At a meeting the other day in Gyumri, Minister for Urban Development Vardan Vardanyan said that none of the apartments constructed by the company “Glendale Hills” had yet been accepted by the government. The apartments are to be handed over families left homeless by the Spitak earthquake.

Minister Vardanyan said that seismic tests had been constructed on the buildings and that the results were satisfactory. He said that construction shortcomings would be fixed and that directives had been handed down so that such problems wouldn’t occur in the future. »»»»»

RoA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan arrived in Paris the other day at the invitation of French Defense Minister Chief of Defense Staff, General Jean-Louis Georgelin.

DM Ohanyan met with representatives from over twenty French-Armenian organizations yesterday. He gave an overview of the 18 year history of the RoA Defense Forces and emphasized the important role played by the diaspora in the formation of the army. He also fielded questions from the representatives on a host of topics. Also discussed were ways of expanding the involvement of the diaspora in the strengthening of the army. »»»»»

Within the framework of its ongoing Rural Development Program, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund recently began construction of a vitally needed community center in Aknaghbyur, a village in Armenia’s Tavush Region. The project is sponsored by the fund’s French affiliate, through the financial support of the France-based Tavitian family. »»»»»

There are 400 households in the village of Gosh in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush province; 1,200 residents in all. Housing appears to be a pressing problem facing the village, but the extent of the problem differs, according to whom you speak to.

There’s a neighborhood in the village that residents call “Verin Tagh”. It lies in a sinkhole zone. »»»»»

Residents Say Town Becoming a “Little Sicily”

Residents of the town of Martuni, in Gegharkunik Province, are fearful and angry. During the past month, crimes have followed one another like clockwork but none of the perpetrators have been caught. The situation has riled local inhabitants to the point where they are preparing to collect signatures and send the petition off to the president and chief justice, demanding that the lawbreakers be found and prosecuted. »»»»»

Moscow benefactor promises to help; has already sent $20,000

Alla Soghomonyan remembers what happened after they moved into their new home in Shushi. The family had been living in Shushi since 2001. The three room house was built for them by the NKR government, after Mr. and Mrs. Soghomonyan had their seventh child. The government wants to encourage large families.

“We moved into the new house in October, 2003. Soon after, we noticed that the walls would get damp and the plaster crack,” she said. »»»»»

There are foreign citizens living among us who work in our country and perform their official obligations. Generally, it is their official activities which are the center of attention. But they also have their personal life and live with their personal feelings. What follows is an interview with Marie Yovanovitch, who has been serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia for over a year now. We talked to Ambassador Yovanovitch about her life here in Armenia. »»»»»

RoA Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan will head a delegation to Syria on February 9-11 to participate in the next round of talks between the foreign ministries of the two nations.

While in Syria, Deputy FM Kirakosyan will attend the opening ceremonies of an ‘honorary’Armenian Consulate in Der Zor, a town in eastern Syria designated by the Young Turks as a destination point and final killing center for Armenians who survived the death marches in 1915. The desert contains a large number of mass graves. A memorial was dedicated on the site in 1990.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a group of Turkish reporters on Saturday that he normalization process between Turkey and Armenia would benefit the entire Caucasus.

FM Davutoglu commented on relations between the two neighbouring states at the 46th Munich Conference on Security in Germany. He said that the Turkish vision involves not just the normalization of relations but also improvement of Turkish-Armenian commercial relations and turning the Caucasus into a “field of peace and welfare”. »»»»»

‘There are only two international agreements on the recognition of the existing border – the treaties of Moscow and Kars.’ Ahmet Davutoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Turkish Grand National Assembly, 21 October 2009

It is clear today that whatever be the end-result of the ratification process of the unfortunate pair of Armenia-Turkey protocols, there will no longer be a return to the status quo ante. Certain short-sighted people have let the genie out of the political bottle, and it is now difficult to predict what sort of conduct such a policy will have, though it has nothing to do with us anymore. »»»»»

Turkey will be paying Azerbaijan 150% more for gas imports this year after lengthy negotiations between the two countries agreed on a price of $300 per thousand cubic meters.

Although no official deal has been signed, Turkish press reports that Ankara has given its approval. According to the informal agreement, Turkey will pay $1.8 billion to Azerbaijan in exchange for 6 billion cubic meters of gas this year. Baku had been seeking a price hike for some time as world gas prices are hovering around $400. Turkey had been paying $120 per thousand cubic meters.

A U.S. congressional panel will consider a resolution to declare the World War I-era killings of more than a million  Armenians by the Ottoman Turks a “genocide”.

On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee announced it had scheduled a debate on the resolution for March 4. The State Department had no immediate comment. »»»»»

Balli Aviation Ltd, a subsidiary of the UK-based Balli Group, has pleaded guilty to illegally exporting a Boeing 747 aircraft to Iran. A Washington D.C. district court has slapped the company with a $2 million criminal fine and a $15 million civil settlement.

Blue Airways, a ghost company, registered in Armenia had been sanctioned by the U.S. Justice Department as being a conduit for the illegal sale dating back several years. »»»»»

After launching commercial services in Armenia on November 5, 2009, Orange Armenia has already registered 200,000 subscribers to its array of mobile phone and internet services. The company is owned by France Telecom.

Orange Armenia has already invested $148.5 million to provide necessary expertise and investment to ensure the development of a high-quality 2G and 3G+ network offering nationwide coverage. Before Orange’s entry in Armenia, the market was previously a duopoly of VivaCell-MTS and ArmenTel (Beeline).

The following opinion piece, entitled “Armenia and Turkey: The Truce In Need of a Rescue”, appeared in the February 5, 2010 edition of the Los Angeles Times.

For a while, it looked like the start of a great reconciliation. Armenia and Turkey have lived beneath the vast shadow of the mass murder of Armenians in eastern Turkey during World War I, and to this day they maintain no diplomatic ties.

But in October, the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers met in Switzerland and signed two protocols to set up relations, open their common border — closed since 1993 — and begin addressing the painful disputes that divide them. Each nation’s governments must still ratify the agreements. The United States, with its large Armenian American community and strategic alliance with Turkey, threw its weight behind the deal. »»»»»

President Serzh Sargsyan today met with Igor Shuvalov, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Russian National Coordinator on CIS affairs.

In his remarks, President Sargsyan said that 2009 was very effective in terms of further developing Armenian-Russian relations. “We have registered progress in all spheres. We have started 2010 rather intensively: I have already had two meetings with the President of the Russian Federation and the Russian Foreign Minister visited Armenia in January. We are optimistic and we think we should reinforce our relations through consistent everyday work,” President Sargsyan said. »»»»»

Hayk Sanosyan, President of the “Georgia Armenian Unity” organization, said today that that Armenian churches in Georgia would only recive official legal status with the mediation of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin.

“Our church must explore new avenues and relations so that we can resolve this problem,” he stated at a press conference. When asked if the parliaments of the two nations would have to intervene as well, Mr. Sanosyan answered that each Armenian should raise the issue as well as various government bodies. »»»»»

Vazgen Safaryan, chairman of the Union of Domestic Manufacturers of Armenia, today said that for the past twenty year, the Armenians government hasn’t directed enough attention to the manufacturing sector.

Mr. Safaryan, at a press conference, argued for drastic changes to Armenia’s economic thought process. He also referred to the expected price hikes in gas supplies and said that manufacturers were worried about the impact it would have. »»»»»

RoA Deputy Health Minister Tatul Hakobyan, during a press conference held today regarding developments in the health field, said that the average life expectancy of a male was 70 and 77 for females.

Minister Hakobyan said that mortality rates were still high but that there was a slight downward trend of late. He credited the work of the government and health ministry for the decrease. The major causes of death, according to the minister, are cardio-vascular, cancer-related, respiratory and digestive, in descending order. »»»»»

The following article, written by Matthew Collin, appeared in the February 5 edition of Al Jazeera.net.

In the frontline trenches of Nagorno-Karabakh, the long-running conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the disputed mountain enclave continues.

In the village of Khramort, children make their way home from school for lunch, some laughing and joking with each other, others holding on tightly to their mothers’ hands. »»»»»

An outspoken political analyst, Ruben Hakobyan, said today that the Armenian government was able to use the Armenia-Turkish Protocols to redirect public attention from pressing domestic problems.

“We must pay more attention to our lives within the country, given that the fate of Armenia is being decided within, not without,” said Mr. Hakobyan. »»»»»

Political analyst Ruben Hakobyan described both sides in the process to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations as lacking “sincerity” at a press conference today. He said that it wasn’t coincidental that the process had been nicknamed “football diplomacy” given that both parties have been trying to manoeuvre past one another, just like in football.

Mr. Hakobyan said that from the start, the normalization process lacked any real long-term prospects. “From the get-go, Turkey was couching everything in terms of preconditions, but our government has only recently noticed them. Erdogan would wake up every day and say that they have preconditions. Our officials would say, don’t believe them, trust us.” »»»»»

In an apparent surprise to many in attendance, Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan opened the next consecutive session of the Aragatzotn Regional Council. After rural community leaders presented a check list of the problems faced by area villagers, Mr. Gevorgyan responded, “Don’t make me cry.”

DPM Gevorgyan said that henceforth, local community leaders would be present during Regional Council sessions and that they would thus be given the opportunity to raise issues they face in their respective communities. This view was contrasted by the fact that none of the local leaders present at yesterday’s hearings rose to ask a question of Aragatzotn Regional Administrator Sargis Sahakyan. »»»»»

On February 3, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, in testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned about the increasing risk of renewed conflict over Karabakh.

His comments on Karabakh were made during an assessment of threats to U.S. National Security and appeared under the heading, “Potential Flashpoints in Eurasia and the Balkans”. Mr. Blair said that although there has been progress in the past year toward Turkey-Armenia rapprochement, “this has affected the delicate relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Policy Forum Armenia, an independent think-tank, will hold its 2nd annual forum on Armenia-Diaspora relations in Washington, DC on February 28-March 2. Raffi Hovannisian, the first foreign minister of the RoA, will deliver the keynote luncheon address.

As in the 1st  Forum, the 2nd (Armenia-Diaspora) Forum will gather a large number of intellectuals—academic and public policy practitioners—to discuss challenges and help devise new modes of engagement between Armenia and its Diaspora. A detailed agenda will be circulated within days.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued the following statement on February 2.

“The Armenian authorities need to implement the reforms recommended by the ad hoc Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia on the events of 1 and 2 March 2008, without further delay,” concluded the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD), following an exchange of views in the PACE Monitoring Committee last week. »»»»»

Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan said today that her presence at PACE wasn’t desirable by John Prescott and Georges Colombier, the PACE rapporteurs on Armenia.

She was referring to the absence of the two co-rapporteurs at the December 17 PACE session scheduled to review the report of the Armenian parliament’s temporary committee regarding the events of March 1, 2008. »»»»»

Starting on January 31, almost a thousand heirs of Armenian Genocide victims will receive their compensation payments from AXA the French insurance company AXA within two weeks. This, according to Armenian-American lawyer Vartkes Yeghiaian in a news item picked up by a number of Armenian mass media outlets citing “Days” monthly published in Prague. (The AXA website has posted no announcement on the matter). »»»»»

The Armenian Assembly of America is calling on President Obama to up U.S. assistance to Armenia to at least $70 million in FY 2011.

This is $30 million more than envisaged in the U.S. budget released a few days ago. »»»»»

Deno Gold Mining and “Khustup T.V.”, based in Kapan, have recently signed a memorandum of cooperation according to which the local broadcaster will be airing programs regarding the mining company’s projects in the town.

Sasoun Manoukyan, Managing Director of “Khustup TV” said that the broadcaster hadn’t charged Deno Gold for such publicity. Rather, he said that the agreement would set the record straight regarding the mining company’s environmental record. “Some NGO’s have claimed that the company is damaging the local environment and this isn’t true,” Mr. Manoukyan said. »»»»»