Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIA TO FINALIZE PREPARATIONS FOR STARTING DEEP AND COMPREHENSIVE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS WITH EU

ARKA
July 27

YEREVAN, July 27. / ARKA /. By the end of this year Armenia plans to
finalize preparations for starting negotiations with the European
Union on the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement, Armenian
economy minister Tigran Davtian said.

He said there are several requirements for starting negotiations,
including revision of standardization, metrology, hygiene and
protection of intellectual property systems and removal of other
trade obstacles.

“We have to enforce systemic changes related to European integration
management processes. More precisely, we have to form appropriate
substructures within the government system,” he said.

The minister stressed that a great deal of work was done in all these
directions, and it is important that these changes be implemented
in practice.

The possibility of such an agreement is a key element of the EU’s
Eastern Partnership program that offers six former Soviet republics
much closer integration with the 27-nation bloc in return for political
and economic reforms.

The association talks between Armenia and EU were formally opened
in 2010 July 19. The agreement would entitle Armenia to a permanent
free trade regime with the EU and facilitate visa procedures for its
citizens travelling to Europe. The EU says democratization, human
rights protection and a stronger rule of law are necessary conditions
for Armenia’s participation in the Eastern Partnership.

BAKO SAHAKIAN: “IT IS PLEASANT THAT REGULAR ELECTIONS ARE HELD IN A CIVILIZED MANNER IN OUR COUNTRY”
Laura Grigorian

Tuesday, 20 September 2011 09:43

On September 18, municipal elections took place in our Republic, as a
result of which community leaders and members of the Elders’ Council
were elected in 209 communities. In the capital town of Stepanakert
and regional centers of Martuni, Martakert and Berdzor, elections of
community leaders and members of the Elders’ Council took place; in
Askeran, Hadrut, and Shushi, only members of the Elders’ Council were
elected; elections didn’t take place in Karvachar. Municipal elections
are held in Artsakh for the fifth time. The first time, they were
held in our Republic in 1998 and later – three times every three years.

According to international standards, the level of the population’s
participation in the elections was quite high – 60-65%.

As of 8:00 am in the September 18 morning, when the elections started,
the voters’ lists included 93.102 citizens. For ensuring their right to
vote on a proper level, 251 election districts were formed. 48 election
districts are available just in the Kashatagh region. In this context,
Kashatagh exceeds the other regions of the Republic and its capital
(34). As required, at 8:00 in the morning, the election commissions’
chairs at all the election districts announced the start of the
elections, and the districts started receiving the voters.

In the morning, the country’s authorities also fulfilled their civil
duty. President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakian and Prime
Minister Ara Harutyunian voted at election district 24 located at
Stepanakert school #5. That time, the elections were passing calmly
and without any haste in the noted district. According to commission
chairman Vanik Ghazarian, by 11:00 am, 100 of 1354 voters had already
voted. No violations or complaints were fixed.

The statesmen voted both as Stepanakert citizens and state leaders. In
his interview to journalists, President Bako Sahakian expressed his
satisfaction with the election culture developed in our Republic.

“We consider important any elections in our country, including
municipal elections. It is very pleasant that regular elections are
held in our Republic in a civilized manner, within the law and moral
standards”, noted the President. According to the head of state, these
elections will be a step forward as a constituent of the election
processes and as a means of establishing the local self-government
system. “We try to have such community leaders who are able to fulfill
their duties in accordance with the communities’ demands. And the
process, which is available in our life, I mean the election process,
lets us hope that we’ll use the elections for electing such community
leaders who are able to research deeply the local problems and to
resolve them in the future. I think it is a continuous process and
we see progress from elections to elections”, said Bako Sahakian.

Answering the question on the activity of the acting Mayor of
Stepanakert, President Sahakian said, “I had chances to evaluate the
Mayor’s activity and I consider that for the recent years, the Mayor
and generally the Mayor’s Office staff have succeeded in resolving
some issues of social significance for the population, in particular,
that of water supply. These years, natural disasters took place, the
consequences of which were shortly removed. Generally, I estimate that
activity as adequate. I think that the Stepanakert citizens also had
the chance to observe the works and give the corresponding evaluation”.

