Author: Emil Lazarian

POSSIBILITIES OF SUPPORTING ARMENIANS WISHING TO MOVE TO ARMENIA IN
CONSEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN LEBANON DISCUSSED AT RA PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
YEREVAN, JULY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A consultation
dedicated to providing possible assistance to RA citizens wishing to
move to Armenia and any assistance to our compatriots in consequence
of the events in Lebanon was held on July 18 at RA Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian’s Office. RA Ministers of Territorial Government,
Finance and Economy, Transport and Communication, Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs, head of the Civil Aviation General Department
attached to RA Government, heads of the National Security Service
and Police took part in the consultation.
The Prime Minister expressed anxiety about the situation in the region
of Near East and emphasized the necessity to provide possible state
assistance to our Armenian compatriots in the formed situation.
RA Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian reported that
160 RA citizens have already arrived in Yerevan from Lebanon
through Syria. According to the preliminary data of RA Foreign
Ministry, there are almost 1200 RA citizens in this 120-thousand
Armenian community. However, these figures need to be finally
clarified. G.Gharibjanian also informed that the Embassies of Lebanon
and Syria and Consulate General of Aleppo have been charged to give
three-month free entrance permits to the citizens of Lebanon of
Armenian origin wishing to leave for Armenia, as well as to foreign
citizens in Lebanon and to members of families of RA citizens. Now
there is great accumulation on the Syrian border, in connection with
which RA diplomatic representations were charged to do the necessary
work on the spot.
According to RA Government Information and Public Relations Department,
the Prime Minister also charged RA Foreign Ministry in a short period
to clarify and to provide information about RA citizens currently
residing in Lebanon, about our compatriots and those willing to
arrive in Armenia assisting them on the spot in issues of stay, food,
etc. through RA diplomatic representations. It was also instructed
to open a hot line at the Foreign Ministry.
After the consultation RA Deputy Foreign Minister G.Gharibjanian
reported that a hot line with 58-60-17 telephone number has opened
and will operate every day at 9:00-21:00.
The Prime Minister also gave instructions to the head of the Civil
Aviation General Department and Minister of Territorial Government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB GIVES AWARDS TO BEST JOURNALISTS OF ARMENIA
ArmInfo.
Yerevan, July 18.
The Yerevan Press Club gave awards to the best Armenian journalist
of this year, today.
This year the prize “For Professional Highlighting of the Recent
Football Events” went to Senik Kara-Poghosian. The prize “For
Contribution to Highlighting of Various Viewpoints in Actual Issues”
went to Nver Mnatsakanian, author of “Perspectiva” program. Hovhannes
Yeranian, cultural observer of “Yerkir” newspaper received the
prize “For Devotion to the Theme.” “Yerevan” magazine was awarded
“For the Best Presentation of Armenia in Abroad.” Besides, Ashot
Gazazian received a prize for making journalism a literature in his
“In the Shadow of the Sun” book. In the course of the ceremony, Boris
Navasardian, chairman of YPC, promised to assist the local journalists
to participate in various arrangements not only in Armenia but also
in abroad.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEWLY APPOINTED RA EDUCATION MINISTER PROMISSES ENTRANCE EXAMS TO
LOCAL UNIVERSITIES WILL BE FAIR AND TRANSPARENT
Yerevan, July 18. ArmInfo. Levon Mkrtchian, newly appointed RA
Education and Science Minister, stated that the entrance exams to the
Armenian universities will be fair and transparent. He said that the
entrance exams will launch on July 20 and added that it is planned to
open a special site that will fully cover the process of the exams.
This year, the exam marks will not be rounded off. Minister stated that
at present the given system of evaluation is the most convenient one.
As for the tuition fees, Mkrtchian said that thanks to the contract
system the university students will be able to pay a fixed sum of money
that will not change in the course of the education process. He added
that at present not a single local university has increased the tuition
fee as compared with the last year. The most expensive university is
still the Yerevan State Medical University, while the faculties of
International Relations and the Law Departments are the leading ones.
According to Mkrtchian, 12 413 entrants applied to the local
universities. This indicator surpassed that of the last year by 500
entrants. Minister stated that this year the entrants’ interest to
the Yerevan State Economic University has grown, as 1633 people
applied to that. Besides, as compared with 2005, the number of
entrants who applied to the faculties of the English Language at
various universities has also grown. The Yerevan State University
has 671 free of charge vacancies, while the Yerevan State Medical
University has only 148. In total, there are 4 342 free of charge and
5 598 paid vacancies opened at the Armenian universities. Mkrtchian
stated that just like in the previous years the faculties of Physics,
Biology and Chemistry are not popular.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AT RA EMBASSY TO LEBANON HAS ORGANIZED DEPARTURE OF 150 ARMENIAN
CITIZENS FROM LEBANON
Yerevan, July 18. ArmInfo. RA Embassy to Lebanon has organized the
departure of about 150 Armenians and Armenian citizens from Lebanon.
RA Embassy to Lebanon informed about this. The departure took place
through the border with Syria.
“Mainly, we departed the people that should have normally left the
country, i.e. those who have no problems with documents,” the source
stated. Besides, RA Embassy makes the lists of the Armenians who
want to leave Lebanon. At the same time, the source stated that the
military actions didn’t reach the regions with the Armenian residents.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STOLEN CARS HEADING FOR ARMENIA, THIEVES WERE ARRESTED
Lragir.am
19 July 06
The Spanish police issued a press release on July 18 that the Spanish
law-enforcers arrested a gang which stole cars in this country
and sold them in Armenia. The press release ran that on July 13
the department of organized crime arrested 13 members of the gang,
including 11 citizens of Armenia. The names of the detainees are not
mentioned. Two of them are women. Their age is 24-54.
The police says the detainees did not have permanent jobs, they lived
in the areas of Gandia, Cullera and Denia in Valencia, Spain. The
police of Spain say the cars were mainly stolen in Madrid, in Valecia
and Alicante. They sometimes used force.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Bryza: Karabakh Talks Potential Not Exhausted
Yerkir.am
July 14, 2006
“OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are looking forward to initiatives of the
parties to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” OSCE MG American co-chair
Matthew Bryza stated in Turkey.
He said that he didn’t publicize the elements of negotiations without
prior agreement of the conflicting sides. “It was the decision of
the co-chairs,” Bryza noted.
He said he presented only some of the elements for public discussion:
“We expect the reaction of the Presidents. However, I state that talks
still have not run out of potential. We expect directions from the
Presidents, they should show us in what direction we should work.” The
American co-chair did not rule out discussion of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict at the G8 summit to be held in Saint Petersburg. He stressed
that the time of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents meeting has not
been decided yet.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Israeli Troops Enter Southern Lebanon
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.07.2006 13:35 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As the sound of explosions echoed over the port city
of Tyre and with Israeli helicopters and unmanned drones in the skies
above, Israel launched a limited cross-border operation into southern
Lebanon early Wednesday. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman told
CNN the ground troops are on a mission to destroy specific Hezbollah
outposts. The spokesman, speaking from Jerusalem, declined to say how
many Israeli troops were involved in the operation. He also declined
to say how far Israeli troops had gotten into southern Lebanon but
said they were close to the border. An Israeli diplomat said his
country has no intention of staying in Lebanon.
“What we’re doing is part of trying to make Hezbollah incapable of
shelling our cities and our villages and to kill our citizens,” said
Dan Gillerman, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. The IDF said a
“small group” of Israeli troops has been traveling across the border
near the border fence for a number of days. Their goal is to pinpoint,
or identify, Hezbollah infrastructure, including mines and tunnels.
Israel launched an extensive bombing campaign against Hezbollah
after the Shiite Muslim militia abducted two Israeli soldiers in
a cross-border raid into northern Israel. Lebanon’s government
has demanded a cease-fire, but Israel insisted it would keep up
the attacks until its kidnapped soldiers are freed. The fighting
has killed at least 25 people, including 13 civilians, in northern
Israel. Lebanese Internal Security Forces said Wednesday that 202
people had been killed, including 11 soldiers, and 488 wounded since
the start of hostilities on July 12, reported CNN.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azerbaijan appreciates attention to Karabakh problem-spokesman
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
July 18, 2006 Tuesday
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
Official Baku appreciates attention of the world community to
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as reflected in a statement
by G8 leaders at the summit in St. Petersburg, Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry spokesman Tair Tagizade said.
“This is a positive fact. We always called and we call on the world
community and its leaders to activate actions to resolve the Karabakh
problem,” he told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.
At the same time, the call by the G8 leaders on the parties in the
conflict “to prepare their people for peace, and not for war” causes
“some cautiousness” of Azerbaijan, Tagizade added.
He said he doubted “ethics of putting forward equal demands to both
sides, one of which, namely Azerbaijan, is a victim of aggression”.
“Azerbaijan preserves commitment to a peaceful settlement of the
conflict,” Tagizade said.
He stated that the activity of the Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh,
whose co-chairmen are G8 countries Russia, France and the US, “is
a necessary component of successful progress of the peace talks”
between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“At the same time, we cannot afford holding talks for the sake of
talks. If diplomatic efforts do not yield results, our country has the
sovereign right to restore its territorial integrity,” Tagizade said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Georgian Parliament Adopted Resolution on Withdrawal of All Russian Peacekeepers from Georgia
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.07.2006 17:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Georgian Parliament today adopted a Resolution
on withdrawal of all Russian peacekeeping forces from Georgia
by 144 votes for. According to Georgian Speaker Nino Burjanadze,
it is a historical document and in compliance with it the Georgian
Government is charged to launch procedures necessary for withdrawal
of all Russian peacekeeping forces from the country. The Resolution
notes the Government is charged “to launch procedures necessary for
stopping peacekeeping operations in Abkhazia and former autonomous
district of South Ossetia, immediately start work to change the
peacekeeping format, activate works on proper informing of the
population of Abkhazia and former autonomous district of South
Ossetia, to restore confidence maximally, establishment of standards
of peaceful, democratic life on the territory of Georgia.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

New Investigation Opened Against Hrant Dink for ‘Insulting Turkish
Identity’
By Cihan News Agency
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
zaman.com
The chief public prosecutor of the Sisli district of Istanbul has
initiated an investigation into ethnic Armenian journalist and writer
Hrant Dink for allegedly insulting and denigrating the Turkish identity
in a statement he made to Reuters news agency on July 14.
Hrant Dink, editor of the Agos newspaper which serves Turkey’s Armenian
community, told Reuters on July 14, “Of course I call this a genocide
because the result defines itself and gives itself the name. You can
see for yourself that a people that have lived on this land for 4000
years no longer exists in that region due to these events.”
The fate of the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during WW1 and
after remains a sensitive issue in Turkey.
Armenians claim that 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman
Empire were killed as part of an intentional and systematic campaign
of genocide during World War I.
Turkey denies the allegations claiming that 200,000 Armenians
died during the forced migrations due to cold weather and poor
transportation conditions.
Last week, the Turkish Appeals Court upheld a suspended verdict
against ethnic Armenian editor Hrant Dink. In October last year,
Sisli Court in Istanbul had given Dink a 6-month suspended sentence
on charges of insulting the Turkish identity.
In his column for the Turkish Armenian daily Agos dated February 13,
2004, Dink had likened Turkish nationalism to carcinogenic tumors
and poisoned blood in its responsibility for genocide.
Today’s Appeals Court statement said that there was no doubt that
Dink’s statement ridiculed and insulted ‘Turkishness’.
For further information please visit
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Content-type: message/rfc822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-description:
From: “Katia M. Peltekian”
Subject: ANKARA: New Investigation Opened Against Hrant Dink for ‘Insulting
Turkish Identity’
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: 8BIT
Zaman, Turkey
July 18 2006
New Investigation Opened Against Hrant Dink for ‘Insulting Turkish
Identity’
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Tuesday, July 18, 2006
zaman.com
The chief public prosecutor of the Sisli district of Istanbul has
initiated an investigation into ethnic Armenian journalist and writer
Hrant Dink for allegedly insulting and denigrating the Turkish
identity in a statement he made to Reuters news agency on July 14.
Hrant Dink, editor of the Agos newspaper which serves Turkey’s
Armenian community, told Reuters on July 14, “Of course I call this a
genocide because the result defines itself and gives itself the name.
You can see for yourself that a people that have lived on this land
for 4000 years no longer exists in that region due to these events.”
The fate of the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during WW1 and
after remains a sensitive issue in Turkey.
Armenians claim that 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman
Empire were killed as part of an intentional and systematic campaign
of genocide during World War I.
Turkey denies the allegations claiming that 200,000 Armenians died
during the forced migrations due to cold weather and poor
transportation conditions.
Last week, the Turkish Appeals Court upheld a suspended verdict
against ethnic Armenian editor Hrant Dink. In October last year,
Sisli Court in Istanbul had given Dink a 6-month suspended sentence
on charges of insulting the Turkish identity.
In his column for the Turkish Armenian daily Agos dated February 13,
2004, Dink had likened Turkish nationalism to carcinogenic tumors and
poisoned blood in its responsibility for genocide.
Today’s Appeals Court statement said that there was no doubt that
Dink’s statement ridiculed and insulted ?Turkishness?.
For further information please visit
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress