Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

A. BAGHDASARYAN, "IN 2009 WE HAVE MANAGED TO FULLY IMPLEMENT ALL THE PROGRAMS INDICATED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORKS OF ARMENIA-EU COOPERATION"

ore/id/596620/lang/en
2010-03-30

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS: About the 33 % of the 277 reforms
intended in 190 directions within the frameworks of the cooperation
with the European Union is fully implemented or is in a stage of
accomplishment. Secretary of the National Security Council Arthur
Baghdasaryan noted at today’s session of the inter-department
commission coordinating the cooperation of Armenian state bodies with
European institutions that as a result of the implemented works,
40 inter-department working teams have been set up, 10 concepts,
1 strategy and 4 national programs have been worked out.

"We have applied to the heads of the Armenian relevant departments and
expect that the members of our commission will be more attentive and
we will manage in 2010, too, to accomplish our works as scheduled." A.

Baghdasaryan added.

The activity of the EU consulting group in Armenia was summed up as
well; a positive progress was registered in 2009 here, too. "It is
pleasant for me to register the fact that there is a high cooperation
level both by the party of Armenia and European Union and in this
stage we positively assess the reforms, which have been implemented in
Armenia. The speech is about the extensive reforms." A. Baghdasaryan
said. He reminded that 23 institutions participate in those reforms –
the National Assembly, the Central Bank, Public Services Regulatory
Commission, Ombudsman’s Office, etc.

A relevant report on the work implemented in 2009 within Armenia-EU
cooperation will be prepared and presented to the Armenian president
and European institutions. A number of documents prepared by the
working teams were presented to the inter-department commission.

A. Baghdasaryan noted that the start of the process of preparing
and signing an agreement on the integration to the EU is among the
most important issues. According to Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister
Karine Ghazinyan, association agreements are proposed to sign with
the EU within the frameworks of the Eastern Partnership. They will
be distinguished according to the requirements and issues of separate
states.

The visit of the Commissioner on European extension and on neighborhood
issues to Armenia is intended, with who the issue of receiving a
mandate for negotiating over the agreement on integration will be
discussed. According to her, in all appearances, it will be provided
to Armenia by the end of April. The guidelines of the economic
integration, shift, and energy will be reflected in the association
agreement.

K. Ghazinyan said that for enhancing the country’s readiness and
capabilities in the negotiation process of signing the agreement
on integration, the EU has proposed to implement a comprehensive
development program of state administrative bodies for 2011-2013 years.

"The first delegation on this issue has already been to Armenia. The
program suggests considerable reforms in the institutions, which will
be responsible for fulfillment of the commitments stemming from the
agreement," K. Ghazinyan said. According to her, the program is of
great significance because among its priorities it will include a
support to the systemic development of relevant state institutions
in the negotiation process of agreements on Armenia-EU integration
and on deep and comprehensive free trade.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN ATHLETES AT MEN&WOMEN’S SAMBO EUROCHAMPS

Aysor
March 31 2010
Armenia

A spokesperson for Armenians Sambo Federation has presented the
list of athletes to participate in the men&women’s European Sambo
Championship. Here they are: Tigran Kirakosian, Mher Karapetian,
Armen Adamian, Hakob Margarian – men’s team; and Asya Lalazarian as
a participant for women’s competitions. Armenian sport delegation to
Greece also includes chief coach Vovyk Khojayan, coach Hike Avetisian,
and judge Eduard Aslanian

The champs will take place in Greek city of Thessaloniki on April
13-19.

Number of Armenian participants in the championship may increase in
case of sponsoring, spokesperson added.
From: Baghdasarian

ARTSAKH YOUTH GROUPS: PRESIDENT SARGSYAN HAS NO RIGHT TO PROPOSE CONCESSIONS

/
2010/03/29 | 12:56

Nagorno Karabakh politics

At a joint meeting on March 26 in Stepanakert, at the ARF "Nikol
Douman Center", a number of youth groups drafted a letter addressed
to RMK President Bako Sahakyan, criticizing recent comments of
RoA President Sargsyan made in Syria regarding the possibility of
territorial concessions.

The letter congratulated President Sahakyan for enacting steps to
resettle the territories liberated by Armenians during the war and
praised him for stating that these territories were now an integral
part of the RMK and that this point was duly noted in the nation’s
constitution.

Representatives of the various youth groups stated that while the RoA
President could express his personal opinion regarding concessions,
in his official capacity as head of state, he has no right to offer
suggestions regarding the territories of the RMK without the prior
consent of the RMK government and people. The joint letter states
that such remarks by President Sargsyan questions the authority of the
RMK Constitution and the current political line of the RMK government.

The representatives added that the time had come for the signing
of a document between Armenia and Artsakh that would clearly define
the mutual rights and obligations of both states in the process of
garnering international recognition of the RMK
From: Baghdasarian

THE UNITED STATES SHOULD RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO PREVENT SIMILAR CRIMES
Karen Jallatyan

Daily Bruin, UCLA
March 30 2010
CA

On March 4, 2010, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of
Representatives approved HR 252, which would formally recognize
the catastrophic mass killings of Armenians at the beginning of the
20th century as genocide. I firmly believe that the entire House of
Representatives should set the record straight about one of the major
humanitarian crises of our time and recognize the Armenian Genocide
as well.

As senators, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton all
recognized the Armenian Genocide before entering the executive branch
as president, vice president, and secretary of state, respectively. In
addition, 42 U.S. states, including California, and more than 20
nations have recognized the killings as a genocide, the latest being
Sweden; its parliament passed an Armenian Genocide resolution on March
11. The Armenian Genocide is one of the most significant human rights
crises of our times; it happened at the beginning of the 20th century
and ushered the way for future genocides such as the Holocaust.

Nowadays, the international community’s inability to prevent and punish
perpetrators of genocide, for one thing, let the current genocide in
Darfur unfold before our very eyes.

By formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide, our House of
Representatives will make a significant move in holding to
responsibility the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and in
having greater chances of ending current and future ones.

Jallatyan is a fourth-year comparative literature and philosophy
student.

icles/2010/3/30/united-states-should-recognize-arm enian-genocide-p/
From: Baghdasarian

EXPERT ARTAK GRIGORIAN: TODAY ISRAEL IS NOT READY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Noyan Tapan
March 30, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia and Israel independent of
their will have appeared in different poles of geopolitical processes.

Artak Grigorian, an expert of Armenian-Israeli relations expressed such
an opinion at a March 30 press conference. He mentioned that Israel has
always had warm relations with Turkey and Armenia being in a blockade
has always had warm relations with Iran. "However there are also
some other circumstances, the most important of which is the Armenian
district in Jerusalem and the activity of the monastic congregation of
Saint Jakob," A. Grigorian said. In his words, Jerusalem’s status is
still non-clarified as the Arab-Israeli negotiations have reached a
deadlock. According to the expert, the word of Jerusalem’s Armenian
community and Armenian Patriarchate can have a decisive role, and
that circumstance has an impact on Armenian-Israeli cautious relations.

Speaking about Israel’s position on the Armenian Genocide A. Grigorian
said that Israel’s scientific circles "are rather fair." However,
in his words, when the issue moves from the scientific plane to the
political plane the picture changes abruptly as the state of political
affairs and foreign political interests come to the foreground pushing
back the truth. A. Grigorian said that Israeli Kneset for the first
time made an attempt to include in the agenda the issue of Armenian
Genocide in 2008 and failed. "This year they will again slap Turkey
in the face but discussion of the issue by Kneset is not realistic,"
the expert said. In his words, today Israel is not ready to recognize
the Armenian Genocide.
From: Baghdasarian

17-YEAR-OLD ARMENIAN GIRL KILLED IN MOSCOW SUBWAY BLASTS

Panorama.am
14:25 30/03/2010

Society

Armenian teen Valentina Yegiazaryan, 17, died in hospital she was
taken to after double bombings hit Moscow subway Monday, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told Panorama.am.

According to Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, two other
Armenians Hasmik Martirosyan, 18, and Anna Porkashayan, 55, are still
in hospital as of 7a.m. local time.
From: Baghdasarian

60% OF POOR AND 40% OF EXTREMELY POOR PEOPLE DO NOT APPLY FOR BENEFITS

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.03.2010 18:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Presentation of the book, entitled: "Why poor people
do not apply for family allowance," took place on March 30 in Yerevan.

The book is created on the basis of researches conducted by focus
groups in eight communities of Armenia. Representatives of the RA
Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Consultative Center of Social
and Economic Researches, National Center of Small and Medium Business
Development in Armenia foundation presented the problems covered in
the book.

Nairuhi Jrbashyan, a member of the Consultative Center of Social and
Economic Researches said that the system of family benefits is one
of the largest programs of the state’s social security, aimed at
decreasing the poverty level. However, 60% of poor people and 40%
of extremely poor people, due to various reasons, do not apply to
social security services for benefits.

She voiced basic reasons, for which people do not apply to social
security services: distrust for system, sense of unfairness, certainty
that they will not meet criteria stipulated, as well as sense of shame
for receiving a benefit. However, according to Nairuhi Jrbashyan,
92% of extremely poor people and 80% of poor people, applying for
the benefit, receive it.

According to her, however, there are indirect reasons for such
attitude: low level of awareness, corruption in social services, etc.

Nairuhi Jrbashyan noted that due to family benefits the level of
extreme poverty decreased by 5.5 times from 1999 to 2000, while the
level of poverty – by 2.5 times. However, a quarter of Armenia’s
population was below the poverty line in 2008.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN: DESPITE ITS ADVANTAGES, PENSION SYSTEM REFORM MAY DAMAGE GOVERNMENT REPUTATION AMONG POPULATION

ArmInfo
2010-03-30 12:39:00

ArmInfo. "Despite its advantages, the pension system reform may
damage the government reputation among the population," says Hakob
Hakobyan, Head of the Parliamentary Commission for Social Affairs,
in an interview with ArmInfo when commenting on the risks related to
creation of private accumulative funds.

He said that the state budget will envisage as much funds for the
pensions as the additional accumulative funds will collect, in
particular, 5% of the salary of the citizens permanently working in
Armenia will be transferred to the fund. A similar amount will be
provided to the pension fund by the state budget every month. "Here
are the risks connected with the reform: first, if we do not guarantee
return and profitability of the amount, we will cause damage to our
citizens proving budgetary funds without guarantees. If we guarantee
safety of those amounts, in 5 or 10 years the budget will prove
to be under additional burden of liabilities, which is dangerous
for the country. In the first case, there is a risk of damaging the
government reputation among the population, whereas in the second case,
the country is endangered," the parliamentarian explained.

The new pension system will be introduced in 2011. The reform implies
transition to a multi-level pension system that will consist of two
key components: state distribution and private accumulative pension
system. The key direction of the pension reform program is to ensure
proper pensions for the citizens through gradual improvement of the
state of pension age people as well as ties between the pensions and
personal salary of the citizens through introduction of compulsory
accumulative pension system.
From: Baghdasarian

‘ZERO’ CHANCE OF KNESSET RECOGNIZING ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’

news.az
March 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Joseph Shagal News.Az interviews Joseph Shagal, president of the
Israel-Azerbaijan international association and former Knesset deputy.

According to mass media, chairman of the MERES faction Haim Oron is
going to put for discussion the issue of recognition of the "Armenian
genocide" in Ottoman Turkey in Knesset once again in April. What do
you think has prompted this decision of the Israeli parliamentarian?

MERES is a marginal political faction which does not represent anyone
at all. It has no influence in the Knesset. By raising this startler,
Oron wants just to remind of his existence. This is a simply reaction
of the "background" policy.

Is the possibility of recognition of "Armenian genocide" by Knesset
real?

The possibility is zero.

On the whole, what can you say about the influence of the pro-Armenian
forces in the Israeli parliament, in particular, as compared to
pro-Turkish and pro-Azerbaijani powers?

Armenians have no influence in the Knesset at all! Like there is no
Turkish or Azerbaijani influence. In its activity Knesset adheres
only to national interests of Israel. The high or low level of the
relations between Israel and any other countries is defined not by the
strength or the weakness of any lobbies. This is a political choice
fully responding to the strategic priorities of Israel. Either a
desperate populist or a person who is far from the Israeli political
realities can speculate on this issue.

How deep are the current differences between the previously close
allies- Israel and Turkey?

Which differences do you mean? As far as I know, the content of the
Israeli-Turkish strategic contacts in almost all spheres has remained
changeless. As for the anti-Israeli rhetoric of Recep Erdogan in
which most people tend to see even the declaration of "cold war"
to Israel, my personal opinion is that premiers come and go while
the real interests of the state remain changeless…

There have recently been many scandalous events in the relations
between Israel and Turkey. Can we hope that the possible parliamentary
hearings on "genocide" may become the last annoying element in the
relations between the two countries?

The Turkish premier voices his resentment over Israel so frequently
and so lavishly that I think it is impossible to raise it even to a
greater extent.

May Azerbaijan play any role in reconciliation of Israel and Turkey?

I repeat once again: everything is alright in the relations between
Turkey and Israel: our ministers exchange business visits, economic and
military and technical cooperation is maintained on the previous level
before conflict, our airplanes still fly over the Turkish corridor,
while the Israeli tourists take a rest in the resorts in Antalya
and Bodrum…

As for your question, Israel has never quarreled with Turkey. And
as one wide politician once said: no matter what you say, the most
important is how what you say is interpreted…
From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL ANALYST: ARMENIA IS LIKE AN UNLUCKY STUDENT WHO IS CONSTANTLY TRYING TO CATCH UP

Today
March 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with political analyst at Azerbaijan-based Lider TV
Tofiq Abbasov.

Can some progress be expected in the Armenia-Turkey normalization
in a run up to April 24, remembrance day of the so-called "Armenian
genocide"?

I think nothing significant will happen in resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict till April 24th. Armenia will still pursue
a policy of delays in order to survive this date and to achieve a
certain psychological edge over Azerbaijan and Turkey.

There will be no significant changes in the Turkish-Armenian
relations, too. Armenians will get together to honor the memory of
the separatists, and then things will return to normal. There can be
some progress in terms of harmonization of issues related to a joint
commission of historians. But I personally do not believe that this
commission will meet, and will be able to decide on the events of
1915. This process is more likely to be ephemeral, since Armenia is
not interested in revealing historical truth. The West is not also
interested in this because it together with Russia was a direct
sponsor of the rebellion of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

I your opinion, will U.S. President Barack Obama utter the word
"genocide" in his annual address to the Armenian Diaspora prior to
April 24?

I dont think he will. He, i believe, will use streamlined phrases.

Obama does not need to strain relations with Turkey, since the
administration of the White House makes a big stake on Ankara in
its eastern policy. Besides, given failure of Mitchell’s Middle East
mission and that Israeli tanks re-enter the Palestinian territories,
the United States will not disturb the potential opponents.

Washington has plans to use the Turkish segment to address several
regional issues at once. I am referring to the crisis around Iran, and
the problem of restoring dialogue with Syria, raising its credibility
not only in Arabic, but also in the Muslim world. Precisely because
of this Obama is set to a delicate harmony in the Armenian question.

In your opinion, what implications the moves by some parliaments to
recognize the "Armenian genocide" lately may have?

I think that most of the blame rests with Turkey for this problem. It
should have long used historical materials to shed light on what
happened at the beginning of last century.

We are all aware that the issue of "genocide" is kind of a political
bludgeon in the hands of the Western world in order to keep Turkey
and all Muslim countries in the grip of ideological and psychological
pressure to prevent them from maneuvering on the fields which tend
to be dominated by Western countries.

I think Turkey dont have to worry about this. Let these countries
adopt these hollow resolutions. And what’s next? Nothing terrible
will happen. The West must understand that the pressure in such a
way will not bring a good result. This is a not a promising policy.

Turkey must prove that the fuss over the "genocide" is nothing more
than a hypocritical game and this kind of blackmail, fabricated in
the past by the British intelligence and the Tsarist secret police of
Russia, is reminiscent of political technologies of the colonial era.

Unfortunately, they still continue to play the role of a stumbling
block to improvement of the international climate.

Recently Armenian President appealed to Azerbaijan to sign a treaty
on no-force use. What is the true reason behind Sargsyan’s appeal?

The Armenian side is now making several seemingly disparate efforts
in order to show that it seeks a peace with Azerbaijan. It is trying
to instill community that Azerbaijan demonstrates taciturnity and
tends to use force. So, what actually happens?

On one hand, Armenia states it is ready to discuss the updated Madrid
principles, but on the other hand, it argues that the fundamental
provisions of this package are not suitable enough.

Armenian president in his recent interview admitted that Armenia can
compromise with Azerbaijan, if Azerbaijan clarifies the situation
with the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. On one hand, he is ready to
discuss the Madrid principles the first item of which stipulates
withdrawal of all troops from occupied Azerbaijani territories which
will determine the process of determining status of the region.

In the meantime, Armenia offers to sign a nonaggression treaty with
Azerbaijan. You cannot run ahead of the locomotive. The Armenian side
however, is trying to do just that.

The Armenian opposition has become especially active lately. It
makes strange statements claiming that even the territories around
Nagorno-Karabakh should not be returned. They raise the question
about the change of power in the country.

It seems to me that all this is controlled by Serzh Sargsyan’s team.

It artificially foments political situation claiminmg that Azerbaijan
has real plans to solve the conflict by force. Sargsyan throws dust in
eyes of OSCE Minks Group mediators and Western countries and introduced
himself to external forces as peace-loving, but in response Armenia os
experiencing excessive pressure from the destructive-minded internal
and external forces.

In your view, what can the scenario of events related to resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Turkey-Armenia normalization be
after April 24?

I think the Armenian leaders sooner or later will have to deal with
the facts. It’s impossible to ignore that all alternatives, even
hypothetical ones have been eliminated. Their constant efforts to
seek foreign patrons have failed.

Armenia is like an unlucky student who is constantly trying to catch
up. The reason is that the Armenian diplomacy is experiencing very
serious difficulties both on Turkish and Azerbaijani fronts.

But the moment when Yerevan will have to negotiate with Azerbaijan
and Turkey is not far off. Armenia will be forced to accept conditions
dictated by reality.
From: Baghdasarian