Author: Jane Topchian

ARMENIA AT THE SINGAPORE YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

Aysor
Jan 21 2010
Armenia

David Kazarian, an Armenian judoka from Vanadzor, and two more
athletes, whose names are still expected to be announced by Press
Office of Armenian Olympic Committee, will leave for Singapore to
participate in the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

Singapore will host the Simmer Youth Olympic Games in August 14-26
2010, where athletes in 25 sports will be in competition.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held in Innsbruck, in 2012,
said a spokesperson to Olympic Committee.

HAS THERE BEEN A PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE ARMENIAN, TURKISH FMS?
Nvard Davtyan

"Radiolur"
20.01.2010 14:58

Turkish media report that RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had
a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Burak Ozugergin said that RA
Foreign Minister expressed his concern over the statement issued by
Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Asked whether the phone conversation has really taken place, the Head
of Media Relations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Armenia, Tigran Balayan said: "We’ll properly inform about the
Minister’s contacts."

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Monday,
saying the decision of the Armenian Constitutional Court "contains
preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the letter and
spirit of the Protocols."

In response to that, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
said he would contact his Turkish counterpart to express his doubts,
and clarify where in the decision of the Constitutional Court of
Armenia the Turkish side sees preconditions and how they contradict
the fundamental objective of the Protocols.

EGEMEN BAGIS: 60 PERCENT WILL SUPPORT TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.12.2009 21:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish State Minister & Chief Negotiator for EU
talks Egemen BagıÅ~_ said on Wednesday that according to recent
surveys, 60 percent of society would support Turkey’s accession to
the EU.

Holding a meeting with media representatives in Istanbul, BagıÅ~_
said that the importance of Turkey in the EU was increasing each
day. He added that it was necessary to focus on reforms.

BagıÅ~_ said that the new European Parliament, Enlargement Report
as well as Turkey Report which was expected to be adopted in January
2010 would show the support extended to Turkey. He added that EU
membership was a strategic target for Turkey.

Turkey, whether or not joined the EU, needed a new Constitution,
and the issue of a new Constitution should not be a political matter,
said BagıÅ~_.

He said that according to a survey in Europe, 40 percent supported
Turkey’s EU membership, reported Turkish media.

VASILI GHAZARIAN APPOINTED AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF RA TO AFGHANISTAN PLURALISTICALLY

Noyan Tapan
Dec 22, 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. On December 21, RA President Serzh
Sargsyan signed a decree on appointing Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of RA to Kazakhstan Vasili Ghazarian Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of RA to the Islamic Republic
of Afghanistan (residence Astana) pluralistically. Noyan Tapan was
informed about it by RA President’s Press Office.

RUSSIAN GAS SUPPLY TO ARMENIA RESTORED

armradio.am
15.12.2009 12:44

Russian gas supplies to Armenia were restored on Monday after being
severed for a day when bombs were found under a pipeline in the
volatile southern region of Ingushetia.

Armenia gets around 2 billion cubic metres of gas annually from
Russia, but customers were not affected, said Shushan Sardaryan,
a spokeswoman for ArmRosGazprom.

"The supply of gas to Armenia has now restarted," Shushan Sardaryan
told "Radiolur."

Russian police defused two bombs and searched the area for other
explosive devices, after the Mozdok-Tbilisi pipeline was shut down
on Sunday.

Officials then worked to restore the flow of gas in the pipeline which
also serves customers in Russia’s North Ossetia and Ingushetia regions.

IT IS UNCLEAR WHAT MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS MEAN WHEN TALKING ABOUT IMPORTANT PROGRESS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH TALKS: AZERBAIJANI MP

Today
html
Nov 23 2009
Azerbaijan

Optimism by the American and French co-chairs of OSCE Minsk deserves
attention," member of Azerbaijani parliament Aydin Mirzazade said.

The OSCE Minsk Group issued a statement on Munich meeting of Presidents
Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia on Nov. 22.

"The talks which lasted nearly four hours were constructive. The talks,
which lasted almost four hours, were constructive. Progress was made
in some areas. At the same time, some issues still remain open,"
the statement said.

"It does not matter for Azerbaijan that there is some progress in
every meeting. Only result of the meeting is important for us. But
it has not been achieved yet. There is no a serious condemnation of
Armenia’s occupation policy and there is no international pressure
on Armenia to respect international legal norms," Mirzazade said.

"The negotiations have been going on for almost 17 years. How long
will it last? On one hand, OSCE Minsk Group statement on meeting of
the presidents draws attention while it is unclear what the co-chairs
have in mind when talking about important progress," he said.

"At the same time, the very fact that they intend to organize a new
meeting of the presidents immediately after the talks indicated that
resource of negotiation process has not been fully exhausted and
the negotiations can continue. Meantime, concrete results, namely,
recognition of country’s territorial integrity, withdrawal of Armenian
forces from occupied Azerbaijani territories and return of refugees
to their territories are important for Azerbaijan," he added.

"I think that the upcoming meeting of Azerbaijani and Russian
presidents Ilham Aliyev and Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow may be assessed
as a positive factor in the negotiation process. Russia plays an
important role in the negotiations process. We hope that Russia will
continue to use its influence to resolve the problem," the MP said.

IMF COMPLETES ARMENIAN REVIEW, APPROVES MODIFICATIONS TO STAND-BY PROGRAMME
BYLINE: Venla Sipila

World Markets Rsearch Centre
Global Insight
November 3, 2009

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the second review
of Armenia’s performance under its current stand-by programme. It
notes that the global crisis has continued to take a serious toll on
the economy, and although the output collapse seems to have bottomed
out, the collapse in construction activity and the drastic fall in
remittance inflows have resulted in a more severe GDP contraction and
deterioration in the fiscal balance than expected. In recognition of
these facts, the IMF also approved Armenia’s request for a waiver of
the end-September fiscal criterion, thus allowing for weaker budget
performance than outlined at the beginning of the current programme.

In addition, the IMF modified the criteria for end-2009 performance,
and allowed for a revision in payment schedules to bring forward
amounts scheduled to become available following the second and third
reviews to completion of the second review. Consequently, Armenia may
immediately withdraw a tranche of 37.72 million Special Drawing Rights
(SDR, some $60US million), bringing to the total amount extended
to Armenia under the current arrangement to SDR 301.94 million. The
28-month stand-by program was approved in March, and extended in June
(seeArmenia: 24 June 2009:).

Significance:The news of the programme review conclusion and
modification of its terms follows staff-level agreement on the review,
and reports that Armenian officials were seeking to soften the loan
terms with both the IMF and the World Bank (seeArmenia: 17 September
2009:) andArmenia: 2 October 2009:). The extensive leniency reflected
in the modification of the programme terms signals the severity of
the current Armenian economic predicament and was facilitated by full
implementation of the Armenian officials of the agreed stabilisation
programme. So far, this has included both fiscal and monetary easing,
and implementation of a flexible exchange rate regime. As noted
by the IMF, fiscal easing this year is needed in order to finance
anti-crisis measures with the collapsing domestic demand, and to
protect social spending. On the other hand, the Armenian authorities
have outlined fiscal consolidation from 2010, in order to ensure
debt sustainability. The Fund also reiterated its recommendation of
continued strengthening of tax administration, as well as for reform
of the financial sector and improvement in the business environment.

Given that about half of Armenia’s budget gap relies on external
financing, whereas the short-term outlook for the economy remains very
bleak and not much choice in covering the wide external financing
needs is available, continued adherence to IMF programme terms is
crucially important, both concerning its economic performance and
financial stability.

LOGISTIC ILLUSIONS, OR ARMENIA’S DESIRE TO ACCESS EUROPEAN CORRIDOR

Today
56939.html
Oct 26 2009
Azerbaijan

Euphoria of the Armenian authorities in connection with swift opening
of borders with Turkey seems to pass to a stage of delusion, when
a person – but in this case a group of persons – turns out unable
to clearly assess the situation. They do not realize that today
Turkey has gained enormous weight in the region and it may influence
situation in the region, depending on certain circumstances. It will
be so difficult for Armenia to benefit from it…

The strong desire to receive definite dividends from the situation
while it is possible, actually, prompted the Armenia leader to agree
to sign protocols with Turkey to establish diplomatic relations as
soon as possible. Yet it is difficult to say unambiguously what the
initial motives were. More likely, a group of factors; including
a desire to get rid of the Diaspora’s influence without a fear of
losing its financial handouts and to get rid of the influence of its
former boss, ex-President Robert Kocharian.

The euphoria has turned Serzhik and Co.’s head to an extent that
he does not hear or stubbornly unwilling to hear the words of Gul
and Erdogan, who almost every day reiterate that will never betray
Azerbaijan’s interests and it is impossible to normalize ties with
Armenia without a parallel resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Serzhik does not listen to those who tell him about it within his
country. Even the Dashnaks are tired of saying that let Serzhik not
to rejoice prematurely, because the processes will flow simultaneously.

Instead, his people organize a news conference of Director General
of South Caucasus Railways JSC Shovket Shaidullin. They approve and
contribute to it, even though not openly.

So, namely Shaidullin is well-remembered for a number of contradictory
statements. The most interesting is that all his so-called "statements"
were based solely on assumptions.

Now judge for yourself. He announced the Akhuryan station will be
opened on the Armenian-Turkish border in near future or to be exact
in a month. He said, "After the ratification of protocols signed in
Zurich between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey, we will
hold a respective meeting with Turkey, whose results will be taken
as basis to design conditions for the railway." Thus, Shaidullin
admits that, in fact, nothing has been cleared up yet, nothing has
been negotiated and the news conference in whole makes no sense.

At the same, he suddenly passes from purely economic claims to
political claims. Shaidullin states that the main task is not only to
open the Akhuryan station, "the key objective is to enter correctly
the European corridor, the Caucasus and Asia, which could enable
Armenia to become a part of an international logistics center."

Too pompous words, aren’t they?

Actually it would not right to blame Shaidullin for something. South
Caucasus Railways is a 100-percent subsidiary of Russian Railways
OJSC. Armenian Railway CJSC was given to management of the South
Caucasus Railways under a concession contract signed on Feb. 13, 2008.

Term of the contract is 30 years with a right of extension for another
10 years. Thus Shaidullin is directly interested in opening from both
an economic viewpoint and Russia’s strategic interests. The interests
are purely of economic nature.

However, under the instruction of "top" circles, his speech was
replicated and introduced as recognition of some kind of victory,
to be correct Armenia’s coming out of the blockade.

Serzhik and Co. was not even disturbed by Shaidullin’s statement
that once the border is opened, there will be a need to create a
new format of relations, as SCR works with CIS member-states and,
in particular with Georgia, in the so-called "CIS format", whilst
another mode should be chosen for work with Turkey.

SCR general director also added that since Turkey is party to the
Convention on the Railway Transport (CRT), Armenia will have to join
it as part of SCR.

Meanwhile, independent experts also hint the same, unanimously stating
that even if the opening of borders will take place today, that does
not mean that Armenia will become a kind guide, a link between East
and West tomorrow. It requires taking a lot of decisions, signing a
pile of papers, and above all consult with the world powers, which are
unlikely to agree to worsening of relations with a far more powerful,
influential and useful Azerbaijan.

So, Serzh Sargsyan, relax and do not strain prematurely. It may
undermine your health …

Finally, just for background information: the Akhuryan station is
called by name of the river with the same name, the historical name
of which is Arpachay. Never forget it …

US, TURKISH PRESIDENTS DISCUSS "HISTORIC PROGRESS" IN YEREVAN-ANKARA RELATIONS

armradio.am
19.10.2009 14:47

Turkish President Abdullah spoke to the US President by phone on
Saturday. The White House said that Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul had
a phone talk with U.S. President Barack Obama, and the two discussed
a wide range of issues, including the situation in Afghanistan and
the evolving relations between Turkey and Armenia.

The two leaders also spoke about the "historic progress" being made
to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia "and the importance
of maintaining the momentum in this important effort," the White
House reported.

