Author: Basmajian Ani

ARMENIA TO SEND PEACEKEEPERS TO AFGHANISTAN

Interfax
July 21 2009
Russia

Armenia will send peacekeepers to Afghanistan late this year and is
in talks to that effect with Germany, Armenia’s defense minister said
on Tuesday.

The minister, Seiran Ohanian, who was talking to reporters, did not
say how many servicemen would go to Afghanistan.

He said many of the former members of the Soviet forces that fought
in Afghanistan during the former Soviet Union’s war of 1979-1989
in that country wish to join the Armenian peacekeeping force to be
deployed there.

ONLY "RANDOM" COURSE OF EVENTS CAN PREVENT IRAN FROM CONSOLIDATING ITS PLACE IN THE REGION
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.07.2009 GMT+04:00

Possibly, Teheran will make some, so to speak, concessions. More than
participation in regional projects Iran needs outlet to the outer
world, so that she would no more be ascribed to "outcast" countries.

The latest events in the region clearly show that Iran is more and more
enthusiastically consolidating her position as a regional power and
is determined to participate in all the regional projects, starting
with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation and concluding with
Nabucco. Teheran clearly and unequivocally gives the West to understand
that she is ready to cooperate on all the regional problems, and,
most evidently, neither Europe nor the USA are categorically against
Teheran’s determination to actually become a regional power.

However, it is noteworthy that not all the states in the world are
ready to accept the ayatollah regime and to cooperate with it. The
opposition in the person of Rafsanjani and Khatami still attempts to
call in question the results of presidential elections in Iran. Let
us not discuss how founded or unfounded their claims are: elections
in any eastern and even western country are always a fair chance
for the opposition to once more remind about themselves or, if they
have such an order, to arrange a "minor revolution". It is what the
opposition in Iran still attempts to do, calling people to meetings
and to referendum. However, what worked in a number of countries,
will definitely not work in Iran. And the matter is not only the
mentality of the Iranians; simply, if a revolution occurs, it will
end up in blood and destabilization of the whole region. For this
very reason the West does not reply Iran with a definite "No". But
if we also add to this the incomprehensible games around the Leader
of the Nuclear Program of Iran, we can assume that Teheran may make
some, so to speak, concessions. More than participation in regional
projects Iran needs outlet to the outer world, so that she would
no more be ascribed to "outcast" countries. Specifically, for this
very reason are made the statements on the readiness to supply gas
for Nabucco, which will turn from a "dream gas pipe" into reality
only if the Iranian gas is pumped up into it. As for Azerbaijan,
the situation seems quite clear with her – Europe will get only the
crumbs remained from Gazprom. Moreover, the latest tough statement of
the EU Three about the arrested journalists, which badly harms Baku’s
reputation in the eyes of the world community, may make Azerbaijan an
"improper" partner, no matter how keenly Baku denies it.

However, as far as the Karabakh issue is concerned, here too Iran
will try and, in all probability, will secure the consideration of her
interests in the negotiation process. And it is still unknown whether
the OSCE Minsk Group will refuse to consider this factor. Reasons are
several and the most important is the absence of personal interests
(at least, in words) in using a counterweight against the open
pro-Azerbaijani position of Turkey. Naturally, Iran has more chances
in this so-to-say competition.

However, things do not end at that. The sharp reproof addressed to
Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the representatives of
the elite, who undermine the foundations of the state, clearly shows
to the world what can become of Iran if the opposition continues the
protest demonstrations. There will be arrests, gunfire, and, at best,
exile from the country. In other words, we’ll have the same situation
when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power. One more thing should
be remembered: Iran is not the country to intimidate or blackmail like,
for example, Turkey. Teheran may come out to be a far more fitting
ally for the West in view of its predictability, what can’t be said
about Turkey and, what is more, about Azerbaijan, the leadership of
which is not in its best shape now. It became especially evident after
the Moscow meeting between Sargsyan and Aliyev, when Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov and the President contradicted each other in their
statements. By the way, let us note in between that these disagreements
have started still since the June meeting of the Presidents, and what
it will lead to is still difficult to predict.

In view of the geopolitical situation, Armenia had better continue
cooperation with Iran, especially since it no longer appears so "bad"
in the eyes of the West. Today Azerbaijan, lost in her priorities,
little by little is losing her pseudo-friends on the region and,
no matter how hard the Baku propaganda and agitation department
tries to persuade that their "country is unique and exceptional in
the region", it can change nothing. Thus, in all likelihood, Iran is
determined to consolidate its place in the region and only "random"
course of events can prevent her from doing it.

INDIVIDUAL TIME DEPOSITS IN AMERIABANK GROW 230% AT 1ST HALF OF 2009

ARKA
July 22, 2009

YEREVAN, July 22. /ARKA/. The time deposits attracted by Armenian
Ameriabank from individuals grew 230% at the first half of this year
and 36.9% over the second quarter.

The press office of the bank told ARKA News Agency that individuals’
time deposits in Ameriabank keep growing.

They grew 5.3 times at the first half of 2009, compared with the same
period of the previous year, reaching AMD 6.3 billion by late June.

"The bank’s initiative issued yet in December 2008 on full insurance of
individual deposits prompted public reaction", the press release said.

Legal entities’ deposits in Ameriabank are growing quickly as well.

This shows growing confidence of clients in Ameriabank and
effectiveness of the bank’s cooperation with legal entities.

Legal entities’ deposits grew 95.5% at the first half of 2009 reaching
AMD 26 billion by late June.

They make 80.5% of all the deposits of the bank.

The deposits attracted from legal entities at the fist half of 2008
grew 3.4 times.

Ameriabank is a corporate investment bank offering corporate,
investment and some retail services in a package.

Ruben Vardanyan is the chairman of the bank’s directorial board and
Artak Anesyan is general director.

Troyka Dialog, the largest Russian investment banking company is
Ameriabank’s strategic partner. ($1= AMD 365.19).

RA PUBLIC COUNCIL DELEGATION’S FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO BE PAID TO NKR

Noyan Tapan
July 22, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Public Council’s delegation will
pay its first official visit between July 23 to 25. The delegation
will visit NKR, where it will meet with NKR President, high-ranking
officials of NA, government, and other state structures, as well as
representatives of NGOs.

Visit’s goal is to reach agreements over cooperation format
with NKR, to get acquainted with political, economic, social,
scientific-educational problems of NKR to discuss them at the Public
Council and to form proposals later.

‘KHATCHKAR’ MEMORIAL FOR CIVIL WAR SAILOR GETS GO AHEAD WITH MAJOR DONATION

5/%e2%80%98khatchkar%e2%80%99-memorial-for-civil-w ar-sailor-gets-go-ahead-with-major-donation/
July 15, 2009

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.–With an anonymous donation of $10,000, the project
for a khatchkar (Armenian cross-stone) memorial for the only Armenian
to have served in the American Civil War will go ahead, said Sandra
Selverian, president of the Philadelphia Armenian-American Veterans
Association (PAAVA).

"However, we are making this final appeal for more donations to have
a perpetual-care program for the grave site," she said.

Khachadour Garabedian was born near Constantinople and emigrated
to Lowell, Mass. in the 1850’s. He worked as a machinist, became an
American citizen, and enlisted in the Union Navy during the Civil War,
where he held officer rank. He served aboard two ships engaged in
the blockade of Southern ports–along the Atlantic Coast and later
in the Gulf of Mexico.

Garabedian was discharged in Philadelphia in August 1865, and remained
there, becoming the first Armenian in the city. He married into a
prominent Philadelphia family, and died in 1881. He is buried in
Fernwood Cemetery, in southwest Philadelphia. He and his wife had
no children.

Garabedian was "discovered" by chance by Gary Kooltokian of Chelmsford,
Mass., who uncovered Garabedian’s early20years in America.

"The reason we needed a gravestone for Garabedian," said Paul
Sookiasian, who has carried out extensive research into Garabedian’s
life, "is that the original stone disintegrated in the 1950’s and his
grave is without a marker. We thought that a traditional khatchkar
would be an ideal replacement." Sookiasian brought the Garabedian
story to PAAVA, which readily agreed to undertake a fundraising drive
for the memorial.

The 10-year-old PAAVA is made up of veterans from the tri-state
Philadelphia area, as well as former Philadelphians who want to retain
their ties with the area. At its peak, it had more than 420 members,
and enjoys the support of all five churches in the area, with members
serving on the PAAVA Board.

The date for the unveiling ceremony has not yet been set.

To make a tax-exempt donation to the khatchkar memorial, send a check
(payable to "PAAVA Civil War Project") to Richard Weinsheimer, # 229,
300 Ernest Way, Philadelphia, PA 19111.

THERE IS PROGRESS IN SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT: AZERBAIJANI FM

Today.Az
50.html
July 20 2009
Azerbaijan

There is certain progress in solving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at a news
conference in Baku on July 20.

"The co-chairmen will arrive in the region to prepare possible meeting
of presidents in Moscow in September. I think there is certain progress
in settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Some hopes appeared
after presidents met in Moscow," the minister said.

Mammadyarov said that several principles of the agreement were
disclosed and work over these principles continues. "Armenian troops
must leave occupied territories. Afterward, question on return of
refugees to their lands will be raised," the minister said.

Mammadyarov said big funds are required to restore land and
infrastructure. This issue is expected to be discussed with the EU,
he said.

"When I say intensifying process of settlement of the conflict, first,
I mean Russia’s intensification in this process," Mammadyarov said.

LYUDMILA HARUTYUNYAN: DISCLOSURE OF THE MADRID PRINCIPLES WERE MEANT TO EXCITE THE SOCIETY

AZG DAILY
21-07-2009

Head of the Center for Regional Integration and Conflict Resolution
Lyudmila Harutyunyan and representative of the Social-Democratic
Hnchagian Party Board Vahan Shirkhanyan discussed the Karabakh
issue today.

According to Lyudmila Harutyunyan, the Madrid Principles were made
public to excite the society. Vahan Shirkhanyan is dissatisfied with
the principles, saying those are anti-Armenian.

"Artsakh should not participate in the negotiations on settlement. It
should conduct talks with Azerbaijan. Armenia has nothing to do
here. Armenia’s task is to recognize the independence of Artsakh and
be a guarantor of peace," Vahan Shirkhanyan considers.

According to Lyudmila Harutyunyan, this opinion is too radical. "One
can always make such statements if he wishes to deepen the conflict,"
she said.

"We often hear such opinions. If we approach the issue from the
professional point of view, the negotiation process is already under
way. We can always make such statements if we don not wish to solve
the conflict. We should aspire to establish lasting peace. One of
our objectives is to keep the Artsakhi lands, because there are 400
thousand refugees from Azerbaijan who should have somewhere to live,"
Lyudmila Harutyunyan stated.

Karabakh process leading to nothing is advantageous for both Russia and
the USA

2009-07-17 12:13:00

Interviewed by David Stepanyan, 16 July 2009, ArmInfo

Interview of ex-foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Arman Melikyan
with ArmInfo news agency

Mr. Melikyan, what are the geopolitical prerequisites of the statement
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict made by the presidents of the USA,
Russia and France during the L’Aquila summit?

Actually, the logic of the Karabakh negotiating process leads to
unsettlement of the Karabakh conflict. Undoubtedly, the negotiating
process is very much useful for several reasons which have the local as
well as global specification. For the external forces: Russia, the USA and
European Union the negotiations are important as the Karabakh conflict
is of a global significance for them. The reason is that the fact of
the unsettled conflict in our region creates extra risks for the
communications which run via its territory from the East to the Western
Europe. For this reason at present when the geo-political situation
changed after the USSR split, the relations between the main players
have changed too. Thus, today the USA and Russia are fighting for
having influence in Europe. In that fight the USA is trying to lobby
and fulfill construction of communications from the East to Europe,
which will bypass Russia. But the latter is trying to hamper it, having
monopolized the energy products delivery to Europe. That is to say, for
Russia as well as Europe communications and energy products are the
instruments to affect Western Europe. It is clear that without Western
Europe it will be difficult for the USA to organize and fulfill its
policy including the economical one at the Eurasian territory. For
Russia, which has no other chance and trump card to affect the policy
of the Western Europe than energy products delivery, preserving of
monopoly to energy products delivery is a matter of life and death,
i.e. the situation is very much difficult. Actually, Europeans may
admit both options. They may start strategic cooperation with Moscow or
make use of the opportunities given by the USA or China. But there are
negative moments in both options.

What role does the Karabakh conflict factor play in the geopolitical
alignment in the region?

The given factor is able to essentially change the geopolitical
alignment in the region in case of a new outbreak of the Karabakh
conflict. Currently, as the negotiation process is slowly going on, no
one needs this breakout. That is, the process leading to nothing is
advantageous today for both Russia and the USA, as it gives an
advantage to no one in the region. Some status-quo has developed in the
South Caucasus region, within the frames of which both parties try to
find some other ways to promote their interests. That is, a positional
game is going on, where Bulgaria, for example, has already refused to
take part in the , that will quite seriously complicate implementation
of the Russian project. In this situation, Russia does not seat on its
hands either. Availability of any negotiation process in this situation
is profitable for both the mediator-countries and participants in the
conflict which does not need to uselessly sacrifice their young people
sending them to the war. However, the postulates, which are used today,
lead to nothing, as it is impossible to resolve the Karabakh problem by
determinations.

According to your logic, the statement of the three presidents in
L’Aquila has actually changed nothing, has it?

It has changed nothing for now. But in general, I think we do not need
the Madrid principles at all. It is yet unclear what they envisage as
it is unclear how the notorious referendum on determination of the NKR
status will be held, and whether the parties will accept its results.
So, the referendum is a distant prospect, while the territories are to
be given today. In this context I advocate new initiatives and a new
parallel process, as the Madrid principles and, in general, the whole
negotiation process held up to now, contains somewhat asymmetric with
respect to the sides. They permanently say about the necessity of
return of the Azerbaijani refugees and the internally displaced persons
to their homes and nothing is said about the Armenian refugees. They
say the NKR Defence Army should cede the territories it liberated, but
there is no word about Shahumyan or Getashen. This means that Armenia,
as a negotiator, understands the necessity of ceding of the
territories, but it does not think it is necessary to protect the
rights of Armenian refugees. Moreover, Armenia does not care about the
territorial integrity of the NKR, not recognizing its independence. In
fact, the Madrid principles deny the fact of the NKR self-determination
and Armenia joining these principles does the same. I think that having
agreed to such logic of the process put itself in an extremely
unfavorable position and deprived itself of many solid arguments to
reach its goals. For instance, the changed principles say not about the
Azerbaijani refugees but about refugees in general, that is to say, it
is supposed that Armenians may also return to the places of their
permanent residence.

This is stated in the principles and what about the reality?

The reality is that Azerbaijan is preparing a program of returning.
According to this program, hundreds of thousands of people are to
populate the liberated territories. It is noteworthy that the program
is financed by both Azerbaijani Government and international financial
organizations. Judging by who is at power in Baku today, I have no
doubt that Aliyev will manage to force these people to populate these
territories. But the most important thing is that international
organizations are ready to finance this while the matter doesn’t
concern Armenian refugees. For unknown reasons nobody says that
Armenians should return to Khanlar, Getashen, Artsvashen, Shahumyan.
Moreover, nobody speaks of the material sponsorship of this return. All
this demonstrates a number of mistakes made by Armenia throughout the
whole peace process. It is possible and necessary to correct them, but
for this purpose the people responsible for the peace process just
should make relevant conclusions.

You have mentioned that the Karabakh process is a part of a big
geopolitical game while no consensus between the game participants is
expected. Does this mean that the Madrid principles will remain on the
paper?

There is consensus at least around one point. The USA, France and
Russia agree that the Armenian parties should return the liberated
territories to Azerbaijan. They see an opportunity of being fixed in
Azerbaijan in this way. The country with the help of which Azerbaijan
will get the territories back, will be able to deploy in that country,
create a military base and to get some preferences, i.e. to get
exclusive. The situation may be corrected until we did not cede the
territories. We have not returned the territories but we have not
populated them either. And they will be a cheesecake for everybody as
long as they are unpopulated and ruined.

Does Turkey play any role in the Karabakh peace process?

No, Turkey plays no role in the Karabakh settlement, though Ankara has
a serious influence in
Azerbaijan. Today it is the Turks that turned out to be in a somewhat
suspended state, so Turkey is not wished to be seen in the European
Union, and it lost its strategic importance. For Russia, Turkey is just
an economic partner, however, there is no fundamental positive in
Ankara-Moscow relations, and I think there may be no such relations in
the near future.

What about Turkey’s aspiration to tie the Armenian-Turkish process with
the Karabakh one?

This aspiration is quite clear as this is a factor for Turkey in its
relations with EU which needs alternative communications. While
Armenia-Turkey border is closed and the Karabakh conflict may break out
any time, Europe cannot hope for stable functioning of these
alternative communications. In this sense, Turkey uses the Karabakh
conflict as a precondition of its joining EU. In fact, Turkey needs the
opened border to Armenia most of all, as it is obvious that opening of
the Armenian-Turkish border will become the start for the Russian
frontier guards and Russian military base to leave the territory of
Armenia. And those who say that this is not obvious are cunning.

Then why does Moscow support the Armenian-Turkish process at least
externally?

I think that finally even if Turkey wants to open the border to
Armenia, in Moscow they will find a reason to keep the border shut
down, this time by the initiative of the Armenian party.

Thanks

DMITRY MEDVEDEV SENT HIS CONDOLENCES TO PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA

RIA Oreanda
Economic News
July 16, 2009 Thursday
Russia

Moscow. OREANDA-NEWS . July 16, 2009. A telegram to President of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan reads, in part:

We were deeply saddened to hear the news that citizens of the Republic
of Armenia had lost their lives when a passenger plane crashed en
route from Tehran to Yerevan.

Please accept our deepest condolences following this tragedy, and
pass our words of sympathy and support to the families and friends
of the victims, and to all the people of Armenia.

The telegram to President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reads, in part:

The people of Russia were deeply saddened to learn about the jet
crash near Qazvin, ending many lives.

Please accept my deepest condolences in regard to this tragedy,
and please give our condolences to the families and friends of the
victims in this difficult time of grief.

The Tu-154 aircraft, belonging to Irans Caspian Airlines, was flying
from Tehran to Yerevan when it crashed, 100 kilometres from Iranian
capital. 168 people were on board.

NKR PRESIDENT EXTENDED CONDOLENCES TO ARMENIAN AND IRANIAN LEADERS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
16.07.2009 15:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In connection with the recent air crash, NKR
President Bako Sahakyan extended his condolences to his Armenian and
Iranian colleagues Serzh Sargsyan and Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

"At this time of nationwide grief, we share your grief and losses
suffered from the tragic death of passengers who were on board the
plane heading from Tehran to Yerevan. We wish their relatives and
friends strength and courage" Mr. Sahakyan says in his letter of
condolence as reported by NKR President’s press service.