Author: Khondkarian Raffi

WHERE THE SHADOW OF THE FIRST PRESIDENT IS

Lragir.am
11 Sept 2007

The leader of the Democratic Party Aram Gaspar Sargsyan stated
September 11 at the Pastark press club his party and he have nothing
to do where even the shadow of Levon Ter-Petrosyan is. The leader of
the Democratic Party said he has nothing to discuss with the first
president. The All-Armenian Movement "did what nobody else had done
– it crushed trust among people." According to him, physical damage
can be repaired, whereas the system of values that the All-Armenian
Movement crushed is a tremendous loss.

Aram Sargsyan declined to answer the question what he would do if
he had to choose between Ter-Petrosyan and Serge Sargsyan in the
presidential election. Aram Sargsyan said he does not want to speak
about it because such arrangement is impossible.

ARMENIA-EGYPT ECONOMIC RELATIONS NEED ENCOURAGEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.09.2007 18:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 10, newly appointed Egyptian Ambassador to
Armenia Vahid Al-Din Ismail Galal handed the copy of his credentials
to RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian.

The Armenian Minister expressed gratitude to the Egyptian fund of
technical cooperation with the CIS, European, Islamic and young
independent states headed by Mr Galal.

Thanks to this fund, many Armenian state employees were trained in
Egypt, Mr Oskanian said.

The parties discussed the Armenian-Egyptian relations, specifically in
the economic and cultural fields and noted the importance of further
encouragement of economic ties, the RA MFA reports.

ARMENIAN SERVICEMAN REFUSES TO RETURN TO ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2007-09-10 13:18:00

A soldier of the Armenian armed forces Hambartsum Mnatsakanovich
Asatryan that willingly passed to the Azerbaijani party refuses to
return to Armenia, Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev told
journalists. Asatryan passed to the Azerbaijani party on 4 August of
the current year at the contact line of the armed forces of Karabakh
and Azerbaijan in Agdam region. He explained his actions by "intolerant
situation in the Armenian army, bribery and non-manual relations as
well as hunger of soldiers". Asatryan was born in 1984.

He was called to army service in April 2004 from Oktemberyan (Armavir)
region of Armenia and was serving in Karabakh.

PETER SEMNEBY IS ALSO DENIED ACCESS TO KARABAKH

KarabakhOpen
10-09-2007 12:39:52

Apparently, Baku is determined to prevent foreigners from visiting
Karabakh via Armenia. Officials are not an exception.

For instance, Peter Semneby, the EU’s special representative for
the South Caucasus, said in Brussels they considered his visit to
Nagorno-Karabakh. However, there is no agreement on the time of the
visit and the country via which the special representative will visit
the region.

Peter Semneby said it will be his first visit to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier his predecessor Heikki Talvitie had visited the area of
the conflict.

By the way, a few months ago when Peter Semneby was on his way to
Karabakh, he got a phone call when the car was already in Goris and
the special representative returned to Yerevan.

We can make efforts to build confidence and set up contact between the
communities of Nagorno-Karabakh because we are developing strategic
cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Semneby said, although
he failed to explain how this confidence will be built if Azerbaijan
denies access to Karabakh.

PanARMENIAN.Net

German Marshall Fund: Turks attitude towards NATO,
Russia, Iran and China grew cooler
07.09.2007 19:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The giant research conducted by
German Marshall Fund revealed that Turkish people who
started to look at the external world with suspicion
in recent years isolated themselves from the world
even more in 2007.

The annual survey of the Fund of the U.S. also showed
that 58 per cent of Europeans, including 74% of
Turkish people regarded U.S. leadership in world
affairs as "undesirable" and only 36% thought it
"desirable".

The Transatlantic Tendencies 2007 survey applied by
German Marshall Fund to a thousand people in 12
countries including Turkey has revealed that Turks get
more and more isolated from the world day by day.
Although Turkish public has a status of candidate for
EU membership, Turks’ hopes for accession to EU fell
from 54% to 40% in 2006. Turks’ feeling of warmth
towards EU is measured as 26 degrees this year against
52 degrees of 2004.

Turks’ attitude towards NATO, Russia, Iran and China
grew cooler. Attitude towards Palestinians warmed from
7% to 42%.

German Marshall Fund authorities stated that Turks
have moved away from the international political
issues and became introvert; and linked the opposition
to the U.S. in Turkey to the issues of `continuation
of PKK problem, Bush administration and Iraqi war.’

According to the authorities, the reasons for the
cooler attitude towards Europe are the difficulty of
EU negotiations and the existence of anti-Turkey
leaders, APA reports.

RUSSIAN SILHOUETTE: FOR ARMENIANS

Panorama.am
20:50 08/09/2007

At 7:30 PM in the Russian House the semi-finals of the seventh
international "Russian Silhouette" competition for young models will
take place. This news was revealed today at a press conference by
the local representative of the "Russian Silouette" benevolent fund
at the Ateks fashion center.

Of the 70 Armenian designers participating in the competition, only
27 made it to the semi-finals. Two or three designers will reach the
finals, and will present their work in Moscow on November 11. There
they will compete with designers from Commonwealth and pre-Baltic
countries. The main prize winners will be given the opportunity to
gain experience at well known Russian and overseas fashion institutes
and academies.

In the semi-finals, each designer must present 5 garments, as well
as the idea behind each garment, its structure, and color scheme.

"This types of competitions are important for Armenia, as it will
improve our designers’ tastes. We are trying to raise a generation
of educated designers.

Designers who have their own small brands, and orders, are
participating," said Mikael Danielyan, artistic director of the Ateks
fashion center.

The young designers’ competition was started in 1999 by the
"Russian Silouette" benevolent fund. The competition takes place
in 150 Commonwealth and pre-Baltic countries. About 3,000 designers
participate in the competition every year.

WHO GIVES DOCUMENTS TO SECOND-HAND DEALERS?

A1+
[05:50 pm] 05 September, 2007

On September 5, over 150-200 employees of Erebuni "Universam"
(self-service store) assembled near the RA Government. They wanted
to meet the prime minister.

The employees are indignant at the fact that they are asked to produce
acts of purchase and sale at every step, they are merely second-hand
dealers.

They buy clothes from wholesales and earn 300-500 drams from each
goods.

"We can hardly keep ourselves going and suffice our bare needs. They
deprive us of our daily bread and want us to starve," said Margaret
Asataryan.

The tradespeople pointed out that most of them had taken credits to
conduct trade. Now they don’t know how to repay the debts.

"Every day we pay 1840 drams per a square meter territory. Besides,
we pay 5000 drams to the pension fund every month. We can be fined
any moment as we don’t have acts of purchase and sale," said Anahit
Grigoryan.

Today the strikers were met by Manuk Topouzyan, the Head of the RA
Government personnel. But they were displeased with Topuzyan’s answer.

The employees are going to gather near the Government building
tomorrow.

OUTGOING AND RETURNING LABOR MIGRANTS SUPPORTED THROUGH RURAL RESOURCE CENTERS

armradio.am
05.09.2007 11:38

Six local organizations and one inter-community union will establish
Migration and Return Resource Centers in rural communities of Armenia
with support from Eurasia Foundation (EF) to provide services to
outgoing and returning labor migrants in the Lori, Armavir, Kotayk,
Syunik, Tavush and Gegharkunik regions of Armenia.

Each resource center will provide legal consultations; information
on employment opportunities in Armenia, on registration procedures
in Russia, and on the risks of illegal migration; and training for
returnees on entrepreneurship. Some resource centers will receive
additional support for visits to establish partnerships with Russian
NGOs serving labor migrants for the exchange of information and lessons
learned. Through the establishment of these resource centers, Eurasia
Foundation hopes to decrease the level of illegal labor migration
from Armenia’s regions, to help protect the rights of labor migrants
while they are abroad, and to assist returnees as they reintegrate
into local communities.

The Foundation will also provide training to develop the capacities
of each partner organization to gather and analyze data on local
trends in local migration and on the experiences of labor migrants
while abroad. This information will help the resource centers better
serve potential labor migrants and work with policy makers to develop
improved mechanisms for protecting migrants’ rights. Through a series
of network meetings between these resource centers and government
representatives, EF will promote information exchange on issues
related to labor migration.

Partner organizations include: The Resource Center of Charentsavan,
Armavir Development Center, Yerevak NGO, Hope and Help NGO in Vanadzor,
Sisian Communities Union, Goris Youth Union, and Martuni Women’s
Community Center. These organizations were selected through an open
competition that was publicly announced in June 2007.

BAKO SAHAKYAN RECEIVED NKR PRESIDENT’S CERTIFICATE

armradio.am
04.09.2007 15:17

Today NKR President’s certificate was handed to Bako Sahakyan at the
NKR Central Electoral Commission, Mediamax reports.

In his speech Bako Sahakyan assured that he will continue the process
of democratization of the socio-political life of Nagorno Karabakh
and the formation of civil society.

Let us remind that Bako Sahakyan won in the presidential elections
of July 19, getting 85.12% of the votes.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Adrin Nazarian

September 4, 2007
818/240-6330

Assemblymember Krekorian to Host Burbank Block Party

BURBANK, CA-Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-43) will host the Burbank
Community Block Party this Saturday, September 8th from 11:00 a.m. –
4:00 p.m., along San Fernando Blvd., between Olive and Angeleno Streets,
in Downtown, Burbank.

The City of Burbank, along with the local Boys and Girls Club, will
co-sponsor this community and informational event.

"This will be a fun-filled day, featuring refreshments, talented
entertainment, an ‘adopt-a-pet’ area for children, and many booths
representing the State of California and non-profit organizations, as
well as the City of Burbank and the Burbank Boys and Girls Club,"
Assemblymember Krekorian said. "Visitors can get information about
their activities, as well as get a sense of why Burbank is such a
special place in which to live, work and raise families."

The event will feature over 70 organizations and approximately 80
booths. "We expect a sizable crowd all day, especially families,"
Assemblymember Krekorian said, "and participating booths should be very
well patronized. I anticipate a big turnout for a very enjoyable
community event."

For more information about the Block Party, call Assemblymember
Krekorian’s District Service Office at (818) 240-6330.

# # #

Adrin Nazarian
Chief of Staff
Office of Assemblymember Paul Krekorian
620 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 403
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 240-6330
(818) 240-4632 fax
[email protected]