ARMENIAN JUDOISTS FAIL IN WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP
Noyan Tapan
Oct 28, 2008
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. Judo World Youth Championship
ended on October 26 in Bangkok. Representative of Armenia Artyom
Baghdasarian (73 kg, Gyumri) was also beaten in the first fight and
did not qualify. It should be mentioned that Gor Khorotian (100 kg,
Yerevan) had failed in the start stage before that.
ARMENIA, NIGERIA INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIC COOPERATION
armradio.am
27.10.2008 15:07
On October 27 the newly appointed Ambassador of Nigeria to Armenia
Mohammadu M. Abubakar Cika (seat in Tehran) presented the copies of
his credentials to the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Gegham
Gharibjanyan.
Gegham Gharibjanyan attached importance to the appointment of the
Ambassador of Nigeria to Armenia as the first step towards deepening
of relations.
The interlocutors discussed the possible directions of establishing
economic cooperation between Armenia and Nigeria. In this context the
Ambassador presented the economic potential of his country and the
investment field, noting that the fuel and energy sphere can become
a prospective field of bilateral economic cooperation.
During the meeting the parties turned to issues of deepening
cooperation between the two countries on the international arena,
especially within the UN framework.
The International Herald Tribune, France
October 24, 2008 Friday
A tour through Turkey’s slippery history
by Sabrina Tavernise – The New York Times Media Group
ISTANBUL
Murat Belge is one of Turkey’s most important intellectuals. He is
also – when the mood strikes him – one of this city’s most erudite
tour guides.
So when he boards a boat on Sunday mornings for a trip up the Bosporus
to talk about his beloved city, Istanbul, several hundred people line
up to listen.
His interest is history, and his talks are bursting with 19th-century
gossip. The paranoid sultan who lived directly on the sea to be able
to control it. The maid who went into prostitution to support her
mistress whose Albanian husband stole all their money. A Crusades-era
tree that was cut down in 1934 for a gardening school.
History can be slippery in Turkey, which became a modern state in 1923
from the ethnic patchwork of what remained of the Ottoman Empire. The
official version is kept under lock-and-key, and writers can be
punished for trying to open it.
Belge, a prominent leftist, knows this well. He was imprisoned for two
years during a military coup in the 1970s, and has been prosecuted,
but not jailed, in recent years, including for columns he wrote in
support of a controversial conference on Armenians.
But that does not seem to have dented his irreverence, which flowed as
freely as the anise flavored liqueur during lunch at a fish restaurant
during a tour this summer. ”We have a very unhealthy relation with
our history,” he said. ”It’s basically a collection of lies.”
In Turkey’s painful birth, at the end of World War I, its founder,
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, disassembled the structure of the Ottoman
state, which had been in place for 600 years.
He avoided using the Ottomans to forge a national identity and instead
emphasized ”Turkishness,” reaching back to the Hittites in 2,600
B.C.
”To set up a state is easy, but to create a nation is extremely
difficult,” Belge said. ”We are still suffering the consequences.”
But confrontation is not his objective. On the contrary, his strong
affection for this beautiful city – piled on top of itself throughout
the centuries – and his loving attention to detail, gives audiences a
new look at their own environment.
This city straddles Europe and Asia, and the journey begins in Europe,
not far from an Ottoman palace, Dolmabahce, built in the 19th century,
when the empire was already in deep decline. Balconies, Belge said,
were brought by European designers.
”Tanzimat emerges from that peninsula,” Belge said, motioning to a
green finger of land, where minarets of the 17th-century Blue Mosque
spike the skyline. Tanzimat was a brief period of reform in the 19th
century, when the Ottomans tried to modernize, creating a parliament
and, briefly, a constitution, as well as giving more rights to ethnic
and religious minorities.
It was a time of brisk international trade. The ships coming to port
in Ottoman times were far more than those during the early times of
the Turkish republic, he said. ”Ottomans were much more globalized in
that respect,” he said.
