Author: Madatian Greg

TURKEY DISPLEASED WITH RA PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
30.07.2009 12:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement on
possible cancellation of his visit to Turkey has aroused displeasure
in Ankara.

"I think this statement can damage Turkish-Armenian reconciliation,"
Aybars Gorgulu, Assistant Program Advisor of TESEV FPP, told
PanARMENIAN.Net. "Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Armenia
without preconditions. At that, Mr. Sargsyan’s statement will be eyed
by the Turkish government as diplomatic discourtesy. Such ultimatums
do not help resolution of problems."

"If the Armenian President cancels his visit, Ankara will become
more reluctant to normalize relations with the neighboring country,"
he said, adding that Turkish opposition also slammed Serzh Sarsgyan’s
statement.

NEGOTIATIONS ON CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIA-IRAN RAILWAY COMPLETED

Noyan Tapan
July 29, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Progress has been made in the issue
of the new Yerevan-Batumi motorway construction. RA Minister of
Transport and Communication Gurgen Sargsyan told reporters on July 29
that they together with the deputy chairman of the Asian Development
Bank have discussed issues related to the credit to be provided for
the motorway’s construction. A credit agreement is being prepared
which will resolve the financial problems of South-North highway’s
construction. According to the minister, they are conducting
negotiations with other organizations as well in order to involve
them in the highway construction’s funding.

G. Sargsyan said the feasibility study on the highway construction is
now being carried out with a grant of the Asian Development Bank. "The
study will enable to start the design work which will allow us to
speak about the exact costs of the first road sections. This project
cannot be completed in a year because the matter concerns a highway
to run throughout Armenia. We expect it to be a high quality road,"
the minister underlined.

Speaking about the construction of Armenia-Iran railway, G. Sargsyan
noted that the negotiations have already been completed. An agreement
is in preparation, by which a grant will be allocated for a feasibility
study on the railway construction.

INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS DISCUSSED IN ODESSA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
24.07.2009 17:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Considering Odessa as an "island for ideal
interethnic relations" is a myth. That was one of the statements
made at a press conference at the Odessa branch of the Institute
of Management issues of Gorshenin. A recently conducted survey
"Interethnic Relations in the eyes of Odessa’s inhabitants" was
presented at the conference. 600 18-year-old citizens were interviewed
for the survey.

Most respondents (59.5 per cent) claim that they equally treat all
nationalities. However, over a third (37 per cent) of respondents
admitted that representatives of certain nations cause their hostility
and anger.

According to authors of the study, Odessa residents are more tolerant
than those of Dnepropetrovsk: only 27.8 per cent of interviewed told
that representatives of other nations do not cause their hostility.

Odessa law enforcers fuel inter-ethnic strife, labeling criminals in
public reports as "persons of Caucasian nationality", Andrei Yusov,
head of family and youth in Odessa City Council said.

According to the expert of the IAC Analitika.at.ua David Davtyan,
dissemination of such information is amoral and does not meet
democratic standards.

According to Andrey Yusov, law enforcers, calling the nationality
of the perpetrator, contribute to the development of inter-ethnic
animosity. Crime has no nationality and it must be fought, not
separated by nationality, the official said.

Andrei Yusov described as firebrands the representatives of "Russian
chauvinism": "Dozor" (Watch), "Slavyanskoe edinstvo"(Slavic unity)
and "Bratstvo" (Brotherhood) organizations. "These organizations are
harsh, marginal and poor," Andrey Yusov said, Analitika.at.ua writes.

KAPAN’S GANDZASAR DROPS OUT OF FURTHER STRUGGLE

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 23 Kapan’s Gandzasar lost to
Breda (Netherlands) 0:2 at the second round of the UEFA Europe League
Qualifiers and dropped out of further struggle.

FROM EGYPT TO ITALY

A1+
23 July 2009

On July 22 Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on releasing Ruben Karapetian
from the duties of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
the Republic of Armenia to the Arab Republic of Egypt. Ruben Karapetian
was appointed Armenia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
to the Republic of Italy (seat in Rome).

According to another presidential decree dated July 22, Armen Melkonian
was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
Republic of Armenia to the Arab Republic of Egypt (seat in Cairo).

UN Refugee Chief Honoured With Prestigious Rights Award

Scoop Independent News (New Zealand)
Thursday, 23 July 2009

Press Release: United Nations

NEW YORK, NY — António Guterres, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has been awarded this year’s
Calouste Gulbenkian International Prize for his efforts to promote
human rights and inter-cultural dialogue.

The Prize, created in 2007, is awarded to individuals or institutions
whose thoughts or actions have decisively contributed to
understanding, defending or fostering universal human values.

The ?¬100,000 prize, presented at a ceremony in Lisbon,
Portugal, earlier this week, will be shared by Mr. Guterres and the
co-winner, the Peace Research Institute in the Middle East (PRIME),
which is a non-governmental organization (NGO) bringing Palestinian
and Israeli researchers together to further mutual co-existence and
peacebuilding.

This year’s recipients of the award ` created two years ago and named
after Calouste Gulbenkian, the Armenian Turk who was a pioneer in the
oil industry, an art collector, diplomat and philanthropist ` were
selected by a six-member panel of judges, led by former Portuguese
President Jorge Sampaio.

The High Commissioner dedicated half of the prize to humanitarian aid
workers who have lost their lives during the course of helping others
around the world.

In the past six months, three UNHCR staff members have been killed in
Pakistan, while Natalia Estemirova, murdered last week in Russia,
worked with UNHCR through the NGO Memorial.

The award comes as `a great encouragement at such a difficult time,’
Mr. Guterres said.

This is the second honour for UNHCR in two weeks, with the agency
receiving the Francisco de Vitoria medal at a ceremony last week,
bestowed by the municipality of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in northern Spain,
and the University of the Basque Country for exceptional commitment to
human rights and international understanding.

UNHCR is the second winner of the annual award, with the first being
the the principal judicial organ of the UN.

The prize is named after the 16th century Spanish Roman Catholic
philosopher, theologian and jurist, who is regarded as one of the
founding fathers of international law.

3.htm

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS RELEASE STATEMENT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.07.2009 10:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group released the
following statement:

"Armenian President Serzh Sargsian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliev met in Moscow on July 17-18 to discuss issues related to the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

During the meeting on July 17, the sixth since June 2008, the
Presidents held a tete-a-tete discussion and extensive talks with
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs: Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia),
Ambassador Bernard Fassier (France), and Deputy Assistant State
Secretary of State Matthew Bryza (United States), in the presence of
the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office Ambassador
Andrzej Kasprzyk.

On July 18, the Presidents were received by Russian President Dmitri
Medvedev.

The discussions were held in a frank and constructive atmosphere
that allowed the sides to discuss at length and in detail proposed
formulations to overcome their remaining differences on the few
elements of the Basic Principles that have yet to be conceptually
agreed.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs informed the two Presidents they will hold
a working session at the end of July in Krakow, Poland, to prepare
an updated version of the Madrid Document in accordance with the
‘L’Aquila Declaration’ of Presidents Barack Obama, Dmitri Medvedev
and Nicholas Sarkozy.

The Co-Chairs intend to visit the region in September to assess
the possibilities for a subsequent meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents either at the end of September or the beginning
of October."

NEW VERSION OF MADRID DOCUMENT

Lragir.am
12:16:27 – 22/07/2009

Yesterday, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group issued a statement
with which they inform that "they have informed the two presidents
that they are going to have a working meeting in the end of July in
the city of Krakov of Poland, where they are going to prepare the
reformed version of the document of Madrid in accordance with the
declaration of Aquila adopted by the president of the United States,
Russian and France".

FILM DIRECTORS REQUIRED TO FIND NEW METHODS TO VOICE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
21.07.2009 17:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "When shooting films devoted to Armenian Genocide,
directors should find a new style and method to attract both local
audience and foreigners," Canadian actress Arsine Khandjyan told a
news conference today.

Films about Genocide are mostly shot by directors from Diaspora,
whereas Armenia is silent about the topic despite the existence
cost-effective technologies to shoot films.

"I recently visited Karabakh. And when I went to shop to buy bread,
the shop assistant recognized me at once. I am deeply convinced
that it was the film ‘Ararat’ that made me so prominent. And that
proves that Armenian Genocide issue is still of primary importance
for Armenian people," Arsine Khandjyan said.

It is important to introduce Genocide problem for avoiding repetition
of the crime, the actress finds. "Sometimes, I am under the impression
that Armenian authorities attempt avoid voicing the issue, considering
economic interests. But they forget that by doing that they lose
their Diaspora compatriots," Ms. Khandjyan stressed.

Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire is the first crime of the XX
century. In 1915-23, more than 1.5 a million Armenians were massacred;
half a million of others were scattered around the world, creating
a big Diaspora.

70 TEACHERS FROM DIASPORA TAKE COURSES IN YEREVAN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
21.07.2009 20:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Government of Armenia with the assistance of
the Ministry of Education and Science has organized courses for 70
teachers from the Armenian Diaspora of 14 countries.

The event is aimed at fostering national identity. Teachers from Egypt,
Turkey, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Iran, Germany,
Bulgaria, Argentina and UAE are taking courses in Yerevan. Training
program will be carried out in 4 different groups for teachers of
Sunday schools, middle and high secondary schools and institutions
for pre-school education.

Lecturers of the State Pedagogical University of Armenia after
Khachatur Abovian, as well as specialists from the National Institute
of Education will be engaged in conducting trainings.