Author: Toneyan Mark

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSSES PRODUCTION EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES AT LORI DIAMOND CUTTING COMPANY

Noyan Tapan
Dec 1, 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The opportunities of expanding
production were discussed during the December 1 visit of Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan to Lori diamond cutting company in Nor Hachn.

The owners of the company – Diaspora Armenians Shahe Aslanian and
Vardges Knajian introduced a big Indian gem and jewelry company’s
owner, who has an intention to start a business in Armenia, to Serzh
Sargsyan.

During a talk with reporters, RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian
said that the matter concerns state and private investments of the
total amount of several dozen million dollars. The minister announced
that by instructions of Serzh Sargsyan, work will be done so that
the above mentioned investor could start operating in Armenia in
cooperation with the state and the private sector.

Director of Lori company Isahak Aghajanian said that the company
employed 20 people in the initial period, whereas now about 350
employees work here, with the average wage of 100 thousand drams. The
output has declined by 10-15% as compared with last year and will
amount to 40-42 million dollars in 2009. 90% of products is exported
to the U.S. so the crisis has affected production. The company imports
raw materials from Belgium, the U.S, and Canada. The director expects
the cooperation with Russia to develop.

S. Aslanian and V. Knajian intend to found a new plant. They envisage
increasing Lori company’s output to the best index achieved in the
past – 75-80 million dollars.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER TO VISIT THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

armradio.am
30.11.2009 17:55

On December 2 the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Hovik
Abrahamyan, will leave for the Republic of Korea on a four-day official
visit at the invitation of the Speaker of Parliament of the Republic
of Korea, Kim Hyong-O.

The delegation headed by Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan comprises the Head
of Staff of the National Assembly, Gegham Gharibjanyan, MPs Hovhannes
Sargsyan, Armen Abrahamyan and Ara Nranyan.

Members of the Armenian parliamentary delegation will have meetings
with the Parliament Speaker of the Republic of Korea, Kim Hyong-O,
Prime Minister Chung Un-chan and members of the Armenia-Korea
Parliamentary Friendship Group. The Parliament Speakers of the two
countries will sign a Memorandum of Understanding.

In Seul the Armenian delegation is expected to meet the President of
the "GS Holdings" Huh Chang Su and the President of the International
Cooperation Agency of Korea Park Dae Won and visit the Samsung
Electronics.

The Armenian delegation will visit Jeju to meet representatives of
the local self-government bodies.

PRESIDENT: ARMENIA TO TAKE ADEQUATE STEPS IN CASE TURKEY DELAYS RATIFICATION

ARKA
Nov 30, 2009

YEREVAN, November 30. / ARKA /. Armenia will take the appropriate
steps in case of delaying the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish
protocol by Turkey, President of Armenia, Chairman of the Republican
Party of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said on Saturday, speaking at the
congress of the Republican Party.

According to the President, today, when the Armenian-Turkish protocols
have been already signed we can say with great confidence that although
the parties are still in the beginning of the process and protocols
must still be ratified and fully implemented, unequivocally, that
managed to "break the ice" and make substantial progress in relations
with Turkey.

"It certainly will facilitate political and economic development of
our two countries, as well as regional cooperation, strengthening
stability and peace in the region," Sargsyan said.

He noted that currently the protocols are in the process of
ratification by the parliaments.

"It’s a process which should reflect the seriousness of the
positions of the parties, the credibility of their word and sense
of responsibility as a mirror. Armenia’s respects the international
obligations and has the dignity in their words, I hope that Turkey
will also be guided by such principles," the president said.

The head of the state noted that in these respects, the principle
of the reasonable time frame should be taking place, and if Turkey
delays the ratification process, Armenia will take appropriate steps
followed by the international law without interruptions.

"At the same time, Armenia is ready to effectively continue the
process. I have already appealed to the Constitutional Court to discuss
the relevant protocols of the Constitution of Armenia," Sargsyan said.

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Edward Nalbandyan
and Akhmed Davutoglu signed the protocol on establishing diplomatic
relations and the protocol for the development of bilateral relations
on October 10 in Zurich.

After the signing, the documents must be approved by the parliaments
of both countries.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became
independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support
for its ally, Azerbaijan, which had a dispute with Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan.

