Author: Babajanian Karo

ISKANDARYAN: EU WILL PUT NO PRESSURE ON TURKEY CONCERNING ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER

16:13 15/07/2013 POLITICS

Armenia’s cooperation with the outer world is complicated by the
closed communications, political scientist, Director of the Caucasus
Institute Alexander Iskandaryan told reporters in Yerevan in commenting
on the possibility of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border following
Vilnius summit.

The closed border with Turkey causes problems for Armenian economy,
he added.

“I think Europe will put no pressure on Turkey in the issue of
opening the Armenian-Turkish border. Europe is just not able to put a
strong pressure on Turkey. Only the United States is capable of it,”
Iskandaryan said.

Regarding the Karabakh settlement, according to the analyst, the
status quo will be maintained and there will be no significant change
in this issue.

Source: Panorama.am

EXPERT: AZERBAIJAN IS NEITHER PRO-RUSSIAN NOR PRO-AMERICAN, IT IS PRO- AZERI

by David Stepanyan

Monday, July 15, 18:26

NATO will be able to expand into the post-Soviet area only if Russia
faces a total collapse. Otherwise, I see no way for NATO to do it,
Sergey Markedonov, visiting researcher at the Washington Center
for Strategic and International Studies, said during an online
press-conference on Monday.

According to Markedonov, the willingness of Azerbaijan, Georgia or
Ukraine is not decisive here. “This is not as easy as it may seem.

NATO is not a monolith. The positions of France and Germany are much
different from the position of the United States. The same is true
for the post-Soviet republics – each of them has a different attitude
towards its possible membership to NATO,” the expert said.

When asked if Azerbaijan is pro-Western or not, Markedonov said that
today there is no more cold war. “The contradictions between Russia
and the United States are just a clash of interests rather than a
conflict of ideologies. So, there is no need for a final choice between
them. Today, Azerbaijan is neither pro-Russian nor pro-American,
it is pro- Azeri. The same is true for Armenia. The only exception
was Saakashvili’s pro-American Georgia. All the other countries are
trying to find a balance in their relations,” Markedonov said.

Markedonov’s press-conference was part of a project carried out by
Region Research Center (Armenia) and Peace and Democracy Institute
(Azerbaijan) with the support of the British embassies in Armenia
and Azerbaijan with a view to expand knowledge of Armenians and
Azerbaijani about each other and to build confidence through first-hand
information.

CANCER TREATMENT TO BE LAUNCHED IN ARMENIA

July 15, 2013 | 17:26

YEREVAN. – The construction of the Radioisotope Production and
Molecular Diagnostics Center of the Armenian capital city Yerevan will
be completed in November, and the first services will be provided in
early 2014.

National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) Chief Executive
Director Arman Khachatryan stated the aforesaid during a press
conference on Monday.

To note, Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan, who is chairman of the NCFA
Board of Trustees, on Monday paid a working visit to the center.

Jean-Michel Happi, World Bank Country Manager for Armenia, likewise
was there.

Khachatryan informed that the center will be a phase in the
establishment of a cancer center of excellence. A CBRN (i.e., chemical,
biological, radiological, and nuclear) center will be built in the
second phase, and a hospital, in the third phase.

The Molecular Diagnostics Center enables to detect cancer in its most
initial phase, and this center will be the only one of its kind in
the region.

Construction of the center will cost about $50 million, which is
allocated by the Government of Armenia, the World Bank, and private
investments.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ARMENIAN SATIRIST TO HOLD ‘EVERY MONDAY’ PERFORMANCE ON GRAND SCALE

15:06 15.07.13

The satirist Vardan Petrosyan will play in the Every Monday performance
from July 29 on.

The performance will be continued as long as it has its audience,
Petrosyan told journalists on Monday.

“I always have profound philosophic titles for my performance. They
say Monday is not a day of theater, but I have played on Mondays for
dozens of years. I came to love Monday and to realize it is a very
good day for starting something new. No one stops smoking or drinking
on Sunday, and women start a diet on Monday. A good performance,
a talk about our problems,” he said.

“My say here in spring has been of great help. I felt what was going
on from afar, but I have felt it even better now,” Petrosyan said. He
is not going to parody President Serzh Sargsyan or Heritage party
Chairman Raffi Hovannisian.

“This is an attempt to find the way out of the situation. There is
ignoring the problems because it would be running away from yourself.

How can I keep silent on what I must speak of? I have invented a
wonderful thing this time. Politics without politics,” he said.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Armenian FM: It is not the first time that Azerbaijan is distorting results of a meeting with OSCE MG co-chairs

by Marianna Lazarian

ARMINFO
Monday, July 15, 15:00

F THE 24 MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS SHOULD BE PULLED DOWN.

It is not the first time that Azerbaijan is distorting the results
of a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Armenia’s Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan told journalists on Monday, when asked to
comment on the Azeri reports that during his last meeting with the
co-chairs in Vienna Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan
would continue the peace talks only after Armenia withdrew from the
“occupied” territories.

Nalbandyan said that no such statement was made during the Vienna
meeting and that it was just one more attempt by Azerbaijan to
distort reality.

“In Vienna we continued to discuss ways to facilitate the process. We
also considered the schedule of our next meetings, particularly,
the possibility of organizing a high level meeting by the end
of this year. We agreed that there was need for such a meeting,”
Nalbandyan said.

KAMBECK:MR. SULEYMANOV IS NOT KNOWN TO BE A RELIABLE SOURCE IN BRUSSEL

Monday,
July 15

During a talk with the correspondent of Aysor.am in Strasbourg,
Secretary General of European Friends of Armenia organization Dr.

Michael Kambeck has commented on the statement of Azerbaijani
parliamentary deputy Elhan Suleymanov to the effect that the European
Parliament took a decision not to send an Election Observation Mission
(EOM) to monitor the upcoming presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

“Mr. Suleymanov is not known to be a reliable source in Brussels. His
unfactual comments on Safarov already damaged the credibility of
Azerbaijan. I must say that normally countries are proud to welcome
such EOMs and it is the first time that I hear such a strange and
illogical explanation as a response to being denied an EOM.

The European Parliament’s decision on this issue is not yet final,
but it is clear that it is a difficult choice. The EP can only chose
a limited number of Election Observation Missions (EOMs) per year
and each year it has to decline several requests. In this situation,
would you send a mission to Azerbaijan, where the content of the
mission report is clear already today, after so many and such drastic
violations in Human Rights und Democracy? The EP generally sends its
EOMs to countries where these missions can make a difference and help
democracy. According to our sources in the EP, most MEPs rather gave
up for these elections in Azerbaijan and want to give a different
country the chance to prove itself. I guess Mr. Suleymanov simply did
not want to express this evident embarrassment. But Azerbaijan will
be able to prove itself to the much larger OSCE EOM”, Dr. Kambeck said.

TODAY, 12:38

Aysor.am

OF THE DEAD, NOTHING UNLESS GOOD

Significant things are happening in the so-called political class
of Armenia. These involve the ruling party, and as its members say,
they have to be both government and opposition since they are the
only ones to discuss important issues.

These issues are generally related to the offshore scandals of the
prime minister and the revelations of the Control Chamber. However,
everyone is silent about foreign matters, in particular the European
Union – Eurasia choice and the Russian supply of offensive weapons
to Azerbaijan. In other words, relating to relations with Russia. I
mean nothing is known about the official position of Armenia.

All the other forces except Free Democrats and Heritage are silent.

The ARF, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian National Congress
announced that they are going to carry out reforms, ensuring an
“alibi” for them.

But it is hard to believe them because any reform in any party of
Armenia would necessitate dissolution of the party. For example,
the ARF stated that press reports about internal issues of their
party are ordered by the prime minister. This trick is usually used
by the PAP and the Armenian National Congress as well. When parties
are sensitive about publications, it means they have no intention to
carry out reforms.

Parties are supposed to put forth public and state issues and solve
them. In other words, they assume responsibility in front of the
society. Non-governmental parties which are not carrying the weight
of the state are more flexible to discuss and propose solutions of
issues, which is the condition to maneuver and conduct effective
domestic and foreign policies.

Hence, parties are said to be as open and accountable as possible. In
this regard, there is nothing similar in the Armenian political field.

Instead, the “main” Armenian parties remain closed and authoritarian
structures with authoritarian methods of decision making. One of
the reasons is that authorities in Armenia are not formed by way of
elections. In other words, the vote of the society to which political
forces are responsible does not count. Under these conditions, one
either has to fight for voting mechanisms or to fine-tune oneself to
the system and receive one’s economic and administrative quotas.

Armenian parties have chosen the second option, actually participating
in the elimination of voting mechanisms.

This behavior has deprived the Armenian political class of internal
and external adequacy. In order to fill in this gap, either the
political forces should change their essence and motivation, hence
undergo reforms, or they need to continue acting in the same way,
facing marginalization. The second option has been used so far.

Parties have become more inadequate, their propaganda machine is a
“blacker”. All this leads to marginalization of the political field,
which we are witnessing now.

Times are changing. The Armenian society has undergone tangible
transformations in terms of awareness of their rights and conscience,
and it cannot be deceived by unreal “ideas” and demagogy. The tragedy
of parties is that they “missed” this circumstance which cannot be
filled in now.

The society has understood who has stolen their constitutional
rights, who is trying to eliminate public initiatives, who is trying
to resolve their personal issues. In this case, it is ridiculous to
dwell on orders of someone, and this means that the parties have no
real chance and wish to change.

Under these conditions their position is reduced to the saying “of
the dead, nothing unless good”. In the case of Armenian parties,
there is no good, so there remains nothing.

Haik Aramyan 11:22 15/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

LE GOUVERNEMENT POLONAIS PRET A PRETER DES DIZAINES DE MILLIONS D’EUROS A L’ARMENIE

ARMENIE

Le gouvernement polonais est pret a preter des dizaines de millions
d’euros a l’Armenie a declare le vice-ministre polonais de l’Economie
Tomasz Tomczykiewicz lors d’une conference a Erevan après la troisième
session de la commission intergouvernementale de cooperation economique
armeno-polonaise.

Il a dit que le gouvernement polonais est pret a preter cet argent
pour l’amelioration des infrastructures d’investissement, et non pas
aux entreprises commerciales.

Tomasz Tomczykiewicz a egalement offert un autre pret pour l’achat
de marchandises en provenance de Pologne.

Il a dit que si partie armenienne exprime son interet a cette offre,
la Pologne va attendre une demande officielle du gouvernement armenien.

” Tout est a un stade initial maintenant – les offres ont ete faites
et elles seront discutees par les responsables des deux pays ”
a-t-il ajoute.

lundi 15 juillet 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

Al-Safir , Lebanon
July 10 2013

Al-Safir Publishes Terms of an Agreement on Syria. Why Did the
Lebanese Not Read into the Change that Occurred in Qatar?

by Dawud Rammal

So far, the Lebanese have failed to read into the ramifications and
outcomes of the changes that were seen in the state of Qatar, perhaps
because the Egyptian events topped all the concerns; or because the
Lebanese are very cautious when it comes to approaching the new Qatari
situation because they have interests in this small princedom; or
because Qatar successfully established relations with many influential
political and popular parties in Lebanon; and also because the fears
raised by the flow of Qatari money to some armed Lebanese groups. But
the Lebanese failed to notice that ending the situation of Sheikh
Ahmad al-Asir in Sidon clearly ‘clipped the wings’ of the Qatari
politics in Lebanon. This might be followed by a Qatari regression in
Lebanon, following a lengthy period of advanced Qatari partnership
with the influential countries on Lebanon. This princedom managed to
impose its vision and lured top international and Arab and regional
player in Lebanon into consulting it and taking its opinion whenever
they want to pass a deal or put solutions to the crises. The most
prominent example was the Doha Agreement which led to the election of
President Michel Sulayman and to the holding of the parliamentary
elections. A national unity government was later formed too. However,
it seems that the Qatari regression in Lebanon comes in the context of
the losses suffered by this state amid several losses in favour of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia especially when it comes to the Syrian file.
Indeed, Saudi Arabia has recently succeeded in seizing the leadership
of the opposition’s Syrian Coalition from Qatar.

But the question that arises here is: Are the political changes in the
Qatari administration going to be confined to the ’emirate of gas’ or
will they have repercussions on the files associated with the previous
administration, the final decision of which was made by former Prime
Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin-Jasim Al-Thani?

“The available pieces of information indicate that the massive
political fall of the former Qatari rule practically means the fall of
all the public and secret commitments and agreements that Qatar had
already made, mainly the 10-point agreement concerning the phase that
will follow the supposed fall of the Syrian President Bashar al-Asad.
Al-Safir had access to highly important pieces of information
regarding a secret agreement that was made on the sidelines of the
Syrian opposition’s conference in Doha in November 2012. Most of the
conference’s attendees knew nothing about this agreement which was not
discussed with them. The available information indicates that the
agreement was made between the then-Foreign Minister of Qatar Hamad
Bin-Jasim Al-Thani, and his counterparts including Turkey’s Ahmet
Davutoglu and the UAE’s Abdullah Bin-Zayid Al-Nahyan, as well as
Robert Ford, the American ambassador to Syria, Riyad Sayf, the Syrian
opposition member who was then at the head of the Syrian opposition’s
Coalition, and Muhammad Riyad al-Shaqafah, the head of the MB group in
Syria.

The Terms of the Agreement

The agreement – which was to be carried out following the fall of
Bashar al-Asad and the rise of a new regime – stipulated the
following:

1. Reducing the number of the Syrian Army troops from 600,000 to 100,000.

2. Syria, under the new regime, is not entitled to reinstate the Golan
Heights, except through diplomatic and political tools and aside from
any military actions.

