Author: Chalian Meline

DAVUTOGLU: THE PROCESS WILL FAIL IF WASHINGTON CONTINUES EXERTING PRESSURE

armradio.am
08.02.2010 15:22

The discussion of the recognition of the Armenian genocide by the US
Congressmen is an element of pressure today, Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu said, according to Hurriyet.

"However, everyone should know that Turkey is not a country that can
be spoken with in a language of pressure", Turkish FM Ahmed Davutoglu
told Turkish journalists.

The Turkish diplomat is assured that these are the links of one chain.

"At first the Constitutional Court of Armenia passes decisions
that fully contradict to the spirit of the signed protocols, then
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan demonstrates unconstructive approach
in negotiations in Sochi and now the date has been appointed for
discussion of the genocidein the US Congress."

"Why do these events occur in this very period? When signing protocols
with Armenia, we have demonstrated the political will and started
rapprochement on a goodwill basis. They should not blackmail us with
April 24. If someone wants to put pressure on us, it will be useless.

Turkey is an independent state and it takes the decisions considering
its national interests," he said.

"If Americans use such methods, we declare officially that the process
of the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement will fail. This does not meet
the interests of either Washington, or Yerevan or Ankara. Therefore,
the United States should be more attentive to this issue and not
hamper this process by excessive efforts", he said.

KU, MILITARY EXPERTS TO DISCUSS SIGNIFICANCE OF BORDER BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA

Targeted News Service
February 3, 2010 Wednesday 5:28 AM EST

The University of Kansas issued the following news release:

The University of Kansas Center for Russian, East European and
Eurasian Studies, along with the departments of geography and
sociology, are teaming up with area military personnel to provide
a roundtable discussion titled "Turkish-Armenian Border: Challenges
and Implications of Change."

The roundtable, featuring presentations from KU faculty and
representatives of the Kansas National Guard and Fort Leavenworth’s
Command and General Staff College and Foreign Military Studies Office,
will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, at Parlors A,B and C
in the Kansas Union.

The Kansas National Guard has been engaged in a long-term partnership
with the Republic of Armenia. Guard members have visited the country
in the South Caucasus to discuss policy issues as well as provide
on-the-ground assistance.

In 2009, civil engineers from the 190th Air Refueling Wing of the
Kansas Air National Guard in Armenia built a warehouse to be used
to store medical equipment and supplies, according to Public Affairs
Director Sharon Watson, of the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department.

The relationship has special significance now, since Turkey and
Armenia have agreed in principle to normalize the border between the
two countries.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 when Armenians and
Azeris clashed over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Home
to a network of oil and gas pipelines, the region continues to be an
area of vital concern to the United States.

Elif Andac, assistant professor of sociology, and Shannon O’Lear,
associate professor of geography, will take part in the two-hour
roundtable. O’Lear is involved in the Kansas National Guard Armenia
Partnership Program as a board member representing KU. She has traveled
to Armenia on an education initiative project with the Kansas National
Guard and continues to serve on the board by bridging the academic
and military communities.

Contact: Bart Redford, Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian
Studies, 785/864-4248

DIASPORA’S SELF-ORGANIZATION
Naira Hayrumyan

Lragir.am
05/02/10

The weekly "Business Week" published an article on February 4,
according to which "Armenians, who are citizens of Armenia, consider
that the Armenian Diaspora which for many years helped its historic
homeland is now not very concerned about its problems". The author
of the article is Ruzan Hakobyan, and she refers to the words of the
writer, publicist Perch Zeytuntsyan who says that the Diaspora is too
concerned about the issue of international recognition of the Genocide.

Publications about the possible split between Armenia and the Diaspora
appear in the press periodically starting from the moment when the
Diaspora voiced its disagreement with the process of establishment
of relations between Armenia and Turkey. The difference in approaches
to the issue of genocide between Armenia and the Diaspora is obvious:
Serge Sargsyan has repeatedly stated that Armenia has no territorial
claims against Turkey, with which disagrees the Diaspora. Perhaps
because of the reason that the attitude of a post-Soviet country to
land ownership is somewhat different than in other countries which
are based on ownership.