Answering the question for which candidate the head of state had voted,
President Sahakian said, “I have voted for those who can fulfill
their duties after being elected, who are vested with knowledge and
experience. I am sure that they will carry out their duties on a
high level”.

ERGENEKON PLOT LINK ALLEGED IN DINK’S MURDER

Tert.am
09:29 20.09.11

The assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink may
be connected to the ongoing Ergenekon coup-plot case, the Turkish
newspaper Hurriyet Daily news reported, citing the tiral’s chief
prosecutor.

“The assassination of Hrant Dink is the latest assassination enacted
by the deep [state.] The suspects acted with ideological motivations.

The Turkish Republic and public order [were] the targets. There
are [reasons] to suspect that the murder is connected to the
Ergenekon organization,” said the chief prosecutor who requested life
imprisonment for suspected conspirators Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel
on Monday.

Meanwhile, Hrant Dink’s acquintances and his family’s lawyers stormed
out of the courtroom when the chief prosecutor requested to state
his opinion on the case, claiming that many of their requests had
not been met over the course of the trials.

“Not an inch of progress has been made in five years. [The authorities]
do not want to investigate the truth behind this murder,” said Fethiye
Cetin, a lawyer for the Dink family.

It was unacceptable for the judge to grant the prosecution permission
to issue his opinion before the collection of all the evidence,
Cetin said.

The family’s lawyers had earlier demanded that the trial be merged
with the Ergenekon case but the request was rejected by the court.

YEREVAN TRADERS READY TO GO TO COURT, BLOCK ALL ENTRANCES TO PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS

epress.am
09.20.2011 11:09

If Yerevan City Hall declares Antsum-1 (“pass” or “crossing”) CJSC –
which has proposed 455 million drams (about $1 million 214 thousand
USD) to revive the Abovyan-Koryun pedestrian underpass – as the winner
of the tender, then the vendors working in the underground passage are
preparing to block all entrances to the underpass and wait for that
“best and wealthy man.”

This group of vendors, who might soon be prohibited from trading
in the underpass, was protesting outside city hall on Monday. Note,
these vendors primarily sell flowers, clothes and foodstuffs.

City hall has announced a tender for that area, and bids by three
applicants have been made: Getnantsum (“underground passage”) CJSC,
which was established by the traders themselves, who have offered 255
million drams (about $680,327 USD); the 455 million drams proposed
by Antsum-1 CJSC; and a businessman by the name of Ashot Ohanyan
(pictured below), who has offered 400 million drams (about $1 thousand
67 thousand USD).

Protestors told Epress.am that they will “fight till the end.”

“Definitely we’ll take them to court; we won’t leave it in this
rudimentary way – how would [you feel if] one day they come to your
house and say we are going to renovate and you won’t be living here
anymore. We won’t give in; we will continue till the end. We have
already prepared the documents: contracts, receipts, our expenses.

About six months ago, they came from city hall, they said if you gather
22 million drams [about $58,700 USD] we’ll renovate it. We gathered it,
gave it to city hall for them to renovate, and they promised us they
would extend our contracts, but they came and made an insignificant
change – what they did definitely did not cost 22 million. And now
they say, what renovation is this? But they’re the ones who did
it. Now it’s the other version of the racket [fraudulent scheme];
they’ve put out an auction. If they’re selling it, we can buy it,
renovate it how it should be. We know that if someone comes, he’s
from their entourage,” one protestor, a 35-year-old man, told the
Epress.am correspondent on the scene.

Also speaking to Epress.am was Gagik Badalyan, another trader in the
underpass, who said that if a decision was made not in their favor,
they are preparing to take extreme measures.

“I can’t say what decision will be made tomorrow, but if it’s decided
suddenly that Antsum-1 has won – I haven’t decided this, we’ve all
decided it – we will close the underpass from all sides and stay
in the underpass, wait and see who is the best and richest man in
Armenia who wants to deprive people of their livelihood,” he said.

The winner of the tender is set to be announced on Tuesday.

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: UNE NOUVELLE ETUDE DE VAHAKN DADRIAN

Collectif VAN

20-09-2011

Le Collectif VAN vous invite a lire cette information traduite par
Georges Festa et publiee sur le site ‘Armenian Trends – Mes Armenies’
le 18 septembre 2011.

Armenian Trends – Mes Armenies

dimanche 18 septembre 2011

Genocide armenien / The Armenian Genocide – Vahakn Dadrian

Photo: Vahakn Dadrian

Une nouvelle etude de Vahakn Dadrian publiee par la Faculte de Droit
de l’Universite de Saint-Thomas

Massis Weekly, 27.08.2011

MINNEAPOLIS – Le dernier numero paru du Journal of Law and
Public Policy de l’Universite Saint-Thomas (2011, vol. 5, n° 1)
(1) contient une nouvelle etude dans laquelle le professeur Vahakn
Dadrian, directeur de recherche sur le genocide a l’Institut Zoryan,
analyse le genocide armenien dans un contexte neuf. Intitule ” The
Armenian Genocide : A Review of its Historical, Political, and Legal
Aspects ” [Le genocide armenien : une approche historique, politique
et juridique], l’article aborde les soubassements historiques et
politiques du caractère criminel du genocide armenien.

Cet article consistant, long de quelque soixante pages, y compris
118 notes en bas de page, se fonde sur des sources officielles
turques ottomanes, dont plusieurs numeros du Takvim-i Vekâyi,
l’organe officiel du Parlement ottoman, qui fait etat des tribunaux
militaires de l’après-Première Guerre mondiale, charges de poursuivre
les perpetrateurs du genocide armenien. Dadrian ancre ainsi son analyse
documentaire sur des preuves materielles de premier ordre. Materiau qui
est renforce par une profusion de materiaux confirmant les donnees,
issus des archives officielles de l’empire allemand et de l’empire
austro-hongrois, allies politiques et militaires de la Turquie durant
la guerre. Dadrian s’appuie aussi sur l’~uvre de plusieurs auteurs
turcs contemporains.

” La maîtrise hors pair des langues et des sources par Dadrian rend
insurpassable sa capacite a reconstituer et analyser les questions
historiques, politiques et juridiques fondamentales liees a l’etude
du genocide armenien “, note K. M. Greg Sarkissian, president de
l’Institut Zoryan.

Un rapide panorama de l’ère pre-genocidaire explore le modèle
historique d’impunite dont beneficia toute la gamme des decideurs,
des organisateurs et des perpetrateurs effectifs de plusieurs series
de massacres. Massacres infliges a la population armenienne de l’empire
ottoman durant les periodes 1894-1896, 1903-1904 et en 1909 a Adana.

Ce fait central de l’impunite servit a souligner le rôle du facteur
de la vulnerabilite des victimes comme un determinant majeur dans
la prise de decision du genocide. En fait, comme le relève Dadrian,
il contribua a enhardir les decideurs et les executants du genocide
ulterieur lors de la Première Guerre mondiale.

Autre facteur crucial dans le deploiement du programme de genocide
en temps de guerre, l’ensemble devastateur de circonstances qui
entourèrent les cuisantes defaites militaires subies par les Ottomans
durant la première guerre balkanique en 1912. L’angoisse, la detresse
et plus particulièrement la brutalite qu’infligèrent les armees
chretiennes victorieuses de la peninsule balkanique a l’encontre
des masses musulmanes indigentes, tentant de fuir, s’averèrent un
prejudice majeur lors du ciblage ulterieur de la population armenienne
vulnerable de l’empire ottoman, via des accès differes de vengeance.

De fait, une grande partie des groupes perpetrateurs impliques
dans le cataclysme armenien de la Première Guerre mondiale etaient
constitues de refugies musulmans spolies, amers et emplis de haine,
issus des guerres balkaniques precedentes.

Dans cette etude, le genocide armenien est presente comme une
consequence directe de l’adoption d’une ideologie radicale, dont les
principaux concepteurs et executants furent les cadres dirigeants de
ces groupes compacts de refugies balkaniques.

Parmi l’ensemble des facteurs qui facilitèrent la mise en ~uvre
effective du genocide figure celui de l’opportunite. Etant donne la
nature complexe du crime de genocide, l’A. soutient qu’un succès
optimal dans l’organisation d’un tel crime exige un opportunisme
maximal. Non seulement les marges d’action et les ressources du
perpetrateur doivent etre le moins refrenees, mais, tout aussi
important, la vulnerabilite du groupe cible doit etre a un niveau très
eleve. Les guerres, en particulier les guerres globales, tendent, a
cet egard, a proposer des opportunites quasi maximales. Les necessites
en temps de guerre tendent ordinairement non seulement a maximiser
la vulnerabilite du groupe victime, qui est astreint par son statut
de minorite, mais en meme temps a compliquer et souvent contraindre
le problème de l’intervention exterieure en faveur du groupe cible.

Les guerres constituent des boulevards d’opportunisme eminemment
favorables au regard de la montee de la preeminence instrumentale des
cadres militaires au sein d’un camp perpetrateur potentiel. Grâce a
eux, la violence n’est pas seulement concentree parmi les experts,
mais, plus important encore, ce genre de violence possède, par
tradition, la sanction d’une quasi legitimite, sinon une legitimite
pleine et entière, dans la mise en ~uvre d’une violence mortelle
visant des cibles presentees par l’autorite legitime comme ” ennemis
interieurs “. Il est a noter que les deux genocides majeurs du siècle
dernier, l’armenien et le juif, furent perpetres durant deux guerres
mondiales.

Un des traits les plus marquants du genocide armenien est lie a
ses dimensions economiques, via lesquelles eut lieu un transfert
massif de richesses, des victimes aux perpetrateurs. En ce sens, le
genocide fonctionne ici a un double niveau. L’elimination physique de
la population victime aboutit a faire emerger une nouvelle source de
richesse, et a travers elle les cadres nouveaux de classes prospères au
sein du camp perpetrateur. Dans le chapitre consacre a l’expropriation
et a la confiscation des biens et capitaux, l’A.

recense et analyse a travers de nombreux materiaux-source les
specificites de cette operation meurtrière de transfert de richesses,
des victimes aux perpetrateurs.

L’etude s’achève significativement par une evocation de la suprematie
du droit en tant que regulateur du comportement humain et, comme tel,
element humanisant de la vie civile. Rappelant cette maxime d’Aristote
: ” Eloigne du droit et de la justice, l’homme est le pire de tous
les animaux. ”

NdT

1.

___________

Source : Massis Weekly Traduction : © Georges Festa – 09.2011

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : Armenian Trends – Mes Armenies

ARAM IER APPELLE A METTRE FIN A LA FORME DE PENSEE DU ” NOUS ET VOUS ”
Jean [email protected]

armenews.com
mardi 20 septembre 2011

EREVAN

Le catholicos de la Grande Maison de Cilicie Aram Ier a fait une
declaration forte a la conference Pan-Armenienne devant les dirigeants
et 500 representants de la Diaspora (50 pays). Il a appele a mettre
fin a la forme de pensee du ‘nous et vous’ et pour la promotion d’un
‘nous’ collectif.

Une attention particulière doit etre portee sur la Diaspora Armenienne
en tant que partie du peuple Armenien extremement competente, sur
les Armeniens du Javakhk, sur la protection des droits humains,
sur la preservation de l’identite nationale, sur le renforcement de
l’Armenie, sur la consolidation du Karabagh et sur la reorganisation
de la Diaspora Armenienne.

“La plus grande inquietude pour notre nation est le fait que
l’emigration d’Armenie s’en tient a ce meme niveau. Notre ennemi
voudrait voir l’Armenie sans Armeniens. Mais a present, c’est
nous-memes qui laissons l’Armenie se vider de son peuple”, a dit
Aram Ier.

Il est a noter que le Catholicos Karekine II, n’a jamais evoque cette
question en public, ni le sort de l’armee, la pauvrete, la flambee
des prix, l’ecart croissant entre les immenses profits des oligarques
et le salaire minimum en Armenie.

La corruption, la minorite prospère et, d’un autre côte, les pauvres
conditions de vie des intellectuels, des ecrivains, des enseignants
et des gens ordinaires, requièrent des reformes urgentes. “L’Eglise
ne peut rester indifferente devant ce phenomène malsain”, a dit le
Catholicos Aram.

Il a exprime sa confiance dans le developpement d’une pensee
pan-Armenienne qui doit etre place au centre des projets et des
programmes armeniens, a propos des positions relatives tenues par
l’Armenie et la Diaspora Armenienne – au profit des plus hautes
valeurs et des interets armeniens.

Près de 500 representants des communautes armeniennes de cinquante pays
ont pris par a la conference. Le President Armenien Serge Sarkissian,
le President du Karabagh Bako Sahakyan et le Catholicos de Tous
les Armeniens Karekine II ont adresse des messages de bienvenue a
la conference.

On espère que le dirigeant Armenien recevra les participants a la
conference.

NO-ONE ‘INTERESTED IN WAR’ IN KARABAKH

news.az
Sept 19 2011
Azerbaijan

News.Az interviews Russian candidate of political science Olga
Safonova.

Is the current Kremlin policy on the South Caucasus countries justified
in terms of ensuring Russia’s future security?

I think the future security of Russia requires more politically,
economically and diplomatically important events. We lost much time
and opportunities because of the forced loss of influence on the
region after the USSR collapse. Other countries, on the contrary,
strengthened their influence on the South Caucasus countries. For
this reason, if Russia wants to return to the region as a respected
and strong player and a participant in all processes ongoing there,
a policy that considers not only momentary gains but also long-term
perspectives is required.

Can Moscow’s recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia create future problems for Russia, which is facing similar
difficulties with separatism in the North Caucasus?

It seems to be two different stories. Anyway, the two externally
similar conflicts have different causes, preconditions, sources,
and ways of settlement. The internal state difficulties in the North
Caucasus won’t lead to the events of 2008 in the short term.

How likely is Russia’s recognition of the “independence” of
Nagorno-Karabakh, if Azerbaijan decides to use war to restore its
territorial integrity?

Hypothetically, without ruling out attempts at a conflict settlement
through war, I am sure that it won’t come to a forced settlement of
the conflict. Russia will not face the question of recognition.

Neither the conflict parties, nor the mediators and mediating
organizations are interested in resolution by war. For this reason,
all the parties concerned will continue talks as long as possible. It
is difficult to find a solution, which would be favourable to both
Armenia and Azerbaijan.

What implications would a new war over Karabakh have primarily
for Russia?

I have to repeat that I see no real preconditions for wide-scale
military actions in the near future. For Russia, escalation of the
conflict to outright hostilities could threaten economic and political
cooperation and the presence of such action in its neighbourhood would
force the country into the conflict area, which Russia does not want
at all.

Recalling the Russo-Georgian war of August 2008, Dmitriy Medvedev
recently said that “it is better to hold endless talks about the
fate of Nagorno-Karabakh than to fight for five days”. Do you share
Medvedev’s opinion or do you think that a state should do everything
possible to ensure its territorial integrity?

As we know, the issue of the territorial integrity of a state, is
extremely delicate, especially concering ethnopolitical conflicts
based on territorial disputes. Each party has its truth and it is
very difficult to be a mediator in such a dispute, since it can a at
any moment lead to the question “against whom are we friends”, who
will win and what will be gained from the resolution of the issue in
favour of any party. When the founders of geopolitics compared a state
to an organism, they said that like any other life form, states are
born, develop, waste away and die. Their survival is subjected to the
common law of the fight for existence, which is why self-preservation
combines with the struggle for existence in the form of a fight for
space. I see a potential tendency for conflicts in this issue.

The easiest answer to this territorial question would be the
following: the dispute should be solved in a way that benefits the
whole population who are fighting for state independence. Ninety-nine
percent of people need no more than a stable political regime, a
peaceful life, a well-paid job, social guarantees, happy children and
a quiet old age in their country of residence. If it’s not artificially
ignited, the ethnic issue is not remembered so often.

But there are no miracles in life. The cruel truth of the current
state of world relations is that while the international community
uses statements pleasing to one’s ears, it often takes actions,
that do not promote peace and tranquility, often collectively or
individually, with the support of the vast majority. The exercise
of the right of nations to self-determination and the principle of
inviolability of borders remain hazards on the way to overall peace,
and a good weapon for political and economic blackmail or a policy of
double standards depending on the need to settle a geopolitical issue.

And often states become hostage to, or a bargaining chip in, the game
of stronger political players who do not stop in the fight to redivide
spheres of influence, markets, convenient transportation corridors,
resources or future military interests.

It is already no secret to anyone that the system of global relations
(in both politics and the economy) is in a state of crisis, while not
everything is smooth in the system of global peacekeeping organization
either; everyone knows that multi-polarity also contains potential
risks, that globalization is not merely an opportunity to exchange
instant messages with distant relatives instead of using snail mail,
but a process that can lead to the extinction of national states.

In these complex foreign political conditions in combination with
domestic political problems, some of which have been continuing since
the early 1990s, Russia, as a very important geopolitical player
in the world arena, shows a peace-loving non-aggressive policy in
international relations without seeking to interfere in the internal
affairs of states, when they do not request it and without imposing
their standards of conduct and values on anyone.

For this reason, I would support Dmitriy Medvedev in his opinion that
it is better to hold endless peace talks.

CHP DEPUTIES ATTEND ERGENEKON HEARING TO SUPPORT SUSPECTS

Today’s Zaman
Sept 19 2011
Turkey

A group of Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies on Monday attended
a hearing of the second Ergenekon case in order to lend support to the
suspects, which include three CHP deputies suspected of membership in
Ergenekon, a clandestine network charged with plotting to overthrow
the government.

Ä°stanbul 13th High Criminal Court resumed the Ergenekon trial with
the 131st hearing attended by Mustafa Balbay, journalist Tuncay
Ozkan and Ä°brahim Å~^ahin, the former head of the National Police
Department’s Special Operations Unit. Sixteen suspects, who have been
released pending trial, including CHP deputy Sinan Aygun, retired
Gen. HurÅ~_it Tolon and journalists Yalcın Kucuk and Unal Ä°nanc,
also appeared in the courtroom.

A total of 21 CHP deputies, excluding the suspected deputies, showed
up at the trial. CHP parliamentary group deputy chairs Emine Ulker
Tarhan and Muharrem İnce as well as Mersin deputy İsa Gök also
attending the court hearing, watching the trial in the section where
lawyers are seated.

Judges cross-examined Oguz Bulut, the Ä°zmir provincial head of Ulku
Ocakları, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) youth organizations,
over his connection with the Ergenekon terrorist organization. Bulut
said he had not seen Ergenekon suspects Å~^ahin and Ersin Gönenci,
who allegedly carried out an assassination of an Armenian community
leader as part of Ergenekon network’s activities, after he left
his post as the head of Sivas Ulku Ocakları in 2006. Rejecting the
charges of being a member of Ergenekon, Bulut said he only talks to
Å~^ahin on the phone on special occasions, such as holidays.

Former CHP provincial head reacts against numerous handovers of
Ä°stanbul chair Former head of the CHP’s Ä°stanbul branch Å~^inasi
Oktem has reacted against the four-time handover of the CHP Ä°stanbul
provincial chair over the past 15 months. Having served as the CHP
Ä°stanbul head between 2002 and 2007, Oktem said he agrees with the
criticism of the handover of the chair and that it has turned into a
game. The appointments became part of the April 23, Children’s Day,
in which young people symbolically took on significant political posts
for the occasion of the day. In an interview with Today’s Zaman, Oktem
emphasized that the new provincial head, Oguz Kaan Salıcı, comes
from the Dec. 10 movement, which was launched by the Confederation of
Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DÄ°SK). While noting that the movement
had been established against the CHP, Oktem said: “These are attempts
to replace CHP members with individuals who were unsuccessful in their
movements and took shelter in the CHP. These people have nothing to
do with the past and the organizations of the CHP at all.”

ARMENIAN ENVOY HAILS TIES WITH KUWAIT

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
September 18, 2011 Sunday

Armenian Ambassador in Kuwait Fadi Ghalian commended cooperative
relations between Armenia and Kuwait as “close and firm”, hoping that
they would be further developed in various domains.

Speaking at a news conference on the occasion of the 20th anniversary
of his country’s independence, Ghalian said the Armenian people
are looking forward to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah
Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s planned visit to Armenia.

He said preparations were underway for HH the Amir’s tour, during which
he is expected to open a Kuwait-financed college of Islamic science.

Armenia and Kuwait forged their bilateral relations when the former
gained its independence from the Soviet Union, he said.

Ghalian said Armenia was in the forefront of the countries which
supported Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion, noting that bilateral
relations were being swiftly developed.

He said Armenia had opened an embassy in Kuwait in 2009, and signed
several cooperative agreements in the fields of higher education,
culture and economy.

Ghalian recalled that during a recent visit by an Armenian delegation
to Kuwait a joint cooperation agreement was concluded in the technical
and economic areas and a joint economic committee was made up.

The Armenian ambassador noted that Armenia and Kuwait had hammered
out a bilateral cooperative deal in the fields of culture and higher
education during Kuwaiti Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali’s
visit to Armenia in July 2011.

Armenia attaches much attention to Arabic language and Islamic studies,
he said, adding that the joint economic committee would convene in
Armenia October.

On economic relations, he said his country was working closely with
the Kuwaiti government to push forward economic cooperation.

He urged Kuwaiti tourists to visit Armenia to enjoy its historical
sites and landscapes.

U.S. DASHNAKS IN SARKISIAN BOYCOTT U-TURN

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 19 2011

A major Diaspora branch of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) has reversed its decision to boycott an
upcoming banquet in Los Angeles to be attended by President Serzh
Sarkisian.

The September 25 event is organized by the Armenian Consulate there
and dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

Sarkisian will attend it as part of a visit to the United States
that will involve meetings with representatives of the influential
Armenian-American community.

The Dashnaktsutyun chapter in the western U.S. said on August 18 that
its leaders will boycott the banquet in protest against Sarkisian’s
track record in office. It said his presence there will “cast a shadow
on the idea of independence and denigrate the struggle of our people
for the restoration of justice.”

Dashnaktsutyun’s supreme decision-making body based in Yerevan,
the Bureau, was quick to criticize the extraordinary move.

In another statement circulated over the weekend, Dashnaktsutyun’s
Western U.S. Central Committee claimed that the “nature” of the
celebration has been changed and that it is no longer be aimed at
honoring Sarkisian.

“As such, the reason for us to not participate has been rectified,”
read the statement reported by Dashnaktsutyun’s Los Angeles-based
newspaper “Asbarez.” “Once again we salute the 20th anniversary of
the re-establishment of Armenia’s independence and congratulation
our people on the occasion.”

Armenian government sources on Monday denied any changes in the
format of the event. “It was always meant to be a banquet devoted to
Armenia’s independence and attended by President Serzh Sarkisian,”
one of them told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

The initial announcement of the boycott was a rare manifestation of
differences within the influential pan-Armenian party. Despite being
in opposition to the Yerevan government, the Dashnaktsutyun leadership
in Armenia has been quite cautious in criticizing Sarkisian.

By contrast, the party’s main U.S. branch described the Armenian
president on August 18 as a “discredited” individual who “tramples
democracy and democratic values underfoot” in order to ensure “the
reproduction of the criminal regime.”

In a Friday interview with “Asbarez,” the branch chairman, Avedik
Izmirlian, downplayed the significance of the harsh verbal attacks
on Sarkisian. Izmirlian also slammed unnamed forces that he said are
trying to “sow the seeds of division” in the party.