Author: Toganian Liana

THIS YEAR GTCHAVANK CHURCH WILL BE RESTORED

KarabakhOpen
28-03-2008 11:16:39

In 2008 the government allocated 106 million drams, 6 million more
money for the preservation and study of monuments in NKR, said the
head of the department of preservation and study of monuments of
the Ministry of Culture and Youth Slava Sargsyan in an interview
with Karabakh-Open.com.

The money is spent on restoration of monuments which are ruined.

Restoration of Gtchavank continues. This year, according to Slava
Sargsyan, the restoration of Gtchavank will finish, which stopped
last year due to problems with stones. The specimen of the stone
of the church was sent to Yerevan but it turned out that there is
no such stone in Armenia. Explorers found a rock of this stone 500 m
from the church. There is already a license for extracting stone, and
soon the restoration of the church will resume, Slava Sargsyan said.

This year the restoration of the fortress of Askeran, Amaras Monastery,
Dadivank, Ptkes bek Ulubab Monastery. "I should note that this year
we will create areas of preservation of monuments for the first time.

Presently, land is allotted without consulting us, and in some cases
historical monuments are located in those plots of land," said the head
of the department. Determination of preservation areas was hindered
by the lack of specialists. This year specialists from Armenia will
be invited.

RUSAL ISSUED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALUMINUM

arminfo
2008-03-27 13:47:00

ArmInfo. The United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL) issued an Encyclopedia
"Aluminum. The thirteenth Element". As the Company’s press service
reports, this unique edition contains information about the history of
aluminum opening, its production technology. Moreover, numerous spheres
of practical use of the silvery metal have been represented here, from
light to food industry, from the applied and decorative arts to the
motor and aircraft industry, cosmonautics and high technologies. The
encyclopedia, issued in Russian and English, contains many rare facts
and rich illustrative material. The book is oriented at a wide circle
of readers. "We consider it important to present, in the interesting
and informative way, the valuable properties of aluminum, which is of
importance in our life", Director on Public Relations of UC RUSAL Vera
Kurochkina said, when commenting on the encyclopedia issue. "Aluminum
has a very rich history and wide spheres of application, which will
much extend in the near perspective due to the use of competitive
advantages of this metal of future", she said.

The Encyclopedia of Aluminum has been issued within the frames of
the editorial project "Library of RUSAL". The Company will direct
all the funds from the sale of this book for benevolence. Part of
the circulation of this unique book is intended as a gift to the
libraries, scientific establishments of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and
the regions where the Company is present. This mission in Yerevan
have been charged with the foil-rolling plant ARMENAL being part of
RUSAL. The Encyclopedia "Aluminum. The thirteenth Element" has been
presented to the biggest libraries, a number of specialized HEEs and
scientific institutions of Armenia.

PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL HOUSES BUILT IN YEREVAN BEFORE 2001 TO BE PRIVATIZED

Noyan Tapan
March 27, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, NOYAN TAPAN. At the March 27 sitting, the Armenian
government approved the bill on status of Yerevan private residential
houses with no extant documents confirming the right. On the same
day the government approved the 2008 complex program on development
of the real estate cadastre financed from the RA state budget.

The chairman of the State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre Manuk
Vardanian told reporters after the sitting that it is envisaged
to allocate 3 bln drams (about 9.6 mln USD) from the state budget
for development of the cadastre. In particular, 606 mln drams of
this sum is envisaged for the registration of georgaphical names,
the conducting of monitoring for creation of a geodetic network,
and for the automation of the cadastre keeping.

According to M. Vardanian, the bill on status of Yerevan private
residential houses with no extant documents confirming the right
envisages that citizens who do not have a document about private
houses built before 2001 may privatize their apartments and adjacent
land plots with an area of up to 300 square meters. 19-20 thousand
citizens have such apartments, while these houses are mainly located
in Sari Tagh, Kond and Charbakh districts. It was mentioned that the
bill does not apply to garages and shops.

As regards apartments built after 2001, M. Vardanian said that they
may be privatized in accordance with the respective law. There are
now 100 thousand unauthorized structures in Yerevan, including 40
thousand garages.

