Author: Mamian George

WE SHALL CHOOSE THE MOST EFFECTIVE
N.Hovsepyan

Azat Artsakh Daily
Published on May 21, 2008
NKR Republic

On May 10-14 the vice-premier, minister of agriculture Armo Tsatryan
and the executive director of NKR investment fund K.Essayan went on
a mission to Republic of Byelorussia. On May 19th after the talk with
the President Bako Sahakyan, A.Tsatryan answered also the journalists’
questions. The main aim of the visit is to get acquainted with the
technical equipment’s market of the place. New village technical
equipment is needed. And Byelorussia has rather great experience
in that field. The vice-premier informed, that during some days
of the mission they could visit a number of cities, different
factories. During the short-term visit the vice-premier could get
acquainted with the general situation of agriculture of Byelorussia.

According to him, here the previous huge farms are still preserved,
which gives chances of more active development of agriculture. And
in Byelorussia its results are available. Is it possible to use the
same model in Artsakh?

The vice-premier noticed, that it’s already long time that discussions
have been carried out about enlarging the farms, its positive sides
and chances of development, but now it;s futile. A.Tsatryan touched
upon also the general situation of agriculture in NKR. According
to him by condition of May 10th the sizes of realized spring sowing
outnumber the indexes of the same period of the previous year.

VARTAN ARAMIAN APPOINTED DEPUTY FINANCE MINISTER

ARMENPRESS
May 20, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS: Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian dismissed
today David Avetisian as deputy finance and economy minister, the
government press office said.

It said by another decree the prime minister appointed Vartan Aramian
as deputy finance minister.

Vartan Aramian was born in 1975 in Yerevan. He graduated from economy
department of Yerevan State University in 1997. In 2004 he had an
intensive training at Fletcher School of Taft University in the USA.

>From 1999 to 2006 he held a variety of positions in the Central
Bank of Armenia. From 2006 until this appointment he was Armenia’s
representative at the CIS inter-governmental hard currency
committee. Since 2007 he has been lecturing at the French University
of Armenia. He is married.

REPAIRS TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN 99 YEREVAN SCHOOLS THIS YEAR

Noyan Tapan

Ma y 20, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 20, NOYAN TAPAN. Work of modernization, major repairs,
construction of heating systems in Yerevan comprehensive school
buildings is also envisaged by 2020, within the framework of the
Yerevan Major Plan. As Onik Vatian, the Head of the Education
Department of Yerevan Mayor’s Office, said at the May 19 press
conference, repairs will be implemented in 99 schools this
year. According to him, more than 4.1bn drams (nearly 13.3m USD)
has been allocated from the state budget this year for the purpose of
implementing school repair programs. 53 schools will be fundamentally
repaired and 6 individual heating boiler-houses will be built with
this sum.

It was mentioned that 2bn drams for repairs, as well as for building
of individual boiler-houses of 41 schools is envisaged by the Program
of Town Capital Expenditures of the Mayor’s Office.

O. Vatian said that major repairs of over 10m USD are implemented
in five Yerevan schools at present under the Lincy program. The
repaired schools will be put into operation at the beginning of the
new schoolyear.

According to the head of the department, the programs of teachers’
retraining will continue to be implemented. Retraining courses of
teachers of Physical Training, Civil Defence, Singing and Music,
Painting, and Informatics subjects will start from June 2. The program
of providing schools with laboratory equipment and computers continues.

Spain on trial in Armenia tournament
Tuesday 20 May 2008

Armenia will host UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Group 7, with Ukraine and Turkey both looking to end
holders Spain’s run in the Elite round.

Match schedule
Armenia, making their second appearance in the Elite
round, meet 2004’s beaten finalists Turkey in their
opening game in Abovyan on 22 May, while four-time
winners Spain meet Ukraine in a replay of the 2004
semi-final, which Spain won on penalties after a 2-2
draw. Ukraine play Armenia on the 24th as Spain meet
Turkey with the mini tournament ending on 27 May with
Turkey playing Ukraine and Spain facing the hosts.

SPAIN
Coach Ginés Meléndez has made seven changes to the
Spain squad that advanced through the qualifying
round. Ignacio Camacho has been brought in following a
fine stint in Club Atlético de Madrid’s first team
while Real Racing Club Santander striker Iván Bolado –
who scored twice in the Primera División this season –
is also included. There are call-ups for José Maria
Antón, Tomas Mejías, Jordi Alba Ramos and César Ortiz
while two of the stars of last year’s U17 championship
winning team – Fran Mérida and forward Daniel `El
Torito’ Aquino – will be looking to add to their
growing reputations.

Qualifying round: Albania 2-0, Liechtenstein 0-0,
Serbia 1-1 (Group 5 winners)

Key players: Francisco Mérida (midfielder, Arsenal
FC), Ignacio Camacho (midfielder, Club Atlético de
Madrid), Daniel Aquino (striker, Real Murcia CF)

UKRAINE
Roman Zozulya and Andriy Yarmolenko have been added to
the squad since the qualifying round after making
their senior debuts for FC Dynamo Kyiv, while striker
Dmytro Korkyshko misses out. The newcomers, and Dynamo
team-mate Artyom Kravets, should pose a serious
attacking threat. Coach Olexandr Lysenko said: "We
have an even group because Turkey and Armenia,
regardless of Spain, have very strong teams. Every
team is capable of taking points from the others. We
definitely want to get to the finals, but chances are
even."

Qualifying round: Azerbaijan 3-0, Moldova 2-1,
Scotland 1-0 (Group 11 winners)

Key players: Taras Stepanenko (midfielder, FC Metalurh
Zaporizhya), Maxym Belyi (defender, FK Kharkiv),
Artyom Kravets (forward, FC Dynamo Kyiv)

ARMENIA
Star players Henrikh Mkhitaryn and Sergis Karapetyan
will be banned for the first two games of the
tournament while Edgar Malakyan will sit out the first
game through suspension, and serious injuries to Gagik
Dagbashyan and Albert Tadevosyan in recent domestic
games may force coach Armen Gyulbudaghyants to make
further changes. "We have strong opposition but this
does not mean that Armenia won’t be fighting for a
place in the finals," said the coach. "You get 90
minutes to win each match, and we are looking to
surprise everyone and finish first."

Qualifying round: Lithuania 2-2, San Marino 1-0,
Poland 0-0 (Group 7 runners up)

Key players: Henrikh Mkhitaryan (midfielder, FC
Pyunik), Sargis Karapetyan (midfielder, FC Banants),
Edgar Malakyan (midfielder, FC Pyunik)

TURKEY
With plenty of players now seeing action with their
senior teams, Turkey have reason for optimism, with
18-year-old attacking midfielder Barýþ Memiþ – who has
scored twice in 15 league games – the pick of the
crop. Coach Ahmet Ceyhan said: "The players have faced
harder opponents as they have an experience from the
league. Spain are in our group and I expect that game
to be very competitive and entertaining. It’s not
important who you play against because all the teams
are ambitious."

Qualifying round: Faroe Islands 3-1, Bulgaria 2-0,
Denmark 0-0 (Group 9 winners)

Key players: Sercan Yýldýrým (forward, Bursaspor),
Barýþ Memiþ (midfielder, Trabzonspor)

©uefa.com 1998-2008.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT CAPABLE OF SOLVING SYSTEM PROBLEMS: CE

ARKA
May 20, 2008

YEREVAN, May 20. /ARKA/. Armenian government is ready to solve problems
in the country’s system and fill in the existing gaps, Deputy Secretary
General of the Council of Europe Maud de Boer-Buquicchio said during
her meeting with RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian.

The Deputy Secretary General also met high-ranking Armenian officials
on Monday in Yerevan to discuss the implementation of PACE Resolution
1609, as well as recommendations of the CE Commissioner of Human
Rights and Ago Group’s report on Armenia. She pointed out that the June
session of PACE is not far off. De Boer-Buquicchio called in Armenian
authorities to use effectively the short period before the session.

Adopted this April, PACE Resolution 1609 on democratic institutions
in Armenia urges the country’s authorities to strengthen democratic
institutes by the summer session of the RA Parliament. Otherwise,
Armenia will be deprived of its right to vote in the Assembly.

The authors of the resolution, John Prescott and Georges Colombier,
call on Armenia’s authorities to step up their efforts to implement
political reforms, taking the opposition’s opinion into account. They
also urge Armenia to reform the electoral system and ensure
independence of mass media, as well as to guarantee the freedom of
assembly both by law and in practice.

De Boer-Buquicchio said opposition should also be constructive without
making harsh demands.

According to her, the Council of Europe is ready to help Armenian
authorities to combat corruption, reforms the country’s legislation
and other fields to achieve good results by June.

In his turn, the Prime Minister assured the Deputy Secretary General
the Armenian Government is as good as its word. He said Armenia
intends to solve all the problems as soon as possible. However, the
Prime Minister was sceptical about significant changes in society
within a month.

He stressed the importance of building up public confidence in
democratic principles and norms.

He said the Armenian Government has the willpower to achieve all these
goals and intends to carry out reforms to develop cooperation between
the strong government and strong opposition, responsible media and
responsible government.

The country also plans to curb price rise, according to Sargsian.

He assured the European official that the RA Government’s Poverty
Reduction Strategy will become more effective if the country is able
to settle the existing social issues and reduce political tension. -0–

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
May 17 2008

Armenian National Movement: "The authorities, led by Serzh Sarkissyan
de jure and Robert Kocharyan de facto, act beyond the frames of law
and democracy"

17 May 2008 [12:37] – Today.Az

The working authorities of Armenia continue to ignore decisions,
adopted by the EU Presidium, PACE resolution, and appeals of other
international structures and European countries.

The due announcement is contained in the statement of the Armenian
National Movement.

The shooting of March 1 peaceful protests participants and further
large scale terror against tens of thousands of people did not
overpower the National Movement. The politically motivated arrests of
over 150 key movement activists also were not effective-they were
replaced by new people, says the statement.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s speech at the congress of opposition powers
showed that the strengthening and determination of the political
forces, struggling for democracy and freedom have strengthened. This
caused a new wave of arrests and persecutions.

"Within several days following the congress over 200 people were
brought to the law enforcement bodies only by information of the
movement (which is 30% of the reality, as most people fear to speak
about the events). All of them are participants of March 1 protests
and other meetings, relatives of political prisoners, their
friends. They were deprived of legal defense, subjected to physical
and psychological pressure and not allowed to inform their relatives
about their detainment.

All, who tried to get false testimonies against political prisoners by
way of terror, have empty materials of guilty. This proves once more
that the authorities, led by Serzh Sarkissyan de jure and Robert
Kocharyan de facto act beyond the frames of law and democracy.

The movement closely watches officials and law enforcement bodies,
conducting an illegal activity. No matter whoever they are, they will
be brought to responsibility.

The leaders of the regime failed to understand the essence of the PACE
resolution. The spasmodic actions of the authorities will lead to
nowhere. Armenian people will win the fight for freedom and
democracy", says the statement.

/ARMENIA-Today/

URL:

UK QUEEN GOING TO SUPPORT TURKEY FOR EU?

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.05.2008 15:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Queen Elizabeth II of England and her husband, the
Duke of Edinburgh are arriving in Turkey on May 13 on an official
visit. The crown-bearing couple has accepted an invitation from
President Abdullah Gul. The Queen will be visiting Turkey for only
the second time; her first visit was back in 1971.

According to information provided by the British Consulate General
in Istanbul, the queen’s program will include Ankara, Bursa and
Istanbul. The Queen and her husband will be accompanied by British
foreign secretary David Miliband.

"Diplomatic officials have already interpreted the visit as British
support for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, which still denies
accession on the pretext of the Armenian Genocide and other issues,"
Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.

RUSSIA READY TO ORGANIZE MEETING BETWEEN AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS – SPEAKER

Trend News Agency
May 13 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 May /Trend News corr S. Agayeva/ Russia is
ready to organize a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
Presidents to continue peaceful negotiations on settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"There are good opportunities for a meeting between the conflicting
sides’ presidents. Russia offers its assistance to organize the
meeting," Boris Grizlov, Speaker of the Russian Parliament, said in
Baku on 13 May during the meeting with the chairman of the Azerbaijani
Parliament Ogtay Asadov.

"Moscow will support any decision of the sides regarding the conflict,"
Grizlov said.

The Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia are expected to meet in St
Petersburg in June within the framework of the Economic Forum to take
place from 6 to 7 June.

"The agreement in this connection was achieved between the two
countries’ Foreign Ministers during CE Ministerial Committee’s meeting
in Strasburg on 6 May," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
said to journalists on 12 May.

That will be the first meeting between Ilham Aliyev and the newly
elected Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who was elected in February.

"At the meeting with new Armenian authorities it will become clear
how much they are ready for peaceful negotiations," he said.

During the upcoming meeting the Presidents are expected to discuss
written suggestions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which were presented
by the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs to Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers in Madrid on 29 November 2007. The core of the suggestions
is kept in secret due to confidentiality of the negotiation process.

So far, OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs presented three suggestions to
the conflicting countries, with two of them rejected by Armenia. And
Baku rejected co-chairs’ suggestion to establish a confederative
state with Nagorno-Karabakh.

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.

SWISS PRESIDENT PASCAL COUCHEPIN : WE WANT SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

Azeri Press Agency
May 12 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova -APA. New building of Swiss embassy has been
opened in Baku today, APA reports

Swiss President attended inauguration of building and noted that
relations would be further developed effectively.

"Switzerland has political, cultural and social relations with
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani art figures are known in Switzerland," he said.

He stated that Swiss businessmen are interested in allocating
investments to construction, energetics, chemical industry and
pharmacology. He stressed that he had familiarized with problems of
the region and noted that Switzerland supported peaceful solution
to Nagorno Karabakh within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

Ogtay Asadov, Speaker of MM noted that inauguration of new
building will serve for the development of relations between the two
countries. Speaker mentioned that about 20 Swiss companies functioned
in Baku and noted that it would further increase. Asadov added that
interparliamentary relations played a great role in the development
of bilateral relations. Asadov noted that Azerbaijan-Switzerland
Friendship Group functioned in MM and stressed that analogical group
was expected to establish in Swiss Parliament

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, other Ministers, MPs and heads of
diplomatic corps attended the event.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, May 9, 2008

French AGBU Chapters Host "Armenian Security" Lecture Tour, Over 400
Attend

AGBU chapters in the French cities of Paris, Marseille, Valence and
Lyon, in cooperation with the Tchobanian Institute, organized a
lecture tour entitled "The Foundations for Armenian Security and Means
to Ensure It." The Tchobanian Institute is an independent research
center devoted to strategic studies in the South Caucasus, Asia Minor
and the Middle East.

With the participation of Armen Ayvazyan, director of the Ararat
Strategic Research Center and attending professor of Political Science
at the American University of Armenia (AUA), the first event took
place on April 4, 2008 in Paris, France. More than 150 people attended
the event at the city’s AGBU Alex Manoogian Centre. Varoujan Sirapian,
president and founder of the Tchobanian Institute, participated in the
lecture tour as moderator. Geopoliticist François Thual joined
Ayvazyan and Sirapian for the Paris leg of the tour.

After a presentation and analysis of the major threats that face
Armenia and Karabakh, Ayvazyan discussed the issues facing
Armenian-Turkish relations, including territorial sovereignty,
demographics, and the strategic importance of the Armenian-populated
territory of Javakhk in Georgia.

Thual offered a thorough analysis of the issues at hand and suggested
that political and strategic concerns excluded the possibility of
armed attacks on behalf of Azerbaijan and Turkey on Armenia. He said
the real danger facing Armenia was the shrinking population, which is
in stark contrast to the rapidly increasing population of neighboring
Azerbaijan. The presentations were followed by a question-and-answer
period when members of the public asked about Armenia’s demographic
crisis, as well as the current post-electoral situation in Armenia.

Among the distinguished guests attending the Paris lecture were Alexis
Govciyan, president of AGBU Europe, Nelly Tardivier-Henrot,
commissioner of last year’s "Year of Armenia" celebrations in France,
AGBU leaders, local Armenian clergy, community leaders, and
French-Armenian youth.

The tour continued on Tuesday, April 8, at the AGBU Centre in
Marseille and was attended by approximately 100 people. Michel
Guéviguian, vice-president of AGBU Marseille, introduced the event and
Robert Der Merguerian provided translation assistance throughout the
evening.

On Wednesday, April 9, Ayvazyan and Sirapian traveled to Valence in
southeastern France to speak to an audience of 100 at the local AGBU
centre. Philippe Panossian, president of AGBU Valence, welcomed the
audience that included members of the local town council, former AGBU
Valence leaders, as well as representatives of various French-Armenian
organizations.

The final stop was on Thursday, April 10, at the AGBU Centre in
Lyon. Attended by more than 80 people, the Lyon event was hosted by
Michel Sandjian, president of AGBU Lyon.

This lecture tour is the latest in AGBU Europe’s continuing program of
conferences and debates on the geostrategic questions concerning
Armenia within the framework of European institutions.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with
an annual budget of $34 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the
Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and
humanitarian programs, annually serving some 400,000 Armenians on six
continents.