Author: Boshkezenian Garik

ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS REVIEW STRATEGIC TIES IN MOSCOW
By Alex DerAlexanian

Asbarez
Jan 13th, 2010

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov

MOSCOW (RFE/RL)-Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov underlined
the "strategic" character of his country’s relationship with Armenia
during talks with his visiting Armenian counterpart, Seyran Ohanian,
on Wednesday.

Ohanian was in Moscow on a working visit aimed at reviewing Armenia’s
close military ties with Russia and their future.

"The ministers discussed the prospects of military and
military-technological cooperation between Russia and Armenia, as well
as the issue of Armenian servicemen studying at the Russian Defense
Ministry’s academies," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Defense
Ministry spokeswoman Irina Kovalchuk as saying.

The Armenian Defense Ministry issued a virtually identical statement
on the talks. "Anatoly Serdyukov stressed that Russian-Armenian
cooperation in the military sphere has a strategic character," it
said. No further details were reported.

Moscow and Yerevan already highlighted that cooperation last month
when they agreed to work together in exporting weapons and other
military equipment to third countries. Ohanian and a visiting senior
Russian official signed relevant deal in Yerevan during a meeting of
a Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on military-technical
cooperation. No details of the agreement were made public, with Ohanian
saying only that it will further deepen bilateral defense links.

Ohanian’s talks in Moscow coincided with the start of a two-day visit
to Armenia by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The latter
is due to hold meetings with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian which the Russian Foreign Ministry said
will focus on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A ministry spokesman positively assessed on Wednesday the current state
of Russian-Armenian relations. "Despite global crisis manifestations,
Russian-Armenian interaction in the trade-economic, military-political,
humanitarian and inter-regional areas is on a largely positive
development trend," Andrey Nesterenko said, according to Itar-Tass.

TURKEY AND RUSSIA OFFER OPPORTUNITIES FOR EACH OTHER, ERDOGAN

Today’s Zaman
Jan 13 2010
Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that
Turkey and Russia offered many opportunities for each other.

Delivering a speech at a conference on "Turkey’s Foreign Policy"
in Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Erdogan said
the Turkish government built its foreign policy on "winning and
making friends".

Erdogan said the Turkish government’s initial step with this objective
was settlement of peace with all countries, indicating that the target
had been achieved.

"Turkey lives in peace with all of the countries in the region. The
steps that have been taken on areas of politics, military, economy,
trade and culture are all obvious expressions of it. Turkey is a
country where constitutional and legal amendments were rapidly made
to human rights, freedoms, democracy, law and rule of law. Turkey is
also a pioneering force of a civilization project where prosperity
and permanent stability prevail. Turkey has fulfilled it with the
steps taken on Alliance of Civilizations," Erdogan said.

He said, "Turkey has a young and well-educated population, dynamic
economy, entrepreneurial people, democracy tradition and all these
lay different responsibilities on us in the upcoming period."

Erdogan expressed determination of the Turkish government to resolve
all the problems with its neighbors, "we assume an affirmative stance
towards solution of such problems," he added.

"What Turkey has done with Cyprus question or Armenian issue is that
Turkey has always been coherent on the matters in question and it
has been the party favoring solution," he said.

SITUATION IN ARMENIA DISCUSSED AT EVERY SESSION IN PACE
Tamilla Sencaply News.Az

news.az
Jan 13 2010
Azerbaijan

Samad Seyidov PACE will hold the next session in Strasbourg on
January 25-29.

Chairman of the Milli Majlis commission on international relations
and interparliamentary ties Samad Seyidov said discussions of the
situation in Armenia are held at every session.

"I would like to note that there are several countries in the
Council of Europe where it holds a monitoring including Azerbaijan and
Armenia. Under the law of the monitoring committee, the situation in a
country is discussed once in two years at a big session of PACE. For
example, the recent discussions on Azerbaijan were held in 2008. The
next discussions will be held this year.

The situation in Armenia is so complicated that it has been discussed
at each session after the recent presidential elections and the
January session will not be an exception. The recent elections in
Armenia were so terrible that it is impossible not to discuss them at
the session in PACE. The problem is that there is no due decision on
these elections. It shows that the Council of Europe is interested
in the observation of human rights and democracy in Armenia but,
on the other hand, it does not take any decision. There are also two
sides in double standards. There are situations when you look askance
at the right processes and there are situations when you view wrong
processes as "correct".

They do not see democratic development in Azerbaijan and distortions
in Armenia. Therefore, we are speaking of existing problems in the
Council of Europe. I believe that a decision will be taken by results
of this session", the website of the ruling New Azerbaijan party
quotes Samed Seidov as saying.

Hrant Dink Society
c/o The Temple of Peace, Cathays Park,Cardiff
[email protected]
077189 82732

The Majority of UK Members of Parliament from Scotland and Northern
Ireland have recognised the Genocide

These develpments , which will increase the moral pressure on Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, took place this week after lobbying from Armenia
Solidarity,a Welsh-based organisation supported , by Nor Serount
Cultural Association. Dr Bob Spink kindly acceeded to our request in
December for a motion in the UK parliament on the Holocaust, which
included this part:: "This House….condemns unreservedly denial and
denigration of the memory of the Holocaust, as well as of the 1915
Genocide of Armenians and Assyrians in Turkey, and the politics of
hatred and division which led to these events"
Of the 59 Scottish MPs in the UK parliament, 37 have recognised the
genocide, 13 have not, and the remaining 8 are not allowed ro sign,
being part of the Labour Government.

Of the 18 elected Northern Irish MPs , the 6 Sinn Fein Members do not
take their seats. Of the remaining twelve, eleven of them have signed

These follow the example of MPs from Wales, the majority of which have
recognised the Genocide in 2006 and 2007. We are close to persuading the
majority of all eligible MPs in the UK parliament to sign. UK Armenians
are encouraged to write to their MPs asking them to the current Early
Day Motion, number 287.

PEACE IMPOSSIBLE IN SOUTH CAUCASUS WITHOUT AZERBAIJAN: EX-CONGRESSMAN

Trend
Jan 12 2010
Azerbaijan

It is impossible to establish peace in the South Caucasus without
Azerbaijan, former U.S. Congressman Robert Wexler said. Wexler
yesterday began working as president of the Center for Middle East
Peace and Economic Cooperation.

"Azerbaijan’s point of view must be taken into account while
normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations," Wexler told Trend News.

Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols on normalization
bilateral relations in Zurich Oct. 10. Diplomatic relations between
Armenia and Turkey were broken in 1993.

Diplomatic relations were broken due to Armenian claims of an alleged
genocide and its occupation of Azerbaijani lands.

"The normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations must be stimulating
process for the sides," Wexler said.

Wexler said Turkey and Azerbaijan have a positive political will to
bring the dynamism to the region.

"The U.S. continues to see Turkey and Azerbaijan as its main allies
in the region," he added.

As a congressman, Wexler worked in the Committee on Foreign Affairs
of the House of Representatives from the date of his election to
Congress in 1997.

Since then, he has actively supported the close cooperation of the
U.S. with several countries, including Azerbaijan.

Wexler also served as co-chairman and founder of the Turkish faction.

RESULTS OF CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS IN INTERBANK MARKET FOR JANUARY 11

ArmInfo
12.01.2010

ArmInfo. The transactions in the Interbank currency market for December
30 made up $200 mln (75.530 mln drams) by the average weighted rate
of $377,65 AMD/$1. The total transactions grew 1,3 times as compared
with the previous trading day indicator (56.573 mln drams on December
30). According to the data of the commercial banks, the average
exchange rate of USD raised by 0.1 point. The data of the Armenian
stock exchange say the currency transactions on the floor made up
$18.500 mln (6.984 bln drams), which exceeds the similar indicator
of the Interbank market 93 times. The average weighted rate at the
exchange made up 377,50 AMD/$1 USD.

ARF TO RALLY AGAINST THE ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS

armradio.am
11.01.2010 14:29

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation will hold a rally today to
protest against the Armenian-Turkish protocols.

Under the slogan "No to the Armenian-Turkish protocols" the
participants will march from Shahumyan Square to the Constitutional
Court. The latter is expected to consider the protocols tomorrow.

Spanish Foreign Minister hopes for acceleration of Turkey-EU
negotiation process
10.01.2010 17:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Foreign Minister of Spain, which recently assumed EU
chairmanship, expressed hope for acceleration of Turkey-EU negotiation
process. As Miguel Angel Moratinos stated, during Spain’s 6-month EU
chairmanship, 35 negotiation sections will, hopefully, be discussed.

At present, 12 sections, some of them covering environmental issues,
are open for negotiations. Yet only one of the issues opened has been
solved as of today.
Moratinos cited Cyprus issue as the main problem in talks with Turkey
and expressed hope for the further progress in issue-related
negotiations, TRT Russian reported.

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27
member states, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional
integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1
November 1993 upon the foundations of the European Economic Community.

Turkey’s application to accede to the European Union (previously the
European Communities) was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an
associate member of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since
1963. After the ten founding members, Turkey was one of the first
countries to become a member of the Council of Europe in 1949, and was
also a founding member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) in 1961 and the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1973. The country has also been an
associate member of the Western European Union since 1992, and is a
part of the "Western Europe" branch of the Western European and Others
Group (WEOG) at the United Nations. Turkey signed a Customs Union
agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognized as a
candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki
summit of the European Council. Negotiations were started on 3 October
2005, and the process, should it be in Turkey’s favor, is likely to
take at least a decade to complete. The membership bid has become a
major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union.

Today, Azerbaijan
Jan 8 2010

Russian analyst: Year 2010 has real chance to see resolution of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

08 January 2010 [13:46] – Today.Az

Day.Az interview with editor-in-chief of Russia-based Kommersant
newspaper Azer Mursaliyev.

Can you say the year 2009 marked real progress in resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

I think real progress did take place. However, special feature of the
current settlement process is that a compromise is likely to be
reached 99.99 percent, with the outstanding 0.01 percent of the
conflict not being solved at all.

What does the very 0.01 percent imply?

This is the final resolution of the conflict. Whatever shifts may
occur, the real resolution will come when we witness obvious steps. On
the other hand, we have witnessed harsh statements about the
resumption of the conflict many times. But this has been avoided so
far which is probably a positive development.

Do you mean the conflicting sides have not moved towards real solution
of the conflict?

You know, this is a situation where you can move indefinitely, with no
final decision. It is just a movement.

If you were tasked to draw up rating of significant events that took
place in our region in 2009, how would you arrange it?

I would probably put signing of the Turkey-Armenia protocols and
events in Iran on the first or second places respectively. We have
observed political crisis in Iran for a long time and no one knows
what it will end up with. I think, other events in the region are
consequence of the two aforementioned for the most part.

I would also place certain cooling of the Azerbaijani-Turkish
relations, even the worst level of cooling of the Azerbaijani-Western
relations, and on the contrary, improvement of the Azerbaijani-Russian
relations in the ranking. These events enabled some experts to say
that Azerbaijan has refocused its foreign policy vector. I believe the
kind of warming in already good relations between Azerbaijan and
Russia is a consequence of attempts to establish diplomatic relations
between Turkey and Armenia.

I would also place launch of Turkmenistan-China pipeline in the rating
of events. This has a very serious impact on the region and even will
change geopolitical situation in it.

It’s no secret that powerful countries are interested in Georgia and
Azerbaijan as a communication corridor, which leads to large stocks of
crude. However, in a situation where a pipeline was laid from the
region towards the dynamic Chinese market, the fight for Russia’s
South Stream and West-backed Nabucco assumes entirely different
meaning. This year all witnessed involvement of China, another very
strong and active player, in the Caspian region.

In your opinion, are there prerequisites to open Turkey-Armenia border
and to conclude a specific agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia
this year?

I am very hopeful that it will happen. As to prerequisites, every
year experts express cautious assumptions about conflict resolution in
any given year on both sides of the frontline. But I believe there is
a real chance to solve the problem in 2010. I think there are quite
successful prerequisites for this. However, the whole geopolitical
situation in the region is so complex and fragile that any slightest
hesitation can slow down everything.

Concerning ratification, no matter how many people in the West,
Armenia, and even some people in Turkey itself say that opening the
border is not related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it is far from
reality. Technically, maybe it looks that way, but in reality, of
course, everything is interconnected, including the Turkish public
opinion, which can not be ignored by any ruling party or its leaders.
Thus, there should be progress in settlement of the Karabakh conflict
to ensure Turkish society’s consent to the ratification. So, fate of
the protocols’ ratification is not still clear.

In your opinion, if Armenia declines to take certain steps in terms of
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, will Turkey’s parliament never
ratify the protocols?

I do think so. The movements must be at least formal, symbolic, so
that the Turkish government had an argument with which to convince
Turkey’s public of loyalty to the course.

Should we expect any serious negotiations between Moscow and Ankara
regarding the Nagorno Karabakh conflict during Turkish PM Erdogan’s
upcoming Russia trip?

I think problems of the Caucasus are not the main matter of debates in
Russia-Turkish relations. There is no major controversy between Turkey
and Russia in the region. So the main goal of the visit is to discuss
energy projects.

H. Hamidov

URL:

Agora Gallery presents Valter Varderesian in elemental realms
07.01.2010 12:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chelsea’s Agora Gallery will feature Sculptor,
Valter Varderesian, in Elemental Realms. The exhibition is scheduled
to run from February 02, 2010 through February 23, 2010.

Valter Varderesian’s whimsical sculptures arc, bevel, and twist
towards the sky using elementary forms and sturdy architectural
materials. Like the sculptures themselves, the philosophy behind the
art remains open and audience engagement is encouraged by the artist.
"I am creating a language that is free of self-conscious rules and
language barriers of verbal communication," he explains. "The rules
are human experience, personal memory, and visual connection."
Varderesian works with timeless concepts and rudimentary symbols,
within his oeuvre we find motifs representing time, growth,
spirituality, and individualism. Created with either steel, bronze or
gold Varderesian’s characteristic building block is the line. Strips
of metal cascade outward in graceful arches or balance precariously
against another. The tension of forms reinforces the psychological
pitch of his art. Beyond the outer simplicity lies potential for great
interaction between art and audience. Varderesian teases our awareness
much like the Buddha did during his flower sermon. Creating art is a
daily pleasure for him since his childhood in Armenia. Valter
Varderesian lives and works in Los Angeles.