ALROSA STARTS SUPPLYING DIAMOND TO ARMENIA
Panorama.am
18:00 21/12/2007
ALROSA Russian diamond company has started supplying raw diamond to
Armenia for diamond processing industry, Sergei Vibornov, president
of the company, told a news conference today. The first shipment is
evaluated in the amount of more than $1 million.
Company vice president..
BAKU HAS SOME REMARKS TO OSCE MG MADRID PROPOSALS
PanARMENIAN.Net
19.12.2007 14:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "If an agreement is reached on any principle of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, it will be made public,"
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.
The minister underlined that public diplomacy may have a positive
influence on the process only after peace is achieved.
"During a meeting in Madrid, the sides were handed a new package
of proposals on conflict resolution. We are working at the
document. Though there are no new proposals, it offers some new
aspects. We think the document admissible but have some remarks,"
he said, APA reports.
DAYS OF AZERBAIJAN START IN MKHITAR SEBASTATSI EDUCATIONAL COMPLEX
Noyan Tapan
Dec 17 2007
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The goal of the holding of the
Days of Azerbaijan in the Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex and
the opening of the School of Defender of Rights is to give Armenian
and Azeri pupils an opportunity to become better acquainted with
each other. This statement was made by Ashot Bleyan, the Head of the
Educational Complex, in the press briefing with journalists held on
December 17, that is on the first day of the event.
According to him, at present, the most important task for the
Armenian people is to create an atmosphere of peace with all the
neighbours, which is contributed to by peacemaking and rights defending
structures, by the Caucasian Center for Peacemaking Initiatives, in
particular. "Society should be prepared in order to be more tolerant,"
Ashot Bleyan said. He mentioned that the aim of the founder of the
School of Defender of Rights is to raise issues of legal character,
in connection with the defence of human rights under conditions of
frozen conflicts.
Georgi Vanian, the Head of the Caucasian Center for Peacemaking
Initiatives, declared that the Center cooperating with the Mkhitar
Sebastatsi Educational Complex is seaking to contribute to the creation
of bridges between Armenian and Azeri societies.
The Azeri guests, who have arrived within the frameworks of the event,
made opening speeches. In particular, Rauf Rajabov, the editor-in-chief
of the "3rd point of view" periodical, mentioned that the organizers
and the participants of the Days of Azerbaijan are looking for ways
for the Armenian-Azeri dialogue. That process, according to him,
demands bravery, honesty, honest-mindedness, and consistency from
both of the sides.
US CONGRESS REDUCING FINANCIAL AID TO ARMENIA AND SO-CALLED "NAGORNO KARABAKH REPUBLIC"
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 18 2007
US Senate and The House of Representatives coordinated the volume of
aid to Armenia and unrecognized "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for 2008,
APA reports quoting Armenian media
The aid to Armenia will $58.5 million and to Nagorno Karabakh- $3
million, On June 12, 2007, the House of Representatives of the US
Congress adopted its own version of the draft law for a fiscal year
of 2008, according to which Armenia will receive $68 million as an
economic aid from US and $6 million as a direct aid to the so-called
"Nagorno Karabakh Republic".
Moreover, the draft law envisions military aid of $3, 5 million to
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
But the draft law adopted by US Senate does not envision military
aid to "Nagorno Karabakh Republic", Azerbaijan and Armenia.
US Senate approved the provision of financial aide to Armenia in
the amount of $59 million. Armenian National Committee of America
protested the reducing financial aid to Armenia and "Nagorno Karabakh
Republic".
BY PROGRAM APPROVED BY GOVERNMENT COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF MATENADARAN’S MANUSCRIPTS CAN BE PREPARED IN TEN YEARS
Noyan Tapan
Dec 13, 2007
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The government has approved
a program on complete description and printing of Matenadaran
manuscripts’ collection. As Hrachya Tamrazian, the Director of
Matenadaran, said in his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent,
this program being one of the priorities of Armenology requires hard
work and needs additional specialists. "With our current resources
it will take us 50 years to do the whole work," he said.
According to H. Tamrazian, in case of the fulfilment of the program
presented the work will be organized in a centralized way, new
specialists will be involved and the whole list of Matenadaran’s
manuscripts will be completed and printed within ten years.
"We have already invited five research officers at the expense of
our own reserves. New specialists will be also invited next year,
and the issue of change of generation in Matenadaran will be also
solved in this way," Hrachya Tamrazian emphasized. The institution is
already implementing a joint program with Yerevan State University:
gifted students will come to Matenadaran, will study the Manuscripts,
will have a possibility to raise the level of their skills, which
will contribute to multiplication of Matenadaran’s potential.
The Director of Matenadaran said that two volumes of Matenadaran
manuscripts’ basic list have been already printed. They include 600
manuscripts. The third volume will be also printed one of these days
and the preparation work of the fourth volume is underway.
"This is the large program Matenadaran’s specialists have been working
at for many years to present a complete description of the whole
list of manuscripts. The printing of the basic list of manuscripts
is really one of the priorities of whole Armenology, and that is not
only study of manuscripts, but also complete and detailed description
of the materials, during preparation of which new unread pages can
be revealed," H. Tamrazian stated.
RA PRESIDENT FOCUSED ON ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN UAE
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.12.2007 14:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is interested in Middle East, RA
President Robert Kocharian said during a visit to the United
Arab Emirates. Pointing to increase of trade volume and bilateral
investments, he noted that the UAE is as well interested in Armenia.
