Author: Hambardsumian Paul

NUMBER OF APOLOGY PETITION SIGNATORIES GROWING RAPIDLY

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.12.2008 14:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over 10 thousand people have already signed the
public apology for Armenian Genocide.

The online petition initiated by three scholars, Ahmet Insel, Baskin
Oran and Cengiz Aktar, and a journalist, Ali Bayramoglu reads: "My
conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial
of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to
in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with
the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them."

NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA INTRODUCES EXCHANGE MARKET FOR REPO TRADING AND MECHANISM FOR MANUAL TRADES

ARKA
Dec 16, 2008

YEREVAN, December 16. /ARKA/. NASDAQ OMX Armenia launched two new
markets based on the Armenian Stock Exchange (Armex) trading platform
– for repurchase agreements (REPO) on corporate securities, and for
manual trades, the company’s press service reported Monday.

NASDAQ OMX Armenia introduced the new markets as part of its efforts to
enhance exchange trading opportunities in the country, says the report.

According to the report, the launch of these two mechanisms covers
another two important segments of the securities market and has become
possible through close collaboration with all market participants.

"REPO trading that has previously been done directly among banks and
investment companies is one of the stock exchange’s long awaited new
products. Through REPO and reverse REPO trades market participants
are able to get funds against collateralized securities, and vice
versa. The exchange platform now in place for REPO agreements
simplifies the trade execution process, makes it fully automated,
more secure, and helps substantially reduce the time required to
complete a trade," says the press release.

By launching an exchange mechanism for manual trades, NASDAQ OMX
Armenia brings into regulation the over-the-counter (OTC) market for
corporate securities. Such manual trades that were more likely to
be execut ed off-exchange can from now on be done through the manual
trades mechanism, according to the rules of the stock exchange. Again,
the new mechanism implies significantly more flexibility and efficiency
for the parties involved.

All Armex member investment companies and banks automatically get
access to the newly introduced REPO and manual trade markets. Trading
in both these markets will open at 11:00am and close at 3:00pm each
business day.

As of December 2008, instruments traded via Armex trading platform
include stocks, corporate and government bonds, currency, and REPOs.

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world’s largest exchange company. It
delivers trading, exchange technology services across the world. With
over 3,900 companies, it is number one in worldwide listings among
major markets.

NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 60 exchanges,
clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more
than 50 countries.

In January 2008, Nordic exchange operator OMX Group acquired 100%
of shares of the Armenian Stock Exchange (Armex) and the Central
Depository of Armenia (CDA). After the combination of NASDAQ and OMX
in March 2008, Armex and CDA have become fully owned by the NASDAQ
OMX Group, Inc.

ARMENIA TO HAVE THE HIGHEST NEW YEAR TREE IN THE CIS
Lilit Muradyan

"Radiolur"
15.12.2008 14:37

The New Year Tree erected at the Republic Square is the highest in
the CIS.

On December 22 the New Year Tree with the height of 27 meters will
rejoice the citizens of Yerevan with its beauty and lights.

Speaking about the New Year arrangements, Head of the Department
on Culture, Sport and Youth Affairs of the Yerevan City Hall Kamo
Movsisyan said there will be no new arrangements this year. According
to him, only the decoration of the New Year Tree and the illumination
of the Republic Square have changed. Fifty million drams have been
allocated from state budget for this purpose and the concert programs.

WHEN THE MINISTER IS UNAWARE
K. Beglaryan

Azat Artsakh Daily
09 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR

How To Supervise The Concessionaire Of The Railway

It is far not a secret that after handing Armenian railway over to a
concessionary management, the situation linked with the freights became
worse. "Hayots Ashkharh" has already touched upon this problem. And
it is absolutely not accidental that the director of "South Caucasian
Railways" was dismissed. According to available information he has
left Armenia. So he managed the works of the Armenian railways for
six months.

This cadre change one more time proves that after handing Armenian
railway over to concessionary management the state of the "South
Caucasian Railway" has mildly speaking become worse and the
facts linked with the activity of the leadership coincide with the
reality. By the way the latter didn’t even make any efforts to refute
the facts presented.

Instead, strange as it may seem, Minister of transportation and
Communication G. Sargsyan has committed himself to this mission,
who ex officio must supervise the activity of the concessionaire and
be aware of what is taking place there. But, for unknown reasons,
only after our publications did the Minister try to respond to the
management of the railway and the situation existing here, by the
way trying to justify the leadership of the co mpany.

G. Sargsyan even started to announce certain things proper to a person
quite unaware of that sphere and far not the Minister of Transportation
and Communication.

