Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Artashat Cannery is enlarging its share on the domestic market by
reducing the export

2009-11-14 20:08:00

ArmInfo. Artashat Cannery, the owner of the ArtFood trade mark, is
enlarging its share on the domestic market by reducing the export,
says Vachagan Karapetyan, the company’s commercial director.

Before the crisis 90% of juice semi-products were exported to Russia
and Ukraine but now the export has been halved.

At the same time, encouraged by USD appreciation, the company is
actively increasing the export of finished products. The assortment of
canned food is being constantly enlarged. Today, the company produces
36-37 items.

Next year the procurement prices will not be changed. The raw
materials for canned food are bought from all over Armenia.

Artashat Cannery was established in 1961, In 1999, due to cooperation
with Lincy Foundation, the World Bank and the US Department of
Agriculture, the company substantially improved its positions on the
market. The National Statistical Service of Armenia reports that in
Jan-Sept 2009 the company produced 6,649 tons of canned food – 24.2%
less than in Jan-Sept 2008.

USAID PROJECT NOVA COMPLETED

Noyan Tapan
Nov 13, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The successful completion of the
USAID-financed Project NOVA was marked on November 12. Thanks to the
project launched in 2004, the quality of obstetrical services has
been improved in Armenia in the past 5 years, with the main emphasis
on safe reproduction in rural areas and higher quality of and access
to maternal and child healthcare services.

"In the fields related to the project, patients’ satisfaction at the
level of services has risen, and there has also been a decline in the
number of complications among women and infants during childbirth and
in the postnatal period in Armenia. The project contributed to a growth
in the number of births and also to a decline in the number of women
applying for an abortion," Director of Project NOVA Inna Sacci said.

RA Deputy Minister of Healthcare Tatul Hakobian thanked the organizers
of the project, noting that it has enabled to deal with the problems
at community health centers. He expressed a hope that new projects
will be implemented in the healthcare sector, ensuring positive
results and notable achievements.

JUNTA ELIMINATION PROCESS: UNPRECEDENTED DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF TURKEY ARE BEING EXPERIENCED IN ANKARA.

Today’s Zaman
Nov 9 2009
Turkey

The most critical question is what will happen to the junta. Another
important subject is the democratic initiative. Let’s start with the
second issue. Parliament will convene to discuss a very important
agenda item tomorrow. In one sense, it will mark the beginning of
the most important stage in solving the quarter-century-old curse of
terror within the frame of the Kurdish problem. In another sense, it
will expand the scope of the frame into a democratic initiative that
will search for a solution to all human rights problems concerning
social groups. An additional step will be taken to determine the
details of the National Unity Project, which will make religious,
ethnic and social groups a positive part of the country.

The opposition is trying to influence the public by focusing on the
terror aspect of the initiative, but the process is not limited to
just these issues. The third and fourth steps of the initiative will
search for a solution to Turkey’s diplomatic and economic problems.

Asked what their thoughts are on the expansion of the framework,
Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
officials were reluctant to estimate the scope of the plan. A CHP
official said, "If the framework is going to be expanded so much, won’t
people say, ‘These are responsibilities you need to take care of as a
government anyway,’ and ask, ‘If you can’t address these issues without
starting an initiative process then why did you become a government’?"

An official from the MHP predicts that expanding the scope of the
framework will reduce its chances of being successful. "You can’t
solve a problem by pleasing everyone and managing everyone. If you’re
planning to open the border with Armenia, then you have to think
about how you will offend the Azeris," the MHP official said.

Erdogan continues to say, "The initiative is a process, not a
package." He also says this process includes Turkey’s chronic
problems. To emphasize the broad spectrum of the process, he talks
about the "unemployment problem" as well.

An important member of the Cabinet indirectly answered CHP and MHP
officials’ questions by explaining that their search for solutions to
problems did not begin with the launch of debates on the initiative
in recent months. He also said that the Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) has been searching for solutions to the country’s chronic
problems ever since it became the ruling power and has pursued those
that could be implemented immediately. "But some problems were so
complicated that, without discriminating against any party, politics
needed to deal with the social aspects of these problems with civil
society organizations. These issues accumulated in a basket, and our
people knew the main reasons for the accumulation. When we begin to
solve the problems, they will know the details as well. The opposition
made a very big strategic mistake with the issue of terror, which is
the most important of these issues. They intentionally did not partake
in this radical solution process. The public will assess this as well."

The CHP and MHP are trying to politicize the decision to address the
initiative in Parliament on Nov. 10 (the anniversary of Ataturk’s
death). AK Party executives are responding with Ataturk’s popular
phrase, "peace at home, peace in the world," conveying messages about
the initiative’s diplomatic dimension as well.

I spoke with a member of the Cabinet who is very close to Erdogan
about the important question of what will happen to the junta.

Emphasizing the prime minister’s determination, the Cabinet member
said: "It will be eliminated. There is no other alternative." He also
stated that after Erdogan returned from his trip to Pakistan and Iran,
where he communicated important messages, he met with Chief of General
Staff Gen. Ä°lker BaÅ~_bug and said: "What is this mess? Clean it up."

BaÅ~_bug, who asked for some time, apparently said the junta put him
in a tough spot, recalling that he had referred to an action plan
proving the existence of the junta as simply a "piece of paper."

An important member of the Cabinet to whom I mentioned the news about
attempts to distort the process said, "The prime minister emphasized
during our group meeting that these attempts were useless."

Indeed, Ankara is truly experiencing historic days.

——————————————- ————————————-
GMO trade and CHP’s swordsmanship

Both the ruling power and the main opposition are criticizing each
other over the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMO). I spoke
with people who have the most knowledge about the issue on both sides.

The ruling power and the opposition are actually defending the same
idea. Both sides are expressing the downsides of GMOs and do not want
these products, which pose a threat to human health, the environment
and Turkey’s biodiversity, to be allowed to enter Turkey.

The CHP wants a bio safety law to be implemented to prevent GMOs
from entering Turkey. As for AK Party officials, who say the law is
still in the making, they argue that it was necessary to introduce a
regulation in the meantime and say it was appropriate for the Ministry
of Agriculture to introduce it.

Harsh accusations are being put forward over the regulation. During
his group meeting, CHP leader Deniz Baykal accused the government of
setting up a trap against the public on this issue and vowed to do
everything in his power to ensure that the regulation is abolished.

Noting that goods with GMOs that previously freely entered the country
have been stopped at customs after the statute was made effective, an
AK Party executive said that by attempting to abolish the regulation
the CHP was acting like a swordsman for GMO vendors.

Even CHP deputies concede that companies that can’t get their GMO
products into the country are knocking on the CHP’s door instead
of criticizing the statute themselves. The Ministry of Agriculture
has launched a new plan to prevent speculation in the public about
the regulation. Even if the CHP stops trying to get the regulation
abolished, it seems unlikely that it will be able to escape the
accusation of acting like a hired gun.

——————————————– ————————————
Why are the MHP’s founders disgruntled?

The MHP, which held its ninth party congress over the weekend, wants
to overcome a critical threshold. The excitement of party officials who
said they would organize a democratic congress shows the importance of
this threshold to be passed. The MHP had two important goals it wanted
to achieve in the last congress before the general elections. One
was to change the party program; the other was to update the party’s
bylaws. Party commissions worked for several weeks to prepare a new
party program and completely change the bylaws.

Noting that this is a kind of tradition, party executives said they
change the party’s program and bylaws every 10 years according to
the party’s current needs. This time they prepared a completely new
set of bylaws and program "in line with both the party’s needs and
society’s demands."

The founders of the 40-year-old MHP are extremely disturbed with the
bylaw changes. Their biggest concern has to do with the removal of
Article 43, which leader Alparslan TurkeÅ~_ had ordered be included
in the bylaws. Noting that Article 43 prevents tyranny by leaders
by allowing a person to be elected as party chairman a maximum of
five times, the MHP founders highlighted the problems with opening
the way for MHP leader Devlet Bahceli to be elected leader again and
again until his death.

Of the 30 people that founded the MHP, 21 are still living. Speaking
on behalf of the living 21 founders prior to the congress, lawyer
Faruk Evirgen emphasized that his party was becoming undemocratic.

"People with different views are being silenced by unfair expulsion
and threats. I am not sure if we as the founders will be able to
enter the hall of the congress. They are also going to prevent a rival
candidate from being chosen. They are going to prevent delegates who
they think might vote for someone other than Bahceli from entering
the hall. Unfortunately, our party has not been able to escape this
kind of thinking," he said.

The one point that the founders are especially upset over is that
they haven’t been given an office in the party’s headquarters, which
they set up with very limited resources. Founder Kemal İnandı said,
"I just can’t accept the disloyalty that we are facing after all the
sacrifices we made."

In response to the claim that they are being influenced by some circles
that want to weaken the MHP, Evirgen said: "We are not speaking on
behalf of anyone. We are speaking with our own free will.

All it takes to understand the error in clearing the way for one
single person to be the chairman until he dies is to internalize the
democratic culture."

TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY IN THE NEW ERA
Sedat Laciner

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Nov 9 2009

There are some that accuse Turkey of deviating from its Western foreign
policy to that of the East. First of all, as President Abdullah Gul
said in his speech at International Strategic Research Organization
(USAK) this week, we should not look at Turkey’s current trade
relations or official visits to understand Turkey’s direction.

We have to look at the values of Turkey to assess whether there
has been a change in the direction. In the last seven years Turkey
has made great reforms and transformations. For example, the Kurdish
policy of the Turkish State has changed dramatically, even mentioning
the term Kurd in Turkey was taboo in the 1990s, but now there is a
Kurdish State TV channel, TRT 7 (TRT Ses). These developments have
not only been in Kurdish broadcasting, but many other fundamental
rights have been given to the Kurdish people as well.

With matters concerning Armenia, Cyprus, relations with Greece, and
many other problematic issues, Turkey has changed its policies and
Turkish laws have been liberated and made more democratic. Turkey’s
economic relations with regional and neighboring countries have
increased as well. After Turkey’s application to the EU for full
membership, much progress has been made and the EU countries have
confirmed Turkey’s progress from a relatively backward country to one
that has begun to comply with EU standards. It is clear that Turkey
is not leaving the West; Turks have developed much more due to a
desire to join the West, the EU. Turkey is increasing its economic
relations; it is not trading in its Western values for those of its
Middle Eastern neighbors.

The Main Objectives and Lasting Effects of the Zero Problem with
Neighbors Policy

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the current government’s policy of
zero problem with neighbors aims to foster cooperation with the region:
the Balkans, Caucasus and the Middle East. Following cooperation,
its next objective is integration of the region, but when we say
integration we mean economic integration not political. Some argue
that since Turkey is improving its relations with Iran, Syria and
Iraq, it means they are shifting their direction towards the east, but
this is not true, Turkey wants cooperation and economic integration,
it does not desire to turn away from the EU or the West in general.

People are asking Turkey why it is developing its relations with
Syria and Iran, but before questioning Turkey’s relations with these
countries we should understand that Turkey is not a lucky country. Our
neighbors are Syria, Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria
and Greece. If Turkey was France, which has neighbors like Spain and
Germany, its foreign relations could be easier but our neighbors are
maybe the most problematic countries in the world. We have to ‘tame’
them and even change them, and of course Turkey’s direction is not
towards Iran or Syria. If we look at Turkey’s values like liberal
democracy, transparency, free liberal economic market, human rights
and all other western values that the current and previous government
focused on and accepted, we can see that Turkey is trying to reach
the standards of the EU and the West, not the Iranian understanding
of values.

Turkey’s policies are quite different than the Iranian understanding
and approach, these two countries have always been competitor
countries in the region, but we have to have cooperation with Iran;
Turkey is not the neighbor of the United States or Germany, Iran is our
neighbor, Syria and Iraq are our neihbours. Thanks to the new Turkish
neighbor policies, millions of Iranian tourists come to Turkey every
year. Similarly millions of Arabs and about 500.000 Israelis come to
Turkish resorts every year. All these Middle Eastern people travel
and absorb and see the Turkish way of life. They are changing and
influenced by the Turkish model, and not just because of travel, but
due to exposure to Turkish broadcasting as well. Arabs and Iranians
watch Turkish soap operas, they are learning Turkish so that they
can understand these soaps and the most popular soaps are Turkish
in the region. The influence is apparent because in Saudi Arabia
for example, some men applied to the courts to ban Turkish series’
because they argue that these programs are influencing society.

Turkish culture, tourism, and economic relations between these
countries, all social and economic relations are changing the society
in the region. We say it is the soft power of Turkey; it is perhaps
the only country that can change the Middle Eastern societies because
Turkey was the ruler of this region for centuries, and the Turks
unlike the Americans and othe outsiders can understand these peoples.

Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria, and Iraq were all under
Ottoman rule and there are many Turkish people amongst the peoples
of the Middle East and both sides are Muslim and know each others
culture very well. I think the U.S and EU countries cannot understand
the Middle Eastern culture or politics, but Turkey can. For instance,
during the Bush era in the United States, they thought that if you
change leaders, you can change the regime, change the borders and
create a new democratic Middle East but it did not work. Saddam is
gone but terror came to replace him. There was not terror under Saddam;
Iraq was a terror free state during his time. The 9/11 attacks were not
carried out by citizens of Iraq, but the U.S. still attacked Iraq and
nothing has changed, maybe it has put Iraq in a much worse situation.

Turkey is against military attacks against any Middle Eastern
countries, including Iran, because Turkey argues that we need
soft power, we need to gain the hearts and minds of the people. Any
attacks in the Middle East will also harm the Turkish economy and our
interests. This is why the Turks are trying to solve the conflicts
and problems in the region.

Turkey was the moderator or facilitator between Israel and Syria,
between Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the various sects in Iraq
and even between the United States and Iran. Turkey is trying to
solve all the regional problems because the Turkish leaders know
that if Turkey cannot, those problems will overflow into Turkey,
like the Kurdish problem; Northern Iraq has become a base for the PKK
terrorists who are attacking Turkish targets. So Turkey is not changing
its direction but perhaps discovering the region and trying to further
its good relations with the region. Turkey is improving relations with
the Middle East, Caucasia and the Balkans but not at the expense of
boosting its relations with the West, because a stronger partner is
better than a weaker partner for the United States and the EU.

Neo-Ottomanism?

Neo-Ottomanism is not possible because the world is a different place
and if any resemblance of Ottoman policy were initiated then all the
former states in the region would be against Turkey. Turkey should
unite the regional countries and change the surrounding region; it
should democratize and liberalize the region, especially the Muslim
countries. Some of them are so backward in education and in where they
position women in society, their economic development and so forth.

Turkey has to change these societies and not by imposing something
as the empire did. First, Turkey needs to solve the problems and then
it should make cooperation and integrate, this ensures equal relations.

This understanding can be named ‘Neo-European Unionist policy’
because this is the EU spirit. Turkey is following the EU experience,
not the Ottoman experience.

Relations with Israel under the AKP

There are some Israelis and Jewish people that have thought the
AKP (AK Party) was an Islamist party and that they were against
relations with Israel, but this is not the case. The previous Israeli
ambassador to Turkey gave a lecture at the USAK a few years ago and
he argued that Turkey’s relations with Israel peaked during the AKP
administration. Economic relations reached over 10 billion dollars,
and tourism, direct investments and trade have developed further and
those cannot be compared to past relations between Turkey and Israel.

