Author: Emil Lazarian

THE ‘BENEFIT’ OF ARMENTEL’S MONOPOLY
By Nana Petrosian
AZG Armenian Daily
09/08/2006
Any work in Armenia done through the Internet is suffering damage
since August 4 because of a broken fibre optic cable passing though
the territory of Georgia. Two times since the breakdown Armenia
completely had no Internet connection.
Monopoly-holding ArmenTel provides a very unstable connection via
satellite and does not promise any change for at least one more week
assuring that repair is under way to fix the broken cable on the
bottom of the Black Sea. ArmenTel is currently providing only 5%
access to the Internet. The satellite’s connection capacity is 2
megabits. Cursing this no-way-out situation, experts also blame the
authorities along with the ArmenTel.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PUTIN AWARDS ORDER TO GAREGIN II
ArmRadio.am
09.08.2006 15:50
Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded an Order of Friendship
to Supreme Patriarch-Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians, Interfax
news agency reported.
The Order of Friendship was conferred on Karekin II “in recognition
of his great contribution to the development and strengthening of
Russian-Armenian friendly relations,” the Kremlin press service told
Interfax on Tuesday.
Karekin II is the 132nd Supreme Patriarch-Catholicos of All
Armenians. He is an honorary member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences
and holder of national awards of the USSR, Jordan, Rumania, Ukraine
and France.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LET BILL NOT HEAR ANYTHING
Lragir.am
9 Aug 06
The leader of the Marxists of Armenia, namely the Marxist Party Davit
Hakobyan sympathizes with Hillary Clinton. He stated this at the
Pastark Club on August 9. The leader of the Marxist Party announced
that he does not doubt that Bush will be replaced by Hillary in 2008.
Hakobyan also thinks that if Hillary comes to power, they will come to
power in Armenia. Nobody managed to smile at Hakobyan’s idea because
he was the first to smile after these words, he smiled even while he
was uttering these words. Although, it is not clear what made Davit
Hakobyan laugh, the words about Hillary or the Marxists.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEWLY APPOINTED GERMAN AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN HOPES FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT
Baku, August 8. ArmInfo. During his Aug 7 meeting with Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev, newly appointed Ambassador of Germany to Azerbaijan
Per Christopher Stanchina expressed hope for peaceful settlement of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict, in the frame of
international principles, reports AzerTag.
Ambassador said he is aware of difficulties caused by delay of
settlement of the Armenia- Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict
and without solution of this problem Azerbaijan cannot realize its
full potential.
The Ambassador expressed pleasure for diplomatic activity in
Azerbaijan. Noting that realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project
and integration of Azerbaijan to world policy and economy is of great
importance the Ambassador estimated the economic action scheduled
for late this year in Germany as significant. ‘Germany will make any
effort to assist Azerbaijan to join New Neighborhood Policy of the
European Union’, the Ambassador underlined.
The German diplomat said he would try for expansion of relations
between Azerbaijan and his country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THERE ARE 100 LICENSED GUIDES IN ARMENIA
Yerevan, August 8. ArmInfo. There are over 100 licensed guides in
Armenia, says the head of the Tourism Department of the Trade and
Economic Development Ministry of Armenia Mekhak Apressyan.
License is given against higher education diploma or, at least,
three-years of experience in the sphere. Besides, a guide should know
well history, ethiucs, geography. A computer selects 100 questions
out of 1,000 and an applicant should answer them correctly to get
a license.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WELL-KNOWN UNDERWORLD LEADER BY NICKNAME “HAY-HOOY” KILLED
Yerevan, August 8. ArmInfo. A well-known underworld leader, one of the
leaders of the Armenian organized criminal gang of Moscow Alexander
Givoyev by nickname “Hay-Hooy” was killed on highway Ashtarak-Gyumri
at 1:30p, today.
Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office official web-site says A.
Givoyev was driving from Yerevan to Gyumri with his family. When
he stopped his “Grand Cherokee” to make purchases in a nearby shop,
a red VAZ32109 with unknown state number plate approached the Jeep
and fired at A. Givoyev with a machine gun. Givoyev died in the place.
Accidentally, the seller Gyulnara Karapetyan was also killed.
Investigation is underway. A criminal case on the articles 104.2 and
235.1 was initiated.
To be noted, in 2002 A. Givoyev presented his candidature for the
office of Yerevan’s ‘Center’ community. In his pre-election program
he promised to solve all the social problems of the community and
later, of Armenia in general, due to organizing donations of Russian
Armenian businessmen. Alexander Givoyev was born in Yerevan, 1954,
and in the middle 1990’s was one of the renowned leaders of the
Russian organized criminal underworld. He had close relations with
certain Armenian underworld leaders, particularly ex-president of the
so-called ‘Armenian Assembly’ Serge Jilavian, opponent to the first
President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BELARUS NOT TO BE “ONLOOKER” IN CIS SECURITY BLOC, PRESIDENT SAYS
Belapan news agency
8 Aug 06
Minsk, 8 August: The Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO,
made up of Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan] has become a full-fledged member of the international
security system. Official information sources quoted [Belarusian
President] Alyaksandr Lukashenka as saying this at a conference with
newly appointed Belarus’s representatives to interstate bodies on
8 August.
“Our interests and our participation here are the Belarusian-Russian
group of forces in the western direction. This is our area of
responsibility in the CSTO. It is here where we will take efforts
to ensure security of the CSTO member states,” the head of state
said. However, he added, Belarus will not take the attitude of an
“onlooker as far as it concerns other events in other regions –
in Asia, Russia, etc – that do not contradict our constitution”.
Lukashenka said that the ability of the member states to adopt a
common approach and take coordinated actions is vital to the CSTO’s
efficiency. “That is why we expect our representatives to the CSTO
to work actively to further increase the level of coordination of
foreign political activities,” the head of state said.
He emphasized the importance of pre-emptive response tools in the
present-day situation in the world. Therefore, the improvement of
information and analytical work within the CSTO framework should
become one of the main elements for the organization’s development,
Lukashenka said.
The head of state also named the creation and development of a system
of emergency response and military and technical cooperation as the
organization’s priority tasks.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER HOLDS MEETINGS IN SWEDEN
Author: A.Ismayilova
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 8, 2006
On August 8, the foreign minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov
who is in Stockholm with an official visit held a meeting with the
state secretary of Sweden, deputy minister of industry and trade
Sven Erik Seder. Besides, talks were held in the Trade Council of
Sweden and Russian-Swedish Trade Chamber, Trend reports quoting the
press-center of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. Mammadyarov met with
the vise-president of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the member of
Swedish parliament Ms. Ton Finskard.
In the second half of the day, the Azerbaijani foreign minister is
expected to meet with the president of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
special envoy of the organization on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Karl
de Guhtom.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Fund for Armenian Relief’s Fellowship Alumni Association
29 Rubinyants Street,
Yerevan, Armenia
Contact: Bella Grigoryan
FARFAA_Salzburg Medical Program Coordinator
Tel: (37410) 249677, 541128
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
Seminar on << Shoulder Surgery>>
August 2nd, 2006
Yerevan
FARFAA (Armenia) together with the Salzburg Fellows on Bone and Joint
Surgery,with the technical support of the Institute of Traumatology
organized a Seminar on <>.. The Seminar took place
on August 2nd in the Conference Hall of the Institute os Traumatology.
36 doctors from different Yerevan hospitals have participated.
Dr.Gerald R. Williams (USA) was the invited guest-lecturer.
Dr. Gerald R. Williams Jr. is a professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as well as the Chief of
the Shoulder and Elbow Service, Dept. of Orthopedic Service in the
University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Dr.Williams is specialized in Shoulder Surgery and he presented
lectures on various interesting topics as Shoulder fractures, Rotating
Cuff Repair, Arthroscopic shoulder surgery. He shows the videos of his
most interesting cases and answered questions.
Dr. Williams kindly agreed to visit some hospitals in Yerevan and
answer any questions local orthopedists may have.
Additionally, within the next one – two years, Dr. Williams plans on
visiting Armenia with his partners to bring equipment, see patients and
train local surgeons in the most up-to-date surgical skills.
FAR FAA is a non-for-profit organization of medical professionals, aimed
at improving the health care system of the community and advancing
medical sciences in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GIBRAHAYER
e-magazine _http://gibrahayer.cyprusnewsletter.com_
(http://g ibrahayer.cyprusnewsletter.com/)
The largest circulation Armenian e-magazine
Circulates every Wednesday
Established in 1999
ARMENIAN PRELATURE AND KYKKO MONASTERY OPEN DONATION CENTER FOR LEBANON IN
NICOSIA
(Nicosia – Cyprus Mail – August 1, 2006) A donation centre to offer aid to
victims of the Israeli air strikes in Lebanon opened in Nicosia yesterday
under a joint effort of the Kykko monastery and the Armenian Church.
more at: _
( rus-mail.com/news/)
The Humanitarian Aid Committee of the Kykko Monastery of the Cyprus Orthodox
Church and the Armenian Prelature are working together for the collection of
aid to Lebanon.
The inauguration of a donation center took place on Tuesday August 1, 2006
at 10:00 am at Eleftherias Square in Nicosia with the presence of Archbishop
Varoujan Hergelian, Father Issayias of Kykko Monastery, Nicosia Mayor
Michalakis Zambelas and Armenian representative in the Cyprus Parliament Vartkes
Mahdessian.
Speaking to representatives of the Cyprus media,the three men highlighted
the importance of the relief effort which simultaneously started work in 18
centers all over Cyprus.
MP Vartkes Mahdessian congratulated the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus for
the initiative of this humanitarian effort towards neighbouring Lebanon and
added. “As Armenians in Cyprus it is also important that we reach out to
Lebanon, where the See of the Catholicosate of Cilicia is situated and more than 100,000 Armenians live.”
Armenians in Cyprus have also responded positively to last week’s call by
Archbishop Hergelian and MP Vartkes Mahdessian by offering financial
assistance and contributing towards the collection of items publicised by
the Armenian Prelature last week.
A.R.S. “SOSSE” CYPRUS CHAPTER CONTINUES LEBANON RELIEF EFFORT
The ARS “Sosse” chapter of Cyprus – as with every other ARS chapter
throughout the Diaspora – appeals to the Armenian community of Cyprus to extend its
support to the Armenian community of Lebanon, by contributing generously to
the special relief fund set up by the ARS.
You can hand in your contribution to any member of the Committee by
contacting the following officials:
Vera Tavitian – Tel: 99520071, Maral Adourian – Tel: 99469634
ARMENIA SENDS AID TO LEBANON
Armradio.am – 30.7.2006 – The humanitarian aid of Armenia has already
reached Beirut and Armenian Ambassador to Lebanon Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan has
already
submitted it to the Council, co-ordinating humanitarian aid. The Ambassador
said that the 509 boxes that were sent to Lebanon, included medicines and
medical necessities. On July 27, the Armenian government took the decision
to
provide 20 million drams worth of humanitarian aid to Lebanon.
ISRAELIS MAKE NEW INCURSION INTO LEBANON
SIDON, Lebanon – Israeli forces made a fresh push into southern Lebanon on
Sunday, sparking intense firefights with Hezbollah guerrillas in the
southeastern border area, Lebanese police said.
Click Aztag banner below for the latest news from LEBANON
DIASPORA YOUTH UNITE IN HOMELAND
July 30 YEREVAN (YERKIR) – The opening ceremony of the program called =80=9CThe
First Armenia Trip of the ARF Youth Unions’ was held on July 29 atYerbalur.
Armenian youth from nine countries have arrived in Armenia.
The program will last through August 5 and the youngsters will stay at
Aghavnadzor and make trips to different Armenian regions. Speaking at a news
conference at the ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Bureau headquarters in Yerevan, Tatul
Harutiunian, the director of the program, said the program’s goal is mainly
educational.
The motto of the program is `Armenia is my Homeland.’ He noted that the
program will further the ties between the Homeland and Diaspora. Young people
from Armenia, Javakhk and Artsakh are also participating in the program.
Saro Ter-Petrosian, the head of the Canadian delegation, said that when
selecting the participants, they had chosen those, who had never been in Armenia
before.
Harutiunian said that they expected a bigger number of participants but
because of the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East,they could not make it.
Hitlerite Blitzkrieg and Nazi Atrocities in the Lebanon Committed by Proxy
by the US Neo-Cons
by Professor Hovhanness I. Pilikian at _http://pilikian.blogspot.com_
( ogspot.com/)
The same article is also up on Professor Pilikian’s permanent section of
Gibrahayer E-Magazine at =3D4
The turbulent march of history past Beirut woman’s window
by Haro Chakmakjian
BEIRUT, July 26, 2006 (AFP) – From the evacuation of Yasser Arafat in 1982
to the current foreign exodus, Makrouhie Yerganian has seen the troubled
history of Lebanon unscroll in front of her eyes at her vantage point in front of
the Beirut port.
Just last week, two truck drivers having coffee were killed when their
parked and apparently empty vehicles were blown apart in an Israeli air strike on
the edge of the port, just 50 metres away from her modest home in a
three-storey apartment block.
“It was a very strange noise that rattled our nerves. We thought we had
heard all sorts of explosions but this was something new even for us,” says the
Lebanese Armenian schoolteacher who has lived in the Mar Mikhael area for more
than half a century.
Her 85-year-old mother was just about to water the flowers on the window
ledge, until Yerganian changed her mind. Many of the windows in her building
were shattered, but the women escaped unharmed from Israel’s latest salvo in its
war on Hezbollah.
“I believe it is written on your forehead. If it is written, you can die
wherever you are. But that day, the Lord protected us,” she says in her sitting
room where sheets cover the furniture, as the shutters slam from the sea
breeze.
A vivid memory still stencilled into her head came in 1976 when militiamen
massacred Shiites, Druze and Palestinian refugees in the nearby former
Karantina camp.
“A boy whose voice had not even broken kept pleading: ‘Don’t kill me’. They
dragged him off to the corner of the street and shot him,” she says. “I can
still hear his voice in my head, begging for his life, as they dragged him
off.”
Two years later, in another of the multiple wars within a war which
devastated Lebanon between 1975 and 1990, the Kataeb, a Christian militia,battled
Syrian forces.
“The Syrians were parked right in front of our windows, and the Kataeb
behind. They started fighting and we were caught right in the middle,” shesays.
During the brief deployment of the Multinational Forces sent to oversee the
Palestinian evacuation after Israel’s invasion and supposedly to protect the
refugees, they had new neighbours in the shape of American, French and
Italian troops.
“They were all clean, except the Israelis. The Americans and the others used
metal shacks and they would burn their waste,” she says.
“We would be hanging the washing and they (Israeli troops) would be doing
their dirty business or relieving themselves in full public view. We had to
move away for a while,” says a grimacing Yerganian.
“The Italians were friendly and we even learnt a few words of Italian. The
Americans and the French would hand out chocolates to the neighbourhood kids,”
she says. “People would come from far to see them from our house. We had a
lot of guests in those days.”
But things went sour yet again. President-elect Bashir Gemayel was
assassinated and “the radios tried to reassure the people and said he had survived the
bomb blast”, Makrouhie recalls.
“At midnight, we heard the marching of boots. We looked out of the window
and saw the Jewish soldiers heading toward west Beirut”, on the eve of the
massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila by allied
Christian militiamen.
Before the massacres, French soldiers had been posted with huge guns on the
rooftops, including Yerganian’s, to protect the evacuation of late
Palestinian leader Arafat and his PLO fighters in 1982.
In 1984, west Beirut fell to Muslim militias and the US and European troops
withdrew through the port after their barracks were blown up by suicide
bombers at a cost of some 300 lives.
The Lebanese army posted heavy artillery outside the house to bombard the
mostly Muslim western sector, opening up with 55-mm rounds that rocked the
building to its very foundations.
“I was going mad, with pillows on each ear to muffle the horrific noise. I
was going to go out and tell them to stop, please, please. My mother told me:
‘Don’t worry, this will pass too’,” says Yerganian.
Despite everything, “I love Lebanon. I was born here and this is my country.
Anything that happens to our poor Lebanon, it breaks our heart.”
“We were so happy seeing the new bridges and the revival of the downtown
thanks to Hariri after the civil war, but they won’t allow us to have any joy,”
she says, referring to the 2005 murder of former premier and architect of
Lebanon’s revival, Rafiq Hariri.
While the thousands foreigners were fleeing the Israeli air strikes across
from her window, “at least we had hopes for a little calm in our area. But
after the last US evacuations (on Wednesday), we fear the worst for Lebanon”,
she says.
ARMENIA-DIASPORA CONFERENCE IN SEPTEMBER – OPEN FOR ALL
We are pleased to announce that the third Armenia-Diaspora Conference,
organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia , will
take place September 18th-20th, 2006 in Yerevan, Armenia. This year’s conference
will examine, analyse, and assess our past, and consider how history and
current geo-political realities tie together to raise new issues before our
nation, along with the possibilities and prospects for resolving them together.
This conference distinguishes itself from previous conferences in that for
the first time it is open to the general public, has a very concrete central
theme (Rural Poverty Eradication Program), and provides concrete opportunities
for Armenian Diaspora involvement in the development of Armenia. Therefore,
participation of the Armenian Diaspora is essential to the success of this
conference.
We believe that this event will be of interest to you as well as the members
registered on your distribution list. We are requesting that you contribute
to the success of the third Armenia-Diaspora Conference by publicising the
event through your distribution list. Moreover, we ask of our collaborators to
spread the interview that the Foreign Minister, Mr. Vartan Oskanian, gave to
Armenpress in which the essential information relating to the Conference is
concisely presented ( .html).
You can find additional information about the conference as well as
information on the Armenia-Diaspora Conference at this address:
.html. Please feel free to forward
this information to any individual or organisation that you feel would take
interest in this event.
We thank you for your cooperation. Please feel free to contact us if you
have any further questions or concerns. We are happy to provide more information
if necessary and look forward to your involvement.
Cordially,
Armenian Diaspora Conference Desk
news in brief
17 Armenian Cypriot youth who participated in the ARS (HOM) Summer camp at
Khalkidiki, returned to Cyprus on Monday 31 July, 2006, after spending almost
three weeks in Greece. Pictures and a full report in Gibrahayer’s September’s
issue.
Works by 25 Armenian, Iranian, Turkish and Georgian artists will be
presented at the exhibition entitled “Art without Borders” which will kick off August
4 at the Center of Innovative Experimental Art in Yerevan.
Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyolu says that reopening the border crossing with
Armenia will not be simply a move that will boost the local economy of theregion
but will also constitute a major breakthrough for Turkish exporters who have
been dreaming of acquiring cheap and secure land and rail access to markets
in Central Asia and beyond.
Elif Shafak is waiting to stand trial in Bolis on charges of “insulting
Turkishness.” A trial date has not been set. The reputed insults appear inher
novel The Bastard of Istanbul, written in English but translated into Turkish
and published in Turkey on March 8. The book is already a bestseller there.
600 Armenians have left Lebanon and Israel for Armenia. 51 of them have
turned to Armenia’s Migration Agency to receive the status of
temporary residents, but none have appealed to the Armenian office of the
Red Cross yet.
sports
APOEL FC of Nicosia have been drawn against TrabzonSpor of Turkey in the
UEFA Championships. The first leg will be played in GSP Stadium in Nicosiaon
August 10, 2006, while the return match a week later in Turkey. Trabzonspor
were thrown out of the same competition by refugee club Anorthosis FC of
Famagusta a year ago.
A record 1,370 athletes _ 739 men and 631 women _ from a record 48
countries have entered the Aug. 7-13 European Athletics Championships that
will take place in Goteborg – Sweden. Only Armenia and Liechtenstein are not
sending athletes.
Zaruhi Harutyunyan
ZARUHI BEGINS
PROFESSIONAL TENNIS TOUR ON WTA UK CIRCUIT
A new challenge has began for Zaruhi Harutyunyan, who will be testing her
strokes on the professional tour.
In the next four weeks she will try to qualify for three WTA events in
Ilkley Yorkshire, Wrexham Wales, and Cumberland Club in London.
For Zaruhi Harutyunyan’s tennis activity in 2006 – click here
CONTRIBUTE TO ZARUHI’S WORLD TOUR
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress