Author: Emil Lazarian

SITTING OF COMMISSION COORDINATING WORKING OUT OF RA NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY TO TAKE PLACE ON MAY 17
Noyan Tapan
May 11 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The 5th sitting of the interdepartment
commission coordinating works of working out the draft to the RA
National Security Strategy will take place on May 17, instead of May
12 stated beforehand. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by Colonel
Seyran Shahsuvarian, the RA Defence Ministry’s Press Secretary.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BRONZE MEMORIAL PLAQUE SYMBOLIZING TIE OF ARMENIAN, ITALIAN AND PERSIAN CULTURES OPENED IN TOWER OF MILVIO BRIDGE OF ROME
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 11 2006
ROME, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the occasion of
establishing friendship of three bridges, Milvio bridge of Rome,
Allahverdi-khan of Ispahan, Sanahin bridge of Alaverdi, Ambassador
of Armenia to Italy Ruben Shugarian participated on May 4 in the
colemn ceremony of placing the bronze memorial plaque in the tower
of the Milvio bridge of Rome. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA
Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, by the “Zatik”
Italian Armenian friendship association’s proposal, the event was
initiated by the joint efforts of the Rome XX community office,
Embassies of Armenia and Iran to Italy: the goal was to symbolize
the close historic-artistic ties among three different but at the
same time rich and important cultures.
Officials of the Rome Mayor’s Office, Ambassador of Iran to the
Holy Throne, Gaetano de Sanctis Lycee Director, representatives of
the “Zatik” association as well as the Armenian community of Italy
and the Armenian Apostolic Church participated as well. During the
speech Ambassador Ruben Shugarian particularly mentioned that today
we do not only fix establishing of friendship of the sister bridges
but also build them and build at the time when there are unsolved
and continuing conflicts and wars in the world. Those present were
informed that a similar event will take place in Sanahin as well
for the further generations remember the dialogue of Armenia, Italy,
Iran three civilizations.
Within the context if cultures are different from each other, Gaetano
de Sanctis Lycee Director proposed to present in his institute the
Armenian Genocide as well during the day dedicated to Oswiencim. The
“Zatik” Association Director assured that the association will continue
to work in the direction of lightening cultural and religious loneless
of Armenia. It was mentioned that the cities of Ispahan and Alaverdi
got similar memorial plaques as well to place at the corresponding
bridges. The ceremony was finished by blessing of a representative
of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EXPORTS FROM ARMENIA DECLINE BY 5.6% IN JANUARY-MARCH 2006 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR, IMPORTS GROW BY 13.6%
Noyan Tapan
May 11 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-March 2006, Armenia’s foreign
trade turnover made 273 bln 508.7 mln drams or 606.4 mln USD. According
to the RA National Statistical Service, commodity exports amounted
to 83 bln 131.3 mln drams or 184.4 mln USD, while imports – to 190
bln 377.4 mln drams or 422 mln USD. The foreign trade balance was
negative by 107 bln 246.1 mln drams (237.6 mln USD), without cargos
received as humanitarian aid – by 102 bln 682.9 mln drams (227.5 mln
USD). In the period under review, exports declined by 5.6% on the same
periood of 2005, whereas imports grew by 13.6%. In the first quarter
of 2006, exports to CIS countries amounted to 36 mln USD (a 8.8%
increase on January-March 2005), while imports – to 140.2 mln USD
(a 28.6% increase), including exports of about 19 mln USD to Russia
(a 4.4% decline) and imports of 55.6 mln USD from Russia (a 31.9%
growth), and exports of 12 mln USD to Georgia (a 33.4% growth) and
imports of 7.4 mln USD from Georgia (a 256.5%).