The Ottomans wanted no competition to their power, so unlike in
European society, had no class of landed gentry, Belge said. People
could rise in wealth and status fast. So it was for one illiterate
military officer, who became chief commander of the army. He signed
his name using the Arabic script numbers 7 and 8, and a few squiggles
in between, because that is what writing looked like to him. His wife,
a washer woman, never got used to her new important status, and
embarrassed hosts by refusing to sit down in front of them, accepted
servant behavior at the time.
Printing presses did not go into broad use until late. When a
publishing house opened in 1724, just 30 books were published for 100
years, almost all of them religious, Belge said. The sultan’s
permission was required for publication.
The wooden waterfront mansions, or yali in Turkish, are one of Belge’s
favorite features of the Bosporus. He lived in one for a summer in
1974, and ever since has been trying to unearth their stories. As a
professor and writer, he likes sharing what he knows, so he began to
lead walking tours.
Most of the audiences were women, because, in his words, ”men don’t
like learning things from men.”
By the 19th century, even tradesman were living in the waterfront
yalis. Belge pointed out one that is referred to as the ”shoe leather
maker’s yali.” The snake yali got its name when a sultan remarked
admiringly about it to his servant. The man happened to know the
owner, and fearful that the yali would be taken by the sultan, replied
that it looked nice from the outside, but that inside it had a snake
infestation problem.
Belge pointed to a court office that had burned. ”In Turkey, there is
a habit that justice buildings burn so that the archives disappear,”
he said mischievously.
Then he indicated an empty space where a yali was destroyed by an
out-of-control ferry.
”Living on the Bosporus is good, but there are consequences,” he
said.
"INGO ARMENIA" INSURANCE COMPANY GRANTED NONLIFE REINSURANCE LICENCE
Noyan Tapan
Oct 22, 2008
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. At the October 21 sitting, the
Board of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) approved the estimate of
CBA’s expenditures for 2009, as well as made a decision on granting
a nonlife reinsurance licence to Ingo Armenia insurance company.
According to the CBA PR Service, the CBA Board granted pemission to
particiate in Anelik foreign payment and account system to Depi Tun
LLC, and permission to participate in Money Gram foreign payment and
account system to Armbusinessbank CJSC.
PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
25 Oct 2008
Armenia
"We perfectly realize the fact that the settlement of the conflict
depends on the establishment of cooperation and the tools of acquiring
trust, but unfortunately, it is objectively impossible to do anything
with regard to this matter.
There have been a great number of initiatives in the region that
weren’t successful, and they were proposed not only by the OSCE
but also by international organization and separate countries such
as the United States and Russia. And the reason those initiatives
were unsuccessful was that some countries in the region consider
that it will be possible to develop the cooperation only after the
settlement of the conflict. That’s to say, they seem to be setting
some preconditions for cooperation. In my opinion, they are actually
putting the cart before the horse. "
HUBERT HAENEL: FRENCH SENATE WILL NEVER PASS BILL CRIMINALIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2008 14:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The French Senate "will never adopt the bill
criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide," a prominent leader
in the Senate said.
In 2006, the French National Assembly adopted the bill criminalizing
the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The bill
was blocked by the Senate, but the vote in the lower house of the
parliament dealt a blow to bilateral relations between Turkey and
France.
"The issue is closed. The Senate will never adopt this law," said
Hubert Haenel, president of the Senate’s Commission for European Union
Affairs when addressing a seminar titled "The Republic in France and
Turkey" at Bilgi University in Istanbul.
He said the atmosphere between the two countries had changed,
implying also that there was a different conjecture that would also
make it difficult for the Senate to make a decision that would damage
bilateral relations, the Turkish Daily News reports.
LAND AND CULTURE ORGANIZATION CONTINUES ITS MISSION IN ARMENIA
Armenian Reporter
=FA81E764-3FF3-752C-28B575EF1F0A54F7
October 22, 2008
Armenia
Local volunteers in Syunik help restore monuments
Land and Culture organization volunteers cleaning up the Vorotnavank
monastic complex.
