Author: Felekian Ara

NY YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ROCK IN ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS WITH $17,500 DONATION

/ny-young-professionals-rock-in-armenian-christmas -with-17500-donation/
February 24, 2010

Each January, Armenian Christmas reminds us of the unique bond we
have as Armenians and allows for reflection and appreciation of
our rich heritage. In honor of this special holiday, the AGBU Young
Professionals of Greater New York (YPGNY) kicked off 2010 with its
most popular fundraiser. On Jan. 9, close to 200 Armenian Americans
from the New York metropolitan area gathered at 206 Spring Street for
the 9th Armenian Christmas Cocktail and Silent Auction, welcoming the
new decade with new hope and vision. Holding true to the sentiment
"Christmas is for the children," the sold-out event raised $17,500 for
the AGBU Children’s Centers in Armenia. Once again defying the bitter
economic climate, YPGNY continues to rock in Armenian Christmas with
impressive fundraising efforts.

"As we all know, the U.S. economy has seen one of the worst economic
recessions since the Great Depression. What’s more upsetting is that
in times like these, we are still more fortunate than a majority of
the children in Armenia. It’s a great feeling to be able to help
them out, all while having fun at the AGBU Silent Auction," said
volunteer Aram Babikian. "Through efforts like these, I see how the
AGBU’s investments in improving Armenia’s infrastructure truly come
to fruition. I’m proud to increase my involvement with YPGNY more
and more each year because of it."

The three-floor townhouse in the heart of Manhattan’s SoHo district
offered a warm and sophisticated atmosphere, inviting guests to mix and
mingle with friends, old and new, while enjoying a memorable evening
of food, fun, music, and continuous excitement generated with each
new bid until the conclusion of the silent auction.

Hailing from Dubai, Arly Tuysuzian is already looking ahead to
attending more YPGNY events. "Since I’m new to New York, the Silent
Auction was really my first AGBU event in the city. I was so impressed
with the venue, the impressive variety of items for auction, and
the number of Armenians that came together to support the Children’s
Centers. I had a great time meeting new people, helping the committee
organize the night, and learning how I could be involved in more of
these events."

The evening included a stylish silent auction with items donated from
some of the city’s leading businesses and generous individuals. Silent
auction items included restaurant and beauty gift certificates from
a plethora of New York City hotspots, roundtrip airline tickets from
New York to Los Angeles, technological desirables such as the Amazon
Kindle and netbook computers, fashion must-haves from the likes of
Alex and Ani, Hermes, Juliette Jake, Movado, Prada, and Tiffany & Co.,
sports and Broadway show tickets, items from designer Michael Aram,
and several pieces of fine jewelry. Among the most coveted pieces
available for auction were works of art from the AGBU Children’s
Centers that exhibited the skills of the children and highlighted
their role in continuing the artistic heritage of Armenians.

Additional raffle prizes, including more restaurant gift certificates,
jewelry, baskets of scents, and a personal oil painting studio
portrait, were also offered to guests eager to donate to the cause.

YPGNY chair woman Aline Markarian said she was grateful for the
outpouring of support. "Each year, as the popularity of the event
grows, so does the amazing kindness of the Armenian and especially
non-Armenian communities alike. Our donors generously open their
hearts, wallets, and businesses so that we can, in turn, fill the
hearts and souls of the children in Armenia with hope," she said.

Catering for the evening’s festivities was provided by local food
emporiums Al Bustan Restaurant, Bread & Olive, Delmonico Foods, Hayat
Catering, and Krichian Foods, as well as the eternal hearths of the
kitchens of YP members and their families. Chef Lina Markarian added
professionalism to the culinary flair of the evening. Glasses were
plentifully filled with wine and spirits very generously donated from
a number of individuals and venues, including Clovis Point Winery and
Manhattan Beer Distribution. A generous number of community supporters
contributed their time and services to enhance the Armenian Christmas
event.

Event chair Sheila Kahyaoglu was excited by their accomplishment and
highlighted the many individuals who contributed to the evening’s
success. "Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to Sandra and Perssy
Mergeanian for their overwhelming support, to Onnig Djingueuzian, our
honorary YP, always young at heart, for his unparalleled enthusiasm and
spirit, and to the entire team at BR Guest Restaurants for embracing
our cause and making this a truly successful evening," she said.

Since 2000, YPGNY has hosted the Armenian Christmas Reception as
an enjoyable and unique way to raise funds for the three centers
in Yerevan. Despite being so many miles away, they are so close to
our hearts. YPGNY vice chairwoman, Alexis Halejian, knows the wonder
of the Chidren’s Centers first hand. "My first interaction with the
Children’s Centers was in 2007. I was in Yerevan as an AGBU intern
and had the opportunity to ‘sharpen’ my Armenian dance skills. Far
from perfection (as many know), I was sent to the best teachers for
help-the students at the AGBU Nork Children’s Center. After weeks of
practice, these kids finally let me and my friends perform in their
final show of the school year. Believe it or not, we got a standing
ovation. Being up on the same stage with these students made us all
feel like one of them…but the truth is, the way they are growing
up is so much different than the way we did in America."

In 1993, the AGBU joined forces with the Holy See of Etchmiadzin to
establish the AGBU Children’s Centers in the Nork, Arapkir, and Malatya
sections of Yerevan. Providing a constructive after-school environment
to over 3,500 students ages 6 to 16, the centers cultivate the talents
of young Armenians by broadening their knowledge in courses unavailable
to them at overcrowded public schools. With an administrative staff
of 300, the centers provide four hours of daily instruction in music,
dance, arts & crafts, gymnastics, martial arts, computers, language,
history, as well as developing other practical real-life professional
skills. Throughout the years, over 15,000 students living in low- to
middle- income homes have benefited from this very important program.

Making a global commitment to support the AGBU Children’s Centers,
YPGNY established the AGBU YP Endowment in 2002 for their benefit. Now
a pan-YP endeavor, YPGNY makes its share of the global contribution
through monies raised at the Armenian Christmas Reception, as well
as from the annual HALO (Helping Armenia’s Little Ones) campaign.

Suitable for recipients of all ages, the YPGNY HALO campaign allows
individuals to give a gift from the heart and simultaneously help
children of Armenia during the holiday season. Donations made in
honor of another loved one, family, or friends are transformed into
personalized gift cards by YPGNY’s group of Santa’s helpers. This
year, close to 100 certificates spread holiday cheer to mailboxes
worldwide. Together with YPGNY’s 2010 donation, the AGBU YP Endowment
now totals over $100,000.

To learn more about YPGNY and how you can be part of the network,
email [email protected].

RUSSIA WILL NOT FORCE ARMENIA TO MAKE THE FUNDAMENTAL CONCESSIONS – US ANALYST

news.az
Feb 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Shale Horowitz News.Az interviews Shale Horowitz, Professor, Department
of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Do you believe that chairmanship of Kazakhstan in OSCE will be
successful for Karabakh settlement?

No.

Turkey has its own problems with Armenia. Do you think that Turkey
is able to succeed in attempts to solve the Karabakh problem between
Azerbaijan and Armenia?

No. Outside mediation by those not directly involved is largely
irrelevant as long as Armenia and Azerbaijan remain apart on the
fundamental issue of sovereignty over all or most of Karabakh. Only
significant concessions on Karabakh’s status by Armenia, Azerbaijan,
or both will make a peace settlement possible, and neither side looks
likely to make such concessions.

Do you think that the right to self-determination can justify
separatism and occupation by use of force, mass killing and ethnic
cleanings, as was the case in Karabakh?

Everyone must answer this question for themselves. After the fighting
is over, it is never worth it for the losers, whereas the winners
can often justify it. But remember that both leaderships decided to
fight in the beginning, before they knew the outcome for certain.

And what do you think about activity of Russia in Karabakh settlement?

How sincere these Russia’s efforts are?

It is possible that Russia could benefit from a peace settlement. But
Russia will not force Armenia to make the fundamental concessions,
because this would weaken and alienate a close and loyal ally.

Do you think that US really interested in stability in the South
Caucasus and Karabakh settlement in particular or all these problems
are closer to Russia as a neighbor of this region?

The US has little leverage except carrots like aid and investment.

These are not significant enough to affect the calculations of Armenian
and Azerbaijani leaders.

TURKEY’S ERDOGAN AWARDED FOR PEACE EFFORTS IN SPAIN

Worldbulletin.net
Feb 23 2010
Turkey

Turkey’s prime minister was presented on Monday with an award due to
his remarkable efforts to launch the Alliance of Civilizations
initiative.

Turkey’s prime minister was presented on Monday with an award due
to his remarkable efforts to launch the Alliance of Civilizations
initiative.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Seville NODO
Foundation’s award from Seville’s Mayor Alfredo Sanchez Menteseirin
during a ceremony held in Seville, Spain.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mayor Menteseirin said Erdogan had taken
important steps aiming at development of mutual dialogue between
nations and solution of international and regional matters.

Erdogan said in his part that he was not hopeless about the future
of the world.

Pointing to Turkey and Spain’s call for peace, compromise and dialogue,
Erdogan said, "Turkey, which has a significant role in its region,
believes that the optimistic and promising atmosphere that will
be formed with the spread of peace and prosperity will embrace all
the world".

Commenting on Cyprus issue during his speech, Erdogan said the Turkish
Cypriot party desired to reach a comprehensive solution based on
political equality as soon as possible.

"Turkey works for a fair and lasting solution," he said.

Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken important steps aiming at the
normalization of its relations with Armenia, adding it would continue
to display efforts to improve the process.

THE CONFLICT OVER TURKEY’S RIVEN SOUL

FT
February 23 2010 22:25

Arresting 51 officers, among them former chiefs of the navy and air
force, is Turkey’s most striking act of iconoclasm yet against the
devoutly secularist establishment that has governed the country for
a near-century.

The raid follows the publication last month of documents allegedly
showing senior commanders had plotted a coup against the Islam-inspired
AK party. The response to "Sledgehammer" (the plot’s codename) is not
the first crackdown on supposed military insubordination: an ongoing
investigation into the so-called Ergenekon group has already brought
officers to trial. But the latest move strikes at the very top of a
military elite that sees itself as guardian of strict secularism –
a role in which it has repeatedly seen fit to forcibly remove elected
governments.

Few expect the bad old ways of armed intervention to return. But
the tensions reveal how deep is the rift that destabilises Turkey’s
politics. Military and professional elites’ resistance to AKP’s modest
softening of Turkey’s secularism is not the only source of distrust.

There is also the economic and political challenge to the old
metropolitan Kemalist establishment by an emerging conservative middle
class. The divisions are taking root within state institutions as
well as between them: the judiciary is riven with power struggles.

This instability is not only bad for Turks. It also undermines the
constructive role Turkey could otherwise play in the world. By the
Middle East’s sadly defective standards, it has long been a beacon
of relative stability and openness. To Europe it holds out the
promise of a solid partner on issues from energy security to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The AKP’s rise is the most tantalising promise of all, representing
as it does the nearest anyone has come to a Muslim version of modern
Christian democratic parties. It beat back accusations of stealth
Islamisation in 2007 when it gained the backing of moderate voters
far beyond its core religious constituency. Its steps towards better
relations with Greece and Armenia contrast sharply with the knee-jerk
nationalism of some opponents.

But it has been overplaying its hand. Arm-twisting of opposition media
and heavy-handed prosecutorial tactics give credence to critics. What
Turkey needs is constitutional reform to secure democracy against
undue influence by either religion or the military. That will be
difficult without a settlement in the public mind over what kind of
country Turkey is. Judicial battles will hardly make the task easier.

WELCOME TO OGAE ARMENIA!

esctoday.com
s/read/15180
Feb 22 2010

OGAE (French: Organisation generale des Amateurs de l’Eurovision)
is the international fan club of the Eurovision Song Contest. All
countries that take part or have already taken part in the Eurovision
Song Contest can have their own OGAE.

Every year, the organisation puts together four non-profit
competitions (Song Contest, Second Chance Contest, Video Contest and
Home Composed Song Contest).The purpose is to spread national popular
music throughout the world and to exercise co-operation over the OGAE
network of clubs, cooperation among the Eurovision Song Contest fans,
promotion of the Eurovision Song Contest, and establishment of strong
relations with national broadcasting companies.

In 2007, Antonis Karatzikos was elected as new International
Coordinator for OGAE, until 2009. In July 2009 was re-elected for
the same post. He will serve until 2011.

The OGAE Armenia official website was launched on February 11, 2010.

The goal of OGAE Armenia is to unite all fans of the Eurovision Song
Contest and to promote the Armenian participants. Each of you can
become a member of OGAE and get your club card. All you have to do
is register.

You can visit OGAE Armenia official website here:

Cyprus Mail
Feb 21 2010

Tales from the Coffeeshop: Struggle for the soul of DIKO
By Patroclos
Published on February 21, 2010 +-Text size

I WOULD like to apologise that we have nothing about yesterday’s
meeting of the DIKO executive bureau but I was working to an early
deadline. I had to finish by 9am because I was going to drive up to
Stavrovouni monastery to pray that DIKO would decide to stay in the
government tent, for the good of the country.

Prayers do not always work, especially when the Archbishop is praying
for the other side in what has become a struggle for the soul of the
historic party founded by the great Spy Kyp. In one camp we have the
hard-line opportunists, represented by party leader and personality of
the year Marios Garoyian who has been valiantly upholding the party’s
proud traditions and values, bequeathed by his mentor Spy.

In the other camp are the narcissistic, hard-line lawyers who see
themselves as the keepers of the late Ethnarch’s proud legacy of
negativity and have been agitating for an acrimonious divorce from the
government ` they generously waived the legal fees – ever since the
rotating presidency scandal hit the news. This legal tendency is
represented by Junior, Colocassides, Angelides and Associates, and has
the full backing of two TV bosses ` the Archbishop and Loukis P.

It goes without saying that Spy’s son and heir, foreign minister
Marcos Kyprianou, is in the Garoyian camp and wants to maintain the
alliance because he is very fond of foreign travel. And he has a
bigger claim to the party than Junior who, like his father, never
embraced the traditional values and ideals of DIKO – horse-trading,
rusfeti and total focus on the spoils of power.

Has it not occurred to the smart, idealistic lawyers who put their
patriotic principles above everything else that they might be in the
wrong party? If they want to belong to a party that sacrifices power
for nebulous principles they should join EDEK instead of arrogantly
trying to impose an alien ideology on their hard-line opportunist
comrades.

THERE IS a class element to the DIKO struggle, as any Marxist scholar
would tell you. The Garoyian camp, with the exception of Marcos,
consists of men of humble origins who enjoy the status and importance
linked to being part of the government.

The lawyers on the other hand, with the exception of Zacharias Koulias
who is a bit of a loud-mouthed peasant, are from wealthy backgrounds,
have social status and earn loads of cash from their practices. They
can afford to take narcissistic stands on principle and demand a grand
patriotic exit from the government because they are spoilt rich dudes
with nothing to lose.

But they should spare a thought for their colleagues ` Paschalides,
Fotiou, Garoyian, Patsalides etc ` who are from poorer backgrounds
(one is from Paphos and would have to go back there if he leaves the
ministry) and are not prepared to sacrifice everything for reckless
stands on principle about the Cyprob, advocated by the lawyers.

It is just as well we have the Cyprob as it allows members of the
legal profession to show the public that they have some principles.

COMRADE president Tof had no problem accepting suffocatingly intensive
talks for two evenings in succession with Garoyian in his bid to
persuade DIKO to stay in his tent. He even set a suffocating time
frame, demanding that the party’s central committee met tomorrow to
decide whether it would accept his improved offer for staying in the
tent.

DIKO’s decision will depend on how many more ministries and other
public sinecures have been offered by the comrade. If he has offered
enough posts to buy the support of an adequate number of the hard-line
opportunists, the principled lawyers will suffer an honourable defeat.

Our establishment has heard of two DIKOites who have been approached
by Garoyian and offered ministries in the Tof government. A third,
deputy Fytos Constantinou, yesterday denied he had been offered any
ministry. A fourth, less influential member, was offered one week’s
free holiday for him and his family in a three-star hotel in Protaras
but was holding out for four-star accommodation.

The comrade has even agreed to propose amendments to the rotating
presidency that is a red rag to DIKO’s principled lawyers. He will not
withdraw the proposal but will suggest amending it so that it would
stipulate that one of the two presidential terms reserved for the
Greek Cypriot community, would go to an Armenian DIKO member.

That should persuade the lawyers to stay in the tent, assuming Talat
would agree to having an Armenian president.

IF ALL goes well and the majority of the DIKO central committee on
Tuesday votes to stay in the tent for now, the comrade will have to
start planning his next moves for keeping the alliance going.

His safest bet would be to help the dour Dervis Eroglu get elected
pseudo-president as he would ensure the talks ground to a halt. With
prospects of a settlement hitting zero, the comrade’s concessions
would be irrelevant and DIKO would stay in the alliance and help the
comrade get re-elected. EDEK might even return when the threat of a
settlement ceases to exist.

All that remains now is for the comrade’s poodles to find out how to
send money to the Eroglu election campaign fund. They should ask the
Archbishop, who is a big admirer of dull Dervis and may have already
contributed to his election kitty.

TALAT would have been certain to be pseudo-re-elected if the
international community were allowed a say in the pseudo-elections. I
do not know how he does it, but for the international community his
farts smell of Chanel No 5. He is the darling of all our EU partners,
the US and the UN, and it just doesn’t make any sense.

Last week he gave a lunch at his pseudo-palace for the ambassadors of
the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and they all
attended. Why had our government not written to them urging them not
to go as it had done in the case of the EU ambassadors a couple of
months ago?

Surely the ambassadors of our close allies – France, Russia, China `
would have respected our wishes, if our government had bothered to
intervene.

I LOVE the evening television news on Green Monday. This being a
public holiday, TV news bosses are hard-pressed to find enough
nonsense to fill their 60-minute shows, as they would on a normal
working day. They therefore broadcast news items that do not even
qualify as nonsense, but which enjoy a cult following.

Nobody does Green Monday news better than Antenna, which has camera
crews combing the villages around Nicosia to bring us pictures of
people sitting outdoors eating vegetables and grilled squid. Then
there are the interviews, in which the reporter asks people what they
had eaten, and he gets revealing answers such as: `Tomatoes,
cucumbers, olives…’

The interviewees from Tseri are more articulate. `We ate artichokes,
tashi, moungra and laganes..’ or `We put some squid and octopus on the
charcoal and they were very nice,’ or `fasoulia, greens, tomatoes,
moungra and of course halva.’

Now if the newshounds found people eating souvla, loukanika, pastourma
and halloumi on Green Monday that would be worthy of leading the TV
news. The hack could ask the Archbishop for his views on this
provocation and make an intriguing report.

I should also mention the other standard news story of this day ` the
long queues of cars on the highways, heading back to Nicosia. This
year Antenna did not interview the drivers, stuck on the highway, to
ask them how they felt – a big disappointment for viewers who cherish
the Green Monday TV news tradition.

THIS YEAR we also had what criminologists would refer to as Green
Monday crime. An artichoke farmer from Alamino reported that last
weekend thieves had stolen some 5,000 artichokes from his field. He
went to his field to cut the artichokes, two days before Green Monday,
and found nothing there.

You had to feel sorry for the farmer who said the value of the
artichokes stolen was ?¬7,000. But if he was charging the wholesaler
?¬1.2 per artichoke how much would the consumer have had to pay for
them in the shops? The thieves probably helped keep artichokes
competitively priced on Green Monday.

The second Green Monday crime took place in Paralimni where thieves
broke into a snail farm and, according to police, took huge quantities
of what we Cypriots call karaoli. The karaoli can also be eaten on
Green Monday, even though none of Antenna TV’s interviewees admitted
having eaten karaolous.

IT WAS nice to see AKEL’s intellectual heavyweight Nicos Katsourides
back in the limelight recently. Kats, although a deputy, appeared to
have gone into hiding since his narrow defeat by Andros Kyprianou in
the elections for the AKEL leadership 13 months ago. He was probably
ashamed and who could blame him? I would go into hiding for a year if
I lost a game of tavli to Andros Kyprianou.

Time is a big healer and Kats is now back in the spotlight defending
the party that betrayed him and the comrade president whom he
passionately detests for helping the lightweight Andros win the
leadership contest.

When a few weeks ago Andros conspiratorially announced that he knew
the identity of the man co-ordinating the political attacks on the
president, everyone assumed he was referring to the wily Kats, who
made no secret of how thoroughly pissed off he was with Tof.

Have the two kissed and made up, and if so, what has Kats been given
to stop pissing in the presidential tent from outside?

ON THURSDAY comrade Tof spoke for the first time about the need for
everyone to make sacrifices so that we could deal with the recession.
We may have been in a recession for more than a year, but our wise
leader only this week recognised there was a need for belt-tightening.

I suppose he was waiting to take delivery of the brand-new
presidential limo he ordered for himself before giving his sermon
about the need for belt-tightening. Leading by example is very
important to the comrade. He will now be chauffeured around in the
Merc S450, which in a way was a sacrifice, because he could have
bought an S600, the limo preferred by all Africa’s tyrants.

According to Phil, the government order also included a brand new Merc
for Garoyian, which he will be given even if he fails to persuade his
party to stay in the government.

SPEAKING of recession, the EU has really turned the screw on Greece,
where things can only get worse. The big problem is the Greek public
sector, the workers of which enjoy even more privileges than our own
public parasites. While wages are lower than in Cyprus, Greek civil
servants are entitled to a range of ridiculous allowances that boost
their pay. For instance there is a `punctuality allowance’ for
arriving at work on time and `taking work home allowance’ for teachers
who mark schoolwork at home. There is also an allowance especially for
those who have not earned any of the allowances on offer, because the
Greek state could not discriminate against the lazy.

THE RECESSION has been very bad for the press and we hear that the
company that prints the late Nicos Sampson’s organ, Machi was getting
a bit nervous about the newspaper’s growing debt. About 10 days ago it
threatened not to print the paper unless it received some payment
against the debt. Instead of payment, the director of the printing
press received a telephone call from Archbishop Chrysostomos asking
him to carry on producing the paper. He did not offer to settle the
debt, but the director withdrew his ultimatum and carried on printing
Machi, as a favour to Chrys, the new defender of press freedom.

We now know who to call when the libel lawyers come around demanding payment.

Aysor, Armenia
Feb 20 2010

Diplomas and Certificates go to persons of culture merit

By Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotian’s decree,
a number of persons of culture and science were awarded with
Certificate of Merit and Thanksgiving in occasion of the Mother
Language Day.

`These persons have made their efforts to preserve and develop our
Mother Tongue,’ said Deputy Minister of Education and Science Manuk
Mkrtchian. `They are worth being honored for their high-minded and
difficult work.’

Certificates of Merit and Thanksgiving of Armenia’s Ministry of
Education and Science went to: head of the Department of Yerevan State
University Ruben Sagapetoyan, head of ASPI Aelita Dolukhanian, a
linguist Lawrenty Mirzoyan, children’s writer Ervand Petrosian;
Honored Artists of Armenia Leila Saribekian and Azat Gasparian; writer
and publicist Samvel Karapetian, PhD at the Department of Armenian
language and methodology of primary education Juliet Gyulamirian, head
of the Education Department of the Nork Marash District of Yerevan
Hikuhi Kyupelian; `Education’ Weekly’s chief editor and deputy editor
Gagik Minasian and Gegham Nurijanian. Thanksgiving Certificates were
awarded to Deputy Director of the Yerevan School ?- 62 Narine
Gasparian, to a linguist Nerses Atibekian, and to poet and editor
Daniel Erazhisht.

YEREVAN WAITING FOR BAKU COMMENTS ON RENEWED MADRID PRINCIPLES

Interfax
Feb 16 2010
Russia

Armenia expects Azerbaijan to make proposals on the renewed Madrid
principles on a settlement deal concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in Yerevan on Tuesday.

"Discussions will continue after Azerbaijan submits its proposals
and remarks," Nalbandian said at a joint press conference
with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s
Chairman-in-Office and Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev.

Baku has been refusing to recognize these principles, denying them
for a long time, he said.

"Now either side is to submit comments on the proposals made by the
OSCE’s Minsk Group. We will examine Azerbaijan’s proposals when Baku
submits them," Nalbandian said.

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov earlier said that Azerbaijan
would not accept the renewed edition of the Madrid principles,
presented to Armenia and Azerbaijan by the Minsk Group co- chairmen.

COLLABORATION BETWEEN ARMENIAN AND GEORGIAN STATE UNIVERSITIES DISCUSSED IN TBILISI

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.02.2010 19:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Ambassador to Georgia Hrach Silvanyan
visited Tbilisi State University Tuesday, February 16, to meet with
university rector Giorgi Khubua.

The meeting centered on collaboration between Armenian and Georgian
state universities as well as expansion of cooperation in the sphere
of science, RA Foreign Ministry press service reported.

PRESIDENT ACTED IN DEFIANCE OF CC VERDICT: ARFD

news.am
Feb 18 2010
Armenia

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) agrees
to the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols – even if they
were ratified today — but with reservations, stated Armen Rustamyan,
an ARFD Executive Council member and Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, RA Parliament.

"We object to the Protocols being ratified in their present form,
as they pose a threat to our future and contain preconditions. If
reservations avert the threats, no obstacles to the ratification
remain, and the protocols will be in harmony with the Constitutional
Court’s verdict," Rustamyan said. He stressed that by submitting the
protocols to Parliament President Serzh Sargsyan acted in defiance
of the Constitutional Court’s verdict. "The Constitutional Court
confirmed the constitutionality of the protocols – if, of course,
we accept its opinion," Rustamyan said.

The ARFD also introduced a bill that would entitle the Parliament
to ratify international agreements with reservations, cancel or
suspend them.