Author: Nalbandian Albert

FIRE DESTROYS OAKWOOD BEACH ‘DREAM’ HOME
by Tim Vassilakos

Staten Island Advance, NY –
Aug 1 2007

An American Dream was burned down yesterday afternoon, as an Armenian
family came home to a pile of rubble that had been their Oakwood
Beach home.

Georgiy Mikaelian, alongside his son, Vazgen, came home after a hard
day’s work of construction in Queens last night, only to see their
cherished home at 110 Tarlton St. turned into a pile of ashes.

"I have no idea what to do now," Vazgen lamented. "I guess we just
board up the house, and see where it goes from there." To make
matters worse, their beloved pit bull, Linda, who they’ve had for
eight years–since she was a puppy — died in the fire, most likely
from smoke inhalation because there were no burn marks on the canine.

According to neighbors, someone close-by tried to revive the dog,
but got no response.

"We just want to take her [the dog] away– the proper way," said Vazgen
as he stood over the bodybag of his dog. "We loved that dog, loved it."

Mikaelian, who does not speak English very well, could not hold back
tears as he tried to clean up his yard which was filled with furniture
that had been launched out of the windows.

"Last week, I tell my son ‘house is good, let’s buy new boat,’ so we
buy new boat," he said as he pointed to his unharmed brown and tan
fishing boat. "Now? House is bad."

The rest of the family, which included his wife, a daughter, and
an additional son — who the family did not want to name — are on
vacation in Russia.

"They’re going to come home to a bad surprise," said Vazgen. "My
sister’s heart, it’s going to be broken."

The fire was first spotted around 11:30 a.m., by two fishermen who
were at Oakwood Beach — one was an off-duty firefighter assigned to
Engine 28, Manhattan.

According to fire department officials, the blaze in the 20-by-30-foot,
one-story home was called in at 11:46 a.m. and was under control by
12:10 p.m.

"We first saw some smoke and then [my friend, a firefighter] ran over
to the house to check it out," said Rich Spadaro of Oakwood. "I was
only trailing him by only a minute or so, but by the time I got there
[he] was already crawling out of the house coughing from smoke."

Both of them were given oxygen after EMS arrived.

Spadaro said that they found a powerwasher — which Mikaelian used
to clean his boat — in the sideyard, and tried as hard as they could
to extinguish the flames.

"We were smashing windows, trying to get in there to see if it was
occupied," he said. "That powerwasher just wasn’t enough, it was
doing nothing. I tried my hardest, I really did."

But Spadaro was relived when he found out there were no children in
the home saying, "I see kids around here all the time, and I have my
own kids — last thing I want to see is one get hurt."

Three other firefighters were taken to one of the Staten Island
University Hospitals, for minor injuries, according to fire
officials. Spadaro refused further medical assistance.

The heat was so intense that it melted the blue siding of the
neighboring house at 108 Tarlton St.

As neighbors gathered around the charred structure, they expressed
sympathy for a "very nice family."

"This is a shame, they are such nice people. You’ll never see them
without a friendly ‘hello,’" said one neighbor. "The worst things
always happen to the nicest people. They were only trying to live
out a dream in this country."

As for the house and its contents, almost everything is completely
unsalvageable.

"It’s an old house, we try to keep everything in a safe," said
Vazgen. "There’s nothing good left inside, it’s all burned up, it’s
all gone."

RATES OF GROWTH OF TOURISTS AFFLUX TO ARMENIA TO REDUCE WITHIN NEXT FIVE YEARS: INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS

arminfo
2007-07-27 13:07:00

The rates of growth of tourists afflux to Armenia will reduce within
the next five years from the present 20% per year over the last 10
years, specialists of the programme "Competitive Armenian private
sector" (CAPS) presented such a forecast to ArmInfo, made on the
basis of studies of the tourism sphere in the republic.

Meanwhile, Armenia has the best indicators by the number of visitors
over the last 5 years, among 12 countries which offer the similar
tourist product and are considered as an alternative. These countries
are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon,
Poland, Rumania, Syria, Turkey and Ukraine. Israel is the most
competitive country in the area of tourism, followed by Estonia and
Hungary. Armenia takes the last place. Ukraine takes the fist place by
the level of incomes from tourist activities, followed by Rumania and
Estonia, where the third place is taken by Armenia. By the revenue
from tourist activities per capita, Armenia takes the second place
from the end – less than $100. For example, this indicator in Lebanon
makes up $1300. Armenia is in the seventh place by the volume of
investments and in the last place by advertising expenses. By the
level of corruption, Armenia takes the 9th place. It takes the same
position by competitiveness of hotel prices, while the most competitive
prices are in Turkey, Jordan and Hungary.

CAPS specialists conclude that despite the relatively high rate of
afflux of tourists to Armenia, their number is insufficient as compared
with another countries. Low revenue from the tourist activity and its
low share in the country’s economy are also noted. Concern is also
given by complex procedure of receipt of entry visa to Armenia that,
undoubtedly, hampers the afflux of tourists. Besides high hotel prices,
high prices for air tickets are also noted, that reduces the country’s
tourist competitiveness. The research authors recommend Armenia to
study the potential markets, that is, Russia, USA, France, Italy and
Great Britain. They also recommend to use the experience of Israel,
Hungary and Estonia during implementation of reforms in tourism. It
is proposed to facilitate the procedure of entry visas receipt for
the countries-potential markets, carry out a policy of an open sky
an activate the advertising in tourism. The most part of the data
for studies was taken from the World Tourist Organization and the
World Tourist Council. However, the data on the number of tourists
and expenses have not been specified.

RUSSIA, ARMENIA READY TO JOIN EFFORTS IN FIGHTING CRIME – MINISTER

Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0704 gmt 27 Jul 07
RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0715 gmt 27 Jul 07
Channel One TV, Moscow, in Russian 0800 gmt 27 Jul 07

Russia and Armenia’s law-enforcement agencies are to reinforce their
joint efforts in fighting international crime. This was announced today
at an Interior Ministry board meeting between the two countries in
Rostov-na-Donu attended by Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev,
as reported today by Russian Channel One. An agreement on cooperation
was signed following the meeting. The main focus of the two countries’
joint work will be fighting organized crime and drug smuggling,
as well as cooperating in training personnel, the report said.

"We consider it very important that this work be carried out not
only through our central unit. The main thing is to establish direct
regional contacts: this means efficiency, understanding shall we say,
and speed in making suitable decisions. We have already developed
concrete forms of regional cooperation," Nurgaliyev was quoted
as saying.

An Interfax report also quoted Nurgaliyev as saying that he did not
rule out the fact that criminals could be using Armenia as a transit
territory to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan to Russia, and then
to other European countries. "We are prepared to join efforts with
the Armenian police and carry out appropriate investigative search
operations in the given field," the report quoted Nurgaliyev as saying.

Nurgaliyev added that during the meeting, significant attention
had been drawn to the joint training of specialists in the field
of countering drug smuggling: "We have a centre for training
specialists in the field of countering drugs. Over the past year
alone, 17 Armenian police officers have undergone training there,"
he was quoted as saying.

Lt-Gen Ayk Arutyunyan, Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia, in
his turn noted that the 8th meeting of the joint board of the Russian
Interior Ministry and the Armenian police "was held in a cooperative
spirit, unanimous decisions were made", adding that "without such
events it is very difficult to determine what our priority directions
should be in countering crime", Interfax reported on 27 July.

The next board meeting between the two departments will be held in
June 2008 in Yerevan, where the two sides plan to discuss cooperation
in searching for people, and will consider criminal cases of an
international nature, RIA Novosti reported today quoting Nurgaliyev.

MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ARMENIA AND GEORGIA DISCUSS ISSUES OF BILATERAL COOPERATION IN MOST IMPORTANT SPHERES

Noyan Tapan
Jul 26, 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Vardan Oskanian, the RA Minister of
Foreign Affairs, who is in Georgia on an official visit, met with
Gela Bezhuashvili, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, on July
25. According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press
and Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
sides discussed issues concerning bilateral cooperation in political,
economic, and cultural spheres, as well as territorial problems. They
also touched upon the negotiations concerning the bordering of the
Armenian-Georgian state frontier line. Vardan Oskanian attracted his
colleague’s attention on the issue concerning the recent detentions
of RA citizens by Georgian law enforcement bodies on the charge of
passing over Georgian border in an illegal way.

Touching upon the prospects of the settlement of the conflicts existing
in the territory, Vardan Oskanian introduced the democratization
processes in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and the recent
developments with regard to the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
conflict. Gela Bezhuashvili introduced in his turn the Georgian
approaches in respect to the settlement of the conflict of Abkhazia
and the steps taken in the direction of internationalizing the problem
of South Ossetia.

WE ARE LYING TO OURSELVES OPINION.

Panorama.am
15:53 26/07/2007

Armenian IT does not have much weight in the international arena.

This opinion was expressed by the director of the AEPLAC
(Armenian-European Policy And Legal Advice Centre) Armenian regional
office, expert Tigran Jrbashyan. "The field of information technologies
plays quite an important role in the economic development of the
country, but in the international arena this sphere does not have
much weight", – he said.

Tigran Jrbashyan considers that the IT sphere of Armenia faces serious
problems. "We are lying to ourselves thinking that our information
technologies sphere is attractive for foreign players. This is not
the reality", – he stated.

In this connection the expert clarified that the presence of American
investors in the Armenian IT market is conditioned by the fact that
the Armenian Diaspora of the USA is quite involved in this field. "The
investment attractiveness of the Armenian IT market is conditioned
not by real interest but a significant role of the Armenian Diaspora
in this field of the American economy", – he emphasized.

At that Tigran Jrbashyan added that further development of IT sphere
in Armenia is inexpedient on the background of serious problems in the
field of science and education. "One cannot achieve heights in the
field of information technologies not having a serious professional
base".

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Trade and Economic
Development, in 2006 the yearly growth of the Armenian IT made
about 15-20%, at that the yearly volume of the IT production was
estimated about 100 million US dollars. According to the data of
2006 the quantity of the companies working in this field in Armenia
is about 200.

More than 30% of them are companies with foreign investments. More
than 5000 people work in IT sphere. About 85% of the total volume of
IT production is exported. The part of the information technologies
in GDP makes about 2%.

The volume of foreign investments is estimated not less than 10-15
million US dollars. It is considered that in 2007 the investments in
the IT sphere will make about tens millions US dollars.

NUMBER OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS INCREASED BY ABOUT 40%

Noyan Tapan
Jul 25, 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the data of the first
half of 2007, 792 traffic accidents have been registered in Armenia,
as a result of which 139 people died and 1140 people received body
injuries. According to the information provided by Colonel Ishkhan
Ishkhanian, the Head of the RA Police Administration, during his
meeting with journalists, which was held on July 24, the number of
accidents has increased by 187 or by 30.9%, the number of those dead
by 26, and that of those injured by 317, in comparison with the same
period of last year.

348 or 43.9% of the traffic accidents took place in Yerevan, as a
result of which 37 people died and 461 were injured. In comparison
with the same period of last year, the number of accidents in the
capital has increased by 63 or 22.1%, the number of those dead by 3,
and that of the injured by 106.

Thus, 33.7% of the total number of the accidents happened in Yerevan.

244 of the accidents or 30.8% of the total number took place on the
roads of intergovernmental significance, 70 people died and 402 were
injured: in comparison with the same period of last year the number
of similar accidents has increasd by 82, that of those dead by 30,
and those injured by 136.

According to Ishkhan Ishkhanian, the cases of running over passers-by
make 36.5% of the total number of accidents or 289, within which 43
people died and 275 were injured. In comparison with the same period
of last year, the number of similar accidents has increased by 40
and that of those injured by 41, as for the number of those dead,
it has decreased by 3. 83 accidents connected with children under 16
have been registered, as a result of which 6 children died and 9 were
injured: in comparison with the same period of last year, the number
of similar accidents has decreased by 3, that of those dead by 2,
and finally, the number of those injured has decreased by 2.

According to Ishkhan Ishkhanian, 89 cases remain undiscovered among
the accidents happened during the first half of 2007: in comparison
with the same period of the last year the number of similar cases
has increased by 5.

The Chief of the Road Police mentioned that the number of infringements
of traffic regulations has remained the same, approximately 37
thousand. the number of records with regard to drivers in a drunken
state has decreased twice: it makes 408 in return for 1191 registered
in the same period of the last year.

At present, approximately 350 thousand transport means are taken
account of in Armenia, 308 thousand out of which are for personal
use. This number has increased by approximately 25 thousand during
2006, and according to the data of the first half of 2007, it has
increased by approximately 16 thousand.

In response to journalists’ questions, Ishkhan Ishkhanian declared that
about 550 million drams (about 1.64 million dollars) has been credited
in the extra-budget accounts of the Road Police in the form of the
fines recovered for the infringements of the traffic regulations. 30%
of the above-mentioned sum is envisaged to be directed at the increase
of the salary of the collaborators of the Road Police, and the rest
of the sum for the technical development of the subdivision. This
year three collaborators of the Road Police have been relieved of
the system, 20 of them have been submitted to different disciplinary
punishments, and a criminal case has been filed concerning a fact of
corruption revealed in Abovian.

The Chief of the Road Police declared that currently negotiations
are being conducted with "ArmenTel" and "Vivacell" for creating a
hot line of information by citizens about traffic jams and accidents.

ARMENIA DEEPENS ECONOMIC TIES WITH IRAN
By Emil Danielyan

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
July 25 2007

Armenia and Iran have agreed to give new impetus to their
bilateral relations and press ahead with the implementation of more
multimillion-dollar energy projects. The agreements were announced
in Yerevan after the July 20 meeting of their intergovernmental
commission on economic cooperation, co-chaired by Iranian Foreign
Minister Manuchehr Motaki and Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian.

