Author: Nalbandian Albert

VAHAN HOVHANNESIAN: MY PARTY AND I WILL RETURN FREEDOM TO YOU

Yerkir
14.02.2008 16:24

Yerevan (Yerkir) – ARF presidential candidate Vahan Hovhannesian
was campaigning in Vayots Dzor Region today. Addressing the crowds
in the village of Areni, Hovhannesian said that there are two issues
to deal with.

"The development of Armenia is faulty in two ways. We have found
ourselves in a paradoxical situation where the economic growth is not
contributing to poverty reduction but increases the gap between the
rich and the poor. The other issue is that the development can bee
seen only in the center of Yerevan. Only the construction and service
sectors are developing, having no impact on industries or agriculture,"
Hovhannesian said. He offered his vision how to develop the villages.

Hovhannesian also said that the current regime is not doing anything
to correct the situation, neither did the old regime. "Dashnaktsutyun
has always counted on people, it has fought for justice and freedom,
it was harassed and shut down but did not stop fighting," he said.

The old and the current regimes are extremes, he said. "Neither the
Armenian Pan-National Movement is ready to carry out reforms nor the
current regime.

The old regime is trying to get to power by any means, the current
regime wants to keep the power by election fraud."

"We are trying to carry out positive changes now by cooperating with
the authorities but our possibilities are limited. It is impossible
to make changes with 16 people that we have in parliament. I am
capable of making all the changes and this is why we are running for
president. I do not depend on anybody, I am not afraid of anyone,
I don’t owe anything to anyone," he said.

We are the only way out in this situation and we will be fighting
against both poles, he said. We can now break all the barriers. My
party and I will return justice and freedom to you.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO MEET BEHIND CLOSED DOORS ON KOSOVO

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.02.2008 13:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UN Security Council will meet Thursday behind
closed doors at the request of Serbia and Russia, the council’s
president Panama’s UN Ambassador Ricardo Alberto Arias said.

"The council agreed that the meeting shall be held as a private
debate and the Serbian foreign minister will be invited to
participate. Representatives of Kosovo were not invited," he said.

In a letter sent to the council president on Tuesday, Serbia urged to
consider the grave situation in Kosovo where a unilateral declaration
of independence is expected soon. Russia supported the Serbian request,
the UN news center said.

In Belgrade, media have speculated Serbia would recall ambassadors
and cut off diplomatic relations with various countries that recognize
Kosovo’s independence.

The Serbian government has only said it will "annul" the proclamation,
and has threatened to take legal action against countries that
recognize Kosovo.

But its traditional ally Moscow was not planning any punitive measures
in response to the move, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Russia does not have among its political instruments any measures
for punishing anyone" but was convinced unilateral independence
"would be a mistake," Lavrov said in Slovenia after meeting with
senior EU officials.

"ECHO": THE BEGINNINGS OF ARMENIAN EXPANSION
S. Rzayev

DemAz.org

Feb 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Ruling party proposes to make the fight against false propaganda of
aggressor more active.

Recently in conference hall of the Ataturk Center under the
leadership of representatives of ruling party "round table" was held
on "Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict: the main goals of fight against
Armenian information provocations". Representatives of parliament
and leading historians and scientific researchers partook in the event.

Amongst them there was vice speaker of Milli Mejlis, Bahar Muradova.

With opening address executive secretary and deputy chairman of "Yeni
Azerbaijan" party, Ali Ahmadov, opened the event. He drew attention
of participants to recent history of Armenian claims to historical
territories of Azerbaijan. Accordingly to him, today given issue
preserves urgency due to continuing Armenian expansion. The only
possible development of events, following to MM deputy, in this
situation will be active fight of Azerbaijan against Armenians’
tricks. With special regret deputy points to the fact that present
Armenian state was created on aboriginal Azerbaijani territories.

"But they, Armenians don’t stop even now, as known, 20% of
Azerbaijani territories are under Armenian occupation", underlines
Ahmadov. Moreover, it is with caution that he points to the fact
that today Armenians make active propaganda on alleged belonging of
Nakhchivan to Armenia. "All this say that Armenian provocations should
be operatively repulsed", executive secretary of "Yeni Azerbaijan"
party calls on.

Accordingly to him, unless our territories are released and Armenian
occupation is stopped, the fight should go on. Chairman of ruling party
recalled recent statement of president of Azerbaijan that Yerevan,
present capital of Armenia, historically is Azerbaijani city, it was
given to Armenians mistakenly in the past.

