Author: admin

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
Jan 22 2010

Turkish gov’t documenting Yerevan’s reluctance to enforce reconciliation deal

22-01-2010 05:49:53
The Turkish Foreign Ministry is drafting a document that examines in
detail the extent of compliance of the Armenian Constitutional Court’s
recent decision to approve the 2009 agreement on normalizing the two
countries’ strained relations with the gist of the accord.
The document will clearly state that Yerevan is essentially leaning
toward walking away from the two protocols it signed with Ankara on
October 10, 2009 in Zurich, Turkish Hurriyet newspaper reported. Once
ready, it will be sent to representatives of Switzerland, a mediator
in the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, as well as to those of the
United States, Russia and France, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group (MG), which witnessed the signing of the protocols.
Turkish diplomats have already conveyed Ankara’s stance on the
Armenian court’s January 12 ruling to Switzerland and the MG
co-chairing countries.
After Armenia’s Constitutional Court declared that the October 2009
accord complied with the main law of the land, the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said in a statement that it contained pre-conditions that
are inconsistent with the document. The ministry said the
pre-conditions and restrictive provisions cited in the ruling run
counter to the premise of the protocols and that it `undermines the
gist of negotiations on these protocols as well as their main goals’,
which is unacceptable.
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds and the border between the two
countries has been closed since 1993 due to Armenia’s policy of
occupation against Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, and past genocide
claims. The Zurich protocols signed by the Armenian and Turkish
governments, in a bid to normalize bilateral relations marred by
decades of hostility, seek to establish diplomatic relations and
reopen the two countries’ shared border. The documents, which still
require parliamentary approval, also envision setting up a commission
of historians to research the alleged World War I-era mass killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish opposition deems the situation surrounding the protocols
as an impasse in the process of normalizing ties with Armenia. Deniz
Baykal, the chairman of the People’s Republic Party, Turkey’s main
opposition bloc, claimed this deadlock had resulted from the
authorities’ improper policy toward neighboring states.*

ARMENIA BLAMES TURKEY FOR DELAYING VOTE ON DEAL TO OPEN BORDER
By Helena Bedwell and Steve Bryant

Business Week
Jan 22 2010

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — Armenia said Turkey’s government will be to
blame if the Turkish parliament delays a vote on a treaty to re-open
their common border, as a dispute over ratification threatens to
derail the agreement.

"Armenia will take appropriate measures if Turkey refuses to act on the
treaty in time or deliberately delays," Nairi Petrosyan, a spokesman
for Armenia’s National Assembly said in a telephone interview from
Yerevan. "This was agreed from the beginning when the sides met in
Geneva on signing the accord."

The two nations agreed Oct. 10 to re-establish ties and open their
border within two months of ratification. Armenia expects the step
to boost the country’s economy. Relations have been frozen since
Turkey closed the border in 1993 to protest Armenia’s occupation of
the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan, a key Turkish ally and
energy supplier.

Two days ago, Turkey accused the Armenian Constitutional Court, which
approved the accord last week, of adding conditions to the treaty
that distort the text agreed on last year relating to a commission to
investigate the killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in World War
I. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the ratification
process would stall unless the court revises its ruling.

Armenian opposition politicians are concerned the treaty may lead to
compromises with Azerbaijan on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as well
as on Armenia’s demand that Turkey recognize the massacres as genocide.

‘New Ball Game’

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin rejected accusations
of delay, while reiterating the Turkish view that the court had
changed the text of the treaty.

"Turkey does not accept accusations that it’s delaying," he said in
a telephone interview from Ankara yesterday. Unless Armenia takes
action to change the court decision, "it would not be the same text,
it would be a whole new ball game."

In the Oct. 10 agreement, Turkey and Armenia pledged to set up a joint
commission of historians to investigate the massacres, recognized
by France and other countries as genocide. Armenia says as many as
1.5 million people were systematically killed. Turkey cites a lower
figure and says the deaths were the result of civil strife in which
many Turks were also killed.

Petrosyan said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has not forwarded
the treaty to the National Assembly for ratification yet. Samvel
Farmanyan, a spokesman for Sargsyan, said by phone that "no text has
been changed."

"It’s clear by the rhetoric coming out of Ankara and Yerevan that
the agreements are in trouble," Lawrence Sheets, senior analyst
and Caucasus program director with the International Crisis Group,
said by e-mail from Tbilisi. "If Turkey and Armenia fail to establish
relations, the peace process regarding Nagorno-Karabakh will also be
in trouble, with potentially disastrous consequences down the road,
given the saber-rattling going on about a new war".

The government of Armenia, a landlocked country of 3.2 million people,
estimates opening the border will increase foreign investment by
50 percent.

Farmanyan said the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan plan to meet
in Sochi, Russia, on Jan. 25 to discuss Nagorno- Karabakh.

–Editors: Eddie Buckle, Leon Mangasarian

-01-22/armenia-blames-turkey-for-delaying-vote-on- deal-to-open-border.html

NUMEROUS MUTUAL VISITS PAID IN 2009: RA MFA

news.am
Jan 22 2010
Armenia

Within last year, RA President Serzh Sargsyan paid 22 foreign visits
and 8 country leaders arrived in Armenia, RA Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian said in Jan. 22 interview.

According to him, RA National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan paid
8 visits and hosted two counterparts.

In 2009 RA Premier Tigran Sargsyan made 8 visits, whereas Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian-29. Foreign Ministers of 11 countries
and 5 heads of international organizations arrived in Yerevan,
Nalbandian outlined adding numerous mutual visits were paid, political
consultations, meetings, events were held, accords were reached. In
addition, over 100 international agreements were signed furthering
the intensification of bilateral and multilateral relations.

RA FM participated in 40 press conferences and delivered over 20
interviews to world media in the course of his visits.

In 2009, over 100.000 documents were circulated by RA Foreign Ministry.

JOURNALISTS CLAIM: GOVERNMENT KNEW ABOUT HRANT DINK MURDER

BIAnet
Jan 22 2010
Turkey

Lawyer Belen claimed that several sources give proof of murder
suspect Samast meeting with three people prior to the murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Journalist CalıÅ~_lar argued:
"If the government knew that Damast came to Istanbul, they knew about
the murder as well".

Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU [email protected] Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center22
January 2010, Friday The joint attorneys of the Hrant Dink murder
case stated that according to the records the security forces knew
that triggerman suspect Ogun Samast met with a group of three friends
when he came to Istanbul. The lawyers declared that the government
can no longer deny its responsibility before this background.

Lawyer Bahri Bayram Belen said that Chief of Intelligence Office
Ramazan Akyurek sent an intelligence document to the Istanbul 14th
High Criminal Court on 16 October 2009, 20 days prior to his deposition
from office. The document included information on Samast who was said
to be going from Trabzon to Istanbul and to meet with some people
at the Esenler bus terminal on the European side of Istanbul. This
shows that Samast was also observed by the government intelligence
organizations before and after the murder of Hrant Dink on 19 January
2007, Belen claimed.

Belen: Samast was observed by the police before the murder Belen had
announced this information to journalists after the 11th hearing
of the case on 12 October 2009. However, the issue came up again
in a program called "Neutral Zone" on CNN Turk presented by Ahmet
Hakan on the occasion of the third anniversary of the murder of the
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on 19 January.

Upon the joint attorney’s request to acquire the observation reports
about the defendants for the time before the murder, the referring
documents were sent to the court on 25 September 2009. One of
the documents says, "Interrogation procedures have been initiated
regarding Orhan OzbaÅ~_, Turan Meral and Kaan Gercek because all
three persons met with Ogun Samast, who killed the mentioned person,
at the bus terminal when he came to Istanbul".

The three people mentioned in the document were taken into custody
and interrogated before they were released again. They said that they
met Samast one day prior to the murder and took him around.

Belen said, "This document as well as the statements of Erhan Tuncel
made in the latest hearing indicate that Samast was monitored by the
police before the murder".

Å~^ener: What else does Akyurek know?

