Author: Madatian Greg

HI LINE IS NOW AVAILABLE IN 18 TOWNS OF ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-02-25 14:11:00

ArmInfo. "ArmenTel" Company (Beeline trademark) extends the geography
of rendering Hi Line Internet-service. From now on the population
of 18 towns of Armenia is enabled to enjoy high-speed Internet
access. Earlier, Hi-Line was present only in 6 towns – Yerevan,
Gyumri, Vanadzor, Gavar, Ijevan and Abovyan. Now, this list has been
replenished by Spitak, Stepanavan, Tashir, Talin, Yeghegnadzor, Kapan,
Goris, Meghri, Sevan, Noyemberyan, Echmiadzin and Ashtarak.

"We are sure that Internet availability for the regions’ population
is one step forward on the way of equal and harmonic development of
Armenia’s regions", Sales Director of "ArmenTel" Gennady Kalgashkin
said. According to him, the clients are henceforth enabled to acquire
ADSL – modems on HP, that makes Internet more available for the broad
layers of Armenia’s population.

"We made big investments in development of the telecommunication
infrastructure of Armenia, Director General of "ArmenTel" Neicho
Velichkov said. ‘The time has come to show that we directed them to
the projects of long-term economic and social development of the
country. We think extension of the geography of Internet-services
is an important factor of integration into the world informational
environment", he added.

To note, the Hi Line service is intended for individual persons
and is based on using ADSL technology which provides high-speed
Internet-access by telephone line leaving it free for telephone
calls. ADSL technology (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is a modem
technology which turns the standard telephone lines into the lines
of high-speed access. The channel in this technology is distributed
between the descending and ascending traffic asymmetrically, in favour
of the descending traffic. "ArmenTel" CJSC started Internet-connections
based on ADSL technology in 2007 under Hi Line name.

Currently, over 12,000 subscribers use this service.

"ArmenTel" CJSC (Beeline brand) is a subsidiary of "VimpelCom" Group.

ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline brand) is the subsidiary of VimpelCom Group. The
VimpelCom Group consists of telecommunications operators providing
voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed and
broadband technologies.

The Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armeniaas well as Vietnam
and Cambodia, in territories with a total population of about 340
million. The Group companies provide services under the "Beeline"
brand. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on
the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"). VimpelCom’s ADSs are listed on
the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".

GEF SUPPORTS ARMENIA’S GEOTHERMAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

armradio.am
25.02.2009 16:02

The World Bank’s Vice President for Europe Central Asia (ECA) approved
US$ 1.5 million Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant to Armenia’s
Geothermal Project, which is part of the Regional Geothermal Energy
Development Program (GeoFund). This technical assistance grant is
the second phase in a series of envisaged projects in ECA with the
amount of US$25 million over the next 8 years. The GeoFund is the
first region-wide program of its kind and is implemented jointly with
International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The objective of the GeoFund is to systematically promote the use of
geothermal energy in the ECA region by removing existing barriers. This
will lead to diversification in energy use and increase the demand
for similar projects. The Project will assess the feasibility of
exploratory drilling in Armenia in sites with the highest geothermal
potential.

"We are pleased to receive GeoFund support especially given the lack
of adequate site investigation works, and limited interest of private
sector in development of geothermal energy resources in Armenia,"
said Ani Balabanyan, the Task Team Leader of the Project. "This
project will fill in this gap and will serve as a model for similar
field investigation projects."

The Project will provide technical assistance to conduct comprehensive
geothermal field inv estigation works for Gridzor and Karkar sites
(in Gegharkunik and Sjunik regions respectively) to be carried out in
two phases. The second phase will be carried out only if the results
are positive to justify additional studies at the first phase. Phase
I will include geological field works, a sounding study, which will
end up with interpretation and supervision of the implementation of
the field works and the study.

The GEF unites 178 countries in partnership with international
institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private
sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national
sustainable development initiatives. Today the GEF is the largest
funder of projects to improve the global environment. An independent
financial organization, the GEF provides grants for projects related to
biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation,
the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Since 1991, GEF
has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and
countries with economies in transition, providing $8.3 billion in
grants and leveraging $33.7 billion in co-financing for over 2,200
projects in over 165 countries.

BAKRADZE VISITS ARMENIA

The FINANCIAL
Feb 24 2009
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — According to Civil Georgia, a group of Georgian
lawmakers, led by Parliamentary Chairman, Davit Bakradze, will pay
an official visit to Armenia on February 24-25.

The visit comes three days after Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol
Vashadze’s visit to to Yerevan.

Davit Bakradze will hold talks with his Armenian counterpart, Hovik
Abrahamyan; President Serzh Sargsyan; Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
and head of the Armenian church Garegin II.

According to the Armenian parliament’s press office during the
visit the Georgian parliamentary delegation will lay a wreath at the
Genocide Memorial.

$75,000 AWARD ANNOUNCED IN SHOOTING DEATH OF ARMENIAN FAMILY IN HOLLYWOOD

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2009 01:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Los Angeles police and city officials today
offered a $75,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of
those involved in the killing of a man and his 8-year-old daughter
in Hollywood. Khachik Safaryan, and his daughter, Lusine, were found
shot to death in December inside their Little Armenia apartment in
the 1200 block of Tamarind Avenue.

Investigators think Safaryan and his daughter were killed in the
morning. Their bodies were not found until that afternoon when
Safaryan’s 15-year-old daughter returned home from school, police
said. The $75,000 award is being offered by Los Angeles Councilman Eric
Garcetti, whose district includes the area, Los Angeles Times reports.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER ALI BABACAN TO YEMEN TIMES: "BUILDING CONFIDENCE IS KEY TO A COUNTRY’S DEVELOPMENT"

Yemen Times
mp;p=report&a=2
Feb 23 2009
Yemen

Ali Babacan was born in Ankara in 1967. He graduated first in the
Class of 1985 from TED Ankara High School. In 1989, he received a
Bachelor of Science Degree (BS) in Industrial Engineering from the
Middle East Technical University in Ankara, where he ranked first
among the graduates of that year.

In 1990, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and attended the
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston,
Illinois, where he received his Master of Business Administration
(MBA) in Marketing, Organizational Behavior, and International Business
in 1992.

>From 1992 to 1994, he worked at a Chicago-based company providing
financial consulting services to top executives of major banks in
the United States.

Subsequently, he returned to Ankara to run his family business from
1994 until 2002.

In 2001, he became a Founding Member and Board Member of the Justice
and Development Party (AKP).

During the general elections held in November 2002, he was elected
to Parliament and was appointed as the Minister of State in charge
of Economy, a cabinet position he retained throughout the 58th and
59th Governments of the Republic of Turkey until August 2007.

In addition to his tenure as Minister of State in charge of Economy,
on June 3, 2005, he was appointed as Chief Negotiator in Turkey’s
accession negotiations with the European Union. At the general
elections held on July 22, 2007 he was re-elected to the Parliament. On
August 29, 2007, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the 60th Government of the Republic of Turkey. He is married with
two children.

Nadia Al-sakkaf interviewed Babacan on his visit to Yemen.

Turkey’s economy has been growing rapidly, making it the sixth
European economic power and predicted in 2009 to become the 15th
largest globally. How did this happen? And how can Yemen learn from
Turkey’s economic success story?

I [Ali Babacan] was the minister of finance in the years between 2002
and 2007, and so I can tell you candidly that it was a difficult
mission. In the early years of this millennium Turkey had large
public debts and the banking sector was weak. We have very little
oil and no gas, so we realized that we had to grow the industrial
and service sectors.

First, we made large economic reforms in public finance, in the
banking sector, and most importantly, we made Turkey an easy place to
invest. We simplified the rules, but we applied them all. Gradually
confidence started to build, and we doubled our foreign direct
investments from one billion US dollars in 2002 to two billion in
2003. In 2005 the FDI grew to 10 billion; it grew to 20 billion in
2006, and 22 billion in 2007.

You can see that by making our investment environment friendly we
built long term confidence in the country’s economic environment,
and today companies from all around the world come to invest in
Turkey. Building confidence is key to a country’s development.

Second, we worked on developing the industrial sector. We focused
on manufacturing and while in 2002 our exports value was 36 billion
dollars, mostly raw materials and agricultural produce, in 2008 it
reached 132 billion and included heavy machinery, vehicles, technical
equipments, and the like.

Consequently, the GDP grew from 230 billion US dollars in 2002 to
750 billion in 2008.

If there is a straightforward formula on to how to build a strong
economy, I would say there are three factors: political stability,
a focus on macro economy, and the creation of an easy business
environment for investors.

How has the global financial crises affected Turkey’s economy?

Turkey and Spain were the only two countries in Europe that did not
need to support its banking sector in order for it to survive. The
large scale reforms we conducted between 2003 and 2005 in Turkey’s
banking sector years proved very useful and you could say they
made our banking sector stronger and more capable of surviving the
economic blows.

Our ambition is to make Turkey among the top ten world economic powers
by 2023, and we have persistently created steps to reach this goal.

Relations with Yemen

We have excellent relations with Yemen and they are getting
stronger. There is mutual respect and good feeling between the Turkish
and Yemeni people, and this is a very important base upon which we can
increase our political dialogue, trade exchange, cross investments,
technical exchange, and other relations in other fields.

During my visit we discussed bilateral and regional issues, especially
Gaza. We do realize the appreciation of many Arab and Islamic countries
for our role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And Erdogan’s
stance in Davos is understood because we believe that military might
is no solution. Over 1300 people were killed in the Gaza crisis,
yet nothing has changed. The only way to solve the issue is through
political dialogue.

This is my first visit to Yemen, although many Yemeni and Turkish
high level officials have exchanged visits in the last few years.

We should have more regular visits and have frequent consultations
on regional and bilateral issues.

Yemen is an influential country in the region, and has a lot to offer
the Arab world.

How do you see Yemen developing into an economic power?

Yemen has much potential that it should invest in. The location is
very strategic and can be used to improve Yemen’s economic conditions
significantly. Additionally, Yemen has a huge base of human resources
which should be invested in. I also think that Yemen should invest in
its noble culture; there is an element of trust in the Yemeni people
that is kind and hard to find.

It is very important to simplify rules, especially for investment. Not
only that, but it is important to have written rules for the practice
of investment. In other words, in order to create confidence in any
country’s system, what is written must be implemented and what is
implemented must be written.

Turkey has recently been very active in the Islamic world and the
Middle East, sometimes even overshadowing countries such as Egypt,
Syria, and Iran. Is this the new direction for Turkey – leading the
Islamic world rather than being part of the European Union?

Turkey is a part of NATO and is a country listed for European Union
candidacy. It is also a Mediterranean country and our aim is to build
closer relations with our neighboring countries. Turkey’s foreign
policy is to talk to all and to open communication channels for peace
and mutual interest.

Our intention is not to overshadow any other country; in fact, we work
with all. With regards to the Syrian-Israeli conflict, we have played
a mediation role. We also hold talks with all the Palestinian groups.

The ruling party of Turkey, a secular country, is one whose ideology
is defined as through Islamism and economic liberalism. Is there
a conflict here? How does an Islamic party, the AK party, lead a
secular country?

The AK party has a conservative democratic ideology. It is sensitive
about ethnicities and vocal about these concepts. Turkey’s secular
system means that the state is at equal distance from all religions
and all sects. It allows for religious freedoms. We built a system
that respects all faiths of the people. And as a political party we
have our own fundamentals which are respected. Candidates are voted
for by the people; we are a political party elected by the people and
so we are in power because the majority of the Turkish people chose us.

What about the claims that although Turkey defines itself as a
democratic country, it oppresses its Armenian and Kurdish minorities?

I cannot deny that we had problems five or six years ago as you
mentioned, but we worked on these issues. We even changed the
constitution to allow more freedom and more representations of all
sects in Turkish society. Years ago it was forbidden to have songs
or even CDs in the Kurdish language, but now there is a Kurdish
TV channel. Today we have more than 400 TV stations and 1100 radio
channels, so today you can see the extent of freedom of expression
we developed.

Throughout the last few years we carried out huge reforms, not just
in our economy but political reforms in developing democracy and
implementing the law for all without discrimination.

The municipality elections are set for March 29. How does the AK Party
reply to accusations of corruption by Deniz Baykal of the Republican
People’s Party (CH Party)?

Polls so far show good results for us, and if the elections were to
take place today I could tell you that we will win, but the thing
with politics is that you can never take anything for granted.

You must realize that this is a time of political campaigning so such
accusations are expected. My response to this is that we have courts
in Turkey and if anyone has evidence of any of those accusations they
can easily file a case in court. In Turkey, even mayors do not have
immunity from the law and courts are independent of any political
influence.

But of course those who accuse the AK party of such misdeeds will not
use the legal channels because their accusations are baseless. If there
was any truth to this we would be the first people to take action,
but then again my response is that the courts are there to put such
accusations in perspective.

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

23 February, 2009

Hayastan All Armenian Fund begins construction of school in Chartar Village

Yerevan, February 23, 2009 – The Hayastan All Armenian Fund has started
construction on a new school in Chartar, a village in Nagorno Karabakh’s
Martuni Region. The project, worth about 250 million drams (U.S. $820,000),
is sponsored by the fund’s French affiliate.

Much of Chartar’s existing school, built in 1934, was destroyed by heavy
Azeri bombardment in 1992. Since then, classes have been taught in an
adjacent building. As this smaller structure cannot accommodate all of
Chartar’s 116 schoolchildren at once, classes have been run in shifts.

Currently the foundations of the new secondary school, named Chartar School
#2, are being laid. When completed, the three-story facility will feature 11
classrooms, a clinic, an events hall, a library, a computer lab, and a
multifaceted playground.

"The Hayastan All Armenian Fund always strives to address the most critical
needs of communities in Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia," said Ara Vardanyan,
the fund’s acting executive director. "We launched the Chartar project
because a modern school, and one that can accommodate every student with
top-notch education, is of utmost importance to the well-being and continued
development of the community."

Hayastan All Armenian Fund

GORAN LENNMARKER GIVES SHORT REPORT ABOUT NAGORNO KARABAKH AND SOUTH OSSETIA CONFLICTS

APA
Feb 19 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Viktoria Dementieva – APA. Goran Lennmarker, OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly’s Special Representative for Nagorno Karabakh and South
Ossetia gave a short report to the Standing Committee this morning.

Director of Communications Klas Bergman told APA that the report was
about Nagorno Karabakh and conflict in Georgia.

He said that status quo in Nagorno Karabakh is not acceptable and
that the only solution is a peaceful solution. He said he hopes a
solution will happen this year, in 2009.

Mr. Lennmarker also spoke about the conflict in Georgia and he
stressed the need for observers and peace keepers. He also said that
the displaced persons have a right to return to their homes and that
the observers are necessary to protect these people.

Finally, he also warned against the militarization of the whole region
in the South Caucasus.

LITHUANIA TO REPRESENT ESTONIA IN VISA MATTERS IN ARMENIA, KALININGRAD

Baltic News Service
February 17, 2009 Tuesday 3:07 PM EET

Estonia and Lithuania have concluded an agreement under which Lithuania
will represent Estonia in matters related to visas in Armenia and
Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.

The accord was inked today by foreign ministers Urmas Paet of Estonia
and Vygaudas Usackas of Lithuania.

Paet said after the signing that Estonia has now 54 countries and
regions covered by visa representation agreements. Usackas for his
part added that Lithuania is prepared to offer Estonian diplomats
the opportunity of obtaining practical experience at those embassies.

The ministers discussed energy security, economic cooperation and the
current economic situation. They also talked about the developments
in NATO, the alliance’s military operation in Afghanistan and the
situation in that country.

Usackas said Lithuania plans to send another platoon-size unit to
Afghanistan. Estonia may enlarge its contingent there after terminating
the Iraqi mission, Paet said. He also underlined the importance of
increasing civil contribution in Afghanistan, adding that Estonia
has plans to do so.

Other topics discussed in the meeting were Belarusian developments
and the European Union’s Neighborhood Policy.

Usackas said Lithuania is preparing agreements with Belarus and
Russia on border crossing regulations for residents of cross-border
territories and is prepared to share its experience of the
implementation of such regulations with Estonia.

ARMENIA, BEST ROUTE FOR IRANIAN GAS TO EUROPE

Moj News Agency
February 16, 2009 Monday
Iran

Addressing a news conference, a senior Armenian economist Vahan
Dilanian said that the current critical issue is the implementation
of regional projects passing through Armenia. "There still exists some
tension over southern Osetia. The transit route through Georgia is very
expensive and it is possible to easily replace it by Armenian route,"
he said. He said: "Azerbaijan�â~B¬&# xE2;~D¢s unfriendly declarations and
its defense budget increase show that the country may cause Georgia to
keep its attitude toward the issue. In addition, Azerbaijan�â~B¬â~D ¢s
oil and gas resources for Nabucco which requires some 15 billion cubic
meters of gas at the starting point, is not enough." He also pointed
out that in such circumstances it is probable for Iran to be invited
for taking part in the project and in such a case, Armenia may be
regarded as the best, most suitable and safest route for exporting
Iranian gas to Europe. He added that "Turkish foreign minister,
Ali Babacan has recently pointed Armenia as an alternative route for
transiting Iranian gas to Europe."

How do Holocaust survivors in Israel feel about being called Nazis?

Independent/UK
Saturday, 17 January 2009

Exaggeration always gets my goat. I started to hate it back in the
1970s when the Provisional IRA claimed that Long Kesh internment camp
was "worse than Belsen". It wasn’t as if there was anything nice about
Long Kesh – or the Maze prison as it was later politely dubbed – but it
simply wasn’t as bad as Belsen. And now we’re off again. Passing
through Paris this week, I found pro-Palestinian demonstrators carrying
signs which read "Gaza, it’s Guernica" and "Gaza-sur-Glane".

Guernica, as we all know, was the Basque city razed by the Luftwaffe in
1937 and Oradour-sur-Glane the French village whose occupants were
murdered by the SS in 1944. Israel’s savagery in Gaza has also been
compared to a "genocide" and – of course – a "holocaust". The French
Union of Islamic Organisations called it "a genocide without precedent"
` which does take the biscuit when even the Pope’s "minister for peace
and justice" has compared Gaza to "a big concentration camp".

Before I state the obvious, I only wish the French Union of Islamic
Organisations would call the Armenian genocide a genocide – it doesn’t
have the courage to do so, does it, because that would be offensive to
the Turks and, well, the million and a half Armenians massacred in 1915
happened to be, er, Christians.

Mind you, that didn’t stop George Bush from dropping the word from his
vocabulary lest he, too, should offend the Turkish generals whose
airbases America needs for its continuing campaign in Iraq. And even
Israel doesn’t use the word "genocide" about the Armenians lest it
loses its only Muslim ally in the Middle East. Strange, isn’t it? When
there’s a real genocide – of Armenians – we don’t like to use the word.
But when there is no genocide, everyone wants to get in on the act.

Yes, I know what all these people are trying to do: make a direct
connection between Israel and Hitler’s Germany. And in several radio
interviews this past week, I’ve heard a good deal of condemnation about
such comparisons. How do Holocaust survivors in Israel feel about being
called Nazis? How can anyone compare the Israeli army to the Wehrmacht?
Merely to make such a parallel is an act of anti-Semitism.

Having come under fire from the Israeli army on many occasions, I’m not
sure that’s necessarily true. I’ve never understood why strafing the
roads of northern France in 1940 was a war crime while strafing the
roads of southern Lebanon is not a war crime. The massacre of up to
1,700 Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila camps – perpetrated by
Israel’s Lebanese Phalangist allies while Israeli soldiers watched and
did nothing – falls pretty much into the Second World War bracket.
Israel’s own estimate of the dead – a paltry 460 – was only nine fewer
than the Nazi massacre at the Czech village of Lidice in 1942 when
almost 300 women and children were also sent to Ravensbrück (a real
concentration camp). Lidice was destroyed in revenge for the murder by
Allied agents of Reinhard Heydrich. The Palestinians were slaughtered
after Ariel Sharon told the world – untruthfully – that a Palestinian
had murdered the Lebanese Phalangist leader Bashir Gemayel.

Indeed, it was the courageous Professor Yeshayahu Leibovitz of the
Hebrew University (and editor of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica) who wrote
that the Sabra and Chatila massacre "was done by us. The Phalangists
are our mercenaries, exactly as the Ukrainians and the Croatians and
the Slovakians were the mercenaries of Hitler, who organised them as
soldiers to do the work for him. Even so have we organised the
assassins of Lebanon in order to murder the Palestinians". Remarks like
these were greeted by Israel’s then minister of interior and religious
affairs, Yosef Burg, with the imperishable words: "Christians killed
Muslims – how are the Jews guilty?"

I have long raged against any comparisons with the Second World War –
whether of the Arafat-is-Hitler variety once deployed by Menachem Begin
or of the anti-war-demonstrators-are-1930s-appeasers, most recently
used by George Bush and Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara. And pro-Palestinian
marchers should think twice before they start waffling about genocide
when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem once shook Hitler’s hand and said –
in Berlin on 2 November 1943, to be precise – "The Germans know how to
get rid of the Jews… They have definitely solved the Jewish problem."
The Grand Mufti, it need hardly be added, was a Palestinian. He lies
today in a shabby grave about two miles from my Beirut home.

No, the real reason why "Gaza-Genocide" is a dangerous parallel is
because it is not true. Gaza’s one and a half million refugees are
treated outrageously enough, but they are not being herded into gas
chambers or forced on death marches. That the Israeli army is a rabble
is not in question – though I was amused to read one of Newsweek’s
regular correspondents calling it "splendid" last week – but that does
not mean they are all war criminals. The issue, surely, is that war
crimes do appear to have been committed in Gaza. Firing at UN schools
is a criminal act. It breaks every International Red Cross protocol.
There is no excuse for the killing of so many women and children.

I should add that I had a sneaking sympathy for the Syrian foreign
minister who this week asked why a whole international tribunal has
been set up in the Hague to investigate the murder of one man – A
Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri – while no such tribunal is set
up to investigate the deaths of more than 1,000 Palestinians.

I should add, however, that the Hague tribunal may well be pointing the
finger at Syria and I would still like to see a tribunal set up into
the Syrian massacre at Hama in 1982 when thousands of civilians were
shot at the hands of Rifaat al-Assad’s special forces. The aforesaid
Rifaat, I should add, today lives safely within the European Union. And
how about a trial for the Israeli artillerymen who massacred 106
civilians – more than half of them children – at the UN base at Qana in
1996?

What this is really about is international law. It’s about
accountability. It’s about justice – something the Palestinians have
never received – and it’s about bringing criminals to trial. Arab war
criminals, Israeli war criminals – the whole lot. And don’t say it
cannot be done. Wasn’t that the message behind the Yugoslav tribunal?
Didn’t some of the murderers get their just deserts? Just leave the
Second World War out of it.