Author: Torgomian Varazdat

Lilit Galoyan ties against European championship leader

13.03.2010 13:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The 11th European individual men and women’s chess
championship in Croatia, Rijeka hosted 7th tour matches on March 12.

Having gained a victory, Vladimir Hakobyan occupies the leading (8th)
position among Armenian chess players with 5,5 points to his score.
Badur Jobava of Georgia is leading the championship with 6 points.

Lilit Galoyan tied against European championship leader Monika Socko
(Poland), gaining the 5th position with 5,5 points.

Stockholm News, Sweden
March 13 2010

Turkish protests continues

Politics | 2010-03-13 |

The Swedish and Turkish foreign ministers condemned the decision of
the Swedish Parliament to specify the atrocities against Armenians in
1915 as genocide. In Turkey the protests continue – which is now also
hitting trade relations. Swedish Ambassador Christer Asp in Ankara has
received several emails from Turkish businessmen who have business
with Sweden. The business men report that they have got commercial
contracts broken and cancelled.

`In a situation such as this it is to be expected,’ says Asp to news agency TT.

It was on Thursday that the parliament, with one votes margin adopted
a resolution that the atrocities in 1915 against, among others,
Armenians are considered to be genocide. Turkey immediately recalled
its ambassador and denounced the decision. The Swedish-Turkish
relations thus froze to ice.

In Turkey today, there have been protests held against the decision,
both outside the Honorary Consulate in Izmir and the Consulate General
in Istanbul. The mailbox at the Swedish Embassy in Ankara has also
been flooded with protest letters from individuals and organizations.

`Some are worded in a way that I do not want to reproduce it in
public. There is no threat, but no fine words about Sweden, if you
know what I mean," says Asp.

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who persistently made it clear that the
government’s policy has not changed, and his Turkish colleague Ahmet
Davutoglu, now meet at an informal multi-day meeting in northern
Finland. The two ministers condemned the parliamentary
genocide-resolution today.

David Jonasson

ID=4981

TO FIND BALANCE IN TALKS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: LENNMARKER

news.am
March 12 2010
Armenia

March 12, OSCE Special Representative on Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia
Goran Lennmarker gave an exclusive interview to NEWS.am correspondent.

Q.: What is your opinion about the adoption of Armenian Genocide
Resolution by Swedish Parliament?

A.: The decision reflects, of course, the feeling about it. There
is also a balance point there, because we want to see the process
between Turkey and Armenia on this matter to go forward, because that
is perhaps the most important part from the previous panel, important
to this now that the Armenian-Turkish process goes further. So I very
much hope that the relations between Turkey and Sweden will not be
damaged because of this, so that they don’t find an excuse not to go
further with this process.

Q.: Yesterday you stated that the format of Nagorno-Karabakh
negotiations shouldn’t be changed. Don’t you think participation of
Stepanakert or Nagorno-Karabakh will be more fruitful?

A.: I think now we should keep the format, because if we stop for
changing the format, then we talk about delaying the process, years,
because if you try to, if that that should be included I can assure
that there will demand from Azeri side to include representatives from
their occupied territories and you will have negotiations about the
negotiations and I don’t know how long it will take. I am pessimistic
that it will really stop.

Q.: In your opinion, in which principle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
should be resolved — territorial integrity or self-determination?

A.: I think the balance is important and that is what the negotiation
in a way is about — to find the balance and make it acceptable for
Azerbaijan and Armenia. That is the difficulty of it, to find that
balance. I will say to support the negotiation process is extremely
important now, that we support what is going on in Minsk Group. I
will not try to tell how the Minsk Group get out of it and what will
be the result, because that is for your President Serzh Sargsyan and
for Azeri President to decide on.

S. FARMANYAN: THE HEAD OF THE COUNTRY FEELS EXCELLENT

Aysor
March 11 2010
Armenia

The Press Secretary of the RA President Samvel Farmanyan denied the
news in media saying that the health condition of Serzh Sargsyan has
become worse.

As the sources inform S. Farmanyan insisted that the news about it
are falsified and the head of the country feels excellent.

The RA President Serzh Sargsyan is in France on a three day official
visit.

NICOLAS SARKOZY: ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN MUST COME TO COMPROMISE

APA
March 11 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. "Yerevan and Baku must come to compromise to restore
peace dynamics", said French president Nicolas Sarkozy during his
meeting with Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, APA reports.

He noted that an initiative started a year and half ago has weakened.

This was the second meeting between the French and Armenian
presidents. Sargsyan made his first visit to Paris as the president
of Armenia in November, 2008.

BYBLOS BANK ARMENIA TO GET $10MLN SYNTHETIC LOAN FROM EBRD

ArmInfo
09.03.2010

ArmInfo. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
is making financing of private business in Armenia more accessible
by providing Byblos Bank Armenia with $10mln loan, the first credit
in Armenia to have an AMD component.

The press service of Byblos Bank Armenia reports that EBRD’s credit
private business financing program includes a synthetic loan in AMD
equivalent to $5mln, to be used for financing local companies and
floating capital. The other $5mln will be spent on co-financing of
the bank’s bigger loans. In the framework of synthetic lending EBRD
provides money at a fixed USD/AMD exchange rate.

The synthetic loan will help Byblos Bank Armenia to reduce currency
risk, to prolong periods of crediting of national currency and to
enlarge the AMD credit portfolio.

EBRD Financial Director for Central Asia, the Caucasus and Mongolia
Mike Taylor says that this program is supposed to stimulate financial
intermediation in Armenia’s banking system and to create opportunities
for financing the real economy sector in AMD. The money will help
Armenia to further develop its private sector.

CEO of Byblos Bank Armenia George Sfeir welcomes EBRD’s program. He
says that this program proves that EBRD trusts Byblos Bank Armenia
and the Armenian economy. This deal will allow the bank to further
enlarge its strategy on the market.

In early autumn 2007 100% of the shares of ITB were bought by Byblos
Bank SAL (Lebanon), after which the bank was renamed into Byblos
Bank Armenia. Presently, Byblos Bank SAL holds a 65% stake in the
bank with the rest belonging to EBRD (25%) and OFID (10%).

EBRD has so far allocated a total of 335mln EUR for supporting 70
projects in the financial, corporate, infrastructural and energy
sectors of Armenia. This year EBRD’s credit portfolio in Armenia will
grow by $130mln.

The first EBRD synthetic loan in the South Caucasus was given to
Azeri AccessBank in late 2009.

ARMENIA, TURKEY, KARABAKH

The Messenger
March 10 2010
Georgia

Armenian MP Vardan Khachatrian has suggested that ratifying the
Armenian-Turkish protocols in the Turkish Parliament could be delayed
by about 10 months. However Ankara will not withdraw from this process
totally because it is being put under political and economic pressure.

Khachatrian suggested that Yerevan should concentrate on normalising
relations with Turkey and not make a priority out of Karabakh conflict
issues. Combining these issues might result in unwelcome pressure
being applied by the international community to resolve the Karabakh
conflict.

Khachatrian thinks that removing Russian, US and French mediators and
replacing them with Russian, Iranian and Kazakh mediators will not
change much as Russia will still be the dominant player in resolving
the Karabakh conflict. He also says that it is impossible to officially
involve Iran in Karabakh conflict resolution issues.

WHO IS WHO IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH DIALOGUE: ARMENIA’S MISERABLE OPPORTUNITIES
H. Hamidov

Today
63532.html
March 10 2010
Azerbaijan

Relations between the governments of Armenia and Turkey are today
painfully reminiscent of the relations between an elephant and a
lap-dog from the fable by Ivan Krylov, "The Elephant and the Lap-Dog."

I think you have guessed who is who.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, whose position is becoming more
and more disastrous each day, has apparently decided to refrain
from public statements both on domestic and foreign policy. Earlier
the president used Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian for public
statements who regularly suffered from a "slap across the face"
intended for his boss. Today, MPs from Sargsyan’s Republican Party
are seemingly taking up the task.

Recently, Standing Commission on Human Rights and Public Affairs
Deputy Chairman Rafik Petrosyan said at a press conference that if
the process of normalizing Turkish-Armenian ties does not see progress
until April 24, the anniversary of the so-called "Armenian Genocide,"
then Armenia will withdraw from the protocols.

It is not clear what results Sargsyan expects from such a statement.

Does he expect Gul and Erdogan, plunged into panic, to press
parliament to ratify the protocols with the subsequent opening of
the border while forgetting about the Karabakh problem? Or, perhaps,
Yerevan still believes that the bluff is the most effective weapon
of foreign policy and does not realize that its trump card does not
work any more? Perhaps Sargsyan has more weighty arguments to pursue
his inadequate foreign policy. Who knows …

However, there is something more interesting. For a moment, imagine
that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations will see no
major progress before April 24. Armenia, being true to its word,
will withdraw from the protocols leaving everything as it was earlier.

Will Turkey suffer from this? Not at all. It will continue to live
without the headaches, which would necessarily appear after the
opening of the border with Armenia.

Will Armenia suffer from this? You can guess yourself. After the
withdrawal of signatures it will be clear that the border is not
going to open soon. As a result, the Armenian government will utterly
discredit itself in the eyes of not only Turkey and Russia, but,
more importantly, in the eyes of Europe and the United States. They
will lo longer believe in the sincerity of Armenia’s intentions. In
economic terms, the closed borders will affect the already miserable
situation in Armenia, causing even more discontent within the country,
which may result in a very difficult domestic political situation.

I am confident that Yerevan understands this not less than we do. The
threat of withdrawing signatures is just a threat. Not anymore. This
is the country’s last chance to tip the scales in its own favor. They
have very poor chances. And there will be no more…

TURKEY SIGNS OFF ON $1.6 BILLION DEAL WITH BOEING DESPITE HOUSE VOTE

World Tribune
TARC/2010/me_turkey0187_03_09.asp
March 10 2010

WASHINGTON — Turkey has approved the purchase of U.S. passenger jets
despite a House vote that blamed Ankara for the genocide of Armenians
during World War I.

The state-owned Turkish Airlines has concluded an order for 20
passenger jets from the U.S. firm Boeing. Under the $1.6 billion deal,
Turkish Airlines would receive 20 advanced 737 airplanes, including
10 737-800s and 10 737-900ER aircraft. The 737-900ER would mark the
latest 737 family member to join the Turkish fleet.

"The 737-800 is the backbone of the Turkish Airlines fleet and proves
its value on a daily basis offering unmatched levels of efficiency
and reliability," Boeing vice president Marlin Dailey said.

The March 8 statement came four days after the House Foreign Affairs
Committee voted to endorse a resolution on the Armenian genocide.

After the 23-22 vote, Ankara threatened to impose sanctions on
aerospace and defense cooperation with Washington.

Boeing has been a leading aerospace contractor in Turkey. The company
has been prime contractor in the supply of four airborne early-warning
aircraft to the Turkish Air Force.

Earlier, U.S. aerospace lobbyists warned that the House vote could
derail plans for major contracts in Turkey. They said Ankara was
expected to order $11 billion in defense and aerospace platforms from
the United States in 2010.

"Critical national security, economic and diplomatic relations with
our ally Turkey are threatened," Marion Blakey, president of the
Aerospace Industries Association, said.

But the Turkish lobby in the United States did not expect the Armenian
genocide resolution to win approval on the House floor. Lobbyists
pointed out that the non-binding resolution was passed in the House
Foreign Affairs Committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but blocked from
reaching the House floor through heavy pressure by the White House.

"The resolution has passed the panel vote with the narrowest
possible margin and has no political credibility [in Congress],"
American-Turkish Council president James Holmes, a former U.S.

ambassador, told the Turkish daily Hurriyet. "Those who were in favor
did so purely from a local political perspective."

ARMENIA’S AMBASSADOR MEETS UAE CROWN PRINCE

armradio.am
09.03.2010 13:46

On March 8 Armenian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Vahagn
Melikyan had a meeting with General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the
Armed Forces.

The meeting covered issues related to the process of caccomplsihemnt
of the agreements reached during Armenian Deputy Prime minister’s
visit to the United Arab Emirates in January, 2010.

The Armenian Ambassador conveyed to the Crown Prince the greetings of
the Armenian Deputy Prime minister and an invitation to visit Yerevan.