Author: Chalian Meline

THREE CRITICAL VISITS TOP TURKEY’S DIPLOMATIC AGENDA THIS WEEK

Hurriyet
May 9 2010
Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) will go to Greece and
Azerbaijan. DHA photo.

Three high-level visits on the diplomatic agenda will take place within
10 days, as President Abdullah Gul will host Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will go to Greece
and Azerbaijan.

While energy issues will be on the agenda during talks with all three
countries, negotiations to ease visa requirements will be the main
highlight of talks with both Russia and Greece. Ankara and Baku have
overcome their differences during thorny negotiations over the price
and quantity of natural gas that Turkey will purchase from Azerbaijan.

The two countries will sign the agreements during Erdogan’s visit to
Baku scheduled for May 17, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review
has learned from official sources.

Turkey and Azerbaijan conducted difficult negotiations over the new
price of natural gas that Turkey has been purchasing for $120 per
1,000 cubic meters, about half the international market price. The
agreement to purchase gas for that amount was valid for only one
year, and after the agreement expired Turkey continued to pay the
same price while negotiations for a new price continued. Meanwhile,
Turkey has also been conducting talks for the purchase of natural
gas from a different field, Shah Deniz 2. The two sides negotiated
the price and quantity, as well as the transit fee for the gas.

Reaching an agreement became even more difficult following Turkey’s
reconciliation process with Armenia. While angry at Turkey for signing
protocols to normalize its relations with Armenia without a solution to
problems between Yerevan and Baku, the Azerbaijani government dragged
its feet during the negotiations and used the gas as leverage over
Turkey. The lack of an agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan also
jeopardized the Nabucco pipeline project, which would carry Caspian
natural gas to Europe through Turkey, because the pipeline is expected
to be filled with Azerbaijani gas during its initial phase.

The conclusion of an agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan has
coincided with the collapse of the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
process. Turkey has not sent the protocols for ratification to
Parliament, and Armenia suspended the ratification process last month
as a reaction to the delay in Turkey.

Erdogan will visit Baku nearly a year after his last visit to the
Azerbaijani capital. Ankara and Yerevan had announced that they
reached an agreement on the text of the protocols, and Erdogan
rushed to Baku on May 13 last year to soothe the Azeri reaction and
promised in a speech he delivered to the Azerbaijani government that
the protocols would not be ratified unless there is a solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem, an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia.

Energy issues

Energy issues will also be on the agenda of Medvedev’s visit to Ankara,
yet Turkish officials have been more cautious on the faith in the new
agreements in this field. Officials were not able to disclose with
certainty before Friday afternoon that the agreements being prepared
would be ready for the visit. Talks continued at full speed between
Ankara and Moscow to finalize an agreement on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil
pipeline project. After years of turning a cold shoulder, Russia
has decided to pass its oil through the pipeline, providing a green
light for the construction to start. The agreement will foresee the
establishment of a new company made up of the Calık group from Turkey,
ENI from Italy and a Russian company to operate the pipeline.

The two countries’ officials will also try to make ready for signature
the agreement for Russia to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant,
a Turkish diplomat told the Daily News. If it proves difficult to reach
a consensus on the text of the documents, there is still a possibility
for signing the agreements since the remaining hurdles could be solved
during the talks between the two presidents, said the diplomat.

The same is also true for an agreement to lift visa requirements,
as officials from both sides have been working to have a document
ready by the time Medvedev comes to Ankara.

Turkey has been eager to change the visa regime with Russia since it
is more difficult for Turks to get visas in comparison to Russians
citizens, who get their visas at the border. Russia has a strict and
time-consuming visa regime for third countries. The Russian ambassador
to Ankara said recently at a conference in Istanbul that when he came
to Turkey three years ago, the possibility of lifting visa requirements
did not cross his mind.

Greece’s visa situation

The facility of visa travel will also be on the agenda of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Greece. Diplomatic sources
were equally cautious over whether concrete results could come at this
stage since Greece is bound by the EU’s visa regulations. Meanwhile,
Erdogan is expected to be accompanied by 10 ministers, including its
energy and economy ministers.

