TURKISH NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE OF THE ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS
ARMENPRESS
APRIL 28, 2010
YEREVAN
ANKARA, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS: Turkish National Security Council will
discuss the issue of the Armenian-Turkish protocols April 29. At
tomorrow’s session Turkish NSC will discuss the process of the
Armenian-Turkish protocols and issues connected with Iraq elections.
Turkish agency reports that on the same day changes are expected in
Turkish National Security Council.
ELKHAN POLUKHOV: "IT WOULD BE BETTER IF ARMENIA APPROACHES THE SITUATION IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS SENSIBLY INSTEAD OF SELF-DISPLAY"
APA
April 27 2010
Azerbaijan
Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. "It would be better if Armenia
approaches the situation in the negotiation process sensibly instead
of self-display, at the same time to approach the situation from
the point of critical and real view and to try to use such approach
to eliminate tensions in the region", spokesman for the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elkhan Polukhov told APA speaking about
the Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian’s remarks about the
Azerbaijan’s criticism about the US policy in the region.
"First of all, Armenia must withdraw its invader troops from the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan and to create basis for the
development of peace talks".
STUDENT REPUBLICAN SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAUNCHED IN YSU
ARMENPRESS
APRIL 27, 2010
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS: A student republican scientific
conference dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
opened today in Yerevan State University, organized by the Student
Scientific Company. Welcoming the participants of the scientific
conference YSU pro-rector Ruben Markosyan noted that reports of
about 40 students have been published in the collection of theses,
"The presented works prove that our students realize the importance
of this issue. And the task of higher educational establishments is
to provide them with sufficient information," the pro-rector said.
ARMENIA, TURKEY SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, RA FM STATES
news.am
April 27 2010
Armenia
The Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process reached a stalemate,
and RA President Serzh Sargsyan broke it, RA Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian stated in his interview with the Public TV of Armenia.
"The recent period has resembled an hourglass, and, as each grain of
sand fell, both Armenia and the international community were losing
their confidence in Turkey," the Minister said.
As regards a coherent foreign policy, Nalbandian said: "A coherent
foreign policy does not mean further blunders. Blunders must not be
repeated, so the Armenian President initiated the process. And we
have done what we have said – as we have repeatedly stated. We have
never said what we have been unable to do."
According to Nalbandian, this process has not impeded the process of
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. "On the contrary,
over the past month the issue has been discussed by the U.S. House
of Representatives, Swiss, Catalonian and other parliaments. Of the
highest importance, however, are the changes that have taken place
in Turkey itself In December 2008, Turkish intellectuals started
offering apologies to the Armenian people. About 35,000 joined the
call. On April 24, for the first time, an event was organized in the
central square of Istanbul. Things have started moving even in Turkey."
As to whether the mediators can hold occasional discussions of the
issue, with Turkey taking advantage of them to show the world it
allegedly negotiates with Armenia, Minister Nalbandian said: "Armenia
will never participate in any process for the sake of the process
itself. We initiated the process and conducted negotiations, initialed
and later signed the protocols, which are now awaiting ratification.
Of course, the question is when it will happen, but I do not see
any need for new talks. I remember, last May, the Turkish side,
dissatisfied with the contents of the protocols, tried to start new
negotiations. They made several proposals. What does that mean? We have
conducted talks, let us launch new talks; now we sign now we do not;
now we ratify now we do not. It is not a thing to be trifled with! In
the morning they say they can ratify the protocols within three days,
in the evening they say they cannot. The next morning they say they
respect the pacta sunt servanda principle. How can we understand
it? ‘We are not mediators between Armena and Azerbaijan, but we want
to negotiate with you to settle issues.’ ‘No preconditions,’ they say,
but ‘do this and that, and we start ratification.’ We are speaking
different languages, one can hardly understand their language."
PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apost. Church of America and Canada
H.E. Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan
Prelate, Easter Prelacy and Canada
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
Web:
April 27, 2010
In Memoriam
BISHOP NSHAN TOPOUZIAN
(1966-2010)
Prelate of the Armenian Diocese of Aderbadagan (Iran)
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, His
Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Eastern United
States, and the Cilician Brotherhood announce with immense sorrow the
untimely passing of the Prelate of the Diocese of Aderbadagan, Bishop
Nshan Topouzian, which took place on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, in
Armenia following a brief illness.
The Extreme Unction and burial services will take place in Tabriz,
Iran.
By the order of the Prelate, Archbishop Oshagan, Requiem Services for
the soul of the late Bishop will take place in all Eastern Prelacy
churches on Sunday, May 2.
May his memory be forever blessed.
PRELACY SECRETARIAT
April 27, 2010
Biography
BISHOP NSHAN TOPOUZIAN
Bishop Nshan Topouzian, (baptismal name Ara), was born in 1966 in
Lebanon. In 1984, after completing the five-level Jarankavorats (high
school) program at the Seminary of the Holy See of Cilicia, he was
ordained a deacon. During the next three years he completed the
Seminarys Undzayaran (college) program, and in 1987 he was ordained a
celibate priest and renamed Nshan by His Holiness Karekin II,
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, of blessed memory.
In February 1991 he was assigned to Tabriz, Iran, as a
visiting priest to the Aderbadagan Diocese. In May of the same year,
His Holiness Karekin II appointed him Pontifical Legate of that
Diocese. After serving for nearly 11 years, in August 2002 he was
elected Prelate of the Aderbadagan Diocese. On June 4, 2006, he was
elevated to the rank of Bishop by His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of
the Great House of Cilicia.
Bishop Nshans 15-year service to the Aderbadagan Diocese
was very productive. With his leadership and effort by the National
Representative Assembly and the diocesan council,
Tabrizs four churches and prelacy were totally renovated, the Nareg
residences in Tabriz were built, the Ararat Cultural Center was
established, and a new church was built in Urmia.
Bishop Nshan played a major role in the renovation and
preservation of historical churches and monasteries in Northern Iran,
namely St. Tadeh and St. Stepanos Monasteries and the Church at
Jorjor. Under great personal danger several different times he
photographed, along the banks of the Arax River, the destruction of
thousands of khatchkars in the Armenian cemetery in Old Julfa in
Nakhichevan by the Azerbaijan army. Thanks to the photographs he took,
the Armenian people and international governments and agencies were
made aware of the destruction taking place.
Bishop Nshan who was fluent in Persian and Azeri-Turkish
was able to establish good relations with officials in Northern Iran
and defend the rights of the Armenian Church and people within the
historical Aderbadagan boundaries.
His death is a great loss to the Great House of Cilicia,
the Aderbadagan Diocese, and for the entire Armenian church and
nation.
AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN DELEGATIONS CHAIRMEN TO MEET IN PACE
news.az
April 26 2010
Azerbaijan
PACE PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu has held a press conference in
connection with the spring session of the organization.
Cavusoglu said that political atmosphere in Azerbaijan on the eve of
the parliamentary elections was enough positive:
‘During the meetings in Azerbaijan we touched upon all urgent issues
on holding democratic, independent and just elections. We want it
very much. We saw the real will of Azerbaijani government in the
direction of holding more transparent, democratic and independent
parliamentary elections. Representatives of Azerbaijani government
promised that they would take all necessary steps in this direction".
Cavusoglu also noted that he had discussed the issues on political
imprisonments and arrested journalists in Baku:
‘I am waiting for a positive answer on this issue as well. I spoke
about it during the meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’.
Heads of the parliamentary delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia
in PACE Samad Seyidov and David Harutyunyan are to meet within
the framework of the spring session of PACE, PACE President Mevlut
Cavusoglu said.
"The meeting will be held at the initiative of the PACE leadership
and it will discuss resumption of the activity of the Subcommittee
on the Karabakh issue", Cavusoglu told reporters in Strasbourg.
The PACE subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh has suspended activity due
to the death of its chairman Lord Russell Johnston.
TWO TURKISH PARTIES CONDEMN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
news.am
April 26 2010
Armenia
The Labour Party (Emek Partisi) and the Freedom and Solidarity Party
(Ozgurluk ve DayanıÅ~_ma Partisi (ODP)) of Turkey issued a statement
denouncing the Armenian massacres in 1915 and offering condolences
to the Armenian people.
The statement issued by the Labor Party particularly says that on
April 24 the international community focused its attention on the
great tragedy of 1915. The massacre and displacement of Armenians
by the imperialistic forces for the purpose of founding a Turkish
Republic were later downplayed or ignored. The fact has not so far
been admitted and no apologies have been offered to the people. The
ruling Justice and Development Party has not included the issue in
its package of constitutional amendments either.
The ruling party as well as the Republican People’s Party (RPP)
(Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP)) are competing in nationalism
instead of facing historical facts. Also, Recep Erdogan’s statement
on the deportation of 100,000 Armenians proved the real worth of
the Justice and Development Party. Turkey must put up with its own
history and re-open communications without any preconditions. The
Armenian-Turkish relations must be improved, says the statements.
A statement made by Alper TaÅ~_, leader of the Freedom and Solidarity
Party says that April 24 is an anniversary of great pain of "our
Armenian brothers." The great tragedy that occurred in Turkey
95 year ago "remains in our hearts." Alper TaÅ~_ pointed out the
necessity for a conditions for a dialogue between the two nations. The
Armenian-Turkish border must be reopened and named after Hrant Dink,
says the statement.
SLOW ROAD TO PEACE FOR TURKEY AND ARMENIA
By Andrey Volkov
The Epoch Times
/34134/
April 26 2010
Century-old genocide still an open wound
After nearly a century of conflict between Armenia and Turkey,
the current process of normalizing relations is not going smoothly,
and has triggered concerns over the future of the region.
Armenia and its large diaspora worldwide commemorate April 24 as the
anniversary of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of
the Ottoman Empire–modern day Turkey–during World War I. This year
marked the 95th anniversary of the 1915 massacre.
The crimes committed by the Ottoman Empire are recognized as genocide
by many historians, human rights groups, and countries. However,
the genocide is a touchy subject in Turkey, which fiercely denies
the incident.
On Saturday’s day of remembrance, President Barack Obama issued a
statement of commemoration, saying, "The Meds Yeghern is a devastating
chapter in the history of the Armenian people, and we must keep its
memory alive in honor of those who were murdered and so that we do
not repeat the grave mistakes of the past."
The Armenian term "Meds Yeghern," which was used by Obama in his
statement means "Great Catastrophe" and is the term used by Armenians
to refer to the genocide. Still, some Armenian-Americans were unhappy
that Obama did not directly use the term "genocide."
"President Obama today once again failed to properly recognize the
Armenian genocide, offering euphemisms and evasive terminology to
characterize this crime against humanity," said the Armenian National
Committee of America in written reaction to the statement.
Obama’s comments are particularly significant this year, and last
month the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly passed a
resolution officially acknowledging the genocide.
Immediately after the House resolution, Turkey called its ambassador
back from Washington in protest.
Diplomatic Deadlock
Obama’s April 24 statement also talked about his hopes for
reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia. "Together, the Turkish
and Armenian people will be stronger as they acknowledge their common
history and recognize their common humanity," he said.
The two countries remain far apart in acknowledging any common history
on the genocide issue, and recent attempts at reopening their border
and restoring relations seem unlikely to succeed.
Last October, with the help of the United States, Russia, and France,
Armenia and Turkey signed a peace agreement. However, the agreement
was never ratified in either country.
In the 1990s, Armenia engaged in war with Azerbaijan over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region. When the Soviet bloc broke up,
Nagorno-Karabakh announced its withdrawal from Russia to join Armenia.
Thousands of people lost their lives in the conflict.
At the time, Turkey closed her borders with Armenia in protest,
and Nagorno-Karabakh was ultimately occupied by the Armenian military.
A year later, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a fragile document for
reconciliation leaving Karabakh under de facto Armenian control,
but the issue has never been formally resolved.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted this week
that ratification of the October accord was dependent on Armenia
signing a peace deal with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Parliament then said that it was suspending the
ratification process until Turkey stops setting up additional
conditions.
"The political majority in the National Assembly considers
statements from the Turkish side in recent days as unacceptable,
specifically those by Prime Minister Erdogan, who has again made the
ratification of the Armenia-Turkish protocols by the Turkish Parliament
directly dependent on a resolution over Nagorno-Karabakh," a ruling
parliamentary coalition of Armenia said in a statement on April 22.
Armenia’s President Serzh Azati Sargsyan said in a televised address
to the nation the same day that "over the last year, Turkey has been
doing everything to buy time and interfere with that process. The
given time has run out."
Strategic Interests
The United States, Russia, and the European Union are all keenly
interested in stabilizing the situation between Armenia and Turkey.
South Caucasus is an important region for oil and gas for the EU.
Achieving peace in the region would help smooth the path for Turkey’s
negotiations to join the Union.
Washington seeks to stabilize the situation to help ensure peace in
the region–given that Turkey is a member of NATO.
On the Armenian side, the country is completely dependent on Russia.
Russia considers the post-Soviet territory to be within its sphere
of its influence and wants to keep it that as a strategic gas route.
Normalizing diplomacy with Turkey could open a "second door" for
Armenia, allowing it to move toward integrating more with the rest
of the world.
CAN FORESTS THRIVE IN THE WORLD OF CARBON TRADING?
By Lara Farrar
CNN
pe/04/23/eco.tree.carbontrading/?hpt=Mid
April 26 2010
CNN — So few forests remain in the tiny country of Armenia that the
World Bank has warned it could one day become a desert.
For more than 15 years the Massachusetts-based Armenian Tree Project
has been replanting the country’s forests lost during its energy
crisis in the early 1990s.
Recently the group, like many similar organizations, has considered
raising funds by selling carbon credits.
But questions persist over whether applying carbon finance to forestry
projects can be good for the environment as well as for the communities
where the trees are planted.
"The thing about forestry and carbon, obviously it is very new,
and it is complicated," said Jason Sohigian, deputy director of the
Armenian Tree Project.
"The reason why people want to invest in it is they understand trees
and carbon have a relationship, so it is easy for the public to make
an association between climate change and trees."
Deforestation is responsible for up to 20 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions worldwide, according to the United Nations. Yet forests
also absorb huge amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide, which can
be quantified and bought as credits by companies and countries to
offset their pollution.
Currently carbon offsets purchased from reforestation projects
represent only a fraction of global carbon markets.
A reason for this is that few projects have gained approval by the
Clean Development Mechanism, an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol
that allows industrialized countries to buy carbon credits from
projects in developing countries.
"The verification process is quite rigorous to go through and
satisfy the questions, especially on how you measure emissions,"
said Alexander Rau of the Helsinki-based Climate Wedge, a carbon
management and investment advisory firm.
The European Union’s Emissions Trading System also has a ban on buying
forestry offsets from developing countries.
Growth of forest offsets now largely depends on whether the U.S.
passes legislation prioritizing forestry as part of a federal
cap-and-trade market. And while climate negotiations in Copenhagen
last December did not result in a legally-binding global pact to cut
greenhouse gases, there was significant political and financial support
of a UN plan to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation
(REDD).
Costing the Earth
However, for small non-profits like the Armenian Tree Project, the
cost of even becoming certified on voluntary markets is prohibitive.
"That is one of the problems with forests," Sohigian said. "With most
systems, you don’t get the money until after you sequester the carbon.
So how do you even get off the ground without the money up front?"
Once a project is certified, revenue generation can still be
difficult. For one, the price of offsets in voluntary markets is
significantly lower than those traded in regulated markets, which
means more trees will have to be planted to make money.
Projects will often sell credits in advance based upon the projected
amount of carbon the trees will absorb over time but "the risk is very
big," said Jutta Kill of FERN, a Brussels-based environmental group.
"You have a lot of obligations for a very uncertain return of
revenues," said Kill. "Some involve signing a very long-term contract,
guaranteeing your trees will be standing for the next 100 years."
If something happens to the trees, the communities and organizations
that have planted them will sometimes be responsible for replanting
them or will have to buy offset credits from other projects to supplant
what was lost, said Kill. This possibility adds more cost concerns.
"Most of the contracts are not public, which puts a lot of the
communities at a disadvantage," Kill told CNN. "They have no way to
know whether they are being offered a fair deal."
"When you have a project that involves local communities, it is
interesting to see if it would benefit or if it would suffer from
presenting itself as a carbon project," Kill said.
Sohigian said the Armenian Tree Project has worked hard to engage the
support of villages in their endeavor, starting poverty alleviation
programs and environmental education initiatives in combination with
their efforts to replant trees across the country.
Becoming an offset project could mean they have to refocus their
efforts to measuring the carbon absorbed by the forests, diverting
attention away from the people who will be crucial to ensuring the
trees are not cut down in the future.
"If you are helping families and reducing poverty, that reduces
pressure on forests and increases the likelihood the forests will be
able to survive," Sohigian said.
An article published in "Science" in early April warned REDD could
place forest management in the hands of governments, reducing the
rights and responsibilities of local communities charged with managing
the trees.
Some critics of the forestry and carbon offset schemes suggest that
because voluntary markets are unregulated, such projects also are
susceptible to fraud.
"I call it the Wild West mentality of carbon offsets," said Scott
Jones, executive director of the Forest Landowners Association,
a U.S.-based group that lobbies for private landowners rights.
"There are no rules right now, so if you can figure out a way to go
make money and show social responsibility, then go ahead."
Others are more optimistic about the future of carbon offsetting
and forestry.
"This is an evolving market and mistakes will be made," said Jim Lyons,
a lecturer at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental
Studies and former under secretary for natural resources and the
environment in the Clinton administration.
"I feel confident smart people can work out the details, and the
market will evolve into a market that will prove much more viable
than the existing market for cutting down trees," Lyons said.
One Day the World Will Have to Condemn Armenian Genocide: Zurabyan
17:01 – 24.04.10
The representatives of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), headed by
the first President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, visited the
memorial of the Armenian Genocide in Tsitsernakaberd today.
Ararat Zurabyan, Head of the Party Board of Armenian Pan-National
Movement (HHSh) said that one day the world will have to recognize the
Genocide perpetrated in the early 20th century by the Ottoman Empire.
`We are all mourning for the tragic events that happened 95 years ago
and we are sure that time does not play any role here. This was the
first genocide of the [20th] century, and I think that other genocides
would have been prevented, had the international community primarily
paid attention to that. I am sure that the international community
will one day realize that the whole world will one day have to condemn
it,’ said Zurabyan.
Tert.am