Author: Jilavian Emma

GURGEN MAARI WIDOW’S BOOK PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 19:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A book presentation"My Odysseus" written in English
by Antonina Mahari will be held March 22 in an Armenian "St.David"
church, Florida. The book was written in the 70’s of the previous
century, but published much later."In Soviet times I was afraid to
publish the book, and I only managed to do it in 2003 in honour of
Gourgen Mahari’s 100 anniversary, with the help offered by the head
of Writers’ Union, Levon Ananyan," said the writer during the talk
with the PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent.

In 1945 the 22- year old Antonina Povelaititi, a student of
Vilnius University, was accused for participating in the clandestine
organization fighting for "Independent Lithuania" and was expelled to
the Siberia camps for five years. There she met her future husband,
a political prisoner, Gourgen Mahari.

BSEC FOREIGN MINISTERS SUMMIT DATE WAS NOT ALTERED

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 11:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The BSEC Foreign Ministers summit will be held
in Yerevan on April 16. According to Today’s Zaman daily, the date
was altered from April 29 to 16 because of the Armenian Genocide
Commemoration Day marked on April 24.

Meanwhile, head of the RA MFA media relations division Tigran Balayan
told PanARMENIAN.Net that the date was never altered and the summit
was initially scheduled for April 16.

Prior to the summit, BSEC Energy Ministers will meet on March 13,
Ministers of Transport will meet on March 27 and a meeting between
Ministers of Agriculture is due on April 10.

MEET THE LEADER: SERZH SARGSYAN

By Metro Eireann
Thursday, February 26, 2009, 17:58

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
may share the same surname, but the two are not related. This is not
unusual, as Sargsyan is a very common name in Armenia.

President Sargsyan was born in the Nagorno-Karabakh region – a small
strip of land that is at the centre of a bitter dispute between
Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The region gave modern Armenia many of
its prominent public figures, and the tensions there have served to
forge the country’s identity.

After studying in Yerevan, Sargsyan worked in his hometown of
Stepanakert as a metal turner in a factory. At the same time he was
making rapid advancement in the local branch of the Communist Party. By
1988, Sargsyan had risen to assistant of the First Secretary of the
party’s regional committee in Nagorno-Karabakh.

But then the war with Azerbaijan broke out, which propelled Sargsyan
into prominent positions within Armenia’s elite. As tensions arose,
the future president – who had completed training in the Soviet army –
became chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic self-defence forces
committee. He organised several battles during the war and is now
considered to be one of the founders not only of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
army, but also of the Armenian armed forces.

In 1993 Sargsyan became Armenian defence=2 0minister. Six years
later, President Robert Kocharyan, also from Nagorno-Karabakh, made
Sargsyan his chief of staff. In 2007 Sargsyan rose to the post of
prime minister and ran for presidential election that same year with
the full backing of President Kocharyan (he was succeeded as prime
minister by Tigran Sargsyan).

Officially, Sargsyan won that election by a large margin, but the
opposition disputed this and accused Sargsyan’s party, the Republican
Party of Armenia, of vote-rigging, vote-buying and manipulation of
the media.

Protests ensued which were violently suppressed. Eight people were
killed by police and a media blackout followed.

On 9 April 2008, as he was being sworn into office, Sargsyan spoke of
the "painful events" which arose as a result of the opposition protest.

He said: "I urge everybody to look forward, together, to seek and
find the way for reconciliation, development and future of Armenia."

HOVHANNES AYVAZOVSKI’S CANVAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE

Panorama.am
13:47 05/03/2009

Hovhannes Ayvazovski’s "Columbus departure from Palos" canvas will
be the most expensive canvas present in Sotheby’s Auction House on
21 April. The canvas will cost 1.5-2 million USD.

The canvas is the third from "Discovery of New World" group. Two
canvases were sold in 2006 and 2008.

In 2008 Russiansale in Sotheby’s brought 25 Million pounds, reports
BBC News. According to the experts this auction will have 30 million
pounds from the sale.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT HOLDS MEETING WITH OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS

Today.Az

Marc h 2 2009
Azerbaijan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan discussed the process of the
Karabakh resolution Monday with co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Matthew Bryza (USA) and Bernard Fassier
(France), as well as representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office
Anzhei Kasprshik.

The meeting was attended by Armenian FM Edward Nalbandyan, said the
press service for the Armenian President.

