YOUNG ARMENIAN WEIGHLIFTERS TO PARTICIPATE IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
YEREVAN
The 7th European Youth Weightlifting Championship will be held in
Eilat, Israel, on September 6-13. The Armenian team composed of 8
young men and 2 women and led by President of the RA Weightlifting
Federation Samvel Khachatrian will leave for Eilat on September 5.
NKR OVERCAME DIFFICULTIES IN A RELATIVELY SHORT PERIOD
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.09.2009 19:23 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On September 2, 1991 the people of Artsakh
opened a new chapter in our ancient history resolutely embarking
on the hard and honorable way of building free and independent,
sovereign and democratic state, NKR President Bako Sahakyan said
in his congratulatory address on the occasion of NKR independence
day. "From the very first day of its inception, our country was
forced to solve hard problems and ensure security for the state and
its citizens. Together with Armenia and the Diaspora Artsakh carried
out this mission with flying colors, defending state independence and
further strengthening its security. Many Armenians sacrificed their
lives for their Fatherland. Eternal glory to them! After the war,
the country faced new challenges, this time in economic domain. We
had to restore the wrecked economy and lay firm foundations for the
country’s further development. Armenian people’s creative will and
optimism about future, as well asthe inexhaustible energy of Artsakh
people enabled Nagorno Karabakh Republic to overcome all that in a
relatively short period," NKR President noted.
Mr. Sahakyan also stressed that the country showed stable growth in
almost all the branches of economy. "Our democratic system complies
with international norms and criteria. Artsakh is one of the key
factors contributing to maintenance of stability in the region, and
its international recognition is only matter of time. NKR Defense Army,
our most important security guarantor, is capable of giving a fitting
rebuff to any encroachment upon its independence and security. Yet,
much is to be done to overcome the existing challenges and strengthen
our native land. On the path of building and developing its statehood,
Nagorno Karabakh Republic guides itself by the principles of
establishing friendly ties and achieving peaceful co-existence with
neighboring states. We are sure that any disputable issue should be
resolved exclusively through peaceful methods and open dialogue. At
the same time, we should rule out possibility of weakening the state’s
independence and security. These are exclusive values not subject
to any speculation. Dear compatriots, I heartily congratulate all
of us on this holiday and wish you peace, health and all the best,"
NKR President said.
GOAL, BUT IN WHOSE GATE
Lragir
=lrahos||politics&pid=15029
12:14:12 – 01/09/2009
We have to admit that few of the spectators of the Armenian and Turkish
relation would expect the two protocols, issued on August 31. Even
if such an event was expected in the process of the normalization
of the Armenian and Turkish relations, nevertheless, very few people
imagined that such a thing might happen in the nearest future.
Above all doubts, the Armenian government will represent this event
as a success of Armenia, because the protocols prepared by Armenia
and Turkey, dwell on the opening of the border and establishment
of relations.
But both of the protocols contain not only amazing but also worrying
points for the Armenian side. The point is that the protocols run
that Armenia and Turkey, the countries who sign the protocols, respect
the territorial integrity of other countries. Is there not any danger
in connection with the Karabakhi conflict? Is Azerbaijan not one of
the other countries? The point is that there does not seem to be any
exception in the protocol.
Besides, the sides also recognize each other’s borders. There is
no comment either relating to the fact that the sides set up an
intergovernmental commission to shape an atmosphere of mutual trust
among the societies, which will also have other issues, including a
sub-commission to study the genocide issue.
There is not a single word of course about the genocide or the
commission to study it in the protocol. But what means impartial and
through examination of historical documents. Turkey has never posed
the genocide question such as but it has always dwelt on historical
issues. Consequently, Turkey means the genocide examination, and
for the Armenian side the real meaning of the formulations should
be clear. If the Armenian side fails to notice the real meaning,
this means that the document with Turkey is signed by people far from
politics and diplomacy.
In other words, it seems to be evident that the protocols signed by
Armenia and Turkey include all the three preconditions, which the
Turkish side was presenting to the Armenian one in exchange of opening
the border and establishing diplomatic relations through leakages of
information and Turkish high ranking officials.
The Armenian side has always refused the existence of preconditions,
but getting acquainted with the text of the protocols, it is difficult
to believe those refusals. We only need to believe that that during
these six weeks of consultations, which are going to be held on the
protocols, the Armenian side will manage to eliminate the dangers
present in the texts of the protocols. However, the fact that the
text was published by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, means that it
did not find any dangerous points in it or it did not want to.
PARTICIPANTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CAMP "LET’S LEARN TOLERANCE THROUGH ENGLISH" AT THE US EMBASSY
armradio.am
31.08.2009 14:31
On July 31 teenagers and teachers who participated in the international
camp "Let’s Learn Tolerance through English" met with Her Excellency
Marie L. Yovanovitch, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. The Camp, in which
15 Armenian, 19 Turkish and 10 American students age 14-17 took part,
was implemented July 19-31 in Canakkale with the support of the US
Embassies in Armenia and Turkey.
