EURO 2008 QUALIFYING GROUP A
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Sep 04, 2006
P W D L F A Pts
Finland 1 1 0 0 3 1 3
Serbia 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Belgium 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Kazakhstan 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Armenia 0 0 0 0 0 0
Portugal 0 0 0 0 0 0
Azerbaijan 1 0 0 1 0 1
Poland 1 0 0 1 1 3
Poland (0) 1 Finland (0) 3
Gargula 89 Litmanen 54 76 (pen),
Att 17,000 Vayrynen 84
Serbia (0) 1 Azerbaijan (0)
Zigic 72 Att 12,500
Fixtures: Wednesday Azerbaijan v Kazakhstan; Finland v Portugal;
Poland v Serbia; Armenia v Belgium; Oct 7 Serbia v Belgium; Portugal
v Azerbaijan; Kazakhstan v Poland; Armenia v Finland. Oct 11 Belgium
v Azerbaijan; Kazakhstan v Finland; Serbia v Armenia; Poland v
Portugal. Nov 15 Finland v Armenia; Portugal v Kazakhstan; Belgium
v Poland. March 24 2007 Poland v Azerbaijan; Portugal v Belgium;
Kazakhstan v Serbia. March 28 Azerbaijan v Finland; Poland v Armenia;
Serbia v Portugal. June 2 Finland v Serbia; Kazakhstan v Armenia;
Azerbaijan v Poland; Belgium v Portugal. June 6 Finland v Belgium;
Kazakhstan v Azerbaijan; Armenia v Poland. Aug 22 Finland v Kazakhstan;
Armenia v Portugal; Belgium v Serbia. Sept 8 Azerbaijan v Armenia;
Serbia v Finland; Portugal v Poland. Sept 12 Armenia v Azerbaijan;
Finland v Poland; Kazakhstan v Belgium; Portugal v Serbia. Oct 13
Azerbaijan v Portugal; Belgium v Finland; Armenia v Serbia; Poland
v Kazakhstan. Oct 17 Kazakhstan v Portugal; Azerbaijan v Serbia;
Belgium v Armenia. Nov 17 Serbia v Kazakhstan; Finland v Azerbaijan;
Portugal v Armenia; Poland v Belgium. Nov 21 Azerbaijan v Belgium;
Serbia v Poland; Portugal v Finland; Armenia v Kazakhstan.

ROMANIAN DM TO VISIT ARMENIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. A Romanian delegation headed by Minister
of Defense Teodor Atanasiu is to arrive for a 3-day visit to Armenia
on September 6, 2006.
Press Secretary of the RA Minister of Defense, Colonel Seyran
Shahsuvaryan reported that on September 7 the Romanian delegation is
to hold meetings with RA President Robert Kocharyan, Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan, Minister of Defense Serge Sargsyan and Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan.
The Romanian delegation is to visit the Institute-Museum of the
Armenian Genocide and lay a wreath in memory of the victims.
On September 8, the Romanian delegation is to visit the Mother See of
Echmiadzin and the institute of ancient manuscripts Matenadaran.

ARMENIAN NA SPEAKER MEETS WITH SYRIAN MUFTI
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. Speaker of the Armenian Parliament
Tigran Torosyan has held a meeting with Mufti of Syria, Sheik Ahmad
Badr Al-Dina Hassun. During the meeting, Speaker Torosyan pointed
out the importance of the Mufti’s visit to Armenia now that “the
neighboring state’s spiritual leader threatens Armenia with jihad.”
“Religions cannot be a factor of estranging peoples. There are
high values uniting people and allowing them to meet challenges,”
Torosyan said.
In his turn, Sheik Hassun, commenting the statements on jihad made
by the Leader of the Caucasian Muslims, said that jihad means life,
but not war and murders. Jihad unites people round good ideas,
and spiritual leaders’ task must be helping political leaders in
establishing peace and prosperity, he said.
In this context, Speaker Torosyan stressed that just as jihad can have
different interpretations inside one and the same religion, the term
“democracy” an be interpreted in different ways. “This is defined as
a form of government giving people prosperity and protection. But
there are individuals and groups making use of democracy for war,
though good is not imposed by means of war,” Torosyan said.
The sides pointed out the importance of retaining national identity
by resisting globalization challenges.
Torosyan thanked Syria for caring about the Armenians that survived
the 1915 Genocide and become Syrian citizens enjoying full rights. He
also stressed that he is closely watching the events in the Near
East. Torosyan said that he is concerned over the fate of not only
his compatriots, but also friendly people.
The leader of the Caucasian Muslims Allahshukyur Pashazade recently
stated his readiness to declare jihad for liberating “Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories” when time comes.

EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN NATIONAL CURRENCY OPENS IN IJEVAN
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. An exhibition dedicated to the history
of the national currency of Armenia – dram, opened in Ijevan (Armenian
city). The Press Service of the CBA informed ARKA News Agency that the
exhibition is aimed at familiarizing inhabitants of Tavush region of
the republic with the history of the Armenian national currency and
its circulation, activities of the Central bank of Armenia.
According to the press-release, pupils of Yerevan already have such
opportunity – visiting the CBA they get acquainted with the history of
its activity. This initiative is aimed at creating such opportunities
for pupils, students and people of different regions of Armenia.
Next year such exhibitions will be held in Gegharkunik regions as
well.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MONTH OF INTERNET-TECHNOLOGIES TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA IN SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. A month of Internet-Technologies will
be held in Armenia in September-October, Director of the Incubator
of Enterprises Fund (IEF) Bagrat Yengibaryan informed ARKA Agency.
“Work on informing and raising interest of the people towards the
IT-sphere will be carried out for holding this event”, he told.
At the same time Yengibaryan informed that within the framework
of Armenia-Diaspora September forum an international symposium on
IT-sphere would be held, dedicated to WI MAX and RFID technologies.
Besides that, On October 6-8, Digitec-2006 international exhibition
of the IT-sphere’s achievements will be held in Yerevan, in which
representatives of different countries will take part. He told that
Digitec-2006 is mainly aimed at demonstrating achievements of the
IT-sphere of Armenia both to the Armenian public and world community,
representatives of different companies.
“The exhibition will also help us to deliver to our country
achievements of foreign companies. We organize it every year and it
gradually obtains international and regional character”, he said,
emphasizing that more than 100 organizations from all over the world,
will take part in the exhibition, 30 of which have already got
their pavilions. A representative delegation from Sun Microsystems,
Mitsubishi, Microsoft companies will visit the exhibition as well.
Meantime Yengibaryan emphasized that in the second half-year of 2006,
a course of short lectures will be held, and a number of programs in
cooperation with institutes will be implemented in Armenia.

ANDRANIK ALEXANYAN: INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS IN VERY POOR STATE IN ARMENIA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
Below is an exclusive interview given to the ARKA News Agency by
Director General of the Arminco Global Telecommunications Andranik
Alexanyan.
ARKA: What is the state of Internet communication in Armenia? Do You
see prospects of its development in conditions of ArmenTel’s monopoly
over the market?
A. Alexanyan: Internet communications are in a very poor state
in Armenia. Prices are very high, of the highest in the world,
whereas the quality is low. This is the result of ArmenTel’s not
giving proper attention to the creation of an Internet communication
infrastructure. ArmenTel is abusing its monopoly and is not giving
proper attention to the development of Internet in Armenia, which has
a great future both as business and as an infrastructure. But ArmenTel
is not interested in this direction, because cellular communication
is more important for them. ArmenTel’s monopoly slowed down Internet
development in the country. We could have gone further and have a
greater potential. ArmenTel has certain problems, which affects
Internet users in Armenia. ArmenTel’s monopoly has not given us
anything good, and the Government must demand that a company execute
its contractual commitments.
ARKA: What measures need to be taken to prevent failures in Internet
communication, which has lately been the case?
A. Alexanyan: Unstable Internet communication in Armenia may produce
a negative impact on international investments in the country. I
know that a number of international companies left Armenia because
of low-quality communication and high prices. The fiber-optic cable
could damage, which can happen to every country. A communication
company must not restrict itself to only one communication line,
because it is not the first time the entire country has been deprived
of Internet communication. In 2006 alone, communication has failed
about 200 times. A company must have alternative lines. ArmenTel can
lay an alternative cable through Iran. However, this has not been
done for lack of necessary funds, unwillingness or for some other
reasons. Armenia is the only country having Internet access by means
on only one cable.
ARKA: What alternative ways of Internet development are available
in Armenia?
A. Alexanyan: An alternative way is the installation of two-way
satellite Internet. As far as I know the Government permitted the
installation of two-way satellite Internet. At the end of the month all
Internet-providers that want can install it. Competition will reduce
Internet prices, and the problem will be resolved. The installation
of this type of communication is expensive, but it will allow Armenian
Internet-providers to know their potential and have alternatives.
ARKA: What is Your assessment of Armenia’s IT market?
A. Alexanyan: Armenia’s IT market is in a disgraceful state. The
reason is a low level of education and culture in Armenia’s IT
sector, high prices for computers and lack of high-quality Internet
communication. The development of this sphere first of all requires a
higher education level, knowledge of English and opening of computer
classrooms in schools.
Armenia’s IT market has a shortage of specialists, which raises the
value of professionals. Society has come to realize the importance
of this sphere, and the entry to the specialized departments is
rather large now. In five years we will have a necessary number of
specialists, and the problem will be resolved. The second problem is
a high price for computers, which is the result of high customs dues
on the import of computers. Customs dues should be reduced. If the
price of equipment and Internet is reduced and higher schools turn
out relevant specialists, information technologies will become part
of everyday life. Also, international investors will enter the market.
The development of the IT sphere requires the specification of policy
and elaboration of rules of the game on the market. No specific
measures are being taken. Perhaps, they will be in future. Relevant
legislation needs to be drafted. The world IT market is rapidly
developing, and we annot keep pace with it.
ARKA: How many customers does Arminco have? What is the company’s share
on Armenia’s Internet market? What is Your assessment of competition
between the country’s Internet providers?
A. Alexanyan: I would not like to cite any figures because it would not
be honest. But I can say that Arminco has more customers than other
Internet-providers, as the company is the first Internet provider in
Armenia and has made large-scale investments. The State Commission
for Protection of Economic Competition recently recognized Arminco a
dominating company among Internet providers. This is binding, and we
are seeking to do more. There is healthy competition on the market,
and the providers are learning much from one another.
ARKA: How many Internet users are there in Armenia? Tell the dynamics
over the recent years, please.
A. Alexanyan: I cannot cite the exact figure, but their number is
about 100,000. 30% of them are corporate, others individual users.
This calculation is based on the number of computers imported to the
country. The number of Internet users is rapidly increasing, because
IT is becoming an integral part of everyday life and a means of
business. However, its potential is not used to the full degree. For
example, very many gifted people in Armenia’s regions are deprived
of Internet access.

SEMINAR FOCUSED ON SELF-DETERMINATION TO LAUNCH SATURDAY IN AUA
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. A seminar focused on self-determination
is to launch Saturday in American University in Armenia.
The university’s press office told ARKA News Agency that Tom Musaelyan,
professor at the university, will present “self-determination” concept.
Anna Maralyan, a student, will speak on Montenegro’s independence
and Kosovo problems.
Emil Babayan, a lecturer at the university, is to speak about
Karabakh’s independence.

ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS UNION ANNOUNCES CONTEST FOR JOURNALISTS
Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 4 2006
YEREVAN, September 4. /ARKA/. Armenian Journalists Union has announced
a contest for the best journalist work. The union sys the contest
is announced as part of the celebration of Armenia’s independence
15th anniversary.
Works have to cover Armenian people struggle for independence.
Media outlets’ and organizations’ journalists as well as freelancers
are eligible to contend. The deadline for submitting works is
September 15.
The ceremony of handing awards is to be held on September 20 September
21 is Armenia’s Independence Day.
From: Baghdasarian

EU LAWMAKERS SLAM TURKISH REFORM SLOWDOWN
By Darren Ennis
Reuters, UK
Sept 4 2006
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) – European Union lawmakers approved
a highly critical report on Monday accusing Turkey of dragging its
heels on reforms, marking the start of looming crisis between the EU
and Ankara over its accession bid.
The EU assembly’s foreign affairs committee voted through a paper
which slammed Turkey for not living up to the commitments it gave when
it received the green light last October to start talks on joining
the bloc.
“The European parliament … regrets the slowing down of the reform
process,” the report said, pointing to what it called “persistent
shortcomings” in a range of areas.
The lawmakers said Turkey had shown “insufficient progress” in
the areas of freedom of expression, religious and minority rights,
women’s rights and law enforcement since EU leaders agreed to start
accession talks 11 months ago.
The report urged Ankara to recognise Cyprus and urged it to “take
concrete steps for the normalisation of bilateral relations with the
Republic as soon as possible”.
Experts fear the niggling dispute over Cyprus and mutual public
disenchantment could lead at worst to a breakdown in accession talks
with the strategic, Muslim candidate country. But the report stopped
short of mentioning that scenario.
“We are not saying that we are not still committed to the talks or
that we do not want Turkey to join the EU,” said Dutch conservative
Camiel Eurlings, who scripted the report.
“But we are sending a clear signal to Turkey that it must move quickly
with its reforms,” he told the committee.
However the report’s demand that, as a precondition of membership,
Ankara acknowledge that Ottoman Turkey committed genocide against
Armenians in World War One — a suggestion it strongly rejects —
will raise tensions further.
Any country wishing to join the 25-member bloc requires the approval
of both the European parliament and the agreement of all member states.
ELECTION PRESSURE
The report will go before a full parliament sitting at the end of
the month and is likely to be raised when chief Turkish EU negotiator
Ali Babacan visits Brussels from Wednesday.
Babacan will try to reassure EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn
and other EU officials that Turkey is committed to pressing ahead with
economic and political reform despite national elections due next year.
The European parliament has never sought to veto any past accession,
but it has been effective in pressuring EU hopefuls to speed up
reforms in previous enlargement rounds.
However the conservative EPP-ED, the assembly’s largest political
group, still favours “privileged partnership” with Turkey rather than
full membership.
The report censures insufficient progress on freedom of expression
and raises concerns over the lot of religious minorities, corruption,
and violence against women.
It also criticised the unusually high threshold for parliamentary
representation, under which a party must score 10 percent nationwide,
making it hard for Kurdish groups to win seats in areas where they
have a majority.
The Commission is due to issue its regular progress report on October
24. Rehn has urged Ankara to show tangible improvements in human
rights legislation by then, not least to offset a likely negative
finding on its behaviour towards Cyprus.
The Commission’s report will assess whether Ankara has met an
obligation to open ports to ships from Cyprus, which Turkey does not
recognise, under a protocol signed last year extending its EU customs
union to the bloc’s 10 new member states.
If it has not complied, an EU summit in December is likely to put at
least part of the accession talks on hold.
(Additional reporting by Hatice Aydogdu in Ankara, Osman Senkul and
Paul de Bendern in Istanbul and Paul Taylor in Brussels)