3. A peace treaty is to be signed between Israel and Syria under the
supervision of Washington, the European Union, and Qatar. A water pipe
is to be extended from the Ataturk Dam in Turkey through the Syrian
territories all the way to Israel.

4. Under the supervision and assistance of Washington, the new Syrian
regime shall get rid of all the chemical and biological weapons and
missiles of all kinds.

5. The new Syrian regime shall undertake, in writing, to stop
demanding to reinstate the Iskenderun territory and shall relinquish
some border towns that are inhabited by Turkmen in the governorates of
Aleppo and Idlib and give them to Turkey. In addition, all the
fighters of the PKK shall be expelled and the fugitives shall be
handed over in addition to blacklisting the PKK.

6. The new Syrian regime shall annul all the former agreements signed
with the Russian and Chinese companies in the field of underground
wealth exploration and weapons’ deals.

7. Qatar shall be allowed to install a gas pipe through the Syrian
territories all the way to Turkey and from there to Europe.

8. Qatar and the UAE shall pledge to reconstruct Syria, provided that
the privileges of the gas and oil exploration in the Syrian lands and
the Mediterranean Sea are given to the Qatari and Emirati companies
exclusively.

9. Limiting the relations with Iran, Russia and China and boycotting
ties with Hizballah and the Palestinian movements that refuse to
abandon resistance.

10. An Islamic, non radical regime shall be established in Syria, the
leaders of which are to start implementing the terms of this agreement
as soon as the opposition accesses power.

“The signatories of the agreement back then agreed on escalating the
confrontations and increasing the military pressure on the regime in
the next few months. They were expecting that the regime will collapse
between April and May 2013. The available pieces of information also
indicate that the field developments – that reached a pinnacle with
the fall of the strategic Al-Qusayr village and the Turkish popular
protests, as well as the escalation of the already-stringent Russian
position – tipped the balance. Furthermore, the fact that Al-Asad’s
regime did not collapse within months as expected led to failure of
the plan and to the fall of those who were working on it. The change
in Qatar thus occurred by the end of the spring season and the
beginning of the summer. This was followed by the resounding fall of
the MB rule in Egypt. However, this does not mean that Syria is
shielded against a political change under the terms of a new political
administration, the features of which will start to emerge by early
2014.

[Translated from Arabic by K. Peltekian]

APA, Azerbaijan
July 8 2013

Moldovan ombudsman dismisses Armenia’s claims of bribery by Azerbaijan

Moldovan Ombudswoman Aurelia Grigoriu has dismissed as “cheap tactics”
Armenian media reports that she had been “bribed” to present the
Azerbaijani version of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict during her
recent speech at the Armenian parliament. In her report entitled “the
protection of human rights and security in frozen conflicts areas”
Grigoriu said that “Armenia occupied territories of Azerbaijan and
committed an act of genocide against Azerbaijanis.” The ombudswoman
said that her comments on the conflict were fact and also complained
of receiving threats in Armenia after the speech. The following is the
text of her interview with private Azerbaijani news agency APA on 8
July:

[Correspondent] Were you able to leave Armenia easily following your
well-known speech in that country?

[Aurelia Grigoriu] They demanded that I apologize in order to be able
to leave Armenia without any obstacles. Diplomats and other people
that I was constantly in contact with, phoned me and said that I
should apologize. Surely, those were pro-Armenian people.

[Correspondent] What was your reaction to these requests?

[Aurelia Grigoriu] I was not seeking to humiliate or insult anyone. I
said the truth and I disseminated information approved by
international organizations, in my speech. I do not think that I
should apologize to someone for this.

[Correspondent] Did you face threats in Armenia?

[Aurelia Grigoriu] I received threats on my Facebook account. They
rang me in my hotel room and threatened me on the phone saying they
would drag me out of the room by pulling my hair, and then they would
sort it out with me. I informed our Foreign Ministry and my relatives
about this. My family has also received threats. The driver did not
want to take me from the hotel and a minute later I received a message
on my Facebook account saying that surprises are waiting me. I think
these were related to each other. This was the host country’s attitude
towards me.

[Correspondent] The Armenian media reported that you had been bribed
by Azerbaijan and had fulfilled an order.

[Aurelia Grigoriu] I visit many countries where I deliver speeches. As
an ombudsman, I attend an international conference in Azerbaijan once
a year but it does not provide any grounds to say that I have been
bribed. This is a lie and cheap tactics employed by Armenia.

[Correspondent] Do you feel safe now?

[Aurelia Grigoriu] Surely, I feel safe now. However, two people
followed me from Armenia. I flew to Moscow where I stayed one night
and then left for Chisinau. They took the same route as I did. I do
not know what their purpose was. Perhaps, they were guards but those
two people were always in a close distance from me.

[Translated from Azeri]