Author: Dabaghian Diana

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN MEETS OSCE REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA

armradio.am
19.05.2010 10:32

President Serzh Sargsyan received the OSCE Representative on Freedom
of the Media Dunia Maytovich, President’s Press Office reported.

President Sargsyan said that Armenia attaches great importance
to the OSCE role in the establishment of stability and security
in our region. Serzh Sargsyan stressed also the importance of the
activities of different OSCE structures in strengthening of democracy,
establishment of the rule of law, improvement of electoral processes
and protection of basic human rights in Armenia.

Dunia Maytovich said it was her first visit to Armenia and she was
impressed with the warm welcome extended to her working group and
readiness of the Armenian side for cooperation.

Ms. Maytovich hailed the steps of the Armenian government toward the
de-criminalization of slander and libeling in the Civil and Criminal
Codes, assessing it as an important factor for the enhancement of the
freedom of the media. According to her, similar steps have recently
been also undertaken by a number of Western European states.

The parties spoke also about the process of digitalization of
television and radio broadcasting. Dunia Maytovich viewed it as an
important step aimed into future and expressed readiness to provide
expert assistance in the process of introducing corresponding changes
in the RA law on Television and Radio.

BEING IN GREAT DISTRESS FOR MONEY, ARMENIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE TO USE EXPERIENCE OF ACADEMY OF BELARUS

ArmInfo
2010-05-17 17:30:00

ArmInfo. An agreement on scientific cooperation between the National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia and Belarus was signed at today’s
enlarged sitting of the Presidium of the Armenian National Academy of
Sciences. The agreement was signed by the President of the Armenian
Academy Radik Martirosyan and Chairman of Presidium of the Belarussian
Academy Mikhail Myasnikovich.

Radik Martirosyan told journalists that under the agreement the
Academies of Armenia and Belarus will cooperate in the sphere of
material sciences, particularly, creation of new materials, nuclear
energy, information technologies, and space exploration. The experience
of Belarus is especially important for the Armenian Academy to bring
its scientific ideas and developments to their final result.

Martirosyan said that only 4 bln AMD are allocated from the state
budget for the Armenian Academy, whereas in Belarus the total budget of
the Academy for scientific research is over 300 mln USD, 55% of them
being budget allocations, the rest 45% is earned by the Belarussian
Academy itself, including foreign contracts, projects with real sector
of economy, agreements with regional authorities. In addition to
financial support, to stimulate innovations in business Belarus has
introduced some legislative amendments, which envisage concessional
taxation for enterprises interested in introduction of innovations.

According to Chairman of the Presidium of the Belarussian National
academy of Sciences M.Myasnikovich, the peculiarity of the Academy of
Belarus is that the Academy has 12 scientific and practical centers
comprising several scientific institutes, as well as industrial and
design and experimental enterprises. This will allow the Beralussian
Academy to not only design samples on the basis of scientific research
results, but also produce certain products. In 2009 the Academy
of Belarus managed to produce microbiological devices and magnetic
materials worth 100 mln USD. As regards the Armenian Academy, it is
deprived of this opportunity due to the lack of funds and relevant
scientific research infrastructure. .

Despite all the achievements of the National Academy of Sciences
of Belarus, Myasnikovich thinks that the research intensity of the
Belarussian economy is not so high – 0.8% of GDP, half of which is
budget allocations. To improve this index, the Academy of Belarus
has worked out new draft target sci8entific and technical programmes.

Myasnikovich called the contract signed between the two academies
a "reference" one, since the contract creates certain conditions
for holding of practical work over the projects on the level of
scientific-research institutes of Armenia and Belarus. He also added
that signing of this contract was observed by President Lukaskenko,
for this reason it has a state status.

To note, over the working visit of the Belarussian delegation to
Armenia, Myasnikovich will meet Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran
Sarkisyan.

NO SPECIAL PROSECUTOR FOR INVESTIGATION OF HRANT DINK MURDER

BIAnet.org
May 17 2010
Turkey

The Istanbul Chief prosecution dismissed the request to appoint a
special prosecutor for the murder case of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink. 3.5 years after the murder it is still not clear which
public officials are responsible and who pulled the trigger.

Erol ONDEROGLU [email protected] Istanbul – BIA News Center17 May 2010,
Monday The Istanbul Public Chief Prosecution dismissed the request made
by the joint attorneys of the Dink family to allocate one prosecutor
to the investigation of the murder of the former chief editor of the
Armenian Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink. Dink was killed on 19 January
2007 in front of his office in Istanbul.

Lawyer Fethiye Cetin submitted a petition to the Chief Prosecution
on 28 April. The joint attorneys of the Dink family had requested
to expand the investigation and to appoint a new prosecutor or one
prosecutor from the group of prosecutors concerned with the file to
carry out the investigation.

No special contingent for Dink investigation The lawyers emphasized
in the petition that the plan of the murder consisted of stages like
"preparation", "creating public awareness", "action" and, after the
killing, the phase of "manipulation" and "destroying and covering
up evidence".

The petition reads, "It is the unquestionable truth that the killing
of Hrant Dink was an operation organized and realized in different
stages by a professional organization". Thereupon, the officials on
duty prior to the murder did not take precautions. These hints should
be evaluated, the petition continued.

Who are the responsible officials?

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has merged the five
applications made in the context of the Hrant Dink murder into one
case. Many aspects of the case have not been revealed yet. It is
not even clear which public officials can be held responsible for
the murder.

The 2nd Magistrate Criminal Court of Trabzon (eastern Black Sea coast)
previously rejected the demand of the Istanbul 14th High Criminal
Court to merge the Trabzon file with the file in Istanbul. Eight
gendarmerie officers are tried before the court in Trabzon under
charges of "basic negligence" related to the Dink murder.

Still not clear how many people shot A secret witness was heard in
the 13th hearing of the murder case on 10 May. The witness stated that
prime suspect Ogun Samast was not on his own when he shot journalist
Dink on 19 January 2007 in front of his office in Å~^iÅ~_li (European
side of Istanbul). The witness claimed that Yasin Hayal and Osman
Hayal were present at the scene of crime.

The trial will be continued on 12 July. (EO/VK)

People’s Daily, China
May 15 2010

Greek, Turkish leaders hope for new start in bilateral ties

09:59, May 15, 2010

Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister George Papandreou
welcomed Turkish Premier Recep Tayip Erdogan here Friday, with both
sides hailing the visit as "historic" and expected to open a new
chapter in bilateral ties.

"I expect this visit will have a positive outcome and strengthen the
climate of cooperation, friendship and good neighborliness that the
peoples of our countries wish for," Papoulias said.

"I have visited Greece several times. I hope that this visit will have
a different ending," replied the Turkish leader, who later held talks
with his Greek counterpart, Papandreou.

Erdogan said he was being accompanied by a delegation of approximately
320 people, including 10 ministers, more than 100 businessmen and many
journalists and he saw the visit as "extremely significant".

In the short discussion held in front of the cameras, Papandreou
agreed that it could be deemed "historic" for Greek-Turkish relations.

During his two-day visit, Erdogan also visited the Speaker of the
Greek parliament, Philippos Petsalnikos, and later in the afternoon he
will join Papandreou at the opening session of the bilateral
High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

The Council’s first meeting is expected to end with the ratification
of 21 agreements of cooperation in various sectors, such as the
economy, energy, tourism, environment and culture.

Greece is facing a severe economic crisis and Turkey, which
experienced similar tough periods almost a decade ago, proposed the
creation of joint ventures in the Balkans and other countries of the
eastern Mediterranean and eastern Europe.

"Today, we can set a good example of collaboration for other Balkan
countries and the wider region," Erdogan said during a short statement
upon his arrival at Athens International Airport.

However, not everyone agrees. On Friday evening, the Armenian and
Kurdish communities in Greece, along with Greeks and Cypriots, Left
party activists and far-right groups organized demonstrations in
central Athens, protesting Erdogan’s visit.

Source: Xinhua

CRYPTOCARD: ONLINE-BANKING IN ARMENIA UNPROTECTED

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 14, 2010 – 12:26 AMT 07:26 GMT

Online-banking in Armenia is unprotected, according to Mike Edwards,
European Sales Director at CRYPTOCard Europe

"The research of the Armenian market carried out by Apaga Technologies
featured usage of security certificate as the only security tool, which
is incapable to identify the individual visiting the website," he said.

CRYPTOCard will offer its services in Armenia in the near
future. "We are hopeful for a feedback from organizations engaged
in online-banking," Mr. Edwards told journalists in Yerevan. "The
priority task of the company is to ensure password security."

‘VIVACELL LAUNCHES MOBILE INTERNET PACKAGE FOR PREPAID USERS’

Digital Media Asia
May 12, 2010 Wednesday

DMASIA-12 May 2010-‘VivaCell launches mobile internet package for
prepaid users’

Armenian mobile operator VivaCell-MTS has launched a mobile internet
package for prepaid customers. The ‘Internet Package’ bundles start at
AMD 400 for 10 MB, and range to AMD 1,500 for 50 MB, to AMD 2,500 for
100 MB, and AMD 6,000 for 500 MB. The validity period of all bundles
is thirty days.

INSIDE THE TURKISH-RUSSIAN COOPERATION PACT
Sandy Smith

HULIQ.com
May 13 2010
SC

Turkey and Russia yesterday signed 17 agreements to cooperate on a
number of energy projects, including an oil pipeline from the Black
Sea to the Mediterranean and Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. The
deal is the latest move in a multidimensional international chess
game involving not only Russia and Turkey, but Europe, the larger
Caucusus region, and even American interests.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the deal is the latest in a
series of agreements between Turkey and Russia that ensure continued
Russian control of vital energy transport routes between Asia and
Europe. Since Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, Russia has used its
control of both vast supplies of oil and natural gas and the means
of getting those supplies to energy-hungry Europeans as a political
weapon, seeking to obtain policies favorable to Russian interests
from countries receiving energy from it by threatening cutoffs for
displeasing the Kremlin.

While some Turkish sources cited by the Times argue that the energy
pacts will benefit Russia more than Turkey, and others fret that the
deals will make Turkey overreliant on Russia, Turkey — like Russia,
a country with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia — has its own
reasons for seeking Russian partnerships. One possible reason is the
stalled status of Turkey’s application for membership in the European
Union. Some EU members, most notably Austria and France, have raised
objections to Turkey’s accession into the EU, and a number of policy
and diplomatic obstacles, including Turkey’s continued support of
the breakaway Turkish government on Cyprus established a few years
after Turkey invaded the island in 1974, have made Turkish entry
into the EU highly unlikely by the previously announced 2013 target
date. Cooperation with Russia could give Turkey some leverage to move
further integration into Europe forward on terms it prefers if this
theory is accurate.

Another is the joint interest both countries have in the Caucusus. Both
Turkey and Russia have a keen interest in the political situation
between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in particular the dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, a majority Armenian area within Azerbaijan’s
borders. Tensions between the two countries remain high, and while
Armenia would prefer a peaceful settlement to the dispute, some
policy analysts have stated that the prospect of rapprochement between
Turkey and Armenia — an outcome public sentiment in both countries
appears to favor increasingly — might drive Azerbaijan to declare
war. Increased cooperation between Turkey and Russia may well only
increase that sentiment within Azerbaijan.

YEREVAN HAILS ADOPTION OF DIRECTIVES FOR ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTS BETWEEN EU AND ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 12, 2010 – 21:09 AMT 16:09 GMT

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said that Yerevan hails
the adoption of negotiating directives for the future Association
Agreements between the EU and Armenia. According to him, it will
provide with the opportunity to establish a new level of relations
between the EU and Armenia.

According to Edward Nalbandian, this is good news on the eve of the
Armenian President’s visit to Brussels that will allow conducting
efficient consultations with the EU.

ARMENIAN STATE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA TO PLAY CONCERT IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 12, 2010 – 13:01 AMT 08:01 GMT

Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, Yerevan ,will host a concert of State
Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia under the guidance of conductor
Ruben Asatryan on May 21. The program features works by Joseph Haydn,
Arno Babajanyan and George Enescu. Pianist Sona Barseghyan will be
the soloist.

The concert is sponsored by the RA Ministry of Culture, VivaCell-MTS
and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU).

ARMENIA MUST WITHDRAW FROM KARABAKH TALKS, SAYS ANALYST

Aysor
May 12 2010
Armenia

Armenia must withdraw from the talks on settlement to the Karabakh
conflict, said at the press conference Director of the Sociometer
Sociology Center Aharon Adibekian.

"It’s necessary to recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh
and withdraw from negotiations," Adibekian said. He added that if
so Azerbaijan will have to negotiate with Nagorno Karabakh. "In this
case Armenia will act as a mediator and peace and security guarantor,
like Turkey acts over the Cyprus conflict," said analyst.