Author: nina hovnanian

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN AWARDS SERGEI NARYSHKIN ARMENIAN MEDAL OF HONOR

YEREVAN, March 31. / ARKA /. President Serzh Sargsyan awarded today
Sergei Naryshkin, the chairman of Russian State Duma (lower chamber
of parliament) the Armenian Medal of Honor, Sargsyan’s press service
reported.

It said the medal was awarded in recognition of Naryshkin’s significant
contribution to the deepening of Armenian-Russian relations.

The Medal of Honor is awarded for outstanding achievements in the
protection of state and national interests of the Republic of Armenia,
for supporting its independence and democracy, for the strengthening
and development of friendship with the Republic of Armenia, as well
as for significant contribution to the strengthening of peace among
nations. -0-

AZERBAIJANI DEFENSE MINISTRY: IF ARMENIA HAS LEAST RESPECT FOR NORMS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, IT MUST FULFILL UN RESOLUTIONS

APA, Azerbaijan
March 31 2015

[ 31 March 2015 12:03 ]

Baku. Agha Jafarli – APA. “Because we are well familiar with Armenian
hypocrisy, reports of this kind do not catch us by surprise and we meet
them normally,” the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told APA on March 31.

The ministry said if the Armenians, who speak of respect for the
norms of international law everywhere, have the least respect for the
norms of international law, they must immediately and unconditionally
liberate occupied Azerbaijani lands in compliance with the UN Security
Council’s resolutions.

“If the Armenians occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, massacring
civilians and unarmed people in Khojaly and other districts under
any law, then under the same law, the Azerbaijani side sat at a tea
table with and shot photographs with an Armenian serviceman who had
surrendered to our side”.

The Armenian Defense Ministry rejected the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry’s statement that the Armenians had suffered heavy losses, also
claiming that Azerbaijan has violated the international conventions
in its treatment toward the Armenian soldier Andranik Grigoryan,
who crossed to the Azerbaijani side with his own will.

ARMENIAN INVESTIGATORS SATISFIED WITH JOINT PROBE INTO GYUMRI KILLING – RUSSIAN STATE DUMA

Interfax, Russia
March 30 2015

YEREVAN. March 30

Chief of Armenia’s Investigative Committee Agvan Ovsepian told
Russian lawmakers in Yerevan that he was satisfied with the level
of cooperation with the Russian Investigative Committee in the joint
probe into the killing of an Armenian family by a Russian soldier in
Gyumri, Oleg Lebedev, first deputy head of the State Duma’s Committee
for CIS Affairs, said at the meeting.

“Our conversation took place on Sunday evening. The chief of the
Armenian Investigative Committee confirmed that intensive joint work
was underway with our Russian colleagues,” Lebedev told Interfax
on Monday.

Oleg Lebedev heads the Russian part of an inter-parliamentary group
of Russian and Armenian lawmakers, who are monitoring the criminal
inquiry into the murder of the Avetisian family on January 12.

Lebedev did not provide details of the talks with Ovsepian.

A family of seven members were killed in Gyumri on January 12. Russian
soldier Valery Permyakov, who served at the Russian military base in
Armenia, was accused of the killing. He has pleaded guilty. Armenia
and Russia are jointly probing this crime.

TURKEY’S POLICY TOWARDS ‘FROZEN CONFLICTS’ AND UKRAINIAN CRISIS – ANALYSIS

Eurasia Review
March 30, 2015 Monday

By Guner Ozkan*

Three ‘frozen conflicts’ areas in the South Caucasus – in Nagorno
Karabakh (NK), Abkhazia and South Ossetia – are situated near Turkey’s
north-eastern border. Another conflict to its north, in Ukraine,
typified by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the recent Minsk 2
Agreement, seems, at best, being presently transformed into another
‘frozen’ dispute.

There are several prominent, and perhaps valid, reasons why old and
new ‘frozen conflicts’ are of great importance for Turkey, and why
Turkey has come to assume a position that simultaneously reflects
a balanced overall policy and selective engagement approach. It is
only these mixed policy approaches that will help first to reduce
the deepening of, and then perhaps to outright resolve, the ‘frozen
conflicts’ in the South Caucasus and the Ukrainian crisis.

A Balanced Overall Policy

Turkey has always favoured the principles of territorial integrity
and self-determination as outlined in international law when it comes
to the ‘frozen conflicts’ to its north, including Ukraine. Turkey is
also well aware of the fact that these ethno-territorial disputes
have never been simple disputes over land among dominant national
and minority groups in the particular countries where they take place.

They are also very much integral components of the geopolitical
visions of great international and regional powers. In this sense,
the Abkhazia conflict in Georgia and NK in Azerbaijan cannot simply
be considered with regard to the legitimate demands of the Abkhaz and
Armenian minorities in Georgia and Azerbaijan respectively, but must
be examined by paying close attention to what Russia has envisaged
and acted to create with the ‘near abroad’ policy it has followed
since the early 1990s.

A long-time ally of the western security system, and proponent of the
rule of international law, Turkey has supported the same approach that
its western allies and Russia have adopted towards ‘frozen conflicts’,
both within the OSCE as well as in other international mechanisms.

Turkey has advocated the maintenance of the territorial integrity
of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, while also urging that not all
doors should be closed to the ethnic minorities that find themselves
in conflict with their parent state. In the same vein, Turkey has
continued to defend its pursuit of maintaining dialogue and developing
relations with Russia, which, not just under Putin, has never shied
away from demonstrating its reactions to the imagined security and
geopolitical vacuum that the western powers have supposedly tried
to fill in the post-Soviet area. To better illustrate this point,
Turkey has developed its relations with Russia similar to the way
that Germany and France developed their own relations with the country
under Yeltsin, and later under Putin. On the regional level, despite
the complaints uttered by the Georgian government, Turkey and the
EU have tried to find ways to develop constructive and beneficial
trade relations with Abkhazia after it was recognized as a de facto
independent state by Russia in August 2008 after the Russo-Georgian
War. Among other reasons for this course of action, they wanted
to reduce Abkhazia’s dependence on Russia, both economically and
politically.

The Selective Nature of Turkish policy

Turkey seems to have also assumed a selective approach towards these
‘frozen conflicts’. Ankara appears to take the side of certain parties
involved in the ‘frozen conflicts’ to its north. Turkey’s support of
Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, the permission it has given to its private
sector to engage in trade with Abkhazia and its support of Azerbaijan
over the NK issue may all be seen as the efforts of Turkey to promote
its regional and international geopolitical interests. Indeed, such
selective and tendentious positions are much more related to Turkey’s
own internal and external security, as well as to its legitimate
social and economic interests in its immediate neighbourhood, than
to its pure geopolitical ambitions.

Turkey, for instance, promotes a peaceful resolution of the NK dispute
between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Yet, in doing so, it has kept its
border with Armenia closed and has not established diplomatic relations
with Yerevan. Certainly, there are several reasons why Turkey acts
in this way, or put differently, in support of Azerbaijan.

Firstly, Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 when Armenian
military forces, in defiance of the UN Security Council (UNSC)
resolutions, expanded their occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

Secondly, Armenian military manoeuvres adjacent to the Azerbaijani
region of Nakhichevan, which borders Turkey, threatened the security
of Turkey itself. Thirdly, the Turkish public is very sensitive to
the NK issue as it is characterized by the Armenian occupation of 20
percent of Azerbaijani territory and has resulted in tens of thousands
of displaced Azerbaijanis who have the same ethno-cultural identity as
the Turks. Fourthly, Turkey and Armenia share a long and problematic
history that spans all the way back to the tragedy experienced by
Ottoman Armenians in 1915. All this suggests that the ‘frozen conflict’
of NK is as much related to Turkey’s security as it is to Azerbaijan’s.

In short, Turkey sees all the ‘frozen conflicts’ in the South Caucasus
as part of a particular regional security complex which should be
considered collectively. Even though they have remained unfulfilled,
Turkey’s efforts to form a Caucasian Stability and Cooperation
Platform just after the Russo-Georgian War in August 2008, as well
as its drive to push forward the Turkish-Armenian Protocols in 2009,
have exhibited the objective to resolve these ‘frozen conflicts’
by developing complex economic and social interdependencies between
all the regional actors involved.

What about the Ukrainian Crisis?

Indeed, Turkey sees the Ukraine crisis in general and the Crimea issue
in particular through the same perspective. Turkey is very sensitive
towards these disputes because they directly influence its own domestic
stability and regional security. There are now more Tatar people in
Turkey than there are in Crimea, just as there are three times more
ethnic Abkhaz living in Turkey than in Abkhazia itself.

Therefore, Turkey cannot turn a blind eye to the concerns of the
Tatar people in Crimea.

Concerning regional security, Turkey is the central actor in
maintaining peace and security in the Black Sea. The Montreux
Convention of 1936 that regulates the passage of war and trade ships
through the Turkish straights in times of war and peace is the key
instrument in the region in that respect. Any incident that would
question and damage the applicability of the Convention, especially in
sensitive periods, could pose a great security risk for Turkey. Only an
international legal obligation, imposed by the UNSC, and/or a unanimous
decision of NATO, would impel Turkey to act. Any other unilateral
action would be a dangerous undertaking that would drastically worsen
the security situation in Ukraine and the Black Sea region.

Therefore, from the Turkish viewpoint, in order avoid turning the
already difficult security situation into a nightmare, it is better to
concentrate on the positive outcomes and possible benefits that all
sides have so far garnered, and have yet to garner, from cooperation
and dialogue, no matter how hard this may be.

*Guner Ozkan, USAK Center for Eurasian Studies

This article was first published at European Leadership Network’s
website on March 23rd, 2015

The post Turkey’s Policy Towards ‘Frozen Conflicts’ And Ukrainian
Crisis – Analysis appeared first on Eurasia Review.

SARGSIAN, NARYSHKIN DISCUSS ARMENIA-RUSSIA TRADE, ECONOMY TIES IN CONTEXT OF NEW INTEGRATION

Interfax, Russia
March 30 2015

YEREVAN. March 30

Armenian President Serzh Sargsian on Monday received State Duma
Speaker Sergei Naryshkin in Yerevan, where Naryshkin had arrived on
an official visit.

“The parties discussed a wide spectrum of issues related to strategic
Armenian-Russian partnership, based on allied relations and embracing
all aspects of bilateral cooperation,” the Armenian president’s press
service reported.

Among the issues being discussed is trade and economic relations in
the context of new integration processes, the press service said.

Also, there was an exchange of views on the most pressing international
and regional problems and challenges to stability and security in
the Southern Caucasus, it said.

“The parties said that inter-parliamentary relations, which manifest
themselves effectively in international organization’s parliamentary
assemblies, are playing an important role in strengthening allied
relations between Armenia and Russia,” it said.

Sargsian made a point that inter-parliamentary ties between Armenia
and Russia have been developing in a stable and dynamic manner due
to the work of the long-established inter-parliamentary commission
on cooperation between the Armenian National Assembly and the Russian
Federal Assembly.

“The parties stated that as members of the Eurasian Economic Union,
Russia and Armenia have raised mutually beneficial partnerships to
a qualitative new level,” the press service said.

100 ANS DU GENOCIDE DES CHRETIENS ARMENIENS PAR L’ISLAM, ET LA TURQUIE DONNE DES LECONS DE MORALE

Dreuz Info
31 mars 2015

1,2 million de chretiens armeniens ont ete massacres en une seule
annee, entre 1915 et 1916, dans l’ex Turquie islamique alors Empire
ottoman.

Parce qu’il s’agit d’un genocide commis par la religion de paix et
d’amour contre des chretiens, l’ONU refuse encore et toujours de
le reconnaitre.

Mais a l’occasion du centenaire de l’un des trois plus importants
recents massacres de l’histoire de l’homme avec le nazisme et le
communisme, seul le nazisme est largement reconnu pour son ideologie
de mort, tandis que le communisme est entouree de tous les soins pour
le proteger de son passe de mort, et l’islam continue ses massacres.

L’universitaire specialiste de l’Armenie, Michel Marian, espère que
le centenaire sera l’occasion d’une reconnaissance du genocide par
la communaute internationale.

Je crois qu’il s’illusionne. Il suffit de contempler l’indifference
du monde face au massacre de 200.000 syriens, qui rachète sa bonne
conscience en reclamant une enquete internationale lorsqu’un jeune
activiste palestinien est blesse par le policier israelien qu’il
tentait de poignarder.

Entre le printemps 1915 et le printemps 1916, les deux tiers de
la population chretienne armenienne de l’Empire ottoman a ete
methodiquement massacree, soit 1,2 million de personnes, rappelle
Michel Marian qui precise que si les hommes ont ete sauvagement tues,
les femmes sont mortes d’epuisement ou ont ete forcees de se convertir
a l’islam. La religion de paix ne change pas.

La France a tarde a reconnaitre le genocide armenien, mais a fini
par le faire en 2012.

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pour recevoir les nouveaux articles de Dreuz, une fois par jour en
fin d’après-midi.

Le 2 juillet 1985, une sous-commission de l’ONU pour la prevention
des droits de l’homme et la protection des minorites publie un rapport
qualifiant le massacre des Armeniens de genocide.

Le Parlement europeen (18 juin 1987), le Conseil de l’Europe
(declaration ecrite de l’Assemblee parlementaire le 24 avril 1998) et
le Parlement du Mercosur (19 novembre 2007) reconnaissent le genocide.

12 septembre 1984 : la Chambre des representants des Etats-Unis decrète
le 24 avril 1985 > 29 mars 2000 : le
parlement de Suède utilise dans un rapport le terme de genocide. Il
rejète cependant une resolution appelant a reconnaître le genocide.

11 mai 2000 : le parlement libanais a reconnu le genocide a la quasi
unanimite.

