Author: Mamian George

CANADIAN WAR JOURNALIST SCOTT TAYLOR: ARMENIA CAN’T MOVE ON FORWARD WITH CLOSED BORDERS
T. Teymur

Today
185.html
Feb 9 2010
Azerbaijan

Exclusive interview with former professional soldier, Canadian
war correspondent, and editor and publisher of the Esprit de Corps
magazine, Scott Taylor.

Scott Taylor has been editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps since
1988. Since the inception of Esprit de Corps, Scott has logged over one
million air miles as a war correspondent reporting from such global
hot spots as the Persian Gulf, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Croatia,
Bosnia, Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Azerbaijan
and Afghanistan.

Since August 2000, Taylor has made a total of 21 trips into Iraq to
report on the effects of the UN sanctions, the ravages of depleted
uranium following the 1991 Gulf War, and the heightening tensions with
the United States. In March 2003, during his last trip prior to the
United States’ intervention, Scott Taylor was asked to leave Iraq for
fear of his being a spy for the Israeli Mossad. Following the swift
U.S. victory, Scott returned frequently to Iraq to view first-hand
the ongoing humanitarian crisis plaguing this still embattled country.

Then, for five harrowing days in September 2004, he experienced the
rare occasion when "getting the story becomes the story." Held captive
by Ansar al-Islam mujahedeen in northern Iraq, his release generated
a wave of international media coverage.

In an exclusive interview, Mr. Taylor speaks about the infamous
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and other issues.

As far as I know, this is not your first visit to Azerbaijan. What was
the main purpose of you writing the book "Unreconciled Differences"?

The main purpose I think, is to readdress what I believe is an
inbound on reporting on the region, mostly on the situation in
Nagorno-Karabakh region, between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In every
conflict situation I’ve covered in the past, there’s always the
other side of the story. Each side has their own story, and truth is
somewhere in between. For us, in the West, most of what we hear about
the incidents and events between Azerbaijan and Armenia, comes from
Armenian side. And looking closely at it, I realized, that there was
a vacuum of information, that it was not the full story. The book
is of course a small void, but I thought, I’d at least make people
realize that this is not the full story of what happened.

Now, from your point of view, how at the present time do you assess
the possibility of a military action between Armenia and Azerbaijan?

Lets put it like this – if you had the last call, would you even
consider this option?

In this particular case, Azerbaijan has the right to claim their
own territory.

As far as I am concerned, just a couple of days ago, you were
hosted by the International Strategic Research Organization (USAK),
and you touched a number of topics during your lecture, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The opinions of the foreign experts
differ, some say that the conflict problem is directly connected
with the possible opening of the Turkish-Armenian border, some say
the opposite. What is your opinion on this?

Well, I think they are connected. Originally, shutting the borders
happened because of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia,
for Nagorno-Karabakh. And as a result, it became clear, that there
won’t be any movements on the border opening, until Armenia leaves
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Now that there’s a softening,
Azerbaijan has the right to be somewhat fearful that the pressure
on Armenia will become lesser. At the same time, Armenia has got its
own issues, with Turkey.

Both parties have to abandon some of their hardline, I am not sure
that either party can do that, given their domestic political issues.

The fact, that they are trying to move forward, is a good sign,
but as I mention in my book, the past has to be reconsidered, and
it will require far more admission on the Armenian side. In order to
find this historical truth about the events of 1915, both Turkey and
Armenia have to be able to share the information.

During the same lecture, you mentioned the so called Armenian
"genocide", and what you said was "History should be decided by
historians and not by foreign governments".

I mean, if you pull back from the hardliners, the Turks have made far
more headway, because they are being accused of something so extreme.

As you know, Armenians all over the world are claiming that this was
"genocide", and to be honest, being a Canadian, I am ashamed that the
Canadian parliament recognized the "genocide", without knowing all
the needed details. In fact, the Canadians have gone even further
ahead that the Armenians, which are still, in theory, prepared to
make the re-approachment with the protocols, with Turkey. Canadian
government monitors Caucasus from Moscow and Turkey, they don’t have
any representation in the Caucasus at all. This is a situation,
where I can just state the obvious – we don’t know a thing about
Caucasus. The same can be said about Russia and Georgia, you cant
just state that this player is good, and this one is bad, it is a
lot more difficult than that.

Even with Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh, when I interviewed them, the
people in Karabakh are a lot different from people in Yerevan. Most
people from the elite of Yerevan are formally from Nagorno-Karabakh,
and they have their own independent mindsets, but some other, more
pragmatic Armenians from Yerevan do understand, that it’s time to
move on forward, and you cant do that with closed borders, and its
impossible to rely forever on the cash donations from diaspora. But,
if you offend the diaspora by making a reapproachment with Turkey
and Azerbaijan, they will simply turn their back on you. And then,
what are you going to replace the incoming money with? In long term,
including pipelines and the normalized neighborly relations it can
turn out well, but until that the country will be in big debts, poverty
and such for the next 20 years. And no one is prepared for that.

While we are on the subject, what can, in your opinion, happen close
to the date of 24th of April, which is considered the "genocide"
date for Armenians? Should any major movements on Armenian-Turkish
relations be expected?

I don’t think there has been any movement so far, on the Armenian
side. So far it’s too soon to state anything. The protocols were a
step forward, but this is going to be a game of inches, because in
Caucasus, everyone has a gun pointed at someone else’s head. Everyone
wants to lower that gun down, but they can’t.

Russia is considered one of the major players in the SC region, and
so is Turkey. With all the other problems to deal with (such as AFG,
IRAQ), it seems like US began to lose its power in the South Caucasus
region. Do you believe it is so?

Up until now, the America has been the only real superpower. Until
the Cold War. Now, the US are far too stretched – they have to deal
with Afghanistan, they have to deal with Iraq, and Iran for example
is not even afraid of being attacked by the US, since, they are too
stretched thin to mount any new operation. At this particular time
everyone realized, that America is vulnerable. They can simply keep
printing money, but it doesn’t solve all the problems. Again, if your
interests include to get to the Caspian oil, then you better understand
Caucasus. And the more research I do, the less I realize I know.

Caucasus is a real minefield.

In your opinion, can we think of some kind of pressure coming from
the West towards Turkey, in order to open the borders with Armenia?

It is possible. How Armenia is able to hold on to good relations
with America, when they are friends with Iran, and Russia? Normally,
when you are friends with either Russia or Iran, to US you are on
a blacklist. Armenia is friends with all of them, because of the
diaspora in the US. By itself, Armenia is basically resourceless,
and here you have Azerbaijan, which is oil rich, and has his ways
with the pipelines through Georgia, etc. How does Armenia manage
to keep this in the balance, it’s all diaspora’s work. So, yes,
I believe there might be some pressure coming from the US towards
Turkey on the opening of the borders matter.

How do you assess the current negotiation process on the Karabakh
conflict between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents?

There’s always talks. There is no movement. If something happens
quickly – It will come with violence. But, let’s put it like this –
as long as there are talks, at least people aren’t dying. It is in
Armenia’s interest to delay the negotiation process, because the
longer they do that, the longer they keep the occupied territories
empty. And I’ve seen them – they destroyed all, for them it’s better
to keep it this way, so the people of Azerbaijan, will not come back,
and try to rebuild everything from scratch. Armenians are trying to
populate the region, which the Azeris should be concerned about. Right
now, the time is on the side of Armenians.

START OF DISCUSSIONS ON GENOCIDE RESOLUTION AT THE US CONGRESS ANOTHER ALARM TO ANKARA

ArmInfo
2010-02-08 15:46:00

ArmInfo. Start of discussions on the Genocide Resolution at the
US Congress is another alarm to Ankara to intensify efforts in the
Armenian-Turkish process, says Ggik Haroutiunyan, Director of Noravank
Fund of Science and Education.

He said that the US Congress will vote positively on the resolution
at least during the next discussions. The expert believes that
recognition of the Armenian Genocide is inevitable and will contribute
to rehabilitation of international relations in general.

For his part, Director of Oriental Studies Institute, Armenian Academy
of Science, Ruben Safrastyan said that the USA will probably recognize
the Armenian Genocide within the nearest future.

To recall, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Howard Berman
has scheduled his panel to vote on the "genocide" resolution on March
4 2010.

PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN RECEIVED THE FIRST DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, IGOR SHUVALOV

president.am
Feb 5 2010
Armenia

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received the First Deputy Prime
Minister of the Russian Federation, Russia’s National Coordinator
for CIS issues Igor Shuvalov. In 2010, Russia will be presiding in
the Commonwealth of Independent States.

President Sargsyan said that year 2009 was very productive for the
development of the Armenian-Russian relations and added, "We have
registered progress in almost every area. 2010 has started pretty
vigorously as well: I have already had two meetings with the President
of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the RF
visited Armenia in January, and now we are welcoming you in Armenia.

We regard our relations with optimism and we believe that we can
strengthen our relations by daily work."

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia agreed that relations between
Armenia and Russia develop dynamically. "Recently, you’ve made a very
successful visit to Russia," Igor Shuvalov said and noted that the
purpose of his visit to Armenia is to discuss upcoming activities
of the CIS in 2010 under the Russian chairmanship. "We have already
established the agenda of our chairmanship, and it is pretty full. I
was instructed by the leadership of the Russian Federation to discuss
agenda items with the Armenian authorities and establish closer
working relations with my counterparts," Igor Shuvalov stressed.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed confidence that Russia’s chairmanship at the
CIS will be efficient and productive for the further strengthening
and development of the Organization.

At the meeting the parties discussed bilateral issues, as well as
issues pertinent to the Armenian-Russian cooperation in multilateral
settings and organizations. President Sargsyan noted with satisfaction
the high level of cooperation of the two countries and expressed
confidence that the elimination of the repercussions of the global
economic and financial crisis, persistent work and doubled efforts
would open new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in 2010.

Igor Shuvalov conveyed to the President of Armenia invitation of the
President of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev to participate at
the festive events in Moscow, dedicated to the 65th Anniversary of
victory in World War II. In his turn, President Sargsyan noted that
Armenia too is planning to conduct a series of events dedicated to
the 65th Anniversary of the conclusion of the WWII.

PACE PRESIDENT: NAGORNO-KARABAKH SUB-COMMITTEE MAY PLAY ACTIVE ROLE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Trend
Jan 25 2010
Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh’s sub-committee activities must be revived, Luis
Maria de Puig, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE), said.

"We tried to harmonize the positions of the two countries," she said
at PACE’s first winter session conference.

"I rule out armed solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is
also PACE’s position. The conflict should be settled through peaceful
ways. We must move forward through dialogues. The new PACE president
will continue this activities," the PACE president said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

In 2010, Luis Maria de Puig’s mandate as PACE president ended. Turkish
MP Movlud Cavushoglu was elected as the new PACE president.

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF YEREVAN MALATIA-SEBASTIA ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT GET INTRODUCED WITH THE WORK OF THE PARLIAMENT

National Assembly of RA
Feb 4 2010
Armenia

Within the framework of the Open Doors of the National Assembly
programme on February 4, senior students of different schools
of Yerevan Malatia-Sebastia administrative district visited the
parliament. This time again they were given opportunity to follow the
work of the ongoing four-day sittings at the moment of their visit. A
small round was organized for them in the building of the National
Assembly, later the NA Speaker Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan met with the
students. Welcoming their entrance to the parliament, Mr. Abrahamyan
briefly introduced the structure of the legislative body, the activity
of Armenia and the powers reserved by the Constitution.

The Speaker of the Parliament also talked about the Open Doors
programme, informing those present that with this initiative
functioning for one year an attempt was made to keep closer the
National Assembly to the public.

Afterwards a warm and sincere dialogue was held between the
schoolchildren and the NA Speaker Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan. The format of
the issues concerning the children was wide: operation of Teghut mine,
the activity of the Armenian delegation in PACE, the involvement of
NKR as negotiating side, Armenian-Turkish side and other issues. The
NA Speaker Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan gave detailed and exhaustive answer
to all questions, presenting his positions on the problems.

The directors of the schools who accompanied the children, thanked
the Parliament Speaker for warm and sincere reception. In the opinion
of the director of Daniel Varuzhan N 89 School Ms. Ofelya Petrosyan,
such events are more than necessary for younger generation, because
from this moment already the way of thinking about the state and the
sober and balanced approach towards any problem concerning the country
develops in them. And the Head of the Education Department of Yerevan
Municipality Ms. Gayane Soghomonyan said that these specific open
lessons, which were initiated by NA Speaker, interested the parents so
much that they continuously asked the directors of different schools
to include their children in those groups in the next visits.

NA Speaker Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan expressed willingness from now on to
receive them with love and warmness, to talk to the schoolchildren
visiting the Parliament, at the same time urging them to study well,
enrich their knowledge, and become literate and clever persons for
the Motherland.

Within the framework of the Open Doors the open lessons of this kind
will continue during all four-day sittings.

GERMANY HOSTS CONFERENCE ON KARABAKH CONFLICT

news.az
Feb 4 2010
Azerbaijan

The coordination center of the German Azerbaijanis held a conference
on Karabakh conflict in Berlin.

During the conference attended by representatives of the Azerbaijani
embassy, chief executive of the center Samira Patzer-Ismaylova spoke
with a report "Hope for peace or political-geographic grips: Karabakh
conflict in 2010".

The orator noted that the Karabakh conflict is the most bloody
international conflict in the territory of the former USSR, that
Armenia occupied 20% of Azerbaijani lands and held ethnic cleansing
driving Azerbaijani population from these lands. 30,000 Azerbaijanis
died in the result of the conflict while 1,000,000 turned into refugees
and IDP most of whom live in hard conditions.

The reporter noted that the long activity of the OSCE Minsk Group
on the peaceful resolution of the conflict has been ineffective. She
also touched upon negotiations between the presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia on the resolution of the conflict, position of the
international community, Armenia’s nonconstructive position that
created a puppet regime in the occupied lands, Azerbaijan’s readiness
to grant the high status of autonomy to the Karabakh Armenians as
well as other conflicts in the South Caucasus.

Famous political scientist Haiko Langner spoke about the ways to
settle the Karabakh conflict and its influence on the prospects
of the geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus. He noted that
39-year-old research worker of Bundestag office specializes on the
international relations, democratization in the post-Soviet republics,
migration and integration in the EU and last year he published the work
"Crisis area in the South Caucasus: Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia, South
Ossetia in conditions of legal and political and geographic tensions".

STEINBERG’S REGIONAL VISIT – A MESSAGE TO TURKEY

Panorama.am
17:03 04/02/2010

Turkey’s condemnation and disdain over the OSCE Minsk Group closed
all doors for it to assume as a mediator in Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution, the director of Armenian Center for National
and International Studies (ACNIS) Richard Kirakosyan told a press
conference today.

"This is not good for Nagorno-Karabakh and for the region, Turkey
should not be allowed to assume as a mediator," the expert said. He
highlighted that Nagorno-Karabakh issue and MG Co-Chairs’ activity
has nothing to do with the Armenian-Turkish normalization and the
two processes are not linked.

Panorama.am recalls that Turkey’s PM Erdogan slammed the MG over no
serious advance registered in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
for the recent 20 years.

Referring to the US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg’s
regional visit, Kirakosyan said it’s not linked to Karabakh issue
since he is not intent to pay a visit to Baku.

Steinberg’s regional visit is a message to Turkey over soonest
ratification of the protocols and not becomng the first state to
enrage the US President, otherwise Obama will show his strong sides
as a leader, he said.

IRAN IS LOYAL TO KARABAKH

Lragir.am
3/02/10

The Armenian minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan met with the Iranian
ambassador to Armenia who invited the Armenian minister to Iran.

This information would not attract attention several months ago but now
after Kocharyan’s visit to Iran and the visit of the Iranian foreign
minister Mottaki to Armenia, the insistent proposals of Tehran to be
a mediator in the Karabakh issue, the meeting of the Armenian minister
seems symptomatic.

Recall that just recently the U.S. began to deploy anti-aircraft
missile complexes "Patriot" in the countries of the Persian Gulf.

Earlier, the U.S. tightened economic sanctions against Iran.

It is noteworthy that all these events are happening in the "two-week
term" given to Armenia and Azerbaijan for their opinions on the
Karabakh issue. Determination of cut-off date means that, despite
the absence of objective prerequisites for resolving the conflict,
in the construction of the current status quo some adjustments may be
implemented. And now, each side tries to safeguard against possible
threats including Iran.

Armenia and Karabakh are those countries bordering with Iran where the
NATO troops are present. In this connection, Iran decided to activate
its relations with Armenia to the extent that it fortifies economic
projects. If it seems little to Armenia, Iran is possible to resort to
more active political means-to open its border with Karabakh in secret.

In any case, the fact that Iran prefers communicating with Karabakh
officials like Kocharyan, Ohanyan stands for the "loyalty" of Tehran
to the break of the "territorial integrity of Azerbaijan".

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE: ARMENIA AND TURKEY NOW NEED TO MOVE FORWARD IN RATIFYING THE PROTOCOLS AND IMPLEMENTING THEM

ArmInfo
2010-02-03 09:01:00

ArmInfo Philip Gordon, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian
Affairs, U.S. Department of State, said at a briefing on Monday that
the Armenian-Turkish normalization is an issue of great importance
to the USA. "As you know, the protocols on establishing diplomatic
relations between the two countries were signed last October. We said
at the time and continue to believe that both countries now need to
move forward in ratifying them and implementing them. And we believe
that because we believe this is an opportunity to overcome really
historic differences between the two countries in a way that would
benefit both – to establish and normalize relations between the two
countries and open the border would contribute to peace and stability
in the region.

And we think that is true regardless of other issues that it needs to
move forward independently of other issues simply because it is in the
interests of the two countries. So we are in regular touch with both
governments and encourage them to move forward with that process. And
that’s where it stands. We will continue to work with both of them,"
he said.

ARMENIAN FIRST WOMEN BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP COMPLETED

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.02.2010 18:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ For the first time women boxers took part in the
Armenian boxing championship held January 26-31 at the Sports-Concert
Complex after Karen Demirchyan.

7 women boxers fought in 3 weight categories. Haykuhi Nahapetyan
won the champion’s title in the weight category 57 kg. Kristina
Martirosyan comes second. In the 69 kg. w/c Armine Simonyan won,
Panaliya Dinglyanidi comes second. Anna Hovhannisyan and Ashkhen
Simonyan med in the finals (w/c 75 kg), and Hovhannisyan won a
gold medal.

As Secretary General of Armenian Boxing Federation Leva Hovhannesyan
told PanARMENIAN.Net, the Federation seeks to develop women’s boxing
in Armenia. "7 boxers took part in the championships, but since they
were few, they fought only in 3 weight categories," Hovhannisyan said.

Women’s boxing first appeared in the Olympic Games at a demonstration
bout in 1904. For most of the 20th century, however, it was banned
in most nations. Its revival was pioneered by the Swedish Amateur
Boxing Association, which sanctioned events for women in 1988. The
British Amateur Boxing Association sanctioned its first boxing
competition for women in 1997. The first event was to be between two
thirteen-year-olds, but one of the boxers withdrew because of hostile
media attention. Four weeks later, an event was held between two
sixteen-year-olds. The A.I.B.A. accepted new rules for Women’s Boxing
at the end of the 20th century and approved the first European Cup for
Women in 1999 and the first World Championship for women in 2001 in
Scranton, PA. Women’s boxing was not featured at the 2008 Olympics;
however, on 14 August 2009, it was announced that the International
Olympic Committee’s Executive Board (EB) had approved the inclusion
of women’s boxing for the Games in London in the 2012 Olympics.