Author: Kafian Jirair

SARKISIAN TO DISCUSS PROTOCOL RATIFICATION IN TURKEY
Irina Hovannisian

le/1850773.html
13.10.2009

President Serzh Sarkisian will press for a speedy implementation of
the newly signed Turkish-Armenian agreements during his landmark
visit to Turkey on Wednesday, a senior pro-government lawmaker in
Yerevan said on Tuesday.

Sarkisian and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul are due to hold
face-to-face talks and have dinner before watching the second leg of
a World Cup qualifier between Turkey’s and Armenia’s national soccer
teams in the northwestern city of Bursa. The two leaders will then
attend a reception given by Gul.

In the words of Razmik Zohrabian, deputy chairman of the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Sarkisian plans to raise with Gul
the mandatory parliamentary ratification of the two protocols that
were signed in Zurich over the weekend. The protocols envisage the
establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of the border
between the two estranged neighbors.

"This may be the last meeting of the two leaders before the
parliamentary ratifications," Zohrabian told RFE/RL. "They will be
talking not only about football at their meeting. They will also be
talking about Turkish-Armenian relations, about how to have the two
parliaments endorse this document."

Sarkisian said on Saturday that Yerevan will take "appropriate steps"
if Ankara fails to push the documents through the Turkish parliament
"within a reasonable timeframe." He also warned the Turks against
linking the ratification process with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

According to Zohrabian, the Armenian side may well annul the agreements
if they do not come into force "before next spring." "If the process
drags on, then we could declare the signed document null and void in
accordance with international law," he said.

Zohrabian also played down nationalist street protests that could greet
the Armenian president in Turkey. He argued that Gul himself faced
peaceful demonstrations by Armenian nationalists when he visited
Yerevan in September last year. "There will be similar protests
against Serzh Sarkisian in Turkey," he said.

YEGPARIAN: SOCCER SELLOUT
By Garen Yegparian

14/yegparian-soccer-sellout/
October 14, 2009

Sorry FDR, but I’ve got to steal your line, because truly, Black
Saturday, October 10, is a day that will live in infamy. I write this
article in a mood of utter disgust and deeply suppressed rage. How
else would you have me, or the world have us, Armenians, feel, when,
as a friend wrote to me, "They just sold out the whole country,
and we couldn’t do a thing about it."

Sure, there was some last minute brinkmanship. The speeches by
Armenia’s and Turkey’s representatives were cancelled to avoid
stepping on one another’s toes over the Genocide and linkage of the
infamous protocols’ implementation to Turkish-defined "progress" on
Artzakh negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earned
her keep by arm-twisting the two parties to sign the documents that
potentially spell the end of Armenia as an independent state worthy
of that name and status.

When I saw the 2-0 loss of the much touted Turkey-Armenia soccer
match, it occurred to me that Armenians fared much better with a ball
than with the BS of diplomacy. In the latter, the score was four to
negative one! Turkey got virtual absolution for the Genocide; arguable
legalization of the current illegitimate frontier; tacit acceptance
of the supremacy of principle of the inviolability of borders over
self-determination (a boost on the Artzakh front for the Turkic side
and more support for the current, Western-Armenia-excluding border);
and opening of the border, Turkey’s illegal blockade/closure of which
is an obstacle to progress in its efforts to fully join "Europe". What
did Armenia get? The impending demolition of what little bit of
an economy it has-what will happen is what happened to Mexico with
the implementation of NAFTA in 1994, enrichment of a few, probably,
and further impoverishment for the overwhelming majority.

In the process, the wishes, position, sensibilities, honor, and
good sense of the overwhelming majority of Armenians worldwide was
disregarded. From the multiple demonstrations that dogged Serge
Sarkisian’s tour of the Diaspora and his return to Armenia to the
four-day, 34-person fast organized by the AYF across the street from
Armenia’s Consulate General in LA (ironically, located in Glendale
now), all were arrogantly ignored. Sarkissian as much as said so
in his comment quoted by the Anadolu news agency during his visit
to Bursa, Turkey to watch the Armenian team lose (poetic justice?):
"I have not tried to inform people in order to receive permission from
the Armenian Diaspora. I wanted to convey a decision of the Armenian
Government to the Diaspora and held meetings to update them."

What’s worse is that there are plenty of Armenians who are
also blissfully unaware, or barely cognizant, of the Sword of
Damocles that Sarkisian has strung up above our nation by a Turkish
horse-hair. Including me, why did no one, or all of us, not mob every
diplomatic installation the Republic of Armenia has worldwide, and
in Armenia the presidential and foreign ministry buildings. What’s
wrong with us? People are seething, but confused. This is the stuff of
which radicalization comes. We’ve essentially got the world against
us, again, since the Turks’ Swiss-brokered efforts were supported by
the Americans, French, and Russians, as witnessed by the hours-long
presence of the foreign ministers of these countries in Zurich on
Black Saturday. Didn’t they have anything better to do?

It’s going to be a long, hard struggle to undo this damage, but
ironically, our strongest supporters for the moment may be the Azeris
and Turks themselves, who, for their own reasons (incomprehensible to
me) are opposed to these protocols. Let’s hope that Turkey’s parliament
rejects these documents from hell, ’cause it sure doesn’t seem likely
that Armenia’s parliament will have the good sense and backbone to
reject them!

Maybe the time to wreak some havoc is nigh.

ISSUES OF 2009 FALL DRAFT DISCUSSED

ARMENPRESS
OCTOBER 15, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Regular session of the republican
draft commission chaired by the Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan took
place October 13 in administrative building of the Defense Ministry.

Press and information department of the Defense Ministry told
Armenpress that representatives of chief prosecutor’s office, members
of government, governors, Yerevan mayor, chief of the police were
present at the event.

Seyran Ohanyan in his speech highlighted the role of drafting and
its importance in filling the Armed Forces.

Head of the Chief Headquarter of the Armed Forces Yuri Khachaturov
presented the results of 2009 spring draft.

Governors of provinces referred to the draft works in provinces,
the registered flaws as well as discussed issues of fall draft.

Summing up the session defense minister thanked the participants
and expressed hope that they will continue working with enthusiasm,
saying that in 2010 reforms will be implemented in this sphere as well.

‘IN OUR COUNTRY, IT SEEMS, WE CAN’T PLAY FOOTBALL’: ARMEN MARTIROSYAN

Tert.am
15.10.09

Speaking with journalists today, Heritage Party’s parliamentary
faction leader Styopa Safaryan and Heritage Party Board Chair Armen
Martirosyan referred to yesterday’s Armenia-Turkey football match
within the context of Armenian-Turkish relations.

"Unfortunately, we have registered once again that football diplomacy,
doomed to be defeatist, once again manifested itself [to be defeatist],
and the Protocols have already been signed. I must say that in our
country, it seems, we can’t play football. It wasn’t enough to be
continuously defeated by Turkey in sport, political components were
also included, and we are experiencing defeat in politics as well.

"Heritage Party unequivocally believes that it’s high time for a
change in the country’s leadership; this proceeds from a number of
reasons including those related to national issues. The leadership,
which was formed as a result of fake elections and at the expense of
the slaughter on March 1, naturally, not having legitimacy, would
seek internal legitmacy, would seek external legitimacy and would
concede our vital lands belonging to the state," Martirosyan stated.

Safaryan, for his part, said that football is a team sport and very
often football success is derived from the public’s unity and its
ability in displaying team spirit. Safarayan considers it inexplicable
that Serzh Sargsyan congratulated Abdullah Gul immediately after the
first goal was scored by the Turkish team.

CLINTON FAILS TO WIN RUSSIA PLEDGE ON IRAN SANCTIONS
By Jeff Mason and Michael Stott

Reuters
Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:23pm EDT

MOSCOW, Oct 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
failed to win specific pledges from Moscow on tougher sanctions against
Iran during a visit to Russia on Tuesday but hailed progress in other
areas such as arms control.

A senior U.S. official had said before the talks that Clinton wanted
to know "what specific forms of pressure Russia would be prepared
to join us and our other allies in" if Iran did not keep promises to
the international community not to pursue nuclear weapons.

But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov restated at a news conference with
Clinton Russia’s position that any talk of sanctions against Iran at
this stage was counter-productive.

"All forces should be aimed at supporting talks," he said.

A U.S. official later told reporters of the Russian side: "They said
they weren’t ready in this context to talk specifically about what
steps they would be willing to take."

The Russian side preferred to discuss any possible moves against Iran
in the context of the United Nations, the official added, speaking
on condition he was not identified.

Clinton praised "very comprehensive and productive" discussions with
Lavrov, saying they were further evidence of the "reset" in formerly
rocky U.S.-Russia relations.

"I feel very good about the so-called reset," she said.

Clinton insisted at the news conference she had not sought specific
commitments from Moscow on Iran.

"We did not ask for anything today," she said. "We reviewed the
situation and where it stood, which I think was the appropriate timing
for what this process entails."

Clinton, on her first visit to Russia since taking her post, quoted
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying sanctions against Iran
might be inevitable.

A U.S. official later told reporters Medvedev had told her he expected
Iran to implement its promises on its nuclear programme and if it
did not "there should be sanctions".

"That was ring," the senior State Department official said.

Medvedev has previously made it clear Moscow is ready to back further
sanctions against the Islamic Republic unless it changes course on
its nuclear programme, despite Russia’s general reluctance to support
such punitive measures.

Lavrov said "considerable progress" had been made by U.S. and Russian
negotiators towards a new bilateral treaty cutting their stocks of
strategic nuclear weapons.

They are working to a deadline of December for concluding a treaty
to replace the Cold War-era START pact.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Clinton did not address sensitive issues such as human rights
and democracy at the news conference but met rights activists and
opposition journalists privately at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

Clinton told them, in a reference to killings of Russian journalists
and rights activists:

"A society cannot be truly open when those who stand up and speak
out are murdered. And people cannot trust in the rule of law when
killers act with impunity."

At a Boeing design centre later she said the United States linked
human rights with economic growth. She also said there was "reason
to hope" Boeing would get a contract to build aircraft for Russia’s
new state-run airline.

Clinton met Medvedev at his Barvikha residence outside Moscow, where
the president praised U.S.-Russian efforts to broker a peace deal
between Turkey and Armenia as "a good example of our cooperation".

But Clinton did not see the man most diplomats, analysts and ordinary
Russians consider the true ruler of Russia — Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin. Putin is on a visit to China.

President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap plans for an anti-missile
system located in eastern Europe has helped improve ties with Moscow
after stormy relations under George W. Bush.

Diplomats say that in return, the United States now wants better
Russian cooperation on an array of foreign policy issues such as the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Iran, missile defence and the nuclear
arms reduction treaty.

On missile missile system to replace the Bush-era plan for fixed
radars and anti-missile batteries in central Europe which had upset
the Kremlin.

He was non-committal on U.S. proposals the two sides cooperate on
missile defence.

"The more we know about this concept, the sooner we will come to
an understanding of whether we can work jointly on a project," he
said. (Additional reporting by Conor Sweeney)

Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

REPUBLICAN SAYS TURKEY WON’T YIELD IN SAKE OF AZERBAIJAN

Panorama.am
14:20 14/10/2009

"It’s natural that something is broken in Turkish-Azerbaijani
relations, as Azerbaijan’s elder brother, I mean, Turkey solves
problems differently. Turkey can’t yield anymore, as more powerful
states are interested in this issue. And even more, Turkey wants to
become EU member state. Turkey will not yield because of tiny interests
of Azerbaijan," Razmik Zohrabyan, Republican Vice President and member
of Republican fraction told the reporters.

He says during the recent months when Armenian-Turkish protocols were
supposed to be signed the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey
have been broken and strained.

The photos of Turkish leaders are being destroyed in Azerbaijan,
tax check campaigns are conducted in Turkish companies.

SAMVEL KARAPETYAN ANSWERS READER QUESTIONS
Sona Avagyan

an-3/
2009/10/12 | 18:02

This year the RoA Prime Minister visited your office, an individual
who is at least cognizant of the issues you have raised regarding the
flawed renovation of monuments and the lack of attention paid to their
overall plight, etc. Did your meeting have any positive results? Did
you come to any understanding of what needs to be done? Can you call
him up when necessary and say that this needs to be done or that
certain changes need to be made?

I must confess that the Prime Minister’s visit on January 30 was
a very much welcomed and encouraging sign for all of us. But many
months have since passed.

The Prime Minister promised to finance our activities and especially
the issue of where to house our operations. This issue of finding a
suitable space for the organization is a pressing one indeed. We have
been situated in our present location as of 2000. We took advantage of
the generous gift made by the late Levon Hakhverdyan, Director of the
Art Institute at the time, to take up residence in the Institute’s
hall and two rooms. We will soon mark our tenth year here but the
Institute is sorely in need of the space we now occupy. Right now,
however, we have no other alternative.

Recently, I was a guest on Shant T.V. and took advantage of the
opportunity to present our plight to the public. I received many
phone calls soon afterwards. The principal of a school called and
offered us space in his school building.

Of course, I wish to thank all those who made such similar generous
offers of assistance. The fact remains that we have a very large
archive of materials and if we were to relocate it would have to be
to a permanent site. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to move the
entire archive to some school room for just a few months.

It would just take a month to sort everything out again and get the
system and computers back up and running properly.

We pointed this out to the PM when he visited. A reporter asked the
PM whether the government would also take care of providing is with
a new, permanent space. He replied that, "We will take care of all
the organization’s problems."

Sadly, months have passed since those pledges were made. This year
was the first since 2004 that we weren’t able to travel to western
Armenia. It wasn’t merely due to a lack of funds that we couldn’t go,
but because we faced big problems with maintain the archival library.

I should note that Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan visited us just
two weeks after the PM on his directive. I laid out the situation we
faced in detail and the minister seemed impressed with the work we
were doing.

By the end of March, I was forced to follow-up these visits with
phone calls and letters since I hadn’t heard back from any government
agencies. This inaction was puzzling since at the time the Prime
Minister had made several T.V. appearances during which he praised
the importance of the work our organization was carrying out. I even
remember his exact words which were, "I am amazed and moved by the
work conducted by these sons and daughter of our nation." Important
praise indeed coming from the PM.

To my surprise, when I wrote to the PM, I received a response from
his chief of staff the same day saying that they were working on the
matter. Later that week, the same official phoned and told me that
our letter had been passed on to the Ministry of Finance by the PM
himself. Subsequently, I received a call from the Minister of Culture
who told me that they had just received a notice from the Ministry
of Finance stating that there were no more reserve funds available
for projects not included in the budget.

All I can say in response is that we knew that the economy would
take an 18% dip this year. But we are talking about a mere trickle of
funds to keep this organization on its feet. It is my firm belief that
the problem, at least in our case, wasn’t economic. In other words,
the crisis we face is one of national consciousness, not economic.

I can’t come to terms with all this. How long can we expect to ensure
our existence, given the national challenges we face and surrounded
by super-nationalist states as we are, by our present passive and
denationalized policies? This is what I don’t understand. Is it that
our authorities cannot comprehend this basic issue?

I asked one very pointed question to the Minister of Culture when she
visited us – "Assume for a moment that I am your Turkish counterpart,
the Minister of Culture, and I ask you what proofs do you have when
you speak about western Armenia or that a genocide of Armenian culture
took place. How can you talk of such things when we have renovated
Aghtamar and plan to so the same with Ani?" What would be the response
of Armenia’s Minister of Culture to all this?

In other words, shouldn’t we have details of the present condition of
each and every Armenian monument that still stands? Shouldn’t we have
photographic proof to compare the present with what was captured on
camera, even it is was one photo taken back at the beginning of the
20th century or the end of the 19th century? Shouldn’t we have all
this information at our fingertips? The Minister replied that "Of
course you are doing important work that is vital to our nation". It
seems we’ve never been at a loss for words to praise such work but
taking concrete action is another matter.

To be continued

NEW MILK-COLLECTION CENTER

15506.html
13:09:04 – 12/10/2009

Yerevan, October 12, 2009 – The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is
currently building a milk-collection center in Armenia’s Tavush Region,
aiming to significantly boost the local dairy industry. The facility,
which will be established in the village of Azatamut, is intended to
service seven neighboring communities as well, including Khashtarak,
Lusahovit, Lusadzor, Ditavan, Aknaghbyur, Aygehovit, and Achajur. The
project is sponsored by the Armenia Fund U.S. Western Region, with
funding from the Armenian community of San Francisco.

The initiative will be implemented in collaboration with the Ashtarak
Milk company, which will assist local milk producers in the collection,
storage, and distribution of their products. The Hayastan All-Armenian
Fund will provide all necessary equipment for the milk-collection
center as well as a truck for the collection process. In addition,
the fund will give local producers technical assistance to improve
animal-husbandry practices and enhance livestock quality. The project
will result in a highly streamlined and efficient manufacturing and
distribution system as well as superior product quality.

"Our goal is to lend a helping hand to the villagers by enabling them
to sell their products and secure revenues," said Ara Vardanyan,
executive director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. "No less
important is the fact that close to ten jobs will be created through
the creation of the milk-collection center. We have every reason
to believe that this project will be a great success, especially
given our collaboration with an experienced and dedicated partner,
the Ashtarak Milk company."

Commenting on the urgency of the project, Azatamut mayor Zhora
Martirosyan said that currently crop growers and animal farmers in
Tavush barely make ends meet since they lack proper mechanisms to
sell their products outside their communities. "The existence of a
milk-collection center will go a long way in improving the lives of
our residents," Martirosyan added.

PHILIP TEMPLE: BEFORE MMP REFERENDUM, WE NEED A CONSIDERED REVIEW

New Zealand Herald
4:00AM Monday Oct 12, 2009

The Minister of Justice, Simon Power, indicated that he would
soon present a paper to Cabinet on the proposed referendum on
MMP. Presumably this will hold true to National’s election promise,
that it will be held "without any further consideration". Meaning
no consultation with the voters, no review or inquiry, no select
committee hearings.

That is not good enough. For it is about now that we should remind
ourselves, and the Government, that the voting system belongs to
us – the voters – and not the politicians. That it is unacceptable
for the National Party to simply tell us what kind of question we
will be getting in the proposed referendum, and when, and what might
happen afterwards.

Although holding a referendum on MMP is perfectly reasonable, there
has been no groundswell of demand for a simple yes or no vote – except
from disaffected First Past the Posters whose heyday was the politics
of Rogernomics and Ruthanesia. Who even look back with nostalgia to the
days of compulsory military training. Rather, there has been a growing
feeling that we should have a look at how MMP has been operating.

"Kick the tyres" as John Key put it, see if they need a bit more air,
whether the plugs need changing. MMP could do with a general service
and warrant of fitness. But we do not need to sell the car.

Before we have a referendum, we need a considered review of our
electoral system, maybe even a successor to the Royal Commission
on the Electoral System that produced a report recommending MMP a
generation ago.

Then we can all have our say on what we like or dislike about MMP
and give it the tune it needs. Followed by a referendum on whether
or not we want to drive ahead with it.

It would be, in fact, dishonest of the Government to propose a simple
yes-no referendum when it knows that MMP is a modern, flexible system,
capable of being modified, and one that has generally served us well
over the past 13 year fair, inflexible and antediluvian system like
First Past the Post (FPP).

This is 2009 not 1909. Even those who would like to go backwards to
FPP realise that the voting public would not swallow that particular
dead rat.

In a display of seeming flexibility, they agree there should be
a "degree" of proportionality in our voting system and suggest
Supplementary Member as a replacement for MMP. As its abbreviation
indicates, however, we would be submitting ourselves to a degree of
electoral sado-masochism in adopting a system that is nothing more
than a proportional sham – FPP with knobs on.

We would be lining ourselves up with countries with much shorter
democratic histories such as Armenia, Kazakhstan and South Korea. It
was also the electoral option least favoured by New Zealanders in
the "preferendum" held in 1992 to ascertain which alternative voting
system we preferred.

Kiwis can be justifiably proud that we were the first English-speaking
country to adopt MMP and that both Scotland and Wales have followed
our example. On the other hand, as it has done in the past, FPP has
kept just one party in power in London for 13 years. That is not
healthy democracy.

But if the proponents of FPP or SM want to put their case, let them
do so to a commission or review committee run by an independent body
such as the Electoral Commission. And not try to rort the democratic
process by engineering a simplistic yes-no referendum on MMP. That
is first past the post in action, not the fair proportional way we
have become accustomed to since 1996.

Our democracy, our electoral system, is too important to be
submitted to such a sudden death process. And for it to be set up by
a politically motivated Cabinet decree. The electoral system is ours,
not theirs.

* Philip Temple is a Dunedin author who was given a Wallace Award
for his "contribution to public understanding of electoral matters"

BREAKING NEWS
PROTOCOLS NOT SIGNED

Nalbandian does not show after hitch

ZURICH: The widely-objected signing of the Armenia-Turkey Protocols
has officially been "delayed", after Armenia’s foreign minister Eduard
Nalbandian did not show up to the signing ceremony following what US
officials are calling a "last minute hitch".

According to the BBC, "Armenia is reportedly objecting to a planned
statement by Turkey" following the signing.

Asbarez, via Twitter, announced that the reported "hitch" was in the
eleventh hour, resulting in the immediate redirection of US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton’s motorcade as she was on her way to the
ceremony.

A United States State Department official told CNN that, as the issue
is with regards to oral statements post the signing, they would try to
work with the parties to reach a suitable compromise.

In the last week, over 100,000 Armenians in Yerevan, New York, Los
Angeles, Beirut, Paris, Buenos Aires and Sydney have protested against
the Protocols.

Despite being advertised by both parties as containing "no
preconditions", the Protocols to re-establish diplomatic relations
between the Caucasus neighbours contained points which experts said
will harm the century-old battle by Armenians to have the Genocide of
over 1.5million of their ancestors recognised and adjudicated. Experts
said the Protocols also cast into doubt the right to
self-determination for the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.

As this is a developing story, armenia.com.au will continue to update
you in coming days and hours…