Author: Khoyetsian Rose

"ARMENIA" VESSEL STARTS ON A ROUND-THE-WORLD VOYAGE

armradio.am
28.05.2009 13:13

On May 28 the "Armenia" vessel starts on a round-the-world voyage
from the Spanish city of Valencia. During a one-year journey the
ship will drop anchor in five continents, will sail in the waters of
three oceans – the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian, will go to
all the places where there are Armenian communities.

President Serzh Sargsyan received the crew members of the vessel
before they would leave. Noting that many could doubt to what extent
this journey was important in the 21st century, when there are no
close lands in the world, the President stated: "It was the destiny
of the Armenian people to be spread around the world, and the map
of our national identity, the map of our cultural legacy, the map of
history of the Armenian communities is very important to us."

President Sargsyan handed the state flag of the Republic of Armenia
to crewmembers. The leader of the country wised them favoring wind,
successful journey and happy return.

Writer and publicist Zori Balayan, one of the crewmembers, expressed
gratitude to the President of the Republic and said they would report
about the course of the journey from time to time.

CARGO PLANE CRASHES AT DIRE DAWA AIRPORT

Addis Fortune
ashes%20at%20Dire%20Dawa%20Airport.htm
May 26 2009
Ethiopia

An Armenian cargo aircraft identified as Antonov 24 (AN-24) crashed as
it flew off course of the runway at Dire Dawa Airport early last week.

Early in the morning last Monday, May 18, 2009, the airplane rented
from the East European country for six months to transport about
2,000tn of chat from Dire Dawa to Bosaso, Somaliland, went off
the runway as it was about to takeoff, officials from the air port
disclosed.

The AN-24 aircraft has been operating for over 12 years, frequently
working at Dire Dawa Airport and with the Sura, a travel agency in
Dire Dawa Town Administration.

According to the accounts of eyewitnesses, even though the aircraft
was seriously damaged, the accident did not claim any lives, or cause
serious injuries. Nevertheless, the crew sustained minor injuries
and were taken to a nearby hospital in Dire Dawa.

Officials at the airport said that after undergoing a series of
electromechanical checkups and maintenance, the aircraft would be
able to get back on the runway.

The AN-24 aircraft crashed in the foggy morning weather last Monday,
eyewitnesses said.

The maximum speed and the cruising speed of the aircraft are 500km/h
and 450km/h, respectively. The service ceiling of the AN-24 is 9,000m
where as it needs a 640m runaway for take-off and 645m for landing.

The AN-24 aircraft is designed to operate in rough weather and on
unprepared airports in remote locations. The 23.53m long and 8.32m
high airplane has a wing span of 29.20m.The spinning blades protect
engines from debris. The plane does not require sophisticated ground
equipment for maintenance, according to airport officials.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft had four crew – the pilot,
the co-pilot, the operator and the navigator.

The AN-24 was produced between 1959-1979 in the Soviet Union and has a
maximum load carrying capacity of 5,500Kg for cargo and 50 passengers.

THE WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS COULD NOT PREVENT THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AWARDS

armradio.am
25.05.2009 16:36

The economic Crises was not able to prevent the Awards which should
take place in Armenia, organized by the Armenian World Congress and
the Armenian Union of Russia connected with many different spheres
of the culture. ‘We had to take the chance again to feel us proud of
the culture in the Diaspora’,- said president of the Armenian World
Congress and the Armenian Union of Russia Ara Abrahamyan during the
meeting with the journalists today. H also mentioned that in 2010
they will celebrate the 10th jubilee of the Armenians Union in Russia.

The president of the Union was concerned about the Armenian Community
Malishka, which is emptying. ‘This is no good, the community is empty,
I feel the hopelessness of the people by talking with them and they
are not the same. There was a time, when a stranger came there, they
were fighting about, who will take him to his house an let him join
by the meal, now it is different’.

CONFLICT EXPERT: AZERBAIJAN HAS NOT CHANGED ITS OPINION OF THE MEETING IN PRAGUE

Today.Az
/52496.html
May 22 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has not changed its opinion of the meeting in Prague, said
director of the Center of Peace and Conflict Resolution Elhan Mehtiyev,
speaking about Armenia’s claims that Azerbaijan was initially pleased
with the outcome of talks in Prague and now it is not.

According to him, these claims are wrong because Azerbaijani side
initially did not make any statements and it was Armenia which voiced
statements immediately after the negotiations. They reported that the
talks were very productive, constructive, and the parties reconciled
their positions on certain issues.

