2 WATER-JUMPERS OF ARMENIA BECOME VIRGINIA CUP TOURNAMENT PRIZE WINNERS
Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007
ATHENS, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The international youth tournament of
water-jumping entitled Virginia Cup finished in Athens on February 26.
Representative of Armenia Gevorg Papoyan took the first place in the
tower-jumping and was recognized the 2nd in the 1 metre and 3 metre
feet-jumping. Melik Hovhannisian is the 3rd in the tower-jumping.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
U.S. TRAINS ARMENIAN OFFICIALS TO COMBAT ELECTION FRAUD
By Ruben Meloyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Feb 27 2007
The U.S. embassy in Yerevan organized on Tuesday a training course
for dozens of Armenian officials, which is aimed at preventing and
combating fraud in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The three-day seminar is attended by some 70 judges, prosecutors,
senior police officers, election commission members, and state human
rights officials. They will be trained to by officials from the U.S.
Department of Justice and the FBI as well as law-enforcement officials
from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"The participation of the Armenian government in this seminar
demonstrates that they acknowledge that there are problems, that they
are willing to take them on," the U.S. charge d’affairs, Anthony
Godfrey, told journalists. "The seminar is part of my government’s
democracy promotion strategy," he said, referring to a $6 million
program designed to foster proper conduct of the May 12 elections.
A separate statement by the U.S. embassy said that six Armenian
prosecutors and two members of the Central Election Commission will
be sent to the United States for "additional training on combating
election fraud."
U.S. officials have said that a clean vote is a key condition for the
provision of $235 million in additional U.S. economic assistance to
Armenia. The Armenian government has assured Washington and other
Western government that it will do its best to rule out serious
vote irregularities. However, its domestic political opponents have
dismissed such assurances, saying that the authorities will try to
cling to power at any cost.
Addressing the seminar, Godfrey drew the participants’ attention
to a widespread skepticism about the freedom and fairness of the
elections. "Recent polling shows that while most Armenians plan to
vote in the upcoming elections, they lack confidence that the process
will be fair," he said. "Part of this lack of confidence comes from
their belief that election fraud goes unpunished here. Vigilant
enforcement and prosecution of election fraud will deter future
fraudulent behavior."
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the
Council of Europe have repeatedly urged the Armenian authorities to
punish individuals guilty of ballot box stuffing and other serious
fraud. But nobody is known to have been prosecuted for such violations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
RWANDA: EU ENVOY STUNNED BY GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
Magnus K Mazimpaka
The New Times (Kigali)
February 27, 2007
The European Commission envoy in Ethiopia, Tim Clarke has expressed
shock and surprise at the macabre events of the 1994 Genocide.Clarke,
who was yesterday visiting the Gisozi Genocide Memorial site in Kigali,
regretted the genocide. "This memorial is living testimony to the
victims of genocide here and I think it is present in a powerful and
shocking way; the images are so strong," Clarke noted.
"It happened to Rwanda, Armenia, and Kosovo, Germany…but there is
a strong line that people should not be allowed to behave in this way."
He also lauded the initiators of the idea that tells the story of
the genocide.
"I salute the designers of the memorial and the Rwandan people for
gathering such moving material and I think it is huge tribute to come
to visit it," he said.
He added: "It is a truly moving experience to people who go around
it in a very short time and taken through the whole lives of people
who suffered."
Clarke said he could only compare the memorial with the International
Red Cross Museum in Geneva, Switzerland.
"I have not seen such an extraordinary …powerful designed to shock;
to provoke but with a very simple and clear message that you must
never let something like this happen again," he said.
Clarke lauded the government for its efforts in reconciling the
survivors and suspects and said the Gacaca courts were a fundamental
tool to realize local justice.
Clark, who was on a personal tour to Rwanda and left yesterday for
Addis Ababa.
He is responsible for the relations between Europe, the African Union,
Ethiopia and Djibouti.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
CENSURE MOTION AGAINST ERDOGAN AND AKSU
NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Feb 27 2007
The motion by the main opposition party claims that members of
religious groups are being given employment within the Interior
Ministry.
Guncelleme: 13:07 TSÝ 27 Þubat 2007 SalýANKARA – The Turkish parliament
will debate a censure motion on Tuesday against Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and interior minister Abdulkadir Aksu.
The motion, tabled by the main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP), alleges that Erdogan and Aksu were negligent in carrying out
the duties of their office in regard to the murder of prominent
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was gunned down on
January 19.
The motion not only cites the Dink case but also the last year attack
against the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court,
and a lynching incident in Istanbul’s Ismail Aga mosque.
–Boundary_(ID_ZI0Zbr+6M/hQn3ilz0Ir+g)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
"ARMECONOMBANK" SIGNED THE THIRD CREDIT AGREEMENT WITH IFC
Mediamax Agency, Armenia
Feb 27 2007
Yerevan, February 27 /Mediamax/. "Armeconombank" signed the third
credit agreement with the International Financial Corporation (IFC)
at the whole sum of $2mln in Yerevan today.
Mediamax reports that the Executive Director of "Armeconombank" David
Sukiasian stated that $1mln will be directed to the crediting of
Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and $1mln – to mortgage crediting.
"Armeconombank" studies the prospects of extension of terms for
providing mortgage credits up to 10, and up to 12 years in the future
and the prospects of making the volumes of mortgage crediting reach
$12mln by the end of the year.
The Regional Director of IFC in the Central and Eastern Europe
states Jerome Sooklal noted that "the continuing cooperation with
"Armeconombank" is reasoned by the reliability of the given bank.
According to him, IFC is interested in taking part in the banking
capital of Armenia, and "Armeconombank" is not an exception from that
point of view".
