peter Kee (Great Britain) and Irji Aberle (Czech
Republic), NKR MFA press service reported.

Public Television of Armenia
July 9 2009

Armenian leader says Public Council integral part of government

[Presenter] Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met 36 members of the
Public Council today. This was the first meeting since the council had
been completely formed. The president said that the council is an
unprecedented institution whose structure and regulations draws on
those of state agencies. Sargsyan noted that the government’s
assistance to the council depends on the activities of the its members
and expressed his readiness to discuss any initiatives put forward by
the council. Sargsyan said that he did not want the Public Council to
be transformed into a closed club. On the contrary, he wants it to
become the institution which is able to listen to opinions and make
decisions.

[Correspondent] Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met 36 members of
the Public Council today, for the first time since the council had
been completely formed. The president said that the development of the
council depends on the activities of the 36 members of the council. He
pointed out that the authorities are ready to discuss any initiative
put forward by the council and view the council as an integral part of
the state agencies.

[Sargsyan] I am aware of the regulations of the council and suppose
that your decisions are not binding for the administrative agencies of
the state, and they will not have a direct influence on policies. But
it is clear to everyone that this institution has been set up in order
to have an influence exactly on policies. This may sound contradictory
at first, but it is clear to me that there is no contradiction here.

[Passage omitted: repetition]

This structure is an important one. I did not pursue any aim [by
setting up the council] and can assure you that I will not pursue any
aim in the future either. I wish that you can play an important role
in the process of decision making. I do not doubt that the operation
of the council will be successful.

[Passage omitted: the chairman of the Public Council briefed the
president on future plans]

Yeni Musavat, Baku
July 9 2009

Azeri opposition says US, Russian presidents discussed Karabakh in Moscow

The opposition in Azerbaijan has said that the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict was discussed between the US and Russian presidents at their
recent Moscow meeting, opposition daily Yeni Musavat reported on 9
July.

Leader of the Musavat Party Isa Qambar is convinced that every topic
discussed between Barack Obama and Dmitriy Medvedev will indirectly
influence Azerbaijan: "Discussion of the missile defence system brings
up the issue of the Qabala radar station. Russia could not have
discussed Georgia without talking about Nagornyy Karabakh," Yeni
Musavat quoted Qambar as saying.

In the meantime, the chairman of the People’s Front of Azerbaijan
Party, Ali Karimli, believes that the USA is in a position to convince
Russia to settle the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict peacefully: "We would
like to see the USA urging Russia not to hamper peace between
Azerbaijan and Armenia and convince Russia that peace should be in
their [Russia’s] interests too. This is what we expect."

The president of the For Azerbaijan Public Union, Eldar Namazov, told
the paper that the Russian and US presidents discussed Karabakh, Iran,
international energy projects, the situation in the Caucasus, missile
defence systems and regional issues.

ABC 4, USA
July 10 2009

Movsisyan will finish season with RSL

Reported by: Dana Greene
Last Update: 7/10 8:29 pm

LEHI, Utah (ABC-4 Sports) – When Real Salt Lake forward Yura Movsisyan
signed a contract with Randers FC of Denmark earlier this week, he had
hoped to leave for Europe right away. But because a buyout deal
between the Danish club and RSL could not be agreed on, Movsisyan will
have to play out the rest of the season with Real. Movsisyan will join
his new team in January, when Randers will be midway through its
season.

Movsisyan has scored 11 goals in two seasons with RSL, four this year,
and a team-leading seven last season. The 21-year old Armenian said
his dream was always to play in Europe, and now he’ll just have to
wait a little big longer. He said he would have preferred to leave
right away, especially since his wife is expecting a child in
December, but he will do everything he can to help RSL reach the
playoffs for the second consecutive season.

RSL head coach Jason Kreis is thrilled to have Movsisyan for the rest
of the season. He said it would have been very difficult to replace
such a dynamic offensive presence.

