Author: Tvankchian Parkev

GREEK ORTHODOX AND ARMENIAN MONKS TRADE BLOWS AT CHURCH OF HOLY SEPULCHRE

Digital Journal
November 9, 2008 Sunday 6:53 PM EST

Nov. 9, 2008 (Digital Journal delivered by Newstex) — At the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, Israeli police had to rush to the scene as a
mass fight broke out between the Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks.At
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Christs
crucifixion, Israeli police had to arrive to break up the fighting
between the Armenian monks and the Greek Orthodox monks.Two of the
Greek Orthodox and two of the Armenian monks were detained. However,
many more Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks continued to fight it out
with each other. The Armenians were preparing for the annual Feast of
the Cross.However, this is not the first time that the Greek Orthodox
and Armenian monks have physically clashed with each other. These
two groups of monks have clashed with each other at this location
on several occasions.Back in April of this year, the Greek Orthodox
and Armenian monks were fighting it out. It is not uncommon to see
these two groups to physically fight it out at this location. This
recent incident is just one of many.There could possibly be more
of these fist fights in the future.Back in late-December of 2007,
Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks fought at Bethlehems Church of
Nativity. Palestinian police had to break up that fight.

PROGRAMME ON DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS STARTS IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2008-11-10 13:39:00

ArmInfo. A programme on development of business skills among students
starts in Armenia supported by ‘ArmenTel’, British Council, as well
as the Ministry of Science and Education of Armenia. As the Public
Relations Service of the British Council told ArmInfo, about 100
students of the State college of informatics of Armenia , divided
into groups, will perform a task prepared by "ArmenTel" Company. The
employees of "ArmenTel" will help the teams, the best of which,
selected by the jury after three rounds, will take part in the final of
the contest to be held in December. The winners of the final stage will
leave for Bulgaria to participate in the international competition in
February, 2009. The jury will include Director General of ‘ArmenTel’
Neicho Velichkov, Chairman of Armenia’s Central Bank Artur Javadyan,
permanent representative of IMF to Armenia Nienke Oomes, ambassador
of the United Kingdom to Armenia, as well as Head of the Department
of Special and Preparatory Special Education of the Education and
Science Ministry of Armenia Artak Agbalyan.

Armenian DM: Armenian side is doing its best for return of Armenian
soldier Parouyr Simonyan held captive by Azeri side

2008-11-08 13:35:00

ArmInfo. The Armenian side is doing its best for return of Armenian
soldier Parouyr Simonyan held captive by the Azeri side, Defense
Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan said during a press-conference
today. He pointed out that the Azeri side also had one POW.

Asked if it was true that the Azeri POW, Rafig Gasanov, did not want to
go back to Azerbaijan, Ohanyan said that he had actually expressed such
a wish.

To remind, Simonyan was taken captive on May 25 2008, Gasanov – on Oct
8 2008.

DASHNAKTSUTYUN CRITICIZES THE MOSCOW DECLARATION

Lragir.am
17:43:31 – 08/11/2008

The next president of the United States Barack Obama has committed to
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which allows stating
that his policy will be aimed at the recognition of the
self-determination of Karabakh, thinks Kiro Manoyan, the head of the
ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau office of political affairs and hay dat, who
was hosted at the De Facto press club in November 8 for a debate with
the political scientist Hmayak Hovanisyan. At the same time, Kiro
Manoyan said that policy of Obama may be successful. `If no forces try
to instrumentalize the issue of Karabakh for their interests,’ he added.

In this connection, Kiro Manoyan mentioned the declaration of Moscow
which the presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed on
November 2. According to the representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun,
there are several worrying things about the declaration: the signature
of Karabakh is absent, the declaration is not legally binding to turn
the point about the peace settlement into an imperative, and the
principles of Madrid are approved. All these make the declaration
unacceptable for Kiro Manoyan, and although he says that the absence of
a point on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is positive, the
Moscow declaration does not proceed from the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict but aims to increase the influence of Russia in the region.
According to Kiro Manoyan, the presidents of both Armenia and
Azerbaijan have signed the declaration because they do not mind the
increasing influence of Russia in the region.

Kiro Manoyan says an imitation of the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict is possible, but it will foster the improvement of the
Armenian-Turkish or Armenian-Azerbaijani relations rather than the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Kiro Manoyan thinks the Russian
initiative is actually a step towards the status quo, and Kiro Manoyan
says the status quo is favorable for us. He says the next U.S.
president Obama will not be against the influence of Russia because
actually he will not follow the Bush administration which tried to oust
Russia from the region.

The political scientist Hmayak Hovanisyan thinks the Moscow declaration
itself is not dangerous for Armenia. What is dangerous, according to
the political scientist, is the process of settlement which displays a
non-pro-Armenian tendency. Hmayak Hovanisyan says for years Armenia has
built its diplomacy regarding the settlement of the Karabakh issue on
Azerbajan’s negationism, that is Armenia accepted any proposal that the
OSCE Minsk Group offered, expecting Azerbaijan to reject it. Meanwhile,
the political scientist thinks by rejecting Azerbaijan has taken a
track which favors it, when the co-chairs reduce the amount of
compromise by Azerbaijan and increase the amount of compromise by
Armenia.

Hmayak Hovanisyan says there is no international guarantee of security
of Karabakh unless the Armenian force controls the liberated
territories. The political scientist says history shows the relativity
of international guarantees, and if we cede territories, it will be too
difficult to guarantee the security of Karabakh and Armenia in terms of
increasing the physical and material resource of Karabakh and Armenia.
Hmayak Hovanisyan says a war, launched by Azerbaijan, not by us,
ensured the natural border of division of nations essential to security
and peace, and the one who violates it should think that thereby they
shatter the basis of peace and stability.

At the same time, both Kiro Manoyan and Hmayak Hovanisyan are convinced
that in 14 years Armenia has not used the status quo effectively, has
failed to populate the liberated territories. For instance, if we had a
population of half a million in Karabakh, Kiro Manoyan says, the
position of Armenia in the talks would be quite different.

By the way, Kiro Manoyan said in the current situation the voice of
Artsakh should be heard. In this connection, he noticed an essential
controversy between the responses of the foreign minister and the
minister of defense of Karabakh but noted that as the foreign minister
of Karabakh stated, if Azerbaijan wants to settle the conflict, it must
negotiate with Karabakh.

THE START OF DIALOGUE ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS A WINDOW OF HOPE FOR THE ENTIRE REGION, PACE PRESIDENT

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
November 4, 2008 Tuesday

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Lluis
Maria de Puig has welcomed recent Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks held
in Moscow.

I wish to congratulate Presidents Aliyev and Sarksyan, and President
Medvedev, Enhanced Coverage LinkingPresident Medvedev, -Search using:
Biographies Plus News News, Most Recent 60 Days who facilitated the
meeting, on their commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The start of this dialogue, which will
be followed by intensified diplomatic efforts and the promotion of a
series of confidence-building measures, is a window of hope for the
entire region, said the President.

Lluis Maria de Puig said the Assembly has worked relentlessly over
the past 15 years to bring about a political solution to the conflict
in compliance with international standards and principles and the
commitments which the two states made upon joining the Council
of Europe.

Such a solution is now closer than ever, he added.

According to him, the Parliamentary Assembly stands ready to help
the Parliaments of Armenia and Azerbaijan in all their efforts so
that the process just started proves successful.

OSCE MINSK GROUP: "THE MEETING OF PRESIDENTS ALIYEV AND SARGSYAN IN MOSCOW CONFIRMED THEIR CONSTRUCTIVENESS"

Today.Az
az/news/politics/48819.html
Nov 7 2008
Azerbaijan

"The Moscow meeting of the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
last weekend gives grounds for optimism", said co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk group Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and
Matthew Bryza (the United States) by results of their speech with
the OSCE special representative on Nagorno Karanakh Anzhey Kaspshik
in front of the OSCE permanent council in Vienna.

"There are personal and objective factors in the region, which give
grounds for the the co-chairs to be carefully optimistic", said
Matthew Bryza.

"As for the personal factors, the meeting of Presidents Aliyev and
Sargsyan in Moscow on November 2 proved the constructiveness of their
first meeting in Saint-Petersburg in June of the last year.

This spirit of constructiveness allowed them to sign the first
declaration on Nagorno Karabakh", Bernard Fassier supported the
counterpart, adding that the discussions between Ankara and Yerevan
can also be added to the list of positive factors.

According to the OSCE press service, the objective factors should
include changes in some aspects since the war in South Ossetia.

The co-chairs said Armenia felt the vulnerability of the ways of its
export and import via Georgia, while Azerbaijan felt vulnerability
of energy corridor via Georgia.

Yuri Merzlyakov reminded that "the Moscow meeting, though prepared
long before its conduction by the bilateral channels Russia-Armenia
and Russia-Azerbaijan, is nevertheless in the framework of the Minsk
Group countries efforts on mediation in the negotiations".

Anzhey Kaspshik reminded that 25 people died this year at the front
of the Karabakh conflict and noted that such incidents cause a great
damage to the process of peaceful solution.

The Minsk Group co-chairs also announced the plans to visit the region
before the session of the OSCE Minsk Group in Helsinki, planned for
December 4-5.

They promise to work with the conflict parties to fix the recently
achieved positive impulse and try to find a mutually profitable for
settlement of the remaining differences between the parties.

OBAMA’S SYMPATHY TOWARDS ARMENIAN, KURDISH LOBBY CAN HARM US-TURKEY TIES

TREND
Nov 7 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 November/ TrendNews, corr B. Hasanov/ If Barack
Obama’s pro-Armenian position he demonstrated during election campaign
and his sympathy for Kurds influences his political decisions during
his presidency, it can harm US-Turkey relations to a great extent.

"During Obama’s term of office, serious contradictions can appear in
foreign policy of the United States and Turkey," well-known Turkish
expert Husnu Mahalli said to TrendNews by telephone from Istanbul.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has sent a congratulatory letter to the
newly-elected US president Barack Obama. In his letter, Gul expressed
his hope that US-Turkey ties will strengthen, CNNTURK reported.

Turkey-US ties strengthened after World War II. During cold war, Turkey
became one of the major allies of the Unites States in a fight against
enlargement of the Soviet Union and socialist bloc to West. At that
time, US rendered economic and military assistance to Turkey. Instead,
Turkey took part in the Armed Forces in Korean war in 1950-1953. In
1952, Turkey was admitted to NATO, military wing of Western bloc led
by US. In 1954, Turkey permitted US to build Injirlik military base
in its territory. This base played a great role during cold war,
first war in the Gulf and the Iraqi war.

In 1980s and 1990s, Turkey-US relations further enhanced and in 1991
Turkey supported US to a great extent in the first Gulf war. However,
so-called claim of "Armenian genocide" that appeared during these
years caused political tension in US-Turkey relations. When US wanted
to use Turkish territory for intervention into Iraq in 2003, Turkey
answered in the negative which evoked a big tension between the two
countries. However, there has been a thaw in Turkey-US relations
since 2007. Kurdish Labor Party and so-called Armenian genocide are
the most vulnerable issues in Turkey-US ties.

Turkey is concerned over certain statements made by US President
barrack Obama during election campaign. In particular, Turkey is
concerned over Obama’s pro-Armenian approach to the issue of "Armenian
genocide". Mehelli said there is a reason for concerns. "During
election campaign Obama said he recognizes "Armenian genocide" and
gave consent in a written form that he will raise this question in
the Congress.

Obama’s Political position does not coincide with that of Turkey
not only is the issue of genocide, but also in the issue of Kurds,
he said. Mehelli attributed Obama’s different position to the people
around him. "Vice President Joseph Biden has good relations with
Armenian lobby and has a great sympathy for Kurds. His position can
cause problems in US-Turkey relations in future," Mehelli said.

Shanli Bahadir Koch, Strategic Studies Center for the United States
said Obama’s attitude towards Armenian and Kurdish lobby can lead
to a political tension between then two countries. The most alarming
issue is Obama’s position towards the so-called "genocide". There are
some alarming points in Obama’s position towards Kurds as well. If
Obama pulls out US troops from Iraq in a short-term period as he
promised, in order to hinder Turkey to intervene into North Iraq, he
will demand Turkey to recognize Kurdish administration in Iraq and
establish good relations. Excluding "genocide" and issue of Kurds,
there are many points in Obama’s foreign policy coinciding with that of
Turkey. "Obama’s efforts to solve Near East and Iraq problems through
dialogue fully coincide with the political position of Turkey, Koch
said to TrendNews by telephone from Ankara.

European expert Svante Cornell believes that Obama’s foreign policy
line will depend on a team he will choose. "One can analyze Obama’s
foreign policy after he appoints the secretaries of departments,"
Kornel said to TrendNews by telephone from Stokholm. He said US
presidential candidates always make such statements during election
campaign. However, they act on the base of realities after they
assume office.

Newly-elected US President Barack Obama will assume office on 20
January 2009.

NO NEWSPAPER COMES OUT IN GYUMRI

A1+
[12:52 pm] 07 November, 2008

It is three months no newspaper has come out in the city of Gyumri. In
the result of the recent Georgian-Ossetian conflict printing-presses
stand idle. Because of the war no paper has been imported to Armenian
for three months. Small publishing houses face crisis as they have
no paper stored.

Six regional newspapers are printed in Gyumri’s publishing house. Some
of them haven’t come out for three months. Others are printed in
Yerevan and sold to Gyumri citizens at new prices. The publishing
house once bought a kilo of paper at 360 drams. Today they pay 408
drams for a kilo of paper. Some weekly newspapers printed in Yerevan
are already sold at 150 drams. The price of others has remained the
same as the owners don’t want to lose their readers. The rise in prices
directly affects the finances of publishing house, newspaper sellers,
editorial office and finally readers.

HEYDAR ALIYEV STREET OPENS IN ANKARA

Today.Az
/48803.html
Nov 6 2008
Azerbaijan

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev continues his visit to Turkey.

Day.Az reports with reference to ANS-Press that today President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the opening ceremony of Heydar Aliyev
street in Ankara.

Along with Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva, the ceremony
was also attended by Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Hilmi Guler, his spouse Mehtap Guler, chairman of the Boyuksheher
municipality of Ankara Melik Gokchek, head of the Yenimehelle
municipality Ahmed Duyar.

Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyev visited Heydar Aliyev’s
park and put flowers to H.Aliyev’s memorial. The head of the
state further visited Heydar Aliyev’s school, locating in the same
street. Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva visited the classes and
talked to the teachers and pupils.

————— 16:46

President of Turkey Abdullah Gul stated at the reception in Ankara
arranged in the honor of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev that he
is glad that President of Azerbaijan paid his first visit to Turkey
after his reelection, reports Day.Az with reference to the official
website of the presidential administration of Turkey.

The Turkish President congratulated Ilham Aliyev with the reelection
as a President. He noted that after gaining independence Azerbaijan won
respect in the world for its stable and attentive policy and noted that
"for this reason we recall late Heydar Aliyev". "He showed the best
direction for Azerbaijan and featured the relations between the two
countries by the phrase "one nation, two states", said Gul noting
that under Ilham Aliyev’s leadership the country attained even a
greater progress.

President of Turkey noted that after the recent events in the Caucasus
Azerbaijan and Turkey are making great efforts to establish peace
and stability in the region.

Recalling that Azerbaijan provided the strongest support to the
Caucasus Stability and Security Platform. Gul stressed the need to
settle the Karabakh problem in the framework of the legal norms and
under the UN principles.

Stating the creation of a new climate of mutual meetings, Gul
continued: "We hope and believe that all problems will be settled
in this wonderful climate and all countries will further cooperate
with each others". In the end of his speech the Turkish President
noted that Azerbaijan and Turkey has similar thoughts and demonstrate
solidarity in all issue.

————– 16:00

Day.Az reports with reference to Turkish Anadolu news agency that
speaking in the parliament of Turkey President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev said regarding the resolution of the Karabakh conflict that
Azerbaijanis, which were forced to flee their homes during war,
must return to Nagorno Karabakh before discussing the future status
of this occupied land.

He noted that the biggest problem of the South Caucasus is Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. "Azerbaijani lands have been under Armenian
occupation for about 20 years. Over 1,000,000 Azerbaijanis were
obliged to flee their homes and turned into refugees.

Armenia ignores the resolutions of the UN Security Council on the
liberation of the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. We hope that the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored. For this purpose
it is necessary to put a political pressure on Armenia", announced he.

He noted that the unsettled conflict raises tensions in the region. The
President of Azerbaijan voiced satisfaction with Turkey’s approach
to their said problem.

He said Azerbaijani-Turkish relations are on the highest level
today. The President announced that Azerbaijan is getting stronger day
by day. "We have a political will and friends for this purpose. The
number of our friends is growing. But among them Turkey has a special
place".

