Author: Tvankchian Parkev

US AMBASSADOR: OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER WILL PROVIDE BIG ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR BOTH COUNTRIES

Panorama.am
16:47 12/02/2010

The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and normalization of ties
between Armenia and Turkey will provide big economic opportunities for
both countries, US Ambassador Marie Yovanovich told a panel discussion
on "Turkish-Armenian Relations and Cross-Border Regionalism" today.

"Many in Armenia are concerned that different spheres of the Armenian
economics will be harmed after the border opening. It will be a serious
challenge but it will create possibilities for both the consumers
and the producers. I would not like to underestimate the challenges
but closed borders do not lead to anything good," Ambassador said.

As Yovanovich said, open border will ease Armenia’s economic
isolation enabling Armenia to enter into a market of 70 million
creating opportunities to cut economic and transportation expenses,
boost competition and volumes of export.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM CONTINUES TO PREPARE FOR HIS NEXT FIGHT

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.02.2010 14:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Former world middleweight champion, Armenian boxer
Arthur Abraham and the world champion in the first Heavyweight WBO
Marco Huck continue preparing in Palm Springs (California, USA) for
their next fights. On March 6 Arthur Abraham will hold his second
match in the "Super Six World Boxing Classic" tournament against Andre
Dirrell (USA) in California. Huck will defend his title against Adam
Richards in Berlin on March 13.

According to box-club.ru, other fights of the "Super Six World Boxing
Classic" tournament could be postponed to the next week and will be
held on April 24.

"King" Arthur Abraham (born on February 20, 1980 in Yerevan, Armenia)
is an Armenian-German professional boxer residing in Berlin, Germany.

He has been undefeated as IBF Middleweight World champion. As of the
end of 2009, The Ring has ranked Abraham as the 14th best boxer in
the world.

Sauerland-promoted Abraham bested Ian Gardner, Hector Velazco and
contender Howard Eastman in the build-up and won the vacant title on
December 10, 2005, inLeipzig, Germany against Kingsley Ikeke by a 5th
round knock-out. On September 23, 2006, Abraham won a decision against
undefeated contender Edison Mirandadespite having his jaw broken in
two places. Miranda was deducted five points by landing repeated low
blows as well as intentionally headbutting Abraham in the 5th round.

After the Miranda bout, he was praised for his ability to finish the
fight despite his injury.

Abraham defeated Canadian Se’bastien Demers and made the fifth defense
of his title by defeating fellow Armenian Khoren Gevor by 11th round
technical knockout.

On December 8, 2007, Abraham defeated Wayne Elcock to make his sixth
defense of his title by TKO in the 5th round.

During two of his matches, Arthur Abraham was accompanied by live
performances of the Scorpions and is currently accompanied by the track
"Ready For The Fight" byThe Young Punx.

On March 29, 2008, Abraham defeated American Elvin Ayala via 12th
round KO after connecting with a devastating left hook which sent
his opponent crashing to the canvas face first. This was Abraham’s
7th successful title defence.

SARGSYAN’S LONDON SPEECH ABOUT APPEARING ‘EXEMPLARY’ TO OUTSIDE WORLD: MARTIROSYAN

Tert.am
13:04 11.02.10

"That statement, in essence, was the usual practice of appearing
‘pupush’ [‘so-called exemplary’] before the outside world. It seems
as though the governing authorities are in favour of a speedy process,
and with this [statement], they are attempting to reassure that… they
are prepared to ratify the Protocols," said Heritage Party MP Armen
Martirosyan, referring to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent
speech in London.

In Martirosyan’s opinion, it becomes clear with Sargsyan’s statement
that the Armenian authorities are fully prepared to carry out the
responsibilities they have taken on and follow the commands of the
outside world, without taking into account Armenia’s national and
state interests.

"The authorities are continuing the process of replacing internal
legitimacy with foreign legitimacy," said the politician.

TURKISH NGO BRINGS ACTION AGAINST SURB GRIGOR LUSAVORICH CHURCH IN ISTANBUL

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
11.02.2010 18:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turk Buro Sen Turkish NGO has brought an action
against Surb Grigor Lusavorich Church in Istanbul, accusing the latter
of slander.

According to NGO president Fahrettin Yokus_, combination of letters
S and Y, found on official website of the church suggests TURKEY –
"GENOCIDEE" phrase, Turk Buro Sen press service reported.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.

The date of the onset of the genocide is conventionally held to be
April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities arrested some 250
Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople.

Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes
and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of
food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria.

