Author: Kalantarian Kevo

LET RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS COUNT EMIGRANTS

Lragir.am

27/07/2011

The former prime minister of Armenia, Hrant Bagratyan, dwelled
on emigration and the posture of the government today. He says the
government had better inquire from the Russian border guards about the
real number of emigrants because they put the stamp on the passport
of those leaving Armenia.

This number is bigger than the reported 29 thousand, he says.

Bagratyan says Serzh Sargsyan used to be the minister of national
security and he should know better how to get the exact rate instead
of listening to Gagik Yeganyan, the head of the migration agency. The
latter thinks Sargsyan is unaware and told him tales about seasonal
migration.

Bagratyan says, according to the World Labor Organization, if a
migrant worker stays in the same place for six months, he or she is
an immigrant.

Commenting on Prime Minister Sargsyan’s statement that in 1991-1995
the annual rate of emigration was 200 thousand, Bagratyan says this
government has released statistics reporting growth of the population
in 1991. He noted that in the early 90s a lot of people left the
country to escape army during the war.

KOSOVO TENSE AFTER DEADLY CLASH ON SERBIAN BORDER

ARMENPRESS
July 27, 2011
YEREVAN

International concern has been raised over a Kosovo police bid to
take over two border crossings in the ethnic Serb north in which one
officer was killed.

Kosovo police units, who came under fire, pulled back after Serbs
refusing to recognise their authority took up arms and mounted
roadblocks.

Nato-led peacekeepers moved into the area to calm the situation.

The US and EU criticised the Kosovan government for acting without
consulting international bodies.

Serbia refused to recognise the formal secession declared by the
ethnic Albanian majority in 2008, and maintains close ties with the
region north of Mitrovica, where ethnic Serbs have their main enclave.

Kosovo’s government in Pristina says its police force acted on Monday
night after its decision last week to ban Serbian goods from entering
Kosovan territory, in response to an equivalent ban by Serbia.

Since the war in 1999, Kosovo has been controlled by international
bodies, including a 3,000-strong EU rule of law mission, which oversee
the territory’s own new authorities.

Nato’s Kosovo commander, Maj Gen Erhard Buehler, is believed to have
secured a withdrawal of the police units from the border crossings
as part of a deal reached with the Kosovan authorities, but Pristina
denied any deal had been reached, the Associated Press reports.

Ethnic Albanian policeman Enver Zymberi died late on Tuesday from
injuries he suffered when his unit was ambushed, Kosovo police said.

Another officer was reportedly injured.

Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci defended the police operation at
a news conference in Pristina, saying: “We cannot stay indifferent
and tolerate forever that a part of our territory is to be a black
hole not only of Kosovo but of the Europe.

“We cannot tolerate forever that our sovereignty is violated.”

Policing in north Kosovo has until now been largely conducted by EU
officers and Serb members of the Kosovo police.

Oliver Ivanovic, Serbia’s state secretary for Kosovo, warned the
situation was “extremely tense” and described Pristina’s police
operation as a “hastily made, unexplainable gesture”.

A US state department spokeswoman said: “The United States regrets that
last night’s action by the Kosovo government… was not co-ordinated
with the international community.”

The US, she added, urged both Pristina and Belgrade “to continue to
work urgently toward a de-escalation of the current situation”.

In Brussels, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton said: “We believe the operation by the Kosovo authorities was
not helpful. We do not approve it.”

MISTAKES CAN’T BE CORRECTED THROUGH MISTAKES
SIRANUYSH PAPYAN

Lragir.am

25/07/2011

Mr. Paskevichyan, the PACE co-rapporteur Axel Fischer welcomed the
dialogue of the ruling coalition and the Armenian National Congress.

However, the attitude of the society is not encouraging. It is not
clear what is happening. What are your thoughts on this process?

What Axel Fischer said is quite normal from the point of view of
Europeans. The former demands – release of political prisoners,
elimination of limitations of the freedom of assemblies, assurance
to review March 1 cases – could change the opinion of the Europeans.

However, Axel Fischer and the others shouldn’t have rushed and
should’ve been more consistent than before. As to the moods of the
society, its embarrassment, some lack of confidence, I think it’s
quite normal too because the dialogue is a new political practice in
our country. As any new thing, it is treated with some precaution.

Will the demand of snap elections be reviewed in the next rally? Some
representatives of the authorities reassert that the dialogue will not
dwell on snap elections because there is no such demand in the country.

What does it mean there’s no demand for snap elections in the country?

Who measures and what is the measuring tool? The country is in a
deep crisis, deep apathy. Go a little farther than the city center
and talk to people to see if there is demand or not.

Are snap elections the best way to overcome crisis and apathy?

Elections are needed. Elections must be free. To overcome the crisis
and apathy, people must form a government which they trust. People
must have that opportunity, and frankly speaking, it doesn’t matter
who they will elect. What matters is the quality of the government,
and the measurement of quality is the amount of confidence.

Mr. Paskevichyan, if the government is reproduced through snap
elections, or the ANC and the present government enter the parliament
with a certain correlation of votes, wouldn’t it aggravate the apathy
in people? Don’t you think the dialogue should be on future plans
and intentions, such as how to curb the crisis facing the country?

It is known that in the statement of the proposal of dialogue the
Congress pointed snap presidential elections as primary, meaning
that the president who receives the vote of confidence of people will
guarantee compliant parliamentary elections. However, the authorities
will be trying to avoid presidential elections and try to reach
“compromise” to hold snap parliamentary elections. Even in this case,
I think, it is the result of vivid imagination that the Armenian
National Congress will agree to a deal for 10-15 seats in parliament.

A sensible person can’t draw such a conclusion from the content of
more than three years of political action.

However, there is a problem of confidence. They say neither the
government, nor the opposition enjoys confidence. The ANC does not
present a clear plan of recovery of the country from crisis.

If all the people together expressed confidence for the opposition
or the government, no dialogue or elections would be needed. The real
measurement of confidence is free elections. The one who gets the votes
of people enjoys confidence of people, trust in their programs and
mechanisms of solving problems. During the rose revolution in Georgia,
everyone realized the need for change but nobody imagined how it
would be. Today, a number of problems have been solved in this country.

Do you nevertheless believe in the outcome of the dialogue?

Frankly speaking, I have an inner satisfaction. This is a good process,
and I am sure that the dialogue will become a tradition through free
and fair elections. In other words, it will take place every day in
parliament, on TV in newspapers, in the upcoming elections.

Mr. Paskevichyan, if there is a dialogue but no snap elections are
held, won’t it eventually cause disappointment?

Without an agreement on snap elections, the dialogue would stop
after a few meetings. The Congress did not enter the dialogue for
idle talks. And if the dialogue stops, the society will reach snap
elections through other means. Certainly, it would be a step back but
I don’t think that the government would wish to face such a prospect.

Certainly, they will try to argue that the next scheduled elections
are drawing nearer, they will swear that the scheduled elections will
appeal to the society, but the Congress will demand snap elections
because snap elections are a guarantee rather than a caprice. The snap
elections will change the content of forming government, the approach
of people, the amount of responsibility. Snap elections mean correction
of mistakes, and mistakes can’t be corrected through new mistakes.

Do you still to think that a new force will emerge only when the
Karabakh issue is solved?

In the long run, I do. The Karabakh conflict has a great influence on
the home political situation because it is issue N1. It is difficult
to imagine a new force which would present an unknown vision or
approach on the Karabakh settlement. The question may arise what the
change of government will bring about. The elected government will
stop manipulating the Karabakh issue, while ruling out manipulations
will encourage integration of Karabakh and Armenia. For the people
of Karabakh, it is one thing when people who monopolize the Karabakh
issue justifying it by their Karabakh origin rule in Armenia, and it is
another thing when the will of people rules. I mean that the demands of
Karabakh from Armenia will rightly increase, which will allow resolving
the issue not only at the level of the Minsk Group but also at other
levels where the issues of the people of Armenia will be resolved.

POWER WAS ON TRAY FOR ANC, OPPOSITION REP SAYS

Tert.am
27.07.11

Responding to Tert. am’s question concerning possible developments
if the ANC-authorities dialogue fails to produce results, Hrant
Bagratyan, Armenia’s ex-premier and member of the Armenian National
Congress (ANC), said that “power was on a tray two or three times,
but we did not take it.”

“So we are responsible for that – the country is falling into decline
day by day,” Bagratyan said.

According to Bagratyan, the aforementioned opportunities presented
themselves after the latest presidential elections, as well as this
March. He found it difficult to say why the ANC failed to take power.

He also disagreed with the remark that the ANC may not have wished
t take power. “I do not think it was so. Nagorno-Karabakh was major
concern,” Bargatyan said. At least that was his impression, he said.

As to whether the Nagorno-Karabakh problem may prevent the ANC from
making radical steps this autumn, Bagratyan said: “The ANC believes
it did its best to prevent such developments.”

As regards yesterday’s statement by ANC Coordinator Levon Zurabyan
that confrontation is possible if the dialogue fails, Bagratyan said
that Zurabyan’s words reflected the general sentiments and he agrees
with them.

SECURITE SOCIALE : DES ECONOMIES NOTABLES DEPUIS LE PLAN DE REVISION MIS EN PLACE EN JANVIER

mercredi 27 juillet 2011
[email protected]
ARMENIE

Le ministre du travail et des affaires sociales, Artur Grigorian, a
declare lundi que le gouvernement armenien a economise environ 7
milliards de drams ( 19 millions de dollars ) de fonds publics grâce a
la revision en cours du nombre de personnes beneficiant de pensions et
autres prestations sociales.

Artur Grigorian a mis en place ce plan de revision en janvier après
l’audit de la Chambre des comptes au parlement armenien qui evoquait
des fraudes massives au sujet du paiement de ces prestations.

La chambre a affirme que des milliers de retraites ont recu leurs
pensions quelques annees après leur decès. Elle a implicitement evoque
que cet argent a ete percu par les responsables du ministère du
travail et des affaires sociales. Le chef du service, Vazgen
Khachikian, a demissionne en decembre.

Le bureau du Procureur general a estime que ces allegations etaient
credibles au mois de mai et a demande a la police armenienne
l’ouverture d’une enquete penale. Un porte-parole de la police a
declare lors d’une interview a REF/RL qu’aucun individu n’avait ete
encore arrete, ni inculpe.

D’après Grigorian, le ministère s’est penche sur les dossiers de plus
de 30 000 retraites. ” Nous avons trouve quelques erreurs dans le
registre des retraites “.

” Certains noms de famille ou prenoms ne correspondaient pas aux
numeros de carte de securite sociale, ni aux numeros de passeport “, a
declare Grigorain lors d’une conference.

Le ministre a ajoute que la rectification de ces erreurs a evite une
perte d’environ 4 milliards de drams par le service national de la
securite sociale. 2,7 milliards de drams ont ete egalement economise
grâce a la rectification du registre national des familles eligibles
aux prestations de pauvrete.

Grigorian a aussi enonce qu’il etait peu probable que ces violations
aient une intention criminelle. ” Aucun motif ne nous conduit a
deposer un rapport aux organes de repression. ”

Les procureurs ont declare en mai que le service de la securite
sociale a falsifie des documents ” a des fins personnelles ” et ” dans
un interet de groupe “. Cependant, aucun nom n’a ete cite.

TRACK TWO DIPLOMACY?: ARMENIAN ANALYST EXPOUNDS ON CHANGES IN TURKISH POLICIES AFTER MEETING FM IN ANKARA
Gayane Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
26.07.11

Director of the Yerevan-based Center for Regional Studies Richard
Giragosian who met last week with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu as part of a visit of civil society representatives to
Turkey says he once again made sure that “the president of Armenia
is playing a chess game, while Turkey is playing ‘theater’.” Still,
he says, certain important changes have been observed in post-election
Turkey’s policies.

On July 18, representatives of five Armenian non-governmental
organizations, participating in a forum organized by the Economic
Policy Research Institute, suddenly learned that Turkey’s chief
diplomat had expressed his desire to meet with them.

