Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

YURI MERZLYAKOV: ARMENIAN SIDE EXPRESSED DISAGREEMENT WITH SOME POINTS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 2, 2010

MOSCOW, APRIL 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The negotiating
process on the Nagorno Karabakh problem settlement is quite serious,
which necessitated a regional trip of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs,
the Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov said
in Stepanakert on Sunday. Following an hour and a half meeting with
Karabakh leadership, the mediators declared that the discussion
was meaningful.

Y. Merzlyakov said the process of coming to an agreement on the
proposals made by the co-chairs in late 2009 is underway.

According to him, the Armenian side has already expressed its
disagreement with some points. "However, we do not complicate the issue
because exactly two years ago there was a similar situation with the
Madrid Priciples when the Armenian side accepted them, but not fully –
as it turns out now, whereas the Azerbaijani side did not accept so we
did a lot of work to come to a common denominator," Merzlyakov noted.

He said that on the whole, the sides have reached an agreement on
the Madrid Principles, except for 4 points.

The French co-chair Bernard Fassier underlined that the negotiations
over the Madrid Principles are still continuing, and the fact that
from time to time the sides reach an agreement on these principles
is a serious one, so there are some aspects of mutual understanding.

In response to Radio Liberty’s question about what was done by the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs supportive of peaceful settlement to stop
shots which have recently become frequent along the front line, B.

Fassier replied: "War cannot be an option, and we often say this
everywhere. We continue to believe that it is impossible to solve this
problem by war. If a war starts, neither the history nor geography
will change and the problem will get more complicated."

When asked if there was any progress in organizing a meeting of the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Astana – in connection with
the proposal of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Yuri Merzlyakov said
they were aware of that proposal, but it does not mean that they had
made the proposal and participated in it.

In his words, it was his last regional visit as Russian co-chair:
"I will get a new appointment soon, and the name of my successor will
become known in the near future".

ARMENIA MAY BECOME WORLD LEADER BY REPLACEMENT OF OIL AND GAS RESOURCES

ArmInfo
2010-04-01 16:49:00

ArmInfo. Armenia may get an image of a world leader by replacement of
oil and gas resources, i.e. a country with big surplus of electric
power, said Abel Aghanbekyan, a member of the Russian Academy of
Science, during the official presentation of his new book "Economy
of Russia on the Crossroad. Selection of the Post-Crisis Area."

Academician Aghanbekyan believes that there are all the necessary
and quite favorable conditions for power engineering development in
Armenia. The country has significant hydro resources. In addition,
he said that such a leading country as Russia has an opportunity and
desire to build a big power unit in Armenia. The project planning is
underway. The energy resources generated in the country will be in
demand by neighbor Turkey, Iran and even Iraq where electric power
tariff are rather high, he said. The academician recalled that 8
small power stations have already been built in Armenia and another 70
stations will be built in future. "Armenia have favorable conditions
to produce bio-fuel, and first of all, topinambur. In addition,
Armenia has an energy ministry with highly qualified staff," the
academician said. He considers himself among few people who visited
all the big enterprises in the country to get first hand view of
their potential. Thus, he believes that collective work revealed 11
so-called clusters that may become a locomotive for development of
Armenia. The academician believes that these clusters may help the
country progress, increase economic and social level.

Aghanbekyan thinks that Armenia is the only country in the world
where the share of industry in GDP is lower than the share of trade,
agriculture and construction. Export makes up just 13% of GDP, unlike
other countries of the same scale where this indicator is at least 30%
of GDP. Armenia is a very peculiar country. It is a country of one
city – Yerevan, where 80% of housing construction and the greatest
part of retail trade are concentrated. In the meanwhile, only 44% of
the total population resides in Yerevan. Such a gap between the city
and the periphery is inadmissible, the academician said. Therefore,
he said, clusters must be created also in the regions.

ANKARA STANDS BEHIND ITS SIGNATURES: TURKIS DEPUTY PM

Tert.am
15:23 ~U 01.04.10

Turkey backs and is responsible for the signatures it placed on
the Armenia-Turkey agreements and documents, said Turkish Deputy
Prime Minister Cemil Cicek at a press conference after a Council of
Ministers session, according to Turkish daily Zaman.

When asked in the context of statements by Armenia on possibly halting
the process, how will the Protocols process continue, Cicek said,
"If there’s a need to make any statements on any issues, the Foreign
Ministry makes it. Be it an agreement or any other document, Turkey
backs and is responsible for the signature it affixes to them. But
these developments happen beyond our will."

"All the world should see that if the process is being sabotaged,
then not Turkey, but the other side is to blame. One of the main
reasons the process got blocked was the ruling by the Constitutional
Court of Armenia," added Cicek.

ARMENIAN ECONOMY REGISTERS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH RATES

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.04.2010 13:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that
the anti-crisis measures implemented by the Government in 2009 had
a positive impact on the country’s economy.

"The official data certifies that the country’s GDP has exceeded the
planned one by 2.5%, as a result of monetary-credit and tax-budgetary
policy," Mr. Sargsyan said during a government session, summarizing
the results of the first quarter of 2010.

Besides, according to the PM, positive trends are recorded in tax
collection and compulsory social payments. "The quarter program for
tax proceeds has been exceeded by AMD 9.5 billion, the factual figure
totaling AMD 126 billion against the planned AMD 117 billion," he
said. "As for the compulsory social payments, this figure has been
exceeded by AMD 4 billion, specifically the factual figure reached
AMD 26 billion against the planned AMD 22 billion."

"Salaries increased by 5.8% at the quarter-end," added the PM.

Meanwhile, according to him, this positive dynamics was recorded both
in budgetary and in non-budgetary organizations.

Export increased by 53%, while import reduced by 15%. The export boost
was conditioned 45% growth in the mining industry, 9% increase in
the processing industry, while the construction materials production
increased twice. 39% growth was recorded in diamond cutting, 25% –
in gold production and 16% – in medicines’ production.

33 PERCENT COMPLETED

/eu
04:03 pm | March 30, 2010

Official

Reforms prescribed within the framework of Armenia-EU cooperation
are in 190 directions and include 277 functions.

The inter-ministerial commission coordinating the cooperation between
Armenia’s state bodies and European organizations held a session today.

The session was headed by Secretary of the National Security
Council Artur Baghdasaryan who informed that in 2009, nearly
40 inter-ministerial working groups have been created, while ten
concepts, one strategy and four national projects have been developed
and confirmed in 2009.

"Thirty-three percent of prescribed actions have been completed or are
near completion and the rest of the activities will be implemented
in 2010 and 2011. All projects prescribed within the framework of
Armenia-EU cooperation must be completed according to schedule,"
said Baghdasaryan.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Karine Ghazinyan presented the
activities for signing agreements on association of Armenia and EU,
as well as deep, comprehensive and free trade.

According to Ghazinyan, the goal of the agreements on association to
be signed with the EU within the framework of "Eastern Partnership"
program is to deepen the political association with EU-partner
countries and promote economic integration to ensure markets for
both sides.

The EU Commissioner on Broadening and Neighborhood is scheduled to
visit Armenia and the topic of discussion will be the mandate for
holding talks on the agreement on association which will be granted
to Armenia by April.

UNIQUE NEURO-ARTERIAL SURGERY CENTRE OPENED IN YEREVAN

news.am
March 31 2010
Armenia

March 31, a center of neuro-arterial surgery opened at Yerevan State
Medical University (YSMU). RA President Serzh Sargsyan, state officials
and high-ranking guests attended the ceremony of a unique center in
the region.

"The center provides unique opportunity to diagnose all disturbances in
cerebral arteries and cerebral vessels, reducing the risk of stroke,"
YSMU head Gohar Kyalyan said adding that the center is donored by
benefactor Nazar Nazaryan.

The center will operate in a separate radiological building supplied
with up-to-date equipment, and its experts got training in the best
world clinics, Kyalyan noted.

"One of the best computed tomography units (CT) in the world was
delivered to Armenia," center physician Harutyun Muradyan told
NEWS.am-Innovations. According to him, it will enable avoiding use
of invasive methods while examining the coronary vessels.

"During the coronary angiography the research with probe is carried
out, whereas this device enables doing it by intravenous injection,"
Muradyan said noting that the unit makes possible examination and
get precise information on the state of coronary vessels.

It will also help to fully examine the heart and conduct all types
of checkups with a 64-layer magnetic field, Muradyan emphasized.

RULED ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL

2010/03/30/sd
06:20 pm | March 30, 2010

Politics

The Constitutional Court recognized the article of the Penal Code that
permitted quashing the criminal case on the grounds of insufficient
evidence as anti-constitutional and invalid.

The Constitutional Court took the decision today by examining the
appeals filed by Armenian National Congress representative Karapet
Rubinyan and "Hanrapetutyun" (Republic) party leader Aram Sargsyan
through a written procedure.

After March 1, 2008, a criminal case had been brought up against
Karapet Rubinyan and Aram Sargsyan under the charges of usurping state
power and organizing mass disturbances, but both were off persecution
in December 2008 on the grounds of insufficient evidence through the
application of Part 2, Article 35 of the Penal Code.

Artak Zeynalyan, representative of Aram Sargsyan and Karapet Rubinyan,
told "A1+" that they are dealing with a hypothesis: If there is
no evidence, there is no guilt and the case must be quashed on the
grounds of innocence.

"We think there is no need for Article 35. It goes against Articles
18 and 21 of the Constitution," said Artak Zeynalyan and informed
that they were going to appeal to the Cassation Court with the demand
to reconsider the appeals by which the grounds for quashing the case
against those persons was still in effect.

MTS AND DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AGREE TO INTER-CONNECT THEIR NETWORKS

ArmInfo
2010-03-30 20:34:00

ArmInfo. MTS and Deutsche Telekom have agreed to inter-connect their
networks, reports the press service of VivaCell-MTS (subsidiary of
MTS in Armenia).

The networks are inter-connected through the Ancotel colocation data
center in Frankfurt.

According to this agreement, MTS will be able to have traffic in all
mobile and fixed networks of Deutsche Telekom, including T-Mobile
networks, in Europe, Asia and America. Deutsche Telekom will get
traffic in Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
(with MTS-Ukraine the German company has an individual agreement).

"Being the leading telecoms operator of Russia and the CIS, we pay
special attention to quality and are sure that direct exchange of
traffics with Deutsche Telekom will help both companies to improve the
quality of their home network and roaming services. This partnership
is one more step towards direct exchange of traffic with the biggest
international operators and owners of mobile networks," says Yevgeny
Moskalev, MTS Group’s operator liaison and broadband access manager.

MTS already has direct inter-connection agreements with TeliaSonera,
Telecom Italia Sparkle, TATA Communications, Telefonica, KPN (iBasis)
and Orange.

VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJCS) is subsidiary of MTS in Armenia. It
provides mobile telephony and broadband internet services and is one
of the country’s biggest tax payers.

TURKS DETERMINED TO COOPERATE WITH ARMENIAN DIASPORA

Panorama.am
15:01 30/03/2010

Region

"Justice and Development" Turkish ruling party’s assistant of
President Suat Qynyqloglu is determined to have a meeting with the
representatives of Armenian Diaspora during his April travel to the
United States, Turkish Stargazete reported.

According to the Assistant the recognition of Armenian Genocide
resolution by the parliaments of different states make the political
will of normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties weaker.

"It’s important to cooperate with Armenians over idea of "honest
recollections"," Turkish deputy said.

It’s worth reminding that Turkey’s FM Ahmet Davutoglu has recently
sent similar messages to cooperate with the Armenian Diaspora.

TODAY HOUSE OF LORDS DISCUSSED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

news.am
March 29 2010
Armenia

U.S. Congress and Swedish parliaments already recognized Armenian
genocide on the threshold of its 95th anniversary, which is long
overdue. Currently, Turkish government asserts that massacres in
Ottoman Empire are untrue, claiming that the land is Turk’s home
and opposes the recognition. Recalling Hrant Dink’s murder, Turkish
government should stop distorting the history no mater of what period.

Turkish position denies Armenian genocide as well, which is a
dishonest refusal of historical truth. Evading true facts of Armenian
genocide, Turkish Government questions unequivocal evidences of its
perpetration. These events will not be forgotten by mankind as giving
death to a whole race, including women, children and elderly. In
spring of 1915, the deportation of Armenians, that separated men from
families, who got shot later in a desert area was carried out. Turkish
policy of deportation, extermination and massacres of Armenians is
inconvertible.

Consequences of Genocide denial is impunity, having destructing
the Armenian civilization in culture, including in NKR territory by
Azerbaijanis. There was an obvious ethnic cleansing in the beginning
of last century. Each year visiting Genocide memorial all Armenians
commemorate their victims. The genocide denial policy jeopardizes
the whole world.

Lord 2:

The Armenian Genocide issue was widely discussed by Turkish writers.

Hrant Dink’s murder proves the prosecution of Armenians even in modern
Turkey. Under the article 216 of Turkish Penal Code instigating a
part of the people having different social class, race, religion,
sect or region to hatred or hostility against another part of the
people in a way dangerous for the public security.

Turkey puts political pressure on media as a result of U.S. committee
recognition of genocide. Prime Minister Erdogan being on official
visit in UK this month, opposed the voting, threatening to deport
100.000 Armenians from Turkey. Both Turkey and Armenia should start
from contemporary analysis of the fact of genocide in Ottoman Empire
in 1915. U.S. State Department published a book of U.S. Ambassador
to Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau "Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story".

Turkish Grand national assembly considered appeal by the US as
fabricated propaganda and asked to repudiate it. Attempts in
destruction of criminal documents of those times prove the fact
of genocide.

None of 33 members of both houses in TGNA in January, 2006 reacted
to our proposal to discuss authenticity of documents published in the
"Blue Book" (in 1916 British Parliament published a "Blue Book" that
identified the events of 1915-16 as a systematic effort to exterminate
the Armenian people-NEWS.am’s note). I urge Minister Erdogan to open
dialogue on 1915 events starting with "Blue Book" and try to overcome
the hostility of 100 years and join us with TGNA again.

Lord 3:

In 1915 Turkish government planned and organized massacres and
it was a final solution to Armenia-Turkey relations, end seems to
be compelling. If Turkey could apology to Armenian government for
prosecution and persecution of historical writers presenting the
truth of terrible events that took place from Turkey. Continuance
of denial of what happened began between Turkey and Armenia, having
a large number of Armenian workers deported from Turkey, diverting
attention from urgent constitutional reforms, that many Europeans
consider necessary within Turkey and its application for EU membership.

Lord 4:

It is inappropriate to dwell on century-old events, and NKR conflict
that yet remained unresolved, now 1 million Azerbaijanis have status
of refugees deprived of right to return to their homes. It’s a
humanitarian disaster, carried out by Armenians. It would be much
more relevant instead of self-indulging of what happened 100 years
ago in Ottoman Empire. There is no reason or excuse of defending
either side, but from my reading I believe Armenian-Russian attempts
provoked the conflict, that actually resulted in killing of a large
number of people in harsh circumstances.

UK should remember 1922 — Kemal Ataturk, ally of UK and we are
grateful for Turkish participation in guarding freedom of Europe. For
that reason I believe we should be very careful not to alienate our
Turkish ally, considering that US congressional committee only voted
by majority in favour of the resolution.

Lord 5:

Conflict of Muslims and Christians in many countries occurs, including
this case as Armenians are Christians and Turks — Muslims. My sympathy
goes towards Armenians, as I am Christian and my daughter works there
for many months to release them from Soviet Union regime consequences.

This was 100 years ago and qualifying this as genocide is unhelpful
to the situation between Turkey and Armenia and NKR conflict.

Azerbaijanis murdered by Armenians having supported by other counties
made Azeries flee. Arguments come from both sides, 2 countries should
negotiate, and US and UK should not interfere, it’s a matter of
Turkey and Armenia to resolve these issues as hundreds thousands died
on both sides. My position is that we have to make some movement and
governments try to make movement on these subjects and sub-commissions
having Switzerland as mediator should search the facts quietly and
diplomatically not trying to raise temperature. We see what happened
in Sweden, and we should not support this motion.

Lord 6:

Unconditional support to Turkey’s view, including Cyprus conflict,
Hamaz view of Palestinian intervention in Gaza was blindly advised
by anti-Semites. Passions go high in this area.

We should not always support Christians against Muslims. There are
many historical wrongs in the pasts, not only Turkish and Armenian
governments. We killed Muslim population being not wonderfully
civilized but fate of Armenians was a tragedy: huge number was killed,
forced to live their villages, much legacy of Armenian civilization
was lost. But in Caucasus history became less stable. And on event
in Ottoman Empire, having myself getting to know Turkey better, I
know grandchildren of those who escaped offered choice of expulsion
or death. Arguing people who themselves are victims, there were
massacres of Armenians in World War I, but also Turkish army under
Kemal Ataturk. In my opinion the least bad Turkish government that
we had for my life, this is a government which modernized Turkey and
tries to open up to Armenia and solve Kurdish minority issue. Turkish
government makes progress in Kurdish issue and relations with Armenia.

I support their government that aims to move forward
Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and NKR is part of this package. Both
sides committed a number of acts. Steps it makes towards civilizing
the society, I wish would move faster, but still encourage Armenian,
Azerbaijani and Turkish governments to come to more open and friendly
relations.

Lord 7:

1915-1917, 1920-1922 years were tragic periods in Armenian history and
we would like to thank Baroness for initiating this today. Armenian
population was annihilated in most cruel and barbaric way, it was a
crime against humanity and Armenian people. These events cannot be
forgotten, but they have to move forward -Armenians and Turks should
live for a better chance and future. They initiated diplomatic
Protocols on reconciliation for the first time in the history
and the investigation of events of the past. But process stalled
despite pressure from the US. Neither parliament has yet approved the
Protocols, Armenian President Sargsyan said that Armenian Parliament
will ratify the Protocols as soon as Turkey does so. If Turkey fails
to do so within reasonable timeframe, I will recall signature from
the documents. If progress makes so fast, the governments should
work together and ratify the deal as soon as possible. Within this
limited success Erdogan threatens to deport 100.000 illegal Armenians
from the country. Can Baroness tell what discussions are made between
their governments to ease this tension? Widely accepted that prospects
of Turkey’s EU membership will force to change in a constructive way
and examine its past in his area. I urge to reconcile descendants of
victims and have free historical debates, as well as support all both
parliaments can do.

Lord 8:

Answering Cox’s question, as Geoffrey Robinson concluded, ministers
are responsible for the statements they make to parliaments. Cox
says of resolutions in decisions by Swedish and U.S. governments, but
Armenian and Turkish people should address these issues. Our embassy
in Turkey conveyed letter inviting dialogue based on "Blue Book".

Their response had been negative towards conference idea, but
reconciliation is all we want to see. PM Erdogan voiced threats
on deportation of illegal Armenians, while Gul’s said that Turkey
does not discriminate against Armenians working in Turkey. Tolerance
should be in Turkey towards immigrants, having immigration in line
with Turkey’s international commitments.

Concerning Turkey’s EU membership, genocide recognition is not a
precondition for that, but under political criteria Turkey has to
respect relations with regional countries, and Armenia is part of it.

On NKR, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan had constructive
meetings and we maintain hope that will see continuing progress. The
issues raised in January and February this year aim at normalization
of relations with Armenia. UK government considers that both
governments should move forward and reconcile their differences. FMs
had discussions, and projects in both countries for young people
implemented in Yerevan prove this. In the context of EU integration
the countries opened contacts and hold discussions. EU remains fully
involved in Turkey and Armenia to improve the relations.

Accession treaty recognizes progress that Turkey made in relations
with Armenia, but there is still a way to go. Bringing end to this
tragic history, I hope that we can together ensure this and with
great interest I will do that.