Real plays an exhibition match against Club America Saturday at 6:00
p.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Copyright 2009 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ovsisyan-will-finish-season-with-RSL/5qWyz2gpa06mY LnuhZqkTg.cspx

RELIGIOUS LEADER OF AZERBAIJAN STANDS READY FOR DIALOGUE WITH CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS

Trend
July 2 2009
Azerbaijan

Kazakhstan, Astana, July 2 / Trend News, K.Konirova / Religious leader
of Muslims of the Caucasus declared his readiness to dialogue with
the Catholicos of all Armenians.

"As a chairman of the Advisory Council of the Muslim Leaders of
the CIS states, I have sent the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin
II an invitation to an international conference on inter-religious
dialogue and cooperation. And whether he will come or not will depend
on his decision. In my turn, I am always ready for dialogue," Head
of Caucasian Muslims Department Allahshukur Pashazadeh said Trend
News in Astana on July 2.

International conference on inter-religious dialogue and cooperation
will be held in Baku on April 25-27, 2010.

The invitees will only include the clergy, and the number of invited
people is wide, said Pashazade. "We intend to invite even the Pope,"
he said.

Talking about the attempts of the religious forces of Armenia to
use the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a ground for religious wars,
Pashazadeh said that the problem was particularly acute in the
beginning of the conflict. "We call those killed at that time as
martyrs. And what we saw then caused only resentment. The bodies of
dead Muslims were carved with crosses – the Christian symbol. At that
time, the conflict had become the confrontation of two religions. At
that time, the Patriarch of Moscow Alexy helped me that the conflict
had not turned into a conflict on religious grounds," said Pashazadeh.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Religious leaders have always acted and will act for the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, but we support a peaceful solution to
the conflict, said Pashazadeh. "Then we made a proposal to free
hostages and prisoners of war. And we were able to release several
people. Therefore, I would like to note that the meetings of
religious leaders gave good results, and we would like to continue
the cooperation," he said.

According to him, today the religious leaders are ready to help the
politicians to resolve conflicts, but not through force, but through
negotiation and peace.

ARMENIA DETERMINED TO CONCLUDE PEACE TREATY ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH – PRESIDENT

Interfax
July 3 2009
Russia

Armenia is determined to conclude a peace treaty to resolve the
conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno- Karabakh, Armenian President
Serzh Sargsian said at a meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office and
Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni.

Sargsian said at the meeting that the efforts made by the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs have prompted Azerbaijan to talk about the
possibility of using force to resolve the conflict less frequently
than it did earlier, the Armenian presidential press service told
Interfax on Friday.

"Nevertheless, while I think that the negotiating process has taken
a positive turn in some ways, I am still discontented with the
negotiating process, as the Azeri side is trying to misrepresent
both the negotiating process and the essence of the conflict,"
Sargsian said.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

JULY 3-9, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS:

DEPUTIES FROM "HERITAGE" FACTION PROPOSE TO CREATE A COMMISSION ON "A1+" TV
COMPANY ISSUE

JOURNALISTS BARRED OUT FROM THE CONGRESS OF WRITERS UNION

CORRESPONDENT OF "CHORRORD ISHKHANUTIUN" PARDONED

DEPUTIES FROM "HERITAGE" FACTION PROPOSE TO CREATE A COMMISSION ON "A1+" TV
COMPANY ISSUE

On July 3 the legislative initiative of deputies from "Heritage" faction
Styopa Safarian and Anahit Bakhshian was submitted to the RA National
Assembly. The initiative is to create an interim parliamentary commission,
on the ground of provisions of RA Constitution and Statutes of the RA
National Assembly, to deal with the fulfillment of requirements of several
resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe on Armenia.
It concerns the PACE Resolutions 1374(2004), 1609(2008), 1620(2008),
1643(2009), and especially, the last Resolution 1677(2009) "The Functioning
of Democratic Institutions in Armenia" (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, June
19-25, 2009). The necessity on holding an open, fair and transparent
broadcast licensing competition and executing the judgment of the European
Court of Human Rights of June 17, 2008 on the case concerning the denial of
a broadcasting license to the "A1+" TV company is emphasized in the
documents. The draft law, particularly, motivates the creation of a interim
parliamentary commission by the fact that the requirements of the
abovementioned Resolutions on the broadcast renewal of "A1+" remain
unfulfilled till this very day, while the others are partially or fully
implemented.

