Author: Emil Lazarian

COURT HEARING ON RAMIL SAFAROV’S APPEAL TO BE HELD FEBRUARY 22

ArmRadio.am
21.02.2007 13:01

February 22 The first court hearing on the appeal submitted by Ramil
Safarov, sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Armenian Officer
Gurgen Margaryan, will take place in Budapest.

Attorney Nazeli Vardanyan told ArmInfo correspondent that the hearing
will start at 9 a.m. It will be presided over by Judge Piroshka
Karpati.

Let us remind that in 2004 Officer of the Armed Forces of Armenia
Gurgen Margaryan had left for Budapest to participate in NATO’s
"Partnership for peace program." Azeri Officer Ramil Safarov axed
Gurgen Margaryan when he was asleep. On April 13, 2006 the Hungarian
Court sentenced the criminal to life imprisonment without the right
of amnesty for 30 years.

The Armenian side is represented by attorney Nazeli Vardanyan,
representative of RA Ministry of Defense, Director of the Genocide
Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan and Hungarian attorney Gabriella Gaspar.

In Nazeli Vardanyan’s words, in the appeal the Azerbaijani side demands
another examination of Ramil Safarov’s criminal sanity, considering
the controversy of the previous examinations. "If a new examination
is set, the trial will prolong, if not, it will be concluded with
tomorrow’s hearing," the attorney mentioned.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN WEIGHTLIFTERS TO PARTAKE IN THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

ArmRadio.am
21.02.2007 13:55

The weightlifting championship of Armenia will take place March 5-9
in Yerevan. After that the Armenian national weightlifting team will
start preparing for the European Championship to be held April 14-22
in the French city of Strasbourg.

Secretary General of RA Weightlifting Federation Pashik Alaverdyan
told " Armenpress" that the final composition of the team will be
determined after the national championship.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

"GANDZASAR" TO PLAY IN "TURKMENBASHI" CUP

ArmRadio.am
21.02.2007 14:32

"Gandzasar" football team of Kapan left for Ashкhabad today to
participate in the traditional international "Turkmenbashi" Cup
together with 10 other teams from Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkey.

–Boundary_(ID_lkcNwrkMrWwY/CKrQFMN5g)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PETER SEMNEBY TO VISIT NAGORNO KARABAKH

ArmRadio.am
21.02.2007 14:39

EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby will visit
Nagorno Karabakh. The diplomat told RIA Novosti that the aim of his
visit is to " establish trust between the communities of the region."

Semneby said historically Armenians and Azerbaijanis have been
neighbors, " and only during the last 15 years there have been no
ties between them."

According to him, "establishment of ties between the communities will
give momentum to the settlement of the conflict." "Without that the
conflict settlement is impossible," said Peter Semneby.

ANNA FOTYGA: POLAND BACKS THE EFFORTS OF THE OSCE

ArmRadio.am
21.02.2007 15:45

The Foreign Minister of Poland Anna Fotyga, who is planning to visit
Azerbaijan from February 28 to March 1, said in an interview with
Trend agency that Poland backs the efforts of the OSCE directed
at the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. "We are confident that
the peaceful resolution of the conflict will be pivotal for regional
stability," she said, adding that "the time has come for the political
leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle the issue with the
mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group."

"In our opinion, all the "frozen conflicts" on the territory of the
South Caucasus, including the Karabakh conflict, should be resolved
in a peaceful way, respecting the territorial integrity of existing
states. At the same time we emphasize the importance of providing
a high-level autonomy to ethnic minorities, which enables them to
freely develop in the framework of international borders," the Polish
FM stated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN STATE MACHINERY IS RATHER EXAGGERATED, DPA CHAIRMAN CONSIDERS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. If a businessman invests 30-50%
of its profit for extending his own business, profit tax should be
reduced by 50% and in case of 70-75% investment he should be completely
released from profit tax. As Aram Sargsian, Chairman of Democratic
Party of Armenia (DPA), said at the February 21 discussion on the
subject "Obstacles in the Sphere of Small and Medium-sized Business
and Problems of Their Liquidation," this proposal is stipulated by
DPA program. In his words, tax policy should be simplified for SME
development and a "progressive" tax should be set for those having
a big capital. Besides, as A. Sargsian affirmed, the state should be
interested in liquidating monopoly.

