Author: Maghakian Mike

FIRST ALL ARMENIAN YOUTH CONFERENCE TO BE HELD ON JULY 9-11 IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The First All Armenian Youth Conference
will be held on July 9-11 in Yerevan on the initiative of the World
Armenian Congress. Participation bids from 19 countries, including
Georgia, Russia, the Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Syria, Iran, Brazil have
been already submitted. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by
Atom Mkhitarian, the Chairman of the Youth Organizations’ Association
of the Congress, the participant countries’ delegations will represent
some youth organization, structure, center or club.

In A. Mkhitarian’s words, the goal of the conference is to discuss
issues related to Armenian youths’ consolidation around national
interests in the context of 21st century’s challenges, as well as to
clarify their role in the issues of recognition of the Armenian
Genocide and settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. The conference
will adopt the respective Declaration, which will be a guide of the
coming one year for both the Association and the delegations.

Besides reports, discussions and disputes, cultural and entertaining
events will be also organized during the conference. In addition, the
young people will visit the Memorial Complex dedicated to the victims
of the Armenian Genocide, where they will be present at the concert to
be held at the hall of Yerevan’s Moscow House cultural-business center,
will see Armenia’s sights.

DEFENDANTS IN ISTANBUL CHURCH SHOOTING GO ON TRIAL

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
July 3 2007

Karaova and Ozalp were charged with opening fire and making threats
during a service at Istanbul’s Kumkapý Meryam Ana Church to mark the
40th day following the death of Dink.

ISTANBUL – A Turkish court began hearing a case against two men
who allegedly raided a church and opened fire during a service to
commemorate slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The prosecution has asked for up to nine years jail terms for Volkan
Karaova and Yilmaz Can Ozalp, the two men accused of the incident.

The defendants denied the charges and said that they sheltered in
church from a pimp armed with knives. They said that there were
bargaining for Russian women and feared being attacked and sought
shelter in the church.

When reminded that they admitted that they went there to murder
Armenian Patriarch Mutafyan in statements previously given to police,
both men said that they had lost their memories.

The court ruled that the patriarch of the Armenian community should
attend the next hearing.

–Boundary_(ID_Gi5vy4LsLbe6dLjZwiUUTA)–

HERITAGE MEETS WITH EUROPEAN AMBASSADORS

A1+
[01:03 pm] 02 July, 2007

Yerevan-Today Raffi K. Hovannisian, Larisa Alaverdian, and Stepan
Safarian represented the Heritage Party’s parliamentary group
in a meeting with a visiting delegation of Council of Europe
ambassadors. They discussed the challenges of Armenia’s democratic
development, conflict resolution in the Caucasus and throughout Europe,
as well as regional and geopolitical security. After presenting
his overview of these issues, Hovannisian expressed regret that, in
violation of both accepted intermutual custom and Armenia’s national
commitment, Heritage and other opposition MPs were not included in
Armenia’s delegation to the current session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The official delegation from Strasbourg included seven Permanent
Representatives to the Council of Europe: Ambassadors Wendelin Ettmayer
of Austria, Bruno Gain of France, Eberhard Kolsch of Germany, Peteris
Elferts of Latvia, Stelian Stoian of Romania, Alexander Alekseev of
Russia, and Per Sjogren of Sweden.

ARMENIAN ASSISTANCE FUND IS READY TO TAKE PART IN RESTORATION PROGRAMS
OF RURAL COMMUNITIES OF ARMENIA

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. It was mentioned at the June 29 meeting
held between Robert Kocharian, the RA President, and the delegation
headed by Gevorg Hovnanian, the Founder Chairman of the Armenian
Assistance Fund of America, that the fund has implemented rather
serious programs since Armenia became independent.

Archbishop Khazhak Parsamian, the President of the Armenian Assistance
Fund and the Head of the U.S. Eastern diocese, declared that the
delegation has arrived in Armenia in order to take part in the opening
ceremony of the new building disposed for the activities of the
Armenian Assistance Fund in Yerevan.

The members of the delegation made assertions that the Armenian
Assistance Fund, true to its mission, will continue to contribute to
the development and progress of Armenia. They also mentioned that they
envisage to discuss the development programs of the fund for the coming
ten years at the end of the visit.

According to the members of the organization, it is time to pass from
assistance programs to development ones. The Armenian Assistance Fund,
headed by Gevorg Hovnanian, expressed a willingness to take an active
part in the restoration program of rural communities.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA
President’s Press Office, Robert Kocharian welcomed the benefactor’s
desire and considered the fact of overcoming the disproportionate
development of the capital and rural communities a problem of vital
importance for the government. He also mentioned that serious measures
are being taken in that direction and that there are great expectations
from different programs.

AZG Armenian Daily #123, 30/06/2007

Crisis in Turkey

"REPUBLIC OF TURKEY GO TO HELL!!!!"

"Republic of Turkey Go to Hell!!!" this slogan was sounded during the
funeral of PKK members in Hakkyari region of Turkey that borders with
Iran and Iraq on June 27. On June 28 the slogan appeared on some of
the sites, while the governor’s office of Hakkyari denied the
information by a special official press release. "Milliet" informed
about this on its site, yesterday. According to "Milliet," the
Hakkyari governor stated in the press release "on June 28, some of the
sites spread information about "Republic of Turkey Go to Hell!!!"
slogan was sounded in our region during the funeral of a member of a
terrorist separatist union. The aforementioned funeral took place on
June 27 at 11 o’clock. The relevant law enforcement bodies followed
the funeral with great attention. After viewing the video record of
the funeral, we found out that none sounded such a slogan during the
funeral."

It’s worth mentioning that the majority of Hakkyari residents are
Kurds and there are also many Alavians living there. On March 4, Hasan
Kyoni, Professor of Political Sciences at the Ankara University,
stated in the article entitled "The Armenian Cause and the
International Position of Turkey" that the Alavians are Muslim
Armenians.

By Hakob Chakrian

SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEMS TO BE BUILT IN SEVAN BASIN

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, NOYAN TAPAN. A 12 million-dollar agreement envisaging
construction of sewage treatment systems in Lake Sevan’s basin – the
cities of Vardenis, Martuni and Gavar has been signed between the
Armenian government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD), NT correspondent was informed by Andranik
Andreasian, chairman of the State Water Industry Committee of the RA
Ministry of Territorial Governance. According to him, 5 million dollars
of this sum is a grant, the rest is a credit.

The credit will be provided at LIBOR plus 1% interest rate and must be
repaid over 20 years.

Belfast Telegraph Saturday Newspaper, UK
June 30, 2007
COM Edition

Derry not relishing Armenian adventure

DERRY City will be up against it when they take on Armenian champions
FC Pyunik in the Champions League.

"It wasn’t an ideal draw," said Derry chairman Hugh McDaid who was at
the qualifying round draw in Switzerland. "But there’s nothing we can
do about it, so we’ll just have to get on with it."

The Armenians play a similar season to the League of Ireland through
the warmer months.

Much of the recent League of Ireland success in Europe has been put
down to the summer season with the players up to speed for the early
rounds unlike, say, those in the Irish League.

It might very well have been a factor in Derry’s wins over Gothenburg
and Gretna last summer.

But that won’t be the case this year with Pyunik 16 games into their
season and sitting on top of the table. Formed in 1992, they have won
the title nine times and this will be their seventh appearance in the
Champions’ League.

Derry director Michael Burns feels the draw is a "nightmare" for the
club.

Burns, the club’s secretary, revealed the pairing "could not have
been worse" for City both on and off the field.

He said: "It couldn’t be worse. Logistically speaking it’s a
nightmare. We are having to charter a plane, we’ve got a hotel sorted
and we’re still trying to get the transportation sorted out.

"Some of our people have played in Georgia in the past. One of our
players Paddy Mc-Court, a Northern Ireland Under-21 international,
was in Armenia and he has already spoken about the difficulties we
could face over there.

"You are basically talking about going to the Middle East, it’s
neighbouring Iran which is as far away in Europe as you can go. It is
a nightmare, it’s going to cost us an absolute fortune.

"You are talking about the full length of Europe and the vast
majority of clubs at this stage of the Champions League are not
wealthy."

And if the thought of crippling costs and traumatic travel
arrangements were not enough, City also face the daunting prospect of
trying to defeat a side which boasts nine Armenian internationals.

"They have nine players in the Armenian national squad at the moment
and are 16 points clear in their own league which means they are by
far and away the best team in Armenia," he added.

"The city they play in is the size of Dublin. Dublin has half a dozen
good quality football clubs so to be the best club they must be
pretty good."

But Burns is confident the club will summon strength from their loyal
travelling support.

"There is always a lot of interest," he said. "We have a bunch of
very hardcore, dedicated fans who travel all over the world with us."

