Author: Andres-Papazian

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION OVER RECOGNITION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH

Tert.am
30.09.10

The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS)
convened a roundtable discussion today entitled “Should Armenia
Recognize the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh?”

According to a release issued by the ACNIS, participants in the
discussion included several members of the Armenian parliament,
leading analysts, policy specialists, and representatives from civil
society and the media.

Welcoming the participants, ACNIS Administrative Director Karapet
Kalenchyan noted that the issue of Armenia’s possible recognition of
Artsakh’s independence is a timely topic for discussion, as Armenia’s
parliament has accepted a proposal by the Heritage Party to schedule
a formal discussion of the issue in early October.

ACNIS Senior Analyst Manvel Sargsyan then examined the issue of
the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh’s (NKR) recognition and stressed
that “by carrying out negotiations within the framework of the OSCE
Minsk Group, Armenia continues to accept the other countries’ stance,
according to which NKR’s status must be defined during the talks held
between the conflicting parties,” Sargsyan argued.

“That is, Armenia’s leadership constantly states that the status
cannot be bargained with, yet it continues to discuss the issue with
Azerbaijan, thereby actually recognizing Azerbaijan’s ‘entitlement’
to decide the status issue.”

“Today, Armenia has nothing to combat against the anti-Armenian
resolutions that are being adopted by international organizations,
and the international policy toward Armenia now focuses more on the
existing uncertainty concerning NKR’s status,” explained MR Sargsyan.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA LOST TO RUSSIAN IN WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD

Tert.am
30.09.10

Armenia’s chess team competed with Russia-1 at the World Chess Olympiad
2010 losing at a 2.5:1.5 score.

Vladimir Hakobyan played at a draw with Alexander Grishchuk.

Levon Aronyan and Arman Pashikyan had before him played at a draw
too competing with Vladimir Kramnik and Sergei Kaliagin.

While Gabriel Sargsyan was defeated by Peter Svidler.

Of all the contest held today in the Russian town of Khanti-Mansijsk
Ukrain-Azerbaijan, Georgia-France, Israel-Hungaria were also of
utmost ignificance.

With 9 rounds already over Ukraine’s team is the favorite with 14
team points and 23 earned at the individual level.

Ukraine’s team is followed by Georgia (13/ 23.5), Azerbaijan (13/22.5),
Armenia, Russia-1 (13/21), France (13/21) and Hungaria (13/19.5).

From: A. Papazian

PETROL PRICES SLIP 1.9% IN ARMENIA IN SEPTEMBER

/ARKA/
September 30, 2010
YEREVAN

Petrol and diesel prices in Armenia went 1.9% and 1.8% down
respectively in September, compared with August, National Statistical
Service of Armenia reports.

Petrol prices fell 9.3%, and diesel prices slipped 7.6% in Jan-Sept
2010, compared with the same period a year earlier.

They rose 2.8% and 10.1% respectively in September 2010, compared
with the same month of the previous year.

Petrol became 2.6% cheaper in September 2010, compared with December
2009, while diesel price jumped 2.7%.

Nonfood prices went 0.3% up in September, compared with August.

From: A. Papazian

ARMAVIA LAUNCHES DIRECT FLIGHTS TO BIRMINGHAM

/ARKA/
September 30, 2010
YEREVAN

Armenia’s national carrier Armavia launched Tuesday a new flight
connecting Armenian capital Yerevan with Birmingham in Great
Britain. The flight is operated by Airbus A319 aircraft. The airline
will now operate flights to Yerevan and on to Delhi every Tuesday,
departing Birmingham. It hopes to attract passengers wanting to reach
both Armenia and India to visit friends and relatives. The Airbus
will have eight business class seats and 126 economy seats.

Illarion Gharibyan, deputy director general, for theã~@~@ airline said:
“There are 20,000 people in the UK of Armenian descent and people
can currently only access flights to Armenia from Heathrow so the
Birmingham operation will provide more choice for those wanting to
reach Yerevan.

“Birmingham is at a very important phase of its development and we are
very excited to be joining the Birmingham team at this time,” he said.

Paul Kehoe, the Birmingham airport’s chief executive officer, said:
“Not only will Armavia Airlines offer people a brand new service to
Armenia, it will provide another welcome connection to India, which
will be of particular interest to the 200,000 Indian people living in
the Midlands.” Round trip fares to Yerevan start from £325 excluding
taxes and to Delhi from £205.

Armavia launched this year direct flights to New Delhi, Tel-Aviv,
Teheran, Barcelona and will open soon a flight to Beijing.

Armavia was established in 1996. In 2005 its all shares were purchased
by Mika Ltd of Mikhail Baghdasarov. The company operates 102 flights
a week to 35 destinations in 20 countries. In 2009 it flew 700,000
passengers. The company’s fleet comprises 9 aircrafts- Ð~P320-3,
Ð~P319-3, CRJ-200, ЯÐ~Z-42-VIP.

From: A. Papazian

KAREN BEKARYAN: IT’S NECESSARY TO WORK OUT FILTERS” TO CHECK THE INCOMING INFORMATION
Liana Yeghiazaryan

“Radiolur”
30.09.2010 18:47

How is it possible to ensure the security of information in the South
Caucasus and what joint steps need to be taken in that direction?

These issues were discussed at the conference on “Security issues and
information cooperation” that kicked off in Yerevan today. During
three days Armenian, Russian and Georgian politicians and media
representatives will discuss how to prevent the outflow of information
and provide “first hand” high-quality and exact information.

According to analyst Karen Bekaryan, it is important to work out
“filters” to check the information coming from the outside.

References to this or that issue often differ or even contradict each
other in the media field of the South Caucasus. This is the case
with the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Karen Bkaryan says that even the
publications in Armenian media are often contradictory. “However,
we at least have the opportunity to check the information from our
colleagues in Karabakh,” he said.

“Nevertheless, there is one major problem. What kind of information
flows to the outer world? If someone is interested in issues related to
the public, social and economic life of Nagorno Karabakh, where will
he get the information and to what extent will that information be
exact? It’s a serious problem to find true “first hand” information
against the background of the propaganda campaign launched by
Azerbaijan,” Karen Bekaryan said.

Head of the CIS & Baltic Department of the Russian State News Agency
RIA Novosti Alan Kasaev said “a team has been established, which
clearly knows what it has to do to ensure information security. “This
is especially important when the question refers to Russia’s mediating
role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations,” he said.

“Russia now plays an active role in the region, and the two visits
of the Russian President to Armenia and Azerbaijan raised the
Armenian-Russian relations to a new strategic level. On the other hand,
they revealed a number of problems that exist in the negotiations
and the media field,” he said.

Professor of the Tbilisi State University Gia Meparishvili agrees that
there are a lot of problems in the information field and proposes his
own solution. According to him, “instead of fearing of problems it’s
necessary to work jointly to solve those. There is no other way out.”

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN’S WAR RHETORIC CAN LEAD TO RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES IN KARABAKH

NEWS.am
September 30, 2010 | 17:37

Azerbaijan’s war rhetoric can lead to resumption of hostilities in
the Karabakh conflict zone, the head of European Integration NGO
Karen Bekaryan said, delivering a speech at “Security Problems and
Information Cooperation in the South Caucasus” conference in Yerevan.

According to him, speaking of certain aspects of the resolution of
the Karabakh conflict, international community should think of their
expediency and thoroughly analyze the proposals. For instance, raising
the issue on the return of Azerbaijani refugees to their houses, no
one can guarantee that the refugees, but not criminals will return,
he noted. In this case, measures aimed to overcome the conflict
consequences can lead to a new conflict. As to the return of the
territories controlled by the Armenian side, international community
forgets that once these territories may become a good foothold to
fire at Nagorno-Karabakh.

Speaking of Azerbaijan’s aspiration to shift the Karabakh peace
process to a new format (from OSCE Minsk Group), expert noted that this
initiative may lead to involvement of not experienced organizations.

From: A. Papazian

GEORGIA IS ABSORBING ARMENIA

Lragir.am
30 Sept 10

On September 30, dwelling on the possibility of a force-majeure
of regular elections, Ashot Manucharyan said that Armenia is in
a situation that any moment can become a force-majeure. According
to Manucharyan, in case of the Karabakh issue, it was possible to
avoid it because Russia adopted a clear position and if this position
changes tomorrow, there will be a force majeure.

The same goes for the change in Russia’s position regarding the status
quo in the Armenian home political life. Manucharyan notes that the
point is not only Russia. In our region, Russia is defeated by the
U.S., seeing this, China is trying to interfere into the region,
attempting to repress the Western expansion. Manucharyan says China
has a strong ally – Iran. Manucharyan notes that a tangible number
of Chinese transferred to Georgia. By the way, he notes that Georgia
has a big revolutionary influence on Armenia. Manucharyan means that
Saakashvili, committing serious political errors, nevertheless, made
notable changes in the life in Georgia. According to Manucharyan,
Georgia is absorbing the middle class of Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

A BROTHEL IN KHOSROV RESERVE

Lragir.am
30 Sept 10

Environmental organizations reveal new details in connection with the
“brutal” events that occur in Khosrov Reserve. The initiator of the
“Group of Defenders of eco-historical environment of Armenia” Vahagn
Piliposyan spoke today about the outcome of a three-day expedition to
the reserve. Group climbed to the monastery of Avuts Tar and witnessed
a nightmarish picture.

“Right in the Church, people prepared barbecue and then scattered the
ashes. There were bottles of alcoholic drinks, utensils, in general,
something terrible was happening in the church” said Vahagn Piliposyan.

The initiative team visited Kakavaberd fortress, chamois were visible
on a hillside, and on the way back members of the group heard shots.

It is not ruled out that people went there for bird hunting, in any
case, the Ministry of Environment instead of revealing the essence,
said that the shots were made in some other location.

Environmentalist Mariam Sukhudyan again raised the issue of
construction of a large entertainment complex right in the heart of
the reserve, noting that, besides the fact that the reserve loses
its importance, next to the monument something with prerequisites of
a restaurants or a brothel is built.

Recall that in 2007 a land of approximately 200 hectares in the heart
of Khosrov was transferred to a firm for 60 years. After the alarms
of environmentalists, the construction of the restaurant has been
temporarily suspended. But, according to Mariam Sukhudyan, some people
visited the area, and this indicates that construction can resume.

She says that it is like cancer that has trends to spread towards
Kakavaberd, and it will be a popular place for hunters, who now have
nowhere to try out their prey. “If our authorities, the government,
Ministry of Environment continue being silent, we will turn to
international organizations”, said Sukhudyan.

From: A. Papazian

ARKADY TER-TADEVOSYAN (COMMANDOS): BISHKEK PROTOCOL OF 1994 ‘BRIGHT’ DEFEAT OF ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY

ArmInfo
2010-09-28 17:04:00

ArmInfo. “Facing Azerbaijan’s atrocity with regard to the Armenian
people we took arms and went to protect ourselves and not to conquer,”
Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan (Commandos), Major General, Hero of the Karabakh
War, said in a press conference in Yerevan.

“We were afraid, we did not know how to war, we were pressed,
expelled and annihilated. They tried to do in Karabakh what they did
in Nakhchivan. We were then in a heavy state. But we learnt to protect
ourselves, accumulated necessary military experience and managed to
strike back the enemy,” he said. At the same time, A. Ter-Tadevosyan
harshly criticized the actions by the Armenian authorities of that
period and said: “Armenia was suffering defeats in the field of
diplomacy while we were gaining victory in battle.

“Then Turkey prepared all the diplomatic documents of Azerbaijan. We
were not only suffering defeat in diplomacy, our diplomats and
government helped them,” Commandos said. He called the Bishkek Treaty
of 1994 a “bright” defeat of the Armenian diplomacy. “When Azerbaijan
asked for suspension of military actions, Karen Baburyan and Babken
Ararktsyan signed a treaty under which Armenia pledge to withdraw
troops from the conquered territories. Why, because it was Turkey’s
demand,” Commandos said. He highlighted that Armenia is still suffering
diplomatic defeats.

From: A. Papazian

AZERI EMBASSY FILES COMPLAINT OVER AGREEMENT BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES IN RUSSIA, KARABAKH

Asbarez
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
BAKU

Azerbaijan~Rs embassy in Moscow has called on the Russian Foreign
Ministry to investigate a cooperation agreement between a university in
southern Russia and one in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a spokesman
for Azerbaijan~Rs Foreign Ministry was quoted by the Azeri Press
Agency as saying Tuesday.

According to Russian media reports, the two universities are the
Humanitarian and Social Sciences Institute at the Southern Federal
University and the Mesrop Mashtots University in the Karabakh capital
of Stepanakert.

Azerbaijan does not recognize the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic and considers it a separatist government on ~Soccupied~T Azeri
territory. ~SAny action in the territories of Azerbaijan, occupied by
Armenians, without Azerbaijan~Rs permission is considered illegal,~T
spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told the APA.

The Dean of the south Russian university, Yuriy Volkov, played down
the cooperation agreement, saying that it had been signed during an
international conference in Rostov.

~SWe invited Baku State University and Tbilisi University to
the conference. Two people came from Stepanakert. They learned
our education program and asked us for text books and we agreed to
exchange them,~T he explained. ~SThis is not political. An education
center cannot be involved in politics.~T

~SProfessors asked us for text books and we agreed to send
them. That~Rs all there is to the document we signed,~T he said,
adding that the agreement did not require approval from the Russian
Ministry of Education and Science.

From: A. Papazian