According to Giragosian, the timing of the meeting was remarkable,
as two days before that Davutoglu had met with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and on the very same day he had a meeting with
the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“This, of course, means that by meeting with us Davutoglu meant to
show to the international community that he was trying to, at least,
keep the [Turkish-Armenian] process alive, and we were very careful
not to get into that PR trap, but, of course, it was better meeting
than boycotting it, as the opportunity was bigger than the damage,
fortunately we managed to deliver quite a strong message,” says
the analyst.

At the meeting that lasted about 45 minutes, according to Giragosian,
the Turkish side was willing to listen to their rather harsh
judgments and that patience revealed not only that “Davutoglu is a
good diplomat”, but also that there are “some changes in the Turkish
politics.”

“This is a change in the Turkish policies, because we were allowed to
criticize the Turkish state policy of genocide denial, as in Turkey
they now better understand that there is an asymmetry of power, but
Armenia is not dying without an open border and, most interestingly,
what Turkey seems to recognize now is that the Turkish policy regarding
Armenia is a complete failure,” says the analyst, adding that this
realization “has made Armenia’s positions even more difficult”.

The analyst thinks that based on its own interests, Turkey has some
reasons to return to what once proved to be a stalled rapprochement
with Armenia.

“If Turkey has too many problems in its foreign policies related to
Syria, Iraq, Israel, it may return to the Armenian issue, which could
be a short-term gain. The second reason why they may return [to this
rapprochement] may be related to the Kurdish issue and the opening
of the border to help the Kurdish issue,” Giragosian tells ArmeniaNow.

The analyst says that despite the fact that in post-election Turkey
the number of supporters of Turkish-Armenian relations has increased
due to the pro-Kurdish party members in the parliament, he still has
“no great expectations”.

“I see no political will to normalize the relations, but I am
optimistic in one respect – as Turkey has no alternative, it must
normalize its relations with Armenia, simply now it has extended its
deadline till 2015 [the year to commemorate the centennial of the
Ottoman-era Genocide of Armenians],” Giragosian says.

The analyst notices another important factor, which is the worsening
of relations between Turkey and its regional ethnic cousin Azerbaijan.

“The confirmation during that meeting was how bad is the relationship
between Turkey and Azerbaijan; in many ways the problem for Turkey
in dealing with Armenia and the region is Azerbaijan, not Yerevan,”
says Giragosian, adding that a situation has emerged where Turkey’s
actions in the region are limited and depend on Azerbaijan’s response.

“In other words the little brother Azerbaijan is telling the big
brother Turkey what it can and cannot do in the region. This reveals
that Turkey is very upset about that change in the relationship and it
also reveals the death of the concept of ‘One Nation, Two States’ and
we should all celebrate the funeral of that death,” says Giragosian.

(‘One Nation, Two States’ was a well-known thesis advanced by late
Azerbaijani leader Heidar Aliyev and advocated by others in relations
between Azerbaijan and Turkey).

But the trip to Turkey gave the analyst an occasion not only for
interesting observations, but also some controversy around his name,
which Giragosian says came as no surprise to him, but only as proof
that “Turkey is not being sincere with Armenia”.

He says his interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet was presented
in a distorted manner, which gave an occasion for some at home to
call him a ‘traitor’.

Hurriyet ascribed the following statement to Giragosian:

“My second proposal that I would like to present to the Turkish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is connected with ASALA (the Armenian
Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia). During his time as foreign
minister Ali Babacan was positive about the idea that Armenian should
start the work in the direction of criticizing the ASALA terrorism.

Davutoglu also thinks this way. I think that what ASALA has done is
terrorism and it should be criticized. However, Armenia’s approach
in this regard is like weather – it may get cloudy and then get bright.

But work must be done on this proposal.”

Giragosian considers this to be a distortion and a totally different
interpretation of what he said.

“They wrote something that I didn’t say. Simply they twisted my words
proceeding from their own interests. In the original interview, as an
analyst, I was explaining what Turkish officials were thinking about
it and may try to do with Armenia, including the fact that Turkish
officials publicly want to raise the ASALA issue against Armenia, but
this was published and translated in Turkish in a totally different
way, as if that was my idea,” says Giragosian, who believes the
distortion happened not as a result of a mere mistranslation.

COUSTEAU’S FOLLOWERS: ARMENIAN DIVERS SET WORLD RECORD IN NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow
26.07.11

Armenian divers have managed to set a world record in the Northern
Hemisphere. They were able to submerge and explore the bottom of an
Aragats mountain lake located 3,207 meters above sea level.

Although three Armenian divers went only 12 meters deep in Stone Lake,
it does not diminish their victory. Member of the Armenian Extreme
NGO Chairmanship Board Armine Harutyunyan, who participated in the
organization of the expedition, said at a meeting with media that at
the kind of altitude diving that deep in a lake can be considered to
be a ‘real extreme’ for any diver, as human body is not accustomed
to such high pressures.

(The world record in scuba diving is 127 meters).

According to Armenian divers, before that in similar conditions
an attempt at diving was made by famous French traveler and ocean
explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s team at Lake Titicaca in the Southern
Hemisphere (South America) in 1959.

The expedition was organized by the Ayas Nautical Research Club and
the Armenian Extreme NGO. The divers were international category
instructor Rafael Lazarian, Ayas club chairman, Kilikia Ship captain
Karen Balayan, Emergency Situations Ministry special diving group
commander Artak Elmasakyan.

The event took place on July 21, at the moment of diving the
temperature of the lake water on the surface +5 degrees Celsius, and
only +3 on the bottom. The divers stayed underwater for 80 minutes,
although there had originally planned to stay there for 40 minutes.

According to Armenian Extreme organization doctor Gevorg Shahsuvaryan,
the divers were subject to medical examination before and after the
dive and it turned out that their organisms managed to return to
normal within only an hour.

Armenian divers highlight the importance of the expedition in the
sense that it opens the way for all researches to be made in difficult
conditions in the future.

ARMENIAN PRESS: ANC-AUTHORITIES MEETING TO BE TELEVISED?

Tert.am
26.07.11

The 2nd round of negotiations between the Armenian National Congress
(ANC) and Armenia’s ruling coalition is t be held at the Reception
Hall of the Armenian Government. It will also become clear if the
meeting will be broadcast alive.

According to the information at the Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times)
newspaper’s disposal, the Yerkir Media TV channel is ready to broadcast
the meeting.

The ANC welcomed the offer, and the ruling coalition is expected to
give its answer.

ARMENIA BECOMES THE WINNER OF 2011 WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

armradio.am
26.07.2011

Armenian chess players have successfully defended their lead in the
ninth and final round of the World Team Championships against the
strong Ukrainian team to claim the overall victory at the tournament.

Tuesday’s title-winning match ended in a 2-2 draw (with all the four
grandmasters tying their games) to cap Armenia’s unbeaten run in the
tournament that brought together the world’s ten leading chess nations.

The pairings in the 9th round were Levon Aronian-Vasily Ivanchuk,
Sergey Movsesian-Pavel Elyanov, Vladimir Akopian-Zahar Efimenko,
Gabriel Sargsyan-Alexander Moiseenko

The results of all 9 rounds are presented below:

1. Armenia vs. Israel – 3.5:0.5 2. USA vs. Armenia – 2:2 3. Armenia
vs. Russia – 2:2 4. Armenia vs. Egypt – 3.5:0.5 5. China vs. Armenia
1.5:2.5 6. Armenia vs. India – 2.5:1.5 7. Hungary vs. Armenia -1.5:2.5
8. Armenia vs. Azerbaijan – 2:2 9. Armenia vs. Ukraine – 2:2

YOUNG MEMBERS OF ARMENIAN REPUBLICAN PARTY TO OBSERVE RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

news.am
Juy 25, 2011
Armenia

LIPETSK. – Young representatives of Armenian ruling Republican Party
participated in the federal forum on July 13-16 in Lipetsk, Russia.

They were invited by their Russian colleagues.

The meeting took place as a result of five-years-long collaboration
with young members of ruling United Russia Party, Republican party
press service informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Republican Party young members met the chairman of the International
Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma K. Kosyachov, Secretary
General of CIS inter parliamentary assembly M. Krotov and Russian
famous analyst M. Shevchenko. The participants discussed issues on
international collaboration. Republican young members were officially
invited to be observers during Russian presidential elections.