The participation of the 15 Armenian students (plus 3 Armenian
teachers) was organized by "The Future is Yours" NGO. The aim of
the camp was to help the students and teachers to communicate across
cultural boundaries and understand each other better. For that purpose,
they engaged in interactive programs using multi-cultural literature
from the United States to teach English.
Students were given opportunities to learn English and learn about
each other’s respective cultures. Different interactive events,
English language courses, and intercultural meetings were organized
for the students. The Armenian participants presented their Armenian
culture through dances, a performance and a presentation. They had
an opportunity to visit Troy, Asos and Gelibolu (Edirne) during their
stay in Turkey.
FIRST STAGE OF CSTO JOINT TRAININGS OVER
PanARMENIAN.Net
31.08.2009 16:41 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The basic goals and objectives of the first stage of
CSTO joint trainings are met, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Borduzha
said. "The first stage devoted, inter alia, to the use of Collective
Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) enabled us to elaborate an algorithm of
actions to resist possible tensions in CSTO region. At this stage,
direct participants gained a good experience of working in complex
and rapidly changing atmosphere," Borduzha noted.
Second and third stages of trainings are due in Belarus, on September
19-28 and October 2-15 respectively. Trainings will involve 7 thousand
servicemen, 120 tanks, over 200 IFVs and APCs as well as more than
40 airlines and helicopters, Russian media report.
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 31 2009
Aliyev meets top Turkish diplomats in Baku
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and visiting top Turkish diplomats
had talks in Baku over the weekend on recent developments in the
Caucasus, the Anatolia news agency reported. The meeting among Aliyev,
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Feridun SinirlioÄ?lu
and Ambassador Ã`nal Ã?eviköz, the deputy
undersecretary for the Caucasus and Central Asia, was held on Saturday
following a Friday telephone conversation between Aliyev and Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an.
During Friday’s conversation ErdoÄ?an briefed Aliyev on
normalization efforts between Turkey and Armenia, while Aliyev
informed ErdoÄ?an about developments regarding the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Prime
Minister ErdoÄ?an’s office said in a written statement.
Ahead of their departure from Baku later on Saturday,
SinirlioÄ?lu told reporters that they explained Turkey’s views
to Aliyev concerning both the normalization efforts between Turkey and
Armenia and the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, without elaborating further.
For more than one-and-a-half years, Turkey and Armenia have been
holding closed-door talks, mediated by Switzerland, to restore their
diplomatic relations severed by Turkey in 1993 in a show of solidarity
with Azerbaijan after Armenia occupied a chunk of Azerbaijani
territory in a war over Nagorno-Karabakh. But the process stalled
after Ankara said progress in efforts at normalization was linked with
progress in Armenia’s Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Armenia rejects any
link between the two issues.
31 August 2009, Monday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES ANKARA
European Broadcasting Union to examine issue of interrogation of
Azerbaijani citizens that voted for Armenian song in Eurovision 2009
2009-08-29 11:07:00
ArmInfo. The EBU committee responsible for running the Eurovision Song
Contest, the so-called Reference Group, will examine the matter of
interrogation of Azerbaijani citizens that voted for the Armenian song
in Eurovision 2009 Song Contest at a meeting in Oslo on 11 September
2009, APA reports quoting the contest’s official website.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said it has received responses
from Azerbaijan that the Ministry of National Security had given
assurances that nobody had been questioned on voting in the
competition. The EBU’s Director General, Jean Reveillon, said he took
note of the statements. However, he stressed that the freedom to vote
for any song except the one of the country where you are watching is
one of the cornerstones of the contest. "Any breach of privacy
regarding voting, or interrogation of individuals, is totally
unacceptable," he added.
LOWERED RATING BY FITCH FOR ARMENIA SHOULD NOT HAVE A LARGE IMPACT ON THE COUNTRY’S ABILITY TO BORROW
ArmInfo
2009-08-27 20:06:00
ArmInfo. Lowered rating by Fitch for Armenia won’t have a large impact
on Armenia’s ability to borrow, says Nienke Oomes, IMF resident
representative to Armenia, commenting on the recent revision of
Armenia’s Country Ceiling by Fitch from BB+ to BB. "In general I
don’t think it will have a big impact on Armenia’s borrowing ability,
because it is only a minor downgrading and Armenia isn’t very open
yet to international portfolio investment, e.g., foreign investors
typically don’t buy Armenian bonds or stocks. Presently most loans
come to the country from international financial organizations like
the World Bank and the IMF, and bilateral donors like the EU and
Russia. I don’t think the lending decisions of these donors are much
influenced by whether the current Fitch rating is BB+ or BB. Of course
we do care about Armenia’s ability to repay the loan. Subject to the
constraint that Armenia’s debt should remain sustainable, our lending,
and most of the lending by international donors, is mostly motivated
by the needs of the country itself", says N. Oomes.
