Author: Ekmekjian Janet

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER MOURNS IAN PORTERFIELD’S DEATH

ARMENPRESS
Sep 12, 2007

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Serzh
Sarkisian has expressed today his condolences over the death of Ian
Porterfield, the Scottish head coach of Armenia’s national soccer
team, who died yesterday at the age of 61 from colon cancer in a
Surrey hospice.

"It was with a deep sorrow that I learned about Ian Porterfield’s
premature death. During a very short period of time, as he managed
Armenia’s national team, he succeeded in giving it a new breath, to
become a unifying center that conveyed resolution to the players and
advanced the team spirit and the idea of victory," his message says,
in part.

Sarkisian has also conveyed his condolences to the family and relatives
of Ian Porterfield, Armenian football players and all football fans.

Despite being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, Porterfield
carried on with his duties as manager of Armenia’s national team
until just before his death. He took charge of his side for their
superb 1-1 draw against Portugal in August.

Porterfield, who played for Raith Rovers before joining Sunderland,
began his managerial career in December 1979 at Rotherham, where he
guided the South Yorkshire club to the Division Three title. He then
had a successful spell at Sheffield United before replacing Sir Alex
Ferguson at Aberdeen in 1986.

After Reading, he had a spell in charge of Chelsea before embarking
upon an international odyssey.

Porterfield managed the Zambia, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Oman and
Trinidad & Tobago national teams, as well South Korean club side
Busan I’Park, before heading to Armenia.

ARONYAN AGAINST BEST CHESSMEN

A1+
[05:02 pm] 11 September, 2007

The World Chess Championship Tournament 2007 is to launch in Mexico
tomorrow. 8 famous chess grandmasters will be competing during the
championship.

The best Armenian chessman Levon Aronyan is also among aspirants. The
competitors of the Armenian grandmaster are Vladimir Kramnik,
Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Grischuk, Vishvanatan Anand, Peter
Leko and Boris Gelfand.

The first rook of the championship is due on 13 September. The chessmen
will compete in 2 stages holding 14 rooks.

The favorite of the championship is Vladimir Kramnik who has been
getting ready for it for a long time and has much to prove in
Mexico. In 2006 32-year-old chessman defeated Veselin Topalov of
Bulgaria who blamed him in getting prompts from computer.

The main opponents of Kramnik are Aronyan and Vishvanatan Anand of
India. As compared with Aronyan, Anand is very experienced and this
championship is the last opportunity for him to reach a serious
success.

While for Aronyan it will be a heavy experience and will give answers
to many questions. After winning in the World Cup Tournament, Aronyan
succeeded in a number of tours and now he has a real chance to become
the best in the world.

THE DECREE OF THE NKR PRESIDENT

AzatArtsakh
11-09-2007

On September 8th, the NKR president Bako Sahakian signed a decree
on accepting the resignation of the NKR Government. According to the
decree, the members of the NKR Government will proceed with performing
their duties until the formation of the new Government. The same day,
the president signed also a decree on relieving the NKR Security
Council Secretary, the Head of the NKR President’s Stuff Karen
Babourian of his post of the Head of the NKR President’s Stuff. By
another decree of the NKR president, Marat Moussaelian was appointed
Head of the NKR President’s Stuff (the MFA press office reported).

WOMEN MPS BEAR DOUBLE RESPONSIBILITY
By Susanna Margarian, Translated by L.H.

AZG Armenian Daily #164
11/09/2007

Social

"I am here to explain how great is to have women in the parliament",
told the journalists member of "Zharangutyun" party Larisa Alaverdian
at a press conference in "Urbat" club on September 6, after sharing
her viewpoints on the issues of Karabakh and the preferable image of
the candidate of president.

The journalists were more interested in the issue connected with the
member of "Zharangutyun" party and its representative in the Central
Electoral Commission Zoya Tadevosian, who signed the statement of the
CEC about the validity of the elections in the 15th Electoral District.

It’s worth to mention that the leader of the same party Raffi
Hovhannisian, who put his candidacy in the 15 ED, lost the elections
and announced that the elections were falsified. It means that
Z. Tadevosian acted against their party’s leader.

