Author: Vanyan Gary

MARKING THE COMMANDER’S ANNIVERSARY

A1+
[07:44 pm] 03 March, 2009

On March 5 at 9 a.m. a visit to the military institute named after
RA Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan will take place on March 5 at 9
a.m. on the sidelines of the events dedicated to the 50th anniversary
of Armenian prominent military figure, sparapet (commander) Vazgen
Sargsyan.

On the same day at 10 a.m. wreaths will be placed near the tomb of
Vazgen Sargsyan at the "Yerablur" military cemetery and at 10:30
a.m. near the bust of V. Sargsyan on Vazgen Sargsyan Street.

At 7 p.m. a concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Vazgen
Sargsyan will take place at the Karen Demirchyan sport/concert complex.

On March 3, 4 and 5 events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Vazgen
Sargsyan will take place in schools and military unites nation-wide,
according to the press release of the Defense Ministry.

RA MP PREDICTS A TOUGH YEAR FOR ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2009 19:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The predictions of the opposition regarding the
heavy consequences of the financial crisis for Armenia are unreal
and have no grounds, head of Financial and Credit Committee of the
Armenian National Assembly, member of ruling Republican Party of
Armenia, Gagik Minasyan said during today’s debates with the member
of Heritage opposing party Vardan Khachatryan.

According to Gagik Minasyan, owing to the coordinated work carried
by the government, the first stage of the financial crisis was not
so painful and went rather smoothly and mildly for Armenia compared
with other countries. But he added that 2009 is going to be tough and
there can be no doubt about it, although there exist several mechanisms
that can help overcome the crisis more easily. "They are the slight
pressure on the price increase, the policy of the government to
encourage local manufacturers, and the 70 billion AMD provision in
the Central Bank of Armenia," he said.

Anyway, Vardan Khachatryan disagreed with the statement that the crisis
in Armenia is going to be "smooth and mild." As he said, it is obvious
that the first stage of the crisis is latent and almost invisible.

"We are now nearing a hard stage, and it can only be overcome through
a clever implementation of the above mentioned mechanisms," he added.

Speaking of price boost on utility services Gagik Minasyan emphasized
that the tariff increase runs in parallel with market price
decrease. He also reminded that "last year ended with a 5.2% rise in
prices, whereas in CIS countries this quotient was more than 10%."

"The third stage of the crisis is going to be the toughest,we can
say we are experiencing the crisis peak and it will only be possible
to fully restore the world economy and come back to a pre-crisis
situation," Gagik Minasyan added.

Gagik Minasyan also dwelled on customs tax increase from 5 to 15%. In
his opinion, this policy will encourage local manufacturers and,
respectively, promote new job opportunities creation.

INECOBANK BECOMES MEMBER OF NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA

ARKA
Feb 27, 2009

YEREVAN, February 27. /ARKA/. Inecobank of Armenia became member
of NASDAQ OMX Armenia on February 26, Marketing and Communications
Director of NASDAQ OMX Armenia Ruzanna Sargsyan reported.

The membership will give the bank an opportunity to effect stock
exchange transactions through all the instruments available at NASDAQ
OMX Armenia, including corporate securities listed and admitted for
exchange auctions, government bonds, REPO-agreements and foreign
exchange, Sargsyan reported.

Inecobank closed joint stock company was registered on February
7, 1996.

Currently it provides the whole range of banking services through
its headoffice and bracnhes in Yerevan and in four regions of Armenia.

The biggest stockholders of Inecobank are member of KfW group DEG
company ( Deutsche Investititions-und Entwicklunsgesellschaft mbH)
with 13.5% and the International Financial Corporation with 10%.

The remaining shares are held by private individual residents of
Armenia.

Total capital of Inecobank was about 8.4bln Drams at the end of 2008;
total assets exceeded 44.3bln Drams.

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world’s largest exchange company. It
delivers trading, exchange technology services across the world. With
over 3,900 companies, it is number one in worldwide listings among
major markets.

NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 60 exchanges,
clearing organizations and central securities depositorie s in more
than 50 countries.

In January 2008, Nordic exchange operator OMX Group acquired 100%
of shares of the Armenian Stock Exchange (Armex) and the Central
Depository of Armenia (CDA). After the combination of NASDAQ and OMX
in March 2008, Armex and CDA have become fully owned by the NASDAQ
OMX Group, Inc.

On January 27 2009 Armenian Stock Exchange open joint stock company was
officially renamed as NASDAQ OMX Armenia open joint stock company. -0–

VARDGES GASPAR RELEASED

A1+
[06:50 pm] 27 February, 2009

Iranian Armenian Vardges Gaspar, charged with violence against
a government representative during the events of March 1, was
released after the Court of Appeals changed the restraint-arrest. >
Vardges Gaspar was Ter-Petrosyan’s proxy during a February 19, 2008,
Presidential election. Let’s remind that Vardges Gaspar was found
guilty relying on police testimony. He has been in custody for a year.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM-INSTITUTE (AGMI) ORGANIZES EVENTS DEVOTED TO 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FILM ‘AUCTION OF SOULS’ OR ‘MEMORIAL OF TRUTH’

ArmInfo
2009-02-26 17:02:00

ArmInfo. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the "Ravished
Armenia", the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) has issued
a memorial postcard and has created an on-line exhibition at

"Ravished Armenia", one of the first documentary memoirs of an
eyewitness of Armenian Genocide was published in 1918, in New York. In
this book Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian, a girl from Chmshkatsag,
Armenian populated town in the Ottoman Empire, gave a detailed account
of the terrible experiences she endured during the deportations. At
the age of fourteen Arshaluys was beaten and tortured in harems of
Turkish officials and Kurdish tribesmen.

The book "Ravished Armenia" was completed when American Committee
for Armenian and Syrian Relief offered to create a film based on
the scenario of the book and all the profit, which later on reached
$30 million, would be given to 60.000 Armenian orphans in the Near
East for relief purposes. In 1918, at Metro Goldwin Mayer studio,
director Oscar Apfel made "Auction of Souls" silent film, which
actually became not only the first movie on the Armenian genocide,
but also the first genocide movie ever made. More than 10.000 Armenian
residents of Southern California, including 200 deported children,
participated in the scenes.

The premiere of the "Auction of Souls" was held on February 16, 1919,
in Plaza Hotel, New York under the auspices of Oliver Harriman and
George Vanderbilt, members of American Committee for Armenian and
Syrian Relief.

The film was shown in large cities of 23 U.S. states, in several
countries of Latin America, including Mexico and Cuba. It was a
success everywhere and was estimated as "epoch-making film".

The "Auction of Souls" was taken to Great Britain in December, 1919,
and censured. After long lasting negotiations the film was shown in
Royal Albert Hall, by the permission of Scotland Yard and played for
three weeks. At the beginning of 1920s Mardiganian’s "Ravished Armenia"
was censured and taken off the British and American libraries.

For over eighty years film historians have been searching the world for
the nine reels of Ravished Armenia but failed to find any trace. The
remaining reels of the rare nitrate based film were lost. Some say the
reels presumably sunk with a ship on their way to the port of Batoum,
Georgia, or stolen by thieves. The full-length version of the film,
which lasting 85 minutes, unfortunately, hasn’t been saved.

With the efforts of Eduard Gozanlian, an Armenian from Argentina,
a 20 minute segment of the reel was found in 1994. One copy of that
segment is kept in the funds of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. The
film included English, French and Armenian subtitles for every
scene. The list of the original subtitles for Ravished Armenia is
preserved in The Selig Collection at the Margaret Herrick Library
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They are also
reproduced in Anthony Slide’s book "Ravished Armenia and the Story
of Aurora Mardiganian". This book was published by Scarecrow Press
in 1997. It tells the story of the making of the film and reveals
the young girl’s survival story.

EXPERT: NATIONAL APPROACH NEEDED TO MITIGATE ECONOMIC CRISIS EFFECTS ON ARMENIA

ARKA
Feb 26, 2009

YEREVAN, February 26. /ARKA/. A non-standard national approach needs
to be taken to mitigate the consequences of the economic crisis in
Armenia, PhD in economy professor Tatul Manaseryan said.

The approach should consider national peculiarities of the country
and even special features of its regions, Manaseryan said.

"The West is experiencing not only a financial and an economic crisis,
but also a crisis of liberal economy concept. That is why all the
Western models of overcoming economic crisis do not hold anymore,"
he said.

According to the economist, the crisis will be even more continuous
in Armenia if no national concept is developed.

Turning Jermuk into a regional resort center may be one of the first
steps in this direction, Manaseryan said. It would also be reasonable
to turn Biurakan into a regional scientific and tourist center,
the economist said.

ACTIVITY TERM OF AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON EVENTS OCCURRED ON 1 MARCH EXTENDED UP TO SEPTEMBER 15

Noyan Tapan

F eb 24, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. By RA National Assembly’s February
24 decision, an amendment was made to the decision On Establishing NA
Ad-hoc Committee on the Events Occurred on 2008 1-2 March in Yerevan
and Their Reasons. Thus, Committee’s activity term was extended up
to September 15.

According to the motivation of the political coalition representatives
authoring the draft decision, the term extension is due to
the necessity to make Committee’s conclusion more complete. The
Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction did not take part in decision’s voting
with the motivation that the proposal to extend Committee’s activity
term is not grounded.

Conversebank of Armenia to hold joint action with Money Gram on March 1
` April 7

YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. Conversebank of Armenia is to hold a
joint action with Money Gram international payment system.

Clients are to get three presents while receiving remittances through
Money Gram in any of Conversebank’s branches in the period from March 1
to April 7, the bank reported.

Conversebank joined Money Gram system on December 2, 2008.
`’Conversebank” Closed Joint Stock Company was registered on December
20 1993. Since February 2007 Argentinean businessman of Armenian origin
Eduardo Ernekian has been holding 95% of the bank’s shares. Armenian
Apostolic Church owns the remaining 5%. Conversebank has 25 branches,
including eight branches in Yerevan.

By the end of December 2008, the bank’s assets had totalled 71.9bln
Drams, liabilities 58.7bln Drams, total capital ` 13.1bln Drams, credit
investments ` 44.1bln Drams. Profit after tax was 2.1bln Dramas for the
year 2008. ($1=305.41Drams). N.V. `0–

THEY ARE EVEN READY FOR A REJECTION

A1+
[04:08 pm] 19 February, 2009

"Let them reject it. But they should at least tell us that they are
not going to solve our issue and we will know who to appeal to,"
said residents of the Northern and Main avenues who held a protest
in front of the government building today. They say that they are
even ready to hear a rejection as long as they get some response.

As last week, police officers once again prohibited protesters
from standing in the front yard of the government building and the
protesters were forced to cross the street. They stood there whistling
and screaming "Prime Minister".

Police officers demanded protesters to stop whistling, saying that
it was disrespectful. But the protesters gave their explanation:

"As if not letting us hold a peaceful protest in front of the
government building wasn’t enough, now they tell us to stop
whistling. We’re whistling so that the prime minister will at
least hear that we are still complaining and that our issue remains
unsolved."

The demonstrators told "A1+" that nothing is being done and they would
like to hear the rejection of the government officials so that they
can move on to the next levels.

In fact, demonstrators have sent an appeal/letter to Ombudsman Armen
Harutyunyan telling him that they are prohibited to hold peaceful
demonstration in front of the government building and are waiting
for a response from him.

ARMENIA STILL NEEDS A LOT TO BE DONE

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.02.2009 14:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ To integrate into European structures, Armenia
still needs a lot to be done, particularly concerning good governance,
the fight against corruption and the independence of the judiciary,
a European official said.

"The Commission will soon deploy high level experts through the
EU Advisory Group to assist the Armenian administration in their
reform efforts. These reforms are essential to help Armenia draw the
advantages of a closer relationship with the EU," Head of the European
Commission Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Raul de Luzenberger said
in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"The implementation of the Eastern Partnership will provide
opportunities to intensify significantly our joint work in particular
as regards Armenian efforts towards strengthening democratic
structures, economic reforms and regulatory approximation," he said.