Author: Kanayan Tamar

ANC activist sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment demands justice

arminfo
Tuesday, August 14, 17:10

Tigran Arakelyan, an activist of the oppositional Armenian National
Congress, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison and has been in
custody for already a year, has disseminated an open letter. The
letter contains facts proving that the criminal case against ANC
activists was fully fabricated.

He says that the testimonies of police officers and other witnesses
were fabricated. Arakelyan tells that activists were treated violently
on the way to the police office.

In his letter, Arakelyan says that such incidents in Armenia will
continue unless those guilty in the incidents of March 1 2008 and in
the murder of military doctor Vahe Avetyan are punished.

To recall, the first instance court of the administrative communities
of Yerevan, Center-Nork-Marashmade a verdict regarding the activists
of Armenian National Congress, Tigran Arakelyan, Artak Karapetyan,
David Kiramijan and Sarkis Gevorkyan. Tigran Arakelyan was sentenced
to six years, Artak Karapetyan to three, Sargis Gevorgyan and Davit
Kiramijyan to two years in jail. Tigran Arakelyan was arrested with 6
other ANC activists for a fight with police officers on August 9 2011
in Yerevan. Later 6 activists were dismissed provided they do not
leave the country. Tigran Arakelyan was charged with hooliganism and
violence to power representative. ANC considers the verdict as a
political order.

World Armenian Congress provides Armavia with $43,000 for special
flight Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan

arminfo
Tuesday, August 14, 17:14

World Armenian Congress has provided $43,000 to Armavia airline for
a special flight Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan. WAC told ArmInfo the special
flight on August
14 transported 149 children from Syria.

Earlier on August 9 a total of 120 children were transported to
Armenia via special fights. Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan
promised assistance for another two Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan flights to
transport 300 more children to Armenia on August 23.

At present, the children who have already arrived from Syria are
having a rest at various resorts in Armenia.

Fisk: For the Minorities in Syria Even Neutrality is Unsafe

hetq
23:43, August 5, 2012

By Robert Fisk

So today, amid Aleppo’s torment, let us remember minorities. The
Palestinians of Syria, more than half a million of them, and the 1.5
million Christians – the largest number of whom live in Aleppo – who
are Syrian citizens and who now sit on the edge of the volcano.

Neither wish to “collaborate” with Bashar al-Assad’s regime. But
remaining neutral, you end up with no friends at all. You didn’t have
to sell a loaf of bread to a Nazi in occupied France to be a
collaborator. But you were, to use an old German expression, “helping
to give the wheel a shove”. No, Bashar al-Assad is not Hitler, but God
spare the Palestinians and the Christians of Syria during these
terrible times.

Lessons to be learned. The half million Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon fought on the Muslim-leftist side in the 1975-90 civil war.
They were rewarded with hatred, mass murder and final imprisonment in
their own camp hovels. Palestinian refugees in Kuwait supported
Saddam’s invasion in 1990; hundreds of thousands were evicted to
Jordan in 1991. Palestinians housed in Iraq since 1948 were
slaughtered or driven from the country by the Iraqi “resistance” after
America’s 2003 invasion.

So neutrality in Syria is the Palestinians’ only hope of salvation as
another civil war engulfs them. Yet their camps are visited regularly
by the Free Syrian Army. Fight for us, they are told. And their camps
are infested with the Syrian government’s “muhabarrat”. Fight for us,
they are told. Alas, two military Palestinian units, Saiqa – one of
the most venal militias after Syria’s military intervention in Lebanon
in 1976 – and the Palestine Liberation Army, are under the direct
control of the regime. Two months ago, 17 of these Syrian-trained PLA
soldiers were assassinated. Then last week, in Damascus, another 17
PLA were murdered.

“Some say the Free Syrian Army killed them to warn them away from the
regime,” a middle-aged Palestinian cadre from the DFLP tells me.
“Others claim the regime murdered them to warn them off the Free
Syrian Army. All we can do is cling to our neutrality. And you have to
remember that some Palestinians in the Syrian camps are themselves
‘muhabarrat’ intelligence men for the Syrian government. The Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command have
themselves said they would fight for the regime.”

Most of the Palestinians in Syria are Sunni Muslims – like the
majority of the Syrian population and most of the resistance.

The Christians are citizens of Syria whose religion certainly does not
reflect a majority in any anti-Assad force. Bashar’s stability –
somewhat at doubt just now, to be sure – is preferable to the ghastly
unknowns of a post-Assad regime. There are 47 churches and cathedrals
in the Aleppo region alone. The Christians believe that Salafists
fight amid the rebels. They are right.

Lessons for them, too. When that famous born-again Christian George W.
Bush sent his legions into Iraq in 2003, the savage aftermath smashed
one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East – the Iraqi
Christians – to pieces. The Christian Coptic Pope Shenouda of Egypt
supported his protector Mubarak until just two days before the
dictator’s downfall; Egypt’s Muslims remember this. So what can the
Christians of Syria do?

When the Maronite patriarch of Lebanon, the uninspiring Bechara Rai,
said after the start of the Syrian uprising that Bashar should be
given “more time”, he enraged his country’s Sunni Muslims.

But watch Syrian television and it’s easy to cringe at the Christian
performance.

Last week, it was the turn of the Maronite Bishop of Damascus to
address Syrians. His first words? He wished to thank Syrian state
television for allowing him to speak. He said how much Christians
honoured Ramadan, how they learned to reinvigorate their own faith
from that of Muslims in their holy month – a perfectly reasonable
statement, though one clearly made when most of the good bishop’s
flock stand in fear of those very same Muslims.

And then came the killer line. At the end of his sermon, the bishop
gave his blessing to all Syria’s “civilians, officials and soldiers”.
The “officials”, of course, were Bashar’s officials. And the soldiers
were the regime’s soldiers. I suppose we might turn to the old
Christian advice of rendering unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s. Another reminder:
Bashar al-Assad is not Caesar.

But a Lebanese Christian writer got it right when he suggested that
Syria’s Christians were probably following the advice of Saint Paul (1
Timothy 2:1): “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made to all men, for
kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life…” And who but Bashar, for now, is the “authority” in
Syria?

The INDEPENDENT, July 30, 2012

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, Italy
Aug 13 2012

Pastures for Angora flocks

Paolo Martino
13 August 2012

Desolate lands, where the mountains of the Caucasus descend towards
the Anatolian plateau in big steps, and names come from politics
rather than history. The sixth episode of our report `From the
Caucasus to Beirut’

The customs officer unwillingly opens a cleft in the window of the
sentry box. On the floor, a carpet of fresh snow swallows my
footsteps, while daylight falls shines through the flakes. `Your car?’
Where the Iron Curtain was standing up to twenty years ago, now what
is left is only a cold customs officer. `No car’. With his fingertip
on the glass, the soldier traces the distance from the border post to
the first village: POSOF, 14 KM. A fourteen-kilometre march. He
inidicates to sleep there, his hands joined under his cheek. `No,
thank you’. The stamp is bangs down deafly onto page 34 of my
passport. VALE BORDER POINT, 6/11/2011. `Welcome to Turkey, Mister’. I
shake his hand before he withdraws it back into the warmth of his box
and, until the dead of night, I am left alone with the crackling of
virgin snow under my boots. It is the belated cry of the Iron Curtain.

North-Eastern Turkey. The mountains of the Caucasus descend with big
steps towards the Anatolian plateau, the immeasurable pasture of
angora flocks, kingdom of the Kurdish dynasties, a corridor and valve
between confronting continents. The road from Yerevan to Beirut winds
through snowy lands to which politics, more than history, is busy
giving names. Eastern Turkey, as shown on the atlas; Kurdistan, as the
men and women living there call it; Western Armenia, according to the
word of the Armenian diaspora. The scrupulous toponymy reveals
aspirations to dominating a land that only belongs to the wind.

Kars appears at the end of a straight stretch of tarmac, the only
pattern in the plateau’s monotonous morphology. Under Russian control
until 1917, the Kars Oblast attracted a constant flow of Armenians,
many of them survivors of the genocide. When the October Revolution
withdrew the contingents stationed in the Empire’s suburbs, the
Armenians took over the city, integrating it into the Democratic
Republic of Armenia. Up to 1920, when the Turkish advance swallowed up
half the newborn Armenian State, Kars was the capital of the Armenian
province of Vanand. Today, high on the fortress a huge red flag with
half moon and star on it flutters in sky breaking its metallic grey
colour.

From my journal

A railway track runs steadily through the prairie towards the East,
without ever curving for about 70 kilometres up to Armenia. A 1-hour
trip, if the border between the two Countries had not been closed for
the past 20 years. On July 6th 1993, when the Turks shut it, the
railway workers of both Countries wondered what to do with the
locomotives left trapped on the wrong side of the barbed wire. Built
in 1899, this was, for the rest of the following century, the only
railway between NATO and the Soviet Union, the throbbing artery of men
and freight between the two blocks sharing the world. To get here from
Yerevan, it took me three days on buses, taxis and forced marches
through solitary passes and snowy gorges of the Caucasus.

A slam on the brakes and the bus stops at the entrance of Kars. Eight
soldiers stare the passengers straight in the eye, their fingertips on
the triggers of the rifles pointed at eye level. The officer checking
the documents shouts out a name, articulating each syllable clearly.
The name echoes on the bus like an electric shock. A young boy walks
down the aisle meeting compassionate looks. Handcuffed on his back, he
meekly disappears on the prison van along with other prisoners. The
bus starts again and the man beside me shrugs: `Turkish Jandarma’.
Indeed, that name still resounding in my head. I.M. A Kurdish name.

>From the top of the fortress, the camera has trouble focusing on Kars’
suburbs, suspended between fog and the prairie. But at the foot of the
castle, clear is the image of the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy
Apostles. Turned into a museum in the `60s, then into a mosque and
then abandoned, the church is intact, despite its neglect. Rafi, my
Armenian friend and child of the diaspora’s words come to mind:
`Armenians build schools and churches everywhere, then they
disappear’. Uttered in Beirut, the sentence betrayed admiration for
the Kurdish cause in Turkey, for their determination not to leave, for
this people’s tenacious claims for autonomy. Before history turned its
back on the Armenians, a century ago, the two minorities lived side by
side in this region, part of a multi-ethnic empire that extended from
the Balkans to the Persian Gulf. `Sooner or later – Rafi added – the
Kurds will have their own State in Anatolia. With the passing of time,
we are disappearing from the Middle East’

Days go by without talking, as the Kurdish winter starts. Among stands
of spices and dried fruit at the bazaar, shepherds, hand labourers,
merchants and farmers loiter, along with elders in traditional
clothes: Kurdish alvars and dark vests on white shirts, Persian
caftans, felt féz, tarbush streaked with gold. The variety of clothes
and human features in this bordering strip of land recalls the
linguistic richness of old times. Armenian, Turkish, Zazà, Kurmanji,
Russian and a pentagram of languages cut back by Ankara’s fierce
politics of centralization based on Turkish monolingualism.

Ani. The walls of the largest Armenian capital of all time surround
nothing now. The pointed-arch door in the ramparts, shaped by the wind
more than man, is the trompe l’`il in the constant recurring of the
plateau. Gradually abandoned since the 16th century, with its 150,000
inhabitants, Ani competed, by splendour and fame, with Baghdad,
Istanbul and Beijing. Persian and Arab caravans exchanged goods in its
squares; Byzantine, Armenian and Russian pilgrims prayed in its
sanctuaries; Caucasian and Asian routes changed course just so they
could cross its doors. Today, among these cold ruins, the only traces
of life are big oxen pasturing on the Armenian history and a young
Kurdish shepherd tending to them with a stick and creative cries.

The apparent continuity of the land is broken as I proceed on what was
the city’s trade axis. While the horizon is shaped by the mosque of
Menüçehr, the Cathedral, the Redeemer and Saint Gregory Churches, the
plateau is suddenly swallowed up by windy gorges. Down below, like an
enormous scar, the bed of the Arax river marks Ani’s Eastern border.
Beyond the canyon, again flat but at an altitude, from afar Armenia
observes the open-hearted ruins of its ancient capital. Since 1920,
the river has marked the border between the two Countries. After the
Turkish-Armenian war, the prayers to leave at least that square
kilometre to Armenian control were to no avail. Today, as then,
sovereignty is not a matter of courtesy.

At this point of the plateau, where the sky is no less concrete than
the earth, it is the vault of heaven that gives shape to things.
Beaten by wind and solitude, Ani does not easily give up its remains.
How can this be the land that nourishes the diaspora’s myth of return?
But when the sun disappears behind the low profile of the horizon,
leaving behind it a secretion of red, the steel sky starts melting and
Ani changes colour, going from grey to crimson. Somehow, the monuments
go back to the eternity they were first thought for, before the
age-old human work went missing. In this frozen moment, the ghost of
the deported people populates this land again, fulfilling Sarop’s
prophecy. And solitude turns into a privilege.

The bus to Igdir veers South. At night, the plateau throbs with its
own light, a white warmth that from the snowy profile of the mountains
drops down to the valley warming up the plane. The road unwinds in
this meadow of light. Tonight Beirut is still far, but I miss it less
and less.

SYRIE
Lettre d’un Arménien d’Alep

On dit que la centrale électrique a partiellement été attaquée. Il
n’est pas minuit et le courant vient juste d’être rétabli il y a 1
heure. Je suis sorti la nuit dernière à 10 heures.

Les rues sont pratiquement vides jusqu’à 11 heures minuit. On entend
toujours des explosions au loin. Nous y sommes habitués. Mais ce qui
est arrivé hier de 6 heures à minuit dans la rue Jallaa a vraiment
frappé les Arméniens de Alep qui ont ressenti la férocité des
événements à fleur de peau. Avant cela, de nombreux incidents ont eu
lieu aux abords de New Kyugh (le quartier du Sourp Kevork) , se
rapprochant des secteurs arméniens.

95 % des magasins sont fermés. Vous ne trouverez qu’un ou deux
magasins ouverts au marché Aziziyeh. Les taxis ont augmenté leurs
tarifs et il n’y a aucun bus public autour. Les mini-vans à 14 places
travaillent toujours mais ils ne vont pas partout. Par exemple, on
peut seulement aller à pieds de Nor Kyugh à Aziziyeh. Toutes les
autres rues de l’autre côté de Kapriyeh sont fermées et les voitures
ne passent pas

Un litre d’essence coûte maintenant 250 livres syriennes, une hausse
vertigineuse comparée aux 35 livres pratiquées. Le gaz coûte
maintenant 6000 livres (le prix officiel est 450). Le gouvernement
donne du mazout aux boulangeries (un fioul épais de mauvaise qualité)
et de la farine. La plupart des boulangeries travaillent toute la nuit
jusqu’ à 8-9 heures du matin. Mais le pain ne suffit pas car on vient
de loin pour en acheter beaucoup. De nombreuses boulangeries du
voisinage ne travaillent pas.

De nombreux vendeurs de fruits ne se sont pas montrés. Ils n’ont
certainement pas eu la possibilité d’arriver ici depuis les villages.
Tout est cher. Les épiceries sont ouvertes. Le développement le plus
intéressant est l’énorme augmentation de vente de cigarettes de
contrebande dans les rues. On peut trouver pratiquement toutes les
marques. Même les cigarettes locales ont vu leur prix augmenter. Les
Arméniens ne sont encore démunis d’argent. Les riches ont déjà un pied
hors du pays. La classe moyenne résiste toujours mais la proportion
des classes sociales est difficile à déterminer. Ceci deviendra
évident quand les écoles rouvriront en septembre et que les dépenses
devront être payées.

Les écoles ouvrent officiellement le 16 septembre, mais nombreuses
sont celles occupées par les réfugiés et ceux qui n’ont plus de
domicile. On peut voir des gens dormir dehors dans les parcs et les
squares. La situation des Arméniens est meilleure que celle des
résidents des quartiers du voisinage. Les Arméniens ont peur que le
gouvernement les force à accepter dans leurs écoles des personnes de
l’ extérieur et il y a une peur cachée que des quartiers arméniens se
vident comme une partie de Nor Kyugh.

Un organisme central s’est formé, qui a ponctionné 700 $ de chaque
organisation arménienne pour acheter des stocks de nécessités de base
(2 t de farine, 2 t de blé, 2 t de sucre, etc.)

Chaque organisation doit proposer cinq bienfaiteurs prêts à aider les
Arméniens indigents d’une assistance globale de 35 $ pour leurs
besoins.

On voit des groupes de trois à cinq personnes`battre le pavé`,
commentant les événements de la journée. Ce sont des commerçants,
debout devant leur rideau partiellement baissé, attendant un ami ou
des relations venus pour bavarder. Même un étranger peut devenir
l’interlocuteur attendu.

Mais il domine une atmosphère de peur et d’inquiétude. Les enfants
sont gardés à l’intérieur surtout en raison des coupures
d’électricité. Les enfants n’ont rien à faire,. Ce qui rend la
situation générale encore plus irritante. Les soirs, les rues sont
sombres et silencieuses. Sulimaniye est la dernière rue à se vider de
ses gens. Ceci est encore plus surprenant car, dans le passé en
période de Ramadan, les rues d’ Alep étaient pleines de gens visitant
tout au long de la nuit les commerces qui restaient ouverts jusqu’au
matin. Les commerçants qui ont eu l’intuition de ne pas remplir leurs
étagères pour ce Ramadan sont dans une meilleure situation que ceux
qui n’ont pas vu venir le tournant économique.

La vie économique a atteint son plus bas niveau. Seul l’essentiel est
acheté et vendu.

Le 10 août 2012

Source :

Traduction : Gisèle Garabédian

lundi 13 août 2012,
Ara ©armenews.com

REVUE DE PRESSE
Yurtseven Tekiner, la voix de la communauté kurde d’Alsace

Les Kurdes d’Alsace sont plutôt actifs. Ils défendent une identité et
un mouvement, le PKK, considéré comme terroriste par l’Union
européenne. À leur tête, souvent, une jeune femme : après avoir rêvé
de devenir chanteuse, Yurtseven Tekiner a choisi d’exprimer la «
douleur » des siens. Un jour gris d’hiver. Le consulat turc de
Strasbourg garde prudemment ses volets baissés. De l’autre côté de
l’avenue des Vosges, derrière une petite haie de policiers, une
centaine de Kurdes manifestent. Au milieu d’eux, une grande jeune
femme, aux longs cheveux bouclés. C’est elle qui dirige la man`uvre.
Elle qui empoigne le mégaphone, qui lance « Halte aux massacres ! »,
dénonce la « guerre du gouvernement turc contre ses citoyens kurdes »,
compare la situation des siens au génocide arménien. Elle qui a décidé
d’organiser cette manifestation, après des bombardements turcs sur un
village kurde. Et cette petite foule, où se mêlent jeunes et moins
jeunes, femmes et hommes, filles et garçons, semble lui faire
entièrement confiance.

Depuis deux ans, Yurtseven Tekiner, 31 ans, est la porte-parole
officieuse de la communauté kurde d’Alsace. Elle ne se dit « pas
militante, mais sympathisante » du PKK, le parti des travailleurs du
Kurdistan, organisation considérée comme terroriste par (entre autres)
la Turquie, l’Union européenne et les États-Unis. « Les Occidentaux
disent “terroriste” parce que ça les arrange. Moi, je dis que c’est
un mouvement populaire. Ce sont des gens qui résistent à une
répression. Bien sûr qu’il y a des morts, parce que c’est une guerre.
Mais le PKK, c’est le peuple, et on ne peut avoir de doutes sur le
peuple ».

Dans l’Histoire, les appels mystiques au peuple n’ont pas laissé que
de bons souvenirs… Pasionaria exaltée ? Dangereuse révolutionnaire ?
En tout cas, quand elle s’exprime, là, dans le tête-à-tête d’un café
strasbourgeois, Yurtseven n’est pas fanatique, mais douce. Convaincue,
déterminée, mais tranquille. Volontiers séductrice. « Est-ce que j’ai
l’air d’une terroriste ?… Je suis patriote, c’est tout. La
communauté m’a choisie comme porte-parole naturellement, parce que je
suis intégrée et que je maîtrise la langue. Quand il y avait une
manif, on me disait toujours : “Parle, prend le micro !” Eux, ce
sont en majorité des réfugiés politiques, ils ont une sorte de
complexe. Mon père, qui est un grand monsieur et a de grandes idées, a
encore des difficultés pour bien parler en français. Manifester me
permet d’évacuer les choses. Quand je crie “Liberté au peuple
kurde”, j’essaye de mettre des mots sur leur douleur. La souffrance
de mes parents et de milliers de Kurdes, c’est ce qui me motive. J’ai
l’impression d’être leur voix… »

Yurtseven a ainsi trouvé sa voie en devenant la voix de sa communauté.
Mais pour y parvenir, il lui a fallu passer par une série de
révélations. Son histoire, au fond, c’est celle d’une petite fille qui
se demandait pourquoi ses parents étaient toujours tristes. « Pourquoi
maman pleurait tous les jours, pourquoi papa avait cette amertume dans
les yeux, pourquoi on ne partait pas en vacances comme les autres… »

Longtemps, elle a porté leur histoire sans vraiment la connaître.
Yurtseven arrive en France en 1983, quand elle a moins de deux ans.
Instituteur dans la région de Dersim, en Turquie, son papa a reçu «
une balle dans le bras, parce qu’il revendiquait son identité ». Il
devient réfugié politique, « comme plus de 700 000 Kurdes en Europe ».
La France l’accueille plutôt bien, mais il a la bougeotte. Il
multiplie métiers (bûcheron, marchand forain, restaurateur…) et
déménagements : Lorraine, Champagne-Ardenne, Territoire-de-Belfort et
enfin Alsace.

Yurtseven garde un excellent souvenir de Delle, où elle a passé une
partie de son enfance et de son adolescence. Notamment de Raymond
Forni, maire socialiste de la petite ville et personnalité politique
d’envergure nationale. « Il m’aimait bien, monsieur Forni… J’avais
fait un discours lors d’une manifestation patriotique, au lycée, et il
était venu me voir pour me dire que j’avais une voix. Il me voyait
devenir avocate, chanteuse ou comédienne ! »

Elle essaiera les trois… Elle a arrêté le droit en deuxième année de
Deug, et est montée à Paris, à 22 ans. Elle y a suivi des cours de
thétre, rencontré quelques producteurs. Ça n’est pas allé plus loin.
Peut-être parce qu’elle portait autant de bonheur que de douleur.
Parce que, dit-elle aujourd’hui, « je voulais exprimer des choses,
mais je ne savais pas encore lesquelles. J’avais un problème
identitaire profond, un poids en moi… Je me sentais inexistante.
Mais je ne voulais pas ouvrir le truc, car je savais que ce serait
difficile… »

Elle l’a « ouvert » il y a quatre ans seulement, lors de son retour
auprès de ses parents, alors installés à Mulhouse. « J’étais prête à
affronter le récit ». Elle s’imprègne de la fin tragique de son
arrière-grand-mère, victime du massacre de Dersim, des galères de ses
parents et de celles de ses oncles, proies de passeurs mafieux. Elle
débute sa vocation de militante à plein temps en devenant bénévole au
centre culturel kurde. Elle réapprend sa langue maternelle. Et
parachève la découverte de son identité profonde en allant « là-bas »,
en août 2010. « Mon père, je l’ai compris au Kurdistan, dans la maison
de son enfance. Je pleurais, parce qu’il n’était pas là alors que
c’était sa place, mais je comprenais tellement de choses… Je
m’attendais à voir un paradis, et j’ai vu un paradis ! Mes
grands-parents cultivaient leur jardin, je trouvais ça génial ! Mes
parents, eux, ne pouvaient pas le faire : il faut être en harmonie
pour prendre le temps de faire pousser des fleurs… »

dimanche 12 août 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

ARMENIE
La commission anti-trust sanctionne la société Natalie Pharm d’une
amende de 50 millions de drams

La commission anti-trust d’Arménie a décidé de sanctionner la société
pharmaceutique Natalie Pharmdans d’un montant de 50 millions de drams
pour abus de position dominante sur le marché. ` Neuf autres
entreprises pharmaceutiques et 29 hôpitaux et cliniques qui avaient
été également examinées par la Commission, ont été mis en garde`, a
déclaré Artak Shaboyan, le président de la Commission d’État pour la
protection de la concurrence économique (SCPEC).

Il a déclaré que des examens ont révélé que dans certains cas, les
structures médicales n’ont pas lancé d’appels d’offres pour l’achat de
médicaments ce qui est une exigence de la loi. Il a aussi dit que de
nombreuses offres sont formels parce que le gagnant était connu bien
avant.

Il a dit que tous les 29 dispensaires, hôpitaux et centres médicaux
sont des propriétés du gouvernement et outre les violations des règles
de concurrence loyale, elles ont gaspillé l’argent du budget et c’est
pourquoi leurs dossiers seront envoyés aux procureurs.

dimanche 12 août 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

APA, Azerbaijan
Aug 10 2012

Next batch of helicopters bought from Russia brought to Azerbaijan

[ 10 Aug 2012 18:59 ]

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA. Next batch of Mi-35 M helicopters
bought by Azerbaijan from Russia were brought to the country, APA
reports that the helicopters were sent to Baku by Rosvertol Company’s
plant in Rostov-on-Don.

Consequently, half of helicopters ordered by Azerbaijan to Russia in
2010 were brought to the country. The state Border Service and Russian
`Rosoboroneksport’ company signed an agreement in 2010 on sales of 24
Mi-35M helicopters.

The first 4 Mi-35M helicopters were sent to Azerbaijan on December 12,
2011. The presentation of helicopters were held in April this year.

Mi-35 is a modernized version of Mi-24, which is considered for
destruction of armored vehicles. These helicopters are also
implemented in airlift delivery and evacuation of wounded and
providing fire air support. These helicopters now have Russian-made
NVGs, a new countermeasures system, Garmin GPS 115 with VPS-200
interface, and a turret-mounted IRTV-445MGH thermal imaging system.

State Department Documents and Publications, USA
August 10, 2012

US Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets: Armenia

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DOCUMENTS

Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs

Background Note: Armenia

Official Name: Republic of Armenia

As of May 2012, Background Notes are no longer being updated or
produced. They are in the process of being replaced by Fact Sheets
that focus on U.S. relations with each country.

PROFILE

Geography

Area: 29,800 sq. km. (11,500 sq. mi.); slightly larger than Maryland.

Cities: Capital–Yerevan.

Terrain: High plateau with mountains, little forest land.

Climate: Highland continental, hot summers, cold winters.

People

Nationality: Noun–Armenian(s). Adjective–Armenian.

Population: Estimates range from 2,967,004 (CIA World Factbook, July
2009 est.) to 3,259,000 (Armenia National Statistical Service, October
1, 2010 est.).

Ethnic groups: Armenian 97.9%; Yezidi 1.3%; Russian, Greek, and other 0.8%.

Religion: Armenian Apostolic Church (more than 90% nominally affiliated).

Languages: Armenian (96%), Russian, other.

Education: Literacy–99%.

Health: Infant mortality rate–20.21/1,000. Life expectancy–72.68 years.

Work force (1.481 million; 7.1% unemployed): Industry and
construction–15.6%; agriculture and forestry–46.2%; services–38.2%.

Government

Type: Republic.

Constitution: Approved in July 1995 referendum, amended in November 2005.

Independence: 1918 (First Armenian Republic); 1991 (from Soviet Union).

Branches: Executive–president (head of state) with wider powers
relative to other branches, prime minister (head of the ministerial
cabinet). Legislative–unicameral National Assembly (parliament).
Judicial– Constitutional Court (constitutional matters exclusively);
Court of Cassation, Appeals Courts (Civil and Criminal), Courts of
First Instance.

Administrative subdivisions: 10 marzes (regions) and capital Yerevan.

Political parties represented in the National Assembly: Republican
Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF), Country of Law (Orinats Yerkir), and
the Heritage Party. Other political parties and movements include: the
Armenian National Congress, People’s Party of Armenia, Free Democrats
Party, Republic Party, Armenian National Movement, and dozens of other
registered parties, many of which become active only during national
campaigns, if at all.

Suffrage: Universal at 18.

Economy (2011)

GDP: $9.8 billion (National Statistical Service of Armenia).

GDP growth rate (National Statistical Service ): 4.6%.

Per capita GDP PPP (World Bank): $5,600.

Inflation (National Statistical Service): 7.7%.

Natural resources: Copper, molybdenum, zinc, gold, silver, lead,
marble, granite, mineral spring water.

Agriculture: Products–fruits and vegetables, wines, dairy, some livestock.

Industry: Types–diamond-processing, metal-cutting machine tools,
forging-pressing machines, electric motors, tires, knitted wear,
hosiery, shoes, silk fabric, chemicals, trucks, instruments,
microelectronics, jewelry manufacturing, software development, food
processing, brandy.

Trade: Exports–$1.3 billion: pig iron, unwrought copper, nonferrous
metals, diamonds, mineral products, foodstuffs, energy. Export
partners (2011)– Russia 16.4%, Bulgaria 11.7%, Germany 12.1%,
Netherlands 9%, Iran 8.3%, U.S. 7.8%, Belgium 5%, Canada 5%, Georgia
4.6%. Imports (2011)–$4.1 billion: natural gas, petroleum, tobacco
products, foodstuffs, diamonds. Import partners (2010)– Russia 16%,
UAE 9.4%, Georgia 6%, China 5.1%, Ukraine 5.1%, Iran 5.5%, Turkey
4.8%, Germany 3.8%.

PEOPLE AND HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Armenia first emerged around 800 BC as part of the Kingdom of Urartu
or Van, which flourished in the Caucasus and eastern Asia Minor until
600 BC. After the destruction of the Seleucid Empire, the first
Armenian state was founded in 190 BC. At its zenith, from 95 to 65 BC,
Armenia extended its rule over the entire Caucasus and the area that
is now eastern Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon. For a time, Armenia was the
strongest state in the Roman East. It became part of the Roman Empire
in 64 BC.

In 301 AD, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a
state religion, establishing a church that still exists independently
of both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. Since
then, the Armenian nation has depended on the church to preserve and
protect its national identity. From around 1100 to 1350, the focus of
the Armenian nation moved south, as the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia,
which had close ties to European Crusader states, flourished in
southeastern Asia Minor until it was conquered by Muslim states.
Between the 4th and 19th centuries, ethnic Armenians were conquered
and ruled by, among others, Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, and
Ottoman Turks.

For a brief period from 1918 to 1920, Armenia re-emerged as an
independent republic. In late 1920, local communists came to power
following an invasion of Armenia by the Soviet Red Army, and in 1922,
Armenia became part of the Trans-Caucasian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1936, it became the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. Armenia
declared its independence from the Soviet Union on September 21, 1991.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Armenians voted overwhelmingly for independence in a September 1991
referendum, followed by a presidential election in October 1991 that
gave 83% of the vote to Levon Ter-Petrossian. Ter-Petrossian had been
elected head of government in 1990, when the Armenian National
Movement defeated the Communist Party. Ter-Petrossian was re-elected
in 1996 in a disputed election. Following public demonstrations
against Ter-Petrossian’s policies on the predominantly ethnic Armenian
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh that is located within Azerbaijan, the
President resigned under pressure in January 1998 and was replaced by
Prime Minister Robert Kocharian, who was subsequently elected
President in March 1998. Following the October 27, 1999 assassination
in Parliament of Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian, Parliament Speaker
Karen Demirchian, and six other officials, a period of political
instability ensued during which an opposition headed by elements of
the former Armenian National Movement government attempted
unsuccessfully to force Kocharian to resign. Riding out the unrest,
Kocharian was later reelected in March 2003 in a contentious election
that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
and the U.S. Government deemed to have fallen short of international
standards.

The Government of Armenia’s stated aim is to build a Western-style
parliamentary democracy as the basis of its form of government.
However, international observers have been critical of the conduct of
national elections in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2008, as well as the
constitutional referendum of 2005. The new constitution in 2005
increased the power of the legislative branch and allows for more
independence of the judiciary; in practice, however, both branches
remain subject to political pressure from the executive branch, which
retains considerably greater power than its counterparts in most
European countries.

The unicameral National Assembly has a total of 131 seats: 90 seats
are elected by proportional representation (party list), and 41 are
single mandate districts. Armenia held its most recent parliament
elections in 2007, when the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) won 33
percent of the votes cast, followed by Prosperous Armenia (15
percent), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF)
(13 percent), Rule of Law (7 percent), and the Heritage Party (6
percent). This election as well was marred by irregularities. The RPA
and Prosperous Armenia joined to form a governing coalition which
secured an absolute majority of parliament seats. The ARF negotiated a
cooperation agreement with the governing coalition in exchange for
ministerial positions, but declined to join the coalition formally,
instead reserving the right to support its own candidate for the
February 2008 presidential election.

Following the 2008 presidential elections the Republican Party of
Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, the Rule of Law, and the ARF signed a new
coalition agreement on March 21, 2008. The ARF dropped out of the
coalition in April 2009 citing differences over the conduct of foreign
policy.

Armenia held presidential elections on February 19, 2008. While
originally deemed by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODIHR) to be “mostly in line” with OSCE standards, the
elections were later seen to be marred by credible claims of ballot
stuffing, intimidation (including beatings) of poll workers and
proxies, vote buying, and other irregularities. Recounts were
requested, but ODIHR observers noted “shortcomings in the recount
process, including discrepancies and mistakes, some of which raise
questions over the impartiality of the [electoral commissions]
concerned.”

Mass protests followed the disputed vote. For 10 days, large crowds of
pro-opposition demonstrators gathered in Yerevan’s downtown Freedom
Square. Police and security forces entered Freedom Square early in the
morning on March 1, 2008, ostensibly to investigate reports of hidden
weapons caches. This operation turned into a forced dispersal of
demonstrators from Freedom Square by massed riot police. Following the
clearing of Freedom Square, clashes erupted in the afternoon between
massed demonstrators and security personnel, and continued throughout
the day and evening, leading to ten deaths and hundreds of injuries.
President Kocharian decreed a 20-day state of emergency in Yerevan
late on March 1, which sharply curtailed freedom of media and
assembly. Dozens of opposition supporters were jailed in the wake of
the violence, in proceedings that many international watchdog groups
have criticized as politically motivated. Armenia’s media freedom
climate and freedom of assembly remained poor overall, though somewhat
improved after the state of emergency was lifted. In June 2009 and May
2011, President Sargsian proposed and the Parliament approved two
general amnesties which resulted in the release from jail of all those
detained in connection with the March 2008 events. In the spring of
2011, the leading opposition group was also able to resume — after a
three-year prohibition — the holding of authorized rallies in
Yerevan’s Freedom Square. In April 2011, President Sargsian called for
a more meticulous examination of the violence that followed the
elections-related protests in 2008. Those responsible for the 10
deaths have not yet been identified and held accountable.

Upcoming elections will be held in May 2012 for the Armenian National
Assembly and February 2013 for the Presidency.

Principal Government Officials

President-Serzh Sargsian

Speaker of Parliament -Samvel Nikoyan

Prime Minister-Tigran Sargsian (no relation)

Foreign Minister-Edward Nalbandian

Defense Minister-Seyran Ohanian

Ambassador to the U.S.-Tatoul Markarian

Ambassador to the UN-Garen Nazarian

Armenia’s embassy is located at 2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC,
20008; tel: 202-319-1976; fax: 202-319-2982.

ECONOMY

Armenia is the second most densely populated of the former Soviet
republics. Armenia is a landlocked country between the Black and the
Caspian Seas, bordered on the north by Georgia, to the east by
Azerbaijan, on the south by Iran, and to the west by Turkey. Up until
independence in 1991, Armenia’s economy was based largely on
industry–chemicals, electronic products, machinery, processed food,
synthetic rubber, and textiles–and highly dependent on outside
resources. Agriculture accounted for only 20% of net material product
and 10% of employment before the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Construction, which was the leading sector of the economy for the past
eight years, constituting 27% of the country’s GDP in 2008, declined
by 34.6% in 2009 and 3.3% in 2010. In 2011, the sector continued to
shrink, with a decrease of 11.5 percent compared to 2010. The
beginning of the slowdown in construction coincided with the tense
political situation connected to the presidential election campaign
and the post-election civil unrest in 2008. Market saturation, a drop
in demand related to the global economic crisis, and a steep decline
in foreign remittances contributed to the further slowdown.

Like other New Independent States of the former Soviet Union,
Armenia’s economy still suffers from the legacy of a centrally planned
economy and the breakdown of former Soviet trading networks. While
investment from these states in support of Armenian industry has
virtually disappeared, and few major enterprises are still able to
function, Russian entities have nevertheless increased their ownership
in the mining, energy, telecommunications, and transportation sectors.
In addition, the effects of the 1988 earthquake, which killed more
than 25,000 people and made 500,000 homeless, are still being felt,
though international donors and diaspora Armenian groups continue to
fund reconstruction efforts in the earthquake zone.

Although a cease-fire has held since 1994, the 20-year-old conflict
with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved. While
intensive efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group are ongoing in pursuit of a
settlement, the closure of both the Azerbaijani and Turkish borders
has prevented Armenia from realizing its economic potential. Armenia’s
economy depends heavily on outside supplies of energy and most raw
materials. While land routes to Turkey are closed, regular and charter
air connections operate between Yerevan and Istanbul and Antalya; land
routes through Georgia and Iran raise the risk and cost of transport.

The structure of Armenia’s economy has changed substantially since
independence in 1991, with sectors such as construction and services
replacing agriculture and industry as the main contributors to
economic growth. The diamond processing industry, which was one of the
leading export sectors in 2000-2004 and a major recipient of foreign
investment, faced a dramatic decrease in output since 2005 due to raw
material supply problems with Russia and an overall decline in
international diamond markets. Other industrial sectors driving
industrial growth include energy, metallurgy, and food processing.

Despite the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Government of Armenia has
been able to carry out wide-ranging economic reforms that have paid
off in dramatically lower inflation and relatively steady growth.
Armenia registered strong economic growth after 1995, with
double-digit GDP growth rates every year from 2002 to 2007.

After rapid expansion in 2001-2007, economic and financial conditions
worsened rapidly in Armenia in 2008, due to a drop in international
metals prices and a downturn in the Russian economy following the
collapse of oil prices in late 2008. The end of a remittance-fueled
construction boom that had driven growth in recent years resulted in a
14.4% drop of real GDP for 2009 (compared to 6.8% GDP growth in 2008),
with about 80% of this decline due to a plunge in the construction
sector. Since 2008, Armenia has experienced a significant drop in
investment, exports, and real incomes primarily caused by the global
financial crisis. The Government of Armenia’s (GOAM) anti-crisis
measures, additional loans and budgetary support from international
donors helped to avoid further economic decline in 2010. However,
economic indicators, while on the rebound, still fall short of the
pre-crisis growth trend for the two decades following independence.
Gradual recovery of remittance flows in comparison to 2010 also
contributed to the slight upturn. Nevertheless, poverty and prices
remain high, and the sustainability of growth remains a concern. Some
of the major impediments for potential investors remain the lack of
transparency in the tax and customs administration, the
unpredictability of doing business in Armenia, and unequal competition
between domestic and foreign firms.

Armenia maintains a floating exchange rate regime with no explicit
exchange rate target. The nominal exchange rate of the Armenian dram
with major currencies was fairly stable between 1998 and 2003. During
2003-2007, the Armenian Dram appreciated sharply against the U.S.
dollar by around 45%, mainly due to significant growth in remittances,
growth of exports in absolute terms, the de-dollarization of the
economy and weakening of the dollar in international markets. The
appreciation of the dram affected negatively the traditional export
industries, including information technologies, diamond cutting, the
wine industry, and textiles. Exporters responded to the increased
costs by either reducing their capacities of production or by reducing
their number of employees in order to stay afloat. During 2008, the
exchange rate was mainly stable at around 300 drams per dollar, until
March 2009, when the Central Bank stopped its heavy intervention in
the foreign exchange market and announced that it would adopt a
floating currency regime. As a result, the Dram devalued by around
25%. It remained at this rate until a smooth devaluation took place
throughout 2011, after which the Dram reached its current level of
approximately 390 drams per dollar.

Armenia is highly dependent on the import of energy fuel, mainly from
Russia. The Armenia Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) at Metsamor provides
around 40% of electricity generation for the country, and hydro and
thermal plants provide roughly 30% each. Armenia imports most of its
natural gas from Russia, which provided significant discounts to
Armenia until 2009. Russian import gas prices rose from $110 to $154
per thousand cubic meters in April 2009, and increased further to $180
in April 2010. The gas price was set to further rise in April 2011 to
approach the international market price, but this has been temporarily
averted as a result of extensive negotiations between the Russian and
Armenian governments. However, the current price is still below the
international average of over $300, and in the coming years the price
is expected to converge with market prices.

Since May 2006 Armenia has also received natural gas from Iran through
a direct pipeline between the two countries, in addition to tanker
trucks. As a result of a Gazprom-brokered deal, Armenia and Iran
participate in a program of direct exchange of natural gas for
electric power, which has diversified Armenia’s supply of gas
products.

Armenia imports nearly all of its refined petroleum products through
Georgia. The August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia resulted
in periodic disruptions of fuel and food imports, and highlighted
Armenia’s vulnerability to disruptions in this primary transit
corridor.

Armenia has received significant support from international
institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank,
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and other
international financial institutions (IFIs) and foreign countries,
particularly Russia, are extending considerable grants and loans.
These loans are targeted at reducing the budget deficit, stabilizing
the local currency; developing private businesses; energy and the
agriculture, food processing, transportation, and health and education
sectors. In 2009 Armenia received more than $ 1.5 billion in donor
financing for budget support and different government-led anti-crisis
programs. In 2011, the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), an
economic organization in which Russia is a principal participant,
provided a loan of $500 million to finance Armenia’s external debt and
restructure a number of branches of the Armenian economy, in return
for the transfer of major assets. Further, Russian energy
conglomerates have pledged to invest $71 million in natural gas and
electricity distribution networks in Armenia.

Continued economic growth will depend on the ability of the government
to strengthen its macroeconomic management, including increasing
revenue collection, improving the investment climate, and combating
significant corruption. A liberal foreign investment law was approved
in June 1994, and a Law on Privatization was adopted in 1997, as well
as a program on state property privatization. Armenia joined the World
Trade Organization on February 5, 2003. Armenia recently acceded to
the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement which imposes an
obligation to improve its existing procurement practices.

See also U.S. Assistance to Armenia below.

Environmental Issues

Armenia is trying to address its environmental problems. The Ministry
of Nature Protection has introduced a pollution fee system by which
taxes are levied on air and water emissions and solid waste disposal,
with the resulting revenues used for environmental protection
activities. Deforestation by mining concerns in certain parts of the
country, especially the Teghut Forest in the Lori marz (region), have
resulted in periodic protests by environmental non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and stirred controversy over government policies
to support investment in the mining sector. Armenia is interested in
cooperating with other members of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS–a group of 11 former Soviet republics) and with other
members of the international community on environmental issues.
Armenia has been under strong pressure from the international
community to close its thirty-five-year-old nuclear power plant (ANPP)
at Metsamor by 2016. This pressure has only increased in the aftermath
of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011. Given that
Armenia depends on the ANPP for roughly 40% of its electricity, the
Armenian Government sees no alternative to construction of a new
nuclear plant. The Armenian Government is continuing to plan for a new
plant. The U.S. Government will continue to provide technical
assistance to support the Armenian Government’s efforts to ensure that
any nuclear unit meets proper safety and environmental standards.

DEFENSE AND MILITARY ISSUES

Armenia established a Ministry of Defense in 1992. Border guards
subject to the National Security Service patrol Armenia’s borders with
Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Russian Border Guards continue to
monitor its borders with Iran and Turkey. In August 2010 the
Government of Armenia signed an extension to this agreement with
Russia, providing for a continued Russian border guard presence until
2046.

The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty was ratified by
the Armenian parliament in July 1992. The treaty establishes
comprehensive limits on key categories of military equipment, such as
tanks, artillery, armored combat vehicles, combat aircraft, and combat
helicopters, and provides for the destruction of weaponry in excess of
those limits. Armenian officials have consistently expressed
determination to comply with its provisions in spite of their concerns
about Azerbaijan exceeding its treaty limits. Armenia has provided
data on armaments as required under the CFE Treaty and is receptive to
CFE inspections. Armenia recently passed laws to control export of
military and dual use goods to fulfill its arms control obligations.
Armenia is not a significant exporter of conventional weapons, but it
has provided substantial support, including materiel, to ethnic
Armenian separatists in the disputed and predominantly ethnic Armenian
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh located within Azerbaijan’s borders.

In March 1993, Armenia signed the multilateral Chemical Weapons
Convention, which calls for the eventual elimination of chemical
weapons. Armenia acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a
non-nuclear weapons state in July 1993. In July 2008 the U.S. and
Armenia signed an action plan to partner on Combating Smuggling of
Nuclear and Radiological Materials under the U.S. Department of
State’s Nuclear Smuggling Outreach Initiative (NSOI). In the same
framework, Armenia is participating in the U.S.-led Preventing Nuclear
Smuggling Program (PNSP). In April 2010 Armenia’s President Serzh
Sargsian attended the first-ever Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) that
the U.S. hosted. Armenia also participates in the Global Initiative to
Counter Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT). The U.S. and other Western
governments continue to work with Armenia to strengthen export control
systems.

In September 2010, Armenia and the U.S. signed an agreement to
implement a Biological Threat Reduction Program, which will enhance
U.S.-Armenia cooperation in preventing the proliferation of
technology, pathogens, and expertise that could be used in the
development of biological weapons.

Armenia cooperates with NATO through the Partnership for Peace program
which it joined in 1994.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Armenia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the
European Neighborhood Program of the EU, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS), NATO’s Partnership for Peace, the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Organization of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation organization (BSEC), the Euro-Atlantic Partnership
Council, the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, and the World Trade Organization.

Turkey-Armenia Relations

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 as a show of support for
Azerbaijan in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. On October 10, 2009,
the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Armenia signed normalization
protocols that called for the opening of the Turkey-Armenia border,
establishing diplomatic relations, and the creation of a number of
sub-commissions addressing bilateral issues. However, the protocols
have not yet been ratified by either country, and Armenia formally
suspended parliamentary consideration of the protocols in April 2010.
The Armenian Government stressed its willingness to reactivate the
process “when there is a proper environment in Turkey and there is
leadership in Ankara ready to reengage in the normalization process.”

Nagorno-Karabakh

In 1988, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic
Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan, voted to secede and join Armenia.
This act was the catalyst that led Armenia and Azerbaijan into a
full-scale armed conflict that claimed the lives of over 30,000 people
from both sides. Armenian support for the separatists led to an
economic embargo by Azerbaijan, which has had a negative impact on
Armenia’s foreign trade and made imports of food and fuel,
three-quarters of which previously transited Azerbaijan under Soviet
rule, more expensive.

Peace talks in early 1993 were disrupted by the seizure of
Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar district by Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian forces and
the forced evacuation of thousands of ethnic Azeris. Turkey in protest
then followed with an embargo of its own against Armenia. A cease-fire
was declared between Azerbaijani and Armenian/Nagorno-Karabakh forces
in 1994 and has been maintained by both sides since then in spite of
occasional shooting along the line of contact. All Armenian
governments have thus far resisted domestic pressure to recognize the
self-proclaimed independence of the “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,” while
at the same time announcing they would not accept any peace accords
that returned the enclave to Azerbaijani rule. Approximately 572,000
of the estimated 800,000 ethnic Azeris who fled during the Karabakhi
offensives still live as internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan
(according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, quoting
Azerbaijani Government statistics, June 2008 ), while roughly 3,300 of
360,000 ethnic Armenians who fled Azerbaijan since 1988 remain
refugees.

Negotiations to peacefully resolve the conflict have been ongoing
since 1992 under the aegis of the Minsk Group of the OSCE. The Minsk
Group is co-chaired by the U.S., France, and Russia. Negotiations have
intensified since 2004. Ambassador Robert Bradtke became U.S. Co-Chair
in 2009.

U.S.-ARMENIAN RELATIONS

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 brought an end to
the Cold War and created the opportunity for bilateral relations with
the New Independent States (NIS) as they began a political and
economic transformation. The U.S. recognized the independence of
Armenia on December 25, 1991, and opened an Embassy in Yerevan in
February 1992.

U.S.-Armenian Economic Relations

In 1992 Armenia signed three agreements with the U.S. affecting trade
between the two countries. They include an “Agreement on Trade
Relations,” (which entered into force in April 1992) an “Investment
Incentive Agreement,” (which also entered into force in April 1992)
and a treaty on the “Reciprocal Encouragement and Protection of
Investment” (generally referred to as the Bilateral Investment Treaty,
or BIT, which entered into force in March 1996). The 1973 “Convention
on matters of Taxation” concluded with the former USSR remains in
force with Armenia. The 1994 Law on Foreign Investment governs all
direct investments in Armenia, including those from the U.S.

In June 2011, the Department of State and the Ministry of Energy and
Natural Resources of Armenia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on
unconventional and conventional energy resources. The MOU aims to
enhance cooperation between U.S. and Armenian experts to assess
Armenia’s potential energy resources, including shale gas.

Approximately 70 U.S.-owned firms currently do business in Armenia,
including Dell, Microsoft, and IBM. Recent major U.S. investment
projects include: the Hotel Armenia/Marriott; the Hotel Ani Plaza;
Tufenkian Holdings (carpet and furniture production, hotels, and
construction); several subsidiaries of U.S.-based information
technology firms, including Viasphere Technopark, an IT incubator;
Synopsys; a Greek-owned Coca-Cola bottling plant; jewelry and textile
production facilities; several mining companies; and the Hovnanian
International Construction Company.

U.S. Assistance to Armenia

The U.S. has made a concerted effort to help Armenia during its
difficult transition from totalitarianism and a command economy to
democracy and open markets. The cornerstone of this continuing
partnership has been assistance provided through the Freedom for
Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets (FREEDOM)
Support Act, enacted in October 1992. In 2009, FREEDOM Support Act
funds were merged with another account and was renamed Assistance to
Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia (AEECA). Under this and other
programs, the U.S. to date has provided Armenia with nearly $2 billion
in development and humanitarian assistance. In addition, the
U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Task Force (USATF), established in 1999,
is a bilateral commission that meets annually to deepen economic ties
between Armenia and the U.S., advance market reforms in Armenia, and
discuss opportunities for U.S. assistance to contribute to Armenia’s
long-term economic development. The most recent meeting was held in
Washington, DC, in September 2011. The next meeting in 2012 will be
held in Yerevan.

U.S. assistance supports Armenia’s transition into a stable partner at
peace with its neighbors, fully integrated into the regional economy,
where principles of democracy are respected, the benefits of economic
growth are shared by all segments of society, and Armenia’s human
capital potential is fully realized. The U.S. provides multifaceted
assistance to Armenia through a variety of programs designed to
promote economic growth, encourage democratic governance, improve
health and social protection systems, and enhance Armenia’s peace and
security. The U.S. also provides humanitarian assistance to the poor,
elderly, and other vulnerable groups. Assistance is provided through a
“whole of government” approach that involves a number of U.S.
government agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture,
Commerce, Defense, Energy, Justice, and State, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and the Peace Corps.

In 2006, Armenia signed a five-year, $236 million Millennium Challenge
Corporation compact with the U.S. The MCA-Armenia program focused on
reducing rural poverty through a sustainable increase in the economic
performance of the agricultural sector. This included strategic
investments in rural roads, irrigation infrastructure, and technical
and financial assistance to water supply entities, farmers, and
commercial agribusinesses. in 2009, MCC placed a hold on funding for a
significant portion of the rural road rehabilitation project because
of serious concerns about the 2008 presidential election. At the June
2009 MCC Board meeting, the decision was made not to resume funding
for any further road construction and rehabilitation due to concerns
about the status of democratic governance in Armenia. Funding for
irrigation infrastructure and technical assistance, representing
nearly $177 million of the compact’s value, remained in effect and was
implemented. The compact concluded in September 2011. Beneficiaries
included 420,000 rural residents in about 350 communities across
Armenia.

For more information, please consult this fact sheet on U.S.
assistance to Armenia or ForeignAssistance.gov.

Promoting Economic Growth

U.S. assistance addresses Armenia’s economic vulnerabilities, which
have been exacerbated by the global economic crisis, while continuing
to support economic competitiveness. The U.S. continues to work
closely with international financial institutions like the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to help Armenia
continue its transition to a robust free-market economy. USAID and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implement the largest portion of
U.S. economic assistance activities. In addition to its broader
assistance programs, USAID implements a range of economic assistance
programs designed to enhance Armenia’s macroeconomic foundation for
growth, promote trade and investment, and focus on private sector
competitiveness and workforce development in selected industries,
including information technology and tourism, and development of the
financial sector and fiscal authorities to achieve a business enabling
environment.

The USDA Caucasus Agricultural Development Initiative provides
targeted and sustained technical and marketing assistance to small and
medium-sized agribusinesses, farmer-marketing associations, and the
Government of Armenia. USDA’s goal is to sustain the productivity of
the agricultural sector by expanding access to markets and credit,
increasing efficiency, and modernizing agriculture systems. USDA’s
priority assistance areas are: Farm Credit, Food Safety and Animal
Health, support to the Armenian private sector through the NGO CARD,
Agricultural Statistics and Agricultural Education. Also, as a
training component of USDA projects in Armenia, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Cochran Fellowship Program provides training in the U.S.
to Armenian agriculturists.

Enhancing Democratic Governance

U.S. assistance programs enhance the Government of Armenia’s capacity
to govern justly and democratically. The programs strengthen democracy
and the rule of law by improving legal education, promoting the
capacity of both prosecutors and the defense bar, raising judicial
ethics standards and human rights protections, fighting corruption and
improving the transparency, accountability, and accessibility of
government entities (particularly at the local level), increasing
civic participation and government accountability by bolstering civil
society, strengthening independent media and increasing access to
information, and promoting free and fair elections and greater citizen
participation in the political process. U.S. assistance also
encourages adoption of best practices within the criminal justice
system by reforming procedures to promote greater police
accountability, judicial independence, and fairness for those accused
of crimes. Additionally, U.S. programs support international and
domestic monitoring of Armenia’s elections, thereby promoting
transparency and democratic values.

Educational exchange programs also play an important role in
supporting meaningful democratic and free-market reforms by instilling
important core values in Armenia’s youth.

Professional exchange programs serve as a vehicle to share U.S.
experience with Armenian government officials, NGO activists, women
leaders, bloggers, journalists, lawyers, political party members,
business people, and other influential figures. These exchanges have
focused on a range of topics, including U.S. elections, law
enforcement, the American judiciary, women in business, conflict
resolution, the media, human rights, and youth leadership.

Principal U.S. Embassy Officials

Ambassador-John Heffern

Deputy Chief of Mission-Bruce Donahue

Political/Economic Chief-Barton Putney

Assistance Coordinator- RaeJean Stokes

Management Officer-Veronica Hons-Olivier

INL Chief–Daniel Hastings

EXBS Advisor–Michael Seguin

Resident Legal Adviser–Steve Kessler

Regional Security Officer-Timothy Lance Leveque

USDA Marketing Assistance Project Director-Greg Booth

USAID Director-Jatinder Cheema

Public Affairs Officer-Karen Robblee

The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, is at 1 American Avenue; tel:
374-10-46-47-00; fax: 374-10-46-47-42.

Travel Alerts, Travel Warnings, Trip Registration

The U.S. Department of State’s Consular Information Program advises
Americans traveling and residing abroad through Country Specific
Information, Travel Alerts, and Travel Warnings. Country Specific
Information exists for all countries and includes information on entry
and exit requirements, currency regulations, health conditions, safety
and security, crime, political disturbances, and the addresses of the
U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. Travel Alerts are issued to
disseminate information quickly about terrorist threats and other
relatively short-term conditions overseas that pose significant risks
to the security of American travelers. Travel Warnings are issued when
the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel to a
certain country because the situation is dangerous or unstable.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling
abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular
Affairs Internet web site at , where current
Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts, and Travel Warnings can be found.
The travel.state.gov website also includes information about
passports, tips for planning a safe trip abroad and more. More
travel-related information also is available at

The Department’s Smart Traveler app for U.S. travelers going abroad
provides easy access to the frequently updated official country
information, travel alerts, travel warnings, maps, U.S. embassy
locations, and more that appear on the travel.state.gov site.
Travelers can also set up e-tineraries to keep track of arrival and
departure dates and make notes about upcoming trips. The app is
compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (requires iOS 4.0 or
later).

The Department of State encourages all U.S. citizens traveling or
residing abroad to enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler
Enrollment Program (STEP). A link to the registration page is also
available through the Department’s Smart Traveler app. U.S. citizens
without internet access can enroll directly at the nearest U.S.
embassy or consulate. By enrolling, you make your presence and
whereabouts known in case it is necessary to contact you in an
emergency and so you can receive up-to-date information on security
conditions.

Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be
obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada or
the regular toll line 1-202-501-4444 for callers outside the U.S. and
Canada.

Passports

The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S. Department
of State’s single, centralized public contact center for U.S. passport
information. Telephone: 1-877-4-USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778); TDD/TTY:
1-888-874-7793. Passport information is available 24 hours, 7 days a
week. You may speak with a representative Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10
p.m., Eastern Time, excluding federal holidays.

Health Information

Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. A
hotline at 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) and a web site at
give the most recent health
advisories, immunization recommendations or requirements, and advice
on food and drinking water safety for regions and countries. The CDC
publication “Health Information for International Travel” can be found
at

More Electronic Information

Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at
, the Department of State web site provides
timely, global access to official U.S. foreign policy information,
including more Background Notes, the Department’s daily press
briefings along with the directory of key officers of Foreign Service
posts and more. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) provides
security information and regional news that impact U.S. companies
working abroad through its website

Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and
market information offered by the federal government and provides
trade leads, free export counseling, help with the export process, and
more.

Mobile Sources. Background Notes are available on mobile devices at
, or use the QR code below.

In addition, a mobile version of the Department’s
website is available at , or use the QR code below.
Included on this site are Top Stories, remarks and speeches by
Secretary Clinton, Daily Press Briefings, Country Information, and
more.

Armenian tourists trapped in Egypt: Sharm el-Sheikh – Yerevan flight cancelled

news.am
August 11, 2012 | 20:03

Many Armenians, who are currently enjoying their vacation in Sharm
el-Sheikh may not be able to return Yerevan next week as the Spot Air
charter company cancelled the flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to Yerevan
due to the debts by tour operator Happy Voyage company, Spot Air
informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Earlier Armenian News-NEWS.am informed about the scandal in Yerevan
airport, as Happy Voyage company, which has sold the Sharm el-Sheikh
tickets to over 140 passengers from Yerevan, could not secure the
flight for its passengers. The Happy Voyage has been warned about the
possibility of flight cancellation by Sport Air charter company
several times prior to the incident, Spot Air representative told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In exclusive interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am the official
representative of Spot Air charter company clarified the situation
regarding cancellation of the Sharm el-Sheikh – Yerevan flight
scheduled on August 15, and previous scandal with Yerevan-Sharm El
Sheikh flight on August 7, reserved by the Happy Voyage tour operator.

`According to the aircraft charter agreement signed by our charter
company Spot Air and tour operator Happy Voyage, the complete payment
has to be done at least 5 working days before each flight. Tour
Operator “Happy Voyage” was reminded about this important condition
several times in advance and even during the week before the flight
operation was warned about cancellation of the flight in case if they
do not pay full amount for the flight. However, despite all these
warnings, emails and calls, which they did not even care to respond
to, the payment was not done in time. As a result, on Friday, August
3, we had to inform Tour Operator and Civil Aviation of Erevan about
cancellation of the flight Erevan-Sharm El Sheikh due to non-execution
of contractual obligations (lack of payment) by official email. Happy
Voyage had ignored our emails and calls and insisted on the flight
ignoring the fact that complete payment has not been done. In spite of
mentioned above, the payment was done only some hours before the
flight, which was already cancelled.

We would like to emphasize that we would be in high risk to perform
the flight without receiving the complete payment on our account with
reference to our previous business working experience with Happy
Voyage last year, where we still have some pending amounts to be paid
by the tour operator. Nevertheless, we decided to complete our part of
contract obligations and to protect the rights of passengers, so we
performed the flight according to our first availability on August 8,
2012 (Yerevan- Sharm el Sheikh, time of departure 17:30 UTC timing).
At the moment, Armenian passengers are in Sharm El Sheikh enjoying
their vacation.

During the last two days we contacted Happy Voyage to inform in
advance that they need to make the payment for the next flight, August
15, 2012. However, no clear explanations and actions have been done.
That is why, today in the morning we informed them about cancellation
of the next flight due to non-payment again. Such cancellation has
been done 5 working days before the flight to allow tour operator to
find another solution how to take passengers back. Our charter company
is highly devoted to the contract terms and obligations, but when the
tour operator does not respect the contract and does not perform their
obligations, we are obliged to act as it is described in the above
situation,” the Sport Air charter company official representative told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.