To date, twenty countries and 44 U.S. states have officially recognized
the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars
and historians accept this view. The Armenian Genocide has been also
recognized by influential media including The New York Times, BBC,
The Washington Post and The Associated Press.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.

GOVERNMENT APPROVES CONCEPT ON PROBLEMS OF FIGHT AGAINST UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTION

NOYAN TAPAN
FEBRUARY 11, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. At the February 11 sitting, the
Armenian government approved the concept on solution of problems of
the fight against unauthorized construction in Armenia. The concept
includes measures aimed at reducing the cases of unauthorized
construction, improving the efficiency of the fight against it,
and ruling out such cases in the future.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan underlined the necessity of the proper
presentation of this concept to the National Assembly deputies as
it will be followed by a number of legislative initiatives. "It
is also necessary to draw citizens’ attention to it and explain
that the government has taken a principled position on unauthorized
construction. A strange situation has formed when it is more expedient
to carry out illegal construction and then to legalize it," the prime
minister said.

Minister of Urban Development Vardan Vardanian said the concept
envisages either ruling out the construction of unauthorized buildings
or reducing such cases to a minimum.

CZECH TRAVEL AGENCY REMOVES PROPOSALS ABOUT TOURS TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH FROM ITS WEBSITE

Trend
Feb 10 2010
Azerbaijan

After the interference of the Azerbaijani Embassy in the Czech
Republic, Czech travel agency "Chedok" removed its proposals for
the organization of tours to Nagorno-Karabakh from its website,
the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press-center said.

The proposals for the organization of tours to Nagorno-Karabakh have
been posted on the website several days ago. There was also biased
material on Nagorno-Karabakh in the tourism collection of the company.

After the Azerbaijani Embassy in the Czech Republic applied to the
leadership of the company, it admitted its mistakes and removed the
proposals for the organization of tours from the website and promised
not to include them in the collection of such material next year.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied
territories.

SERZH SARGSYAN: "THE ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT WILL RATIFY THE ZURICH PROTOCOLS ONLY AFTER THE TURKISH PARLIAMENT DOES"

APA
Feb 10 2010
Azerbaijan

Yerevan – APA. "The Armenian parliament will ratify the Zurich
protocols only after the Turkish parliament does," Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan said, APA reports quoting ITAR-TASS.

Serzh Sargsyan said at the Royal Institute of International Affairs
that Armenia tries to insure itself against the results of the
situation in case Yerevan ratifies, Ankara rejects the protocols.

"As the leader of the party holding most of the seats in the parliament
I assure you that the protocols will be ratified. But the Turkish
government does not guarantee and says that the parliament of the
country is an independent institution," he said.

JIRAYR KOCHARIAN: HISTORY SHOWS THAT ONE CANNOT TRUST THE TURKS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.02.2010 16:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Recently professor in Armenian Studies at Freie
Universitaet Berlin Jirayr Kocharian presented a report on the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols and their impact on the Karabakh conflict
for the Armenian cultural and spiritual community of Berlin and
Hamburg.

"I think, the signing of the protocols is a consequence of other
countries’ pressure. History has proven that one cannot trust the
Turks. Apparently, the Turkish side will set up a thousands of claims
before agreeing to open the border. And first of all, the solution of
the Karabakh conflict will be the requirement, which will be followed
by a number of other unacceptable demands. After all, if two countries
really want to normalize relations, they must adhere to the items of
the Protocol ," Jirayr Kocharian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to him, the Armenian community in Germany are against the
two main provisions of protocol: establishment of the historical
subcommittee and the recognition of de facto existing borders.

"After all, it casts doubt on everything the Armenian people
experienced. Besides, this is not we who closed the border, but Turkey,
and it is responsible for it, " Jirayr Kocharian concluded.

First Armenians who settled in Germany in new times were students who
came to Kaiser’s Germany to study and they founded the first Union of
Armenian students in Germany in Leipzig in 1885. The actual migration
of Armenians to Germany in XX century was occurred after the Armenian
Genocide in Turkey and the First World War. "German-Armenian Society"
non-profit association was founded in 1914 in Berlin and in 1923 the
Armenian colony in Berlin was the first formally registered Armenian
community. The biggest wave of migration of Armenians to Germany
in the postwar was in 1970’s and was caused by the war in Lebanon,
and the fundamentalist revolution in Iran in the 1980’s: about 20
thousand Armenians moved to Germany.

Latest big migration flow of Armenians to Germany was after the
collapse of the Soviet Union and particularly after the massacres of
Armenians in Baku and Sumgait (Azerbaijan). According to the Central
Board of Armenians in Germany, about 10 thousand Armenians fled to
Germany from Azerbaijan. According to the same source, between 40
and 42 thousand Armenians live in Germany, about half of them were
born in Germany.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions
of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control
of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

MAJOR ARMENIAN IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES RELEASE YEAR-END STATISTICS
Artur Papyan

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.02.2010 GMT+04:00

Revenues from communications services (not including VAT, at current
prices) totaled at 164 422 million Armenian drams in 2009, even as
recession hit the Armenian economy in a year of global financial and
economic crisis.

Meanwhile, according to data from Armenian National statistical
service, revenues from provision of internet services more than
tripled in 2009 reaching 10 404.2 million drams. Revenues from mobile
communications services made 105 766.6 million drams, while fixed line
phone service revenues closed at 40 341.2 million. Lucine Harutyunian,
19, was named the 200 thousandth subscriber of Orange-Armenia, having
bought a SIM card in a shop. At an official event organized by Orange,
she was presented with a notebook and a subscription to Orange’s
"Internet Now" tariff plan.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Orange Armenia CEO Bruno Duthoit said the number
of subscribers exceeded their expectations by as much as 10 percent
as he handed the gifts to Lucine Harutyunian.

Orange, a key brand of France Telecom group, entered the Armenian
market with its mobile and internet offerings on November 5th, 2009.

Within the past 3 months the company has been able to ensure an
estimated 7 percent market share of mobile user market. VivaCell-MTS
continues to remain the market leader by a large margin, having
announced 2 million 70 thousand subscribers at the end of 2009.

Beeline brand with over 502 thousand active subscribers (the latest
data is only available for third quarter of 2009 so far).

Meanwhile, Orange came out with a new offering on Monday, which is
geared towards further enlarging the market share of the brand. The
new offer – "Free minutes for you and your friends", will be valid
through February 28th. While the offer lasts, Orange customers can
‘invite’ new friends to join the network, and get 300 minutes of free
talking time with them.

Beeline, a trademark represented by ArmenTel company, also came up
with a new offer this week, enhancing its tariff plan "For you –
Exclusive" by increasing the starting balance (from AMD 200 to 400).

The tariff plan "For you – Exclusive" combines advantages of a
single service operator: balanced prices for calls to mobile and
fixed networks, as well as data transfer services. The service has
been attractive to subscribers so far, PanArmenian.net was told by
the press-service of ArmenTel. "For you – Exclusive" accounted for
a significant number of growth of Beeline subscribers since December
2009.

***

The electronic governance system will be introduced in Armenia in
January 2012. An inter-agency working group met this week to elaborate
the concept of introducing e-governance within a three-year Armenia-EU
program by September 2010.

Secretary of the National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan, who
chaired the working group meeting, said new governance system will
cover central government as well as local self-government and will
ensure that businesses can communicate with state bodies via e-mail.

According Baghdasaryan, the new governance system will reduce
corruption risks and eliminate red tape.

However, exchange of official documentation via electronic means of
communication requires due level of protection and security. Draft laws
on "Information Databases" and on the "Personal Data Protection" will
be elaborated and submitted to the RA government to address the need.

***

Data security is also one of the concerns which Microsoft is pitching
as a justification for submitting a program to combat software piracy
in Armenia to the relevant government bodies. The director of Microsoft
office in Armenia Grigor Barseghyan told PanArmenian.net that Microsoft
losses are estimated to be as much as $50 million US in the Armenian
market, which also translates to lost taxes for the state.

"Serious discussions were triggered around the program in the Ministry
of Economy, which resulted in a decision by Prime Minister to set up
a related inter-ministerial commission," Mr. Barseghyan said.

According to him, the commission will examine the problems in
legislation, issues of international cooperation and protection of
the rights of Armenian developers.

Pirated software also presents serious challenges to data security,
according to the director of Microsoft in Armenia. "Hacker attacks
are often possible because of unlicensed software use. That is why the
government should become an example of the use of licensed programs,"
Barsegyan insisted. Microsoft possesses data, according to which
only 30 percent of computers in state institutions have licensed
software installed.

680 SPECIAL SERVANTS OF ARMENIA TO BE TRAINED IN 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 19:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Government of Armenia on February 4 meeting
adopted a resolution On state order for 2010 for retraining and
acquisition of services for special education of special servants of
the RA Ministry of Justice".

According to the Prosecutor General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepyan,
in the current year 680 special servants will be retrained and 703
special servants will pass special courses.