Author: Boshkezenian Garik

GAGIK MINASYAN: 1.2% ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2010 QUITE POSSIBLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2009 14:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 1.2% economic growth envisaged by the 2010 national
budget is conditioned by the 2009 index, head of the fiscal committee
at the RA National Assembly said.

"The republic’s economy tends to stabilize. The 2009 national budget
envisaged a 9.2% economic growth, however, the crises resulted
in a 18% slump," Gagik Minasyan said. "The crisis was deep and
unpredictable. International structures revise their forecasts twice
a month. However, greater slump is not expected."

"The government’s anti-crisis program will produce result in early
2010," Minasyan said.

ARMENIA: EDUCATION AND SCIENCE BUDGETS REACH 95 BILLION AMD IN 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2009 16:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Next year the education budget will reach 95
billion AMD, 13 billion AMD less than in the current year. However,
this will not prevent us from continuing all development programs. We
will also need extra budgetary money to use effectively in all spheres
of education," RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan
told a press conference on November 10.

Saying that the World Bank and the EU will give Armenia 4 billion AMD
for educational programs, the minister stressed that next year’s 12
per cent cut of budgetary spending for education sphere is conditioned
not only by the global crisis, but rather demographic problems. The
number of secondary school students is expected to reduce by 20
thousand next year, which will result in 1 billion AMD cut of the
state expenditure for education sphere. The rest 12 billion AMD cut
will be made at the expense of education support services, such as
renovation of the school buildings," the minister said.

The minister also informed, that next year 48 schools will receive
the status of high schools.

KOCHARYAN’S LETTER TO JOHN DANILOVICH DOES NOT CONFORM TO LAW "ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION"

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.11.2009 18:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On November 9, RA Administrative Court rejected
"Asparez" club journalist Levon Barseghyan’s claim vs. RA president’s
staff. Plaintiff claimed that court oblige presidential staff to
provide him with ex-President Robert Kocharyan’s letter to Millennium
Challenges director John Danilovich. The letter was a response to
warning-notice dated March 11, 2008.

Administrative Court argued that ex-President’s letter to Millennium
Challenges Director could not be considered satisfactory under RA law
"On Freedom of Information". According to court verdict, "the letter,
as well as parties’ notes on bilateral negotiation process, cannot
be considered information." Only agreements or decisions can apply
to the category.

Immediately following March 1, 2008 developments, Millennium Challenges
General Director John Danilovich addressed a letter to RA Presdient
Robert Kocharyan, expressing his concerns. In his letter Danilovich
also said that incident would not affect Millennium Challenges funding
program, Asparez club NGO’s press service reports.

TURKISH MP CALLS ON AZERBAIJAN TO FIGHT AGAINST ARMENIA
Written by Armen Hareyan

HULIQ
h-mp-calls-azerbaijan-fight-against-armenia
Nov 9 2009
SC

In a time when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton goes to
great length with French, Swiss and Russian mediators to bring about
the reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia and when OSCE Minsk
group reports positive movements on the front of Azerbaijan Armenia
negotiations for Nagorno Karabakh, one influential Turkish member of
the parliament calls on Azerbaijan to "fight," saying the lands were
taken away by blood.

Aladdin Buyukkaya, in an interview to Azerbaijan based Day.az makes
an outright call to Azerbaijan to fight for Nagorno Karabakh. In
other words, he makes a call for war while the entire international
community, superpowers and the mediators work very hard for peace.

Buyukkaya is not an average Turkish Parliamentarian.

The Turkish delegation to OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and member
of Turkish parliament from ruling Justice and Development Aladdin
Buyukkaya literally says the following to the Azerbaijani newspaper,
which should not miss from the eyes of the OSCE mediators and all
the parties involved in this conflict resolution, particularly French
and Russian foreign ministers Bernard Cushner and Sergei Lavrov and
the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

While speaking of Turkish role in region and the efforts of Turkey to
become a mediator in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia (aren’t the mediators supposed to be totally impartial?)
Mr. Buyukkaya says "Turkey will fight for restoration of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity to the end. Azerbaijan should also take real
steps. It is impossible to achieve a just solution to the conflict
waiting for help from Turkey and from other third parties. This
problem will not be solved only by will of co-chairs. We call on our
Azerbaijani brothers to fight. These lands were taken away by blood.

"We are not saying that the military way is the only solution to the
conflict. Azerbaijan’s increased military power will have a positive
effect on the process. Azerbaijan must be strong in all spheres,
as well as to demonstrate its military power to Armenia. I think
the military men also face great challenges. Azerbaijan may follow
example Turkey’s Armed Forces. Turkey is not at war with its neighbors,
but neighbors admit and agree with its military might."

How constructive is this when all involved parties are working for
peace? In fact, these types of statements will not only diminish,
but totally remove any grains of trust that the Turkish Armenian
protocols may have been risen in the Armenian people against Turkey.

Aladdin Buyukkaya, according to Etkiforum, entered the Turkish politics
in 2001 and is one of the founders of the ruling AK Justice and
Development Party. He is currently the Chairman of Itabariyle Istanbul.

If peace is to be restored in the region of South Caucasus any call
to war or showing of military might should be condemned. Those who
call for war, their children will not go and die in the war. In fact
the history has repeatedly shown that their children were hidden
behind the big packets of their daddies. In fact, if peace is to
be restored in the region Buyukkaya is right on one aspect, that
"Azerbaijan should also take real steps."

The time has come for Azerbaijan to understand that Nagorno Karabakh
is not in its control These are nearly 200,000 Christian people who
have voted to leave free from Azerbaijan’s oppression, when Armenian
schools, universities and churches were closing in Nagorno Karabakh
and cultural monuments destroying. We have seen this happening in
Nakhichevan.

There is even more to this. In Armenia and Azerbaijan there is already
an entire new generation of people who do not know what it means for
Karabakh to be under Azerbaijan’s rule. This fact has to be taken
into consideration as well.

Also, while speaking about Armenia’s freeing of what Azerbaijan and
Turkey say "occupied lands" it is just to remember the days between
1988 and 1992 when Azerbaijan was using those lands around Nagorno
Karabakh to launch military attacks on the civilian population
of Nagorno Karabakh. The state directly went to war with its own
Armenian minority. How could one expect the Armenian people going
back to Azerbaijan’s rule?

How could one expect Kosovo going back to being under Serbia’s rule?

If the peace is to be restored between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan,
the time has come for the matters being resolved based on justice, not
on "military might" as Mr. Aladdin Buyukkaya suggest to his brothers
in Azerbaijan. Only peace, based on justice, is sustainable. Then no
young soldier will cry because of the pain of a bullet, no parent in
Azerbaijan or Armenia will fear for the loss of his or her child and
the region will be developed based on peace and justice.

This is the time to build peace, not war. The challenge is to come
up with constructive ways of bringing the two societies and neighbors
together to to further alienate them by calls to fight.

TCA Arshag Dickranian Armenian School
1200 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Tel: 323-461-4377
Fax: 323-323-461-4247
Contact: [email protected]

TCA Arshag Dickranian School To Hold
A Festive Annual Thanksgiving Dinner

Los Angeles, November 8, 2009 – The Parent-Teacher Organization of TCA
Arshag Dickranian School will be hosting its Annual Thanksgiving Dinner
Dance at the plush Walter and Laurel Karabian Hall on Saturday, November
21, at 6:00 pm. The event will gather the large circle of parents,
teachers and friends dedicated to the success and progress of the school.

As in previous years, the event will include a festive Thanksgiving menu,
dance music and various entertainment programs performed by students of
the school.

Chaired by Mrs. Ophelia Garibyan, the members of the PTO have been working
diligently to make this year’s Thanksgiving Dinner Dance a memorable
event. The PTO has always been active over the years in providing the
daily lunches for the students and various social functions designed for
the welfare of the school.

For more information about the event please contact the following PTO
members: Houri Kourouyan at (818) 317 -8189, Zarouhi Sulian at (323) 953 –
0477, Armen Mkhsian at (323) 791 – 5239 and Ophelia Garibyan at (818) 324
– 1565.

Located at 1200 North Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, the TCA Arshag
Dickranian Armenian School is a federally tax exempt, Pre-K to 12th grade
private educational institution. For more information visit

OSCE MEDIATORS COORDINATING BASIC PRINCIPLES OF A KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

news.az
Nov 6 2009
Azerbaijan

Bernard Fassier The co-chairmen of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation’s Minsk Group, the main international body negotiating
a settlement to the Karabakh conflict, are holding the latest round
of talks in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"We continue work on coordinating the basic principles. I hope that
after the visit to Yerevan we will be able to specify the date and
venue of the next meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents,"
the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov,
told ATV after meetings with the Azerbaijani leadership on Thursday.

"As for new proposals on the basis of the Madrid principles, they
are not written once and for all time but change in the process of
negotiations and new proposals may also emerge," Merzlyakov said.

He said the co-chairs would not have time to visit Nagorno-Karabakh
on this occasion.

In turn, French mediator Bernard Fassier said the co-chairs are
working on strengthening the basic principles.

"We have been working with the parties on the proposals that are
called the ‘basic principles’ for two years now and we try to achieve
progress. We want to strengthen these principles and make additions to
them if needed. We will continue this work until we make the presidents
agree on the documents or until they empower us to prepare the text
of the agreement," Fassier said.

The Minsk Group co-chairmen are having meetings in Yerevan on Friday
and will return to Baku in the evening

SOUTH STREAM LIKELY TO OUTPACE BOTH NORD STREAM AND NABUCCO
Aleksandr Shustov

en.fondsk.ru
05.11.2009

The end of October was marked by Russia’s serious achievements in
"pipeline politics". Denmark consented to the Nord Stream construction
in its territorial waters, Turkey greenlighted the research related
to South Stream in its exclusive marine zone, and deals on the
construction of the Serbian segment of South Stream and the upgrade of
the Banatski Dvor gas storage facility were penned during the visit of
Russian President Medvedev to Belgrade. As a result of the impressive
progress in promoting South Stream, Russian President V. Putin made a
sensational statement that the pipeline would possibly be constructed
earlier than Nord Stream. The implementation of pipeline projects in
Southern Europe should make it possible for Russia not only to keep
the role of the main transiter for the Central Asian gas export,
but potentially to channel across its territory most of the natural
gas exported by Azerbaijan as well.

Extracting from Turkey the license for the South Stream-related
research was certainly the biggest of the above accomplishments. While
the project to construct the pipeline across the Black Sea bed
linking Novorossiysk (Russia) and Varnu (Bulgaria) and then forking
to reach Italy and Austria appeared ambitious, until recently there
was no clarity as to in which country’s territorial waters it would
be located. Naturally, Ukraine as the country currently hosting
most of the gas export avenues to Europe was reluctant to issue a
license to construct a pipeline bypassing its territory. According
to the existing plan, South Stream – a pipeline costing Euro 25 bn
and ensuring the throughput of 63 bn cu m of gas annually – must be
phased in in 2013 and finalized by 2015. Now it transpired that the
pipeline is going to be constructed in Turkey’s exclusive marine
zone, while Russia has paid for the decision by consenting to the
construction of the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline across Turkey.

The new oil pipeline will run from Samsun at the Black Sea to Ceyhan
at the Mediterranean Sea, have the target capacity of 60-70 mln tons
of oil annually, and serve as an alternative to both the transit via
the Bosporus and the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline via Greece and
Bulgaria, concerning which the Bulgarian government remains undecided.

Russia’s Rosneft, Transneft, and Sovkomflot, Turkey’s Calik, and
Italy’s Eni (which is also Gazprom’s key partner in the South Stream
project) will cooperate in constructing the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline.

Russia’s Lukoil also expressed interest in joining the project,
and Kazakhstan said it would be one of pipeline’s suppliers.

The pipeline situation in South Europe is taking one more turn
favorable to Russia. The increasingly likely recovery in the relations
between Armenia and Turkey is paralleled by emerging tensions between
Turkey and Azerbaijan. On October 16, Azerbaijani President I. Aliyev
said at a government meeting that Turkey impedes the export of natural
gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. He said Turkey’s transit fees are 70%
higher than the regional average, while Azerbaijan is selling gas
to Turkey at $120 per 1,000 cu m which is only a third of the normal
international market price. Azerbaijani President said that over the
past two years Baku has been trying to address the problem gently
and to have all disagreements settled via negotiations but everything
Turkey offered in response was unacceptable.

Currently Azerbaijan supplies to Turkey some 6 bn cu m of natural
gas via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pipeline phased in in 2006. The
disagreements over transit fees affect the implementation of a much
bigger project – the construction of the Nabucco pipeline with the
31 bn cu m annual throughput, which is to link the Caspian region and
Europe via Turkey. The plan of the project consortium is to initially
feed only half of the amount to the pipeline, with Northern Iraq and
Azerbaijan contributing 8 bn cu m of natural gas each. Commenting on
the position of Azerbaijan, Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty said
"Aliyev’s move has heightened fears that Azerbaijan may be moving
quickly into Moscow’s orbit, some observers say he could be bluffing
in an attempt to influence Turkey’s parliament".

Azerbaijan is actively relying on Russia as a counterforce to Turkey.

Practically at the time when Russia and Turkey were holding talks over
South Stream, Gazprom and State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic
signed a deal to start supplying gas from Azerbaijan to Russia
starting January 1, 2010. Initially the amount to be supplied – 0.5
bn cu m annually – is relatively modest, but it is to reach 3 bn cu m
annually in the future. Russia already stated that it would gladly buy
all the gas produced at the second phase of the Shah Deniz field. The
Azerbaijani expert community seems keenly interested in opportunities
to broaden the country’s oil and gas export to Russia. Once the
relations between Turkey and Armenia started reverting to normalcy,
Baku was prompt to realize that the throughput of its currently idle
northern export outlet is about 7.7 bn cu m of gas annually, and
transit via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline is much cheaper that across
Georgia. Azerbaijan could act as the supplier for South Stream upon
the completion of the construction in the framework of the project.

The position of Turkmenistan, supposedly the main supplier for Nabucco,
contributes to the dire outlook for the project. Turkmen ambassador
to Russia Khalnagar Agakhanov said in an interview to Nezavisimaya
Gazeta that despite Ashgabat’s strategy of diversifying the country’s
export routes at present the disputes between it and Azerbaijan over a
number of Caspian offshore oil and gas fields inhibit the construction
of a gas pipeline across the Caspian seabed.

Western commentators say that due to the lack of precedents the
chances that the international arbitration invited by Turkmenistan
will help to resolve the disputes are fairly slim. At the same time,
Khalnagar Agakhanov, for example, sees no serious obstacles in the
way of constructing the Caspian pipeline along the Caspian shore,
stretching to Russia via Kazakhstan.

On the whole, there is an impression that, given the momentum gathered
by the Russian leadership’s pipeline initiatives in the south, South
Stream is likely to be constructed ahead of not only Nord Stream,
but also Nabucco which is supposed to become operational in 2014.

TERRY DAVIDSON: "U.S. SUPPORTS PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF AZERBAIJAN"

APA
Nov 5 2009
Azerbaijan

Embassy in Azerbaijan Terry Davidson visited Ganja City and met with
the head of executive power of Ganja Eldar Azizov, APA western bureau
reports. Davidson told journalists that they mentioned series important
issues at the meeting. "This is my first visit to Ganja. We discussed
mostly education issues with the head of Ganja executive power. I
was proud that one of the Ganja residents is getting education in
the United States, in the state where I was born. We decided to
invite certain people from the United States to Ganja and to create
opportunity for the Ganja students to get education in USA.

Such relations are strengthening understanding between the two
peoples".

Terry Davidson announced his country’s position on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. "U.S. understands that this is very important issue for
Azerbaijani peple, Washington is making efforts for peaceful and
fair solution to this conflict and supports peaceful solution within
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. President Barack Obama
and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attach great importance to
this issue".

Terry Davidson said Turkish-Armenian rapprochement was giving only
technical dynamic to the solution of Nagorno Karabakh problem. The
embassy official said U.S. co-chair Robert Bradtke was in Baku together
with other co-chairs. He said Washington was continuing its efforts
toward the solution to the conflict.

NKR NOT READY FOR TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS

news.am
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Karabakh’s territory is the territory stipulated by NKR’s Constitution
and we are not ready to make any concessions in this regard. By ‘the
territory’ we mean the present actual territory of Artsakh. This is
our standpoint and we will stick to it," Ara Harutunyan, NKR Prime
Minister and Leader of "Azat Hayrenik" (Free Motherland) party,
told journalists.

Concerning the Madrid principles on settlement of the Karabakh
conflict, he said Artsakh has not received the document officially,
and "we know about them [the principles] only from press and news –
which cannot be considered as document."

"Both NKR and Armenia’s Presidents have stated that any document
would be signed by both authorities only when the nation approves
it. We have no right to doubt this – as the people has the final say"
the Premier stated.

As concerns the Armenia-Turkey normalization process, Harutunyan
admitted that Karabakh has some expectations in this regard, and
particularly economic ones – as Armenia’s economic development implies
NKR’s one as well.

"We all know that it will enable the country to develop. However,
this should happen without preconditions. Opening of the border does
not mean that the preconditions and claims are accepted," maintains
Harutunyan. He underlined that "Azat Hayrenik" absolutely trusts
RA President’s line. "His 20-years-old experience makes us believe
that every step that President of Armenia makes is well-balanced and
reasoned," he stated.

HNCHAK PARTY ACTS AS OPPOSITION FORCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2009 11:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hnchak party will hold meetings and consultations
not only with those share the same views but also with the forces
whose positions differ, the party said in a statement.

Armenian social democrats intend to act as an opposition force unless
all political prisoners are released and rule of law, democracy and
constitutional order are established across the country.