Author: Badalian Vardan

DE WAAL: INVITING TURKISH AUTHORITIES TO GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL WAS CLEVER AND POSITIVE MOVE
[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

13:38 30/05/2014 >> COMMENTS

Thomas De Waal, expert at Carnegie Institute, has commented on the
invitation made by the President of Armenia to the President of Turkey
to visit Armenia in 2015.

“I think this is a clever and positive move from the Armenian
government, inviting the Turkish authorities to be part of the
Genocide centennial, rather than outside it. It follows a clever and
positive move from prime minister Erdogan when he offered condolences
to the Armenian people-even if he did not make a full apology,”
De Waal told Panorama.am.

De Waal does not expect that either side will change its position
on the Genocide and 1915; neither does he expect that the Turkish
president will accept the invitation. “But at least we are
seeing a competition in positive gestures, rather than a competition
in negative statements,” he added.

Related: Serzh Sargsyan invites next President of Turkey to Yerevan
to confront history

EMBASSIES ARE OFTEN PERCEIVED AS PROTOCOL SERVICES, SAYS ARMENIAN DIPLOMAT

10:44 * 30.05.14

In an interview with Tert.am, Ara Papyan, a former Armenian ambassador
to Canada (2000-2006) and the director of the Yerevan-basedModus
Vivendi center, commented on the activities of Armenian in foreign
states, noting that the public perception of embassies’ role is often
wrongly reduced to that of protocol services.

Addressing the reported plans for organizing a special assembly of
ambassadors in Yerevan to discuss the Genocide centennial commemoration
agenda, Papyan said he thinks that its success depends on the strategic
instructions to be given to the diplomats.

“The practice of ambassadorial assemblies has always existed. We used
to hold annual assemblies of ambassadors to sum up the past year and
outline the plans for the coming year. We can now assume that the
assembly will be a special one, as the question focuses the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and [the meeting] is being
held after the session of the Government Commission [responsible for
coordinating the centennial commemoration events]. As to what can
be done, everything depends on the instructions that the ambassadors
may receive. If they are limited to instructions, ambassadors do that
some way or another. The problem is that we need resources to carry
them out. If our goal is to tell the world that a crime of genocide
was committed and we were massacred, that’s a different matter,
which I don’t think makes any sense at all. If [we want to prove]
that the genocide committed caused the Armenian statehood suffer
territorial and material losses, and that the Republic of Armenia
has to receive redress, that’s absolutely a different question which
requires considerably serious work. The strategic task set to the
ambassadors is of importance too,” he said.

Asked whether special resources are necessary, Papyan agreed that they
really need appropriate means to ensure the ambassadors’ effective
work. “It is necessary, for example, to provide them with the new
studies, collections of documents or books on Genocide, as well as
money, because if an exhibition or any other event is held somewhere,
most of them are paid. If that’s to be done with the community’s
efforts, then that’s what is being carried out some way or another,”
he answered.

Considering the Genocide recognition a moral rather than a political
issue, Papyan said further that it is more important to demand
reparation, focusing on the legal aspect of the question. “No legal
consequences stem from recognition per se. And the [Foreign] Ministry
is a political body tasked with protecting the interests of the
Republic of Armenia. If the Foreign Ministry sets itself a task to
protect Armenia’s territorial integrity which was violated, that’s
a different question. But if it is necessary to open exhibitions,
that’s something which has always been done. Didn’t we do it in the
past when there were not centennial [commemoration] commissions? I
am sure different exhibitions have been held, and I myself am the
witness of that. It is important to introduce this topic as a legal
and political issue. The Genocide recognition doesn’t make any sense
without reparation; this is the problem. When you, as an aggrieved
side, speak on your losses, it will make sense if you also make the
next step – demand reparation,” he added.

Armenian News – Tert.am

HEAD OF HERITAGE PARTY FACTION: SERZH SARGSYAN WAS TO RESPOND TO NAZARBAYEV’S STATEMENT IN ASTANA

Friday, May 30, 17:42

Armenia must not allow Artsakh’s interests to be ignored by the
Eurasian Economic Union, Ruben Hakobyan, Head of the Heritage Party
Faction, told reporters, Friday.

“Maybe Artsakh cannot access that structure officially, but it can
involve in it informally. I cannot say if Yerevan will refuse that
integration project if they do not agree to admit also NKR. We must
be ready for any scenario,” Hakobyan said.

He thinks that President Serzh Sargsyan was to respond to his Kazakh
opposite number’s statement in Astana. “Nazarbayev’s statements
must not surprise us. Kazakhstan has repeatedly openly protected
Azerbaijan’s interests,” he said.

To recall, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on the heels of
a Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan,
Thursday, that Armenia is ready to sign the Treaty on Eurasian Economic
Union before June 15. President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that
the document can be signed no sooner than on 1 July, as Armenia is
yet to fulfill some commitments. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan
Nazarbayev, in turn, said Azerbaijan claims that Armenia can join
the Eurasian Economic Union (EAU) within the same borders it joined
the World Trade Organization (WTO). We have received the Azerbaijani
president’s letter saying that Armenia joined WTO with a reservation
that the provisions must apply to the territory of Armenia within
its international borders recognized by the UN. It is an issue for
discussion,” the Kazakh president said. President of Armenia made no
statement in response.