The two prime ministers will discuss how Turkey can contribute
to alleviating Greece’s economic troubles. Possible support from
Turkey might be kept at a low profile during talks since the public,
which is angry over the economic measures taken by the government,
might be sensitive to the idea of getting help from a country that
was considered an enemy just a decade ago.

The two heads of government are also expected to seek ways to
revitalize finding diplomatic solutions to decades-old problems in
the Aegean. Erdogan will most likely ask for the support of Athens
for solving issues related to Cyprus, and a Turkish-Greek-Italian
natural gas pipeline will also be on the agenda.

THE ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYERS IN THE US CHAMPIONSHIP

Aysor
May 10 2010
Armenia

Armenian Grandmasters Varuzhan Hakobyan, Melikset Khachinyan and the
international master Levon Alyunyan will partake in the championship
to be held on May 14 – 25 in St. Louis, the USA, informs the Armenian
Chess Federation.

There are 24 participants of whom 20 are Grandmasters like Nakamura,
Kamski, Onishchuk, Shulman, Elvest and Christiansen.

CZECH DEPUTY PM: DIRECT TALKS ARE THE ONLY WAY FOR KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

armradio.am
07.05.2010 18:03

A stable and open Southern Caucasus region with all countries working
together is something the EU is strongly interested in, Jan Kohout,
Deputy Prime-Minister and Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic told
Trend on the eve of his visit to Azerbaijan on May 13-14.

"I hope that the updated Madrid document presented by the Co-chairs of
the Minsk Group during the meeting in Sochi at the end of January will
serve as a basis for the final compromise settlement", Kohout said.

According him, the Czech Republic is convinced that the only way to
the peaceful solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is through
direct negotiations on the basis of all principles established within
the Minsk Group.

"Therefore, we welcome the last year’s intensification of the meetings
between Azerbaijani president and his Armenian counterpart. The EU
will support and encourage both countries to continue along this
path as the progress in this area would have a positive impact on
the region’s stability, security and prosperity," he said.

The EU itself serves as a proof that with the help of establishing a
network of links and contacts between countries and people to people
contacts old disputes and historical injuries can be overcome, he said.

"Therefore, the EU offered last year Eastern Partnership to both
Azerbaijan and Armenia as another platform for mutually beneficial
cooperation aiming, inter alia, to help you to find positive vision
towards the future," Kohout said.

REP. SCHIFF LAUNCHES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD CAMPAIGN

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 6, 2010 – 17:45 AMT 12:45 GMT

U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) launched an effort to parallel H.

Res. 252, the Congressional resolution he introduced to recognize
and commemorate the Armenian Genocide, by calling on survivors of
the genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923,
as well as their family members and descendants, to submit their
stories and memories for inclusion into the Congressional Record,
Rep. Schiff’s spokesperson Maureen Shanahan told PanARMENIAN.Net

Survivors of the genocide and their families from throughout the
country are encouraged to send Congressman Schiff the story of what
happened to their family during the Genocide. The Congressman will
then make these accounts a part of the Congressional Record – the
nation’s enduring record of proceedings before Congress.

"Let us fill the Congressional Record with the personal histories of
those who survived the genocide and their families," Rep. Schiff said.

"While there are still some survivors left, we can use the official
record of the Congress to document the first genocide of the last
century. This can become an important resource for historians, a
vital part of our nation’s archives, and a part of the continuing
effort to educate Members of Congress as we move forward with the
genocide resolution," Rep. Schiff said.

While the Armenian Genocide has been recognized by more than 20 nations
including Canada, Italy, Sweden, France, Argentina and Russia, as
well as the European Parliament, it has not been formally recognized
by the U.S. Congress in decades.

Congressman Schiff is the primary sponsor of H. Res. 252, the
Affirmation of the U.S. Record on the Armenian Genocide, which calls
on the President and the U.S. Government to properly recognize the
atrocities that occurred in Armenia beginning in 1915, and which
resulted in 1.5 million deaths, as genocide.

