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ARMENIA: A successful new Armenia is emerging from a long Soviet shadow
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DiplomaticTraffic.com
December 14, 2004
By Thomas Cromwell ([email protected])
With a hostile Azerbaijan to the east and Turkey to the west, and an
often chaotic Georgia to the north, Armenia has had to struggle to
establish itself as a modern state after suffering 70 years under
Soviet rule. It has been a fairly slow process as both the minds of
people raised in the Soviet system and an economy built to serve it
have had to undergo radical change. But Armenia's ambassador to
Washington, Dr. Arman Kirakossian, sees a good bit to be hopeful about
when discussing recent developments in his country. For one,
conversion to a market economy has started to take hold, as
investments begin to pay off, exports rise, and incomes increase. Last
year, Armenia registered GDP growth of 13.9 percent and this year it
should come in at 9.7 percent. This year its exports to the United
States stood at $33 million (40 percent above the level for 2003),
while imports from the US were $74 million. The main export is
jewelry, with apparel in second place (including 40,000 uniforms for
the NYPD).
This despite the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed
region of Nagorno Karabakh, where, after the fall of the Soviet Union,
fighting broke out between Azeris and the Armenian community there,
supported by Armenia, Karabakh Armenians accounted for 80 percent of
the population in the enclave at independence, but today there are no
Azeris living in the territory (there are small groups of Russians,
Greeks and Yazidis resident there).
It is 10 years since a ceasefire was put in place between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, but to date a political settlement has eluded the parties.
Nevertheless, an OSCE committee, called the Minsk Group, co-chaired by
the US, Russia and France, has made progress through several rounds of
meetings that have supported a series of bilateral talks between the
two sides. A series of meetings among foreign ministers of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and the Minsk Group this past summer led to the
announcement of a new round of peace talks, called the Prague
process. Talks proceeded yet further at a follow-up meeting on
December 6 and 9.
What's more, the ambassador says, the new president of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev, while initially talking tough, threatening to restart
military action and rallying Muslim nations to press for United
Nations intervention, has moderated his position and has met three
times with Armenian President Robert Kocharian. He has shown himself
willing to find a compromise, and, the ambassador says, Armenia hopes
he will become more pragmatic.
Armenia has made a number of proposals for a solution in the past but
to date they have not been accepted. Now, the ambassador says,
Yerevan's position is simply that the Karabakh Armenians must be
allowed to exercise self-determination and not be responsible to
Baku. What it won't accept is a return to the Soviet-era status quo,
created by Stalin's 1933 decision to add the Nagorno Karabakh region
to Azerbaijan, of course without asking the people living there if
they agreed!
Armenia is a country of long-suffering, and its people are scattered
around many parts of the world. There are some three million living in
Armenia, but five million living elsewhere, with concentrations in
North America, Russia, and the Middle East. The United States has some
1.5 million ethnic Armenians, concentrated primarily in California.
American Armenians include some very successful individuals who have
been active in helping Armenia get on its feet. The best-known is Kirk
Krikorian, the owner of MGM. Last year he added to an earlier $200
million grant to build a major highway by funding a project to
renovate central Yerevan and another to renew the country's museums.
James Tufenkian has organized carpet weaving among the villages and is
beginning to export the rugs to the United States. He has also started
to invest in B&B properties. Vahakn Hovnanian of New Jersey's
Hovnanian Brothers (one of the top ten construction companies in the
United States) is building an American-style town near Yerevan, and
other projects.
Other investors have arrived by different routes. The devastating
earthquake that in 1988 destroyed the town of Spitak and killed 25,000
Armenians, brought Utah's Jon Huntsman to help with the
reconstruction. He stayed on to build homes and to carry out other
construction projects.
But there are also other Diaspora communities that are returning to
help build the new state. There have been Armenian communities
throughout much of the Middle East since the Ottoman Empire and the
dispersion of Armenians from eastern Asia Minor in 1915. Some of these
Armenians have been returning to their homeland, especially of
late. Another group of importance is Armenians who went to Russia
after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the idling of most of
the Soviet factories in Armenia, including many secret Soviet
plants. Many of the Armenians in Russia are now prospering there and
investing back home, at least to the extent of building homes.
The American Armenian communities were created by three major waves of
immigration. The first was in the late 19th Century and continued to
World War I and the 1915 murders and deportation of Armenians by the
Ottomans, persecution that the Armenians and most of the world say was
genocide. (Turkey continues to dispute this and refuses to open its
border with Armenia until Yerevan stops using the term. Ankara says it
also wants to see the Nagorno Karabakh dispute resolved before it will
negotiate with Armenia over a border agreement. Armenia has not placed
conditions on normalizing relations. Washington sees the normalization
of ties with Turkey and a resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
as critical for stability in the region.) The second wave occurred in
the 1960s and was comprised primarily of Armenians from the Middle
East, where conflicts made life increasingly difficult. The third wave
followed the breakup of the Soviet Union at the end of the 80s.
The economic recovery of Armenia is giving the country strength, and
the momentum is there for a solution to the Nagorno Karabakh
standoff. The Minsk Group seems an effective negotiating structure and
it is clearly making some headway. The real sticking point is for the
leaders of both nations to be able to find a workable solution based
on mutual compromises and to sell that solution to their respective
populations. The result would be welcome for both sides, ending an era
of tension, with positive repercussions for the domestic politics and
economies in both countries.
Ambassador Kirakossian says that while relations between his country
and the United States have been "generally good," the terror attacks
on 9/11 brought the two sides closer in security cooperation. Armenia
quickly agreed to allow use of its air space for US Air Force planes
headed to Afghanistan, and it has contributed intelligence and other
tangible assistance to the Global War on Terror in Afghanistan and
elsewhere, a peacekeeping unit to Kosovo, and has pledged doctors,
de-miners and convoy drivers to Iraq.
>From its side, Washington initiated two years ago a program of
military aid and cooperation after President Bush waived Section 907
of the 1992 Freedom Support Act which prohibited the sale of US
weapons to Azerbaijan so long as it was engaged in hostile acts
against Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh. In the name of parity, this had
resulted in an arms embargo for Armenia as well. Now both countries
get $8 million a year in assistance from Washington to boost their
militaries and their ability to work with the United States Armed
Forces.
In the broader picture, a special US-Armenian Task Force meets twice a
year to improve bilateral relations across the board. It has focused
on reform programs, trade, energy and other key areas of mutual
concern. Recently the US Congress passed a measure establishing
Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Armenia, which is one of
the first CIS countries to join the World Trade Organization (Georgia,
Moldova and Kyrgystan are the others).
************************************************** ***************
Biography of Ambassador Arman Kirakossian
Dr. Arman Kirakossian was appointed Armenian Ambassador to the United
States on October 22, 1999 and presented his credentials to President
Bill Clinton on February 3, 2000. He holds the diplomatic rank of
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Prior to assuming this position, Dr. Kirakossian served as Armenia's
Ambassador to Greece from July 1994 to October 1999. In March 1999, he
also assumed the duties of the Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Athens,
Greece. Dr. Kirakossian was also accredited to Cyprus, Slovenia,
Croatia, Albania and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. From 1991 to
1994, he served as First Deputy Foreign Minister, and, from October
1992 to February 1993, he held the post of Acting Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
Before embarking on a diplomatic career at the Foreign Ministry of
Armenia, Ambassador Kirakossian held several high-level academic
positions at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. He was
Associate Director of the Armenian Diaspora Studies Department from
1990 to 1991 and served on Advisory Panel on Science and International
Relations at the Armenian Government from 1986 to 1990. He was Senior
Fellow, then Project Director at the Center of Scientific Information
for Social Sciences at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences from
1980 to 1986.
Dr. Kirakossian was born on September 10, 1956 in Yerevan, Armenia. He
received a Bachelor's Degree in History and Geography in 1977 and a
Master's degree in History of the Armenian and International Diplomacy
in 1980 from the Armenian State Pedagogical University. In November
1999, he earned the degree of Doctor of Sciences in History.
Dr. Kirakossian is the author of books and more than 100 scientific
publications. Two of his books were published in the United States
recently: British Diplomacy and the Armenian Question, by the Gomidas
Institute, Princeton and London, 2003, and The Armenian Massacres
1894-1896: U.S. Media Testimony, by Wayne State University Press,
Detroit, 2004. He has been awarded the Certificate of Merit for
Scientific Research by the National Academy of Sciences in 1983, and
Honorary Citizenship of Athens, presented by the Mayor of Athens in
1999.
In addition to his native Armenian, Ambassador Kirakossian is fluent
in English and Russian. He is married and has one son.
http://www.diplomatictraffic.com/highlights.asp?ID`
Highlight
DiplomaticTraffic.com
December 14, 2004
By Thomas Cromwell ([email protected])
With a hostile Azerbaijan to the east and Turkey to the west, and an
often chaotic Georgia to the north, Armenia has had to struggle to
establish itself as a modern state after suffering 70 years under
Soviet rule. It has been a fairly slow process as both the minds of
people raised in the Soviet system and an economy built to serve it
have had to undergo radical change. But Armenia's ambassador to
Washington, Dr. Arman Kirakossian, sees a good bit to be hopeful about
when discussing recent developments in his country. For one,
conversion to a market economy has started to take hold, as
investments begin to pay off, exports rise, and incomes increase. Last
year, Armenia registered GDP growth of 13.9 percent and this year it
should come in at 9.7 percent. This year its exports to the United
States stood at $33 million (40 percent above the level for 2003),
while imports from the US were $74 million. The main export is
jewelry, with apparel in second place (including 40,000 uniforms for
the NYPD).
This despite the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed
region of Nagorno Karabakh, where, after the fall of the Soviet Union,
fighting broke out between Azeris and the Armenian community there,
supported by Armenia, Karabakh Armenians accounted for 80 percent of
the population in the enclave at independence, but today there are no
Azeris living in the territory (there are small groups of Russians,
Greeks and Yazidis resident there).
It is 10 years since a ceasefire was put in place between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, but to date a political settlement has eluded the parties.
Nevertheless, an OSCE committee, called the Minsk Group, co-chaired by
the US, Russia and France, has made progress through several rounds of
meetings that have supported a series of bilateral talks between the
two sides. A series of meetings among foreign ministers of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and the Minsk Group this past summer led to the
announcement of a new round of peace talks, called the Prague
process. Talks proceeded yet further at a follow-up meeting on
December 6 and 9.
What's more, the ambassador says, the new president of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev, while initially talking tough, threatening to restart
military action and rallying Muslim nations to press for United
Nations intervention, has moderated his position and has met three
times with Armenian President Robert Kocharian. He has shown himself
willing to find a compromise, and, the ambassador says, Armenia hopes
he will become more pragmatic.
Armenia has made a number of proposals for a solution in the past but
to date they have not been accepted. Now, the ambassador says,
Yerevan's position is simply that the Karabakh Armenians must be
allowed to exercise self-determination and not be responsible to
Baku. What it won't accept is a return to the Soviet-era status quo,
created by Stalin's 1933 decision to add the Nagorno Karabakh region
to Azerbaijan, of course without asking the people living there if
they agreed!
Armenia is a country of long-suffering, and its people are scattered
around many parts of the world. There are some three million living in
Armenia, but five million living elsewhere, with concentrations in
North America, Russia, and the Middle East. The United States has some
1.5 million ethnic Armenians, concentrated primarily in California.
American Armenians include some very successful individuals who have
been active in helping Armenia get on its feet. The best-known is Kirk
Krikorian, the owner of MGM. Last year he added to an earlier $200
million grant to build a major highway by funding a project to
renovate central Yerevan and another to renew the country's museums.
James Tufenkian has organized carpet weaving among the villages and is
beginning to export the rugs to the United States. He has also started
to invest in B&B properties. Vahakn Hovnanian of New Jersey's
Hovnanian Brothers (one of the top ten construction companies in the
United States) is building an American-style town near Yerevan, and
other projects.
Other investors have arrived by different routes. The devastating
earthquake that in 1988 destroyed the town of Spitak and killed 25,000
Armenians, brought Utah's Jon Huntsman to help with the
reconstruction. He stayed on to build homes and to carry out other
construction projects.
But there are also other Diaspora communities that are returning to
help build the new state. There have been Armenian communities
throughout much of the Middle East since the Ottoman Empire and the
dispersion of Armenians from eastern Asia Minor in 1915. Some of these
Armenians have been returning to their homeland, especially of
late. Another group of importance is Armenians who went to Russia
after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the idling of most of
the Soviet factories in Armenia, including many secret Soviet
plants. Many of the Armenians in Russia are now prospering there and
investing back home, at least to the extent of building homes.