"The sides discussed the Zurich meeting of the Presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, issues of the current stage of the negotiation process
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict", says the statement.

During the meeting the Armenian president noted that the statements
and formulations, contradicting to the logics of the negotiation
process on Karabakh do not promote progress in the resolution.

In turn, the co-chairs informed the Armenian President about the
results of their meetings in Baku and Khankendi.

On Sunday Serzh Sargsyan received president of the separatist "Nagorno
Karabakh Republic" Bako Saakyan.

ARMENIAN-LANGUAGE TV CHANNEL TO BROADCAST IN AZERBAIJAN?

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2009 18:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan is going to launch a TV channel to
broadcast in Russian, Armenian, English, Turkish and Farsi, the Head
of Azerbaijan National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) Nushirevan
Magerramli stated.

The new TV channel will be non-governmental, so at present NTRC
is considering a number of cooperation applications from private
companies, according to him.

Broadcast frequency and the profile of the international TV channel
are undecided yet.

"The decision to launch a multi-language TV channel was adopted
in Azerbaijan after the termination of foreign radio stations
broadcasting," Magerramli explained, adding that the proportion of
each language channel grid is not determined yet.

The tender will be announced in March, Azeri Press Agency reported.

RPA APPROVES ITS CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2009-03-01 16:05:00

ArmInfo. Today, the Council of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
nominated acting prefect of Yerevan’s Kentron (Center) community
Gagik Beglaryan as its candidate for the mayor of Yerevan, reports
the spokesman of RPA Edward Sharmazanov.

To remind, the elections into the Council of Elders of Yerevan are
scheduled for May 31 2009. The first candidate on the list of the
party that will poll over 50% votes has bigger chances of becoming
the mayor of Yerevan. "I am sure that Gagik Beglaryan enjoys people’s
confidence and has sufficient experience and abilities to effectively
work as mayor," says Sharmazanov.

GLOBAL CRISIS GOING TO AFFECT THE MIGRATION SITUATION IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
27.02.2009 16:28

The global economic crisis will affect the migration situation
in Armenia, Head of the Migration Department of the Ministry of
Territorial Administration of Armenia Gagik Yeganyan told a press
conference today.

He said the consequences of the crisis will be felt in three
directions.

First, the volume of money transfers from abroad will reduce. Secondly,
the number of Armenian citizens working aboard will lessen because
of the lack of jobs, and this will, in turn, result in the increase
of the number of people returning to motherland.

According to Gagik Yeganyan, the Government has already taken measures
to mitigate the situation. "The Employment Agency declared recently
that there are jobs available in Armenia today. We hope that those
who return will be employed here. Besides, we have various proposals
to offer them," the Head of the Department on Migration said.

SAFAR ABIYEV DISCUSSES WAYS OF KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT WITH MATTHEW BRYZA

Today.Az
50794.html
Feb 27 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev received US co-chair of
the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza Friday, according to the press
service for the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

During the meeting the sides discussed the military and
political situation in the region and ways of resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

The meeting was held with participation of US ambassador to Azerbaijan
Anne Derse.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Matthew Bryza, Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernard
Fassier arrived for a visit to Azerbaijan Thursday. Today they and
personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office Anzhey Kaspshik
held a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.

YERITSYAN: WE SHALL TRY TO PERSUADE VENTURE CAPITALISTS TO OPEN A VENTURE FUND IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.02.2009 16:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The policy offered by the Government and Central
Bank of Armenia proves that there are all the necessary prerequisites
for the capital market development. The Minister of Economy Nerses
Yeritsyan said about it in his speech at the Conference "Market of
Capitals in Armenia."

As he said, in order to promote the capital market the Government
of Armenia has already made a number of essential suggestions. In
particular, it refers to the program of retirement accounts,
the implementation of corporatе management principles, the
implementation of science intensive economy, business incubation,
as well as participation of the State in venture funds.

As Nerses Yeritsyan said, by helping the private entrеpreneur
to participate in the capital market, the Government by thus will
face the so-called venture risks. Â"We shall try to persuade venture
capitalists to open a venture fund in Armenia in the next two years,
Nerses Yeritsyan said. In order to start a venture fund, it is
necessary to accumulate financial means in the amount of $100 mln.Â"

As the head of the Ministry of Economy said during the Conference,
the State, in its turn, will demand transparency and openness from
the market participants." It will be unreasonable if the retirement
fund means do not find securities. In this case the potential market
participants will not be able to practise IPO "