Author: Badalian Vardan

Coordinator of Armenian NGOs in Samtskhe-Javakhk presents the
requirements of the Armenians in Javakh to Europeans

17:59 . 07/03

Coordinator of the Council of the Armenian NGOs in Samtskhe-Javakhk,
Director of `A-Info’ news agency Artak Gabrielyan is in Brussels,
where he holds meetings with members of the European Parliament and
representatives of other structures of the EU.

During all his meetings Artak Gabrielyan has handed to the
representatives of the European structures the memorandum singed by
the mentioned council, which presents the problems the Armenians of
Samtskhe-Javakhk face and the ways of their solution, as well as the
requirements of the Armenian community in Javakhk. Particularly, they
are:

1. to end the efforts to change the demographic picture of the region,

2. to improve Armenian representation in the structures of local and
state governance structures,

3. to implement social and economic development programs in the region
in order to equalize the region’s situation to those of the country’s
other regions,

4. right to use the Armenian language in the governance bodies of the
administrative districts, the majority of the population of which are
Armenians,

5. giving a status of an autonomous territorial unit in the
composition of Georgia to Samtskhe-Javakhk and the adjacent region of
Tsalka.

President: Armenia is close to European value system not only with
state-building but also with its behavior

17:59 07/03/2012 » Politics

European integration is among the key issues in the internal reform
process as well as in the foreign policy of Armenia, according to
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

`We place a high value on the role of EU in Armenia and in the South
Caucasus not only because EU is a global player but first of all,
because EU is the most successful model of peaceful, secure and stable
coexistence of peoples,’ President Serzh Sargsyan said, addressing a
meeting at Konrad Adenauer Foundation Tuesday evening.

`I am confident that only a common value system will enable us to
build a secure and developing region,’ President’s press office quoted
him as saying.

`Today I can say confidently that Armenia is close to Europe and
European value system not only with its state-building but also with
its behavior as a reliable partner in both regional and international
context. Armenia backs solution of all problems through talks, mutual
consent, respecting the interests of all sides, and through peaceful
means. We are ready to do our best to prevent disastrous developments,
dangerous confrontations, emergence of new dividing lines, and we have
proved in practice the seriousness of our intentions,’ said Serzh
Sargsyan.

Source: Panorama.am

Sarkozy, Armenian community won’t disuses acute issues

March 7, 2012 – 16:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – President of France Nicolas Sarkozy and Armenian
community members won’t discuss any pressing issues.

The meeting between Sarkozy and representatives of Armenian community
is a part of awarding National Order of the Legion of Honor to Arsène
Tchakarian, hero of World War II, member of Manouchian Group.

Today, March 7, 8.30 pm Yerevan time, Sarkozy will meet
representatives of Armenian community, according to Le Figaro.

The decision was taken a week later after the French Constitutional
Council resolved to kill the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide
denial.

The French Constitutional Council on Feb 28 ruled the bill
criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial adopted earlier by the
Senate of France as unconstitutional. The Council justified it by the
fact that the law `contradicts Article 33 of the Constitution of
France and the freedom of speech’.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill with 127 votes for
and 86 against. If signed into law by the President, the bill would
impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France
who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman
Empire.

Turkey reacted furiously when the Senate approved the law. Ankara
halted political and military cooperation with France and was
threatening to cut off economic and cultural ties if the law took
effect.

Reconstruction of Armenian St. Nshan Church in Tbilisi launches

16:32, 7 March, 2012

YEREVAN, MARCH 7, ARMENPRESS. Renovation works have already launched
in the territory of St. Nshan Church in Tbilisi. The church has been
seriously damaged during the fire early this year.

Citing GHN agency, Armenpress reports that the renovation works are
being implemented with the financial assistance of Georgia’s agency of
preservation of historic-cultural monuments. The columns of the church
will be fortified, ceiling of the altar, the damaged floor of the
church will be changed. The renovation works are expected to last for
three months. According to the plan, the church is expected to be
renovated by May 25.

St. Nshan Church has been built in 1703-1720.

Armenian Foreign Ministry to move to new building

March 7, 2012 – 14:41 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A number of Armenian government institutions
including Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources, as well as Ministry of Territorial Administration will be
moved to a new building located at Zakyan 2/1, Armenian Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan said.

Armenian government earlier instructed Yerevan city administration to
develop a package of demolition and constructing a new building at the
location of the burnt one, where Justice Ministry was once situated.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan also commented
on the government’s decision, noting that it is conditioned by the
fact that the current building is small for all the employees.

Erdogan justifies racism

07:27 pm | March 06, 2012 | Politics

“Whereas some people in Turkey view Armenians as their brothers, our
brothers are the people of Khojalu,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyib Erdogan declared during a meeting held by his “Justice and
Development” Party.

Touching upon the February 26 thousand-man demonstration dedicated to
the 20th anniversary of the 1992 events of Khojalu held at Taksim
Square in Istanbul, which struck the eye with the anti-Armenian calls
and slogans, Erdogan mentioned: “Even if racist slogans were heard
during that rally, that is possible during any thousand-man action.
Nobody has the right to take advantage of that to hurt Turkey’s image.

The Turkish Prime Minister also expressed indignation with those
defending the Armenians.

“Why are those human rights supporters keeping silent about the
victims of Khojalu? Those poor people were killed by the Armenians.
Whereas some people consider Armenians their brothers, our Armenians
were the residents of Khojalu,” said Erdogan.

We remind that on 26 February 1992, on the night of the liberation of
Artsakh’s Ivanyan and former Khojalu settlement, Azerbaijani soldiers
killed the peaceful people of the city as they were escaping toward
Aghdam through the corridor provided by the Armenian forces with the
accompaniment of armed detachments.

Azerbaijan claims that the refugees were killed by the Armenian armed
forces. However, in an interview, then President of Azerbaijan Ayaz
Mutalibov confessed that the Khojalu massacres were organized by the
oppositionist “National Front of Azerbaijan” to create an opportunity
for his resignation. In 2007, editor-in-chief of the “Real Azerbaijan”
periodical Eynulla Fatullayev was sentenced to eight and a half years
in prison for expressing his position on the Khojalu events that
differed from the official position.

Anti-Armenian TV series to be shown in Turkey

news.am
March 07, 2012 | 12:45

Turkey is preparing to televise an anti-Armenian series, titled `The
Grand Game,’ in which the Armenian Genocide is denied and the
Armenians are accused of betrayal.

The program will depict how the Armenians `betrayed’ the Ottoman
Empire, and it will speak about the Armenians’ and the Russians’
`cruelties’ against the Turks, Gercekgundem website of Turkey informs.

Ottoman archive specialist Orhan Sakin is among the consultants for
this series.

The program’s creators informed that after televising `The Grand Game’
in Turkey, they will present it to the international viewers.

DAVID SAFARIAN (66 KG) MEDAILLE EUROPEENNE DE BRONZE POUR L’ARMENIE EN LUTTE LIBRE
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
mercredi 7 mars 2012

L’Armenie vient de decrocher une medaille de bronze aux championnats
d’Europe de lutte libre a Belgrade (Serbie). Pour la 3e place, David
Safarian (66 kg) s’est impose sur le turc Yacoub Kor. En quart de
finale, le representant de l’Armenie avait battu l’azeri Emin Azizov
avant de perdre en demi-finale face au russe Alan Gogaïev, le nouveau
champion d’Europe. Au tableau des medailles, l’Armenie est 6e.

AZERBAIJAN’S RULING PARTY: RUSSIA INTENSIFIES EFFORTS TO RESOLVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Trend
March 6 2012
Azerbaijan

The election of Vladimir Putin as president will expand the relations
between Azerbaijan and Russia in economic, political, humanitarian and
other spheres, Deputy Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan
Party (NAP), MP Mubariz Gurbanly told the party’s official website.

Presidential elections were held in Russia on March 4. According to
the CEC, PM Vladimir Putin gained 63.6 per cent of votes and thus
won the presidential race. Leader of the Russian Communist party
Gennady Zyuganov gained 17.18 percent of votes, self-nominated
Mikhail Prokhorov – 7.98 percent, head of the Liberal Democratic
Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky – 6.22 percent, leader of the “Fair Russia”
Sergei Mironov – 3.85 percent of the vote.

The relations between the two countries are at the level of strategic
partnership, he said.

The MP noted the new head of state will adhere to the same position
in Russia’s foreign policy.

Gurbanly believes Putin will pursue a pragmatic policy to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“On his initiative Russia will intensify its efforts in the negotiation
process to resolve the conflict. I think that on the initiative of
Russia’s new president serious decisions related to the settlement
of the conflict may be taken. Our expectations for the problem are
associated with the restoration of justice, and here the position of
Russia is of particular importance,” the Deputy Executive Secretary
of the NAP stressed.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

RUSSIAN CO-CHAIR DOESN’T AGREE WITH STATEMENTS ON MINSK GROUP’S NON-ACHIEVEMENT OF PROGRESS IN SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

APA
March 6 2012
Azerbaijan

“One of the important moments is that we didn’t permit the conflict
to pass to the hot phase during 20 years”

Baku. Anakhanim Hidayatova – APA. “During these years the OSCE Minsk
Group helped the conflict parties to approach to the settlement of
the problem”, said OSCE Minsk Group’s Russian co-chair Igor Popov
answering the question about non-achievement of any progress in the
settlement of the conflict during 20 years: “I think that it is wrong
opinion. I also said in my other interviews that we did many things
for signing the peace treaty” – the diplomat said.

Noting that the work was carried out on basic principles of the
conflict’s settlement, Popov said that this issue as also discussed at
Sochi meeting of the presidents: “Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
proved there that they were ready for accelerating the elaboration
of this document. Another important moment is that we didn’t permit
the conflict to pass to the hot phase during 20 years”.