Author: Jabejian Elizabeth

Panorama.am

14:20 30/09/06

YEREVAN NAMES ITS CENTRAL SQUARE AFTER FRANCE

`Theaters, musical establishments, museums, and places for national
meetings surround the square. This is surely one of the most beloved
sites of our city, a point of connection joining several communities
of Yerevan, the heart of Yerevan. From now on the name of France will
be written on that heart. Let that name be eternal as eternal is our
friendship. Long live France! Long live Armenia,’ Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the
square on Mashtots and Sayat Nova crossroads, which from now on will
be called after France.

France’s President Jacques Chirac was present at the ceremony together
with his wife. Present were the First Lady of Armenia, Charles
Aznavour, ministers of both countries, delegations and thousands of
Yerevan residents.

`I want to thank you on behalf of all French men and French women. We
are deeply touched by this honor this day when the French Days
launched in Armenia and the Year of Armenia started in France. The
French square will symbolize our friendship similar to those 400
Armenian events that will run throughout France until July 14,’
President Chirac told in his reply speech. /Panorama.am/

PanARMENIAN.Net

Austria: Turkey Not Ready for EU
29.09.2006 17:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The leader of Austria’s main opposition party,
Alfred Gusenbauer, said that Turkey is not yet ready to become a
member of the European Union. In an interview with AP days before a
general election in Austria, Gusenbauer, head of the country’s Social
Democrats, said there was a "common understanding" that Turkey was a
European country. However he said it was not yet ready to become a
member of the bloc because "not all European traditions have taken
root in all parts" of the country.

"At least at the moment, Turkey is not mature enough for becoming a
member of the European Union," Gusenbauer said. "I think there has to
be a long path of negotiations and of development to move Europe and
Turkey closer to each other. I cannot predict when the crossing point
will be reached. But it’s clear that without enormous endeavors on
both sides, this is going to be very complicated," he said, reports
ABHaber.

ARMENIAN NPP TO BE STOPPED FROM OCTOBER 1, 2006, FOR PLANNED PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE AND REFUELING

ARMINFO News Agency
September 27, 2006 Wednesday

The Armenian NPP will be stopped for 45 days from October 1, 2006,
for planned preventive maintenance and refueling, the NPP Director
General, Gagik Markossyan, told ArmInfo correspondent.

According to him, it is scheduled to implement five NPP
safety-enhancement measures during this period. The most important
measure is upgrading of the reactor protection system, which is
financed by EU within the frames of the TACIS program with cost of 1,3
mln Euro. The means for NPP safety level increase are traditionally
allocated by the USA, IAEA, EU. The owns means of NPP are aimed
at assemblage and designing. G. Markossyan added the nuclear fuel
in a necessary quantity has been already delivered to NPP 10 days
ago. G. Markossyan hopes all the repair and refueling works will be
carried out at a stated time.

To be noted, the NPP was handed over under financial control of "INTER
RAO UES" CJSC, which is an affiliated structure of RAO "UES of Russia"
and which pays for the delivery of the new batch of nuclear fuel to
NPP. Two power units of Russian model VVR-440 with total capacity of
815 MW are installed at the Armenian NPP. The first unit had been
commissioned in 1976, the second one – in 1980. In the beginning,
1989, the NPP was abandoned for political reasons, and the second power
unit with capacity of 404 MW was restarted in the beginning, 1995.

ARMENIAN EMBASSY IN VIENNA SEEMS TO HINDER FROM HOLDING DAYS OF ARMENIAN CULTURE IN COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006

VIENNA, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The "Days of
Armenian Culture" event dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the
Republic of Armenia, which were envisaged on the initiative of the
Armenian Organizations in Europe Representation, is close to failure
in a number of countries of Central Europe. There is no information
about reasons of failure of this great cultural initiative yet, but
according to information of Noyan Tapan, the Minister of Culture of
Slovakia, for example, disproved his preliminary agreement to sponsor
those events, reasoning that he made that decision as a result of a
discussion with the Armenian Embassy in Vienna. It was not managed
yet to find out why the RA Embassy in Vienna hinders from holding
the Days of Armenian Culture in those countries, but it is clear that
absence of patronage of the Culture Ministry of Slovakia means absence
of wide-spread propaganda of the Armenian culture envisaged in that
country. And resources of intiator of the Days of Armenian Culture
Ashot Grigorian as well of the Armenian community of Slovakia may be
too scanty for holding a similar voluminous propaganda. As a result,
the Armenian culture festival will be held in that country on a very
small scale, in the best case.

CO-CHAIRS MET WITH AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 27 2006

Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, who are mediating in the settlement
of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict, are expected to visit the region
soon, APA reports.

They discussed their visit to the region in private meetings with
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan
Oskanyan yesterday. The discussions also focused on removing current
obstacles for further settlement of the Nagorno Garabagh conflict.

The meeting with Armenian foreign minister covered current phase
of the negotiating process and discussion of raising of the GUAM
"frozen conflicts" at UN General Assembly.

The co-chairs are expected to meet with OSCE authorities in Helsinki
this week. They will report on the present situation of the settlement
of the conflict.

KARABAKH FM: ARMENIA IS A GUARANTOR OF NKR’S INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2006

On September 26, Nagorno Karabakh Republic Foreign Minister Georgy
Petrossian received Vice-Speaker of the House of Lords of the
Great Britain’s Parliament, Chairman of Humanitarian Aid Relief
Trust Baroness Caroline Cox, who had arrived in Stepanakert with a
delegation of British and American philanthropists.

