Author: Mamian George

DEAL BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA HALTED OVER ‘UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS’ THOMAS SEIBERT, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

The National
rticle?AID=/20100122/FOREIGN/701219848/1135/WEEKEN DER
Jan 21 2010
UAE

ISTANBUL // Efforts to ratify ground-breaking agreements between
Turkey and Armenia have been dealt a serious blow as Turkey says
a recent Armenian court decision establishes new and unacceptable
conditions for a rapprochement between the two neighbours.

Observers say Ankara, faced with strong domestic resistance, seems to
be looking for excuses to delay the implementation of the agreements.

"Armenia has started an operation on the text" of the agreements,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, told journalists
during a visit to Saudi Arabia this week. The Armenian move was
"totally unacceptable", he said.

Mr Erdogan was referring to a recent decision by Armenia’s
constitutional court that cleared the way for a parliamentary
ratification of the agreements signed with Turkey last year.

Ankara says the court decision, while confirming that the agreements
did not violate Armenia’s constitution, contained several unacceptable
points. The foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu voiced Turkish concerns
in a telephone conversation with Edward Nalbandian, his Armenian
counterpart.

But some observers in Turkey say Ankara’s stated discomfort is
really an effort to blame the Armenian side for a lack of progress
in the reconciliation efforts between the neighbouring states. "The
government is either fooling itself or trying to fool the world,"
Erdal Guven, a columnist, wrote in yesterday’s Radikal newspaper. "I
do not know which is worse."

After months of secret negotiations under Swiss moderation, Mr
Davutoglu and Mr Nalbandian last October signed two protocols designed
to put Turkish-Armenian relations on a new footing.

The agreements say the two countries are ready to establish diplomatic
relations, open the closed border between them and create a joint
commission of historians that will look at the causes that led to
the death of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during massacres in
the final days of the Ottoman Empire 1915.

Armenia and much of the international community say the massacres
constituted genocide, a description that Turkey rejects.

The signing of the protocols in Zurich was seen as a historic step of
reconciliation. Turkey’s government sent the agreements to parliament
soon after the ceremony in Switzerland. But so far, neither country has
ratified the agreements. Now Turkey says the Armenian constitutional
court has complicated matters further.

The court ruled on January 12 that the protocols were covered by the
constitution, but could not be interpreted in a way that contradicted
Paragraph 11 of Armenia’s declaration of independence, according to an
unofficial translation of the decision posted on the court’s website.

The paragraph of the declaration of independence says that "Armenia
stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition
of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia".

Turkey also objects to another point in the ruling that says the
protocols do not concern "any third party".

Ankara sees that as a reference to the conflict between Armenia and
the Turkish ally Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorny-Karabakh,
an Armenian enclave on Azeri territory.

Although the Karabakh conflict is not mentioned in the protocols,
the Turkish government has said repeatedly that its parliament would
ratify the agreements only if Armenian forces start to withdraw from
the region.

Following the court ruling, the Turkish foreign ministry said the
Armenian side had hurt the process of rapprochement between the
two countries.

"This decision contains preconditions and restrictive provisions
which impair the letter and spirit of the Protocols," the ministry
said in a statement.

Mr Erdogan’s government has been facing strong opposition from
nationalists who accuse him of turning his back on Azerbaijan by
signing the agreements with Armenia.

The opposition leader Deniz Baykal said the Armenian court decision
had dealt a deadly blow to the protocols. The government’s initiative
to mend ties with Armenia had ended with a "fiasco".

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the right-wing Nationalist Action Party,
or MHP, called on Mr Erdogan to withdraw the protocols from parliament.

Observers say the very fact that Mr Erdogan linked the ratification of
the protocols to the Karabakh question was a consequence of nationalist
pressure at home and of complaints from Azerbaijan.

"This is the weakest rung in the government’s Armenian initiative,"
wrote Semih Idiz, a columnist for the Milliyet daily. He noted
the government had started to work for reconciliation with Armenia
"without taking into account the opposition coming from Azerbaijan
and nationalist groups in Turkey".

Only after coming under pressure from those two camps did Mr Erdogan
introduce the "Karabakh precondition", Idiz wrote.

By saying that Turkey will only ratify the protocols if Armenia
withdraws from Karabakh, the government in Ankara has in effect tied
its own stated interest of improving relations with Yerevan to the
resolution of a conflict beyond its borders that Turkey has very
limited influence on, Guven wrote in Radikal.

Now the government was trying to use the Armenian court decision
to blame the lack of progress on Yerevan. "I have my doubts whether
there are many people outside Turkey who will believe that," he wrote.

ARMENIA RECOGNIZES PRINCIPLE OF AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
Ramiz Mehtiyev

news.az
Jan 22 2010
Azerbaijan

The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by the entire
world community, Ramiz Mehdiyev.

Today Armenia recognizes the need to settle the Karabakh conflict on
the basis of the principle of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,
chief of the presidential administration of Azerbaijan Ramiz Mehdiyev
told the opening of the first Azerbaijani-Russian forum on humanitarian
cooperation.

"The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by the entire
world community. Certainly, it must be restored", Mehdiyev said
reminding that the document signed within the framework of the OSCE
ministerial session in Athens at the end of 2009 says the same.

"For the first time during the conflict Armenia has joined such a
document recognizing that the problem settlement is possible in the
framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The complex
period of contrasting the principles of the territorial integrity and
rights of nations for self-determination has thus ended", the chief
of the presidential administration said.

He stressed the need for a more objective coverage of this conflict
in Russian mass media. He said this issue demands high professionalism
from journalists.

DAVID SARKISYAN, CHAMPION OF MOSCOW ARCHITECTURE, DIES AT 62
By Sophia Kishkovsky

New York Times
Jan 20 2010

MOSCOW — David Sarkisyan, a former physiologist and film director
who became famous as the director of the Shchusev State Museum of
Architecture here and for his campaigns to preserve architectural
monuments against rampant post-Soviet development, died on Jan. 7 in
Munich, where he had been hospitalized. He was 62.

The cause was lymphoma, said Joseph Backstein, the commissioner of
the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art and a friend of Mr. Sarkisyan.

Under Mr. Sarkisyan the museum, in a prerevolutionary compound around
the corner from the Kremlin, became a center of efforts to halt the
destruction of everything from centuries-old mansions to modernist
masterpieces and even the Central House of Artists, constructed
under Leonid Brezhnev in the late Soviet era, a period that has few
architectural defenders.

Mr. Sarkisyan, who was appointed the museum’s director in 2000, warned
of a "cultural catastrophe," saying that Moscow was losing its face
and character. He was highly critical of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and his
wife, Yelena Baturina, a billionaire real estate magnate.

His battles were hard fought but often futile. Thousands of signatures
collected by the museum and vocal protests were not enough to save
Voentorg, an early-20th-century department store located directly
across the street from the museum’s main building. It was replaced
by a new building that many regarded as a poor imitation of the
old structure.

Moscow developers and city officials often argue that old or poorly
maintained buildings are too damaged or too costly to save. Mr.

Sarkisyan had proof in the courtyard of his museum of how such
buildings could be put to worthy use.

The museum was short of money to restore one of its wings, so Mr.

Sarkisyan turned it into a conceptual exhibition space called the
Ruins. The uncovered brick walls and crumbling floors and ceilings
of the unheated space effectively became part of each show.

Hundreds of Moscow architects and cultural figures attended his
funeral in the museum’s halls on Friday. Funeral organizers said
city officials blocked plans to bury Mr. Sarkisyan, who was born in
Yerevan, Armenia, at the Armenian cemetery in central Moscow. He was
buried at a cemetery on the edge of the city.

The work of the museum became Mr. Sarkisyan’s passion and the last
of what he called his "four lives."

David Sarkisyan was born on Sept. 23, 1947, and had careers as a
physiologist; as a pharmacologist, who helped develop a drug for
treating Alzheimer’s disease; and as a film and television director.

He lived for a time in France, where he walked with the actress Jeanne
Moreau on the red carpet at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Mr.

Sarkisyan was assistant director on the film "Anna Karamazoff,"
which was in competition in 1991 and starred Ms. Moreau.

He is survived by a sister, Osanna, of Yerevan.

Mr. Sarkisyan, who could speak eruditely and passionately on virtually
any topic, fielded an endless stream of visitors in his museum office,
which, packed from floor to ceiling with books, art, photos, souvenirs,
sculptures and toys, was regarded by artists and critics as a work
of art in itself.

Grigory Revzin, architecture critic for the Moscow newspaper
Kommersant, wrote last week that the office was a magnet for
international celebrities.

"And all of these foreigners," he said, "told each other that there
are several landmarks in Moscow: the Kremlin, the Mausoleum, St.

Basil’s Cathedral and David Sarkisyan’s office."

ALIYEV: PRINCIPLE OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY IS CHOSEN AS A PRIORITY IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION

AZG DAILY
19-01-2010

Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says the way to solve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been identified.

"The principle of territorial integrity was chosen as a priority. This
formula can be crucial in resolving the conflict," Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev said during his speech at the Cabinet of
Minister’s meeting on the results of socio-economic development in
2009 carried on the AzTV state television channel.

"Refugees and internally displaced persons should be returned to their
homeland, security measures should be applied and in the future, the
Armenian community of the Nagorno-Karabakh must live in conditions
of the high status of autonomy within the Azerbaijani state. That is
our position. Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity recognized by the
international community must be restored," Aliyev said, according to
Trend News.

AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL OBSERVER: NO COUNTRY WILL FIGHT FOR ARMENIA

Today
9661.html
Jan 18 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with Tofiq Abbasov, political observer at Azerbaijan’s
local Lider TV.

What are your views on outcome of Turkish PM Erdogan’s visit to Russia?

During Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s Russia trip, development of
the Russian-Turkish relationship, which is mainly based on energy
sphere, topped the agenda of the meetings. Now Turkey is trying to
improve its position in an Eastern direction, to gain a foothold in
the market of those states with which it had historical differences.

In my opinion, Turkey’s foreign policy will no longer gain substantial
dividends from the Western direction. Protracted process of Turkey’s
EU accession, in which Turkey faces new conditions and new barriers,
testified to this. With regard to settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it was discussed in Moscow, but it was
not the basic question.

The reason is clear – today all parties interested in solving regional
problems, first and foremost, the United States, Russia and France,
are busy exclusively with how to pull Armenia from the grip of
stagnation. It is made based on several considerations, including a
need to support Armenia as a counterweight in relation to the rapidly
developing Azerbaijan.

And in general, not peaceful and united, but rather disunited Caucasian
trio is more favorable for the leading powers. So, there is nothing
sensational about Moscow’s move to limit itself to discussions on
details of the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations. .

What lessons should Azerbaijan draw from current position of major
regional and world powers on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

The current format of negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
still exits. But the year 2010, in my opinion, in absence of any
significant changes in terms of the settlement of the conflict, may
be the year when Azerbaijan will be forced to take concrete steps to
change the situation.

This change may concern also composition of countries involved in
the OSCE Minsk Group, or may force Azerbaijan to withdraw from the
negotiations to launch the counter-terrorist operation to liberate
the occupied territories.

If Azerbaijan decides to launch operation to enforce peace, it will
not ask permission from any regional or global power. We all see how
the U.S. addresses the challenges facing it solely by factor of power
without considering the views of the UN and other organizations,
although their problems are completely unrelated to prevention of
annexation of the American territories…

Despite the ongoing negotiations, the Azerbaijani side always retains
the right to use various ways to liberate the occupied territories. It
includes also an option of using force. Do you think Azerbaijan is
ready for this?

It is well known that war is also a way of doing economics, but by
force. But the war for Azerbaijan will become a factor of forced
nature, because unresolved conflict also limits country’s development
blocking potential for integration projects and allows the aggressor
to use the resources, mineral resources of the occupied territories.

The comparison shows the true state of affairs. Azerbaijan’s economic
potential exceeds Armenia’s capability many times. Even if we assume
that the level of combat readiness of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
army is almost the same, Armenia is not ready to conduct large-scale
and long-term hostilities in terms of resource capacity. This war will
be only Azerbaijani-Armenian, and no country will fight for Armenia.

ARMENIA SHAKEN UP BY EARTHQUAKE

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.01.2010 16:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia was shaken up by an earthquake on January 17.

As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter was told in the RA National Survey
for Seismic Protection, the tremor hit 16 km southeast from Garni
settlement weighing in on the Richter scale at a 2.9 magnitude.

AZG DAILY #5, 16-01-2010

Armenian Genocide

Update: 2010-01-16 01:56:12 (GMT +04:00)

"WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN TURKEY?" HRANT DINK COMMEMORATION IN
LONDON ON 19TH JANUARY

The Hrant Dink Society

The Hrant Dink Society, c/o The Temple of Peace, Cardiff, Wales,
invites on Hrant Dink Day, 19th January 2010, to the UK Parliament for
a series of meetings: "What is really going on in Turkey?"

Speakers include Ragip Zarakolu, one of the founders of the Turkish
Human Rights Association and publisher, prosecuted over 40 times, most
recently for publishing a novel.

1/ "Problems of the ‘Other’ and of ‘Minorities’ in Turkey" (Ragip
Zarakolu, Desmond Fernandes and Arzu Pesman – Kurdish
Federation-FEDBIR), "Hrant Dink’s Vision" (Ragip Zarakolu),
"Rediscovering Turkish Armenia" (Vardan Tadevossian) and "The shared
Jewish and Armenian experience" (Ruth Barnett) – in Committee Room 16
at 5 p.m.

Sponsor : Nia Griffith MP

2/ "The lessons of Holocaust, Genocide and current problems of Ethnic
Cleansing" – Eilian Williams – Discussion in Committee Room 16 at 6
p.m.

"Consequences of the Genocide for Assyrians in Turkey and Iraq" – Saad
Tokatly : "The current problems of Assyrians and other Middle East
Christians"

The meeting will also be used to Promote EDM 287 by Dr Bob Spink on
the Holocaust and Andrew Dismore’s Presentation Bill to introduce a
national day to learn about and remember the Armenian Genocide, to be
read a Second time on Friday 30 April 2010 (Bill 42).

Sponsor: Dr Bob Spink MP

3/ Meeting in the Ho use of Lords (Committee Room 3A at 7 p.m.) –
‘Holocaust and Genocide’ (Professor Khatchatur I. Pilikian), The
Launch of ‘Friends of Belge Press’ and ‘The Current Human Rights
Situation in Turkey’ (Ragip Zarakolu, Desmond Fernandes and Haci
Ozdemir – International Committee Against Disappearances, British
Section).

Sponsor: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff

Free Entrance to all events

Directions to the UK Parliament can be found at:

directions.cfm

Nearest underground station: Westminster.

Background information about Ragip Zarakolu and the Launch of ‘The
Friends of Belge Press’: Ragip, alongside the late Hrant Dink and
Gülcin Cayligil, was the recipient of Turkey Journalists’ Society ‘s
(TGC’s) Press Freedom Prize in 2007. He also received the
International Publishers Association’s 2008 Freedom to Publish Prize
for his exemplary courage in upholding freedom to publish. In November
2009, Ragip (publisher of Belge) and writer N. Mehmet Güler, as
defendants, were absurdly "facing prison sentences" based upon the
dialogue of a character in a novel. "Publisher Ragip Zarakolu stated
in … (the 19 November 2009) hearing: ‘As the chairman of the
Committee of Freedom of Expression and Publishing and as a publisher,
I cannot do censorship". Zarakolu is [being] tried … Because of the
book "More difficult decisions than death" (‘Ölümden Zor Kararlar’)
published by Belge Publishing in March [2009] … [The] defendants are
facing prison sentences based on article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law
(TMY) because characters of the book are called ‘Siti’, ‘Sabri’ and
‘Siyar’. Zarakolu has been chairman of the Turkey Publishers
Association (TYB) Committee for Freedom of Publishing for 15 years. He
stated: ‘The novel plays in [a] historical period Turkey lived
through. There are similar examples in world literature. Ernest
Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, for instance, deals with the
Spanish civil war …’ … President Judge Zafer Baskurt reviewed the
file and decided to postpone the case till 25th March 2010. Zarakolu
stated that the pressure ‘has come as far as prosecuting the heroes of
a novel’. The publisher said to bianet: "This trial is like a present
for my 40th year in journalism" … Istanbul Public Prosecutor Hikmet
Usta based his indictment of 22 May on dialogue in the novel" (BIA,
Erol Önderoglu, November 20, 2009).

As Vercihan Ziflioglu noted in a 9th December 2009 article entitled
‘Fictional characters from book on trial in Turkey’: "Fictional
characters are being put on trial again in Turkey. ‘Ölümden Zor
Kararlar’ (Decisions tougher than death), a novel by N. Mehmet Güler
that was published through Belge International Publishi ng last March,
has become the focus of a criminal case … Author Güler and publisher
Zarakolu are standing trial at the Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes.
The novel was added to the list of banned books in June and copies
have been recalled from the market …Many writers and translators
have been put on trial in recent years under Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code. The first example of imaginary characters standing
trial occurred with Elif Safak’s novel, ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’.
Safak stood trial for ‘insulting Turkishness’ through an Armenian
character in her novel and was acquitted … ‘The trial turned out to
be like a present for my 40th anniversary in journalism’, said
Zarakolu, who is a founder of a human rights association and won many
national and international prizes for journalism. ‘Over 50 cases have
been opened against me…", he said. ‘Should the writer be free in his
thoughts or should he serve the principles of the state and
militarism?’ He compared current conditions to living in the era of
Sultan Abduülhamit and noted that the ‘oppressor mentality’ must be
overcome …"

Previously, cases were initiated against Ragip and Belge for
publishing Prof. Dr. Dora Sakayan’s "Garabe d Hacheryan’s Izmir
Journal: An Armenian Doctor’s Experiences " and George Jerjian’s "The
truth will set us free/Armenians and Turks Reconciled". As Bjorn
Smith-Simonsen, Chairman of the IPA Freedom to Publish Committee, had
observed at the time: "Ragip Zarakolu has been subjected to a series
of long, time-consuming and expensive court hearings … The conduct
of the trial in itself has begun to take the form of harassment and
punishment against the defendant for daring to produce works that
touch on sensitive issues" (IPA/IFEX, 14 December 2007).

As BIA News noted in 2002, "whole print-runs of dozens of … Books"
at Belge had previously been "confiscated and in 1995 the offices of
[publishing] house Belge (The Document)", run by Ragip and the late
Ayse Zarakolu, "were fire-bombed. Run from a basement in Istanbul,
Belge published pioneering books acknowledging the Kurds’ very
existence and historical works on the atrocities in the early years of
the twentieth century against the Ottoman Empire’s large Armenian
minority Armenians – and on the Greeks … The publication in the
early 1990s of the poems of Medhi Zana in Kurdish was enough to bring
charges of sepa ratist propaganda under the draconian anti-terrorism
law. In 1997, [Belge] published in Turkish Wie teuer ist die Freiheit
(How expensive freedom is), a collection of articles and reports by
German journalist Lissy Schmidt, who had been killed three years
earlier on assignment in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The book
was banned and confiscated by the government, while [Ayse] Zarakolu
and the book’s two translators were sent for trial …

"In 1977, [the late Ayse] and Ragip set up Belge with the mission of
‘striking down taboos’ and ‘investigating the rights of minorities’
… In 1990 [Belge] published a work by Ismail Besikci, a sociologist
who was the first academic to work on about the Kurdish question and
about the Kurdish people in Turkey and who was imprisoned for 15 years
for his books. [Ayse] Zarakolu became the first publisher imprisoned
under Turkey’s 1991 anti-terror law when she was jailed for five
months for printing another book by Besikci in 1993. ‘I am here today
since thought has been deemed a "crime", indeed a terrorist crime’,
she wrote from her prison cell. ‘Like writers, publishers are also
preparing their suitcases not for new studies and works but for prison
… As long as people cannot express their identities and their views,
they are not really free," she wrote just before her arrest in 1994.
‘We believe in what we are doing. Despite fines and possible future
prison sentences, we at Belge will continue to give suppressed voices
a chance to be heard. If we persist, we will win’".

English PEN has confirmed that a trial against Ragip and Belge "opened
on 24 September 2003 under article 312 of the Penal Code for
publication of the book 12 Eylul Rejimi Yargilaniyor (The Regime of 12
September on Trial), edited by Dr Gazi Çaglar. [It was] said to have
referred to the activities of the Turkish forces in South Eastern
Turkey as ‘organised genocide’"
( inprison/writersunderthreat/turkey/ragipzarakolu/
). Owen Bowcott (The Guardian, 13 April 2002) also noted the way in
which Ayse Zarakolu was being targeted by the state even after she
passed away: "Two weeks after the death of this internationally
renowned publisher, a letter arrived from No 1 state security court,
ordering her to appear at 9am on March 21. ‘We have opened a case
against you, in absentia’, the summons warned. ‘If you do not come,
you will be arrested’. After her son was arrested for his funeral
oration, the trial date arrived. The lawyers assumed their positions
and proceedings began. ‘It was like something out of the pages of
Kafka’, says her widower, Ragip Zarakolu. ‘Everybody was there: the
prosecutor, advocate, judges, correspondents, friends. Only the place
of the accused was empty’ … Zarakolu’s alleged crime involved
publication of a work entitled The Song Of Liberty by Huseyin Turhali,
an exiled Kurdish lawyer. She is also being summonsed from her grave
to answer charges that she published The Culture Of Pontus, an
anthropological study by Omer Assan examining the ancient Greek
heritage of the region around Trabzon on the Black Sea …"

A joint International PEN Writers in Prison Committee and the
International Publishers’ Association June 2008 statement confirmed,
after another trial that Ragip Zarakolu and Belge faced, that:
"Observers believe that Zarakolu is being singled out by the more
conservative elements of the judiciary because of his decades of
struggle for freedom of expression, and particularly his promotion of
minority rights. Throughout his life, Ragip Zarakolu has been
subjected to a series of long, time-consuming and expensive court
hearings. The conduct of the trial in itself took the form of
harassment and punishment against the defendant for daring to produce
works, which touch on sensitive issues such as the Armenian question,
Kurdish and minority rights. The condemnation of Ragip Zarakolu shows
that the recent cosmetic change to Article 301 TPC was not enough to
put an end to freedom of expression trials in Turkey. Turkish
legislation … Must be amended or repealed to meet international s
tandards, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union".

Ragip’s 2008 acceptance speech for the IPA Freedom to Publish award
noted the following: "A deeply militarist mindset lays deep roots …
Unfortunately, since September 11, 2001, national security state
anti-terror laws have been given even more power in Turkey – indeed,
in many countries – to restrict freedom of expression. Our publishing
house, Belge International Publishing, was targeted under anti-terror
laws when we published books about the Kurdish Question and the
Armenian genocide. Books that critiqued state terror and condemned
terrorism were accused under anti-te rror law. The Erdogan government
reformed the anti-terror law in 2004, deleting a clause that
controlled the opposition press. But in 2006 the National Security
Council demanded that the clause be restored in a stricter form. Now
the Kurdish and opposition publications may be silenced for a year
waiting for trials to begin. Their defence lawyers’ rights are
restricted. Jailed journalists are sent to special isolation prisons
where they have fewer rights than ‘ordinary’ criminals …".

