Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

WATER PRICE WILL REMAIN THE SAME FOR PRIVATE CITIZENS IN YEREVAN

Tert.am
14:56 21.05.10

Water price for private citizens in Yerevan will remain the same.

Public Services Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Armenia
(PSRC) had by a recent decision approved the proposal by Yerevan Jur
(Water) company from July 8 on to raise the water price up to 195
AMD per cubic meter instead of the previous 181 AMD.

But the good news is that the Yerevan City Hall has decided to
subsidize the water price for 14 AMD which means that the private
citizens will pay the current price – 181 AMD.

Interestingly, Yerevan Jur was proposing to raise the price for 1
cubic meter by 14% which would see the price go up to 207 AMD. But
by studying different factors that may affect the water price, such
as the scale of the water sold, inflation, euro-dollar exchange rate
fluctuations, PSRC considered the proposal ungrounded and came to
the conclusion that the above mentioned factors might not result in
26 AMD rise in water price but rather in 14 AMD.

WAYS TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS IN NUBARASHEN CHEMICAL WASTE DUMP DISCUSSED

armradio.am
21.05.2010 10:58

Joint actions to handle the environmental threat posed by a chemical
waste dump of Nubarashen and other issues of mutual co-operation
were discussed today at a meeting of the Head of the OSCE Office
in Yerevan Ambassador Kapinos and the Minister of Nature Protection
Aram Harutyunyan.

Ambassador Kapinos at the meeting welcomed the immediate reaction
of the Government to the alert signaled by the OSCE on the acute
environmental risk stemming from the Nubarashen chemical waste dump
and expressed readiness to assist Armenia on the issue.

The OSCE Office in Yerevan developed an emergency action plan to
contain the immediate threat jointly with the Armenian Ministry of
Emergency, and invited experts to make preliminary assessment of
risks. The international expertise was provided by the John Vijgen
from the Environment and Security Initiative, Kevin Helps from UN Food
and Agriculture Organization and Wolfhart Pohl from the World Bank.

At the initiative of the OSCE the international donor community is
being mobilized to assist Armenia in addressing the problem. The next
co-ordination meeting to this effect is hosted by the OSCE Office in
Yerevan on May 21.

As soon as the acute threat has been coped with, a long-term plan to
dispose of the waste is to be drafted with further OSCE assistance in
co-ordination with the Armenian authorities and other international
actors.

"We are glad to provide support in bringing about the international
expertise and do believe that coordinated reaction by the government,
civil society and the international community is important to
assist Armenia in eliminating this kind of emergency threats.," said
Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan."

The Minister briefed on the urgent steps taken by the Government of
Armenia with a view of utilizing amount in 31 million drams allocated
from the Government budget to mitigate the immediate risks. The
Ministry of Nature Protection is tasked to organize the work at the
dump site and co-ordinate state bodies’ activities.

ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE TAKES AIM AT ARMENIA

EurasiaNet
May 20 2010
NY

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) — a club of Muslim
countries that features Azerbaijan among its 57 members — has declared
Armenia the aggressor in the 22-year Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict
over the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh.

The resolution, adopted at a May 19 OIC meeting in Dushanbe, will be
the foundation of Karabakh discussions planned at the Organization’s
2011 summit in Cairo, Egypt. "We must keep raising the issue of Nagorno
Karabakh at the OIC meetings, or else we will make a step back,"
declared Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Tofik Abdulayev.

The Organization also adopted two other Karabakh resolutions
that deplore the alleged destruction of Azerbaijani monuments on
Armenian-controlled territory and call for aiding the conflict’s
Azerbaijani victims.

Armenian officials have not commented to international media about the
resolutions, but delivered a jab the day the OIC resolutions came out.

The Karabakh peace process has failed because Azerbaijan has shot down
each proposal that comes from American, Russian and French mediators,
argued Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian.

"[A]n impression is being created that Baku is holding talks with
itself, arrives at some acceptable decisions for itself and tries to
present its own wish as the result of the negotiations," the peeved
Kocharian charged.

ARMENIAN DEPUTY FM: TURKEY HAS NOTHING TO DO IN MINSK GROUP

Yerkir
19.05.2010 15:25
Yerevan

Yerevan (Yerkir) – "There is an impression that Baku negotiates with
itself, arrives at solutions beneficial to itself and tries to present
its wishes as an outcome of negotiations. This is a clear distortion
of the essence of the talks," Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh
Kocharyan said in an interview with Public TV.

"It’s well-known that today there is only one document on the
bargaining table, which the parties take as a basis for talks. It’s
the Madrid Principles of 2007. There have been a number of proposals
by the Co-Chairs ever since, which have been in most part rejected by
Azerbaijan. The last proposal was the withdrawal of snipers from the
line of contact, which was categorically rejected by the Azerbaijani
side. The Madrid Principles clearly state that the issue should
be solved on the basis of the three norms of international law:
self-determination of peoples, territorial integrity and non-use of
force. What Azerbaijan declares, contradicts the Madrid Principles,"
Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

"The essence of the issue is clear to everyone: it’s the
self-determination of the people of Karabakh. Which is the reason
of the conflict? It’s the power politics of Azerbaijan – Armenian
massacres, ethnic cleansings, large-scale aggression. Who is
responsible for the consequences? Naturally, it’s Azerbaijan, which
launched military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

This is the core," Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

"The conflict is being solved within the framework of the OSCE Minsk
Group. Turkey has been clearly told that it has nothing to do there,"
the Deputy Foreign Minister stated.

TURKISH FM HOPES TO GO TO AZERBAIJAN FROM ARMENIA ONE DAY

news.az
May 19 2010
Azerbaijan

Ahmed Davutoglu The Turkish FM has spoken of the resolution of the
Karabakh conflict.

"Turkey’s efforts to settle the Karabakh conflict continue. This
problem settlement will also help overcome the century of the
Armenian-Turkish enmity, create free trade and establish stability
in the region. One day we will travel to Azerbaijan from Armenia",
Milliyet quotes Turkish FM Ahmed Davutoglu as saying.

As for the Iranian nuclear problem, Davutoglu said Turkey is not
Iran’s lawyer and it is doing so for the national interests of the
country. "We believe the agreements in Tehran are an important stage
in the resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem", he said.

SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON "THE PRESENT STATE OF TEACHING WESTERN ARMENIAN IN DIASPORA" IN TSAGHKADZOR

ARMENPRESS
MAY 18, 2010
YEREVAN

July 3-5 in Tsaghkadzor, the Armenian Diaspora Ministry will conduct
a scientific conference on "The present state of teaching Western
Armenian in Diaspora".

An official from the Repatriation and Researches Department of the
Ministry told Armenpress that the goal of the scientific conference
is to reveal the issues connected with teaching Western Armenian in
Diaspora, to find out solution ways through constructive discussions
and analysis, to work out programs and discuss the opportunities of
designing a textbook of Western Armenian.

Linguists, specialist of the Western Armenian and other representatives
of educational establishments from different countries of the world
– USA, Greece, France, Lebanon, Turkey and Syria, will take part in
the scientific conference. The final list of the countries is still
in a specification process.

AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL: NO ELECTIONS MAY BE HELD IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH WITHOUT AZERBAIJANI GOVERNMENT’S PERMISSION

Trend
May 18 2010
Azerbaijan

No elections may be hold in the Nagorno-Karabakh without the permission
by the Azerbaijani government and the Azerbaijani Central Election
Comsssion, Legislation and Legal Expertise Department head of the
Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Shahin Aliyev told journalists
today.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh can not hold any election, as no country
recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent part. It is an
Azerbaijan’s territory," Aliyev said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh’s Separatist regime will hold parliamentary
elections May 23.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has expressed its protest against
this parliamentary election.

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 has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

Global Politician
May 15 2010

Obama Administration Embraces Russia

Prof. Barry Rubin – 5/15/2010

If America’s Middle East position collapses in the forest will anyone
hear it? The answer is either: apparently no, or just barely. As I’ve
predicted Russia is coming back into the region and it is going to
play a very bad role. Moscow is linking up with the emerging Islamist
alliance of Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration praises Russia for allegedly
supporting sanctions against Iran. Russian support, at best, consists
of throwing a bucket of fluid over the sanctions’ plan to water it
down.

[Don’t miss the amazing Russian statement cited at the end of this article.]

Back in the real world–the Middle East, not Washington
discussions–let’s begin with Syria. The Obama Administration says it
is going to pull away Syria from Iran, but the two countries are
coming closer together. Syria’s open goal is to pull the United States
away from Israel, but meanwhile Syria is finding still another ally to
back its ambitions.

The recent visit of Russia’s President Medvedev with a huge entourage
was a major step toward reestablishing the old Soviet-Syria
relationship. There were broad economic talks, including the
possibility of Russia building a nuclear reactor for the Syrian
dictatorship.

Acording to Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Russian parliamentary
foreign liaison committee, quoted in the Syrian newspaper Tishrin, May
12, the visit, "Is a clear indication to everyone in the Middle East
region and on the regional and international level that Syria was and
will remain a strategic partner to Russia…." This includes a new
round of arms’ sales to Syria, which presumably will be paid for
largely by Iran.

Even if the alliance remains limited, it will further encourage Iran
and Syria to be covertly aggressive and hard line while sending still
another signal to moderate Arabs that America is on its way down.
Clearly, Russia’s refusal to support more sanctions on Iran in any
serious manner is part of this calculation.

Is it a problem for Russia that it faces internal Islamist terrorism
but is aligning with Islamist forces? No, not at all. Iran has been
careful not to back these revolutionaries in the north Caucasus. Iran
even joins Russia in following a policy of supporting Christian
Armenia against Muslim-majority Azerbaijan. By working with the
Iranians Russia is reducing the possibility that they will support
Islamist rebels against Moscow.

As in so many cases, this strategic factor appears nowhere on the
administration’s horizon.

Then there’s Medvedev’s visit to the newest member of the
anti-American Islamist alliance: Turkey. In a joint statement the two
countries’ leaders said that Hamas should be part of any regional
negotiations. Turkish President Abdullah Gul, a hardline Islamist who
was so feared that he had to promise before the last parliamentary
election not to be a candidate for president. His AKP party won and
within a few hours Gul was stepping into that office.

Gul explained in his joint press conference with Medvedev, who said
the same exact thing: "Unfortunately Palestinians have been split into
two… In order to reunite them, you have to speak to both sides.
Hamas won elections in Gaza and cannot be ignored."

What Gul wants–and Medvedev?–is that Hamas dominate the Palestinian
unity arrangement. Consider that two sides are competing for
leadership of a people. One of them is fanatical, extremist,
terrorist, committed to permanent warfare and genocide. The other
isn’t exactly wonderful but is, at least at present, somewhere in the
ballpark of being peaceable and reasonable.

So the ideal solution is to put them together and let them reach a
common program? Not exactly. As for the "elected" argument, it is a
matter of public record that Hamas won the election, made a deal for a
coalition government, and then staged a violent coup to seize full
power in the Gaza Strip.

Oh, did I mention that Russia is talking about building nuclear
reactors for both Turkey and Syria?

Russia’s bid for renewed power in the Middle East as a rival to U.S.
goals and interests is one more thing that U.S. policy is simply not
prepared to cope with, or even recognize. Will Russia align itself to
a large extent with Iran and Syria to counter U.S. influence in the
region and give itself special access to key trading partners? For if
Moscow teams up with the radical Islamist alliance, especially after
Tehran has nuclear weapons, this is going to worsen considerably an
already gloomy strategic picture for the West.

But on top of all that, Russian Foreign Minister Serge Lavrov made an
incredible statement that should send shock waves through U.S.
policymaking circles. In calling on the United States not to take "any
unilateral step against Iran," Lavrov is trying to restrict American
pressures to what Moscow is willing to accept. In other words, he is
acting as Iran’s lawyer to tie America’s hands.

Then he added that there were some people in Washington who do not
believe international legislation takes precedence over legislation
passed by the United States. In other words, he is asserting a new
doctrine in which, in effect, the UN is a world government and the
United States has no right to act on its own without approval.

The Obama Administration should act quickly to reject this doctrine.
This is a trap which the administration’s own policy has helped to lay
by saying it doesn’t believe in strong U.S. leadership. The proposed
precedent would institutionalize that limitation in a way that is
going to be very harmful in future.

Prof. Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International
Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary university. His new book is
The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan).
You can buy his latest book The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary
History of the Middle East Conflict on Amazon.com here.

Reproduced with expressed permission from the Gloria Center

policy-russia

GEORGIAN AIRLINE ASKS RUSSIA TO PERMIT SEVERAL CHARTERED FLIGHTS

ARMENPRESS
MAY 14, 2010
TBILISI

TBILISI, MAY 14, ARMENPRESS: A private Georgian airline has sent a
request to the Russian Transport Ministry to permit twelve direct
chartered flights between Tbilisi and Moscow in the period of June
24 through July 1.

Nino Giorgobiani, the public relations executive at the airline
Georgian Airways, said the flights have been scheduled for May 24,
26, 27, 29 and 31, June 2, 3, 6, 9, 28 and 30, and July 1.

She told the Kavkasiya TV channel the Georgian Airways executives
hope the Russian Transport Ministry will give the go-ahead to the
flights the same way it did in January and April.

Direct regular air communications between Georgia and Russia were
stopped in August 2008 at the decision of the Russian aviation
authorities,

For the first time after that, the Georgian Airways performed chartered
flights between Tbilisi and Moscow January 8, 9 and 10, 2010.

The second time, the Transport Ministry permitted flights from April
1 through April 3, as well as April 10, 12 and 14.

ARMENIAN EMBASSY TO OPEN IN KUWAIT

ARMENPRESS
MAY 13, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS: Armenian government approved today the
draft decree of the Armenian president on establishing RA embassy
in Kuwait. Armenian deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said
in Kuwait the embassy is being founded on the basis of arrangements
reached between the two states. The financing of the activity of
the embassy will be carried out by Kuwait and the salaries of the
employees of the embassy are intended by the 2010 state budget.