Fund for Armenian Relief
Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
Press Office
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
email: [email protected]
web:
blog: farusa.wordpress.com
_________________________

br owse our gallery, click your selection, and mouse over the preview
to locate and click the "Save Photo" button.

Fundraiser for FAR’s Gyumri Information Technology Center Successful
Nine years ago Elena Sarkissian and her brother Patrick
Sarkissian visited the city of Gyumri in Northern Armenia with the
Hayastani
Kidak Society (former Young Professional Trips) of the Fund for
Armenian Relief
(FAR) – What they saw there, from the
destruction of the 1988 earthquake, led them to seek proactive ways to
make progressive change possible for Armenia while getting the word
out to
Armenian-Americans, encouraging collective action.
Their efforts culminated in the creation of GTech Committee
three years ago – a board actively focused on fundraising and
communication
efforts to support FAR’s Gyumri Technology Center ("GTech"). Ms
Sarkissian, as
chair, along with her brother and eight committee members of all
professional
backgrounds are the core energy center behind donor events,
multi-media
marketing promotions and GTech’s distinct branding.
Most recently, Ms Sarkissian and the GTech Committee (Talene Baroyan,
Greg Bazarian,
Martha Mensoian, Patrick Sarkissian, Shant Madjarian, Marina Sarian,
Rafi Hovsepian,
Melanie Dadourian, and Kirk Hourdajian) spearheaded a fantastic
fundraising event
– "GTech: The Future of Hye-tech" –
for friends, colleagues, Armenians and non Armenians alike at Soho
House in
Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Their aim, achieved successfully,
was to
spread the word on the GTech cutting-edge IT education, its benefits
to
Armenia’s labor force, and the progress of its graduates since 2005,
the
school’s first operating year.
As Patrick Sarkissian put it in the evening’s opening
remarks, "There is a brain drain in Armenia, and we need to help
Armenia keep
its talents at home." His words conveyed a concern to create a middle
class in
Gyumri and Armenia by giving opportunities to young talent to advance
and
practice their professions in their hometown region.
To follow, the committee presented a USAID video, edited by
committee member Melanie Dadourian, on Gyumri and GTech. With emphasis
on high
unemployment rates even now 20 years after the earthquake and the
subsequent
loss of college-educated professionals from the region, the importance
of
keeping up a post-graduate IT professional school competitive with
current
global market trends shined through.
Mr. Sarkissian is clear about the Committee’s role in making
the necessary changes: "Our goals are to expand the program and build
a
permanent, self-sustaining IT school with hundreds – if not thousands
– of
graduates who will substantially contribute to the revitalization of
Gyumri and
in return Armenia at large. We are working towards achieving
self-sustainability within the next three to five years."
Elena Sarkissian’s dedicated efforts as chair are key to
keeping a school like GTech alive. Students’ tuitions are primarily
donor
funded, and events such as these spread the word of GTech’s mission,
successes,
and needs. Without Ms Sarkissian’s ability to gather new and concerned
individuals to the cause, many talented students would lose this
lifetime
opportunity.
In closing remarks, Ms Sarkissian encouraged guests to get
to know 16 current students whose pictures and biographies the
committee
displayed around the room. Bringing individuals in New York up close
to
individuals in Gyumri created a special connection bridging two
worlds. Her
heartfelt words expressed how everyone’s involvement helps these
students help
Armenia progress.
"GTech – The Future of Hye Tech" was no ordinary event.
Elena and Patrick Sarkissian’s unique brand of initiative not only
focuses on
fundraising but communicates new ways to get involved. They have
opened up
unique avenues by which Armenian-American professionals can connect
their talents
and energy to the talents of their less-fortunate Armenian
peers. Thanks to
these untiring efforts, Gyumri’s talented youth now has more
opportunity than
ever to advance and practice their professions in their own hometown,
materializing once-impossible dreams.
# # #

About FAR
Since its founding in response to the 1988 earthquake, FAR has served
hundreds of thousands of people through more than 220 relief and
development programs in Armenia and Karabagh. It has channeled more
than $265 million in humanitarian assistance by implementing a wide
range of projects including emergency relief, construction, education,
medical aid, and economic development.