Author: Nanijanian Alex

ARMENIA TO RECEIVE $11.3MLN FROM US MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES CORPORATION

ARKA
March 13, 2008

YEREVAN, March 13. /ARKA/. Armenia plans to receive $11.3mln from
the US Millennium Challenges Corporation in April-June 2008.

The press service of the RA Government reports that, at its sitting
on March 12 chaired by RA Premier Serge Sargsyan, the Management
Board of the Millennium Challenges Armenia Foundation approved the
7th application for the allocation of funds. The funds are expected
to be directed to the programs of rural road renovation, agricultural
irrigation, monitoring and assessment, as well as program supervision.

By December 1, 2007, the Millennium Challenges Corporation had
allocated a total of $11.26mln.

According to a report presented to the meeting, the program was a
success in the 4th quarter of 2007. Specifically, the restoration of
a 24.5-km-long section of the Armavir-Isahakyan-Gyumri highway got
under way.

Two principal agreements on the design of six gravity irrigation
systems and feasibility studies of restoring and enhancing the
efficiency of 68 pumping stations were signed. The preparatory work
for the restoration of secondary water conduits in four villages near
Yerevan was completed as well.

Training courses as part of the Water to Market component of the
program were conducted in different Yerevan communities.

By December 30, 2007, 5,284 farmers (1,085 of them women) had attended
the training courses in water use and efficient agriculture.

The meeting also discussed and approved the results of tenders for
financial institutions that participated in a credit allocation
auction, as well as draft contracts for consulting services.

The Management Board approved the amendments to the agreement on
the design of renovation of six main conduits and supervision of
construction. The amendments prolong the construction terms and
envisage the completion of repair of the damaged sections of the six
main conduits, 165 hydraulic structures and 177 drainage structures.

The Board members also reported that the packages of tenders under
rural road renovation program were opened. The companies that
participated in the tender offered the renovation of 272km of roads.

The Millennium Challenges program was launched in Armenia on September
29, 2006. A compact on the allocation of a $236mln grant to Armenia
for five years was signed on March 27, 2006.

The state-run Millennium Challenges Armenia Foundation was established
under the RA Government’s resolution on April 13, 2006. The foundation
carries out the work envisaged by the international agreements signed
by Armenia and planned by the RA Government.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Fehmi Koru

Today’s Zaman
March 13 2008
Turkey

His silhouette is black and white in my mind from the Turkish movies
he appeared in back in the 1960s. He was handsome, extremely handsome,
a la early Marlon Brando. Something, nevertheless, was missing —
when the time in the movie came to get the girl, the girl always
chose somebody else, even though the chosen one was not as handsome
as he was.

I always wondered why Kenan Pars as an actor was destined to suffer
in love affairs, despite the fact that he was likable and charming
by Turkish cinema standards. I cannot remember when I found out the
truth, but I know for sure that my personal enlightenment came rather
late. Although he went by the name of Kenan Pars, his original name
was Kirkor Cezveciyan, and he was of Armenian descent. He assumed a
Turkish sounding name to get a place in Turkish cinema and was able
to play different roles throughout his long career. He also directed
six movies and played in some TV serials until his demise last week
at the age of 88.

I am sure his friends in the movie business knew his ethnic background
and didn’t mind. Turkish cinema has a history of tolerance for
non-Turkish and non-Muslim players. Pars was not alone in his
generation of Armenian-Turkish artists; there were many like him in
the entertainment business. Some, like Pars and Sami Hazinses, changed
their names to Turkish sounding ones, and others like Nubar Terziyan
retained their original names. In the Turkish Internet encyclopedia
(tr-wikipedia) in a section titled "Famous Armenian-Turkish citizens"
it relates the names of some well-known Turkish actors and actresses
of Armenian descent; there are some with Turkish names, and even today
a great majority of Turks don’t know that they were of Armenian origin.

In my own childhood I had the experience of studying with non-Turkish
minorities. I was born in Izmir, the most cosmopolitan city in Turkey
on the Aegean coast, and lived in a neighborhood with a variety of
ethnicities. My classmates included at least four Jews. I remember
them as very industrious, not only in school but also after school,
when they went to help at their fathers’ businesses.

Then the non-Muslim and non-Turkish minorities in my neighborhood
suddenly disappeared.

He was not Pars in my mind’s eye; he was always a character in Turkish
movies, playing in as many as 218 films since 1952 in which he tried to
attract the attention of the most beautiful girl and always suffered
in the end. I cannot remember an instant that Pars won the heart of
any lead actress; she was never his. He always had to play second
fiddle and suffer heartbreak.

In his later years, Pars showed some interest in the Islamic art
of calligraphy.

It is not easy to be a member of a minority group in an overwhelmingly
homogenous country. Turkish-Armenians, after all the heartbreaking
experiences of the early 1900s, have remained among us, participating
in Turkish society with their own skills and expertise.

Many of the families of Armenian descent have been living in Anatolia
as long as the Turks, or even longer, and because of their minority
status in a largely Muslim society, have suffered socially. At the
same time, since they don’t raise their voices of discontent to the
satisfaction of diaspora Armenians, they also take some blame from
their ethnic brethren.

The Armenians and other religious minorities came to the fore of
Turkey’s attention very recently, when some religious organizations
held fast-breaking activities and invited religious representatives of
ethnic minorities. That brought about more understanding of non-Muslims
living among us in the minds of religiously inclined people.

My heart rejoices to see some activities that do the reverse; Muslims
joining Christians’ Easter celebrations, for example.

In an interview conducted a year ago, Pars related a story from his
days in the army. He suffered there, too, in his younger days. He was
given a shovel instead of a weapon and was sent with other minority
soldiers to work in road construction. He was given a reprieve later
on when he became aide-de-camp to his commander. One of the most vivid
memories of his army days was an Easter breakfast. His commander’s wife
prepared a full-fledged Easter table, including red eggs. He noted in
the interview that he changed then and there and became more hopeful
as an Armenian living in a society in which Turks were the majority.

Turkish society, too — though perhaps rather late — is changing.

Pars died an Armenian Christian and was buried in an Armenian cemetery
after a ceremony held at a church. But the highest ranking Islamic
authority of his district in Istanbul called on his neighbors to
pray for his soul in the Islamic tradition. The mufti of Bakýrkoy,
Ýzzettin Konuk, is determined to send up his prayers for Pars, saying
that Pars’ burial in an Armenian Christian cemetery shouldn’t prevent
Muslims who knew him from doing so.

Pars’ face, smart and handsome to the end, must be displaying a
satisfied smile that his determination to remain where he was born
and entertain the people who were his neighbors and countrymen was
not in vain.

–Boundary_(ID_3pElyI444x9HdGMQSNJ2fA)–

COMPETITION FOR BEST DRAFT OF MEMORIAL TO HOME GUARDSMEN KILLED IN ARTSAKH WAR ANNOUNCED IN STEPANAKERT

DeFacto Agency
March 3 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 11.03.08. DE FACTO. The construction of the Memorial
immortalizing the memory of the home guardsmen killed in Artsakh war
is planned in Stepanakert.

In this connection the Stepanakert City hall announces competition
for the draft, KarabakhOpen reports. Those who wish to participate in
the competition may present their drafts until June 1, 2008, to the
Stepanakert City Hall, the Department of Culture, Youth and Tourism.

Those who wish to participate in the competition for improvement of
the complex "We and Our Mountains" ("Grandfather and Grandmother")
announced by the City hall may also present their drafts.

To note, the place for setting up the monument was selected 10 years
ago near the Central hospital in Stepanakert.

TURKISH GOVERNMENT FREEZES ITS PARTICIPATION IN EU OPERATIVE PROGRAM ON TRANS-BORDER COOPERATION WITH BULGARIA FOR 2007-2013 DUE TO DECISION OF COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF BURGAS TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

arminfo
2008-03-11 16:09:00

ArmInfo. The Turkish government has frozen its participation in the
EU Operative Program on trans-border cooperation with Bulgaria in
the Burgas-Edirne region for 2007-2013 due to decision of Community
Council of Burgas to recognize Armenian Genocide and proclaim April
24 Commemoration Day of the Armenian Genocide victims. Burgas is the
second largest Bulgarian region by the number of Armenian population
after Plovdiv.

The initiative to put the declaration to discussion belongs to the
nationalist anti-Turkish party "Attack", but it was also supported
by Mayor of the city Dimitr Nikolov and all the representatives
of the GERB party (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria)
prevailing in the Council.

According to all the national public opinion polls, over 50%
of Bulgarians think that GERB is the future ruling party in the
country. A great number of Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin live
in Burgas. Despite the strong resistance of the representatives of
the party of ruling coalition (Bulgarian Socialist Party – former
Communists and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which is an
unofficial pro-Turkish ethnic party), the Community Council of Burgas
adopted the declaration by the majority of votes (41 out of 45)
on Feb 28, 2008.

As Ivan Ivanchev, the founder and head of the first embassy of
Bulgaria in Armenia (1999-2003) told ArmInfo correspondent, the
agreement on Turkey’s participation in the EU Operative Program was
to be signed between Burgas (Bulgaria) and Edirne (Turkey) regions
on March 6, 2008. However, being guided by the report of Turkish
Consul General in Burgas Ismail Yucer, the Turkish side refused the
official ceremony. The letter of Edirne Regional Mamager Nusret
Miroglu announced freezing of business projects worth 32 mln EUR
in the region in 2008-2013. The main reason was disagreement with
the decision of the Community Council of Burgas on "such disputable
historic issue". Moreover, there was a warning: if the decision is
not cancelled, all the economical, cultural, political and other
ties between the regions will be broken off. Ivan Ivanchev himself
thinks that after the Bulgarian parliament rejected the proposal to
recognize the Armenian Genocide at the national level twice (in 2006
and 2007) under the pressure of the ruling coalition, this step of the
Community Council of Burgas may be qualified as "making overtures"
on the reality and scale of Turkey’s future reaction connected with
this delicate historical and political issue. To recall, about one
million ethnic Turks and about 40 thsd Armenian live in Bulgaria.

In addition, Turkey is a territorial neighbor of Bulgaria, as well
as one of the largest investors in Bulgaria’s economy.

KOSOVO WON’T SERVE AS A PRECEDENT FOR OTHER ANALOGICAL CONFLICTS: PRESIDENT OF BULGARIA

TREND News Agency
March 10 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 10 March /corr. Trend News À.Ismaylova/ The
European Union (EU) must intensify its efforts and send a message
to the occupant that "Nagorno-Karabakh will never be independent",
said the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, during the joint
briefing with the President of Bulgaria, Georgie Pirvanov, in Baku

The Head of State highlighted Azerbaijan’s position on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. "I said that the conflict may
only be settled within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,
internally displaced persons must be returned to their lands,"
Aliyev said.

Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Georgie Pirvanov
stated that Bulgaria supports the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group
and as a member of the EU, it will try to express such position in
this organization.

He noted that Bulgaria hasn’t recognized independence of Kosovo. "We
will make our position known only when we observe development of
events there" said Pirvanov. He added that Kosovo won’t serve as a
precedent for other analogical conflicts.

President of Bulgaria also informed that he invited Ilham Aliyev to
pay a response visit after which there will be held Days of Azerbaijan
in that country.

–Boundary_(ID_vKch5oER3SFXiTb1N2PMBA)–

ARMENIAN HIGH COURT UPHOLDS RESULTS OF 19 FEB PRESIDENTIAL VOTE

Public TV
March 8 2008
Armenia

The Armenian Constitutional Court said on 8 March it was upholding the
official results of the 19 Februarypresidential election, which gave
victory to Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan with 53 per cent of the vote,
Public TVreported.

"After studying all the documents, the Armenian Constitutional Court
has decided to uphold the decision of theArmenian Central Electoral
Commission on the results of the 19 February presidential election,"
Hrant Nazaryan, amember of the court, was quoted as saying.

Two candidates at the election, former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan
and Tigran Karapetyan, had appealed to thecourt, saying that the
election was rigged in favour of Sargsyan.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
March 6, 2008 Thursday

Kosovo not precedent for Nagorno-Karabakh – Sargsyan

MOSCOW March 14

Armenia’s President Elect Serzh Sargsyan sees no reason to compare
the situation surrounding Kosovo with the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We do not see Kosovo as a precedent for a Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement because we are convinced that every conflict has its own
roots, its specific dynamics and solutions. But each time a people’s
right to self-determination is realized somewhere in the world, we
welcome it," Sargsyan said in an interview to be published in
Friday’s edition of the Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Sargsyan said he favors an exclusively peaceful solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem on the basis of mutual compromise.

"Paradoxical as it may sound, I think that Azerbaijan should
recognize the right of the Nagorno-Karabakh people to
self-determination and Armenia should recognize Azerbaijan’s right to
territorial integrity," he said.

Born in Nagorno-Karabakh, Sargsyan is perfectly familiar with its
problem.

Commenting on the recent events in Yerevan, he described them as an
attempt to organize a "color revolution" in Armenia.

"All this did look like an attempt to organize ‘color revolution’ but
it was doomed from the beginning. Unlike in those countries where
‘color revolutions’ were a success, in Armenia there are factors the
organizers of the unrest did not take into account," Sargsyan said.

First, people in Armenia have firm trust in the government, he said.

Second, "the majority of Armenians supports the evolutionary and
sustainable development of the past 7 years and opposes a revanche
sought by the former elite. What happened was an attempted revanche
orchestrated by forces that ruled Armenia in the 1990s, the gloomiest
and coldest years the country has ever seen," Sargsyan concluded.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 6 2008

PUTIN ENDORSES ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

Moscow, 6 March: Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone
conversation with acting Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today,
the Kremlin’s press service has reported.

