Author: Felekian Ara

Armenian Cultural Foundation
104 N. Belmont St. Suite 300, Glendale, CA 91206
PRESS RELEASE
May 17, 2007
Contact: Sanan Shirinian (818) 507-1933

PROMINENT State Legislators to Join Celebration of Armenian Culture
and Independence

– California State Assemblymembers Paul Krekorian, Kevin De Leon and
Mike Feuer to Participate as Co-Sponsors in Second Annual Armenian
Festival

Hollywood, CA- The Armenian Cultural Foundation welcomes the
participation of the California State Assemblymembers Paul Krekorian
(D-Glendale), Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Mike Feuer (D-Los
Angeles) as co-sponsors of the second annual Armenian Independence Day
Festival in Little Armenia, Hollywood. The Annual Festival will take
place on Sunday, May 27, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on
Hollywood Boulevard, between the streets of Vermont and Alexandria.

`When I was growing up, a free and independent Armenia seemed like an
impossible dream,’ said Assemblymember Paul Krekorian, who represents
the largest Armenian community in the world outside Armenia. `As the
first Armenian-American ever to represent the Glendale area in the
State Legislature, I am immensely proud to join in this wonderful
celebration of the achievement of that long-sought dream. It is a
great privilege to be a part of the Armenian Independence Day
Festival.’

Assemblymember Krekorian represents California’s 43rd State Assembly
District, which encompasses the cities of Glendale and Burbank and the
Los Feliz, Silver Lake, North Hollywood, Valley Glen, Toluca Lake,
Atwater Village and Valley Village communities of Los Angeles.

Assemblymember Kevin De Leon’s 45th State Assembly District and
Assemblymember Mike Feuer’s 42nd State Assembly District both
encompass portions of Little Armenia.

"I’m delighted to participate in the Armenian Independence Day
Festival," announced Assemblymember Feuer. "I treasure my relationship
with the Armenian community, which is such a vibrant part of our
social, cultural, and economic life here in Los Angeles."

`The 45th Assembly District is home to a vibrant Armenian American
community and I am honored to be part of this exciting celebration,’
stated Assemblymember Kevin de Leon.

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, also cosponsor of
the Festival, is expected to be in attendance.

`We thank our elected officials for their co-sponsorship of this
year’s festival and appreciate their continued support of the Armenian
American community,’ said Festival Committee member Marie Minassian.

The large scale block party will feature a variety of cultural
displays, musical and dance performances and ethnic food. The festival
will also have a kid’s zone, which will include a petting zoo, pony
rides, various games and rides.

The Annual Festival in Little Armenia is organized by the Armenian
Independence Day Festival Committee in celebration of Armenia’s first
independence and thousands of years of Armenian history and
culture. May 28, 1918 marks the first independence of the Armenian
republic after 600 years of Ottoman Turkish oppression. The republic
established on this date set the foundation for today’s independent
republic, which was born on September 21, 1991.

Those interested in becoming a cosponsor of the Festival or reserving
booths are encouraged to call (818) 507-1933 or visit

POLICE CALL ON JOURNALISTS FOR NOT MAKING COMMENTARIES ABOUT LEVON GULIAN’S DEATH UNTIL EXAMINATION ENDS

Noyan Tapan
May 16 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The police leadership is interested
in the issue of disclosure of all circumstances of Levon Gulian’s
death, Police Lieutenant-Colonel Sayat Shirinian, Head of Information
and Public Relations Department of RA Police, assured at the May 16
meeting with journalists. He said that on the very day of the incident
RA Police Chief determined an official examination, about results
of which the public will be informed without fail. In response to a
journalist’s question, if it is proved that a high-ranking official
is guilty of the 31-year-old young man’s death, will he be punished,
A. Shirinian assured that "for sure, he will be punished."

A. Shirinian did not agree to the evaluation that distrust to law
enforcement bodies is growing bigger and bigger. "If all of us wish
to really build a normal, legal country, we should not saw distrust
ourselves," he said.

A. Shirinian asked journalists not to publicize names and not to make
commentaries, not to inflame the atmosphere strained as it is until
investigation, as well as official examination is carried out on the
criminal case.

A YOUNG MAN TRIPPED A MINE IN THE FIELD NEAR THE ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI BORDER

ArmInfo
2007-05-15 09:21:00

As the Armenian police press-service informs, the information was
received by the Ijevan police at 2:00 PM that Karen Gevorkyan, born
in 1979, was taken to the police with a cut leg. The research group
cleared out that the man was gathering medicative herbs, and tripped
a mine in the field near Vagashen village, at 200-300 meters far from
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The case is investigated.

