Author: Varosian Antranik

LARISA ALAVERDIAN: THERE ARE 967 PEOPLE ON LIST OF MISSING ARMENIANS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 31, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. There are 967 people on the list of
missing Armenians, 500 out of which are considered missing since 1992
when more than 80 thousand people were driven away from a number of
regions of Nagorno Karabakh. Larisa Alaverdian, a member of the RA
NA Zharangutiun (Heritage) faction, said at the January 31 meeting
with journalists at the Pastark club. She has been engaged in issues
of protection of hostages and missing people for many years as the
head of the Against Legal Self-Will organization. In her words, in
1993 only 19 people were returned by Heydar Aliyev and there is no
information about the others.

After Ilham Aliyev’s becoming President of Azerbaijan everything is
being done to break off the contacts, which are weak as it is. In
L. Alaverdian’s words, today only one international group consisting
of private persons, created with the assistance of NGOs of Azerbaijan,
Armenia, and Georgia is able to contact with Azerbaijan over that
issue. Only that group pays visits, more or less keeps in touch
with representatives of the proper bodies of Azerbaijan, Armenia,
and Georgia.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: "WE ARE INCLINED TO HOLD REALLY GOOD ELECTIONS"

Noyan Tapan
Jan 30, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. "We are inclined to hold really good
elections, and we think that the presence of the observation missions
will also contribute to it," said RA President Robert Kocharian
receiving the preelection mission of PACE ad hoc commission on
observation of presidential elections in Armenia led by John Prescott
on January 30. Expressing gratitude for accepting Armenia’s invitation,
he attached much importance to the work of the observation mission.

The head of the preelection mission of PACE ad hoc commission also
expressed hope that the coming elections will register a step forward.

According to the information given to Noyan Tapan by the RA President’s
Press Office, the interlocutors discussed issues connected with
the pre-election process. In particular, R. Kocharian explained why
the Prime Minister of the country being a candidate for president
continues holding his post.

HEAD OF ELECTION OFFICE DISBELIEVES THEIR RATING

Lragir
Jan 30 2008
Armenia

How can one trust the Gallup polls if Gevorg Poghosyan conducts them,
stated Heghine Bisharyan, head of the election office of the Armenian
presidential candidate Arthur Baghdasaryan, on January 30 at the
Pastark Club. She commented on the recent Gallup poll which gives the
highest rating of 43 percent to Serge Sargsyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan
follows him with 11 percent.

"If those were the indices. All the public opinion centers of the
presidential candidates conducts polls, we have working groups which
conduct polls and exchange information about ratings. Everyone was
amused. When I saw the percentage points that Gallup suggests, I was
amused. I knew Arthur Baghdasaryan’s rating was 22, according to the
information we got from Gallup, which I disbelieve too because Arthur
Baghdasaryan is the presidential candidate whose education, strategy,
polite manners are highly appreciated among people, and what Gallup
offers is amusing," Heghine Bisharyan says.

MINING GIANT REMAINS ARMENIA’S TOP TAXPAYER
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 29 2008

A large mining enterprise and three utility companies, all of them
owned by foreign investors, remain Armenia’s leading taxpayers, having
accounted for almost 18 percent of its government’s tax revenues
last year.

The Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Plant continues to top the list of
major corporate taxpayers published by the State Tax Service (STS)
on a regular basis. The STS data for 2007 show it paying a total of
33.6 billion drams ($110 million) to the state budget.

Zangezur, which both mines and smelts ore, was privatized by the
German company Cronimet in 2004 and has since significantly boosted
output on the back of rising international prices of non-ferrous
metals. Croniment pledged last August to invest $60 million in building
a new copper and molybdenum smelter near its mines in the southeastern
Syunik region.

Zangezur is followed in the STS rankings by the national
telecommunications company ArmenTel (20.8 billion drams), the
ArmRosGazprom (20 billion drams) gas distribution network and the
mobile phone company K-Telecom (15.5 billion drams). All three
companies have Russian owners.

The Armenian government collected 505.5 billion drams ($1.65 billion)
in various taxes and customs duties in 2007, up by 31 percent from
the 2006 level. Still, the figure makes up only 16.1 percent of
Gross Domestic Product, one of the lowest proportions in the former
Soviet Union.

Two fuel-importing companies owned by government-connected businessmen
are fifth and sixth in the STS rankings, having each paid more than
9.5 billion drams in taxes. They are followed by Salex Group, a company
that enjoys a de facto monopoly on equally lucrative imports of wheat,
sugar and cooking oil to Armenia. Its owner, parliament deputy Samvel
Aleksanian, is also a figure close to the country’s leadership.

Another prominent tycoon, Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik
Tsarukian, continues to post more modest revenues contrasting with
his extravagant lifestyle. One of Armenia’s two cement plants located
in the southern town of Ararat, is officially the most profitable
of Tsarukian’s businesses. It occupies only 45th place in the STS
ranking with tax contributions totaling 1.3 billion drams in 2007.

Another, smaller Ararat-based plant, which smelts gold ore, paid
more taxes despite standing idle during much of 2007 due to a change
of ownership.

Armenia’s second cement plant, located in the central town of Hrazdan
and owned by another "oligarch," Mikhail Baghdasarov, occupies a
lowly 277th place on the STS list, with 218 million drams ($700,000)
worth of taxes paid last year. The figure pales in comparison with
1.8 billion drams paid by Baghdasarov’s Mika Armenia Trading company
specializing in fuel imports.

Both cement plants are believed to operate at full capacity, strongly
benefiting from the ongoing construction boom and exporting a large
part of their production to neighboring Iran and Georgia.

Among Armenia’s top ten taxpayers is also a cigarette-importing
company controlled by Khachatur Sukiasian, a prominent businessman
allied to former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. It appears to have
been unaffected so far by the tax authorities’ ongoing crackdown on
Sukiasian-owned companies. One of them, which bottles mineral water,
has already been charged with evading more than 3 billion drams in
taxes. Sukiasian denies the accusations as politically motivated.

GERMANY INTENDS TO GIVE BOOKS WORTH ~@500 000 TO SOME ARMENIAN SCHOOLS

ARKA News Agency
Jan 29 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. German government intends to give books
worth ~@500 000 to some Armenian schools, Armenian Deputy Education
Minister Ara Avetisyan said on Tuesday.

He said that the cooperation between the two countries has long-years
record.

The deputy minister stressed the importance of cooperation in
education area putting special emphasis on programs of exchange of
school students.

German Ambassador to Armenia Andrea Victorin said that Germany’s
Embassy in Armenia is making every effort now to develop cooperation
with Armenia in education and science area.

Speaking about the Germany’s intention to give the literature to
schools, the ambassador said that the selection of education centers
for participation in the program is under way now.

She said that the first part of the books will be sent to Sevan
in mid-February.

Germany and Armenia started implementing student-exchange programs
in 1992. The previous program was implemented in 2007. 15 school
students and three teachers from Armenia traveled to Germany for
three-week training in 2007. German students and teachers came to
Armenia under the same program.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MONUMENT DESECRATED ON HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION DAY

AZG Armenian Daily
30/01/2008

Armenian Genocide

The tiny Welsh Armenian community of Cardiff were targeted with a
despicable racist attack on Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27). The
new Armenian Genocide Monument (which was erected by the community
under the leadership of John Torosyan in November ) was desecrated in
the early hours of the morning before important ceremonies were held
today to Commemorate the Holocaust,and to remember Hrant Dink. The
ornate Armenian Cross on the monument was smashed to bits by persons
unknown using a hammer, which was left at the scene of the crime.

PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Jan 28 2008

Turkey criticizes US Democratic presidential hopefuls for Armenian
genocide comments

2008-01-28 17:03:44 –

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey has criticized U.S. Democratic
presidential hopefuls for backing Armenian views that a century-old
mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted a
genocide.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement over the weekend
that remarks by Democratic presidential candidates «for the sake of
an internal party struggle, offends
the Turkish nation.» The statement did not name specific candidates.
Barack Obama issued a statement urging Turkey to acknowledge the 1915
killings of Armenians as genocide, saying: «As a U.S. senator, I have
stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey’s
acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.» The statement, dated Jan.
19, was posted on his campaign Web site.
Armenia says some 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
Empire in a genocidal campaign during World War I. Turkey says the
casualty figures are inflated, and that the killings occurred at a
time of civil unrest and were not part of a systematic campaign to
eliminate the Armenian minority of the Turkish-ruled empire.
The Armenian National Committee of America, an advocacy group, said
another Democratic candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had vowed
support for U.S. recognition of the killings as a «genocide.
The group posted a statement on its Web site that it said had come
from Clinton, but her campaign office could not immediately confirm
that.
In the unconfirmed statement, Clinton is quoted as saying she
believed «the horrible events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire
against Armenians constitute a clear case of genocide.

In October, Turkey protested to Washington over a House committee
vote that labeled the deaths a genocide. Despite appeals by U.S.
President George W. Bush and top Turkish leadership, the House
Foreign Affairs Committee passed the genocide bill.
A similar vote by the French Assembly to declare the killings a
genocide sparked fury among the Turkish public, and prompted the
Turkish government to cancel all military contracts with France, one
of its key arms supplier.

ESPN 2
Jan 28 2008

Keeping up with Reggie and Kim at Sundance

By Sam Alipour
Special to Page 2

PARK CITY, Utah — I’m driving down snow-packed Main Street with
Reggie Bush and his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, who are in the
backseat fighting for space like furry sardines with bags of designer
swag. The soft-spoken gridder is about the last person you’d expect
to find in this no-longer-sleepy Utah ski town. Sure, he’d like to
add a film career to his impressive marketing résumé — he’s
considering an offer to serve as a producer on the post-Katrina high
school football documentary "Walking on Dead Fish" — but Bush hasn’t
come here to network or raise his Q rating. He’d rather leave the
acting to former teammate Matt Leinart. ("Matt’s all about that," he
says.)

Bush came simply "because in the offseason, I’m all about traveling
and charity," he says, adding that his one commitment — a gig as
host of ESPN’s Championship Sunday viewing party to benefit his 619
Foundation — isn’t exactly labor-intensive. "All I have to do is
watch football." Plus "show his gorgeous face," Kardashian adds.

Kardashian, of course, is among the first people you’d expect to find
here. And she doesn’t quite know what she’s in for. Beyond the
paparazzi who typically hound her and the unusually aggressive
star-seekers — one would later ask Kardashian to autograph photos
from her Playboy spread — many do-gooders are here to give
celebrities a piece of their mind. And one such group is currently
shouting and wagging posters of maimed animals at our ride. They are
protesters for PETA.

"Roll up the window!" yelps Kardashian, who is wearing a fur coat.

[+] EnlargeScott Halleran/Getty Images

Reggie Bush let his girlfriend lead the way at Sundance.
"Just tell them it’s fake," Bush responds, sticking his head out the
window for a closer look.

"Trust me, they know the difference," she says.

"I want to hear what they’re chanting," he pleads, bemused.

"Probably something about being mean to dogs."

(For the record, they’re chanting: "Burn these places to the ground.
What goes around, comes around.")

Bush shrugs, then mercifully shuts the window. By now he’s accustomed
to the pratfalls associated with his hot-button romance. Kardashian,
the exotic SoCal beauty from a wealthy Armenian family (her father,
Robert, was one of O.J. Simpson’s lawyers), has become something of a
pop-culture icon. She’s known as much for her blog-worthy social life
and leaked horizontal-mambo tape as she is for her gigs as a model,
aspiring actress and subject of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" —
the E! reality series in which, oddly, Bush has yet to appear.

"The show’s about me and my family," Kardashian explains. "Yeah, it’s
personal, but there are some things you still want to keep private."

Good luck with that. Right now Bush and Kardashian are one of
America’s most buzzed-about couples — on par with Tony Romo and
Jessica Simpson, and Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen. Already, photos
of the couple at Sundance are turning up in gossip rags, which now
provide up-to-the-minute reports on their whereabouts. "I hate it.
I’m not a flashy guy who likes a lot of attention," says Bush, a
product of a working-class family, adding that while the media
coverage is to be expected by those toeing the line between sports
and celebrity, "It’s not at all who we are."

The media has declared that the Sundancing couple has reached the
romantic tipping point known as "gone public." If Bush didn’t know
this, he does now, because I made the mistake of relaying as much. "I
hate that term, ‘Going public,’" he chortles. "We ain’t going public.
I don’t even know what that means."

Kardashian breaks it down: "We don’t measure our relationship by the
extent of media coverage."

"I’ve never been here before, so I didn’t know how intense the media
coverage was," Bush admits. "But I can handle the spotlight. I went
to USC. And now I have my own reality show. It airs every Sunday, and
it doesn’t get any juicier.

"It’s called the NFL."

[+] EnlargeJason Merritt/WireImage

Here’s the happy couple, looking a little more relaxed.
Not that Bush is entirely unappreciative of the ongoing gridiron
reality series. Among the perks: entry into the Kari Feinstein Style
Lounge, a Main Street swag-a-thon hosting celebs like Winona Ryder,
Jessica Alba and Paris Hilton. As Kardashian confidently struts
through booths by MAC and Reebok, Bush quietly follows on her tail.
He appears a little unsure, tugging at a black scarf over his casual
black overcoat and looking like a deer in stadium lights when a flak
from Axis Shavers offers him a shaving set.

"I only let the barber cut this down," Bush says politely, rubbing
his chinstrap scruff and staring at the lady like he’d just been
offered a Botox-dipped syringe. He then retreats to the doorway,
later joined by Kardashian and comforted with some PDA.

Before long, we’re back in the car, continuing down a glittery swag
trail because the key to navigating what insiders call Brand-dance,
according to Kardashian, is "to plan it out and maximize time so you
can hit every spot." That means time will not allow for a film
screening.

We ponder a stop at a chocolate store, but nix the idea because
Kardashian remembers her new year’s resolution: no sugar. Instead, we
drop her off for an appointment at another giveaway lounge. "Reggie’s
fashion sense is great," Kardashian says, looking her man over, then
adjusting his collar until it’s just right. "But it’s probably best
if I do the shopping."

With that, she vanishes into a throng of people. Now we’re heading
back to Bush’s hotel so he can prepare for that night’s main event: a
private performance by 50 Cent.

"It is what it is," he says out of nowhere, peering aimlessly through
the window. "I guess we can’t hide from it much longer."

********************************* *******

Elsewhere at the nexus of sports, snow and free leopard-print panties
…

– Sports documentaries were hot at the snowed-in festival. Buyers are
currently circling "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*" from director
Christopher Bell, which details his bodybuilder brothers’ steroid use
— and his own. Partly to blame for the PED rage, he argues: ’80s
icons like Rambo and Conan. Meanwhile, audience favorite "Kicking
It," narrated by Colin Farrell and preemptively snatched by ESPN,
follows six men as they travel to South Africa to compete in the
Homeless World Cup. (More on that later this week.)

– Among the scripted sports flicks: "Diminished Capacity," in which
an editor (Matthew Broderick) and his senile uncle (Alan Alda) bond
while navigating the wacky world of sports memorabilia with their
priceless Frank "Wildfire" Schulte card. And arguably the festival’s
biggest breakout hit: "Sugar," from filmmaking duo Anna Boden and
Ryan Fleck (of the critically acclaimed "Half-Nelson"). According to
Boden, the tale of a Dominican minor leaguer struggling to adapt to
small-town Iowa "isn’t the Pedro Martinez story. It’s the more common
experience of players who don’t make it to the big leagues and you
never hear from again."

– Perhaps the most talked-about sports flick didn’t screen at the
festival. Director/producer Kirk Fraser hit the streets to spread the
word about his almost-completed documentary about deceased Celtics
draft pick Len Bias. Fraser, who received the Bias family’s blessing,
conducted on-camera gabs with John Thompson, John Lucas, D.C. mayor
(and cocaine user) Marion Berry and, in their first interview since
the tragedy, the three witnesses to Bias’ drug overdose: Terry Long,
David Gregg and Brian Tribble. With Boston flying high and steroids
all the rage, Fraser says it’s time drop some knowledge. "It’s not
for the money, but to prevent the cycle and the production of another
Len Bias."

– For most dancers, the parties are the best thing about Sundance.
The best bash: MySpace at Tao’s 50 Cent performance, held at Harry
O’s. Highlights included: running into Rachel Hunter (literally …
with a loving shoulder-check) and injured Los Angeles Clipper Shaun
Livingston, and standing on a couch at the foot of the stage with
Paris and Nicky Hilton, and Nicky’s boyfriend David Katzenberg, and
fake-mouthing along to 50 with Paris while repeatedly getting elbowed
in the head by one of the Hiltons’ hot blonde friends. After
graduating to eating Hot Blonde’s armpit, I was sure I was being
punk’d, and my suspicions were all but confirmed when I spotted
Ashton Kutcher. "That’s getting pretty old," said Kutcher look-alike
Kyle Korver, who made the one-night-only trip with Jazz teammates
Andrei Kirilenko, Deron Willams and Jarron Collins. Korver added:
"You know it’s a good party when Andrei is dancing."

– For fatigued dancers like ex-Falcon Jamaal Anderson, Alba, Hilton
and Dennis Quiad, the festival wrapped with ESPN’s Championship
Sunday viewing party. Held at The Lift and hosted by Bush, it
featured much trash talk by Pats fans Eliza Dushku and Matthew Perry.
"The Pats didn’t get to 18-0 by cheating," insisted Perry, a Sundance
rookie. "I know nothing about Sundance other than you can watch
football on 20 screens at a great party hosted by Reggie Bush.

"Plus, there’s Red Bull. So, yeah, I like Sundance."

Sam Alipour is based in Los Angeles. His Media Blitz column appears
in ESPN The Magazine and regularly on Page 2. You can reach him at
[email protected].

om/espn/page2/story?page=alipour/080128

Glendale News Press, CA
Jan 26 2008

Save the last dance for him

High school student struggled with his craft as a freshman, but now
he has his eye on Broadway.

By Angela Hokanson

In his freshman year of high school, Zareh Markarian was dragged to
Glendale High School’s dance studio by a friend, not at all sure that
he wanted to be part of the dance and drill team.

Zareh, now 17, had no formal dance training. But he was getting bored
with his other hobbies – swimming and playing musical instruments –
so with some encouragement from a friend who was already on the team,
and from head coach Kelly Palmer, he gave it a try.

Zareh’s lack of training showed, Palmer said. He didn’t know basic
things that more experienced dancers knew, such as what to do with
his arms. The other dancers didn’t have high expectations for Zareh.
He’d never be a team captain, and would never have a solo, they said.

`He didn’t care,’ Palmer said. `He just stood in front of that mirror
and did turns until he was blue in the face.’

Now a senior, Zareh is a co-captain of the award-winning dance and
drill team. In the last month his solo dance routine won first in two
dance competitions. And, Zareh said, he’s found his life’s work.

`There’s no way dancing is not going to be part of my future,’ Zareh
said at dance rehearsal Thursday. He is considering auditioning for
Broadway shows, becoming a choreographer, opening a dance studio or
becoming a coach like Palmer, Zareh said.

But for the next two months, Zareh will work to perfect his solo
routine for the dance team’s biggest competition of the year – the
United Spirit Assn. Nationals, which will be held in mid-March in
Anaheim.

As a member of the co-ed squad, Zareh will also help that team try to
win its 10th consecutive first place at the competition.
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Zareh’s solo routine is a lyrical dance to the Rob Thomas song `Ever
the Same.’ In mid-December, the routine won him first place in the
American Grand Championships competition in Las Vegas.

And last weekend, the same routine won first place in the `Mr.
California’ dance competition put on by Miss Dance Drill Team USA.

Zareh’s routine is accentuated with his trademark high leaps.

`Your dance has to reflect on the words of the song,’ Zareh said
about lyrical dancing.

His whole freshman year, Zareh just practiced, never being asked to
perform.

`I was a bad dancer,’ he said. `They just kept telling me to stick it
out.’

His junior year, he performed a solo routine in the Las Vegas
competition, but didn’t win anything.

`Losing made me practice, practice, practice,’ Zareh said. `I knew I
could do so much better.’

Zareh’s goal for the year is to place high at the nationals in March,
ideally in the top five, he said.

Now, not only does Zareh win, but the scores he receives from judges
are practically off the charts, Palmer said.

He’s strong and flexible, Palmer said, and he can do more turns than
any dance student she’s ever had.

Convincing his family that dancing was worth his time wasn’t easy at
first, Zareh said. His parents probably imagined him more as a
businessman than as a dancer, he said. But his family has gotten used
to his interest in dancing as they’ve watched him improve.

`He’s paved his own way,’ Principal Kathy Fundukian said.

`That’s what youth is about – figuring out for yourself who you are.’

ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO DEEPENING OF NATO-ARMENIA COOPERATION

Noyan Tapan
Jan 25, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Artur Baghdasarian, a candidate for
presidency, the leader of the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) party,
considers membership to the European Union the most important goal of
RA in the sphere of foreign policy. Gurgen Sargsian, a member of the
OYP parliamentary faction, said this at the January 25 discussion,
presenting the OYP candidate’s provisions of preelection program
regarding foreign policy. In his words, the fulfilment of the
provisions ratified by Armenia is very important on the way of
European integration.

Besides, as he mentioned, the OYP candidate also attaches importance
to deepening of cooperation with NATO. "The relations with Russia
should be built by the principle of equality of rights and mutual
profitableness and with the U.S. by the principle of friendship and
partnership," G. Sargsian said.

The OYP representative declared that the foreign policy carried on
today is deprived of any initiatives: Armenia only registers the
events happening in the world and does nothing. In that respect, as
G. Sargsian added, a doctrine of international policy should be worked
out, which will outline the main foreign directions of the country.