The AKP is not against Israel, or against the West, they have complied
to EU regulations in almost all dimensions with Israel, but at the
same time, Turkey has decided to solve its problems with its neighbors.

The Neo-Cons, some of the Jewish organizations, some of the pro-Israeli
think tanks in the US, and right wing extremists in Israel have
accused Turkey of being anti-Israeli in the last 3 or 4 years.

After the Lebanon war and the Gaza conflicts, Turkey harshly criticized
Israel because in both cases more than 1.400 people were killed by
Israeli forces and many were women and children. Perhaps 100-150 were
militant while the rest were civilians. Turkey harshly criticized
Israel and said their way of combating Palestinians is not effective
and their efforts are only creating more terrorists but terrorizing
the region. Israel creates these problems and Turkey like the whole
of the region is paying the cost. It is ironic that some Israeli
experts are now accusing Turkey of being anti-Semitic although Turkey
is maybe the best country in terms of anti-Semitism records.

During Ottoman times, Jewish people took shelter here, Sephardic
Jews came to the Ottoman State, they were a main component of the
empire and when the empire was collapsing Turkey and it’s minorities
cooperated together. There were some Jews who were against having
a Jewish State because they had the protection under the Empire, a
safe haven. They declared that they had a Jewish state and a country
that protected them and during the 20th century, you cannot see any
anti-Semitic political current in Turkey. Israel accuses all critics
of being anti-Semitic but this is not good for Israeli interests.

Turkey believes that friends need to criticize each other sometimes
in order to maintain both parties interests. We are not enemies.

We also see some extremist groups in Israel organizing campaigns
against the AKP. They organize secret reports and secret gatherings
that argue the U.S. should support a military coup in Turkey because
they claim the current political party here cannot develop strong
Turkey-Israeli or Turkey-U.S. relations. They have waged a dirty
campaign in Washington to create a gap between the Turkish and U.S.

administrations and the Turkish State is well aware of these dirty
campaigns. For example, the Jewish group MEMRI is translating Turkish
speeches and Presidential reports in order to manipulate American
society. They translate words with a quite different spirit. If
the Prime Minister says we are friends of Israel that is why we are
criticizing them, they translate it into we are criticizing Israel
because Israel deserves that. They apply dirty tricks to manipulate
American politics.

Last year, after the Davos crisis, a high ranking Israeli general
accused Turkey in all policy areas, including our policies with the
Kurds, Armenians and Greeks, all issues that Israel supported during
the 70’s 80’s and 90’s so what happened in 2009? Nothing has changed
but the problem in Israel is that some politicians and military
personnel are very emotional. I understand they are under fire, they
are surrounded by some hostile Muslim countries and since the 1920s,
they have been in hot conflicts; this environment has had negative
effects for them and maybe they cannot think with a healthy mind
frame, but if they continue to behave towards Turkey in this way,
and undermine Turkish-United States, EU and Israeli relations, this
behavior will cause long lasting damage in relations.

November 9, 2009

No surprise on the House’s support of Ros-Lehtinen/Berman resolution

For OpEdNews: by Susan Galleymore – Writer

rise-on-the-House-s-by-Susan-Galleymore-091105-464 .html

Oy vey! So, what’s new? Ros-Lehtinen/Berman resolution 867 passed: 344-36.

That it did so with such a wide margin is a bit surprising…certainly
craven…and shameful. After all, this nonbinding resolution merely
urged Obama and Clinton to oppose unequivocally any endorsement of the
Goldstone report. If ever there’s a time to placate the progressive
population – and lose very little in doing so – a nonbinding resolution
is it!