Journalist Nedim Å~^ener, facing almost 30 years imprisonment for his
book "The Dink murder and the Intelligence lies", also took part in
the discussion program. He argued, "They admitted their guilt because
they had screwed it up. If they know that he met with his friends,
which part of the intelligence followed up? What else can Ramazan
Akyurek know about this? What does he keep in his hands?"

CalıÅ~_lar: So the state knew about the murder Journalist Oral
CalıÅ~_lar stated, "If you knew that the person who was going to
commit the murder came to Istanbul himself and if you know when and
who he met, that actually means that you knew about the murder. What is
it called if the government knows about a murder and lets it happen?"

Samast did not mention the bus terminal Samasat gave his statement to
the Istanbul Public Prosecution on 23 January 2007 without mentioning
anything about the meeting at the bus terminal:

"I got off the bus at the Esenler bus terminal at 8.00 am in the
morning of 17 January 2007. I went to my uncle Turhan (Meral) who
lives close to the bus terminal. After a while I called my friend
Orhan (OzbaÅ~_) and met him. Orhan picked me up from BayrampaÅ~_a
together with some friends with his father’s car and I came back to
my uncle’s house at around 7.00 pm". (EO/VK)

119602-journalists-claim-government-knew-about-hra nt-dink-murder

NEW PRIEST FOR ARMENIAN CHURCH

Camarillo Acorn
Jan 22 2010
CA

The Armenian Apostolic church of Ventura County has welcomed the Rev.

Haroutioun Tachejian as its new parish priest.

Tachejian was ordained in 1992 and has been the pastor of St. Gregory
the Illuminator Armenian Church in Seville, France, and St. Mary
Magdeline Armenian Church in Belgium.

He is fluent in English, Armenian, French, Arabic and Turkish.

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Divine Liturgy at 12:15 p.m.

on the second and fourth Sunday of the month at St. Patrick’s Episcopal
Church, One Church Road, Thousand Oaks.

For more information, call (805) 208-2308, e-mail
[email protected] or go to the church website at

ARMENIA WARNS TURKEY PEACE DEAL UNDER THREAT

Reuters
Jan 22 2010

YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenia accused Turkey on Friday of trying to
block a deal to establish diplomatic ties and open their border and
warned their bid to overcome a century of hostility could collapse.

The comments by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian cast
fresh doubt on the future of the rapprochement, after Turkey accused
Armenia’s Constitutional Court of trying to re-write the text of the
deal with a court ruling last week.

Faced with a backlash from Turkish ally Azerbaijan, the rhetoric in
both countries has grown increasingly bitter since they inked accords
in October designed to overcome the legacy of the World War One mass
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

The deal stands to burnish Turkey’s credentials as a potential EU
entry state and boost its clout in the Caucasus. It would bring big
economic benefits to poor, landlocked Armenia.

But asked on Friday if the process was in danger of collapsing,
Nalbandian said:

"If Turkey is not ready to ratify the protocols, if it continues
to speak in the language of preconditions and to block the process,
then I don’t exclude it."

But he added: "I hope Turkey will ratify the documents."

The two protocols require parliamentary ratification in both countries
before they enter into force.

Turkey, stung by the backlash from oil-producing Azerbaijan, says it
first wants Christian Armenia to make concessions in the festering
conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over the mainly Armenian breakaway
region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan during the war.

Armenia rejects any link between the two issues, but diplomats say
international mediators have stepped up efforts to squeeze at least
some sign of progress out of negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh —
which resume on Monday in Russia.

Turkey is anxious to keep Azerbaijan on side, with the former Soviet
republic courted by the West and Russia for its energy reserves in
the Caspian Sea and as a potential supplier for Europe’s planned
Nabucco gas pipeline.

Turkey said the Armenian court ruling, which endorsed the protocols,
could derail the process by reaffirming the state’s obligation to
pursue international recognition of the World War One killings as
genocide, a term Turkey vehemently rejects.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday it was
"contradictory to the letter and spirit of the protocols," but added
that talks would continue.

Nalbandian played down hope of an imminent breakthrough on
Nagorno-Karabakh, which broke away from Azerbaijan with Armenian
backing in the early 1990s in a war that killed 30,000 people.

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan hold the latest round of
talks on Monday in Russia’s Black Sea city of Sochi.

"If the Azeri side takes a more constructive approach, there might
be movement," Nalbandian said. "But that there might be some kind of
breakthrough in the near future, I can’t say that."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Grove in Istanbul; Writing by Matt
Robinson in Tbilisi; Editing by Charles Dick)

P20100122

ARMENIA AT THE SINGAPORE YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

Aysor
Jan 21 2010
Armenia

David Kazarian, an Armenian judoka from Vanadzor, and two more
athletes, whose names are still expected to be announced by Press
Office of Armenian Olympic Committee, will leave for Singapore to
participate in the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

Singapore will host the Simmer Youth Olympic Games in August 14-26
2010, where athletes in 25 sports will be in competition.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held in Innsbruck, in 2012,
said a spokesperson to Olympic Committee.

INTERNATIONAL FREE HUGS DAY: ARMENIANS AREN’T AGAINST TO HUG TOO

Aysor
Jan 21 2010
Armenia

Don’t be shy to hug today. It is the International day of Free Hug
today. It is today that the girls and the boy all over the world do
hug each other without any sexual pretexts. Today you can hug even
the strangers. Though it’s a young fest nobody can distinctly remember
its origins.

Wikipedia informs that it was initiated by the young people for
being able to hug each other without any obstacles, besides that it
is pleasant and even useful.

During the friendly hugs people get positive charges, and the
scientists have found out that for the complete happiness everyone
has to be hugged at least 8 times a day.

Psychologist Karine Kosharyan during her conversation with Aysor.am
told that during the friendly hugs people exchange spiritual warmth.

"It is this friendly emotion that lingers the life of people. Hugging
a person means trusting him, if there is mistrust toward the person
after hugging you will have the feeling of getting back", – the
psychologist said.

She also mentioned that hugging some one when you are already matured
you find yourself inside of your childish and pure memories.

Thus one of the Armenians who was in Belgium on his holidays remembered
that several years ago on one of the streets of Belgium a group of
teenagers approached him and hugged him: "At first I felt awkward,
then I looked around and noticed that all the people are hugging
each other, I was really impressed. Since that day I truly wait that
one day Armenia will celebrate it too, though me and my friends we
celebrate that day every year."

Aysor.am’s inquiry showed that the boys would hug the girls with great
pleasure, but the girls would be shy to do that, but if it would be a
fest, they would have to hug too. One of the old women even said with
envy "If I were young, I would hug too. In my times we were even shy
to walk with our husbands hand by hand."

ON TURKEY’S DISCONTENT WITH ARMENIAN COURT
By Armen Gevorgyan

news.am
Jan 21 2010
Armenia

The Armenian public had for a long time been indignant at the fact
that the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in Zurich on October
10 contained a point on a subcommittee of historians. The Armenian
Diaspora showed a particularly violent reaction by holding rallies in
Paris, Beirut and Los Angeles, the cities RA President Serzh Sargsyan
visited during his pan-Armenian tour.

Meanwhile, Turkey, which was an eyewitness to the problems its partner
in the protocols encountered on the way of pushing the documents
forward to ratification by the Armenian Parliament, was complicating
the situation day after day. Premier Recep Erdogan was adding to the
intolerance by linking the protocols to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who presented the
documents to the Turkish Parliament, confidently listed Turkey’s
preconditions incorporated in the documents. The Armenian public
felt something of a shock. Were the Armenian authorities’ positions
so weak that they were unable to respond? Frankly speaking, hardly
anyone believed that the subcommittee of historians would not discuss
the problems of Armenian Genocide. Even less people believed that the
Armenian-Turkish process had nothing to do with the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process. Everyone believed it was just "putting a brave face
on a sorry business" or mere excuses.

Few people asked whether the Armenian representatives negotiating
with Turkey could at all discuss the Armenian Genocide, while the RA
Constitution and laws clearly read that the Armenian state must do its
best to contribute to the international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. Or was not it dangerous for the Armenian authorities to
conduct a dialogue with Turkey in the context with the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem? Was it possible at all?

According to the RA Constitutional Court’s verdict, the reopening
of the Armenian-Turkish border and establishment of Armenian-Turkish
diplomatic relations, as well as any steps as part of implementation of
the protocols can by no means challenge or thwart Armenia’s efforts
to get the Armenian Genocide recognized. Simply speaking, the RA
Constitutional Court only confirmed what the Armenian President and
Foreign Minister had repeatedly stated: the protocols do not contain
any preconditions concerning the Armenian Genocide. Henceforth,
discussing the Armenian Genocide will be in violation of the RA
Constitutional Court’s verdict.

In this context Turkey’s discontent is one more proof that Turks
themselves think otherwise. And they really believed that the
subcommittee of historians would disprove the Armenian Genocide,
which would mean the Armenian nation’s historical collapse.

But the Turkish politicians disappointment over the RA Constitutional
Court’s verdict is nothing compared with the blows Ankara received
from Washington and, later, from Moscow. Both the centers destroyed
Turkey’s hopes for the Armenian side’s defeat in the Nagorno-Karabakh
process in the context of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue. In fact,
Ankara planned to use the Armenian-Turkish border problem as a means
of pressure on Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. This
strategy is not a new one. Blockade was a means of pressure before,
whereas it is the possibility of its being removed in exchange for
concessions now. However, Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan’s meeting with
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow and, later, with U.S.

President Barack Obama in Washington showed that the "centers of power"
have different views of the problem. The Russian Premier plainly
stated that it would be strategically and tactically wrong to link
the two problems. President Barack Obama did not make any statement,
but events that took place in both the United States and Turkey might
be regarded as a similar response.

So Turkey received a clear and powerful signal that the reopening of
the Armenian-Turkish border and establishment of bilateral diplomatic
relations were independent of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The
world capitals gave signals concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, while a signal
concerning the Armenian Genocide was received from Yerevan. The Turkish
side’s reaction was quite predictable. They threatened to suspend
the dialogue, which meant that no one but they saw preconditions in
the protocols. So Ankara has to take a different view of the Zurich
documents if, of course, it is really seeking reconciliation with
Armenia, but not fishing in troubled waters – Turkish politicians’
favorite business. We can see proofs of this not only in the South
Caucasus, but also in the Middle East.

KIRILL GIVES KAREKIN II PRIZE OF INTRL FUND OF UNITY OF ORTHODOX PEOPLES

Itar-Tass
Jan 21 2010
Russia

MOSCOW, January 21 (Itar-Tass) – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All
Russia has given Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians the prize
of the International Fund of Unity of Orthodox Peoples for his
contribution to strengthening unity between Orthodox believes and
building a Russian church in Armenia.

The patriarch named Karekin II as "a big friend of the Russian
Orthodox Church". "Over many centuries we are like brothers despite
the differences of our languages and doctrinal differences between
the Churches," His Holiness said.

He stressed that Russia and Armenia "lived as one state for a long
time. Today our peoples have maintained intensive cooperation and
communication".

"The Armenian diaspora lives in many countries. Several Russian
parishes work successfully in Armenia. The Armenian eparchy exists
in Russia," Kirill said.

He expressed hope that a mission of the Russian Orthodox Church
"will start working in Yerevan soon".

Karekin II thanked Patriarch Kirill for the high award. He noted
that this prize "is one more sign of friendly relations between the
brotherly peoples, Churches and states". "It is especially important
for me to receive this prize jointly with Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev," the Armenian Catholicos said.

President Medvedev met with the spiritual leader of all the Armenians
and the Russian patriarch. They met prior to the start of the ceremony,
in which the International Fund of Unity of Orthodox Christinian
Nations awarded its annual prizes for the strengthening of unity of
Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Fund awarded the prizes for 2009 to President Medvedev and Garegin
II, among a number of other personalities.

During the meeting, the sides discussed a variety of aspects of
Russian-Armenian relations, including the spiritual sphere.

This prize has been also given to Serbian director Emir Kustunica
and the St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary located in the
suburbs of New York.