Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

Armenian National Congress Announces Plans for March 1 Rally

Tert.am
11:35 – 13.02.10

The young members of the oppositional Armenian National Congress,
during yesterday’s march in support of political prisoners,
distributed two-page leaflets informing the public of their plans to
hold a rally on March 1.

In the leaflet was text with titles such as `In whose hands is
Armenia’s riches?’, `The creation of a clan system,’ `In the tracks of
criminal funds,’ `Facts about the former Communist Party,’
`Kocharian’s property [or, holdings],’ and `Serzh Sargsyan’s
holdings.’

Armenia to closely cooperate with European tour operators
13.02.2010 16:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Active cooperation with European tour operators will
be the focus of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia
(NCFA) in 2010, particularly operators from England, Germany and
France, Bekor Papazyan , NCFA Executive Director told a briefing at
the Government of Armenia.

"We intend to offer a number of new tourist products to people
visiting Armenia," he said. Among the proposed products he mentioned
the national cuisine and the Tatev monastery complex. Cableway at the
Tatev monastery will be put into operation this fall, and the
monastery complex will be completely renovated by 2012.

The NCFA Board of Trustees held a meeting from 13 to 14 February in
Yerevan under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran
Sargsyan. The proposals on joining the Fund with the Armenian Tourism
Development Agency, as well as on cooperation with USAID. Will be
submitted to the meeting.

Contract for construction of the cableway leading to the Tatev
monastery complex was signed in Yerevan on July 14. Construction of
the cableway is part of the Revival and restoration of Tatev
20-million-worth program carried out by NCFA since February 2009. The
cost of the construction of the cableway is 6,8 million euros.

Tatev monastery was a major cultural center with a scriptorium, a
library and one of the most famous medieval universities.

On February 11, 2010 the Government of Armenia adopted Tourism
Development Program in Armenia for 2010 . The number of tourists
visiting Armenia in 2009, increased by 3% and amounted to 575 281
tourists. Tourism Development Program requires 2,5-3 billion
investments, the state is ready to pay USD 700 million.

PETER SEMNEBY TO DISCUSS NAGORNO-KARABAKH DURING BAKU VISIT

Tert.am
15:45 ~U 12.02.10

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby will
visit Baku this month, reports APA, quoting diplomatic sources.

The European diplomat will hold meetings with Azerbaijani officials,
heads of nongovernmental organizations and political parties. Various
aspects of EU-Azerbaijan cooperation, as well as the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, will be discussed during the meetings.

ARMENIA TO RATIFY PROTOCOLS AFTER TURKEY – PRESIDENT

Mediamax
Feb 10 2010
Armenia

Yerevan. 10 February: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated in
London today that the parliament of the country will ratify the
Armenian-Turkish protocols only after they are ratified by Turkey,
the Armenian president said this while delivering a speech at Royal
Institute for Foreign Relations (Chatham House), a Mediamax special
correspondent reports from London.

"As the leader of the party in majority at the Armenian parliament,
I guarantee that the protocols will be ratified by the parliament if
they are ratified by Turkey", Sargsyan said.

The Armenian president recalled the statements made by the
Turkish leadership that the parliament of their country is an
independent agency and the results of the ratification process
are "unpredictable". "Against the background of such statements,
the ratification of protocols by our parliament prior to similar
decision to be made by Turkey will look strange. And what will happen
if the Armenian parliament ratifies the protocols, but the Turkish
parliament refuses to do so?" Sargsyan said. He expressed the hope
that the president and the prime minister of Turkey will display the
will and will persuade the members of their party, who are in the
majority in the parliament to ratify the protocols.

The Armenian president reminded that there is no unambiguous attitude
towards the process of normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations
in Armenian political circles and in society. "In particular, this
process costs us the loss of our important partner from the ruling
coalition", the president said.

Answering the question of participants in the meeting, the Armenian
president said that he does not understand the Turkish leaders
who are paying their attention to the decision made by the Armenian
Constitutional Court, which recognized the protocols in accordance with
the country’s constitution. "It seems that Ankara would be glad if the
court decided that the protocols contradict the Armenian constitution",
Sargsyan noted.

"Protocols are legal documents with clear formulations and I do not
think that one should try to find the implications or hidden meaning in
them. We have never stated that we refuse the international recognition
of the Armenian genocide and we are ready to bear responsibility for
what is written in the protocols. We cannot bear responsibility for
thoughts and suppositions of our partners in talks", Sargsyan said.

Sargsyan said that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations
will make "a huge contribution to the establishment of peace and
stability in the region". "However, if our fears turn out to be true
that Turkey aims to delay the process, we will stop this process",
the Armenian president said.

TURKISH-ARMENIAN RAPPROCHEMENT OVER – AZERBAIJANI EXPERT

news.az
Feb 11 2010
Azerbaijan

Rovshan Ibrahimov News.Az interviews Azerbaijani political scientist
Rovshan Ibrahimov.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said yesterday he was about to send
the Turkish-Armenian protocols on normalizing relations to parliament.

On the other hand, the Turkish side is a long way from ratification.

How would you comment on the situation?

This is propaganda by Armenia. The leadership of the country
understands that the situation has reached a climax when Armenia
will be blamed for the failure to ratify the protocols, especially
after the decision of the Constitutional Court. Yet, it is clear
that Turkey has used the Armenian Constitutional Court ruling to
take a step back and not ratify the protocols, as the situation has
changed since the time of their signing. By sending the protocols
for ratification to parliament, the Armenian president wants to show
that they have the will and that the failure is, therefore, Turkey’s
fault. This is logical. But there is no guarantee that the Armenian
parliament will ratify these protocols.

What is the fate of the negotiation process?

I think the process has ended. Everything has been frozen. The
thing is that Turkey also understood that it would be better to keep
everything unchanged than to lose ties with Azerbaijan for something
unknown. This process is gradually being reducing to nought and these
protocols will not come into force.

While visiting Great Britain, Serzh Sargsyan said that the resolution
of relations between Armenia and Turkey may give an impetus to the
Karabakh settlement process. Is this opinion justified?

It is like putting the cart before the horse. By doing so he wants
to show that Armenia is constructive while its neighbours, Turkey and
Azerbaijan, and destructive. By this statement Sargsyan wants to say
"open the border and then we will think of how to settle the Karabakh
conflict". Though, again we see that the chain of logic is broken. The
Karabakh issue must be settled first and then the border opening is
possible. Again, the opening of the border with Turkey will be a
window letting in air to Armenia, as President Aliyev has already
said. But this will again be breathing through a mask. It means
that even if the border with Turkey opens, Armenia will get only a
temporary reprieve. Meanwhile, our long strategy to isolate Armenia
from all regional programs could suffer serious damage. Therefore,
Azerbaijan insisted that Turkey take a realistic approach to things
and understand its real priorities. Turkey has already realized this.

How do you assess Turkey’s ability to influence the Karabakh
settlement?

Their ability is minimal. Turkey earlier thought that if it developed
relations with Armenia, Armenia would be tied to it for economic and
other reasons which would give levers of pressure on Yerevan to settle
the Karabakh problem. Later Turkey understood that the Karabakh issue
cannot be settled by Armenia and its solution lies in Russia’s hands.

Therefore, Turkey tried two approaches. In the first Turkey tried to
persuade the United States to put pressure on Russia to change the
situation. But the United States does not consider it appropriate at
the current stage. It’s not in the US national interest. Turkey’s
second approach was to reach agreement with Russia. But then Putin
said openly that the opening of the border and resolution of the
Karabakh conflict are two different issues that cannot be discussed
in a single package. Therefore, Turkey realized that it has no levers
to settle the liberation of the five districts around Nagorno-Karabakh.

In this case, we see that Turkey has taken a step back in order not
to spoil relations with Azerbaijan.

President Aliyev said recently that if Azerbaijan resumes military
action to liberate Nagorno-Karabakh, then this must be considered an
internal affair of Azerbaijan. Does this correspond with us holding
negotiations with Armenia, rather than Karabakh?

Here, we should single out two points. The thing is that Article 51
of the UN Charter defines the right of a country to self-defence in
case of occupation. This is part of international law. In this case
we have four resolutions of the UN Security Council regarding the
occupation which have not been fulfilled by the Armenians. They say
openly that the occupation was conducted by Armenian armed forces, not
the "liberation forces of Karabakh". That is, Armenia is recognized
as a party to the conflict. This is about international law. Thus,
Azerbaijan preserved the right to liberate its lands and there are
no time restrictions on the restoration of its territorial integrity.

On the other hand, as for the speech of President Aliyev that the
liberation must be considered Azerbaijan’s internal affair, in this
case there is the well-known regulation that Karabakh Armenians, who
are Azerbaijani citizens, are under occupation. And these citizens must
be freed as state order is restored to these territories. Thus, these
will be not hostilities but the restoration of order by the Interior
Troops. This does not fall under Article 51 of the UN Charter. This
is the natural right of any state to restore order in its territory,
especially when the occupied lands are recognized as part of Azerbaijan
by all countries.

May this statement by the president lead to Armenia distancing
itself from the negotiations and telling us to negotiate directly
with Karabakh?

Armenia has itself brought the resolution to the international
level in order to hamper the resolution of the Karabakh conflict
as an internal conflict of Azerbaijan. In this case Azerbaijan may
act as Russia did in Chechnya, saying "this is my business and I am
restoring order in my territory". Armenia has brought the conflict to
the international level itself. Armenia has also never said that it
is a party to the conflict. It has just said that it represents the
interests of Nagorno-Karabakh, because the latter is not a recognized
party and is unable to hold negotiations with Azerbaijan.

ARSHILE GORKY – A RETROSPECTIVE AT TATE MODERN
by: Katuschka

Spoonfed
Feb 11 2010
UK

As Tate Modern opens its retrospective of Arshile Gorky, Kate Weir
prepares to add a new name to the canon of Surrealism.

I’ll admit I knew nothing about Armenian artist Arshile Gorky when
I walked into his retrospective at the Tate Modern. I thought I
understood why when I saw the entrance room filled with sombre
Cezanne inspired pieces. I steeled myself for another exhibition
of worthy but eminently murky artwork, but was soon made aware
that Gorky’s artwork has been woefully ignored in the Surrealist
canon. (Incidentally Arshile Gorky is actually a pseudonym aquired
when the artist emigrated to America – his real name is the infinitely
more unpronounceable Vostanik Manoog Adouyan.)

Gorky’s early paintings show nothing of the kaleidoscopic, psychedelic
fun that begins when the influence of Picasso, Arp and De Chirico
become apparent. Theres’ floating amorphous blobs of colour, nudes
which make you wonder if Gorky has ever seen a naked woman before (or
perhaps if he has a fetish for women with giant hands and one leg) and
pieces which pre-empt the colourful scrawlings of Basquiat and Willem
De Kooning. He’s at least the equal of his eminent contemporaries.

His work recontextualises sections of New York through the steel
lenses of Russian industrialism, the graphic savvy of Dada, and the
jazz colours of Mondrian. Central Park at sundown is reduced to a
sienna wash with urban accoutrements invading the landscape like
buildings sprouting into a skyline. A tragic fire which destroyed
most of Gorky’s body of work becomes an inspiration from which the
sublime and shadowy Charred Beloved series of paintings emergelike
a Phoenix from the ashes.

His restless re-tooling – "If something is finished it is dead. I
believe in everlastingness. I never finish a painting." – marks him
as an unstoppable force of talent. Even the notoriously difficult
Dada artist Andre Breton said of Gorky: "He is the only surrealist
artist who maintains direct contact with nature".

At the centre of the exhibition are Gorky’s poignant paintings of his
mother, who starved to death after the Armenian genocide. There are
various guises of her haunted face, with Gorky painted as a little boy
beside her. She’s both an icon of his tragic early life, the lifeblood
which runs through his work, and an anchor for his Armenian identity,
so it’s no wonder she is the focus of his best work.

Gorky recounts his childhood experiences through the language of the
city with industrial flotsam and jetsam and his past with the vivid
palettes of dreams. The decision to show Gorky’s preliminary sketches
shows just how considered these seemingly random works are; some of his
paintings could be dismissed by the "a five year old could do that"
brigade, but these sketches show shades of Dalí -esque soft forms,
Picasso’s skewed perspective,and Duchamp’s erratic whimsy.

Gorky manages to bring all these elements together in a melée of
buzzing ephemera.

Arshile Gorky – A Retrospective is at Tate Modern until 3rd May 2010.

CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIA-IRAN RAILWAY TO STIMULATE BILATERAL TURNOVER OF GOODS

NOYAN TAPAN
FEBRUARY 10, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The ARMEX 2010 international
economic forum on the subject "The Investment and Trade Opportunities
in Armenia" is being held in Iran on February 9-10. The purpose
of the event is to present those sectors of the Armenian economy
which have much potential for investment, as well as to find new
opportunities for cooperation. According to spokeswoman for the RA
minister of transport and communication Susanna Tonoyan, Minister
Gurgen Sargsyan stated this in his speech at the forum.

Speaking about investment projects, G. Sargsyan dwelled on the
transport and communication sectors, noting that they play a great
role in the development of Armenia’s economy. The minister pointed
out the construction projects of the North-South motorway and the
Armenia-Iran railway.

Accoridng to him, the creation of direct railway communication between
the two friendly countries will stimulate the bilateral turnover
of goods, as well as will link the largest ports of the Persian
Gulf and the Black Sea with each other, opening an opportunity to
considerably increase the transit importance of both Armenia and
Iran. The construction of the North-South motorway will help improve
the quality and capacity of the motorway from the city of Meghri that
borders Iran to the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi.

The minister presented in detail the implementation process of the
two projects and expressed a willingness to discuss the issue of
Iranian companies’ participation in all stages of these projects.

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA TO VISIT SYRIA IN SECOND HALF OF MARCH

ArmInfo
2010-02-09 13:07:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan will pay an official
visit to Syria in the second half of March, Armenian Ambassador to
Syria Arshak Poladian told Syrian Al-Watan Daily.

The source reported that during the visit Serzh Sargsyan will meet
with his Syrian colleague Bashar Al- Assad. Serzh Sargsyan was to
visit Armenia yet in October 2009 but the visit was postponed.

Earlier on June 17 2009 the Syrian president with spouse Asma Al-Assad
paid a two-day official visit to Armenia.

Syrian Co-chair of the Armenian-Syrian Commission for Business
Cooperation Lion Zaki told AlWatan that the two presidents are expected
to discussed the arrangement made earlier as well as the ways to
bolster the trade relations of the two countries. Armenian-Syrian
Business Forum and Exhibition of Armenian products are expected in
Aleppo. L. Zaki forecasts that export of Syrian goods to Armenia will
grow 40% till the end of the year. After exhibition of Syrian goods
in Yerevan last autumn, Syrian has been developing export to Armenia,
he said.

Earlier during a Business Forum in Yerevan Chairman of the Armenian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Martin Sargsyan told media that
Armenian House will be built in Aleppo where Armenian produce will be
exhibited and sold. During the visit of President Al-Assad to Armenia,
the Armenian and Syrian Economy Ministries signed an agreement to
promote mutual investments and defense sector. In addition, the Nature
Protection Ministries of the two countries signed an agreement of
cooperation in the ecology sector.

The Armenian Diaspora in Syrian comprises nearly 120,000 people. In
2008 the commodity turnover between Armenia and Syria amounted to
$5.99 million, unfavorable balance totaled $5.81 million. The share
of import of Syrian goods to Armenia was the largest – $5.9 million,
whereas export of Armenian produce to Syrian amounted just $90,000.

Armenia exports honey, carbide, paints and other produce to Syria and
imports shoes, medicines, citrus fruits, vegetables, nuts, washing
substances, jewelry and others.

The delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Arman
Kirakosyan will be on an official visit to Syria on February 9-11 to
participate in political consultations between the Foreign Ministries
of Armenian and Syria as well as in opening of the Consulate in
Der Zor.

SPEAKER TOM MOORADIAN: "LOVE, BASKETBALL, AND THE KGB"

Gustavus Adolphus College News
Feb 7 2010

Tom Mooradian, author of "Love, Basketball and the KGB" will share his
story of spending 13 years behind the Iron Curtain after volunteering
to repatriate to Soviet Armenia as a teenager. He went from being a
Detroit basketball star and promising student to a Soviet citizen
trapped in bread lines and unable to leave the USSR. Mooradian’s
basketball prowess captured the hearts of the Soviet people and
probably saved his life. Miraculously surviving 13 years behind
the Iron Curtain, he had the opportunity to see what no foreign
correspondent, no western journalist, no diplomat was permitted to
see: the Soviet Union as the Soviets lived. His story has it all:
adventure, danger, suspense, love.

YOUNG SPECIALISTS OF SOUTH CAUCASUS RAILWAY GATHER

ArmInfo
2010-02-08 13:08:00

ArmInfo. Young specialists of the South Caucasus Railway (SCR) CJSC
gathered on February 5 for the first time. The gathering started with
a meeting of delegates at the railway station in Yerevan.

The SCR press-service told ArmInfo young railwaymen visited the
Railway Museum and demonstrated up- to-date technologies introduced
by the company at the railway station in the town of Masis. On their
return to Yerevan, the young specialists visited the exhibition
"SCR Development Strategy: Technology and Human Resources".

"Times are changing but requirements are still the same: gook skills,
high working capability, ability to make initiatives, work in a
team and adopt right decisions. Young railwaymen have enough time to
learn all this. We have resolved to establish the Council of Young
Specialists to educate you and to allow you train future generations,"
SCR Director General Shevket Shaydullin says.

Members were elected to the Council of Young Specialists. Vahe Davtyan,
SCR Spokesman, was elected Chairman of the Council. He presented the
program "SCR Youth 2010-2015". The Council came out for making such
gatherings regular.

South Caucasian Railway CJSC is the subsidiary (100%) of the Russian
Railways CJSC. The contract of concession of the Armenian Railroad
CJSC for 30 years with a 10-year renewable period was signed in
Yerevan on February 13 2008.