Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS TORN IN SYRIA’S CIVIL WAR

The Daily Star
Oct 1 2012
Lebanon

By Martin Armstrong, Lauren Williams

BEIRUT: Armenian Christians in Aleppo are being dragged in to the
increasingly sectarian civil war in the country, straining the
leadership’s policy of neutrality. Government shelling and fighting
between the forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and the opposition
fighters has reached the predominantly Christian neighborhoods of
Al-Midan, Suleimaniyah and Azizieh in the center of the city.

On Sept. 11, four Syrian Armenians were killed and 13 wounded when
the bus they were traveling on from the airport came under fire.

Initial reports suggested rebels with the Free Syrian Army shot at
the bus. Free Syrian Army leadership have denied responsibility and
blame government forces for the attack. It remains unclear who was
responsible, but the incident has served to highlight growing tensions
in the community.

Persistent reports from Armenian Christian residents and media
activists in Aleppo say some Christian groups are arming in the city.

Several sources told The Daily Star the Armenian leadership turned
down a government offer to arm the Armenian Christian community,
but say some Armenians are accepting weapons from the regime to join
pro-government militia groups known as the “popular committees.”

“They paid around 15,000 Syrian Pounds ($22) to every guy who wanted
to join the popular committees,” explained activist George, who asked
that his surname not be used, adding that around 400 men had taken
up the offer.

“The regime tells them: These terrorists are backed by Turkey and
this is your chance for revenge on Turkey.

“In this way they exploit the Christians’ loyalty, but I think it’s
failed.”

The Armenian community in Aleppo, numbering some 80,000 and whose
roots extend as far back as the first century B.C., has enjoyed broad
cultural autonomy and benevolent ties with the Alawite regime – a
relationship often cited as part of the government’s policy of courting
the country’s ethnic and religious minorities to counter-balance the
Sunni majority.

As they moved into central Aleppo, the majority Sunni Free Syrian
Army issued repeated assurances that minorities will not be harmed and
has called on Christians to join their fight against the government.

However, recent accounts from residents in the city say Islamist
fighters are increasingly targeting Christians for their perceived
support of the regime.

“They demanded the Armenian community give up those who were joining
the shabbiha,” said one man, using a pseudonym of Firas.

On Sept. 14, the leaders of the three Armenian churches in Aleppo –
Armenian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, and Armenian Evangelical – issued
a joint statement aimed at clarifying the position of the community:

“As the bloodshed continues unabated in our dear country … what
adds to our anguish are the unsuccessful attempts of presenting the
Syrian Armenians as taking part in the armed battles of the current
Syrian crisis or trying to actually drag them into such a conflict,”
the statement said.

“We reiterate today, that the peaceful co-existence that the Syrian
Armenians have cultivated throughout the decades continues … and
it will definitely stay against all kinds of violence and armed
collisions.”

Speaking via telephone from Aleppo, spokesman for the Armenian
Prelacy of Aleppo Jirayr Reyisian told The Daily Star churches as
well as mosques, schools and residential buildings had been damaged
by government shelling and in clashes between groups, insisting he
did not believe Christians were being targeted.

He outlined the prelacy’s work in providing humanitarian aid and
shelter to all victims of the fighting.

“Bombs don’t differentiate between sects,” he said.

On the question of arms in the community, he said “some armed groups
are supporting the army and there are some Armenians among them. We
have nothing to do with that.”

“We are not worried. We fear the situation for the whole country, for
all the people in Syria. But we are not taking sides in this crisis.”

That sentiment was echoed by members of the Lebanese Armenian
community, who adopted a policy of neutrality during the Lebanese
Civil War.

Hagop Pakradounian, Tashnag party MP for the Metn, notes that as the
conflict in Syria has escalated traditional positions of loyalty toward
the Syrian state among the Armenian community have been compromised.

“Wherever Armenians have been they have supported the country,
the state, but with the mutual killing in Syria now we have seen the
abolition of the concept of the Syrian nation as it has descended into
civil war,” says Pakradounian. “The idea of Syria has disappeared …

If someone attacks their [an Armenian] family, home or business then
they are obliged to defend themselves, not for the government nor
the opposition.”

Reverend Paul Haidostian, President of the Haigazian University in
Beirut, estimates that approximately 25 percent of Syria’s Armenian
population has been displaced by the conflict. While the majority has
relocated to areas within Syria less affected by the conflict he says
around 2,000 have fled to Armenia and a similar number to Lebanon.

Since the majority stay with relatives in the Bourj Hammoud and
Ashrafieh areas of Beirut and the town of Anjar in the Bekaa they do
not register with the UNHCR or ICRC, making precise numbers difficult
to verify.

However, Haidostian is quick to point out the official position of
neutrality adopted by the Armenian community in Aleppo, but he fears
that the continued escalation of conflict in Aleppo could result in
the permanent displacement of the Armenian community:

“I don’t think that the Armenian community is any more vulnerable
than other communities,” states Haidostian.

“What worries us in Aleppo, is what has worried us in Iraq and
elsewhere, that some displacement trends may be irreversible if the
conflict becomes more violent. Minorities often pay a higher price
in terms of quantity and quality of existence.”

At the social club of the Armenian Tashnag party in Bourj Hammoud,
Ogsen, 56, [an alias] struggled to contain his emotions. He fled
to Beirut from Al-Midan just over a week ago, along with his mother
and nephew. His brother, paralyzed from the waist down, remains in
Syria’s second city.

“We couldn’t take him,” Ogsen says with a shake of his head, recalling
his 14-hour journey to Beirut and his fear approaching checkpoints,
unsure whether they were controlled by Assad forces or the opposition.

“When a checkpoint was controlled by the army, then I felt relaxed,”
says Ogsen, “but if it was an opposition checkpoint I was terrified.”

“I love my country, I love my president but I had to leave,” Ogsen
says almost apologetically. “Everyone was leaving. I saw a young
girl die in front of my house, a soldier shot her through the head
by a sniper. So many people …,” he tails off, his dark curly hair
drooping over his brow as he bows his head toward the floor.

“They call themselves the Army of Freedom but they are terrorists,”
he says – the buzzword a constant in his referrals to the opposition
to the Syrian president.

Amin, 26, from the Suleimaniyah district of Aleppo similarly uses
the word “terrorist” when referring to the Syrian opposition.

Amin arrived in Beirut two months ago after the car factory in which
he worked shut down and he was unable to find work.

“I left [Aleppo] because I wasn’t going to wait and die but now I am
running out of money. I don’t know if I can stay but I don’t want to
go back.”

“Maybe I would return to sell my house but then I would leave. I
wouldn’t live there.”

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN MULLS HELPING ISRAEL WITH IRAN ATTACK

Ha’aretz
Oct 1 2012
Israel

Reuters quotes local sources with knowledge of Azerbaijan’s military
policy that say Azeri authorities explored with Israel how their air
bases, spy drones could help Israel in Iran strike.

Israel’s “go-it-alone” option to attack Iran’s nuclear sites has set
the Middle East on edge and unsettled its main ally at the height of
a U.S. presidential election campaign.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exudes impatience, saying Tehran
is barely a year from a “red line” for atomic capacity. Many fellow
Israelis, however, fear a unilateral strike, lacking U.S. forces,
would fail against such a large and distant enemy.

But what if, even without Washington, Israel were not alone?

Azerbaijan, the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic on Iran’s far northern
border, has, say local sources with knowledge of its military policy,
explored with Israel how Azeri air bases and spy drones might help
Israeli jets pull off a long-range attack.

That is a far cry from the massive firepower and diplomatic cover that
Netanyahu wants from Washington. But, by addressing key weaknesses
in any Israeli war plan – notably on refueling, reconnaissance and
rescuing crews – such an alliance might tilt Israeli thinking on the
feasibility of acting without U.S. help.

It could also have violent side-effects more widely and many doubt
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev would risk harming the energy industry
on which his wealth depends, or provoking Islamists who dream of
toppling his dynasty, in pursuit of favor from Israel.

Yet despite official denials by Azerbaijan and Israel, two Azeri
former military officers with links to serving personnel and two
Russian intelligence sources all told Reuters that Azerbaijan and
Israel have been looking at how Azeri bases and intelligence could
serve in a possible strike on Iran.

“Where planes would fly from – from here, from there, to where? –
that’s what’s being planned now,” a security consultant with contacts
at Azeri defense headquarters in Baku said. “The Israelis … would
like to gain access to bases in Azerbaijan.”

That Aliyev, an autocratic ally of Western governments and oil firms,
has become a rare Muslim friend of the Jewish state – and an object
of scorn in Tehran – is no secret; a $1.6-billion arms deal involving
dozens of Israeli drones, and Israel’s thirst for Azerbaijan’s Caspian
Sea crude, are well documented.

Israel’s foreign minister visited Baku in April this year.

But a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable from 2009 quoted Aliyev, who
succeeded his father in 2003, describing relations with Israel as
“like an iceberg, nine tenths … below the surface”.

That he would risk the wrath of his powerful neighbor by helping
wage war on Iran is, however, something his aides flatly deny; wider
consequences would also be hard to calculate from military action in a
region where Azerbaijan’s “frozen” conflict with Armenia is just one
of many elements of volatility and where major powers from Turkey,
Iran and Russia to the United States, western Europe and even China
all jockey for influence.

Nonetheless, Rasim Musabayov, an independent Azeri lawmaker and a
member of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that, while he
had no definitive information, he understood that Azerbaijan would
probably feature in any Israeli plans against Iran, at least as a
contingency for refueling its attack force: “Israel has a problem
in that if it is going to bomb Iran, its nuclear sites, it lacks
refueling,” Musabayov told Reuters.

“I think their plan includes some use of Azerbaijan access.

“We have (bases) fully equipped with modern navigation, anti-aircraft
defenses and personnel trained by Americans and if necessary they
can be used without any preparations,” he added.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has made clear it
does not welcome Israel’s occasional talk of war and that it prefers
diplomacy and economic sanctions to deflect an Iranian nuclear program
that Tehran denies has military uses.

Having also invested in Azerbaijan’s defenses and facilities used by
U.S. forces in transit to Afghanistan, Washington also seems unlikely
to cheer Aliyev joining any action against Iran.

The Azeri president’s team insist that that will not happen.

“No third country can use Azerbaijan to perpetrate an attack on Iran.

All this talk is just speculation,” said Reshad Karimov from Aliyev’s
staff. He was echoing similar denials issued in Baku and from Israel
when the journal Foreign Policy quoted U.S. officials in March voicing
alarm that Azeri-Israeli action could thwart U.S. diplomacy toward
Iran and across the Caucasus.

Israeli officials dismiss talk of Azeri collaboration in any attack
on Iran but decline public comment on specific details.

Even speaking privately, few Israeli officials will discuss the issue.

Those who do are skeptical, saying overt use of Azeri bases by Israel
would provoke too many hostile reactions. One political source did,
however, say flying unmarked tanker aircraft out of Azerbaijan to
extend the range and payloads of an Israeli bombing force might play
a part in Israeli planning.

Though denying direct knowledge of current military thinking on Iran,
the Israeli said one possibility might be “landing a refueling plane
there, made to look like a civilian airliner, so it could later take
off to rendezvous mid-air with IAF jets”.

A thousand miles separates Tehran and Tel Aviv, putting much of Iran
beyond the normal ranges of Israel’s U.S.-made F-16 bombers and their
F-15 escorts. So refueling could be critical.

There is far from unanimity among Israeli leaders about the likelihood
of any strike on Iran’s nuclear plants, whether in a wider, U.S.-led
operation or not. Netanyahu’s “red line” speech to the United Nations
last week was seen by many in Israel as making any strike on Iran
unlikely – for at least a few months.

Many, however, also assume Israel has long spied on and even sabotaged
what the Western powers say are plans for atomic weapons which Israel
says would threaten its very existence.

A second Israeli political source called the idea of Azerbaijan being
either launch pad or landing ground for Israeli aircraft “ludicrous”
– but agreed with the first source that it was fair to assume joint
Israeli-Azeri intelligence operations.

The Azeri sources said such cooperation was established.

As part of last year’s arms deal, Azerbaijan is building up to
60 Israeli-designed drones, giving it reconnaissance means far
greater than many analysts believe would be needed just to guard oil
installations or even to mount any operations against the breakaway,
ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“With these drones, (Israel) can indirectly watch what’s happening
in Iran, while we protect our borders,” legislator Musabayov said –
a view shared by Azeri former military sources.

Less reserved than Israeli officials, the sources in Azerbaijan
and in Russian intelligence, which keeps a close eye on its former
Soviet backyard, said Baku could offer Israel much more, however –
though none believed any deal was yet settled.

The country, home to nine million people whose language is close to
Turkish and who mostly share the Shi’ite Muslim faith of Iran, has
four ex-Soviet air bases that could be suitable for Israeli jets,
the Azeri sources said. They named central Kyurdamir, Gyanja in the
west and Nasosny and Gala in the east.

The Pentagon says it helped upgrade Nasosny airfield for NATO use. It
also uses Azeri commercial facilities in transit to Afghanistan. But
U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan is limited by Washington’s role as
a mediator in its dispute with Armenia.

One of the sources with links to the Azeri military said: “There is
not a single official base of the United States and even less so of
Israel on the territory of Azerbaijan. But that is ‘officially’.

Unofficially they exist, and they may be used.”

The source said Iran had been a main topic of talks in April with
Israel’s Soviet-born foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

Azeri tarmac, a shorter flight from key sites in northern Iran
including the Fordow underground uranium enrichment plant and missile
batteries at Tabriz, might feature in Israeli war planning in less
direct ways, the former Azeri officers said.

With Israel wary of its vulnerability to pressure over air crew taken
prisoner, plans for extracting downed pilots may be a key feature
of any attack plan. Search and rescue helicopters might operate from
Azerbaijan, the sources said – or planes that were hit or low on fuel
could land at Azeri bases in extremis.

Such engagement carries risks for Azerbaijan and its oil platforms
and pipelines operated with international companies.

Defending against Iran is part of public debate in Baku. The United
States has provided Azerbaijan with three Coast Guard cutters and
has funded seven coastal radar sites as well as giving Baku other
help in protecting its oil installations.

Relations have long been strained between the former Soviet state
and Iran, which is home to twice as many ethnic Azeris as Azerbaijan
itself. Tehran beams an Azeri-language television channel over the
border which portrays Aliyev as a puppet of Israel and the West,
as well as highlighting corruption in Baku.

Azerbaijan sees Iranian hands behind its Islamist opposition and both
countries have arrested alleged spies and agitators.

Faced with an uneven balance of force, Aliyev’s government makes no
bones about Israel being an ally. As one presidential aide, speaking
on condition of anonymity, explained: “We live in a dangerous
neighborhood; that is what is the most powerful driving force for
our relationship with Israel.”

However, Israel’s confrontation with Iran may turn out, the arms
build-up in Azerbaijan, including recent Israeli upgrades for its
Soviet T-72 tanks, may have consequences for the wider region and for
the stand-off with Armenia – consequences that would trouble all the
powers with stakes in the Caspian region.

“We keep buying arms. On the one hand, it’s a good strategy to
frighten Armenia,” one of the former Azeri officers said of the shaky,
18-year-old ceasefire over Nagorno-Karabakh. “But you don’t collect
weapons to hang on the wall and gather dust.

“One day, all these could be used.”

From: Baghdasarian

Temporary Failure of French Policy

Igor Muradyan
Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 17:54:59 – 26/09/2012

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s domestic and foreign policies were
designed not only by his political team. This policy was the result of a
long process of development of the French establishment and understanding
of new priorities.

Nikolas Sarkozy successfully implemented a multivector and balanced foreign
policy returning France to NATO, improving relations with the United States
and entering into a military alliance with the U.K., nevertheless
preserving the de Gaul model of priority relations with Germany, at the
same time developing business relations with Russia and China. Nicolas
Sarkozy worked towards healing the economic policy, tackling with the
exaggerated social policy.

The French policy on Turkey has never been so certain and objective when
all the possible resources for restraining Turkish expansion were
deployed. Currently,
both the foreign and economic aspects of the French foreign policy are less
certain.

Paris questions reasonability of its stay in NATO and subsequently
rapprochement with the United States. At the same time, the European policy
of France has become less balanced. The relations with Germany were not
marked by solidarity.

One cannot say that the French policy seems confused and uncertain, while
political experts, mainly rightists, are convinced that now it is
experiencing temporary failure of effectiveness. This uncertainty affects
also the French policy on Turkey, the French position has become more
controversial.

Francois Hollande has already demonstrated necessary flexibility and
compromise in the economic policy, and solidarity with Germany has been
boosted, first of all in regard to economic issues relating to the European
Union. The policy of Nicolas Sarkozy was the result of a deep strategy, not
temporary interests, and one way or another, France will continue along
this line, presupposing solutions for the European security issues and
regional policies on the Mediterranean, the Near East, Western Europe and
the Caucasus.

Modern international politics does not leave room for populism and failures
in the implementation of the strategy. In social and economic policy it is
also impossible to refrain from limiting social programs as is required by
the tough reality. It is possible that in the course of time some changes
will take place in the political team of Francois Hollande. France will
keep the role of political leader of Europe and active participant of the
regional policy reflecting the interests of the Euro-Atlantic community.

From: Baghdasarian

Nepszabadsag website, Hungary
Sept 28 2012

Nemeth: The Azeri’s Procedure Left a Thorh in the Government

Interview with Foreign Ministry State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth by Edit Inodai

[Inodai] Has the Foreign Ministry closed the Azeri-Armenian-Hungarian
affair and have you drown any conclusions from it?

[Nemeth] The Foreign Ministry continuously fulfilled its task during
the preparation of the decision, so the prime minister was aware of
the foreign policy consequences. As for closing the affair down: such
an affair cannot be closed down, because the Hungarian government’s
decision leads to a lot of conclusions and tasks. One of the
consequences is the Armenian relations that can be handled with great
difficulty; this will stay with us for some time. We must do
everything in our power to place the bilateral relations into their
previous channel. [passage omitted]

[Inodai] You belong to the old Atlantic trend of Fidesz [Hungarian
Civic Alliance] Are you still able to influence the prime minister and
make him understand that the relations with the United States and
Western Europe are at least as important as his preferred eastern
opening?

[Nemeth] One of the important characteristics of Fidesz’s foreign
policy is that it succeed in staying uniform in the past 20 years.
When disputed issues emerged, we discussed them at relevant levels.
Thus, our foreign policy did not have different “wings” and we are
striving for this in the future as well. The way we see it, it is the
task of foreign policy to create the international conditions of
asserting the Hungarian interests. We are now advancing on a rather
thorny path and there is bigger headwind and there are bigger
challenges, but we are advancing. I do not think that the Hungarian
foreign policy is less efficient than before, but an important
condition is that the internal coordination continue to work.

[Inodai] Has the government caused this headwind in Europe with its
unusual legislative practice?

[Nemeth] The government of national interest assertion could have
decided not to take the steps with which our voters entrusted us, and
then we would not have caused so many interest offences. There are
interest offences and oppositions behind these debates and criticism.
We are striving to make our goals clear, legitimate, and predictable.
It is another matter that there are people who do not like this. If we
act in accordance with the international laws and norms, there can be
no criticism. If not, we commit a mistake. Obviously, we have also
made mistakes. Regarding our relations with the United States, we have
made numerous progressive initiatives, like the Transatlantic Week
last year, with the participation of a former and an active foreign
minister in Budapest; we have opened the Lantos Institute; and we
organized many high-level conferences, including the series of events
of the Wallenberg-year. There is close cooperation in the security
policy that represents the basics of our bilateral relations, and
there is national consensus behind this. There is reduced mutual trust
in a well-delimited part of our diplomatic relations. But the
Safarov-affair produced tremendous waves in the US-Hungarian relations
and showed that, unfortunately, there are signs of serious bilateral
loss of confidence here. In our view, this is due to basic
misunderstanding, and Phil Gordon’s statements shows this.

[Inodai] If we look at your professional area, the neighbourhood
policy, the relations have not been rosy here either in the past two
years. Although Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said earlier that the
Hungarian-Romanian relations are excellent, never before have
Hungarian ambassadors been summoned into the Foreign Ministry in
Bucharest more frequently as in the past two years. What do you think
about this?

[Nemeth] Hungary and Romania have indeed lived through a “honeymoon”
in the past two years. This lasted until the government change in May.
Unfortunately, the pretext of toppling the Ungureanu-cabinet was also
a Hungarian issue. Let me remind you that they lost the no-confidence
motion at the vote on the Medical University in Marosvasarhely [Tirgu
Mur es in Romanian]. [passage omitted]

[Inodai] You have spectacularly taken a stand in favour of the
Hungarian People’s Party in Transylvania, while the overwhelming
majority of ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania voted for the RMDSZ
[Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania; UDMR in Romanian].
Should you not rethink the strategy that leads to the division of
ethnic Hungarians living beyond the borders?

[Nemeth] The ethnic Hungarian communities living beyond the borders
have not had it easy in the past 20 years, particularly when leftist
governments were in power in Hungary. They simply did not provide
sufficient assistance to these communities. This does not mean that
what Fidesz, or earlier the MDF [Hungarian Democratic Forum] did would
have been a solution. But at least the commitment is unquestionable.
We are in a very difficult situation because of the division of ethnic
Hungarians living beyond the borders… [passage omitted]

[Inodai] Is it not an anachronism to support national parties in the
united Europe?

[Nemeth] It is a fundamental question what the ethnic Hungarians
beyond the borders want. They created these parties, they determined
their own strategy, and it is the task of the Hungarian government to
honour and support them. In places where there are national minorities
in Western Europe, there are also national parties.

[Inodai] Is there a chance for autonomy?

[Nemeth] This is the goal of every ethnic Hungarian community abroad.
Paradoxically, the best results have been achieved in Serbia, as the
first cultural autonomy emerged in Vojvodina. The Hungarian National
Council sponsors schools, cultural institutions, and newspapers. This
serves as an example to the other communities. The RMDSZ formulated
this cultural autonomy as its goal in Romania, and certain political
circles want to omit this from the Romanian national minority law.
[passage omitted]

[Inodai] Do you not feel that Hungary is rather isolated in Europe today?

[Nemeth] I would rather say that Hungary has more critics in the EU
today. But perhaps more friends as well.

[Translated from Hungarian]

From: Baghdasarian

MilAz.info, Azerbaijan
Sept 27 2012

Slovenian Foreign Minister:’ The International Law must respect just
position of Azerbaijan’

12:01 27-09-2012

`The European Parliament should join its efforts with Azerbaijan for
the solution of the Nagorno Karabakh Conflict.

The European Parliament and international law supports Azerbaijan,
said Ivo Vaygl, the EP member and former minister of Foreign Affairs
of Slovenia, during the International Conference on Construction of
Bridges. APA reports.

`We join Azerbaijan in criticizing international organizations and
support its just position. We consider the OSCE Minsk group should
make every effort for the solution of the conflict. Azerbaijan expects
EP to do its best’, said Vaygl.

He explained that the international Law should respect just position
of Azerbaijan. The territorial integrity of the country must be
reconstructed, the internally displaced people of Azerbaijan must
return back to their own lands.

From: Baghdasarian

Two `godfathers’ from Russia arrested in Yerevan

news.am
September 28, 2012 | 22:00

YEREVAN. – The law enforcement agents have detained two high ranking
criminals – Artem Arakelyan and Temur Mirzoev – in the Zvartnots
airport, who have arrived from Russia.

The clan of Ded Hasan (Aslan Usoyan) has crowned 33-year-old Artem
Arakelyan (Artem Lipetskiy) this summer, Crime-Time reports.
Afterwards, Arakelyan headed to Armenia to get acquainted with local
criminals. Artem was accompanied by a nephew of Ded Hasan Temur
Mirzoev (Timur Sverdlovskiy).

It is known that Azerbaijani high ranking criminal Vagif Suleymanov
has contributed in the career of Arakelyan, the website reported.

From: Baghdasarian

RA, Greek FMs disuses Armenia-EU cooperation

September 29, 2012 – 19:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian Foreign Minster Edward Nalbandian met
September 28 with his Greek counterpart Dimitris Avramopoulos as part
of his visit to New York.

Highly assessing Armenia-Greek relations, the ministers discussed the
course of implementation of the agreements reached during President
Serzh Sargsyan’s state visit to Greece and RA-EU cooperation.

Greek Minister further briefed Edward Nalbandian on the steps taken to
withstand the economic crisis.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenian Government to receive another financial assistance from USAID

14:40, 29 September, 2012

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian Mission Director of
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Karen
Hilliard and the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Tigran
Davtyan signed an agreement on financial assistance of USD 14,6
million on September 29. According to Armenpress, in the framework of
the agreement Armenia will be allocated financial assistance of USD
9,6 million for the implementation of economic reforms in Armenia and
USD 5 million for the support of health and social reforms.

“In the framework of our program we try to directly cooperate with the
Armenian Government”, – stated the Armenian Mission Director of the
United States Agency for International Development Karen Hilliard.

The Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Davtyan
stated that they worked on the program to make the results more
visible. “Our partners believe in the reforms implemented by the
Government of the Republic of Armenia”, – said the Minister of
Economy.

Being the forth tranche, these allocations are made in the framework
of the two agreements of USD 56 million in total signed on August 6
2010 between the Governments of the United States and the Republic of
Armenia.

The agreements intended financial assistance of USD 56 million by the
Government of the United States to the Republic of Armenia via the
United States Agency for International Development, aiming at the
formation of a more competitive and diversified private sector, as
well as efficient reforms in the field of the health and social
services.

From: Baghdasarian

Azerbaijani side has violated ceasefire regime over 250 times

14:39, 29 September, 2012

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS: Over 250 and more ceasefire regime
violation has been recorded in the entire length of Karabakh-
Azerbaijan conflict zone in the course of the previous week, 1300
shots from various caliber of weapons have been released towards
Armenian peacekeepers.

As Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army information and propaganda department
informed Armenpress, DA frontier military units remained faithful to
ceasefire regime maintenance and taking necessary steps aimed at
protecting military positions successfully.

As Armenpress reported earlier the latest border monitoring was
conducted by OSCE in Hadrut .Then the monitoring from the positions
of the NKR Defense Army was conducted by field assistants of the
personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Khristo
Khristov (Bulgaria) and William Prior (Great Britain).

From: Baghdasarian

Export volumes growing in Armenia

13:35, 29 September, 2012

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: 2011 was favorable year for
Armenian Republic economy. The volumes of industry, export and GDP
has increased in 2011. 14 projects have been implemented by Armenian
Ministry of Economy. Minister Tigran Davtyan came forth in the course
of ” Armenian Republic 2011 state budget execution” annual report.
95.5 % of the amount allocated by the state to the Ministry has been
spent.

Ministry of Economy singled out the implementation of Tourism and IT
development projects in the accounting year. In the words of the
official the Government considered those branches priority and
reportedly allocated budgetary funds. The implementation of the
projects has been carried out within private and public sector
cooperation.

In the words of Davtyan the export volumes are growing rapidly than
that of industry. 2013 state budget stipulates to allocate 300
million AMD for the development of export and industry volumes.
Dwelling on Gyumry techno park construction Davtyan stated they have
been already launched and will end coming year. In the words of
Davtyan it will contribute to the development of technological
capabilities.

From: Baghdasarian