For example touching upon the price-policy the Minister announced
that the leadership of the company is not competent to set prices,
and the World Price Conference allegedly implements this work.

Is the Minister quite unaware of the regulation of prices in this
sphere?

Everyone is aware of the existence of this World Price Conference,
but the latter usually sets international and transit prices. Whereas
the conversation is about maximum prices. During those conferences,
which are convened yearly the participants usually discuss the
issue of the sales linked with the freights. Moreover the conference
particularly records that each country is competent to set its own
prices, according to the functioning laws.

And by the way it is natural. So the World Price Conference has
nothing to do with the internal prices of the railway. They are
associated with transit freights, but as we know, Armenia is not a
transit country. At least at this stage.

In our view the Minister must have known that the transit and
international maximum prices set by the Conference have nothing to do
with Armenia’s internal freights. On the contrary the recent price
changes in Armenian railway is exclusively the initiative of the
leadership of "South Caucasian Railw ays" and, by the way, illogical.

It is also strange that quite recently did G. Sargsyan decide to
establish subdivisions in the Ministry, which will be engaged in the
problems of the railway transport. Another committee will study the
issues linked with the freights. I wonder why didn’t they think about
it by now. These problems are not new, are they?

Before being dismissed from his position the director of the "South
Caucasian Railway" announced that 107 million dollars’ investment was
made during six month. But he didn’t say how they used this sum, but
we have already touched upon this topic. We would like to remind you
that they purchased dozen expensive cars and solved their accommodation
and vital problems. Some part of the money was used for the restoration
of the rolling-stocks, by the way, by exaggerated prices.

Instead of refuting or confirming those facts the Minister made vague
announcements, about something that he is quite unaware of.

So if this is the way to supervise the activity of the railway’s
concessionaire, then very soon it will face more serious problems.

ICON TARGETS 10,000 ARMENIAN WIMAX CUSTOMERS IN FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION
Michael Lacquiere

World Markets Research Centre
Dec 4 2008

iCON Communications has indicated that it is targeting a WiMAX
subscriber number of 10,000 within a year of launching operations,
reports ARKA. The company will begin testing its network from 1 January
2009. It will carry out state-by-state access to the network, beginning
in the centre of the capital Yerevan and expanding throughout the city
by April 2009. It aims to cover the entire country by the end of 2010,
at a likely total cost of around $10US million. The roll-out has been
delayed because of problems in Belgium with the supply of equipment
from Alcatel-Lucent.

Significance: iCON’s 802.16e-2005 (Rev. E) WiMAX network will offer
broadband internet in the first phase and VoIP and VPN services in
the second phase. The operator plans to target both residential and
business customers, as well as government organisations. Given the
poorly developed fixed-line infrastructure in Armenia, wireless
networks have the potential to offer broadband while saving on
the costs of physical infrastructure deployment. As well as iCON,
Comstar and Clearstream have also obtained WiMAX licences in Armenia
(see Armenia: 21 October 2008: ).

INCUMBENT, FORMER PRESIDENTS OPEN NEW ROAD IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL

Mediamax
Dec 3 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 3 October: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and former
President Robert Kocharyan took part in the opening of a new expressway
called Getar in Yerevan today.

A total of 8.4bn drams [about 28m dollars] were allocated for the
construction of the expressway from the state budget, Yerevan mayor
Yervand Zakharyan said at the opening ceremony.

The 2.5-km-long multi-level traffic hub allows unhampered traffic on
10 key streets of the city and substantially shortens the way from
one edge of Yerevan to the other.

AME Info, United Arab Emirates
Dec 4 2008

Post modern vision takes top prize at Index Dubai 2008

A post-modernist vision of a hotel room has won two talented students
for their university and the opportunity to work with one of the
region’s leading interior design companies.

‘We set out to create something out of the ordinary,’ said Shant
Krichelian, one of the two final year students of the School of
Architecture and Design at the American University of Sharjah whose
entry won the top prize in Al Habtoor Interior’s Young Designers
Award. The awards were presented today at Index, the region’s biggest
interior event at Dubai International Exhibition and Convention
Centre.

Index is hosting the winners of Al Habtoor Interiors’ Young Designers
Award on a specially designed stand featuring a mock up of the hotel
room and artists’ impressions of work by the winners and runners
up. ‘Their work shows much hope for the future,’ said Guy Roukaerts, a
design journalist and one of the judges for the awards. ‘The quality
of presentations was striking,’ he added.

