Author: Navasardian Karapet

KLO ACTIVISTS DETAINED FOR PROTESTING ARRIVAL OF ARMENIAN BOXERS IN BAKU

ArmInfo
2010-04-27 14:43:00

ArmInfo-TURAN. The activists of the Karabakh Liberation Organization
(KLO) endeavored to protest against participation of Armenian sportsmen
in the World Junior Boxing Championship in Baku on Monday.

KLO chairman Akif Nagi told Turan that they entered the guarded
Sarhadci sports complex and tried to disrupt the competitions. Nagi
said that six activists were detained. Three were later released,
but there is no information on the other three.

KLO deputy chairman Ilgar Aliyev was detained last evening and taken
to the Khatai district police station No 34.

Nagi added that KLO activists are going to stage another action
in front of the Gulistan Palace to protest against participation
of Armenian Catholicos Karekin II in the World Summit of Religious
Leaders. "We are opposed to all possible ties with Armenia and the
presence of their representatives in Azerbaijan, until occupation of
our lands is ended," Nagi added.

Tofig Babanly, General Secretary of the Azerbaijan Boxing Federation,
refuted the information about the incident at the competitions.

"During the competitions one person started shouting something,
but guards immediately removed him from the hall. We safeguard the
security of sportsmen in accordance with the demands of international
competitions" Babanly said.

IRAN’S MP: IRAN SUPPORTS PEACEFUL RESOLVING OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Trend
April 26 2010
Azerbaijan

Iran is a supporter of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

"Iran is a supporter of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. The peaceful resolving of conflict will disappoint the
enemies and destroy their dirty plans associated with the region",
Azerbaijan-Iran Inter-Parliamentary Working Group co-chair Seyid
Kazim Mousavi told media on Monday.

Co-Chair and members of the Azerbaijani-Iranian inter-parliamentary
working group today visited the Honorary Cemetery and Alley
of Martyrs. During the visit they will meet with chairman of the
Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
and other officials.

He said that the countries of the region are able to solve their
problems. The U.S. and other countries distant from the region are
trying to tighten the conflict for their own interests.

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 7 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 resolutions
on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied
territories.

FROCH THREATENS TO QUIT SUPER SIX

Story from BBC SPORT:
boxing/8644660.stm
2010/04/26 14:05:18 GMT

Carl Froch has threatened to quit the Super Six tournament, if
promoters go back on what he says is an agreement to hold his next
fight in Britain.

Sauerland Events, which promotes Froch and his next opponent Arthur
Abraham, said it may stage the fight in Europe.

But Froch, 32, who lost his WBC super-middleweight title to Mikkel
Kessler on Saturday, retorted: "I won’t be fighting in Germany,
simple as that.

"It would mean me pulling out of the tournament if they forced me
to fight."

Froch, 32, felt he was the victim of a biased decision against Kessler
as, fighting in Dane Kessler’s home country, he lost a seemingly close
encounter by unanimous decision, with the judges scoring it 117-111,
115-113 and 116-112.

Son-of-a-beach With a win and a loss from his two tournament outings,
Froch will face German-Armenian Abraham in his final group stage
fight needing a victory to ensure his progress to the semi-finals.

The Nottingham boxer claims to have a long-standing agreement that the
fight would be held in Britain and said he is ready to take drastic
action if it is scheduled for elsewhere.

"It has already been agreed that I would fight at home, fight away and
fight back at home. It has been agreed with Ken Hershman at Showtime
[Super Six organisers]," said Froch, who won his first fight in the
tournament against American Andre Dirrell in Nottingham in October.

"So my fight with Abraham is in England or the fight is not happening
and will make a mockery of the tournament. It’s as simple as that."

However, German promoter Wilfried Sauerland insisted that any agreement
was merely for the fight to take place in Europe.

"Contrary to what Mick Hennessy [Froch’s English promoter] stated
after the fight on Saturday, there is no agreement – neither written
nor verbal – about the fight venue," said Sauerland.

"The tournament contracts imply that the Abraham-Froch fight should
take place on European territory or wherever it makes the most
commercial sense for everyone involved.

"I would prefer it to be on neutral territory."

For Froch, the tournament still represents his best opportunity to
reclaim his WBC title and a win over Abraham would put him back in
the frame. With WBA super-middleweight champion Andre Ward also in
the competition, three consecutive victories would in all probability
see Froch emerge with two belts.

"As the Super Six World Boxing Classic rolls on and gets more
interesting, a win against Abraham puts me in the semi-final and then
there is the final," said Froch.

"I can still be undisputed champion in my next three fights, let’s
not forget that. This fight is going to make me stronger, better and
more determined."

Turks at Tsitsernakaberd Memorial
24.04.2010 18:03

Siranush Muradyan
`Radiolur’

Early in the morning a gray-haired man with a pipe was standing long
near the Eternal Fire at Tsitsernakaberd Memorial with his head bowed.
He laid carnations, tuned back and started speaking in Turkish with
Turkish journalists.

He said there was no doubt that what happened in 1915 was genocide,
and the fact should be acknowledged not only by Turkey, but also the
whole world. `I’m a writer,’ the old man said.

Asked whether he would condemn the Armenian Genocide if he lived in
Turkey, not Germany, he said `yes,’ adding he would not speak to the
Public Radio. `After all, I’m a Turk,’ he said smiling.

Political analyst of the Haberturk Asli Sozbiges agreed to tell his
opinion of a journalist. Speaking about Armenian-Turkish relations,
the Turkish journalist said political relations were needed for Turkey
and Armenia to understand each other better. `Normalization will take
time, but the most important is that the process has started,’ he
said, adding that having closed borders in the 21st century was
unacceptable.

Asked whether the Turkish people want to establish relations with
Armenia, Asli Sozbiges said: `Yes, definitely. We don’t take Armenians
as our enemies. The problems exist only on the diplomatic level,’ he
noted.

APA, Azerbaijan
April 24 2010

So-called `Armenian genocide’ commemoration protested in Istanbul

[ 24 Apr 2010 17:57 ]
Baku ` APA. An event dedicated to so-called `Armenian genocide’ was
held in Haydarpasha railway station of Istanbul by the NGO named
`Human Rights Organization’, APA reports quoting DoÄ?an news agency.

A group of people gathered at the entry of the station, but the police
broke up the action. The residents also protested the to so-called
`Armenian genocide’ commemoration.

Rupee News, India
April 24 2010

Turkey’s Ottoman legacy

Posted on April 24, 2010 by The Editors Rupee News

Turkey’s Armenia problem just got complicated. Its relations with its
former territory, and now an independent country is part of the legacy
of the Ottoman Empire. Relations with Armenia are held hostage to
Armenia’s occupation of ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ an enclave belonging to
Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has enjoyed good relations with Turkey and also one of the
former countries that used to belong to the Ottomans.

After the almost rejection of Turkey by the EU, Ankara has started to
look East towards Central Asia’s Turkic people. The ECO has started to
look a lot more attractive than it used to.

The breakdown in the normalization of relations between Turkey and
Armenia is not simply, as some Armenians are claiming, because of
Turkish unwillingness to accept the extent of the 1915 killings of
Armenian Turks or recognize them as genocide.

The administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to
have underestimated the wider effects of a wider rapprochement with
the Armenians. The Azeri government, which is in dispute with Armenia
over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, was incensed at the protocols to
build links between Ankara and Yerevan. As a result Erdogan flew to
Baku to assure the Azeris that the deal with the Armenians would not
be put forward for ratification by the Turkish Parliament, until some
progress was being made on the resolution of the issue of the enclave,
currently occupied by Armenian forces.

Erdogan’s statement in turn angered the Armenians, who pointed out
that in the protocols they inked with the Turks, there was no
reference whatsoever to Nagorno-Karabakh. Aware that the deal was
turning sour, in advance of the appearance of both countries at US
President Barack Obama’s recent Nuclear Security Summit, Erdogan sent
his foreign minister to Yerevan to see if he could fix up a meeting in
the US with Armenian President Serge Sarkisian. That meeting did not
happen. Instead, Yerevan Friday stopped the ratification process
blaming Turkey’s `inconsistent and evasive position and policy of
preconditions’. The Armenians also opened a new front in their drive
to have the Turks accept their contention that the 1915 massacres in
eastern Turkey saw 1.5 million perish and amounted to genocide. They
have invited Turkish historians to visit their national archive
containing some 7,000 documents relating to these events.

Although the 1915 slayings still loom large in the minds of Armenians,
they are past business. Nagorno-Karabakh is present business. It seems
extraordinary that Erdogan could have made the mistake of not alluding
to the Azeris’ concerns during original talks with the Armenians. Then
he compounded the error by assuring the Azeris that the protocols
would not be ratified before progress was made over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Turkish diplomatic service remains one of the country’s most
efficient elites and would surely have warned Erdogan on both courses
of action.

Nationalists in both countries will be pleased that the reconciliation
process has been stymied, for the moment at least. Yet both Erdogan
and Sarkisian must surely realize the drivers which caused them each
to sign the protocols in Zurich in 2009 have not changed. For both
countries, the economic and strategic benefits of friendly relations
are considerable. For Ankara they represent the foundation on which
can be built wider connections with the rest of the Caucasus.
Azerbaijan could also benefit from good ties between Turkey and
Armenia, because Turkey could offer its good offices to help find a
settlement on the enclave. As things now stand again, no one is the
winner ‘ everyone, including the Azeris is losing out.

Armenia has to resolve the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh with
Azerbaijan`without which there can be no solution. Occupied land has
to be returned. Turkey must continue to build its relations with
Central Asia and the ECO`and this cannot be held hostage to Armenia.

ottoman-legacy/

Armenian lawmakers seek to freeze deal with Turkey

Associated Press Worldstream
April 22, 2010 Thursday 12:05 PM GMT

Armenia’s governing coalition wants to freeze the ratification of an
agreement to normalize ties and reopen the border with neighboring
Turkey, it said Thursday.

The coalition accused Turkey of dragging its feet in ratifying the
October deal by demanding the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute over
Nagorno-Karabakh be settled first.

The coalition said Armenia should suspend the process until Turkey
moves forward with its ratification without preconditions.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had "taken
note" of the Armenian coalition’s decision and said his country
remained loyal to the agreement to normalize ties.

"It is up to them to decide how they want to move with the
ratification process," he said. "I have expressed our loyalty to the
protocols on numerous occasions. We will press ahead with the process
on the principle that treaties are binding."

Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian is expected to speak on the issue Thursday.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to protest Armenia’s war
with neighboring Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within
Azerbaijan under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the 1994
end of a six-year conflict that killed about 30,000 people.

Turkey, which shares ethnic and cultural bonds with Azerbaijan, wants
Armenian troops withdrawn from Ngorno-Karabakh.

Mediation efforts by Russia, France, the United States and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have failed to
resolve the dispute.

The lack of resolution has tied up development in the energy-rich
South Caucasus.

Le Monde, France
24 avril 2010 samedi

L’ombre des massacres

1896-1898 Massacres ordonnés par l’empereur Abdülhamit.

1909 Massacre de 30 000 Arméniens de Cilicie (Adana).

24 avril 1915 Arrestation de 220 intellectuels et artistes arméniens Ã
Istanbul. Début

des déportations et du génocide. 2006 Parution d’Un actehonteux : le
génocide arménien et la question de la responsabilité turque, de Taner
Akçam.

2010 La Turquie admet la mort d’environ 300 000 Arméniens à la suite
de déportations,

mais nie toute planification.

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT MAY MEET ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS LEADER

news.az
April 23 2010
Azerbaijan

Ilham Aliyev All Armenian Catholicos Karekin will visit Baku on
April 26.

All-Armenian Catholicos Karekin ll will meet Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev during his visit to Baku on April 26, spokesman for Holy
Echmiadzin Vagram Melikyan told Armenian Iravunk.

All Armenian Catholicos Karekin will visit Baku on April 26 to take
part in the second World Summit of religious leaders. The event is
to involve more than 300 high guests from 40 countries.

During the visit Karekin ll will meet with Sheikh Ul-Islam Pashazade,
Russian Patriarch Cyril and Georgian Catholicos Patriarch Iliya ll.

US, FRANCE PUT BRAVE FACE ON ARMENIA’S SUSPENSION OF TURKEY ACCORDS

news.az
April 23 2010
Azerbaijan

Philip Gordon Washington is glad that Armenia has decided to suspend,
rather than cancel altogether, the protocols on rapprochement with
Turkey.

The US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs,
Philip Gordon, commented on the announcement by President Serzh
Sargsyan that he was suspending ratification of the protocols in the
Armenian parliament.

‘We note President Sargsyan’s announcement that Armenia will suspend
the discussion of the protocols in its National Assembly,’ Gordon
said in Tallinn, where he is attending the NATO Ministerial meeting,
News.Am reported.

‘President Sargsyan’s announcement makes clear that Armenia has not
ended the process but has suspended it until the Turkish side is ready
to move forward. We applaud President Sargsyan’s decision to continue
to work towards a vision of peace, stability, and reconciliation. We
believe that the normalization process carries important benefits for
Turkey and Armenia as well as the wider Caucasus region. We continue
to urge both sides to keep the door open to pursuing efforts at
reconciliation and normalization,’ Gordon said.

His remarks were echoed by US Assistant Secretary of State Philip
Crowley at the daily press briefing on Wednesday.

‘I don’t think we’re surprised by the announcement by President
Sargsyan,’ Crowley said, according to the transcript of the briefing
published on the State Department website. ‘We had intensive meetings
with the Armenians and the Turks here in Washington. We’ve had ongoing
contacts with Azerbaijan as well. And we understand that there’s –
we had – that both sides had reached a – I won’t say impasse, but
kind of reached a hurdle in the process regarding the ratification
of the protocols.

‘I think we’re encouraged that neither side has walked away from the
process, but I think we all recognize that we’ll just need some time
to perhaps create some new momentum that allows the process to move
forward. So I think this is something that the Armenians had hinted
to us that they were prepared to do, and so we’re not surprised by
the announcement.’

Asked whether he was afraid that the rapprochement process would
collapse, Philip Crowley said, ‘Well, I think that we are actually
encouraged that, both in the case of Armenia and Turkey, both sides
have taken pains to make sure the process doesn’t collapse. That
gives us some reason for optimism that over the long term we can
find ways to come back to it and try to push forward the protocols
again. That was our message to both Turkey and Armenia during the
sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit: Keep the process going;
if you don’t think that this is the right time, that’s fine, we’ll
step back and re-evaluate how to move forward.’

France

In a communique published on the presidential website, Nicolas Sarkozy
welcomed Armenia’s continuing involvement in the normalization process
with Turkey.

‘The president of the republic welcomes the confirmation by the
Armenian head of state of his engagement in favour of the normalization
of Turkish-Armenian relations, despite the difficulties encountered
on both sides in the process of ratifying the protocols signed on 10
October 2009 in Zurich,’ the communique said.

‘France encourages the Armenian and Turkish authorities to
maintain dialogue and redouble their efforts to achieve rapidly
the implementation of the protocols which will make a significant
contribution to peace and security in the whole region.’