Larisa Alaverdian mentioned that CEC member only confirms the data
that come from the Election Centers, and then added that the viewpoint
of Vardan Khachatrian "Zoya Tadevosian have to take a correction"
the journalists might understand as "correction".

What about the Karabakh issue, the MP announced that it’s not
acceptable to put into circulation "the independence of Nagorno
Karabakh instead of the territories under the control of the Armenian
armed forces" resolution. According to Larisa Alaverdian those
territories are part of Nagorno Karabakh, they are the liberated and
re-integrated lands.

Larisa Alaverdian does not agree with the concern over the draft
law by the leader of Zharangutyun Raffi Hovhannisian about "de jure"
recognition of Karabakh and that it will have a negative effect on
the negotiation process. "The attitude of Azerbaijan is more extreme,
but it doesn’t impede the negotiations", she underlined.

What about the preferable theme of Larisa Alaverdian about women in
parliament, she reminded about an old saying: "a smart woman in any
society is to prevent a man from doing any unreasonableness".

"Armenia is in the 123rd position of the 138 countries’ list of the
involvement of women in parliament. "We must follow the example of
the democratic Republic of South Africa, which is in the 13th place
of the list", mentioned MP Larisa Alverdian.

CYPRUS PETITION AT THE EUROPEAN ECUMENICAL ASSEMBLY

Financial Mirror, Cyprus
10/09/2007

The Third European Ecumenical Assembly, currently underway in Romania,
is set to debate a petition on the situation in Cyprus, as the only
European country with European citizens who are war refugees and
occupation forces on its territory.

A Church of Cyprus delegation is participating in the meeting, attended
by more than two thousand delegates, which brings together Christian
leaders from across Europe and its central theme is "The light of
Christ enlightens everybody! Hope for renewal and unity in Europe".

The Cypriot participants will have the right to vote in the joint
decisions the Assembly will take.

The petition, put forward for discussion at the forum dealing with
refugee issues in Europe, notes that Turkey invaded Cyprus in July
1974 in violation of the UN Charter and as a result approximately
40 per cent of the total territory of the Republic of Cyprus came
under Turkish occupation and about 40 per cent of the Greek Cypriots
were displaced.

"That Turkey committed atrocities in the course of its invasion is
not surprising at all in view of its record in the Balkans, Syria,
Armenia and in Anatolia and its long standing policies of population
expulsion and transfer and of discrimination against non Turkish
ethnic groups," the petition says.

The petition refers to judgments by the European Court of Human Rights
against Turkey, which was found guilty of continuous violation of
human rights in Cyprus.

There are also references to decisions by other international bodies,
including the UN General Assembly, the Non Aligned Movement, the
Commonwealth and the European Parliament.

"Turkish troops continue to prevent the refugees from returning to
their homes. Turkey flagrantly violates the basic human rights and
fundamental freedoms of the Greek Cypriots, and systematically directs
its efforts against the cultural heritage of the occupied areas as
part of its policy to eradicate and destroy any proof of the 9,000
year old Cypriot history and culture," it adds.

Finally, it is pointed out that Turkey follows a policy and methods
of "ethnic cleansing" at the very time when it wants to join the
European Union.

Cypriot theologian George Kakouras, member of the church delegation
to the meeting, has told CNA that participants can submit issues for
discussion at the various fora of the conference which can be carried
forward for debate at the General Assembly of the meeting.

"We have handed in a petition at the forum which is dealing with
refugee issues in Europe," he explained.

The Cyprus Church delegation participated in the forum which discussed
xenophobia, racism, marginalization of people and other related issues.

The General Assembly will hold its debate tomorrow afternoon and
concluded the same evening.

JIVAN GASPARYAN’S CONCERTS WARMLY RECEIVED BY TURKISH SOCIETY

armradio.am
07.09.2007 15:15

The Turkish society warmly received the performances of world-known
Armenian duduk player Jivan Gasparyan in Ankara and Istanbul. People’s
Artist and laureate of a number of international competitions Jivan
Gasparyan told a new conference today that he had two concerts in
Turkey on the occasion of Peace Day, where he presented compositions by
Sayat-Nova, Komitas and M. Ekmalyan, as well as several old Armenian
songs. The famous duduk player noted that at the request of the
Turkish society he played one song with famous Turkish saz player
Yavuz Bingöl.

This was Jivan Gasparyan’s fifth concert tour to Turkey. During
the concerts in Turkey he performed a song in memory Hrant Dink,
the slain editor-in-chief of the Agos weekly.

On those days Jivan Gasparyan’s concerts were widely covered by many
Turkish media. The duduk player gave interviews to two Turkish TV
Channels, during one of which the musician noted that he is not engaged
in politics and only presents the Armenian music and art abroad. "The
Armenian Diaspora does not and cannot impede the friendship between
Armenian and Turkish peoples: the massacres at the turn of the century
are the reason of aggravation of Armenian-Turkish relations," Jivan
Gasparyan said in response to the question of a Turkish journalist
about the disturbing role of the Armenian Diaspora. During the
interviews he presented some details of creation and preparation
of Armenian duduk, noting that although Turks have an instrument
resembling duduk, it does not mean Turkey is the birthplace of duduk.

Preceding the concerts Jivan Gasparyan recorded one song with a famous
Turkish singer and played for a Turkish film about earthquake.

Speaking about his plans in Armenia, the musician said he intends to
establish a school of duduk, where he will bring together about 100
orphan children and will teach playing duduk for free.

It’s worth mentioning that Jivan Gasparyan played in Turkey on the
occasion of the Peace Day at the invitation of the Turkish Government.

–Boundary_(ID_V9D+l/kegbMgJe6rFTOSlw )–

YEREVAN TO ADOPT NEW ANTI-TRAFFICKING PLAN
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 5 2007

The Armenian authorities have stepped up the prosecution of individuals
involved in human trafficking and will soon adopt a new three-year plan
of actions against the illegal practice, officials said on Wednesday.

A similar program was already launched in 2004 and supposedly completed
at the end of last year.

The Armenian government began tackling the problem under pressure
from the United States which has repeatedly described Armenia has a
major source of illegal transport of women for sexual exploitation
abroad. But despite its efforts, Armenia remains on a special "watch
list" of nations which the U.S. State Department says are not doing
enough to combat trafficking.

Speaking at a seminar in Yerevan, senior Armenian officials insisted
that the government has already made progress in reducing the scale
of the practice. Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Bayburtian said it
is currently discussing and will approve the new anti-trafficking
program later this month.

According to Deputy Prosecutor-General Mnatsakan Sargsian, the number
of trafficking-related criminal cases more than doubled to 32 between
2004 and 2006. He said law-enforcement bodies opened 20 such cases
in the first half of this year.

Sargsian did not specify the number of individuals imprisoned or
fined for such crimes.

In an annual global report on human trafficking released last year,
the State Department said that the Armenian authorities "failed to
impose significant penalties for convicted traffickers" and that
only a handful of them ended up in jail. Report also pointed to an
independent journalistic investigation that implicated a member of
a special anti-trafficking unit at the Prosecutor-General’s Office
in extorting bribes from Armenian pimps and prostitutes operating in
the United Arab Emirates.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office said earlier in 2006 that it has
investigated the allegations and found them baseless.

Dzyunik Aghajanian, another senior Foreign Ministry official
attending the seminar, said Washington exaggerates the seriousness
of the problem in Armenia for political reasons. "We really have
[trafficking-related] problems in terms of public awareness and in
relation to the law-enforcement and judicial systems," she said. "But
they are not so serious as to justify our classification [by the
State Department.] Very often such classifications have a certain
political subtext."

Bayburtian, for his part, claimed that the U.S. and other Western
donors are not always helping Armenia to fight against local
prostitution rings. "We see numerous duplications and other forced
actions that do not take into sufficient consideration the country’s
priorities. This somewhat hinders the effectiveness of our efforts both
at the local and international levels," he said without elaborating.

PM SERGE SARGSYAN RECEIVED THE DELEGATION OF FRENCH SOCIALISTS

armradio.am
06.09.2007 14:27

RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan today received the First Secretary
of the French Socialist Party Francois Hollande and the delegation
headed by him.

