Author: Hovhannisian John

ARMENIA’S DOUBLE DIGIT ECONOMIC GROWTH WAS MAINLY A RESULT OF INCREASE IN TRANSFERS: GAGIK EGANYAN

Tert.am
12.05.10

The Armenian Government is concerned about the big number of migrants
who left Armenia in the 1990s.

"Both the number of marriages and births has seen almost a two-fold
reduction during the past 20 years. Our economic potential is being
decreased and weakened, our stabilization and development capacity
has been blocked," Head of State Migration Service of the Republic
of Armenia Gagik Eganyan said on May 11 while presenting the Human
Development Report.

At the same time he mentioned that several families in Armenia have
had a permanent income due to the growth of migration.

"Due to this phenomenon the transfers sent to Armenia have played a
big role in the double digit economic growth of the country.

Particularly, there has been registered a 20% growth in transfers
since 2001," said Eganyan.

BOYCOTT: DASHNAKS REFUSE TO MEET PACE’S TURKISH HEAD AFTER HE REFUSES TO VISIT GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
Gayane Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow reporter
News | 12.05.10 | 12:31

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish president of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE), was starting his visit to Armenia on
Wednesday amid a boycott from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), which has refused to have a meeting with the
visiting European official, citing the latter’s refusal to honor the
1915 Armenian Genocide victims at a Yerevan memorial.

According to unofficial reports, originally Cavusoglu was expected
to arrive in Yerevan on an official visit, which supposes that senior
guests and visiting high-ranking officials shall visit Tsitsernakaberd,
a hilltop complex in Yerevan built in memory of more than 1.5
million Armenians massacred in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of
last century. However, the official refused to pay a visit to the
memorial, which prompted the authorities to change the status into
a working visit, during which a Tsitsernakaberd visit is not required.

"This breach of the official procedure clearly shows that Cavusoglu is
visiting Armenia not so much as PACE head as a Turkish politician,"
ARF parliamentary faction head Vahan Hovhannisyan told ArmeniaNow,
adding that in such conditions the party does not find it expedient
to meet Cavusoglu.

(Such meetings between the visiting PACE head and political parties
of the host country are also part of the procedure).

Hovhannisyan stressed that any foreign official who is on an official
visit to Armenia, regardless of whether his or her country has
recognized the Armenian Genocide or not, visits Tsitsernakaberd.

"This is disrespect and we should show an adequate attitude towards
the Turkish politician," said Hovhannisyan, calling on other political
forces to follow suit.

Meanwhile, the head of the other opposition faction in parliament
thinks boycott is a belated measure.

Said Heritage’s Stepan Safaryan: "The ARF should have thought about
these risks when it refused to join our faction’s move to prevent
Cavusoglu from becoming [PACE] president still when we were warning
that a Turkish head of PACE would be a serious threat."

Cavusoglu was elected PACE president in January this year.

Still in November 2009, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE
Zaruhi Postanjyan, representing Heritage, submitted a draft resolution
to PACE according to which representatives of countries that are at
the stage of monitoring or post-monitoring cannot assume the post of
PACE presidency (Turkey is at the stage of post-monitoring). Despite
the fact that about a dozen Council of Europe member countries joined
the initiative, the other members of the Armenian delegation, including
ARF, refused to second it.

TYPHOON WAS ILLEGALLY INSTALLED WHILE OTHER MERRY-GO-ROUNDS IN HAKHTANAK PARK UNDERGO TECH EXAM

Tert.am
13:57 11.05.10

The merry-go-round Typhoon, that broke down on May 6 in the Hakhtanak
(Victory) Park in Yerevan and left 4 people injured, had been
put into execution only a month ago, Head of National Centre for
Technical Security of Armenia, Vladimir Hovsepyan said at a press
conference today.

He also said that it had been designed and installed by an individual
rather than by a licensed organization.

Ashot Petrosyan, Head of the National Centre for Technical Security at
the Ministry of Emergency situations, in turn, said that a criminal
case has already been filed and that the investigation will reveal
further questions pertaining to the accident.

According to Petrosyan it is the company using the merry-go-rounds that
is responsible for the control of their technical condition. In this
case it is the Hakhtanak Park which signed a contract with a company
called Teg to conduct the technical examination of the newly-obtained
merry-go-round, while was not examined.

A 3 million dram fine has been imposed on Hakhtanak Park’s
administration due to the present condition of the three attractions
it comprises. A special commission has been created to examine the
work of Teg.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations issued a ruling which forbids
all the roundabouts in Hakhtanak Park that have not passed a proper
technical examination to operate, while the rest are being re-examined.

EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTRY OF ARMENIA TO EXAMINE MERRY-GO-ROUNDS IN YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2010-05-11 13:45:00

ArmInfo. The Emergency Situations Ministry of Armenia will examine
all the merry-go-rounds and rides in Yerevan after a merry-go-round
in the city park injured several people on Monday.

The chains of the merry-go-round called "Typhoon" broke on May 9
in the Victory Park of Yerevan. Four people were injured: Sirarpi
Navoyan (born in 1996) and Susanna Galstyan (born in 1997) suffered
lighter injuries (injuries of head and extremities), whereas Marine
(born in 1975) and Menua (born in 1997) Vardanyans were taken to
Mikaelyan Medical Center (backbone injury and brain concussion).

Director of the National Center of Technical Security Ashot Petrosyan
said in a press conference on Tuesday that a special commission has
been set up at the Emergency Situations Ministry to inquire into the
incident. Another representative of the Center, Head of the Yerevan
Examination Service Vladimir Hovsepyan said the given merry-go-round
and another few rides were installed illegally. In fact, all the
rides will undergo examination.

ASHOT GRIGORIAN: IT IS TURKEY’S DUTY TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 11, 2010
SALZBURG

A seminar took place on May 9 in Salzburg which was organized by the
"SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR" authoritative organization. The Foreign
Ministries of many counries including Austria, Sweden, Turkey, and
UN officials took part in that seminar.

The organizers invited Forum of Armenian Association of Europe
(FAAE) Chairman Ashot Grigorian to attend the seminar who during the
opening briefly presented the theme of the questions which he had
prepared for the discussion including the present and the future of
the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, the Armenian Genocide recognition
by Turkey, lifting the blockade of the Armenian-Turkish border and
the development of relations with the South Caucasus particularly
with Azerbaijan.

In his speech A. Grigorian said:

"Based on the facts of the Genocide of 1915, in 1945 Raphale Lemkin
drafted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Many European states have given the Armenian Genocide their political
recognition. Turkey cannot bar the parliaments of democratic countries
to give express their political position on this historical fact. It
is the privilege and the right of freely and democratically elected
parliaments. It won’t be long before the majority of EU member states
reproach Turkey for its denial of the Genocide. This too will hinder
your EU membership. Do you not think that with statements such as
that in 1915 more Turks died in the hands of the Armenians than the
other way round merely brings a smile, if not laughter, to the faces
of European politicians who are well acquainted with the Ottoman
Empire’s history? Many countries have withheld Turkish attacks and
suffered under the aggressive policies of the Ottoman Empire. The
Turkish attacks reached as far as Austria and Vienna was surrounded by
the Turkish army for a long time. You will not succeed in convincing
anybody by your rewriting of the history and you make the situation
more difficult. Genocide recognition is Turkey’s obligation and it
must own up to it, as did civilised Germany. This is the only way to
satisfy the generations of a million robbed and murdered Armenians;
generations that live in the Diaspora and whose purpose in life is
to fight for their murdered ancestors and for justice. With time
the number of these generations multiplies, as does the feeling of
injustice. The solution to this problem lies with you.

I ask you to appreciate one thing – the power of the Diaspora grows
and the campaign becomes more powerful. Without recognition of the
genocide Turkey will not be able to progress democratically and work
peacefully. The Diaspora will find new opportunities to explain to you
and make you come to terms with your past and by apologising for the
terrible mistake you will secure a clear future. There are hundreds
of thousands, perhaps millions of Turks in Turkey today that are the
offspring of mixed marriages with Armenians. These Turks consciously,
or perhaps even unconsciously, feel that your predecessors have been
grossly unjust to the Armenians that were forced out of their homeland,
deported and finally subject to genocide. These Turks will be the in
the frontline of those demanding justice so that they too can live
with clear conscience and in peace inside Europe. Solving problems
by falsifications is ineffective and in fact impossible.

Either you will appreciate this, and soon the Armenian and the Turkish
people will resume neighbourly relations, or you will cause further
tension in the South Caucasus and potentially war. The situation in
the Middle East from Georgia to Iraq and Israel is already highly
sensitive. It is true that Turkey’s position here is truly great.

Either Turkey will cause the situation to erupt and even escalate
to a regional war, or it will continue its democratic path towards
entering EU by firstly solving all the issues Turkey has been the cause
of thus the solutions of which lie with Turkey alone. We believe in
second way’s being realistic."

RA AND RF FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS ISSUES CONCERNING NAGORNO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 10,2010
MOSCOW

RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian who is in Moscow in the
delegation led by the RA President met his Russian counterpart Sergey
Lavrov on May 8.

According to the MFA press service, a number of issues of bilateral
and international agenda, including Nagorno Karabakh settlement
negotiations process, were discussed.

DIASPORA NEEDS FAVORABLE CLIMATE FOR NKR RECOGNITION: GIRO MANOYAN

news.am
May 10 2010
Armenia

Head of Armenian Cause Office Giro Manoyan called "somewhat strange"
the statement by the NKR Public Council, urging Armenian Diaspora
organizations to lobby for international recognition of the NKR. Hay
Dat (Armenian Cause) committees have been dealing with the issue for
a long time, trying to lobby for international recognition of the NKR,
Giro Manoyan told NEWS.am.

However, Armenian lobbyists constantly face the question why Armenia
itself does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan’s recognition of
the NKR should follow the logics of the peace process. It would be
wrong if Armenia recognized the NKR all of sudden. It is not a matter
of lobbying alone, he said. Manoyan added that Armenian organizations
should not sit on their hands but work to create a favorable climate
for international recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. "It
is presently being done," Manoyan assured.

The NKR Public Council for Foreign and Security Policy called
on Armenian Diaspora organizations to initiate the process of
international recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

ARMENIA’S MEN TEAM TO PARTICIPATE IN DAVIS CUP GROUP III

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 10, 2010 – 17:08 AMT 12:08 GMT

>>From May 10-15, Greece will host Davis Cup Group III men team
championship of the Euro/African Zone. The competition will bring
together representatives of Armenia, Andorra, Albania, Greece, Georgia,
Luxemburg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro and San Marino.

Harutyun Sophyan, Ashot Gevorgyan, Khachatur Khachatryan and Karo
Pambukyan will represent Armenia, the press service of the RA Tennis
Federation told PanARMENIAN.Net

The Armenian tennis players have qualified for this group due to
their successful participation in the Davis Cup 2009 Group IV in
Cote d’Ivoire.

NEW DETAILS REVEALED ON HRANT DINK ASSASSINATION

Panorama.am
18:27 10/05/2010

Region

Those charged with Hrant Dink assassination had phone contacts with
6 of the Ergenekon suspects, Court report informed Istanbul police
department, according to Cumhuriyet.

20 people are being charged with Hrant Dink assassination, 5 of
them detained, including the actual killer, Ogun Samast. Ergenekon
has 86 suspects, including 46 detainees. Alleged members have been
indicted on charges of plotting to foment unrest, among other things
by assassinating intellectuals, politicians, judges, military staff,
and religious leaders, with the ultimate goal of toppling the incumbent
government.

RICCARDO MIGLIORI : LA QUESTION DU GENOCIDE N’EST PAS LE PROBLÈME DE L’ARMENIE ET DE LA TURQUIE SEULEMENT
par Stephane

armenews
vendredi7 mai 2010
ARMENIE

Le Chef de la delegation italienne a l’Assemblee parlementaire de
l’OSCE Riccardo Migliori est a Erevan pour commemorer les victimes
innocentes du Genocide armenien. Le parlementaire italien a visite
le Memorial Tsitsernakaberd avec l’Ambassadeur d’Italie en Armenie
Bruno Scapini.

" Je suis ici pour rendre hommage aux victimes de la tragedie qui est
arrivee il y a 95 ans" a declare le depute italien qui a ajoute que
la condamnation du Genocide armenien par la communaute internationale
empechera de nouveaux genocides dans le monde. Le senat Italien a
reconnu le Genocide armenien en 2000.

L’ambassadeur Scapini a dit il y a une grande communaute armenienne
dans son paysi. " Je pense que les italiens participent a ces
evenements avec leur conscience pour la longue amitie vieille de
plusieurs siècles entre les peuples armenien et italien " a dit Bruno
Scapini, ajoutant que les italiens doivent partager le chagrin de
leurs amis.

Selon lui, l’Italie est parmi les pays en pointe pour la reconnaissance
du genocide armenien.

Riccardo Migliori a dit que la question du genocide armenien n’est
pas le problème de l’Armenie et de la Turquie seulement, mais celui
de toute l’humanite et cela doit etre un defi.