There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of
normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s
blatant support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution process and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass
killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as
genocide.

The thaw in the strained relations began in 2008 September after
Turkish president Abdullah Gul arrived in Armenia, at his counterpart’s
invitation, to watch together with Serzh Sargsyan the 2010 World Cup
qualifying football game between the two countries’ national teams.

During that visit the two presidents discussed prospects for engaging
in dialogue and normalization of relations.

Alexandria, Egypt: in praise of Alex
In Alexandria, Teresa Levonian Cole marvels at a city where remnants
of an ancient past are the foundation for its modern charm.

By Teresa Levonian Cole

Sunday Telegraph/UK
Published: 8:00AM GMT 29 Nov 2009

‘It was also here that Archimedes studied hydraulics and gave us his
eponymous screw; Euclid composed his Elements of Geometry; and the
astronomer Sosigenes formulated the Julian calendar’ Photo: GETTY

I stood on a promontory once home to one of the Seven Wonders of the
World and gazed across a crescent bay. Before me lay a city where,
1,700 years before their European counterparts, Aristarchus
ascertained that Earth revolves around the sun, Eratosthenes
calculated the circumference of the Earth (accurate to within 50
miles), and Herophilus first suggested that blood circulates through
the body.

On the trail of the Pharaohs It was also here that Archimedes studied
hydraulics and gave us his eponymous screw; Euclid composed his
Elements of Geometry; and the astronomer Sosigenes formulated the
Julian calendar, setting the length of each month that is still in use
today. And all the knowledge in the world was stored in the Great
Library of Alexandria, accidentally burned to the ground, some say, by
Julius Caesar in 48BC.

In the distance, amid the accretions of a modern skyscape, the huge
inclined disc of the new, resurrected library shone like a rising sun.
I came back to Earth, surrounded by a gaggle of Egyptian
schoolchildren. Intoxicated by the romance of a fairy-tale castle,
they ran amok along the ramparts of Fort Qaitbey.

Little survives of the glory days of the city that Alexander the Great
founded in 331BC. Like one of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities,
Alexandria is a city of the imagination, which permits only ghostly
glimpses of her illustrious past. The famous lighthouse, built in the
third century BC, was destroyed by earthquakes during the Middle Ages,
its foundations and pillars of Aswan granite subsequently incorporated
into a 15th-century fortress.

The fort overlooks the Eastern Harbour, in which archaeologists still
seek remains of the lighthouse and the Ptolemaic palaces of the
Brucheion. Statues have been dredged from the watery depths to grace
the city’s elegant museums while, back on terra firma, successive
generations of donkeys have fallen through loose rubble to reveal,
here and there, a Hellenistic temple, ancient catacombs, a Roman
amphitheatre.

Alex (as the city is affectionately known) has long been popular with
wealthy Cairenes seeking respite from the summer heat on the slim,
wind-battered beaches. But of the 12 million foreign tourists that
flock annually to Egypt, only a tiny percentage visit Alexandria.
Those who do, arrive on a whistle-stop tour of the ancient monuments,
inspect that curious Ptolemaic syncretism of Hellenistic and pharaonic
religion and art, before hastening, disappointed, to the more dramatic
treasures of Upper Egypt.

But to do that is to miss the point. Alexandria’s charm is revealed
only through time spent idling through her backstreets, sipping
coffees served in tiny cups at pavement tables, lingering at simple
fish restaurants overlooking a bobbing fleet of colourful boats and
unwrapping the semi-opaque onion layers of her past.

I lunched at the fish market, choosing from a huge display of the
freshest catch, and sipping a chilled bottle of very palatable Jardin
du Nil with my loup de mer. But for the minarets that pepper the
skyline, I could have been anywhere in the Mediterranean. As I
strolled along the Corniche – the 16-mile waterfront that stretches
from the Western Harbour to the summer palace of the playboy King
Farouk, in Montazah Gardens, to the East – even the call of the
muezzin, proclaiming the city’s Arab identity, failed to convince.

Despite the mosques and the old men gathered to smoke shishas along
the waterfront, Alexandria has all the hallmarks of Europe; albeit the
dystopian, anachronistic Europe of the Belle Époque.

The lie of the land may have changed little during the centuries that
saw Cleopatra lose the city to Rome, St Mark martyred, and Napoleon
trounced at nearby Aboukir, but the buildings we see date only from
1882 – the year the British Navy flattened Alexandria to quell a local
rebellion. They bear witness to the prosperity of the early 20th
century, which saw lavish parties held in neo-Classical mansions that
have been restored to their former splendour along the 16-mile
Corniche. Italians and French, Greeks and Armenians, Jews and Arabs
mixed in this most cosmopolitan of cities, leaving traces of their
heritage in their architecture, café life and jewellery shops, before
society’s elite decamped in the wake of Nasser’s Nationalist measures
in the Fifties.

The Souk Attarine became renowned as a place to pick up antique
bargains from retreating Europeans. Today, still, one can discover a
beautiful bronze statue, a Sèvres porcelain vase or a Venetian
chandelier in the narrow streets where furniture-makers reproduce the
popular French styles of yesteryear.

On Saad Zaghloul square, the somewhat faded Cecil Hotel testifies to
the cultural magnet that was Alexandria in the early 20th century.
Agatha Christie, Somerset Maugham and Henry Moore were among the
luminaries to grace its portals. Churchill stayed here, as did
Montgomery, who outfoxed Rommel at El Alamein, an hour’s drive along
the coast – allegedly plotting his strategy over whiskies in the fusty
bar that bears his name.

Cafés with names like Délices, Elite, Athineos and Pastroudis hang on
by a thread, evoking the vibrant intellectual life of a period when E
M Forster penned his famous Alexandria: A History and a Guide and, in
1941, Lawrence Durrell gathered the material that would become the
Alexandria Quartet, his "prose poem to the Capital of Memory". The
grandest of these cafés, the Trianon, sits on the site of Cleopatra’s
memorial to Mark Antony. Wood-panelled, high-ceilinged, with a
francophone chocolatier at the rear, it could have been plucked
straight from Saint-Germain.

"The best way to know Alexandria," confirmed Forster, "is to wander
aimlessly." Behind the sparkling façade of the Corniche, where the
magnificent $220 million (£120 million) new library proclaims a new
dawn, and the city’s first luxury hotel, the Four Seasons, awaits an
international clientèle, there lies yet another reality. It is the
Alexandria of nostalgia, captured in the poignant poems of Constantine
Cavafy, where the architectural whimsy of cornices, friezes, pediments
and columns, languish sooty and crumbling like loveless Miss Havishams
at the city’s heart.

It is an Alexandria where cars, trams and donkey carts choke the
narrow streets, the smell of cardamom coffee and falafel perfumes the
air, street vendors twist skeins of dough into delicious pastries, and
women buying bright gold jewellery and sparkling gewgaws crowd hidden
alleys.

I found Hajj Ali’s workshop in an unpromising backstreet. Hajj Ali has
a large nose, few teeth and bags of charm. His family, he tells me,
have been in the same trade for 150 years, making the distinctive
horse-drawn calèches – known locally as hantoors – that are seen all
around the city. He fashions them entirely by hand, from the
iron-rimmed wooden wheels, to the folding leather hoods, for the
starting price of a mere £400. He is the best hantoor-maker in
Alexandria. And it seems a satisfying full-circle that Hajj Ali should
be exporting this 19th-century mode of European transport to clients
in France and Italy today.

The sun was sinking behind Fort Qaitbey, and Alexandrians were
preparing for their moonlit passeggiata. True Mediterraneans, they are
creatures of the night. Exhausted by the experience of so many
centuries in a single day, I hailed a carriage and clip-clopped along
the Corniche, back to the Four Seasons, and the comforts of the
present.

Getting there
Bailey Robinson (01488 689700; ) offers four
nights’ b & b at the Four Seasons Alexandria, from £1,100 per person,
including return flight and internal transfers.

The five stages of dying and death

=49055&cat_id=7
29/11/09

IT’S THAT time of year when we start working our way into a state of
mass hysteria over Turkey’s EU progress report which would not include
any sanctions for her failure to implement the Ankara Protocol, also
known as the refusal to fulfil her obligations to the EU and Cyprus.

I do not want to sound morbid but our reaction to the progress report
saga, has very strong similarities to Dr Kubler-Ross’ five stages of
dying and death – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
OK, in 2006 we jumped from bargaining to acceptance, without going
through depression, but that was because we had a very able foreign
minister.

We have already gone through the first stage, with the most of our
politicians and newspaper scribes insisting that Turkey would not
emerge from next month’s European Council unscathed. We remained in
denial, even after many of the EU’s top dogs announced that there was
no provision for punitive measures in the 2006 decision. `Turkey would
not pass unscathed,’ was the denial slogan, as it had been three years
ago.

This week we entered the anger stage, when the content of the first
draft of the progress report, prepared by the Swedish presidency, was
made public and included nothing about sanctions. Sweden got the
Brit-treatment from furious politicians, who called on the government
to take a tough line and block all new negotiation chapters.

A seething Perdikis, instructed the government to drop its illusions
and together with Greece prepare for the worst-case scenario. It would
be more accurate to say that righteous rage characterised the anger
stage.

WE DEVIATE slightly from Dr Kubler-Ross’ theory, because we are
dealing with a society and not an individual. Different members of our
society enter each stage differently.

Comrade president entered the anger stage before everyone else as his
letter to all heads of EU member-state, was sent before the release of
the Swedish presidency’s draft, which according to Phil `caressed the
Turks’. The letter was pretty abrupt and contained no diplomatic
niceties, presumably to emphasise Tof’s rage.

The Disy Fuhrer, in contrast, proved once again that he is ahead of
his time, by already entering the bargaining stage. Our smartest
politician, suggested a compromise whereby Turkey would be given a
grace period of six months to help in the peace talks and to implement
the protocol. If the Turks failed to do so by June, we would impose
sanctions, or at least go through the five stages of dying again.

DEPRESSION takes over, when the bargaining, at all the different
decision-making tiers of the EU, fails to yield any result, and it
becomes apparent that our European partners – not just the Brits and
Swedes – are not even prepared to give the Turks a gentle smack on the
bum, to help our government save face.

And finally, acceptance sets in during the December European Council,
when our depressed president finally comes to terms with the fact that
our partners are united in not wanting to take any punitive measures
against the pampered Turks.

But there, the similarities with Dr Kubler-Ross’ theory end, because
after acceptance, there is a happy ending – nobody dies, the president
returns home to a villain’s welcome and rest of us look forward to the
next time our EU partners will stop us punishing the arrogant Turk.

ALL THIS, could still be proved wrong, because the National Council,
which meets later this week, could come up with an ingenious plan to
force the European Council to impose sanctions on Turkey and make
Patroclos look like a fool.

This is a very remote possibility when you hear what actually happens
at National Council meetings. After last week’s meeting, one of the
participants confided to a hack that if he had a knife he would have
been tempted to commit hara-kiri in front of everyone as an act of
protest against the infuriating nonsense that is said during the
discussions

`And the worse thing of all,’ he said, `is that all the leaders come
out and make serious-sounding statements in front of the cameras,
giving the impression that we have been having debate about really
important matters. Nothing could be further from the truth.’

CONVENIENTLY, the meeting finished just when the evening TV news shows
were beginning so all the leaders felt obliged to talk to the waiting
camera crews, despite agreeing, at the meeting, not to make any
statements to the media.

But none of them was able to resist the temptation when they realised
their interview would be broadcast live on the evening news shows. I
blame EUROKO leader Demetris Syllouris who was out of the palazzo
first and went straight to the waiting cameras.

His associate, deputy Rikkos Erotocritou, showed what a sucker he is
for TV exposure by standing next to Syllouris, looking into the void
and saying nothing, like a long-suffering wife who can been seen but
not heard. His bemused look said more about the meeting than all the
fine words uttered by his leader. More significantly, his ears did not
flap once during the interview.

MY FAVOURITE National Council couple is Edek’s, featuring leader
Yiannakis Omirou and the socialist party’s honorary president for life
and beyond, Dr Faustus. `Does this guy bring his father to the
meeting?’ asked a foreign customer, unfamiliar with the political
scene, while watching the pictures on our establishment’s TV.

`Yes, because the old boy’s nurse takes the day off on Tuesdays, and
he has nowhere to leave him,’ a skettos drinker lied. The truth is
that the wise old doctor does not entirely trust Yiannakis’ judgment
yet and likes to keep an eye on the young man when he is expounding
his spiritual father’s complex views on the critically important
aspects of the Cyprob.

HE MAY think of himself as an Alpha male, but the Paphite health
minister with the big ego, Dr Patsalides is big softy really,
terrified of having an injection. Twice he had been asked by hacks
whether he would be having the swine flu vaccination and both times he
he responded negatively, offering some lame excuse.

After Greece’s health minister had the vaccination in public, to
re-assure a sceptical public which was afraid of the side-effects, a
hack asked the Paphite if he would be doing the same and he said no.
His reason demonstrated his sense of self-importance in all its glory.
`I do not think a minister should be vaccinated in public,’ he
pompously declared. The guy is a member of the Tofias government,
appointed on the recommendation of Marios Garoyian, and he is afraid
that a vaccination in public would diminish his personal standing?

THE QUESTION was put to him again this week, after very few people,
from the first high-risk group eligible for the free swine flu
vaccination, turned up at the flu clinics to have their injection;
everyone seems to be afraid of possible, adverse side-effects.

This time, he his excuse for not being vaccinated was much nobler and
contained an element of self-sacrifice. He said: `It would have been
easy for me to go and get vaccinated for communications purposes and
then tell people, see I am not afraid. That, however, would give the
wrong message as it would violate the priority principle that calls
high-risk groups to get the vaccine first.’

I think the guy is scared, either of having an injection or, like most
people, of the possible side effects of the vaccination. As for not
wanting `to violate the priority principle’, it is a candidate for
joke of the year. This is the minister who routinely violates state
rules – not just priority principles – sending patients abroad for
heart operations to prevent them from going to the American Heart
Institute.

He is content to break state rules, (smoking in state buildings, for
instance) but priority principles never, because these could cause
negative side-effects for the minister.

ANOTHER man who would never violate priority principles and makes a
habit of giving sermons about correct behaviour is deputy
Attorney-general Akis Papasavvas. He was in the news recently after he
reached an out of court settlement with his boss, Attorney-general
Petros Clerides, which made him 55,000 wealthier.

The case related to his forced retirement, when he was working at the
AG’s office as senior counsel in 2001. He challenged the decision in
the Supreme Court which decided his services were wrongly terminated.
Fourteen months later he was re-instated and a received all the
salaries he was not paid during his forced retirement.

However, when he was forced out he collected a total of 110,000 in
retirement bonus, pension payments for 14 months and unemployment
benefit. Public servants are entitled to six months unemployment
benefit when they go into retirement, even though they are collecting
a hefty state pension.

When he was re-instated he was asked to pay back the 110,000, as he
was paid all his salaries for the 14 months, but refused to do so,
insisting that the money was his and he had no obligation to return
it. By what law it was his, the holier than thou Papasavvas did not
say. Perhaps he was entitled to it because he was opposed to the Annan
plan.

TO ADD insult to injury, Papasavvas also sued the Republic, demanding
125,000 compensation for his wrongful dismissal, while unlawfully
holding on to 110,000 of the taxpayer’s money, which he probably
spent.

Faced with the compensation claim, Clerides filed a counter claim on
behalf of the state, demanding back the 110,000. But why had
Papasavvas not been taken to court sooner for holding on to state
money he was not entitled to?

Politis reported last weekend that a settlement was reached by which
Papasavvas would be paid by the taxpayer 55,000 in compensation and
the case would be closed. But Clerides obviously did a favour to
Papasavvas, who was rusfetologically appointed deputy AG, when his
great buddy Comrade Tof was elected.

Even assuming that the Judge awarded the full compensation Papasavvas
was claiming, he would only have been owed 15,000 once he had
returned the money he had taken from the state. Why had Clerides
agreed to pay him 55,000 in settlement? Was it because Papasavvas
enjoys presidential protection or had he pledged to donated the money
to charity?

THE STRATEGY for Tackling Cancer in Cyprus was presented to the public
by health minister Dr Patsalides last Tuesday. The strategy was
formulated by stakeholders, which said it all. For `stakeholders’,
read `clueless members of the public’ who are invited to sit on
committees, because even cancer strategy has to be decided
democratically in the People’s Republic.

The strategy contained in a 56-page book published by the health
ministry is truly embarrassing. It is a compendium of superficial
thinking peppered with popular wisdom which will come to nothing. This
strategy has as much chance of tackling cancer as glass of orange
juice every day. `What do you expect, when Chr. Andreou was on the
committee that drafted the strategy,’ remarked an oncologist customer
of the coffeeshop.

Chr. Andreou has been waging an ongoing campaign to have the B of C
Oncology Centre closed down, which made him an expert in formulating
cancer strategy.

WHY IS it that our illustrious Agriculture Minister, Michalis
Polynikis has only attended one meeting of the EU Council of
Agriculture Ministers? There has been a host of meetings of the
Council, to which he insists on sending a ministry technocrat rather
than attending himself.

It is not as if he is very busy. He has stopped talking on the radio,
he has solved our water shortage problem and he does not engage in
rusfeti, which can be very time-consuming, as the recent police
investigation showed. So why does he refuse to attend Council
meetings? How would he cope when we have the EU presidency and he will
have to chair meetings of the Agri ministers? We can’t have a ministry
official chairing a meeting of ministers.

HEART-FELT congratulations go to House President Marios Garoyian, who
was named `Politician of the Year’ by the Armenian community at a
ceremony on Friday night. We have been unable to obtain any
information regarding the reasons he received this prestigious award,
but one member of the Armenian community assured us that it had
nothing to do with Diko going through the `worst crisis in its
history’.

And when is this crisis going to be over, because we are still losing
sleep over it.

El Mundo: Turkey attaches much significance to Nagorno Karabakh’s future
29.11.2009 15:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The future of Nagorno Karabakh is of much
significance for Turkey, and hence – for the European Union, Spanish
El Mundo reports. According to the newspaper analyst, EU is competing
with Russia for gaining access to the gas and oil reserves of the
Caspian Basin, while Azerbaijan is searching for means to resolve
Karabakh conflict, its principal political problem. `Azerbaijan’s
rapprochement with Russia is conditioned by the lack of Turkey, EU and
United States’ support to Karabakh process,’ the newspaper quotes
Turkish expert Guner Ozkan as saying.

The author of the publication also refers to the statement of RA
President’s Spokesman who announced that nothing prevents Armenia from
recognizing Nagorno Karabakh’s independence in case of Azerbaijan’s
refraining from military operations. `The statement was made after
Armenian and Azeri Presidents’ recent meeting last week-end. Before
the meeting, Aliyev announced that `in case hopes for negotiations
vanish’, Azerbaijan will consider itself entitled to resort to
military operations to liberate the country. Two years ago, OSCE
confirmed the so-called Madrid Principles which offer Armenia to
withdraw its forces from the frontier regions of Karabakh in return
for the recognition of the enclave. However, the document has not been
recognized by either Baku or Yerevan, Both parties differ in their
views on refugees’ return and the sovereignty of Lachin corridor,’ the
Spanish newspaper reports.

news.am, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

Undertaken reforms and projects to proceed: RA President

15:29 / 11/28/2009Those speaking of Armenia’s big foreign debt do not
know a thing about economy, said RA President Serzh Sargsyan (RPA
chairman) Nov. 28 at the RPA 12th congress, NEWS.am correspondent
reports. According to Sargsyan, one lends money to those capable of
repaying.

RA President underlined that despite global crisis revenue-spending
indicators of 2010 state budget will exceed those of 2009. The
undertaken reforms and projects will proceed this year and the
Government vows to continue financial assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Sargsyan, in recent years Armenia faced with unplanned
difficulties, inter alia global financial crisis, that resulted in 18%
GDP fall. `However, we managed to avoid social collapse, and crisis
consequences did not affect much our citizens. This was reached to a
large extent due to the government and businessmen efforts involved in
essential economic fields. However, currently, crisis diminishes and I
am confident we will pass this history test. We should take steps
implicating daily improvement of life in Armenia,’ the President
concluded.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS ON TURKEY TO REFORM JUDICIARY

Today’s Zaman
Nov 27 2009
Turkey

European Parliament MEPs on Thursday adopted a resolution calling on
Turkey to continue its reforms.

The European Parliament has called on Turkey to reform its judiciary,
saying such reforms are "vital" for the democratization of the
EU-candidate country.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Thursday adopted a
resolution on enlargement based on a draft by Italian MEP Gabriele
Albertini of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats).

The resolution welcomed the adoption by the Turkish government of
a judicial reform strategy following a process of consultation with
all stakeholders as a positive step, the Anatolia news agency reported.

In its newest progress report on Turkey, the European Commission,
the EU’s executive body, also highlighted the same issue. In the
report made public in October, the European Commission noted that
the measures taken to increase staff and funding in regards to the
judiciary have been considered positive.

"However, these efforts need to be continued, and concerns remain
with regard to the independence, impartiality and effectiveness of
the judiciary, such as the composition of the Supreme Board of Judges
and Prosecutors (HSYK) and the establishment of the regional courts
of appeal," the report said. The European Parliament resolution,
meanwhile, expressed concern over freedom of expression and freedom
of the press in Turkey while referring to the fact that media company
Dogan Yayın is challenging a record 4.8 billion lira ($3.2 billion)
tax fine after the failure of settlement talks with tax officials.

The resolution is expected to contribute to a debate on enlargement
at an EU summit on Dec. 10-11, which will include talks on Turkey’s
compliance with commitments to the EU.

Expressing sadness over recording limited progress in the field of
religious freedom, the European Parliament urged the government to
establish an appropriate legal framework that would remove improper
limitations on non-Muslim communities as well as the Alevi community.

While the government’s democratization initiative, which includes
resolving the Kurdish issue, is welcomed in the resolution, all
political parties have also been encouraged to lend support to the
government’s efforts.

Ankara has been praised for its efforts to normalize ties with
neighboring Armenia, and the Parliaments of both Armenia and Turkey
are urged to ratify the two protocols signed by their governments
for restoring diplomatic ties and for reopening the common border
between the two neighboring countries.

HAYASTAN ALL ARMENIAN FUND’S INTERNATIONAL FUNDRAISING TELETHON IS RIGHT AT OUR DOOR AND WILL AIR ON SHANT, ARMENIA AND H1-ARMENIAN PUBLIC TELEVISION ON NOVEMBER 26, 8 PM – 8AM

ArmInfo
2009-11-26 18:26:00

ArmInfo. Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s International Fundraising
Telethon is right at our door and will air on Shant, Armenia and H1-
Armenian Public Television on November 26, 8 pm – 8am.

Airing live from Los Angeles, Telethon 2009 will reach every continent,
entering Armenian homes through satellite, cable and internet
means. The telethon will be web- cast on

More than 20,000 residents of Armenia have already made their
contributions to Hayastan All Armenian Fund. The post offices of
HayPost have already received more than 13 000 cash donations. More
than 500 organizations and individuals have made bank transfers. Some
people prefer to make their donations in the Fund’s Executive Board
office. More than 7 thousand subscribers of VivaCell-MTS used the new
donation tool – one of the innovations of this year’s fundraising
effort, and donated funds via their mobile phones. Only for the
subscribers of VivaCell-MTS, three short numbers are introduced
from the beginning of October till the end of November. Interested
individuals can have their input in the all Armenian fundraising effort
by sending a blank SMS message to the following numbers: 5555 (which
stands for 200 AMD donation), 5556 (600 AMD donation) and 5557 (1000
AMD donation, all including VAT). Even at this point, it can be stated
that never before, in its more than 17 year history, has the Fund
registered such massive grassroots participation throughout Armenia.

The motto of this year’s fundraising effort is Our Shishi. The logo
of the Telethon is the Angel of Artsakh. Mr. Edik Balaian, the artist
of the 2009 Telethon logo offered his brief remarks regarding the
concept of the logo and the choice of colors. He mentioned that the
idea of the logo is distinctly from the prominent symbol depicted on
the bell tower of the St. Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi.

"Hayastan All Armenian Fund is not a political organization, our
mission is to serve as a uniting bridge between Armenians around the
world and combine their efforts to reconstruct and strengthen Armenia
and Artsakh. If you think about it, this is the most practical way of
fulfilling our "azgayin tourk" – national giving, a concept that is
at the heart of "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund. According to my modest
calculations, there are currently around 10 million Armenians living
around the world. If every single person gives a dollar a month, that
makes it close to $120 million a year. Think about it when you watch
the Telethon this Thanksgiving Day, November 26", said Ara Vardanyan,
Executive Director of Hayastan All Armenian Fund.