According to the proposal of deputies from "Heritage" party, the following
three main tasks are set before the interim commission: the promotion of a
legislative initiative aiming to hold an open, fair and transparent
broadcast licensing competition, on the basis of the report made by an
independent CoE spectrum analyst; the examination and the revision of
legislative regulations preventing the implementation of the judgment of the
European Court of Human Rights on the case of "A1+"; the preparation of a
conclusion and its presentation to the RA National Assembly, based on the
acquisition and analysis of information on the circumstances preventing the
fulfillment of the PACE Resolutions requirements on holding a competition
and the execution of the European Court judgment.

The draft law also notes that the activities of the interim commission are
supposed to be terminated in the end of October 2009, in order to ensure the
fulfillment of the aforesaid demands of PACE Resolutions before the winter
session of the Parliamentary Assembly of CoE and the forerunning session of
Monitoring Committee on the Honoring of Obligations and Commitments by
Member-State of Council of Europe.

JOURNALISTS BARRED OUT FROM THE CONGRESS OF WRITERS UNION

On July 4 representatives of a number of media were barred out from the
building of the Writers Union of Armenia, where the 15th Congress of the
organization was being held. According to the press, the journalists were
deprived of the right to cover this event on the initiative of the Chairman
of Writers Union of Armenia Levon Ananian. Thus, the established procedure
of accreditation was not the same for all media and did not ensure equal
conditions for them. Meanwhile, the organizers had to take into account the
fact that the elections of the head of the Writers Union had attracted a
great public interest long before the Congress.

A similar situation happened at the 13th Congress of the Writers Union of
Armenia. On May 19, 2001, when the Chairman of the Writers Union was to be
elected, Abgar Apinian, the Secretary of the Board acting at that time,
demanded the media to leave the session room. Having not heard any weighty
arguments to substantiate the demand, the journalists refused to go. And
when one of the journalists started taking photos of the ballot box, Abgar
Apinian snatched the camera out of her hands and smashed it (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, May 19-25, 2001). It should be mentioned that today Abgar
Apinian is in opposition to the present leadership of the Writers Union of
Armenia. In other words, despite the change of leadership, the consistency
of traditions remains…

CORRESPONDENT OF "CHORRORD ISHKHANUTIUN" PARDONED

On July 3 the RA Criminal Court of Appeal withdrew the judgment of court of
general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan on
correspondent of "Chorrord Ishkhanutiun" newspaper Gohar Vezirian and
applied to her the amnesty. The amnesty was announced on June 19, 2009 by
the ruling of RA National Assembly on the RA President’s proposal. As it has
been reported, on May 14, 2009 Gohar Vezirian was sentenced to a fine in the
amount of 350,000 AMD (about $ 950) for disrespect to court (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, May 15-21, 2009).

As lawyer of Gohar Vezirian Hovik Arsenian told to YPC, this judgment was
appealed with the Criminal Court of Appeal. After the amnesty was granted a
new application was submitted to the second court jurisdiction in which
Gohar Vezirian asked to pardon her.

According to Hovik Arsenian, the amnesty should also expand on free lance
journalist Gagik Shamshian, accused to a similar penalty for the same crime
on April 17, 2009 by court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and
Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan. It should be noted that the Criminal
Court of Appeal has sustained the judgment of June 15, 2009 of court of
first jurisdiction on the case of Gagik Shamshian (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, June 12-18, 2009).

