Author: Felekian Ara

HOMENETMEN DELEGATION MEETS WITH PRESIDENT

Asbarez
05/homenetmen-delegation-meets-with-president/
Aug 5, 2009

YEREVAN (Presidential Press Service)-President Serzh Sarkisian met with
representatives of Homenetmen Wednesday. The delegation represented
the more than 700 athletes and members who are in Armenia for the
8th Pan-Homenetmen Games.

In his welcoming remarks, the president emphasized the importance that
the Homenetmen Games were taking place in Armenia for the first time.

"It seems year in and year our pan-Armenian events are increasing in
Armenia. This is the best way to strengthen Diaspora-Armenia ties and
by preserving our heritage and identity, we will achieve our ultimate
goal of unity," said Sarkisian.

The president also informed the Homenetmen delegation that hosting
games in Armenia was of even more significance since this year
coincides with the Diaspora Ministry’s "Come Home" initiative.

He also underscored that the youth visiting Armenia as part of the
Pan-Homenetmen Games will have the opportunity to learn more about
their homeland and become acquainted with Armenia.

"I wish you and the athletes success. But, I would like to emphasize
that the results of the games are not important as is the fact that
they are taking place in Armenia," stressed the president.

The president also briefed the delegation on recent developments in
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, as well as the effort to normalize
relations with Turkey.

Sarkisian said that the Armenian side is pushing forward in the talks
with the aim of ensuring three main objectives: Karabakh’s status,
ensuring a land corridor between Armenia and Karabakh and international
security guarantees.

The president said that all aspects of the resolution will be
presented to the public for discussion and a final decision will
made accordingly.

As for Turkish-Armenia relations, Sarkisian said that Armenia’s aim
was to establish relations without preconditions.

OVER 80 HOUSE MEMBERS SLAM TURKEY’S REVERSAL ON PROPOSED ‘ROADMAP’

04/over-80-house-members-slam-turkey%e2%80%99s-rev ersal-on-proposed-%e2%80%98roadmap%e2%80%99/
Augus t 4, 2009

WASHINGTON-On July 30, over 80 House Members expressed concern
about Turkey’s backtracking on a so-called "roadmap" to advance
Armenia-Turkey dialogue, urging President Obama to separate Armenian
Genocide recognition from normalization of ties between the two
countries, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

"We commend the leadership of Representatives Pallone, Kirk, Schiff,
Radanovich, and their 78 colleagues in calling attention to Turkey’s
efforts to inject the resolution of the Karabagh conflict as a
precondition to lifting its illegal blockade of Armenia," said ANCA
chairman Ken Hachikian. "U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide
should not be held hostage to a sham ‘roadmap’ designed to prolong
U.S. complicity in the denial of that crime against humanity."

In a July 29 letter to President Obama, initiated by Congressional
Armenian Caucus co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk
(R-Ill.) as well as Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsors Adam
Schiff (D-Calif.) and George Radanovich (R-Calif.), Members of Congress
questioned Turkey’s commitment to talks normalizing relations with
Armenia, as stated in a "roadmap" agreement signed just two days
prior to April 24, the international day of commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide. Turkey has since added preconditions to continued
discussions, which have led most observers of the process to conclude
the effort to be stalled indefinitely.

"It would appear that Turkey, in an effort to block U.S. recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, agreed to a roadmap it did not intend to
uphold," notes the letter to the president. "Therefore, we urge your
administration to separate the issues of normalization and genocide
recognition. We hope that renewed efforts and focused resources from
the administration can be utilized to nurture the Armenia-Turkey
normalization process without preconditions and within a reasonable
timeframe, and continue to remain strongly supportive of your stated
campaign policy to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide."

The letter comes just days following a statement by Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu once again citing the resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict as a precondition to Armenia-Turkey
normalization efforts. In recent weeks, Western diplomats have stated
that dialogue between Armenia and Turkey is virtually frozen.

Below is the full text of the letter to President Obama.

*** July 30, 2009 President Barack Obama The White House 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to you with our concerns about Turkish backpedaling on the
agreed upon roadmap to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia.

On April 22, 2009, just two days before the 94th commemoration of
the Armenian Genocide, the Department of State released the following
statement:

The United States welcomes the statement made by Armenia and Turkey
on normalization of their bilateral relations. It has long been
and remains the position of the United States that normalization
should take place without preconditions and within a reasonable
timeframe. We urge Armenia and Turkey to proceed according to the
agreed framework and roadmap. We look forward to working with both
governments in support of normalization, and thus promote peace,
security, and stability in the whole region.

Two days later, instead of recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the
administration opted to focus on this new roadmap to Armenian-Turkish
normalization. "I also strongly support the efforts by Turkey and
Armenia to normalize their bilateral relations," you wrote. "Under
Swiss auspices, the two governments have agreed on a framework and
roadmap for normalization. I commend this progress, and urge them to
fulfill its promise."

While the government of Armenia remains committed to this roadmap and
has long offered to establish ties with Turkey without preconditions,
Turkey’s public statements and actions since April 24th stand in
sharp contrast to this agreement and undermine U.S. policy that
normalization take place without preconditions.

On May 13, 2009, Prime Minister Erdogan publically conditioned
normalization of relations with Yerevan on Azerbaijan’s approval
of a future settlement of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict that fully
meets Baku’s satisfaction. "I want to repeat once more that until the
occupation ends, the border gates [with Armenia] will remain closed,"
Erdogan told the Azeri parliament.

On June 17, 2009, EU South Caucasus envoy Peter Semneby said Turkey
had taken "tactical steps backwards" in the normalization process
with Armenia.

It would appear that Turkey, in an effort to block U.S. recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, agreed to a roadmap it did not intend to
uphold. Therefore, we urge your administration to separate the issues
of normalization and genocide recognition. We hope that renewed efforts
and focused resources from the administration can be utilized to
nurture the Armenia-Turkey normalization process without preconditions
and within a reasonable timeframe, and continue to remain strongly
supportive of your stated campaign policy to officially recognize
the Armenian Genocide.

"ARMENIAN COACHING INN" LAUNCHED IN ORENBURG

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
03.08.2009 20:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On August 2, RA President Serzh Sargsyan, on the
invitation of Orenburg Region Governor Alexei Chernyshev, paid a
working visit to Orenburg where he opened an "Armenian Coaching Inn".

RA President thanked Orenburg Governor for his invitation and
expressed confidence for further development of relations between
Yerevan and Orenburg.

Parties discussed further collaboration between Orenburg and Armenian
regions. The governor emphasized the importance of Orenburg’s Armenian
community’s contribution to social and political live of the region.

Sergzh Sargsyan invited Alexei Chernyshev to visit Yerevan.

Within visit framework, RA President met Orenburg’s Armenian community
representatives and laid flowers at the tomb of great Armenian poet
Vahan Teryan, RA President’s Press Service reported.

About 15 thousand Armenians currently reside in Orenburg region.

Nabucco project implementation possible under certain conditions
01.08.2009 11:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The implementation of Nabucco project is possible
under certain conditions. There are some issues, which required hard
working. For example, volume of the gas the consumers need. The
project can be implemented after the gas suppliers are specified’,
researcher of the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public
Policy of Columbia University Canen Mitchell told journalists. The
researcher said both political factors and gas insufficiency could
tackle the project. `The sources, which will supply the Nabucco
pipeline, are not specified yet’.
Mitchell said Iran’s participation in the project depended on the
Iran-US relations, APA reported.

TIGRAN ABGARYAN’S MOTHER ON HER SON’S DEATH

A1+
07:29 pm | July 31, 2009 | Politics

The mother of soldier and victim of the events of March 1 Tigran
Abgaryan doesn’t exclude the version that her son may have been killed
by former commander of the police forces Grigor Grigoryan.

"I consider everything possible and can believe in this or that
version. Let them prove it. I have lost my faith in everybody,
starting from the elite until the last soldier who was by my son’s
side at the moment of the murder. I probably have to pack up and sit
near my son’s grave or leave this country, but I can’t go because I
can’t leave my son’s grave," said mother Ruzanna Harutyunyan to "A1+".

According to the version of Tigran’s murder in the presses, on March
1 at around 10 p.m. some soldiers wanted to leave the Paronyan-Leo
intersection and refused to go against the people.

