Author: Vasilian Manouk

TURKISH MEDIA TOUCH UPON ARMENIAN CHURCH IN MALATIA

Noyan Tapan
July 23, 2009

MALATIA, JULY 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Malatia Haber Turkish
website wrote about the derelict Armenian church in Malatia central
region’s Chamurlu village, the grave near which has now become
a holy place and its walls are covered with the notes of wishes
of pilgrims. According to the Marmara daily, it is not known whose
grave that is, it is only known that the church was built in the 13th
century and belongs to prophet Jerjis who, according to the newspaper,
must be Saint Sargis.

In his turn a correspondent of the Birgun newspaper wrote that the
church of the village is called Vank and at first it belonged to
Assyrians and then to Armenians. Only the church has remained from
the large monastery built on the little hill. The story goes that the
church was dedicated to Saint Sargis who was killed by the Romans for
adopting Christianity. At this church the pilgrims ask the God for
a child and in case of having a child they promise to call him Jerjis.

DURING THE 13TH ASSEMBLY OF CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN CHURCHES HOVAKIM MANOUKIAN ELECTED A MEMBER OF CEC CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND SHAHE ANANIAN – A MEMBER OF THE WORKING GROUP

ARMENPRESS
JULY 23, 2009

ECHMIADZIN, JULY 23, ARMENPRESS: On July 20 the 13th Assembly of
Conference of the European Churches finished its works. The delegation
of Armenian Apostolic Church also took part in the summit.

Press office of the Mother See told Armenpress that besides the address
to the member churches during the CEC assembly a number of statements
have also been adopted on assessment of the rights of migrants,
promotion to the ethical principals in the financial and economic
institutions, human rights and religious freedom, denouncement of
nuclear weapon.

During the Assembly the Primate of the inter church relations
department of the Mother See Holy Echmiadzin Hovakim Manoukian has
been elected a member of CEC central committee and Shahe Ananian – a
member of the working group which must by 2013 review the instruments
of conduction of CEC mission and its charter and present the results
to the approval for the subsequent CEC Assembly.

ARMENIAN GDP SHRINKS BY 16.3% IN H1

Interfax
July 21 2009
Russia

Armenia’s GDP in January-June 2009 shrank, according to preliminary
statistics, by 16.3% year-on-year to 1.119 trillion dram, or $3.2
billion, the National Statistics Service said.

The decline was largely driven by a decrease in total construction by
53.5% to 125 billion dram. The drop in the agriculture sector came to
2.5% at 123.5 billion dram, manufacturing – 281.5 billion dram (down
11.5%), electricity output – 2.788 billion kilowatt hours (down 10.6%)

and services to the population – 340 billion dram (up 0.9%).

Armenia’s foreign trade in the first half dropped by 31.5% year-
on-year to $1.6599 billion, or 578.8 billion dram. Exports fell by
45.9% to $281.1 million while imports decreased by 27.5% to $1.379
billion.

It was earlier reported that that, in May of this year, the Central
Bank of Armenia forecast that the country’s economy would decline by
5.8% in 2009. At the start of June, the deputy chair of the Central
Bank, Vache Gabrielyan, produced a renewed GDP forecast that put
the decrease at 7%-8%. At the end of June, the IMF increased its GDP
decline forecast from 5% to 9.5%.

Official rate of the dram on July 21 – 365.55 dram/$1.

ANOTHER ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN SUMMIT POSSIBLE WITHIN MONTHS

Interfax
July 21 2009
Russia

Armenia and Azerbaijan "can be expected" to hold another summit on
Nagorno-Karabakh after a planned "new round of preparatory work"
this autumn by the Minsk Group, an Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe body mediating in the conflict, the Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Andrei Nesterenko made the announcement at a briefing.

The Armenian and Azeri presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev,
held talks on Nagorno-Karabakh in Moscow on Saturday mediated by
their Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev.

"That meeting involved one more serious and in-depth discussion on the
contents of the basic principles for the settlement of conflicts that
are being developed by the mediators of the Minsk Group of the OSCE,"
Nesterenko said.

"There was certain progress achieved on some of them and the parties
moved closer their positions on the issues they were discussing,"
he said.

"New subjects began to be discussed," he added.

AZERBAIJAN WILL SUFFER DEFEAT IN CASE OF RESUMING WAR: NKR EX-MINISTER OF DEFENSE

ArmInfo
2009-07-22 15:07:00

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan will inevitably suffer defeat in case of resuming
war, Samvel Babayan, the NKR ex-minister of defense, Artsakh War Hero,
told media on Wednesday.

Despite the militarist statements by Ilham Aliyev and the active
preparations in Azerbaijan for new war, Azerbaijan will not avoid
defeat. He is sure that the Azerbaijani leadership is well aware of
the threat of defeat. Therefore, it does not dare to resume war,
he said. "If military actions are resumed and our troops achieve
an insignificant success, nearly 2 million refugees will escape to
Azerbaijan from the populated areas close to the arena of military
actions. In this case, Azerbaijan will have to spend its oil dollars to
feed refugees and not the army," the ex-minister said. Nevertheless, he
said, the dilettante authorities of Azerbaijan like their ex-president
Heydar Aliyev do not understand this.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN HOSTS EU TROIKA DELEGATION

AZG DAILY
22-07-2009

President Serzh Sargsyan received a delegation of the EU Troika led
by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt, which has
arrived to Armenia in the framework of its regional visit to the
South Caucasus, President’s Press Office reported.

Welcoming the Troika’s visit to Armenia, President Serzh Sargsyan said,
"The fact that you’re starting your chairmanship with the visit to
the South Caucasus speaks of your attitude toward the region and
our country. We believe it is only logical since Sweden was at the
beginnings of the EU Eastern Partnership." Serzh Sargsyan noted
that Armenia has been attaching great importance to her relations
with the European Union since day one of her independence and today
these relations are a significant component of Armenia’s foreign
policy. Expressing confidence that during the Swedish chairmanship
the foundations of the Eastern Partnership would become stronger,
the President of Armenia said that the program not only provides
opportunities to deepen relations with the European Union but also
to expand cooperation among the six participants.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden said that as the President
of Armenia has correctly mentioned, their first visit is indeed to the
South Caucasus and stressed that it testifies to the importance which
they attach to the region, its problems, and the Eastern Partnership.

The parties discussed in detail regional issues and particularly
those pertaining to the settlement of the NK conflict.

Carl Bildt once again stressed the importance which the EU attaches
to the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the framework
of the OSCE Minsk Group, and expressed EU’s support for the efforts
undertaken by the Co-Chairs.

President Serzh Sargsyan noted that three day ago he discussed the
issue with the President of Azerbaijan. According to the President,
this time the discussions were a little different since the Minsk
Group Co-Chairs have already made public the principles which lie
at the core of the negotiations. Serzh Sargsyan considers it to be
rather helpful since according to the President, "unfortunately, the
parties not always present to the public the exact issues discussed
during the negotiations. After the Moscow meeting, the agenda and the
essence of the negotiations have been presented in the neighboring
country in a different light. Notwithstanding, I can tell you that
despite the difficulties there is some progress. As you know, right
now we are discussing the main principles separate from the Madrid
principles. After that we will discuss the remaining principles,
and later, based on all this, we will draft the main agreement. I
believe everybody knows by now that the main issue is the status of
Nagorno Karabakh, which must be decided through free will and the
adopted decision must be legally binding. After we have put together
this issue in a proper and unequivocal way, I think the negotiations
will go on much smoother."

The parties discussed also the EU-Armenia agenda, speaking
in particular about the possibility of signing the association
agreement, prospects of economic cooperation, issues related to the
extended free trade agreement, as well as the democratic reforms in
our country. They also discussed the possibilities of easing EU visa
regime with Armenia. The President of Armenia stressed that this is
an important issue for our country because a considerable part of
the Armenian people lives outside Armenia.

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN: "I HIGHLIGHT THE ACTIVITY OF OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN"

National Assembly of RA
July 22 2009
Armenia

On July 21 President of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan
received the Head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Mr. Sergey Kapinos.

Greeting the guest NA President highlighted the activity of OSCE
Office in Yerevan. In that context he highlighted the Memorandum
of Cooperation signed on April 15 between RA NA and OSCE Office in
Yerevan. He also highly assessed the contribution of OSCE Office in
Yerevan and other executive structures in the fulfillment of assuming
commitment, distinguishing the projects realized by the office in
the sphere of strengthening the economic security of the country.

During free talk the sides discussed and reached agreements concerning
the improvement of the legislative field of Armenia and the steps being
taken to comply with European standards. They agreed that the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe and the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) have a great role in that,
whose joint conclusions of the bills under discussion are effective
tools for Armenian legislators. In that context the interlocutors
discussed the freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of press
and speech, as well as issues of legislative regulation in the sphere
of television and radio.

Mr. Abrahamyan and Ambassador Mr. Kapinos also considered in detail
projects of development and strengthening of the Armenian Parliament’s
professional abilities within the framework of RA NA-OSCE cooperation.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT IS ONE OF MOST DIFFICULT ONES ON THE PLANET: SENIOR EXPERT AT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

Today.Az
tics/54021.html
July 22 2009
Azerbaijan

The G-8 leaders’ statement on Karabakh testifies that this is rather
high-profile conflict, Head of the Russia, Eurasia and International
Energy Security Department of The Heritage Foundation (U.S.), Political
Scientist, Ariel Cohen said.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of the most difficult ones
on the planet and G-8 seeks to resolve it to reduce tensions in the
South Caucasus," Cohen said.

At the recent summit, the G-8 leaders made a statement on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in which they urged the Azerbaijani and
Armenian leaders to resolve the remaining differences and finish the
peace settlement.

Cohen said that neither side is prepared to yield its interests:
Azerbaijan is focusing on its sovereignty and Armenian is making
claims on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"I think it would be beneficial for both parties if the Armenian
population of Karabakh were to be allowed to live here and Azerbaijan
were to maintain its sovereignty," he said.

Cohen said that the borders of the former Soviet Union should not be
considered in Karabakh, in Abkhazia or Ossetia.

People’s diplomacy can play an important role to form public support
in the settlement of the conflict, Cohen said.

In early July, the Azerbaijani and Armenian representatives visited
Baku, Yerevan and Nagorno-Karabakh.

"At the end of the day, this is a question for the two countries’
leaders, as well as the groups and institutes supporting and opposing
them," Cohen said. "They make the decisions on war and peace, which
include Nagorno-Karabakh."

ARMAVIA AIR COMPANY CONTINUES SURPRISING ITS PASSENGERS BY OPENING NEW FLIGHTS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
20.07.2009 13:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Beginning July 27, 2009, Armenia’s national air
carrier Armavia will launch regular flights to Kharkov, Ukraine,
the company’s press service reports.

Every Monday, passengers will have the opportunity to visit Ukraine’s
second largest cultural centre after Kiev. Armavia will carry out
the flights according to the following schedule:

U8865 Yerevan-Kharkov: departure from Yerevan – 23:00 (local time),
arrival in Kharkov – 23:05 (local time)

U8866 Kharkov-Yerevan: departure from Kharkov – 00:05+1 (local time),
arrival in Yerevan – 04:00 (local time).

Armavia air company is a member of International Air Transport
Association (IATA). Every month, it carries out about 250 in over 30
directions, including CIS countries, Europe and Near East. In 2008,
the company had 647000 passengers.

Company’s air park consists of A-319 (3), A-320 (2), Il-86, and
Tu-134 aircrafts.

Armavia will become the first air company to acquire new "Sukhoi
Superjet S-100" liner in 2009.

ARMENIAN AMERIABANK’S PROFIT FOR 1ST HALF OF 2009 AMOUNTS TO AMD 555 MILLION AFTER TAXATION

/ARKA/
July 17, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, July 20. /ARKA/. Armenian Ameriabank’s profit for the first
half of 2009 amounted to AMD 555 million after taxation, the press
office of the bank reports.

Ameriabank was the third largest profit-gainer among Armenian banks
at the first half of this year.

The bank’s press office says 79.5% of that profit was gained at the
second quarter.

The profit received for the first and the second quarters of 2009 was
5.4 times greater than that of the same period of the previous year.

Net percentage and similar incomes grew 163.5% and operational
incomes 125.8%.

The bank’s expenses connected with profit tax totaled AMD 302 million
against 37 million a year earlier.

According to preliminary data, Armenian banks’ profit for the first
half of 2009 totaled AMD 4.4 billion after reducing 66%, compared
with the same period of the previous year.

Ameriabank is a corporate investment bank offering corporate,
investment and some retail services in a package.

Ruben Vardanyan is the chairman of the bank’s directorial board and
Artak Anesyan is general director.

Troyka Dialog, the largest Russian investment banking company is
Ameriabank’s strategic partner. ($1= AMD 365.55).