————- 15:22

"Joint efforts of Turkey and Azerbaijan are a stability factor in
the region", said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, according
to Novosti-Azerbaijan.

"Implementation of any project either political of economic one is
impossible without our participation and consent. Energy and transport
projects, which are important both for the region and the entire world,
are successfully implemented by our initiative", he said yesterday
speaking at a reception in Ankara, organized by Turkish President
Abdullah Gul in honor of the President of Azerbaijan.

The head of the state announced that the ties between Turkey and
Azerbaijan cover all spheres and "we enjoy success in all of them".

"Our joint initiatives in the political, economic, energy and transport
spheres strengthen our countries in separate and at the same time
raise the cooperation between the countries to quite a new level of
development and lead to strengthening of stability in the region",
said Aliyev.

He noted that the success of both countries is backed my mutual
respect, will of the people of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"Turkey always supported Azerbaijan in its hard times. But today
Azerbaijan has become stronger and is able to contribute to the
bilateral relations", noted he.

The President also highly appreciated Turkey’s role in restoration
of peace in the Caucasus, "we welcome and support this".

"We have already seen the first results of Turkey’s initiative
of Caucasus Cooperation and Security Platform. We hope that
this initiative will lead to the peaceful resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh", said Aliyev
adding that on the whole "the initiatives of Turkey and Azerbaijan
are aimed only at cooperation".

DARCHINYAN ARRIVES HOME; WANTS MORE WORLD TITLES
By Paul Upham in Sydney

SecondsOut
Nov 5 2008

Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan returned home to Australia on Wednesday
morning after his history making win over Cristian Mijares on Saturday
night in Los Angeles. The 32 year-old, who now holds the WBC, WBA and
IBF belts at 115lbs, promptly declared that he wants to win even more
boxing world titles.

"I would love to fight Fernando Montiel for his WBO title," he
said. "We are hearing that he wants to move up. If he can wait,
that would be better, because then he can give me his belt after I
beat him."

The Armenia born Australian citizen demolished his Mexican rival in
nine rounds, which included two knockdowns, televised in the USA on
Showtime. Darchinyan 31-1-1 (25) was greeted at Sydney International
Airport by his family, friends and a large contingent of media.

"I am very happy to see all the cameras and the media here," smiled
Darchinyan. "I remember being here at the airport seven years ago when
Kostya Tszyu became undisputed champion of the world after beating
Zab Judah. There were so many people here that day, lots and lots
of media. Back then I knew my time would come. Thank you to God and
to all the people around me. My family and my team. I did it. We did
it together."

Arriving at 8:30am on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles,
Darchinyan was carrying his IBF belt that he previously held and
hopes to have his new WBC and WBA championship belts that he won from
Mijares delivered to him in the next ten days.

"I am very happy," he said. "It is great to be back with my family,
my son Ruben. I can’t say in words how happy I am. I think it is the
best win for me so far. I trained hard. Best performance? I think
so. It was something new again. I couldn’t sleep the night before the
fight. I had a tooth problem. But still, I am very happy. I did exactly
what I was supposed to do. Focus on the fight. Use my jab. I was happy
with my performance. I feel that I can do much better. I thought my
jab was not fast enough. I think I can give more and I will do it."

Manager Elias Nasser revealed that negotiations are already underway
for Darchinyan’s next fight. While Showtime have suggested a March
2009 date on a Gary Shaw promoted double-header, also featuring
light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, Nasser said that there is
now interest in Darchinyan from other television networks.

"There have been talks about a fight with Jorge Arce," said Nasser. "We
are hoping we can do a deal by Friday."

"I want to fight Jorge Arce," added Darchinyan. "I also want to move up
in weight and fight Israel Vazquez. I want to fight world champions,
the best in the world. I can fight in any weight division. I will
bring my power to every fight."

While he appeared tired from the long fifteen-hour flight, Darchinyan
is looking forward to a well-deserved party.

"Today I want to celebrate and enjoy with my family," he said. "I
want to rest, then in the New Year, we will have another big fight
coming. With my manager Elias, I want only to fight for new world
titles. I don’t want to just defend. In boxing now, I am thinking a
different way. I am not sitting watching my titles. I want to fight for
more world titles. I want to get bigger and fight higher in weight."