Given Congress’s, the Pentagon’s, and mainstream America’s ongoing and
uncritical support for Israel and its policies, what is new is
Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman was threatened enough by the
possibility of the House not backing H.R. 867 that he called on Judge
Goldstone to repudiate his report.

Said Abe to the Judge: `I have had great respect for you over the
years. Your work at the head of the South Africa Reconciliation
Commission and in helping to find a just solution to the Bosnian
conflict deserves the highest commendation….I know you to be a proud
Jew who serves on the Board of Trustees of Hebrew University and who
has a daughter living in Israel…[and] the Human Rights Council has
repeatedly demonstrated its bias against Israel…’

When has the House, or the Senate, ever let Foxman and his friends
down? This is the same Foxman who denies the Armenian genocide, who
believes that issue should be resolved between Turks and Armenians, and
who works behind the scenes to defeat a fair hearing about that
genocide in Congress.

Ironically, at a San Francisco Jewish Community Center for a recent
book event, Foxman said, `No one can dictate to you to use the word
that you want us to use. We will use the words that we feel comfortable
with.’

Accordingly, Foxman feels comfortable making thoughtful Jews feel
uncomfortable with words such as anti-Semite, self-hating Jew,
Israel-threatening Jew, Israel-bashing Jew, and so on.

Author and medical doctor Alice Rothchild grew up as a good American
Jewish girl and came of age to the dominant narrative of Israel as
heroic, courageous, standing bravely against all odds…. Since then,
believing what her eyes show her, she’s changed her views about the
situation. This effort to grow, learn, and change one’s mind based on
new information is essential to adulthood. But it landed Rothchild on
the Jewish S.H.I.T List, an alphabetized roll-call of more than seven
thousand so-called Self-Hating and/or Israel-Threatening Jews.

In a recent radio interview* I asked her about the moral underpinnings
of her work.

She said, `One big moral dilemma for me is how the American Jewish
community blindly supports everything the Israeli government does. My
question is, what is the role of US Jews and the United States in this
conflict? While it is difficult to paint American Jewry with one broad
brush stroke, for the most part mainstream American Jewry walks in line
with Israeli policy no matter what it does. It is very intolerant of
any critical dissent. That is bad for us…and it is bad for Israel.’

She continues, `I believe that if we American Jews see our brothers and
sisters in Israel doing things that we find morally indefensible, we
have to say something. If we don’t, it is bad for them…and it is bad
for us. Let’s face it, it doesn’t get any better than having a Zionist,
Jewish South African human rights lawyer like Goldstone reporting these
facts. For the Jewish community to come down so heavily on his report
makes me want to cry. For, if we don’t face up to what is in this
report, we as Jews and as Israelis are going to lose any moral
credibility in the world.’

Rothchild makes a compelling analogy. `Just as we in the United States
are made stronger by facing up to our history of slavery, the civil
rights struggle – all the things that we are ashamed of in our history
– Jews and Israelis need to do too.’

Rothchild concludes, `The US government sends Israel billions of
dollars of aid every year…and for what? There is a huge intermix of
the two military establishments. They try out our weapons, they do all
our dirty work… Once you start researching this stuff it is very
disturbing. It is a dangerous relationship and it raises difficult
moral questions for all of us.’

Apparently, it raises no moral question for 344 members of the US
House. Or Abe Foxman.

I imagine the day when that S.H.I.T. list becomes a roll call that
honors the people whose courage and steadfast morality helped turn the
tide in Israel/Palestine.

Meanwhile, Let’s see what Obama and Clinton do. I’m afraid there will
be no surprise there either.

Oy vey!

*Listen to the interview at Raising Sand Radio –

Bio
Susan Galleymore is the author of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak
about War and Terror, in which she shares the stories of people in
Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and U.S. [Pluto Press 2009].
She is also the mother of a U.S. Army veteran, host and producer of
Stanford University’s KZSU Raising Sand Radio
(), a counselor on the GI Rights Hotline,
founder of MotherSpeak (), and itinerant artist
illustrating the effects of war in the Families of War Series. She
lived and worked in Israel from 1975 to 1977 where she also learned
Hebrew. Contact her at [email protected]=3B

TURKEY’S PRIME MINISTER MET WITH IRAN’S PRESIDENT IN ISTANBUL

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.11.2009 14:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in
Turkey on Sunday to attend a conference of the Permanent Committee of
Social and Economic Cooperation Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan met with Ahmadinejad in Istanbul.

Ahmadinejad is to hold talks with some leaders of Islamic countries
during the conference which will be inaugurated by Turkish President
Abdullah Gul on Monday.

The conference will be held to mark the 25th anniversary of the
establishment of the permanent committee.

4TH FESTIVAL OF YOUNG THEATRE DIRECTORS TAKES PLACE IN YEREVAN

Tert
Nov 6 2009
Armenia

The 4th Republican Festival of Young Theatre Directors, founded and
realized by Theatrical Workers’ Union of Armenia and with the support
of the Ministry of Culture, will take place from November 8-18. This
year, the number of theatrical performances in the festival line-up
rose from 11 to 14.

Other than the young stage directors from Yerevan, youth from Armenian
regional theatres outside of Yerevan, including youth from Gyumri,
Vanadzor, Kapan and Goris, will be showcasing their work in Yerevan
during the festival.

All performances in the festival are free and open to the public.

RECONSTRUCTED KINDERGARTEN IN KHNAPAT

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
November 03, 2009

Within the framework of the "Water and Health" programme, the
kindergarten of Khnapat community in Askeran region was reconstructed
by "Sedrik Marten" Fund’s financing. Reconstruction works had started
already in spring, and the ceremony of the kindergarten’s opening
took place on October 31.

Authors of the splendid establishment are husband and wife Daniel and
Jack Marten. They were honourable guests of Khnapat. The Prime Minister
A.Haroutyunyan accompanied by high-ranking officials was present at
the ceremony. The leadership of the country, which keeps the problems
of the growing up generation’s healthy upbringing in the centre of
its attention, welcomes such undertakings conducted by benefactors.

Receiving the second wind, the kindergarten now will meet its tots with
new and modern facilities. The anew opened kindergarten, which has 24
pupils hereinafter, will organize its activities in more interesting
and pleasant surrounding.

The inhabitants of Khnapat feel the attention of the benefactors’
attention not for the first time. Last year, by financing of the
"Sedrik Marten" Fund reconstruction of the village’s water pipes was
realized. Reconstruction of the kindergarten was the benefactors’
next present to the village.

STEVE MARTIN, ALEC BALDWIN TO CO-HOST OSCARS

Aysor
Nov 4 2009
Armenia

The 82nd annual Academy Awards will be presented in 2010 March and
will be hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Telecast producers
Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman said Martin and Baldwin are "the
perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars."

Steve Martin has hosted the show twice before, in 2001 and 2003,
and has appeared as a presenter several times. Alec Baldwin was a
co-presenter in 2004 and is a first-timer as Oscar host. Hollywood
veterans were very pleased with producers’ choice, media reported.

This year an Armenian movie Magician’s autumn by Ruben Gevorkyants will
be nominated for Academy Award. Nominated in "Foreign Language Film"
category, Magician’s autumn is dedicated to the world-famous Italian
scriptwriter, playwright, poet, painter, sculptor Tonino Guerra.

ARMENIAN WOMEN CHESS PLAYERS 16TH AND 18TH IN FIDE RANKINGS

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2009 14:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian women chess players Elina Danielyan and
Lilit Lazarian come 16th and 18th respectively in the FIDE Rankings.

Elina Danielyan has 2499 points while Lilit Lazarian has 2492 points.

Hungary’s Judit Polgar tops the list with 2680 points. She is
followed by Koneru Humpy (India, 2603 points) and Hou Yifan (China,
2588 points).