ALEXANDER ARZMANYAN’S LAWYER SAYS NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE TOOK COERCIVE MEASURES TO FAMILY OF HIS CLIENT

arminfo
2007-06-29 16:36:00

"My client does not give testimonies as the National Security Service
took coercive measures to his family from the very beginning," Hovik
Arsenyan, the lawyer of Alexander Arzumanyan, the former foreign
minister charged with money laundering, said at the "Pressing"
Club, Friday.

He said the former head of the foreign political department is
indignant that the criminal case was lodged without warning. "They
could invite him, interrogate as a witness. In the meanwhile, they
started from the search," the lawyer said.

On July 2 the First Instance Court of Center and Nork Marash
communities will consider the petition of the National Security Service
Investigation Department for prolongation of Arsen Arzumanyan’s term
for 2 months.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: ARMENIA READY TO PROMOTE PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING COOPERATION WITH AZERBAIJAN

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
June 29 2007

RA President Robert Kocharian received a delegation of representatives
of Armenian and Azeri intelligentsia, who had undertaken a
Stepanakert-Yerevan-Baku trip with the assistance of Armenian and
Azeri Presidents and the two countries’ Ambassadors to Russia.

According to the information DE FACTO received at RA President’s
Press Office, in the course of the meeting Robert Kocharian had
welcomed the initiative noting that establishment of communication
and creation of confidence between the two publics would become a
positive contribution to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict settlement.

According to RA President, despite present realities, common grounds
for cooperation should be found and Armenia is ready to promote
the process.

The guests spoke of the necessity of communication between Armenian
and Azeri societies and the ways of the plans’ implementation.

According to the representatives of Azeri intelligentsia, to establish
tolerance between the nations friendly and partnership relations
should be restored between the representatives of Armenian and Azeri
intelligentsia of the older generation. After visiting Yerevan the
delegation left for Baku to meet with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham
Aliyev. Before that the guests visited Stepanakert and met with NKR
President Arkady Ghoukassian.

TOROSYAN BLUNTS OUR VIGILANCE

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[08:23 pm] 28 June, 2007

The burning discussion on the "RA Law on Radio and Television"
was terminated by a very notable announcement of the NA Chairman
Tigran Torosyan.

Mr Tororsyan announced that the provision of the draft law prohibiting
foreign companies to launch a program on the National Radio and TV had
noting to do with the Radio Liberty. He explained that the "Liberty"
was not a broadcasting company, since by the RA Law a broadcasting
company should have license, while the RL did not have it, thus,
the bill did not concern the RL.

The absurdity is that Gevorg Danielyan, representative of the
Government, had declared in the NA that the provision referred not only
to the RL but to other three companies. It turns out that either the
Government tries to mislead the deputies or the NA Chairman. Anyway,
Tigran Torosyan promised to vote against if anyone proved that this
amendment was directed to the RL.

All factions expressed their attitudes to the bill and as they noted
they were against the possible close down of the Radio Liberty. But
only the "Heritage" party and the "Orinats Yerkir Party" voted against
the draft law, while the "Armenian Revolutionary Federation", the
"Prosperous Party of Armenia" and the "Republican Party of Armenia"
voted for the draft.

Raffi Hovhannisian, head of the "Heritage" party, apologized to the
Radio Liberty and the nation, that such a bill was involved in the
agenda, and urged to improve the bill and then only present to the
NA judgment. "Otherwise, the "Heritage" and the society will say "no"
to the draft", announced Raffi Hovhannisian.

Mher Shageldyan from the "Orinats Yerkir Party" pointed that the
radio would devastate in case Radio Liberty is banned from air just
the was the TV field was devastetd when the "A1+" was was banned from
air and that would be serious stroke to the freedom of expression
and human rights.

Aram Safaryan, secretary of the "Prosperous Party of Armenia",
mentioned that the Council of Public Television and Radio Company
should not be alloted the right of deciding arbitrarily which company
should broadcast. Mr Safaryan offered to vote for this bill for
promoting equal conditions and hoped that other private stations would
be pleased to sign agreements with RL for broadcasting its programs.

In the result of the discussion the "Republican Party of Armenia"
found out that the RL did not have an agreement with the National Radio
and TV. "On which basis the Radio Liberty broadcasts today", wondered
Samvel Nikoyan, secretary of the "Republican Party of Armenia". In
fact the National Radio and TV refused to sign an agreement with the
Radio Liberty without motivating it. The discussion of the issue was
over but the voting is due tomorrow.