To remind the reader, by the end of 2008 the ratio of external debt
of Armenia to GDP was 13,2%, compared to 15,7% by the end of 2007. In
March 2009, Armenia signed a 28- month Stand-By agreement with IMF
which totaled $540 mln, and which was augmented at the end of June
to $822,7 mln (533,6 mln SDR).
WHY TO REST ABROAD?
Aysor
Aug 27 2009
Armenia
"Most of our citizens prefer to rest abroad because of the prices in
the Armenian resorts. Some of these people can be our clients if we
suggest lower prices", – said Mekhak Apresyan, the Head of the Tourism
and Regional Development Department of the RA Ministry of Economy,
to the reporter of Aysor.am.
According to the data of RA Ministry of Economy, since 2001 to 2008
the growth in the incoming tourism was 25 % and the inner tourism
comprised 20%.
Mekhak Apresyan also mentioned the importance of the service level
corresponding to the European standards, and added that much is still
to be done.
"We have an urgent issue on preparing and qualifying the personal",
– he said.
We have made a research to find out the price-lists of some rest-houses
in Armenia.
The manager of one of the rest-houses in Dilijan said that the ordinary
room costs 2000 drams, semi-first class 3000 and first class 4000,
if food is include 3000 drams are paid more.
"Our rest house comprises 30 people, and we will have fewer resting
people in September",-said the manager.
In one of the rest houses in Tsakhkadzor, a room designed for one
person costs 12 000 drams, and if food is include 3 500 drams are
paid more. A room comprising 2 people costs 13 000.
"This year we had 30 % sale, but the number of resting people decreased
as compared with that of the last year which is due to the weather
conditions. In other rest houses in Tsakhkadzor the situation is
even worse".
In one of the rest houses in Aghveran they said the decrease of the
number of resting people is not due to the weather conditions but to
the crisis.
"A room designed for two people costs 18 000, without food, and food
costs 5000 drams",- said the manager.
According to the data of RA Ministry of Economy in the first trimester
of 2009 the decrease in the growth of the resting people was registered
as compared with the last year.
When it was mentioned that there are rest houses where 20 000 drams and
more is to be paid daily, Mekhak Apresyan said that this question is
to be asked to private business holders for them to take into account
the data.
Contact: Haykuhi Khachatryan
Fuller Center for Housing Armenia
Yerevan 0033, Baghramyan str. 3rd lane, house 10a
Tel: (+374 10) 271 499
Millard Fuller Legacy Build
During the week of Aug. 30 to Sept. 4, Fuller Center covenant partners
across the U.S. and around the world will build, renovate and dedicate homes
with families in need as part of the inaugural Millard Fuller Legacy Build.
At least 100 simple and decent houses will be built or renovated in the
weeks and months leading up to the Legacy Build week.
The Fuller Center For Housing Armenia takes part at this project and has
committed to build 10 houses in the framework of that.
In Armenia, simultaneously to events in other 9 countries and 29 cities for
seven days, the Global Builders team and all the volunteers will be building
with Martirosyan family in Haytagh village, Armavir region. The week will be
finalized by a home blessing ceremony at the Ararat region Khor Virap
village.
The founder of Fuller Center For Housing and Habitat for Humanity Millard
Fuller, who has dedicated his life to eliminating housing poverty from the
face of the earth, has left this world for a better place in February. The
100-house build is now in celebration and honor of Millard Fuller’s life and
work.
All his life Millard Fuller with his wife Linda served the idea of helping
those in housing need, developing communities and giving opportunities to
thousands of families all over the world to feel the happiness of being a
homeowner.
In Armenia, where FCH operates since 2008 and has already helped 50 families
and hosted 10 GB teams, from August 30 to September 3 a Global Builders team
from USA, US Embassy employees as well as Peace Corps volunteers, alumni’s
from Educational and Cultural Affairs and local community members will join
the Fuller Legacy Build with FCH Armenia staff to help build with those in
housing need in Armavir and Ararat regions.
As God said the light which stayed inside the church will not be helpful to
anyone, it will only blind, but the light must be shared, for everybody
could hear and see God’s words and affairs.
By his style of life Millard gave an example how this light could be shared
and how it could light up the hearts and the nations, and how that light
could unite people from all walks of life, backgrounds and nationalities
around a simple idea that no one, created by the image of God, deserves to
live in shacks. The volunteers from around the world get together and join
families and help them realize that they are a part of a great identity,
they are not alone, and there is always someone who cares of them.
The Fuller Center for Housing Armenia is working to eliminate poverty
housing by providing long term, interest free loans and by assisting with
volunteers helping low-income families to build simple, sustainable,
affordable houses and renovate their houses. For more information, please
visit
FCHA address: Baghramyan 3rd lane, house 10/A, Yerevan 0033, Armenia,
email: [email protected], Phone: (374 10) 27 14 99.