Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEES OPEN CONFERENCE IN YEREVAN

Tert.am
30.03.12

Representatives of Armenian national committees are now in Yerevan
to discuss the challenges facing the country.

Traditionally known as Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) committees of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D), they
opened their fourth conference in Armenia’s capital earlier today
to discuss the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide
and the activities towards advocacy campaign, as well as the legal
recognition of Artsakh and the current negotiation process.

Other issues on the agenda concerned measures to combat Azerbaijan’s
anti-Armenian propaganda and Armenia’s foreign policy challenges, and
the initiatives aimed to protect the Armenian population of Javakhk.

The discussion has brought together member of more than 25 Armenian
national committees.

Addressing the meeting, ARF-D Bureau member and lawmaker, Vahan
Hovhannisyan, focused on parliamentary diplomacy and the Armenian
Cause, noting that Armenian National Committee representatives in
both Armenia and abroad are not ready for diplomatic work on account
ofdifferent objective and subjective reasons.

“The Turkish and Azerbaijani lobbies use different resources,
centering on the material aspect. We have to understand, in this
context, that we cannot fight on their battlefield, pursuing material
interests. Our work is based on moral and ideal values,” he said,
considering parliamentary diplomacy an important tool for representing
the Armenian interests.

As key challenges, Hovhannisyan pointed out to three issues:
international recognition of Genocide, enhancement of Armenia’s
economic situation and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

“It is necessary to find a formula, ensuring their balance in an
accurate manner to find accurate solutions,” he said. “The Armenian
National Committees have to work in a right manner, pursuing ideal
diplomacy and smoothing out the errors.”

In his speech, Armen Roustamyan of the ARF-D bureau addressed the
foreign policy challenges, stressing the importance of using its
rich experience.

“Demanding our rights is the underlying idea behind Armenian Cause.

Not only acknowledgement but also compensation should be an integral
part of the Armenian Genocide recognition efforts. That shouldn’t
scare us; we have to realize that we are invulnerable as long as we
are just,” he said.

Addressing the Armenia-Turkey reconciliation and the Karabakh conflict,
Roustamyan called for being unanimous.

“We shouldn’t resort to steps that would cause us to miss our chances
and close our ways,” he said.

The conference also addressed other issues, such as the recent
developments in Middle East, Turkey’s role, the activities of Hay
Dat and new challenges.

ERNEKYAN PRESENTS FIRST AIRPLANE TO STEPANAKERT’S AIRPORT: FLIGHTS ARE SCHEDULED IN JUNE-JULY

13:32 . 30/03

Stepanakert’s airport is completely ready to be commissioned. At
present, they are purchasing airplanes and are recruiting the airport
staff, Chief of NKR General Department of Civil Aviation Valeri
Adbashyan has stated.

According to him, when the preparation phase is over, the flights will
start. The first airplane with which the first flight will be carried
out was presented by Argentinean-Armenian businessman Eduardo Ernekyan.

“We are planning the first flight to be carried out in June-July of
the current year. Though the airplane is not new, but is quite enough
for the start,” Adbashyan has said.

Touching upon Baku’s threat to destroy the airplanes Adbashyan said
that recently Azerbaijanis seem to have calmed down.

Besides, according to him, Azerbaijan is a member of ICAO, therefore
it has signed the convention, according to which, all the member
countries are obliged not to create threats for the passengers of
civil airplanes. They can make the airplane land, but have no right
to destroy a passenger airplane.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: JUDGE RECUSES HERSELF IN NAREG HARTUNIAN CASE

hetq
13:44, March 30, 2012

The presiding judge in the Nareg Hartunian tax evasion case has recued
himself due to a conflict of interest.

It was revealed that she has two sisters working at the State Revenue
Committee, one serving at a top-level position.

The defense has presented the self-recusal motion for Judge Nelli
Baghdasaryan.

She transferred the case to Judge Aleksander Azaryan.

ECONOMIST OUTLINES IMPACT AND COST OF ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

epress.am
03.30.2012

About $70 million USD is spent during elections in Armenia, according
to approximate calculations by economist Samvel Avagyan, who included
the expenses of all candidates and political parties, as well as the
allocations from the state budget in his calculations.

Speaking to journalists in the capital today, Avagyan said the
elections have a dual impact on economic process – direct and
indirect. Direct influences are manifested through retail trade,
publishing, advertising, the media industry and foreign exchange rates.

“If you follow closely, the impact of the elections to a certain
extent is reflected in official statistics – particularly during
the 2007 parliamentary election, there was a recorded 20% increase
in retail trade in the month of April alone. Also recorded was a
certain appreciation of the exchange rate against the dollar. These
are direct influences,” he said.

The main indirect influence, according to the economist, is that
during the campaign period investment is reduced to some extent, since
the business sector is actively involved in political processes and
expectant (standby) situations arise, as a result of which investment
suffers.

“Furthermore, those populist promises which are made during that
time by different political forces, by the ruling political party and
opposition parties, negatively affect government programs, since the
government likewise, it seems, begins to take certain populist action,”
he said.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ECONOMIC FRANCOPHONIE

ARMRADIO.AM
30.03.2012 13:20

An international conference titled “From common values to common
interest: Challenges and opportunities of economic Francophonie”
was held at the French University in Armenia.

“The issue of development of Francophonie in Armenia is in the focus
of our everyday attention, and we have established cooperation with
the International Organization of the Francophonie,” Secretary of
the National Security Council and President of the Board of Trustees
of the French University in Armenia Arthur Baghdasaryan said in his
opening remarks.

“I think the wonderful traditions of Francophonie, the functioning
of the French University in Armenia, which is a brilliant example of
Armenian-French cooperation, the educational, scientific and cultural
dialogue provide a good opportunity to transfer the cooperation to
the economic field,” Arthur Baghdasaryan said.

According to Baghdasaryan, through joint discussion of economic issues,
particularly the question of development of small and medium-sized
businesses, exports, and different branches of economy it will be
possible to intensify the bilateral ties, promote the cooperation
between francophone countries and proceed from common values to
economic interests.

The event was organized under the high auspices of Abdou Diouf,
Secretary General of the International Organization of the
Francophonie, and was aimed at informing the university and business
circles about the economic idea of the francophonie and reveal the
means of facilitating the investment and exchange opportunities
between the member states.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Armenia
Henri Renaud, officials and representatives of the diplomatic corps
participated in the conference.

ARMENIAN SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS MERGE TO FOSTER SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT: EXPERT

/ARKA/
MARCH 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, March 29. /ARKA/. Science development in Armenia can be
fostered through integrating Armenian scientific institutes, said
Hamlet Navasardyan, Director of International Science and Technology
Center’s Armenian branch.

“In present there are nearly 120 scientific organizations in Armenia.

I think this number is pretty high for Armenia. This sphere needs
infrastructural changes, in particular, merge of institutes,” he said.

Navasardyan said this process will help to bring together human and
financial resources in order to concentrate research around concrete
target spheres.

According to him, there are groups of professional scientists in many
institutions, who have great academic potential and who are closely
involved into international scientific cooperation, in particular,
in physics, chemistry and biology.

He also said that not all the institutes can offer high-quality
scientific research which can correspond to the world standards and
the country’s scientific demands.

“We should avoid mechanical merge. We should develop some special
approach based on scientific discussions, what will allow to model
an optimal action strategy,” Navasardyan said.

AZERBAIJANIS STEAL ARMENIAN SINGER’S SONG (VIDEO)

March 30, 2012 | 00:23

Azerbaijanis stole Armenian singer Razmik Amyan’s ‘Vay vay’ song,
Razmik Amyan’s producer Armin Movsisyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

For already 3 days the song is on YouTube by the performance of Farid
Dadashov and Ali Aliyev but Razmik Amyan performed that song in the
summer 2011. The Armenian singer did not apply anywhere, he just
mentioned that the Azerbaijanis steal the song from Armenians.

We present the Armenian and Azerbaijani versions of the song.

STATE COMMITTEE OF REAL ESTATE ALLOWED FLAWS IN ACTIVITIES WITH CITIZENS – ARMENIA’S OMBUDSMAN

news.am
March 30, 2012 | 10:45

YEREVAN. – Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan has issued an evaluation
of the State Committee of the Real Estate activities for 2011.

The assessment is as follows:

Shortcomings and problems identified:

In some cases the State Committee of the Real Estate of the Republic
of Armenia (hereinafter Cadastre) provided citizens with information
existing in the system, but which wasn’t sufficient for implementation
of the required functions.

During the state registration the Cadastre in certain cases required
from citizens such documents or refused the state registration for
such reasons which are not foreseen by the Legislation.

Some lands formerly provided to citizens with gardening purposes and
not used by the latter for a long time were included in a communities’
land balance and given to other people by community leaders. In
these cases the Cadastre did not take into account the fact of lands
previously given to citizens by gardening firms, and the rights of
the new owners have been registered upon them.

In certain cases the information given to persons on state registration
of property rights and registered rights and restrictions did not
coincide with reality.

The Cadastre officers, in assessing the cadastral value of
property, in certain cases were not led by coefficients foreseen by
the Legislation.

Discussions of the Human Rights Defender’s recommendations on
reconsidering the norms that contradict the legal acts of a higher
legal force have been carried out with delay (for instance, the RA
Government decision N719, made on 7th April, 2005, the 30.10.2008
joint official clarification of the RA State Committee of the Real
Estate President and the Yerevan Mayor).

Positive developments:

During 2011 comprehensive reforms in the real estate cadastre
system have been implemented, which aimed at increasing transparency
of the system functions, simplification of administration, exclusion
of necessity of the official-citizen direct contact, hence leading
to the reduction of corruption risks.

Since 25th April the applicants have an opportunity to get the
registration certificates in shorter terms by means of applying
coefficients towards charged fees.

The compulsory notary ratification requirement of real estate
transactions (except for unilateral transactions), foreseen by the
RA Civil Code, has been eliminated; in this respect an institute of
execution of transactions by recognition of authenticity of signatures
has been imported by cadastre system, and execution of transactions
in cadastre system in the order prescribed has been carried out free
of charge.

By introduction of electronic document circulation system between
cadastre offices and territorial subdivisions the applicants got an
opportunity to introduce applications on registration of rights and
provision of information and obtain the documents by their choice in
any cadastre service office (even without coming to a service office –
by e-mail) regardless the real estate location.

The obligatory requirement of providing information about the real
estate property or an obligatory requirement of property measurement or
technical inspection in case of state registration of rights emerged
from deals with regard to the property.

The requirement to introduce applications about implementation of
functions of providing information and a state registration of rights
according to the location of the property has been eliminated, as
well as specialized facilities- service offices have been established
aiming to serve applicants to use the system services.

RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN: DESPITE ODDS, CONFIDENT MOOD IN KARABAKH

Noyan Tapan
2012-03-29 22:28:27

Armenian residents still as determined as ever to win international acceptance.

By Richard Giragosian – Caucasus
CRS Issue 635,
27 Mar 12

After 20 difficult years living in Azerbaijan’s shadow, Armenians in
Nagorny Karabakh appear increasingly confident about the future.

Although the conflict remains unresolved and Karabakh has not won
international recognition as a separate state, people there remain
steadfast about holding onto their hard-won independence.

Progress on building a new state and establishing a political process
continues regardless of the problems. In fact, Nagorny Karabakh’s
electoral record suggests its democratic credentials are better than
Armenia’s, let alone Azerbaijan’s.

Such developments tend to be ignored by outsiders, for whom Karabakh
is either a focus for geopolitical competition or the subject of
mediation by major powers like France, Russia and the United States.

On the ground, though, perspectives and priorities are quite different.

For most people in Karabakh, the most pressing concern is the state
of the economy, rather than the dormant peace process. While proud
of their republic, they struggle to make ends meet, and many rely on
money sent back from relatives working abroad. And as the situation
has deteriorated in recent years, some residents will admit – albeit
reluctantly and in private – that they too are thinking of leaving
in search of work. Young people, too, acknowledge that they worry
about finding work once they graduate.

