Author: Khoyetsian Rose

Hayas Naval Research Club – 25 years old!

2010-03-26 13:37:00

ArmInfo. Hayas Naval Research Club has become 25 years old.

It was founded in 1985 by a group of enthusiasts and united the people
of different professions. One of the most important projects of the
club was construction of the copy of the Armenian Kilikia sailing ship
of the 13th century. It was restored with a help of medieval
manuscripts. In 2004-2006 Armenian sailsmen made an expedition at
Kilikia sailing ship to the medieval trade routes around Europe. Over
the three years the ship ran more than 15 000 miles, visited 63 ports
in 25 countries of Europe and Asia.

To note, since 1994 Hayas Club has become a member of International
Maritime Research Society, International Commission on Maritime
History and Georgraphical Society of Armenia.

P.S. Details on the first sailing and the crew is available at

ARMENIANS IN TURKEY ‘GUESTS NOT ILLEGALS’

news.az, Azerbaijan
March 25 2010

Kaan Soyak, co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development
Council, outlines the current state of rapprochement between the
two countries.

On discussions about Armenian citizens working illegally in Turkey,
Kaan Soyak, said that it would be fairer and more constructive to
use the term ‘guest Armenians’, rather than ‘illegal Armenians’. In a
statement to an Anatolia news agency correspondent, Soyak said, ‘The
addresses of the Armenian citizens that have come to our country are
known. They are not hiding. They are here working as guests and trying
to contribute to their families in Armenia.’ Soyak said, ‘They are our
guests. Though we realized that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan meant in his remarks in London that Turkey shows good will and
hospitality to the Armenian guest workers in Turkey, his speech was
unfortunately not understood in this way at the international level.

Our phones have been ringing constantly since this statement was made.

We are trying to clear up this misunderstanding.’

‘The approval of the genocide resolutions by the US House Foreign
Affairs Committee and the Swedish parliament has aggravated the
normalization process between Turkey and Armenia, which is struggling
on thanks to the devotion and efforts of diplomats and politicians of
both countries,’ Soyak said. ‘It is no secret that for both American
and European politicians the concerns of their electorate take
precedence over Turkey. Turkey must solve its own problems without
giving others scope to comment about it.’

The co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council
said that it was essential that politicians in both countries were
encouraged to make diplomatic statements with support from officials so
that Turkish-Armenian relations might continue their fragile progress.

Nagorno-Karabakh and Turkish-Armenian rapprochement

Soyak commented that March and April were important times for genocide
resolutions and particularly for Turkish-American relations. ‘Why does
Turkey face these genocide resolutions?,’ Soyak asked. ‘Because Turkey
has not been able to get its parliament to approve the protocols,’
he said. ‘The government is confronted with the great block of
opposition parties on this matter. The genocide resolution would not
have been brought before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee and
Turkey would not have worried about what American President Barack
Obama would say on 24 April if the protocols had been approved by
the Assembly.’ Soyak said that another reason that Turkey had not
had the protocols approved in the Grand National Assembly was that
it supported Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh.

‘Those who work closely in the region are aware that the Caucasus is
Russia’s backyard and Russia is not ready to make complete peace in
the region. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are waiting for a Russian
decision to make peace in the Caucasus. This waiting period has
nothing to do with Turkey. It is not certain when it will be decided.

The Turkish opposition parties do not know this fact and the Turkish
people are misguided.’

Lobbying in the USA

Commenting on the work done in the USA, Soyak said that Turkey,
through its embassy, was putting every effort into contact with the
US Administration and the House of Representatives. Soyak said that
Azerbaijan should not leave Turkey alone during this highly important
period. ‘Azerbaijan should take action,’ Soyak said. ‘Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev should call Barack Obama to ask him to block
the resolution, members of the Azerbaijani parliament should lobby
in DC together with Turkish diplomats and urge the representatives of
American oil companies in Azerbaijan to lobby against the resolution.’

"LA CUCINA D’ARMENIA" A CONEGLIANO

Associazione Campeggio Club – Via San Giovanni Bosco – Conegliano
(Treviso)

SABATO 27 MARZO – A partire dalle ore 15:30

L’Associazione Campeggio Club di Conegliano (TV) organizza una giornata
di cultura enogastronomica nel corso della quale verra presentato il
libro di Sonya Orfalian "La cucina d’Armenia – Viaggio nella cultura
culinaria di un popolo" (Ponte alle Grazie Editore) alla presenza
dell’autrice.

SARGSYAN CRITICIZES AZERBAIJAN FOR REFUSING TO SIGN AGREEMENT ON NON-USE OF FORCE

Interfax
March 23 2010
Russia

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan believes Azerbaijan’s refusal to sign
an agreement on the non-use of force in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
territory may lead to negative consequences.

"I am looking for decisions that will enable the people of Nagorno-
Karabakh to develop safely on their historical territory. However,
warlike statements are being made in our region and there is an
increase in enmity and mutual mistrust," Sargsyan said at a joint press
conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Damascus,
Armenia Public Broadcasting reported on Tuesday.

"For that reason, I have recently publicly offered to Azerbaijan to
sign an agreement on the non-use of force or threat of force, which
will help establish stability and form an atmosphere of trust to a
certain degree.

By declining our offer, Azerbaijan is ignoring this important principle
of international law," Sargsyan said.

"It cannot lead to anything good. There was a similar situation in
the early 1990s, when we said the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should be
resolved peacefully. Azerbaijan chose the path of aggression and
today we have what we have," Sargsyan said.

In an earlier interview with Euronews television, Sargsyan called
on Azerbaijan to sign an agreement on the non-use of force, which he
said could help strengthen trust between the two countries.

However, an Azeri Foreign Ministry official said Armenia needed to
first "withdraw its troops from the occupied territories."

ARMENIAN STATE OFFICIALS SPENDING WORK TIME IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: SAGHATELYAN

Tert.am
14:49 ~U 23.03.10

Armenian state officials log into their free online email accounts and
into different chatrooms while at work, said RA Presidential Staff
Public Relations and Information Department Chair and IT specialist
Ara Saghatelyan at a press conference today. According to him, these
actions puts the security of internal data at risk.

We have an issue of a lack of "information hygiene," said Saghatelyan.

"How to explain to officials not to log into Odnoklassniki [a sort
of Russian-language Facebook] from state computers?"

The state employee also added that it’s not possible to shut down
in a year that which has been open for many years. On this matter,
he said, we will organize corresponding lectures in the second half
of this year.

MODERN TURKEY FOSTERS OTTOMAN VALUES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.03.2010 13:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Speaking of illegal Armenian migrants, Turkish Prime
Minister seems to have forgotten millions of his compatriots illegally
working throughout the globe, a senior Armenian diplomat said.

"It’s regretful that on the threshold of the 95th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, Turkish authorities foster not European but Ottoman
values," Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian said when commenting
on Mr. Erdogan’s recent threat to exile Armenian migrants from Turkey.

KARABAKH’S REASONABLE TIME

Lragir.am
19/03/10

The propaganda topic over the Karabakh issue settlement started
containing some remarkable nuance. Theses on the change of the format
of negotiations showed up in the foreground, and statements about
Karabakh’s participation in the talks activated at the level of
co-chairs.

Apparently, the mediators are thinking about how to invite the
Karabakh to the negotiation table. It is possible because of two main
reasons. Or very soon, Armenia and Azerbaijan will be close to an
agreement on the basic principles of Karabakh issue or Karabakh will
be invited to sign it to start discussing the details, or just they
need some new technique to continue negotiations.

The point is that Armenia-Azerbaijan format is at an impasse and has
already exhausted itself. This may be a fault of the mediators
themselves who incorrectly calculated the resources of their optimism.
The result is that optimism ran ahead of the effectiveness of
negotiations and some casus appeared, the way out of which could be
the change the format.

It is clear that the co-chairs will not touch themselves, that is the
composition of the Minsk Group will not change, especially in
conditions of economic crisis, when any job is valuable. That is why
they are thinking about changing the format of the parties. Clearly,
there is no other more comfortable candidate than Karabakh to be
brought to negotiations. In connection with this issue, there may be
problems with Azerbaijan, but they can be overcome proceeding from the
current complicated situation.

The fact is that if the negotiations reach an impasse, nothing else
will be left to Azerbaijan but to start a war. But why Aliyev needs a
war, even if the external forces allow him proceeding from sense of
guilt. It is much more convenient for Aliyev to participate in the
negotiations and from time to time to voice belligerent statements. It
does not require any extra nerves or expenses.

Perhaps the co-chairs somehow procure the involvement of the so-called
`Azerbaijani community of Karabakh’, especially that during his visit
to Baku, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Sauadabaev met with
representatives of the `community’. So, Aliyev may well agree to the
participation in negotiations of Karabakh as a party or on its
`approach’ to the table. He can tell his society that today Karabakh
became a negotiating party, and tomorrow will come the turn of `the
Azeri community’. The passions will come down, and in this format,
negotiations can continue for another few years. If, of course, in the
new format, the co-chairs do not scatter the optimism right and left.

No accident, NKR President Bako Sahakyan visited NKR Foreign Ministry
and gave them a task in whatever was to ensure the participation of
Karabakh in the negotiations. Apparently, Bako Sahakyan got hints that
the co-chairs are not averse to an agreement on the basic principles,
or they are going to prolong the talks for several more years in the
new format. Perhaps that is why he decided to take a step, which in
any case is winning. If the co-chairs are really interested in the
participation of Karabakh, Bako Sahakyan may say tomorrow that it is
his merit: he strongly demanded that Karabakh was immediately returned
to the negotiating table. Well, if the intention of the co-chairs does
not become reality, Bako Sahakyan will not appear in danger for it,
because, unlike the Armenian-Turkish relations, Bako Sahakyan did not
define any `reasonable time’.

JAMES HAKOBYAN

RA STATE REVENUE COMMITTEE URGES BUSINESS ENTITIES TO AVOID FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.03.2010 11:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian law on foreign currency management
and control stipulates for payment of salaries and conduction of any
other transaction in the national currency only. For the first time,
the violator of the law is fined with AMD 2 million; AMD 4 million
fine is imposed in case of a repeated violation.

The State Revenue Committee urges business entities to respect the
national currency and avoid foreign currency transactions.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from the Committee’s PR
office, numerous violations have been fixed recently. "The committee
is consistent in revealing the violations. The statistical data will
be provided in the near future," it said.

BAKU RESPONDS TO ARMENIAN MINISTER

news.az
March 17 2010
Azerbaijan

Edward Nalbandian Baku considers that the statement by the Armenian
FM in France about the inclusion of the separatist regime to the
negotiation process is not serious.

According to spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Elkhan Polukhov,
the discussions with the leadership of separatist Nagorno Karabakh
contradicts to the format of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"According to the regulation of the OSCE Minsk group, the negotiations
involve only Armenia and Azerbaijan as parties. The Armenian
and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno Karabakh have a status of
concerned parties in the process of negotiations. If this format on the
conflict settlement is considered acceptable by the world community,
the Armenian party must reconcile with it", Polukhov said.

Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian visiting France touched upon the issue of
participation of separatist Nagorno Karabakh during the meeting with
the Minsk Group co-chairs. Nalbandian said the conflict settlement
is impossible without separatists.

MOSCOW MAY USE ‘SOUTH-OSSETIAN SCENARIO’, SAYS MURADIAN

Aysor
March 17 2010
Armenia

"In case of resumption of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the best
scenario to Russia is ‘Rushing Russia’s Rescue Rangers’," said analyst
and political scientist Igor Muradian.

He said doesn’t exclude that Moscow wishes for realization of the
South-Ossetian scenario in process of settlement to the conflict; in
particular, as if Russian troops would have come to Nagorno-Karabakh
‘to rescue Armenians.’

"This scenario hasn’t even been kept secret," Muradian said pointing
that the Russian administration in everyway tries to undercut role
of Armenia’s Army.

"Some actually not-real and not-existing statistics are often provided
with citing ‘from some non-official resources’. While the reality has
nothing common with those ‘statistics’ for more than dozens years,"
stressed Muradian.

"Azerbaijan is not in a superior or advantageous position. There is,
perhaps, some slight advantage in the Air Forces."

According to expert, Russia is seriously concerning about
Armenia-Turkey reconciliation as Armenia may become one of the U.S.

allies.

"We do not pay an attention to Russia’s concerns. In fact, Russia
considers the situation right. Actually, the U.S. government
moves us to a certain zone, which is believed may become a zone of
holding Turkey in check," said Igor Muradian and added that thinks
Russia-Turkey alliance will hardly be formed in case of alienation
in Turkey-U.S. relations.