Author: Toneyan Mark

SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT IS FOR GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE TO ONLINE NEWSPAPERS

KarabakhOpen
28-03-2008 11:15:43

The parliamentary hearings on publication of books and the press
on March 27 was organized by the NKR National Assembly Committee of
Social Affairs and the Committee of Foreign Relations.

The discussion on the press was heated. The focus was on government
assistance to non-governmental newspapers a provision on which was
included in the law on the budget a few years ago.

The chair of the Committee of Foreign Affairs Vahram Atanesyan
reminded that a few years ago agreement was reached in negotiations
with the government that the government will provide assistance to
non-governmental online newspapers in accordance with the law on
the state budget. But dissatisfaction was voiced that the government
discriminated the media.

On a proposal of journalist and non-governmental organizations a
non-governmental council was set up to coordinate those processes,
however, according to Vahram Atanesyan, the council did not work
well. Member of Parliament Gegham Baghdasaryan also noted the failure
of the council, underlining that the council worked for a year, than
stopped working at all, and the reason, according to the member of
parliament, was the change of attitude of the government.

The members of parliament underlined the importance of government
assistance to non-governmental newspapers, noted that the money
foreseen by the state budget must be equally distributed to
non-governmental newspapers, especially that this year the newspapers
of parliamentary parties got assistance from the government which is
enough for the newspapers to come out.

Gegham Baghdasaryan reminded that this year 55 million drams is
foreseen for NGOs and non-governmental media which must be spent in
accordance with the provision on outlays. Vahram Atanesyan offered
to provide funding to NGOs and the media with different articles.

It was also noted that government assistance does not mean funding
the given media, and cannot have any effect on its policy.

Speaker Ashot Ghulyan and the chair of the Union of Journalists Kim
Gabrielyan said it is necessary to fund online media, considering
their role in presenting NKR to the worldwide information space. "The
government provides too little money for the foreign information
policy and it is necessary to think about this," Kim Gabrielyan said.

Discussion of publication of books in Karabakh was less active. The
deputy minister of education and science Slava Asryan presented facts
for the years 2004 to 2007. According to him, in 2006 10 million
drams was allocated and 16 books were published, in 2007 28 books
were published on 9 million drams.

It was also noted that books by several authors, as well as those
authors who live outside Karabakh but write about Karabakh were
published on government funding.

The author of a number of books Shahen Mkrtichyan voiced concern
that the government provides a lot of money for publishing books but
"almost nothing is done regarding propaganda, policy." With regard
to the intensive anti-Armenian propaganda of Azerbaijan, Shahen
Mkrtichyan said of all the books published in Karabakh over this
period none can be presented to the world. "Perhaps only "Koltso" by
Nvard Soghomonyan," he said. It was noted that not every book should
be published on government funding and there is a huge problem with
"normal books".

The proposals and observations offered during the hearings will be
presented to the government.

ARMENIAN EDUCATION SECTOR REPRESENTATIVES, DOMESTIC EMPLOYERS DISCUSSING COOPERATION PROSPECTS

ARKA
March 27, 2008

YEREVAN, March 27. /ARKA/. Armenian education sector representatives
and domestic employers are discussing cooperation prospects.

Arsen Ghazaryan, the president of the Union of Armenian Entrepreneurs
(Employers) and Businessmen, said during the round-table discussion
held Thursday that ties between universities and labor markets should
be established.

"Employers understand very well that they won’t find high-qualified
specialists without cooperation with education system", he said
adding that legions of students seek jobs as employers search for
skilled specialists.

Ghazaryan said that a shortage in specialists, such as software
developers, lawyers and engineers, is seen in some areas.

Deputy Education Minister Ara Avetisyan said that employers’
recommendations and correctly-worded demand will make it possible to
set education criteria.

SEVERAL ARMENIAN PARTY WORKERS AND NON-PARTISANS CONTEND FOR THE POST OF ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER

arminfo
2008-03-25 20:06:00

ArmInfo. Several Armenian party workers and non-partisans contend
for the post of the Armenian prime minister. In particular, these
are people who have been working with Armenian Prime Minister,
newly-elected President Serzh Sargsyan. During a conversation with
Armenian MPs and different politicians, the information that the main
contenders for the prime minister’s post are Head of the parliamentary
faction of the Republican Party of Armenia Karen Karapetyan, Chairman
of the Central Bank of Armenia, non-partisan Tigran Sargsyan, Armenian
Vice Premier, Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik Abrahamyan,
Director General of ArmRusgasprom, non-partisan Karen Karapetyan,
Mayor of Yerevan, non-partisan Yervand Zakharyan proved true.

