Author: Emil Lazarian

FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO ANKARA HOPES PARLIAMENT WILL VOTE DOWN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.05.2006 19:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Parliamentarians Union head Hasan Korkmazcan
said yesterday that a bill about the Armenian genocide facing the
French Parliament this week will set a historical test for bilateral
relations, while French Ambassador to Ankara Paul Poudade asserted
that the French government opposes the bill. The debates about the
bill proposing prison terms and fines to those who question the
claims are mounting as the date for debates of the bill looms, New
Anatolian reports.

“Some politicians who have limited political influence, accepted
the Armenian Genocide claims,” Korkmazcan said adding that the bill
“is targeted against scientific investigations and freedom of speech.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE IS BEING ELECTED

A1+
[01:58 pm] 17 May, 2006

At present the general session of the RA National Academy of Science
is under way. The session is to elect a new President. There are three
candidates for the post: Head of the NAS Mechanics Institute Lenser
Akhalovyan, Scientific secretary of the Academy Edward Ghazaryan and
ex rector of the Yerevan State University Radik Martirosyan.

79 academicians and correspondents participate in the closed
session. The voting will take place at about 03:00 PM.

Let us remind you that the post has been vacant since the resignation
of Fadey Sargsyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU SAYS CEMETERY STILL INTACT

The Moscow Times, Russia
May 17 2006

BAKU, Azerbaijan — An aide to Azerbaijan’s president on Tuesday
denied a report that a centuries-old ethnic Armenian cemetery had
been destroyed.

The report by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting said the
medieval Djulfa cemetery in the exclave of Nakhichevan, which once
included thousands of intricately carved crosses, had vanished. The
report said its journalist was not allowed by accompanying security
forces to go to the cemetery site, but that the journalist was near
enough to see the cemetery was gone.

“This is an absolutely lying publication and statement,”
said Ali Khasanov, an aide to President Ilham Aliyev. “Not one
cultural-historical monument, not one Armenian cemetery in the
autonomous Nakhichevan republic has been destroyed.”

Accusations that Azerbaijan had destroyed the cemetery have raised
tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are at odds over
Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been under control
of Armenian and local Karabakh forces since a separatist war ended
with a shaky cease-fire in 1994. The Djulfa cemetery site is generally
off-limits because it lies in a security zone along the Iranian border.

Khasanov said the government was ready to work with international
commissions to clarify the status of cultural and historical sites.(AP)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FOUNTAINS AND GREEN ZONES OF NORTHERN AVENUE TO BE CHANGED

Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. A considerable reconstruction work
is necessary in order to put in operation again the fountrains of
Yerevan’s Northern Avenue currently under construction, because
the infrastructures supplying these fountains are too old. Chief
Architect of Yerevan Samvel Danielian told NT correspondent about
it. According to him, the Urban Development Council of Yerevan is
now examining a version of constructing Northern Avenue, by which the
upper level of the avenue is viewed as a green area, while fountains
will be installed below – at the “minus 1” level. Besides, a version
to build an underground car parking space at the “minus 2” level all
along Northern Avenue is being discussed. The car parking lots will
not be built only at the area limited by Eznik Koghbatsi and Abovian
Streets, where it is envisaged to construct the Old Yerevan historical
and architectural complex of 14 buildings.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

3741 NEW PENSIONERS REGISTERED IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2006 IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. 3741 new pensioners with an average
pension of 8992 drams (about 20 USD) were registered in the first
quarter of the current year in Armenia. As Noyan Tapan correspondent
was informed by Ashot Abrahamian, Head of the Department of Social
Security and separate programs of RA State Fund of Social Insurance,
the number of new pensioners decreased by 1859 as compared with the
same period of 2005. According to him, this is conditioned by the
circumstance that this year the pension is fixed for those born in
1945-1946 and in those years the birth rate was low in the country.

A.Abrahamian said that as of April 1, 530521 people receive a pension
in the country.

150871 of them are aged 63 and below, 160322 are 63-70 years old,
35503 70-75 years old, 79228 75-80 years old and 44597 are aged 80
and above. The head of the department said that 6398 pensioners were
taken off the books in the first quarter for various reasons, 133 of
which were restored in the future.

According to A.Abrahamian, they stopped to pay pensions to 22 thousand
pensioners as the latters were abroad and and to 3600 as they had no
social cards.

A.Abrahamian said that within the framework of the interstate agreement
with CIS countries files of 171 pensioners have been sent to these
countries in the first quarter of 2006. And 59 citizens of other
countries (1 citizen of the Ukraine, 1 of Kazakhstan and the rest
of RF) receive a pension in Armenia. It was also mentioned that 1305
disability pensions have been fixed in the first quarter.

