Author: Kanayan Tamar

ARMENIA’S PREMIER INVOLVED IN OFFSHORE TRANSACTION – MP

15:15 ~U 28.06.13

The economist Vahagn Khachatryan, a member of the Armenian National
Congress (ANC) party, is sure that the transaction in the offshore zone
reportedly involving Armenia’s Premier Tigran Sargsyan, Vicar of the
Ararat diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Navasard
Kchoyan and businessman Ashot Sukiasyan actually does involve the three
despite denials by Armenia’s premier and Archbishop Navasard Kchoyan.

“I am sure that the premier is involved in the transaction,
which actually was made, given the Armenian banking system’s
practices. That is I want to say that the government was well aware
of the transaction,” Khachatryan told Tert.am.

No lending agency will even give a $100,000 loan without guarantees
in Armenia because it is a risky loan.

“After the article was published I was sure that the information was
right. The second article made the entire picture clear,” he said.

According to him, the premier should have resigned immediately after
the scandalous article.

“There is no looking for logic in our country, especially when
authorities are involved, because the authorities are not in any way
responsible to the citizens,” Khachatryan said.

EDUARD SHARMAZANOV: ARMENIANS AND GREEKS SHOULD COMBINE EFFORTS TO FIGHT TURKEY’S POLICY OF DENIAL OF THE GENOCIDE OF THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLES

Friday, June 28, 14:55

Armenians and Greeks should combine efforts to fight Turkey’s policy of
denial of the genocide of the Christian peoples, Eduard Sharmazanov,
Head of Armenian-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group, Vice President
of the National Assembly of Armenia, said at the meeting with the
former speaker of the Greek Parliament, Head of the Armenian-Greek
Friendship Group Apostolos Kaklamanis in the Athends on June 27.

In the course of the meeting, Kaklamanis highly appreciated the
friendly relations of the Armenians and Greeks and came out for
prevention of new genocides, the parliamentary press-service told
ArmInfo. Sharmazanov, in turn, recalled the Genocide of the Armenian,
Greek, Assyrian and other Christian peoples residing in the territory
of the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century. Therefore, he said,
the Armenians and Greeks must combine efforts to fight Turkey’s
denial policy.

“The National Assembly of Armenia has urged the world parliaments to
recognize genocide of other Christian peoples, including the Pontic
Greeks,” Sharmazanov said.

The two parties discussed regional security issues as well as Greece’s
support to Armenia on the way towards European integration.

ARMENIA HAS THIRD OIL AND NATURAL GAS EXPLORATION COMPANY

June 28, 2013 | 02:49

YEREVAN. – A third oil and natural gas exploration company, Armoil,
has emerged in Armenia.

In April, the company obtained a standard five-year license to conduct
respective searching.

It is noteworthy that Blackstairs Energy Armenia, which is a subsidiary
of Blackstairs Energy PLC, likewise retained its license for its
share of the sectors plus it received another sector.

The third company, which was issued a respective license in 2012,
is Integral Petroleum, which is managed by an Armenian businessman.

To note, the search for oil and natural gas in Armenia did not yield
any results in the early 1990s.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

Hayk Babukhanyan: Armenia cannot interfere in Russia-Azerbaijan relations

13:27 28/06/2013 ” POLITICS

This week was very important for us because Armenia hosted a large
Russian delegation and we got new opportunities to expand our relations
with Russia and CSTO, member of RPA parliamentary faction, leader of
Constitutional Law Union party Hayk Babukhanyan told today’s press
conference.

Referring to Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan, Babukhanyan said that
Russia is not the only country in the world that exports arms and
Baku could buy one billion worth of arms from other countries too.

Russia is not hostile with Azerbaijan, it develops its ties with
Azerbaijan within CIS and Armenia cannot interfere in Russia-Azerbaijan
relations as a third side, Babukhanyan stated.

“Azerbaijan implements racist policy and it poses danger not only to
us but also to the region and the world,” he stressed.

Source: Panorama.am

CONSCIENCE OF ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY

Vice-minister of foreign affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan is
the only Armenian official who voiced concern about sale of Russian
weapons to Azerbaijan. No one else has made any statement in this
regard, not even the parliamentary parties.

Shavarsh Kocharyan is the spokesman of the Armenian diplomacy who is
trying to justify the mediocrity and inaction in politics. Someone
in the offices of the president administration or foreign ministry
invented the “both” political technology presenting it as Armenian
knowhow. Whatever is hidden under this political technology is
not difficult to guess but poor Shavarsh Kocharyan has to explain
unexplainable things.

He stated that in terms of joining different unions Armenia would not
like to join either the European or the Customs Union but in economic
terms Armenia is going to cooperate with both. Half a year ago Tigran
Sargsyan signed the free trade agreement with CIS. In November we
are going to do the same with EU.

Shavarsh Kocharyan is a profoundly decent man, a patriot and a good
orator. But even he, the conscience of the Armenian diplomacy, is
unable to explain whether the decision to sign the agreement with
the EU has been made or not.

Moldova stated yesterday that it has finalized negotiations with the
EU. Ukraine’s prime minister called on the opposition to return to
parliament in order to finalize the legislation to be able to sign
the Association Agreement. The Georgian prime minister also stated
that people decided in a referendum that Georgia took on the path to
the EU and NATO.

Armenia is the only country that wants “both” without explaining how
it is going to use its political knowhow.

Initially, 6 countries are involved in the EU project of Eastern
Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and
Belarus. All the projects were carried out in a synchronous manner.

But it soon became clear that Belarus and Azerbaijan have not sustained
the rhythm or do not wish to participate in the project. And in the
case of Azerbaijan it was clearly caused by the intransigence of Baku
on the Karabakh issue.

Four countries are left, and if one of them surrenders to Moscow’s
pressure and refuses association with EU, the entire project will be
jeopardized. Serzh Sargsyan has already hinted on some preconditions
that may make Armenia to refuse the project. He said that joining the
Customs Union, Armenia will not have common borders because another
member Turkey keeps the border closed.

It is noteworthy that the lack of common borders is the reason why
Armenia refuses to join the Customs Union proposed by Russia.

Actually, Serzh Sargsyan hints that entering the Customs Union with
Russia and signing the agreement with the EU (if border with Turkey
is closed) Armenia will be pressed between both unions.

Naira Hayrumyan 12:40 28/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

PACE CHAIRMAN TO DISCUSS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT WITH AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN DELEGATIONS

25/06/2013 14:03:00 Oratert News

The Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations are expected to meet at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), PACE chairman
Jean-Claude Mignon told journalists at a press conference organized
as part of the summer session of the organization, while answering
a question about the Karabakh question.

“We will discuss the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on
June 26 with the Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations,” he said.

“There is a real desire to achieve progress on the matter. It is
necessary to take advantage of Armenia’s chairmanship in the CE
Committee of Ministers, in which, Austria, then Azerbaijan will
preside after Armenia.”

Mignon also clarified his objections to the restoration of the activity
of the PACE subcommittee on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We touched on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue at the meeting of the
PACE Bureau and the Standing Committee in Yerevan,” he said. “These
discussions were a continuation of my South Caucasus visit. I had
interesting meetings in these countries. I also had an interesting
meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku. It is clear that Azerbaijan is willing to
accept the Madrid principles prepared and put forward by the OSCE Minsk
Group. I think this is very important. My position on the issue is
clear. I opposed the restoration of the PACE subcommittee’s activity
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. What is the reasoning
behind my position? I believe that the only organization authorized
to deal with this issue is the OSCE Minsk Group. Any initiative could
reduce the significance of the Minsk Group’s work. I fully rely on
the activity of Minsk Group.”

According to Mignon, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue will not be discussed
in PACE as a current issue.

