Author: Vardanian Garo

NOR HACHN FORMER MAYOR SENTENCED TO 3.5 YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT

Noyan Tapan
Oct 26 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. By the October 26 decision of
first instance court of Kotayk region, former Nor Hachn Mayor, Armen
Keshishian was recognized guilty of murdering head of Arzni power
station, Ashot Mkhitarian, on 2005 September 24 and was sentenced to
imprisonment of 3 years and 6 months.

The case was brought to court with the qualification of "murder
committed in aggravating circumstances, in a way dangerous for many
people." However, Kotayk region Prosecutor Grigor Mikayelian, defending
the prosecution at the court, taking as a basis the materials acquired
during the examination, in particular, the conclusion of the forensic
expertise, requalified the action as a murder committed in the state
of great psychical agitation. According to the conclusion of the
National Expertise Center specialists, at the moment of the action the
defendant was in the state of psychical agitation. The court considered
it proved that in the period preceding the incident the defendant had
been repeatedly exposed by threats, insults, violence by the victim.

THE BIG HITTERS MAKE A STAND – BABAKHAN MP BID
By Neil Keene

The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
October 25, 2006 Wednesday
Newcastle Edition

THE Liberal party looks set to fight fire with fire in Newcastle
in next year’s state election, with its own high-profile candidate
poised to take on TV celebrity and ALP frontwoman Jodi McKay.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal University of Newcastle lecturer and
outspoken meteorologist Martin Babakhan is preparing to run for the
party, if he can win preselection from the Newcastle branch.

Armenian-born Mr Babakhan, who emigrated to Australia in 1967, would
not confirm or deny his interest in state politics yesterday.

But his ambitions are well-known within the party’s Hunter ranks.

Mr Babakhan would face a monumental struggle to overcome the Labor
stronghold and to divert surging interest in Lord Mayor John Tate,
who is running as an independent candidate.

He must also win preselection ahead of Newcastle branch president
James Herrington.

However, the 63-year-old is well placed to give his opponents a run
for their money.

Mr Babakhan already enjoys a high public profile in the city thanks
to regular radio, television and newspaper appearances and could win
green votes with his knowledge and passion for the environment.

He is also a skilled political campaigner, having run for Newcastle
Council in the Citizens Group in a 2002 by-election.

He lost that race to Ward Four councillor Sonia Hornery, but has had
the past four years to hone his strategies.

Mr Babakhan told The Daily Telegraph that with the "soap opera"
surrounding the ALP’s installation of former newsreader Ms McKay,
the time was right for a stronger Liberal presence in the city.

"At the end of the day, we need Newcastle to prosper," he said.

"We have ports, we have energy, we have everything going for us,
but since the Olympics most of the money has been spent in Sydney."

Mr Babakhan suggested even if Mr Tate won office, the city would be
no better off.

"Whether it’s Tate or Jodi McKay, it doesn’t matter which one it is,
they will still head towards Labor," he said.

"That is not going to do the city justice."

Colleen Hodges, a Liberal party veteran and delegate to the party’s
state council, backed Mr Babakhan’s push into the state arena.

"He is a very good candidate," she said.

Preselection should take place next month.

ARMENIA, MAYBE, NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF WRESTLING TO BE HELD IN BAKU

Noyan Tapan
Oct 25 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Trainers of the juvenile, youth
and national teams of free-style wrestling presented reports on
October 24 at the RA Sports State Committee. Armenian wretslers’
competitions-performances were given satisfatory estimations:
representatives of Armenia won 4 medals of different colours at
the Europe and world championships. Speech of Yuri Alexanian, the
Chairman of the Sports Journalists’ Federation of Armenia, the Press
Secretary of the Sports State Committee, caused active discussion. It
was mentioned during the discussion that purposeful works are not
done in marzes, arsenal of juvenile and young wrestlers’ technical
means is poor and that’s why they are poor in tactical issues. In
the consequence of all these, the national team is completed with
badward wrestlers. There are serious ommissions in the organization
issues as well. The Republican Wrestling Federation does not inform in
time departments of marzes about changes of competition regulations,
refereeing issues of programs, etc. Mikayel Ispirian, the Deputy
Chairman of the Sport State Committee summed up results of the
consultation. He attached importance to the issue of participation
in the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Berjing. It was mentioned
that the 2007 world championship will be held in Baku, in which,
in most probability, Armenia will not be able to participate.

Burbank Leader
October 25, 2006

Finding his roots
An NFL player with an Armenian heritage heads to the homeland.

By Ani Amirkhanian

[photo]
Documentary filmmaker Peter Musurlian displays the video he
produced of NFL player Rien Long finding his roots on a trip to
Armenia. Long is displayed on the screen with Father Der Hovaness,
left, a priest with whom he became acquainted during his 15-day
trip to Armenia. Peter Musurlian can be found toting a video
camera around the cityand documenting people and places for
Burbank TV6, the city’s public-access channel.

But it turns out that Musurlian’s camera isn’t only trained on city
doings. He’s got a larger field of view.

Musurlian, 44, the senior producer and station manager for Burbank’s
public access channel, is also a documentary filmmaker.

He recently finished his first documentary film, "The Long Journey
from the NFL to Armenia," which he produced, directed and submitted to
the Arpa International Film Festival ‘ a three-day, Los Angeles-based
festival of film screenings that explore issues of diaspora, exile and
multiculturalism.

In his film, Musurlian documents the journey of Rien Long, a
25-year-old defensive lineman for the Tennessee Titans, on his trip to
Armenia in search of his roots.

"I’d been studying the idea of going to Armenia," said Musurlian, a
Glendale resident. "In the 1960s, everybody wanted to go back to the
homeland. That was the dream. Now it’s a reality."

The Wisconsin-born Musurlian, who is of Armenian descent and the
grandson of genocide survivors, learned about Long after his friend
and co-producer, Arbi Ohanian, heard about the Armenian football
player.

"I had no idea who Long was," Musurlian said. "I was not interested in
the first place."

But Musurlian changed his mind about Long after he found out that the
6-foot, 300-pound lineman had always wanted to go to Armenia to learn
about his heritage.

"He had only heard stories during family functions," Musurlian said.
"Long’s great-uncle would talk about Armenia. That was the driving
force in his interest in Armenia."

Musurlian also discovered that Long identified so strongly with his
ancestral roots that he opted to get a tattoo of the Armenian flag on
his right bicep.

He even got a tattoo of a design inspired by an 11th-century Armenian
cathedral on his left arm with his Armenian name, "Vartan," woven into
the design.

Musurlian accompanied Long, his mother and grandmother to Armenia for
15 days in March.

He documented Long’s visits to historical monuments, cathedrals,
schools and points of interest and interviewed Long about his
experience and impressions of the country.

His co-producer Arbi Ohanian went along to provide assistance to Long
and Musurlian.

"I participated mainly by helping out with some of the planning,
guiding the tour through the different locations, being a translator,"
Ohanian said.

"Peter made it very easy for me to participate in this process."

Musurlian hopes the documentary will interest more non-Armenian
audiences.

His goal is for non-Armenian film goers to see the film as much as
Armenians.

"I’m not doing this film just for Armenians," Musurlian said. "I want
to see people’s reactions and I’d like to hear everyone’s response."

The festival films are being shown from Oct. 25 through Oct. 27 at the
Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.

Musurlian’s documentary, "The Long Journey from the NFL to Armenia,"
will be shown on Oct. 26.

For more information, call (323) 663-1882.

ANI AMIRKHANIAN covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3230
or by e-mail at ani.amirkhanianlatimes.com.

http://www.burbanklea der.com/articles/2006/10/25/entertainment/blr-film 25.txt

KAROYIAN SETS ABOUT MODERNISING CYPRIOT RULING PARTY

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 24, 2006 Tuesday 10:49 AM EST

Masis der Parthogh, dpa
Nicosia

DPA POLITICS Cyprus Politics NEWS FEATURE: Karoyian sets about
modernising Cypriot ruling party Masis der Parthogh, dpa Nicosia
The new leader of the ruling centre-right Democratic Party (Diko) of
Cyprus, Marios Karoyian, set about modernisation before presidential
elections in February 2008.

This would seem to demonstrate that party control has been returned
to the members and wrested from Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos.

