Author: Frangulian Shushan

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN AGREE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH KARABAKH TALKS

zerbaijan-agree-to-move-forward-with-karabakh-talk s/
Jun 4th, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG (RFE/RL)-Armenia and Azerbaijan reported further
progress towards the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
after a fresh meeting of their presidents held in Saint-Petersburg,
Russia on Thursday.

Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev spoke one on one for about
two and a half hours before and after being joined by their foreign
ministers and the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing
the OSCE Minsk Group. It was their fifth face-to-face encounter in
one year.

Neither president made any public statements after the
talks. Sarkisian’s office issued only a written statement saying that
the meeting took place "in a constructive atmosphere."

"The parties agreed to move forward in the negotiating process," the
statement said. It added that they instructed their top diplomats and
the mediators to continue their efforts to narrow Yerevan’s and Baku’s
disagreements and to prepare for yet another Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit.

"Although we cannot talk about a breakthrough or substantial
progress today, the parties are moving forward and have agreed
to continue negotiations," Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian told
journalists. Nalbandian’s Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov,
gave a similarly positive assessment of the talks.

"What we heard today [from the presidents] is creating a basis for
the continuation of our work," Mammadyarov told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service. He said he believes that the Saint-Petersburg talks were
more productive than the previous Aliyev-Sarkisian meeting held in
Prague a month ago.

According to the mediators, during that meeting Aliyev and
Sarkisian bridged some of their differences on basic principles of a
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement proposed by the troika. The Minsk Group’s
U.S. co-chair, Matthew Bryza, has repeatedly spoken of "significant
progress" made in Prague.

Bryza told RFE/RL’s Armenian service last week that the Armenian and
Azerbaijani leaders are unlikely to iron out all of their disagreements
on "a handful of remaining principles" in Saint-Petersburg and will
therefore need to hold more talks "relatively quickly." "Based on
their conversation in Prague, I do believe that a breakthrough can
happen at Saint-Petersburg and/or shortly thereafter," he said.

MATTHEW BRYZA: I DO NOT EXPECT A PIECE OF PAPER TO BE SIGNED DURING THE ST. PETERSBURG MEETING OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS

APA
June 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Viktoria Dementieva – APA. American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group
Matthew Bryza said it is very positive that Azerbaijani and Armenian
ambassadors to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu and Armen Smbatyan will meet
in Nagorno Karabakh.

Mathew Bryza told APA exclusively it is great that the parties have
more contacts. Bryza said he has no information about the date of
the meeting and other details and added the organization does not
have to organize the meeting of the ambassadors. American co-chair
said he does not expect a piece of paper to be signed during the
St. Petersburg meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents.

"I do hope that they will agree to work through some differences of
the concept on specific basic principles. If the presidents agree,
we will discuss the other issues. This is a work in progress. We are
working through the last few concepts of Madrid document that still
have to be agreed," he said.

Matthew Bryza said it depends on the results of the presidents’ meeting
whether the co-chairs will visit the region after June 4 or not.

"First we have to see what will happen on Thursday. But OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs will visit the region again to continue their work,"
he said.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS AL-MOALLEM, UNDERLINES COMMITMENT TO BOOST RELATIONS WITH SYRIA IN ALL FIELDS
Mazen Eyon

Syrian Arab News Agency
.htm
June 2 2009
Syria

Yerevan, Armenia, (SANA)- President Serzh Sargsian of Armenia
underlined Tuesday his country’s commitment to deepen historic and
friendly relations with Syria in all domains, hoping to meet Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad as soon as possible.

During a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in
Yerevan, President Sargsian pointed out to the importance of boosting
bilateral ties between the two countries.

The two sides discussed the latest developments in the Middle East
and Caucasus.

Earlier, Minister al-Moallem held discussions with Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsian on ways of developing ties between Syria
and Armenia, particularly in the economic and cultural fields.

At the Armenian Foreign Ministry HQ, official talks were held between
Minister al-Moallem and his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian
in the presence of the Syrian-Armenian sides.

The two sides discussed the situation in the Middle East and
Caucasus. Viewpoints were identical on the necessity of adopting the
political solution, stemmed from a real will by the sides concerned,
as a way for solving crises in the two regions.

KEVIN COSTNER’S ADVERTISEMENT AND TURKEY’S INVOLVEMENT IN GENOCIDE
By Dr Hoshiar Molod (Saudi Arabia)

Kurdish Aspect
ml
Kurdishaspect.com
June 1 2009

"In the morning, in the evening, whenever you need me I got time
…… I don’t mind, I am Pisces, you are a Cancer, better believe
that is a sign…" These are the lyrics of the new Turkish airline
advertisement featuring the American movie star Kevin Costner.

Kevin Costner, in the morning or in the evening, whenever you have
time, you should read about the Turkish involvement in the Armenian
genocide, and about the suffering of the Kurds. Just feel like a star
and read about the everyday slaughtering of the Kurds by the brutal
Turkish government. You are a star and don’t need an advertisement
to tell you that. But don’t undermine our intelligence, and insult
both history and the present, by advertising Turkish products.

In the morning or in the evening, whenever you have time, check
out the news about the bombardment being carried out by the Turkish
fighting machine in Kurdistan. You will realize that the Kurds are
people like any other, who deserve to live a dignified life.

You may be Pisces, but the Turkish government is worse than a
cancer that is eating the Kurdish lives. Many superstars like you
are concerned about human rights, the rights of minorities and the
sufferings of people. Superstars support human rights not only in
their own country, but all over the world. It is a given that movie
stars are like any other person, wanting freedom, safety and security
all over the world. You do realize that in this life you are either
Bud or you’re a participant [1]. Who are you in this democracy?

It is obvious that Kevin Costner, like any other American, has a view
on the Iraq war. But if you look more closely in to the Middle East,
you will see that Turkey is not much different from Iran in the way
that it treats the minorities. Barack Obama marked "the Armenian
tragedy" in his speech in April [2]. And the Turkish government
didn’t even like Obama’s sugarcoated phrase, the Armenian tragedy —
even though the European parliament has recognized it as genocide.

The Armenian genocide was a crime against humanity and the world
is no longer ignoring that illegal and immoral act by the Turkish
government. It is frustrating that in the beginning of the American
election, Barack Obama’s opinion on the issue of the Turkish government
recognizing the Armenian genocide was clear [3]. The fact of the matter
is that Turkey has never recognized the Armenian genocide it committed
and it is not very far from committing another massacre in Kurdistan.

My plea to Mr. Costner is to boycott Turkish products and to demand
that the American government recognize the Armenian genocide and the
suffering of the Kurdish nation. The positive effect of the boycott
will be to start to move Turkish public opinion towards putting
pressure on their government to treat their minorities according to
human rights law.

Turkey is the country that does not allow over 25 million Kurds
in Turkey to speak their native language, Kurdish. The Turkish
parliament member, Layla Zana, of Kurdish origin, was sentenced to
prison for speaking in Kurdish in parliament. Is this the country
that Mr. Costner wants to be associated with?

What I don’t understand is the way that an actor would ignore all the
problems that Turkey is causing in the region. Can you imagine someone
ignoring the holocaust and acting in an advertisement insulting the
Jewish nation? I don’t think that is imaginable, especially in the USA.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurds are not only rejected by Turkey as a
nation, but are also suffering missiles and bullets. Let it rain,
let it snow and let Turkey stop the bombardment of the villagers in
the Qandil Mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Every intellectual Kurd in the world was under a misconception that
the USA was on the Kurds’ side and they would not let the Kurds
down. The Kurd intellectuals were correct for a while; however things
have changed. The situation changed when the USA took Turkey’s side
over Kurdistan when kept silent over the Turkish daily bombardments;
even though Kurdistan has been America’s only ally inside Iraq in
this last war.

Kurds feel like that they have been let down not only by the American
government, but also by a part of the American nation, represented
by Kevin Costner, even though record shows that the Kurds are one of
the only true allies of the USA in Iraq. It is also worth mentioning
that not a single American life has been lost in the Kurdistan region
despite the troubles facing them in the rest of Iraq.

It is clear that the Kurds have been laboring under a serious
misapprehension!

______________

1. Huffington Post, Adam Rose, 31st July 2008, interview about
the movie

"Swing Vote" played by Kevin Costner.

2. The Miami Herald, 24/04/2009, "Obama marks Armenian tragedy
but doesn’t

say genocide".

3. , Thursday, 17th January 2008,
Hillary wins

White House (In dreams of Turkish officials).

Author Biography:

Dr Hoshiar Molod is Kurdish freelance writer and university lecturer
in Saudi Arabia, with hands on experience on the Middle East issues.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS PUBLICIZED: REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA LEADING WITH 190,171 VOTES

armradio.am
01.06.2009 10:38

Elections for the Yerevan City Council took place in the Armenian
capital on May 31. 407 745 citizens or 52.85% of the voters
participated in the elections.

According to the preliminary results published by the Central
Electoral Commission, the Republican Party is leading with 190,171
votes, followed by Prosperous Armenia Party (91,141 votes) and the
Armenian National Congress (69,871). Orinats Yerkir Party received
20,959 votes, ARF Dashnaktsutyun – 18,648 votes, the People’s Party –
8,569 votes and the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia – 1,951 votes.

The number of valid ballots was 401,310. 10,493 ballots were considered
invalid.

Deceased Gevorg Tadeposyan is reported to have participated in voting
31.05.2009 16:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to a release disseminated by the Armenian
National Congress (ANC), deceased Gevork Tadevosyan voted in polling
station 12/21 at around 1:30 p.m. Opposition activists also claim that
great number of citizens were brought to polling stations in minibuses
and were given bribes in the amount of AMD 5 thousand. ANC also
reports cases of ballot-box stuffing and conscripts’ participation in
voting.
Besides, ANC authorized representatives claim they were subjected to
pressures in polling stations.

Interfax, Russia
May 29 2009

Armenian govt increases 2009 budget deficit to 7.5% of GDP from 5%

YEREVAN May 29

The Armenian government has revised the upper boundary of the budget
deficit in 2009 to 7.5% of GDP from 5%.

In presenting the draft resolution to increase the budget deficit,
Finance Minister Tigran Davtian said negative trends in the country’s
economic development had made it necessary to raise the deficit.

Intense talks with donors have provided hope that Armenia can attract
some "serious" funds in the near future to cover its deficit and
battle the crisis, he said.

Amendments to the law on the 2009 budget will be submitted to
parliament in the near future, he said.

Armenia’s budget deficit totaled 1.5 billion dram in 2008, or 0.04% of
GDP.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts Armenian GDP to contract 5%
in 2009, the largest drop among the Trans-Caucasus and Central Asian
nations (previously the IMF forecast GDP to decline 1.5% in 2009).

Growth will be nil in 2010 and positive in 2011, the IMF said.

BRIDGE BETWEEN ASIA AND EUROPE

Korea Times
May 27, 2009 Wednesday
South Korea

The Republic of Azerbaijan is well placed on the southeastern border of
Europe on the shores of the hydrocarbon resources-rich Caspian Sea. It
has direct access to the extensive and speedily emerging markets of the
Central Asian states, the South Caucasus as well as the Middle East.

Azerbaijan has declared a policy of openness for international
business. It has an excellent record of cooperation with private
international businesses, in particular, with oil and gas firms.

The country by now is well integrated in the international cooperation
system through participation in various international organizations
such as the Council of Europe, OSCE, Commonwealth of Independent
States, GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova alliance),
Black Sea Economic Cooperation, Organization of Islamic Conference as
well as a system of multilateral and bilateral treaties on security
and economic affairs.

Azerbaijan has stakes in, and is actively engaged in the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank,
World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank,
and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, all of which have
running project portfolios in the country.

The country lives a dynamic political life. A number of parties and
politicians compete for the presidency, parliament constituencies
and municipalities.

A well-developed electronic and paper media community exists in
the country.

The foreign policy of Azerbaijan is complimentary and is directed
at the establishment of peaceful and mutually beneficial cooperation
with all international partners.

One of the major foreign priorities of the republic is integration
into the common European space. Relations with the CIS countries
are also important, first of all due to the vitality of economic
cooperation with them and the need for traditional trade relations.

The population of Azerbaijan is evenly distributed between urban and
rural areas, with 51.5 percent residing in towns and cities.

Some 35 percent of the estimated three million workforce are engaged
in agriculture and related activities, with 26 percent working in
industry and construction.

Azerbaijan is an extremely positive model for a peaceful co-existence
of religious communities.

The predominantly Muslim populated country traditionally served as
a safe haven for adepts of various cults, religions and cultural
traditions.

Large communities of Christians and Jews have traditionally lived here.

Secularism and non-involvement of the state in religious affairs are
strong local traditions supported by law.

The country is the largest and the fastest growing economy in the
South Caucasus.

It is the best transport link that connects South Eastern Europe
with the vast regions of growing importance which are Central Asia
and the Caspian Sea. An increasing number of professional shipping
companies have engaged in the transportation of goods by this link
over the last decade.

The economic rise has led to a cultural revival.

The traditional Islamic and Oriental cultural stratum has been enriched
by the ever-growing European and Russian influence.

The 19th and 20th centuries were a period of major advancements in
Azerbaijani social life.

The first opera in the East, newspapers and a national dramatic
theatre, discussion on the adoption of a "modern" Latin alphabet,
secular universities, and a school for Muslim girls were the
cornerstones of further development.

The consequences of the disintegration of the Soviet Union were
complicated by the ongoing aggression by Armenia.

Armenian nationalists backed by the late Soviet administration launched
a separatist movement in Western Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh).

A long lasting and bloody military conflict started in 1988. The
conflict was further complicated by civil confrontation within
Azerbaijan.

Several political groups were competing for the power in the
country. However, a succession of weak, largely incapable governments
ended in 1993 when a veteran politician and popular leader Heydar
Aliyev was elected president of Azerbaijan.

A decade of rehabilitation and growth started. Heydar Aliyev
re-established peace and stability in the country, and reinforced
the state infrastructure and civil justice.

He also launched an active foreign policy campaign aimed at the
political integration of Azerbaijan internationally.

In 1994, major oil and gas contracts with a consortia of oil giants
such as BP, Amoco, Total and others were signed.

>From circa 1997 onwards, major political reforms aimed at bringing
Azerbaijan to international standards in the areas of rule of law,
democracy, human rights and freedoms were also started.

PRIME MINISTER ADMITS TURKEY’S ‘FASCIST’ PAST
Thomas Seibert

The National
May 26 2009
UAE

ISTANBUL // Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has
become his country’s first head of government to acknowledge publicly
that his country displayed a "fascist approach" in dealing with its
minorities in the past, when Christians and Jews fled abroad after
coming under pressure.

"For years, these things were done in this country," Mr Erdogan
told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party in Duzce,
north-western Turkey, last weekend.

"People of other ethnicities were driven from the country. Did we win
anything because of that? This was the result of a fascist approach."

With this "historic self-criticism", as newspapers called it, the
prime minister was reacting to opposition criticism aimed at government
plans to consider giving the job of clearing landmines along the border
with Syria to foreign – especially Israeli – companies. As relations
between Turkey and Syria have improved rapidly in recent years,
both countries have agreed to clear the mines on their border. The
parliament in Ankara is expected to debate a bill designed to organise
the mine-clearing operation along the border strip of almost 900km
this week.

The Erdogan government has been criticised repeatedly by opposition
parties for opening Turkey to foreign investors. A law concerning
the sale of real estate to foreigners has been stopped by the
constitutional court several times in recent years after nationalists
said the regulation would enable foreigners to take control over
large parts of Turkey’s territories.

Members of Turkey’s tiny non-Muslim minorities are regarded with
suspicion by Turkish nationalists, who see them as agents of such
foreign powers as Greece or Israel. Countering these accusations in
his Duzce speech, Mr Erdogan said: "Money is like mercury. It goes
where it finds the most adequate place." Referring to the opposition,
he added: "You see, some come out and say: ‘This Jewish investment
is wrong.’ No, this friend is coming to invest in my country. He is
investing a billion dollars. There is no ‘we don’t want that’."

In the mine-clearing debate, opposition parties accused the Erdogan
government of selling out to foreigners because the company that wins
the tender has the right to use the land for organic agriculture for
44 years after the clearing operation.

Opposition politicians said the government was about to hand over
control of the border area to Israel because Israeli companies are
reported to have come up with very competitive proposals.

"The border is holy, it is a place where national honour is being
protected," Erdal Sihapi, a member of parliament for the right-wing
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said in a speech this month. "Now
this honour is being given away to foreigners for 44 years."

Observers say Mr Erdogan went far beyond the usual rhetoric of a
Turkish politician when he answered the opposition’s accusations –
the kind of public self-criticism that is very unusual for Turkey.

"That statement was the most courageous thing ever said by Erdogan",
Halil Berktay, a historian at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, told
yesterday’s Vatan newspaper. Baskin Oran, another academic known for
his liberal views, told the Star newspaper he was "proud of a prime
minister who denounces ethnic and religious cleansing".

With his comments, Mr Erdogan touched a delicate subject in Turkey. In
several waves over the past several decades, thousands of Greeks,
Armenians and Jews have left the country after riots or after pressure
from the state in the form of punitive taxes. In one incident,
Turkish nationalists destroyed hundreds of shops owned by Greeks and
Armenians in Istanbul in one night on Sept 6 1955. The subject was
taboo in Turkey for a long time and has been discussed openly only
for a few years.

"The Greek community, which has been afraid to talk about the events of
the 6th and the 7th September, will now talk without fear about their
experiences after the prime minister’s statement," Mihailis Vasiliadis,
a journalist and member of Istanbul’s Greek community, told the Star.

The number of Greeks living in Istanbul has shrunk dramatically, to
about 3,000 from nearly 100,000 at the end of the 1950s, according
to Rev Dositheos Anagnostopoulos, a spokesman of the Greek-Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul.

"These are tragic figures that speak volumes," Anagnostopoulos said
in an interview last month.

"They went away because they did not see a future for themselves."

Silvio Ovadio, leader of Turkey’s Jewish community, also welcomed Mr
Erdogan’s speech. "Everybody, whatever his religion, is made happy
by the prime minister’s words," he told the Star. The number of Jews
in Turkey, once around 60,000, has sunk to 20,000.

Opposition politicians, however, accused Mr Erdogan of defacing
Turkey’s history. Onur Oymen, a leading member of the Republican
People’s Party, the biggest opposition party in parliament, said no
Turkish citizen had ever been expelled because of his ethnicity, the
NTV news channel reported. Mr Oymen also said his party will send the
mine-clearing bill to the constitutional court if parliament adopts
it, according to news reports.

Oktay Vural of the MHP said Mr Erdogan’s words were an insult to the
Turkish nation.

JIVAN GASPARYAN AND HOVHANNES CHEKIDGYAN AWARDED WITH GOLD ORDERS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
25.05.2009 20:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Aram Khatchaturyan Concert Hall hosted an
award ceremony instituted by Russian Armenians’ Union (RAU) and World
Armenian Congress (WAC).

World acknowledged duduk player Jivan Gasparyan and Head of RA State
Choir Hovhannes Chekidgyan were awarded with bejeweled gold crosses
for inestimable contribution into Armenian culture.

RAU and WAC annual awards were instituted to encourage creativity in
art and science workers.

This year, along with RA NAS, 5 scientists were granted with awards
for achievements of 2008.

With the assistance of writers’, journalists’ and artists’ unions
of Armenia, awards were bestowed on 8 composers for creation of
classical music compositions. Prizes were also awarded to 4 writers,
5 journalists and media representatives. PanARMENIAN.Net information
agency received an award for impartiality, operability and objectivity.

"Charity must not necessarily involve significant funds, the attention
itself can already be considered as charity, as the attention or the
smallest help can be turned into a major income for a sponsor," NAS
Director Radik Martirosyan addressed the audience. He also called on
Armenian leaders to create more favorable conditions for charity.