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  • ArmeniaNow - May 15, 2009

    ARMENIANOW.COM
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    May 15, 2009





    1. Nairit fallout: Death toll in rubber plant blast rises to four amid
    mounting environmental concerns



    2. Who is who: Municipal elections set stage for another 'battle' of
    current and former elites



    3. Fistfight for votes: Violence mars second week of campaign in
    Yerevan elections



    **4.** Fifth estate: Armenian bloggers get ready for political
    campaign



    5. Weathering the Storm: the pressure of poverty



    6. Karabakh Talks: Next stop in St. Petersburg



    7. Forum for Survival: PF-A to host discussions on the financial
    "storm"



    8. Lessons from the Grave: Ancient Jewish cemetery marks little-known
    time in Armenian history**



    9. Suspended relief: Shushi benevolent fund puts its projects on hold



    10. **Able for communication: Center in Vanadzor helps mentally disabled
    children



    11. For the love of soccer: Armenia's women team in first international
    action on home soil



    12. Sport: Ararat in trouble over license for Europe League





    ************************************************ ****************************


    1. Nairit fallout: Death toll in rubber plant blast rises to four amid
    mounting environmental concerns



    By Karine Ionesyan



    The death toll in serious explosions and fire at Armenia's sprawling
    chemical plant that occurred Thursday late afternoon has risen to four,
    according to the information confirmed by the country's Ministry of
    Emergency Situations and the administration of the enterprise itself.



    It is also reported that eight people who sustained bodily injuries of
    various severity have now been discharged from hospital.



    Nairit, a chemical giant on the southern outskirts of Armenian capital
    Yerevan that also specializes in synthetic rubber production, was rocked by
    a series of explosions and ensuing fire on Thursday at around 18.40 pm. The
    incident prompted a massive effort by different services, including police,
    rescuers, paramedics and others, who managed to take the situation under
    control in late evening.



    On Friday, Nairit has released the names of its four workers who were killed
    inside the premises of a chloroprene production shop.



    They are: Levon Levonyan (born in 1959); Hovhannes Hovhannisyan (1958);
    Vahan Gharibyan (1959); and Artur Karapetyan (1970).



    It is reported that the fire that had covered an area of 80 square meters
    and it took firefighters several hours before they could localize the fire
    first and then completely extinguish it.



    Officials in charge of relevant state bodies say there are no serious
    environmental risks following what happened. But some people still feel
    uneasy and skeptical of official statements.



    Astghik Atayan, 22, who lives in a residential area adjacent to the chemical
    plant, says she was at her computer, working, when she heard a balcony door
    being slammed (by someone, as she thought then). Some time later, however,
    she felt another thrust and then saw rising smoke, running people, rushing
    ambulances and fire engines.



    "But the situation was heavier in areas in the immediate neighborhood of
    Nairit. My husband has friends there and he says one of them had taken his
    two-year-old child to the countryside to avoid any harm, since nothing
    beside smoke could be seen there. Last night, we closed our doors tight
    before going to bed. Nothing happened, but we aren't sure something won't
    happen," the woman said.



    Through its press service, the Nairit administration on Friday officially
    stated that the explosions and fire at the plant did not entail any serious
    ecological consequences - "there are no harmful emissions."



    Director of the Social-Ecological Association Srbuhi Harutyunyan, who is a
    chemist-ecologist by training, says, however, that a large quantity of
    acetylene, which is the main material for obtaining synthetic rubber, was
    emitted into the atmosphere as a result of the fire. This acetylene is mixed
    with oxygen causing various poisonous chemical substances. "As a result, the
    quantity of oxygen is reduced in the environment and those poisonous
    materials first of all start to influence people's respiratory tract. Since
    these materials can remain in the air for quite a long time, it becomes very
    dangerous for people's health."



    Harutyunyan says that one could have predicted the unfortunate event of an
    explosion, since currently the plant operates only one line through which it
    receives raw materials for production, while during the Soviet times, for
    safety reasons, three lines were used for the purpose: "That's why there
    were no such explosions at that time and people did not lose their lives."



    Nairit officials cited busy schedules as a reason for refusing to provide
    any substantial details or, otherwise, referred ArmeniaNow to the company's
    official website, which says that work continues on the premises to bring it
    in order and that the incident cannot cause any environmental harm.



    "The cause of the fire will become clear only from the ad hoc group of
    specialists that has already been set up and now is looking into the
    occurrence," said advisor to the Director of the Rescue Service of the
    Ministry of Emergency Situations Nikolay Grigoryan.



    Earlier, the Prosecutor's Office instituted criminal proceedings in
    connection with the case.



    The Soviet-era built chemical giant has experienced less serious emergencies
    in the past that were mostly blamed on its obsolete equipment and low safety
    standards.



    In December 2006, it took firefighters two days to extinguish the fire that
    started in two Nairit reservoirs with inflammable waste.



    Nairit, employing more than 1,000 people, resumed its work last month after
    several months of idling blamed on the downturn in the world economy.



    The plant currently owned by the British-registered firm Rhinoville Property
    Limited has experienced difficulties in recent years, which became more
    apparent late last year as the country's economy began to feel the impact of
    the global economic crisis.



    Nairit was visited by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan on April 28 as it
    resumed its operations, with plans to produce up to 750 tons of rubber a
    month.



    ************************************** **************************************


    2. Who is who: Municipal elections set stage for another 'battle' of
    current and former elites**



    By Aris Ghazinyan

    ArmeniaNow reporter**



    Municipal assembly elections in Yerevan scheduled for May 31 will give the
    capital city an elected mayor for the first time in nearly two decades.



    The city has had ten president-appointed mayors since Armenia gained
    independence in 1991. All of them were to a certain extent 'people' of the
    incumbent head of state.



    Hambartsum Galstyan, Vahagn Khachatryan, Ashot Mirzoyan and Vano Siradeghyan
    acted on the mandate of the first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan.



    Suren Abrahamyan, Albert Bazeyan, Robert Nazaryan and Yervand Zakharyan were
    in charge of the "Yerevan policies" of the second president, Robert
    Kocharyan.



    Gagik Beglaryan, who was appointed in 2009, is the top executive of
    city-related 'directives' given by the third head of state, Serzh Sargsyan.



    Under the legislation, the president was entitled to dismiss the mayor from
    the post. The situation required a change after Armenia joined the Council
    of Europe in 2001 and assumed the obligation to make the mayoral post in the
    capital an elected position.



    In line with the constitutional amendments passed in a referendum in 2005
    and the new Law "On Local Government in Yerevan", a 65-seat municipal
    assembly elected under a proportional system by popular vote will choose a
    new mayor.



    The top candidate on the slate of the party that gets an absolute majority
    of seats in the elected body automatically becomes mayor.



    Six political parties, namely Prosperous Armenia, the Republican Party of
    Armenia (RPA), Orinats Yerkir, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF,
    Dashnaktsutyun), the People's Party, the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia,
    and one election bloc - the Armenian National Congress (ANC), are contesting
    the seats in the assembly.



    A majority of analysts, though, tend to view it as a 'two-horse' race **
    between the opposition ANC and the governing RPA.



    ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS



    The core of this political bloc - the Armenian National Movement (ANM)
    party, was "born" in 1989 on the basis of the Karabakh committee - a group
    of intellectuals recognized by many Armenians as their de facto leaders who
    sought the unification of the Armenian-populated oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh
    (then part of Soviet Azerbaijan) with mainland Armenia.



    It is this party that held political power in the republic from September
    1991 to February 1998. Correspondingly, it also governed the city of
    Yerevan.



    The top three candidates on the ANC slate for the May 31 elections are
    ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, leader of the People's Party of Armenia
    Stepan Demirchyan and coordinator of the opposition bloc Levon Zurabyan.



    Among the supporters of the ANC are Suren Abrahamyan, who headed the city in
    1998-1999, during the period of the first term of President Robert Kocharyan
    in office. In June 1999, Abrahamyan was appointed Interior Minister.



    Several months later, though, he was dismissed from the ministerial post
    after the shootout in the Armenian parliament on October 27, 1999. Later,
    Abrahamyan joined Ter-Petrosyan.



    The first two candidates on the ANC list also ran for president - Demirchyan
    in 2003 and Ter-Petrosyan in 2008.



    The current 167-man ticket of the bloc does not include candidates from the
    opposition Heritage party with which the ANC had conducted negotiations for
    a possible joint participation in the elections. Heritage eventually refused
    to take part in the elections.



    REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA



    The RPA is participating with the most extensive election list of candidates
    including 180 names.



    The top three candidates are incumbent mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan,
    prefect of the capital's northwestern district of Avan Taron Margaryan (the
    son of the late prime minister Andranik Margaryan) and Hrach Poghosyan, who
    heads an engineering design organization.



    The RPA was founded in 1966 and for 25 years was an underground organization
    in the territory of the Soviet Union. The party stood for Armenia's
    independence. It was officially registered in 1991. It was during that year
    that the party's leader at the time, Ashot Navasardyan, unsuccessfully ran
    for the post of Armenia's first president. Leading RPA members were in the
    forefront of the defenses during the 1991-1994 Karabakh war.



    After the war, the party joined the then ruling ANM and participated with a
    joint bloc in the 1995 parliamentary vote. The elections then were
    accompanied with large-scale violence and were held in a general atmosphere
    of fear, which adversely effected the images of both parties.



    The two parties also fielded a single candidate in the 1996 presidential
    race. That vote entailed the first mass post-election disturbances in the
    territory of independent Armenia in which firearms, water cannons and
    explosives were used. A state of siege was declared in Yerevan.



    Ashot Mirzoyan was the then head of the city. But in fact powerful Defense
    Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and feared Minister of the Interior Vano
    Siradaghyan were in charge of the situation.



    Today's president Serzh Sargsyan was then Minister of National Security.



    Strongman Vazgen Sargsyan became the leader of the RPA in 1998. The first
    president of Armenia had already resigned over 'his position of concessions'
    in the Karabakh issue.



    The RPA was split after the October 27, 1999 terrorist act in parliament in
    which the then prime minister Vazgen Sargsyan was assassinated along with
    seven other top statesmen and politicians. Seven months after the terrorist
    act, some of the 'Republicans' led by the brother of the assassinated prime
    minister turned away from the authorities and formed a party with a very
    similar name - Republic. And in the course of time they rejoined the ANM
    camp that had lost many of its members by then.



    Among the 'returnees' was also Albert Bazeyan, who was in charge of Yerevan
    affairs as mayor in 1999-2001. This circumstance became the main reason for
    Bazeyan's resignation from the post.



    Another part of the RPA retained the name and rallied around nonpartisan
    president Robert Kocharyan. Their leader Andranik Margaryan was appointed
    Prime Minister in 2000.



    In 2003, then Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, not a member of the RPA,
    topped the party's slate and led it in that year's parliamentary elections.
    After those elections the party has in fact governed the city solo - through
    its members Yervand Zakharyan (2003-2009) and Gagik Beglaryan, who succeeded
    the former earlier this year.



    The ANM and the RPA are the two most radical groups on the Armenian
    political landscape with a once "shared shadow sector of the economy." This
    antagonism, which can also be called "elections of Yerevan's mayor", is
    nothing more than the division of an old pie. The ANM had been more powerful
    before, the RPA is more powerful now.



    Among other parties contesting the election are pro-establishment Prosperous
    Armenia and Orinats Yerkir, both junior partners in the RPA-led governing
    coalition. If voted into the municipal assembly without enough mandates to
    name their own candidates for mayor, they are most likely to give preference
    to the RPA candidate for the post.



    Top candidates of these two parties' lists ** Health Minister Harutyun
    Kushkyan (Prosperous Armenia) and MP Yeghine Bisharyan (Orinats Yerkir) **
    practically have no chance for becoming mayor. These parties are political
    projects that had once been designed "to steal the votes". One of them,
    Orinats Yerkir, was born in 1998, the second - in 2004.



    One of the oldest Armenian parties, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, stands out in this
    lineup. This traditional party already governed the country in 1918-1920
    when Armenia briefly became independent before being divided between
    Bolshevik Russia and Kemalist Turkey.



    Dashnaktsutyun also governed Yerevan during its rule in the short-lived
    first republic. Remarkably, the party had invited to the capital great
    architect Alexander Tamanyan, who designed the city's master plan in 1919.



    The party took an active part in the Karabakh war. After the end of
    hostilities in 1994, the nationalist party was outlawed - not in Azerbaijan
    though, but in Armenia.



    But today, MP Artsvik Minasyan stands little chance, if at all, to become
    mayor, since Dashnaktsutyun, which had been incorporated into
    different-level government structures since 2000, has lost a large part of
    its potential electorate.



    The party is well aware of this and its participation in the elections is
    the first step on the way of gaining a new place on the political space of
    Armenia after a recent exit from the governing coalition. And this is its
    motivation.



    Thus, each of the five organizations (four parties and one bloc) have their
    own motivation for participation in the elections.



    The People's Party (led by media holding president Tigran Karapetyan) and
    the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia (led by Movses Shahverdyan) might have
    as well skipped the elections as they represent nothing more than d¨¦cor for
    the stage of Armenian internal political life.



    ***************************************** ***********************************

    3. Fistfight for votes: Violence mars second week of campaign in Yerevan
    elections



    Gayane Abrahamyan

    ArmeniaNow reporter



    Having hardly overcome the bitter consequences and memories of the previous
    election, Yerevan officially entered a new stage of the pre-election
    whirlpool on May 2, the campaign dynamics of which ** marked by violence **
    gives grounds to predict fresh wounds in the domestic politics of the
    country.



    Early in the second week of the campaign, May 11, women distributing flyers
    about an upcoming opposition rally were assaulted.

    If before the flyers would be simply taken away by force from the women,
    this time fists were put in use. One of the women, Ophelia Margaryan, was
    hit in her head with a stone causing a serious wound on her forehead; the
    other two women- Astghik Aghekyan and Amalya Poghosyan, were beaten with
    fists.

    "At the Avan branch of the Star supermarket some 20 young men, who had been
    watching us from their cars, approached and asked what we were doing there
    and what rights we had to distribute flyers in their turf," Astghik Aghekyan
    told ArmeniaNow. "They attacked us, took away the whole bundle of leaflets
    and started hitting - in my face, shoulders, head - wherever they could
    reach."

    In the heat of the fight fists got replaced with stones.

    "I didn't understand how that young man jumped and hit in my face with a
    stone; blood gushed out immediately, and before we were able to figure out
    what was happening they were gone," said Ophelia Margaryan.

    As the women tell, the assailants were saying every now and then: "What are
    you doing in Avan? This is Taron's district and he is a Republican [party
    member], and Levon's [Ter-Petrosyan's] foot won't step in here."

    Taron Margaryan is the head of the Avan district administration, a member of
    the ruling Republican Party (RPA) holding the second position on the party's
    election ticket. He is the late prime minister Andranik Margaryan's son, who
    is, however, denying his or his party's connection to the incident.

    Margaryan told in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service that "the RPA
    headquarters and republicans" have nothing to do with the incident; and that
    the attackers could have been ordinary residents of that community.
    According to him, he had tried to find out who the young people were, but
    failed.

    Republican party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov gave a similar response,
    saying that such incidents least of all are in their interests.

    "I can assure you that only a short-sighted politician would take such a
    step, this is another provocation: we witnessed similar cases during the
    presidential elections, that tension is created by certain well-known forces
    and we all know what it ended up with," Sharmazanov told ArmeniaNow, calling
    for "refraining from such methods".

    Meanwhile, the opposition cries foul and says 'the methods remain unchanged'
    and that 'the authorities must give them up.'

    Arman Musinyan, a spokesperson for the opposition Armenian National Congress
    led by Levon Ter-Petrosyan that participate in the municipal elections as a
    bloc, says that the incidents typical of the presidential elections are
    being repeated now.

    "It's the same kind of criminal activities; remember the Artashat incident
    from the previous campaign, when our supporters underwent an assault by
    Hovik Abrahamyan's kinsmen, or the squabble during the Talin rally. These
    have the same handwriting and are, unfortunately, leading to the same
    deadlock," Musinyan says.

    It's noteworthy, though, that the conflicts rise not only between the
    opposition and the authorities, but among the members of the pro-government
    coalition as well.

    Late on May 12, there was a confrontation between members of Prosperous
    Armenia and Republican parties, as a result of which Republican Arayik
    Kotanjyan, head of the Kanaker-Zeytun district administration, and another
    republican member of the district council, reportedly, suffered. Kotanjyan
    denies this information assuring that there was a small argument and that's
    all there was to it; his statement being in contrast to the fact that a
    large group of policemen arrived at the place where the incident took place
    and that, as Aravot daily reported, Kotanjyan was limping after the quarrel.


    "It was simply a guy quarrel with one insulting another by asking why the
    latter had been changing parties quite so often- at first they were members
    of Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law), then became Republican, now they are
    members of Prosperous Armenia. That's what prompted the argument which,
    however, ended soon after," Kotanjyan told ArmeniaNow adding that 'somebody
    needed to make noise in this period, and so they did.'

    Heritage party member, MP Stepan Safaryan fears the forthcoming elections
    will be "as tense as the February 19 presidential ones, at best".

    "There will be fights and scuffles, as the negative trends do not bode
    well," Safaryan told ArmeniaNow, adding: "How can we possibly avoid
    incidents, when the previous ones were never punished; the election process,
    the formation of election committees, is already not transparent and that
    alone is enough to raise serious concerns."

    If until recently the authorities had been periodically declaring that these
    elections were no more than local government elections and shouldn't be
    politicized, today it is obvious that they are of state importance.

    The Council of Europe, too, recognizes the significance of the elections of
    the Yerevan City Council. Members of the PACE monitoring commission made a
    statement following the start of the pre-election campaign, which was also
    preceded by violence against opposition supporters distributing flyers
    announcing the May 1 opposition rally (Link to that story
    http://armenianow.com/?action=3DviewArticle& amp;AID=3D3681&lng=3Deng<http://armenianow. com/?action=3DviewArticle&AID=3D3681&lng=3 Darm>).


    On May 5, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
    co-rapporteurs on Armenia John Prescott and George Colombier welcomed the
    opposition's participation in the elections. "The fact that Levon
    Ter-Petrosyan has decided to be a candidate in these elections should be
    seen as a clear signal of the Armenian National Congress that it wants to
    overcome the political crisis and play its role as a political force in the
    democratic institutions in the country," stated the co-rapporteurs.

    However, predicting not so smooth a campaign process, the co-rapporteurs
    took another step: they declared about two months in advance that Armenia's
    issue would be on the agenda of the PACE's forthcoming session in June.

    "As a rule, the information about placing an issue on the agenda is
    publicized not sooner than a week before, hence, this is an obvious warning
    to the authorities, on whom, I can assume judging from their actions, that
    warning has had no serious effect," says political analyst Yervand Bozoyan.

    Armenia's Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan calls for vigilance and tolerance; the
    Human Rights Defender is deeply concerned with the repeated cases of
    violence against people distributing opposition rally flyers and the fact
    that so far those responsible for the violence have not identified.

    "It is unacceptable, considering the fact that the victims of violence, as
    they say, have filed complaints to the RA Police submitting photographs and
    license plates of the assailants' cars," says the Ombudsman, adding that if
    the cases are not detected "the inertness on the part of the police can be
    viewed as an encouragement of such incidents."

    ******************************** ********************************************


    4. Fifth estate: Armenian bloggers get ready for political campaign



    By Sara Khojoyan

    ArmeniaNow reporter **



    On the threshold of municipal assembly elections in the capital Yerevan (May
    31), Armenian bloggers are actively addressing the campaign and forthcoming
    vote in their blogs. Still, many of them say blogs are unlikely to have any
    significant influence in the elections.



    In the past two years blogs have been extensively and successfully used for
    campaigning purposes, in addition to being a primary source of information
    for a certain period.



    The most popular bloggers are unanimous - starting from summer 2007 blogs
    began to interest political forces, because they found out that blogs enable
    them to spread not only information, but also opinions, campaigning, and
    very often misinformation as well.



    Nevertheless, campaign blogs are rather active. Some of the political
    parties participating in the Yerevan City Council elections periodically
    refresh their blogs.



    The blog of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) (
    http://www.blog.payqar.net/) is very active. Not only the records written to
    the blogs are in special forms, but also they have a considerable number of
    responses.



    Since April 18, the pro-establishment Prosperous Armenia Party increased the
    number of its blogs: currently along with its blog on WordPress (
    http://bhkam.wordpress.com/), all those interested in blog information about
    the Party may also visit Prosperous Armenia's websites on YouTube (
    http://www.youtube.com/user/bargavach), in the Fotoblog and Fotobooket
    blogs.



    However, in spite of such abundance, the blogs of Prosperous Armenia do not
    seem to arouse great interest, judging by the fact that none of the last ten
    records written on WordPress' platform has comments.



    Moreover, the records of Prosperous Armenia's blogs are mainly more official
    news than comments comprising personal viewpoint or position typical of
    blogs.



    Other political forces either do not have websites or their websites are
    temporarily out of order (under reconstructed), for example, Gagik
    Beglaryan's (Republican Party) website (http://www.beglaryan.com), and the
    Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party's website (www.oek.am). The candidate
    of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun - Artsvik
    Minasyan, does not have a blog on his website; and the Forum is not running
    (http://www.qaghaqapet.am).



    And the existing blogs, however, cannot traditionally be considered to be
    blogs, even due to the way they look.



    Ruben Muradyan, a blogger for LiveJournal named uzogh, believes that as
    these elections are not perceived by many as decisive, the blogs won't have
    any influence whatsoever.



    "Interesting developments in the blogs can be caused by "the factor of
    Armenian Revolutionary Federation", since many of the bloggers are
    nationalists and will have certain expectations from the Party," he adds.

    .



    Information security expert, a LiveJournal blogger named kornelij, Samvel
    Martirosyan, assured ArmeniaNow that elections will be covered by bloggers
    at the end of May.



    "At the beginning of spring, when Gagik Beglaryan was appointed Mayor after
    his bodyguards had beaten a schoolchild, the blogs became more active. The
    next wave of activization was related to Levon Ter-Petrosyan running for the
    Mayor's post, there was also activeness related to whether or not the
    Heritage Party would take part in the elections. These were the topics for
    heated discussions in the blogs," Martirosyan said.



    He points out that at the moment the elections are pushed to the background
    by the new developments in the Armenian-Turkish relations, "Gagik
    Beglaryan's or Levon Ter-Petrosyan's names are not even mentioned."



    According to Samvel Martirosyan's estimates, there are 200-300 active blogs
    in the Armenian blogosphere and he points out that the virtual presidential
    campaign is more aggressive.



    "This antagonism that had existed in the political sphere and the society
    also appeared in the blogosphere, perhaps even more aggressive, as people
    feel more uninhibited and write more freely, often there was more aggression
    in the blogosphere," Martirosyan remembers.



    Blogs acquired new significance during the 20-day media blackout following
    the introduction of a state of emergency on March 1, 2008, when they became
    an alternative to the scarce official information reported and an
    idiosyncratic source of information.



    According to Martirosyan, the next step in the development of the
    blogosphere after it had been an information medium during the media
    blackout, was the creation of Serzh Sargsyan's blog under the influence of
    the political atmosphere.



    Here the team members on behalf of the president answer the questions asked
    in the blog (the blog that was a post-election ploy to smooth
    dissatisfaction, it is not active now, and many questions are still awaiting
    answers).



    "That is, blogs developed in several stages, and as of today, many people,
    even those who don't have blogs, read them, just as they would read online
    or print press," says Martirosyan.



    Bloggers point out that Armenian blogs are very politicized and apart from
    el§Öctions, the main topics for blogs are foreign policy issues, such as
    Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azeri relations.



    Many are attracted to those blogs because they are emotional.



    "From that perspective, they can be very dangerous. They can raise a
    negative wave that is far from reality and may have bad consequences," says
    Martirosyan.



    Muradyan believes the advantage of blogs is that a blog gives the reader an
    opportunity to read opinions. "There are people who don't want to read
    facts, they don't want to read what reporters have written, they are looking
    for a personalized opinion in order to agree or disagree with it."



    Muradyan is convinced that not only bloggers read blogs, Armenian blogs have
    their circle of readers, however, "it is basically impossible to find out
    who the actual readers are."



    A recent public opinion poll conducted by IREX revealed another indicator -
    almost half of Yerevan residents are going to use the Internet periodically
    during the forthcoming elections, and more than 63 percent want to read the
    news online.



    Leah Kohlenberg, a mass media expert for IREX, who had founded a blog when
    teaching at GIPA center in Georgia to present the activity of the Georgian
    opposition, planned to start the coverage of Yerevan municipal assembly
    elections form May 11 in the same blog.



    "Primarily, of course, we will be looking for violations on Election Day
    that we can confirm and report, as well as following up on any issues that
    come up on Election Day. But in the weeks prior to the elections, we will be
    posting information on candidate platforms, voting rights, and other stories
    we think readers might be interested in looking at both before the elections
    and afterwards. Starting on May 11, we'll begin posting multi-lingual
    information on www.caucasusreports.wordpress.com," Kohlenberg said.



    ***************************************** ***********************************


    5. **Weathering the Storm: the pressure of poverty



    By Richard Giragosian



    In a significant new assessment of Armenia's mounting economic troubles, the
    head of the World Bank in Armenia warned on May 13 that the country's
    economic crisis will lead to a sharp rise in national poverty. According to
    Aristomene Varoudakis, the overall level of poverty in Armenia is expected
    to expand by somewhere between 4 and 6 percent.



    Statistically, with poverty estimated at about 22 percent, such an increase
    would pose an especially troubling challenge to the Armenian government,
    which is already facing a serious set of other even more pressing structural
    problems, ranging from a new period of "negative economic growth" to a sharp
    cut in remittances, or money from abroad.



    More specifically, such a rise in poverty is especially significant, for
    three main reasons.



    First, the official estimates of poverty in Armenia are outdated, based on
    the figures of a 2007 survey of household incomes. Thus, because even that
    data, which reported that some 22 percent of the population was officially
    living in poverty, most likely underestimated subsequent increases in
    poverty. Moreover, if the World Bank assessment is accurate, it would mean
    that for this year, as much as 26 or 28 percent of Armenians will now be
    classified as living in poverty.



    The second reason that the sharp rise in poverty poses an especially
    difficult challenge for the government is the broader disparities that have
    come to define, and divide, the country. In other words, against the
    backdrop of already pronounced divisions and disparities in wealth and
    income, the gap between the small wealthy Armenian elite and the
    ever-growing larger class of poor Armenians, fostering an even greater
    degree of social, and even perhaps political polarization in the country.



    There is also another broader context, defined by the urban-rural divide,
    which exacerbates the problem of poverty in two distinct ways. First, the
    expansion of greater numbers of people living in poverty in the regions of
    Armenia will be even more destabilizing due to the lack of resources and
    absence of economic opportunity outside of the cities. And second, with the
    government already failing to adequately address the need for a more
    balanced development strategy aimed at bolstering the towns and villages,
    the divide between Yerevan and the regions will only consolidate what has
    become two very different "Armenias."



    But the third factor underlying the powerful pressure from poverty is most
    recent and, in some ways, most serious. Due to the fact that the decline in
    remittances stems not only from a sharp economic decline in Russia, but from
    a related loss of jobs in Russian cities, the increase in poverty is now
    occurring within a larger context of thousands of Armenian migrant workers
    now forced to return to Armenia. For most of these migrant laborers, there
    is even less economic opportunity in Armenia today compared to when they
    left, making the competition for even less jobs even more intense.



    And as many of these migrant workers have been living in Russian cities for
    several years, there are additional political repercussions to their return
    to Armenia. The Armenian political reality of today, marked by a new sense
    of polarization and an end to overall political apathy, suggests that any
    social discontent among this new "electorate" may have political
    repercussions, perhaps as a new wave of discontent and discouraged Armenians
    quite unhappy wit the current "status quo."



    Thus, it seems clear that this new "pressure of poverty" will pose only the
    latest challenge to the Armenian government and even more crucially, add a
    new threat of potential instability laden with powerful political
    implications.



    Equally troubling, the Armenian government does not have many options to
    respond to this new pressure, however. Clearly the authorities will respond
    by modifying its October 2008 poverty reduction program and has decided to
    create a new "working group" to deal with the poverty problem. But with a
    widening budget deficit and mounting fiscal pressure rooted in low tax
    collection, the authorities may be forced to cut social sector spending. And
    such a move would only make the problem worse, triggering a new wave of
    unrest and fueling overall discontent that may cripple an already weakened
    government. Indeed, it promises to be a "hot summer" in Armenia.



    ************************************** **************************************


    6. Karabakh Talks: Next stop in St. Petersburg



    Naira Hayrumyan

    ArmeniaNow Karabakh reporter



    The fourth meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in
    Prague on May 7 did not result in a tangible breakthrough, with the
    standpoints of the two parties remaining diametrically opposite.
    Perhaps it is for that reason that the co-chairmen of the Organization for
    Security and Co-operation in Europe <http://www.osce.org/> (OSCE) Minsk
    group 'postponed' the breakthrough deadlines till the next meeting of
    presidents Sargsyan and Aliev in Saint-Petersburg.

    U.S. co-chair of the Minsk group Matthew Bryza even gave the recipe of the
    'breakthrough' that includes "an eventual return of territories, also the
    return of Azerbaijani refugees to these territories", as the American
    diplomat himself put in a recent interview with the Russian Ekho Moskvy
    radio station, speaking in Russian.



    In an interview that also caused a lot of confusion, including linguistic
    one, Bryza also said: "Now I can't predict what will happen to Karabakh. We
    know that it will have a new obstanovka (the Russian word for 'situation'
    )."



    What the American diplomat's optimism is based on remains unclear. Perhaps,
    while in Prague Sargsyan and Aliev made some promises which were not
    publicized, or, maybe, Bryza is simply boosting the process to make it
    irreversible. Whatever the case is, such discrepancy of vectors of
    statements made by the sides and the co-chairmen makes it hard to believe
    either of them.



    The concerns on the part of Karabakhi parliamentarians were caused by that
    very lack of trust in public statements. During the April 30 session of the
    NKR National Assembly the MPs decided to consult with their Armenian
    colleagues in order to define the framework of official Yerevan's powers to
    represent Karabakh in the negotiation process. Members of the Karabakh
    parliament expressed their indignation over the fact that, the negotiations,
    to all appearances, were leading to territorial concessions. The special
    session of the Karabakh parliament scheduled for May 4 never took place, and
    those deputies who had retreated justified their decision saying they wanted
    to first wait for the Armenian authorities' visit to Stepanakert.



    On May 9, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visited Shushi, liberated on May
    9, 1992. Despite the lack of any statement by Sargsyan that day, the mere
    fact of his presence in Karabakh on the day of Shushi's liberation spoke for
    itself.



    The same day the Armenian President met and talked to his Karabakhi
    counterpart. No one knows what was said, however, Bako Sahakyan stated after
    the meeting he no longer had concerns over the negotiating process. "The
    president of Armenia is doing his best to recover the terms of the Budapest
    summit, according to which the NKR is a full party to negotiations,"
    Sahakyan said in a statement. It should be noted, though, that Sahakyan did
    not clarify whether after the NKR's recovery in the negotiating format the
    negotiations would be led around the same "Madrid principles" or would start
    anew. Because, for the residents of Karabakh, it all comes down to the
    subject of negotiations rather than their format.



    Sargsyan never met Karabakh parliamentarians and never talked about the
    negotiation details. Neither did Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
    Nalbandyan. Nobody knows whether the Armenian and Karabakh members of
    parliament would hold joint discussions or not. It is equally unknown
    whether the document defining Armenia's powers in the negotiation process
    will be adopted. After all, the need for such a document came forth not
    because Karabakhi parliamentarians do not trust the Armenian authorities or
    anyone else. The relations between the two countries have to be settled on
    a
    legal level ** through proper documentation.



    There are a number of agreements and treaties signed between Armenia and
    Karabakh. In particular, there is an agreement on intergovernmental
    cooperation; an inter-parliamentary commission has been formed with sessions
    held twice a year. Agreements are signed between counterpart ministries and
    departments of the two countries. Karabakh is officially receiving an
    interstate loan from Armenia making almost half of Karabakh's state budget.
    The only lacking agreement is the one authorizing Armenia to represent the
    NKR at negotiations and international instances.



    Meanwhile, not only the parliament but the people of Karabakh as well have
    growing concerns over the negotiation process. Bryza's 'optimistic'
    statements cause the syndrome of 'gunpowder keg', when people living in
    their own land, in their own house and do not know in what status and within
    which borders they can wake up one day.



    "On May 11, 1994, the ceasefire was declared, on May 12 a truce was signed.
    At least then we managed to force Azerbaijan to come to the negotiating
    table: there had been different agreements before - both between the defense
    and foreign ministers. However, Azerbaijan had never complied with the
    ceasefire regime, and even since May 12, 1994, and until now Azerbaijan has
    been trying to improve its positions in order to keep the NKR armed forces
    in constant tension," stated NKR Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan.



    He also brought some statistical data, saying that 580 gunshots from
    Azerbaijan vs. 116 from Karabakh were reported on the frontline in 2006,
    correspondingly 1,445 vs. 431 in 2007, 3,480 vs. 728 in 2008 and so far
    this year Azerbaijan opened fire on the frontline 1,098 times vs. the 186
    times done so by Karabakh.



    ************************************* *************************************

    7. Forum for Survival: PF-A to host discussions on the financial "storm"



    Policy Forum Armenia has announced a "high level" economic forum to be held
    May 25 in Yerevan that will bring together present and past prime ministers
    for a panel discussion, as well as representatives of international
    financial organizations.



    The day-long event - "Armenia: Weathering the Global Storm" - will focus on
    key issues facing Armenia's challenge to overcome the world financial
    crisis.



    "International financial organizations and most economists predict a deep
    and lengthy recession for a wide range of developed and developing
    countries. As many of these states, Armenia will face the consequences of
    adverse global trends, and in some ways is likely to be even more affected
    owing to a dramatic economic slowdown in some of its main trading partner
    countries," says the PF-A announcement.



    Policy Forum Armenia is an independent professional non-profit association
    aimed at strengthening discourse on Armenia's economic development and
    national security and through that helping to shape public policy in
    Armenia.

    Visit www.pf-armenia.org for more details of the organization and the forum.



    **************************************** ************************************

    8. Lessons from the Grave: Ancient Jewish cemetery marks little-known
    time in Armenian history



    By John Hughes

    ArmeniaNow editor



    A little known piece of Armenian history received high-profile attention
    this week, when dignitaries, villagers and activists for cultural awareness
    gathered at an old cemetery in the village of Yeghegis, some two hours south
    of Yerevan.



    The winding road through the Vayots Dzor province to the cemetery ends at a
    questionably sufficient footbridge across the snow-melt gush of the Yeghegis
    River, over which ambassadors from three countries cautiously trekked to pay
    respects to the remains of what was once a thriving community of Jewish
    settlers.



    Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch (United States), Ambassador Shemi Tzur (Israel)
    and Ambassador Revaz Gachechiladze (Georgia), and Honorary Italian Consul
    Antonio Montaldo were among some 70 or so guests who gathered to acknowledge
    recent efforts to preserve the historic site, including rebuilding of a
    boundary wall, put up by a joint project by the Diocese of Siunik, the
    Ministry of Culture and a team of experts from Israel led by Professor
    Michael Stone.



    The event was organized through the office of Bishop Abraham, Primate of the
    Siunik Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.



    On hand for the ceremony was professor Stone, who led a team that
    investigated the ancient cemetery from 2000-2003. Stone's team found that
    the tombstone inscriptions - including 10 in Hebrew or Aramaic - include
    sayings and verse from Talmudic literature. Some of the names of the
    deceased possibly link the settlers to Jewish families of Iran, suggesting
    that Yeghegis was originally settled by Iranian Jews who migrated.



    Except for the tombstones, no records exist of the community, leaving to
    speculation either its origin or the circumstances that caused the Jewish
    community's disappearance.



    In his/her turn the ambassadors congratulated those responsible for the
    modest but significant preservation work on this remote gorge protected by
    nature, but far from view and far from gaining the attention of typical
    tourism destinations.



    Ambassador Tzur said the site holding some 40 graves dating from 1266 to
    1346 was a link to his own people's place in Armenian history, and
    encouraged research into whatever became of the once thriving Jewish
    population of the area.



    Due to the work of the Armenian Monuments Awareness Project (AMAP) visitors
    to Yeghegis are now led to the village and its unique cemetery by roadside
    directional signs, and on-site information panels onto which is told in
    multiple languages the history of the area. A total of 4 information panels
    and 4 road signs have been installed there, with another 9 panels slated for
    installation in September. Each panel is presented in English, French,
    Italian, Russian, Armenian - and, for the cemetery, Hebrew.



    One of AMAP's most unique locations chosen for an installation is high above
    the Jewish cemetery on an opposite mountaintop, the Zorats Yekeghetsi
    (literally "Soldier's Church"). The church was dedicated in 1303 and is the
    only known Armenian church to have been built in such a way as to allow
    soldiers to pass the altar on horseback to receive a blessing before heading
    off to battle.



    At the cemetery commemoration on Monday, AMAP chief of party Rick Ney said
    that the attention to such places as this cemetery is well-deserved, as such
    recognition helps to round-out the rich history of Armenia as a nation of
    multi-culturalism, long before such a term even existed.



    "This is a world-class destination," said Ney. "It shows that 13th century
    Armenia was a lively, multi-cultural nation, enjoying the fruits of a
    cosmopolitan life that was the envy of the Caucasus. This was the seat of
    the most powerful Armenian family at the time, with influence in Georgia,
    Persia and the Mongol Empire. The Jewish community speaks to the prosperity
    and attraction of this medieval capital."



    AMAP - funded in part by the United States Agency for International
    Development (USAID) through the Competitive Armenian Private Sector program
    - launched its 2009 campaign last month with a presentation of a
    bird-watching trail at Armash. In 2008, the NGO put up 54 site panels and 33
    road signs in its efforts to improve the tourism experience in Armenia. For
    this installation, the project was supported by USAID and the Honorary
    Italian Consulate for Giumri.



    The 11-member staff of AMAP will produce more than 120 panels by end of this
    year at sites that include Tatev, Sevanavank, Amberd, and marking of
    Armenia's "silk road" from Georgia to Iran.

    ************************************************ **************************

    9. Suspended relief: Shushi benevolent fund puts its projects on hold



    By Gayane Lazarian

    ArmeniaNow reporter



    Only three years ago, in an interview with ArmeniaNow, Head of the 'Shushi'
    Benevolent Fund Bakur Karapetyan said that only the glorious past of Shushi
    is enough to make it Armenians' cultural center.



    Now, however, the head of the Fund announces that he suspends all projects.



    "Investors are no longer interested in Shushi. I cannot say whether it is
    connected with the financial crisis or not, but one thing is definite -
    currently there is also a moral-psychological decline among us," says
    Karapetyan.



    The "Shushi" Benevolent Fund was founded in 2000 with the objective to
    support the one-time cultural rise of the fortress town of Shushi. The
    fund has the role of a coordinator for Armenian and foreign investors.



    During several years of the Fund's activity, the investments, attracted by
    it, served the reconstruction and preservation of Shushi's
    historical-architectural appearance (as it was in the beginning of last
    century) making the town a pan-Armenian cultural center.



    Within several years the Benevolent Fund registered 520 monuments and put
    their locations on the map of Shushi Town, conducted architectural
    measurements of 220 18-19th century buildings, it carried out archeological
    excavations, studied many archived materials about Shushi, organized
    exhibitions and launched websites (the fund has spent the total of about
    $50,000).



    "Shushi had to change the fame and aura of a fortress town being a theatre
    of wars. However, our projects are currently seriously threatened, and we
    simply have to freeze them," says Karapetyan.



    Foreseeing the difficulty, the head of the Fund turned to more than 400
    organizations, different departments, as well as the President of our
    country and the Prime Minister, asking to support them in the implementation
    of the projects. Getting no respond, on April 18 Karapetyan sent letters to
    several businessmen - Ara Abrahamyan, Gagik Tsarukyan, Mikael Baghdasaryan,
    Barsegh Beglaryan, Hrant Vardanyan, and Samvel Alexanyan.



    "It is necessary to direct a part of your incomes towards the culture and
    literature for the benefit of your country, otherwise Armenia would be
    buried into moral-spiritual crisis, which may threaten the security of the
    country," the appeal-letter reads.



    Karapetyan says that he already does not even wait for the reply to the
    letter, since the addressees are not interested in the problem anymore.



    "The national incomes are amassed in the hands of a group of people, and the
    disproportionate distribution causes serious problems for the development of
    the country. Moreover, that problem is connected with moral decline, and the
    reason for that is people's detachment from culture," says Karapetyan,
    "There is no need to blame the crisis for it, the problem is in us, in our
    way of thinking. I believe that it may lead to serious disasters."



    In 2008 the Fund published the first and second volumes of the 30-volume
    publication called 'Collected Records of Artsakh Survival Struggle'. Fifteen
    volumes are entered into computer and they are ready for publication. A
    collection of 7,000 old photos has been created, as well as a website
    www.avetis.org. It was also planned to found Photography National Museum
    either in Shushi or in another town of Armenia.



    The Fund has held different exhibitions. The photo exhibitions called
    'Western Armenia before 1915 in Photos' (in the National Museum-Institute of
    Architecture), and '111 Instances from the Life of Shushi Town-Fortress (in
    Yerevan, Moscow and Stepanakert) were held in April-May.



    The organization has several websites- 'Shushi' popular scientific
    online periodical with 2,500 photos, a forum and an electronic museum with
    the history of the Karabakh confrontation, calleed 'Photo Chronicle of the
    20-th Century's Local Conflicts.'



    "One of our objectives was to have a 'material' museum on the topic of
    Karabakh confrontation especially in Shushi. In this case Nagorno-Karabakh
    and Shushi would have the role of a peace preacher, which is very important;
    moreover later we could have transferred it into an important scientific
    center, which would study interracial and local conflicts," says the head of
    the organization.



    The Fund is preparing to publish a book called 'Frontier Reportages:
    1988-1994.' The has organization also financed the creation of 'Shushi'
    popular scientific periodical (www.journal.shoushi.am). They have also
    organized a petition for recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh's right to be a
    conflicting and negotiation side posted in the www.avetis.am website. More
    than 3000 people from 43 countries of the world have already participated in
    it.



    Bakur Karapetyan says that the means of the Fund are gathered both from the
    Diaspora and Armenia thanks to different fund-raising events.



    "Our main expenses were not that big: we always tried to carry out great
    deeds with little funds. Now we even cannot afford paying the rent for our
    office," he says, "We do need people's support in this case. Our books are
    not bought, something is wrong. There is no interest in Arstakh and our
    history. I believe that it is the result of a moral decline, and it is a
    pity. If the nation loses touch with its culture, it is the most dangerous
    thing that might happen."





    ******************************* *********************************************

    10. **Able for communication: Center in Vanadzor helps mentally disabled
    children



    By Naira Bulghadaryan

    ArmeniaNow Vanadzor reporter



    For the five-year-old Sona two days a week are the favorite ones - the days
    she and her mother visit Vanadzor's Health and Medical-Social Rehabilitation
    Center of the 'Arabkir' Medical Complex for Children.



    The center, which has been run in Vanadzor for five years, is attended by
    children with physical and mental problems. As a result of the medical and
    psychological treatment they undergo, the children's physical and mental
    skills start developing. Sona is one of the 50 children who attend the
    center.



    Sona was born with lack of thyroid gland hormones, and consequently she
    stopped growing - both physically and mentally. She feels better after the
    treatment. And the Center helped her to get rid of the isolation, and to
    stop keeping silence. She gradually started speaking, and also communicating
    with foreigners.



    "She gets bored during weekends, she asks all the time when Monday or Friday
    will come," tells Sona's mother - 38-year-old Evelina Pirumyan. The mother
    remembers that before attending the center, when her child was four years
    old, she couldn't even speak, she was reserved, whereas children of her age
    were singing and reciting poetry.



    Pirumyan says that now daughter speaks, knows the colors, and tries to
    communicate with foreigners.



    Isolation, absence of desire to communicate, non-speaking are the symptoms
    describing the disease of development delay or the so-called mentally
    retarded.



    Artsvi Harutyunyan, psychologist at the Center, believes that the reasons of
    this disease are of different nature: delays in physical, psychological,
    social development. The development delay is either an inborn defect or a
    disease obtained during the first years of life. It is expressed in
    insufficient development of psychic, but mainly - in intellect. The reasons
    are various.



    Twenty children out of 50 attending the Center have this problem. They are
    not only from Vanadzor, but also other towns and villages of the Lori
    province.



    "They have problems connected with behavior, they do not speak. If you try
    to look into their eyes and make them speak they react very emotionally and
    may become even more reserved. It is important to make them communicate step
    by step, because if there is no communication, there cannot be development,"
    says psychologist Harutyunyan.



    Another child, six-year-old Gor, who has autism (a complicated disorder
    that influences the normal functioning of the brain) after three years of
    attending the center not only speaks, but, as his mother says, has also
    expanded his limits of communication.



    "Gor was not taking off his clothes for three-four months, he wasn't
    talking, he did not look at us, he was in a hard situation, he had
    aggressive behaviour," says the psychologist and adds that currently Gor
    attends school, and he gets high marks.



    "He has musical skills, I think about taking him to a music school, too,"
    says the excited mother - Liana Jamharyan, 36.



    Now another 50 children are waiting for their turn to attend the center. The
    specialists of the sphere are few; this is the reason why the number of
    children simultaneously attending the Center is small, and many have to wait
    for their turn to attend the Center.



    *************************************** *************************************
    11. For the love of soccer: Armenia's women team in first international
    action on home soil



    By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

    ArmeniaNow reporter



    Armenian women soccer players were in their first-ever action at national
    level in front of a home crowd as they entertained Estonia and Kazakhstan in
    a friendly tournament this week.



    The tournament in the town of Abovyan, about 20 kilometers to the northeast
    of capital Yerevan, on May 12-16, was held under the auspices of European
    soccer's governing body, UEFA.



    A year ago Armenia won a similar friendly tournament held in Macedonia.
    Samvel Adamyan, who has coached the team already for a year, says that
    victory was important for the national team as the country's Football
    Federation started to pay more attention to women's soccer after it.



    "After we returned from Macedonia the Federation gathered the national team,
    praised it, and each soccer player from the team was rewarded with a check
    for 50,000 drams (about $135). So they understood that a woman can also play
    soccer," says Adamyan.



    He says that both men's and women's soccer declined in Armenia in the early
    1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.



    "Many talented players simply quit the sport during those 'dark and cold'
    years. Now an attempt is made to recover the loss gradually," he says.



    In the last 20 years, a national soccer championship for women was held in
    Armenia only once - in 1998. The national team manager says because there
    are few women soccer players, it is particularly difficult to complete the
    Under-17 team, since Armenia's Football Federation did not provide the
    necessary number of players.



    "We have approximately 60 female players who mainly play at the 'College'
    and 'Banants' clubs. On the basis of these clubs we select players in three
    groups - U-17, U-19, and the main national team. This means that we have no
    opportunity for selection," says Adamyan.



    Adamyan believes that Armenian women soccer players' mentality may be a
    serious obstacle, too.



    "For many years they participated in different tournaments just for the sake
    of playing and at least for avoiding crushing defeats. I've worked with them
    for a year, and we have not managed to overcome that psychological barrier
    entirely yet. It is ten times harder to work with women than with men,"
    Adamyan says.



    Still, the head coach says they have quite good players involved in the
    national team. Its two forwards, Gayane Kostanyan and Christine Alexanyan,
    have even been purchased by a Lebanese soccer club.



    To promote women's soccer in Armenia, the Football Federation pays a salary
    of 50,000 drams (about $135) to coaches who can manage to gather women's
    teams. As of this year, eight such teams have been recruited in different
    provinces of the country.



    Currently Armenia's women's national team hold their trainings on FC
    Banants's pitch. The ladies have only one day a week free from training.



    "When I became the head coach I thought that they needed permanent trainings
    to register good results. Previously they used to participate in the
    trainings only three or four days a week. The players of the 'College' Club
    trained indoors, they did not even have a field," says Adamyan.



    The team whose average age is 20 are currently in intensive training for the
    World Cup qualifying games commencing in September. Starting this year,
    women will play their qualifying matches on a 'home and away basis', just as
    it is in men's soccer.



    Armenia's opponents in the qualifying round are Italy, Finland, Slovenia and
    Portugal.



    "We have quite strong opponents who have higher ratings and level of
    performance. However, only the matches with strong opponents can raise the
    level of our soccer players. We are also glad that from now on we will also
    have a chance to play at home," says Adamyan.



    Women players say soccer has great importance for them.



    National team defender Armine Khachatryan, 22, says their participation in
    World Cup qualifying games is very obliging. She says she went in for karate
    and soccer simultaneously when she was seven. But as she grew up, she
    realized that she loved soccer more and decided on this sport.



    Another member of the national team, 17-year-old Mariam Torgomyan, remembers
    that she used to get surprised seeing people who liked watching soccer on
    TV.



    "I wondered how possible that was to watch it. I used to attend a theatre
    group, when I saw an announcement at our school inviting people to enlist
    for soccer team training. I decided to give it a try, and now I am very
    pleased that I came here," says Mariam.



    National team members say there are many girls who want to go in for soccer,
    but their parents are against.



    "There is a widespread viewpoint that soccer spoils a girl's body structure,
    but it is just the opposite," says Armine Tadevosyan, who has played soccer
    already for nine years.



    "In fact by playing soccer a girl gets a sportier and more beautiful body,"
    the 22-year-old defender of the national team adds.



    ***************************************** ***********************************

    12. Sport: Ararat in trouble over license for Europe League



    By Suren Musayelyan

    ArmeniaNow reporter**



    Soccer



    Last season's Armenian premier league runner-up FC Ararat is unlikely to
    represent the country in the upcoming Europe League, a tournament that comes
    to replace the former UEFA Cup, after this week's unanimous decision by the
    Armenian Football Federation's Licensing Committee to reject the club's bid
    for a license to participate in the UEFA 2009/2010 club tournaments. In
    making the decision the licensing body took into account "considerable
    shortcomings revealed during inspections."



    At the same time, the Committee decided to issue such licenses to Pyunik,
    Mika, Banants and Gandzasar. (Armenian champion Pyunik is to represent
    Armenia in the most prestigious of the European club competitions, the
    Champions League, while Banants will play in the Europe League).



    Ruben Hayrapetyan, who heads Armenian soccer's governing body, referred at
    a
    press conference Monday to the circumstances that made it incumbent on the
    licensing committee to make the decision against Ararat.



    He said: "As President of the Football Federation, I am obliged to assist
    all football clubs, but that doesn't mean I have to break the law."



    Meanwhile, the Yerevan club still has the right to appeal the decision, in
    which case the License Appeals Committee will hold its next meeting on May
    26.



    In an unrelated report, the Football Federation said Armenia's top referee
    Ararat Chagharyan and two linesmen Arshak Knazyan and Artur Muradyan will
    officiate a match a U-21 Euro 2011 qualifying round Group 1 fixture between
    Latvia and Andorra on June 6. The fourth official will be Karen Nalbandyan.



    Also, the Federation has decided the time and venue for the U-21 Euro 2011
    qualifying round Group 2 fixture between Armenia and Turkey in Yerevan.
    According to the report, the match will take place at the Vazgen Sargsyan
    Republican Stadium on June 9, at 8.00 pm Yerevan time.



    In Armenia's premier league football, leader Pyunik lost their first points
    as they drew with Mika Ashtarak 2-2 on Wednesday. In other Round 7 league
    games, Banants beat Kilikia 3-0, Ararat lost to Ulis 0-1 and Shirak drew
    with Gandzasar 0-0.



    Pyunik still top the league with 19 points. Banants are a point behind, with
    Mika in the third place with 14 points. Last season's runner-up Ararat are
    bottom with no points earned and no goals scored in seven league games this
    season.



    (Source: Football Federation of Armenia, FFA)



    Chess



    Grandmasters Karen Movsisyan (Armenia) and Sergey Kasparov (Belarus) scored
    6 1/2 points each out of 9 and shared the 4th-9th places in the open which
    recently ended in La Laguna, Spain, reports www.armchess.am.



    According to the same source, WIM Tatiana Kasparova (Belarus) scored 5
    points. GM Julio Granda Zuniga (Peru), with 8 points, became the winner of
    the tournament that had brought together 120 chess players from different
    countries.



    (Source: www.armchess.am)



    ********************************************** ******************************





    Erdogan's statements in Baku draw reaction from Yerevan



    Official Yerevan has responded to the recent statements made by Turkish
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who again linked Armenian-Turkish
    normalization with Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.




    "Turkey's attempts to interfere with the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process
    may harm this process," said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan
    Thursday, responding to Erdogan's statements made in while on a visit to
    Azerbaijan the previous day.



    According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Nalbandyan defined that "the
    negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem proceed
    through the mediation of the cochairmen of the [OSCE] Minsk Group, on the
    basis of the Madrid principles and the sides are trying to reduce
    differences in their positions."



    While in Baku on May 13, Turkish Premier Erdogan said that Turkey will not
    open its border with Armenia until Armenia withdraws its troops from
    Nagorno-Karabakh.



    President Serzh Sargsyan, who has insisted all along that the rapprochement
    between Yerevan and Ankara involves no preconditions, also reacted to the
    statements the same day.



    According to the presidential press office, the Armenian leader said the
    best way for Turkey to assist in the Karabakh peace process would be
    "abstaining from interfering with it altogether."
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