Author: Nargizian David

YURI MERZLYAKOV: AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA HAVE NOT SUBMITTED THEIR PROPOSALS YET

armradio.am
08.02.2010 17:10

"Azerbaijan and Armenia have not yet submitted their proposals on
uncoordinated points of Madrid principles to the co-chairs," OSCE
Minsk Group’s Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov told APA.

Answering the question on co-chairs’ visit to the region, the diplomat
stated that they were waiting for the proposals of both sides: "First,
we should receive the proposals of both parties, and then we will
think about the visit."

After the trilateral meeting between Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian
presidents in Sochi on January 25, the co-chairs noted that Baku and
Yerevan should submit proposals on uncoordinated points of Madrid
document within 2 weeks.

RESHUFFLES IN ARMENIA’S DIPLOMATIC CORPS PLANNED

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 16:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Reshuffles in Armenia’s diplomatic corps are
planned. As well informed sources told PanARMENIAN.Net, ex-Minister
of Transportation and Communications, presidential advisor Andranik
Manukyan will be appointed as Armenian Ambassador in Kiev.

Also, Arman Kirakosyan is expected to assume the position of RA
Ambassador to Great Britain.

RA Foreign Ministry press service neither denied nor confirmed the
information above.

Currently, positions of ambassadors to Ukraine and Great Britain are
occupied by Armen Khachatryan and Vahe Gabrielyan.

EXPERT SAYS TURKEY CAN’T BECOME KARABAKH MEDIATOR STATE

Panorama.am
11:28 05/02/2010

Turkey has no legal right to intermediate the resolution of
Karabakh conflict; the president of research center of political
developments Vahan Dilanyan said commenting on Turkish MFA speaker
Buraq Ozurgergin’s statement that Turkey is a Minsk Group member
state and that "nobody" can question their mediation. Expert stated
that MG states are Belarus, Germany, Italy, Finland, Turkey, Armenia,
Azerbaijan and OSCE co-chairing states. But the MG isn’t authorized
to intermediate Karabakh conflict resolution. The mediator states
of Karabakh issue are OSCE MG co-chairing states and not OSCE MG
in general.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES CORRIDOR

The Messenger
Feb 4 2010
Georgia

The Armenian Parliament has ratified a framework agreement with
the Asian Development Bank for allotting USD 500 million for the
construction of a north-south motorway transport corridor which will
connect Armenia with the Georgian Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi.

Armenian Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian states that this project
will create the appropriate transport infrastructure in the region
and increase the speed of international transportation.

A feasibility study states that the project should be viable and
eventually facilitate the growth of Armenia’s economy. The initial
estimated cost of the project is USD 962 million.

The general concept of the project was prepared by the German and
Austrian company ILF, the feasibility study was prepared by the
company PADECO. Some other countries have also expressed an interest
in participating in building this motorway, including Italy, Brazil
and Iran, which could also use it for transporting goods to the
Georgian ports.

BAKU PLANET’S DIRTIEST CITY

AZG DAILY
04-02-2010

Environment

NYC Partnership Consulting company has published the list of the
dirtiest cities of the planet. The experts of the company compared 245
large cities and capitals and made rating of 30 dirtiest cities. The
rating is based on the level of air pollution, level of usefulness
of drinkable water, level of usage of wastes and waste processing,
the quality of medical service, infectious diseases.

Baku tops this list. The list mainly includes capitals of African
and several Asian countries. Russia is the 12th, Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
the 16th, Baghdad (Iraq) the 20th, Almaty (Kazakhstan) 25th, Tehran
(Iran) 29th.

TURKEY’S FOREIGN MINISTER: 20% AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORY IS OCCUPIED, THAT IS WHY TURKEY CHANGED ITS ATTITUDE TO PROTOCOLS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 3, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Turkey tries to establish
good-neighborly relations with all its neighbors creating a new
policy in the South Caucasus under the motto "zero problems with
the neighbors." According to the report of the Forum of Armenian
Associations of Europe (FAAE), Turkish Foreign Minister A. Davutoglu
declared this after his report under the title New World Geopolitics:
What Turkey Introduces to the Spheres of World Peace and Security as
a UN Security Council member given on January 29 at London Institute
for International Studies.

He mentioned that there are cold wars in the South Caucasus, there is
a need to work actively in that direction, and Turkey assumes that
role. Turkey as a UN Security Council member assumes the task of
improving its relations with all neighbors, including Armenia. As to
the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Turkish Foreign Minister declared
that serious work was done in the past years and the Armenian-Turkish
protocols were signed as a result of it.

The following question was voiced by the FAAE representative: "The
protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey had no precondition
though Armenia could and had a right to bring forward the issue of
recognizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Armenia did not do it.

Contrary to it Turkey not only delayed ratification of the protocols
but also itself brought forward a precondition, which even regarded
the third country, Azerbaijan, connected with the Nagorno Karabakh
problem. Moreover, referring to the decision of the Armenian
Constitutional Court, which only confirms the legality of ratification
of the protocols, Turkey launched the process of suspending the
ratification of the protocols though indeed CC’s decision cannot be
an obstacle to continue the process. Has Turkey changed its position
or it was not sincere from the very start?"

In response to this question A. Davutoglu said that ensuring security
and conducting a political dialogue with all three states in the South
Caucasus is important for Turkey. For that purpose Turkey has signed
the protocols submitting them for Turkish parliament’s approval.

"Today Turkey is blamed for deliberately delaying the approval of
the protocols. Indeed Turkey wishes to establish relations between
both Armenians and Turks througout the world and with Armenia,"
the Minister said adding: "However, we reject the idea of Armenian
Genocide." In his words, the Turks have never had anti-Armenian views
and have never taken anti-Armenian measures.

As to preconditions, A. Davutoglu declared that Turkey wishes
to achieve a fundamental solution to the issue (including the
Azerbaijan-Nagorno Karabakh conflict), for security to be established
in the whole region. "20% Azerbaijan’s territory is occupied, and
neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan agree to the preservation of the current
situation, that is why Turkey changed its attitude to the protocols.

In spite of it the protocols can be signed if the above mentioned
problem is solved. Turkey does not lose its hope in that direction,"
the Turkish Foreign Minister said.

THE DA VINCI CHANNEL GETS RUSSIAN TREATMENT
By Kristin Brzoznowski

World Screen News
February 2, 2010

STOCKHOLM: Viasat Broadcasting has entered into a joint venture with
Da Vinci Media to launch a Russian version of the Da Vinci Learning
channel in Russia and CIS countries.

Da Vinci Learning is a knowledge and education channel that launched
in Poland in 2007. The channel has since expanded to Romania, Turkey,
Hungary, Ukraine, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Macedonia. The JV with Viasat
will see the creation, operation and distribution of a Russian version
of the channel in Russia and CIS countries such as Belarus, Georgia,
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

"The Da Vinci channel is strengthening and complementing our
already strong portfolio of pay-TV channels broadcast in the Russian
language," said Irina Gofman, the CEO of MTG Russia and head of Viasat
Broadcasting’s operations in the region. "Da Vinci is providing the
best science and knowledge TV programs from across the globe."

"I am delighted to work with Viasat Broadcasting, with its long
experience and excellent track record," added Ferdinand Habsburg, the
founder of Da Vinci Media. "They are the perfect partner for us for
entering the Russian-speaking countries. We look forward to continue
to build the success story of Da Vinci Learning and our mission to
provide entertaining and enthralling learning, with a Russian version
in a joint venture with Viasat. We expect that an entertaining and
educational TV channel will appeal to Russian viewers, as Russia has
a long tradition of learning and science."

TURKISH PM CRITICIZES MINSK MEDIATORS OVER KARABAKH

armradio.am
01.02.2010 10:46

Efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s
(OSCE) Minsk Group, which has striven to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict for more than 17 years, have not been productive, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

Speaking in an interview broadcast live on a state-owned television
station, Erdogan reiterated Ankara’s uneasiness over the grounds
for an Armenian Constitutional Court decision on Jan. 12 that found
protocols signed with Turkey in Zurich on Oct. 10 of last year in
conformance with the Armenian Constitution, as the decision included
preconditions and restrictive conditions.

"There has been serious neglect by the Minsk trio," Erdogan added,
referring to the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group – France, Russia
and the United States. "They couldn’t bring this issue to a certain
point in 20 years. If Russia, the US and France had worked hard within
the past 20 years, none of these problems would have emerged; neither
the trouble between us and Armenia nor a trouble between Armenia and
Azerbaijan would remain," Erdogan said. "The performance of Russia,
America and France was below expectations," he said, Today’s Zaman
reports.

Aram I, Walter Kasper discussed economic relations
30.01.2010 16:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On Wednesday 2010, His Holiness Aram I and H.E.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, held a private meeting within the context
of the meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological
Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox
Churches.

Among other issues, they discussed the contribution of bilateral
theological dialogues to ecumenical relations.
The meeting will be concluded on Sunday 31 January with the Holy
Liturgy at St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral where the Cardinal
will preach.

AAC Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia is an administratively
independent Catholicosate of the Armenian Apostolic Curch (AAC). The
AAC eparchies in Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Iran and United States are
under its jurisdiction.

During World War I (1915-1918), one and a half million Armenians were
massacred by the Turks. In 1921, when the French forces evacuated
Cilicia, a second wave of massacres ordered by Kemalist Turkey took
the lives of another three hundred thousand Armenians. The rest of the
Armenians were forced to leave their homeland and found refuge mostly
in Syria and Lebanon. The Catholicosate in Sis was robbed and ruined
by the Turks. Catholicos Sahak II followed his flock in exile.

After wandering in Syria and Lebanon, in 1930, he established the
Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon. Thus, a new era opened in the
history of the Catholicosate with the organization of Dioceses and the
founding of a new theological seminary. The Armenian people spread all
over the world looked at the Catholicosate with new hopes and
expectations.
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its
theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and
behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole.
Although for many the term usually refers to Christians and churches
belonging to the Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See, for
others it refers to continuity "back to the earliest churches", as
claimed even by churches in dispute with one another over doctrine and
practice such as the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church,
Oriental Orthodoxy, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Old Catholic
Church and the Anglican Communion. The claim of continuity may be
based on Apostolic Succession, especially in conjunction with
adherence to the Nicene Creed. In this sense of indicating historical
continuity, the term "catholicism" is at times employed to mark a
contrast to Protestantism, which tends to look instead to the Bible as
interpreted by the 16th-century Protestant Reformation as its ultimate
standard.

WB REGISTERS IMPROVEMENTS IN ARMENIAN WATER SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.01.2010 13:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial
Administration Armen Gevorgyan met with Mr. Aristomene Varoudakis,
World Bank Armenia Country Manager, to discuss the prospects of
water system reform, strategic issues and possibilities of further
cooperation, the Ministry’s press office reported.

"The water system is managed by 3 foreign operators (5 companies),
implementing different tariff policies," Minister Gevorgyan said,
adding that 500 communities throughout the republic are not served
by any operator.

He also informed that during a meeting in Washington, the WB stated
improvement in Armenia’s water system management.

In discussion of the issue of lands demanding extra irrigation, Mr.

Varoudakis said the WB will carry out essential research and submit
a conclusion till mid-year.

It was also decided to organize an international conference on water
industry which will bring together delegations from different countries
in autumn 2010.