Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

RUSSIA AND ARMENIA PLAN TO CREATE UNITED AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM

Interpressnews
Feb 13 2009
Georgia

Russia and Armenia plan to create united air defense system, similar
to system existent with Byelorussia.

As Ria Novosti informs, Secretary General of Collective Security
Treaty Organization Nikolai Bordiuzha stated about it.

‘Air defense system with Byelorussia is only a part of the work to
be carried out in the frameworks of the collective security treaty
organization. We suppose that similar joint system will be created
between Russia and Armenia’, – Bordiuzha stated.

TIGRAN BALAYAN SAYS NEGOTIATIONS OVER KARABAKH CONFLICT REGULATION ARE NOT HELD WITH THE MEDIATION OF TURKEY

ARMENPRESS
Feb 11, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS: Negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh
conflict regulation are not held through Turkey, spokesman for the
Armenian foreign minister Tigran Balayan said, commenting on the
information of Turkish "Hurriyet" newspaper which says about the
agreements over Nagorno Karabakh issue reached with the mediation
of Turkey.

"As Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan has many times stated,
the negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh conflict regulation are going
on with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the basis
of Madrid suggestions," Tigran Balayan told Armenpress.

From: [email protected]
Subject: `Hrant Dink: Heart of Two Nations’

`Hrant Dink: Heart of Two Nations’

Navasartian Hall
London/UK
Nareineh Sevanesian

On Sunday January 25th AYF Khanasor London hosted an evening at
Navasartian Hall with Nouritza Matossian director of the award-winning
film `Hrant Dink: Heart of Two Nations’ to commemorate the second year
of Hrant’s death.

Hrant Dink was a Turkish-Armenian editor-in-chief of the weekly
newspaper Agos.
Born September 15th 1952 in Malatya, Turkey and assassinated January
19th 2007 outside his office by a 17-year old Turkish nationalist.

Throughout history, Armenians have had a turbulent past. We have had
numerous heroes who have fought to maintain Armenians as Armenians, and
amongst these heroes was Hrant Dink. Therefore it is our duty to
remember and commemorate this brave man who fought with his pen for
Human Rights and freedom of speech.

Nouritza Matossian’s in-depth and very informative interview with Hrant
Dink gave an overview of the current life and hostility Armenians
endure. However we were also shown that there is hope, regardless of
how small, as many Turkish writers defy the government, fully aware
that by doing this they endanger their own lives. Dink was constantly
challenged about his writing with which he replied "I challenge the
accepted version of history because I do not write about things in
black and white. People here are used to black and white; that’s why

they are astonished that there are other shades, too."

Navasartian hall’s atmosphere after the film was alight with talk and
in-depth conversations of the documentary. A sense of empathy from
non-Armenian’s who attended could be felt. The evening itself was a
success in more ways than one. We were thrilled with the turn out for
the occasion: over a hundred people, young and old.

As a young Armenian I believe we all have a lot to learn about courage
and patriotism to become Hrant Dinks. Our constant and individual
battle in our everyday lives to maintain our identity and make the
world aware of our past means hope for the current and future
generations to come.

Hrant Dink proved Mahatma Ghandi’s theory: `The truth is the truth,
even if the majority is one’.

$8.5MLN WORTH JAPANESE GRANT TO HELP ARMENIA MODERNIZE FIRE-FIGHTING FLEET

ARKA
Feb 5, 2009

YEREVAN, February 5. /ARKA/. Armenian Government gave its approval to
signing of an Armenian-Japanese grant agreement for 8.5mln U.S. dollars
on modernization of the fleet of fire-fighting and rescue vehicles.

Under the project, 30 new vehicles are to be obtained, Armenian
Minister of Emergency Mher Shahgeldyan said.

The agreement is to be signed within the next days and will allow
not only modernizing the fleet, but also providing assistance to the
country’s regions, says the report.

Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan reported that a similar program on
provision of fire-fighting vehicles for high buildings is signed with
the Chinese Government.

DUGIN: RUSSIA SHOULD CONSIDER WAR TO HEAD OFF NABUCCO PROJECT

Today’s Zaman
Feb 5 2009
Turkey

A leading Russian intellectual has called for war to crush the Nabucco
pipeline project as a means of stopping attempts to decrease European
dependency on Russian energy resources.

Alexander Dugin, a Russian intellectual known in Turkey for his
controversial support for the Ergenekon terrorist organization —
support he later retracted to distance himself from being affiliated
with terror — is in the spotlight again after commenting on the
Nabucco natural gas pipeline project.

Speaking to the Eurasia.net news portal yesterday, Dugin said the
Nabucco project aims to bypass Russia as an alternative gas route and
must be prevented at all costs, even if that means waging war. "If
a military intervention is needed, then it must be done. This is
directly relevant to the geopolitics of natural gas, and all means
are allowed in geopolitics," he said.

Dugin is strictly in favor of Russian expansionism and nationalism
and is closely affiliated with the Kremlin and Russian military
intelligence. He is a strong proponent of the restoration of the
Russian Empire through a partitioning of the former Soviet republics
and unification with Russian-speaking territories. "We have to topple
Nabucco and partition Ukraine. Ukraine has to be divided into two
vassal states. We have to always be a step ahead of our rivals. If
we step back on natural gas, this obliges us to step back in other
fields, too. And this is impossible to accept," Dugin opined.

Meanwhile, Russian magazine Kommersant Vlast claimed in an article in
its most recent issue that an armed conflict is very likely to erupt in
a short while on Nabucco. The analysis, penned by Vladimir Solovyev,
claimed that the Vladimir Putin administration will do anything it
takes to prevent the launch of the Nabucco project. "For the current
Russian authorities, participating in the Nabucco project as a supplier
country is totally unacceptable. Shying away from using energy as
a tool to consolidate Russian political influence is impossible. A
war possibility may deter the emergence of a new and strong rival
to Gazprom’s presence in the European market. For example, a war
between Russia-backed Armenia and Nabucco’s adherent Azerbaijan,
on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute…" the analysis asserted.

Azerbaijanis: A war is not that easy

Azerbaijani parliament deputy Asim Mollazade says Russia’s most
essential problem now is coping with the global economic downturn and
that it has no time to conspire to trigger a war in the region. Vefa
Guluzade, a military and political expert who served as foreign
affairs advisor to former President Haydar Aliyev, believes a war
is definitely not in the interests of Armenia. He thinks Armenia is
trying to improve relations with the West and will probably not be
willing to endanger them.

Europe frequently feels the threat of the halt of gas flow from its
main supplier, Russia, and is a fervent supporter of Nabucco. Last
week, the European Commission decided to grant 250 million euros for
the project, asking Nabucco partners to accelerate the process. Turkey
has on several occasions invited Russia to take part in the project,
but Russia has declined.

GUILTY PLEA ENTERED IN DEBIT DATA THEFT
By Sean O’Sullivan

The News Journal
Feb 5 2009
DE

WILMINGTON — One of two co-defendants in a complicated debit-card
skimming operation that took in more than $500,000 from at least 70
victims pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington.

Artur Harutyunyan, 26, a native of Armenia who is in the United
States legally, admitted to three counts of bank fraud and one count
of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

He faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of
the charges.

His co-defendant, Artur Grigoryan, is set to plead guilty to similar
charges today.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilana H. Eisenstein, Grigoryan
and Harutyunyan placed a skimmer device inside a keypad at Rite Aid
drugstores in Wayne, Pa., and on Marsh Road in Brandywine Hundred,
at the checkout counter, allowing it to read and store account numbers
and security passwords of anyone who used the keypad.

The two would then return, with Harutyunyan acting as a distraction,
so Grigoryan could download the stolen data or remove the device. The
pair then used the information to create fake debit cards to make
withdrawals from victims’ accounts, often at ATMs in WaWa convenience
stores.

In the Wayne, Pa., case, Eisenstein said the pair recruited a person,
identified only as A.S., to get a job at the Rite Aid and assist in the
scheme, which ran from January 2007 to April 2007. There apparently
was no inside person at the Delaware location, where information was
skimmed in January 2007.

Harutyunyan’s attorney, Michael Medway, said his client was recruited
by Grigoryan and that the two men felt pressure from Armenian gangsters
to run the illegal operation and turn the money over to them.

Harutyunyan apparently admitted to his role in the Delaware thefts
last year but that case largely remains under seal. On Wednesday,
he admitted charges in the Pennsylvania case, which will be merged
with the Delaware charges at sentencing in several months.

ACCORDING TO RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN, TIME REQUIRES SERIOUS STEPS TO DEVELOP DEMOCRACY IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

Feb 3, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. American Armenian analyst,
political scientist Richard Giragosian has been appointed Director
of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies. In his
February interview to journalists R. Giragosian stated that now ACNIS
marks the 15th anniversary of its creation, it will remain independent
and neutral and will strive for being helpful for Armenia with its
analyses concerning the political, economic, national security,
military sphere society is concerned with.

As the director assessed it, the current period is historic, and not
only for Armenia, it is a period of "alarm," and historic period
requires taking serious steps for development of real democracy
in Armenia.

According to Richard Giragosian, Armenia’s most radical difficulty
is that country’s political and economic systems "are completely
closed." He also said that the "political alarm" that started last year
continues up to the present: "However, the newest alarm that starts
and should be harder is the economic alarm, for the present these
authorities have shown that they are not ready for the economic alarm."

According to the analyst, the recent aggravation of Israel-Turkey
relations in Gaza sector is "very good" for the process of recognition
of the Armenian Genocide. He noted that for the first time the
U.S. Jewish lobbyist forces will not support Turkey: "the way is open,"
he emphasized.

Richard Giragosian assesses RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s meetings
with the Turkish Prime Minister and Azeri President in Switzerland as
"very interesting." He positively assessed the fact that a "process is
launched," since the meeting with President Gul (on September 6) up to
the present we "have been expecting Turkey to take a concrete step,
which, however, has not been done so far." The analyst considered it
more important that "there is an idea" in Turkey that the Embassy of
Turkey in Georgia also address issues regarding Armenia.

In response to a question about the recent arrest of two Armenian
activists in Javakhk the political scientist said that Javakhk is a
key to Georgia’s stability, unless all these radical difficulties,
economic crisis, etc. are solved, "it will be very bad and dangerous."

COLLABORATION BETWEEN IRAN AND TURKEY WILL REHABILITATE NABUCCO AND WEAKEN THE ROLE OF AZERBAIJAN

"Noravank" Foundation
04 February 2009

Sevak Sarukhanyan’s interview with IA REGNUM

Lately Turkish government has actively lobbied the participation of
Iran in NABUCCO gas pipeline project; because they realize that this
project cannot be implemented without Tehran. This statement was made
by the vice director of "Noravank" foundation Sevak Sarukhanyan in
the interview with IA REGNUM.

"The strengthening of the relations between Iran and Turkey in the
sphere of energetic will definitely make NABUCCO project realizable. Of
course this is not the NABUCCO, which was offered four years ago,
because the new one will be oriented on the gas supply from Iran and
not from the Caspian region, because there are much more political
problems connected with the gas supply from Kazakhstan and from other
countries of the Caspian region", – mentioned the political analyst.

Sarukhanyan explained that the biggest natural gas field South Pars
lies in the Persian Gulf and it does not deal with the problem of the
status of the Caspian Sea. There is no such a problem as non-existing
Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, insecurity in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, which invite danger to the potential South Caucasian section
of the pipeline. "The implementation of the project without Iran
looks to be unlikely, but if Iran joins that project then NABUCCO
most probably will be implemented because the export potential of
Iran is about 80-100 billions cubic meter per year.

NABUCCO is designed for less amount of gas and it can exist only for
the account of Iranian gas", – he told.

Sarukhanyan also commented on the address of Vladimir Putin in Davos
who promised that Northern and Southern streams might provide a regular
supply of gas to Europe. "The construction of those pipelines will
have very positive influence on the European energetic security, but
anyway the issue of the construction of the pipeline from Iran will
remain. Europeans speak much of the diversification of the supplies,
but actually the question is the search of the new sources, which will
help to fill the gap, resultant to the decline in output of the gas
in Norway. Gas consumption in Europe rises while the gas output on the
European continent declines. It is impossible for Europe not to use all
the capabilities for gas output", – he mentioned and underlined that
in the near future Europe might also be in short supply of Russian gas.

Sarukhanyan explained the necessity of the construction of the NABUCCO
through the territory of Iran by the absence of real alternative
to Iranian gas. According to him gas from Africa is shipped as
liquefied gas by vessels, which is very expensive and dangerous. Thus,
the necessity of the pipeline occurs. Besi des, the expert noted
that the participation of Iran in the project would facilitate the
transportation of Turkmen gas if such a necessity arouse.

‘Iran is the key actor on that field. The ex-president of Iran Mohammad
Hatami stated about his obligatory participation in presidential
elections, so if the political authorities in Iran change there will
be much more opportunities to increase the role of Iran in energetic
sphere", – said Sarukhanyan.

In case of this scenario South Caucasus loses its significance from
the point of view of gas transit, but in accordance with the analyst
this will not influence Armenia in any way. "We did not participate in
the regional energetic projects and all that talks that if we ceded
Karabakh to Azerbaijan the pipelines would go through our territory
are just myths.

Armenia would not participate in NABUCCO or other pipeline projects
implementation, so that will not influence it anyway. On the other
hand, the role of Azerbaijan as transit factor of international
energetic security will reduce, thus its significance in the region
will also reduce", – concluded Sarukhanyan.

SPECIAL SESSION OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION TO BE LAUNCHED IN MOSCOW

Panorama.am
16:11 02/02/2009

In the special session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
on 4 February the leaders of the member countries will discuss the
question of drafting mechanism of collective activities of CSTO, writes
ITARR-TASS referring to Andrey Nesterenko the official representative
of Foreign Ministry of Russia.

On 4 February three other sessions will take place to prepare the
special session of CSTO. "The mission of the session is to discuss
the mechanism of collective activities to strengthen the security of
the Organization. During the non-official summit the Presidents of
Armenia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan made certain
agreements in this regard," said Nesterenko.

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Jan 29 2009

Turkish premier comments on talks with IMF, Azeri-Armenian dispute

Davos, 29 January: Turkey’s prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] said
today that he had a quite fruitful meeting with the IMF’s
(International Monetary Fund) deputy director yesterday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently in the
Swiss town of Davos to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic
Forum, replied to reporters’ questions on IMF and Turkish-Armenian
relations.

Commenting on his recent meeting with John Lipsky, the IMF’s first
deputy managing director, Erdogan said that Turkey’s comprehensive
talks with the fund would continue.

"I believe yesterday’s meeting was quite fruitful. I have seen that
there was no negative outcome and there was an approach towards a
solution. I hope we will reach a conclusion soon," he said.

Prime Minister Erdogan said that the IMF would carry out some works in
the next ten days. "After ten days, it will be up to the IMF to sign
an agreement with Turkey," he said.

Erdogan said that Turkey’s current debt to the IMF was about 8.7bn
dollars.

Upon a question about his scheduled meeting with President Serzh
Sargsian of Armenia later in the day, Prime Minister Erdogan said, "as
you know, I met with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan yesterday
evening. Our talks will constitute a frame for today’s meeting with
President Sargsian. We cannot leave Azerbaijan alone about the
Karabakh dispute. Armenia should display the necessary understanding
to this end. If Armenia acts sincerely, today’s meeting could pave way
to a road map."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Erdogan held bilateral talks with Prime
Minister Sali Berisha of Albania.