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]

Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]

Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:

SHOWTIME: AGBEKO-DARCHINYAN CONFERENCE CALL

SecondsOut
USA Boxing News
09 JULY 2009

IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko.

IBF 118lbs champion Joseph Agbeko and two division world champion Vic
Darchinyan participated in a media conference call to discuss their
upcoming world title fight on Saturday, July 11, from the BankAtlantic
Center in Sunrise, FL, to be seen on Showtime.

Agbeko and Darchinyan both possess eye-popping knockout
percentages. Agbeko (26-1, 22 KOs) of Accra, Ghana, now fighting
out of Bronx, N.Y., has knocked out more than 81 percent of his
opponents while Darchinyan (32-1, 26 KOs), of Sydney, Australia,
by way of Armenia, is right behind him at 76 percent.

Darchinyan, an Aussie bomber who is a four-time world champion
at flyweight and super flyweight, will leave his IBF, WBC and WBA
titles at 115 pounds behind to move up to the 118-pound limit to
face the dangerous Agbeko. If victorious, Darchinyan will become a
three-division world champion.

The co-feature pits two top-10 ranked 135-pound contenders in the
biggest fight of their lives when Antonio DeMarco (21-1-1, 15 KOs),
of Tijuana, Mexico, takes on West African native Anges "Baby Face"
Adjaho (25-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round bout.

The main event fighters and their promoters spoke on an international
media conference call Tuesday. The following are highlights from the
call: JOSEPH AGBEKO "In boxing you have to fight the best to be the
best and I just want Vic to know that this is the fight of my life. I
know Vic Darchinyan picked to fight me because he thinks he can have
his way with me but I just want him to know that this is the biggest
mistake he has ever made in his career because he’s going to get the
worst beating of his career.

"Why didn’t he talk like this when Nonito Donaire beat him? I wanted
him to talk more and I want him to realize that I’m going to beat
him more than Donaire beat him.

"I know I’m better than Vic Darchinyan. I know he can punch. I’m
really, really ready for his punches. I know he’s never been on the
receiving end of someone who punches like me.

"Vic is always talking about his power and about how he’s this and
that but I’ve watched a couple of his fights and I never saw that
power. He’s always fought guys that are afraid of him and he did what
he wanted with them. But in this fight I’m going to do what I want
to do and beat him the way I want.

"I’m going to let him do whatever he wants to do in this fight because
I can do whatever he does better than him.

VIC DARCHINYAN "I think after this fight they are going to change my
opponent’s name to Joseph ‘Chimpanzee’ Agbeko. This is going to be
the biggest mismatch. Where would you like me to hurt you most? In
the body or in the face?

"I can’t spend my career just defending, defending, defending. I have
to move up in weight and go after more titles. I have the power to
demolish anyone. I’m going to keep moving up.

"I’ve seen Agbeko’s fights and they don’t impress me. You will see,
nothing compares to my power. I will knock him out with my power. I
can open my jaw and let him punch it and he still won’t hurt me.

"I hope he’s working hard and training extra hard for this fight. I
don’t want it to be an easy fight. I want to be your nightmare after
this fight and not before because I want you to get a good night’s
sleep.

"I’m going to demolish him (Donaire) in a rematch."

ELIAS NASSAR, Darchinyan’s manager "There are not a lot of people
who don’t know that every single fight that Vic has asked for Gary
Shaw has delivered on."

GARY SHAW, Darchinyan’s promoter "I believe I represent probably a
fighter who will go down as one of the greatest boxers to ever fight
in the lower weights in the history of boxing. Please tell all the
poachers out there that Vic and I are bound together for life. I want
everyone who’s on this call to hear that.

"Vic only wants to fight the best fighters. Vic and Elias don’t care
about weights. They only want the best fighters and they believe
right now that "King Kong" Agbeko is the best fighter at 118 pounds."

