RA PRESIDENT’S CONDOLING MESSAGE TO THE KING OF SPAIN
armradio.am
22.08.2008 17:15
The RA President Serzh Sargsyan sent a sympathizing message to the
king of Spain Xuan Carlos I connected with the air catastrophe in the
airport of Madrid. The message states: "I got the information about
the catastrophe in the airport with a deep care. In this difficult
moment for Spain the Armenian nation and I are sympathizing with you,
the families of the victims and the whole Spain in your sorrow".
.cfm?story_id=11986092
Friday August 22nd 2008
Europe
Turkey and the Caucasus
Waiting and watching
Aug 21st 2008 | ANKARA AND YEREVAN
The Economist
A large NATO country ponders a bigger role in the Caucasus
AT THE Hrazdan stadium in Yerevan, workers are furiously preparing for
a special visitor: Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul. Armenia’s
president, Serzh Sarkisian, has invited Mr Gul to a football World Cup
qualifier between Turkey and its traditional foe, Armenia, on
September 6th.
If he comes, Mr Gul may pave the way for a new era in the Caucasus.
Turkey is the only NATO member in the area, and after the war in
Georgia it would like a bigger role. It is the main outlet for
westbound Azeri oil and gas and it controls the Bosporus and
Dardanelles, through which Russia and other Black Sea countries ship
most of their trade. And it has vocal if small minorities from all
over the region, including Abkhaz and Ossetians.
Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has just been to Moscow
and Tbilisi to promote a "Caucasus Stability and Co-operation
Platform", a scheme that calls for new methods of crisis management
and conflict resolution. The Russians and Georgians made a show of
embracing the idea, as have Armenia and Azerbaijan, but few believe
that it will go anywhere. That is chiefly because Turkey does not have
formal ties with Armenia. In 1993 Turkey sealed its border (though not
its air links) with its tiny neighbour after Armenia occupied a chunk
of Azerbaijan in a war over Nagorno-Karabakh. But the war in Georgia
raises new questions over the wisdom of maintaining a frozen border.
Landlocked and poor, Armenia looks highly vulnerable. Most of its fuel
and much of its grain comes through Georgia’s Black Sea ports, which
have been paralysed by the war. Russia blew up a key rail bridge this
week, wrecking Georgia’s main rail network that also runs to Armenia
and Azerbaijan. This disrupted Azerbaijan’s oil exports, already hit
by an explosion earlier this month in the Turkish part of the pipeline
from Baku to Ceyhan, in Turkey.
"All of this should point in one direction," says a Western diplomat
in Yerevan: "peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan." Reconciliation
with Armenia would give Azerbaijan an alternative export route for its
oil and Armenia the promise of a new lifeline via Turkey. Some
Armenians gloat that Russia’s invasion of Georgia kyboshes the chances
of Azerbaijan ever retaking Nagorno-Karabakh by force, though others
say the two cases are quite different. Russia is not contiguous with
Nagorno-Karabakh, nor does it have "peacekeepers" or nationals there.
Even before the Georgian war, Turkey seemed to understand that
isolating Armenia is not making it give up the parts of Azerbaijan
that it occupies outside Nagorno-Karabakh. But talking to it might.
Indeed, that is what Turkish and Armenian diplomats have secretly done
for some months, until news of the talks leaked (probably from an
angry Azerbaijan).
Turkey’s ethnic and religious ties with its Azeri cousins have long
weighed heavily in its Caucasus policy. But there is a new worry that
a resolution calling the mass slaughter of Armenians by the Ottoman
Turks in the 1915 genocide may be passed by America’s Congress after
this November’s American elections. This would wreck Turkey’s
relations with the United States. If Turkey and Armenia could only
become friendlier beforehand, the resolution might then be struck down
for good.
In exchange for better relations, Turkey wants Armenia to stop backing
a campaign by its diaspora for genocide recognition and allow a
commission of historians to establish "the truth". Mr Sarkisian has
hinted that he is open to this idea, triggering howls of treason from
the opposition. The biggest obstacle remains Azerbaijan and its allies
in the Turkish army. Mr Erdogan was expected to try to square
Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliev, in a visit to Baku this week.
Should he fail, Mr Gul may not attend the football match – and a chance
for reconciliation may be lost.
PRESS RELEASE
Office of Assemblymember Paul Krekorian
Adrin Nazarian Chief of Staff
620 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 403
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 240-6330
(818) 240-4632 fax
[email protected]
August 22, 2008
KREKORIAN BILL WILL ADVANCE THE FIGHT AGAINST HIV/AIDS
Bill would require health plans to cover HIV tests
SACRAMENTO – In an essential next step in the fight against AIDS, the
state Legislature passed legislation by Assemblymember Paul Krekorian
(D-Burbank) on Tuesday that will require health insurers to cover
routine HIV screening. Assembly Bill 1894 passed out of the Assembly
after concurrence in Senate amendments on a bipartisan vote of 47-29,
leaving the bill needing only the Governor’s signature to become law.
According to the California Office of AIDS, approximately 40,000 persons
in California who are infected with HIV are unaware of having the
disease. The lack of routine HIV testing results in a lack of treatment
to tens of thousands of people who need it, and puts many more people at
risk of infection.
Just two weeks ago, at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City,
the Centers for Disease Control reported that only 40 percent of the
population had ever received an HIV test, and that at least a quarter of
a million people in the U.S. are living with the virus unaware of their
positive status.
At a time when it is estimated that over 56,000 Americans will be
infected this year and nearly 1.1 million people are already living with
the virus, AB 1894 keeps California in the forefront in the global fight
against the AIDS epidemic.
On garnering the support of a majority of his colleagues and passing the
bill out of the Legislature, Assemblymember Krekorian proudly
proclaimed, "this important bill will create an environment in which
testing will be routine and more Californians will know their status,
get linked to care and have a better quality of life. Encouraging
testing will decrease the risks of transmission, and therefore save
lives."
AB 1894 is sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and is supported
by the Center for AIDS Research, Education, and Services (CARES), the
California Nurses Association, and the California Medical Association.
Assemblymember Paul Krekorian represents the cities of Burbank and
Glendale, and the Los Angeles communities of Atwater Village, Los Feliz,
North Hollywood, Silver Lake, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, Valley Village
and Van Nuys.
# # #
THE SCOTS WHO FOUGHT FOR GEORGIA
by Jim Gilchrist
The Scotsman
August 21, 2008, Thursday
In 1918, the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders were sent to Tbilisi,
Georgia, to help quell fighting between ethnic minority groups,
discovers Jim Gilchrist
PARTIES with princesses, palatial accommodation and limitless
caviare… Ninety years before Russia’s current contentious military
incursion into Georgia, the soldiers of the Queen’s Own Cameron
Highlanders were dispatched there in a little-known campaign, and
rather than being seen as occupiers, were made relatively welcome.
This photograph shows officers of the regiment’s 2nd Battalion at
Tbilisi, where they were dispatched on Christmas Day 1918, just as they
expected to be demobbed following the end of the First World War. It
was given to The Scotsman by James Gorie, a retired journalist and
consultant, whose father, Lieutenant Tom Gorie recorded in his diary
what his son describes as "altogether a more chivalrous incursion
than the current murderous conflict".
Tom Gorie, who grew up on the island of Stronsay, Orkney, was a customs
officer in Greenock when the First World War broke out. Joining the
Camerons, he was wounded twice at the Battle of Loos, then found
himself fighting the Turks and the Bulgarians in Salonika, during
which he was mentioned in dispatches. "My father was waiting for his
demob in Salonika," says James Gorie, who lives in Helensburgh. "The
troopship arrived but, to his chagrin, on Christmas Day they were
routed through the Black Sea to Batum and up to Tbilisi."
In Georgia, at that time experiencing a brief respite from Russian
rule, the Camerons, along with other troops from the British Army’s
27th Division, were sent partly as a bulwark against the Bolshevik
threat, but were largely involved in quelling fighting between Azeri,
Armenian and other ethnic minority groups, as well as guarding
the railway linking the Caspian and Black seas. As James suggests,
Britain’s interest in the oil carried on the line was probably not
much different from that of the United States today.
