Author: Andres-Papazian

ARF ACTIVISTS HAND LETTER TO OSCE YEREVAN OFFICE

04:21 pm | June 30, 2010 | Politics

Nikol Aghbalyan Student Union of the ARF -Dashnaktsutyun today held
a protest march to the OSCE Office in Yerevan against the statement
of the President of the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chair countries and
provocative actions of Azerbaijan..

The marchers handed a letter to the Head of the Military-Political
Department, Gregor Mikhailski, expressing their indignation over the
recent statement of the OSCE co-chair countries.

Arthur Ghazaryan, a senior representative of the ARF -Dashnaktsutyun,
says the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, France,
the Russian Federation, and the United States, were inadequate in
their assessments.

“In our letter we note that Azerbaijan has regularly violated the
truce since the ceasefire agreement of 1994 and has always dodged
responsibility,” Ghazaryan said blaming all countries that turn a
blind eye to Azerbaijan’s diversion.

“We think that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs should review their mission
and make Azerbaijan accountable for its mean actions,” the young
activist added.

Replying the protesters, Gregor Mikhailski said the issue is beyond
the realm of their competency. It is upon the Co-Chairs to address
the question.

“The OSCE Office in Yerevan deals with issues and events taking place
within the territory of Armenia,” Mr. Mikhailski said.

The marchers pledged to continue their protest until Azerbaijan was
held accountable for its sabotage.

From: A. Papazian

CNNTURK: CLINTON TO DISCUSS ARMENIA-TURKEY NORMALIZATION PROCESS IN YEREVAN

Panorama
June 30 2010
Armenia

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss Armenia-Turkey
normalization process during her Yerevan visit, Philip Gordon,
Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian affairs was
quoted as saying by CnnTurk.

The latter recalled the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan suspended
the normalization process saying they will be ready to resume it when
Turkey is ready for it. The Assistant Secretary highlighted that the
ratification of the protocols and the opening of the border will be
beneficial for both states.

Hillary Clinton’s regional visit will get underway July 1 and will
take 5 days.

From: A. Papazian

THE POLICE HAVE A “HOTLINE”

07:20 pm | June 29, 2010 | Official

By the decree of the Chief of RA Police, General-Lieutenant of the
Police Alik Sargsyan, the Department of Passports and Visas has
created a fast “Hotline” at 53-70-22.

The “Hotline” will register the complaints and suggestions of
citizens on administrative work implemented by the subdivisions of
the Department of Passports and Visas of the RA Police.

For consulting, call 090-007-007 paid sound portal.

Information provided by the RA Police.

From: A. Papazian

CEASEFIRE VIOLATED

07:17 pm | June 29, 2010 | Official

On the night of June 28 and on June 29, cases of violation of the
ceasefire regime were registered on the line of contact of the Karabkah
and Azeri forces, as reported by the press service of the NKR Ministry
of Defense.

The opponent fired at the supporting points of the Karabakh guards
stationed in Horadiz, Lyala-Ilagli, Karvend, Korgan, Ashagh Veysali,
Mount Cheyil, Yusufjanlu, Marzili, Kengerli, Sarejanlu, Bash Karvend,
Shkhlar, Levonarkh, Jraberd, Namirli, Yarmja and Talish with automatic
guns and marksmen’s guns.

The opponent stopped after operations of the Defense Army’s frontline
subdivisions.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY’S NUMBER ONE PARTNER DIED

05:36 pm | June 29, 2010 | Politics

One of the most long-standing members of the US Senate Robert Byrd
died in one of Washington’s hospital. He was 92 years old.

According to Radio Liberty, Robert Byrd had won in the elections for
Senate 9 times in a row and was known as Turkey’s number one partner.

It was through Robert Byrd’s efforts that Armenian Genocide Resolution
was not adopted in 1990.

Bird used legislative levers at his disposal to impede Republican
Robert Dole’s resolution. Bird and Dole got into a debate on the
issue on February 21-22, 1990 at the Senate and as a result, the
draft resolution was not put up for a vote.

From: A. Papazian

IT WAS A MISTAKE IN DIPLOMACY

05:29 pm | June 29, 2010 | Politics

“The statement by the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing
countries did not bring any fundamental change to the settlement of
the Karabakh conflict,” says political scientist Yervand Bozoyan.

According to him, the only thing that was new was the different
interpretations of the English and Russian translations and that is
a little troubling.

“Armenian diplomats still have a lot to do,” says the political
scientist, giving a negative evaluation of Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandyan’s quick positive assessment.

“He had to study and give a more differentiated evaluation, especially
since there were flaws in the translations,” says the political
scientist. According to Bozoyan, the lack of an evaluation by the
Azeri Foreign Ministry doesn’t show that they have weak diplomacy,
but that they are weighing it out.

“Such statements are apparently guidelines for development of the
process and with this, the intermediaries are trying to break down
the tense atmosphere in the region,” says the political scientist.

As far as the possibility of a new war is concerned, the political
scientist notes that the threat has clearly grown in the past two to
three years.

“It is clear that the status quo doesn’t favor Azerbaijan and the Azeri
are trying to do everything they can to cause threats and pressure the
Armenian side and the OSCE intermediaries,” says Bozoyan who believes
that there will be more forceful attacks, but the Azeri side will
avoid starting a extensive war.

Yervand Bozoyan doesn’t understand Nagorno-Karabakh’s passivity. “It
is due to the fact that Armenia has been leading negotiations for
Nagorno-Karabakh for the past couple of years,” says Bozoyan, noting
that the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities are only involved in solving
the country’s social issues and seems that they weren’t expecting
such a major situation.

“The Artsakh authorities are not capable of taking decisions on their
own in a short amount of time,” says Yervand Bozoyan.

The political scientist believes that though Karabakh is not taking
part in the negotiations, the situation must change through more
evaluations and perhaps coarser positions and demands that will
support the Armenian side.

From: A. Papazian

MARCH AGAINST STATEMENT

04:26 pm | June 29, 2010 | Politics

The ARF’s Youth Union of Armenia and “Nikol Aghpalian” student union
will hold a protest in front of the OSCE Office in Yerevan on June
30 at 12 p.m.

As stated in the press release, the protest is against the statement
of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries and Azerbaijan’s
offensive policy.

The protest will start with a march from the museum of veterans of
the Great Patriotic War and heroes of the Artsakh liberation war
(Victory Park) in memory of the Armenian soldiers who died during
Azerbaijan’s subversive attack.

From: A. Papazian

S. OHANYAN: “WE CAN FIGHT BRAVELY”

03:35 pm | June 29, 2010 | Politics

According to data of the International Red Cross Committee last year,
there are 4,000-5,000 Armenian and Azeri soldiers missing in the
Karabakh war.

During the visit to “Yerablur” on the occasion of the Day of freedom
fighters missing in action, RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan
said the Ministry had not found any missing soldier this year. “We
are working on finding out information about some soldiers every year
through searches.”

The Minister of Defense laid a wreath at the monument dedicated
to missing soldiers and lilies at the memorials of Vazgen Sargsyan
and Andranik.

Freedom fighters, members of the deceased freedom fighters were also at
“Yerablur” Pantheon.

Freedom fighter of HAB detachment Vanik who visits “Yerablur” with
some of his friends in combat every year, told “A1+” that he will go to
war in case of danger. He also complained that today freedom fighters
are not paid attention to and noted that he didn’t know how many of
his friends would go to war with him due to their disappointment.

Mother of a deceased freedom fighter Greta Khachatryan added that
the government gives her subsidy and pension, but nobody can take
care of a family with that money.

President of the Union of Veteran of the Detachments of Special
Significance of the Militia Grisha Sargsyan talked about the freedom
fighters’ problems and noted that he has undertaken the legislative
initiative to pass an NA law on freedom fighters.

“We must show government support so they can live with equal rights.

We have laws on everything, but we haven’t adopted the most important
law on freedom fighters who are the ones sacrificing their lives. That
is why the widows of many dead freedom fighters go from door-to-door
asking for food.”

Seyran Ohanyan assured journalists that the Ministry is working rather
seriously toward strengthening the army’s combativeness and taking
serious measures for implementing on-duty combat and improving the
work of Armenia’s structures on the line of contact. He claims that
Armenia’s army is combative. “We can expect attacks at any moment,
but as previous cases and this [June 19] showed, our soldiers can
fight bravely in case of need and even die to maintain our positions.

From: A. Papazian

VISA APPLICATIONS GO ONLINE

01:54 pm | June 29, 2010 | Social

As part of the on-going modernisation of the visa processing systems
the UK Border Agency has decided that from 23 August 2010 all visa
applications in Armenia must be made online.

>From that date, no applications will be accepted without a prior
appointment and completion of an online application form.

To fill in the online application and learn more details about the
application process please visit website.

There are three basic steps:

1. Complete the online application 2. Make an online appointment
to provide your biometric details at the British Embassy in Yerevan
(When you have submitted the online application electronically you
will be directed to the appointment calendar and requested to choose
a convenient time and date. After completing the online process you
will receive an email with an application ID number. Please save this
number for future reference) 3. Attend the scheduled appointment
at the British Embassy making sure you bring the print-out of your
application form, the relevant supporting documents, your fee and
passport photograph with you.

For further details on how to make an online application
please visit the WorldBridge Visa Information page on
.

Please make sure you apply at least 15 working days in advance of
travel. As access to the Visa Section can only be via appointment,
it is essential that you apply in good time before you travel.

From: A. Papazian

PAID TRIBUTE TO FIGHTERS MISSING IN ACTION

12:46 pm | June 29, 2010 | Official

On June 29, on the occasion of the Day of the perished for Motherland
and missing in action, President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
visited Stepanakert memorial and laid a wreath at the monument
dedicated to freedom fighters missing in action, as reported by the
Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh President.

Head of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop
Pargev Martirosyan, premier Ara Haroutyunyan and other officials
accompanied the President.

From: A. Papazian