Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL APPROVED IN PASADENA

Los Angeles Times, CA
Sept 11 2013

By Joe Piasecki
September 11, 2013, 4:36 p.m.

A proposal to memorialize victims of the Armenian genocide with a
monument in Pasadena received unanimous approval from Pasadena City
Council members Monday, a decision cheered by Armenian American
leaders in Glendale who have joined the effort to see it built.

Organizers of the nonprofit Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial
Committee are raising funds to erect the monument at Memorial Park
in central Pasadena before the centennial observance of the genocide
on April 24, 2015.

Garo Ghazarian, chair of the Armenian Bar Assn. and a member of the
Glendale Civil Service Commission, said Pasadena is a fitting home
for the tribute because the city was the first in Southern California
to embrace Armenian American immigrants before and after the genocide.

That a City Council without Armenian American members united behind
the proposal is “all the more reason to be encouraged that there is
hope for greater understanding and acceptance of what history has
documented so well,” said Ghazarian, who was among more than 150
supporters who attended the meeting at Pasadena City Hall.

The monument’s design will include a three-column tripod from which
drops of water will fall into a carved stone basin. About 1.5 million
of these symbolic teardrops will fall each year, representing the
estimated number of lives lost during the genocide.

The campaign in Pasadena has also rekindled talks of erecting a
genocide monument in Glendale, a conversation that began more than
a decade ago, according to the Glendale News-Press.

“Building a genocide memorial in Pasadena is setting an example for
what should be done in Glendale,” said David Gevorkyan, a member of
the Pasadena memorial committee’s board who also serves on Glendale’s
city Audit Committee.

Dan Bell, Glendale’s liaison to a community group that plans the
annual city-sponsored genocide memorial ceremony in the city, said
members are seeking to revive a dormant nonprofit board previously
in charge of plans for a Glendale monument.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition in favor of the Pasadena
monument and Glendale City Councilman Zareh Sinanyan attended Monday’s
Pasadena council meeting to voice his support.

Ghazarian, who co-chairs a committee planning Armenian genocide
commemoration events throughout the western United States, said
Glendale should consider a museum or permanent library exhibit focused
on the tragedy.

“Something significant needs to be done in Glendale,” he said.

,0,2573738.story

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA ASKS FOR OBSERVER STATUS IN SCO

EurasiaNet.org
Sept 11 2013

September 11, 2013 – 9:18pm, by Joshua Kucera

Armenia is seeking to become an observer in the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, as Yerevan seems to be establishing its own unique
brand of multivector diplomacy.

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan made the announcement on a
visit to China, and Chinese PM Li Keqiang said he would bring the
issue up with other SCO members.

The SCO is a China-dominated political-military bloc that also includes
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The SCO has been expanding west, though, recently: Turkey became a
“dialogue partner” earlier this year, a status Belarus also holds.

Sargsyan offered no explanation of what Armenia might be looking
for with the SCO, so it’s up to us to speculate. Armenia, of course,
raised eyebrows when it came out that it had gotten multiple-launch
rocket systems from China, and Armenia could be casting around for new
partners, Emil Sanamyan, editor of the newspaper Armenian Reporter,
told The Bug Pit. “My sense of this is an extension of the outreach
to China that is made relevant by the recent diplomatic setbacks with
both Europe and Russia. The recent leak re fresh weapons purchase
from China seems to also be part of that,” Sanamyan said. “With
the EU accession document killed by Russian pressure, there will be
some new entity to fill the airwaves with.” (Sanamyan also noted that
Armenia is an observer in the Arab League, another organization whose
connection to Armenia looks somewhat tenuous.)

Another analyst, Sergey Minasyan of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan,
downplayed Sargsyan’s statement, telling The Bug Pit that it was
likely a “formality” and that nothing would come of it, either for
the SCO or for Armenia. That seems a safe prediction. The SCO’s summit
is Friday in Bishkek; let’s see if the issue of Armenia comes up.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA: DOES GAS EXPLAIN DECISION TO JOIN CUSTOMS UNION?

EurasiaNet.org
Sept 11 2013

September 11, 2013 – 10:27am, by Gayane Abrahamyan

Some Armenian officials would have you believe that Yerevan’s surprise
decision to join the Russia-led Customs Union all came down to economic
moxie. And, in a way, perhaps it did. But in gaseous form.

Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian told
parliament on September 11 that the question of how to grapple with
the higher prices Russia’s state-owned Gazprom is now charging for
natural gas would be decided within the framework of the Customs Union.

“The decision already has been found, and soon [everything] will be
resolved,” Movsisian said, expressing his support for the trade deal,
Lragir.am reported.

Announced this summer, the 18-percent price hike by Gazprom, Armenia’s
chief provider of natural gas, had fueled not only further worries
for the country’s hard-pressed economy, but, also, predictions of
widespread opposition to the government.

President Serzh Sargsyan had made no mention of gas when announcing on
September 3 the plan to form a trade pact with Russia, Kazakhstan and
Belarus — an unexpected decision that has ruined (at least for now)
Armenia’s chances of an Association Agreement with the European Union.

Officials since have scrambled to make it seem that the Customs Union
was the only choice going.

“The decision is exclusively in our best interests,” National
Security Council Secretary Artur Baghdasarian asserted at a recent
press conference. “We took a long time to research and finally
concluded that Armenia’s economy is not compatible with that of the EU
countries. The major part of our exports are to the CU member-countries
[Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia — ed] and we couldn’t have shut a
300-million-person market.”

But the official data tells a different story. In 2012, Armenian
exports to the European Union ($560.3 million) were nearly double the
value of exports to Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus ($290.7 million).

Trade in the first six months of 2013 shows a similar pattern,
according to the National Statistical Service — $250.6 million
worth of goods went to the EU versus $149.6 million to the Customs
Union troika.

Russia, whose companies hold critical stakes in Armenia’s
telecommunications, transportation, mining and energy sectors, edged
out the European Union for direct investment in 2012, but just barely
— $393.8 million versus $334.9 million.

Economist Bagrat Asatrian, a former president of the Central Bank
of Armenia, predicted that the state budget will suffer a 15-20
percent loss in revenue from the customs duties on imports from
CU member-countries that Armenia now will forgo. At the same time,
goods from the EU, which outnumber the in-take from Russia, will have
higher duties imposed, leading to price increases.

To many Armenians, the speed with which the decision was made had
suggested strong pressure from Moscow.”The biggest levers were
national security and the Karabakh issues,” believed political
analyst Sergei Minasian, deputy director of the Caucasus Institute,
a Yerevan think-tank.

“We couldn’t have expected anything else under the circumstances,”
he said. “Here it was about political concerns, rather than economic
benefits.”

Politics and gas, though, are intrinsically linked for Armenia. Having
tangoed with protesters already this year over transportation fares
and the presidential election, the government has no desire for the
protest momentum to keep on going.

The decision to join the CU was unexpected, though, even for some
high-ranking officials and powerful politicians.

Hours before President Serzh Sargsyan’s September 3 announcement,
Galust Sahakian, head of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia’s
parliamentary faction, excluded any decision on the Customs Union,
telling RFE/RL in an interview that “discussions are not at a stage to
allow us stating our position, especially that Armenia has no common
customs border with Russia.”

Thirteen days earlier, in an interview with ArmNews TV, Deputy Foreign
Minister Shavarsh Kocharian had gone still further, stating that
joining the CU would mean “losing [Armenian] sovereignty.”

Amidst a recent surge in anti-Russian sentiments, popular opposition
to the CU decision continues along.

At latest count, 4,000 supporters had signed on to the Facebook
group “Against the Customs Union with Russia,” which has been staging
protests outside of the presidential residence, the RPA headquarters,
and the European Union’s mission office.

“By a decision made in four days, Armenia has lost four years of
achievements” in establishing closer ties with the European Union,
and a reputation with its largest trading partner for reliability,
commented Richard Giragosian, head of Yerevan’s Regional Studies
Center. “This is a loss that Armenia has to try to restore.”

From: A. Papazian

FOREIGN COMPANY PLANS TO OPEN PENSION FUND IN KARABAKH – CBA CHAIRMAN

September 11, 2013 | 19:32

YEREVAN. – One of the foreign companies is ready to open a private
pension fund in Nagorno-Karabakh, Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
chairman said.

“It is too early to name the company, but we will inform about it in
the near future,” Arthur Javadyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Foreign companies’ participation in private pension funds in Armenia
is compulsory. According to the regulations of the Central Bank, the
pension fund management company must have at least one international
shareholder.

An accumulated pension system will come into effect in Armenia from
January 1, 2014.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

EUROPE HOTEL WINS TRIPADVISOR AWARD

Wednesday, September 11th, 2013

Europe Hotel in Yerevan

YEREVAN-Europe Hotel, the 4-star boutique hotel which is located at
the center of Yerevan, has been recently awarded the “2013 Certificate
of Excellence” by the well-known travel website Tripadvisor.

This award can be considered as the best gift Europe Hotel could
receive for its 10th anniversary, which is being celebrated this year.

The “Certificate of Excellence” award is based on guest reviews and
ratings and is awarded to hotels around the world.

Many consider this award as an indication of Armenia’s increasingly
improved hotel standards and customer care level which could certainly
attract more tourists in the near future.

From: A. Papazian

AUTUMN PROMISES: FROM MOSCOW TO BRUSSELS AND BACK

BY MARIA TITIZIAN

It recently dawned on me that I don’t know how to have fun anymore.

Work is about the country. Home is about the country. Dinners out
with friends or social gatherings are always about the country. I
can’t recall what we used to talk about before moving to “the country.”

We rarely talk about movies or books or art or interesting touristic
destinations because even when we do travel it’s usually work-related
or back to the country we came from before moving to “the country.” If
we talk about events occurring in the world, it’s usually through the
prism of how it affects us in Armenia. If we dare to discuss novel
ideas, more than likely it’s about potential solutions to the plethora
of problems we confront. And since there’s never a dearth of issues
presenting themselves, we always have things to talk about the country.

A friend came to see me in my office a few weeks ago, and after having
a heated discussion about the country, with a trace of sympathy said,
“Maria, really? You need to learn to have some fun.” I thought about
it and for the next few days kept thinking about it but couldn’t find
the answer to the question – when did I forget how to have fun?

A few nights ago, another friend invited us to his place for drinks.

While we didn’t discuss art or literature or recreational activities,
while silly jokes weren’t told, it was the first time in a long time
that I had fun. The peculiar twist is that all we spoke about was
the country, almost non-stop till the early hours of the morning, and
after coming home and trying to sleep, I finally found the answer…I
had been having fun all along.

I acknowledge that fun might not be the correct adjective to depict
the currents of our lives, but the intensity of emotions, the depth
of our frustration and ultimately the sense of purpose and fulfillment
had enriched our lives beyond our wildest expectations.

And yet, as I publicly acknowledge that life has been fun and
fulfilling, the events of the past week have been weighing heavily
upon all of us. On September 3, President Serzh Sarkisian, in the name
of Armenia and Armenians decided that we would turn our backs on the
Association Agreement that he himself had been actively negotiating for
with the European Union since 2010 and instead signed the Russian-led
Customs Union with Kazakhstan and Belarus, which foresees the creation
of a Eurasian Union by 2015.

While we were naively preparing for Armenia to initial the EU
Association Agreement in Vilnius (which included the Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area) at the end of November, along with
Georgia and Moldova, our country’s leader already knew that he would
steer us toward a closer association with Russia dashing any immediate
hopes of future integration with Europe.

The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), which is the
economic component of the Association Agreement, would have allowed
free access of Armenian goods to the European market. Most importantly,
it would have raised the quality and standards of Armenian products
due to strict European regulatory criteria.

After this dramatic policy shift, Stefan Fuele, the EU Enlargement
Commissioner said that “…the compatibility of obligations to the
Customs Union with those under an Association Agreement/DCFTA with
the EU looks problematic.”

There are those who believe that Armenia didn’t have a choice in the
matter, that Russia had forced our leadership to join the Customs
Union or suffer the consequences. There are others who believe that
this was a sound decision taking into consideration national security
issues (Russian troops protect our borders with Turkey and Iran),
including the security and viability of Nagorno Karabakh and was a
natural choice because Armenia is a member of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization. Signed in 1992 by Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia,
Belarus, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, CSTO is a military alliance which
among other things states that aggression against any one signatory
would be perceived as an aggression against all.

There are those who are passionately opposed to the Customs Union
because they insist that the country’s sovereignty has come under
threat. It is no secret that the Russians still consider the former
Soviet Republics as satellite states, comrades and have recently drawn
parallels between Armenia and Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave located
on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. The irony wasn’t lost
on anybody…comparing an exclave with a sovereign state.

The question of whether or not the EU understood the dynamic of Russian
influence and pull and the Armenian leadership’s real intentions, of
whether they were transparent or aggressive enough with the Armenian
leadership, of whether they provided security guarantees to our
country are not clear.

The question of whether the Diaspora understands the consequences
and many layers of this decision is also not clear but it should
be. This is not simply a choice of Russia or the West – this promises
to be a serious blow to any hopes for democracy, social justice, media
freedoms, and human rights, dismantling of monopolies in our political
and economic life. This presumably dangerous dance with Russia to
ensure the alleged prosperity of Armenia and security for Artsakh,
is ambiguous and could have perilous ramifications for the country’s
future. Many questions remain unanswered – what are the economic and
political benefits of the Eurasian Union versus the European Union?

The people of Armenia, in whose name the President purportedly speaks,
have a right to know the answers and ultimately understand what kind
of country they will be living in at the end of this journey.

Autumn promises to be difficult, tense, and intense. I’m not sure
that it will be fun, I’m not sure that I will be having fun, but I
am certain that I will be present.

From: A. Papazian

PAPER: RUSSIA WILL OFFER IRAN S-300 AIR DEFENSE MISSILE SYSTEMS

September 11, 2013 – 15:31 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russian President Vladimir Putin will offer to
supply Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems as well as build
a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, AFP reported citing
Russian business daily Kommersant.

Putin will renew an old offer to supply Iran with five of the
sophisticated ground-to-air missile systems at a meeting with Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani on Friday, Kommersant said, quoting a souce
close to the Kremlin.

Putin is set to meet Rowhani at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization held in Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

Russia in 2007 signed a contract to deliver five of the advanced
ground-to-air weapons – which can take out aircraft or guided missiles
– to Iran at a cost of $800 million.

In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract after
coming under strong U.S. and Israeli pressure not to go ahead with
the sale of the weapons system, drawing vehement protests from Tehran.

The source told Kommersant that Russia’s offer would depend on Iran’s
withdrawing a $4 billion lawsuit that it has lodged at an international
court in Geneva against Russia’s arms export agency.

Kommersant wrote that Putin would offer to supply Tehran with a
modified export version of the S-300 systems called S-300VM Antey-2500.

Russia has urged the West to soften sanctions against Iran after the
election of Rouhani, a centrist cleric, in June.

The source also said that Putin was ready to sign a deal with Iran on
building a second reactor for the Bushehr nuclear plant. The source
said the deal was not “particularly profitable from an economic point
of view, but was rather political.”

Russia completed the construction of Bushehr, which is Iran’s only
functioning nuclear power station, despite protests from Israel and
the United States.

Iran is at loggerheads with world powers over its controversial
nuclear program, which the Western powers and Israel suspect is aimed
at making a bomb despite repeated denials by Tehran.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Kommersant that Putin
and Rowhani were expected to discuss “working together in the nuclear
energy sphere” and “questions of military technical cooperation”
in talks at the summit in Bishkek.

From: A. Papazian

YEREVAN AND MOSCOW ENTREPRENEURS TO MEET WITHIN BUSINESS MARATHON 2013 PROGRAM

YEREVAN, September 11. /ARKA/. A group of Russian entrepreneurs
from Moscow will spend two days in the Armenian capital city in an
effort to establish direct and mutually beneficial trade links with
Yerevan-based peers.

