Author: Tambiyan Samvel

Public Television of Armenia
June 4 2009

Armenian deputy minister accuses Turkey of delaying normalisation talks

[Presenter] Today Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan
said that meetings between [the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents]
Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev are important in terms of
reconsidering problems between the two countries. Most importantly,
the deputy minister added, the negotiations are based on the Madrid
principles. The deputy minister’s expectations from the meeting
between Sargsyan and Aliyev are optimistic. Delivering a speech in
parliament, Kirakosyan also touched on the current state of
normalisation talks between Armenia and Turkey.

[Kirakosyan] We have reached relevant agreements, but they are being
delayed by the Turkish side and in the conditions of relevant
statements [presumably by Turkish leaders who have said that
normalisation of Turkish-Armenian ties depends on the resolution of
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict]. We hope that Turkish authorities will
respect those agreements and we will able to continue the process.

EREBUNI ARMENIAN COMMUNITY TAKES PART IN ZHITOMIR’S FESTIVAL

Noyan Tapan
June 5, 2009

Zhitomir, June 3, Noyan Tapan – Armenians Today. Erebuni Armenian
community of Zhitomir took part in the "From mother to family, from
family to mother" festival held in Zhitomir. As Analitika news agency
reports, an exhibition devoted to Ukraine was organized before the
opening ceremony of the festival. Karine Hovhakimyan’s pictures with
Armenian emphasis passed a sense of diversity to the exhibition. One of
her works pictured the symbols of Armenia: the mount Ararat and fruits
of the Ararat Valley. "Erebuni" ensemble performed at the festival.

Songs, Dances, recital of poems, performances presented traditions of
the Armenian people. Azerbaijani, Belorussian and Polish communities
also participated in the event. Organizers expressed gratitude to
participants, passed them diplomas and gifts.

AZERBAIJANI OMBUDSWOMAN SAYS INTERNATIONAL RIGHT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT IS ON THE SIDE OF AZERBAIJAN

Today.Az
tics/52914.html
June 5 2009
Azerbaijan

International organizations do not demonstrate determination demanding
payment of compensations by Armenia to Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs,
Azerbaijani Ombudswoman Elmira Suleymanova said at a meeting of the
Public Union "Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh" on June 5.

"Ombudswoman always touches upon the issue at meetings with
representatives of international organizations and foreign
officials. They see the demand towards Armenia equitable, but do not
demonstrate determination on the matter," Suleymanova said.

The first meeting of the Public Union "Azerbaijani community of
Nagorno-Karabakh" meets today to discuss organization issues, including
reforming of the organization. The community represents 65,000 people.

The Azerbaijani government is taking measures to improve living
conditions of refugees and IDPs. "However, there are problems which
to be removed shortly," she said.

"The international right on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on the side
of Azerbaijan." Azerbaijan’s economic development and authority will
allow the country to remove the conflict," Suleymanova added.

COMPANY TO BE FOUNDED TO WORK ON IRAN-ARMENIA RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION

Panorama.am
15:50 04/06/2009

An enterprises working on the construction of Iran-Armenia
railroad is to be founded, Shevqet Shaidulin, the general manager of
"South-Caucasus Railroads" Company said in a press conference. After
the company is founded the participation and interest of both parties
will get obvious, the general manager said.

"It is a precise, comprehensive and important project," Mr. Shaidulin
said. According to him correspondent recommendations have been made
and the company joint with the Armenian Ministry of Transport and
Communication works on technical-economic side of the project.

"We are interested, and we are ready to become a participant of the
improvement of this project," he said.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURES AND INTERNAL DIVISIONS MARK LEBANON’S ELECTIONS
Paul Dakiki

Asia News
;art =15429
June 4 2009
Italy

Two groupings are trying to win: the March 14 alliance backed by
the West and Sunni Arab countries and the March 8 coalition backed by
Syria and Iran. Whichever side wins, the impact will be felt across the
Middle East. At the same time, both groupings lack internal coherence.

Beirut (AsiaNews) – Lebanon’s elections are hard to figure out even
if their results are not likely to change matters that much. Two
alliances are competing for the 128 seats of the National Assembly,
each respectively called ‘March 14’ and ‘March 8’.

Saad Hariri, son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who was
assassinated in 2005, heads the outgoing parliamentary majority, which
is made up of Sunni-based ‘Future Movement’, Druze-centred Progressive
Socialist Party and a few Christian parties, most notably the Lebanese
Forces (Phalange). The March 8 group is instead constituted by two Shia
parties, Hizbollah and Amal, and the Christians of Michel Aoun’s Free
Patriotic Movement. Both groups also include other smaller parties.

The March 14 group is pro-Western and is backed by the United States
and France as well as Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia. It
is Lebanon-centric in relations to international (United Nations)
decisions like the presence of international peace-keeping troops
along the border with Israel, the disarmament of domestic militias and
the international tribunal investigating a recent wave of political
murders in the country, including that of Rafik Hariri.

Leading the race according to some public opinion polls, the March 8
coalition is backed by Iran and Syria. Its goal is to reinforce and
harden the so-called anti-Israeli resistance and all the groups like
Hamas who oppose peace with the Jewish State.

Hizbollah, which dominates the group, is opposed to disarming its
militias and is certainly not in favour of an international tribunal
that might prove what many believe, namely that the order to kill
Hariri came from Damascus.

Given all the international attention Lebanon’s election is certainly
not an exclusively domestic affair.

In fact a victory by the Mach 14 alliance is likely to bring support
and financial aid from the West and Sunni Arab nations. This in turn
would increase US President Obama’s margin in the region, strengthening
the camp in favour of an Arab-Israeli peace deal.

Conversely, if Hizbollah wins and forms a government, Iran’s presence
in the Middle East would be enhanced, spelling trouble for US Mideast
diplomacy.

It is no accident that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated
that a victory by the March 8 alliance would strengthen the resistance
and change the situation in the region.

But that is not all. If Hizbollah does win, Israeli Defence Minister
Ehud Barak said that Israel would feel free to take any action that it
felt appropriate as it did in July 2006 (when it went to war against
the Shia movement).

Similarly, in his visit to Lebanon during which he met March 14
leaders, US Vice President Joe Biden said that a Hizbollah victory
would lead the United States to re-evaluate its assistance plans
to Lebanon

Hizbollah is well-aware of that and quite concerned because it could
spell disaster for the country’s economic development. For this reason
it insisted that in case of victory it would seek a government of
national unity, an option Hariri has already dismissed.

After all is said and done international interests and pressures
have but a limited hold on the country. Under Lebanon’s electoral
law the electorate is split according to religious affiliation. This
means that the results are by and large already known. At best 20
out of 128 seats are up for grabs and cold tip the balance one way
or the other. This makes the country’s 160,000 Armenian Christians,
officially aligned with the March 8 grouping, very important.

Irrespective of who wins on Sunday, things will be tough for the
winner since neither camp is internally well united.

In the March 14 alliance Walid Jumblatt represents a walking time bomb
ready to go off. The Druze leader has in fact a habit of switching
sides as he has done in the past. Until recently he took a hard-line
stance against Syria and its Lebanese allies, but now seems to be
more open to Hizbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

For its part the March 8 alliance has a Christian "problem" because
those who joined the alliance with Hizbollah jumping on the bandwagon
of Michel Aoun (who was Syria’s main enemy during the civil war)
are in it for tactical reasons and remain highly apprehensive about
the party of God’s military might.

VARTAN OSKANIAN TO GIVE A TALK AT BENTLEY UNIVERSITY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
05.06.2009

/PanARME NIAN.Net/ Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
will give a talk entitled "Speaking To Be Heard: A Statesman Looks
Back," on June 17, at Bentley University’s LaCava Center on the
Bentley campus in Waltham, Mass. The lecture is co-sponsored by the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and
the Bentley Global Studies Department, Tha Armenian Weekly reports.

Oskanian served as Armenia’s foreign minister for a decade before
leaving office last year. He has been a witness to and a participant
in the historic events that have shaped the Republic of Armenia’s
place in the world since achieving independence.

An eloquent speaker, Oskanian has just issued a volume of his speeches
as foreign minister. Published by the Civilitas Foundation in Yerevan,
of which Oskanian is the founder, Speaking To Be Heard: A Decade of
Speeches, edited by Civilitas Foundation director Salpi Ghazarian,
contains more than 90 speeches. NAASR is the North American distributor
for the book. Speaking To Be Heard will be on sale and available for
signing the night of the talk.

Oskanian holds a master’s degree in international law and diplomacy
from the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts
University, as well as a master’s degree in structural engineering
from Tufts. This will be his only appearance in the Boston area.

NEW TRAIN IN YEREVAN – BATUMI LINE

LRAGIR.AM
16:06:08 – 04/06/2009

The Director General of the South Caucasus Railway CJSC Shevket
Shaydulin dwelt on the work done in Armenia and its successes. Remind
that the Armenian Railways were passed to concession management
of South Caucasus Railways for a 30-year period with permission to
prolongate the term for another 10 years on February 13, 2008.

Shaydulin noted that the circulation of the passengers increased by
46 percent in 2008. In Armenia the figure increased by 3, 5 percent.

In particular, Shaydulin stated that the salaries of the workers
of the Armenian Railways were increased. The Gyumri station will be
reconstructed and the Masis station will be modernized. There will
be created another additional 300 job posts due to the reconstruction
works.

The president of the South Caucasus Railway CJSC noted that the
company is going to implement two important projects: to launch the
Armavir-Yerevan and Armavir-Yerevan-Sevan-Shorja lines.

A new train of 20 wagons will be exploited, which will be used for the
Yerevan-Batumi line, stated Shaydulin. He added that on June 13, the
president of the board of directors of the Russian Railways company
Vladimir Yakunin is going to visit Armenia.

RA PRESIDENT INITIATED THE ISSUE OF AMNESTY IN ARMENIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.06.2009

/PanARMENIA N.Net/ Today RA President Serzh Sargsyan discussed amnesty
issues with law enforcement officials. He decreed for corresponding
institutions to offer their suggestions on conditions and legal
procedures of amnesty until June 15, 2009.

Sargsyan also assigned his administration with a task of summarizing
offers on amnesty, received from political forces and Social Council
representatives, RA President’s official website reported.

Government earmarks $100 mln for extending credits to small and
mid-scale businesses as part of bailout

YEREVAN, May 31. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan,
speaking Friday in National Assembly, said Armenian Government has
earmarked about $100 mln for extending credits to small and mid-scale
businesses as part of its anti-crisis program.

`Armenian Government views small and mid-scale business as its
top-priority target. That is why it allocates $100 million to support
programs in this area’, he said.

The premier said that the Government set up the premier-affiliated
anti-crisis group for supporting small and mid-scale businesses by
extending credits and guarantees to them as well as participation in
companies’ capital.

`More than 20 companies have already used this instrument and the
Government’s support. All their information is open, and the program
will be implemented transparently.’

Sargsyan also said that the Government has already embarked on housing
problem solution in quake-stricken areas.
In particular, about AMD 9 billion was targeted for construction here.

This was planned to spur the economy and create additional jobs.
The premier said that the Government also extended $10-million credit
to Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine.

The company has repaid the loan within set terms. Sargsyan said that
construction of North-South highway, Iran-Armenia railway and a new
0Anuclear unit is under discussion now. -0′

WOMEN DIPLOMATS IN THE PARLIAMENT

National Assembly of RA
May 29 2009
Armenia

On May 29 Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia Mrs. Arevik Petrosyan met with the women diplomats accredited
in the Republic of Armenia and the members of Diplomats’ Spouses
Association, whose Chairperson is Natalia Nalbandian.

RA NA Vice President Mrs. Arevik Petrosyan welcomed the guest and
conveyed them the greetings and warm wishes of the President of the
National Assembly. At the women’s request Mrs. Petrosyan presented the
activities of the National Assembly, its authorities, the NA structure,
its role in the life of the republic, relations of different branches
of the power and the mechanisms of checks and balances. Touching upon
the women’s representation in the legislative body, Mrs. Petrosyan
noted that their number has been definitely increased compared with
the previous parliaments, and the relations with men deputies are based
on mutual respect. She agreed with the observation of the Chairperson
of the Diplomats’ Spouses Association Mrs. Natalia Nalbandian that
the women’s presence in the parliament promotes the formation of more
tolerable atmosphere and discussion in more effective way.

RA NA Vice President Mrs. Arevik Petrosyan also presented the steps
directed to the rise of the role of the National Assembly and the
effectiveness of its work, the bill defining additional opportunities
for opposition factions and control functions of the National Assembly.

Mrs Petrosyan said that besides the legislative and political
activities other cultural events are also held, exhibitions and
various events for children are organized. She invited the guests on
behalf of the President of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan to
attend the celebration dedicated to the International Children’s Day
in the yard of the National Assembly on June 1. This event continues
the formed new tradition.

At the end of the meeting Head of the Information Department of
NA Staff Mrs. M. Asatryan presented the guests the history of the
construction of the building of the National Assembly, the symbols of
the Republic of Armenia and the session hall of the National Assembly.