Welcoming the visit of the French Socialist Party delegation to our
country, Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan noted that it will further
the reinforcement of the Armenian-French relations and development
of cooperation.

During the meeting the parties appreciated the active development
of bilateral relations over the recent years, which is proved by the
conduct of numerous arrangements within the framework of the Year of
Armenia in France and the Year of France in Armenia, the reciprocal
visits of the Presidents of the two countries, etc.

At the guest’s request, PM Serge Sargsyan presented the current
political and economic situation in Armenia, the perspectives of
development, the relations with neighbors, Armenia’s stance on
the solution of existing problems, as well as the opportunities for
reinforcement of Armenian-French relations in the economic, political,
educational, cultural and a number of other fields. Speaking about
regional problems, the Prime Minister dwelt on the settlement of
the Karabakh conflict, presenting Armenia’s approaches. Mr. Sargsyan
expressed hope that the conflict will be resolved though negotiations
with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, stressing that
there can be no military solution to the issue.

During the meeting Mr. Hollande turned to the issue of recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, noting that the bill adopted by the French
Parliament was the initiative of the Socialist Party. According to
him, currently the Party is working out a new draft law on criminal
punishment for the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

At the end of the meeting the Prime Minister wished success to the
Socialist Party of France, expressing hope that this respective
political organization will continue to endorse the reinforcement of
relations between the two countries.

NEXT KARABAKH FORUM TO BE HELD IN BAKU ON 25 SEPTEMBER
Trend corr. S.Ilhamgizi

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2007

The Union for Democracy will hold the next Karabakh Forum in Baku on
25 September, the Union reported.

The Union has held three Krabakh Forums. A package of proposals
concerning the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on
Nagorno-Karabakh has been developed and submitted to the Presidential
Administration.

A new method on settling the conflict will be developed during the
next forum.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia
has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region
and its seven surrounding districts. Since 1992, these territories
have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
active hostilities ended. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (
Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

WILL FUEL OIL ISSUE ACTIVISTS BE PROSECUTED?

Lragir
Sept 4 2007
Armenia

On September 4 Hrant Bagratyan and Shavarsh Kocharyan had an
interesting debate at the Hayeli club. In evaluating the country’s
economy they had a retrospective look at the period when Hrant
Bagratyan was government, and Shavarsh Kocharyan was radical
opposition. And it started when Hrant Bagratyan said with regard to
the low rate and wrong track for development that one of the reasons
was that the government attended to other problems, criticizing the
former leadership, bringing up the case of fuel oil.

Hrant Bagratyan said the case of fuel oil turned to have been put
up, they could not prove, but they did not apologize to the former
leadership either. Although, Bagratyan said when the office of
prosecutor found out that the case of fuel oil was put up, one of the
activists of the case Arshak Sadoyan apologized, and Bagratyan could
offer it in written form. Generally, the ex-prime minister of Armenia
thinks everyone who has initiated this case should be responsible.

Shavarsh Kocharyan said usually the thief is punished and not the
person who reveals the theft. Hrant Bagratyan retorted that Shavarsh
Kocharyan is playing a political game, and he is not a thief. "It’s
your indices, it was under your government when they brought up the
question of reserves in the years of energy crisis which would be
enough to supply electricity. Where did it all disappear?" Shavarsh
Kocharyan asked.

Hrant Bagratyan explained what happened regarding energy generation
in those years. "In 1992-1993 5-6 billion kWh energy was generated.

6.5 billion was generated since 1996. I was prime minister from 1995
for two years, there was 24 hour power supply after that. What is the
problem? The problem is that not only the electricity balance should
be viewed. The energy balance should also be viewed," Hrant Bagratyan
says. He adds that electricity, central heating, diesel fuel and the
number of heated apartments should be taken into consideration. Hrant
Bagratyan also said the question of fuel oil should be dismissed
because in the years of energy crisis electricity was generated on
gas. Hrant Bagratyan repeated that all the people who brought up the
case of fuel oil should be responsible.