Author: Karagyozian Lena

YAIR AURON: ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PRACTICES DOUBLE-STANDARDS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 21, 2010 – 19:42 AMT 14:42 GMT

An important international symposium on "Armenia-Turkey: How to
Normalize Relations" was held in Paris on April 14. It was organized
by the French Bureau of the Armenian Cause and the Armenian National
Committee of France.

The participants were Dr. Yair Auron, professor of history at Open
University, Israel: Auron has for many years been a staunch supporter
of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and a strong critic of
its denial by the Israeli government.

Auron also spoke about discussions held in the Israeli Parliament on
the Armenian Genocide in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Each time, the Israeli
government opposed the issue. He expects a similar rejection later
this month when the issue is raised in Knesset once again, Harut
Sassounian, The California Courier published reported.

Auron specifically pointed out the double-standard practiced by
Israel. "The state of Israel continues to struggle against Holocaust
denial on one hand, but participates in the denial of another genocide
on the other," he said. "This most likely will damage the struggle
against Holocaust denial in the future. One might view this attitude
as a moral failure. We have to remember that moral claims can have
influence only if they are consistent. … Everyone would agree that
Israel has no right to bargain with the memory of the Holocaust. But,
even more, it has no right-by no means, in any circumstance, and much
less so than any other country-to bargain with the memory of another
victim group. And yet Israel did just that with the Armenian Genocide.

Israel is contributing to the process of genocide denial and by doing
so, it also betrays the memory and the legacy of the Holocaust."

DAVUTOGLU IN BAKU FOR TALKS ON ARMENIA TIES

Today’s Zaman
April 20 2010
Turkey

Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a territorial dispute
between the two which complicates Armenia and Turkey’s efforts to
normalize their relations were at the heart of Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu’s talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Monday.

"Through this visit, we will be reinforcing [Ambassador Feridun]
Sinirlioglu’s earlier talks in Baku. There has been an acceleration
regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute recently, and this momentum has
been reflected on the international stage. We held multidimensional
talks in Washington. I will explain [to Aliyev] what happened in
Washington word for word," Davutoglu said on Monday, while speaking to
a group of journalists on board a plane en route to Baku from Ankara.

The minister had already announced that he planned to visit Baku on
Monday while speaking at a press conference at the Turkish Embassy
in Washington on Thursday. Davutoglu, who accompanied Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a nuclear security summit in the US capital
last Monday and Tuesday, stayed in Washington after Erdogan’s departure
and had talks with senior US officials.

Davutoglu’s visit is apparently aimed at highlighting Ankara’s
determination to keep Baku informed regarding every step of Turkey’s
normalization process with Armenia.

The minister’s remarks while traveling to Baku referred to the fact
that only days before his talks with Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan
and US President Barack Obama and before Davutoglu’s meeting with
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Washington, Erdogan
sent Sinirlioglu, a Foreign Ministry undersecretary, on successive
visits first to Yerevan and then to Baku as his special envoy.

"We are testing the waters in every country in the Caucasus. Now
everybody has the conviction that this problem [the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute] should be resolved," Davutoglu went on to say.

On Thursday in Yerevan, the day when Davutoglu announced his Baku
visit, the official website of Armenian President Sarksyan announced
that he will pay a short working visit to Moscow on April 20, today,
and hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The latter
had a bilateral meeting with Erdogan while in Washington.

Russia, along with France and the United States, is one the three
co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has striven to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a territorial conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

"Russia’s contributions are very important and it has been making a
significant contribution," Davutoglu said, recalling that Medvedev
will pay an official visit to Turkey next month.

Referring to Erdogan’s meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy
earlier this month as well as his meetings with Obama and Medvedev,
namely the heads of states of the three co-chairs of the Minsk process,
Davutoglu added, "A picture has emerged; we will share this picture
with the Azerbaijani authorities."

In Ankara, while addressing a parliamentary group meeting of his
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Monday, Erdogan
explained that during his talks with Sarksyan, "while emphasizing
Turkey’s sincerity on the point of implementing the protocols and
normalizing relations with Armenia," he also told him that "Armenia
should show the same sincerity as well."