Among them was 18-year old Tigran Abgaryan. According to the version,
former commander of the police forces Grigor Grigoryan rushed to the
soldiers with a gun in his hand. Shots were fired and it soon became
clear that Tigran Abgaryan had been shot in the neck.

Besides this account, the two members of the disbanded Fact-Finding
Group recently released the conclusion of Tigran Abgaryan’s
murder. Tigran Abgaryan’s parents are disabled and are in severe pain
after hearing each release. They were not expecting the release by
Andranik Kocharyan and Seda Safaryan.

"I believe in the report by the Fact-Finding Group. There truly were
many flaws and many questions remain obscure for me," said Tigran’s
mother.

Tigran’s parents were not called to the NA ad-hoc committee and the
Special Investigative Service only called them when the 10 murders
of March 1 had been joined to the "Case of Seven".

"What did the murders have to do with the political prisoners? They
were expressing their complaints and wanted a power shift, but they
hadn’t installed marksmen to shoot soldiers."

Despite the Fact-Finding Group’s report, Ruzanna Harutyunyan still
believes in the account that her son was killed by a marksman. Tigran
Abgaryan’s parents call on not turning the 10 murders of March 1 into
a fight for the big chair.

"My husband and I are only living with the hope that we will look
in the eyes of the person who shot our son. We always wake up with
that hope."

ARMENIA PREPARING FOR SPREAD OF SWINE FLU

Asbarez
enia-preparing-for-spread-of-swine-flu/

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-The rapidly spreading swine flu pandemic may finally
reach Armenia in the coming months and its medical authorities are
prepared to deal with the disease, a senior official said on Thursday.

Unlike at least two if its neighbors, Turkey and Georgia, Armenia has
yet to report a single case of the H1N1 virus among its residents. The
World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the potentially deadly
virus "unstoppable," saying its spread to more countries of the world
is inevitable.

Thousands of Armenians are spending their summer vacations in Turkey
and Georgia. Many more of them travel to Russia, which is being
increasingly hit by swine flu, on a regular basis.

"Of course, the entry of swine flu into our country cannot be ruled
out," Liana Torosian, a senior official at the State Hygiene and
Anti-Epidemic Inspectorate, told RFE/RL "There is tourism, there is a
[cross-border] movement of the population."

Torosian said that the autumn and winter months, which traditionally
see an upsurge in seasonal flu cases, will further increase chances
of Armenia being affected by the pandemic. "But even in the event
of a virus detection, we have the necessary levers and resources to
ensure proper treatment," she said.

The official stressed that Armenia has already stocked up on the
Tamiflu anti-virus drug. "The Nork Infections Hospital [in Yerevan]
has been supplied with Tamiflu," she said. "Tamiflu has also
been delivered to the regional branches of the State Hygiene and
Anti-Epidemic Inspectorate. If necessary, regional hospitals will
quickly get that medicine."

The Armenian sanitary authorities reported wide-ranging precautions
against swine flu shortly after its first outbreak in Mexico last
April. Those included a ban on meat imports from some countries and
a screening of individuals arriving in the country.

Earlier this month, swine flu was detected at Yerevan’s Zvartnots
airport in a Georgian woman flying from London to Tbilisi via the
Armenian capital. According to Torosian, all passengers on board
the plane who disembarked in Yerevan were examined and monitored by
medics for the next seven days. None of them was found to have caught
the disease, she said.

ARMENIA’S PARTICIPATION IN NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY PROGRAMS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
27.07.2009 19:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Armenia’s active participation in NATO programs
and particularly in those of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is very
important. It is necessary to create a balance with anti-Armenian
speeches and to promote the self-determination principle in the
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem," Stepan Safaryan , member
of the parliamentary delegation of Armenia in NATO, MP of RA National
Assembly from "Heritage", told a press conference in Yerevan today. The
event was organized jointly with MP of RA National Assembly from the
Republican Party of Armenia, Karen Avagyan.

