Author: Khoyetsian Rose

ENVOY HIGHLIGHTS STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY

Fars News Agency
June 3 2009
Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iran-Armenia railway is a project of great strategic
importance not only for the two states but also for the whole region,
Iran’s ambassador to Yerevan said.

Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Seyed Ali Saqqaiyan told Armenpress
news agency on Tuesday that the railway can be considered a very
convenient direction for cargo transportation.

The Iranian technical-expert group has lately visited Armenia to
study in what direction the railway must be constructed, he added.

"Besides that we expect the investors to display interest in
the project and Russia seems to be keen on participating in the
implementation of the project," the Ambassador noted.

Seyed Ali Saqqaiyan reiterated that the political decision for the
construction of the railway has already been made – during the Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Iran an agreement was reached
and at present the discussion of technical issues is being conducted.

Experts and specialist are now discussing different options for the
direction of the railway.

According to early estimates, $2 billion of investment is needed for
the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway.

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have already voiced
interest in the railway construction project.

ARMENIAN ANALYST: AZERBAIJANIS’ STATEMENTS THAT NEGOTIATIONS WERE MORE PLEASANT UNDER KOCHARYAN ARE POSITIVE

Today.Az
cs/52822.html
June 3 2009
Azerbaijan

"No breakthrough decision will be adopted at tomorrow’s meeting of
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan", said analyst Stepan Grigoryan
today.

"Azerbaijanis’ statements that negotiations were more pleasant under
Kocharyan are positive", noted Grigoryan.

Commenting on the interest of superpowers in the soonest resolution
of the conflict, he voiced opinion that Russia’s and US approaches
to this issue are different.

"The United States and EU are for the soonest resolution of the
conflict as the South Caucasus is a very important alternative transit
region", noted Grigoryan, adding that Russia is not interested in it.

According to the analyst, for Russia it is more profitable to keep
the conflict frozen, thus influencing both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

On statements of the OSCE MG co-chairs, the analyst announced that
officials always tend to justify the money, they earn.

"OSCE MG co-chairs seem to believe that the problem solution depends
on the frequency of their visits to the region", concluded the analyst.

NO CONCRETE PLANS OVER NABUCCO PROJECT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
03.06.2009 19:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There are no concrete plans over Nabucco pipeline
construction; the program is just at the stage of discussion,
Azerbaijan’s Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said. According
to the Azeri official, there are a lot of political and economic
difficulties in implementing the project.

"The pipeline route is not yet known. There are a lot of unresolved
problems in terms of funding, resources etc. By 2020, Transcaspian
countries are expected to obtain 300 billion cubic meters of gas. But
transit cost is an extremely difficult problem. Even Azerbaijan and
Turkey have not yet agreed upon the price. So, it will really be hard
to reach agreement among 6 Nabucco transit states," 1news.az quoted
Aliyev as saying.

OSCE MEDIATORS PRESENT BAKU’S POSITION ON KARABAKH TO ARMENIA

Interfax
June 1 2009
Russia

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group
co-chairmen Yury Merzlyakov of Russia, Bernard Facier of France and
Mathew Bryza of the United States, currently on a working tour of
the region, met with Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian.

The co-chairmen and the Armenian foreign minister met on Friday
evening, to discuss the talks on the Karabakh settlement proceeding
on the basis of the Madrid proposals, the Armenian Foreign Ministry
said on Saturday.

The co-chairmen had earlier visited Baku. They informed the Armenian
foreign minister in Yerevan on the outcome of their meetings in Baku,
the ministry said.

Earlier reports said that the mediators are in the region to prepare
a regular round of talks between the Armenian and Azeri presidents
due in St.Petersburg in early June.

After Yerevan, the mediators will travel to Moscow, and will then
return to Baku.

ANC WILL TAKE ITS BEST EFFORTS TO PREVENT THE CIVIL WAR

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
03.06.2009 15:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ ANC representative Vahagn Khatchatryan
said at today’s news conference that the opposition sees
constitutional struggle as a way out of current situation. He
also called on opposition supporters to show insubordination and
irreconcilability. "We’ll fight till the end, and the next elections
conducted in Armenia will be directed at the change of power,"
Vahagn Khatchatryan stated. He noted that for serious struggle
against political forces currently at power, ANC should at minimum
take possession of administrative recourses.

According to Vahagn Khatchatryan, Armenia is stuck in a swamp and
the authorities do not realize that by conducting such disgraceful
elections, they keep exacerbating the situation. "In the end, we’ll
either face a civil war or a revolution. ANC will take its best
efforts to prevent the civil war, as it would signify the end of the
third Republic of Armenia."

WASHINGTON CONFERENCE PROVIDES FORUM FOR US, TURKISH OFFICIALS TO ‘REVIEW’ RELATIONS

ngton-conference-provides-forum-for-us-turkish-off icials-to-review-relations/
Jun 1, 2009

WASHINGTON -Senior Turkish and U.S. officials are meeting in Washington
DC Monday to discuss their countries’ political, defense, and business
relationships during an annual two-day conference designed to boost
cooperation between the two allies. Hosted by the American-Turkish
Council, the annual conference on U.S.-Turkish relations is a forum
for government and military officials, business leaders and academics
to discuss issues and opportunities to boosting the two nations’
political and trade ties. This year’s conference is the 28th meeting
organized by the group and takes place approximately two months after
President Barack Obama’s visit to Turkey.

Top Turkish officials attending conference were Chief of General Staff
General Ilker Basbug and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Basbug will
also meet this week with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, and visit a number of U.S. military facilities. The
two men will be keynote speakers at the ATC’s opening dinner Monday
night. Davutoglu, who was appointed foreign minister by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Cabinet reshuffle at the end of April, will
also meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later this
week. Davutoglu will speak at the ATC conference on Tuesday. Egemen
Bagis, the Turkish state minister responsible for European Union
relations, and Transport Minister Binali Yildirim are also attending
the conference. US Democratic Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, will address the conference Tuesday as
well. Obama’s visit aimed to restore the U.S.-Turkish ties that were
damaged during former Republican president George W. Bush’s term,
mainly due to disputes related to the Iraq war. The ATC, whose members
include major U.S. and Turkish companies doing business in each other’s
countries, seeks to boost the two nations’ political and trade ties.

Ballot-stuffing in Malatia-Sebastia community

2009-05-31 14:29:00

ArmInfo. Representative of Helsinki Association Pargev Baljyan
observing the elections at the polling station 7/05 in Malatia-Sebastia
community was forced out by some skinheads and kept isolated from the
polling station for some period of time. P. Baljyan says ballots were
stuffed just in the period when he was kept out.

For her turn, Chairwoman of the polling station Ruzan Azizyan refuted
this report and blamed Baljyan for groundless accusations of election
rigging addressed to the election commission.

CSTO SECRETARY GENERAL: SOLUTION OF ONE OR ANOTHER PROBLEM BY FORCE HAS NO PROSPECT

ArmInfo
2009-05-29 10:41:00

ArmInfo. CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha considers a new cycle
of a military conflict in Nagorno Karabakh unlikely. ‘I would not like
to operate with the terms ‘what will be if:’ This is a very sensitive
topic. However, the logic of the latest years prompts me that there
will be no such a conflict. The events in the South Caucasus have shown
that solution of one or another problem by force has no prospect. I
am often asked about the conflict in Karabakh and I always reply: any
careless word causes a storm of emotions and hinders the settlement
process’, Bordyuzha said in an interview with "Kommersant" newspaper.

He recalled that CSTO has been created to assure security of the states
by collective efforts. ‘If an act of aggression is applied against any
country, it will be CSTO and not CRDF to come to the rescue. First,
we shall try to assist with political means. If it fails and an
act of aggression takes place using armed units and threatening the
territorial integrity of CSTO member-country, all the opportunities
will be actuated to protect the ally’, N. Bordyuzha said.

ISSUE OF PERSON TO REPLACE AVET ADONTS AT RA PARLIAMENT TO BE DISCUSSED AFTER YEREVAN COUNCIL OF ELDERS ELECTIONS

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 28, 2009
YEREVAN

Avet Adonts appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
Armenia to Belgium and pluralistically head of Armenia’s representation
in the European Union will stop his deputy powers ahead of the
schedule. Thus not only the deputy mandate, but also the post of
Chairman of NA Standing Committee on European Integration taken by
him will be vacant.

As A. Adonts was elected a deputy in 2007 by the proportional electoral
system, by Bargavach Hayastan party’s electoral roll, according to
the Electoral Code, his vacant mandate will be given to the next
candidate on the list. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed
by BH faction member Naira Zohrabian, to all appearances, the party
Board will discuss the issue of person to be included in the faction,
as well as the candidate to be nominated for Committee Chairman’s
post and the person to replace A. Adonts in the Armenian delegation
of PACE after Yerevan Council of Elders elections to be held on May 31.

YURI BASHMET AND "MOSCOW’S SOLOISTS" GIVE PERFORMANCE IN YEREVAN

Panorama.am
14:58 27/05/2009

Famous viola player and band master, Grammy prize holder Yuri Bashmet’s
and "Moscow’s soloists" chamber music band unique performance will
be held in the frames of "Perspectives of 21st" tenth international
musical festival in Aram Khachatryan concert hall on 6 June, Gayane
Durgaryan, the head of the information and public relations department
of the Culture Ministry told Panorama.am.

According to the source Grig, Bach, Bruch and Chaikowski will be
performed during the concert.

Yuri Bashmet is Moscow Conservatory professor.