Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

JEAN PAUL WAHL: NUMEROUS DISTINGUISHED ARMENIANS ENRICH CIVILIZATION

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
MAY 5, 2010
YEREVAN

The delegates of France, Belgium and other countries, who have arrived
in Yerevan to participate in the 23rd European regional forum of the
Parliamentary Assembly of Francophonie, remember well the film by
director Henri Verneuil (Ashot Malakian) about the Armenian Genocide
survivors. Arshile Gorky and numerous distinguished Armenians such as
Eduard Baladur, Patrick Devejian, Charles Aznavour, Henri Verneuil and
others enrich our civilization. Jean Paul Wahl – head of the mission
of the Parliamentary Assembly of Francophonie in the European region –
stated this during the forum which began on May 4.

"You know very well that the Armenian Diaspora is constantly developimg
and after the Genocide it managed to become stronger, being at the
crossroads of many big countries," he said. In his words, it is
impossible to imagine the future without the past, and history makes
us remember the 1915 genocide as well. "Although the historical and
territorial scars dividing the two neighboring countries are quite
deep, we are convinced that finally the voice of wisdom will be heard,
and the Armenian-Turkish ties will become closer, while the existing
taboos will be removed," Jean Paul Wahl sais.

THE ARMENIAN REVIEW GROUP IN MOSCOW

;p=0&id=1332&y=2010&m=05&d=05
04.0 5.10

In order to participate in the 9 May military ceremony in Moscow,
which will be devoted to the 65th anniversary of the victory in the
Great Patriotic War, since 30 April the Armenian review group is in the
capital of the Russian Federation. The military unit is in the Moscow
Higher Military Command Academy, where all the necessary conditions
are provided for fully organizing the living, rest and trainings of
the soldiers. In the same place are located the representatives of
Belarus and Ukraine.

The units from Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, France, Poland, Great
Britain, and the US have already started preparatory work in spot,
as well as in more comfortable marching squares. The recurrent joint
practice of the units was held at the place of the parade. The RA AF
unit marched through the Red Square.

The staff of the Armenian unit has visited the Victory Park and
commemorated the victory of the Soviet Soldiers who died in the 2nd
World War. The Armenian servicemen also visited the Central Museum
of the Great Patriotic War.

RA MoD Department of Information and Public Affairs

PARLIAMENT TO DISCUSS DECLARATION ON CRIMES

B92
rticle.php?yyyy=2010&mm=05&dd=04&nav_i d=66920
May 4 2010
Serbia

BELGRADE — The Serbian Parliament Collegium will discuss a draft
declaration condemning crimes against Serbs, it has been announced.

These crimes were committed during the 1990s wars in Croatia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo during the NATO bombing.

Parliament Speaker Slavica Ä~PukiÄ~G-DejanoviÄ~G distributed the draft
to MPs, which will be discussed on Wednesday. The document does not
state any concrete crimes.

Ruling Democrats (DS) spokeswoman Jelena Trivan said that her party’s
proposal to call upon the public and parliaments in the region to
condemn crimes against Serb population had been adopted.

"Nobody can interfere in the affairs of other countries, but we
can express our expectation that those countries will condemn crimes
committed against Serbs and contribute to the reconciliation process,"
said she.

The DS spokeswoman added that their proposal also included calling upon
international organizations which had been dealing with investigations
and processing of war crimes to finish what they had started and
convict the perpetrators.

Chief of opposition Serb Radical Party (SRS) parliamentary group
Dragan TodoroviÄ~G said that the proposed declaration was pointless,
stating that it was "impossible that authorities did not realize that
not only has no one accepted to apologize for the crimes against Serbs
but that some were celebrating the crimes as their military successes".

He stressed that SRS was going to the Collegium in order to request
its two draft declarations to also be put on the parliament’s agenda –
one condemning the Armenian genocide, and the other condemning crimes
against Serbs, Roma and Jews during World War II in Croatia.

Chief of opposition DSS parliamentary group MiloÅ¡ AligrudiÄ~G stated
that his party officials would not attend the meeting tomorrow, and
repeated that DSS believed all crimes needed to be condemned together.

The Serbian parliament recently adopted a resolution condemning the
1995 Srebrenica massacre.

"The proposed declaration condemning crimes against Serbs doesn’t have
political significance as far as we’re concerned, and it’s done only
as a complementary act of Srebrenica declaration," said AligrudiÄ~G.

"SHANXI -NAIRIT" JOINT ARMENIAN-CHINESE VENTURE OPENED

armradio.am
04.05.2010 15:32

Within the framework of the visit to China President Serzh Sargsyan
participated in the solemn opening ceremony of the "Shanxi -Nairit"
joint enterprise – the largest project of the Armenian-Chinese
economic cooperation.

The "Shanxi -Nairit" joint enterprise was established on the basis of
the contract signed between the Shanxi Synthetic Rubber Group Company
(China) and the Nairit CJSC (Armenia) in 2003. The Aremnian side
holds 40% of the shares of "Shanxi -Nairit."

President Sargsyan met the Governor of Shanxi, Van Xishan. Issues
related to the perspectives of expansion of cooperation were discussed.

THE ARMENIAN SAMBOISTS MAKE MEETING IN BYELORUSSIA

Aysor
May 4 2010
Armenia

The Armenian sambo team is having a 10 day sportive gathering in
Byelorussia, in "Stayk" Olympic sport complex, in order to get ready
for the championship of sambo form 13 – 17 May in Minsk.

Tigran Kirakosyan, who received a title of champion on the European
championship in Greece, Vahan Vardanyan, Artavazd Minasyan, Ashot
Danielyan, Mushegh Hovsepyan will represent Armenia on the competition.

The trainers of our teams are Gurgen Sevoyan and Ernest Mirzoyan.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF CHINA HU JINTAO ON MAY 2

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 3, 2010
BEIJING

In the framework of his visit to the People’s Republic of China,
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met with the President of the
People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao on May 2.

President Sargsyan said that the enhancement of the relations
with China is a priority of the Armenian foreign policy and noted
that bilateral relations have already shown excellent dynamics of
development. The President of Armenia stressed that the high-level
political dialog, active cooperation in social, political, economic,
cultural, and educational areas, mutual support in multilateral formats
increase mutual understanding and trust between Armenia and China.

The two sides noted with satisfaction that multiple joint projects
in energy, chemical industry, agriculture, science and technology,
defense, culture and education spheres are being implemented with great
success. Serzh Sargsyan and Hu Jintao underlined that the accumulated
vast Armenian-Chinese experience would serve as an excellent basis
for raising the bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level.

The press service of the Armenian president reported that the
Presidents discussed issues related to China’s participation in
the construction of the Armenia-Iran railway. They underscored that
launching the Armenian-Chinese Shanxi-Nairit joint venture in Shanxi
province of China proves that bilateral relations are developing
dynamically.

EurAsia Review
May 1 2010

Armenia Ex-President’s Wild Games

Saturday, May 01, 2010
By Simon Maghakyan

Newly-revealed summer 2009 photos of ex-Soviet Armenia’s former
president Robert Kocharian posing with hunted `wild game,’ including a
lion, in Tanzania have Armenian bloggers talking. Yet few seem
surprised ` a national reserve employee’s illegal boar hunting and an
oligarchic donkey-lion fight were caught on tape the same year. One
blogger, nonetheless, reads political overtones in the ex-president’s
luxurious safari adventures.

The Armenian Observer Blog, Artur Papyan’s resourceful site, posts one
of the controversial photographs with the following note:

Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharian is a big fan of safaris.
Here he is proudly posing on a killed lion. Years of observing
Kocharian have taught me one thing ` he never does anything without a
purpose. The fact he has posed on a lion means he wanted to let
everyone know he is the lion killing kind.

Coincidentally, the animal’s name is synonymous to the name of
Kocharian’s bitter political rival, Armenia’s first President Levon
Ter-Petrossian. In a recent display of distaste for each other,
Kocharian told an allegoric story about his African safaris, directing
pro-Ter-Petrossian media to finding and publicising this very photo,
which made a headline story on `Haykakan Zhamanak’ today.
[¦]
Ahuramazd, a pro-opposition Live Journal community member, posts four
photographs without comment. But he prompts quite a discussion.

Fellow user Dabavog reacts in Armenian:

The lack of harmony between Armenians (especially the government) and
nature requires a special study. (translated)

Pigh, a pro-government activist, defends the former president in Russian:

[Ara]mazd, what’s the crime? You don’t eat meat? (translated)

Simon Maghakyan is a native of Armenia and a graduate student in
political science at University of Colorado Denver. He is also an
alumnus of the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies. Connect to Simon’s blog at

0/05/armenia-ex-presidents-wild-games.html

WorldBulletin.net, Turkey
May 2 2010

Turkey’s FM wants Azerbaijan-Armenia peace, warns Israel

Remarking on Israeli actions, Davutoglu said that incidents in Gaza
could not be indulged.
Sunday, 02 May 2010 12:47

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that Turkey
was eager to open its borders with Armenia, because it wanted a full
integration with its neighbors.

Davutoglu delivered a speech at a conference titled "Turkish Foreign
Policy in Changing World" held by the South East European Studies at
Oxford (SEESOX) and Turkey’s Sabanci University at Oxford University
in Britain.

Turkey has taken measures before crises in its region and countries
should prevent wars and tensions, he said.

Davutoglu said Turkey was a member of the UN Security Council and G20,
and it also launched the Alliance of Civilizations initiative. "Turkey
is working to contribute to global order in these three formations,"
he said.

Turkey wanted a secure region and neighbors in Middle East, Caucasus,
Balkans and Gulf region, he said.

"Why do we so active regarding Iran’s nuclear program? It is not
because we defend Iran, but we want a safe region. We don’t want Iran
to have nuclear weapons and we don’t want any military tension in our
region," he said.

"Political dialogue and diplomacy are needed for solutions to
problems," he said.

"Azerbaijan-Armenia deal"

In regard to relations with Armenia, Davutoglu said Turkey was eager
to open its borders with Armenia, because it wanted a full integration
with its neighbors.

Davutoglu reiterated that Armenia-Azerbaijan dispute must be healed
for stability in the region.

`¦Of course we want to open our border because we want full
integration with our neighbors. However, it would not be enough to
open Turkey-Armenia border. We also want that Armenia-Azerbaijan
border is opened so that regional stability could be restored,’ said
Davutoglu.

"No indulgence on Israel"

Remarking on Israeli actions, Davutoglu said that incidents in Gaza
could not be indulged.

The Foreign Minister also reminded that Turkey has cancelled a
military exercise previously planned with Israel and stressed that
such war games will not be conducted if such military tensions exist.

Replying to a question, Davutoglu said Turkey did not have an
anti-Semitic stance and that his country did not want policies against
peace in its region.

Meanwhile, Davutoglu said 10 ministers would accompany Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Greece scheduled to
start on May 14 and a joint cabinet meeting would take place between
Turkey and Greece.

Agencies

ws_detail.php?id=57919

RA DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER PARTAKES IN A CONFERENCE IN BERLIN

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 30, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS: RA deputy Foreign Minister Arman
Kirakosyan partook in the conference on ‘European Security Dialogue
and Arms Control’ held in the capital of Germany from April 28 to 30.

An official from the press and information department of RA Foreign
Affairs Ministry told Armenpress that the conference is organized by
the Federal Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany and
George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies. A number
of high officials from the foreign affairs and defense ministries
of European states, political scientists, ambassadors and diplomats
accredited in Germany took part in the conference as well.

The speech of RA deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan was dedicated
to issues on regional security of the South Caucasus. Arman Kirakosyan
represented the issues of primary importance to the national security
of the Republic of Armenia, the official position on the Nagorno
Karabakh issue, as well as the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations.

PACE PRESIDENT IS LOYAL TO ARMENIAN DELEGATION

Arminfo
2010-04-29 13:47:00

ArmInfo. "Frankly speaking, I did not notice any discrimination by
PACE president towards the Armenian delegation", Head of the Armenian
delegation to PACE David Harutyunyan said when asked about loyalty
of PACE president Mevlut Chavushoglu who also heads the Turkish
delegation.

Harutyunyan expressed hope that the relations between the parties will
go on in the same spirit. However, he warned that it is still early to
draw conclusions about the results Chavushoglu’s work as he has very
recently become PACE president. "As a rule, the president’s activity
is estimated upon the results of a two-year work", Harutyunyan said.