Author: Nalbandian Eduard

U.S.-ARMENIA JOINT ECONOMIC TASK FORCE MEETS IN YEREVAN

armradio.am
13.05.2009 16:56

The governments of Armenia and the United States held a regularly
scheduled meeting of the U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Task Force in
Yerevan on May 13, 2009. The Armenian delegation was led by Minister of
Economy Nerses Yeritsian. The U.S. delegation was led by Dan Rosenblum,
Coordinator for Assistance to Europe and Eurasia at the Department of
State. The two sides discussed ways of further cooperation between the
two countries, advancing economic and market reforms, strengthening
rule of law, and other bilateral issues.

The bilateral task force is an open forum to discuss issues of concern
and interest to both countries, and provides the opportunity to check
progress in certain areas and clarify priorities for moving forward
in the bilateral relationship. The resulting action plan helps
in tailoring assistance to Armenia coming from the United States
Government through the Office of the Coordinator for Assistance to
Europe and Eurasia. In 2008, the United States Government provided
68.9 million dollars of assistance to Armenia.

THE FIRST SU-100 SUPERJET TO PLACE ITSELF UNDER ARMAVIA’S ORDERS BY NOVEMBER 2009

ArmInfo
2009-05-13 13:24:00

ArmInfo. The first SU-100 Superjet will place itself under Armavia’s
orders by November 2009, president of ‘Mika Limited’ Holding, which
involves Armavia, Mikhail Bagdasarov, told ArmInfo correspondent.

‘We shall get the first of the two airplanes, which we are going to
buy, by November 2009 and the second, may be, in 2010’, – Bagdasarov
said and recalled that Armavia is going to buy 5 Superjets over the
several next years. To recall, in 2007 Armavia made a contract with VTB
Bank to finance purchasing of the two SSJ-100 planes in an amount $55 –
60 mln, and at present it is negotiating with several banks on the same
matter. ‘Ar present we are negotiating with VTB on the conditions of
the interest rate which may change a little because of the crisis’,
– Bagdasarov explained and added that the total sum necessary to buy
two airplanes may be reduced a little.

‘It is not ruled out that just $40 – 50 mln will be necessary to
buy two planes. If the second plane will be completed in April 2010,
its price may change by that time’, – Bagdasarov said.

At present Armavia implements more than 170 flights to more than 30
directions. The airline fleet of the company consists of 3 airbuses
A-319, 2 – A-320, one IL -89 and one TU-134.

OSCE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE MEETS ARMENIAN OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS PRIORITIES IN FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

/
2009/05/08 | 22:57

Society

The OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human
Beings, Eva Biaudet, welcomed today the Armenian authorities’ efforts
to combat trafficking in human beings and underscored the need to
place human trafficking higher on the political agenda.

In Yerevan on a three-day visit that ends today, Biaudet participated
in the opening ceremony of the Anti-Trafficking Support and Resource
Unit, which was established by the OSCE Office in Yerevan under
the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues with the support of the
Governments of France, Germany, Sweden and the United States.

She expressed the hope that the Unit would help improve protection
of victims and serve as a forum for discussion, training, gathering
and analyzing information, and for developing feasible goals for
combating human trafficking.

In particular, Biaudet stressed the need for better victim
identification: "Enhanced co-operation between NGOs providing
assistance to victims and law enforcement agencies is a pre-requisite
for better victim identification and I urge the Armenian authorities
to put more effort into also investigating possible cases of internal
trafficking among vulnerable populations".

During her visit, Biaudet met Vice Prime Minister and Minister
of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorkyan, who chairs the
Inter-Ministerial Council on Trafficking Issues, as well as
representatives of the National Assembly, the Ministries of Foreign
Affairs, Justice, Labour and Social Issues and Education, the
police, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Ombudsman. She
also discussed co-operation and co-ordination in the field with
representatives of civil society and international organizations.

"I welcome the increased efforts of the Armenian authorities to
bring traffickers to justice. However, I am concerned that the vast
majority of convicted persons in recent years have been women. Some
of these women are former victims, and I encourage efforts to be
directed towards effective prosecution of all responsible persons,
including the main profiteers," said Biaudet.

The Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, said
his Office stands ready to continue providing support to all relevant
Armenian actors: "The OSCE has always been an active international
actor in anti-trafficking activities in Armenia. The Anti-Trafficking
Support and Resource Unit will promote further effective co-operation
between key national and international anti-trafficking actors in
Armenia to provide for improved prevention, protection and referral
mechanisms in the country."

GUL MEETS OPPOSITION TO TALK CHARTER CHANGE

Hurriyet
May 7 2009
Turkey

ANKARA – President Abdullah Gul has initiated a round of talks with
leaders of the country’s opposition parties as part of a campaign to
promote proposed constitutional amendments.

Gul started these talks by meeting with Republican People’s Party,
or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal late Tuesday.

"A constitutional amendment should be a reform that will resolve
problems in Turkey," Gul said, according to sources. The president
also underscored that any amendment should be an extensive one and
that consensus should be sought on the issue.

The main opposition CHP had previously expressed its discontent with
the government’s attempt to amend the Constitution. During his party’s
parliamentary group meeting Tuesday, Baykal touched on the issue once
again and defined the debates over constitutional amendments as an
"effort to change the country’s agenda."

No support on tenure

Regarding the proposed amendment on presidential tenure, Baykal
said the CHP would not support such a change. The debate on this
topic started after a constitutional amendment in 2007 reduced the
president’s tenure from seven to five years. But since Gul was elected
before the amendments passed, some experts have argued that his tenure
should remain seven years, a prospect that the CHP and the Nationalist
Movement Party, or MHP, strongly oppose.

Besides constitutional amendments, Gul and Baykal also discussed
the issues of terrorism, opening the Turkey-Armenia border and
Azerbaijani-Armenian relations during their meeting. Gul held talks
with MHP leader Devlet Bahceli yesterday and will meet with Democratic
Society Party, or DTP, leader Ahmet Turk today.

The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which has 337
deputies, not including the parliamentary speaker, needs the support
of 30 additional deputies to change the Constitution without holding
a referendum. The amendment package prepared by the government covers
some controversial topics that may cause debates.

One of the amendments aims to make it more difficult to shut down
a party by changing the procedure for such closures. Under the
proposed amendment, indictments prepared by the Supreme Court of
Appeals against a political party would be voted on in the Parliament
and the closure of a party will be decided in line with the voting
result. The amendment also seeks the support of three-fourths majority
of the Constitutional Court in order to shut down a party.

According to another amendment, the number of Constitutional Court
members would be increased either to 17 or to 21, and a majority
of the members would be elected by the Parliament. The Court of
Appeals and the Council of State oppose this amendment, saying it
would politicize the judiciary. The amendment would also restrict
the tenure of members to nine or 10 years.

The planned amendments to the Constitution also include a change to
the right of individual appeals to the Constitutional Court. Those
who cannot get a result from their application to judicial bodies,
or who think that they have been treated unjustly, would be able to
apply first to the Constitutional Court before taking the matter to
the European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR.

RUSSIA NOT PLANS TO RECOGNIZE INDEPENDENCE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH: OSCE MG RUSSIAN CO-CHAIR

Today.Az
cs/52127.html
May 7 2009
Azerbaijan

Russia does not plan to recognize independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh
as an independent region, OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Yuriy
Merzlyakov said after the meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents in Prague on May 7.

"It is not excluded that the presidents of mediator-countries will
participate in the next round of peace negotiations," Merzlyakov said.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents who were invited the EU
"Eastern Partnership" summit in Prague on May 7 met at the US Embassy
and discussed settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Today’s high-level meeting was the fourth one between Azerbaijani and
Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan on the Karabakh
settlement. The previous meeting took place in Zurich on Jan. 28 in
2009. The first meeting was held in St Petersburg in June 2008 and
second – in Moscow in late November 2008.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed
forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently
holding the peace negotiations.

ARMENIA FM MEETS EU SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

armradio.am
07.05.2009 12:42

The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, had a meeting
with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby.

Minister Nalbandian and Ambassador Semneby dwelt on the Eastern
Partnership Summit to be held in Prague today.

During the meeting the parties discussed the process of normalization
of the Armenian-Turkish relations and exchanged views on the
negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh issue.

VALLONE CALLS FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

Western Queens Gazette
tures/010.html
May 6 2009
NY

Photo: City Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr. (at lectern), other
elected officials and hundreds of spectators gathered at West 43rd
Street and Broadway in Times Square on April 26 to commemorate the
94th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide on Apr. 24,
1915. Between 1915 and 1923, some 1.5 million Armenians, more than
half the Armenian population of Turkey, were massacred and many
more deported under the government of the Young Turks of the Ottoman
Empire. To date, 21 countries have acknowledged the Genocide; Turkey
has not. Vallone and his colleague, Councilmember Melinda Katz, every
year sponsor a council resolution calling for official recognition
of the Armenian Genocide.

VARDAN OSKANYAN: NONPARTICIPATION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH IN NEGOTIATION PROCESS IS NOT AN ISSUE OF POLITICAL SOLUTION

ArmInfo
2009-05-05 10:52:00

Creation of the Minsk process in February, 1992, aimed to
hold a conference in Minsk to determine the status of Nagorno
Karabakh. However, I remember well that Azerbaijan has always avoided
discussing the issue of Nagorno Karabakh status, ex-Foreign Minister
of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan said during presentation of his collection
of speeches titled "Incomplete Decade" in the NKR capital, ArmInfo
special correspondent in Stepanakert reported.

According to V. Oskanyan, the Minsk process started with participation
of Nagorno Karabakh, however, after Lisbon statement in 1996, the
Minsk process was stopped and Azerbaijan tried to make this statement a
basis for negotiations. Started March, 1997, participation of Nagorno
Karabakh in the process actually ceased. ‘However, it was continually
emphasized that Nagorno Karabakh will continue its participation from
the date of recovery of the Minsk process or Nagorno Karabakh will
take part in creation of the final document from the date when Armenia
and Azerbaijan agree on the common principles of settlement. So,
participation or nonparticipation of the NKR was not an issue of
political solution but a result of development of an objective
process’, V. Oskanyan emphasized.

NALBANDIAN THANKED US FOR ITS CONTRIBUTION TO PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NKR CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.05.2009 21:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The relationship between the United States and
Armenia is a very lasting and durable one. The Obama Administration
is committed to broadening it, deepening it, working with Armenia to
assist them in their continued development and aspirations. And it’s
a great pleasure to welcome the minister. And I look forward to our
talks, sir," Hillary Clinton said.

RA FM Edward Nalbandian, thanking the State Secretary for her warm
welcome, noted, "Our meeting is a good opportunity to move forward
our bilateral agenda and to discuss a wide range of issues. We
are determined to strengthen, to deepen, to enhance our friendly
partnership with the United States. This is the main message of
my visit to Washington. And I would like to use this opportunity
to express our thanks to the Administration of the United States,
to Madame Secretary, and to the State Department for all constant
efforts to help to support the normalization process with Turkey and
settlement – peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
US State Department Press Service reported.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES THE HEAD OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

ARMENPRESS
MAY 5, 2009
YEREVAN

The Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received today the head of
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Mikhail Fradkov.

Presidential press office told Armenpress that the sides discussed a
wide circle of issues connected with the Armenian-Russian cooperation;
thoughts have been exchanged on the regional developments and security
issues.