Tiflis, as it was known by the Russians, was an elegant city with its
own opera house, and Lieutenant Gorie and his comrades were billeted in
an impressive mansion. After the privations of the Salonika campaign it
seemed like heaven – almost literally, as he recounted in his diary:
"I shared a bedroom with a large mural depicting angels in glorious
robes. We discovered that we had taken over a chateau belonging to
the Georgian nobility."
When the nobility paid an unexpected visit, however, the officers
expected to be ejected and quite possibly court-martialled for their
unauthorised occupation. Instead, they were made very welcome by
their host, Princess Chavchavadze, who arrived with two daughters
and an Irish governess in tow. According to the Lieutenant’s diary,
a party ensued, combining ballet, Irish jigs and Scots reels while
afternoon tea was served, using the tinned jam supplied by the UK
government to the Georgian army.
Elsewhere, the jam ran out, and British soldiers returning from Baku
complained that rations were so restricted that they were forced to
spread their bread with what they dismissed as "bloody fish paste"
– caviare.
Tom Gorie unsuspectingly had a tenuous brush with the grim shape
of things to come. He struck up a friendship with a multilingual
shoemaker in Tbilisi who knew of a bootmaker in the neighbouring
(and coincidentally named) town of Gori by the name of Dzugashvili,
whose son was an up-and-coming functionary in the Bolshevik government,
who would become Josef Stalin.
James says that "unlike later conflicts, there was a degree of chivalry
about local operations. Local combatants desisted from shooting
when the Camerons moved south to protect he strategic railway which
linked the Caspian and Black Seas. Operatic performances continued,
with local hostilities suspended during the evening performances."
Sadly, it wasn’t all so gentlemanly. In March 1919 a party of drunken
Georgian soldiers set upon the regiment’s medical officer, Captain
J H Magoveny, and beat him to death. Some of the culprits were later
court-martialed and hanged.
In May 1919, the 2nd battalion left for home. Arriving back
at Inverness, they were, according to The Scotsman at the time,
accorded "an enthusiastic public reception… on their return from
Salonika". The report added that "no battalion of the Camerons have had
a more strenuous time during the war", but said nothing about Georgia.
Tom Gorie, who died in 1968, often talked about his time there, says
James, "although he didn’t talk about the bloodshed on the Western
front. That seems to be something that most soldiers repressed. He
was lucky to survive."
CAS TO REVIEW SWEDISH WRESTLER CONTROVERSY HEARING TO BE HELD FRIDAY IN BEIJING
NBC13.com
Aug 20 2008
AL
BEIJING (AP) – The Court of Arbitration for Sport will investigate
a controversial Olympic bout that so incensed Swedish wrestler Ara
Abrahamian that he dropped his bronze medal in disgust and eventually
had it stripped by the International Olympic Committee.
The court said Wednesday it will hold a hearing on Friday in
Beijing. The inquiry was requested by Abrahamian and the National
Olympic Committee of Sweden, who are seeking to change the result of
the wrestling match and sanction the officials involved.
Last Friday, the IOC disqualified Abrahamian and stripped his bronze
medal after he dropped it in protest during a medal ceremony on
Aug. 14.
Abrahamian was upset that a disputed penalty call decided his semifinal
match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win the gold
medal in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division.
The Armenian-born Abrahamian – who also lost a 2004 Olympic semifinal
match on a disputed call – took the bronze from around his neck
and angrily dropped it on the mat as he walked away. The 28-year-old
Abrahamian also had to be restrained from going after matside officials
following his loss to Minguzzi.
The IOC executive board ruled Abrahamian’s actions amounted to
a political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow
athletes. He was punished by the IOC for violating the spirit of fair
play during the medal ceremony.
The Geneva-based CAS said Abrahamian and the Olympic committee "do
not seek from the CAS any particular relief" regarding the ranking of
the medals for the event, or a review of the IOC decision to exclude
Abrahamian from the games.
PM ERDOGAN SEEKS AZERBAIJANI SUPPORT FOR CAUCASUS ALLIANCE
Today’s Zaman
Aug 21 2008
Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev yesterday to seek Baku’s support for a proposed
cooperation platform for the Caucasus that Ankara says will also
include Azerbaijan’s enemy Armenia.
Erdogan, speaking before his departure to Baku for a one-day visit,
reiterated once again that there will be talks with Armenia on the
proposed Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. The proposal
is still in the preparatory stage but diplomats say it is envisaged
to start as a regional economic cooperation platform before tackling
issues of conflict. Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
are planned to be members of the initiative, which was proposed after a
regional crisis erupted following a Georgian military offensive in its
Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia earlier this month.
But with Armenia and Azerbaijan in a state of enmity due to Armenia’s
continued occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, observers
say a regional alliance including both countries as members may be
difficult to implement.
With Armenian troops still in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani leadership
is unlikely to warm to any sort of cooperation with Yerevan.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Aliyev, Erdogan did not refer
to Armenia and said instead Turkey was willing to further cooperation
with Azerbaijan and Georgia for peace and stability in the Caucasus. He
also said the Nagorno-Karabakh problem should be resolved on the
basis of principles of international law and through peaceful ways.
Aliyev, for his part, thanked Turkey for its supportive stance.
In initial reaction to the Turkish plans to involve Armenia in the
Caucasus talks, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said
Yerevan welcomed the Turkish initiative. "Armenia was always in
favor of dialogue and talks, particularly on the issues concerning
cooperation and security in our region. The Turkish prime minister’s
statement on the intention to start talks with Armenia on this agenda
could be welcomed," he was quoted as saying in a statement to Today’s
Zaman yesterday.
It is not clear what shape the planned talks with Armenia will
take. Turkey severed its ties with Armenia in the early 1990s in
protest of the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to
official Turkish policy, normalization of ties depends on Armenian
withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh, the termination of the Armenian
policy of supporting claims of an Armenian genocide at the hands of
the late Ottoman Empire and an official endorsement by Armenia of
the current borders between the two countries.
But signs have appeared recently that there could be a rapprochement
between the two countries. Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan invited
his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to a World Cup qualifying
match between the national soccer teams of the two countries in
September. Gul says he is still considering the invitation. Turkish
diplomats have also confirmed recent reports that Turkish and Armenian
diplomats had secret talks to discuss normalization of ties.
Erdogan said details concerning talks with Armenia will be clearer
after Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who accompanied him during the
visit to Baku, has talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
this week. He did not say where or exactly when the meeting will
take place.
Erdogan has already visited Georgia and Russia to promote the proposed
Caucasus platform and both countries have said they would welcome the
idea. The proposal is not designed to end hostilities between Georgia
and Russia, which invaded part of Georgian territory in response to
Georgia’s South Ossetia offensive. It is a rather long-term initiative
to provide a platform for regional countries to resolve crises through
a conflict resolution mechanism that diplomats are still working on. In
Baku, he said he won backing from Baku for the proposed alliance as
well. "We are pleased that Azerbaijan is taking a positive approach
to our proposal," he said at the joint press conference with Aliyev.
US ‘surprised’ over Caucasus proposal
Despite assurances of support from the regional countries, Erdogan’s
proposal for a Caucasus cooperation platform appears to have received
a lukewarm response from Washington. "I must say I was surprised,"
Matt Bryza, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for European
affairs, was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency at a meeting
with journalists at the State Department.
The government’s plans to improve dialogue with Armenia as part of
the Caucasus proposal are not popular at home either. In remarks
published yesterday, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
leader Deniz Baykal warned the government against alienating Azerbaijan
for better ties with Armenia.
"Armenia is neither giving up backing genocide claims nor withdrawing
from Azerbaijani territory. But Turkey still wants to take some
steps [for dialogue]," Baykal was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet
daily. "Azerbaijan is a brother nation that we should never offend. Our
commercial ties will further expand by cooperation in natural gas
and oil. Azerbaijan should never be offended while [Turkey] seeks
dialogue with Armenia," he said.
73,641 mln AMD transactions by means of plastic cards effected in
Armenia
YEREVAN, August 16. /ARKA/. A total of 1,541,602 transactions worth
73,641mln AMD were effected by means of plastic cards in Armenia in the
2nd quarter 2008. The press service of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA) reports that 5,846mln AMD noncash transactions were effected by
means of cards.
In the 2nd quarter of 2008, a 1.6-fold (26,780mln AMD) increase in the
volume of transactions was recorded as compared with the corresponding
period last year. The number of transactions increased 1.5 times
(493,244 transactions). A 29.7% increase in the number of noncash
transactions was recorded, their share in the total volume of
transactions being 7.9%.
