Author: Frangulian Shushan

AZERBAIJAN URGED TO RELEASE DISSENTING JOURNALIST

ates/azerbaijan-urged-release-dissenting-journalis t-2010-04-22
22 April 2010

Amnesty International has urged the Azerbaijani authorities to free
a journalist jailed on trumped up charges of terrorism and defamation
after the European Court of Human Rights ruled he had been wrongfully
imprisoned.

The Court said on Thursday that Eynulla Fatullayev, who was jailed
in April 2007 after writing a series of newspaper articles critical
of the authorities, should be released immediately.

"Azerbaijan should take this opportunity to show it is willing to
bring to an end its reputation for silencing dissenting voices and
imprisoning those that speak out against the government," said Natalia
Nozadze, Amnesty International’s researcher on Azerbaijan.

Eynulla Fatullayev was convicted of defamation after writing two
articles that disputed the official account of the 1992 mass killings
of Azerbaijani civilians in the town of Khojaly, during the conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

He was subsequently convicted on terrorism charges for publishing
an article discussing the possible consequences for Azerbaijan of
a US-Iranian war, which the Azerbaijani authorities regarded as a
threat of terrorism. The article criticized foreign policy decisions
made by the Azerbaijani government.

The European Court verdict stated that Eynulla Fatullayev’s convictions
on charges of defamation and terrorism violated his rights to free
expression. It found that he had been unfairly tried and that there
was "no justification for the imposition of a prison sentence".

"As a journalist and a private individual, [Eynulla Fatullayev] had
not been in a position to influence or exercise any degree of control
over any of the hypothetical events discussed in the article," stated
the Court.

"Thus, the domestic courts’ finding that the applicant had threatened
the State with terrorist acts had been arbitrary."

The Court’s verdict becomes final after three months if it is not
contested.

Amnesty International believes that Eynulla Fatullayev’s imprisonment
is an attempt to silence his reporting and considers him to be a
prisoner of conscience.

As a state party to the European Convention on Human Rights, Azerbaijan
is obliged to adhere to the court’s final judgement. "The authorities
should release Eynulla Fatullayev without delay." said Natalia Nozadze.

After the European Court began reviewing Eynulla Fatullayev’s case
in September 2009, he was accused of heroin possession. Amnesty
International believes this new charge was fabricated in order to
keep him in prison. The charge was not considered in Thursday’s ruling.

AZERI MP SAYS USA SPENDS OIL INCOME ON BACKING KARABAKH SEPARATISTS

Turan
April 20 2010
Azerbaijan

An Azerbaijani MP has said USA spends income from oil contracts in
Azerbaijan to support Karabakh separatists, Baku based Turan news
agency reported on 20 April.

MP Fazail Agamali criticized the USA for its efforts to reconcile
Turkey and Armenia and added that American share in oil contracts
should be decreased because income from Azerbaijani oil is used to
support separatists. "In general, the US activities in Azerbaijan
should be ceased," Agamali was quoted as saying.

APA news agency quoted Ali Ahmadov, the deputy chairman of the ruling
New Azerbaijan Party and an MP, as saying it was time to replace
co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is trying to
broker a peace to the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict over the Nagornyy
Karabakh: "Failure of the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group
to demonstrate an unwavering position and insufficient protection
of Azerbaijan’s interests which is a victim of occupation, gives
grounds to say that time is ripe to make changes to the structure of
co-chairmanship institution of the OSCE Minsk Group."

The USA, Russia and France are co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY IN UKRAINE PROTESTS CONSTRUCTION OF PARK IN MEMORY OF ARMENIAN VICTIMS OF XX CENTURY IN KIEV

Trend
April 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ukraine protested in connection with the
construction of the park in memory of Armenian victims of the XX
century "in Kiev.

"The Embassy held several meetings in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
and the relevant structures of the country in which the position of
the Azerbaijani side was voiced on this issue. Our position is based
on Ukrainian legislation, under which construction of the park can
not be devoted to a particular topic," Counsellor of the Azerbaijani
Embassy in Ukraine Irfan Davudov told Trend today.

Golosiyiv District Council of Kiev considered a proposal to erect
a monument dedicated to the 95-th anniversary of the genocide of
Armenians, received from the Armenian community. A decision was made
to allocate place to erect a monument in Odessa square.

Azerbaijani diaspora in Ukraine also protested the first people of
the country in connection with the construction of the park and the
monument to "victims" of false "Armenian genocide" in Kiev, chairman
of the Congress of Ukrainian Azerbaijanis Akif Gulmammadov told Trend.

He said that the Congress sent a statement to the President of Ukraine,
chairman of Verkhovna Rada, Foreign Minister, which referred to the
falsification of historical facts by the Armenians.

"We sent a protest letter to the prosecutor’s office of Kiev, and
hope that we can prevent this injustice," he said.

Moreover, the chairman of the Congress said that it is planned that
Azerbaijanis will take actions in parallel with Armenians’ ones who
come up with slogans about the fictional "Armenian genocide".

Armenia and the Armenian lobby state that the predecessor of Turkey
– the Ottoman empire committed "genocide" against Armenians living
in Anatolia in 1915. Armenians willing to recognize this fact in
the world by strengthening propaganda of the so-called "genocide"
in the world countries, achieved its recognition by the parliaments
of some countries.

S. SAFARYAN SAYS THOUGHT CONTENT OF COALITION STILL MORE IS EXPECTED

Panorama.am
22/04/2010

The chairman of "Heritage" Party Stepan Safaryan talked to Panorama.am
about the coalition statement to suspend the ratification of
Armenian-Turkish protocols, claiming that he has been stating earlier
the process is very dangerous and tricky for Armenia. And now the
deputy said time proved his observations were right.

"At Washington visit, Armenian side declared about the reinforcement
of our conclusions instead of reinforcement of our dispositions in
the negotiations. Hence, this is objectively done, and we expected
Armenian authorities would acknowledge it earlier," NA deputy said
adding that Armenian authorities have left the only path to their
Turkish counterparts.

But still S. Safaryan says he has more expectations from our
authorities to suspend the signature putting complete abortion to
the Armenian-Turkish protocols.

It’s worth reminding that political coalition of Armenia released a
statement today which reads: "…Taking into consideration the refusal
of the Turkish side from its commitment to ratify the protocols
without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe makes the
continuation of the process over their ratification in the Armenian
National Assembly pointless at this stage, the coalition considers it
proper to suspend the process and withdraw the issue from the agenda
of the four-day sittings until the Turkish side is ready to continue
the process without preconditions."

BELARUS. GRODNO OBLAST-ARMENIA BILATERAL TRADE 25.3% UP IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY

Black Sea Grain – UkrAgroConsult
/news-temp/belarus.-grodno-oblast-armenia-bilatera l-trade-25.3-up-in-january-february
April 20 2010
Ukraine

In January-February 2010 the trade turnover between the Grodno oblast
and the Republic of Armenia totaled $184,600 (up 25.3% on the same
period 2009), said acting chairman of the Grodno oblast executive
committee Ivan Zhuk at a meeting of Grodno officials with a delegation
of the Shirak province of Armenia on 19 April.

The Grodno oblast exports dairy products and packaging to Armenia. In
2010 the Grodno oblast started supplies of agricultural machinery
and mechanical devices to Armenia. Armenia did not export anything
to the Grodno oblast in 2010.

Lidselmash exports potato diggers, potato planters, sowing machines,
and fertilizer spreading units. Lida Dairy delivers full cram milk
powder and butter. The KonteSpa company delivered $42,200 worth of
hosiery goods to Armenia in January-February 2010.

The sides are mulling over the deliveries of the Lidaagroprommash
grain harvesters and the Neman buses to Armenia.