Motaki also held separate talks with President Robert Kocharian
and other Armenian officials. Official press releases cited them as
praising the Armenian-Iranian relationship and stressing the need
to utilize its untapped commercial potential. Motaki was reported to
be satisfied with "thorough discussions" held during the commission
meeting. He and Movsisian divulged key details of those discussion
at a joint news conference.

Movsisian revealed that in "one or two months" the two sides would
start work on a third high-voltage transmission line linking the power
grids of Armenia and Iran. The facility will enable a substantial
increase in exports of Armenian electricity to the Islamic Republic,
which is expected after the completion of a pipeline that will pump
Iranian natural gas to Armenia. The pipeline’s first Armenian section
was inaugurated last March in the presence of Kocharian and Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Construction of its second, much longer stretch is due to be completed
by the end of next year. That will allow Armenia to annually import
up to 2.3 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas, or approximately twice
the level of its current gas imports from Russia.

It is expected that much of Iranian gas will be converted into the
electricity that will be supplied to Iran.

Another Armenian-Iranian energy project involves the construction of
two big hydroelectric plants on either side of the Arax River, marking
the border between the two countries. Movsisian announced that its
construction would likely start early next year. It is still not clear,
however, how the Armenian side will finance its share of the project,
estimated at $200 million. Some analysts believe that it will borrow
the required sum from the Iranian government. Tehran already lent
Yerevan $34 million to construct the first pipeline section.

Also on the agenda of the commission meeting was the Russian-backed
ambitious idea of building a big oil refinery near Meghri, a small
Armenian town close to the Iranian border. Kocharian reportedly
discussed it with Russian President Vladimir Putin last January.

Around that time an oil subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom monopoly
confirmed reports that it is interested in the project and ready,
in principle, to provide most of the hundreds of millions of dollars
needed for its implementation. The project envisages that Iranian
crude will be delivered to Meghri through a 200-kilometer pipeline
before being turned into gasoline and other oil products that will be
shipped to Iran by rail. Despite its vast oil reserves, the Islamic
Republic lacks refining facilities and has to import gasoline to
meet domestic demand. Officials have said the refinery would have
the capacity to process about 3 million tons of oil each year.

The governments of Armenia, Iran, and Russia recently formed an ad
hoc working group tasked with looking into the matter. It is scheduled
to hold its first meeting before the end of this month.

According to Movsisian, high-level government officials from the
three countries plan to meet in September to discuss the group’s
recommendations.

It also emerged that Yerevan and Tehran plan to sign a free trade
agreement soon in order to boost the volume of their commercial
exchange, which remains quite modest in both absolute and relative
terms. One of the apparent reasons for that is Iran’s huge import
tariffs that effectively keep the Iranian market off limits to Armenian
manufacturers. A statement by the Armenian government quoted Motaki
as telling Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian that facilitating imports
from Armenia is now a "priority" for Tehran. Motaki sounded optimistic
about broader Armenian-Iranian trade, telling journalists that its
volume could more than double to $500 million this year.

These developments come just over a month after the United States
publicly expressed concern at Armenia’s growing relations with Iran
through its then charge d’affaires in Yerevan, Anthony Godfrey.

Speaking at a June 15 news conference, Godfrey warned that those
ties could run counter to U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran over
its controversial nuclear program. He said that although Washington
appreciates the "transparent way in which the government of Armenia
conducts its energy relations with Iran," it expects Yerevan to be a
"more active partner" in US-led international efforts to prevent Iran
from developing nuclear weapons.

Armenia has until now managed to maintain close political and economic
ties with Iran, while being one of the world’s leading per-capita
recipients of U.S. economic aid. The U.S. warning could make it
more difficult for Yerevan to continue to pursue what it calls a
"complementary" foreign policy. Still, Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian insisted on June 19 that his country’s growing
cooperation with its large Muslim neighbor does not breach the U.S. and
international sanctions and will not damage U.S.-Armenian relations.

A warm rapport with Iran is a key element of Armenia’s national
security doctrine and a rare point of consensus among its main
political parties. They believe that the landlocked South Caucasus
state, blockaded by neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey, has no choice
but to be a close partner of what is one of its few conduits to the
outside world.

(Azg, 21 July; Regnum, July 20; Statements by the press services of
Armenia’s president and government, July 20; Arminfo, June 19)

FIVE TOURS WITH GLORIOUS VICTORIES

A1+
[03:28 pm] 25 July, 2007

RA Grand Master Gabriel Sargsyan enjoyed recurrent victory at the
International Chess Tournament held in Copenhagen. His rival was
Torstur Torhalson from Iceland.

Currently Sargsyan shares the 1st and 2nd places with Michael Krasenko,
Poland. The two GMs have 5 points.

Sargsyan is to compete with Michael Krasenko at the sixth tour.

It is noteworthy that the leader of the current tournament Vladimir
Malakhov tied with Danish Nielsen and slipped back.

ARMENIAN SPORTSMEN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

armradio.am
24.07.2007 14:55

13-15 Armenian sportsmen will participate in the World University
Games to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on August 8-18. The Armenian
sportsmen will participate in six competitions – tennis, athletics,
fencing, judo, taekwondo and possibly shooting.

Vice-President of RA University Sport Federation, President of
"Hayastan" sports union Razmik Stepanyan told Armenpress that the
national federations of the above-mentioned sports have presented
the candidacies, from which the best will be finally chosen.

The delegates of Armenia will leave for Thailand in several groups. The
opening ceremony of the Games will take place on August 8.

‘TURKEY MUST AVOID EU SETBACKS’

The News – International, Pakistan
July 24 2007

BRUSSELS: Turkey faces a potential "triple whammy" of blows to its
European Union membership bid later this year unless re-elected Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan moves quickly to enact human rights reforms,
EU diplomats say.

Ankara’s accession talks, launched in October 2005, have already been
slowed to a trickle by the suspension of part of the negotiations over
its refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member
Cyprus. Now the Turks face a negative European Commission progress
report, renewed pressure from Cyprus, and French demands for the EU
to discuss setting final borders, with Turkey on the outside.

"Erdogan needs to push laws through the new parliament on freedom of
expression, the rights of religious minorities and other fundamental
freedoms quickly to give the Commission something positive to report,"
a senior EU official said. Without that, the annual progress report
due on Nov 7 is bound to conclude that reforms have virtually ceased
over the last year, he said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn made the point forcefully in
congratulating Erdogan on Sunday’s landslide general election victory
for his Islamist-rooted AK party.

"We need in particular to see concrete results in areas of fundamental
freedoms such as freedom of expression and religious freedom," he
told a news conference on Monday. "I trust that the new government
in Turkey will immediately re-launch the reform process so we can
produce results (before)our next progress report in early November."

Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary
Assembly, said the top priority was to amend or abolish article 301 of
the Penal Code, used repeatedly to prosecute writers and journalists
for "insulting Turkishness". That law was used to prosecute Nobel
prize winning author Orhan Pamuk and to convict Turkish-Armenian
editor Hrant Dink, later murdered, for expressing peaceful views on
the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

A long-stalled law on religious foundations giving more rights to
Christian and other minorities and better treatment to the Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul is another priority, Lagendijk said.

Turkish political commentators say Erdogan will face resistance from
a nationalist opposition, whose acquiescence he needs to get his
candidate for president chosen by parliament. The presidency, though
armed with few executive powers, is a potent symbol of secularism
for a conservative establishment that suspects Erdogan of harbouring
a secret Islamist agenda.

The prime minister must also tread carefully with a military suspicious
of his Islamist past and nervous about some EU-driven reforms. The
AK party has cut back the generals’ formal state powers under these
reforms, but they remain a force on the political stage.

Erdogan could win more European goodwill by withdrawing some troops
from northern Cyprus, making a concession on trade with Cyprus or
opening Turkey’s border with Armenia, but such moves seem unlikely
as they would inflame nationalist sentiment.

Diplomats said Cyprus and France would likely jump on a critical
European Commission report to demand further sanctions against Turkey
or a rethink of its candidacy. That too could provoke a nationalist
backlash among Turks. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly
said Turkey is in Asia Minor, not Europe, and has no place in the EU.

His foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said on Monday that Paris
had a problem with five of the 35 "chapters" or policy areas into
which the accession talks are divided, because in French eyes they
assumed the outcome of full membership. But it was willing to allow the
rest of the negotiations to proceed. Another senior French official,
Jean-Pierre Jouyet, has suggested Sarkozy could be satisfied in Dearch
division chief, as saying a fair price for oil would be around $60
to$65 a barrel. However, Yarjani said, "the comment did not mean that
OPEC would change its output in order to reach that price range."

"What the official meant was that this price range was a proper price
for consumers, producers and oil investors," he said. OPEC President
Mohammed al-Hamli said in an interview with Reuters on Sunday the
cartel was concerned about the effect of the near-record price of
oil on the world’s economy, but it has seen little sign that economic
growth has been hurt by higher energy costs.