Take Anna, a 23-year old holding down a job in one of the better
hotels in the local capital Stepanakert. Her sense of satisfaction
with having a steady and reasonably well-paid job is tempered by
frustration and regret.

“I like my work and I’m happy – but I am also ashamed,” she told me.

“I am sad because I do have a job while my brothers and my father
can’t find work. And my friends are jealous. I feel guilty sometimes,
and sad too.”

The general lack of optimism about the economy and job prospects also
applies to politics. Asked about the upcoming parliamentary election in
neighbouring Armenia in May, very few people expressed much interest.

“Sure, the Armenian election is obviously important, but not so
much for us,” Tevan, 21, a university student studying politics
and international relations, said. “In any case, everyone knows the
outcome – the Republican Party will win. But that doesn’t really affect
us here in Karabakh. The real difference is that here in Karabakh,
every election that we’ve ever had has been free and fair, whereas
in Armenia, I can’t remember any free or fair election.”

This strong sense of pride in Karabakh’s democratic credentials – which
many feel is not sufficiently appreciated elsewhere – is widespread.

As Anahit, a middle-aged housewife put it, “We are never going to
leave our lands, and you must understand that we’ll never ever accept
anyone trying to hand us back to the Azerbaijanis. After all, we are
free, strong, and living in a democracy. Why we would we ever want
to revert to Azerbaijan?”

As justification for this position, other residents noted that February
19 marked the eighth anniversary of the murder of an Armenian army
officer by an Azerbaijani soldier while both were attending a NATO
course in Hungary. Memories of the incident reinforce fears of
Azerbaijan, especially as some officials there hailed the murderer
as a true patriot.

The escalating tensions along the front line that separates
Armenian-held territory from Azerbaijan, with sniper fire that is now
almost routine, only seem to make Karabakh’s residents more determined
to claim independence.

The threat of renewed conflict is never far from people’s minds. This
underlying mood continues to permeate Karabakh. People living in
border areas believe an Azerbaijani attack is increasingly likely,
although they believe the Karabakh military would be able to fend
off any assault.

In urban centres, the possibility of war in nearby Iran is also
a preoccupation.

According to Hamlet, a father of four, “It isn’t like we are siding
with the Iranians. But we don’t want war to return to this region. We
can remember what war is really like, and no one deserves that again.

We trade with the Iranians, and Iran has never betrayed us by
supporting Azerbaijan as the Turks did. But I am worried.”

War with Iran would, Hamlet said, harm Karabakh’s already frail
economy.

“If there is war, the [Iranian] trucks will stop coming and, God
forbid, the Azeris may think they can attack us if there is a war
going on nearby,” he said.

The danger of renewed hostilities with Azerbaijan is real enough. The
divide between how Armenians and Azerbaijanis see Karabakh’s future
remains insurmountable. And since the Karabakh Armenians are blocked
from participating in the peace talks, which involve Yerevan and Baku
only, the chances of progress seem remote.

For the people of Karabakh, the next two decades are likely to be full
of challenges just as daunting as those they have weathered over the
past twenty years.

Richard Giragosian is director of the Regional Studies Centre, an
independent think tank in Yerevan, Armenia.

BAKU EXPECTS PROGRESS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

Vestnik Kavkaza
March 29 2012
Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss prospects of
cooperation in Azerbaijan. Russia and Azerbaijan have a wide range of
issues to discuss, Ali Gasanov, head of the Socio-Political Department
of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, said on Thursday,
Trend reports.

The official said that there are big expectations from Russia in
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Gasanov noted that Russia
has great influence on Armenia and may coordinate it for constructive
talks. Putin and Medvedev have shown efforts in the Nagorno-Karabakh
process and further contribution is expected.

Political analyst Fikret Sadykhov, Professor of the Western University
of Baku, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Lavrov’s visit is of protocol
and formal nature. Russia and Azerbaijan have common grounds on many
issues. But Lavrov is unlikely to make global decisions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Azerbaijan on
April 3-4.