Commenting on details of the visit, President Kocharian said the talks
focused on economic cooperation. "An UAE delegation will pay a call to
Armenia in 2008 to discuss organization of a visit at the top level,"
he said, the Public Television of Armenia reports
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN ABU DHABI
The Emirates
December 12, 2007 Wednesday
from THE EMIRATES, December 12, 2007 Armenian President, Robert
Kocharyan, arrived in Abu Dhabi yesterday on an official visit to
the UAE. The visitor was received at the airport by Abdul Rahman
Al Owais, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development,
Khalifa Shaheen Al Marri, the UAE Non- Resident Ambassador to Armenia,
Vahagn Melikyan, the Armenian Ambassador to the UAE and a number of
high-ranking officials. President Robert Kocharyan is accompanied by
a delegation including Armenian Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanian,
Minister of Trade and Economic Development, Nerses Yeritsyan and a
number of other Armenian officials.
GLAMOR OF BEING HEIRLESS AND MISERY OF HERITANCE
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir, Armenia
Dec 12 2007
Not only it is already clear who Putin’s heir will be but also what
Putin will be doing after leaving the office of president. As it
could be expected, the Russian president will be prime minister.
There are all the necessary preconditions. Thanks to Putin the Yedinaya
Rossia Party got 70 percent of parliament seats in the election to the
Duma, and the likely presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev asked Putin
to become prime minister in case he wins the election. The Russian
writer said you cannot perceive Russia with logic. For Putin, these
words are more than descriptive. Vladimir Vladimirovich has a high
rating in Russia, therefore he seems to be a condensed embodiment of
Russia, the zip version of Russia, the developed IT societies would
put it.
>From the beginning the activities of this politician were not subject
to good sense. Nobody expected that Yeltzin would start celebrating
New Year earlier on December 31, and would address people on TV and
introduce his standby to the nation. Although it is possible that it
was the only sober move by Yeltzin. However, good sense has nothing
to do with this case because in the case of Yeltzin it has never
been below 40 degrees, therefore it is difficult to refer to his
decisions made at lower degrees as decisions made in good sense. The
unpredictable political child Putin’s presidency was marked by
unpredictable moves, including the issue of the heir. He seemed to
make fun of the world by making it nervous. Now it is difficult to
believe that Medvedev is the end, for Putin’s political fate was his
unpredictability. Meanwhile, there are three months to go before the
presidential election but he has made the name of the heir known. If
he makes the name of the heir known, he becomes predictable. It may
mean that Putin is running out of imagination.
Consequently, if no more evidence, as lawyers would put it, regarding
the presidential election comes, it means Putin’s administration is
gradually approaching its sunset. And it is possible that this feeling
was the reason why the Russian government with control over the entire
information resource and a popular rating of 70-80 percent was sent
into a panic by Garry Kasparov’s walkouts and demonstrations and used
violence to prevent them. Besides, it should not be ruled out that this
feeling of sunset made Putin shift from unpredictability to medium-term
predictability. For the Russian president had stated two or three
months ago there would be no heir, there would be several candidates
who would run for the post of president. It meant that Putin wants to
keep the issue of president burning till the end, thereby maintaining
his influence. Recently, however, a heated home political argument was
underway in Russia, and it had escalated into a war among the special
services. To prevent the structure of the pyramid from being shattered
Putin decided to put an end to the intrigue and make clear three months
before the election who his favorite son is. However, it should not be
ruled out that the "heir" operation has just been launched, and more
sons of Lieutenant Schmidt are going to emerge. For instance, Medvedev
offers the post of prime minister to Putin in return for the post of
president. However, we should not rule out the option of another one,
say Sergey Ivanov who was believed to be the likely heir to think
of a higher post-presidential status for Putin and get a chance to
run in the election. After all, the idea of setting up an institute
of the "leader of the nation" and placing Putin in charge of it was
launched hardly a few weeks ago. Or Prime Minister Zubkov may think
of a more stable and secure post-presidency for Putin and become one
of the heirs. After all, when Putin announced there would be no heir
but several candidates, he reserved room for him to support everyone,
that is to welcome the participation of all of them. Especially that
thereby he will show to the West that the government in Russia is not
changed by Tsar Putin like CNN had headlined its special report but by
competition. Hence, by depriving Medvedev of the opportunity to think
and running out of imagination, Putin seems to have left it up to the
elite of Russia to think and to imagine. However, thinking elite is
something unprecedented for Russia. The tsar has always thought, and
if the tsar thought, everything was OK, if the tsar stopped thinking,
both the country and the tsar appeared in a difficult state.
MELIKSET KHACHIKYAN SHARED THE 2ND TO 6TH POSITIONS IN THE 43RD US OPEN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
armradio.am
11.12.2007 17:58
American-Armenian Grand Master Melikset Khachikyan shared the 2nd
to 6th positions in the 43rd US Open Chess Championship, gaining 5.5
from 8 possible.
American Grand Master Alex Yermolinski became the winner of the
tournament with 6 points.
AZERBAIJAN PREPARED TO HOLD ANTI-TERROR OPERATIONS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH AGAINST PLACEMENT OF KURDISH GUNMEN
Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 10 2007
Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend K.Ramazanova / Azerbaijan is prepared to
hold anti-terror operations against the placement of armed divisions
of the Kurdish Worker Party (PKK) in Nagorno-Karabakh, Araz Azimov,
the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister and Azerbaijani President’s
special representative for Nagorno-Karabakh, said in talks with
journalists on 10 December.
The placement of the PKK in Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrated to the
world community to what extent Azerbaijan were right in earlier
statements. Baku has accused Armenia for many years of illegal
settlement of Armenians from the Near East by origin and Kurds in
the Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation.
"We are concerned in this respect. If there is need for anti-terror
operations, we will do it, "Azimov said.
According to Azimov, Armenians have always cooperated with terror
organizations and this is not the first case. To know what is actually
occurring in the Azerbaijani territory, Baku demands to liberate
these areas.