Backed by the old guard, who set up the party three decades ago,
Karoyian, 45, on Sunday emerged as the third and youngest party
leader from an extraordinary conference where he was challenged only
by deputy leader Nicos Cleanthous. Papadopoulos had stepped down as
party chief in August.

Karoyian, an Armenian Cypriot who rose up the ranks of the party
founded by the late Spyros Kyprianou, father of European Health and
Consumer Affairs Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, won by a surprisingly
wide margin of 62.6 per cent of the party’s voters over 37.4 per cent
for Cleanthous.

Only half of the party’s 14,000 members showed up to vote for their
new leader.

Analysts said this marked an advance to replace old-school politicians
with dynamic young leaders.

The result shocked Cleanthous, who had deputised Tassos Papadopoulos
ever since the latter was elected president of Cyprus in 2003.

"I did not expect the result and I am as much disappointed that only
half the registered party members turned up to vote," Cleanthous said.

This could also explain the disappointment with a leader, who barely
made it to the House of Representatives in the parliamentary election
in May when the party gained new voters and two seats.

In the party elections, Cleanthous only secured a majority in his
hometown of Larnaca while the charismatic Karoyian swept the votes in
all other towns.

Moments after being declared president, Karoyian called for unity
and paid tribute to Spyros Kyprianou’s legacy as well as Tassos
Papadopoulos.

"We will implement the political line of the coalition and move
forward united, through a modernised Democratic Party."

Standing beside the new party leader was Markos Kyprianou and his
brother, Achilleas, both members of the Diko executive council.

Nicholas Papadopoulos, the president’s son, who is a new member of
parliament, was absent from the main panel.

This would indicate the start of a rift within the party that has
long wanted to abandon the three-party coalition with the powerful
communist Akel party and the diminishing socialist Edek in favour of
a coalition of equals with Akel.

Commissioner Kyprianou also seemed to throw his support behind the
young leader, saying times had changed from the days of individual
leaders and an new age of good managers marked by a need for
collectiveness had begun.

Kyprianou is being touted as the coalition candidate for the next
presidential elections when the party will have to decide on either
the young commissioner or the incumbent Papadopoulos.

Whatever the outcome, Diko supporters will be recalled to the next
party conference in March where Karoyian’s leadership will be tested
less than a year after winning his parliamentary seat.

Karoyian was born in 1961 and joined the party’s youth when studying
political science in Perugia, Italy. He served as president of the
Nedik youth movement for six years and joined the party’s central
committee in 1988.

A close aide to the late Spyros Kyprianou, he also served as the
director of the presidential office in parliament, and later moved to

the presidential palace in 2003. That was followed by a stint as a
government spokesperson.

He is married and has a daughter and a son. He speaks Greek, English,
Italian and Spanish.

PYUNIK CAPTURES ARMENIAN CHAMPIONSHIP WITH DYNAMIC DISPLAY

Agence France Presse — English
October 23, 2006 Monday 5:45 PM GMT

Pyunik clinched the Armenian football title on Monday after a
devastating 12-1 win against fellow-Yerevan club Kilikiya.

Teams in the league still have three matches to play in the
championship, but with 64 points Pyunik has an unbeatable lead,
regardless of how the remaining games end.

The runner-up, Yerevan’s Banants club, has only 50 points. In third
place is Mika Ashtarak, with 48 points.

DISCUSSIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
By Karine Danielian

AZG Armenian Daily
24/10/2006

The impacts and conclusions of the Kyoto Protocol were discussed at
the Tekeyan Cultural Association, Yerevan, on October 20. To remind,
this is the European Commission’s regional project.

Armenia joined the Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol
in 1993. Developing countries (Armenia among them) do not have to
meet obligations on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG)
but do have to apply technologies contributing to reduction of
greenhouse gases. It’s expected that the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization’s project on climate change will grant
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova technical assistance for
creation of clean development mechanism (CDM). In accordance with
the government’s decision, the Ministry of Ecology has already set
empowered body to systematize the process of CDM.

The process of creation of the CDM has been launched at Noubarashen
dump in Yerevan. This project of 8 million is financed by the
Japanese. The dump GHG will be accumulated and burnt in gas engines
to generate electricity. For 16 years it’s planned to reduce by 100
thousand tones the emission of methane.

This will not be the only CDM project in Armenia.

Other projects are waiting to be confirmed. For instance, Mika Cement
CJSC will implement the project of reducing emissions during cement
production.

Projects similar to that of Noubarashen are going to be carried out
in the dumps of Gyumri and Vanadzor.

DRAFT DECISION ON CREATING NA AD HOC COMMISSION FOR DISCUSSING ISSUES OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WITHDRAWN FROM AGENDA

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Regular NA four-day session
started on October 23. The four-day session agenda was approved only
at the 2nd working sitting as a result of stormy discussions. The
main objections and questions of MPs related to again placing on the
agenda the legislative package submitted by RA government, "On Property
Alienation for Public and State Needs," without any essential changes
and without taking into consideration the objections made during the
parliamentary hearings. The next disputable bill was RA non-partisan
MP Viktor Dallakian’s initiative, which proposed making amendment to RA
Electoral Code, establishing order of NA formation by 100% proportional
system. The opponents’ objection was mainly conditioned by agreement
between political forces, according to which 41-91 correlation of
majoritarian and proportional seats was left unchanged. Another
disputable initiative was withdrawn from draft agenda before voting
at the suggestion of its author, non-partisan MP Tatul Manaserian. It
regarded draft decision to create a NA ad hoc commission for discussing
issues of the Armenian Genocide, which received a positive conclusion
at the October 20 sitting of NA Standing Committee on State and
Legal Issues. The author proposed creating the ad hoc commission
for clarifying the chronology of the Armenian Genocide, preventing
various commentaries, condemning the Armenian Genocide and adopting a
united position on recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The position
of the political forces represented at NA towards this proposal was
negative. In the opponents’ words, the idea of creating a commission
can be first of all used by those denying the Armenian Genocide,
who will say that Armenians themselves have a problem of clarifying
some issues connected with the Genocide. ARFD faction member Spartak
Seyranian considers that commission’s establishment will torpedo the
process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the whole world,
will cast doubt on already adopted decisions of the Supreme Council
and other countries’ parliaments on the Armenian Genocide.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM VENTURE CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 23 2006

October 24 Enterprise Incubator Foundation announces the Science and
Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) Venture Conference.

Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP) Venture
Conference is aimed to present the results of Business Partnership
promotion grant. Within the grant scope, Armenian scientists joined
with private companies to develop new commercial opportunities, where
R&D products demonstrate their ability to enable revenue creation
and attract private investors’ attention.

During the Venture Conference, 10 such projects will be presented,
including preliminary market assessment, customer needs analysis,
and business development components.

The Conference participants will get a unique opportunity to get
familiar with real examples of collaboration between science and
private sector in Armenia as well as to find potential partnership
and investment opportunities.

RA NA SPEAKER’S VISIT TO CHINA TO STIMULATE DEVELOPMENT OF BILATERAL RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosian
received on October 20 the delegation headed by Syu Tzsyalu, the
Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of the All-China Assembly
of People’s Representatives of the People’s Republic of China,
paying an official visit to Armenia. Tzso Syuelian, the Ambassador
of the People’s Republic of China to Armenia participated in the
meeting. Noyan Tapan was informed about it by the RA NA Public
Relations Department. Touching upon the Armenian-Chinese cooperation
issue, T.Torosian mentioned that Armenia has always stood for
the united China, as a divided people, understanding well similar
problems. The generality of the two countries’ positions also proves
the mutually admissible approach that in the modern world one must
find solution of conflicts at the negotiations table. Syu Stzialu,
passing greeting of U Bango, the Parliament Speaker of his country,
to the RA NA Speaker, mentioned that relations with Armenia have always
been warm friendly. He attached importance to the cooperation among the
Armenian Parliament, Government, businessmen, public organizations,
cultural figures that will open new prospects for development for
the two countries. Syu Stzialu mentioned with satisfaction that
the NA Speaker’s visit to be paid to China soon will become a new
stimulus for development of the Armenian-Chinese relations. The Chinese
delegation also met with the Armenia-China friendship deputies’ group
headed by NA deputy Razmik Martirosian. The Chinese parliamentarians,
considering direct contact and acquaintance as the best way of exchange
of experince, proposed the Armenian parliamentarians to visit China
to have a real notion about economic and political structures of
their country.