Author: Kalashian Nyrie

Aysor, Armenia
Oct 24 2009

Armenian countrymen prefer Chinese tractors

At the beginning of 2009 in August an agreement was signed between the
Belarusian `Babruski’ car factory and Vanadzor `ChinVan’ company. They
are planning to import from Byelorussia the parts of the tractors and
to prepare them here forming a joint company.

Till now there are imported parts for 4 tractors and have prepared the
product. As Samvel Najaryan the director of `ChinVan’ company told to
Aysor.am that the amount of the future production depends on the sale.
The Belarusian tractors cost 2000 ` 25 000 USD dollars.

S. Najaryan also told that since 2003 they have gathered and sold out
around 300 Chinese tractors.

TURKEY MEDIATES IN KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS: KARAPETYAN

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Oct 22 2009
Armenia

Turkey took a stance of mediator in Karabakh conflict settlement
along with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, ANC Foreign Relations
coordinator Vladimir Karapetyan told journalists at the October 22
press-conference.

According to him, Ankara had never been obviously involved throughout
the conflict history. "Turks spoke little of Karabakh, while today
Ankara discusses the issue with everyone, including great power
leaders," he underlined, saying that Armenian side gave them a chance
to do so.

Karapetyan considers that it started after the intensification of
Armenia-Turkey talks, in particular when RA President made a statement
in Moscow and agreed to create sub-commission of historians. The ANC
coordinator pointed out that Ankara took advantage of that opportunity
and uses today Armenia-Turkey reconciliation for Karabakh conflict
settlement.

Speaking of Armenian side keeping on asserting that the Protocols do
not contain provisions indicating the linkage between two processes,
Karapetyan said that they should not necessarily say it baldly.

According to him, one should just listen attentively what Turkish
officials say, whereas they speak directly of Karabakh.

AZERBAIJANI RULING PARTY PROTESTS AGAINST FIFA’S DECISION

Trend News Agency
Oct 20 2009
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) disagrees with the
FIFA decision banning to bring the Azerbaijani flags in the
Turkey-Armenia football match.

"Sport should not be politicized. Sport is the arena of peace,
friendship and cooperation. Since when were restrictions on flags
applied? How is the decision correct not to allow the Azerbaijani flag
into the stadium so that to satisfy Armenia? There is no such
prohibition in the rules. FIFA does not have such rules and this
organization prohibits the display of nationalism, fascism and racism.

The flag of friendship should be waved in Bursa, Deputy Executive
Secretary of the NAP Mubariz Gurbanli said in an interview with the
official website of the NAP.

On Oct.15, the Turkish city of Bursa hosted the Turkey-Armenia
football match under the World Cup qualifying stage for 2010. FIFA has
decided to prohibit bringing Azerbaijan’s flag into the stadium.

According to Gurbanli, "football diplomacy" has become a unique tool
for the Turkish-Armenian negotiations.

"Everybody knew that persons loving Azerbaijan were likely to enter
the stadium with the Azerbaijani flag in Bursa. However, the Bursa
mayor prohibited to carry the Azerbaijani flags to the stadium and it
caused anger and irritation among people. The Azerbaijani flag had had
to become a symbol of support for Turkey’s national team. I believe
Turkey’s decision was very wrong. When the flag of so-called Nagorno
Karabakh Republic was raised in Yerevan, the Turkish side did not
express their protest. Why were they silent? Why did not FIFA respond?

This flag was the flag of non-recognized separatist and criminal
regime," Gurbanli said.

BSEC FOREIGN MINISTERS MET IN BAKU

armradio.am
22.10.2009 18:33

The 21st sitting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation Organization was held in Baku today.

Delegations from 12 member states participated in the sitting chaired
by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. The Armenian
delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan.

Speaking at the sitting, Arman Kirakosyan touched upon the perspectives
of multifaceted cooperation within the framework of the BSEC,
emphasizing the achievements registered in different fields of
cooperation. He attached importance to economic cooperation without
preconditions as a most important guarantee of settlement of issues
existing in the region. In this context he recalled the recently
signed Armenian-Turkish protocols on establishment and development
of bilateral relations as a best expression of such an approach.

Touching upon the Armenian-Turkish protocols, Secretary General of the
Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization Leonidas Chrisanthopoulos
emphasized the importance of the documents for the development of
cooperation in the region and within the framework of BSEC.

At the end of the sitting Azerbaijan handed the chairmanship of the
organization to Bulgaria

ARMENIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER RECEIVES THE US DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EUROPEAN AND EURASIAN AFFAIRS

ARMENPRESS
Oct 21, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenian National Assembly Speaker
Hovik Abrahamyan received today the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for European and Eurasian Affairs Tina Kaidanow.

NA public relations department told Armenpress that greeting the guest
Hovik Abrahamyan highlighted the relations and cooperation between
Armenia and USA in political, trade-economic, military, cultural,
educational and other spheres.

The speaker, assessing the positive involvement of US in the South
Caucasian region, expressed hope that the cooperation between the
two countries will continue consolidating and developing.

During the meeting the interlocutors also discussed the issue on
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions as
well as referred to the process of consolidating democracy in Armenia.

US ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch also took part in the
meeting.

TURKEY WILL NOT GIVE UP NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE: AZERBAIJAN REMOVES FLAGS ANYWAY

Tert
Oct 21 2009
Armenia

"Azerbaijani lands are sacred for us and their liberation is of
the utmost priority in Turkey’s national issues. This position of
ours will not change even if the sky falls down to earth," Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated during a press conference in
Ankara recently.

"We raise the Nagorno-Karabakh issue during all of our meetings. The
meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and US President Barack
Obama held in Pittsburg was wholly devoted to the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue. The main topic of our president’s and Obama’s discussion, too,
was Nagorno-Karabakh. The main topic of my and Hillary Clinton’s
negotiations was the liberation issue of the territories. Turkey
continues this policy. There won’t be any changes in that.

"Everyone knows what we have done for Azerbaijan during the course
of history after gaining independence. We are going to do more for
them in the future. I say this to the Azerbaijani people. I believe
this process will end by coming out of the lands. Let no one doubt
Turkey’s role in this region and in the whole world."

As to controversies over the gas issue, Davutoglu stated that
negotiations still continue. "That is more so a trade issue. But the
Caspian Sea-Anatolia-Europe line is strategically important for us."

At the same time, Chief of the Public Policy Department of the
Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov explained "the
incident with the flags" in another way. According to him, "Removal
of foreign flags, including Turkish, in Baku and other places of
Azerbaijan recently has not been related to the repair or any other
[construction] work."

"Foreign flags will be hanged only in the places allowed by law. The
law says that the flags of foreign countries or international
organizations can be hanged only in front of their diplomatic missions,
consulates, offices or residences of the international organizations
and other places allowed by law. Therefore the flags were removed
under implementation of the law," said Hasanov.

This article was compiled from excerpts from various Turkish and
Azerbaijani media.

CAUCASUS LACKS STABLE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: TURKISH FM

Today.Az
70.html
Oct 21 2009
Azerbaijan

If Armenia fulfills its commitments, the relationship between the
two countries will become a global example, said Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, making a speech before the members of the
Turkish Grand National Assembly, who will discuss the Turkish-Armenian
protocols today, TRT 2 television channel reported.

"Problems in the region should be solved step by step and the
Armenia-Turkey protocols will accelerate settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict," Davutoglu said.

"Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan and there is no country in
the world that so strongly supports Azerbaijan. The Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute has always been a priority for the Turkish government,"
the minister stated.

Davutoglu said Turkey will do its best to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

There is no stable political environment to solve the frozen conflicts
in the Caucasus, Davutoglu stated.

The real situation in the Caucasus is not in favor of anyone, the
minister added.

"We want to normalize our relations with Armenia as with other
neighboring countries," Davudoglu said.

With ratification of the Turkey-Armenia protocols, the Turkey-Armenia
borders will be officially recognized, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said.

Under the Turkey-Armenia protocols the state border of the countries
will be officially recognized, Davutoglu added.

ARAM KARAPTIAN: "PROTOCOLS ARE CHANGED"

0/19/aram-karaptian
05:31 pm | October 19, 2009

Politics

Leader of the New Times Party (NZhK) Aram Karapetian says the texts
of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were changed before the signing in
Zurich on October 10.

"The replacement of each word and phrase may change the contents of
the Protocols," Arman Karapetian told A1+.

The NZhK Leader has found serious and dangerous changes in the texts
of the Protocols posted on the website of the RA Foreign Ministry.

"One of the changes concerns diplomatic relations under which Turkey
is empowered to enter Armenia and take military action in order to
protect its citizens’ rights."

Regarding ARF-Dashnaktsutiun’s protests against the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols, Mr. Karapetian said: "Unlike the ARF-Dashnaktsutiun I have
always said that the burden of the Protocols lies on Serzh Sargsyan.

The ratification of the Protocols cannot be hindered unless Serzh
Sargsyan resigns office. ARF-Dashnaktsutiun will gain nothing with
the calls for Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s resignation

ARF-Dashnaktsutiun needn’t suffice with taking oppositionist’s
posture. They had better act and I am hopeful that the Party wants
to see the disgraceful Protocols rescinded.

Aram Karapetian will continue cooperation with ARF-Dashnaktsutiun
and Armenian National Congress (HAK). He says it is high time the
HAK spoke up and took measures.

ARMENIAN MFA COMMENTS ON AZERBAIJAN’S "CONSTRUCTIVENESS"

Panorama.am
19:40 19/10/2009

Azerbaijan’s MFA representative Elkhan Polukhov announced today that
Azerbaijan has always been constructive in Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
talks and condemned Armenia for the withdrawal from the agreements
reached. The coordinator of the Armenian MFA PR department Tigran
Balayan commented on this:

"Actually, Mr. Polukhov means the "constructiveness" with which
Azerbaijan started a great war against the Artsakh people, and
withdrew the 2001 Paris principles, or the "constructiveness" through
which Azerbaijan was rejecting the existence of Madrid principles in
2007. I think, Polukhov’s constructiveness can be seen only by himself,
Polukhov," Balayan particularly said.

