TWO TOP OFFICIALS MISNAME PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN
Panorama.am
18:20 22/09/06
No one at the second international Armagroforum misheard Minister of
Agriculture Davit Lockyan who said at the opening ceremony, “President
of Armenia, Robert Sargsyan, has an address to the conference.”
Participants could not help their laughs at the hall.
Soon after Karen Tchshmaritsyan, minister of trade and economic
development, made another mistake in his speech at Panarmenian
EXPO-2006 saying, “The honor to open the exhibition is given to Robert
Kocharyan, Armenian prime minister.” The president took the mistake
with humor and smiled.
Of coarse, no one is guaranteed against such mistakes but psychologists
believe that mistakes made by chance have deep subconscious roots. We
can say that one of our ministers envisages someone with the surname
Sargsyan as a president (most probably Serzh Sargsyan) while the other
minister thinks that Robert Kocharyan may become a prime minister and
administer the government. Such developments are variously scenarioed
by the opposition. /Panorama.am/

ARMENIAN THEATERS STAGE ALFRED DE MUSSET’S PLAY
Armenpress
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: A play by a 19-th century French
playwright, Alfred de Musset, called Marianne’s Whims (Un Caprice
de Marianne) was translated into Armenian and will be staged by two
Armenian theaters on October 4, 5 and 7 within the frameworks of the
French Festival in Armenia and the Year of Armenia in France.
A French Armenian theater director, Serge Avedikian, invited to stage
the play, said at a news conference today that the Armenian culture
ministry and the French embassy in Yerevan financed the Armenian
translation of the play.
Avedikian said the idea was to do the play through a modern approach
first in Armenia and then to show it in France next year. Alfred de
Musset wrote the play in 1833.

HEADS OF HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS PASS TRAINING COURSES
Armenpress
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: As part of events directed towards
the development of the tourism sphere in Armenia 23 senior officials
of hotels and restaurants in Yerevan and Armenian provinces passed a
6-day training courses within the framework of a program on teaching
international standards to people working in the service sector.
The training program has been organized by the USAID’s Development
of Human and Institutional Potential program in close cooperation
with “Competitive Private Sector in Armenia” and with the financing
of USAID.
Anoush Yedigarian, the director of the Academy for Educational
Development (AED) Yerevan Office, which is carrying out the program,
said that for increasing the quality of services in hotels and
restaurants first of all it is necessary to establish an effective
control, that is to say, to create a body which will carry out the
control. According to her, it will be possible to make the work of
these bodies more effective by conducting discussions over “You
as a Leader,” “Team Work,” “Improvement of Work of an Official,”
“Improvement of Communication,” “Time Management” etc. as well as
by holding practical studies.
For the implementation of the program a competition was announced
the winner of which has become the Educational Institute of American
Hotels and Hospitality Association. The institute is carrying out
trainings and is conducting qualifying exams around the world giving
the participants who pass them successfully special certificate of
“Qualified Leader of Hospitality”.
Alexan Ter-Minasian, the director of “Berlin Guests’ House” hotel
in Gyumri and participant of the program, said during the 5 days
of training they managed to learn important elements of effective
management which are simple and at the same time very useful.
An expert from the Educational Institute of American Hotels and
Hospitality Association Jennifer Calhun said that after the training
the participants will be more prepared. “It is also important for the
participants to assess what they know and what they think they know,”
said she, adding that the level of their preparedness and the results
of the training will be clear after the exams.

Eurlings: Turkey Cannot Become EU Member without Armenian Genocide Recognition
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 13:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The report on Turkey prepared by Dutch rapporteur
Camiel Eurlings will be discussed and voted on in the European
Parliament (EP) General Assembly next week. The draft report on
Turkey’s progress towards accession to the EU and the reforms is to
be discussed in the European parliament on Tuesday.
The report includes a provision, according to which the recognition of
the Armenian, Pontus Greek and Syrian genocides becomes a precondition
for Turkey’s EU membership.
The report will be discussed on Tuesday afternoon and the European
Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn will attend the meeting. The
voting of the report is to take place on Wednesday. Earlier this
month, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee approved
Camiel Eurlings’ report on Turkey. The report called on Turkey to
recognize the killings of Armenians during WWI as Genocide and to
open its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected the report, saying that it lacked
common sense and smacked of political bias. The draft report insists
that there are persistent shortcomings in areas such as freedom
of expression, religious, minority and women’s rights in Turkey,
said cinannews.

Armenia Joined Two UN Optional Protocols
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 13:43 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia joined two UN optional protocols – the
Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Deputy Minister of
Territorial Administration Gagik Yeganyan handed the documents in
deposit to the UN Secretary General.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often
described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of
a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination
against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such
discrimination. The Convention defines discrimination against women as
“…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of
sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their
marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural, civil or any other field.”
“Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative,
judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory
under its jurisdiction…No exceptional circumstances whatsoever,
whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political
instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a
justification of torture,” says the Convention against Torture.
The optional protocol to Convention against Tortures was approves in
late 2002 and came into force in June 2006. It allows the UN experts
attend the jails of the Convention member states and calls for
creation of national mechanisms targeted at prevention of tortures,
reports the UN communication unit.

UK Supports Kocharian-Aliyev Talks
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 13:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UK is interested in stability, democracy,
prosperity and rule of law in all of the South Caucasian states,
British Ambassador to Azerbaijan Laurie Bristow said. In his words,
each state depends on the other and all depend on peace and just
settlement of conflicts that tormented the region for a long time.
“We should focus our efforts on prevention of dangers. That is why
Britain supports international efforts for the resolution of Iran’s
nuclear program and support the Kocharian-Aliyev talks for the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” the Ambassador said,
reported Turan news agency.

Majority of Azeri MPs for Military Settlement of Karabakh Conflict
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 14:31 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ APA Azeri news agency has held a survey among
the Milli Mejlis members. “Should the Karabakh conflict be settled
peacefully or by force?” it asked. It was found out that the
majority of the Azeri MPs support the military settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict explaining their position by “exhausted
possibilities of the negotiation process”. A number of deputies stand
for a peaceful resolution but do not rule out resumption of war. And
only a small number of Azeri parliamentarians think that the Karabakh
problem should be resolved peacefully via talks.

Putin and Chirac to Discuss Karabakh Settlement
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 14:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is on a 2-day
working visit in France, will negotiate with French President Jacques
Chirac on the expansion of trade and economic ties between Russia
and France.
The presidents are also expected to discuss the peaceful process of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group.
Saturday German Chancellor Angela Merkel will join the leaders
of Russia and France to consider Russia-EU cooperation and wide
scope of international problems including the Iraqi issue, reported
Analitika.az.

Osama bin Laden Died of Typhoid, French Newspaper Says
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 15:21 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Speculation is rife among international intelligence
services that top Al Qaeda terrorist, Osama bin Laden, may be dead. The
French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported on its website on
Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service had determined bin
Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan last month. The newspaper said
it based its information on a classified document originating in the
French DGSE intelligence service. The document said that bin Laden’s
geographical isolation had rendered medical assistance impossible. It
also stated that the Saudis were waiting for more details before making
an official announcement. According to the newspaper, the DGSE found
the Saudi report sufficiently credible to have it relayed to French
President Jacques Chirac. The French Defence Ministry said on Saturday
the report could not be confirmed and it would launch an inquiry into
the leak.

Germany Will Not Promise EU Accession in Near Future
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.09.2006 14:53 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Three months before Germany’s presidency in
the European Union Chancellor Angela Merkel outlined the principal
directions to be taken up. These are deepening of cooperation within
the EU, European Constitution adoption process, intense discussion of
European values, EU engagement in the energy sector and scientific
research and participation in globalization process. To remind,
Germany will preside in the EU January-June 2007.
When touching upon the inner European policy she spoke for
strengthening of cooperation between the EU member states instead of
accepting new members. According to her, these two processes cannot
proceed simultaneously. That is why Europe should determine that it
will not promise EU membership in the near future. At that she remarked
that her statement may seem tough to some states. European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso said that after the accession of Bulgaria
and Romania in 2007 the EU will not enlarge until completion of the
European structures’ reform, reported Deutsche Welle.