GAVAR MAYOR DECIDES TO GIVE UP PARTIAL REPAIR OF STREETS AND TO REPAIR THEM FUNDAMENTALLY

Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006

GAVAR, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The bad condition of the roads of the town
of Gavar has become a subject of anxiety for both the inhabitants
of Gavar and the local authorities. As Noyan Tapan correspondent
informs from Gavar, for the purpose of mitigating the situation even
the pavements are used for traffic, which is not a solution to the
problem, either. The condition of the most part of the streets with
a total length of 150 km under the subordination of the community is
also the same, the asphalt is physically worn out. The road to the
town hospital is especially in a sad condition. It almost has not
been repaired during the past 30 years. The bad condition of the road
especially hampers the work of ambulance cars. As Gavar Mayor Gurgen
Martirosian said in his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent,
at present the town budget makes it possible only to repair the
pits. But these repairs do not justify themselves: every year the
repaired and asphalted pits again destroy in consequence of the snow
and rain-water in spring. Thus, over 40 mln drams (about 89 thousand
USD) was allocated from the town budget last year for partial repair
of streets but the repaired pits again opened. Taking into account the
experience of the previous years, Gavar Mayor’s Office has decided
to asphalt the streets only fundamentally within the limits of its
possibilities. “We had better do small work but have good results,”
Gavar Mayor said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NATIONAL GALLERY CONTINUES SHOWING SAMPLES OF CLASSICAL CINEMATOGRAPHY

Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. 26 films by famous French film director
Jean-Luc Godard will be shown in May-June at the cinema hall of the
Armenian National Gallery. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed
by Melik Karapetian, the author and organizer of cinema programs,
employee of the Educational Department of the Armenian National
Gallery, in April he prepared and presented to the cinema spectators
another two interesting programs: 10 films on jazz by Ken Burns and
8 films by famous film-maker of the 70-s of the previous century,
one of the founder of the independent film John Cassavetes. After
the Gallery’s reopening in 2004, Melik Karapetian organized the
first program where he presented 6 Armenian mute films. American
films brought from the National Museum of Washington were shown
in September of the same year. A separate subject film program
has been prepared for each month since 2005 March: documentary and
retrospective reviews on art are organized every Sunday and Wednesday
at the National Gallery. The entrance is free for all those who are
fond of European and classical films. “In this issue the National
Gallery is greatly assisted by the foreign embassies in Armenia, but
the main material is prepared by me from my personal film archives,”
M.Karapetian said. He said that at present he has 1700 films, which
are presented to the spectators by different subject programs 10
months running. “The idea of showing these films occured to me in
the years when no festivals were organized in Armenia yet and there
were no cinemas that could import and show real films for certain
layers of the society,” M.Karapetian said. According to him, their
main spectators are young people, students, cinematographic figures
and finally visitors appreciating the real cinema.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MAIN GOAL OF WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
May 16 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The main goal of the World Armenian
Congress is economic development and prosperity of Armenia. World
Armenian Congress President Ara Abrahamian declared this at the
sitting of WAC Board held on May 16 in Yerevan. At the sitting they
gave account on the work done by WAC over three years since the
day of the organization’s constituent congress. “Issues of economic
development, which means creation of new jobs, increasing the incomes
of the population, growth of its prosperity, have always been in
the center of attention of WAC,” A.Abrahamian mentioned. According
to him, creation of new jobs will give an opportunity to return to
the homeland to Armenians who have left for foreign countries to
earn money. In his opinion, unless this is done within the coming 10
years, later the issue of return of the Armenians will become more
complicated due to change of the ethnic consciousness of the growing
generation. Another important task of WAC is creation of an effective
mechanism of investments, consolidation of economic and political
resources of the Armenians spread all over the world. A.Abrahamian
regretted to say that only a limited circle of Diasporan Armenians
takes part in assistance to economic development of Armenia. “Remember
the words of Catholicos Vagzen I that for Armenia it is more important
that one million Armenians invest 1 dollar each than 1 person invest
one million dollars,” WAC President said.

A.Abrahamian informed about the active work of WAC aimed at development
of bilateral economic relations with a number of countries and first
of all with Russia. At the same time, according to him, development
of democratic processes is imperfect yet and there are no necessary
conditions for entrepreneurial activity in Armenia. It was mentioned
that the Armenian authorities provide insufficient assistance to
the activity of WAC. A.Abrahamian expressed hope for more active
assistance of the Armenian authorities.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VAZGEN MANUKYAN: WHAT HAPPENED TO “ORINATS YERKIR” PARTY REVEALS THE DEFECTS OF THE GOVERNMENT SYSTEM

ArmRadio.am
16.05.2006 14:49

“What happened to “Orinats Yerkir” Party reveals the defects of the
system,” considers Vazgen Manukyan, Head of the National Democratic
Union.

According to him, this is the most important in the latest
developments, and not the question whether the coalition exists
or not. Such system in Armenia does not promise anything, and this
should be a lesson not only for the authorities or the opposition,
but also for the society.

Speaking about the latest political events and the possible results,
Head of the National Democratic Union expressed the opinion that there
is no coalition as such, since one of the points of the agreement says
that in case one of the parties secedes, the coalition is considered
dissolved. In reality, the Republican Party and the ARF continue to
remain a coalition. “I think, however, that it is not the essential
here. The course of events showed what our system of government is
like,” Vazgen Manukyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

REPUBLICANS NOT WILLING TO ACCEPT “ORINATS YERKIR” WITH OPEN ARMS

ArmRadio.am
16.05.2006 15:00

“The opposition is not a room where “Orinats Yerkir” can enter
or not,” member of “Justice” block Grigor Hartyunyan said today,
turning to the statement that “the opposition is not going to accept
“Orinats Yerkir” with open arms.” According to him, only with their
activity parties can be considered opposition.

Member of the Republican Party, MP Rafik Petrosyan said he does not
want former “Orinats Yerkir” members to join their party, since he
is afraid that in the same way they will withdraw from here.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress