Author: Maghakian Mike

OBAMA, SARKOZY AND MEDVEDEV: TRUE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS?

Tert
Nov 9 2009
Armenia

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are minor functionaries, while the true
co-chairs are the presidents of the United States, France and Russia,
who, quite possibly, even do not really know what Mr. Merzlyakov,
Fassier and Bradtke do during their visits to Baku and Yerevan, said
Azerbaijani political analyst Vafa Guluzade in an interview with
Azerbaijani news source Day.Az.

"This troika gets pretty good pay, they fly to Baku and Yerevan and
taste the Azerbaijani and Armenian cuisine," added the analyst.

In Guluzade’s opinion, OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chair countries have
concentrated all their efforts on the opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border. "Talks about the likelihood that Turkey will become co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group resumed against this background. All of
these talks have a single goal – minimize Azerbaijan’s discontent
with possible opening of Turkish-Armenian border."

"They will try to present Turkey’s becoming co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group to Azerbaijan as a significant progress in a just settlement
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But this is
ridiculous. Because, if countries like the United States and Russia
do not resolve different causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,
Turkey has no chance to solve it either.

"Armenian leadership insists on opening of borders with Turkey against
its will and certainly not out of love for Turks, but because of a need
to address its own serious economic problems," concluded the analyst.

World Net Daily
Nov 7 2009

Diplomatic ‘success’ may backfire on Obama
Analysts worry ‘lack of administration vision plays into Russian hands’

Posted: November 07, 2009
12:50 am Eastern

Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s
G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of
WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95
per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the
complete reports.

TBILISI, Georgia ` The "success" of Turkey’s diplomatic recognition of
Armenia after almost a century of animosity dating back to the Ottoman
Empire may backfire on the U.S., analysts have said in a report from
Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The result could be, security experts agree, a dramatic lessening of
influence on the part of the U.S. and the European Union in the
critical South Caucasus and Central Asia regions.

That’s because the new relationship between Turkey and Armenia is
having devastating effects on Turkey’s relationship with Armenia’s
arch-rival, Azerbaijan, on which Ankara relies for a major source of
its oil and natural gas.

Armenia and Turkey resumed diplomatic relations and reopened their
border after almost a century of opposition stemming from the mass
killing of tens of thousands of Armenians from 1915 to 1918 by the
Ottoman Empire. Modern Turkey emerged from the Ottoman Empire into a
secular state after World War I.

In one sense, the U.S. and EU may have outdone themselves in pressing
Turkey to normalize relations with Armenia which has a separate,
deep-seated dispute with Azerbaijan over its Karabakh region.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about
critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2
Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and
published by the founder of WND.

Karabakh is an enclave of predominantly Armenian heritage inside
Azerbaijan that seeks to join with Armenia.

Now Turkey, even though it has recognized Armenia diplomatically and
reopened border crossings, remains committed to ending the Armenian
occupation of Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is as important for Turkey as its
own," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "Turkey will
continue to advocate Azerbaijan’s rights at every diplomatic stage."

Security analysts view the current rupture in the longstanding
strategic partnership between Turkey and Azerbaijan as a serious
mistake by the U.S., EU and Turkey.

"This geopolitical miscalculation on the part of Turkish, EU and U.S.
officials, all of whom have actively pushed for a one-sided
normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations without the consideration
of Azerbaijan’s interests and the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,
will see a boomerang effect," according to Fariz Ismailzade of the
think-tank Jamestown Foundation.

"This partnership (between Turkey and Azerbaijan) has been the
backbone of East-West energy and its future transportation corridors,
security, political and geostrategic balance in the region as well as
the overall Turkish or Western entrance into the Caspian region,"
Ismailzade said.

In recent weeks, the Turkish-Azerbaijani split also has had a serious
impact on Turkey’s long-range security goal of becoming an energy hub
for Europe.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev recently refused to accept Turkish
President Abdullah Gul’s invitation to attend the recent U.N.
conference on Istanbul on "Alliance of Civilizations."

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TURKEY-ARMENIA RAPPROCHEMENT GIVES IMPETUS TO RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT: U.S. EMBASSY OFFICIAL

Today
57250.html
Nov 6 2009
Azerbaijan

U.S. embassy Public Relations Office Chief tarry Davidson visited
Azerbaijan’s Ganja city on Nov. 5.

Davidson met with Ganja Mayor Eldar Azizov.

Davidson told reporters that they discussed a number of important
issues at the meeting.

"This is my first visit to Ganja. We discussed mostly education issues
with head of Ganja executive power. I was proud that one of the Ganja
residents studies in the United States, in the state where I was born.

We decided to invite certain people from the United States to Ganja
and to create opportunity for Ganja students to get education in
the U.S.. Such relations are promote understanding between the two
peoples," Davidson said.

"U.S. understands that this issue is very important for Azerbaijani
people. Washington makes efforts for peaceful and fair solution to
this conflict and supports peaceful solution within the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton place great importance on this issue," Davidson said.

Davidson said Turkish-Armenian rapprochement gives technical impetus
to the solution of Nagorno Karabakh problem.

"Washington keeps on making efforts towards the solution to the
conflict," he added.

ARMENIAN INFLATION EASES SOMEWHAT IN OCTOBER
Venla Sipila

World Markets Rsearch Centre
Global Insight
November 3, 2009

According to the latest consumer price figures from the Armenian
National Statistical Service, prices in October increased by 3.5% in
annual terms, the year-on-year (y/y) inflation rate thus returning to
its August rate after measuring 3.7% y/y in September. Specifically,
food prices fell by 2.6% y/y, while the cost of non-food foods
increased by 7.4% and service tariffs soared by 11.9% y/y. Meanwhile,
after a gain of 0.7% in September had seen the month-on-month (m/m)
inflation rate return to a positive range following deflation in the
three preceding months, the m/m inflation rate moderated to 0.5% in
October. Food prices gained 0.6% m/m, while the cost of both non-food
items and services increased by 0.5% m/m. These developments took
the cumulative price growth since the beginning of the year to 3.2%,
while the annual inflation rate for the January-October period came
in at 3.0%.

Significance:Armenian inflation pressures from the demand side
remain extremely weak due to the severe economic contraction. However,
cost-side pressures do play a role, with annual service price inflation
boosted by the increase of Russian gas prices enacted earlier this
year. Upward pressure from this source is likely to persist in the
coming months. Nevertheless, the inflation rate should remain within
the target range of 4% plus or minus 1.5 percentage points specified
by the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA). Then again, given the very wide
external financing needs of the economy in comparison to its foreign
currency earnings, the potential for sharp further depreciation of the
dram exchange rate remains a risk. This has direct relevance for the
inflation outlook because any notable dram weakening would probably
transfer relatively rapidly to intensifying price pressures.

ORANGE COMPANY TO INTRODUCE INNOVATIONS IN TV BROADCASTING SPHERE

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.11.2009 20:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ President Serzh Sargsyan has today received France
Telecom President Didier Lombard and Deputy Manager Olaf Suanti, as
well as Orange Armenia organization’s General Director Bruno Duthoit
and French Ambassador to Armenia Serge Smesov.

Welcoming the delegation, President was noted with satisfaction
that first part of program was implemented within a short period and
expressed Armenian side’s interest in new international brands.

France Telecom President Didier Lombard added in turn that company
had really managed to carry out a lot of work within a short time and
expressed gratitude to Armenian government for its support. Didier
also said that their company’s goal was to introduce innovations in
TV broadcasting sphere, RA President’s official Web site reports.

ORANGE ARMENIA’S CELLULAR SERVICE TARIFFS WILL RANGE WITHIN 5-35 AMD

ArmInfo
2009-11-05 19:00:00

ArmInfo. Orange Armenia’s cellular service tariffs will range within
5-35 AMD, Marketing Director of Orange Armenia Aram Lazarian said
during a press-conference today,

The company has introduced four prepaid tariffs: Start, My Friends,
My Time and My Numbers.

Start will cost 35 AMD for all mobile and fixed networks. Outside
the three biggest cities (Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor) the tariff
will be 5 AMD a minute.

My Friends will cost 5 AMD for tariff users, 5 AMD/minute for SMS
inside the Orange network and 5 AMD per 1 Mb for visitors of a number
of social networks.

My Time will cost 5 AMD/minute in evenings and on weekends and 5
AMD/Mb for visitors of a number of information portals.

My Numbers will cost 5 AMD a minute for the three most favorite
numbers and 30 AMD/minute for the rest.

"We also offer Orange Business service with two accounts for one
number: personal and business. This will help to solve of the problem
of corporate bill payments: employers will have to pay only the
business account," Lazarian said.

Orange Armenia also offers Each Month postpaid tariff plan. The
minimum cost of this service is 4,000 AMD a month. The users of this
plan will enjoy 1,000 and more free minutes and opportunity of free
calls inside the Orange network.

There are also two solutions for internet: Internet Now and Flybox.

Internet Now will cost 9,000 AMD and more per month. USB-modem with
12-month subscription will be provided for symbolic 1 AMD.

Flybox service is for a network of up to 40 computers.

This service costs 16,000 AMD a month at lowest.

Vice President of France Telecom Olaf Swantee said that Armenia’s
mobile communication market was quite promising due to low internet
and high cellular penetration rates.

Orange Armenia subscribers will enjoy the opportunity to visit the
wap-portal of Orange World and access to TV from a mobile phone.

In Nov Orange Armenia subscribers will be offered roaming in 130
countries via Orange’s global network and will not have to pay anything
for activation. "We have two more gifts for our first subscribers:
300 free of charge minutes in the Orange network in Armenia and no
charge for the first minute of each first call (both domestic and
international) made each day till Dec 31," Lazarian said.

US EMBASSY IN AZERBAIJAN DISMISSES RUMOURS OF KARABAKH ULTIMATUM

news.az
Nov 5 2009
Azerbaijan

Terry R. Davidson The USA has not changed its position on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Terry Davidson, public affairs officer at
the US embassy in Baku, has said.

He was commenting to 1news.az on a report published in Azerbaijan’s
Yeni Musavat newspaper that the USA would recognize Karabakh as
independent if Azerbaijan were to begin military operations in
the region.

"The USA has not changed its position on Nagorno-Karabakh," Terry
Davidson set. "We are for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in line
with the principles of international law, including respect for the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," Davidson told a press conference.

Davidson told Yeni Musavat newspaper: "The information that you
published on 2 November, quoting an assistant to Tina Kaidanow, US
deputy assistant secretary of state on European and Eurasian affairs,
is a fabrication. She did not say anything of the kind."

The deputy assistant secretary of state told Azerbaijan’s ANS TV
channel that the United States supports the peaceful settlement of
the Karabakh conflict.

In her interview, Kaidanow said: "First of all, I would like to note
that the United States support resolution of conflicts in peaceful
and just ways. US President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have
both made an open statement on this and both undertook a commitment
in connection with the resolution of the Karabakh conflict within the
framework of the Minsk Group. We have recently appointed one of our
best diplomats, Robert Bradtke, as the co-chair of the Minsk Group
and I hope we will continue this important and dynamic process in
the coming weeks and months."

UNITED STATES-ARMENIA JOINT ECONOMIC TASKFORCE

US Department of State
1331.htm
Nov 4 2009

The U.S. Department of State welcomed Nersis Yeritsian, Armenia’s
Minister of Economy, and his delegation for the 18th iteration of the
U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Taskforce (USATF). During his visit to the
U.S., Minister Yeritsian and his team met with officials from several
agencies in the U.S. Government, including the Department of State,
Department of Treasury, Department of Commerce, and the Office of
the U.S. Trade Representative.

The USATF, established in 2000, has met semi-annually to provide a
forum in which to further cooperation between our two countries,
advance economic and market reforms in Armenia, and discuss
opportunities for U.S. assistance to contribute to Armenia’s long-term
economic development. The task force is an open forum to discuss issues
of concern and interest to both countries. This year’s discussion in
Washington, D.C., co-chaired by Daniel N. Rosenblum, Coordinator for
Assistance to Europe and Eurasia, and Minister Yeritsian, focused
on the following themes: promoting good governance and democracy
development, addressing regional issues, and enhancing the business
climate in Armenia. The resulting action plan, which details the
specific actions each side will take to further our mutual cooperation
on Armenia’s development, includes items from all of these areas.

The U.S. Government and the Government of Armenia concluded an
important agreement on science and technology cooperation as part of
the Task Force’s meetings in Washington, D.C. The Director of the
National Science Foundation, Dr. Arden Bement Jr., joined Minister
Yeritsian in signing a memorandum of understanding that will facilitate
cooperation in numerous areas of mutual interest between the United
States and Armenia, including information technology, intellectual
property, earth sciences, and others.

673 POLICE OFFICERS ADMINISTRATIVELY BROUGHT TO THE ACCOUNT IN RA

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2009 17:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA Police attaches special importance to the rule
of law inside the police, Sayad Shirinian , Head of Public Relations
department of the RA Police told a press conference in Yerevan today.

"Over the last 9 months of this year 55 police officers have been
administratively brought to the account for misconduct. Administrative
penalty has been subjected to 673 policemen in all, 33 out of them have
been relieved out of the system, five were demoted, and 8 policemen
were demoted in the ranks, " he said.

Sayad Shirinian also addressed issues relating to the traffic police,
saying that within 9 months of 2009 in Armenia, there were 1,409
accidents, which killed 232 and injured 1,965 people. According to
him, thanks to the diligent work of the traffic police, the number
of accidents fell by 10.2 per cent compared to last year.

YOUNG PAINTER DAVID NERKARARYAN OPENS HIS FIRST PERSONAL EXHIBITION IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.11.2009 19:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On November 3, Armenian painter David Nerkaryan
opened his exhibition in Narekatsi Cultural Centre, Yerevan.

"Like any other painter, I want to find my world and myself. I like
Armenian miniature painting very much. Works by Toros Roslin and Momik
are my imspiration, but my creative enthusiasm is not limited to that,"
Nerkararyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

David Nerkararyan was born in Vanadzor, Armenia. After leaving local
fine art school, he continued his professional education in Yerevan
State Teacher Training Institute, Faculty of Creative Art. He is
also graduate of Documentary Direction Department of Yerevan State
Institute of Theatre and Cinematography.