Tuesday, September 29, 2009
U.S. Expects Quick Results From Turkish-Armenian Talks
Armenia — Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian meets U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton in New York.
29.09.2009
Emil Danielyan
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Armenia and Turkey to
complete the normalization of bilateral relations within a
`reasonable’ period of time as she met with the two countries’ foreign
ministers late on Monday.
The Turkish-Armenian dialogue was a key focus of her separate talks
with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Armenia’s Eduard
Nalbandian held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Clinton praised both governments for their `strong commitment’ to
pushing forward the process hailed by the international community and
United States in particular. `I want to reiterate our very strong
support for the normalization process that is going on between Armenia
and Turkey, which we have long said should take place without
preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe,’ she said after
meeting Nalbandian.
U.S. — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) meets with Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) during a bilateral meeting in New
York, 28Sep2009
Clinton later delivered a similar message to Davutoglu, according to
U.S. officials cited by Western news agencies. `When we say reasonable
‘time frame,’ we mean just that, that it’s not just the process that
we want to see,’ U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon was
reported to tell journalists. `We welcome the process, but we also
want to see a conclusion to the process and that’s what we’re
underscoring when we say that.’
The U.S. officials’ message should have been heartening for official
Yerevan which has long complained about Turkish linkage between the
normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties and a resolution of the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Armenian leaders fear that
Ankara could still avoid implementing two fence-mending agreements
with Yerevan if international efforts to settle the dispute yield no
breakthrough in the coming months.
The agreements, which envisage the establishment of diplomatic
relations and the reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border, are due to
be signed by October 14. The documents need to be ratified by the
parliaments of both countries before they can take effect.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Nalbandian thanked Clinton
for Washington’s strong support for the ongoing Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement that began shortly after President Serzh Sarkisian took
office in April 2008. Clinton underscored that support when she
telephoned Sarkisian to discuss the process on September 19. It was
their second phone conversation in a month.
In Gordon’s words, Washington hopes that Sarkisian will accept Turkish
President Abdullah Gul’s invitation to watch with him the return match
of the two countries’ national football teams that will be played in
the Turkish city of Bursa on October 14. "We think it would be a good
thing if he attended it, reciprocating the attendance of the Turkish
president of the match when it was in Armenia," the diplomat said.
`This is a difficult process that faces some political opposition in
both places and it’s hard for both governments,’ added Gordon. `It
shouldn’t wait for other things to get done, or be linked to other
things. It should go ahead.’
Nalbandian sounded cautiously optimistic on that score in his speech
at the General Assembly earlier on Friday. `The process of the
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations … promises to bear
fruit despite all difficulties,’ he said.
Opposition Youth Risks 10 Years In Jail
Armenia — Jailed opposition activist Tigran Arakelian is taken to a
Yerevan court, 08Jul2009
29.09.2009
Tatevik Lazarian
The Armenian police have leveled a new and graver accusation against a
young opposition activist who was controversially arrested after
distributing opposition leaflets in Yerevan three months ago.
Tigran Arakelian was initially accused of `hooliganism,’ a crime
punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. He was charged on Monday
also under another article of the Armenian Criminal Code that deals
with assaults on `representatives of the state authority.’ The charge
carries up to 10 years in prison.
Arakelian was one of several young members of the opposition Armenian
National Congress (HAK) who clashed with plainclothes police on July 1
as they publicized an HAK rally held in Yerevan the next day. He and
two other youths were injured in the incident and required
hospitalization. They said they were punched, kicked and pistol-
whipped for informing city residents about the rally.
The police insist, however, that law-enforcement officers themselves
came under attack when they tried to stop a brawl involving 60 young
people. Three policemen sustained injuries as a result, according to
the police. Testimony given by one of them, Erik Poghosian, forms the
basis of the criminal case against Arakelian.
According to Arakelian’s lawyer, Vartuhi Elbakian, the police
attributed their decision to toughen the charges against her client to
police doctors’ conclusion that Poghosian suffered `light bodily
injuries’ in the July 1 incident. `Poghosian is a distinguished
victim,’ Elbakian noted with sarcasm, referring to the fact that the
policeman had also given incriminating testimony against several
prominent opposition figures arrested following last years’ post-
election unrest in the capital.
The police decided to seek a longer prison sentence for Arakelian
despite his poor health. The oppositionist was taken to a prison
hospital shortly after his July 5 and has been kept there since then,
complaining of persistent headaches, dizziness and vision problems.
Doctors found last week serious damage caused to his optical nerve.
`I saw Tigran yesterday,’ said Elbakian. `His condition wasn’t good …
He was unable to walk without help and was shaking terribly.’
The lawyer spoke to RFE/RL after hearings in Armenia’s Court of
Appeals on her demands for Arakelian’s release from pre-trial
detention that have been repeatedly rejected by the police and state
prosecutors. The court is due to rule on the petition on Wednesday. `I
have no hopes,’ said Elbakian.
Ruling Party Members `Concerned’ About Turkey Diplomacy
Armenia — The ruling Republican Party holds a conference in Yerevan.
29.09.2009
Anush Martirosian, Ruzanna Stepanian
Senior members of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
expressed concern about the ongoing Turkish-Armenian rapprochement at
a meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian on Monday night, top party
representatives said on Tuesday.
Sarkisian, who is the HHK’s chairman, met with members of the party’s
board to discuss his conciliatory policy on Turkey that has earned him
praise in the West but is criticized by many in Armenia and its
worldwide Diaspora.
According Samvel Nikoyan, a senior HHK member and deputy speaker of
the Armenian parliament, board members asked Sarkisian numerous
questions about various aspects of that policy. `All kinds of
questions were asked,’ he told RFE/RL. `Including ones expressing
concerns, asking for clarifications and making some points.’
`I don’t think that everyone in the Republican Party of Armenia, which
has 150,000 members, can be fully informed about those protocols and
fully support them,’ said Nikoyan. `Of course, there are people who
have concerns. Everyone, including myself has concerns.’
Sarkisian himself acknowledged that his fence-mending talks with
Turkey are fraught with pitfalls for the Armenian side when he met
with leaders of 52 Armenian parties on September 17. But he said
Armenia should continue them and demonstrate to the outside world that
it is genuinely committed to making peace with his historical foe.
Sarkisian will start on October 1 a tour of the United States, France,
Russia and Lebanon aimed at explaining his policy to sizable Armenian
communities existing in those countries. Many community leaders have
strongly criticized the agreements and, in particular, the planned
formation of a Turkish-Armenian `sub-commission’ charged with studying
the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of
Armenians took to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday to condemn the
deal.
Razmik Zohrabian, the HHK’s deputy chairman, downplayed the Diaspora
outcry. `I would be surprised if the Diaspora Armenians were silent or
fully supported this policy,’ he told RFE/RL.
Neither Zohrabian, nor Nikoyan elaborated on the concerns which fellow
Republicans conveyed to Sarkisian the previous night. Their unease
contrasted with unconditional support for the draft Turkish-Armenian
agreements expressed by HHK leaders earlier. The party, which holds
the majority of seats in the National Assembly, is still expected to
ensure the documents’ ratification by the Armenian parliament.
The two opposition parties represented in parliament, Dashnaktsutyun
and Zharangutyun, said on Monday they are joining forces to try to
block the ratification. They control only 23 of the 131 parliament
seats.
A leader of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), a larger and more
radical opposition force, dismissed on Tuesday the potential alliance
between Dashnaktsutyun and Zharangutyun, saying that none of them has
demanded Sarkisian’s resignation yet. Levon Zurabian said that the two
parties should take `more serious steps’ if they are to force a policy
change on Turkey.
`If Dashnaktsutyun and Zharangutyun decide today to give up their
parliament mandates in protest against the ongoing process, they will
… generate an extremely serious political crisis,’ Zurabian told
journalists. `There would no longer be any opposition in the
parliament.’ That would send a strong message to the international
community, he said.
Zharangutyun’s chairman, Armen Martirosian, and a senior
Dashnaktsutyun member, Spartak Seyranian, rejected the call.
Government Moves To Cut Spending In 2010
Armenia — A cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
28.09.2009
Anush Martirosian
The Armenian government announced on Monday plans to slash its
budgetary expenditures by 9 percent next year, citing the ongoing
economic recession and the resulting serious shortfall in its tax
revenues.
The government’s draft budget for 2010 approved by ministers envisages
an even sharper reduction in state revenues which would dramatically
widen Armenia’s public deficit.
Finance Minister Tigran Davtian said the austerity measures reflect
the economic situation in the country that has progressively worsened
this year amid a deepening fallout from the global financial crisis.
`We drew up the budget in a conservative regime,’ he told journalists
after an extraordinary session of Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s
cabinet.
Armenia’s state budgets have steadily and rapidly grown over the past
decade on the back of robust economic growth that came to an end last
year. The proposed 2010 budget, if adopted by parliament, will mark
the first cut in Armenian government spending since the economic
turmoil of the early 1990s.
A relevant bill drafted by the Finance Ministry calls for 859.6
billion drams ($2.23 billion) in budgetary expenditures, down from
945.4 billion drams budgeted for this year. The government has been
struggling to meet the 2009 target due to a significant fall in its
tax revenues resulting from the recession. The Armenian economy
contracted by as much as 18.4 percent in the first eight months of 2009.
The revenue shortfall will be mostly offset by anti-crisis loans
allocated to Armenia by Russia, the International Monetary Fund, the
World Bank and other international institutions. One of Davtian’s
deputies, Vahan Aramian, told RFE/RL in late July that the government
will still have to cut its projected 2009 spending by about 4 percent.
The government has already failed to keep the 2009 budget deficit from
rising above the projected level of 40 billion drams. The deficit
totaled 67.5 billion drams in January-July 2009, according to the
Finance Ministry.
It is projected to surge to 183 billion drams as a consequence of a
25.2 percent drop in state revenues envisaged by the draft 2010
budget. According to Davtian, the government plans to use external
loans for financing half of the fiscal gap.
`Unfortunately, spending on debt servicing will rise next year,’ said
the finance minister. `That is one of the reasons why we will be as
cautious as possible in attracting new credit resources.’ That is why,
he added, the government will abandon earlier plans for further rises
in pensions, poverty benefits and other social spending.
Labor and Social Security Minister Gevorg Petrosian openly criticized
the measure. In particular, he demanded more government funding for
boarding schools, orphanages and seniors houses, offering to
personally show fellow cabinet members the dire conditions of those
institutions.
The complaint prompted a stern rebuke from Prime Minister Sarkisian,
who recalled a recent corruption scandal over the alleged misuse of
government funds by Petrosian’s ministry. `When it comes to the
allocation of financial resources, we all recall the difficult plight
of our compatriots,’ he said. `But once we start spending money
somehow we forget that those people live in dire conditions.’