Author: Jilavian Emma

GENOCIDE NEVER TO BE QUESTIONED

Aysor
Oct 30 2009
Armenia

At today’s press-conference Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan said Armenia didn’t see any reasons to abandon the process
of international recognition of issue of Genocide. This statement was
made as journalists mentioned that foreign media outlets had reported
such suggestions after Armenian-Turkish protocols signing ceremony
in Zurich.

According to Mr. Nalbandyan, anything unsaid in a couple of articles
among wide circulation cannot show any trends. He stressed that
Armenian leadership had repeatedly stated would never question Genocide
and importance of its recognition.

"Armenian Genocide recognition is a matter that concerns not only
Armenian people but all humanity in order that such crimes could
never happen again," said Armenian FM adding that Armenia always
welcomes Genocide recognition initiated in other countries. He also
mentioned that more than 20 states have officially characterized
and recognized mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire a Genocide. Moreover 3 states had recognized Armenian
Genocide long before Armenia’s sovereignty. Besides, two members of the
U.S. Senate have recently introduced legislation calling on President
Barack Obama to officially term the 1915-1918 mass killings and
deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a Genocide. Senators
Robert Menendez and John Ensign who drafted the resolution urge to
"accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation
of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide."

TURKEY FAVORS BAKU-YEREVAN NORMALIZATION – AMBASSADOR

Interfax
Oct 29 2009
Russia

Turkey insists on the Armenian withdrawal from Karabakh, Turkish
Ambassador to Russia Halil Akinci said on the Vesti 24 channel.

"It is absolutely necessary for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the
Karabakh problem and to ensure the Armenian pullout from the occupied
Azerbaijani lands," he said.

Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement would help normalization between Ankara
and Yerevan, the ambassador said.

"Armenia must normalize relations with Azerbaijan in order to make
normalization with Turkey a continuous process, because Azerbaijanis
and Turks are the same people that speaks the same language but lives
in different states," he said.

IRAN TO INCREASE GAS SUPPLIES TO ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.10.2009 18:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran is planning to increase gas supplies to Armenia
fivefold in near future.

"We plan to increase current 2 million cubic meter gas supply to 10
million cubic meters," Iranian gas-transport company representative
noted, without specifying exacts terms, IRNA information agency
reports.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER POSTPONES HIS VISIT TO THE U.S., SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 29

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.10.2009 15:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has postponed his forthcoming visit to the U.S. until December 7,
previously scheduled for November 29. Turkey marks the anniversary
of founding of the Turkish Republic on October 29.

In the U.S., Erdogan will discuss with the President Barack Obama’s
issues related to Iraq and Iran, the Armenian-Turkish Protocols.

According to the Milliyet newspaper, the talks will also include
the issue of the Karabakh settlement, the Middle East conflict,
the Cyprus issue and the Afghan problem.

The Turkish Republic was founded on October 29 in of 1923 by Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, who became the first president of Turkey.

YEREVAN HOST CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY WITHIN THE FRAMES OF AREVODI FESTIVAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.10.2009 21:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within the frameworks of Arevordi festival, Yerevan
is hosting a seminar on "Corporate Social Responsibility". Seminar
objective is to encourage local businessmen to use relevant strategies
in their business.

"I hope we’ll manage to convince local businessmen to take serious
steps towards preserving the country’s natural resources. Otherwise,
we may find ourselves face to face with environmental problems, with
ecological crisis being inevitable," Arevordi festival director Ruben
Khachatryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

Seminar is conducted by Toynis Wilem Hardiono, Doctor-Professor of
Rotterdam School of Management and Erasmus University and Anna Peters,
director of "Corporate Social Responsibility" program.

Seminar was organized by the Foundation for the Preservation of
Wildlife and Cultural Assets in Armenia, in cooperation with UN Global
Compact Armenia and German GTZ.

Sponsor of Arevordi festival is VivaCell-MTS.

Top U.S. Official Meets With Azerbaijani Officials, NGOs

_Meets_With_Azerbaijani_Officials_NGOs/1859613.htm l

October 23, 2009

BAKU — Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs Tina Kaidanow met with Azerbaijani officials and
representatives of nongovernmental organizations in Baku, RFE/RL’s
Azerbaijani Service reports.

Baku-based political observer Hikmet Gadjizade told RFE/RL that at the
meeting with NGOs on October 23 Kaidanow discussed democratization,
human rights, and freedom of speech and the media, as well as the case
of the detained Azerbaijani bloggers.

According to Gadjizade, Kaidanow stressed at the meeting that
Washington is monitoring the democratization process and will be
assisting with any problems.

Kaidanow also held talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

This is Kaidanow’s first visit to Azerbaijan since taking her post in August.

Kaidanow also visited Armenia this week, where she held talks with
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Eduard
Nalbandian

Aysor, Armenia
Oct 24 2009

`Armenian Nuclear Power Plant is in excellent condition’

Armenian Nuclear Power Plant is in excellent condition and has the
entire environment for safe operation, said head of Rosatom, Sergey
Kirienko, at meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

As Cabinet’s press office reports, Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan,
and head of Rosatom, Sergey Kirienko, also discussed item of a new
NPP’s station building, and item of geological exploration of uranium
deposits in Armenia.

It was also mentioned that these works’ realization will let Armenia
strengthen its role as the electricity exporter.

Interfax, Russia
Oct 22 2009

Armenia separates normalization with Turkey from Karabakh process

BAKU Oct 22

Armenia-Turkey normalization and Karabakh settlement are two different
processes, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Aram Kirakosian told the
media in Baku on Thursday.

"These are two different processes. Armenia-Turkey relations are a
sovereign affair, which has no legal link to the Karabakh settlement
negotiations," he said.

Armenia and Turkey signed two normalization documents, which still
must be ratified by national parliaments, Kirakosian said.

"If all is well and the documents are ratified, the border will open
in two months, and an intergovernmental commission will start working
in three months," he said.

ARFD PLANNING CHANGE IN POWER

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2009 16:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The struggle against ratification of Armenia-Turkey
protocols may transform into a struggle for change in power, according
to AFR Dashnaktsutyun member Armen Rustamyan.

"ARFD will demand change in power in case the RA NA ratifies the
protocols. But we still want to give the incumbent authorities a
chance not to ratify them," he said.

At that Rustamyan remarked that the Armenian side will do its possible
to ratify the protocols before any agreement on Karabakh is signed.

"Our protests produced results. The President changed his mind on
the protocols," he said.

OPPOSITION JOURNALIST TRIAL REOPENS OLD WOUNDS IN ARMENIA

Hurriyet Daily News
Oct 23 2009
Turkey

Former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian addresses a rally.

Pashinian, one of Ter-Petrosian’s most influential supporters, is
standing trial. AFP photo

A freedom-of-expression controversy in Armenia is intensifying amid the
opening of the trial of one of former president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s
most influential supporters, opposition journalist Nikol Pashinian.

Thirty-four-year-old Pashinian, editor-in-chief of the daily Haykakan
Zhamanak, is facing criminal charges for allegedly "organizing mass
disorder" and sparking violence against the government during the
March 2008 clashes between police and opposition protesters that left
10 dead, reported EurasiaNet on its Web site.

After over a year in hiding, Pashinian turned himself into police in
July under the terms of a presidential amnesty that led to the release
of scores of imprisoned opposition activists. Concern that Pashinian
would dodge his trial was the official reason given for his arrest.

The trial began Oct. 20. Opposition activists outside the court in
Yerevan’s Shengavit district carried posters that said, "Armenian
justice is on trial today," and, "Nikol’s trial is our common trial."

A large police contingent was deployed to prevent protesters from
entering the building.

The trial’s judge and setting are the same as for the so-called Case
of Seven, the controversial trial of seven opposition leaders that
international monitors argue exposed gaping inadequacies in Armenia’s
judicial system. A defense petition that the presiding judge, Mnatsakan
Martorisian, be dismissed for presumed bias against Pashinian was
denied. "I have no expectations for justice," defense attorney Lusine
Sahakian told EurasiaNet. Sahakian said the defense’s strategy was
"to show what has happened." She did not elaborate.

The World Press Freedom Committee – an organization representing 44
press freedom groups from around the world – sent a protest letter
on Oct. 2 to President Serge Sarkisian concerning Pashinian’s case,
seeking the trial’s adjournment. Government supporters dispute the
defense’s contention that authorities put Pashinian on trial to muzzle
his journalistic voice. "I don’t think these charges are much linked
to freedom of speech and his work as a journalist," said parliament
member Razmik Zohrabian, deputy head of the governing Republican
Party of Armenia.

In an Oct. 19 statement the Armenian National Congress, the political
movement headed by Ter-Petrosian, echoed those sentiments, saying
that the charges against Pashinian are "absolutely groundless" and
are an attempt by the government "to conceal the crime organized on
March 1, 2008."