STEPANAKERT AGREES WITH KAZAKH PRESIDENT CLAIMING THAT ARMENIA MUST INTEGRATE INTO EAU WITH ITS PRESENT BORDERS

by Marianna Lazarian

Friday, May 30, 13:59

“I strongly agree with the statement by Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazabayev saying that Armenia must join the Eurasian Economic Union
(EAU) within the borders it joined WTO,” Spokesperson of NKR Foreign
Ministry David Babayan told ArmInfo. According to Babayan, Armenia is
a sovereign state participating in political and economic projects
and it must integrate into projects within its borders. He does not
understand why should Nazarbayev’s statement arouse such hot debates
in the Armenian public.

“The Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the Republic of Armenia are two
independent and sovereign states, why should Armenia integrate into
any structure together with NKR? In his speech Nazarbayev said that
Armenia must join the EAU within the same borders it joined WTO.

Nothing threatened NKR when Armenia accessed WTO. I think, nothing
will threaten NKR also when Armenia accesses EAU,” Babayan said.

As for possible opening of border crossings between Armenia and NKR,
Babayan thinks it unlikely.

To recall, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on the heels of
a Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan,
Thursday, that Armenia is ready to sign the Treaty on Eurasian Economic
Union before June 15. President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that
the document can be signed no sooner than on 1 July, as Armenia is
yet to fulfill some commitments. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan
Nazarbayev, in turn, said Azerbaijan claims that Armenia can join
the Eurasian Economic Union (EAU) within the same borders it joined
the World Trade Organization (WTO). We have received the Azerbaijani
president’s letter saying that Armenia joined WTO with a reservation
that the provisions must apply to the territory of Armenia within
its international borders recognized by the UN. It is an issue for
discussion,” the Kazakh president said. President of Armenia made no
statement in response.

APA, Azerbaijan
May 31 2014

Azerbaijani MP offers to impose sanctions on Armenia at NATO PA

[ 31 May 2014 16:40 ]

Baku. Hafiz Heydarov – APA. Today, the next meeting of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly has kicked off in Vilnius.

Members of Azerbaijani delegation to NATO PA are attending the meeting.

Member of Azerbaijani delegation to NATO PA, MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev
told APA that the Ukraine crisis has also been discussed at the
meeting.

Hasanguliyev said that he reminded in his speech within this
discussion that the countries cooperating with the NATO recognize the
territorial integrity of Ukraine and shared unambiguous position in
the regard at the UN discussions: “NATO has stopped cooperation with
Russia due to Ukraine crisis, Russian delegation has not been invited
to this meeting. However, Armenian delegation who shares same
positions with Russia is attending the meeting. Whereas, Armenia is
the aggressor country before its position about Ukraine. This country
has occupied Azerbaijan’s lands about 20 years and 1 million of
Azerbaijanis are refugees. Armenia obeys neither UN resolutions nor
international law. It regularly violates peace talks, threats peace ad
stability in the region”.

The MP noted that in this case, Armenia’s cooperation with NATO is an
approach in double standards: “How the country not obeying the UN
resolutions and international law can be among us? Armenia occupied
territory of the country which cooperates with NATO and voted against
territorial integrity of other country. I offer NATO to impose
sanction against Armenia and keep out this country from NATO events”.

Kesab Christians urge Pope to work for peace, help them go home

May 31, 2014

(Reuters) – Syrian Christians who fled a village near the border with
Turkey after it was captured by Islamist rebels say they refuse to
leave the country and urged Pope Francis to pray for them and help
them return home.

In March, rebels including fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra
Front captured the majority-Armenian village of Kesab in the coastal
province of Latakia, a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of people fled to the city of Latakia and accused hardline
Sunni fighters of targeting Christians and desecrating holy sites.
Rebels denied the accusations.

Christians interviewed by Reuters said they hoped Pope Francis, who
visited Bethlehem on Sunday, the traditional birthplace of Jesus,
would pray for peace in Syria.

“The Pope’s visit is a holy one, we wish for him to work for peace and
pray for peace in Syria,” Father Miron Owadesyan said.

The Argentinean pope made an urgent appeal for an end to Syria’s war
on Saturday at the start of his first trip to the Holy Land as
pontiff.

In the first days of the attack on Kesab, more than 1,500 people
sought refuge in the Armenian Greek Orthodox church of the Virgin Mary
in Latakia city 30 miles (49 km) away.

Most of them have since moved and now only about 100 people are living
in the 1,200-year-old-church, mainly surviving on donations and
support from the government.

Narik Louisian, a priest from Kesab, said he hoped the Pope would use
his influence to help Christians in the Middle East who have felt
threatened by violence and political turmoil.

“(It is) our right as Christians to live in the East, the East is our
land too,” he said. “We are an inseparable part of the Holy Land.”

