Author: Hovhannisian John

YEREVAN TO HOST ARMPRODEXPO NOV. 10-13

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.11.2009 15:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armprodexpo international exhibition will be held
in Yerevan from November 10 to 13. Processing enterprises, local and
foreign trade organizations, advertising agents and media will be
participating, reported the press office of Agribusiness Development
Center.

The purpose of the exhibition is to present Armenian products and
intensify agro-industrial output.

The event was initiated by RA Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Yerevan city administration, Chamber of Commerce
and Agribusiness Development Center CJSC.

FOREIGN MINISTRY OF NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC SENT AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHIEF EDITOR OF BERLINER ZEITUNG NEWSPAPER

ARMENPRESS
Nov 6, 2009

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: Foreign Ministry of Nagorno
Karabakh Republic sent an open letter to the chief editor of Berliner
Zeitung newspaper.

"Unfortunately, we should state that having overcome thousand
kilometers, journalist Tobias Asmuth presented a superficial and
distorted article to the readers of the newspaper, without inquiring
the causes and essence of the Karabakh issue. Similarly, the author
could easily write a number of analogous articles, staying at home
and using various sites. However, if freedom of speech and press is
equivalent to a sin against truth for the Berliner Zeitung, then it
is quite a different matter," the open letter says.

According to NKR Foreign Ministry’s press service, having personally
visited the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Berliner Zeitung newspaper’s
correspondent, if even desired, couldn’t but notice that the people
who had experienced terrible hardships, destructions, and grief in
an unequal struggle had, however, managed to realize its right to
self-determination, heroically stand all the calamities of the war,
restore its state infrastructure, and implement radical reforms for
establishing a state corresponding to the European standards.

"After the World War II, the Germans dreamed for an integrated state
and lived with this idea tens of years. We don’t think that the German
nation’s aspiration can be questioned by any other nation.

Exactly 20 years ago, the Berlin separating wall was destroyed in just
a few days by the will of the great powers, and the Germans not only
reunited, but also gained full-fledged independence, on the occasion
of which we congratulate this distinctive and gifted nation of the
Old World. Nagorno Karabakh gained its independence, having, first of
all, neutralized the Azerbaijani aggression, defending the lives of
children, women, and old people. Just that’s why nobody can question
the will and right of Nagorno Karabakh’s people to independence. In
other words, nobody brought the independence and right to free life to
Nagorno Karabakh on a tray. And if today’s population of our Republic
makes only 140 thousand, then it is also a vivid demonstration of
Azerbaijan’s evident anti-Armenian policy; otherwise, over a million
and a half of Karabakhi Armenians and their descendants would not be
citizens of other states today. So, like Germans in the recent past,
today we are also striving for our sovereignty.

The Germans have, for many years, cherished as relics the stones
and fragments of the once separating Berlin Wall. The situation is
totally different in Nagorno Karabakh. Here, the shrines are the
marble tombstones of soldiers perished at the Karabakh War for the
independence of their homeland. The correspondent of your newspaper
could not but notice that," the letter says.

QUAKE HITS IRAN AND AZERBAIJAN

Aysor
Nov 4 2009
Armenia

The quake measuring 7 on the Richter scale hit Iran, Aysor’s
correspondent learned from National Service of Seismic Protection
of Armenia.

Iranian media said there were no reports of deaths in the quake,
which hit Bandar Abbas 850 miles south of the capital. Forty-four of
the 269 injured were taken to hospital and electricity was restored.

A moderate earthquake measuring 3 on the Richter scale hit Azerbaijani
region south of Shemakha Tuesday evening. No deaths and damage were
reported.

There were no any quakes in Armenia, National Service of Seismic
Protection of Armenia said.

ROBERT SIMMONS TO HOLD MEETINGS IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2009 17:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Special Representative of NATO Secretary General in
the South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons will hold meetings
in Yerevan on November 5-6.

Robert Simmons will meet with Armenian President Serzh Sargsian,
Speaker of the parliament Hovik Abramyan, Secretary of the National
Security Council Artur Baghdasaryan, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Edward Nalbandian, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Minister of
Emergency Situations Mher Shahgeldyan, reported Information Center
on NATO in Armenia

THE UNION OF ARMENIAN WRITERS HAS A NEW PUBLISHING HOUSE

Aysor
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Today in the Union of Armenian Writers was opened a new publishing
house after Levon Zaven Syurmelyan. Armenian General Benevolent Union
(AGBU) has covered the expenses of the publishing house, which has
provided the fund from the means of Levon Zaven Syurmelyan.

