Author: Parkev Tvankchian

ARMENIA AGAINST KAZAKHSTAN’S BID FOR OSCE PRESIDENCY
Mediamax news agency
31 Aug 05
Yerevan, 30 August: The Armenian Foreign Ministry is categorically
against Kazakhstan’s bid for the OSCE presidency in 2006 since
Kazakhstan’s position on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict is not neutral,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has told journalists.
He said that Armenia treated Kazakhstan’s bid for the OSCE presidency
carefully taking into account its opportunities. However, Armenia
has some reservations. Armenia will come up with its final position
in the OSCE when the issue will be discussed.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS PRESENTED TO MILLENNIUM
CHALLENGES FUND’S DIRECTOR ON ARMENIAN ISSUES
YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The Millennium Challenges Fund’s
Director on Armenian Issues Alex Rusin and the delegation of the
Foreign Relations Commission of the US House of Representatives were
received on August 25 by the RA Minister of Territorial Administration
Hovik Abrahamian. Issues related to the process of the activities
carried out with the Millennium Challenges Fund were discussed, as
well as Armenia’s bid was presented. According to the RA Government
Information and PR Department, H. Abrahamian told the guests about the
implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategical Program,
particularly, presented the programs implemented jointly with the
World Bank.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
August 8, 2005 Monday
RF charge d’affairs to sign letters on sailors’ release – FM
By Yelena Volkova
MOSCOW
Russian charge d’affairs to Nigeria Vladimir Fedotov will sign
letters on releasing Russian sailors on bail, Foreign Ministry deputy
spokesman Boris Malakhov said.
Malakhov told Itar-Tass on Monday, “As the ambassador is absent the
charge d’affairs can do this. This is ordinary practice.”
In his words, “documents will be signed on the release of a Georgian
sailor because at Tbilisi’s request the Russian Foreign Ministry
assumes responsibility for his fate.”
“It’s unknown when sailors are released and transported to the
Russian trade mission in Nigeria. But there are no doubts that
sailors will leave for the mission just after their release,” the
Russian diplomat said.
The release of Russian sailors from a Nigerian prison on bail is
largely a result of collective efforts by diplomats and political and
public figures, UNESCO’s goodwill ambassador Ara Abramian told
Itar-Tass on Thursday.
“I was very glad to hear the news about the Nigerian court’s decision
to release our sailors against the Russian embassy’s guarantees. That
success is a product of our joint efforts,” he said.
As UNESCO’s goodwill ambassador took an active part in the
humanitarian campaign for easing the plight of Russian sailors kept
in a tight security prison in Nigeria.
The African pride oil tanker belonging to a Greek company, whose crew
included fifteen Russian sailors, was detained in the autumn of 2003
in neutral waters off Nigeria on the suspicion of oil smuggling. The
tanker’s crew was arrested.
There have been repeated calls on the Nigerian leadership for easing
the Russian sailors’ conditions from the Patriarch of Moscow and all
Russia, Alexy II, State Duma members and the Russian Foreign
Ministry.
State Duma international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachyov said
last month, “We have approached UNESCO’s goodwill ambassador Ara
Abramian, with whom we have a good relationship, with a request for
joining the efforts to settle the situation,” Kosachyov said. “He
readily agreed.”
Abramian then told the media that as UNESCO’s goodwill ambassador he
was prepared for taking part in the humanitarian action to help ease
the conditions of Russian sailors, but that was a very delicate
matter. He explained that he would be able to work for a solution, if
there was a formal request from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the
mandate for using his international contacts for negotiations with
the Nigerian leadership.
“This is precisely the line of action we chose to follow with the
Armenian government to secure the release of Armenian pilots from
jail in Equatorial Guinea,” Abramian said.

Armenian court tries suspects in high officials’ murder plot
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
25 Jul 05
Gagik Grigoryan, who is accused of plotting the murder of high-ranking
Armenian officials, has pleaded guilty. He asked the prosecution to
take into consideration two testimonies given by him during the
investigation as a basis.
