Author: Kharatian Ani

STRONG AFTERSHOCK SHAKES HAITI

armradio.am
20.01.2010 17:05

A strong aftershock has rocked Haiti eight days after another quake
devastated the country.

The extent of the damage is not yet known. The magnitude 6.1 tremor
struck north-west of Port-au-Prince at 0603 local time (1103 GMT).

An estimated 200,000 people died in last Tuesday’s quake and another
1.5 million were made homeless.

International rescue teams are still rescuing people alive from the
rubble, including a 69-year-old woman pulled from the ruins of a
church in the capital.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING

armradio.am
19.01.2010 15:58

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement on the
decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia on the Armenian-Turkish
protocols.

"The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia has declared
its decision of constitutional conformity on the Protocols between
Turkey and Armenia signed on 10 October 2009 with a short statement
on 12 January 2010. The Constitutional Court has recently published
its grounds of decision. It has been observed that this decision
contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the
letter and spirit of the Protocols.

The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these
Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach cannot
be accepted on our part.

Turkey, in line with its accustomed allegiance to its international
commitments, maintains its adherence to the primary provisions of
these Protocols.

We expect the same allegiance from the Armenian Government," the
Turkish Ministry said in a statement.

The Armenian court’s Jan. 12 decision established that the protocols
with Turkey conformed to the constitution.

But the decision also stipulated that the agreement must not contradict
Paragraph 11 of the Declaration of Independence, which states,
"The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving
international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and
Western Armenia."

KARABAKH PREFERS TURKEY
Naira Hayrumyan

Lragir.am
19/01/10

Within political and press circles, debates on whether Karabakh is to
participate in the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict or it has
to sit doing nothing until "it is forced peace" still continue. In
Karabakh they think that without its participation there can be
no settlement but it does not strive for it so much. The official
Azerbaijan keeps affirming that Karabakh does not have to participate
in the negotiations, but on the contrary, demands to return Karabakh.

But all this happens at the level of demagogy.

In practice, despite the fact that, as Vladimir Kazimirov says,
by 1997 and the passage to the "shuttle diplomacy" mediators like
Russia and OSCE carried out negotiations in trilateral format,
Azerbaijan was against the Karabakh participation even before
1997. At definite stages, Baku had to sign trilateral documents,
which were 14 according to Kazimirov nevertheless, the moment came
when Aliyev refused categorically to negotiate with the Karabakh
representatives. Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was Armenia’s leader in that
period, had to choose either to renounce from negotiations at all,
or…and the following step was taken: the NKR president with whom
Aliyev did not want to speak, was invited to Armenia for the future
post of RA president. A year after his renounce to speak to Kocharyan,
Aliyev had to negotiate with him as the president of Armenia.

Whether it was a planned step or it was spontaneous is difficult to
say. Just like it is difficult to state that this step influenced
the negotiations positively. In any case, the problem "Azerbaijan
does not want to speak with Karabakh" was temporarily solved though
Karabakh officially was not in negotiations.

Now, other processes are taking place. Turkey is involved in the
Karabakh settlement and Azerbaijan was forced out of it. In fact,
negotiations are taking place at Armenia-Turkey level, in addition,
symptomatic the former head of Karabakh defense headquarter speaks
with Turkey as the Armenian president. And now Karabakh can say it
does not want to hold negotiations with Azerbaijan, preferring Turkey.

Will Abdullah Gul invite the Azerbaijani president to assume the
office of Turkish premier?

MINISTER OF DIASPORA OF ARMENIA WAS AWARDED A CERTIFICATE FOR MAINTENANCE OF ARMENIANS IN THE DIASPORA

ARKA
Jan 18, 2010

YEREVAN, January 18. /ARKA/. Minister of Diaspora of Armenia was
awarded a certificate of the newspaper "Iravunk" for maintenance of
Armenians in Diaspora.

The certificate was awarded by Hayk Babukhanyan, the Head of Editorial
Board of the newspaper who thanked the Minister for her efforts in
the given sphere. Representatives of mass media were present at the
meeting.

ARMENIAN MINISTER: KARABAKH SETTLEMENT SHOULD BE BASED ON NATIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION RIGHT

ARKA
Jan 18, 2010

YEREVAN, January 18. /ARKA/. Karabakh settlement should be based on
the national self-determination right, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan said on Sunday in an interview with Liberty radio station.

He said that it had been confirmed at the OSCE ministerial meeting
in Athens that Karabakh settlement should be based on the national
self-determination right.

Nalbandyan said that 56 OSCE member countries have confirmed that for
the first time, and Azerbaijan has signed the statement containing
the principle that had never been considered before that.

Azerbaijan has always ignored this principle and was strongly opposed
to its appearance in any document, while "this time it happened,
and not only in 56 OSCE countries’ statement, but also in that of
the ministers of five countries – the United States, Russia, France,
Armenia and Azerbaijan".

Nalbandyan stressed that territorial integrity is absolutely not
connected with Karabakh’s self-determination.

In his opinion, the self-determination process began yet in soviet
epoch, when Azerbaijan was not an independent country.

In 1999 European Parliament stated that Azerbaijan, using its
self-determination right, had declared its independence, just like
Karabakh, Nalbandyan said.

He said that the self-determination is one of the most important
principles of the international law.

"Otherwise we wouldn’t have 192 UN member countries, but have only 51,
as it was when the United Nations was established," he said adding
that this very principle enlarged the number of member countries.

The minister also said that not a single statement containing only
territorial integrity principle without self-determination was made
by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in the recent period of time.

" Does it correspond with what Azerbaijan insists on? Absolutely no."

Speaking about various comments on Karabakh settlement, the minister
advised everybody not to listen what Azerbaijani side speaks, but
instead to pay attention to the Minsk Group mediators’ statements.

Nalbandyan said that Azerbaijani leadership is trying to predetermine
the results of the talks, i.e. Karabakh’s self-determination and
status.

However, Karabakhi people, and nobody else, will decide the status.

"OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs say the same in their Madrid principles",
the Armenian minister said in his interview. "And it means that
contrary to Baku’s statements, the settlement of Karabakh conflict
is in hands of Karabakhi people."

Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated
by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result,
Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions
adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 Bishkek cease-fire agreement, put an end to the
military operations.

Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over
peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA,
Russia and France.

RA NA SPEAKER HOVIK ABRAHAMIAN IN EGYPT ON OFFICIAL VISIT

Noyan Tapan
Jan 18, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamian is
in the Arab Republic of Egypt on an official visit. The NA Speaker met
with his counterpart, Chairman of the Arab Republic of Egypt People’s
Assembly on January 16. The latter expressed Egypt’s readiness to
strengthen the Armenia-Egypt relations. The sides also touched upon
the security issues in the Middle and Near East. According to H.

Abrahamian, Armenian-Egyptian trade and economic relations also need
to be promoted. A meeting of the two countries’ Intergovernmental
Commission will be also held in 2010 August. According to the RA NA
Speaker, a number of programs regarding sphere’s development will be
adopted at the meeting.

The RA NA Speaker attached importance to the process of normalizing
the Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions. The NA Speaker
also visited the People’s Assembly Museum.

Meetings with country’s Prime Minister, as well as representatives
of Egypt’s Armenian community are also planned within the framework
of the visit.

Xinhua, China
Jan 17 2010

Barak’s visit to mend Turkish-Israeli rifts, ties hard to recover

2010-01-17 23:53:22
by Duygu Tamer, Wang Xiuqiong

ANKARA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak
started his one-day visit to Turkey on Sunday, a move Ankara expects
to help repair the rifts with its long-time ally after a diplomatic
row further strained their relations.

Barak met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the
Turkish capital on Sunday morning and is scheduled to meet Turkish
Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul later on the day.

He was the first Israeli official to visit Turkey after Ankara
threatened to recall its ambassador in Tel Aviv who was treated in a
humiliating way by an Israeli diplomat earlier this week. Israel
eventually apologized for the incident and dissolved a crisis.

EXPECTED ROLES OF THE VISIT

Turkey expects Barak to ease recent tensions with Israel but it
will be hard for the two countries to restore their relationship to
the past level, Turkish officials and analysts said.

"Barak is an important figure in Israeli politics and both
Davutoglu and Gonul will give the same message, ‘such kind of events
should not happen again,’" a senior Turkish diplomat told Xinhua on
condition of anonymity.

In the meantime, Turkey will continue to press for an end of
Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and resumption of peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians during Barak’s visit, said the
official.

Barak is also expected to reassure Turkey that a long-delayed
order for Israeli-made unmanned aircraft would be delivered by the end
of year, according to the official.

Turkey reached a deal in 2005 to buy 10 Heron drones from Israel
but the over 180 million-U.S. dollar purchase has been put off by
technical problems.

The two countries have been close allies since signing an
agreement on military and intelligence cooperation in 1996. Their
trade and defense ties boomed before Israel’s offensive in the Gaza
Strip in December 2008 drew ire from the largely Muslim country and
cooled bilateral relationship.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly criticized
Israeli President Shimon Peres over the Gaza conflicts and stormed out
of a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in
January 2009.

Last year, Turkey banned Israel from participating in a NATO air
force drill and later refused to censure a fictional television
program that features Israelis killing Palestinian civilians.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has then questioned
Ankara’s impartiality in mediating Syrian-Israeli peace talks because
of its "insults and tongue-lashing" against Israel.

Turkey brokered negotiations between Syria and Israel in 2008. It
has improved ties with Syria, once its regional foe, and Iran as part
of Erdogan’s "zero-problem" policy with neighboring countries.

In the latest barb-trading, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel
Ayalon summoned Turkish ambassador in Tel Aviv Oguz Celikkol on Monday
to express discontent over a recent Turkish TV drama which portrays
Israeli intelligence agents as baby-kidnappers.

During the meeting, Ayalon was caught by camera to urge the
photographers to pay attention that he and his assistants were sitting
in higher chairs than Celikkol’s seat and there was no Turkish flag on
the table.

Israel sent an apology letter on Wednesday after Turkish President
Abdullah Gul threatened to recall Celikkol if Israel did not make up
to Ankara.

TIES HARD TO REVIVE

The fact that Barak’s pre-scheduled visit was not held up by the
recent diplomatic crisis would serve to mend fences between Turkey and
Israel, but it seems difficult for their ties to return to the status
of the 1990s, said Meliha Altunisik, head of the Department of
International Relations of Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

"Barak’s visit is important since he is coming despite the
diplomatic crises. Luckily pragmatism worked out again between Israel
and Turkey," Altunisik told Xinhua. "However, don’t expect the close
relations of the 1990s."

He said that change in relations is inevitable because Turkey is
pursuing rapprochement with Syria and the Arab world and that the
Turkish dependence for Israeli armed sector has decreased.

Israel’s strategy in the Gaza Strip was a major stumbling block in
Turkish-Israeli ties, while the divided attitudes among the Jewish
lobby in the United States regarding supporting Turkish claims on the
death of a large number of Armenians during the World War I, Altunisik
said.

Armenia has said more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I,
but Turkey insists the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and
governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed before
modern Turkey was born in 1923.

Turkey’s former ambassador in Washington Faruk Logoglu said
relations between Turkey and Israel will continue but it is almost
impossible to have the close relations of the past.

"Barak will say some platitude words but the cooperation between
two countries will continue to stay at the lowest level," he said.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

news.am, Armenia
Jan 15 2010

Russian FM talks to Turkish counterpart

20:04 / 01/15/2010During their telephone conversation, RF Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
discussed a number of topical international and regional problems,
particularly the developments surrounding the Iranian nuclear program,
Cypriot peace process, situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The conversation took place on the Turkish side’s initiative. The
Ministers exchanged views on creating a mechanism of top-level
Russian-Turkish intergovernmental consultations.

RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was on a working visit to Yerevan on
January 13-14. He held meetings with RA President Serzh Sargsyan and
his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian. The sides discussed both
bilateral relations and regional problems, particularly the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

T.P.

ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI RELATIONS SHOULD "GET RIPER" BEFORE RATIFICATION OF PROTOCOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.01.2010 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan should get
"a bit riper" before a debate is launched on the committee floor over
Armenian-Turkish protocols, protocols, according to Murat Mercan,
Chairman of foreign relations committee at Turkish parliament.

"We are all eager to bring the protocols to the committee and the
parliamentary floor, and we do want to see relations get normal but
at this time, it would be in vain to debate the issue which is highly
likely to be revoked by the committee," Anatolian News agency quoted
Turkish official as sying.

"The Turkish people are very sensitive about the rapprochement between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as Azerbaijan’s rights. Efforts to
settle problems will help Turkey to ratify the protocols," Mercan
further noted.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

Efforts to settle problems parties will enable Turkey to ratify
the protocols.

ANOTHER COUPLE RESPONDS TO "MARRIAGE WITH MY HOMELAND’S BLESSING" INITIATIVE OF RA MINISTRY OF DIASPORA

NoyanTapan
Jan 14, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 14, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Minister of Diaspora Ms. Hranush
Hakobian on January 12 received a couple from Russia – Saribek Danoyan
(Perm) and Siranush Abrahamian (Chelyabinsk) as well as their relatives
who have come to perform a wedding in Armenia.

Ms. Hakobian thanked the couple for responding to "Marriage with My
Homeland’s Blessing" initiative of the RA Ministry of Diaspora. She
reminded the young couple about important precepts – to respect
each other and one’s parents, have at least three children, to keep
up the traditions of an Armenian family and remain true to one’s
roots. The minister added that they should pass these precepts on
to their children and grandchildren. Hranush Hakobian presented the
bride with a watch, saying that their family should not forget "to
return to the Homeland on time".

According to the Press and PR Department of the Ministry of Diaspora,
Canadian Armenians Hakob Apachian and Tsovik Latoyan were the
first couple to respond to "Marriage with My Homeland’s Blessing"
initiative. Their wedding took place in Yerevan on 11 July 2009.