Author: Karagyozian Lena

ARMENIA SAW TURKISH HOSPITALITY: ERDOGAN

News.am
12:58 / 10/15/2009

Turkey-Armenia rapprochement process started before the football match,
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated before leaving for Iraq,
CNNTurk reports.

"I consider match was held in peaceful atmosphere and Armenia saw
hospitality of Turkish people," Erdogan said.

Yesterday Turkey-Armenia football match took place in Bursa. Armenian
and Turkish Presidents Abdullah Gul and Serzh Sargsyan attended.

The two leaders’ negotiations were held in Almira hotel right before
the match and later dinner was offered in honour of high rank guests.

Despite Armenian team lost 0:2, according to Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandyan "it was something more than just a sport
event." He stated that it has evoked a wide response and inaugurated
the Armenia-Turkey normalization process.

RUBEN HAYRAPETYAN: I DON’T ACCUSE VARDAN MINASYAN OF ARMENIAN TEAM’S DEFEAT

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.10.2009 17:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Following Turkey vs. Armenia qualification match
which ended 2:0, Football Federation President Ruben Hayrapetyan said
he didn’t accuse Armenian team’s chief coach Vardan Minasyan.

"I don’t blame Minasyan since match was taking place on Turkish
ground, and there was serious pressure on our players. All in all,
my impression is not bad, considering that our sportsmen did not
manage to recover themselves after match vs. Spanish team," he said.

Hayrapetyan also noted that Federation was looking for a new coach
and stressed the importance of focusing accent on the development of
youth football.

"We have a very promising generation of young soccer players who can
strengthen our national team, making it competitive," he added

ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS TALK MORE DIPLOMACY THAN FOOTBALL

Hurriyet Daily News
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

In Bursa, the talk of the town for newly arrived Armenian journalists
is not Wednesday evening’s football match between the Armenian and
Turkish national teams. Instead, they discuss the countries’ recent
strides in diplomatic relations and how the progress can be sustained
AFP photo

Football was forgotten Wednesday among the Armenian journalists who
arrived in Bursa to watch the Turkey-Armenia match. Instead, talk
focused on last weekend’s historic signing of protocols to normalize
the countries’ relations, ending decades of enmity.

Speaking to the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review before the
match between the two national teams, neither of which will go to
the World Cup finals, Bedros Ghazaryan said Turkey and Armenia are
passing through a difficult test.

"Yes, the road to be covered is very long, but if we can manage to
turn a new page, it would be a great accomplishment for our peoples,"
Ghazaryan said.

Although the protocols to normalize relations between Turkey and
Armenia were signed, Turkey emphasizes that the border will not be
opened unless the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is solved. The Armenian
government, on the other hand, states that relations should be built
without preconditions.

Ghazaryan said a process is required to solve the problem. "A chance
for consensus between the two peoples is available for the first time
in 94 years; we should not miss that. If Turkey continues to offer
Karabakh as a precondition, the process will be stuck."

One of the most important articles of the protocols is the recognition
by both sides of the countries’ borders. "The borders have been drawn
already; it is meaningless to discuss this and make claims," Ghazaryan
said. "We are living in the 21st century; we should be looking forward,
not backward. Yes, our homeland is not ours anymore. We have to get
used to accepting that.â~@ nians who originated from Anatolia living
in various countries. Ghazaryan pointed to the demonstrations held
by Armenians of the diaspora in recent weeks to protest the Sarkisian
administration and the protocols.

"Armenia is an independent republic; therefore its decisions should
be respected," Ghazaryan said, adding that he is following the Turkish
press closely.

"News on Armenia and the diaspora entering a process of division are
being published in the Turkish press. Such a thing cannot happen; this
is just a Turkish fantasy," he said. "The Armenians of the diaspora
are a part of our body. The children of the genocide survivors that
have been spread throughout the world. Our only request of them is
to support this process, not block it."

‘Our country needs open borders’

Levon Barseghyan, director for Journalists Club Asparez from Armenia’s
second biggest city, Gyumri, was more critical about the diaspora. "We
thank you for your support to Armenia, but our country needs open
borders and democracy in order to be integrated in the world," he said.

Although the dialogue process between Turkey and Armenia seems to
have accelerated under the Sarkisian administration, one of the major
and most important actors of this process is Levon Der Bedrosyan, the
first president of the country. One of Sarkisian’s biggest opponents
in the 2008 elections was Der Bedrosyan, who was running for a second
term. Barseghyan said the Sarkisian administration came into power
through deceit and without the support of the people. Although he
supports the process, he said he does not support Sarkisian.

"Sarkisian may be successful in his politics, but we will not consider
his success as our own because we did not elect him," he said.

Barseghyan said the process is in Armenia’s interests but that the
protocols favor Turkey. "The protocols are in favor of Turkey because
it wants to get rid of its responsibility by founding a commission
of historians [to investigate the events of 1915]," he said.

ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS DISCUSSED IN ROSTOV-ON-DON

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.10.2009 10:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A theoretical and practical conference entitled
"Nakhijevan-on-Don: strategic union of Russian-Armenian relations"
will be held on Rostov on October 15, 2009.

The agenda includes formation of Armenian-Russian diplomatic and
economic relations, the role of Armenian Diaspora in the life of the
city and cooperation between youth organizations.

The event will bring together rectors of Rostov universities,
clergymen and outstanding Armenians of the city, Miasin internet
community reported.

RUSSIA WILL USE NUCLEAR WEAPON

s15540.html
14:32:31 – 14/10/2009

In the changed version of the Russian military doctrine, there is a
provision according to which in case of a danger to the country’s
security, Russia may use nuclear weapon as prevention against the
enemy. In addition, not only in case of wide regional, but also in
case of local conflicts. The secretary of the Russian Security Council
Nikolay Patrushev informs.

HRANT DINK MURDER SUSPECTS ACKNOWLEDGE WEAPON USED

2009/10/13 | 16:33

Region

"I was going to kill a man. I was not going to a wedding
ceremony." Thus was the statement of Ogun Samast, the confessed
murderer of Hrant Dink, when he saw the gun presented before them
during the 11th trial of the case yesterday in an Istanbul Court.Yasin
Hayal, charged as a co-conspirator in the murder case also said,
"I acknowledge 100 percent that this is the gun."

Later Samast took the gun and looked at it. Samast said the gun he
used in the murder had had a problem in its safety lock and that the
gun he was holding in the courthouse had a similar problem. "It was
this gun," he said,

Meanwhile, Fethiye Cetin, the attorney for the Dink family,demanded
the court bring the files of two other important ongoing cases they
alleged to be connected to the Dink case. The first file is for the
Ergenekon gang, a group currently on trial for allegedly plotting to
topple the government by creating turmoil in society. The second file,
meanwhile, concerns the Zirve publishing house case, in which three
missionaries were killed in the southeastern city of Malatya.

RUSSIA INTERESTED IN RA-TURKEY DIALOGUE ESTABLISHMENT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.10.2009 18:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia and Turkey are currently assessing advantages
and disadvantages of bilateral ties’ normalization process, Natalia
Ulchenko , Professor of economics, Head of Turkish research department
at Oriental Studies Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences said at
Yerevan-Ankara-Moscow TV bridge on "New Geopolitical situation in the
East: Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, problems and realities". "It’s
obvious that Ankara, too, will benefit from rapprochement and border
opening, which will promote development of Eastern Anatolia Region,"
she noted.

According to Natalia Ulchenko, Turkey’s eastern region is the least
developed, so the rapprochement will open new perspectives at the
expense of the Armenian market.

"Turkey has repeatedly demonstrated its sound approach in disputable
situations. Normalization process can lead to positive developments
should Turkey support Yerevan with its positive attitude,’ the
Turkologist noted.

According to her, Russia is interested in RA-Turkey dialogue
establishment, as one leading both to economic development and
stabilization of situation in South Caucasus.

GERMAN STEINMEIER HAILED ARMENIA’S AND TURKEY’S EFFORTS

Panorama.am
12:36 12/10/2009

The Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Armenia signed on 10
October two protocols of setting diplomatic ties and of developing
bilateral ties having as a mediator Switzerland, MFA press service
of Germany reported.

In this regard German Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a statement in
Berlin hailing the heroic step the sides have made. "These agreements
create definite perspectives for founding friendly ties based on
mutual understanding and trust."

It has been stated that the event is significant investment for peace,
stability and cooperation in the Caucasus

Turkey, Armenia to Reopen Border

Wall Street Journal
EUROPE NEWSOCTOBER 11, 2009

A WALL STREET JOURNAL NEWS ROUNDUP

ZURICH–Turkey and Armenia signed an accord Saturday to establish diplomatic
relations after a century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-minute snag.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed the agreement in the Swiss
city of Zurich after a late dispute over the final statements they would
make.

Officials said Mrs. Clinton and mediators from Switzerland intervened to
help broker a solution.

The accord is expected to win ratification from both nations’ parliaments
and could lead to a reopening of their border that has been closed for 16
years. But nationalists on both sides are still seeking to derail
implementation of the deal.

Better ties between Turkey, a regional heavyweight, and poor, landlocked
Armenia are a priority for U.S. President Barack Obama. They could help
reduce tensions in the troubled Caucasus region and facilitate its role as a
corridor for energy supplies bound for the West.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was taking steps
with "goodwill" to restore ties with Armenia but that it was keen on seeing
Armenian troops withdrawn from Nagorno Karabakh.

"We are trying to boost our relations with Armenia in a way that will cause
no hard feelings for Azerbaijan," Mr. Erdogan told reporters in Turkey.

Mr. Erdogan said Turkey’s relations with Armenia after the agreement is
signed Saturday will run parallel to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

Switzerland, which mediated six weeks of talks between Turkey and Armenia to
reach the accord, is hosting the signing.

The contentious issue of whether the killing of as many as 1.5 million
Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide
is only hinted at in the agreement, which calls for diplomatic ties for the
first time and the opening of the border within two months.

The foreign ministers of both countries are expected to sign the deal and
both parliaments are expected to ratify it.

Necati Cetinkaya, a deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling Justice and
Development Party, defended the deal, saying "sincere steps that are being
taken will benefit Turkey." He said Turkey is aiming to form friendly ties
with all its neighbors and could benefit from trade with Armenia.

But Yilmaz Ates of the main opposition Republican People’s Party said Turkey
should avoid any concessions.

"If Armenia wants to repair relations…then it should end occupation of
Nagorno Karabakh, that’s it," Mr. Ates said Saturday.

About 10,000 protesters rallied Friday in Armenia’s capital to oppose the
signing.

The agreement calls for a panel to discuss "the historical dimension"–a
reference to the genocide issue–that will include "an impartial scientific
examination of the historical records and archives to define existing
problems and formulate recommendations."

That clause is viewed as a concession to Turkey because Armenia has said
genocide was confirmed by international historians, and further discussion
could lead to deadlock. Turkey denies genocide, contending the toll is
inflated and those killed were victims of civil war.

Another source of dispute is Nagorno Karabakh, an enclave in Azerbaijan that
is occupied by Armenian troops. Turks have close cultural and linguistic
ties with Azerbaijan, which is pressing Turkey for help in recovering its
land. Turkey shut its border with Armenia to protest the Armenian invasion
of Nagorno Karabakh in 1993.

Turkey wants Armenia to withdraw some troops from the enclave area to show
goodwill and speed the opening of their joint border, but Armenia has yet to
agree, said Omer Taspinar, Turkey project director at the Brookings
Institution in Washington.

"We may end up in a kind of awkward situation where there are diplomatic
relations, but the border is still closed," Mr. Taspinar said.

MINSK PROCESS NOT CONNECTED WITH OTHER PROCESSES: OSCE CO-CHAIR FASSIER

Tert.am
11:53 09.10.09

After Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev’s meeting, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs spoke with journalists,
though they didn’t reveal much, claiming that they don’t wish to
repeat the facts known to all.

As Tert.am’s correspondent reports from Kishinev (Chisinau),
asked how linked is the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s settlement with
Armenian-Turkish relations, French OSCE Minsk Group co-chair Bernard
Fassier stated that "the Minsk process and the activities of the OSCE
Minsk Group activities are entirely separate processes which are not
connected with other processes."