Author: Kamalian Hagop

ELECTRONIC ARCHIVE OF THE MATERIALS ON THE POGROMS OF ARMENIANS IN SUMGAIT READY TO OCCUR ON THE WEB

ArmInfo
2010-02-26 14:00:00

ArmInfo. Scanning of the materials on the pogroms of Armenians in
Sumgait in February of 1988 has been completed and the electronic
archive is now ready to be placed on the web, Sona Truzyan, Spokeswoman
of the Armenian Prosecutor General, told ArmInfo.

The web page "Sumgait" telling about those tragic incidents is
currently under construction. It will be available on the website
of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia. Part of the materials
are already available at the website. Simultaneously, the materials
are being studied. "Inquiring into the materials of the criminal case
reveal that the pogroms and murders of Armenians were organized and
planned by the political authorities of that period in Azerbaijan.

Testimonies by witnesses are the best evidence of that," Sona Truzyan
said. She highlighted that the ordinary citizens in Azerbaijan were
warned to be brought responsible in case of helping Armenians. "The
addresses and second names of the Azerbaijanis who helped Armenians
in Sumgait are not mentioned in the testimonies," she said.

"We hope that already in March the website will be ready and will
provide more details on the tragedy in Sumgait," Sona Truzyan said. On
Feb 27-29 1988 nearly the whole territory of Sumgait became arena
of unopposed mass pogroms of the Armenian population. Armed with
cold weapons and explosives the pogromists killed at least 53 and
injured hundreds of innocent peaceful Armenians citizens. There
were numerous cases of beating, tortures, rape (even of minors),
over 200 ruined flats, dozens of fired shops, cars. Thousands of
people become refugees.

GAS PRICE TO RISE FROM APRIL 1ST
Hasmik Dilanyan

"Radiolur"
26.02.2010 14:35

The gas price will rise from April 1st.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission today considered the
application of the ArmRosGazprom Company.

The Company was suggesting to set the price at 136 AMD per 1 cubic
meter of gas from April 1st.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission has partially satisfied
the application of ArmRosGazprom.

For the consumers it will cost 132 AMD per cubic meter instead of
current 96AMD, wich makes a 37.5% growth.

For the enterprises, consuming over 10 000 m3 a month the rate will
be $243.13 per 1 000 cubic meters instead of present $215, which
means a 13% increase.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT AMENDS LAW ON INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

news.am
Feb 25 2010
Armenia

By 70 to four, the RA Parliament has adopted amendments to the RA
Law on International Agreements in their second reading.

The new law provides for the termination and suspension of signing
and ratification of international agreements in Armenia at any
stage before the process is completed. The Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) (ARFD) did not take part in the voting
as the amendments proposed by it were not incorporated in the draft.

The ARF proposed that the RA Parliament be entitled to terminate
or suspend the procedure of adopting international agreements. The
ARF also proposed an amendment on introducing reservations into
international agreements.

The ARF also drafted another relevant bill and submitted it to
the Government. Speaking in Parliament, RA Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian stated that the ARF-submitted proposals were not considered
as the Government is now considering the ARF-submitted bill. According
to the Minister, the bill is a most complicated document, and the
Government is not in a hurry to give its opinion. As regards the
ARF’s proposal for introduction of reservations into international
agreements, Nalbandian stressed that reservations are normally
introduced into multilateral, rather than bilateral, agreements.

The Heritage parliamentary faction voted against the bill as
well. "We do not, as a rule, vote for incomplete documents," said
Stepan Safaryan, Press Secretary of the Heritage faction.

Experts account for the hasty adoption of the law by the RA Parliament
by RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent statement that Armenia was to
introduce relevant amendments into the order of signing, ratifying
or invalidating international agreements in case Armenia decides to
withdraw from the Armenian-Turkish dialogue.

AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTER: "NOW THE MATTER DEPENDS ON THE WAR"

APA
Feb 25 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. Defense Minister of Azerbaijan Colonel-General Safar
Abiyev received the French ambassador to Azerbaijan Gabriel Keller.

The current situation of the defense cooperation between the countries
were discussed at the meeting, press service of the Defense Ministry
of Azerbaijan told APA. Safar Abiyev expressed his ideas about the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict and said that diplomats couldn’t achieve
concrete result on this problem in 15 years. Azerbaijan can’t wait
for 15 years more. Now the matter depends on the war and this threat
is approaching. If Armenian invasion forces are not withdrawn from
Karabakh, large-scale war will be unavoidable in the South Caucasus.

The French ambassador introduced newly-appointed defense attaché of
his country to Azerbaijan.

AMERICAN ANALYST: "TURKEY’S CURRENT ROLE IN THE REGION IS GROWING, BUT THIS IS NOT ALWAYS HELPFUL FOR GEORGIA AND AZERBAIJAN"

APA
Feb 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Washingotn. Isabel Levine – APA. "Turkey’s current role in the region
is growing, and the country is successful in that process, but this
is not always helpful for Georgia and Azerbaijan. Turkey is no longer
willing to act as a security deterrent against Russia in the region,
and that changes a picture", – Mamuka Tsereteli, senior analyst of
American University told APA’s Washington correspondent. According
to him, there are three major trends in the region right now, one
of them is the reduced strategic ties between regional actors. "We
can see reduced collaboration between Azerbaijan and Georgia on some
issues that used to be better. Second trend is the new dimension of
the US policy towards Russia, and that influenced the Caucasus as
reduce of US interest in the region. And the third trend – is the
tremendous pressure from Russia" – he said.

Analyst also mentioned that, "there hasn’t been any real big progress
on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in terms of negotiation between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, and there was a lot of Russia’s pressure, we could see
Russian military within a few km from our capital Tbilisi, and all
of those issues influence the regional cooperation".

Another thing to concentrate on is the process of the integration of
Caucasus into the NATO.

"Taking into consideration the recent events and especially the war
in Georgia I think this process is being postponed and needs to be
continued" – Mr. Tsereteli added.

NORTH-SOUTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT BOARD DISCUSSES PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 22, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. A sitting of the Management Board of
the North-South Road Corridor Investment Program took place on February
22. The sitting was conducted by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

The press service of the Armenian government reports that the
participants discussed a number of issues related to the North-South
program’s implementation, in particular the establishment of the
program implementation organization (PIO) and ensuring transparency
of the Board’s activities.

ARAM SAFARIAN UNANIMOUSLY ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF NA STANDING COMMITTEE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 23, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Aram Safarian, a member of
the NA Standing Committee of Human Rights and Public Affairs, the
Secretary of the Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia) NA faction,
was unanimously elected Chairman of the Committee on February 23
through a secret ballot.

According to the information published by Chairman of the NA Ad-hoc
Calculation Committee, RPA member Gagik Melikian, 84 of 131 deputies
took part in the voting. 82 deputies voted for the only candidate. 2
ballot-papers were invalidated.

A. Safarian was born on October 3 1962 in Yerevan. In 1984 he graduated
from the History Department of Yerevan State University, in 1987
post-graduate department of the same faculty. He is a candidate of
philological sciences (journalism). In 1994 he received the diplomatic
title of an advisor. On May 12 2007 he was elected NA deputy by the
proportional system, from the Bargavach Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia)
party. He is a member of the BH Political Board.

He is married, has two children.

Opposition activists and police clash in Yerevan

19/clash
07:47 pm | February 19, 2010 | Politics

Youth wing of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) launched a rally in
Yerevan today. A few hundred participants of the protest action
complained of the rigged presidential election of 2008. At the
intersection of Abobyan and Sayat-Nova streets the protesters made an
attempt to break through a police cordon.

As the pavements of Abovyan street are narrow the protesters marched
along the street which aroused policemen’s indignation. Chaining the
street and forming a barrier they demanded that the marchers walk
along the pavements. To avoid a clash with policemen the marchers sat
on the ground, stretched out their hands and began signing and
shouting out "Freedom." Just at that moment policemen and red hats
forced them off the street truncheoning and beating.

HAK activist Sargis Khachatryan soon fell sick and was taken to
hospital. Another protest participant, Vahagn Gevorgyan, was driven in
an unknown direction by policemen and released in 10 minutes. Further
on, near the HAK office, the police arrested another 5 activists.

Protesters’ inquiries about the arrested activists were met with silence.

Ambassador: Iran will support any initiative contributing to peace and
stability

19.02.2010 12:36

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Iran will support any initiative that will
contribute to the establishment of peace and stability in the region,
Seid Ali Saghaian, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia, told a press
conference today, speaking about the ongoing process aimed at
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

He noted that Iran stands for the opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border and his country is ready to contribute to the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict.

Speaking about the relations between Iran and the West, he said: `One
should always be ready for any possible developments. I don’t think,
however, that the United States will launch any actions against Iran,
taking into consideration its presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and the
economic problems inside the country.’

NEW SOFTWARE TO STRENGTHEN ARMENIA-DIASPORA TIES
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
19.02.2010 16:15

The issues of maintenance of the Armenian national identity and the
Armenia-Diaspora cooperation have an important place in the Armenian
President’s election platform. Today the Ministry of Diaspora has
presented to the President of the Republic a new project, which
aims to ease the contacts between the Armenia and Diaspora. With the
support of the Ministry of Diaspora a group of specialists has worked
out software that allows immediately translating from Easterner to
Western Armenian and vising versa.

Besides, the program provides an opportunity to translate English
texts into Armenian and vise versa. Specialists are assured it will
help thousands of Diaspora Armenians, who are interested in learning
about Armenia and the events taking place in the Motherland, but have
problems with reading.

The authors of the computer program were hosted by President Serzh
Sargsyan today. Emphasizing the importance of the work in strengthening
the Armenian-Diaspora ties, the President promised his support to
the scientific group in their further activity.