Author: Mamian George

Gas: the most available energy resource in Armenia?
The situation is controversial: despite obvious dissatisfaction with
raise in gas tariffs, number of gas consumers in Armenia keeps
growing.

Concurrently to an increase in gas tariffs on April 1, 2010, prices at
gas stations also went up, reaching AMD 200 per 1 kg instead of the
previously established AMD 180. As a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent was
told at the transport department of Yerevan Mayor’s Office and at the
RA Ministry of Transport and Communication, transport workers have not
requested price increase so far.

April 10, 2010 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Gas prices in Armenia went up from AMD 96 to 132 per cu m. Enterprises
consuming over 10 000 cubic meters monthly pay $243.13 per 1000 cu m.
The Public Services Regulatory Commission explained the 37% rise in
prices for population and 13% for enterprises by a 17% up for Russian
gas, AMD/USD reference exchange rate, 20% reduction in natural gas
consumption and necessity to compensate ArmRosgazprom’s investments.

Despite the rise in prices, gas remains the most available energy
resource in Armenia, a spokesperson for ArmRosgazprom, Shushan
Sardaryan said.

`The company repeatedly expressed concerns over the socio-economic
situation caused by the rise in prices. But gas can’t be sold below
cost,’ the spokeswoman stated.

`Raise in pensions and benefits in connection with the increase in gas
rates is a small positive step, which, however cannot be a radical
solution to inflationary pressures,’ Artsvik Minasyan , Deputy
Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Financial, Credit and
Budgetary Affairs, ARF Dashnaktsutyun member told a news conference on
March 5.

"Inflation has "eaten up" all these increases in pensions and
benefits. The government’s steps towards overcoming the crisis are
very cautious and superficial," he stressed.

RA Deputy Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan disagreed, noting that the
expected increase in benefits from May 1 to AMD 3.5 thousand will not
only compensate the rise in gas prices, but also cover increasing
prices for other products in inflation circumstances.

"In the minimum consumer basket of AMD 28.8 thousand, the share of
utility expenses is AMD 2.6 thousand, including AMD 500 for natural
gas, increased to AMD 700 after the 37.5 per cent raise in gas
tariffs," RA Deputy Minister of Finance explained.

According to recent official data, the number of gas consumers has
increased by 10 000, totaling 600 000 regardless of the scheduled
April 1, 2010 tariff increase. The situation is controversial: despite
obvious dissatisfaction with raise in gas tariffs, number of gas
consumers in Armenia keeps growing.

Victoria Araratyan / PanARMENIAN News

Gevorg Poghosyan wins European weightlifting champion title

April 10, 2010 – 12:05 AMT 07:05 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

On April 9, Armenian sportsmen won eight medals, two of which are
gold, at 2010 European Weightlifting Championships taking place in
Minsk. Meline Daluzyan (w/c up to 69) won 3 silver medals.

Ara Khachatryan, 2007 and 2008 World Championships bronze winner and
European Championships two-time silver medalist, won the snatch bronze
while Gevorg Poghosyan (w/c up to 85kg) came fourth.

The Armenian sportsmen were successful in clean & jerk, where leader
of snatch Nikolai Novikov (Belarus) failed to lift 196kg. After it,
the Armenian sportsmen started struggling for the champion’s title.
Ara Khachatryan lifted 203kg and took the leadership for several
minutes; however, Gevorg Poghosyan lifted 204, winning the champion’s
title with 369 kg in snatch, clean & jerk combination, surpassing
Khachatryan by 1kg.

The Armenian team is the second place in the team event with 13 medals
– 6 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze.

2008 European Championships winner Hripsime Khurshudyan (w/c up to
75kg) will enter the competition on April 10.

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
April 8, 2010

Turkish PM’s Visit to France Fails to Boost Ties

BYLINE: Grace Annan

Yesterday, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended his
official visit to France. The climax of his visit was a meeting with
French president Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss, among other things,
Turkey’s bid to the European Union (EU), and the two governments’
diverging stances on sanctioning the Iranian state. Sarkozy upholds
that Turkey should be offered a privileged partnership instead of
full-blown EU membership, regardless of Turkey’s entrance date.
However, Erdogan remains opposed to this offer. As French minister for
EU affairs Pierre Lellouche stated, France and Turkey "agree to
disagree".

Significance:Franco-Turkish diplomatic ties are not progressing
significantly. Erdogan did, however, manage to commit Sarkozy to an
official visit to Turkey in 2011, when France takes over the helm of
the G20. The big issues remain EU membership, the governments’
diverging stances on the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians during the
First World War, and Turkey’s role in Asia, which drives a wedge
between the two countries on Iran’s nuclear programme in particular.
The highly mediatised "Season of Turkey" failed to bring about closer
diplomatic ties, despite Turkey’s efforts (seeFrance – Turkey: 7
October 2009:). Rather, business may do the trick: Erdogan would like
to see Franco-Turkish trade volumes increase by 50%, or 15 billion
euro (US$20.04 billion), in 2012. For all its frustration, the Turkish
government needs France on its side for political reasons–notably EU
membership and Turkey’s zero-conflict efforts in the Middle East–and
to boost Turkey’s economy. The Turkish government is therefore likely
to continue its dialogue with the French government regardless of
Sarkozy’s comments on Turkey’s EU membership bid.

ARMENIANS STILL REMEMBER APRIL 24, 1915
Jirair Hovsepian

Watertown TAB & Press
April 8 2010

WATERTOWN — This April will be the 95th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. Almost a century has gone by with eyewitnesses and survivors
dwindling to a handful.

For thousands of years, Armenians lived in Anatolia and Cilicia,
now Turkey, without Turks, creating a unique alphabet, architecture,
art, music, and in 301 AD accepted Christianity as the first nation
to adopt it.

In 1639, the Ottoman Empire occupied Western Armenia. Through the
centuries, they harassed, overtaxed and committed localized massacres.

Between 1894 and 1896, Sultan Abdul-Hamid organized massacres killing
over 200,000 Armenians. In 1909, the Young Turk party massacred
35,000 Armenians.

Lord Byron wrote: "… an oppressed and noble nation … It would be
difficult perhaps to find the annals of a nation less stained with
crimes than the Armenians, whose virtues have been those of peace,
and their vices those of compulsion."

In 1915, Talaat Pasha, the Interior Minister, resolved to solve the
"Armenian Question." Along with Djemal Pasha, head of the police,
and Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, masterminded the deliberate
annihilation of the Armenian nation.

Beginning April 24, 1915, until 1923, the Ottoman Empire killed
1,500,000 Armenians, men, women and children, two-thirds of the
population. There are countless studies written by historians and
genocide scholars regarding this inhumanity to man.

Henry Morgenthau, Sr., the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
from 1913 to 1916, reported: "…Deportation of and excesses against
peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eye
witnesses [sic] it appears that a campaign of race extermination
[genocide] is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against
rebellion."

Today’s Turkey as the beneficiary of the loss of the Armenians’
lives, property, lands and irreplaceable antiquities from millennia,
still denies that their ancestors committed the most horrific crime
in human history.

They spend millions trying to hide the truth by intimidating their
population with Article 301 (insulting Turkishness), the U.S.

government’s security by threatening to close the U.S. airbase
in Incirlik, hiring former U.S. officials as lobbyists to prevent
Congress from officially recognizing fact of The Genocide.

Senator Barack Obama while campaigning for the U.S. Presidency
promised: "… as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide." On
Jan. 19, 2008, he said "… that the Armenian Genocide is not an
allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a
widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical
evidence."

Unfortunately, he has succumbed to the Turkish tactics and reneged
on his honorable pledge.

On March 4, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed (H.Res.252)
officially recognizing that the 1.5 million Armenian deaths was a
genocide. Immediately, the Turkish Government recalled its ambassador
to the U.S. as a protest.

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal scholar, in 1944, coined the term
"genocide" for the Nuremberg trials, citing as example the experience
of the Armenians in 1915.

Under pressure from Turkey, the Obama administration is being duped
and actively involving itself to ensure that the resolution is not
brought before the full House, thereby being complicit in denial.

On April 23, 2008, Dr. Gregory Stanton, president of International
Association of Genocide Scholars, said: "…there is an eighth
stage in every genocide: Denial. It is actually a continuation of
the genocide….Denial harms the victims and their survivors….Elie
Wiesel has repeatedly called Turkey’s denial a double killing, as it
strives to kill the memory of the event. We believe the US government
should not be party to efforts to kill the memory of a historical
fact as profound and important as the genocide of the Armenians,
which Hitler used as an example in his plan for the Holocaust."

The following quote by William Saroyan, one of America’s well-known
writers, describes the Armenians and their resolve to survive against
all odds in freedom:

"I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race; this
small tribe of unimportant people, whose history is ended, whose
wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled,
whose literature is unread, whose music is unheard, whose prayers
are no longer uttered.

Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915 there
is war in the world. Destroy Armenia.

See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let
them have neither bread nor water.

Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again.

See if they will not laugh again. See if you can stop them from
mocking the big ideas of the world.

You sons of bitches. Go ahead, try to destroy them."

As long as one Armenian lives, the Armenian Genocide will always be
remembered. As long as one honest and honorable man remembers it,
there is hope for preventing future genocides.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION: WASHINGTON WILL PUT PRESSURE ON YEREVAN IN RESOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT

Today
April 8 2010
Azerbaijan

Armenia will be put pressure in terms of the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during talks in Washington, member of the
Armenian National Movement Hovhannes Igityan said.

Both Armenia and Turkey are being exerted pressure in terms of
ratification of the Turkey-Armenia protocols, he said.

However, Ankara is using this pressure to solve their own priorities.

In this case, the Turkish side proposes the version that it can not
ratify the protocols to ensure progress in the Karabakh settlement,
Igityan noted.

According to opposition leader, for this reason, in Washington the
Armenian president will be pressured on the issue of Karabakh with
the intent to provide an opportunity for Turkey to ratify the accords.

KIM KARDASHIAN `PROUD` TO BE ARMENIAN

Monsters and Critics.com
April 6 2010

Kim Kardashian has said she is ‘proud’ to be Armenian and is happy
she can identify with her fans.

The 29-year-old’s father Robert Kardashian’s side of the family
were Armenian and, despite being raised in LA, she is proud of her
Armenian roots.

Talking about her family history, she said to Armenian Pulse: ‘I
am fourth-generation Armenian, born and raised in Los Angeles. My
great-grandparents from my father’s side came to LA from Armenia
right before the genocide.

‘My great-grandfather was Armenian and my great-grandmother,
Turkish-Armenian.

‘My mother is English, so I am half-Armenian, but I was raised with
a huge Armenian influence, always hearing stories of Armenia, eating
Armenian food and celebrating Armenian holidays!’

Kardashian was told that she has a big fan base in Armenia and is
very popular there.

She said: ‘This makes me so happy! My father would be so proud that
we talk about our Armenian heritage! My dad used to always tell us
to never remove the ‘-ian’ from our last name like some Armenians
that came to the US.

‘He was so proud to be Armenian and his biggest regret was not sending
us to Armenian school! I am so proud to be Armenian and so happy that
I can identify with my Armenian fans!’

ews/article_1546175.php/Kim-Kardashian-proud-to-be -Armenian

REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA’S EXPECTATIONS IN POSSIBLE SARGSYAN-ERDOGAN MEETING

Tert.am

Asked what expectations does the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
have for the possible Sargsyan-Obama-Erdogan Washington meeting,
RPA press spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov said:

"Sargsyan-Obama-Erdogan trilateral meeting, which is reported by
the press, however, is unknown, whether it will take place or not,
[but] our expectations are clear: Armenia has its clear approach in
Armenia-Turkey relations and is in favour of improving relations. As
for the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Armenia is not preparing to discuss
this issue with Turkey, since Turkey has a biased attitude."

Sharmazanov said that if Turkey would like to improve Armenia-Turkey
relations, then, to prove its sincerity, it should ratify the
Protocols.

Turning his attention to US President Barack Obama’s invitation to
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to attend the Nuclear Security
Summit in Washington, the RPA spokesperson said that that invitation
is the result of the RA president’s enterprising foreign policy,
and it will place Armenian-American cooperation on new grounds.

In addition, added Sharmazanov, by participating in such a nuclear
security summit, a small country like Armenia can also participate
in resolving global security issues.

Armenia appoints Ambassadors to Slovenia and Singapore

armradio.am
03.04.2010 15:02

President Serzh Sargsyan today signed a decree on appointing Armenia’s
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Italy Ruben Karapetyan
as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of
Armenia to the Republic of Slovenia (seat in Rome).

According to another presidential decree, Armenian Ambassador to the
People’s Republic of China Armen Sargsyan was appointed as Ambassador
Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the Republic of Armenia to the
Republic of Singapore (seat in Beijing).

Hurriyet, Turkey
April 2 2010

‘Azerbaijan may consider military intervention’

Friday, April 2, 2010

Azerbaijan might consider a military intervention to address its
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Armenia if peaceful means fail, a top
Azerbaijani official said Friday.

Ramiz Mehdiyev, the head of the Azerbaijani President’s Executive
Office, said Azerbaijan would prefer to solve the issue peacefully.

`However, we may bring other means, and a military intervention, to
the table in the future if necessary, and if these peaceful means
fail,’ Mehdiyev told newspaper editors in chief and television
journalists in Istanbul.

Azerbaijan is losing its patience, Mehdiyev said, calling on Russia,
an Armenian ally, to be more sincere in solving the problem. `The
United States was also supporting Armenia,’ he added. `If there had
been no one behind Armenia, it would have withdrawn from Upper
Karabakh.’

Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan in 1988.

The official said the signing of protocols between Turkey and Armenia
would not harm Turkish-Azerbaijani relations because the two are
sister countries. He said Azerbaijan and Turkey would discuss lifting
visa requirements and come to an agreement soon.

In 1992 and 1993, Armenia occupied Azerbaijani territories in
Nagorno-Karabakh. The two countries signed a ceasefire in 1994.

The co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe’s Minsk Group ` Russia, France and the United States ` are
currently holding peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

UNICEF, RA EDUCATION MINISTRY SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.04.2010 14:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On April 2 the Armenian Ministry of Education
Science and the UNICEF signed a cooperation agreement.

"Our cooperation is aimed at protecting children in the area of general
education. The cooperation agreement this time was signed for two years
(2010-2012). The purpose of the program is to increase accessibility
and consistency of quality education among the most vulnerable strata
of the population.

The program will facilitate the inclusive (joint) and preschool
education. The total budget of the program is 280 thousand USD,"
the minister of education and science Armen Ashotyan told a news
conference on April 2 in Yerevan at the signing ceremony. Stressing
the importance of cooperation, the Ambassador of UNICEF Armenia Mrs.

Laily Moshiri-Gilan said: "Armenia is now developing a national
strategic program for education and we are ready to provide our
assistance."

She said, UN will seek to allocate additional financial resources in
this sphere.