RA PRIME MINISTER AND WB DIRECTOR DISCUSSED BILATERAL COLLABORATION ISSUES
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
01.10.2009 13:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On September 30, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
met a delegation headed by World Bank Yerevan Office Director
Aristomene Varoudakis, RA Government’s press service reported.
RA Prime Minister and WB Director discussed bilateral collaboration
issues and emphasized the importance of reflecting RA Government’s
activity priories in joint programs.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S SARGSYAN
Arman Gharibyan
n-4/
2009/09/30 | 13:07
Aram Sargsyan, First President of the so-called International Armenian
Congress and leader odf Armenia’s Democratic Party, declared that
the Armenian-Turkish protocols are unacceptable as presently worded.
Tomorrow, Mr. Sargsyan will present a list of proposed modifications
at the parliaments schedules hearings on the protocols. One will deal
with the mutual obligations of both Armenia and Turkey. "Armenia has
never had any obligation regarding Turkey. Turkey, via these protocols,
wishes for Armenia to recognize the Treaty of Kars. But that was signed
by five countries and thus isn’t a bilateral obligation of Armenia."
The Democratic Party will also demand that the protocols be examined
by an international legal organization for applicability.
Aram Sargsyan said that there is no need for an impartial
examination of historical issues and that this simply means losing
the international results of the Genocide recognition activities to
date. He stated the view that Turkey wishes to unite with its brotherly
countries in the region and that Armenia stands in the way of that aim.
"If International Armenian Congress President Ara Abrahamyan were here
now, he would be stating more or less the same things. Our positions
are the same on this. Mr. Abrahamyan has said that he would express
his views on the matter when President Sargsyan meets with Armenian
leaders from the CIS countries in October.
Aram Sargsyan stated that never before has the diaspora taken such
an active interest in the policy affairs of Armenia. "These are
pan-national issues. If the diaspora and Armenia split on this issue
I cannot imagine a bigger blow to Armenia."
Mr. Sargsyan stated that he believed it was possible to debate the
legality of the protocols within the RoA Constitutional Court. "I
am convinced that the protocols will wind up in the Constitutional
Court where the issue of their constitutionality will be reviewed."
He stated that the discussions now being held in various regional
centres of Armenia is a foregone conclusion since most officials
are dependent on the central government and thus must express their
support of recent foreign policy moves.
"There are enough political forces in Armenia and in the diaspora
that can join together and see to it that these protocols are never
ratified," he concluded.
ICON COMMUNICATIONS ISP REDUCES TARIFFS AND LAUNCHES NEW SERVICES
PanARMENIAN.Net
30.09.2009 16:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ iCON Communications ISP reduced tariffs and launched
new services, Raffi Kassarjian iCON Communications commercial
director told press conference on September 30. ICON is the first
ISP in Armenia which revised its prices after ArmenTel had reduced
the price of wholesale Internet for Armenian providers.
The updated tariff plans of the company, coming into force on
October 1:
iCON optima (1024 kb/sec down/ 256 kb/s up) 33,000 drams per month
iCON media (512 kb/sec down/ 128 kb/s up) – 22,000 drams per month
iCON connect (256 kb/sec down/ 64 kb/s up) -12,000 drams per month
iCON entry (128 kb/sec down/ 64 kb/s up) – 8,000 drams per month.
According to Raffi Kassarjian, the company is going to offer two
new services. One of them is designed for organizations seeking to
provide virtual access to employees or link various offices of the
organization, as well as to ATM networks, sales shops and network
of kiosks. iCON offers either symmetrical or asymmetrical data
transmission channels between 64 kb/s and 4 Mb/s.
The second one, iCON stream service implies a temporary access
to the Internet at a high speed (1024 down/256 up). It is intended
primarily for tourists and people who need high-speed Internet access
for several days. The service cost is delivered through a USB modem
or internal WiMAX modem.
RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN ATTENDED TODAY THE ANNUAL GALA AWARD FOR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AS ORGANIZED SINCE THE PASSING OF THE RA LAW ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Monday, 28 September 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan attended today the annual gala award
for freedom of information as organized since the passing of the RA Law
on Freedom of Information by the Information Freedom Center every year
on the 28th of September – the International Information Freedom Day.
Congratulating those present on the occasion, the Prime Minister
spoke about the problems available in the field of information
freedom. According to him, the modern world is based on knowledge
and information and, in this respect, knowledge-based economies
cannot be developed without ensuring free access to information:
"This urges us to look for new approaches to the problem. We must
build up such a framework as would make it possible to reveal the
existing shortfalls by exposing those agencies which fail to provide
information of public interest."
Tigran Sargsyan also spoke about the importance of ensuring freedom of
information throughout the public sector: "Agency performance should
be assessed based on their compliance with the criterion of objective
information freedom as well. We are going to submit to you the full set
of per-agency criteria so that civil society could decide in future ho
w well a piece of information reflects reality. In the first place,
these criteria should specify the type and frequency of information
provided by ministers and ministries. Then we will need to determine
which way the government agency-civil society feedback should be
structured by specifying the deadlines for agency responsiveness to
applications, requests, inquiries, as well as establishing the manner
in which they should work with mass media. This must be done in the
institutional order."
The head of government said to be hopeful that his participation will
encourage and promote this process.
The 2009 Information Freedom Golden Keys were handed in by Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Director of the Information Freedom Center
Shushan Doidoyan, as well as by the heads of Armenia’s Human Rights
Office, USAID Armenia Office and OSCE Yerevan Office.
GIANNI BUQUICCHIO AWARDED A MEDAL OF HONOR
armradio.am
29.09.2009 17:25
President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on awarding Gianni Buquicchio,
Secertary General of the European Commission for Democracy through Law
(the Venice Commission) with a Medal of Honor for his contribution
to Armenia’s European integration and implementation of legal reforms
in eh Republic of Armenia, President’s Press Office reported.
RAFFI HOVANNISIAN: TURKEY, ARMENIA, AND THE FRUITS OF GENOCIDE
Raffi K. Hovannisian
9/28/raffi-hovannisian-turkey-armenia-and-the-frui ts-of-genocide/
September 28, 2009
Governments and commentators have hailed the two recently announced
protocols between Turkey and Armenia. If signed and ratified, they
will provide a timetable for the opening of the Turkish-Armenian
border and the establishment of full diplomatic relations.
Unfortunately, the exuberance in Western capitals is based on energy
routes, geopolitics, and the desire to smooth the way for Turkey as
a regional power and EU aspirant. It ignores the sinister aspects of
the deal.
Certainly, Armenia has long pushed for an end to the Turkish blockade
of Armenia, an open border, and diplomatic relations with Turkey
without precondition. This has also been the stated U.S. and European
position.
This approach acknowledges that the Armenian-Turkish relationship
is complicated and burdened by the Armenian Genocide. Open borders,
diplomatic relations, and people-to-people contacts must come first
before Turkey and Armenia can begin to sort out a very difficult
legacy, issues of restitution and reparations, and to what extent
Turkey should continue to enjoy the fruits of genocide.
The proposed protocols, however, will serve to meet two long-standing
Turkish preconditions to the normalization of relations with
Armenia. The first is to forestall further progress in formal
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The second is to
confirm and help remove the juridical cloud from the Turkey Armenia
frontier.
This frontier, which under the Turkish blockade is the last closed
border in Europe, lacks legal status. It is an important issue for
Turkey. The day after the protocols were announced, Turkey’s foreign
minister said that recognition of the current boundary was a basic
element of the proposed agreements, without which "we cannot talk
about being neighbors."
Turkey’s strategy to shirk its obligations to Armenia under
international law is to marginalize Armenia and to deny the genocide,
in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed and the survivors
dispossessed of most of their 3,000-year-old homeland. Turkey uses
its growing strategic and economic power to enlist American and
European support for these initiatives. The offending provisions in
the proposed protocols are part of this process.
Armenia is small, land-locked, and vulnerable. It previously resisted
Turkish preconditions to normalization. However, after elections marred
by fraud and political violence, the current Armenian administration
has been susceptible to Turkish, European, and American pressure
on this issue. Given the legacy of the Armenian Genocide, European
and American roles in promoting, rather than objecting to, these
preconditions are outrageous.
In the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide, U.S. President Woodrow
Wilson fixed Turkey’s boundary with Armenia in an arbitral award issued
under U.S. presidential seal. This remains the only binding demarcation
of the Turkish-Armenian frontier in accordance with an agreement
between sovereign and independent Turkish and Armenian states.
Although the de jure border and the award of these territories to
Armenia continue to be legally valid, the 1920 invasion of Armenia
by Kemalist and Bolshevik forces sealed these lands in Turkey and
gave us the current de facto border.
The great irony is that a significant stretch of the energy and
transport routes that are the sources of an emerging Turkish power
pass through these territories, which were also the killing fields
of the Armenian Genocide. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and
the parallel natural gas South Caucasus Pipeline do. So will the
proposed Nabucco pipeline project. These territories and projects,
so vital to Turkey’s goal to become a major international energy hub,
are the fruits of genocide. And Armenia enjoys none of their political
and economic benefits.
Sadly, open hatred of Armenians is everywhere in Turkey, in
official and semi-official media, in the state school system,
in state-sanctioned discrimination, and elsewhere in and out of
government.
Of course, the pinnacle of this hatred is genocide denial, which
genocide scholars tells us constitutes the final stage of genocide. But
consider the Turkish defense minister who asks rhetorically whether
the present Turkish nation-state would have been possible without
the elimination of the Armenian population, or the Turkish president
who charges an opposition Turkish parliamentarian with defamation
for alleging he has Armenian roots. Remember the murder of the
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, or the planned attacks on
Turkish-Armenian community leaders by Ergenekon, the ultranationalist
organization associated with what in Turkey is referred to as the
"deep state."
With the demonization of Armenians in Turkish nationalist ideology,
an official policy of genocide denial, and Ankara’s proven hostility
to the reborn Armenian state, that the West does not actively oppose
Turkish preconditions should give everyone pause.
The enduring legacy of the Armenian Genocide is not just a challenge
for Turkey and Armenia. It is also a challenge for Europe and
America. The West, despite growing Turkish power and influence, should
encourage Turkey to take responsibility for the Armenian Genocide,
not assist Turkey in compelling Armenia to agree to preconditions
that humiliate the victimized party and prejudice the integrity and
outcome of any future genuine reconciliation process between Turkey
and Armenia.
Ultimately, the Turkish-Armenian conversation must include two thorny
issues: first, to what extent Turkey should continue to enjoy the
fruits of genocide, and second, the integrity of the border it shares
with Armenia.
Raffi Hovannisian was independent Armenia’s first minister of foreign
affairs.
RA PRESIDENT SIGNS A NUMBER OF LAWS ADOPTED BY NA
NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 28, 2009
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. On September 25, RA President
Serzh Sargsyan signed the following laws adopted by the RA National
Assembly: On Making an Amendment to the RA Criminal Code, On Lisensing,
On Making an Addendum to the RA Law On Arms and to the RA Law On State
Duties. Noyan Tapan was informed about this by the RA President’s
Press Office.
RA PRESIDENT RECEIVES FAMOUS RUSSIAN ACTOR VALENTIN GAFT
NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 28, 2009
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Serzh Sargsyan
received famous Russian actor Valentin Gaft on September
28. Emphasizing the close spiritual ties between the Armenian and
Russian peoples, President Sargsyan noted that the Russian language
and culture have great respect in Armenia.
According to the RA President’s Press Office, Serzh Sargsyan attached
importance not only to the maintaining but also expansion of the
existing cultural ties, so that the young generation also has an
opportunity to deal with them. S. Sargsyan considered great actor’s
visit as a great contribution in that respect.
Valentin Gaft said that he is in Armenia for the first time, he is
very impressed and he is already thinking of a second visit. He told
about the new ideas of joint cultural cooperation and noted that the
Sovremennik theater’s possible visit to Armenia is being discussed.
INVESTMENT PROJECT OF SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY CJSC TO BE REVISED
ArmInfo
2009-09-28 16:12:00
ArmInfo. The investment project of the South Caucasus Railway CJSC
(a branch of Russian Railway) will be revised, Armenian Minister
of Transport and Communication Gourgen Sargsyan told ArmInfo
correspondent.
According to him, the amendments to the investment agreement have
been submitted to the Armenian party for familiarization and signing
by the company leadership in Moscow. The amendments suggest that some
operative investments in modernization of railway facilities should
be done as early as possible.
He said that for instance, the project envisages investments in
modernization of the rolling stock within the next 25 years. "These
investments should be done today to ensure effectiveness of the whole
investment project. The concessionaire should restore the railway as
soon as possible",- Sargsyan said.
The parties have preliminarily agreed that a short-term investment
projects will be worked out for the next three years, and the main
priorities should be specified in the project, the minister said. He
added that according to the South Caucasus Railway leadership’s
assurances, investments worth about 2.9 bln RUR will be carried out
in 2009. This project should also include the funds which were not
invested in 2008, he added.
To recall, the Armenian Railway CJSC was transferred to the
concessional management of South Caucasus Railway (the 100% branch
of Russian Railway) on June 1, 2008. The term of the concessional
agreement is 30 years, with the right of prolongation for 20 more years
upon the expire of the agreement. As of the moment of conclusion of the
agreement, investments would amount to $ 572 mln, in case of re-launch
of railway communication with Turkey – $603 mln, with Azerbaijan –
$ 1,7 bln. And if the communication in Abkhaz section is resumed,
investments will amount to $ 2,1 bln.
Adam Schiff: We cannot let Turkey edit history
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Representatives of Armenian
Council of America (ACA) met with Congressman Adam Schiff. The
interlocutors discussed the latest developments on adoption of the
Armenian Genocide resolution, US-Armenia relations, Armenia-Turkey
relations, and the Obama administration’s policies toward Armenia and
Nagorno Karabakh. The ACA representatives thanked and praised
Congressman Schiff for his support to the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide and the sovereignty of Nagorno Karabakh. According to the
panarmenian.net, the congressman reaffirmed his position touching upon
the Armenian-Turkish relations.
"I welcome the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish
relations and I hope that as a result of the negotiations the border
will be opened and diplomatic relations will be established between
Ankara and Yerevan. However meanwhile I have serious concerns about the
protocols of the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations," Adam
Schiff declared.
The American Congressman declared that he is deeply disappointed with
the fact that the protocols call for the creation of an historical
commission to review the events of 1915-23. "We cannot let Turkey edit
the history and it become the price of the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations," Adam Schiff said.