Author: Nadirian Emma

CELEBRATING WITH GHAPAN
By Jason Wells

Glendale News Press
October 22, 2008 10:28 PM PDT
CA

Members of the Khanamirian Dance School perform a traditional Armenian
dance at the 5th anniversary celebration of the Glendale-Ghapan Sister
City Association on Wednesday. (Roger Wilson/News-Press)

Event for sister city of 5 years features performance of Armenian
national anthem, dances.

More than 1,000 people at the Alex Theatre Wednesday celebrated the
fifth anniversary of Glendale’s sisterhood with the little south
Armenian mining town of Ghapan.

The City Council vote in 2002 to confirm Ghapan, also known as Kapan,
as Glendale’s fifth sister city was touted as a perfect match,
considering this city’s sizable Armenian population and that city’s
eagerness to form stronger ties with an established democracy.

Since then, city officials and organizers said Wednesday, the
relationship has proven fruitful in terms of material benefits to
Ghapan and in providing Glendale Armenians a formal conduit through
which they can help, learn about and stay connected to their heritage.

Similar assistance programs are set up for Glendale’s other sister
cities, which include Higashiosaka and Hiroshima, Japan, and
Tlaquepaque and Rosarito Beach, Mexico.

Organizers were careful to point out that Ghapan’s sisterhood wasn’t a
singularly Armenian one, but with the audience clapping and cheering
for 20 synchronized dancers from the Khanamirian Dance School, the
cultural ties could not be ignored.

When the Glendale High School choir sang the Armenian national anthem,
many in the audience could be heard humming along.

In this cross-national, municipal governmental relationship, "It’s
about that intangible sense of friendship," said Assemblyman Paul
Krekorian.

Ghapan — with a population of between 40,000 and 50,000, depending on
the source — lies about 137 miles southeast of the Armenian capital,
Yerevan.

In the five years since the cultural accord took effect, Ghapan has
benefited from a number of charitable projects undertaken by local
nonprofits and organizations.

The Glendale-Ghapan Sister City Assn. has raised hundreds of thousands
of dollars for public health and infrastructure improvements in a city
dependent largely on mining industries and still recuperating from
cross-border conflicts with Azerbaijan and slow population growth,
according to the United Nations and other government agencies.

Construction on a natural gas pipeline from Russia into Armenia is
expected to fuel fragile economic growth.

In the interim, donations of money and hardware have proven valuable
for the industrial city as it continues to develop, officials said.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center is helping to establish "health
posts" in the rural areas of the city, and is involved with a
cross-cultural medical training program for doctors there.

The Glendale Fire Department has donated fire hoses, ladders, uniforms
and an ambulance. Educational ties between the two cities were also
strengthened in 2006, when the Glendale Community College Board of
Trustees voted to declare the Ghapan State Engineering College a
sister institution.

That same year, Ghapan Mayor Armen Karapetyan visited Glendale for the
first time, three years after an 18-member local delegation traveled
to Armenia.

Numerous back-and-forth visits have occurred as Glendale
representatives attempt to keep up on the most pressing needs there.

The focus continues to be on Ghapan’s education and healthcare
infrastructure. Projects for the Glendale-Ghapan Sister City
Assn. include the renovation of a youth center and school classrooms.

There are also ongoing programs to sponsor students and preschool
programming.

"Of course you cannot do everything; it’s impossible," said Arpi
Andonian, who has served on the executive board of the Glendale-Ghapan
Sister City Assn. since its inception.

Still, she added, the medical, business, cultural and government
communities here have been instrumental in igniting real developmental
progress in an Armenian town that got a bad start under decades of
Soviet control.

"Without everyone’s help here, none of it would be possible,"
Andonian said.