When will Darchinyan fight Nonito Donaire again?

"SHOWTIME wants to buy the single biggest fights out there," said
Shaw. "That’s why he fought Cristian Mijares, that’s why he fought
Jorge Arce and that’s why he’s fighting "King Kong" Agbeko. And while
he’s been on TV and knocking all these fighters out on TV Donaire has
not been heard of or seen. When Bob Arum mentions all his great young
fighters he never mentions Donaire. If you haven’t seen those articles
I’ll be more than happy to send them to you. Just yesterday he was
talking about his Russian fighters and his Puerto Rican fighters. No
where did he mention Nonito Donaire. So the answer to that is he has
a fight in front of him on Saturday. We have to win that fight and
then the question is if we win that fight do we want to stay at 118,
move back down to 115 or do we take on (Rafael) Marquez or (Israel)
Vazquez or someone of that ilk at 122. That is our plan right now. Vic
fights for money, not for revenge."

The event is promoted by Don King Productions in association with
BankAtlantic Center.

Agbeko vs. Darchinyan and DeMarco vs. Adjaho are co-promoted with
Gary Shaw Productions, LLC.

USA SENATE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS ISSUE OF PROVIDING AID TO ARMENIA AND NAGORNO KARABAKH

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
JULY 8, 2009
WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, JULY 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On July 9,
USA Senate House Appropriations Committee will discuss the issue of
providing aid to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh by holding voting within
the framework of Foreign Aid Bill. USA Senate House Appropriations
Committee’s June decision envisaged to provide million aid for Armenia
and million for Karabakh.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) calls American
Armenians for persuading by letters and telephone calls the President
of House Appropriations Committee Daniel Inouye to support the
suggestion of bringing the aid of Armenia up to million. The American
Armenians should also call for allocating the military assistance to
be provided to Armenia and Azerbaijan equally.

RALPH YIRIKIAN ELECTED AS UN GLOBAL COMPACT NETWORK’S STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN IN RA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.07.2009 20:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ VivaCell-MTS, the pioneer of the concept of Corporate
Responsibility (CR) in Armenia, took a new bold step toward higher
institutional – interorganizational level of promoting the concept of
CR in Armenia, when on June 30, a kick-off meeting between leading
companies operating in Armenia and major non-profits saw the launch
of the new initiative – the establishment of the Steering Committee of
the UN Global Compact Network in Armenia. The above network comprises
companies such as Coca Cola, Astarak Kat, Cascade Capital, Enterprise
Incubator Foundation, Microsoft, Grand Thornton Amyot, HSBC and many
others, VivaCell-MTS website reported.

The Steering Committee, which includes the most advanced companies and
not-profits in the sphere of CR, elected Ralph Yirikian as the Chairman
of the Network’s Steering Committee and the Official Representative
of UN Global Compact in Armenia.

In the capacity of the Official Representative of the UN Global
Compact in Armenia, Ralph Yirikian will be the Chairman of the GC
network in Armenia. One of the most important duties of the Chairman
is using its reputation to promote the adoption of the 10 principles
of Global Compact by the companies and NGOs engaged in the Network.

In her congratulatory statement, Consuelo Vidal, UN Resident
Coordinator in Armenia, said, "Dear Mr. Yirikian, I truly believe that
the Global Compact is a very efficient tool to mobilize the Armenian
business community around the ideas of corporate responsibility and
citizenship. Your outstanding experience in CR is a value which should
be shared with Armenian companies and here again the Global Compact
may be of great help. I am now assured that the UN Global Compact in
Armenia is in safe hands."

In his address to the Network members, Ralph Yirikian said, "I’ll try
to "sail the ship through the misty sea" with a driving force based
on the belief that VivaCell-MTS is doing the right thing to Armenia,
my homeland, through mentoring, guiding, co-sharing, as well as
co-participating with other corporate citizens in the making of a
better future leading to sufficient sustainability."