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ARMENIA: YEREVAN WARY OF AZERBAIJAN’S WORDS AND WEAPONS

EurasiaNet
Dec 3 2009
NY

Armenia has complained to Europe’s top security and human rights
watchdog that Azerbaijan’s military buildup is violating the ceiling
set by the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe.

Addressing a December 2 meeting of ministers from member-states of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian asked the OSCE to take measures
against Azerbaijan, the Regnum news agency reported. The two countries
have been locked in conflict for the past 21 years over the breakaway
ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Azerbaijan is in breach of one of the founding principles of the OSCE:
non-use of force and/or a threat to use force," Nalbandian said.

While reiterating its commitment to a peaceful resolution of the
Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan has not ruled out use of force if
15-year-long OSCE-mediated talks do not produce results soon.

OSCE SUPPORTS ARMENIAN-TURKISH RECONCILIATION

Aysor
Dec 3 2009
Armenia

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, who was on visit to
Greece for participation in the 17th OSCE Ministerial Council in
Athens, has met with some counterparts, the press office of the
Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

Foreign Minister Nalbandyan discussed items of regional cooperation
and Armenia-EU relations with Greek Prime Minister Georgeos Papandreus.

Edward Nalbandyan presented to OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de
Brichambaut the Armenian activities and involvement into organisation’s
works. Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said he hopes the Armenian-Turkish
protocols will be ratified soon. OSCE supports Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation, he added.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan has a number of meetings
with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjoern Jagland,
Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergey Martynov, and with the chief of
Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun Greek Office.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER INVITES CE SECRETARY GENERAL TO VISIT YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.12.2009 17:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister, Edward Nalbandian
met Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland
in Athens.

The parties discussed normalization of Armenia-Turkey ties, with
Thorbjorn Jagland expressing approval for efforts towards strengthening
relations between CE member states. Armenian Foreign Minister invited
CE Secretary General to visit Yerevan, RA MFA press service reported.

PROSPECTS OF REGIONAL COOPERATION WITH ARMENIA, GEORGIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO BE DISCUSSED IN IZMIR

APA
Dec 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA-ECONOMICS. Izmir will host an
exhibition-conference entitled Travel Turkey on December 10-13.

The event will be attended by Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism
Artogrul Gunay, as well as representatives from 400 travel agencies
and companies from 15 countries and 50 areas of Turkey.

The conference will host a presentation of tourist potential of
regions of the Aegean Sea, Northern Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
as well as discussions on the theme of "Opportunities for regional
cooperation and new prospects: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

FROM FEBRUARY 2010 ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPERS TO IMPLEMENT THEIR MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN

ARMENPRESS
Dec 3, 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: The delegation headed by the US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander visited today the
peacekeeping troops of the Armenian Armed Forces. The high-ranked US
officials got acquainted with the skills of the Armenian peacekeepers
through showing exercises.

Speaking to the reporters, C. Wallander noted that the peacekeeping
mission is of great importance for the whole world. According to her,
US President Barack Obama wishes to increase the number peacekeepers in
Afghanistan and in that respect USA expects Armenia’s assistance too.

Commander of the Armenian peacekeeping brigade, Colonel Arthur
Simonyan said that the main goal of the visit of Wallander is to
get acquainted with the skills of the Armenian peacekeepers who are
leaving next year for Afghanistan. According to him, in near future
a group of servicemen will be sent to Afghanistan to get acquainted
with the place of future service, conditions, after which in January
40-member platoon will leave for Germany for training. After this
process, in February next year, Armenian peacekeepers within the
German platoon will implement their mission in Afghanistan.

"The number of those wishing to leave for Afghanistan is great. The
best from the best will be selected," the Commander of the brigade
said.

GENERAL MEETING OF ASSEMBLY OF ARMENIANS OF EUROPE TO BE HELD IN COLOGNE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 3, 2009

ATHENS, DECEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A general meeting
of the Assembly of Armenians of Europe will be held in Cologne,
Germany on December 12. As Hayastan newsletter reports, citing
an announcement of the Assembly of Armenians of Europe (AAE),
the Assembly of Armenians of Europe (founded in 2003) states that
assuming the internationally legitimate right to self-determination
as a basis, it will focus its efforts on recognition of the rights of
Artsakh, in parallel struggling for international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. The announcement of AAE in particular reaffirms
its commitment to support with the process of promoting democracy,
human rights and freedoms in Armenia.

According to the announcement, the initiative group of AAE has carried
out more active work over the past year and made efforts to help
organize the acticities of the Armenian communities in Europe.

LEADER OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS MEETS WITH REPRESENTATIVE OF US DEPARTMENT OF STATE

ArmInfo
2009-12-01 21:02:00

ArmInfo. The first president of Armenia, the leader of the Armenian
National Congress Levon Ter-Petrossyan met with Director of the
US Department of State’s Office for Caucasus Affairs and Regional
Conflicts Ethan Goldrich and Ambassador of the United States to
Armenia Marie Yovanovitch.

The press service of the ANC reports that the sides discussed questions
concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and Armenian-Turkish
relations and exchanged views on the democracy situation in Armenia,
the problem of political prisoners, the global crisis and measures
to fight corruption.

TURKISH COMMISSION COULD DELAY PROTOCOLS RATIFICATION: SAFRASTYAN

Tert.am
15:47 ~U 02.12.09

December 7 is the deadline when the Turkish parliamentary commission
on foreign relations must make a decision on the Armenia-Turkey
Protocols. This is the same day as the meeting between Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama. There
are already rumours floating around that the commission’s negative
decision might be cause for the meeting not to take place.

In Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan’s opinion, the commission could delay
making a decision, since there are older issues in the commission’s
agenda that have been waiting to be discussed for 10 years.

Speaking about the ratification of the Protocols, the analyst recalled
that the commission’s exclusive majority, 36 members, are member of
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party – that means that
the Turkish prime minister’s decision will influence the commission’s
decision.

Safrastyan also added that if a decision isn’t made, then that will
in no way affect the Obama-Erdogan meeting.

DAVUTOGLU GUARANTEES KARABAKH PRECONDITION IN TALKS WITH AZERI COUNTERPART

Asbarez
Dec 2nd, 2009

ATHENS (News.az)-Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Tuesday
reassured his Azeri counterpart of his government’s intention to
continue linking the normalization of its relations with Armenia to
a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azeri media reported
Wednesday.

Davutoglu and Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met Tuesday
in Athens on the sidelines of an OSCE Ministerial meeting, where
the Turkish foreign minister also met with his Armenian counterpart,
Eduard Nalbandian.

The Azeri Foreign Ministry said that Davutoglu told Mammadyarov that
the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, signed on October
10 in Zurich, is "possibly only after the occupation of Azerbaijani
lands by Armenia ends."

It said the two diplomats "exchanged views in all directions of
bilateral relations and touched upon regional issues, normalization
of the Turkish-Armenian relations, the Karabakh conflict and the
situation in Afghanistan."

Davutoghlu is also reported to have invited Mammadyarov for an official
visit to Turkey. Mammadyarov said he would make the trip in the latter
half of December, the Azeri Foreign Ministry said.

OUR EFFORTS CONTRIBUTED TO STABILITY BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA: STEINBERG

news.am
Dec 2 2009
Armenia

Our efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the Minsk
process have greatly contributed to the stability between Azerbaijan
and Armenia," said Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg at the
17th OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens.

Speaking about numerous challenges that OSCE is still confronted with,
Steinberg underlined, "As one of the co-chairs of the Minsk group,
the US has committed to seeking a final settlement to the conflict that
will ensure long term stability and economic growth in the region."

However, according to Deputy Secretary, Georgian conflict is one of
the "most pressing challenges." "We expect all parties to fulfill
their commitments under the August 12th ceasefire agreement which
calls for the withdrawal of Russian forces to positions prior to
the start of hostilities and for unhindered humanitarian access,"
Steinberg stated, adding that "core OSCE principles and commitments
were violated. We must restore trust and rebuild confidence."

"Lessons from the war in Georgia and constructive discussions through
the Corfu process have encouraged us to take this initiative to propose
a new crisis intervention mechanism. I hope that you’ll all review
this and help shape this proposal while continuing to work on the
ongoing conflicts not only in Nagorno-Karabakh but also in Moldova,"
Steinberg concluded.