"The statement from Azerbaijan was voiced by Elmar Mamedyarov only
three days after the meeting. The Foreign Minister expressed his
astonishment by the sounded positive assessment. He said that on
the contrary no breakthrough has been achieved. On the other hand,
US and French mediators also made optimistic statements", noted the
conflict expert/

"The Russian co-chairman has been more pragmatic. But I did not notice
that Azerbaijan evaluated the meeting in Czech and then changed it
for the opposite", concluded Mehtiyev.

SERZH SARGSIAN: "THE PIVOTAL ISSUE OF KARABAKH CONFLICT IS THE STATUS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH"
By Aghavni Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
23/05/2009

International; Armenia-Croatia

"It is better to negotiate ten years than to be at war ten days"

In a constructive atmosphere of mutual understanding, RA President
Serzh Sargsian with his Croatian counterpart Styepan Mesich discussed
the present state and prospects of Armenian-Croatian relations,
also regional and international issues of mutual interests.

At a joint press conference yesterday Serzh Sargsian added that
taking into consideration Croatia’s experience in the recent past the
sides discussed also issues of conflicts settlement, their peaceful
solution and negotiations. The Armenian President accepted his Croatian
counterpart’s invitation to pay an official visit to Croatia. According
to him, it will take place this year.

Croatian President Styepan Mesich in his turn underlined that the
first visit gave an opportunity to know each other more deeply and
though Armenia geographically is out of Europe, Croatia is interested
in having relations with our country. He said that Croatia is ready
to exchange the experience that it gained after the collapse of
Yugoslavia.

What about the information that Armenia hardened its position on
Karabakh conflict, the Armenian President didn’t agree with those
qualifications. "I don’t think that Armenia has hardened its position
on the negotiations with Azerbaijan. It is not our definition. The
pivotal issue of Karabakh conflict is the status of Nagorno Karabakh,
and if we put the question point-blank, it doesn’t matter that we
harden our position", Serzh Sargsian mentioned.

According to the Armenian President, Armenia is ready to continue
the negotiations, the next meeting at the level of presidents, will
be probably held in St. Petersburg at the beginning of June. "I hope
that after that meeting the Azerbaijani media will not try to change
the meaning of our meeting", Serzh Sargsian said.

In the context of absence of an alternative to the peaceful
negotiations of the settlement of Karabakh conflict Styepan Mesich
said that after the collapse of Yugoslavia the sides tried to solve
the borders’ issue in military way, but they only had victims and
the borders didn’t change.

And when Yugoslavia collapsed, the Kosovo issue remained. According
to the Croatian president, at that time Serbia didn’t have resources
to establish its power in Kosovo, and couldn’t even conduct
negotiations. The only way out of the situation was declaration of
Kosovo independence and recognition of it by some European states.

Touching upon the pessimistic statements in the context of
Armenian-Turkish relations, the Armenian President wished not to
respond to the provocations of the sides’ mass media.

Serzh Sargsian underscored that Armenian-Turkish relations differ
from the negotiations of Karabakh conflict settlement. Those are
very difficult issues and solution of them should take too much
efforts. "It is evident that in this way there will be optimists and
pessimists in both Armenia and Turkey, and other countries as well",
Armenian President mentioned.

The Croatian president underlined that in Armenian-Turkish relations
the only way out is negotiations. "It is better to negotiate ten
years than to be at war ten days", he said.

RALF YIRIKYAN: THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR WILL PROMOTE COMPETITIVENESS ON MARKET.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
21.05.2009 21:05 GMT+04:00

In anticipation of France Telecom’s entrance into market, VivaCell-MTS
broadens the specter of its services. "We introduce new tariff
plans every month, as we are interested in attracting our clients,"
VivaCell-MTS company’s General Director Ralf Yirikyan told today
a news conference. According to him, the company currently has 2
million 601 thousand subscribers.

Touching upon innovations, Yirikyan particularly focused on the service
informing subscribers of exact arrival and departure times in and from
Zvarthnots airport, as well as accessibility to latest sports news. New
tariff plans include "1000 and 1 SMS" intended for subscribers with
speech and hearing impairments and "Business Prestige" allowing
subscribers to control the sum planned for conversations. VivaCell
General Director also expressed hope that the new mobile operator
will promote competitiveness on market.

VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT IS SHARPER THAN MANY OTHER CONFLICTS

Today.Az
ics/52421.html
May 19 2009
Azerbaijan

The former head of the mediation mission of Russia and the former
co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov
considers that Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is more acute than many
other conflicts.