This year the IFC plans to allocate to the banking sector of Armenia
up to $13mln. On the whole, IFC has already realized in Armenia credit
programs at the whole sum of $20mln.
Jerome Sooklal also informed that IFC intends to realize an investment
program in the "Armavia" Company at the whole sum of $11mln.
The first credit agreement of "Armeconombank" with IFC at the sum
of $2mln was signed in 2004 – $1,5mln for crediting SME and $500
thousands for mortgage crediting.
The second credit agreement on assisting the trade development at
the sum of $1mln was signed in 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
CHP QUIZZES GUL OVER AIRLINE GENOCIDE PROPAGANDA
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Feb 27 2007
A main opposition deputy yesterday questioned Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul over the ministry’s efforts to forestall Armenian "genocide"
propaganda, particularly that distributed on German airline Lufthansa.
Gul who returned to the country on a Lufthansa aircraft after a U.S.
visit this month faced complaints from passengers due to the company
distributing an issue of Time magazine with a supplement and CD about
the so-called genocide claims.
Carrying the issue to Parliament with a question motion, main
opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Aydin Deputy Ozlem Cercioglu
asked Gul what he had done regarding the complaints.
Cercioglu, who said that the Armenian diaspora in the U.S. has come to
use airliners to spread its anti-Turkey and pro-genocide propaganda,
asked Gul whether it is possible to contact U.S. officials who allowed
the distribution of pro-genocide material on the U.S.-Turkey planes,
in order to dissuade them.
"Have you communicated Turkey’s concerns over the incident to the
related authorities?" she asked.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
LA BD "MEME D’ARMENIE" A LA BIBLIOTHèQUE
La Nouvelle Republique du Centre Ouest
27 fevrier 2007 mardi
Edition INDRE ET LOIRE
A partir du jeudi 1 mars, la bibliothèque municipale ouvre une
exposition de planches originales de Farid Boudjellal, un scenariste
et dessinateur de bandes dessinees.
Elles concernent le dernier volet de la trilogie de la BD de " Petit
Polio ", intitule " Meme d’Armenie ".
Dans ces recits partiellement autobiographiques, " Petit Polio " est
un jeune emigre algerien, Mahmoud Slimani, ainsi surnomme a cause de
ses chaussures orthopediques, qui decouvre ses origines algeriennes
et armeniennes, a travers sa vie quotidienne. Le troisième volet,
sur fond de guerre d’Algerie, voit la meme armenienne venir vivre
chez Mahmoud a Toulon.
Farid Boudjellal viendra samedi 24 mars, a 15 h, a la bibliothèque,
a la rencontre des lecteurs pour discuter avec eux de son travail
de scenariste. L’exposition sera visible tous les jours, du mardi
au samedi, jusqu’au samedi 31 mars inclus (heures d’ouverture de la
bibliothèque : voir NR Utile du jour).
–Boundary_(ID_SDbgzDKE/oFuUM1rP88BSg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
ARKADY GHOUKASSIAN DISCUSSES ISSUES RELATED TO NAGORNO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS WITH ARFD BUREAU MEMBERS
Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. On February 26, NKR President
Arkady Ghoukassian met with members of ARFD Bureau in Yerevan. As
Noyan Tapan was informed from NKR Permanent Representation in RA,
during the meeting they discussed issues related to Nagorno Karabakh
settlement negotiations process, as well as other issues of mutual
interest, relating to the process.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
IFC AND ARMECONOMBANK SIGN 2 MILLION DOLLAR CREDIT AGREEMENT
Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. A credit agreement of 2
million USD was signed between Armeconombank and the International
Financial Corporation (IFC) on February 27. Armeconombank’s Executive
Director Davit Sukiasian and IFC Regional Director for Central and
Eastern Europe Gerome Souklal signed the document. In the words
of D. Sukiasian, funds provided by IFC – the World Bank’s unit on
private sector – will be used for crediting Armenia’s small and medium
enterprises (SME) and mortgage market. Financing includes 1 million
USD for each of the these secrors, with repayment periods of 5 and
8 years respectively. According to G. Souklal, this is the third
joint program of IFC and Armeconombank. In 2004, the bank received
a 2 million dollar credit, with 1.5 mln dollars being envisaged for
SME crediting and 0.5 mln dollars – for mortgage crediting. In 2006,
a one million dollar agreement on trade promotion was signed between
IFC and Armeconombank. It was noted that until now IFC has provided
about 30 loans to Armenian SMEs through Armeconombank. The average
amount of loans made 47 thousand USD.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
45-YEAR-OLD RESIDENT OF DALARIK VILLAGE OF ARMAVIR MARZ J. HAKOBIAN MAKES SELF-IMMOLATION ATTEMPT AT YEREVAN’S REPUBLIC SQUARE, RECEIVING 80% BURNS
Noyan Tapan
Feb 27 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Jivan Hakobian, 45, made a
self-immolation attempt at Republic Square of Yerevan on February
27. He was admitted to the Armenia medical center. According to
doctor, he received burns over 80% of his body. Hovsep Shamakhian,
Head of the Burn Treatment Unit of the Traumatology, Orthopedy,
Radiology and Burns Center, told NT correspondent that 20% of the
patient’s respiratory tract was burnt. Doctors said that J. Hakobian’s
condition is very grave: he is unconscious and receives artificial
respiration. The reasons of his attempted self-immolation are unknown
yet. According to the Police, the alarm call about the incident was
received at 11.05 am. Upon arriving at the scene of the incident, the
operative group revealed the indentity of the person who attempted to
set himself on fire – Jivan Hakobian, 45, of the village of Dalarik
(Armavir marz). The prosecutor’s office is conducting an investigation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress