Author: Karakhanian Suren

SERZH SARGSYAN MET KUWAIT’S ARMENIAN COMMUNITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2009 20:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within state visit frameworks, Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan met Kuwait’s Armenian Community representatives. RA
President briefed Kuwait Armenians on Armenia-Turkey rapprochement
process and NKR conflict settlement issue, agreements reached,
emphasizing the importance of Armenian identity preservation and
the unity between Armenia and Diaspora, presidential press service
reported.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN OFF TO KUWAIT

armradio.am
03.11.2009 11:45

President Serzh Sargsyan is leaving for the State of Kuwait for a
two-day state visit. This is the first visit of the Armenian President
to Kuwait ever since independence.

At the International Airport of Kuwait President Serzh Sargsyan will
be met by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, Crown Prince Sheikh
Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, other senior officials.

On the first day of the visit President Sargsyan will have meetings
with the Speaker of the Parliament of Kuwait, Jassem Mohammad
Al-Kharafi and Prime Minister Al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the
Director of the Economy Development Fund, Abdulvahab Ahmad Al-Bader.

Later the President of Armenia and the Emir of Kuwait will have a
meeting followed by the signing of a number of cooperation agreements.

Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah will give an official dinner in
honor of the Armenian President.

On the second day of the visit Serzh Sargsyan will meet the Chairman
of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kuwait, Ali Mohammad
Thunyan Al-Ghanim.

UNESCO DANCING TO BAKU’S PIPE?

ArmInfo
2009-11-03 16:20:00

ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani foreign ministry is once again delivered of
its sonnet in response to ArmInfo publication with reference to the
Armenian foreign ministry that UNESCO does not send international
experts for investigation of the facts of destruction of Armenian
cultural heritage monuments in Azerbaijan’s territory because of
Baku’s objection. The official representative of the Azerbaijani
foreign ministry, Elhan Polukhov, states that "the Azerbaijani party
has received no statement from UNESCO concerning a visit to inspect
the historical monuments in the territory of Azerbaijan".

For his part, Representative of the UNESCO Information and Public
Relations Department Roni Amelan told ArmInfo correspondent that the
Azeri foreign ministry’s statements should be clarified by the Azeri
foreign ministry itself. Amelan said that he can’t comment on what is
said in Azerbaijan. UNESCO has no news on the issue of sending UNESCO
mission. This topic is being discussed in a closed regime and UNESCO
will publish the news in case of any changes in the issue, he said.

Earlier Amelan reported that the UNESCO director-general was still
waiting, as he had done for the past two years, for Armenia and
Azerbaijan to agree on the terms of reference and itinerary of
the visit of a delegation of UNESCO international experts for
investigation of the facts of destruction of cultural heritage
monuments in Nakhijevan.

Obvious signs of Baku’s amnesia regarding the procedure of UNESCO
actions are quite selective if one takes into account the regular
shuffling of versions on the issue of establishing the historical
identity of Azeri people. The claims for archaism of the their own
ethnos, which sometimes sound like nonsense, naturally do not imply
"maintenance" of memory about historical and cultural heritage of
Armenians.

All fine and dandy, but Baku started getting impudent and throwing
the switch to UNESCO. Eventually, the official representative of the
Azerbaijani foreign ministry does not realize that this does not meet
Baku’s interests as all the same UNESCO does its best to stifle and
forget everything connected with this problem. In this context, Roni
Amelan’s correspondence with his colleagues is noteworthy. Amelan’s
letter was forwarded to ArmInfo correspondent by mistake. "A dreadful
Armenian journalist who keeps cropping up despite our very discouraging
responses has written to enquire, for the 10,000th time in a couple
of years, about a UNESCO mission to Armenia and Azerbaijan",- the
letter says.

Remaining loyal to the proverb "He laughs best who laughs last", we
want to point out that we perfectly realize that we are unethical to
publish other people’s correspondence, nevertheless, our historical
memory doesn’t glitch, and we are sad for the obvious politically
motivated deal and the specific role of UNESCO which turned out
to be incompetent in practical protection of the cultural heritage
of Armenians.

RA MFA: COMMENTS ON PRECONDITION IN THE PROTOCOLS OF MINOR CHARACTER

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2009 12:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Protocols of normalization of the bilateral
relations signed between Yerevan and Ankara is the main statement
on normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, all other comments
or statements about preconditions are secondary, Armenia’s foreign
minister Edward Nalbandian told a joint press conference in Yerevan
attended by the foreign minister of Belarus Sergei Martynov.

Armenia and Turkey signed the Protocols without preconditions, and
not only official Yerevan argues that, Edward Nalbandian said.

"The United States, Russia and the EU stated that the Protocols are
not linked and can not be linked to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement," the minister said.

According to him, the absence of such a relationship was confirmed
by the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group.

"The whole international community adheres to such position," minister
emphasized. Speaking about the timing of ratification of the Protocols,
Edward Nalbandian mentioned that Armenia and Turkey pledged to ratify
the Protocols as soon as possible.

OBAMA AND ERDOGAN TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

Aysor
Oct 30 2009
Armenia

U.S. President Barack Obama will host Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan at a White House meeting on December 7, the White
House announced Thursday.

Obama and Erdogan will discuss implementing a "shared strategy" for
Afghanistan and Pakistan, increasing economic and security cooperation
with Iraq, Middle East peace efforts, normalizing relations with
Armenia, relations with Cyprus and other issues, said in a White
House news release.

TALKS ON ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT HELD UPON MAJOR PRINCIPLES: AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER

Trend
Oct 29 2009
Azerbaijan

The talks to solve Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict have been held still
on the basis of major principles, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar
Mammadyarov told media on October 29.

The meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers with
participation of Georgian foreign minister and EU representatives was
held during the breakfast in Luxembourg on October 26. There was not a
bilateral meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers,
minister said.

Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers discussed conditions to
prepare new proposals by co-chairmen during the meeting with mediators,
Mammadyarov said.

Russian, French and U.S co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk Group will arrive
in the region to continue the negotiating process in early November,
minister said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

ARMEN GEVORGIAN: WITH RESPECT TO ITS RELATIONS WITH TURKEY, NO ONE CAN FORCE ARMENIA TO DO ANYTHING

Noyan Tapan
Oct 16, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Deputy Prime Minister of RA Armen
Gevorgian is hopeful that the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish
relations will finish sucessfully, with Armenia benefiting in both
the political and economic sense. He said this during an interview
with Shant television company.

He takes the view that Armenia is ready for opening the border, it
is just necessary to carry out daily work in order to successfully
complete the process. According to A. Gevorgian, the government
has long discussed and examined the possible developments, first
of all economic ones, as well as mutual effects in case of opening
the Armenian-Turkish border. If the process succeeds, there is also
a great deal to be done in terms of establishing customs and road
infrastructures and filling up the current gaps, most of all in the
legislative field. In the opinion of A. Gevorgian, the border opening
will have both positive and negative effects. Under conditions of
direct trade turnover with Turkey, Armenia should be prepared to do
its utmost within the framework of its international obligations so
that the Armenian economy could get the maximum benefits.

The deputy prime minister said that in accordance with the laws and
international trade rules, the Armenian authorities will do their best
so that the Armenian manufacturers will not suffer. In his words, a
new, 70 million-consumer market will open before the manufacturers. He
added that all Armenian importers will also benefit from the border’s
opening – thanks to the diversification of transport routes. He pointed
out Armenia’s energy sector, production of building materials and
food industry as branches with serious potential to export goods to
Turkey. A sugar plant will be put into operation in the coming months,
and Armenia will become a sugar producing country. A.

Gevorgian did not share the opinion that Turkey is an open economy,
while Armenia has an economy with monopolies. According to him,
Armenia is a member of the World Trade Organizations and follows the
same rules as Turkey.

Discussing the problem’s political aspect, Armen Gevorgian expressed
conviction that with respect to its relations with Turkey, no one
can force Armenia to do anything. "Others can help, assist it, mostly
morally, but not compel it; I think Armenia should also dictate in this
game," he noted. As regards the fears that Turkey may interfere in the
Karabakh process, he said: "I don’t think that irrelevent pressure will
be put on the Armenian side concerning the Karabakh problem, because
everybody involved in the process realizes that pressure is not the
right method for achieving a peaceful solution to this problem".

SERZH SARGSYAN VISITS YERABLUR TO PAY TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO MEMORY OF 1999 OCTOBER 27 VICTIMS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 27, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. On October 27, RA President Serzh
Sargsyan accompanied by the RA power representatives visited Yerablur
to pay the tribute of his respect to the memory of the 1999 October
27 victims. According to RA President’s Press Office, after the visit
to Yerablur S. Sargsyan was present at the unveiling of the memorial
for the perished state and political figures in the RA National
Assembly park.

OCTOBER 27 TRIBUTE AT YERABLUR

Tert
Oct 27 2009
Armenia

High-ranking Armenian government officials made a tribute to the
victims of the crime of October 27, 1999, by visiting Yerablur
morning. Yerablur is a well-known Armenian cemetery located just
outside of Yerevan; many famous Armenian heroes and soldiers are
buried here.

Republic of Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan, National Assembly Spokesperson Hovik Abrahamyan, Security
Council Secretary Artur Baghdasaryan, President of Constitutional Court
Gagik Harutyunyan, Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan, ministers,
deputy ministers and other state officials visited Yerablur and placed
flowers on Vazgen Sargsyan’s grave and the large memorial stone.

Afterwards, the president and the state officials accompanying him
left for the National Assembly to participate in the opening ceremony
of the memorial to victims of the October 27 events.

RA AMBASSADOR MET LEBANESE PREMIER

News.am
Oct 27 2009
Armenia

October 26, 2009 RA newly appointed Ambassador to Lebanon Ashot
Kocharyan met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The parties made a point of Armenian-Lebanese friendly relations’
upgrading to a new level, RA Foreign Ministry Press Service informed
NEWS.am. The enhancement and development of bilateral trade and
economic relations, mutual visits of high ranking delegations, as well
as necessity to resume intergovernmental commission’s sessions were
discussed at the meeting. The parties emphasized that the potential
in legal and other fields will enable further mutually beneficial
cooperation.

Fouad Siniora and Ashot Kocharyan also touched upon the recent
developments of Armenia-Turkey reconciliation.