Author: Felekian Ara

"IT’S YOUR CHOICE" NGO STARTS CONDUCTING LONG-TERM OBSERVATION

armradio.am
22.01.2008 17:59

Representatives of "It’s Your Choice" NGO took up the realization
of a long-term observation mission over the presidential elections
of February 19, Chairman of the organization Harutiun Hambardzumian
stated in an interview to Mediamax today.

He informed that at present work is carried out to check the
authenticity of the electors’ lists, posted up in the polling stations
all over the country. According to him, the observers were not allowed
access to the area electoral commissions in the Yerevan Achapniak
and Shengavit communities.

"It’s Your Choice", using the personnel of 4010 local observers,
will realize monitoring over the process of the pre-election campaign
and the voting process during the presidential elections all over
the country.

On the day of elections, 2 short-term observers will be on duty
in each of the 1923 polling stations. The long-term observers from
"It’s Your Choice" organization already work in 41 area electoral
commissions and in the Central Electoral Commission.

The Head of the organization stated that the interim reports will
be published once each 10 days of the pre-election campaign, and
the preliminary and the final reports will be presented after the
elections.

DJAVANSHIR GULIYEV: "THE COMPOSITION, PERFORMED BY ARMENIAN SINGER SIRUSHO, IS A REHASH OF AZERBAIJANI, TURKISH AND PERSIAN NATIONAL MELODIES, RATHER THAN AN ARMENIAN ONE"

Today
42547.html
Jan 22 2008
Azerbaijan

"The composition, performed by Armenian singer Sirusho is a rehash of
Azerbaijani, Turkish and Persian national melodies, rather than an
Armenian one", famous Azerbaijani composer Djavanshir Guliyev said,
commenting on information about Armenia’s plans to participate at
Eurovision-2008 song contest with an Azerbaijani song.

He said it is not a direct plagiarism, which is an exact repetition
of this or that song.

"Yes, at time we hear a modulation, similar to that in our "Sary
Gelin". But on the whole, the song is a rehash of Azerbaijani, Turkish
and Persian national melodies, which are the melodies of the countries,
surrounding Armenia, but not Armenian melodies", he noted.

Asked, what Armenian music is, he said that Armenian music is that,
which is played in the Armenian churches.

"As for the folk and dance music, Armenia never had it, as it had
never existed as a state, before the creation of the Soviet Socialist
Republic of Armenia".

He said before that Armenians had lived on the territories of various
countries, including, in Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran. Therefore,
melodies, which Armenians try to set up for their national music,
are nothing but a rehash of the melodies of the country of their
past residence.

RESULTS OF JUDICIAL REFORMS DICUSSED BY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

Noyan Tapan
Jan 22, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Consultations are now being held at
regional and Yerevan’s community bodies of the RA prosecutor’s office
with the participation of the RA prosecutor general Aghvan Hovsepian
and his deputies, NT correspodent was informed by the spokeswoman
for the RA prosecutor general Sona Truzian. She said that the purpose
of these consultations is to raise the problems that have arisen in
the process of judicial reforms and require legislative solution. It
is envisaged developing a legislative package for solution of these
problems and submit it to the government for discussion.

Accoridng to the same source, heads of other law enforcement bodies:
the police and the National Security Service, as well as of local
government bodies are participating in the consultations.

$10.5BLN GDP EXPECTED IN ARMENIA IN 2008

ARKA News Agency
Jan 21 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, January 21. /ARKA/. The Armenian Development Agency (ADA)
forecasts $10.5bln GDP in Armenia in 2008 against $8.8bln in 2007.

Speaking at an Armenian-Russian business forum, ADA Executive Director
Tigran Davtyan said that Armenia’s GDP has shown two-digit increase
over the past seven years.

He also pointed out that this index has been recorded against a rather
stable currency and inflation background, within 5-6 per cent.

Davtyan said that direct investments in Armenia’s economy can be
considered the principal stimulus of economic growth. Over the last
few years, a 15%-25% annual increase in investments has been recorded.

In January-September 2007, foreign investments in Armenia’s economy
totaled $469.9mln, with direct investments totaling $312mln. The
investment structure is rather diversified for a country with a
narrow market.

Russia is the largest investor in Armenia’s economy – a 32.6% increase
compared with 2006.

Davtyan reported that investments were mainly directed to the
telecommunication, minerals industry, air transport, food industry,
tourism and information technologies.

Referring to the economic freedom index, Davtyan also pointed out
that Armenia ranks 28th among 162 countries thus leaving its neighbors
behind. As regards the business rating 2008, Armenia ranks 39th.

All this is due to favorable investment environment, liberal economic
policy and free repatriation of profits, Davtyan said.

In 2007, 13.8% economic growth and 3,140.4bln AMD ($9,180.3mln)
GDP were recorded in Armenia.

11% GDP growth and 4% (±1.5%) inflation was budgeted in Armenia in
2007. 10% GDP growth has been budgeted in Armenia this year.

–Boundary_(ID_o/kX/i0zgTPS66mp6hDKCw)–

WAR WITH ARMENIA ‘NOT OVER’, AZERI PRESIDENT SAYS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.01.2008 12:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ War with Armenia is ‘not over’, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev said Thursday.

"Armenia did not win the war. The war is not over.

Only its first stage is completed," Ilham Aliyev said at the opening
ceremony of the Olympic Multiplex in the Guzanli settlement in the
near-border Agdam region.

"Nagorno Karabakh will never become independent. This opinion is also
supported by the international mediators. Armenia unwillingly accepts
this reality.

Earlier we spoke about vacating four of the regions, but now we speak
about seven." Aliyev said.

He also voiced his opinion on the claims by international organizations
regarding the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan, and called
it unjust.

"International organizations are applying double standards," Aliyev
said, Trend reports.

OSCE MG SET NO TIME LIMITATION TO KOCHARIAN AND ALIYEV

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.01.2008 17:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The current regional visit of the OSCE Minsk Group
had the purpose to hear the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents’
opinion on the Madrid proposals," OSCE MG U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza.

"The mediators set no time limitation to Robert Kocharian and Ilham
Aliyev. As you know, we visited Stepanakert to hear the position of
the NKR leadership. We think it’s very important, since the fate of
the people is being determined," he said.

For his part, French Co-chair Bernard Fassier that the document at the
table is the best one that ever existed. "It embraces the demands of
all sides but doesn’t favor either of them. If the Presidents agree
to the base principles we can proceed to development of an agreement,
what can, however, take long time," he said.

At that he noted that there will be no interim agreement. "We
are awaiting approval of the base principles by the Presidents,"
Amb. Fassier said.

Canada Free Press, Canada
Jan 14 2008

Turkey Releases Teenager Planning `Massacre’ In Church
By OnTheWeb: BosNewsLife Monday, January 14, 2008

A Turkish teenager who vowed to kill the pastor of a Protestant
church and `massacre’ Christians in the Black Sea coastal city of
Samsun has been released by a local court because he is `too young’
Turkish media reported Tuesday, January 8.

The 17-year-old Semih Seymen was detained over the weekend after he
called Pastor Orhan Picaklar of the Samsun Agape Churchseveral times
since late December, threatening to kill him, said Turkey’s Taraf
newspaper.

Police forces specialized in anti-terror actions monitoring the phone
calls tracked down the suspect and arrested him Saturday, January 5,
officials said. However Judge Sinan Sonmez of Samsun’s First Minor
Petty Offenses Court apparently ruled the next day, Sunday, January
6, that Seymen should be released because of his youth.

Pastor Picaklar reportedly condemned the decision saying in published
remarks that the defendant `openly confessed he was going to carry
out a massacre…’ It came after previous attacks against the church,
including in January 2007, when some 30 heavy rocks were thrown
through the Samsun Agape Church windows, several of them smashing
interior windows and denting walls, the pastor said earlier.

