Author: Khondkarian Raffi

PUTIN OFFERED TO DECLARE MORATORIUM ON CONVENTIONAL FORCES IN EUROPE TREATY

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.04.2007 15:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks it is
expedient to declare moratorium on Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty
(CFE). In his annual address to the parliament the Russian President
stressed Russia’s partners on the agreement – NATO member-states –
have not ratified the treaty and a number of states even did not join
it. Furthermore Putin said Russia may fully refuse from commitments
of CFE.

Putin said, the moratorium will continue until all NATO countries have
ratified and started to strictly implement it "as in fact Russia does
today unilaterally". The Russian President offered to discuss this
problem at the Russia-NATO meeting, and if there was no progress at
upcoming talks Russia would "look at the possibility of ceasing our
commitments under the CFE treaty".

Putin noted that in fact currently Russia is the only country,
which keeps the so-called "flanking limits". At the same time NATO
member-countries not only do not keep these limits, but also are going
to station American interceptor missiles and air defense systems in
their territories. In Russian President’s opinion in these conditions
limits for quantitative structure of troops and heavy equipment in
Europe that Russia keeps is not just, Lenta.ru reports.

HAMLET GEVORGIAN’S SOLO CONCERT TO BE HELD ON APRIL 27-28 IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Apr 26 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Solo concert of singer performing folk
songs Hamlet Gevorgian will be held on April 27-28 at Yerevan’s Aram
Khachatrian concert hall. Works by Jivani, Havasi, Sheram and Norayr
Zhamharian will be performed at the concert. At singer’s invitation
world-famous French Armenian duduk player Levon Minasian will take
part in the concert. One can hear the latter’s duduk in the films
The Passion of the Christ, Mother and others.

L. Minasian reported at the April 26 press conference that he highly
estimates H. Gevorgian’s art and he had great willingness to have
joint concerts with him. Their concert has been already held in Paris,
which was a success.

"The French spectators were delighted with Hamlet’s brilliant
performance. And I am sure that H. Gevorgian’s wish to spread Armenian
folk songs and duduk throughout the world will be fulfilled soon,"
L. Minasian said.

In response to the question, why he is not going to have concerts
in the regions within the framework of preelectoral campaign of some
party, H. Gevorgian said thay he has not received such offer yet. At
the same time, he said that this is a normal phenomenon and if they
offer him he will not refuse.

CONFERENCE ON IT COMPETITIVENESS WILL BE HELD IN YEREVAN

Arminfo
2007-04-26 13:29:00

Conference on information technologies competitiveness will be held
in Yerevan on 3 May, one of the organizers of the conference, the
programme Competitive Armenian Private Sector, financed by USAID told
ArmInfo correspondent.

The event will be held to introduce representatives of the sphere
to the latest developments and tendencies; and to introduce two
big initiatives connected with accrediting and investing in the IT
sphere. The materials on competitiveness of IT, scientific-research
work and telecommunications will be also submitted at the conference.

LOS ANGELES MAYOR CALLS ON U.S. CONGRESS TO ADOPT RESOLUTION ON GENOCIDE AND PERSUADES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 24 2007

LOS ANGELES, APRIL 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Hearings on
the theme "Recognition of the Armenian Genocide" took place at the
Los Angeles City Council on April 20, within the framework of the
events dedicated to the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The
resolution on the Armenian Genocide was adopted by the Council during
the hearings.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Foreign Ministry, the main
speaker, the Chairman of the Los Angeles City Council, condemning the
Armenian Genocide, attached importance to the resolutions adopted by
the lower house of the legislative body of California and the Los
Angeles City Council. The Los Angeles Mayor in his turn called on
the U.S. Congress to adopt a resolution on the genocide and persuaded
the federal government to recognize it.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council Chairman Eric
Garcetti, Council members, RA Consul General to Los Angeles Armen
Liloyan were also present at the event.

ARMENIA IS THE BEST IN EUROPE

A1+
[12:28 pm] 23 April, 2007

The Armenia weightlifting team stood out at the European Weightlifting
Championships in Strasbourg. The team enjoyed 10 gold and 8 silver
and bronze medals.

Armenian weightlifter Meline Daluzyan celebrated her gold medal in
the women’s 63-kg category pressing.

Inspired by Meline Daluzyan’s victory, Nazik Avdalyan won a silver
medal in the 69-kg category and Hripsime Khurshudyan celebrated a
gold medal in the 75-kg category. Khurshudyan won ahead of Russia’s
Tatiana Matveeva and Spain’s Lidia Valentin.

Tigran Martirosyan became the vice-champion in the men’s 69-kg
weightlifting class.

Armenian lifers Ara Khachatryan and Gevorg Davtyan competed in the
77-kg category. On the whole, the Armenian sportsmen turned the
European Championship into an Armenian Championship. They competed
to gain the title of the European champion.

Eventually, Davtyan became the winner and became the champion of
Europe for the second time. Ara Khachatryan enjoyed a bronze medal.

TWO MORE SCHOOLS TO HAVE BEEN BUILT IN NKR MARTAKERT REGION BY THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

New schools are being built in the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic Martakert
region within the frames of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s "Artsakh’s
Revival" program. In part, a new school has been built in the village
of Matagis; a kindergarten was repaired in the village of Aterk. Two
more schools are to have been constructed by the beginning of the
new school year – in the villages of Kochagot and Verin Khoratag of
the Martakert region.

According to the information DE FACTO received at the Fund’s Public
Relation Department, a three-storied school had been built under the
auspices of the Fund’s Canadian branch (Toronto) in Matagis. To note,
the village’s children studied at home before.

