Author: Badalian Vardan

PRIME MINISTER: IMPROVEMENT OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT’S PRIORITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 29, 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net – At the meeting, the Prime Minister expressed
satisfaction over the current stage of Armenia-IFC cooperation,
stressing the importance of its further strengthening. The parties
focused on the possibility of ICF participation in National
Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) programs.

As Mr. Lubeck, in turn, noted, the corporation is assisting the
Armenian government in implementation of reforms, including IFC aid
in construction of an Armenian NPP.

The parties also discussed steps undertaken by IFC and Armenian
Economy Ministry to improve Armenia’s position in Doing Business WB
report. As the Prime Minister stressed in this connection, improvement
of business environment is one of the priority directions in Armenian
government’s activities.

ANKARA CONTINUES SLAMMING ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

Tert.am
29.07.11

Ankara continues voicing criticism over Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan’s recent statement delivered during the pan-Armenian Olympiad
in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor.

The Turkish news agency Cihan has quoted a statement by Deputy
Premier Bulent Arinch who made insulting remarks about Armenia and
the Armenia people.

“That’s a lack of responsibility and provocation that will bring
no advantage to Armenia … Sargsyan’s speech was intended for the
domestic audience. And our prime minister gave a worthy response. No
one can look askance at Turkey, our mountains, valleys and waters
… And we are the owners of those lands,” the Turkish official
said. “Armenia faces serious economic problems. We would them wheat
when they were starving. Why don’t they pull themselves together,
refusing to enter into deals with the Diaspora?”

ADA TO PROPAGATE ARMENIA’S POTENTIAL IN EUROPE

ARMENPRESS
July 29, 2011
YEREVAN

In the second half of the running year the Armenian Development Agency
intended to carry out its work in a format of propagandas, director
general of the ADA Robert Harutyunyan told Armenpress. He said one of
the directions of this initiative will be implemented in the borders
of the European Union. “I think we will particularly include Italy,
France and Holland”, he said.

Currently we have 20 programs in different directions and financial
inclusiveness.

For bringing this initiative into life the Armenian Development Agency
has worked with the “Financial Times” company and has achieved a
corresponding database. “It gives us an opportunity to find those
companies which may be represented within the framework of our
programs”, he noted.

UN SENATEUR AMERICAIN OBTIENT DES DELAIS POUR LA NOMINATION DU FUTUR AMBASSADEUR DES ETATS-UNIS A EREVAN
Gari

armenews.com
vendredi 29 juillet 2011
USA

Un membre du Senat des Etats-Unis, connu pour ses positions favorable
aux Armeniens, a obtenu que soit repoussee la procedure officielle de
confirmation par le Congrès du diplomate nomne par le president Barack
Obama au poste d’ ambassadeur des Etats-Unis en Armenie. Le diplomate,
John Heffern, avait eu sa première audition en vue da sa confirmation
a son nouveau poste devant la Commission des affaires etrangères du
Senat deux semaines auparavant. La commission avait renvoye au mardi
26 juillet la poursuite de la procedure. Selon des sources proches
de membres pro-Armeniens du Congrès, la discussion a toutefois ete
renvoyee a la prochaine reunion de la commission, prevue en septembre,
a la demande du senateur Robert Menendez, democrate du New Jersey.

M.Menendez aurait fait valoir aux dirigeants de la commission qu’il
lui fallait plus de temps pour etudier les reponses de M. Heffern
a ses questions concernant le genocide des Armeniens de l’Empire
ottoman en 1915. Le legislateur aurait par ailleurs fait part de son
“trouble persistant ” concernant le fait que l’administration Obama
n’avait pas tenu ses engagements sur la question de la reconnaissance
officielle du genocide des Armeniens par les Etats-Unis. M.Heffern
aurait refuse de qualifier de genocide les massacres et deportations
des Armeniens de l’Empire ottoman, lors de la seance du 13 juillet,
en s’en tenant d’ailleurs a la ligne observee par le president Obama
qui, en depit des engagements pris durant sa campagne electorale,
n’avait pas voulu employer le terme de genocide, depuis son accession
a la Maison Blanche, lors des hommages rendus chaque 24 avril a ses
victimes. Il s’etait contente d’indiquer que “la qualification de ces
evènements relève d’une decision politique qui doit etre prise par
le president des Etats-Unis et cette ligne politique est enoncee dans
sa Declaration commemorative du 24 avril”. M. Menendez a ouvertement
exprime sa reprobation concernant les propos de M.Heffern sur un
sujet hautement sensible. La question avait deja cause le renvoi
d’un ambassadeur americain en poste a Erevan, dont l’administration
Bush ,n’avait pas apprecie les declarations publiques concernant le
genocide des Armeniens. Or, le choix d’un ambassadeur americain qui
soit proche des Armeniens est d’autant plus important pour les amis de
l’Armenie au sein du Congrès qu’ils avaient dû se resigner, en 2010,
a la nomination au poste d’ambassadeur americain en Azerbaïdjan de
Matthew Briza, un diplomate qui ne cache pas sa sympathie pour les
Azeris et les Turcs. M.Menendez avait deja bloque pour les memes
raisons, en 2007, la procedure de confirmation de Richard Hoagland,
un autre diplomate de carrière designe au poste d’ambassadeur a Erevan.

L’administration Bush en place a l’epoque avait dû reculer et nommer
un autre diplomate a ce poste.

L’ARMENIE LEVE L’INTERDICTION DE VOYAGE POUR LES PERSONNES VIVANT AVEC LE VIH
Stephane

armenews.com
vendredi 29 juillet 2011
ARMENIE

Le Programme commun des Nations Unies sur le VIH/sida (ONUSIDA)
salue la decision prise par le Gouvernement armenien de lever les
restrictions de voyage imposees aux personnes vivant avec le VIH. Les
reformes, qui sont entrees en vigueur le 14 juillet, alignent la
legislation du pays sur les normes internationales de sante publique.

Les restrictions qui limitent les mouvements d’un individu au seul
motif de sa seropositivite sont discriminatoires et constituent une
violation des droits de l’homme. Il n’existe aucune preuve que de
telles restrictions contribuent a proteger la sante publique ou a
prevenir la transmission du VIH. Par ailleurs, les restrictions de
voyage liees au VIH n’ont pas de justification economique dans la
mesure où les personnes vivant avec le VIH peuvent mener une vie
professionnelle longue et productive.

” Je salue la decision de l’Armenie de lever ses restrictions de
voyage liees au VIH “, a declare le directeur executif de l’ONUSIDA,
M. Michel Sidibe. ” J’exhorte les autres pays a suivre cet exemple
et a prendre les mesures necessaires pour faire disparaître les lois
et les pratiques repressives, et ce, dans les meilleurs delais “,
a-t-il ajoute.

D’après le decompte de l’ONUSIDA, avec la suppression des restrictions
de voyage en Armenie, ce sont encore 48 pays, territoires ou regions
qui continuent d’imposer certaines formes de restrictions a l’entree,
au sejour et a la residence des personnes vivant avec le VIH, fondees
sur la seropositivite. Cinq pays refusent de delivrer des visas, meme
pour des sejours de courte duree et 22 pays expulsent les personnes
dont la seropositivite est decouverte.

EREVAN AFFIRME QUE LES PROPOS DE SARKISSIAN ONT ETE MAL INTERPRETES
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
vendredi 29 juillet 2011
ARMENIE – TURQUIE

Nouvelle pierre dans le jardin de la diplomatie turque adroite et
delicate dont on nous rebat les oreilles. Erdogan exigeait hier des
excuses, frustre qu’il est de ne les avoir toujours pas recues dans
l’affaire de la flottille. La Turquie en est reduite aujourd’hui,
selon le quotidien Zaman, a fustiger l’Armenie, qui en n’acceptant
pas les prealables, n’a pas saisi la main que lui tendait la Turquie,
il y a deux ans. Le problème est que selon les protocoles, il ne
devait y en avoir aucun. En l’occurrence, c’est plutôt l’Armenie qui
a tendu la main la première. Et c’est la Turquie qui ne l’a pas saisie.

En outre, toujours selon l’article, si l’Armenie “occupe” le Karabagh,
c’est a cause du groupe de Minsk qui n’a trouve aucune solution au
conflit. On devrait tout de meme savoir, en Turquie, “après deux
decennies” que le Groupe de Minsk tient dans cette affaire un rôle de
mediateur, et que ce n’est pas a lui de trouver des solutions. Tous
les Armeniens du monde qui ont perdu un pays dans ce genocide, ont
le devoir d’esperer qu’il leur sera rendu. Pourquoi le President
n’aurait-il pas le droit d’en parler, en Armenie ? Et qui sont ceux
qui pretendent l’en empecher ? Les autorites armeniennes ont eu
devant cette provocation l’attitude qui convient : ils ont repondu
au Premier Ministre, au Ministre des Affaires Etrangères, au ministre
des Affaires de l’UE de la Turquie par la voix d’un ministre adjoint.

28 juillet 2011 / To-Day’s Zaman, Ankara

Les propos controverses du President Armenien Sarkissian ont attire
une vive critique du Premier Ministre Erdogan

Pour defendre les recentes declarations faites par le President Serge
Sarkissian qui ont ete consideres par les dirigeants turcs comme un
encouragement pour les jeunes etudiants a remplir la tâche fixee a
leur generation et occuper la Turquie de l’est, l’adjoint au Ministre
des Affaires Etrangères Shavarsh Kotcharian rejette l’interpretation
qui a ete faite, disant que les mots du President Sarkissian ont ete
interpretes en dehors de leur contexte.

“Je pense que les Turcs n’ont pas pris soin de lire le texte dans
son integralite, interpretant les mots du President en dehors de
leur contexte. La declaration de Serge Sarkissian est serieuse et
raisonnable”. Ce sont les termes de Kotcharian tels qu’ils ont ete
cites dans un reportage figurant dans les nouvelles du portail de
l’agence de presse armenienne Panarmenian.net ce mercredi. Affirmant
que toute l’agitation autour de ces remarques, qu’il a appelee
‘hysterie” dans sa declaration, etait le fait de la Turquie.

Kotcharian a suggere que la Turquie refuse de donner son sens aux
remarques relatives a la Turquie de l’Est “parce que le pays [la
Turquie] n’a pas besoin de le faire.”

La querelle avait commence lorsque Sarkissian a repondu a la question
d’un etudiant a propos de la reintegration de l'”Armenie de l’Ouest”
dont fait partie le Mont Agri (le Mont Ararat), a l’Armenie, disant
que le succès de cette tâche dependait des generations futures
d’Armeniens. ‘ Quand cela a ete necessaire, au debut des annees 1990,
de defendre une partie de notre patrie – le Karabagh – contre l’ennemi,
nous l’avons fait”, a dit le dirigeant armenien dans en justification
de l’occupation du Karabagh, une question qui attend toujours sa
resolution. Il a poursuivi en disant que “chaque generation a ses
responsabilites et elles doivent etre assumees avec honneur”.

Les paroles de Sarkissian ont attire une vive critique du Premier
Ministre Turc Erdogan, quia repondu vivement au cours d’une conference
de presse conjointe avec le President azerbaïdjanais Ilham Aliyev a
Bakou, la capitale d’Azerbaïdjan ; condamnant la remarque. Ils les
a qualifiees d’ “erreur historique” qui devra etre corrigee. Erdogan
a declare que la remarque equivaut a une invitation aux enfants des
ecoles pour leur faire occupe les terres de la Turquie de l’Est que
l’Armenie considère comme leur patrie historique. La signification du
Mont Agri pour les Armeniens vient d’une conviction que les Armeniens
ont ete les premiers a avoir adopte la religion chretienne en 301
dans la region avoisinant la montagne qui est a present situee sur
la frontière turque de l’est avec l’Armenie.

Ce mardi, le Ministère des Affaires Etrangères turc a emis une
declaration ecrite condamnant fermement les remarques de Sarkissian,
qui “sont interpretees comme une indication que M. Sarkissian n’a
aucune intention de travailler pour la paix”, ajoutant que “c’est
la responsabilite des hommes d’etat de preparer leur societe,
particulièrement leur jeunesse, a un futur paisible plutôt que les
provoquer en adoptant une ideologie de haine”.

Entre temps, le ministre des Affaires de l’UE Egemen Bagis a lui aussi
declare mercredi que les remarques de Sarkissian montrent qu’il ne
comprend pas la main pacifique que la Turquie a tendue a son pays. ”
Ce que Sarkissian a fait, c’est se tirer une balle dans le pied. Nous
esperons que la meilleure reponse a l’illusion de Sarkissian lui
sera donnee par la jeunesse armenienne”, a declare Bagis a l’agence
de presse Anatolia.

Il y a deux ans, la Turquie et l’Armenie etaient sur le point de
signer un double protocole visant a la normalisation entre les deux
pays et a l’etablissement de relations diplomatiques, mais les parties
ont echoue a se mettre d’accord sur les prealables, qui ont fini par
bloquer le chemin de la normalisation.

Par ailleurs, l’Armenie a tenu la main haute dans l’epineuse question
du Karabagh, ce pays occupant la region enclavee dans l’Azerbaïdjan
en 1994. Le litige entre l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan sur la region est
toujours dans l’attente de l’apparition d’un projet international pour
une solution, supervisee par le groupe de Minsk, constitue en 1992 par
l’Organisation pour la Cooperation et la Securite en Europe (OSCE° et
copresidee par la Russie, le France et les Etats-Unis. L’efficacite et
la legitimite du Groupe de Minsk a ete contestee, l’Azerbaïdjan ayant,
plusieurs fois, releve une attitude biaisee des pays presidents,
qui accueillent une nombreuse diaspora armenienne, et le fait que
le groupe de Minsk n’a pas reussi, pendant presque deux decennies,
a trouver une solution efficace. L’Armenie est actuellement en
possession de vingt pourcents du territoire azerbaïdjanais.

Commentaire sur le blog israëlien Aschkel.info

TURKEY SLAMS ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S REMARKS AS “IRRESPONSIBLE”

Anadolu Agency
July 27, 2011
Turkey

Ankara, 26 July: Turkey has condemned remarks by Armenian President
Serzh Sargsian during a contest on Armenian literature and language.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday, “one
of the most important duties of a statesman is to prepare his/her
own society, especially young people, for a peaceful, tranquil and
prosperous future. It is completely irresponsible to advise young
people by provoking enmity and hatred among nations. President
Sargsian’s remarks do not serve efforts to ensure peace in the region.”

ARMENIA TRIUMPHS IN CHESS WORLD
QUAH SENG SUN

The Star

July 28, 2011
Malaysia

Crowded calendar keeps enthusiasts on their toes.

THERE are just too many world-class chess events which have taken
place or are taking place all over the world at the same time. From
Ningbo in China to Dortmund in Germany and Biel in Switzerland,
my attention is being divided by this surfeit of chess activities.

Would I consider this a problem? Yes, but this is a happy problem. I
don’t mind the distraction. It only proves that chess can have a
crowded calendar.

So where shall I start? Perhaps, from where I left off last week,
with the world team chess championship that ended in Ningbo on Tuesday
with Armenia deposing Russia to become the new champion.

Poised to win: Vladimir Kramnik is creating waves at the Dortmund
Sparkassen invitational chess tournament.

I thought at first that Russia was going to win this event but the
Russians stumbled badly and lost to China and Azerbaijan, and in the
final round, suffered the ignominy of losing to India.

Russia’s setback was the opportunity for Armenia to spring into
the lead. The Armenian team had played so steadily that they hadn’t
lost to any other team yet. At their worst, they drew with Russia,
the United States and Azerbaijan.

On Tuesday, Armenia was due to play Ukraine in the final round. A drawn
match was all that they needed to clinch the title but the Ukrainians
themselves were in the chase. If they could score a crushing result
like a 3½-½ win against Armenia, they may even come out tops. Maybe
the Ukrainians saw the unlikelihood of this ever happening because
soon after the start of the round, their match was quickly drawn.

I believe China was disappointed with this outcome because they were
mathematically in contention for the title and they would only need
to win by 2½-1½ against Hungary, which they did, to be the champion
if Ukraine had won by any score line. The only consolation for the
Chinese team was that they actually finished with the same game points
as the Armenians, except that on the more important match points,
they trailed the new champion.

India, Israel and Egypt found themselves out of their depth. Israel
was possibly the biggest disappointment seeing how just a year ago,
they had finished third in the Chess Olympiad.

India came into this event as the Asian champion but they soon
realized that even finishing in the middle of the table would be a
tall order. I thought they could play the role of a spoiler and take
surprising points off the main title contenders but the only problem
was, they could not until the very last round against Russia when
the results did not count any more.

As for Egypt, there is little to be said about this African
representative except that they failed totally.

And so we move on to Germany where the former world champion, Vladimir
Kramnik, is creating waves at the Dortmund Sparkassen invitational
chess tournament. Well, at least he has been in impressive form
right until the mid-way point of this event last Monday. By the way,
the tournament ends on Sunday so there is still time to see whether
Kramnik will carry his advantage right through till the end.

The Dortmund Sparkassen is an elite chess tournament that goes a long
way back. However, it was not until 1973 that it was converted into
a regular annual event. This year’s edition is a six-player, double
round-robin tournament that features Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura,
Ruslan Ponomariov, Le Quang Liem, Anish Giri and local German player
Georg Meier.

As mentioned, Kramnik has been showing great form. He couldn’t have
been happier. In the first half of the tournament, his victims included
Ponomariov, Giri, Meier and Nakamura, and he has dropped only a draw
to Le. Even if he eases up on the pedal and draws the rest of his
games in the second half, I believe he should coast through easily
to win the top prize.

The last tournament on my list today is the annual Biel Chess Festival.

This chess festival has been around for decades. It started as a
masters open tournament in 1968; the grandmaster tournament was
introduced in 1976, and evolved into one of Europe’s showcase events.

Like in Dortmund, this is a double round-robin tournament featuring
six very strong players. Their names speak for themselves: Magnus
Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alexei Shirov, Fabiano Caruana,
Alexander Morozevich and Yannick Pelletier.

I would be very surprised if Carlsen does not win the event which
will end today. On Tuesday as I was writing this story, Carlsen was
leading the field with only Morozevich following hard on his tail. The
rest had been left behind.

Caruana, who had won last year’s Biel grandmaster tournament, found
himself trailing everyone this time around. A complete reversal
of form.

Up next

Malaysia Chess Festival: With only a few days remaining until the
official closing date of entries for the main events of this year’s
Malaysian Chess Festival, I’ve been informed by the organisers that
there may be close to a hundred participants in their showcase event,
the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship.

Players from at least 19 countries will be represented. Among them
will be 13 grandmasters, two woman grandmasters and nine international
masters. Presently, there are only a few Malaysian players in the
field but without doubt, we shall see the numbers increase ahead of
the closing date.

According to the organisers, the official closing date for entries for
the main events – the Datuk Arthur Tan Malaysia open championship,
the Tan Sri Lee Loy Seng international seniors open championship,
and the AmBank Malaysia chess challenge is on Monday.

Entries will still be accepted after this date but a 25% surcharge
will be imposed. Anyone submitting their entries within 24 hours of
the start of these events will be slapped with a 50% surcharge.

The three events will be held at the Cititel Mid Valley Hotel, Kuala
Lumpur, from Aug 18-25. Nine round Swiss, 90 minutes plus 30-second
increment time control.

As for the complimentary chess events, the closing date remains
unchanged, that is, Aug 15. There is the Swensen’s open rapid age
group chess tournament on Aug 21, six rounds, 25 minutes per game;
the Merdeka individual rapid open chess tournament on Aug 26, seven
rounds, 25 minutes per game; and the Astro Merdeka rapid open team
chess tournament, Aug 28-29, nine rounds, 25 minutes per game.

For details visit
datcchess.blogspot.com/2011/06/malaysia-chess-festival-is-on.html.

Raja Nazrin Shah open: Formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur open, the
Raja Nazrin Shah international open chess tournament takes place at
the Swiss Garden Hotel & Residences, Kuala Lumpur, from Sept 4-10.

Nine rounds with time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves
followed by 30 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second increment from
the first move. For details, contact Peter Long ([email protected]).

SERZH SARGSYAN: KARABAKH’S RIGHT MUST BE RESPECTED

Lragir.am

28/07/2011

The information service of the president reports that the President
of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski is on an official visit to Armenia at
the invitation of Serzh Sargsyan.

Today morning, the Polish president visited Tsitsernakaberd and
honored the memory of victims of the Armenian genocide.

Then, the official ceremony of greeting the high-ranking guest was
held at the Office of the President, which was followed by a private
conversation between Serzh Sargsyan and Bronislaw Komorowski and a
meeting of the delegations.

Afterwards, the ceremony of signing documents aimed at the development
of cooperation between the two countries in the spheres of culture,
education, science, veterinary science was held.

The negotiations ended with a joint press conference of the presidents.

In his speech at the press conference, Serzh Sargsyan said he told his
Polish counterpart about the process of settlement of the NKR issue
and said in Kazan they were very close to success. It is necessary
to respect the right of the people of Karabakh to handle their own
destiny, to have security guarantees and to develop in their historical
homeland. There is no other resolution, said Serzh Sargsyan. He said
glad Poland is a friend of Armenia “we can freely discuss issues with
and rely on their support”.

DIASPORA-ARMENIA RELATIONS: 20 YEARS OF FAILURE?

