Author: Kalashian Nyrie

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN WRAPS UP VISIT TO GEORGIA

Armradio.am
01.03.2010 15:31

Within the framework of the two-day visit to Georgia, President
Serzh Sargsyan participated in a Sunday mass at the St. Savior
Armenian Church of Batumi, lit a candle and laid flowers at the
khachkar-memorial. In the church yard, the President of Armenia talked
to representatives of the Armenian community of Ajaria.

At the conclusion of the visit, the Presidents of Armenia and Georgia
summed up the results of the visit. President Sahakashvili expressed
satisfaction with the informal meeting with the President of Armenia
in Batumi and said, "We have agreed to integrate our economies, meet
more frequently, and put more efforts to make the relations between
our two peoples even closer. In the future, our meetings will be more
dynamic for the benefit of our two nations. We are small nations and
we need each other. We depend on each other and this dependency should
be used to do a lot of good to our countries."

In his turn, the President of Armenia also expressed satisfaction
with the meeting with his Georgian counterpart and said, "We should
cooperated more intensely, and think seriously about the integration
processes. I am confident that this will be a breakthrough year in our
relations. Although we have been having excellent relations throughout
our history, we shouldn’t be complacent but move forward."

On Sunday afternoon, the President of Armenia concluded his two-day
visit to neighboring Georgia and returned to Yerevan.

EU DELEGATION VISITS ARMENIA

news.am
March 1 2010
Armenia

March 1, the delegation of the European Union (EU) headed by Spanish
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos arrives in Armenia.

"At the meetings with RA President and Foreign Minister, European
diplomats will touch upon Armenia-Turkey normalization process, as
this is one of the main purposes of the visit," said Secretary General
of European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) Michael Kambeck, RFE/RL reports.

In the course of the visit officials will discuss Armenia-EU relations,
as well as the opportunities to give new impetus to Armenia-Turkey
reconciliation, Kambeck informed.

WORLD BANK SUPPORTS COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS THAT TARGET THE POOR IN ARMENIA

The Financial
Feb 26 2010
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — The World Bank ‘s Board of Executive Directors on
February 25 approved a US$7 million credit for the Second Additional
Financing for the Social Investment Fund III (ASIF III) Project
for Armenia.

The Additional Financing will assist the Government of Armenia in its
efforts to improve the living standards of the poor and vulnerable
groups by expanding labor-intensive infrastructure projects.

According to World Bank , the Project will focus on "infrastructure
gaps", or schools, kindergartens, potable water pipelines, community
centers, and primary health clinics or ambulatories in need of repair
or reconstruction throughout Armenia. The situation in Armenia’s
rural areas, especially in remote and isolated communities, and the
earthquake zone, is particularly severe. The Project targets those
populations most affected by the economic crisis, and the Additional
Financing will help to meet these and other needs over the medium-term
as part of the Government’s anti-crisis measures.

"The main strength of ASIF is in its approach to enable local
communities to identify their own investment needs," said Asad Alam,
World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus. "While this
creates much-needed jobs in the current environment, the success of
the program will also depend on how well local communities are able
to sustain these new investments."

ASIF has successfully been in operation for the last decade. So far,
737 micro-projects in 298 rural and 74 urban communities, including the
capital Yerevan, have been completed under the project, reaching out
to 2.7 million beneficiaries across Armenia. The Additional Financing
will support infrastructure improvements in 35 communities, and will
create short-term employment of up to 68,600 days of labor.

The ASIF III Project has two main components. It supports community
investments in the poorest communities of Armenia through basic
small-scale social and economic infrastructure rehabilitation. These
investments are made based on the community-driven development approach
where communities are responsible for identifying their own priorities,
contributing to the financing of their micro-projects, and maintaining
them after project completion.

The ASIF III Project also complements community investments through
local-level institutional strengthening and capacity building for
improved management, monitoring, and evaluation.

The Additional Financing will provide funding for infrastructure
rehabilitation dependent on its crisis-response nature, including the
need to create employment while improving basic social and economic
infrastructure.

"By the time the Project is completed, around 235 of the most needy
communities will have benefited from newly constructed and renovated
schools with heating; specialized schools for orphanages, handicapped
children, and art students; sports facilities; community centers;
and potable water in homes," said Ivan Drabek, head of the World Bank
team designing the project.

The IBRD Flexible loan has a maturity of 25 years and a grace period
of 10 years included.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments
to Armenia total approximately US$ 1.3 billion.

AZERBAIJAN THREATENS ARMENIA THE GREAT WAR

Ukrainian Globalist
aijan-threatens-armenia-the-great-war
Feb 26 2010

The war in South Caucasus is in the air

In brief: Armenia is ready to defend Azerbaijan’s military attack
but the war is not desirable.

The Ministry of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan warns about inevitability
of the great war in South Caucasus if Armenia does not withdraw its
military forces from Karabakh. The official speaker of the Ministry of
foreign affairs of Armenia in its turn has said that Armenia is ready
to defend Azerbaijan’s military attack but the war is not desirable.

The matter is that 15 years long European diplomats have been trying to
resolve conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia caused by possession
of Nagorno-Karabakh territory. The Minister of defense of Azerbaijan
has however said that the country doesn’t intend to wait for further
and sees the only decision – war. Foreign analysts however suppose
such statements are just to scare Armenia and to show military power
of Azerbaijan in order to force Armenia to make concessions.

Maria Velikanova 2010-02-26 16:41, Society.

TURKISH, SWISS FOREIGN MINISTERS DISCUSS PROTOCOLS

Asbarez
discussed-protocols/
Feb 25th, 2010

KIEV, Ukraine-Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with US
National Security Adviser James Jones and Swiss Foreign Minister
Micheline Calmy-Rey in Kiev on Thursday.

Davutoglu and Jones discussed Turkish-US relations, Iran’s nuclear
program and the developments taking place in the Caucasus.

The Turkish foreign minister spoke to Calmy-Rey about Turkey’s upcoming
ascension to the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe and the
issues on the agenda of the Council.The two diplomats also discussed
the Armenia-Turkey normalization process.

Davutoglu and Calmy-Rey also discussed a ban on minarets in
Switzerland, with Davutoglu conveying Turkey’s sensitivity on the
issue.

ARMENIAN REGULATORS SANCTION ANOTHER GAS PRICE HIKE
Ruben Meloyan

969419.html
26.02.2010

State regulators approved on Friday another sharp increase in
the retail prices of natural gas sought by Armenia’s national gas
distribution company, ArmRosGazprom (ARG).

ARG formally asked the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PRSC)
last month to allow it to significantly raise tariffs, arguing that
the cost of Russian gas imported to Armenia will increase by almost
17 percent to $180 per thousand cubic meters from this April.

The PRSC accepted this justification, raising the gas price for
individual consumers by 37.5 percent, to 132 drams (34 U.S. cents)
per cubic meter. The price rise for thermal-power plants and industrial
enterprises will be les drastic: 17 percent.

"We have displayed a professional approach to the ARG application
within the framework of our functions," the PRSC chairman, Robert
Nazarian, said after he and other members of the regulatory body
unanimously voted for the unpopular measure.

ARG, 80 percent of which is owned by Russia’s Gazprom monopoly,
says the gas tariffs should be raised also because of a more than 25
percent depreciation of the Armenian currency, the dram, against the
U.S. dollar over the past year. Critics counter that the dram had
gained more than 80 percent in nominal value against the dollar in
the years leading up to the 2009 economic crisis and that ARG failed
to adjust its tariffs accordingly.

Karen Karapetian, the company’s chief executive, again defended the
measure after the PSRC meeting. "If there is another, more efficient
structure that can bring in cheaper gas, we can put our whole system
at their disposal," he said. "But I’m sure there isn’t."

Speaking to RFE/RL, Karapetian claimed that Iranian natural gas,
which Armenia began importing last May in modest amounts, is even more
expensive. Iranian gas is due to be converted into electricity that
will in turn be supplied to Iran. Its monetary cost is not yet known.

Karapetian also downplayed the socioeconomic impact of the gas price
rise. He said low-income households will see their monthly gas bills
rise by only between 1,000 and 2,000 drams. He again suggested that
the Armenian government compensate for that with "targeted subsidies."

The gas tariffs already rose by 14 percent in April 2009, resulting in
a 20 percent increase in the retail prices of electricity sanctioned
by the PSRC. It is not yet clear whether the electricity fees will
again go up this time around. Natural gas is used for generating
roughly one third of Armenia’s electricity output.

NKR MFA: AZERBAIJANIS’ "GENOCIDE" IN KHOJALY – A MYTH TO DISTRACT INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S ATTENTION FROM MASSACRE OF ARMENIANS IN SUMGAIT

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2010 20:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The anti-Armenian campaign in connection with the
regular anniversary of the tragic events in the settlement of Khojaly,
which has set everybody’s teeth on edge for a long time, has gained
an unprecedented scope this year in Azerbaijan.

"In connection with the insinuations of official Baku, the Press
Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic considers it necessary to remind that a military operation
was organized on February 25-26, 1992 with the aim of unblocking the
only airport in the Republic situated near the settlement of Khojaly
and neutralizing the fire-points of the enemy just in Khojaly, from
where, beginning from spring 1991, the settlements of Nagorno Karabakh
were regularly attacked by the Azerbaijani OMON-members and exposed
to artillery bombardment, including from "Grad" rocket launchers –
weapon of mass destruction (WMD) prohibited by numerous international
conventions.

Fulfilling a vital goal for the Karabakh people, the units of the
NKR self-defense forces, attacking Khojaly, provided a corridor
for the civilians’ safe leaving the military activities zone, about
which the Azerbaijani party was informed beforehand. This fact was
repeatedly confirmed by the Azerbaijani officials, in particular, the
then President Ayaz Mutalibov. But, the Azerbaijani authorities made
nothing for the peaceful population’s withdrawal from the military
activities area. Moreover, a column of civilians was shot down at the
approaches to the Aghdam region’s border, which was later confirmed by
Mutalibov, connecting this criminal act with the opposition’s attempts
to remove him from his position, making him responsible for the events.

The territory, where pictures of numerous corpses were made, is in a
three-kilometer distance from the town of Aghdam and in 11 kilometers
from Khojaly. Up to the summer of 1993, this territory was under
permanent control of the Azerbaijani armed forces, which excluded
any access for the units of the Karabakh self-defense forces.

"The Azerbaijani official propaganda tries to blame Armenians for
the killing of the civil population of Khojaly, but even Azerbaijani
President Mutalibov admitted that "Armenians still provided a corridor
for the civilians’ leaving the place", the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta
from April 2, 1992 wrote. Also, Ogonyok journal (#14-15, 1992) noted
that "…the attack of Khojaly wasn’t sudden".

Some details of that military operation are still shrouded in mystery,
which is actively speculated by the Azerbaijani state propagandistic
machine, using various falsifications, forgeries, and obvious lie.

Last year, the NKR MFA drew the public attention to the false photo
placed at some Azerbaijani websites, including the one of a generator
of false ideas – The Heydar Aliyev Fund (). In fact,
the photo related immediately to the events in Kosovo and just as
such, along with numerous others, was introduced at the Serbian,
Albanian, and one of the specialized German forums, at the site of
The New York Times authoritative journal, and others. This year,
new forgeries have been added to the noted one. Thus, about 20 false
photos used by the Azerbaijani party, in particular, those of the
victims of the Kurdish pogroms in Turkey, the victims of the massacre
in Srebrennitsa, and others, were introduced during the February
24 presentation of the project in Yerevan. Besides,
outrageous falsifications were discovered in the lists of the Aghdam
tragedy victims introduced by the Azerbaijani official structures –
embassies, the presidential library, etc. Also, the site provides
video-films about the interrogations of the Turks-Meskhetians,
which testify that despite the Armenian party’s warning of the
Khojaly attack, the Azerbaijani servicemen banned the escape of the
Turks-Meskhetians’ families, which were artificially settled there
by the Azerbaijani authorities.

The Azerbaijani propaganda tries to introduce the betrayal of the
Khojaly civilians by their high-rank compatriots as the Armenians’
revenge for the bloody orgy in Sumgait.

But, the remarks and assessments of the Khojaly events by some
Azerbaijani top officials, human rights activists, and journalists
refute flatly the false thesis of official Baku. Thus, Azerbaijani
human rights activist Arif Yunusov wrote: "The town and its citizens
were deliberately made victims of the political goal – to prevent
the Azerbaijani Popular Front’s coming to power" (Azerbaijani Zerkalo
newspaper, July 1992).

Tamerlan Karayev, in due time Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the
Azerbaijani Republic (now AR Ambassador to India), testified: "The
tragedy was implemented by the Azerbaijani authorities", specifically
"some of the top officials" (Mukhalifat Azerbaijani newspaper, April
28, 1992).

Heydar Aliyev admitted himself that "the former leadership of
Azerbaijan is also guilty" of the Khojaly events. According to
Bilik-Dunyasi Agency, still in April 1992 he expressed a cynically
monstrous idea: "The bloodshed will do good to us. We shouldn’t
interfere in the course of the events". Did the "father" of Azerbaijan
bear the responsibility for these words?

Czech journalist Yana Mazalova who, by the Azerbaijanis’ oversight,
found herself in both groups of the mass media representatives, which
were shown the "corpses defiled by Armenians", noted a sufficient
difference in the latters’ condition. Visiting the field immediately
after the events, Mazalova didn’t see any traces of barbarity on the
corpses. And two days later, the journalists were shown the disfigured
bodies already "prepared" for filming.

The Russian Megalopolis-Express newspaper wrote: "We cannot but admit
that if the Azerbaijani Popular Front had really far-reaching goals,
so it has achieved them. Mutalibov is compromised and dismissed,
the international community is shocked, the Azerbaijanis and the
friendly Turks believed in the so-called "genocide of the Azerbaijani
population in Khojaly".

As it is known, still on February 26, 47 Armenian hostages were kept
in Khojaly, which is deliberately concealed by the Azerbaijani mass
media. After liberating Khojaly, there were only 13 of them (among
them 6 women and a child), while the rest 34 were taken away in an
unknown direction by the Azerbaijanis. So far, there is no information
about there further fate. We only know that they were taken away from
the village in the operation night, but they didn’t enter Aghdam.

It is evident that those who wanted to make a semblance of the corpses’
defilement by Armenians disfigured, first of all, the bodies of the
Armenian hostages in order that they couldn’t be identified.

Just for this purpose, the majority of the corpses were undressed, and
just for this purpose, the victims’ bodies were exposed to outrages,
which changed them out of all recognition.

Proceeding from the abovementioned facts, we can confidently state
that the Azerbaijani party is guilty of the death of the civilians of
Khojaly and the Armenian hostages kept there, and that the Azerbaijani
party committed a monstrous crime against its own people for the sake
of its political intrigues and struggle for power.

It is already obvious for everybody that the "genocide" of Azerbaijanis
in Khojaly is a myth created still by Heydar Aliyev and taken up by his
throne-successor Aliyev-the-junior in order to draw the international
community’s attention away from the massacre of Armenians in Sumgait,
Baku, Kirovabad, and many other populated-by-Armenians settlements,
as well as to conceal the political, humanitarian, military, economic,
and other penal offences of the Azerbaijani leadership against Armenian
civilians and against its own people," the statement of NKR Foreign
Ministry said.

IRAN, ARMENIA TO CONSTRUCT OIL PIPELINE, TERMINAL

Tehran Times
Feb 25 2010
Iran

Iran plans to construct an oil pipeline and terminal on its border
with Armenia to increase exports of oil products to the country.

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Noureddin Shahnazizadeh said the two sides
agreed on a contract for a 350-km pipeline that carries oil products
to Armenia.

Armenia will receive 70,000 barrels of oil products through the
proposed pipeline, he said.

Shahnazizadeh added that the construction of the joint pipeline needs
a 350-million-dollar investment.

"The construction of the pipeline and oil terminal would increase the
exports of oil products to this northern neighboring country," he said.

Armenia hopes the pipeline help diversify its energy resources.

REALITY TV STAR CALLS FOR PEACE BETWEEN ARMENIANS AND TURKS

news.az
Feb 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Kim Kardashian American reality TV star Kim Kardashian has urged
Armenians and Turks to live in peace.

The Armenian and Turkish people should be brothers, the show business
star and nude model told Hurriyet reporters.

"I am not too competent on the issues of policy to comment on the
process of the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations but I
believe that neighbours should be friends. I know that the history
of Armenian-Turkish relations is full of conflicts," Kardashian said,
adding that it takes time to heal past wounds.

95TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE COMMEMORATED IN TIMES SQUARE

Asbarez
armenian-genocide-to-be-commemorated-in-times-squa re/
Feb 23rd, 2010

NEW YORK-On Sunday, April 25, 2010, for the 25th year, thousands of
Armenian Americans and people against genocide will gather in Times
Square from 2-4 PM to commemorate the first genocide of the 20th
Century, the Armenian Genocide.

This year’s commemoration will underscore the theme: "Turkey is the
Question, America is the Answer."

This historic event will pay tribute to the 1.5 million Armenians who
were annihilated by the Young Turk Government of the Ottoman Empire
(1915-1923) and address the consequences plaguing humanity till
this day.

The commemoration will come amid heightened attention on Armenia
and Turkey. Government leaders and the news media have recently been
preoccupied with Turkish-Armenians relations and the prospects for
opening the closed borders in the Caucasus.

Major political figures will speak at the memorial event as well as
civic, humanitarian, and educational leaders.

This event is sponsored by the Knights & Daughters of Vartan, a
national fraternal organization, and co-sponsored by the Armenian
General Benevolent Union, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian
National Committee of America, Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, and
the Armenian Council of America. Participating Organizations include
the Diocese of the Armenian Church, Prelacy of the Armenian Church,
Armenian Missionary Association of America, Armenian Missionary
Association, Armenian Evangelical Union, Armenian Catholic Eparchy,
and several national Armenian youth organizations.