Author: Tadevosian Garnik

OPPOSITIONAL FORCES MUST BE READY TO LISTEN TO EACH OTHER

LRAGIR.AM
16:24:39 – 10/06/2009

On June 10, the secretary of the Heritage faction Larisa Alaverdyan
dwelt on the statements of the member of the Heritage faction Zaruhi
Postanjyan, who had criticized the Armenian National Congress and
Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Larisa Alaverdyan noted that she had always had special opinions in
regard of the initiatives of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and others and has
the right to express them. The opinion expressed by Postanjyan was
not worked out or planned by the party or by the faction. She stated
that Zaruhi Postanjyan expressed her personal opinion.

Larisa Alaverdyan thinks that the opposition is strong enough to
hear criticism on its mistakes and errors. She added that if the
oppositional forces are not ready to hear criticism one about the
other, it will make the oppositional field more vulnerable, and
added that many other opinions were expressed about the Heritage,
which were more offensive.

But, she thinks that the Heritage, as a young political force,
should be attentive not only to the positive things in its address
but also to the negative ones. If it is not slander, there can always
be something useful, stated Larisa Alaverdyan.

ITALIAN CAPITAL FEELS CONFIDENT IN ARMENIA, AMBASSADOR OF ITALY SAYS

Panorama.am
14:55 10/06/2009

The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received today the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy Massimo Lavezzo Cassinelli
on completing his mission in Armenia, the President’s Cabinet
reports. The President thanked Ambassador Cassinelli for his efforts
to strengthen the Armenian-Italian relations.

The parties have agreed on the fact that the bilateral collaboration
is being dynamically developed, the political dialogue is active and
effective activities are held in cultural field also.

President Sargsyan has signified that every year the Italian capital
is being improved. In this respect the Italian Ambassador emphasized
that the Italian capital feels confident in Armenia, as open and
liberal legislation regarding the investments encourage the investors.

PRESS RELEASE
Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) – Yerevan Office
53-55 Pavstos Buzand Street, 0010
Yerevan, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Inessa Grigoryan
Tel: (+374 10) 522076; 562068
Fax: (+374 10) 522076
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Children of Armenia Fund – New York Office
162 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900,
New York, NY 10010, USA
Contact: Samantha Wagar
Tel: 212 – 994 – 8234
Fax: 212 – 994 – 8299
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

June 10, 2009, Lernagog, Armavir District, Republic of Armenia

Child Protection Day Celebration through
"Planet of Peace" Performance

Following International Child Protection Day celebrated worldwide on
June 1, the community of Lernagog recently hosted a "Planet of Peace"
performance in the premises of a newly renovated village school with the
aim of contributing to the protection of children’s rights and raising
children’s and their parents’ awareness and consciousness on child
protection issues. Lernagog is one of the numerous communities included
in Comprehensive Rural Development Program, initiated and implemented by
the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) in Baghramyan Region of Armavir
District of Armenia since early 2006.

The event was organized by the members of the local "YES" youth club
established by Heifer Project International in close cooperation with
COAF and experts from Development Principles NGO. COAF Psycho-Social
Project team additionally supported Lernagog club members in developing
and elaborating the materials for the event. Through civic education
activities, the local youth acquires knowledge and builds capacity on
human rights and the rights and responsibilities of citizens, civil
society formation and the children’s role and participation in these
processes. Apart from civic education, the club has also other
directions including healthy lifestyle, agribusiness, ecology, logics
and journalism/public relations.

The participants and organizers of the event touched upon the problems
occurring in the process of realizing children’s rights, as well as
concrete cases of child rights violations, after watching "The Rights of
Children in Armenia" documentary prepared through the support from the
United Nations Children’s Fund and witnessing the wallpapers created by
the children themselves. The documentary was followed by "The Little
Prince" performance, based on the famous novel by Antoine de Saint
Exupéry, which was played by the members of all the youth clubs. The
performance ended with a big round of applause from the audience and
numerous congratulations on the wonderful play.

Participating in the celebration of the Child Protection Day were also
members of Civic Education "YES" Clubs from the neighboring communities
of Karakert, Dalarik, Miasnikian and Hushakert. Their enrollment in the
event highlighted once again the importance of communication among
youngsters from cluster villages, as well as the necessity of their
unity towards protecting their own rights and freedoms. The "Planet of
Peace" festive event concluded with the video coverage of the results of
the Annual Forum on youth clubs and their activities, prepared by Heifer
Project International and Development Principles NGO.

To the delight of all the guests, the event did have its continuation in
the front yard of Lernagog School. Using the colorful chalks, the
children of all ages painted with diligence the school yard, presenting
such symbols of peace and kindness as the sun, flowers, doves and kids,
surrounded by their Moms and Dads, family members and friends.

# # # # #

PHILIP GORDON PAID HIS FIRST FOREIGN VISIT TO ARMENIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
09.06.2009 16:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA FM Eduard Nalbandyan met with Philip Gordon,
US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs. US
attaches much importance to the extension of Armenian-American
ties, American diplomat said, adding that he carried out his
first foreign visit to Armenia with special purposes. During
the meeting, parties discussed a wide range of issues concerning
Armenian-American ties, particularly programs implemented within the
frames of intergovernmental agreements and "Millennium Challenges"
foundation. Mr. Gordon stressed the importance of Armenian-Turkish
ties normalization and expressed full support to US Administration’s
efforts in that direction. Diplomats also focused on Karabakh
settlement talks. "As a co-chairing state of OSCE MG, United States
is interested in speedy conflict settlement," Gordon emphasized.

YEREVAN COUNCIL ELECTIONS SHOULD BE DECLARED NULL AND VOID, HERITAGE PARTY FINDS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.06.2009 20:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I undersigned all documents concerning Yerevan
Council Elections, but below my name, I simply expressed my
dissatisfaction with falsified voting," CEC member Zoya Tadevosyan
(Heritage party) told a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent.

After mass falsifications, Yerevan Council elections should have
been declared null and void, but that wasn’t what RA CEC did, arguing
that it didn’t possess convincing evidence for making such decision,
Ms. Tadevosyan added.

"It was only fixed that the summary protocol was not signed by two
CEC representatives, and that was all. Of course, it is good when a
summary document is undersigned by all CEC representatives. It’s a sign
that the country held democratic elections and nobody is dissatisfied
with the outcome. But when a pro-opposition representative refuses
to put his sign, it already testifies to serious wrongdoings and
falsifications," she stressed.

AZERBAIJAN: PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA MEET IN ST. PETERSBURG

Azerbaijan.az
June 5 2009

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today met here his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan.

They discussed the current state and prospects of negotiations to
settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The meeting was held in the presence of foreign Ministers Elmar
Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Edward Nalbandian of Armenia and
Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Ambassadors Matthew Bryza of the
United States, Bernard Fassier of France and Yury Merzlyakov of Russia.

PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN MET IN MOSCOW

armradio.am
05.06.2009 11:14

The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and the President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev held a meeting at the Baltic Star Hotel in
Saint Petersburg, President’s Press Office reported.

This meeting in Saint Petersburg is the fifth between Presidents
Sargsyan and Aliev in the framework of the Nagorno Karabakh peace
process. The meeting started with the participation of the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs of the two countries Edward Nalbandian and Elmar
Mamedyarov, Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov, Matt
Bryza and Bernard Fassier, as well as the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzey Kasprzyk.

Later, the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
continued in the tete-a-tete format. The negotiations, which lasted
almost two and a half hours, were continued again in the extended
format.

The meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan was conducted
in a constructive atmosphere. The parties agreed to move forward the
negotiation process. The Foreign Ministers of the two countries were
instructed to continue to work with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs towards the synchronization the parties’ positions
and arrangement of the next meeting between the Presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

‘GOLD APPETITES’ OF GEOPROMINING DISCUSSED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT (ICCM 2) IN GENEVA

ArmInfo
2009-06-04 16:32:00

"Gold appetites" of GeoProMining were discussed at International
Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM 2) held in Geneva on May
11-15.

As Chairwoman of the Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment
(AWHHE) NGO Yelena Manvelyan told journalists, Thursday, the news
about the GPM company’s plans to build a gold recovery plant near
the Sevan basin has caused great interest among the conference
participants. "They expressed willingness to seriously support the
fight against construction of the plant in Sotk",- she said.

According to her, representatives of environment ministries of European
countries, as well as other nature protection structures took part in
the Conference. "We disseminated 30 copies of the documentary "Gold
mine for Lake Sevan" created by the efforts of "Ecolur" and AWHHE
with the support of Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF)",-
Manvelyan said.

She recalled that organizations from the USA, Great Britain, Mexico,
Venezuella, Kirghizia, Bulgaria and Uruguay have already joined
the campaign ‘SOS Sevan’ directed against the construction of GPM
plant near Lake Sevan. The information on the situation around the
Sevan was disseminated by "Ecolur" jointly with AWHHE via WECF. The
latter includes over 100 organizations from 30 countries. Letters with
proposals of support were received from the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and BankWatch NetWork.

"STAR" CONTINUES LOTTERY AND "CHIPPER" SALE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009

/PanARMENIAN.N et/ The new lottery drawing with 50 prizes has been
finished recently at one of the supermarkets of the Star chain. To
take part in the lottery customers were offered to make purchases
amounting at least AMD 4000 between May 7 and 29. Last Saturday on
May 30, the supermarket awarded prizes to winners.

The same day David Azaryan, regional director of the Star supermarkets,
announced a launch of a new lottery. 5 double vouchers to travel
in Armenia will become main prizes of the new lottery. This time to
participate in the lottery AMD 2500 purchases must be done.

Since May 7 new "Chipper" sale is organized at the Star
supermarkets. The purpose of the sale to increase the range of goods
of "low price segment", as well as to reduce prices for another 100
goods offered in the supermarket. Rotation of the goods is implemented
every two weeks.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE

June 3, 2009
Contact: Michael A Zachariades
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 393-3434

CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE APPROVES GENOCIDE AWARENESS ACT

Sacramento, CA – Earlier today, the California State Senate passed
Senate Bill 234, the "Genocide Awareness Act," reported the Armenian
Assembly of America (Assembly). The Assembly, an early proponent of the
measure introduced by State Senator Mark Wyland (R), activated its
ARAMAC grassroots network in California to encourage support and passage
of the bill.

On April 29, the Senate Education Committee voted unanimously in favor
of SB 234. During the public witness hearing, Armenian Genocide denier
Bruce Fein and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA)
testified against treating the Armenian example and parallel cases in
Cambodia and Darfur as genocide. In response to the opposition’s
testimony, State Senator Joe Simitian (D), a member of the Education
Committee, expressed his disappointment, especially given the
incontestable historical fact of the Armenian Genocide and asked, "Why
is it that genocide happens over and over and over again?…It happens
because we are unwilling to step back and confront man’s inhumanity to
man." The truth of the Armenian Genocide, Simitian stated, "has long
been settled."

State Senator Christine Kehoe (D), Chair of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, moved the bill directly to the Senate floor for a vote,
stating, "The continuing events in Darfur remind me of the words of
philosopher George Santayana who wrote: ‘Those who do not learn from
history are doomed to repeat it.’ Those horrific events only serve to
raise the importance of acknowledging and learning from past events like
the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. Making sure that Senate Bill
234 becomes law will help make sure that the Armenian Genocide is not
forgotten for this and future generations."

"The Armenian Assembly applauds Senator Kehoe for promptly bringing this
legislation to the floor for a vote," stated Yeghig Keshishian, the
Assembly’s Western Region Director. "The Assembly would also like to
commend Senator Wyland for introducing this legislation and thereby once
again placing California in the forefront of national politics as it
pertains to human rights education and genocide prevention."

Upon successful passage in the California State Assembly, State Senator
Wyland’s "Genocide Awareness Act" would then be signed into law by
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill requires the California
Curriculum Commission to vote on the inclusion of an oral history
component related to genocides as part of its high school curriculum,
including the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923. California pioneered new
education standards by adopting the Model Curriculum for Human Rights
and Genocide, which includes the Armenian Genocide.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding
and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
membership organization.

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NR#2009-051