Author: nina hovnanian

AZERI LEADER, TURKISH PREMIER COMMENT ON GAS EXPORTS, KARABAKH, VISA REGULATIONS

Turan news agency
July 27, 2011
Azerbaijan

Baku, 27 July: For Turkey the Karabakh conflict is as bleeding wound,
as for Azerbaijan, said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
on Wednesday [27 July] in Baku at a news conference after talks
with President Ilham Aliyev. Erdogan said that the Karabakh issue
has traditionally been a priority in the dialogue between the two
countries.

The issues on further development of political, military, economic
relations between the two countries will be discussed in detail at
the meeting of the strategic cooperation [council] between the two
countries, headed by foreign ministers of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Erdogan expressed his satisfaction with the dynamics of
commercial-economic relations, the volume of which in 2010 amounted to
2.5 billion dollars. Over five months of this year the trade turnover
totalled 1.4 billion dollars, and by the end of this year it may reach
3 billion dollars. Concerning energy cooperation, Erdogan expressed
his conviction that the two brotherly countries will make a joint
“strategic step” on the gas export from “Sah Daniz-2” deposit. Asking
the question why the sides cannot agree on tariffs for gas transit,
Erdogan said that the relevant ministers of both countries have been
instructed to hold talks tomorrow for resolution of this issue.

Erdogan expressed his deep gratitude to Aliyev for the official
condemnation of the terrorist activities of PKK (Kurdistan Workers’
Party). The Turkish journalist asked the president why Azerbaijan does
not eliminate the visa regime with Turkey, and whether Baku has a road
map for the recognition of northern Cyprus. Aliyev thanked Turkey for
unilateral cancellation of the visa regime, and stated that “Azerbaijan
is not ready to it yet.” “When we are ready, we will do it,” he added.

Concerning the recognition of northern Cyprus, Aliyev said that “this
is not a simple matter” taking into account the Karabakh conflict.

“When the time comes, this issue will be solved,” said Aliyev.

Commenting on the statement of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
that “the current generation of Armenians has solved the Karabakh
issue, and in the future this generation [“future generation”,
according to the Russian-language version of this Turan report at
1406 gmt 27 Jul] must solve the problem of Ararat,” Erdogan said that
such statements do not befit statesmen. “One cannot incite young
generation to hatred,” said Erdogan. He believes that Sargsyan has
made a serious mistake and should apologize.

According to Aliyev, the statement [by] Sargsyan again has revealed
the aggressive nature of the Armenian leadership. Aliyev said that
Armenia is deeply mistaken that the Karabakh conflict has been solved.

The sovereignty of Azerbaijan over Nagornyy Karabakh will be restored,
peacefully or through war. Concerning territorial claims to Turkey,
“probably Sargsyan has some problems with his head”. They have lost
the sense of reality [or] are in the captivity of illusions, and
therefore they demonstrate aggressive aspirations towards Turkey;
and it looks like a lapdog’s barking, Aliyev said.

KARABAKH DEFENSE ARMY IS CONDUCTING TRAININGS

news.am
July 28, 2011
Armenia

STEPANAKERT. – NKR Defense Army is conducting planned trainings,
the press service of Karabakh Defense Ministry informed Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

According to Karabakh MOD, the trainings aimed at increasing the
combat readiness of the armed forces

Azerbaijani mass media used the planned trainings as a good occasion
for regular anti-Armenian statements. “Large-scale trainings are held,
explosions are heard, Armenians are using tanks, guns and even GRAD
rocket launchers,” AZE.az describes the “dramatic” scene.

NOMINATION DELAYED

Washington Times

July 28,2011

Armenian-Americans are cheering Sen. Robert Menendez for blocking
the nomination of career diplomat John Heffern to serve as ambassador
to Armenia.

The New Jersey Democrat delayed a vote on Mr. Heffern’s confirmation in
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday after complaining
last week that President Obama continues to refuse to recognize
Turkey’s “genocide” of Armenians in World War I.

Senators frequently put a so-called “hold” on a nomination to object to
a particular nominee or focus attention on a White House policy issue.

“We would like to thank Sen. Menendez for affording his colleagues
greater time to scrutinize and make an informed determination,” said
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of America.

Mr. Menendez made his intentions clear last week at a committee hearing
on Mr. Heffern’s nomination. The senator expressed his frustration
that Mr. Heffern declined to refer to the killing of 1.5 million
Armenians in 1915 as genocide.

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama referred to the Armenian
genocide under the old Ottoman Turkish Empire. As president, he has
avoided the term to prevent offending Turkey, a key NATO ally.

“This is an inartful dance that we do,” Mr. Menendez said at the July
13 hearing.

At the hearing, Mr. Heffern said that the massacre fits the definition
of genocide in international treaties, but he added that the president
makes the decision whether to call it that.

Mr. Hamparian called Mr. Heffern’s response a “painful spectacle”
by a senior U.S. diplomat “forced to dance and dodge around the
plain truth.”

Mr. Menendez, along with Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, also
blocked the nomination of career diplomat Douglas Farrar to serve
as ambassador to Nicaragua. They said Mr. Farrar was soft on Cuba in
his position as head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana.

PROMINENT ARMENIANS DENOUNCE PM’S WORDS

Hurriyet Daily News
July 28, 2011
Turkey

Ankara’s close relationship with Baku is partly to blame for the
Turkish PM’s angry response to Armenian president’s earlier comments
on East Anatolia, according to prominent Armenian figures who have
denounced the retort as Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh
Kocharyan said that the Turkish anger against Sarkisian’s remarks
was as much the product of imagination as it was insincere.

“Turkey says [they] want peace and tranquility in the Caucasus on one
hand while they are trying to prepare Azerbaijan for a new war on the
other,” David Shahnazarian, a leading opposition figure and the former
national security minister, told the Hurriyet Daily News by telephone
Thursday. “Azerbaijan has a hysterical attitude whenever there is
talk of Turkey-Armenia relations,” Hayk Khanumyan, head of the a
nongovernmental organization in Nagorno-Karabakh, told the Daily News.

ARMENIA INVOLVED IN WORLD RELIGIONS INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

arminfo
July 28, 2011

One of the four planned expeditions will take place in Armenia July
26-Aug 9 2011 in the framework of the World Religions international
project.

Press photographer Sergei Polivets and a group of his colleagues will
visit and photograph Armenia’s historical and religious sights so as
to include the pictures in the World Religions album.

They will also meet with Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.

The objective of the project is to show by means of photos the
spirituality, architecture, originality and culture of the world
religions.

The project will cover Christianity (Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism),
the religion and culture of ancient and modern Armenia, Islam,
Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. The album will be exhibited in Europe,
America, Australia and Asia.

THE JERUSALEM POST MOCKED ERDOGAN

Lragir.am

28/07/2011

The Jerusalem Post writes: Israel can take solace that it is not
the only country in the world from which Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is seeking an apology: On Wednesday he demanded one from
Armenia as well. The Turkish news website Today’s Zaman, reporting
on Erdogan’s curren trip to Azerbaijan, quoted him as saying that
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan should apologize for calling on
Armenian school children to occupy eastern Turkey.

Sarksyan, asked by a student if Armenia would get back its ‘western
territories’ along with Mount Ararat – an area of great historical
significance to Armenians – that’s now in Turkey, replied that
‘it depends on you and your generation. I believe my generation
has fulfilled the task in front of us; when it was necessary in the
beginning of the ’90s to defend part of our fatherland – Karabakh –
from the enemy, we did it. I am not telling this to embarrass anyone.

My point is that each generation has its responsibilities and they
have to be carried out with honor.’

The statement infuriated Turkey. According to Today’s Zaman, Erdogan
said Sarksyan’s behavior was a provocation and an attempt to fill youth
with hatred, which he said would lead Armenia’s youth into ‘darkness.’

‘There cannot be such diplomacy. Sarksyan has made a very serious
mistake…. He must apologize,’ Erdogan was quoted as saying.

Erdogan’s demand for an Armenian apology comes just a few days after
he threatened Israel with a ‘Plan B’ – a further downgrading of ties –
if it did not apologize for last year’s Mavi Marmara incident. ‘What
we see here is a pattern developing,’ one Israeli diplomatic source
said of Erdogan’s most recent demand for an apology. ‘Who is going to
ask Erdogan to apologize for Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus?’

HOUSE PANEL APPROVES $40 MILLION FOR ARMENIA, MAINTAINS PARITY IN MILITARY AID TO ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

armradio.am
28.07.2011

A key U.S. House panel responsible for foreign aid spending voted
today to approve $40 million in economic aid to Armenia, honoring
Pres. Obama’s budget request for the 2012 fiscal year, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Capitol Hill sources close to this process report that the
Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations, which is led
by Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) and Ranking Democrat Nita Lowey (D-NY),
maintained military assistance parity to Armenia and Azerbaijan,
but did not outline specific allocation amounts. The panel reportedly
did not include specific recommendations for U.S. assistance levels
to Nagorno Karabakh, although it did express support for a negotiated
settlement to the conflict. The version approved by the subcommittee
also includes a provision “that funds made available for the Southern
Caucasus region may be used for confidence-building measures and other
activities in furtherance of the peaceful resolution of conflicts,
including in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“Although today’s aid level for Armenia falls short of the $60
million requested in the bipartisan Congressional letter circulated
earlier this year, we are aware of the serious financial pressures
upon legislators of both parties and want to share our appreciation
for the leadership of Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey,
Congressmen Schiff, Rothman, Wolf, and all our other friends on the
subcommittee for maintaining the assistance level for Armenia in
the face of deep spending cuts across the foreign aid bill,” said
ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We look forward, as this
spending measure moves through the legislative process, to supporting
the efforts of legislators from both houses of Congress to shape a
final foreign aid bill that recognizes and reflects the benefits of
increasing aid to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, zeroing-out U.S. aid
to Azerbaijan, and incorporating our other foreign aid priorities.”

“I am pleased that Armenia will receive economic assistance and that
the committee again expressed its support for a negotiated solution
that avoids a return to bloodshed in Nagorno Karabakh,” explained
House Foreign Operations Subcommittee Member Adam Schiff (D-CA).

“After more than two decades of struggle, the people of Karabakh still
live under the constant threat of Azerbaijani actions, which continue
to play a role in regional instability and episodic violence. I am
pleased that the report includes language calling for a lessening of
threats and provocations, but I would still like to see us end the
practice of furnishing security assistance to Azerbaijan and intend
to urge the elimination of military aid to Baku when this bill is
taken up by the full Appropriations Committee. I would also like
to see the State Department utilize the full resources the Congress
appropriates to assist the people of Karabakh.”

KAZAN MEETING MIGHT HAVE BEEN SUCCESS, ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SAYS

Tert.am
28.07.11

Both Armenia and the international community had great expectations
from the Kazan meeting, which, unfortunately, were not realized,
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at a news conference held
jointly with his Polish counterpart BronisÅ~Baw Komorowski, who is
on an official visit to Armenia.

“In Kazan, we were really very close to success,” the Armenian
leader said.

The Nagorno Karabakh people’s right to be master of their own fate,
have security guarantees and develop in their own historical homeland
must be respected, President Serhz Sargsyan said.

“Everyone must respect these rights. There is no other solution,”
the Armenian leader said.

MAYOR OF VAN CONVINCED ARMENIANS MASTER LAND, TURKS JUST WATCHMеN

PanARMENIAN.Net
July 27, 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net – The national Festival of Culture took place July
21-23 in Van.

Armenia was represented by Akunk ensemble. The first day of the
festival Akunk dressed in national costume walked in the streets of
Van under sounds of dhol and kochari.

The Armenian ensemble along with Kurdish musicians gave concert
on Akhtamar island, Armenians were allocated 40 minutes. Armenians
participation in the festival was supported by Prosperous Armenia
Party member Aragats Akhoyan.

Welcoming the guests, Mayor of Van Bekir Koyan addressed the Armenian
delegation saying: “You are the masters of this land, and we are just
watchmеn over it, we’ll keep it until you return.”

However there was no closing of the festival, because, as it later
became known, the organizers were arrested in a clash. Members of
the ensemble think there were some internal problems as “kurds will
never fail to remind of their problems.”

Akhoyan said that Mayor of Van offered to launch Armenian cultural
center in their city, though state approach is needed in everything
and therefore he promised to address the Turkish government.

ARMENIA SHRUGS OFF TURKISH “HYSTERIA” AS ERDOGAN SAYS SARGSYAN OWES APOLOGY OVER “WESTERN ARMENIA” COMMENT
Gayane Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
28.07.11

In his public statement while on a visit to Azerbaijan on Wednesday
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan should apologize for “calling on school children to
occupy eastern Turkey.”

At a joint press conference in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev, the Turkish leader reportedly said Sargsyan’s remarks “did
not befit a statesman” and called them a “historical mistake” that
“should be corrected.”

Erdogan made a reference to President Sargsyan’s statement at a
meeting with participants of the 5th Pan-Armenian Olympiad and
students sponsored by the Luys Foundation that took place in the
Armenian resort town of Tsaghkadzor last Saturday.

In answering the question asked by one of the participants — which
was: “Will our future be reminiscent of the Batum agreement, when in
a German diplomat’s words, we were left with a territory just enough
to swim in Lake Sevan, but with no room for drying up, or it will be
a future that will return Western Armenia, along with Mt. Ararat?” —
Sargsyan, according to his press office, said:

“It depends on you and your generation. I believe my generation
has fulfilled the task in front of us; when it was necessary at the
beginning of the 1990s to defend part of our fatherland – Karabakh –
from the enemy, we did it.”

Sargsyan concluded his long answer by giving assurances that “in many
cases the country’s standing is not conditioned by its territory:
the country should be modern, it should be secure and prosperous,
and these are conditions which allow any nation to sit next to the
respectable, powerful and reputed nations of the world.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry took the Armenian president’s statement as
a call on schoolchildren for “eastern Turkey’s occupation”, which,
it said in a statement, is a “very irresponsible behavior not becoming
of the head of state.”

According to the Turkish Today’s Zaman newspaper, in Baku Erdogan said
that “Sargsyan’s behavior is a provocation and an attempt to fill youth
with hatred”. He said this will “lead Armenia’s youth into darkness.”

“Sargsyan has made a very serious mistake… he must apologize,”
Erdogan, reportedly, emphasized.

Earlier, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said that
“the Turkish hysteria over Sargsyan’s statement is not only artificial,
but also should be an occasion for many to make conclusions.”

“I have the impression that the Turks have simply not read the
complete answer to the question or that they are just unanimously
voicing what they wish to voice, by clinging to separate parts of
the statement. Actually the answer of the president of Armenia to
such a question was serious, comprehensive and quite measured, and
if it is not perceived in Turkey, then they simply do not need it,”
the senior Armenian diplomat stressed.