Author: Felekian Ara

TBILISI BEGUN TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Tert.am
04.12.09

Recently, a tendency toward raising the Armenian Genocide can be
noticed in neighbouring Georgia, stated Armenian MP Shirak Torosyan
while speaking with journalists today.

The dissemination of such information by Georgia can be viewed as a
stance against Turkey in the issue of opening the Armenian-Turkish
border.

The MP explained Georgia’s uneasiness by stating that after the opening
of the Armenian-Turkish border, Armenia will have an alternative route
for the exchange of goods, which will result in a loss for Georgia,
who will be obliged to lower its tariffs. In Torosyan’s opinion,
Georgia will lower its tariffs and will outline new conditions for
Armenia for the import and export of products.

Torosyan added that because of the possible opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border, Georgia has conceded its position in one
other issue: the opening of the Upper Lars checkpoint.

Earlier, it had been reported that Russia had expressed readiness in
opening the checkpoint though only for the exchange of Armenian goods.

Georgia flat out refused that condition. Though after a certain charge
in Armenian-Turkish relations, Georgia’s National Security Council
made a decision to open the Upper Lars checkpoint even if only for
the exchange of Armenian products.

"In this issue, the ball is in Russia’s court," noted Torosyan, also
adding his opinion that the Upper Lars checkpoint will open sooner
rather than later.

KARABAKHI PEOPLE TO SOLVE NKR ISSUE: REFUGEE

news.am
Dec 3 2009
Armenia

Karabakhi people themselves, but not international mediators and
Armenian authorities should resolve NKR issue," a refugee from Baku,
NKR resident Mikhail Sargsyan said, commenting on the joint statement
of Russian, French, Armenian Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, as well
as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.

"To date, international community displays a unilateral and even-handed
approach on a number of issues, including the one on refugees. They
&’take care’ of Azeri refugees and ignore Armenians who are not
inferior to them in quantity and suffered much more. This tendency
is seen in Madrid Principles that mediators try to impose on both
parties to the conflict.

The mediators simply attempt to return status quo or on other words —
explosive situation under which Azerbaijan in due course unleashed
a large-scale war against Karabakhi people who believed in positive
changes and claimed about right to self-determination. I am surprised
that some high ranking officials give in to vivid provocations,"
Sargsyan concluded.

BAKU DISCONTENTED WITH EURONEWS REPORT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Interfax
Dec 1 2009
Russia

The Azeri Foreign Ministry press service has forwarded a letter
of complaint to the Euronews TV channel over a report dealing with
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman Elxan Poluxov told Interfax on
Tuesday that the report reflected only Armenia’s position in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The report openly demonstrates a lopsided position on the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict. The lack of the other side’s position in it can
be viewed as digression from journalistic standards," Poluxov said.

Nagorno-Karabakh was portrayed as a breakaway Azeri territory and
the head of this region as a president in the report, he said.

The Azeri Embassy in France will look into the matter, as the Euronews
headquarters is located in Lyon, Poluxov said.

The Azeri Foreign Ministry will form its position on the matter after
the TV channel replies to the letter, he said.

AMERICAN TURKS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMENIAN DIASPORA

Trend
Dec 2 2009
Azerbaijan

The Turkish community in the U.S. launched a campaign against the
Armenian diaspora this week. The Turkish American Council appealed to
Turks living and working in Washington, asking them to lobby Congress
and stunt the Armenian diaspora’s efforts to derail the critical path
to rapprochement undertaken by Armenia and Turkey.

The Armenian community in the U.S. is looking to pass a resolution
falsely accusing Turkey of genocide, the organization said.

The Turkish American Council asked Turks living in the U.S. to contact
their members of Congress, and "to stand up for regional peace and
against false accusations and anti-Turkish hatred."

The organization added that the Azerbaijani diaspora supports their
campaign a great deal.

"Many Azerbaijanis are contacting us and expressing a willingness to
influence Congress members," a community representative said.

The Turkish diaspora said the Armenian diaspora in the U.S. is against
Armenia and Turkey normalizing relations.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, but signed a protocol
to establish diplomatic ties and a protocol to develop bilateral
relations in Zurich Oct. 10. These protocols must be ratified by the
parliaments of both countries to come into force.

The American-Armenians noted that a committee will be established in
the future to investigate the history of the 1915 events in accordance
with the signed protocols. They claim that the step is a tactic to
hide the "genocide" against the Armenian people.

The Turkish American Council thinks that Armenians are not only
continuing their occupying policy in the region, but are also
interfering in regional cooperation. Diaspora representatives say
they are going to actualize all these issues in high-level Turkish-U.S.

dialogue.

On Dec. 7, Turkish Prime Minister Receb Erdogan will meet with U.S.

President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss the Armenian-Turkish
protocols. Turkey plans to state once again that without progress in
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the protocols will be difficult
to ratify. Erdogan and Obama will discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process and the Nabucco project.

ARMENIAN-TURKISH REGULATION OR DISTURBANCE

armradio.am
03.12.2009 18:18

The Athens-statement and the resolutions accepted are not going to
change anything, the formulations are a little different, but this
will not cause any change, said the director of the Armenian center
for military and national researches Richard Kirakosyan.

If there are no meters of disturbance connected with the Nagorno
Karabakh question, although we should worry in the case of
establishment of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

He is sure, that Turkey is testing Armenia, but he thinks that the real
test will start after January and the main question should be which
price are we ready to pay for the establishment of the relations. The
Turkish government is going to wait until February-March for ratifying
the documents, but they will make a condition to the USA not to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.

He says, that even Turkey doesn’t knows, when it will open the borders
with Armenia. USA wil try to force Turkey to do that very soon, but
as we know the not signed resolutions are not conditions for them. It
would be no surprise, if Turkey would open the borders for a dey only,
and than close them.

RUSSIAN REACTOR TO BE INSTALLED AT THE NEW NUCLEAR POWER UNIT IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-12-03 14:03:00

ArmInfo. The government of Armenia made a decision, at Thursday
session, on creation of the Armenian-Russian Closed Joint Stock
Company, on a parity basis, for construction of a new nuclear power
unit at the Armenian NPP. The government’s draft decision was presented
by Armenia’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan.

According to him, the authorized capital of JV will make up 60 mln
drams (about $156,000 at the current rate). The Ministry of Energy
and Natural Resources of Armenia will contribute 30 mln drams (from
the Ministry-subordinate energy companies’ profit) to the authorized
capital. The participant from Russia is Rosatomstroyexport Company,
the minister said. According to A. Movsisyan, the government’s draft
decision offers to take the results of the analysis by Worley Parsons
management Company as a basis, according to which a reactor of Russian
produce with capacity of 1060 MW, 60-year operating life and European
security certificate will be installed at the new nuclear power unit
in Armenia. The government charged the Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources of Armenia to organize placement of orders on installation
of the reactor island equipment with the relevant Russian companies.

To recall, the government of Armenia signed an owner-contractor
agreement with Worley Parsons Consortium, being a management company
in the project of construction of a new power unit in Armenia, in
2008 to the sum of $459,7 mln. Construction of a mew power unit will
start in 2012. The project will cost $4-5 bln. It will be expectedly
commissioned till 2017, before which the operating power unit of NPP
must be shut down.

MKHITAR MNATSAKAYAN: CRISIS RESULTED IN TIMELY FULFILLMENT OF PENSION REFORM

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.12.2009 18:00 GMT+04:00

The Government of Armenia approved a schedule of activities at Dec. 3
meeting to turn to a three-tier pension system in Armenia from January
1, 2011.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia
Mkhitar Mnatsakanyan, this instrument will specify the dates for
a number of activities to implement pension reforms. Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan attached special importance to implementation
of reforms.

EXTREMIST NATIONALISTS SUSPECTED IN THE TERROR ATTACK ON NEVSKY EXPRESS

AZG DAILY
01-12-2009

Russia

The confirmed death toll from the crash of the Nevsky Express train
that occurred Friday evening on the Moscow-St. Petersburg line stands
at 25, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu told the crisis
management conference at the crisis management center, which began
shortly after midnight, hours after the incident.

"Twenty three died instantly and two others, in hospital," he said.

"Hospitals in the Novgorod and Tver regions have accommodated 87 of
those injured, and St. Petersburg hospitals, 15," the minister said.

"The whereabouts of 27 people who are known to have been on the train
remain unclear," Shoigu said.

The train was carrying 682 people – 653 passengers and 29 crew –
coach attendants and engine drivers, Itar-Tass reported.

According to Russian news agencies, a criminal investigation has been
instigated under article 205 (terrorist attack). RIA Novosti quoted a
source in the Novgorod law enforcement services as saying that police
were looking for a man aged about 30 and a woman in a silver VAZ-2109.

Earlier, police chief Rashid Nurgaliyev described one of the suspects
as a stocky red-headed man about 40 years old.