They will come here on September 18 as part of Business -Marathon
2013 program, designed for Moscow’s small and medium-sized companies.

The goal of this program, which is a joint initiative of the
Department of Science, Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship of
Moscow municipality and Yerevan Municipality is to assist business
people in both capitals to boost Armenian-Russian trade. The Russian
delegation includes representatives of 10 Moscow-based enterprises for
which potential partners in Yerevan had been searched for two months.

On the first day of their meeting Russian and Armenian business
people will gather at a round table to listen to Armenian experts in
logistics, certification, patenting, banking and crediting.

During the second day, the participants will have business meetings
at the offices of Yerevan companies to assess their industrial and
commercial capacities and to discuss concrete details of cooperation.

They will also visit Yerevan-based industrial enterprises. -0-

14:04 11.09.2013

– See more at:

From: A. Papazian

CHORRORD INQNISHKHANUTYUN: EUROPE KNEW OF ARMENIA’S CUSTOMS UNION PLAN?

10:49 11.09.13

Before his landmark statement in Moscow, expressing Armenia’s
commitment to join the Eurasian Customs Union, President Serzh Sargsyan
had reportedly met European officials to tell them about the plan.

Citing its sources, the paper says that his private visit to Croatia
in late August was aimed at keeping European partners in the know of
the move.

An official statement issued by the Presidential Office gave no
details about the visit, says the paper, adding that the political
circles too, were somewhat indifferent to that. Days later Secretary
of the National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan said his agency
had informed the partners in Europe that Armenia had decided to sign
the Customs Union declaration.

The president is said to have really met with high-ranking European
officials in Croatia to tell them about the plan. His statement
reportedly came as a surprise to the Europeans but they nonetheless
refrained from demanding any explanations, the paper adds. Instead,
Sargsyan himself had to explain to them the security concerns over
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, saying that the country’s borders and
the liberated areas surrounding Karabakh are under Russian protection,
comments the paper.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

MOSCOW PUTS FORTH NEW DEMAND TO ARMENIA

Russian Railways may lose 93.2 b rubles in 2014 unless the fare is
reviewed. The loss may result in 62,000 redundant employees, RIA
Novosti reported. If the fare remains the same, the company may have
to save money on modernization of infrastructures which might affect
security, as well as cut staff and investments.

Recently the Russian Prime Minister Medvedev has instructed to keep
fares, as well as prices of all the natural monopolies at the level
of 2013.

Russian Railways operates the Armenian railways for 30 years.

Operations are run by South Caucasian Airlines.

When Serzh Sargsyan met with Putin on September 3 and announced to
join the Customs Union, it was also announced that Armenia and Russia
have achieved several important agreements, one of them being Russia’s
willingness to invest 15 b for the development of the Armenian railway.

Can a company that is facing reductions and need for savings invest
15b in Armenia? For the sake of what should it make this investment
when Armenia has already stated to join the Customs Union and has
spoiled its relations with Europe and ruined its own reputation?

Russia does not have a political or economic rationale to invest
15b rubles. The Armenian railway is a closed cycle, and the Turkish
border is closed and will continue to be, while Abkhazia and Georgia
dismissed Arthur Baghdasaryan’s statement on reopening the Abkhazian
railway before it had left the lips of the secretary of the Armenian
National Security Council.

The Russian government is not stupid to invest 15 billion in a
dead-end siding. It is more probable that Russia will demand something
from Armenia for those 15 billion rubles. I don’t mean that Serzh
Sargsyan will be made to congratulate not only the election of the
mayor of Moscow, which he did today, but also the mayors of Abakan,
Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Vologda, Voronezh, Khabarovsk, Petrozavodsk
and Vladivostok. The stipulation could be extension of the concession
on the railway for several dozens more years or simply privatize the
railways to Russia following the model of ARG.

Hakob Badalyan 15:28 11/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

From: A. Papazian