The first reaction of the Diaspora was outrage which was evidenced
during the pan-Armenian tour of Serge Sargsyan who almost always
met protests. Diaspora offered not to abandon the establishment of
relations with Turkey, but to bring it to reasonable demands. The
second reaction was the TV marathon, during which the Diaspora did
not actually even give money for the restoration of Shushi. Then came
time for self-organization. Apparently, the Diaspora is now trying to
assess the situation, to take adequate measures. Traditional methods
of cooperation with the Armenian government and its total disregard
exhausted themselves.

If previously, the diaspora could be considered as a political entity
only in tandem with Armenia, it is now attempting to organize as an
independent political unit. To achieve its goals, this unit can either
cooperate with the authorities of Armenia, and to act separately from
it and even contrary.

>>From February 28 to March 2, the international organization Policy
Forum Armenia (PHA) will carry out the second annual conference
"Relations between Armenia and Turkey" which will take place in
Washington.

Recall, a meeting between the U.S. Sate Secretary Hillary Clinton and
the representative of the Armenian organizations in the U.S. will take
place to discuss the Armenian and Turkish relations. The meeting will
bring together organizations that supported the government of Armenia
in the Armenian-Turkish issue, The Armenian Assembly of America,
Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), Eastern and Western Diocese
of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the United States, The Knights
of Vardan and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) .

However, ANCA Chairman Ken Khachikyan sent a letter to Clinton. "This
event, which deliberately excludes many prominent members and spiritual
leaders of our traditional community based on their attitudes and
values, will be an extremely negative precedent. Our participation
in this meeting in terms of such restrictions would not make sense",
emphasized Ken Khachikyan in his letter.

The Forum of Armenian Organizations in Europe voiced its support of
the course of the Armenian authorities. However, the most influential
organizations in Europe continue to present claims against Turkey.

The Russian Diaspora, as before, has an amorphous position on political
issues. Recently it was reported about the opening of Armenia TV
under the auspices of the Union of Armenians of Russia.

Regarding the position on the Armenian-Turkish relations, Ara
Abrahamyan many years suggests that we should apply for Turkey in an
international court and bring the genocide from the political to the
legal space.

Recall also that the California court has recently decided to pay
8 thousand dollars to descendants of victims as compensation to the
insurance company AXA. The Turkish government established the Ministry
of Diaspora which intends to fight with the Armenian Diaspora, which
is perceived by Ankara as enemy number one.

CADRE CLEANSING

Lragir.am
3/02/10

The head of the informational service "Haylur" of the Public
TV Harutyun Harutyunyan resigned. People who are aware of the
internal life of Haylur affirm that Harutyunyan tried to secure
some objectivity, to engage in the service relatively independent
correspondents, but met with constant resistance. They also say that
reports of "Haylur" cut out everything that could cause at least some
dissatisfaction with the "customers". And the audience is perceived
only as a mass to provide the necessary PR.

The "unexplainable" dismissal of Harutyunyan is a sign about the
processes happening in the governmental camp. First of all, it
is reasoned by the aspiration of people to "clean" the public and
informational field of people who can think and try to move their
affairs. Even those who are suspected not to be "one of them". By
the way, Harutyun Harutyunyan has relations with the ARF.

A bright confirmation of "cleansing" was the dismissal of two ministers
from the "Prosperous Armenia". Explanations of these layoffs are not
given, but there were rumors that they somehow did not please Gagik
Tsarukyan who is one of the "customers".

But the real "cleansing" started with the Heritage party. First,
Zaruhi Postanjyan was excluded from the main composition of the
Armenian delegation, and then Larisa Alaverdyan was forbidden to work
in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Moreover, the "clean sweep" was not conducted by a manual weeding,
but a bulldozer under which anyone may fall. Another could be, say,
the Minister of Agriculture of the "OYP" who is not sufficiently
protecting the interests of exporters of mutton. It is unlikely that
a number of "customers" includes Artur Bagdasaryan.

POWER PRODUCTION LAST YEAR DROPS BY 7.2% TO 5.671.2 BILLION KWH

ARKA
Feb 2, 2010

YEREVAN, February 2, /ARKA/. Armenian nuclear power plant produced
last year 2.5 billion KWh of electrical power, by 1.3% less than in
the preceding year, the National Statistical Service reported.

The amount of electrical power produced by thermal power plants
contracted by 38.4% to 1.128 billion KWh, while the volume of
electrical power produced by hydropower plants rose by 12.4% to 2.044
billion KWh.

The nuclear power plant accounted last year for 44% of all generated
power, thermal power plants accounted for 19.9% and hydropower
plants for 36.1%. A windmill in northern Armenia doubled its capacity
producing 4.3 million KWh.

In general, power production last year dropped by 7.2% from the
preceding year to 5.671.2 billion KWh. ($1 – 376.03 Drams)

U.S. INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL TOUCHES UPON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT DURING THE OPEN HEARING ON "CURRENT AND PROJECTED THREATS TO THE UNITED STATES"

APA
03 Feb 2010 07:34

Washington. Isabel Levine – APA. "The unresolved conflicts of the
Caucasus provide the most likely flashpoints in the Eurasia region",
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told the US Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence at the open Hearing on "Current and
Projected Threats to the United States", on February 2nd..

According to APA’s Washington correspondent during the hearing Mr.

Blair touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well:

"Although there has been progress in the past year toward
Turkey-Armenia rapprochement, this has affected the delicate
relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and increases the risk
of a renewed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh" – he stated.

A top U.S. intelligence official says America’s relations with Russia
could suffer as the United States seeks closer ties with Georgia and
other former Soviet states.

"Moscow’s expanded military presence in and political-economic ties to
Georgia’s separatist regions of South Ossetia and sporadic low-level
violence increase the risk of miscalculation or overreaction leading
to renewed fighting", he said.

CIA Chief mentioned that president Dmitry Medvedev is viewing of
Moscow’s former Soviet neighbors as a "zone of privileged interests"
could undermine relations with Washington.

He added that, Moscow, moreover, has made it clear it expects to
be consulted closely on missile defense plans and other European
security issues.

On the whole, the CIA Chief stressed that, the strategic landscape
has changed considerably for US interests over the past year.

"We see some improvements, but also several entrenched problems
and slow progress in some areas for the foreseeable future. Several
large-scale threats to fundamental US interests will require increased
attention, and it is on one of these threats that I will focus our
initial discussion. We continue to assess that global climate change
will have wide-ranging implications for US national security interests
over the next 20 years because it will aggravate existing world
problems-such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation,
ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions-that threaten
state stability".

Speaking about Iran, Mr. Blair mentioned that, the Iranian regime
continues to flout UN Security Council restrictions on its nuclear
program. There is a real risk that its nuclear program will prompt
other countries in the Middle East to pursue nuclear options.

ANAHIT KHARATYAN CHESS CHAMPION OF ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.02.2010 14:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On January 22-31 the Armenian women chess
championship was held in the House of Chess after Tigran Petrosian
in Yerevan. The fight for the champion’s title continued until the
last round. Anahit Kharatyan thanks to the victory over Siranush
Andreasyan won the 2010 champion’s title. Lia Martirosyan, leading
until the last round, lost to Anna Hayrapetyan and won the silver
medal. Siranush Andriasyan came third.

4th to 10th places:

Marianna Gasparyan
Ani Khanamiryan
Naira Movsisyan
Anna Hayrapetyan
Narine Gasparyan
Lusine Karapetyan
Varduhi Kalashyan.

The Champion of Armenia of 2010 will take part in the European
Championships. The winner received AMD 300 thousand, the silver and
bronze medalists were granted AMD 200 thousand and AMD 150 thousand
respectively.

