Author: Ekmekjian Janet

SERZH SARGSYAN: NKR PARTICIPATION CAN ENSURE SUCCESSFUL TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.12.2009 22:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Tuesday with
the NKR parliamentary delegation led by speaker Ashot Ghulyan.

Welcoming the guests, the President appreciated collaboration between
the parliaments of the two republics and voiced hope that NKR MPs
will have an opportunity to participate in various regional and
international processes.

"All should know that winning the war imposed by Azerbaijan, the
people of Artsakh asserted their right live freely," Mr. Sargsyan said.

He also emphasized that NKR participation can ensure successful talks
for resolution of the conflict.

ALEN ALAIAN-WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPION

News from Armenia – NEWS.am
12:01 / 12/15/2009

Armenian weightlifter Alen Alaian became the champion of Weightlifting
Championship of Uruguay, November 2009, Sportinfo.am e-source reports.

Presently, Alaian prepares for Pan-Armenian Games. He wishes to come to
Armenia and meet with Armenian sportsmen, including his idol-Champion
of Olympic Games Yuri Vardanyan.

AZERBAIJANI SUBDIVISIONS KEEP ON FIRING ON KARABAKH POSITIONS

ArmInfo
2009-12-14 13:16:00

ArmInfo. A number of cease-fire violations took place on the contact
line of the NKR and Azerbaijani Armed Forces over the last week.

As ArmInfo correspondent in Stepanakert reports, according to the data
of the NKR Defense Army, the Azerbaijani party fired on the Karabakh
positions in all directions of the contact line from December 7 to 13.

There are no victims as yet. Subdivisions of the NKR DM took adequate
actions on suppression of the enemy’s fire.

PREGNANT WOMAN DIES OF AH1N1 IN ARMENIA, TOLL RISES TO 2

Panorama.am
15:30 14/12/2009

Armenia has confirmed 2 A/H1N1 death cases, one of them being a
pregnant woman in her 6th month, the other one a 28-year youth.

According to the chief infectiologist Ara Asoyan, the latter was a
Yerevan resident, he died in Nork infection clinic, while the former,
as the deputy director of the Medical Center in the city of Hrazdan
Sasun Hovhannisyan said, was a Hrazdan resident and died after she
was taken to Erebouni medical center.

Healthcare Minister’s Assistant Shushan Hunanyan told Panorama.am
swine flu total number in Armenia has hit 80. Though, she stated the
number of respiratory diseases have decreased in the republic.

US INFLUENCE IN AZERBAIJAN DECLINES

news.az
Mon 14 December 2009 | 12:27 GMT Text size:

Aslan Ismaylov "After the USSR collapse the attitude to the United
States in Azerbaijan was positive, while now we cannot say so.

The influence of the country in Azerbaijan declines. Therefore, if
Washington does not want to lose Azerbaijan as its partner in the
region, it should change its policy on Azerbaijan", lawyer Aslan
Ismaylov told commenting on the financial assistance to Karabakh
separatists by the United States.

"Their policy can affect the energy projects with participation
of the United States. Now they ask us to participate in Nabucco,
to support them in Afghanistan and other issues. How can we do ao
if they finance separatists and terrorists. How would the United
States perceive Azerbaijan’s financing of Al Gaeda? They would not
like it. We also do not like their financing of Karabakh separatists.

Azerbaijan has always fulfilled its obligations before the United
States and we haven’t got anything in response. A reasonable question
is why do we need this alliance, if the United States are rudely
violating our interests.

Certainly, the Armenian lobby played a certain role here, but
the decision was taken by the US Congress, therefore, our claims
regarding the US policy are quite fair. Moreover, by doing so the
United States is discrediting such concepts as democracy and human
rights. I have repeatedly been in the United States, I love this
country, but after they take just unfair actions on my country,
I lose any respect towards them. This is not only my opinion. It is
an opinion of the majority of our people", the lawyer said.

MEDIATORS TO PRESENT UPDATED MADRID PRINCIPLES TO YEREVAN AND BAKU

News.Az
Thu 10 December 2009 | 13:31 GMT

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will soon
present to Armenia and Azerbaijan an updated version of the Madrid
document on a Karabakh settlement.