The Telethon will feature an impressive line up of Armenian music and
dance, as well as video segments telling about the Fund’s projects and
the life of people of Armenia and Karabakh. The Telethon 2009 song
"We and our Mountains" /Menq Enq Mer Sarery/ will be performed by
Anush and Inga Arshakyans. The song has already become popular among
young Armenians and will hopefully motivate people to bring their
input and help make a difference in the lives of people of Shushi.

IT WAS THE SAME IN 1915

Lragir.am
25/11/09

At the request of Lragir.am, Igor Muradyan comments on the comments
and expectations in connection with the meeting of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents in Munich on November 22.

– The meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Munich
in November 2009 shows little new in the processes of the region
and the Karabakh issue. Outrageous scene still occurs for outside
observers, when the president of Azerbaijan continues threatening by
military actions, and the Armenian president pretends that the real
negotiations are continuing.

First of all, it should be noted that the three centers of power are
the main actors in the South Caucasus – the United States, European
Union, represented by France and Russia – assess the likelihood of
renewed hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan solely on the basis
of certain agreements of Azerbaijan and Turkey and possible solutions
in this connection and nothing else. This is the reason why external
players do not take for serious Ilham Aliyev’s threats.

Serge Sargsyan is still trying to show himself as a flexible political
figure, receiving the signals from the West and the East as the only
guide to action. Sargsyan is still trying to gain time, to prolong the
period of imitation of the talks, realizing the approval of external
parties, but at the same time realizing that after the events of the
past year, the United States, Russia and the EU are unable to fully
guarantee the continuation of ceasefire in the Karabakh zone. These
power centers can significantly influence the behavior of both parties,
but they cannot also guarantee the continuation of the truce, just as
the U.S. failed to guarantee the continuation of the settlement of
the Armenian-Turkish relations after the signing of the "Protocols"
in Zurich.

If Turkey tries to demonstrate the seriousness of their "new" position
in the region, then Azerbaijan will give a signal on the beginning of
the war, not paying attention to the views of politicians, representing
the world’s centers of power. Another matter, that Turkey does not
yet need it and the value of the Karabakh province for Turkey is
equal to zero.

Alongside with this, Serge Sargsyan is little likely to play such
dangerous and vulnerable games only for the sake of imitation the
way he is quite determined in settling the Karabakh issue within the
provisions of the principles of Madrid. The Armenian president has
repeatedly stated over years, that territories are to be yielded, in
addition within the frameworks of the offered "scheme". He thinks that
it is better to yield a part than to lose the whole. It is quite logic
from the point of an Armenian bourgeois or an Armenian citizen who have
something to lose. (Wasn’t there such logic before 1915 and a thesis
which would say "Gentlemen we have to live adequately to the life"?).

Activities of the Armenian president are not politics and it cannot
be called politics, it is just behavior. In practice, negotiations
are continuing in terms of direct threats, after which the president
Aliyev went to Moscow, apparently, to strengthen these agreements. The
U.S. is currently trying to pretend that they continue to adhere to
the declared principles of indifference between the Karabakh and
the Turkish-Armenian settlement, but in fact, they hope for the
elimination of Azerbaijani influence on Turkey in this issue. Not
surprisingly, the direct threat of the president of Azerbaijan did
not receive proper evaluation of either the U.S. or Russia. I wonder
what the same superpowers would have done if the president of Armenia
had made such a statement.

Armenia recedes, more and more losing the previous benefits, continuing
the simulation at any cost. Perhaps this would make sense if the real
intentions of Mr. Serge Sargsyan in the Karabakh topic lacked. The
Munich meeting and the taken arrangement may demonstrate much to
Turkey from the point that the Karabakh settlement is moving forward
and it can decide whether to open the border or not according to the
"Protocols". But the main result was that, regardless of the assurances
of the U.S. and Russia, Turkey became an immediate and, perhaps, a key
member of the Karabakh process. At the same time, there is no hope for
a "lifeline" of the world’s centers of power. In any case, with regard
to the U.S., this issue becomes quite unnecessary among their concerns.