Author: Vasilian Manouk

ACCORDING TO V. MANUKIAN’S PREELECTION PROGRAM, PEOPLE SHOULD RECEIVE RIGHT TO HOLD REFERENDUM ON MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES

Noyan Tapan
Jan 21, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Vazgen Manukian, a candidate
for presidency, the Chairman of the National Democratic Union,
in his preelection program emphasizes the necessity to adopt a new
Constitution.

According to the program, the Constitution should include a number
of changes in the state government sphere. In particular:

1. All regions of Armenia and the city of Yerevan should have
legislative and executive bodies directly elected by citizens and
local budgets. The issue of a new RA administrative division was
also discussed.

2. The people, in case of collecting a certain number of signatures,
should receive the right to hold a referendum on issues of public
importance.

3. Ensuring of a really independent judicial system. Naturally, there
is a necessity to reconsider the legislation concerning the judicial
system for the purpose of fighting corruption existing in the system.

ARONYAN DRAWS THE GAME IN ROUND 8

armradio.am
21.01.2008 16:42

Armenian Grand Master Levon Aronyan played a draw with Grand
Master Shahriyar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan in the 8th round of
the Corus International Chess Tournament underway in Wijk aan Zee,
Holland. Aronyan currently shares the 2nd to 3rd places with Vladimir
Kramnik of Russia. The leader of the tournament is Magnus Carlsen
of Norway.

In Group B of the same tournament Grand Master Gabriel Sargsyan lost
to Mikhail Krasenkov of Poland and occupies the 13th position with
2.5 points.

Slovenian Grand Master Sergey Movsisyan and Ethiene Backro of France
are in the lead.

Biloxi Sun Herald, Mississippi
Jan 19 2008

Park will honor two heroes: Rosa Parks and WWII soldier Harold A.
Bezazian

By KAT BERGERON
[email protected]

GULFPORT –The mystery of World War II hero Harold A. Bezazian is
solved in time for Martin Luther King Day celebrations that include
the dedication of a Rosa Parks bench. Bezazian’s name is on two
8-foot pillars at 30th Street Park, where the bench will be unveiled
Monday.

Bezazian is not black, but a half-century ago his father created the
park and two others in less-privileged areas, because he understood
discrimination firsthand. With time, the neighborhood forgot the
meaning of the Bezazian name, and the odd pillars now stand alone,
without fencing.

Bezazian, a first lieutenant, died in March 1945 rescuing his 6th
Infantry Division men behind enemy lines in Luzon. The Chicago native
who’d received a Bronze Star for bravery died in enemy fire, but his
rescue strategy worked.

Identical bronze plaques on the pillars simply state his name, birth
and death dates and declare, "In honor of a hero."

Kristal Daniel, who organized the 1 p.m. MLK Day event at the park,
saw the pillars but knew no more than what the plaques told her. As a
member of AmeriCorps’ Gulf Coast Conservation Corps, she felt the
sparsely furnished park needed a bench.

"We thought dedicating a bench to Rosa Parks for her refusal to give
up a seat and what that meant to the civil rights movement would add
meaning to the King observance," said Daniels. "Now, we’ll also
mention Bezazian."

The Sun Herald contacted Bezazian’s family in Chicago to learn why
the lieutenant’s father, John Bezazian, built parks for
underprivileged and minority Gulfport children. The story begins in
1895 when the father immigrated from Armenia.

"Because of his swarthy skin, poor English and accent, my grandfather
had a very difficult time his first years in America," said Paulette
Bezazian.

He overcame immigrant obstacles and gained wealth from real estate
and selling rugs. He had three children.

Harold, the youngest, who was born in 1911, went to good schools
(Oberlin College and Columbia University) and pursued a short
story-writing career. He was awarded a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
for Europe, suitable for a man remembered by his family as a free
spirit who loved children and didn’t care much about material things.

The South Mississippi connection enters when he worked on his
father’s 520-acre tung oil farm, as an experience to make him a
better writer. His father bought the farm near Gulfport as an
investment in a subtropical region favored as a winter escape for
Chicago’s rich.

Unmarried and in his early 30s, Bezazian enlisted after Pearl Harbor.
After his war death, the father financed philanthropic projects in
his son’s memory, including the Harold A. Bezazian Branch of the
Chicago Public Library and the three Gulfport parks.

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Turkish penal code

The Times/UK
January 19, 2008

The UK and the EU must ensure that no one else is killed or persecuted
for expressing their opinions
Sir, Demonstrations in Turkey this weekend, marking the anniversary of
the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper
Agos and a brave advocate for the universal right of free expression,
are a reminder that Turkey must urgently reform its penal code, which
brands those who speak out on certain subjects as `traitors’ and so
makes them targets for extremists.

After referring in Agos to the Armenian massacres of 1915 as
`genocide’, Dink was charged with `insulting Turkishness’ under Article
301 of the Penal Code. He was then shot by an ultranationalist outside
his Istanbul offices on January 19, 2007. His son, Arat, and the
newspaper’s owner were given suspended sentences in October.

Like the many Turkish organisations that believe that true justice for
Dink must include the urgent abolition of Article 301, we are dismayed
at how little has changed in the past year. Writers, journalists and
publishers continue to face charges under 301 and other similarly
divisive articles, receiving frequent threats of violence as a result.
Next week the Turkish parliament will discuss amendments to 301, but
these are likely to prove inadequate, leaving `denigration of the
Turkish nation’ as a criminal offence carrying severe penalties.

Unfortunately, the EU, in its negotiations with Turkey, has insisted on
amendment rather than repeal of these dangerous laws. The UK and the EU
should now do all they can to ensure Article 301 is no longer used as a
tool of repression, and that no one else is killed or persecuted solely
for expressing opinions.

Agnès Callamard
Executive Director, Article 19

Jonathan Heawood
Director, English PEN

Henderson Mullin
Chief Executive, Index on Censorship

IT IS OFFERED TO CREATE JOINT CLUSTER IN CHEMICAL AND MINING INDUSTRY OF ARMENIA

2008-01-17 12:50:00

ArmInfo. During the session, dedicated to the issues of development
of the chemical and mining industry in the republic, RA Minister of
Trade and Economic Development Nerses Yeritsyan proposed the idea of
creation of a joint cluster, the Ministry’s press-release reads.

N. Yeritsyan exemplified the successful experience of Belgium. He is
sure that creation of a joint cluster in the chemical and mining
industry will allow to correctly form the problems, determine
the goals and assure knowledge transfer. It is also proposed to
create a research fund, which will contribute to the search of
business-partners, attraction of investments and implementation of
scientific developments. The session participants, representatives
of the chemical and mining enterprises, as well as international
financial institutes agreed to come back to the next discussion of
this idea two months later.

U.S. ADMINISTRATION WILL FURTHER NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.01.2008 17:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met
today with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza,
the RA MFA press office reported.

The officials discussed the agenda of bilateral relations, Armenia’s
contribution to international peacekeeping operations in Iraq and
Kosovo and possibility of deployment of Armenian peacekeepers in
Afghanistan.

Mr Bryza briefed on the outcomes of the U.S. visit of Turkish
President Abdullah Gul and the issues referring to normalization of
the Armenian-Turkish relations. He confirmed the U.S. administration’s
intention to contribute to soonest establishment of relations between
the two states.

Oskanian and Bryza also referred to the forthcoming presidential
elections in Armenia.

"MIKA" BEGINS TWO-WEEK TRAINING IN TSAKHKADZOR

TSAKHKADZOR, JANUARY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. "Mika" football team, the bronze
medalist of the 2007 Football Championship of Armenia, has started
two-week training in Tsakhkadzor. The chief coach Arkady Andreasian has
invited 22 players. No changes have been made in the team. Only a few
new players are undergoing a probation period.

Azat Artsakh Tert, Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Jan 11 2008

One-off grants will be going on

According to number 537 decision of November 30th,2007 of the NKR
Government, in view of New Year and Christmas, one-off grants given
to separate groups of NKR population, are going on, the head of
department of social assistance of the Ministry of Social Maintenance
Samvel Israelian informed our newspaper about it. Let’s note, that
the process has begun from December 17th,2007 and will go on till
January 23rd,2008. The Ministry of Economics and Finances in view of
New Year and Christmas , on the purpose of disposing one-off grants,
allocated the Ministry of Social Maintenance about 90 million drams.

119499 VOTERS IN GYUMRI

A1+
10 January, 2008

1923 electoral districts are opened in the RA territory, 78 of them
are located in Gyumri. The total number of voters in Gyumri is 119
thousand 499. No changes will take place regarding the formation of
stations during the upcoming presidential elections.

Citizens are involved in the election lists of corresponding districts
according to the places of residence. The number of voters in the
polling stations should not exceed 2000, with the exception of 5
percent, which is enhanced in the Electoral Code.

According to the Head of number 34 district electoral commission Sayat
Minasyan, there are no districts currently where the umber of voters
exceeds 2000.

As compared with the monitoring activities in Gyumri, where
polling stations are already formed, no progress is registered in
the villages. In number 33 election district many technical problems
remain unsolved. For example, the problem of heating is still unsolved
in two polling stations.

The responsible individuals do not even bother themselves to solve
the problems with election lists.

They mention that it is impossible to have perfect election lists;
however they have taken certain measures to bring the number of
incorrectness in the election lists to minimum. Although election
lists are cleaned, you may find names of dead people and those who
have left the country many years ago. The list of voters will be
stamped tomorrow morning.

The preliminary lists will be stamped in all villages, and people will
be able to know whether their names are involved in the lists or not.

STIPULATION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH PEOPLE’S SELF-DETERMINATION RIGHT IS BASIS OF NAGORNO KARABAKH PROBLEM’S SETTLEMENT, RA FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Jan 9, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The Nagorno Karabakh settlement
remains one of the priorities of the RA foreign policy, RA Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanian stated at the January 9 press conference.

According to him, Armenia has remained loyal to the principle adopted
by it, that is, the stipulation and international recognition of
Nagorno Karabakh people’s self-determination right is the basis of
the problem’s settlement.

He said that the admission of this fact and its stipulation by
a document will permit to start problem’s settlement, including
liquidation of conflict’s consequences.

According to the Minister, in spite of Azerbaijan’s commitments to
continue the negotiations, in 2007 Azerbaijan continued its efforts of
moving the Nagorno Karabakh problem to other international structures,
bellicose statements contradicting the spirit of negotiations,
unbridled anti-Armenian propaganda inside the country, as well as
hampering work of representatives of international organizations in
the region.

"Armenia not only counteracted, but also managed to secure Nagorno
Karabakh people’s self-determination right in the international arena,"
the RA Foreign Minister assured.