The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear frends! Arminfo news agency inform Politics 2007-08-30 18:09:00 US Jewish group sticks to 'Armenian genocide' recognition The U.S. Jewish group Anti-Defamation League has confirmed its commitment to the recognition of World War I-era Armenian killings in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, shortly after its top official sent a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing his organization's "deep sorrow" for causing pain to Turkey's leaders and people. As Turkish Daily News from Washington says, in a controversial shift in position last Tuesday, the ADL's National Director Abraham Foxman announced that his group had come to the understanding that the Armenian killings "indeed were tantamount to genocide." "We will not hesitate to apply the term genocide in the future,' says Foxman. But he added the ADL remained opposed to efforts to pass genocide resolutions in the U.S. Congress, saying such moves would be counterproductive. "While we continue to firmly believe that a congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, we will not hesitate to apply the term genocide in the future," Foxman said. Speaking about the reasons of the ADL's position concerning the events in 1915, Foxman noted "We had a dilemma. As an organization committed to educating people on the dangers not only of anti-Semitism but of hatred of all kinds, we could not ignore the terrible tragedy that befell Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire". He added: "We think the Turkish government should address the moral implications of its history with the Armenians, particularly because Turkey occupies the critical spot in the great struggle of our time, the effort to see a moderate Islamic model triumph over Islamic extremism". Moreover, speaking about the Turkish Government's threats, Foxman noted "As long as the ADL is an organization committed first to the safety and security of the Jewish people, we cannot in good conscience ignore the well being of 20,000 Jews in Turkey. We will, however, continue to push the Turkish government in the right direction". To note, the ADL's move was a huge disappointment for the Turkish government and caused public anger. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned to the Israeli President Shimon Perez ith warnings and threats concerning the Jewish Diaspora in Istanbul. But the latter, sharing the feelings of the Turkish politician, said that the Israeli Government cannot directly influence the decisions of a Jewish organization in another country. 2007-08-30 17:29:00 Armenian National Assembly: The visit of the PACE Rapporteur on Azerbaijan ArmInfo. The Armenian National Assembly clarified the situation around cancellation of the visit of Edward O'Hara, PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) Rapporteur on the Cultural Heritage in the South Caucasus, to the region, Thursday. The Armenian parliamentary press-service told ArmInfo that the initiative to pay a visit to the South Caucasian region belongs to the parliamentary delegation of PACE in connection with demolition of Armenian khachkars (cross-stones) in Nakhijevan by Azerbaijan. Edward O'Hara's visit to the region was planned several years ago, but postponed for several times. This visit was scheduled for August 29. Within two months Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia prepared a special program of the visit, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh expressed willingness to contribute to fulfillment of the visit in every possible way. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia presented the list of cultural monuments in advance. The delegation was also planning to visit Nagorno-Karabakh and the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic. It was already specified which monuments would be seen first. However, a letter about cancellation of the visit has been received from the PACE Sub-committee's secretary. According to the Armenian parliamentary press-service, the visit has been cancelled only for one reason - on August 28 the head of the Azeri parliamentary delegation to PACE made a statement that Edward O'Hara was to arrive in Nagorno-Karabakh via Azeri territory, although all the details of the visit had already been specified through the permanent representative of Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia, and the Armenian Parliament was to provide the delegation with transport. In fact, Azerbaijan frustrated the visit at the last minute, and the Azeri side's information that this is only another postponement is false. It is noteworthy that though Azeri delegations to different international organizations are trying to spread leaflets about alleged demolition of Azeri monuments by Armenia, the PACE Rapporteur expressed a desire to see only one Muslim monument, moreover, it is not an Azeri, but Persian monument - the Blue Mosque in Yerevan. As for the monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mosque in the town of Shoushi, the Panaguan Palace, as well as libraries and museums were mentioned. This is direct evidence of the fact that Azerbaijan makes slanderous statements about "demolition of Azeri monuments" in Armenia and Nagorno- Karabakh. On August 29, PACE Secretary General Mateo Sorinas notified the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Tigran Torosyan, in the written form that Edward O'Hara will not pay a visit to the region. The problem of entry into Nagorno-Karabakh, i.e. the statement made by Azerbaijan on August 28, is mentioned as one of the reasons of the visit's cancellation. It is doubtless that the Azeri side hinders the PACE Rapporteur's visit in every possible way, because it will be found out during the visit that numerous Armenian monuments were and are being demolished both in Nakhijevan and Azerbaijan, and that Azerbaijan's statements and leaflets are a common slander. The Armenian National Assembly expressed willingness to contribute to fulfillment of the PACE Rapporteur's visit to the South Caucasian region. The further actions concerning the visit will be etermined during the session of the PACE Sub-committee on the Cultural Heritage, the source reports. 2007-08-30 13:55:00 Rudolf Perina is unaware of term of nomination of new candidacy to post of USA Ambassador to Armenia by White House Solution of the issue on the term of nomination and approval of a new candidacy to the post of US Ambassador to Armenia depends only on White House and the USA Congress, Charge d'Affairs of the USA to Armenia Rudolf Perina told ArmInfo. He said that he is unaware when the White House intends to propose a new candidacy to this post and added that he is unable to affect this process by himself. 2007-08-30 13:54:00 Iranian president is going to visit Armenia in the near future ArmInfo. Iranian President Mohammad Ahmadinejad is going to visit Armenia in the near future, press-secretary of the Armenian president, Viktor Sogomonyan, told ArmInfo correspondent. He also added that the terms of the visit had not been specified yet. To note, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan paid a working visit to Iran, at the beginning of June 2006. For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchechr Mottaki told journalists over his visit to Yerevan in July of the current year, that the Iranian president's visit to Armenia was programmed till the end of 2007. 'The presidents of the two states will discuss the current problems of the bilateral cooperation, the ways of its development, and will touch on a number of the regional issues for peace and stability strengthening in the region', - he said. To note, at present several programmes of strategic for Armenia significance are being implemented between Armenia and Iran. In particular, the Iran-Armenia-Georgia power supply line, the project of which was assessed by $90 mln; two hydro power plans on the neighbouring Arax river (the project costs $150 mln). They continue construction of the second line of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline ($150 mln). The programmes on construction of Iran-Armenia oil pipeline and of an oil processing plant ($2,5 mln), as well as Iran-Armenia railway ($800 mln) are being discussed. According to the ArmInfo information, Iranian president will visit Georgia after Armenia. 2007-08-30 13:17:00 Paruyr Hayrikyan banned 'Heritage' party to take part in meeting of oppositionists not at level of fist persons ArmInfo. "I did not allow representative of "Heritage" party Vardan Khachatryan to take part in August 28 meeting of the leaders of the democratic forces, as it would be held only at the level of the first persons", Chairman of the "Unity for Self-determination", organizer of the meetings of oppositional party leaders Paruyr Hayrikyan told journalists in "Hayatsk" club. "The interest to the meeting I initiated, turned out to be much higher than I expected. Any meeting aimed at specification of positions and approaches of democratic party leaders is justified, including the last one", P. Hayrikyan said. He also said that he will not allow to call the meetings a meeting of oppositionists as the matter concerns contacts of democratic forces, the parties, which consider themselves democratic. Participation of representatives of the power parties in the following meetings is not ruled out, since provisions of the programme are important for its organizer. Asked about possible support of candidacy of his multiyear opponent, first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the politician replied that he can support the candidacy of RA PM Serzh Sargsyan as well, if the latter accepts the proposed programme, the milestone of which should become a mechanism of turning Armenia into the most democratic state of the world. 2007-08-30 01:45:00 Armenian President Robert Kocharyan congratulates Abdullah Gul on election as Turkish President On August 29, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan congratulated Abdullah Gul on election as President of Turkey, Hasmik Petrosyan, Head of the presidential press department, told Radio Liberty. Vladimir Karapetian, Armenian FM Spokesperson, told the source that for his part, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian also sent a felicitation to Abdullah Gul. The Leader of the Heritage Party and the first Foreign Minister of independent Armenia, Raffi Hovannisian, also congratulated the new Turkish President. In particular, he expressed hope that with Gul's election as President of Turkey the Turkish- Armenian relations will shortly pass to a different level of development. In its turn, the source recalls that the previous President of Turkey, Ahmet Sezer, congratulated Robert Kocharyan on reelection as Armenian President in 2003. Economy 2007-08-30 13:08:00 Expenditure of physical persons for telephone communication is higher in Armenia than in the USA and Moscow Arminfo. Expenditure of physical persons for telephone communication is higher in Armenia than in the USA, Moscow and Azerbaijan, web administrator and web-designer of the Armenian Centre for Strategic and National Research [ACFSANR] Ashot Turjan said when making a report at the seminar-discussion on the topic "Effectiveness of modern communication system in Armenia". He also added that stemming from the data of the open Internet sources and mass media information, one can suppose that payment for the monthly fixed telephone communication is 19,5% or $38,4 from the monthly salary of an average Armenian citizens that amounts to $197, whereas in Moscow, where the monthly salary is $500, they pay 4% ($20) for the fixed telephone communication; and in the USA - 0,7% ($23) out of $3120 monthly salary. At the same time in the neighbouring Georgia they pay 22% ($25,3) out of the average monthly salary $115, and in Azerbaijan - 8,9% ($17,4) out of $196. Economist Tatul Manaseryan said in connection with it, that if, for instance, local calls are free in the USA, there is no principle difference between the external and local telephone calls in Armenia. 'One can say in this context that in Armenia they don't take into account the paying capacity of citizens, whereas this factor is important in other states. Moreover, in the USA the socially vulnerable groups are given privileges in the matter of paying for the telephone calls', - he emphasized. Finance and banks 2007-08-30 12:24:00 Russian Troyka Dialogue company has indirectly bought Armimpexbank ArmInfo - Bankir.ru. The structure of the Russian investment company Troyka Dialogue - TDA Holding Limited has become the chief shareholder of the Armenian Armimpexbank, buying 96,15% of shares, a source in the bank circles of Armenia told Reuters. The information of the bank disseminated on 22 August says that the investment holding TDA has become "the biggest shareholder" of Armimpexbank, buying 48.074 shares out of 50.000. "This company (TDA) enters the structure of Troyka Dialogue", - the source aware of the details of the bargain told Reuters. Representative of the Troyka, Viktoria Abramenko, disproved this. She said that "they probably mean private persons working in the Troyka", but not the company itself. According to the source, the bargain was made at the beginning of August. The information of Armimpexbank says that earlier Computron Industries Establishment and Finance Ministry were the big shareholders of Armimpexbank, but at present the finance Ministry participates in its capital "a little". The nominal capital of Arminpexbank, founded in 1992 on the basis of the Armenian branch of Vnesheconombank of the USSR, is - 2,028 bln drams. 2007-08-30 10:47:00 Exchange rate of dram against US dollar and EUR Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 336 drams for 1 dollar, 455 drams for 1 EUR and 12,9 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 337 drams for 1 dollar, 461 drams for 1 EUR and 13,15 drams for 1 Russian ruble. 2007-08-30 10:45:00 Results of Currency Transactions in Interbank Market for August 29 The transactions in the Interbank currency market for August 29 made up $450,000 (151.515 mln drams), which exceeds the previous trading day indicator 1,3 times. According to the data of the commercial banks, the average exchange rate of USD raised by 0.03 point to 363.70 AMD/$1 USD. The data of the Armenian stock exchange say the currency transactions on the floor made up $1.650 mln (555.416 mln drams), which exceeds the similar indicator of the Interbank market 3,7 times. The average weighted rate at the exchange made up 336,62 AMD/$1 USD. Social 2007-08-30 15:37:00 Prosecutor General's Office: Nobody has been arrested on the case of murder of Lori region's Prosecutor Nobody has been arrested yet on the case of murder of Albert Ghazaryan, Prosecutor of Lori region of Armenia, the spokesperson of the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office, Sona Truzyan, told ArmInfo correspondent. Thus, she denied the information disseminated by some local news agencies today that Garnik Gavuzyan, Director of Lori department of ArmRosgazprom, a resident of the town of Vanadzor, has been detained on the case of A.Ghazaryan's murder. To recall, on August 25, 12:20 am, Albert Ghazaryan, Prosecutor of Lori region, 3rd rank Counselor in Justice, was killed near his house when returning from his workplace. He was shot four times. The operational search group found 4 bullets of "Makarov" handgun in the place of murder. The place of the crime and A.Ghazaryan's body were thoroughly examined, forensic medical and forensic investigative examinations are to be conducted. The case is under the jurisdiction of the investigation department of the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office. Criminal proceeding was instituted under Article 104, Part 2, Item 2 of RA Criminal Code (a person's murder related to his official activities or fulfillment of his public duty). To note, unlike official sources, which prefer keeping silence about possible persons that ordered this loud crime, rumors in the republic emphasize the tense relations between Prosecutor of the region, Albert Ghazaryan, on the one hand, and Mayor of Vanadzor, Samvel Darbinyan, former governor of Lori, Henrik Kochinyan, and Director of the Vanadzor branch of Haypost, Eduard Khlghatyan, on the other hand. According to unofficial sources, the Public Prosecutor has recently instituted several proceedings, in which the names of the above listed officials and their relatives are mentioned. 2007-08-30 10:43:00 ICRC data: 4 342 missing persons are itemized in zone of military operations of Karabakh conflict By the data of the International Committee of Red Cross, 4 342 military and civil persons are itemized in the zone of military operations of Karabakh conflict, ICRC's statement, received today by ArmInfo, says. Thirteen years after the cease-fire in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, thousands families are still uncertain about the fate of their loved ones. Since 1992, the ICRC has been keeping up its efforts to help the authorities fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law and to support the families of the missing in their right to know the fate of their relatives. The ICRC continues to open tracing requests from the families of missing persons. To date, this consolidated list, which includes names of military and civilians, contains 4,342 identities. The ICRC works in close cooperation with the Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons of Armenia to try to clarify the fate of persons unaccounted for with a strictly humanitarian purpose. 2007-08-30 10:43:00 August 30 - International Day of the Disappeared The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is marking the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30. ICRC's statement, received by ArmInfo, contains a call to the international community to renew its commitment to addressing the plight of missing persons and their families. In addition, the ICRC is unveiling a report entitled Missing Persons - A Hidden Tragedy, which calls attention to the tragic predicament - all too often ignored - of people unaccounted for in connection with armed conflict and other situations of violence, and of their families. "Ever since wars have been fought, people have gone missing," said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the ICRC's director of operations, while presenting the report at the organization's Geneva headquarters. All missing persons have different, often tragic, stories, whether they are captured, abducted or arrested civilians; prisoners who die in custody or are held in secret locations; victims of mass executions hastily buried in unmarked graves; men, women and children fleeing conflict in mass displacements, separated from their loved ones for years on end; soldiers killed whose remains are improperly disposed of, or whose bodies are left unidentified on the battlefield. "Not enough is being done," according to Krahenbuhl. "It is imperative to deal with this tragedy and help the tens of thousands of families of missing persons discover what happened to their loved ones. Not knowing whether a loved one is dead or alive causes anxiety, anger and a deep sense of injustice, and makes it impossible for relatives to mourn and ultimately reach a sense of closure." The ICRC report includes personal accounts and narratives conveying the agony and great sense of loss that bereaved families endure over many years. "Even if there's nothing but a skeleton, I don't care - I just want my son back," said Guliko Ekizashvili, a Georgian woman whose son is still missing 14 years after he disappeared during the armed conflict between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Krahenbuhl emphasized that "there are concrete measures that States and others can take to prevent such a tragedy from occurring in the first place. Often, what is lacking is the political will to tackle the problem." He also welcomed the adoption in December 2006 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, a legally binding document that prohibits enforced disappearance. "The ICRC urges States to sign, ratify and implement this important treaty as soon as possible," he declared. Hi-Tech 2007-08-30 13:56:00 Until Information Technologies sphere did not reach satisfactory level, there is no sense to expect absolute growth of economic competitive ability of the country ArmInfo. Until Information Technologies sphere did not reach satisfactory level, there is no sense to expect absolute growth of economic competitive ability of the country, Doctor of Economic Science, Professor Tatul Manaseryan said at a seminar-discussion on the topic "Effectiveness of modern communication system in Armenia". He also added that the authorities did not do any certain serious steps in the sphere of Information Technologies, declared as a priority sphere by the government. He is sure that IT should be watched in Armenia not as a separate branch but as a branch of a great significance for all the spheres of the country. Manaseryan also touched on the information security and said that it is an important component of the economic security and national security of the country. 'Armenia is very vulnerable in the sense of information security although all the states are trying to communicate by means of modern IT, doing everything possible to ensure information security',- Manaseryan said. He also added that there are the problems in the information security which maybe settled by certain companies but not by the authorities, but if these companies cannot independently resolve the problem, in that case the authorities should support them. One can come across various viruses on the web-sites of many structures of Armenia including the state ones, as they don't have simple protecting elements or filters. Even the official sites of the Armenian parliament and government are not insured against viruses. Ecology 2007-08-30 13:21:00 South-Caucasus countries need 250,00 Euro to organize joint guard of Front-Asian leopard ArmInfo. The German Office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) applied to the donor organizations to finance the programme of joint measures to guard the front- Asian (Caucasian) leopard in the territory of South Caucasus countries. Earlier, the programme for saving and recovery of leopard's population was carried out only in Armenia. As Head of WWF's Armenian Office Karen Manvelyan told ArmInfo, the WWF's German Office intends to receive 250,000 Euro to implement a more large-scale programme. Armenia spent $95,000 over 5 years of implementation of the programme on protection of the Caucasian leopard habitation territories. Financing of the programme completed in June. Having lost financing, the WWF tries to find new sources for the project financing, as specialists say, absence of means deprived the rangers, who had been fighting against poaching in the territory of Zangezour crest on the west of Armenia over several years, of earnings. Collection of beneficent means has been temporarily organized in the Yerevan Marriott-Armenia hotel, where a special box will be placed during a month for voluntary donations with the purpose of saving the leopard. The whole proceeds will be used to acquire equipment, uniform, binoculars, communication means and fuel for anti-poaching groups. Crimes and emergency situations 2007-08-30 11:28:00 Secondary school N29 received telephone call about bomb laid ArmInfo. Yerevan secondary school N 29, located by address: Saryan Str. 23, received an anonymous telephone call today about a bomb with timing mechanism laid in the school building. Just after the call, the teachers and pupils, being in the school building, were immediately ecacuated. The press-service of RA police confirmed this information to ArmInfo and reported that an operative team of policemen has already left for the place and the information about the bomb is already under check-up. The Rescue Service of Armenia also told ArmInfo that a signal about a bomb laid in the school building was received at about 11:00 AM and combat rescue crews have left for the place. Both RA Police and the Rescue Service have no detailed information as yet. 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