Author: Nahapetian Samvel

`Ari Tun’ project: new and improved in 2010

Noyan Tapan
29.01.2010

YEREVAN: The RA Ministry of Diaspora will continue and enlarge the
`Ari Tun’ project starting from May 2010.

According to information from the Department of Pan-Armenian Programs
of the RA Ministry of Diaspora, more Diaspora Armenian youth will be
visiting Armenia in 2010 and applications have already been sent from
Canada, Australia and Russia.

In July-October 2009, 313 Diaspora Armenians from Egypt, Turkey,
Russia, Syria, Georgia, Ukraine, France, Germany, Israel, Czech
Republic, the USA, Belarus, Iran, Australia, Argentina and Kazakhstan
visited Armenia within the framework of the `Ari Tun’ project. The
project was sponsored by the Iraqi Armenian Society of America,
`ArmenTel’ CJSC, Yerevan Brandy Factory and `Ashtarak Kat’ CJSC.

As Head of the Department of Pan-Armenian Programs Zhenya Azizyan told
`NOYAN TAPAN’, this year’s program will be more organized, taking into
account last year’s flaws and experience. There will be some
fundamental reforms and the participants will range from 13-20 years
old.

As an addition to this year’s requirements, participants will be
required to present a doctor’s note regarding their health condition
within 10 days prior to their visit to Armenia.

It is envisaged to broaden the locations of families selected to host
the youth in Armenia. Last year, there were only host families from
Yerevan and four provinces near Yerevan.

The Ministry has already prepared the 2010 `Ari Tun’ project and will
present it to the RA Government in early February.

The Ministry of Diaspora has also undertaken the initiative to create
a separate website for the `Ari Tun’ project with news, announcements
and other information. The website will give participants the
opportunity to communicate in Armenian. For instance, today, the young
participants of the `Ari Tun’ project from the CIS communicate with
each other through the Russian language `Odnoklassniki’ website. The
youth from other countries don’t have that opportunity due to the
language barrier. However, Georgian youth have befriended Maxim from
France and Sayat from Turkey on `Odnoklassniki’.

The project participants organized an `Ari Tun’ project photo contest
in Georgia. `It is important to keep the youth’s patriotism and
connection with the Homeland alive,’ said Zh. Azizyan, adding that the
Ministry keeps in touch with last year’s participants. The Ministry
receives hundreds of letters of gratitude from the youth and their
families. Summing up the results of the `Ari Tun’ project in
July-October 2009, Azizyan informed that the project participants
-received free entrance visas and medical aid -were provided with food
and transportation to travel in and out of Yerevan -were permanently
accompanied by employees of the Ministry and road police officers
during the trips out of Yerevan -attended interactive courses on
patriotism at 5 public schools of Yerevan-the courses were conducted
by skilled educators in collaboration with the `Education without
Borders’ non-governmental organization, -participated in Armenian
dance courses conducted by chief stage director of `Berd’ dance
ensemble, president of the National Dance Union of Armenia, candidate
of pedagogical sciences Karen Gevorgyan, -visited the Mother See of
Holy Echmiadzin, the museum-institute of the Armenian Genocide, the
Tsitsernakaberd memorial, Matenadaran, the National Gallery of
Armenia, the History Museum, house-museums of Sergey Parajanov,
Martiros Saryan, Yeghishe Charents and Hovhannes Tumanyan,
historical-cultural monuments, including the Sardarapat memorial,
Zvartnots, Khor Virap, Oshakan, Mughni, Saghmosavank, Geghard
monastery complex and the pagan temple of Garni, as well as the
military institute after V. Sargsyan and military units of Lusakert
and of Special Significance, -watched the play put on by the Armenian
theater of Georgia, the film `Dead Pigeon’, participated in the `Folk
Dance’ television program of `Shant’ television, -met with heads of
provinces of Ararat, Aragatsotni and Gegharkunik, youth organizations
and clubs within the framework of visits to the provinces,
-participated in the events organized by the districts of Yerevan with
the participation of the host families, -had meetings with rector of
Yerevan State University Aram Simonyan, rector of the Armenian-Russian
(Slavonic) University Armen Darbinyan, students and administration of
the State Linguistic University after V. Bryusov, as well as
cross-stone sculptor Varazdat Hambartsumyan, folk singer Haykazni,
boxers Vakhtang Darchinyan and Syuzi Kentikyan, -visited the annual
`Digitech-2009′ international exposition of information, advanced and
telecommunication technologies and `ArmenTel’ CJSC -received
accessories, including a shirt, hat and bag with the `Ari Tun’ logo,
an `ArmenTel’ mobile phone card, the encyclopedia entitled `Armenia’s
wonders’. As for gifts, they received the `Book Song’ published by the
RA Ministry of Diaspora, a booklet-VCD of the address by RA President
Serzh Sargsyan to the project participants and other books and
souvenirs.

In addition, farewell ceremonies were organized on the last day of
each group’s visit with the participation of RA President Serzh
Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Minister of Defense Seyran
Ohanyan, Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan, head of the Armavir
province Vardges Hovakimyan and other officials and renowned
individuals.

The Ministry also organized concerts with the participation of
well-known performers and groups from the provinces within the
framework of farewell events. The project participants were given
certificates, host families were granted letters of gratitude. There
were also quizzes on patriotism, as well as song, dance and recitation
contests.

AMBASSADOR AZNAVOUR MET WITH SWISS PARLIAMENTARIANS

Lragir.am
29/01/10

On January 27, the Armenian ambassador to Switzerland, Charles Aznavour
met with the co-chairs of the Armenian-Swiss parliamentary group of
the Swiss National Council Wally Leonberg and Dominick de Buman.

In the course of the meeting, issues regarding bilateral cooperation
between Switzerland and Armenia in economic, social and cultural
spheres were discussed. The Armenian ambassador underscored the
current political mutual understanding between Armenia and Switzerland
and Armenia’s willingness to develop economic relations. The RA
MFA reports.

ARMENIA SHOULD SET TERMS FOR PROTOCOLS RATIFICATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.01.2010 13:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is experiencing a crucial period, said Hayk
Babukhanyan,the leader of Constitutional Right Union party.

"Two ongoing processes – normalization of relations with Turkey
and Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process -can have fatal
consequences for Armenia," he told a news conference on Friday.

"Turkey hit a deadlock after the RA Constitutional Court delivered its
ruling on the Protocols envisaging normalization of relations between
the two countries. To gain some concessions on Karabakh from Armenia,
Ankara is trying to drag out the ratification of the Protocols,"
Babukhanyan said.

"Armenia should stop following Turkey’s rules of play and urge it
to ratify Protocols till March 1, 2010. If Turkey doesn’t agree,
it will be us to take up the language of preconditions," he concluded.

ATOM EGOYAN: IT’S A QUESTION OF PASSION

Kelowna.com
Friday, January 29th, 2010 | 1:01 pm

OTTAWA – Atom Egoyan, the Canadian auteur of a unique kind of cinema –
intellectual, chronologically fractured explorations of the dualities
of truth and lies, of the viewer and the viewed – is talking about
the day he had to shoot the killer bee scene in the TV series of
Friday the 13th.

It was 23 years ago, and Egoyan was an emerging young talent, a
University of Toronto graduate whose early films, Family Viewing and
Next of Kin, were sometimes playful examinations of family, intimacy,
and technology – themes he would continue to explore in later films.

But he also had to make a living, so he hired himself out to do TV
shows: The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and the pilot
of the TV version of the iconic horror series.

"I remember one scene," Egoyan said. "I came the closest I ever came to
a nervous breakdown on that film because there as a scene where this
maniac grabs a bee’s nest and throws it into the cab of a truck where
this young woman is screaming and she’s being stung to death by bees."

Egoyan decided he wanted a shot from the bee’s point of view, from
inside the truck.

But the director of photography refused to get into the truck even
though the insects were male drones that don’t sting. So Egoyan –
already feeling under pressure because he was behind on the seven-day
shooting schedule – decided to film the scene himself.

"I got into the cab of the truck and the bee-keeper released the
bees, and the actress started screaming, and I was there moving like
a bee, the next thing I remember was people knocking at the window
and looking out and seeing the arc lights and the shadow of the crew,
and I literally didn’t know where I was. I was so discombobulated.

"And I thought, `This is very far from what I thought I’d be doing with
my life right now: having this woman screaming beside me, pretending to
be a bee, and feeling like I was going to be fired. It wasn’t where I
thought I would be when I applied to the arts council five years ago’."

Such is the life of the Canadian auteur, and even more so in the case
of Egoyan, whose themes of duality arise in his own career as well:
the auteur in a horror truck, the art house darling with a couple
of Oscar nominations, the director of cerebral enigmas like Exotica
and Adoration who is also courted by Hollywood to make big-budget
thrillers.

It’s not a new story, but as Egoyan enters the heartland of middle
age – he turns 50 in July – he says he is more careful than ever
about what he wants to do.

Egoyan was in Ottawa to help launch a book about his 1991 movie
The Adjuster. The book, written by Tom McSorley, the head of the
Canadian Film Institute, is one of a series of University of Toronto
Press examinations of Canadian cinema, and it makes a case for The
Adjuster as a watershed film. Starring such familiar performers as
Elias Koteas, Maury Chaykin, Jennifer Dale, Don McKellar and Arsinee
Khanjian (Egoyan’s wife and frequent collaborator), it tells the
story of an insurance adjuster and his relationship with his clients.

"The primary strategy of uncertainty, of mystery, combined with a
jigsaw puzzle narrative structure to contain and enact it, will be
developed further in subsequent films," McSorley writes.

Egoyan remembers the movie as coming at what he calls "a privileged
moment in English Canadian cinema." Canada was coming out of the
so-called tax- shelter era, when movies were made for financial rather
than artistic reasons. Patricia Rozema’s I’ve Heard the Mermaids
Singing (1987) had been invited to the Cannes Film Festival. Egoyan’s
own Family Viewing was picked up for distribution. A personal story
like The Adjuster – inspired when the Egoyan family home and furniture
store in Victoria burned down and Egoyan became curious about the
job of the man who came to assess the damages – could get made.

"It couldn’t be made now because too many people would interfere," he
said. "You would second-guess yourself as opposed to just being able
to react intuitively to this material, which is why it is hopelessly
obscure for some people and very unusual and I think quite purely
cinematic."

Egoyan was born in Cairo to Egyptian-Armenian parents – his name
commemorates Egypt’s first nuclear reactor – and he was raised in
Victoria. He moved to Toronto to go to school, and then started making
short films. The Adjuster was part of a career he describes as "very
incremental" – he’s made only 12 feature films since his 1984 debut
with Next of Kin, and much of his work has come under the radar of
big-budget financing.

He said he was inspired by Quebec director Jean-Pierre Lefebvre,
who said the budget of a film should reflect its intended market.

Egoyan says that’s all changed now.

"The problem today starts with young filmmakers wanting fame
immediately, and with technologies like YouTube, you have (the)
potential of a lot of people watching your material," he said. "It’s
all about how many hits you’re going to get. An Atom Egoyan couldn’t
exist. I don’t know who I would be in today’s world."

There’s another side to Egoyan’s career, however, one reflected in
his latest film, Chloe. Due out in March, it stars Amanda Seyfried,
Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson – it’s the film Neeson was making when
his wife, Natasha Richardson, died in a skiing accident in Quebec –
in a story about a woman who suspects her husband is unfaithful and
hires a prostitute to try to seduce him. It’s a remake of a French
film, and Egoyan did not write the script: he was hired by producer
Ivan Reitman to direct it.

Egoyan has received such offers before, especially after the success of
his commercial breakout, Exotica, in 1994. At the time, he moved to Los
Angeles and signed on to direct a thriller, to be called Dead Sleep,
for Warner Brothers. He calls it "the most confusing year of my life."

"I was meeting actors and meeting executives, and everyone was
speaking very intelligently about this script and it felt like (the)
right environment for me, until I realized that I wasn’t going to
wind up making that film. It was going to be in constant development."

He was rescued when American author Russell Banks – "bless his soul"
– pressured him to make a film out of his novel The Sweet Hereafter,
another dark story about a group of schoolchildren who die in a bus
accident. Egoyan was nominated for Academy Awards for his direction
and his screenplay of the 1997 film.

The studio interest got more intense, but Egoyan said he has learned
that the excitement often leads to disappointment. He had just finished
talking with fellow director David Cronenberg, who spent a year on
a project with Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise – a thriller to be
called The Matarese Circle – only to have the plug pulled.

"You can just waste a lot of time," Egoyan said. "And I made a promise
to myself now that I’m going to be turning 50 that I’m not going to do
this any more unless the project will actually get made. Chloe almost
didn’t. A French studio (StudioCanal) came in to underwrite it, or
there would have been a problem. Dramas are hard to finance right now.

I continue to read scripts and books, but if I don’t think there’s
a chance of getting it made, I’d rather spend time on my own projects."

It’s a different kind of cinema, of course. "My sensibilities as
a writer are very idiosyncratic and I have to be very protective
and understand the audiences for that film are more limited for an
audience than a film like Chloe. " But cinema isn’t his whole life.

He also directs opera and does art projects, like an installation for
the opening of Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower, the new headquarters
of the Toronto International Film Festival.

"It’s a question of what I’m passionate about," he said. "What’s
interesting … about the film The Adjuster that (is) it was made
passionately . .. you can feel that when you watch the film. And
that’s what you want to feel. "

ZAATAR BREAD, AT THE BAGEL SHOP?
By Robb Walsh in Robblog

Houston Press (blog)
Fri., Jan. 29 2010 @ 10:58AM

You won’t find Middle Eastern specialties like zaatar bread or
Armenian flatbread at your average bagel bakery. But Arnold’s Bagels,
a new business located in the same Westheimer shopping center as
Phoenicia, is not your average bagel store. That’s because Arnold,
the half-Armenian and half-Jewish baker, is from Iran.

He bakes plain, wheat, sesame, everything, cinnamon raisin and
blueberry bagels. A dozen are $8.95. One toasted with cream cheese
is $2. A breakfast bagel sandwich with egg, bacon and cheddar is $3;
with smoked salmon, it’s $4.29. A large coffee is $1.65, but Arnold
recommends an Armenian coffee for $2. It’s like Turkish coffee,
only better.

Arnold apologized that he didn’t bake fresh bagels every hour, but
he does bake fresh Armenian flatbread coated with sesame seeds every
hour. He supplies Phoenicia with the stuff. He makes zaatar bread
for himself and his wife, but there is often some around if you crave
the stuff.

Unfortunately, there are no zaatar-coated bagels — yet.

AN UNACKNOWLEDGED GENOCIDE
By Harry Hagopian

Ekklesia
11122
27 Jan 2010

Today marks the observance of the International Day of Commemoration
in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and other
mass atrocities around the world. The sadness and horror evoked by
this occasion is felt particularly strongly by the descendants of
the victims of unrecognised genocides.

As historians have asserted on the basis of ample archival evidence
(), this first genocide of the last
century was in fact perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government
between 1915 and 1923 when it systematically and relentlessly targeted
and killed Armenians within its Empire.

Ultimately, well over one million ethnic Armenians, who incidentally
were Ottoman and later Turkish citizens, lost their lives.

As an Armenian born after this grisly period of our history,
I often wonder how our forbears managed to persevere in the face
of such immense suffering and adversity. Not only did they, their
families and friends, undergo the most harrowing experiences, they
also managed to pick themselves up and rebound from the devastation
of their orphaned situations.

It is due to their intrepid steadfastness and belief in their
collective identity as Armenians, that we – the younger generations –
can now lead our lives more freely and with more confidence.

But what does this say about modern-day Turkey? Equally importantly,
what does it say of those across the world who still resist tooth
and nail the idea of genocide – any acts of genocide, that of the
Armenians or subsequent ones – with denial and who debase human life
and dignity for spurious political and economic considerations?

How can we possibly claim to defend a political order based on human
rights and common decency on the one hand only to stifle it on the
other? Do deniers not recall George Santayana, a principal figure
in classical American philosophy, asserting that "those who do not
remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (in The Life of Reason,
Volume 1, 1905).

As the American NPR broadcaster, Scott Simon, wrote in ‘Genocide’
is a Matter of Opinion, there are times when one has to utter the
word ‘genocide’ in order to be accurate about mass murder that tries
to extinguish a whole ethnic group. That is why the slaughter of
a million Tutsis in Rwanda is not called merely mass murder. This
is also why any politician who goes to Germany, for instance, and
describes the Holocaust of European Jews merely as ‘terrible killings’
would be reviled without mercy and even prosecuted without appeal.

President Obama assumed the high moral ground during the US
presidential primaries by stating clearly that the Armenian people
deserved "a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide
and responds forcefully to all genocides".

But on Armenian Remembrance Day on 24 April 2009, his written statement
from the White House referred twice to the Armenian genocide as medz
yeghern – translated literally as "great catastrophe" rather than
"genocide". Many American politicians still refrain from using the
‘g-word’.

However, debates are intensifying along with speculation on the
possibility that the US Congress in April may finally recognise the
Armenian genocide. The Turkish government, which still talks about the
"confusion" of 1915-23, is lobbying hard against this.

Once again we will witness a showdown between realpolitik and the
truth: in other words, between contemporary political expediency and
the burden of past atrocities. All too often the former seems to win.

Does this not sadly alert us – believers and humanists alike – how
the values of our global world today often avoid words such as truth,
conscience and honour?

On 24 April 2010 we will be six years shy of a century of denial
that – no matter whether individual, collective or institutional –
still contaminates the truth. Is it therefore not high time to put the
record straight? Is it not time for Turkish officials to put jingoism,
let alone misplaced pride or fear aside by recognising this unfortunate
chapter of their Ottoman history during World War One? Is it not time
for the Turkish judicial system today to stop invoking Article 301
of the Turkish Penal Code and charging reporters or writers simply
because they refer to the massacres of Armenians as genocide? Is it
not time also for the Turkish President and Prime Minister to prove
their EU-friendly credentials by mustering the political fortitude
-let alone the moral rectitude – to acknowledge past aberrations?

Moreover, is it not time for the world community to embark upon
a veritable phase of genocide education by underlining the eight
stages of genocide which culminate in denial – as elaborated by Dr
Gregory H Stanton in his Eight Stages of Genocide in 1998 when he was
president of Genocide Watch? Or as the chartered clinical psychologist
Aida Alayarian elucidated in her book Consequences of Denial, does
the denial of the Armenian genocide not deprive its victims of the
opportunity to make sense of their experience, as well as rendering
Turkish society unable to come to terms with its past, and therefore
with itself?

Such recognition is not solely for the sake of Armenians. After all,
I consider this genocide a historically-recognised reality, even if
some governments dither, equivocate and refuse to admit to it for
reasons that have more to do with political weakness than historical
truthfulness.

No, it is also for the memory of all those righteous Turks who
assisted, harboured and supported Armenians during this wounded chapter
of history. But as a firm believer in forgiveness and reconciliation,
I hold that it is ultimately for the sake of both Armenians and Turks
alike so they can begin the painful but ineluctable journey toward
a just closure of this open sore.

————

(c) Harry Hagopian is a former executive secretary for the
Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). He is now an ecumenical,
legal and political consultant for the Armenian Church. As well
as advising the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and
Wales on Middle East and inter-faith questions, Dr Hagopian is
involved with ACEP, the Paris-based Christians in Political Action
(). His own website is Epektasis
()

INGO ARMENIA TO BRIDGE EXISTING GAPS IN 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.01.2010 14:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ingo Armenia insurance company plans to bridge
the existing gaps in 2010, said the company’s Executive Director
Levon Altunyan.

As he told PanARMENIAN.Net, it is planned, particularly, to broaden
the network of car and personal insurance services.

"We are hopeful to cross the border outlined back in 2008," he said,
adding that the crisis caused a 12-14% reduction of the company’s
bonus pool.

For 2009, the company planned a range of insurance products enabling
an average employee to insure himself and his property.

"After releasing the product, we found out that it mostly suits natural
persons requiring an active group agents, and we are now working in
that direction," Altunyan said.

Ingo Armenia CJSC is one of Armenia’s major insurance companies
headquartered in Yerevan. It was established in 1997 as "EFES"
Insurance CJSC.

On December 2003, the major part of the Company’s shares was purchased
by "Ingosstrah" Russian Insurance CJSC, afterwards the Company was
renamed "Ingo Armenia" Insurance CJSC. "INGO ARMENIA" Insurance CJSC
cooperates with leading reinsurance companies aiming at reinsuring
the underwritten risks. Its main partners in reinsurance sphere are
Munich Re and ACE (Germany), SCOR (France), AIG and Chubb Insurance
(USA), Polish Re (Poland), Ingosstrah (Russia).

AMERIABANK PLANS TO DEVELOP A PENSION ACCUMULATION SCHEME

ARKA
Jan 27, 2010

YEREVAN, January 27, /ARKA/. Ameriabank plans to develop a pension
savings accumulation scheme, its CEO Artak Anesian said today at a
news conference. He said the bank is implementing a pilot program
with an affiliated company following which Ameriabank will offer
similar schemes to all its clients.

He said the pension savings accumulation scheme was developed as a
trust management fund.

He said pension payments will be accumulated on special accounts and
the funds will be invested in least risky assets, such as state bonds
and securities.

Ameriabank is owned fully by TDA Holding Ltd, an affiliation of one
of the biggest Russian investment companies Troika Dialog. At the
end of 2009 its assets totaled 103.5 billion Drams, liabilities-81.8
billion Drams, the aggregate capital-21.7 billion Drams and the charter
capital 18.2 billion Drams (in terms of charter capital Ameriabank is
the highest rated Armenian bank). Its overall credit investments stood
at 54.1 billion Drams and liabilities towards clients at 69.1 billion
Drams. Its net profits in 2009 amounted to 1.5 billion Drams. ($1 –
377.83 Drams).

ARMENIA IN TALKS ON WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP IN BAKU
Elmir Aliyev

News.Az
Tue 26 January 2010 | 12:28 GMT

Armenia and Azerbaijan are discussing arrangements for the Armenian
team to compete in the world youth boxing championship in Baku
in April.

The championship in Baku is a qualifying event for the first Youth
Olympic Games to be held in Singapore in the summer. A team that
does not take part in the Baku championship will not be able to go
to the games.

Tbilisi recently hosted a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
sides to thrash out the details of a possible visit by the Armenian
national team to Baku.

"The Armenians asked the International Amateur Boxing Association
to issue them licences [to qualify for Singapore] without their
participation in the world championship, but the AIBA refused," said
Chingiz Huseynzade, a participant in the negotiations in Tbilisi and
vice-president of Azerbaijan’s National Olympic Committee.

"The AIBA said that licences must be acquired in competition to
compete in the Olympic Games. You see, the Armenian side is not in
a good state now. After the triumph of Azerbaijan’s judo fighters in
the European championship in Yerevan, the Armenian sporting community
will demand the same success of their boxers in Baku but it will not
be so easy to get the same results. Anyway, the negotiations with
the Armenian side are continuing."

TURKEY HOLDS FIRM STANCE ON NORMALIZATION OF TIES WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 19:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey wishes the current normalization process with
Armenia to follow the spirit of the Protocols signed, said Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"Turkey holds a firm stance on the issue and will prevent any attempts
to harm the process," he told NTV company in an interview.

According to him, Ankara pursues 3 goals in the current process:
normalization of ties with Armenia, eradication of prejudices about
Armenian and Turkish nations and establishment of peace on global
and regional levels.

Touching upon Karabakh conflict settlement, he said there was certain
progress in peace talks.

"It’s better to settle the problem than freeze it," Davutoglu stressed.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has issued the following official statement
on Armenia-Turkey Protocols:

"The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia has declared
its decision of constitutional conformity on the Protocols between
Turkey and Armenia signed on 10 October 2009 with a short statement
on 12 January 2010. The Constitutional Court has recently published
its grounds of decision. It has been observed that this decision
contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the
letter and spirit of the Protocols."

"The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these
Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach
cannot be accepted on our part," runs the statement posted on Turkish
MFA website.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions
of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control
of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.