Author: Frangulian Shushan

PACE: WITH THE AMNESTY THE AUTHORITIES IN ARMENIA HAVE INDICATED THEIR WILLINGNESS TO OVERCOME THE POLITICAL CRISIS

armradio.am
25.06.2009 18:35

In a resolution on the functioning of democratic institutions
in Armenia, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) today welcomed the general amnesty adopted on 19 June, under
which most, if not all, of the persons deprived of their liberty in
relation to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008 will be released. With
this measure, the authorities have complied with a crucial demand of
the Assembly in its Resolution 1643 (2009), and have given a clear
indication of their willingness to overcome the political crisis
that ensued after the Presidential election of February 2008. The
Assembly will, however, follow the developments with regard to the
remaining cases.

The Assembly regrets, however, the breakdown of the work of the
independent expert group to establish the facts in relation to the
events of 1 and 2 March 2008 as a result of tensions between its
members and the politicizing of its work. PACE considers that an
independent, impartial and credible investigation into these events
is still necessary, and therefore reaffirms its demand that such an
investigation be conducted in line with the criteria outlined by the
Assembly, notwithstanding the breakdown of the fact-finding group.

Furthermore, noting that undue restrictions are still placed on
the organization of rallies, the Assembly reiterated its call for
the authorities to respect the principle of freedom of assembly in
practice, and monitor the implementation of the amended law on rallies
and demonstrations.

Given the numerous allegations of widespread fraud during the election
of the Yerevan City Council on 31 May 2009, and the fact that public
trust in the electoral process is still very low in Armenia, PACE
also stressed that electoral reform should be a priority for the
authorities.

During the parliamentary debate, the PACE co-rapporteurs on the
monitoring of Armenia, Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD) and John
Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), reported on progress made by the
Armenian authorities towards compliance with the demands of the
Assembly, in particular important changes to the provisions of the
Criminal Code and the initiation of several reforms, culminating
in an amnesty. While Armenia has taken a decisive step towards the
normalization of political life, these achievements should not be
seen as the end of the process. The Assembly therefore invited
its Monitoring Committee to provide full support for democratic
consolidation in Armenia, in the framework of its regular monitoring
procedure.

ARMENIAN EMIGRANTS DO NOT HURRY TO RETURN FROM RUSSIA TO ARMENIA: THEY SEEK NEW WAYS OF EARNING MONEY

Noyan Tapan
June 25, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian emigrants do not hurry
to return from Russia to Armenia: no inflow of emigrants from Russia
into Armenia has been recorded, Head of the Migration Agency of RA
Ministry of Territorial Administration Gagik Yeganian said at the
June 25 press conference.

Whereas, according to him, they expected more emigrants to come back
to Armenia due the impact of the global economic crisis on Russia. "We
expected an inflow of such people into Armenia. We even signed an
agreement with Russian migration services to facilitate their return
to Armenia, but the number of those returning home is not especially
large," G. Yeganian noted.

In his words, although many Armenian emigrants lost their jobs because
of the crisis in Russia, they do not hurry to return and seek new
ways of earning money.

GEORGIAN CULTURE MINISTRY TO LAUNCH FILM PRODUCTION JOINTLY WITH ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-06-24 12:20:00

ArmInfo. A new subject, Armenian Culture, will be taught at Georgian
schools, President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili said in an interview
with the Armenian Public Television.

Armenian and Georgian cultures are very similar and interconnected. The
Center of Tbilisi is a bright example of the aforementioned. It is
the Armenian cultural and architectural heritage, Saakashvili said. He
highlighted that Georgia belongs to all the nations residing in that
country: Armenians, Ossetians, Azerbaijanis and it is the official
stand of the Georgian President. There is a large-scale Armenian
community in Georgia, there are Armenian schools and everything will
be done to increase the level of education, the president said. He
outlined that the Armenian theatre should become even better and the
Georgian authorities welcome the activity of the Armenian Church for
this purpose. He is sure that Armenia and Georgia need exchange of
experience through everyday work at various festivals, dance groups,
concerts and joint film making, he said.

The minister charged the Georgian Culture Ministry to launch film
making jointly with Armenia as before. Development of Armenian
culture will undoubtedly lead to development of Georgian culture,
M. Saakashvili said.

Asked if it is possible to make a new film like ‘Mimino’, Mikheil
Sakashvili said that he would like it very much but much still to be
done for this. The president such goals should be achieved first of
all through involvement of the youth.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HOLDS CONFERENCE ON ‘SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS AND SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE’

US State News
June 23, 2009 Tuesday 5:53 PM EST

YEREVAN, Armenia, March 16 — The U.S. Embassy issued the following
press release:

The United States Department of Justice held a conference on "Support
for Victims and Successful Prosecution of Domestic Violence" in
Yerevan, Armenia, on March 16, 2009. Three American prosecutors and one
social worker participated – Prosecutor Steven Kessler (U.S. Embassy,
Yerevan), Prosecutor Arlene Markarian (Brooklyn, New York), Prosecutor
Wanda Lucibello (Brooklyn, New York), and Social Worker Cristin Mathiez
(Brooklyn, New York). Joining the Americans at the conference were
Armenian judges, prosecutors, police, and representatives from the
Women Rights Center, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health,
the Ministry of Social and Labor Issues, the Civil Rights Division
of the National Assembly, and international organizations such as
UNICEF, OSCE and Open Society Institute Foundation in Armenia. The
American and Armenian officials discussed their countries’ respective
approaches to fighting all manifestations of domestic violence, as
well as support for the victim, investigation of a domestic violence
case, and prosecution of such a case where the victim refuses to
cooperate. U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch opened the conference.

In her remarks, the Ambassador noted that although the statistics on
domestic violence in the U.S. are sobering, much progress has been
made in the past twenty years. The Ambassador urged the Armenian
authorities in attendance to do all that can be done to reduce
domestic violence and care for its victims. The domestic violence
conference is just one of several sessions held by the U.S. Department
of Justice in Yerevan to support Armenian law enforcement. In 2008,
the USDOJ held conferences for Armenian judges, prosecutors, police
and defense attorneys on the European Convention on Human Rights,
corruption prosecution, financial crime investigations, the rules of
evidence in adversarial proceedings, and the development of Armenian
jurisprudence and case law.

ISRAEL’S NEW AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. CALLS ARMENIAN KILLINGS "GENOCIDE"

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
23.06.2009 11:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Israel’s new Ambassador to the United States,
Michael B. Oren is a firm believer in the veracity of the Armenian
Genocide, despite his government’s denialist position on this issue,
Harut Sassounian, The California Courier Publisher writes.

Prior to his ambassadorial appointment, Oren repeatedly confirmed
the facts of the Armenian Genocide in his writings. In the May 10,
2007 issue of the New York Review of Books, he wrote a highly positive
review of Taner Akcam’s book: "A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide
and the Question of Turkish Responsibility." The review was titled:
"The Mass Murder They Still Deny."

In his most recent book, "Power, Faith and Fantasy," Oren made
dozens of references to Armenia and Armenians, including lengthy
heart-wrenching descriptions of the mass killings before and during
the Armenian Genocide. Here are some of the most striking quotations
from his book: "The buildup of Ottoman oppression and Armenian anger
erupted finally in the spring of 1894, when Turkish troops set out
to crush a local rebellion, but then went on to raze entire villages
and slaughter all of their inhabitants…. Some 200,000 Armenians
died — 20 percent of the population — and a million homes were
ransacked. ‘Armenian holocaust,’ cried a New York Times headline in
September 1895, employing the word that would later become synonymous
with genocide."

While it is true that Michael Oren published this book before his
assignment as Ambassador to Washington, his compelling position on
the Armenian Genocide would hopefully make him refrain from following
the footsteps of his predecessors who shamefully lobbied against the
congressional resolution on this issue, Mr. Sassounian writes.

The appointment of a staunch supporter of the truth of the Armenian
Genocide as Israel’s Ambassador to Washington comes on the heels
of a serious rift between Turkey and Israel following the Gaza war
earlier this year. On that occasion, there were major manifestations
of anti-Semitic statements and acts throughout Turkey, including
anti-Israeli remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Erdogan. His
insulting words to Israel’s President Shimon Peres in Davos,
Switzerland, antagonized Israelis and Jews worldwide. Even though
Israel downplayed Erdogan’s offensive words, they did a lasting damage
to Israeli-Turkish relations.

The combination of an Israeli government that is less sympathetic
of Turkey and the presence of Israel’s Ambassador in Washington
who is a firm believer in the facts of the Armenian Genocide may
facilitate the passage of the pending congressional 252 resolution
on the Armenian Genocide.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER AND UAE FOREIGN MINISTER MEET

ArmInfo
2009-06-22 10:26:00

ArmInfo. Speaker of the Armenian parliament Hovik Abrahamyan met
Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdallah Bin Zayid Al
Nahyan on June 21.

As the parliamentary press service reports, the speaker expressed
confidence that the visit of UAE FM will contribute to development of
bilateral relations. He marked the warm ancient-old friendly relations
between the Armenian and Arab peoples and said he will do his best
for their tightening.

The parties highly appreciated the level of the political relations
and expressed satisfaction with this circumstance. Nevertheless, the
parties emphasized the necessity of development of interparliamentary
contacts and organization of visit exchange. Having touched on
the global financial crisis, the parties said that in view of this
challenge Yerevan and Abu Dhabi should keep on developing the bilateral
trade-economic cooperation and investments.

NATIONAL PROGRAM OF FIGHTING AGAINST DRUGS TO BE WORKED OUT

ARMENPRESS
June 19, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 19, ARMENPRESS: The working group of drafting the
national program of fighting against drugs has today summoned its first
session chaired by Arthur Baghdasaryan, Secretary of National Security
Council, and Head of the inter-departmental commission of coordination
of the Armenian cooperation with the European institutions.

Press service of National Security Council told Armenpress that the
working group involves the representatives of all the stakeholder
departments.

Stressing that the drafting of National program is presupposed by
2009-2011 "Armenia-EU" program, Arthur Baghdasaryan pointed out the
importance of working out and implementation of the national program
of combating drugs within utmost brief terms.

During the session it has been decided through the cooperation with
the representatives of program of combating drugs in South Caucasus
to draft the general aspects of the national program, discuss the
outline with the concerned institutions and European experts and to
present it to the approval according to the set order.

ARMENIA, SYRIA INTERESTED IN BOOSTING ECONOMIC COOPERATION
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
18.06.2009 13:59

The Presidents of Armenia and Syria attended the opening ceremony
of the Armenian-Syrian business forum at the Government’s House
of Receptions.

President Serzh Sargsyan welcomed the participants of the forum and
wished them productive activity.

Addressing the forum, the Armenian President said: "The Armenian-Syrian
friendship is based on firm grounds. Under the conditions of the
current political and economic realities our countries are building
warm and dynamically developing relations of new quality, where the
levels of political and economic collaboration should tend to be on
an equal level."

According to President Sargsyan, the friendly and brotherly feelings
of our peoples for each other, as well as the bilateral political
relations do not correspond to the current level of trade-economic
cooperation. "This forum is a good opportunity to get acquainted
with each other’s achievements in the trade-economic field, to
establish business ties. I do believe that a great potential exists
in the scientific-technical, agricultural, energy, urban development,
tourism, trade and financial sectors, and our today’s task is to set
realistic objectives targeted at the utilization of that potential,"
the president said.

Serzh Sargsyan ascribed a great role to the Syrian Armenian communi
ty. He asked them to use their opportunities and business ties to
reveal the trade-economic potential of our country and present the
production of both countries to each other.

President Sargsyan assured that any new endeavor, and project targeted
at the intensification of economic ties would be supported by the
Armenian Government.

ReliefWeb (press release)
June 14 2009

Armenia: Homeless in Yerevan

Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Date: 12 Jun 2009
Special Report: Karabakh Refugees

A decade and a half after the fighting ceased, many refugees are still
waiting for proper housing.

By Gegham Vardanian in Yerevan (CRS No. 497, 12-June-09)

In a gloomy ex-hostel, built for students at Yerevan’s chemistry
technical collage but used by refugees from Azerbaijan, 120 families
are still waiting for some kind of decent accommodation.

Amazingly, considering that whole families are crammed into rooms of
just 12 square metres, and are forced to share a toilet with up to 50
people, often this is better than the facilities they have had in the
past.

Some 360,000 of the half-million Armenians who fled Azerbaijan because
of the Karabakh conflict, which ended exactly 15 years ago, ended up
in Armenia, and accommodation for them is still scarce.

Maria Aslanian, a 96-year-old, has lived with her two sons
â?? 67-year-old Viktor and 62-year-old Vladimir â??
in one such room for ten years. With its three beds and cupboard,
there is barely room to stand up.

"There was a time when we had absolutely nowhere to live. For four
months we had to sleep outside, in the snow and the rain. It’s good
that they gave us this place," said Maria, as she sat playing
backgammon with Viktor.

Just down the hall was her neighbour Laura Melkonian, who has lived in
the former student hostel in the Charbakh district of the Armenian
capital for 18 years already. She spent years complaining about the
toilets, but has just learned now to accept them as they are.

"Water drips out of the ceiling, it pours out of the plaster, and we
have to go in there with an umbrella. Who knows, maybe one day the
ceiling will fall down completely? But what can we do? It is a public
toilet, which 50 people are using," she said.

She has more space than many of her neighbours, since her husband has
left her to move to Russia, and she lives only with her 13-year-old
son.

She has separated out a little kitchen area with a curtain, but it is
so small that only her arms can fit inside it. "I am thinking maybe I
should leave the country and become a refugee from Armenia," she
mused.

Gegham is the editor of the website of Internews and a
participant in IWPR’s Cross Caucasus Journalism Network.

0SID/MUMA-7SZ8ZU?OpenDocument

Turkey-Armenia relations not limited to South Caucasus
13.06.2009 12:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said
progress must be reached in the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict to stabilize the South Caucasus.
`All sides interested in resolution of the conflict should work to
that end,’ he said. `We want to further normalize bilateral ties as a
part of our good neighbor policy.’
The minister said the Turkey-Armenia bilateral relations are not
limited to the South Caucasus, but they impact Turkey-U.S. relations
as well. "This is not right. Our relations with Armenia must not
influence our relations with the United States," he said, TrendNews
reported.