Author: Nahapetian Samvel

RALLY OF ANM PARTY TO BE HELD AT MATENADARAN ON SEPTEMBER 18

NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
YEREVAN

Yerevan Municipality took notice of the Armenian National Movement
(ANM) Party’s notification of holding a rally and a march in the area
adjacent to the Matenadaran on September 18, Yerevan Municipality
reported.

According to the notification submitted to Yerevan Municipality by
Chairman of ANM Party Ararat Zurabian, the party intends to hold a
mass public event in the area adjacent to the Matenadaran on September
18: the event will start at 5 pm and finish with a march. Taking
into account the above mentioned notification of Ararat Zurabian,
Yerevan Municipality definitely stated that the event will start at
5 pm and finish at 10 pm. "In accordance with the decision taken as
a result of discussion, the march participants must move along the
pavements of streets – the route indicated in the notification so as
not to impede traffic flow," is said in the report.

EARTHQUAKE IN GEORGIA REACHED ARMENIA

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
sept 8 2009
Armenia

Today, Sept. 8, at 2.41 a.m. (local time) Richter magnitude 6.2
earthquake was registered in Georgia 5 kilometers North-East of
Kutaisi city. The earthquake shock in the epicenter was 8 points.

RA Seismic Protection press service old NEWS.am that in 2:42
a.m. another 6 magnitude shock was registered.

According to preliminary data, houses close to the epicenter were
destroyed. No victims were reported.

The earthquake shock reached Armenia, particularly in Gyumri, Vanadzor,
and Noyemberyan, registering 3-4 points.

GOVERNMENT’S LOAN GUARANTEES TO PRIVATE DEVELOPERS REINVIGORATE SECTOR

ARKA
September 7, 2009
Yerevan

YEREVAN, September 7, /ARKA/. David Harutyunian, an aide to prime
minister, defended last Friday the government’s plan to provide loan
guarantees to private developers to help them complete their unfinished
housing projects as part of its anti-crisis measures.

David Harutyunian, who is also the secretary of a special working
group established to promote economic recovery programs, said the
government guarantees have given a strong push to the sector that
had been the locomotive of Armenian economy before the crisis.

Last April, the government approved 20 billion drams ($55 million)
in loan guarantees to private developers to help them complete their
housing projects. Five construction firms have reportedly received
such guarantees since then.

Late in August it approved $2 million in loan guarantees to a private
AVO developer to finish construction of a residential building on
Abovian street in central Yerevan.

According to official figures, construction sector shrank by 55.5
percent in the seven months of this year, contributing to the total
GDP fall. But according to David Harutyunian, the sector began to
steadily grow since last May, when volume of construction rose 88 %
against April.

In June it rose 130% from May and in July 4.5% from June.

The government said also it will spend part of a $500 million
anti-crisis loan provided b y Russia, on housing construction in
Armenia’s northern regions and another $33 million portion of the
loan will be channeled into a recently established state mortgage fund
assigned to provide relatively cheap housing loans to the population.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA OPEN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

AllGov
Sept 7 2009

Although the two countries still have not resolved the Armenian
genocide issue dating back to the early 20th century, Turkey and
Armenia announced last week they are working on establishing formal
relations for the first time ever. After a year of secret diplomatic
talks in Switzerland, the foreign ministries of the two countries
agreed to go public with their negotiations and their intent to reopen
their shared border, closed since 1993. That year, the outbreak of war
between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
led to the border being closed between Armenia and Turkey, which
supported Azerbaijan.

Russia’s military action in Georgia last year prompted Turkish
officials to improve their relations with neighboring countries,
including Armenia. Meanwhile, a new government elected in Armenia
led to a thaw in policy towards Ankara.

But it is uncertain whether Armenia will establish full ties with
its longtime adversary if Turkish officials don’t admit to killing
more than a million Armenians from 1915-1918 during the end of the
Ottoman Empire.

The next round of talks is expected to conclude in time for the
Turkey-Armenia World Cup qualifying match in Istanbul October 14.

Levon Aronian gets off to a bad start at Grand Slam Masters Final in Bilbao
07.09.2009 09:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian grand master Levon Aronian gets off to a
bad start in the first round of the Grand Slam Masters Final in
Bilbao. Alexander Grischuk defeated Levon Aronian with white pieces.

Alexei Shirov played the Dragon against Sergey Karyakin and drew
easily.

The 2nd Grand Slam Masters Final takes place September 6-12 in Bilbao,
Spain. It’s a 4-player, double round-robin with Levon Aronian,
Alexander Grischuk, Sergei Karjakin and Alexei Shirov. The prize fund
is Euro 110,000.

The rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves and then 60
minutes to finish the game, with 10 extra seconds per move from move
number 41.

In 2nd tour, Aronian will play with white pieces against Karyankin,
and Grischuk will rival Shirov.

Standings after 1st tour: Grischuk -3, Shirov, Karyakin -1, Aronian
-0.

Turkish journalists study general moods

07:07 pm | September 04, 2009 | Politics

A group of Turkish journalists have arrived in Armenia to study the
general moods over the Protocols on Armenian-Turkish relations. During
a conversation with A1+ reporter of Habarturk newspaper Bulent Gunal
said that the "Turkish people are ready for the frontier reopening but
some nationalists are concerned about the Protocols."

"I can say one thing for sure. Despite all controversial
interpretations of the documents Turks are unanimous that there must
be no conflicts in the region.

Large-scale discussions are held over the Protocols on different
levels in Turkey. The cons say Armenian-Turkish frontier mustn’t be
opened unless Armenia withdraws its troops from Karabakh. They are
also concerned over the formation of a sub-commission of
Armenian-Turkish historians," says Mr. Bulent Gunal.

Armenian authorities lay no preconditions in diplomatic relations
while your authorities connect Armenian-Turkish relations with a third
country – Azerbaijan. Do the statements of your authorities
contribute to the normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties?

In reply to A1+’s question, Mr. Bulent said: "I shall not comment on
the statements of Turkey’s leadership but Armenia should realize that
the situation has changed in the region after the Russian-Georgian
conflict.

Armenia should understand that besides friendly relations Turkey and
Azerbaijan have certain energetic commitments and Turkey must defer to
Azerbaijan."

Ulli Wegner: Once Arthur has hit his opponents, they will all have
problems
05.09.2009 09:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 29-year-old Arthur Abraham, who is unbeaten in 30
fights (24 KOs), will take on Jermain Taylor (28-3, 17 KOs) in the
opening clash of the hotly anticipated Super Six World Boxing Classic
on Saturday, October 17, on Showtime.

King Arthur has been working hard in practice with his coach Ulli
Wegner, who certainly fancies his fighter’s chances in the tournament.

`This is something special for Arthur,’ he said. `He is facing the
world’s best fighters. For me, he is the favorite, but I have been
reading a lot of stuff about him being smaller and thinner than his
opponents. That does not matter inside the ring. Once Arthur has hit
them, they will all have problems. Taylor better watch out. He is a
great champion and a superb boxer, but Arthur will take care of
business against him. The first fight is crucial to win. If Arthur
succeeds, he can go a long, long way from there,’ fightnews.com cited
Wegner as saying

HYDRO-ELECTRIC STATIONS ARE DANGEROUS

ek
06:09 pm | September 03, 2009 | society

Small hydro-electric stations are harming the water and thermal regimes
of the rivers and creating obstacles for fish reproduction. The
construction of the stations causes ecological problems, say
participants of the round-table discussion held today at the Orhus
center in Yerevan.

According to Head of the Environmental Protection Department of the RA
Ministry of Nature Protection Aram Gabrielyan, the small rivers may
become a source of energy, but preference must be given to drinking
and irrigation water, fishing and then energy production.

There are 60 hydro-electric stations in Armenia, but there are
prospects for broadening the business.

Ecologists are also concerned that the stations are not built
correctly. As head of the Armenia branch of the World Wilderness Fund
Karen Manvelyan told "A1+", the stations are built disproportionately
and the water is used without considering what it’s used for.

According to Karen Manvelyan, there are two important things-interests
of the local population and nature. "The susceptibility of the
ecosystem is not taken into account. The trees nearby are eliminated
and the population’s interets are not taken into account either. People
have their lands, cultivate them, receive profits, but all that is
eliminated with the construction of the hydro-electric stations."

When Head of the Division of Restoring Energy of the Department of
Development at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Daniel
Stepanyan tried to justify that the stations are put into action after
they are examined, Karen Manvelyan opposed: "Nobody can exclude that
they are examined, but for some reason, regardless of the issues,
they are still passed," said Karen Manvelyan in closing.

ARMENIAN DIPLOMATS VISITED STEPANAKERT

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.09.2009 19:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the frameworks of Armenian Ambassadors’ annual
meeting, Armenian diplomats visited Stepanakert, RA MFA Spokesman
Tigran Balayan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to him, Ambassadors participated in meeting to discuss
issues concerning Protocols on establishing diplomatic ties between
Armenia and Turkey.

Besides, Balayan said, Ambassadors will not focus Karabakh issue,
since Armenian-Turkish rapprochement and Karabakh settlement process
have nothing in common.

After visiting NKR National Assembly, Ambassadors will meet with
NKR President Bako Sahakyan to exchange views on Karabakh conflict
settlement, MFA Spokesman reported.

THE CONFERENCE "COURT DEFENSE OF ELECTORAL RIGHTS" LAUNCHED

Aysor
Sept 3 2009
Armenia

The 18th annual conference of the Association of the European Electoral
Authorities launched today in Yerevan. The conference the main subject
of which is the "Court Defense of Electoral Rights" will last till
the 5th of September.

More than 150 representatives of around 30 countries and different
international organizations have arrived to Yerevan for taking part
in the conference.

The Association of the European Electoral Authorities has been
established in 1991 Hungary, Budapest. The association comprises
23 member-states Albania, Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Bosnia and
Hertsegovina, Bulgaria, Turkey, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Armenia,
Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro,
Rumania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Georgia, Ukraine.

Each year in one of the mentioned member-states the Association
conference is being held. Armenia which is a member of the Association
since 1999 has taken up the responsibility of holding the conference in
Yerevan; it means that Armenia will take the chair of the Association
for one year.

The conference is aimed at discussing issues on exchanging experiences,
and electoral processes, as well as at establishing opportunities for
the member-states’ electoral authorities to cooperate with each other.

The subjects to be discussed at the conference are "The role of the
Courts at the electoral processes", "The resumption of the rights
of active elections and the court defense", "The international
experience of using the sociology during the electoral processes",
"The correct formation of the list of the voters".

The Armenian conference is organized by the RA Central Electoral
Commission and the Association of the European Electoral Authorities
by the support of the OSCE Yerevan office and the Armenian branch of
the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).