We should remind that president made this statement on January 17
this year in Guzanli village while visiting Agdam region. Later this
theme was discussed in details at the first meeting of spring session
of Milli Mejlis, on February 1.

Executive secretary of "Yeni Azerbaijan" party reminded that as
time showed Armenian side is not satisfied by occupation of our
territories: Azerbaijanis were forcibly displaced, moreover, total
ethnic cleaning on currently occupied territories took place. "It
is sweeping historical unjust which unfortunately goes on today",
chairman of ruling party says.

Then historian, MM deputy, Yagub Mamadov, took floor. He more
than half an hour told in details about Armenians’ tricks. They
being alien nation in our region pursued aggressive policy against
Azerbaijanis for many years. He also underscored that conduct of
Armenian side forces Azerbaijan to be in constant readiness for
attack. Deputy tells that having occupied 20% of our territories,
Armenians don’t know rest and now they are claiming to Nakhchivan. At
the same time Armenians, as deputy thinks, have formed some delusion
of misappropriation of cultural values of the nation of the region,
including of Azerbaijanis. "Over and over again they attempt to
present themselves – Armenians as the most ancient nation of our
region, though everyone knows that they arrived to South Caucasus
from Balkan peninsula", – deputy stresses.

Then he went back to historical past of Yerevan city, Azerbaijani
version of which is Irevan. Accordingly to him, historical documents
of tsarist Russia contain statistic facts on population of Irevan
khanate, which clearly define that Azerbaijanis made up majority of
this region. He referred to different Armenian and Russian historians
who confirm these facts in their works. Deputy also informed that
significant aspect is toponymy of this region. For many years Armenians
purposefully changed Azerbaijani names of inhabited places to Armenian
ones. "Thus they are attempting to erase Azerbaijani trace and to prove
to the world that they are masters of these territories", deputy said.

The words of historian and MM deputy, Yagub Mamadov, were welcomed by
participants of "round table". At the same time executive secretary
of "Yeni Azerbaijan" party, going back to the past of Yerevan and
mistaken giving it to Armenians focused on the fact than Azerbaijanis
should remember their history and recognize the right and the wrong
steps undertaken in the past. The matter is that during discussion
of this issue at MM meeting number of opposition MM deputies came out
against negative evaluation of the role of Azerbaijani government in
1918, to which ruling circles attribute mistaken decision on giving
Yerevan to Armenia. In the course of the event it was underlined
that for a long period of time Russia was involved in resettlement
of Armenians in Azerbaijan, thus creating Christian stronghold for
itself in Muslim country. Resettlement of Armenians in our country as
speechmakers said were specially enhanced gaining system nature after
signing between Iran and Russia Gulistan and Turkmanchay agrrements,
which divided our county into North and South Azerbaijan.

HIGH SCHOOLS – SUCCESS NOT FOREIGN TO CONWELL-EGAN BASKETBALL PLAYER GYOKCHYAN
By Ted Silary

Philadelphia Daily News
ol/pennsylvania/20080213_High_Schools_-_Success_no t_foreign_to_Conwell-Egan_basketball_player_Gyokch yan.html
Feb 13 2008
PA

HE WAS BORN in Armenia, reared in Lebanon and arrived in Fairless
Hills, Bucks County, after a pit stop in China.

Yes, the stories Hayk Gyokchyan can tell are a shade more involved
than your average Catholic League athlete’s.

Gyokchyan, a 6-8, 200-pound senior forward who’s here on a student
visa, just completed his second season of basketball at Conwell-Egan
High.

Aside from earning the Northern Division scoring championship with
a 17.3 average, the Beast from the Middle East, as C-E coach Rick
Sabol affectionately calls him, also posted norms of 12 rebounds,
three blocks and two steals.

Schools such as Bloomsburg, Franklin & Marshall, Cabrini and
Gwynedd-Mercy are in hot pursuit, but Division I Lehigh is sniffing
and a visit is scheduled for later this month to Arkansas-Pine Bluff,
a member of the Southwest Athletic Conference.

Grades? Hayk Gyokchyan (hike gee-oak-shun; the "gee" rhymes with
"key") does straight-A classroom work.

"My parents would pretty much kill me if I didn’t," he quipped.

Personality? Baseball coach Rich Papirio, one of his teachers,
describes Gyokchyan as "a delight to be around. What a great addition
he’s been to our school."

The proper perspective?

"When the talk was starting that maybe I could come to America,
I thought I was dreaming," Gyokchyan said. "I didn’t think it would
happen. It just seemed like everything would be too complicated. But
then it worked out and I’m having a great experience.

"Pretty much everyone has been nice to me and my host family could
not be better."

Gyokchyan lives with the Golins, Mark and Michele. Their son, Ryan,
last fall tied the city record for one-game receptions, with 15,
but then tore his ACL and that injury has kept him out all basketball
season, as well. Another son, Dustin, is a quarterback for C-E.

Hayk’s sporting interests begin and end with hoops. No wonder. His
father, Tigran, was an all-time player in Lebanon and is now an
assistant coach with that country’s top pro squad.

"That was why we moved to Lebanon; my father signed to play there,"
Gyokchyan said. "I loved growing up around basketball. I was always
at my dad’s practices and games."

Gyokchyan mentioned that there’s no such thing as high school ball
in Lebanon.

"The pro teams sponsor age-group teams and that’s how you learn the
game," he said. "And everyone plays with a 24-second clock, so you
get used to a run-and-gun style with a lot less defense.

"It was hard to get used to the slower style played here, but I got
it done and I appreciate that my coaches accommodated my skills so
I could mostly play the way I was used to."

Questions. We have questions.

How did he wind up here?

"My father has a friend in this area. I’m not even sure it’s a
basketball friend."

Did he know much English beforehand?

"We had English from kindergarten on up. It got to be pretty advanced,
too. But you only speak it in class, really. It took me about a week
to get used to speaking all English here, but then I was fine. The
key is to think in English."

How difficult is it to be away from his family?

"I thought it would be really hard. But I adjusted in about a week to
that, too. Between basketball and school, there were so many things
to worry about and keep me busy. I text or e-mail my family every
day and talk to them four, five times a week. You just get used to it."

Has he been home since arriving here?

"No. But my parents [mom is Anahit] came here for about a half-month
last summer, and that was nice."

Hayk then mentioned that his sister, Narine, is a shade under 6-2
though she’s only 13 years old. Yes, she plays basketball. Might she
also wind up at C-E?

"As good as our girls’ program is, sure. I could see it."

How dangerous was life in Lebanon?

"We lived outside Beirut. The bombings targeted a specific group of
people that lived maybe 3, 4 miles from our house. But there was a car
bomb targeting the former prime minister and there were [numerous]
casualties and that happened only about a half-mile from my school,
so that was pretty scary."

Sabol, C-E’s first-year head coach, called Gyokchyan "a very good
player that listens and would do whatever it takes for us to win."

He added, "He was really playing out of position. He is more of a
face-up forward that can score both inside and outside, with both
hands, but we needed him to play predominantly inside. He worked very
hard this past offseason on his post offense. He also became a much
better defender as the season went on."

Gyokchyan said he’s been told that C-E administrators will help
him with the process of having his student visa extended through
2012. He intends to major in business administration with leanings,
not surprisingly, to the international aspect.

Gyokchyan enrolled at C-E in mid-October, 2006.

Here’s the reason:

That summer, he was a member of Lebanon’s Junior National Team and his
dad was one of the coaches. The squad traveled to China in September
to compete for the Asian championship and wound up earning one of
three spots for the World tournament, in Serbia. There was a time lag,
though. The Worlds weren’t held until last summer.

A world event? Wow, that must have been fun.

"I didn’t go," Hayk Gyokchyan said. "I was playing in the AAU national
tournament."

Ah, the American way. *

OLD FRIEND IS MORE COMMITTED TO NEJDEH

Lragir
Feb 13 2008
Armenia

The party of conformists should not misappropriate Nezhdeh’s ideology,
if he were alive, he would not have it. This is the idea of the poet
and singer Ruben Hakhverdyan hinting at the Republican Party. Ruben
Hakhverdyan spoke about the presidential campaign and his participation
in it on February 13 at the Hayeli Club. Ruben Hakhverdyan who is
known to support Vahan Hovanisyan, the presidential candidate of the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun, says Vahan Hovanisyan is a wise, intellectual
person, deeply devoted to the nation. "Vahan is a true Nejdehian,"
Ruben Hakhverdyan says.

He said he fully agrees with the accusations that Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and the Republican Party are exchanging. The singer thinks the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun is pure and should not become engaged in this process.

