Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

CENTRAL BANK TO PUBLISH LIST OF TRADE BANKS FINED BY CENTRAL BANK

Lragir.am
24 March 06
The Central Bank of Armenia is going to publish the list of the trade
banks, fined by the Central Bank, and is waiting for the decision of
the Association of Banks of Armenia, said the president of the Central
Bank of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan to our reporter. The reason of the
Central Bank’s decision is that after appearing in press the `naughty’
banks will fear losing customers and will act with more compliance
with the law. And if the banks oppose, the Central Bank will turn to
the mass media, said Tigran Sargsyan.

>From District One, Fresno
Public Service Announcement
March 24, 2006
Councilmember Tom Boyajian’s Office
City of Fresno
Sevag Tateosian
Staff Assistant Council Member Boyajian
[email protected]
559-621-8000

The City of Fresno, Councilmember Tom Boyajian’s Office along with the
Armenian National Committee of Central California will raise the
Armenian flag in front of Fresno’s City Hall to commemorate the
Armenian Genocide of 1915 on April 22nd, 2006 at 10:00AM. The
Armenian flag will be raised by the Homenetmen Scouts, while the
United States flag will be raised by the Fresno High School ROTC. This
event is free to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.
This is the third year that the Armenian flag will be raised to
commemorate the Genocide. Last year Congressman George Radanovich,
Congressman Jim Costa, State Senator Charles Poochigian and Fresno
Mayor Alan Autry spoke to the 500 plus crowd.
Fresno was one of the first cities that the Armenian Genocide
survivors sought refuge in. Fresno County is home to approximately
50,000 Armenians.
For more information please contact:
ANC Central California Chairwomen Hygo Ohannessian at 559-485-1453 or
Fresno City Council District One Staff Assistant Sevag Tateosian at
559-621-7814

A1+
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
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NO RECTOR WAS ELECTED
08:54 pm 22 March, 2006
During 8.5 hours the voters did not manage to elect a rector for the
Yerevan State University. In the third phase too none of the
candidates collected the necessary amount of votes: Aram Simonyan had
20 votes for, and Gagik Ghazinyan – 36, which is only one vote shy of
the necessary amount. 11 voters voted against everyone, and three
ballots were announced invalid.
The elections will take place in 50 days – on May 15.
RECTOR OF THE YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY WILL BE ELECTED IN THE THIRD
PHASE
Since midday till now the session hall of the central building of the
Yerevan State University is full of people. The reason is the election
of the rector of the University.
There were four candidates: vice rector of the University Aram
Simonyan, Dean of the faculty of Mathematics Gegham Gevorgyan, Dean of
the law faculty Gagik Ghazinyan and Dean of the faculty of physics
Samvel Haroutyunyan. 50% of the voters were representatives of the
Government and the Ministry of Education and Sciences, and the other
half were representatives of the University professors and
students. Of the 72 electors two were absent: NA deputy Speaker Tigran
Torosyan who is participating in the CE works and Dean of the oriental
studies faculty Gourgen Meliqyan who is in hospital.
The session was closed. The journalists followed the course of events
from the corridor trying to guess what is going on on the other side
of the doors. During the session the candidates made speech about
their plans and answered the questions of those present.
«It is meaningless to speak about any support before the electoral
process. The atmosphere was fine today», Aram Simonyan said. The
voting took place after the break. As a result Aram Simonyan had 21
votes for, Gegham Gevorgyan – 16, Gagik Ghazinyan – 28, and Samvel
Haroutyunyan – four. One of the electors voted against all the
candidates. The first two candidates reached the second phase. But now
that the second phase has finished the rector has not been elected
yet. Gagik Ghazinyan has 32 votes, and Aram Simonyan – 23. 7 votes
were invalid, and 8 people voted against everyone.
By the way, one of the members of the University Governing Council
mentioned, «Everything is fabricated. They are simply playing a
game». One of the student added, «There has been no physical
pressure upon the students, but there has been psychological
pressure».

FIRST SECTION OF IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE WILL OPEN IN DECEMBER
Lragir/am
23 March 06

The news agency ARKA informs that the first section of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline can be operated in December 2006. Levon
Vardanyan, the head of the Department of Technical Development and
Public Relations, the Ministry of Energy, informed the agency about
this.
He pointed out the high rates of the construction of the gas
pipeline. `Although it had been planned to finish in late December
2006, now we will be able to finish the 40 km section running through
Armenia in early December,’ said Levon Vardanyan. He mentioned that
presently the construction of the second section of the pipeline
running from Kadjaran to Ararat is being prepared. Levon Vardanyan
said agreement was reached with Iran, and now details are worked out
to sign the contract.

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:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I CONGRATULATES THE NEWLY ELECTED ANGLICAN BISHOP OF
JERUSALEM
Bishop Nareg Alemezian, Ecumenical Officer, attended the official reception
organized on March 18 in the headquarters of the Anglican Church in Beirut
in honor of the newly elected Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle
East, Bishop Suheil Douani. Bishop Alemezian conveyed His Holiness’
greetings and warm wishes during the event.
Bishop Alemezian also expressed the support of the Armenian Church to the
Christian-Muslim coexistence in the Middle East.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities 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.

“HAYASTAN” ALL ARMENIAN FUND TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAMS OF MAJOR REPAIRS OF 3 SPORTS INSTITUTIONS IN YEREVAN THIS YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Mar 20 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 20, NOYAN TAPAN. This year the “Hayastan” All Armenian
Fund will implement a program of major repairs at Yerevan sports
institutions – Sports Center of National Teams, Children’s Olympic
Sports School of Gymnastics after Hrant Shahinian, State College of
Olympic Teams. As Noyan Tapan was informed from fund’s Public Relations
Department, in addition to this, within the framework of the program a
new building will be built for Yerevan Children’s Shooting School. The
projecting of the 4 above-mentioned sports institutions’ construction
is underway at present. It will be summed up in the coming days. It’s
envisaged to finish the construction in November this year.

EU ENVOY CITES HIGH CHANCES FOR AZERI-ARMENIAN ACCORD IN 2006
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006
Baku, March 16, AssA-Irada
The newly-appointed European Union envoy on the South Caucasus has
cited high chances for an Armenia-Azerbaijan accord on Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh, despite the latest unsuccessful round of presidential talks.
“If I did not believe in the conflict resolution, I would not have
taken up my new appointment,” Peter Semneby said during his visit
to the Armenian capital Yerevan. Semneby said he would be regularly
in touch with the mediating OSCE Minsk Group to make sure all the
initiatives aiming to the settle the long-standing dispute are
properly coordinated.
“Considering that the last meeting of the two presidents did not
justify expectations, it is difficult to say how real these hopes
are. To become closely familiar with the situation, I have to visit
Azerbaijan and Armenia and exchange views with the co-chairs.”
The discussions held by the two leaders in the French town of
Rambouillet in February turned out fruitless, as the parties failed
to iron out issues of principle, which was followed by mutual threats.
The Swedish diplomat noted that one of the priorities in his activity
would be to facilitate settlement of “frozen conflicts” persisting in
the region. Semneby added that the European Union will face daunting
tasks after these disputes are resolved.

LIBRARY: CROSSROADS OF CULTURES
Yerkir/am
March 17, 2006
Organized by the Armenian Library Association, the National Library
Week will be held in April under the motto “Library: Crossroads
of Cultures.”
Along with Armenian libraries, this year, a number of Diaspora
libraries will also participate in the event.
During the week, meetings will be held with prominent artists as well
as state officials. Book fairs will also be organized. A competition
of essays titled “My Book,” and “My Library” will be announced in
the schools of Armenia.
The organizers will help the libraries to restore the lost literature
at the libraries. Monetary and publishing incentives are also planned.
Several scientific and publishing houses will also attend the event.
The Armenian Library Association and the initiative group of the
National Library Week have called on all interested organizations and
individuals to support and assist the event to form a more civilized
and educated society.

Akkan Suver: “Armenia should withdraw from the territories it occupied”
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006
[ 17 Mar. 2006 17:55 ]
Director-general of Turkey Marmara Strategic and Social Researches
Foundation Akkan Suver held news conference today (APA). Suver said
that he visited Baku to attend the 2nd Congress of World Azerbaijanis.
Highly appreciating the Congress, Suver called it not only the congress
of world Azerbaijanis but also all Turks worldwide. “Turkey needs to
learn much from Azerbaijan regarding lobbying activity. The problem
is we lack lobbying. Azerbaijan is a good example for Turkish world
for lobbying. Turkey should develop lobbying in order to be powerful,”
the Turkish visitor said.
Referring to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the director-general
said Armenia is pursuing a wrong policy. “It is imposable to develop
as a terrorist country in the civilized Turkish world. Armenia should
bear it in mind and withdraw from the territories it has occupied,”
Suver concluded./APA/

Armenian Defense Minister criticized for statements regarding Karabakh settlement
15:0 9 03/17/2006
Armenian volunteers, who participated in Karabakh war called
“treacherous and immoral” statements of Armenian National Security
Secretary and Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan. He said that
“during the war, Armenia destroyed the enemy, and not liberated the
territories,” and used the term “security zone” instead of “liberated
territories.” Position of Armenian veterans was announce on March
16, during a round table conference in Yerevan, informed Assistant
coordinator of the public initiative “In defense of liberated
technologies” Armen Yegyan.
He said that Sarkisyan’s statements made at a meeting with army command
“demoralize officers, and presume return of liberated territories to
Azerbaijan.” According to ex-commander of Special Forces battalion
Girar Sefilyan “Sarkisyan must be dismissed by political means, using
opposition forces,” because “with such government, Armenia will not
be capable to conduct warfare,” thinks Sefilyan.
According to ex-Prime Minister MP Vazgen Manukyan, Sarkisyan “had no
authority to make such statements”. He said that the statements are
“directed to the West, and aims only to preserve power”, and noted,
that “return of liberated territories is impossible, because it can
happen only after the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh independence,
that is unacceptable to Azerbaijan”. He said that warfare can
recommence only if Azerbaijan feels stronger, and Armenia – weaker,
but in next 3-4 years it will not take place. “Armenian authorities
simply threaten the people with possibility of warfare recommence,
to prevent it we must compromise”, said Manukyan.
According to ex-Minister of Defense Vagarshak Arutyunyan, “if the
return of occupied territories is Armenian concession, than Azerbaijan
must return Artsvashen to Armenia and several occupied regions
to Nagorno Karabakh, and because of this, the question was never
raised at the negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement,”
said Arutyunyan.