Author: Vardanian Garo

BECAUSE OF ARMENIA-TURKEY FOOTBALL MATCH ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT CHARGED YEREVAN MAYOR’S OFFICE TO PROVIDE TURKISH FANS WITH FOOD AND PART-TIME RESIDENCE

arminfo
2008-08-21 15:29:00

ArmInfo. Because of Armenia-Turkey WCQ-2010 football match, which will
be held in Yerevan on 6 September and taking into account arrival of
a big number of Turkish fans to Armenia, Armenian government charged
Yerevan mayor’s office to provide Turkish fans with food and part-time
residence.

Yerevan mayor Ervand Zakharyan was charged to hold relevant work
to improve the territory near the republican stadium after Vazgen
Sarkisyan. The match will take place at Razdan Stadium. Armenian
police and National Security Service will serve with medium security
on 1-11 September.

To recall, on 15 August Armenian government adopted a decision about
temporary non-visa regime for Turkish citizens on 106 September. As
chief of Armenian Police, Alik Sarkisyan, said about 20thsd Turkish
fans may visit Armenia.

ARMENIA EXPORTS OVER 7,244 TONS OF APRICOTS THIS YEAR

ARKA
Aug 19, 2008

YEREVAN, August 20. /ARKA/. Armenia exported over 7,244 tons of
apricots this year, mainly to Russia, Ukraine and some European
countries, the Head of Farming Development Department of Armenian
Ministry of Agriculture Gagik Manucharyan said.

According to the Ministry, apricot harvest reached about 80,000 tons
this year – 60,000 tons more than last year. Apricot exports were
780 tons only in 2007.

"There were no problems with export of apricots as a prompt response
office was operating," Manucharyan said adding that the office provided
prompt response to all problems related to export and purchase. The
office received thirty reports over the period, he said.

A total of 7,560 tons of apricots were purchased, by processing
companies among others.

Armenia provided high export level on a number of crops this year due
to high stable harvest, as compared with last year when spring frosts
caused considerable damage to crops and apricots in particular.-0–

Xinhua General News Service
August 15, 2008 Friday 10:40 AM EST

Factbox: Artur Ayvazian, Olympic gold medalist in men’s 50-meter rifle prone

BEIJING Aug. 14

Artur Ayvazian, Ukraine, men’s 50-meter rifle prone gold winner.

Date of Birth: Jan. 14, 1973

Birth place: Yerevan, Armenia

Height: 175 cm

Weight: 75 kg

Career: 2005, bronze medal in 50-meter rifle prone at European
Championships in Belgrade

2005 and 2006, silver medals in 50-meter rifle three positions at
world cups in Milan

2007, bronze medal in 50-meter rifle three positions at the World Cup
Final in Bangkok

2007, bronze medal in 50-meter rifle three positions at the World Cup
Fort Benning.

2008, gold medal in in 50-meter rifle three positions at the World Cup
in Milan

In the Sydney Olympics, he finished fifth in three positions and
eighth in 10-meter air rifle.

In Athens, he was ranked seventh in three positions, ninth in rifle
prone and 22nd in air rifle.

OSCE Minsk Group’s Role in Settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Must Improve: American Jewish Committee

16.08.08 13:01 Azerbaijan, Baku, 16 August / Тrend News
corr. J.Babayeva/ The intermediary role of the OSCE Minsk Group in
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be improved, the
American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris said at a
news conference in Baku on 16 August.

`The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the key issue of discussion
during my visit to Baku. We will work to improve the OSCE Minsk
Group’s mission in settlement of the conflict,’ he said.

According to Harris, his Committee will foster the U.S. Government
to pay more attention to the work of the OSCE Minsk Group.

`We will work to improve the relations between the United States
and Azerbaijan. We will also pay attention to Americans’ education to
convey the basic knowledge about Azerbaijan to them, to inform the
political circles and U.S. presidential contenders of Azerbaijan,’
Harris said.

Harris was visiting Azerbaijan on the invitation of country’s
President. During his two-day visit he met with President Ilham
Aliyev, Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and other officials.

ewsid=1271683&lang=EN

Albert Lea Tribune, MN

Olympic wrestler’s tantrum upstaged winner’s moment

Nathan Cooper, Beijing Olympics

Originally published 01:13 p.m., August 16, 2008
Updated 01:22 p.m., August 16, 2008

Nathan Cooper
BEIJING ‘ Memo to Ara Abrahamian: Please apologize to your country,
your teammates and the International Olympic Committee
immediately. And especially to the 185-pound Olympic wrestling
champion. You let your personal beef with a set of FILA (the
sanctioning body of international wrestling) officials cloud an
Olympic champion’s greatest athletic achievement.

To be fair, Abrahamian didn’t make much of a scene at the medal
presentation. Some headlines have made references to the
Armenian-turned-Swedish wrestler `throwing down his medal’ his protest
of his semifinal round loss. That wasn’t the case. He simply accepted
the first of two bronze medals, shook the presenter’s hand and turned
to congratulate the second bronze medalist.

He then stepped off the podium, removed the bronze and placed it in
the center of the mat nearest to him before walking away.

As a witness to the event, it didn’t cause much of a stir at China
Agricultural University Gymnasium.

Plenty of people knew something was up before Abrahamian made his
sort-of dramatic exit. After the semifinals, of the final bouts of the
morning session, Abrahamian tore through a line of reporters
repeatedly pounding the drywall and metal barricades that separated
the fuming grappler from the media.

I’m all for a little cool-off period. So fine. Be mad.

He apparently cooled off before the wrestleback portion of the
competition, where he put himself in position for a third-place tie
(for reasons I still don’t comprehend, wrestling awards two bronze
medals in each class).

That’s as much as I’ll defend him.

At 33, he’s obviously one of the elite wrestlers in his class, even
though he’s past his prime. In Sydney, he earned a bronze. He added a
silver medal in Athens four years later. Combine those results with a
pair of world championships in 2001 and 2002, the man really had one
feat left to accomplish on the mat.

And he didn’t do it. He should have begrudgingly taken the bronze.

Abrahamian isn’t the first one to think he got jobbed by the
officials, and won’t be the last to protest the result of a sporting
event. Remember, it wasn’t just one official that decided his fate,
either. Even so, the loser launched a one-man protest that would have
made Lou Piniella proud. Starting on the mat and continuing into the
media zone, the frenzy continued until he disappeared behind a door
that leads to the locker rooms.

A little background on how the results are determined: Each Olympic
wrestling bout is officiated by three judges ‘ beginning with a
referee on the mat. If a second official, seated matside agrees with
the referee, the points are awarded. If not, the mat chairman, seated
alongside the official, breaks the tie. If the mat controller
disagrees with that decision, the match can be stopped and the
officials huddle for an instant replay.

Even if he would have been awarded the win in the second period,
Abrahamian had still lost the first period and would have had to win
the third to go on.

A protest lodged immediately after the match was fine. Debating on
whether to continue the competition was fine.

Abrahamian went on not for himself, he said, but for his
teammates. Again, fine logic, if he had in fact kept the medal or
presented it to the Swedish Olympic Committee.

Abrahamian instead won a medal he didn’t want so he could make a
scene. And then blamed it on his teammates.

`I decided that I had come this far and didn’t want to let them down,
so I wrestled,’ Abrahamian said as he recapped the events. `I don’t
care about this medal,’ he said. He ended the interview by announcing
his retirement.

Let’s recap. Abrahamian’s best international performances were more
than six years ago. He earned seventh-place in the 2007 world
championships, and third in the last European competition. His best
world-showing was four years ago, and last world title came in 2002.

After a controversy, he wrestled for a medal because his fellow Swedes
wanted him to keep going. Abrahamian won it, then gave it back,
apparently a decision he made alone. Then he stole the spotlight from
a fellow competitor who toppled a Russian great and dominated the
silver medalist en route to Olympic gold.

Remember that gold medalist? The one who just achieved Olympic
greatness by knocking off the odds-on favorite, Aleksy Mishin from
Russia and dominated silver medalist Zoltan Fodor? While protesting he
thought was an unfair finish, Abrahamian effectively returned the
injustice to the champ, Andrea Minguzzi.

Abrahamian didn’t have any problem accepting the silver in Athens or
the gold medals at the world championships.

Now, FILA ‘ the organization Abrahamian called `corrupt,’ and the same
one that awarded him each of his previous championships ‘ keeps the
medal, the IOC will punish the Olympic delegation from Sweden and the
gold medal ceremony will be remembered as the one where he gave back
the medal, not the one where Minguzzi finally got his.

This is where the Olympic spirit lives. After the dust settled on this
Olympics controversy, Abrahamain is still only one complaining.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

PAN-DIASPORA YOUTH CONFERENCE OPENS IN ANTELIAS

Young Armenians from around the world gathered in the summer headquarters of
the Catholicosate of Cilicia on Thursday to inaugurate the youth conference
organized by the Catholicosate’s youth department.

Held under the auspices of His Holiness Aram I, the conference convenes
under the theme "The Armenian youth in the face of the challenges of the
21st century." It will feature lectures by the President of Haigazian
University, Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, Lecturer at the University of Geneva,
Dr. Joe Pirri, historian Garo Hovhannesian and other prominent
intellectuals.

A committee responsible for organizing the conference limited the number of
participants- young Armenians from communities worldwide- to 110 to ensure
the effectiveness of discussions and a result-oriented conference.

The delegates will discuss serious issues affecting the Armenian youth today
through a series of lectures and group discussions over the next three days.
Community representatives will convene round tables on previously assigned
topics, following which small groups will discuss the issues at hand in
depth and present summaries of their conclusions.

The conference will be a podium to shed light on the concerns and conflicts
that Armenian youth face in present times particularly in the Diaspora. All
the proposals made by the conference will be passed on to His Holiness who
will take them into consideration while formulating the Catholicosate’s
future projects and table them for discussion by National General Assembly
to be held in early December this year.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

IRANIAN COUPLE DIE AFTER SECRET POLICE ATTACK
Roberto Sanchez Guevara

Religious Intelligence Ltd
Wednesday, 13th August 2008. 9:43am
UK

An Iranian Christian couple in their 60s have died from injuries
sustained when secret police raided a house church service at their
house and severely beat them, a source told human rights group Compass.

Abbas Amiri died in hospital on July 30, 2008, and less than a week
after Abbas Amiri’s funeral, his wife, Rahnama died from similar
injuries and stress from her husband’s death, according to the Farsi
Christian News Network (FCNN).

Secret police raided the house church meeting hosted by Amiri and
his wife in Malek Shahr, just outside the middle Iranian city of
Isfahan. They beat and arrested all those in attendance, including
the two minors.

Following Rahnama’s death on Sunday, secret police in Masjid-Soleiman
put the Amiri family’s house under surveillance. They ordered the
family not to have a funeral service for Rahnama and said they had
to leave the city immediately.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
(CSW) said: "It is devastating that gross human rights abuses continue
unabated in Iran Without the appropriate scrutiny and condemnation from
the international community. At a time when the world’s attention on
Iran is focused on the nuclear ambitions, the suffering of religious
minorities goes largely unnoticed.

"We call upon the British Government and the European Union to urge the
Iranian Government to conduct an independent enquiry into the deaths
of Abbas Amiri and Sakineh Rahnama and to cease arbitrary arrests,
detentions and mistreatment of religious minorities in the country".

Arrests and violence against Iranian Christians have intensified in
recent weeks. Twelve Christians traveling to Armenia via Tehran were
arrested on July 12 at the Kerman airport in south-central Iran. Two
Christian converts have been jailed for two months in Shiraz, one of
whom is diabetic and in critical condition.

GEORGIAN LEADER RAILS AGAINST RUSSIA, ANNOUNCES BREAK FROM CIS

RIA Novosti
18:09 | 12/ 08/ 2008

MOSCOW, August 12 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia’s president gave a speech
in front of thousands of flag-waving supporters outside parliament
on Tuesday, denouncing Russia and declaring his country’s withdrawal
from a post-Soviet alliance.

Mikheil Saakashvili has accused Russia of occupying half his country
in a "peace enforcement operation" that ended on Tuesday. Russia says
it no longer considers Saakashvili a partner, following Georgia’s
offensive in breakaway Ossetia last Friday, which killed at least
1,600 people, most of whom were Russian citizens.

"As president of Georgia, I stand before you in very difficult
circumstances… Yesterday I saw with my own eyes how we were bombed,"
he said.

Georgia will "continue to stand firm" against the Russian aggressors,
the president told the crowd.

He also announced that his country would leave the Commonwealth of
Independent States, and urged Ukraine to follow suit.

"We have decided that Georgia will leave the CIS," he said. "We
urge Ukraine and other countries to also leave the Commonwealth of
Independent States, which is dominated by Russia."

Excluding Georgia, the CIS has 10 full members – Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine
and Uzbekistan.

Saakashvili said Georgia now considers Russian troops in the South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia’s other rebel region, to be occupiers.

"We have taken the decision to declare Russian armed forces in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia occupying forces," he said.

Russia’s foreign minister earlier on Tuesday highlighted the severity
of the crimes committed by Georgian forces in their attack on South
Ossetia, and said Russia can no longer negotiate with President
Saakashvili.

"The best thing would be for him to resign," Sergei Lavrov said.

Saakashvili "has killed our [Russian] citizens, ordered the crushing
of women and children by tanks, and the burning alive of a group of
girls herded into a cattle shed," Lavrov said. "And not only did he
do all this with a background of European flags, but he declared that
he was safeguarding American values."

"The crimes committed by the Tbilisi regime in South Ossetia merit
investigation at an international tribunal," he said.

GEORGIA: WAKE UP EUROPE
by Diane Francis

National Post
August 12, 2008, 7:19 PM
Canada

Energy, Russia, U.S. Politics, Middle East

The BTU pipeline route is in the way of Russian energy ambitions.

Oil prices did not jump after Russia attacked Georgia even though
this is all about oil and pipeline locations and will result in
higher prices in the long run. The strategy here is to discipline
uppity nation-states, like Georgia, in the "near abroad" that used
to be part of the former Soviet Union.

This is why crude continued its downward price trend, thanks to
a push-back by consumers worldwide against high prices, but the
Russian stock market and Ruble tanked. Investors don’t like bullies
who threaten their competitors as well as customers which is what
this exercise was all about.

The bullying Bear The Russians have been exerting their economic
muscle throughout the region, shutting down pipelines temporarily,
hiking prices unilaterally and generally making mischief. But they
have been playing hardball with Georgia because it is small with
only 4.4 million people and has a minimal diaspora to make a fuss
worldwide. Moscow has financed separatist leaders and guerrillas in
that country and there are now two breakaway provinces.

Last Friday, Saakashvili sent in his troops, with Israeli military
advisors, to one of these provinces despite the existence of Russian
peace keepers. This drew a devastating and rapid counter-attack,
underway as Putin sat in the bleachers at the Beijing Opening Games
Ceremony.

Georgia claims there were plenty of provocations, but facts are that
they sent troops in first, it appears, and then Russia reacted with
might quickly.

All that’s a sideshow The real game here is about the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTU) pipeline which just opened last year and
pumps one million barrels a day from offshore Azerbaijan to Turkey
via Georgia. The line cost $3 billion, is 1,100 miles long and was
built by a consortium of oil giants which includes the Azerbaijani
government. Key here is that this line could pump 10 million barrels
a day, or Saudi levels of production, by hooking up with other Central
Asian oil producing countries so they can bypass Russian pipelines.

But that’s not all that involved here. Moscow’s over-reaction was
clumsy and unnecessary if only Georgia were involved. That’s not
the case. Giving Georgia a good hiding sends a message to all of the
former Soviet "near abroad" states – from Tajikistan to Kazakhstan,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Don’t build big pipelines, say the Russians, that bypass our pipelines
and oil.

Specifically, Russia is opposing another proposed lines from Tajikistan
or other oil-producing "stans" directly to markets in Europe, Asia
or internationally through ports, as the newly-minted BTU does.

Russia’s long-term strategy is to become as much of a monopoly supplier
to the wealthy and oil impoverished European Union or Ukraine and
others as possible.

All that should be worrisome for Europe and world oil markets
which translated into a drop in confidence in the Russian market
and currency. Strong-arm, bully-boy tactics may have won Russia the
battle to deal with the uppity Georgian President, but it will lose
the long-term economic war as companies, entrepreneurs and nations
shrink from involvement or investment there.

The young president Russia is threatening to take Georgia’s President
Saakashvili to the World Court for war crimes after his troops invaded
South Ossetia, the breakaway province. This is predictable.

I met Saakashvili and his wife in Davos shortly after his Rose
Revolution. He was charming, witty and disarmingly American. He grew
up in the U.S. and became a New York attorney when he was plucked by
New York financier George Soros, as well as the CIA, to help bring
about Georgia’s independence after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

Despite his country’s vulnerability, he has been fiercely and
tauntingly pro-American and pro-Israel.

Here’s where it gets very interesting.

Reports that the BTU line was targeted by the Russians are out there
but mostly unconfirmed. And a group of Kurdish terrorists exploded
the BTU inside Turkey which will shut it down for a couple of weeks.

