Author: Emil Lazarian

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

TRIAL OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH NEWSPAPER EDITOR POSTPONED AFTER RUCKUS IN ISTANBUL COURTROOM
Benjamin Harvey
AP Worldstream
May 16, 2006
An Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor faced nationalist lawyers and
shouts of “traitor” as he went on trial Tuesday, forcing the judge
to postpone the case because of the ruckus in the courtroom.
Prosecutors have charged that Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen, committed
the crime of “attempting to influence the judiciary” when his bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper ran articles criticizing a law that makes
it a crime to “insult Turkishness.”
The law has been used to try writers and intellectuals, including the
novelist Orhan Pamuk, for commenting on the mass killings of Armenians
by Turks around the time of World War I, which a number of governments
and scholars have said were the first genocide of the 20th century.
Dink has been careful to avoid public comment on the issue, but has
supported an open discussion of the issue among historians and has
become a target of nationalist lawyers who see genocide allegations
as treason.
Armenians say around 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in
a genocidal campaign carried out by Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915.
Turkey acknowledges mass killings, but insists the numbers are inflated
and vehemently denies that Turks committed genocide, saying Armenians
were killed as the Ottoman Empire tried to secure its border with
Russia and stop attacks by Armenian militants.
Three other writers at the Agos newspaper, including Dink’s son,
also went on trial Tuesday.
Turkey has been struggling to balance EU demands for tolerance of
free expression with a reluctance to discuss the mass killings of
Armenians or to tolerate arguments that they constituted a genocide.
The subject is rarely discussed openly in Turkey, and those who say
Turks were guilty of genocide can end up in a Turkish court and be
branded as traitors.
Nationalist lawyers led by Kemal Kerincsiz of the Turkish Lawyers’
Union frequently stand in on trials dealing with what they see as
threats to Turkish interests, and can be disruptive to proceedings.
At Dink’s case on Friday, the lawyers argued heatedly with defense
lawyers, yelled for the removal of the judge and apparently threw a
coin at Dink, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Saying “the trial’s discipline has been broken,” the judge postponed
the case to July 4, Dink’s lawyer Fethiye Cetin said.
Internationally, Turkey has been struggling to fight genocide
recognition by other countries with a combination of political and
economic threats.
In the past week, Turkey has lobbied French politicians and companies
to help kill a proposed French bill that would make it a crime to
deny that Armenians were victims of genocide, in the same way that
denying the Holocaust is a crime in France.
The French parliament is expected to vote on the bill on Thursday.
Turkey also briefly recalled its ambassadors to both France and
Canada last week after developments in those countries related to
the genocide issue, and pulled out of a Canadian military exercise
because Canada’s prime minister said he supported a parliamentary
declaration stating that Armenians were victims of genocide.
Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Dink to a jail term of
up to three years.
As he left, protesters threw eggs and chanted the Turkish slogan,
“How happy the person is who says ‘I am a Turk.'”
In addition to the trial for attempting to influence the judiciary,
Dink has also been tried previously for “insulting Turkishness”
and for saying the Turkish national anthem was discriminatory.

V. CHITECHYAN PRESENTED WORKING OPPORTUNITIES IN ARMENIA TO BELGIAN BUSINESSMEN
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.05.2006 19:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Ambassador to Belgium Vigen Chitechyan had
a meeting with Belgian entrepreneurs of Armenian origin, initiated by
the Belgian-Armenian Chamber of Commerce. During the meeting at which
representatives of advertisement, insurance, transport, electronic,
diamond cutting and confectionery business were present, the matter
of unification of all Armenian businessmen of Belgium into a common
information network was discussed. The matter on possibility for
Armenian businessmen to work in Armenia was also considered. The
meeting participants discussed the coming third Armenia-Diaspora
forum and Belgian delegation’s participation in it, reports the Press
Service of the Armenian MFA.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AGENDA OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN FMS’ MEETING NOT SPECIFIED YET
Today, Azerbaijan
May 16 2006
There is no exact agenda of the meeting planned between Azerbaijani
and Armenian FA ministers in Strasbourg yet, said Agshin Mehdiyev,
permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe.
As ANS reports, the meeting is planning. First, OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairmen are expected to meet, while an extended meeting is
not excluded as well, told Mr. Mehdiyev. According to him, the two
ministers will attend meetings of Committee of mInisters of the Council
of Europe. Informal meetings of ministers will be held at the resident
of Terry Davis, the CE Secretary General in the evening of May 18.
May 19 a plenary session to be held – told Azerbaijani diplomat.
According to him the meeting agenda will include a number of
questions. Particularly documents and communique, election of
Chairman, and so on. The passing of chairmanship from Romania to
Russia is expected.
“For the first time over the history of the organization Russia will
be in the chair of this structure” told Mr. Mehdiyev.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress