Author: Kalantarian Kevo

FALSIFICATIONS WILL IRRITATE THE WHOLE NATION

A1+
[06:30 pm] 08 May, 2007

In case of falsification of citizens votes on May 12 elections,
Raffi Hovhannisyan, Leader of "Heritage" Party feels quite sure that
this will consolidate the whole nation including the opposition. "If
people’s votes are violated again, political forces will consolidate
together and all citizens of Armenia either to claim their rights,
irrespective of their political party belonging. This time major and
significant issues for our country are put on the scale: the future
of our children, the reputation of the whole country including the
leading role of Armenia in the region", said Hovannisyan at the
meeting with journalists.

"Our Party make records of violation cases and the conditions for
pre-election advocacy campaign are unequal. On May 12 "Heritage"
" will announce its victory and the Party will be the leading one"
", promised the Party leader. The Party is participating at the
elections for the first time. Hovannisyan thinks if the Central
Electoral Commission (CEC) announces the real figures, the Armenian
people will celebrate its victory. "We should be capable enough to
hold free and fair elections in our country without international
observers. International observers are present and performing their
job and I hope that this time values related to democracy in Armenia
will be above other political issues for them"", said the Party Leader.

He also noted that currently our country is overlapped with parties’
flags instead of the State flag. "People recognize only one State
Flag, one Army, one State Emblem and one united country. The present
President, the Prime Minister who also is the President of Armenian
Republican Party should leave their posts. We anticipate that May 12
will give freedom to our people’.

ARTASHES GEGHAMIAN CONVINCED THAT POWER SHIFT IS INEVITABLE IN ARMENIA
ON MAY 12

YEREVAN, MAY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The meetings of representatives of
National Unity Party in 81 populated areas of Armenia during the
election campaign inspire confidence that power the shift is already
inevitable in the country on May 12. Chairman of National Unity Party
Artashes Geghamian stated this at the May 4 press conference.

He expressed confidence that the National Unity will have absolute
success in the upcoming elections. In A. Geghamian’s words, the
evidence of this are the meetings in the regions "where the people
stand in queues for taking party’s anti-crisis program." "The National
Unity Party has assumed a very heavy burden, we open a window and door
of hope, light for the people which appeared in hard conditions," the
National Unity Chairman said.

In his words, the National Unity, as well as political forces making
part of power will have a considerable representation in the National
Assembly of new convocation. At the same time, A. Geghamian said that
he does not exclude and would like a great number of opposition
political forces also to be represented in NA, in particular, the
People’s Party of Armenia, the Nor Zhamanakner Party, the Democratic
Way Party. A. Geghamian perceives Chairman of Dashink Party Samvel
Babayan as a serious military figure and sees him "in the highest
military instances."

In connection with the sociological surveys being held Geghamian said:
"Sociology is an exact science: the more they pay the more percents
they write." In his words, the fact that such survey costs 51
thousand dollars permits to understand who are ordering it: these are
parties making part of power. "All the same, no matter how much they
paint, thet will not become Picasso," A. Geghamian said adding that
they will not manage to mislead the people, as the age of season
patriots has passed long ago.

"And if the authorities think that they can falsify the elections and
digest this, they are mistaken," A. Geghamian said. In his words, even
"the most peaceful party, National Unity," is ready to strictly punish
the authorities in that case.

YSU STUDENTS SUGGEST ANTI-CORRUPTION METHODS

A1+
[02:28 pm] 04 May, 2007

"High-quality education is not acceptable for students due to
corruption. We suggest mechanisms for combating the phenomenon,"
says Janna Budaryan, a member of "Hope" Student Initiative Group.

On May 3, thousands of students moved to the RoA Government building
shouting, "Yerevan State University," and "Armenia." They wanted to
hand the Prime Minister a letter with their suggestions to improve
educational system. According to the Initiative Group members,
corruption has become a deeply-rooted phenomenon in Armenia.

In respond to A1+’s question whether they had ever encountered
corruption, a second-year student Artak said, "We face corruption
every day and at each step."

The participants of "Hope" read their letter in front of the Government
premises and presented its provisions; ~U Combating corruption ~U
Supervising the admission process to higher educational institutions
~U Increasing professors’ salaries

According to the authors, the portfolio of the Minister of Education
shouldn’t belong to any party.

The students handed the letter to Alexander Ghazaryan, the Deputy
Minister of Regional Government, who promised to meet their
requirements.

FRANK PALLONE CASTIGATED THE UNITED NATIONS FOR POSTPONING A RWANDAN GENOCIDE EXHIBIT

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 4 2007

In a powerful speech on the House floor, Congressional Armenian Caucus
Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) castigated the United Nations for first
postponing and then rewording a Rwandan genocide exhibit in response
to protests from the Turkish Government about its inclusion of a
display citing the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA).

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian expressed his gratitude to Frank
Pallone. "We value Frank Pallone’s leadership and share his principled
view that the international community’s efforts to prevent and punish
genocide should be not reduced to the level acceptable to a Turkish
government that is actively pursuing a campaign of genocide denial –
both here in the United States and around the world."

To remind, the controversy arose three weeks ago, when the United
Nations first postponed the opening of an exhibit on the Rwandan
Genocide, organized by the Aegis Trust, which made reference to
the Armenian Genocide. Over the past several weeks, as the result
of intense pressure from the Turkish government, the United Nations
reworded the exhibit prior to its opening this week. The postponement
was covered widely in the U.S. press, including articles by the
New York Times and Associated Press. A New York Times editorial
regarding the issue stated, "It’s odd that Turkey’s leaders have not
figured out by now that every time they try to censor discussion of
the Armenian genocide, they only bring wider attention to the subject
and link today’s democratic Turkey with the now distant crime. As for
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his inexperienced new leadership
team, they have once again shown how much they have to learn if they
are to honorably and effectively serve the United Nations, which is
supposed to be the embodiment of international law and a leading
voice against genocide." The ANCA, Genocide Intervention Network,
and Armenian Assembly called on the U.N. to reject Turkey’s objections
to the exhibit.

Rep. Pallone, clearly incensed by the U.N. decision to reword the
exhibit prior to its opening, remarked, in part, "How, exactly,
are you educating the public about genocide, when you refuse to
call the first genocide of the 20th century by its name? The word
‘~Rgenocide’~R was actually created as a way to describe the barbaric
crimes inflicted against the Armenians between 1915 and 1923, but
now the word cannot be used in an exhibit at the U.N. This is utterly
ridiculous. . . Would you ever have an exhibit on Christianity without
mentioning the birth of Christ?"

DURST’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT A TRIUMPH
By Gregg Goldstein

Hollywood Reporter, CA
May 4 2007

NEW YORK — Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst’s feature directorial
debut "The Education of Charlie Banks" took home the Made in NY best
narrative feature award Thursday night at a Tribeca Film Festival
awards ceremony in Chinatown.

Durst, who also won $5,000 with the award, was on a plane back to Los
Angeles during the ceremony. His curly haired star Jesse Eisenberg
accepted on his behalf. "I’m not Fred in a wig," he joked, "(but)
I’m not going to tell him if it means I get the $5,000."

Eisenberg noted that "Fred grew up in the South, but he was so adamant
about making (the film) authentically on location in New York."

"Enron" director Alex Gibney’s political torture expose "Taxi to the
Dark Side" was named best documentary feature.

Gibney described the film, about the process of uncovering torture by
the U.S. military, "very hard to make because of the human depravity
we had to watch.

"I can remember being here during Sept. 11. Out of the wreckage
downtown there was a sense of hope that emerged, and it was hijacked
by some people who played on our fears. I hope this film is a prod
to turn the taxi of our government around," he added.

Gibney’s film was one of the few high-profile titles among work from
mostly unknown filmmakers in the competition categories selected from
18 narrative and 16 documentary features.

More than $270,000 in cash prizes were awarded to the filmmakers.

David Volach’s Israeli drama "My Father My Lord" (Hofshat Kaits) took
home the top Founders Award for best narrative feature and $50,000.

Writer-director Nouri Bouzid’s terrorism-themed "Making Of" won $15,000
for best screenplay, and his star Lofti Abdelli took the best actor
in a narrative feature film award. Marina Hands won best actress in
a narrative feature film as the title character in Pascale Ferran’s
D.H. Lawrence adaptation "Lady Chatterley."

Festival co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal presented the
Founders Award.

Enrique Begne was named best new narrative filmmaker and given $25,000
for his Mexican drama "Two Embraces" (Dos abrazos). Vardan Hovhannisyan
also won $25,000 and the best new documentary filmmaker honor for his
Armenian war chronicle "A Story of People in War & Peace." A special
jury docu mention was given to Paul Taylor’s look at a South African
orphanage, "We are Together" (Thina Simunye).

Esther Robinson won $5,000 and the NY Loves Film documentary award,
sponsored by the New York State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture
and Television Development, for "A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams
and the Warhol Factory." Andrew Piddington’s "The Killing of John
Lennon" won the narrative Made In NY special jury recognition award.

Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Awards were given to Dee Rees for
her docu work-in-progress "Eventual Salvation" and Ben Rekhi for his
narrative screenplay "Waste," with $10,000 for each recipient.

Marilyn Fu won $5,000 and the TAA screenplay award for "The Sisterhood
of Night."

The World Narrative Competition jurors were Chris Cooper, Edie Falco,
Goran Paskaljevic, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Barry Sonnenfeld.

World Documentary Competition jurors were Heidi Ewing, Whoopi
Goldberg, Jehane Noujaim, Raoul Peck and Gideon Yago. Made in New York
Competition jurors were Minnie Driver, Dave Fear, Alex Gibney, Leah
Rozen, Oren Rudavsky and Mercedes Ruehl, while the New York Loves Film
Documentary Competition jurors were Eric Bogosian, Marshall Fine, Susan
Lyne, Patrick McCarthy, Sheila Nevins, Gene Seymour and Ivanka Trump.

The audience-chosen Cadillac Award and $25,000 will be awarded
Saturday.

m/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i3eb7af9e30299473 afcadf066ec58577

THE SOCIAL-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN SHIRAK PROVINCE (MARZ)
By Gegham Mkrtchian

AZG Armenian Daily
03/05/2007

According to the statistics the unemployment percentage in towns
of Shirak is bigger than in the villages of the province. Artashes
Boyagian, lecturer of the State Pedagogical Institute of Gyumri,
explains it like this: after the privatizations of land the people
of the villages got something to do, compared with the people of the
town, who became unemployed after the privatization of industrial
plants and factories.

According to the statistics of A. Boyagian the employment percentage
of 2001 became lower with 59.800 people (49.5oo in Gyumri) compared
with 1988 in the spheres of industry, agriculture, construction,
transport, communication. In the province the figure of 95.000 workers
went down up to 36.200. The employment percentage of these spheres
went down from 66.4 % up to 19.9 % in the total employment percentage
of Gyumri. It means that the town became a consumer instead of the
industrial producer.

In the last 15 years the government didn’t do any efforts not only to
strengthen the industry of the town, but also to take care of what
it had. Moreover, since 2003 according to the Government decisions
the industrial buildings of the town has been removed and sold at
very low prices. The government and regional officials has not even
worked out a Project of Industrial Development of Shirak.

The researcher thinks that its time to change the passive policy of
the employment market of Shirak into active one: increasing the work
values and the percentage of employment in the sphere of industry.

ERDOGAN CALLED TO REVIEW TURKISH CONSTITUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.05.2007 16:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish Cabinet has appealed to the parliament
to hold early general elections June 24. In an address to the nation
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan called to review the Constitution to entitle
people to elect President.

Besides, the PM offered to elect parliament for 4 years instead of
5 and elect President for 5 years instead of 7 with a right to be
re-elected for a second term.

The move comes after Turkey’s constitutional court annulled last
Friday’s vote to elect a new president, BBC reports.

MURDER FOR A PIECE OF LAND

ArmRadio.am
30.04.2007 14:22

One of the employees of parliamentary Vahram Baghdasarayn’s election
staff was killed as a result of quarrel with a colleague.

On April 26 Hrant Hakobyan, born 1964, was taken to Vanadzor hospital
with knife wounds in the belly and hips. On April 27 Hrant Hakobyan
died during a surgery.

A criminal case was launched in compliance with Article 104 of
RA Criminal Code. The investigation is being carried out by the
Prosecutor’s Office of Lori marz.

During the external examination of the corpse 15 bodily injuries
caused by sharp tools were found.

The probe into the case revealed the quarrel between Hrant Hakobyan
and Samvel Diloyan was about a piece of land next to 51, Vardanants
Street, Vanadzor.

Both worked in Vahran Baghdasaryan’s election staff.

The investigation of the case is under way.

CONSTRUCTION VOLUME GROWS BY 12.4% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2007 ON SAME PERIOD OF 2006

Noyan Tapan
Apr 30 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-February 2007, construction
of 14 bln 436 mln drams (about 4.1 mln USD) was done in Armenia,
including constr uction of production facilities of 4 bln 669.6 mln
drams. Out of this work, building and assembly work amounted to 11
bln 509 mln drams, including that of production facilities of 2 bln
794.3 mln drams.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, construction in
January-February 2007 grew by 12.4% on the same period of 2006,
including a 15.1% growth in building and assembly work.

83.5% of the total area of residential buildings delivered for
operation in January-February 2007 was built with funds of the
population, 16.5% – with organizations’ funds.

4 comprehensive schools were repaired with World Bank credit resources
in January-February of this year.

DIFFERENT RESULTS

A1+
[12:21 pm] 01 May, 2007

The Armenian judo players were not a success at the World Cup held
in Italy. Ashot Vardikyan (60 kg) took the 7th place, whereas Artur
Aghabekyan took the 9th place in the same weight category.

Armenian judoists played better at the "A" group tournament in the
city of Vira, Estonia. Hakob Arakelyan (81 kg) became a champion,
Artyom Baghdasaryan (66 kg) took the second place, and Aram Ghazaryan
(73 kg) and Gor Azizbekyan (60 kg) won bronze medals.

On May 5, World Cup meetings kick off in Moscow.

Hovhannes Davtyan (60 kg) and Artur Srapyan (in the same category),
Armen Nazaryan (66 kg) and Mesrop Barbaryan, Armen Ispiryan (81 kg)
will be RoA representatives.

Moscow successful candidates will take part in the World Cup tournament
held on May 9-20 in Bucharest, Romania.