Tamar Minoknian, a 40-year-old housewife, said she wanted Pope Francis
to help Syria’s displaced Christians return to their villages. “We
want him to help us return to our houses. We do not want aid, we just
want to go back to our homes.”

Latakia and neighboring Tartous provinces together form the
Mediterranean heartland of the Alawite faith – the Shi’ite-derived
sect of which Assad is a member.

Many Alawites have remained loyal to the government throughout the
three-year-old conflict which has killed at least 160,000 people.

Syria’s Christian community, about 10 percent of the population, is
wary of the rising power of Islamist groups within the rebel movement,
and only a small percentage of Christians have taken up arms.

“I cannot live outside Syria, we were born here and we will die here,”
Nerneen Boinashikian, in her fifties, told Reuters while she was
preparing lunch. “All that we want is to return to our homes. Enough
destruction.”

(Writing by Mariam Karouny, editing by Alister Doyle)

Two Armenians, father and daughter, wounded in Damascus

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Two ethnic Armenians were wounded in Azazin district of Damascus
yesterday. Ruben Danielyan and his daughter Maro Danielyan received
wounds and were hospitalized, ‘Azdak’ paper said. Fighting continued
in the eastern part of Damascus on May 30. There were reports about
killed and injured people.

TODAY, 16:05
Aysor.am

Armenia’s international gross reserves down 4.6 percent to $1.9 billion

YEREVAN, May 31. / ARKA /. Armenia’s international gross reserves
totaled $1.879.2 billion in late April, down 4.6% from the previous
month, according to the Central Bank of Armenia.

The bulk of the reserves -$1.863 billion-were in convertible currency.

According to the Central Bank, Armenia’s Special Drawing Right (SDR)
at the IMF stood at $16.1 million ($1 – 413.27 drams). – 0 – – See
more at:

Armenian Government gives high priority to increasing innovative IT
solutions in various sectors of economy

by Erik Abrahamyan
Saturday, May 31, 12:07

The Armenian Government gives high priority to increasing the IT
product output in the local market, growth in services consumption,
and increasing the innovative IT solutions in various sectors of
economy, Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Garegin Melkonyan said at
today’s press conference timed to the 7th annual DigiTec Business
forum. In this context, he stressed the significance of the DigiTec
forum, which contributes to consolidation of the technological field
and strengthening of the business ties. Melkonyan also called on the
local entrepreneurs to take an active part in the forum.

Karen Vardanyan, CEO at the Union of IT Enterprises, pointed out that
now entrepreneurs themselves present their own requirements and tasks
to technological companies. “In 2008, when the first DigiTec Business
forum was held, information technologies were not so popular. Earlier
it was necessary to explain to the entrepreneurs that the use of IT
would enhance the efficiency of their activity”, he said.

“A socially responsible operator, ArmenTel consistently assists the
projects aimed at supporting IT and telecommunication. The DigiTec
Business forum has a special place in this process. I am sure that the
innovative ideas to be presented at the forum, which is being held
with the support ArmenTel, will boost the development of the field and
contribute to further cooperation among the forum participants”, said
Andrey Pyatakhin, Director General of ArmenTel CJSC.
To recall, the seventh annual DigiTec Business forum will take place
on 20-21 June 2014 at Marriott Armenian Hotel in Yerevan. The forum is
organized by the UITE and sponsored by ArmenTel (Beeline brand). This
year about 50 Armenian, Russian and Georgian companies will
participate in the forum. Nearly 3,000 guests will attend the forum,
about 500 of them will be the heads and representatives of local and
foreign companies.

ARMENIE
Le porte-parole du RPA a décrit Mikoyan comme une figure historique mondiale

Le porte-parole du Parti républicain d’Arménie (RPA) Eduard
Sharmazanov a décrit Anastas Mikoyan, un dirigeant soviétique
controversé d’origine arménienne, comme une >, lorsqu’on lui a demandé de commenter l’intention des
autorités d’Erevan d’ériger un monument à l’un des plus proches
collaborateurs de Joseph Staline.

La décision prise par le Conseil des Aînés d’Erevan le 30 Avril pour
rendre hommage à la mémoire de Mikoyan (1895-1978), un homme d’État
soviétique de longue date qui, selon de nombreux historiens, a joué un
rôle dans la Grande Purge de Staline, a suscité une controverse en
Arménie car un certain nombre de membres de premier plan de la société
civile ont exprimé leur point de vue que la personne qui a
personnellement supervisé les arrestations massives et des exécutions
de milliers de personnes en Arménie soviétique ne pouvait pas avoir
une statue dans la capitale arménienne.

Le parti d’opposition la Fédération révolutionnaire arménienne (FRA) a
ajouté sa voix aux condamnations plus tôt cette semaine, décrivant la
décision du Conseil des Sages comme un “blasphème” et exigeant
qu’elledevrait être reconsidérée.

Répondant à une question des médias après la réunion de l’organe
exécutif du RPA jeudi soir, Sharmazanov, historien de formation, a
cité l’éminent chef politique et militaire français Charles de Gaulle
appelant Mikoyan une