On April 22, Rep. Schiff sent a letter to President Obama, again urging
him to properly characterize the murder of 1.5 million Armenian men,
women and children as "genocide" in his statement marking the April 24
anniversary of the start of the genocide. The President’s statement
fell tragically short, failing to speak plainly of the genocide,
to the great consternation of the survivors and their descendants.

On April 24, Rep. Schiff joined members of the community to commemorate
the Armenian Genocide.

Rep. Schiff is also the co-author of the California State law allowing
family members of Armenian Genocide victims to request payment on the
life-insurance policies of relatives. He represents California’s 29th
Congressional District, which includes the communities of Alhambra,
Altadena, Burbank, East Pasadena, East San Gabriel, Glendale, Monterey
Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Temple City.

GEORGIAN AUTHORITIES KEEP ON DE-ARMENIZING JAVAKHK

ArmInfo
2010-05-05 14:00:00

ArmInfo. The Georgian authorities keep on working over de-Armenization
of Javakhk, President of Yerkir Council Sevak Artsruni told journalists
today.

"Unfortunately, the people like Chief of Akhalkalaki Police Samvel
Petrosyan assist to the Georgian authorities in this hard work.

Unfortunately, there are many such Petrosyans in Javakhk being no
more than a blind tool in hands of the Georgian authorities", he said.

According to Artsruni, the fact that the son of Samvel Petrosyan, who
fired at the people during disorders in Akhalkalaki after falsification
of the results of election to the local authorities, is the second
in the pro-power lists, confirms the ideological orientation of a
policeman. That time, "United Javakhk" organization, headed by Vahagn
Chakhalyan, argued against governance of the Armenian population of
the region by ethnic Georgians. Disorders ended with explosion near
the house of Akhalkalaki Chief of Police Samvel Petrosyan.

This was followed by murder of the two policemen during searches,
and the leaders of the United Javakhk underwent persecutions. One of
them, Gourgen Shirinyan, managed to escape. Chakhalyan and his family
were arrested.

CHESS: SERGEY KASPAROV WINS WEIZ OPEN

Panorama.am
04/05/2010

Armenian GM Sergey Kasparov (Belarus) scored 4,5 points out of 5 and
took the first prize in the open which was held in Weiz, Austria.

According to the Armenian Chess Federation, 25 chess players took
part in the tournament.

GEORGIAN EXPERT WARNS OF WAR DANGER IN KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 4, 2010 – 16:30 AMT 11:30 GMT

The current processes in the South Caucasus are inadequate, since
the parties directly involved in the conflict are often not engaged
in its resolution, according to a Georgian expert.

"Processes which are supposed to be peaceful are not such, as a
matter of fact. They hamper resolution of conflicts," said Alexander
Rusetski, executive director of the South Caucasus Institute of
Regional Security.

"To resolve the existing problems the ideological motives should be
examined. "Regional conflicts should be denationalized and a common
approach should be developed," he said.

Commenting on the Armenian-Turkish dialogue, he said that Turkey
intensified activities to prevent strengthening of Russian factor in
the South Caucasus, specifically after the war in South Ossetia.

"Although the dialogue seems to be really frozen, the Protocols created
a good basis to end the lingering hostility," Mr. Rusetski said.

As to the Karabakh conflict settlement, he said the danger of war
still persists. He also added that the population and natives of
Karabakh should take part in the negotiations.

RA DEFENSE MINISTRY: ‘INSTEAD OF RIBALDRY THE AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTRY HAD BETTER THINK OVER THE NUMEROUS CONCERNS OF ITS ARMY’

