Author: Chilingarian Babken

ARMENIA TO PURCHASE GAS AT MARKET PRICE

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.10.2009 12:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian gas supply at $ 180 per 1000 cubic meters
is an unprecedented price, ArmRosGazProm CJSC’s General Director
Karen Karapetyan told today journalists in Yerevan. At that he noted
that company is currently conducting negotiations, and has reached
preliminary agreement for purchasing gas at $180 per 1000 cubic
meters. "Negotiations are under way, and prices may be reviewed
depending on changes in world market, but we elaborate our strategy
based on the price established," he added.

Karapetyan finds such price the best in the region, however, believes
that "we, Armenians always demand a special attitude. That’s an
unpromising and annoying conduct, since there is necessity to make
gradual transition to economic categories." Since company’s inception
(12 years), he said, Armenia had exclusive tarriffs on gas, and over
that period, it should have been prepared for market prices.

Armenian and Russian Presidents conduct talks over lowering gas
tariffs in 2010. The issue was discussed during their regular meeting
in Moscow. Armenia and "Gazprom Export" company have reached an
agreement over long-term gas purchase from Moscow in 2009-15. Under
the agreement signed, gas prices increased gradually. Thus, in 2009
Armenia received gas at $ 110 per 1000 cubic meters. In April 1, 2009 –
March 31 2010, that price increased to $ 154, and beginning April 1,
2010, it will go up to $ 200.

PRESIDENTS OBAMA AND GUL DISCUSS EVOLVING ANKARA-YEREVAN TIES

Aysor
Oct 19 2009
Armenia

U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish President Abdullah Gul Saturday
discussed a range of regional issues in a telephone conversation,
including the evolving relations between Turkey and Armenia, the
White House said.

Presidents pointed "historic progress" being made to normalize
relations between Turkey and Armenia, "and the importance of
maintaining the momentum in this important effort" and discussed the
need for "sustained engagement" in resolving the ongoing conflict in
Cyprus, and in "promoting stability" in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

UN CORNERS TO BE OPENED IN TAVUSH AND SYUNIK REGIONS OF ARMENIA

armradio.am
19.10.2009 15:05

The third and fourth UN Corners in the Ijevan and Kapan based Centers
for organizing youth activities were launched on Friday and yesterday.

The aim of these UN Corners is to provide the public more information
about the United Nations. Many interesting UN-related cultural,
educational, and other events for the local community can be organized
here.

"We welcome the launching of these UN Corners in Ijevan and Kapan
and we are sure it will serve as an additional stimulus to raise the
activeness of youth population of the provinces. We appreciate this
initiative and look forward to continue our cooperation with the UN
Armenia Office," said Mr. Arsen Karamyan – Deputy Minister of Sport
and Youth Affairs of Republic of Armenia.

Representatives from the local community, municipal officials and
young activists gathered together for round table discussions in both
centers dedicated to "UN4U Campaign" and to join the "Stand Up and
Take Action – End Poverty Now!" campaign.

Maria Dotsenko, UN Department of Public Information Representative
said: "This is an important week for us at the UN, as we on 24 October
are celebrating the 64th birthday of the UN. Public’s support and
participation in UN work makes this organization what it is today:
strong and effective. I am pleased that now people from Tavush and
Syunik provinces will have an opportunity to learn more about the
work of the United Nations."

The launching of these UN Corners is a result of cooperation between
the "Center for Organizing Youth Activities" governmental non-profit
organization of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of RA and UN
Department of Public Information. "Armenian UN Association" NGO also
supported the events.

Ayna, Azerbaijan
Oct 17 2009

Azeri opposition condemns removal of Turkish flags in Baku

A major opposition party in Azerbaijan has condemned the authorities
for removing Turkish flags from a memorial site in the capital Baku on
16 October.

Musavat said in a statement that the removal of the flags from the
memorial to Turkish soldiers killed during the First World War was a
sign of "political immaturity".

"This reaction to the tension in political relations [between
Azerbaijan and Turkey] is not only a malicious attitude but also
political immaturity," reads the statement published by the
independent daily Ayna on 17 October.

Musavat said that the move also constituted an "insult" to the Turkish
people, and demanded that the flags be reinstalled.

An official of Baku’s Sabail district, where the memorial is located,
denied the removal of the flags was political. Israfil Karimov was
quoted as saying that the flags were taken down in accordance with the
law on foreign flags.

The incident came amid growing tension between Baku and Ankara over
the Turkish government’s efforts to normalize relations with Armenia.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have yet to resolve their differences over
Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagornyy Karabakh.

IntelliNews (ISI Emerging Markets)
Turkey Today
October 13, 2009 Tuesday

Parliament may debate accords with Armenia next week.

The government plans to present the protocols signed with Armenia to
the parliament next week. Government spokesman Cemil Cicek says that
foreign minister Ahmet Davudoglu will brief lawmakers on the accords
on Oct 21 but declines to say when the parliament may hold a vote on
the protocols. On Oct 10, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia
signed the two protocols to establish diplomatic ties, improve
bilateral relations and reopen a shared border. On a related note,
chairman of the parliamentary foreign relations commission Murat
Mercan from the ruling AKP, reiterates that lawmakers should not be
expected to ratify the protocols unless the dispute between Armenia
and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh is resolved.

Europolitics , Belgium
October 13, 2009 Tuesday

RAPPROCHEMENT WITH YEREVAN A POINT IN ANKARA’S FAVOUR

by Fabrice Randoux

The EU has welcomed the historic agreements on normalisation of
relations between Turkey and Armenia, signed in Zurich on 10 October.
They provide for the establishment of diplomatic relations and the
reopening of the common border. The European Commission sees the
agreements as "a courageous step towards peace and stability in the
South Caucasus region". The signature "creates a new outlook for
dispute settlement, notably in Nagorno-Karabakh," commented External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. After a six-year war
(1988 to 1994), Yerevan took control of this Armenian-populated
enclave in Azerbaijan, an ally of Turkey, which in 1993 sealed off its
border with Armenia in retaliation. "I urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to
intensify their efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement," added the
commissioner.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have been poisoned for nearly a
century by memories of the massacres and deportations of Armenians in
1915-1917. Armenia claims there were more than one and a half million
deaths, while Turkey insists this number was closer to 300,000 or
500,000 and rejects the term genocide’.

Implementation of the agreements may take a long time. They have to be
ratified by both countries’ parliaments. The day after their
signature, which sparked protests from Azerbaijan, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tied opening of the common border to
progress on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. The question of recognition
of a genocide remains unsolved since the agreements do not mention the
term. They do, however, provide for the establishment of an
international commission of historians to study the subject.

This rapprochement will be added to the points in Turkey’s favour in
the annual report the Commission will transmit to Ankara, on 14
October. The Commission is also expected to welcome the greater rights
granted to the Kurdish minority and the adoption of laws limiting the
powers of military courts. It will denounce attacks on freedom of the
press, particularly the record fine of EUR1.75 billion imposed on
Dogan, the country’s leading press group. Ankara presents the fine as
payment of back taxes.

More generally, the Commission will criticise the slowdown of reforms,
the result of which has been the opening of only a single chapter in
the accession negotiations since the start of the year. It is not
expected to berate Ankara excessively for its continuing refusal to
open its ports and airports to Cyprus because the executive does not
want to hamper the talks on reunification of the island, which are
moving into a decisive phase. Commission President José Manuel Barroso
has just named an emissary to Cyprus, Austrian national Leopold
Maurer, to support the talks.

RUSSIA LEADS WAR GAMES
By Isabel Gorst in Moscow

FT
October 16 2009 19:07

A Russian-led rapid reaction force, portrayed as the Kremlin’s
answer to Nato, held its first war games on Friday in Kazakhstan,
stoking concerns among some central Asian states at the nature of
its military ambitions in the region.

Seven thousand troops participated in the war games, the first by the
force formed this year by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation,
a loose security grouping between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Kremlin says the CSTO needs dedicated forces to combat growing
security threats.

But Uzbek­i­stan, the former Soviet country with the biggest army
after Russia, refused to join the war games. Belarus, which has
leaned towards the west this year amid a trade dispute with Russia,
was also absent.

The Kremlin website pictured Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president,
clad in military fatigues and flanked by the presidents of Kazakhstan,
Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan watching the exercises at the
Matybulak training ground in east Kazakhstan.

Russia said it would commit its 98th airborne division and 31st air
assault brigade to create a force "on a par with Nato".

Nikolay Bordyuzha, the secretary-general of the CSTO, said this week
the force would defend member countries against foreign attack and
combat organised crime, terrorism and the growing scourge of drug
trafficking from Afghanistan. It will not join Nato forces fighting
the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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"EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES" CONTEST FOR JOURNALISTS HELD IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.10.2009 20:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Press conference timed to the "Equal opportunities"
journalism contest dedicated to disability issues held in Yerevan
today.

The purpose of the competition to promote equal rights of people
with disabilities. Articles published between November 20, 2008 to
November 20, 2009 can be submitted to the competition.

The competition is organized by the "Bridge of Hope", "Mission East"
public organizations and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
of Armenia.

"It is essential to perceive the problems of disabled. We
unintentionally make disabled people feel them inferior. Meanwhile,
people with disabilities do not need pity or sympathy, we just need to
remember them during the construction of buildings, subway stations,
stores and try to create comfortable conditions for their lives,"
Zaruhi Batoyan underlined.

MIATSUM GROUP’S CAMPAIGN FAILS

News.am
18:45 / 10/15/2009

The Miatsum (Unity) action group organized a signature-gathering
campaign against the Armenian-Turkish protocols at the 4th neighborhood
of the Nor-Nork community in Yerevan.

The action group member Ashot Misakyan told NEWS.am that policemen
tried to end the campaign this morning. After the talks, however, the
action was continued. An hour later, 15 people "in civvies", approached
the action group members and ordered them to leave the territory.

"They told us: it is our territory, go away, what’s your business
here? We answered we were not going to leave," Misakyan said. According
to him, the young men turned the tables over, and the Miatsum members
had to leave. The policemen headed by Vice-Chief of the Nor-Nork police
department, who were on duty there, connived at the unlawful action.

LEVON TER-PETROSIAN GAVE NO "CONSENT"

2009/10/14/samson-ozararat
11:42 am | October 14, 2009

Samson Ozararat, representative of Armenia in the BSEC business
council, will attend the Turkey-Armenia football match for the 2010
World Championship on October 14.

Samson Ozararat was one of the first Armenian businessmen who seconded
the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

In 1993, he arranged a meeting of Armenia’s first President Levon
Ter-Petrosian with the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party,
Alparslan Turkey. The meeting took place in Paris.

Sixteen years later, Samson Ozararat says the meeting hadn’t been
agreed upon in advance. The sides simply got acquainted with each
other’s approaches and stances. Mr. Ozararat also refuted the
allegations of 2008 that Levon Ter-Petrosian had agreed with Turks
on the surrender of the liberated territories to Azerbaijan.

"Despite the outcome of talks, the situation is bettering since it
is better to be on bad terms than not to have ties at all," he says.

Samson Ozararat warns his Turkish friends against the linkage of the
Karabakh conflict with the normalization of relations.

"Both issues should be addressed separately," he says.

Mr. Ozararat thinks Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
can take a decisive step and persuade his supports to agree to the
frontier opening.

Asked how he evaluates the policy of Armenia’s three presidents in
the context of Armenian-Turkish relations, Samson Ozararat said:
"Each of them has his specific style but the line continues without
preconditions."

Note that Samson Ozararat was Adviser to Robert Kocharian.