Author: Hambardsumian Paul

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.

CAUCASUS PLATFORM HEADS OF STATE TO MEET IN HELSINKI

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.12.2008 18:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Months of effort by Ankara to bring Turkey, Armenia,
Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia together around the same table have
finally yielded a concrete result with a technical-level meeting
between these five countries to be held in Helsinki later this week,
Today’s Zaman reports.

Turkey’s proposal to establish a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation
Platform came following a brief war between Georgia and Russia in
August and aims to bring Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia together in a regional platform for discussion and the
resolution of conflicts in the troubled Caucasus.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, speaking to reporters late on
Sunday ahead of his departure for an official visit to Baku, said the
function of the Caucasus platform is one of the topics on the agenda
for his talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Regarding the 16th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which he will attend in Helsinki on
Thursday and Friday, Babacan said the OSCE’s Ministerial Council had
a particular importance nowadays due to the current state of affairs
in the region.

The first meeting of the Caucasus platform will be held on the
sidelines of the meeting in Helsinki and will consist of technical
negotiations concerning the platform’s goals, principles and
mechanisms, Babacan added.

TARIFFS OF SERVICES RISE BY 1.5% IN ARMENIA IN NOVEMBER 2008

Noyan Tapan

Dec 1, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The tariffs of services rose by 1.5%
in Armenia in November on October 2008. According to the RA National
Statistical Service, tariffs of medical services grew by 4.9%, while
tariffs of personal and public catering services – by 1.2% and 0.4%
respectively.

0.5-2.4% fall in service tariffs was recorded in the spheres of
transport and culture. Tariffs of housing, municipal, communication,
educational, recreational, legal and banking services remained at
the level of the previous month.

TERRORISTS USE LIVE GRENADES

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
27 Nov 08
Armenia

As reported by VAHAGN HAROUTYUNYAN, Senior Investigator of the Special
Investigative Service and Head of the investigative group dealing with
the inquest of the criminal case instituted within the frameworks
of the March 1-2 incidents, "A number of splinters extracted from
the bodies of the wounded policemen and servicemen of the police
forces were subjected to forensic-technical expert examination, and
we made statements in this connection much earlier. In particular,
the expert examination allowed us to find out that the wounds were
caused by the explosion of the grenades containing trotyl."

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES CARDINAL SANDRI IN ANTELIAS

The Prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches (Vatican), Cardinal
Leonardo Sandri, visited His Holiness Aram I in Antelias on November 28. The
Vatican official paid the visit just as His Holiness had returned from a
visit to the Vatican himself. Cardinal Sandri has been in Lebanon for the
past four days to attend the meeting of the spiritual heads of Oriental
Catholic Churches.

The Pontiff and his guest met for over an hour, discussing his recent visit
to the Vatican. His Holiness briefed the Cardinal on the main aspects of his
visit. Cardinal Sandri, who closely followed His Holiness’ visit, considered
it a historic visit.

The Pontiff and the Cardinal also spoke about the status of Christians in
the Middle East and the situation in Lebanon in particular. His Holiness
stated that the Vatican strongly supports the Christian presence in the
region and Christian- Muslim coexistence. Cardinal Sandri reasserted His
Holiness’ views, observing that his presence in Lebanon is a tangible
expression of the Vatican’s support.

Cardinal Sandri also spoke about making the St. Vlas Church in Rome
available to the Armenian Church to conduct Armenian mass in case of
necessity. He outlined some of the sensitivities concerning this issue. His
Holiness first expressed his satisfaction for the ecumenical approach
adopted by the Catholic Church towards the Armenian Church, hoping that the
sensitivities would soon fade away.

The Cardinal was accompanied in his visit to His Holiness Aram I by the
Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon Mgr Luigi Gatti, his two assistant Bishops and
the representative of Bekerke. At the end of the meeting, His Holiness
presented a cross as a souvenir to the Cardinal.

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View the photos here:
tos/Photos341.htm
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.