The sides expressed their confidence in the expansion of bilateral
cooperation. Lida Nanyan, Governor of the Shirak province, said
that Armenia wants to develop cooperation with the Grodno oblast in
agriculture, industry, economy, education, healthcare and culture.

Grodno and Gyumri are likely to establish twin city relations.

5.5% ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ARMENIA: IS CRISIS REALLY SURMOUNTED?

Tert.am
20.04.10

The Armenian economy has seen a 5.5% growth in the first quarter
of 2010 which might be an indicator that the country – hardly hit
by the economic crisis – is getting surmounting it given the 6.1%
downfall in the first quarter in 2009. While the GDP was 568 billion
AMD for January-March, according to a release issued by the Armenian
National Statistical Service.

It also says that with the exception of construction there has been
growth in all the sectors of the economy in the first quarter of 2010,
though the decline in this sector has significantly been eased.

According to the release the production scales in industry during the
period under discussion constituted 177.5 billion AMD which is 10.4%
more compared to last year’s data.

Agriculture has seen a 3.2% grow (42.5 billion AMD).

Interestingly, the retail sector has seen only 1% grow (211 billion
AMD).

The downfall in the construction sector made up 0.6% while at the
same period in 2009 it was 21.9% and hit an all-time record decline
in January-July – 55%.

The services sector has seen a 6.2% growth in the first quarter of
2010 which makes 174 billion AMD.

Armenia’s foreign trade has been $1.01 billion USD which has increased
by 29% in comparison to the same period in 2009. At the same time
exports have grown by 60.9% (198.5 million dram), while imports have
been increased by 23.1% which makes $814 million USD.

ISRAEL IMPOSES PARTIAL ARMS EMBARGO ON TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 19, 2010 – 17:11 AMT 12:11 GMT

Israel will temporarily freeze sales of advanced military platforms to
Turkey over concerns about the perceived mounting anti-Israel rhetoric
from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to UK-based Jane’s
Defense Weekly.

Israel’s defense assistance and export organization, SIBAT, has
decided to evaluate Turkish requests on a case-by-case basis; one
case under review is a Turkish request for Israeli-made electronic
warfare systems. Turkey has also expressed interest in Rafael’s Spike
non-line-of-sight (NLOS) anti-tank guided weapon as well as Israel
Aerospace Industries’ (IAI’s) Barak 8 theatre-defense missile system
for its navy and the Namer heavy infantry fighting vehicle, Today’s
Zaman reported.

"Ties with Turkey will never be the way they once were," a defense
source said. "We are being very careful which systems we sell them
due to the growing Islamic trends in the country."

Cengiz Aktar: Turkey will be liberated if it faces up to the truth of
what happened to its missing Armenians in 1915

14:31 17/04/2010 » Politics

Not many borders are closed in our globalized world, but the frontier
between Armenia and Turkey is still a dead zone where the railroad
stops, Thomas de Waal writes in The Foreign Policy.

People on both sides of this closed border want it open as it will
contribute to the economic boost, the columnist says. In a
conversation with Thomas de Waal, Turkish academic Cengiz Aktar said
that Turkey will be liberated if it faces up to the truth of what
happened to its missing Armenians, at the catastrophe of 1915 when the
entire Armenian population of eastern Anatolia was deported or killed
in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.

Aktar initiated an Internet petition apologizing for the "Great
Catastrophe" of 1915 (adopting the Armenians’ own phrase for the
tragedy) and expressing sympathy for "my Armenian brothers and
sisters."

More than 30,000 Turks have signed it — remarkable for a country
whose schoolbooks were, until recently, saying that Armenians killed
Turks in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire and not the other way
around. It is not an easy process, but the taboo on discussing the
issue of what happened to the missing Armenians has now been lifted in
Turkey.

Last October, the Armenian and Turkish presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and
Abdullah Gul, moved to sign two protocols on normalizing relations,
pledging that, once the documents were ratified by their countries’
parliaments, the closed border would open within two months. Six
months on, insecurities and local politics are again winning the day,
and the protocols are in trouble. Turkish leaders are postponing
ratification of the agreements, the source says.

`What has gone wrong? Ankara has gone cool on the process, saying it
wants to see progress on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh — even though the conflict is not mentioned in the
protocols. The Turks clearly did not expect the furious reaction the
rapprochement would have with Azerbaijan. The latter has been lobbying
hard and effectively against the protocols, and its fears are
understandable — it is worried that if the Armenia-Turkey border
opens, a key lever of influence on the Armenians to make concessions
over Nagorno-Karabakh will be lost,’ the columnist writes.

Source: Panorama.am

IAN GILLAN’S AND TONY IOMMI’S AD HOC BAND "WHO CARES" TO RAISE FUNDS FOR ARMENIAN SCHOOL

Times.am
16 April, 2010, 11:18 pm

Lead singer of Deep Purple Ian Gillan stated that he would set up an
ad-hoc rock band with Tony Iommi named "Who Cares" for raising funds
for reestablishment of music school in Armenia.

Mediamax reports that Ian Gillan said this, answering the question
of his website’s visitors on the possibility to record the remix of
"Smoke on the Water" song to help Haiti, which has suffered from
the earthquake.

Deep Purple lead singer noted that the new re-mix version of "Smoke
on the Water", recorded in 1989 with the participation of world rock
stars in order to help Armenia, will be re-released soon.

"Twenty years later, we are still working on rebuilding the school and
concert hall in Gyumri, which – like Spitak – suffered devastation
with at least 25,000 killed and God knows how many injured and left
homeless. Things are moving on quite well with a lot of support from
politicians and businesses. I was able to raise a decent amount for
the cause with two benefit shows in Yerevan recently", Ian Gillan said.

"Also, I’m working on an idea with Tony Iommi. On the flight home from
Armenia we decided to write a song or two and form an ad hoc band –
specifically for use on fund raising occasions – called ‘Who Cares’.

Any live performances would be with a nebulous line-up and those plans
are still on the drawing board, but we have made a move in the right
direction by getting started with the writing. I visited Tony recently
and we came up with a couple of songs that aren’t too horrible.

Hopefully we can knock them into shape in the near future and
raise even more money to help the program [on reestablishing the
school in Gyumri]. I think your idea to help Haitians is admirable
and of course we are all shocked by the tragic aftermath of their
cataclysm. However I think it’s best to direct all my efforts where
they are most effective. I see plenty of fantastic energy and awareness
being put into Haiti, but after twenty years there is still work to
be done in Armenia", Ian Gillan stated.

Mediamax organized Ian Gillan’s charitable concerts with the State
Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia on March 26 and 27 in Yerevan. All
proceeds from the concerts (18mln 327 thousand AMD) will be spent
for construction of the building of music school N6 in Gyumri.

VivaCell-MTS mobile operator was the general sponsor of the concerts,
and bmi Airline was the partner.

ARMENTEL TO DONATE GENOCIDE MUSEUM 5 PAINTINGS

news.am
April 16 2010
Armenia

"Armentel" CJSC will donate 5 paintings of Armenian artists – Hovhannes
Avetisyan, Grisha Torosyan, Hrant Mirzoyan, Harutyun Hakobyan and
Tigran Barkhanjanyan to the Genocide museum.

Their works are exhibited at the event dedicated to the 95th
commemoration of Armenian Genocide, to be donated to the museum
afterwards.

"Russia has always empathized Armenian people’s tragedy. As a head of
national mobile operator and Russian citizen I accepted the offer of
Armenian Artists’ Union to assist Genocide museum with alacrity. I
am confident that these works of art will stock the museum," reads
the statement by "Armentel" CJSC Director General Igor Klimko.

The exhibition will be held in the National Gallery of Armenia from
April 16 to 27. The paintings of modern and classical Armenian artists
dedicated to the Genocide will be exhibited.