The schoolchildren of the village of Kochogot will also study at a
three-storied school in the new school year. Now they study at an old
building, which is not heated. The new building is being constructed
under the aegis of the Fund’s French branch.

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s above-mentioned branches are also
implementing projects on the new schools’ furnishing.

CHAIRMAN OF THE ARMENIAN CB TO PARTICIPATE IN THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE, ORGANIZED BY THE NATIONAL BANK OF KAZAKHSTAN AND THE IMF

Mediamax agency, Armenia
April 20 2007

Yerevan, April 20 /Mediamax/. The Chairman of the Central Bank (CB)
of Armenia Tigran Sarkisian will participate on April 23-26 in the
regional conference in Almaty, organized by the National Bank of
Kazakhstan and the Department for Middle East and Central Asia of
the International Monetary Fund.

Mediamax was told in the press service of the Armenian CB that
the conference in dedicated to the issues of management of large
flows of currency in the countries of South Caucasus and Central
Asia. The Chairman of the Armenian CB will present a report during
the conference, dedicated to the Armenian experience on solving the
problem of large money transfers.

Starting from April 19, Tigran Sarkisian has been in Moscow, where
he is taking part in the session of the Council of Interstate Bank.

During the session, issues, related to the election of the Council
Chairman of the Interstate Bank, the results of the bank’s activities,
the financial accounting, the choices of company on realizing the
audit of the Interstate Bank are being discussed.

AAA DISCUSSED ISSUES CRITICAL TO THE ARMENIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY WITH THE OFFICES OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID AND SENATOR JOHN ENSIGN

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 17 2007

The Western Office of Armenian Assembly of America led a community
meeting with the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
and Senator John Ensign (R-NV) in Las Vegas, Nevada, to discuss issues
critical to the Armenian-American community.

Western Office Director Lena Kaimian, along with Parish Council
Member Fredrick Gregorian and Ladies Guild Chair Olga Gregorian of
the Armenian Apostolic Church of Las Vegas, Jerry Guederian, who
serves as Armenian Council of America’s Nevada Representative and
community activist Gerard Costantian, discussed the importance of
congressional passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution pending in
the Senate and House (S. Res. 106 and H. Res. 106 respectively), as
well as S. Res. 65, condemning the murder of Hrant Dink. Additional
topics included the Fiscal Year 2008 appropriations requests for
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh, military parity and the importance of
lifting the Turkish blockade and regional transportation corridors.

"We are fortunate to have such an active community in Las Vegas and
the strong bipartisan support of the State’s Senators," said Kaimian.

"We look forward to expanding these relationships, and hope that S.
Res. 106 will be scheduled for a vote in the Senate," Kaimian added.

The group commended the long-time support of both Senators and thanked
Ensign for introducing S. Res. 106 along with his Senate Colleague
Richard Durbin (D-IL). Fredrick and Olga Gregorian also provided an
update on the activities of Nevada’s growing community.

"As an Assembly intern alumnus and a concerned Armenian-American, I
strongly support the Assembly’s advocacy agenda and goal to strengthen
the U.S.-Armenia relationship," said Costantian. On a similar note,
Guederian stressed the importance of activism on legislative issues
and reaching out to lawmakers.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkish Prime Minister criticized Germany
16.04.2007 13:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
reproached Germany for failing to do more to advance his country’s
hopes of joining the European Union, in an interview to be published
on Monday. "Seriously, I expected more from Germany", which currently
holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, he told
German magazine Der Spiegel.

He was speaking ahead of a visit to Germany on Sunday, where he is due
to open the Hanover Industrial Fair alongside Chancellor Angela
Merkel. Erdogan also explicitly reproached Germany for his lack of
invitation to the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty
of Rome in Berlin three weeks ago.That was a "grave error," the
Turkish Prime Minister said, adding that it had "overshadowed the
German presidency.

"We would like a clear idea of a date, a roadmap, a calendar for
negotiations" to show the EU was serious about Turkey joining its
ranks, he told the magazine. He proposed 2014 or 2015 as a possible
date for membership. But if the EU "doesn’t want us, it should say so
clearly now," he said. "If we are not wanted, the two sides need not
continue wasting their time in talks."

Merkel is personally and politically, through her Christian Democratic
Union party, against Turkish membership of the EU. Instead she would
prefer to see the secular Islamic nation become a "privileged partner"
of the 27-member bloc. Public opinion in Germany, the EU’s most
populous country which has 2.5 million Turkish residents, is generally
against Turkish membership. However, German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a social democrat, supports full membership.
"If we really trust Turkey, that will improve security and stability
in Europe," he told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung regional
newspaper, DW reports.

Armen Rustamian condemns the crime

Yerkir.am
April 13, 2007

Commenting on the last night’s explosion in two offices of the
Prosperous Armenia Party, the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia
representative Armen Rustamian noted, `Last night’s events should no
doubt be condemned.

This means that we must be very cautious. All political forces, and
the government in the first place, must undertake all the necessary
measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents because this means
that there are forces that are not interested in having civilized
elections in the country.

Meanwhile, we have a unique opportunity to hold the elections in
accordance with the international standards and this should first of
all be reflected in the pre-electoral period.

Civilized political struggle must finally become a tradition in
Armenia. However, there are some political forces that are trying to
enter the political arena with old methods distorting the electoral
campaign. Such practices must be condemned and prevented with out
joint efforts.

No matter who commits such acts and against whom they are directed,
all political forces must be unanimous in preventing recurrence of
such incidents in the future’.