The train left Moscow at 7 pm. The bomb exploded at about 9:40 pm
under the locomotive of the train while it was traveling at about 200
kilometres an hour on the Aleshinka-Uglovka section of the railroad,
near the northern border of the Tver region. According to police
sources cited by the Kommersant daily, the bomb, estimated at about
7 kilogrammes in TNT equivalent, contained a mix of explosives that
included ammonium nitrate, which was responsible for the flare that
passengers on the train reported seeing. The bomb was buried under
the right rail and was reportedly activated via a wire attached to
the detonator, explosives experts cited by the paper said.

The second bomb, placed near an electric pole a few metres from the
rail, went off at 2 pm on Saturday, just as Alexander Bastrykin, chief
of the Russian Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General’s
Office, was touring the scene of the previous blast.

The blast had all the trappings of a previous attack on the same Nevsky
Express on August 13, 2007, Kommersant reported. Then, 60 people were
injured. Although extremist nationalists were initially suspected
in the attack, two Ingush nationals, Maksharil Khidiyev and Salambek
Dzakhiev, were arrested for bringing the explosives. They were said
to have been acting on the orders of former military serviceman Pavel
Kosolapov and Chechen militant warlord Doku Umarov, both of whom are
subjects of an Interpol search.

Kosolapov was named as a possible suspect on Sunday, Kommersant
reported, adding that he is also described as stocky and red-headed.

But it had not yet been confirmed whether Umarov was linked to the
latest blast, police sources said.

AN EVENT ON INCREASING

Azat Artsakh Newspaper NKR
Published on November 20, 2009

…THE AWARENESS OF NKR TAKEN PLACE IN THE USA The organization
Americans for Artsakh held, at the Armenian Embassy to Washington, an
event on increasing the awareness of the events in Armenia and
Artsakh. NKR Permanent Representative to the USA Robert Avetisian
introduced the history of the Karabakh conflict and the current
situation in the Republic. It was noted at the event that the
Caucasus occupies a significant place in the international political
life and it is extremely important to thoroughly inform the public
about Artsakh in order to help it maintain its power and identity.
Executive Director of the Americans for Artsakh Sara Ludwig informed
the attendants about the organization’s projects, noting, in
particular, that corresponding trainings were planned in NKR for
governmental structures’ employees, young leaders, and other groups.

NKR PRIME MINISTER’S NEW MEETINGS IN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF AMERICA

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
November 24, 2009

On November 23, NKR Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan had a meeting
with the members of the ARF Central Committee of West America at the
head of the Central Committee representative Avetik Izmirlyan.

At the meeting issues concerning the Karabakhian-Azerbaijani conflict
settlement, Armenian-Turkish relations and the Homeland-Diaspora
cooperation were discussed.

The Head of the Government underlined that the permanent development of
Artsakh represents a most important basis for the consolidation of the
Armenian statehood and all the national parts of the Armenians should
unanimously contribute to this process. In this term Ara Haroutyunyan
attached importance to the restoration of Shoushi which, in its turn,
is a central point in the fortification of Artsakh.

The Leader of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, Secretary of the Information Department
of the NKR President’s Office Davit Babayan, the permanent NKR
representative to the USA Robert Avetisyan participated in the meeting.

The same day the NKR delegation at the head of the Prime Minister
visited the national college of Vahan and Anoush Shamleyans and met
with the teaching staff and students of the college.

Ara Haroutyunyan highly appraised the role of this institution in the
nationally Armenian education of the younger generation underlining
that school is the very centre where the creation of the future of
the nation begins.

The Prime Minister signified the longstanding relation of the college
with the secondary school of Ashan emphasizing it as a striking
example of Homeland-Diaspora cooperation.

* * *

On November 23, Ara Haroutyunyan visited the Western Diocese of the
Armenian Apostolic Church of North America and met with the Leader
of the Diocese Archbishop Hovhan Terteryan, representatives of the
parochial church council and the Armenian community.

The Prime Minister presented the NKR social and economic state,
the present-day phase of Karabakhian-Azerbaijani conflict settlement
and the process of various programmes implemented in Shoushi to the
participants of the meeting.

In his speech about Homeland-Diaspora relations Ara Haroutyunyan
underlined the role of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the future
development and extension of these relations, in the consolidation of
the independent Armenian statehood and in the process of preservation
of the Armenian nationality in Diaspora.

The same day Prime Minister Ara Haroutyunyan met with the benefactor
Isaac Vardanyan as well.

During the meeting issues related to the construction programmes to
be implemented in Artsakh were discussed.

Ara Haroutyunyan expressed his gratitude to Isaac Vardanyan for his
permanent assistance to Artsakh and expressed his hope towards their
active cooperation in future as well.