Author: Mamian George

FOREIGN MINISTRY ENCOURAGES TO AVOID VISITING GEORGIA

Panorama.am
20:47 11/08/2008

The Foreign Ministry of Armenia encourages the citizens of Armenia
to avoid making any trips to Georgia, reported the press and public
relations department of the Government. "The Foreign Ministry of
Armenia is sympathizing with the recent tragic events happened in
Georgia," announced Government press service.

Considering August 9, 17:00 no citizen of Armenia has been damaged
during the clashes in Georgia. On the same day 240 RA citizens have
returned back to Armenia with the initiative of consulate-general of
RA in Batoumi.

Note, that hot line is functioning in MFA. For more information,
connect 562543 and 544041(inner 202) numbers.

THE 29TH SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES ARE STARTED

armradio.am
09.08.2008 15:53

In the "bird’s nest" is burning the fire of the 29th Olympic
Games. Competition for Olympic gold started. The gams of Beijing
are the most expensive in the whole history of Olympiad. 205
countries take part in it. 100.000 people, 4 milliard TV viewers
watched the theatrical performance about the history of China. In
the solemn ceremony of opening the RA President Serzh Sargsyan was
also present. The President of the Democratic Republic of China Hu
Dzin Tao performed hospitality connected with the opening of the
Games. According to the President’s Press Secretary the hospitality
was on the honor of the heads of different countries.

ARTHUR MKOYAN TO STUDY IN DAVIS COLLEGE DUE TO BENEFACTOR

Noyan Tapan

Au g 11, 2008

FRESNO, AUGUST 11, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. A generous benefactor
has made a Bullard High School valedictorian’s university hopes
a reality.

Arthur Mkoyan, 17, said Wednesday that he’ll be attending the
University of California, Davis, thanks to a Danville woman who read
about his plight and decided to help him in a big way.

Mkoyan, whose college dream was nearly destroyed by deportation to
Armenia, will attend his first college choice after all. A month ago,
Mkoyan decided to go to Fresno City College because his family couldn’t
afford UC Davis and he didn’t qualify for state and federal financial
aid because he’s neither a U.S. citizen nor a legal permanent resident.

Mkoyan’s benefactor, Sherry Heacox who operates a food- import
business was touched by his story and decided to pay for his four
years at UC Davis.

Mkoyan and his parents, who all faced deportation, were allowed to
stay in the United States after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,
introduced a private bill on Mkoyan’s behalf in June.

RA DEFENSE MINISTER CALLS FOR VIGILANCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.08.2008 13:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s Foreign Minister Seyran Ohanyan called
on the nation for vigilance in connection with the Georgian-South
Ossetian conflict.

"Tanks, warplanes and infantry were enabled in the attack on
Tskhinvali, killing civilians. We should be vigilant and unified to
resist the challenges we face," he said Friday in Nagorno Karabakh.

"The conflict is Georgia’s internal affair but we wish peace in the
neighbor country," he added, Novosti Armenia reports.

BAKU STILL SPINNING STORIES ABOUT NAGORNY KARABAKH REPUBLIC

arminfo
2008-08-06 16:20:00

ArmInfo. ‘Azerbaijani authorities keep spinning stories connected with
Nagorny Karabakh Republic and believe in their own stories. One of such
thin stories was created in response to declaration of NKR. Thus, NKR
capital Stepanakert was renamed into . It has changed nothing, indeed,
for the world knows it as Stepanakert’, Varges Hovyan, Head of the
NKR Government Department for Information and Public Relations, told
media in Stepanakert when commenting on the information disseminated
by Azerbaijani media entitled ‘Azerbaijan has founded new capital of
Nagorny Karabakh’.

‘Now they in Baku invented a new amusement. They have drawn up a map,
changed the borders of Nagorny Karabakh and founded a new capital
Nargiztepe. They even began gathering "refugees" to settle the
future capital city. All this is like the New-Vasuki established by
Ostap Bender’, he said. In response they in Karabakh might ‘found’
a settlement for 400,000 Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan not far
from Baku and call it, for instance, Artsakhakert, he said. ‘One can
joke as much as he wants to but the mess created by Azerbaijan is
not only another misinformation but also another evidence of their
intention to liquidate this Armenian region. They have done that
on paper so far. However, NKR people will never allow Azerbaijan
to reinforce its plans based on slander and misinformation. Two
bellicose nations cannot live together in the same state. Neither
Azerbaijanis nor 400,000 Armenian refugees can hope for return. At
best, Azerbaijanis may visit NKR as tourists’, V. Hovyan said.

