Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS ARE ON THE AGENDA OF NA BECAUSE OF RESPECT TOWARD INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 19, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian-Turkish protocols are being
kept on the agenda of the National Assembly of Armenia not because
Armenia fully believes Turkey but because it respects its international
partners, chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Samvel Nikoyan
said in response to the question of the MP from the Heritage party.

“I have to repeat the answer to this question. It is the right of the
leader of the country,” Nikoyan said, adding that it would have been
wrong to withdraw the protocols from the agenda, as far as they are
in the agenda of the Turkish parliament. According to him, in respect
of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations the positions of the
international community and Armenia coincide.

“The respect toward international partners supposes that
Armenian-Turkish protocols must remain on the agenda,” the NA
chairman said.

ARMENIAN WOMAN KILLED IN ALEPPO BLAST

armradio.am
19.03.2012 10:46

A car explosion rocked a Christian neighborhood in Aleppo today,
causing three deaths and thirty injured. There is an Armenian woman
among the victims, Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Armenia Tigran Balayan said. According to him, the Armenian Consulate
General in Aleppo has confirmed the information.

The 200 kilograms of explosives were placed in a car behind the post
office building, between two residential buildings in the Sulaymaniyeh
neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria~Rs second largest city. The explosion
was near a Latin church and two primary schools, in an area heavily
populated by Christians, including many Armenians.

The explosion happened when security forces were trying to evacuate
the residents from the area after being tipped off about the bomb.

According to the Syria~Rs state news agency SANA, the explosion also
caused major material damages in the neighborhood.

SANA quoted a Syrian-Armenian living in the neighborhood as saying
that the explosion was an attempt to disrupt the social fabric of
the country.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The state agency
accused terrorists for being behind the act. In turn, opposition
activists accused the government of staging the explosion to back
up its official line that foreign-backed extremists are behind the
uprising, reported Reuters.

Mashtots Park Protestors to Boycott Police Roundtable

hetq
13:11, March 17, 2012

A number of civic organizations have issued a statement saying they
will not attend a roundtable discussion today organized by the RA
Police regarding their actions at Mashtots Park.

Activists say the actions of the cops on March 15, designed to
break-up their sit-in vigil at the park, were anti-constitutional and
unlawful.

The activists say they’d participate in a free and open discussion of
the matter to which the press would also have access.

The organizations say they have not authorized anyone to attend
today’s discussion and speak on their behalf.

Those signing the statement are: `We are this city’s masters’, `Our
city’, In defense of Teghout’, `Trchkan Civic Initiative’ and those
who have participated at the Mashtots Park protests.

Yerevan’s Mayor Must Make a Decision That “Goes Against the
Grain”…At Least Once
Edik Baghdasaryan

hetq
13:43, March 5, 2012

During an interview with Azatutyun Radio, Yerevan Mayor Taron
Margaryan said that his office didn’t even bother to discuss the topic
of compensation for business owners who had their stores on Abovyan
Street dismantled. The price was too prohibitive, he noted.

As yet, we have been unable to obtain any documents dating from former
Yerevan mayors regarding permission to build these stores on Abovyan
Street in the first place. Who in the Yerevan Municipality granted
permission for their construction up and down the sidewalks on this
prime piece of Yerevan real estate remains a mystery.

Can any of these storeowners provide any contractual documentation?

Even if such paperwork can be dug up from somewhere, we all know that
such permits were `bought’ at a price. Thus, it’s absurd to even be
speaking about compensation.

Let those municipal officials `on the take’ pay for such compensation
out of their pockets. And high on the list should be Narek Sargsyan,
the current Chief Architect of Yerevan and the man in charge when
those unsightly stores were constructed back in the day.

The money these officials pocketed during their years of tenure is
more than enough to compensate all shop owners in Yerevan.

Mayor Taron Margaryan enjoys a high-level of authority, amassed during
his years of tenure as the Avan District Leader. Now, he faces a
pivotal issue in his budding career.

The question remains as to whether he is capable of making a decision
that goes against the grain and depart from `business as usual’.

If the mayor can do this, he will recruit a mass army of supporters,
including the activist youth. It would be a feather in his cap, so to
say. But first, he must show the will to make such a tough decision
that will irritate only two oligarchs.

Both of these oligarchs enjoy no support or sympathy with the public.
They won’t even be able to muster two citizens to defend them if
Margaryan makes the tough but correct decision.

These oligarchs don’t even have the guts to say – `These stores belong
to us.’ Hopefully, they have enough sense to ask themselves whether it
makes sense to do battle with broad segments of Yerevan residents and
active young people all in the name of a few stores.

Let’s put aside the Mashtots Park issue for the moment.

Does Yerevan need a chief architect who constantly deceives the people
of this city? Hasn’t the time finally come to send him packing?

I am convinced that Narek Sargsyan has been able to deceive the mayor
with equal ease.

Those shops on Abovyan Street were installed with the permission of
Narek Sargsyan and they were illegal.

Why hasn’t the Yerevan Municipality continuously failed to punish
those who approved such illegal decisions from day one?

We all remember how Narek Sargsyan gave his official `blessing’ to
turning the green space around Yerevan’s Opera House into one giant
cafe. And now he has the nerve to speak about restoring Yerevan to its
historic glory?

Sargsyan had no trouble pulling the wool over the eyes of the Public
Council during their recent meeting. Council members had become so
enamoured with Sargsyan and so used to his lies, that all they could
do is hang their heads and believe him.

At the meeting, Sargsyan stated that he didn’t even know who the
owners of these stores are. So, in whose name is all this construction
being pushed through for?

Does anyone in Yerevan take Sargsyan at his word when he feigns such
ignorance? Of course not. The chief architect knows everything. The
blueprints for these stores were handled by him. He was the one who
signed off on the project now underway to construct a commercial
center in the vicinity of Hrazdan Stadium.

It remains for Mayor Margaryan to void his 7373-A Decision of December
30, 2011 entitled – `The dismantling of structures on leased property
at 21/3 Abovyan Street and granting of building rights on 247 square
meters of land to Arevelyan Oasis Ltd.’.

Arevelyan Oasis is a company owned by Yuri Beglaryan, brother of
former Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglaryan.

So far, we’ve only been able to ascertain the name of Arevelyan Oasis.
There’s another company that also has been granted land in Mashtots
Park as compensation for being removed from Abovyan Street.

By nullifying this decision, Mayor Margaryan will declare that he has
heeded the voice of the people in the decision-making process.

He will usher in a new tradition of municipal business according to
which the people needs and concerns must be taken into account before
any construction or major changes are made to Yerevan parks and public
spaces.

After all, a city is made up of residents and not just two oligarchs.

Proportional list of Armenian oppositional Heritage party will be
published on Sunday

news.am
March 17, 2012 | 22:56

YEREVAN. – Armenian oppositional Heritage Party will hold a political
council on Sunday. The proportional list of the party and the nominees
by the majoritarian system will be confirmed during the council, head
of Heritage parliament group Styopa Safaryan told Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

Safaryan refused to make any comments about any nomination.

`As long as there is not any official decision I can neither confirm
nor deny any nomination. People must decide tomorrow whether they get
nominated or not and the party also has to tell its opinion,’ Safaryan
said mentioning that he might also put his nomination by the
majoritarian system.

To note, it is possible that Heritage and Free Democrats parties will
come up with joint list.

It is necessary to provide tax concessions to small and medium
enterprises, Gagik Tsarukyan says

arminfo
Saturday, March 17, 21:29

The state should create favorable conditions for the people to create
values, not to leave the country, Leader of the coalition Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP), businessman Gagik Tsarukyan said at today’s
congress of the PAP.

He is concerned over the fact that the citizens of Armenia hardly make
both ends meet, but when they leave the country they resolve their
social problems pretty soon. “It is necessary to combat poverty.
Working people should not be poor. For that purpose, it is first of
all necessary to stimulate small and medium business, to remove all
administrative and other obstacles, and to provide tax concessions.
The economic crisis in 2008 seriously affected our country, like all
the other states. In almost all the countries of the world the
governments gave a hand to their businessmen, especially, to the small
and medium enterprises. But did the Armenian businessmen feel that
support? I want to especially single out the small and medium
entrepreneurs, because for them it is a “to be or not to be?”
question, while the large businessmen can work without profit and even
with loss for some time”, Tsarukyan stressed.

He said that today the small and medium enterprises of Armenia are in
a desperate state, many enterprises have been closed, and there are no
relevant conditions for smart and gifted people to use their skills.

“Prosperous Armenia suggests switching from the initial capital to the
human capital assets. The new system should be based on new methods. I
am sure that we’ll gain nothing by the old methods”, he said and added
that the hero of the country should be not an official, but a man, who
works and creates new values for his state.

RAFFI HOVHANNISYAN MEETS GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER

16.03.12, 17:51

Heritage Party leader Raffi K. Hovannisian met with Federal Republic of
Germany foreign minister Guido Westerwelle here today in the presence
of other politicians and civil society representatives.

Hovannisian, who had served as Armenia’s first minister of foreign
affairs, shared his perspectives on the Republic’s domestic challenges
and international priorities. Press service of Heritage Party informs
about this.

On the same day Raffi Hovannisian received Ms. Katherine Leach,
Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Armenia, at Heritage headquarters. They
discussed British-Armenian relations and current developments
in Armenia and the region. Stiopa Safaryan, head of Heritage’s
parliamentary faction, also took part in the meeting.

AZERI HACKERS TARGET 20 ARMENIAN WEBSITES

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 16, 2012 – 15:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijani hackers keep attacking Armenian websites,
targeting the site of Armenia~Rs National Archives among the 20 others.

As information security expert Samvel Martirosyan told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the hackers placed posts, particularly
insults addressed to French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Hackers earlier attacked websites of Araratian Diocese, Vallex Group,
Gavar State University and Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression
(CPFE).

RENEWED DRIVE FOR SENATE RECOGNITION OF GENOCIDE TO BE LAUNCHED

Armenian Weekly
March 16, 2012

Bipartisan Genocide-Prevention Measure Seeks to Apply Lessons of
Armenian Genocide in Preventing Future Crimes Against Humanity

WASHINGTON-Senators Bob Menendez, fresh off blocking the flawed
nomination of Matt Bryza to a full term as Ambassador to Azerbaijan,
and Mark Kirk, who came to the Senate last year after serving as
Co-Chairman of the Armenian Caucus in the U.S. House, are set to
introduce the Armenian Genocide Resolution, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).

The two Senators are currently collecting original cosponsors for
the genocide-prevention measure, which will, upon introduction,
be referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by John
Kerry (D-Mass.). The resolution is being introduced during a closely
contested election year, amid increasingly strained relations between
Turkey and many of its former friends on Capitol Hill.

Armenian Americans and anti-genocide activists are encouraged
to contact their Senators to become original cosponsors of this
legislation by sending a free ANCA WebMail at:

“We extend our thanks to Senators Menendez and Kirk for their
leadership in putting America on the right side of this human rights
issue,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We look
forward to supporting their efforts to ensure that our leaders – in
the White House and Congress – reject Turkey’s gag-rule on American
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. No one – ally or adversary –
deserves a veto on U.S. human rights policy.”

Parallel to this effort, Reps. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) and Adam Schiff
(D-Calif.) have offered a nearly identical measure, S.Res.304, in
the U.S. House, and Senators Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.), and Mark Kirk have introduced S.Res.392, the Senate version
of a religious freedom measure that was adopted last December, in
the U.S. House calling upon Turkey to return stolen Christian church
properties to their rightful owners.

PROCEEDING FROM THE CURRENT POLITICAL REALITIES, THE RECOGNITION OF THE NKR BY ARMENIA SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE YET
Susanna Balayan

Friday, 16 March 2012 11:18

Prominent political scientists from Armenia participated in the
international conference “The 20th anniversary of the independence of
the NKR: Realities and Perspectives” held in Stepanakert in the last
decade of February. Among them was Director of the Caucasus Institute
Alexander Iskandaryan who made a report in the second section –
”Karabakh as a Factor in the Construction of the Region.”

It should be noted that the topic of the second section – “The place
and role of the NKR in the regional and international processes”
– caused the greatest interest among the professionals and wider
audience of the section meetings. To remind, the thesis presented at
the fourth and final meeting of the section by Russian expert on the
South Caucasus and Middle East, Director of the International Institute
of the Latest States Alexei Martynov on the need for recognizing
Karabakh by â~@~Kâ~@~KArmenia caused mixed reactions. Following is
an assessment by the Armenian political scientist on the subject.

– Mr. Iskandaryan, what do you think about the thesis of the Russian
political scientist on the need for the priority recognition of the
NKR independence by Armenia? What will it give to the two Armenian
states? Will this not lead to war?

– I am a political scientist, and my job is to say what is right
and what is not, that is only to assess the situation. Recognition
of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia is not on the agenda today. If the
recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh happens now, Azerbaijan will have
to be actually out of the Minsk process. The Minsk process will be
slowed down, and the issue will be removed from the OSCE format. Is
it bad or good – this is not the matter… It has a distinct positive
feature: the OSCE is a format with an element of consensus. Armenia
can block an undesirable decision. Then all the rest, which once
took place in Lisbon, will leave this format (this can be said with
high probability). This will create certain risks and threats to
the situation in the conflict zone. Considering this, the official
position of Armenia has not changed for nearly twenty years. Or, that
is the degree of compromise, which is made by the Armenian party,
or strictly both Armenian parties so that the status of Karabakh
could be the endpoint of the negotiation process and not the initial
one. It is widely known.

– As you have pointed out, the position of the Armenian party has
not changed for twenty years. How long do you think it will remain
unchanged?

– A lot of states in the world, that are not recognized or recognized
in part, live on this sample. This is a political fact. And it is
realized by any qualified political scientist. Another ball game
is impossible. Surely, this does not mean it is forever. But in
today’s political reality, the recognition of the NKR by Armenia is
impossible. De facto recognition exists, which is also obvious to
everybody. The Armenian monetary system operates in the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Karabakh is connected with Armenia with the bank
and communication systems. The NKR inhabitants are citizens of Armenia
and have the same passports. Boundaries, in fact, do not exist. Both
states have a single economic, demographic, and legislative field…

This is clear to everybody. Surely, we seek legal recognition.

However, to date, this may be stated only by those who aim at pleasing
the audience. In terms of political science, I think to please the
audience is not the most important goal. Proceeding from the current
political realities, it seems impossible yet, whatever we want (well,
which of us does not seek the recognition?).