On the opening ceremony of the publishing house the president of
the Armenian Union of Writers Levon Ananyan, Perch Serdakyan the
President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, writers and guests
were present.

The publishing house belongs to the Union of the Armenian writers
where the books of its members can be published as well as other
valuable literature.

"First of all the books of the members of the Union that are under
the governmental order will be published", – said Vahagn Mughnetsyan
the director of the new publishing house and informed the journalists
that the publishing house has been filled with the needed personnel
and machines and is ready to publish books this year already.

UAW president Levon Ananyan attached importance to the fact of the
UAW having its own publishing house and mentioned that still they
have a lot to do.

"We have many projects; to enlarge the publishing house and the
publishing institution", – mentioned the president of the Union of
the Armenian Writers and added that there are some areas next the UAW
publishing house which will later belong to one union of different
institutions like typing house, publishing center and editorials of
daily newspapers.

Besides all these events Levon Ananyan touched upon the project of
opening a bookstore in the UAW publishing house which as L. Ananyan
mentioned is their biggest dream.

JOURNALIST ON TRIAL SURE OF VICTORY

news.am
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Editor-in-Chief of the Haykakan Zhamanak ( Armenian Times) newspaper
Nikol Pashinyan, who is running for Parliament in election district
#10, has sent a message from the remand center Yerevan Kentron. In
his message he stated his decision to run for Parliament "for law
ands justice, for the people’s law to form their power…"

In his message Pashinyan writes that he made this step "in memory of
the innocent victims of March 1, 2008, for the political prisoners,
for all the citizens whose rights are violated and dignity is destroyed
by the lawlessness reigning in the country…"

Pashinyan expresses his gratitude to the Republic Party, its Political
Council and the Council member Suren Surenyants, "for considering it
possible to defend their principles and values by nominating me."

Pashinyan expressed hope that "the opposition forces that do not form
part of the Armenian National Congress will take a clear position in
the forthcoming elections as well" by supporting him as he believes
in victory not only in the January 10 elections, but also "in our
struggle for the Constitution, law and democracy."

ANKARA CRITICISED ON PRESS FREEDOM
Fabrice Randoux

Europolitics information society
November 2, 2009

A "balanced report." That was the reaction of Egemen Bagis, the Turkish
minister for EU relations, to the European Commission’s annual report
on Turkey, published on 14 October. The Commission denounced attacks
on the freedom for the press and unions, children’s rights and sexual
equality.

It showed particular concern over the large fines (over a billion
euro) imposed on the private Dogan Yayin Holding (DYH) media group
for unpaid taxes. "If a tax fine is worth the annual turnover of a
company it’s quite a strong sanction and it may not only be a tax
sanction but it seems like a political sanction," said Olli Rehn, the
commissioner for enlargement. "There are too many provisions in the
penal code that could be used to restrict free expression," he added.

The Commission also lamented "little progress" in terms of political
and constitutional reforms, the fights against corruption, free supply
of services and company law.

REPORT "SOFT" ON CYPRUS

On relations with Cyprus, the report notes the absence of progress
on the opening of Turkish ports and airports since 2006. The EU had
decided to freeze eight of the 33 chapters of negotiations (see box)
as a result of Ankara’s refusal to do this. But the Commission did
not recommend new sanctions, limiting itself to declaring it "urgent
that Turkey fulfil its obligations".

The EU executive is clearly keen not to disrupt delicate talks,
initiated in September 2008 and overseen by the United Nations,
intended to result in a unified Cyprus. The division of the island
since 1974 is an "anachronism," in the eyes of Rehn, "20 years after
the end of the Berlin Wall".

ARMENIA AND KURDISH RIGHTS

The report, however, commends the normalisation of relations between
Armenia and Turkey, two rival countries with a shared bloody history,
which signed a historic accord in Switzerland, on 10 October, sealing
their reconciliation. It also applauds the Turkish government for
opening a "wide public debate" on the Kurdish question, adding that
it was "crucial" that it is "followed by concrete measures" to help
the minority in the South-West of the country. The Commission also
approved of the launch of a Kurdish television channel.

The Commission said it was also pleased with the signing of an
intergovernmental agreement for the Nabucco gas pipeline which,
from 2014, will link the gas fields of Central Asia to Europe,
bypassing Russia. It said this was a contribution to gas security,
which would benefit "Turkey as much as the EU".

The remaining negotiations with Ankara seem to be in firm stalemate
with a lack of motivation on both sides. Since the start of the year,
only one chapter has been opened, that on taxation.

Status of accession talks

Eleven chapters opened: Science and research, business and industrial
policy, statistics, financial monitoring, trans-European networks,
consumer protection and health, company law, intellectual property
rights, information society and media, free movement of capital
and taxation.

One chapter provisionally closed: Science and research

Eight chapters suspended: Free movement of goods, right to
establishment and supply of services, financial services, agriculture
and rural development, fisheries, transport, customs union, external
relations.

Chapters blocked by France: Economic and monetary policy, regional
policy and policy for the structural instruments of coordination,
agriculture and rural development, financial and budgetary provisions,
institutional questions.

Chapters blocked by Cyprus: Energy, education and culture

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FEBRUARY 23, 2005

Bob Dylan of Kagizman, Turkey

Mavi Boncuk

BOB DYLAN CHRONICLES (Volume One),

Simon & Schuster (Pages 92-93),

2004 (Copyright)

When I wasn’t staying at Van Ronk’s, I’d
usually stay at Ray’s place, get back sometime before dawn, mount the dark
stairs and carefully close the door behind me. I shoved off into the sofa bed
like entering a vault. Ray was not a guy who had nothing on his mind. He knew
what he thought and he knew how to express it, didn’t make room in his life for
mistakes. The mundane things in life didn’t register with him. He seemed to
have some golden grip on reality, didn’t sweat the small stuff, quoted the
Psalms and slept with a pistol near his bed. At times he could say things that
had way too much edge. Once he said that President Kennedy wouldn’t last out
his term because he was a Catholic.

When he said it, it made me think about my
grandmother, who said to me that the Pope is the king of the Jews. She lived
back in Duluth on the top floor of a duplex on 5th Street. From a window in the
back room you could see Lake Superior, ominous and foreboding, iron bulk
freighters and barges off in the distance, the sound of foghorns to the right
and left. My grandmother had only one leg and had been a seamstress. Sometimes
on weekends my parents would drive down from Iron Range to Duluth and drop
me off at her place for a couple of days. She was a dark lady, smoked a pipe.

The other side of my family was more light-skinned and fair. My
grandmother’s voice possessed a haunting accent – face always set in a
half-despairing expression. Life for her hadn’t been easy. She’d come to
America from Odessa, a seaport town in southern Russia. It was a town not
unlike Duluth, the same kind of temperament, climate and landscape and right
on the edge of a big body of water.

Originally, she’d come from Turkey, sailed from Trabzon, a port town, across
the Black Sea – the sea that the ancient Greeks called the Euxine – the one
that Lord Byron wrote about in Don Juan. Her family was from Kagizman, a
town in Turkey near the Armenian border, and the family name had been
Kirghiz. My grandfather’s parents had also come from that same area, where
they had been mostly shoemakers and leatherworkers.

My grandmother’s ancestors had been from
Constantinople. As a teenager, I used to sing the Ritchie Valens song "In
a Turkish Town" with the lines in it about the "mystery Turks and the
stars above," and it seemed to suit me more than "La Bamba," the
song of Ritchie’s that everybody else sang and I never knew why. My mother
even had a friend names Nellie Turk and I’d grown up with her always around.

There were no Ritchie Valens records up at
Ray’s place, "Turkish Town" or otherwise. Mostly, it was classical
music and jazz bands.

POSTED BY M.A.M AT 5:25 PM | 0 COMMENTS

Tert, Armenia
Oct 31 2009

Azerbaijan’s Defence Minister Warns Serzh Sargsyan
11:48 ¢ 31.10.09

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Defence, Safar Abiyev, commenting on Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent visit to the Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh, said, `This may be his last visit [to Karabakh].’

As reported by Azerbaijani news agency APA, Abiyev announced that
Azerbaijan’s armed forces are prepared to fight.

HEALTHCARE AND EDUCATIONAL REFORMS ENTER DECISIVE PHASE

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2009 20:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Financing quality improvements should be implemented
in healthcare sphere," RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated at
parliamentary hearing on 2010 state budget reform project.

According to him, governmental functions have to be clear and concise
for all market participants, while being easy to control both by RA
NA and the society.

In this connection, the Premier noted that 9 healthcare reform programs
were ratified jointly with RA NA.

Similar improvements will be implemented in educational sphere. " In
2010, governmental order will be executed in accordance with reformed
financial mechanisms," he said.

The Premier added that, RA Government will continue implementation of
anti-crisis measures, while intensifying existing institutions’ work.