According to the information DE FACTO got at the NKR MFA, opening
the meeting NKR Foreign Minister expressed readiness in rendering
all possible support to the programs carried out by the American and
British philanthropists in Nagorno Karabakh.

At the guests’ request Georgy Petrossian dwelt on the current stage
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process. The Minister,
in particular, expressed his anxiety concerning Azerbaijan’s attempts
to transfer the resolution of the problem under the aegis of the OSCE
Minsk Group to the UN.

"We seriously study the existing situation, draw conclusions to
undertake corresponding steps", – the NKR MFA noted.

Georgy Petrossian emphasized that it was impossible to solve the issue
concerning the fate of entire people without taking into account its
own opinion.

"We have played our role in establishing armistice, but why today
we are deprived of our rights to strengthen the peace?" – the NKR
Foreign Minister said.

Answering the question on mutual relations with Armenia Georgy
Petrossian stressed: "The Republic of Armenia is a guarantor of the
NKR’s independence and security, as regards the plane of political
relations there is a principle of non-intervention between both
republics".

Speaking about the unceasing informational war the Minister dwelt on
the clamour made by Baku in connection with the fires on the areas
near the frontier.

"We have addressed to the OSCE with a proposal to hold a monitoring
to get an unbiassed opinion on what was taking place. The republic’s
authorities are ready to receive the international experts and show
them everything they are interseted in", – the NKR Foreign Minister
noted.

Georgy Petrossian voiced hope that in the course of the visit the
delegation members would make an unbiassed notion on Nagorno Karabakh
and share the corresponding information in their environs.

THE RUSSIANS BOUGHT THE "ELECTRIC POWER NETWORK"

A1+
[01:20 pm] 27 September, 2006

The "Electric power network of Armenia" has a new owner. Russian
company "Inter RAO EES" paid 73 million USD for it. British company
"Midland Resources" handed the stock to the Russians yesterday. The
representatives of "Inter RAO EES" arrived in Armenia in order to be
present at the ceremony.

It is noteworthy that the new owner of the "Electric power network
of Armenia" intends to invest 20 million USD in the company till the
end of the next year.

Peninsula On-line, Qatar
Sept 23 2006

Media call for law on ‘Turkishness’ to be scrapped
Web posted at: 9/23/2006 8:8:24
Source ::: REUTERS

ANKARA ~U Turkey’s media called on the government yesterday to scrap
a law making it a crime to insult "Turkishness", saying it tarnished
the image of a country seeking European Union membership.

Leading female novelist Elif Shafak was acquitted on Thursday of
charges that fictional characters in her novel "The Bastard of
Istanbul" had insulted Turkey’s identity by referring to a massacre
of Armenians during Ottoman rule in 1915. But newspapers, in their
strongest criticism yet of article 301 of the penal code, said the
law still undermined democracy.

"What is 301? It is a shame on democracy. It is an article of law
that certainly does not suit a free and democratic country," said
columnist Hasan Cemal of liberal daily Milliyet. The EU is pushing
Ankara to improve freedom of expression as a condition of the Muslim
country’s entry. But analysts say a powerful anti-EU nationalist
lawyers’ group, which has brought dozens of such cases to the courts,
and parts of the judiciary are undermining the drive.

Kemal Kerincsiz of the Grand Lawyers’ Association has said he plans
to appeal against the acquittal of Shafak. "The European Union means
slavery and prisoner’s chains for Turkey," he said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged on Thursday to consider
amending article 301 but said the issue was sensitive. A rise in
nationalism ahead of next year’s general elections has split the
ruling AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, over whether to
make the change at a time when support for EU membership is waning.

Paruir Hairikyan, Hrant Bagratyan declared to make greatest contribution to formation of Armenia

Regnum, Russia
Sept 23 2006

Leader of the Association for Self-Determination Paruir Hairikyan and
Armenian ex-prime minister Hrant Bagratyan have been acknowledged
as persons who made a greatest contribution to the establishing of
political independence and ensuring economic progress of Armenia. The
two are chosen by a survey conducted by a Club of Economic Journalists
NGO among 60 Armenian journalists.

Figures recognized as having strengthened Armenian statehood are
listed in the survey as follows: first president of Armenia Levon
Ter-Petrossian, acting president Robert Kocharyan, ex-prime minister
Vazgen Manukyan, entrepreneur Khachatur Soukiasyan, US billionaire
Kirk Kirkoryan, and others.

Hrant Bagratyan who attended the conference at which the survey
results were made public Sep 23, said that 15 years is not too long
of a term for a country’s independence, and in the coming 15 years,
the nation should ensure the division between property and politics.

"We need to create a stratum of entrepreneurs who will not interfere
with politics but do private business," he maintained.

CNN STARTS BROADCASTING ADS ABOUT ARMENIA

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Sept 20 2006

YEREVAN, September 20. /ARKA/. CNN American TV-company began
broadcasting ads about Armenia, Public television of Armenia reports.
Beginning from Tuesday CNN broadcasts two ads presenting the culture,
nature, traditions and customs of Armenia, its historical and cultural
monuments.

The advertisements were presented within the framework of
Armenia-Diasporas forum.

According to Armenian Public television, Arabic Al Jazira TV-channel is
also interested in Armenia. Beginning from September 21, (Independence
Day of Armenia – ARKA) the TV-channel, having already demonstrated
interview with Presidents of Armenia and NKR Robert Kocharyan and
Arkady Ghukasyan, will being broadcasting series of programs about
Armenia and NKR. S.P.–0–