Author: Tumanian Talar

PanARMENIAN.Net

ANCC: American professor made racist and derogatory remarks about Armenians
10.03.2009 00:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At a lecture sponsored by the Assembly of
Azerbaijani-Canadian Organizations, with "kind assistance from the
Azerbaijani Embassy in Ottawa", American journalist and professor of
political science Thomas Goltz made racist and derogatory remarks
about Armenians in Ottawa last week. Goltz’ remarks were in response a
question from the audience on how to convince Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabagh to stay within the "current boundaries of
Azerbaijan." Goltz, who teaches at the Montana State University,
replied: "By building a forward-looking democracy you will be able to
let the garlic-growing Armenians beg to join you (Azerbaijan)."

Goltz was in Ottawa as a speaker, invited by the Azeri embassy and the
Assembly of Azerbaijani-Canadian Organizations, to talk about the
events of February 26, 1992 in the town of Khojaly in
Nagorno-Karabagh. Goltz delivered his speech "Khojaly Massacre: Crime
and No Punishment", at the National Archives of Canada. Some 60 people
(mostly Azeris and Turks) attended. Next day Goltz delivered a
variation of the same lecture at the National Press Club’s Newsmaker
Breakfast series, hosted by the Azeri embassy. About 20 people
attended that gathering.

Goltz accused Armenians of perpetrating "ethnic cleansing" in Khojaly
and said the Armenia argument that the Khojaly operation was a
necessary pre-emptive and defensive measure to relieve
Nagorno-Karabagh’s capital Stepanakerd from relentless shelling from
Khojaly was "nonsense".

The most dramatic moment of the lectures occurred when Aris Babikian
from the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) successfully
refuted two controversial statements by Goltz.

At the Newsmaker Breakfast lecture, Aris Babikian, executive director
of the ANCC, confronted Goltz and mocked him for his "command
performance of misrepresentation and revisionism." Babikian exposed
Goltz’ hypocrisy by pointing out that the American journalist had
"conveniently forgotten to mention the Sumgait, Baku and Maragh
massacres of Armenians by Azeris… and that had it not been for the
Russian Navy 230,000 Armenian inhabitants of Baku would have not
survived."

Regarding the Khojaly killings, Babikian said: "Armenians did not
claim that Azeris had perpetrated the massacres of their own
people. It was the Azeri president, Ayaz Mutalibov, who made such a
statement in an April 2, 2004 interview published in Nezavisimaya
Gazeta. In the interview with Czech journalist Yana Mazalova,
Mutalibov said that his opposition, the National Front of Azerbaijan,
were behind the killings to undermine his authority and to topple him.

In further questioning, Babikian asked Goltz to explain why the bodies
of Azeri victims were found 11 km from Khojaly and 2 km from the most
heavily fortified Azeri military town of Aghdam. "Is it logical for
Armenians to follow Azeri 11 km, risking their own lives to eliminate
the enemy around Aghdam, instead of killing them in Khojaly?" Babikian
asked.

Babikian challenged Goltz to explain why so "many Azeri journalists
who had questioned Azeri government’s version of Khojaly events were
jailed or killed. Babikian cited the case of jailed Azeri journalist
Eynulla Fatullayev whose jailing was investigated by the European
Court for Human Rights.

Babikian asked Goltz to be honest and impartial when employing quotes
and to do so "without misrepresentation and misquotation so that they
can fit and augment his narrative of the events."

The ANCC executive said that he found it strange that Goltz praised
his "old friend" the late "great" Aliyev as an "extraordinary guy"
when everyone in Azerbaijan knows that he was a despot and a man who
stifled democracy while his son, the current president, follows in his
father’s infamous steps. Babikian said it was obvious that for Goltz
"the lure of the petro-dollar is much stronger than the lure of truth
and impartiality."

Goltz did not answer any of Babikian’s questions and skirted around
them.

Dr. Girair Basmadjian, president of ANCC, said: "We condemn such
racist and hate-disseminating lectures spewed by the mouthpiece of a
foreign government on Canadian podiums. It is unfortunate that some
Canadian Parliamentarians, Senators, and journalists had to hear such
vile statements without even raising an objection or questioning the
organizers and the speaker about the validity of their words and
action."

The ANCC leader added that "The Canadian government and police should
investigate the grave and far-reaching consequences of such hateful
speeches. We also would like to ask Canadian Parliamentarians to
disassociate themselves from this lecture and the anxiety it has
caused to the Canadian-Armenian community," ANCC reports.

Poverty Reduction Support Credits program of Armenia announced winner
of WB competition

12778

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. A package of programs to be implemented
in Armenia within the next 4 years with the financing of the World Bank
was discussed at the March 6 meeting of Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan and WB Regional Director for the South Caucasus Asad Alam.

Expressing satisfaction at Armenia’s cooperation with the World Bank,
T. Sargsyan said that Armenia is interested in continuing its
cooperation on the envisaged programs, including reforms in government
system, agriculture, irrigation sector, etc. At the same time,
according to him, in conditions of the global financial and economic
crisis the Armenian government will have to give up some risky
projects. The prime minister attached importance to the implementation
of social programs and projects in the indicated package.

Asad Alam in his turn underlined the importance of the efficient use of
financial resources of 525m USD provided by the WB, the successful
implementation of the envisaged programs and ensuring a clear strategy
in each sector with the aim of attracting investments on its basis. He
said that two years later, based on the results of a report on
implementation of the package of programs, it will be possible to
address the problem of additional financing by the WB.

According to the RA Government Information and PR Department, Asad Alam
said that recently Poverty Reduction Support Credits program of Armenia
was announced the winner of the World Bank’s Improving the Lives of
People in Europe and Central Asia 2009 competition. He handed T.
Sargsyan the award for achieving significant results in the
implementation of this program.

Appreciation of Armenian dram had negative impact on development of
domestic production, Vazgen Safarian says

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The appreciation of the Armenian dram
has had a negative impact on the development of domestic production, as
a result of which in 2008 exports fell by 7.8% to 1 billion 69 million
USD, while imports grew by 35% to 4 billion 411.7 million USD. The
chairman of the Union of Manufacturers of Domestic Goods Vazgen
Safarian expressed this opinion at the March 6 press conference.

He said that the floating exchange rate of the national currency will
allow developing domestic production. In his words, the state should
revise its approaches and stereotypes that prevent the country’s
economy from developing. According to V. Safarian, the state should
regulate and manage the economy. "A policy of shock therapy of the free
market economy has been conducted in Armenia in the past two decades.
The result is that we have a small group of rich people and a huge mass
of those in hard conditions," he said.

V. Safarian expressed confidence that it is possible to increase
exports about 1.5fold and reduce imports 2fold by taking active state
measures.

Famous Armenologist and expert in Byzantine studies Karen Yuzbashian
dies

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The famous Armenologist and expert in
Byzantine studies, distinguished translator of medieval Armenian
historiographical works, Doctor of Historical Sciences Karen Yuzbashian
died in Saint Petersburg on March 5. He was 82.

K. Yuzbashian was born in Tiflis on January 1, 1927 to the family of an
engineer from Shushi. In 1955-1958 he worked at the Matenadaran, after
1958 – at the Leningrad Unit of the Institute of Oriental Studies of
the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was the head of the Institute’s
"Caucasus Study" founded by Hovsep Orbely. K. Yuzbashian was an expert
in Armenian history and bibiliography, Armenian manuscripts,
Armenian-Byzantine relations, the history of Armenology, and the
history of Byzantine Armenia. In recent years he taught at Saint
Petersburg University.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian women politicians to attend parliaments of England, Scotland
and Wales 07.03.2009 13:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On Mar 9-14 18 members of parliamentary and extra
parliamentary political parties and 3 AR MPs: Armen Melikyan
(Prosperous Armenia Party), Rafik Grigoryan (RPA) and Artyush
Shakhbazyan (Dashnaktsutyun Faction) will visit the Great Britain
withing the framework of `Wo/Men in Politics’ Program organised by
Armenian Representation of British Council. The visit aims to
familiarize Armenian politicians with GB parliamentary system,
legislation, and the appliaction of laws in the establishment of equal
rights for men and women politicians. Visits to English, Scotch and
Welsh Parliaments are on agenda.

ECONOMIC TIES MAJOR FACTOR FOR STRENGTHENING OF RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN RELATIONS IN 2008

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 20:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2008 Russian-Armenian partnership relations
tended to develop dynamically. The election processes of 2008 in
neither country had any full effect on bilateral political contacts,
as is said in the RF Foreign Ministry review of 2008 on the activities
of Diplomatic and Domestic Politics.

Within the framework of promoting a top-level dialogue, the presidents
of both countries had six meetings, the country leaders paid mutual
working visits. The critical development of the situation in the
Caucasus proved the importance of strengthening Armenian-Russian
strategic cooperation in order to guarantee stability and security
in the region, as is recorded in the RF Foreign Ministry act.

According to the review, military, humanitarian, and inter-regional
contacts improved in 2008. Economic relations become the leading
factor in promoting all kinds of Russian-Armenian relationship in 2008.

The commodity turnover between RF and RA increased by 19.9% in
January-October, 2008 and made $749,2m. "Russia became the main
counter-agent in Armenia. The accumulated amount of capital investment
in the Economy of Armenia, which by the end of the year was exceeded
by 1,8 billion dollars, proved Russia’s leading status among the
foreign investors. "

The joint gas and energy projects, the collaboration in the field
of atomic energy were successfully carried out. "Russia and Armenia
collaborated effectively on the issues of reforms and on the effective
functioning of CIS, on strengthening the coordination activities
within the framework of OCST," as is said in the RA Foreign Ministry
review of activities of 2008.

ARMENIA WANTS TO USE RUBLES TO DEAL WITH RUSSIA

Pravda
March 5 2009
Russia

Armenia is interested in paying off its debts to Russia in rubles,
not in dollars, the nation’s Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said.

"It leads to the diversification of our external assets and currency
transactions for our businesses which reduce our dependence on external
changes", the head of the Armenian government said in an interview
with the Armenian television.

The Russian authorities repeatedly declared their intention to make
ruble the regional reserve currency. At the beginning of February
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that it was quite realistic
to use the ruble as the reserve currency within the neighbouring
states. Such a step will be very useful both for the Russian economy,
and for CIS countries.

In a February 11 interview with the Russian news agencies, Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that there is "a real chance" for such
a move "if by ruble zone it is meant countries that use the ruble
in their trade with Russia." The prime minister added that "if one
means a union similar to the euro zone, so it is too early to speak
about this."

Today the situation in Armenia appears to be the following:

Armenians rushed to buy bread, butter and other staples Tuesday and
stores shut down in panic after the government announced it would
let the national currency fall and was seeking a bailout from the IMF.

Banking authorities said the national currency — the dram — could
sink up to 24 percent with the decision. The devaluation was sure to
hurt ordinary Armenians, with prices for imported goods expected to
rise sharply, the AP reports.

The Armenian Central Bank decided to limit currency interventions and
return to free float policy "due to the financial and economic crisis,
worsening terms of trade and slowing capital inflows," bank chairman
Artur Dzhavadian told reporters Tuesday.

Armen Gevorkian, a 33-year-old engineer, was stocking up on food
in downtown Yerevan, where staples typically include bread, butter,
sugar, salt and vegetable oil.

"I’m buying food with all the drams I have because the dollar is
going to rise and then the situation will be very difficult," he said.

Prices at some grocery stores shot up 20 to 30 percent on Tuesday. One
of Yerevan’s largest grocery chains, Star, closed all of its stores
shortly after the Central Bank’s announcement.

"I AM READY TO FULFILL MY DUTY AS A SOLDIER"

A1+
[08:07 pm] 05 March, 2009

"No nation likes war, but no nation hates a war that results in its
victory. The total, pan-national hatred toward war is fraught with new
wars and downfall. We did not even give our people the chance to value
the war that they won. In the result, we have come to the point where
symbols are being destroyed. The Dashnaks celebrate May 28-not us,
September 21 is the celebration of the Armenian National Movement-we
don’t celebrate that, the Constitution belongs to Levon and not us,"
these were the words of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan in his speech made
during the 5th special congress of the Republican Party of Armenia
on January 30, 1999.

At the time Vazgen Sargsyan was still the Minister of Defense and
still hadn’t formed the "Miasnutyun" alliance, which Vazgen Sargsyan
headed along with Karen Demirchyan, participated in the National
Assembly elections in May 1999 and turned Armenian Prime Minister.

Vazgen Sargsyan made some clarifications during his speech at the
Republican Party’s special congress and we present them briefly ten
years after that speech.

"Tied to fate"

My relationship with Robert Kocharyan: everybody has been talking
about my relationship with Robert Kocharyan for the past year. I am
telling you once and for all that we are close friends, have fought
together and are also tied by fate. I will never go against Robert
Kocharyan. We have something to prove. Levon Ter-Petrosyan left a
great burden on our shoulders with his resignation. We are certain
that we were right, but we still have to prove to ourselves and the
people that we are right. We are tied by fate.

If Ter-Petrosyan didn’t leave…

As for my relationship with Levon Ter-Petrosyan, I have respected,
respect and always will respect Levon Ter-Petrosyan. He is a wise
and moral person and state figure. Levon Ter-Petrosyan resigned and
took with him his beliefs and left everything up to us. If Levon
Ter-Petrosyan were to decide not to resign, nobody could remove
him. The rumors that others made Levon Ter-Petrosyan leave, that it was
on time and it was the people starting from Vazgen Sargsyan and ending
with Muradik of Karabakh who did it are senseless and ridiculous. If
Levon Ter-Petrosyan didn’t resign, nobody would make him do so. If he
were to remove me from the office of Minister of Defense, I would. But
in that case he would take on the responsibility. He resigned and put
the weight on our shoulders. This is an issue of responsibility and not
who removed whom. I have not gone against Levon Ter-Petrosyan; rather,
I have defended his ideas. Our views differed on the Artsakh issue
and had my differences with Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s group of people.

Today the prominent state figure Vazgen Sargsyan would have turned 50
years old. But he was assassinated 10 years ago on October 27, 1999 in
the National Assembly. He was the Prime Minister of Armenia and on the
day of the tragedy he was answering deputies’ questions in parliament.

RUSSIA SAYS EU PRESSURES BELARUS OVER S.OSSETIA, ABKHAZIA

RIA Novosti
14:02 | 06/ 03/ 2009

MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian diplomat has accused
the EU of exerting pressure on Belarus not to recognize the former
Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the
EU’s rotating presidency, said in late February that Belarus would
create "a very difficult situation" if it were to recognize Abkhazia
and South Ossetia as independent states. His comments came on the
same day that the European Union announced the inclusion of Belarus
in its Eastern Partnership (EaP) program.

EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy
Benita-Ferrero Waldner also said that the possible recognition of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Minsk could hamper its ties with the EU.

"Schwarzenberg’s statement should be regarded as severe public
pressure from the EU presidency on Belarus," Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with the Russian daily
newspaper, Izvestia.

"In an unacceptable, ultimatum-like form, Minsk has been offered
a range of possibilities for drawing closer to Europe in exchange
for the surrender of its sovereign right to take decisions on major
foreign policy issues," Karasin added.

Under the EaP program, Belarus and another five former Soviet
republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine,
will be granted 350 million euros ($448 million) in extra financial
assistance by 2013.

The Belarusian parliament is due to consider recognizing the two
republics on April 2.

Russia recognized the two states as independent on August 26, 2008. The
move came two weeks after the end of a five-day war with Georgia,
which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt
to regain control over the republic. So far, only Nicaragua has joined
Russia in acknowledging the sovereignty of the two republics.

The Foreign Ministries of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have also slammed
Schwarzenberg’s statement.

Karasin quoted Abkhazia’s Foreign Ministry as saying it "posed a threat
to the Geneva talks under the EU’s auspices" that began last October.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia split from Georgia amid bloody post-Soviet
conflicts. The majority of residents of both republics have had
Russian citizenship for many years.

PRESS RELEASE
Hayastan All Armenian Fund
Governmental Buiding 3, Yerevan, RA
Contact: Hasmik Grigoryan
Tel: +(3741) 56 01 06 ext. 105
Fax: +(3741) 52 15 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

4 March, 2009

Hayastan All Armenian Fund supports education and low-income families in
Tavush Region

The Hayastan All Armenian Fund established a computer lab at the school of
Aknaghbyur Village, in Armenia’s Tavush Region. The donated equipment
includes five computers, a copier, computer desks, and chairs.

The project, sponsored by the Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s U.S. East Coast
affiliate, was made possible through a $5,000 contribution by Mr. Laurent
Paulac of New York.

The creation of the lab was met with great enthusiasm by the Aknaghbyur
school’s students and faculty, who culled their own resources to refurbish
the room.

"It is our hope that the new computer lab will significantly enhance
learning processes at the Aknaghbyur school," said Ara Vardanyan, the
Hayastan All Armenian Fund’s acting executive director.

The fund implemented an equally vital project in the neighboring village of
Ditavan, by providing milch cows to low-income, multi-children families. The
initiative was sponsored by the All Armenian Fund’s U.S. East Coast
affiliate.

Varuzhan, a Ditavan resident whose family was one of three to receive
assistance, was overjoyed to report that his cow has already given birth to
a calf.