Author: Takmazian

U.S. CONGRESSMEN ADMITS FACT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

news.am
March 4 2010
Armenia

Mike Pence, a Republican member of the United States House of
Representatives admits the fact of the Armenian Genocide, but will
vote against the Armenian Genocide resolution.

At a discussion held by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
on March 4, Mr. Pence stated that it is not the time to recognize the
Armenian Genocide yet. He argued that Turkey is the United States’
strategic ally. Since Turkey has its military presence in Afghanistan,
it would not be wise to vote for the resolution.

Gerald Connolly, member of the United States House of Representatives
from Virginia’s 11th congressional district, pointed out that Turkey
is the U.S.’s faithful ally. He also said that a resolution cannot be
approved, as it will blame the incumbent government for the previous
one’s actions.

Otherwise, he said, UK might also be condemned for Irish pogroms or
Russia for the political repressions in Stalin’s times.

TURKEY PULLS AMBASSADOR OVER ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL

Politico.com
March 4 2010

Turkey recalled its new ambassador to the United States, Namik
Tan, Thursday after the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a
resolution that labels as genocide the killings of ethnic Armenians
by Ottomon Turks following World War I, POLITICO’s Marin Cogan reports:

The resolution, approved narrowly by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee 23-22, calls the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians
genocide.

The decision to recognize the historical event as genocide
may seem like a minor event, but the issue is one of the most
explosive in Washington. Turkey has a strong lobbying presence in
Washington to defend them against the accusation of genocide, but the
Armenian-American community has been passionate–and persistent–about
getting official recognition from the United States government.

The issue has been a perennial one for activists on both sides,
and both the Bush and Obama administrations have tried to quiet the
Armenian push on this resolution because the U.S. has a critical
military presence in Turkey.

The Turkish government said the resolution was filled with historic
inaccuracies.

"This decision, which could adversely affect our cooperation on a wide
common agenda with the United States, also regrettably attests to a
lack of strategic vision," the Turkish government said in a statement.

"As a result of this development we recalled this evening our
Ambassador Namik Tan to Ankara for consultations."

The Obama administration is concerned that the decision could create
more tension between the countries. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton called Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman
(D-Calif.) this week to warn that the move would have international
implications–but the committee went ahead anyway.

"We are concerned about its potential impact on our relations with the
affected countries," said Philip Crowley, a state department spokesman.

en/0310/Turkey_pulls_ambassador_after_Armenia_mark up.html

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN RECEIVED THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ARTOC GROUP FROM EGYPT MOHAMMED SHAFIK GABRI

President.am
March 4 2010
Armenia

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received the Chairman of the ARTOC
Group from Egypt Mohammed Shafik Gabri. The Group is well known
for its numerous multifaceted investment programs in the developing
markets of the Middle East, North America and Asia.

At the meeting discussed were issues related to the possibilities of
ARTOC’s investment programs in different areas of the Armenian economy.

Mohammed Shafik Gabri noted that the Armenian market is pretty
attractive for the foreign investors. He presented to Serzh Sargsyan
the investment programs which the Group is willing to implement.

President Sargsyan noted that Armenia encourages foreign investments
into our economy and is interested in deepening cooperation with
friendly Egypt in different areas, including the economic area.

ARMENIAN TAXMEN COLLECT 51.1 BILLION DRAMS OF REVENUES IN JANUARY

ARKA
March 3, 2010

YEREVAN, March 3, /ARKA/. Armenian tax and customs authorities
collected a total of 51.1 billion Drams of different revenues in the
first month of 2010, by 22.3% or 9.3 billion Drams more than a year
ago, the ministry of finance reported.

According to the ministry, 40.2 billion Drams were collected as taxes
and duties, of which 21.9 billion Drams were collected as VAT, by 20.5%
more than in 2009 January. Also 3.5 billion Drams were collected as
excise taxes, 4.6 billion Drams as profit taxes , 4.4 billion Drams
as income taxes, 2 billion Drams as customs duties, 916,2 million
Drams as state dues and 1.7 billion Drams as fixed payments.

According to the ministry, the amount of collected mandatory social
insurance payments rose by 41.7% from 2009 January to 6.8 billion
Drams.

Other non-tax revenues totaled 4.2 billion Drams or 68.5% of the
quarter projection. The Armenian government plans to collect this
year 742 billion Drams in revenues and spend 935 billion Drams. The
projected deficit is 193.4 billion Drams ($1 – 385.64 Drams).

NO VIOLATION OF CEASE-FIRE REGIME REGISTERED DURING OSCE MONITORING

armradio.am
03.03.2010 13:52

On March 3, in accordance with the earlier achieved agreement with the
NKR authorities the OSCE mission conducted Á regular monitoring of the
line of contact of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani Armed Forces in
the northern direction of Talish settlement of Martakert region, NKR.

>From the positions of the NKR Defense Army the monitoring was
conducted by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the
OSCE Chairman-in-Office Irji Aberle( the Czech Republic) and Zhaslan
Nurtazin(Kazakhstan).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the planned schedule. No
violation of cease-fire regime was registered.

The monitoring mission from the Karabakhi side was accompanied by
representatives of the NKR Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

ERDOGAN: I TRUST OBAMA’S LEADERSHIP AND COMMON SENSE

Hurriyet
.php?n=erdogan-i-trust-obama8217s-leadership-and-c ommon-sense-2010-03-02
March 2 2010
Turkey

History should be left to historians, not politicians, Turkey’s prime
minister said Tuesday in reference to an Armenian genocide resolution
that will be considered by a U.S. House committee this week.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the U.S. administration
to exercise "common sense" in studying the resolution.

Speaking at his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP,
group meeting, Erdogan said the resolution appeared on the agenda
every year and that anti-Turkey propaganda during that period was
extremely pointless.

"I hope the House of Representatives will act with common sense in the
face of such an issue that should be left to historians. I hope that
cooperation will not be harmed by such initiatives," Erdogan said. "I
trust the leadership and common sense of [President Barack] Obama, who
is closely following the ongoing normalization efforts with Armenia."

The prime minister said Turkish-U.S. relations were passing through
a successful period, noting that he had comprehensively taken up the
issue during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
in Qatar recently.

"I separately discussed with her what would be the cost of an adverse
result from that. I am calling on everyone once more to act with common
sense," said Erdogan. "I’d like to say it would be more accurate to
research genocide claims not at the House of Representatives but at
universities and archives."

Resolution process

Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House’s Foreign Affairs
Committee, announced in early February that his panel would vote on
the resolution this Thursday.

If the bill passes the committee, it will proceed to a final vote on
the House floor. Similar resolutions passed the committee in 2000,
2005 and 2007, but never reached a floor vote because of extensive
pressure from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Obama does not have veto power over the resolution, which is not
a bill or a law. The resolution only reflects the House’s "sense,"
namely, their collective opinion.

The non-binding resolution, however, would call on Obama to ensure
that U.S. policy formally refers to the Armenian killings as "genocide"
and to use that term when he delivers his annual message on the issue
in April – something Obama avoided during last year’s address.

Turkey has warned any House or Senate adoption of an Armenian
"genocide" bill would lead to a major and lasting deterioration in
relations with the United States.

ANC VOICES SIX STEPS TO GET OUT OF MARCH CRISIS

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.03.2010 18:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian National Congress coordinator Levon
Zurabyan addressing a rally in Yerevan on behalf of ANC voiced six
steps to get out of the "March crisis". According to Levon Zurabyan
, these steps should be implemented before the next meeting of the
Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe.

"First of all, it is necessary to release all political prisoners, the
second, to recover until April an independent body which investigated
killings during March 1-2 events. Third, to review the law on holding
rallies and marches within April, and re-shape it to the previous
form. The fourth, to open a television station A1 + by May, the
fifth by the end of May to reform the electoral code of Armenia and
the seventh – to hold early parliamentary and presidential elections
between June and September, " Levon Zurabyan said. The Congress will
present these issues to the Council of Europe representatives in
Armenia on March 16.

Furthermore, according to an ANC member Aram Manukyan, Congress is
going to sue the state for raising gas prices.

ARMENIANS WANT TO ANNEX GEORGIA’S JAVAKHETI – HISTORIAN

news.az
March 1 2010
Azerbaijan

Guram Markhulia Armenian demands for autonomy in Georgia’s
Samtskhe-Javakheti region are a prelude to attempts to annex the
territory, a Georgian historian has said.

Armenia has decided to contribute to policy targeting Georgia,
Guram Markhulia, Georgian historian and professor at Sukhumi state
university, said, commenting on Armenian diaspora demands for autonomy
in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia.

The professor said that Armenian media print anti-Georgian publications
on the need for autonomy and for Armenian access to the sea.

"Armenia will never get this. Today the Armenian nationalists think
they can settle this issue. This will never happen. Georgia will
never give its lands to Armenians," he said.

He thinks that Armenians have no problems in Javakheti or in Georgia
overall.

"Armenians are represented both in the parliament and government of
Georgia. It is not true that they live badly there. Both Armenians
and Azerbaijanis are equal to Georgians. There is no region in Georgia
where the population lives better than in other regions. The economic
situation is the same throughout Georgia. Armenians want autonomy
in order to annex this region further to Armenia. These are their
political ambitions and they strive to have access to the sea. This
results in the ideological attack against Georgia. They hoped that
President Mikheil Saakashvili would discuss the issue with the Armenian
president," he said.

"Armenians are aliens not only in Georgia but also throughout the
Caucasus. They were settled in Azerbaijani and Georgian historical
lands by the Russians in 1828. Meanwhile, Armenians in Javakheti
came from Turkey and did not live in these lands before. Instead of
saying ‘thank you’, the Armenian people are demanding autonomy in
this Georgian region," he said.

WHAT CONGRESS PLANS

7002.html
18:56:06 – 01/03/2010

The coordinator of the Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabyan, at
today’s rally of the opposition, presented the schedule of Congress’s
demands. The Congress demands from the government to set free the
political prisoners, afterwards, to make democratic reforms and
within the period between June and September, the Congress demands for
parliamentary and presidential elections to be held. He said that if
the participants of the rally agree with the schedule and with the HAK
demands, on March 16, one day before the PACE monitoring session they
are to join a march to hand their demands to the CoE representative
to Armenia.

ECOLOGICAL ACTION LAUNCHED ON FRONT LINE HIT BY KARABAKH WAR

news.az
March 1 2010
Azerbaijan

An ecological action to plant trees in places that suffered during
the Karabakh war has been launched in the frontline Terter and Agdam
regions.

The planting of trees has started at the initiative of the Terter
authorities in the villages and forests of the Terter and Agdam
regions that suffered during the Karabakh war.

A great many of trees were terminated there during hostilities. On the
whole, there is a plan to plant more than 50,000 different trees here.