Sona Avagyan

hetq
July 27, 2011

Policy Forum Armenia (PFA) co-founder David Grigorian stated that the
current format of diaspora-Armenia relations would be better described
as relations between the elite of the traditional diaspora political
parties and the Armenian government.

In a word, there is no contact between grassroots organizations on
both sides of the divide.

Grigorian, who left Armenia in 1994 and now works as a senior economist
at the IMF, argued for the creation of mechanisms and structures
facilitating more meaningful contact amongst average Armenians at a
public discussion organized by the Sardarapat Movement in Yerevan.

“Relations must be lowered down to the micro-level,” he said, adding
that only then would the diaspora be able to conduct a series of
practical actions to utilize the human and technical resources
it possesses to make real changes in the lives of ordinary people
in Armenia.

Grigoryan noted that for a long time it was deemed heresy to raise
such issues as corruption and poor governance in Armenia and said that
many diaspora Armenians just remained silent rather than attracting
the enmity of others.

He criticized the traditional structures in the diaspora for the
intolerance they show to new voices and groups wishing to set up shop
and introduce new modalities and ways of thinking.

“There is an absence of real democracy in the traditional diaspora
structures and this is reflected in relations between the diaspora
and Armenia. The field is dominated by these very organizations,”
argued Grigoryan.

The analyst stated that in terms of resolving tactical and strategic
issues, traditional organizations in the diaspora have hit a brick
wall and are in crisis mode.

“The diaspora wasn’t able to formulate a joint vision of developing
relations with Armenia. Directly or indirectly, it was the negative
in Armenia that was spurred on,” Grigoryan said and cited the flawed
2008 presidential election and the March 1st repression that followed.

He argued that the diaspora has done nothing to see that such events
are not repeated in the future. In addition, the diaspora completely
overlooked and didn’t grasp the importance of creating a civil society
in Armenia.

In its State of the Nation Report on “Armenia-Diaspora Relations:
20 Years since Independence” , published last year, Policy Forum
Armenia takes the diaspora to task for not preventing the exodus from
Armenia and for not assuming a serious role in poverty reduction even
though there were certain successful projects that could have served
as future models.

The PFA also criticized the diaspora for not creating investment funds
and scientific centers that could have assisted in developing Armenia.

Mr. Grigoryan said that the All Armenia Fund not only failed to
live up to expectations on a qualitative level, but that it wasn’t
able to incorporate the sufficient amount of funds that Armenia’s
economy needs.

He said that the time has come to professionally analyze the resources
and potential of the diaspora and to draft an appropriate plan of
action regarding the utilization of these assets in order to lift
Armenia out of the morass it is now in.

“In the 21st century, the diaspora’s global network is just as
important as it financial resources and inherent potential. It is a
network of tremendous importance,” Grigoryan said.

He said that there are now positive signs coming out of the diaspora,
especially after 2008 and the Armenia-Turkey Protocols. The diaspora
is more informed as to developments in Armenia and new groups are
getting involved in Armenia relations.

Garegin Choukaszyan, an IT specialist and Sardarapat member, described
diaspora-Armenia relations during the past 20 years as a complete
failure and said that one just has to look at Armenia’s population
numbers for proof.

“We should at least have a population of 4-5 million today. But, in
many ways due to the diaspora network, supposedly a positive global
factor, the exodus of people from Armenia has been facilitated,”
said Choukaszyan.

He argued that Armenia conducts the same policy regarding the diaspora
as during the Soviet era; only the center has been changed from Moscow
to Yerevan.

As to the role of the Ministry of the Diaspora, David Grigoryan noted
that it was a welcome addition at the beginning but that tragically
it now wants to cover over many of the deep-seated problems facing
Armenia and put a positive spin on things.

During the question and answer segment that followed, someone from
the audience raised a matter of semantics; i.e., would it be correct
to label the return of elements of the traditional diaspora as
“repatriation” (Õ°Õ¡ÕµO~@Õ¥Õ¶Õ¡Õ¤Õ¡O~@Õ±Õ¸O~BÕ©Õ”O~BÕ¶), since their
origins are in western Armenia and not the territory of the current
Republic of Armenia.

Choukaszyan said that such a discrepancy exists since the Republic of
Armenia was based on eastern Armenian territory; an area that makes
up a tiny fraction of the historic Armenian homeland.

“However, I am convinced that this is one homeland and one center in
the sense that if the Republic of Armenia was truly independent it
would have to be concerned, at a priority level, with the survival
of western Armenian. There would be schools teaching the language in
the RA.”