Armenian News

SERZH SARGSYAN: TURKEY'S POLICY OF "ZERO PROBLEMS
WITH NEIGHBORS" YIELDS ZERO RESULTS
armradio.am
23.06.2010 12:43

Within the framework of the official visit to Germany, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech on "Armenia: For the sake
of secure and prosperous South Caucasus" at the Conrad Adenauer Fund.

Speaking about the role, importance, the presence and the future of the
South Caucasus, President Sargsyan stated: "Our region has been called
a bridge linking Asia to Europe, as an energy security link, as a
factor of stability or instability, as a transit zone for communication
routes, as a platform of competition or clash of interests."

"All these characteristics are cold and full of ignorance, since
they do not present the peoples of the region and the differences
between them," President Sargsyan stated, expressing regret that the
international borders in the South Caucasus, which stretch for more
than 3 000 km divide peoples of the region rather than unite them.

According to the President, the end of cold war brought stability
and peace to a number of countries of the world. However, there
were regions, including the South Caucasus, which entered a stage of
more severe conflicts. "About twenty years have passed. Have we drawn
lessons from our own past? I think, we haven't," Serzh Sargsyan stated,
adding that it's unacceptable to build own security and prosperity
at the cost of neighbors. Neighbors do not easily forget this.

Touching upon the Armenian-Turkish relations, President Sargsyan
stated: "Of course, the failure of the Armenian-Turkish normalization
can be explained by the unwillingness of the Turkish political
leadership and possibly Azerbaijan's pressures."

"Turkey's policy of "zero problems with neighbors" yields zero
results. And this will continue until Turkey stops seeking for a
solution in the context of collision rather than coordination of
interests in the region," President Sargsyan stated.

Serzh Sargsyan concluded his speech, quoting Martin Luther King as
saying "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." The
President voiced hope that real and practical dialogue would start
between the neighbors and friends, bringing everyone together at the
same table.

Azerbaijan’s Carte Blanche to Destroy Monuments
Posted By Ara Khachatourian
June 24, 2010
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

We have extensively criticized Armenia’s foreign policy and
diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis the protocols and the Karabakh
conflict resolution process, but a small news item Thursday
prompts us to warn that someone’s asleep at the wheel again.
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, voted to admit Azerbaijan on its
body that oversees the preservation of cultural monuments
around the world. The Azeri news item points out that
Armenia did not get the necessary votes to be included in
this important body.
For over a decade now Azerbaijan has been mounting a two
-pronged policy where, on the one hand, it is systematically
destroying Armenian cultural monuments in Nakhichevan and
elsewhere in Azerbaijan, while, on the diplomatic front waging
an international campaign to accuse Armenia of doing the same.

Our publication has extensively covered Azerbaijan’s campaign
to eradicate Armenian historical monuments and efforts by
Armenian NGO’s, and to a certain extent governments to shed
light on this cultural Genocide.

Yet when push comes to shove, the diplomatic corps, especially
those guiding our representations at the UN, have fallen short.
For years, planned visits by UNESCO officials have been
postponed and cancelled and Armenia’s efforts to shed light on
this critical matter have gone on deaf ears. Now, Azerbaijan not
only will ensure that relevant UNESCO bodies will visit the region,
they will also stage this junket to meet their needs and correspond
to their destructive policies.

When Armenian Revolutionary Federation Parliamentary bloc
chairman Vahan Hovannesian raised the imperative for new
blood in the foreign ministry and in Armenia’s diplomatic circles,
he was alluding to the tired nature of our diplomatic activities in
comparison to the excess noise that usually surrounds Azeri efforts.

Several years ago, Azerbaijan’s diplomats maneuvered a resolution
at the UN Security Council, which, in no uncertain terms characterized
Armenia as an “aggressor.” Just last month, again due to Azeri efforts,
the European Parliament approved a report urging the immediate
withdrawal of Armenians from the liberated territories surrounding the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

In response to the UN Security Council decision, Armenia was quick
to point out that the international powers—US, Russia, France and
other European countries—abstained from the vote and condemned
the discussion of the Karabakh conflict outside the framework of the
OSCE. A similar response was also provided for last month’s debacle,
with Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian saying that the countries
involved in the mediation process had unequivocally declared that only
the OSCE was mandated with dealing with the Karabakh issue. Let’s
not even revisit the deafening silence from official Yerevan during most
of the protocols process.

A clear pattern of reacting rather than initiating can be seen in Armenia’s
maneuvering of important foreign policy issues and its lack of activism is
paving the way for others to step in claim legitimacy.

Just how active was Armenia’s UN Mission in lobbying for membership
in the UNESCO committee? Perhaps, we will never know. But what is
crystal clear is that Azerbaijan just secured a carte blanche to continue
the savage desecration of Armenian monuments and perpetuation of its
destructive policies.

ARMENIA LEAVES AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA BEHIND IN FAILED
STATES INDEX 2010
ArmInfo
2010-06-22 19:14:00

ArmInfo. Armenia ranks the 101st out of 177 positions in the Failed
States Index 2010 published by the US Foreign Policy Magazine in
cooperation with The Fund for Peace public organization. (A total of
177 states were ranked in order from most to least at risk of failure).

