Author: Kanayan Tamar

UNITED ARMENIAN FUND
1101 N. Pacific Avenue # 204
Glendale, CA 91202
Tel: 818.241.8900
Fax: 818.241.6900

12 February 2007

UAF Shipped to Armenia $32 Million of Aid in 2006

Glendale, CA – The United Armenian Fund contributed to Armenia during the
fiscal year 2006 close to $32 million of humanitarian assistance, 34% more
than the previous year, consisting primarily of medicines and medical
supplies, according to the latest audit of its financial statements.

The UAF spent less than 1% of its total revenues on administrative expenses,
allocating the remaining 99% to assisting the people of Armenia and Artsakh,
according to the audit.

During its 17 years of operations, the UAF delivered to Armenia a grand
total of $447 million worth or relief supplies on board 140 airlifts and
1,359 sea containers.

The UAF is the collective effort of the Armenian Assembly of America, the
Armenian General Benevolent Union, the Armenian Missionary Association of
America, the Armenian Relief Society, the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America, the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America and the
Lincy Foundation.

For more information, contact the UAF office at 1101 North Pacific Avenue,
Suite 204, Glendale, CA 91202 or call (818) 241-8900.

ARMENIAN BOXING YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP TO START ON FEBRUARY 13

Noyan Tapan
Feb 12 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenian Boxing Youth Championship
will start on February 13 at Yerevan’s Dinamo sport hall. 157 sportsmen
of 13 weight categories will take part in the championship. The
winners will become known on February 17. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by principal coach of Armenian national team, honorable trainer
Febia Alexanian, the championship is of elimination character. The
national team to be formed by the results of the championship will
hold teaching and training gatherings in Yerevan, Tsakhkadzor and
Moscow. And in June the national team will leave for Hungary to take
part in Europe Youth Championship.

MAN-TO-MAN MARKING

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Turkish Press
Feb 12 2007

ANKARA – Following are the highlights from today’s Turkish daily
SABAH. The Anadolu Agency is not responsible of opinions expressed
or the context of the editorials and does not vouch for their accuracy:

"Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and FM Abdullah Gul held
a meeting quietly after a bill on so-called Armenian genocide was
submitted to U.S. Congress.

According to their decision, 16 Turkish MPs will be dispatched to
Washington for man-to-man marking at the US Congress (to avoid the
passing of the bill)," wrote Sabah’s columnist Metehan Demir.

Ankara is getting prepared for a historical ‘invasion’ of Washington
to block the bill on the so-called Armenian genocide, which is expected
to be adopted at U.S. Congress in April.

Recently after some Congressmen –who are representing Armenian
interests in the United States– presented the bill, FM Gul and Arinc
held a meeting and decided to take action urgently.

According to the decision of Gul and Arinc, 16 Turkish deputies,
who has good command of English and experienced in foreign politics,
will be in Washington from February 10th till the end of March,
and will try to convince U.S. Congressmen.

First delegation will leave in the week Feb. 10-17. It will be
comprised of Yasar Yakis, Mehmet Dulger, Gulsum Bilgehan Toker,
Murat Mercan and Erol Cebeci.

The second delegation which has to leave between Feb. 24th and March
3rd, will be comprised of Saban Disli, Ibrahim Ozal, Inal Batu, Vahit
Erdem, Necdet Budak and Yakup Kepenek. The third delegation which will
include close names to Prime Minister will be in Washington between
March 11th and 18th. Egemen Bagis, Reha Denemec, Zeynep Damla Gurel,
Sukru Elekdag and Mevlut Cavusoglu will be part of this group.

Washington operation will not be limited to those initiatives. The
Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) will also
send 32 more deputies who know the United States well and have close
contact with prominent figures there. This delegation will closely
follow-up U.S. business community.

FM Gul will leave for Washington this weekend and will carry the
message "if the bill on the so-called Armenian genocide is adopted,
our strategic partnership will grow worse".

On the other hand, Premier Erdogan’s foreign policy advisor Egemen
Bagis is pursuing lobbying activities which he started a while ago in
political circles and think- tank organizations in the United States.

The bill will be debated first in foreign affairs committee of the
House of Representatives. If it is adopted in the committee, it will
be sent to general assembly.

