Author: Nahapetian Boris

MARIAM MATOSSIAN IS NOMINATED FOR TWO CANADIAN FOLK MUSIC AWARDS

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.02.2009 22:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Canadian-Armenian singer Mariam Matossian is
nominated for two Canadian Folk Music Awards, GreenvilleOnline.com
reports. The singer says non-Armenians have been the first ones
to truly embrace her music. "They may not understand the words I’m
singing, but they love the music." She describes her shows — she
has performed at festivals and concerts in Canada and the United
States — as storytelling with music. "My grandmother’s favorites,
I learned from my mother." The subject matter is universal; they are
songs that tell of yearning, of homesickness, of love and loss.

Mariam Matossian’s first album, the 2004 "Far From Home," is dedicated
to the memory of her grandmother, Mariam Der Hovaginian Markarian,
after whom she is named. Matossian adds that longing for country is
why she named her first album "Far From Home." It received frequent
airplay on CBC Radio and was named among the top 25 essential albums
of the year by "Echoes," a daily, two-hour radio program hosted by
John Diliberto and distributed in the United States by Public Radio
International. Her 2007 follow-up, "In the Light," has been equally
well received by the public.

CELL PHONE TARIFFS NOT INCREASED

Panorama.am
14:33 23/02/2009

"ArmenTel" Company (Beeline brand) seems to have no plans to raise
the cell phone service tariffs, told the public relations manager of
the company Ann Simonyan to Panorama.am.

Note that "VimpelCom" Russian Company which is the hundred percent
owner of "ArmenTel" announces that the tariffs of some services will
be increased in Moscow and Saint Petersburg by 25-100%.

The press secretary of the company said that those changes were
not connected with the world financial-economic crisis, reports
"Komersant.ru".

"MTS" Company has also announced that no changes in prices are
expected.

Belarus tests EU’s unity of purpose
By Tony Barber in Minsk

FT
February 22 2009 18:38

The European Union faces a critical test of its common foreign policy
in coming weeks when it must decide whether to continue its cautious
efforts at converting Belarus, the tightly controlled former Soviet
state bordering Russia, from pariah state to good neighbour.

By mid-April, the 27-nation bloc must either prolong or let lapse a
six-month suspension of a travel ban on Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’s
president, and other officials that was agreed last October in response
to the government’s release of its last three political prisoners.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Opinion: The EU must help its new states – Feb-19Banks inject $2bn into
Kiev offshoots – Feb-19Roma bear brunt of Hungary’s downturn –
Feb-19Editorial: Protect European unity – Feb-18Scare warns of
potential quake ahead – Feb-18Lex: Eastern Europe – Jan-28The EU must
also decide whether to include Belarus as a full member of its `eastern
partnership’ initiative, a project, due for formal launch in May, that
is aimed at building closer relations with six former Soviet republics
wedged between the EU and Russia.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday in Brussels, the main
questions will be how to interpret Mr Lukashenko’s recent gestures in
the direction of political liberalisation, and what to do if he bows to
Russian20pressure and offends the EU by recognising the independence of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two pro-Russian breakaway provinces of
Georgia.

All EU countries realise that if Belarus is left in the cold, it is at
risk of falling under even stronger Russian influence than now,
compromising its independence. But several countries, especially the
Netherlands, are not convinced Belarus’s reforms have gone far enough.

Belarus’s precarious condition came through clearly last week to three
members of the European parliament who visited Minsk for talks with
government officials and a clutch of activists from the small and
much-harassed political opposition.

The MEPs ` Lithuania’s Laima Andrikiene, Poland’s Jacek Protasiewicz
and the UK’s Christopher Beazley ` said one point appeared
indisputable: the financial crisis was straining Belarus’s economy to
the limit.

Without support from the International Monetary Fund, the EU and
Russia, from which Belarus receives almost all its energy supplies at
subsidised prices, the nation would drown in unrepayable debt.

The financial crisis, the MEPs concluded, is driving the modest
relaxation of political controls in Belarus, which in 2005 was dubbed
`Europe’s last dictatorship’ by Condoleezza Rice, then US secretary of
state.

Among recent steps are a decision to let two opposition newspapers be
sold through the state-run distribution network, and the establishment
of public `consultative councils’ for the discussion of human rights
and media freedom.

Government officials told the MEPs that the authorities were committed
to permitting a freer public life but would pursue the new course at
their own pace. Any EU attempt to set conditions for warmer EU-Belarus
relations would be rejected, they warned.

`Belarus is not a dictatorship or an autocracy. It has had a period of
strong government, needed to consolidate independence,’ one official
said, referring to Mr Lukashenko’s uninterrupted rule since 1994.

He stressed that Belarus did not regard itself as politically balanced
midway between the EU and Russia but viewed Moscow as an ally. That was
highlighted this month when Mr Lukashenko signed an accord on an
integrated air defence system with Russia.

Opposition leaders told the MEPs that political controls had eased
since October but had tightened again in recent weeks. Several young
activists have been punished by being drafted into the armed forces,
and police violently dispersed a peaceful opposition rally in Minsk on
St Valentine’s day.

One opposition leader said the new consultative councils were mere
konfetka ` empty of substance.

`The democratic community here saw some recent government steps as
positive, but the problem is they are all reversible in five minutes,’
he said. `We know Lukashenko is playing a difficult and complex game,
but his essence hasn’t changed.’

EU to launch Eastern Partnership

European Union leaders are planning to meet in Prague on May 7 to
launch the `Eastern Partnership’. This is an initiative designed to
draw six post-Soviet states ` Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine ` closer to the EU, without holding out an explicit
promise of membership.

All six states covered by the Eastern Partnership exist in the shadow
of Russia, some more comfortably than others. The EU’s offer of free
trade deals, visa facilitation arrangements and seminars to improve
understanding of EU laws does not match the military, political and
economic influence that Russia can wield in the region.

GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER WILL PAY TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Regnum
l
Feb 19 2009
Russia

On February, 20 Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze will pay
two-day official visit to Armenia. In the course of the visit Georgian
Minister will meet his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandyan, the
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and country’s Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan, a REGNUM correspondent has been informed at the
press office of Armenian Foreign Ministry.

Grigol Vashadze also will visit the Memorial of Genocide victims.

PRESS RELEASE

Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
Press Office
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
email: [email protected]
web:

Mathevosian Scholars Continue To Succeed

DIASPORAN BENEFACTOR WORKS WITH FAR TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES IN
ARMENIA

Last school year, 55 young Armenians had a chance to chase their
dreams thanks to one Armenian-American woman. In 1997, through the
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR), Anoosh Mathevosian created a highly
successful scholarship program to provide access to higher education
for some of Armenia’s most at-risk young people.

"Anoosh Mathevosian is a role model for many people," said Archbishop
Khajag Barsamian, President of FAR and Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern).

"Not only has she shown those of us here in America the power of one
woman with a passion for her homeland; but she has touched the lives
of countless Armenian families who have gone on to give back to their
communities as Anoosh has done." During the 2007-08 school year, 55
Mathevosian scholars studied at four universities in Armenia — 33
students were at Yerevan State University (YSU), 16 at State
University of Economics, 4 at the State Engineering University, and
two at Yerevan State Medical University. Only 22 of the 55
participants came from Yerevan, the rest represented most of the
rural provinces of Armenia.

The students — a mixture of first-year students, undergraduate, and
graduate students — study a wide range of topics, from economics and
law, to journalism and computer science to math and medicine.

For the 2008-09 school year, FAR selected 12 new first-year students
to join the Mathevosian Scholars program following a lengthy and
intensive selection process.

Most are orphans or from extremely poor families from rural
Armenian. For most, the education is just part of being a Mathevosian
Scholar. For the honor is also about realizing someone out there is
holding out a helping hand.

"Your help is much more than financial support. You inspired us with
hope and helped to view our future with greater optimism," said
Mathevosian Scholar Harutyun Harutyunyan, who grew up in Yeghegnadzor
and now studies at YSU with the help of the FAR program.

At the time he started school, Harutyun was unsure how he would cover
tuition since his father was bedridden and his mother was unemployed.

"We almost lost our hope before I heard of Mathevosian Scholarship
Program. Ms.

Anoosh was the first person in my life to teach me the truth that
money is not always the priority in life, and that a man can be valued
for his knowledge," said Harutyun, who graduated and started working
at HSBC Armenia Bank. "My future is safe. For all this, I owe you a
debt of gratitude to Ms. Anoush. Now, I swear to be beneficial to my
homeland and nation and do my best to justify her hopes and trust in
me.

I will follow her example and perform benevolence to the benefit of
people needing such support, as I did."

This is the 11th year for the Mathevosian Scholars program. Through
the joint effort of FAR and the programs benefactor, a total of 124
students have benefited from the program. They’ve gone on to build
solid, independent, productive lives, not only supporting their
families, but contributing to the continued development of the
Armenian nation. The graduates of the program have become volunteers,
community activists, and philanthropists, in the model of those who
offered support to them when they needed a helping hand.

"Being chosen for the Mathevosian program was an indescribable event
for me and became a turning point in my life. For all this, I am
grateful to Ms. Mathevosian," said Haykaram Avetisyan, a third-year
student at the Armenian State University of Economics. "I always
thank God for giving me an opportunity to know a person like her, with
such a big heart and kindly soul. Every time, when I light a candle in
the church I pray to God asking to give her health, long life, and
eternal life to her kind initiative."

The program is more than a check, it also includes an extended support
system for the students. In 2008, 22 Mathevosian Scholars graduated
from the program, and FAR organized a day-long session for the
graduates to highlight current labor market trends in Armenia, discuss
how to apply for a job, and go over issues like creating a
resume. Over 60 per cent of the Mathevosian Scholars start working
right after graduation.

"We are hopeful for the future because of these young students,"
Archbishop Barsamian said. "The students of Armenia recognize the
value of education, indeed each year FAR receives hundreds of
applicants for a few dozen openings in the Mathevosian Scholars
program. And every year when I meet with the students being helped by
FAR, I am amazed at their abilities, seriousness, and sense of
purpose. You can see the changing future of Armenia in these young
people."

# # #

About FAR
Since its founding in response to the 1988 earthquake, FAR has served
hundreds of thousands of people through more than 220 relief and
development programs in Armenia and Karabagh. It has channeled more
than $265 million in humanitarian assistance by implementing a wide
range of projects including emergency relief, construction, education,
medical aid, and economic development.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information on FAR or to send donations, contact us at 630
Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016; telephone (212) 889-5150; fax (212)
889-4849; ; e-mail [email protected].

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: "THERE IS NO CHANGE IN OUR POSITION ON KARABAKH"

APA
Feb 18 2009
Azerbaijan

Ankara-APA. "There is no any change in our position on Karabakh,
which could differ from the official position of Azerbaijan.

We have determined our positions together and are continuing it
together up to date", said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
APA reports quoting the Turkish news agencies. Answering the questions
of journalists about the some Azerbaijani newspapers’ publications
about the changing of Turkey’s policy toward the Nagorno Karabakh
problem, Erdogan said some groups in Azerbaijan spread these reports
for own political goals. "It is out of question. We are sharing the
official position of Azerbaijan and are staying behind this position
up to date. Azerbaijan’s fairness in the Karabakh issue is clear and
it was described in the UN resolution too".

Radio Liberty’s Armenian service reported about the Turkey’s retracting
of its term concerning Nagorno Karabakh for normalization of its
relations with Armenia.

WAIT FOR THE ELECTIONS, FM

Hurriyet
Feb 18 2009
Turkey

BERLIN – Germany’s Foreign Minister said if his party won the upcoming
elections, Germany’s stance toward Turkey’s European Union membership
would change.

Frank Walter Steinmeier, who delivered a speech at a lunch hosted in
Berlin by Turkish Community in Germany, or TGD, said he has always
supported Turkey’s accession to the EU, but added that there were
certain countries that were rather hesitant about it.

He said if his party, the Social Democratic Party, or SPD, won the
elections on Sept. 27, Germany’s stance toward Turkey’s membership
would change. He referred to the coalition agreement with the
Christlich Demokratische Union, or CDU, and said they had compromised
to put a provision in the agreement saying the accession negotiations
with Turkey would be open-ended because of the CDU’s insistence.

Steinmeier said his party supported Turkey’s full membership to the EU.

He said Turkey ought to be given a fair chance for membership, and
all obstacles in its way should be removed.

Steinmeier said Turkey’s expectations and hopes should not be affected
by EU member countries’ negative attitude. He said Turkey has pursued
a very active foreign policy and has played a mediating role in the
Middle East.

Steinmeier said he appreciated Turkey’s efforts to enhance both its
own relations with Armenia and the relations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. He said Germany’s relations with Turkey would always be good.

He said unemployment rates and the number of people leaving schools
without a diploma were higher among Turks in Germany compared to
Germans, adding that an education system offering equal opportunities
to everyone was needed.

Steinmeier said not just Germans but also immigrants in Germany
should see themselves as important to society. It is not possible to
desire an open society while also closing the doors to immigrants,
said Steinmeier.

HATRED FOR ARMENIANS PROPAGATED IN TURKISH SCHOOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.02.2009 20:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Constantinople Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic
Church summoned a conference to discuss the recent decision of the
Turkish Ministry of Education decreed to screen Sari Galin documentary
on ‘murders of Turks by Armenians’ for Turkish schoolchildren.

The documentary is a Turkish view on the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire. With lots of violence shots, it aims to propagate
hatred for Armenians.

43 representatives of the Armenian community of Istanbul have already
sent a note to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Normarmara

DRIVERS TO STOP USING NATURAL GAS?

A1+
[07:08 pm] 17 February, 2009

The expected rise of natural gas prices is forcing many taxi drivers
to switch to benzene or liquefied gas, especially since benzene prices
have gone down recently.

Within the last two months, the price for one liter of benzene has
gone down from 342 drams to 225 drams, while a kilogram of liquefied
gas has gone down from 500-600 drams to 250-350 drams.

"Nowadays natural gas is more expensive than benzene," told "A1+"
independent taxi driver Sevak who has driven with gas to date.

Minibus drivers say that it will be cheaper to use liquefied gas
after the gas price increase, if, of course, the price for liquefied
gas stays the same.

Vice-president of "Gascomfort" Alik Babayan told "A1+" that the
number of customers has gone down by 70 percent during the past two
months and many will switch to either benzene or liquefied gas once
gas prices go up.

The price for a kilogram of the liquefied gas at "Gascomfort" is 350
drams after dropping from 600-650 drams.

Prices for liquefied gas are low at "GoshGas" too with the price for
a kilogram of liquefied gas dropping from 210 drams to 190.

Some taxi drivers think that passengers will have to pay more to taxi
drivers due to the gas price increase. However, taxi services are not
speaking out about that yet, especially since there are less people
calling certain taxi services recently.

ARMENIAN UMPIRES TO BE IN CHARGE OF UEFA EUROPEAN UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP ELITE ROUND MATCHES

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.02.2009 20:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian umpires Arman Amirkhanyan and Zaven
Hovhannisyan were included into the list of nominees for UEFA
Perspective Young Referees program, FFA press office reports.

To that end, UEFA appointed the two Armenian umpires for the matches
of UEFA European Under-17 Championship Elite round due in Greece on
Mar 25 – Apr. 1.

Armirkhanyan and Hovhannisyan will referee the matches between Polish,
Greek, Slovenian and Swiss teams, Armirkhanyan as a head linesman
and Hovhannisyan as a reserve umpire.