VERY DRUNK
Turkish media said Seymen admitted he had told friends late Saturday,
January 5, he wanted to `do a massacre’ the next morning at the Agape
Church during Sunday worship. However Seymen allegedly also told
police interrogators he was drunk when making the threats and that
they could not be taken seriously.

He also wanted to threaten the Trabzon Catholic Church, but
reportedly changed his mind when a woman answered the phone. The
latest threats underscored anxiety among Christian leaders in a
country where at least five Christians were killed and several others
injured in attacks within the last two years.

In April last year, a German and two Turkish citizens – were found
with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit at the Zirve
Christian publishing house in the central city of Malatya.

The attack came shortly after a suspected nationalist killed Armenian
Christian editor Hrant Dink. In February 2006, a Turkish teenager
shot a Catholic priest dead as he prayed in his church, and two other
Catholic priests were attacked later that year.

LATEST ATTACK
One of the latest, non-fatal, attacks occurred last month when an
Italian Roman Catholic priest, Driano Franchini, was stabbed December
16, after Sunday Mass at St. Anthony’s church in the port city of
Izmir. He was released from hospital several days later.

A prosecutor charged a 19-year-old man with stabbing and wounding
with a knife, but no trial date was set yet, BosNewsLife monitored.

The European Union has complained that Turkey, an EU applicant, fails
to fully protect the religious freedoms of its tiny Christian
minority, which numbers some 100,000 in a predominantly Muslim
population of nearly 75 million people, according to estimates.

While Turkey is officially `secular’ Muslim militants and
nationalists oppose Christian activities in the country, analysts and
church observers say. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reporting
from Turkey).

374

PanARMENIAN.Net

OSCE MG likely to arrive in Yerevan January 15
11.01.2008 14:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Revision of the terms of OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs’ regional visit was conditioned by the
ophthalmologic check-up the Armenian President has to
undergo in France, RA MFA Spokesman Vladimir
Karapetian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

`According to a preliminary agreement, Ambassadors
Matt Bryza, Bernard Fassier and Yuri Merzlyakov will
arrive in Yerevan on January 15,’ Mr Karapetian said.

On January 10, Armenian President Robert Kocharian
departed for France on a two-day private visit for a
check-up in an ophthalmologic center.

ORGANIZATION IN MEMORY OF HRANT DINK FORMED IN TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.01.2008 14:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Artists, intellectuals will be lending their voices
to articles written by Hrant Dink, murdered journalist, publisher
and founding editor of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos,
to commemorate the first anniversary of his assassination.

As reported by the Turkish Daily News, on Saturday, January 5, 2008
Armenian, Alevi, Kurdish and Turkish young people in Turkey have
formed a group called Hadig to commemorate Hrant Dink on the first
anniversary of his assassination. The word Hadig literally means
‘grain’ in the Armenian language. The 14-member group composed of
university students gathering through a civilian initiative formed the
Tilili Project that took its name from a sentence in Dink’s article
titled "Armenian Identity". A total of 19 articles written by Dink
between 1996 and 2007 for bilingual Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos
were chosen to give voice to the framework of the Tilili Project. The
number 19 symbolizes the date Jan. 19, the day Dink was murdered in
front of Agos building. Dink’s articles were read aloud by some of
Turkey’s respected artists.

Again symbolizing the date Dink was assassinated, 19 artists and
intellectuals are participating in the project, where the biggest
surprise is the recorded voice of Dink himself while reading his
article titled "Water finds its crack". Hadig members Sibil Cekmen
and Yeliz Kyzylarslan said the Turkish media influenced Dink’s
assassination by focusing only on his articles that focus on the
Turkish-Armenian issue.

For this reason, they say, the group will present 19 different articles
by Dink, each reflecting his different opinions on various issues.

THE ARMENIAN FOOTBALL TEAM TO PARTAKE IN AN INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT IN MALTA

armradio.am
10.01.2008 13:49

February 2-6 the Armenian national football team will participate in
an international tournament in Malta together with the teams of Malta,
Belarus and Iceland.

The Armenian footballers will play with Malta on February 2nd, with
Belarus on February 4th and Iceland on February 6th.