U.S. PEACE CORPS FUNCTIONS IN ARMENIA FOR 13 YEARS
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The 45 anniversary of creation of the
U.S. Peace Corps is marked this year. The Corps has implemented
its activity during the recent 13 years in Armenia as well. On
this occasion, the U.S. Embassy organized on May 12 a visit to the
marzes of Gavar and Tavush where journalists were given possibility
to get acquainted with works of the Peace Corps at place. 25 years
old Kim Spigelmire has voluntary worked at secontary school No7 of
the city of Sevan already for 2 years. Within the framework of the
health care education program of the community, he, jointly with his
Armenian partner nurse Knkush Grigorian organizes courses addressed
against AIDS, introduces methods of prevention of diseases to
Armenian children, tells about consequences of smoking and using
alcohol. With the volunteer’s participation, a linguistic study
for teaching English was created in school. 24-years old Tony Kim
implements his voluntary activity in Dilijan, at the “Dilijan”
children’s anti-tubelcular health resort. As his Armenian partner,
Director of the health resort Yevgenia Hovhannisian mentioned, Kim
is engaged in entertaining children, holding computer and sports
courses with. Due to the volunteer’s efforts, the health resort
got text-books, solved problems connected with restoration of the
gym. According to the information of the Voluntary Corps Office,
482 volunteers have served in Armenia during the recent 13 years,
and 80 volunteers work in the republic at present. The Peace Corps
implements at present in Armenia 4 main programs: English language
teaching, community and business development, community health care
education, nature protectional education.

DISMANTLE OF ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION IMPLEMENTED IN SAYAT-NOVA STREET
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. Dismantle of a self-willed construction
built by a company between Sayat-Nova building No12 and Nalbandian
building 25-A in Yerevan started on May 12. After building a cafe in
the cellar of Sayat-Nova building No12, this company widened volumes
of the construction in the direct neighborhood of the 2 buildings,
ignoring the seismic norms. According to some information, in the
cellar ground of the above-mentioned building, two businessmen from
Iran invisaged to build a factory of plastic production.
According to Yerevan Mayor’s Advisor Hrachia Muradian, the Urban
Development and Land Control Department of the Yerevan Mayor’s
Office warned the company about stopping the construction and
implementing restoration works. The builder was already incured
to, first, 200 thousand drams (about 450 dollars) administrative
penalty formerly, and for the second time, to 400 thousand drams
administrative penalty. Employees of the Yerevan community head’s
office and corresponding services of the Yerevan Mayor’s Office were
also incured administrative penalty for not preventing the illegal
construction and delaying in the issue of its liquidation. According
to H.Muradian, the company having implemented the illegal construction
will have to pay from its own financial resources for works of the
dismantle implemented by the Mayor’s Office as well as for restoration
works implemented in parallel to the dismantle. About 60 self-willed
constructions have already been destroyed during the current year in
Yerevan, within the framework of the struggle against illegal building.

GENOCIDE STATEMENT ‘FREE SPEECH’
Sunday Times, Australia
May 16 2006
A VICTORIAN MP’s parliamentary speech accusing Turkish people of
ignoring acts of genocide more than 80 years ago was a sign of free
speech at work, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said today.
Jenny Mikakos, the parliamentary secretary for justice, whose ethnic
background is Greek, has accused Turkey of ignoring the killing of
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks between 1916 and 1923.
In a short speech to the Victorian upper house during the last session
of Parliament, Ms Mikakos reportedly said: “On May 19, the Pontian
community in Victoria and around the world will commemorate the 87th
anniversary of the Pontian genocide that occurred in present-day
Turkey.
“Between 1916 and 1923, over 353,000 Pontic Greeks living in Asia
Minor and in Pontus, which is near the Black Sea, died as a result of
the 20th Century’s first but less-known genocide,” Fairfax reported
her as saying.
“Over a million Pontic Greeks were forced into exile. In the preceding
years, 1.5 million Armenians and 750,000 Assyrians in various parts
of Turkey also perished.”
Two Labor MPs of Turkish descent, Adem Somyurek and John Eren,
interjected but Ms Mikakos continued speaking.
“The Turkish government must begin the reconciliation process by
acknowledging these crimes against humanity. The suffering of the
victims of the Pontian genocide cannot and will not be forgotten,”
she said.
The comments, made under a system of 90-second free statements for
MPs established by the Bracks Government, have outraged Turkish and
Jewish groups.
But Mr Bracks today said Ms Mikakos, one of two members for the safe
Jika Jika province in Melbourne’s north, was free to make the speech.
“Free speech is something that we uphold, and I understand that,
and the freedom to criticise someone who makes a statement is also
appropriate as well,” he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
“As to the interpretation of those events, that is a matter which,
really, other people can judge, but this is something she obviously
felt passionate about.
“It’s up to her. She is a member of parliament who can submit those
things to the Parliament.
“But equally, people have the right to vigorously disagree with her
point of view.”

NOR ZHAMANAKNER PARTY REPRESENTATIVE REFUTES STATEMENT ABOUT PARTY’S COLLAPSE AND QUALIFIES ITS AUTHOR AS “AGENT”
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. No one has left either the youth wing
or the women’s board of the Nor Zhamanakner (New Times) Party. Party
Vice-Chairman Alexan Minasian made such a statement at the May
15 press conference refuting the statement by head of party’s
Malatia-Sebastia branch Arsen Amirkhanian who has left the party
recently and declared that the Nor Zhamanakner Party is breaking
down. According to A.Minasian, besides the above-mentioned person,
there are more than 10 “agents in their party and they gradually
get rid of these agents”. According to him, by introducing agents
the authorities try to intimidate the party that was the first
one to speak about carrying out a revolution. Alexan Minasian also
informed that the Nor Zhamanakner Party is going to organize a rally
dedicated to the problems of the Armenians of Javakhk on May 30 in
Aznavour Square. According to his information, it is possible that
the Armenians can leave Javakhk as 10 thousand Meskhetians are to be
settled there. According to A.Minasian, the Nor Zhamanakner Party is
not going to conclude an alliance with any party at the forthcoming
elections. As for the possible cooperation with the Orinats Yerkir
(Country of Law) Party, according to him, the time will show whether
this will take place or not.

BLACK BOX RECOVERY OPERATION STARTS AT BLACK SEA CRASH SITE
RIA Novosti, Russia
May 16 2006
SOCHI, May 16 (RIA Novosti) – Rescuers at the site where an Armenian
airliner crashed into the Black Sea early May 3 started an operation
to recover the plane’s flight recorders Tuesday.
The black boxes are seen as the key to discovering why the Airbus
crashed 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) off the Russian coast with the loss
of all 113 people on board.
A remote-controlled deep-sea robot with special grippers will be used
to lift the recording devices to the surface, rescue officials said.
Transportation Minister Igor Levitin, who is overseeing the recovery
effort, said earlier that recovery efforts could take two or three
days, depending on the weather.
The latest data shows the black boxes are at a depth of 496 meters
(1,627 feet) and are 5 meters (16 feet) apart from each other.
The Airbus A-320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia was flying from the
Armenian capital, Yerevan, to Adler airport, which services the
popular Russian resort of Sochi, when it came down in stormy weather.

AFTER ORINATS YERKIR’S LEAVING COALITION NUMBER OF PARTY MEMBERS IN SYUNIK INCREASES
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
KAPAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. No one has put in application on
leaving the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party at the Syunik
“Kapan” main regional structure of the party. The structure has 980
members. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed from the structure,
33 persons have applied for joining the Orinats Yerkir Party since
the party’s leaving the ruling coalition up to this day. According
to some information, Lernik Petrosian, Head of Syunik “Dzork”
regional structure, has an intention to leave OYP. L.Petrosian is the
former Head of the Education, Culture and Sport Department of Syunik
Administration and he was dismissed in April as, according to him, he
had been made to become a member of the Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA). In his telephone talk to Noyan Tapan correspondent on May 15
Lernik Petrosian said that he was non-partisan until May 6, whereas
they informed from OYP that he has been a member of OYP since 2006
February. Heads of some village communities and employees of other
structures who are members of OYP remain on theis posts. To recap,
Chairman of Syunik district electoral commission N 37 is also a member
of OYP.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN BANKS PROVIDE CREDITS OF ABOUT 260 BLN DRAMS AS OF LATE MARCH 2006
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. As of March 31, 2006, the Armenian
commercial banks provided credits of the total amount of 206 bln
944 mln drams (about 460 mln USD), 97.83% of which were credit
investments, 1.70% – deferred credits of the banks, and 0.47% –
overdue credits. According to the RA National Statistical Service,
the balance of the population’s deposits with the banks increased by
30% on the same day of last year and made 103 bln 418 mln drams. In
January-March 2006, the expenditures related to the sale and purchase
of foreign currency in the RA banking system exceeded the revenues
by 29 bln 733.8 mln drams and made 69 bln 150 mln drams and 39 bln
416.2 mln drams respectively.

CONSTRUCTION OF INCOMPLETED APARTMENT BUILDINGS RESUMES IN TALIN
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
TALIN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. This year 12 families will move to new
apartments in the city of Talin of Aragatsotn marz. Arzuman Arzumanian,
the head of Karashintrans LLC, a company doing the construction
work, told NT correspondent about it. He said that in 2005, the last
remaining apartments were provided to 6 families. According to Talin
Mayor’s Office, there will be no incompleted apartment buildings
in Talin in the next 5 years – construction of such buildings will
be finished by that time. The construction of incompleted apartment
buildings in Talin has been resumed under the program on development
of Aragatsotn marz.

PROGRAM ON PROCESSING OF 872 TONS OF MELANGE LAUNCHED IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The melange processing program in Armenia
is a good example of successful cooperation between the OSCE Office
and a participating state and may serve as a model in the whole OSCE
region. The OSCE Secretary General Marc Parrin de Brichambaut stated
this during the May 12 visit to the rocket fuel neutralization site in
the village of Ghaltakhchi of Lori marz. He welcomed the start of the
program on processing of 872 tons of melange. “With the assistance of
the OSCE, it has become possible to implement this initiative, which
will be conducive to the environmetal protection and therefore to the
security of the Armenian population,” the RA Defence Minister Serge
Sargsian said, when opening officially the melange processing facility.
Melange is a very poisonous evaporating substance that has remained
as a rocket fuel component in Armenia since the Soviet time. In
compliance with a request of the RA defence minister, the OSCE Yerevan
Office launched a program, as a result of which the whole stock of
melange will be processed into ecologically safe fertilizer in a
7-month period. NT was informed from the OSCE Yerevan Office that the
current processing stage was preceded by the technical and ecological
assessment work done by Armenian and international experts. The
program is being financed by Canada, Finland, Germany and the US.

GYUMRI INHABITANTS PROUDLY SEE OFF THEIR SONS TO NATIONAL ARMY
Noyan Tapan
May 15 2006
GYUMRI, MAY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The spring call-up has started in Gyumri:
30 conscripts have been already called up for service in the national
army.
According to the Noyan Tapan Gyumri correspondent, the parents had
high spirits and were proud to see off the conscripts gathered in
the yard of the Military Registration and Enlistment Office. “I say
proudly and I do not afraid as I know that the ministers are also
parents, they have sons and see off their sons in the same way,”
many of the parents said. And some of them mentioned: “If neither
our sons nor I and others leave for the military service, who should
serve for our homeland?” As Aram Grigorian, Head of the Call-up
Department of Gyumri Military Registration and Enlistment Office,
informed, various diseases have been revealed as a result of medical
examinations of young men of call-up age this year. At the same time
it was mentioned that the number of young men suffering from diseases
is almost the same as compared with the previous call-ups. According
to A.Grigorian, the number of those evading the call-up and applying
for the alternative military service has considerably decreased this
year compared with the previous years.