“It will be necessary to specify the format,” he stressed. “But we
want to invite co-chairmen of the Minsk Group to PACE in the near
future and to listen to them. One can get more precise information
about the Minsk Group’s work on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We
proceed from the Madrid principles in this issue.”

ALMOST 300 CHILDREN DETAINED DURING TURKISH PROTESTS – REPORT

June 27, 2013 – 13:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Almost 300 children were taken into custody and
one child was wounded by a bullet over the course of the Gezi Park
demonstrations, a report said, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

The report by the Gundem Cocuk (“Children on the Agenda”) Association
covered violations of children’s rights between May 28 and June 25.

It said a minimum of 294 children were taken into custody during the
protests. The number of children detained was 78 in Ankara, 35 in
Istanbul, 130 in Adana, 34 in Ä°zmir, two in Kayseri and 15 in Mersin.

The report also consisted of cases where children were exposed to
tear gas, pressurized water and noise bombs, and some in which they
were beaten with batons. Some were taken into unregistered custody
and were subject to handcuffing and profiling.

The report stated that some children in custody were held within the
scope of the fight against terrorism.

ZHAMANAK: SIGNING OF ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT IS UNLIKELY

10:32 27/06/2013 ” DAILY PRESS

According to Zhamanak daily, it is being talked in political circles
that the pre-signing of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement, set
for November, is unlikely.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced in Poland that we have
never taken any action that was against Russia, and we have no
complex that we can be forced to act that way. Since Russia believes
that the European integration of Armenia is against its interests,
the President’s statement perhaps means “goodbye to the Association
Agreement and Eastern Partnership program,” the paper says.

Source: Panorama.am

REPRESENTATIVES OF ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG POLITICIANS MEET WITH NIKOL PASHINYAN

11:01 27/06/2013 ” POLITICS

Representatives of the Association of Young Politicians and Association
of Youth Organizations of World Armenian Congress have met with
member of parliamentary faction of opposition Armenian National
Congress Nikol Pashinyan, the press service of the Association of
Young Politicians reports.

The meeting focused on issues related to Armenia’s domestic and
foreign policy.

The Association of Young Politicians is also planning to meet with
Armenian MPs.

Source: Panorama.am

L’AZERBAIDJAN SOUHAITE MODERNISER SON ARMEE

Bakou souhaite moderniser son materiel militaire, a declare le
president azeri Aliev lors d’un defile militaire a Bakou. Il a insiste
sur le fait que le budget militaire de l’Azerbaïdjan en 2003 etait de
163 millions de dollars alors qu’aujourd’hui, il est de 3,7 milliards
de dollars.

” Au cours des dernières annees, nous avons acquis des helicoptères,
des dizaines d’avions de guerre, des equipements de defense aerienne,
des vehicules blindes, des chars les plus avances et des systèmes
d’artillerie. Ils peuvent detruire n’importe quelle cible de l’ennemi
“, a-t-il declare. ” L’Etat azerbaïdjanais ne permettra jamais que
l’Armenie fasse sa loi sur le territoire du Haut-Karabagh “, a-t-il
dit. ” Il existe des moyens politiques pour resoudre le problème, et
un processus de negociation est toujours en cours. Mais notre armee a
un potentiel et renforce notre position. Je tiens a souligner encore
une fois que le Haut-Karabagh restera un territoire azerbaïdjanais
“, a declare le leader azerbaïdjanais.

Aliyev et d’autres dirigeants azerbaïdjanais menacent regulièrement de
mettre fin au conflit du Karabagh par la force si les pourparlers avec
les Armeniens n’aboutissent pas a un règlement pacifique. L’Armenie
a condamne et a rejete ces menaces, en disant que Bakou subirait une
defaite si elle tente de reconquerir les territoires du Haut-Karabagh
qui sont sous contrôle armenien.

jeudi 27 juin 2013, Laetitia ©armenews.com