Author: Kajoyan Gevork

AZERI PRESIDENT URGES INTL COMMUNITY TO STEP UP KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

The Voice of Russia
June 2 2014

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev urged the international community and
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to work more
actively to settle the Armenian-Azeri conflict peacefully. “I hope
that the international community and the OSCE will work more actively
on this issue in order to restore international law and historical
justice, and to allow Azerbaijan to start restoration work after the
liberation of the occupied territory,” Aliyev said on Monday after
talks with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s
Chairman-in-Office, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter.

Aliyev said that Nagorno Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s historical integral
part. He also said that the UN Security Council passed four resolutions
demanding Armenian troops’ immediate and unconditional withdrawal
from the occupied Azeri territory.

“Despite repeated statements made by the presidents of the states
co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group that the status quo is unacceptable,
Armenia wants to perpetuate it. If the status quo is to be changed
Armenia must start pulling out its troops,” Aliyev said.

“PEOPLE OF SYRIA DON’T BLAME ASSAD” (VIDEO)

19:38 | June 3,2014 | Politics

During Bashar al-Assad’s presidency Syria developed economically and
culturally, today in the conversation with “A1+” said Syrian Armenian
Khachik Manjikyan, “We have elected our President and we rely on him.

I am sure, 90 percent elected him.”

According to Manjikyan, Bashar al- Assad fought for his country and
Syrian people don’t blame him.”

The West, according to him, wanted Syria to get poor and be destroyed,
but they didn’t reach their goal, “As again Assad will be elected. He
will get the confidence of his people and he will be self- confident.”

ARMENIA’S 13TH CONFIDENTIAL POINT

Haikazn Ghahriyan, Editor-in-Chief
Comments – Tuesday, 03 June 2014, 18:28

It has become known that the four non-governmental parties have drafted
12 recommendations to the government, and if their recommendations
are not carried out, they may hold a joint rally in autumn. The
recommendations concern domestic policy, particularly transition to
a proportional system of election. According to the four parties,
the recommendations are aimed at fundamental change in the country.

In Armenia the domestic policy, as is said, is a “broad notion”. In the
result of developments that followed September 3, this is not even a
“domestic policy” because the domestic issues become “supranational”
under different Armenian-Russian deals and the upcoming Eurasian
treaty.

In other words, Armenia has delegated the right to decision making
to Moscow, and certainly the problems will be distributed by priority.

Moscow announced, for example, that it will interfere whenever it is
deemed contradicting to its heart and soul.

It should be noted that the four parties did not oppose, even
participated in the creation of the current state of affairs
when Armenia entered into the Eurasian process and ended up in
colonization. Moreover, the issue of “change of government” was
postponed due to this.

In this situation it is important to find out which of these 12
recommendations will not contradict the “heart and soul” of Moscow.

Can a colonized country conduct a sovereign domestic policy aimed
at fundamental change? Where is the limit of “domestic sovereignty”
of a colonized country? In this respect, one can refer to the times
of the Soviet Union.

Do the four parties have to adjust their recommendations to this
situation to make sure they do not contradict the concept and spirit
of Eurasian integration of Armenia and stay within its limits? In
other words, a domestic policy is actually possible. If certainly
the priorities of the political class of Armenia do not include fight
for sovereignty and renouncement of humiliating deals.

One may insist that first it is necessary to carry out fundamental
changes to be able to resolve the problem. It is possible considering
the present “guerilla times”.

In any case, the most important and confidential 13th point remains
valid for the political class of Armenia, namely they shall not
anger Putin.

– See more at:

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN CALLS FOR ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF DIPLOMATS ON ISSUES CONCERNING ARMENIAN INTERESTS

News | 02.06.14 | 21:26

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday urged top diplomats of
the country to be “actively engaged” wherever Armenian interests
are affected.

At a meeting with senior Foreign Ministry officials and heads of
Armenian diplomatic missions abroad held at the Karen Demirchyan Sport
and Concert Complex Sargsyan addressed a wide range of issues of the
current agenda – from the Karabakh conflict settlement, the approaching
centenary of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian-Turkish relations and
the Syrian crisis to the process of Armenia’s accession to the Customs
and Eurasian Economic Unions and cooperation with the European Union.

“We should state with regret that serious tendencies towards
instability are being observed in the international situation.

Tensions and uncertainty grow. It prompts continuous improvement of the
activities of our diplomatic representations, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and other departments, the strengthening of interdepartmental
interaction,” said President Sargsyan, as quoted by his press service.

“A diplomat should be able to properly explore, analyze and evaluate
the situation, predict the trends of development and offer solutions
meeting national interests. We often note that the most important
potential is human capital. So a diplomat who assumes a wait-and-see
position and reacts only to cases, a diplomat avoiding work is a
liability for a state like ours. We expect you to actively engage
wherever, directly or indirectly, the interests of Armenia and
Armenians are affected,” the Armenian head of state concluded.

IRAN SEEKING FUNDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF ANOTHER JOINT ELECTRIC MAIN WITH ARMENIA

YEREVAN, June 3. /ARKA/. Iran will find funds for construction of
the third Iran-Armenia electric main in the near future to ensure
delivery of Armenian electricity to Iran in exchange for gas supplied
to Yerevan Heat Power Plant, Armenian deputy minister of energy and
natural resources Ara Simonyan said.

The delay in implementation of the project occurred due to the
situation around Iran and economic problems, as well as because of
the difficulties in transferring money between the two banking systems
due to sanctions over Iran, the deputy minister said.

“It looks like both problems are already overcome, and the newly
appointed minister of energy Yervand Zakharyan is expected to visit
Iran in the next month. We would also like to have a complex discussion
about the issue at the meeting of Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental
commission’, Simonyan said at a 2013 budget execution hearing in
the parliament.

The deputy minister expressed hopes the forthcoming visit will help
solve the funding problem. At least, Iran’s willingness to do it is
obvious, he said.

Simonyan also said the total cost of the project is 107.9 million
euros, including 27.5 million euros to be provided by the Armenian
side.

The deputy minister stressed the construction of the third Iran-Armenia
electrical transmission line is an important regional cooperation
project in energy sector. So is the construction of an electric main
toward Georgia, with KfW having provided 75 million euros in loan
and a grant worth 2 million for the project, Simonyan said.

The construction of the electric main from Iran to Armenia is
implemented by Sanir Iranian company that was granted tax and customs
privileges by the Armenian government. The construction will be funded
by the Export Development Bank of Iran. -0–

– See more at:

RUSSIAN AIRBASE IN ARMENIA TO HAVE OPEN DAY

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 2 2014

2 June 2014 – 7:24pm

The Russian airbase at Erebuni will hold an open day in Yerevan. The
event is dedicated to the Day of Russia.

On the open day a meeting will be held featuring representatives of
the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian FSB
border control, the diplomatic corps and the Ministry of Defense of
the Republic of Armenia, News.am reports quoting the press service
of the Southern Military District.

The event will also feature a performance by an aviation aerobatics
team Strizhi.

Opposition MP speaks of terror in Armenia’s Syunik

13:01 * 01.06.14

In an interview with Tert.am Armenian National Congress (ANC)
parliamentary group member Lyudmila Sargsyan commented on the
situation in the Syunik region, particularly in Goris.

According to her, the local population lives in an atmosphere of
terror because of ex-governor Surik Khachatryan and his family.

“Everyone is well aware of the gang rule in the region – any person
can be beaten or killed, without the perpetrators being punished. And
you know impunity causes new crimes, and we are witnessing it. I do
not see anything extraordinary. And I am not surprised at Police Chief
Vladimir Gasparyan’s statements that he cannot arrest anyone. We have
repeatedly seen Surik Khachatryan’s family remained unpunished after
committing crimes,” she said.

“This suggests that President Serzh Sargsyan is protecting Surik
Khachatryan because he helped Serzh Sargsyan to achieve his aims.

This is another fact of double standards applied in our country. The
law defends oligarchs and punished innocent people.”

DMITRY MARTIROSYAN. “MOSCOW JOINS THE EURASIAN UNION WITH THE CRIMEA.”

May 30 2014

“Eurasian Union is not only an economic but also political structure
with 170 million market, to which our country’s accession incurs not
only from Armenia’s, but, first and foremost, Russia’s geopolitical
interests,” said Dmitry Martirosyan, responsible for SDHP political
office, in the conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the events
evolved yesterday at the plenary session Eurasian Supreme Economic
Council in Astana. Recall that yesterday, the presidents of Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the Eurasian Economic
Union in the capital of Kazakhstan. The meeting was also attended
by the President of Armenia. In his speech, Serzh Sargsyan said in
his speech that “there are only 2-3 issues left on which mutually
acceptable decisions have already been made at an expert level,”
and had asked to fix the deadline of signing the agreement according
to which the Republic of Armenia will join the Agreement on the
Eurasian Economic Union by June 15. And by July 1, Armenia will
sign the agreement of the EU accession. The President of Kazakhstan
had put forward a condition on Armenia’s accession to join the
Eurasian Union by the UN-recognized borders. In other words, without
Nagorno-Karabakh. Dmitry Martirosyan, at least considers strange
that Ilham Aliyev’s letter is discussed in such a format, without
taking it to a more closed negotiation process. “We believe that our
strategic partner Russia should also have something to say here. If
Armenia is suggested to join under this format, without Artsakh,
then we should remember that the same Moscow is entering into the
Eurasian Union together with the Crimea. So, we are again dealing
here with double standards,” said our interlocutor.

Nelly GRIGORYAN

Read more at:

ARMENIA’S ACCESSION TO EAU NO THREAT TO KARABAKH – OFFICIAL

11:15 * 30.05.14

Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EaU) without
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) does not pose any threat to the
country at all, says a spokesperson of the NKR president.

“How could the membership of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] be possible
if Artsakh is a different state? Besides, you never put a customs
checkpoint when joining other organizations. I don’t see any concerns.

On the contrary, it may boost the growth of the local economy,
agriculture, industries and reprocessing production,” David Babayan
told Tert.am.

In his speech at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council’s summit
on Thursday, President Norsultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan said he
doesn’t want his country’s integration into the common economic area
to irritate the neighboring Azerbaijan and cited the WTO membership
precedent as an example.

Commenting on the statement, Babayan said he thinks that the Kazakh
leader hinted at Nagorno-Karabakh’s possible membership issue. “I
think Nazarbaev responded to the question as to whether Armenia will
join the Customs Union without Artsakh, as it did in the case of the
World Trade Organization. In either case, we do not have a customs
checkpoint between Armenia and Artsakh, and that’s something that
drives many to concerns,” he noted.

Armenian News – Tert.am

MINISTRY OFFICIAL IS UNAWARE WHAT WORDING IS GIVEN IN THE CONTRACT

14:57 | May 30,2014 | Politics

The Ministry of Culture should express its tough and principled
position regarding the auction of the Karen Demitchyan Sports and
Concert Complex, Aram Manukyan, Secretary of the opposition Armenian
National Congress (HAK) said during today’s discussion of the 2013
state budget execution report.

Deputy Minister of Culture Arthur Poghosyan assured the MP that under
the auction contract the building would not undergo any changes in
its design. “The new owner has no right to change the exterior without
the Ministry’s agreement,” he said.

“The point is that one cannot find the word “cultural” in the
contract. It has been removed from the document,” said Aram Manukyan.

In reply, Arthur Poghosyan said the Ministry was guided by the
documents confirmed by the government. “I do not know what wording
is given for the compelx in the contract but it is considered to be
a monument.”