Author: Hambardsumian Paul

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN RECEIVED THE NEWLY APPOINTED RESIDENT COORDINATOR

president.am
Feb 8 2010
Armenia

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received the newly appointed Resident
Coordinator, Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Armenia Dafina
Gercheva. She conveyed to the President of Armenia a letter from the
Secretary General of the United Nations on her appointment as Resident
Coordinator, Permanent Representative of the UNDP in Armenia.

The President of Armenia extended his congratulations to Dafina
Gercheva on her nomination. He hailed efficient cooperation of the
Government of Armenia with different UN agencies and programs that are
being implemented for a number of years. Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope
that the newly appointed Resident Coordinator will further promote
UN activities in Armenia.

In her turn, Dafina Gercheva expressed satisfaction with excellent
cooperation which is witnessed by the UN program of assistance for
Armenia in years 2010-2015. Noting, that the first phase of the program
was successfully concluded last year and the second has just started,
the UN Resident Coordinator said that the main goal of the UN is to
promote sustainable development, and added that the projects envisaged
by the program are tailored to reflect Armenia’s priorities, which
include reduction of poverty, accessibility of social programs in the
areas of education and health care, decentralization, and disaster
damage control.

According to President Sargsyan, Armenia shares the values, which the
UN adheres to as an organization, and it means that we share common
goals. Serzh Sargsyan prioritized the improvement of the living
standards and enforcement of the rule of law.

Dafina Gercheva assured the President of Armenia that during her tenure
she would promote UN’s involvement in Armenia. She also said that
she has new ideas and will do her best to ensure that the programs
implemented in Armenia are productive and efficient, aimed at the
improvement of the living standards of the Armenian people.

MOSCOW TO HOST "ASCENSION. YOUNG ARMENIAN TALENTS" FESTIVAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.02.2010 12:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Ascension. Young Armenian Talents" festival will
take place in Meridian concert hall on April 3. Participants will
compete for 5 nominations: best performance of Armenian folk song,
best performance of Armenian pop song, best performance of foreign
song, best jazz performance, best dance staging.

The winners will be selected by a professional jury.

PARLIAMENTARIAN FROM ARFD: CITIZENS SHOULD ACTIVELY PROTEST AGAINST RISE OF GAS PRICE

ArmInfo
2010-02-08 15:44:00

ArmInfo. Citizens should actively protest against rise of gas price,
says Artsvik Minasyan, parliamentarian from ARFD Party.

Commenting on the rise of gas price expected in Armenia starting April
1 2010, he said that budget has not envisaged any funds for indexation
of pensions and benefits that would soften the rise of gas price and
the prices of all the products and services "depending" on the gas
tariff. "Rise of prices will become a new inflation pressure. In such
case, the Central Bank will probably find nothing better to do than
just reduce supply of the national currency," A. Minasyan said. He
thinks that the citizens must protest against rise of the gas price
even through rallies.

In compliance with the application of ArmRusgasprom CJSC to the Public
Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia, gas tariffs for consumers of
up to 10,000cu m of gas monthly will be increased from 96 to 136,000
drams per 1000 cu m. For the consumers of over 10,000 cu m of gas
monthly, the tariffs is calculated on the formula 256 x E (E = the
Central Bank’s exchange rate of the US dollar after 25 of every month
preceding the calculated month). The present formulate is E x 215.

ARMENIA OVERESTIMATES SERIOUSNESS OF TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY: SAFRASTYAN

Tert.am
15:11 ~U 08.02.10

Armenia overestimates the seriousness of Turkey’s foreign policy, said
head of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the RA National Academy
of Sciences, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan at a press conference today.

In recent years, in his opinion, Turkey’s foreign policy has included
some "adventurous elements." According to Safrastyan, Erdogan’s
incompatible statements are accounted for by this fact.

"Turkey has accumulated quite a mighty potential both in the sector of
economy and military forces. In such conditions, the ruling elite is
trying to re-estimate Turkey’s position in the modern world, especially
in our region. Turkey is trying to become a more important player,"
explained Safrastyan.

But in his words, Turkey’s neighbours and the world’s super-powers
don’t accept those rules of the game.

OFFICIAL BAKU SEES PROSPECTS IN KARABAKH NEGOTIATION PROCESS

news.az
Feb 8 2010
Azerbaijan

Elkhan Polukhov "Baku sees a perspective in the negotiation process
over Karabakh".

"The resolution of the Karabakh conflict depends on the activeness
of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs", said spokesman for Azerbaijani
FM Elkhan Polukhov.

"As Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov said earlier, the intensification
of the process observed last year should be kept this year too",
Polukhov noted.

"It gives hopes for definite achievements in the negotiations. In turn,
Azerbaijan is ready to support its dynamics", he concluded.

NATO NEW STRATEGIC CONCEPT DISCUSSED IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 14:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "South Caucasus Youth Forum: What’s Our Role?"

international conference, which opened in Yerevan on the initiative of
Armenian Atlantic Association and with the assistance of the Norwegian
Atlantic Committee, brought together experts from Armenia, Georgia,
Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

"This conference will help young people to determine their role in
formation of a common future," Executive Director of the Armenian
Atlantic Association Tevan Poghosyan said in his opening remarks.

At the NATO Summit in Strasbourg/Kehl on April 3 and 4, 2009, Heads of
State and Government (HoSG) tasked the Secretary General to develop
a new NATO Strategic Concept. This exercise should be completed by
the time of NATO’s next Summit which is expected to take place in
Lisbon in late 2010. The Summit also tasked the Secretary General to
convene and lead a broad based group of qualified experts who will
lay the ground for the new Strategic Concept. This will be done with
the active involvement of the North Atlantic Council (NAC).

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the (North)
Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based
on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949. The
NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the organization
constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states
agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

The Treaty of Brussels, signed on March 17, 1948 by Belgium, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom is considered
the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin
Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union’s Defense
Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United
States was thought necessary in order to counter the military power
of the USSR, and therefore talks for a new military alliance began
almost immediately.

These talks resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed
in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1949. It included the five Treaty
of Brussels states, as well as the United States, Canada, Portugal,
Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Popular support for the Treaty
was not unanimous; some Icelanders commenced a pro-neutrality,
anti-membership riot in March 1949.

Greece and Turkey joined the alliance in 1952, forcing a series of
controversial negotiations, in which the United States and Britain
were the primary disputants, over how to bring the two countries into
the military command structure. In July 1997, three former communist
countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited
to join NATO, which finally happened in 1999. Membership went on
expanding with the accession of seven more Northern European and
Eastern European countries to NATO: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
and also Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. They were first
invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague Summit,
and joined NATO on 29 March 2004, shortly before the 2004 Istanbul
summit. At the April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania, NATO agreed
to the accession of Croatia and Albania and invited them to join. Both
countries joined NATO in April 2009.

In August 2003, NATO commenced its first mission ever outside Europe
when it assumed control over International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) in Afghanistan.

NATO new strategic concept discussed in Yerevan 04.02.2010 14:01
GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "South Caucasus Youth Forum: What’s Our Role?"

international conference, which opened in Yerevan on the initiative of
Armenian Atlantic Association and with the assistance of the Norwegian
Atlantic Committee, brought together experts from Armenia, Georgia,
Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

"This conference will help young people to determine their role in
formation of a common future," Executive Director of the Armenian
Atlantic Association Tevan Poghosyan said in his opening remarks.

At the NATO Summit in Strasbourg/Kehl on April 3 and 4, 2009, Heads of
State and Government (HoSG) tasked the Secretary General to develop
a new NATO Strategic Concept. This exercise should be completed by
the time of NATO’s next Summit which is expected to take place in
Lisbon in late 2010. The Summit also tasked the Secretary General to
convene and lead a broad based group of qualified experts who will
lay the ground for the new Strategic Concept. This will be done with
the active involvement of the North Atlantic Council (NAC).

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the (North)
Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based
on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949. The
NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the organization
constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states
agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

The Treaty of Brussels, signed on March 17, 1948 by Belgium, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom is considered
the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin
Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union’s Defense
Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United
States was thought necessary in order to counter the military power
of the USSR, and therefore talks for a new military alliance began
almost immediately.

These talks resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed
in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1949. It included the five Treaty
of Brussels states, as well as the United States, Canada, Portugal,
Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Popular support for the Treaty
was not unanimous; some Icelanders commenced a pro-neutrality,
anti-membership riot in March 1949.

Greece and Turkey joined the alliance in 1952, forcing a series of
controversial negotiations, in which the United States and Britain
were the primary disputants, over how to bring the two countries into
the military command structure. In July 1997, three former communist
countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited
to join NATO, which finally happened in 1999. Membership went on
expanding with the accession of seven more Northern European and
Eastern European countries to NATO: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
and also Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. They were first
invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague Summit,
and joined NATO on 29 March 2004, shortly before the 2004 Istanbul
summit. At the April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania, NATO agreed
to the accession of Croatia and Albania and invited them to join. Both
countries joined NATO in April 2009.

In August 2003, NATO commenced its first mission ever outside Europe
when it assumed control over International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) in Afghanistan.

NUMBER OF CANCERS GROWS BY 2-4% IN ARMENIA ANNUALLY

Noyan Tapan
Feb 5, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. World Cancer Day is marked on
February 4. According to official data, each year 12 million people are
diagnosed with cancer and 7 million die from this disease worldwide.

Deputy Director of the National Oncological Center, M.D., Professor
Gagik Bazikian said during the February 4 meeting with reporters
that in Armenia about 7 thousand people are diagnosed with cancer
and nearly 5 thousand patients die annually. Like elsewhere, the
number of cancers grows by 2-4% annually in Armenia. There are now
29 thousand cancer patients in the country.

In the words of G. Bazikian, the likelihood of successful treatment is
90-95% at the first stage of this disease, 50-55% at the second stage,
and only 10-15% at third and fourth stages. However, about 40-45%
of Armenian patients apply to a doctor when it is too late.

"Unfortunately, Armenians ignore their medical problems and do
not apply to a doctor at the proper time," he said. Whereas, by
the decision of the RA Ministry of Healthcare, at the first stage,
patients can receive free medical aid under the state order program.

TURKEY TO SEEK SWISS, US SUPPORT IN ARMENIA ROW: OFFICIAL

Agence France Presse
February 3, 2010 Wednesday 11:19 AM GMT

A top Turkish diplomat will travel to Switzerland and the United
States to seek their support over an Armenian court ruling which
Ankara says threatens historic reconciliation deals with Yerevan,
a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Feridun Sinirlioglu, undersecretary at the ministry, "will visit
these two countries in the coming days to express our concern"
over the ruling last month by the Armenian constitutional court,
spokesman Burak Ozugergin told reporters here.

After months of Swiss-mediation and US encouragement, Turkey and
Armenia signed two protocols in October to establish diplomatic ties
and reopen their shared border, in a historic step towards ending
decades of hostility stemming from World War I-era massacres of
Armenians under Ottoman Turks.

But the process hit the rocks after the Armenian court upheld
the legality of the protocols, but underlined that they could not
contradict Yerevan’s official position that the Armenian mass killings
constituted genocide — a label fiercely rejected by Ankara.

Turkey accused Armenia of trying to re-write and set new conditions
on the deals, while Yerevan warned that the rapprochement was under
threat of collapse.

Ozugergin said Ankara maintained its desire to build better ties with
its eastern neighbour.

"There is no problem in Turkey’s Armenian opening. But Armenia has
a problem with its Turkey opening," he added.

The reconciliation process is also complicated by Ankara’s insistence
that normalising Turkish-Armenian ties depend on progress between
Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan over the Nagorny-Karabakh dispute
— a link that Yerevan rejects.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan after ethnic Armenian forces wrested Nagorny Karabakh from
Baku’s control in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

LONDON: TURKISH, US MINISTERS DISCUSS TURKISH-ARMENIAN AGREEMENTS

Anadolu Agency
Jan 27 2010
Turkey

London, 27 January: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and
the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, discussed protocols
signed in October by Turkey and Armenia, diplomats said on Wednesday
[27 January].

Davutoglu and Clinton, who both are in London to attend an
international conference on Afghanistan, had a 15-minute brief meeting,
diplomats said.

The two ministers exchanged views on protocols that envisaged
establishing diplomatic ties and reopening their shared border.

ARMENIA’S ‘SECOND ARMY’ LIKE ‘A GRAND PIANO IN THE BUSHES’

news.az
s/60881.html
Feb 4 2010
Azerbaijan

The Armenian army held another series of military exercises in the
occupied Azerbaijani territories a few days ago. Unfortunately, these
exercises have already become a regular happening. The international
community stubbornly keeps silent as if this is natural and as if
Armenia is not a member of international organizations and a party to
international agreements. The international community is dancing under
Armenia’s tune even more enthusiastically, droningly playing a mythical
melody about Azerbaijan’s militarism and Armenia’s good nature.

They say Azerbaijan has raised the military budget and purchases
weapons in large numbers, develops its defense industry, and constantly
announces the possibility of a renewed war (what a nightmare
for all Armenians!). In fact, Azerbaijan is engaged in all of the
above-said. There is nothing surprising or reprehensible about this
fact. What should a country, part of whose territory is occupied amid
the full tolerance of the international community and a state, which
has lived in a "frozen conflict" for 16 years, do? What to do if this
"icing" is more imaginary than real? And what do to if Azerbaijan,
reforming and equipping its army, complies with quotas of the Treaty
on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CEF Treaty) while Armenia has
an opportunity to keep its armed forces in the occupied territories
controlled neither by Azerbaijan nor international community?

The situation is too simple. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are parties
to the CFE Treaty, which allocates certain quotas for each country.

Azerbaijan is in compliance with its quotas. Armenia is also
in compliance, but geographically. However, there is a so-called
separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, whose weapons are not registered by the
CFE Treaty because the "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" is not a party to
the agreement or any other international treaties. Armenia constantly
stores heavy military equipment in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.

Azerbaijan, of course, clearly sees what kinds of weapons they are
and is aware of where they are produced.

Thus, a situation which is incredible for the 21st century, but
also obvious, appears in this case: Azerbaijan is opposed to Armenia
which possesses "a grand piano in the bushes," in fact, an army not
controlled by anyone except the Armenians themselves and perhaps by
countries that maintain much a closer relationship with it in the
military sphere.

Of course, the military junta which seized power in Armenia profits
from coming up with militarist ideas among the population. "Azerbaijan
is threatening us!", "Azerbaijan is buying new tanks!", "Azerbaijan
conducts a parade!", "We must answer!".

One more awkward thing about this "second army" is that they will have
to withdraw it soon. Initially, the purchase and deployment of so
many heavy weapons in Karabakh looks pretty silly. In the case of a
blitzkrieg (even though it is less probable at the moment because of
Azerbaijan’s determination to follow peaceful means), these weapons
will be transformed into trophies. It seems impossible to display
one’s abilities in mountainous areas. The eternal threat of Armenian
utopians to attack lowland areas of Azerbaijan is nothing but hot air.

However, we do not need to worry about the safety of the Armenian
arms: in case of a war it would be in a more convenient place to be
destroyed or seized.

The international community has no accurate data on the number,
type or quality of weapons in the "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic." But
Azerbaijan sees everything very well.

What is surprising is that Armenia ignores the West and East by
holding military parades in Azerbaijan’s occupied Khankandi town and
the president of Armenia, a country recognized by the international
community, reviews illegal armed formations on the territory of
Azerbaijan, another internationally recognized country. The issue at
hand is that these armed formations are an integral part of the army,
the commander-in-chief of which is the president. The international
community looks either blind or mentally handicapped in this case.

Given the situation, I think it would make sense to raise the question
of an international inspection in the occupied territories. If the
OSCE is able to measure the length and width of the Lachin corridor
in the event of the signing of the peace treaty, then it should
not ignore the presence of the uncontrolled armed forces of another
country in the territory of its member state. It would be better also
to monitor cultivation and drug production, nuclear waste disposal,
environmental orgy and others of that ilk in these areas.

I can imagine how the Armenian junta will resist the inspection. It is
quite possible that the huge theft which benefited Serzh Sargsyan,
Robert Kocharian, Seyran Ohanyan and "other officials" will be
revealed.