SISIAN, Armenia – Concerned about the progressive destruction of
historical Armenian monuments and sites throughout the world, a group
of young French Armenians founded the Land and Culture Organization
(LCO) in France in 1977. Realizing that Armenian architectural
monuments were defenseless against the ravages of time and people, the
LCO set out to help restore and preserve them. Soon after its creation,
the LCO opened branches in the United States and England. After the
devastating earthquake in Armenia in 1988, LCO started working in
Armenia and in 1994 officially registered a branch in the homeland.
The organization has organized summer programs which they call
campaigns, where volunteers from all over the world travel to locations
where Armenian ancestral sites can be found. They work in the area
of architectural preservation, land cultivation, and community
development. These summer campaigns serve as an opportunity for
Armenians to come together to discover their ancestral roots and expand
their cultural horizons. They also put their common ideals into action.
This past summer, the LCO organized its Faith and Heritage Youth
Campaign in Sisian and Goris in the Syunik region of Armenia. The
Youth Campaign had been the late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian’s vision
and this year’s campaign was held in his memory.
During these LCO campaigns, young men and women travel to monasteries
and other national historic monuments to clean the surrounding areas of
the monument. They are joined by young volunteers from local villages
to bring the historic monument to a presentable state. This year’s
campaign included about 50 young volunteers from Yerevan and other
regions of the country who were then joined by volunteers from local
villages near the sites.
The Faith and Heritage Youth Campaign visited the 7th-century
St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Sisian, including the
Karadaran, an open air repository of ancient khatchkars (stone
crosses), gravestones, and rock carvings where they conducted a
clean-up. They also worked on a 7th-century mausoleum in the village
of Aghitu. According to organizers, the site was completely cleared
of wild, overgrown weeds and vegetation. The group also spent time
at the Vorotnavank monastic complex, where they cleared the site of
garbage, filling large garbage bags with rubbish, and also cleared
away overgrown thorns and vegetation.
The volunteers also cleared the entire area surrounding the Shake
Hydroelectric station. The young people were amazed at the incredible
amount of garbage in the area but were able to secure promises from
local representatives that they would be disposed of properly.
These dedicated young volunteers also worked on the site of a monastic
complex from the Middle Ages in the steep ravine by the river Vorotan
before traveling to the city of Goris where they visited the local
church, the ancient caves of Goris, and the local museum of geology.
The Land and Culture Organization will continue to organize these youth
campaigns on a yearly basis ensuring the clean-up and maintenance of
national historical sites and at the same time giving young Armenians
the opportunity to take part in a worthwhile cause while discovering
their roots..?
PSCC SEEKS STUDENTS FOR STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM
Pasadena Now
Monday, October 20 | 10:53 pm
CA
The Pasadena Sister Cities'(PSCC) Armenia Sub-Committee is looking
for applicants for their Pasadena/Vanadzor mutual student exchange
program; the deadline for which this year is November 28, 2008.
PSCC’s Armenia Sub-Committee has managed past student exchanges with
positive results.
High school students from Pasadena, sixteen and over, who spend time
in Vanadzor, came back raving about the warm hospitality, family
values and the cultural heritage of Armenia.
Reciprocally, students from Armenia who visit Pasadena spend time
with teachers, intern with professionals and live with American and
locally established Armenian families, to get immersed in the local
culture. This is a volunteer program where students pay their own
travel fare but are housed and entertained by families in the host
city. The exchange is managed from Pasadena through affiliates in
Vanadzor, with a meticulous accounting of all expenses.
Exchange program students are the best ambassadors of goodwill to
propagate the benefits of mutual visits. PSCC’s Armenia Sub-Committee
calls upon schools, .residents and businesses in Pasadena, interested
in sending students over, to contact [email protected], PSCC
Student Coordinator, for information or applications.
SECOND SECTION OF IRAN-ARMENIAN GAS MAIN TO BE COMPLETED THIS MONTH
ARKA
Oct 20, 2008
YEREVAN, October 20. /ARKA/. The construction of the second,
Kajaran-Ararat, section of the Iran-Armenia gas main is to be completed
late this month.