About 5:45 PM Arabkir department of the police received the
information that a blooded man is lying near he house No 40 at
Demirchyan street. Policemen cleared out that unknown people attacked
Arutyun Garibdzanyan, born in 1940 and dealing with jewelry sale at
the Yerevan Vernisaz market. The man was knocked on the head by a
blunt object, the robbers took jewelry and disappeared.

Garindzanyan was taken to the Armenia medical centre and died
there. Criminal case on the fact was brought by the Arabkir department
of the police.

ARMENIA’S ELECTIONS MET INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, SOLANA SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.05.2007 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EU High Representative for Common Foreign and
Security Policy, Javier Solana, praised the Armenian people for showing
political maturity through the largely fair elections held on Saturday.

"I congratulate the people of Armenia on the improvements in the
conduct of the parliamentary elections yesterday, which were conducted
largely in accordance with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments,
and I encourage the Armenian government to rapidly address the
shortcomings identified by international observers," said Solana in
a statement Monday.

"This is good news for EU-Armenia relations, in particular as they
were the first elections after Armenia and the EU agreed last year
on a wide-reaching Action Plan. The Armenian people have demonstrated
greater political maturity through these elections. I am confident that
Armenia and the EU will continue to develop relations in a spirit of
partnership. This will also be a positive signal to other countries
in the region," he said.

The Republican Party of Armenia led by Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan,
Prosperous Armenia party led by entrepreneur Gagik Tsarukyan, AFR
Dashnaktsutyun, Orinats Yerkir party led by former RA NA speaker
Artur Baghdassaryan and Heritage party led by Armenia’s first Foreign
Minister Raffi K. Hovannisian garnered over 5% of votes in May 12
parliamentary election.

PanARMENIAN.Net

European Parliament records big progress in conducting elections in Armenia
13.05.2007 16:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The European Parliament has always been interested
in fair and transparent elections in Armenia, and we record the
reached progress with pleasure,’ representative of the European
Parliament Mission Marie-Anne Isler Béguin stated to journalists in
Yerevan. She said, presence of local observers during the
parliamentarian elections made easier the work of international
missions. `We welcome efforts of the Armenian nation to reach fair and
transparent elections and hope the progress will strengthen during
presidential elections of 2008,’ she underscored.

Marie-Anne Isler Béguin also noted progress in democratization of the
Armenian society is connected with the fact that Armenia has really
fulfilled commitments on front of the Council of Europe, as well as
with country’s participation in the European Neighborhood policy.

As to the refusal to accept OSCE observers from Turkey, the
representative of the European Parliament underlined their absence did
not influence on the work of the mission. At the same time she wished
that observers from all OSCE member-stated were represented at the
presidential elections. `Armenia is a part of Europe just as Turkey,
and we expect normalization of relations between the two countries in
the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy,’ Béguin stressed.

FIVE OUT OF SIX MEMBERS OF ARMENIAN BOXING YOUTH NATIONAL TEAM PASS TO FINAL IN YEKATERINBURG INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan
May 11 2007

YEKATERINBURG, MAY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. International Youth
Boxing Tournament is held on May 7-12 in the Russian city of
Yekaterinburg. Five out of six sportsmen of Armenia won the preliminary
fights and passed to the final.

The tournament is one of preparatory tours for Armenian boxers for
participation in the Europe Youth Championship to start on July 6
in Serbia.

POLITICAL PROPAGANDA CONDUCTED AT UNIVERSITY EITHER UNINTENTIONALLY OR DELIBERATELY, STUDENTS CLAIM

Noyan Tapan
May 09 2007

YEREVAN, MAY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The Union of Young Political Scientists
– a non-partisan organization – is making an attempt to transform
"the youth from the Internet mass into an active mass." Stating this,
chairman of the youth initiative Ashot Margarian explained that young
people should take part in solution of problems in the political
system. During the May 8 conference-discussion he underlined the
necessity to eliminate the current contradiction among youth wings
of various parties.

In the opinion of Dr. Khachik Galstian, of Yerevan State University
(YSU), it is one thing that young people do not participate at all
in political processes in Armenia and quite another when all of them
are members of one or another party, which is fraught with danger
because if "we adopted the way leading to democratic society, one
of the most important goals of a democratic society is existence of
alternative ideas and orientations in the given society."

