Author: Garnik Zakarian

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CONCERNED WITH CHAKHALYAN’S CASE

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Sept 17 2009
Armenia

2009Armenians as national minority suffer language, social and
religious discrimination in Georgia. European Parliament MP Sylvie
Guillaume expressed concern about the issue in the letter sent
to Benita Ferrero-Wildner, EU Commissioner for External Relations
and European Neighborhood Policy. MP asked her to instruct the EU
representatives in Georgia to trace the case of Armenian political
activist Vahagn Chakhalyan.

"I would like to draw your attention to the ethnic and religious
discrimination of national minorities in Georgia. In particular,
Armenians suffer language, social and religious discrimination. The
region they live in is deprived of transit routes, as well as medical
and social services," the letter reads.

According to her, political leader of Georgian Armenians was sentenced
to 10-year imprisonment on questionable charges in 2008. "The peaceful
demands of his movement are neither independentist nor autonomist
and seek recognition of the civil rights of the Armenian minority in
Georgia, when that country conducts a policy of assimilation since
the dismantling of the Russian military bases in 2005."

She also informed EU Commissioner of the impending appeal on
Chakhalyan’s case on September 18, pointing out the major infractions
in the course of previous hearings: "Justice of Georgia has even
denied him the right to have a French lawyer."

"We cannot leave the Georgian authorities act in contravention of the
international conventions on the right to a fair trial, all the more so
as Georgia, under EU funding and by the European Neighborhood Policy,
has received 15 Million Euro paid for justice reforms," Guillaume said,
calling to demand Georgian authorities’ account for the reforms in
judicial system and take corresponding measure to make Tbilisi meet
its commitments.

ARMENIA TO ESTABLISH ACTIVE COOPERATION WITH CROATIA IN EURO-INTEGRATION ISSUES AND TOURISM SPHERE

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.09.2009 21:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ By the invitation of Croatian President Stepan
Mesic, RA President Serzh Sargsyan has today left for Serbia on a
two-day visit.

President’s delegation consists of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan,
Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsyan, Chair of RA Union of Industrialists
and Entrepreneurs Arsen Kazaryan, Chair of Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Martin Sargsyan, and other individuals and businessmen.

Official meeting ceremony in the white palace of Big Bruin island
was followed by a tete-a-tete meeting between two Presidents. Serzh
Sargsyan and Stepan Mesic highly assessed current level of political
dialogue between their countries. They also focused on issues
concerning bilateral cooperation and international agenda.

Besides, Presidents discussed prospects for developing cooperation
in the sphere of tourism, stressing that they had enough resources
in that direction. Parties agreed that one of Armenian regions will
cooperate with Croatian regions, and Armenian students will have the
opportunity to specialize in tourism in Croatian universities.

During the meeting, parties stressed that their countries’ Foreign
Ministries will sign a protocol on political consultations towards
European integration.

President Sargsyan introduced to his Croatian counterpart current
stage of Armenian-Turkish relations and Karabakh peace process.

After discussion, parties continued talks in extended format, RA
President’s press service reports.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO FACE PROTEST ACTIONS IN TURKEY

Today.Az
/55329.html
Sept 7 2009
Azerbaijan

Turkish MP Canan Aritman urged prime minister to keep promise given
to Azerbaijan concerning not opening of borders with Armenia until
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved.

Aritman said Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan will face large-scale
protest actions once he arrives in Turkey to watch a football match
between Turkish and Armenia teams.

The MP condemned Turkish authorities’ steps to establish diplomatic
ties with Armenia adding that it will harm relations between Turkey
and Azerbaijan.

DASHNAKSUTUN: DOCUMENTS SIGNED BETWEEN TURKEY, ARMENIA NOT TO ENSURE REAL ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC TIES

Today.Az
5166.html
Sept 1 2009
Azerbaijan

The latest initiative to normalize Armenia-Turkey ties is just a game
by Turkey to keep Armenia in the game, chief of ‘Ay Dat’ bureau and
Dashnaksutun party member Kiro Manoyan said.

He said the documents signed are not guarantees for real establishment
of diplomatic relations.

"The current initiative was triggered by an interview of President
Serzh Sargsyan with BBC in which he stated that Turkey does not respect
agreements and was put into practice on the eve of the planned visit of
Armenian President to watch football match between the two countries,"
Manoyan said.

He disagreed with the view that Turkey has taken this step to get
reciprocal concessions from Armenia on the Karabakh issue.

He said Ankara did not pursue this goal in this case.

ARMENIA-ITALY RELATIONS GIVE PROMISE IN ECONOMY AND CULTURE

/ARKA/
July 27, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, July 27. /ARKA/. Armenia-Italy give promise in economic
and cultural fields, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said
at his meeting with the newly appointed Italian Ambassador Bruno
Skapini Monday.

Sargsyan congratulated the Ambassador on the start of his diplomatic
mission and expressed confidence that Skapini will help develop the
bilateral relations.

Armenia attaches importance to the friendship between the two countries
that has a long-year history, the government press service reported.

The sides stressed that the bilateral relations can be developed in
various fields.

Skapini pointed out the great potential of trade and economic
cooperation in private sector in particular.

RUSSIA WARNS G8 AGAINST MEDDLING IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
26.06.2009 01:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In a sign of intensifying geopolitical turf wars in
the South Caucasus, Moscow warned the West on June 25 against foreign
meddling in the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The statement came on the eve of a G8 ministerial summit in Italy,
where the world’s largest industrial powers will discuss international
issues, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between the two South
Caucasus states, eurasia.net reports.

"Russia is against foisting remedies upon the conflict sides from
outside," the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared. "Russia is
ready to support the option of conflict resolution that is satisfactory
to all the sides involved and, in case a compromise agreement is
reached, act as guarantor of the resolution."

The ministry said that the conflict talks’ key mediators — Russia,
the US and France — are in general agreement about the main approaches
for a resolution to the 21-year conflict.

NOW VIVACELL-MTS SUBSCRIBERS CAN LEARN ABOUT ‘ZVARTNOTS’ AIRPORT FLIGHTS DIRECTLY FROM THEIR MOBILE PHONES

ArmInfo
2009-05-22 12:33:00

ArmInfo. VivaCell-MTS, a subsidiary of Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS"
– NYSE: MBT), announces that from now on the Company’s subscribers can
learn about the exact time of arrivals and departures at "Zvartnots"
airport directly from their mobile phones.

Subscriber just needs to visit the "Useful" section on VivaCell-MTS
Mobile Portal (wap.vivacell.am) and follow the "Flight Timetable" link.

VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJSC) is the leading Armenian mobile
operator, providing a wide range of Voice and Data services. Since
its launch on 1st July 2005, in a short period of time VivaCell-MTS
has managed to build a nationwide network and a considerable
customer base. VivaCell-MTS drives the development and offering of
innovative mobile communications products, services and features
in the Armenian mobile communications market. For more information,
visit

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS") is the largest mobile phone operator
in Russia and the CIS. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company
services over 93.03 million subscribers. The regions of Russia, as
well as Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, in
which MTS and its associates and subsidiaries are licensed to provide
GSM services, have a total population of more than 230 million. Since
June 2000, MTS’ Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the New York Stock
Exchange (ticker symbol MBT).

Additional information about MTS can be found at

YURI MERZLYAKOV: CO-CHAIRS HOPE ON PROGRESS IN 4 MAIN PRINCIPLES FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

ArmInfo
2009-05-11 11:19:00

Arminfo. ‘Co-chairs hope on progress in coordination of the problems
which still remain mismatched. These are the 4 main principles for
settlement. We have already reached mutual understanding on many of
them and we hope that breakthrough will happen in St.Petersbourg or
agreement of major part of the remaining problems’, – Russian co-chair
of the OSCE MG Yuriy Merzlyakov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvi.

When commenting on the Praque meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents on 7 May, he recalled that was the forth meeting of the two
presidents. He said, as presidents themselves assessed, the meeting
was constructive and made it possible to make closer positions on
the remaining mismatched basic principles for Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict settlement.

He also added Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will probably meet
in St. Petersbourg at the beginning of June.

When commenting on normalizing of the Armenian-Turkish relations
Merzlyakov said it is in parallel developing with the process
of Karabakh conflict settlement. It is important the process of
the Karabakh conflict settlement not to become the hostage for
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, he concluded.

OBAMA SEEKS 38 PERCENT CUT IN ARMENIA AID, BREAKS MILITARY PARITY

Asbarez
seeks-38-percent-cut-in-armenia-aid-breaks-militar y-parity/
May 7th, 2009

WASHINGTON-Despite a 9% increase in overall foreign aid spending,
President Barack Obama on Thursday called for a38% cut in aid to
Armenia, a 20% increase in aid to Azerbaijan, and the abandonment of
the longstanding Armenia-Azerbaijan military aid parity agreement in
favor of Baku, reported the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA).

These figures, released today as part of the President’s Fiscal Year
(FY) 2010 budget, represent a sharp departure from the President’s
campaign commitments to maintain U.S. assistance to Armenia and
to foster its growth and development through aid and trade. In
January of 2008 and again only days before the November election, the
President said he would "help foster Armenia’s growth and development
through expanded trade and targeted aid," adding that he will also,
"strengthen the commercial, political, military, developmental,
and cultural relationships between the U.S. and Armenian governments."

"President Obama, despite his promise to maintain U.S. assistance to
Armenia and his campaign commitment to help foster Armenia’s growth
and development, has called for a thirty-eight percent cut in aid to
Armenia," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "His
proposal to sharply reduce vitally needed assistance to Armenia,
even as he is increasing overall foreign aid spending, is all the
more disappointing in light of the urgent economic challenges facing
Armenia."

President Obama’s budget calls for $30 million in U.S. aid to Armenia,
down 38% from the FY09 allocation of $48 million. Under his proposal,
funding for Azerbaijan would increase 20% from $18.5 million to $22.12
million. The complete international affairs budget proposed by the
White House is $53,872,901.

In Foreign Military Finance spending, President Obama has requested
$4 million for Azerbaijan and only $3 million for Armenia, while funds
for International Military Education and Training (IMET) represent an
even starker break in the parity agreement struck between Congress and
the White House in 2001, with $900,000 being proposed for Azerbaijan
and $450,000 for Armenia.

The Foreign Operations Subcommittees of the House and Senate
Appropriation Committees will now review the President’s budget and
each draft their own versions of the FY 2010 foreign assistance bill.

AZERI LEADER COMMENTS ON TURKISH-ARMENIAN RAPPROCHEMENT

ANS TV
April 28 2009
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani people have a right to know what is going on in
relations between Turkey and Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev has said.

Aliyev was speaking at a joint news conference with European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso after their meeting in Brussels on 28
April, Baku-based ANS TV reported.

It quoted Aliyev as saying that the world, the region and the
Azerbaijani people had a right to know what was happening between
Turkey and Armenia given conflicting reports, which he called "a
game of words", about a recent road map towards the normalization of
their relations.

CNN Turk TV channel footage of Aliyev, which ANS carried, showed
Aliyev noting that Azerbaijan was not in a position to give the
go-ahead or prevent relations between the two countries. He added that
Azerbaijan had a right to shape its policy in line with new realities
in the region and that it would use that right. Aliyev said that
the Azerbaijani people would like to know whether the Karabakh peace
process was separate from Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. "This is a
very simple question and a very simple answer is needed," Aliyev said.