Author: Varosian Antranik

ARMENIAN NGOS IN GEORGIA UNDER PERMANENT SUPERVISION OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2009 20:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Social and political organizations are a motive force
to Javahk political life, Vahe Sargsyan, an expert at Mitk Analytical
Center told a news conference in Yerevan. Yet, Javahk population is
unaware of most parties’ existence. "Out of 12 parties operating in
Javahk, only 2 are known," Sargsyan said.

At the same time, he noted that 152 NGOs are operating in 6 former
Javahk regions. Sargsyan also pointed out disbalance between the number
of Armenian and Georgian organizations. "Out of 77 Akhaltsikhe NGOs
only 8 are Armenian," Sargsyan stated, adding that Armenian NGOs in
Georgia are under permanent supervision of local authorities.

OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE GEORGE PAPANDREOU: PEOPLE LIVING IN AREAS AFFECTED BY PROTRACTED CONFLICTS NEED PEACE AND STABILITY, NOT A FRAGILE STATUS QUO

ARMENPRESS
Oct 30, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Greek
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou, called on OSCE
participating States today to invigorate co-operation and solidarity
to address prevailing tensions.

In a video address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Prime
Minister Papandreou identified mistrust as one of the main challenges
the Organization faces. "There cannot be lasting peace in the OSCE
region as long as we continue to view our relations through a zero-sum
lens. Our wins should be victories for all; one’s losses should be
a loss for the many. "This is the solidarity we need to achieve,"
Papandreou said.

The Chairman-in-Office also referred to protracted conflicts, saying
that "they are potential sources of discord, and we cannot afford
to leave them on the back burner. The war in Georgia has proven
this point".

He stressed that people living in areas affected by protracted
conflicts "need peace and stability, not a fragile status quo".

Looking ahead to the 1-2 December OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens,
Papandreou said the meeting would be an opportunity to "make a fresh
start and revitalize the spirit of Helsinki". The Helsinki Final Act
of 1975 laid the foundation for what today is the OSCE.

ARMENIAN MEN’S CHESS TEAM WINS AGAIN

Tert
Oct 29 2009
Armenia

Yesterday the Armenian men’s chess team competed with the team from
Azerbaijan in the 7th round of European Chess Team Championship in
Novi Sad (2.5-1.5).

Levon Aronian playing with black on the first board ended the game
with Teimour Radjabov in a draw at the 19th step. On the second board,
Vladimir Akopian and Vugar Gashimov’s game also ended in a draw. Our
grandmaster was playing white and the game ended at the 46th step.

The Gadir Guseinov-Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran Petrosian-Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov games lasted long. Sargissian managed to defeat Guseinov.

The Armenian grandmaster gained the advantage with a pawn and his
opponent gave up at the 70th move.

On the fourth board, Petrosian also had an advantage of one pawn,
but his game with Mamedyarov ended in a draw, officially sealing the
Armenian men’s team’s victory.

Armenian men’s chess team had defeated Azerbaijan a year ago as well,
during the chess Olympiad (2.5-1.5). At that time, it was Akopian
who defeated Mamedyarov.

With this match, Armenia has caught up to Azerbaijan: both teams have
a score of 11 in the championship thus far. Russia, who beat Georgia
yesterday, also has 11 scores in the championship.

At the moment, Russian team is in the lead with additional indicators,
while Armenia is in second place with Azerbaijan in the third.

TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN PATCH UP TIES AFTER FLAG CONTROVERSY

Today’s Zaman
Oct 29 2009
Turkey

Turkish flags were restored on Tuesday evening to a Baku monument to
Turkish soldiers.

Turkish-Azerbaijani ties, strained over the historic Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement, have shown further signs of recovery as Azerbaijani
authorities raised Turkish flags at a monument to fallen soldiers,
days after removing them amid political tensions.

"What we are witnessing here is that our relations are back on track
on the basis of the principle of one nation two states," Murat Mercan,
a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party),
told reporters on Wednesday as he visited the monument, where the
Turkish flags were restored on Tuesday evening.

Mercan, who is heading a delegation of lawmakers from the AK Party
and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), had talks with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev and other officials in Baku.

The lawmakers arrived in Baku just before the Azerbaijani authorities
raised the flags at the monument on Tuesday evening, ending emotional
tension with Turkey. "We are very happy that the Turkish flags are
flying again … just before the Republic Day on Oct. 29," Mercan
told reporters upon their arrival in Baku on Tuesday night.

Azerbaijan removed flags from a monument to Turkish soldiers who fell
while fighting for Azerbaijan’s independence in 1918, reportedly in
retaliation for Turkey’s decision — at the behest of the world soccer
governing body FIFA — to ban Azerbaijani flags during a World Cup
qualifying game between the national teams of Turkey and Armenia in
Bursa earlier this month. Azerbaijani flags were seen in a garbage
bin after police collected them at the entrance to the stadium,
angering Baku.

In Ankara, Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin dismissed any
crisis in Turkish-Azerbaijani ties at a press conference on Wednesday,
saying crises are categorically impossible "within a nation." He said:
"There might have been some misunderstandings and difficulties, which
should be seen as just one incident in a long relationship. And as far
as I understand, this little incident was resolved as of this morning."

Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kılıc, who watched
as Azerbaijani authorities raised the flags near the monument on
Tuesday, said the development was pleasing. "The fact that our flags
are being put back in their place shows that Turkey and Azerbaijan
are two nations that cannot give up on each other," he said.

"I could not hold back my tears when I saw the treatment shown to
Azerbaijani flags in Bursa and when the Turkish flags were removed
at the monument," said Ganire Pashayeva, a member of the Azerbaijani
Parliament.

The controversy, which came after Turkey and Armenia signed protocols
to restore their relations and open their mutual border in Zurich on
Oct. 10, strained ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Baku is concerned
that it would lose its main leverage in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
if Turkey reopens its border with Armenia. Turkey closed the border
in 1993 in show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, which fought a losing
battle against Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey has pledged several times that its process of rapprochement
with Armenia will not harm Azerbaijan’s interests, stressing that
Azerbaijan’s interests are as dear to Turkey as its own. But when the
flags were removed at the monument, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said the monument was entrusted to the Azerbaijani people to watch
over and the Turkish Foreign Ministry delivered a note of protest to
Baku when it removed flags which were in front of a Turkish Embassy
building.

Last weekend, one police officer was sacked following an investigation
into the treatment of the Azerbaijani flags in Bursa. Davutoglu,
during talks with Azerbaijani leaders last week in Baku, had pledged
that the disrespect for the Azerbaijani flag will be punished.

Sincere with Armenia At the press conference, Ozugergin said Turkey
was sincerely committed to normalizing relations with Armenia, but
emphasized that what Ankara aimed at with this process was not solely
confined to progress in Turkish-Armenian ties. "Our purpose is also to
pave the way for momentum in relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia,"
he said.

"Everyone sees that peace and stability will not come to the Caucasus
if all the wheels do not revolve at the same time."

International mediators from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group have been working for years
to reach a settlement on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Ozugergin said
a senior Turkish diplomat, Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary
Unal Ceviköz, attended Minsk Group talks in Vienna last Friday and
added that "the process has momentum and we are working to further
speed it up."

The government has sent two protocols on the normalization of
relations with Armenia to Parliament for ratification but it is not
clear when they will be voted on. "The Parliament will approve of
no decisions that would disturb the people of Azerbaijan," Mercan
said in Baku. "There are several agreements that have been awaiting
ratification in Parliament since 2000," he went on to say, noting that
there is no time limit for the ratification of the Armenia protocols.

ARMENIANS FORCIBLY TOOK AZERBAIJANI DRIVER TO YEREVAN AND TORTURED HIM

APA
Oct 29 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. Armenians took Azerbaijani driver to Yerevan and offered
him to cooperate with them.

Driver Alasgar Orujaliyev, who was taken to Armenia, told APA.

According to him, on October 14, he left for Tbilisi to find a job
in cargo trucks: "I left Tbilisi for Georgia-Armenia border to have a
talk with cargo truck drivers. I saw cargo trucks in the neutral area
of Georgia-Armenia border zones. Meanwhile, two persons came up to me
and took interests in the reasons of my arrival in an incomprehensible
Azerbaijani language. I told them that I wanted to talk to drivers and
find a job in cargo trucks. They told me Azerbaijanis might freely pass
both neutral zone and Armenian territory and they offered it to me".

Alasgar Orujaliyev accepted the offer: "I accepted the offer and
crossed the Georgian border crossing point and arrived in the neutral
zone. When I wanted to come up to the drivers standing in the neutral
zone, an unknown man called me from the Armenian border crossing
point and wanted to see my passport. When he realized that I am an
Azerbaijani citizen, he forcibly took me to the territory of Armenia".

According to Alasgar Orujaliyev, the event took place on October 15
and he was kept in the administrative building of the Armenian border
crossing point for two days: "Further, they took me to Yerevan by car.

And they kept me in a cellar of the nine-storey building in Yerevan for
a week. During this period, Armenians offered me to stay in Armenia
many times. They told me if I agree with it, they will provide him
with an apartment. They forced me to write negative opinions about
Azerbaijani government, state and OSCE. They even forced me to write
many things about corruption in Azerbaijan. I was undergone tortures
during this period. They gave me a liquid like coffee to drink. When
I drank it, I lost consciousness and knew nothing about what I was
doing. And Armenians recorded what I was speaking at that time".

Despite all pressures and tortures, Alasgar Orujaliyev noted that he
had noted accepted the proposals of Armenians: "I told them over and
over again that I am a worker and I’ve no notion of the things and
I want to return to Azerbaijan. On October 22, Armenians brought me
to the Georgian border crossing point. I appealed to the Embassy of
Azerbaijani as soon as I arrived in Georgia and spoke everything about
it. I’m seriously shocked and depressed and I don’t know what to do".

RA NA ESTABLISHES TAX SERVICE’S SPECIAL CONTROL OVER ENTERPRISES WHOSE CIRCULATION EXCEEDS AMD 4 BILLION

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.10.2009 17:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Amendments enable RA State Tax Inspection to
establish control over the delivery, movement, registration,
product volumes and prices and documentation of all enterprises
whose circulation exceeds AMD 4 billion. Such changes do not apply to
the enterprises engaged in wine and brandy making, agro-production,
precious stone procession and jewelry production. Government accounted
for above mentioned changes by the fact that all branches of economy
are under state control.

CHIEF GOAL OF TURKISH, ARMENIAN LEADERS WAS NOT OPENING OF BORDER: RUSSIAN EXPERT

Today
998.html
Oct 28 2009
Azerbaijan

"Turkish and Armenian parliaments are unlikely to ratify the protocols
as the sides have not reached a mutually satisfactory solution to
the Nagorno Karabakh problem and problem of Turkey’s recognition
of the "Armenian genocide", research fellow at the Russian Academy
of Sciences Institute of World Economy and International Relations
Alexander Krilov said.

"Actually, these problems could be solved, but that was not achieved
in process of negotiation. This gives grounds to conclude that the
main purpose of the Turkish and Armenian leaders was not opening of
border. It is important for Turkey to demonstrate its willingness to
compromise in the terms of plans for EU accession.

"It is equally important that Ankara had an opportunity to improve
the rather strained relations with the United States. Ankara has
an important service to the new U.S. administration, giving it a
welcome excuse to abandon its election campaign promises to officially
recognize the "Armenian genocide" as such a move could complicate
supposedly swift opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. For Armenia
it is also important to show the EU its willingness to compromise in
order to develop relations with the EU," Krilov said.

"Most likely, Turkish and Armenian leaders are quite satisfied with
the benefits from their diplomatic activity and will not "press" the
agreement through parliament, since it implies too big challenges for
them. Most likely, they will try to present failure of ratification
of the agreement as evidence of high level development of democracy
and express a firm intention to continue the peace process, which
can take a very long time," Krilov said.

Krilov also believes that "similar diplomatic games" have little
effect on resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The sides (Armenia and Turkey) are engaged not in resolution of
this conflict and not a solution to the problem related to Turkey’s
recognition of "genocide", but solution of entirely different
problems. Solution of the Karabakh problem requires certain conditions:
to normalize socio-economic life, a tremendous job to prepare the
sides (elite and population) to compromise, to create an atmosphere
of mutual tolerance and trust."

"This will require long years, large financial resources and active
work of the conflicting parties, international organizations and most
influential states. A peaceful solution could not be simpler and
faster. There will be no real ground to solve the Karabakh problem
as long as all parties do not realize it. Attempts to bring swift
and radical solution to the problem by force could lead to quite
disastrous consequences as in case of Georgia."

"I think Armenia will make no concessions to Azerbaijan, without
real progress in the peace process and without the presence of firm
security guarantees. More likely, the conflict will remain frozen as
all parties involved are not laying groundwork for an integrated and
comprehensive solution, but solving their own problems," he said.

"It is clear that such state of affairs may not cause delight
Azerbaijan and Armenia. But it is still more preferable than an shift
of the conflict to a hot phase. While this has not happened the parties
still have an opportunity to start a very difficult job to create a
basis for a compromise solution to the problem," the expert said.

EXPO-RUSSIA ARMENIA EXHIBITION AIMS AT DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIA-RUSSIA RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.10.2009 18:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EXPO-RUSSIA ARMENIA exhibition aims at development of
Armenia-Russia potential in economic, scientific and technical spheres,
RA Russian Embassy Counselor Victor Krivopuskov told a news conference.

"The exhibition will host heads of major Russian enterprises, ready
to offer products and services. Armenian companies’ offers will also
be considered," he added.

In his turn, exhibition organization committee representative,
Zarubezh – Expo Public Corporation President David Vartanov noted
that the exhibition will serve as a basis for bilateral relations
development, providing great collaboration potential.

On October 29-31, Yerevan will host Expo-Russia Armenia – 2009 Annual
Russian Exhibition.

Over 70 Russian companies will take part in Expo-Russia Armenia –
2009 Annual Russian Exhibition due in Yerevan on October 29-31.

The exhibition will cover the following spheres: machine building,
metallurgy, high technologies, innovations, security, IT, building,
power engineering, automotive industry, transport, logistics,
telecommunications, communications, oil-and-gas industry, agricultural
and building machines, medicine and pharmaceutics, food, banks and
insurance companies, investments, geology, mining industry, tourism,
education, network business.

The exhibition, organized by Zarubezh – Expo Public Corporation and
Multi Group Concern, will be opened by RA President Serzh Sargsyan.

RECURRENT STAGE OF POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND KUWAIT

armradio.am
27.10.2009 13:21

The meeting between the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Arman
Kirakosyan, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kuwait, Khaled
Al-Jarallah marked the start of the recurrent stage of the politician
consultations between Armenia and Kuwait.

The parties discussed the preparation of the upcoming visit of the
Armenian President to Kuwait, as well as issues related to the further
development of bilateral relations. Regarding the development and
deepening of the trade-economic relations, the parties emphasized
the importance of signing economic agreements.

Mr. Kirakosyan presented Armenia’s policy on neighbor countries,
particularly the current stage of the Armenian-Turkish relations and
the latest developments in the settlement of the Artsakh issue. The
Kuwaiti side highly appreciated Armenia’s policy targeted at
normalization of relations with the neighbor countries.

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Kuwait touched upon the issues of his
country’s cooperation with neighbor countries, particularly Iraq, Iran
and Saudi Arabia. He presented the priority directions of Kuwait’s
foreign policy.

CONSTRUCTION OF DALMA GARDEN MALL SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT CENTER UNDER WAY IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Oct 26, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The presentation of the Dalma
Garden Mall shopping and entertainment center’s project took place
at the Erebuni Hotel on October 26. According to the Project Head
Alexander Harutyunian, the center will be located in "Dalma Gardens"
microdistrict and occupy an area of 46 thousand square meters. The
center’s construction began in 2008.

The cost of the construction financed by Dalma Invest LLC, a subsidiary
of Tashir Company (Russia) is 40 million dollars.

A. Harutyunian said this multifunctional two-story shopping and
entertainment center is the first one in Armenia. Its opening is
scheduled for the third quarter of 2010. Dalma Garden Mall will
include food hypermarkets, shops, restaurants, fast food outlets,
banks, tour agencies, shops of building materials and furniture,
a cinema, and an entertainment area for children.

RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian said that the combination of
entertainment, trade and services is a widely used model in the world
as it enables to increase accessibility of goods and services. "The
construction volumes also show that it is going to be a shopping
center in line with international standards," he declared. In his
words, the center will be mainly a social facility where people will
spend their time in pleasant surroundings. He noted that people of
various strata of society can avail themselves to such centers.