Recently the leader of one of the political parties of Armenia told
ArmInfo that even though the name of the new prime minister was yet
unknown, he knew that there was one more person that might hope to
get the post. Some experts say that this person is the president of
Troika Dialogue company (Russia) Ruben Vardanyan, who is presently
in Yerevan. One more possible candidate is the former premier Armen
Sargsyan, who now lives in London. In 1998 he was rudely pressured
by the then defense minister Vazgen Sargsyan into giving up his post.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the Republican Party are sure that their
candidate has the best chances. The vice chairman of RPA Galust
Sahakyan has told ArmInfo that the next prime minister will be a
member of RPA.

Trading Markets (press release), CA
March 24 2008

POLITICAL SCIENTISTS AND EXPERTS CONSIDER UN RESOLUTION AS SUCCESS OF
AZERBAIJAN`S DIPLOMACY AND SERIOUS DEFEAT OF ARMENIA

Sunday, March 23, 2008; Posted: 09:17 PM

Baku, Mar 22, 2008 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) — Majority of
foreign experts consider the resolution The situation in the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan adopted by the 62nd session of the UN
General Assembly as the Azerbaijan diplomacys greatest success
achieved for recent years.

One of the Kremlin`s leading analysts, director of the Russian
Political Researches Institute Sergey Markov regards that the
resolution is the great victory of Azerbaijani diplomacy and a
serious defeat of Armenia. According to him, the reason why USA,
Russia and France voted against the resolution is that there is a
strong Armenian Diaspora in those countries.

Echo Moskvy radio station anchor Jeyla Latynina said, West supported
Armenia during the active phase of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
Azerbaijan was viewed as the country where Azerbaijan Turks and
Asians live. However, Azerbaijan chose the way of peace, development
and increasing of the GDP. The country did not want to lose its
strategic position and started exporting Caspian petroleum in the
difficult conditions. We can see that Azerbaijan, which has been
concentrating on recovering its economy for the past ten years, has
gained the image of a country surpassing Armenia. It is a very
important stage.

Armenian press considers adoption of the resolution as the defeat for
the Armenian diplomacy. Golos Armenii newspaper says that it is a
dangerous precedent for Armenia. It claims that it appeared to be the
failure of Armenian lobby.

Political scientist Alexander Karavayev said OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs must realize that Baku is not satisfied with their
activity. They seem to be at stalemate.

Karavayev points out that official Baku gained important allies
through GUAM and OIC.

0News/1236049/

POUTINE-SARKISSIAN: LA RUSSIE SOUHAITE POURSUIVRE SA COOPERATION AVEC L’ARMENIE

RIA Novosti
24 Mars 2008
Russie

MOSCOU, 24 mars – RIA Novosti. La Russie compte poursuivre sa
cooperation fructueuse avec l’Armenie, a declare lundi a Moscou le
president russe Vladimir Poutine accueillant au Kremlin le premier
ministre et futur president armenien Serge Sarkissian, vainqueur de
la presidentielle du 17 fevrier.

"Je voudrais vous feliciter pour les resultats de la presidentielle.

Je sais que la situation politique n’est pas facile en Armenie. Mais
nous comptons pouvoir preserver les resultats de notre cooperation
bilaterale qui n’aura de cesse d’evoluer", a indique M.Poutine lors
de la rencontre au Kremlin.

Le futur president armenien Serge Sarkissian pretera serment le 9
avril prochain.

The Armenian Weekly On-Line
80 Bigelow Avenue
Watertown MA 02472 USA
(617) 926-3974
[email protected]

http://www.a rmenianweekly.com

The Armenian Weekly; Volume 74, No. 11; March 22, 2008

Commentary and Analysis:

1. LTP II: The Return of Levon
A Review by Siskel Anibertian

2. It’s the Same Game
By Garen Yegparian

***

1. LTP II: The Return of Levon
A Review by Siskel Anibertian

Generally, I don’t enjoy sequels. Yes, occasionally someone stumbles across
a formula that works, like the Indiana Jones films or the Star Wars
franchise. But most of the time, they just turn out to be recycled garbage.
Take LTP II-The Return of Levon, for example.

First, let’s examine the title. It sounds a lot like a bad automobile
marketing idea from the 1970’s. Doesn’t anyone from the Ter-Petrossian
production team remember the failure of the LTD II or the Mustang II?
Perhaps it’s a bit much to expect somebody who lived in the former Soviet
Union to remember such bone-headed moves. But surely Levon has a couple of
hundred friends in Hollywood who, prior to marching in the streets, could
have filled him in.

Then there is the storyline. After a decade of being off the stage, a
corrupt former leader decides to get the band back together for a reunion
tour. Like most reunion tours, they get some original band members, like
Raffi "First Foreign Minister" Hovanissian, to agree to play along, but
others, like Vano "First Criminal" Siradeghian, can’t be coaxed out of
retirement, at least not yet.

You can tell from the very beginning that this remake lacks the energy that
the band had on its first tour, before the fame and the power got to their
heads. And it’s pretty clear in LTP II that the boys are not in it for some
altruistic reason. It’s all about the money and it’s a film we’ve all seen
before.

The plot does have some ironic twists. You may remember that in the first
installment, not long after being voted Best Armenian Band in 1991, Levon
and friends learn to master ticket fraud to boost their concert numbers and
steal the Best Band title from former band member Vazgen Manukian, who goes
off to start his own band. When Vazgen and his fans complain, Levon has his
"security team" show them who’s boss.

In the sequel, Levon cries foul from the very start and tries to play the
victim card, hoping that some cowboy will feel sorry for him and come to his
rescue. After a climactic "Battle of the Bands," Levon ends up the loser
when the same concert promoters, venue operators and merchandisers who made
Levon and friends rich the first time around decide he hasn’t got what it
takes 10 years later.

While LTP II does start off rather comically, it soon degenerates into a
type of senseless violence that we haven’t really seen for more than a
decade. A sorry, unintended spoof of itself, LTP II lacks the humor and
creativity of a Spinal Tap or the powerful message of Pink Floyd’s "The
Wall." Hopefully LTP’s fans will realize that they are once again being
played and that they recognize this is just another money grab. Let’s hope
there’s no Part III.

LTP II-The Return of Levon is rated R for repulsive, and contains hate
speech, divisiveness and violence. It is not recommended for Armenians of
any age. Total box office since Feb. 19, 2008: 351,222. Two thumbs down.
——————————————– ———————–
2. It’s the Same Game
By Garen Yegparian

Whether it’s Sudan to the Black Africans (Darfurans), Turkey to the
Armenians, Germany to the Jews, Turkey to the Kurds, Iraq to the Kurds,
Turkey to the Assyrians, Rwanda to the Tutsis, or the U.S. to the Cherokee,
Sioux and others, it’s always the same game, and much the same process.

The moves involved are the same. Deportations and the changing of names-
people and places- are a couple of the tricks of the genocide/ethnic
cleansing/persecution trade. Of course, there’s the tried and true
inequalities of economic and social conditions imposed by the
conqueror/persecutor/murderer. And, the offender works his way up the ladder
towards full-on genocide if the lesser measures don’t resolve the "problem"
satisfactorily.

I won’t bore you with a long list of the inhumane tools used. What I will
point out is how weird it is to see an article titled "Years of grievances
erupt into rage" in the March 18 LA Times. I got the sense that the
authors/editors/newspaper were surprised by the phenomenon of Tibetans
rising against China. Gee, what a shock that people will organize to rebel
against an occupier; that people will only tolerate so much before
exploding; that organized people will time their actions to maximize the
benefits (think Olympics in China); that things do get bloody; that the
persecutor will cleverly try to portray the victim as the villain.

And what is the lot of stateless people such as the Tibetans? Well, they
might appeal to the United Nations. But, oops, there’s a catch. That’s not
an organization of nations, but of states, many of which have similar
"problems" they’d prefer to keep under wraps. Clearly, the UN won’t be doing
much in this respect. Other than East Timor (massacres here too), the UN has
not been in the supporting-independence business for a quarter of a century,
since it helped de-colonize Africa.

Remember, until 17 years ago, ours was much the same lot as that of the
Tibetans today: occupied by a huge empire, silenced on the formal
international stage where a government-in-exile or political organizations
were our only representatives. This case is worse since, instead of being on
the economic ropes as was the USSR, China is a burgeoning economic behemoth.
In this context, it allows wanton mistreatment of it own people by
"contractors" running sweatshops for Western corporations. So it’s no
surprise that it deals with Tibetans very harshly. China’s economic prowess
will also help it avoid accountability for its Tibetan transgressions.

This ought to be a lesson for us, too. Turkey’s annual per capita GDP
increased two-and-one-half fold between 2002 and 2007-quadruple China’s
increase. The bigger the economy, the more other countries are willing to
look the other way. This should energize more of us to get what is justly
ours before Turkey becomes even more of a monster than it already is. Here’s
your mission. Get one person every three months to start reading Armenian
news, who had not done so before. And, get one person to become
Armenian-politically active every year.

Interfax News Agency, Russia
March 21 2008

Armenian citizen killed in Moscow region

MOSCOW March 21

An Armenian citizen with a stab wound to his neck was found in the
Moscow region of Pushkino on Thursday morning.

The 43-year-old man died as the doctors were giving him medical aid,
a source in the law enforcement agencies told Interfax.

An investigation is underway.

TURKISH POLITICIAN, EDITOR DETAINED IN GANG PROBE

Reuters
March 21 2008
UK

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The leader of a small Turkish nationalist party
and the editor of a left-leaning newspaper have been detained in
a probe into a shadowy ultra-nationalist gang, Turkish media said
on Friday.

Thirty-nine people have already been charged in the police
investigation into the far-right group, known as Ergenekon, over
allegations that it sought to engineer a coup against the country’s
Islamist-rooted government in 2009.

Turkish police told Reuters 12 people in total had been detained in
the latest swoop.

The CNN Turk Web site said among those detained were Dogu Perincek,
head of the nationalist, left-wing Workers’ Party, former rector of
Istanbul University Kemal Alemdaroglu and Ilhan Selcuk, editor of
the left-leaning and pro-establishment Cumhuriyet newspaper.

The Ergenekon gang was suspected of being behind a series of bombings
on the Cumhuriyet newspaper offices carried out last year, Turkish
media have said previously.

Newspapers have said the group had been plotting a series of bomb
attacks and assassinations and were behind the killing of Turkish
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Analysts say the gang is part of a shadowy "deep state", code
for hardline nationalists in Turkey’s security forces and state
bureaucracy ready to take the law into their own hands for the sake
of their ideological agenda.

SPECIALIST: "WE SHOULD LEARN TO RESERVE OUR WATER"

Panorama.am
16:23 22/03/2008

Armenia is situated in such natural climatic zone where the waters
flow off, said Mher Mkrtumyan the financial manager of water state
committee. "That’s why it is very important to learn to reserve
our water and to provide people with purified and qualified water,"
he said.

He said that the water legislation, laws and other decrees accepted
in 2002 contributed to the conduct of some amendments. "Today 5 water
management companies work in Armenia in drinking water fiald, two of
which are privately managed: "Yerevan-Water" and "Armenian Sewerage
System" companies and "Lori Sewerage System"," he said.

According to M. Mkrtumyan the water companies provide water according
to the registered order.

WELCOMEARMENIA.COM, THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, INFORMATIVE AND ENRICHING WEB SITE OF 7DAYS…

PR Urgent
March 19 2008

Armenian Travel Company opens the new tourism season by offering
special tours and cultural experiences to its visitors.

Once Armenia was called ancient and undiscovered land of beauties and
secrets. WelcomeArmenia.com discovers Armenia with all its beauties and
hidden wealth of new and ancient civilization. Never been in Armenia,
by just browsing the pages of the web site you will see, smell,
feel, taste and experience Armenian hospitality, culture, nature,
history and be absorbed by Armenian spirit. Armenia Attractions
page will take you to the rich country-side monuments, churches,
museums, natural sights. You will admire the full beauty by visiting
the photo galleries of Lake Sevan, Mount Ararat, Garni and Geghard,
ancient Manuscripts, listen to the music of famous Armenian duduk,
enjoy and be inspired.

Tour section describes Classic travel packages of vacation travel
and tours, wine tours, horseback riding trips, village experiences,
mountain trekking and climbing, all possible plans to discover Armenia
as cradle of civilization, as country preserved ancient culture and
history; medieval caravansaries where traders traveled via Silk Road;
a land first accepted Christianity and adopted Bible disciplines;
built hundreds of thousands of churches and cross stones, received
alphabet by miracle, – and moreover you will meet people of Armenia.

If you want to experience in real life, to touch and feel all what
you’ve seen on the WelcomeArmenia.com, you can make your travel plans
without leaving the site, just fill the reservation form.

Accommodations section will provide you different lodging options.

You will be able to book hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts or rent
apartments, depending on your budget and taste.

"Welcome Armenia () is comprehensive and all
inclusive site for experiencing, learning and feeling, the Armenian
hospitality, culture, nature, character. We want our visitors welcomed
and satisfied in all aspects even if they want just browse our site
and understand what Armenia is", stated Taron Arakelian, the founder
of the "7 Days…" Armenian Travel Company:

Contact Lilit Petrosyan Tour and Marketing Manager Phone: +37410-527737
Fax:+37410-580091 Email: [email protected]