Mr.Safaryan also noted that the current Armenian authorities, in
cooperation with NATO, are guided by political expediency, and gave
as an example of sending a limited military contingent to Iraq. "Then
they need just that, and now the Armenian authorities want to send a
military contingent to Afghanistan, since U.S. President Barack Obama
attaches great importance to Afghanistan," Safaryan said. According
to Mr. Safarian, these solutions are based on political expediency,
while the foreign policy should proceed from specific principles.

Safaryan also stressed that the "Heritage" party agrees with
authorities that at the moment the issue of joining NATO mustn’t be
included in Armenia’s foreign policy agenda.

PRESIDENT OF SERBIA BORIS TADIC TO VISIT ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-07-27 14:11:00

ArmInfo. President of Serbia Boris Tadic will pay a two-day official
visit to Armenia at the invitation of President Serzh Sargsyan on
July 28.

The press-service of the Armenian President reported that the
two presidents will meet tete-a-tete the same day and then an
enlarged meeting will be held with participation of the official
delegation. Afterwards, the two presidents will make statements for
the press.

B. Tadic is expected to meet also with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan and Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Karekin II. The
president of Serbia will visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex
"Tsitsernakaberd" and plant a tree on the Memory Alley.

B. Tanic will also pay homage and lay a wreath on the memorial for
the Yugoslavs killed in the crash of the plane delivering humanitarian
assistance to Armenia after the earthquake in Spitak in 1988. Serbian
President will visit also the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts
"Matenadaran." The Serbian delegation comprises foreign minister and
minister of trade who will meet their Armenian colleagues in Yerevan.

Tehran Times , Iran
July 27 2009

Iran ready to provide Armenia with nuclear fuel: governor general
Tehran Times Political Desk

URUMIA – Iran is ready to provide Armenia with nuclear fuel for its
atomic power plant which is under construction in the city of Armavir,
West Azarbaijan Province Governor General Rahim Qorbani said here on
Saturday.

`In light of mastering the nuclear enrichment technology¦ the
Islamic Republic of Iran is now ready to provide nuclear fuel for the
neighboring countries’ power plants,’ he said in a meeting with the
governor general of Armavir in Urmia.

He also said the fact that many Armenian citizens live in West
Azarbaijan Province can help expand relations between the two
countries

The East African
July 25 2009

Selective amnesia in international justice, as list of atrocities
grows

By PATRICK GATHARA (email the author)

Posted Monday, July 27 2009 at 00:00

If perpetrators of the post-election violence do eventually find their
way to the Hague and Louis Moreno-Ocampo’s International Criminal
Court, one of the charges they are likely to face is `crimes against
humanity.’

The Rome Statute describes crimes against humanity as `particularly
odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human
dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human
beings.’

It would seem that the nature of these crimes demands that we
collectively stand in defence of our common humanity, affording no
quarter to any who are found guilty. However the sorry history of the
selective application of international law betrays a far lesser degree
of outrage.

The term `laws of humanity’ originates from the 1907 Hague Convention,
which codified the customary law of armed conflict.

The charge of `crimes against humanity’ was first articulated in
reference to the Armenian Genocide of 1915-18.

On May 24, 1915, the Allied Powers, Britain, France, and Russia,
jointly issued a statement explicitly charging for the first time ever
another government of committing `a crime against humanity.’

This joint statement declared: `[i]n view of these new crimes of
Turkey against humanity and civilisation, the Allied Governments
announce publicly to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally
responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman Government, as
well as those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.’

After World War I, the Allies, in connection with the Treaty of
Versailles, established in 1919 a commission to investigate war crimes
that relied on the 1907 Hague Convention as the applicable law.

Despite the commission’s finding that Turkish officials committed
`crimes against the laws of humanity’ for killing Armenian nationals
and residents during the period of the war, the Turks were never
formally prosecuted.

Interestingly, the United States and Japan both strongly opposed the
criminalisation of such conduct on the grounds that crimes against the
laws of humanity were violations of moral and not positive law.

The failure to hold the Turks to account paved the way for the
Holocaust.

In 1939, just before the Nazi invasion of Poland and the beginning of
the Second World War, Adolf Hitler told his generals, `The aim of war
is not to reach definite lines but to annihilate the enemy
physically. It is by this means that we shall obtain the vital living
space that we need. Who today still speaks of the Armenians?’

-/2558/629638/-/r1onm9z/-/