Author: Nahapetian Boris

PanArmenian News, Armenia
April 24 2009

Route map not an obstacle towards reinstating justice

25.04.2009 19:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and the
existence of the `route map’ cannot prevent the Armenians from calling
for the recognition of Genocide and reinstatement of historical
justice, ,’ Catholicos of Cilician Patriarchate Aram I said.

On April 24, thousand of Lebanese Armenians gathered near the memorial
in Anthilias to pay tribute to the victims of Genocide. After the
liturgy served in the Armenian church, the ceremony participant headed
towards the eternal flame. In his address, Catholicos Aram I first
reiterated his firm determination on the recognition of Genocide. `We
are grateful to all the countries which have recognized the Armenian
Genocide, but insist at the same time that recognition is not
enough. We do not beg mercy. We demand justice and have the right to
do so,’ Aram I said. According to the religious primate, neither route
maps nor official visits are enough for reinstating justice.

ARMENIAN, TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTERS MAKE JOINT STATEMENT, SWITZERLAND MEDIATES

/ARKA/
April 23, 2009
YEREVAN

Turkey and Armenia, together with Switzerland as mediator, have
been working intensively with a view to normalizing their bilateral
relations and developing them in a spirit of good-neighborliness, and
mutual respect, and thus to promoting peace, security and stability in
the whole region, the RA Foreign Ministry quotes the Armenian-Turkish
joint statements of foreign ministries and the Swiss Federal Department
of Foreign Affairs.

The two parties have achieved tangible progress and mutual
understanding in this process and they have agreed on a comprehensive
framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations in a
mutually satisfactory manner. In this context, a road-map has been
identified. This agreed basis provides a positive prospect for the
on-going process, the report says.

No diplomatic relations exist between Armenia and Turkey, and the
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 initiated by
official Ankara.

Official Yerevan says it is ready to establish relations with
Turkey without any preconditions. But Turkey puts preconditions for
establishing bilateral relations, particularly requests Armenia to give
up the policy of international recognition of the Armenian genocide
of 1915 when about one and a half million Armenians were massacred.

The Armenian-Turkish relations began to thaw last year, when Turkish
Pres ident Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on September 6 to watch a
World Cup qualifier between Armenian and Turkish teams.

During the meeting, both leaders discussed possible establishment of
bilateral relations.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY CLARIFIES

A1+
05:51 pm | April 23, 2009 | Politics

The Foreign Affairs Ministries of Armenia, Turkey and Switzerland
made a joint statement defining a "roadmap". What does that "roadmap"
mean? Head of the Department of Relations with Presses of the RA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan clarified the term for
"A1+":

"The word combination "road map" is an accepted and used diplomatic
concept, which means a plan for measures to be taken."

NORVIK UCO OFFERS CLIENTS TO REDEEM CREDITS VIA INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES

ArmInfo
2009-04-22 14:01:00

Norvik Universal Credit Organization (UCO) offers its clients to redeem
credits via Internet technologies. Thus, Norvik clients need just to
visit the special self-service system at the website My.Norvik.am,
input personal data and chose the preferable way of payment, Norvik
UCO told ArmInfo.

In addition, it has become possible to redeem credits at any time due
to the systems ARCA and Edram. If a client is going to redeem the
credit via EDram system, he just needs to follow the offered link,
input his password and personal data and make a payment. Payment
via Internet should be made at least a day before the date of the
payment. Thus, up-to-date technologies have become a vital necessity
for easy service of clients and credit repayment. Given the active
development rates of information technologies in Armenia, one can
suppose that the greatest part of clients of credit organizations
will prefer just on-line services in the nearest future.

Norvik UCO Executive Officer Tigran Bostanjyan says the given
innovations aim to create more comfortable and easy conditions for
client service once more proving Norvik’s devotion to the principle –
care for the time and comfort of clients.

In September 2006 a new Credit Company Norvik UCO cjsc which is
the daughter organization of Latvia- Iceland Norvik Banka started
crediting activities in Armenia.

"Norvik" UCO cjsc was registered and licensed by the Central Bank of
Armenia in July of 2006 with an authorized capital of USD 500 000 and
started crediting activities at the end of 2006 with an increased
authorized capital of USD 1,7 million. The company has had leading
positions among credit organizations in Armenia doe already two years.

ARMENIAN JOURNALIST SAYS TURKEY-ARMENIA RAPPROCHEMENT POSTPONED

Today’s Zaman
April 21 2009
Turkey

Turkish and Armenian officials have been working hard to devise
a formula to solve the problems between their countries, but the
rapprochement has not only reached deadlock, it has been postponed,
one observer pointed out.

Boris Navasardyan, the Yerevan Press Club president, said one important
factor making a negative contribution to the process from the Armenian
side was them not taking decisive action.

"Armenia is traditionally an inert country. It never takes decisive
steps. That’s true for Turkey-Armenia relations," he said, adding
that the limited political resources of Armenia are not utilized well,
so experts who could contribute to the process are isolated.

"They are in a position to criticize but are never involved in the
process," he said yesterday at a roundtable meeting organized by
the Global Political Trends Center on "Turkey-Armenia Dialogue:
New Prospects."

Making things even more difficult could be the approaching municipal
elections on May 31 in Yerevan as one of the critics of the Armenian
government is running for a mayoral post.

"It’s a very important political event because Yerevan is half of
Armenia. Politics, economy and citizens’ activities all occur in
Yerevan. Because we have had problematic presidential elections,
the opposition claims that this is not an election for the mayor and
city council of Yerevan but a second round of presidential elections,"
Navasardyan said.

In mid-March, Levon Ter-Petrossian, the first president of Armenia,
was selected to head the ticket of the Armenian National Congress
(HAK) in the upcoming elections.

Yerevan has until now been governed by officials appointed by the
president of the republic. Under one of the amendments to Armenia’s
constitution enacted in November 2005, Yerevan mayors are chosen by
a municipal council elected by voters.

"After the [Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation] BSEC
meeting of foreign ministers in Yerevan, Armenian-Turkish relations
have been forgotten. Everyone is focused on elections in Yerevan. We
have to admit that the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement will be postponed
for some time," he said. "Now the Armenian government will wait and
focus on internal issues."

Even though Turkish and Armenian officials have been working hard to
devise a formula between their countries, they seem to have reached
a deadlock as Azerbaijan, an ethnic and strategic ally of Turkey,
has grown uneasy about the prospects of rapprochement between Ankara
and Yerevan, fearing it will lose key leverage in the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute if Turkey opens its border and resumes diplomatic ties. Turkey
closed its border and severed diplomatic ties with Armenia in 1993
in protest over the Armenian occupation of a chunk of Azerbaijani
territory during a war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

When it comes to how the Nagorno-Karabakh issue affects Turkey-Armenia
relations, Navasardyan said both Armenia and Azerbaijan are insisting
on their full demands, and Turkey and Armenia are not showing any
willingness to compromise.

J. SOLANA SAYS FOR EU THE RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA ARE VERY IMPORTANT

ArmenPress
April 21 2009
Armenia

"The South Caucasus region is of particular importance to us for
several reasons. In particular, after the launch of the Eastern
Partnership on 7 May, our relations with the three South Caucasus
countries will move at a more advanced level", – EU High Representative
for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Mr. Javier Solana said in
an interview to Armenpress, stressing that the efforts for contributing
to the region’s stability, security and prosperity will also intensify.

He assessed that for the EU, its relations with Armenia are very
important. A special attention is attached to regional cooperation
in promoting peace and confidence building.

"The most recent wave of enlargement has brought the EU to the shores
of the Black Sea area and has further contributed to turning the
South Caucasus into a closer EU neighbor. In 2004, the EU extended
the European Neighborhood Policy to Armenia; in 2007, we launched the
Black Sea Synergy Initiative and now with the Eastern Partnership the
EU offers its Eastern partners the opportunity to further deepen our
relationship in many fields: political, economical, financial. This
partnership will also add a very important multilateral dimension
to our cooperation, which should substantially contribute to the
development of regional cooperation in Southern Caucasus", – the
High Representative said expressing hope to visit the region in the
nearest future.

PanArmenian, Armenia
April 18 2009

AYF to rally in memory of Armenian Genocide victims

18.04.2009 12:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ With a week left to the annual day of commemoration
for the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) and the
ARF Shant Student Association (SSA) are once again joining to organize
an annual youth rally to unite and ignite the community around the
memory of its martyred ancestors and their longing for freedom, the
AYF press office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The rally will take place on Sunday April 19 at 6pm at the Pasadena
Armenian Center on 740 E. Washington Blvd. Pasadena CA.

The keynote speaker of the evening will be California State
Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, who has been a long time supporter of
the Armenian community and works closely with the Armenian National
Committee in Pasadena. The Rally will also feature musical
performances from local artists, as well as speeches by various
community and student group leaders. The Youth Rally is free of charge
and open to the public.

`The evening’s goal is to raise awareness of the injustices that exist
in the world, focusing on the first genocide of the 20th century, the
Armenian Genocide,’ said Armen Aboulian, the chairman of the SSA. `We
use this opportunity and this date not only as a day to renew our
struggle for justice, but also as a day to take a solid stance in
investing in the future of the Armenian people.’

`We are true believers that the only way to predict our future, is to
make it ourselves,’ he added. `In looking at our past and considering
what our forefathers have endured, we feel a responsibility, almost an
obligation to make our future in such a way that makes the dreams of
the Armenian people come true.’

RAFFI HOVHANNISYAN DOES NOT HAVE ANY WISH TO HOLD OFFICE

LRAGIR.AM
14:22:13 – 17/04/2009

Will the founder of the Heritage party Raffi Hovhannisyan run for
president in 2013? Raffi Hovhannisyan was asked this question on
April 17, who answered that he does not have such a wish. Raffi
Hovhannisyan said that 20 years ago, when he moved to Armenia with
his family, he came to help the country and not to hold an office,
he does not have any expectation for an office now either.

"Let the office be someone else’s, but let our county become a civil,
lawful and national country. Nothing is ruled out by saying this,
but there is no wish for an office now", stated Raffi Hovhannisyan.

By the way, in answer to the question on the information which has
being circulated by the media after he moved to Armenia and left the
office of foreign minister that he is going to leave the country, Raffi
Hovhannisyan said that everyone is aware of the situation present in
the country, the conversations, discourses which are circulated, and
he does not see any sense to comment on them, leaving the discourses
on the conscience of their authors.

JOINT EXERCISES OF RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY AND ARMENIAN POLICE SPECIAL FORCES IN YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2009-04-17 14:42:00

Joint exercises of Russian Interior Ministry and Armenian Police
special forces were conducted in Yerevan Friday. The scenario of
the exercises was connected with detention of criminals and hostage
release.

Armenian Police Head, Police Major General Alik Sargsyan and Russian
Minister of the Interior, Army General Rashid Nurgaliyev observed
the elections.

In the course of the exercises, the officers of the special mission
unit of militia "Lynx" of the Russian Interior Ministry, Special
Department of the State Department to Combat Organized Crime and the
servicemen of the Armenian Police troops worked out a broad spectrum
of actions of response to various scenarios of operative situation
connected with detention of criminals and release of hostages. As
a result of the operation, 5 criminals were neutralized, 10 were
detained and all the hostages were released.

Twenty officers of the Special mission unit of militia "Lynx" of the
Russian Interior Ministry participated in the exercises.

In general over 300 officers of the two countries special forces
participated in the exercises. In addition, 13 vehicles were involved
into the exercises including a combat helicopter and armored police
vehicle ‘Tiger’, the Russian Interior Ministry press-service reported.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO THE ADANA MASSACRE 1909 TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2009-04-17 14:25:00

The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute organizes an international
conference on April 20-21, 2009 dedicated to the centennial anniversary
of the Armenian massacres in Adana district of the Ottoman Empire.

As the Museum-Institute told ArmInfo, historians from Armenia, Italy,
Hungary, Austria, France, USA and Sweden specialized on these issues
will make speeches at the conference. The speakers will have the
opportunity to present their papers and share their knowledge about
the massacre in Adana district and in the city of Adana itself in
spring 1909 in the main reverting on the motives of massacres as well
as international responses.

The Adana massacres of April 1909 became a symbolic prelude for the
state orchestrated and executed policy of genocide against the Armenian
population of the Ottoman Empire. Ethnical cleansings and large-scale
massacres were carried out even earlier; during the Hamidian massacres
in 1894-1896 about 300.000 Armenians were annihilated and evicted.

The study of Adana massacre reveals several important issues,
particularly in terms of crime investigation, reparation and
involvement of Turkish regular army in the massacre. These tragic
events resonated with the events of the earlier attacks on the
Armenians and brought back the feeling of the coming catastrophe. The
Adana massacres heralded a large-scale extermination policy, which was
implemented shortly after the breakout of the WWI. This resulted in the
genocide of Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during 1915-1922,
and expulsion of several hundred thousand people from their homeland.