In A. Sargsian’s words, RA state machinery is rather exaggerated: in
Soviet years the number of employees working in those structures was
27-30 thousand, while currently this number is more than 100 thousand,
who, as DPA Chairman characterized, "live at our expense."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

19th SPECIAL CONGRESS OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT UNION TO BE CONVENED ON FEBRUARY 24

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The 19th special congress of
the Constitutional Right Union will be convened on February 23, at
the request of territorial structures of the Constitutional Right
Union party. This is said in the statement spread on February 20 by
the Constitutional Right Union Chairmanship, Executive Council and
territorial structures. In the statement authors’ words, the goal
of convening the congress is "to re-establish the normal activity of
the party."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

APPLICATIONS FOR DEMONSTRATION OF 75 FILMS AT 4th INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "GOLDEN APRICOT" ALREADY SUBMITTED

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The organizing committee of
the 4th international film festival "Golden Apricot" has already
received applications for demonstration of 75 films. The number of
applications is increasing, and the expert commission will soon start
film selection. Mikael Stamboltsian, director of the festival programs,
said during the February 20 press conference that the juries for the 3
contest programs – feature films, documentaries and "Armenian Panorama"
have been almost formed.

According to him, this year "Golden Apricot" will have a jury of
the International Association of Film Critics and Journalists and
an ecumenical jury for the first time. The decision on formation of
these two contest commissions was taken by the organizing committee
of the 36th Rotterdam International Film Festival, "Golden Apricot"
also being its member.

M. Stanoltsian said that this year they failed to go to Iran for
selecting films for the festival. However, he expressed a hope that
this problem will be solved soon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAINLY PARENTS INCITE CHILDREN IN ARMENIA TO BE ENGAGED IN BEGGING

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. According to official data, the
number of vagrant children registered in Armenia reduced about 70%
during the recent 9 months. So, according to data of the RA Police
Service on Juveniles’ Cases, if 170 such children were registered in
the republic in 1997, 79 ones in 2005, only 52 children were registered
in 2006. According to the same source, the number of beggar children
also reduced.

As the Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by the Public Relations
and Information Department of the RA Police, as of January 1, 2007,
52 juveniles, 14 of who below 14 years old, were prophylacticly
registered in the Foreign Ministry’s departments for being engaged in
begging. 43 of them are boys. 19 from those children were registered
in the marz of Ararat, 8 in Yerevan, 8 in the marz of Gegharkunik
and 8 in the marz of Shirak, 4 children were registered in Lori,
2 in Armavir and 2 in Kotayk, 1 was registered in the marz of Syunik.

It was mentioned that the predominating part of children are with their
parents at present, works of indivudual educational character are done
with the latters. Besides, they are sent to different educational
institutions with the help of the Police. Voluminous events were
implemented to reveal people involving juveniles in begging and it
was found out that juveniles are mainly involved in it being incited
by their parents.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSTANTINOPLE ARMENIAN GREAT POET ZAHRAD PASSES AWAY

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Feb 21 2007

ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Constantinople
Armenian great poet Zahrad died at the age of 83, at the midnight
of February 20, in Turkey. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by Ara
Kochunian, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian "Zhamanak" (time)
newspaper published in Istanbul.

Zahrad entered the literary scene starting from 1940s. In literary
critics’ words, a poet with new handwriting was clearly noticed in his
"Big City" collection published in 1960. He on the one hand developed
the social theme, on the other hand, sang a man’s suffering in the
newest period of the Constantinople Armenian literature. The poet’s
"Kind Sky" collection was published in 1971, the "Green Ground" in
1976, and the "Two Springs with One Stone" collection was published
in 1989.

According to characteristics of Levon Ananian, the Chairman of the
Writers’ Union of Armenia, Zahrad is the huge oak tree of the poetry
of Diaspora whose literary heritage had a deep and stable insfluence
on the modern poetry of not only Diaspora but also Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress