Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

LANGUAGE – ONE OF JAVAKHK’S PROBLEMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.11.2006 15:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Lack of knowledge of the Georgian language is one of
the major problems of the Armenians of Samtskhe Javakhetia. According
to the new Georgian legislation people not knowing the Georgian
language cannot serve in executive power bodies, RA Prime Minister’s
advisor Stepan Margaryan said in Yerevan.

In his words, 95% of Javakhk’s population do not speak
Georgian. "Georgian teachers who arrive there to teach the state
language start speaking Armenian after a while and the problem
remains," he said.

As for the tension at Bavra checkpoint at the Armenian-Georgian border
the PM’s advisor considers it’s the result of incoordinate legislative
acts of Armenia and Georgia. Armenia’s relations with Georgia cannot
ensure crossing the border without documents and to put it strictly,
the border guards were right as regards Vahagn Chakhalyan. However,
there is no need to stir up noise," Margaryan resumed.

GOLDEN PALACE 5 STAR HOTEL
Panorama.am
14:20 22/11/06
There is one five star hotel in Armenia and that is Golden Palace in
Victory Park. The hotel was accredited by the ministry of trade and
economic development 3-4 months ago, Ara Petrosyan, deputy minister of
trade and economic development, told a press conference today. Hotel
Metropol has 4 stars and Congress Hotel has 3. Armenia Marriott Hotel
has no swimming pool and fitness complex and the ceiling is low,
Petrosyan said also saying the hotel aspires to be 5 star. He said
newly built hotels comply with ministry requirements better. In the
words of Petrosyan, the newly built hotel Oriental in the place of
Youth Palace has aspirations to become 10 star. “It is in very good
location and has a very interesting design,” he said.

ITO REPROACHES FRENCH DEPUTIES OVER ARMENIAN BILL
Turkish Press
Nov 23 2006
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Executive Board Chairman Murat
Yalcintas said yesterday that the French Parliament’s recent passage
of a bill criminalizing denial of the so-called Armenian genocide was
regrettable. The ITO organized a meeting bringing together the heads
of French firms in Turkey and members of the chamber with the aim
of developing ties between the two countries. French Ambassador Paul
Poudade also attended the gathering. Stressing that the recent move
had badly affected both political and business relations, Yalcintas
condemned France, saying that the country favored daily concerns over
deeply rooted historical ties. He added that the French Parliament’s
decision had disappointed the Turkish people, and called on French
allies to stop the bill. The French ambassador, for his part, said
that the bill would not go into force.

FRENCH AMBASSADOR LAUDS TURKEY AS BROKER FOR EU, MIDEAST
By Economy News Desk
Zaman, Turkey
Nov 22 2006
As the rift between Turkey and France over the French draft bill on
the alleged Armenian genocide deepens, France’s Ambassador to Turkey
Jean-Paul Poudade said: “Because of issues relating to internal
politics, politicians are exaggerating something. This draft will
not be ratified.”
Noting that the membership talks between Turkey and the European
Union should continue without interruption, Poudade stressed the
importance of this for both sides. Speaking at a dinner held by the
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, the French ambassador said: “If it wants
to establish dialogue with the Islamic world, Europe could do it via
Turkey. When Turkey is admitted into the union, the difficulties in
the Middle East will be alleviated to a great extent.
Sooner or later, one should maintain peace with their neighbors,
especially if they are an EU member.”
Poudade further stressed that French and Turkish businessmen should
collaborate more often to strengthen the ties between the countries.

ADVERTISING ARMENIA ON CNN COSTS 400 THOUSAND DOLLARS
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 22 2006
The deputy minister of trade and economic development Ara Petrosyan
stated in a news conference on November 22 that the government is
implementing a number of serious projects. One of these projects
is advertisement of Armenia on CNN since September 2006. One of the
advertisements presents Armenia as a place tourists can visit. The
second tells about the country. As for the question how much was
spent for each show, “1000 U.S. dollars for each show,” says Ara
Petrosyan. It is foreseen to show the ads 400 times, 30 times within
8 days. Hence, 400 thousand U.S. dollars was spent on advertising
our country on CNN.

OSCE MINSK GROUP COCHAIRMEN VISITING YEREVAN
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Nov 21 2006
YEREVAN, November 21 (Itar-Tass) — The OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen are
preparing another meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.
The presidents may meet on November 28, on the sideline of the CIS
summit in Minsk.
OSCE Minsk Group Russian Cochairman Yuri Merzlyakov and his French
counterpart Bernard Fassier met with Armenian President Robert
Kocharian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian in Yerevan on Tuesday
to discuss the meeting agenda. U.S. Cochairman Matthew Bryza could
not visit Yerevan because of a busy schedule.
The cochairmen and Kocharian discussed “the current phase of the
Karabakh settlement and issues related to a possible meeting of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents at the CIS summit in Minsk,”
the presidential press service said.
The meeting with the Armenian foreign minister focused on the
settlement principles, which were discussed in Brussels on October 14,
a source at the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass.

SWEDISH MFA: RECOGNITION OF KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE NOT TO BECOME PRECEDENT FOR OTHER CONFLICTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.11.2006 16:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “I do not think that the recognition of Kosovo’s
independence by the international community can be rated as precedent
for the other conflicts, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stated.
In his words, such cases should be approached delicately. “The
situation in Balkans demands carefulness. All engaged in the regional
issues should keep in mind the great difference in positions and
jointly with the other states and UN Security members exert efforts
to bring the positions closer,” he remarked.
When touching upon the frozen conflicts Mr Bildt said that ‘territorial
integrity of states is very important but the problems should be
resolved via dialogue.’ “Burst of violence in Abkhazia, South Ossetia,
Nagorno Karabakh and Transdnistria will be in no one’s interests. I
think it’s in Russia’s interests to treat the situation in the region
with great cautiousness and respect towards international principles,”
he underscored, reports the BBC Russian branch.

UNEMPLOYMENT LEVEL DROPS TO 7.4 PERCENT
Armenpress
Nov 20 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS: At the beginning of November
Armenia’s economically active population numbered 1.216.600
people. According to employment and social affairs ministry, 92.6
percent of them were engaged in different branches of economy.
The ministry said the unemployment level as of November 1 dropped
to 7.4 percent from 7.7 percent at the beginning of the year. The
highest unemployment level of 17.2 percent was registered in the
northeastern province of Lori, followed by the province of Shirak
with 16.1 percent, Syunik with 15.7 percent. The lowest rate of 1.9
percent was in Aragatsotn province.
According to the National Employment Center, an affiliation of the
ministry, as of November 1 there were 107,000 unemployed people. The
share of unemployed women continues to remain high; they make 71.6
percent. The majority of unemployed-93.4 percent- is urban population.
The unemployment benefit at the beginning of November was about
9,000 Drams.

THEY SAT DOWN TO WORK ON MILITARY DISTRICTS AGAIN
by Vladimir Mukhin
Source: Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie, No. 42, November 17-23, 2006, p. 5
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 20, 2006 Monday
The first regional command will be in the southern direction
IN A FEW DAYS THE PRESIDENT WILL APPROVE LOCATION OF THE HEADQUARTERS
OF REGIONAL COMMAND SOUTH; Officials of the General Staff hope
that in a few days the President will approve location of regional
command South.
Officials of the General Staff hope that in a few days the President
will approve location of regional command South. According to available
information, this will evidently be Samara where the staff of the
Volga Military District was located in the past. Thus the Defense
Ministry transits to real fulfillment of plans for new military
administrative division of Russia.
Now the country is divided into six military districts. It is planned
to establish three united commands instead of them and to subordinate
all branches of the Armed Forces to them. They will be named West,
South and East.
According to Lieutenant General Yury Netkachev, former deputy commander
of the group of Russian forces in Transcaucasia, the Volga-Urals
Military District (probably not the entire district because its
eastern territories will be subordinated to command East) and the
North Caucasian Military District will be subordinated to territorial
military command South. Command South will also command foreign
groups and objects of the Armed Forces deployed in Central Asia and
Transcaucasia. The main attention will be focused on them because the
military bases in foreign countries have already become inter-branch
groups of forces including not only the Ground Forces units but also
units and formations of the Air Defense Forces and Air Force.
In Armenia this group already appeared. A similar group is being
established in Central Asia. Recently, Air Force Commander Vladimir
Mikhailov announced that an air base would be established in Tajikistan
on the military airfield Aini near Dushanbe in 2007, and this base
would be organizationally included in the 201st military base of
the Ground Forces. Observers do not rule out that the air base in
Kant (Kyrgyzstan) will also be subordinated to command of the 201st
military base and through it to command South to appear soon in Samara.
This is confirmed by the recent visit of Chief of the General Staff
Yury Baluevsky to Samara. According to the plan for buildup of the
Armed Forces between 2006 and 2010, approved by President Vladimir
Putin, it is the General Staff that is responsible for conduction of
an experiment for transition from the district principle of troops
command in the strategic directions to command of an inter-branch
regional group of forces.
This experiment was conducted in the Siberian and Far Eastern military
districts since July 2006.
Now it is known that the headquarters of the new regional command in
the East Siberian strategic direction will be in Ulan-Ude. Chief of
the General Staff Yury Baluevsky commanded the military staff command
exercise Baikal-2006 from there in July 2006. In Soviet times, Ulan-Ude
was already the headquarters of the East Siberian strategic direction
and has proven its capability.
The experiment for command of the troops in the East Siberian strategic
direction will be accomplished in 2007. According to officers of
the General Staff, already now there is a big probability that it
will be successful. The preconditions are already being prepared for
spreading the experiment to other regions of the country, of course,
first of all to the south from where the main military threat to the
country’s security comes according to the Security Council.

US OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION PROVIDES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LAB FOR ARMENIAN AVIATION INSTITUTE
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 17 2006
The US Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) announced the
opening of the new English language laboratory that it provided to
the Armenian Aviation Institute. This is the second English language
laboratory that the ODC, through its International Military Education
and Training program, has provided to the Aviation Institute, and the
third that it has provided to the Armenian Ministry of Defense. US
Charge d’Affaires Anthony F. Godfrey and General Mayor Melkonyan
participated in the ceremony. During the event, Charge d’Affaires
Godfrey noted that this facility will be integral to helping Armenian
officers and soldiers learn English – an essential component of helping
Armenia’s forces work together with the forces of other nations in
international coalitions.
The new English language laboratory, which was installed by US
contractor Dal Media Solutions, can facilitate 15 students at a time.
It is equipped with student workstations with headphones, and the
instructor can further use a desktop computer with Internet access,
televisions, CD players, and DVD/VHS players to help students learn
English. The U.S. ODC has also provided English language instructor
training to Lieutenant Irene Arakelyan and Lieutenant Artak Pandunts,
who will work to further increase the quality of English language
training at the Institute.
The new lab will help fulfill the joint goal of the US ODC and
the Armenian Ministry of Defense to centralize English language
instruction standards for Armenian officers, non-commissioned officers,
and soldiers at the Aviation Institute. The ODC plans to upgrade both
English language laboratories at the Aviation Institute in 2007 so
that each student workstation is equipped with a laptop computer that
will be networked to the instructor’s computer to further diversify
the resources that are available at the Institute.
The US Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance in the Armenian defense
sphere. The US ODC works for the US Chief of Mission in Armenia and
the US European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.