HRANUSH HAKOBYAN APPOINTED MINISTER OF DIASPORA AFFAIRS
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.10.2008 13:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On October 1, Armenian President Serzh Sarsgyan
signed an edict on dismissal of Hranush Hakobyan from the post of
chairperson of the state committee on ties with Diaspora.
By another presidential edict Hranush Hakobyan was appointed as
Minister of Diaspora Affairs.
NASA SCIENTIST VISITS OIL CITY HIGH SCHOOL
Oil City Derrick
Thursday, October 02, 2008
PA
Varoujan Gorjian, an astronomer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, Calif., visited Oil City High School Friday and Monday
and talked to students about a wide range of topics including black
holes, the Big Bang Machine, and what it’s like to be a scientist.
Gorjian is Armenian and lived in Iran until he was 10 years old before
his family moved to Los Angeles. He is pictured here speaking in one
of teacher Tim Spuck’s Earth in action classes at the high school.
Gorjian traveled to the area to speak at Astroblast 2008, which was
held over the weekend at the Oil Region Astronomical Observatory at
Two Mile Run County Park.
Gorjian’s research focus is Active Galactic Nuclei, young star forming
regions that may be the sites of globular clusters in formation,
and cosmic star formation history. He is also a research scientist
with the Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VENTURE CAPITAL TO TAKE PLACE IN YEREVAN ON OCTOBER 17
ARKA
Oct 1, 2008
YEREVAN, October 1. /ARKA/. An international conference on venture
capital will take place in Yerevan on October 17, reported Bagrat
Yengibaryan, director of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF).
The workshop aims at introducing IT cooperation projects to overseas
investors and interested parties.
U.S. and European investors, as well as 13 local companies will
participate in the conference. A small IT exhibition will be organized
as part of the event.
The participants to the meeting will sum up the results of a grant
program promoting the private sector-science cooperation.
"The authors of the three best research projects will be awarded
$10,000 and future investors will have an opportunity to study these
projects," Yengibaryan said.
According to the EIF Director’s estimates, some $10mln is necessary
to boost Armenia’s IT sector. He stressed the importance of attracting
venture capital for local IT market.
The RA Government plans to attract some $700mln for the IT sector in
ten years.
The organizers of the conference are EIF, the U.S. Civil Research
Development Fund and the RA Ministry of Economy. The event is part
of the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program.
NO EASY COURTSHIP
by Timothy Spence
Transitions Online
30 September 2008
Czech Republic
There are positive signs in the budding relationship between Armenia
and Turkey. But don’t expect too much too soon.
When representatives of the NATO Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
gather this week in Armenia’s capital to discuss energy security, much
of the focus is likely to be on the country’s own highly combustible
neighborhood.
Russia’s rapid defeat of Georgia, its assertiveness in securing
energy deals with its old Soviet allies, and Armenia’s unresolved
territorial dispute with petroleum-rich Azerbaijan have triggered
growing skepticism about the South Caucasus being the preferred
transit corridor in Europe’s quest for Caspian Sea oil and gas. The
region looks more and more like a potholed country road rather than
a bypass around Russia.
But the 50-nation seminar scheduled in Yerevan on 2-3 October will
also take place amid promising political developments between Armenia
and Turkey. In a flurry of activity in recent weeks, the longtime
adversaries have taken steps to patch up relations and possibly open
their borders to trade after years of isolation and bitterness.
A reduction in tensions would improve chances for advancing peace talks
between Armenia and Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan. "It could change the
game in that region," said Shamil Yenikeyeff, an analyst at Britain’s
Oxford Energy Institute who was among those invited to the Yerevan
energy security meeting.
A seminal moment for Armenia and Turkey came this summer when Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan invited his Turkish counterpart to Yerevan
for the 6 September match between the nations’ football teams – an
invitation criticized by some of Sargsyan’s allies, including his
predecessor, Robert Kocharian. Turkey’s Abdullah Gul accepted. The
meetings of the two teams and the two leaders were unprecedented.
Bridging a divide? Presidents Sargsyan and Gul shake hands during
their meeting in early September.
‘THE TIME HAS COME’
The weeks since have seen discussions of energy and trade cooperation,
re-opening transit corridors, and even an end to Turkey’s embargo of
Armenia, unthinkable only a few months ago.
Sargsyan told the UN General Assembly on 25 September that the two
leaders discussed an array of issues. "The most important was our
decision not to leave the current problems to the future generations. I
am confident that the time has come to solve Armenian-Turkish problems,
and on that issue I observed similar determination on behalf of
President Gul."
Last weekend, foreign ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia met
on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, and leaders of
all three countries have acknowledged that the Georgia crisis makes
resolving their own differences all the more urgent.
In recent days, Gul told Turkish newspapers that the country should
not rule out lifting the embargo it imposed on Armenia in 1993 for its
support of ethnic-Armenian separatists in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh
region. The embargo has forced Armenia to rely heavily on Russia
for trade and energy supplies, much of it shipped through Georgia,
and Armenia has increasingly turned to Iran for energy and trade deals.
Armenia and its giant neighbor may be talking, but major differences
remain and hardliners in both countries have criticized any
normalization of relations until their demands are met.
A first step to normalization would require Turkey to acknowledge
the slaughter and starvation of more than 1 million Armenians
that occurred in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey’s
long-standing position has been that the modern republic cannot be
held responsible for the actions of its crumbling predecessor. And it
has been less than diplomatic with countries that have urged Ankara
to fess up to the atrocities committed by the Ottomans.
A year ago, Ankara recalled its ambassador to the United States over
a congressional resolution labeling as genocide the mass killings of
Armenians by the Ottomans. Turkey took similar actions in 2006 with
Canada and France.
For their part, the Turks have insisted that Armenia end its
occupation of parts of Azerbaijan and restore Nagorno-Karabakh to Azeri
sovereignty. Turkey’s Azeri allies have also sought the repatriation
of nearly 1 million people who were displaced from Karabakh and nearby
areas by fighting that erupted when it was still an autonomous region
within Soviet Azerbaijan.
An uncomfortable status quo has existed for more than a decade, with
Armenia boxed in on two sides, Karabakh declaring itself an independent
republic supported only by Armenia, and Azerbaijan demanding a return
of its territory.
WARTIME URGENCY
It was the urgency of the Georgian crisis that may have accelerated
the developments in relations between Armenia and Turkey. Turkey,
which has championed closer cooperation among Black Sea states,
including Russia, led a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Caucasus
after the August war in Georgia and called for a Caucasus Stability
and Cooperation Platform involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
and Russia. "All parties concerned seem receptive to the idea, and
we hope they will give it a chance to work," Gul told the UN General
Assembly on 23 September.
Armenia, meanwhile, depends heavily on Russian imports that come
through Georgia and feared that it would be cut off from its main
supply routes. After the hostilities began in South Ossetia, Yerevan
appealed to the Kremlin not to halt natural gas exports through a
Gazprom pipeline that supplies both Georgia and Armenia. Yerevan also
urged Moscow not to blockade transit routes and the Black Sea ports
that Armenia uses for trade.
Even before the conflict and the football match, however, there
were telltale signs of a thaw. After being elected in February,
amid increasingly violent protests from Armenian opposition parties,
Sargsyan received a congratulatory letter from an unusual address –
the Turkish president’s office. Gul’s letter expressed hope that
"an atmosphere based on reciprocal trust and cooperation can be
established that will contribute to regional peace and prosperity."
Business groups on both sides have sought to ease the embargo and open
the door to trade across a border that is still guarded by Russian
troops, at Armenia’s invitation. An end to the blockade, a settlement
of the conflict with Azerbaijan, and the demilitarization of Armenia’s
east and west borders could be a boon to all three countries.
A European Parliament report in 2007 noted that re-establishing
rail and other transport connections would give Turkey an important
direct route to markets in Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Armenia would
immediately gain from trade that now filters through Georgia. A
re-opening of borders, the report said, would also help bring
opportunity and stability to eastern Anatolia, where the Kurdish
separatist movement PKK makes its home.
Some energy analysts also see benefits in reopening these borders if
Georgia’s future remains uncertain. Rebuilding neglected, Soviet-era
rail links would offer alternative routes for petroleum products that
must now pass through Georgia. An attack on a railway bridge west of
Tbilisi in mid-August left Azerbaijan’s state-run oil company unable
to send the 140,000 barrels of oil it ships daily to Black Sea ports
overland through Georgia.
Still, these prospects remain distant. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey
have insisted that Armenia respect the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and a UN resolution to that effect. Armenia’s backing for
Nagorno-Karabakh – like Russia’s recognition of Georgia’s breakaway
South Ossetia and Abkhazia – has little international support but is
an important rallying cry for stubborn nationalists.
"I don’t see that moving toward any conclusion anytime soon," Julia
Nanay, head of the Russia and Caspian service at the advisory firm
PFC Energy in Washington, said of the frozen conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan.
ARMS RACE
Armenia and Azerbaijan also have been locked in an arms race that
conflict monitors like the Brussels-based International Crisis Group
fear is a precursor to renewed fighting after more than a decade
of brittle peace. Drawing on the windfall from export revenues that
reached $21.3 billion in 2007, much of it from oil and gas shipments,
Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliev, has boosted military spending
from $150 million when he took office in 2003 to more than $1.3
billion this year. In the run-up to the presidential election on
15 October, Aliev has called for a further 50 percent increase in
military spending. Armenian leaders have responded with double-digit
rate increases, but the poorer and smaller nation’s defense budget
is less than one-third its neighbor’s.
In his UN address last month, Sargsyan – without naming Azerbaijan
directly – accused the country of violating the 13-year-old Karabakh
cease-fire. "If any country increases its military budget and brags
about it, if limitation on weapons stipulated by the international
agreements are being violated and done so openly, if a country
signed a cease-fire agreement, which constitutes an international
responsibility, but on any occasion threatens to resume military
actions, it must receive a rapid and firm response."
Better relations with Turkey and more direct Turkish involvement in
settling the conflict could help. But some analysts doubt that much
is going to happen anytime soon. Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia could embolden both sides – Armenia’s defense of
ethnic kin in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Azerbaijan-Turkish position
that the borders of sovereign states should be protected – and only
prolong the stalemate.
And then there’s Russia, the newly assertive force in the
region. Despite the Kremlin’s commitment to resolving the Karabakh
issue through a negotiated settlement, Svante Cornell, research
director at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Stockholm, said
the Kremlin would look askance at any serious rapprochement between
Yerevan and its neighbors because it would end Russia’s domination
of Armenia. "I don’t see this going anywhere," he said.
"FRUITFUL ARMENIA" AND "ARMAGROFORUM" FORUMS TO BE HELD IN ARMENIA FROM SEPTEMBER 30 TO OCTOBER 2
Noyan Tapan
Se p 29, 2008
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ministry of Agriculture with
the support of the Argentinean Armenian businessman Eduardo Eurnekian
will hold "Fruitful Armenia" and "Armagroforum" joint international
forums in Yerevan on September 29 – October 2. Foreign experts in
agriculture, Diasporan Armenian businessmen and ambassadors accredited
to Armenia will participate in the forums.
The RA Minister of Agriculture Aramais Grigorian said at the
September 29 press conference that the purpose of the forums is
to develop cooperation with foreign companies and the Diaspora
and to encourage direct links betweem local producers and foreign
commercial organizations. According to him, the work done in Armenia’s
agricultural sector so far, as well as the prospects and directions
of developing rural communities in our country in the next 5 years
will be presented at the forums.
The minister said that thanks to the previous forums, Armenian
agricultural processing companies are cooperating closely with
representatives of agricultural sectors of China, Thailand, India,
Argentina, the U.S, the CIS and Baltic states. "Such forums are of
great importance to us because they will allow us to achieve the
development of the Armenian agriculture and raise the level of food
self-sufficiency by using the experience of developed countries,"
he stated.
An interenational conference with the participation of rectors and
scientists from agricultural universities of CIS countries will
take place during the forums at the Armenian State Agricultural
University. Trips to farms and food industry enterprises will be
organized for conference participants. Besides, at the invitation of
E. Eurnekian, the famous composer Alisa Terzian will give a concert,
while the world-famous tennis player David Nalbandian will conduct
tennis master classes within the framework of the forums in Armenia.
REPUBLICANS WIN IN SHENGAVIT DISTRICT
A1+
[11:51 am] 29 September, 2008
Alderman Elections were held in Yerevan’s Shengavit district on
September 28. According to the Central Election Commission 10 out of
15 candidates were Republicans. The Bargavach Hayastan Party (BHK)
and the Orinats Yerkir Party (OYK) nominated one candidate each. The
other three were nonpartisan candidates.
Yesterday evening newly-elected aldermen celebrated their victory
with a spectacular display of firework. Some of them even drove in
the district with their friends signaling loudly and disturbing the
rest of Shengavit residents.
DOCUMENT ON RESOLUTION OF TRANSNISTRIAN CONFLICT TO BE SIGNED TILL NOVEMBER
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.09.2008 16:46 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The second meeting this year between Moldovan
President Vladimir Voronin and leader of the unrecognized
Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic Igor Smirnov is about to take
place. That is but a prelude to an even bigger event, the signing of
a joint statement on the resolution of the longtime conflict with
the preservation of Moldova’s territorial integrity. That document
will be signed in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and will launch the final settlement process of the Transdniestrian
problem. Moscow is rushing to show off its successes in this field
before the December meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
Authorities in Chisinau and Tiraspol are preparing for the meeting of
the two leaders. Last week, Smirnov announced that he had instructed
the Transdniestrian Foreign Ministry to prepare materials for the
negotiations. Smirnov said contacts were being renewed in order to
normalize relations between the two sides of the Dniester River and
"ensure peace, stability and prosperous conditions for the peoples
of the republic."
Smirnov did not specify the date of the talks. A source in the
Transdniestrian Foreign Ministry said however, that the meeting
will be this week. "We insisted that it take place on September
19, but that didn’t suit the Moldovan side. Chisinau is suggesting
September 23, but that isn’t good for us," a high-placed source in
the Transdniestrian Foreign Ministry said. "Now we are talking about
the second half of the week." The source said the negotiations could
take place earlier as well.
The place of the meeting remains unchanged. Voronin and Smirnov will
meet in the city of Bendery, where their first face-to-face meeting
in seven years took place on April 11. Since then, events have taken
place that clearly show Moscow’s desire for a final settlement
of the Transdniestrian problem and peace between Chisinau and
Tiraspol. Medvedev received Voronin and Smirnov separately in his Sochi
residence and assured them both that Russia would become the guarantor
of the future agreement between them, Kommersant daily reports.
ORTHODOX PATRIARCH BLESSES TURKISH EU ENTRY
Teresa Kuchler
EUobserver.com
24.09.2008 @ 17:41 CET
Belgium
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Despite ongoing disputes over Christian and
other religious minorities in Turkey, the world’s leading Orthodox
prelate, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople,
has endorsed Turkey’s bid to join the European Union and appealed to
Brussels not to make religious or cultural differences an obstacle
to membership.
"Europe needs to bring Turkey into its project," Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I told the European Parliament. (Photo:
European Parliament) Print Comment article "We must not exclude from
the European family somebody who simply has a different belief from
us," the Istanbul-based cleric told MEP’s in the European parliament
on Wednesday (24 September).
"Europe should not see any religion that is tolerant of others as
alien to itself. The great religions, like the European project, can
be a force that transcends nationalism and can even transcend nihilism
and fundamentalism by focusing their faithful on what unites us as
human beings, and by fostering a dialogue about what divides us,"
the white-bearded clergyman told MEPs.
"What I and the majority of the people of Turkey wish is full
integration, full membership of the European Union, on condition that
the criteria and preconditions that apply to all candidates are abided
by," he later told journalists in Brussels.
Bartholomew I said, however, that Ankara needs to improve protection
for religious minorities as part of wider human rights reforms.
He called in particular for Turkish authorities to allow the reopening
of a Greek Orthodox seminary and return church property, describing
a dispute at the heart of legal action currently before the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Turkey’s population of almost 75 million includes 65,000 Armenian
Orthodox Christians, 23,000 Jews and approximately 2,500 Greek
Orthodox Christians.
Ankara launched EU membership talks in October 2005 and has since
opened six out of 35 negotiating chapters. Eight areas are blocked
from further progress by member states due to Ankara’s failure to
meet its trading commitments to EU member Cyprus.
The Orthodox cleric was invited to address MEPs in the context of
the "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue" programme aiming at
creating closer links between European cultures, languages, ethnic
groups and religions.
MEPs boycott religious visits
Several Green, Liberal and Socialist MEPs refrained from listening
to the Orthodox leader’s address in a protest of what they see as
the inappropriate intertwining of political and religious matters.
Belgian Socialist MEP Veronique De Keyser in a press release said
they were "sound[ing] the alarm for democracy and the separation of
church and state."
The Belgian deputy warned that under the "mantle of the intercultural
year" religions "have gone on the offensive" – something that violates
the principle of separation of church and state on which the European
parliament is based.
She also warned that if people were not careful in upholding the
division between politics and religion "The extreme right might
take advantage."
Still no women in sight
"The real reason for these invitations of religious leaders is to,
ultimately, bring the Pope to Brussels," Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie in
‘t Veld told EUobserver.
"That would, for many MEPs, be the ultimate achievement of their
careers – as well as a photo opportunity never before seen," she
explained, adding that she was getting "tired of the whole thing."
Ms in ‘t Veld earlier this year raised her voice against the fact that
neither women nor non-religious groups, such as organised humanists,
were represented in the list of invitees.
Replying to the criticism, the parliament’s president, Hans-Gert
Poettering, then pointed out that the list of speakers was not final,
and that "with goodwill," the EP would be able to produce "as balanced
a list as possible."
Only one woman speaker – Ms Asma Jahangir, a UN rapporteur on
freedom of religion – has so far appeared in Brussels as part of the
programme, despite the fact that various Christians around Europe
are led in worship by female priests, pastors and bishops, and only
after pressure from MEPs who demanded female representation.
"Curiously, on the day Ms Jahangir spoke, Mr Poettering had other
things to do. It is a matter of courtesy, if she is invited to speak,
he can at least show the courtesy of being present in plenary," Ms in
‘t Veld said.
"I am offended, as a politician and as a woman."
RUSH LIMBAUGH SETS THE WORLD STRAIGHT ON BLACKNESS AND OBAMA
Posted by Lisa Richardson
Los Angeles Times
Sep 23, 2008
CA
September 23, 2008 in Barack Obama , Bizarre Theories , Campaign 2008
, Doubletalk , John McCain , Politicians , Pop Culture , Propaganda ,
Race , Radio | Permalink
Soul Brotha #1, better known as Rush Limbaugh, has clarified who is
black and who is not. Seriously. He may not look like it, but Rush
apparently has deep knowledge legitimate blackness. Taking issue
with polls that say some white blue collar workers are leery of
Barack Obama because he is black, Limbaugh choked and gargled and
spluttered, and gave a quick lesson in blackology: "He’s not black,"
he said of Obama. Not a "shred of African-American blood" in him,
Limbaugh ranted. "He’s Arab." Arab, Arab, Arab, Arab.
Honestly, where to start here?
Rush’s point, apparently, is that bigotry and prejudice are fine (he’s
Arab! Arab, Arab, Arab, Arab), but it’s important to be bigoted for
the right reasons. So anti-Arab bias seems OK. Being anti-black? Well,
in the snippet he doesn’t say. But Obama has a white mother from
Kansas and a black father from Kenya. He was born in the U.S. and
spent all but four years of his childhood in Hawaii. He’s a long-time
practicing Christian.
But Rush, let’s address some of your points:
A: You say Obama is not black. He’s disqualified from blackness as
you define it because his father is from "Arab" parts of Africa. You
mean, the Arab parts like Kenya? That’s sub-Saharan Africa, Rush, and
there are lots of black folks there. Besides, you’ve got ethnicity
and religion all twisted up. A person doesn’t have to be Black or
Arab. There are Black Arabs; there are white Arabs, Arab Christians (a
big population in Israel) as well as Arab Muslims etc. But of course,
that’s not really what you mean. You’re using code language for
"Muslim" and your listeners shouldn’t need more than that be scared
of him. Clever. Ignorant, bigoted, fear-mongering and underhanded,
but definitely clever.
B. Now for your assertion that Obama isn’t African American. Who could
be more so? He is literally of African and American descent. What’s
so funny about this is when the term African-American came into vogue,
people like you, Rush, railed that it was ridiculous because the link
to Africa for many black Americans is distant. Now you have a man whose
link is recent and he doesn’t qualify either. Oh please. But many
people who call themselves African Americans, like Irish Americans
or Italian Americans or Armenian Americans, are acknowledging not
only ancestral connection, but the unique experience of being from
somewhere else, or having parents or forebears from somewhere else,
and assimilating here in the U.S. Like Obama.
ACCORDING TO DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ARMRUSGAZPROM, RISE IN GAS TARIFFS IN ARMENIA FROM APRIL 1st NOT TO BE BURDENSOME FOR ECONOMY AND POPULATION
Noyan Tapan
Se p 23, 2008
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The rise in the gas tariffs in
Armenia starting from April 1st of next year will not be burdensome
for the economy and residents – gas users, the director general of
the board of ArmRusgazprom CJSC Karen Karapetian gave his assurances
during the September 23 briefing with reporters. He refrained from
announcing the tariffs, noting that these tariffs will be determined
by the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission. ArmRusgazrom will soon
submit a bid to the commission which will determine the tariff sizes.
K. Karapetian underlined the importance of signing the 2009-2015
agreement on natural gas supply of the Republic of Armenia, which
is based in particular on the fact that Gazprom is not only a gas
supplying and selling company but also "one of our shareholders and it
is interested in developing the gas market and the economy." The head
of ArmRusgazprom also attached importance to the provision, by which
the gradual change of gas prices shall be in line with the rates in
Russia, in the domestic markets. He also expressed a positive opinion
about the use of the new tariff from April 1st, 2009, which will enable
to spend the winter and to adapt to new prices in milder conditions.
During a consultation with the participation of Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan, Karen Karapetian pointed out, among the achievements
of the company, the growth of the gas supply network installation –
from 21% to 91%, the growth in imports and sales of natural gas in
Armenia – more than 2.4fold, including the volumes by filling stations
– 10fold, by the population – 6.4fold and by industry – 2.3fold. He
announced that the number of actual users increased 5.1fold, the gas
distribution network was expanded 2.1fold, and the volume of stored
natural gas grew 2fold. "The natural gas used as engine fuel in the
transport sector substitutes for about 300-330 thousand tons of oil
product, thanks to which the annual savings make 380-400 million
dollars, according to our calculations," K. Karapetian said.
As regards the financial economic indices, he attached special
importance to 2,5fold growth in the average salary of the company’s
employees: ArmRusgazprom has become a profitable enterprise from an
unprofitable one, with its profit reaching nearly 12 billion drams.
Among the tasks of their company, K. Karapetian indicated the signing
of an agreement on natural gas supply of Armenia through 2015:
ensuring a not sharp growth of the gas price, as well as improving
the safety level of the gas supply of users.
According to K. Karapetian, the investments of the company will amount
to 720-750 million dollars in 2008-2010, including the implementation
of gas energy programs. Among the biggest investment programs he
indicated the purchase, construction and modernization of the 5th
power unit of Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant which cost about 430
million dollars.