Հայաստանի - նորություններ | Armenia - News [Archive]

hakz2007

May 18th, 2010, 12:55 PM

Czech Prime Minister is surprised at diligence of Armenian women
PanARMENIAN.Net - Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer is on a working visit to Armenia, at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sargsyan.

Despite difficult times, the Czech Republic has great potential for export, and the country may import great number of goods from Armenia, Mr. Fischer said during the May 17 joint press conference with Tigran Sargsyan. According to him, the countries have cooperation opportunities in the fields of IT, tourism, transport, etc.

Besides, the Czech Prime Minister noted that he is glad to be on a visit to this wonderful country, which has so many working women.

Armenia’s export to the Czech Republic totaled $1.5mln and $103,000 in 2009 and first quarter of 2010 respectively. Meanwhile, Armenia’s import from this country amounted to $15.1mln and $11mln in 2009 and first quarter of 2010 respectively.

Armenia’s export to the Czech Republic includes molybdenum concentrate, ferromolybdenum, wood and clay items, handmade carpets, rough diamonds, etc. Meanwhile, Armenia is importing sweets, beer, foodstuff, medicines, medical equipment, plastic articles, paper and hosiery.

An Armenian-Czech business forum is held in Yerevan in the framework of the Czech Prime Minister’s two-day visit that will provide the two countries’ entrepreneurs with the opportunity to establish closer trade and economic ties. http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/48704/

Poverty reduction in Armenia possible through boosting agricultural production
PanARMENIAN.Net - The FAO provided USD 1,8 million funding to Armenia in 2008-2009. This year, USD 40 thousand was provided for Nubarashen pesticide waste burial place research laboratory. USD 600 thousand is supposed to be allocated for development of seed farming, USD 2 million for upgrading laboratories and USD 1.6 thousand for construction of new facilities for cattle slaughter. Struggle against brucellosis is also among FAO priority programs.

The Europe and Central Asia region has achieved striking success in fighting poverty and food insecurity over the last ten years, with agriculture playing a key role. But the international financial and economic crisis could threaten that process FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said.

“The financial and economic crisis could adversely affect the progress and the significant improvement in living standards that have been achieved in the region in the last decade. FAO studies have shown that the crisis has weakened agriculture, particularly in the countries of Central and East Europe. In addition, World Bank estimates show that Europe and Central Asia is the region that has been hit hardest by the crisis,” he said.

“Since 1998, some 50 million people in the Europe and Central Asia region have succeeded in moving out of poverty – a striking example of success in fighting poverty and food insecurity. In Central Asia, the number of people suffering from hunger fell by 38 percent from 9.3 million in 2000-2002 to 5.8 million in 2004-2006... Agriculture has played a key role. History showed that “there is no more powerful engine for stimulating growth and eradicating hunger and poverty than investment in agriculture. But sufficient financial resources were needed. Globally $44 billion a year of Official Development Assistance was required to finance modern inputs, rural infrastructures and technologies for the benefit of small farmers in poor countries,” Diouf said. “Investing in Europe and Central Asia could help resolve hunger in other regions of the world. It was estimated that with sufficient investment, nearly 10 million hectares of arable land could be brought back into cultivation to grow grains and oilseeds in Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.”

Diouf, who launched a major international anti-hunger campaign, the “1billionhungry project”, to bring pressure on world leaders to pull a billion people out of hunger, said he is convinced that “together we can eliminate hunger from our planet.”

By the World Bank’s estimate, poverty in Armenia may reach 27,9% in 2010, as a consequence of the global financial crisis. http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/details/48676/Poverty_reduction_in_Armenia_possible_through_boosting_agricultural_production

Newropean

May 27th, 2010, 11:45 AM

Ombudsman Sees Continued Restriction of Freedom of Assembly in Armenia

Armenia’s human rights defender has criticized the authorities for failing to show full commitment to the principles of freedom of assembly. In an ad hoc report unveiled in Yerevan on Tuesday, Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian also blamed certain vague provisions in the current legislation for the situation.
The report reviews the situation with the freedom of assembly in Armenia since the 2008 presidential election till today. It concludes that the principles of “state obligation to protect peaceful rallies, exclusion of discrimination and other principles” have been violated.

“The conduct of public authorities in many cases gives reasons to assume that they fail to fully appreciate the importance of freedom of assembly,” Harutiunian said during the presentation of the report.

According to the data published in the report, the authorities of Yerevan rejected more than 80 requests for holding public rallies in the city in 2008.

“There were not that many requests for public rallies in 2009 and particularly so far this year and the number of rejections isn’t that large correspondingly, because it is not a pre-election period now. The same problems, however, may recur during pre-election periods, as the legislation remains the same,” he said.

The Armenian parliament introduced drastic changes in the freedom of assembly legislation shortly after nonstop rallies staged by the opposition after the disputed 2008 presidential election led to the country’s worst political crisis. The changes severely restricted the rights to hold rallies and demonstrations and gave local authorities sweeping powers to reject requests for holding protest events based on vague conclusions of law-enforcement agencies. The Armenian lawmakers later removed some of the restrictions under pressure from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, but did not fully revert to the version of the law that existed before March 2008.

The ombudsman’s latest report does not refer to cases of violence, police detentions and criminal prosecution applied against oppositionists participating in marches of protest in 2009. It only says that citizens’ right to hold marches appeared to be ‘less protected’ than the right to stage rallies.

Harutiunian said he planned to come up with a new draft law to try to fill in the gaps in the existing legislation.

The ombudsman acknowledged the existence of violations in the practice of applying laws, but would not be drawn into a discussion of the ‘democratic credentials’ of the current government.

“An ombudsman is not a politician and this is not a political report,” Harutiunian underscored.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2052630.html

Newropean

May 27th, 2010, 12:37 PM

Macroeconomic forecasts for Armenia revised

The National Statistical Service has published the data for January-April 2010, according to which, 7.2% GDP growth was recorded in Armenia as compared with the same period of 2009. The GDP amounted to AMD 777.6bln in April. Besides, 8% growth was recorded in consumer prices in the reported period as compared with the 2009 index.
May 22, 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net - Export volumes increased by 64.3%, totaling $289.8mln, while import amounted to $1.1bln, growing by 24.4%.

Given the favorable economic developments, the government decided to revise its macroeconomic forecasts.

“It seems to be obvious that our anti-crisis efforts have paid off, and growth is gaining momentum in industry. We should be consistent to maintain the pace in 2011-2012,” Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said.

The IMF has also reviewed its forecasts for the country’s GDP, predicting 4% growth.

According to RA Finance Minster Tigran Davtyan, inflation control will persist as one of the major problems of Armenia’s economic policy in 2010. “Both the government and the Central Bank of Armenia have already taken action to control inflation, assuming a tough monetary policy,” he said. “The measures were taken to balance the budget, what will allow to tackle social problems.”

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Armenia and commercial banks are coordinating activities. “It’s corrects, as it’s the demand of the market,” Prometey Bank board chairman Emil Soghomonyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. “The Central Bank took up an expedient monetary policy, while the banks grant loans with affordable interest rates.”

“Armenian banks are highly marketable and it’s natural that interest rates move downward, so that the banks can distribute capital. Interest rates will fall till the end of the year, making 12-13%,” he said.

Armenia’s former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan supposes that the global financial crisis will possibly continue. He named three reasons, due to which the crisis can’t be thought as overcome. First, banks not only grant loans to business, but also become its shareholders; second, largest corporations will not be able to meet their obligations to pension funds; third, inconsistence of currency during budget’s formation.

According to Bagratyan, the new crisis will reach Armenia in six month and its new wave will be stronger that is reasoned by decrease in prices for copper and molybdenum.

Besides, the former PM advised the population to purchase precious metals, specifically palladium, to be able to withstand the crisis challenges.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/details/48974/Macroeconomic_forecasts_for_Armenia_revised

Newropean

June 3rd, 2010, 01:12 PM

Azerbaijan incapable to resolve Karabakh conflict by use of force

April 19, 2010
PanARMENIAN.Net - The situation in the South Caucasus remains strained despite the efforts the United States and Russia exert to maintain the fragile peace in the Karabakh conflict area and in the region, as a whole. Normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations remains undecided while Azeri President’s threats to start a new war seem endless. Peacekeeper, first director of the NKR-based Center of Civil Initiatives NGO and coordinator of the international working group on missing persons and exchange of POWs Albert Voskanyan comments on the current situation to PanARMENIAN.Net.

How real is normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations without acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey?

I don’t think that Armenian-Turkish reconciliation is possible, with the Armenian Cause unsettled. To normalize relations with Armenia, Turkey should cease its anti-Armenian foreign policy and acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Besides, it should take up a sustainable policy aimed at peaceful and neighborly relations. And last but not least, it should stop being a hostage to Azerbaijan’s interests.

To become a democracy, Turkey should come to terms with its history and resolve a number of pressing problems, including the Kurdish and Cyprus issues

Actually, Turkey has tied normalization of relations with Armenia to resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. But I believe that it's time for the sides to reconsider positions for the sake of their nations. Furthermore, U.S. President Barack Obama is impatient to announce a new diplomatic victory – reconciliation between Armenians and Turks after a century-old enmity.

The U.S. administration will spare no effort, including pressure on Turkey, to achieve normalization and promote partial opening of the Armenian-Turkish border.

Many speak about possibility of a new war. May and June are mentioned as a start. Do you think Ilham Aliyev will venture a new war?

I don’t think Aliyev will dare launch hostilities, fearing to lose the power in case of defeat. Moreover, starting a war, he will nullify the OSCE MG efforts, thus inflicting an irreparable damage to Azerbaijan’s international image.

During the years of ceasefire, Azerbaijan has enough time to train its troops for attacks, while Nagorno Karabakh used the period to fortify its defense. The people of Karabakh will never draw back. They will defend each meter of their land.

The 2008 clashes in South Ossetia showed that a war in the region may last no longer than a week. This time is too little for Azerbaijan to resolve the problem in its favor. But if it dares, a large number of countries will inevitably recognize independence of Nagorno Karabakh.

Nevertheless, Aliyev may launch some local operations to gain dividends for his election campaign.

How could you explain Baku’s anti-U.S. hysteria?

Discontent with the U.S. administration has considerably grown in Azerbaijan recently. Baku is irritated at the influence of the Armenian lobby and annual U.S. assistance to Nagorno Karabakh. After Turkey refused to open the border with Armenia unless the Karabakh conflict is resolved, Azerbaijan openly voices its indignation with the United States.

Baku is taking the course towards Moscow, singing a contract with Gazprom on the one hand, and speaks about possible joint project with the U.S., on the other hand. One thing is clear, Azerbaijan will not dare spoil relations with Washington.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/interviews/47277/Azerbaijan_incapable_to_resolve_Karabakh_conflict_by_use_of_force

Newropean

June 3rd, 2010, 01:25 PM

Building complex to be constructed instead of Yerevan’s Youth Palace

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/big_photo_49099_864598104.jpg

May 25, 2010 - 15:39 AMT 10:39 GMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kiyokazu Arai, Arai Architects company director, was announced International Architectural Concepts Competition winner to be awarded with USD 70 thousand prize, project manager, architect Levon Vardanyan said.

As he told a news conference in Yerevan, Kiyokazu’s project features a hotel, business center and an apartment complex to be constructed at former location of Yerevan’s Youth Palace. 101-meter Intercontinental hotel will be the tallest building in the city.

“Project approval to be passed by Yerevan’s town planning committee will be followed by the launch of 3-4 year construction. Construction costs are estimated at USD 200 million,” said Eduard Avetisyan, head of Avangard Motors company, the contest initiator.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/society/news/49099/Building_complex_to_be_constructed_instead_of_Yerevans_Youth_Palace

hakz2007

June 12th, 2010, 05:14 AM

Yerevan to host VII CIS and Baltic Region Bond Congress
PanARMENIAN.Net - On July 1 and 2, 2010, Russian Cbonds news agency jointly with NASDAQ OMX Armenia will organize the VII CIS and Baltic Region Bond Congress in Yerevan. The Bond Congress is an event held yearly since 2004 in one of the financial centers in CIS and Baltic states and has been an important event gathering market professionals from all countries involved.

The main objective of the Bond Congress to be held in Yerevan is to provide a forum for all bond market participants to discuss the vital issues related to CIS and Baltic debt market; exchange experience; build business contacts, as well as to present the Armenian bond market to the international community and promote investment interest towards this segment of the country’s capital market.

Primary topics to be covered during the event include: Armenian bond market; world financial markets in the aftermath of the crisis; bond markets of Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Baltic states. As part of the Round Table on internal and external markets, the attendees will discuss the priorities and interests of existing and potential issuers and investors in respect of the debt market. Overall, more than 200 market professionals for CIS and the Baltic states are expected to participate in the event, NASDAQ OMX said in a press release.

Among the invited speakers of the Bond Congress are the Central Bank of Armenia, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy officials. Presentations by NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange, Armenian bond issuers and local investment service providers will also be delivered. Agenda sections devoted to debt markets of CIS and the Baltic states will be presented by regulatory officials, stock exchange representatives, as well as by issuers and market professionals, including Deutsche Bank, Standard & Poor’s, Russian Sberbank, Troyka Dialog investment company, MICEX, Goldman Sachs, and SEB Bank.

Cbonds group of companies is a news agency with focus on financial markets. The Group' currently carries out the following activities in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan: maintains and develops information websites (Cbonds.Info and Investfunds); organizes conferences and exhibitions devoted to financial markets; publishes Cbonds Review magazine and yearbooks. http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/49831/

Armen Gevorgyan: Armenia is interested in boosting relations with Qatar
PanARMENIAN.Net - On June 11, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan received newly appointed Qatar Ambassador to Armenia Ibrahim Abdul Rahman Al-Meghaiseeb (residence in Tehran.)

Greeting the Ambassador, Gevorgyan noted that Armenia is interested in boosting relations with Qatar and attached importance to the role of interdepartmental commission.

Gevorgyan added that during his recent visit to Qatar he met with Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and discussed Qatar’s participation in regional projects developed in Armenia, as well as organization of the first sitting of the interdepartmental commission this year.

For his part, the Ambassador attached importance to opening of Armenia’s diplomatic representation in Qatar and establishment of air communication between the two countries.

Besides, the Qatar Ambassador offered to hold the first sitting of the interdepartmental commission in Doha, the press service of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration reported.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/politics/news/49932/Armen_Gevorgyan_Armenia_is_interested_in_boosting_relations_with_Qatar

Private remittances to Armenia totaled $367mln in January-April 2010
PanARMENIAN.Net - $367mln was transferred to individuals through the Armenian banking system in January-April 2010. According to the RA Central Bank’s monthly bulletin, 3.8% or $13.3mln growth was recorded as compared with the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, Russia keeps the biggest share of remittances to Armenia - $232.9mln, followed by the U.S. - $39.5mln and Germany - $7.1mln. The amount of remittances from Turkey totaled $885,000.

Besides, the amount of remittances from Armenia totaled $188.4mln in January-April 2010 that is 9.7% higher as compared with the same period of last year.

During the reported period, the net cash inflow decreased by 1.9% amounting to $178.6mln against $182mln in January-April 2009.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/49918/Private_remittances_to_Armenia_totaled_367mln_in_JanuaryApril_2010

Newropean

June 13th, 2010, 07:08 PM

Oldest Leather Shoe A ‘Dream’ Find For Armenian Scientist

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/311px-Chalcolithic_leather_shoe_fro.jpg

For a young Armenian archaeologist who stumbled on what scientists think is the world’s oldest leather shoe, it was a dream come true which she still finds hard to believe.

“It was my dream,” Diana Zardarian said Friday of her historic find on September 16, 2008 in a cave in Armenia’s southeastern Vayots Dzor region, which has made headlines around the world. The 27-year-old post-graduate student conducted excavations there in a team of fellow employees of Armenia’s Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography and visiting archaeologists from Ireland and the United States.

“I knew that organic artifacts are very rarely found during excavations, especially from the Copper Age layers that are 6,000 years old,” she told RFE/RL in an interview on Friday. “At first I couldn’t believe it’s that old.

“I stood still for a couple of minutes in the excavation site. Everyone asked, ‘Diana, what happened?’ I said, ‘People, my dream has come true, I’ve found a shoe.’ Nobody believed me.”

Armenia -- Archaeologist Diana Zardarian shows the worlds oldest leather shoe found in an Armenian cave, 11June 2010.
With Armenia lacking modern radiocarbon test facilities, four samples of the shoe’s cow-hide leather were sent to specialized laboratories in California and Oxford, England for examination. Scientists there took more than 18 months to confirm that the item dates back to around 3,500 BC, an era known as the Chalcolithic period, or Copper Age.

“We were cleaning up the clay floor dating back to 3600-3300 B.C., and all of sudden a large cluster of dry reeds came up,” recalled Zardarian. “I asked laborers to go out so I could take a closer look at them. As I removed more soil from the reeds, I got deeper and deeper into them and then exposed a very beautiful and special pit. It was plastered with very high-quality yellow clay.”

At the bottom of the pit Zardarian found a pair of sheep’s horns lying on a clay bowl turned upside down. “When I raised it a little I felt that there is something underneath,” she said. “Because the pit was deep, about 50 centimeters, and dark, I couldn’t see what lay on its floor. In fact, I was digging it with my right hand without seeing anything.

“When my hand reached the floor I felt some organic stuff, which I at first thought is a cow ear. I took it out and got absolutely transfixed. It was a shoe turned upside down.”

“Everyone was stunned by how well preserved that 6,000-year-old shoe was,” she added with a smile. “Even the shoe-laces were preserved.”

Armenian and foreign scientists attribute that to the stable, cool and dry conditions that have existed in the cave for several millennia. They say preservation was also helped by the fact that its floor was covered by a thick layer of sheep dung which acted as a solid seal over the objects.

It is not yet known whether the shoe, matching a modern-day European size 37 or U.S. size 7, belonged to a man or woman. Zardarian said her state-run research institute plans to commission DNA tests for that purpose. She confirmed that the artifact will eventually be put on permanent display at the National History Museum in Yerevan.

Previously the oldest leather shoe discovered in Europe or Asia was on the famous Otzi, the "Iceman" found frozen in the Alps a few years ago and now preserved in Italy. Otzi has been dated to 5,375 and 5,128 years ago, a few hundred years more recent than the Armenian shoe.

The oldest known footwear in the world are sandals thought to be around 2,500 years older than the Armenian leather shoe. They were found in a cave in Missouri in the United States.

The Vayots Dzor cave located near wine-growing Areni village was apparently the site of an ancient human settlement. Other finds there included large ceramic containers, many of which held wheat, barley, apricots and other edible plants. The scientists exploring it since 2007 have also reported evidence of an ancient winemaking operation, and caches of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2069047.html

hakz2007

June 14th, 2010, 03:31 PM

^^Whoa, this is an interesting find :cheers:

Newropean

June 15th, 2010, 12:06 AM

Absolutely!
How cool would it be if they now found the human that wore the shoe at the same place! :)

Actually I found this story through wikipedia, it was in the news on the main page for several days now.
Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_shoe

hakz2007

June 16th, 2010, 10:22 AM

Yerevan Brandy Factory sales volume decreases by 26% within 5 months
PanARMENIAN.Net - Sales volume at Yerevan Brandy Factory decreased by 26% within January –May 2010 compared with last year’s results, factory director Ara Grigoryan stated.

As he told a news conference in Yerevan, “Two of our main outlet markets, Russia and Ukraine, are still undergoing economic downfall stage. Among other marketing steps, we’re trying to make amendments to our price policy and product appearance to repair the situation. Brandy Factory re-equipment costs grossed over EURO 1 million; still, it’s hard to foretell the effect innovations introduced will have on the situation.”http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/50071/

Yerevan Brandy Company to purchase 29,000t of grapes in 2010
http://media.panarmenian.net/media/issue/50065/photo/268x180_thumb_photo_50065_d8a6ad069.jpg

PanARMENIAN.Net - Director of Yerevan Brandy Company Ara Grigoryan said that the factory will purchase 29,000t of grapes this year that is 10% lower as compared with purchases in 2009.

“Taking into consideration 36% drop in sales and the continuing decline trends, we could ether refrain from purchasing grapes, or procure only 14,000-15,000 tons. But we decided to purchase 29,000t of grapes – the maximum volume, which can placed at the enterprise,” noted Grigoryan.

He added that the company has procured additional reservoirs for spirit storage with total capacity of 500,000 liters. Besides, the existing reservoirs, which had not been used by the factory, were renovated.

Grigoryan noted that the agreements with viticulturists will be cut by 20-22%, what will provide with the opportunity to equally distribute the planned volume of purchases among both farmers, with whom the company is cooperating for several years, and viticulturists.

As for the purchase prices, the YBC Director said that they will be announced in September. Nevertheless, he assured that the prices will be higher as compared with 2009 (AMD 130 and 120 per 1kg of grapes from Ararat valley and Tavush region respectively).http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/50065/

Newropean

June 23rd, 2010, 03:04 PM

Armenian, Azerbaijani delegations to PACE meet in Strasbourg

June 23, 2010 - 12:05 AMT 07:05 GMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met in Strasbourg on June 22, the Armenian side being represented by Davit Harutyunyan and Armen Rustamyan.

“Our major demand is that the sides should continue talks unless the key issues are resolved but, anyway, PACE can’t be effective in resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” Armen Rustamyan said. “We are against creation of any platform which can become a new stage for propaganda, thus complicating the situation even more. So, our proposal to proceed with consultations was adopted.”
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/50371/Armenian_Azerbaijani_delegations_to_PACE_meet_in_Strasbourg

Armenia listed among stable and established states in Foreign Policy magazine ranking

PanARMENIAN.Net - Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace have published 2010 Failed States Index listing the world's most vulnerable nations.

Somalia has been the No. 1 failed state for three years running; altogether, the top 10 slots have rotated among just 15 unhappy countries in the index's six years. State failure, it seems, is a chronic condition.

At the top of the list, Somalia saw yet another year plagued by lawlessness and chaos, with pirates plying the coast while radical Islamist militias tightened their grip on the streets of Mogadishu. Across the Gulf of Aden, long-ignored Yemen leapt into the news when a would-be suicide bomber who had trained there tried to blow up a commercial flight bound for Detroit. Afghanistan and Iraq traded places on the index as both states contemplated the exit of U.S. combat troops, while already isolated Sudan saw its dictator, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, defy an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court and the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo once again proved itself a country in little more than name. Among CIS states, Uzbekistan was ranked 36th in the list of most vulnerable nations, followed by Georgia (37th). Tajikistan received the ranking of 38, Kyrgyzstan -45, Azerbaijan -55, Moldova -58. For the second year running, Armenia has been ranked 101st.

This year's index draws on 90,000 publicly available sources to analyze 177 countries and rate them on 12 metrics of state decay -- from refugee flows to economic implosion, human rights violations to security threats.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/50351/Armenia_listed_among_stable_and_established_states_in_Foreign_Policy_magazine_ranking

Armenian banking system income to total AMD 20bln in 2010

June 23, 2010 - 16:20 AMT 11:20 GMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Head of Financial Stability Department of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Vahe Vardanyan said that, according to the CBA estimates, income of the banking system of Armenia may amount to AMD 20bln that is insignificantly lower as compared with the 2008 index.

The banking system has already secured AMD 8bln income, while the controlled income of the Armenian banking system totaled AMD 8.4bln in 2009.

Vardanyan noted that market development is currently hampered by dollarization. “The CBA’s primary goal is to tackle the market’s dollarization, and we take relevant steps to this end,” he said.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/50398/Armenian_banking_system_income_to_total_AMD_20bln_in_2010

Newropean

June 23rd, 2010, 03:05 PM

Iran Against U.S. Peacekeeping Role In Karabakh

Iran is strongly opposed to U.S. involvement in a multi-national peacekeeping force that would presumably be deployed around Nagorno-Karabakh after the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord, a senior Iranian diplomat warned on Wednesday.

Such a peacekeeping operation is an important element of the current and previous peace proposals made by the U.S., Russian and French mediators spearheading international efforts to settle the Karabakh dispute.

Analysts in and outside the region have long speculated about the possible composition of foreign troops that would enforce a future peace deal. The mediators’ existing “basic principles” of a peaceful settlement apparently leave that question unanswered.

According to Iran’s ambassador to Armenia, Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, the United States is keen to have troops in Azerbaijan’s Fizuli district, which borders Iran and was mostly occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces in 1993. He claimed that that would pose a serious threat to the Islamic Republic given its extremely tense relations with Washington.

“Iran is the only country adjacent to the conflicting parties, and in terms if ensuring its own security, it will not allow the deployment of American forces,” Saghayean told a news conference.

The diplomat declined to specify whether Tehran does not want to see peacekeeping forces from other foreign powers as well. He argued that both the conflicting parties and the OSCE Minsk Group have still a long way to go to reach agreement on the matter.

Saghayean similarly indicated in February that Iran regards the make-up of the would-be peacekeeping force in the conflict zone as a matter of national security. “Iran shares a common border with Karabakh and therefore we surely have our own considerations and views about the composition of a peacekeeping force that might be deployed in the conflict zone,” he said.

The Iranian envoy also insisted on Wednesday that a renewed war in Karabakh is extremely unlikely now despite the latest upsurge in skirmishes along the Armenian-Azerbaijani Line of Contact north and east of the disputed territory. “Iran rules that out,” he said.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2080247.html

Newropean

June 30th, 2010, 10:31 PM

This website has nice articles in English, even though they're not very neutral. ;)

http://armenianow.com/

Newropean

July 8th, 2010, 11:40 PM

Yerevan's Golden Apricot Film Festival kicks off with Turkish A-list

Armenia’s Golden Apricot Movie Festival readies to celebrate its seventh anniversary this year in Yerevan. Fatih Akın, the world-renowned Turkish-German director, headlines this year’s list of guests. Unlike diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, the festival also demonstrates the continuing warm artistic relations between the two countries

Demonstrating once again the fraternal ties between Turkish and Armenian artists that contrast their countries’ political relations, Yerevan’s Golden Apricot Film Festival will open Sunday with a number of international guests, including prominent Turkish directors.

Headlining this year’s seventh edition of the festival is “Honey” (Bal), from Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu. The film, which won international plaudits after receiving the Golden Bear award during the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in February, will be shown to Armenian audiences during an exclusive screening at the event.

This year the film festival will also host two honored guests, including Turkish-German director Fatih Akın, as well as Greek director Theo Angelopulos.

The festival, which takes place from July 11 to 18, is dedicated to the anniversaries of two prominent directors of Armenian origin: Arni Verno and Atom Egoyan.

A total of 120 movies will be shown during the seven-day festival. The opening movie will be from Verno, whose movie "Mayrig" (Mother) is being eagerly anticipated by Armenian audiences. The festival will also host Italy’s Claudio Cardinale this year.

Turkey and Armenia dialogue

Even though relations and the protocols being negotiated between Armenia and Turkey have become frozen by the countries’ respective parliaments, artists from both neighbors have continued to pursue friendly ties.

During the last two years, Turkish and Armenian artists have conducted important projects on a variety of artistic levels.

Turkish movies were first screened for Armenian audiences within the framework of the Golden Apricot Film Festival in 2008, while the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, or İKSV, also hosted Armenian directors during the Istanbul Film Festival’s “Meeting the Bridge” movie event.

The Yerevan festival’s art director, Susanna Harutyunyan, said they were still in contact with the Istanbul Film Festival board. “We try to exchange Turkish and Armenian directors.”

Tradition of blessing the apricots

Noting that the festival developed a lot within the past seven years, festival director Mikael Stamboltsyan recently told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that the organizers’ aim was to bring world cinema to Yerevan and make the town a center for movie festivals.

“Before this festival, Armenian audiences could not gain access to world cinema, Stamboltsyan said. “It was just a dream for them. With this festival we are not only encouraging Armenian audiences to meet world cinema, but we are also supporting young directors to open to the world.”

As in past years, the festival will begin after a new crop of apricots receives a blessing in a church. Apricots, however, are not the only fruit that will be blessed. During the grape harvest, the Armenian Apostolic Church also blesses other fruits. As grapes are blessed during the second week of August, people also have a “grape fast,” abstaining from eating them until the time of blessing. These celebrations in Armenia come from the pre-Christianity period.

“Seven years ago, when we started to have these celebrations, we decided to start a new tradition with this,” Stamboltsyan said. “We decided that we should also bless the apricots. The apricot is an Armenian fruit. The Latin name of it is ‘Prunus Armeniaca.’”

The festival has hosted many honored guests in the past several years, such as director Egoyan from Canada, Wim Wenders from Germany, Abbas Kirostami from Iran, Catherine Breillat from France, Nikita Mikhalkov from Russia and Goran Paskelevic from Serbia.

More detailed information on the festival is available at www.gaiff.am.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=golden-apricot-film-festival-kicks-off-2010-07-08

Azerbaijan rejects Armenian claims of a new Karabakh proposal

Azerbaijan has denied Armenian claims that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts with a new international plan last month to resolve the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian referred to what was discussed with Medvedev in St. Petersburg as "a new version of the Madrid Principles" of a Karabakh settlement at a news conference in Yerevan with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry dismissed these statements late on Monday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Armenian Service reported.

"Even though Russia plays a large role in this process and the Russian president has taken part in several meetings [between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serge Sarkisian], proposals are drawn up only by the [OSCE's Minsk Group] co-chairs," Azerbaijani media quoted ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov as saying.

"Updated Madrid proposals exist only in the form of a document, and they were submitted to both parties last year," he said. "Only various approaches [to these proposals] were discussed in St. Petersburg."

Polukhov added that "the statement by Nalbandian is only aimed at distracting the Armenian and international public from the essence of the issue."

Armenian President Sarkisian had likewise spoken of "the latest version" of the proposed framework accord as he met with the visiting French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the Minsk Group on Saturday. A statement by his office said the document was "presented in the course of the St. Petersburg negotiations between the presidents of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan."

According to senior figures in the ruling Republican Party, Sarkisian reacted positively to the new peace proposals although his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev apparently did not. They claim that Aliyev cut short his visit to Russia as a result.

The next day the Armenian side reported the worst fighting between Karabakh-Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the disputed region in more than two years, with five soldiers being killed.

Baku has repeatedly claimed to have largely accepted a modified "Madrid document" that was drafted by the three mediating powers last fall.

Armenian reaction to that document has been more ambiguous, with officials in Yerevan saying only that the document's original version – which was unveiled in the Spanish capital in 2007 – remains "a basis for negotiations."

Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been occupied by Armenian forces since the end of a six-year conflict that left about 30,000 people dead and displaced 1 million prior to a 1994 truce.

The territory’s unilateral independence is not recognized by the international community. The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been negotiating on the issue under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, but little progress has been made so far.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=azerbaijan-rejects-armenian-claims-of-a-new-karabakh-proposal--2010-07-08

And I think that this thread about Armenia would get more attention in the European section, or even in the Middle Eastern one. There are just so very few links between East Asia and Armenia, the same goes for Georgia and Azerbaijan of course.

Newropean

July 13th, 2010, 09:21 AM

A short article from the Economist:

Please Mrs Clinton, he hit me first

Jul 6th 2010, 14:50 by A.O. | TBILISI

THE PRESIDENTS of Armenia and Azerbaijan wasted no time complaining about each other to Hillary Clinton, the American Secretary of State, who visited both countries this week.

When she sat down with Ilham Aliev , the Azeri president, in his lavish presidential palace overlooking the Caspian sea, Mr Aliev was supposed to make few polite remarks for the cameras before disappearing with Ms Clinton into private negotiations. Instead, he launched straight into the subject of Nagorno-Karabakh, blaming Armenia for violating the ceasefire agreement of 1994. A few hours later, in Yerevan, the Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan, did the same.

The tension has been building up in recent months resulting and on June 18th several people were killed in an exchange of fire. Yet neither side is doing much to resolve the conflict, argues Thomas de Waal a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, argues

Naturally suspicious, neither government offers the offer anything constructive. To be precise, the Armenians offer constructive engagement on small issues such as sharing water over the ceasefire line, but the Azeris reject these gestures, worrying that this is “doing business with the enemy.” The Armenian side rejects all proposals to give up even an inch of Armenian-held land, before pledges on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh are made up front. The Azeris, saying that they are in a state of war, even reject the proposal made by the French, Russia and U.S foreign ministers in Helsinki in 2008 to remove snipers from the front line.

Mr De Waal has recently returned from Nagorno-Karbakh and has penned an evocative description of this tiny piece of disputed land in the Caucasus mountains.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2010/07/armenia_and_azerbaijanq

And here the link to the evocative description (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/30/caucasian_standoff).

ukiyo

July 15th, 2010, 12:05 AM

What is the cause of the conflicts?

Newropean

July 15th, 2010, 01:04 AM

Hm? Why this fighting erupted now in June? I have no idea.

For the larger context, Nagorno-Karabakh is a district in the Southern Caucasus that was an autonomous region within Azerbaijan since 1923 (when the Soviet Union was founded). It was and is mainly inhabited by Armenians though.
When the Soviet Union started to break up since 1989, the ethnic Armenians (but Azeri citizens) of Nagorno-Karabakh seeked independance from Azerbaijan, which was not granted, so a war broke out between the two, with Armenia proper supporting Nagorno-Karabakh with military and financial resources. Azerbaijan lost control over the region, and Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself independent (recognized by nobody though). There is a cease-fire, but it's rather shaky.
Plus, Azerbaijan is vowing to reconquer the region as soon as possible, even though the inhabitants basically fought for their freedom from Azerbaijan themselves.
The problem is that both parties don't want to compromise, both want their maximum conditions fulfilled: Azerbaijan wants the region back, Nagorno-Karabakh wants independence and wants to join Armenia afterwards. :ohno:

hakz2007

July 26th, 2010, 04:31 AM

Armenia expects Turkey to demonstrate political will in normalization of bilateral ties
PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia demonstrated political will towards normalization of ties with Turkey and expects Turkey to undertake a return step, RA President Serzh Sargsyan stated.

“The whole world urges Turkey to demonstrate political will in ratifying Protocols, however Ankara turns a deaf ear, calling on Armenia to show political will,” Serzh Sargsyan noted at July 21 meeting with Armenian Diaspora youth, members of Miasin movement and Return Home program.

“Despite Turkish authorities’ statements, Armenia is ready to accept any expression of friendship,” Armenian leader concluded. http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/politics/news/51570/

U.S. government to allocate $2.9mln assistance to Armenia
http://media.panarmenian.net/media/issue/51607/photo/268x180_thumb_photo_51607_a250c65c1.jpg

PanARMENIAN.Net - On July 22, the RA government approved the suggestion on signing the protocol on introduction of the eleventh amendment to the Letter of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement between governments of Armenia and the U.S.

Since the signing of the original Letter of Agreement on June 11, 2001, the United States has provided around $11mln of justice sector assistance to the Government of Armenia. Meanwhile, the eleventh amendment is also aimed at developing efficient cooperation. Under the amendment, the U.S. government will allocate $2.9mln assistance.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/51607/US_government_to_allocate_29mln_assistance_to_Armenia

Newropean

July 31st, 2010, 06:37 PM

Here's something very practical, I didn't even notice the change. Armenian (Eastern variant), together with Azerbaijani, Georgian, Basque and Urdu, was added to Google Translate:

Five more languages on translate.google.com

At Google, we are always trying to make information more accessible, whether by adding auto-captioning on YouTube and virtual keyboards to search or by providing free translation of text, websites and documents with Google Translate. In 2009, we announced the addition of our first “alpha” language, Persian, on Google Translate. Today, we are excited to add five more alpha languages: Azerbaijani, Armenian, Basque, Urdu and Georgian — bringing the total number of languages on Google Translate to 57.

These languages are available while still in alpha status. You can expect translations to be less fluent than for our other languages, but they should still help you understand the multilingual web. We are working hard to “graduate” these new language out of alpha status, just as we did some time ago with Persian. You can help us improve translation quality as well. If you notice an incorrect translation, we invite you click "Contribute a better translation". If you are a translator, then you can contribute translation memories with the Translator Toolkit. This helps us build better machine translation systems especially for languages that are not well represented on the web.

Collectively, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Georgian and Urdu have roughly 100 million speakers. We hope that these speakers can now more easily access the entire multilingual web in their own language. Try translating these and other languages at translate.google.com. Here are some phrases from the new alpha languages to get you started:

Baietz lehenengoan
میں خوش قسمت محسوس کر رہا ہوں
բախտաւոր եմ զգում
Mən şanslıyam
იღბალს მივენდობი
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/five-more-languages-on.html

Newropean

August 2nd, 2010, 08:39 AM

Armenia, Russia pledge closer ties between defense industries

Top security officials from Armenia and Russia said they plan to significantly boost cooperation between their defense industries within the framework of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization, CSTO, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Armenian Service reported Thursday.

Nikolai Bordyuzha, the CSTO secretary-general, said after talks in Yerevan on Tuesday that the CSTO had already launched a "pilot project" aimed at integrating Armenian defense enterprises into Russia's military-industrial complex.

"Military-industrial cooperation with Armenia is one of the priority areas of CSTO activities," the Regnum news agency quoted Bordyuzha as telling journalists.

According to Armenian National Security Council Secretary Artur Baghdasarian, the agreements envisage, among other things, the establishment of Russian-Armenian defense joint ventures.

Biryulin and other Russian officials visited Armenia in December for a session of the Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission on bilateral military-technical cooperation.

The military alliance with Russia and, in particular, the presence of Russian troops in Armenia has been a key element of Armenia's national security doctrine since independence.

Armenia has been entitled to receive Russian weapons at reduced prices or even for free because of its membership in the CSTO.

The CSTO groups Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=armenia-russia-pledge-closer-ties-between-defense-industries-2010-07-22

Newropean

August 2nd, 2010, 08:43 AM

Karabakh Armenians Buoyed By Kosovo ‘Precedent’

Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leadership has joined official Yerevan in welcoming a United Nations court ruling that upheld the international legitimacy of Kosovo’s secession from Serbia and affirming its applicability to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Bako Sahakian, the president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), described the non-binding ruling handed down by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as an “important event” at a rare news conference in Stepanakert late on Friday. He said it will create a “new political situation” in the Karabakh conflict zone.

“That decision has an extremely important legal, political and moral significance and sets a precedent that can not be confined to Kosovo,” the NKR Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued the next day. It said Karabakh’s predominantly Armenian population broke away from Azerbaijani rule “in full compliance with the basic principles of international law” and is therefore also entitled to international recognition.

A similar statement was also adopted by Karabakh’s three main political parties. All of them are represented in the local parliament and government.

Armenia hailed the ICJ judgment shortly after its announcement on Thursday evening. Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian said The Hague-based court ruled that peoples’ self-determination should take precedence over territorial integrity of states in the resolution of territorial or ethnic disputes.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry insisted on Friday, however, that the ICJ ruling applies only to Kosovo and Serbia and can not have any repercussions for the Karabakh conflict -- a view essentially shared by the United States.

“Anyone who reads the ruling will see that this was a specific judgment based on facts unique to Kosovo,” U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Friday. “We certainly don’t think it applies to other circumstances.”

Sahakian made clear that the authorities in Stepanakert will not press Yerevan to formally recognize the NKR as an independent state after the ICJ ruling. “After all, Armenia bears responsibility before the international community, and you can’t blame Armenia’s political leaders for not recognizing the NKR’s independence,” he said. “In this regard, we have never expressed our discontent with Armenia’s leadership.”

“We believe that sooner or later we will approach [the launch of] a recognition process by Armenia,” added the Karabakh leader.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2110230.html

robo_boss

August 3rd, 2010, 06:56 AM

Barev dzes :)

Newropean

August 3rd, 2010, 08:50 AM

Barev dzez! շատ լավ that you're here. And that's my four words. :D

Newropean

August 3rd, 2010, 01:11 PM

Turkey is getting prepared for border opening?

Turkey is carrying out research works at its border with Armenia.

At the request of Igdir province governor, a delegation of Erzurum regional department of roads arrived in the region, CNNTurk reported. Experts of the department are studying a 6-km section of Alijan checkpoint between Armenia and Turkey, as well as the bridge located at the border.

The delegation will submit a report on the study results to Igdir regional department soon.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/51876/Turkey_is_getting_prepared_for_border_opening

Ankara is seriously frightened of lawsuit filed by heirs of Armenian Genocide victims

Turkologist Artak Shakaryan said that the lawsuit filed against the Turkish government in the U.S. may become a serious precedent in the struggle for provision of contribution for the Armenian people’s losses.

Lawyers of the heirs of the Armenian Genocide victims should focus on the fact that Turkey has not fulfilled provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne, under which it was obliged to return the property of subjects of the Ottoman Empire, Shakaryan told a press conference in Yerevan.

“Though the U.S. cannot make Turkey answerable, nevertheless, a U.S. court may rule that Turkey has violated international law,” noted Shakaryan, adding that Turkey is seriously frightened of the lawsuit launch and did not expect the Armenian Diaspora to take certain steps.

Armenian-American lawyers filed a federal lawsuit on July 29 against the Turkish government and two banks seeking compensation for the heirs of Armenians whose property was seized nearly a century ago as they were driven from the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/politics/news/51920/Ankara_is_seriously_frightened_of_lawsuit_filed_by_heirs_of_Armenian_Genocide_victims

RA State Revenue Committee exceeds planned indices of tax collection by AMD 34.7bln
Armenia’s State Revenue Committee collected taxes and duties at the total amount of AMD 338.3bln in January-July 2010, exceeding the planned indices by AMD 34.7bln. The tax collection index in January-July 2010 is 60.2bln and 3bln higher as compared with the same period of 2009 and 2008 respectively, the Committee’s press service reported.

As for social payments, the State Revenue Committee exceeded the planned indices by 6.5bln, collecting AMD64.9bln. The index of social payments collection during the first seven months of 2010 was AMD 8bln and 9.8bln higher as compared with the same indices of 2009 and 2008 respectively.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/51917/RA_State_Revenue_Committee_exceeds_planned_indices_of_tax_collection_by_AMD_347bln

Newropean

August 3rd, 2010, 07:16 PM

Here are two threads with pictures and updates from Yerevan, by the way:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=774994&highlight=yerevan

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=775106&highlight=yerevan

Galandar

August 3rd, 2010, 07:26 PM

Put some of the pictures from Yerevan to this topic: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1169323&highlight=yerevan

Newropean

August 3rd, 2010, 08:10 PM

Hm, tamam. Problem in all this is that I have not much to do with Armenia myself, apart from limited personal interest. So I'm not especially inclined to make great efforts to "represent my country" or something like that. Seems that all forumers from Armenia are on holiday..

Galandar

August 3rd, 2010, 08:40 PM

Newropean

August 3rd, 2010, 08:52 PM

Yes, a bit. You can check the Turquoise Café. Oh and how is Armenia represented in Azeri media? ;) Okay, not a good question now I think about it..

Galandar

August 3rd, 2010, 09:41 PM

Yes, a bit. You can check the Turquoise Café. Oh and how is Armenia represented in Azeri media? ;) Okay, not a good question now I think about it..

Adequately to how Azerbaijan is represented in Armenian media ;)

hakz2007

August 6th, 2010, 04:12 AM

Electric train from Gyumri to Yerevan to reach destination faster
PanARMENIAN.Net - From August 1, it will take passengers of Gyumri-Yerevan suburb electric train 40 minutes less to get to the capital, the press service of South-Caucasus Railways CJSC reported.

The electric train will be departing from Gyumri station at 07:10am and arriving at Yerevan station at 10:39am, seven days a week.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/society/news/51964/

Yerevan to host ARMENIA EXPO 2010 trade and industrial expo-forum on September 3-5
PanARMENIAN.Net - LOGOS EXPO Center and Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia will organize ARMENIA EXPO 2010 regional trade and industrial expo-forum on September 3-5. It is the largest exhibition in the region, which represents almost all spheres of industry, the press service of LOGOS EXPO Center reported.

The idea of uniting separate expositions into a large industrial exhibition provides participants with the opportunity to decrease marketing costs, presenting products and services of their companies.

The expo-forum will be organized in Karen Demirchyan Sport & Concert Complex in Yerevan through the official support of the RA government. The event will bring together over 150 local and foreign companies. http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/51966/

robo_boss

August 8th, 2010, 06:50 PM

Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic flags erected on Ararat summit

Armenian national and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic flags erected on Ararat summit

On July 15, a team of 11 men, including six from Southern California,
two from New Jersey, two from Canada, and one from Fresno reached the
summit of Mt. Ararat. Team `Ararat 11,' a code name that the team had
given themselves would soon be known to all Armenians.Team `Ararat 11'
traveled 14 hours in a van to Georgia in order to enter Turkey,
Asparez.com reported.

There was heavy snow and hail `from hell,' however, determined and
their will power in tact, the team finally reached the summit of Mt.
Ararat on day three where they erected the Armenian national and the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic flags. The team sang and danced.

`One had to be there to see the feeling of each individual. We were in
heaven that day, `said a team member, Vatche Soghomonian.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg332035.html

Newropean

August 9th, 2010, 04:42 PM

Turkey reopening ancient Armenian church to heal wounds

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/150px-Akhtamar-DCP_8937_25p.jpg

Swallows dart around the dome of the 10th century Armenian church rising from an island set amid the turquoise waters of Lake Van. Tombstones with ancient Christian inscriptions and crosses lie scattered among the weeds in the garden, where day-trippers picnic in the shade of almond trees and sunbathe after a swim.
The serenity of the scene belies a traumatic past that haunts Turkey and Armenia to this day. For Armenians across the world, the church in eastern Anatolia is a testimony to centuries of persecution, deportations and mass killings at the hands of Ottoman forces.

Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia are bitterly divided over their troubled history and the border between them remains closed despite US-brokered peace accords signed last year.

Today, the Church of the Holy Cross, which is now a state museum, has become a symbol of a tortuous reconciliation process as Turkey prepares to open the site on Sept. 19 for a one-day religious service that could become an annual event.

“This church is very important for Armenians, not only in Turkey, but across the world,” said Archbishop Aram Ateshian, a spiritual leader from Turkey’s surviving Armenian community.

“For decades, we could not say mass or have a religious service because it was forbidden by the government,” he said. With its conical dome, frescoes depicting saints and carvings of biblical scenes on its red stone outer walls, the church is considered one of the finest architectural examples that remain of the ancient Armenian civilization in Turkey, erased a century ago in tumultuous, violent events. Its scenic location, at the centre of the volcanic, salt lake, ringed year-round by snow-capped mountains, would make a natural draw for tourists to this poverty stricken region.
Restoration of the cross

Large numbers of Armenians lived in the nearby city of Van and in eastern Anatolia until they were expelled by Ottoman forces in 1915 during the chaotic break-up of the empire. At one point, there were 2,000 Armenian churches in Turkey, but only 45 are left standing. The rest, Armenian officials say, were destroyed, ransacked or turned into mosques or schools.

The church reopened in 2007 as a museum, following a $1.5 million renovation by the Turkish government. Despite pleas by church officials, a cross was not allowed on the church.

Munir Karaloğlu, governor of Van province, said a cross will be placed on the dome before the mass and will remain there.

Church officials say the holy site in Akdamar, built between 915 and 921 A.D., has been appropriated by the Turkish state. Because it is a public building, expressions of religious belief are not tolerated under Turkey’s strict secular constitution. Often criticized in the West for its treatment of Christian minorities, Ankara has promoted the mass as proof of commitment to tolerance. Critics say the one-day service is a public relations campaign to improve EU candidate’s Turkey’s image.
undefined

Day-trippers visit the Church of the Holy Cross on Akdamar Island in Lake Van. Turkey is preparing to open the Armenian church for a one-day religious service next month.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/akdamar-01.jpg

Efforts at normalizing ties suffered a setback in April when Yerevan froze ratification of an accord after months of deadlock from both sides. It would establish ties and called for an “impartial and scientific” investigation into the 1915 events.

Armenia, backed by many world parliaments, says some 1.5 million Armenians died during the upheavals that accompanied World War I, and labels the events as genocide. Ankara rejects the term genocide and says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official hoped the church mass would improve the atmosphere around the peace process.

“It will be nice if this step contributes to the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia but we have to be realistic,” the official said. “The border between Armenia and Turkey is closed due to political reasons.”

Turkey closed the border in 1993 in solidarity with Turkic ally Azerbaijan in its war over Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Officials in Van say hotels are fully booked and that the city is bracing itself to receive Armenians “from all over the world.” The Armenian Foreign Ministry did not comment on the mass, and officials in Yerevan said they have not received any invitation, but Armenian church officials saw hopeful signs of a change in attitude toward their faith.

“We are glad that Turkish authorities have partly changed their attitude on this issue, but the Sept. 19 event is a late and insufficient step,” said Vahram Melikyan, a spokesman for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Armenia’s main church and residence of the Armenian Patriarch.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-216276-turkey-reopening-ancient-armenian-church-to-heal-wounds.html

Newropean

August 11th, 2010, 04:18 PM

Turkish Foreign Ministry confirms possible opening of border with Armenia during NATO exercise

Turkey will be among the NATO and partner countries taking part in Armenia 2010 exercise to be held by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC) between Sept. 11 and 17 in Armenia.

The border between Turkey and Armenia may be opened “temporarily” for the exercise, Today’s Zaman quoted Turkish diplomatic sources as saying.

At the time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed that a possible border opening would only be for the purposes of the exercise. In a statement the Ministry said an “exceptional and temporary” opening of the border was under consideration, as Turkey is asked to allow the overland transfer to Armenia of materials to be used in the exercise. “Other comments and reports regarding this issue do not reflect the truth,” the statement said.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/52088/Turkish_Foreign_Ministry_confirms_possible_opening_of_border_with_Armenia_during_NATO_exercise

Interesting that Turkey is participating in an exercise in Armenia. But I don't have high hopes for a border opening just yet.

Ruling Party Slams Armenian Church Mass In Turkey

President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) on Tuesday spoke out against Armenian participation in a landmark mass to be held in a 10th century Armenian church in southeastern Turkey next month.

The HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, denounced the Turkish government’s decision to reopen it for a one-day religious ceremony on September 19 as a publicity stunt and “provocation” aimed at misleading the international community.

“Once again, instead of taking a serious step, the Turks are staging an imitation show,” Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “I don’t think you can achieve tolerance and solidarity of civilizations in that way.”

Giro Manoyan, a senior member of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), also urged Armenians to boycott the mass to be served by Archbishop Aram Ateshian, the spiritual leader of Turkey’s Armenian community.

“I think it would be wrong to go there on a day set by Turkey and especially in these conditions of blockade and so on,” Manoyan told RFE/RL. “I don’t want to blame believers willing to go there but they must know that they somewhat contribute to the Turkish provocation,” he said.

Manoyan regretted in that regard the decision by Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to send two senior clerics to the Church of Surp Khach (Holy Cross) for the September 19 mass. “I’m not sure that’s the right step,” he said.

But a spokesman for Garegin rejected calls for the boycott. “We believe that if we are given an opportunity to cherish a shrine that had functioned for centuries but is devoid of prayer today for some reasons, we must use even that single day in order to assert our rights and ownership to the shrine with our participation,” Father Vahram Melikian told RFE/RL.

The mass will take place three years after the completion of a $1.5 million renovation of the church funded by the Turkish government. The latter has allowed Turkey’s surviving Armenian Christian community to hold religious services there once a year.

Ankara has promoted the upcoming ceremony as proof of its commitment to tolerance and a gesture of goodwill towards Armenians. Still, it has resisted calls to return the temple, perched on the legendary Akhtamar island in Lake Van, to the Armenian Church.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2124081.html

Newropean

August 14th, 2010, 01:09 PM

Kurds, Yezidis in Armenia and Turkey debate identity

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/2010_08_13/the-unsolvable-controversy-of-kurds-and-yezidis-in-armenia-2010-08-13_l.jpg

In a battle over political identity, Kurds and Yezidis in Armenia have become engaged in a discursive debate over the two groups’ relationship to each other. Some Kurds argue Yezidizm is a religion and that Yezidis are a branch of the Kurds; some Yezidis agree with this definition, but others claim they form a different nation. The chief editors of Kurdish and Yezidi newspapers in Armenia, as well as a Yezidi in Turkey evaluated the situation for the Daily News

In a debate over taxonomy largely rooted in identity politics between state and society, Kurds and Yezidis in Armenia are increasingly struggling over definitions of their communal boundaries.

There are many Kurds in the country where religious Yezidism is practiced and where Yezidis are a Kurdish people. While many Yezidis tolerate this situation, others do not, arguing the Yezidis constitute a people separate from the Kurds.

Complicating the debate, the Yezidi community in Turkey, which numbers about 400, define themselves as Kurds.

“If you ask me what my religion is, I would tell you that I am a Yezidi but I am Kurdish,” said Grişae Meme-Chatoian, chief editor of the Kurdish-language R'ya T'eze newspaper, which has been published in Yerevan since 1930.

Yezidism, moreover, is the oldest religious belief for Kurds, according the Meme-Chatoian, who added that the notion of separate Kurdish and Yezidi communities stemmed from USSR-era policies that sought to create a conflict between the two groups.

Yezidi is the most common term applied to the community in English, although members of the group refer to themselves as “Ezidi” in Kurdish since they believe Yezidi or “Yazidi” carries with it pejorative notions of devil-worship.

“Unlike the Kurds in Turkey, we are living in extremely comfortable conditions in Armenia,” he said. “Our only problem is the separation on the matter of Kurds and Yezidis. Armenian historians have a great responsibility in [discussing] this.”

‘Yezidis are separate people’

Kheder Hajoian, chief editor for the monthly Yezidixhana, which is published in a dialect of Kurdish used by Yezidis, disagreed with Meme-Chatoian, saying Yezidis constitute a separate people.

“The Kurds are trying to assimilate us. Yezidism is not a religion; it is a nation,” he said.

“The reason Kurds are making noise wherever they are is them wanting a country [for themselves] – that is the whole reason,” he said. “They want to make their population look larger that it is. They are trying to claim Yezidism because they do not have a history or culture, but it is a futile attempt.”

According to an Armenian population census from Feb. 21, 2001, the country is home to roughly 40,000 Yezidis and approximately 1,500 Kurds. Together, the two groups generally live in 25 villages or in the country’s major population centers.

‘Yezidis in Turkey perceive themselves as Kurds’

Journalist Eyüp Burç, a Yezidi from a large clan centered in a village in the Viranşehir district of the Southeast Anatolian province of Şanlıurfa, with members in Armenia as well, said he was following the debates in Armenia closely.

Agreeing with Meme-Chatoian, he blamed Armenia for the debate over communal boundaries.

“The concept of a Yezidi nation was brought forward to divide the Kurds. That is why a great conflict is being experienced,” he said.

Yezidism is among the oldest belief systems of the Kurds, he said, adding that most of the Kurds who believe Yezidism is a religion reside in Iraq, where a similar discussion over self-definitions of identity were also occurring in Mosul.

“Yezidis are considered Arab in population records. The basic goal here is to portray the population of the Kurds as being as low as possible,” Burç said.

‘I did not believe in the Kurdish initiative’

Meme-Chatoian said he is closely following the developments on Kurds in Turkey, but added that he never believed in the Kurdish initiative brought to the agenda last year by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Moreover, he said, broadcasting by TRT Şeş, the state-owned Kurdish-language TV channel was insufficient.

Instead, many Kurds living in eastern Turkey listen to Kurdish radio coming from Armenia, Meme-Chatoian said.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=the-unsolvable-controversy-of-kurds-and-yezidis-in-armenia-2010-08-13

Newropean

August 15th, 2010, 11:35 AM

Armenia to Delay Nuclear Plant Closure

http://asbarez.com/App/Asbarez/eng/2010/08/0814medzamor.jpg
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—The Armenian government will likely delay by several years the decommissioning of the nuclear power station at Medzamor due in 2016-2017, a senior official told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on Friday.

Yerevan has been under pressure from the United States and the European Union to shut down the Soviet-era plant ever since one of its two reactors built in the 1970s was reactivated in 1995. Armenian officials for years insisted that the reactor, which provides about 40 percent of Armenia’s electricity, is safe enough to continue to operate at least until 2016.

The government announced in 2005 that it is already making preparations for the launch of the decommissioning process. It said the costly process will be completed in time for the construction of a new reactor meeting modern safety standards. Energy Minister Armen Movsisian said last year that work on the facility will start by the beginning of 2011.

“That is not realistic,” said Ashot Martirosian, the head of the State Committee on Nuclear Safety. “The construction of a new [power-generating] unit will likely start in 2012 and, assuming that it will take six years, will end in 2018.”

Martirosian said the Armenian authorities are therefore “thinking about keeping the functioning unit operational for two or three or four more years” and will seek clearance from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog agency closely monitoring Medzamor’s operations. The authorities are ready to take additional safety measures at the plant located more than 30 kilometers west of Yerevan, he told RFE/RL.

Its safety has already been boosted with tens of millions worth of assistance provided by the U.S. and the EU. Medzamor regularly undergoes capital repairs and maintenance. Its VVER 440-V230 light-water reactor is considered by the EU to be one of the “oldest and least reliable” of 66 such facilities built in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

It is due to replaced by a new generation of Russian-made VVER reactors which Armenian officials say meets the IAEA’s safety requirements. Armenia and Russia have recently set up a joint venture tasked with constructing the new reactor.

The Yerevan government has also approved the overall design and main technical parameters of the facility. With a projected capacity of over 1,000 megawatts, it would be more than twice as powerful as the current Medzamor reactor and leave Armenia with a massive electricity surplus.

According to Martirosian, a team of IAEA experts inspected the designated site of the reactor’s construction last week. “The mission’s preliminary report says they still need answers to some questions and a more detailed examination needs to be conducted,” the official said. “But that is not a big deal. The experts will again examine the site.”

The key question still not answered by the government is who will finance the extremely ambitious project. A U.S.-funded feasibility study conducted in 2008 estimated its total cost at a whopping $5 billion, a sum twice larger than Armenia’s state budget for this year.
http://asbarez.com/84139/armenia-to-delay-nuclear-plant-closure/

Galandar

August 15th, 2010, 02:17 PM

Newropean

August 15th, 2010, 02:52 PM

I think he didn't miss that.

robo_boss

August 16th, 2010, 06:04 AM

You missed a "" while writing "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" ;)

You can put as many quotation marks as you want, but it's not going to change a thing.
http://a.imageshack.us/img717/1575/27234.jpg
This is the top of Ararat from about a week ago.

Newropean

August 16th, 2010, 09:16 AM

^^ was it the first such ascent?
And did the Turkish authorities know about the flags or was it a secret action? :)

Galandar

August 16th, 2010, 01:54 PM

This is the top of Ararat from about a week ago.

It is very cold on the top of the highest mountain of Turkey, isn't it?

robo_boss

August 16th, 2010, 02:27 PM

^What do you think? It's over 5,000 meters above the sea level.

robo_boss

August 16th, 2010, 02:28 PM

^^ was it the first such ascent?
And did the Turkish authorities know about the flags or was it a secret action? :)

No, people climb Ararat all the time, not always to the very top though, but you must have a climbing permit . I dont think the Turkish authorities care that much about the flags.

Newropean

August 16th, 2010, 03:22 PM

I meant whether it was the first "All-Armenian" ascent..

robo_boss

August 17th, 2010, 01:26 AM

^I dont know, but i dont think it was the first time.

AsianDragons

August 18th, 2010, 11:44 AM

this thread seems to always have posts but how come the views are less than other threads

Newropean

August 18th, 2010, 10:13 PM

Good question. :)
I'd guess Armenia has a low profile in Asia? Meaning that few people in East Asia, Southeast Asia or South Asia know about the country or are interested in it.

robo_boss

August 18th, 2010, 11:38 PM

Most people on here arent interested in discussing Armenia or Armenian news , i'm probably the only active Armenian forumer on SSC and i didnt even know about this thread till Newropean PMed me a little while ago. There's a couple more Armenian threads on SSC, they're all over the place, it usually takes me some time to find them, there are a lot photos and quite a few comments. But dont expect many visitors in this thread. I will try to keep it updated every time there is worthy news or something like that.

Cheers :cheers:

Newropean

August 28th, 2010, 11:51 AM

Over 600 people to participate in Armenia 2010 NATO exercise

The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) will conduct the consequence management field exercise Armenia 2010 from September 11 to 17, 2010 in the town of Arzni, in the Kotayk region of Armenia.

Teams from 15 Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) and Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) nations are planned to take part in the exercise and 11 additional countries are scheduled to participate by sending staff officers.

All together, more than 600 individuals belonging to civilian and military teams from NATO and partner countries with capabilities to deal with different aspects of emergencies will take part in the event. Some 40 observers are also expected. “Armenia 2010” will allow NATO and partner countries to practice disaster response mechanisms and capabilities and to enhance co-operation in emergency situations.

The scenario for the exercise will be a severe earthquake in the vicinity of Yerevan, resulting in high numbers of victims and widespread damage to critical infrastructure, including chemical spills and a radiological incident.

Through this exercise, NATO and partner nations will practice the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) procedures and capabilities, in order to improve nations’ ability to respond to a disaster. The exercise will also contribute to strengthen the stricken nation’s capability to effectively coordinate consequence management operations, NATO said in a press release.

The exercise Armenia 2010 is an Armenian contribution to the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Work Programme for 2010. Since 2000, this is the twelfth field exercise conducted by the EADRCC.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/politics/news/52588/Over_600_people_to_participate_in_Armenia_2010_NATO_exercise

vartal

September 10th, 2010, 10:39 PM

В Ереванском метро угроза пожара ликвидирована

В среду, в 10:30 утра, на территории станции «Маршал Баграмян» Ереванского метрополитена распространился неприятный запах и дым. Электропитание станции было отключено, работа старции на некоторое время прекратилась, были закрыты входы и выходы.
Получив сигнал о пожаре, на место происшествия прибыли спасатели Спасательной службы Министрества по чрезвычайным ситуациям Армении и 6 пожарных машин. Выяснилось, однако, что в электрощите, питающем освещение станции, произошло короткое замыкание, в результате чего образовалась густая дымовая завеса.

Как сообщил директор Ереванского метрополитена Пайлак Яйлоян, короткое замыкание произошло в щите освещения машинного отделения эскалатора. Локальный огонь, вспыхнувший в результате возгорания проводов, сотрудникам
метро удалось потушить при помощи огнетушителя, и он не перерос в пожар.

«В электрощите освещения сгорело два автомата. Вы знаете, что корпус автоматов сделан из пластмасы, таким образом, дым и неприятный запах исходил от горящих корпусов автоматов. Наши сотрудники потушили огонь на месте при помощи огнетушителя, повода для паники здесь не было, просто был неприятный запах», - сообщил Яйлоян.

Движение поездов в метрополитене не остановилось, исходя из соображений безопасности, в этот период не совершались посадки и высадки пассажиров лишь на станции «Маршал Баграмян».

Необходимости в противопожарных работах не было, и прибывшие на место происшествия пожарные машины уехали обратно. Как сообщил заместитель начальника управления спасательными силами Спасательной службы Министерства по чрезвычайным ситуациям Армении Павел Гезалян, опасность нейтрализована, пострадавших нет, после устранения дыма станция продолжит обслуживать пассажиров. Он тажке добавил, что обстоятельства случившегося выясняются.

«При коротком замыкании электропроводов обычно так и происходит: появляется сильный дым, и этот дым очень быстро распространяется», - отметил Гезалян.

На вопрос армянской службы Радио Свобода (Радио «Азатутюн») относительно причин произошедшего он ответил: «Это уже покажет следствие, соответствующие органы проведут расследование, будет проведена экспертиза и дано заключение о том, вследствие чего произошло короткое замыкание».

Пресс-секретарь Ереванского метрополитена Нинель Варданян в беседе с армянской службой Радио Свобода (Радио «Азатутюн») сообщила, что уже с 11:10 нормальная работа станции «Маршал Баграмян» была восстановлена.

Причиной короткого замыкания, по словам Варданян, является изношенность оборудования. «Основная причина в том, что этим устройствам уже 30 лет, они многократно подвергались ремонту, и неудивительно, что такое однажды могло случиться. Их нужно менять».

На вопрос о том, когда будет заменено это оборудование и в чем причина того, что до сих пор этого сделано не было, пресс-секретарь метрополитена ответила: «Конечно, в финансировании. Пока до этого очередь не дошла. Некоторые вещи в нашем хозяйстве были капитально улучшены, отремонтированы, заменены, а до этого [оборудования] очередь пока не дошла. Когда это будет сделано, честно говоря, в данный момент я ответить не могу».
Источник (http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2151891.html)

hakz2007

September 14th, 2010, 05:48 PM

Armenia begins importing Iranian wheat
Armenia begins importing wheat and other grains from Iran after Russia halted its wheat exports to Armenia because of the drought that devastated crops in parts of the country.

“Some Armenian companies started importing wheat from Iran since the past month,” IRIB quoted Armenian Agriculture Minister Gerasim Alaverdyan as saying on Friday.

The report added that the Armenian companies have imported around 10,000 tons of wheat from Iran during the period.

Armenia consumes 700,000 tons of wheat annually, while it produces only 200,000 tons of that in the country.

Armenia is considering Iran as a potential market to meet its wheat imports after Russia imposed a ban on its wheat products following a drought season and wildfires affecting many parts of the country.

Russia's decision caused international grain prices to spike as markets forecasted that without shipments from one of the world's leading exporters, global supplies would be restricted. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142188.html

Armenia facing natural gas price increases
YEREVAN, Armenia, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Moscow is likely to raise the price that Armenia pays for natural gas in 2011, the Armenian prime minister said.

Russia raised the price of natural gas by 14 percent last year and an additional 17 percent in April to $180 per thousand cubic meters for Armenia. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom charges many of its customers in Europe as much as $308 per thousand cubic meters.

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that his country expected an additional price increase in 2011.

"We always keep this issue at the center of our attention," he said.

Gazprom Deputy Chairman Andrei Kruglov said last week that Eastern European countries like Armenia could see gas prices move closer to the market conditions established for many of Gazprom's customers.

Armenia gets most of its gas from Russia. Iran ships some of its natural gas north to Armenia, though much of that is converted to electricity and sent back to Iran.http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/09/13/Armenia-facing-natural-gas-price-increases/UPI-21781284391984/

Newropean

September 24th, 2010, 12:29 AM

Armenian experts value European perpectives

Armenia is not only currently looking West, but also enjoys healthy diplomatic relations with some of the world’s major powers, an academic from Yerevan University in Armenia said at a recent seminar in Istanbul.

Hovhannes Hovhannisyan said there is a quite strong opinion in Armenia that the country’s future lies with Europe. “There is no talk about Asia,” he said, adding that Armenian society considers itself European and celebrates its European origins and values. He also said Armenia shares a significant history with Europe because Armenian comes from the same language family as many European languages.

Hovhannisyan, in collaboration with Heghine Manasyan, a research fellow at the Caucusus Research Center, spoke Monday at a seminar about socio-economic and political life in Armenia, organized by Istanbul Kültür University’s Global Political Trends Center, or GPOT, in cooperation with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, in Istanbul.

Armenia looks West

Hovhannisyan said public debate regarding Armenia’s European future has intensified since 2001, when Armenia became a member of the Council of Europe. “There are no real plans in the nearest future [for Armenia] to become an EU member,” he said, adding this did not imply it was an impossible situation.

Hovhannisyan said Armenian public bodies paid a lot of attention to the Eastern Partnership Program with the EU, especially the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He said the ministry, with assistance from the EU, had founded a Diplomatic Academy where EU partners and representatives gave lectures.

Manasyan said projections regarding the Armenian economy and the country’s long-term sustainable development focused on integrating with the European economy, which sounded very strange to people in the beginning. “Now it has become clear that Armenia is eager to accept all EU standards,” she said, adding that if Armenian goods meet all EU quality standards penetrating European markets would be possible.

While it is good to diversify trade partners, Armenia’s trade relations with Russia remain the primary Armenian economic concern, as Russia is the country’s biggest trade partner, she said.

“We are importing fuel and cereals from Russia and it is exporting labor to us, thus we also get remittances from there,” Manasyan said.

Manasyan said efficient cooperation with the world’s Armenian diaspora would make the country much more powerful. High levels of corruption had to be reduced to make the country more attractive to foreign direct investment from the Armenian diaspora.

Trade between Turkey and Armenia?

Although a closed border with Turkey is one of the main challenges to improving the Armenian economy, this does not necessarily imply that Armenia does not trade with Turkey, according to Manasyan. Research has revealed that trade happens through Georgia, she said.

“Businesses managed to establish third entities in Georgia and thus it is difficult to guess which was the country [to have instigated trade],” Manasyan said, adding that while the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, records zero trade practices with Armenia, the Armenian national statistics office has recorded huge quantities of imports from Turkey, which is the sixth main trading partner, representing 5 percent of total imports. On the other hand, exports to Turkey represented only 0.2 percent of Armenia’s total exports.

Both speakers at the seminar said building closer links through non-official channels was one way to effectively improve relations between the Turkish and Armenian people. “Track-two diplomacy is as crucial as official diplomacy,” Hovhannisyan said.

Silent diplomacy

Regarding Armenia’s healthy relations with the U.S., Russia and Iran, Hovhannisyan said Armenia managed to maintain such relations by a process of so-called silent diplomacy.

“We never ask questions [on issues that might be sensitive for any of the countries],” he said. This is how Armenia has managed to maintain relations with these three countries, whose conflicting interests often curtail active and simultaneous diplomatic engagements, he said.

As an example of good relations between countries, Artak Shakaryan, the Armenia-Turkey Program Manager at the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, cited Armenia and Iran. The two countries were exchanging natural gas for electricity within the scope of a barter system, he said.

"Armenia gives Iran electricity during summer in exchange for natural gas from Iran during winter," he said. The Armenian diaspora has also done much to affect this possibility, through lobbying and maintaining good relations with Russia, Iran and the U.S., Hovhannisyan said.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=armenia8217s-european-perpectives-2010-09-23

Newropean

September 26th, 2010, 10:17 AM

Oh-oh, that doesn't sound so democratic any more! :ohno:

Press Review
24.09.2010
“Aravot” says that statements by foreign economists and international lending institutions praising the Armenian government’s economic policy will not strike a chord with the majority of ordinary Armenians. For them, says the paper, “that scientific talk means nothing.” “They would love to see international experts curse our government in the worst possible way so long as their life did not deteriorate day by day,” it claims in an editorial.

Speaking to “Hayots Ashkhar,” Naira Zohrabian, a senior member of the Armenian parliament, confirms that the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) will again refrain from discussing the political situation in Armenia at its upcoming session in Strasbourg. Such a discussion will only take place at the October 5 meeting of the PACE Monitoring Committee. Zohrabian also confirms that a representative of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) will take part in that meeting along with members of the Armenian parliamentary delegation at the assembly.

“We have no radical expectation from the Monitoring Committee meeting,” the HAK’s Levon Zurabian tells “Zhamanak.” “Our goal is to inform the international community about the political situation existing in Armenia, to inform it that 13 political prisoners remain in prisons -- and the Council of Europe is also responsible for that -- that the Armenian people’s right to hold demonstrations in Liberty Square is again restricted, that not a single television station operates in Armenia, that a deep political crisis exists in Armenia because of rigged elections,” says Zurabian.

“Kapital” quotes Tigran Paskevichian, a well-known intellectual sympathetic to the HAK, as stressing the need for fresh presidential and parliamentary elections in Armenia. “In a country where there are more than a dozen political prisoners, where there is no will to solve crimes, where applications for rally permissions are rejected arbitrarily … the idea of pre-term elections constantly flies in the air,” says Paskevichian.

Democratic Party leader Aram Sarkisian tells “Hraparak” that the country’s main political forces are preparing for the next elections due in 2012 and 2013. The politician predicts growing tensions between the ruling Republican and Prosperous Armenia parties, saying that “the two political forces do not want to yield to one another.” “And when they see that their administrative and financial resources are equal, they will start wondering whether they can woo voters with a serious program,” he says.

(Aghasi Yenokian)
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2167612.html

And then again some good news:

Armenia To Open New Embassies

Armenia will soon open embassies in Japan and the Netherlands, raising to more than 30 the number of its diplomatic missions abroad, President Serzh Sarkisian’s office announced on Thursday.

Sarkisian signed a corresponding decree earlier in the day. He has yet to name the Armenian ambassadors to be based in the two nations.

Armenia currently has 29 embassies around the world, including virtually all major Western capitals. Many of the diplomats heading them also serve as ambassadors to other states lacking permanent Armenian missions.

In one such example, Sarkisian assigned on Thursday his Athens-based envoy in Greece, Gagik Ghalachian, to also perform the duties of Armenia’s ambassador to Serbia.

The upcoming opening of the Armenian embassies in Tokyo and The Hague reflects a slow but steady expansion of Armenia’s diplomatic presence abroad since the early 1990s. Yerevan opened an embassy in Madrid, Spain earlier this year.

It is not clear whether the upcoming launch of the new missions will be fully financed by the Armenian government. The Armenian state budget for this years sets aside only 37 million drams ($102,000) for the purchase of new embassy buildings.

Many of the existing embassy premises were purchased and donated to Armenia by wealthy members of its worldwide Diaspora.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2166434.html

Newropean

September 30th, 2010, 10:01 AM

IMF to extend USD 56 million disbursement to Armenia in economic reform program framework

International Monetary Fund will extend a disbursement of USD 56 million to Armenia, Guillermo Tolosa, IMF Resident Representative in Armenia stated.

“An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission headed by Ms. Ratna Sahay, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, visited Yerevan from September 9−24, 2010. The team completed the 2010 Article IV Consultation discussions and reached a staff-level agreement with the authorities on their economic reform program under the First Review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF)/Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangements with the Republic of Armenia,” Tolosa told a news conference in Yerevan.

“The total financial commitment under this IMF-supported program amounts to USD410 million. The IMF’s Executive Board is expected to consider Armenia’s request for the completion of the first review and conclude the Article IV consultation in November 2010. Upon approval, a disbursement of USD 56 million would be made available to Armenia,” He pointed out.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/54359/IMF_to_extend_USD_56_million_disbursement_to_Armenia_in_economic_reform_program_framework

IMF gives positive assessment to CBA dedollarization policy

Maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability and deepening financial markets in local currency will be critical in helping to dedollarize the economy and raise the effectiveness of monetary policy, according to Guillermo Tolosa, IMF Resident Representative in Armenia.

“During the 2009 crisis, Armenian authorities successfully mitigated the negative impact on the population by appropriately pursuing countercyclical fiscal policy. These policies inevitably lead to a widening of the deficit, an increase in public debt, and contributed to the deterioration in the current account balance. With the onset of the global crisis and a postponement of the exchange rate adjustment in 2009, dollarization increased rapidly,” Mr. Tolosa told a news conference in Yerevan.

On March 3, 2009 CBA announced the shift to floating exchange rate policy.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/54352/IMF_gives_positive_assessment_to_CBA_dedollarization_policy

Armenia’s economy slowly recovering

On September 29, IMF Resident Representative in Armenia Guillermo Tolosa said that the Armenian economy is slowly recovering from a sharp downturn of over 14% last year.

While trade and remittances are reviving industry and services, agriculture has been hit hard by adverse weather conditions, Guillermo Tolosa told a press conference in Yerevan.

“As a consequence, overall economic activity is expected to grow by about 4% in 2010 and 4.5% in 2011,” he said.

Guillermo Tolosa added that reflecting the recovery in economy, credit has also begun to flow to the country’s private sector.

The contraction of agricultural output, together with the spike in imported wheat prices, has translated into higher food prices. With nearly half the weight in the consumer price index, higher food prices have pushed annual inflation to 9.6% in August. “Looking ahead, inflation is expected to moderate and decline to about 7% by the end of this year,” said Guillermo Tolosa.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/54346/Armenias_economy_slowly_recovering

Newropean

October 1st, 2010, 10:51 PM

Turkish Nationalists Pray In Ancient Armenian Cathedral

http://1.1.1.1/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/17D32E52-3294-4CE1-8533-4FDE073A9374_w527_s.jpg

Hundreds of Turkish nationalists performed Muslim prayers in one of the most important Armenian churches of the Middle Ages on Friday, in a high-profile ceremony authorized by Turkey’s government.

The political action organized by the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) followed the reported restoration of a cross atop another medieval Armenian church located in eastern Turkey. The 10th century church of the Holy Cross perched on Akhtamar Island in Lake Van saw its first Mass in nearly a century less than two weeks ago.

Turkish television images showed MHP leader Devlet Bahceli leading several hundred supporters to the 11th century Holy Virgin Cathedral at the ruins of Ani, the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom. It is located in Turkey’s northeastern Kars region, less than one kilometer away from modern-day Armenia.

The crowd entered the once thriving city through its well-preserved main gate and marched to the cathedral as an Ottoman-style Janissary brass band accompanying it played along. Participants carried Turkish flags and chanted "Allahu Akhbar" (God is great) during the procession, news reports from Ani said.

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/F04C9CCC-CD15-4403-BA92-0CBACBBA81E4_w270_s.jpg
Turkey -- The Holy Virgin Armenian cathedral of Ani, 20Sept 2010.

Bahceli and senior MHP figures from across Turkey knelt down and pressed their foreheads to the ground in the ensuing Friday prayer led by a Sunni Muslim cleric. The latter could be seen addressing the MHP flock from a makeshift podium erected inside the Christian temple.

Built by an Armenian royal dynasty in 1001 A.D., the cathedral has for centuries been regarded as a masterpiece of medieval Armenian architecture. According to official Turkish sources, Seljuk Sultan Alparslan converted it into a mosque when he captured Ani and surrounding regions in 1064. The Seljuks were driven out of much of historical Armenia a century later.

“I think it is important to at least remember the mosque where Sultan Alparslan prayed when he entered these lands,” MHP Kars deputy Gurcan Dagdas was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying this week.

Bahceli reportedly did not make any statements at the scene. He was due to address supporters in the nearby city of Kars late on Friday.

The Muslim prayer is bound to infuriate many in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora. They have long accused Turkey of systematically destroying traces of the ancient Armenian civilization that existed on its current territory until the World War One-era mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Still, Armenia’s government and the Echmiadzin-based leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church did not immediately react to the development. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan refused to comment, while the church press office did not respond to phone calls throughout the day.

The Muslim religious ceremony in Ani and the likely Armenian uproar could further strain the already tense Turkish-Armenian relations. Their normalization has been a key U.S. policy goal in the region.

Turkish newspapers reported that a senior diplomat from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara met with the MHP’s deputy parliamentary leader, Mehmet Sandir, on Thursday to discuss the Friday prayer. “Why are you going to Ani?” the diplomat was quoted as asking. Sandir reportedly linked the action with the recent religious services in Akhtamar as well as an ancient Greek Orthodox church permitted by the Turkish government.

The Ani rally coincided with the start of the autumn session of Turkey’s parliament. Some analysts believe that it also marked the launch of the MHP's campaign for parliamentary elections due in June 2011.

“This gesture was addressed to Turks, rather than Armenians,” said Aris Nalci, an editor at the Turkish-Armenian daily “Agos.” “How else can you explain the fact that on the one hand, they hold a Friday prayer in Ani and the other, restore the cross on the Akhtamar church.”

According to Nalci, the cross was placed back on the church dome on Thursday and will likely be consecrated by Archbishop Aram Ateshian, the spiritual leader of Turkey’s surviving Armenian community, this weekend. “You couldn’t go to Akhtamar island and take pictures there today,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “I would link that with the Ani ‘namaz’ (Muslim prayer). A fairly large group of nationalists is in Anatolia right now.”

The Turkish government’s failure to restore the cross in time for the September 19 mass in the Akhtamar church angered Armenians around the world and led many of them to boycott the event. Ankara has attributed the delay to technical issues.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2174159.html

Newropean

October 1st, 2010, 10:55 PM

Armenian Government To Boost Spending In 2011

Armenia’s government unveiled on Thursday the state budget for next year which calls for a nearly 7 percent increase in its expenditures.

The draft, which will be sent to parliament on Friday, commits it to spending a total of 998.4 billion drams ($2.8 billion drams), up from 935.5 billion drams projected for this year.

“We are going to have to work hard in 2011,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said at a cabinet meeting held in the northern Armenian town of Ijevan. “A lot will depend on how we will end 2010.”

Armenian public spending had steadily and rapidly grown until last year’s global recession that hit the country’s economy hard. A resulting fall in tax revenues forced the government to cut it in 2009. Government expenditures rose by roughly 7 percent in the first eight months of this year amid renewed economic growth.

The recovery also led to a 21 percent year-on-year surge in tax revenues. Much of the gain resulted from an event sharper rise in proceeds from value-added tax.

The government plans to boost its overall budgetary revenues by 14.6 percent, to 850 billion drams, in 2011. That would translate into a budget deficit equivalent to almost 4 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Finance Minister Tigran Davtian told journalists in Ijevan that the 2010 deficit-to-GDP ratio will stand at 4.8 percent.

The budgetary targets are based on the assumption that the Armenian economy will grow by 4.6 percent in 2011. The International Monetary Fund forecast the same growth rate on Wednesday.

In a statement issued following a two-week visit to Yerevan by a high-level IMF mission, the fund also reiterated its largely positive assessment of the Armenian authorities’ economic policies. Still, it said the authorities should do more to tackle tax evasion and improve tax administration.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2173149.html

Yerevan Square Still Off Limits To Opposition

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/EF7C3705-FFAB-41E5-9054-52A9156B9591_w527_s.jpg

Authorities in Yerevan on Thursday refused to allow the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) to hold its next major rally in the city’s central Liberty Square and again suggested another venue for the protest.

The rally, scheduled for October 15, is part of the HAK’s renewed campaign of anti-government demonstrations launched on September 17. The opposition alliance led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian has been trying unsuccessfully to gather supporters in Liberty Square for the first time since the March 2008 post-election unrest.

The Yerevan municipality has until now turned down permission request lodged by the HAK on the grounds that the political gatherings would interfere with preparations for an annual festival held in the Armenian capital on October 10.

Dismissing the latest HAK applications, a senior municipality official, Grigor Melkumian, said the square facing the city’s sprawling Opera House can not be used for rallies because it is now the scene of children’s playground. “There are carousels and entertainment attractions all over the square, and that is done for children’s recreation,” he told opposition representatives. “Is this compatible with a rally? Of course not.”

Melkumian claimed that the entertainment attractions can not be temporarily moved out of the square for the duration of the rallies. “That’s not possible because transporting them is fraught with great difficulties,” he said. “You have to bring in vehicles, mobilize people.”

Levon Zurabian, the HAK’s central office coordinator, condemned the ban as illegal and politically motivated. Still, he said the opposition bloc will accept the municipal administration’s offer to stage the October 15 protest in another, smaller location in downtown Yerevan.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Zurabian insisted at the same time that the HAK will continue “the process of re-conquering Liberty Square” by filing more applications with the Mayor’s Office and challenging their rejections in courts. HAK supporters will eventually defy the authorities and “enter the square,” he said without elaborating.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2173147.html

Newropean

October 10th, 2010, 11:00 PM

Some news on the planned direct rail link to Iran:

Armenia, Russia ‘Working’ On Iran Rail Link

The Russian and Armenian governments have started jointly looking to into the possibility of building a railway that would connect Armenia with neighboring Iran, a top executive of Russia’s state-run rail network, RZD, said on Thursday.

The ambitious project was formally approved by Yerevan and Tehran in April 2009. But they have yet to identify concrete sources of funding for the 470-kilometer rail link that would mainly pass through Armenian territory. Unofficial estimates of its total cost have varied from $1.2 billion to $4 billion.

The Armenian government hopes that the Russians will participate in the railway construction and partly finance it. The Russian government and RZD, which manages Armenia’s national railway company, have not ruled out such possibility.

The transport ministries of the two countries agreed to set up joint working groups dealing with the matter during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s August visit to Yerevan. They comprise ministry officials and representatives of RZD and its Armenian subsidiary called the South Caucasus Railway (SCR).

“At last, the working commissions of the two parties have started working,” Shevket Shaydulin, the SRC director general, told journalists. As part of that effort, he said, the RZD chairman, Vladimir Yakunin, formed recently a “special design center” for the Iran-Armenia rail link which is headed by one of his deputies, Oleg Toni.

Shaydulin said another RZD subsidiary, the Moscow-based Giprotransproekt research institute, will launch a detailed feasibility study of the project after Toni’s task force works out technical parameters of the would-be railway. That study should be completed by next April, he added.

According to Armenian officials, China is another only potential source of funding for the project. Transport and Communications Minister Manuk Vartanian said in June that Yerevan is already negotiating with Beijing and hopes that the latter will provide more than $1 billion of the required funding.

President Serzh Sarkisian stressed the importance of the project during a visit to Germany earlier in June. He said that as well as the planned expansion of Armenian highways leading to Iran could have “a truly revolutionary significance” for the wider region.

Analysts and politicians critical of the Armenian government have questioned the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the project ever since its inception, however.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2183990.html

Armenia To Step Up Vital Lake Cleanup

http://1.1.1.1/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/65F965F7-99E8-4217-B823-D97717A9D28F_w527_s.jpg

The Armenian government has announced plans to spend 44 billion drams ($122 million) in the next few years on addressing the environmental fallout from the rising water level of the country’s ecologically vital Lake Sevan.

The government engineered the dramatic rise in 2000 in response to a dangerous shrinkage of Armenia’s main water reservoir that had begun in the 1950s. Environmentalists had long warned that Sevan’s enlargement is the only way of saving its endangered ecosystem.

The picturesque lake, which has a total area of almost 1,000 square kilometers, has since been mainly swollen by two underground tunnels pumping water from mountain rivers. The government’s decision to cut back on use of Sevan’s waters for power generation and irrigation has been a major factor.

The lake’s level has soared by at least three meters over the past decade and currently stands at just over 1,900 meters above the sea level. About half of the surge has occurred in the last three years.

Under the government’s long-term rehabilitation program, Sevan is to rise by another 3.5 meters by 2029. It envisages that further growth will be less drastic and average roughly 20 centimeters per annum.

http://1.1.1.1/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/78F50B39-D77D-412A-92EF-AFD3AE4BCC80_w270_s.jpg
Armenia -- Lake Sevan

The process, strongly supported by Armenian ecologists, has created a separate environmental problem threatening to turn the hitherto clean lake into a swamp. Sevan’s rising waters have submerged large swathes of shore covered with man-made forests.

The state-run Sevan National Park and regional authorities failed to fully cleanse land of trees and other vegetation on time, despite funds allocated by the central government. State prosecutors launched last month criminal proceedings into the alleged misappropriation of those funds by officials and private contractors.

According to an inter-ministerial government commission on Sevan, about 600 hectares of forests as well as over 500 buildings, houses and other structures are currently under water. Also flooded are 16.6 kilometers of shoreline roads.

“The quality of work done at more than 1,000 hectares of other forests, which were cut down previously, does not satisfy us and an additional clean-up is not excluded,” the commission chairman, Vladimir Movsisian, told journalists. He said that the government has purchased special equipment from Finland used for uprooting trees and that it will be delivered to Armenia later this month.

In Movsisian’s words, the 44 billion drams in fresh funding for Sevan earmarked by the government will also be used for dismantling the flooded structures -- most of them resorts -- and compensating their owners. The official stressed that no financial compensation will be paid for properties built on the Sevan coast illegally.

Karine Danielian, a prominent environment protection campaign sitting on Movsisian’s commission, said the success of the planned cleanup is vital for Sevan and Armenia’s entire ecosystem. “It’s like giving a sick person the right medicine,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian service, referring to the ongoing rise in Sevan’s level. “But of course, the key problems are clean water and the Sevan’s coast. If we solve them simultaneously, I think the lake will heal.”
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2184880.html

Newropean

October 10th, 2010, 11:15 PM

An airport for Stepanakert/Xankendi?

Karabakh To Reopen Airport

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/englishar.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/airport-of-stepanakert.jpg

The authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh are pressing ahead with plans to reopen the disputed territory’s sole civilian airport that was shut down nearly two decades ago.

Flights to and from the airport, located 8 kilometers east of Stepanakert, had been discontinued in 1991 amid intensifying armed clashes in and around Karabakh that degenerated into a full-scale Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Transport communication between the territory and the outside world has since been carried out only by land, via Armenia.

The Karabakh government decided last year to reopen the airport, severely damaged during the 1991-1992 war, and raised about 1 billion drams ($2.8 million) for its reconstruction from unspecified “charitable sources.” It began building a new airport terminal and repairing the runway shortly afterwards

Government officials said earlier this year that a flight service between Stepanakert and Yerevan could be launched already in mid-October. However, Bako Sahakian, the president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), made clear that this will not happen before the end of this year as he inspected the under-construction facility on Tuesday.

According to NKR Urban Development Minister Karen Shahramanian, work on the terminal building will be completed in November. He told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that air navigation equipment is now being installed at the airport.

It is expected that Karabakh will have a regular flight service only with Armenia, at least in the near future. Its unresolved status makes direct air communication with other countries all but impossible.

It is not yet clear whether the Stepanakert-Yerevan flights will be carried out by Armenia’s national airline Armavia. Officials have said only that a one-way air ticket to the Armenian capital will cost 16,000 drams ($45).

By comparison, the current fare for a minibus trip from Stepanakert to Yerevan, which takes between six and seven hours, is 5,000 drams per person.

A random street poll of Stepanakert residents conducted by RFE/RL suggested that many locals will be willing to pay a higher price for much shorter and more convenient travel. “We won’t be tired of long trips,” said one man. “It should be interesting,” noted another.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2177415.html
The wikipedia article of the air base:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepanakert_Air_Base

Yerevan Denies More Turkish-Armenian Contacts

http://1.1.1.4/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/7C1272A9-ADE0-416F-8998-7F2A13D74AB7_w527_s.jpg

Armenia and Turkey have held no fresh negotiations since the effective collapse of their normalization agreements, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian insisted on Wednesday, denying statements to the contrary attributed to his Turkish and Swiss counterparts.

“There have been no phone conversations or meetings with the Turkish side in recent months, and no such things are planned for the near future,” Nalbandian told parliament during its regular question-and-answer session with the Armenian government.

“As Armenia has officially stated before, it will be possible to move forward only when Turkey is again ready for a normalization of our relations without preconditions,” he said.

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey of Switzerland, which has acted as a facilitator in the Turkish-Armenian fence-mending negotiations, reportedly said last week that Ankara and Yerevan are currently holding “active consultations” over ways of kick-starting their stalled rapprochement. “Switzerland is determined to move the process forward,” she told Armenia’s visiting parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamian, according to the latter’s press office.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu likewise told journalists in Ankara on Monday that the Turkish-Armenian dialogue “never stopped.” He pointed to his talks with Calmy-Rey held in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly late last month.

Davutoglu added that Turkish-Armenian relations were also on the agenda of his separate meeting in New York with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov. “For us, Azerbaijan is a brotherly state of special significance,” he was reported to says. “As for Armenia, we will make every effort to restore good-neighborly ties with that country.”

In a recent speech at Harvard University, Davutoglu made clear that Ankara continues to link Turkish parliamentary ratification of the Turkish-Armenian normalization “protocols” signed last year with a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan.

The Armenian side has repeatedly rejected this “precondition.” President Serzh Sarkisian accused the Turks of reneging on the deal as he freeze the protocol ratification process in the Armenian parliament in April.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2182802.html

Galandar

October 11th, 2010, 10:43 PM

An airport for Stepanakert/Xankendi?

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2177415.html
The wikipedia article of the air base:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepanakert_Air_Base

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2182802.html

You mean occupied Karabakh, aren't you?

Newropean

October 11th, 2010, 11:02 PM

I don't mean anything, I quoted a newspaper article.

Don't shoot the messenger. ;)

And you know, in this thread you can call it liberated Karabakh. Or Artsakh, if you wish.

Galandar

October 11th, 2010, 11:07 PM

I don't mean anything, I quoted a newspaper article.

Don't shoot the messenger. ;)
So try to put news about Armenia itself not the economic news from the lands under Armenia's occupation. Those lands are still considered internationally recodnized parts of Azerbaijan so occupation does not mean news must be published as news about Armenian daily life.

Newropean

October 11th, 2010, 11:14 PM

Are there any news of development in Karabakh in the Azeri section? Really?
I didn't check that.

Newropean

October 11th, 2010, 11:21 PM

Sports news:
After a loss against Ireland and a draw against Macedonia, Armenia won for the first time in the Euro 2012 qualifiers against the leading team of group B, Slovakia.

Slovakia hopes dented as Armenia win in Yerevan

http://1.1.1.1/bmi/www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/Comp_Matches/01/54/42/81/1544281_w2.jpg

Second-half goals from Gevorg Ghazaryan and Henrik Mkhitaryan secured a sensational 3-1 win for Armenia against Slovakia in Yerevan.

The visitors had begun the day as joint-leaders of Group B following last month's win in Russia but they fell behind to Yura Movsisyan's 23rd-minute opener. Although Vladimír Weiss equalised before the break, Ghazaryan restored the hosts' lead soon after and Mkhitaryan then secured their first win of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying in the closing moments.

Vardan Minasyan's team made the early running though the first clear scoring chance fell to Slovakia. Miroslav Stoch won a free-kick near the byline and from his cross Martin Škrtel won the aerial duel with goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky but headed just wide.

Armenia's first effort of note came after 20 minutes when Marcos Pizzelli fired just wide of the right post and the same player was the architect of the opening goal three minutes later. His gorgeous through pass put Movsisyan one-on-one with Ján Mucha and the Armenia forward calmly shot through the goalkeeper's legs. Mkhitaryan almost made it two soon after but Mucha was equal to his fierce free-kick.

The goal clearly affected Slovakia, but they gradually recovered their stride and after Weiss had narrowly missed the top-right corner from distance, he made no mistake with his second opening. With 37 minutes played, the Slovakia coach's son and namesake received the ball in the area, beat two defenders and fired past Berezovsky from close range.

Within five minutes of the restart, however, Armenian were back in front. Mucha could only parry substitute Edgar Manucharyan's attempt and Ghazaryan drilled home from close in. Slovakia stepped up the tempo as they sought a second equaliser, but the Armenians still carried a threat on the counterattack. Movsisyan had a free-kick saved by Mucha, while Ghazaryan failed to score in a one-on-one situation.

The final word went to Mkhitaryan with a minute remaining. Ghazaryan was the provider with a short pass to the FC Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker who beat Mucha with a low shot inside the left-hand corner from the edge of the box.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/matches/season=2012/round=15171/match=2002238/postmatch/report/index.html

Newropean

October 13th, 2010, 12:50 AM

Another win for Armenia in the Euro 2012 qualifying round, beating Andorra 4-0.

Upbeat Armenia give Andorra no chance

Armenia followed up their impressive home win against Slovakia by posting a no-nonsense 4-0 defeat of Andorra, with Vardan Minasyan's side emerging as unlikely challengers in the unpredictable UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group B.

Gevorg Ghazaryan gave the home side a dream start with a fourth-minute opener and goals from Henrik Mkhitaryan and Yura Movsisyan added to Armenia's tally before the break to put the result beyond doubt. Marcos Pizzelli then struck on 52 minutes to send his side, at least temporarily, to the top of their qualifying section.

Still on a high from Friday's 3-1 triumph against Slovakia, Armenia hit the ground running. Sargis Hovsepyan headed against the bar from Mkhitaryan's cross on two minutes and shortly afterwards Ghazaryan surged down the left, beat two men and fired past José Antonio Gómes from 25 metres.

Movsisyan cut in from the right on 16 minutes, and although Gómes blocked his powerful shot, Mkhitaryan promptly tidied up from the rebound. Hovsepyan was the architect of Armenia's third, with the team captain beating his marker and crossing for Movsisyan to finish from close range.

The pressure barely let up after the interval, and after Pizzelli had hit the post with one effort, the same player then found the target courtesy of a powerful shot from distance. Andorra were given a little breathing space as Minasyan withdrew Movsisyan, Ghazaryan and Pizzelli in the later stages, but the scoreline was not affected.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/matches/season=2012/round=15171/match=2002241/postmatch/report/index.html

Armenia is now second place in its qualifying group, which means that it really has at least a chance to get to the tournament in Poland and the Ukraine in 2012, that would be the biggest success for Armenian football so far.
On the other hand, I have my doubts whether they can really compete against teams like Ireland and Slovakia, as there are 6 games left and most of them are away games for Armenia.

hakz2007

October 13th, 2010, 07:53 AM

Hayots Ashkharh: Tatev ropeway to be included in Guinness Book of Records
http://news.am/pic/news/34326.jpg

According to the daily, the longest ropeway in the world constructed in Tatev village (near Monastery of Tatev) should be included in the Guinness Book of Records, Bekor Papazyan, Executive Director of the Armenian National Competitiveness Foundation stated. According to him, negotiations are being held with the publishers.

As NEWS.am reported previously, opening of a 5.7 km-long Tatev-Halizror ropeway is scheduled for October 16. From October 23, the ropeway will be put into operation. http://news.am/eng/news/34326.html

Slovenian President leaves Armenia
http://news.am/pic/news/34275.jpg

Slovenian President Danilo Türk has completed his visit to Armenia. The Slovenian delegation included 35 leading businessmen.

Suring the Slovenian leader’s visit, four Armenian-Slovenian agreements were signed, two of them being economic ones.

The Slovenian President held meetings with RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

The Slovenian leader and his wife laid wreaths at the Memorial to Armenian Genocide victims.http://news.am/eng/news/34275.html

Galandar

October 14th, 2010, 09:57 AM

I don't mean anything, I quoted a newspaper article.

Don't shoot the messenger. ;)

And you know, in this thread you can call it liberated Karabakh. Or Artsakh, if you wish.

Keep your provocations for yourself ok? Now you got what I say, next provocation like this and I will report you to the Mods. Keep posting!

Newropean

October 14th, 2010, 07:26 PM

I should keep my provocations?
Isn't it you who comes to this thread searching for things that don't please you?

And I don't take orders from you, I will post if I want to and have time.

Galandar

October 15th, 2010, 10:13 AM

I should keep my provocations?
Isn't it you who comes to this thread searching for things that don't please you?

And I don't take orders from you, I will post if I want to and have time.

Keep your ignorance for yourself. I am a moderator at SSC and I warned you. More polemics will not give you any advantage so from now on just stick to the topic.

Newropean

October 15th, 2010, 11:26 AM

Galandar

October 15th, 2010, 07:15 PM

So then, go ahead, why don't you post news about Nagorno-Karabakh in the Azeri section then?
There is an airport thread in the Azeri section, the airport reconstruction in Stepanakert surely deserves a post?
First the current name for this city is Khankendi since it was renamed after the collapse of the USSR. Second, the airport in Nagorno Karabakh is reconstructed by separatists and it is not recognized by ICAO.

P.S. I warned you once and I am not going to follow your provocative arguments and so on. Keep on posting Armenian news only!!!

Newropean

October 15th, 2010, 09:01 PM

Galandar

October 15th, 2010, 09:10 PM

The thread is for news and discussions. And that's what we are doing, we are discussing. I can't see anything wrong with that. :dunno:

So, just to clarify, you don't want to post news about a separatist region in the Azeri section (like for example news from Abkhazia are included in the thread about Georgia), but you also don't want the news about this separatist region to appear in the section of the country it wants to join ultimatively (like news about Kosovo are included in the Albanian section).

Where are news about Karabakh supposed to be?
Or should they just be censored?
We went too far in this sensitive topic for any Azerbaijani. If you are so into posting news from there you can do it in Azeri section. You can not post news about the occupied lands of Azerbaijan in the section of the country occupant without clarifying the fact of occupation and belong of Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan. There is no state there but a separatist doll regime which cleaned up the lands from Azerbaijani population in and around Nagorno Karabakh and was created mostly in order to hide the fact of a real occupation by Armenia (...and its bigger brother). Clear?

hakz2007

October 16th, 2010, 05:30 AM

Armenia-Cyprus relations praiseworthy
PanARMENIAN.Net - On October 14, Armenian parliamentary delegation led by speaker Hovik Abrahamyan arrived in Cyprus, where he was met by President of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Marios Garoyan.

After a meeting behind closed doors, the two men voiced confidence for further development of interparliamentary ties, which can be considered praiseworthy.

The delegation members also met with the Armenian community of Cyprus.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/55278/ArmeniaCyprus_relations_praiseworthy

WorldWorld's longest ropeway to open in Armenia
The world's longest ropeway will open on Saturday in southern Armenia, the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia has said.

The 5.7-kilometer (3.54-mile) ropeway will run to the 9th century Monastery of Tatev in Syunik Province, some 280 kilometers (174 miles) away from Yerevan.

The monastery, which has played an important role in the history of the region, being its major spiritual, political, cultural and educational center, was seriously damaged during an earthquake in 1931 and is now being reconstructed. The cost of the reconstruction is estimated at $45 million.

Visitors will have to spend just 11 minutes in a ropeway cabin to reach a promontory located more than 100 meters above the Vorotan River, on which the monastery is situated. The ropeway will run with the maximum speed of 37 km/h (23 mph).

Previously, a 4-kilometer-long (2.48-mile-long) ropeway in the United States' Santa Fe was the longest in the world.

Armeninan President Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church and other religious and state officials are expected to take part in the opening ceremony of the ropeway.http://en.rian.ru/world/20101016/160976050.html

Profit of HSBC Bank Armenia for nine months AMD 3.9 billion
YEREVAN, October 15. /ARKA/. Profit of HSBC Bank Armenia grew by 30% over nine months of this year, compared with the same period of the previous year, to AMD 3.9 billion, HSBC Bank Armenia CEO Astrid Clifford said on Thursday.

She told journalists that the bank sustained losses in 2009 because of the currency devaluation. That is why the year-on-year profit growth was 30% in Jan-Sept 2010.

The bank’s credit portfolio grew 32% from AMD 63 billion to AMD 83 billion.

HSBC Bank Armenia, subsidiary of HSBC Bank Plc, was registered on September 25, 1995. HSBC Europe BV holds 70% of HSBC Bank Armenia shares. The remaining 30% belong to Wings Establishment.

In January 2009, HSBC Bank Armenia became a member of NASDAQ OMX Armenia.

According to ARKA News Agency’s data, the bank’s assets totaled AMD 126.7 billion and liabilities AMD 107.9 billion by late June 2010.

Its total capital amounted to AMD 18.8 billion, authorized capital AMD 7.6 billion and credit portfolio AMD 70.3 billion.

Liabilities to clients totaled AMD 201.9 billion and the profit for the first half of this year amounted to AMD 1.9 billion.
The bank has seven branches in Armenia. ($1= AMD 361.28). http://www.arka.am/eng/banks/2010/10/15/21906.html

ukiyo

October 17th, 2010, 01:10 AM

I guess just don't post news about Karabakh here for now.

hakz2007

October 17th, 2010, 02:37 AM

^^True that.

Newropean

October 17th, 2010, 02:54 PM

Construction Of Armenian-Iranian Power Plants Set For 2011

http://1.1.1.1/bmi/gdb.rferl.org/9B20F13A-A503-4EBD-AE6C-A646D0D0D006_w527_s.jpg
Energy Minister Armen Movsisian (L) and his Iranian counterpart Majid Namju launch the construction of an Armenian-Iranian power transmission line, 14Oct2010.

Armenia and Iran will start building two major hydro-electric stations on their border early next year, the energy ministers of the two states said after talks in Yerevan on Friday.

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian said on September 16 that work on the $323 million project will start during his Iranian counterpart Majid Namju’s upcoming visit to Armenia.

However, the two men only signed a memorandum reaffirming their governments’ decision to launch the construction, which is due to take five years. “This year is coming to an end, so it will start next year,” Movsisian said at the signing ceremony.

His deputy Ara Simonian clarified that the construction will get underway next spring. “The construction will be done under direction oversight of the Armenian side and meet our technical standards,” Simonian told journalists.

“We, the ministers, are determined to announce the launch of this very important project as soon as possible,” Namju said, for his part. He said final details of the project will be worked out during Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s visit to Tehran slated for the end of this month.

Sarkisian and Namju discussed the matter at a meeting earlier in the day. According to the Armenian government’s press office, they both underlined its importance for the development of Armenian-Iranian relations.

The two power plants will be built on either side of the Arax river marking the Armenian-Iranian border and have a capacity of 130 megawatts each. They both are to be built by an Iranian company, Farad-Sepasad.

Movsisian said last month that Armenia will finance its share of the project with electricity to be generated at the facility and supplied to Iran . “We will need 15 years to pay back the [Iranian] investments with electricity supplies,” he said, adding that the plant will then become property of Armenia.

Namju and Movsisian inaugurated on Thursday the launch of another Armenian-Iranian energy project. It involves the construction of a third high-voltage transmission line linking the two countries’ power grids. The line will allow for a substantial increase in Armenian electricity exports to the Islamic Republic.

That electricity is to be generated at Armenian thermal-power plans using natural gas supplied from Iran. Iranian gas deliveries to the country began in May last year.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2191904.html

robo_boss

October 18th, 2010, 06:54 AM

Gee, i totally forgot about this thread, it's been a while.
Galandar, why are so worried about the contents of this thread? Why are you even here? There's a whole Azeri section on SSC, where you guys bad-mouth the Armenians left and right, you dont see me going crazy over it. There's no ethnic feud going on in this thread, please keep it that way and dont turn it into a meaningless flame war, do it on the Azerbaijan forum if you really have to.

Newropean, thank you for keeping this thread alive. You should be able to post any subject that has anything to do with Armenia, and Karabakh does.

Cheers :cheers:

Newropean

October 19th, 2010, 03:49 PM

Thanks robo! Every moral support is welcome and needed! :)

By the way, in some days I will have a lot less time than I had during the last months, I might not be able to come back here as often as before.
Thus your efforts will be welcome, I hope you'll keep it alive here and you don't lack the "national spirit" that so many users of SSC display! ;)

Some news again:

Armenia can become a trade bridge between neighboring countries

In the first half of 2010, foreign investments in the Armenian economy totaled $327.5, which is 4.9% more compared to the same period in 2009.

Specifically, Iranian entrepreneurs show greater interest in Armenia.

Currently, Iran is the second after Russia (1000 companies) by the number of enterprises with Iranian capital (818 companies) in Armenia. There are favorable conditions for unhindered inflow of Iranian investments, as the Armenian authorities pursue a free economic policy with liberal laws. Moreover, the Armenian Diaspora of Iran also contributes to the development of bilateral relations.

The trade turnover between Armenia and Iran amounted to USD 153mln in 2009. Aluminum, iron, steel, organic and non-organic components are exported from Armenia while plastics, items made of it, glass, etc are imported.

Iranian Minister of Energy Majid Namjou arrived in Armenia on a two-day visit this week. He met with Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan to discuss bilateral cooperation outlooks.

The two ministers signed three documents: memorandum of understanding between the two ministries, memorandum of ecological norms observance on the common border and Arax river, as well as draft agreement on construction, management, exploitation and transfer of Meghri hydropower plant.

Besides, Yerevan hosted an Armenian-Iranian business forum with participation of an Iranian delegation of 22 companies, including representatives of the industrial field, who also met with representatives of Armenian companies, as well as the RA Ministries of Energy, Agriculture, Transport and Communication, Urban Development, Economy, Armenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Armenian Development Agency (ADA).

Representative of the Iranian Trade and Investment Agency, Director of ENN simplex Seyed Babaei announced the intention to open the Agency’s branch in Yerevan.

Slovenia also showed interest in Armenia’s investment potential. In 2009, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $9.5mln, with almost zero export from Armenia. Slovenia exported pharmaceutical goods, ethyl alcohol, perfume, cosmetics, etc.

Armenian-Polish relations also tend to develop. Polish Ambassador to RA Zdzislaw Raczynski said he is resolved to attract Polish investors to Armenian market.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/details/55344/Armenia_can_become_a_trade_bridge_between_neighboring_countries

(PS: Who tagged this thread with "Central Asia"? Central Asia is somewhere else..)

robo_boss

October 31st, 2010, 06:23 PM

Damn, i forgot about this thread again. All right , im going to search for some news on Armenia now.

hakz2007

November 1st, 2010, 06:42 AM

Dominic Barton: Armenia should develop IT sphere not to be extruded from consumer markets
PanARMENIAN.Net - At National Competitiveness Foundations conference in Yerevan, Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, Dominic Barton delivered a lecture on five forces influencing formation of global economy.

The head of McKinsey&Company expressed his position on the issue, specifically noting the most profitable investment sectors, including agriculture, food manufacturing, healthcare, clear technologies, education.

The expert forecasted favorable future to countries rich in natural resources, urging them to practice reasonable management.

Commenting on the situation in Armenia, the expert observed that the country should shift accents in the economy, developing the sphere of innovation technologies not to be extruded from consumer markets.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/it_telecom/news/56068/Dominic_Barton_Armenia_should_develop_IT_sphere_not_to_be_extruded_from_consumer_markets

McKinsey & Company Global Managing Director: Armenia should become the beacon of development in the region
PanARMENIAN.Net - Global Competitiveness Forum has ranked Armenia 97th in the world for competitiveness; however, the country is making active attempts to improve its position, with local experts having higher qualification as compared to other states in the region, according to Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, Dominic Barton.

At National Competitiveness Foundations conference in Yerevan, he stressed the necessity for the increase of competitiveness and reduction of corruption level for Armenia to be different from other regional states.

As the expert noted, Armenia has to select priority spheres to be represented by at the global market, as well as invest in the development of infrastructures. “Armenia has a strategically important position, which might make the country the beacon of development in the region. I would pick no other country but Armenia if I were to set headquarters in the region. People of Armenia struck me as reasonable and logical,” Barton stated, urging Armenia to strive towards making a difference in the region.

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to the world’s leading businesses, governments, and institutions. It is recognized as a leader and one of the most prestigious firms in the management consulting industry.http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56065/

36 agreements signed based on results of EXPO-RUSSIA Armenia 2010
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56054/36_agreements_signed_based_on_results_of_EXPORUSSIA_Armenia_2009http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56054/36_agreements_signed_based_on_results_of_EXPORUSSIA_Armenia_2009

Newropean

November 5th, 2010, 08:51 AM

World Bank Finds Little Change In Armenian Business Environment

Armenia’s business environment still leaves much to be desired despite being more favorable than in most countries of the world, the World Bank said in an annual survey released on Thursday.

The bank’s “Doing Business 2011” survey rates 183 economies on nine aspects of government regulation of domestic firms, including investor protection and the ease of starting and closing businesses and registering property.

Armenia is 48th in the rankings topped by Singapore, down from 43rd place in occupied last year. By comparison, neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan, ranked 12th and 54th respectively.

The report found an improvement in only one research category: Trading across borders. “Armenia made trading across borders easier by introducing self-declaration desks at customs houses and warehouses, improving border operations through investments in new equipment, and introducing a risk management system,” it said.

In all other categories, the country’s ratings have slightly worsened over the past year. Tax administration remains the Achilles heel of the Armenian business environment. According to the World Bank, only 14 other nations have more cumbersome and complicated tax procedures.

The authors of its survey argued that Armenian businesses have to pay various taxes as many as 50 times a year and spend an average of 581 hours on that, much more than companies in developed Western countries. Still, the country’s combined tax rate of about 41 percent is slightly below the Western average.

Armenia continued to score poorly on investor protection and the issuance of government permits for construction. But it again received much higher marks in the business and property registration categories.

The survey said it takes 15 days to start up a business there. The average business registration period in the developed world is about 14 days. Also, Armenia ranked 5th in the world in terms of the simplicity of legal procedures for registering property.

In a separate statement, the World Bank stressed that its survey does not assess all aspects of business regulation around the world. “For example, it does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the strength of financial systems,” it said.

Nor does it gauge the extent of fair business competition in a particular economy. A lack of such competition in Armenia, resulting in the effective monopolization of some lucrative forms of business, is a major source of complaints from local entrepreneurs. That is also widely seen as a serious hurdle to the country’s economic development.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have long been pressing the Armenian authorities to improve the investment climate and tackle government corruption. A high-level IMF mission called for “bolder and deeper reforms” in that area following a September visit to Yerevan.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2211033.html

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:17 AM

Some Armenian music

wSSEPko4UY4

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:19 AM

3166geO7g3Y

CaHDpM9c6pw

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:23 AM

A truly beautiful song and a video.
eXb2dteSFyk

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:30 AM

She probably has the most beautiful eyes i've ever seen. Many Armenian girls do.
s9W6kBLlZr0

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:34 AM

Armenia is the first Christian nation on Earth
In 301, Armenia became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official state religion. We're very proud to be the world's first Christian nation and if you ever go to Armenia you will be constantly reminded of that until your ears bleed. LOL :)

"One of the most crucial events in Armenian history was the conversion of Armenia to Christianity!
By adopting the new religion in the fourth century, Armenia renounced its Eastern or Persian-influenced past, established a distinct Christian character of its own, and, at times, became identified with the Western world. Armenian national tradition is rich in information and in legends about the introduction of Christianity into the country. It is often said to have been preached by the Holy Apostles, or the immediate disciples of the Apostles, notably St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew. However, these accounts are relatively late, and not generally regarded as historically authentic.

The traditional account of the conversion is based on a mixture of fact and fiction recorded a century later by the Armenian chronicler known as "Agathangelos". It tells of wars of an Armenian king Khosrov against the new Persian Sasanid dynasty and the efforts of Persia to destroy the Armenian Arshakunis. The Persian king employed a traitor named "Anak" ( in fact, Khosrov’s brother) to murder the Armenian king. Promised a reward by the Sasanids, Anak settled in Armenia, befriended Khosrov, and murdered him and most of his family.

Anak and his family were, in turn, slain by angry Armenian courtiers. Only two sons were saved from death: Khosrov’s son "Trdat", who was taken to Rome, and Anak’s son "Gregory", ( the future St. Gregory the Illuminator), who was taken to live among Christians in Cappadocia.

Years later, according to Agathangelos, Trdat, with the help of Rome, returned to Armenia to regain his father’s throne. While passing through Caesarea he met the son of Anak, who had been given the name of Gregory by his Christian mentors and, unaware of his true identity, took him into his service.

After regaining Armenia, Trdat, recognizing great abilities in Gregory, raised him in stature at court. Gregory, of course, had already accepted the Christian faith and eschewed pagan ceremonies. Soon rumors of his parentage began to surface, spread by jealous nobles, which lead to his torture and imprisonment in Khorvirab (deep pit).

Years passed and King Trdat, like his godfather Diocletian, continued his persecution of Christians. Among the martyrs of that period were "Gayane" and" Hripsime" , two virgins who had refused King Trdat’s advances and were put to death.

According to Agathangelos, after this crime, King Trdat was punished for his sin by divine retribution by turning into a wild beast. He was afflicted, it seems, with a form of violent lycanthropy(a form of mental disorder in which the patient imagines himself to be a wolf). No one could cure him of this transformation until his sister, Khosrovidukht, had a dream in which an angel instructed her to release Gregory who, despite long years in isolation, had, by divine intervention, survived in the pit. The princess was convinced that if Gregory was brought forth from his pit, he would cure the king of his dire affliction. King Trdat accepted his sister’s advice and released the saint from the deep pit. Gregory restored the king’s health and sanity, and then baptized him with all his household. Thus, the King, in 301 A.D., proclaimed Christianity the sole state religion, making Armenia the First Christian Nation on Earth.."

http://www.armenianheritage.com/refirstc.htm

Galandar

November 9th, 2010, 12:43 AM

CaHDpM9c6pw

Are you not satisfied with provocations you did in Azerbaijani subforum? Now you start to put videos of occupied parts of Azerbaijan under the so-called name "Artsakh" here in the thread about Armenia? :ohno:

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:44 AM

Some silly, but funny Armenian cartoons ( in english).
O4hhQ_rEUfo

I2j0Oh5vKzk

robo_boss

November 9th, 2010, 12:51 AM

Are you not satisfied with provocations you did in Azerbaijani subforum? Now you start to put videos of occupied parts of Azerbaijan under the so-called name "Artsakh" here in the thread about Armenia? :ohno:

The name of this composition is Artsah, and is written by an Armenian composer from Armenia. It's a beautiful song and i'd like to share it with others, if doesnt belong in an Armenian thread where should i post it then?

Galandar

November 9th, 2010, 01:38 AM

The name of this composition is Artsah, and is written by an Armenian composer from Armenia. It's a beautiful song and i'd like to share it with others, if doesnt belong in an Armenian thread where should i post it then?

Just do not post, so easy...

Newropean

November 9th, 2010, 09:56 AM

You must feel very happy now right? :lol:

ukiyo

November 10th, 2010, 01:43 AM

Private Messages are private, as for the issues here I've reversed robo_boss brigging since the infraction was made in this forum (which I moderate).

As for posting sensitive territorial news please avoid them in the future, It's my sincere request...thanks :)

As for territorial disputes, my own country (Japan) is in many of them with our neighbors but I just ignore all those threads, they have a right to talk about it if they want. It doesn't really matter it's just a forum. As long as they don't break any clear forum rules I don't really care.

Let's all get along please :)

robo_boss

November 10th, 2010, 01:49 AM

robo_boss

November 10th, 2010, 02:48 AM

Some famous ethnic Armenians:

Charles Aznavour, a famouse French-Armenian singer, songwriter, actor, and the Ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/462/charlesmf.jpg

Cher, an American singer and actress.
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/3341/cher7.jpg

Kim Kardashian , is an American celebutante, socialite, actress, and model. Stars in a reality show "Keeping up with the Kardashians". She became particularly famous after her nude pictures in Playboy magazine and a home sex video with her boyfriend, singer Ray J, which later was leaked onto internet (oh Kim, you make us so proud :nuts:LOL).
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/8517/kimkardashianm.jpg

Kim with her sisters, Khloe and Kortney, the stars of reality show Keeping up with the Kardashians.
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9691/kardashiansisters1.jpg

Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion, some consider him the greatest chess player in history. These days he's a Russian political activist.
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1337/kasparov.jpg

Serj Tankian, singer, composer, the lead singer of the rock band System of a down, that's been on hiatus since 2007.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/6388/serjtankianserjtankian3.jpg

And the legendary System of a down itself, all members are ethnic Armenians. I hope they get back together.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5855/systemofadownz.jpg

robo_boss

November 10th, 2010, 02:55 AM

Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign minister of Russia.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5199/556pxevstafievsergeylavw.jpg

robo_boss

November 10th, 2010, 03:02 AM

Youri Djorkaeff and Alain Boghossian, retired French-Armenian football players, both are World Cup Champions of 1998.
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/415/djorkaeffy20000611ghl.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6322/alainboghossian09375269p.jpg

robo_boss

November 10th, 2010, 06:54 AM

Andre Agassi , born in Las Vegas, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, retired now.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/239/andreagassi.jpg

David Nalbandian, an Armenian-Argentine, another great and famous tennis player.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/5961/davidnalbandian.jpg

Newropean

November 10th, 2010, 07:14 AM

I tried to meet Charles Aznavour in the embassy (it was right next to my university), but nobody opened. I should have made an appointment!

robo_boss

November 11th, 2010, 12:15 AM

^Are you Armenian?

Newropean

November 11th, 2010, 07:46 AM

No, not at all. But I have/had a, let's say, academic interest in Armenia.

More music:
_oIQMkpp8XE

robo_boss

November 11th, 2010, 08:35 AM

Samvel Yervinyan, one of the best violinists in the world.
glEKg62FvzE

robo_boss

November 15th, 2010, 06:25 AM

It's been a slow month for any worthy Armenian news so here's a few more pics of Kim Kardashian just to keep the thread up:

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/7522/kimkardashianportrait.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1424/kimkardashianshapemagaz.jpg
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3999/kimkardashianplayboydec.jpg
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7120/77514831.jpg
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3756/kimkardashianbikini.jpg

robo_boss

November 15th, 2010, 06:37 AM

Alice Panikian, Miss Canada 2006 :

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/8495/83482nm9.jpg

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1712/post1341170848820thumb.jpg

Newropean

November 15th, 2010, 07:54 AM

Is it just me or did the number of views jump up rapidly after you posted Kim Kardashian's pictures? :lol:

robo_boss

November 15th, 2010, 02:40 PM

LOL it did go up a little .

Newropean

November 18th, 2010, 04:30 PM

U.S. ‘Interested’ In Armenian Nuclear Project

The United States hopes that American companies will participate in the planned construction of a new nuclear power station in Armenia, a senior State Department official announced on Monday.

Daniel Rosenblum, who coordinates U.S. government assistance to former Communist states, said the matter was discussed at a regular meeting in Yerevan of the U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Task Force (USATF), which he co-chairs with Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian.

“We are interested in having U.S. companies participate [in the nuclear project,] if possible,” Rosenblum told a news conference after the meeting. “We did discuss it today at the session, although it’s one among many energy-related issues that were on the agenda.”

The Armenian government plans to close the Soviet-built nuclear plant at Metsamor, which generates about 40 percent of the country’s electricity, and build a new, modern facility in its place in the coming years. Chances for the implementation of the extremely ambitious projects increased in late August with the signing of a Russian-Armenian agreement on “technical and financial cooperation” over the plant’s construction.

Russian energy officials said Moscow could provide up to one-fifth of an estimated $5 billion in investments needed for the new plant. Yerevan has yet to secure other sources of funding.

The Russian and Armenian governments already set up late last year a joint venture tasked with building the plant’s reactor. Armenian officials said other plant facilities might well be built by or receive equipment from Western nuclear energy firms. According to them, equipment suppliers will be chosen in international tenders.

“We have worked for many years very closely with the Armenian government, with the nuclear industry here on the safe use of nuclear power and also on issues concerning proliferation of nuclear materials, and we will continue that joint work with the government,” said Rosenblum. “But at the same time when there are private sector opportunities, we would like to promote them.”

The U.S. government already allocated in late 2007 $2 million for a feasibility study on the project. “We look forward to the rapid replacement of the Metsamor facility with a more modern and safer plant,” a senior U.S. diplomat in Yerevan said at the time.

The U.S. as well as the European Union have spent much larger sums on wide-ranging safety measures at the Metsamor plant since its reactivation in 1995. The plant was due to be decommissioned by 2017.

However, Ashot Martirosian, the head of Armenia’s State Committee on Nuclear Safety, told RFE/RL in August that the shutdown is likely to be delayed by several years because the new plant’s construction will last longer than was anticipated by the government.

The Armenian Economy Ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan made no mention of the nuclear project in separate statements on the USATF meeting. They said the meeting focused on ways of improving Armenia’s problematic business environment.

Rosenblum also met on Monday with Levon Ter-Petrosian, the top leader of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK). A statement by the HAK said they discussed a broad range of issues, including the socioeconomic situation, government corruption and conduct of elections in Armenia. It said Ter-Petrosian stressed the importance of a “rapid” release of his loyalists remaining in jail.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2220925.html

Newropean

November 18th, 2010, 08:40 PM

Armavia launches regular flights to Almaty

PanARMENIAN.Net - On December 11, 2010 Armavia national carrier will launch regular flights to the Southern capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty.

Yerevan-Almaty flights will be operating every Saturday, Armavia press service reported.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56978/

Shops and cafes along state roads of Armenia to have single architectural style

PanARMENIAN.Net - During the November 18 sitting, the Armenian government approved introduction of a catalogue for architectural designs of trade and service facilities located at territories adjacent to the state and international roads.

Armenian Minister of Urban Development Vardan Vardanyan told a briefing that the development of the catalogue is aimed at regulation of disorganized and various constructions at the aforementioned territories, what will contribute to formation of an environment with single architectural solutions.

According to him, around 10 design offers will be presented in the catalogue for construction of trade and service facilities. Besides, the designs will offer governors of the country’s regions to keep to these architectural solutions. The Minister added that operating facilities at the aforementioned territories will not be destroyed.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56979/Shops_and_cafes_along_state_roads_of_Armenia_to_have_single_architectural_style

Sevan hydropower plant to be put into operation in April 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chairman of the commission for Lake Sevan issues, Vladimir Movsisyan, said that the cleaning of waterlogged parts of the lake will begin in the near future.

“Multifunctional excavators will be obtained for the purpose,” he told journalists on November 6. “The works will take 2 or 3 years.”

According to Movsisyan, 520 constructions at the will be demounted and a pumping station will be built.

Besides, Sevan hydropower plant will be put into operation in April 2011.

As to road construction, he said that Sevan-Lchashen road is expected to serve 8-10 more years. Then, new solutions will be found and possibly another road around the lake will be built.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56403/Sevan_hydropower_plant_to_be_put_into_operation_in_April_2011

Newropean

November 21st, 2010, 09:33 AM

NKR Defense Army excludes Azerbaijan’s complicity in incident at frontline

Several versions have been suggested with respect to the November 19 incident at the frontline of the NKR armed forces. Besides, immediate investigative actions have been taken.

According to data of the preliminary investigation, the version of Azerbaijan’s illegal actions has been almost excluded, the press service of the NKR Defense Army reported.

A criminal case has been initiated with respect to the incident.

4 soldiers were killed and 4 injured in the incident that took place on November 19 night at the frontline of Nagorno Karabakh armed forces.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/57082/NKR_Defense_Army_excludes_Azerbaijans_complicity_in_incident_at_frontline

Galandar

November 21st, 2010, 11:44 AM

^^ "..." for so-called NKR. And if you count it independetn republic then why you post news about it and Azerbaijan in news section about Armenia. It says nothing about Armenia. You just contradict to yourself my dear Armenian friend :lol:

robo_boss

November 21st, 2010, 07:45 PM

This thread is about Armenia and Armenians, no matter where they live or die (in this case). Stop trolling here, you've been asked more than once already.

robo_boss

November 21st, 2010, 07:52 PM

Armenian participant wins 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vladimir Arzumanyan won the contest, gaining 120 points for his song – Mama. Meanwhile, Russia's duet gained 119 points. Daniil Kozlov from Belarus was the fifth with 85 points.

Immediately after the results announcement, Vladimir Arzumanyan gave a press conference, eurovision.org.ru reported.

http://panarmenian.net/eng/culture/news/57085/Armenian_participant_wins_2010_Junior_Eurovision_Song_Contest

Newropean

November 26th, 2010, 09:10 PM

Armenia Set For Visa Facilitation Talks With EU

Armenia expects to begin next month official negotiations with the European Union on the facilitation of visa procedures for Armenian citizens seeking to travel to EU member states, Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Kazinian said on Friday.

The easing of the stringent visa rules would stem from Armenia’s inclusion in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program entitling six ex-Soviet states to closer political and economic partnership with the bloc.

The closer ties are due to be formalized by comprehensive “association agreements” between the EU and each of those states. Armenia and the EU launched the first round of association talks in July.

“Official Brussels has promised us that by the end of this year we will receive the mandate from the European Union’s Council to start the process of visa facilitation,” Kazinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

She said the first phase of that process will take up to two years and should result in simpler visa requirements for certain group’s of Armenia’s population such as students, academics and businesspeople. The same simplified rules will eventually be applicable to all Armenian nationals, she said.

“We know that it’s going to be a long process and we have assumed obligations to expedite it,” added Kazinian.

Among those obligations is the signing of so-called “readmission agreements” aimed at facilitating the repatriation of illegal Armenian immigrant seeking asylum in the EU. According to the deputy minister, Yerevan has already signed such agreements with nine EU member states.

Earlier this year, the EU introduced additional requirements for the citizens of Armenia and other countries who plan to travel to the Schengen zone covering much of Europe. Schengen visa seekers already had to submit a long list of documents, including information on their employment, monthly income and bank accounts, to its consulates.

The strict visa rules are the result of large-scale illegal immigration to the EU from Armenia and other ex-Soviet republics that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of Armenians are believed to reside illegally in France, Germany and other European countries.

According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 6,000 Armenian citizens, asked for a political asylum last year. The vast majority of them live in Europe.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2231697.html

Newropean

December 1st, 2010, 07:31 AM

It's time for Wikileaks!

Leaked Cable Reveals U.S. Anger At Armenian ‘Arms Supplies’ To Iran

The United States accused Armenia of re-exporting weapons to neighboring Iran and threatened to impose sanctions on Yerevan two years ago, according to one of the thousands of leaked State Department cables publicized by WikiLeaks on Sunday.

The document reveals that top Bush administration officials raised their “deep concerns” with President Serzh Sarkisian and were unconvinced by his denial of “the arms re-export case” dating back to 2003.

In a December 2008 secret letter sent through the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, the then U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte pressed Sarkisian to take wide-ranging measures that would “ensure such transfers do not occur in the future.” “Notwithstanding the close relationship between our countries, neither the Administration nor the U.S. Congress can overlook this case,” he wrote.

“By law, the transfer of these weapons requires us to consider whether there is a basis for the imposition of U.S. sanctions. If sanctions are imposed, penalties could include the cutoff of U.S. assistance and certain export restrictions,” warned Negroponte.

“To avoid such sanctions, it is essential that you present compelling evidence that your government is now in partnership with us to ensure such transfers do not occur in the future,” he said.

That, he said, should take the form of a written pledge to tighten export controls and allow U.S. officials to carry out “unannounced” inspections of Armenian border checkpoints. Yerevan would also be required to “consult” with Washington before selling weapons or dual-use commodities to countries that are not member states of the EU or NATO.

Whether Sarkisian accepted these demands and signed a relevant agreement with the Americans is not clear. Sarkisian’s office on Monday refused to comment on this.

“I will refrain from commenting on secret documents of other countries,” the presidential press secretary, Armen Arzumanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. The Armenian Foreign Ministry also declined a comment.

Reacting to the development, the spokesman for Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Eduard Sharmazanov, said that Armenia’s relations with Iran have always been “very transparent.” “And if somebody makes statements [to the contrary,] then it’s up to them to substantiate those statements,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

A senior representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), another major party that was represented in Armenia’s governing coalitions from 2003-2009, questioned the credibility of the U.S. claims. Speaking to RFE/RL, Giro Manoyan said the fact that the U.S. never slapped sanctions threatened by Negroponte means that “there was probably no such thing.”

Manoyan, whose party is now in opposition to the Sarkisian administration, suggested that Washington might have simply sought to prevent possible use of Armenian territory in Iran’s military procurements or to be able to inspect Armenian border facilities at will.

The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, declined to comment on the content of the disclosed document. The embassy only reaffirmed the State Department’s strong condemnation of this and other WikiLeaks revelations. In a written statement, it also downplayed the significance of classified correspondence between Washington and U.S. diplomatic missions abroad.

“Theses cables are often preliminary and incomplete expressions of foreign policy, and they should not be seen as having standing on their own or as representing U.S. policy,” read the statement.

A “background” note for U.S. diplomats in Yerevan that was attached to Negroponte’s letter contends that Armenia “facilitated” Iran’s purchase of rockets and machine guns in 2003. “In 2007, some of these weapons were recovered from two Shia militant attacks in which a United States soldier was killed and six others were injured in Iraq,” it says without specifying the precise type and origin of the weapons.

The 2008 document adds that the State Department plans to send a team of officials to Yerevan who will present additional proof of the arms transfer and “make it unreasonable for Sarkisian to continue his denials.” It says “high-ranking Armenian officials” were directly involved in the deal but does not name any of them.

Sarkisian served as Armenia’s defense minister and was they key associate of then President Robert Kocharian during the alleged transfer.

Defense and security is arguably the least advanced component of Armenia’s close relationship with neighboring Iran, which has centered on economic cooperation and, in particular, joint energy projects. U.S. officials have occasionally indicated Washington’s unease over Armenian-Iranian ties, warning that they might run counter to international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

Yerevan faced a major embarrassment in May 2002 when the U.S. State Department blacklisted an Armenian businessman who had allegedly sold biochemical equipment to an Iranian-linked company registered in the United Arab Emirates. The equipment was dismantled from Soviet-era Armenian factory that used to grow special bacteria for the production of lysine, an amino acid added to animal fodder. Scientists say they could also generate other biochemical substances.

The embarrassing affair prompted the Kocharian government to tighten export controls on Armenia’s main border crossings. The U.S. had begun helping it prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction even before the scandal.

Over the past decade, Armenian border guard and customs services have been supplied with various U.S.-made equipment such as radio-communication systems, border sensors, metal detectors, cargo truck scales, and X-ray units. The supplies have been part of the U.S. government’s Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance Program (EXBS) implemented in dozens of countries around the world.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2233626.html

Armenian Leaders ‘Felt Offended By Tbilisi’ During 2008 War

President Mikheil Saakashvili and other Georgian leaders deeply offended official Yerevan by repeatedly ignoring phone calls from their Armenian counterparts during Georgia’s disastrous 2008 war with Russia, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic document.

In a confidential cable publicized by WikiLeaks this week, a top U.S. diplomat in Yerevan also informed the State Department at the time that the then Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili snubbed her Armenian opposite number, Edward Nalbandian, as she returned to Georgia via Armenia on August 15, 2008, one week after the outbreak of the war.

“Top Armenian officials are growing increasingly offended by Georgians’s non-responsiveness to Armenian efforts to reach out,” wrote the diplomat, Joseph Pennington. “Armenians feel their good intentions have been met with an undeserved cold shoulder,” he said.

The administration of President Serzh Sarkisian sought to maintain neutrality in the weeklong Russian-Georgian war triggered by Tbilisi’s botched attempt to win back control over South Ossetia. It was anxious not to upset Armenia's most important neighbor and closest military ally.

Sarkisian faced strong criticism from his political opponents and some media after he discussed the situation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by phone on August 13, 2008 and only sent a letter to Saakashvili the next day. Critics viewed that an indirect endorsement of Russian military action.

Citing an unnamed Sarkisian aide, Pennington wrote that in fact the Armenian leader tried to phone both Medvedev and Saakashvili on the same day but was unable to get in touch with the latter. “After repeated attempts to get a call through, Sarkisian finally just sent a letter to Saakashvili, in a substitute effort to show support for the Georgian side,” he said.

Pennington, who was the U.S. charge d’affaires in Armenia at the time, added that Nalbandian and Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian were likewise unable to contact their Georgian counterparts. He said Nalbandian met him on August 15 to complain about the “hostile attitude" of the Georgians.

“Visibly agitated, FM Nalbandian noted that Armenia is trying to help Georgia by taking in more than 4,000 refugees and offering to serve as a humanitarian corridor for international relief efforts,” reveals the document.

“The final indignity, according to the FM, was when FM Tkeshelashvili arrived at Yerevan Airport at 4:00 am on August 15 en route overland to Tbilisi and declined Nalbandian’s proposal for a short Airport meeting at that hour. Tkeshelashvili said she was ‘under instructions’ to return to Tbilisi immediately,” it says.

According to Pennington, the then Georgian ambassador to Armenia shared the Armenian frustration but blamed Tbilisi’s lack of responsiveness on the emergency situation in Georgia. The U.S. diplomat found this justification “very valid,” suggesting that the Armenian leaders felt offended, in large measure, because of their relative inexperience.

“Both the president and foreign minister remain new enough in their jobs for such perceived slights to sting more than perhaps would be the case of more seasoned hands,” he said.

Whether or not Sarkisian managed to speak to Saakashvili by phone later in August or in September 2008 is unknown. Their first face-to-face meeting after the war took place in Tbilisi on September 30. The two leaders pledged to strengthen bilateral economic ties and further simplify border crossing procedures for their citizens.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Saakashvili thanked Sarkisian for “expressing support for Georgia's territorial integrity” during the Russian-Georgian conflict and gave him a Medal of Honor, a top Georgian state award.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2235282.html

Newropean

December 14th, 2010, 10:57 PM

*bump*

Armenia Approves Army Modernization Plan

President Serzh Sarkisian and his National Security Council approved at the weekend a five-year plan to modernize Armenia’s armed forces which envisages the acquisition of long-range precision-guided weapons.

Sarkisian’s office referred to it as the State Program of Developing Weaponry and Military Hardware in 2011-2015. It said the Armenian military will receive “state-of-the-art weapons” and become “considerably” stronger as a result.

“With the adoption of this program, we are taking an important step to neutralize all possible military threats to Armenia’s security,” the secretary of the National Security Council, Artur Baghdasarian, told a news conference on Monday. Yerevan will not only get hold of modern armaments but also develop its domestic defense industry, he said.

The modernization plan is essentially based on two documents approved in August by another Armenian government commission dealing with defense and national security. One of the documents dealt with army weaponry, while the other detailed measures to develop the Armenian defense industry.

“The two programs envisage both the acquisition of state-of-the-art weapons and their partial manufacturing by the local defense industry,” Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said at the time. He said this will enhance the Armenian army’s “long-range strike capacity” and enable it to “thwart free enemy movements deep inside the entire theater of hostilities.”

Speaking to journalists on August 10, Ohanian did not deny that the modernization plan is connected with the persisting risk of another Armenian-Azerbaijani war for Nagorno-Karabakh. In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian two weeks later, he said the long-range weapons sought by Yerevan would be aimed at “strategic facilities” of Armenia’s hostile neighbors.

The Armenian military is believed to be already equipped with short-range tactical missiles capable of striking military and civilian targets in Azerbaijan.

Ohanian spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service just days after Armenia and Russia signed a new agreement prolonging and upgrading Russian military presence in the South Caucasus state. The defense pact also stipulates that Moscow will help Yerevan obtain “modern and compatible weaponry and (special) military hardware.” The precise type of these weapons is not yet known.

Baghdasarian effectively acknowledged a link between the pact signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s August visit to Yerevan and the modernization plan endorsed by Sarkisian. He noted that Medvedev and Sarkisian also oversaw the signing of another deal that calls for closer cooperation between the Armenian and Russian defense enterprises. Baghdasarian reaffirmed the two governments’ plans to set up joint defense ventures.

The planned modernization of the Armenian armed forces comes amid a continuing military build-up in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani leaders’ growing threats to end the Karabakh conflict by force. The Azerbaijani government’s defense spending is due to soar further, to over $3 billion, next year. The Armenian defense budget for 2011 is projected at only $405 million.

Armenia has so far been able to at least partially offset the widening spending gap with close military ties with Russia. Its membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) allows it to receive Russian weapons at cut-down prices or even free of charge.

According to Baghdasarian, these “privileged terms” were reinforced by one of the documents adopted the latest summit of the CSTO member states held in Moscow late last week. The official also announced that Armenia will host a CSTO military exercise in October 2011.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2247291.html

Newropean

December 21st, 2010, 10:54 PM

Armenia Confirms Possession Of Sophisticated Missiles

Armenia officially acknowledged on Monday that its armed forces are equipped with Russian-made surface-to-air missiles widely regarded as one of the world’s most potent anti-aircraft weapons.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian visited one of the Armenian army’s anti-aircraft units and “familiarized himself with the work of the state-of-the-art S-300 air-defense systems” over the weekend. A ministry statement said he also inspected new facilities built there.

Originally designed in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and repeatedly upgraded since then, the systems have a firing range of up to 200 kilometers. Their radars can simultaneously track up to 100 targets, including both aircraft and cruise missiles.

Russia deployed at least one battery of S-300s in Armenia in the late 1990s, significantly beefing up its military base stationed there. Russian and Armenian forces have since been jointly protecting Armenia’s airspace. Their integrated air-defense system was given a “regional” status by the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in early 2007.

Russia -- S-300 anti-aircraft system at Ashuluk firing range in the Astrakhan Region, 03Sep2008
Top Russian military officials said at the time that Moscow has further upgraded Armenia’s anti-aircraft capacity and trained Armenian specialists to operate S-300s. The Armenian military confirmed that, saying the training process began in 2005. It would not clarify until now whether the Russians have actually transferred such weapons to their Armenian ally.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Defense Ministry spokesman Davit Karapetian confirmed that the Armenian army now has S-300s in its missile arsenal. He declined to specify their number and dates of delivery.

According to the Defense Ministry statement, Ohanian inspected the Armenian S-300s after inaugurating a new Russian-Armenian “air-defense command point” possessing “state-of-the-art equipment.” The statement quoted him as saying that the development raised Russian-Armenian military cooperation to a “qualitatively new plane.”

The announcement follows media reports that Moscow is planning to sell two batteries of S-300 to Azerbaijan, in a deal worth $300 million. The reports, not denied by Russian officials, have raised concern in Armenia and Karabakh.

Opposition groups there say the long-range missiles would seriously limit the Armenian military’s ability to hit strategic targets in Azerbaijan and would thereby encourage Baku to try to resolve the Karabakh dispute by force.

Ohanian dismissed such concerns in an August interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We are very familiar with those systems, we have been exploiting them for quite a long time, and we know the possibilities of reducing the effectiveness of such systems,” he said.

“Even in case of acquiring those systems, Azerbaijan will need quite a lot of time to develop an integrated radio-technical system catering for them,” added the minister.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2254125.html

New Armenian Power Plant Set For Launch

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The Armenian government announced on Tuesday the impending end of the two-decade-long construction of a new major thermal-power plant located in the central town of Hrazdan.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian said the Fifth Block of the Hrazdan power plant owned by Russia’s Gazprom energy conglomerate will go on stream by next April.

Movsisian said that work on the facility is essentially complete and that its inauguration was deliberately delayed until after this winter. “Since we don’t know just how cold the winter will be, this could create some difficulties,” he told reporters.

The construction work began in the late 1980s and ground to a halt following the Soviet collapse. The government tried unsuccessfully to finish it in the late 1990s.

Gazprom acquired the incomplete facility in 2006 as part of a complex agreement with Yerevan that also raised its controlling stake in Armenia’s gas distribution network. The Russians pledged to spend more than $200 million on completing the protracted construction by 2011.

The Fifth Block will be more powerful and efficient than the four other operating units of the Hrazdan plant that are owned by another Russian energy giant, RAO Unified Energy Systems (UES). Its launch will thus significantly boost Armenia’s power generating capacity.

The Armenian government already inaugurated last April another state-of-the-art plant that was built in Yerevan in place of an obsolete facility with a $247 million loan provided by a Japanese development bank. The long-term loan was disbursed to the Armenian government on concessional terms in 2007.

The new gas-powered plants should pave the way for large-scale Armenian imports of natural gas from neighboring Iran through a pipeline constructed in late 2008. Armenia began receiving modest amounts of Iranian gas in May last year. With Russian gas essentially meeting its domestic needs, the bulk of that gas is due to be converted into electricity and exported to the Islamic Republic.

The Armenian energy sector has had a surplus capacity ever since emerging from a severe post-Soviet crisis in the mid-1990s thanks to the reopening of the nuclear power station at Metsamor. The plant’s sole operating reactor accounts for about 40 percent of Armenian electricity production.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2255270.html

Armenian Rail Operator Reassures Angry Staff

The Russian management of Armenia’s national rail network on Wednesday reassured workers of a railway depot in the northern Lori province that none of them will lose their jobs as a result of its upcoming restructuring.

The depot located near historic Sanahin village has also been one of the country’s main railway stations for more than a century. It currently employs 135 local residents. Another 100 or so people work for various auxiliary services supporting the facility.

The company called the South Caucasus Railway (SCR) announced last month that its cargo and passengers will no longer stop at Sanahin and that the depot will be merged with a bigger facility existing in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri. It said the measure is part of a broader restructuring of the SCR.

The depot employees reacted angrily to the announcement, saying that it is a prelude to mass layoffs. The SCR has since been at pains to assure them that there will be no staff cuts and that some of them will only be required to perform different tasks.

The company’s Russian chief executive, Shevket Shaydulin, insisted that the number of depot employees will actually grow by 12 as he again met with the angry staff. “This place is like my home,” he said. “I didn’t visit the local school by chance. Why did I do that? Because we need this facility.”

Most of the workers remained unconvinced, however, walking out of the meeting room mid-way through Shaydulin’s speech. They returned only after company executives pledged to sign new five-year employment contracts with them.

The SCR has not yet specified what will happen to the other people working at the Sanahin station.

The SCR is run by Russia’s state-rain railway, RZD, in accordance with a long-term management contract signed by it with the Armenian government three years ago. The deal committed the Russians to investing $230 million in Armenia during the first five years of operations and another $240 million in the following years.

The government repeatedly accused them last year of failing to honor this and other contractual obligations. RZD responded by promising to fully honor its investment commitments by the end of 2010.

Shaydulin said on Wednesday that the Armenian rail network is gradually ceasing to be loss-making. “We will get stronger and become one of the best national companies,” he said.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2249464.html

Newropean

December 21st, 2010, 11:06 PM

EU Hails ‘Significant’ Progress In Association Talks With Armenia

Armenia has made substantial progress towards the signing of an “association agreement” that would upgrade its political and economic ties with the European Union, a senior EU official said on Wednesday.

Gunnar Wiegand, head of a department on Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus at the EU’s executive Commission, praised the Armenian government during the third round of negotiations in Yerevan on the agreement.

The EU plans to sign similar deals with five other ex-Soviet states, including Georgia and Azerbaijan, included in its Eastern Partnership program. They all would be entitled to a permanent free trade regime with the EU and simpler visa procedures for their citizens traveling to Europe. The scheme also envisages a harmonization of their laws, regulations and government policies with the EU standards.

Armenian and EU officials began the first round of association talks in July. The two sides have to reach agreements on 14 concrete “chapters,” including trade, migration and human rights. The negotiating process is expected to take several years.

“I see that Armenia is significantly better prepared, and it has now become an effort not only by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but all relevant ministries and agencies,” Wiegand told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We are very pleased with this because it’s a very comprehensive undertaking.”

“Eight negotiation chapters have already been closed,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Kazinian, Armenia’s top Eastern Partnership negotiator. “Today, for example, we are negotiating over political dialogue as well as justice and liberties,” she said.

The association talks are expected to run parallel to a reform of Armenian state agencies -- most of them dealing with external trade and immigration -- as well as changes in various Armenian laws. The European Commission has already earmarked at least 32 million euros ($42.5 million) for financing those reforms.

The EU says democratization, human rights protection and a stronger rule of law are a necessary condition for Armenia’s participation in the Eastern Partnership. Yet just how aggressively it plans to press for political reforms in the country is still an open question.

Wiegand on Wednesday refused to comment on the course of such reforms which the Armenian authorities claim to be already implementing.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Kazinian insisted that EU officials pay “serious attention” to human rights protection during the talks. “We have received their appreciation of the fact of the six Eastern Partnership countries Armenia was the first to start a constructive human rights dialogue with the EU,” she said.

The most recent session of that dialogue took place in Brussels last week. It is not clear if the meeting discussed the fallout from Armenia’s 2008 post-election unrest and, in particular, the fate of about a dozen opposition figures remaining prison.

Wiegand also said that the European Commission expects to receive early next year a formal “mandate” for the launch of negotiations with Yerevan on the facilitation of EU visa procedures for Armenian citizens. “I hope that we will be able, in the course of next year, to conclude negotiations on visa facilitation,” he said.

Kazinian told RFE/RL's Armenian service late last month that said some groups of Armenia’s population such as students, academics and businesspeople will be the first to qualify for less cumbersome visa requirements. The same simplified rules will eventually be applicable to all Armenian nationals, she said.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2249477.html

Newropean

January 6th, 2011, 05:46 PM

Happy New Year guys!

Armenian Highway Project Falls Behind Schedule

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A multimillion-dollar project designed to upgrade most of Armenia’s main highways and enhance its transport communication with neighboring Iran and Georgia has still not been launched almost one year after being approved by the Armenian government.

Transport and Communications Minister Manuk Vartanian on Friday blamed the delay on the government’s failure so far to find foreign contractors offering reasonable prices.

The project, estimated to cost around $1 billion, envisages the expansion and repair of roads stretching from the Armenian-Iranian border to one of the two main Armenian-Georgian border crossings.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) agreed in September 2009 to finance it with a $500 million loan to be disbursed to the Armenian government. It said the rest of the sum will be raised by Yerevan and “other development partners.”

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s cabinet gave the final green light to the scheme in January 2010. The then Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian said up to $120 million worth of construction work will be carried out in the course of this year.

The government subsequently called an international tender for the right to upgrade the first highway section.

“A tender took place [in November] but we declared no winners because the submitted bids were quite expensive,” Vartanian told journalists. He said the government will call another tender this spring.

Vartanian also revealed that he has personally written to two dozen “authoritative foreign construction firms” urging them to bid for the project contracts. “Local builders can not construct such a highway,” he said. “It’s going to be a new highway meeting higher standards.”

The ADB also approved in 2009 $500 million in funding for road construction in southern Georgia and the Black Sea region of Ajara in particular. The Armenian and Georgian governments had earlier agreed to jointly seek external assistance for rebuilding highways in those areas to substantially shorten travel between Armenia and the Georgian Black Sea coast.

Armenian officials have said that another aim of the infrastructure upgrades in the two South Caucasus states is to make it much easier for neighboring Iran to use Armenian territory for freight shipments to and from Georgia and other countries.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2258406.html

robo_boss

January 7th, 2011, 01:10 AM

^lol Love your signature :)

Newropean

January 11th, 2011, 07:19 PM

Oldest Ever Wine Press Found In Armenian Cave

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Archaeologist Levon Petrosian looks at a 6,100-year-old wine-making equipment discovered by an international project at the excavations of the Areni-1 cave complex.

Archeologists have unearthed the oldest wine-making facility ever found, using biochemical techniques to identify a dry red vintage made about 6,000 years ago in what is now southern Armenia.

The excavation paints a picture of a complex society where mourners tasted a special vintage made at a caveside cemetery, the researchers reported on Tuesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

“This is the world's oldest known installation to make wine,” Gregory Areshian of the University of California Los Angeles, who helped lead the study, said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

Carbon dating showed a desiccated grape vine found near a wine press was grown around 4000 BC, his team reported. This makes it 1,000 years older than any other wine-making facility discovered, the team from Armenia, the United States and Ireland reported.

“The comprehensive tests give us reason to be convinced that wine was produced there 6,000 years ago,” Boris Gasparian, an Armenian archaeologist who led the team, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

The team found the world's oldest leather shoe, about 5,500 years old, at the same cave complex last year. The archaeological site, known as Areni-1, is located in the wine-growing Vayots Dzor province. Areni is also the name of Armenia’s most popular sort of vine used in winemaking.

The wine press would have held a few liters of juice and crushed grapes, likely working with the time-honored technique of barefoot stomping, Areshian said.

“This was a relatively small installation related to the ritual inside the cave. For daily consumption they would have had much larger wine presses in the regular settlement," said Areshian, who was deputy prime minister in the first government of the independent Republic of Armenia in 1991.

Gasparian likewise suggested that wine was distilled at Areni-1 for funeral rites, arguing that his team unearthed human remains around the ancient winery. “The idea was not to just produce and store wine but to use it in the funeral ceremonies,” he said.

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A view of the wine press (C, with vat slightly to the right), dating to roughly 4100 B.C., that was found in the cave among tombs and jars containing dried fruit.

In Gasparian’s words, the expedition has also initiated ongoing DNA tests on grape seeds and skins found there to determine the sort of the grapes and whether it is similar to vines presently grown in Vayots Dzor. “A preliminary examination of the seeds shows that we already had cultivated sorts of grapes 6,000 years ago,” he said.

“We also know that still, in the villages in the vicinity, the culture of wine is very old and traditional,” noted Areshian.

For Avag Harutiunian, the chairman of the Armenian Union of Winemakers, the Areni-1 find, which has grabbed headlines in international media, is also a publicity coup for Armenia. He said the Armenian government should use it to promote Armenian wines beyond the former Soviet Union.

“We could occupy the high-value niche in the international wine market,” Harutiunian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “Our resources are so scarce that we have no right to produce cheap wine.”

The expedition, paid for in part by the National Geographic Society, also uncovered copper processing equipment. Areshian said the team will detail those findings later.

The wine press itself is a shallow clay basin about one meter in diameter, surrounded by grape seeds and dried-out grape vines.

The team found not only grave mounds nearby but also obsidian tools -- indicating some complicated trade was going on. The closest source of obsidian, a black glassy mineral, is 60 to 70 kilometers away, a three-day walk, Areshian said. “We can say that this was a quite complex society formed by multiple communities,” he said.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2273215.html

Turkish-Armenian ‘Friendship’ Statue Faces Demolition

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered the destruction of a giant monument to friendship between Turkey and Armenia, reports from Ankara said on Monday.

The 30-meter (100-foot) unfinished concrete statue, located in the northeastern Turkish city of Kars close to the Armenian border, was commissioned in 2006 to promote dialogue and reconciliation between the two historic enemies. It depicts two figures emerging from one human shape and symbolizing the pain of division.

Visiting Kars on Sunday, Erdogan reportedly described the monument as a “monstrosity” that overshadows a nearby Islamic shrine. The AFP news agency cited Turkish media as saying that he ordered the Kars mayor, a member of his ruling Justice and Development Party, to replace it with a park.

It was not clear if Erdogan referred to Kars’s 10th century Armenian church of Surp Arakelots (Holy Apostles). It was converted into a mosque after the city and the surrounding region were captured from a short-lived independent Armenian republic and incorporated into modern-day Turkey in 1920.

Opponents of Erdogan's Islamic rooted government were critical of his comments, with former culture minister Ercan Karakas saying that they are a “shame” and that “the sculpture is neither strange nor ugly,” according to AFP.

Its author, Turkish sculptor Mehmet Aksoy, defended his work, saying on NTV television its destruction would recall the demolition by the Taliban of ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley in 2001 that stunned the world.

Turkey’s Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that a decision about the monument's fate will be made in consultation with the artist. Gunay noted that it was placed on a historic site of war.
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2272000.html

Newropean

January 11th, 2011, 09:30 PM

Underground works: Yerevan's metro will be renovated due to EU funds

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The Karen Demirchyan Yerevan Metro will be thoroughly renovated for the first time since its founding 30 years ago, with funds of about $41 million allotted by the European Union.

Plans are to renovate the underground system by 2012.

Ninel Vardanyan, Press Secretary of Yerevan Metro, specifically emphasized the importance of a drainage system construction, one of the preconditions for the subway’s security.

“Some works were done in 2008; however, in 2009, they were stopped because of the world economic crisis. But we hope this time we will manage to finish everything,” Vardanyan told ArmeniaNow.

There has been speculation that the subway, which has been running since 1981, and has ten stations, will add another station, which will be constructed in Ajapnyank administrative district. However, no funds have been assigned for such a program yet.
http://www.armenianow.com/economy/25775/yerevan_metro_renovation

Newropean

January 16th, 2011, 09:19 PM

Iran, Armenia discuss details of 25-year deal for gas

Officials of Iran and Armenia reviewed exports of oil products from the Islamic Republic to Armenia.

The swapping of natural gas and electricity, as well as building a pipeline to transfer gasoline and diesel oil from Iran to Armenia, were top on the agenda in the officials' meeting.

Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami, who is leading a delegation to Armenia, met the Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsesyan.

Zeighami said that in their three-day meetings the two sides discussed details of the gas deal which will last for 25 years.

By 2014, a 365 kilometer, 8 inch pipeline will transfer oil products from Tabriz to Yeravan.

In the meeting they also reviewed matters regarding the 400kW electricity line which was recently inaugurated by prominent figures of the two neighboring states.

Iran and Armenia's cooperation covers a vast range of fields, including a natural gas pipeline, oil pipeline, railway tracks, Aras hydro-electric power plant, high voltage power line and other significant projects, Tehran Times reported.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/59683/

Newropean

January 19th, 2011, 02:07 PM

Two vast and ugly blocks of stone

http://media.economist.com/images/images-magazine/2011/01/15/eu/20110115_eup003.jpg

STATUES in Kars are not safe when Recep Tayyip Erdogan is around. When Turkey’s prime minister visited the city last year, the local mayor, who belongs to Mr Erdogan’s mildly Islamist Justice and Development (AK) party, sought to avoid his ire by ordering the removal of a public fountain featuring bare-breasted nymphs. Last week, during another trip to Kars, which lies about 45km west of the border with Armenia, Mr Erdogan called for the demolition of a local monument designed to promote reconciliation between Turks and Armenians. The statue, of two 30-metre-tall concrete figures reaching out to each other, was, he said, a “freak”.

Mr Erdogan insisted that his distaste was purely aesthetic. Yet some suspect him of pandering to nationalist sentiment in the run-up to elections in June. Many Turks see the statue as an admission of Armenia’s charge that the slaughter of up to 1.5m Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915 amounted to genocide. In 2009 the then mayor of Kars, Naif Alibeyoglu, who had commissioned the statue, was forced out under pressure from Mr Erdogan and the city’s 20% ethnic Azeri population (egged on by Azerbaijan, which disliked Turkey’s efforts to make peace with Armenia).

Mr Erdogan has backed away from a set of protocols signed with Armenia in 2009 that foresaw the establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of borders. These were sealed in 1993 after Armenia’s short war with Azerbaijan over the mainly Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Mr Erdogan insists that the protocols can only be ratified if Armenia withdraws from seven regions it occupies around the enclave. Armenia is threatening to scrap the deal altogether.

But there is also a whiff of Islamic orthodoxy in the air. Mr Erdogan’s tirade against the Kars statue included references to Hasan Harakani, an ancient Muslim scholar buried nearby. “They erected a strange thing next to his mausoleum… it is unthinkable,” he complained. Many Muslim scholars consider statues to be idolatrous, and other AK officials have not disguised their aversion to them. Ankara’s mayor, Melih Gokcek, has systematically dismantled statues erected by his pro-secular predecessors. “I spit on this kind of art,” he once said.

Mehmet Aksoy, the designer of the Kars monument, says that the government risks being seen as “the Taliban” if it presses its demands. But Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has backed his boss, arguing that Mr Aksoy’s work fails to blend into the Seljuk, Ottoman and Russian character of the city. He might have included Kars’ Armenian legacy, but that is being erased. A long-abandoned tenth-century Armenian church recently reopened—as a mosque.
http://www.economist.com/node/17905911

Newropean

February 2nd, 2011, 10:34 AM

Nobody else but me updating here, eh?

The Will to Go: Series of polls and studies show disturbing numbers for future population

According to UN forecasts, in 2050, Armenia’s population will be 2.3-2.5 million, down some 800,000 from the official count. It is believed that, in fact, the real population of Armenia is about 2.3-2.5 million presently, meaning no growth is expected over the next three decades.

Influencing the condition is a reluctance by couples to have multiple-children families, as 46 percent of adults who responded to a UN poll said they do not plan to have more than one child, because they hope to leave the country.

Meanwhile neighboring Azerbaijan is predicted to double from today’s nine million to make 18 million.

These are among remarkable statistics that also influence emigration numbers recently released by the Head Department of Civil Aviation.

According to trends of travel, Armenians are very much ready to abandon their home country and move abroad.

Last year saw the number of outgoing passengers increase by 87,000 as compared to 2009 (in 2009 nearly 730,000 left Armenia. In 2010 the number of outgoing passengers was more than 816,000). Further, more than 60,000 people left Armenia without returning, nearly 39 percent more than the previous year.

Deputy Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Armenia Garik Hayrapetyan says that two main types of migration are observed in Armenia – internal (the movement of the population from rural areas and small towns to cities) and external (people migrating abroad).

“This is a problem that requires a complex solution, since people move because they seek a better, and most importantly, more secure life,” says Hayrapetyan.

According to a study conducted by the Gallup International research center in 2009 to gauge migration trends in the former Soviet countries, 39 percent of the population in Armenia wish to leave Armenia permanently.

Former Central Bank governor Bagrat Asatryan considers economic conditions as the main causes of migration, in particular the inflation that reached nearly 10 percent in Armenia in 2010.

“Inflation next year will be higher than its expected level. The sad thing is that emigration will increase. As many as 65,000 people emigrated last year. This is the result of the ‘talented’ policies of the authorities,” says Asatryan, a pro-opposition figure.

According to the United Nations national report “Migration and Human Development: Opportunities and Challenges”, the causes of migration in Armenia are the shortage of jobs, obstacles to doing business and general unsatisfactory social conditions.

According to the report, 80 percent of emigrating Armenians leave for Russia, where they are likely to get hard and low-paying jobs.

These people are mainly from Armenian provinces, like Beniamin Kirakosyan, from the town of Chambarak in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province.

“I am a retired military man receiving a pension. But thank God, I can work to maintain my family. But where can I work? I don’t know whether to go to Yerevan, or to go abroad for seasonal work or leave the country for good,” he says.

The nearest census of the population in Armenia is due this year. The last such census taken in 2001 showed the number of Armenia’s permanent population at a little more than 3.2 million.
http://www.armenianow.com/social/27385/population_migration_armenia

robo_boss

February 3rd, 2011, 06:13 AM

Nobody else but me updating here, eh?

Looks like it, the whole subforum is pretty much dead anyway, i dont think anybody comes to this ghost town, and i keep forgetting about this thread, thanks for keeping it alive though.

Edlaut

February 4th, 2011, 01:26 PM

Пакистан из-за позиции Армении по вопросу Нагорного Карабаха не признает такого государства, как Армения, заявил пакистанский посол в Баку Абдул Хамид. По словам пакистанского дипломата, Армения как страна, которая демонстративно нарушает международное право и продолжает оккупацию чужих территорий, не может быть другом Пакистана. "Наша страна с первых дней независимости Азербайджана была рядом с ним, и так будет всегда", - отметил посол в пятницу 4 февраля на пресс-конференции в Баку. По его словам, "проблемы Азербайджана - это проблемы Пакистана".

"Наша страна была одним из лоббистов принятия первой резолюции Совбеза ООН об оккупации азербайджанских территорий. В то время как Пакистан поддерживал позицию Азербайджана во время принятия последней резолюции ООН об оккупированных территориях, некоторые исламские страны и Индия заняли совершенно деструктивную позицию. Пакистан за справедливую позицию в отношении карабахского вопроса, и пока Армения не изменит своей позиции по этому вопросу, Пакистан никогда не признает этого государства", - резюмировал он.

http://regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/armenia/1371647.html

robo_boss

February 5th, 2011, 07:04 AM

Edlaut

February 7th, 2011, 10:13 AM

Armenian President meets Hillary Clinton

In the framework of the Security Policy Conference in Munich, President Serzh Sargsyan met with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on February 5.

Presidential press service informed Armenian News- NEWS.am that Armenian President stressed the importance of the active participation of the United States in the NK peace process as well as in the preservation of peace and stability in the region. Serzh Sargsyan expressed gratitude to the US Secretary of State for the unequivocal and balanced position articulated during the OSCE Summit in Astana regarding the resolution of the NK issue

Mrs. Clinton said that she warmly recalls her visit to Yerevan and expressed gratitude for the welcoming reception.

Speaking about Armenia-Turkey relations, the US Secretary of State stressed the resolve of the United States to support the continuation of the process aimed at the normalization of the relations between the two countries.

The President of Armenia and US Secretary of State discussed a wide range of issues related to the further development of the Armenian-American bilateral relations and strengthening of the economic ties. The parties discussed also the current stage of the NK peace negotiations and issues related to the reformation processes in Armenia.

The delegation headed by President Sargsyan has returned to Yerevan.

http://news.am/pic/news/46977.jpg

http://news.am/eng/news/46977.html

Edlaut

February 7th, 2011, 10:17 AM

Stevie Wonder to perform in concert commemorating Armenian Genocide victims

Renowned singer and pianist Stevie Wonder, as well as other stars will perform at the concerts commemorating memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.

Five-year series of concerts titled “Never Again” will finish in 2015, the year when 100 anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be marked, Russia-based Yerkramas newspaper reported.

The participants will highlight genocides which occurred in Rwanda, Cambodia and Sudan.

The first concert will take place on April 17, 2011 in Hollywood in Universal City Gibson Amphitheatre with participation of Stevie Wonder, Canadian musician David Foster and famous Armenian singer Flora Martirosyan.

http://news.am/eng/news/46950.html

vartal

February 21st, 2011, 12:03 PM

Наш дорогой метрополитен

http://www.express.am/27_10/metro27-big.jpg

Каким встретит свой тридцатилетний юбилей Ереванский метрополитен?
Недавно в прессе промелькнула информация о том, что планируется проведение линии метро до аэропорта "Звартноц". Как рассказал министр транспорта и связи РА Манук Варданян, линия метро до аэропорта будет, скорее, всего наземная. Еще одна станция метро, по словам министра, будет построена в Ачапняке, а также намечено пробить новый переход на стацию "Еритасардакан". Переговоры о финансировании ведутся с Азиатским банком развития.
Разговоры о возобновлении строительства станции метро в Ачапняке идут не один год. В 2007 году проект вроде бы ожил, но из-за отсутствия средств так и остался нереализованным. И вот вновь забрезжила надежда. Ачапняк -- "спальный" район, и ежедневно тысячи людей едут отсюда на работу и обратно. Значение строительства здесь линии метро трудно переоценить. Она поможет разгрузить уже не справляющиеся со все возрастающими транспортными потоками улицы. Другой вопрос -- насколько актуально и, главное, реально строительство линии метро до "Звартноца"? Пусть даже и наземной. Что об этом рассуждает человек, не один десяток лет отдавший работе в метро и знающий эту сферу досконально? Прокомментировать ситуацию мы попросили директора ЗАО "Ереванский метрополитен им.Карена Демирчяна" Пайлака Яйлояна.

-- О строительстве линии метро до аэропорта "Звартноц" я, честно говоря, не слышал. Насколько можно судить, это достаточно амбициозный и дорогой проект, но если Азиатский банк развития выделит на это дело деньги, то почему бы нет? Многие европейские столицы имеют линию метро, связывающую аэропорт с центром города. Почему бы и Еревану не обзавестись такой? Хотя я считаю, что сегодня гораздо насущнее проблема строительства двух станций метро в районе Ачапняк. А еще строительство перехода со станции "Еритасардакан", выходящего на угол проспекта Саят-Нова и улицы Абовяна. Кстати, строительство этого перехода планировалось изначально, но по разным причинам каждый раз откладывалось. И недавно был подписан трехсторонний меморандум между Азиатским банком развития, Министерством экономики РА и мэрией Еревана по финансированию работ по продолжению ветки в сторону Ачапняка и строительству нового выхода со станции "Еритасардакан". Переговоры о финансировании проекта продолжаются. Надеюсь, они завершатся успешно.

-- Одна из станций в Ачапняке планировалась на улице Алабяна, недалеко от бывшего кинотеатра "Арагац". Там и до сих пор сохранились некоторые станционные сооружения.
-- Не думаю, что сейчас, по прошествии стольких лет, их можно будет использовать. К тому же это место давно уже застроено другими объектами. Уверен, что оптимальное место для станции -- это перекресток улиц Алабяна и Маркаряна. Во-первых, это транспортный узел на один из крупнейших районов города -- Давидашен, и поблизости расположены Институт физики и Республиканская больница. Не говоря уже о десятках жилых зданий. Представляете, какую роль может сыграть эта станция для разгрузки транспортных потоков? Вторая станция, по всей видимости, расположится в районе 16-го квартала. Это цепочка из десятков высотных зданий, в каждом из которых проживают сотни человек. А еще метро поможет быстрее добраться до места приезжающим на работу в столицу жителям Аштарака и других близжайших районов.

-- Строительство метро-моста через реку Раздан, насколько известно, было начато давно.
-- Да, лет десять назад. Были построены опоры, но работы так и не были завершены. Поэтому параллельно со станциями будет вестись строительство метро-моста. Если, повторяю, удастся получить деньги на это.

-- Вы не верите в реальность этого проекта?
-- Как раз этот проект достаточно реален. Если руководству Минэкономики и мэрии Еревана удастся успешно завершить переговоры и подписать договор с Азиатским банком развития, то думаю, что за 4-5 лет проект будет реализован.

-- Давайте поговорим о проблемах метрополитена. Каков подвижной состав Ереванского метро?
-- На нашем балансе 70 вагонов метро, из которых реально работает меньше половины. Это 15 подвижных составов (всего 30 вагонов). Собственно, использовать больше вагонов сегодня просто не имеет смысла. В 1993-94 гг., когда ереванское метро перевозило в день до 300 тысяч пассажиров, приходилось выпускать на линию все 70 вагонов. Сегодня мы перевозим в пять раз меньше -- около 60 тысяч человек в день. Кстати, в случае ввода в эксплуатацию новых станций в Ачапняке число пассажиров может увеличиться на 50%.

-- В будущем году Ереванскому метрополитену исполнится 30 лет. Первый поезд метро проехал в столице 7 марта 1981 года. С тех пор подвижной состав ни разу не обновлялся. Помнится, несколько лет назад мы беседовали с Вами о проблемах метрополитена, и одной из них Вы назвали проблему обновления подвижного состава. Что изменилось с тех пор?
-- Эта проблема остается актуальной и сегодня. Конечно, мы проводим профилактику и капитальный ремонт подвижного состава, стараемся сохранять вагоны в более-менее приличном состоянии. Но ведь вагонам почти три десятка лет, не можем же мы латать и перекрашивать их до бесконечности. Существует понятие морального и материального износа, так что рано или поздно новые вагоны покупать придется.

-- А что мешает приобрести их сейчас?
-- Вы шутите? Один вагон метро европейского, да и российского производства, стоит около 1 млн долларов. А у нас, как Вы понимаете, таких денег нет. Мы и так сидим на шее государства -- Ереванское метро сегодня покрывает лишь 40% своих расходов, остальные 60% субсидирует государство. Собственно, так работают метро во всем мире. Московское метро, ежедневно перевозящее до 8 млн пассажиров, тоже работает с убытком. Собственно, логика тут простая: чем больше перевозишь пассажиров, тем больше и расходов.
-- Получается, что в обозримом будущем приобрести новые вагоны вам не светит?
-- По этой цене -- нет. Но открою Вам секрет. Сейчас я веду переговоры с руководством Тбилисского филиала Московского завода по ремонту электроподвижного состава. Вот посмотрите (Яйлоян демонстрирует рекламный буклет предприятия), на этой фотографии -- старый вагон, которому, как минимум, три десятка лет, а это -- тот же вагон, прошедший капитальный ремонт, подвергшийся, так сказать, тюнингу. Стремительные линии, современный дизайн экстерьера и интерьера с использованием современных материалов, мягкое освещение, удобные сиденья -- в этом обновленном вагоне трудно узнать старый обшарпанный вагон. Причем учтите, обновляется не только внешний вид и внутреннее убранство вагона, но и его ходовая часть. В итоге получаем новенький современный вагон метро.

-- И сколько стоит такое "удовольствие"?
-- "Евроремонт" одного вагона обойдется примерно в 300 тысяч долларов. Поверьте, это гораздо выгоднее, чем платить за новый вагон миллион. Так что игра, уверен, стоит свеч.

-- У метро есть хоть такие деньги?
-- Откуда?! Очень надеюсь, что в этом вопросе нам поможет Ереванская мэрия, на балансе которой, собственно, и находится метро. В ближайшее время собираемся пригласить руководство тбилисского предприятия в Ереван, где пройдут более предметные переговоры с участием мэра Г.Бегларяна. Если наша идея получит поддержку руководства мэрии, на что я очень надеюсь, то в ближайшее время наши пассажиры будут иметь возможность увидеть первый новенький и красивый вагон.
Источник (http://www.express.am/27_10/economics27.html)

Newropean

February 23rd, 2011, 12:11 AM

Harasho harasho, keep the articles coming! :)

shkhara

March 3rd, 2011, 03:44 PM

armenian wine?:lol::lol::lol: first wine made by georgians and 6000 years ago there werer not any armenian in caucasus. after all word wine in any other language came from georgian word ghvino.:)

robo_boss

March 5th, 2011, 12:51 AM

All hail the mighty Georgians and their magnificent wine:master::master::master:

Newropean

March 6th, 2011, 10:37 PM

Someone looked in here! What a weird feeling..

robo_boss

March 8th, 2011, 01:32 AM

Just some dude from the Georgian subforum. They "invented" and "patented" the word "wine", so we cant use it.

Newropean

March 15th, 2011, 10:06 PM

UK think tank blasts Armenia on pace of reforms

The pace of reform in Armenia has been slow, a new report by a London-based think tank has concluded, criticizing a lack of democratic development, a lack of judicial independence and the suppression of media freedom.

In Armenia “the pace of reform has been slow, much better on paper than in practice, and ... this is undermining the hopes and aspirations of the Armenian people,” the Foreign Policy Centre wrote in its “Spotlight on Armenia” report.

In addition from the three areas “in need of urgent reform” – judicial independence, media freedom and democratic development – the report’s numerous authors also address a range of other challenges facing Armenia, including poor legislative implementation, corruption, a poor human-rights record and insufficient penitentiary services.

Among the recommendations put forward by the report, the authors suggest “bringing forward a new package of constitutional reform in conjunction with civil society and opposition parties.” The stipulations for such reform include: ending the presidential appointment of judges and members of the Council of Justice and replacing the process with selection by parliament or an independent commission; transferring appointments to the board of the National TV and Radio Commission and the public broadcaster from the president to the parliament, transforming local government with the election of regional governors and greater accountability at the community level and liberalizing the electoral code to facilitate independent election observers.

The Foreign Policy Centre, which was founded in 1998 by Britain’s foreign secretary and has three co-presidents, each representing one of Britain’s major political parties, also offers suggestions to the international community in relation to dealing with Armenia. These recommendations include a call for international donor funding for a permanent independent polling agency in Armenia, as well as other incentives to promote reform.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=uk-think-tank-blasts-armenia-on-reforms-2011-03-04

Newropean

March 17th, 2011, 11:37 PM

Two articles about the Metsamor nuclear power plant:

Armenia ‘Protected’ Against Major Nuclear Plant Emergency
Armenia is immune to the kind of nuclear emergency that has struck Japan, despite being located in a seismically active zone and having a functioning Soviet-built nuclear power plant not considered safe enough by Western governments, officials in Yerevan insisted on Monday.

Citing “research by Armenian and foreign scientists,” the head of the Armenian State Committee on Nuclear Safety Regulation, Ashot Martirosian, said a magnitude 8.9 earthquake, which has wreaked havoc on Japan, is highly unlikely to hit the mountainous country.

Martirosian also argued that the reactor cooling system of the nuclear plant at Metsamor is different from that of the Fukushima Daiichi facility.

The Japanese authorities have blamed the failure of the cooling system for explosions at two Fukushima reactors in the aftermath of the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Diesel-powered emergency backup generators, which are meant to keep the reactor cores cool during an emergency shutdown, were flooded and knocked out by the tsunami.

Japan -- Smoke rises from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, 14Mar2011The Fukushima plant has six reactors that were built in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Metsamor’s two reactors went on stream in 1976 and 1980.

Citing security concerns, the Soviet government decided to shut them down one year after the powerful 1988 earthquake that killed some 25,000 people and devastated much of northwestern Armenia. The plant is located 75 kilometers from the epicenter of the quake.

Metsamor’s second reactor was reactivated in 1995 to end a severe energy crisis that crippled Armenia in the early and mid-1990s. The then Armenian government made the decision despite objections from the United States and the European Union.

The latter classified the plant’s VVER 440-V230 light-water reactor as one of the “oldest and least reliable” of 66 such facilities built in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Both the EU and the U.S. have spent tens of millions of dollars to finance significant safety improvements at Metsamor since 1995.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Martirosian insisted that the Metsamor plant is now reliable enough to withstand a powerful earthquake similar to the 1988 calamity. He also claimed that its cooling system is more reliable than Fukushima’s.

“The Metsamor reactor is cooled by a second contour, which is a separate system, a separate barrier,” said the official. “Theoretically, such an emergency situation can not arise here.”

Armenia -- The Metsamor nuclear plant, undatedBut Suren Azatian, Metsamor’s former director general, cautioned that the plant close to Yerevan is “not that protected” against radioactive leaks. He argued that unlike Metsamor, Fukushima has concrete containment vessels around its reactors that appear to have not been breached after the tsunami.

Even so, Azatian asserted that Armenia should continue to heavily rely on atomic energy. “After [the 1986 accident at the nuclear plant in] Chernobyl, all safety standards here were radically toughened,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “They will again be revised after the Japanese emergency. In case of implementing them, we can build and exploit [nuclear plants] without problems.”

“One must not panic and say that this is a terrible technology that must be abandoned,” Azatian said. “That’s wrong. Such an approach would be unjustified. After all, our nuclear power plant continued to operate during the [1988] earthquake, which was no less devastating.”

The current Armenian government has made clear that the Metsamor reactor, which generates about 40 percent of Armenia’s electricity, will remain operational until it is replaced by a more modern and bigger facility. The new reactor is due to be constructed by a Russian-Armenian joint venture set up last year.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2338090.html

Experts: Armenian nuclear power plant safe from quake

The devastating earthquake in Japan was registered in Garni’s and Vayk’s observation stations of the National Seismic Protection Service at the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia. These stations are included in the international seismological network, and are unique in the region.

Hrachya Petrosyan, head of the National Seismic Protection Service at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, said at a press conference on Tuesday that Armenian stations register quakes frequently, because Armenia is located in a seismically active zone.

“Thanks to mild quakes the seismic energy, accumulated in the earth’s crust, discharges, which does not result in energy accumulation in the form of devastating earthquake,” Petrosyan says.

Speaking about the unsafe condition of reactors of nuclear power plants in Japan, Zaven Khlghatyan, Head of the Center of Seismic Stability of Structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, says that Japan being such a major country, should have been ready for it and should have taken the tsunami threat into consideration.

Speaking about the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, Petrosyan says that it is registered on the list of objects of special importance. It was built according to special standards during the Soviet period, and the fact that it was being built in a seismically active zone, was taken into consideration.

“It may confront up to a 9-magnitude earthquake. Unfortunately, there is a problem, that our nuclear power plant does not have a protecting layer, which absorbs exhausted dangerous elements in case of an accident. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant also did not have that protecting coat,” Petrosyan says.

Planning works of a new nuclear power plant are currently being held in Armenia. According to the officials of the National Seismic Protection Service at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, it will have at least 9-magnitude seismic resistance.

http://www.armenianow.com/news/28259/japan_tsunami_armenian_nuclear_power_plant

Armenia should get rid of this old stuff quickly imo.

Newropean

March 17th, 2011, 11:38 PM

And one about aviation in NK:

35 Minutes to NKR: Flights to begin May 9
The Civil Aviation Department of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic has announced that flights from Yerevan to Stepanakert’s newly renovated airport will begin May 9 – a date that also marks the re-taking of Shushi (1994) by Armenian forces.

A one-way ticket for the 35-minute flight is expected to cost 15,000 drams ($41) and will be operated by Artsakhavia Airlines on three 50-passenger SRJ-200 aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Administration of Azerbaijan says it has a right to shoot down any aircraft flying into the airport as it would violate the no flight zone designated by the Azeris, who see the self-declared NKR as “occupied territory”.

http://www.armenianow.com/economy/business/28273/armenia_karabakh_flight

Newropean

March 27th, 2011, 08:23 AM

Euro 2012 qualifying:

Russia frustrated by obdurate Armenia

Group B has been thrown wide open after Russia passed up the opportunity to extend their two-point lead to five when they were held to a goalless draw in Yerevan.

Of the two teams, it was the hosts who started the strongest, and Vardan Minasyan's men could have taken the lead on 19 minutes had Igor Akinfeev not repelled Marcos Pizzelli's long shot. Russia replied immediately, though, and Yuri Zhirkov's left-wing cross caused confusion in Armenia's rearguard, forcing Roman Berezovsky into a reaction save from a miscued clearance.

Chelsea FC defender Zhirkov then tested Berezovsky again, this time with a fierce shot that the home side's No1 saved superbly. The 36-year-old could do nothing about Sergei Ignashevich's powerful header on 37 minutes, however, but was relieved to watch it fly wide.

Armenia threw more men forward after the break and were almost rewarded when Pizzelli picked out Yura Movsisyan, who beat the advancing Akinfeev from six metres only for his shot to bobble off target. At the other end, Aleksandr Kerzhakov missed with two presentable opportunities, one of them a free-kick, while Alan Dzagoev's goalbound effort from the edge of the box was blocked by Artur Edigaryan.

Russia's Roman Shirokov began to grow in influence in midfield and had two late attempts on goal. The FC Zenit St Petersburg man was nonetheless unable to find the target after being put through by Konstantin Zyryanov's incisive pass, and then fired over from distance four minutes from time.

Russia remain two points clear of fourth-placed Armenia – who travel to Russia on 4 June – but Dick Advocaat's charges have now slipped to second in Group B, behind new leaders Slovakia, who – like the Republic of Ireland – also have ten points following victories this evening.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/matches/season=2012/round=15171/match=2002237/postmatch/report/index.html

QWECXZ

March 28th, 2011, 05:29 AM

I may go to Armenia next year summer. I'm wondering how they think of Iranians? Do they think of us as friends or enemies? lol I talked to some Armenians and they looked to be friendly toward us, but some others were not so. so, taking the fact that more than a million Armenians lived in Iran and many of them still live in Iran into account, what should I expect to face as an Iranian in Armenia?

robo_boss

March 28th, 2011, 08:53 PM

Iranians are always welcome in Armenia. Armenians have different feeling towards Iranians, most of them think of you as friends. You will not face any hostility, that is for sure. There are Iranian stores and restaurants in Yerevan that will make you feel like home.

robo_boss

March 29th, 2011, 10:16 PM

An Armenian to be the new Turkey's ambassador to France.

An ethnic Armenian, Daron Acemoglu, was appointed as the new Turkish Ambassador to France, a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry told PanARMENIAN.Net

Daron Acemoglu is a Turkish economist of Armenian origin. He is currently the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal. The economist was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize.

In one of his recent statements, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey views Armenia as "a potential friend".

On March 3, Turkish State Council adopted decision allowing a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin Leo Suren Halepli to work for Turkey's secretariat general for EU affairs.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/65561/Ethnic_Armenian_appointed_as_new_Turkish_Ambassador_to_France

QWECXZ

March 30th, 2011, 01:56 PM

Newropean

March 30th, 2011, 06:35 PM

An Armenian to be the new Turkey's ambassador to France.

Huh, that's unexpected! Good surprise.
:okay:

Newropean

April 7th, 2011, 01:38 PM

Georgian woman cuts off web access to whole of Armenia

An elderly Georgian woman was scavenging for copper to sell as scrap when she accidentally sliced through an underground cable and cut off internet services to all of neighbouring Armenia, it emerged on Wednesday.

The woman, 75, had been digging for the metal not far from the capital Tbilisi when her spade damaged the fibre-optic cable on 28 March.

As Georgia provides 90% of Armenia's internet, the woman's unwitting sabotage had catastrophic consequences. Web users in the nation of 3.2 million people were left twiddling their thumbs for up to five hours as the country's main internet providers - ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa – were prevented from supplying their normal service. Television pictures showed reporters at a news agency in the capital Yerevan staring glumly at blank screens.

Large parts of Georgia and some areas of Azerbaijan were also affected.

"It was a 75-year-old woman who was digging for copper in the ground so that she could sell it for scrap," said a spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry said yesterday.

Dubbed "the spade-hacker" by local media, the woman – who has not been named – is being investigated on suspicion of damaging property. She faces up to three years in prison if charged and convicted.

A spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry said the woman was temporarily released "on account of her old age" but could face more questioning.

The damage was detected by a system monitoring the fibre-optic link from western Europe and a security team was immediately dispatched to the spot, where the woman was arrested. The interior ministry said she had no accomplices.

The cable is owned by the Georgian railway network. It is heavily protected, but landslides or heavy rain may have exposed it to scavengers.

Pulling up unused copper cables for scrap is a common means of making money in the former Soviet Union. Some entrepreneurs have even used tractors to wrench out hundreds of metres of cable from the former nuclear testing ground at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/06/georgian-woman-cuts-web-access

Newropean

April 17th, 2011, 08:54 PM

:dance:

:rock:

P-xqCMz2aZM

robo_boss

April 20th, 2011, 04:57 AM

Emmy will represent Armenia in Eurovision this year with the song Boom Boom :
JSbCuhGPXa4
This woman has no voice and the song is terrible. As always Armenia does not care about the winning, just participating is good enough:wallbash:. Oh well, 20th place here we come.

robo_boss

April 20th, 2011, 05:00 AM

Same singer, i like this song.

QA4b12mHywM

robo_boss

April 22nd, 2011, 11:14 PM

Tamar Kaprelian, an Armenian-American singer, a rising star. She refused the offer to represent Armenia in Eurovision 2011. What a shame!

Rqp5VwMMAX4

Hot Hot Hot!!!

Newropean

April 24th, 2011, 08:03 PM

A commemmoration of the Armenian Genocide in the central Taksim square in Istanbul:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3398.jpg

The poster reads: "This pain belongs to us all."

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3392.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3402.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3401.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3396.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3395.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3388.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3394.jpg

Most of the ceremony was held in silence, except three short speeches, and the participants were sitting.
Press attended in masses.

Newropean

April 24th, 2011, 08:14 PM

The commemmoration was under heavy police protection, probably because of the inevitable counter-demonstration:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3386.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3384.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/DSCN3404.jpg
It was organized by the "People's Salvation Party", which is apparently Communist.
The posters read "We are against a new Sèvres (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_sevres)! Long live our second salvation war!" and "We will prove that the Armenian Genocide is a lie!" And the poster with Lenin and Kemal reads: "The anti-imperialist leader from our first salvation war and his biggest ally"
This protest was much smaller than the commemmoration, maybe with 30 participants.

emrearas

April 26th, 2011, 01:18 PM

well if armenia russia and turkey wont open their archives to public and scientist no one can say its a genocide or not. or even who killed whom...
as i know turkey clearly say to open archives in İstanbul and ankara but armenia didnt shıw any sympathy for that.

and trying to make advantage from st happened 100 years ago and which is alos unclear is more tragic for people of today.

robo_boss

April 28th, 2011, 06:32 AM

Whats in those archives? Do you think Turkey kept any documents that might compromise them? Armenian genocide is a known fact that most historians agree on. There's nothing to investigate.

vartal

May 3rd, 2011, 11:30 PM

Не знаю, есть ли тема про Ереванский метрополитен, поэтому размещу статью здесь.

Метрополитен - наша печаль и надежда

7 марта 1981 года в г.Ереване было всеобщее ликование — открыли первую линию метрополитена, которая начиналась станцией “Дружба” в конце улицы им.Маршала Баграмяна и завершалась станцией “Давид Сасунский” на привокзальной площади. Всего она включала в себя 4 станции. Конечно, не густо, но ведь всегда с чего-то надо начинать.
Ереванцы смаковали это событие разговорами, как наш К.Демирчян задабривал лично Леонида Брежнева, что в начале метрополитен назывался скоростным трамваем, что пришлось сделать приписки населения людьми из близлежащих поселков для того, чтобы город стал миллионным, да и вообще какие мы, армяне, шустрые и еще сотни других баек по этому поводу, переплетенных с полуправдой.
С декабря 1981 по декабрь 1989 г. было открыто еще 5 станций, а в 1996 году — станция-депо “Чарбах”. Протяженность линии достигла 13,4 км. Для полноты счастья оставалось соединить линиями метро основные жилые массивы города. Однако после развала Советской страны финансировать строительство метрополитена в небольшой стране стало тяжело, тем более что до мая 1994 года в Карабахе велись активные боевые действия и свободные ресурсы направлялись туда. Однако с тех пор прошло 17 лет и при желании можно было сдать хотя бы 2-3 станции, не говоря уже о долгострое в Ачапняке и Давидашене, который 30 лет мозолит глаз.
Ведь строятся же в нашей стране и столице сотни километров автомобильных дорог, стоимость которых хотя и ниже подземных трасс метро, но уже сопоставима с ними, не говоря уже о наземных участках трассы.
Европейским инвестиционным банком выделено 15 млн евро на улучшение работы метро, но пойдут они только на повышение безопасности, ремонт подвижного состава и другие работы.
Так в чем же дело? Почему же развитие метрополитена вообще остановилось? Ларчик открывается просто. Думаю, дело в том, что очень многие влиятельные бизнесмены Армении, в том числе и депутаты парламента, являются к тому же владельцами различных автопарков такси и линий маршруток. Поскольку в своей жизни они руководствуются только личной выгодой, а не интересами страны, то соответственно саботируют все решения, связанные с развитием метрополитена в самом зародыше.
Большинство депутатов никогда не выступают на заседаниях парламента, никто вообще не слышал от них никаких дельных предложений и вне трибуны, а вся их работа сводится к лоббированию своих интересов и блокированию любых идей, не приносящих им личных дивидендов. В кулуарных беседах эти “деятели” обосновывают свою позицию по метрополитену его убыточностью Но, во-первых, я вообще никогда не слышал о доходных метро, да и не это является целью их строительства, а во-вторых, кому в жизни встречался хотя бы один хозяйственный субъект, включая даже парикмахерскую или сапожную будку, который был бы рентабельным, будучи мало посещаемым клиентами. В прежние годы, когда работали заводы, метро было более оживленным, но с приходом к власти псевдодемократов и удушения ими промышленности пассажиропоток уменьшился с 240-280 тыс. пассажиров в день до 40-45 тысяч. Но главная причина малой доходности метро кроется в его малочисленных станциях. Человек не сядет в метро, если он должен долго добираться до него, а затем снова мучиться в пути после окончания поездки. Однако при разветвленности сети многие предпочтут его, даже имея личный автотранспорт, особенно снежной зимой и знойным летом. Таким образом, метрополитен если не станет рентабельным, то, уверен, приблизится к самоокупаемости. А маршрутные такси будут работать в коротком плече вокруг одной станции или соединять две, три, при этом заработок водителей только увеличится (опыт Москвы и др. городов).
Более 12 лет я проработал в отделе охраны природы Госплана Армении, который в советское время у нас, как и в других республиках, считался ее сердцем и возглавлял направление природоохранного строительства. Вопросы развития метрополитена я неоднократно обсуждал с моим руководителем и учителем Бадалом Мурадяном, непосредственно курировавшим нам отдел. В свое время, будучи председателем Совмина, он координировал работы по подготовке и строительству метрополитена в 1972 году. С 1982 г. он являлся заместителем председателя Госплана. Так вот, этот любопытнейший человек считал, что развитие метрополитена является единственной панацеей от многочисленных пробок в Ереване и от загрязнения окружающей среды автотранспортом, который и в те годы, и сейчас является основным источником канцерогенов. А ведь по перспективному плану развития мы в 2010 году должны были иметь полсотни станций вместо теперешних 10.
В ровеснике Карфагена — Ереване проживает более 1/3 населения и находится основная часть предприятий страны. Такое бурное развитие в городе началось начиная с 30-х годов, и это было стратегической ошибкой с точки зрения безопасности в случае возникновения военных действий или других катаклизмов. Нельзя такой громадный (в масштабах Армении) людской и промышленный потенциал сосредотачивать в одном месте. Город плохо проветривается, чему еще больше способствует застройка центра в последние годы многоэтажными зданиями. Фактически исчезло понятие дворов, так как многие из этих зданий именно там и разместились. Сейчас можно говорить о пространстве между зданиями. Из-за строительства пристроек в большинстве дворов невозможен заезд пожарных команд и другой тяжелой техники. Читатель, наверное, спросит: какое все это имеет отношение к развитию метрополитена? Прямое. Необходимо разгрузить город и особенно центр. А сделать это может только метрополитен.
Находясь недавно по приглашению Соса Саркисяна на презентации его книги в Культурном центре Текеян, я услышал из его выступления, что одним из двух его сокровенных желаний является перенос столицы в другое место, где-то повыше Абовяна. Тогда он не раскрыл скобки, но в личной беседе этот мудрый человек высказал свои опасения, о которых я в основном написал выше.
Что касается роли метрополитена и других подземных коммуникаций в обороноспособности страны, то ее трудно переоценить. Я специально консультировался по этому вопросу с бывшим начальником Генштаба Армении Норатом Тер-Григорянцем. В случае военной угрозы метрополитен должен стать объектом гражданской обороны для населения, командным пунктом для руководства, средством хранения и доставки грузов военного и гражданского назначения. Под землей на специальных вагонетках можно неожиданно для противника перевозить зенитно-ракетные установки и средства огневого поражения в разные районы города. Чтобы не загружать статью, ограничусь только этим небольшим кусочком из высказываний боевого генерала.
Предвижу первое мнение читателей по этой статье. “В общих чертах мы и сами много чего из вышеизложенного себе представляли, но где ответ на главный вопрос, как у Высоцкого — “где деньги, Зин?” Думаю, что если называть станции метро именами людей, спонсировавших их строительство, то можно будет добиться успеха. Автор этой статьи с момента создания Союза армян России в 2000 г. работал в этой организации в Москве, возглавляя участок по связям с бизнесменами, так что знаком со многими из них не понаслышке. Большинство богатых людей (не хочется употреблять слово “олигархов”) увековечивает свои имена постройкой церквей в районах Армении (в основном там, где рождены они сами или их предки). В подавляющем числе в этих церквах служба не проводилась ни после окончания строительства, ни тем более сейчас, когда многие села обезлюдели. Дело, как правило, ограничивалось их освящением. Но зачем нам столько бездействующих храмов-новоделов? Неужели Всевышний одобряет это? Если же мы начнем, точнее — продолжим развернутое строительство метро, то это вдохнет жизнь в экономику, подтянутся другие отрасли народного хозяйства, ослабеет, в конце концов, миграция населения.
Вот вам и Временная Национальная Идея, во всяком случае на ближайшие три десятка лет, пока не найдется что-то получше.
Новое_время (http://www.nv.am/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12382&Itemid=8)

Newropean

May 8th, 2011, 10:26 PM

Cultural gesture: Turkey intends to restore the cathedral in ancient Armenian city of Ani

Turkey has launched a project to conserve an ancient Armenian cathedral and a church in what is seen as a gesture of reconciliation toward neighboring Armenia, writes Turkish Today’s Zaman.

According to Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay the new project was being launched in partnership with the World Monuments Fund to conserve the remains of the cathedral and the Church of the Holy Savior in Ani, 40 kilometers from the eastern city of Kars.

“Ani, which is of global significance, presents particularly complicated challenges,” Günay said. “We hope that giving new life to the remains of once-splendid buildings, such as the Ani Cathedral and church, will bring new economic opportunities to the region.”

Turkey says it is committed to improving ties with Armenia, and has already restored the 10th century Akhtamar church, perched on a rocky island in Lake Van in eastern Turkey. It has also allowed once-yearly worship at the site as a gesture to Armenia and its own ethnic Armenian minority.

Günay did not say whether Turkey would also allow prayers at Ani once the restoration is complete.

http://www.armenianow.com/news/29501/turkey_restore_holy_saviour_church

Newropean

May 8th, 2011, 10:31 PM

Thanks for moving.

Newropean

June 2nd, 2011, 08:59 AM

Iran, Armenia agree to boost energy ties

Iran and Armenia have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost cooperation on oil, gas and electricity and expand their commercial and industrial ties, international press agencies reported on Tuesday quoting Iranian media.

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan signed the agreement with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran.

“The volume of trade between the two countries has increased by 38 percent in 2010, rising to 270 million dollars,” said Salehi, as quoted by AFP. The Iranian official confirmed that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would visit Armenia next week.

The two countries have decided to build a power line with a capacity of 500-800 megawatts linking their electricity grids.

Tehran and Yerevan are also mulling over plans for Iranian companies to construct two 180-megawatt hydroelectric dams on the Arax river, which borders the two countries.

In February, Armenia’s energy minister announced plans to construct a 365-kilometer pipeline from the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz to Yeraskh in Armenia.

The pipeline would provide Armenia with an alternative to Russian energy imports, which were disrupted by the Georgia-Russia war in 2008.

In 2007, the two countries inaugurated a gas pipeline designed to transport 36 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas to Armenia within 20 years

http://www.armenianow.com/news/30056/armenia_iran_energy_cooperation

hakz2007

June 7th, 2011, 02:07 PM

President of Armenia is a leader in the list of the most popular politicians by the version of Mediagid in May
YEREVAN, June 7. /ARKA/. Index of popularity of Armenian politicians cited among Armenian mass media in May 2011 by the version Mediagid.am leads the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, informs the head of the project www.mediagid.am Armen Martirosyan.

From November 30, 2010, the company “All Media” launched a new Internet project – the first news aggregator www.mediagid.am in Armenia.More:http://www.arka.am/eng/politics/2011/06/07/26261.html

VelesHomais

June 9th, 2011, 01:50 AM

Tamar Kaprelian, an Armenian-American singer, a rising star. She refused the offer to represent Armenia in Eurovision 2011. What a shame!

Rqp5VwMMAX4

Hot Hot Hot!!!

Why did she refuse to represent Armenia? Seems like it would be an honor for almost anyone...

robo_boss

June 9th, 2011, 07:42 AM

Turknology

June 9th, 2011, 02:14 PM

http://ih1.redbubble.net/work.6583463.1.flat,550x550,075,f.curious-cat.jpg

robo_boss

June 10th, 2011, 12:51 AM

turk alert turk alert turk alert .......

Newropean

June 10th, 2011, 06:46 AM

But with that cat picture, I think Turkno was trying to pass as an Irish. :D

Turknology

June 10th, 2011, 06:56 PM

http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/4/6/nosycatspies128519925247968750.jpg

:lurker:

Turknology

June 10th, 2011, 06:59 PM

PS: moar pics of Kim Kardashian plz

knthxbye

robo_boss

June 11th, 2011, 12:39 AM

^^I wanna see less of her on the net, not more....

robo_boss

June 11th, 2011, 12:41 AM

But with that cat picture, I think Turkno was trying to pass as an Irish. :D

This wouldve been a better disguise :):

http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/8135/3334971162af741dbdb7.jpg

VelesHomais

June 11th, 2011, 07:48 PM

I dunno, it wasnt the first time an Armenian-American singer turns down an offer to represent Armenia. I guess they just dont care about Eurovision, to them it's a cheesy contest that noone has even heard about in the US.

Many more people have never heard of her and have heard of Eurovision. Seems pretty stupid to turn it down, regardless what she thinks of the contest.

robo_boss

June 11th, 2011, 08:51 PM

I dont know what her reason was, but im sure it's not stupid. Besides do you know any Eurovision winners that have become famous world wide? . It's not gonna do a thing to her music career, and and that's if she wins, which is a big IF. Maybe if she lived in Europe she'd reconsider the offer. 2 years ago System of a Down considered in representing Armenia but then changed their mind, which im glad they did.

Newropean

July 9th, 2011, 10:02 AM

Oh, Roboboss got banned. That's why it's so quiet here! :(

In the coming two years, the World Bank (WB) will provide $200 million in credit facilities to Armenia to promote economic growth and help the country meet the needs of vulnerable groups.

WB Armenia Country Manager Jean-Michel Happi said on Thursday that in order to avail itself of this funding the Armenian side is to submit target programs, which should be directed towards economic diversification and poverty reduction. Funding will be on standard preferential terms.

“Nearly half of the sum will be provided by the International Development Association (IDA), which provides for preferential crediting terms, the other half by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which provides for conditions closer to market ones,” said Happi.

The International Development Association, one of the World Bank structural units, has reviewed more than 70 countries on their performance degree, granting Armenia the second best rating, due to which, according to Happi, Armenia is eligible to receive preferential loans.

Armenian Minister of Finance Vache Gabrielyan called the World Bank’s support for Armenia important in the post-crisis recovery period. He said it will help reduce the vulnerability of the economy, ensuring a sustainable economic growth.

Happi mentioned state governance reforms in tax and customs administration, fiscal management, social projects, improvement of the business environment, agriculture and health system development as directions for targeted programs.

Armenia has been a WB member since 1992. So far, the total WB credits received by Armenia amount to $1.495 billion.

The WB has also assisted in road construction, irrigation systems, health infrastructure sectors, etc.

Commenting on the Forbes magazine list of the world’s ten worst economies that ranks Armenia as the second worst, the World Bank representative drew an optimistic scenario, if no unexpected shocks happened in Armenia, saying that the recovery pace in the country inspired confidence.

This year the government expects a 4.6 percent economic growth. In 2010, the Armenian economy expanded by only 2.6 percent.

“Armenia is not the worst country in terms of economic performance and doing business in the world. Of course, there has been inflation, twice as much has been imported than exported, inflation sometimes went into double digits, but the Forbes evaluation is momentary,” the WB official said, adding that the WB views the Armenian Central Bank’s forecast of inflation for this year at 6.5 percent to be realistic.

Finance Minister Gabrielyan also described the Forbes magazine assessment as “very momentary”. He said it was based on the data for the past three years that were worse in Armenia because of the effects of the global economic crisis that peaked in 2009.

http://www.armenianow.com/economy/30917/armenia_world_bank

Newropean

July 9th, 2011, 10:08 AM

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p290/DVD86/sevan-public-beaches.jpg

It has now been nearly a week that two public, or free-of-charge, beaches have operated at Lake Sevan. A large number of holidaymakers have already spent the rest there.

Still in April, the government made a decision about the organization of public beaches in the “Sevan” National Park recreational area, for which purpose 1.39 and 1.82 hectares of land, respectively, had been allotted, as well as nearly 66 million drams (about $180,000) in funding.

“No private beach has such amenities and opportunities as these beaches have. At the moment, free parking, children’s and sports playgrounds, toilets, health units and rescue services are available. Also, beach benches are installed,” said Deputy Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Environment Ashot Avalyan, who coordinates public beaches. He added that the area is overseen by police and no alcoholic beverages are sold besides beer.

One of the beaches can accommodate for 1,200-1,300 people, the other for 600-700 people, and the purity of water is ensured by a universal excavator, worth 603,000 euros, that was brought from Finland last year for the purpose of maintaining cleanness at the Sevan.

In addition to the public beaches created with state budget funding, three other public beaches are set up in Shorzha, Vardenis and near the village of Chkalovka.

The program will be continued and it is expected that the number and ‘geography’ of public beaches will be expanded.

“About 60 areas have been separated for the organization of public beaches in the future, and gradually we should try to increase the number of public beaches by two or three,” said Avalyan.

A hotline has been opened at the Ministry of Environment with the following phone numbers: 010 51-91-82 and 077 26-70-44.

http://www.armenianow.com/social/environment/30943/sevan_public_beaches

Newropean

July 9th, 2011, 10:14 AM

A 120-year-old hall in Istanbul’s main street Istiklali is hosting Istanbul-Armenian businessman Kalk-Daron Erol’s dental appliance store.

Erol was one of the pioneers among the businessmen who started trading with Armenia, despite his colleagues’ concerns and warnings, importing dental appliances, devices, and dental chairs.

Enlarge Photo
Noyan Soyak

“Back then it was really bad, my Tajik friend was even afraid to go to Armenia in 1998 to participate in a conference held by the American University of Armenia (AUA): ‘I am a Turk, what if they say something,’ he said, but we received great assistance and were really surprised,” said to ArmeniaNow Erol, whose Turkish friend is now a more frequent guest of Armenia than he himself.

“Trade creates a somewhat different field for human relations, and to us, Armenians, it was an occasion to establish contact,” says the businessman.

Despite the lack of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, trade volumes between the two countries grows with each passing year, and if in late 1990s – by non-official data – the commodity turnover volume was $40 million, this year it has reached $200-250 million.

Noyan Soyak, co-president of a joint Armenian-Turkish organization – Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council, believes that if the border opened the trade volumes would double, reaching $500 million annually.

“Yet in the 90s trade connections were mainly Georgia-mediated, Armenian and Turkish businessmen did not know each other nor did they trust each other, whereas it was definitely necessary,” Soyak told ArmeniaNow.

Soyak’s and his Armenian partners’ initiative to found the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council in 1997 became an important bridge on the way to overcoming the watershed. As the only joint structure of the time, the council was dealing not only with business-related issues, but was also organizing quite a few cultural events.

“During those years it was a challenge to put side by side the words “Armenia” and “Turkey”, so it was hard to decide how to name our organization – Armenian-Turkish friendship, or alliance or what kind of association – we didn’t want to name it association of business relations, as there was no business… so the only suitable thing was business development and, in my opinion, we have succeeded over these years,” remembers Soyak.

Over the past few years the Armenian-Turkish economic relations have transitioned from clothes and equipment export to the field of more serious and long-term projects. Soyak says there are now long-term cooperation agreements and even joint production projects when the Turkish side mainly makes investments in form of manufacturing equipment.

“However, the lack of legislation to regulate the field is a serious obstacle for such long-term and large-scale cooperation and business development. Since there are no diplomatic relations, the courts of either country do not recognize each others’ laws, so in case of problems there won’t be a place to turn to for solving them,” he says.

The Council has a goal now to create an arbitrary court, where legal issues would be resolved, and judges can either be authoritative individuals from both countries or members of the Trade Chamber.

However, the biggest issue is the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border.

Businessman Erol says that the cooperation with Armenia would be twice as profitable if the borders opened so that extra money was not spent on transportation and Georgia.

Soyak has a wider vision of the benefits of the open border, though.

Often many people wonder why Turkey, with its $113-billion-a-year export volume, should be interested in opening the border for only $500 million worth commodity turnover, but Soyak believes there are valid incentives.

“In terms of business cooperation we do not perceive Armenia purely as a trade market, which is, no doubt, very small. To us Armenia would contribute greatly to rapid development of Turkey’s eastern regions, and besides, Turkey is interested in Armenia as a chain linking it to Russia: Armenian railways would lay a road for Turkey towards Central Asia and Russia,” says Soyak.

According to Soyak, the results of the open border would first be felt in Van, Kars, Marash (Antioch), Malatya, and other provinces that are of “historic and personal importance to Armenian tourists”.

“I strongly believe that there is a ‘holy triangle’ for Armenians – every Armenian I have met wants to see the Holy Echmiadzin, Ani and Akhtamar; it’s like a dream for all of them, and it has to become a reality through open borders,” says Soyak and adds:

“Diaspora Armenians will naturally not want to come to Turkey to just see a fragment of that ‘triangle’; the best option would be if there was a direct and short way to enter from Armenia, and see what they want. By even most conservative estimates, if every year some 400,000 Armenians enter Turkey and spend only 100 Turkish liras it would amount to $40 million. That’s an insignificant amount for Istanbul, but for the Eastern provinces it would mean tangible progress,” he says.

According to Soyak, “there are no borders that would stay closed forever, it’s all about finding the right time.”

http://www.armenianow.com/features/30766/armenia_turkey_economic_relations

Newropean

July 9th, 2011, 10:21 AM

On Tuesday, the prestigious Forbes magazine published a list of the world’s ten worst economies in which Armenia occupies the second place next to Madagascar.

Forbes has selected the worst ten economies from among 117 countries according to three-year average statistics for gross domestic product growth and inflation (including the International Monetary Fund’s 2012 estimates), plus GDP per capita and the current account balance, a measure of whether the country is importing more than it exports.

Compared with the list for 2010, significant changes have taken place this year. While the previous release included mostly African nations, this year the list also includes Ukraine (4th position), Kyrgyzstan (7th) and Iran (10th). The authors of the research consider not only the economic crisis, but also mismanagement, corruption as causes of the decline of economies.

“Onetime losers like Ghana and Zimbabwe got their economic acts together and moved off the list while some countries, including Armenia and Jamaica, marched into the lower ranks primarily because of the global financial crisis. Others, like Madagascar and Nicaragua, earned their positions almost entirely due to the ineptitude of their rulers. It should come as no surprise that eight of the 10 worst economies also were in the bottom quartile of countries in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Perceptions Index, with Guinea, Kyrgyzstan and Venezuela scoring close to the bottom,” says the report.

“Beyond income, (corruption) extends to economic development,” it quotes Transparency International’s Robin Hodess, group director for research and knowledge, as saying. “All of the indices that reflect human development suffer. Where government doesn’t work, economies don’t grow.”

According to Forbes, Armenia mainly suffered because of the financial crisis: “Armenia’s economy shrank by 15% in 2009 as an expatriate-financed construction boom fizzled along with the world economy. With a mediocre growth forecast for the next few years, this landlocked former Soviet republic, dependent upon Russia and Iran for virtually all of its energy supplies, is struggling to keep up with the rest of the world. Per-capita GDP of $3,000 is less than a third of neighboring Turkey, and inflation is running at 7%. On top of that, Russia cut back on supplies of diamonds, hurting Armenia’s once-thriving diamond-processing industry.”

Armenia’s well-known economist, head of the “Alternative” Research Center Tatul Manaseryan tends to trust the kind of assessment made by Forbes.

“Usually, the Forbes surveys are well grounded and our researches also show that Armenia’s economy, to put it mildly, is not in a good condition. In this sense, I can share this opinion. But I am confident that possibilities of redressing the situation are not exhausted,” Manaseryan told ArmeniaNow.

http://www.armenianow.com/economy/30861/forbes_report_worst_economy_armenia

roboboss

July 11th, 2011, 04:38 AM

Oh, Roboboss got banned. That's why it's so quiet here! :(

Im back :(

roboboss

July 13th, 2011, 02:28 AM

:rock:
System of a Down live in Moscow 06/21/11. The opening act was orgasmic.
ARXEDmNfjKQ

9Mf0G6PjvhY

v5cGaFQNRi8

vartal

July 13th, 2011, 12:27 PM

Эта группа ещё существует? А то я слышал неоднократно, что она распалась.

roboboss

July 13th, 2011, 02:31 PM

У них был долгий перерыв, недавно они восоеденились , сейчас дают концерты по миру.

Newropean

July 25th, 2011, 02:30 PM

US asks for action from Turkey for reconciliation

The United States is pressing Ankara to move toward rapprochement with Yerevan following the collapse of talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan last month to discuss the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“The time is right for normalization. Some action to get the process moving, to give [it] momentum would be fine,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Turkish officials July 16 during a visit to Turkey.

Azerbaijan and Armenia had earlier failed to come to an agreement over the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh during a June meeting in Kazan, Russia. The U.S. was reportedly infuriated by Baku’s U-turn during the talks.

The Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process has been blocked by Azerbaijan, which indirectly threatened to stop supplying natural gas to Turkey and to give Russia preference as its main energy partner. Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols to normalize relations and to open their border, sealed since the early 1990s, but both countries failed to ratify the accords due to domestic pressure. Turkey said ratification would only be possible after Armenia and Azerbaijan reach an agreement over Nagorno-Karabakh. Hopes for a deal disappeared after Baku rejected such an agreement in Kazan and criticized Armenia’s approach.

A flashpoint of the Caucasus, the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh is a constituent part of Azerbaijan that has been occupied by Armenia since the end of 1994. While internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, the enclave has declared itself an independent republic but is administered as a de facto part of Armenia.

With the U.S. home to a several-million-strong Armenian diaspora pressing the administration to recognize Armenian claims of genocide in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, Washington is seeking the completion of the process between Ankara and Yerevan. The top U.S. diplomat said they understood the domestic difficulties in the ratification of the protocols but hinted there could some other action to keep the momentum alive.

As reported by the Hürriyet Daily News last week, a set of confidence-building measures are planned to this end, starting with direct flights from Yerevan to the eastern province of Van, a destination for many Armenians who wish to visit an ancient Armenian church on Akdamar Island in Lake Van.

According to the Armenian press, a member of the Van Chamber of Commerce, Abdullah Tunçdemir, said the Yerevan-Van flights would begin Sept. 11 if the Van airport could be upgraded to meet international standards. Another planned measure is to open a Turkish Airlines, or THY, office in Yerevan to coordinate Armenians’ flights to the United States via Istanbul.

Such steps will, on the one hand, give a strong signal to Baku that its refusal to deal with Armenia will not stop Turkish-Armenian rapprochement; on the other hand, they will also help relieve growing pressure on the Turkish and American administrations from the Armenian diaspora.

Turkey’s move to begin flights between Van and Yerevan has drawn a reaction from Azerbaijan. “We do not interfere in the affairs of two countries but we still reserve the right to respond in the event of an infringement of the national interests of Azerbaijan,” Elman Abdullayev, the first secretary of the Azerbaijani press service MFA, told the Trend news agency in response to the possible flights.

“Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry is following the developments and will react according to the future scenario,” said Abdullayev.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=us-asks-for-action-from-turkey-for-reconciliation-2011-07-24

hakz2007

August 9th, 2011, 05:39 AM

New recording of Armenian anthem to be ready for Independence Day
YEREVAN. - Armenia will host several events on the occasion of 20th anniversary of its independence.

The Museum of the History of Armenia will hold an exhibition "Three Republics: Achievements and symbols" on the initiative of Museum-Institute of Armenian Genocide and National Archive.

The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) will hold an exhibition of commemorative coins. Artists’ Union of Armenia will organize exhibition entitled "The palette of Independence".More: http://news.am/eng/news/70394.html

Newropean

September 7th, 2011, 05:15 PM

In the qualifiying for the Euro 2012, Armenia beat the favourite Slovakian team again in Slovakia yesterday, this time by a surprising 4-0.
Group B is thus a completely open race between the 4 teams of Russia, Ireland, Armenia and Slovakia, who all can still win the group.

Slovakia laid to waste by sparkly Armenia

Four days after earning a brave 0-0 draw in Dublin, Slovakia missed their chance to go top of UEFA EURO 2012 Group B as Armenia claimed a shock 4-0 victory in Zilina.

Armenia beat Slovakia 3-1 in Yerevan last year, but Vladimír Weiss's side would not have expected another defeat by such a dramatic margin, with Yura Movsisyan, Henrik Mkhitaryan, Gevorg Ghazaryan and Artur Sarkisov scoring to send Vardan Minasyan's side unexpectedly in sight of a top-two finish in a supremely competitive section.

There was little in the first half to suggest what would follow. Slovakia shaded the action, with captain Marek Hamšík denied three times by Roman Berezovsky and Martin Škrtel striking another effort wide. Armenia had mustered little in response before half-time, but turned up the heat ominously after the interval.

Slovakia No1 Ján Mucha blocked Karlen Mkrtchyan's rasping shot but proved to be no match for Movsisyan, whose angled effort opened the scoring on 57 minutes. Filip Hološko almost struck back on the break, before Mkhitaryan's shot from 18 metres silenced the home supporters once more 20 minutes from time.

With the hosts pushing on, Mkhitaryan broke, laying on a third goal for Ghazaryan, and while Slovakia battled on gamely, peppering Berezovsky's goal with shots, Sarkisov headed Armenia's fourth into an empty net in added time. They next meet the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at home on 7 October while Slovakia play host to group leaders Russia.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/matches/season=2012/round=15171/match=2002225/postmatch/report/index.html#armenia+bedazzle+slovakia

Newropean

September 21st, 2011, 10:17 PM

Happy Independence Day!

http://www.armenianow.com/news/31869/armenia_independence_day_september_21_military_parade

Newropean

October 12th, 2011, 01:02 PM

And the football dream is over.

Armenia lost yesterday 1-2 against Ireland in the Euro 2012 qualification, hence Ireland progresses to the playoffs and Armenia not. If they had won, they would have advanced further instead.
It was an unlucky game, with a handplay of an Irish player not recognized by the referee, then right afterwards the ball hit the chest/armpits of the goalkeeper outside his box, which then was mistakenly recognized as handplay. So the goalkeeper had a red card and was sent off. And then, an own goal.
Here an article from Ireland (harsher on their own team than Armenian newspapers):

The dream lives on as lady luck saves Irish

A cruel kind of glory. Giovanni Trapattoni's men progress to the play-offs, but this was a story of Armenian tragedy rather than Irish ascendancy.

The Armenians will talk of Dublin just like grizzled veterans in these parts speak of injustices in Heysel and Sofia and tales of refereeing crimes which denied a small country a first chance to taste a major tournament.

Instead, it is Ireland who march on with the added boost of being seeded in tomorrow's draw. One of Turkey, Estonia, Bosnia and Montenegro will stand in the way of progression to the finals in Poland & Ukraine.

This encounter turned on the 26th-minute dismissal of Armenian 'keeper Roman Berezovsky, who raised his arms when he emerged from his area to block a Simon Cox shot.

Replays delivered a double blow for the visitors. Cox handled the ball first and it was inconclusive if the ball had touched the arm of the onrushing netminder.

To add insult to injury, the Armenians delivered a comical own goal to send Ireland on their way, with Trapattoni acknowledging afterwards that his opponents had emerged looking like a better side.

However, he stopped short of admitting that his charges were lucky, even if Ireland toiled for periods against 10 men and endured nervy moments when Kevin Doyle was sent off late in the second half.

Trapattoni deals in the business of results and, this morning, the 72-year-old is closer to a new contract, even if large question marks remain.

"They played well," he said, of Armenia, "and had plenty of possession.

"But I don't remember the difficult moments for Shay Given. We were lucky in Russia, yes, but this evening I don't remember this."

If Ireland had lost in such a manner, they would be calling for a replay.

Instead, the emotional Armenian coach, Vardan Minasyan, delivered a brief address wishing Ireland good luck in the play-offs and stressing how proud he was of his team.

Armenia kept the ball well and passed with more assurance. Ireland relied on the aerial approach. Aiden McGeady, so impressive on Friday, was anonymous for the opening quarter, with red shirts swarming around. The experience of Damien Duff again came to the fore.

Doyle's physicality troubled the Armenians. With midfield bypassed, Cox meandered to pick up the pieces. Early on, it almost paid off, with Cox finding space and, while struggling to get a shot away, displayed composure to tee up the inrushing Doyle, who fired straight at Berezovsky.

In general play, it was Armenia dictating. Trapattoni will point out they created little, although a piercing Marcos Pizelli through-ball could have caused trouble only for the maturity of Shay Given, who stayed on his feet and ushered Yura Movsisyan out of play; a younger 'keeper might have gone to ground and paid the penalty.

Punishment

But this was an evening for Armenian punishment. The key moment followed when Glenn Whelan, who started well, intercepted and punted the ball over the top in the same motion.

Cox judged the flight better than his three pursuers, yet clearly brought the missile to ground using his arm. Rashly, Berezovsky raced from his line to block the striker's effort with his armpit, although several replays were required to establish any kind of clarity.

Referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez had no such luxury and was harassed by a posse of green shirts. The veteran of three El Clasicos looked to his linesman before dishing out a red card. Harsh on two counts.

The biggest international football crowd at the renovated Lansdowne Road rejoiced. Justice, some said, for the events in Paris, although it was eerily similar in the sense that the victims were the team from lower down the food chain.

Armenia brought on 20-year-old debutant Arsen Petrosyan and, manfully, continued to ping the ball around. Eventually, though, the weight of numbers told, but only with another large dollop of fortune.

Again, Duff's swiftness of thought was crucial, his first-time cross outfoxing the opposition. Doyle tried to cheekily convert with a backheel and would have taken serious flak only for the covering Valeri Aleksanyan to inexplicably steer into his own goal.

Ireland resumed with 15 minutes of genuine conviction. Whelan and Keith Andrews enjoyed space to instigate good passages and the latter threatened in a period where Cox and the marauding Stephen Kelly also had opportunities.

McGeady, switched to the right, finally became effective, and a trademark piece of trickery created what appeared to be the insurance goal. The Spartak Moscow winger's cross found the Armenians in a slumber with sub 'keeper Petrosyan tamely allowing Dunne to bundle the ball across the line.

Celebration time? The fans thought so, and their team obviously got caught up in it. However, Gevorg Ghazaryan and Movsisyan adroitly combined and the impressive Henrikh Mkitaryan unleashed with a strike that Given perhaps could have handled better.

The game was back on and Irish nerves took hold. Armenia pressed so high up the park that the backtracking Doyle was guilty of a wild challenge that ruled him out of the first play-off game. Minasyan's youthful troops continued to probe so Trapattoni withdrew McGeady and the injured Whelan, bringing on Stephen Hunt and Keith Fahey. The volume levels dropped as nails were bitten.

Just as Jonathan Walters was sent on for Cox, Doyle led with his elbow in an aerial challenge with Karlen Mkrtchyan and Gonzalez reached for a second yellow. Human parity restored. Ten long minutes remained.

Walters was immense, making a compelling case for inclusion in November with a deeply impressive cameo that relieved pressure.

Armenia required two goals to grab the runners-up spot and, as injury-time approached, the hope visibly drained from their bodies.

The Irish crowd recovered theirs, and rose in unison at the final whistle. A repeat showing from the stands will be essential next month and so, too, will a better performance from the players.

Still, the dream lives on.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/the-dream-lives-on-as-lady-luck-saves-irish-2902862.html

Menosan

December 30th, 2011, 08:11 PM

:rock:
System of a Down live in Moscow 06/21/11. The opening act was orgasmic.
ARXEDmNfjKQ

9Mf0G6PjvhY

v5cGaFQNRi8

^^ я там был :cheers: :dance:

Menosan

December 30th, 2011, 08:15 PM

В Армении повышают пенсии

Правительство Армении внесло изменение в одно из своих прежних решений и с 1 января 2012 утвердило размер основной пенсии 13 000 драмов, вместо прежних 10 500 драмов.

Благодаря поправке, средний размер трудовой пенсии, вместо прежних 28 700 драмов, составит около 31 300 драмов; средний размер социальной пенсии, вместо 13 200 драмов, составит около 16 500 драмов; средний размер пенсии по инвалидности, выплачиваемой военнослужащим рядового состава, вместо 17 800 драмов, составит около 20 900 драмов; средний размер пенсии, выделяемой членам семей военнослужащих рядового состава в случае потери кормильца, вместо 15 800 драмов, составит около 19 500 драмов.

armtoday.info

hakz2007

March 21st, 2012, 06:23 AM

Two flights could not land at Baku airport due to fog
http://en.trend.az/news_photos/Airport_Baku_300707.jpg

Two flights could not land on Wednesday at the Baku airport due to heavy fog, Heydar Aliyev International Airport employee told Trend.Read more (http://en.trend.az/capital/business/2005761.html)

Galandar

March 21st, 2012, 10:32 AM

^^ So what? And what does it have to do with Armenia???

hakz2007

March 22nd, 2012, 08:34 AM

^^sorry wrong post :D

This is what I'm trying to post :okay:

Armenian President hosted Archbishop Marek Solczynski
Today, on March 21, the Apostolic Nuncio in the South Caucasus Archbishop Marek Solczynski presented his credentials to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Press service of Armenian President informs about this.Read more (http://times.am/?l=en&p=5975)

Newropean

May 7th, 2012, 06:00 PM

In the elections yesterday, Armenians have voted for the incumbent government:

The Republican Party of Armenia has walked away with the country after yesterday, apparently gaining 73 seats in the next National Assembly. RPA 73. Everybody Else 58. It is a stunning development, coming about per a turnout of 62 percent of voters.

The conclusion defies real-world pattern. Following five years of economic decline, the Armenian public turned out en masse to re-elect leadership that didn’t manage to progress beyond survival, while from Britain’s Gordon Brown to France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, heads are being lopped in other elections on the world-economic-crisis landscape.

Why? What makes Armenia different? The effectiveness of widespread vote-buying may be one answer. The absence of believable alternatives to the current regime may be another.

How this happened will be dissected by scientists in coming May 6 postmortems. The effect of what has happened will become clear in the gestation period for next winter’s presidential campaign, which begins now.

RPA no longer needs a coalition. Not even, as a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current sidekick to Prosperous Armenia Party boss Gagik Tsurakyan says is “one of a formal nature”. If RPA was obliged to play well with others in the tinder-box aftermath of Armenia’s 2008 election, the party now owns the playground, the toys and the lock to the gates.

The party of President Serzh Sargsyan owns the portfolio on every ministerial position, and with what is likely to be a 7-over-majority grip on the National Assembly, why would other parties even bother to show up to vote on any act of legislature the Prime Minister would bring to the floor?

If what existed before Sunday of anti-RPA sentiment could have been called “opposition” it can now simply and finally be defined as irrelevant. Its leader, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, went from being the voice crying in the wilderness, to being the tree that fell in the forest and nobody heard it. Ter-Petrosyan’s 14-party bloc, the ANC, barely made it onto the upcoming parliament roster. It gained seven percent of the vote. Half a percent per party – 10 times per party weaker than Heritage, whose leader Ter-Petrosyan dissed as being mis-directed a year ago.

Going into Sunday, it was widely believed that this would be a vote in which PAP would cut into RPA's dominance. Rather, just the opposite has happened and now, what do you do if you are Tsarukyan? Even the strongest man in Armenia – figuratively and, once, literally – has to know his place against a political machine that cannot be arm-wrestled into submission.

And what of Tsarukyan’s political godfather, former president Robert Kocharyan? He emerged in a rare interview a few days before the election, to tantalize analysts’ palates. Will he run for office in 2013? What place would Vartan Oskanian have on a Kocharyan ticket? Whatever decisions might have gone into answering those questions, probably became more gnarly when the Central Election Commission shut the doors and opened the boxes Sunday night.

Was Sunday’s election a referendum on public approval for Serzh Sargsyan?

With a government in his pocket, apathy on his side, and party members willing to persuade voters $25 at a time, does approval matter?

http://www.armenianow.com/commentary/opinion/37906/parliamentary_elections_presidential_republican_prosperous_party_opposition

Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Armenia featured a vibrant and largely peaceful campaign, with overall balanced media coverage, but pressure on voters and a deficient complaints process created an unequal playing field, the international election observers said today.

Observers noted a campaign environment that generally respected freedoms of assembly and expression and candidates were, for the most part, able to campaign freely. But the general lack of confidence in the integrity of the process amongst political parties and the general public is an issue of great concern.

The elections were held under a new Electoral Code that provided a sound legal framework for conducting democratic elections, but stakeholders failed to implement important aspects of the new law and the manner in which complaints were dealt with undermined the right to effective legal redress.

“Armenia deserves recognition for its electoral reforms and its open and peaceful campaign environment but, in this race, several stakeholders too often failed to comply with the law and election commissions too often failed to enforce it,” said Francois-Xavier de Donnea, the Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission and the Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation. “As a result, the international commitments to which Armenia has freely subscribed were not always respected.”

The process of candidate registration was inclusive overall. Despite improved legislation with regard to voter registration, observers said, that the accuracy of the voter lists and their potential misuse for electoral fraud added to the lack of confidence in the process.

“The high turnout of over 60 per cent, the wide age range among voters, and the clear understanding of the electoral process by young and old alike were impressive, but reports of widespread interference with the running of pollings stations, voters’ movement and casting of votes throughout the day by certain political parties raised serious concerns,” said Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, the Head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe delegation. “The authorities must address this unacceptable behaviour before the presidential election next year.”

“I cannot stress enough how important it is to see these elections and our preliminary findings in the broader context and as the beginning of the process, not the end,” said Krzysztof Lisek, the Head of the European Parliament delegation. “Our preliminary conclusions today and the final recommendations of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, once they are published, should be taken as the goal to achieve in view of the upcoming presidential election.”

Election day was generally calm and peaceful, but marked by organizational problems and undue interference in the process, mostly by party representatives, the observers noted.

“The election campaign was open and respected fundamental freedoms, and the media offered broad and balanced coverage during the official campaign period,” said Radmila Šekerinska, the Head of the Election Observation Mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. “Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by concerns over the accuracy of voter lists and violations of the Electoral Code that created an unequal playing field.”

http://www.armenianow.com/vote_2012/37909/parliamentary_elections_osce_observers

YerevanArmenia

September 15th, 2012, 08:59 PM

В Ереване открывается гипермаркет Carrefour

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В сфере продовольственного ритейла Армении грядет революция - в Ереване откроется первый гипермаркет одной из крупнейших мировых розничных сетей, французской Carrefour SA.

Как стало известно корреспонденту АрмИнфо из достоверных источников, гипермаркет Carrefour будет занимать площадь до 10 000 кв.м. в новом самом большом торговом центре Dalma Garden Mall, принадлежащем группе "Ташир". Общая площадь центра составляет почти 50 тыс кв.м., торговая

- порядка 40 тыс кв. м. Наземная парковка рассчитана на 742 машиномест. Открытие гипермаркета намечено на ноябрь текущего года.

По данным источника агентства, гипермаркет Carrefour в Ереване будет работать на принципах франчайзинга, принадлежащего крупной эмиратской компании-девелоперу Majid Al Futtaim Holding (MAF), являющейся региональным держателем франшизы сети супермаркетов Carrefour. "Мы работаем уже в 13 странах мира. А совсем недавно добавили в свой портфель несколько стран СНГ, среди которых - Казахстан, Азербайджан, Грузия и Армения", - сказал Ияд Малас изданию "Русские Эмираты" главный исполнительный директор MAF. В ближайшее время компания планирует открыть свой первый супермаркет сети Carrefour в Грузии. В январе она уже открыла магазин в Ираке. Напомним, что на сегодняшний день MAF имеет уже 45 супермаркетов.

Отметим, что по количеству магазинов - свыше 15 тыс. - французская группа Carrefour занимает первое место в Европе и второе место в мире. Сеть имеет четыре формата: гипермаркеты, супермаркеты, дискаунтеры, магазины шаговой доступности.

Гипермаркеты Carrefour имеют в своем ассортименте до 80 000 продуктовых и непродуктовых артикулов продукции. Общая численность персонала сети - свыше 400 тыс. человек. Об инвестициях в открытие гипермаркета в Ереване не сообщается, однако по мнению экспертов, они могут составит $6-8 млн.

Отметим, что по данным АрмИнфо, возможности выхода на рынок Армении держатель франшизы Carrefour - эмиратская компания MAF начала изучать пару лет назад. По мнению экспертов рынка, работа такой крупного иностранного розничного бренда невозможна без четко прописанных и работающих правил таможенного и налогового администрирования. В этом плане, считают эксперты наиважнейшим решением правительства может стать пересмотр таможенной стоимости товаров, рассчитанной не на принципах таможенного "меню", а на основе реальных инвойсов. Наблюдатели считают, что открытие Carrefour окажет также мощное воздействие на конкурентную среду в сфере организованной розничной торговли страны, на сегодняшний день фактически разделенной между 3 крупными сетями.

YerevanArmenia

September 15th, 2012, 09:20 PM

Так же в Dalma Garden Mall будет Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear,New Look, Bershka, Stradivarius, Marks and Spencer, GAP, Topshop/Topman и много магазинов которых пока не известно

YerevanArmenia

September 16th, 2012, 05:26 PM

В Ереване будет построена брендовая гостиница “Hyatt”
Мэр Еревана Тарон Маркарян встретился с вице-президентом компании “Hyatt international” в Европе и Центральной Азии Герхардом Райнером, сообщают в пресс-службе мэрии.

В ходе встречи были обсуждены инвестиционные программы компании “Hyatt international”. Одной из них является строительство в Ереване брендовой гостиницы “Hyatt”.

“Я желаю выразить свою удовлетворенность по поводу вашего вступления на армянский рынок. Для нас весьма важно представить широко известный бренд в Ереване, что, в свою очередь, стимулирует развитие туризма в нашей столице”, - сказал мэр Еревана Тарон Маркарян.

По словам Герхарда Райнера, для компании также стратегически важно строительство данной гостиницы в Ереване. “У Еревана довольно серьезные перспективы развития, и мы будем продолжать реализацию инвестиционных программ”, - сказал он.

Справка: Hyatt Hotels Corporation — американская компания, управляющая сетями отелей высшего класса. Штаб-квартира — в Чикаго.

Основана в 1957 году.Владельцем компании является семья Притцкер.

На март 2009 управляет отелями в 45 странах, работающих под брендами Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Place и Hyatt Summerfield Suites.

Общая численность персонала — более 30 тыс. человек.

YerevanArmenia

September 16th, 2012, 05:28 PM

Отель под всемирно известным брендом Hayatt откроется в армянском курортном городе Джермук летом 2013 года, сказал в среду известный армянский архитектор, проектировщик здания Нарек Саркисян.

Строительство отеля началось в апреле 2009 года. Гостиница будет состоять из 80 номеров различной категории, СПА – центра, водолечебницы, ресторанов, бассейнов, спортивных залов, пишет армянское агентство экономической информации "АРКА".

По словам архитектора, отель сети бренда Hayatt появится также в центре Ереване, на территории прилегающей к Площади Республики.

Саркисян сказал, что строительство нового комплекса в Джермуке имеет фундаментальное значение для курорта, способствуя развитию строительной индустрии в городе.

Планируется, что общий размер инвестиций составит 4.2 млрд. драмов (10,7 млн долларов)

Hyatt – международная компания, которой принадлежит сеть гостиниц мирового класса. Основана в 1957 году Джеем Прицкером и Джеком Краучем после покупки гостиницы Hyatt House в аэропорту Лос-Анджелеса. С тех пор корпорация динамически развивается и открывает свои представительства по всему миру. На данный момент под брендами Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Place и Hyatt Summerfield Suites компания работает в 45 странах мира и обеспечивает работой около 30000 человек.

YerevanArmenia

September 16th, 2012, 05:35 PM

Работы по строительству автомагистрали «Север-Юг», финансируемые Азиатским банком развития (АБР), стартовали в Армении, сообщили агентству «АРКА» в пятницу в пресс-службе ереванского офиса АБР.

Согласно сообщению, уже стартовали работы по благоустройство четырехполосной автотрассы Ереван-Арарат протяжностью в 38 км.

В рамках программы будут расширены дороги на указанном участке, а также будет улучшена безопасность дорог.

В рамках первого транша АБР в размере 70,4 миллионов долларов планируется реконструировать участки автодорог Ереван-Арарат (38 км) и Ереван-Аштарак (12 км). По второму траншу объемом в 179,6 млн. миллионов долларов будет восстанавливаться участок трассы Аштарак-Талин.

«Благоустройство дорожных сетей является одним из приоритетов государств, поскольку в результате этого ожидается улучшение коммерческой деятельности, увеличение инвестиционных потоков и создание рабочих мест. Хорошие дороги стимулируют региональное сотрудничество и интеграцию, а также увеличивают конкурентоспособность страны», - цитирует пресс-служба слова постоянного представителя АБР в Армении Дейвида Дола.

Правительство Армении 14 января 2010 года одобрило инвестиционную программу строительства транспортного коридора «Север-Юг», а также рамочное финансовое соглашение между Арменией и Азиатским банком развития на общую сумму 500 миллионов долларов.

Японское агентство международного сотрудничества (JICA) также выразило готовность предоставить 50-70 миллионов долларов на строительство транспортного коридора «Север-Юг» в Армении.

Строительство транспортного коридора «Север-Юг», благодаря которому будет улучшено дорожное сообщение Европа-Кавказ-Азия на стыке Восточной Европы и Западной Азии, планируется полностью завершить в 2017 году.

Коридор «Север-Юг» общей протяженностью в 556 километров обеспечит выход к Черному морю и к европейским странам через территорию Армении (Мегри-Капан-Горис-Ереван-Аштарак-Гюмри-Бавра) и Грузии.

Инвестиционная программа нацелена на обеспечение связи севера (граница с Грузией) и юга Армении (граница с Ираном) посредством транспортных коммуникаций, удовлетворяющих высоким международным стандартам, и выход на мировые рынки.

Программа позволит Армении в будущем смягчить последствия блокады со стороны Азербайджана и Турции, сыграть важную роль транзитного государства в грузоперевозках стран региона, а также присоединиться к Черноморской кольцевой автомагистрали.

Проект транспортного коридора «Север-Юг» инициирован Россией и Ираном и предполагает активизацию транспортных потоков, в том числе за счет строительства новых транспортных коммуникаций по маршруту Россия-Иран-Индия.

Между Арменией и Ираном на высшем уровне рассматривается также возможность прокладки железной дороги, которая свяжет две страны и станет частью транспортного коридора «Север-Юг».
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YerevanArmenia

September 16th, 2012, 05:41 PM

Исторический памятник - дом Африкянов мешает главному архитектору Еревана расширить тротуар
14 сентября 2012 - 18:38 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Через несколько дней будет готов проект “Старый Ереван”. Как сказал 14 сентября во время пресс-конференции главный архитектор Еревана Нарек Саркисян, все демонтируемые здания Еревана, представляющие собой культурную ценность, будут восстановлены в рамках проекта “Старый Ереван”.

“В рамках проекта планируется и демонтаж Дома Африкянов на улице Теряна. Согласно градостроительному проекту, улица Теряна должна быть продолжена и соединена с улицей Закяна. Наряду с этим, должны быть расширены тротуары, а Дом Африкянов мешает реализации данного проекта”, - отметил он, выразив надежду, что сразу после демонтажа здания начнутся строительные работы проекта “Старый Ереван”, и здание обязательно будет восстановлено.

YerevanArmenia

September 16th, 2012, 05:44 PM

Новые здания Крытого рынка и Цирка в центре Еревана повторят облик старых. Об этом заявил журналистам 14 сентября главный архитектор Еревана Нарек Саркисян. По его словам, уже есть инвестор по строительству здания цирка. «Здание осмотрели несколько специалистов и пришли к выводу, что пытаться его сохранить безнадежно. Правильнее построить новое», – заверил Саркисян. При этом, отметил он, новый проект сохранит сходство со старым, с небольшими изменениями: в частности, верхний этаж здания станет немного больше. «Эти изменения согласованы с архитекторами оригинального здания», - добавил Саркисян.

Договоренность о сохранении облика действует и с застройщиками Крытого рынка в начале проспекта Маштоца (принадлежащего депутату-олигарху Самвелу Алексаняну – ред.). По словам Саркисяна, в недалеком будущем проект нового здания будет обсужден в экспертной комиссии. Как ранее заявлял Алексанян, новое здание также будет одноэтажным и приспособленным под рынок, а не очередным супермаркетом принадлежащей ему сети «Ереван сити».

Отвечая на вопрос о еще одном старом здании – «доме Африкянов» начала XX века на перекрестке улиц Пушкина и Теряна, Саркисян напомнил, что здание планируется перенести на территорию специально создаваемого проекта «Старый Ереван». Улицу же Теряна планируется расширить, с продолжением до улицы Закияна и российского посольства. Таким образом, удастся разгрузить проспект Маштоца. « «Дом Африкянов» сужает будущую улицу. Сносить его мы, естественно, не планируем – собираемся перенести», – добавил Саркисян.

Напомним, что проект «Старый Ереван», принятый еще в 2005 году, предусматривает создание историко-культурного комплекса с переносом на его территорию части архитектурного наследия города – по преимуществу «неудобного» для схем его развития, предлагаемых властями.

YerevanArmenia

September 17th, 2012, 02:20 PM

Новое здание цирка в Ереване построят за полтора-два года

Новое здание Ереванского госцирка будет выше и краше, сказал сегодня на пресс-конференции в Ереване главный архитектор города Нарек Саркисян. Здание ереванского цирка было взорвано 8-го сентября с целью демонтажа для возведения современного комплекса с подземной автостоянкой. Предполагается, что в новом здании будет увеличено количество зрительских мест – с 1563 до 2050, а высота купола составит 21 метр, вместо прежних 16.

«В основном оно (здание) будет таким же, но более красивым», - сказал Саркисян. Он также сообщил, что проект нового цирка в основном повторит предыдущий, но будут увеличены высота и ширина здания. При этом Саркисян добавил, что строительство нового здания Ереванского госцирка продлится 1,5-2 года.

Саркисян отметил, что ранее предполагалась реконструировать здание, однако проведенные исследования показали, что восстановить его невозможно. «Специалисты дали единогласное заключение, что его невозможно сохранить. Лучше на его месте построить новое (здание)», - сказал Саркисян.

Ранее художественный руководитель Ереванского госцирка Сос Петросян сообщал, что стоимость строительных работ колеблется от 10 до 20 млн. долларов.

В марте 2011 года мэрия Еревана и группа компаний «Ташир» подписали соглашение о долгосрочном сотрудничестве, в рамках которого в центре столицы будет реконструирован и модернизирован ереванский цирк, возведена гостиница, завершено строительство торгово-развлекательного центра "Далма Гарден", построен современный ТРЦ на Северном проспекте, разбиты зоны отдыха и парки в разных частях города. В целом в рамках программы предусматривается создание более чем 600 рабочих мест.

Прежнее здание цирка было построено в 1962 году. На арене Ереванского цирка выступали такие легендарные артисты, Карандаш, Леонид Енгибаров, Игорь Кио, Степан Исаакян.