His popularity waned during his rule as he sold Armenian electrical capacity to Georgia while limiting electricity's availability to Armenia to 4 hours per day in order to fund the war against Azerbaijan, a move regarded as necessary by the Armenian Army. He was also unpopular with many because he banned the nation's leading opposition party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF- Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiune), jailed its leadership, and shut down Yerkir, the country's largest daily newspaper.Hefty charges indeed. As someone who lived through the early 1990s in Armenia, anyone who considers voting for him because he is a voice of change, reason, or otherwise the lesser of two evils, is simply insane.
He was forced to step down in February 1998 after advocating additional concessions to Azerbaijan in the resolution of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Ter Petrosyan's key ministers, led by then-Prime Minister Kocharyan, refused to accept a peace plan on Karabakh put forward by international mediators in September 1997. The plan, accepted by Ter-Petrosyan and Azerbaijan, called for a "phased" settlement of the conflict which would postpone an agreement on Karabakh's status, the main stumbling block. That agreement was to accompany the return of most Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh and the lifting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish blockades of Armenia.
Sarkisian will hold office for slightly more than a month, until the elections, when the constitution requires him to give up the post. If the Republican Party wins at the polls, he could again be reappointed to the job.May God help us all.
Viktor Soghomonyan, the press-secretary of the Armenian President, qualified Turkish lawyer Kamal Kerincsiz's initiative as nonsense. The Turkish lawyer tries to accuse the Armenian President of the "Khojaly genocide".Oh, my.
K.Kerincsiz, the leader of the Turkish Lawyers' Union, has already appealed to some unknown judicial structure "Roman International Criminal Court". According to the source, the lawyer states that he has all the necessary proof for accusing the Armenian President and 78 terrorists of the massacre.
Kocharyan said that Armenia is interested in wide-ranging relations with the hugest country of Eastern Europe which has the biggest economy in the region. For practical purposes, he pointed out the necessity of some institutional steps, in particular, to finish the formation of the Armenian-Polish intergovernmental commission as soon as possible.Poland has already had diplomatic relations with Armenia for fifteen years.
[Polish Foreign Minister Anna] Fotyga expressed confidence that as a result of the visit the friendly relations between the countries will go on enlarging and developing, including new spheres of cooperation.
Robert Kocharian rejected Turkey's offer to set up a joint panel of historians to debate the issue and called on Ankara to accept his suggestion of an intergovernmental commission. "The normalization of bilateral relations is the responsibility of governments, not historians," Kocharian was quoted by Reuters as saying.We all know that whatever commission is in place to discuss the Armenian Genocide will only be for show. Do you really expect Turkey to discover that it indeed killed 1,500,000 Armenians after decades of lies? Come on!
"That is why we are ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions, create an intergovernmental commission and to discuss all issues, including the most sensitive," he added.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian is departing to France on a 4-day formal visit on February 17. In Paris the Armenian leader will meet with French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Senate President Christian Poncelet and National Assembly Speaker Jean-Louis Debre.So which part of the above requires hard work? Maybe it's all the walking he'll be doing at the Louvre.
The Armenian President and the first lady will be present at the "Charles Aznavour and Friends" concert to take place in the Opera Garnier in the framework of the Year of Armenia in France. They will also attend an exhibition of outstanding painter of sea-scapes Ivan Ayvazovsky in the Navy Museum and an exhibition titled "12 capital cities of Armenia".
In Lourve the Armenian and French President will open "Saint Armenia" exhibition. The RA leader is also expected to meet with the Armenian community and take part in the opening ceremony of Armenia Garden in Nice...
"They don’t agree 100 percent on the basic principles [of a peaceful settlement,] but they are close, very close," said Matthew Bryza, a deputy assistant secretary of state and the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. "They agree on the philosophy of the basic principles and most of the basic principles themselves."Words are words: I won't be convinced until there is a deal that makes sense. And for that, we may have to wait - possibly indefinitely.
Presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian were already widely expected to reach a framework agreement on Karabakh early last year. But two rounds of face-to-face negotiations between them collapsed due to last-minute disagreements.
Eleven activists of art and science have sent an open letter to the President Robert Kocharyan with an appeal to ban sending valued illustrated Armenian parchment manuscripts for exhibition in France.They have good reason to worry: the same article mentions that works by Arshil Gorky were lost in a plane crash and paintings by Martiros Saryan burned on a ship.
“These are treasures that are untouchable; they should not be transported, exposed to temperature changes, should not be exposed to unjustified risks, and the government of the Republic of Armenia is not competent to make such a decision, because those treasures belong to the Armenian nation, so exporting them from Armenia means risking their existence,” says Levon Chookaszyan, the head of the Yerevan State University UNESCO Chair of the History of Armenian Art.
“It was a miracle the manuscripts have survived 1700 years and have lived up to our days. We don’t have the right to endanger them,” he says.
...a tourist spends an average of 1000 USD during 5-6 days in Armenia. The majority of them are from the USA, Russia and the CIS countries.There's a lot of numbers fudging going on in Armenia, according to the source. Regardless, I'm surprised 400,000 people decided to go to Armenia, as opposed to anywhere else. Of course, it's hard to know what part of that 400,000 is of Armenian descent, but impressive numbers, nevertheless.
It was anticipated that 400 thousand tourists would visit Armenia in 2006. Robert Kocharyan himself mentioned the figure several times. Nevertheless, the reports of the Ministries show that the anticipations weren’t justified: only 380 thousand tourists visited Armenia during 2006.
"Today, the volume of Russia's accumulated investments in Armenia makes up 800 million dollars. But three Russian companies - VympelKom, Rusal and Gazprom are planning investments and already investing," he added.Hooray for capitalism! While increased investment is always a good thing, we should stop to realize the potential consequences of so much Russian money in a tiny country like Armenia.
"It will double the volume of investments to 1.5 billion dollars in the nearest future," Putin stated.
"Other companies also display an interest in working on the Armenian market. It instills optimism," he added
Alone Vympelcom's investments will make up 490 million dollars," the Russian president noted.
On January 21, a solemn awarding ceremony of the Orthodox People’s Unity International Foundation for “Outstanding activities for consolidation of unity of orthodox nations” took place in Moscow. The awarding ceremony was lead by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexi II. This year the awards were handed to:While some countries fight bloody wars to separate the church from the state, Kocharyan is awarded for its further integration. A more apt award I cannot imagine.
-Armenian President Robert Kocharian for the contribution to the development of the church-state relations;
-UN 6th Secretary General Butros-Butros-Gali for prominent personal contribution to the promotion of Christian spiritual values;
-Gazprom Russian company for assistance in renaissance of the Russian Orthodox Church and other churches throughout the globe.
The Armenian President is awarded as a consistent and active adherent to extension of Christian influence within the modern society.
The grove near Aghayan 19 and Teryan 56 no more exists. Two days ago the residents of those houses woke up to find out that the 20 healthy trees of the grove have been chopped down. They could not prevent the trees from being cut as the policemen did not allow them to interfere. Several residents managed to take photos with cell phones.Capitalism over common sense, as always. When will it change? When will Armenia itself be uprooted for the construction of a series of pipelines or something completely devastating on a massive scale?
The plan to cut down the grove was created in 2002 by Nushikyan Association which intends to build a four-storied hotel instead. The project had been rejected more than once but in 2006 it was finally accepted.
The residents of the nearby houses have created a committee protecting their rights, with Rouben Torosyan at the head. They have sent letters to Robert Kocharyan, RA Prime Minister, the head of the Police, as well as the RA Ombudsman and the Public Prosecutor. Mayor Yervand Zakharyan had promised that the trees would not be cut down.
Armenia's President Robert Kocharyan and the rectors of the country's higher schools discussed the current state and the further steps in higher education reforms in Armenia.Sincere discussion of an important issue or just another political stunt? You be the judge.
The President took interest in introduction of the new teaching methods and the availability of modern special literature. A comprehensive approach is required in providing the students with new basic manuals in their respective fields, as the bare structural changes will not bring about a radical improvement in education. Kocharyan said that he expects the rectors to make their contribution to the reform on time in a consolidated, purposeful and correct manner.
The country's taxation and customs services do not show due eagerness in struggling against the "shady" economy. Kocharyan pointed out the impropriety of reminding the services of the large volume of "black" economy and their duties. Although certain progress has been recorded in the sphere, the process is far from being satisfactory, Kocharyan said.Oh, by the way, the term "shadow economy" is used to describe any business that is illegal, in terms of under-reporting taxes, illegally importing goods without paying fees, and so on.
The country's president and the government will have higher requirements towards the work of the taxation and customs services in 2007, Kocharyan said.
“I am sure that they will be held up to the mark,” he said in his New Year address to the nation. “Free and fair conduct of the elections should be a priority for each of us - Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Diaspora.”Call me a pessimist, but when a corrupt government is in power, what it requires is even more power and even fewer opponents. It was never about democracy with the current administration.
None of the presidential and parliamentary elections held during Kocharian’s nine-year rule were recognized as democratic by the international community.
