Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIA IMPORTS 88 NEW AMBULANCE CARS
Karen Ghazaryan

“Radiolur”
23.06.2011

Armenia imported 88 new ambulances furnished with contemporary
equipment today under a grant provided by the People’s Democratic
Republic of China.

“We can say now that Armenia has ambulance cars, equipments and
specialists necessary for ensuing high-quality emergency medical
service,” Minister of Healthcare Harutyun Kushkyan told reporters.

President Serzh Sargsyan was present at the ceremony at the ambulance
hospital. The President was briefed on the process of modernization
of the ambulance service and the capacities of the new ambulance cars.

From: A. Papazian

L. TER-PETROSYAN: “AZERBAIJAN WON’T TAKE IT ANYMORE”

02:14 pm | June 23, 2011 | Interview

RA First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan gave an interview to the
“Moskovskie Novosti” newspaper ahead of the meeting in Kazan.

Before touching upon the current stage of the NK conflict, Levon
Ter-Petrosyan presented in detail the core of the Karabakh conflict
and touched upon the circumstances that made Karabakh and Nakhichevan
part of Azerbaijan.

“Any president of Armenia, regardless of how he may be called, will
be compelled to strengthen ties with Turkey,” said the newspaper
correspondent, asking “what Serzh Sargsyan did wrong in the
normalization of relations with Turkey”.

In response, Ter-Petrosyan said Serzh Sargsyan did everything right.

“This issue needs to stay on the agenda because Armenia has no
perspectives for development without normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations and an open border.”

Ter-Petrosyan also mentioned that Armenia wanted to come to terms
with Turkey in 1992, but the battles in Kelbajar impeded that process.

“Whether Armenia likes it or not, the Turks won’t normalize relations
as long as the Karabakh conflict remains unresolved. The border will
open as soon as the Karabakh conflict is settled, and that is the
end of discussion.”

How can the conflict be resolved? In response, Ter-Petrosyan said he
didn’t link the two issues together. “The Karabakh conflict exists
regardless of Turkey’s will and desire.” The First President said
there was no moment when Armenian diplomats managed to set these two
issues aside and added that that only happened before Kelbajar.

“We were trying to prove to the Turks that those two issues shouldn’t
be linked, and I think that would be right for Turkey. Turkey committed
an error and hurt Azerbaijan, instead of helping the latter.

The Turks instilled in the Azeri that Turkey was their ally and
was standing by their side, but the Azeri will continue to not cede
in terms of the Karabakh conflict. That led to the second war when
Azerbaijan lost 5 regions. Turkey was to blame for that because it
wasn’t able to persuade the Azeri to make concessions. They had to
make less concessions back then. There are also Turkish political
figures that accept that that was an error,” mentioned Ter-Petrosyan.

The RA First President said much has been lost in the past 13 years.

“It is very difficult to achieve what we could have achieved back
then. The only thing that is different from the previous plan is the
referendum for Nagorno-Karabakh’s status. However, that has not been
confirmed. They are talking about expression of will or a survey,
but there is nothing said about the consequences of that referendum
in terms of the law. The development shows that things are worse now.

Unfortunately, any decision will be worse than a decision taken
back then.”

Speaking about the restart of military operations, Ter-Petrosyan said:
“The West is not making any effort to resolve the conflict because
Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and other countries come first.

No matter how rich that country is, its resources are limited. This
creates the opportunity for Russia to play a more active role, and it
has been doing so through meetings between the presidents, statements
and trilateral declarations. Russia is taking the initiative and has
that opportunity. I am certain that the West won’t be against that, if
the conflicting sides come to terms on that. There is an opportunity
for success. If this process doesn’t succeed, a war is likely to
break out because Azerbaijan won’t take it anymore. Armenia will
never wage a war no matter who the president is. Azerbaijan will be
the only one to wage a war, and what is most dangerous is that nobody
can hold Azerbaijan back.”

From: A. Papazian

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE IS SIMPLY DISTORTING THINGS
By Aghavni Haroutyunian

AZG DAILY
24-06-2011

The statement of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe Mevlut Cavusoglu that the normalization of
the Armenian-Turkish relations is linked to the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue and supposedly there was a an oral agreement
between Turkey and Armenia on it, was commented by the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs of Armenia as a simplistic distortion. “The
process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations started
and was conducted by a mutual understanding and perception that
this normalization should be without any preconditions and that is
why there is no precondition in the signed Protocols,” said Edward
Nalbandian in the briefing with the journalists.

What refers to another statement of Cavusoglu that Armenian-Turkish
relations are connected with the results of the Kazan meeting,
Nalbandian said that immediately after the Zurich “when the Turkish
side backtracked to the language of preconditions, I said that if we
talked in the language of preconditions, then Armenia could have no
less substantiated preconditions”.

From: A. Papazian

LES ARMENIENS REMERCIENT REUVEN RIVLIN
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 23 juin 2011

Les dirigeants de la communaute armenienne ont remercie le president
de la Knesset Reuven Rivlin pour sa position sur le genocide armenien
au niveau de la Knesset.

” Votre honneur a montre de la noblesse et de la moralite ” a declare
Georgette Joaquin, presidente du Comite de la Cause armenienne a
Jerusalem. ” Nous esperons que le Genocide armenien sera reconnu par
Israël sous votre ère “.

Reuven Rivlin a repondu : ” c’est mon devoir comme Juif et Israelien
de reconnaître les tragedies des autres nations. Les considerations
diplomatiques, aussi importantes soient-elles, ne nous permettent
pas de nier les desastres des autres “.

La Knesset a discute de la question du genocide armenien au debut du
mois et Rivlin a dit que ” l’horreur ” serait marquee chaque annee.

From: A. Papazian

US CONGRESS HOSTS BRIEFING ON AZERBAIJAN

news.az
June 22 2011
Azerbaijan

A briefing on Azerbaijan was held at the US congress.

A briefing held with participation of Vladimir Socor, researcher of
Jamestown Foundation and Eurasia Daily Monitor publication.

The event was held for congressmen and lawyers.

Socor briefed the participants on socio-economic reforms in Azerbaijan,
regional energy and transportation projects, Azerbaijan`s role in
ensuring energy security of US and contribution to international peace
operations and touched on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN FM: “FACTS ARE DISTORTED”
Diana Markosyan

June 22, 2011 |04:05 pm

“The facts are simply distorted. We have repeatedly said that the
Armenian-Turkish peace deal has been disrupted by mutual agreement
and the process should proceed without preconditions. There are not
prerequisites in the Armenian-Turkish Protocols either,” Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said when commenting on PACE
President’s statement that there are unwritten preconditions and the
sides are aware of them.

“The Foreign Ministers participating in the signing of the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols have announced that their countries
expect the protocols to be ratified without preconditions,” stressed
Nalbandian.

Further he cited the words of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
who said that Armenia has already fulfilled its commitments and the
ball is now in the court of Turkey.

“I think that the attempts to shift the responsibility onto the other
side are vain,” said the Armenian FM.

Answering A1+’s question on the PACE Sub-Committee on Nagorno Karabakh,
Edward Nalbandian said, “Not only Armenia but also the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs stressed that the revival of the sub-committee will
not benefit the settlement process. The decisions of the sub-committee
are not binding.”

The Armenian Foreign Minister reminded that the talks over the Karabakh
conflict are held within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“Great is the contribution of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev
who also initiated the forthcoming trilateral meeting of Armenian,
Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents in Kazan,” he said.

From: A. Papazian

DUTIES FOR PARKING OF CARS TO BE LEGALIZED IN ARMENIA

/ARKA/
JUNE 22
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, June 22. /ARKA/. Duties for parking of cars will be legalized
in Armenia, said Vice Premier of Yerevan Municipality Kamo Areyan
submitting the law ~SOn local duties for parking of transport means~T
in the extraordinary meeting of the Armenian Parliament for discussion.

The law regulates the payment procedure of duties and defines people
who should pay the duties, their rights and responsibilities, the size
of duty, payment terms and conditions and responsibility in case of
refusing to pay the duty.

~SThe duty covers public territories, streets and squares allowing
parking in their territories and belonging to the community for which
local duty is paid~T, said Areyan.

Today the cars are parked everywhere which is illegal and can cause
accidents and inconveniency for the citizens.

For avoiding such situations it is envisaged that the communities
should define the parking territories and the size of duty themselves.
Depending on the place of parking ~V center of the city or outskirts,
the size of duty will be diversified.

The law envisages restrictions in the duties, particularly for one
hour of parking maximum amount will be 500 drams, one day – 3 thousand
drams, one week ~V 6 thousand drams, one month ~V 30 thousand drams
and one year ~V 120 thousand drams.

~SIf the transport means occupies the parking area more than 24
hours without the payment of relevant duty, it will be moved to
special territories till the payment of the duty and penalty for
non-fulfillment of the law is made~T, said Areyan.

The communities can transfer the responsibilities of control of
parking to the operators selected by the results of the tender.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES THE OPPORTUNITY OF VAT EXEMPTION OF IMPORTED AGRICULTURAL MACHINES

/ARKA/
JUNE 22
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, June 22. /ARKA/. On Wednesday the Armenian Parliament adopted
the amendments in the Laws “On VAT” and “On the list of goods imported
by zero rate of customs duties and non-taxable excise tax without VAT”.

It proposes to exempt the imported agricultural machines and
fertilizers from VAT.

Armenian Agricultural Minister Sergo Karapetyan said that the
amendments will allow to increase the accessibility level of imported
resources used in agriculture, including mechanization of production
process.

Particularly, the amendments propose to exempt the imported
agricultural machines, spare parts, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds,
especially wheat and barley.

The proposed changes will also allow to create pre-conditions for the
increase of productivity of the sphere, provision of accessibility
of resources in the local market and increase of their use which will
bring to the increase of mechanization level and productivity of the
sphere”, said Karapetyan.

In future this list can be expanded but today the mentioned directions
are the priorities.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN RELIEF SOCIETY DELIVERS DONATIONS AND AID

Daily Star

June 22 2011
Lebanon

The Daily Star BEIRUT: The Armenian Relief Society delivered its
condolences and a donation at the Japanese Embassy Wednesday for those
who were affected by the earthquake and tsunami that struck northern
Japan in March.

The donation of nearly $24,000 was handed to Japanese Ambassador
Koichi Kawakami by Taline Kelbashian, chair of the Armenian Relief
Cross, on behalf of the Armenian Relief Society, which is dedicated
to serving the humanitarian and cultural needs of the Armenia people.

Since 2000, the Japanese Embassy has granted a total of 20 million yen
to support the medical center of the Armenian Relief Cross in Lebanon
under the Japanese government’s Grassroots Human Security Project.

From: A. Papazian

ILHAM ALIYEV: “THE RECENT STATEMENTS MADE BY THE OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS AND LEADERS OF CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES ARE ENCOURAGING”

APA
June 22 2011
Azerbaijan

Baku. Victoria Dementieva – APA. “The recent statements made by the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and leaders of co-chair countries are
reassuring”, APA reports. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at
a joint press briefing with EU President Herman van Rompuy in Brussels.

He thanked the EU for its support of the OSCE Minsk Group on
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “The recent statements made by the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs and leaders of co-chair countries on the
principles of conflict resolution are encouraging.

The statements made by the leaders of the Minsk Group that the status
quo is not acceptable, it should be changed, and that the conflict
should be resolved on the basis of the principles of the Helsinki
Final Act, which combine the principle of territorial integrity as
well as the right to self-determination are especially encouraging.

These principles don’t contradict to each other. It needs a solution,
according to which Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity will be
maintained, and people will live in the region freely and peacefully.

I think, Minsk Group’s proposals create a base for it. We expect from
the Armenian side a constructive approach in the negotiations. We
want the solution of the conflict has been found as soon as possible
that will allow hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to return home
after our lands will be liberated from occupation”, – Azerbaijani
president said.

In turn, commenting on the upcoming meeting of the presidents of
Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on the Nagorno-Karabakh in Kazan,
the EU President Herman van Rompuy expressed EU’s support for the
peaceful resolution of the conflict. “Now it’s time to make the extra
efforts to complete an agreement on the basic principles. Soon it’ll
allow starting negotiations on peaceful agreement”, G. Rompuy said,
noting that the EU will continue to support the efforts of the OSCE
Minsk Group to achieve a peaceful solution based on the principles
of non-use of force, territorial integrity and the right of peoples
to self-determination.

From: A. Papazian