This is something that I just have to fume about before the passion of the moment dies.

It deals with the ineptitude and lack of vision on the part of the present RoA government in its dealings with the Diaspora. The problem, as many already know and some would care to disregard, lies in the person of the present Minister of the Diaspora – a longtime bureaucrat with a total lack of vision of what needs to be done to build bridges with the Diaspora and the lack of will to do it.   »»»»»

“New Times” political party leader Aram Karapetyan today lambasted the Armenian government’s attempt to normalize relations with Turkey, labelling the process as causing more harm than good.

“Armenia has not benefitted at all. The border remains closed and relations with Turkey are tenser than before. We are also now facing a possible resumption of hostilities over Karabakh,” Mr. Karapetyan said, adding that, “We started a process that was ill-conceived and fraught with complexity which has lead us into a dead-end.” »»»»»

“New Times” political party leader Aram Karapetyan says he has no desire to comment on the recent change of “Orinats” (Rule of Law) party ministers in the government. The Ministers of Emergency Situations and Transport/Communications were called to stop down by party, allegedly for internal reasons.

“As a rule, I generally refrain from passing judgement on a party that lies outside my scope of understanding. You have to understand what’s going on to offer an opinion,” said Karapetyan. The “New Time” leader sardonically added that “Orinats” was acting illogically and likened the party’s recent moves to those of an 18 year-old simple-minded girl.

170,000 Armenians live in Turkey, of which 100,000 are illegal and not citizens of Turkey. Tomorrow, if necessary, we shall exile them from our country.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey. 16 March, 2010

Any claim of a hundred thousand citizens of Armenia living illegally in Turkey is baseless. One can at the most speak of 12 to 14 thousand citizens of Armenia living in Turkey today, of which a significant part is legally resident in that country. But they are not the subject under discussion, but the conduct of Turkey towards them and, in particular, the response of the international community. Or rather, the lack of one. »»»»»

It is a well-known fact that Turkish leaders are exceptional diplomats. However, as soon as they hear the words Armenian Genocide, Greece, Cyprus or Kurdistan, these diplomats lose their “cool” and resort to emotional outbursts and undiplomatic actions that harm their own interests.

Realizing that this is the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Turkish officials have been nervously preparing themselves for the upcoming tsunami of commemorations that would remind the international community of the crimes against humanity committed by Ottoman Turks. »»»»»

In a March 16 letter to Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Levon Ter-Petrosyan thanked the CoE for keeping the political situation in Armenia in its focus and for remaining true to the PACE principles regarding the sham presidential elections of 2008.

In his letter, Ter-Petrosyan reminded Mr. Jagland that HAK (Armenian National Congress) had forwarded its own timetable for reforms to PACE and urged the CoE Secretary General to use his office and personal leverage to see that the “HAK” proposals are included in the Pace Monitoring Committee’s March 17 agenda. »»»»»

RoA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan today introduced the newly appointed Minister of Emergency Situations, Armen Yeritsyan, to ministry staffers.PM Sargsyan expressed gratitude to ex-Minister of Emergency Situations Mher Shahgeldyan, noting that he had assumed office at a very responsible period, when the ministry was just forming.

Mher Shahgeldyan congratulated Mr. Yeritsyan on his new appointment and wished his successor well. Mr. Shahgeldyan stated that he would be taking on a new challenge, that of strengthening the political apparatus of his party “Orinats Yerkir” to fulfil its stated mission. »»»»»

“For 95 years Turkey has been denying the fact of the 1915 Genocide”

Below is the text of an interview given by RoA President Serzh Sargsyan to the newspaper Le Figaro during his recent trip to France. It is taken from the official website of the RoA Presidency.

Why has the Armenian-Turkish process of normalization entered a deadlock?

We have a history of thorny relations. For ninety-five years Turkey has been denying the fact of the Genocide perpetrated against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. When I invited the President of Turkey to Armenia to watch the football game between our two national teams, my point was to promote the establishment of relations between our countries without preconditions. »»»»»

Earlier today, the RoA Ambassador to Russia, Oleg Yesayan, met with His Holiness Kirill I, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and finalized arrangements for the visit of His Holiness Kirill to Armenia at the invitation of His Holiness Karekin II.

His Holiness Kirill I is scheduled to visit Armenia from Marc 16-18.

A Polish delegation headed by the Prime Minister Donald Tusk, arrived in Armenia today on a one day official visit.

During the official reception at the Presidential Palace, RoA President Sargsyan noted that Armenian-Polish relations have great potential and that Armenia wishes to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and cultural spheres. “There are two very important bases for it – the positive relations between our peoples and the Eastern Partnership Program co-authored by Poland,” President Sargsyan said. »»»»»

By Vartan Oskanian

YEREVAN – Will Turkey’s current turmoil between Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan and the country’s powerful army complicate and delay the country’s boldest initiatives in years – the moves to address decades-old tensions with both Armenians and Kurds? »»»»»

Those who opposed Genocide Bill must not be reelected,  says Harut Sassounian

It was bad enough that Pres. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had failed to keep their campaign pledge to reaffirm the facts of the Armenian Genocide.

They sunk to a new low last week, when Mrs. Clinton announced that she and the President opposed adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the full House, following its passage by the Foreign Affairs Committee. »»»»»

RoA President Serzh Sargsyan, on the first day of his official visit to France, toured a display of renowned French-Armenian artist Jean Jansem’s works at the Matignon Gallery, Paris.

Jean Jansem (Semerjian) was born in 1920 in Seuleuze (Asia Minor), spent his childhood his childhood in Salonika, Greece, and arrived in France at the age of 11 when he took up painting. »»»»»

Michael Vardanyan, Armenia’s newly appointed permanent representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization presented his credentials to BSEC Secretary General Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos.

Mr. Vardanyan stressed the importance Armenia attached to participating in the activities of the BSEC. At the meeting urgent issues of cooperation and the future of the Armenia-BSEC partnership were covered.

“We must remember that Karabakh was the home of Azeris as well”, he states at Civiltas talk.

Thomas de Waal, a British journalist and writer best known to Armenians as the author of “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War” was the guest speaker at a conference devoted to the Karabakh conflict organized in Yerevan by the Civilitas Foundation.

Mr. De Waal began by saying that he preferred the term “dormant” conflict over the much used “frozen” variant and called on major international institution, like the European Union, to take a more active stance regarding the establishment of support mechanisms to overcome the mistrust on both sides of the conflict and to create the necessary infrastructure to bolster any eventual peace settlement. »»»»»