ARMENPRESS
MAY 3, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS: Instead of ribaldry and playing mind
games or making judgments about moral-psychological and martial
readiness of the Armenian Army, Spokesperson for the Azerbaijani
Defense Minister Eldar Sabiroglu and the Ministry had better think
over the numerous concerns of the Azerbaijani army, the statement,
provided to Armenpress by the press and PR office of RA Defense
Ministry, says. The statement touches upon the next warlike rhetoric
of the Azerbaijani authorities. According to a report by Azerbaijani
mass media, a consultation, headed by the President Ilham Aliev, was
held April 23 at the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on the construction
of armed forces. During the consultation, the Azerbaijani President
demanded from military leaders of the country to be ready for the
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh issue by applying forces. The
President and Defense Minister assured the attendees that the whole
nation and the Azerbaijani Armed Forces support the President. Ilham
Aliev blamed Armenia for occupying territories, destroying the areas
of security (as if it is the Armenians, who destroyed the Armenian
cemetery and thousands of ancient cross-stones in Nor Jugha), as
well as stated that Azerbaijan ‘cannot tolerate the cruelty and
injustice any more’. ‘We all know the reason Baku remembered about
the arms and the 1 billion USD spent on gaining them just the day
before April 24, when people were walking to Tsitsernakaberd with sad
faces in Yerevan,’ the statement reads. Eldar Sabiroglu stated that
‘Armenia will not have the courage to fight the war alone’. Sabiroglu
assured that the international experts consider the consultation held
at the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry quite an important event and that
they said ‘due to the army, supplied with modern arms and high-level
fighting readiness, the unity of the nation with the President, ‘the
succes of the operation for liberating the ‘occupied’ territories
by Azerbaijan and the defeat of Armenia are anovaidable’. ‘This is
the impression of Eldar Sabiroglu about the consultation held in his
native country. However we should note that the Azerbaijani Minister
even did not mention about ‘the defeat of Armenia’, but just said at
the beginning of his speech that ‘the complicated military-political
situation in the region make Azerbaijan raise the level of military
possibilities for safeguarding the territorial integrity and
souvereignity, liberating the ‘occupied’ territories’. The bodies
engaged in propaganda, have the wild passion to confuse the true
reality with the desired reality and tend to justify the defeat
they suffered in the war unleashed by themselves. The Azerbaijani
propaganda machine goes on playing the same stuck gramophone record,
mentioning about some mystic 3d force, which helped Armenia during the
war, but yet being afraid of pronuncing the name of that country. In
parallel, they always stress their achievements in gaining expensive
arms each year and decide the result of the war beforehand; somehow
trying to raise the level of their army’s fighting spirit. ‘But he is
a lieutenant colonel: Sabiroglu does not manage to understand that by
spreading lies and false statements, using the cheapest and oldest
means of propaganda, it is impossible to frighten a whole nation,
which fought the war for defending the territories of the homeland
and won that war’ the statement particularly mentions.

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In the Caucasus, a Glass Half-Full
Brainstorming and innovation might not bring peace to the Caucasus, but at
least they bring dialogue.
by TOL

30 April 2010

When it comes to relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, optimism is a
rare commodity after 16 years of stalled diplomacy in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

Even a positive ripple, like the call this week from the two countries’
religious leaders for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, was swamped by
the tide of gloom following Armenia’s earlier move to suspend ratification
of its rapprochement with Turkey, which, under pressure from Baku, belatedly
linked the deal to Karabakh.

As this depressingly familiar drama plays out, it’s tempting to grab at any
glimmer of progress in Armenian/Azerbaijani relations – especially when it
comes lit with the glow of social media, about which there is as much
optimism as there is pessimism in Caucasian politics. It’s generally wise to
have some grains of salt at the ready.

Still, it’s difficult not to be encouraged by the recent wavelets of
cross-border communication and even cooperation among independent-minded,
techno-literate, and mostly young Azeris and Armenians, on display lately at
twin events held this month in Tbilisi.

The Social Media for Social Change conference, hosted by PH International, a
U.S. organization doing community- and schools-based development work in the
Caucasus, focused on using the new online tools to foster civic engagement
and multicultural communication in the region. The concurrent Social
Innovation Camp Caucasus was essentially a social-entrepreneurship drill:
about 40 bloggers, journalists, activists, developers, and designers –
mostly twentysomethings from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan – were split
into multinational teams and given two days to build digital startups to
address specific social issues. (TOL was one of several co-sponsors of the
camp.)

