Author: Kamalian Hagop

PanArmenian News, Armenia
April 24 2009

Armen Djigarkhanyan: In truth, Obama saying the Genocide word is not
of importance

25.04.2009 17:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ When asked to express his opinion about US President
Barack Obama’s not saying the Genocide word in his April 24 address,
USSR People’s actor Armen Djigarkhanyan replied in a half-joking
manner, `I never met Obama, so I didn’t have a chance discuss the
issue.’

`What we are anticipating at present, is a matter of political
importance. The importance of Obama’s personality is of temporary
nature, while the Armenian Genocide recognition issue has a history of
94 years. The most important thing is our attitude to the current
situation. We are required to approach the matter with an open heart
and sober mind. Emotions won’t be of any use,’ the actor said.

Djikarkhanyan believes that anyone speaking about the Armenian
Genocide should first of all consider his competency with regard to
the matter. At the same time, the great actor expressed confidence
that any Armenian is entitled to demand Genocide recognition and allow
of possibility of diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH AT THE TOP LEVEL

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 22, 2009 Wednesday
Russia

Russia want to take the lead in reconciling Azerbaijan and Armenia

BYLINE: Yevgeny Gospodinov

RUSSIA WILL HOST A MEETING FOR ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN; President
Dmitri Medvedev held talks yestersay with President Ilham Aliyev
of Azerbaijan. Besides energy issues, on which the two countries
have almost no differences, the presidents also discussed the
Nagorno-Karabakh situation.

President Dmitri Medvedev held talks at his Maindorf residence
yestersay with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. Besides energy
issues, on which the two countries have almost no differences, the
presidents also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh situation. Medvedev
promised Aliyev to make every effort to regulate this difficult but
"solvable" problem. But Moscow isn’t getting involved in peacekeeping
just out of the kindness of its heart. According to our sources,
Russia is insistently requesting Aliyev to curtail military technology
cooperation with Georgia.

After noting that cooperation with Azerbaijan is developing quite
rapidly, Medvedev let it be understood that we can cooperate even
more intensively, especially in the gas sector. Aliyev announced
that his country plans to increase oil throughput volumes for the
Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline. Aliyev also thanked Russia for its
attempts to reconcile the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan on
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation.

The Nagorno-Karabakh situation was one of the key issues discussed
by the two presidents at their private meeting. Russia is preparing
to host an Armenian-Azeri summit on Nagorno-Karabakh; it will take
place at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. In the presence of
President Medvedev, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are
supposed to discuss regulation of the long-running conflict, and
(ideally) reach some sort of agreement – as they did last autumn in
Moscow (Serge Sargsian and Ilham Aliyev signed a joint declaration
on Nagorno-Karabakh).

By securing another meeting for the two leaders on Russian territory,
Russia is aiming to confirm its position as the chief mediator between
Baku and Yerevan. Medvedev said as much yesterday: "Russia is prepared
to carry out its own mandate. We have always tried to facilitate
this process, and if such contacts are continued – and there is no
alternative to doing so – I’m sure that this problem can be resolved,
based on the interests of both peoples."

AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL SCIENTIST: RUSSIA KEEPS A WAITING POSITION AROUND THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN AND ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI RELATIONS

Today.Az
ics/51727.html
April 23 2009
Azerbaijan

There is a definite uncertainty in the development of relations
between Moscow and South Caucasus, political scientist Rasim Aghayev
said at the round table "Baku-Moscow have checked time" by results
of the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Moscow Thursday.

"I suppose that the complexity and some uncertainty of the
Azerbaijani-Russian as well as the Russian-South Caucasus relations is
connected with the historical fact that Russia has not yet gained the
scales, weight and a status of the superpower Moscow is now striving
for after escaping from the full collapse threatening to it", noted he.

According to him, Russia today is going through a transitive period,
simultaneously gaining power.

"Therefore, in the current situation that established around the
Turkish-Armenian and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, Moscow keeps
a waiting position and all its efforts are fixed in the formula,
indicated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said Russia
welcomes normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia and
between any other countries", noted he.

According to the political scientist Russia is trying to escape
accusations of any special pressure, influence and so on.

"At the same time the United States stated in open and voiced
their satisfaction with the recent events and with the fact that
the developments have become real owing to Washington’s efforts",
said Aghayev.

THE PATH TO RAPPROCHEMENT
Isabel Gorst

FT
April 23 2009 19:41

Serzh Sarksyan, president of Armenia, told the FT in an interview
earlier this month that the opening of the dialogue with Turkey –
which led to this week’s framework agreement – marked "the biggest
achievement" of his presidency.

An historic deal announced on Wednesday night sets out a road map for
the normalisation of ties between the two countries, paving the way
for the reopening of the Turkish/Armenian border that has isolated
Armenia for almost two decades.

It could also end Armenia’s exclusion from strategic transport projects
to bring Caspian oil and gas across the South Caucasus to the west.

"Our primary concern is to eliminate the feeling of animosity between
Armenia and Turkey to allow us to spend resources on development and
not animosity," Mr Sarkysan told the FT ahead this week’s announcement.

Turkey shut its border with Armenia in 1993 to demonstrate
solidarity with its ally Azerbaijan, which was in a violent conflict
with Armenian-backed separatists over the breakaway enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been under Armenian control since Russia brokered
a fragile ceasefire in 1994, although Azerbaijan has vowed to restore
its territorial integrity.

Mr Sarksyan ruled out any pre-conditions for the rebuilding of
ties with Turkey despite insistence by Turkish officials that the
rapprochement was dependent on resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

He sees no quick fix for the conflict, although a settlement drawn up
by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Minsk
Group offers "a good basis for continuing talks in the region".

Security concerns have so far persuaded investors to bypass Armenia
when building pipelines across the South Caucasus to bring Caspian
oil and gas to the west by a non-Russian route.

Mr Sarksyan said the war between Russia and Georgia last summer
exposed the vulnerability of pipelines in the area, and could provide
an opening for Armenian involvement in energy transit.

"The war in Georgia has demonstrated that alternative routes are a must
in the region, not just for us but for Azerbaijan as well," he said.

European diplomats said Russia, which controls Armenia’s railway and
gas pipeline network, might promote the building of new energy export
routs across the country.

Mr Sarksyan looks back with pride on the football match between
Armenia and Turkey in Yerevan last September which marked the start
of a rapprochement between the two countries.

The match, a suit and tie occasion, was not marred by any spectator
protests, despite Turkey’s win.

"It was our initiative," he said.

Opposition leaders said the government has used the Turkish rapprochem
ent to distract attention from economic and political problems
in Armenia.

Ten people died when police cracked down on street protests that
erupted in Yerevan after Mr Sarksyan won a general election in February
2008 that the opposition says was falsified.

An economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis could
provoke further social unrest.

Falling earnings from commodity exports together with a drop in
remittance payments from Armenian’s working abroad are expected to
drive economic growth to near zero this year from 6.8 per cent in
2008 and 13.8 per cent in 2009.

Nerses Yeritsyan, the economy minister, said the opening of the border
with Turkey would end Armenia’s dependence on Georgia as a land route
to the west and draw more foreign investors to the country.

US MEDIATOR SAYS KARABAKH TALKS HAVE ENTERED ‘NEW PHASE’

Asbarez
/2009_1
Thursday, April 23, 2009

U.S. mediator says that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has entered a
"new phase" after Armenian officials and fellow mediators from France
and Russia discussed the issue in Yerevan.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service in an exclusive interview that "we need to capitalize"
on the progress being made because there is "quite a bit of momentum"
as discussions move to Stepanakert, the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, and Baku in the next week.

Bryza, who is the U.S. co-chair of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group attempting to mediate a
solution to the conflict, said Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev plan to meet on the sidelines of
a May 7 European Union summit in Prague.

Bryza also said that the presidents of France, Russia and the United
States may meet soon to discuss a resolution to the conflict, adding
that such a high-level meeting would help move the negotiations
forward and, at the very least, lead to a framework agreement between
the two hostile states, the Trend news agency reported.

Aliyev said in Russia on April 17 that he hopes the Karabakh conflict
will be settled "rather quickly," and added that "questions that
previously seemed hard to solve have been agreed" upon.

The Deputy US Secretary of State has been engaged in shuttle diplomacy
between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the past few weeks in an effort
to gain an Armenian-Azerbaijani framework agreement.

FEDERATION EURO-ARMENIENNE Pour la Justice et la Démocratie
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel/ Fax: +32 2 732 70 27/26
Website :Eafjd [1]

PRESS RELEASE

THURSDAY 23 APRIL 2009

CONTACT : VARTéNIE ECHO

TEL. / FAX. : +32 (0) 2 732 70 27
DURBAN : GENOCIDE DENIAL IS THE MOST PERVERSE FORM OF RACISM
Durban (South Africa) – The anti-racism conference organized by the
United Nations [4] from April 20th to 24th has just released its final
declaration on the struggle against racism [5]. The declaration
tackles the question of genocides and their necessary recognition.
Hence, article 62 of this declaration `recalls that slavery and
the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, apartheid,
colonialism and genocide must never be forgotten and in this regard
welcomes actions undertaken to honour the memory of victims’.
Article 63 `notes actions of [those] countries that have, in the
context of these past tragedies, expressed remorse, offered apologies,
initiated institutionalized mechanisms such as truth and
reconciliation commissions and/or restituted cultural artifacts since
the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and
calls on those who have not yet contributed to restoring the dignity
of the victims to find appropriate ways to do so’.
`This declaration is a vibrating plea in favour of the necessary
contrition of the criminal States – without which there would be
neither peace, nor justice, nor reconciliation – and a definitive
condemnation of the tortuous and dilatory schemes by which they try to
escape from it’ declared Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the
European Armenian Federation.
The European Armenian Federation recalls that denial partakes to the
crime of genocide, and has no link with freedom of expression, though
it attempts to wear this disguise in order to hide its racist purpose.
In this sense, it constitutes the most perverse form of racism.
Several judgments of the European Court of Human rights insisted on
the social aim of freedom of expression and, thus, on the limitations
which frame it for this purpose.
`In compliance with this final declaration adopted during the
anti-racism conference in Durban, we invite the UN Member States to
urge Turkey to apologise for the Armenian Genocide and that it sets up
the institutional mechanisms which will constitute the premises for
its compensation’ concluded Hilda Tchoboian.
Turkey is the only State in the world which continues an officially
denialist policy directed to the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish State
remains legally and politically responsible for this genocide
according to the International law.

TURKEY RECALLS AMBASSADOR TO CANADA IN GENOCIDE SPAT: DIPLOMAT

Agence France Presse
April 22 2009
France

ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey has recalled its envoy to Canada after Ottawa
reaffirmed its position that Armenians were victims of a genocide
under the Ottoman Empire, officials said Wednesday.

"Our ambassador to Canada has been called to Ankara for comprehensive
evaluations and consultations," foreign ministry spokesman Burak
Ozugergin told AFP, without saying when the envoy, Rafet Akgunay,
would return.

Ankara undertook the move after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper issued a message referring to the killings as "genocide",
and ministers attended commemorations, ahead of April 24, the date
on which Armenians remember the massacres, said a government official
who declined to be named.

"A country hundreds of kilometres away is doing that, threatening to
undermine the (dialogue) process that we have launched with Armenia,"
the Turkish official said.

Reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia gathered steam in
September when President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan,
the first by a Turkish leader, to watch a football match.

The genocide dispute is on the agenda of the talks, along with other
issues such as re-opening the border between the two neighbours and
establishing diplomatic relations.

Ankara argues that third countries will only harm the reconciliation
efforts by taking a side on the genocide dispute.

The incident is the latest diplomatic spat between Ankara and Ottawa
over the issue since the early 2000s when the Canadian Senate and
House of Commons recognised the Armenian killings as genocide.

Much to Turkey’s ire, a number of countries have endorsed Armenian
claims that up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in what was
a genocide from 1915 to 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and says 300,000-500,000 Armenians
and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took
up arms in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian troops.

Interfax, Russia
April 18 2009

Azerbaijan praises Russian stance on N.-Karabakh conflict

BAKU April 18

An aide to Azerbaijan’s president praised a statement by Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev that a future settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be based on international law and on
decisions by the United Nations and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Medvedev’s statement is of special significance, Fuad Akhundov, head
of section at the Azeri president’s office, told Interfax.

"First of all because it is a fair and honest position. Secondly
because, after the Meyendorff meeting [a meeting at Meyendorff Castle,
a Russian presidential retreat outside Moscow] between the three
presidents – Russian, Azeri and Armenian – on November 2 and the
signature of the Moscow declaration at co-chairmanship level, attempts
have been made – quite successful, let’s face it, – to shift emphases
in comments on that document and in interpretations of it," Akhundov
said.

The aide was referring to the co-chairmen of the Minsk Group, an OSCE
body mediating in the conflict, who represent Russia, France and the
United States.

From this standpoint is it extremely important, Akhundov argued, that
Medvedev has taken back all parties to the conflict and all the
mediators to "the initial spirit and letter of the declaration signed
in November, in other words he stressed that, so to speak, it is the
package as a whole and not individual elements of it that are in
force."

Akhundov credited Russia with being the most active and successful
mediator in the conflict and insisted that the other Minsk Group
members support Russia’s efforts.

"This especially applies to the EU [European Union], a highly
influential structure that today lays claim to a new role in our
region and suggests new initiatives and projects. I would like to
point out that the Azeri president [Ilham Aliyev] has put special
emphasis on the positive role of Russia in seeking to settle the
conflict and has expressed gratitude for its attempts to bring the
parties to the conflict closer together," Akhundov said.

as

Public Television of Armenia , Armenia
April 16 2009

Armenian leader discusses ties with Russian, Turkish foreign ministers

Another summit of the foreign ministers of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization [BSEC] was held in Yerevan today. No document
was signed between the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers on the
sidelines of the summit, contrary to expectations. Talks between the
two countries are under way, and perhaps the time is still not ripe
for the signing of a document.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received the Turkish foreign
minister and the participants in the BSEC summit today. Armenia, which
has chaired the organization since October 2008, handed the
chairmanship of the organization to Azerbaijan in Yerevan. The
Armenian president said that Armenia had organized a number of
measures aimed at resolving problems existing in various spheres the
organization deals with, including in the spheres of transport,
communications, energy and medium-sized business. Sargsyan said that
Armenia highly assesses the work of the organization and has done
everything possible to increase its effectiveness during its
chairmanship of the organization.

[Passage omitted: the results of the Yerevan summit were summed up at
the meeting]

The Armenian president also noted that his country has always tried to
establish normal relations with its neighbours. He added that any
problems, including the most difficult ones, can be solved peacefully,
through negotiations and discussions. The president described the
formula of cooperation as peace for cooperation and cooperation for
peace.

Sargsyan also held a separate meeting with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov today. Strategic partnership cooperation between the two
countries, and the Armenian president’s forthcoming visit to Moscow
were discussed at the meeting. They also discussed regional and
international problems at the meeting.

Sargsyan also held a one-to-one meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan today. They discussed normalizing relations between the
two countries.

A SHOW OR STEP TOWARD ARMENIA?

A1+
11:28 am | April 17, 2009

Politics

"Not only will there not be a final agreement on the Turkish-Armenian
border opening before April 24, but this summer as well. The border
will possibly open this September," says Director of the Center for
National and International Studies Richard Kirakosyan.

According to him, the process will get more complicated if no
agreement is made this year. However, the American analyst considers
Turkish Foreign Minister’s visit to Yerevan as a new process in the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

Azerbaijan is trying to take advantage of this process to solve the
Karabakh conflict to its benefit and is trying to keep Turkey away
from opening the border until Armenia returns the liberated lands.

While Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan was in Yerevan for the
session of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation-member countries,
Azeri officials were expressing their complaints to Azeri and Turkish
presses about the possible agreement on the border opening.

Richard Kirakosyan is currently in Istanbul and predicts two scenarios
in this situation.

In the first case scenario, Turkey and Azerbaijan are putting on
a show. In other words, they have no discrepancies and are working
together against Armenia. The second case scenario, which the analyst
considers real, is the following.

Baku and Ankara are radically diverse and in this case, Turkey’s one
step towards Armenia means a step back from Azerbaijan.

Kirakosyan believes that Turkey is changing its policy; in other words,
we are seeing the Turkish interest rather than the Turkish-Azeri or
Turkish-American interest.

"Modern-day Turkey is changing within. There is not one huge force or
faction that is totally against Armenia," says Richard Kirakosyan. Even
the army, which has always had a significant impact on decision-making
in Turkey, views the Turkish-Armenian border opening in Turkey’s
interest. This means that Turkey sees economic stability as the
resolution to the issue of Kurd-populated regions and not through
arms. (But this may be dangerous for Armenia-ed.).

The financial crisis has had both a positive and a negative impact on
the border opening. According to the politician, on the one hand Turk
investors lost the money that they could have invested in Armenia. On
the other hand, opening the border in a time of crisis means an
opportunity to create new trade markets.

Upon the request of "A1+", Mr. Kirakosyan predicted whether the
U.S. President would pronounce the word "genocide" in his April 24
address. The American analyst doesn’t think that Barack Obama will
use the term "genocide" this year considering his recent visit to
Turkey and Americans don’t think it is the right time.

Richard Kirakosyan believes that Turkey’s recognition of genocide
is much more important than U.S. recognition or that of any
other country. After the Turkish-Armenian border opening and the
establishment of diplomatic relations, Kirakosyan forecasts a change
in the mentality of Turks which will eventually lead to recognition
of the Armenian Genocide. But this may happen only through Armenia’s
consistent efforts.