Author: Jalatian Sonya

OPINION: GAS PRICE RAISE TO AFFECT ARMENIA’S ECONOMY

ARKA
MArch 15, 2010

YEREVAN, March 15. /ARKA/. Vazgen Safaryan, the chairman of Association
of Domestic Manufacturers and the head of Public Council’s financial,
economic and budget commission, thinks the raise of gas price amid
the current social tension will affect Armenia’s economic development.

On Monday, speaking in Novosti International Press Center, he said
that gas and electric energy make up 55% of cost price of cement and
72% of that of rubber.

"This will make Armenian products more expensive than the products
on world markets and will weaken competitiveness of our commodities,"
he said.

Natural gas price for Armenia’s consumers will be raised 37.5% to
AMD 132 on April 1, 2010, from present AMD 96 per one cubic meter.

Those consumers using more than 10,000 cubic meters of gas monthly
will pay $243.13 per each 1,000 cubic meters instead of $215
presently.

OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN SUMMARIZES RESULTS OF ITS 10-YEAR ACTIVITIES

Noyan Tapan
March 15, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The March 15 meeting of the OSCE
Yerevan Office Head, Ambassador Sergey Kapinos with reporters was
dedicated to the 10-year activities of the Office. He stated that
the OSCE Yerevan Office assists Armenia with fulfillment of the
obligations the country assumed within the framework of the OSCE,
as well as promotes cooperation of Armenia on the OSCE territory –
through collaboration with all state and non-state institutions of
Armenia. It was with the assistance of OSCE that the Electoral and
Judicial Codes of Armenia and a number of laws, including the RA law
on freedom of conscience and religion and the RA law on freedom of
assembly and mass events, have been developed. In the opinion of S.

Kapinos, the last of the indicated laws is much more modern than the
similar laws of several other transitional countries.

He said that last year the Office implemented 53 projects, including
military-political, environmental, economic programs and projects
related to human rights, democracy and efficient state governance.

According to him, considerable success has been achieved in police
reforms and military-political programs on democratic control of the
parliament and civil society over the armed forces.

In the economic sphere, the activities of the OSCE Yerevan Office are
aimed first of all at developing small and medium entrepreneurship,
creating a competitive environment, and assisting the development
of marzes (regions). In this connection S. Kapinos underlined
the importance of establishing the OSCE Office in Syunik in 2006:
it became an experimental field for preparing a number of projects
which will be used later in other marzes of Armenia, including the
project on creation of three centers on women’s employment. As regards
emvironmental protection, a monitoring activity on purity of water
in the South Caucasus was implemented. The project on disposal of
the Nubarashen cemetery is now being examined. S. Kapinos explained
that landslides in the cemetery area may cause dangerous leakages
and contaminate the underground water with toxic substances.

S. Kapinos said that the OSCE Yerevan Office had assisted Armenia in
establishing the institution of ombudsman which now has authority in
Armenia. Yet he expressed concern about court practice, saying that
there are serious problems there and it is necessary to pay attention
first of all to the judicial system. As for the freedom of press, S.

Kapinos pointed out the necessity to improve the legislation on the
sphere, in particilar to pass a law on the freedom of information.

The OSCE Yerevan Office head considered Armenia’s achievements in
the fight against human trafficking as "great". In his words, the
implementation of the anti-corruption strategic program will depend
on the efficiency of reforms in the police, the judiciary, and some
other spheres.

SR International – Radio Sweden
March 14 2010

Turkey Protests against Swedish Vote

People have been protesting outside Swedish consulates in Turkey,
following the Swedish parliament’s decision on Thursday to recognise
as genocide the deaths of Armenians and other ethnic groups in the
Ottoman Empire.

The reactions in Turkey "have been strong on every level" Christer
Asp, Sweden’s ambassador in Ankara told Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Visit Cancelled, Ambassador Recalled (2010-03-12)
And news agency TT reports that the mailbox of the Swedish Embassy in
Ankara is overflowing with protest letters from private persons as
well as organisations.

"Some of them are formulated in a way that I would not want to express
in public. There are no threats, but no nice words about Sweden, if
you see what I mean," Ambassador Christer Asp told TT.

The embassy has also received e-mails from Turkish businessmen who say
they have cancelled contracts with Swedish companies, in protest of
the standpoint in the Swedish parliament.

The Turkish Ambassador in Stockholm has been recalled, and Prime
Minister Erdogan has cancelled his planned visit to Sweden next week.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt calls the parliaments decision
"deeply regrettable" and says that it will make the reconciliation in
the region more difficult.

/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?nyheter=1&ProgramID54 &Artikel=3506928

Xinhua General News Service
March 12, 2010 Friday 7:10 AM EST

Turkey uneasy over Swedish parliament’s approval of Armenian genocide
resolution

ANKARA March 12

Turkish Foreign Ministry Friday conveyed Turkey’s uneasiness to
Swedish Ambassador in Ankara Christer Asp after the Swedish parliament
passed an Armenian genocide resolution, the semi-official Anatolia
news agency reported.

The ministry strongly condemned the decision and asked Sweden to take
serious steps which would compensate this decision, according to the
report.

Sweden’s parliament on Thursday passed a resolution recognizing the
killing of Armenians and many other ethnic groups in 1915 as genocide.

The 349-seat parliament passed the resolution with a narrow majority,
with 131 yes, 130 no and 88 abstention, according to the Swedish news
agency TT.

The ministry officials told Asp that the decision might seriously harm
the relations between Turkey and Sweden which had been developing in
the recent period, said the Anatolia report.

The Swedish ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry
early Friday after the Swedish parliament’s resolution.