A total of 509mln AMD Internet transactions were effected, with the
volume of e-transactions totaling 243mln AMD, and card-to-card
transfers 266mln AMD.
A total of 685,842 transactions worth 25,366mln AMD were effected by
means of local cards ArCa ` a 1.6-fold (9,424mln AMD) increase as
compared with the corresponding period last year. In the 2nd quarter of
2008, 184,918 more transactions were effected as compared with the
corresponding period last year ` a 1.4-fold increase.
A total of 508,834 transactions worth 30,788mln AMD were effected by
means of VISA cards in the 2nd quarter of 2008 – 10,993 more
transactions as compared with the corresponding period last year
(a1.5-fold incre
ase).
A 1.6-fold increase (2,751mln AMD) was recorded in the volume of
transactions effected in the 2nd quarter of 2008 as compared with the
corresponding period last year.
A total of 223,752 transactions worth a total of 10,094mln AMD were
effected in the 2nd quarter of 2008 ` an increase of 3,612mln AMD as
compared with the corresponding period last year.
By the end of the 2nd quarter of 2008, 183,745 local cards ArCa had
been effective ` 27,505 cards more as compared with the corresponding
date last year (a 1.18-fold increase).
The number of international cards increased by 23,975 ` a 1.13-fold
increase as compared with the corresponding period last year.
The number of VISA cards increased by 14,099 (a 1.11-fold increase) and
reached 147,142, and that of MasterCards by 5,222 (a 1.2-fold increase)
and reached 31,901. P.T. `0–
FOUR CANDIDATES NOMINATED FOR SEPTEMBER 7 ELECTIONS OF ARABKIR DISTRICT HEAD
Noyan Tapan
Au g 13, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 13, NOYAN TAPAN. By the established deadline: 6 pm
August 13th, 4 candidates were nominated to run in the elections
of the head of Yerevan’s Arabkir community to be held on September
7. 65 candidates were nominated for elections of a 15-seat council
of aldermen in this community.
NT correspondent was informed by spokesperson for the RA Central
Electoral Commission Tatev Ohanian that the following persons: the
current head of the district, member of the Republican Party of Armenia
Hovhannes Shirinian, the owner of Yeritsian & Sons company, non-party
man Albert Yeritsian, member of "Heritage" party, former member of
the Central Electoral Commission Zoya Tadevosian, and representative
of the Progressive Party of Armenia Ashot Mnatsakanian submitted
bids by the self-nomination order for running in the elections of
the district head.
The deadline for registering the candidates is August 18th, 6 pm.
NATURE PROTECTION DEPARTMENT OF AGARAK COPPER AND MOLYBDENUM PLANT TO BE GIVEN TO A COMPANY FROM SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC
arminfo
2008-08-12 12:29:00
ArmInfo.Nature protection department of Agarak Copper and Molybdenum
Plant to be given to a company from South African Republic ‘Fraser
Alexander’, Deputy Nature Protection Minister Hakop Matilyan told
journalists today.
‘The problem is that Agarak Copper and Molybdenum Plant affects
ecological system of Araz River much, as drain waters of the plant
are drained into the river and make it dirty’, – he said and added
that the Iranian party is displeased with the fact. ‘For this reason
Armenian government has adopted a decision to attract a company from
SAR which has a great experience in nature protection management of
similar enterprises’, – he concluded.
PPA TO PUT FORWARD CANDIDACY OF ASHOT MNATSAKANIAN IN ELECTIONS OF ARABKIR COMMUNITY HEAD
Noyan Tapan
Au g 4, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, NOYAN TAPAN. At the August 2 special sitting, the
Board of the Progressive Party of Armenia (PPA) made a decision to
put forward the candidacy of PPA deputy chairman Ashot Mnatsakanian
in the elections of the head of Yerevan’s Arabkir community to be
held on September 7.
By a press release of the PPA press service, the members of the party
are convinced that in conditions of the struggle among candidates
of the authorities and the radical opposition, the population will
clearly outline the obvious advantage of this honest, experienced
and hard-working candidate of the centrist party.