Constitutional court ruling on protocols is a signal to Ankara that
Yerevan ready to continue reconciliation process

YEREVAN, January 15. /ARKA/. A senior member of the governing
Republican Party of Armenia said today the ruling of Armenian
Constitutional Court that two Turkish-Armenian protocols on
establishment of diplomatic relations and normalization of bilateral
ties do not run counter to the Constitution, is a signal to Ankara
that Yerevan is ready to continue the reconciliation process.

Speaking at a news conference Friday, Eduard Sharmazanov, the
secretary of the party’s parliamentary faction, said the
Constitutional Court’s ruling is very important in terms of raising
the country’s international image showing its readiness to observe its
international commitments.

`Now the ball is again on the Turkish side of the field, which has to
demonstrate whether it really wants normalization of relations with
its neighbor or what it done and said was only an imitation,’ he said.

Sharmazanov said Turkey is facing the problem of preserving its
international reputation and by ratifying the two protocols it will
show that it is a reliable partner. He blamed Ankara for what he
described as `artificial dragging of the protocols ratification.’

According to him, some members of the British House of Commons, who
have personally recognized the Armenian genocide, are pressing the
government to follow their suit. He said the US Congress is very
likely to consider an Armenian genocide bill again.

Eduard Sharmazanov said Armenia will never agree to one-sided
concessions in this issue. In a reference to state borders, he said
Armenia and Turkey, as members of UN and other international
organizations, have recognized one another’s borders.

On June 12 the Constitutional Court indicated that the protocols can
not have any bearing on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or inhibit
Armenia’s pursuit of greater international recognition of the Armenian
genocide. -0-

ARS ISSUES APPEAL TO HELP HAITI EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

Asbarez
Jan 15th, 2010

GLENDALE, CA-The Armenian Relief Society of Western U.S.A. (ARS),
Regional Executive board issued an appeal to mobilize its members
and the community at large to contribute to the ARS Haiti Relief Fund
and lend a hand to ongoing disaster relief efforts.

"The ARS feels the suffering of the Haitian people, especially
since we experienced similar devastation after the 1988 earthquake
in Armenia," said Sossie Poladian, Chairperson of the ARS Regional
Executive. "Many of us, still remember the pain and anguish that we
felt and how comforting it was to know that the world came to help
the people of Armenia. It is our duty to help the Haitians who fell
victim to a similar disaster."

Since its founding in 1900, disaster relief has been one of the
prime humanitarian missions of the ARS. Earthquakes, tsunamis and
hurricanes from Greece to Mexico to our own backyard in Louisiana
have flung the ARS into relief efforts across the globe for a century.

With its appeal, the ARS urged the Armenian American community to
be generous with donations, as every donation small or large can
make a difference in the lives of those who are suffering in their
devastated nation.

Tax-deductible donations can be securely made on-line at
or checks payable to the "ARS of Western USA"
can be mailed to ARS of Western USA, Regional Executive at 517 W.

Glenoaks Blvd., Glendale, CA 91202-2812. The web donations default to
"Haiti Relief Fund" and the checks need to indicate the same on the
memo field.

RUSSIA-TURKEY TALKS FRUITFUL: ERDOGAN

news.am
Jan 14 2010
Armenia

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Russia-Turkey talks
"complex and extremely fruitful" on his return to Ankara. He attached
significance to the agreement on lifting visa restrictions between
the two states.

"Both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Premier Vladimir Putin
responded positively to this process," ITAR TASS quotes Erdogan.

According to him, the corresponding bodies were ordered to proceed with
elaboration of the visa regime relaxation. Turkish side assumes that
the final agreement of visa-free regime may be signed this summer
within the framework of Russia-Turkey business council session in
Istanbul.

Erdogan also put high value on the energy sector talks: "Energy
cooperation was also strenuously discussed. We are engaged in the
Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline project. Significant progress was achieved
in nuclear power sector. Presently, the work in this direction is in
hand and we got an opportunity to assess its course at the talks."

Regional issues, particularly situation in the Caucasus, Armenia-Turkey
relations, as well as Azerbaijan and Cyprus issues were canvassed in
the course of the talks, Erdogan outlined.