COMSTAR-UTS INVESTED $4,6 MLN IN CREATION OF NATIONAL MOBILE NETWORK IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2008-10-21 15:33:00

ArmInfo. COMSTAR-UTS (United TeleSystems) invested $4,6 mln in creation
of a national mobile network WiMAX in Armenia, Director General of
Cornet-AM CJSC (subsidiary of COMSTAR-UTS) Boris Demirkhanyan said at
today’s pres-conference on the occasion of the network launch. He said
that the network has been launched at the first stage in 18 towns
of Armenia and covers almost 60% of the population. Twenty-four
multisectoral base stations have been installed to assure the
communication. Airspan Networks Company (USA) is supplier of the
network equipment. The wireless network, for operation of which a
necessary resource has been allotted in a radio frequency range of
3,6-3,8 GHz in the territory of 9 regions, functions in 802,16Ã’
standard. The network has been intended for rendering of a full
spectrum of telecommunications services to the legal and natural
persons, including services in data transfer, digital telephony,
high-line Internet access, organization of corporate networks (IP
VPN), etc. The director general said that Cornet-AM has 600 clients
at this stage and it is expected to join 400 clients more till late,
2008. The president of COMSTAR- UTS Sergey Pridantsev said at the
press-conference that WiMAX national network in Armenia is not only
unique for the country but it is also one of the first telecommunicati
ons networks in the world of such kind.

To note, COMSTAR-UTS is the biggest communication operator in Moscow
on financial indicators and subscriber base. The securities of
COMSTAR-UTS have been admitted to tenders at London Stock Exchange
under CMST ticker.

–Boundary_(ID_GFVEZ0mH/CAgC/1lH9wPKQ)–

BAGHDASSARYAN, SIMMONS DISCUSS ARMENIA-NATO COOPERATION FOR 2009-2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.10.2008 16:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Secretary of the Armenian National Security Council
Artur Baghdassaryan met Tuesday with NATO’s Special Representative
for South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons and the delegation
led by him to discuss the Armenia-NATO cooperation, the RA President’s
press office reported.

The NSC Secretary briefed on activities of the commission formed to
coordinate interaction with European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

The officials also referred to the IPAP implementation and cooperation
plans for 2009-2010.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) – Europe
Email: [email protected]

Nagorno Karabakh, its Neighbourhood and the Wider Europe

An AGBU Europe round table

Brussels, 19 October 2008. A delegation from Nagorno-Karabakh visited
Brussels from October 14 to 17 to take part in a round table hosted by the
AGBU in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Brussels office. The
delegation was composed of Eduard Atanesyan, Deputy foreign Affairs Minister
of Nagorno Karabakh and David Babayan, Head of the Information Department of
the Office of the President of Karabakh.

The Round table brought together representatives of various organisations
and institutions involved in European policy in the region, including NGOs,
Think Tanks, Embassies and the European Institutions. Azerbaijani diplomats
and NGOs in Brussels, though invited, did not attend.

Karabakh is one of the 3 territories in the Caucasus which declared
independence at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. After
successfully defending its independence in an unequal war with Azerbaijan
between 1992 and 1994, this small republic of 145 000 inhabitants has since
struggled to rebuild itself, to establish a functioning state and to
develop.

This is the first visit to Brussels by a delegation from Karabakh since
1999. The visit aimed to allow EU decision-makers and experts to establish
contact with representatives from Karabakh and to inform them about the
country¹s situation. Even though the EU¹s interest in the South Caucasus has
increased considerable in recent years, it has abstained from establishing
relations with Karabakh, even at the most informal level. Amazingly, the EU
current special representative for the South Caucasus has not yet travelled
to Karabakh, though he has visited other unrecognized republics.

The round table reviewed the state of Karabakh¹s economy, state and society.
Karabakh¹s economy is developing fast, but started very low after it was
entirely destroyed in the war. It faces challenges similar to those of most
other post-soviet republic, compounded by the absence of international
assistance and by potential investors¹ reticence caused by the country¹s
unrecognized status. On the other hand, the speakers claimed that governance
and democratic standards, facilitated by the country¹s small size, are
rather more advanced than in the neighbouring South Caucasian republics

Over the last 14 years, negotiations have been carried out under the aegis
of the Minsk group of the OSCE to seek agreement on its final status. In
this context, both Babayan and Atanesyan explained their government¹s
positions in the context of the negotiations by describing their territory¹s
specific situation and its experience of a terrible war. Karabakh aspires to
being included as a party in the negotiations on its future status, which it
is still excluded from. In a lively discussion regarding the right of return
of Azeris refugees from Karabakh, Babayan confirmed that they were welcome
to return, providing they accept the jurisdiction of Nagorno -Karabakh. He
insisted however, that refugees should not be used as pawns in a political
game, and that negotiations on the topic should genuinely aim to satisfy
their right of return. The round table held on Octobre 16 was the first in a
series of round tables and events which AGBU Europe will be organizing in
the context of its work with the European institutions. The next event to be
organized will be a conference (November 13) on the rediscovery of Armenian
Heritage in Turkey

SENIOR KARABAKH DELEGATION DEBATES WITH EU POLICY MAKERS

20/10/08

A n AGBU Europe round table

Brussels, 19 October 2008 – A delegation from Nagorno-Karabakh visited
Brussels from October 14 to 17 to take part in a round table hosted
by AGBU Europe in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation
Brussels office.

The delegation was composed of Eduard Atanesyan, Deputy foreign
Affairs Minister of Nagorno Karabakh and David Babayan, Head of the
Information Department of the Office of the President of Karabakh.

The Round table brought together representatives of various
organizations and institutions involved in European policy in the
region, including NGOs, Think Tanks, Embassies and the European
Institutions. Azerbaijani diplomats and NGOs in Brussels, though
invited, did not attend.

Karabakh is one of the 3 territories in the Caucasus which declared
independence at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. After
successfully defending its independence in an unequal and devastating
war with Azerbaijan between 1992 and 1994, this small republic of
145 000 inhabitants struggled to rebuild itself, to establish a
functioning state and to develop.

This is the first visit to Brussels by a delegation from Karabakh
since 1999. The visit aimed to allow EU decision-makers and experts
to establish contact with representatives from Karabakh and to inform
them about the country’s si tuation. Even though the EU’s interest
in the South Caucasus has increased considerably in recent years, it
has abstained from establishing relations with Karabakh, even at the
most informal level. The EU’s special representative for the South
Caucasus has not yet travelled to Karabakh, though he has visited
other unrecognized republics in the region.

The round table reviewed the state of Karabakh’s economy, state and
society. Karabakh’s economy started from nothing after it was entirely
destroyed in the war but it is now developing fast. It faces challenges
similar to those of most other post-soviet republic, compounded by
the absence of international assistance and by potential investors’
reticence caused by the country’s unrecognized status. On the other
hand, the speakers claimed that governance and democratic standards,
facilitated by the country’s small size, are rather more advanced in
Karabakh than in the neighbouring South Caucasian republics.

Over the last 14 years, negotiations have been pursued under the
aegis of the Minsk group of the OSCE to seek agreement on Karabakh’s
final status. In this context, both Babayan and Atanesyan explained
their government’s positions in the context of the negotiations by
describing their territory’s specific situation and its experience
of a terrible war.

Karabakh aspires to being included as a party in the negotiations
on its future status, which i t is still excluded from. In a lively
discussion regarding the right of return of Azeris refugees from
Karabakh, Babayan confirmed that they were welcome to return, providing
that those involve accept the jurisdiction of Nagorno-Karabakh. He
insisted however, that refugees should not be used as pawns in a
political game, and that negotiations on the topic should genuinely
aim to satisfy their right of return.

This round table, held on Octobre 16, was the first in a series of
round tables and events which AGBU Europe will be organizing in the
context of its work with the European institutions. The next event
to be organized will be a conference, on November 13 next, on the
Rediscovery of Armenian Heritage in Turkey. For more information,
see

–Boundary_(ID_ZDKnVYG77RpeKG UpzriRHw)–

PANARMENIAN.NET RECOGNIZED THE BEST COVERING EUROPEAN EVENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.10.2008 15:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the framework of Monitoring of European Events
Coverage by Armenian Media project, PanARMENIAN.Net was praised as
the agency providing best coverage of European events.

PanARMENIAN.Net was also awarded special prizes for Best Interview
and Best Analytical Article on European affairs.

The project was implemented by European Integration and International
Alert NGOs.

GEORGIA, RUSSIA HOLDING TALKS IN GENEVA

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.10.2008 18:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Georgian and Russian officials are in Geneva for
key talks on the recent conflict over Georgia’s breakaway region of
South Ossetia.

The talks – which are being mediated by the UN, the EU and the OSCE –
are aimed at encouraging stability and security in the Caucasus. But
they are unlikely to provide a solution to the dispute, diplomats say.

Last week, Russian troops left their self-imposed buffer zones around
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in accordance with a French-brokered
ceasefire deal. But Moscow has said it plans to keep nearly 8,000
soldiers in the two rebel regions.

Georgia – which has cut off its diplomatic ties with Russia – says
the two regions are integral parts of its territory, demanding an
immediate pullout of the Russian troops.

Diplomats described the day’s events in Geneva as "proximity talks",
with representatives of the various international organisations
shuttling between Georgian and Russian officials.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in Geneva:
"The international discussion that shall take place tomorrow is a
beginning. This should not be seen as the end. "It may take time,
so we need to have some patience," he added.

Alexander Stubb, the current chairman of the Organisation for Security
and Co-operation in Europe, said: "We know that this is a long process,
we’re taking it slowly, step by step."

Another major sticking point is the format of the talks
themselves. Russia has been pressing for the inclusion of
representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia in any discussions,
but Georgia strongly opposes to the move. Representatives from the
two regions are in Geneva, but their role is unclear.

Diplomats in Geneva are so nervous that they would not confirm who
was sitting in the meeting room, BBC reports.

IS ARMENIAN PRESS A WELL-ESTABLISHED STRUCTURE?

A1+
[02:51 pm] 15 October, 2008

Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamian issued a message
on the day of the Armenian Press.

"We can state that the press of the third Republic of Armenia is
already a well-established structure which adequately responds
to all important and vital problems in the life of Armenia and the
Armenians, shapes public opinion and guarantees the right of people for
information, set down in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia

We can also state that we already have a well-established information
field in Armenia with knowledgeable reporters. Thanks to their daily
work they help us keep abreast with the latest news both inside and
outside the country, as well as witness analyses and journalistic
investigations the purpose of which is to further perfect our life.

I congratulate all Armenian journalists on this holiday and wish them
success in their further activities," runs the Speaker’s message.

BEEMAIL.AM E-MAIL TO BE AVAILABLE FOR USERS IN LATE OCTOBER

ARKA
Oct 13, 2008

YEREVAN, October 13. /ARKA/. Armenia’s internet users will be able to
open e-mail boxes on beemail.am e-mail in late October, reported Neycho
Velichkov, general director of ArmenTel (under the Beeline brand).

"The mail is almost ready, we only need to get some licenses on the
number of users," he said.

The company is trying to obtain more specific information about the
prospective users before putting the e-mail into operation.

Velichkov formerly stated ArmenTel had bought a mail server and
address space, planning to offer free e-mail to users from September.

Russian VimpelCom became the absolute shareholder of the ArtemTel
Telecommunications Company in April 2007. ArmenTel currently has
about 650,000 mobile subscribers and over 780,000 fixed telephone
users.

NEW CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NA PRESIDENT

National Assembly of RA
14.10.2008
Armenia

NA President Mr Hovik Abrahamyan continues to receive messages from
the presidents of the parliaments of other countries.

Congratulating Mr Hovik Abrahamyan on the occasion of being elected
in the post of the President of the National Assembly, the President
of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg Mr Lucien Weiler expressed
hope that the relations between two parliaments would remain as warm
and friendly as they were in the past. The President of the Chamber
of Deputies is sure that the NA President will carry out the mission
he has undertaken with dignity, skillfully and successfully.

Mr Nicolae VÄ~CcÄ~Croiu, President of the Senate of Romania sent his
sincere congratulations to the NA President, wishing success to him
and to the whole Armenian people peace and welfare.

In her congratulatory message Mrs Ene Ergma, President of Riigikogu
of Estonia expressed confidence that the effective cooperation and
contacts between two countries at bilateral and multilateral levels
would be continued and strengthened during the NA presidency of
Mr Hovik Abrahamyan. He is also sure that the continuation of good
relations between friendly countries will promote to make Europe more
peaceful and more prosperous.

–Boundary_(ID_lwhxZhj8LunLYd0hsDzttQ )–