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Manaseryan: Armenia and Georgia can greatly benefit from accession to EaEU and EU

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The mutually beneficial economic ties between Armenia and Georgia have not been realized completely in the recent years, economist Tatul Manaseryan told reporters on EU-EaEUMonday, adding that Armenia should enhance relations with Georgia since “we are doomed to close cooperation with Georgia.”

According to the economist, Armenia’s and Georgia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) and the European Union (EU) respectively should be viewed as mutually complementary factors.

“We together with the Georgians can greatly benefit from accession to both unions, especially given that Armenia does not rule out European integration,” he noted.

Chairman of the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia Gagik Makaryan said for his part that it is difficult to judge about the real amounts of imports into Armenia from Georgia as many goods imported from Georgia are produced in Turkey.

Imitation or threat to Russia?- opinions on Georgian-Turkish-Azerbaijani talks

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A closer partnership among Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan is likely to be directed against Armenia at any moment, a former parliament member has Georgia-Turkey-Azerbaijansaid, commenting on the three countries’ recent ministerial-level talks in Nakicevan.

“in case the Georgian transport route, which serves to carry goods to Armenia, is closed, we will find ourselves in quite a difficult situation,” Vardan Khachatryan told Tert.am.

The Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani defense ministers met in Nakicevan on Wednesday to discuss cooperation plans. The agreed mutually that a deeper partnership among states would be directed to national security in the defense sector in future. “Against the backdrop of the existing challenges and the security risks in the region, we must commit ourselves to a closer cooperation,” Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania told his counterparts.

Khachatryan said he sees that Turkey exercises a strong influence on Georgia. “A large part of Georgia’s economy is under Turkey’s control. From this point of view, their desire to join NATO with rapid efforts is linked to the fact that Turkey is going to be their elder brother in the alliance,” he noted.

Khachatryan said he nonetheless hopes that Georgia will take sides with Armenia, opposing to the existing alliance. “We should not count on the Georgians as a brother nation; they will act in the interests of Armenia, as they have done many times before,” he added.

Commenting on Russia’s position, the former lawmaker said that he doesn’t think the country would derive any benefits in case of abandoning Armenia. “Should Russia surrender its strategic ally, it will split up, as the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] will stop operating then. Nobody will believe it has influence in the world, whereas the CSTO considers itself a challenger of NATO,” he added.

Hayk Sanosyan, a former Republican lawmaker from Georgia’s Armenian populated region of Javakhk, said he doesn’t think the agreements reached during the ministerial talks pose any threat at all. “Their closer relations cannot pose any hazard to us as Georgia is our friend,” he said, noting that the country traditionally maintains close economic ties with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

“I think it was Turkey’s initiative to hold the meeting in Nakicevan. And I believe that the proactive step by Turkey was directed against Russia in an attempt to demonstrate that they hold dominant positions in the region. It was an imitation, so I don’t treat it seriously; it is not a threat,” he said.

source: Tert.am

Georgian PM visits Armenian Genocide Memorial (Video)

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YEREVAN. – Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili visited Armenian Genocide Memorial together with his Armenian counterpart Hovik Abrahamyan.

Georgia-PM-ArmeniaThe officials laid flowers at the memorial and honored memory of the victims near eternal flame.

Irakly Garibashvili planted a fir at the Memory Alley of the memorial complex.

As reported earlier, he will meet with Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan during his two-day official visit to Yerevan.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am
 

Saakashvili ‘detained’ in absentia

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tbilisi city-courtTbilisi City Court accepted prosecution’s motion and ordered pre-trial detention of former President Mikheil Saakashvili in absentia,Civil.ge reported.

Preliminary court hearing – the stage when a presiding judge, among other issues, decides on the admissibility of evidence submitted by the parties – has been set for September 22.

Prosecutor’s office has charged Saakashvili with exceeding official powers in connection to break up of the anti-government protest rallies on November 7, 2007, and raid on and “seizure” of Imedi TV station.

“Ahead of the August war [six-year] anniversary Putin could not have imagined more desirable present than Georgian authorities ordering my arrest,” Saakashvili said in a video address from the US, released on August 1 before the court’s ruling was announced after midnight on Saturday.

“This will be one of the most shameful pages of Georgia’s history,” he said.

“I am not going to turn up upon summoning of prosecutor’s office, controlled by Gazprom shareholder [referring to Georgia’s ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili] – I will be very far whenever they summon me, but I will be very close when the Georgian people call me,” Saakashvili said.

Georgia opens criminal case against ex-president

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criminal-case-exThe Office of the Attorney General of Georgia stated that a criminal case has been launched against ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili.

As per the office, the case is opened in connection with Saakashvili not appearing before the investigative body on Monday for questioning, as the body had summoned him as a witness in a criminal investigation.

Saakashvili has left Georgia in November of last year. Since then, he has not returned to his country

But the former president issued a statement on Monday accusing the incumbent Georgian authorities of political persecution of opponents, and noted that he will not “take part in this farce.”

Armenian clerics injured in Tbilisi’s Surb Etchmiadzin Church attack

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A pre-planned attack, motivated by ethnic and religious hatred, was perpetrated on the representatives of the Armenian Church of Surb Etchmiadzin in Tbilisi, the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church 180911in Georgia said.

According to the Democracy and Freedom Watch, on July 19, at around 4 pm, a provocation was organized on the church-adjacent territory.

A woman was trying to drive her car out of the area adjacent to the church, but was unsuccessful and started to express dissatisfaction towards the cleric at the Armenian Church claiming his car was blocking the way for her own to car in the parking area.

At that moment, two aggressively disposed men approached and helped to get the car out. The cleric entered the administrative building of Armenian Church.

Then there were young deacons in the yard, who heard that the men were verbally insulting Armenians. They protested. A man left the car, took a baton and a stone and again insulted and attempted to hit the representatives of the Armenian Diocese.

Hearing a noise from outside, other clerics came out into the yard in order to defuse the situation, when the man hit one of clerics on his back. A short fight followed.

Two hours after the incident, the man returned with a group of about 50 men. Some of them were armed with cold weapons. They approached the church and got into a scuffle with the clerics and employees of the diocese, while verbally insulting Armenians. People attending a Christening ceremony inside the church came out into the yard and the men attacked them too.

“Women and children, shocked by what they had seen, hid in the church,” the statement reads.

As a result of the attack, clerics and employees of the Armenian Diocese got physical injuries. One of the men tore a cross off one priest and walked away with it.

The Armenian Church called on law enforcement bodies to thoroughly investigate the Saturday incident as a crime committed on ethnic and religious grounds.

The Armenian Church called on the media to avoid promoting anti-Armenian attitudes in society, urging Georgia’s Orthodox Church to publicly condemn any actions based on ethnic and religious hatred.

“For many centuries, we have been concerned with the internal stability of Georgia and interethnic and interreligious relations, and we call on the Georgian government to take all necessary measures in order to avoid ethnic and religious separation of Georgian society.”

Georgia puts an end to import of 3 tons of liquid heroin from Azerbaijan that equal to hundreds of millions of dollars

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Georgian police and the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance confiscated almost three tons of liquid heroin today as a result of the joint operational-investigative activities. It was an attempt of transportation of Georgia Heroinheroin from Azerbaijan to Georgia, ntv.ru reports.

Georgian Interior Ministry reported that the law enforcement agencies have never confiscated such a big amount of drugs.

Nearly thirty-liter, hundred containers for liquid soap filled with liquid heroin were found in a truck, which entered Georgia from Azerbaijan and was heading to Turkey. The Interior Ministry reported that two Georgian citizens are arrested in connection with this case.

The preliminary examination showed that the detected substance contains 80% pure heroin, the market value of which is hundreds of millions of dollars.

The case of the illegal drug transportation through Georgia is under investigation.

The U.S. State Department report on the control of drug trafficking was noted that Azerbaijan is a transit country for drugs from Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia to Russia and Europe. The report also said that the number of addicts has increased in Azerbaijan. Heroin is the most popular drug in Azerbaijan, besides, narcotic plants grow there.

According to a UN report, of “Northern Balkan Route” drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Europe lies precisely through Azerbaijan. Drugs freely cross Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran route. The second, “Old Balkan Route” lies straight through Iran to Turkey. People engaged in the smuggling are mainly assisted by the Azerbaijani and Kurdish population of northern Iran. The third way is through Azerbaijan and the Caucasus which lies through the Turkmen seaport after Turkmenbashi, in Baku. Here the drugs are easily smuggled into Russia.

In September 2010, the Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Rustam Usubov said that through the territory of Azerbaijan carried about 35% of the drugs illegally produced in Afghanistan.

Moreover, the telegram to former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse, which was published by the WikiLeaks, read that the drug mafia in Russia is largely controlled by ethnic Azerbaijanis.

Source: Panorama.am

EU and Eurasian Economic Union: possible clash of interests in the region – opinions

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 – an echo of the Ukrainian crisis against the background of tangled relations between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union.

EU-EurasianIn an interview with Tert.am, Head of the European Integration NGO Karen Bekaryan said that four of the six European Partnership member-states – Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine – have certain problems involving different conflicts. Besides, other two states, Belarus and Azerbaijan, signed Association Agreements with the EU, as well as Armenia, which has not yet full-fledged relations with the EU.

Political Secretary of the Heritage party Styopa Safaryan told Tert.am about another “tangle.” According to him, “it will be better seen after Armenia joins the Eurasian Economic Union.” That is, the Armenia-Georgia border will turn into a border between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Given the fact of Armenia becoming a border with the EU economic area, as well as Russia’s position on the European Partnership policy and on the Association Agreements between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, Mr Safaryan forecasts a number of pessimistic scenarios.

“First, we can expect Russians to use Armenia in its actions against them. Secondly, if it happens, Europe will have to block Armenia even worse by means of other states.”

However, this is not a problem of Georgia alone.

“Even if Georgia wants, the EU had warned of the impossibility customs free trade between the two economic areas because, if Armenia is allowed to, it will imply its joining the EU free economic zone,” Mr Safaryan said.

Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan does not think the new situation in the region is the result of Association Agreements between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Rather, it is the result of the Ukraine developments.

“By and large, the Eurasian Economic Union has waged a struggle for Ukraine, with neither Europe nor Russia being the winner. They have divided Ukraine and got such problems that huge economic resources are required to resolve them.”

“In any case, evidence thereof is Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s recent visit to Georgia, where the two countries’ leaders stated that being parts of two economic unions would not prevent the development of their trade relations. On the other hand, the Caucasus could be turned into a crossroads of interests of the EU and Eurasian Economic Union,” Mr Melik-Shahnazaryan said as he quoted Armenia’s president.

Source: tert.am

Armenia backs Georgia-Russia railway communication relaunch: President

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June 19, 2014 – 16:51 AMT

President Serzh Sargsyan stated that Armenia supports restoration of direct railway communication between Georgia and Russia via Abkhazia, however, no serious 180017discussions have been held on the subject, NewsGeorgia reported.

“No serious discussions on the issue were initiated, but we want the railway to start functioning. It’s of vital importance to us,” Sargsyan said in an interview with Rustavi-2 Georgian Broadcasting Company.

He further noted that the opening of the railway depends not only on Armenia and Russia, but on other sides as well, “so we are actively working on the issue”.

Earlier, Georgia’s State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia Paata Zakareishvili said that the opening of the rail link through Abkhazia has not been discussed in detail, although in foreseeable future, the issue may be considered by Georgian and Russian officials.

Sargsyan also held talks with the Georgian leadership in Tbilisi on June 18 to discuss consequences as Yerevan prepares for joining Russian-led economic bloc and Tbilisi plans to sign free trade treaty with the EU next week, Civil.ge reported.

After the talks both the Georgian and Armenian officials were saying that the two countries should work closely in order to avoid setbacks in bilateral trade and economic cooperation and to turn “different paths” chosen by the two countries into new opportunity for Georgian and Armenian businesses.

A Ninotzminda (Javakheti, Georgia) unveiling of a statue dedicated to the Armenian Genocide

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Samtskhe-Javakhk the region with strong Armenian majority in Georgia took place on April 23 Mass at the Church of Surp Sarkis Ninotzminda in memory of Armenian Genocide victims. Then in the courtyard of the house of the Armenian Javakheti,-Georgiaculture of the city took place the ceremony of inauguration of a statue dedicated to the genocide. Was this Hovhannes Manoukian Ambassador of Armenia to Tbilisi. “This statue dedicated to the Armenian Genocide is one more step in our friendly country, Georgia, in recognition of the genocide,” he said in his speech. H. Manoukian called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Among those present, the archbishop of Georgia Nikoloz, the representative of the Georgian Church for the region Akhalkhalak, the benefactor Armen Gharslyan, Georgian MPs, politicians in the region, as well as many Armenians and Georgians came from Javakhk and Tbilisi.

Krikor Amirzayan