SCOTLANDIZATION OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL
James Hakobyan
Lragir.am
21 Aug 06
I am extremely proud of the national football team of Armenia.
Although our team is always failing to score more or less significant
draws, the national team nevertheless succeeds in preserving its
identity from “encroachments” of every foreign coach.
Changing the Armenian national team has become a “matter of honor”
for foreign coaches, which they have been unable to settle so far. And
they were four: Lopez from Argentina, Stoikica from Romania, Casoni
from France and Visman from Holland. The fifth was thought to be
either German or African. You may ask why. Because the question of
getting on with the leadership of the Armenian football would solve
easier in case the coach were German, and an African might manage
to do what the European and Latin American coaches failed. However,
the president of the Armenian Football Federation Ruben Hairapetyan
decided to swim in the same river for the fourth time and invited a
coach of the Armenian national team from Europe.
This time, however, Ruben Hairapetyan made a slight change. The fifth
foreigner and the fourth European is not from the continent this time,
he is from the isles, Great Britain. The new coach of the Armenian
national team is Scottish.
The choice was not made at random. After all, the biographies of
Armenians and Scotsmen have much in common. Both peoples fought for
their national identity, freedom and statehood for centuries. In this
context, the Armenians are more successful but apparently statehood is
nothing if there is no talent and ability to handle it. Therefore,
the national team of independent Armenia will be trained by a
representative of half-independent Scotland. Therefore, I do not
have objections. I dot suffer from national vanity, national fever,
I have never been infected with xenophobia. I simply state where our
coach comes from, realizing that it is more important who he is than
where he is from. In other words, what kind of coach the new coach,
the Scotsman, is, who is going to lead our national team from which
the Armenian football fans who have come of a conscious age do not
have expectations.
The new coach is not well known in the football sets. He trained two
African teams, naturally he was not successful. He also trained several
clubs, including the Scottish Aberdin and the English Chelsea. Although
success is a highly relative thing, and even a single goal can be
considered such. In this sense, however, the Armenian national team
might as well achieve success without a coach.
Consequently, it is supposed that the “delegate” of Scotland will
succeed doing what the coaches of countries which are closer to
Armenia in terms of the football school failed to do. In this sense,
it is difficult to imagine what the cold-blooded Scotsman is going to
teach the hot-blooded Armenians. It is simply useless to talk about
the difference of styles of play because presently football styles
have been somehow “leveled”, and physical form is important of all,
although it would be wrong to assert that the styles have fully got
mixed. Consequently, either the coach has to change himself or he
must change the Armenian footballers, otherwise it will appear that
either the coach was not faithful to himself or the footballers were
not faithful to themselves. I remembered the joke about the Armenian
boy, who learned English from a black man, whose father decides to
check several months later if his son learned to speak English. The
father rings the bell of the door, the teacher opens the door and
calls the boy in Armenian, come on, your father is here.
It is highly probable that the 11 Armenian footballers will teach
Armenian football to the Scottish coach earlier than he will teach
his style to the Armenian footballers. It is possible, of course,
that the coach prefers Armenian football. In this case, however,
the question occurs why he agrees to train the Armenian national team.
After all, the presence of a coach is not obligatory in Armenian
football. And if he is needed, only for blaming him for defeats
and changing him. In this case, the Scottish coach should show up
in Armenia in the middle of the next summer when it will be clear
that the Armenian national team will take the last place in the
qualification games. The Scottish coach may visit Armenia on one of
those days to explain why it happened so and resign. Of course, we
are convinced that he will not manage to resign because the president
of the Armenian Football Federation will enter the hall and announce
loudly that he changes the coach of the national team.
After all, five is not much different from six. The coach cannot
be allowed to take his time to achieve success. As soon as there is
success, they demand promotion. Where can we get so much money?
Especially when the parliamentary election is coming up, and the
president of the football federation is not only a public figure but
also a member of the council of the ruling political party. Whereas
this also confuses foreign coaches of the national team, who come
and demand a salary. They do not realize that they are not alone, and
there are a number of people standing in a queue before him. If they
had money, they would not invite one coach for the national team,
the two Pyuniks, adults and juvenile, the juvenile and children’s
national teams. And the coaches work. Then they see that soon they
will be made to wash the clothes of footballers. And at that moment
someone “advises” that Ruben Hairapetyan’s financial abilities are
more than he pays to the coaches. After all, besides the Council of
the Republican Party there are others who give advice.
The coaches listen to this advice and demand money. Afterwards they
are given the sack, the air ticket and good memories of Armenia:
and you say coach, we might as well lose without a coach.

THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE NAGORNYY KARABAKH REPUBLIC (NKR), AND OSCE OFFICIAL DISCUSS FIRES ON CONTACT LINE
Arminfo
21 Aug 06
Yerevan, 21 August: The foreign minister of the Nagornyy Karabakh
republic (NKR), Georgiy Petrosyan, has met the personal representative
of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The meeting was held at the NKR permanent representative office in
Yerevan at Kasprzyk’s request.
The two discussed issues of mutual interest, in particular, fires on
the contact line between the NKR and Azerbaijan.

UN OFFICIAL PLEASED WITH ARMENIAN COOPERATION
Mediamax news agency
21 Aug 06
Yerevan, 21 August: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
said today that he is pleased “with excellent cooperation” between
his organization and the Armenian government.
Speaking today at a news conference in Yerevan, Antonio Guterres
said he is ready to cooperate with the Armenian authorities to
resolve numerous problems which refugees from Azerbaijan are facing,
Mediamax reported.
The UN high commissioner for refugees expressed his hope that the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict would be settled as soon as possible and
stressed that achieving a peace agreement will considerably ease the
resolution of refugees’ problems.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan thanked Antonio Guterres
for the “gigantic assistance” that the UNHCR renders to Armenia.

IN OPINION OF VIASPHERE TECHNOPARK’S DIRECTOR GENERAL, 40-50 PROGRAM-FINANCING VENTURE FUNDS SHOULD OPERATE IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Aug 21 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. To promote the formation and
activities of high technology companies in Armenia, it is necessary
that 40-50 venture funds on program financing operate at the same
time in Armenia, and the costs of the programs operating at a loss be
covered at the expense of other projects that make superprofits. Aram
Vardanian, director general of Viasphere Park, expressed this
opinion during a talk with NT correspondent. In his words, 3-4
experts of the technopark have submitted bids to get grants from the
1-mln-dollar venture fund of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation and
Cascade Capital company, which was established by Cafesjian Family
Founadation. A. Vardanian said that these experts signed contracts
with Armenian enterprises to receive assistance with their scientific
developments in order to use them at their enterprises. They also
attended the courses organized in Boston with the assistance of the
US Civilian Research and Development Fund (CRDF) that supports the
venture fund. Bagrat Yengibarian, director of the Enterprise Incubator
Foundation, said that as of late July, 20 projects were submitted to
the Armenian venture fund, 50% of which were from biotechnologists,
40% – from IT experts, and the rest – from scientists engaged in other
spheres. According to him, the fund plans to increase its capital.

PLACE AND TERMS OF POSSIBLE MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTERS DEFINED
Noyan Tapan
Aug 21 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia has not got new proposals
concerning the Karabakh problem settlement from the OSCE Minsk
Co-Chairmen. Vartan Oskanian, the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs
stated about it at the August 21 press conference. In his words,
“as of this moment, a possible meeting of Foreign Ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan is spoken about.” V.Oskanian also mentioned
that works are done at present in the direction of defining the
place and terms of the meeting. Touching upon the fires taken in the
territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh, the Minister mentioned:
“There are fires in Karabakh every year, but this year they covered
greater territories. And Azerbaijan’s speculations, as if they were
deliberate, are unintelligible for us.”
V.Oskanian stated that the Armenian side always agrees to cooperate
both with Azerbaijani side and international organizations in the
issue of putting out the fire.

NKR FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE
Noyan Tapan
Aug 21 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Georgi Petrosian, the NKR Minister of
Foreign Affairs received on August 21 Andrzej Kasprczik, the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on Karabakh Conflict, by
the latter’s request. It is said in the information submitted to Noyan
Tapan by the NKR Permanent Representation to the RA. Issues of mutual
interest, particularly, problems provided by the fires arisen on the
contact line of the NKR and Azerbaijani Armed Forces were discussed at
the meeting taken place at the NKR Permanent Representation to the RA.

OFFICE OF UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES CONTINUES TO ASSIST ARMENIA IN PROVIDING REFUGEES WITH FLATS
Noyan Tapan
Aug 17 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees has assisted and will continue assisting the Government of
Armenia in providing refugees with flats. Antonio Guterres, the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, who is in Yerevan within the framework of a
regional visit, informed about it at the August 21 press conference. He
mentioned that registration of refugees is being implemented in Armenia
at present, what will allow to define the number of refugees who need
assistance. A.Guterres mentioned that the most important precondition
of refugees’ integration is their getting citizenship. According to
Guterres, there are two variants of giving citizenship: by the law,
to give citizenship to everybody or to give citizenship to those who
wants to accept it. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees mentioned
that not being a political organization, they are interested in the
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. And the issue
of refugees’ return, according to his words, may be solved only as a
result of long and detailed negotiations. A.Guterres also mentioned
that for solution of that problem, an agreement on protecting people’s
property right must be reached between the two parties.

GALUST SAHAKIAN: “ACTIVE ACTIONS ARE EXPECTED IN POLITICAL FIELD IN AUTUMN”
Noyan Tapan
Aug 21 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. “Political processes in Armenia
are still in changeable state: active actions will be in the
autumn.” Galust Sahakian, the head of the “RPA” faction of the RA
National Assembly expressed such a prevision at the August 19 press
conference. In his words, as much parties are organized, as much
the electoral mass will activize. According to the speaker’s words,
the most important task of both ruling and opposing forces is to
guarantee transparence of the expected elections. Speaking about
electoral falsifications, G.Sahakian mentioned: “Those scenes that
we had during the previous years, either will not exist or will be
milder.” According to his words, unification of the opposition will
also help accomplishment of just elections.
RPA faction head disproved rumours spread in press about strained
relations between him and Hovik Abrahamian, the RA Minister of
Territorial Administration. “Display of bad attitude towards a
politician is not proper for my political posture,” G.Sahakian said.

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF CULTURE TO BE INVITED TO OPENING OF AGHTAMAR CHURCH
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Aug 21 2006
ANKARA, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Atilla Goc, the
Minister of Culture of Turkey spoke on the previous day in Anakara
about those cultural surprises that the Government of Turkey has
prepared for this autumn. The main one among them is considered
to be re-opening of the Armenian Aghtamar church in the Lake Van,
after a long and expensive reconstruction work. As “Marmara” states
quoting the Turkish “Radical” newspaper, the Minister of Culture of
Armenia will also be invited to the opening ceremony of this Armenian
historic church. Prime Minister Recep Tyyip Erdogan will fulfil the
solemn opening. Representatives from countries like France, which
has adopted the law concerning the Armenian Genocide, will also be
invited to the event. “The Aghtamar church will be opened in front
of the whole world, we invite tourists of all over the world for they
come and see that we spent 4 billions on reconstruction of Aghtamar,”
the Minister of Culture of Turkey said.

SYNOPSYS ARMENIA TO BE LOCATED AT VIASPHERE TECHNOPARK
Noyan Tapan
Aug 21 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The company Synopsys Armenia, a branch
of Synopsys (US) – international leader in chip design and production
of chip design programming tools, will be located in the area of
Viasphere Technopark in the autumn 2006. The technopark’s director
general Aram Vardanian told NT correspondent about it. According ti
A. Vardanian, Viasphere got the right to locate Synopsys Armenia in
its area, after the latter won a tender. Synopsys Armenia was offered
the best conditions in terms of using the technopark’s territory and
infrastructures, and will occupy a production area of 9 thousand square
meters out of the total area of 25 thousand sq.m currently occupied
by 18 companies. A. Vardanian pointed out that this step of Synopsys
Armenia shows that Synopsys continues to expand its activities in
Armenia. The company started its operation in Armenia by purcashing
Monterey Arset, Leda Systems and HPL Armenia companies in 2004-2005,
as a result of which Synopsys Armenia became the biggest company not
only in chip design and chip design programming tools production but
also in the whole IT sector. In December 2005, Synopsys employed about
300 people. To recap, in late 2005, the management of Synopsys and
Synopsys Armenia announced their intention to increase sharply the
number of their empoyees in Armenia in the next few years, for which
purpose they started cooperating with Yerevan State University and
the State Engineering University of Armenia by opening chip design
departments and laboratories there.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress