Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Introducing Armenia-Turkey protocols in parliaments was mistake –
American analyst

news.am
November 30, 2012 | 16:46

YEREVAN.- Armenia-Turkey rapprochement can make easier many aspects
of interests, Wayne Merry, Senior Associate at the American Foreign
Policy Council, said addressing international forum in Yerevan.

Diplomatic relations between the states is not a gift or a great
honor, it is a way of interaction, he said during the annual
international forum `Dynamics of Regional Security in the South
Caucasus.’

In his opinion, one of the best solutions would be the opening of
Turkey’s interests’ sections at any of the embassies in Armenia and
vice versa. It may be done for example in Georgia, he emphasized.

The political analyst believes the only mistake during normalization
process was submitting the protocols to the parliaments, an idea
doomed to failure.

`Foreign policy should be implemented by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. And it is not the main goal, but only a means to solve the
current problems,’ he said.

It is necessary to establish relations with Turkey. It is more in the
interests of Armenia, a landlocked country with relatively poor
resources, he concluded.

9 thousand new books have been granted to Yerevan libraries

15:41, 30 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS: The libraries of Yerevan have been
increased by numerous new books first time in the last two decades. On
the initiative of the Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan the
Municipality distributes 9000 pieces of 214 books to the libraries of
Yerevan, as Yerevan is proclaimed as World Book Capital 2012.
Information and Public Relations Department of the Yerevan
Municipality informed “Armenpress” about this.

The Advisor to the Mayor of Yerevan Aram Sukiasyan mentioned: “Of
course, the libraries under the jurisdiction of Yerevan Municipality
regularly have been receiving new books, but there has not been
numerous contribution in last 20 years. All 214 books in recent years
have been published by state order. Both fiction and professional
literature, from fairy tales to Armenian and world classics as well as
contemporary writers’ works are included in contribution. We think
readers will be pleased.”

Libraries in all districts of Yerevan will receive 500-2000 new books.
Also Russian-language books are included in the contribution.

DON’T CHASE “COMPATRIOTS” OUT
Naira Hayrumyan

Story From Lragir.Am News:
http://
12:59 30/11/2012

Regnum Agency Director Modest Kolerov Addressing The Forum In The
Baltics Said That “the Russian Compatriots Abroad Need Mobilization
Against Assimilation”.

The Word “compatriot” In Armenia Is Now Associated With Russia. Russia
Is Trying To Attract Citizens Of Post-Soviet Countries To Itself With
The Help Of This Word. It Aims To Solve Its Demographic Issues And
To Have A Permanent Level Of Influence On These Republics.

For This Russia Uses A Number Of Instruments, Such As The Absence
Of Visa Regime. Today, Russian Expert Sergey Markedonov Stated That
people would not leave for Russia, if they didn’t find better life
and working conditions there. In reality, Armenians leave for Russia
for two reasons: it is easy to get there, unlike Western countries,
and because it is easier to work in shadow, i.e. illegally in Russia,
not to pay the taxes, not to register and solve all issues just
bribing the police.

But in order to implement such a huge project, Russian needs
ideological components too, and Kolerov proposes an interesting
option. It turns out the compatriots out of Russia are subject to
assimilation, and they need to be saved. The notion of compatriots
in Russia is not clear: they are either considered only Russians
who carry out projects to preserve the Russian culture abroad, or
they speak about Russian peoples, though the program does not fund
the opening of Tatar or Chechen schools abroad. But for simplicity,
compatriots are considered all post-soviet peoples and countries.

So according to Kolerov, Armenians are subject to assimilation in
Armenia and they need to be saved. So they are “mobilized” and called
to Russia.

It is impossible to think of anything more absurd and cynical in
order to justify the ordinary colonization. The most important is
that it is loyally accepted in Armenia, where everyone agrees that
Armenians are “Russia’s compatriots”. With the same logic, we may
consider ourselves compatriots of Turks and Persians, because we were
in the same empire for long years. While Armenia lived in the Soviet
Union only for 70 years.

Even the prime minister of Armenia spoke against the Compatriots
program, but it is still operating. But Armenians leave Russia, not
only for this project, and the Prime Minister has never asked those
who leave to return, he has never offered them jobs. The government
obviously does not want to put obstacles to its citizens who emigrate
to avoid “assimilation”, otherwise they could have come up with
bureaucratic obstacles, as in the case of exports of many goods.

The devastation in Armenia must be stopped, and first of all it is
necessary to let people know that the government does not want them
to leave. Most of the people leave to earn money, but a large part
simply runs away because it is chased out.

MEN WHO DESECRATED GARNI STONE COMPLEX IDENTIFIED

tert.am
30.11.12

Policemen in the Kotayk region have identified the men who desecrated
the Symphony of Stones, a historical stone complex in Garni.

Tert.am has learned from the Police that the governor of Kotayk was
first invited to a local police department to give a report.

Subsequent operations revealed that the men who broke and stole
stones were residents of the Garni village, Felix M (31), Sevak H
(31) and Jivan D (31).

All three were taken to the local police on Thursday night. The men
admitted that from mid-October until November 26 they had transported
flat basalt slabs from the complex to the grave of Jivan’s grandfather
for building a fence.

An inquest has been launched.

Several environmentalist had earlier voiced alarm over the broken
stones in the Garni gorge. A video footage on the internet clearly
showed men desecrating the complex.

EC PRESIDENT JOSE MANUEL BARROSO TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

10:25 ~U 30.11.12

At the invitation of Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan President of
the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso will arrive in Armenia.

According to president’s press office, Barroso will meet with
President Sargsyan, National Assembly Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan and
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

During the meeting with the country’s president a wide-range of
issues will be discussed, including Armenia-EU cooperation agenda,
regional issues.

Serzh Sargsyan and Manuel Barroso are expected to come up with joint
news conference on December 1.

The President of the EC will participate in the Eastern Partnership
Summit of the European People’s Party, meet with representatives of
civil society.

AZERBAIJANI HELD HOSTAGE IN ARMENIA SENDS LETTER TO HIS FAMILY

APA
Nov 29 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. Resident of Alpout village of Azerbaijan’s
Gazakh region Telman Aliyev, taken hostage by Armenians on November
12, 2012, has sent a letter to his family, his mother Mahbuba Hasanova
told APA.

According to her, the representatives of the International Red Cross
Committee (IRCC) handed the letter to the family yesterday and said
that Telman’s health was normal. Hasanova said that the letter was
very short: “Thanks my mother Hasanova Mahbuba, I’m well.”

Hasanova said that her son has a congenital physical disability –
he can not speak and hear well: “My son left home on November 11 to
bring cattle. All came back except my son. As a child, he went to
school for deaf and dumb in Baku, can write and convey his thoughts,
but not speak. I addressed to the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) and Chairman of State Commission on Prisoners of War
(POW), Hostages and Missing Citizens for the return of my son. My
son is a civilian and has a physical disability. He is married and
has two sons.”

Armenian Defense Ministry reported that resident of Gazakh region
Telman Javanshir Aliyev, 41, crossed the border in the direction of
Tavush province at 07.45 on November 12.

SARGSYAN VISITS HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY

National News Agency, Lebanon
Nov 27 2012

NNA – The Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, on Tuesday visited
Haigazian University in Beirut, whereby the President of said
university presented Sargsyan with an armor of appreciation.

Sargsyan met at the university with the Presidents of Haigazian
University, Lebanese American University and the American University
of Beirut. He also met with university students.

Sargsyan addressed Haigazian students to work on bolstering bilateral
ties between both countries.

JOSE BARROSO: EU EXPECTS ARMENIAN ELECTIONS TO MEET INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Mediamax
Nov 28 2012
Armenia

Mediamax’s exclusive interview with the President of the European
Commission Jose Manuel Barroso

President of the European Commission will visit Yerevan November 30 to
take part in the Eastern Partnership Summit of the European People’s
Party (EPP). On the eve of the visit he gave an interview to Mediamax.

– Armenian officials say that a big progress was made in Armenia-EU
relations during 2012. Do you share this view? What is the main
achievement and what still needs to be done?

– EU-Armenia relations further intensified in 2012. Good progress
was made in the negotiations on an Association Agreement, which will
provide for Armenia’s political association and economic integration
with the EU. In that framework, since the start in July, 3 negotiating
rounds have taken place on a future Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade
Area. This agreement has the potential to increase Armenian exports to
the EU by 30%. By the time of the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit
in November 2013, we hope to be near to the completion of both sets
of negotiations.

In February 2012, we started negotiations on a Visa Facilitation
Agreement and a Readmission Agreement. In record time, the negotiations
were completed and the agreements were initialled in October. We expect
both agreements to come into force, in parallel, by mid-2013. Together
with the announced abolition of short-stay visas for EU and Schengen
zone citizens by Armenia, this will boost mutual mobility. On a
different issue, let me also mention that Armenia received an extra
~@ 15 million in assistance on the basis of the EU’s “more for more”
policy that encourages reform.

– You are visiting Armenia 2,5 months before the Presidential
Elections. What is your expectation from the elections and how
important is their conduct for the future of Armenia-EU relations?

– The EU expects elections to be conducted according to international
standards. We fully support the OSCE ODIHR recommendations, made after
the parliamentary elections, on improving election procedures and their
implementation. These recommendations should be implemented as soon
as possible. Our policy is, as you know, based on the “more for more”
principle: the deeper the reform, the more the EU can and will help.

– Armenian Government and the European Commission are discussing
the Donors Conference for Armenia. Is this Conference linked to the
elections and their compatibility with the international standards?

– The EU stands ready to help Armenia organise a donor conference in
conjunction with other international donor organisations. Clearly,
Armenia has to do the main preparatory work, with a view to ensuring
that the outcome of the conference is fully in line with Armenia’s
aspirations. If the preparations are of a high standard and EU-Armenia
relations continue to evolve in a positive direction, then we can
support the organisation of the conference.

– EU always calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to look for compromises.

Azerbaijani President publicly stated last this week that “Armenia as
a country is of no value”, “Armenia is actually a colony”, “Armenia
is an outpost run from abroad”. Don’t you think that such statements
are making Armenia less motivated to look for possible compromises?

– It is in Armenia’s own best interest to strive for a comprise
on Nagorno Karabakh. The same is true for Azerbaijan. This
conflict should be solved in a peaceful way. Renewed conflict would
seriously harm all parties involved.The EU has a strong interest in
a stable neighbourhood; this is the raison d’etre of our European
Neighbourhood and Eastern Partnership policies. The EU actively
supports the mediation process of the OSCE Minsk Group, we have
important assistance projects to build confidence between the parties
to the conflict, while the efforts of our EU Special Representative
for the South Caucasus and the conflict in Georgia, Ambassador Lefort,
fully support the efforts of the Minsk Group in a complementary way.

BAKU ACCUSES YEREVAN OF EVADING TALKS ON KARABAKH

Interfax
Nov 28 2012
Russia

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has accused Armenia of
evading negotiations on settling the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mammadyarov met with PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs Pedro
Argamunt and Joseph Debono Grech in Baku on Tuesday, the Azeri Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.

The parties discussed the settlement of the Azeri-Armenian conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh and agreed that its unsettled status is a
significant obstacle to the region’s development in the future.

The co-rapporteurs said they understand Azerbaijan’s concerns and
will include Nagorno-Karabakh in a report they are drawing up.

Mammadyarov pointed out that the resumption of the Xocali (Khojaly)
airport’s operations in Nagorno-Karabakh and flights through it are
illegal and harm peace negotiations.

Negotiations on the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh are being
brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from France, Russia,
and the United States.

ARMROSGAZPROM TO INCREASE INVESTMENT THREEFOLD TO $88.4 MLN IN 2013-2015

Interfax
Nov 28 2012
Russia

CJSC Armrosgazprom plans to invest 35.9 billion dram (around $88.4
million under the current rate of 406.32 dram/$1 on November 28,
2012) in 2013-2015, Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission
said on its website.

The company’s investment program has been submitted to the Commission
for approval. The commission said in its materials that Armrosgazprom
plans to invest 7.5 billion dram in 2013, around 12 billion dram in
2014, and 16.3 billion dram in 2015. A total of 25.2 billion dram
will go to the country’s gas transportation system in the three years,
as well as 10.7 billion dram for gas distribution.

It was earlier reported that the Commission approved the company’s
investment program for 2012-2014 at a total value of 11.9 billion dram
($31 million under the exchange rate of that period). At the same
time, investment in 2012 was planned at around 3.2 billion dram,
4.2 billion dram in 2013, and over 4.5 billion dram for 2014.

The Commission told Interfax that, according to Armenian law, the
investment program will be reviewed by the regulator over a six-month
period after its submission. A decision on the program should be made
in February or March 2013.

Armrosgazprom holds the monopoly for supplying gas to Armenia. Russian
gas giant Gazprom (RTS: GAPZ) owns 80% in the company. The Armenian
government holds 20%.