Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

LE PRESIDENT ARMENIEN DISCUTE AVEC LES DEUX CATHOLICOAS DES MOYENS POUR AIDER LES ARMENIENS DE SYRIE

ARMENIE

Le president armenien Serge Sarkissian a parle au telephone au
Catholicos Karekin II, chef de l’Eglise apostolique armenienne et au
Catholicos Aram Ier, chef du Saint Siège de Cilicie afin de discuter
des questions liees a l’assistance aux Armeniens de Syrie a annonce
le service de presse de la presidence.

Des moyens de proteger la communaute armenienne et les diplomates en
Syrie ont egalement ete discutes.

Le president et les dignitaires religieux ont decide d’unir leurs
efforts pour faire tout leur possible pour les Armeniens de Syrie.

L’Armenie abrite 7000 Armeniens de Syrie actuellement.

jeudi 5 septembre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

LES ARMENIENS DE SYRIE PREOCCUPES PAR L’EFFET NEGATIF DE POSSIBLES FRAPPES AERIENNES AMERICAINES

ARMENIE

Les Armeniens de souche qui ont fui la Syrie au cours des deux
dernières annees du conflit et se sont refugies en Armenie considèrent
que d’eventuelles frappes americaines contre le pays va se reveler
un effort futile pour resoudre la crise et ne vont seulement causer
que des effets negatifs.

Ils reconnaissent toutefois avec regret, que la Syrie reste
continuellement en proie a la guerre civile qui dure dans ce pays du
Moyen-Orient depuis plus de deux ans avec aucune fin en vue.

La situation autour de la Syrie, où les forces de l’opposition
se livrent a des combats armes contre les forces gouvernementales
fidèles au president Bachar al-Assad, s’est aggravee a la suite de
l’utilisation presumee d’armes chimiques le 21 août. Les Etats-Unis
affirment posseder des preuves concluantes que le regime d’Assad a
utilise du gaz sarin près de Damas ce jour tuant 1429 civils, dont
426 enfants. Pendant ce temps, les deux factions belligerantes en
Syrie ont accuse leur adversaire de l’horrible attentat.

Washington a menace de punir Assad pour avoir utiliser des armes
interdites, avec une operation militaire limitee et a renforce sa
presence militaire autour de la Syrie au cours des derniers jours.

Alors que certains grands allies des americains en Europe, tels que
le Royaume-Uni, l’Allemagne et d’autres membres de l’OTAN, n’ont
pas encore accepte de faire partie de la campagne militaire contre
la Syrie, d’autres, comme la France et la Turquie, ont soutenu une
reponse encore plus feroce face a l’ utilisation presumee d’armes
chimiques par le regime d’Assad.

Les principaux allies d’Assad, y compris l’Iran et la Russie, se sont
prononces contre la guerre affirmant que les Etats-Unis trompent
la communaute internationale en mettant le blâme sur les forces
gouvernementales en Syrie.

L’Armenie suit la situation autour de la Syrie avec un interet
particulier et pas seulement a cause de l’implication des grandes
puissances regionales, y compris son allie la Russie, son voisin
l’Iran et la son ennemi historique la Turquie. La Syrie abrite une
communaute armenienne forte de 80000 âmes et la guerre civile dans
ce pays a deja pousse des milliers d’entre eux a quitte leur maison
et de demenager vers l’Armenie.

Le gouvernement armenien a su preserver sa neutralite dans le conflit
interne en Syrie, mais a ete preoccupe par la securite physique des
Armeniens ainsi que l’integrite de la communaute qui s’est etablie
a Alep et dans d’autres grandes villes syriennes par les survivants
du genocide en Turquie ottomane .

Le Premier ministre Tigran Sarkissian a declare dimanche que l’Armenie
devrait etre prete pour le pire scenario dans la crise en Syrie.

” Un grand exode [des Armeniens] est prevu d’Alep. Le problème, c’est
que voyager autour de la Syrie par voie terrestre ne peut pas etre
sûre aujourd’hui. Il est clair que nous devons etre prets pour de
tels developpements afin d’etre en mesure de recevoir des Armeniens
de Syrie qui sont capables de rompre ce blocus. Nous discutons tous
les scenarios ” a-t-il dit s’adressant aux enseignants et etudiants
de l’Universite d’Etat de l’Artsakh a Stepanakert, selon le bureau
de presse du gouvernement.

Khachik Chozikyan, d’origine armenienne qui a quitte la Syrie pour
l’Armenie il y a un an, craint que les frappes americaines contre le
regime d’Assad ne feront que rendre pires les choses pour l’ensemble
du pays.

Chozikyan, qui a ete membre de l’initiative ” Aide ton frère ”
de la Federation Revolutionnaire Armenienne (FRA) qui achemine de
l’aide humanitaire aux compatriotes en Syrie, dit qu’une eventuelle
intervention americaine pourrait avoir des consequences imprevisibles.

” Je ne peux pas imaginer qu’une soldat musulman puisse embrasser des
Americains. Peut-etre qu’ils le feront, mais peut-etre que non. S’ils
ne le font pas, il y aura une situation similaire a l’Irak, ce qui
est dangereux. Les habitants de la Syrie sont fatigues, ils attendent
la paix de quelque manière qu’elle viennent, mais lancer des frappes
de missiles n’est pas une solution “, explique Chozikyan.

L’Armenien de Syrie estime que les deux parties auraient utilise des
armes chimiques en Syrie.

” Je ne pense pas que d’un côte se trouve la victime et que l’autre
a commis le crime. Si les forces de maintien de la paix des Nations
Unies devaient etre deployes la-bas, cela pourrait attenuer certaines
tensions, c’est peut-etre la voie a suivre pour resoudre cette crise
“, explique Chozikyan.

Un autre armenien de Syrie, qui n’a pas voulu que son nom soit publie
(comme beaucoup de jeunes Armeniens de syrie voulant eviter d’eventuels
problèmes avec les autorites militaires de retour en Syrie), a declare
a ArmeniaNow qu’il croit que les attaques des Etats-Unis ne feront
qu’aggraver la situation dans le Moyen-Orient.

L’etudiant de 25 ans a l’Universite d’Etat d’Erevan a declare : ” Je
ne pense pas que les Etats-Unis vont faire une telle demarche stupide.

Cela ne fera que conduire a plus de morts humains, plus de destruction,
la situation au Moyen-Orient deviendra plus confuse, ce qui ne sera
pas favorable a tout le monde “.

Par Gohar Abrahamian

ArmeniaNow

jeudi 5 septembre 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

EU EXPECTS CLARIFICATION FROM ARMENIA ON ACCESSION TO CUSTOMS UNION

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2013

The European Union expects clarification from Yerevan on Armenia’s
decision to join the Customs Union, which was founded by Russia,
EU diplomatic chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday, News-Armenia
reported.

Armenian and Russian presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin made
a joint declaration as a result of bilateral negotiations in Moscow,
according to which Armenia made a decision to join the Customs Union
and subsequently to participate in formation of Eurasian Economic
Council.

“We expect clarifications from Armenia, and then we will be able to
assess which outcomes this will have,” Maya Kosyanchich, Spokesperson
for Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy told journalists in Brussels.

In November 2013, a summit of the European Union leadership and the
heads of member-states of the EU “Eastern Partnership” program will be
held in Vilnius, during which, it is expected to initial an association
agreement as well as one titled “On a Deep and Comprehensive Free
Trade Zone” by several countries, including Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

SWEDISH FM: “ARMENIA VIOLATES THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION”

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2013

[ 04 September 2013 01:50 ]

Baku-APA. “Armenia is likely to refuse to negotiate on free trade
agreement with the EU and integrate with Russia”, Swedish Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt said, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

The intention of Yerevan to join the Customs Union became known after
the meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Russia Vladimir Putin and
Serzh Sargsyan on Tuesday.

“It seems that Armenia breaks negotiations on a free trade agreement
with the EU and instead of it integrated with Russia , rotate on 180
degrees,” – Bildt wrote in his microblog on Twitter.

In November 2013 in Vilnius will be held summit of EU leaders and the
leaders of member countries of the EU “Eastern Partnership”programm,
in which is expected initialed of association agreement “On a deep
and comprehensive free trade area” with several countries , including
Armenia.

The initiative of “Eastern Partnership” was launched by Poland and
Sweden, and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008, formally
established in Prague in May, 2009. The purpose of the program is
the convergence of the EU to Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Belarus without their admission to the EU.

From: Baghdasarian

EU LOSES ARMENIA TO RUSSIA’S CUSTOMS UNION

EurActiv
Sept 4 2013

Armenia will join a customs union led by its former Soviet master
Russia, the country’s President Serzh Sargsyan said yesterday (3
September), a move incompatible with the free trade agreement the EU
is preparing with Yerevan.

Sargsyan announced the decision after talks with his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin welcomed the move as a
diplomatic victory at a time when Russia is struggling to bring former
Soviet republics closer together and stop Ukraine from slipping into
the the European Union’s orbit.

“The Russian side supports the decision by Armenia to enter the
customs union … We will fully work for this to happen,” Putin was
quoted as saying by Reuters.

The EU appeared to be taken by surprise.

“Seems as if Armenia will break talks on free trade agreement with
EU and integrate with Russia instead. U-turn,” tweeted Carl Bildt,
the Swedish foreign affairs minister, during a dinner with Nordic
and Baltic foreign ministers he hosted in the medieval Swedish city
of Visby.

“Destiny of our Eastern partners is in their hands and we do care
about neighbours of our neighbours,” Å tefan Fule, the enlargement
and neighbourhood commissioner, tweeted from the same event.

Russia is Armenia’s largest trading partner, and bilateral trade
grew 22% to $1.2 billion (â~B¬910 million) last year. Russia is
also the biggest foreign investor in the small Eurasian economy,
with a total of $3 billion (â~B¬2.27 billion) investments last year
in a country whose GDP amounted to $9.9 billion (â~B¬7.5 billion)
in 2012, according to the World Bank.

>From a Russian perspective, Yerevan’s decision to join its customs
union is more important politically than economically. As the EU
prepares to host a summit in Vilnius with its eastern neighbours –
Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan -, Russia
has simultaneously stepped up the pressure to keep those countries
within its own orbit.

On 28-29 November, the EU’s Lithuanian presidency will host the Eastern
Partnership Summit, where association agreements with Moldova, Georgia
and Armenia are expected to be initialled, and where an EU-Ukraine
association agreement is expected to be signed. These agreements are
accompanied by Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTA)
with the EU, which are making Moscow nervous.

Russia has set up its own so-called Customs Union, joined by Belarus
and Kazakhstan. EU officials made it clear that membership of the
Customs Union is incompatible with the DCFTAs.

Financial offer to Ukraine

Russia has so far failed to draw Ukraine into the Customs Union, but
continues to apply pressure on Kyiv to join. Yesterday (3 September),
the Russian daily Kommersant reported that Putin’s advisor Sergei
Glyazev had made a financial offer to Ukraine for it to join.

According to Glyazev, Ukraine would benefit $11 to $12 billion
(â~B¬8.34 to â~B¬9.1 billion) per year “in case of its participation to
the Eurasian integration process”. Kyiv’s benefit from reduced Russian
gas prices would amount to as much as $8 billion (â~B¬6 billion),
he was quoted as saying. Custom duties on gas and oil would also be
abolished, the advisor said, as well as “safeguard” and “technical”
barriers to bilateral trade.

Glyazev said that if Ukraine signs the association agreement with
the EU, it would “lose its independence” and would “stop being a full
partner” with Russia.

Putin’s advisor called the EU-Ukraine association agreement
“asymmetrical”, arguing that the “EU will receive everything, and
Ukraine will get only what EU deems necessary”.

Wine war with Moldova

Meanwhile, Russia is also stepping up pressure on Moldova.

On Monday (2 September), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
warned ChiÈ~YinÄ~Cu, the Moldovan capital, that signing an association
agreement with the European Union would have “serious consequences” for
the country’s future. And a Moldovan news website reported yesterday
that Moscow had threatened Chisinau with a “wine war” if went ahead
with its plan. Wine is the flagship export product of Moldova.

According to the website Moldova.org, the Russian Sanitary Service
“Rospotrebnadzor” announced that that some alcoholic beverages
originating from Moldova did not comply with Russian health and
safety regulations.

“Rospotrebnadzor” warned that if the competent authorities in Moldova
did not take action, Russia might decide to ban imports of wines and
other alcoholic beverages from Moldova.

The Moldovan economy relies mainly on agriculture and exports to
the Eastern market, such as Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet
republics, Modova.org said.

EU ministers are expected to discuss “neighbourhood policy” at their
Gymnich-type informal meeting in Vilnius on Friday and Saturday.

However, the potential presence of US State Secretary John Kerry and
the situation in Syria are expected to eclipse the issues concerning
the eastern partners.

From: Baghdasarian

LITHUANIA DISAPPOINTED WITH ARMENIA’S GOING FOR CUSTOMS UNION

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 4 2013

4 September 2013 – 11:15am

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said yesterday that
Armenia boycotted its chances to sign the association agreement with
the EU itself by declaring readiness to join the Customs Union.

The minister noted that the EU respected Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, but needed Armenia to choose which integration structure
to join.

Linkevicius and 7 other foreign ministers warned that the any economic
threats or political pressure against eastern partners for their
strive to integrate in Europe were unacceptable.

Lithuania chairs the EU and will host the Eastern Partnership summit
in November.

From: Baghdasarian

GEORGIA PM SAYS ‘WHY NOT?’ ON EURASIAN UNION

20:56 04.09.2013

Customs Union, Georgia

One day after Armenia said it will join Russia’s Eurasian Union,
Georgia’s PM has said it might, in due course, do the same, the
EUobserver reorts.

Speaking on national TV on Wednesday (4 September), the Prime
Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, said: “I am keeping a close eye on
it [the Eurasian Union] and we are studying it. At this stage we
have no position at all. If in perspective we see that it is in our
country’s strategic interest, then, why not? But at this stage we
have no position at all.”

The remark caused an instant reaction in the Georgian parliament.

Giorgi Gabashvili, an MP from the opposition UNM party, told the house:
“I hope the Prime Minister lied and I hope the Georgian government
in fact is not studying this option.”

The PM’s office later published a press release, circulated in
Brussels, which noted: “While not ruling out the possibility of
joining such a union in the future, should it be judged in the
national interest, he [Ivanishvili] stated that ‘At this stage,
we have no position at all’.”

Georgia’s foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, added: “The whole world is
[studying the Eurasian Union project], including the EU. It is near
us, of course we have to know what is going on.”

From: Baghdasarian

LUKASHENKO PRESENTS ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP TO ARMENIAN MP GAGIK TSARUKYAN

Belarusian Telegraph Agency
Sept 4 2013

04.09.2013 17:35

MINSK, 4 September (BelTA) – President of the Republic of Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko presented the Order of Friendship to member of
the National Assembly of Armenia, head of the Multi Group Concern
Gagik Tsarukyan in recognition of his big personal contribution to
the development of trade, economic and political ties between Belarus
and Armenia. The head of state signed the corresponding decree on 4
September, BelTA learned from the presidential press service.

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN LEADERS SHOULD SETTLE SOME ISSUES TO BRING RELATIONS TO NEW LEVEL – SARGSYAN

Interfax, Russia
September 3, 2013 Tuesday 5:07 PM MSK

NOVO-OGARYOVO Moscow region. Sept 3

Russian and Armenian leaders should discuss a number of issues so as
to bring relations between the two countries to a new level, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan said.

Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin outside Moscow on
Tuesday, Sargsyan said the relationship between the two countries is
“based on centuries-long traditions of friendship and brotherhood
between the peoples.”

“I am sure that these relations will be developing in a spirit of
mutual understanding, according to the Friendship and Cooperation
Treaty. We value these relations and will do all we can to develop
them. This is an absolute priority to us,” Sargsyan said.

At the same time, Russia and Armenia have some issues “that need
to be resolved so that our relations could be brought to a new and
higher level,” he said.

“And this is what I have come to Moscow with,” he said.

Putin said relations between the two countries are developing
intensively in all areas, which is facilitated by contacts at
different levels, including between the parliaments, governments and
businesses. “The result in this connection is positive: our trade
turnover has seen growth of more than 23%,” Putin said.

Russia is Armenia’s leading trade partner, and “this trend is
continuing,” he said.

va mk

From: Baghdasarian

U.S CO-CHAIR OF OSCE MINSK GROUP TO VISIT ARMENIA, NAGORNO KARABAKH, AND AZERBAIJAN

[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]

16:55, 4 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador James Warlick, the U.S
Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group, will pay a visit to the region. As
reports “Armenpress” the American diplomat mad a note in his Twitter
page, where he stated that he considers visiting Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh, and Azerbaijan. In particular the U.S Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk
Group James Warlick underscored: “I will travel soon to Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh to begin my efforts to help bring
about a settlement.”

Ambassador James Warlick, the new U.S Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group,
most recently served as Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan
and Pakistan and lead negotiator for the Bilateral Security Agreement
with Afghanistan. He served as Ambassador to Bulgaria from 2009-2012,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of
International Organization Affairs from 2006 to 2009, and Director of
the Office of European Security and Political Affairs from 2005 to
2006. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry characterized his as a
first-rate diplomat, James Warlick earned a B.A. at Stanford University
in 1977, holds a Master of Letters in Politics from Wadham College
(1979), Oxford University, and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy
(1980) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

While Director of the United Nations Political Affairs in IO during
2003-2005, Ambassador Warlick also served as Principal Advisor
to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer during January 2004 to July 2004 in
Baghdad, Iraq.

James Warlick was Director of the Office of European Security and
Political Affairs, responsible for political-military and security
issues for Europe and the former Soviet Union, including NATO,
OSCE, and related arms control and nonproliferation policy issues
(2005-2006).

From: Baghdasarian