Author: Andres-Papazian

MS. CLINTON DEPARTS FOR CENTRAL EUROPE AND CAUCASUS: YEREVAN TO HOST H. CLINTON ON JULY 4

Panorama
June 30 2010
Armenia

On July 1-5 the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton departs on
Thursday for an important trip to Central Europe and the Caucasus,
US Assistant Secretary Philip Crowley stated at briefing asking
Assistant Secretary for European Affairs Philip Gordon to represent
the schedule, U.S. State Dep press service reported.

The Secretary will be traveling to Kyiv, Krakow, Baku, Yerevan,
and Tbilisi, in that order, from July 1st to 5th.

After speaking Kyiv and Krakow visits, Gordon key focused South
Caucasian visits.

“After Krakow, the Secretary will be visiting three South Caucasus
countries, where she will have the opportunity to emphasize the
importance of our bilateral relations with Azerbaijan, Armenia,
and Georgia, and to promote efforts to resolve regional conflicts
and strengthen regional peace and stability,” Phil Gordon said.

Ms. Clinton arrives in Baku on July 4th to meet with President
Aliyev and Foreign Minister Mammadyarov. She will also have a chance
to talk with young people about media freedom and other political
participation issues.

She then proceeds to Yerevan later on July 4th, where she’ll meet with
President Sargsian and Foreign Minister Nalbandian. She’ll discuss
human rights, democratization, and media freedom with civil society
representatives in Yerevan.

On July 5th, the Secretary continues to Tbilisi, where she will meet
President Saakashvili, Foreign Minister Vashadze, and members of the
political opposition, as well as representatives of civil society
and women’s leaders. She will review the progress of the U.S.-Georgia
strategic partnership as well as the results of the recent municipal
elections.

From: A. Papazian

HILLARY CLINTON TO DISCUSS REGIONAL ISSUES IN ARMENIA

Aysor
June 30 2010
Armenia

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to travel to Ukraine,
Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia from July 1 to 5, said on
the Department of State’s official web-site.

In Kyiv, Secretary Clinton will open the second meeting of the
Strategic Partnership Commission and meet with government officials,
including President Yanukovych and Foreign Minister Gryshchenko, and
with civil society and independent media leaders. In Krakow, Secretary
Clinton will participate in the celebration of the 10th anniversary
of the founding of the Community of Democracies, an organization
initiated by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her
Polish counterpart Bronislaw Geremek in 2000. Secretary Clinton will
also meet with Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski.

The Secretary will continue on to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia,
where she will hold meetings with government officials and civil
society leaders to discuss bilateral issues, as well as issues related
to regional peace and stability.

Briefing reporters on the trip, Assistant Secretary of State for
European Affairs Philip Gordon said the Obama administration is
dissatisfied with Russia’s failure to date to live up to cease-fire
requirements.

“We respect Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and
we call on Russia to abide by its commitments in the August 2008
cease-fire, which not only called for the non-use of force and an end
to hostilities, but called upon the parties to move their military
forces back to where they were before the conflict began, and that
hasn’t been done,” Philip Gordon is quoted as saying.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that talks in Yerevan
will be aimed at items of development and strengthening of Armenia-US
relations and partnership. Among highlights there will be regional
and international issues of mutual interest, he said.

The trip will be Clinton’s first travel to the Caucasus region since
taking office.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN EXPECTS US TO TAKE MORE STEPS TO SETTLE KARABAKH CONFLICT

news.az
June 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Ali Hasanov Azerbaijan attaches a great importance to the visit of
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Baku.

‘There are many issues we have to discuss at the meetings to be held
within the framework of the visit’, said chief of department on public
policy issues of the presidential administration, Ali Hasanov.

Answering journalists questions about ‘which issues Azerbaijan
considers a priority at the negotiations with the United States,
considering the fact that energy partnership, security and democracy
issues are priority for Washington, Hasanov said Azerbaijan also
considers all these three issues to be the main ones’.

‘However, we expect greater steps from the United States, as the Minsk
Group co-chairing country, in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict’,
said chief of department of the presidential administration.

As for what Azerbaijan expects from the visit of the US Secretary of
State, considering the fact that the last visit on the level of the
US official was conducted 18 years ago by the then Secretary of State
James Baker, Hasanov said Azerbaijan gained state independence in 1992.

‘Azerbaijan became independent only then and James Baker’s visit aimed
at learning more about our country, while now Hillary Clinton will
visit Azerbaijan which is a developed country and a regional leader.

This is a specific strategic course of Azerbaijan, with which the
United States are already familiar, while that time there was no
course at all’, said he.

According to him, today Azerbaijan is a developed country with its
foreign course and vision of the world processes.

‘We hope after the visit the relations between our countries will be
deeper’, concluded Ali Hasanov.

Ali Hasanov also said Azerbaijan welcomes the statement of presidents
of Russia, United States and France regarding the resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

He noted that despite some differences in the texts of the statement
in different languages, published in different mass media, this does
not change the point of the statement, under which all of the three
presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states urge to liberate
Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia.

‘We do hope that Armenia will hear this appeal and follow a
constructive way’, Hasanov noted.

From: A. Papazian

49 TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS RECORDED IN A WEEK

07:48 pm | June 30, 2010 | Official

A murder attempt was recorded in the Republic of Armenia from June
23 to 30 which was immediately recovered.

In the same period the police discovered five cases of hooliganism,
19 – fraud, 13 – robbery, 65 – corporal injury and 66 – theft

Forty-nine traffic accidents were reported in the republic last week
which left five killed and 64 injured.

From: A. Papazian

ARF: RALLY AGAINST AZERBAIJAN’S INSTIGATING POLICY

Panorama
June 30 2010
Armenia

ARF Armenia youth and “Nikol Aghbalyan” student unions demonstrate
protest today near OSCE Yerevan office.

According to the message sent by the union, the rally is to target
“OSCE MG co-chairing states’ leaders’ statement and Azerbaijan’s
instigating policy.”

The rally gets under way from Victory Park to commemorate four Armenian
soldiers murdered in the aftermath of Azerbaijani armed diversion.

From: A. Papazian

LEVON TER-PETROSYAN CHAIRS HAK SITTING

06:40 pm | June 30, 2010 | Politics

The political board of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) convened
a sitting on June 30 chaired by Armenia’s first President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan.

Discussed were issues relating to the country’s political scene and
Congress’s further steps, as well as Armenian-Turkish relations and
Karbakh conflict settlement.

From: A. Papazian

VARDAN MURADYAN HONORED WITH MKHITAR GOSH MEDAL

06:26 pm | June 30, 2010 | Official

President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on honouring Justice Advisor
Vardan Muradyan with Mkhitar Gosh medal on occasion of the Day of
Public Prosecutor’s Office Employee.

From: A. Papazian

BAKU GIVES ONE-SIDED INTERPRETATION TO PRESIDENTS’ STATEMENT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

news.am
June 30 2010
Armenia

Azerbaijan is satisfied with the joint statement of the presidents of
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries (U.S., Russia and France) on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential
Administration Social and Political Departmen told the reporters,
Trend agency reports..

“The statement fully satisfies the Azerbaijani side. All three
countries recognize the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories and
it also requires deoccupation of the Azerbaijani lands,” Hasanov said.

Referring to the spread of distorted versions of Russian and English
translations of the statement on some sites, Hasanov noted that this
is a technical error.

The same day, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov highly
appreciated and recognized very important the recent statement by
the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair-countries in Toronto.

On June 26, the U.S. Russian an French Presidents issued a joint
statement on Nagorno-Karabakh, calling the Armenian and Azerbaijani
leaders to accelerate work on the Basic Principles of conflict
settlement.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS TO COME UP IN CLINTON’S UPCOMING TRIP TO YEREVAN

Journal of Turkish Weekly
June 30 2010

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon said Turkey-Armenia
relations would come up during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton’s upcoming trip to Yerevan.

Gordon held a press briefing on Tuesday on Clinton’s upcoming trip
to Central Europe and the Caucasus.

In response to a question from a reporter, Gordon said he was sure
Turkey-Armenia relations would be discussed during Clinton’s trip
to Yerevan.

Gordon pointed out that the protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia
last October were not yet ratified, and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsian announced last spring that he was suspending his pursuit of
ratification until the Turkish side was ready to move forward with
ratification of protocols.

Gordon said the trip would be a chance for Clinton to speak to
President Sargsian and the Armenians about how they saw that situation.

“We continue to believe it would be a good thing for the protocols
to get ratified and implemented and have an open border with Turkey
that would benefit both Armenia and Turkey,” said Gordon.

The protocols signed by Ankara and Yerevan in October 2009 aim to
normalize relations and reopen the border which Turkey closed in 1994
following the Armenian occupation of Karabakh region in Azerbaijan.

However, the protocols must be ratified by parliaments of the two
countries and none of the parties yet proceeded with the ratification.

Answering a question on Turkey’s shutting its airspace to Israeli
aircraft, Gordon said the flotilla incident was a setback for decades
of close cooperation between Turkey and Israel.

“And since the flotilla incident, we’ve seen tensions in that
relationship and talk of specific steps. And any steps away from
what had been a really flourishing security, diplomatic, tourism, and
economic relationship is a setback and is unfortunate,” said Gordon.

Relations between Turkey and Israel saw a heavy blow after Israeli
commandos raided late May a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and killed eight
Turkish nationals and a U.S. citizen of Turkish descent.

From: A. Papazian

DOCTORS GRANTED PRIVILEGES

06:23 pm | June 30, 2010 | Social

The system of co-payments will be introduced in Armenian medical
institutions starting July 1.

Minister of Healthcare Harutyun Kushkyan says during the elaboration
of the pilot program the Ministry took into consideration not only
the advantages but also the difficulties. If a patient is unable to
afford the co-payment, doctors are to provide free treatment for him.

“Only chief doctors enjoy this privilege,” Mr. Kushkyan said.

The program first of all refers to people who undergo treatment by
government order. Part of the sum will be paid by the government,
the remaining part – by the patient. The program will be first tested
in Arabkir medical center. By the turn of the year, the system of
co-payments will be applied in Surb Grigor Lusavoritch, Erebuni and
Armenia medical centers.

“If the program proves efficient and people are content with the new
system, we shall think of its continuation,” the minister said.

Today, Minister Kushkyan visited Nork Infection Clinic which has
recently been overhauled with the financial support of the Armenian
community of Brazil and private individuals.

Treatment in the renovated departments will be realized by government
order, with AMD 12000-16 000 daily payment.

From: A. Papazian