Noting that higher educational institutions are the main place of
dissemination of party ideas among the youth, chairman of the student
council of the YSU department of radiophysics Stepan Hovsepian said
during his report "Can University Students Remain Non-Partisan" that
"it is not only possible but is also desirable and mandatory that
they be non-partisan". "If they want to exercise their constitutional
right and join some party, in this case they should carry out their
party-related activities outside university, because, unintentionally
or deliberaterly, propaganda is conducted at universities which often
results in clashes," Stepan Hovsepian said.

ANCA RELEASED A DOCUMENT REFERRING TO JOHN EVANS’S FIRING

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 10 2007

Internal State Department documents, released this week to the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), reveal that a senior
State Department official forced the return to the U.S. of former
Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, prior to U.S. Senate’s
approval of his replacement, effectively ensuring that this key
foreign post would remain vacant.

The key document released by the Department was an August 8, 2006
"Sensitive-Eyes Only for Amb. Evans" memo from Assistant Secretary of
State Daniel Fried to Ambassador Evans. In the note, the Assistant
Secretary acknowledged Ambassador Evans’s willingness to remain in
Yerevan, until the Senate confirmed Richard Hoagland, the career
Foreign Service officer, who had been nominated by President Bush
to fill the Yerevan ambassadorial post after the Evans firing. Fried
stated he was aware of Evans’s willingness to remain in Yerevan in the
light of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponement of its
consideration of Richard Hoagland’s nomination. However, he requested
that Evans " depart post by the end of the first week in September."

The Department’s decision, as communicated in the August 8, 2006 Dan
Fried memo, was taken amid intense opposition by Armenian Americans
and growing scrutiny by members of the U.S. Senate over Hoagland’s
denial of the Armenian Genocide. The Fried memo was sent after the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s August 1st postponement of its
confirmation vote, and prior to the panel’s September 7th consideration
of the Hoagland nomination. Forcing Ambassador Evans’s physical return
to the U.S. prior to this vote afforded State Department lobbyists
the "talking point" that opposing the Hoagland nomination would mean
leaving an ambassadorial vacancy in Yerevan.

The Hoagland nomination, facing bipartisan opposition, was ultimately
blocked by Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Bob Menendez
(D-NJ). The New Jersey legislator placed a hold on his confirmation
by the Senate, arguing that a U.S. ambassador, who denies the Armenian
Genocide, cannot be an effective U.S. representative in Armenia.

MORTGAGING AND TRANSACTIONS OF LAND INCREASE
By Ara Martirosian

AZG Armenian Daily
09/05/2007

According to the head of the Department of Assessment of the Real
Estate State Cadastre Committee Ashot Muradian the activities in the
real estate market have increased four times during the last seven
years. The Cadastre Committee came to such a conclusion according to
the statistics of the first quarter of this year.

More than 30 thousand transactions are done in the first quarter of
this year (so many transactions were done in the whole year of 2000).

The geography of the transactions is changed.

Particularly, the specific weight of the transactions is increased in
the provinces. Ashot Muradian underlines also about the structural
changes of different transactions. Particularly, the growth of
transactions has increased by 26 % in the first quarter of 2007. The
mortgaging has increased by 80%; which means that in the hypothec
market and investment projects the role of real estate, as a reliable
means, has increased. The apartments have a specific weight in the
mortgaging: 47,5%.

What about the prices of apartments and private residencies in the
capital and provinces, they also increased in the first quarter of
this year: i.e. the prices of apartments in Yerevan, compared with the
prices of the last quarter of 2006, have increased by 6.8%, the prices
of private residencies (including the nominal price of personal plot)
– by 7.8%.

In provinces the prices of apartments have increased by 7.8 %, and
the private residencies’ prices – by 10.4%.

RA FM TO PARTAKE IN THE 117TH SITTING OF THE COE FOREIGN MINISTERS COUNCIL

ArmRadio.am
09.05.2007 14:05

On May 10 RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will leave for Strasbourg
to participate in the 117th sitting of the Council of Foreign Ministers
of the Council of Europe. On May 11 the Foreign Minister is expected
to make a speech.

During the stay in Strasbourg Minister Oskanian will meet with the
OSCE Minsk Group co-Chairs, as well as the members of the Ago Group.