Author: Kanayan Tamar

Watertown TAB & Press, MA
March 20 2010

Apply for an Armenian Women’s Educational Club scholarship

Wicked Local Watertown
Posted Mar 20, 2010 @ 06:00 AM

WATERTOWN ‘ The Armenian Women’s Educational Club announces four
$1,000 scholarships, and is now accepting applications from high
school senior boys and girls entering a four-year college in the fall.

Applicants may be male or female, must be of Armenian descent and be
accepted at a four-year college or university for the current year.
They must be seniors at a greater Boston high school who are United
States citizens or hold a resident alien card. Winners of the $1,000
scholarships will be selected on the basis of their academic record
and financial need.

Students may request scholarship application forms by calling Araxie
Manjikian at 781-937-0515. Applications are due by April 30, and the
scholarships will be awarded in June.

x1336915961/Apply-for-an-Armenian-Women-s-Educatio nal-Club-scholarship

ANC: POWER AND ECONOMIC RESOURCES MONOPOLIZED IN ARMENIA

news.am
March 19 2010
Armenia

Foreign ambassadors to Armenia are interested in the "100 steps"
programs of economic reforms proposed by the Armenian National
Congress (ANC). They asked the ANC to provide them program to them,
the Armenian ex-premier Hrant Bagratyan told reporters on March
19. He pointed out that the ANC’s program is designed to put an end
to monopolized economy.

"Power and economic resources are monopolized. If we look at
the Forbes section dealing with Armenia, we can see that 54.7% of
Armenia’s economy is in the hands of the ten richest families. By way
of illustration, only 1.9% of GDP are in the ten richest families in
the United States. In Russia, which is considered monopolized as well,
only 3.7% of GDP are in the ten richest families’ hands," Bagratyan
said. "Most of the ten persons have criminal past. About half of them
are the first and second persons of the state. Such a country cannot
progress. They are mostly persons relying on monopolies… Importers
have gradually monopolized the economy, because the ten families
think as follows: why should we produce and invest in Armenia if we
can earn money by importing," Bagratyan said.

According to him, development requires getting rid of this vicious
system and of the people in question. The ANC proposes increasing the
number of employees in economy – from several dozen up to hundreds
of thousands people.

FRANCOPHONIE DAYS KICK OFF IN ARMENIA

Armradio.am
19.03.2010 12:07

The Francophone Days officially kick off in Armenia today. The event
has been initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia on
the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the International Organization
of the Francophonie.

For about a month tens of events will be held in Yerevan and marzes
of the republic to present the cultural diversity of France, Belgium,
Canada, Romania, Switzrland and other Francophone countries.

AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION SIGNED BETWEEN RA AND RF SECURITY COUNCILS

Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2010

MOSCOW, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. RA National Security Council Secretary
Artur Baghdasarian and RF National Security Council Secretary Nikolay
Patrushev in Moscow signed an agreement on cooperation between the
structures led by them.

At the press conference following the signing ceremony N. Patrushev
said that issues related to many-sided cooperation between Armenia
and Russia were discussed during his counterpart’s regular visit,
a common position was worked out as the world changes dynamically,
new challenges emerge, and they need to respond to them. "I am sure
we will solve together the problems emerging because of the new
challenges," N. Patrushev said. According to his estimation, A.

Baghdasarian had important meetings with high-ranking Russian officials
to give a systematized solution to all problems on Armenia-Russia
cooperation agenda.

According to the RA NSC Secretary Press Office, A. Baghdasarian
said that very efficient consultations were held with his Russian
colleagues. He said that the sides as strategic partners managed to
find solutions to all problems. "We will continue deepening cooperation
in concrete directions. Working groups will be formed which in concrete
directions will contribute to fulfillment of the reached agreements. We
are very content with this visit, reached agreements and reception,"
A. Baghdasarian said.

PATRIARCH KIRILL INVITES CATHOLICOS KAREKIN TO CONFERENCE IN BAKU

Aysor
March 18 2010
Armenia

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, who is on a visit to
Armenia, has invited Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II to attend
a conference in Azerbaijani capital of Baku.

"On behalf of Azerbaijani Muslims’ Leader Allahshukur Pasha-zade and
on my behalf I invite His Holiness Karekin II to attend a conference
to be held by CIS Inter-Religious Council in Baku," said Patriarch
Kirill, speaking to the Yerevan State University.

Patriarch Kirill said hopes the spiritual leaders will express their
positions over important items to be discussed at the conference. His
Holiness Patriarch Kirill also said that Russian Orthodox Church is
actively involved in the settlement to the Karabakh issue.

SOONER OR LATER GENOCIDE RESOLUTION WILL BE BROUGHT TO FULL CONGRESS: GEORGE RADANOVICH

Tert.am
16:25 ~U 17.03.10

Presently the US congressional resolution (H.Res.252) recognizing the
Armenian Genocide adopted on March 4 is not expected to be brought to
a full vote in Congress, said Member of Congress George Radanovich
(R-CA) in an interview with the Voice of America, the official
external radio and television broadcasting service of the United
States federal government.

"As far as I know, the Obama administration and the executive board
of the House of Representatives have come to an agreement. The House
of Representatives has decided not to discuss that resolution [in a
full Congress session] yet. But the American-Armenian community must
continue [to exert] pressure related to the resolution and must be
ready: eventually, the resolution will be placed on the full Congress
agenda," said Radanovich.

According to the member of congress, those senators who voted against
the resolution had been subjected to pressure which resulted in a
great number of "no" votes.

"This year, there was quite a lot of pressure. There was serious
resistance from the State Department. The State Department’s approach
that the adoption of this resolution would be a mistake, itself
pressured the members of congress," said Radanovich.

Asked whether the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by
full Congress could harm American-Turkish relations,

Radanovich said: "If the resolution is adopted, Turkey will be sad and
offended for three months, and after that, relations will normalize
as Turkey needs the US much the same way the US needs Turkey. It’s
not worth spoiling [US-Turkey] relations over this issue," explained
Radanovich.

PREMIER SAYS ANKARA MAY RE-ASSES STATUS OF ILLEGAL ARMENIANS IN TURKEY

Anadolu Agency
March 16 2010
Turkey

London, 16 March: Turkey’s prime minister said on Tuesday [16 March]
that Armenia should be saved from diaspora’s control.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his British
counterpart Gordon Brown in London. Following the gathering, the
two officials held a joint press conference and replied to questions
of reporters.

Upon a question on his recent remarks in an interview regarding the
status of illegal Armenian migrants in Turkey, Erdogan said nearly
170,000 Armenians lived in Turkey currently.

"Seventy thousand of these people are our citizens and others are
living in Turkey illegally," Erdogan said.

"We will not decide on such matter immediately. These people have been
living in our country for more than 10 years. However, if developments
continue like this, we will definitely make an assessment and take
the necessary steps," he said.

Replying to another question, Erdogan said Armenia should be rescued
from the diaspora’s control.

"At this point, the Minsk Group has an important duty. It should
fulfil such task. Once it is fulfilled, all the problems will naturally
vanish and there will not be any problems between Turkey and Armenia,
or between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he said.

TURKISH PREMIER FINDS NO PEACE

news.am
March 16 2010
Armenia

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, who was on a visit to London,
criticized the Armenian Genocide resolutions approved by some
Parliaments.

Speaking at a Turkish-British business forum, Erdogan stated that
it is not parliaments, but archives that write history. The Turkish
Premier pointed out that political decisions are deprived of any
scholarly value, illogical and have nothing in common with historical
facts. These initiatives prevent nations from normalizing their
relations and destroy their hopes for the future, Erdogan said.

Official Ankara got angry at the Armenian Genocide resolutions
recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee
on Foreign Affairs and by the Swedish Parliament. In both cases the
Turkish Ambassadors were recalled.

TURKEY MUST OPEN PORTS TO GREEK CYPRUS: EU COMMISSIONER

Tert.am
11:57 â~@¢ 16.03.10

Turkey must normalize relations with Greek Cyprus, the European
Union’s new enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule told reporters in
Ankara on March 15 during his first official visit to EU-candidate
Turkey, according to the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

"I had the opportunity to underline the importance the EU attaches to
the need for Turkey to fully implement the additional protocol and
normalize its relations with Cyprus," Fule told reporters during a
joint conference with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Ankara is determined to keep its air and ports closed to EU-member
Greek Cyprus unless the EU lifts sanctions on Turkish Cyprus,
diplomatic sources said. Turkey also refuses to recognize the Greek
Cypriot government until the divided island reaches a final settlement.

"We agree that a comprehensive settlement on Cyprus would be a historic
breakthrough to the benefit of both Turkey and the EU," Fule said.

"I’ve confirmed my commitment to the accession process and to
seeing Turkey become a member of the EU," Fule said, noting that the
credibility of the accession talks in respect of mutual commitments
was discussed.

Due to the deadlock in the ports issue, the EU froze 8 of 35 accession
negotiation chapters in 2006.

AZERBAIJAN SPENDS $500M ON DEFENCE INDUSTRY

News.az
March 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Developing the state’s defence capacity, protecting borders and
strengthening the army are the policy priorities of Azerbaijan’s
leadership.

This was said by Prime Minister Artur Rasizade on Tuesday in his
report to the Milli Majlis on socioeconomic development in 2009.

‘The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh remains
unresolved, 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory is still occupied. In
this regard, our government has to pay great attention to the
development of its defence and defence industry,’ he said.

‘Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said Azerbaijan
will not agree to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh in
either five or 100 years. According to the president, we are making
every effort for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, but if
negotiations do not lead to the liberation of occupied Azerbaijani
territories, we can undertake a military solution to the problem,’
Rasizade said.

The president described the decision to establish of the Ministry of
the Defence Industry as the ‘right one’.

‘Over $500m has been allocated to the defence industry since the
ministry was set up. Today, Azerbaijan has established production of
more than 350 military and defence products. Azerbaijan has signed
agreements on military and military-industrial cooperation with 28
countries of the world,’ the prime minister said.

‘The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the state of war
require us to take external challenges and risks seriously,’ Artur
Rasizade said.