Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

SWISS EMBASSY OPENS IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
24.09.2009 11:11

The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, received the
Ambassador of Switzerland to Armenia, Lorenzo Amberg on the occasion
of opening of the Swiss Embassy in Yerevan.

Greeting the guest, Minister Nalbandian said the opening of the Swiss
Embassy in Armenia would be a serious impetus for the further deepening
of Armenian-Swiss friendly ties.

Edward Nalbandian stressed that the appointment of the most famous
Armenian – Charles Aznavour – as Armenia’s Ambassador to Switzerland is
another sign of the importance our country attaches to the development
of relations with the Swiss Confederation.

RUSSIAN DAILY RED-FACED OVER FAKE PRESIDENT INTERVIEW

Agence France Presse
September 22, 2009 Tuesday 3:39 PM GMT

One of Russia’s most popular newspapers issued a sheepish apology on
Tuesday for running a fake interview with the president of the former
Soviet republic of Armenia.

Moskovsky Komsomolets had run the interview on Monday — when Armenia
marked its annual independence day — calling it an "exclusive" based
on a lengthy meeting in President Serzh Sarkisian’s presidential
palace.

"In fact, the president of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sarkisian,
did not give an interview to Moskovsky Komsomolets. An unprepared
article was published through the fault of the editor on duty,"
it said on its website.

"Those responsible were disciplined," the broadsheet said, adding that
the interview had been based on previous Sarkisian statements presented
as answers to "hypothetical questions" that he was not actually asked.

"We hope our regrettable mistake will not spoil anyone’s holiday,"
the newspaper said.

In the fake interview, Sarkisian praised Armenia’s close ties to Russia
and discussed various issues affecting his small Caucasus country,
including its rapprochement with longtime foe Turkey.

STRICTER PENALTIES INTRODUCED FOR ECONOMIC ENTITIES PRESENTING FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT EXCESS PAYMENTS OF VAT

NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. At the September 23 sitting,
the Armenian government approved the bill on making an addition to
the RA Law on Value Added Tax. In the words of Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan, the cases when the State Revenue Committee reduces the amount
of the excess payment to be paid back are frequent. "Such cases do
not allow to make a recalculation quickly and to pay back the sums,"
he said, adding that the decision will help estalish order regarding
this problem.

Minister of Finance Tigran Davtian said that by taking this decision,
the government "envisages a fine for itself": in case of delaying the
refund of VAT excess payments to economic entities, the government will
have to pay a fine to them. According to him, stricter penalties have
also been introduced for those economic entities which will present
false information on the amount of the excess payment. Additional
checks will be conducted to check the trustworthiness of presented
information.

WORD SAID IN LACHIN

s15265.html
12:07:07 – 22/09/2009

No one knows why, Raffi Hovhannisyan decided to break his silence
not in a press club of Armenia, or in the office of his party but
in Kashatagh. The place hints that Raffi Hovhannisyan in fact goes
on keeping silence. Of course, Raffi Hovhannisyan is not ruled out
to try to show that while the political and press field of Armenia
were overwhelmed with conversations on the Heritage, he was busy in
more important things for his homeland in particular, in a place in
danger. But in this case, he had better announce about it directly and
clearly. For instance, to announce that now it is not time to calm
the Heritage down which is the reason why he is engaged in another
more important task. The fact that Kashatagh is several thousands
of times more important than the Heritage is not disputable for the
Heritage itself either.

In addition, let no other political force doubt that Kashatagh is
several thousands of times more important than they are. Just the
point is about the Heritage leader’s speech now. If he was led by this
logic, though he did not voice it, nevertheless Raffi Hovhannisyan’s
behavior if still to be commanded. The point is what continuance all
this will have. For example, may Raffi Hovhannisyan hold his next
speech in Kelbadjar, the next one in Horadis, the other in Kubatlu
and so on passing through all the 7 regions of the historical Artsakh,
as the historian Marxist David Hakobyan would say?

Anyway, in this way, we may be sure that Raffi Hovhannisyan would make
a political invaluable innovation when the Armenian politics would
arrive in released areas making a particular repopulation action in the
form of political idea. Other political forces and the government are
possible to follow his example too. From this point, one had better
keep silence if they are going to speak in released areas.

NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR OF SPAIN TO ARMENIA ANTONIO MARC PUZHOL HANDS HIS CREDENTIALS TO THE ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSIAN

ARMENPRESS
Sep 22, 2009

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS:Newly appointed Ambassador of Spain
to Armenia Antonio Marc Puzhol (residence in Moscow) handed today
his credentials to the Armenian President Serzh Sargsian.

Presidential Press Office told Armenpress that the President
congratulated the diplomat on the assumption of the post and
expressed hope that during his years in office he will have his
important contribution to the development of bilateral cooperation
in different spheres.

"Armenia and Spain profess the same value system, have great
cultural history which creates good prerequisites for development of
cooperation," Armenian President Serzh Sargsian said.

According to Ambassador Puzhol, Spain wishes to raise the relations
with Armenia on a level, which corresponds to permanently changing
demands of the globalizing world.

The interlocutors exchanged thoughts on the possible cooperation ways,
stressed the importance of intensification of trade-economic relations
as well as creation of the necessary legal-agreement field.

Ambassador Puzhol singled out the university cooperation as a
prospective field which can establish a spiritual bridge between the
young generations.

President Sargsian and the newly appointed Ambassador also referred
to Armenia-European Union relations and the opportunities of bilateral
cooperation within this context.

Ambassador said that the next year Spain will assume the EU Presidency
and intends to make serious steps towards development and deepening
of the relations.

HOVANNISIAN BLASTS FEUDING PARTY MEMBERS
Emil Danielyan

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 21 2009

Armenia — Raffi Hovannisian, leader of the opposition Zharangutyun
party.

After nearly two weeks of silence, opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian
has condemned as "unacceptable" and pledged to intervene in a bitter
dispute between senior members of his Zharangutyun (Heritage) party.

But Hovannisian, who formally holds no positions in the party hierarchy
despite being its de facto top leader, did not explain his surprise
decision to resign from Armenia’s parliament, which appears to have
precipitated the damaging turmoil.

The resignation, revealed to the media on September 7, was followed
by the expulsion from the party ranks of three senior Zharangutyun
figures, including a parliament deputy and a member of the Central
Election Commission. The latter accused the party’s nominal chairman,
Armen Martirosian, of foul play and secret collaboration with the
Armenian authorities.

Martirosian and his allies, which dominate Zharangutyun’s
decision-making board, have rejected the accusations. They also claim
that the dissidents acted on orders issued by both the government
and the country’s largest opposition alliance led by former President
Levon Ter-Petrosian.

In a statement circulated on Monday, Hovannisian refrained from
taking sides in the row, seemingly blaming both factions for the
"mudslinging" and castigating unnamed individuals motivated by "petty
personal interests." "Of course, as the party’s founder, I bear a
share of the blame, but at issue today is collective responsibility
or rather, the way I see it, collective irresponsibility," he said.

"I think that as one of the leading forces, Zharangutyun will find
a way of sorting out this situation. But if it fails to do that
before the end of this month, I myself will solve the problem,"
warned Hovannisian.

Hovannisian did not elaborate, saying only that the party has come to
be an important "center of gravitation" in Armenia’s political life
that needs to be preserved. Incidentally, he is scheduled to hold a
news conference on October 1.

The popular politician also warned other opposition and pro-government
forces from attempting to exploit Zharangutyun’s troubles. "Let nobody
from our opposition partners and governing parties think that they
are sinless, that they have a monopoly [on truth,] that they are the
only alternative," he said.

ARMENIA WILL NOT GO TO WAR WITH GEORGIA, SAYS ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT

Tert
Sept 21 2009
Armenia

Armenia’s current leadership will not take any steps which will
distance the country from Russia, announced President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with Russian paper Mosovski Komsomolets
().

"As for the changes in relations with Turkey, if those are unacceptable
for Russia, then why does Russia consider Turkey its military
partner? Azerbaijan, similarly, is Russia’s military partner. Russia
is a strong country, and it befriends whoever it chooses: one has oil;
the other, gas. And what should be live on? Air?

"Here, even without that, a part of the borders are closed. Some
people judge us, that after the events which took place in Georgia
last year, we were safeguarding a connection with Georgia, though
we are not prepared to become enemies with Georgia simply to satisfy
someone. We are extremely close with each other. During the five-day
war in South Ossetia, when the Tbilisi-Yerevan train stopped running
for a time, there was practically no gas left in Armenia.

"Yes, imagine that we didn’t even have a one-week reserve of gas. We
don’t have an exit to the outside world: on one side, Turkey is
closed to us; on the other side, is Azerbaijan and the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh; the third border is Georgia. The possibility of
having political freedom, [and] in order not to become cannon fodder,
we are forced not to lose relations with our neighbours and to search
for new alternative paths.

"Currently we are attempting to establish communication with Iran, to
create a common railway, though that same Russia won’t help us in this
regard. Why does everything work out this way if you are interested
in us? What is there left for us to do?" said the Armenian president.

The Age (Melbourne, Australia)
September 19, 2009 Saturday
First Edition

NON-FICTION: Listening to Grasshoppers

by STEVEN CARROLL

Listening to Grasshoppers
Arundhati Roy Hamish
Hamilton, $39.95

THE title comes from a lecture on the subject of genocide
â?¬’ specifically, the systematic murder of 1.5 million
Armenians by Turkish authorities in 1915. Its subject is integral to
much of what Arundhati Roy says on the aligned themes of the future of
democracy "now that democracy and the free market have fused into a
single predatory organism", and the problematic role of "progress" in,
especially, Western democracy. When she questions the future of
democracy it should be emphasised that she is not talking about
"lapsing into discredited models". These are forthright essays,
clearly argued and highly pertinent. But there are times when her
presentation of key concepts are reductive â?¬’ "progress",
for example, which she mostly sees as intrinsic to imperialism and the
genocide that always accompanies imperialistic expansion.

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am, Armenia
Sept 19 2009

Karabakh will never be Azerbaijani: MP

13:16 / 09/19/2009If Turkish side keeps laying down preconditions and
state that border opening is impossible without Karabakh conflict
settlement, RA President Serzh Sargsyan will not go to Turkey for
October 14 football match. Republican Party Press Secretary Edward
Sharmazanov told NEWS.am, adding `President clearly stated in which
event he will go. His position is precise and principled.’

Commenting on RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan’s statement that
`Attempting to link Armenian-Turkish and Karabakhi processes, Turkey
might fail both’ Sharmazanov said: `Minister’s statement is logical,
as Armenian side have always stated on various levels that
Armenian-Turkish rapprochement cannot be directly linked with Karabakh
peace process. Saying there are no preconditions in the Protocols, we
mean the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement cannot be linked with any other
process, and any attempt in doing so conflicts the documents.’

MP also touched upon yesterday’s statement by Turkish Premier Erdogan,
that `Border will not be opened without Karabakh conflict settlement’,
emphasizing: `Establishment of the relations based on preconditions is
unacceptable to us. Any ultimatum is inapplicable for Armenia. If
Erdogan intends to present an ultimatum, he better do so to his
friends ‘ Azeris and explain them that Nagorno-Karabakh will never be
within Azerbaijan boundaries.’

ARA BABLOYAN ELECTED A MEMBER OF WHO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

ARMENPRESS
SEPTEMBER 17, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS: Session of the European regional
committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) took place September
15 in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark with the participation of
representatives of 53 states.

Public relations department of Armenian Parliament told Armenpress
that from the European region the representatives of Armenia and
Norway have been elected members of WHO highest executive committee.

>From Armenia member of WHO highest executive committee which
functions in Geneva has been elected the Chairperson of the NA
permanent commission for the health, maternity and children’s affairs,
Professor Ara Babloyan.