Exports to European Union countries made about 100 mln USD (a 10%
growth), imports from EU countries – 114.6 mln USD (a 17.1% growth),
including exports of 24 mln USD to Belgium (a 4.8% decline) and imports
of 27.6 mln USD from Belgium (a 22.9% decline), exports of 33.8 mln
USD to Germany (a 11.4% decline) and imports of 29.2 mln USD from
Germany (a 60.6% growth), exports of 28.6 mln USD from the Netherlands
(a 49.3% growth) and imports of 2.8 mln USD from the Netherlands
(a 19% growth). Exports to Israel – another large trade partner of
Armenia made 16.6 mln USD (a 49.9% decline) and imports from that
country amounted to 24.2 mln USD (a 32.3% decline), exports to the US
made 25.8 mln USD (a 25.8% increase) and imports from the US – 20.5
mln USD (a 12.8% increase). In the first quarter of 2006, exports
of plastic goods, rubber and articles made of rubber grew 10.6fold
on the same period of last year, exports of art works – by 212.4%,
exports of footwear, head-gear and umbreallas – by 130.4%, and exports
of devices grew by 76.4%. The most considerable decline in exports
was registered in the commodity group of various industrial goods –
18.5%, as well as live animals and production of organic origin –
17.1%, machines, equipment and mechanisms – 16.6%, and precious and
semiprecious stones, precious metals and items made of them – 14.8%.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WORKS OF SANITARY CLEANING AND PLANTING OF GREENERY CONTINUED IN VAYOTS DZOR
Noyan Tapan
May 11 2006
YEGHEGNADZOR, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. Deadlines of the month of sanitary
cleaning and planting of greenery stated on March 20 were postponed
in the marz of Vayots dzor till in late May. As of May 10, works of
sanitary cleaning were implemented in 44 communities of the marz,
in 34 of which trees were planted as well. For the tree planting,
the Governor’s Office allocated about 35 thousand plants of ash-trees
to the communities. Community heads’ offices, public organizations
and individual citizens bought other 10 thousand plants. Members of
the “Miasnutyan Tsaratunk” (Unity Tree Planting) office headed by RA
Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian planted trees in the communities
of Yelpini and Vernashen on May 7.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NOYEMBERIAN POLICEMEN POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED WITH MEDALS “FOR HEROIC DEED”
Noyan Tapan
May 11 2006
NOYEMBERIAN, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. A memory event dedicated to the
15th anniversary of martyrdom of 12 policemen and 2 drivers of the
Noyemberian Internal Affairs Departmet took place in Noyemberian on
May 6. They died in 1991 in the forest of Voskepar, during the the
Soviet Armed Forces’ attack. Deputy Chief Officer of the RA Police
Hovhannes Hunanian made public the RA Police Chief Officer’s decree
about awarding policemen from Noyemberian died while defending the
border of the Fatherland with the medal “For Heroic Deed.” Financial
aids were given to the martyrs’ relatives by the Tavush Governor’s
Office, Noyemberian Mayor’s Office and “Bargavaj Hayastan” (Prospering
Armenia) party.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A FAMILY DYNASTY AT COLDWELL BANKER IN PASADENA
By Katina Dunn
Arcadia Weekly, CA
May 11 2006
Mabel Agojian Besides being a realtor and mom, Agojian is also a
new grandmother, or Medz Mama – which means Big Mama in the Armenian
language.
For Mother’s Day this weekend, Agojian will wait and hear what deal
her children have in mind for her. “I am expecting my kids to come
up with a great proposal,” she said.
It is the dream of many mothers to work alongside their children,
and Mabel Agojian is one lucky mom to work with her two. All three
are realtors in the same Coldwell Banker office. “It was so different
when we were home and I was the boss and they were the kids,” said
Agojian. “Now I have to accept that we are equals. I’ve learned if
parents work with their kids, the parents just have to listen to them
more,” she said.
“It’s a big switch,” said Agojian.
When her children were little they watched her work on the telephone
and make deals and became inspired. “I think they admired the
business,” she said. Her own mother, Angele, taught her to “never
give up” which she says is valuable advice for selling real estate,
and a message she imparts to her own kids. “Her name means angel and my
mother was really an angel. Everybody’s mother is their angel, right?”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA ADOPTS 12-YEAR SECONDARY EDUCATION
Lragir.am
11 May 06
Since September 2006 Armenian schools will adopt 12-year secondary
education. The transition will be finally over in 2009, and in 2009
a three-grade secondary education will be declared. On May 11 the
government of Armenia approved provisions in the law on education on
transition to a 12-year school education. Under these provisions,
children will go to school at the age of six instead of the former
6.5. But in September 2006 both 6 and 6.5-year-old children will be
admitted. There will be two first grades, says Deputy Minister of
Education Norayr Ghukasyan. The six-year-old children will study for
12 years and the 6.5 year-old-children will study for 11 years. Since
2007 children will go to school at the age of 6. This transition
implies change of textbooks and syllabuses. The teaching staffs will
be retrained. Elementary school will include 1-4 grades instead of
the former 1-3, 5-9 grades will be considered middle school, 10-12
grades will be senior school.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEVER MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WAITERS
Borders Today, UK
May 11 2006
I was humbled this week by an exchange with a young waiter.
After some pleasantries about nothing in particular, I confessed I
couldn’t place his accent at all. He explained he was from Yerevan
in Armenia, writes Peter Clarke.
My ignorance of Armenia, I admit it, is almost total. I knew it was a
former Soviet Republic and somewhere in the Caucasus. I knew they had
been the subject of Turkish genocide and they have their own Orthodox
Church. That is about it.
My new friend disarmed me with his life story. He holds a PhD in
engineering but has to earn his way as a migrant waiter as his nation’s
economy has shrivelled and stalled. I could see his intelligence behind
his darting eyes and his merriment. He remarked Scots have little
appreciation of how lucky we are. Our complaints about our lives are
petty footnotes compared to the experiences of millions abroad.
He observed that most migrants or immigrants, once they have picked
up our language, love Scotland, or Britain, more than the natives.
This is my feeling too.
I was born in Venice, Italy, with family roots in the badlands of
Belarus. Yet I think I know more and have a deeper affection for
Scotland than most who have never known anything else.
My new friend then disarmed me totally by quoting both Scott’s,
‘The Young Lochinvar’ and Burns ‘My Heart is in the Highlands’,
saying Scottish authors are highly regarded in the mountains of
Armenia. How many Borderers could quote these poems without flaw? I
felt thoroughly diminished.