Asp told reporters that he explained the Swedish government’s stance
on the issue to Turkish officials during his talks at the ministry.

Asp noted the Swedish parliament’s decision was not binding for the
government, adding that the decision would certainly not affect his
country’s support to Turkey’s EU bid.

On March 4, Turkey temporarily recalled its ambassador to the United
States after a U.S. congressional panel approved a resolution labeling
the incidents of 1915 as "genocide."

Turkey and Armenia have been bogged down in the row over the deaths of
Armenians, and have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia
declared its independence in 1991.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols last October to normalize
relations, however, the parliaments of the two countries have not yet
passed them.

AMBASSADOR: TURKEY DISAPPOINTED BY DETERIORATION OF RELATIONS WITH SWEDEN

Trend News Agency
March 12 2010
Azerbaijan

Turkey’s Ambassador to Sweden Zergun Koruturk on arrival in Istanbul
expressed her regret on deterioration of bilateral relations between
the two countries, Cihan Agency reported.

After approving the document, Ankara recalled its ambassador from
Stockholm for consultations. A similar decision was adopted by the
U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee 23 votes to
22 last week. Ankara recalled its ambassadors to these countries to
protest resolutions on the so-called "Armenian genocide" adopted by
the U.S. Congress and Swedish Parliament.

Turkey’s ambassador Koruturk said that she was recalled for
consultations in Ankara. She didn’t specify the date of her return
to Stockholm.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, while commenting the issue,
said that the adoption of the resolution on the so-called "Armenian
genocide" will be a serious blow to the steps towards the normalization
of Turkish-Armenian relations.

According to Foreign Minister, historical events must not be
politicized.

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES NEUTRALIZE AZERI SUBVERSIVE GROUPING

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.03.2010 16:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An Azeri subversive grouping which attempted to
penetrate into the Armenian territory was neutralized in Koty village
of Tavush region of Armenia on March 3 night, 1.30 am.

"The Armenian military detected a group of 5 people in civilian clothes
and armed with special devices. A warning fire followed by a skirmish
as result of which one of the Azeris was wounded and taken captive
but died on the way to hospital. The others escaped to Azerbaijan. To
prevent penetrations, the Armenian armed forces undertook extra
security measures," the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier the day, another Azeri grouping was detected. 3 subversives,
who acted under the artillery cover of their accomplices, were dressed
in black and were armed with guns. Two of them were killed.

The personal belongings and tattoos on the bodies of the subversives
suggest that they served in Azerbaijan special forces and were members
of Wahhabi movement.

EX-PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA IS IN FRANCE ON PRIVATE VISIT

ArmInfo
2010-03-11 12:10:00

ArmInfo. Ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan is in France on a
private visit, Kocharyan’s spokesman Viktor Soghomonyan told ArmInfo.

According to him, R. Kocharyan met ex-President of France Jacques
Chirac in Paris on March 9. "I am not aware what issues were discussed
during the meeting", Soghomonyan said and added that the details of
the visit will be known after return of R. Kocharyan to Armenia.

To recall, incumbent President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan also arrived
in France on March on official visit. The delegation, headed by S.

Sargsyan, will be back to Yerevan on March 11.

CLOSER RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND EU POSE NO THREAT TO ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

ARKA
March 11, 2010

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. Development of ties between Armenia
and European Union doesn’t put Armenian-Russian relations in
danger, Goran Lennmarker, special rapporteur on Karabakh and OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly’s special envoy for Georgia, said Wednesday
at NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth seminar in Yerevan.

He said that Armenia is an independent state and decides independently
with whom to cooperate.

He is convinced that closer ties with European Union pose no threat
to Armenian-Russian relations.

He thinks there is no competition.

Speaking about European Union’s Eastern Partnership initiative,
Lennmarker said that this program let Armenia decide how close its
ties with European Union will be.

He said that his homeland, Sweden, welcomes the possibility of
Armenia’s membership in the European Union.

He added hat Armenia is a European country and pointed out adoption
of Christianity by Armenians yet in 301 as evidence of that.

GORAN LENNMARKER: SENSE OF SECURITY IS A CORNERSTONE FOR ARMENIA IN SOLUTION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

ArmInfo
2010-03-11 14:02:00

ArmInfo. A sense of security is a cornerstone for Armenia in
solution of the Karabakh conflict, OSCE PA special rapporteur on
Nagorno Karabakh Goran Lennmarker said in Yerevan today during a
seminar "Regional cooperation in the South Caucasus. Challenges,
Opportunities, Perspectives".

According to him, a sense of security for Armenia is substantiated
by the historical past full of tragic events, therefore, a sense of
security is a cornerstone for Armenia in solution of this problem,
and the Azerbaijani party has to understand and respect this sense. He
also said that the Armenian party should also understand and realize
the problem of Azerbaijan, with a sense of abjection from defeat
and unfairness at the root of it. The rapporteur warned Azerbaijan
from fomentation of hatred both at the official level and in the
mass media. He said that fomentation of hostility, which is more
in Azerbaijan than in Armenia, is too dangerous and causes growth
of tension.

UNLIKELY THAT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL WILL MAKE IT TO FULL HOUSE VOTE: DEMIRCHYAN

Tert.am
16:52 ~U 10.03.10

The People’s Party of Armenia welcomes a US House panel’s recent
decision to approve an Armenian Genocide bill, however, the party
considers it unlikely that the issue will make it to a full House vote,
said party leader Stepan Demirchyan during a press conference today.

As for Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, Demirchyan noted that it seems
as though that process has come to a dead end. According to him, Turkey
won’t ratify the Armenian-Turkish Protocols – even with preconditions.