Author: Kalantarian Kevo

RPA, PROSPEROUS ARMENIA CONFIRM SERZH SARGSYAN -GAGIK TSARUKYAN MEETING

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 28, 2011 – 15:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Representatives of ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) and Prosperous Armenia coalition parties confirmed that
a meeting took place between President Serzh Sargsyan and Prosperous
Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan.

According to RPA parliamentary faction leader Galust Sahakyan, draft
laws, recently submitted for parliamentary discussion were on meeting
agenda. “No political issues were covered,” the faction leader noted.

As Prosperous Armenia member Naira Zohrabyan, in turn, noted,
representatives of coalition parties including Orinats Yerkir
participated in the meeting, which focused on tax package submitted
for parliamentary confirmation as well as budget- related issues.

According to Hraparak newspaper, the recent gathering of the RPA
executive body focused on further cooperation with Prosperous Armenia
party. The newspaper said that some RPA members considered Prosperous
Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s refusal to publicly announce
support for Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy at next presidential race to
be unacceptable. Despite coalition memorandum signed, Tsarukyan spoke
of the party’s intention to initiate a separate presidential campaign.

RPA executive body gave Prosperous Armenia a week to specify its
position, expressing support for Sargsyan’s nomination.

Also Armenian Prime Minster Tigran Sargsyan was quoted to say,
“those who cooperate with us will only gain by it; those who refuse,
will be back to square one.”

KAREN KARAPETYAN SAYS HE IS LEAVING THE OFFICE, BUT NOT THE PRESIDENT’S TEAM

ARMENPRESS
October 28, 2011
YEREVAN

Mayor of Yerevan Karen Karapetyan is going to submit a resignation
application because of moving to another office and some personal
reasons. He stated about it in the interview to “ArmNews” TV channel.

“I have made the decision of leaving the office of the mayor with
great difficulty, and I ask the Yerevan residents to be indulgent
if I have not justified certain hopes. At the same time I am very
pleased with words of gratitude of the citizens they express through
social web sites,” the outgoing mayor said. He noted that his family
members also received the news with difficulty.

Karen Karapetyan rejected the news that his resignation is connected
with certain disputes in the Republican party. “I have enjoyed the
unlimited trust of the President and the party. I have spoken with
the President about the resignation. He respects my decision. My
resignation does not mean that I am going out of the president’s team.

I have very friendly relations with the president’s team,” Karen
Karapetyan said.

At the same time the mayor did not reject the news that he is going to
take office in the RF. “A very good team has been gathered in the City
Hall. I am sure in two-three years the city will be unrecognizable,”
he noted.

APARAN’S CULTURAL HOUSE OPENS

ARMENPRESS
October 28, 2011
YEREVAN

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan attended today the opening of
the reconstructed cultural house of Aparan. The president toured in
the building and got acquainted with the carried out work.

Speaking to reporters, mayor of Aparan Gor Abrahamyan said the
reconstruction works lasted for five years. With that aim 225.28
million AMD was allocated from the state budget. “Finally the town
will have renovated cultural center,” the mayor said.

The first floor of the building will be occupied by the cultural house,
the second by the Aparan history museum, library and the third floor
will be dancing hall.

ARMENIA SHOULD IMPROVE ITS RAILWAYS TO A NEW LEVEL: YAKUNIN

/ARKA/
October 28, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, October 28. / ARKA /. Armenian railway authorities have a
difficult task to raise the country’s railways system to a technical
and technological level that would meet the needs of local community
and economy, Vladimir Yakunin, head of the state-owned Russian Railways
Company, said today in Yerevan when speaking at the 55-th meeting of
CIS Railways Transport Council.

He said the Russian Railways Company does its best to fulfill the
terms of the concessional contract.

In turn, Armenian prime minister Tigran Sarkisian said that the issues
related to the development and improvement of rail transport are in
the focus of his government.

“The project on construction of a railway that will connect the
south of the country with the rest of it is one of our priorities
and strategic objectives,’ he said.

Sarkisian said with the development of rail transport in Armenia,
the country will need more cooperation and exchange of experiences
and knowledge with partners in the CIS.

“CIS and its specialized agencies are an effective tool, which give
an opportunity for such cooperation”, he said.

“The processes occurring in the global economy and politics led to
the fact that well-being and security of nations increasingly depends
on their degree of mutual integration, so we are confident that the
integration of railway systems between our countries is of paramount
importance for further economic growth”, he said.

The CIS Railway Transport Council was established in 1992 for
coordination of rail transport at the international level and to
develop operation principles.

Council members are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Ukraine. Associate members are Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia and Finland.

Lithuania and Estonia also take part in the Council’s work.

The International Confederation of Railways Trade Unions and Transport
Construction has the observer status in the Council.

MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION IMPORTANT IN ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

armradio.am
28.10.2011 13:57

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received today Konstantin Birulyov,
Deputy Director of the Federal Service of Military-Technical
Cooperation, Co-Chair of the Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental
Commission on Military-Technical cooperation.

The Prime Minister praised the level of Armenian Russian
military-technical cooperation, underscoring that it plays an important
role in the strategic relations between Armenia and Russia.

During the meeting the interlocutors discussed issues related to the
cooperation in the military-technical field.

The Armenian Russian Intergovernmental Commission held its 6th sitting
in Yerevan October 24-26. From the Armenian side the Commission is
co-chaired by Armenian Deputy Defense Minister Alik Mirzabekyan.

YEREVAN MAYOR RUNS OUT OF PATIENCE

Tert.am
28.10.11

Despite Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan’s promise, boutiques, cafes
and other facilities in Abovyan Str in Yerevan are still working.

Some believe this is one of the reasons for his resignation. After
failing to keep his public promise, he complained to President Serzh
Sargsyan about the oligarchs and local “bosses” putting obstacles to
his program.

The president asked him to suspend his program because it might cause
a wave of protest. This time, however, the protesters are not ordinary
citizens, but people with fortunes and contacts. Their discontent
may prove crucial in the coming elections.

“But my word and authority!” Karen Karapetyan must have retorted. “The
authority may wait,” was the president’s reply.

Some observers have often reported such situations over the recent
period. So Mr. Karapetyan has run out of his patience and resigned.

L’ARMENIE ANNONCE L’ENVOI D’UNE AIDE HUMANITAIRE – PAR AVION -A LA TURQUIE VICTIME D’UN SEISME
Gari

armenews.com
vendredi 28 octobre 2011

Les routes conduisant d’Armenie en Turquie, quand bien meme elles
seraient pavees de bonnes intentions, restent desesperement barrees,
en raison du blocus terrestre exerce depuis 1993 par la Turquie sur
l’Armenie par solidarite avec l’Azerbaïdjan. C’est donc par la voie
des airs, epargnes par ce blocus, que les autorites d’Armenie ont
propose jeudi 27 octobre, d’envoyer une aide humanitaire aux victimes
du seisme qui a frappe le 23 octobre la region de Van, faisant au
moins 500 morts.

Cette region de l’est de la Turquie, sur les terres de l’Armenie
historique, s’etait timidement ouverte deux ans plus tôt aux
Armeniens, venus nombreux du monde entier pour communier dans une
messe solennelle dans l’eglise d’Akhtamar, fraîchement restauree,
sur le lac de Van. Une ouverture qui s’etait confirmee cette annee a
l’initiative du maire de Dyarbakir, peuplee majoritairement de Kurdes
comme lui, qui avait invite les Armeniens a se recueillir dans la
grande cathedrale armenienne de l’ancienne Tigranakert, restauree et
rouverte au culte depuis peu.

Le ministère armenien des Situations d’urgence a annonce qu’un
avion cargo affrete par ses soins devait acheminer quelque 40 tonnes
d’equipements, tentes, sacs de couchage, couvertures et autres biens
de première necessite destines aux nombreux sans abris disperses dans
le froid des hauts-plateaux anatoliens.

Cette aide humanitaire devait atterrir a Izmir, a l’ouest du pays,
avant de parvenir aux victimes du seisme, a l’extremite orientale du
pays. Un communique du ministère precise que le gouvernement turc
avait sollicite une telle aide par le biais du Croissant rouge de
Turquie et le Centre auro-atlantique en charge des catastrophes.

Le gouvernement armenien avait fait part de sa disposition a envoyer
des equipes de sauveteurs specialises dans les seismes don’t l’Armenie
a helas fait l’experience, immediatement après le tremblement de
magnitude 7,2 dont l’epicentre se situe aux environs de Van.

Le president Serge Sarkissian a reitere cette offre par telephone
lors d’un entretien avec son homologue turc Abdullah Gul le lendemain.

L’epicentre du seisme ne se situant qu’a 150 kilomètres au dus de la
frontière turco-armenienne, des secousses particulièrement longues et
violentes ont ete ressenties aussi dans une grande partie de l’Armenie,
où l’on a redoute des repliques. Mais les secousses n’auraient cause
aucun dommage dans le pays.

Le premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan a remercie lundi 24
octobre les differents pays, dont l’Armenie et Israël, avec lequel
les relations se sont tendues ces dernières semaines, pour l’aide
qu’ils proposent, tout en affirmant que la Turquie etait en mesure
de faire face par ses propres moyens a la catastrophe. Mais depuis,
le gouvernement de M.Erdogan est en butte a des critiques toujours
plus vives, denoncant son incurie et l’incapacite de ses services
a repondre efficacement a la detresse des populations frappees, par
le seisme, des Kurdes pour la plupart, dans un contexte marque par
une tension croissante entre l’armee turque et les rebelles kurdes
du PKK, qu’Ankara est tente de frapper par une grande offensive dans
leur sanctuaire du Kurdistan irakien.

Les informations les plus alarmantes parvenaient le 27 octobre des
regions sinistrees, où l’on signalait des penuries graves de tentes
contraignant des milliers de personnes a passer une nouvelle nuit a
la belle etoile, a des temperatures negatives. La Turquie s’est donc
decidee a demander l’aide de pays tiers pour repondre aux besoins des
populations sinistrees en tentes de survie, maisons prefabriquees et
containers, decharges des avions cargos venus de France, d’Ukraine
et d’Israël, qui ont ete les premiers a repondre a l’appel.

INT’L HELP POURS IN, BUT TURKEY SAYS ISRAEL’S WON’T CURE DIPLOMATIC ROW

Today’s Zaman
Oct 27 2011
Turkey

Israel sent seven prefabricated houses, blankets, coats, mattresses
and an extensive relief team to Van shortly after Turkey said it was
ready to accept foreign help.

International aid keeps piling up in eastern Turkey as countries that
Turkey has strained ties with, including Israel, rush to contribute
to Turkish relief efforts in the aftermath of Sunday’s magnitude 7.2
earthquake that left thousands homeless in biting cold, but Ankara
has ruled out the possibility that Israeli aid will help bury the
hatchet between the two countries.

“We have no prejudice against any country, but just because Israel
is helping us does not mean that we will give up on our principled
position against the country,” Davutoglu said on Wednesday in Jordan,
where he participated in a joint press conference with his Jordanian
counterpart. “The political conditions for reconciliation remain
intact,” Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

Davutoglu clarified that many countries, including Armenia and Israel
— countries that have for a while been at odds with Turkey, offered to
help Turkey on Sunday, but Turkey first needed to coordinate domestic
efforts and had enough rescue teams on the ground.

Davutoglu was the latest Turkish official to claim that a tense
political climate between Israel and Turkey would not affect the
countries’ determination to help each other on humanitarian grounds.

Davutoglu dismissed claims that Turkey initially rejected international
offers for aid and said Turkey has never considered aid offers with
“[political] prejudice.” Israel so far delivered seven prefabricated
houses, blankets, coats, mattresses and an extensive relief team
shortly after Turkey said it was ready to accept foreign help, and
more is being packed in Israel to be shipped to Turkey.

“The homes are ready to use and contain the materials necessary for
one family,” Nizar Amer, the top remaining official at the Israeli
Embassy in Ankara, was quoted as saying by Anatolia on Thursday. He
also clarified that Israel was planning to send more aid to Turkey
as soon as possible, as he announced that the Jewish state would send
three more planes within three days.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal further confirmed
Turkey’s determination on the preconditions before the country could
settle its dispute with Israel on Thursday, saying, “We never mix
humanitarian issues with political ones,” Anatolia reported. Unal
also recalled Turkish help to Israel back in December when the country
suffered the loss of dozens of lives in a forest fire, as he explained
that Israel was extending similar humanitarian aid to Turkey and it
was much appreciated. “However, there are no changes in our basic
expectations from Israel before bilateral political relations could
change,” he told reporters at a press conference.

Although the efforts promised a flicker of possibility that frozen ties
might warm up between Israel and Turkey, Israeli officials joined the
Turkish side in pushing aside the possibility of changing the political
mood through aid. Israel on Wednesday downplayed the effects its
humanitarian aid might have on relations, with Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman saying, “There is no mixing political-diplomatic relations
and natural disasters,” and Ehud Shani, the director-general of the
Israeli Ministry of Defense, noting that Israel was “putting things
aside for a minute” to aid the country in distress, Reuters reported.

Israel, whose ties with Turkey hit rock bottom after Israeli commandos
killed nine Turks onboard a Gaza-bound flotilla last year, immediately
said it was launching an airlift of supplies. Turkey insists on its
measures of dropping the level of diplomatic relations and halting
military agreements after Israel clarified it would not comply with
Turkey’s conditions to issue an apology and compensation for the loss
of life in the flotilla raid, and remove the blockade over Gaza.

International offers materialize as first aid planes land in Turkey
As Turkey put requests to around 30 countries that previously offered
help, some of them have already dispatched urgently needed materials
to provide shelter for thousands of earthquake survivors who lost
their homes in the disaster.

Noting that Turkey has so far received official notifications for
help from 12 countries and two international institutions, Unal said
most of these notifications were with regard to meeting the needs
for materials at ground zero.

Azerbaijan, Belgium, Egypt, France, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Russia, Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine were announced as the 12
countries that have put through confirmations that they are sending
help, as well as two offices within the United Nations. Unal also added
Jordan and Qatar to the list of countries, which relayed their offers
to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu while he was visiting
the nations earlier this week.

A Ukrainian aid plane was the first to touch down in Turkey, as the
plane landed in Erzurum late Wednesday night. It was followed by
another from France that arrived early Thursday morning. The first
planes from the UN and Israel also arrived in Turkey, and the rest
of the countries are following suit, Unal noted.

Turkey designated Erzurum as the destination where international
help will be diverted in order to be domestically distributed to the
earthquake epicenter province of Van. Most of the dispatches include
means to meet the pressing need for shelter, which Turkey was not
able to meet on its own, given the fact that hundreds of aftershocks
have forced residents of the city and neighboring towns to stay
out in the open, fearing that smaller quakes might bring down their
already damaged houses. The earthquake has killed around 500 people
and wounded more than 1,000, but officials fear the death toll may
rise beyond 1,000 as many are still reported missing.

CONGRESS OF AZERBAIJANIS IN SWEDEN, GAVE AN INTERVIEW TO SWEDISH RADIO ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Trend
Oct 27 2011
Azerbaijan

Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden on Wednesday gave an extensive
interview to the Swedish Public Radio about the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

During the hour-long interview representatives of the Congress pointed
out that Azerbaijan is set on a peaceful resolution of conflict,
and that there is no deliberate ethnic cleansing carried out against
the Armenians, as mentioned previously in a number of Swedish media.

“According to statistics 30,000 Armenians live in Azerbaijan without
feeling any discomfort. In addition, there have been cases when
Armenian families and soldiers voluntarily crossed the Azerbaijani
border” – Congress officials said in an interview with Swedish Radio
journalist Glenn Mollergren.

Congress President Emil Mirzoyev complained about unfair and biased
approach of the Swedish media to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which
often depict Azerbaijan as the aggressor and the enemy of peace talks.

The head of the Congress also reminded the crimes of Armenian armed
forces against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, where
ethnic cleansing was carried out against the Azerbaijani population.

He also mentioned the millions of refugees who have fled their homes.

Representatives of the Congress also emphasized that despite the
demands of the international community and of the four UN resolutions
on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia still maintains illegally
occupied 20% of Azerbaijani territory.

In addition, during the meeting also was denied information of the
Armenian community in Sweden that in Azerbaijan, representatives of
other religions convert to Islam by force.

“Azerbaijan is one of the most tolerant countries. There are the
Orthodox and Catholic churches, and synagogues in Azerbaijan. In
addition, the center of Baku is still preserved the Armenian Church,
while in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan all mosques and Muslim
cemeteries was destroyed by Armenians”.

At the end of the interview, the chairman of the Congress called on the
Swedish media to give objective and fair assessment of developments
in the region, adding that the distortion of information about the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the future could adversely affect
the integration of the younger generation of Azerbaijanis in the
Swedish society.

The Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden sent a formal letter to the
Swedish Public Radio and Swedish Migration Board, expressing protest
against the false and fabricated program on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

AZERBAIJAN WANTS KARABAKH TO BE ADDRESSED AT UN SECURITY COUNCIL – FOREIGN MINISTER

Interfax
Oct 26 2011
Russia

Azerbaijan will ask its partners at the UN Security Council to
address prospects for discussing a settlement of the conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh by this body, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov said.

“To put forward such initiatives for the UN Security Council
consideration, it is necessary first to win support from the five
Security Council permanent members. We have not yet discussed this
issue but we will bring it up,” Mammadyarov said at a joint press
conference with his Georgian counterpart Grigol Vashadze.

The votes of 155 countries in support for electing Azerbaijan to
the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member has even surpassed
Baku’s expectations, and this signals that the country enjoys strong
support in the international arena, he said.

Azerbaijan will be chairing the UN Security Council in May or September
2012, he said.

As for negotiations on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Mammadyarov said the process is continuing, and “nobody expects that
all issues will be settled overnight.”

The beginning of work on a peace agreement already now would be “a
strong signal that we are working in the right direction and are not
dragging this out,” he said.

Until Armenian troops are withdrawn from Azeri territory, incidents
similar to the killing of two Azeri children by snipers will continue
happening at the contact line, Mammadyarov said.

“If we manage to ensure pullout of Armenian troops, there will be no
need for snipers, and children will not be dying,” he said.

“Sooner or later, Nagorno-Karabakh’s status will have to be settled,
but what we expect most of all is Armenia’s understanding that the
biggest problem is the presence of Armenian troops on our territory,”
he said.

This is why Azerbaijan has proposed that Armenian troops be first of
all pulled out of seven districts around Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.