"In view of an unstable situation which followed the presidential
election there, Putin said he was confidentthat measures taken by the
Armenian leadership would ensure constitutional order in that
country," the pressservice reported.

ARMENIAN LEADER REGRETS HUMAN CASUALTIES DURING OPPOSITION RALLY DISPERSAL

Public TV
March 5 2008
Armenia

[Presenter] Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met journalists
today and promised them that his meetings withjournalists will be
held continually until the stabilization of the domestic political
situation in the country.Kocharyan expressed his deep regret that it
was not possible to avoid human casualties during the events [that
happened in Yerevan on 1 March] and expressed his condolences to the
families of the victims.

Kocharyan also noted that a decision to introduce a state of emergency
in the capital was a necessity and it wasdeclared in time.

[Kocharyan] The course of the events showed that the introduction of
the state of emergency was a necessity and I am sure that if it had
not been introduced, our casualties would have been much greater and
the consequences of the events would have been more dangerous to the
Republic of Armenia.

The whole picture of the events will be established minute after
minute. There are different video materials on theevents and they
[events] should be established in order to have an opportunity to
assess the situation correctly. Thiswill give the law-enforcement
agencies an opportunity to investigate these cases. The volume of the
cases is greater.The number of people who were involved in these events
and the venue where the events happened are also great.Therefore,
it is necessary to ensure that the group of investigators work day
and night to have the full picture. On my instruction, they should
also regularly brief residents on the work they carry out. This will
also give you anopportunity to follow the work that has been done
and inform our population about the situation.

We can already say today that the rally participants divided into
three groups. The first group is those whoorganized gatherings outside
the Yerevan mayor’s office, as a result of which the population
was provoked. Theorganizers of the rallies were also divided into
two parts. The fist part of this group was those who provoked the
rallyparticipants into starting clashes. A remarkable person in
this group was [the editor of opposition Haykakan Zhamanaknewspaper]
Nikol Pashinyan.

Certainly, you had an opportunity to watch video materials broadcast
on television recently. But there were alsopeople among them who
understood that the situation was beyond their control and tried to
calm down the rallyparticipants. For an example, [the former chief of
the National Security Service] Davit Shahnazaryan was one of thosewho
tried to calm down the rally participants, but the overwhelming
majority of the participants obeyed the provocative group.

The second group of rally participants was those who organized
attacks on the police, using arms and explosives.Responsibility
for the deaths lies mainly with members of this group because, as a
result of their activities, therewere human casualties and numerous
people were injured, i.e. over 130 people were wounded, and most of
them werepolicemen.

And the third group of rally participants was those who took an active
part in looting shops. The extent of the guiltof these three groups
is different and they should be punished differently.

[Passage omitted: Kocharyan urged law-enforcement agencies to punish
the organizers of the riots]

The recent events seriously damaged Armenia’s international
reputation. We all said that Armenia is a muchstable and faster
developing country in the region. To be honest, I feel ashamed when
I see these video materials. I do not want to believe that these
events were possible in our country. We should try to restore both
the country’sreputation and the attitude towards our people that has
taken shape in the world.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: FIGHTING EFFICIENCY OF NAGORNO KARABAKH IS UP TO THE MARK

Noyan Tapan
March 5, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The incident on the contact line of
Karabakh and Azerbaijani forces on March 4 showed that the fighting
efficiency of Nagorno Karabakh self-defence forces is up to the mark,
the Armenian president Robert Kocharian stated at the March 5 press
conference.

"I don’t think it is politically correct to use such situations for
entirely different purposes," he said, meaning the Azerbaijani side
which was the first to attack. According to the Armenian president,
it is quite possible that they in Azerbaijan thought that the current
situation in Armenia has reduced the vigilance of the Karabakh armed
forces, maybe it seemed to them that some military units were sent
from Karabakh to Armenia. "This is not the case," he stated.

Azerbaijani armed forces seized a sentry post of the Karabakh
forces, then Karabakh forces took it back. However, after this the
Karabakh positions were being shelled from mine-throwers. The fire
ended as a result of the agreement reached with Azerbaijan’s defence
ministry. The foriegn minister and defence minister of Armenia got into
touch with the special representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office
Andrzei Kasprzyk who was in Baku at that time. "The normal regime
of the cease-fire must be restored along the whole contact line,"
R. Kocharian said, adding that artillery was not used on the line
for a long time but it happened on March 4.