Author: Khoyetsian Rose

MINAS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES
By Marietta Makarian, translated by A.M.

AZG Armenian Daily #203
06/11/2007

Culture

Minas, the renowned Armenian painter, created a world of his own,
for the whole world… this were the words, with which the art of
Minas was described during the opening ceremony of am exhibition
organized on November 3. The exhibition is entitled "Minas and His
Contemporaries". To the ceremony were present Armen Gasparian, head
of the Armenian Painting Department of the National Picture Gallery
of Armenia, Armen Avetisian, director of home-museum of Minas and
Narek Avetisian, the sons of the painter.

Minas Avetisian deeply suffered the fate of his nation, and that pain
was expressed in his works.

Nevertheless, Minas had a certain portion of optimism, and so did his
contemporaries. Due to the efforts of the National Picture Gallery
and the exhibition’s organization staff, works of 10 more Armenian
painters are represented by the side of Minas works. This collections
shows that the 60’s and 70’s of the twentieth century were indeed
years of flourish of Armenian art. Speaking of the genius of Minas one
should never forget the atmosphere in which he used to work, and that
atmosphere was formed by such gifted artists as Edward Artsrunian,
Knarik Hovhannisian, Seyran Khatlamajian, Lavinina Bashbeuk-Melikian,
Hovhannes Minasian, Alexander Grigorian, Henrik Siravian, Vruyr
Galstian and Ashot Hovhannisian.

>From the elder son of Minas, Arman Avetisian "Azg" correspondent
learned that the Culture Ministry of Armenia granted AMD 5,500 million
for the restoration of Minas’ frescos and their transportation. "There
is a number of professional and technical problems and experts from
Itlay shall be invited in order to find out whether the frescos can
be transported or no.

There is also another idea of establishing small museums in the places
of location of the frescos.

These projects are under consideration yet and only after the research
the fate of the frescos will be decided. At present the frescos
are located in humid and dilapidated vaults, and their existence is
threatened," say Armenian experts.

THERE IS SEPARATIST REGIME IN NAGORNO KARABAKH, TERRY DAVIS SAYS

APA
[ 05 Nov 2007 18:07 ]

There are many differences between Kosovo and Nagorno Karabakh
conflicts.

There is no separatist regime in Kosovo, UN rules this territory,
servicemen of European Union ensure safety.

There are no such factors in Nagorno Karabakh, Terry Davis, Council
of Europe (CE) Secretary General said a news conference today held
jointly with Foreign Minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanian in Yerevan,
APA reports quoting Novosti Armenia.

He identified Nagorno Karabakh conflict with Dnestryan, Abkhazia and
South Ossetia conflicts.

Mr. Davis stated that Nagorno Karabakh nation is deprived of appealing
to European Court of Human Rights and using international law unlike
Kosovo and Bulgarians in Turkey. CE Secretary General commenting on
the last elections held in local authorities in Nagorno Karabakh
mentioned that international community does not recognize regime
"Nagorno Karabakh Republic". He said that CE does not criticize
carried out elections, but it does not mean that it recognizes those
elections.

PATRIARCHAL VISIT OF CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS IS OVER

arminfo
2007-11-05 13:10:00

ArmInfo. The Patriarchal visit of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin
the Second is over. Yesterday, he arrived in the Holy See of Mother
Echmiadzin.

As the press-service of Echmiadzin’s administrative office told
ArmInfo, Head of the Armenian Apostolic Church was met in the Yerevan
international airport by Archbishop Paren Avetikyan, Head of the
interconfessional department of Echmiadzin’s administrative office,
Archbishop Yeznik Petrosyan, locum of Ararat Eparchy of AAC, Bishop
Navasard Kchoyan and Head of the Information Structure of Echmiadzin’s
administrative office, priest Vahram Melikyan.

To recall, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II visited 18 cities
of 13 American states within the frames of his Patriarchal visit.

IRAN’S DEFENSE MINISTER TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
05.11.2007 11:28

The Defense Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Brigadier General
Mostafa Mohammad Najjar is scheduled to pay a visit to Armenia on 6
November at the head of a high-ranking delegation, Iranian Fars news
agency reports.

During the trip, which will take place at the invitation of the
Armenian Defense Minister Michael Harutyunyan, the two sides will
discuss bilateral ties and exchange views on regional and international
issues.

The Iranian minister is also scheduled to attend meetings with
President Robert Kocharyan and Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan during
his stay in Armenia.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT BETTER TO SETTLE WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF CIS -RUSSIAN MP

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 2 2007

Russia, Moscow / Trend corr. R.Agayev / The Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is better to solve within the framework
of the CIS, the Russian MP Oleg Kulikov said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

"The only way out of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is
to reinforce the inter- integration processes which is more close
ties in the post-Soviet area. The issue can be settled within the
framework of the restored post-Soviet area," Kulikov said.

According to Kulikov, as the issue is beneficial to foreign forces
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict cannot be settled in the near
future. Russia is interested in settlement of the issue. However,
there are more relevant problems for Russia, including its relation
with Ukraine, coolness of ties with Belarus, problems in Islamic world,
and many others," the MP said.

"Armenia faces economic difficulties. When the country faces
difficulties it attempts to find easier decision like appeal to foreign
forces. More close economic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
to make Russia the leader in settlement of the conflict," Kulikov said.

"It is difficult to me to describe ways in resolving the conflict,
as no international conflict has been finished positively. In the
many cases conflict ends in legitimization of separatist attitudes,"
the MP said.

KARABAKH CONSUMERS ARE LESS PROTECTED

KarabakhOpen
01-11-2007 13:36:04

The prices of consumer goods continue to soar. Experts say the price
of flour will continue to grow until the next harvest.

In Armenia different explanations of the cause of the soaring prices
were given. Some people believe that it relates to the pre-election
period, others even say the Armenian businessmen are going to come
down with money for the election, therefore they have raised the
prices of their products.

The leader of the Democratic faction Vahram Atanesyan thinks it is
difficult to tell the growth of prices in Armenia is directly related
to the pre-election period. "We had better discuss how the soaring
prices affect the Karabakh society. As you know, the Commission for
the Protection of Economic Cooperation of Armenia has recently made
a decision on checking, sanctions, and so on. Consumers in Karabakh
are less protected than in Armenia. Our government also held a
consultation but it did not have a tangible effect, and the price of
bread continues to rise," Vahram Atanesyan says. He mentioned with
regret that the corresponding agencies of NKR have fewer levers
of influence on pricing, at least due to the lack of customs and
dependence on import from Armenia.

"I think the government and the other branches of power should think
about protection of the people of Karabakh. As to the statements that
the businessmen are raising money for the election, I don’t think
it is serious to give an evaluation from Stepanakert. Our problem
is the protection of the rights of our consumers in such extreme
situations. In Karabakh the income per capita is twice as low as
in Armenia. Besides, in Armenia criticism has definite targets, the
suppliers of oil and other products are known, while in our country
there is no control because each supplier sets the price they want,"
he added.

The member of parliament is hopeful that the Public Services Regulatory
Commission of Karabakh which has been set up recently will at least
hold a monitoring. The National Statistics Service will carry out a
comparative analysis of income and prices.

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
T +995 32 75 19 03/04
F +995 32 75 19 05
[email protected]

German miner Chronimet and America’s Comsup Commodities reveal mystery of
Armenia’s molybdenum mines.

Author: John Helmer
Posted: Tuesday, 30 Oct 2007

Molybdenum is a metal that doesn’t lose its cool.

Used in a variety of alloys for steel, it remains rigid at 3,000 degrees
Fahrenheit, and doesn’t melt until 4,730 degrees F, a point at which
everything but four other natural elements have vaporized and disappeared.

The biggest source of demand for molybdenum alloys is in stainless steel
production, and as this also consumes nickel, the price of molybdenum
usually moves in parallel with nickel. If nickel and stainless steel prices
are rising, so is molybdenum. When they decline, moly follows them down.

At least, that’s the theory.

The reality since mid-May is that nickel has been falling in price from a
peak just short of US$25 per pound. At the same time, molybdenum jumped to
$32/lb in May, then $35/lb in June. It remained at that price until
mid-October, when it fell back a dollar.

Another theory is that–since molybdenum is a vital ingredient in the
manufacture of high-pressure oil and gas pipes, along with containment
vessels for new-generation nuclear reactors–its price will correlate with
rising demand for oil, gas, and uranium. They should drive moly pricing,
even if nickel and stainless steel fail. And there’s more – although the
global supply of molybdenum ore may be plentiful, the capacity to roast the
concentrate into metal is quite constricted. On the way to the moly roaster,
therefore, the market is sensitive to the possibility of shortages.

For the full text go to:
/page36?oid=39070&sn=Detail

BULGARIAN PRESIDENT TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
17:59 30/10/2007

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan’s ended his two-day
official visit to Bulgaria yesterday. Armenian foreign ministry
press and information department informs that Oskanyan met with his
Bulgarian counterpart, Ivailo Kalfin, on October 29. The ministers
underscored the development of bilateral economic cooperation and
assured that Bulgarian prime minister, Sergei Stanishev’s upcoming
visit to Armenia, will largely contribute to that. The two mentioned
that the potential of trade and economic and scientific-technical
committee of Bulgaria and Armenia must be put into its full use and
said that meetings between the business communities will be organized
within the framework of the commission.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov also received minister Oskanyan
in the first half of the day. The interlocutors shared ideas on
regional development and partnership between the two countries within
international organizations.

Oskanyan also held meetings with the Bulgarian Armenian community in
the new building of the Armenian embassy in Sofia on October 28.

THERE ARE NO PRECONDITIONS OF A REVOLUTION IN ARMENIA

KarabakhOpen
31-10-2007 11:16:23

Gagik Petrosyan, member of the board of the Azat Hayrenik Party, thinks
the West is outlining "in the wish to change the government through
a so-called "velvet" revolution". The member of parliament said in
an interview with Karabakh-Open.com all the "velvet" revolutions had
a similar scenario and identical preconditions. "In case of Armenia,
I cannot see such preconditions. I think the ideal setting would be
nomination of a leftist, rightist and centrist candidates. I think
the return of Levon Ter-Petrosyan is positive. Firstly, it means
democracy in Armenia is developing. Secondly, the Liberals have had
no charismatic activist with a clear stance over the past few years,
which itself was negative," Gagik Petrosyan says.

YBC AWARDED GOLD MEDAL OF RA AGRICULTURE MINISTRY

Noyan Tapan
Oct 30, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN. This year the Yerevan Brandy Company
(YBC) has purchased 29 thousand tons of grapes, which is more by a
thousand tons as compared with 2006. The YBC has stored 18 million
liters of high-quality spirits, which is equal to the amount of spirits
in 1998 when the brandy plant was purchased by Pernod Ricard company,
the managing director of YBC Cedric Retailleau stated at the October
30 press conference.

According to him, the average purchase price of grapes made 140
drams for 1 kg at YBC branches, while the purchase budget amounted
to 12.3 million drams. 13 types of grapes have been purchased from
5,500 vine-growers who signed contracts with the YBC.

The YBC director said that the company’s sales have grown by 23%
in the past three months as compared with the same period of last
year. C. Retailleau informed those present that the YBC resumed
production of Old Yerevan wine jointly with Vedi Alco company. 17
thousand bottles of OLd Yerevan have already been filled with wine
and will be sold for 3.5 thousand drams a bottle.

In the words of Garnik Petrosian, the head of the plant and seed
growing department of the RA ministry of agriculture, despite
unfavorable weather, 220 tons of technical grapes has been harvested
in Armenia this year, with 144 tons being purchased by processing
enterprises against 106 tons in 2006.

G. Petrosian stated that the YBC has been awared a gold medal of
the RA ministry of agriculture for its great contribution to the
development of viticulture in Armenia.