So here you have a provocation by a pro-American Saakashvili, helped
by Israel, and a terrorist attack in Turkey by Kurds who are also
very pro-American.

It’s all very byzantine which makes it all the better for the spooks
and others in the shadows of this mini-war.

As things now stand, the Russians have called off the invasion of
Georgia and think they have accomplished exactly what they wanted to
which was to frighten its oil-producing or oil-consuming neighbors.

At the same time, the CIA and Israelis (and French) may believe they
have also accomplished their mission. Their proxy, in Georgia, sucked
Russia into a dramatic and frightening invasion, thus underscoring
the fragility of the BTU line and Europe’s current energy procurement
policies.

Maybe the Germans and other Euros will now realize they had better
block Moscow’s energy strategy, thanks to Saakashvili’s boldness,
coupled with sabotage by CIA-supported Kurds.

And maybe that was somebody’s plan to do so. Or maybe not.

AGENCIES MOBILISE FOR GEORGIA RELIEF AS FOREIGNERS FLY HOME

Gulf Times
13 August, 2008, 01:28 AM
Qatar

Airport employees load aid supplies for Georgia into an aircraft at
Cointrin airport in Geneva. The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) is sending 15 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies
to Georgia as well as water treatment plants and distribution tanks
capable of holding safe drinking water for 20,000 people PARIS: Aid
agencies mobilised yesterday to help an estimated 100,000 Georgians
displaced by the fighting, as foreigners evacuated from the country
flew into Paris with tales of the devastation.

A first flight from the UN’s refugee agency landed in Tbilisi airport
yesterday carrying tents, jerry cans, blankets and kitchen equipment,
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.

A second was due to fly out from Copenhagen today, he added.

Combined, that meant an extra 70 tonnes of supplies for up to
30,000 people, to supplement material already distributed from UNHCR
warehouses in Georgia.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a plane
with 15 tonnes of medical supplies and material to support water
distribution was due to arrive in Tbilisi.

ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson said they had also been asked to help
about 1,500 people in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, western
Georgia.

The UN World Food Programme in Tbilisi said they had distributed
food to 2,000 displaced people, but said the numbers arriving in the
Georgian capital were rising.

In all, nearly 100,000 people had been forced to flee their homes
because of the conflict, according to the UNHCR.

The figures, supplied by Georgia and Russia, suggested that some 30,000
South Ossetians had moved into North Ossetia, where the UNCHR said it
was ready to help the Russian authorities. Another 12,000 displaced
were inside South Ossetia itself.

A few thousand had moved south from South Ossetia into Georgia proper,
while 56,000 people from the Gori region in Georgia – 80% of the local
population – had also fled the fighting, most heading towards Tbilisi.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres meanwhile approved
the release of $2mn (1.3mn euros) in emergency aid.

On Monday, Washington made $250,000 available to Georgia for emergency
relief. The European Union announced $1.5mn in aid to civilians
on Sunday.

In Paris meanwhile some 170 French tourists and 91 other foreign
nationals evacuated from Georgia touched down at Charles De Gaulle
airport, speaking of a climate of "fear" in the capital Tbilisi.

"The atmosphere in Tbilisi is very heavy. People feel alone, they
are afraid," said Alain Noel, 39, dark lines under his eyes, who was
evacuated with his nine-month old baby.

"In Gori I saw people fleeing, I saw holes from the bombing," said
24-year-old law student Nicolas Papiashvili, a French citizen born
in Georgia.

They were flown in on a French Airbus A340 that had left for Georgia
on Monday carrying humanitarian supplies. It was due to fly back to
Georgia with a second shipment of aid and medicines.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
called for two humanitarian corridors to be opened to allow civilians
caught in the fighting to flee, and for aid workers to reach the
wounded.

The appeal was echoed by the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the ICRC.

Although Georgia and Russia said over the weekend they would open
humanitarian corridors, OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said these
had not materialised.

The US evacuated 170 of its nationals on Monday in two convoys into
neighbouring Armenia.

Armenia’s foreign ministry said it had received some 2,000 foreign
nationals. On top of that, 7,500 Armenians had also been evacuated
since the start of the conflict, the ministry said.

Two Polish government aircraft evacuated around 175 Poles and other
nationals from war-torn Georgia on Monday, Warsaw said, and a third
aircraft was due to be sent to bring home 90 more evacuees. – AFP