Author: Khondkarian Raffi

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS HOLD TALKS ON RELATIONS

People’s Daily
April 21 2010
China

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held talks with his visiting Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan on Tuesday.

The two leaders in one-on-one talks mainly discussed the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, bilateral relations, as well as some regional
and international issues, news agencies reported.

Medvedev said the frequent meetings between him and Sargsyan " is
very important for strengthening confidence and mutual understanding,"
and "for strengthening the spirit of strategic partnership."

The Russian leader suggested regular exchange of views between the
two countries on a series of international issues.

Sargsyan thanked Medvedev for launching a research and innovation
center in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. He also said the
intergovernmental commission between the two countries works very
effectively.

The Armenian leader also thanked Russia for providing a loan of 500
million U.S. dollars in 2009, saying his country has already felt
the benefits brought by the loan.

One of these effects was the growth of Armenian economy by 5.5 percent
in first three months this year, he said.

Upon proposal by Russia, Moscow, Yerevan and Baku established a regular
meeting mechanism between leaders of the three countries in Nov. 2008.

BAKU SUSPENDS EXERCISES WITH U.S.

news.am
April 20 2010
Armenia

Regular Azerbaijani-U.S. exercises are suspended indefinitely,
spokesman for Azerbaijani defense ministry Lieutenant-Colonel Eldar
Sabiroglu told Trend News. However, he did not specify the reasons,
saying that no additional information is available.

The leader of Azeri Great Creation Party Fazil Mustafa considers
that Azerbaijan’s "unilateral rejection of scheduled joint military
drills is most likely Baku’s response to recent anti-Azerbaijani
policy carried out by the U.S.,"APA reports.

Mustafa deems that pro-Armenian position of Washington on Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, and non-recognition of Azerbaijan’s right to
voice its stance on the energy summit aroused significant indignation.

Baku should undertake adequate steps on the matter.

According to APA, Azerbaijan puts forward an initiative to unilaterally
reject participation in exercises scheduled earlier for March 2010.

TURKISH 10-POINT DOCUMENT TO HELP FACE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com
April 20 2010
SC

Turkey has prepared a 10-point document in which its officials and
embassy workers are thought how they can face the Armenian genocide
related questions, BBC’s Russian language service reports today.

The document is prepared by the Foreign Ministry of Turkey. It has
ten points, BBC explains, which list the rules and recommendations
that the Turkish embassy workers can use to address questions about
the Armenian Genocide.

It is not clear if BBC has obtained the copy of the documents. It
has not yet published it. However, BBC give some insights of what’s
in the ten-point document released by the foreign ministry of Turkey.

According to this insight Turkish officials should emphasize the
importance of Turkish-Armenian relations, as well as focus on Turkey’s
proposal to establish the historical commission to discuss the mutual
history between Armenia and Turkey.

Political analysts polled by HULIQ said if Turkish diplomats focus
on the normalization process it won’t make the desire effect because
the public and the interested parties already see how Turkey drags
the normalization process linking it to Azerbaijan. Turkey speaks
of normalization, but refuses to ratify the protocols it signed more
than 6 months ago with Armenia. While Turkey says it is committed to
the spirit of the protocols, the process is not moving forward.

These guidelines are also meant for the Turkish officials that will
make foreign trips while on a government assignment.

Armenians around the world prepare to commemorate the 95th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. Scholars, studying the history of genocide
say 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed and deported
in ethnic cleansing effort during the last days of Ottoman Empire
between 1915-1921. Turkey denies this charge.

WILL TURKEY SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN IN CASE OF WAR? DAVUTOGLU AVOIDS DIRECT ANSWER

Tert.am
20.04.10

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on April 19 with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov with Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement on the agenda.

Davutoglu is also said to have informed his Azerbaijani colleagues
about the meetings the Armenian and Turkish high-ranking officials
held in Washington in the framework of the World Nuclear Security
Summit on April 12-13.

At a press conference after the meeting with Mammadyarov Davutoglu
gave an evasive answer to a question over whether Turkey would support
Azerbaijan should the war resume.

"We do not want the situation get tenser in the region. Let’s build
together a Caucasus where all the parties will mutually respect each
other’s territorial integrity," local Turkish daily Radikal quotes
Davutoglu as saying.

Turkish foreign minister also said that Turkey wanted to see all
borders open in the South Caucasus.

"We hope that the South Caucasus will see a new era when all
the borders will be open, all relations normalized, stability
established and when there will be mutual trust. We hope that the
[Nagorno-Karabakh] process initiated by the [OSCE] Minsk Group will
be accelerated and will reach its final objective," said Davutoglu.

ARMENIAN AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENTS MEET IN MOSCOW ON APRIL 20

ArmInfo
2010-04-20 12:29:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan will meet with his
Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on April 20 during his short
working visit to Moscow.

As Interfax reports quoting its sources in Kremlin, a number of
pressing issues of the Armenian-Russian allied partnership and Karabakh
conflict settlement will be discussed during the meeting.

"The contacts of the Russian and Armenian presidents in 2009-2010,
also during S. Sargsyan’s working visits to RF (in April and
October 2009 and January 2010), within the frames of bilateral
events, confirmed the mutual interest in further deepening of the
Russian-Armenian cooperation", the source said. According to it,
relations in the governmental, parliamentary, departmental formats
are traditionally active. Presidents will also discuss Russia-Armenia
economic cooperation, primarily in energy sphere.

"Russian companies fully meet the needs of Armenia in natural gas and
nuclear fuel supplies, and implementation of big projects in gas and
nuclear power are successfully going on", the source emphasized.

The source emphasized that Russia currently firmly secured in the
positions of the republic’s key foreign political partner. Despite some
reduction of mutual goods turnover as a result of the global crisis,
progressive implementation of priority investment programmes is going
on, and accumulated Russian capital investments in Armenia’s economy
reach almost $2,4 bln, that makes up about 60% of all the foreign
investments in the country. Energy, banking, telecommunication,
mining and building sectors are the primary branches for allocation
of the Russian capital. At the height of the global economic crisis,
a state credit was allocated to the republic in June 2009 to the sum
of $ 500 mln, and Russian humanitarian aid to the Armenian population
is going on. Medvedev and Sargsyan will also discuss the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement. The Russian party, also with account
of its status of OSCE MG cochairman, does not weakens its activity
of mediatory efforts, due to which certain progress was achieved in
coordination of the basic principles of settlement. Russia intends
to further assist Yerevan and Baku in search of mutually acceptable
solutions, and in case of achievement of a compromise agreement, it
will appear a guarantor of settlement", the Kremlin source emphasized.

Today’s meeting of Medvedev and Sargsyan will become the third one in
2010. Earlier, the presidents met twice – in Moscow and Sochi. The
second meeting was held with participation of Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev, and the matter concerned the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement. Medvedev and Sargsyan met in 2009 seven times.

Azg Daily, Armenia
April 17 2010

RUSSIAN ORGANIZATIONS TO URGE TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Cuban located NGO-s representing interests of various nationalities,
urge Turkish authorities to recognize Armenian Genocide on the eve of
95th jubilee of the Great Genocide, they urge Turkish authorities not
to lay obstacles on the path of restoring historic truth, to
contribute to the peace in the region.

"To restore mutual trust among the peoples living in Turkey. Local
authorities should assess properly the events of 1915-1923, they
should condemn root massacre of people and pray giving tribute to
those thousands victims.

Leaving Armenian genocide unpunished new genocides against the
humanity were born, particularly, Hitler Germany committed Holocaust,"
statement reads.

It’s worth mentioning that dozens organizations signed the statement,
panorama.am reports.

BAKO SAHAKYAN SENDS CONDOLENCES TO CHINA

Tert.am
16.04.10

On 15 April President of the Artsakh Republic, Bako Sahakyan, sent
a condolence letter to President of the People’s Republic of China
Hu Jintao.

The letter reads:

"On behalf of the people and authorities of the Nagorno Karabagh
Republic I express my deep condolences and support to you and the
brotherly Chinese people in relation to the earthquake in the Qinghai
region that claimed lives of hundreds of people.

The Armenian people felt on itself all the burden of such a natural
disaster. In the hour of nationwide grief we share with you all the
bitterness of the loss and wish tenacity and courage to the relatives
and friends of the deceased."

CITY COMMEMORATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Stacie N. Galang

Salem News
April 15 2010
MA

PEABODY — Turkish-born Apo Torosyan’s father survived the genocide
in Armenia but at age 5 lost his parents.

His family’s history has inspired the younger Torosyan to devote
himself to teaching others about the widespread killing of Armenians
by the Ottoman Empire starting in April 1915.

Torosyan, who’s half-Armenian and half-Greek, will speak April 22 at
11 a.m. at Peabody City Hall during the city’s commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide. He plans to talk about the origins of the word
genocide and those who deny it.

"It’s not an Armenian story," he said. "It’s a human story, and
genocide is a universal story."

Torosyan, an artist and filmmaker, immigrated to the United States
in 1968 at age 26 and settled in Boston with his young family. He
would later do well enough to bring his parents and other relatives
to the country.

"I was very proud I could support all those people," said Torosyan,
who calls Peabody home.

In 1986, he sold his visual design business to pursue his art, which
led him back to his roots and the Armenian Genocide. His father’s
age and experience kept him from sharing, but Torosyan eventually
communicated with his father’s older brother. His uncle’s willingness
to talk helped shed light on the family’s story.

"I did find that what happened to my family was really something very
important that I should speak about," Torosyan said. "I introduced
it into my art in the late 1990s."

In his first film in 2003, Torosyan returned to Turkey to create
"Discovering My Father’s Village."

The artist believes his work on the genocide would prevent him from
returning to his homeland. Nevertheless, he feels compelled to tell
the truth, Torosyan said.

"I cannot go back because I have spoken about the Armenian Genocide,
and that is an insult to Turkey by the Turkish government’s values,"
he said. "I will talk about this unjust history page for the rest of
my life. Not for vengeance, for justice of humanity. There’s no hate
in this message."

Torosyan said he’s uplifted by an increasing number of fellow
countrymen in Turkey speaking out about the country’s denial of
the genocide.

As part of the April 22 event, the Armenian flag will be raised
outside City Hall. The program will include presentations by city
officials and religious leaders.

Erin Burbridge, granddaughter of former Mayor Peter Torigian, will
read the city proclamation. The ceremonies will be followed by a
light luncheon.

For more information about the event, call Mayor Michael Bonfanti’s
office at 978-538-5702.

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
T +995 32 75 19 03/04
F +995 32 75 19 05
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
<;

CEPF Impact in the Caucasus

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) commenced its investment in
the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot in August 2003, following the approval of
an ecosystem profile developed with stakeholders’ input and a grant
allocation of $8.5 million to be awarded over five years. The Caucasus
Hotspot has the greatest biological diversity of any temperate forest
region in the world. It spans 580,000 square kilometers of mountains in
Eurasia, between the Black and Caspian seas. The hotspot includes all of
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the North Caucasus portion of the Russian
Federation, northeastern Turkey and part of northwestern Iran.

In order to assess the achievements made possible by CEPF investment in the
hotspot the special report was compiled. It draws on experience, lessons
learned and project reports generated by civil society groups supported
during the period of investment. In addition, data were drawn from
questionnaires completed by grantees as part of this assessment. Finally, a
draft of this report was reviewed at a two-day assessment workshop held in
Tbilisi, Georgia in September 2009, at which participants reviewed the
results of CEPF’s five years of investment, with a particular emphasis on
impacts, lessons learned and sustainability.

The assessment report can be downloaded from:
k/black_sea_basin/caucasus/news/

PM TIGRAN SARGSYAN EXTENDS CONDOLENCES TO POLISH PEOPLE

armradio.am
12.04.2010 16:34

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visited the Embassy of the Republic
of Poland in Armenia to extend condolences to the Polish people on
the death of the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski and members of
his delegation as a result of the air crash near Smolensk.

"On behalf of the Government of the republic of Armenia and myself,
I extend deepest condolences on the tragic death of Poland’s President
Lech Kaczynski and his spouse, as well as members of the delegation
accompanying them.

I was shocked by the accident and I share the pain of the Polish
people. I wish strength and might to overcome the consequences of
this crash," Tigran Sargsyan wrote down in the Condolence Book.