Author: Karakhanian Suren

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
March 18, 2010

Turkish PM Threatens to Expel Illegal Armenian Workers

BYLINE: Grace Annan

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to expel
illegal Armenian workers from the country if he sees it necessary. He
made this statement during his interview with the Turkish branch of
the BBC, stressing that there were 170,000 Armenians in Turkey, of
which 100,000 were not Turkish citizens, thus freeing the government
from having to host them. Erdogan further described the non-Turkish
Armenians as negatively affecting the state’s attitude by pushing for
worldwide recognition of the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey as genocide.

Significance:The last few weeks have been difficult for the Turkish
government with regards to relations with Armenia, and the strain is
starting to show. Erdogan’s populist remarks are part of a wider
effort by the government to assert itself in the discussion about the
right description of the mass killings, and have led to a run-in with
the Swedish parliament (seeTurkey – Sweden – Armenia: 12 March 2010:).
Civil society organisations question Erdogan’s figures: according to
the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, there are 12-15,000 illegally
working Armenians in Turkey, of whom over 90% are women doing menial
tasks and working in shops. Further, the study stresses that Turkish
officials have deported a very low number of Armenians, most of whom
were deported not for illegally working, but for other crimes.
Erdogan’s comments are a mere verbal retaliation at recent events, but
are unlikely to be followed up by mass deportations, given the
popularity of cheap labour from Armenia in Turkey.

TURKISH OPPOSITION CRITICIZES ERDOGAN’S STATEMENT ABOUT POSSIBLE DEPORTATION OF ARMENIANS

Arminfo
2010-03-19 11:27:00

ArmInfo. Leader of the oppositional Republican People’s party of
Turkey Deniz Baykal, known as a vocal opponent of signing of the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols, criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayip Erdogan’s statement about possible deportation of Armenians.

According to the Turkish mass media, Baykal said it was unacceptable
to use the people coming to work in Turkey as the tool of pressure
in the solution of any dispute. "It is against the human rights and
can not be accepted", the oppositionist said.

To recall, in an interview with BBC in London, R. Erdogan threatened
to deport illegal citizens of Armenia from the country’s territory.

"Ankara has so far tolerated the presence of 70,000 Armenians working
illegally in Turkey. So what will I do tomorrow? If necessary, I will
tell them ‘come on, back to your country’… I’m not obliged to keep
them in my country", Erdogan said.

To note, Republican People’s party of Turkey argued against
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and demanded to
recall the protocols signed with Armenia from the parliament. At the
initial stage of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations,
Baykal called the actions by Erdogan and Gul deceitful with respect to
"brother Azerbaijan".

AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL BACKS TURKISH PM’S ARMENIAN COMMENTS

news.az
March 18 2010
Azerbaijan

Ali Hasanov The Turkish government and PM spoke in line with their
country’s interests and were right to do so, an Azerbaijan presidential
official has said.

Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned about the possible
deportation of 100,000 illegal migrants from Armenia in an interview
with the BBC.

The more Turkey helps Armenia, the wider the anti-Turkish policy of
Armenians becomes, Ali Hasanov, head of the public policy department of
Azerbaijan’s presidential administration, told reporters on Wednesday.

He thinks that in this anti-Turkish campaign Armenia will lose as
much as Turkey.

Erdogan made these remarks in response to a question about Ankara’s
reaction to the adoption of resolutions recognizing the killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as ‘genocide’ in the parliaments of
a number of countries.

Turkey recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Stockholm after
the adoption of resolutions in the US House of Representatives Foreign
Affairs Committee and in the Swedish parliament.

‘DO WE REALLY REMEMBER THE ARMENIANS?’

Watertown TAB & Press
story/x427973497/-Do-We-Really-Remember-the-Armeni ans
March 18 2010
MA

WATERTOWN — Tufts University, the Darakjian-Jafarian Chair in Armenian
History, the Department of History and the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research will sponsor the annual Commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide at Tufts on Tuesday, April 6, at 7 p.m. The
Tufts Day of Remembrance will feature a talk by former Massachusetts
Governor Michael S. Dukakis and Kitty Dukakis, "Do We Really Remember
the Armenians?"

The commemoration and lecture will take place in Goddard Chapel on
Tufts’ Medford campus. A reception will follow in the Coolidge Room
in nearby Ballou Hall.

Michael S. Dukakis, the son of Greek immigrants, studied law at Harvard
University and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives
from 1963 to 1970. He was governor from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to
1991. In 1988, he was the Democratic nominee for president. Currently
Dukakis is professor of political science at Northeastern University
and visiting professor in the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social
Research.

Kitty Dukakis has served on the President’s Commission on the
Holocaust, on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, on the
board of the Refugee Policy Center and on the Task Force on Cambodian
Children.

‘ALL AZERBAIJANIS’ TO TAKE PART IN KARABAKH REFERENDUM

news.az
March 18 2010
Azerbaijan

Elmar Mammadyarov Azerbaijan’s foreign minister has made clear that
a referendum on the status of Karabakh would have to be held in
Azerbaijan as a whole.

The referendum on the status of the disputed territory is one of the
stages of a peace settlement, as set out in the Madrid principles
for resolving the conflict.

The principles were put forward by the foreign ministers of the
countries co-chairing the Minsk Group of mediators at the OSCE summit
in Madrid in 2007. An updated version of the principles put forward in
late 2009 has been the subject of discussions between the mediators,
Armenia and Azerbaijan ever since.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov outlined Baku’s position
on the settlement process at a joint press conference with the visiting
Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Baconschi, today.

‘Under the Constitution of Azerbaijan, if the territory of the country
is at issue, a referendum is held throughout the country and voting
involves all citizens,’ Mammadyarov said.

The minister said Azerbaijan had accepted some points in the updated
version of the Madrid principles, but some points needed further work.

‘If Armenia accepts the Madrid principles and the sides start to work
on a major peace agreement, then both the Azerbaijani and Armenian
communities of Nagorno-Karabakh can join the peace talks. At the
present stage, only Azerbaijan and Armenia are participating in the
negotiations,’ Mammadyarov said.

Mammadyarov said that before the status of Nagorno-Karabakh could be
decided, the Azerbaijani community had to return home. ‘Azerbaijanis
must co-exist with Armenians and only after that can status be
determined via negotiations. This is a long process. It cannot
be determined within a day. If the Armenian side agrees and the
Azerbaijani community returns to Nagorno-Karabakh, we will find answers
to these questions within the framework of a special committee.’

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: ANKARA HAMPERS ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2010 20:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During his speech in Berlin, Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian accused Turkey with hampering bilateral
relations, Deutsche Welle reported.

After a meeting with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Edward
Nalbandian delivered a speech for German foreign policy council,
presenting official Yerevan’s position on Karabakh conflict and
Armenia-Turkey rapprochement.

Following Edward Nalbandian’s speech, representatives of Turkish
and Azeri Embassies in Germany felt it in their duty to present
"refutations" and "amendments". Turkish diplomat was zealous in
producing dates, citations, paragraphs, references to legal resolutions
and reports of various negotiations and conferences.

According to Deutsche Welle, "Armenian minister won the round. With
his composure and imperturbability, Armenian minister emphasized the
peacefulness and tolerance of Armenian Government, still managing to
adhere to his position."

DAVUTOGLU SPEAKS OUT AGAINST DEPORTING ARMENIANS LIVING IN TURKEY WITHOUT STATUS

Tert.am
15:01 â~@¢ 16.03.10

To deport citizens of Armenia living illegally in Turkey means to
give a "winning card" to those countries who come out against Turkey,
said Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu during a
closed-door meeting of the foreign affairs committee of Turkey’s Grand
National Assembly, responding to opposition People’s Republican Party
MP Canan Arıtman’s earlier statements which suggested deporting all
Armenian citizens.

"Such a step would become a winning card in the hands of those
countries who are against us. In addition, all of the world’s
countries’ papers will publish articles about deported Armenians. A
nationalist image would form, [and] Turkey will be in a more difficult
situation," said Davutoglu.

As for the signed protocols, he noted that Ankara does not intend to
withdraw them from parliament, reports News.az.

"Everything is good in its time. We should not make decisions that
may further harm our interests. But we will protect our national
interests more energetically and let everyone know about it. We will
use these protocols as a tool," said Davutoglu, according to Turkish
news source Sabah.

The foreign minister also spoke out against closing t he US military
base in Incirlik, saying that such a step in today’s changed political
landscape and state of affairs will have no effect whatsoever.

ARMENIA REPORTS NEW CASE OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER 16 MAR 2010

PigProgress.net
March 16 2010

Armenia has reported an outbreak of African Swine Fever, according
to reports of the International Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The farm is located in the region of North Yerevan. Information was
submitted at March 13 by Dr Grisha Baghiyan, CVO, State Food Safety
and Veterinary Inspectorate, Armenian ministry of agriculture.

The first date of confirmation of the event was on March 4, 2010. The
last notification of the disease in Armenia was on February 2008.

ASF outbreaks

Armenia had a significant, sustained outbreak of African Swine Fever
from August 2007 to May 2008 covering nine administrative divisions.

It began with 16 cases in May 2007, then 13 cases in June, 12 in July,
then peaked with 20 in August 2007 and continued with 10, 8, 10, 2,
4, 1 in subsequent months.

Additionally, Russia has reported two separate cases of African Swine
Fever within the last month. Russia had declared their 2007 outbreak
to be over in June of 2009. There was widespread dissemination in
Georgia, Armenia and Russia starting 2007 resulting in unprecedented
losses of animals from this disease, which hadn’t been seen in the
region for decades.

reports-new-case-of-african-swine-fever-4029.html

AZERBAIJANI FM COMMENTS ON DECISION BY SWEDISH PARLIAMENT

news.az
March 15 2010
Azerbaijan

Elmar Mammadyarov Elmar Mammadyarov has commented on the decision by
the Swedish parliament to recognize the so-called "Armenian genocide".

‘As is known, the Azerbaijani FM has already declared its position
on this issue. The situation has earlier emerged when the Committee
on external ties of the US Congress had already passed a similar
resolution against which we have expressed our discontent’.

The due statement came from Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov at a
joint news conference at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry by results
of a bilateral meeting with Slovakian FM Miroslav Laijac asking the
question about the Turkish journalist regarding the decision of the
Swedish parliament regarding the so-called "Armenian genocide".

‘We have already said that if the parliamentarians of any country
consider it necessary to assess the events that occurred 100 years ago,
they should also give a fair assessment to the situation establish in
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, continuing occupation of Azerbaijani
lands, ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijan’s displaced persons and
Khojaly genocide. If this assessment is given, it will be possible
to speak of the just attitude of parliamentarians to these issues’,
Mammadyarov said.

INTEL WORLD AHEAD PROGRAM PRESENTED IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2010 15:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Intel World Ahead comprehensive program, aimed
to ensure wide access to up-to-date technology, communications and
education, was presented in Yerevan on March 15.

Principal Education Architect for the program, Mr. Robert Fogel said
the program has three main directions: education, health and business
development.

"The purpose of my arrival is to examine the specificity of Armenia and
understand what will be useful here. At the next stage, a memorandum
with the government of Armenia will be signed," Mr. Fogel told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

The memorandum is expected to cover education, health and electronic
governance systems. Mr. Fogel is scheduled to meet with Armenia’s
ministers of economy and education, to visit schools and universities
in Yerevan.

According to Armen Baldryan, Director General of Unicomp, Intel’s
prime partner in Armenia joint pilot projects have already been
discussed to be carried out within coming six months in the country.

"The government of Armenia and Intel are optimistic. Of course, we
need to address the issue of resources, but a lot can be achieved
through our joint efforts," Mr. Baldryan said.

"Cooperation in IT research is also projected," said Bagrat
Yengibaryan, director of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation.

Intel has been long working with government agencies, industry,
individuals and organizations in various fields. Intel has businesses
in more than 1,300 cities in 112 countries worldwide. Over the next
five years, the corporation plans to invest over a billion dollars in
the frames of World Ahead program aimed to provide wireless broadband
Internet access to a billion end-users, to train 10 million teachers in
modern technology, who will pass their skills to one billion students.