UNITED STATES MADE SUKHUMI, TSKHINVALI, AND STEPANAKERT HAPPY; BAKU SAYS THE AMERICANS ARE "WRONG"
by Arkady Dubnov

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 6, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

BAKU IS DISSATISFIED WITH MATTHEW BRYZA’S STATEMENT MADE AFTER THE
NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT MEETING; Azerbaijani-Armenian meeting in
Moscow fomented a scandal in Baku.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement meeting in Moscow between
foreign ministers Edward Nalbandjan (Armenia) and Elmar Mamedjarov
(Azerbaijan) fomented a scandal in Baku. To be more exact, the scandal
was fomented by the statement Matthew Bryza of the OSCE Minsk Group
made after the meeting.

Nalbandjan said he had discussed "all issues on the agenda" with his
Azerbaijani opposite number.

Mamedjarov’s comment on the meeting was cautiously optimistic. "I’ve
listened to what the Armenian side had to say on the subject," he
said. "Mutual understanding is undeniable, but a breakthrough is
still far in the future."

So benevolent a tone in evaluation of the meeting between the involved
countries is unusual and therefore encouraging.

As soon as Matthew Bryza of the OSCE Minsk Group aired the offers he
himself had allegedly made to the ministers, Baku announced that it
was not ready to accept them.

The scandal was created by the words of the American diplomat to the
effect that "Residents of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh themselves
will decide if their republic is to be under Azerbaijani jurisdiction
or sovereign. A referendum will be arranged" (INTERFAX quoted Bryza
as saying).

Baku became immediately alerted to how INTERFAX web site immediate
posted a report on the "undisguised joy in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
over Bryza’s latest statement concerning Nagorno-Karabakh." As a
matter of fact, self-proclaimed republics striving for independence
from Georgia and international recognition will be happy to hear of
even a remote opportunity that Nagorno-Karabakh might become sovereign.

It was Bryza’s reference to Nagorno-Karabakh as a "republic" and the
fact that he allows for the possibility of its sovereignty that made
Baku hit the roof. "A referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as
part of the Azerbaijani Republic is possible only in 15 or 20 years,"
Novruz Mamedov of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration’s
International Relations Department said on August 2.

BEELINE ALREADY INVESTED 130 MILLION DOLLARS IN ARMENIA’S COMMUNICATION SECTOR

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The ArmenTel Staff Training Center has
been granted status of a Beeline university.The head of VimpelCom’s
Staff Service for CIS Countries Galina Voranetskaya said that ArmenTel
will become the first of the companies acquired by VimpelCom to
have a university of corporate teaching. The university will also
be the first of this kind in Armenia. The task of the university
is to assist with the concept of the company’s development and its
strategic goals. The employees to be trained in Armenia will be used
in all other branches of the company.

In the words of Yelena Kovalchuk, ArmenTel’s Director for
Organizational Development Issues, the whole staff of the company is
now being tested. All those to pass the test successfully will have
the opportunity to undergo training. In the last six months, 4,000
employees were trained, while the remaining 1,890 employees will be
trained in the next six months. Y. Kovalchuk stated that all those
who have a desire and opportunity to be trained will continue to work
in the company – regardless of their age. In her words, the company
will have to dismiss those employees who are unable or unwilling to
undergo training.

According to Director General of ArmenTel Neycho Velichkov, the
university should help raise the quality of services provided by
the company, which will eventually result in a growth of ArmenTel’s
incomes. He said that all the employees of the company have to undergo
training and receive a qualification, but he did not announce the date,
starting from which the proper level of services will be ensured.

N. Velichkov said that with the aim of improving IDSL service, the
company plans to install new equipment and increase the speed of the
Internet connection.

According to ArmenTel’s director, Beeline has already invested more
than 130 million USD (80 million USD in 2007, 40 million USD in
the first half of 2008) for development of ArmenTel. In addition to
fulfiling its licence obligations, the company is also implementing
new development programs. The degree of fixed phone connection
digitalization currently makes 58% in the country and will make about
80% by late 2008. ArmenTel envisages to reach 100% digitalization.

"TURKEY AT CROSSROADS ON ARMENIA" – TREND NEWS EXPERT

Trend News Agency
;news id=1262674&lang=EN
Aug 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 August / Trend News corr. R.Hafizoglu / Armenians
implement an active lobby activity to restore their ‘obedient nation’
image, like in the period of the Ottoman Empire.

For this purpose, Armenia did not need political maneuvers. The recent
events in Turkey have proved the activity of Armenians in the territory
of the country.

It is not by chance that Turkish President Abdullah Gul was invited
to watch the football match between the Turkish and Armenian teams
in Yerevan on 6 August by Armenian’s Serzh Sargsyan. Actually, such
a step by Armenians may drive Turkey into a corner. Gul’s rejection
to visit Armenia may be evaluated as Turkey was not ready to launch
a dialogue with Armenia, and Armenians consider the possible visit
of Turkish President to the country as the start of dialogue between
the countries.

A serious popularization was carried out in Turkey before Gul was
invited to Yerevan. Dismissal of Pf.Yusuf Khalachoglu, who attempted
to prove the invented pretensions to ‘Armenian genocide’, from the
chairman position in the Turkish History Department, gave an impact
to extend the Armenian popularization in Turkey.

The scheduled festival Yeshil Yayla through support of the Armenian
Government in the Rize City, is one of the lobby activity of Armenians
in Turkey. The Christensen Fund (TCF) supported by Armenian Diaspora
has allocated â~B¬200,000 to hold this festival. The funds were
allocated to support hemshins, who reside in Turkey and state about
their Armenian origin.

Ismayil Dinchar, the Head of International Force Unity Platform, said
that the scheduled festival by Armenians in the Black Sea region was
directed to reinforce their lobby activity and to prove hemshins the
unity of historical origins. Furthermore, Armenians, who attempt to
prove hemshins that they have the one historical roof, state that the
Armenian Churches and churchyards in Turkey were in a bad situation.

These statements were published in the Turkish magazine Evrensel
Hayat. "There are hundred of our Churches in Turkey, and they are
in a bad situation. Our main Church is the cloister on the Mereto
mountain and Church Maria Mother of God in Gulse. Turks do not respect
our graves. Gravestones are installed with the names of Muslims,
while there is not any sign on the graves of Armenians. This must be
stopped," is stated in the magazine.

There are other evidences about the Armenian lobby activity in Turkey.

Some 70,000 Armenians illegally work in Turkey. Former MP of Armenian
Parliament Stephan Grigoryan said the following about Armenians
illegally working in Turkey in the interview to the Star newspaper:
"I normally perceive that Armenians work in Turkey. We will solve this
problem as soon as we will restore the diplomatic relations with this
country. Armenians have good working conditions in Turkey. Turks and
Armenians have one culture, music and traditions. In spite of Dashnaks,
we should start the dialogue with Turks from the common issues rather
than problems."

Grigoryan has positively evaluated the invitation of Turkish President
to Yerevan and touched upon the importance of such a step to develop
relations between the two countries. "I do not believe that Gul
will visit Yerevan, but there is a message to Turkey beyond this
invitation. Our further development depends on Turkey. Turkish
political elite is very intelligent. Turkey understands that it is
an ally not only for Azerbaijan in the region. We should use of this
chance and to take the initiative to our hands," former Armenian
MP said.

Furthermore, Armenians hope that the Turkish-Armenian border to be
opened in the near future.

Gregoriy Vanyan, the Chairman of the organization World Initiatives
of South Caucasus, has evaluated the opening of the Turkish-Armenian
border as a very significant step to stabilize relations between
Armenia and Turkey and to solve the problems.

Another evidence of development of the relations between Turkey and
Armenia is an opening of the Armenian language and literature faculty
in one of the Universities in Nevsher City.

Turkish Education Ministry has opened the Armenian language and
literature faculty after an official permission by the Foreign
Ministry. This was said by Pf.Mehmet Metin Hulagu to the information
agency Habertime. Hulagu hoped that the faculty would play a role of
bridge between the two countries. Taking into consideration that there
are few specialists in Turkey, who can speak in the Armenian language,
such specialists will be attracted from Armenia.

It would be simply-minded to take actualization of the Turkish-Armenian
relations as by chance. European Union is also interested in
normalization of the Turkish- Armenian relations and opening of
borders. EU’s main demand from Turkey is to open borders with Armenia
and to restore relations with this country in response to support
the Turkish ruling party.

All the aforesaid make us to think that the deadlock period between
Turkey and Armenia have passed. Armenian’s prospectus depends on
Turkey. Turkey faces another historical choice.

–Boundary_(ID_M6Fq0K4wkgCn8jWHO//i6g)–

FREE OF CHARGE SERVICE & WORSE MEDICAL SUPPORT?

Panorama.am
20:42 01/08/2008

Starting from July 1 1604 pregnant women received free of charge
medical service in the hospitals; 1154 of them were from Yerevan and
422 from regional communities, said Karine Saribekyan, the head of
mother and child care department of the Ministry of Health.

Remind that from July 1, pregnant women should receive free of charge
medical service based on the decision of the Government.

According to K. Saribekyan 20.6% of 1604 pregnant women has had
Caesarean operation which is low compared with the previous year.

ARMAVIA PASSENGERS GET FREE VOUCHERS FOR VIVACELL PRE-PAID CARDS ON BOARD

ARKA
July 31, 2008

YEREVAN, July 31. /ARKA/. VivaCell pre-paid cards are distributed
among all the passengers of Armavia flights for free, Armavia press
service reported.

Special vouchers are provided to all Armavia passengers arriving
in Armenia.

Vouchers can be changed for "Alo" pre-paid cards, either "Menk"
or "Barbar" tariff plan, at any time and at any service centre of
VivaCell. Passengers over 18 years may get their cards on producing
their passports.

Passengers using other companies’ flights may get their free "Alo"
pre-paid cards at VivaCell service center in the airport. Any passenger
irrespective of his citizenship may get a free pre-paid mobile phone
card.