Author: Vardapetian Ophelia

ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN INTERSCHOOL TIES WITH ASSISTANCE OF RA MINISTRY OF DIASPORA

Noyan Tapan
July 29, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Yerevan School N20
after John Kirakosian responded the proposal of establishing friendly
ties with Tbilisi N131 Russian-Armenian Secondary School presented
by the RA Ministry of Diaspora. Manana Karapetian, the teacher of the
History of Armenian Church of Tbilisi N131 Russian-Armenian Secondary
School and the editor-in-chief of the Zrutsakits (interlocuter)
school newspaper informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent about it.

In her words, the administration of the mentioned school of Tbilisi
addressed to the RA Ministry of Diaspora to get assistance in the issue
of establishing ties with one of schools of Armenia. It is envisaged
that non-Armenian pupils of Tbilisi School N131 will aslo participate
for 10 days in classes of Yerevan School N20, and the later’s pupils
will visit the mentioned school in Tbilisi. Joint cultural programs
are also envisaged.

Touching upon the problems of the Armenian schools in Georgia,
M. Karapetian considered appropriate that exact sciences and natural
sciences are taught in those schools not translated from Georgian into
Armenian, but by Armenian language text-books used in Armenia as there
are mistakes and faults in the Georgian text-books on the mentioned
subjects which are also repeated in their Armenian translations.

She affirmed that there is need of text-books on the Armenian Fiction,
on the History of Armenian People and Art and, especially, on the
Oratory. The circumstance that Georgian Armenian pupils compose
their ideas at the all-Armenian olympiads on the Armenian language
and literature worse than, for example, Iranian and Syrian Armenian
pupils, is conditioned by absence of the text-books on the Oratory.

The Georgian Armenian teacher also stated that the mentioned school in
Tbilisi is in the region of the city populated by Armenians, and 350
from 460 pupils of the school are Armenians, but only 64 pupils studied
at Armenian classes during the 2008/2009 school year. He conditioned
such a situation with the circumstance that Armenian parents prefer to
give their child to a Russian or Georgian school, considering that it
is not advantageous for a child to leave an Armenian school from the
point of view of entering an institution of higher education in Georgia
and possibilities of finding a job. That is the reason that Armenian
classes of the mentioned school occupy 45-person classrooms for a class
of 4-5 pupils, and the Russian classes are overloaded what influences
on the education quality. For this reason a small flow of pupils from
Russian classes to Armenian ones has already been noticed during
the recent years. Manana Karapetian mentioned that teaching of the
Georgian language is also on a high level at the Armenian department
of the school, owing to what 4 from 5 school leavers of 2008 of the
Armenian department entered Georgian institutions of higher education.

She also added that if there were 34 Armenian schools in Tbilisi in
the middle of 1970s, there are only 6 ones at present.

SALT LAKE’S MOVSISYAN NAMED MLS PLAYER OF WEEK

CBC.ca
July 27 2009
Canada

Major League Soccer announced on Monday that Real Salt Lake forward
Yura Movsisyan was its player of the week.

Movsisyan was a super sub for Salt Lake in Friday’s home game against
FC Dallas. Movsisyan came on in the second half with his team down
two goals, and scored twice as Salt Lake rallied for a 4-2 victory.

The 21-year-old Armenian-born player now has six goals, second on
the club to Robbie Findley.

Movsisyan has 13 goals in 38 games in the MLS, beginning his career
with Kansas City in 2007. He is set to play in Denmark in 2010.

Runner-ups to Movsisyan in Week 19 were keepers Matt Reis of New
England and Jon Busch of Chicago.

ARMENIA, SERBIA INTERESTED IN EXPANDING BILATERAL COOPERATION

armradio.am
27.07.2009 18:18

The newly appointed Ambassador of Serbia to Armenia, Dragan
Jupanievatzi (seat in Athens), presented his credentials to President
Serzh Sargsyan.

President Sargsyan congratulated the diplomat on appointment
and expressed hope that he would contribute to the development of
bilateral relations.

Serzh Sargsyan said the two countries have a great potential of
cooperation in different spheres and steps should be taken to utilize
it. In this regard, he attached great importance to the visit of the
Serbian President to Armenia scheduled for July 28.

Stressing the numerous historical-cultural similarities and the warm
attitude between the Armenian and Serbian peoples, the President
noted with gratitude that the Serbian people have always extended a
helping hand at hard points of Armenian history.

"We’ll never forget the Yugoslavian soldiers that perished in an air
crash, when delivering humanitarian assistance to Armenia after the
devastating earthquake of 1988," the President said.

President Sargsyan and Ambassador Jupanievatz discussed issues
connected with the expansion of economic and cultural ties,
intensification of interparliamentary ties, cooperation within
international organizations.

The Ambassador of Serbia assured he would do his best for the
development of multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

"I’LL COME TO LIVE IN ARMENIA," MANY OF FIRST PARTICIPANTS OF COME HOME PROGRAM SAY

Noyan Tapan
July 24, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Young Sargis who has
left Syria for Armenia within the framework of the Come Home program
of the RA Ministry of Diaspora decided again to return Armenia in two
months and permanently settle in Armenia. In any case, he told the
Noyan Tapan correspondent about it. In Sargis’ words, it is already
his second visit to Armenia, but he sees great difference between
those two visits. "When I first came to Armenia, it was a more Soviet
country, it has greatly changed to good now," Sargis said.

Sargis likes architecture in Armenia in which he sees reflection of
the Armenian soul. He likes the people’s warm attitude, hospitality
and does no like the indefferent attitude of inhabitants of Armenia
towards cultural values: "It is minor for them," he mentioned with
pain. In Sargis’ words, it is also bad that young people from Armenia
smoke heavily.

Tamar from Turkey also expressed a great wish for living in Armenia,
though, as she mentioned, the number of people assisting Armenians
increased in Turkey.

Anahit from Georgia is also among the participants of the Come Home
program.

Though she is already for the fourth time in Armenia, but in her wrods,
she this time as well found Armenia changed: Yerevan has changed,
it became beautiful, people’s clothes changed. "Armenia develops,
and it makes me happy," Anahit said. She also has a goal to move to
Armenia for permanent residence.

To recap, Diasporan Armenian young people at the age of 18-25 arrived
in Armenia within the framework of the Come Home program implemented
by the RA Ministry of Diaspora. They live in families which are
inhabitants of Armenia, closer get acquainted with the life of the
Homeland, deepen their knowledge about the Armenian culture, history
and other national values. The first group of young people arrived in
Armenia a week ago has already visited places of interest of Armenia,
has been in Matenadaran, History Museum of Armenia, had a meeting with
YSU Rector Aram Simonian, RA Minister of Diaspora, learned Armenian
dances. A group of them even visited one of military units of the
Armenian Army.

MONOMAKH BEAT CIS COLLEAGUES
by Natalia Antipova

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 22, 2009 Wednesday
Russia

INFORMAL CIS SUMMIT: NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT; CIS presidents met at
the hippodrome to discuss political issues.

The Presidential Cup Races in Moscow last Saturday were anything
but mundane.

Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova, and leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia arrived for
the races.

President Dmitry Medvedev met with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan
Nazarbayev even before the races. International issues were discussed
and specifically the Customs Union which Nazarbayev regarded as
"number one issue" on the bilateral agenda. "I’m convinced that the
Customs Union will be fully functional on January 1. A serious step
closer to integration as it is, other CIS countries display interest
in the Customs Union," Nazarbayev said.

When the races were on, Medvedev had a tete-a-tete talk with his
Tajik opposite number Emomali Rakhmon.

The principal meeting took place a bit later. Without waiting
for the races to be over, Medvedev with Azerbaijani and Armenian
leaders retreated to seclusion of a Moscow restaurant. That Dmitry
Medvedev, Ilham Aliyev, and Serj Sargsjan needed privacy to discuss
Nagorno-Karabakh needn’t be said. "A lengthy and, we believe,
constructive meeting took place. Certain issues still unresolved were
discussed," Presidential Aide Sergei Prikhodko would later say.

As a matter of fact, Sargsjan and Aliyev had met in Moscow without
Medvedev before the meeting in a restaurant. Russian chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group called the meeting "specific and serious". The three
presidents will be meeting again, this autumn.

As for Rakhmon, Medvedev will meet with him before that – during the
visit to Tajikistan in the near future. "I consider it an element of
preparations for the working visit," Medvedev said.

Never a man to be told twice, Rakhmon promised elevation of the
bilateral relations to "a particularly fine level."

CIS leaders in the meantime will also meet at the summits of the
CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization in Kyrgyzstan and the
Commonwealth itself in Moldova later this year. Whether or not
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko decides to attend them
remains to be seen. The races in Moscow he chose to ignore.

NICE TO MEET YOU: MOSCOW CAN’T MAINTAIN STATUS QUO OF NAGORNO KARABAKH
by Ivan Sukhov

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 22, 2009 Wednesday
Russia

MOSCOW CANNOT MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH AS AN
INSTRUMENT OF DEALING WITH BAKU AND YEREVAN ANYMORE; Russia failed
to broker an Azerbaijani-Armenian rapprochement over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Last Saturday, the Kremlin’s press service laconically proclaimed the
Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations in Moscow to have been constructive
and left it at that.

This taciturn comment was all the media had to be satisfied
with because the leaders refused to meet with the waiting
journalists. Armenian correspondents decided that the Azerbaijani
leader’s demeanor signified displeasure. On the other hand, not one
of the three participants in the talks seemed to have anything to be
pleased with.

Of course, any meeting of the leaders of these two countries is
already a success. Armenia and Azerbaijan are divided by the problem
of Nagorno-Karabakh, the oldest suspended ethnic conflict in the
southern part of the Caucasus.

Nearly half a million Azerbaijanis stampeded out of Nagorno-Karabakh
in the course and after the hostilities – and untold thousands of
Armenians left Azerbaijan. Karabakh had defended its independence. By
1993, the Armenians all but occupied the Azerbaijani districts
surrounding the former autonomy, the ones that had served as the
security zone. Cease-fire agreement finally stopped the bloodshed,
but the actual border between Armenia, Karabakh with the nearby areas,
and Azerbaijan remains a site of regular clashes and skirmishes.

Attention of Russia was focused of late on two other republics nearby,
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As for Karabakh, official Moscow kept
regarding it as an instrument enabling the Kremlin to apply pressure
to both warring sides, namely Armenia and Azerbaijan. The war in
Georgia in August 2008 compelled Russian politicians to start paying
attention to the Azerbaijani-Armenian latent conflict again.

Neither Baku nor Yerevan was particularly happy to watch the shooting
war in Georgia nearby. Apart from Iran, Georgia is Armenia’s only
gateway into the world. The complications in the Russian-Georgian
relations postponed restoration of normal traffic between Armenia
and southern regions of Russia.

As for Azerbaijan, the war in Georgia plainly showed it the fragile
nature of its strategic oil and gas export route via Georgia to
Turkey and on to the West. It is this oil and gas export that made
Azerbaijan the best industrially advanced country in the southern
part of the Caucasus.

Active rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey meanwhile began last
autumn. These two countries had been also divided by the discord
over the border and the Karabakh enclave (Turkey unequivocally backed
Azerbaijan in the conflict). Even more important, the discord between
Armenia and Turkey is rooted in political evaluation of the massacre of
the Armenians in the then Ottoman Empire in 1915. Granted that these
problems have no easy solutions, it is clear that Armenia and Turkey
will have to do something to bridge the gap between them despite the
resistance to the process put up by nationalists in both countries.

However unexpected it might appear, but the president of Turkey made
his first visit to Yerevan last autumn, paving the way for April 2009
when foreign ministers of the two countries signed the Road Map of
rapprochement in the capital of Armenia. Apart from everything else,
this rapprochement is expected to finally reopen the border between
these two countries. If and when it happens, Russia’s number one ally
in this part of the Caucasus will immediately turn to Turkey.

All these considerations couldn’t help disturbing Moscow. Presidents
Serj Sargsjan, Ilham Aliyev, and Dmitry Medvedev signed the Meiendorf
Declaration in Moscow on November 2, 2008. The document confirmed
the principle of nonrenewal of hostilities and reiterated status of
the OSCE Minsk Group as the only format of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement. Sargsjan and Aliyev met in Moscow on several occasions
again, but without any success. Neither did the meeting after the
races last Saturday become a breakthrough. It should have probably
been anticipated. Aliyev had said in London a couple of days before his
visit to Moscow that Azerbaijan was prepared to give Nagorno-Karabakh
broad powers of an autonomy but never sovereignty.

The problem is, maintaining the status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh as
an instrument of keeping both Yerevan and Baku under pressure is
no longer an option for Moscow. Neither can it openly choose one
side of the fence. Support of Armenia will sour its relations with
Azerbaijan. Support of Azerbaijan will cost Russia its "strategic
ally".

Russia is not to be envied. Refuse to show respect for demands from
Azerbaijani to restore its territorial integrity, and Baku might become
an ardent participant in Nabucco. Comply with its demands and Armenia
will take offence and facilitate rapprochement with Turkey. Neither is
the latter probable without at least some progress in the matter of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. It is possible, in theory,
that the problem of the former security zone, i.e. the Azerbaijani
districts occupied by the Armenians, will be solved but any political
gambit towards this compromise will inevitably reactivate fiercely
nationalist opposition in Armenia. Sargsjan may then find himself in
the shoes of his principal enemy in the presidential race in 2008,
first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosjan.

THEY FEED PRESENT FROM PAST

Lragir.am
14:49:35 – 22/07/2009

Interview by SIRANUSH PAPYAN

– In your opinion, what is the civil stance of the intelligentsia
today?

What is intelligentsia in general?

– There are two ways of activities in life- vital activity and thinking
activity. Usually the thinking activity is what the future creates. And
the difference between these two activities is very big. Sometimes it
even causes conflicts because the intellectual wants to eliminate the
present to build what comes from their mind. Such an intellectual is
always in conflict with the present and the current government. But in
our case, it is the government which makes people intellectuals. In
order to be a national artist, national painter or a big writer, one
has to follow the will of the government. So the meaning of the word
"intellectual" mutates. An intellectual has always to be opposition.

Today, the intellectuals are still created by the government and
an intellectual appears in an ambiguous situation. They have also
the great fear of not being known, because very few intellectuals
are ready to be recognized as a value from above, with whom it is
interesting. When the ideas of an intellectual are interesting and
one may think that they may create future it is good. If it is not
so, the words of an intellectual are perceived as propaganda that
you understand or do not understand. When an intellec tual does not
have this kind of ideas, they are afraid that if sanctions coming
from above lack, either they will be unknown or will not be demanded.

– Your assessment to the developments of the past one year.

– The setting up of the Congress has a great symbolic meaning in
it. Gandi told about the Indian National Congress that it is the way
of the Indian people to self-organize under the condition of English
occupation. He stresses right the self-organization. He does not
strive for rebellion.

Today we may say that the HAK is the way of the organization of the
Armenian people under the condition of criminal occupation. It is
notable that the HAK remained, though there is no hope for power any
longer, as the electoral process is completely defamed, but the HAK
remained as the potential for people’s self-organization.

-So, you do not agree with the HAK opinion that we are going to have
extraordinary presidential election.

– Maybe we will have it. There was no aspiration to self-organization
during Robert Kocharyan’s tenure. Some kind of false constructiveness
was happening, the expression of which was the creation of different
types of parties such as "Bargavach Hayastan" and "Orinats Yerkir", as
well as Serge Sargsyan’s "public council". Now the society understood
that it needs some kind of self-organization. Serge Sargsyan does
not manage to preserve=2 0the image, which will enable the public
perceive him as a bearer of state values.

But the question here is not only the image of the president. The
question is that the public should not refuse its self-organization
after the victory of the opposition.

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN IN NEW PEACE TALKS ON ENCLAVE
By Anna Smolchenko (AFP)

Agence France Presse
July 17 2009
France

MOSCOW — The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents met here Friday in
the latest Moscow-mediated attempt to end a long-simmering dispute
over a separatist enclave where there was a war in the 1990s.

Following their face-to-face talks Friday afternoon, Armenian leader
Serzh Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev were to
meet with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday.

Armenian state-run television quoted Sarkisian as saying earlier
that "no document will be signed" in Moscow over the future of the
Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorny Karabakh.

Keen to burnish its credentials as a powerbroker, Russia has been
mediating talks between the two countries over the enclave, now
controlled by ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan.

The three leaders last met in Saint Petersburg in June.

Observers praised the two nations’ effort to seek compromise but said
the talks were unlikely to produce any breakthrough.

"The fact that two sides sat down at the negotiating table defuses
tension and increases the probability that the conflict may be settled
by peaceful means," a senior parliament member from the ruling Eni
Azerbaijan party Mubariz Gurbanly told AFP.

"However, one should not expect any tangible result of the meeting
as the Armenian side maintains an unconstructive approach."

Azerbaijani political analyst Eldar Namazov said however the presidents
could lay the foundation for longer-term progress, even if no document
was signed.

"It is a long-term process and in the case any progress is made at
the Moscow meeting Friday and Saturday, we can come, by the end of the
year, to a situation when signature of a certain document is possible."

Armenian analyst Alexander Iskandarian, director of the Caucasus media
institute said: "I do not expect any changes regarding the Karabakh
settlement" from the talks.

"The presidents will make another statement that some progress was
made in the negotiation process."

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian also indicated that
Yerevan was not in the mood for compromise on the issue.

"Armenia will not make any accords without the consent of the
Karabakh’s people and leadership. Armenia insists that Karabakh must
be a full member of the negotiation process."

At the Group of Eight summit in Italy last week, Russia, France and the
United States issued a statement pledging to continue their support
of the peace talks and calling on Aliyev and Sarkisian to iron out
their disagreements.

Nagorny Karabakh, an enclave of Azerbaijan with a largely ethnic
Armenian population, broke free of Baku’s control in the early 1990s
in a war that killed nearly 30,000 people and forced two million to
flee their homes.

Shootings between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the region remain
common despite a 1994 ceasefire.

The three-party meeting has been timed to coincide with an informal
summit of ex-Soviet nations in Moscow on Saturday.

ARMENIAN GOV’T IS UNDER PRESSURE OF OPPOSITION URGING IT TO PROTECT KARABAKH’S INTERESTS: DIRECTOR OF ARMENIAN INT’L STUDIES CENTRE

Trend
July 17 2009
Azerbaijan

The Armenian government is under a permanent pressure of the opposition
urging it to protect national interests and security of both Armenia
and Karabakh, Armenian Political Scientist Richard Giragosian believes.

"While the Karabakh issue has always been a significant national
issue for Armenians worldwide, there is also a new domestic political
context, as the current Armenian government is under new pressure to
ensure and protect the national interest and security of both Armenia
and Karabakh," the Director of the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS), Giragosian wrote to Trend News an email.

On 15 July the Union of Armenian nationalists demanded from
the government to resign or refuse from the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, since the basic principles of the Karabakh
problem, formulated in the Madrid document, dated Nov. 29, 2007,
contradict the interests of Armenia, Kommersant reported.

The nationalists were supported by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Dashnaksutyun, which plans to hold the rallies of opposition
in Armenia and other countries, as well as demands resignation of
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The opposition has become more active in anticipation of Serzh
Sargsyan’s meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to be
held at the informal CIS summit in Moscow on July 18. In doing so,
Russian President’s Aide Sergey Prikhodko said it was not planned to
sign any documents at that meeting.

Clearly, the recent increase in diplomatic and political activity over
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has brought new pressure on all sides,
including Azerbaijan as well as Armenia, Giragosian believes.

"But for Armenia, there is an added pressure from the Armenian
Diaspora, which is now very concerned over any approaching agreement
with Azerbaijan," he said.

The main purpose of the Armenian lobby, whose backbone is the Armenian
Diaspora in the United States is the international recognition of
"Armenian genocide" in 1915, self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh,
and observation of the rights of the Armenian community in Georgia.

The upcoming meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
will also pose a test for the Armenian leadership, as Armenians
throughout the world will be closely watching and carefully listening
to every gesture and each word during that meeting, Giragosian
believes.

"At the same time, the current Armenian government remains under
constant attack by the country’s opposition, thereby raising the
stakes and increasing expectations, as well as exacerbating the
pressure already being exerted on Yerevan," he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

E.Ostapenko contributed to this article.

ADDITIONAL 1,9 MLN EURO TO BE ALLOCATED FOR CONSTRUCTION OF ROPEWAY TO TATEV MONASTERY

ArmInfo
2009-07-17 10:56:00

ArmInfo. Additional 1,9 mln Euro will be allocated for construction
of a ropeway to Tatev monastery, the press release of the Public
relations Department of the National Competitiveness Foundation of
Armenia says. To recall, 6,8 mln Euro were indicated earlier, during
the agreement signing, concerning purchase of equipment and technical
aids only. Additional 1,9 mln will be intended for construction work.

To note, besides the ropeway construction, the programme of rebuilding
of Tatev monastery also includes the monastery reconstruction and
creation of a hotel complex in a medieval style. Total cost of the
project is evaluated at US $20. The National Competitiveness Foundation
of Armenia is the programme coordinator.

The National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia was created in
February 2008 and is an Executive Body of the National Competitiveness
Council created by the government decision in November 2007. The
Council’s activity aims at enhancement of the country’s foreign
competitiveness and assurance of stable development. Tigran Sarkisyan
is the Council Chairman. The Council also includes Economy, Finance,
Foreign Ministers and Chairman of the Central Bank.