Author: Chilingarian Babken

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND HISTORIANS PROTEST AGAINST INITIATIVE ON DISCUSSION OF SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN U.S. CONGRESS

APA
March 2 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Elnur Mammadli – APA. Azerbaijani human rights defenders and
historians held a roundtable protesting against the initiative on
discussion of the so-called Armenian genocide in the U.S. Congress,
APA reports. Researcher Nasiman Yagublu said the wish to discuss the
so-called Armenian genocide in the Congress predicts double standards.

Demonstrating some documents Yagublu said Armenians had come to
Karabakh, even during the Soviet times a monument was erected in
Aghdere on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of their moving
to that territory. He noted that there were no Armenian villages in
Karabakh during the reign of khanates.

"The claims that Zangazur was given to Armenians during the People’s
Republic are wrong. Historical maps prove it. Nagorno Karabakh is not
Armenian land, Armenian came and committed genocide there," he said.

Nasiman Yagublu noted that there were enough facts to prove that the
genocide had been committed by Armenians.

"We should change the methodology of promoting the genocide," he said.

Human rights defender Novella Jafaroglu said historians should deal
with the so-called Armenian genocide.

"We protest against the discussion of the issue on the political
level. Archives should be opened and historical assessment should be
given to the issue," she said.

Chairperson of the Public Union of National Spiritual Values Jale
Jafarova urged for European and world broadcast to campaign for
recognition of Khojaly genocide.

Historian Almaz Mammadova said the West was speaking about the
integration on one hand and taking actions increasing tensions between
the countries on other hand. Mammadova said recently Iran has also
launched campaign against Azerbaijan. "Iranian leadership has to make
clear that whether they respect Islamic values or not. If they respect,
they shouldn’t establish so warn relations with Armenia".

Human Rights Defender Chingiz Ganizadeh said only person that could
prevent so-called "Armenian genocide" hearing at the US Congress was
President Barack Obama. Ganizadeh proposed to address Obama.

Participants of the round table noted that hearing on so-called
"Armenian genocide" at the Congress could have negative impact on
US-Azerbaijan and US-Turkey relations.

AZERBAIJAN HAS VIOLATED CEASEFIRE REGIME WITH ARMENIA AND NKR 850 TIMES SINCE EARLY 2010

ArmInfo
2010-03-02 11:24:00

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan has violated ceasefire regime with Armenia and
the NKR 850 times since early 2010.

As Defense Ministry of Armenia told ArmInfo, the Azerbaijani party
violated ceasefire regime about 500 times in February. Since early
2010, the Azerbaijani party has used sniping weapon 135 times (70
times in February), large-caliber weapon – 35 times (about 20 times in
February). Moreover, use of AT hand weapon-7 (once) by the Azerbaijani
party was fixed again in February. Two Armenian servicemen died and
four wounded since early 2010 as a result of ceasefire violation
by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan violated ceasefire regime with Armenia and the NKR about
4600 times in 2009, 3500 times in 2008, about 1400 times in 2007 and
about 600 times in 2006.

TURKEY SHOULD MAKE FRIENDS WITH ARMENIA TO WIN CONFIDENCE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

ArmInfo
2010-03-02 11:45:00

Interview of Secretary General of the European Friends of Armenia
(EuFoA) Michael Kambeck with ArmInfo News Agency

The Europe-Armenia Advisory Council (EAAC), being a structure of
the European Friends of Armenia organization, sent an open letter
to the European political figures and EU representatives, urging the
European structures to get involved in the process of normalization
of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

In the letter, addressed to President of the European Parliament Jerzy
Buzek, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Catherine Ashton, Chairman of EP Foreign Affairs Committee Gabrielle
Albertini and EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter
Semneby, contains an appeal to affect Armenia and Turkey for them
to ratify the Protocols without preconditions in a reasonable time
period of two months. What instruments may the EU use to urge Turkey
to ratify Protocols within a timeframe of no more than 2 months as
you recommended?

I am pretty sure that the new High Representative Baroness Ashton,
as quasi EU-Foreign Minister, will soon be more public on this issue
and make a statement that the EU welcomes the Armenian steps towards
ratification and invites Turkey to follow suit. Turkey needs to know
that the world is watching it. The EU is already quite tired about
Turkey signing treaties but never ratifying or implementing them, like
in the example of Cyprus. The unique thing about the ongoing process
is that an EU-US-Russia consensus has been reached, advocating for
unconditional and timely ratification of the protocols. That consensus
lays the basis for a very favourable environment for the EU action
given the latter’s commitment for an effective multilateralism in
the international arena. Let’s not forget that the EU has new and
much more effective rules for its foreign policy.

EU now has all necessary means to reach its declared ambitions
of becoming a stronger, more coherent and pro-active actor in
the Caucasus. The EU wants peace and growth and can achieve this
in co-operation with Russia and the USA. Practically this means: a
common statement of all 27 Member States urging Turkey to seriously
engage in the ratification of the protocols.

Moreover, a high level EU visit to the region in order to deliver
its firm message to the political actors concerned and setting
up mechanisms for cross-border cooperation and rehabilitation of
transport and communication infrastructure along the border. The US
and Russia have made some similar steps or are considering them. The
EU now has the tools to do all of this and I am happy that, not least
after the recent open letter by the EAAC (Europe-Armenia Advisory
Council), the EU is very committed to act in an even stronger and
more visible manner.

An issue of rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey and reopening
the border has never been a key issue in the process of Turkey’s
joining the EU. Yet, don’t you think the EU should clearly put such
a precondition in its own negotiation?

We must not forget that the Turkish accession bid is a very old one and
that when it was filed, Armenia was still part of the USSR. Since then
there has been a very vivid debate in the EU which conditions to apply,
but there was a consensus that Turkey should join! This debate always
included good relations with Turkey’s neighbours, but unfortunately
did not specify Armenia explicitly in the accession conditions.

However, the European Commission has made it clear several times that
it cannot imagine an accession with unresolved neighbourly problems,
especially with Cyprus, Syria and Armenia. The European Parliament has
been even more explicit making this condition in several resolutions
and this Parliament will need to vote on the accession treaty to ratify
it. So formally, it may not be a precondition, but Turkey knows very
well that it is a problem they need to resolve before being able
to join.

Let me add that it is a good thing that the normalisation of relations
with Armenia are not formally linked to the EU accession, because this
would only give more arguments to the nationalists in Turkey who want
to kill the EU-accession process. In reality, the EU is formulating
this question in a different way: does Turkey want to become a
mature, credible and modern international player or does it want to
have its foreign policy defined by its more extreme nationalists and
Azerbaijan? This fundamental question needs an answer, and this answer
is in the interest of Turkey and the EU and the whole region. It is
in Turkey’s interest to develop into a mature and reliable state,
which will make everyone gain. So there are many reasons why Turkey
will need to reconcile ties with Armenia before an EU accession,
but not necessarily because of the EU accession.

The open letter called upon Azerbaijan to contribute to the ongoing
Armenia-Turkey process. How practical it is to ask for efforts from
Azerbaijan taking into account the existing animosity between Armenia
and Azerbaijan?

It is my firm belief and that of the EAAC (Europe-Armenia Advisory
Council) that the implementation of the provisions of the protocols
will promote peace, stability and progress in the entire region.

Azerbaijan’s efforts to derail the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement is
a direct threat to this positive perspective of regional stability.

It is clear that the vital condition for such a positive development
consists in decoupling the Armenia-Turkey normalisation from the final
resolution of the NKR conflict. In other words, linking these two
issues will certainly kill the prospects of solution for both of them.

The EU, Russia and the US know that and say this more or less openly.

The EAAC called especially upon Azerbaijan to turn towards a
constructive policy in order to remind publicly that Azerbaijan
currently is a key obstacle! I think Azerbaijan has done a great
job in recent years to create a hostile and undemocratic image of
its country and this call and similar calls can only be an appeal
to their reason: it is in Azerbaijan’s interest to improve its image
and to achieve more stability and growth in the Caucasus.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair in the Annual Threat
Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, stated that "Although
there has been progress in the past year toward Turkey-Armenia
rapprochement, this has affected the delicate relationship between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, and increases the risk of a renewed conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh". What do you think about this alarming
prediction that actually threatens the development of two processes?

The news is that in this year’s Annual Threat Assessment of the
US Intelligence Community the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has had
the attention it deserves and is not overshadowed by other regional
confrontations. Therefore, there are chances that such an assessment
will trigger a stronger commitment of the US, alongside with France
and Russia, for the resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, I cannot agree with this assessment. The key factor missing
to achieve a breakthrough is political will on the Azeri side to sign
what has already been agreed upon in the framework of the Minsk group
negotiations. Azeri war rhetorics repeatedly threatening to take back
NKR by force, don’t really prepare the Azeri public for a peaceful
solution – there is no such political will.

In fact, the only thing that I can imagine to convince Azerbaijan
to agree to a durable compromise is if they don’t feel that Turkey
will at all costs always be on its side, even allowing Azerbaijan to
determine much of the Turkish foreign policy. This means that any
success registered on Armenia-Turkey bi-laterals has the potential
to contribute to the security in South Caucasus and not to hinder it.

Swedish Parliament prepares to vote on a motion that describes the
killing of Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire as
Genocide. Another motion is under the way in the American Congress.

Meanwhile, Turkey believes such motions hamper its efforts to normalize
its fragile relations with Armenia. What do you think? Why it is
important to pursue this issue in the foreign Parliaments?

The alleged linkage between the international recognition of the
Armenian genocide and the steps to be undertaken for the normalisation
of Armenia-Turkey relations seems to be the latest excuse fabricated
by some Turkish political circles to obstruct the ratification of the
protocols in the Turkish Parliament. We at EuFoA, together with EAAC
(Europe-Armenia Advisory Council), reject any such linkage.

In other words, the international recognition and acknowledgement of
the Armenian genocide, and genocides in general, is not only a right
of the victims and their descendants, it is rather a universal duty
of any civilised society, genocides being a crime against humanity.

Besides, Turkey only developed the necessary energy to move ahead in
the rapprochement last April, just before the Genocide memorial day. I
think it is clear that potential international recognitions don’t
slow down the process but can actually make a positive contribution,
including educating the Turkish public about its past and its neighbor.

Interview by Oksana Musaelyan, February 26, 2010.

HOUSE PANEL MAY REVIVE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
By Richard Simon

Los Angeles Times
March 1 2010
CA

The measure, which risks offending Turkey, a U.S. ally, is being
handled more cautiously after the 2007 effort, when it appeared headed
toward approval.

Reporting from Washington – Two and a half years after lawmakers fell
short in their effort to pass a resolution to recognize the Armenian
genocide, sponsors of the long-debated measure are launching a new
bid to bring the issue before the House.

Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), who chairs the Foreign
Affairs Committee and backs the resolution, plans to bring it before
his panel Thursday.

It will come before the House "only if the votes are there to pass
it," Berman said. "Once we pass it out of committee, we’re going to
try to get those votes."

The resolution, which would officially recognize the mass killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago as genocide, has run
into opposition from past Democratic and Republican administrations,
which have warned it would offend Turkey, an important U.S. military
ally.

The resolution’s supporters are hopeful they stand a better chance
this year because President Obama, as a candidate, said he "stood with
the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey’s acknowledgment
of the Armenian genocide." Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton had supported the resolution when they
were senators.

Obama, however, disappointed Armenian Americans last year when he
did not use the word "genocide" on the April 24 remembrance day,
instead referring to the killings as "one of the great atrocities of
the 20th century."

Although the Obama administration has not directly taken a position
on the resolution, Mike Hammer, spokesman for the National Security
Council, said the president had "consistently stated his position on
the events of 1915."

"Our interest remains the achievement of a full, frank and just
acknowledgment of the facts," Hammer said in a statement. "We continue
to believe that the best way to advance that goal is for the Armenian
and Turkish people to address the facts of the past as a part of
their ongoing efforts to normalize relations."

Aram S. Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National
Committee of America, said, "The current administration’s conduct, at
least to date, stands in stark contrast to past administrations . . .

that used every opportunity to score points with Ankara by attacking
the broad, bipartisan congressional majority" in support of the
recognition effort.

F. Stephen Larrabee, an expert on U.S.-Turkish relations, warned in
a recent paper for the Rand Corp., a Santa Monica-based think tank,
that the resolution’s passage would deal a "serious blow to the Obama
administration’s efforts to put U.S.-Turkish relations on a firmer
footing, and it could prompt the Turks to take retaliatory action."

