Author: Ekmekjian Janet

TURKEY TO SEEK SWISS, US SUPPORT IN ARMENIA ROW

Hurriyet
Feb 3 2010
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, left,
with Turkish ambassador to Washington Namik Tan.

A top Turkish diplomat will travel to Switzerland and the United
States to seek their support over an Armenian court ruling that
Ankara says threatens historic reconciliation deals with Yerevan,
a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

Feridun Sinirlioglu, undersecretary at the ministry, "will visit
these two countries in the coming days to express our concern"
over the ruling last month by the Armenian constitutional court,
spokesman Burak Ozugergin told reporters.

After months of Swiss-mediation and U.S. encouragement, Turkey and
Armenia signed two protocols in October to establish diplomatic ties
and reopen their shared border, in a historic step toward ending
decades of hostility stemming from World War I-era killings of
Armenians under Ottoman Turks.

But the process hit the rocks after the Armenian court upheld
the legality of the protocols, but underlined that they could not
contradict Yerevan’s official position that the Armenian mass killings
constituted genocide — a label fiercely rejected by Ankara.

Turkey accused Armenia of trying to re-write and set new conditions
on the deals, while Yerevan warned that the rapprochement was under
threat of collapse.

Ozugergin said Ankara maintained its desire to build better ties with
its eastern neighbor.

"There is no problem in Turkey’s Armenian opening. But Armenia has
a problem with its Turkey opening," he added.

The reconciliation process is also complicated by Ankara’s insistence
that normalizing Turkish-Armenian ties depend on progress between
Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute —
a link that Yerevan rejects.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan after ethnic Armenian forces wrested Nagorno-Karabakh from
Baku’s control in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

DAVUTOGLU RULES OUT TALIBAN-PKK COMPARISON IN LONDON

Today’s Zaman
29 January 2010, Friday

Foreign Minister Davutoglu had a brief meeting with US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton over Ankara’s uneasiness with the reasoning of
the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision.

Foreign Minister Davutoglu had a brief meeting with US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton over Ankara’s uneasiness with the reasoning of
the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has reacted strongly to comparisons
between Taliban fighters in war-torn Afghanistan and the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which took up arms in 1984 to fight
for an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.

Davutoglu arrived in London on Wednesday evening to represent Turkey
at a 60-nation conference on Afghanistan held on Thursday. The
conference followed a regional conference on Afghanistan which took
place in Ä°stanbul on Tuesday. In Ä°stanbul, in a joint statement
issued after the conference, Afghanistan’s neighbors and Turkey backed
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s plan to offer incentives to Taliban
fighters to make them lay down their arms.

"We … support the Afghan national process of reconciliation and
reintegration in accordance with the constitution of Afghanistan in
a way that is Afghan-led and driven," the statement said.

Davutoglu, speaking with reporters en route to London, emphasized
the importance of reaching national reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Recalling Karzai’s recent remarks in which he said he would make a
statement at the London conference asking for Taliban names to be
removed from a UN blacklist, Davutoglu said Turkey’s approach to this
idea was positive.

"We will do everything for national reconciliation," Davutoglu said
but did not elaborate further when asked whether Turkey had been
involved in talking with the Taliban to persuade them to disarm.

In response to a question which appeared to put Taliban fighters in
Afghanistan and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization
by a large majority of the international community, on the same page,
Davutoglu reacted harshly.

Everybody in Turkey is free to be involved in the political process,
Davutoglu said, adding: "There is a political system in Turkey
which functions healthily. In Afghanistan, there is an extraordinary
situation. There is public order in Turkey."

In early 2008, the Turkish military conducted a major operation
against the PKK in northern Iraq, and Turkish warplanes have since
carried out regular cross-border bombing raids against targets in
the mountainous region.

In Washington, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
Philip J. Crowley praised Turkey’s efforts in Afghanistan, in reply
to a question on a trilateral summit with Afghanistan and Pakistan
on Monday in Ä°stanbul ahead of the regional conference.

Turkey, as a key member of NATO and the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, has been playing a
unique and significant role, Crowley said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at the US Department of Defense on the same day, Pentagon
Press Secretary Geoff Morrell announced that US Defense Secretary
Robert Gates will pay a visit to Turkey next week, to attend an
informal meeting of NATO defense ministers in Ä°stanbul on Feb. 4 and
5. Gates will later proceed to Ankara to meet with Turkish officials,
Morrell added.

Talks with Clinton on Armenia

Upon his arrival in London on Wednesday evening, Davutoglu had a
brief meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, once more
explaining Ankara’s uneasiness with the reasoning of the Armenian
constitutional court’s decision on Jan. 12, which found the protocols
signed on Oct. 10 of last year in Zurich in conformity with the
Armenian Constitution.

Ankara believes that "the decision contains preconditions and
restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the
protocols." Ankara is expecting to receive a written guarantee from the
Yerevan administration reaffirming that the detailed reasoning by the
Armenian constitutional court will not have an impact on the process
of normalization of bilateral relations between Armenia and Turkey.

SAAKASHVILI OFFERS U.S. TO SUPPLY ARMS THROUGH GEORGIA

News.am
12:35 / 01/29/2010

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili offers U.S. to use Georgian
territory and transport infrastructure as a transfer station for
supplying military cargo to Afghanistan.

In his interview with Associated Press, Saakashvili underlined that
Georgia is ready to open up opportunities for Western warships to
use Black Sea ports and allow military transport aircrafts to land
in local airports for refueling.

According to the agency, the idea will not be to Russia’s liking and
Obama administration will hardly accept Georgian president’s offer.

Currently, the main supply route of U.S. lies through Pakistan,
Russia and Central Asia.

TURKEY DEMANDS LEGAL GUARANTEES FROM ARMENIA, WARNS US ON GENOCIDE BILL

Asbarez
Jan 27th, 2010

ANKARA-Despite assurances from Armenia that the Constitutional
Court ruling will not affect the Turkey-Armenia protocols process,
Turkey is demanding written legal guarantee from Yerevan, while,
at the same time, sending a warning to the US on the passage of the
pending Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress, reported the Turkish
Today’s Zaman newspaper on Tuesday.

The newspaper added that the Turkish Foreign Ministry already has
begun drafting such a document that delineates the Turkish position
on what it calls the "incompatibilities" of Armenia’s Constitutional
Court ruling.

Ankara is hoping to get the US and Switzerland to join this process
and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is planning to discuss
the matter with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during an upcoming
scheduled meeting in London later this month. Ankara also plans to
apply to the OSCE Minsk Group and European Union.

The newspaper reported that Davutoglu has told his Armenian counterpart
Eduard Nalbandian that Turkey would not ratify the protocols without
legal guarantees from Yerevan.

Armenia’s high court, on January 12, ruled that the Armenia-Protocols
were in line with Armenia’s Constitution, but highlighted that the
protocols had no link to the Karabakh conflict, and could not hinder
Armenia’s efforts to garner international recognition for the Armenian
Genocide as outlined in Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.

Turkey reacted last week, with its foreign ministry saying that the
Constitutional Court ruling amounted to preconditions being set by
Armenia. Since the beginning of the protocols process, Turkey has
publicly and on numerous occasions said that the normalization of
Armenia-Turkey relations would not move forward without a Karabakh
conflict resolution, which favors Azerbaijan.

In an interview with the Turkish NTV channel, Davutoglu also warned
that if the Armenian Genocide resolution were to be discussed or passed
by the Congress, the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement would break down.

12 MINORS DIE, 123 RECEIVE INJURIES IN AUTOMOBILE-PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS IN ARMENIA IN 2009

Noyan Tapan
Jan 26, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. 129 automobile-pedestrian accidents,
in which minors were involved, were recorded in Armenia in 2009, as
a result of which 12 minors died and 123 received injuries. In 2008,
there were 121 such accidents in Armenia, as a result of which 9
minors died and 119 received injuries.

The RA Police reported that in the period of January 1-25, 39 cases
of fraud were recorded in Armenia, 37 cases were disclosed. In the
same period of last year, the number of recorded and disclosed cases
of fraud made 40 and 38, respectively.

DELEGATION HEADED BY ITALIAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PAOLO ROMANI ARRIVES IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Jan 26, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. At the invitation of Armenian
Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian, a delegation headed by Italian
Deputy Minister of Economic Development Paolo Romani came on a
two-day visit to Armenia on January 26. The delegation is composed of
representatives of Italian television companies, experts in television
and radio digitalization, broadband Internet, and postal services
(in particular, representatives of Italy’s largest company Elsag
Datamat of Finmeccanica).

The opportunities of cooperation between the two countries in the
digitalization of television and radio broadcasting, the IT industry,
and postal services will be discussed during the visit.

The delegation will meet with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan,
Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian, Minister of Transport and
Communication Gurgen Sargsyan, Chairman of the RA Public Services
Regulatory Commission Robert Nazarian, Deputy Head of the RA
Presidential Staff Mikael Minasian.

The press service of the RA Ministry of Economy reports that on the
second day of the visit, the delegation will go to Gyumri where the
delegation members will familiarize themselves with the prospects of
developing the IT sector and the broadband Internet network as well
as with the Gyumri Technopark project.