Afterwards it will be within the capacity of Chairperson Nancy Pelosi
(who is known as an Armenian friend), whether to put it to vote or not.

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 9 2007

Lennmarker: "Main aim is to end occupation and create peaceful
relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia"

09 February 2007 [16:35] – Today.Az

"My report on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict will cause numerous
discussions. Some may agree and some disagree. Yesterday, I met with
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. He seemed to agree
with some points in the report," President of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly Goran Lennmarker told reporters.

He stressed out some necessary points to be solved in current
situation.

"The main issue now is to stop occupation and create peaceful
relations between the two countries. The returning of refugees and
internally displaced persons to the homeland should be ensured. I
think both parties are interested in peaceful settlement of the
problem. I hope there will be no need to release the last variant of
the report on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The
problem will be solved and I will not have to draw up a report," he
said.

Touching upon the meeting with NGO representatives, Lennmarker said
that they discussed the current situation in the country.

"I found their opinions based on criticism very interesting. But I
think it is too early to assess these opinions. First I need to get
written reports of all parties to assess the situation in Azerbaijan
in a right way," he noted, APA reports.

URL:

CNN AND EURONEWS TO BROADCAST TRAILERS ABOUT ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.02.2007 18:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Beginning from March 2007 CNN and Euronews will
broadcast information trailers about Armenia, said Mekhak Apressian,
the head of Tourism Management Department of the Ministry of Trade
and Economic Development of the Republic of Armenia. "We are already
conducting corresponding talks with those TV channels and are planing
to broadcast trailers till fall of 2007," M. Apressian told. He
stressed that trailers about Armenia will be broadcast on CNN, which
have already been presented on September 2006.

"Our task is to periodically show trailers about Armenia to introduce
foreign tourists to our country.

Through these trailers we are planning to break negative stereotypes
in perception of the country, as well as they will form Armenia’s
image as a rapidly developing, civilized and one of the most secure
countries in the world attractive for tourism and making investments,"
M. Apressian said, "Novosti Armenia" reports.

TURKEY: KARS-TBLISI-BAKU RAILWAY AGREEMENT TO BE SIGNED

Railway Market Magazine, Poland
Feb 7 2007

Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, three Caucasus countries, are
set to sign a key agreement next week for the construction of the
Kars-Tbilisi-Baku (KTB) railway, an ambitious project that will unite
the railway systems of Europe and Central Asia. When the project is
completed a train from London could reach China without any stop.

The KTB project aims to join the railroad networks of Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Turkey to further strengthen cooperation between these
three countries.

Many analysts have described the project as important as the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project.

The project aims at providing continuous, safe and fast cargo and
passenger transportation between Asia and Europe through connecting
the railways of the People’s Republic of China and Kazakhstan in the
east, through Turkey’s Marmaray (Commuter Rail Mass Transit System)
to the European railway system in the west.

Professor Suha Bolukbasi, who works on Caucasus and Central Asian
politics at Middle East Technical University (METU), told The New
Anatolian daily yesterday that Turkey has good relations among
Azerbaijan and Georgia, stressing that this project will help to
strengthen and deepen cooperation among these countries. He described
the project as a constructive step in Turkey’s regional interest.

"The project aims to unhook post-Soviet countries from the Russian
Federation’s impact. It also helps the European Union and the U.S. to
establish effective relations with post-Soviet countries," he said.

Bolukbasi stressed that the European Union attaches importance to the
initiative, saying, "Through the project, Turkey’s position with the
EU will be strengthened along with Caucasus relations. Turkey will
play a more influential role in its region."

The framework agreement for this wide regional cooperation project
will be signed tomorrow in Tbilisi, Georgia, with the participation
of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan.

A total of 76 kilometers of the project will be built in Turkey. The
project’s infrastructure will be constructed as a double-track railway
line, while the superstructure will be realized as a single-track line.

The Turkish part of the project will cost an estimated YTL 380 million,
with YTL 40 million appropriated in the state budget for this year. In
1998 Turkish State Railways (TCDD) carried out a tender for the
project, but later cancelled it.

Azerbaijan will lend $200 million to Georgia to finance construction
of its portion of the railway linking Azerbaijan with Turkey, under
an agreement signed in Tbilisi last month.

