Author: Karabekian Emil

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PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, November 30, 2006

AGBU Sponsors the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra’s Autumn Tour of
Central Europe

The Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) embarked on a four-city
concert tour of Central Europe from September 27 to October 6,
2006. The 110-member orchestra was invited to showcase its talent in
music festivals held in Nuremberg, Germany, Bratislava, Slovakia and
the Czech Republic’s two largest cities, Prague and Brno.

While on tour, APO performed alongside some of Europe’s most talented
classical musicians, demonstrating its status as an orchestra of the
highest caliber receiving invitations to perform at the most prominent
music festivals and concert halls in Central Europe.

As the leading symphony of Armenia for the past eighty years, APO
presents weekly concerts in Yerevan’s renowned Aram Khachaturian
Concert Hall. The performance venue of 1,300 is a cultural landmark
and architectural gem in the center of the Armenian capital city.

The Orchestra’s musicians are drawn from the top graduates of
Yerevan’s Komitas Conservatory and Russia’s leading conservatories in
Moscow and St. Petersburg. Since 1990, the Armenian Philharmonic has
produced and released a long list of CD recordings and hosted leading
international figures, including Italian baritone Renato Bruson,
American maestro Alexander Treger and Canadian soprano Isabel
Bayrakdarian.

Headlining APO’s upcoming schedule of events is a six-city tour of
France in February 2007. The tour will be sponsored by AGBU as part of
the organization’s Centennial celebrations and France’s Year of
Armenia festivities.

APO has been primarily subsidized by AGBU since 1992 in recognition of
the importance of the performing arts in Armenia. Annual grants are
allocated for weekly concerts, new instruments, administration, salary
supplements, international guest artists and special festivals. APO
has successfully toured Austria, England, France, Germany, Greece,
Iran, Lebanon, Russia, Turkey, UAE and the United States, and has
produced dozens of CD recordings. For more information on APO, please
visit

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit

SPEAKING OF CONVEYING IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE TO ANY OPERATOR PREMATURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.11.2006 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Designating Armenia-Russia relations with term
"strategic partnership" evidences very high level of relations
in almost all fields, Armenian PM Andranik Margaryan stated in an
interview with the Commersant. In his words, close interaction in the
political, military, trade and economic, scientific and technical,
humanitarian fields, common notion of the world order, the high level
of coordination at the international arena, observation of national
interests underlie the strategic partnership of Armenia and Russia. "I
would not like to mark the gas sphere as the corner stone of our
strategic cooperation. Gas is only one sphere of energy cooperation
between Armenia and Russia. At the same time our strategic partnership
should be protected against current political and economic situation
and should rest on the logic of long-term interaction," Margaryan
remarked. Answering a question on possible passing of Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline to Gazprom control, the PM said, "The building of the pipeline
is not complete yet and speaking of conveying it to any operator,
including Gazprom, is premature." The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is one
of key bilateral energy projects. The first part of the gas pipeline –
the Meghri-Kajaran segment making 39.5 km – will open soon.

SERGE SARGSIAN STATES MUTUAL COMPROMISES ARE IMPORTANT FOR SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

AZG Armenian Daily
01/12/2006

RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsian stated that mutual compromises are
needed for the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In
response to the question whether Armenia may agree to cede Kalbajar
too, Sargsian said that he never mentioned any specific territory. "I
always spoke about mutual compromises and worthy peace, but I
have never said: "we will give 15 meters, 20 meters or 500 km,"
he explained. Besdies he added that he has no information about
agreements on cession of 7 districts. He emphasized that such agreement
is hardly possible.

ARMENIAN AIR COMPANIES AND LINERS NOT ON ICAO AND EU BLACK-LIST

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.11.2006 18:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian air companies and liners are not on
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and EU black-list,
reported the Press Secretary of the Central Board of Civil Aviation
(CBCA) Gayane Davtyan. According to the ICAO annual list, made public
lately, the condition of Armenian airplanes is satisfactory. The
EU annually publishes the black-list of air companies. According to
the CBCA, at the moment 18 air carriers operate in Armenia, having
registered exploitation certificate, reports IA Regnum.

AZERI SCIENTIST ELECTED AS AN ACADEMICIAN OF GEORGIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Author: N.Kirskhalia

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 27 2006

According to the Decision of the Executive Committee of the
Georgian National Academy of Sciences, the Director of the Human
Rights Institute of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences,
Professor, Rovshan Mustafayev was elected as an academician of this
organization. On November 27, a ceremony of presenting this rank took
place in Tbilisi, and the ceremony was attended by the Azerbaijani
Ambassador to Georgia, Namik Aliyev, Trend Special Correspondent in
Tbilisi reports.

The Azerbaijani scientist was conferred the high scientific rank as
a result of the scientific researches on separatist and terrorist
acts in South Caucasus region. The Director of the Academy, Lado
Ramishvili presented the diploma and certificate to Rovshan Mustafayev.

According to Academician Ramishvili, Caucasus is living in hard
times and the scientific figures should make their contributions to
the regulation of the situation. He awarded the guest with Georgian
dagger. "We live in a peaceful region, but sometimes we need to use
weapons. Let this dagger defend your home and country from enemies,"
he said.

In his turn, Rovshan Mustafayev presented participants with his book
"Virtual Passions", which was recently published in Russian language.

"It is high time to begin dialogue. We established ties with Japan,
Australia, and can not find a common language with our neighbors and
can not understand each other," Azerbaijani scientist said, adding
that it would be better to apply a new flow in the science under the
title "Caucasus Consciousness".

According to him, many interests come into collision in Caucasus
and this may lead to the destabilization in the region. According
to him, Caucasus needs to combat separatism, especially Armenians
who are dangerous not only for Azerbaijan and Georgia, but also for
Armenians themselves.

The Azerbaijani Ambassador to Georgia Namik Aliyev also informed
on danger of the development of the separatism. According to him,
it worries Azerbaijan and Georgia. "We need to achieve long-term peace.

If the interests of any country are infringed, then the long-term
peace will not exist," the Ambassador said.

ELECTION AT THE SQUARE OF FREEDOM

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

"We don’t want to tempt our potential supporters, in the sense that we
should not have anyone to think that this is a political project which
pursues solving the problem of the mandate of one or two people." On
November 27 Nicol Pashinyan, a member of the Alternative Political
Initiative made this statement on November 27 at the Friday Club,
answering the question regarding the parliamentary election in
2007. Nicol Pashinyan stated that the Alternative is not likely to
run in the parliamentary election in 2007, if the public and political
atmosphere does not change.

"The existing electoral system in the republic offers to the citizens
of Armenia the following choice: whose slave do you want to be, the
Republican Party’s or the Bargavach Hayastan Party’s, in other words,
Serge’s or Gagik’s?" says Nicol Pashinyan, adding that their purpose
is to do everything to check this election out of the agenda.

"In other words, we the citizens of the Republic of Armenia should be
able to reject this election, and state that we do not want to be a
slave, we want to be free citizens. Meanwhile, the election of freedom
should take place in the Freedom Square," stated Nicol Pashinyan.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES AMD 7.5MLN TO START STATE ARMENIAN-GREEK COLLEGE OF TOURISM

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Nov 27 2006

YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. The Armenian government allocated
AMD 7.5mln from the surplus fund for major repair of the State
Armenian-Greek College of Tourism, Consumer Services and Food Industry.

The press service of the Armenian government reported Thursday the
funds were transferred to the Ministry of Urban Development. The
ministry also received AMD 30mln to repair the building of a vocational
school in Alaverdi.

OFFICIAL KYEV DAMAGED OWN POSITIONS BY TAKING BAKU’S SIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.11.2006 18:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During 15 years Ukraine kept trying to maintain
peacekeeping distance to all the conflicting sides in the post
soviet space, said Yevgeny Sharov, the head of the department of
integration and strategic partnership at the Institute of National
Studies. "As for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Ukraine has never
taken either Armenian or Azerbaijani side and this position was
adequately perceived by Baku and Yerevan. However during the visit
of the Ukrainian leader to Azerbaijan Ukraine has taken the stand of
one of the sides and used rather strict rhetoric. With all respect
to Azerbaijan and Azeri people, official Kyev has certainly damaged
its position of an impartial peacekeeping side," the expert said.

In his opinion, the cardinal change of position did not yield dividends
to Ukraine. "Moreover, I do not rule out that the attitude of the
Armenian Diaspora to Ukraine has strained. The Armenian community is
strong in Europe as well and the adoption of the Armenian Genocide
bill by the French parliament is an evidence of this influence,"
Sharov said.

As for the GUAM peacekeeping party, the expert considers that Ukrainian
peacekeepers become a side in the conflict. "During recent 14 years
Ukraine was guided by a good formula: we can take part in peacekeeping
operations under the aegis of the UN or OSCE. GUAM is a geopolitical
project of the U.S. targeted against Russia. Thus the so-called GUAM
peacekeeping forces challenge not only one conflicting side but Russia
first of all," Sharov said, reports From-UA.

AZG Armenian Daily #225, 24/11/2006

Visit

TIGRAN TOROSIAN RA PARLIAMENT SPEAKER LEAVES FOR MOSCOW

The Delegation of RA Parliament members headed by RA
Parliament speaker, Tigran Torosian, left for Moscow
for a two-day official visit by invitation of the
chairman of the Federation Council of Russia’s Federal
Assembly, Sergey Mironov. The press service of RA
National Assembly informed that meetings of the
Armenian delegation members with the speaker of
Federation Council of Russia’s FA, S. Mironov, the
chairman of State Duma, Boris Gryzlov will be held
during the visit. Meetings in permanent commissions of
State Duma are also envisaged. The Days of Armenian
Parliament will be held within the frames of the
official visit in the Federation Council.

Panorama.am

16:16 23/11/06

POLITICIAN SAYS NO EUROPEAN WILL ALLOW ARMENIA TO APPROACH EU

Turkey will be as dangerous as part of the European Union as it is
today, Ruben Hovsepyan, member of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnakcutiun), said.

Levon Zurabyan, ex-press spokesman of the ex-president of Armenia,
believes Turkey will be more predictable within EU. However, he thinks
EU is not very interested in having Turkey as its member.

Speaking about Armenia’s membership to EU, Paruir Hairikyan, chairman
of National Self-Determination Union, said, `How can any European
allow Armenia to approach EU when 4 political parties distribute
material assets before ellections?’ /Panorama.am/