Author: Badalian Vardan

HRANT DINK’S "TWO CLOSE PEOPLES, TWO FAR NEIGHBORS" BOOK PRESENTED IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.12.2009 17:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian translation of "Two Close People Two
Far Neighbors", the first book by slain editor-in-chief of Agos
Armenian-Turkish newspaper Hrant Dink, was presented Wednesday
in Yerevan.

"The only thing Armenians know about Dink is his tragic death. The
book will disclose to readers not only the author’s personality but
also his ideas about Armenian-Turkish relations as journalist and
publicist," Turkologist Mkrtich Somundjyan, translator of the book,
told journalists during the presentation ceremony.

This is the first part of the book. The second part – in Turkish
language – was published in Turkey a couple of months ago.

Proceeds from book sale will be allocated to Armenia’s orphanages.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT MUST BE RESOLVED HONORING AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY: GEORGIAN PRESIDENT MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI

Trend
Dec 23 2009
Azerbaijan

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved honoring Azerbaijan’s
territorial sovereignty, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said.

"There is only one way to solve all these problems. Direct
negotiations taking into account international law, including the
rights of people to return to their place of residence, and respect
for state sovereignty," Saakashvili said in an interview with Ekho
Moskvy radio station.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 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 the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. General Assembly’s resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied
territories.

He said the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is complicated. A main key to
the problem is Russia.

"I think thhe countries must talk, people must communicate to achieve
results. As for the talks held between Turkey and Armenia, everything
should be coordinated with Azerbaijan, " Saakashvili said.

He added that talks are always good, any progress is positive.

"I do not want to call this situation the status quo. As our situation
has shown, the status quo does not exist. Whenever there is such
a situation, one must always be careful to avoid complications and
deterioration," Saakashvili said.

RUSSIA SPARES NO EFFORT TO SETTLE KARABAKH CONFLICT

news.az
Dec 22 2009
Azerbaijan

Svetlana Orlova Russia spares no effort to settle Karabakh conflict,
vice speaker of the Council of Federations of the Federal Assembly
of Russia.

The bilateral Russian-Azerbaijani relations are developing well which
shows that Azerbaijan and Russia are not only strategic partners but
also big friends, said Svetlana Orlova, vice speaker of the Council
of Federations of the Federal Assembly of Russia.

"I consider that the relations between our countries are very high
because the leaders of our country meet not only as presidents. They
respect each other and meet as true friends. Therefore, I predict
good future to relations between our countries. Russia has no better
strategic partner in this region", Orlova said.

She noted that much has been done in bilateral relations in the
past period.

"The economic issues of bilateral relations have been settled, in
particular, the issue with internal waters connected with the ships’
entry. A wonderful bridge has also been built over the frontier river
of Samur", Orlova said.

The Russian parliamentarian especially singled out the support to
the Russian language in Azerbaijan.

"Thus, more people have applied and entered the faculties of the
Russian sectors of Azerbaijani high schools this year as compared to
2008. Such successfully developing relations should be passed to the
next generations", she said.

As for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, Orlova noted that
Russia spares no effort to settle the Karabakh conflict.

"The Russian president takes maximum steps to settle the conflict.

Russia spares no effort in this direction. We should hope for better",
she concluded.

The Russian delegation headed by Svetlana Orlova, co-chair of the
interparliamentary commission and vice-speaker of the Federation
Council of the Russian Parliament, arrived in Baku December 21 for
participating in the 8th session of the bilateral interparliamentary
commission of the Federal Assembly of Russia and Milli Medjlis of
Azerbaijan to be held in Baku on 22 December.

A RECURRENT HOUSEWARMING CEREMONY

mp;p=0&id=1105&y=2009&m=12&d=22
22 .12.09

The process of providing militants with apartments continues. The
social and housing issues of militants are in the centre of the RA
Government and the Ministry of Defence. The recurrent housewarming
ceremony for the militants was in Yerevan. This time 33 RA AF militant
had a housewarming party.

During the event of the 22nd of December, congratulating the militants
and their families, minister of defence Seyran Ohanyan gave them the
keys and the certificates of the apartments.

RA MoD Department of Information and Public Affairs

STATE CONTROL SERVICE UNCOVERS VIOLATIONS IN COLLATERAL LOANS

Tert.am
16:08 ~U 21.12.09

State company Hayavtokayaran (which translates to "Armenian shuttle
bus station") has acquired a collateral loan at a value six times
less than the goods’ worth of actual $4 million USD from one of the
Armenian banks. This was uncovered as a result of inspections carried
out by the Control Service of the President of the Republic of Armenia.

Head of RA Control Service Hovhannes Hovsepyan, at a press conference
today, noted that Yerevan’s "Central" bus and mini-bus station,
with the aim of acquiring autobuses, has acquired a collateral loan
of $631,200 USD from the Armenian Development Bank.

According to Hovsepyan, even though buses have been acquired with those
funds, inspection of documents based on their economic operation has
revealed that the operation was not profitable.

Hovespyan noted that the Ministry of Transport and Communications,
commissioned by the president, has been obliged to withdraw "Central"
bus and mini-bus station’s loan.

Also uncovered was that all routes were serviced without the
corresponding route schematics. Apart from that, inspections have
revealed that 6 out of the 19 Hayavtokayaran bus stations have not been
operational, even though they have 15 permanent employees registered,
whose monthly salary comprises a total of $700,000 USD.

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF FINANCE TO PARTICIPATE IN MEETING OF EURASEC ANTI-CRISIS FUND

NOYAN TAPAN
December 21, 2009
MOSCOW

MOSCOW, DECEMBER 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenian Minister of Finance
Tigran Davtian will participate in the meeting of the Council of the
Eurasian Economic Community’s (EurAsEC) Anti-Crisis Fund in Moscow
on December 21.

The Information and PR Unit of the RA Ministry of Finance reported
that a number of documents related to the 2010 activities of the
Anti-Crisis Fund, in particular the structure and regulations of the
Fund’s expert council and the order of allocations, will be discussed
and approved at the meeting.

The agreement on the establishment of EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund was
signed by the heads of the member states’ governments on June 9 in
Moscow. The authorized capital of the Anti-Crisis Fund will amount to
10 billion dollars, inlcluding Russia’s share of 7.5 billion dollars,
Kazakhstan’s share of one billion dollars, the share of Belarus makes
10 million dollars, and share of each of the other states, including
Armenia, is one million dollars. On December 17 Armenia transferred
10% of its share. Under the agreement on the Fund’s establishment,
the remaining 90% will be transferred as a promissory note.

Assyrian International News Agency AINA
Dec 19 2009

British Parliamentarians Hear About Christians in North Iraq
——————————————— ——————-
Posted GMT 12-19-2009 9:1:35
——————————————- ———————

The people and government of the Kurdistan Region understand the
suffering of the Christians and other minorities in Iraq and are
committed to their protection and to peaceful coexistence, said Ms
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Region’s High Representative to the UK,
speaking in the British Parliament on Tuesday.

Ms Abdul Rahman presented a brief report on the status of Christians
in the Kurdistan Region to members of the British Parliamentary Group
on the Kurdistan Region in a meeting that was open to MPs, peers and
members of the public. Other speakers were Ambassador Mokhtar Lamani,
formerly the Arab League’s Special Representative in Iraq, and
Professor Brendan O’Leary from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms Abdul Rahman outlined the many steps taken by the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) and the Kurdish leadership since 1992 to
protect and promote the rights of Christians and minorities in the
Kurdistan Region. As early as 1992, when the Region held its first
elections, a quota of seats was allocated to Christians in the
Kurdistan Parliament. Today, six seats are reserved for Chaldeans,
Assyrians and Armenians, while another five are allocated to Turkmen
parties. Christians have prominent positions in the KRG, including the
current Transport and Communications Minister.

"The KRG is committed to peaceful coexistence throughout Iraq and the
protection of minorities, a policy that we implement in the Kurdistan
Region and strive for across the country," said Ms Abdul Rahman.
"British parliamentarians who have visited Kurdistan have seen this
for themselves and we welcome this opportunity to present the facts to
those who haven’t yet to come to the Region."

The KRG funds schools in the Syriac language, the only part of Iraq in
which such schools are government-funded. The schools have been
expanded to accept an increasing number of Chaldeans and Assyrians who
have fled other parts of Iraq to the safety of Kurdistan. Since 2003,
at least 20,000 Christian families have sought refuge in Kurdistan.

Outside the KRG-administered area, the Kurdish peshmerga forces have
provided protection to Christians, Yezidis, Shabaks and other
minorities vulnerable to attack from extremists and terrorists, and
the KRG has provided humanitarian assistance.

Mr Lamani, who was in Iraq in 2006 to 2007, said that during his
posting in Baghdad he was shocked at the terrible situation for the
minority nationalities, which forced many of them to move to the
Kurdistan Region or go abroad.

Professor O’Leary, who spoke in a personal capacity and is an expert
on power-sharing and ethnic conflict, conducted in-depth interviews
with 300 Christian individuals in 62 towns and villages in the
Kurdistan Region and in the disputed territories, including the
Nineveh plains, in spring 2009 and autumn 2008. He presented his
interim findings, and recommended that Kurdistan’s constitution should
incorporate the best international standards on religious and minority
rights.

Ms Margaret Munn MP, chairman of the British Parliament’s Kurdistan
Region group, said, "As a member of the Methodist Church, I was
pleased to hear the findings of the two experts on Christians in the
Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories, and to read the KRG’s
report. The KRG is clearly working hard to protect the minorities,
including Christians and I look forward to exploring these issues in
person in the region. The All Party Parliamentary Group will also
continue to follow this issue with interest."

Aysor, Armenia
Dec 19 2009

The second life of puppets in the Armenian Puppet Theatre Museum

In the state puppet theatre after H. Tumanyan will take place the
ceremony of official opening of the Puppet Museum. As the director of
the museum Ruben Babayan told the theatre at last succeeded to solve
the problem of the show-windows, and to present the puppets that were
in the archive to the society.

The museum that is inside the theatre will be named after one of the
founders of the theatre Pavlos Boroyan, who during his life time
managed to persuade the Culture Ministry of Armenia to open the puppet
museum in 1975.

In the world there are few puppet museums and the Armenian Puppet
Museum is among them already. It will present to the world puppets
that are of different nationalities.

There will also be presented the works of the painters of the former
Soviet Union that in 1982 were presented in the Transcaucasian
countries.

The Puppet theatre of Yerevan cooperates with the Armenian Foreign
Ministry for 6 years already and exchanges puppets with different
countries. So the theatre has puppets from England, Kazakhstan,
Bulgaria and other countries. There are also gift-puppets which have
there unique place within the puppets of the theatre. There are two
puppets one of which is presented to the theatre by Hasmik Poghosyan,
the RA Culture Minister and the other one by the wife of the second
President of Armenia Bella Kocharyan.

This museum which during the difficult period of its existence has
been robbed and sold by the pitiless directors of the today has around
300 puppets in its fund. Those puppets though have been repaired in
2002 by the support of `Lins’ fund, are not being shown completely
yet.

One part of the puppets will be shown only for which the first
show-window has been built around 5 years before by the help of the
acting Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan. The other 4 show-windows are
supported by the Culture Ministry and the other 3 by the means of
Puppet Theatre.

POLITICAL EXPERT: WITHDRAWAL FROM ZURICH PROTOCOLS WILL BE ARMENIAN-STYLE HARA-KIRI
Z. Ahmadov

Today
8316.html
Dec 18 2009
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with renowned Azerbaijani political expert Vafa
Guluzade.

Day.Az: Armenia is going to make amendments to laws which will enable
the country to withdraw its signatures from international treaties.

Armenian officials recently announced that if Turkey delays
ratification of the Zurich protocols, Armenia may withdraw from them.

In your opinion, what is the reasons for these statements?

Vafa Guluzade: The reason is a turkophobia inherent in Armenia.

Yerevan made sure that the Turkish parliament either may delay or
not ratify the Armenian-Turkish protocols at all. So, it decided to
move back. I think that a move by the Armenia parliament to review
withdrawal of signature from the Zurich protocols will prove absolutely
senseless and unnecessary step. Once Armenia takes this step, it will
lose a chance to resume relations with Turkey. It means that Armenia
will "dig a grave" for itself. This will be a kind of Armenian-style
hara-kiri.

Do you believe Armenia’s willingness to withdraw from Zurich protocols
had an impact on Armenian Diaspora’s radical position towards the
Armenia-Turkey rapprochement?

Armenian Diaspora is a special conglomerate, who lives by memories
of 1915. The world has seen dramatic changes since then.

There is a very strange situation. The number of Russians the German
fascists killed during the World War II was ten times more than current
population of Armenia. The elite of the Turkish army was destroyed
during the course of the many Russian-Turkish wars, in particular,
in the Sarikamish battle. Nevertheless, today, Germany and Russia
on the one side, and Turkey and Russia on the other side build a new
relationship not looking at past.

However, the Armenian diaspora lives with memories of far-fetched
"genocide" in the Ottoman Empire even after 100 years. Neither the
empire nor people of that era exist any more. But Armenians do not
still forget the times when their betrayal of their country (Ottoman
Empire) and taking side of Russian troops provoked an adequate response
by the Ottoman Empire. Until now, the Armenian Diaspora believes
that hatred towards Turks should unite Armenian people and make it
"great". It’s just some sort of disease of Armenian psychology. This
is quite an unhealthy way of thinking that will ultimately lead to
collapse of the Armenian state which is at odds with its neighbors.