Chess is a board game played between two players. It is played on a
chessboard, which is a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged
in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player controls sixteen
pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and
eight pawns. The object of the game is tocheckmate the opponent’s king,
whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is
no way to remove or defend it from attack on the next move.

The current form of the game emerged in Europe during the second half
of the 15th century after evolving from a much older game of Indian
origin. Aspects of art are found in chess composition. Theoreticians
have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the
game’s inception. One of the goals of early computer scientists was
to create a chess-playing machine. Chess is now deeply influenced
by the abilities of chess programs and the opportunity for online
play. In 1997 Deep Blue became the first computer to beat a reigning
World Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov.

The tradition of organized competitive chess started in the 16th
century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz,
claimed his title in 1886; the current World Champion is Viswanathan
Anand. Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic
Committee. Today, chess is one of the world’s most popular games,
played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online,
by correspondence, and in tournaments.

SELAHATTIN DEMIRTAS ELECTED BDP CHAIRMAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.02.2010 11:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Selahattin Demirtas has been elected as chairman
of the new pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, and Gulten
Kisanak has been named co-chairman.

The party’s first congress held in Ankara on Monday brought together
450 members, who also voted for an administrative board, Hurriyet
reported.

The BDP was formed in early 2008, just a few months after the
indictment against the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, was announced
in November 2007. The Constitutional Court ruled to close the DTP
due to its links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK,
which is listed as a terror organization by a number of international
communities, including the European Union and the United States.

ARMENIA APPRECIATES U.S. AS OSCE MG CO-CHAIRING STATE

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.01.2010 13:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London, on the sidelines
of the International Conference on Afghanistan.

Secretary Clinton reiterated her country’s support to the current
normalization process between Armenia and Turkey and soonest
ratification of Protocols signed in Zurich in October 2009. Mr.

Nalbandian said, for his part, that the RA CC decision on Protocols’
conformability to Armenian Constitution confirms Armenia’s consistent
approach towards its commitments.

In discussing Karabakh peace process, the Armenian Minister briefed
on the outcomes of the January 25 presidential meeting in Sochi. "We
attach great significance to United States’ role as a co-chairing
state of OSCE Minsk Group," he said.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, NKR and
Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan
around it (the security zone) remain under the control of NKR defense
army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated
resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France,
Russia and the United States. Furthermore, the Minsk Group also
includes the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy,
Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia
and Azerbaijan. Current Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador
Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian
Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States.

The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing
an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of
assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group;
Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation
of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk
Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational
peacekeeping forces.

The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if
the objectives referred to above are fully met.

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 22-28, 2010

HIGHLIGHTS:

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS AND DEMOCRATIC REFORMS

THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE FOR ARMENIAN BROADCASTERS

"HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH": DESPITE THE DECISION OF EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN
RIGHTS, "A1+" REMAINS WITHOUT A LICENSE

PROTEST ACTIONS AGAINST THE JUDGMENT OF NIKOL PASHINIAN

"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS AND DEMOCRATIC REFORMS

On January 26, another "Press Club" show went on the air of "Yerkir Media"
TV company. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project,
supported by the Open Society Institute. The guests of the program host, YPC
President Boris Navasardian were Edgar Hovhannisian, Chairman of
Political-Ideological Committee of Youth Organization of Republican Party of
Armenia, Karen Karapetian, Chairman of the Armenian Pan-National Movement
Youth Union, Artur Ghazarian, Board member of ARF "Dashnaktsutiun" Youth
Union. The discussion centered on the role of youth organizations in the
country’s politics and public life, and democratic reforms.

The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on February 2, at
21.15.

THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE FOR ARMENIAN BROADCASTERS

During this week an Italian expert group, which is supposed to assist
Armenia in switchover to digital broadcasting, was in Yerevan upon the
invitation of the RA Ministry of Economy. According to preliminary
agreements on a governmental level, Italy will assist Armenia to solve the
technical, legal and economic issues related to digitalization and will
consult the national experts on a number of problems dealing with the
process. In particular, the urgent problem of holding broadcast licensing
competitions (suspended for two years) is to be settled. As it has been
reported, the moratorium on holding broadcast competitions in Armenia was
namely introduced on the plea of elaborating the concept for digitalization
(see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 5-11, 2008).

For one and a half years the Interdepartmental Commission on TV and Radio
Digitalization in Armenia, established for the elaboration of the concept,
managed to prepare a document not responding to any of the key questions
related to this complex process, including the organization of competitions,
which are supposed to be announced on July 20, 2010 (see YPC Weekly
Newsletters, October 16-22, 2009 and October 23-29, 2009). Now, within the
remaining few months, the Italian experts will try to help the
Interdepartmental Commission and the Ministry of Economy to make up for the
lost time. It should be noted that one of the main problems of
digitalization in Armenia is ensuring the pluralism of the content and of
the ownership in broadcast sphere. This is emphasized in a number of
international documents, including the ones that assess the situation with
television and radio in Armenia (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, October 30 –
November 5, 2009). Meanwhile Italy is considered to be a problematic country
in Europe in terms of ownership concentration and political control on
broadcast media. Hopefully, the Italian experts will contribute not to the
replication of the situation in their country, but to the avoidance of
negative process in this sphere, taking into account their own experience.
The first results of the consultations will appear soon, when the amendments
package to the broadcast legislation, drafted in cooperation with the
Italians, is presented. Many things will become clear then:

"HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH": DESPITE THE DECISION OF EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN
RIGHTS, "A1+" REMAINS WITHOUT A LICENSE

On January 20 the international "Human Rights Watch" organization released
its annual report on human rights practices in over 90 countries of the
world in 2009.

In the section, dealing with Armenia, the situation with media freedom is
presented. In particular, despite the decision of the European Court of
Human Rights of June 2008, finding Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in violation with relation to "A1+",
the TV company has not been able to resume broadcasting due to the two year
moratorium of broadcast licensing competitions (introduced in September
2008), the report notes. According to the report authors, the amendments of
April 2009 to the RA Law "On Television and Radio" did not ensure the
pluralism in the broadcast regulatory body. The report also lists the
incidents with journalists. Particularly, the assaults of: Argishti
Kivirian, Coordinator of ARMENIA Today news agency (April 30, 2009), Nver
Mnatsakanian, author and host of "Perspective" program cycle of "Shant" TV
company (May 6, 2009), and Edik Baghdasarian, Head of "Investigative
Journalists" NGO (November 17, 2008). "No conclusive investigations followed
any of these incidents", the report states. "Human Rights Watch" mentions
the cases of impeding the professional activities of journalists on the day
of elections to Council of Elderly of Yerevan on May 31, 2009, as well as
the early release – for health reasons – of Arman Babajanian, Chief Editor
of "Zhamanak" daily. In 2006 Arman Babajanian was sentenced to 3.5 years of
imprisonment for document fraud to evade military service.

PROTEST ACTIONS AGAINST THE JUDGMENT OF NIKOL PASHINIAN

A number of public and international organizations, political unions made
statements, considering the conviction of Nikol Pashinian, Chief Editor of
"Haykakan Zhamanak" daily, as political persecution. As it has been
reported, on January 19 court of general jurisdiction of Shengavit community
of Yerevan found Nikol Pashinian guilty in mass riots and sentenced him to
seven years of imprisonment (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 14-21,
2010).

>From January 19 -24 an original protest action was held on the air of "GALA"
TV company of Gyumri. On these days the programs of the TV company were
periodically interrupted by a photo of the Chief Editor of "Haykakan
Zhamanak", appearing on the TV screen. As "GALA" TV company has informed,
currently a cycle of open debates is in preparation. The discussions will be
dealing with the punishment imposed to Nikol Pashinian and will be open for
those who wish to take part.

When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.

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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN

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