Author: Kanayan Tamar

GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER TO DISCUSS MILITARY COOPERATION IN AZERBAIJAN

2013-03-11 16:00:36

Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania will visit Azerbaijan on
March 18.

The Georgian Defense Ministry told Trend on Monday that the issues
of military cooperation between the two countries will be discussed
during the visit.

According to the information, the minister is expected to meet with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Defense Minister Safar Abiyev.

Last week Alasania visited Armenia.

HOVANNISIAN ON STRIKE: DAY 1 “WONDERFUL”, SAYS THE OPPOSITION LEADER

VOTE 2013 | 11.03.13 | 14:44

Photolure

Official runner-up in the February 18 presidential election Raffi
Hovannisian, who is challenging the poll results, began his announced
hunger strike on Sunday and spent last night in the open air in
Liberty Square together with some of his supporters.

“The night was wonderful, I was not alone, there were some co-citizens
who were by my side till dawn, and sunrise today was very bright,”
Hovannisian told ArmeniaNow.

Enlarge Photo Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan

The weather today in Yerevan is sunny, with temperature at night
around was 2C/35F and Hovannisian says “even the weather is on our
side” and that “this is an Armenian’s, an Armenian person’s, Armenian
citizen’s weather”.

This is not the first time the 53-year-old politician is resorting
to hunger strike. Two years ago at the same place, around the same
time of year he held a 15-day “Freedom Fast” as part of his struggle
against a one-party-led state. This time it is “the new milestone of
registering the de jure victory of the Armenian people”.

“By depriving myself of food I am at a new stage of our struggle,
which I am sure will lead to new Armenia’s inauguration. Mr. Sargsyan
has all the qualities of a politician, citizen, Christian, by which
he can reconsider his decision and admit that he has not been elected
president,” says Hovannisian.

On Monday the Constitutional Court started hearings on Hovannisian’s
and marginal candidate Andreas Ghukasyan’s petitions appealing the
February 18 election results.

As the body responsible for the final decision on the election results,
the Central Election Commission, represented by its chairman Tigran
Mukuchyan, is the respondent in this case along with the Prosecutor
General’s office and the Police of Armenia for their respective fields
of authority.

Court chairman Gagik Harutyunyan says he has received a petition also
from Serzh Sargsyan to be involved as a third party. In the Court he
will be officially represented by Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan
and Republican MP David Harutyunyan.

PERMANENT UNDER SECRETARY IN THE UK FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE IS IN YEREVAN

ARMINFO
Monday, March 11, 12:26

Simon Fraser, Permanent Under Secretary in the UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Office, has visited Armenia on 10-12 March as part of
a wider visit to the South Caucasus.

As press-service of the Great Britain reported, in Yerevan, Simon
Fraser will meet the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edward
Nalbandian.

Simon Fraser is looking forward to his first visit to Yerevan where
he will discuss Armenia’s relationship with the EU, the prospects for
enhancing security in the South Caucasus region and further boosting
Britain’s bilateral relationship with Armenia, particularly trade
and investment.

REVOLUTIONARY SITUATION IN ARMENIA
Tehmineh Yenokyan

13:03 11/03/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Interview with civil activist, software developer, Artur Ghazaryan

Why is a tangible part of the society unserious about hunger strike?

The criminal oligarchic system created a pressing machine which
interfered into all life circles ~V state structures, media,
television, universities as well as social nets. The president~Rs fake
bloggers and fake users defame any movement of people and any figure.

It is just enough to look at their statuses and comments.

How can systemic changes be ensured in Armenia?

The situation today is really interesting. There are groups, civil
activists engaged in ardent fight which pose concrete issues and try
to solve them.

The ruling regime is unable to propose any reform or change since it
had such a possibility in 1998. Their omissions are another issue.

Today, the RPA will try to reanimate the PAP like it happened in May
elections. The criminal oligarchic system has created two pillars ~V
RPA and PAP, and you can forget about the Rule of Law. The rest of
the parties have no solution. The issue is to use Raffi~Rs potential
to unite people since he was ordered by people to carry out crucial
changes in the country.

The regime won~Rt cede since it will mean destruction of the pyramid.

There is a revolutionary situation today. RPA is unable to govern. The
only way out is to unite everyone~Rs potential and achieve the
elimination of the fake Republican figures all over the country. I
think civil actions will continue, since it is urgency.

What preconditions are necessary for the president to resign?

First, rumors go in social nets that the acting president has not
been seen in public for already a few days, which is worrying. The
next worrying issue is that the Armenian embassy is opened in
Vatican and his son-in-law is appointed ambassador. Congratulations
by foreign presidents are also worrying because they are full with
preconditions and demands. They want to seize concessions from Armenia
by congratulating the president.

The president and his environment proved in May elections that they
don~Rt want any changes. You can see many political mummies and
Republican singers which are now in the NA. They are all engaged
in the lobbying of their own business and ensuring of immunity of
capital. The law on the VAT has been amended 31 times over the last
five years. All these amendments stem from their personal interests.

As soon as the Republican students~R unions will be eliminated, the
warrior-governors will be removed, community and village heads, who
ensure votes, will be rejected by people, Serzh Sargsyan will resign.

I don~Rt think the resignation is possible for some human reasons.

ARMENIA WILL REMAIN A CLOSE ALLY OF RUSSIA – DENNIS SAMMUT

Sat 09 March 2013 07:14 GMT | 7:14 Local Time

News.Az reprints from 1news.az interview with Dennis Sammut ,executive
director of British organization LINKS.

Can we expect any significant changes in the foreign policy of Armenia
after the presidential elections in Armenia?

We can expect continuity in the main thrust of Armenian foreign policy
but with some nuanced changes.

Armenia will remain a close ally of Russia and will push for an
increase in the role of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation
(CSTO). In the economic sphere, however, Armenia will develop its
relations with the European Union. It is likely that Armenia will
sign an Association Agreement with the EU in November of this year.

The big question is Armenia’s relations with Turkey. How to manage
this is Sargsyan’s biggest challenge. I do not speak about relations
with Azerbaijan because this is for Armenia a much bigger issue than
just foreign policy.

One of the main postulates in the election campaign of incumbent
president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan became the promise to launch the
airport built in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh soon. How may this step
(if it would be taken) affect the situation in the region?

We have been told that the airport has been ready for nearly one year.

The Armenian leadership does not want to be seen provoking a crisis so
they are waiting for the right political moment to do so. I am myself
in favour of opening the airport, but under some conditions, for
example international supervision and solely for civilian use. There
is no doubt that if the Armenian leadership acts unilaterally on the
issue of the airport, this will escalate an already tense situation.

It should therefore be avoided.

It seems that the South Caucasus with domestic problems is not in
the priority lists of American foreign policy. Moreover there is
an opinion that after withdrawal of NATO’s troops from Afghanistan,
American interests in the South Caucasus will decrease.

The United States is a superpower. It can handle multiple problems,
so domestic considerations do not affect foreign policy in general,
and certainly not the issues related with the South Caucasus. But a
situation is emerging whereby the EU is now playing a much more active
role in the region. This should not be a surprise. The South Caucasus
is part of the EU neighbourhood, and also there are many issues that
connect the EU with the region. As for Afghanistan, the role of the
region in Afghanistan is only a small part of a much bigger agenda
between the countries of the region and the US, as well as the EU.

What will be with settlement of Karabakh conflict this year?

I think the fact that the Karabakh peace process is stalled makes the
situation very dangerous. As a minimum we should see the restart of
proper negotiations. If not the likelihood of a sharp escalation in
violence is not only possible but likely. I do not necessarily mean
an all out war. Between war and peace there is a big space in which
many different things can happen.

What events should be expected in the South Caucasus this year?

Making predictions in the region is never a good idea, because the
South Caucasus is always full of surprises. However one thing is
certain the region is changing in multiple ways. Some of these changes
are planned, others are more spontaneous. But I am more optimistic on
the region this year than I was last year, or perhaps I should say,
more cautiously optimistic.

News.Az

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO START EXAMINING RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN’S AND ANDRIAS GHUKASYAN’S APPLICATIONS

11:17, 11 March, 2013

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS. YEREVAN. The Constitutional Court of
the Republic of Armenia began joint examination of the applications
submitted by former presidential candidates Raffi Hovannisian and
Andreas Ghukasyan disputing N 62 A decision dated to February 25,
2013.As reports “Armenpress” the examination will be conducted in
oral procedure. Members of the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Armenia Kim Balayan, Felix Tokhyan, and Ashot Khachaturyan are
the rapporteurs of the joint case.

The lawyer of former presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian’s
headquarters Karen Mezhlumyan and Zaruhi Posantjyan will be Raffi
Hovhannisian’s representatives in the court. Andrias Ghukasyan will
represent his application by himself. The Minister of Justice of the
Republic of Armenia Hrayr Tovmasyan and the Chairman of the Standing
State and Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of the
Republic of Armenia Davit Harutyunyan are Serzh Sargsyan’s authorized
representatives.

Former presidential candidates Raffi Hovhannisian and Andrias Ghukasyan
submitted an application to the Constitutional Court on March 4,
according to which they dispute the official results of Central
Electoral Commission published on February 25.

PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA AND ARMENIA TO DISCUSS BILATERAL RELATIONS

YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will
on Tuesday hold a bilateral meeting with his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsyan who is in Russia on a visit, Novosti-Armenia reports
referring to Russia’s RIA Novosti.

“During the talks, the sides will discuss further development of
Russian-Armenian relations, regional problems and prospects to deepen
interaction in the CIS,” the Kremlin reported.

According to the source, Armenia is a traditional priority partner
for Russia. The Russian-Armenian relations were broadly discussed on
August 8, 2012 in Moscow during the visit of Armenia’s President.

The two states cooperate through governments, ministries and different
departments. In 2012 Prime Ministers of Russia and Armenia, Dmitry
Medvedev and Tigran Sargsyan, met at the conference of the Council of
CIS Heads in Yalta, September 28. Different high officials, including
Transport Minister of Russia Maxim Sokolov, Defense Minister Sergey
Shoygu, and others visited Armenia last and this year.

“The visits of Valentina Matvienko and Sergey Naryshkin (July 2012)
were really important for establishing contacts with the newly elected
parliament of Armenia ( 6 May 2012) and ensuring continuity in the
development of interparliamentary dialogue,” according to the source.

RIA Novosti stated the two countries’ trade in 2012 grew 22.3 percent
on the previous year to $1.2 billion.

Russian investments account for over 50% of all investments in the
Armenian economy ( since 1991 over 3 billion dollars). The further
cooperation will be fostered in the frames of a long-term economic
collaboration program valid till 2020.

The largest investment projects are construction of the fifth
power bloc at Hrazdan TPP (by Gazprom), purchase of the first and
exploitation of the second segment of “Iran-Armenia” gas pipeline;
takeover of Armsberbank by VTB; and more.

The projects “South Caucasus Railway” (Iran-Armenia, 316 km) and South
High Speed Road (110) are targeted at solving the transport issues
of Armenia. They will become a part of international “North-South”
corridor- the shortest route between the ports of the Black Sea and
the Persian Gulf.

Moscow and Yerevan also actively cooperate in integration processes.

In December 2012 Moscow hosted the first meeting of the joint
commission which was to evaluate the prospects of cooperation between
Armenia and the Customs Union, Single Economic Space.

The two countries also cooperate in humanitarian sphere. A number of
events, such as Golden Apricot film festival, “Russian book house in
Armenia” and others were organized in Armenia last year.

Youth organizations are also active in establishing close ties. The
young people from both countries participate in such youth events
as Seliger, Young Eurasia (Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, 22-27 August 2012),
etc.. From 20 February to 31 March Armenia will be hosting the XIII
International School Russian Language Olympiad. -0-

RUSSIA TO IMPOSE MEMBERSHIP TO CUSTOMS UNION ON ARMENIA – EXPERT

TERT.AM
11:44 ~U 12.03.13

Meeting of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenia’s President
Serzh Sargsyan will take place today in Russia’s capital Moscow.

Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Russia is his first foreign official visit
after his re-election. The two presidents will discuss a wide-range of
issues on bilateral relations, and refer to the issues on development
of integration processes in the CIS territory.

According to non-official information, issues on Customs Union and
Eurasian Union will also be discussed.

Chairman of Globalization and Regional Cooperation Analytical Center’s
Council Stepan Grigoryan said Russia will try to impose membership
if not to Eurasian Union but to Customs Union on Armenia.

“I do not see any danger connected with the Eurasian Union, as
this institution is not even embodied yet, and is just an idea,”
the expert said, adding that as to Customs Union, the membership to
which does not stem from Armenia’s state interests, is a concrete
operating institution.

“I am rather surprised why an attempt will be made to impose on us
the membership to this institution so soon, as Ukraine, its market,
is much more important for Russia,” Grigoryan commented.

“One of the factors why Russia has started speaking with us on
this topic is the opinions that recently Armenia started conducting
balanced policy and the statement of Georgia’s Bidzina Ivanishvili
that Armenia’s such policy is exemplary,” the expert said.

He also stressed that Russia wants Armenia to move with its interests
and tries to lower the degree of Armenia’s sovereignty.

Asked why membership to Customs Union does not stem from Armenia’s
interests, Stepan Grigoryan said it does not have common border with
any of its member states – neither with Kazakhstan nor with Belarus.

He said while the pre-conditions the European markets dictate to
Armenia are very useful for Armenia’s economy. “For instance, working
in accordance with law, so that the quality of the products be high.

As to Russia, everything can be sold there, which does not mean it
is good for us,” Grigoryan said.

Speaking to Tert.am earlier, chairman of Armenia’s Union of Political
Analysts Hmayak Hovannisian said the issue of re-operation of the
Abkhazian railway may also be on Sargsyan-Putin meeting agenda and
quoted the words of Yedinaya Rossia party member Alexander Dugin who
said that for the sake of integration processes in the post-soviet
territories Russia is ready for ‘economic and financial sacrifices.’
In other words, it is ready to take additional burden and on
the account of its resources manage to move the implementation
of integration programs forward and the implementation of the
Transcaucasian railway project may be its embodiment.

Stepan Grigoryan said he has nothing to say in this regard, but
stressed that if Russia is ready to take the expenses on it, the
Customs Union will not be harmful for Armenia.

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PRESS RELEASE
RAFFI HOVANNISIAN HEADQUARTERS
31 Moscovian Street
Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 53.69.13
Fax: (+374 – 10) 53.26.97
Email: [email protected]
Website:

9 March 2013

Raffi Hovannisian declares victory in the Gegharkunik Region
Will return to Liberty Square for special announcement tomorrow —
March 10 — 5pm

Yerevan–President-elect Raffi K. Hovannisian toured today the
Gegharkunik region of Armenia, with stops in Vardenis, Martuni, Gavar,
and Sevan.

`We have come also to you,’ Hovannisian said. `We have come to the
every towns and cities where we far trailed the incumbent in the
official results. But now that we are here, we sense the undeniable
truth of our victory. Even here the Armenian people triumphed on
February 18.’

At 5pm tomorrow, the presidential victory tour will return once again
to Liberty Square, where Hovannisian will make a special announcement
about the future of the popular movement. At the same time, at 5pm
there will be rally in Kapan and Ashtarak.

You may follow the March 9 Gegharkunik region’s rally through the links below:
Vardenis
!

Martuni
!

Gavar

Sevan

Raffi Hovannisian Headquarters