Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIA MOBILITY PARTNERSHIP TO BRING CITIZENS CLOSER

ENPI Info Centre
Oct 28 2011

The EU and Armeniahavelaunched a new Mobility Partnership to step
up dialogue and cooperation on migration issues. ~SThe Mobility
Partnership, together with other instruments such as future Visa
Facilitation and Readmission agreements, will be key in increasing the
mobility of European and Armenian citizens in a well-managed and secure
environment”, said EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström.

A press release said on 27 October, Commissioner Malmström,
Poland’s Minister of the Interior and Administration Jerzy Miller
and Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had signed a Joint
Declaration pledging to carry out a series of initiatives in the
field of migration. Commissioner Malmström said the launch of this
Partnership with Armenia was a very important step towards bringing
European and Armenian citizens closer.

Commissioner for Enlargement and the European Neighbourhood Policy
Stefan Füle said this partnership had showed that the EU the Eastern
Partnership countries were ready to move towards a closer integration.

~SFostering mobility and people-to-people contacts is fundamental
for the promotion of social and economic development and mutual
understanding between the people in Armenia and in the EU,” the
Commissioner said.

The Mobility Partnership will enhance Armenia~Rs ability to manage
migration and inform, integrate and protect migrants and returnees,
the press release said, adding that it will boost Armenia’s capacity
to curb irregular migration and human trafficking. Ten EU Member
States (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden) as well as the
European Training Foundation (ETF) are involved in this partnership,
which remains open to other Member States wishing to take part. (ENPI
Info Centre)

FASCIST TURKISH AMBASSADOR CELEBRATES UNFAIR IMPRISONMENT OF HIS COUNTRY’S PRIME MINISTER
By Appo Jabarian

USA Armenian Life Magazine
October 27, 2011

Did you know that Turkey’s Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan
is a closet fascist and a religious bigot?

In fact Mr. Tan has established an irrefutable record for being a
blind opponent of basic human rights in the very country – Turkey
that he currently represents as Ambassador.

Back in 1998, Mr. Tan then counselor and official spokesperson
of the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC, celebrated then Mayor of
Istanbul and now Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
imprisonment by Turkey’s then ruling generals. Never mind that
then Mayor Erdogan’s basic human rights were being trampled upon
by powers that be in Turkey. What was the reason for Mr. Erdogan’s
persecution? Mr. Erdogan had recited an Islamic religious verse and
expressed his desire for religious freedom in Turkey. He was sentenced
to ten months’ imprisonment.

Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier reported that
in 1998, Benjamin Yafet of Arizona, a Turkish Jewish professor,
then citizen of Turkey and a staunch supporter of the anti-Erdogan
and anti-Islamist Turkish generals had sent a letter to The New York
Times defending Erdogan’s imprisonment.

Prof. Yafet then mailed a copy of that letter to the Turkish Embassy
in Washington, proudly notifying them of his “good work” on behalf of
his native land. Within days, he received a letter of appreciation
from Namik Tan, then “Counselor and Embassy Spokesperson,” and now
Ambassador of Turkey to the United States. Counselor Tan praised Prof.

Yafet, stating that his “rebuttal … corresponded, in many aspects,
to how we also approach the subject.” A close reading of Prof. Yafet’s
letter to the Times reveals why Counselor Namik Tan had offered to
him such lavish praise, stated Sassounian.

Mr. Tan especially liked Prof. Yafet’s “likening Erdogan’s ideology
to that of the Nazis.”

However, in his last week’s e-mail to Sassounian, “Prof. Yafet found it
ironic that the same Namik Tan who had thanked him for his anti-Erdogan
letter back in 1998 is now representing an Islamist government that
he so passionately despised only a dozen years ago.”

It’s truly bewildering to see Mr. Tan succeed in hiding his true
colors of a fascistic and religiously bigoted persona and get away
with landing a most coveted ambassadorial position representing non
other than Erdogan’s Turkey.

Could it be possible that Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
applied poor judgment in appointing Namik Tan as his country’s
ambassador to U.S. even though Ambassador Tan celebrated Mr. Erdogan’s
imprisonment? Mr. Erdogan’s “guilt” was orchestrated which ultimately
led to the loss of his mayoral post to which he was elected by the
people of Istanbul.

Isn’t FM Davutoglu unnerved by the fact that Ambassador Tan is a
religious bigot?

Or, was FM Davutoglu uninformed about Mr. Tan’s true character?

Further, is it possible that Mr. Davutoglu’s Foreign Ministry has
been poorly supervised?

Whatever the reasons may be, it is very comical to see at ambassadorial
post, a fascist Turk that has wholeheartedly celebrated the unfair
imprisonment of his country’s Prime Minister; and has also expressed
great pleasure at the gross human rights violations of his boss Prime
Minister Erdogan.

BOLSHOI THEATRE TO REOPEN AFTER MAJOR REFIT

Tert.am
23:20 28.10.11

Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre was reopened on Friday evening after a
renovation that took six years to complete, and at a cost officially
estimated at half a billion pounds, BBC News reported.

On a new rehearsal stage high up in the Bolshoi Theatre, sweat is
pouring off some of the world’s greatest dancers as they prepare for
one of the ballet company’s most important seasons.

For six years the main stage of the historic theatre has been dark,
but now its glittering chandeliers are shining again.

The theatre closed in 2005 for restoration work, but the job proved
much bigger than anyone expected.

Huge sums have been spent on structural work and intricate detailing.

The frescoes and vast quantities of gold leaf have all been replaced.

The material was washed with vodka and polished with squirrel tails.

Symbolically, the curtain has lost its hammer and sickle from the
Soviet era, while the old insignia on the building’s facade has been
replaced with the Russian eagle.

Other improvements include a bigger orchestra pit and improved dressing
rooms. The rehearsal stage mirrors the main stage directly below,
so the dancers know the exact size of the space.

MINISTER OF DEFENSE THREATENED

Lragir.am News

18:38:28 – 28/10/2011

Addressing the board meeting of the Ministry of Defense, Minister
Seyran Ohanyan dwelled on the public discussion of the problems of
the army.

The minister of defense said: “We understand and admit constructive
criticism by the society after some accidents in the army. Moreover,
this criticism is useful and we must learn a lesson. But we consider
it unacceptable when certain groups manipulate intentionally the
problems of the army on a daily basis. The ministry of defense is
going to be stricter to those people who defame the army, and if these
people try to harm the army by spreading false information and libel,
their legal responsible will be inevitable.”

YEREVAN MAYOR CALLED ABSURD THE RUMORS ON CONTRADICTIONS WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENT

ARKA
Oct 28, 2011

YEREVAN, October 28. /ARKA/. Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan in
the interview on TV channel Armnews called absurd the rumors on
disagreement with the administration of the President of Armenia.

He approved the rumors on his resignation, due to transfer to another
job and some personal reasons.

“In this post and the previous one I cannot mention a single case,
when our management and the team considered right any decision, but
we could not realize or did not have the necessary level of confidence.

It is just absurd”, he said.

He said that he has good and friendly relations with the president’s
administration noting that his resignation from the post of Yerevan
Mayor does not mean that he resigns from the team of the President
of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

“I respect the president very much. He has played a fantastic role
in my appointment to this post and I tried to introduce him that my
resignation does not mean that I leave the team”, said Karapetyan.

Karen Karapetyan was selected Yerevan Mayor by the Elderly Council
upon the proposal of the President of Armenia on December 17, 2010.

Prior to his appointment, he was the General Director of ArmRosgazprom
(shareholders are: Gazprom and Government of Armenia which is a
monopolist in the delivery and distribution of Russian natural gas
in domestic market of Armenia.

MILLER FOUND DEPUTY IN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
20:36, 28 October, 2011

Russian experts think that Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan, who
has submitted a resignation application on the occasion of taking
another office, will conduct at “Gazprom” the company’s activity with
post-soviet countries. Russian “Gazeta” reports that Karen Karapetyan
will take the office of deputy to Alexey Miller, Chairman of the
Gazprom Management Committee.

“What Karen Karapetyan will do actually in Gazprom, is not known yet.

Company refuses to give comments. Miller’s deputies are now engaged
in all directions of Gazprom’s activity,” Konstantin Simonov,
Director General of National Energy Security Foundation, reminds,
adding that Karen Karapetyan will hardly take the place of one of the
current deputies of Miller. “It is distinct that the speech is about
expansion of cadres. It is not excluded that Karapetyan will rule
Gazprom’s relations with former member states of the Soviet Union,
as Gazprom’s interest in the former soviet territory is gradually
growing,” the expert considers.

Vladimir Sazhin, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’
Institute of Oriental Studies, in his turn did not rule out that
Karen Karapetyan has been invited related to the interest of Gazprom
in Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.

“In all cases, the salary of the deputy chairman of Gazprom Management
Committee is higher than that of Yerevan mayor. Yerevan mayor gets AMD
300 thousand per month, and members of Gazprom Management Committee –
nearly 5 million Rubles (USD 153, 8 thousand),” writes “Gazeta”.

BETTER MOBILITY BETWEEN THE EU AND ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
28.10.2011

On 27 October Cecilia Malmstrom, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Jerzy
Miller, Poland’s Minister of the Interior and Administration, and
Edward Nalbandian, Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, officially
launched a new Mobility Partnership. Together with ten Member States
(Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden) they signed a Joint
Declaration on carrying out a series of initiatives in the field of
migration. These will strengthen relations between Armenia and the
EU by promoting mobility and cooperation on migration issues.

“The launch of this Partnership with Armenia is a very important step
towards bringing European and Armenian citizens closer. The Mobility
Partnership, together with other instruments such as future Visa
Facilitation and Readmission agreements, will be key in increasing the
mobility of European and Armenian citizens in a well-managed and secure
environment”, said Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom.

“This Mobility Partnership is a clear sign of the readiness of the
European Union and the countries of the Eastern Partnership to move
towards a closer integration. Fostering mobility and people-to-people
contacts is fundamental for the promotion of social and economic
development and mutual understanding between the people in Armenia
and in the EU “, stated Stefan Fule, Commissioner for Enlargement
and the European Neighbourhood Policy.

With this Mobility Partnership, the EU and Armenia will step up their
dialogue and cooperation in key areas. Practical initiatives will be
launched to enhance Armenia’s ability to manage migration and inform,
integrate and protect migrants and returnees.

The partnership will also support Armenia’s efforts to improve the
way it deals with issues relating to asylum and the protection of
refugees, and to the prevention and reduction of irregular migration
and human trafficking. Ten EU Member States as well as the European
Training Foundation (ETF) are involved in this partnership, which
remains open to other Member States wishing to take part.

Background

The Mobility Partnership with Armenia is the fourth of its kind,
following those launched with the Republic of Moldova and Cape Verde
in 2008 and with Georgia in 2009.

Mobility partnerships are flexible and non-legally binding frameworks
for well-managed movements of people between the EU and a third
country. Their goal is to ensure, through dialogue and practical
cooperation, that there is a responsible and joint management of
migratory flows that protect the interests of the Union, of its
partners and of the migrants themselves. They are part of the process
of implementing the global approach to migration developed by the EU
over the last few years.

The launch of a Mobility Partnership with Armenia confirms the EU’s
commitment to continue actively cooperating with its Eastern Partners
on the issue of well-managed and secure mobility.

On 16 September the Commission adopted recommendations for negotiating
directives for concluding readmission and visa facilitation agreements
with Armenia (IP/11/1053) and Azerbaijan (IP/11/1052), as well as
first assessment reports in the context of the visa dialogues with
Moldova and Ukraine.

The JHA Eastern Partnership package was complemented by a
Communication, adopted on 26 September, on cooperation in the Area of
Justice and Home Affairs within the Eastern Partnership (IP/11/1075).

For more information

Homepage of Cecilia Malmstrom, Commissioner for Home Affairs

Homepage DG Home Affairs:

GIRLS EQUAL IN BRITISH THRONE SUCCESSION

ARMENPRESS
October 28, 2011
YEREVAN

Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to
the throne, after Commonwealth leaders agreed to change succession
laws.

The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of
state unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia.

It means a first-born daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
will take precedence over younger brothers.

The ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic was also
lifted.

Under the old succession laws, dating back more than 300 years, the
heir to the throne is the first-born son of the monarch. Only when
there are no sons, as in the case of the Queen’s father George VI,
does the crown pass to the eldest daughter.

Announcing the changes had been agreed, Prime Minister David Cameron
said they would apply to descendents of the Prince of Wales. They
will not be applied retrospectively.

“Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a
little girl, that girl would one day be our queen,” he said.

“The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder
daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can
marry someone of any faith except a Catholic – this way of thinking
is at odds with the modern countries that we have become.”

Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was an extraordinary
moment: “I’m very enthusiastic about it. You would expect the first
Australian woman prime minister to be very enthusiastic about a change
which equals equality for women in a new area.”

