Author: Hunanian Jack

SHARMAZANOV HAILS PRESIDENT SARGSYAN AS "REGIONAL LEADER"
Arman Gharibyan

10/
2010/02/12 | 12:04

Politics

Republican Party Spokesperson Edward Sharmazanov, commenting on
President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech in London and his message to Turkish
President Gul, said that Armenia continues to maintain the initiative
in the on again off again process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish
relations.

"Serzh Sargsyan delivered a historic speech and came across as the
true leader in the region and a national statesman," Mr. Sharmazanov
said, adding that this was his personal opinion and not mere praise
as the spokesperson for the president’s party.

Mr. Sharmazanov said that President Sargsyan, in his London speech,
defended the Armenian people and the interests of Armenia, and
showed his willingness to solve the thorniest of problems through
cooperation. Mr. Sharmazanov said that by doing so, the Armenian
president served as an example to be followed by the leaders of the
other countries in the region.

PROTOCOLS’ CONTENT NOT SUBJECT TO ANY CHANGES: ABDULLAH GUL

news.am
Feb 11 2010
Armenia

The content of Armenia-Turkey Protocols signed in Zurich is not subject
to any changes, Turkish President Abdullah Gul told the journalists
on February 11, TRT reports.

Gul came up with clarifications of the statement by RA President Serzh
Sargsyan that consideration of the Protocols in RA Constitutional
Court does not conflict with the spirit of the documents.

"Changes in the text or any provision are unacceptable," Gul stated.

Asked about domestic problems, Turkish President replied, "It is
impossible to achieve anything through terrorism. Problems of our
country are our problems, not others. All our citizens have equal
rights. We have to hold discussions to tackle all the issues."

VARDAN MINASYAN APPOINTED ARMENIA SOCCER COACH

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.02.2010 13:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Vardan Minasyan was appointed as Armenia soccer
coach.

"Minasyan was appointed the chief coach but I can’t comment on the
contract terms yet," Tigran Israelyan, acting spokesman for the
Football Federation of Armenia, told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Vardan Minasyan was assistant to the chief coach in 2006-2009. He
has also trained FC Pyunik since 2008.

DINK’S LAWYERS DEMAND MORE INVESTIGATIONS

Hurriyet
Feb 9 2010
Turkey

Murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s lawyers at Monday’s
trial petitioned the court to investigate all public institutions
and officials as well as other people and organizations that were
negligent or guilty in Dink’s murder.

Dink was murdered on Jan. 19, 2007 in front of the bilingual daily
Agos in broad daylight.

The petitions, signed by the lawyers, first asked to start an
investigation into the National Intelligence Organization, or MÄ°T,
the Istanbul Police Department, the Trabzon Police Department, the
Trabzon Gendarmerie Command, the Central Police Intelligence Unit,
and the officials in these institutions who did not take precautions
to protect Dink’s life.

The lawyers also asked the court to find the people who targeted
Dink when he was alive. Also, those who organized attacks on Dink’s
lawyers should be rooted out, said the lawyers.

"Those who hid and damaged evidence or published false documents with
the purpose of manipulation and hiding the real perpetrators should
be searched for," said the lawyers. A security camera belonging to
a private bank in Turkey showed the suspect, Ogun Samast, running
away a few minutes after Dink’s murder. However, camera footage was
cleaned in the aftermath of the murder, and the lawyers have requested
to find those responsible.

The lawyers asked whether Dink’s murder was planned as part of the
Kafes (Cage) Operation Action Plan, an alleged plan including terror
actions against non-Muslims in Turkey.

Meanwhile, in his Tuesday column in daily Hurriyet, Eyup Can claimed a
critical document in the Dink case might be faulty. The Trabzon Police
Department’s intelligence unit said they informed the Istanbul Police
that Yasin Hayal, an arrested suspect in the Dink case, was planning
an action in Istanbul before Dink’s murder and that he would stay at
his brother, Osman Hayal’s, place in Istanbul’s Osmangazi township.

"Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer for the Dink family, says there are two
documents with the same date and signed by the same officers, Yusuf
Kartal and Fadıl Erkin, which is a suspicious situation," wrote Can.

The officers were seen both checking Osman Hayal’s place in Sarıgazi
in one document and as working in Fatih from morning to night on the
same day according to another document. "As one person cannot be in two
places at the same time, one of these documents is faulty," wrote Can.

The document saying the officers were in Fatih was correctly written
in the terms of style and content, however, the one showing them in
Sarıgazi has problems, said Cetin to Can. "Ahmet İlhan, head of the
intelligence unit in Istanbul at that time, said the police officers
can go from one post to another in the same day, and he added that
personally he believes the police officers actually searched Osman
Hayal’s place," said Can.

Meanwhile, Erhan Tuncel, a suspect in the Dink case and a former
police informant in Trabzon, has applied for the tests to become a
corrections officer although he was arrested, reported CNNTurk news
Web site on Monday. He took the test on Feb. 2 but failed the exam
because he could not satisfy the physical criteria.

IRAN-ARMENIA TRADE CENTER PLANNED

ARKA
Feb 9, 2010

Tehran, Feb 9, IRNA – The establishment of Iran-Armenia trade center
will pave the way for exchange of goods and services between both
countries.

Announcing this, deputy minister of commerce, Babak Afqahi told
the International Conference to Introduce Trade and Investment
Opportunities in Armenia Tuesday that the center will help boost
exchanges between the two countries.

Stating that trade exchanges worth $200 million between the two
countries in 2008 is not acceptable, he further noted that the figure
is meager compared to the volume of exchanges with other neighboring
states.

One of the strategies of Iran is to increase its economic exchanges
with its neighbors, Afqahi, who also doubles as the head of Iran’s
Trade Development Center said, noting that’s for the same reason that
Armenia is of significant priority for Iran in this respect.

He also expressed Iranian companies’ readiness to open a new era of
cooperation with that country.

Iran is prepared to make available different technologies to that
country, he noted..

International Conference to Introduce Trade and Investment
Opportunities in Armenia is to end in Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting’s (IRIB) Conferences Hall on Wednesday.

ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT COULD TAKE MANY YEARS: COUNCIL OF EUROPE SECRETARY GENERAL

Tert.am
14:55 ~U 09.02.10

The reconciliation process between Armenia and Turkey is reassuring,
said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland in an
interview with CNNTurk, while adding that the process might be
temporary.

"I don’t know what the outcome of the normalizing relations process is
going to be in the short-term. I can’t say whether the the Protocols
will be ratified in the countries’ parliaments or not. There are
political obstacles in that matter. However, the first step has
been taken, and I’m sure that it won’t be the last. The process can
last 5, 10 or 20 years; however, Armenia and Turkey are neighbouring
countries," said Jagland.

The Council of Europe Secretary General also spoke about the role
that Turkey plays not only in the region, but also in Europe, saying
that he has great expectations from that country.

In a meeting with Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul yesterday, Jagland
expressed his appreciation of the important reforms undertaken
by Turkey in recent years that have made the society more open
and democratic; however, the CoE Secretary General also raised
outstanding issues related to Constitutional reform and to the banning
of political parties.

ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF MALTA SAID TO BE ‘INDIGNANT OVER EURONEWS REPORTING ON NAGORNO KARABAKH’

Malta Independent Online
itemid=101411
Feb 9 2010
Malta

The Armenian community of Malta has expressed its outrage and
disappointment with "Forgotten Victims of Frozen Conflict" Euronews
reporting dated 1 February, panarmenian.net reported.

"We think it is incorrect to give such a free and one-sided
interpretation to UN resolutions on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as
well as to approve and broadcast calls for war that were heard in
the reporting," the community said in a statement.

"We truly hope that one of the most respectable and tolerant channels
of Europe as Euronews will henceforth be more delicate and tactful
in broadcasting such reportings, especially taking into consideration
that there are the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations as a background.

"We are very hopeful that the changes in the membership of the
shareholders of the Euronews channel do not have any influence on its
work and do not in any way impact the neutrality that a television
channel should possess," the press service of the Armenian Diaspora
of Malta said.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, NKR and
Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan
around it (the security zone) remain under the control of NKR defence
army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group until now.

ARMENIA’S SCPEC AND OSCE TO COOPERATE TO IMPROVE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.02.2010 17:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of the State Commission for the Protection
of Economic Competition of Armenia Davit Harutyunyan received the Head
of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Sergey Kapinos , and Tigran Sukiasyan
responsible for OSCE national programs on economic issues, press
office of SCPEC reported.

In the near future the SCPEC and the OSCE will sign a memorandum of
cooperation. As a new means to improve the competitive environment the
officials called the reduction of centralization in the market and
development of small and medium-sized businesses, which, according
to Davit Harutyunyan, is hampered by the absence of "long money,
as well as the unavailability of credit starting businesses. SCPEC
intends to assess the competitive environment in the regions.

DAVUTOGLU: TURKEY COMMITTED TO MOVE FORWARD DIALOGUE WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
07.02.2010 17:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Speaking to Turkish journalists as part of the
46th Munich Conference on Security, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said that the normalization process of relations between
Turkey and Armenia was one on which "we made detailed thoughts and
one that includes a vision".

"This vision involves not merely the normalization of relations between
Turkey and Armenia but also improvement of Turkish-Armenian commercial
relations and turning the Caucasus into a field of peace and welfare,"
he said. "Surely there will be ups and downs during the process and
certain difficulties may be experienced. We knew that the process may
have developed in this direction since the beginning. Our thoughts,
concerns and uneasiness on this matter are clear. We discuss the
status quo that arose after a recent decision made by the Armenian
Constitutional Court (on protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia in
2008) with all relevant sides in an extremely open way. Within this
framework, we hope that the process continues in accordance with
the vision we have determined and that, at the end, we establish new
peace and stability in the region that could benefit the Turkish and
Armenian peoples, Turkey and Armenia, as well as the Azerbaijanis. We
will never stop efforts on this matter and we are committed to move
the process according to principles established at the beginning."

Touching on his bilateral talks in Munich, Mr. Davutoglu said that
he held an extremely comprehensive meeting with the President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

"We have discussed with President Aliyev the results of a trilateral
summit held by Russian President Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev,
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Aliyev, the recent developments
in the region, the latest point reached in the matter of Nagorno
Karabakh, and Turkish-Armenian relations in Sochi," he said.

Davutoglu said that he and Chief of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs of the Swiss Federation Micheline Calmy-Rey, "a dignitary who
played a crucial role in normalizing relations between Turkey and
Armenia", discussed the normalization process and that he conveyed
Turkey’s thoughts on this issue.

"Within this context, I had talks with the Deputy Secretary of U.S.

State Department, James B. Steinberg. Mr. Steinberg was in Yerevan. He
has informed me about his impressions in Armenia. We have conveyed
our views in exchange. We also talked about the latest developments at
the U.S. House of Representatives and an Armenian resolution there. We
discussed the situation in the Caucasus and Balkans," he said.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.252, introduced in March of 2009
by lead sponsors, Representatives Adam Schiff and George Radanovich,
and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-chairs Frank Pallone and Mark
Kirk, currently has over 135 cosponsors.

MARCH 1 POLITICAL PRISONER SASUN MIKAELYAN’S HEALTH STILL IN POOR STATE

Tert.am
11:14 ~U 08.02.10

Sasun Mikaelyan, imprisoned on March 1, 2008-related charges of
organizing mass disorder and illegal possession of weapons, had been
moved to Nork-Marash Medical Center’s cardiology department because
of serious heart problems. Previously, he had been in the prison
hospital. Sasun Mikaelyan underwent a surgery at 7 pm on February 4.

On February 6, Mikaelyan was moved back to the prison hospital. He
has been prescribed a form of treatment where he must be seen by
doctors every day for a full year; thus, he must be under doctors’
strict supervision.

According to Tert.am sources, Mikaelyan’s health is still in poor
condition. The former commander, who fought in the Nagorno-Karabakh
war, also carries dozens of shrapnel shards in his body left over
from the war.