Author: Frangulian Shushan

CLINTON TO DISCUSS IRAN, AFGHANISTAN ON EUROPE TRIP

WashingtonTV
Friday, October 09, 2009

Washington, 9 October (WashingtonTV)–US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said on Thursday that Iran and Afghanistan would dominate
her talks next week on a trip to Europe and Russia.

Clinton leaves on Friday for a tour that includes a stop in Switzerland
to commemorate an accord between rivals Armenia and Turkey, as
well as a visit to Dublin and Belfast to bolster Northern Ireland’s
reconciliation process.

In Zurich, Clinton will have informal talks on Iran with both French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and European Union foreign policy
chief, Javier Solana, said a senior State Department official.

The last leg of her trip will be in Russia.

Clinton said she was encouraged by Moscow’s role in negotiations
between six world powers, known as the P5+1, and Iran over its
nuclear program.

"The cooperation that we are seeing from our Russian partners in the
P5+1 context is very encouraging. We will certainly be discussing
Iran," she told reporters in Washington.

"We will certainly be looking at the options that we have to explore
going forward from what was a positive, but not conclusive meeting
in Geneva," she added, referring to talks last week between the six
powers and Iran.

Clinton will also raise other issues, including the situation in
Afghanistan and human rights, during talks in Moscow with Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Dmitry Medvedev.

"The Russians could provide more assistance to Afghanistan,
including in the form of weapons for the Afghan army, training,
counternarcotics," a senior State Department official told reporters
on Thursday.

She will also push for a new US-Russia nuclear arms cut deal, to
replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty [START], which expires
on 5 December.

Source: US State Department website

© WashingtonTV 2009. All rights reserved.

15TH ANNIVERSARY OF JINISHIAN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION MARKED IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Oct 9, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A festive concert
dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Jinishian Memorial Foundation
(JMF) was held at the Aram Khachatrian Concert Hall on October 8.

The executives of the U.S.-based Jinishian Memorial Program (JMP),
members of the Foundation’s advisory body, partners, and beneficiaries
arrived in Yerevan to mark the anniversary of JMF. Government members,
officials of local and international organizations were also among
the guests. Speeches of welcome were delivered by Michael Haratunian,
JMP Honorary Chairperson, Victor Makari, JMP Coordinator, and Ms. Eliza
Minasyan, JMF Executive Director.

The Jinishian Memorial Foundation received a letter of acknowledgement
of the RA government for its activities to the benefit of the nation
and its significant contribution.

The official part of the event was followed by the performance of
Barekamutyun state dance ensemble.

The Jinishian Memorial Foundation is a charitable organization. Its
main source of financing is the Jinishian Memorial Program founded
in 1966 with Vardan Jinishian’s contribution in memory of his
parents. JMF’s mission is to help Armenians in need to move from
poverty and despair to hope and self-sufficiency.

According to a report issued by JMF, over 15 years of its activities
in Armenia, the Foundation has provided economic, social and moral
assistance to millions of Armenians in need through its projects. JMF
supports local NGOs to implement projects for the welfare of Armenia.

Armenian delay casts doubt on historic accord with Turkey

Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 October 2009 21.11 BST
Article history

A historic accord to normalise relations between Turkey and Armenia,
long at odds over Armenian claims of first world war genocide, was
thrown into doubt tonightwhen Turkey’s foreign minister refused to say
whether the signing ceremony would go ahead as planned in Zurich on
Saturday.
Ahmet Davutoglu said he remained confident that the accord, which
would also reopen the common border closed by Turkey in 1993, would be
completed. But he added: "I am not giving any dates. Let’s wait for a
statement from the Swiss. As Turkey, we have no doubts the protocols
will be signed."
Concern that the long-discussed pact could be delayed has grown in
recent days after Armenia appeared to backpedal. The country’s deputy
foreign minister, Arman Kirakossian, said he hoped it would be signed
"very soon" but that no decision had been made as to when and
where. That led to speculation that Armenia would seek changes to the
text.
Diplomats said strong opposition expressed at home and by the Armenian
diaspora may lie behind the last-minute hesitation in Yerevan. Serzh
Sargsyan, Armenia’s president, has spent the past week trying to
reassure ethnic Armenian communities in the US, France, Lebanon and
Russia. But many expressed anger that the pact, which would create a
joint commission of historians to investigate the mass killings of
1915, could allow Turkey to avoid taking responsibility for what they
say was a policy of genocide by the Ottoman empire in which 1.5
million Armenians died. Ankara has consistently denied the genocide
charge. At a rally in Beirut on Tuesday, Sargsyan was confronted by a
crowd of 2,000 ethnic Armenians waving banners saying "We will not
forget". Opposition parties in Turkey and Armenia say they will vote
against the pact, which must be approved by their respective
parliaments. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has warned
that passage cannot be guaranteed, since the vote will be by secret
ballot.
Another stumbling block is the dispute over the ethnic Armenian
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, inside Azerbaijan’s borders. Fighting
with Azeri forces erupted there in the early 1990s, and 30,000 people
died. Turkey took Azerbaijan’s side, closing its border with Armenia.
The latest round of talks, sponsored by the US and the EU, to settle
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute were due to begin in the Moldovan capital
Chisinau yesterday, with Sargsyan and the Azeri president, Ilham
Aliev, in attendance. Diplomats played down the chances of a
breakthrough.
Erdogan said this week that progress in the Chisinau talks was not a
precondition for signing the Turkey-Armenia accord. "The agreement
will be signed on 10 October. It doesn’t have anything to do with what
happens in Moldova," he said. But he admitted a positive outcome would
be helpful overall.
International pressure on Turkey and Armenia not to let the chance of
a rapprochement slip is intense. Both are vital links in the chain of
actual or planned western oil and gas pipelines stretching from
central Asia to Europe.
The US and the EU strongly support the pact, which they believe will
help stabilise the volatile Caucasus region. Bringing Armenia in from
the cold, as Washington sees it, would also help diminish Russia’s
regional influence after its war last year with Georgia.

/08/turkey-armenia-accord

HILLARY CLINTON TO ATTEND SIGNING CEREMONY ARMENIA-TURKISH PROTOCOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2009 10:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will fly to
Zurich on Saturday to attend a ceremony where Armenia and Turkey are
expected to sign historic accords to normalize relations, the State
Department said.

Armenia and Turkey are expected to sign agreements to establish
diplomatic ties and open their border.

Clinton will attend the ceremony before heading off on a European
tour that includes stops in Britain, Ireland and Russia.

"We have long supported this process and she’s going to demonstrate
and underscore our support," a senior State Department official told
reporters, referring to the signing ceremony.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner
are also expected to attend, he said, Reuters reported.

HARUTYUNYAN: "NO CONTRACTS DETERMINE NATION’S STATUS"

Aysor.am
Friday, October 09

"I am deeply convinced, protocols are made quite roughly. It could be
made better without item of committee of historians," shared his view
Noravank Foundation’s head Gagik Harutyunyan wondering how protocols
in Armenian are absent on Armenian Foreign Ministry’s web-site.

Anyway, asked on the same question Armenia’s Foreign Ministry declared
that the protocols are already posted – since yesterday – and their
previous absence had been caused by technical problems.

We still live under times of bad contracts, thinks Mr. Harutyunyan, so
Armenian-Turkish protocols may become the basis for the same situation.

However, it’s not contract or agreement that determines the status
of nation. One shouldn’t overprize the value and importance of
protocols. If our national interests dictate us to have relationships
with Turkey then we must have."

In his opinion Armenian Diaspora should be loyal to nation’s interest
related to Armenia and Karabakh: "Anyway, Armenians must continue
their struggle for Genocide recognition, there is a wide field for
activities. However, without intellectual resources we can fail any
issue and item, so even with Turkey."

He also calls not to think that Diaspora whole has the same views,
and voiced concern on disagreement between Armenia and Diaspora which
can become Armenia’s greatest damage and Turkey’s greatest benefit.

ARMENIAN EXPERTS SKEPTICAL ON TURKISH-ARMENIAN THAW

Hurriyet Daily News
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Two senior Armenian experts express pessimism over the normalization
talks between Turkey and Armenia, saying the hostility between the
two countries will not be resolved in the near future. The rancor will
not end, unless the Turkish government accepts responsibility for the
‘genocide,’ says one

Armenian experts skeptical on Turkish-Armenian thaw

The recent thaw between Turkey and Armenia, which are nearing a
historic diplomatic agreement after years of animosity over alleged
killings of Armenians during the late days of the Ottoman Empire,
has been met with cynicism from some senior Armenian experts.

"For nearly 100 years, Turkey has denied the genocide fact that
has wrecked Armenians. This hostility will not end unless the
Turkish government accepts responsibility for the genocide," said
Ara Khachatourian, editor of Asbarez Daily News, one of the leading
diaspora newspapers published in the United States.

Razmig Panossian, author and director of Policy for Programs and
Planning at Rights and Democracy in Canada, agreed with Khachatourian,
saying that he does not believe the long-standing hostility between
the two nations will be solved in the near future. "It would be wrong
to expect such a delicate historic trauma to come to a solution in a
short time." However, Panossian also said the dialogue between Turkey
and Armenia should be encouraged despite the problematic timing and
the thorny issues that are waiting to be solved.