Georgia will have to repay the loan with 1 percent annual interest
within 25 years. Georgian officials said last week that they plan
to use the revenues from the Baku-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway to cover
the loan.

The construction of the KTB project is expected to begin in June and
finish in two years.

* Armenian Opposition

Armenia, which has diplomatic problems with both Turkey and Azerbaijan,
has criticized the move. Armenian presidential spokesperson Viktor
Sogomonian branded the project as politically motivated.

"Armenia has been always guided by the economic effectiveness
of projects," he said at a news conference last week, adding that
Yerevan will continue to oppose construction of the railway and will
use negotiations at different levels as a lever of influence.

One of the Turkish diplomats told the JTW that "if Armenia has always
been guided by the economic effectiveness, so why they oppose the
project. If the project is not economic, then they should no be
interested in".

According to Dr. Sedat Laciner, IR lecturer and head of the
Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK, Armenia makes mistake:

"Armenia has always been outside of the regional co-operation
projects. Yerevan has always tried to prevent any co-operation. At
the end, Armenia has been isolated. They should be part of the region
instead of rejecting all kind of co-operations. Armenian side says
that Turkey and Azerbaijan should use the lines in Armenia. However
Armenia had damaged the railways between Azerbaijan and Nahcivan in
the past. Armenia has to be a reliable partner and it has to prove its
credibility. Othwerwise the isolation of the country will be deepened."

METHANE AT NUBARASHEN DUMP IS MORE THAN EXPECTED

Yerevan, February 6. ArmInfo. Instead of the promised $8 mln, the
Japanese "Shimidzu" Corporation will grant $3-4 mln under construction
of a plant for obtainment of biogas from domestic garbage in Yerevan,
the Head of "Mijavair" CJSC, Vram Tevosyan, said at public hearings.

To note, Japan committed itself to reduce the emissions of hotbed
gases to 8% by 2015 within the frames of Kyoto Protocol to the
Framework Convention for the climate change. By investing in the
Nubarashen project, the Japanese Corporation can receive credits in
the emission trade of carbonic acid. The "Shimidzu" had expressed a
desire to invest a project in Armenia for the reduction of emissions
of hotbed gases even two years ago, which, in its turn, may bring
credits to Japan for the reduction of emissions.

Meanwhile, as Tevosyan noted, during the Project development,
calculations were carried out for determination of methane in
experimental 7 boreholes, which allowed to determine the total volume
of methane of 8190 tons, produced by the Nubarashen dump. The previous
calculations indicated a greater content of methane. To note, the
Nubarashen dump has been accepting the solid domestic waste of Yerevan
since 1960. According to the preliminary calculations, 420-450 tons
(149 100 tons per year) of garbage is annually sent to the dump. In
some places, the garbage layer reaches 20 meters.

To note, the advantage of the emission trade is that 1 ton of
methane is equal to 21 tons of carbonic acid. In fact, the Japanese
Corporation can receive a credit of 172,000 tons CO2 under the
Nubarashen project. In Japan, investments of $130-140 mln will be
required for the reduction of 1 mln ton of CO2, while in Armenia it
will make up $3-4 mln. By the way, according to the latest data, the
world prices for the trade of emissions reach 5-7 Euro per 1 ton of
CO2. Thus, if sell the above-given 172,000 tons of CO2 at a minimum
price of 5 Euro, on can gain 860,000 Euro. According to the Kyoto
Protocol, Japan is authorized not only to invest in the reduction
of emissions in other countries but to sell the credits, received
from these deals. That is, at quotation in N Euro or N US dollars,
Japan will have a reverse capital inflow from the investment percents.

Having no alternative for utilization of methane and other hotbed
gases, which cause a damage to Yerevan of 41,5 mln drams per
year only from the Nubarashen dump, the Japanese proposal becomes
profitable for Armenia since electric energy may be also produced as
a result. According to Tevosyan, the later installed generator will
be capable to receive 620 kW of electric energy from gas, received
as a result of methane burning. He said, the project implementation
will also improve the environment in the range suburbs.

NKR STATE BUDGET TAX INCOMES EXCEEDED PLANNED INDICES

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Feb 5 2007

"The considerable growth of cash receipts to the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic state budget has been mainly provided at the expense of the
growth of the tax incomes – Value Added Tax, profit tax, income tax,
trade tax, fixed tolls", the Head of the State Tax Department under the
Nagorno-Karabakh government Hakop Kagramanian stated in an interview
with Azat Artsakh newspaper, REGNUM Information Agency reports.

In his words, the fact that the VAT has increased by 85, 1 % as
compared with the last year is conditioned by the growth of GDP,
tax income, while the growth of the trade tax – by strengthening the
control: as a result of the inspections 400 millions additional tax
obligations were proposed. In 2006 the state budget’s tax incomes
exceeded the planned indices by 783 millions 850 thousand drams.

No drastic changes have been provided in the tax policy current year.

THE ARMENIAN GRANDMASTER VLAD …
by Lubomir Kavalek

The Washington Post
February 5, 2007 Monday
Final Edition

The Armenian grandmaster Vladimir Akopian won the fifth Gibtelecom
Masters in Gibraltar Thursday, scoring 71/2 points in nine games. The
popular annual event began like a battle of the sexes with the
women triumphing over the men. In the first round, Akopian, one of
the pre-tournament favorites, lost to American International Master
Irina Krush, and former U.S. champion Hikaru Nakamura succumbed to
IM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant of Georgia. In the end, Nakamura finished
half a point behind the winner, sharing second place with Alexander
Areschenko of Ukraine and Emil Sutovsky of Israel.

Akopian, a former junior world champion, began his rise to the top of
the tournament table with a brisk attacking masterpiece in the Petroff
defense against an Indian WGM (woman grandmaster), Aarthie Ramaswamy.

Akopian-Ramaswamy

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Bg4
8.c4 Nf6 9.Nc3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nxd4 (This position was heavily analyzed
in the 1980s by some of the world’s best players.) 11.Qh3!

(Preferable to Garry Kasparov’s 16.Qe3+, this sharp idea of Viktor
Kupreichik is dangerous. After 11…Ne6 12.cxd5! Nxd5 white can play
the fancy 13.Bg6!, for example 13…Nxc3? 14.Qxe6+ Qe7 15.Bxf7+
Kd8 16.Bg5! Qxg5 17.Qe8 mate. And after either 13…Ne7 14.Rd1
Qc8 15.Bc2; or 13…fxg6 14.Qxe6+ Ne7 15.Rd1 Qc8 16.Qb3 white
has powerful pressure.) 11…dxc4 12.Bxc4 Be7 13.Bg5 Qc8 (The game
Kupreichik-Yusupov, Minsk 1987, continued 13…0-0 14.Rad1 c5 15.Rfe1
h6 and now instead of the unclear bishop sacrifice 16.Bxh6!?, white
could have played 16.Rxe7! Qxe7 [or 16…hxg5 17.Rxb7] 17.Nd5! with
a strong initiative.) 14.Qd3 Ne6 (The game Howell-Van Kemenade, Port
Erin, Isle of Man, 2001, finished quickly after 14…c5 15.Rfe1! Ne6
16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qf5 Kf8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Rxe6 Kf7 20.Rae1 h5 21.Nd5
Rh6 22.Nxf6 gxf6 23.Re7+ Kf8 24.Qd5 and black resigned.) 15.Bxf6!

Bxf6 16.Nd5 Bxb2 (Too risky, but after 16…Bd8 17.f4!, a 1999
correspondence game, Huber-Dror, ended with 17…c6 18.f5 cxd5
19.Bb5+ Ke7 20.fxe6 and black resigned, since after 20…Qc5+
21.Kh1 fxe6 22.Rae1 Ba5 23.Qf5! white wins.) 17.Rae1 Kf8 (Castling
short is punished by the fork 18.Ne7+, but the king move allows a
neat finale.) 18.Rxe6! (Smashing black’s defense.) 18…fxe6 (After
18…Qxe6 19.Nxc7 Qc8 20.Nxa8 Qxa8 21.Re1 white wins.) 19.Nf4 e5 (The
black king can’t escape. After 19…Ke7 20.Nxe6 Qd7 21.Qe2 wins.)
20.Qd5! Qe8 (After 20…exf4 21.Qf7 mates; and 20…Ke7 is met by
21.Qc5+! Ke8 22.Nd5 and white wins.) 21.Ne6+ Ke7 22.Qc5+ Kf6 23.f4!

(Bringing the rook into the mix.) 23…Kg6 (After 23…Bd4+ 24.Nxd4
exd4 25.Qg5 mates.) 24.fxe5 Rd8 25.Qe3 (A mate is in the air. For
example 25…Qe7 26.Qg3+ Kh6 27.Qh3+ Kg6 28.Nf4+ Kg5 29.Qh5 mates.)
Black resigned.

Akopian earned first place with a quick last-round victory over
Ukraine’s Yuri Kuzubov, 16, in the Rossolimo variation of the Sicilian
defense. The black king was forced to a perilous journey by a fine
knight sacrifice.

Akopian-Kuzubov

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 b6 7.Nc3 Nh6
(Designed to prevent the exchange of the dark bishops, this plan
was favored by several Dutch players.) 8.Be3 f6 9.Qd2 Nf7 10.0-0-0
(Castling long is sharper than hiding the king on the opposite wing.)
10…e5 11.Nh2 Be6 12.f4! exf4 13.Bxf4 Qd7 14.Nf3 0-0-0 15.d4!

(Akopian detects weaknesses around the black king and opens up the
game.) 15…cxd4 16.Nxd4 Kb7 17.Qe2 Qe7? (A blunder, placing black
in a precarious situation. Kuzubov had to guard the pawn on c6 either
with 17…Qc8 or 17…Qe8. The blocking knight move 17…Ne5 was also
adequate, since after 18.Nf5 Qc7 19.Nxg7 Qxg7 black has a good game.)

18.Nxc6! (A winning knight sacrifice, forcing the black king out of
his hiding place.) 18…Kxc6 (Freeing the square d8 with18…Rxd1+
19.Rxd1 Kxc6 does not make much difference. After 20.Nd5! white’s
attack is overwhelming, either after 20…Bxd5 21.exd5+ Kd7 22.Qb5+ Kd8
23.Qc6!; or after 20…Qc5 21.b4! Qf8 22.Qa6! Ne5 23.Ne7+! Qxe7 24.b5+
Kc7 25.Qxa7+ winning the queen.) 19.Nd5! (White gets an attacking piece
near the black king.) 19…Qe8 (After 19…Bxd5 20.exd5+ Kd7 21.Qb5+
Kc8 22.Qc6+ Qc7 23.Qxc7 mates; and after 19…Qf8 20.Qa6! wins.)

20.Qa6! (Preventing the black king from sliding back to safety,
white threatens 21.Nb4+ Kc5 22.Be3+ Kb4 23.a3 mate.) 20…Bf8 (After
20…Bxd5 21.exd5+ Rxd5 22.Rxd5 Kxd5 23.Rd1+ Ke6 [23…Kc6 24.Qa4+!

Kb7 25.Rd7+ wins.] 24.Qc4+ Ke7 25.Qb4+ Ke6 26.Qe4+ Ne5 27.Qd5+ Ke7
28.Bxe5 fxe5 29.Qd6+ Kf7 30.Rf1+ wins. And after 20…Rxd5 21.exd5+
Bxd5 22.Rd3 wins.) 21.Qxa7 Bc5 22.b4 Qd7 23.Qa6! (Threatening 24.b5
mate, white wins material.) Black resigned.

IM Larry Kaufman won the 39th annual Virginia Open, a five-round
Swiss system tournament, played Jan. 26-28 in Springfield. He scored
41/2 points. Allan Salgado and Jeevan Karamsetty shared first place
in the amateur section with 41/2 points.

Solution to today’s six-mover by J. Behting (White: Kb1, Rc1,Nh4;
Black: Kh1,Ng1,P:g4,h2,h3):

1.Rf1! g3 2.Nf5 Kg2 3.Ne3+ Kh1 4.Rc1! g2 5.Nd1! Ne2 6.Nf2 mate.

ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN 80 NATO PROGRAMS THIS YEAR

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2007 15:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2007 Armenia will take part in over 80 joint
events in the framework of NATO programs, RA Deputy Defense Minister,
lieutenant general Artur Aghabekyan said in Yerevan. " All events will
be held in the framework of cooperation of the partner states and
NATO as well as the Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan
(IPAP). The events include joint rescue exercises and Best Efforts
maneuvers of the communication troops a part of which will be held
in Armenia in 2007," Aghabekyan said.