Author: Nargizian David

WHO WILL PRESENT ARMENIA IN CHILDREN’S EUROVISION 2008

Panorama.am
17:38 30/06/2008

Today and tomorrow on the live broadcast of Public TV the first round
of children’s Eurovision 2008 Armenian song will take place. 200
applications have been received and selected 36 applications will
compete for top ten. And those best ten applicants will compete for
the second round which is scheduled on July 11.

The TV audience will select via SMS voting who will present Armenia
this year. Children’s Eurovision 2008 will take place on November 22,
2008, in Cyprus. For the first time Azerbaijan will also take part
in the competition.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO PAY OFFICIAL VISITS TO GERMANY AND FINLAND

YEREVAN, JUNE 28, NOYAN TAPAN. At the invitation of the German foreign
minister Franz-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister of the RA Edward
Nalbandian on June 30 will go on a two-day official visit to Berlin. NT
was informed by the RA MFA Press and Information Department that on
June 2 E. Nalbandian will leave Berlin for Helsinki in order to pay a
two-day visit to Finland at the invitation of the Finnish foreign
minister Alexander Stubb.

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN BELIEVES GROWING MILITARY EXPENDITURES OF AZERBAIJANI ARMY INFLUENCE NEGOTIATIONS FOR SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

ArmInfo
2008-06-27 14:06:00

Azerbaijan’s military expenditures were ten times lower in 2003.

Today Azerbaijan’s total military expenditures are more than 2 billion
dollars. The military expenditures take first place in the Government’s
budget and I am sure it will be so further, Ilham Aliyev, President
of Azerbaijan, said on 26 June, addressing the military parade on
the occasion of 90th jubilee of the Armed Forces. The president said
Azerbaijan’s policy raises concern in the world. ‘However, I can say
that not only our military expenditures grow. There is not need to
outline our military expenditures from the general context making it
a big problem’, he said.

Ilham Aliyev said military expenses were equal to the government
expenditures and noted that the expenses would be increased more. The
Supreme Commander-in-Chief could not but mention that Azerbaijan
‘was at war, the war had not finished yet’ "We should be ready to
liberate our lands, for this purpose we establish a strong army",
Aliyev said. Touching upon the long-lasting negotiations on the
settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Ilham Aliyev said that
Azerbaijani People ‘got tired of these negotiations’.

"We consider that the negotiations cannot be held eternally. Of course,
there are improvements in the process of negotiations. The proposals
discussed now are based on the principles of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. The proposals on the table do not contain any mechanisms for
separating Nagorno Karabakh from Azerbaijan," he said. The President
stated "Armenia ignored international legal norms and added that
Azerbaijan intended to continue the negotiations". The talks on
peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict will be continued as long as there is progress, whilst in
parallel, the military potential of the country will be strengthened,
which will have a positive impact on settlement of Karabakh conflict
and will aloe us liberating our lands", Aliyev said. "Presently the
Azerbaijani Army is the strongest in the region," he stated.

For conclusion the president said that there is no longer military
balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

WOMEN’S WORLD 7TH EXHIBITION DUE IN YEREVAN JULY 4-6

ARKA
June 27

The 7th international exhibition "Women’s World" will be held in
Armenia July 4-6, Expo Media Exhibition Company reports.

This is a good chance to present the business woman of our days and
her fresh achievements in a new and different way, as well as to
establish new contacts between businesswomen, the company says.

The exhibition themes include perfume, cosmetics, health-improving
means, beauty saloons, SPA-saloons, fitness, bijouterie, accessories,
clothes and shoes, as well as interior, design, wedding accessories,
etc.

The "Women’s World" exhibition was first held in Armenia in 2001.

ARMENIA SHOULD BE MORE STIRRING ON INTERNATIONAL STAGE

ARKA
June 24

Armenia should be more stirring on international stage, Kiro Manoyan,
the director of Hay Dat office of Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyun, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"Today the main objective of Armenian Foreign Ministry is to restore
the country’s international rating. That’s why it would be wrong to
expect reconsideration of key strategic approaches", Manoyan said.

In his opinion, the Foreign Ministry will concentrate its efforts
on rating restoration. It means that the ministry is unlikely to
reconsider the current foreign policy.

He is convinced that complimentary policy is necessary, but it
shouldn’t be only on paper.

NATO WEEK LAUNCHED IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan

Ju ne 23, 2008

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The ceremony of opening of NATO Week in
Armenia took place on June 23 in NATO Information Center. According to
Gegham Gharibjanian, the RA Deputy Foreign Minister, NATO Week held for
already the second time is one of the most important events implemented
by Armenia within the framework of the Individual Partnership Actions
Plan (IPAP). Its goal is to present the main directions of Armenia-NATO
cooperation, the modern characterization and content of NATO’s activity
to country’s society.

G. Gharibjanian said that visits of NATO high-ranking representatives
and a number of information and representation events are envisaged
within the framework of the Week. In particular, an international
conference dedicated to prevention and confronting of attacks
in cyber-space will start on June 24 at Yerevan’s Ani-Plaza
hotel. The Deputy Foreign Minister said that the problem of fighting
cyber-terrorism was first included in the agenda during a NATO summit
held in April, 2008 in Bucharest.

According to the Deputy Minister, the launching of NATO Week in NATO
Information Center is Yerevan is not accidental and symbolizes the
fact that country’s authorities attach importance to cooperation with
NGOs. G. Gharibjanian said that NATO Information Center and Armenian
Atlantic Association support the Foreign Ministry in preparation and
holding of NATO Week.

According to Tevan Poghosian, the Executive Director of Atlantic
Association, it is planned to implement a number of programs this year,
the goal of which is to inform the youth about NATO and to discuss the
possibilities and obstacles of cooperation with NATO. NATO Educational
Rally will start on June 24 for that purpose, the participants
of which will leave for Vanadzor, Gavar, Ghapan. Discussion of
Armenia-NATO relations development scenarios will take place on June
27 at Ani-Plaza hotel, and the ceremony of Week’s summary will take
place at Sayat Nova cafe in the evening the same day.

According to Ara Tadevosian, the Director of NATO Information
Center, Jean-Francois Bureau, NATO Assistant Secretary General for
Public Diplomacy, will arrive in Yerevan on June 27. The same day he
will meet with students of Yerevan State University Journalism and
International Relations Departments. The launching of the book under
the title "Armenia-NATO: Ten Years of Progress" will take place in
the center the same day. According to A. Tadevosian, for the first
time an attempt to present Armenia-NATO cooperation in the past 10
years in a systematized way is made in the book.

Jean-Francois Bureau and RA Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian
will take part in the event.

A documentary under the title "The Army is Strong" about U.S. army
will be shown on June 25-26 by the Public Television of Armenia
within the framework of the Week. According to film’s author Avet
Demurian, a correspondent of the Associated Press agency in Armenia,
a series of documentaries dedicated to different armies of the world
is prepared. The next films will present the armies of the countries
that have recently joined NATO.

THE ANGELS AND THE CRIMINAL GANG
GEVORG HARUTYUNYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on June 21, 2008
Armenia

Yesterday Levon Ter-Petrosyan addressed the authorities proposing to
honor the victims of March 1 tragedy with the title of a hero. Besides
that `the families of each victim must get 1 million dollars’
compensation.’

Later he promised to represent the program of the future actions of the
revolutionaries and immediately forgot about his promise. Instead he
stated that Armenia’s cognizant society doesn’t recognize the
legitimacy of the Presidential elections and the demonstration is aimed
at informing the West about this fact. Estimating by sight, he decided
that 200 thousand people were present in the demonstration and said
that they will stand there `as much as they need to achieve their end’.

It turned out that the demonstration was aimed at prohibiting the
European bureaucrats: `to treat Armenia with the principle of racism
and from the point of view of their highest instances.’ Levon
Ter-Petrosyan is confidant that it is not the reputation of Armenia but
that of the authorities that has been spoiled after February 19 and
March 1.’No window was broken; no car was damaged until the authorities
opened fire on the people. Nothing more.’

For a long time the speaker was trying to convince the participants of
the demonstration that there shouldn’t be any law on `massive rallies’,
because it contradicts the Constitution. But he had to add that the
Constitution envisages restrictions on the rights, so there must be a
law on the `restrictions on massive demonstrations’.

Touching upon the implementation of PACE resolution 1609, Levon
Ter-Petrosyan said that the establishment of the temporary committee
investigating the consequences of March 1 tragedy is very
`insignificant’. Later he announced that `Gevorik from Armenian Pan
National Movement’ would be his representative in that committee.

From the proposals made in the resolution Levon Ter-Petrosyan separated
and attached great importance to the demand to release the `political
prisoners’.

`They are all victims of political reckoning. None of them has been
charged with caring guns. They also confess that the police and even
the troops have opened fire. We have been informed that the special
subdivision of Nagorno Karabakh army has participated in this
slaughter. In case this information is confirmed Bako Sahakyan must be
announced `persona non grata’ in Armenia.

L. Ter-Petrosyan was trying to convince the participants of the
demonstration that the most sensible, brave and determined citizens of
our nation are detained at the moment. And said that those who detained
these people will soon find themselves in prison.

He separated former vice Prosecutor Gagik Jhangiryan from the
`political prisoners’. `The only thing this man did was to speak
publicly about the breaches during the presidential elections. Nothing
more. In fact the reason of harassing him is his intention to disclose
`October 27′.

Ter-Petrosyan announced that if all the political prisoners are
released before the discussion of Armenian issue in PACE he will appeal
to PACE not to use the previewed sanctions against Armenia.

Later he addressed President Serge Sargsyan: `It is a crazy thing to
create a problem in Armenia, which will continuously make the people
furious. Isn’t it possible to solve this problem in one day with one
telephone call? After that we will have a dialogue with the
authorities. In this dangerous situation neither the authorities will
be able to work properly nor can the peaceful demonstrators fulfill
their obligations. Dialogue doesn’t imply bargaining. Our peaceful,
legal movement recognizes the created political reality and is ready to
settle the issues in a civilized manner, with the accepted norms of the
political struggle. Because the created situation is due to the
elections, then, what we really need is new presidential and
parliamentary elections.’

FOUR STATEMENTS MADE BY THE PRIME MINISTER

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on June 20, 2008
Armenia

The briefing of the Prime Minister took place in the government
yesterday during which he came out with four statements.

"The first statement that I would like to make is as follows: it was
envisaged by the program that by the leadership of the Republic’s
Prime Minister a Highest Counsel of the new culture of investment of
income bureaucracy will be established, we would like to inform the
public that the Counsel has already been set up.

The task of the Counsel is to coordinate tax and customs reforms, to
control that process and to be in permanent contact with the public
and different organizations of business sphere.

The second statement that I would like to make is that a monitoring
group, headed by Aram Gharibyan will be attached to the Highest
Counsel. Our citizens can express all the issues of concern by
telephone or email, which will become a matter of discussion for the
Highest Counsel. By this we will ensure mutual contact with the public,
inform them how we implement our complex program, what positive or
negative consequences we observe during the process of the reforms.

The third statement is about our most important priority. Which is
to make favorable conditions for the development of small and medium
business. The latter will be a partner for the state and will feel
complete support of the state. So we announce that the territorial
centers of the development of small and medium business, that function
in all the provinces will support small and medium business in the
investment of the tax and customs bureaucracy program.

The fourth and maybe the foremost statement that I would like to make
is that I sincerely ask for the support of the Mass Media and the
Public, to help us implement our program. These reforms will become
reality only in case you trust us," Tigran Sargsyan said.

10TH SITTING OF JOINT PANEL OF RUSSIAN INTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY, ARMENIAN POLICE TO BE HELD IN MOSCOW IN JUNE 2009

ARKA
June 20, 2008

YEREVAN, June 20. /ARKA/. A regular sitting of the Joint Panel of
the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry and the Armenian Police is to
be held in Moscow in June 2009. The respective decision was made at
the 9th sitting of the Panel in Yerevan Friday, the Press Service of
Armenian Police reports.

Armenian and Russian delegations were headed by the Chief of Armenian
Police Alik Sargsian and Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev
respectively.

At the meeting, the agenda of the 10th sitting was approved, the
press service reported.

VENUE OF RALLY CHANGED

A1+
[06:20 pm] 18 June, 2008

The opposition’s rally scheduled for June 20 will take place near
the Matenadaran.

Statement of the Popular Movement,

We were determined not to yield to any illegality and fulfill our right
to free assemblies at Liberty Square on June 20. We have notified the
Yerevan City Hall about the rally for a number of times. The regime was
also convinced of it, therefore the authorities replaced policemen by
children because they knew from their former experience that unlike
them, we never go beyond morality. Although we condemn their mean
action, we cannot appeal to our supporters to gather at the Square
which is equipped with children’s games and where a children’s event
is due on June 20.

Therefore, the rally will take place in front of the Matenadaran,
at 6 p.m. on June 20," runs the statement of the Popular Movement.