Armenia was ranked among Borderline countries alongside with Russia,
Turkey, India, Brazil, Mexico, and others. The most stable countries
were Norway, Finland and Sweden (177m 176 and 175m respectively).

Somalia, a country without government (as determined by the UN) tops
the list. Top 5 critical countries are Chad, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As for our region, Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Iran were ranked 55th, 37th and 32nd, respectively among
the countries In Danger. Uzbekistan (36th) and Tajikistan (38th)
proved the most vulnerable countries in the post-Soviet area.

The Fund for Peace uses its Conflict Assessment System Tool (CAST), an
original methodology it has developed and tested over the past decade.

CAST is a flexible model that has the capability to employ a four-step
trend-line analysis, consisting of (1) rating 12 social, economic,
political, and military indicators; (2) assessing the capabilities
of five core state institutions considered essential for sustaining
security; (3) identifying idiosyncratic factors and surprises; and
(4) placing countries on a conflict map that shows the risk history
of countries being analyzed.


RFE/RL Report
Armenian School Bill Further Amended
23.06.2010
Karine Kalantarian

Responding to a continuing public outcry, the Armenian government has
further modified a highly controversial bill that would allow the
existence of schools where the main language of instruction is not
Armenian.

Education Minister Armen Ashotian presented the changes to parliament
as it resumed heated debates on the measure amid more street protests
staged by its most vocal opponents.

The latest version of the government-drafted amendments to Armenia's
laws on education and the state language stipulates that only two
private foreign-language schools teaching above the elementary level
can operate in the country. They each can be located only in the
resort towns of Dilijan and Jermuk.

The modified bill also allows for up to nine foreign-language high
schools elsewhere in Armenia. They can be set up only in accordance
with inter-state agreements signed on a case-by-case basis.

The government had already watered down the bill in the face of fierce
criticism from not only opposition but some pro-establishment
elements. In particular, it added a clause requiring foreign-language
institutions to teach one-third of their subjects in Armenian.

The latest changes also failed to satisfy most of the critics, who say
they still pose a threat to Armenian's constitutional status as the
country's sole official language. Parliament deputies from the
opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and
Zharangutyun party said they will vote against the bill.

They indicated that they will back it if the government renounces any
changes in the language law. As Dashnaktsutyun's parliamentary leader,
Vahan Dashnaktsutyun, put it, that would `limit the possibility of
future dangers' that could emanate from foreign-language education.

`Nobody is against in-depth studies of foreign languages,' said
Hovannisian. `We should have worked in that direction.'

The vocal opposition is unlikely to prevent the government from
pushing the bill through the National Assembly dominated by members of
President Serzh Sarkisian's Republican Party and its two junior
coalition partners, the Prosperous Armenia and Orinats Yerkir
parties. All three factions said they will back the amendments during
the vote scheduled for Thursday.

The bill's reference to Dilijan came as a further indication that the
government bill stems, in large measure, from an educational project
devised by Ruben Vartanian, an Armenian-born Russian
businessman. Vartanian began building what he hopes will be an
international boarding school in the town even before the Armenian
government first moved to amend the two laws in early May. President
Sarkisian visited the construction site in April.

Speaking in the parliament, Ashotian mentioned the `huge educational
complex' planned by Vartanian. He said it will have about 650
students.


OVER A THIRD OF ARMENIA'S ECONOMY GONE MISSING
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/61359
June 21, 2010 - 1:35pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Tamada Tales Armenia Economy

Where is Armenia's economy? Well, to hear the World Bank's country
chief tell it, more than a third of the economy is closeted away in
a world impervious to accounting and tax collection. Light must be
shed on the shadow economy for Armenia to make ends meet, Airstomene
Varoudakis said at a June 18 press conference.

"It is a very important challenge to formalize this informal economy
so as to increase tax revenues and be able to pay for much-needed
social services," he said.

Armenia's government described poor tax administration as one of
the weakest spots in its economic stewardship and promised a massive
overhaul of the system. That would mean a "softer" regime for business
owners and fewer encounters with tax collectors.

Varoudakis said the World Bank will provide $25 million to underwrite
the reform. The World Bank, IMF and Russia have provided hundreds
of millions of dollars in economic aid to blunt the effects of the
global financial crisis, a sharp decrease in foreign remittances and
bust of the country's construction bubble.

AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS AGAINST CONSTRUCTION OF
ORTHODOX CHURCH
NEWS.am
June 21, 2010 | 18:42

Azerbaijan's State Committee for the Work with Religious Associations
expressed a protest against construction of an orthodox church in
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) that was not agreed with the
Azeri authorities.

The head of the committee press service Saleh Aslanov stated that
construction of a Russian orthodox church in Stepanakert demonstrates
disrespect for principles of international law and Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity, 1news reported.

A cross has been put in the construction site for the orthodox
cathedral in Stepanakert.