Author: Virabian Jhanna

12 THOUSAND ARMENIANS LIVING IN ADZHARIA HAVE PROBLEM OF SCHOOL PRESERVATION

Noyan Tapan
July 21, 2009

BATUMI, JULY 21, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. 12 thousand Armenians
currently live in Adzharia, including 9 thousand Armenians in the city
of Batumi. According to Marmara daily, Batumi Armenians are engaged in
small and medium business, the number of handicraftsmen is also great.

Spokesman for the Union of Armenians in Adzharia Arthur Hovhannisian
said that the most important problem of the community is the
preservation of Armenian identity, which greatly depends on solution
of educational issues.

The Armenian branch of Georgian school in Batumi has 30 pupils and 10
teachers of pension age. This year the branch did not give graduates
as no 1st grade was formed 10 years ago. "We need to save the school,
otherwise the role the community will decline to a zero level. We have
a church, a school and a consulate, but the imperative necessity is to
maintain the link with homeland and to remain faithful to our Armenian
roots. We need to keep our roots, language, traditions and customs,"
A. Hovhannisian underlined.

In his words, a House of Friendship opened in Batumi a year ago. The
offices of the Armenian, Azerbaijani, Greek, Russian, Jewish,
Ukrainian, German, and Yezidi communities are located in the House of
Friendship. The Armenian community maintains its links with Armenia
through various programs, as well as in the format of cooperation
between sister cities. The relations with homeland have become
especially active after the opening of the Armenian consulate. 3
students from Batumu currently study at universities of Armenia. It
is envisaged that 20 Armenian young people will visit Armenia under
"Ari Toun" (Come Home) Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

As regards the participation of Adzharian Armenians in the internal
political life of Georgia, Arthur Hovhannisian said the community
tries to be neutral as their participation in political events may
become a subject of speculation and be used against the Armenians. "We
have adopted a position of neutrality, but at the same time we assist
with solution of problems of interest to the Armenian community,"
he explained.

KARABAKH CONFLICT CAN BE SOLVED ONLY PEACEFULLY: ARMENIAN FM

Today.Az
63.html
July 20 2009
Azerbaijan

"Armenia will continue its foreign policy line to come closer to the
European family."

Armenian President Edward Nalbandyan said after talks with the
EU Troika delegation led by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
in Yerevan.

European Union Troika delegation led Swedish Foreign Minister Karl
Bildt arrived in Yerevan on Monday. The delegation is expected to meet
with President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan.

"Armenia will continue its foreign policy of rcarapprochement with
the European family and intends to implement necessary steps and
reforms on this track," the minister said.

He said the negotiations focused a wide range of issues related
to th Armenia-EU relations, directions of expanding and deepening
cooperation, as well as in the direction of joint action.

"The cooperation between Armenia and EU is diverse. We work in
a variety of formats and on various programs, in particular,
the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation Policy and European
Neighborhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership," Nalbandyan said.

He also briefed on the process of settlement of the Karabakh conflict,
the results of the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
that took place two days ago and confirmed Yerevan’s principled
approach on solution of the problem which implies that the conflict
can be resolved only by peaceful means.

Moscow calls three-way talks on Karabakh ‘constructive’

18:1618/07/2009

MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – Discussions on Saturday between the
presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on a settlement to the
Nagorny Karabakh dispute were held in a constructive atmosphere, a
Russian presidential aide said.

"In the course of today’s meeting, already the fourth, between the
presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Dmitry Medvedev confirmed
Russia’s readiness as a co-chair of the Minsk Group to make efforts
going forward to find a mutually acceptable conclusion for a settlement
in Nagorny Karabakh," Medvedev’s aide Sergei Prikhodko said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart, Serzh
Sargsyan, held bilateral talks in Moscow on Friday before Saturday’s
discussions with Medvedev.

"There was a long and, according to our side, very constructive meeting
during which some of the remaining open questions were discussed,"
Prikhodko said.

"Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan expressed their gratitude to Dmitry
Medvedev for his efforts to bring together the positions of Armenia and
Azerbaijan," he added.

The latest talks focused on the principles for resolving the dispute
agreed at an internationally mediated conference in Madrid in 2007.

Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet
republics since the late 1980s. The province has its own government and
is de facto independent.

The co-chairs of the Minsk Group – the United States, Russia and France
– said during the G8 summit in Italy earlier this month that they would
submit a revised set of proposals on the disputed region, and that any
agreement must be based on the Madrid accord.

The war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the mountainous enclave in
1988-1994 left an estimated 35,000 people dead. Sporadic violence on
the border has continued ever since.

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
July 18 2009

Meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian presidents launched
18.07.09 17:13

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev and the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan discuss further ways
of settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh problem at the meeting in Moscow on
July 18, RIA Novosti said.

Leaders attended the races for the Russian President’s prize at the
central Moscow race track in the morning. Later they continued
trilateral talks on one of Moscow restaurants.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Azerbaijan Business Center
July 18 2009

Armenia refuses to capitulate in Moscow

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
(Dmitry Medvedev, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan respectively) are to
meet in Moscow today in an attempt to obtain progress in 15-year
process of peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno
Garabagh conflict.

Yesterday the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders held a meeting with
involvement of their countries’ ministers of foreign affairs Elmar
Mammadyarov and Edvard Nalbandyan, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs

Mathew Braiza (United States), Yury Merzlyakov (Russia), and Bernard
Fasie (France), and personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

Following negotiations Mr.Braiza emphasized that the meeting bore
quite deep character and was more concrete.

`I was disappointed to the certain extent with the fact that no new
decisions were made. I cannot say that everything is excellent.
Nevertheless, the negotiation process is underway and is at serious
stage,’ he said.

Mr. Braiza also pointed out that at any rate no regression was
observed compared to the previous meetings.

In his turn, Mr. Merzlyakov noted essential and noticeable
rapprochement in positions of the sides and launched discussion of
issues not covered before.

`Both we and Garabagh conflict countries’ presidents have an
impression that the final decision can be made following current
negotiations and that is why meetings at high-ranking level will be
continued. In August the conflict region will be visited by
Mr. Braiza, in early September by Mr. Fasie, and at the end of
September by all the MG co-chairs,’ Mr. Mezrlyakov stated.

Under such conditions today’s tripartite meeting becomes if not an
empty formality, but a routine `working moment’. A new meeting of
presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in October has been announced as
a result. of Dragging out of conflict settlement process is linked
with the desire of Armenia occupying 20% of Azerbaijani territory to
obtain for itself more profitable conditions of peace, as this country
is sure that until October pressure upon Azerbaijan is going to
strengthen to make it agree on the agreement on even knowingly
unprofitable conditions. Armenia expects pressure upon Azerbaijan even
from Azerbaijan’s key ally – Turkey.

OSCE HEAD HOPES FOR EFFECTIVENESS OF MOSCOW TALKS OF AZERI, ARMENIAN LEADERS

Interfax
July 15 2009
Russia

OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichaumbaut hopes for progress
at the Moscow talks of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan on July 17.

There is progress every time at the talks of the presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia, he said to journalists upon his arrival in
Baku on Wednesday. Probably the advancement of the talks will be
witnessed in Moscow too, he said adding that cochairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group are doing their utmost for the progress in the settlement
of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict.

All three mediating cochairmen of the Minsk group are bending much
effort in this sphere, Brichaumbaut said. Hopefully progress will be
made in this direction, he said.

PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN TO MEET IN MOSCOW

armradio.am
17.07.2009 12:08

President Serzh Sargsyan left for Moscow today on a two-day working
visit, President’s Press Office reported.

Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev
will hold negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh
issue later today.

A trilateral meeting between the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and
Azerbaijan is scheduled for July 18.

EX-FOREIGN MINISTER – BOARD MEMBER OF ANELIK BANK

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
16.07.2009 12:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In an extraordinary convened on July 4, Anelik
bank’s administration elected ex-Foreign Minister and chairman of
Civilitas foundation Vardan Oskanyan as a board member.

Anelik commercial bank (LLC) was established on the basis of its
subsidiary branch in Moscow. Opened on August 23, 1990, it was the
only non-resident bank belonging to a Russian company. On December 4,
2003, the branch was reorganized into Commercial Bank, with all the
rights and obligations passing to Anelik commercial bank (LLC).

Anelik LLC is a subsidiary branch of Anelik bank CJSC (Yerevan,
Armenia). Its activities are mainly aimed at carrying out money
transfers to natural persons without opening account within Anelik
system.

EDWARD SHARMAZANOV: THE MADRID PRINCIPLES ARE PRO-ARMENIAN
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
14.07.2009 15:02

Why was the Madrid Document on the principles of settlement of the
Karabakh issue disclosed at this moment? Commenting on the issue,
Press Secretary of the Republican Party of Armenia Edward Sharmazanov
said the Minsk Group Co-Chairs were already tired of Ilham Aliyev’s
twofaced policy. "We have a document on the table, but he makes quite
different statements for internal "consumption," Sharmazanov said.

According to the Press Secretary of the Republican Party, the Madrid
Proposals are pro-Armenian.

"The stance of the Republican Party has not changed. We have always
noted that the Republic of Armenia should never agree to unilateral
concessions. The status of Nagorno Karabakh is the core issue
of the talks, and there are three principled points, on which we
cannot make any concessions. First, NKR cannot be within impendent
Azerbaijan. Second, Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia should have a
common land border and third, there should be clear guarantees for
the population and the state of Nagorno Karabakh. Our opinion is as
follows: the Karabakh issue cannot be solved without the participation
and the signature of the people and authorities of Nagorno Karabakh,"
Edward Sharmazanov said.

DANGEROUS TENDENCIES FOR ARMENIA ARE CONCEALED IN MADRID PRINCIPLES

ArmInfo
2009-07-13 17:23:00

Dangerous tendencies for Armenia are concealed in Madrid principles,
Hovhannes Igityan, member of Board of the Armenian Pan National
Movement, chairman of the Armenian Standing Parliamentary Commission
for External Relations in 1995-1999 told ArmInfo correspondent
when commenting upon the joint statement on Nagorno-Karabakh and
base principles of the conflict settlement made by Russian, US and
French presidents.

"It is natural that the "principles" were determined not today,
they are allegedly "decoded" today as in fact, everyone has known of
them for a long time",- he said. However, he thinks that dangerous
tendencies have been reflected in the statement of the three
presidents. In particular, the presidents crossed out the results of
the referendum on expression of Nagorno-Karabakh people’s will.

Igityan thinks that according to the three presidents’ statement,
the principle of territorial integrity is completely an accepted fact,
moreover accepted by Armenia, and this is perceived unambiguously. At
the same time, the referendum is mentioned in the future tense and in
a quite vague prospect, and this is also vividly shown in the three
presidents’ statement.

"All this has a number of dangers. And if we take into account
the fact that this happens against the background of Aliyev Jr’s
statements that Azerbaijani territorial integrity is not doubted,
this danger will become even more distinct",- he said.

At the same time, Igityan pointed out that he also sees some danger
in the statements of Azeri politicians who say that the Azerbaijani
Constitution doesn’t at all stipulate holding a referendum in one of
the republic’s parts.