ARMENIA AND TURKEY: AS RECONCILIATION PROCESS MOVES FORWARD, KARS MONUMENT FUELS CONTROVERSY
Nicholas Birch

htb/articles/eav101609.shtml
10/16/09

Looming on a hilltop overlooking the eastern Turkish city of Kars,
the Monument to Humanity seems like a perfect symbol for the on-going
Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

Two countries moving to put past enmities behind them represented
in thirty meters of concrete: two figures standing face to face,
on the verge of shaking hands.

Rapprochement was certainly the aim of the man who dreamed the
statue up, former Kars mayor Naif Alibeyoglu. First elected in 1999,
he invited Azeri and Armenian artists to Kars, signed sister city
agreements across the region, and campaigned in 2005 to end a 16-year
Turkish embargo on Armenia.

"The statue was my call for peace," Alibeyoglu says. "Prejudices on
both sides are deep, because neither side knows the other. We needed
to break the ice."

That is exactly what Ankara and Yerevan are now trying to do. Signed
this October 10, two protocols put forward a gradual plan for the
normalization of relations. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive]. The protocols foresee full diplomatic relations, the
re-opening of the border, and the setting up of bilateral commissions
on issues ranging from taxes to what drafters call "the historic
dimension." [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The protocols now have to be ratified by both countries’ parliaments
for the peace process to move forward. Judging by the fate of Naif
Alibeyoglu’s monument, the road ahead will be anything but easy.

>>From its inception in 2006, the statue has encountered stiff local
opposition. Some objected to its original name — a Monument to Peace.

Others disapproved of architect Mehmet Aksoy’s plans to have water
running like tears down the front of both figures to merge in a pool
at their feet.

"People were asking which one represented Turkey and which one
Armenia," Aksoy remembers. "That is pure ignorance: this is a monument
against all wars, not one specific one."

The man who led opposition to the statue, local head of the Nationalist
Action Party Oktay Aktas remains skeptical about the project. "Why
is one figure standing with its head bowed, as if ashamed", he
asks. "Turkey has nothing to be ashamed of."

In fact, the two figures are standing straight. But Aktas, an ethnic
Azeri like roughly 20 percent of Kars’ population, insists the
monument is "an Armenian statue" representing Armenia reaching out
to embrace eastern Turkish lands that had a large Armenian minority
until 1915. "I said I would smash the statue down with my own hands,
and I will," he adds.

He may not have to. Last November, responding to his petition, Turkey’s
Commission for Monuments fastened on the fact that Alibeyoglu had built
a viewing platform underneath the statue without planning permission
and ordered it, and the monument, to be demolished.

Its fate now lies with Turkey’s Ministry of Culture.

Today, it stands unfinished. Its three-meter high hand, supposed to
join the two figures, was never attached. It lies fingers up in the
gravel in front. "The decision was 100 per cent political," says
Kars-based architect Ali Ihsan Alinak. "It was the same commission
that gave permission for the statue to be built in the first place."

But it wasn’t just local nationalists like Oktay Aktas that Alibeyoglu
managed to upset. A relatively recent convert to the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) government, the former mayor’s enthusiastic
efforts to improve Kars’ relations with its natural hinterland in
the Caucasus appear to have unnerved his political masters too.

He was shunted out of the party in the run up to municipal elections
this May. Many in Kars say the consulate Azerbaijan opened in the
town in 2004 played an active role in his downfall.

The extreme sensitivity of the Armenian issue has marked Turkish
politics since the rapprochement got under way following the Turkish
President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Armenia last September. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Hopes the protocol would be pushed through quickly were dealt a blow
this May when Turkey’s prime minister said signing was dependent
on a solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Roughly 15 percent
of Azerbaijan’s land has been under Armenian occupation since the
early 1990s.

Turkey now is fudging that condition. But Turks’ natural sympathy for
Azerbaijan remains strong. Some analysts think it could even cause
splits inside the AKP, a coalition of former Islamists, center-right
politicians and nationalists which has enough seats in parliament
to ratify the protocol in the face of opposition from secularist and
nationalist parties.

"This is a very emotional issue," agrees Suat Kiniklioglu, the AKP’s
deputy chairman of external affairs. "What needs to be underlined …

are the improvements a stable southern Caucasus could bring to Turkey’s
European [Union] bid, to its international stature and legitimacy."

In Kars, a town whose economy has been hit by the closure of the
Armenian border just 40 kilometers away, the AKP mayor who has taken
over from Naif Alibeyoglu, Nevzat Bozkus, is confident his party
chiefs will steer the protocol through parliament without mishaps.

Alibeyoglu is less optimistic. "Small-minded people blocked the
monument and they will block the peace process too," he says. "You
wait and see, it will end up like my statue: a statue without hands."

Editor’s Note: Nicolas Birch specializes in Turkey, Iran and the
Middle East.