Shant, from Armenia but born and brought up in Sharjah, co-operated on
the winning hotel room design with fellow interior design student
Nazaneed Azarbaijani, from Iran. ‘Our design is post modern and all
about function and comfort,’ said Shant. On plans for an interior
design career on graduation, Shant said: ‘I haven’t decided yet but I
will go wherever the flow takes me.’

Second placed in the awards were a team from Ajman University made up
of interior design students Tarek Karaly, Ahmed Hamdy and Mohammed
Ziddan. Third placed was a team from MAHE Manipal University that
included Gurpreet Kaur, Sabrina Kenssous and Sherin Samuel.

Sponsored and organised by Al Habtoor Interiors, a pioneer in interior
design solutions, the awards are aimed at encouraging creative talent
within UAE universities. Paul Watson, General Manager of Al Habtoor
Leighton Group Associated Business, congratulated the winners and
wished them the best for their future careers.

Bernard Walsh, Managing Director of dmg media Dubai organisers of
Index, said:

‘It is the responsibility of everybody involved in the industry to
encourage young talent and we are delighted to be able to help open
doors that may lead to a big break.’

The world’s major suppliers of furniture, fixtures and fittings are
taking part in Index. Nearly 1800 companies from 60 countries are
exhibiting in this year’s event, which runs until Sunday 7 December
2008. Index is open each day to professionals and trade visitors. The
show is open to the general public after 5 pm. There is a special
evening opening from 5-10 pm on Friday 5 December.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Global Heritage Fund saving cultural heritage in Kars
06.12.2008 13:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Global Heritage Fund has launched on its website a
video telling about Kars.

An ancient Armenian capital, now part of Turkey in the heart of the
South Caucasus region, Kars alternately came under Byzantine, Turkish,
Georgian, Russian, and Armenian control. Until recently, the Kars
Historic District was a poor squatter settlement, a backwater without
city services such as sewage, waste management and utilities.

Global Heritage Fund is working with the Kars Municipality, the
Turkish Government, and others in eastern Anatolia to mix historic
preservation and urban revitalization with community development and
sustainable tourism.

COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES

Azat Artsakh Daily
05 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

>From the beginning of the coming year, a group of Turkish journalists
and specialists working in the sphere of education is going launch a
campaign of collecting signatures "for apologizing for the deportation
of the Armenians organized in the Ottoman Empire in 1915".

The campaign is to be led by Turkish Academicians Ahmed Insel,
Baskyn Oran, Jengiz Aktar and journalist Ali Byramoghlu. The document
on launching the campaign runs as follows, "The indifference to and
denial of the great tragedy suffered by the Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 is mercilessness. We deny injustice and share the
feelings and sorrow of our Armenian brothers and apologize to them."

As reported by the Turkish television, the Turkish intellectuals’
Internet campaign of collecting signatures will last a year.

ARF BUREAU: PACKAGE OF COMPROMISE

Lragir.am
18:24:27 – 04/12/200

The ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau held a plenary session in Beirut,
Lebanon, which lasted from November 29 to December 1. The session
dwelled on the new situation in the South Caucasus, the urgent moves
towards supporting the state, the offices of political affairs, the
issue of Artsakh, the state of the Armenian and Turkish relations,
the international recognition of the Armenian genocide.

It was noted that the final settlement of the issue of Artsakh is
possible through peace talks in which NKR will be a party.

Considering that the militaristic rhetoric of Azerbaijan continues
after signing the declaration of Moscow, it is highly important that
the issue remains on the national agenda as a problem relating to the
existence and security of Armenia and the Armenians. For us, the basis
of the talks should be the fact of self-determination of Artsakh which
took place on two occasions, the referendums on independence in 1991
and adoption of the NKR Constitution in 2006. Compromise can only
be equal, simultaneous and in the framework of a complete package
solution, the press release of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun holds.

Reasserting that as neighboring states Armenia and Turkey must continue
efforts to improve relations, it was underlined that Turkey has taken
no positive step yet. On the contrary, the existing contacts are used
to hinder the process of recognition of the genocide and to determine
the relations of the two states by the relations of Armenia with a
third state, Azerbaijan.

In this context, the determination of the top government of Armenia
was appreciated to have adopted the recognition of the Armenian
genocide, including by Turkey, as one of the strategic directions of
the foreign policy of Armenia. On the other hand, it was noted that
the current importance of improvement of relations between Armenia and
Turkey should not be set superior to the rights of the generations,
the press release holds.

The Bureau made decisions the starting point of which is the basic
principle that the primary goal of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun is the
independence and security of the Republic of Armenia.