"Considering the discussions held in the past two years (since the
Madrid document was drawn up) by the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia, the co-chairs have prepared an updated version of the Madrid
document which will be presented to the parties in the near future",
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko told a briefing
in Moscow on Thursday.

He recalled that the Madrid document contains the proposals put
forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, France and the USA)
on the basic principles of a settlement. The document was presented
to the Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit
in Madrid in November 2007.

According to Nesterenko, "If the positive dynamic in the negotiation
process achieved this year is maintained next year too, it will be
possible to hope for the quick and complete coordination of the basic
principles of the settlement and their development on the basis of
a peace agreement."

Commenting on the statement about the Azerbaijani leadership’s
alleged discontent with the work of the Minsk Group, Nesterenko said,
"The Russian side did not receive any sign of discontent from the
Azerbaijani leadership about the actions of the OSCE Minsk Group and
the mediation efforts of its co-chairs." "Meanwhile, we have received
repeated thanks for these efforts," the spokesman said.

The basic principles set out in the Madrid document and reiterated
by the French, American and Russian presidents at the G8 summit in
L’Aquila in July are:

the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to
Azerbaijani control an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing
guarantees for security and self-governance a corridor linking Armenia
to Nagorno-Karabakh future determination of the final legal status
of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will the
right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to
their former places of residence international security guarantees
that would include a peacekeeping operation.

CLINTON PHONES SARKISIAN AFTER ARMENIAN WARNING TO TURKEY

a-turkey/967-clinton-phones-sarkisian-after-armeni an-warning-to-turkey.html
Friday, 11 December 2009 19:26
Armenia-Turkey

RFE/RL by Emil Danielyan — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
telephoned President Serzh Sarkisian late Thursday just hours after he
threatened to annul Armenia’s fence-mending agreements with Turkey if
Ankara fails to unconditionally implement them, it emerged on Friday.

Speaking at a news conference in Yerevan, Sarkisian said Ankara’s
continuing linkage of the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations
and the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict runs counter to
the U.S.-backed agreements signed in October. He said he has already
instructed his administration to draft amendments to Armenian laws that
"pertain to the signing, ratification and abrogation of international
agreements."

According to Sarkisian’s press office, Clinton initiated the phone
conversation to brief the Armenian leader on President Barack Obama’s
Monday talks with the visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. A U.S. official told RFE/RL that the Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement topped the agenda of the talks.

"During the phone conversation, Secretary of State Clinton once again
emphasized that the United States will continue with its consistent
support for a speedy normalization of relations between Armenia
and Turkey without preconditions," the presidential office said in
a statement.

The statement said Sarkisian asked Clinton to express his "gratitude"
to Obama for adhering to this position. It also cited him as
reaffirming Yerevan’s readiness to press ahead with the normalization
process and expressing hope that "the Turkish side will display
similar readiness and responsibility." There was no word on whether
the two touched upon the Armenian threats to walk away from the deal.

In a letter to a leading Armenian-American organization publicized last
week, Obama said the process "should move forward without preconditions
and within a reasonable timeframe." According to Sarkisian’s office,
Clinton likewise stated that Washington views the Turkish-Armenian
normalization and efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as
"separate processes."

However, Erdogan insisted after the talks with Obama that from
Ankara’s perspective, the two processes are "very much related." He
said Turkey’s parliament is unlikely to ratify the two Turkish-Armenian
"protocols" unless there is a breakthrough in the Armenian-Azerbaijani
peace talks.

The protocols commit Ankara to establish diplomatic relations with
Yerevan and reopen the Turkish-Armenian border within two months of
their entry into force. Neither document makes any reference to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute.

Still, citing pro-Azerbaijani statements made by Erdogan and other
Turkish officials, Armenian opponents of the deal claim that Yerevan
confidentially agreed to make more concessions to Azerbaijan during
the fence-mending negotiations with the Turks. Sarkisian and his
political allies strongly deny this.

The Sarkisian administration has also been on the defensive over a key
protocol clause that envisages the formation of a Turkish-Armenian
panel of historians that would look into the 1915 massacres of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Its critics say Ankara would exploit
the existence of the body to deter more countries from recognizing
the massacres as genocide. Sarkisian insisted in a November 28 speech,
however, that the rapprochement with Turkey will actually help Armenia
and its worldwide Diaspora "accelerate the recognition process."

Clinton has been personally involved in the drawing up and signing
of the Turkish-Armenian protocols. She was among foreign dignitaries
that attended the signing ceremony held in Zurich on October 10. The
top U.S. diplomat already phoned Sarkisian in August and September to
discuss the dramatic thaw in the historically strained Turkish-Armenian
ties.

AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTRY’S LEADERSHIP HOLDS BRIEFING FOR MILITARY ATTACHES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES

APA
11 Dec 2009 15:31

Baku – APA. Deputy Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Chingiz
Mammadov and chief of Defense Ministry’s International Military
Cooperation Department, Major-General Ramiz Najafov held a briefing
in the Military Academy of Azerbaijani Armed Forces for the military
attaches accredited in Azerbaijan.

Defense Ministry’s press service told APA that the main aim of the
meeting is to inform the attaches about the achievements of the
Azerbaijani Army, outcomes of the year and the future activities.

Ramiz Najafov said reforms were being carried out in the Armed
Forces since 2007 within the framework of Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP) signed between Azerbaijan and NATO, the process
was more successful in 2009. Najafov said the weapons and equipment
had been modernized, teaching and training process was perfect,
for the first time Azerbaijan’s military attaches accredited in
foreign countries had met in Baku to discuss the cooperation, 10
official and working meetings on the ministerial level had been held
in Azerbaijan, 8 official and working meetings in foreign countries,
the contingent participating in the peacemaking operations had doubled,
the country had military cooperation with 54 countries, 102 contracts
and agreements had been signed with 27 of them.

According to Najafov, Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh
should be solved peacefully, but if does not happen, Azerbaijan is
ready to liberate its occupied lands.

HAYASTAN ALL-ARMENIAN FUND’S 2009 TELETHON RAISES $15.875 MILLION

/ARKA/
December 9, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, December 9. /ARKA/. Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 2009 Telethon
has raised $15.875 million, Ara Vardanyan, executive director of the
fund, said Wednesday at a press conference.

"Telethon is the only instrument giving us a chance to account for
the job done. This job is positive in nature, and we are thinking
over plans for the next year," he said adding that some 12,000
people participated in the telethon in 2008, while now the number of
participants doubled.

The number of participants grew 18% in the United States alone.

Vardanyan said that this year the fund got large sums from Europe on
two wills.

"We received $2.25 million from France and will spend this money
for reconstruct the school after Muratsan in Shushi, city in
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," he said. "The other sum, $1 million,
received on a will from Great Britain, will be spent for recovery of
a hospital for children in Armenian Syunik province’s city of Kapan."

Vardanyan said that $8,000 was transferred from the Armenian
president’s administration.

He said that the fund is raising money in Armenia through Haypost
and SMS on VivaCell.

The SMS-Campaign is already completed.

About 12,000 people has taken part in it, and 15,000 people donated
money through Haypost within ten days and the whip-round will last
until late December.

Vardanyan said that the major part of the donations (70%) would be
targeted for recovery of Shushi city’s drinking water infrastructure,
schools, library and three streets.

He said that one million people watched the telethon 30 minutes and
can transfer money, if want.

In January 2010 names of all the participants from Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will appear on Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s
Internet site, and names of all participants from other countries
will be placed on the site in May.

About $870,000 have been spent for holding the telethon on November 26.

The results of the fund’s implemented programs and future projects
were presented at the telethon.

Hayastan All-Armenian Fund was established in 1992 for implementation
of national projects and development of infrastructures in Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The president-headed council of trustees is made up of prominent
representatives of Armenian communities worldwide.

LECTURER SENT TO PRISON

armen-chughuryan
10/12/09

Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court today sentenced Armen
Chughuryan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party, lecturer of
Yerevan State Institute of Economy, to a three-year imprisonment.

Armen Chughuryan is charged with bribery. He reportedly took $5 000
from a Yerevan citizen.

During a conversation with A1+ Advocate Varduhy Elbakyan said they
are going to appeal to the Court of Appeals.