Author: Felekian Ara

Aysor, Armenia
March 13 2010

113th Anniversary of Charents

Today is Yeghishe Charents’ birthday. 113 years ago this day in
Armenian city Kars in the family of Abgar Soghomonyan-Margaryants was
born the future poet Yeghishe Soghomonyan.

His father, Abgar Soghomonyan and his mother Tekghe Mirzayan were
originally for Maku, that’s why very often he said he was from Maku
too; `My fatherland is Khan Maku’, `A poet born in Maku city’. His
father was trading carpets. Besides Yeghish there were also 6 kids,
Ashkhen, Mariam, Anna, Gegham, Serob, Soghomon.

Once Charents has told Gurgen Mahari how a doctor with the surname
Charents had arrived in Kars. On the stand of the doctor was written
`Charents’ and he has taken that surname as a pseudonym. His youth
friends give another explanation. According to Karine Kotanchyan the
poet got that name because since childhood he has been a very naughty
(in Armenian `char’) child. They have called him `char’ for a log time
and thus he has received that name since his childhood.

Whatever is the definition of Charents’ name, regardless everything,
he is created of the unforgettable pages of the Armenian Literature.
Living with a difficult life he gave birth to lasting pages of the
literature.

On this day traditionally there are being organized events on
Charents’ birthday. They are usually being held next the memorial of
Charents, in his house-museum and in the Union of the Armenian
Writers.

VOTE COULD HURT TURKEY-ARMENIA TIES

Irish Times.com
Friday, March 12, 2010, 16:37

A resolution by the Swedish parliament branding the WW1 killing of
Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide could hurt peace efforts
between Turkey and Armenia, Turkey’s prime minister said today.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Stockholm after the vote in the
Swedish parliament yesterday. The move came a week after Ankara called
home its envoy to the United States over the approval of a similar
resolution by a US congressional panel.

"This can hurt relations between Turkey and Armenia," prime minister
Tayyip Erdogan said during the opening of a factory near Istanbul.

Although Turkey has been quick to say that both resolutions will hurt
the chances of resolving its dispute with Armenia, steps towards a
normalisation of ties had already stalled in recent months.

Turkey and Armenia agreed last year to establish diplomatic ties
and open their border if their parliaments approved peace accords,
but the votes have not taken place and the governments have accused
each other of trying to rewrite the texts.

Ankara has demanded that ethnic Armenian forces pull back from
frontlines of the disputed mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh as a
condition for ratifying the peace deal.

Although Ankara accepts many Christian Armenians perished in killings
that began in 1915, it denies that up to 1.5 million died and that
it amounted to genocide.

The issue of the Armenian massacre is so sensitive here that Turks
seem willing to risk ties with their main allies over it.

European Union member Sweden is one of the strongest supporters of
Ankara’s bid to join the bloc, while the United States is considered
a strong ally of NATO member Turkey.

GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA: NO MILITARY CARGOES WILL BE TRANSPORTED VIA UPPER LARS CROSSING

ArmInfo
2010-03-11 15:55:00

ArmInfo. No single bullet will pass via Upper Lars crossing. There is
Law On Occupation in the Georgian legislation that bans any military
cooperation with Russia and no military cargoes will be transported
via Upper Lars, Georgian Ambassador to Armenia Grigol Tabatadze said
in a press conference on Thursday.

He said that reopening of Upper Lars was very serious discussed at
the Georgian Security Council with the Georgian opposition taking an
active part in the discussion. As regards the latest statement by
Georgian oppositionist Georgy Khaindrava saying that reopening of
Upper Lars threatens the national security Georgia. Tabatadze said
that opposition parties always blame government. The Ambassador does
not believe that the Georgian party’s decision was wrong. Georgia
will not have any financial or economic benefit from reopening of the
crossing since the Georgian legislation does not tax transit. At the
same time, he said, Georgia will also get an opportunity to transport
its cargoes via the territory of Russia.

In addition, Ambassador Tabatadze said that reopening of Upper Lars is
important for Armenia’s economy. "The Armenian party was the initiator
of these negotiations and the first discussion on reopening of the
crossing was held in Yerevan," he said. The Ambassador said that
Upper Lars is open for everyone and Armenian cargoes have already
been transported via the crossing. In necessary, it is open also for
Azerbaijan and Turkish cargoes.

Kazbegi – Upper Lars crossing on the Russian-Georgian border had
been closed for 3 years on the initiative of Russia for repair and
modernization. The crossing was reopened on March 1 2010.

SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY CONSIDERS POSSIBILITIES FOR LAUNCHING ELECTRICAL TRAIN BETWEEN YEREVAN AND HRAZDAN

ARKA
March 10, 2010

YEREVAN, March 10. /ARKA/. The South Caucasus Railway company
running Armenia’s railroads, said its CEO Shevket Shaydulin had a
working meeting with Araik Kotanjian, the prefect of Kanaker Zeytoon
administrative district of Yerevan, to consider possibilities for
launching an electrical train to run between Yerevan and Hrazdan,
an industrial town in central Kotayk province.

The company’s press service reported that Yerevan chief architect,
Sergey Danielian, was also present at the meeting. They examined also
the condition of the railway on the ground.

The travel between the capital city and Hrazdan will take 50 minutes.

According to Shaydulin, the electrical train will give citizens a
cheaper alternative to traveling by car.

The South Caucasus Railways is run by Russian Railways. The concession
agreement was concluded in 2008 for 30 years, with a right of extension
for another 20 years after the first 20 years of operation.

TURKISH MINISTER CANCELS US TRIP FOLLOWING HOUSE PANEL VOTE

armradio.am
10.03.2010 12:48

Turkey’s trade minister has canceled a trip to the United States
in response to a U.S. House panel vote last week that recommended
labeling the World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide.

Zafer Caglayan was scheduled to depart for the U.S. on March 19 with
a large business delegation, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic
Review reports. The governmental decision was made Monday during
consultations with the country’s ambassador to Washington, who had
earlier been recalled in a show of protest.

SERZH SARGSYAN: OUR NATION HAS ALWAYS HONORED WOMEN

Panorama.am
14:31 08/03/2010

Society

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan addressed a congratulatory message
on Women’s Day. According to the President’s press office, the
message reads:

"Dear Compatriots,

On this beautiful Women’s Day I address our mothers, women, sisters and
colleagues with special appraisal and esteem. I cordially congratulate
you, dear women on this nice spring holiday!

Our nation has always honored women. Even at hardest periods of
history women have been pillars for us, inspiring hope and belief to
our nation. It’s difficult to see a sphere today, where the tender
and affectionate presence of women is not felt.

Armenian women continue to educate, bring up, create, protect and
cure with virtue.

Dear Women,

Once again I congratulate you on Women’s Day. May love, warmth and
happiness always accompany you."

Trend, Azerbaijan
March 5 2010

Turkish Armenians oppose adoption of resolution on so-called Armenian genocide

Turkish Armenians are protesting the adoption of a resolution
recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide by the U.S. House of
Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, CNN Turk reported.

Zadik Toker, head of the Armenian Church of the Turkish province of
Kastamonu, opposed this decision.

Turkish Armenians staged a protest against the decision of the
committee in the Turkish cities of Kayseri and Kastamonu.

U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted Thursday a resolution
recognizing the so-called genocide with 23 votes to 22.

Armenia claims that the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against
Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. Making greater efforts to
promote the issue internationally, Armenians have achieved its
recognition by parliaments of some countries.

The Turkish government has expressed dissatisfaction with the decision
of the U.S. Congress committee and said that it was a blow to
Turkish-American relations.

The intervention of a third party, in this case the United States, in
the relations between Armenia and Turkey complicates the process of
reconciliation between the countries, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said.

The adoption of a resolution recognizing the genocide indicates that
the U.S. Congress is very weak in developing a future political
strategy, the Turkish minister said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul expressed his regret after the U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs approved the
resolution on the genocide.

Regarding approval of the resolution, Gul said that "this decision is
not reasonable. I strongly condemn it. It does not mean anything for
Turkish people. Turkey will not be responsible for the negative
outcomes of this voting."

A similar resolution was adopted in 2007 but as a result of former
President George W. Bush’s intervention, the resolution was not
brought for further discussion, Anadolu reported.

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
March 6 2010

Turkish premier says US vote on Armenia resolution not to harm Turkey

Istanbul, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that the
US House resolution on Armenian allegations would not harm Turkey in
anyway, at a business conference in Istanbul.

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives
adopted a resolution Thursday with 23 votes against 22, calling on US
President Barack Obama to recognize the incidents of 1915 – which took
place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire – as genocide.

The adoption of the resolution stirred wide reaction in Turkey which
strongly rejects the allegations and regards the events as civil
strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks and Armenians.

Erdogan said the resolution on Armenian allegations would seriously
harm US relations and interests.

"We will not lose anything. Those who act on animosity and a feeling
of revenge with cheap tricks, they will lose. Let me put this clearly,
the resolution of the U.S House Committee on Foreign Affairs will not
harm Turkey in anyway," said Erdogan.

Turkey severely criticized the resolution Friday warning that it would
jeopardize the historic rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia and
harm Turkey-US relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister told an exclusive press conference that the
Obama Administration did not throw enough weight around the issue.

Following Turkey’s reaction the Obama administration announced that it
was against any further congressional action on the resolution warning
the congress that it could harm the normalization process between
Turkey an Armenia.

The Congress is yet to decide whether or not to put the resolution to
vote in the house floor, which would seriously risk further straining
relations with Turkey, a close ally to the US for decades.

Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
March 7 2010

Armenian and Turkish intellectuals discuss future of reconciliation

Amid increasing tension in US-Turkish relations after the approval of
a resolution advising the US president to term as genocide the events
of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian minority in
Anatolia, a group of Turkish intellectuals and journalists came
together on Friday in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, with their
Armenian counterparts with the aim of debating the future of the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process.

In the third meeting of the Turkey-Armenia Dialogue Series: Assessing
the Rapprochement Process organized by the Yerevan-based Caucasus
Institute and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation
(TESEV), intellectuals and journalists from both sides attached great
importance to the improvement of dialogue between the so-called
hostile societies in getting to know each other better.

In his opening speech, Mensur Akgün from TESEV emphasized that the
purpose of the foundation in organizing the meeting was not to
represent the Turkish state or defend its arguments in regard to the
Armenian question. Explaining the stance of the foundation he said
they view the Armenian issue as an important part of Turkey’s
democratization, which means it seems like a domestic problem but with
an international political aspect as well.

Temel Ä°skit, a retired ambassador and columnist for the Taraf daily,
emphasized the change of the Turkish public’s perception towards the
Armenian issue. `I was an ambassador and denied the Armenian genocide
claims for 40 years. But now I am one of the people who made a
presentation at the first Armenian conference in Turkey, and I am one
of the people who signed the document aiming to apologize to the
Armenian people for the tragedy witnessed in 20th century,’ he said.

The first Armenian conference in Turkey sparked great controversy when
it was organized in 2005 and was considered a dangerous act that would
ultimately support the Armenian arguments related to the genocide
issue.

Characterizing the pressure Azerbaijan put on Turkey as a harmful act
regarding the Armenian reconciliation process, Ä°skit noted that the
remarks of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an in the Azeri parliament
in 2009 tied the Armenian reconciliation process to developments in
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. He also said that the protocols signed
between Armenia and Turkey should be seen from a larger perspective in
that the restoration of relations will trigger the establishment of
peace in the Caucasus region.

In 2009, Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic relations
and reopen their border, which has been closed since 1993, but the
agreements have yet to be ratified by either parliament. Ratification
has been stalled as the two sides have traded accusations of trying to
modify the deal.

David Hovhannisyan, a retired Armenian ambassador who commented on the
US congressional resolution approved on Thursday, said the Armenian
people and state are not much interested in the measure and
interpreted the issue as a part of US-Turkish relations, which he
expects would cause a growing but temporary dispute between the US,
which deployed its soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its strong
Muslim ally Turkey. The retired diplomat assessed that the
establishment of diplomatic relations is the first step to
reconciliation between the two states but that peace between the
Armenian and Turkish societies will take much longer. `Turkey had
strained relations with Syria and Greece in the past, but their border
has not been closed. And now you have very good neighborly relations
with them, especially with Syria,’ he added. Hovhannisyan also accused
the Turkish government of dragging its feet in putting the protocols
on Parliament’s agenda, saying: `The process between Armenia and
Turkey must be based on sincerity and responsibility for peace. ¦ We
[the Armenians] have to be patient. I do not expect the Turkish
government will step things up concerning the protocols amid rumors of
early elections.’ He proposed the building of an EU-type mechanism in
the region in which the administrations could seek economic interests.

On the Armenian minority in Turkey, Aris Nalci, editor of Agos, a
bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly whose editor-in-chief was gunned
down by a nationalist Turk, drew attention to the identity problem of
Turkish citizens having an Armenian ethnic background. `During our
conversations in Yerevan, coming from Turkey, everyone called us `you’
but I do not know to which group I belong, `you’ as in Turks — or us
— Armenians.’

Evaluating the regional benefits of the reopening of the
Turkish-Armenian border, Tevan Poghosyan, executive director of the
International Center for Human Development (ICHD), expressed optimism
and said the border will be opened one day; Agri is closer to Yerevan
than it is to Trabzon, he said.

07 March 2010, Sunday

MÄ°NHAC Ã?ELÄ°K YEREVAN

Aysor, Armenia
March 6 2010

President Sargsyan holds working meeting on pension reform

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has held a working meeting to
discuss item of pension reform, a spokesperson for the Presidential
Administration said.

Serzh Sargsyan said that the system of pensions, founded since the
Soviet-era times, doesn’t go with modern requirements and needs
changes.

Officials delivered to President the program of reforming of the
pension system and paid a special attention to the matter of funded
system, pointing that the delivered model pays respect to the
international experience.

Serzh Sargsyan briefed to conduct additional studies on the issue,
learn and assess possible risks, and sum up the results of works by
the next meeting.