According to an indictment, former Armenian Communication and
Transport Minister Eduard Madatyan and his friend Gagik Grigoryan
promised to pay Artashat resident Misha Khudaverdyan 100,000 dollars,
for blowing up the cars of Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan,
Ministers Serzh Sarkisyan, Andranik Manukyan, Ovik Abramyan, Chairman
of the Constitutional Court Gagik Arutyunyan and businessman Gagik
Tsarukyan in Khosrov forest, and President Robert Kocharyan in
Artashat Region on 22 October 2004 during a harvest festival.
Pargev Oganyan, a judge of the first instance court of Yerevan’s
Kentron and Nork Marash communities who presided over the case, today
questioned Eduard Madatyan’s brother Grigor Madatyan. Grigor described
Gagik Grigroyan’s and Misha Khudaverdyan’s relations as business. He
said that Misha Khudaverdyan took from Grigoryan 10,000 dollars to set
up a joint livestock farm. According to the evidence, Grigoryan gave
Khudaverdyan this sum received from Eduard Madatyan to buy a mine.
Eduard Madatyan is now under investigation. Misha Khudaverdyan, who
came to police on 9 November 2004 and informed about the crime, is a
witness in the trial.
[Video showed the courtroom and defendant Gagik Grigoryan]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Report: Two Turkish troops, two rebels killed in clashes in eastern Turkey
AP Worldstream; Jul 25, 2005
LOUIS MEIXLER

Kurdish rebels killed two Turkish soldiers in a clash in eastern
Turkey near where the country’s borders with Armenia and Iran
converge, a military official said.
The clash took place in the province of Agri, the official added. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity. Turkish officials are rarely
allowed to speak on the record.
Private NTV television reported that two rebels were also killed in
the clash, but military officials could not immediately confirm that
report.
In another clash in Sirnak, near the borders with Iran and Iraq,
Turkish security forces killed two other Kurdish rebels, the Anatolia
news agency reported.
Clashes between autonomy-seeking rebels and security forces have
increased in the past few months. Since May, 44 rebels and 33 soldiers
have been killed in the fighting.
More than 37,000 people have died in the clashes since 1984.
In Istanbul, a soldier was injured Monday when an unknown assailant or
assailants fired shots at troops who were training at their barracks,
CNN-Turk television reported.
The station said five or six shots were heard at the barracks in the
district of Tuzla on the outskirts of the city.
Kurdish, leftist and militant Islamic groups are active in the city.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DIASPORA DANGEROUS FOR TURKEY, TURKISH HISTORIAN CONSIDERS
PanArmenian News Network
July 18 2005
18.07.2005 06:08
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There is no political pressure on the discussion of
the Armenian issue, Professor Hikmet Ozdemir, head of the Armenian
Studies Department at the Turkish Union of Historians stated when
asked why the open discussion of the Armenian issue is under political
pressure, Die Welt reports. When commenting on the negative statements
by Turkish Foreign Minister on the Armenian Genocide Conference
in Istanbul Ozdemir noted that no one forced the initiators to
cancel the conference. In his words, Turkey refrained from the
discussions of the Armenian issue due to the unwillingness to reopen
old wounds. “The Armenian Diaspora has convinced the whole world in
the thesis of Genocide and this prejudice can have grave consequences
for Turkey. We urge international discussion of the issue. We have
opened our archives. We request all other participants of the First
World War to produce the documents they possess”, Ozdemir stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN 2005 YEREVAN BRANDY COMPANY INTENDS TO PRODUCE AND SELL SOME 4.5
MLN LITERS OF COGNAC
YEREVAN, JULY 1. ARMINFO. In 2005 Yerevan Brandy Company intends to
produce and sell some 4.5 mln liters of cognac. YBC President and
Director General Herve Caroff informs ARMINFO.
He says 90% of the production the enterprise intends to export, first
of all, to Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Herve Caroff says that the
company can reach the level of 5 mln liters, but it does not intend to
“use” the reserves of brandy spirit so rapidly, regulating the
situation depending on the volume of grapes harvest. Everything will
depend on the forthcoming season of grapes purchases, he says, adding
that two years ago considerable areas vineyards were damaged by severe
winter frosts. During the last year a tendency towards increase in the
harvest of grapes was observed, hence the sales volume began
growing. Herve Caroff thinks it is early to speak of the purchase
price of the forthcoming harvest. The company intends to purchase not
large volume of raw materials in Nagorny Karabakh as well. On the
whole, Herve Caroff is satisfied with the work in Armenia wherein high
quality cognac is in demand. In this connection, the company intends
to constantly extend the production and sales volumes in the internal
market.
It should be noted that in 2004 the company purchased raw materials
for some $6 mln. In 2005 this indicator will be increased 20%. In 2005
YBC intends to purchase 25,000 tons of grapes as against 20,000 ton
last year. For this purpose, the company intends to spend $8 mln. YBC
has contracts with over 4,000 farmers in Armenia. The sales volumes of
YBC in 2004 was 4 mln liters. YBC was bought by Pernod Ricard French
group of companies in May 1999 fpr $30 mln. The trademarks of YBC are
registered in 48 countries world wide, with its production being sold
in 25 states.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
July 2, 2005 Saturday 1:54 AM GMT
Second mobile operator launched in Armenia
YEREVAN
Armenia’s second mobile communications operator began working in the
south Caucasian state Friday, under the Vivacell trademark.
Vivacell is owned by a Lebanon-based holding, whose major
shareholder, Pierre Fatouche, also owns Karabakh-Telecom, a mobile
operator in Azerbaijan’s breakaway enclave of Nagorno Karabakh — a
largely Armenian-populated republic which won independence in
1993-1994.
According to the company’s director Ralf Erekyan, Vivacell — which
invested over 75 million dollars to set up a network capable of
servicing 300,000 clients — would first cover Yerevan and certain
other regions and complete its coverage over the entire country by
the end of the year.
Armenia held a tender for the second mobile operator in November,
after Yerevan stripped the mobile monopoly from ArmeniTel, 90 percent
owned by Greece’s OTE.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SPIRITUAL LEADER OF GERMAN CHURCHES EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ANTELIAS, LEBANON, 29 JUNE, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. In a letter
to His Holiness Aram I, Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia, the spiritual
leader of the German Protestant Church, Bishop Wolfgang Huber has
affirmed his full support for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide
and has promised to exert efforts in this direction. According to the
Communication and Information Department of the Armenian Catholicosate
of Cilicia, Bishop Huber has informed the Catholicos about the
work carried out by the German Churches for the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. He has ensured Aram I that he personally and the
churches he presides over will pursue their efforts: “Most recently
the German Parliament accepted a common statement on the issue. It
does not fulfill all expectations but can be seen as a step in the
right direction … I tell you this in order to assure you, that EKD
and myself will try to do what we can to intensify the process of
recognition of the Armenian Genocide and to encourage a process of
reconciliation between the Armenian and the Turkish people.” Bishop
Huber is a personal friend of His Holiness Aram I. The Catholicos
had written to him a month ago, requesting his support in the efforts
for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Germany. The German
Bundestag adopted a resolution lately condemning the Armenian
atrocities and apologizing for the role played by Germany in them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOUND KNOWLEDGE CAN REDUCE CASES OF MATERNAL DEATHS AND COMPLEXITIES OF PREGNANCY
AZG Armenian Daily #118, 28/06/2005
Healthcare
>>From June 28 to July 1, the regional office of the World Health
Organization in cooperation with the RA Ministry of Healthcare
is organizing the second seminar “Behind the Numbers” with the
participation of Albania, Armenia, former Yugoslav states, Romania,
Russia, Turkey and Turkmenistan. The seminar will represent different
approaches to the studies of maternal deaths and complexities of
pregnancy as well as will lend support to groups of participating
countries to discuss these issues on national level.
The following are the references of “Behind the Numbers”:
1. It’s possible to avert maternal deaths even in countries with
limited resources but it demands providing correct information for
the projects to build on.
2. Each case of maternal death or a complexity threatening the life
has its prehistory that may provide information for the problem’s
practical solution.
3. Conclusions made up from these studies are the main guarantee
of success.
By Gohar Gevorgian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress