Author: Nahapetian Boris

Interfax, Russia
Oct 15 2009

Russia hopes for early ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols

MOSCOW Oct 15

Moscow has urged the Turkish and Armenian parliaments to ratify as
soon as possible the protocols on the normalization of bilateral
relations, signed on October 10.

"The signing of the protocols was the first step towards
normalization. The sides must ratify these documents as soon as
possible and to start implementing them in practice," Russian Foreign
ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said at a press briefing in
Moscow on Thursday.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed protocols on the
establishment of diplomatic relations and opening the border in Zurich
on October 10. These measures will be taken after the protocols are
ratified.

Russia hopes for early ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols (Part 2)

MOSCOW Oct 15

Moscow has urged the Turkish and Armenian parliaments to ratify the
protocols on the normalization of bilateral relations, signed on
October 10, as soon as possible.

"The signing of the protocols was the first step towards
normalization. The sides must ratify these documents as soon as
possible and to start implementing them in practice," Russian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said at a press briefing in
Moscow on Thursday.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed protocols on the
establishment of diplomatic relations and opening the border in Zurich
on October 10. These measures will be taken after the protocols are
ratified.

"Normalization of relations between the two neighboring states will
liven up trade and economic contacts, and have a positive impact on
the socioeconomic situation in Armenia and Turkey," Nesterenko said.

"Russia on its part is ready to support this process by implementing
cooperation projects with both Armenia and Turkey," he said.

Moscow welcomes "the pragmatic and businesslike joint work being done
by Armenian and Turkish partners in settling complicated issues,"
Nesterenko said.

On the protocols, signed in Zurich, the diplomat said that Russia
"sincerely welcomes them," and that "Armenia and Turkey are Russia’s
friends."

"The contents of the signed documents, in our opinion, indicate that
both countries are determined to pass their stretch of the way.

Importantly, none of the steps planned can be interpreted as damaging
the third party," said Nesterenko.

US Fed News
Oct 16 2009

RENOWNED PHOTOJOURNALIST ALEXANDRA AVAKIAN TO SPEAK AT FLORIDA
INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

IAMI, Oct. 15 — Florida International University, a component of the
state university system, issued the following news release:

The Middle East Studies Program in FIU’s School of International and
Public Affairs has invited renowned photojournalist Alexandra Avakian
to speak on Nov. 13, 2009, at 2 p.m. in the MARC International
Pavilion at Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Avakian will speak about her
work in the Middle East and discuss her recently published book
Windows of the Soul, in which she shares the challenges, insights and
rewards of nearly two decades of photographing the lives of Muslims
around the world.

This striking image graces the cover of Avakian’s latest book, Windows
of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World.

This striking image graces the cover of Avakian’s latest book, Windows
of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World.

Avakian lived and worked for two years in the Gaza strip, often in
Islamic dress, and was once beaten bloody by Hamas. For several
terrifying days in Somalia she was pinned down by sniper fire on the
way to her hotel. She careened across the snowy Tien-Shen Mountains
with Islamic fundamentalists in an ancient Lada, only to be detained
and tossed out by the Uzbek KGB. All the while, she captured some of
the most important stories of our time-the famine in Sudan, the
violence in Gaza and Somalia, the daily life of Hezbollah. She
traveled extensively with Yasser Arafat as one of the only non-Arab
photographers given such access. She studied her Armenian roots in
Iran and the Muslim culture in America.

Recounted in gripping words and unforgettable images, Avakian’s
remarkable experiences draw readers into the Muslim world to meet
friends and terrorists, leaders and thieves and everyday people. Her
style is probing yet compassionate.

Avakian has been a National Geographic photographer since 1995. Her
assignments have included a cover story on Iran; photographic essays
on Gaza, Romania, and Armenia; and intensive photographic projects on
Lebanon’s Hezbollah and American Muslims. Her work in Iran was
chronicled in an episode of National Geographic’s television show
Explorer. Her photos have also been published in many National
Geographic books, including Women Photographers at National
Geographic, Through the Lens, Wide Angle and The World of Islam. She
has also produced three books for Clarkson Potter and has been
published in several Time Life books.

Avakian’s exclusive coverage of Lebanon’s Hezbollah appeared as a
portfolio in 2006 in Time and Corriere della Sera magazine. It was
also published by Der Speigel, and nationalgeographic.com and was
featured on an episode of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 news program. Her
in-depth study of Muslims in America was published as a portfolio in
U.S. News & World Report’s special "Secrets of Islam" issue and Saudi
Aramco World magazine in 2005.

She was a top freelancer for Time and the New York Times Magazine from
1988 to 1996, covering the Soviet Union, the First Palestinian
Intifada and many other stories in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern
Europe and the Caribbean. She spent seven months covering the uprising
in Haiti and documented the civil war and famine in Somalia and Sudan.
Her subjects have also included the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, the
funeral of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomenei in 1989, and Czechoslovakia’s
"Velvet Revolution."

A book signing will follow the presentation. Copies of the book will
be available for sale at the event. For more information, please
contact the Middle East Studies Program at 305-348-1792 or
[email protected].

TURKISH PRESIDENT URGES ARMENIAN DIASPORA NOT TO BLOCK AGREEMENT

Anadolu Ajanci (Anatolia Agency)
Oct 3 2009
Turkey

Naxcivan, 3 October: Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged Saturday
[3 October] Armenian diaspora not to block settlement of problems
between Turkey and its neighbour Armenia.

"They should support all efforts for peace in the Caucasus, if they
care about the future of Armenia," Gul told reporters in Azerbaijan’s
Naxcivan Autonomous Republic where he attended the summit meeting of
leaders of Turkic-speaking countries.

Gul’s remarks came after protests on Friday at the start of
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s tour of Armenian diaspora in the
world. Demonstrators in Paris, the first stop of his tour, shouted
"traitor" at Sargsyan.

Gul said the Armenian diaspora was pursuing such a policy in order
to preserve their identity in some countries.

"But this is not right," Gul said. "It is easy to speak from a
distance."

Asked if tension between Turkey and Azerbaijan – after the protocol
that Turkey and Armenia agreed on to normalize relations – was
overcome, Gul said, "fraternity between Turkey and Azerbaijan has
always been tested. In this respect, Turkey and Azerbaijan have full
confidence in each other."

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties or economic relations since
Armenia declared its independence in 1991 and Turkey closed its border
with Armenia after this country invaded the Upper-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan in 1992.

In July 2008, the then Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan expressed
Turkey’s willingness to normalize relations with Yerevan.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul travelled to Armenia in September
2008 to watch 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier match between the two
countries upon an invitation by President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia.

After months-long Swiss mediated talks, Turkey and Armenia agreed
about a month ago on a protocol to establish relations. The protocol
is expected to be signed in Switzerland on 10 October.

Turkey and Armenia are to play another qualifier in Istanbul on
14 October.

ARMENIAN DIASPORA CANNOT DAMAGE TURKISH-LEBANESE RELATIONS: CHAIRMAN OF INTER-PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDSHIP GROUP

Trend
Oct 7 2009
Azerbaijan

The Armenian lobby in Lebanon cannot damage the relations between
Ankara and Beirut, said the chairman of the Turkish-Lebanese
Interparliamentary Friendship Group.

"The Armenian lobby in Lebanon will not harm the relations
between Ankara and Beirut," Abdurrahman Kurt, Chairman of the
Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group and Turkish Parliamentarian,
told Trend News over telephone from Ankara.

In several countries, including European, Argentina and Lebanon, the
Armenian lobby held a protest action against Turkey. They protested
against the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia.

According to Kurt, the Turkish-Lebanese relations are built not on
the primitive, but on the strong and substantive principles.

"We extended a hand of friendship to Lebanon because it felt this need,
and no street actions can destroy this friendship," said Kurt.

ARMENIAN FM ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN AT UNESCO

AssA-Irada
October 8, 2009 Thursday
Azerbaijan

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has leveled accusations
against Azerbaijan at a UNESCO conference, claiming the South Caucasus
neighbor is consistently destroying Armenian cultural heritage,
his press-service said. One of the examples of this is the complete
wiping-out of the Jugi cemetery in Nakhchivan [Azerbaijans Nakhchivan
Autonomous Republic] with its unique fine hachkars dating back to the
9-16th centuries, which testified to the skills and talent of the Jugi
craftsmen. Nalbandian pointed out that no war was being waged in 1998
and 2005 — recalling the hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia
that ended with a cease-fire in 1994 — when these giant monuments
were demolished, loaded onto railway carriages and eliminated under
the watchful eye of the Armenian government.

According to Nalbandian, in 2005, the huge cultural monument was
leveled by bulldozers and turned into a military school as a result
of the actions taken on the authorities orders. Neither was there a
war in 1975 when a 7th-century Armenian church was fully destroyed
in the center of Nakhchivan with the sole purpose of eliminating the
traces of the Armenians, who accounted for a majority in Nakhchivan
several decades ago, Nalbandian claimed. The conflict between the two
South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia’s
territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of
Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since the early
1990s. According to the Hague Convention, in case of occupation of one
countrys territory by another, the destruction of material and cultural
heritage there is unacceptable. However, Armenia has destroyed a huge
number of Azerbaijani historical and cultural monuments in the occupied
land in the past years. The Azerbaijani government has appealed,
at different times, to UNESCO, the OSCE and UN offices in Baku over
Armenian vandalism. Though a visit by an OSCE monitoring mission to
the territories under occupation, as well as Armenia and Nakhchivan,
had been planned several years ago, it was later postponed after
Armenian protests. Yerevan insisted that the monitoring be carried out
only to examine the plight of hachkars in Nakhchivan. The monuments
that are presented as Armenian hachkars actually belong to Caucasus
Albania and have not been destroyed. Armenians are trying to reinforce
their territorial claims to Nakhchivan by inscribing the monuments to
themselves. According to researchers, Armenians began moving to the
South Caucasus after Russia and Iran signed the Turkmenchay Treaty
in 1828, and their link to the ancient Alban khachkars is out of
the question.

ISRAELIS PUNISHING TURKS WITH UNOFFICIAL TOURIST BOYCOTT
by Gil Ronen

IsraelNN.com
10/15/09, 10:41 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Israel tourists are punishing Turkey over its latest
insults to Jews and Israel by boycotting its tourist industry. Arutz
Sheva in Hebrew surveyed a number of tourist agencies in Israel and
has found that there has been a drop in demand for tourist resorts
in the last week. "The end of the season plus the crisis between
Turkey and Israel have hit tourism severely," a tourism agency
representative said.

Turkey has been a favorite vacation spot for Israelis for many years
but in recent years, Israeli tourists have taken to boycotting it
after diplomatic spats between the country’s leaders. In the Passover
season, Turkish resorts were reportedly hit hard by an unofficial
Israeli tourist boycott after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s attack on Israel at the Davos conference.

‘Turkish coffee’ ban Israeli coffee shop chain Ilan’s has announced
it will no longer serve its customers Turkish coffee, in protest of
the airing of a grossly anti-Israeli scene in a Turkish television
show. The scene showed IDF officers supposedly shooting Arab babies.

Ilan’s marketing manager said that "like all Israelis, we too were
shocked to see the nauseating scenes from films showing IDF soldiers
supposedly shooting small children. We believe everyone can take
action [against the film] in his own way, and this is our modest and
symbolic way."

The manager, Michal Shteg, said that "right now we have decided
to stop selling ‘Istanbul Coffee,’ our Turkish blend, and we will
continue like this until the situation improves."

"True, this is not a boycott that will hurt Turkey financially,
it is not the boycott of IKEA – but this is a cultural boycott and
a patriotic act, which expressed our lack of will to identify with
those who act almost anti-Semitically. Because before everything –
we are Israelis first."

Armenian genocide reminder The "Im Tirz st rally at 12:30 on
Friday opposite the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv. "Following the ugly
anti-Semitic incitement of the past few days by the official Turkish TV
station and the Turkish Prime Minister we will hold a performance to
highlight the extent of the Turkish government’s hypocrisy and lies,"
the movement announced.

"On the one hand," it explained, "the Turks continue to deny the
holocaust which they perpetrated against the Armenians between 1915
and 1918, and [yet] at the same time they dare to spread blood libels
and lies about the State of Israel and the IDF."

The display will include photos from the Armenian genocide. Books
about the genocide will be handed out to passersby and signs will be
carried, calling on the Turks to take responsibility for the genocide
they perpetrated.

JERMAIN TAYLOR: I’M EXPECTING A WAR

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.10.2009 11:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I am ready to do battle and win by any means
necessary." Jermain Taylor, Armenian boxer Arthur Abraham’s rival
told a news conference devoted to the October 17 single fight which
will open Super Six World Boxing Classic.

"I have been in Berlin for about a week, and a lot of people have come
up to me on the street and let me know they will be cheering for me. I
have a lot of respect for Arthur as a fighter, but I am expecting to
deliver a good performance which will lead to victory. Whoever wins the
tournament I think would have to be considered the Best Middleweight,"
Taylor said.

UAR CELEBRATES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.10.2009 14:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The year 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the
Union of Armenians of Russia (UAR). The two countries will next year
organize different events to celebrate this jubilee anniversary, UAR
President Ara Abrahamyan told a press conference in Yerevan. "Over the
past 10 years, we managed to do considerable work aimed at preserving
Armenian identity and developing ties between Armenia and Russia,"
Abrahamyan said. "In the course of so many years, hundreds of Armenian
schools and several Armenian churches were opened in Russia. We have
managed to create proper conditions for maintaining Russia’s ties with
Armenia," UAR President stressed, adding that organization would to
extend the scope of its activities, focusing on all-national issues.

"The series of events dedicated to UAR’s 10th anniversary will
end in a solemn ceremony which will take place in Kremlin Palace in
2010. Armenia and Russian Presidents are also expected to participate
in it," UAR President said.

TURKEY’S RECENT CONDUCT DEMONSTRATES THAT COUNTRY’S NOT YET READY TO ACCEDE TO EU

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.10.2009 16:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The unpleasant incidents during RA Presdient Serzh
Sargsyan’s visit to Bursa demonstrate Turkish society’s intolerance,
NAS Oriental Studies Institute Director Ruben Safrastyan told news
conference in Yerevan. "What we saw yesterday, i.e. Turkish fans’
improper attitude to Armenian anthem and Armenian bus being pebbled,
we can judge that Turkey cannot become an EU member. The country
does not comply with European standards," said the expert, expressing
concern over such manifestations.

TURKISH AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS ARE MEETING IN BURSA

ArmInfo
2009-10-14 19:55:00

ArmInfo. Presidents of Armenia and Turkey Serzh Sargsyan and Abdullah
Gul are meeting at Almira Hotel in Bursa.

Turkish mass media report that the presidents will, first, talk
tete-a-tete and, then, in enlarged format. The key topic of their
meeting is the parliamentary ratification of the protocols signed a
few days ago.

In the evening the Turkish and Armenian presidents will attend the
Turkey-Armenia FIFA World Cup qualification match. Gul will hold a
reception in honor of his Armenian counterpart.