STATE RADIO – LET IT GO
By Lindsey Hecht

CWG Magazine
January 26, 2010 2:53 PM

When I first heard State Radio’s debut album in 2005, ‘Us Against
the Crown,’ I was immediately hooked. Not just by the music itself,
but also for the passion in the music. The same feeling came over me
in 2007, when I heard ‘Year of the Crow,’ with its solidified band
line-up. While both their debut and sophomore albums alternately
stole my heart, ‘Let it Go’ wins the tug-o-war game – even when it’s
two against one.

Within a few seconds of the album I became an avid supporter of
their furthered uniqueness. Using a play on words, the track ‘Mansin
Humanity’ translates into ‘Man’s inhumanity towards man / Stop them
when they first began,’ as Stokes (the band’s vocal frontman) bellows
forth with intense, politically-charged lyrics. The opening track of
the album speaks about the Armenian genocide, while ‘Held Up by the
Wires’ has references about the Civil War, and ‘Calling All Crows’
seems more to me like a ‘Calling for Peace.’

‘Doctor Ron the Actor’ is reminiscent of Sublime and, from
start-to-finish, the track sticks to the simple structures of its
punkish nature. No single band member contributes more than the other,
and I hear Mike "Mad Dog" Najarian on drums and Chuck Fay on bass
rock out just as hard as Stokes does.

The title track, ‘Let it Go,’ only adds intensity to the album, as
they speak to their fans with lines like, ‘They came in truck with
their iron wrath / Driving this country to its dying breath." However,
even with all their lyrical power, State Radio still manages to provide
tracks that are cool and soulful, with a strict reggae jam-band sound.

I have forced friends to purchase the album in support of the band
that not only produces a matchless style, blending roots-reggae with
punk-rock, but also a band whose members give back to their community.

The band practices what they preach, donating to charity as well as
performing community service tasks in addition to be swamped on tour!

These guys are true givers, and I urge you to give back to them on
their most recent album, Let it Go. Buy the record, and the support
State Radio!

FOREIGN POLICY AIDE TO TURKISH PRESIDENT LIKELY TO ASSUME NATO DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL POST

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 18:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ One of the two vacant deputy secretary-general
posts at NATO is highly likely to be assumed by a Turkish diplomat,
sources close to the NATO leadership say.

Ambassador Huseyin Dirioz, currently the top foreign policy aide to the
Turkish president, is among the four candidates who run for the post.

Sources say chances are high that Dirioz will be appointed as deputy
secretary-general.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called "the (North)
Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based
on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949. The
NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the organization
constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states
agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

NATO has added new members seven times since first forming in 1949 (the
last 2 in 2009). NATO comprises 28 members: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

New membership in the alliance has been largely from Eastern Europe and
the Balkans, including former members of the Warsaw Pact. At the 2008
summit in Bucharest, three countries were promised future invitations:
the Republic of Macedonia, Georgia and Ukraine.

Other potential candidate countries include Montenegro and Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which joined the Adriatic Charter of potential members
in 2008.

1.2% ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ARMENIA, MODEST, BUT REAL FIGURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2010 14:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "1.2 per cent economic growth in Armenia is modest,
but a real figure, although it is difficult to say, will it be reached
or exceeded," head of the OSCE Yerevan office Sergey Kapinos said.

In an interview to PanARMENIAN.Net, he noted that the growth is very
modest, because GDP dropped by 15 per cent in 2009.

According to Sergey Kapinos, in order to mitigate the consequenses
of the severe crisis of the OSCE office has assisted the Government
of Armenia by organizing various forums and bringing international
experts to Armenia. "I think their assessments and solutions are
perceived and the government has mobilized its resources to overcome
the crisis," he said.

Budgeted growth is expected to reach 1,2 per cent, while the inflation
– 4 ± 1,5%.

ARMENIA TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL AID TO HAITI

news.am
Jan 21 2010
Armenia

RA Government will provide financial aid of $100.000 to Haitian people
affected by Jan. 12 devastating earthquake.

The issue was discussed in Jan. 21 governmental session, RA
Governmental Information and PR Department informed NEWS.am. The
money will be allotted from 2010 state budget reserve fund.

According to RA Premier Tigran Sargsyan, a great number of citizens
appealed to RA Government to render assistance to Haiti.

Commenting on sending Armenian rescuers’ to Haiti earlier, Sargsyan
underlined that the country was not ready to receive assistance.

Armenian side preferred the allocation of funds as a result of talks
with international organizations.

As NEWS.am reported previously, January 12, 2010 a 7.0-magnitude
earthquake hit Haiti followed by 5.9 and 5.5 aftershocks. Another
strong tremor was registered in Haiti on January 20. Under recent data,
devastating quake killed over 200.000 people, wounded 250.000 and
left 1.5m bereft of home. According to Haitian Government officials,
death toll may reach 500.000.