SU-25 COMBAT JET CRASHES IN AZERBAIJAN, PILOT KILLED
RIA Novosti
17:3803/03/2010
A fighter plane of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces crashed on Wednesday
during a training flight, killing the pilot, the country’s Defense
Ministry said.
A Su-25 Frogfoot close air support aircraft crashed in the Shamkir
district in northwest Azerbaijan at about 5 p.m. local time [13:00
GMT], the ministry said.
An investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched,
the ministry said.
NUMBER OF MARCH 1ST CRIMINALS INCREASED
3/1/suren-abrahamyan
06:25 pm | March 01, 2010 | Politics
"In the last two years the number of criminals connected with the
events of March 1, 2008, has increased in the country involving
prosecutors and advocates who tried their utmost to conceal the crime,"
Suren Abrahamyan, Head of the RA Public Commission looking into the
events of March 1, told A1+.
Mr. Abrahamyan feels pity that the pro-government media extends no
sympathy or regret over the death of the ten victims. Rather, they
speak of the tragic events with cynicism shifting the responsibility
onto the opposition.
The head of the public commission is surprised that the whole ruling
echelon – government, courts, National Assembly – have concluded a
criminal agreement to conceal the truth whereas in reality people
know who stands behind the scenes .
"The authorities have adopted the policy of cynicism. But let them
be cautious as everyone who has shed innocent blood will be called to
justice. We shall exclude repetition of such atrocious crimes against
Armenian people."
The transport has been stopped and the capital is blockaded because
of HAK’s rally aimed at commemorating March 1st victims and assessing
the country’s political domain which shows that the authorities lack
political willpower and prudence. They make others commemorate the
Sumgayit pogroms at the same time having no mercy on their own people.
None of the real criminals of March 1 has beenmade accountable. "Just
a few poor policemen we tied and amnestied."
TURKISH PM: CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN U.S. CAN NEGATIVELY AFFECT TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS
Today
2937.html
March 2 2010
Azerbaijan
One should not endanger the Turkish-American relations, considering
resolution on so-called "genocide" of Armenians in the U.S. Congress,
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"I rely on Barack Obama’s sanity, who oversees the normalization of
Turkish-Armenian relations" he added.
The question of "genocide", should not be considered by politicians,
it should be studied by historians, he said.
U.S Congress’s International Relations Commission Chairman Howard
Berman proposed to submit the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ for
consideration March 4.
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of Turkey
– Ottoman Empire – conducted genocide against Armenians living in
Anatolia in 1915. Making greater efforts to promote the so-called
"genocide" in the world, Armenians, who want recognition of this
fact in the world, achieved its recognition by the parliaments of
some countries.
AZERBAIJAN’S OPPOSITION PARTY SUPPORTS STRENGTHENING MILITARY COOPERATION WITH TURKEY
Trend
March 1 2010
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s opposition party supports strengthening military
cooperation with Turkey.
"Statement by Armenia that Turkey can not be a mediator in settling
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict due to the fact that it has military
relations with Azerbaijan is absolutely inappropriate," was mentioned
at a board meeting of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA).
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.
Armenia is cooperating in the military sphere with Russia and France,
implementing a mediation mission to resolve the conflict, said at
the meeting.
"Threfore, Azerbaijan should further strengthen military cooperation
with Turkey and continue all efforts to bring Turkey as a mediator
in the Minsk Group," the opposition party considers.
IN JAN 2010 MONETARY STOCK OF ARMENIA DECLINED BY 4,3% TO $2.1 BLN
ArmInfo
02.03.2010
ArmInfo. In January 2010 the monetary stock of Armenia declined by
4.3%, and grew by 18% as compared with January 2009, having totaled
779.8 bln AMD ($2.070 bln) by 1 Feb 2010.
According to the preliminary date of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
provided to ArmInfo by the National Statistical Service of Armenia,
in the structure of monetary stock the cash money outside the banking
system declined by 10,6% in January 2010, and by 8,2% as compared with
January 2009, having totaled 252.6 bln AMD by 1 February 2010. The
share of AMD deposits in the total volume of monetary stock made
up 20,5% or 160.1 bln AMD (5% decline in January), and the share
of foreign exchange deposits – 47% or 367.1 bln AMD (0,8% growh
in January). In the structure of AMD deposits, the share of call
deposits made up 60,8% or 97.4 bln AMD (6,7% decline in January),
and the share of fixed-term deposits – 39,2% or 62.7 bln AMD (2,1%
decline in January).
In January 2010 the external assets increased by 0,1% to 356.7 bln AMD
(almost two-fold annual growth). The internal assets declined by 7,7%
in January 2010, and by 13,4% as compared with Jan 2009, having totaled
423.1 bln AMD by February 1, 2010. In the structure of internal assets,
liabilities to the government are fixed at a negative level of 154.7
bln AMD (22,5% decline in January, three-fold annual growth). The
share of economy made up 762.5 bln AMD, having declined by 1,5%
in January (12,7% annual growth), of them 52,4% or 400 bln AMD fell
on organizations (1,4% decline in January), 44,8% or 341.7 bln AMD
fell on home economics (1,2% decline in January), and 1,3% or 10.4
bln AMD fell on non-commercial organizations (4% decline in January).
THE RECORD FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: SARAH HALEJIAN
By Keith Idec
NorthJersey.com
ports/85931917_The_Record_Female_Athlete_of_the_We ek__Sarah_Halejian.html
March 2 2010
Sarah Halejian looks forward to playing basketball in Armenia one day,
perhaps as early as this summer.
An Armenian-American from Wyckoff, Halejian visited the country for
the first time last summer. She went with her older brother, Eric,
a freshman point guard for Ithaca College, and their older sister,
Alexis, to watch Eric play in the Armenian Games.
The Ramapo junior guard learned from watching a different brand of
basketball, but what she saw away from the court made that 10-day
trip one of the most enjoyable experiences of her young life.
"I thought it was a beautiful place," said Halejian, The Record
Female Athlete of the Week. "It was so much different from here. I
hadn’t been out of the country until then, so it was an eye-opening
experience for me.
"My sister, she’s a traveler, so she had me going everywhere [away
from the capital city, Yerevan]. We went outside the city a lot. We
went to the villages, and it was cool to see how they lived and how
nice the people were. It was unbelievable. They were so kind to us
and they wanted to give us stuff when they barely had anything."
Halejian knew full well by then, though, of the tight-knit nature of
Armenian people.
Dozens of Armenian friends from the church her family attends in Fair
Lawn regularly attend Ramapo games.
They witnessed her helping the Green Raiders become the first team
since 2000 to win back-to-back Bergen County girls championships on
Saturday, when they defeated Holy Angels, 63-53, in Mahwah.
Halejian hopes to give them more to cheer about once Ramapo begins
play in the North 1, Group 3 tournament today.
"Last year we went one round further than the year before," said
Halejian, a three-year starter who hopes to attend an Ivy League
school. "Hopefully we’ll go deeper this year."
Also nominated: Tenafly’s Michelle Koles and Pascack Hills’ Krista
LaRezza for basketball and DePaul’s Alyssa Laguardia and Wayne Valley’s
Alana Pantale for track.
TURKISH DELEGATIONS TO THE US
Arab Monitor
.php?idnews=29881&lang=en
March 1 2010
Ankara, 1 March – The Turkish parliament has sent two delegations
to visit the United States. Both delegations will seek talks with
US officials and lawmakers, especially with members of the House of
Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, to persuade them to drop
a draft resolution which, if approved by the Committee and passed
to the House for voting, would officially categorize the killing of
Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman Empire as "genocide".
Regarding the move by the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs
Committee, the Turkish government has threatened the United States
with consequences. Today the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed its
regret about the US initiative declaring that such a move is likely to
constitute an obstacle to the normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties
and would, furthermore, harm the Turkish-US relationship. In this
context Ankara threatened it might not meet US expectations for an
enhanced Turkish engagement on the Iraqi issue and in Afghanistan,
if the US, for its part, does not heed Turkish concerns over the
historic Armenian issue.
CHANGE OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR NOT TO PROTRACT KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
news.az
March 2 2010
Azerbaijan
Vladimir Dorokhin Change of OSCE Minsk Group co-chair will not protract
Karabakh conflict settlement, Russian ambassador in Azerbaijan Vladimir
Dorokhin has said.
"First of all, the replacement will take part in the Minsk Group
because Merzlyakov has received a new appointment. I think he will
continue the activity in several months. I cannot say who exactly will
replace him. As for the opinion that this may protract the conflict
settlement, we hope this will not happen, because every diplomat
voices the position of the state he represents", Dorokhin said.
He noted that Russia will not change its position on the resolution
of the Karabakh conflict and therefore the ambassador is sure that
there will be no problems on this issue.
"The new co-chair will have an opportunity to familiarize with
the situation in the resolution of the conflict. This will be a
replacement in the professional form. Therefore, the replacement of
the co-chair will not affect the conflict settlement", the Russian
ambassador in Azerbaijan.
TURKISH STATEMENTS ENDANGER THE RECONCILIATION PROCESSES
Aysor
March 2 2010
Armenia
"The Turkish statements endanger the normalization processes of
the Armenian – Turkish relations", – the Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian said on the joint press conference with the Spanish
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos touching upon the statement of
Turkish PM Erdogan which said if on March 4 and April 24 the USA makes
a wrong step the Armenian – Turkish reconciliation will be halted.
"It is the language of preconditions that endangers the reconciliation
process of the Armenian – Turkish relations. We hope that Turkey will
get rid of the artificially created and we will have the opportunity
to move forward according to the acquired agreements", – the minister
stressed.
SPAIN SUPPORTS TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO THE EU, MORATINOS SAYS
Aysor
March 2 2010
Armenia
Spain supports Turkey’s accession to the EU, said at today’s press
conference in Yerevan Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation Miguel Angel Moratinos.
"If Turkey meets the Copenhagen political criteria, then it will join
the European Union," he said.
According to Miguel Angel Moratinos, Turkey’s accession to the EU
is beneficial for whole region. However, Turkey should normalise
relations with all neighbors, he added.
"Chairing the EU-Turkey ministerial dialogue, we hope will succeed
to open a new page," Spain’s Foreign Minister said.