AGREEMENT SIGNED ON PASSING ARMENIAN RAILWAY FOR CONCESSION MANAGEMENT

Noyan Tapan
Feb 13, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA minister of transport and
communication Andranik Manukian and the chairman of Russian Railways
CJSC Vladimir Yakunin on February 13 signed the agreement on passing
Armenian Railway company for concession management. According to
A. Manukian, South Caucasian Railway CJSC will operate Armenian
Railway.

V. Yakunin said that a sitting of the board of directors of
Russian Railways will be held soon in order to develop a business
plan. Priority will be given to repairs of infrastructures and purchase
of 3-4 electric locomotives with the aim of increasing intercity and
Kavkaz-Poti ferry transportation of goods.

To recap, Russian Railways is obliged to invest about 570 million
dollars in Armenian Railway within 30 years, including 230 million
dollars during the first five years.

CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA RAISES INTEREST RATE
by Venla Sipila

Global Insight
February 12, 2008

The Board of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has decided to increase
the annual refinancing rate by 25 basis points, ARKA reports. This
move takes the key policy rate up to 6%, and follows a hike of similar
magnitude in December, while the rate was left unchanged in January
(see Armenia: 6 December 2007: and 9 January 2008: ).The board of
the CBA remained concerned over both external and domestic inflation
sources. The CBA attributed the continued strength of domestic demand
to expansive fiscal policy. They further maintained that as external
inflation pressure is likely to persist over this year, lowering
inflation expectations and keeping the inflation rates within the
target range are likely to call for further tightening of monetary
policy.

Significance:The CBA’s inflation-targeting policy has proved
relatively successful, but necessitating strong appreciation of the
dram exchange rate, in conditions of strong foreign remittance and
FDI inflows. Latest data show that inflation remained at an elevated
level in January, boosted notably by high food prices (see Armenia:
6 February 2008: ). Some moderation in Armenian inflation is likely in
the near term as growth should finally moderate from the double-digit
rates. However, some demand-side inflation pressures will remain as
domestic demand is likely to still remain robust, even if finally
easing. Moreover, oil prices are also likely to remain at very high
rates for some time to come, providing a constant source of inflation
pressure from the cost-side. In addition, the cost of food still
has a very large bearing on Armenian inflation, and development of
grain prices will also be of considerable importance for Armenia’s
inflation this year. We believe that the central bank will continue
to be vigilant, stepping in with further rate rises if needed.

HOPE OF CONTENTUAL AND VOLUMETRICAL DEVELOPMENT

Panorama.am
13:51 12/02/2008

The deputy minister of education and science Ara Avetisyan received
the Ambassador of Germany in Armenia Andrea Victorian and the head
of Goethe institute branch in Tbilisi Verner Viol. According to
the official web site of the Ministry of Education and Science, the
deputy minister presented the policy of teaching foreign languages in
Armenia. He maintained that the foreign languages should be optional
for the pupils and secondly, they should be equally taught.

The Ambassador also presented the projects drafted between the
Armenian-German cultural educational cooperation. Verner Viol talked
about the project of providing 20 schools by German literature and the
problems of teaching the German language and geography in the region.

A. Avetiryan expressed his hope that the Armenian German cultural
educational cooperation will be developed both conceptually and
volumetrically.

EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER PLEASED WITH "NEW NEIGHBORHOOD" ACTIVITIES

Panorama.am
19:42 06/02/2008

Armenia accepted "European New Neighborhood" policy as a very important
tool to the path of the European integration. Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
the European Union Commissioner for the External Relations said that
Armenia has a success in the process. Although, she added that Armenia
should develop the economic sphere and democracy in this aspect.

Dimitry Roupel, the minister of foreign affairs of Slovenia said that
when meeting with his colleague Vardan Oskanyan they discussed several
points of its development. Besides, the sides discussed some questions
of strengthening democratic institutions, Mass Media activities.

During the labor meeting the sides discussed some regional questions,
the regulation of NKR, and Armenian-Turkish diplomatic relations.

ZUBKOV: RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN RELATIONS WILL PROGRESS INDEPENDENT OF ELECTIONS OUTCOME

Interfax
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 6, 2008 Wednesday 8:55 PM MSK
Yerevan

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that he was convinced
relations between Armenia and Russia will advance further following
presidential elections in the two countries.

"Whatever the outcome of the elections, whatever the political
situation, relations will further develop vigorously and steadily.

Our good relations with [Prime Minister] Serzh Sargsyan guarantee
this," Zubkov said on Wednesday before leaving Yerevan for Moscow.