At his meeting with journalists in the village of Lernashey, Syunik
region, Project Manager Vladimir Margaryan reported that the work
was to be completed on October 15, but weather conditions proved
unfavorable.
According to him, the last, 3km-long, section will connect the gas
main with the "point of destination", the town of Ararat about 60km
of Yerevan.
Margaryan pointed out that the most difficult work was done at an
altitude of 3,000 meters above sea level.
Ararat’s milder climate will make the builders’ task easier.
The Iran-Armenia gas main will increase the capacity of Armenia’s
gas transmission system and ensure the supply of gas to Armenia’s
thermal power plants.
The first 40km-long section, Meghri-Kajaran, was put into operation
on March 19, 2007.
The construction is carried out by ArmRosgasprom, which holds a
monopoly of supply and distribution of Russian gas in Armenia.
The project is estimated at $220-$250mln.
By the end of this autumn, Armenia will receive the first 400mln cubic
meters of natural gas from Iran, with this amount to be brought up
to 2.3bln cubic meters.
Under the contract, Iran is to supply a total of 6b ln cubic meters
of gas to Armenia during 20 years. The contract provides for a 5-year
prolongation and an increase in gas supplies up to 47bln cubic meters.
All the gas is to be use for generation of electric power for domestic
consumption and export to Iran – 3kwh of energy against one cubic
meter of gas.
IMEX GROUP’S BONDS WORTH $3.3 MLN PLACED BY AMERIABANK BY 100%
ArmInfo
2008-10-16 16:11:00
ArmInfo. IMEX GROUP’S registered coupon bonds worth $3.3 mln are
placed by AMERIABANK by 100%, Andrey Shinkevich, the director of
the department for investment banking operations, told journalists,
Thursday. He noted that over 40 investors filed applications for
acquisition of bonds. This is a very good indicator for Armenia,
he added. To recall, the value of each bond is 10,000 AMD, and
the maturity period is two years. The coupon rate is set at 11.50%
per annum, payable on quarterly basis. The bonds are placed under a
competitive mechanism for the first time in Armenia’s practice. "I
am sure that this result was predictable with due regard for the big
work done by the underwriter", Tigran Galstyan, the head of the IMEX
GROUP LLC’s presidential administration, noted.
Sergey Shevchenko, the director of the department for trade operations
of AMERIABANK, said that the bonds will be listed at Armenian Exchange
(ArmEx) in five days. Before that time AMERIABANK itself will quote
them. He said that the yield will make up 11.5%, the spread – about
0.5%. According to him, the low spread is conditioned by the aspiration
to remove possible obstacles in circulation of the securities. For
this purpose the holders will be able to conclude REPO agreements
with the bank, the term of the agreements may range from 7 days to
3 months. "The yield will be close to the market level as we are not
going to gain profit from this", Shevchenko stressed.
Speaking of the bond holders, Shevchenko noted that AMERIABANK acquired
15%, the rest 85% were distributed among natural and legal persons
approximately equally. Legal persons are a bit more, nonetheless, it is
hard to specify the percentage as in a number of cases representatives
of companies acquire securities as individuals, he noted.
To note, "IMEX GROUP" LLC is the founder of the retail-chain of
"Ideal System", well known construction materials shop-saloons,
as well as "Thermotech", heating and air conditioning systems
shop-saloons. "Ceramics" elite shop-saloon of interior design materials
also belongs to the "IMEX GROUP". In 2007, the revenue from the sales
of goods, products, works and services totaled more than 8.0 billion
AMD, showing an increase of 166% compared to the figures of Y2004. In
2007, the profit totalled over 1 bln AMD, which is almost four times
as much as in Y2004.
According to AMERIABANK’s report, as of October 1, 2008, the total
capital of the bank was 18, 8 bln AMD, assets – 41.2 bln AMD, general
obligations – 21.7 bln AMD.