If Armenia had not occupied Azerbaijan’s lands, our region would
be the most prosperous in the world. Today Armenia wants to take
advantage of Turkey and reopen borders not returning Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories and not giving up its hostility towards Turks.

So, this is Armenia’s absolutely schizophrenic approach to the problems
in our region. It will further feud with its neighbors. Even foreign
owners of Armenia will be forced to think over this senseless policy.

Armenia avoids linking opening of borders with Turkey with resolution
ot the Karabakh conflict. How will Armenia’ possible withdrawal from
the Zurich protocols impact resolving the Karabakh problem?

I think Armenia plays not a pivotal role in the Karabakh issue. Russia
and the United States play the main role. Pace of the conflict
resolution depends on their attitude. Unfortunately, I do not see any
real progress in settlement of the Karabakh problem. It may appear only
after geopolitical situation in the world and in our region changes.

In your opinion, what relations will Armenian and Turkish Diaspora
have in the "neutral ground" (in the U.S. and other countries)?

I think everything will depend on the United States and its interests.

If Washington is interested in making the South Caucasus a region
of peace and its ally, it will pave a way for return of occupied
Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations and opening of borders between the countries. If Washington
is interested in the status quo in the South Caucasus, the inactive
OSCE Minsk Group to continue to act in its old format.

I do not know which option the U.S. has chosen. But I know one thing
for sure- if Washington keeps on acting like this, America will never
achieve "peace" in our region.

Concerning the Armenian diaspora in the United States, its
representatives are very strange citizens of America. They dedicate
their lives to recognition of the far-fetched "Armenian genocide". The
actions of the Armenian Diaspora harm the United States and American
interests. Thus, it seems that the U.S. citizens (Armenian diaspora)
act to detriment of the state, which is extremely interested in close
relations with Turkey as its strategic ally in the region.

AMERIA, BRECKENHILL DEVELOP NATIONAL SYSTEM OF MONITORING AND APPRAISAL FOR RA GOVERNMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.12.2009 15:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ameria CJSC in association with Breckenhill, a
Canadian consulting company, is engaged in a World Bank Institutional
Development Fund funded project aimed at developing effective public
administration system through introduction of reliable, functional
and objective performance appraisal system. Ameria and Breckenhill
support the government in building institutional capacity, knowledge
and skills to describe and optimize business procedures and functions
within the government, and based thereon to revise the functional
duties (job descriptions) of civil service positions, as well as to
introduce operative appraisal mechanisms for the work performed by
the civil servants. In the scope of this project consultants will
assist the RA government in developing the basis for the national
system of monitoring and appraisal (M&A). The overall duration of
the project is 18 months.

Objectives of this project are creating an effective public
administration system in accordance with the best international
standards. The project supports the Government in establishment of
such system in staff of RA Government and 6 pilot ministries (the RA
Ministry of Healthcare, the RA Ministry of Economy, the RA Ministry of
Culture, the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration, the RA Ministry
of Transport and Communication and the RA Ministry of Finance).

The project concentrates its activities on analyses of current
procedures of beneficiary institutions and structural units,
introduction of new business procedures in beneficiary institutions,
as well as building the monitoring capacity. Ameria will also develop
methodical manuals for analysis and describing business procedures,
elaboration of performance management indicators and implementation
of performance evaluations, as well as will provide thematic trainings
to relevant governmental officials.

The project will result in raising the capacities of beneficiary
institutions in analyses of business procedures, development of
work plans at all institutional levels, elaboration of performance
evaluation indicators and conducting of performance evaluations. The
project will highly contribute to the ensuring more effective
and efficient work of the state institutions. As a follow-up this
experience will be furthermore rolled out to all other governmental
structures and institutions.

Ameria is a leading advisory firm in Armenia specialized in the
areas of corporate restructuring, M&A, legal advisory, direct and
portfolio investments, business and strategic planning, financial
advisory and tax planning, public administration and reforms, etc. As
a part of Ameria financial group Ameria CJSC renders independent,
confidential and objective counsel through a uniquely harmonious and
efficient system of five advisory units: Management Advisory Services,
Financial Advisory Services, Assurance and Taxation, Legal Practice
and Investment Banking.

Founded in, 2002 Breckenhill Inc. is a boutique consulting firm
offering a range of investigative and research services, privacy audit,
privacy impact assessment, as well as internal audit, performance
audit and IT security and audit. We offer related strategic and
training products in these areas to an international clientele drawn
from the public and private sectors through a network of equity-based
partners and professional associates in Canada, the United States,
Norway, Asia and Australia.