"Many other conflicts have been as if new and did not have a great
history. The Karabakh conflict, unfortunately, has a burdened
background," he told journalists on Tuesday in Khankendi.

According to him, it is necessary to stop the age-old clash between
Armenians and Azerbaijanis, to open the way to their historic
reconciliation, a task far more complex than to simply remove the
mutual claims in this conflict.

"The Volatile region, a long-standing confrontation between the two
peoples and the need to be positive on their historic reconciliation
attached particular importance to this conflict", noted Kazimirov.

The Russian diplomat believes that the most important at this stage of
settlement of the conflict is to prevent the resumption of hostilities.

GYUMRI’S MAYOR BESTOWED WITH A TITLE

A1+
07:41 pm | May 18, 2009

Regions

Representatives of the Armenian branch of the International Academy
of Sciences of Nature and Society today visited Gyumri at the head
of academician Rafael Melik-Ohanjanyan.

The latter said the academicians’ visit was aimed at bestowing the
title of an academician on the mayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan.

The academicians congratulated the Mayor and referred to the recent
changes in the city. They said Vardan Ghukasyan was granted the title
for his researches as well as for the fruitful social activities.

The guests promised to open a branch of the Academy in Gyumri.

Vardan Ghukasyan thanked the academicians for the title saying it
commits him to new deeds for the sake of the city.

NOVRUZ MAMMADOV: NO PROGRESS IN KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

ArmInfo
2009-05-16 11:33:00

ArmInfo-TURAN. ‘The statement on adoption of the "Road Map" on the
Karabakh conflict settlement on agreement on the "Lachin Corridor"
will hardly be made at the meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
Presidents in Saint Petersburg in June 2009>, Novruz Mammadov,
chief of the international relations department of the presidential
administration, told Turan.

He also made a surprising statement saying that "unfortunately,
processes in this direction do not satisfy Azerbaijan. Presidents Ilham
Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian have already held four meetings. Whatever
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairman say, no progress has been achieved
at the talks. We have some agreements, but they have been reached at
the meetings with the previous Armenian President," Mammadov said.

"After the elections Armenia was in the state of emergency, dozens of
people were killed, newspapers and internet papers were closed. In such
a situation Sarkisian tried to look liberal and constructive. We also
thought that it would be easy to find an agreement with Sarkisian,"
he continued. Mammadov said the co-chairmen’s optimistic statements
are "erroneous." He reminded that "the mediators have been making
such statements 16 years, but we still have no progress. He confirmed
that they follow the principle "nothing is agreed, till everything
is agreed." The co- chairmen offer a stage-by-stage process – from
simple to complex and from small to big. "But at the end of simple
issues we have several fundamental principles – term of troops pullout
from the occupied territories; countries that will take part in the
peacekeeping operation, form and time of the referendum on the Nagorno
Karabakh status and others. Armenia is absolutely unconstructive in
such important matters, but the co-chairmen and others take that as
a norm," Mammadov added.

The conflict settlement is out of the question, until the
international community and the U.S. administration occupy fair
position, recognize Armenia as aggressor and demand liberation of the
occupied lands, Mammadov said. Azerbaijan is determined to defend
its interests. We will not sacrifice our interests for the sake of
others," he added. Mammadov said no work has been done on the Madrid
principles. The Madrid principles have been just presented to the
sides, but Azerbaijan has never accepted them. "Azerbaijan has its
own position and its own proposals.

The Madrid principles do not exist in form of the document," he said.

RALLY OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS STARTS WITH ONE MINUTE SILENCE IN MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF ACCIDENT AT NAIRIT PLANT

ArmInfo
2009-05-15 18:06:00

ArmInfo. Today’s rally of the Armenian National Congress has started
with one minute silence in the memory of the victims of the May 14
accident at Nairit plant.

The chairman of the board of the Armenian National Movement party
Ararat Zurabyan urged the people to show restraint during the rally
and the subsequent procession from Matenadaran to Myasnikyan Monument.

To remind, the accident at Nairit claimed 4 lives. 8 people were
wounded.

The rally is part of the ANC’s electoral campaign for the post of mayor
of Yerevan. The law on local self-government in Yerevan stipulates
that the mayor should be elected by a council of 65 elders (to be
elected May 31).

The first number on the list of the party having polled majority of
seats in the council should automatically be proclaimed as mayor.