The accession of the former Warsaw Pact nations to the European
Union three years ago, with Bulgaria, Romania and possibly the former
Yugoslav nations joining the EU next year, soon all the more humble
jobs will be filled by these brave migrating people. As far as I
can learn most want to return home as soon as they have accumulated
some funds.
This seems to me a genuinely new and largely unmapped phenomenon. In
past centuries we operated a version of farming termed transhumance
– living on upland shielings with our stock. Now we have a variety
of this transhumance by way of young people travelling thousands of
miles, grateful for jobs we are reluctant to take. I am resolved to
try to be more thoughtful when I encounter them.
We are told the Union Flag will be 300 years old in 2007.
The Act of Union that abolished the English and Scottish parliaments
to create one of Great Britain, never authorised the overlay of
the St George’s Cross on the St Andrew’s Cross. It just came to be
through usage.
I like the notion that it evolved rather than being designed by a
committee. St Patrick’s diagonal red did not get incorporated until
Ireland joined the Parliamentary Union in 1801.
Recent research has confirmed the curious fact all the earliest
representations of the Scottish emblem are shades of red, from scarlet
through to pink. The blue, a sort of washed-out imperial purple,
was a later accretion. I have seen it explained that red is the most
readily available dye and that blue was just not possible in a form
that could endure the weather.
I have also seen it asserted that the saltire was pink as the first
five Scottish Stewart monarchs were gay. I could believe anything of
that dynasty, including the notion the last one, Bonnie Prince Charlie,
was too. James VI and I was certainly not.
I had the good fortune, if that isn’t too incongruent a phrase,
to attend a beautiful service to mark the end of a life in my valley.
Ettrick Kirk is a perfect setting for a funeral. As it happened it was
a fine spring day but the location works well on a bleak wet winter
day too. Lonely kirks engulfed in ancient trees are difficult to beat.
The life of Mrs Janet Scott of Cacrabank was remembered by several
generations of relatives and her neighbours. She died rich in affection
and honour and in her 93rd year without much discomfort.
Samuel Sirocky, the minister, surely the first Czech divine in our
glen, chose his words with felicity. At many funerals we go through
the courtesies of giving thanks for a life but on this occasion with
was no hint of the sentiments being contrived.
It is not easy to make the leap of imagination back to the Borders
she knew in her earliest years, in Peebles. There were barely any
cars. Transport was by steam train or by cart. Work consisted of
two options – the mills or the hills. The Liberals were running the
country. Electricity and phones had been invented but not reached
our rural fastnesses.
She, and her friends, could have had no conception of the terrible
wars and cruelties of the 20th century or of the technical advances.
Janet Scott once perplexed me by boasting her remote and handsome
home was so ‘central’. Central?! “Oh yes,” she said, “20 miles to
Innerleithan and 20 miles to Hawick and 20 miles to Selkirk”. I later
realised that far back, you walked these distances without complaint.
Mrs Scott’s was a lovely life, in a lovely family in a lovely glen.

OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN ORGANIZES TRAINING COURSE AIMED AT INTEGRATING FUTURE POLICE OFFICERS INTO SOCIETY
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

May 11 2006
/noticias.info/ YEREVAN, 11 May 2006 – A two-day training course
entitled “Future Professionals for Consolidated Democracy” for
entry-level students will start tomorrow in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia.
The class is aimed at increasing the degree of integration of future
police officers into society. Half of the 40 students come from the
Police Academy, while the other 20 represent Yerevan State University,
the State Pedagogical University and the State Economic University. The
course, which is organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan in close
co-operation with the Police Academy, will foster debate on various
current issues related to social development, democracy and rule of
law. It will also help students build inter-personal and communications
skills.
“This course is an effort to break the prevailing stereotype of
police officers and to facilitate a dialogue on democratic processes
in Armenia among future professionals,” said Blanka Hancilova,
Democratization Officer at the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
Hrachya Avetisyan, a first-year student at the Economic University
said he hoped to exchange ideas with other professionals-to-be during
the training.
“I want to live in a democratic country where mutual respect and
co-operation prevail and where human rights are not violated,”
he said. “I believe that young people can make a change if we work
together.”
The OSCE Office plans to continue offering similar training courses
to students.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHAIRMAN OF CENTER FOR POLITICAL INNOVATIONS AND TECHNOLOGIES LEADS NEWS CONFERENCE
Author: J. Shakhverdiyev
TREND Info, Azerbaijan
May 11 2006
Mubariz Akhmedogli, Chairman of Center for Political innovations and
technologies, led a news conference devoted to the political totals
of April in the region and the world as whole. Akhmedogli reportedly
said April’s most important events were happening around Iran.
Among the top events were the Persian Gulf countries refusals to sign
a non-aggression pact with Iran and Russian-Turkish power cooperation.
Most events on South Caucasus relate to Nagorno-Karabakh. Akhmedogli
recalled the words said by Terry Davis, the CE General Secretary,
who outlined the importance of Karabakh conflict resolution in making
peace between Turkey and Armenia.
Last month the issue of so-called Armenian genocide was in the air.
Inability of official Yerevan to lead independent politics poses a
threat both to Armenia itself and the region as whole.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress