ARMENIAN MIGRANTS APPLY FOR RETURN TO HOMELAND
Panorama.am
16:48 04/04/06
“About 70 Armenian migrants in Switzerland turned to Federal
Administration of Migration in Bern with the request to send them back
to homeland,” informed the representative of Swiss Administration
Philip Goley in the interview to Panortama.am. “At the moment
Switzerland is waiting for their passports,” P. Goley informed.
To note, the program of return of Armenian migrants on the basis of the
agreement between Armenian and Swiss Governments has been working for
6 years already. In the course of the first stage of the realization
of the program 9 families (24 people) returned to Armenia. As the
head of RA Migration Department Gagik Aghanyan mentioned 5 families
of the above mentioned 9 have already established their own business,
3 people passed courses of specialized education, 4 people received
the proper grants and pensions.
>From November 2005 the RA Government began realizing the same program
with French Government, whereas it is necessary to have interstate
agreements to be able to return migrants. Armenia has such agreements
signed with Litva, Denmark and Switzerland. At the moment negotiations
are conducted with a number of other countries. In the meantime, as the
OSCE representative in Armenia Ovsanna Babayn informed Panorama.am,
Armenian citizens generally leave for Russia (90%), the Ukraine and
Kazakhstan for work.

LABOR MIGRANTS – POTENTIAL “ILLEGALS”
Panorama.am
16:24 04/04/06
More than half of Armenian labor migrants leave the country for
the absence of work, 43% are not satisfied with the salary. The
above data were introduces by the head of the administration of
migration of the Ministry of Regional Government Gagik Yeghanyan at
the conference today.
As he said, the labor migrants become potential “illegals” in foreign
countries as they come across serious procedures.
“Particularly it refers to Russian Federation the main flow of migrants
leave for,” G. Yeghanyan mentioned.
And the main reason of illegal migration is the unawareness of our
citizens of the conditions of entry and stay in a country. “According
to the results of the examination carried out by International
Migration Organization (IMO) in 2002 53% of our citizens were unaware
of the existence of license for labor activity, 48% were absolutely
unaware of the necessity of entry visa,” he mentioned.
In the meantime, not all migrants are easily adapted in the
homeland. The obstacle is the unawareness of the new constitution
in our country, the absence of former social relations, discrepancy
of school program and many other factors. The head of Migration
Administration also introduced the Government’s plans to solve the
problem. In particular, it has been decided to form a structure which
will have a foreign (diplomatic commissions in various countries)
and inner (representatives of state structures) networks.
Among other efficient suggestions are consultations for migrants by
means of the Internet.
In the interview with Panorama.am correspondent the representative
of the OSCE mission Ovsanna Babayn mentioned that their aim is not
returning all the migrants to the homeland: “We only want to work out
a policy promoting return and integration of our citizens. The process
of return is only beginning and we have to pass the experimental stage
ourselves to understand what factors influence on the decision of a
migrant to stay in the country, as well as to understand what kind
of policy to lead.”
To note, the conference was organized with the assistance of Dutch
council of refugees and the OSCE.

WANT TO KILL ANDRE?
Panorama.am
17:57 04/04/06
Azeri “fans” of singer Andre threatened to kill him, announced the
singer at the press conference saying that he has received offensive
and threatening letters on his e-mail, moreover Azeri hackers managed
to “break into” the singer’s site one of these days.
Yet, as Andre assured, he no longer takes such threatening as
serious. The singer also doesn’t give importance to the criticism
towards him and his song “Without your love” to be performed
during song contest “Eurovision” as they are simply “good and free
advertisement” and nothing else. “At present I try not to pay attention
to various opinions because my opinion is most important for me. I like
the song and those who don’t can simply not listen to it,” advised the
singer and reminded that he was criticized for performing Armenian,
national song.
Thus, if many people say the song is not a good one because it
contains Western tunes, then what were the tunes of the song “Anca,
gnaci” by bard Shahen.
Besides, Andre notices that he has performed the “Horovel” in more
than 8 international contests, yet “Eurovision” is not a contest to
perform a national song.

COMMUNITY SELF-HELP FUND PROGRAM SUB-GRANTS’ SUBMISSION OFFICIAL EVENT
Panorama.am
16:17 04/04/06
On April 4, 2006 at 2 PM the official submission of sub-grants to the
winners of the Community-Self-Help Fund Program’s (CSHF) 4th round
will take place at the conference room of the United States Embassy in
Yerevan (address: 1 American Avenue). Mr. Anthony Godfrey, Deputy Chief
of Mission, representatives of the US Embassy, USAID, Save the Children
as well as 7 sub-grantee organizations will participate in the event.
The Community Self-Help Fund program is sponsored by the United
States Embassy and USAID and implemented by Save the Children which
provides expert technical assistance for program implementation. CSHF
aims at improvement of basic economic and social conditions of the
communities through provision of small grants to local communities’
on-going projects. Since November 2003, twice a year Save the Children
has announced calls for proposals inviting interested community
organizations to apply for small grants.
Round 4 was announced in November 2005 through national and local
media. Save the Children received 141 project proposals of which 20
were shortlisted and submitted to the US Embassy for final selection
of the winners. The Embassy’s Assistance Coordination Group selected
7 projects to be funded through the CSHF program. The projects include
renovation of kindergartens, health clinics, youth club and playground
and will be implemented in Yerevan and Vayots Dzor, Syunik and Kotayk
marzes. The total cost of these projects is USD 94,748. The overall
number of the projects’ direct beneficiaries is 14,000. In addition,
200 people will be actively involved in project works.
Throughout 1st to 3rd rounds of CSHF program, 33 projects in Armenia
have been funded resulting upgrade of kindergartens, schools, health
posts and hospitals, village bridges, irrigation and drinking water
systems. The projects have played vital role for the residents of
communities by encouraging self-help initiatives. In total, 33,477
people (including those actively involved in project works) directly
benefited from the program throughout three rounds. Communities have
contributed around 30% of the projects’ cost providing volunteer
labor and donated materials.
* * * Save the Children is the leading independent nonprofit relief and
development organization helping children in need in the United States
and in more than 40 countries around the world. Save the Children
started operating in Armenia in 1993. Since then the organization
has implemented numerous projects to help children and families in
need. We have been working with local communities through invested
funding and expertise in the areas of humanitarian relief and refugees,
community development, NGO capacity building, children and youth,
health, education, economic opportunities, conflict resolution and
tolerance building.

IRAN TO RANK THIRD IN GAS PRODUCTION WORLDWIDE
Mehr news agency
4 Apr 06
Tehran, 4 April: Implementation of the existing gas projects and
completion of the South Pars development plans in particular may allow
Iran to be the third major natural gas producer in the next four years.
Based on the current statistics, the world’s annual gas consumption
stands at 2,618.5 billion cubic meters which is equivalent to 50
million barrels of oil per day, the Persian service of ISNA reported
on Tuesday.
Russia and the United States allocate 43.3 per cent of global
production to themselves while Canada, the Great Britain, Algeria
and Indonesia are the other major producers in that order. Iran sits
seventh in the ranking with 70 billion cubic meters per annum.
Given the dispersion of natural gas resources in Latin America
and Asia, Iran is a reliable source of supply being near the
energy-starving India and China. Nevertheless, the country has signed
no long-term gas export contract since 1996, Turkey being the sole one.
But, the promising fact remains that Iran could increase its production
capacity to 255.5 billion cubic meters in four years and maintain a
gradual growth to 360 billion per annum over the next 30 years.
The current gas export projects under way to the UAE and Armenia are
to be operational by yearend and several important talks have so far
been held with Pakistan, India and the EU to this end.

TO MERCIFUL PEOPLE FOR HELP
Panorama.am
15:43 04/04/06
Ktrakyan Vahe is only 7 months old. He needs a serious operation of
liver transplantation abroad to save his life. The only hope of the
parents to save their child’s life is the operation and they turn to
merciful people for help.
All those who have wish to render financial assistance for the
treatment of the child can donate money on thespecially opened account
in Hayeconombank:
163218216170 (AMD)
163218216188 (USD)
163218216196 (EURO)
E.MAIL
[email protected]
[email protected] r

THE SITUATION IN JAVAKHK IS STABILE
Panorama.am
12:32 04/04/06
After the murder of Gevorg Gevorgyan in Tsalka and the events after
it the situation in Javakhk has become calm. As “A-info” has been
informed from the press department of Samtskhe-Javakhk Armenian public
organizations’ council the Javakhk Armenians demand just judgment
from the legislative bodies of Georgia.
At present Javakhk community has become watchful and is trying not to
turn to instigations. Thus, when certain unidentified organizations
spread news about a mass meeting to be organized in Akhalkalak on March
16, there was no one in the square. In the council of Samtskhe-Javakhk
Armenian public organizations it was mentioned that the mass meeting
in Akhalkalak was programmed by such forces the problem of which is
destabilization of the situation.

THE LEVEL OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH DECLINED IN ARMENIA
Panorama.am
14:36 04/04/06
“In the course of the last 4 years the level of the freedom of speech
has considerably declined,” announced the president of Yerevan
Press Club Boric Navasardyan at the press conference today. As he
said the closing down of “A1+” TV Company was a turning-point for
Armenia. Moreover, in the last 4 days no power or political body was
formed in the country to promote freedom of speech to some extant.
In his turn the manager of the closed down TV Company Mesrop Movsisyan
noticed that Armenian TV Companies couldn’t understand what freedom of
speech really means in general and what it means for the company from
commercial point of view. “TV Companies have to compromise in order
to solve certain commercial problems, yet often times the compromise
is the idea of freedom of speech,” M. Movsisyan mentioned. Talking
about censorship B. Navasardyan mentioned that there is a drop of level
even concerning Russian information-analytical programs, as there is a
hidden censorship as well. As he thinks great hopes are cherished for
the positive judgment of European Court of Human Rights. To remind,
at present the European Court of Human Rights is dealing with the
appeal of “A1+”.

SITUATION QUIET IN TSALKA
Armenpress
Apr 04 2006
TSALKA, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS: A-Info news agency operating in the
southern Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti that has a predominantly
Armenian population, said the situation in Tsalka where a group of
Svans (ethnic Georgians) attacked on March 9 and stabbed to death a
23-year-old Armenian man, was now quite.
It said local Armenians expecting a fair trial of several men of this
group arrested on charges of killing the Armenian man. A-Info also said
the Council of Armenian Organizations of Javakheti has become more
vigilant now and avoids any provocative actions. It particularly did
not react to some non-member organizations’ calls to stage a rally
on March 16.
Tsalka, population 22,000, is predominantly populated by ethnic
Armenians and Greeks. Up to 2,000 Azerbaijanis also live there. In
the early 1990s, the Georgian government moved a group of ethnic
Georgians (about 2,500, mainly Ajarians and Svans), to Tsalka after
a devastating landslide in their native mountainous villages.
Tsalka is also close to the predominantly Armenian-populated
Samtskhe-Javakheti locality, which is considered a “complex region”
because of the presence of a Russian military base and increasing
demands for political autonomy by some local Armenian groups. Clashes
between ethnic Georgians and the Greek-Armenian community in Tsalka
have been reported for several years, nevertheless, Georgian officials
continuously argue that the conflicts in Tsalka have no ethnic context
and represent mostly “communal violence.”

AZERI, TURKISH LEADERS DISCUSS KARABAKH, MILITARY TIES
ANS TV, Baku
4 Apr 06
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who arrived in Baku today, and
[Azerbaijani] President Ilham Aliyev have focused on the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani-Turkish military cooperation and issues
connected with the Armenian-Turkish border at an eye-to-eye meeting.
After the presidents’ meeting, en expanded meeting was held, attended
by representatives of the governments of the two countries. The
presidents are now giving a news conference.
[Video showed the two presidents shaking hands outdoors.]