Author: Kajoyan Gevork

SOURCE: ARMENIA’S ROUGH DIAMOND BUYS FROM ALROSA 70% HIGHER IN 2011

Tacy

Jan 30 2012
Israel

Nine Armenian diamond manufacturers purchased US$43 million worth
of rough diamonds from Russian mining conglomerate Alrosa in 2011,
compared to US$25 million in 2010, reports Interfax, citing Armenia’s
First Deputy Economic Minister, Karine Minasyan.

According to Minasyan, there is potential for additional diamond
manufacturers to purchase even more rough from Alrosa in 2012,
possibly increasing purchases to US$50 million. However, she added,
local demand for Alrosa’s diamonds remains below what the Russian
company can supply. “Our enterprises might be able to purchase a lot
more [diamonds from Alrosa] but they aren’t buying based on current
demand and market prices,” she said, as quoted by the news source.

NEWS ANALYSIS: TURKEY NOT IN RUSH ON ANTI-FRANCE SANCTIONS OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

Xinhua General News Service
January 29, 2012 Sunday 7:25 AM EST
China

Turkey delayed the releasing of sanction measures towards France over
its approval of a “Armenian genocide” bill, arousing soaring debates
of Turkey’s dilemma among experts.

The French Senate voted last Monday 127 to 86 in favor of the draft
bill after hours of debate, making it illegal to deny as ” genocide”
the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915. The bill, waiting
to be signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been passed
by the French National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament,
on Dec. 22 last year.

“This bill is part of a larger wave of rising extreme-right opinion in
Europe, including in France, against non-Europeans, including Turkey,”
Cinar Ozen, an academic at Ankara University, was quoted by local
media as saying on Sunday.

Turkey vowed to slap Paris with harsh sanctions after its approval
of the bill. While claiming the bill was “null and void” to Turkey,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that
Turkish leaders are “waiting with patience to see how the process
will go on” before presenting action plan against France, adding that
“if We decide to implement those measures, there will be no step back.”

However, possible sanctions on France will be a double-edged sword,
Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman quoted experts as saying on Sunday.

Although there are little room left for Turkey to impose sanctions
economically as both Turkey and France are WTO members, experts
believe it is not uncommon in Turkish society for citizens to mobilize
through the use of emails or social networks and have their say in
politics through the use of their only means of intervention, which
is disrupting business.

When the French Senate passed into law in 2001 the recognition of the
incidents of 1915 as genocide, French exports to Turkey saw almost a
40 percent decline, said Zeynep Necipoglu, head of the Turkish-French
Chamber of Commerce.

“Economic measures would eventually return as damage to Turkey, ”
Necipoglu warned as she elaborated that the French firms operating in
Turkey are employing around 100,000 Turks, who would be the sufferer
of any severe blow to French firms.

Turkish officials said that they are waiting for the last signature to
come in, still cherishing hope that the bill will go down the drain
once 60 French lawmakers brave a possible backlash and appeal it at
the French constitutional court.

In France, even if a bill has been approved by the Senate, it can
still be appealed to the constitutional court if a large number of
parliamentarians file for it. The decision lies with the court to
decide whether the bill is compatible with French law or not. Turkey
believes the chances in striking down the bill in the constitutional
court are high.

“The number of French politicians gathering to take the bill to the
constitutional court increases every day,” Necipoglu said, adding
that the number of opponents to the bill has exceeded 30 on Thursday
and could reach the required 60 soon.

A French Senate Commission of Laws has already announced its opinion
that the bill violates freedom of expression, but its non- binding
advice was disregarded by the French Senate at the vote.

Sarkozy’s signature, however, is largely considered a formality, and
a refusal from Sarkozy to sign the bill into effect is negligible,
as he was the driving force behind the bill in the first place in
order to win the support of the country’s 500,000 ethnic Armenians
in the upcoming presidential election in May, Turkish observers said.

Sarkozy’s signature needs to come within a 15-day period after the
bill’s passage in the Senate, and experts believe Turkey is buying
time to reassess the situation by saying they will wait until the
last moment to come up with their “new and permanent” measures.

In December last year, when the lower house of the French Parliament
approved the bill and presented it to the Senate, Turkey withdrew
its ambassador to France for consultations and froze all military
and economic ties with France, suspending bilateral meetings, while
stopping short of asking the French ambassador to leave Turkey.

Turkey says the effects of sanctions this time, if enacted, would be
permanent, and the country is serious about responding to Sarkozy,
who is treated by Turkish officials as an obstacle on Turkey’s path
to the European Union membership, experts say.

Turkey’s big progress in recent years have been bothering big powers
like France, said Umut Deniz Oncel, a Turkish scholar, in a recent
analysis article written for the Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies.

“What Turkey can do is take rational steps,” Oncel said, suggesting
Ankara to create grounds for dialogues with Turkey’s Armenians and win
their hearts. Once Turkey is free of its internal prejudices and has
made peace within itself, it will then be able to fend off external
accusations and move on, he added.

LEFORT: EU HAS ALWAYS REGARDED MILITARY SOLUTION OF NAGRNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT AS UNACCEPTABLE

Vestnik Kavkaza
Jan 30 2012
Russia

The special representative of the EU to the South Caucasus and Georgia,
Philippe Lefort, said that Europe has always supported a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the meeting with
the secretary of the Armenian Security Forces, 1news.az reports,
referring to Armenian media.

Participants in the meeting exchanged opinions on regional and
international problems, especially on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

FRANCE’S SARKOZY SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO LEGISLATE TURKEY’S HISTORY: VIEW

Bloomberg

Jan 30 2012

The president of France is getting ready to sign a bill making it a
crime in his country to deny that a century ago, the Ottoman Empire
committed genocide against Armenians. As President Nicolas Sarkozy’s
own party proposed the legislation, we suspect that he will sign it.

But it’s never too late to drop a bad idea.

Let’s start with the genocide — it happened. Beginning in 1915,
as many as 1.5 million ethnic Armenians living in what today is
modern Turkey were killed or deported. The Ottoman Empire was falling
apart, or more accurately was being dismembered by Britain, France
and Russia. The authorities in Istanbul saw Christian Armenians as
a potential fifth column and drove them out through executions and
deportations. Greeks and Christian Assyrians soon followed.

This is a painful piece of Armenian history that continues to
traumatize the families of its victims, now dispersed around the globe
in California, France and elsewhere. Every April, there are battles
in Washington as legislators with Armenian constituents lobby for
the U.S. to formally recognize the genocide.

Turkey, the Ottoman Empire’s successor state, has barely started to
deal with the essential process of facing the truth and bringing some
kind of closure to the victims’ families. While it has recently become
possible for Turkish historians to discuss the events of 1915 without
facing jail, it was only in 2007 that Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink was shot dead in broad daylight for daring to write about
the genocide.

Instead, Turkish officials like to emphasize that 1915 was in the
midst of World War I; that Armenian units fought with the Russians
in a grab for territory; and that many ethnic Turks were killed too,
some of them by Armenian revenge squads. That’s all true. It’s also
irrelevant. The 1948 United Nations convention on genocide defines it
as crimes carried out with “intent to destroy, in whole or in part,
a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” It’s what the
Ottoman leaders intended and carried through that counts.

But if Turkey is having trouble defending free speech, that’s no reason
for France to follow suit. The new French law would make denying
the Armenian genocide punishable by a year in jail or a 45,000-euro
fine. Just as problematic, if governments are going to make a habit
of legislating the history of other nations, where should they stop?

The bill on President Sarkozy’s desk covers only the two genocides
that France has formally recognized — the Jewish Holocaust and the
Armenian Great Catastrophe. Yet UN courts have ruled that genocide was
committed in Rwanda in 1994, as well as at Srebrenica in Bosnia, a year
later. Why not send people to jail for denying these genocides, too?

