Author: Takmazian

SNOW WILL STOP TOMORROW

A1+
[12:56 pm] 16 March, 2009

Although spring has set in, the weather changed abruptly in Armenian
in a night. People again put on their warm clothes and boots.

Everything covered with a thick layer of snow in Yerevan this
night. Snow began to fall in marzes still on Saturday.

Gagik Surenyan, head of the "ArmHydromet" meteorological department,
says the weather changes are determined by northwestern airflows.

Synopticians forecast snow in the republic on March 16. Snow will
continue in the marzes of Lori, Tavush, Syunik and Arsakh at night.

Weather forecasters say the temperature will go down by another 3-4
degrees. The temperature in Ararat Valley will be below 1-4 at night
and 8-10 degrees above zero in the daytime, says Gagik Surenyan.

The air temperature is 1-3 degrees below normal.

Agence France Presse
March 13, 2009 Friday 3:28 PM GMT

Armenia rights defender condemns beating of photojournalist

YEREVAN, March 13 2009

Armenia’s top human-rights official condemned the beating of a
photojournalist Friday as evidence of a culture of "intolerance"
towards the media in the former Soviet republic.

Newspaper photographer Gagik Shamshian was beaten by security guards
at a local university after attempting to take pictures of students,
police said in a statement. He was being treated in hospital for groin
injuries and internal bleeding. One suspect was later arrested, police
said.

Armenia’s ombudsman, Armen Harutunian, called for a thorough
investigation and denounced the attack.

"This latest action against a journalist shows once more that
intolerance has taken root in our society," he said in a statement.

Harutunian has accused authorities of not doing enough to prevent
attacks on journalists or to find those responsible.

Numerous Armenian journalists have been attacked in recent years,
including the head of the country’s association of investigative
reporters, who was severely beaten last November.

Trend, Azerbaijan
March 12 2009

Normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations impossible until occupied
Azerbaijani lands returned: Turkey-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary
Friendship Group co-chair
12.03.09 17:05

Azerbaijan, Baku, March 12 /Trend News, R. Hafizoglu/

Normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations is impossible until
Azerbaijan’s occupied lands are returned.

"Establishing Turkey-Armenia relations is impossible until
Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region and other lands are
returned," Turkey-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary Friendship Group
co-chair Mustafa Kabakchi told Trend News in a telephone conversation
from Ankara.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said at his speech in the
International Diplomat Academy in France that "the Armenian genocide"
will not impact Turkey-Armenia ties. "We are close to restoration of
relations between the two states and opening of borders without
putting forward any condition," Armenian Public Television quoted
Nalbandyan as saying.

Kabakchi said Azerbaijan is an integral part of the Turkic
world. "There are Turkic people in the world. Turkic people have their
own states. One of the states is Turkey and another is Azerbaijan. We
will never discuss interests of our people – Azerbaijani nation," he
added.

Kabakchi said cooperation with Armenia can be matter of debate as soon
as those responsible for the massacre against civilians in the
Azerbaijani occupied lands including Khojali are punished.

"Turkey has always stood and will always stand by Azerbaijan. We are
descendants of the same nation. We will not take a step which would
harm our fraternal relations," Kabakchi added.

Kabakchi said Turkey has acted as mediator in resolution of military
conflicts recently as this is Turkey’s mission.

"Turkey aims not to take somebody’s side, but to end war and
conflict. Turkey supports peace across the world," Kabakchi said.

Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed since 1993 because of
Armenia’s false "genocide" claims and occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani
lands. Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on September 6,
2008 at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan to
watch Armenia-Turkey football match within the European Cup. Efforts
have been made since then to normalize ties between the two countries.

Peter Gabriel: Turkey should recognize Armenian genocide

11.03.2009 13:36

Yerevan (Yerkir) – British composer and singer Peter Gabriel has said
that the recognition of the Armenian genocide by Turkey is critical.

Armepress, quoting the Turkish newspaper Akcam, says that Gabriel said
at a news conference in London: "Turks are denying the Armenian
genocide. England and the US have not recognized it yet. But I hope
they will do so like other countries have."

Wireless Federation
March 12 2009

Vivacell introduces scheme offering free airtime (Armenia)

March 12th, 2009 6:54 am Vivacell-MTS, the Armenian incumbent, has
introduced a scheme which offers free of charge call for one week. The
new scheme is available from 8 March to 7 April in which the
subscribers can send a command to indicate their phone number their
loved one. The loved one will recieve the oppportunity to call free of
cost for 10,000 minutes for a period of one week. The charges to send
a command are AMD 1400. This service is only valid for VivaCell-MTS
prepaid and corporate subscribers. A subscriber can be presented with
free airtime for maximum four times. Free airtime can only be
presented and received during the cardâ??s validity period
and the free airtime is not available while roaming.

-vivacell-introduces-scheme-offering-free-airtime- armenia/

EU generalized system of preferences to help Armenia enter European
markets

YEREVAN, March 10. /ARKA/. Joining the European Commission’s
generalized system of preferences (GSP+), Armenia will have ample
opportunities to Gagik Gabrielyan, main partner of GPartners (Grigoryan
and Partners) consulting firm, said Tuesday at a practical course for
local businessmen and exporters.

`GSP+ lays down certain conditions for emerging countries. For
instance, they have to implement key international conventions to be
granted preferences or get a quota and duty-free access to EU markets,’
Gabrielyan said.

According to the expert, the system aims at boosting and improving
market management in developing countries by granting them preferences
and exempting the partner states from duties.

Gabrielyan said it is impossible to say exactly how much Armenian
exporters will gain from GSP+.
`It is up to Armenian exporters and businessmen how they will make use
of the granted opportunities,’ he added.

In his turn, RA Deputy Minister of Economy Vahe Danielyan said
Armenia’s market is too small for local businesses to expand their
capacities.
`There is a need for entering foreign markets,’ he said, adding the CIS
and EU would be Armenia’s major trade partners.

The Tuesday practical course aimed at giving local businessmen some
useful tips on how to export goods to GSP+ countries.

On20January 1, 2009 Armenia joined the European Union’s Generalized
System of Preferences. GSP+ allows partner states to export more than
6,400 products without paying duties. `0-

Foreign Policy magazine online
/11/on_chas_freemans_withdrawal?page=3D3
Freeman withdrawal and the ADL
March 13, 2009by Fgordon

Yes, the pro-Israel Lobby is powerful – way too powerful. But its
hypocrisy regarding the issue of genocide – specifically the Armenian
genocide – simply dwarfs the issue of its power.

Indeed, if more people looked into this issue of genocide denial by
the Lobby, the latter’s hold over peoples’ hearts and minds would be
greatly diminished.

The Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith
and some other top level pro-Israel Lobby groups not only deny the
Armenian Genocide, but have helped Turkey to defeat Armenian genocide
resolutions in Congress. The hypocrisy of it all is simply
breathtaking, This fact alone utterly destroys the credibility of the
Lobby.

It is disappointing that Walt and Mearsheimer have never brought up
the issue. Why haven’t they? They surely are aware of it.

Now, you may or may not like the Armenian genocide resolution, but
much of the alleged moral authority of the Lobby – and U.S. support
for Israel – depend on the tragedy of the Holocaust.

But the fact that the ADL and some other – not all – of the top
pro-Israel Lobby groups have worked with Turkey to deny the Armenian
genocide proves that these groups lack principle. Moreover, it is
clear that they are using the Holocaust purely for political purposes.
The Lobby is insincere even about mass murder.

And if the Lobby is not principled about THAT, then it must be
unprincipled on all issues. As the reader knows, the Holocaust is used
as a major justification for the U.S. to support Israel. But it is now
clear – with their hypocrisy about the Armenian genocide – that the
ADL, AJC, and others are simply not truthful.

More information and hundreds of articles on the issue of the ADL and
Lobby’s genocide hypocrisy can be found at

Click on "History of Lobbying" (Warning: not for the fainthearted) and
"News Archive".

If critics of the Lobby don’t care enough about our country to use
that material, they have only themselves to blame and can’t be taken
seriously.

Again –

Armenian chess players participate in European men and women chess
championships

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YEREVAN, MARCH 11, NOYAN TAPAN. By the results of the 5th round of the
European Men Chess Championship in Budva (Montenegro), Tigran L.
Petrosian has competed more successfully than the other Armenian chess
players. He earned 4 points and shares 4-26th places.

After the 3rd round of European Women Chess Championship in Saint
Petersburg, Lilit Mkrtchian and Nelli Aghinian earned 2.5 points each
and share 7-27th places.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armen Ashotyan: I’m not aware of any official statements on RA Prime
Minister’s resignation
10.03.2009 20:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `Rumors on resignation of Armenian Government are
being deliberately circulated by certain forces. This misinformation
is directed against RA President. The president himself appointed
Tigran Sargsyan as a Prime Minister, making him a part of Presidential
team,’ member of the RA parliament and the Republican Party of
Armenia, Armen Ashotyan told a news conference today.

Armen Ashotyan denied the information, when questioned by PanARMENIAN
reporter about media-circulated rumors on resignation of Prime
Minister and leaders of financial ministries.

ARMENPRESS

HILLARY CLINTON DISCUSSES THE ISSUE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN ANKARA

WASHINGTON, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: During the press conference which
was organized in Washington a speaker of USA State Secretariat Robert
Wood stated that during her visit to Ankara Hillary Clinton discussed
the issue of Armenian genocide with the authorities of Turkey.
According to Turkish `Milliet’, Wood did not want to comment on the
details of conversation of Clinton with authorities of Turkey on the
issue of Armenian genocide.
According to him, USA President Barrack Obama decided to take part
in the `Confederation of civilizations’ second forum which will be
held April 6-7 in Istanbul.
Wood said that Obama’s visit to Turkey has a great importance and
that they still work on the details of the visit.
`Turkey is an important ally and there is much to do with Ankara’,-
he said.