Author: Mamian George

ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN CONDEMNS AND DISCUSES THE QUESTION ON LEAVING THE COALITION

LRAGIR.AM
16:08:03 – 23/04/2009

The question on the normalization of the Armenian and Turkish relations
has been the axis one on the Armenian state-political agenda.

The ARF Dashnaktsutyun has numerously stated that friendly relations
may be established between the two countries only after Turkey’s
recognition of the Armenian genocide and after the restoration of
the rights of the Armenian nation. The elimination of the blockade
and the establishment of diplomatic relations can be only the first
steps on this way. The normalization of our relations with Turkey on
account of the liveliness of our state and the national-state rights
of our generations is absolutely unacceptable for us. We condemn the
Armenian ministry of foreign affairs for signing the agreement with
Turkey on April 22.

Considering that the approaching the commemoration day of the greatest
tragedy for the Armenians and the anti-Armenian statements of the
Turkish side, we think this agreement harms the interest of the
Armenian people. Considering that this process supposes the change in
the external policy of Armenia, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun will discuss the
expediency of its participation in the coalition on the upcoming days.

RALLY ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY’ TO BE HELD IN MOSCOW

ArmInfo
2009-04-22 14:00:00

‘Russian-Armenian Commonwealth’ organization jointly with Moscow
office of the Union of Union of Armenians of Russia will hold a rally
in Moscow on April 24 ‘Armenian Genocide – a Crime Against Humanity’.

As "Yerkramas" newspaper of the Armenians of Russia reports, the rally
aims to condemn the Armenian Genocide in Turkey and demand official
recognition of the murderous deeds by Turkey.

Heads and representatives of the Russian political parties and public
movements, as well as the Jewish, Greek, Assyrian, Kurdish and Armenian
organizations of Moscow will take part in the rally.

The participants in the rally will apply to the Turkish president
demanding official recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Moreover, it is scheduled to lay wreathes to Khachkar monument,
hold a Liturgy and a memorial evening.

Historic Armenian cemetery buried under waste

One of the gravestones at the Armenian cemetary in Uppuguda.

Bhargav Nimmagadda
First Published : 21 Apr 2009 08:37:23 AM IST
Last Updated : 21 Apr 2009 12:04:16 PM IST

HYDERABAD: It is perhaps the last known trace of the Armenian
connection with the city of Hyderabad.And now it is almost on the
verge of being erased erased from the city’s historic map.

Yes, the Armenian cemetery located at Uppuguda (known as Opiguda in
the colonial times) is reduced to a mere dumping zone and a place
where people relieve themselves.Armenians came into India as traders
through the overland route much before the advent of European traders
into India, in fact seven centuries before Vasco-da-Gama reached
India.

A historian Mesrovb Jacob Seth in his seminal work Armenians in India
has noted that 19 Armenians including two priests Rev Johannes (1680)
and Rev Simon (1724), were buried in this now deserted cemetery.And
the cemetery is not confined to Armenians alone.

`With no English graves of 17th and 18th century seems to have
existed, even the Dutch used the Armenian cemetery till they acquired
their own cemetery in the year 1678,’ B Subrahmanyam, a retired deputy
director of AP Archaeology Department told Expresso.Referring to a
study done by Dr V Nersessian, he pointed out that there was
considerable Armenian population in Hyderabad and the community was
sent a Pontifical Bull from Holy Etchmiadzin, the spiritual centre of
Armenian Chursbiantuow in Soviet Armenia.Realising the importance of
the Armenian cemeteries and churchyards, which are the only attested
sources of their presence, the D epartment of Archaeology has declared
the Uppuguda site as a protected monument under the Archaeological
Sites and Remains Act, 1960. But due to sheer negligence, this
historical churchyard is reduced to a dumpyard full of liquor bottles
and human excreta.When the sorry-state of affairs was reported to the
Director of Archaeology and Museums Department P Chenna Reddy, he said
that they have included this cemetery in the colonial heritage
monuments preservation project in Hyderabad.

`The cemetery has been neglected for more than seven years. Before the
Central Government releases funds for this project, the department is
chalking out a plan to clean the site soon,’ an Archaeology Department
official said.One can only hope that the condition of this cemetery,
where the Armenian-Hyderabad connection is etched, would be improved
as soon as possible.

RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA IS ENCOURAGING, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

Anadolu Agency
April 22 2009
Turkey

WASHINGTON, D.C. (A.A) – 22.04.2009 – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said on Wednesday that rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia
was an encouraging one. Clinton delivered a speech at a session held
in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The steps that have been taken by leaders of Turkey and Armenia in
the recent period were encouraging, she said.

Clinton said she believed that other steps which would be taken by
the two countries to normalize relations and open border crossings
would create a better climate and U.S. President Barack Obama fully
supported these efforts.

In regard to the Cyprus issue, Clinton said that the United States
backed a bi-communal, bi-zonal and federal solution in Cyprus. (EO-UK)

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN SUGGESTS ESTABLISHING AN ARMENIA-POLAND INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION

armradio.am
22.04.2009 12:17

Within the framework of his visit to Poland, the Speaker of the
National Assembly of Armenia, Hovik Abrahamyan, had a meeting with
the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk.

During the meeting the parties discussed the global financial crisis
and its influence on both countries. Mr. Abrahamyan presented the
current state of the Armenian-Polish parliamentary contacts. The
Armenian Parliament Speaker suggested establishing and Armenian-Polish
Intergovernmental Commission to promote the bilateral economic ties
and expressed his willingness to contribute to the cooperation between
the executive authorities of the two countries.

The Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly and the Prime Minister
of Poland agreed that EU’s Eastern Partnership Initiative provides new
opportunities for the development of the Armenian-Polish friendship
and further integration of the South Caucasus region into the
European Union.

Today the delegation headed by the Speaker of the National Assembly
Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan will leave for Krakow, where he will meet
with Malopolska voevoda Mr. Jerzy Miller. The Armenian delegation
is also expected to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
memorial-museum.

U.S. ENVOY VISITED USAID-SUPPORTED PROJECTS IN CHARENTSAVAN

LRAGIR.AM
18:08:26 – 21/04/2009

As part of her regional tour to Kotayk Marz on April 21, 2009,
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie L. Yovanovitch visited the
USAID-supported Armenian EyeCare Project and Soup Kitchen in
Charentsavan, accompanied by town Mayor Hakob Shahgaldyan, U.S. Embassy
and USAID/Armenia representatives.

USAID has partnered with the Diaspora-founded Armenian EyeCare
Project (AECP) since 2004. The project’s mission is to eliminate
preventable blindness and make eye care accessible to all people in
Armenia. Ambassador Yovanovitch visited the project’s state-of-the-art
Mobile Eye Hospital, stationed at the Charentsavan hospital, and
conversed with project doctors and community members waiting for
their examination or surgical treatment. During the last AECP visit
to Charentsavan in 2007, 156 adults and 343 children were screened
for eye problems, and 90 patients were then referred to Mobile Eye
Hospital for detailed eye examination. AECP also provided 72 pairs
of glasses and performed surgeries for 28 vulnerable people.

The U.S. envoy then visited the USAID-supported Charentsavan
Community Center and Soup Kitchen – one of 25 Day Centers operated
across Armenia by the Mission Armenia NGO. Operating since 2004, the
center in Charentsavan offers a broad range of services to the town’s
197 most vulnerable residents, including the elderly, the disabled,
refugees residing in temporary dwellings, families with many children
and the unemployed. The facility provides a hot meal once a day,
five days a week, social and health services (including home visits)
and arranges vocational training courses for vulnerable community
members. Ambassador Yovanovitch toured the facility, joined the
elderly for lunch and observed the eye screening and public health
talk, conducted by AECP doctors for the center’s visitors.

OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER WILL PLAY INTO ANKARA’S HANDS

PanArmenian
April 17 2009
Armenia

RA ex-Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan’s book presentation was held
in Yerevan.

"The Unfinished Decade" features Vardan Oskanyan’s speeches
as RA Minister of Affairs. "The book is the report I submit to
modern Armenian history. My second book of memoirs will be more
analytical. Still there are some things which mustn’t be written at
all or told about too early."

The ex-Foreign Minister noted that Armenian foreign policy has to be
corrected, specifically in the sphere of Armenian-Turkish relations.

"I support opening of Armenian-Turkish borders and believe that
positive aspects prevail over negative ones. Still I’m concerned about
the abundance of controversial statements on the issue. On one hand,
Turkish President speaks about the impossibility to normalize relations
without NKR conflict settlement, and on the other, Armenia declares
about certain progress in negotiations. It’s great that negotiations
between the parties became more open. But we mustn’t forget that it’s
Turkey who’ll benefit from opening of Armenian-Turkish border. The
country has a number of issues: EU, Kurds, the Armenian Genocide
recognition, internal policy issues. So, opening of Armenian-Turkish
border will play into Ankara’s hands," Oskanyan said.

THE WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS WILL AFFECT INTERNAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA

PanArmenian
April 16 2009
Armenia

Financial crisis consequences will have a negative effect on internal
tourism development in Armenia, Armenian Hotel Association Chairman
Hakob Hakobyan told a news conference on Thursday. "Financial crisis
and dram devaluation in Armenia ensued in income reduction and
unemployment increase," he said.Reduced income in Armenian families
will eventually impair internal tourism development, as many families
will no longer be able to afford holidays in RA or NKR touristic
regions. " It’s hard to make forecasts, but hopefully the slump won’t
be a major one, around 5%-7%," Hakobyan noted.

No touristic service tariff reductions will be implemented in
near future. According to Hotel Association Chairman 80% of hotel
expenditures include staff salaries, taxes and utility services. "Tax
legislation toughening, utility services tariffs increase do not
allow of hotel tariffs reduction. Tourstic service is one of the rare
unmonopolised services where hotel owners establish their own tariffs,"
Armenian Hotel Association Chairman noted.According to Hakob Hakobyan,
currently many hotel construction projects are being frozen and no
investments in hotel service development are expected in 2009.

ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS TO CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIA – RUSSIAN EXPERT

ARKA
Apr 15, 2009

YEREVAN, April 15. /ARKA/. Establishment of Armenian-Turkish bilateral
relations can contribute to development of the Armenian economy,
said Russian political scientist, executive director of the fund
"Russian World", President of the fund "Politics" Vyacheslav Nikonov.

"Establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations may have a positive
influence on Armenia, as Turkey is a strong economic player and
Armenian-Turkish bilateral relations may contribute to the development
of Armenian economy," he told reporters on Wednesday.

According to Nikonov Russia is also interested in settlement of
Armenian-Turkish relations, as it will give an opportunity for transit
through Turkey which is important for Russian business. The president
of "Politics" fund noted Turkey has its own stance in many issues,
being a member of NATO but defending its national interests.

"These interests may differ from the American ones, namely the stance
of America and Turkey differs a lot in Iraq’s issue," he said.

Nikonov stressed the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations will
take a specific time, though there is already some progress in that
direction which is supported by Russian and USA.

"A significant number of representatives of the Turkish elite and
the Armenian officials are interested in the esta blishment of
Armenian-Turkish relations. Of course, all that was destroyed and
absent in decades cannot be restored in a second, it will take some
time," he said.

There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and the
state border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara’s initiative.

Turkey has set a number of pre-conditions for improving bilateral
relations, namely, Armenia’s abandoning the policy of international
recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire during WWI,
when some 1.5mln Armenians were massacred. Besides Turkey has an open
pro-Azerbaijani stance in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The progress in Armenian-Turkish relations has started since last
September 6, when President of Turkey Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan
at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to be
present at a football match between the Armenian and Turkish national
teams as part of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers.

The visit was named "football diplomacy" and was widely covered by
the press. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has recently stated
the state border will be open or close to it by the next game between
the national teams of Armenia and Turkey in October. -0–

OSCE Office in Yerevan calls on all participants in the election for
Yerevan Council of Aldermen to display restraint and observe legitimacy

2009-04-11 16:34:00

ArmInfo. Armenia is on the election campaign threshold and under these
conditions the OSCE Office in Yerevan calls on all parties involved in
this process to display restraint, exposure and observe legitimacy,
Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Sergey Kapinos said when
replying to ArmInfo correspondent’s question.

According to him, all the arising discrepancies and problems should be
settled exclusively in the constitutional-legal field, by political
methods, without use of violence. In this connection, the OSCE Office
stresses the significance of observance of the principles of freedom of
assemblies and processions, freedom of expression and mass media,
respect for human rights adopted by Armenia and reflected in the
national legislation. "Rights and responsibility are two sides of the
coin. All the participants in the election campaign should display high
political and civil responsibility",- Kapinos stressed. He added that
the OSCE Office follows the developments in the center of Yerevan
related to oppositionists’ processions. Kapinos is concerned with the
fact that conflicts with law-enforcers and cases of violence even
against mass media representatives have become more frequent. He also
expressed hope that the incidents will receive a legal assessment. It
is very important to prevent such cases in the future, and the OSCE
Office in Yerevan calls on all the parties to follow the principles of
proportionality, he stressed.

Kapinos added that at the moment observation of the election for the
Yerevan Council of Aldermen is much spoken about. One would like to
specify the issue of participation of international observers in thge
monitoring of the forthcoming election. As a rule, ODIHR/ OSCE monitors
presidential and parliamentary elections in the OSCE member countries
if officially invited.

In exclusive cases, for instance, as it was in Albania, Moldova and
Georgia, local elections also may be monitored at certain states’
request. According to the data of OSCE Office in Yerevan, OSCE/ODIHR
has received no invitation to observe the forthcoming election in
Yerevan. Regardless of international observers’ presence, the OSCE
Office in Yerevan will contribute to participation of local observers
from NGOs in the election monitoring, Kapinos said.

The OSCE Office in Yerevan also congratulates Armenian citizens on Holy
Easter and wishes them peace, happiness and welfare. Kapinos expressed
hope that Armenians, as citizens of the state, which was the first to
adopt Christianity, will be faithful to the principles of humanity and
tolerance laid in the basis of this religion.