ONLY EDGAR YENOKIAN OUT OF 8 ARMENIAN WRESTLERS MANAGES TO STAND ON PEDESTAL OF HONOR AT WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
GUATEMALA, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The participants of the free-style
wrestling world youth championship completed their competition on
September 4 in Guatemala. Edgar Yenokian (84 kg, Yerevan) peformed
successfully among 4 representatives of Armenia. He gained 3 victories,
was defeated once and took 3rd place winning a bronze medal. So,
only 1 among 8 Armenian representatives of Greco-Roman and free-style
wrestling managed to stand on the pedestal of honor at the world
championship.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN FIGURE SKATER YOUNGEST AT WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
COURCHEVEL, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. A regular tour of world cup
tournament of young figure skaters ended in the French city of
Courchevel.
Representative of Armenia, pupil of Yerevan Shengavit prefecture figure
skating school Armine Stamboltsian took 20th place in individual
skating among 33 participants. 14-year-old Armine was the youngest
among the figure skaters in the competition.

VARTAN OSKANIAN EMPHASIZES TOPICALITY OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM OF RURAL COMMUNITIES
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “The third
Armenia-Diaspora forum coincides with the celebration of the 15th
anniversary of Armenian independence and this is an occasion to
cast a retrospective look and to estimate the way passed, as well as
to try to determine our mistakes and to outline our future steps,”
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian declared at the September
4 meeting with scientists at the National Academy of Sciences of
Armenia. He presented the forum agenda and explained that this year it
is planned to pay much attention to discussion of general issues and
first of all to implementation of concrete programs. In particular,
the minister pointed to the topicality of the development program of
rural communities, within the framework of implementation of which it
is planned to provide assistance to 50 villages. In response to the
question of one of the scientists, why the problems of the Georgian
region of Samtskhe-Javakheti populated with Armenians are ignored at
such forums, the minister said that, of course, this problem concerns
Georgia, but Armenia cannot remain indifferent to the fate of its
compatriots and much is being done in this direction. “But subtlety
should be shown here. We cannot take unanimous steps. After all,
there are interstate relations and in consideration of the current
geopolitical situation in our country, including the Nagorno Karabakh
problem, we should show extreme caution in our relations with Georgia,”
Vartan Oskanian declared. Issues relating to dual citizenship were
also paid a special attention at the meeting. In the minister’s words,
the law “On Dual Citizenship” should never contain provisions that
can have a negative impact on the state security of Armenia. “It is
good that the forum will be held soon and this will enable to discuss
the issue at the forum and to hear the voice of the Diaspora.” Vartan
Oskanian said that the number of registered participants of the forum
has reached one and a half thousand, but this is not the final number
yet. He did not exclude that this number can reach two thousand.

SEVEN LEGISLATIVE PACKAGES ON MOTOR TRANSPORT TO BE SUBMITTED TO NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR DISCUSION
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. With the aim of regulating the
motor transport sector, seven legislative packages will be submitted
to the National Assembly for discussion at the upcoming session. Karlen
Sahakian, member of the Transport and Communication Ministry’s working
group developing these legislative packages, stated this during
a round table at the Club of Economic Reporters on September 4. He
attached special importance to the draft law on motor transport. Arshak
Petrosian, Deputy Head of the ministry’s Transport Inspection, said
that there are currently 210 bus routes and 110 minibus routes in the
Armenian marzes, except Yerevan. 976 buses and minibuses run on these
routes. 120 buses and 3,300 minibuses operate each day in Yerevan.

OVER 50 PARTIES AND NGOs EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR ORINATS YERKIR’S INITIATIVE
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Heads and representtaives of 14
parties, including ARF Dashnaktsutyun, People’s Party of Armenia,
United Labor Party, National Self-Determination Union, National
Democratic Union, and the Republic Party, as well as of various NGOs
took part in a discussion organized by the RA National Assembly Orinats
Yerkir faction on September 4 within the framework of the initiative
“Political Process in the Name of Legal Elections”.
The main directions of the initiative are amendments to the Electoral
Code to bring it in line with international standards, and a wide
consensus amond parties in support of reforms in the parliament
and ouside it; an efficiently functioning system of training of
election commissions’ members to ensure fair treatment of all parties;
transparency of the election process, efficient mechanisms of public
control; free activities of the mass media, civil society and other
institutions in the election process, which presupposes a number of
legislative amendments. According to the press service of the Orinats
Yerkir Party, over 50 parties, including the Constitutional Law Union,
the Democratic Path Party, the Dashink (Alliance) Party, and several
NGOs, have expressed their support for the initiative. However, not
all those intending to participate in the discussion succeeded in
doing so because the National Assembly did not allocate a hall for the
discussion to be held. According to the same source, presenting their
positions, the discussion participants attached special importance to
measures to ensure the legality of elections, approved the Initiative
in the Name of Legal Elections and discussed the mechanisms of their
possible cooperation in the future.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

220 THOUSAND TONS OF GRAIN HARVESTED IN ARMENIA AS OF SEPTEMBER 4
Noyan Tapan
Sept 04 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. As of September 4, 220 thousand
tons of grain was harvested in Armenia, which is less by 100 thousand
tons than the index as of the same day of 2005. NT correspondent
was informed from Garnik Petrosian, Head of the Plant Cultivation
Development and Plant Protection Department of the RA Ministry of
Agriculture, that it is envisaged to harvest another 100-105 thousand
tons of grain. According to him, the average crop yield of grain
made 14 centners this year. The highest index of average crop yield
was registered in Ararat marz (32 tons), while the lowest index was
in Tavush marz (7 centners). It was noted that as of September 4,
396 thousand tons of vegetables was harvested, which exceeds by 96
thousand tons the respective index of last year. Particularly, 135
thousand tons of potato was already harvested this year against 128
thousand tons as of the same day last year. G. Petrosian said that it
is planned to harvest 800 thousand tons of vegetables until the end
of the season against 600 thousand tons last year. As of September 4,
the Armenian fruit and vegetable processing companies purchased 30
thousand tons of vegetables against 17 thousand tons last year. The
Ararat and Artashat canning plants are the main purchasers. According
to G. Petrosian, 180 thousand tons of fruit was already harvested
against 220 thousand tons as of September 4, 2005. 20 thousand tons
of grapes was already harvested against 8 thousand tons as of the
same day last year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“ARMENTEL” TO INCREASE TARIFFS FOR ITS SERVICES IN 2007
Yerevan, September 4. ArmInfo. “ArmenTel” company appealed to
the commission for regulation of public services of Armenia with
the request to change the tariffs for fixed telephone connection,
internet services, international and inter-city call.
The company informed that they want to change the tariff for monthly
telephone connection from AMD 1100 to 3000, for the judiciary entities
the fee will be decreased from AMD 4800 to 4200. The company insists on
decreasing the bonus minutes from 360 to 280. The fee for a minute of
a talk after 280 minutes will amount to AMD 6 instead of AMD 5. After
1000 minutes of talk the subscriber will pay AMD 9. For opening a
telephone account the company demands AMD 24 thousand instead of 12
thousand. The judiciary entities will have to pay AMD 28,8 thousand
for the given service. The company intends to decrease the tariffs for
international and inter-city calls, as well as for mobile connection
from AMD 70 to AMD 54.

SYRIAN MUFTI VISITS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
Yerevan, September 4. ArmInfo. Mufti of Syria Ahmad Badr Al Din
Hassoun visited the Amenian Genocide Complex in Yerevan today.
The press service of the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin reports Mufti
to lay flowers to the memorial and to visit the Armenian Genocide
Museum. He said that if nations actually followed their religions
there would be no such massacres. He noted that the Armenian nation
should overcome this pain and continue to live and to built its
country. Mufti said that Armenians – wherever there are – should help
to restore their native Armenia.

BREAKDOWNS IN E-MAIL SYSTEM OF RA FOREIGN MINISTRY MAKE RA CITIZENS UNDOCUMENTED
Yerevan, September 4. ArmInfo. “RA embassies to a number of foreign
countries create problems for the Armenian citizens whose passports
have already expired during their stay in a foreign country. Levon
Nersesian, head of “Armenian Center for Human Rights after A. Sakharov”
organization.
Nersesian brought examples of several cases when the diplomats
demanded presents in the cases with expired passports. In particular,
he described a case of an Armenian citizen who failed to get a new
passport though he had submitted all the required documents to RA
Embassy to Kazakhstan in time. In a letter to L. Nersesian, the
unlucky citizen stated that he would have to give bribes to get the
new passport quickly. The correspondent of ArmInfo represented the
situation to RA Foreign Ministry and asked to explain the reason for
the delays or complications in the given process. Vladimir Karapetian,
Press Secretary of RA Foreign Ministry, stated that the issue was
settled and the abovementioned citizen may already get his documents
at RA Embassy to Kazakhstan. Besides, Karapetian explained the delay
with the documents by technical breakdowns in the e-mail system of
RA Foreign Ministry.

GERMAN PARLIAMENTARIAN: TURKEY HAS TO RECOGNIZE WHAT IT HAD DONE TO ARMENIAN PEOPLE DURING OSMAN EMPIRE
Berlin, September 4. ArmInfo. Turkey has to recognize the crime
against the Armenian people during the Osman Empire, Jorg Tauss, the
member of Social-Democratic party of Germany, the deputy Chairman
of the German-Caucasian Parliamentary Friendly Group, told ArmInfo
correspondent during the press-conference in the German Bundestag.
The politician noted that Germany is interested in a stable development
of the South-Caucasian region. “Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are
of interest to Germany from the viewpoint of economy and politics
first of all. This interest is not limited only by oil availability
in Azerbaijan, the region is of interest from the viewpoint of
geographic position, strategic importance and closeness to Iran”,
he noted. According to him, the region is also considered a cradle
of mankind, which is of great interest. “The discussions at the
political level are being held on the problem between Armenia and
Azerbaijan around Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as well as the closed
borders and relations with Turkey. All the listed aspects adversely
affect the development of relations”, the German Parliamentarian
said. “The secret is in a combined development of countries of the
South Caucasus as a region in whole “, Jorg Tauss said. He added that
“Armenia-Turkey closed borders is a scandal since all the countries of
the South Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, suffer”, the politician said.