"Additionally, we underlined the fact that relations between Armenia
and Azerbaijan and reaching a resolution over rayons [administrative
units greater than a district but smaller than a province which
surround the Nagorno-Karabakh region] will be determining factors in
implementing the protocols," Erdogan added.

Davutoglu, meanwhile, cautioned that imposing deadlines regarding the
Nagorno-Karabakh resolution process was not appropriate: "The process
should run its natural course. Changing the status quo is not easy."

TURKISH INTELLECTUALS CALL ON TURKISH SOCIETY TO COMMEMORATE VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

armradio.am
20.04.2010 16:39

In a written address called "This is Our Pain. This is a Mourning
for All of Us" a group of Turkish intellectuals calls on Turkish
soceity to rally at 7pm on April 24 on the Taksim square in Istanbul
to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. the
address runs as follows:

"In 1915, when we had a population of only 13 million people, there
were 1,5 to 2 million Armenians living on this land. In Thrace,
in the Aegean, in Adana, in Malatya, in Van, in Kars…In Samatya,
in Å~^iÅ~_li, in the Islands, in Galata…

They were the grocer in our neighborhood, our tailor, our goldsmith,
our carpenter, our shoemaker, our farmhand, our millwright, our
classmate, our teacher, our officer, our private, our deputy, our
historian, our composer…Our friend. Our next-door neighbours and
our companion in bad times. In Thrace, in the Aegean, in Adana, in
Malatya, in Van, in Kars…In Samatya, in Å~^iÅ~_li, Ä°n the Islands,
in Galata…

On April 24th, 1915 they were "rounded up". We lost them. They are
not here anymore. A great majority of them do not exist anymore. Nor
do their graveyards. There EXISTS the overwhelming "Great Pain" that
was laid upon the qualms of our conscience by the "Great Catastrophe".

It’s getting deeper and deeper for the last 95 years.

We call upon all peoples of Turkey who share this heartfelt pain
to commemorate and pay tribute to the victims of 1915 in black,
in silence, with candles and flowers..

For this is OUR pain. This is a mourning for ALL OF US."

MEDVEDEV TO DISCUSS COOPERATION WITH TWO EX-SOVIET LEADERS

RIA Novosti
April 20, 2010
MOSCOW

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will hold on Tuesday two separate
meetings with leaders of Armenia and Uzbekistan to discuss a wide
range of cooperation issues.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov arrived in Russia on a two-day official
visit to Monday, and already had an informal meeting with Medvedev
in Barvikha. The official program of the visit will begin on Tuesday.

"The signing of a range of bilateral documents intended to strengthen
cooperation between the two states in various spheres is expected to
take place during the talks," an Uzbek presidential spokesman has said.

Russia is one of Uzbekistan’s major trade partners and accounts for
20% of the country’s foreign trade. Bilateral trade stood at some
$4.5 billion in 2009.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will pay a brief working visit to
Russia on Tuesday on an invitation from the Russian president.

"The talks will touch upon a wide range of topical issues of
Russian-Armenian partnership," a Kremlin source said.

Russia is Armenia’s main trade partner and, despite a decrease in
bilateral trade which stood at $723.2 million in 2009, remains the
country’s main foreign investor. Russian investments account for
almost 60% of the country’s foreign investment.

Armenia has almost no proven reserves of oil or natural gas and
currently imports nearly all of it from Russia.

"Russian companies completely meet Armenia’s demand of natural gas and
nuclear fuel supplies. Large joint projects in gas and nuclear energy
spheres are being carried out successfully," a Kremlin source said.

Earlier in April, Russia and Armenia have approved the charter of
a joint venture to build a new unit of the Metsamor Nuclear Power
Plant, with a capacity of approximately 1,000 mW. The construction
is scheduled to begin in early 2011, and new unit is to be put into
operation until 2017.

The talks are also expected to discuss the issue of Nagorny Karabakh,
an ethnically Armenian region in Azerbaijan, which has had de facto
independence since a brutal war between the South Caucasus neighbors
in the early 1990s.

Russia, along with the U.S. and France comprises the Minsk Group
which mediates Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in the region since the war in
early 1990s, which claimed more than 30,000 lives on both sides.

AZERBAIJAN ACCEPTS IRAN’S KARABAKH MEDIATION OFFER

news.az
April 19 2010
Azerbaijan

Manouchehr Mottaki Azerbaijan has accepted Iran’s offer of mediation
over the Karabakh conflict, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki has said.

Tehran is concerned about the Karabakh conflict, he told a press
conference yesterday.

‘We have tried to resolve this issue at different conferences and
during discussion of regional issues. We believe the Caucasus cannot
carry this burden. The Caucasus is not a place for conflicts. Peace
must be established here. Crisis and wars affect political and economic
issues, including security. As an Islamic state we have declared our
readiness to assist both Azerbaijan and Armenia in the resolution
of this conflict. We believe in a fair resolution of the Karabakh
conflict through negotiations.’

Mottaki said that he had proposed assistance in resolving the Karabakh
conflict to the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan. He said
Azerbaijan had responded positively to the proposal, while Armenia
had yet to respond.

‘We can organize a meeting in Tehran at the level of the foreign
ministers of the three countries and discuss the conflict settlement.

Azerbaijan has responded positively to this proposal and agreed to it.

We are still waiting for Armenia’s response. We maintain fraternal
and friendly relations with Azerbaijan. The meetings of the foreign
ministers of the two countries promote ties. We have the same
position on the implementation of energy and other economic projects,’
Mottaki said.

In December, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan ruled out Iran’s
possible participation as a mediator on the Karabakh settlement. He
told reporters that the mediation format, led by the OSCE’s Minsk
Group, would not change.

Mottaki told the press conference: ‘Azerbaijan’s existence in
conditions of security means to us the development and security
of Iran. There are no restrictions in the development of
Azerbaijani-Iranian ties.’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
APril 18 2010

Premier ErdoÄ?an describes proposal of Baykal as "too diluted and unserious"

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an on Saturday described
proposal of Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairman on constitutional
amendment package as "too diluted and unserious."

Responding to questions in a private TV channel, ErdoÄ?an said works on
the constitutional amendment actually had started in 2007 by
academicians, and later jurists and NGOs were included in the process.

"There was a consensus in Turkey that 1982 Constitution had to change.
We made a call to the parties in the parliament to amend the
constitution however they did not respond affirmatively,"he said.

ErdoÄ?an said it was Parliament which would discuss constitutional
amendment. "Why does not CHP make a call to the Parliament Speaker for
talks on the amendment but does it to the President. Mr. Baykal is
trying to pull our President to the arena."

ErdoÄ?an said they would make an overall constitutional change after
2011, when they got the authority from the nation. "We will base an
important part of our election campaign on this to get the authority."

ErdoÄ?an said that there has never been such an opposition which
disturbed the Constitiunal Court so much. He said, "CHP took such
steps that it turned the Constitutional Court into its own reception
hall."

"AK Party consider constitutional amendment process an important step
of national unity and fraternity project," he said.

ErdoÄ?an said EU member countries and the United States followed the
works on constitutional amendment, noting that some countries
commended the efforts after examining the studies.

Asked about his expectations from the voting of the constitutional
amendment bill and referendum, ErdoÄ?an said there would not be an open
voting in the parliament and added that AK Party expected support from
all the parties.

ErdoÄ?an said he thought that the constitutional package would upgrade
Turkey’s democratic standards and give self confidence.

Commenting on the investments of international capital in Turkey,
ErdoÄ?an said many international organizations were getting ready to
invest in Turkey.

"I believe that Turkey will attract a serious capital from the Gulf
countries. International market sees Turkey as a country of confidence
and stability. 2010 will definitely be ahead of 2009 in inflow of
foreign capital."

ErdoÄ?an estimated Turkey’s global market to amount to 30 billion USD
in 2012 and 2013.

Asked about opening of border pass with Armenia, ErdoÄ?an said, "Turkey
is committed to pacta sunt servanda within the framework of
international law. We support what has been told in Zurich. We can not
make deviation from there."

18 April 2010, Sunday
THE ANATOLIA NEWS AGENCY ANKARA

Congressional Armenian Caucus 150 members strong

April 17, 2010 – 11:13 AMT 06:13 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

On the heels of last month’s approval of H. Res. 252 the Armenian
Genocide resolution by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the
Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Niki Tsongas (D-MA) and Jim Matheson
(D-UT) joined the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, bringing
the number of members to 150, the Armenian National Committee of
America told PanARMENIAN.Net

In January of this year, Congresswoman Chu met with her
Armenian-American constituents and Assembly Western Region Director
Yeghig Keshishian, where she pledged to cosponsor H. Res. 252 and join
the Caucus.

Last month, Congresswoman Tsongas, an original cosponsor of H. Res.
252, joined the Armenian Caucus after meeting with ARAMAC-MA State
Chair Herman Purutyan and fellow Armenian-American constituents. "I am
fortunate to represent a large Armenian community in the Merrimack
Valley and as a member of the Armenian Caucus I look forward to
continuing to promote the mutual interests of our two countries and
celebrate our rich shared history," said Congresswoman Niki Tsongas.
"I will also continue to work to see that the mass murders committed
by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians are appropriately
recognized as genocide through the passage of the long-overdue
Armenian genocide resolution in Congress."

ERDOGAN, OBAMA HOLD ‘CONSTRUCTIVE’ TALKS ON IRAN NUKE DISPUTE, ARMENIA

Today’s Zaman
April 15 2010
Turkey

The meeting between Erdogan and Obama lasted 45 minutes instead of
the scheduled 15.

US President Barack Obama has urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan to maintain Turkey’s constructive contribution, initiative
and efforts to achieve a solution to Iran’s nuclear standoff.

Prime Minister Erdogan had a meeting with US President Obama on Tuesday
on the sidelines of two-day, 47-nation nuclear security summit in
Washington. The leaders reportedly discussed many subjects during
the meeting, while the topics of Iran and Armenia were addressed
in particular, the Anatolia news agency reported. While Erdogan
briefed Obama on Turkey’s activities to advance peace in the Middle
East and the Caucasus, the leaders agreed to continue to pursue
the work undertaken by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with respect to the peace process
in the Caucasus.

The Turkish prime minister also stated his views on Iran’s nuclear
imbroglio and reiterated Turkey’s stance of opting for a diplomatic
solution instead of imposing new sanctions. The US president,
in response, reportedly said they are watching Turkey’s activities
directed toward diplomacy and peace with appreciation and that he also
wanted Turkey to stay on course in order to make progress and reach
a solution concerning Iran. Contrary to speculation that the meeting
would be tense due to "genocide" allegations, it lasted 45 minutes
instead of the scheduled 15 and was held in an amiable atmosphere.

TURKISH FM DAVUTOGLU TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN FOR CONSULTATIONS

Tert.am
16.04.10

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a second meeting with
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in the framework of the World
Nuclear Security Summit in Washington from April 12-13.

At a press conference following the meeting Davutoglu said that they
discussed Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, Iranian nuclear program,
as well as issues relating to the Caucasus.

"We are determined to continue the normalization with Armenia and have
informed about it both Armenian and American colleagues. I am going
to leave for Azerbaijan on Monday. I will visit also Iran during the
meeting," Davutoglu had said.

Referring to the visit to Baku he said: "In Azerbaijan I will discuss
with Ilham Aliyev the meetings that took place here [in Washington]
and the details related to them. Besides, we will consult our steps
to be taken in the future."

"Relations with Armenia are of great importance to us. But at the
same time we attach importance also to the settlement of the conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We want that all these processes
contribute to the establishment of stability and peace in the region,"
added Davutoglu.

RUSSIA AND ARMENIA ENHANCE BILATERAL RELATIONS

RIA Oreanda
April 14 2010
Russia

Moscow. OREANDA-NEWS . April 14, 2010. Minister of Foreign Affairs of
the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov met in Washington with Minister
of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Edward Nalbandian on
April 13.

The heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the two countries
discussed a number of practical aspects of bilateral relations and of
collaboration within the UN and the OSCE, along with the situation
in the region, including the problem of Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement.