Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Rep. Schiff issues statement on 22nd anniversary of Armenia’s Independence

13:32 21.09.2013

Adam Schiff, Armenia, Independence

Rep. Adam Schiff has issued a statement on the occasion of the 22nd
anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Armenia. The message
reads:

`I’m so glad to join with the vibrant Armenian community that I
represent and proudly say `Urakh Ankakhutyan Or’ (Happy Independence
Day) as we celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the Independence of the
Republic of Armenia.

The road to independence has not been easy, but time has proven that
Armenians are survivors in the truest sense of the word, survivors of
foreign domination, survivors of the first genocide of the 20th
century.

Armenian Americans continue to illustrate what a valuable asset they
are to our society, breaking new grounds economically, socially and
politically across the nation, and enriching our customs, traditions
and the quality of life.

Over the years I’ve been privileged to work hand in hand with many
individuals in the Armenian community in a wide variety of issues that
concern the community such as securing aid to Armenia and Artsakh,
supporting self-determination for the people of Artsakh, ending the US
Government’s tragic failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

As a friend of the Armenian community, I’m honored to join you in
commemorating this important day and anniversary. Congratulations to
the people of Armenia, Armenians in America and to all Armenians
around the world.

ANCA-ER director joins Baroness Cox for visit to Armenia, Artsakh

September 21, 2013 – 10:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian National Committee of America Eastern
Region (ANCA-ER) Executive Director Michelle Hagopian is in Armenia
accompanying Baroness Caroline Cox on her 80th trip to Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh, the ANCA-ER reported.

Baroness Cox is the 2012 ANCA Freedom Award recipient and a major
champion for Karabakh, having opened up a rehabilitation center there
through her nonprofit, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). She’s
also a member of the British House of Lords.

Lady Cox asked Hagopian to attend when the pair met at the ANCA-ER
Banquet in December 2012.

`It such a thrill and an honor to join Baroness Cox on her 80th visit
to Armenia and Artsakh. Her dedication and love for the Armenian
people show in everything she does. We’re truly lucky to have a
humanitarian like her fighting for our cause,’ Hagopian stated.

`It’s my first time journeying to both Armenia and Artsakh, and it is
a pleasure to do so with Lady Cox.’

Hagopian arrived in Yerevan on September 20 and will be staying until
September 27. Members of her HART-United Kingdom team and other
colleagues of Cox are along for this trip as well. Among the items on
the group’s itinerary include visiting church clergy, meeting elected
officials, and traveling to Nagorno Karabakh by helicopter, which was
a gift provided from the Armenian government in honor of her 80th
trip.

The Lady Cox Rehabilitation Center is internationally recognized as a
`Center of Excellence,’ disseminating its wide-ranging therapeutic
repertoire far beyond Karabakh to other countries throughout the South
Caucasus. `The spirit of Armenia, which not only survives but creates
beauty from the ashes of destruction, is spreading hope and healing
for people with special needs not only in Karabakh and Armenia but far
beyond these lands,’ stated Lady Cox.

Baroness Cox’s humanitarian aid work has taken her on many missions to
conflict zones, including Nagorno Karabakh, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda,
Burma, and Indonesia. She has also been instrumental in helping to
change the former Soviet Union’s policies for orphaned and abandoned
children from institutional to foster family care.

ARIF ALIYEV: THERE ARE 20 JOURNALISTS IN AZERBAIJANI JAILS

18:09 19/09/2013 ” SOCIETY

“It’s hard to talk about the independence of the press on
the background of the recent increase of arrests of Azerbaijani
journalists. There are a number of serious problems in this area. The
alread low level of media independence in the country is reducing
day by day,” told the head of the Azerbaijan Research Center of new
generation of journalists, media expert Arif Aliyev to “Factheber”
portal.

Arif Aliyev also noted that the reasons for the existing situation
are the excessive limited financial resources and the monopoly of the
advertising market in the media. “There are also serious problems
with the arrest of journalists. Azerbaijan is one of the countries
which has the highest number of imprisoned journalists in Europe. At
the moment, there are 20 journalists that are in prison,” he said.

The expert also expressed his attitude on the arrest of the employee
of “Bizim Yol” (“Our Way”) newspaper and the director of the site
“Moderator.az” Parviz Gashimli.

“It is difficult to say anything about it at this moment, as we do
not have serious facts. However, we were surprised by the way he
was arrested. Why should the editorial office of the journalist,
who is accused of attempting to smuggle weapons, be searched? How
the smuggling is connected with his professional activity? The mass
invasion of MNS to the journalist’s apartment and aggression towards
other members of the media who attempted to get closer to his home,
give rise to some questions and doubts about Parviz Gashimli’s arrest.

The final decision will be announced after the disclosure of additional
facts,” said the head of the Research Center of the Azerbaijani
journalists of new generation.

The employee of independent newspaper “Bizim Yol” (Our way) and
director of the site “Moderator.az” Parviz Gashimli was arrested on
17 September 2013 Azerbaijan. Gashimli was detained at the editorial
office of the site “Moderator.az” by the MNS officers. The MNS
officers entered Gashimli’s private house in Baladzhary village and
the editorial office of “Bizim Yol” newspaper at the same time. MNS
officers “found” 30 grenades and a pistol in Gashimli’s house. Wife
of the journalist noted that weapons were brought into the house by
the MNS staff.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIANS SAY HUNGARY MADE NO EFFORT TO RESOLVE FRICTION OVER AZERI MURDERER

10:42 20.09.2013

Over the past year the Hungarian government has made almost no effort
to resolve the friction that resulted from the repatriation of an
Azeri murderer who was freed after arriving home, the head of the
self-government of ethnic Armenians said, politics.ru reports.

Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment
for killing an Armenian in Budapest in 2004, was transferred back to
his home country on August 31, 2012 under an extradition agreement.

Although Azerbaijan formally pledged that the life sentence handed down
to him in Hungary would be directly continued when he was returned to
his homeland, the Azerbaijani president granted him clemency. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan announced the same day that Armenia suspended
diplomatic relations with Hungary.

Two days later State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Nemeth summoned
the Azerbaijani ambassador to his office and condemned the Azerbaijani
step as unacceptable to Hungary in a diplomatic note.

The head of the Armenian self-government Sevan Sargsyan told the press
that it is still not known what advantage Hungary had gained from
the repatriation of Safarov. The European Union could put pressure
on Azerbaijan through the Eastern Partnership programme but Hungary
has made no steps to achieve this, he added. According to Sevan, the
“total lack of interest” demonstrated by Hungary in this matter is
“shocking”.

The Foreign Ministry said in response that the Hungarian government
had taken several steps to restore Hungarian-Armenian diplomatic
links, for instance Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi sent a letter
to Armenian counterpart Edvard Nalbandjan about this on September 7,
2012. The ministry also sent a diplomatic note to the Armenian ministry
to confirm the wish to restore relations.

The Foreign Ministry initiated dialogue with the officials of the
self-government of ethnic Armenians in Hungary right after the
repatriation of Safarov, the statement added.

“It is in Hungary’s interest that Hungarian-Armenian friendship
should further deepen and cooperation between the two countries should
strengthen and broaden in every field of life, including diplomatic
relations,” the ministry said.

The ministry also said that the standing of diplomatic links between
Hungary and Armenia must not, and does not, have any effect on the
situation of ethnic Armenians in Hungary. The ministry, moreover,
rejects charges by the Armenian self-government that the government
handled ethnic Armenians in Hungary as “traitors” and that they
cannot feel safe in Hungary anymore. The ministry also rejects the
claim that the ethnic Armenians in Hungary are left out of efforts
to restore diplomatic links between Hungary and Armenia.

In line with Hungary’s constitution, ethnic minorities are part of
the Hungarian political community and are state-forming elements,
and Hungary guarantees to nurture and protect the minorities’ language
and culture, the statement said.

LE GOUVERNEMENT ARMENIEN ANNONCE LE LANCEMENT DU PROCESSUS D’ADHESION DANS L’UNION DOUANIERE

ARMENIE

C’est dans un climat politique tendu que le gouvernement armenien
a annonce officiellement, jeudi 19 septembre, le lancement des
preparatiifs en vue de l’adhesion controversee de l’Armenie a l’Union
douanière constituee de la Russie, de la Bielorussie et du Kazakhstan,
a laquelle le president Serge Sarkissian s’etait rallie le 3 septembre
a l’issue d’une rencontre avec son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine
a Moscou. Le gouvernement de Tigrane Sarkissian a approuve le plan
des mesures prevues en ce sens qui devront etre appliquees vers le 10
octobre. La vice-ministre de l’economie, Karine Minasian, qui avait
presente un calendrier lors de la reunion du conseil des ministres,
a indique que M. Sarkissian avait constitue mercredi 18 septembre sept
“groupes de travail” charges de formuler la position de l’Armenie
dans les pourparlers a venir avec l’Union dirigee par la Russie. Mme
Minasian a precise aux journalists que l’un de ces groupes se penchera
plus particulièrement sur le regime douanier auquel sont soumis les
trois Etats deja membres de cette Union douanière qui devrait donner
le jour, a l’horizon 2015, a l’Union eurasienne voulue par M. Poutine,
ainsi que sur la compatibilite de leurs taxes douanières avec les taxes
commerciales pratiquees par l’Armenie. Malgre les critiques suscitees
par sa decision surprise, qui remet en cause le processus d’integration
renforcee de l’Armenie dans l’UE qui devait etre finalise au sommet
de Vilius, le president Sarkissian a prefere garder jusqu’ici le
silence sur cette question. Les responsables armeniens ont toutefois
indique que le processus d’adhesion a l’Union douanière pourrait
durer plusieurs mois et exigerait l’adaptation de dizaines de lois
et règlementations armeniennes.

vendredi 20 septembre 2013, Gari ©armenews.com

ICONS TAKEN FROM CYPRUS IN 1975 TO BE RETURNED

The Toronto Star, Canada
September 18, 2013 Wednesday

Valued at $200,000, the 16th-century paintings portray the four
apostles

The Dutch government seized four icons looted from a monastery in
northern Cyprus and will hand them to Cypriot authorities Wednesday,
according to Walk of Truth, an organization that campaigns to preserve
cultural heritage.

The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about
$200,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in 1975.

Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed
in 2002 after seven years. A change in Dutch law in 2007 allowed the
government to seize the artworks, said Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder
of Walk of Truth.

“We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities
within 48 hours,” Hadjitofi told delegates at a Sept. 16 conference
in the Hague. “The Netherlands should be congratulated for this.”

The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and
Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalized after
the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons
are missing. Some objects have been recovered in western Europe and
the United States.

The four looted icons of the saints were bought by an elderly Dutch
couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their Rotterdam home. When
the couple tried to auction the icons in the 1990s, employees of
Christie’s International warned that they may have been stolen.

Litigation to recover them began in 1995.

A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in
good faith and was therefore the rightful owner.

The Court of Appeals found that the claim was time-barred under
statutes of limitations in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the
Amsterdam-based lawyer who represented the Church of Cyprus in the
legal process.

Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and
in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territory
Act was passed.

The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating
from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959,
and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any
such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith
buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state.

ARMENIA SELLS $700 MILLION, SEVEN-YEAR BOND AT YIELD OF 6.25%, SOURCES SAYS

Wall Street Journal
Sept 19 2013

By Prabha Natarajan

Armenia came to market Thursday with a $700 million, seven-year bond
that sold to strong investor demand.

The country used the revived demand for emerging-market assets to
sell its debut bond deal.

The seven-year debt offering sold at a yield of 6.25%, and carries
a coupon of 6%, according to bankers familiar with the deal.

The initial yield talk was in the area of 6.375%.

Government borrowers from emerging-market economies have raised $17
billion this month, almost double the amount of bonds issued in the
previous three months combined, according to data provider Dealogic.

Deutsche Bank, HSBC and J.P. Morgan Chase are the banks running the
Armenia deal.

–Ben Edwards in London contributed to this article.

ARMENIA ORDER BOOK ON SEVEN-YEAR BOND APPROACHING USD2BN

Reuters
Sept 19 2013

By Davide Scigliuzzo

Thu Sep 19, 2013 6:44pm IST

LONDON, Sept 19 (IFR) – Order books on the Republic of Armenia’s new
seven-year bond are heard approaching USD2bn with US orders still to
come in, according to market sources.

Initial price thoughts for the benchmark-sized issue, which is rated
Ba2 by Moody’s and BB- by Fitch, remain in the 6.375% area.

The senior unsecured 144a/Reg S bond is Thursday’s business. Deutsche
Bank, HSBC and JP Morgan are the lead managers. (Reporting by Davide
Scigliuzzo; Editing by Sudip Roy)

CUSTOMS UNION LEADS NOWHERE

Interview with economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan

Mr. Yeghiazaryan, what is the aftermath of the statement of Armenia on
joining the Customs Union and in your opinion what factors influenced
this statement?

The statement made in Moscow gave a surprise to many of us. It
could be described as change of the track of the foreign policy. The
fact is that Armenia thus chooses a dependent path of development,
which supposes recession and an underdeveloped economy. Armenia had
a chance to integrate with the European family which is a union with
the highest level of development and a pole of political and economic
power. In other words, Armenia had a chance to climb to a higher step
of the world economy and international political relations. It stood
a chance to be a subject of international relations at a new level
and in a new capacity. Armenia had a chance to upgrade its security.

This decision is not in line with the interests of the Armenian people
and Armenia, it leads nowhere, and there may be further surprises. The
model of integration of post-Soviet states initiated by Russia is not
a classic model of integration. It cannot compare to the EU because it
is initially artificial and lacks all the formal and informal elements
of integration. It resembles the European colonial empire, the Roman
Empire. Russia is trying to extend its political and economic influence
over a space and is driven by its own interests. In this case, the
level of exploitation of Armenia neither decreased, nor increased.

It is possible that the authorities were lobbied by big companies. I
don’t think that the Russian energy companies did not have a role in
this Eurasian integration model. Naturally, they are trying to expand
their markets in countries where they can have influence.

What awaits Armenia?

In fact, we could not predict what would happen on September 3.

Armenia will face big economic, political and security problems and
failures. Armenia will not do better in the nearest period. Armenia
will have a lot of issues because the country is deprived of the
possibility to make decisions. Others are going to make decisions for
us. It is not compatible with independence, besides it is dangerous,
full of uncertainty and risks. A lot will depend on the ongoing
processes in the region, as well as the U.S. stance, the stance
of European officials which may also be determined by global and
regional processes.

They say this step strengthens our security. In reality, Russia tried
to strengthen its security at the expense of Armenia, thus reducing
the level of security of Armenia.

What will the membership to the Customs Union bring and what would
DCFTA bring to Armenia?

The advocates of the Eurasian project say that their countries expand
their markets and boost the number of consumers. On the other hand,
there are studies. One of the World Bank surveys concluded that the
Eurasian initiative cannot boost technological development of its
member states. It supposes isolation and prevention of introduction
of modern technology. The economies of those countries will remain
as primitive as they are now. Armenia does not even have enough raw
materials to export. It is a social, political and demographic danger.

The Customs Union cannot promise any economic benefits, considering the
structure of Armenia’s economy and the peculiarities of the Customs
Union member states. Armenia will only suffer losses. The Armenian
economy is more liberal, and foreign trade is also more liberal,
customs duties are lower. Armenia will be cut from the world market
and appear in the space of Russian influence. It will ruin the budget
revenues. Technical costs will increase because Armenia does not have
a shared border with these countries. In other words, Armenia will
be deprived of the small income which it gets due to integration with
the global economy.

Integration is first of all based on machinery industry. Russia
tried to give a boost to its machinery industry, signed bilateral
agreements with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia
and Georgia, hoping to revive its machinery industry by means of
industrial cooperation and scientific cooperation but all the attempts
ended in failure. I don’t think that these attempts will succeed,
economy will be revived, jobs will be created.

Instead, integration with the European Union would open up
opportunities for Armenia to enter into industrial cooperation.

Economy could be diversified, structure could be improved. If we
compare the two integration models, in countries with equal levels of
development trade is at the intra-industry level. It is north-south
integration. In this case, exchange will be at the inter-industry
level. Armenia does not have a lot to give to the member states of
the Customs Union so our welfare will be jeopardized.

I think all our approaches need to be reviewed. It turns out that
our business elite is hopeless.

Roza Hovhannisyan 20:50 19/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

LAURE DELCOUR: EU WILL REMAIN ENGAGED WITH ARMENIA, ONLY MODALITIES OF THIS ENGAGEMENT WILL CHANGE

19:21 19/09/2013 ” INTERVIEWS

Panorama presents an interview with Dr. Laure Delcour – Senior
Research Fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic
Relations (IRIS), France. Dr. Delcour specializes in the EU policies
in the post-Soviet area, the EU-Russia partnership and the European
Neighbourhood Policy.

– Dr. Delcour, you have written extensively on the European Union’s
policy towards Russia. Could you comment on the current EU policies
as regards to Russia’s neighbourhood and in particular on the recent
developments within countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia?

– These countries are not only part of Russia’s neighbourhood; they
have also been part of the EU’s neighbourhood since 2004 and 2007
enlargements. With the Eastern Partnership the EU has significantly
upgraded its offer to partner countries. It offers association
agreements, deep and comprehensive free-trade areas, the perspective
of visa liberalisation subject to conditions being met, and enhanced
sectoral cooperation. Nevertheless, EU policies require considerable
efforts and costs on the part of partner countries, while they will
be able to reap the benefits only in the long-term. In addition, the
EU has only recently started to take into account the consequences
of Russia-led regional integration initiatives and the effects of
Russian policies (ie. Short-term benefits, but also strong pressure)
on partner countries. The effects of Russian pressure may however turn
out to be counter-productive and push some countries closer to the EU.

So the key point is that this is a dynamic process. Joining regional
integration schemes or initialling association agreement with the EU,
as expected in the case of Moldova and Georgia at the Vilnius summit,
is only the beginning.

– And if this is only the beginning then where are these countries
ultimately heading – to a geopolitical alliance with EU/NATO?

– By saying only the beginning I meant that for these countries there
is still a long way to go to fully implement the commitments that
will be taken under the AA/DCFTA.

– The Republic of Armenia has recently announced about Armenia’s
intention to join the Custom’s Union and few days later the European
Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule
announced that it was no longer possible for Armenia to proceed with
the Association Agreement. Where exactly does this incompatibility
rest? Do you think these processes are incompatible in purely economic
or rather in political (geopolitical) terms?

– The incompatibility is clearly in economic terms. It lies in
deep economic integration that both schemes (the ECU and the Deep
Comprehensive and Free Trade Agreements) propose. For instance, being
a member of the two schemes would entail complying with, and applying
two different external trade tariffs, which is of course impossible.

– How would you assess the future prospects of cooperation between
the EU and Armenia after the recent developments?

– The situation is unprecedented and paradoxical. On the one hand,
Armenia has already achieved considerable progress in adopting
EU policy templates and approximating its legal framework with EU
acquis in a number of sectors. This was indeed a EU pre-condition
for launching DCFTA negotiations. On the other hand, given the
incompatibility between ECU and DCFTAs, the EU will not initial the
Association Agreement (of which DCFTA forms an integral part) with
Armenia at the Vilnius Eastern Partnership summit. However, no doubt
that the EU will remain engaged with Armenia, only the modalities
and probably the scale of this engagement will change.

– How would you characterise the prospects of Russia-led Customs
Union and the creation of the Eurasian Union?

Clearly, the Russia-led Customs Union differs from previous regional
integration projects in the former Soviet space. The ECU is more
ambitious. It is premised on a strong institutional framework
including a supranational body and deep economic integration through
regulatory convergence. However, there are several question marks as
to the cohesion of this initiative. First, the extent to which member
countries (currently Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan’s interests are
actually compatible. For instance, Kazakhstan had to increase its
customs tariffs as a result of ECU membership. And second, ECU’s
actual ability to attract new members. Armenia has just decided to
join the ECU and Kyrgyzstan expressed an interest as well. However,
the question is whether this interest in ECU membership is genuine
or whether it results from external pressures.

– Dr. Rainer Lindner, Executive Director of the Committee on Eastern
European Economic Relations, in his latest interview has expressed an
opinion that the solution to the dilemma between the Custom’s Union
and the EU can lie in the dialogue between Russia and the EU. How
would you assess the prospects of such a dialogue?

– The dialogue between Russia and the EU is indeed critical to
promoting security and democracy in the neighbourhood. The Roadmap
on external security that was agreed upon in Saint-Petersbourg and
launched in Moscow in 2005 provided for the strengthening of EU-Russia
dialogue, and possibly joint initiatives, on crisis management and the
settlement of regional conflicts, inter alia in those regions adjacent
to the EU’s and Russia’s borders. Nonetheless, the EU-Russia dialogue
on the common neighbourhood has been limited, to say the least. Now
that Russia has launched the Customs Union, this dialogue is even
more unlikely to develop. This is because Russia hopes to initiate
an inter-regional, or inter-block, dialogue with the EU once the
Eurasian Union is in place.

– Dr. Delcour, thank you for your comments.

Source: Panorama.am