Author: Kharatian Ani

AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: RESOLUTION ABOUT FALSE "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" TO BE DISCUSSED IN CONGRESS IS NOT IN U.S INTERESTS

Trend
Feb 24 2010
Azerbaijan

Submission of the resolutions related to false "Armenian genocide"
to the U.S. Congress’s consideration is not in the interests of this
country, the chairman of the Azerbaijani parliamentary committee said.

"In this region, the main U.S. ally is Turkey. The adoption of
the resolution No 252 about false Armenian genocide can seriously
damage U.S. relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan", Azerbaijani
parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and interparliamentary
relations chairman Samad Seyidov said in an interview with the website
of the New Azerbaijan Party.

The claim about the "Armenian genocide" is a statement about the mass
extermination of Armenians living in Anatolia during the World War I.

Turkey considers the events as the Armenian-Turkish confrontation.

According to Seyidov, it is known that this document will be submitted
for discussion under the influence of Armenian lobby. "But congressmen
also know how important relations with Turkey for U.S. So I would
like to believe that the U.S. Congress will not adopt the document,"
chairman of the committee said.

ROA AMBASSADOR TO U.N. REMINDS SECRETARY GENERAL OF SUMGAIT, BAKU POGROMS

2010 /02/24 | 12:36

Politics

On the occasion of the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait and Baku, RoA
Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Karen Nazaryan,
addressed a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

In his letter, Ambassador Nazaryan said that, "Azerbaijan continues
presenting itself as a victim of so-called Armenian aggression,
distorting the tragic events known to the whole world."

The letter notes that the international community has confirmed the
atrocities of the Azerbaijani government against the unprotected
Armenian population residing in its territory . "In response to the
peaceful and constitutional demand of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to
realize their right for self-determination, the Azerbaijani authorities
armed the mob, which perpetrated a massacre of Armenians in Sumgait
in 1988. This was the first case of mass killing on the territory of
the Soviet Union. Immediately after Azerbaijan gained independence,
the murderers were set free and declared national heroes."

"It should finally become clear that Azerbaijan launched military
aggression against Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia is confident that the
best solution in this situation is to restore the legal demand of
the people of Nagorno Karabakh to realize the right of peoples to
self-determination.," Ambassador Nazaryan concludes.

NA PASSES THE AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW ON INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AT FIRST READING
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
24.02.2010 18:33

The Armenian National Assembly has passed amendments in the RA Law on
International Agreements at first reading . Taking into consideration
the urgency of the issue, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian proposed
to hold the second hearing within 24 hours.

"The bill submitted by the government is essential but insufficient.

It empowers the government to deal with the Armenian-Turkish process
but keeps the parliament aside. We are convinced that the National
Assembly should be fully engaged in the process to make Armenia’s
foreign policy more flexible and prevent Turkey from imposing
preconditions," said Armen Rustamyan, head of the parliamentary
committee on foreign affairs.

Members of Government keep insisting that the legislative initiative is
not clearly linked to the Armenian-Turkish protocols. It is applicable
to all international agreements and gives flexibility to the Armenian
diplomacy.

NA SHOULD GIVE POLITICAL ASSESSMENT

02/22/stepan-safaryan
06:37 pm | February 22, 2010

Politics

"The National Assembly should give a political assessment to the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols signed with numerous procedural violations,"
Chairman of the Heritage Faction Stepan Safaryan announced today.

He reminded that the Protocols had been forwarded from one institute
to another "to remove blemishes from them."

Stepan Safaryan also noted that the Constitutional Court only
considered the conformity of the Protocols with the country’s Organic
Law without any reference to the procedural violations.

In his speech ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Chairman Vahan Hovhannisyan said that
the CC had clarified the contents of the Protocols – establishment
of diplomatic ties and border reopening. Mr. Hovhannisyan also added
that the Protocols should be viewed with the CC decision including
the preamble.

"As any other structure in the country, the Constitutional Court has
a long path to pass, hence one needn’t take a CC decision as genuine
truth," he said.

NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan listened to all speeches without any
remark.

A NEW MILITARY COUP IN TURKEY COULD DERAIL PROTOCOLS, SAYS EXPERT

Asbarez
in-turkey-could-derail-protocols-says-expert/
Feb 23rd, 2010

YEREVAN (Combined Sources)-There is an internal war being waged in
Turkey between its secular military and Islamist rooted government
and that conflict may prompt another military coup in the country,
a leading Armenian expert on Turkey said Tuesday, adding that the
increased tension may bring an end to the Western-backed Turkey-Armenia
normalization process.

"There is an internal war taking place in Turkey," said Ruben
Safrastyan, the director of the Oriental Studies Institute at Armenia’s
Academy of Sciences. He was referring to the ongoing Ergenekon
investigation, launched in 2007, against a clandestine group with
links to the army accused of seeking to topple the Islamist government.

Speaking to reporters in Yerevan, Safrastyan, was quoted by Armenian
Public Radio as saying that recent developments in the Ergenekon
case could likely lead to a fifth attempt at a military takeover and
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would try and "use
this situation to continue dragging out the process of ratification
of the Armenian-Turkish protocols."

"The possibility of a military coup is not great, but if there is one,
there will be a lot of victims," he said. "Under these circumstances
would the US continue pressuring Turkey to ratify the protocols?"

"Washington may understand that the Armenian-Turkish relations may
further strain the situation and I do not rule out the possibility that
they may stop pressuring the government to ratify its agreements with
Armenia," Safrastyan said, adding that the US is "closely watching the
developments in Turkey" and could intervene in "one way or another"
if it escalates.

The Turkish military sees itself as the guardian of the pro-Western,
secular, form of government established by the Turkish Republic’s
founder, Kemal Ataturk. The army has overthrown elected governments
four times in the country’s modern history (1960, 1971, 1980, 1997),
imposing or re-imposing its own brand of political correctness on
the nation.

The AKP party this week dramatically upped the stakes in its showdown
with the military by detaining more than 50 current and former military
commanders. The detentions have electrified Turkey as the most sweeping
move to date by the AK to redefine the Turkish republic by challenging
the traditional dominance of the military.

On February 22, 21 generals were detained, including former navy chief
Admiral Ozden Ornek, former air force chief General Ibrahim Firtina,
and former 1st Army commander General Ergin Saygun. Most of the others
detained were colonels. The arrests are linked to a plan by Ergenekon
members to carry out a military coup against the party in 2003.

Code-named "Balyoz" (Sledgehammer), the plot allegedly involved
plans to spark unrest by bombing two major mosques in Istanbul and
staging an assault on a military museum by attackers disguised as
Islamic fundamentalists.

Safrastyan said the growing clampdown has broken the unity of Turkey’s
military. He did not, however, give concrete predictions of what he
thought would unfold as a result. "The processes are still developing,
and today it’s hard to say what is going to happen."

IGOR POPOV MAY BE APPOINTED AS OSCE MG RUSSIAN CO-CHAIR

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.02.2010 13:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s Ambassador to Mozambique and Kingdom of
Swaziland Igor Popovwill probably be appointed as the new Russian
Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group dealing with the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

Current Russian Co-Chair of OSCE MG, Yuri Merzlyakov can be appointed
as Russia’s Ambassador to Estonia, Russian diplomatic sources told
PanARMENIAN.Net.

The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful,
negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Minsk
Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and
the United States. The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as
follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution
in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk
Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the
cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of
the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE
multinational peacekeeping forces.

FIRUDIN SADIGOV: "I CAN NOT AGREE WITH AN IDEA THAT AZERBAIJANIS ARE TORTURED IN ARMENIAN CAPTIVITY"

APA
Feb 23 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. "Currently two Azerbaijani soldiers and
one civilian are in captivity in Armenia. We are working every day
and taking necessary measures for their release.

We are using all opportunities we have and assistance of international
organizations as well", said head of the working group of the
State Commission for Captives, Hostages and Missing People Firudin
Sadigov, APA reports. He said he couldn’t agree with an idea that
Azerbaijanis were tortured in Armenian captivity. "Those people are
under the control of international organizations. Representatives
of the international organizations are regularly visiting them,
taking interests in their conditions and informing us. Those people
are detained in Armenia for a long time. There can not be cases of
tortures against them because direct obligation of the international
organizations is to improve their conditions".

Sadigov said most of the press reports that as if the captives said
they didn’t want to return home was not true. "It is impossible to
say such ideas not having meeting and talks with those people".

FIRUDIN SADIGOV: ARMENIANS NOT TORTURE AZERBAIJANI PRISONERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.02.2010 19:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Team Leader of the state Commission of Azerbaijan
on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People Firudin Sadigov,
in spite of reports in the Azerbaijani media, said that Azerbaijani
servicemen who are held captive by the Armenian side, cannot be
subjected to torture.

"Two Azerbaijani soldiers and one civilian are in captivity by
Armenians. These people are under control of international structures,
" he said. According to Sadigov, tortures and poor conditions
are impossible, since the direct responsibility of international
organizations is to improve the detention conditions.

According to Sadigov, most of the reports by Azerbaijani media
that Armenian-captured Azerbaijanis are unwilling to return home,
are untrue, since without seeing and speaking with these people,
it is impossible to talk about it, APA reported.

ARTSAKH REVIVAL DAY CELEBRATED IN THE NKR

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
2010-02-22 14:48

Corresponding events dedicated to the Artsakh Revival Day and the
22nd anniversary of the Karabakh National-Liberation Movement took
place in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

On February 20, a grand meeting took place at the NKR National
Assembly, and NKR President Bako Sahakian, leader of the Artsakh
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Pargev
Martirossian, NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutryunian, Deputies of the
NKR executive body of all the four convocations, Government members,
and others were invited to it.

In his opening speech, Chairman of the NKR National Assembly Ashot
Ghulian, in particular, noted: "We have proved to the whole world and,
first of all, to ourselves that the decision of the Armenian population
of Artsakh is final and irreversible and that our people’s aspiration
to live independently on its native land is surely legal and natural".

The honorable right to open the grand meeting was given to Chairman
of the historic session of the NKAO Soviet of People’s Deputies of
1988 Vigen Hayrapetian, according to whom "February 20 became the
headstone of all our achievements and victories and will stay in the
history of the Armenian people as one of its glorious days".

NKR President Bako Sahakian made a greeting speech at the session.

"February 20 became the start-point of our national revival. We stood
for our natural right to free and independent life on our native land
and independent disposal of our own fate, in accordance with the
general standards and principles of international law. Azerbaijan
responded to our peaceful and fair demand with a fierce and bloody
war, which caused numerous human victims and destructions. The heroic
people of Artsakh, together with all Armenians worldwide, could stand
the tests it faced and took the way of building a democratic state.

This way is steady and irreversible for us", noted the head of state
in his speech.

Noting that the Azerbaijani authorities are still adhering to their
militant policy, keeping their own people in permanent tension and
under the threat of resuming the war, Bako Sahakian said: "These
actions are vain and irrelevant. We have a regular and efficient army,
which is always ready to give a fitting rebuff to any encroachment
on the security of our state and people".

Chairmen of the NKR Parliament of all the convocations made speeches
at the grand meeting.

After the meeting, ceremonial opening of a memorial board in honor
of the NKR 4th convocation Parliament’s Deputies deceased in the
unleashed-by-Azerbaijan war took place in the hall of the National
Assembly.

Examiner.com
Feb 21 2010

Abraham reaches 8,000 feet up a mountain; now wants to conquer America

February 20, 4:44 PM
Dallas Boxing Examiner
by Matt Stolow

PALM SPRINGS, CA – The sudden delay of his March 6 fight against Andre
Dirrell on his mind didn’t dampen the spirits of Arthur Abraham as he
climbed to over 8,200 feet in 10 minutes while enjoying relaxing time
at the Palm Springs (CA) Aerial Tramway Thursday afternoon.

The fight has been rescheduled for March 27 but the venue is unknown.
It appears the training camp in Palm Springs will continue and there
is a chance the fight will remain at the Agua Caliente Casino in
nearby Rancho Mirage.

Abraham came here a month early to get acclimated to the time
difference and recover from jet lag. This is near the end of the
second week in Palm Springs.

While reaching great heights Thursday was pretty easy, Abraham wants
to scale the heights of American fame and fortune and hopes when the
Dirrell fight eventually happens, it will be a step in that direction.

That will be much more difficult than simply buying a $25 lift ticket.

Armenian – born and now living in Berlin, Abraham looks like a classic
boxer and his English is passable to get through an interview with
Showtime’s Jim Gray.

Abraham, 30-0 (25 KO’s) is poised to cash in his unblemished record
and 10 middleweight title defenses when he held the International
Boxing Federation version of the crown.

Could a big win over Dirrell, coming after the knockout of Jermain
Taylor in the first stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic propel
Abraham to bigger and better things?

Yes. But it’s even more difficult as the next round would find the
Abraham-Dirrell winner facing the Mikkel Kessler-Carl Froch winner.

The Abraham camp has found a home at an Austrian restaurant on the
Palm Springs restaurant row called Johannes. Many a wiener schnitzel
has been consumed at this fine restaurant that has been most
accommodating to the group.

Saturday is a scheduled day off and it is also King Arthur’s 30th birthday.

Boxing-Examiner~y2010m2d20-Abraham-reaches-8000-fe et-up-a-mountain-now-wants-to-conquer-America