Author: Kanayan Tamar

PRESS RELEASE
ARMENIAN GENERAL BENEVOLENT UNION
2495 E. Mountain St, Pasadena, CA 91104
Tel: (626) 794 7942
Fax: (626) 794 2622
Web:

First Annual Spring 2010
Basketball Tournament at the AGBU Pasadena Center

Pasadena, CA – May 2nd 2010 marked the closing ceremony of the first
annual Spring Basketball 2010 Basketball Tournament organized by the
sports committee of the AGBU Glendale/Pasadena Chapter.

Spanning the course of four consecutive weekends, participants from
various schools and organizations met to compete at the AGBU Pasadena
Center basketball court. Teams were divided among age groups – both
girls and boys – ranging from 8 to 17 year olds. Participants of the
tournament included Arshag Dickranian School, Hovespian School,
Armenian Sisters Academy, UACC, HMM Glendale, AGBU-AYA clubs and
school alumni teams.

The goal of the organizers was to provide a venue for the local youth
to come together, compete, enhance their basketball skills and have
fun doing so. From the feedback received, the AGBU Spring 2010
Basketball Tournament succeeded in doing just that and much more.

`The atmosphere was relaxed, friendly and cooperative. Animosity
between the rival teams was practically non-existent. On the contrary,
this opportunity brought about a burgeoning camaraderie among all the
athletes present. Kudos to the AGBU organizers for presenting our kids
with this experience’ stated an athlete’s parent.

The closing ceremony followed a day of nail biting eliminatory games
with bleachers full of fans and supporters, kids of different ages
stepping in and out of the court, and coaches sharing some last minute
tips with their players before a final game.

`During the entire tournament none of the coaches or athletes involved
received a single technical foul. That is a great accomplishment for
us’ stated Garo Mazakian, Athletic Director of the AGBU
Glendale/Pasadena Chapter. `I am proud of all participating
athletes. Their attitude and sportsmanship was commendable.’

Judging from the atmosphere in the gym, all the athletes felt like
champions. At the closing ceremony, each and every athlete was
presented with a participation trophy while the coaches for the first
and second place winning teams came up to accept their special
trophies. Radiance ruled when all participating teams were called to
gather on the bleachers for a group picture to mark the occasion.

Encouraged by the overwhelming response, the Athletic committee of the
AGBU-AYA Glendale/Pasadena Chapter voted to turn this into an annual
event, thus creating yet another ground for the Armenian youth to
gather and nurture their Armenian heritage, this time through their
love for basketball.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually serving some
400,000 Armenians on five continents.

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE "CAUCASUS-2009" WILL TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN IN MAY 21-22

ARKA
May 20, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, May 20. /ARKA/. International scientific conference
"Caucasus-2009" organized by the Institute of Caucasus will start on
Friday in Yerevan.

Onno Simons, member of delegation of European Commission will have
a speech in the conference.

During the two-day conference, its participants – scientists,
journalists and politicians from Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Russia and
a number of European countries will discuss political, economic and
social developments in South and North Caucasus in 2009, including
regional policy of USA, Russia, Europe and Turkey.

They will also discuss security issues in South-Caucasian region,
not recognized Caucasian republics and ethno-political conflicts.

Mitat Chelikpala from Tobb University of Economy and Technologies
(Ankara), Richard Giragosyan, Director of Armenian center of
Strategic and National Studies (Yerevan), Ivlian Khaindrava from the
Center of development and Cooperation (Tbilisi), Aleksandr Krilov,
Doctor of Historical Sciences of the Institute of World Economy
and International relations (Moscow) and Sergey Markedonov, Head of
Department of Problems of International Relations of the Institute
of Political and Military Analysis of Russian Federation (Moscow)
will have a speech in the conference.

Scientific conference "Caucasus-2009" organized by the Institute
of Caucasus is a part of the program "Building Capacity for Policy
Debate in Armenia" funded by European Union in the amount of 180
thousand EURO. The event is supported by Swiss Fund of development
and Cooperation and the "Heinrich Bell".

EBRD ASKED FOR FORGIVENESS FROM AZERBAIJAN FOR NOT MARKING NAGORNO-KARABAKH AS PART OF THE COUNTRY

NOYAN TAPAN
21 MAY, 2010
BAKU

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has asked
for forgiveness from the Azeri government and people for publishing
a map in its annual 2009 report without marking Nagorno-Karabakh as
a part of Azerbaijan.

"After finding the mistake last night, the EBRD Office in Baku
contacted the Azeri government, immediately corrected the mistake in
the online version and removed the paper versions from circulation,"
as stated in EBRD’s press release, according to Azeri presses.

TOMORROW THE CHANNEL OF FRENCH FRIENDSHIP TO BE OPEN IN TAVUSH

Aysor
May 21 2010
Armenia

Tomorrow in the RA Tavush region with a solemnity will be opened
the channel of the Armenian – French Friendship. The honored guest
of the event is French Minister for Economic Recovery, Head of the
Hauts-de-Seine Department Patrick Devedjian. On the meeting will be
present also the territorial administration minister Armen Gevorgyan,
and the executive director of "Hayastan" fund Ara Vardanyan.

Due to the channel which is around 15 km length and which has the
name of Armenian – French friendship more than 600 hectares of soil
in Khashtarak, Lusahovit, Ditavan villages of Tavush region will be
watered. The channel has been reconstructed and has been enlarged by
the means of the money grant of 500 thousand euros.

"Due to the cooperation of the Fund and the Hauts-de-Seine state
other institutions too expressed their will to cooperate with the
"Armenian" fund," A. Vardanyan told the journalists.

He assured that due to this cooperation the ties will get stronger
and they will continue cooperation in the future as well.

OFFICIAL: TURKEY BENEFITS FROM AZERBAIJAN’S LITTLE BROTHER STATUS
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com, SC
May 20 2010

Last night the deputy foreign minister of Armenia Mr. Shavarsh
Kocharyan speaking to Hailur Evening News said sometimes the impression
is such that Turkey is not interested in the resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh Problem and may well like keeping Azerbaijan in the status of
"little brother."

Turkey was repeatedly told by the mediators and Armenia that it has
nothing to do in mediating or solving the Nagorno Karabakh problem.

"In fact, Turkey could have a case if it prompted Azerbaijan to
take a more realistic and constructive position, but not by making
announcements by which it prompted Azerbaijan to take a tougher and
non-constructive position. By the way, some times the impression that
is left is such that the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
is not in Turkey’s interest. Because when the issue is solved, the
dependence is essentially is diminished. Yet, the relations between the
two brother states (Turkey and Azerbaijan) are not really brotherly,
as we have seen last year about this time of the year," Kocharyan said.

Last year when Turkey announced its intention to go ahead with signing
the two protocols to improve relations with neighboring Armenia,
Azerbaijan showed and outright displeasure and openly critiqued Turkey
for its position. Azerbaijan went as far as to remove Turkish flag
from the "Martyrs’ Plaza" in the capital Baku, where Turkish soldiers
fell by defending Azerbaijan.

By the way, recently Azerbaijan is expressing its displeasure toward
many countries and players in the region. Recent targets have become
the United States, Russia and the Mynsk group, which mediates the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan..

This indeed shows one thing, if the country is always upset from
everyone, it shows that the foreign policy that its leaders are
directing is just a propaganda and does not register any progress.

Kocharyan further elaborated saying this is a way of avoiding from
responsibility and making other factors an escape goat, blaming
Azerbaijan for its failed foreign policy.

In the meanwhile the much expected natural gas deal between Azerbaijan
and Turkey, which took the Turkish Prime Minister to Baku, did not
realize. They postponed it for another 20 days.

Looking at Turkish position on the Nagorno Karabakh issue one concludes
that Turkey unilaterally sites with Azerbaijan because of its cultural
and religious proximity with it. While in Baku Turkey and Azerbaijan
again stated "one nation in two states" principle. However, how
can one build a regional peace and prosperity by defending a party
of a dispute just based on cultural proximity and not based on the
principles of right and wrong.

In fact, in many instances Turkish newspapers Hurriyet and Zaman
as well as other Turkish language media have taken a position of
what is right and what is wrong in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
and have concluded that Azerbaijan should respect people’s
right to self determination when it also speaks about territorial
integrity. Turkey would do much better to follow the just leadership
that some of its leading newspapers have created and try to look at
the Armenia-Azerbaijan issue based on what is right and what is wrong,
what is realistic and what is non-constructive, if it wants the problem
to be solved. Otherwise, indeed the impression is that the longer the
problem is prolonged the longer Azerbaijan will remain in the status
of Turkey’s "little brother."

RENNES OFFRE SON EXPERTISE A DIYARBAKIR
Stephane

armenews
20 mai 2010

Depuis trente ans, existe une cooperation entre Rennes et Diyarbakir,
au Kurdistan turc. Diyarbakir est en pleine explosion urbaine.

Il y a trente ans, Rennes offrait trois bus a la ville de Diyarbakir,
au Kurdistan turc. " Aujourd’hui, ces trois bus sont toujours
en service ! " atteste Philippe Fraysse, directeur des services
techniques de la Ville. Il revient d’une mission de cooperation
decentralisee a Diyarbakir, un transfert de savoir-faire entre
collectivites territoriales.

Rennes a toujours entretenu une relation très suivie avec son homologue
turque, notamment pendant les moments critiques de la guerre civile. Et
Diyarbakir a fait appel a son expertise en matière de logements et
de transports.

" 3 000 villages kurdes ont ete rayes de la carte pendant la guerre,
ce qui a genere un exode massif. Ces ruraux se sont installes dans
des gecekondu, de vrais bidonvilles. " Diyarbakir est ainsi passee
de 100 000 habitants en 1960 a 900 000 aujourd’hui. Et ces nouveaux
arrivants ont garde leur mode de vie rural.

La reponse du gouvernement turc ? Le Toki. À la fois organisme
HLM, promoteur, banquier et amenageur, le Toki s’est vu confier
par le gouvernement la mission de pallier le manque de logements. À
l’arrivee, des tours a perte de vue dans toute la Turquie. " Le maire
de Diyarbakir refuse cette uniformite et nous a demande de l’aide.

Depuis deux ans, nous apportons conseil et expertise. "

Des echanges de delegation se font entre les deux villes, et trois
thèmes de reflexion ont ete arretes. Après un audit urbain pour
definir les besoins, un observatoire du logement a ete mis en place
pour chiffrer la demande. Deuxième problème : les gecekondu. Pour
les Rennais, les tours sont un risque de rupture sociale. Enfin,
troisième point, les transports.

Rennes ne va pas realiser les travaux a Diyarbakir. " Nous avons mis
en place une methodologie et des audits, ce sera aux Turcs de faire
les travaux en trouvant un accord avec le Toki. " Un accord sans doute
difficile a trouver avec un Etat qui opprime toujours le peuple kurde.

SHAVARSH KOCHARYAN: TURKEY HAS NOTHING TO DO IN NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PROCESS

ArmInfo
2010-05-19 12:30:00

ArmInfo. Turkey has nothing to do in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement process, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh
Kocharyan said in an interview with the Public TV of Armenia when
commenting on the statements about involvement of Turkey in the
Karabakh conflict settlement process.

According to him, when meeting, the leaders of Russia, the USA,
France, European Union and the OSCE MG co-chairs never reply to
Turkey’s request to be involved in the process. "It was even claimed
that only the OSCE MG is engaged in the conflict settlement process.

Actually, Turkey was told that it has nothing to do in the process.

Permanent addressing of the Turkish prime minister to this issue and
repetition of one and the same has led to fact that just Turkey was
excluded from the process of formation of the civilized relations
in this region", S. Kocharyan said. He also added that permanent
massaging of this topic by Turkey, especially in the person of its
prime minister, reduced to the fact that Armenia shut up its door,
nd Turkey has found itself in isolation. "In such a situation, I just
wonder, how long one may hold a monologue with himself and repeat
one and same when there is no audience", deputy FM said.

Moreover, S. Kocharyan thinks that Turkey may be useful in case if it
could make Azerbaijan be constructive. According to him, it sometimes
seems that the conflict settlement is not to Turkey’s advantage.

"Perhaps, the status of a younger brother is beneficial for Turkey.

Why? Because if the conflict is settled, dependence on Turkey will
essentially reduce. We could make sure of the fact that relations
between the two brothers are not so fraternal when Azerbaijan was
aggrieved and started making insinuations against Turkey because of
the beginning of the Armenian-Turkish process", Kocharyan said.

SOVIET COSMONAUTS SUGGEST SETTING MONUMENT TO MARK 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAGARIN’S FLIGHT INTO SPACE

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 19, 2010 – 21:30 AMT 16:30 GMT

RA NA speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met with USSR heroes, cosmonauts
Aleksey Leonov, Victor Gorbatko and Vladimir Lyakhov May 19.

Aleksey Leonov, Victor Gorbatko and Vladimir Lyakhov were awarded
with honorary resident titles.

The guests participated in Abovyan’s cosmonauts’ square opening
ceremony.

Following the ceremony cosmonauts suggested setting monument in
newly-opened square to mark 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight
into space, parliamentary press service reported.

IMF REVISES ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST FOR ARMENIA IN 2010 FROM 1.8% TO 4.5%

ArmInfo
2010-05-19 15:50:00

ArmInfo. The International Monetary Fund has revised the economic
growth forecast for Armenia for 2010 to 4.5%, says Mark Lewis, Head of
the IMF Mission to Armenia. The new forecast was made after the visit
of the IMF Mission to Armenia on May 6-19. The previous forecast on
Armenia published in the World Economic Outlook in April envisaged
1.8% GDP growth. Inflation forecast for 2010 has changed as compared
to April and totaled 6.8%. Budget deficit will be a little more than
5%, Mark Lewis says.

To recall, in his speech after the visit of the IMF Mission to Armenia,
M. Lewis highlighted gradual economic recovery, growth of foreign
financial flows and improvement of the state fiscal system in Armenia.

‘THUNDERSTORM IN THE BLUE FIRMAMENT’: WRITERS AGAINST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE SCHOOLS

Tert.am
18.05.10

The Writers Union of Armenia is against the recent much-debated
initiative by the Ministry of Education to opening foreign-language
schools in Armenia and calls on the Government to vote against it,
Union’s head Levon Ananyan said at a press conference today, adding
that the initiative is a "thunderstorm in the blue firmament."

According to Ananyan those arguments that the foreign-language
schools will be more competitive than the Armenian-language ones,
are just made up.

"I do not know clearly to what extent the initiators have a command
of their mother tongue," said Ananyan, calling on the government to
be courageous enough and recall the bill.

At the same time he considers it unacceptable the reasoning that the
foreign-language schools will make up only 1% of the total of the
schools in Armenia.

"The graduates of those should become the elite of our society; they
should enter the National Assembly. And that means it paves the way
for the multiplication of foreign languages. Their number will grow.

The 1% will become 3%, then 5% etc.," said Ananyan in a worry.