French legislators didn’t need a UN court ruling to act on the Armenian
issue. So how about Sudan’s Darfur, or Pol Pot’s killing fields in
Cambodia? Or Stalin’s engineered famine in Ukraine in the 1930s,
or Oliver Cromwell’s scorched earth campaign against the Catholics
of Ireland? Or, indeed, the decimation of Native Americans during
the European settlement of North America?

No surprise then that Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
not a man to mince his words, is now claiming that France committed
genocide in Algeria, a former African colony, in the 1950s and ’60s.

None of this helps solve the real problems that this troubled part
of the world faces today. The question for Sarkozy isn’t who is right
in this dispute, but why should France be legislating an issue of two
other nations’ history, let alone adding it to the French penal code?

Turkey eventually will have to reconcile with Armenia over the
genocide, on its own.

The law could also harm economic relations. Turkey, an emerging market
with a young and growing population, is spending tens of billions
of dollars on new capital investment. That means passenger aircraft,
water purification plants, high-speed trains, nuclear power stations
and military hardware — all areas in which French companies are
among the world leaders. Turkish officials have said publicly they
would extract a commercial price for the genocide law.

Some of the 86 French senators who voted against the genocide bill are
now trying to round up the votes they need to challenge it in France’s
constitutional court. We hope they succeed. Turkey and France are NATO
allies that need to be working together to stabilize the Middle East,
not bickering over each other’s history.

REASSESSING ARMENIAN INDEPENDENCE
By Richard Giragosian

Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
January 4, 2012
UK

Twenty years on, oligarchs control economy and have moved into
politics.

Looking back at the past 20 years of independence and state-building
in Armenia, it~Rs apparent that forging statehood and securing our
sovereignty hasn~Rt been easy. As a small, landlocked country with
few natural resources, Armenia has been hostage to both geography
and geopolitics.

Throughout its history, Armenia has undergone alternating periods of
isolation and strategic significance, as a central part of a region
that has been an arena for competition for much larger, more powerful
regional powers like the Persian, Russian and Turkish empires.

The country~Rs modern history has also been marked by the same
vulnerability. Armenia~Rs brief period of independence from 1918
to 1920 was quickly overtaken by its force incorporation into the
Soviet Union.

After subjugation within the union for seven decades, the abrupt
collapse of the Soviet system left Armenia neither prepared nor
predisposed to take on independence. Unlike the Baltic states, for
example, the reassertion of Armenian nationalism was expressed within
the context of the Soviet system, rather than in direct confrontation
with Moscow. Even the eruption of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
which antedated the collapse of the Soviet Union, was driven by a
strategy of conformity based on the Soviet constitution.

But with the sudden demise of the Soviet Union, Armenia found itself
facing the immediate challenges of independence. The infant state also
faced a grave and urgent threat to its survival, as the conflict over
Nagorny Karabakh grew into outright war with neighbouring Azerbaijan,
triggering a virtual blockade of trade, transport and energy by
Azerbaijan and Turkey.

In addition, Armenia was still struggling to cope with the devastation
caused by the powerful earthquake of 1988.

For Armenia, the early phase of independence was marred by war,
economic collapse and blockade, manifested as severe shortages of
food, electricity and fuel. These crises thwarted early attempts to
build democratic institutions and relegated political reform to second
place, after the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. The ongoing state of war
also shaped the political trajectory, as a new vibrant nationalism
dominated the political discourse in Armenia.

That first decade of independence was marked by two trends in
politics. First, the shift in discourse and debate from moderation
to militancy; and a second related factor, the transformation of the
political elite, as incomers from Nagorny Karabakh gained power and won
top positions in the leadership, eventually including the presidency.

These conditions also predetermined the longer-term development of
the economic system, and had a seriously distorting effect on the
reform process. The combination of a great scarcity of goods, the
powerful trade and transport blockade, and the severe disruption of
the energy infrastructure all led to the Armenian economy became
increasingly closed. Commodity-based cartels were effective in
eliminating competitors and came to dominate imports and exports of
key materials and foodstuffs.

The emergence of these cartels was initially a consequence of the
~Sconflict economics~T of the Nagorny Karabakh war, as they bolstered
the generally feeble state. The government was largely preoccupied
with economic measures in other areas, ranging from sweeping land
reforms to the introduction of a stable national currency.

The power of these cartels quickly expanded beyond commodities. And
as in most other post-Soviet states, they used their links with the
state to acquire inordinate wealth and assets during the privatisation
process. At the same time, they further consolidated their power by
positioning themselves at the top of rapidly developing networks of
patronage and corruption within the state system.

Over time, the cartels adopted more sophisticated means of expanding
their power, including collusion to fix and enforce commodity prices,
to prevent competitors from emerging, and to secure exclusive
procurement contracts from state institutions.

The birth of this closed, controlled economic system replaced the
Soviet system of centralised planning and distribution. Although
initially fostered by the economics of the early phase of the conflict,
the cartels~R subsequent entrenchment and consolidation of power
created a new commercial elite, the oligarchs. The Soviet centralised
command economy had been effectively supplanted by a different system
in which an oligarchic elite controlled the economy.

Against the backdrop of generally weak state institutions and a
pronounced lack of political will, the rise of the oligarchs can be
seen as one of the most devastating developments in the two decades
Armenia has been independent. The oligarchic system has a devastating
impact, eroding the power and authority of the state, which can neither
tax the oligarchs nor police their business interests. The state faces
an uphill battle if it is to regain control of the economic system.

The entry of many powerful oligarchs into the political system poses
more problems. It is most apparent from the pressure they can bring
to bear as parliamentarians, able to influence and impede reforms from
the inside. Their direct role within national politics also highlights
the risks posed by cosy relationships between business and politics.

Against this backdrop, Armenia appears to face further threats. The
cumulative effect of two decades of independence has been to create
greater dependence, with many missed opportunities.

The challenges are daunting. On top of an apparent lack of political
will and visionary leadership that could confront the oligarchs,
the state remains hamstrung by inadequate regulation, by inefficient,
poor tax collection, and by the underlying weak and arbitrary exercise
of the rule of law.

The future of Armenian independence over the coming 20 years looks
far from certain. The only realistic assessment one can make is that
Armenia faces a truly significant test of its statehood.

Richard Giragosian is the director of the Regional Studies Centre,
an independent think tank in Yerevan, Armenia.

PRESIDENT PRAISES ARMENIA’S “IMPRESSIVE WEAPONRY” IN ARMY ADDRESS

Mediamax
Jan 28 2012
Armenia

Yerevan, 27 January: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made a
congratulatory address today on the occasion of the 20th anniversary
of the creation of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

“After losing independent statehood, the Armenian nation brought
forth many warriors, but was not blessed with having its own army. The
Armenian soldiers, officers and generals brought glory to different
countries through their personal valor and dedication, but our nation’s
sons were deprived of the opportunity to defend jointly interests of
the motherland and rights of the fellow citizens.

Twenty years ago, we turned the wheel of history. At that critical
time, our nation reinstated its independent statehood and took
total responsibility for the protection of its rights and national
interests. At the moment of that historic rise, the creation of the
Armenian army was one of the most momentous achievements.

There was an imperative to thwart the imminent danger of a genocide
looming over the Armenian people and, particularly, over the Armenians
of Artsakh [Karabakh]. That vital episode of the army creation was
necessitated by the time itself.

Our cause was just, and we were ready for confrontation. We knew
that we alone could protect our right to live. However, we also fully
realized that that right and justice were our strength and resolve.

Volunteers, who rose against intolerance, hostility and blind hatred,
became the core of the Armenian regular army. At the moment of
national awakening, many of those volunteers sacrificed their lives
on the altar of the motherland’s defence and security.

Eternal glory to them, reverence and admiration to their memory.

Generals, officers, soldiers,

Anniversary of our army is your professional holiday. Choosing this
profession, you have assumed responsibility towards your contemporaries
and future generations. But at the same time, you have chosen Vardan
Mamikonyan’s and Hovhannes Baghramyan’s path, which means that your
accomplishments will be measured by the standards set by them. I have
no doubt that every military serviceman in the Republic of Armenia,
regardless of his or her duty station and position, realizes that
historic responsibility.

Let’s recall that at the beginning we were counting arms and even
bullets, while today we have an impressive level of weaponry. We
have dug trenches metre by metre, hundreds of kilometres of military
fortifications; we have constructed thousands of apartments for the
servicemen and a respectable building for the Ministry of Defence. We
have created a military-industrial complex and created a worthy image
of the army. We have done all this together, the entire nation. And
continue to do it through our work, through our trust in our army
and exceptional warmth towards it.

It’s hard to tell in a couple of words everything that has been done
in twenty years. The military parade dedicated to the 20th anniversary
of the reinstated Armenian independence and the cease-fire, which is
being preserved since 1994, are the most precise report and test held
before the people of Armenia and the entire Armenian nation.

The Armed Forced of the Republic of Armenia are among the most
important guarantees of the preservation of the balance, hence
of the peace and security in our region. Today, our troops guard
Armenia’s peace and tranquility; at the same time they are engaged in
the international peace-keeping missions, where they have manifested
their best qualities and multiplied their reputation of the disciplined
and brave soldiers.

I once again congratulate us all on the occasion of this glorious
holiday. I wish that peace always reign in our country and the
region, and our people continue their creative work for the benefit
of Armenia’s empowerment and advancement,” president said.

ARMENIA, KUWAIT SEEK CLOSER TIES

Kuwait News Agency

Jan 28 2012

YEREVAN, Jan 28 (KUNA) — Kuwait’s Ambassador to Armenia Bassam
Mohammed Al-Qabandi met Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Samvel
Nikoyan discussing means of promoting bilateral relations between
the two states.

A statement by the Kuwaiti embassy, released here on Saturday, said
a meeting that grouped the two sides took place at the Armenian
parliament building, late on Thursday.

Al-Qabandi and Nikoyan stressed, during the meeting, on importance
of deepening bilateral relations between the two states on all
levels, especially at the level of parliaments, through formation
of friendship parliamentary committees, exchange of visits by
parliamentary delegations and taking steps that would serve interests
of the peoples of Kuwait and Armenia.

Nikoyan praised the State of Kuwait as the capital of investments and
businesses, stressing that economic relations would have a share in
the development of bilateral relations.

For his part, Al-Qabandi stressed on Armenia’s promising investment
opportunities and support of cooperation in this area.

At the end of the meeting, Al-Qabandi presented to the speaker
a commemorative gift, wished him and his parliament good luck in
upcoming elections, due in May, and for the Armenian people, further
progress and prosperity. (end) nk.rk KUNA 280909 Jan 12NNNN

NEW RESIDENCE LAW ‘TRAUMA’ FOR STUDENTS FROM ARMENIA

Hurriyet Daily News
Jan 31 2012

Some families send their children to the basement of the Armenian
Protestant Church in GedikpaÅ~_a where they receive their school
education informally. DAILY NEWS photo

Children of Armenian workers that are enrolled in Turkish minority
schools are waiting apprehensively for a new foreigners’ residence
law as the new regulations could result in many foreigners being
expelled from the country.

“These kids have grown up in Turkey. This is where they received their
education. It will turn their lives upside down if they are sent
back,” Karekin Barsamyan, the director of the Mıhitaryan Private
Armenian High School in Istanbul’s NiÅ~_antaÅ~_ı neighborhood,
told the Hurriyet Daily News.

The law, which will only permit foreigners to reside in Turkey 90
days out of 180 unless they pay to obtain an insurance premium,
goes into effect tomorrow.

Sixty students from Armenia are enrolled in Armenian minority schools
across Istanbul, Barsamyan said, adding that the concept of being a
“guest student” had already led to traumatic problems for the children.

“A person who resides in Turkey for three months has to wait for
another three months before going back into Turkey again according
to the new residence law. It’s possible that these kids’ education
is going to be disrupted,” he said.

The children were admitted into Armenian minority schools for the
2011-2012 education year by means of a special permit granted by
the Education Ministry. They receive education under the status of a
“guest student,” which means they receive neither report cards nor
diplomas. Students enrolled in minority schools must hold Turkish
citizenship based on the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, while pupils are
further affected by the restrictive Armenian Schools Law that was
passed in the 1940s.

“Even though this law seems to be universal, the real target is the
people from Armenia. Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan had openly
hurled threats in 2010. The government contradicts itself. On one hand,
it grants the status of a ‘guest student’ to the children and says
it will enact new legal arrangements while trying to deport families
on the other,” Pastor Krikor Agabaloglu of the Armenian Protestant
Church in Istanbul’s GedikpaÅ~_a neighborhood told the Daily News.

Angered at the time by foreign parliaments passing motions related
to the events of 1915, Erdogan threatened in 2010 to retaliate by
deporting up to “100,000” Armenian citizens living illegally in Turkey.

Some families send their children to the basement floor of the
Armenian Protestant Church in GedikpaÅ~_a where they receive education
informally so as to avoid exposing their identities.

“Yes, those who pay 400 Turkish Liras in insurance premiums will be
able to continue residing [in Turkey] in accordance with the new law,
but almost 90 percent of those coming here are women, and the wages
they earn are too low. They cannot meet this price. As a church, we
strive to help them materially and spiritually to get them to hold
onto life. Our [means] are inadequate, however,” Agabaloglu said,
adding that he condemned the new law.

All these women are university graduates who found employment in
patient care, baby-sitting and house labor to meet their families’
needs, he said. “I call on people’s conscience. Do not let this law
go through.”

CLINTON SAYS US WOULD NOT CRIMINALIZE SPEECH

Hurriyet Daily News
Jan 28 2012
Turkey

The issue was a matter of historical, rather than political, debate,
Clinton says referring to ‘genocide’ claims. AP photo U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said the United States does not criminalize
speech, but other states have different standards, responding to a
question Jan. 26 on the French bill criminalizing denial of Armenian
genocide allegations.

“People can say nearly anything they choose, and they do, in our
country,” said Clinton. “Other countries, including France, have
different standards, different histories […] But we are, I hope,
never going to go down that path to criminalize speech,” said Clinton,
according to the website of the U.S. Department of State.

She also said the issue was a matter of historical, rather than
political, debate. Clinton said it was a dangerous path to try to
resolve historical issues through government power. “Whatever the
terrible event might be, or the high emotions that it represents,
to try to use government power to resolve historical issues, I think,
opens a door that is very dangerous to go through,” she said.

Armenian Diaspora to increase pressure

The Armenian Diaspora in the United States is prepared to increase
its pressure on the government to approve a resolution on Armenian
claims of genocide after French senators approved a bill Jan. 23.

Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram
Hamparian said Armenians will use the French bill as an example to
pressure the U.S. Congress. “We mark this occasion by urging President
Obama to honor his pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide and by
calling on the U.S. House leadership to allow a vote on the Armenian
Genocide Resolution, H.Res.304,” Hamparian said, according to Armenian
Weekly. Around 88 U.S. senators have signed the H.Res.304 so far.

Washington-based Turkish-American Associations Assembly said the
French bill limits personal freedoms.

RESIDENTS PETITION POLITICAL PARTIES TO HALT BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

hetq
15:08, January 31, 2012

A number of residents living in downtown Yerevan have sent an open
letter to several political parties in Armenia, asking for their
assistance in halting construction of a high-rise building in their
backyard.

The site, on Nalbandian Street, once housed a kindergarten that was
demolished last year. A construction company has taken over the site
and plans to build a luxury residential building.

Neighborhood residents claim that the construction is illegal ad that
a planned for underground garage will weaken the seismic strength of
apartment buildings dating back to the 1950s and 1960s that circle
the area.

Residents say that MP’s belonging to the Heritage Party and ARF have
raised the issue within the government, but no steps have been taken
to halt construction.

Their letter has been sent to the Free Democrats Party, Prosperous
Armenia, Armenian National Congress, Heritage Party, ARF and Rule
of Law.