Author: Karakhanian Suren

Division of Public Health
University of Utah
Contact: Hripsime Zatikyan Wright, MD, MPH
[email protected]
1605 Franke Cir.
Salt Lake City, Utah 84104
Tel: 801-808-0414

The Armenia Public Health Study Abroad Program at the University of
Utah is an essential component of University’s Global Health
Initiative.

The Study Abroad program is part of much larger public health
collaboration between the Ministry of Health in Armenia, the American
University of Armenia and the University of Utah. However, this
program is key for successful partnership with Armenia, because, along
with addressing pressing health issues in Armenia it creates awareness
about Armenia in our academic and professional spheres, creating
interest and drawing more intellectual assets to aid Armenia.

This program is truly one of its kind. It uses community-based
participatory research model as a foundation of projects, and engages
in community partnerships that focus on collaboration and sustainable
outcomes. In other words, instead of only handing out humanitarian
aid, our goal is to produce positive, measurable improvements among
populations experiencing health inequalities by training, educating
and mentoring local professionals while we address pressing health
issues in Armenia.

Hripsime Zatikyan Wright, a faculty member at the University of Utah
and BYU established the Armenia Public Health Study Abroad Program. As
a survivor of Armenia earthquake she has firsthand experience in
catastrophic public health situations, and has aimed her professional
experience and this program to improving the quality of life and
reducing preventable sickness and death in Armenia.

For the program to have a lasting impact it needs your help and
support. The project faces cancellation due to insufficient
enrollment. All contributions are tax deductible and should be made to
the Division of Public Health at The University of Utah. The Armenia
Study Abroad program is a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting and
sustainable difference in many lives in Armenia and promoting Armenian
Studies and potentially a center at the University of Utah. Please
join us in supporting this valuable resource for promoting health in
Armenia.

Attached please find a brochure for the program and the URL for
the website.

https: //utah-horizons.symplicity.com/index.php?mode=3Dfo rm&id=3D23a731fc3392df6a3441d253df198245&s =3Dprograms

TURKISH PARLIAMENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: ARMENIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT’S RECENT DECISION CREATED UNCERTAINTY WITH RESPECT TO THE PROTOCOLS

ArmInfo
2010-02-23 11:26:00

ArmInfo. Turkish Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman Murat
Mercan told Today’s Zaman that the Armenian constitutional court’s
recent decision created uncertainty with respect to the protocols
and the only way to overcome this uncertainty would be to produce an
international diplomatic solution.

"When we look at the Armenian constitutional court’s ruling, we see
that there are clear provisions in the text stating how the protocols
can and cannot be interpreted. After all, it is an agreement between
two countries. It is not an international agreement. Only those
countries that are party to an agreement are bound by that agreement,"
Mercan said.

"We should also analyze the Armenian constitutional court’s decision
from the perspective of international law. International legal experts
need to assess the issue. While there are some lawyers and some
circles who say the court’s decision does not constitute the basis of
the protocols, others have different opinions. In this respect, there
is uncertainty over the issue. At best there is uncertainty. In this
kind of a situation, the conditions for implementing an international
bilateral agreement are not completely clear. Take, for example, the
issue of opening borders. The court’s decision clearly states that
"opening the borders does not mean recognition of the Treaty of Kars","
he said.

Asked if that uncertainty will affect Turkish Parliament’s ratification
of the protocols, Mercan said: "I think it is very difficult for Turkey
to ratify the protocols under these conditions because there is some
level of uncertainty. There is no clarity about how the protocols
will be interpreted. Without this clarity, we should not expect the
Turkish Parliament to ratify the protocols."

AZERBAIJANI PARTY ADVOCATES WAR TO LIBERATE KARABAKH
Tamilla Sencaply

news.az
Feb 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Gudrat Hasanguliyev The United Popular Front of Azerbaijan held a
session on Monday.

The session discussed the sociopolitical situation in the country and
the world, News.Az reports with reference to the party news service.

According to a statement from the party, unless the international
community, including the OSCE and other international organizations put
pressure on Armenia to fulfil the four UN General Assembly resolutions,
no progress should be expected. The negotiations on Karabakh serve
only to prolong its separation from Azerbaijan.

The party calls for work to create a professional army and start
military action to liberate Azerbaijan’s occupied land.

The United Popular Front of Azerbaijan Party is chaired by MP Gudrat
Hasanguliyev. He contested the presidential elections in 2003 and 2008.

Hasanguliyev was once a member of the opposition Popular Front of
Azerbaijan Party, led by Ali Karimli. In 2003 he broke away from
the party and set up his own version of the Popular Front. His
erstwhile party colleagues say Hasanguliyev and his party are not
genuine opposition.

RA TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER MET THE RF AMBASSADOR

Aysor
Feb 17 2010
Armenia

Today the RA Minister of Transport and Communications Gurgen Sargsyan
received the Russian ambassador to Armenia Vyacheslav Kovalenko.

The Ambassador welcomed the newly appointed ambassador and informed
that there have been formed cooperative relations and that they
collaborate for implementation of some joint projects.

The ambassador V. Kovalenko attached importance to the cooperation
of the two countries and thought it is important to enlarge the
framework of the general interests stressing the development of the
small business. V. Kovalenko got interested also in the development
of the Armenian philately.

During the meeting were discussed also issues concerning the
activities of the Bleak Sea economic cooperation organization,
informs the speaker of the RA Minister of Transport and Communications.

MP: AMENDMENTS TO TAX LAWS SPECIFYING LOCAL AUTHORITIES’ POWERS

ARKA
Feb 18, 2010

YEREVAN, February 18. /ARKA/. The government-proposed amendments
to tax laws don’t widen local governing institutions’ powers, but
only specify them, Vardan Ayvazyan, chairman of Armenian National
Assembly’s economic committee, said on Wednesday.

"Even if the proposed bill is passed without changes, it doesn’t
mean that local self-governing authorities will get a right to set
new taxes at their own discretion," he said.

The lawmaker said that the amendments "give local administrations
greater financial opportunities necessary for using their legal
powers".

He said that that despite local authorities enjoy legal powers,
they have no levers against unfair taxpayers.

The bill, he said, clearly specifies property and land taxes, which
constitute the main financial source for filling community budgets.

At the same time, Ayvazyan agreed with opponents who think that some
taxes, such as tax on sales, need better specification.

The amendments imply separation of national and local taxes and define
types of local taxes.

Property, land, hotel, sales taxes, as well as taxes on uncompleted
construction, uncultivated agricultural areas, misapplication of land
plots intended for construction, advertising on the communities’
property, car parking and occupation of public territories are
considered as local taxes.

The bill will brought to a vote on the next parliamentary session
scheduled for February 22.

ARMENIA TO EMBARRASS TURKEY BY RATIFYING PROTOCOLS

ArmInfo
2010-02-18 16:42:00

ArmInfo. Today Armenia has only one way to influence the obvious crisis
in the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations –
to ratify the Protocols and thereby embarrass Turkey, Director of
the Caucasus Institute, political expert Alexander Iskandaryan told
journalists, Thursday.

"The matter is that ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols by
the Turkish Parliament is getting less and less probable. If they fail
to do this within the next few months, the process may be suspended
and everything will have to be done anew. Moreover, the USA sponsors
the process and is trying to exert pressure on Turkey to develop
the process. In addition, Russia and European Union also come out
for normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, they simply have
different roles and tools",- he said. Thus, the USA influences Turkey
in strategic spheres, Europe influences, making advantage of Ankara’s
striving to become part of EU, and the Russian-Turkish cooperation
is restricted to the economic sphere.

On 12 January the Constitutional Court of Armenia acknowledged the
commitments fixed in the Armenian- Turkish Protocols as complying with
the Armenian Constitution. In its decision, the Court stated that the
commitments fixed in the Protocols are of mutual interstate nature and
cannot concern the third countries. The Court also pointed out that the
priority provision of the Protocols is opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border, and all the other commitments acquire a legal force only in
case of open borders. Afterwards, the Turkish Foreign Ministry made
a statement that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia
contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which do not comply
with the Protocols signed in Zurich on 10 Oct 2009. To come into force,
both documents should be ratified by both countries parliaments.

KAZAKHSTAN PRESIDING IN OSCE INTENDS TO STIMULATE NAGORNO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT PROCESS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE

Noyan Tapan
Feb 16, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. One of OSCE’s most important
priorities is solution of so-called protracted conflicts, thus
Kazakhstan’s State Secretary-Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev on
the post of OSCE Chairman-in-Office paid his first visit just to the
South Caucasian region. He stated it at a February 16 press conference.

He mentioned that Kazakhstan as a country presiding in OSCE intends to
stimulate the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process as far as possible.

According to K. Saudabayev, the conflict inflicts an irreparable
damage to stable, successful development of peoples involved in it
to and regional countries. "Thus we have cautious optimism concerning
the prospects of this situation," the OSCE Chairman-in-Office said.

The meeting of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office with RA Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian preceded the press conference. The latter declared
that Armenia and Kazakhstan continue to successfully develop
cooperation in the political, economic and cultural spheres. He also
mentioned that the two countries are members of the Collective Security
Treaty, therefore their approaches concerning a wide range of regional,
international issues coincide or are close.

Issues related to further development and deepening of
Armenia-Kazakhstan relations, as well as a number of regional
and international issues were discussed at the meeting held in an
atmosphere of mutual understanding. The dynamics of Nagorno Karabakh
settlement negotiations process and efforts Armenia makes in this
issue were presented to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, thoughts were also
exchanged on the normalization process of Armenia-Turkey relations.

JERMUK DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WILL BE IMPLEMENTED BY SWISS ORGANIZATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.02.2010 20:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ We collaborate with Swiss organization in charge
of Jermuk development program implementation, Bekor Papazyan, CEO of
National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) said.

"A business model was created, with propositions of improvements to
promote tourists inflow," NCFA CEO told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter at
the news conference in Yerevan.

Head of tourism department at National Competitiveness Foundation
of Armenia, Hasmik Antonyan, in turn, said: "Jermuk holiday town
will be developed based on Swiss Valais Region development pattern,
which envisages transformation of a winter holiday town into a year
round spa."

63% POTENTIAL MIGRANTS IN ARMENIA WOULD CHOOSE RUSSIA

ArmInfo
2010-02-16 12:58:00

ArmInfo. The total of 63% out of 155 potential migrants in Armenia
would like to leave for Russia, the data of public opinion poll held
by the Armenian office of the Czech organization People in Need are
evidence of it.

Armenian citizens which want to leave the country took part in the
public opinion poll held in June-December 2009 in Yerevan, Gyumri,
Vanadzor and Charentsavan. The total of 83 men and 72 women took
part in the poll, 49% of which are married. 80% of respondents were
under 40-years old. Among the reasons of their desire to leave the
country was impossibility to find job according to their profession
(27%) and low salary (58%). 60% of respondents say it is impossible
to find any job, 29% want to have their own business (but they cannot
do it in Armenia), 5% – to join their family, 14% – to protect human
rights, 7% – to get education and 1% – to leave for treatment.As for
the country which they prefer, 63% of respondents want to leave for
Russian Federation, 30% – for European countries. 41% say they prefer
this or that country because they have friends or relatives their,
42% hope to find job, 4% want to be legally protected.

55% of respondent said they are well aware of the migration legislation
of the country where they want to leave for. Television and radio are
the main sources of information for 70% of respondents, newspapers,
magazines and books – for 44% , friends and relatives – for 61%,
Internet – for 23%, NGO-s – for 21% and state structures – for only
1,3% of respondents. As for the education of respondents, 45% of them
have higher education, 20% – vocational secondary education and 35% –
secondary education. The total of 97% of them know Armenian language,
93% – Russian and 54% – English.

As for the material security of respondents, 45% of them said that
their earning is hardly enough for food and clothes, 40% – for food,
clothes and services, 13% – for food, clothes, services and household
equipment. ‘Only two respondents said he can buy expensive household
equipment and one – he can buy everything he needs’, – the initiator
of the poll, Gaspar Avakyan, said and added that the majority of
migrants would prefer to stay in their native land if their social
needs are satisfied.

SWEDISH PARLIAMENT TO CONSIDER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

news.am
Feb 12 2010
Armenia

Armenian Genocide Resolution will be included in the Swedish Parliament
agenda within a month, Milliyet reads.

According to the source, the news was a wakener to Turkish
parliamentary delegation being in Stockholm. Three months ago, ruling
Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) made a decision on condemnation
of Armenian Genocide.

Turkish delegation head to PACE Murad Merjan, all these conjunctures
are nonrandom, "By this the West attempts to exert pressure on us."