Author: Nahapetian Samvel

Expected failure for deposit reimbursements
The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 24 2004
The Armenian newspaper Aravot reports on the recent failure the
National Assembly to approve legislation to reimburse depositors who
lost money in the early 1990’s. A member of the party “Orinats Erkir”
considers that the failure is a show of respect to the president of
the country but at the same time, many deputies see the event as a
defeat for the head of the assembly.
The president had criticized the bill for being a distraction. “We
cannot discuss such a significant and confusing issue before the
discussion of the state budget. Moreover, the 2005 budget envisages
an increase of salaries of teachers and soldiers from January 1. I
think that this is purposeful step, the goal of which is to create a
tense situation in the country and to force the coalition as well as
parliament to avoid the decision of the main issues,” stated
Kocharian.
He assured that in his two election campaigns he had never given such
promises.
There was no quorum and as a result the session failed. It is
obvious, the paper writes, “that the recent statement by the
president of the country Robert Kocharian affected on MPs and they
decided not to come to the session.”
According to the secretary of the faction “Justice” Victor Dalakian,
this measure must have been enacted before the elections of 2003. “It
proves that he [the president] deceived the people,” stated the MP.
Kocharian also noted that the MP who initiated the hearing was
pursuing his own goal, particularly, he was acting against the head
of parliament and the ruling party. This statement was directed
toward the chair of the National Assembly Artur Bagdasarian. However,
Bagdasarian expressed satisfaction that a commission had been created
to study the issue.
He also noted that this problem has already been solved in
Nagorno-Karabakh thanks to cooperation of the former president of
Karabakh Robert Kocharian. “I am sure that there is no person in
Armenia who does not realize this problem is a problem of the social
sphere… I also am sure that everybody wants to return the deposits to
the population,” stated Bagdasarian.
–Boundary_(ID_QDsJFDaIM4+WmfjLRDlIXQ)–

‘Vodka’s’ not quite pink lemonade
By Gary Arnold
Washington Times
Dec 24 2004
“Vodka Lemon,” opening exclusively at the Landmark E Street Cinema
tomorrow, looms as a marginal outreach project for novelty-seeking
art-house patrons. Absorbed in the texture of life in a snowbound,
impoverished and essentially disheartening village somewhere in
Kurdish Armenia, the movie is deficient in dramatic incident and
variety, stimulating social observation or lively character
interplay.
The work of a Kurdish Iraqi exile named Hineer Saleem, who left
his homeland 20 years ago and now resides in Paris, the movie
attempts to generate whimsical and even hopeful notes of humor
despite a setting that favors the static and morose. The title
alludes to a roadside tavern that seems to deal exclusively in
bottles of Vodka Lemon, presumably a fortifier along trackless
wastes. Actually, it’s more in the nature of an open-air counter,
similar to a roadside produce stand.
The boss of the watering hole arrives at one point to inform his
bundled-up waitress, a middle-aged widow named Nina (Lala
Sarkissian), that business is too slow to justify her employment.
This doesn’t come as a total surprise, bearing in mind the adage
“location, location, location.”
A lugubrious matchmaker, Mr. Saleem intends Nina as a potential
companion for a somewhat older widower named Hamo (Romen Avinian), a
white-haired former soldier who seems to be selling off all his
remaining possessions while awaiting financial assistance in vain
from a son who has migrated to France. Another son, evidently beyond
hope as a donor, is said to live in Samarkand. A sullen third
specimen called Dilovan (Ivan Franck) is in camera range; he still
lives in the village, nursing grievances about the fixer who has
promised to arrange a job somewhere in the vast reaches of the former
Soviet empire.
Hamo is wistful about the departure of the Russians, who at least
kept up the dole. We observe that he is a less-than-wily bargainer
when putting his own goods up for grabs: a wardrobe, a Soviet
television monitor and an old uniform go for about 20 percent of his
initial asking price. Hamo and Nina often share a bus ride during
daily trips to the cemetery, obviously a symbolic as well as a
picturesquely bleak landmark.
There are amusing deadpan details, particularly the local
fondness for posting chairs outside in order to share a nice cold
sit, smoke and, on rare occasions, chat. A drafty-looking community
center allows some shelter for socializing, but the liveliest
communal activity appears to be waiting for Hamo to get a call from
Paris. A small herd of sheep is linked metaphorically to the docile
populace, and an enigmatic horseman does four or five enigmatic
ride-throughs.
Ultimately, Mr. Saleem wraps up this tour of stagnating
small-town Armenia by playing the magic realism card. Nina, Hamo and
her piano share a wistful vigil on the side of the road before
hitting the road, in a physically impossible way. Still, the mobility
itself is encouraging. The resale value of their hometown looks nil.
A getaway could be just the ticket. Maybe Paris is in the market for
piano duets.
**
TITLE: “Vodka Lemon”
RATING: No MPAA Rating (adult subject matter, with fleeting
violence and sexual allusions)
CREDITS: Written and directed by Hiner Saleem. Cinematography by
Christophe Pollock. Production design by Albert Hamarash. Music by
Michel Korb. In Armenian, Kurdish, Russian and French with English
subtitles
RUNNING TIME: 88 minutes
WEB SITE:
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS

Associated Press
Dec 24 2004
Israel prepares to welcome Christians
Officials hope relaxed Palestinian-Israeli tensions will encourage
visits to Bethlehem.
Visitors touch a column in the Church of the Nativity, traditionally
believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem.
Enric Marti / the Associated Press
By Peter Enav
Associated Press
Jerusalem — Israel is taking special steps to ensure a merry
Christmas in Bethlehem, a military official said Thursday, raising
hopes for a gentler holiday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus
after four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
International attention focuses on the West Bank town on Christmas
Eve, so Israeli officials see an improved Christmas atmosphere there
as a boon to Israel’s troubled image.
“The importance of Bethlehem to the Christian world is clear to us,”
said Lt. Col. Aviv Feigel, head of the army’s Bethlehem district
liaison office. “We in the army are preparing ourselves for this
momentous occasion.”
The main difference with previous years is the perception of lessened
tensions since the Nov. 11 death of Yasser Arafat. Israel accused him
of involvement in Palestinian violence and is hoping for a more
pragmatic, nonviolent leadership to replace him.
Briefing reporters on preparations for Bethlehem, Feigel said Israel
would transfer security control there to Palestinian forces between
Christmas Eve and the Armenian Christmas on Jan. 19. He said Israeli
soldiers manning Bethlehem area checkpoints also would be given
detailed instructions on how to deal with Christian visitors.
Shortly after the latest Palestinian uprising began four years ago,
Israel took control of main West Bank towns and roads, setting up
dozens of roadblocks. Bethlehem is surrounded by posts controlling
entry and exit, and the barrier that Israel is building in the West
Bank cuts through the town.
Within that framework, the military said it would allow Israeli and
Gaza Christians to visit Bethlehem and would not restrict the numbers
of West Bank Palestinians arriving there.
“Every soldier at the checkpoints will receive a detailed sheet of
information about the importance of Bethlehem to Christians, so they
will know how to behave,” Feigel said.
A town of 40,000 people 4 miles south of Jerusalem, Bethlehem was
once a magnet for foreign visitors during the Christmas season, with
tens of thousands crowding Manger Square during the annual midnight
Mass on Christmas Eve.
But the numbers dropped precipitously after violence resumed in
September 2000, falling to only 2,000 last year. This year Israeli
officials are expecting about 4,000 visitors, because of the recent
reduction in violence and the more relaxed atmosphere.
–Boundary_(ID_lKf1cjUn+zmbdTyyzxTdHA)–

ERNEKIAN ALLOCATES ANOTHER 300,000 DOLLARS TO “HAYASTAN” FOUNDATION
YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). Argentinian Armenian Eduardo
Ernekian recently allocated another 300,000 dollars to the “Hayastan”
(“Armenia”) Pan-Armenian Foundation for the construction of the
North-South higwhay of Artsakh. Naira Melkumian, the Executive
Director of the Foundation, told journalists about it on December
21. To recap, Ernekian allocated 1.5 mln dollars during the recent
telethon organized for the construction of the highway.

Divide and rule for Putin’s dreams
THE KOREA HERALD
December 20, 2004, Monday
To divide a people in order to conquer them is an immoral strategy
that has endured throughout recorded history. From Alexander the Great
to Stalin the Cruel, variants of that strategy have been used to keep
nations in thrall to the will of an emperor. We are now seeing this
strategy at work again as President Vladimir Putin stealthily seeks
to restore Kremlin supremacy over the lands treated as “lost” when
the USSR imploded in 1991. In so overplaying his hand in Ukraine’s
recent election, however, Putin clearly revealed to the world his
neo-imperialist designs.
In the wake of the euphoric mass protests in Kyiv, Russia’s president
has since said that he can work with whatever government Ukraine’s
people choose. These are mere words, for in mind and action Putin
does not want anyone to rule Ukraine that he has not put in place. No
price is too high to achieve that end, so traditional threats about
dividing Ukraine have been used. I speak as someone who has been
on the receiving end of Russian imperialist designs. When Lithuania
and then the other Baltic States – Estonia and Latvia – which were
occupied by Stalin early in WW II, seized their opportunity for
freedom in 1990-91, the Kremlin did not sit on its hands. It knew
that the rest of Russia’s colonies – the so-called “Soviet republics”
– would want to follow the ungrateful Baltic countries into freedom.
Although Russia’s rulers were by then communists in name only,
they didn’t hesitate to reach for the old Leninist recipes. They
began to foster and incite splits and confrontations. They stoked
supposed resentments among different national or ethnic communities
based on Lenin’s idea that even small groups of villages could demand
territorial autonomy.
Note the word “territory.” The demands were never about normal
cultural autonomy as a means of continued identity and supposed
self-protection. Only territorial autonomy, it seems, would do.
This way, minorities become easily manipulated majorities. Divide
enough, stoke enough resentment, and a nation becomes nothing more
than a ruined society within a national territory. Arm some of these
manufactured minority structures so that they can demand autonomy at
the barrel of a gun, and you get the kind of chaos the Kremlin can
use to reassert its control.
Fortunately, Lithuanians – as well as Estonians and Latvians –
understood this game. It failed also in Crimea when Russia sought to
deploy its old strategy of divide and rule there in 1991. But these
defeats did not inspire the Kremlin to abandon the basic strategy. On
the contrary, Russia’s imperial ambitions persisted, and persistence
has paid off.
Around the Black Sea, Russia has called into being a series of
artificial statelets. Georgia and Moldova have both been partitioned
through the creation of criminal mini-states nurtured by the Kremlin
and which remain under its military umbrella. Indeed, in the very
week that Putin was meddling in Ukraine’s presidential election,
he was threatening to blockade one of those statelets, Georgia’s
Abkhazia region, after it had the temerity to vote for a president
the Kremlin did not like.
Moldova has been particularly helpless in the face of the Kremlin’s
imperial designs. A huge Russian garrison remains deployed in
Transdneister, where it rules in collaboration with local gangs.
Proximity to this lawless territory has helped make Moldova the poorest
land in Europe. To the east, Armenia and Azerbaijan were pushed into
such bloody confrontation at the Kremlin’s instigation that the only
way for them to end their ethnic wars was to call in the Russians –
as in Transdneister – for a kind of “Pax Ruthena.”
Now Ukraine’s people may face a similar test after supporters of
Viktor Yanukovich threatened to seek autonomy should the rightful
winner of the country’s presidential vote, Viktor Yushchenko, actually
become president. Who can doubt that the hand of Russia is behind
this? Would Moscow’s mayor Yuri Luzkhov, a loyal creature of Putin,
have dared to attend the rally where autonomy was demanded without
the sanction of the Kremlin’s elected monarch? Indeed, Putin openly
claims this part of Ukraine as a Russian “internal matter.”
It is to be hoped that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens, having
witnessed the economic despair – and sometimes the bloodshed – caused
by the Kremlin’s manufactured pro-autonomy movements, will realize
that they are being turned into Putin’s pawns. The test for Viktor
Yushchenko and his Orange revolutionaries, as it was for Lithuania’s
democrats in 1990-91, is to show that democracy does not mean that
the majority suppresses any minority. Lithuania passed that test;
I am confident that Viktor Yushchenko and his team will do so as well.
But Europe and the world are also being tested. Russia is passing
from being the Russian Federation of Boris Yeltsin to a unitary
authoritarian regime under Vladimir Putin and his former KGB
colleagues. Europe, America, and the wider world must see Putin’s
so-called “managed democracy” in its true light, and must stand united
against his neo-imperialist dreams. The first step is to make Russia
honor its binding commitment to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, as well as to the Council of Europe, to remove
its troops from Moldova and Georgia. Any plans to “defend” Yanukovich
and the eastern part of Ukraine by military force must be confronted.
Vytautas Landsbergis, Lith-uania’s first president after independence
from the Soviet Union, is now a member of the European Parliament. –
Ed.

ARMENIANS OF NOR JUGHA MAKE READY FOR ELECTIONS OF DELEGATE ASSEMBLY OF
ARMENIAN DIOCESE OF ISFAHAN
NOR JUGHA, December 15 (Noyan Tapan). The first meeting with the voters
of the electocal commission of the city of Nor Jugha (New Jugha),
established in connection with the elections of the 13th Delegate
Assembly of the Armenian Diocese of Isfahan. These elections will be
held on January 21, 2005. Archimandrite Babken Charian, the Head of the
Armenian Diocese of Isfahan, representatives of the 12th Assembly, the
Diocesan Council and other national bodies, as well as representatives
of the Armenian educational establishments participated in the meeting.
According to the “Alik” (“Wave”) newspaper of Tehran, Jani Ghazarian,
the Chairman of the Commission spoke before the participants, he
psesented the work of the commission. Then Tatul Ohanian, the Chairman
of the 12th Delegate Assembly, and Hrair Shahnazarian, the Chairman
of the Diocesan Council, also made speeches. In his speech the latter
spoke about the role of the Delegate Assembly, its obligations and
responsibilities. He stressed that it is necessary to seriously treat
the role of the Delegate Assembly, as the school, religion, culture,
education underlie the national life, and the people should take an
active part in it.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
December 15, 2004, Wednesday
13:49:44 Central European Time
ROUNDUP: E.U. Parliament votes for Turkish entry, nixes plan ‘B’Eds:
epa photos including 00330317 available
Brussels
The European Parliament on Wednesday voted with a big majority for
Turkey’s entry into the European Union and firmly rejected demands
that Ankara should instead be offered a special relationship. The
vote is not legally binding on European Union (E.U.) leaders who are
meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to decide whether and when to
open entry talks with Turkey. But the opinion of the bloc’s only
democratically elected body sends a strong signal of support for
Ankara ahead of the E.U. summit. A total of 407 E.U. lawmakers voted
in favour of Turkey’s membership of the Union, with 262 voting
against accession. The E.U. assembly counts 732 members but not all
deputies participated in the ballot. Reflecting the political
sensitivity of an issue which continues to divide Europeans, some
parts of the resolution on Turkey were voted in by “secret ballot”.
Those asking for such an option said they wanted to “vote freely
according to their conscience,” said Parliament president Josep
Borrell. Members of the parliament’s conservative European People’s
Party were split on how to vote, with the party’s group leader
Hans-Gert Poettering saying he favoured negotiations on a privileged
partnership with Turkey but others backing full accession.
Poettering’s stance reflects the hardline stance taken by the
conservative opposition in Germany which mainly rejects allowing
Turkey to join the E.U. Turks, numbering about 2.4 million in
Germany, comprise the country’s biggest minority. However, socialist
deputies, representing the second largest group in the assembly,
voted in favour of opening talks with Turkey as did most members of
the Liberal Democrat and green groups. “The European Parliament has
given its full support for opening negotiations without undue delay
… we have fully rejected plan ‘B’,” Borrell told reporters. Plan
“B” is generally taken to be an E.U. offer of second class membership
to Ankara, something the Turkish government rejects. Borrell
cautioned, however, that the E.U. assembly had set key conditions
that Turkey would have to meet during the accession talks. These
include more efforts to upgrade the rights of the Kurdish minority
and recognition of the killing of Christian Armenians between 1915
and 1923 as genocide. But the Armenian issue was “not a new
prerequisite” for starting negotiations with Turkey, just a
recognition of historic events, he said. The assembly chief said
Turkey and the E.U. would have to work harder to get to know each
other, adding: “We are all victims of stereotyping and historical
prejudices.” Borrell will be giving E.U. leaders the Parliament’s
message on Dec. 17, the second day of the bloc’s summit. Camiel
Eurlings, a conservative Dutch member of the Parliament who drew up
the report on Turkish accession approved by the assembly, lauded
Ankara’s efforts at reform. But he warned that the Parliament would
continue to exert pressure on Ankara on human rights issues, the
emancipation of women and religious freedoms. “There must be no
torture,” he underlined. European Commission president Jose Manuel
Durao Barroso, is also pressing for the start of negotiations with
Ankara. “This is the time to say yes to opening negotiations with
Turkey, which has made an enormous effort” to meet E.U. criteria,
Barroso said. Barroso said he opposed offering Ankara a watered-down
version of membership, adding: “That would not be fair to the Turks.”
E.U. leaders on Thursday face tough discussions on Turkey, with
France, Austria and Denmark still insisting that the final summit
statement must refer to the fall-back option of a “special
relationship” if membership talks fail. This is strongly opposed by
the leaders of Germany, Britain, Spain and Italy, however. Turkey
will also be asked to recognise (Greek) Cyprus but this will may be
done through Ankara’s extension of its current customs union
arrangement with the E.U. to all ten new members which joined the
bloc in May this year. Turkey has so far refused to do this. If E.U.
leaders do agree to start talks, negotiations are expected to open in
October 2005, once France and other E.U. states have held their
national referendums on the bloc’s new constitution. The process is
expected to be difficult and last 10 to 15 years. The Commission
which will be conducting the talks has said it will keep a vigilant
eye on Turkish reform efforts during this period to ensure there is
no slippage. The two-day summit will be chaired by Dutch Prime
Minister Jan Peter Balkenende whose country holds the current E.U.
presidency. dpa si lm sc

Azeri leader to visit Iran to annoy US, opposition paper says
Azadliq, Baku
11 Dec 04
An Azerbaijani opposition paper sees President Ilham Aliyev’s planned
visit to Iran is “an expression of anger at the USA”. Azadliq said
that President Aliyev decided to go to Iran as a balancing act in view
of the US Presiden George Bush’s failure to invite him to his
inauguration. Azadliq also said that the Azerbaijani authorities
maintain “unofficial” economic ties with Armenia. The following is the
text of the report by the political section of the Azerbaijani
newspaper Azadliq on 11 December headlined “Why is Ilham Aliyev going
to Iran?” and subheaded “There is no significant reason for this
visit”; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
[Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev is planning to visit Iran. If one
asks government bodies – the presidential administration, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs – about the planned visit, they will all respond in
the same way: documents are being drafted. You cannot find answers to
questions such as what are those documents all about, have any new
spheres for intergovernment cooperation have been defined? “Documents
are being prepared for the time being.” This is the only answer you
can get. The only thing we know in very general terms is that the
sides will discuss the simplification of the visa regime between the
two countries. (About this a bit later)
Aliyev offended by Bush
But one can make assumptions as to the kind of questions that will be
addressed during Aliyev’s visit to Iran or what this official
rapprochement with Iran is for.
The main reason for the rapprochement with Iran is probably the fact
that Ilham Aliyev’s desperate attempts to visit the USA have
failed. There have been numerous commentaries on this. The country’s
most famous political scientists have openly said that because Ilham
Aliyev has not been invited to the USA, he is trying to remind people
of himself by making special gestures towards Russia and Iran.
Interestingly, there have been no reports yet as to whether Aliyev has
been invited to the US President-elect [George Bush’s] inauguration or
not. Perhaps, Aliyev has a 50-50 chance. Bush was re-elected for the
second term. So, he cannot be elected for another term, which is why
this kind of invitation will not be considered as a risk for him.
Tehran smoothes ethnic ire
Iran has its own interests. Iran wants to demonstrate to the
international community that it maintains special relations with
countries of the Caucasus and that it plays a serious and constructive
role in this system of relations. It is true that Iran maintains
normal economic and political relations with some European
countries. But its relations with the USA, which has the final say on
geopolitical issues, are getting worse and worse.
Iran pretends that it has close relations with Azerbaijan. By doing
so, it aims to smooth the smouldering ethnic discord within its
boundaries. The opening of Azerbaijan’s consulate in Tabriz was also
aimed at preventing ethnic tensions from growing. Azerbaijan could not
open this consulate in Tabiz under [Former President] Heydar
Aliyev. The Iranian authorities did not even allow Heydar Aliyev to
see Tabriz when he visited this country.
But Ilham Aliyev will most probably visit the newly-opened consulate
in Tabriz (He will also have some “patriotic” films and footage of
himself shot there). Iran knows pretty well that Ilham Aliyev’s
government has no geostrategic plans or policy in line with those
plans. So, no-one is worried [in Iran].
Iran’s blackmail
Now, the fact of Naxcivan’s blockade is Iran’s trump card in its
relations with Azerbaijan. The Iranian government is openly
blackmailing Azerbaijan by exaggerating its role in Naxcivan’s power
supplies. Although there is every reason to worry about this
blackmail, Azerbaijan has encountered this neither under Heydar Aliyev
nor under his successor. What are these reasons?
Both Iran and Azerbaijan are members of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference [OIC]. The OIC cannot do anything but declare
Armenia as an aggressor again and again in its meetings (similar to
wishy-washy resolutions on Palestine). Iran has also openly supported
these resolutions. But the fact that Iran is maintaining military,
strategic, economic and political ties with Armenia, whom Iran itself
regards as an aggressor, is directly aimed against Azerbaijan. But
the Azerbaijani government neither officially protested against Iran’s
double standards nor raised the issue with the OIC. Ilham Aliyev will
not do so either for several reasons.
First, the corrupt Azerbaijani government maintains secretly economic
ties with Iran’s corrupt clerical leadership. Second, there are no
doubts that the Iranian secret services can prove any time that the
Azerbaijani government itself profits from unofficial economic ties
with Armenia by providing information collected both in Azerbaijan and
Armenia. There may be other reasons as well.
Simple visa regime not reason for visit
Ilham Aliyev’s planned visit to Iran presents interest also from
another point of view: The simplification of the visa regime.
The visa regime between Azerbaijan and Iran is not that complicated
today. Even the Iranians and Azerbaijanis living within the perimeter
of 40 km from the border can visit one another without visas. In order
to simplify the visa regime, one should simply cut the number of the
necessary documents, reduce fees and resolve some other issues
connected with the border security.
The scale of the mentioned problems shows that they can be solved by
signing some necessary documents and there is no need for visiting the
neighbouring country for this. Now that Aliyev has decided to visit
Iran, this is nothing but his and Iran’s expression of anger at the
USA.
And finally, why should not Aliyev along with [Eduard] Shevardnadze in
Georgia, [Alyaksandr] Lukashenka in Belarus, [Leonid] Kuchma and
[Viktor] Yanukovych in Ukraine and [Vladimir] Putin in Russia be
together with the clerical regime?

ACADEMIC THEATRE COMES BACK VICTORIOUSLY
Azg/arm
11 Dec 04
Summing up the year, art director of “Gabriel Sundukian” State
Academic Theatre, Vahe Shahverdian told about the last 3 international
festivals where the Theatre had success. Particularly, they
participated in an international mono festival in Kiel, Germany, with
Nelly Shahnazarian’s “The Procession” play. There were 21
performances staged by actors from 16 countries participatingat the
festival. Germany took the first place, Poland – the second andArmenia
– the third. This was Armenian’s first participation at Tesvis
festival which is already 13-year-old. Sara Cane’s “Psychosis at 4:48”
play directed by young director Suren Shahverdian and acted by
students of Actor’s Facultybrought the next victory to the
Theatre. The play won a special diploma in the nomination of best
director. At the festival in Ahvaz, Iran, they were awarded
$1000. Vahe Shahverdian said that the coming year will be very
important and full of performances. It will be the year of Vartan
Atchemian, and it is envisaged to hold scientific conferences,
exhibitions, discussions and performances, of course.
By Marietta Makarian

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:
PRESS RELEASE
02 December 2004
Foreign Minister Oskanian Receives New Czech Ambassador
Josef Vrabets, the newly appointed Ambassador of the Czech Republic to
Armenia (residence in Tbilisi, Georgia), presented a copy of his credentials
to Minister Oskanian on December 2nd.
At the discussion following the protocol ceremony Armenia’s Foreign Minister
congratulated the Czech Ambassador on his appointment and stressed the
importance of further enhancing bilateral relations. In this regard both
sides mentioned the significance of organizing reciprocal visits of foreign
ministers.
Thereafter the parties addressed the involvement of South Caucasus countries
in EU’s “New neighborhood” policy and cooperation in its framework. In this
regard, Czech’s Ambassador assured Minister Oskanian that his country as an
EU member will support Armenia in its European aspirations.
During the meeting, Minister Oskanian briefed the Ambassador on the latest
developments of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution.
Note. Josef Vrabets was born in 1959. He graduated from the eastern studies
faculty of the Prague University and Moscow Asia and Africa Countries
University. He started his diplomatic career in 1985 at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia and then at the MFA of the Czech Republic.
>>From 1997 till 2002 he served as an Ambassador of Czech Republic to the
Ukraine.