WASHINGTON,–President Bush signed the fiscal year (FY) 2008 overall appropriations package this week, known as the omnibus bill, which included $58.5 million in economic assistance for Armenia and maintained Armenia and Azerbaijan military aid parity, reported the Armenian National Committee of America The Armenia economic aid figures are $17.5 million less than the FY 2007 [...]

Parliamentary deputies from the Democratic Society Party (DTP) criticized Wednesday the Turkish Government’s stance of the Kurdish issue. The government has disregarded a political resolution to the Kurdish question, suspended all dialogue with the PKK, and ruled out any possibility for peace, the statement said. The critical statement by Turkey’s sole Kurdish political party represented [...]

On this first day of the New Year, I would like to thank the people of Armenia for their friendship and for the support they continue to give to the strong relationship between Armenia and the United States. Today is a day to celebrate the many things that bring us together as nations, and to [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenian Chess Grand Master Levon Aronian will participate in the International Chess tournament set to take place on February 15 to 20. The tournament will kick off in the city of Morelia, Mexico and will continue in Linares, Spain from February 28 to March 7. Aronian will compete with Grand Masters Vishwanathan Anand of [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The Information Technology Education and Research Center at Yerevan State University opened Wednesday. The main goals of the center will be the implementation of educational and training programs in the information technology sphere, conduction of separate classes, scientific-research works, and the development of YSU’s information network. The center, which will be headed by the [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The Armenian Government decided Thursday to raise the one-time monetary allowance to families that have three or more children from 200,000 Drams in 2007 to 300,000 ($1000) next year. The allowance for a family’s first and second child will, however, remain unchanged at 35,000 Drams, said Deputy Labor and Social Affairs Minister Artem Asatrian. [...]

Armenian Presidential Candidate Vahan Hovannesian met with Armenian businessmen Thursday. The Vice Speaker of the National Assembly called the meeting to wish Armenia’s entrepreneurs a happy New Year and share with them his impressions of the economy and their role in its development. "When this or that businessman becomes wealthy by exploiting the lever’s of [...]

WASHINGTON–The Armenian National Committee of America joined with the Save Darfur Coalition and a range of faith-based organizations yesterday in urging President Bush to sign the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act into law. The legislation, adopted unanimously by the House and Senate despite opposition from the Departmen’s of State and Justice, would allow states and [...]

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–President Robert Kocharian signed on Wednesday Armenia’s official military doctrine. The document describes Azerbaijan’s pledges to win back Nagorno-Karabakh as a key threat to national security and asserts Yerevan’s right to launch pre-emptive military strikes against potential aggressors. “In the event of an immediate threat of armed aggression, the Republic of Armenia reserves [...]

WASHINGTON (Combined Sources)–The White House Wednesday said it had expressed concern to Ankara over the possible escalation of Turkey’s attacks against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) inside northern Iraq. "We’ve made it clear to the Turkish government that we have concerns about anything that could lead to escalated concerns or civilian casualties," White House spokesman [...]

BEIJING (Armenpress)–The Days of Armenian Culture kicked off in China on Tuesday with a gala concert in a Beijing concert hall. Before the official launch of the event an exhibition of works by an Armenian painter Karen Aghamian opened at the Beijing City Library. Armenian Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosian, who flew to China to participate [...]

YEREVAN (Yerkir)–Presidential Candidate and ARF Bureau Member Vahan Hovannesian signed a symbolic social contract with the citizens of Armenia during a press conference Monday. The agreement outlines the fundamental principles and pledges of his campaign platform and is the ARF’s latest initiative in Armenia’s presidential election, slated for February 19, next year. Hovannesian said [...]

Hundreds of newspapers, internet sites, wire services, and radio and TV programs in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, France and many other countries had a field day with my column, "Armenia’s Demand Justice, not Recognition." Here are some of the headlines that appeared in the Turkish media last week: "Prominent Armenian Journalist: ‘Our Goal is Compensation [...]

BUENOS AIRES–Professor Richard Hovannisian was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from November 20 to 25 to participate in an international conference on the social aspects of genocide and to give a public lecture to the Armenian community. The conference was organized by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero UNTREF. Invited as a distinguished speaker [...]