Author: Vardanian Garo

EUROPEAN FRIENDS OF ARMENIA TO HOLD CONFERENCE IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2009 18:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) is organizing a
conference in the frameworks of NATO week in Armenia. The conference
entitled "EU and NATO – how to secure stability for Armenia and the
South Caucasus" will start on Tuesday, October 13 Yerevan.

Speeches will be delivered by RA Ambassador to NATO Samvel Mkrtchian,
Head of NATO Outreach Countries Section Michel Duray, and NATO Liaison
Officer for the Caucasus Zbigniew Rybacki.

ARMENIA CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL LIBRARIAN DAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2009 17:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On October 7, RA National Library hosted an event
in International Librarian Day celebration.

"The event is very important in showing librarians’ contribution in
every generation’s education," RA National Library Director David
Sargsyan told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

National Library Fund comprises over 6,5 million books and
periodicals. The library is visited by over 30 000 people a
month. National Library is the member of European National Librarians
Conference and International Library Associations’ Federation. The
library collaborates with Eurasia Foundation.

ACKNOWLEDGED ARMENOLOGIST JASMINE DUM-TRAGUT AWARDED WITH RA NAS HONORARY DOCTOR TITLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2009 18:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Acknowledged Armenologist, Armenian Studies
Department Director at Salzburg University, Dr. Jasmine Dum-Tragut
was awarded with RA National Academy of Sciences’ Honorary Doctor
title for significant contributions to Armenian Studies.

Jasmine Dum-Tragut dedicated her works to modern Armenian grammar,
dialectology, Armenian agriculture terminology and general
linguistics. She organized 7 scientific conferences and monitored
graduate works of Yerevan State University students.

In 2009, Jasmine Dum-Tragut published a 600-page research on Armenian
grammar.

GAS PROVISION TO ARMENIA WILL BE RESTORED IN SOME HOURS

ARKA
Oct 6, 2009

YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. Repair-reconstruction and experimental
works in the main gas-pipe North Caucasus-Transcaucasus were finished
on Tuesday, press-center of "ArmRosgasprom" informed to the News Agency
"ARKA".

The gas started to enter Georgia at 15:45 (Moscow time). "Central
Dispatcher Department of CJSC "ArmRosgasprom" informed that the
gas provision to Armenia will be restored within 2-3 hours", said
the information.

CJSC "ArmRosgasprom" is a monopolist in the sphere of gas provision and
distribution of Russian natural gas in the internal market of Armenia.

The gas enters Armenia by transit through Georgia. The company was
established in 1997.

The share of Open JSC "Gasprom" in the charter capital of the company
is 80%, the share of the Government of Armenia is 20%.

RAMKAVAR-AZATAKAN’S ACTIVITY – IMPORTANT FOR ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2009 19:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA Prime Minister Tigran Srgsyan has received
Ramkavar-Azatakan delegates from U.S., Canada, Europe and Near
East. They have arrived in Armenia to participate in a joint session
with Armenkan party members.

Attaching importance to Ramakavar-Azatakan’s role, Mr. Sargsyan
expressed hope that session would countribute to party’s firther
efforts towards extending their activities and overcoming problems.

At the end, delegates expressed gratitude to the Premier, RA
Government’s press service reports.

WILL SERZH SARGSYAN PERSUADE DIASPORA?

02:59 pm | September 30, 2009 | Politics
utiun

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun will march from
Republican Square to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial on October 9 in
protest against the pre-signed Armenian-Turkish Protocols.

The Party has already notified the Yerevan City Hall about the march
which will be followed by a rally in the Tsitsernakaberd.

ARF stalwarts continue the sit-in and hunger-strike in front of the
Government building and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"We are much concerned about Serzh Sargsyan’s upcoming visit to
Armenian communities," say the strikers.

The Party thinks Serzh Sargsyan will not be able to convince the
Diaspora to endorse the Protocols without ARF’s proposals.

"The Protocols are inadmissible in their present form. The authorities
can say that they have supporters in the Diaspora but our compatriots
will not accept the documents. Diaspora’s core political forces –
ARF, SDHK and RAK have already voiced their negative opinion on
the Protocols in a joint statement," says ARF’s Supreme Body member
Romik Manukian.

ARF MP Ruzan Arakelian says Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to make a
Pan-Armenian tour is dangerous though unprecedented.

"No reasonable person will be persuaded to endorse the documents,"
says Mrs. Arakelian.

ARF members, historian Movses Margarian thinks during the visit to
the Armenian Diaspora, Serzh Sargsyan will gather embassy employees
to express a general opinion on the documents.

"But it cannot be the opinion of the whole Diaspora. I think that
the visits are artificial and will effect no radical changes," notes
the historian.

BE CAREFUL: THE REEFS ARE POSSIBLE

?st=1&id=273
01 October 2009

Protocols of rapprochement in the mirror of the Turkish diplomacy A
new stage has begun in the Armenian-Turkish relations. In the last day
of summer, after long mass the ideas of the rapprochement of Turkey
and Armenia by both countries with the mediation of Switzerland are
initialed "protocol about the establishment of diplomatic relations"
and "protocol about the development of the bilateral relations",
which many analysts described as a significant contribution in
guaranteeing stability in South Caucasus and the region as a whole. In
a similar spirit, in particular, expressed the Swedish presidency
of the European Union which welcomed the agreement between the two
countries in terms of advancing of the process of normalization
of bilateral relations. The European Parliament and the Foreign
Ministry of Russia greeted this step, and Russia perceived motions
in the normalization of the relations between Armenia and Turkey as
a natural and long-awaited process.

Frankly speaking, expectations are actually old. But if to be even
franker, then we should admit that the two countries – Turkey and
Armenia-would hardly come to united agreement on the question of the
normalization of relations without "assistance from the outside". In
this context "the compliments" given above in the address of the
diplomacy of two countries by no means look random, whose number is
not limited to those quoted. In an approving spirit expressed not
only foreign politicians, but also experts and political scientists of
Armenia, who consider that initialing of these documents is a result
of serious work of Armenian diplomats. However, as applied to Armenia,
it must be noted, that the positive in the estimations of the given
"protocols about the intentions" is not so single-valued. Experts from
the opposition expressed in the sense that these protocols proceed from
the interests of Ankara and that the authorities of Armenia must not
allow just another deception from the part of Turkey. We must admit
that a reason exists in a similar fear. Craft of the Turkish diplomacy
is a well-known fact. It consists in the fact that it is in the order
of things for Ankara to wrap up highly sensitive, at first glance,
mutually beneficial and mutually acceptable agreement only and only
for their own benefit, purely for their own interests. In this case,
it is clear about what Turkish interests should be involved. This is
the Armenian Genocide and the Karabakh problem. The same pre-conditions
are associated only with them, which, although, are not mentioned
in the documents, nevertheless, in the process of internal political
consultations they cannot be missed, especially in Turkey. Since it
is difficult to imagine that these two factors, which for quite a long
time dominated in the political agenda of both countries (admittedly,
with an alternative position), at once they can be forgotten and cast
away aside as insignificant arguments. Of course, on the approval of
the president of Armenia and many other p!

olitician ain pre-conditions connected both with the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict and with the international recognition of
the Genocide. This is really so, if we examine the given protocols
especially as the diplomatically designed documents. And precisely
because these are documents of the diplomatic nature, they may contain
quite a clever subtext, which cannot be read.

Similar suspicions are not baseless. It is quite natural that the
president of the NKR Bako Sahakyan answering to the journalists
questions in the day of celebrating the 18th anniversary of the
NKR, quite justly pointed out that in the face of Turkey, we are
dealing with a country, for which the lie is the integral part of
its foreign-policy activity. This statement can be estimated as
the unanimous opinion of all the people of Nagorno Karabakh. And
this estimation is based on historic evidence, which confirm the
unreliability of Ankara as partner in the negotiations, able to turn
everything upside down.

No matter how is going to develop the process of normalization of
relations between Yerevan and Ankara, one thing remains unchanged –
questions either of genocide, or the Karabakh settlement cannot be
returned in the favor of the rapprochement of Turkey and Armenia,
which, admittedly, seems ephemeral, in any case – yet. Here again it
is appropriate to quote the President of the NKR: "… and it is not a
question of even a slight weakening of the independence and security of
Artsakh. These exceptional values are not for trading". The Armenian
diplomats should remember this immutable truth, who, with their
Turkish colleagues, will have to interpret once more the initialed
protocols for subsequent ratification after six weeks. To remember
in order not to run into the underwater reefs of Turkish diplomacy.

RESOLUTION URGES END TO PROTOCOLS PROCESS

ion-urges-end-to-protocols-process/
Sep 28th, 2009

GLENDALE-The more than 10,000 participants of a public rally on Sunday
in opposition to the Armenia-Turkey protocols unanimously adopted
a strongly-word resolution directed at the Armenian authorities,
rejecting Turkey’s preconditions for establishing relations with
Armenia and demanding the government put an immediate end to the
Turkey-Armenia protocols.

Below is the complete text of the resolution:

Resolution

Based on the imperative of defending the absolute interests of Armenia
and the Armenian people and taking into consideration that the August
31 Protocols on Establishment and Development of Relations between the
Republics of Armenia and Turkey are loaded with dangerous provision
that are counter to those interests, we, the participants of this
public rally declare that:

Whereas, the veracity of the Armenian Genocide is an irrefutable
fact. We find unacceptable that within the context of "implementing
dialogue on the historical dimension" any examination of "historical
records and archives" by a commission or sub-commission on any
level. Such an examination not only will irrevocably halt the process
of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but also
completely diminishes the Armenian people’s achievements resulting
from decades of immense and continuous efforts, as well as reality
of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by numerous countries.

Whereas, as members of the United Nations and other international
organizations, Armenia and Turkey have already agreed to, under
acceptable international norms, to acknowledge each other’s borders. To
reaffirm this through a separate agreement and the Republic of
Armenia’s official recognition of Turkey’s current borders is a
concession of our people’s historic, territorial, moral and legal
rights, in the name of establishing inequitable and unjust relation.

Whereas, the principle of the nations’ right to self-determination,
on which hinges the just resolution of the Artsakh Question is visibly
absence from the documents, which contain other irrelevant specifics.

Whereas, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the pursuit
of the Armenian Cause (Hai Tahd) are the sole responsibility of the
Armenian people, be they in Armenia or the Diaspora. This is not an
issue of our ancestors or our generation, but rather it is an issue of
the rights of the Armenian people’s future generation. The Armenian
authorities do not have the legal right, in the name of the Armenian
people, to bargain during negotiations with Turkey, the just right of
the Armenian people, especially the issues of the Armenian Genocide,
our occupied historical territories and reparations.

Be it Resolved that

We, the participants of the public rally, by expressing our opposition
and protest, reject any pre-conditions for the establishment of
relations between Armenia and Turkey; and find the announced protocols,
in their current form, unacceptable and dangerous. The signing
of such defeatist protocols by the Armenian government is fraught
with irreversible and heavy consequences. Thus, we demand from the
Armenian government to immediately end all efforts and activities for
the signing and approval of both protocols. Otherwise, the president
of Armenia will bare sole responsibility for future events and will
be treated accordingly by the Armenian people and history.

*The public rally was organized by the Social Democratic Hunchakian
Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Ramkavar Azadagan
party and Unified Armenian Youth at Pelaconi Park on the corner of
Glenoaks Boulevard and Grandview Street in Glendale.

MOSCOW ARMENIAN THEATER TO STAGE CHARITY PERFORMANCES IN YEREVAN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
28.09.2009 18:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ By the invitation of "Moscow House" and under
the aegis of Yerevan Municipality, Moscow Armenian Theatre (MAT)
(chief founder: RA Embassy to Russia) is organizing guest performances
in Armenia.

During the 3 days of its visit, theatre will stage "Vay, Vay or Voyage
in Armenian Style", based on the play of late XIX and early XX century
Armenian playwright Grigor Ter-Arakelyan. The play touches on issues
concerning complicated geopolitical situation in Caucasus at the
turn of century. On September 29, the last day of guest performances,
audience will have the chance to watch Aleksey Rymov’s "Single Combat"
devoted to Chechen war. Both performances have been awarded prizes
and diplomas in international and Moscow theatre festivals. MAT is
this time organizing charity performances in Yerevan.

"Our goal is to introduce ancient Armenian culture to the world. We
are happy to perform our 7th guest performances in Armenia," artistic
director Slava Stepanyan said. Theatre repertoire, according
to him, includes of works both Armenian classical writers and
children’s performances based on the motives of Hovhannes Tumanyan. A
multinational theatre consisting of 25 actors and actresses (Armenian,
Russian. Ukrainian, Jew), MAT stages performances both in Armenian
and Russian languages.

"MAT’s popularity is not restricted to Armenian spectators. It’s just
very pity that professional actors from Armenian do not collaborate
with us, despite receiving invitations," said Armenian Culture
Development Foundation’s chair Metso Igityan.

MONITORING WILL BE CONDUCTED ON ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI BORDER

Panorama.am
13:05 28/09/2009

OSCE monitoring will be conducted on contact line of Armenia and
Azerbaijan near Kirants village of Tavush region tomorrow. After
the monitoring a briefing will be conducted in Tavush administration
building Defemse Ministry PR department reports.