Armenia claims up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed
in 1915 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies this,
saying that any deaths were the result of civil strife that erupted
when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

Turkey and Armenia agreed on steps toward establishing full diplomatic
ties for the first time between the neighbors in late August. Despite
fierce d pposition, the two countries are expected to sign a landmark
diplomatic deal this weekend in Zurich.

Diplomatic sources said both countries are now in a win-win situation,
while admitting that the job of Armenian President Serge Sarkisian was
much more difficult considering the protests of the Armenian diaspora,
which were evident in Paris, New York and Los Angeles.

Khacatourian said the protest against Sarkisian would continue "because
it is a basic right of the diaspora." But, Panossian’s stance on the
protests differs from Khacatourian. He said there are two diasporas:
the "post-genocide diaspora" and the "post-1988 diaspora."

"The ‘post-genocide diaspora’ will oppose Sarkisian’s policies toward
Turkey due to its ultra-nationalist nature. On the other hand, the
birthplace of the ‘post-1988 diaspora’ is Armenia and this group would
support Armenia, therefore the policies of Sarkisian, whatever it
costs," he told Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review for the fourth
edition of the Postcard from Armenia series.

Diaspora’s stance:

After the signing ceremony in Switzerland, the documents that aim to
establish full ties will be dispatched to the respective parliaments
for ratification. The ceremony will be followed by the World Cup
qualifying match that will take place in Bursa on Oct. 14 between
the Turkish and Armenian national teams.

The first protocol, covering the establishment of diplomatic relations,
and the second, on the further development of bilateral relations,
are accompanied by an annex that sets a clear timetable for the
implementation of both.

A first sign of rapprochement came in September last year, when Turkish
President Abdullah Gul went to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to visit
Sarkisian and watch a World Cup soccer qualifying match between the
two countries.

The two neighbors have no diplomatic relations and their border
has been closed since 1993, after Turkey’s decision to support its
key ally, Azerbaijan, against Yerevan’s backing of ethnic Armenian
catourian also criticized Turkey for its Nagorno-Karabakh precondition
to opening the Turkish-Armenian border. "Turkey has unilaterally
closed the border and now it puts the Nagorno-Karabakh problem as the
precondition to open it. Turkey is playing innocent at every stage
and does not accept its responsibilities. The border should be opened
with no preconditions because that is the fair thing to do."

Panossian also said Turkey should not link the matter of the border
opening with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, urging the two countries to
open their borders immediately. "Rather than discussing preconditions,
the border between the two countries should be opened and diplomatic
relations should begin," he said

In our fifth Postcard from Armenia, geologists tell of the
obstacles they have faced during their groundbreaking work near the
Turkish-Armenian border.

LEBANON’S ARMENIANS REJECT ACCORD WITH TURKEY
By Josie Ensor and Sam Tarling

Daily Star
Friday, October 09, 2009

BEIRUT: Lebanese Armenian community leaders have drawn up a petition
condemning the accord to be signed Saturday between Armenia and
Turkey, accusing Armenian President Serge Sarkisian of dismissing
past suffering caused by the long-standing foe. Sarkisian received
a frosty reception when he met with leaders of the Lebanese Armenian
community this week during a whistle-stop diplomatic visit to Beirut.

The president met with political and religious figures for a conference
at Metropolitan Palace Hotel in east Beirut Tuesday, along with
representatives from surrounding Arab countries, Iran and Cyprus,
to gather support for Armenia formally warming ties with Turkey.

Sarkisian was in Lebanon on a scheduled stop as part of his
"pan-Armenian" tour, which included the US, France and Russia, in a
bid to persuade anxious Armenian exiles that peace with Turkey does
not mean forgetting what they call a genocide in which 1.5 million
perished.

Lebanon’s Armenian Tashnag party and other blocs were said to be
unhappy with the proposed deal set to be signed this weekend in
Switzerland, a spokeswoman from the Armenian Embassy in Beirut told
The Daily Star Thursday.

The spokeswoman, who did not wish to be identified, referred to the
reaction at the conference as "not good at all."

0ASarkisian has faced an uphill task in talks with community leaders in
Lebanon as all the major political parties – which wield considerable
influence in the delicate political system – are against the proposed
accord with Turkey.

"Sarkisian was not received well," concurred Lebanon’s Tashnag-party
representative Alice Boghossian, adding that delegates from the three
main Armenian political parties were united in their opposition to the
president’s proposal. "All who were present were on the same level,"
she added.

Boghossian is one of the 5.7 million Armenians who are living abroad,
outnumbering by 2 million the country’s domestic residents. She told
The Daily Star Thursday that many in the diaspora saw the step as
contempt for the hardship Armenians suffered in World War I.

"The massacres were an attempt to wipe out [our people]. My grandfather
and grandmother were killed there. If they were still alive Armenia
would still be my homeland," said Tashnag’s Boghossian.

"The diaspora is a result of Turkey’s policies and therefore
[Sarkisian] has a commitment to the millions of Armenians living
abroad."

Armenian political parties want the Ottoman mas­sacres to be
officially referred to as genocide, a term Turkey refutes, for
the return of "occupied land" and Turkey to withdraw support from
Azerbaijan with regards to the=2 0breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Armenia used to cover 300,000 square kilometers, now it is only
30,000.

We are not opposed to peaceful relationships with countries that
neighbor Armenia, far from it, but theses issues must be resolved
before anything is singed," said Boghossian.

During his brief visit, Sarkis­ian said that "the current unnatural
situation" between the two states suited neither of them. He added
that the establishment of diplomatic ties and the opening of the
border would "create a platform, a more or less bearable environment,
for continued dialogue and negotiations."

Tashnag MP Hagop Pakra­dounian, one of six Armenian deputies in
Lebanon’s Parliament told the local New TV channel Wednesday that he
was opposed to the "weak political stance of the Armenian president,
especially with regards to the concessions to Turkey.

"This issue concerns Armenians worldwide and not just those in
Armenia," he added. "We are not talking about a simple economic accord
between two countries but a historic one that concerns each Armenian
family, whatever its nationality."

Lebanon is one of few places where Armenian migrants enjoy
political representation with some 150,000 Armenians living in the
country. Mostly concentrated in the east Beirut municipality of Burj
Hammoud, they make up 4 percent of the population.

The chilled reception at the conference came a day after thousands
of angry protesters demonstrated outside the president’s hotel on
his arrival.

Hundreds of riot police and soldiers surrounded the hotel as
demonstrators swarmed the area, waving placards reading: "We will
struggle," and "We will not forget," in reference to the killing of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915, which has been the main
stumbling block to reconciliation.

Sarkisian arrived in Russia Wednesday to conclude the weeklong tour,
where he was met with a warmer reception than preceding stops in the
US, France and Lebanon.

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA ENCOURAGES ADOPTION OF SOONEST DECISION

Panorama.am
17:21 07/10/2009

Armenian Assembly of America encouraged Armenians living in America to
address letters to the congressmen, they have voted for, appealing
to make the soonest decisions beneficial for both Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Assembly reminds that the two houses of the U.S. Congress have
approved the volume of foreign help in 2010, which is not well approved
by House of Representatives and the Senate.

It has been specifically reminded that according to the version
approved by the House of Representatives $48mln financial support
is provided to Armenia, $10mln to NKR. While the Senate recommends
cutting Armenia’s financial support and fix $30mln.

REAL ESTATE MARKET FROZE

5446.html
16:30:47 – 07/10/2009

In anticipation of the signing of the Armenian and Turkish protocols,
an expectant atmosphere has been formed in Armenia. The means of mass
media actively inform about the opinions of political and public
figures and almost no one pays attention to the opinion of the
public which apparently appeared in a complete bewilderment. There
could hardly be found someone in Armenia for whom the opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border is of no difference. Rather, people are not
informed enough to be able to make conclusions. They are perplexed
and prefer waiting.

Anxiety is felt primarily in the real estate market. As realtors
affirm, offer for house sale sharply declined in the last 15
days. Prices increased a little though no one is able to find a logic
explanation to this question. Buyers are also few, consequently,
few are also those who want a hypothec loan. The market is moving
forward by inertia rather it reminds stagnation. There are rumors
about an expected sharp dollar rise after October 10, and now many
try to buy dollars, although there is no rush.

LILIT MKRTCHYAN DREW

News.am
10:02 / 10/07/2009

Armenian Grandmaster Lilit Lazarian drew with Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia)
in the eighth round of the Women’s FIDE Grand Prix in Nanjing (China),
September 27-October 9.

The results of the eighth round are as follows: Sebag-Zhu Chen (1:0),
Xu Yuhua-Yildiz (1:0), Shen Yang-Ju Wenjun (0:1), Fierro-Munguntuul
(0:1), Lazarian-Dzagnidze and Zhao Xue-Kovanova drew.

The standings are as follows: Sebag-6 points; Dzagnidze, Xu Yuhua-5.5;
Zhao Xue-5; Lazarian, Munguntuul-4.5; Zhu Chen, Ju Wenjun-4 each;
Kovanova, Shen Yang-3.5 each; Fierro-2 and Yildiz-0.