Friday 25 April 2008

Armenian News


EARTHQUAKE IN GARNI
A1+
18 April, 2008

A 3.3-magnitude earthquake was reported 14 km east of Garni village
at 08.13, April 18. The earthquake was perceived in Nor-Nork district,
RA Yerevan, National Seismic Center reports.
EMIGRATION OF ARMENIANS DECREASES
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 16, 2008
Armenia

According to the UN data, among the individuals seeking shelter abroad
there were also 3925 citizens of Armenia, based on the records of
last year. While on the global level the number of such citizens has
increased by 10 percent in comparison with 2006, the situation with
our country is just the contrary: the number of the citizens seeking
shelter abroad has decreased by 6 percent.

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POLLUTANT EXCESS RECORDED IN ARMENIA'S ATMOSPHERE AND TOWNS
14 April 2008
ARKA - News (Armenia)
YEREVAN, April 14. /ARKA/. Pollutant concentrations in the atmosphere of Armenian towns and rivers exceeded the highest admissible level in February 2008, RA National Statistical Service reports. The report is based on the information provided by the RA Ministry of Nature Protection.
Monitoring was conducted in Yerevan and in the biggest towns -Ararat, Alaverdi, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Hrazdan and Tsaxkadzor.
Average monthly level of sulphur dioxide concentration in Yerevan atmosphere increased 1.3-fold and the toluene concentration level increased 2.4-fold.
Dust concentration in Gyumri atmosphere exceeded the highest admissible level 1.9-fold and sulphur dioxide in Vanadzor exceeded the admissible level 1.4-fold.
4.7-fold cement dust excess was recorded in Hrazdan and 4.7-fold excess was recorded in Ararat. Lack of sulphur dioxide (6.4-fold) and nitrogen dioxide (6.3-fold) was revealed in Tsakhkadzor.
A slight excess of ammonium ion, nitrite and ion sulphate was revealed in Armenian rivers.
Ammonium ion excess (0.43 - 3.31mg in each cubic decimetre) was registered in different sections of rivers Pambak, Dzoraget, Akhtala, Aghstev, Hrazdan and Getar with the admissible level set at 0.39mg. Nitrite and sulfate ion excess was revealed in all the other rivers.

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ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT WILL STOP SUBSIDIZING GAS CONSUMERS FROM MAY 1
armradio.am
15.04.2008 17:31

Starting from May 1 of 2008, the Armenian Government will stop
subsidizing gas consumers, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
said in Yerevan today.

Tigran Sargsyan reminded that, starting from 2006, the government
has been subsidizing individuals and legal entities to prepare them
for transition to new tariffs, caused by the growth of prices for
the Russian gas.

According to the Prime Minister, in May the Chairman of the Board of
"Gazprom" OJSC Aleksey Miller will arrive in Yerevan to negotiate
the conditions of purchases of Russian gas for the next 3 years.

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529,231 USERS CONNECTED TO REPUBLICAN GAS SYSTEM
Noyan Tapan
April 15, 2008


YEREVAN, APRIL 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of actual users of
ArmRusgazprom CJSC increased by 2,872 in March and made 529,231
users connected to the gas system as of April 1. NT correspondent was
informed by the company's press service that the 200 thousandth user
was linked to the gas system of Yerevan on March 31.

It is noteworthy that gas supply networks have been installed in 472
settlements of the country. The company envisages investing at least 62
bln drams (about 200 mln USD) in the system this year. ArmRusgasprom
transfers 75 mln drams to the RA state budget and 6 mln drams to the
Social Fund a day.

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Turkish Daily News
April 17, 2008
Vintage postcards tell about culture

A historical study of vintage postcards by researcher Osman Köker sheds light on the daily lives of Armenians who lived in Anatolia a century ago. Old postcards showing Armenian orphanages, schools, monasteries and churches, constitute unique primary sources on the history of Turkey's Armenian community.

Vercihan Ziflioglu
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Postcards have been an important means of communication since the early 20th century. They have carried evidence of different cultures and lifestyles from one corner of the world to another. Today vintage postcards constitute a unique source of information about life in the past for art collectors and researchers. Researcher Osman Köker decided in the late 1990s to conduct a study of Armenians in Anatolia during the Ottoman Empire. Speaking to the Turkish Daily News, Köker explained his desire to study such a historical topic, "My daughter was given a text about the history of Tokat, a province in northern Turkey, as homework. All the sources we scanned said that Tokat had always been a Turkish province throughout history. But how could that be? We Turks entered Anatolia in 1071."
What Köker aimed to do was to break the rigidities the official Turkish history taught to students in all state schools and many of private ones. Köker began his study with a 4,000-piece private postcard collection owned by collector Orlando Carlo Calumeno. During his examinations of Calumeno's huge archive, Köker discovered a total of 700 postcards reflecting the social life of Armenians living in Anatolia from 1895-1914.
After paying Calumeno copyright fees for the postcards, Köker gathered all his sources, complied, edited them and decided to have them published as a book. However, things did not go as he hoped. He faced problems in publishing his study and so, with his own financial resources, founded Birzamanlar Publications in 2005 and published his book, titled "100 Yil Once Türkiye'de Ermeniler," or Armenians in Turkey 100 Years Ago." A second edition was published last week

Book in three languages Köker's book has been published in Turkish, English and German. The postcards used in the book were exhibited in Turkey, Germany and France in recent years and they will be moved to Europe for display in fall 2008. The
exhibition will also travel to Armenia. "My aim is not only to write history. This is a kind of cultural activity," said Köker. "I have been writing about Armenians in various newspapers and journals for many years. Therefore, the topic is one of my special areas of interest." Köker said, and pointed out the significance of such a study for Turkey, "Turkey spends large amounts of money for lobbying activities against the Armenian Diaspora. But my study shows that we, here in Turkey, can speak freely on all issues. This book is a source of prestige for Turkey." "100 years ago was the golden age of Armenians in Anatolia. They were at the highest level they could reach socially, culturally and economically. And besides, we used to have a more peaceful atmosphere a century ago. That is the reason I chose to study that era," he said. Köker's study began with one question: In what parts of the Ottoman Empire did Armenians live at the beginning of the 20th century? A province-by-province and even village-by-village documentation of the areas where Armenians lived in the Empire formed the second phase of his project. With the help of Calumeno's postcard archive, Köker also identified, one by one, the Armenian neighborhoods, churches, monasteries and orphanages that existed in Anatolia at the beginning of the 20th century. Köker even learned the Armenian language in order to read primary and secondary sources in Armenian. All in all, his study took four years and resulted in a qualified documentation of Armenians' way of life at the time, from economics to the social sphere. During his research, Köker found some 50 postcards among the postcard collection that were sent by the same person. These dispatches outlined an
itinerant's journey, step by step. He also found several panoramic photos of Anatolia in Calumeno's collection.

About 7,000 people have visited Köker's exhibitions since 2005. During exhibitions held in Turkey, interesting coincidences have taken place. "No matter whether Armenian or Turk, many people have encountered old pictures of their hometowns during those exhibitions," he said. The only negative reaction to Köker's work came from a visitor at the Tüyap Book Fair in 2005. "A visitor from Bafra, a district in the Samsun province of Turkey, said that we filled everywhere with Armenians. I did not reply to him and just took him to see the board with photos and postcards showing Bafra at the time. He was shocked by what he saw. A century-old Armenian school in one of the postcards was the school he had attended. That person had absolutely no
idea about the history of the school where he himself had been a student once upon a time."

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