Author: Karakhanian Suren

HELP CENTER FOR TRAFFICKING VICTIMS WAS OPENED IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.05.2009 15:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Help Center for Trafficking Victims was opened in
Yerevan on May 7. At opening ceremony held in RA Ministry of Labor
and Social Issues, OSCE special representative and human trafficking
coordinator Eva Bede expressed hope that OSCE -RA collaboration
development will make the work of Help Center for Trafficking Victims
in Armenia more effective.

Help Center for Trafficking Victims was formed with the assistance of
Germany, France and Sweden. Anti-trafficking program is scheduled to
be completed till August 2010. Upon program completion Help Center
for Trafficking Victims will be integrated into the structure of RA
Ministry for Labor and Social Issues.

Memorandum of Understanding on Help Center formation was signed on
Nov. 4, 2008.

The Center aims to help anti-trafficking structures to create effective
mechanism for trafficking victims protection. The Center plans to
offer training programs for representatives of public organizations,
social services, legislative bodies, as well as human trafficking
awareness events.

CONFERENCE WITH NKR AND RA PRIME MINISTERS’ PARTICIPATION

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
May 07, 2009

Yesterday, the RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan paid a working visit
to Gyumri (province of Shirak). The Prime Minister got familiarized
with the construction works of "Ani" and "Mush" districts of the
town at spot which was followed by a working conference with the
participation of the NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan, the RA
Vice-Premier, Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan,
RA province governors, representatives of the corresponding ministries
and departments.

According to the information by the RA Government Information and
Public Relations Department the house-building process in disaster
areas, as well as the activities implemented within the framework
of cooperation between the RA provinces and administrative regions
of Nagorno Karabakh Republic were discussed. On part of the first
issue the RA Deputy Minister of Urban Planning, chief architect of
the Republic, Narek Sargsyan reported that the construction of 22
apartment houses or 1320 flats, that of about 900 dwelling houses in
Lori and Spitak is planned to be completed this year.

Edvard Melikyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Glendale
Hills" CJSC informed that within the framework of construction of
Gyumri’s "Mush" and "Ani" districts round 300 working places with an
average salary of 90-100 thousand drams were created, and in case of
realization of the whole volume of works the number of working places
will reach 1500.

The Prime Minister satisfactorily estimated the process of
house-building activities and, simultaneously, with the aim of
making the flats possibly accessible for people, drew attention to
the circumstances of forming prices on the flats under construction.

In concern with the next agenda issue of the conference, the RA Deputy
Minister of Territorial Administration Artashes Bakhshyan presented
an account on the arrangements implemented within the framework
of cooperation between the RA provinces and the NKR administrative
regions and on those envisaged for the current year. It was noted
that in the second half of 2008 and in the first months of this year
mutual visits of delegations were paid, exchange of experience and
consultations took place, certain activities aimed at cooperation
in the spheres of agriculture, nature conservation, healthcare,
education, culture and other ones were carried out. NKR Prime Minister
thanked the authorities of Armenia and the province governors for the
cooperation, which, according to him, greatly promotes the NKR economic
development. Discussing the further programmes of cooperation NKR
Prime Minister attached importance to the creation of direct contacts
between the higher educational institutions and schools of the NKR
and the RA, to the professional support and the issue of gradually
transferring the cooperation into the spheres of tourism and business.

The RA Vice-Premier, Minister of Territorial Administration Armen
Gevorgyan in his turn thanked the NKR authorities for the concerned
attitude they display towards the cooperation. He underlined the
importance of the regular organization of mutual visits and meetings
of this type so that the cooperation will carry a continual character.

Summarizing the results of the conference Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan estimated the implemented activities
positively. Simultaneously, the Prime Minister touched upon a number
of problems, which, according to him, are important from the viewpoint
of the essence of the RA Government’s anti-crisis programme. Tigran
Sargsyan attached importance to the arrangements aimed at organizing
the summer holidays of the population in Armenia and in the NKR. The
Prime Minister charged the RA province governors and proposed the
NKR Prime Minister within short time limits to provide information on
the conditions and opportunities for the rest of people and tourism
available in the RA provinces and in Nagorno Karabakh.

The Prime Minister also assigned the province governors a task to
estimate the volumes of grape purveyance in their provinces with the
aim of implementing grape export more efficiently. Tigran Sargsyan
emphasized as well the issue of social benefits, which was attached
importance to by the RA President during his working visit to the
province of Syunik . He charged the province governors to have
this issue in the focus of their attention, to take steps towards
specifying the lists of welfare recipient families in order to find
out the illegitimate welfare recipients so that these means could be
provided to the social strata being in real need of it.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE: WE HAVE A LOT OF INTERESTS WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.05.2009 11:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Secretary of State and Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbanidan had a constructive meeting, Mr. Robert Wood,
spokesman for the Department of State, told a briefing in Washington.

"They discussed, of course, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Armenia’s
relations with Turkey. And it was a very, very good meeting and
constructive. We have a lot of interests with Armenia, and we look
forward to improving and strengthening the bilateral relationship as
we go forward," he said.

NATO KICKS OFF GEORGIA EXERCISES

BBC NEWS
8035130.stm
2009/05/06 12:40:10 GMT

A series of Nato military exercises has begun in Georgia, amid angry
condemnation from Russia.

Soldiers from 18 countries are taking part in the drills at a Georgian
army base close to the capital, Tbilisi.

Russia, which fought a war against Georgia last year, has condemned
the exercises, which President Dmitry Medvedev called "an overt
provocation".

On Tuesday Georgia put down a mutiny by soldiers, and claimed it had
uncovered a Russian-backed coup plot.

Relations between Nato and Russia were supposed to have been on the
mend after last year’s war in Georgia, but have now taken a dramatic
turn for the worse, the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says.

Russia said on Wednesday that it was expelling two Canadian diplomats
working for Nato’s Moscow office in response to what it terms an
"unfriendly act" by the military alliance.

Last week Nato expelled two Russian envoys from its headquarters in
Brussels, reportedly due to spying.

‘Misinterpreted’

More than 1,000 soldiers will take part in the Nato exercises over
a period of more than three weeks.

Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website The best
hope for an improvement in Nato-Russia ties lies in talks between
Washington and Moscow about nuclear weapons. The two sides have set
themselves a deadline of December to reach an agreement. If they do
agree that will be an up. But equally there will be downs in future
as well. The basic relationship has not been worked out. There is
suspicion among Nato members about the authoritarian nature of the
Russian government and its determination to exercise influence over
its near neighbours. And there is suspicion in Moscow that Nato would
like Russia to return to the chaotic days of the 1990s, when Russia
was passive and compliant.

They are taking place close to areas where Russian troops are stationed
in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Georgia’s defence ministry said Nato would spend the next few days
setting up a staff headquarters at the Vaziani base outside the
capital Tbilisi.

The first exercise, running until 19 May, is described as a "command
post" exercise focusing on co-ordinating Nato procedures in a
crisis-response situation.

Then a second, larger, exercise, based on peacekeeping training,
will run till 3 June.

Nato has denied the exercises are aimed at Russia or the breakaway
regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"This issue has been totally misused, I think, by all parties. Georgia
is not the object of this exercise, Georgia is the host of this
exercise like Armenia was the year before," Nato spokesman James
Appathurai told BBC News.

"The Russians can portray it the way they want… They’re not the
only ones to misuse this exercise for political purposes.

"I can tell you the secretary-general has spoken to the leadership
in Georgia to express his concern that they also are misusing this
exercise for political purposes."

Armenia, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Moldova – Russian allies which had
been invited by Nato to participate in the Georgian manoeuvres –
have all pulled out.

Unstable country

Nato has promised eventual membership to Georgia, but has given it
no target date for entry. Russia is vehemently opposed to Georgian
membership.

The mutiny on Tuesday in Georgia is likely to reinforce in the minds
of many Nato members that now is not the time to commit the alliance
to the defence of such an unstable country, says the BBC’s world
affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds.

The rebellion erupted on Tuesday morning, when soldiers at a tank
battalion began disobeying orders, Georgian officials said.

"The plan was to stage a large-scale mutiny in Tbilisi and to take
steps against the sovereignty of Georgia and the Georgian government’s
European and Euro-Atlantic integration," said President Mikhail
Saakashvili.

The interior ministry had earlier said it was part of a Russian-linked
coup attempt to kill the president – an allegation described by
Russia’s envoy to Nato as "mad".

‘SOS TEGHUT’ HOLDS A PROTEST ACTION IN FRONT OF VTB BANK (ARMENIA) AGAINST CREDITING TEGHUT PROJECT

ArmInfo
2009-05-05 19:13:00

On May 5, the NGOs unified in "SOS Teghut" held a protest action in
front of VTB Bank (Armenia) against crediting the Teghut project. To
recall, the bank is going to provide the Armenian Copper Programme
(ACP) company with $280 mln for implementation of the project on
developing the Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit. At the same time,
ecologists think that development of the deposit will not only affect
the region’s environment, but will also have a negative effect on
the health of residents of the nearby populated areas. As it was
mentioned for several times, the environmental risks in the ACP project
submitted for consideration of the government were lowered several
times. Moreover, development of the Teghut deposit runs counter to
Armenia’s legislation and international conventions.

Notwithstanding this, Head of Advertisement and Public Relations
Division of VTB Bank (Armenia) Alexander Avetisyan, who met the
participants in the protest action, pointed out that the bank is not
going and will not violate any legislative standard. The bank has
no policy aimed at violating the legislation, he said. If some big
project is contrary to some regulatory act it must be dismissed.

As regards the displeasure of SOS with the fact that the president of
VTB Andrey Kostin has not responded to their petition, Avetisyan said
that he could do nothing about it and urged his comrades to wait. "I am
sure that VTB is taking this problem very seriously," Avetisyan said.

Chairwoman of EcoLur NGO Inga Zarafyan said that the Teghut project
violated 11 national laws, 7 international conventions and 2 articles
of Armenia’s Constitution. "I think that sponsors must be responsible
for the projects they finance. Particularly, development banks clearly
say in their programs that they are ready to reduce some negative
effects. In contrast, commercial banks say that their only goal is
to earn money. By this action we urge commercial banks to show more
responsibility for their programs especially the ones that may prove
destructive for the country," Zarafyan said.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES THE REPRESENTATIVE OF PATRIARCH ZAKKA I IWAS

On Thursday 30 April 2009, Metropolitan George Saliba of Mount Lebanon,
visited Antelias on behalf of Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas I, and met with
His Holiness Aram I. Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, deputy to Armenian
Orthodox Patriarch Torkom Manougian of Jerusalem, Bishop Nareg Alemezian,
Director of Ecumenical Relations of the Catholicosate and Dr. Gerges Saleh,
Geberal Secretary of the MECC also attended the meeting. Discussion focused
on various ecumenical issues pertaining to bilateral relations between the
Armenian and Syrian orthodox churches, the Middle East Council of Churches,
as well as issues related to Armenian-Syrian church relations in Jerusalem.

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View the photo here:
tos/Photos382.htm#6
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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

PanARMENIAN.Net

NKR public forum passes statement on `road map’
02.05.2009 13:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The NKR public forum passed Thursday a statement on
the agreement on road map signed between the Foreign Ministries of
Armenia and Turkey.

`The adoption of the statement aroused deep concerns in Artsakh. This
was a political blunder pregnant with catastrophic outcomes for the
Armenian people. The adoption of a statement on the eve of the
Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day was an inadmissible failure of
Armenian diplomacy,’ says the statement issued by more than dozens of
NKR NGOs.

`Opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is possible only if Turkey
recognizes the Armenian Genocide and the right of the people of
Artsakh to build their independent state. Keeping NKR and Diaspora
away from the negotiation process, the authorities of the Republic of
Armenia renounce their right to participate in Karabakh talks. We
state that Armenia’s decision on the road map’ conflicts with the
interests of the Armenian nation,’ is says.

NERSES ERITSIAN: WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS WILL REACH ITS PEAK BY THE END OF THIS YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Apr 30, 2009

Yerevan, April 30, Noyan Tapan. The world economic and financial
crisis will reach its peak by the end of this year, told the minister
of economy of Armenia Nerses Yeritsian at a press conference on April
29. At this moment the economy downturn reaches 4 to 5 per cent in
developed countries, while developing countries are likely to complete
a year with the positive economic growth. The predictions made for 2010
are already positive, told the minister. According to the minister,
6.1 per cent of economic downturn of the first quarter of this year
in Armenia is difficult to retrieve.

However, a big flow of financial resources, including budgetary,
will enter the country starting from July, told the minister. It is
necessary to focus on the economy growth, since irrespectively of
the scope of decline, the economic activity in Armenia will not be
worse than in 2007 and 2008, added N. Eritsian. "That is why it is
necessary to permanently implement reforms in tax and custom spheres,
while cancellation of reforms and lightening the tax burden are not
good ideas," stressed the minister.

TURKISH GENERAL HEADQUARTERS: WE’LL CONTINUE OUR MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.04.2009 18:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian-Turkish border can be opened
only after Armenia withdraws its troops from Nagorno Karabakh,
General Ilker Bashug , Head of the Turkish Armed Forces General
Headquarters said. According to the General, the US has not made any
claim regarding Ankara’s policy in relation to Afghanistan and Iraq,
however, it required that Turkey increase the number of its military
subdivisions in Afghanistan to continue its mission there, Turkish
Hurriyet periodical reports .

With regard to Armenian-Turkish border opening, General Bashbug
referred to the following statement made by Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "The border opening should be accompanied by
the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Nagorno Karabakh." "We share
that viewpoint," Mr. Bashbug said in conclusion.

ALIYEV, SARGSYAN INTERESTED IN OCCUPIED LANDS’ RETURN TO AZERBAIJAN – BRYZA

Interfax
April 27 2009
Russia

Baku and Yerevan are interested in an agreement, which will return
all the lands occupied by Armenia to Azerbaijan, U.S. Co-chairman of
the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza told the Azeri news channel ANS.

The Azeri and Armenian presidents expressed a common opinion to that
effect, he said.

Thus, they will first have to coordinate settlement fundamentals,
Bryza said. The return of the occupied lands to Azerbaijan should be
on the agenda, but the sides should start with an agreement on terms
of the Armenian pullout, he said.

The status of Nagorno-Karabakh has always been the stumbling block,
Bryza said.

The status is the most complicated problem, whose resolution will
require courageous steps and efforts of both countries, he noted. Bryza
said in his opinion, Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sargsyan, Barack
Obama, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy may contribute to this
cause and help resolve the problem.

The problem can be resolved, and the negotiations are headed in the
right direction, Bryza concluded.