Both events were structured to bring people together across the frozen
cease-fire line, albeit sometimes implicitly. A Social Innovation Camp `is
not about making peace, it’s about making projects,’ Dan McQuillan, the
British co-creator of the SICamp concept, said during the event’s closing
ceremony. But he also noted that, particularly in the Caucasus, such events
can have an important community-building component. Azeris worked to bring
Armenian peers’ ideas to fruition, and vice versa.

The social-media conference prominently featured the teenage participants in
DOTCOM, a PH International project backed by the U.S. State Department in
which American, Armenian, and Azerbaijani students were trained together in
new-media skills, notably blogging and video. British-Armenian journalist
(and TOL contributor) Onnik Krikorian, co-presenting at the event with
political analyst and blogger Arzu Geybullaeva, openly marveled that he
could be sharing a stage with an Azeri, let alone forge a working
relationship with one, facilitated by Facebook and Skype.

They and other speakers talked about grass-roots conflict-resolution efforts
sprouting up outside the stalled diplomatic process, and the growth of youth
activism throughout the Caucasus, crystallized by the media-savvy campaign
to free jailed Azeri bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade. A tweet may not
be worth a thousand words, but one cited by Krikorian from an Armenian
expressing solidarity with Azeri activists shows those 140 characters can
matter.

`I see huge potential,’ said Philip Gamaghelyan of the Imagine Center for
Conflict Transformation, who also spoke at the conference. The center has
just launched Caucasus Edition, an online forum for writing and discussion
about Karabakh.

`So far it has been very controlled, very polarizing, very nationalist, very
anti the other – this pretty much was the mainstream media [in Armenia and
Azerbaijan]. Everything more moderate was marginalized or almost
nonexistent. So the Internet really is opening a new possibility now to
bring alternative voices out. =85 There should be a way of translating all
this into political action, into change.’

Even in a setting where simply showing up might imply a predisposition for
change, it was clear how fraught and laborious achieving it will be.
Geybullaeva wrote in her blog that after she spoke critically about Baku’s
heavy-handed response to activism, she was berated by a group of young Azeri
attendees for airing the country’s dirty laundry. And Karabakh remained the
elephant in the room – rarely brought up, and then usually in the context of
explaining why it’s best left alone for now.

It’s easy to see why. Even at forums like these, many participants might
share their countrymen’s polarized view of that conflict. Unlike many of
their countrymen, though, they’ve met, talked to, and worked side by side
with members of the other tribe. They’ve learned they can use new digital
tools to leap the communication barrier between their countries. They’ve
learned they share many problems – cowed media, environmental degradation,
dysfunctional institutions – and that there might be regional, cooperative
responses. That’s a big step.

Ultimately, conflict transformation in the south Caucasus rests on
confronting Karabakh. As long as nationalism and stereotyping dominate the
discourse in their nations, officials in Baku and Yerevan can keep playing a
zero-sum game, rejecting compromise and retreating into absolutist rhetoric.

That stance might get harder to maintain as thousands of young, educated
Armenians and Azeris become steeped in new ways to talk to and think about
one another. At the SI Camp project presentations, an Azeri journalism
student, standing near his Armenian group leader, grabbed the microphone and
made an impromptu comment about the need for the different nationalities to
come together and face common problems. It was almost enough to make one
optimistic.

WAS ALLAHSHUKUR PASHA-ZADE MISINFORMED?

Tert.am
03.05.10

Press office of the Administration of Muslims in the Caucasus
released an official statement later this afternoon in relation to
the news report by Azerbaijani new web sources disseminated earlier
this morning, according to which Azerbaijan’s spiritual leader
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pasha-Zade had said that His Holiness
Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians visited
the Park of Shaheeds during his visit to Baku where he participated
in the Second World Summit of Spiritual Leaders.

According to that statement the leader of Muslims in the Caucasus
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pasha-Zade fall victim to that
disinformation which he was provided with by an employee of the
Administration of Muslims in the Caucasus.

It also said that the person in charge has already been punished.

Earlier the press office of the Holly See of Etchmiadzin dismissed
those reports as wrong.