AUTHOR FACES JAIL FOR SAYING HERO DRESSED AS WOMAN
>From Suna Erdem in Istanbul
The Times, UK
Sept 4 2006
THE author of this summer’s Turkish bestseller is to stand trial for
allegedly insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country’s revered
founding father, in her popular revisionist biography of Latife,
his wife.
The case is the latest in a series of high-profile lawsuits initiated
against writers and intellectuals that has brought attention to the
shortcomings of the supposedly reformed Turkish legal system with
regard to freedom of expression in the European Union candidate
country.
Ipek Calislar, the respected journalist and writer, has been charged
by an Istanbul prosecutor over an anecdote in Latife Hanim in which
Ataturk dons a woman’s chador to leave his besieged house with a
party of women and children, bringing back reinforcements to foil an
assassination attempt. Latife remains inside and communicates with
the attackers to give them the impression that Ataturk is still there.
The previously unrecorded version of the attack by “Lame Osman”,
which took place in April 1923, was told to Mrs Calislar by one of
Latife’s surviving relatives, who heard it from her sister, Vecihe,
an eyewitness.
However, it aroused the ire of a reader of Hurriyet newspaper, which
ran extracts of the book. The reader, Huseyin Tugrul Pekin, applied
to the prosecutor’s office in the Istanbul district of Bagcilar,
on the grounds that “To claim and write that Mustafa Kemal Pasha,
whose courage no man, nor any of us, could dare to doubt, did such
a thing is the greatest insult to him, his nation and particularly
to myself”. Mrs Calislar now faces 4½ years in jail for infringing
the special laws in place to protect Ataturk. The trial begins on
October 5. An editor of Hurriyet will also be tried.
Mrs Calislar said that her book was not intended to belittle
Ataturk, lamenting that “the most striking report in the book for our
male-dominated society turned out to be of Ataturk disguising himself
in a chador in order to evade an assassination attempt”. She told The
Times: “If a leader is under siege, his ability to break this siege
with an ingenious method does not diminish him .”
Mrs Calislar’s account of Ataturk’s wife overturns the long-held
belief that Latife was a shrewish woman whose tantrums ended their
marriage. Instead, we get the portrait of a Western-educated woman
who spoke several European and Oriental languages, played the piano
to concert standard and was a driving force behind many of Ataturk’s
reforms for the emancipation of women, including giving them the vote
well before some EU countries. The book has had nine print runs in
two months.
Mrs Calislar joins Elif Safak, who will go on trial next month over her
popular novel The Bastard of Istanbul, in which a fictional Armenian
character refers to “Turkish butchers” who killed large numbers of
Armenians in Turkey during the First World War. Similar charges of
“insulting Turkishness” also put Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most famous
author, in the dock this year. Perihan Magden, a journalist, stood
trial for her support of conscientious objection.
Mrs Calislar said that Turkey did not deserve such trials as hers.
Most are thrown out of court but the violent environment created
outside the courthouse makes writers’ lives very difficult, she
added. At Mr Pamuk’s trial, supporters were heckled not just by
protesters but also by violent nationalist lawyers in the courtroom
itself.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Government points to the
high acquittal rate from these trials. Ms Magden and Mr Pamuk were
both acquitted, but a High Court decision this month to convict a
Turkish-Armenian journalist on similar charges proved that the show
trials are not just empty threats.
–Boundary_(ID_18439TCiRGA0vb11Pa0N6Q)–