Armenian News‏

YEREVAN CONFIRMS ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS WILL MEET SOON
Interfax
Jan 20 2009
Russia

The Armenian and Azeri presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev,
will meet in the near future, the Armenian presidential press service
told Interfax on Tuesday.

"The participants in a meeting between the co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan reached an agreement on organizing a
meeting between the Armenian and Azeri presidents in the near future,"
the press service said.

Presidential press secretary Samvel Farmanian did not specify when
a meeting between Sargsyan and Aliyev could take place and where.

Yury Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, told
journalists in Azerbaijan on Monday that Baku had given its consent to
such a meeting during the traditional annual economic forum in Davos.

"The main result [of the talks in Baku] is Azerbaijan's consent to hold
a new meeting between the Azeri and Armenian presidents in the near
future, apparently on the sidelines of the Davos economic forum. When
we are in Yerevan tomorrow, we expect to obtain confirmation from
Armenia," Merzlyakov said at a news briefing in Baku on Monday.

The Armenian presidential press service also said the participants in
the Tuesday meeting also discussed certain aspects of the current stage
in the ongoing negotiations on solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The co-chairmen informed the president of Armenia about results of
the Baku meetings," it said.

Armenia Seeks Anti-Crisis Aid From Russia
By Emil Danielyan

Armenia is seeking to obtain a sizable loan from Russia in an effort to
alleviate the negative impact of the global financial crisis on its
economy, senior officials in Yerevan and Moscow confirmed on Friday.

`We have approached Russia to attract financial resources,' Artur
Javadian, chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), told
journalists. `That issue is currently in the discussion stage.'

`These will be additional resources for country's economy,' he said
without elaborating.

Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin likewise announced that Yerevan
is seeking a `stabilization credit' from Moscow. `We are now holding
negotiations with Armenia,' he said, according to the RIA-Novosti news
agency.

Both Kudrin and Javadian declined to give any figures, saying that the
Russian-Armenian talks are not yet over.

The Yerevan daily `Haykakan Zhamanak' claimed on Friday that the
Armenian government has sharply lowered its aid expectations from Russia
and would now settle for $170 million. The paper reported earlier that
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian discussed the issue with his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin during a December visit to Moscow.

The Armenian government is also seeking hundreds of millions of dollars
in aid and low-interest loans from Western lending institutions and the
World Bank in particular. It hopes to secure a $250 million loan package
from the World Bank that would be channeled into Armenia's small and
medium-sized businesses through local commercial banks. The
Washington-based bank appears ready to disburse at least some of the
requested sum.

Foreign assistance will be vital for the success of the government
efforts to minimize the fallout from the global economic recession.
Armenia's economic growth slowed significantly in the fourth quarter of
2008 amid falling cash inflows from abroad and an increasingly obvious
downturn in its construction sector. The sector had helped to keep the
growth rate in double digits in the previous months and years.

The authorities are particularly worried about an anticipated drop in
large-scale remittances from Armenians working abroad, another driving
force behind the country's economic recovery. Russia is the principle
source of those remittances.



HENCEFORTH TURKISH PUPILS INSTEAD OF EXPRESSION

 "THE SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" WILL SAY "THE EVENTS OF 1915"
Noyan Tapan
Jan 21, 2009

ANKARA, JANUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. When touching upon the Armenian Cause
pupils in Turkey's schools instead of the expression "ungrounded" or
"the so-called Armenian Genocide" henceforth will use the expression
"the events of 1915." According to the reports of Turkish media,
Turkey's Ministry of Education made such a decision. The change,
in particular, regards the expressions in the history textbook for
the 8th form pupils.

It should be mentioned that as far back as on July 3, 2007 Turkey's
government sent a circular letter to all Turkey's ministries,
structures attached to them, governor's offices, municipalities,
Supreme Educational Council, judicial structures, and Armed Forces
General Headquarters, which prohibited using the expression "the
so-called Armenian Genocide" in the country. Instead it was demanded
using the expressions "the events of 1915" or "Armenian allegations
regarding the events of 1915."

KADYKOY BECOMES HYDE PARK
Turkish Daily News
January 20, 2009 Tuesday

The Anatolian district of Kadykoy now hosts a "Speakers Corner"
similar to the one in Londons Hyde Park. The Speakers Corner was
established by the community center and allows those who want to
voice their opinions to speak publicly on various issues

"The platform is for all people to have the right to speak. We aim
to expand the Speakers Corner to all neighborhoods in Istanbul,"
said Nuri Gunay, a representative of the community center.

Those who take the stage mostly speak about the Ergenekon operation,
an alleged gang said to have plotted to bring down the government by
instigating a military coup, Israels attack on Gaza, the economic
crisis and the rising price of gas. Students who ask for equal
education rights and mothers who want school scholarships for their
children, are just a couple of examples of those who take the stage.

The platform includes a microphone and sound speakers and is located
in front of the Armenian synagogue on Muhurday Avenue. While people
are now able to voice their opinions publicly, there is still no
immunity from the law and police must consider the speech lawful.

[this is a warning not to infringe section 301 - quite poignant in front of a monument left

behind by the Armenians]

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