Author: Nahapetian Zhanna

THE 19TH SITTING OF THE BOARD OF "HAYASTAN" FUND KICKED OFF

Aysor
May 14 2010
Armenia

Today in Yerevan kicked off the regular 19th sitting of the Board
of Trustees of the "Hayastan" all-Armenian fund, which is chaired by
the Armenian President, the chairman of the board of trustees of the
Hayastan" all-Armenian fund Serzh Sargsyan.

On the session, on which 32 members of the board of trustees out of 36
and 25 representatives of local bodies are present, will be presented
the reports summing up activities and financial reports, as well as the
conclusions of Audit Company and Supervisory Commission of the fund.

According the agenda of the session is planned to affirm the directions
of the project and the strategic project of the year to which will
be directed the donations of the telethon 2010, on the bases of the
discussions and suggestions will be clarified some organizational
issues concerning the Fund.

The session started by the blessing of the All-Armenian Catholicos
Karekin II and the Lord’s Prayer.

Univocally was accepted the decision of involving the wife of
Varuzhan Burmanyan, Tiruhi Burmanyan, into the staff of the Board,
Presenting the new member chairman Sargsyan attached importance to
the contribution of the Brazilian Armenians in the activities of
the "Hayastan" all-Armenian fund and the life of the community. The
sitting goes at the moment.

FASCINATING KARABAKH
HAKOB BADALYAN

Lragir.am
14/05/10

Karabakh issue has become a hostage of the Armenian home political
life, while the Armenian home political life became the hostage
of the Karabakh issue. This mutual connection brought about an
economic-political and socio-psychological deadlock. On the one hand,
it is obvious that the current problems of Armenia have nothing in
common with the Karabakh dispute. As well, the settlement of this
conflict within the international logic and establishment of peace
and stable situation can hardly solve Armenian home fundamental
issues such as rigged election, economic and political monopolies,
business and power connection.

On the other hand, it is obvious that the Armenian home political
situation from time to time becomes a hostage of Karabakh: "Stay
calm, or we will lose Karabakh", "do not rally, this is the reason
why Azerbaijan tried to attack", "you help our enemies when dwelling
on democratic issues", and a series of other such kind of approaches
that the power uses during the whole period of independence.

More, oppositions during independence have also acknowledged this
fact which, not knowing what to do, explain their "being calm" with
the desire not to harm Karabakh. Let alone the fact that the only more
or less change of government occurred in Armenia was again determined
by the Karabakh issue.

The problem is how to come out of this situation of mutual connection
and change the public psychology explaining to it that as long as
the stability of the current economic-political, socio-psychological
situation is preserved, the challenges and dangers of Armenia and
NKR will become more because the world is moving forward changing
interests, moods and tactics.

The public perception with regards to the NKR issue is to be changed
making it understand that the key to the settlement of the NKR issue
is in Armenia. If someone really wants to solve this dispute, they
need to dwell on the Armenian home issues and their solutions: if the
intentions and wishes to see Armenia as a regional center are sincere,
everyone needs to stop making calculations in connection with home
issues proceeding from the NKR issue, hoping to carry out a shift of
government with its help: it is necessary to respect the territorial
integrity of Karabakh: the idea that the surrender of territories in
exchange of something is a synonym of peacefulness and pragmatism is to
be changed, just like the opinion that the opposite means bellicosity,
adventurousness, etc.

The Armenian National Congress in this context is seen as the
main oppositional force of the country which publicly assumed the
responsibility to change the situation in the country. But this
does not grant Congress the immunity of criticism. More, if Congress
assumed the role of the force to change the situation in the country,
its mistakes and shortcomings become fatal for the country.

Consequently, the demands towards Congress become bigger. It is quite
comprehensible that sometimes they can be dictated by political
reasons. But it is only waste of time for Congress to make them
self-protective measures. The example of the government is good in this
connection: it qualifies any criticism as a result of treachery but
doing this it appears in a ridiculous situation because the society
in the end prefers being led by facts and arguments.

The point is that the vocabulary of the Congress, during the last 1-1,
5 years, is "overwhelmed" with geopolitics and geopolitical analyses
and predictions of fatal solutions in the NKR issue. In other words,
the Congress, which seems in 2008 to have found a way to come out of
the circle of connection of NKR issue and the Armenian home life,
consciously or unconsciously, returns in the same circle. This is
the problem and not the fact that Congress is not active, decisive,
fundamental and unable of carrying out a revolution. The main problem
is that Congress deviated from its goal to establish a civil and legal
society and psychology and underestimated this job to foreign policy,
mainly, Karabakh issue.

ARMENIA SEEKS ASSURANCES THAT TURKEY WONT EXPLOIT PACE KARABAKH PANEL

Asbarez
Friday, May 14th, 2010

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Armenia will not back renewed discussions on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the Council of Europe Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE), championed by a Turkish politician, until it clarifies
their details and purpose, a senior lawmaker said on Friday.

Shortly after being elected as president of the Strasbourg-based
assembly in January, Mevlut Cavusoglu sought to revive and lead a
PACE subcommittee tasked with facilitating a peaceful resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He has argued that the existence of
such a body is envisaged by a 2005 PACE resolution.

Armenia’s leading pro-government and opposition forces are concerned
that the subcommittee will not be impartial in its work because of
the PACE chief’s nationality. They argue that Turkey continues to lend
strong and unconditional support to Azerbaijan and cite pro-Azerbaijani
statements made by Cavusoglu in the past. The latter dismissed these
concerns during a two-day visit to Yerevan this week.

According to David Harutiunian, a senior pro-government parliamentarian
heading the Armenian parliamentary delegation at the PACE, Armenian,
Azerbaijani and PACE officials are currently discussing the precise
mission of the subcommittee in the question.

"The purpose of the consultations is to try to understand what we
are going to do, how we can assist in the process [of the conflict’s
resolution] and what we should do," Harutiunian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service. The subcommittee will not resume its work, frozen in 2008,
until those consultations are over, he said.

Harutiunian, who also chairs the Armenian parliament’s committee on
state and legal affairs, added that the Armenian side is trying to
clarify the goals of the PACE panel and practical modalities of its
work. "And until there is agreement on this issue, I think we will
not get results," he said.

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan on Thursday, Cavusoglu
insisted that the decision to kick-start PACE discussions on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute was taken by other Council of Europe
officials months before his election. The PACE president, who a member
of Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party, promised to take
the Armenian concerns into consideration even if he does not agree
with them.

ISRAEL PLEDGES NOT TO ADOPT RESOLUTION ON "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" IN KNESSET

news.az
May 14 2010
Azerbaijan

Yevda Abramov News.Az interviews Yevda Abramov, head of the
Azerbaijan-Israel interparliamentary working group.

Can the Knesset pass a resolution on the so-called "Armenian genocide"?

Last week a group of Azerbaijani deputies including me visited Israel
whose parliament considered the issue of the so-called fictional
"Armenian genocide". In this connection, our delegation exchanged
views on this issue with the Israeli counterparts. We felt a special
sympathy toward Azerbaijan both in the Israeli parliament and the
overall Israeli society. They voiced hope to expand friendly relations
and deepen interstate cooperation.

As for the discussion of a bill envisioning recognition of the
"Armenian genocide", our Israeli colleagues said that they are a
democratic state and persons elected in their parliament are free
in their actions. They also said the deputies of the Knesset are
implementing wishes of the voters of the constituencies from which
they were elected, in this connection, a number of small left-wing
parties have insisted on discussing this issue. Earlier these parties
discussed this issue in their faction. Under the procedure, the issue
of "genocide" has been submitted in the Knesset Committee. Meanwhile,
the leader and members of this committee famous for their proximity
to Azerbaijan promised us that this issue will remain within the
Committee. He said the deputies of the same left-wing parties in
the Knesset are raising the issue of "genocide" every six months,
however, this project is still stuck in the Committee. The same will be
observed this time too. The committee has told this faction that our
parliament cannot play a role of the Hague tribunal as Knesset is not
a court. If there are really facts of Armenian victims, the Armenian
side should apply to the Hague tribunal and attain the recognition
of "genocide". The committee also told these left-wing parties that
we have no powers to discuss the domestic political events of any
country. I hope that this issue will not be considered at all because
members of the Committee do not attend sessions when the discussed
is an issue unacceptable for them.

All members of the Azerbaijani delegation, including chairman of
the State Committee for Work with Diaspora Nazim Ibrahimov, Deputy
Foreign Minister Araz Azimov were said in separate that the issue of
"genocide" will not be considered in the Knesset. Therefore, it can
be said that the consideration of the issue of "Armenian genocide"
in the Knesset will be absurd.

Does the raising of the issue of "Armenian genocide" by some parties
in the Knesset come from the internal political struggle within Israel
or is it connected with the foreign policy factors?

One of the reasons of inclusion of the issue of "Armenian genocide"
into the Knesset’s agenda is the tension in the Turkish-Israeli
relations. Some political parties made speculative speeches and
statements. Meanwhile, a number of political parties and forces also
made similar speculative statements. Israel has a number of parties
serving for interests of Armenians and Arabs, who make use of the
tensions in the Turkish-Israeli relations again include the issue of
"genocide" on the agenda. Naturally, the role of Armenians, as well
as nongovernmental organizations who thus fulfill political orders
also played a definite role in this issue.

In addition, I would like to note that the raising of the issue on
"Armenian genocide" in the Israeli parliament met the interested of
separate persons represented in the higher echelons of the Israeli
parties, as well as some in the government for "bargaining" with Turkey
for the latter to regret about some of its actions. To some extent,
this goal has been reached.

I would like to note that the Azerbaijani side has done much in order
to prevent the discussion of the issue of "genocide" in the Knesset.

In this connection, our Turkish friends have already expressed their
thanks to me that the Azerbaijani deputy of Jewish ethnic tries
to prevent the inclusion of the issue of "genocide" into Knesset’s
agenda. On my part, when saying that I will always be next to Turkey,
I have expressed my dissatisfaction with the fact that some Turkish
journalists say Azerbaijan does not support Turkey in the prevention
of recognition of "Armenian genocide" by the parliaments of a number
of countries.

Undoubtedly, the main stimulus to the repeated discussion of the
issue of "genocide" in the Knesset was given by the Davos events
and noncompliance of the rules of diplomatic ethics by the Israeli
Foreign Ministry when receiving the Turkish ambassador. At the same
time, it should be noted that raising the issue of "genocide" in the
Knesset is connected with some corrections in foreign policy.

Can the developing Azerbaijani-Israeli relations have a positive
influence on the improving relations between Turkey and Israel?

The matter is that Azerbaijan supported friendly ties with Israel even
before the cooling in the Turkish-Israeli relations. But there is a
definite truth in this issue and it is envisioned in the definite
tendencies in Israeli diplomacy observed recently. This tendency
is fixed in the following issue: if Turkey is distancing from us,
then who can help us approach the Muslim world? In this case, Israel
indicates friendly Azerbaijan as such a country in foreign policy.

Israel has two friendly countries in the Muslim world-Turkey and
Azerbaijan. But as Turkey goes out of their number, only Azerbaijan
can be a gate to the Muslim world. Therefore, Israel has become closer
to Azerbaijan, which is proven by the visit of Israeli president and
foreign minister to Baku. In addition, several Israeli ministers are
expected to arrive in Baku. Naturally, Israel considers Azerbaijan
to be a closer and a friendly country and a reliable partner. People
in Israel also knows that Azerbaijan is a true friend. At the same
time, the factor that the fifth part of carbohydrogens consumed
in Israel comes to Azerbaijan also plays an important role in the
Azerbaijani-Israeli relations.

Which spheres do the expectations of the Israeli side cover in
developing ties with Azerbaijan?

Israel has repeatedly stated that it is open for Azerbaijan in all
spheres. Israel wants Azerbaijan to remain a stable country and settle
the Karabakh conflict.

Israeli companies have long been working in the health sphere
of Azerbaijan. At the same time, they are planning to establish
cooperation in education, in particular, exchange of students. The
Israeli side is planning to build a large complex of hothouses
in Khachmaz to plant agricultural products all year round. These
productions will ensure both inner demands of Azerbaijan and create
conditions for their export to other countries, especially to Russia.

The Israeli companies are interested in conditions of tourism
development in Azerbaijan. In this connection, the Israeli tourism
minister is expected to visit Azerbaijan soon.

10TH INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL TOURISM FAIR CTS2010 GETS UNDERWAY IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
14/05/2010

The 10th International Annual Tourism Fair CTS2010 is due in Yerevan,
Armenia May 14-15. The number of the fair participants has increased
for 30 percent this year. 87 companies, including 13 from Turkey,
6 from Georgia, 2 from Tunisia, 1 from Artsakh and 65 others from
Armenia are participating in the fair.

In his opening speech the Armenian Deputy Minister of Economy Ara
Petrosyan said: "This is a good example of cooperation between the
state and private sectors. The fair is done and it’s become a regional
event already."

In the frames of the fair, for the first time a round table will be
held. Van, particularly the Van Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
is also represented in the fair. The President of the Chamber Zahir
Kandasoglu gifted the Armenian Ministry of Economy 3 plates, with
images of Van symbols.

Van representation had a meeting with the Union of Manufacturers and
Businessmen of Armenia Thursday. Another meeting has been scheduled
with the Armenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Friday.

President of the Armenian Association of Travel Agents (AATA) Yeghishe
Tanashyan said in his opening speech that intensive cooperation is
expected with the Turkish side and all the participating countries.

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK INTERESTED IN NORTH SOUTH HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 14, 2010 – 20:14 AMT 15:14 GMT

On May 11-13, Tbilisi hosted conference entitled Transportation
Perspectives in South Caucasus.

Conference participant, Armenian Minister of Transport and
Communication Manuk Vardanyan met with representatives of European
Investment Bank (EIB), who displayed interest in North South highway
construction project.

EIB expressed readiness to discuss co-financing construction of
Ashtarak-Guymri highway section trough contributing USD 120 million
to the project.

In conclusion, Armenian Minister of Transport and Communication offered
to consider possible cooperation in railway construction sphere.

THE AZERBAIJANI MINISTER HAD MISSED YEREVAN

Aysor
May 13 2010
Armenia

"Today it is still to early to speak about the Azerbaijani and Armenian
relations. You, the journalists, know better that there is a problem
in our country which is not being solved for many years. Yesterday
was the 16th anniversary of signing the ceasefire, and the problem
hasn’t been solved till now. If the problem is not solved it means no
talks can be about the normalization of the problems," said today the
Azerbaijan’s Minister of Agriculture Ismad Abasov, who is in Armenia
to participate in the 27th Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations FAO regional conference for Europe.

According to him if everything is solved, if "the lands will be
liberated, if the relations be as they were before" there will be
cooperation in all spheres, in agriculture in that number.

Referring to the economic situation of Azerbaijan I. Abasov mentioned
that in a short period of time the poverty in the country has been
reduced by 4 times and now makes the 10-11% of the population. And
due to the policy that the Azerbaijani authorities lead it is very
possible that there will be no poor in Azerbaijan in the future.

"The economy of Azerbaijan grows with rapid speed. The country is one
of the leaders in the growth of GDP in the world, as in the recent
years it is not less than 10%," the minister said.

I. Abasov expressed hope that in 2012 the Armenian delegation will
be present on the FAO regional conference taking place in Baku.

By the way the Azerbaijani Minister is born in Yerevan and has lived
in Yerevan for many years. Remembering the past I, Abasov informed that
during those days he has visited his old house which was on Alaverdyan
street, his school and he has had other exciting moments. He has also
been in Vardenis, in the former village of his relatives.

"Yerevan is not changed so much. I had missed it, I had missed it a
lot…" I. Abasov said.

MEDVEDEV: RUSSIA INTERESTED IN REINFORCING STABILITY IN THE CAUCASUS REGION

Panorama.am
15:53 12/05/2010

Politics

Moscow and Ankara are intent to hold consultations over strengthening
stability in the region of Caucasus and particularly, Nagorno-Karabakh
issue, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told a joint press conference
with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara Wednesday, according to RIA
Novosti.

"Both Russia and Turkey are interested in reinforcing stability in the
Caucasus region and we [Russia] will move the process forward, will
use all the opportunities, authority and influence," Medvedev said.

SPEGHANI CHOIR RELEASES CHURCH MUSIC DISK TO COMMEMORATE KARABAKH WAR VICTIMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 11, 2010 – 20:32 AMT 15:32 GMT

May 11, Yerevan hosted a presentation of newly -released church music
disc, dedicated to Karabakh war victims commemoration.

Speghani women’s choir performance draws on 7th volume of Armenian
composer Komitas’ works.

THE TIES THAT BIND ARMENIA AND BULGARIA ARE AS OLD AS THE TWO NATIONS THEMSELVES"

al/
2010/05/12 | 17:24

diaspora

A presentation ceremony was held in the Sredec Gallery of the Bulgarian
Ministry of Culture for the April issue of the journal Europe 2001,
which is dedicated to Armenia and was published in Bulgaria through
the initiative of the Embassy of Armenia in Sofia, as part of the
festival entitled The Year of Armenian Culture in Bulgaria.

As reported by the press service of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the presentation ceremony included speeches by Sergey
Manasaryan, the Ambassador of Armenia to Bulgaria, Todor Zobanov,
the Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Culture and Mrs. Gencheva, the
Editor-in-Chief of Europe 2001.

Ambassador Manasaryan expressed his thanks to all the organizations,
state structures and individuals, whose support and direct involvement
made the publication of this issue – the first in the Bulgarian
language to be completely dedicated to Armenia – possible. Readers
can now learn about the historic past of the Armenian people, their
cultural heritage and religious traditions as well as the prominent
policies and issues facing the independent Republic of Armenia.

In his speech, the Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Culture said that
the ties that bind Armenia and Bulgaria are as old as the two nations
themselves.