Armeian News

SARKISIAN REAFFIRMS CONDITIONS FOR TURKEY VISIT
Karine Kalantarian
Armenialiberty.org
July 28 2009

Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian insisted on Tuesday that he will
not travel to Turkey in October to watch the return match of the two
countries' national football teams unless Ankara moves to reopen the
Turkish-Armenian border.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul extended a relevant invitation to
Sarkisian after paying a historic visit to Yerevan in September
last year, during which the two leaders jointly attended the first
Turkey-Armenia game. The so-called "football diplomacy" ushered in
a Turkish-Armenia rapprochement that left the two historical foes on
the verge of normalizing their strained relations earlier this year.

"Given the existing situation, we certainly expect to witness soon
constructive steps with which our [Turkish] partners would try to
create a proper environment for the return visit of the president of
Armenia," said Sarkisian. That means taking "real steps" to honor
Turkish-Armenian agreements reached during the year-long dialogue,
he said.

"That is, I will leave for Turkey if we have an open border or stand
on the brink of the lifting of Armenia's blockade," added the Armenian
leader.

The remarks reflected Sarkisian's frustration with Turkey's failure so
far to unconditionally establish diplomatic relations and reopen its
border with Armenia despite concessions made by him. Yerevan insists
that the Turks dropped their preconditions for normalizing bilateral
ties during months of fence-mending negotiations.

However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish leaders
have repeatedly said in recent months that the Turkish-Armenian border
will remain closed as long as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains
unresolved. The statements came both before and after the Turkish and
Armenian governments' April 22 announcement that they have identified a
"roadmap" to the normalization.

The announcement came on the eve of the annual remembrance of more than
one million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Turks during World War
One. The timing is believed to have made it easier for U.S. President
Barack Obama to backtrack on his pledges to officially recognize the
massacres as genocide.

Critics accuse Sarkisian of willingly sacrificing U.S. recognition
of the Armenian genocide without securing the lifting of the 16-year
Turkish blockade. They have also condemned his apparent acceptance of a
Turkish proposal to form a panel of historians that would look into the
1915 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Sarkisian issued his latest warning to Ankara after talks with
Serbia's visiting President Boris Tadic. He said he briefed Tadic on
his Western-backed diplomatic overtures to Turkey.

Sarkisian said the two leaders agreed on the need for a peaceful
resolution of ethnic disputes in the Balkans and the South Caucasus
"in accordance with the principles and norms of international law." "We
believe that there are no universal ways of solving conflicts," he
told reporters. "Every conflict has its own history, causes and its
own unique course."

It was an apparent rejection of parallels between the conflicts over
Nagorno-Karabakh and Kosovo, a breakaway Serbian region that has
been recognized as an independent state by much of the international
community. Kosovo's secession in strong support for the principle of
territorial integrity voiced by Serbian leaders.

Tadic himself has called for the application of that principle to
the Karabakh dispute in the past. With journalists not allowed to
put questions to either president, it was not clear if he stands by
that statement.

Also, Serbia was one of the few European nations that voted in March
2008 for a UN General Assembly resolution that upheld Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Karabakh and demanded an "unconditional" Armenian
withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani territories.

TURKEY DISPLEASED WITH RA PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
30.07.2009 12:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement on
possible cancellation of his visit to Turkey has aroused displeasure
in Ankara.

"I think this statement can damage Turkish-Armenian reconciliation,"
Aybars Gorgulu, Assistant Program Advisor of TESEV FPP, told
PanARMENIAN.Net. "Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Armenia
without preconditions. At that, Mr. Sargsyan's statement will be eyed
by the Turkish government as diplomatic discourtesy. Such ultimatums
do not help resolution of problems."

"If the Armenian President cancels his visit, Ankara will become
more reluctant to normalize relations with the neighboring country,"
he said, adding that Turkish opposition also slammed Serzh Sarsgyan's
statement.

RFE/RL Report

Government Likely To Cut 2009 Spending
Armenia -- Ministers hold a weekly meeting.
29.07.2009
Ruben Meloyan

The Armenian government is unlikely to avoid cutting its expenditures
projected for this year despite securing hundreds of millions of
dollars in external budgetary loans, a senior official said on
Wednesday.

Armenia's state budget for 2009, approved by parliament late last
year, calls for 947 billion drams ($2.6 billion) in expenditures. The
government needed to boost its tax revenues by 20 percent in order to
meet the record-high target. However, those revenues have fallen
substantially this year amid a deepening economic recession resulting
from the global credit crunch.

Faced with the tax shortfall, the government last March delayed 131
billion drams in planned spending until the fourth quarter of the
year. It has since received more than $1 billion in anti-crisis loans
from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian
Development Bank as well as Russia. At least one-third of the money
is to be used for financing the government's widening budget deficit.

According to Deputy Finance Minister Vartan Aramian, the government
will likely have to cut budgetary spending by about 4 percent despite
the large-scale external assistance. `We will not spend 947 billion
drams in full,' Aramian told RFE/RL. `In total, almost 911 billion
worth of expenditures will be made,' he said.

Other Armenian officials have said that the projected government
spending on pensions, poverty benefits, public-sector salaries and
other social programs will not be slashed in any case. Both the IMF
and the World Bank consider that important for reducing the fallout
from the economic crisis.

The tax shortfall also forced the government to push through
parliament in May a legal amendment that raised from 5 percent to 7.5
percent the maximum possible ratio of the budget to Gross Domestic
Product. Aramian confirmed that the legal limit will be raised
further if economic developments follow a worst-case scenario.

`Under our current scenario, the deficit is to make up 6.5 percent
[of GDP],' he said. `If a worse scenario comes about, which is not
likely but can't be ruled out, it is possible that our deficit will
exceed 7.5 percent.'


ARMENIAN REMITTANCES SLUMP IN 2009
Emil Danielyan
Armenialiberty.org
July 28 2009

Cash remittances wired home by scores of Armenians working abroad
fell by 36 percent to just under $600 million in the first half of
this year, adding to the country's worst economic downturn since the
early 1990s.

The sharp drop reported by the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) on
Tuesday is one of the reasons why the Armenian economy contracted
by 16.3 percent during this period. It resulted from the ongoing
recession in Russia and other countries with large numbers of Armenian
migrant workers.

The total amount of cash inflows processed by Armenian commercial
banks and wire transfer systems was equivalent to 18.4 percent of
first-half Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reflecting their significance
the economy.

The remittances had risen rapidly until the outbreak of the global
financial crisis last fall that put an end to a decade of robust
economic growth in Armenia. They were up by as much as 57.5 percent
year on year in the first half of 2008 when GDP was on track to
increase at a double digit rate for a seventh consecutive year.

Worsening economic conditions around the world and Russia in particular
have since slashed migrant workers' financial assistance to their
families. Also, many Armenians, most of them living in rural areas,
could not travel to Russia for seasonal work this year for the
same reason.

The CBA data, made available to RFE/RL, also show that the shortfall in
remittances was mitigated by an even more drastic slump in first-half
outflows of cash from Armenia. They tumbled by 53 percent year on year
to $259 million. The resulting net hard-currency inflow was down by
only 11.8 percent.


AZERBAIJAN BLACKLISTING FOREIGNERS WHO VISIT KARABAKH
Asbarez
Jul 28th, 2009

BAKU (Eurasianet)-In a move to keep foreign nationals out of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the Azerbaijani government is compiling
lists of foreigners who have visited the country and foreign
organizations that work with Karabakh's government, the Bakililar
news service reported on July 28.

Listed individuals who choose to travel to Karabakh can forget about
visiting Azerbaijan, even if they hold diplomatic status, the Kavkazsky
Uzel news service reported, citing Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry.

Foreign nationals who have a Karabakh visa stamped in their passports
will not be allowed into Azerbaijan, the country's Foreign Ministry
warned.

Bakililar news noted that several Russian pop stars who have held
concerts in Karabakh will never be able to perform in Azerbaijan.

45 ANIMALS WERE BORN IN YEREVAN ZOO THIS YEAR
ARMENPRESS
July 29, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS: This year 45 animals were born in the
Yerevan zoo. Director Sahak Abovyan told Armenpress that the babies
of lion, bear, swan, deer and other animals feel very good and do
not arouse any issues.

In fall the zoo will have new inhabitants particularly Persian and
black pumas. "The animals will be brought from Russia and Ukraine,"
S. Abovyan said.

The reconstruction of elephant's cage has been postponed for a certain
period as a result of financial-economic crisis. The Yerevan zoo has
2 300 animals of 210 species.