She said the changes appeared to be straightforward. “But just because
they seem straightforward to our modern minds doesn’t mean that we
should underestimate their historical significance, changing as they
will for all time the way in which the monarchy works and changing
its history.”

But the campaign group Republic – which wants an elected head of
state in Britain – said “nothing of substance” had been changed.

“The monarchy discriminates against every man, woman and child who
isn’t born into the Windsor family. To suggest that this has anything
to do with equality is utterly absurd,” spokesman Graham Smith said.

On scrapping the ban on future monarchs marrying Roman Catholics, Mr
Cameron said: “Let me be clear, the monarch must be in communion with
the Church of England because he or she is the head of that Church.

But it is simply wrong they should be denied the chance to marry a
Catholic if they wish to do so. After all, they are already quite
free to marry someone of any other faith.”

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond welcomed the lifting of the
ban but said it was “deeply disappointing” that Roman Catholics were
still unable to ascend to the throne.

“It surely would have been possible to find a mechanism which would
have protected the status of the Church of England without keeping
in place an unjustifiable barrier on the grounds of religion in terms
of the monarchy,” he said.

“It is a missed opportunity not to ensure equality of all faiths when
it comes to the issue of who can be head of state.”

In her opening speech to the summit, the Queen did not directly mention
the royal succession laws, but said women should have a greater role
in society.

“It encourages us to find ways to show girls and women to play their
full part,” she said.

The BBC’s royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, said this was a
hint that the Queen herself backed the change.

PUTIN’S NEW POLICY UNCLEAR YET – ARMENIAN POLITICIAN

Tert.am
28.10.11

At his Oct. 28 meeting with journalists, Arman Melikyan, the former
foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh, stressed Russia’s pivotal role
in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

“Russia is the only nation present in the region that is Armenia’s
strategic partner,” he said.

He pointed out ups and downs in Armenian-Russian relations – on some
occasions Russia presented Armenia with ultimatums.

Vladmir Putin’s return features a new policy, Eurasian partnership,
“we do not yet have a proper idea of.”

“We must be well aware of what it means and how we should act. Some of
our political forces hailed the idea. However, we cannot know anything
about Eurasian partnership until Putin comes and begins translating
the idea into reality. Russia is showing signs of chauvinism in the
context of this idea – they can be felt in Putin’s rhetoric. If the
Eurasian partnership follows Putin’s scenario, it is better for us
to become part of the Russian Federation. If it follows Nazarbayev’s
scenario, it may be more attractive. On the other hand, it poses some
risks – Turkey will enhance its role. So we should think it out and
be realists,” Melikyan said.

TURKEY PLANS TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST ARMENIA’S NUCLEAR PLANT

Tert.am
28.10.11

Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz has said he ordered the country’s
nuclear authority to measure radioactivity in the east after the deadly
earthquake in Van province for fear of leaks Armenia’s Nuclear Power
Plant, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

“I asked the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority to immediately conduct
tests,” Yildiz told a group of journalists in Ankara while speaking
at a reception to mark the 50th anniversary of the Turkish publication.

Turkey is preparing to take legal action against all superannuated
nuclear power plants across the world, including Metzamor in Armenia,
the minister said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will receive from Turkey
complaints about dozens of nuclear plants across the world that have
already exceed an age of 40, Yildiz said.

“Some countries are announcing that they are putting an end to nuclear
power and closing superannuated plants, but they are continuing to
build new ones,” he said. “This is not right.”

However, the minister declined to specify any country by name.

Siemens, Germany’s biggest nuclear energy company, was turning the
page on nuclear energy, the group’s chief executive told the Der
Spiegel weekly in September.

The government in Germany had earlier announced it will withdraw from
nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan
caused by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that took more than
20,000 lives.

Turkey’s to-be-built nuclear plant near the town of Akkuyu in the
southern province of Akkuyu would be “the strongest building in the
country,” Yıldız said. As risk grows, security measures grow too,
he said.

“We will invest some $20 billion there. It will become an important
part of the overall energy system and we will still bear risks. Sorry,
but neither the state nor the private sector would take such a risk.

One should be crazy, otherwise. We will not let it happen. No need
to worry about it.”

Russian state-owned nuclear power company ROSATOM is the contractor
for the project.

The country plans two more power plants, one in the northern province
of Sinop and another in the Thracian region but talks with contractors
for these projects were interrupted by the Fukushima accident.