DR. JOHN V. BASMAJIAN DEAD AT 86

Noyan Tapan
March 26, 2008

Dr. John V. Basmajian died last week at the age of 86, reports the
Jordan Press. He is the author of plenty of works: more than two dozen
books and almost 400 research papers, many of which were done during
his time as head of anatomy at Queen’s University in the late 1950s
and 1960s.

Basmajian was born to Armenian parents in 1921 in Istanbul.

ARMENIAN-CHINESE RUBBER FACTORY IN CHINA

AZG Armenian Daily
27/03/2008

Armenia-China

In an interview with Armenpress agency Director of "Nairit 2"
factory Albert Sukiasian mentioned that the factory is being built
with Armenian technologies and ideas and financing of the Chinese
side. About 100 mln US dollars were invested by Chinese banks,
expressed in credits. According to A. Sukiasian, the Armenian factory
construction technologies met with the Chinese side’s approval as
they provide high quality in view of ecology and security and meet
modern demands.

The factory will have about 30 thousand tons of rubber and caustic
soda industry. The volumes may grow in the future connected with
their increased demands in Chinese market.

At present there are two other factories in China that have the same
product but they work with old technologies. Therefore, they have
many problems in view of security. The Armenian-Chinese factory will
have higher quality of security", said the specialist.

40 percent of the shares belong to Armenia. It’s first time that
Armenia opens a joint factory with other country in the latter’s
territory.

EU PROVIDES 15MLN EURO SUPPORT TO ARMENIA SPECIALIZED SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ARKA
March 25, 2008

YEREVAN, March 25. /ARKA/. The European Union provides 15mln Euro
worth support to Armenia under "New European Neighborhood" for a
program of reforms in specialized secondary education.

The program is to be implemented in 2008-2010, the Head of Department
for Primary and Specialized Secondary Education Artak Aghbalian
told journalists.

Aghbalian said that the funds will be directed mainly at establishing
multifunctional educational institutions in professional education
system, as well as providing material and methodical basis.

The main aim of the program is to harmonize the quality of the
professional education system with the market requirements, he said.

He reported that 12 specialized secondary schools (one in each regions
of Armenia and one in Yerevan), as well as one vocational school in
Aragatsotn region were picked up to receive a status of merit centers.

Capital overhaul works are to be carried out and up-to-date logistics
are to be provided in 12 specialized schools that are to become
competitive in the market. The government has already appropriated
810mln Drams for repair works, Aghbalian said. Training of teachers
and directors of the schools is to be implemented within the program.

Aghbalian also reported that the funds are to be allocated by parts
supervised by the respective EU organizations.

According to the Ministry of Science and Education, 80 state-funded
and about 30 private specialized secondary schools operate in the
country in 2008. 28 primary (vocational) educational institutions
are registered on 25 specialties. ($1=308.77Drams).

PHOTO EXHIBITION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO TAKE PLACE IN SYDNEY

Noyan Tapan
March 25, 2008

The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies organizes
a photo exhibition on Australia’s relief effort to save the survivors
of the Armenian Genocide (1915 to 1929). As the informant of the
"Hye Hoki" of Sydney reports, the photo exhibition will take place
in the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts (SMSA) on April 21.

ALL REQUIRED SUM IN FAVOR OF GALA TV COMPANY COLLECTED BY FUND-RAISING

Noyan Tapan
March 25, 2008

GYUMRI, MARCH 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The whole required sum has been
collected on March 25 as a result of the all-Armenian marathon in
defence of Gala television company, NT correspondent was informed
by Levon Barseghian, coordinator of the headquarters on Gala’s
protection, chairman of the council of Asparez club of journalists. As
of 5 p.m. employees of the body on compulsory execution of court acts
(CECA) were making the last registration for taking the sum demanded by
the tax inspection. This sum made 26,899,986 drams (about 86,700 USD).

Thus Gala avoided the prospect of its property sale and now has the
opportunity to continue broadcasting.

State bodies launched persecution of Gala company in October 2007 when
this station started covering the speeches of Levon Ter-Petrosian,
the first Armenian president who was again nominated for presidency
of the RA. On November 12, 2007, the tax inspection presented a tax
payment notice to CHAP LLC – the owner of Gala, while on November 26
the tax inspection filed a lawsuit to the Economic Court.

The hearing of the case was postponed due to reforms of the court
system, as a result of which the Economic Court was dissolved and
the case was transferred to the newly-established Administrative
Court. The Gyumri unit of this court chaired by Judge E. Nahapetian
on March 19 took a decision, according to which 26,899,986 drams,
including a tax liability of 25,116,700 drams, is to be levied from
CHAP LLC. An additional sum of 502,334 drams was to levied from
CHAP as the side to have lost the court dispute. The price of CECA
intervention makes 1,280,952 drams.

On the same day – March 19, at 9 a.m. fund-raising for CHAP LLC
began, which was organized by the headquarters on protection of Gala
television company.

In fact the indicated money was collected in six days. According to
the headquarters, a lot of people and organizations from Armenia,
Artsakh and Diaspora took part in the fund-raising. The range of
donors was quite wide, from businessmen to pensioners.

Levon Barseghian said that the headquarters on Gala’s protection
envisage to dispute the court decision, including in the European
Court of Human Rights as they believe that at least two articles of
the European Convention on Human Rights were violated in this case.

DAYS OF ARMENIAN POETRY IN GEORGIA

AZG Armenian Daily
25/03/2008

Culture

"At the beginning of June Days of Armenian Poetry will be held
in Georgia.

In those days "Anthology of Armenian poetry" book will be published on
the initiative of the Georgian Writers’ Union", Chairman of Armenian
Writers’ Union Levon Ananian informed Armenpress agency.

Last year in the framework of the Days of Armenian poetry "Anthology of
Georgian poetry" book was published on the initiative of the Armenian
Writers’ Union.

On June 6-13 All-Armenian 4th Conference of Armenian Writers will be
held in Armenia and Artsakh under heading "New literary generation;
tradition and search".

In those days exhibition of Armenian modern literature will be staged
in Yerevan.

Many guests and also Diaspora young writers will arrive in Armenia
in the framework of the event.

BETTER BAN RALLIES THAN LET PEOPLE GET KILLED: ARMENIAN POLITICIAN

Regnum
March 24 2008
Russia

"It is better to ban rallies than let people get killed," Armenian MP
(ruling Republican Party) Rafik Petrosyan stated at a press conference
in Yerevan on March 24. In his words, if Armenian parliament did
not approve amendments to the law on rallies, processions, and
demonstrations, the turmoil in the country would persist.

Commenting on the legislation provision according to which all rallies
will be prohibited until all participants and facts of preceding
riots are established, Rafik Petrosyan argued that the restrictive
norm would be in effect for no longer than three months.

Mr Petrosyan also noted that, even before the amendments to the
legislation draft were approved, the draft "was signed under by
representatives of the former opposition" (The Orinats Yerkir Party
– REGNUM).

Petrosyan’s opponent, MP from the Heritage opposition faction
Larisa Alaverdyan stated that the amended law contradicted to all
international norms defining human rights and freedoms. Alaverdyan
claimed that, instead of looking for the ways of establishing
dialog during the 20 days of the state of emergency in Yerevan,
the authorities used the time to develop the legislation draft.

According to Alaverdyan, the legislation is of a contextual character
and is not aimed at solving key issues. She claims that the amendments
were adopted by Armenian parliament with violation of rules of
procedure, for the deputies read the draft no earlier than the day
of the extraordinary session.

To remind, on March 18, acting president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan
signed a bill amending the law "On Holding Gatherings, Rallies,
Processions, and Demonstrations."

The amendments provide that a responsible agency can reject an
applicant to hold a rally if the agency has obtained reliable
information about the planned event’s being targeted at overthrowing a
constitutional order, inciting racial, ethnic, or religious hatred,
propagating violence and war, or threatening national security,
public order, morality and health of the people.

According to another amendment, official conclusions of the police
and National Security Service can be regarded as such reliable data.

Amendments also stipulate that in cases when public actions have
transformed into civil disorders, leading to death of people, a
responsible agency, in order to halt the crimes and prevent their
happening again, has a right to temporarily ban organization of mass
public events until all facts and persons who have committed crimes
are established.

According to the amendments, a responsible agency is supposed to
examine an application for an event to be held for 72 hours, and
applications for holding a public event are to be submitted five days
before the event date.