The American Armenian communities were created by three major waves of
immigration. The first was in the late 19th Century and continued to
World War I and the 1915 murders and deportation of Armenians by the
Ottomans, persecution that the Armenians and most of the world say was
genocide. (Turkey continues to dispute this and refuses to open its
border with Armenia until Yerevan stops using the term. Ankara says it
also wants to see the Nagorno Karabakh dispute resolved before it will
negotiate with Armenia over a border agreement. Armenia has not placed
conditions on normalizing relations. Washington sees the normalization
of ties with Turkey and a resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
as critical for stability in the region.) The second wave occurred in
the 1960s and was comprised primarily of Armenians from the Middle
East, where conflicts made life increasingly difficult. The third wave
followed the breakup of the Soviet Union at the end of the 80s.
The economic recovery of Armenia is giving the country strength, and
the momentum is there for a solution to the Nagorno Karabakh
standoff. The Minsk Group seems an effective negotiating structure and
it is clearly making some headway. The real sticking point is for the
leaders of both nations to be able to find a workable solution based
on mutual compromises and to sell that solution to their respective
populations. The result would be welcome for both sides, ending an era
of tension, with positive repercussions for the domestic politics and
economies in both countries.
Ambassador Kirakossian says that while relations between his country
and the United States have been "generally good," the terror attacks
on 9/11 brought the two sides closer in security cooperation. Armenia
quickly agreed to allow use of its air space for US Air Force planes
headed to Afghanistan, and it has contributed intelligence and other
tangible assistance to the Global War on Terror in Afghanistan and
elsewhere, a peacekeeping unit to Kosovo, and has pledged doctors,
de-miners and convoy drivers to Iraq.
>From its side, Washington initiated two years ago a program of
military aid and cooperation after President Bush waived Section 907
of the 1992 Freedom Support Act which prohibited the sale of US
weapons to Azerbaijan so long as it was engaged in hostile acts
against Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh. In the name of parity, this had
resulted in an arms embargo for Armenia as well. Now both countries
get $8 million a year in assistance from Washington to boost their
militaries and their ability to work with the United States Armed
Forces.
In the broader picture, a special US-Armenian Task Force meets twice a
year to improve bilateral relations across the board. It has focused
on reform programs, trade, energy and other key areas of mutual
concern. Recently the US Congress passed a measure establishing
Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Armenia, which is one of
the first CIS countries to join the World Trade Organization (Georgia,
Moldova and Kyrgystan are the others).
************************************************** ***************
Biography of Ambassador Arman Kirakossian
Dr. Arman Kirakossian was appointed Armenian Ambassador to the United
States on October 22, 1999 and presented his credentials to President
Bill Clinton on February 3, 2000. He holds the diplomatic rank of
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Prior to assuming this position, Dr. Kirakossian served as Armenia's
Ambassador to Greece from July 1994 to October 1999. In March 1999, he
also assumed the duties of the Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Athens,
Greece. Dr. Kirakossian was also accredited to Cyprus, Slovenia,
Croatia, Albania and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. From 1991 to
1994, he served as First Deputy Foreign Minister, and, from October
1992 to February 1993, he held the post of Acting Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
Before embarking on a diplomatic career at the Foreign Ministry of
Armenia, Ambassador Kirakossian held several high-level academic
positions at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. He was
Associate Director of the Armenian Diaspora Studies Department from
1990 to 1991 and served on Advisory Panel on Science and International
Relations at the Armenian Government from 1986 to 1990. He was Senior
Fellow, then Project Director at the Center of Scientific Information
for Social Sciences at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences from
1980 to 1986.
Dr. Kirakossian was born on September 10, 1956 in Yerevan, Armenia. He
received a Bachelor's Degree in History and Geography in 1977 and a
Master's degree in History of the Armenian and International Diplomacy
in 1980 from the Armenian State Pedagogical University. In November
1999, he earned the degree of Doctor of Sciences in History.
Dr. Kirakossian is the author of books and more than 100 scientific
publications. Two of his books were published in the United States
recently: British Diplomacy and the Armenian Question, by the Gomidas
Institute, Princeton and London, 2003, and The Armenian Massacres
1894-1896: U.S. Media Testimony, by Wayne State University Press,
Detroit, 2004. He has been awarded the Certificate of Merit for
Scientific Research by the National Academy of Sciences in 1983, and
Honorary Citizenship of Athens, presented by the Mayor of Athens in
1999.
In addition to his native Armenian, Ambassador Kirakossian is fluent
in English and Russian. He is married and has one son.
http://www.diplomatictraffic.com/highlights.asp?ID`