Author: Jalatian Sonya

Interfax, Russia
July 10 2009

ALIYEV AGREES TO MEET WITH SARGSYAN IN MOSCOW – DIPLOMAT

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has agreed to meet with his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in Moscow on July 17, Yury Merzlyakov,
Russia’s co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, told a briefing on
Friday.

"We hope that this meeting will allow us to reach the last lap [of the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict]," Merzlyakov said.

"We continued to discuss this small number of still unresolved aspects
in the basic principles both in Baku and Yerevan," the Russian
diplomat said.

The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group are very pleased with the
results of their meetings with the Azeri and Armenian presidents,
Merzlyakov said.

"Our conversation with them was substantial and constructive. We
sensed that they both are committed to achieving results at their
upcoming meeting," he added.

"We hope that on July 17, the presidents will be able to finalize this
stage and to simultaneously begin discussing a new topic, which, until
recently, we addressed only in general. I hope that we will debate
this issue more profoundly in the future," said the Minsk Group’s
French co-chairman Bernard Fassier.

"We are hopeful that the presidents will approve the basic settlement
principles before the end of the year, which will be a
breakthrough. Starting from next year, this breakthrough will open up
opportunities to transform these principles into a fundamental
agreement," the French diplomat said.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Azeri community could also be allowed to
join these negotiations, Merzlyakov said.

"If the Azeri party wants to include representatives of the Azeri
community of Nagorno-Karabakh in its delegation, it is possible. Talks
between the presidents are in progress today, but it is not yet clear
at what stage Nagorno-Karabakh should join the talks in order to be
able to help formulate a part of an agreement dealing with this
territory," he said.

It could be possible to combine the Helsinki Final Act’s three
principles, which suggest: abandoning threats to use force, observing
territorial integrity and giving a right to self-determination to the
local population, the OSCE Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chairman Matthew
Bryza said, adding that this task would be difficult.

These principles could be combined by striking a balance between them,
which matches the task of finding mutually acceptable ideas in the
future, Bryza said.

The Azeri and Armenian leaders do not plan to sign any document at the
July 17 meeting, Merzlyakov said.

"But it does not mean that it [document] could not be signed there,"
the Russian diplomat said.

No one planned to sign the Moscow Declaration, but the document was
signed, he said.

Merzlyakov, however, declined to say in what form the basic settlement
principles could be adopted by the Azeri and Armenian presidents.

The Monitor (McAllen, Texas)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service
July 10, 2009 Friday

Armenian victims: Dark past for Turkey

By Peter Balakian, Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star
COMMENTARY
HAMILTON, N.Y.

HAMILTON, N.Y. _ The Armenian Genocide continues to hover over
international politics 94 years later. Its ethical force in memory
haunts not only the legacy of the perpetrator, Turkey, but the legacy
of the victims, the Armenian people and the diaspora.

The political intensity surrounding U.S. recognition of the Armenian
Genocide surfaced this past April in President Obama’s engagement with
the issue. Having promised as a presidential candidate to acknowledge
as genocide the events that befell the Armenians of Ottoman Turkey in
1915, on visiting Turkey in April, President Obama stopped short of
using the word "genocide" but spoke powerfully to the Turkish
Parliament about the importance of acknowledging dark chapters of
one’s past.

"History is often tragic but, unresolved, can be a heavy weight. Each
country must work through its past. And reckoning with the past can
help us seize a better future. I know there are strong views in this
chamber about the terrible events of 1915. While there has been a good
deal of commentary about my views the best way forward for the Turkish
and Armenian people is a process that works through the past in a way
that is honest, open, and constructive."

THE ‘G’ WORD

Armenians, Turks and the human-rights community awaited April 24, the
date of the president’s annual Armenian Genocide commemorative
address, as the international press speculated whether he would use
the word "genocide." When he did not, most Armenians were
disappointed, some bitterly so. Yet Obama’s statement was the most
ethically serious, probing statement on the subject ever made by a
U.S. president: "I have consistently stated my own view of what
occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. My
interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just
acknowledgment of the facts," and he remembered "the 1.5 million
Armenians" who were "massacred or marched to their death."

To get a sense of how seriously the president acknowledged the
Armenian Genocide, albeit by syllogism, one need only note what he
said on the campaign trail in September 2008: "As a U.S. senator, I
have stood with the Armenianâ??American community in calling
for Turkey’s acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide." In April he
said: "It is imperative that we recognize the horrific acts carried
out against the Armenian people as genocide, and I will continue to
stand with the Armenian-American community in calling for the
government of Turkey to acknowledge it as such."

However, what ensued between the April 6 visit to Turkey and the April
24 address was some secret diplomacy, brokered _ some believe
coercively _ by Turkey with Armenia to create a "road map" to
normalizing relations between the two countries (their common border
has been closed since the founding of the Armenian Republic in
1991). This new diplomacy involves Armenia agreeing to Turkey’s
persistent request that there be a historical commission to "decide"
what happened to the Armenians in 1915. To many, and especially those
in the human-rights community, this is an obvious gimmick, by which
Turkey hopes to cast doubt on the scholarly consensus about the events
of 1915 for the purpose of continuing to deny its responsibility for
the genocide.

OWNING UP TO THE PAST

The irony spills into absurdity. The Turkish government spends
millions of dollars a year on PR firms and lobbyists in a campaign to
rewrite the history of the Armenian extermination. Turkey’s courts
have prosecuted writers and intellectuals who acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide, most notably Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, who not only stood
trial for it but has been a target of death threats. Most tragically,
the assassination of Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007
made it clear that dealing openly with the Armenian Genocide in Turkey
was dangerous business.

Turkey has shown no inclination to own up to the truth of its past. In
2004, it agreed to be part of a Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission, but after the arbitrator, the International Center for
Transitional Justice, rendered an assessment that the events of 1915
were genocide, the Turkish government angrily pulled out of the
commission.

Would we allow President Ahmadinejad’s government to be part of a
commission on the Holocaust? When countries such as France, Canada,
Poland, Greece, Russia and 15 others (as well as 41 U.S. states)
passed resolutions affirming the Armenian Genocide over the past
decades, they were not attempting to determine history, but rather to
affirm an existing historical record and, in large part, to redress
Turkey’s continued aggressive denial campaign.

When Congress once again entertains an Armenian Genocide resolution,
many genocide scholars and the human-rights community hope it will
have the courage to stand up to Turkish pressure. Turkish historian
Taner Akcam has said U.S. acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide
would give the United States "self-respect" in this arena, and "It
would liberate Turks, Armenians, and itself in the process."

It is important that we not confuse the exigencies of diplomacy with
the need to stand firm about the moral reality of genocide and reject
any nation’s attempts to cover up a genocidal crime. The history of
genocide is not a poker chip. While Armenia and Turkey must of course
look to the future and normalize relations so that the status of
Nagorno Karabagh and other political and economic issues can be
resolved, Armenia’s President Sarkissian has stated that the road to
the future of Turkishâ??Armenian relations should not be
brokered with preconditions.

If Turkey believes in its future leadership in the region, then it
must, in President Obama’s words, reckon with its past. Speaking as he
did on Turkish soil, Obama has already done some important work in
helping Turkey understand why acknowledging its past will only aid its
future.

The acknowledgement of the genocide that became a template for Hitler
is not just a Turkish-Armenian affair, but a universal moral issue:
The world’s most powerful country can summon the courage to help
resolve it with a congressional resolution in the coming year.

___

ABOUT THE WRITER

Peter Balakian teaches at Colgate University and is the co-translator
of the recently published "American Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian
Genocide, 1915-1918" by Girgoris Balakian. Readers may send him e-mail
at [email protected] He wrote this for the Fredericksburg
(Va.) Free Lance-Star.

RIA Oreanda, Russia
July 10 2009

Armenal 1H Levels Better than Its Nominal Design Capacity

Moscow. OREANDA-NEWS . On 09 July 2009 UC RUSAL, the worlds largest
aluminium and alumina producer, announced a marked increase in output
from its ARMENAL foil mill, Armenia . In June, the foil mill produced
nearly 2,500 tonnes of foil, a 12% improvement on its nominal design
capacity, taking ARMENALs half-year production to over 10,000 tonnes.

ARMENAL reported a 77% production increase from January to June 2009
compared to H1 2008 and said it expected to see its output double by
the end of this year.

ARMENAL, in parallel with the expansion of output, was making
improvements in practically every technical and economic indicator,
including a 60% reduction in production costs and minimisation of the
rate of rejects due to production defects.

The keys to success for ARMENALs workers were reduced material
consumption rates, firmer process discipline, and a comprehensive
programme implemented to reduce costs and raise the yield ratio, said
ARMENALs Managing Director Sergey Borovik. The yield ratio more than
doubled in only twelve months to 72.4% and we are set to improve that
important performance indicator to 75%.

ARMENAL has enough orders on hand to keep the foil mill running until
the end of this year. Its products are mainly exported to the United
States with the Middle East becoming a rapidly growing market for
them.

A Failure of Capitalism

Summer (and Fall) Reading

The Atlantic (Washington, DC)
Correspondents
July 5, 2009

By Richard A. Posner

I would like to draw my readers’ attention to four recent important
contributions to the debate over our economic crisis.

The first, which unfortunately will not be published until the fall,
is a book by Robert C. Pozen entitled Too Big to Save? How to Fix the
US Financial System. A lawyer, a lecturer at the Harvard Business
School, and the chairman of a large asset-management firm, Pozen is an
immensely experienced and acute student of the financial system. His
book is not only a detailed yet thoroughly lucid and accessible study
of the financial crisis; it is also, and more important, the best
critique I have seen of the government’s responses to the crisis and
its recent blueprint for financial regulatory reform. I hope that his
analysis can somehow be conveyed to the Administration and Congress
before the government makes irrevocable mistakes in its response to
the crisis.

The second contribution is a special issue of the journal Critical
Review (vol. 21, issues 2-3, 2009) entitled "Causes of the Crisis."
(It is about to be published, and can be ordered at the following web
site: ml. It is a
collection of essays dealing with the causes of our current economic
crisis. The long introduction by the journal’s editor, Jeffrey
Friedman, entitled "A Crisis of Politics, Not Economics: Complexity,
Ignorance, and Policy Failure," is a particularly good summary of what
can at this early stage in our understanding be said with some
confidence about the causes of the mess. Without meaning to denigrate
any of the other essays, all of which are useful, I found particularly
welcome the acknowledgement by economists, including Daron Acemoglu
and David Colander, of what Colander and his coauthors call the
"systemic failure of the economics profession." This is a point that I
stressed in my book but that has received insufficient recognition by
the economics profession (naturally).

I do wish, however, to take exception to a tendency in Professor
Acemoglu’s essay to belittle the current global depression.. He says
that "despite the ferocious severity of the global crisis–and barring
a complete global meltdown–the possible loss of GDP for most
countries is in the range of just a couple of percentage points–and
most of this might have been unavoidable anyway, given the
overexpansion of the economy in prior years. In contrast, within a
decade or two, we may see modest but cumulative economic growth that
more than outweighs the current economic contraction."

There are, it seems to me, three errors in the passage that I have
quoted. The first is the suggestion that the only cost of a depression
is a temporary, and relatively minor, decline in GDP. This ignores the
profound psychological effects of a depression, including the
anxieties of those who lose their jobs or their homes or their
retirement incomes or fear losing them (a series of costs that tenured
professors tend to underestimate because they are largely immune from
them). It ignores long-term economic effects–the aftershock danager
that I keep emphasizing–as a result of the immense costs that
governments are devoting to measures for halting the economic decline
and speeding recovery.And it ignores political effects with economic
consequences, such as increased size and intrusiveness of government.

The second error in the passage that I quoted is the suggestion that
the fact that "most of [the loss of GDP] might have been unavoidable
anyway, given the overexpansion of the economy in prior years,"
somehow mitigates the severity of the downturn. The idea may be that
people were living high on the hog because of excessive borrowing and
this is repayment time. But probably most of the people hurt are
people who were not living high on the hog during the boom years; and
even those who were may have lost more than they had gained during the
he suggestion that when GDP returns to its pre-depression level, the
cost of the depression will be wiped out. That ignores the fact that
many and perhaps most of the beneficiaries of the higher GDP will not
be the same people who lost in the bust. This is underscored by the
phenomenon of "job destruction." Many jobs lost in a depression never
come back; their occupants are not rehired and must therefore either
leave the workforce altogether or find other types of job, which
usually pay less. And few of the people whose jobs are destroyed will
have been contributors to the economic collapse and therefore
appropriately punished by a fall in their permanent income.

The third contribution is a soon to be published article by two law
professors, Saule Omarova and Adam Feibelman, "Risks, Rules, and
Institutions: A Process for Reforming Financial Regulation," 39
University of Memphis Law Review 881 (2009). The article discusses a
number of proposals for financial regulatory reform, but its main
significance is its careful attention to the process of effective
regulatory reform. The authors properly emphasize the importance of
careful, step-by-step program design, based on a solid body of
knowledge. The Administration could with profit heed their
suggestions.

Last, a website called is well worth reading.. It
describes the project of the Committee to Establish a National
Institute of Finance. The Institute would be responsible for gathering
and analyzing data concerning systemic risk. The proposal is
consistent with my belief that the essential need is better monitoring
of systemic risk; the regulatory powers of the Federal Reserve, the
SEC, and other regulators of financial institutions probably are
adequate, though perhaps some relatively minor statutory changes would
be desirable. The problem is not power but knowledge.

/richard_posner/2009/07/summer_and_fall_reading.ph p

EXPERT: AZERBAIJANI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA MAKES SENSELESS STATEMENTS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
10.07.2009 13:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia often makes loud
and senseless statements, an Armenian expert said.

"Polad Bulbuloglu seems to be justifying his stage pseudonym. As
you know, Bulbuloglu is translated as the son of nightingale," Arsen
Melik-Shahnazarov told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter in Stepanakert.

Yesterday, Ambassador Bulbuloglu announced readiness "to take arms
and regain Shushi."

MKULO DISMISSES DUTCH AID THREAT
By Mkinga Mkinga

The Citizen Daily
2009-07-06 08:39:00

Finance and Economic Affairs minister Mustafa Mkulo has played down
the Dutch Government’s intention to suspend aid to Tanzania. A Dutch
minister was infuriated by "mistreatment" of his countryman who is
involved in a timber business and asked his Parliament to suspend aid.

Mr Mkulo toldo The Citizen yesterday it was unfortunate that the
country was basing its case on events involving only one businessman.

He said the Government had formally been informed of the Netherlands’
decision and that several consultation meetings were held on the
issue with no amicable agreement.

Dutch Development minister Bert Koenders wrote to the Lower House in
his country, explaining that Tanzania was an unreliable partner for
foreign investors. The minister took the decision after an unnamed
Dutch businessman lost his investment in Tanzania.

However, the letter neither names the businessman nor gives details
of the case, but the minister said "enough is enough". The bilateral
budget for Tanzania for 2009 is 81 million euros (Sh148.2 billion).

This consists of 30 million euros for general budget support, 21
million euros for health care (including the programme for combating
HIV/Aids), 18 million euros for good governance (decentralisation),
10 million euros for drinking water and sanitation and 1.1 million
euros for improving the business climate.

The Netherlands’ aid in 2008 totalled 69.7 million euros (Sh127.5
billion according to current exchange rates). The aid was directed
towards health care, local government and private sector development.

Mr Mkulo told The Citizen yesterday that there was a Dutch businessman
who wanted to be given special treatment.

"The Dutch was engaged in logging business, he was conducting his
business from Mkumbara. He was a private businessman but there was
a lot of interventions by his embassy," Mr Mkulo said.

He said the businessman had sought to meet Prime Minister Mizengo
Pinda in his quest to be given special treatment in his business. But
he was asked to contact Natural Resources and Tourism minister Shamsa
Mwangunga instead.

When the businessman met the minister, he was directed to conduct his
business in accordance with the laws and regulations, but he refused
and forwarded the matter to his embassy.

"But it is diplomatically understood across the world that there
is no country which is allowed to intervene in internal affairs of
another country.

If, for instance UK sets its own regulation to remove hawkers in
London, Tanzania cannot intervene simply because Tanzania hawkers are
going to be affected… it is against the Geneva Convention,"explained
Mr Mkulo without naming the businessman.

He said he had met the Dutch envoy and discussed the matter without
knowledge that the businessman had gone to the Prime Minister on the
same matter. Mr Mkulo referred this paper to Ms Mwangunga for further
clarification but her phone was switched off.

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Natural
Resources, Dr Ladislaus Komba, said he was unaware of the issue. But
Tanzania is not the only country which has suffered Dutch aid freeze.

Mr Koenders named other countries which will miss aid from the
Netherlands as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Armenia and Macedonia
because they were receiving more funds from other sources.

Also affected are Eritrea and Sri Lanka for political turmoil, while
Cape Verde will also miss Dutch aid on the grounds that its economy
was performing well, the minister said in his letter.

The Netherlands each year spends 0.8 per cent of its gross domestic
product on fight ingpoverty with half of the aid going to Africa.

In 36 countries it supports, the money is spent on improving
governance, human rights and business opportunities.

2009 YEREVAN BUDGET ENDORSED AT YEREVAN COUNCIL OF ELDERS SPECIAL SITTING

Noyan Tapan
July 6, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The issues on the agenda of Yerevan
Council of Elders July 6 special sitting regarded Yerevan’s 2009
budget, the structure of the Mayor’s Office, endorsement of the staff
list of Mayor’s Office and 12 administrative districts, and others.

According to the report of Yerevan Mayor’s Office Information and
Public Relations Department, the 2009 Yerevan budget was endorsed
on the basis of this year’s budgets of the former communities. The
rates of local duties set by former communal elders at the beginning
of the year were also endorsed.

According to the new structure of Mayor’s Office, Yerevan Mayor has
three deputies, the staff consists of 20 departments. The Council of
Elders through voting endorsed Taron Margarian’s appointment on the
post of First Deputy Yerevan Mayor. Kamo Areyan and Vano Vardanian
were appointed on the posts of the other two Deputies.

The Council of Elders reaffirmed the acting order of legalization of
unauthorized structures. Yerevan’s advertisement and urban development
zones of town significance were also established.

According to Gagik Beglarian, the staff of Council of Elders factions
and commissions will be approved at a regular session of Council of
Elders to be convened in September as it is envisaged by the law On
Local Self-Government in the City of Yerevan.

3 OBJECTS WERE ALSO ADDED TO UNESCO’S WORLD HERITAGE LIST

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
06.07.2009 13:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain of Kyrgyzstan has
become the country’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World
Heritage List. Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, Bridges, dams,
canals, buildings and watermills from ancient time to present (Iran)
and the Royal Tombs of the Joseong Dynasty (Republic of Korea) were
also added to the List.

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville for its 33rd session,
chaired by Maria Jesus San Segundo, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate
of Spain to UNESCO, will continue inscribing sites and examining the
state of properties already inscribed over coming days. It remains
in session until 30 June.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and
preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world
considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in
an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

A report on violations at Iranian elections was submitted
06.07.2009 10:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ex- presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi
distributed a new 25-page report detailing frauds and violations
registered at Presidential elections of June 12. The report prepared
by voting rights protection committee, contains accusations for the
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who used the whole power of state
machine during election campaign.
Presidential employees were distributing cash to provide labor votes
for Ahmadinejad, the report states.
The report also contains accusations for Iranian Internal Affairs
Ministry and Iranian Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, who
supported Ahmadinejad, while calling themselves ”independent
observers”.
A rhetoric question as to why the number of voting bulletins, printed
out by the Internal Affairs Ministry, exceeded the actual number of
voters by 14 million concludes the report.

Armenian Church to be built in Kiev
04.07.2009 12:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Agreement was reached to prolong terms of rent
contract for the building of the Armenian Embassy in Ukraine during
the meeting between the mayor of Kiev Leonid Chernovetsky and the
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Ukraine
Armen Khachatryan .
As "Erkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia reports, the mayor
of Kiev Leonid Chernovetsky said that he would help to solve urgent
problems of the Armenian Embassy.
Officials also discussed the issue of allocation of the land lot to
construct the Armenian Church.
‘Today we have only a small chapel, which can simultaneously provide
services to only 10 people, while there are about 30 thousand
Armenians living in Kiev. You can just imagine what happens in the
chapel on Sundays’, Archbishop Grigoris Buniatyan, head of the
Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church said.
Kiev mayor promised the Armenian Ambassador to discuss at the
forthcoming meetings of the City Hall the issue of allocation of the
land lot in the Armenian Street (Kharkov district) for the
construction of the Armenian Church.