Similar resolutions were approved by the House in 1975 and 1984 but
did not make it through the Senate. In 2000, a genocide resolution
was headed to the House floor when the vote was abruptly called off
at the urging of President Clinton.

In 2007, after a majority of House members signed on as co-sponsors,
the resolution appeared headed toward approval. But two dozen lawmakers
withdrew their support after the George W. Bush administration and
Turkish government warned that passage of the resolution could lead
Turkey to block U.S. access to its air bases, which are used to get
supplies to U.S. troops in Iraq. A House vote was put off again.

After that effort, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who
has long supported the resolution, is likely to be more cautious about
bringing it to the House floor. The resolution has 137 House sponsors
from both parties, including much of the delegation from California,
which has a large Armenian American population.

As the committee vote nears, lobbying from both sides of the issue
is expected to intensify.

Among the critics, Rep. Edward Whitfield (R-Ky.), co-chairman of the
Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations, said, "I think the
American people would agree that Congress should be focusing on ways
to strengthen our economy and create jobs and leave this debate to
the historians."

Berman, however, said that Congress, in championing human rights,
"certainly should place a priority on recognizing this historical
tragedy and calling it what it is."

IRAN’S OFFER TO MEDIATE ON KARABAKH A PR MOVE – ANALYST
Leyla Tagiyeva

news.az
March 1 2010
Azerbaijan

Leyla Aliyeva News.Az interviews Azerbaijani political scientist
Leyla Aliyeva.

The Iranian ambassador in Azerbaijan has said that his country is
ready to help the Karabakh settlement. How would you comment on this?

The interest is caused not by the Iranian initiative to participate
in the settlement process, as its purpose in this case is clear. By
doing so, Iran is trying to soften the position of the world community
against itself. Tensions and concerns over Iran’s nuclear program are
increasing on the world stage. Russia has already voiced its concern.

Meanwhile, by proposing itself as a peacekeeper in the Karabakh
conflict, Iran is attempting to find opportunities to play a positive
role, that is, to play a peacekeeping role. The main interest is
caused by the fact that our president has been positive about this
initiative. Iran has already been a mediator on Karabakh, but its
mission was not successful. Since then, Tehran has repeatedly proposed
its services as a mediator on the Karabakh conflict, but Iran is
always perceived by the Azerbaijani side as a state sympathizing
more with Armenia than Azerbaijan. Baku has always had doubts about
Iran’s mediation. Meanwhile, I think Azerbaijan’s current agreement
on Iranian mediation is an attempt to manoeuvre by our state.

Does Iran have potential as a mediator on Karabakh?

Any regional state is involved in this conflict anyway. Each of them
takes sides and can offer mediation However, everything depends on
how effective their efforts are. I think there must be a balance
of power that would promote the conflict settlement rather than a
separate power which has proposed its services. All countries in the
region have their interests, so none of them can be considered an
ideal mediator, including Iran.

What can Iran propose as a mediator that has not been proposed by
the Minsk Group co-chairs in the past 18 years?

I think the resolution of our conflict does not depend on the
mediator. The mediator does not play any role here, so it does not
matter who offers their services.

How can the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs that have strained relations
with Iran treat this initiative from Tehran, especially since
Azerbaijan has agreed to Iranian mediation?

The co-chairs can merely ignore it, because Iranian mediation cannot go
beyond words. Certainly, Azerbaijan may join any other format. It may
try to use its agreement to Iranian mediation as a means of pressure
on the United States. On the other hand, I do not think that anyone
seriously thinks Iran’s efforts will be effective.

The Minsk Group has not found a Karabakh settlement in 18 years,
while Iran thinks the problem can be settled only with the direct
participation of regional states. Do you share this view?

The Minsk Group co-chairs can easily settle the conflict if they want.

But what if they do not want to? The same refers to the regional
superpowers that may not be interested in the conflict settlement
either. As for Iran, if it offers its mediation services, probably,
at the current stage it is interested in the settlement. But I think
the peace process on Karabakh is not a priority for Iran. It is rather
interested in the processes around its nuclear program. In particular,
Iran wants to soften the alliance that may speak against it. This is
the alliance of the United States and Israel which may also include
Azerbaijan.

Turkish PM holds surprise talks with top general

28.02.2010 19:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met the
head of the armed forces Ilker Basbug on Sunday, two days after the
arrest of two retired generals over an alleged coup plot.

Media said both men attended a funeral and Prime Minister invited
General Ilker Basbug to his office for unscheduled talks, after which
a statement was expected, Reuters reported.

Last week authorities detained some 50 officers, later charging more
than 30, in connection with an alleged 2003 plot to unseat the
government.

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT, TURKEY’S FM MEET IN KIEV

armradio.am
26.02.2010 11:30

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu met in Kiev on Thursday.

The Turkish foreign minister told reporters after the meeting that he
had had the opportunity to talk to the Armenian president about the
Turkish-Armenian relationship normalization process, and developments
in the Caucasus.

"We reviewed the Turkish -Armenian normalization relationship in
its entirity with open hearts today including our anxieties and
the obstacles we face," Davutoglu said. "We spoke about Armenian-
Azerbaijan relations and the activities of the Minsk Group as related
to the Karabakh issue," he said.

"I also had the opportunity to tell Mr. Sargsyan about Turkey’s vision
for the region," he said.

KHOJALU TRAGEDY: AZERI LIE EXPOSED

news.am

Feb 24 2010
Armenia

The Azerbaijani side, including government agencies, is trying to
resort to new falsifications to trample Armenians in the mud. Using
pictures of the people killed in Kosovo, a Kurdish child killed in
a disaster and others, the Azeri side is trying to present them as
proofs of the Khojalu tragedy.

On February 24, the xocali.net website was presented. The website is
designed to expose the Azerbaijani falsification.

Speaking at the presentation, Armine Adibekyan, Chairwoman of the
Initiative to Prevent Xenophobia NGO, and Samvel Martirosyan, an
information security expert, presented the history of distortion of
facts about the by Khojalu strategy in 1992.

To expose the falsifications, the NGO created the
website.

About 20 false pictures have been found. The Azerbaijani side used
them to cause the international community to form a negative opinion
on Armenians. Adibekyan reported that Azerbaijani are using pictures
of Kosovo pogroms of 1999 and others.

The lists of victims have been falsified by Azerbaijan’s government
agencies. Specifically, the name of one person is spelled in different
ways as though it were several people.

Director of the Institute-Museum of the Armenian Genocide Hayk Demoyan
and the political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan provided the
results of their surveys to the website.

Specialists from the openarmernia.com, as well as Public Relations and
Information Center, RA Presidential Staff, rendered their assistance
to the project.

The website has Russian, English and Azerbaijani
versions. The French, German and Persian versions will be available
soon.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI EXPECTED TO VISIT ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2010-02-24 17:56:00

ArmInfo. Armenian Ambassador to Italy Ruben Karapetyan has met with
Vice Chairman of the Italian Council of Ministers Gianni Letta,
Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

The Ambassador thanked Gianni Letta for warm reception and highlighted
the Armenian government’s interest in development of versatile
cooperation with Italy. "There are preconditions for Italy to become
one of the key partners of Armenia," R. Karapetyan said.

Ambassador Karapetyan informed G. Letta of the upcoming visits and
major events for the year. He invited Silvio Berlusconi to Armenia
on behalf of Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. Gianni Letta,
for his part, said that Italy attaches importance to development of
relations with Armenia and pledged to contribute to the bilateral
cooperation.

OPPOSITION PROTEST AND RALLY TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

news.az
Feb 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Yerevan’s mayor’s office has sanctioned the meeting and the rally of
the opposition.

The Yerevan mayor’s office has sanctioned the oppositional protest.

According to the news service for Yerevan’s mayor office, both the
meeting and the rally have been sanctioned. The action participants
will follow the route from Mashtotz, through Maskikian, Nalbandian
to Terian. Sources in the mayor’s office have especially noted that
the organizers have been set instructions for the action participants
not to hamper the traffic and not to go to the roads.

The meeting of the Armenian National Congress will be held at the
Matenadarn Manuscripts Museum at about 17.00 on March 1. Armenia’s
first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan will make a program speech during
the event.