10 novembre 2000 : le Vatican reconnait une première fois le genocide.

17 novembre 2000 : le parlement italien a reconnu le genocide.

27 septembre 2001 : le Vatican reconnait une seconde fois le genocide.

la France a officiellement reconnu le genocide armenien par la loi du
29 janvier 2001 mais sans specifier l’auteur. Peu avant sa mort, le
doyen Georges Vedel avait signe un article dans lequel il considerait
cette loi comme anti-constitutionnelle, argumentation fondee sur une
critique des lois memorielles.

13 mars 2003 : le Conseil national suisse rejette un texte dans ce
sens, puis adopte un postulat de reconnaissance du genocide le 16
decembre 2003, contre l’avis du Conseil federal.

2004 : l’Argentine (31 mars) ; les Pays-Bas (21 decembre) ; la
Slovaquie (30 novembre) ; le Canada (21 avril) reconnaissent a
leur tour.

Un monument en souvenir des victimes du genocide armenien est erige
a Bruxelles.

2005 : la Pologne (19 avril) reconnait le genocide.

la Douma d’Etat de la Federation de Russie (22 avril) prend une
resolution demandant la reconnaissance du genocide par toute la
communaute internationale.

28 septembre 2005 : le Parlement europeen appelle la Turquie a
reconnaître le genocide des Armeniens, considerant >.

15 juin 2005 : le Bundestag (parlement federal de l’Allemagne) accepte
une resolution condamnant les massacres contre les Armeniens dans
l’empire ottoman sans utiliser le mot >.

le Venezuela (14 juillet 2005) ; la Lituanie (15 decembre 2005),
reconnaissent a leur tour le genocide.

12 octobre 2006 : l’Assemblee nationale francaise adopte, en première
lecture, avec cent six voix pour et dix-neuf contre, une proposition
de loi qui punit sevèrement la negation du genocide armenien. Ce vote
suscite un tolle en Turquie. Le lobby turc en France fait bloquer la
loi en 2008 par le gouvernement avant son passage au Senat.

le 4 mai 2011, une exception d’irrecevabilite est presentee au Senat
par Jean-Jacques Hyest, toujours sous les manoeuvres du lobby turc,
et est adoptee. La proposition de loi ne sera pas soumise au vote
au Senat.

le 5 juin 2007, le Senat chilien adopte a l’unanimite une resolution
reconnaissant le genocide armenien et demande au gouvernement chilien
de soutenir un rapport de 1985 d’une sous-commission des Nations
Unies decrivant ce crime contre l’humanite comme un exemple clair
de genocide.

le 10 octobre 2007, la commission des Affaires etrangères de la Chambre
des representants des Etats-Unis approuve, par vingt-sept voix pour
contre vingt-et-une voix contre, une resolution qualifiant de genocide
la mort de centaines de milliers d’Armeniens en Turquie en 1915,
contre l’avis de George W. Bush et malgre l’hostilite d’Ankara.

Le texte n’a pas ete envoye a la Chambre pour un eventuel vote en
seance plenière.

en janvier 2010, les parlements d’Ecosse (37 voix contre 13) et
d’Irlande du Nord (votee a l’unanimite des presents) votent une motion
generale reconnaissant le genocide armenien. Cette motion stipule : > le 27 janvier 2010,
le Premier Ministre du Pays de Galles reconnaît le genocide armenien
lors de la journee commemorative de l’Holocauste.

le 26 fevrier 2010, le Parlement de Catalogne (Espagne) adopte a
l’unanimite une resolution reconnaissant le genocide armenien.

une resolution de la commission americaine des Affaires etrangères
reconnaît le genocide armenien le 4 mars, mais la reconnaissance n’a
pas encore force de loi.

le parlement de Suède adopte le 11 mars une resolution reconnaissant
les genocides de 1915, dont le genocide armenien.

le 22 decembre 2011, l’Assemblee nationale francaise adopte le projet
de loi sur la

PUTIN WILL ATTEND ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIONS IN YEREVAN

13:58, 31 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Armenian Genocide
commemoration events in Yerevan, Speaker of the Russian State Duma
Sergey Naryshkin said at a meeting with Armenian Parliament Speaker
Galust Sahakyan. A number of Russian lawmakers are also expected to
attend the events.

Naryshkin said the State Duma will adopt a document in the near
futureto express the position of the Russian side on these historic
events.

Sergey Nayshkin also attached importance to the conduct of events
in Armenia dedicated to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and
emphasized the role of the Armenian people in that great victory.

Galust Sahakyan voiced hope that the visit would boost the inter-state
relations between the two countries and promote the further
strengthening of inter-parliamentary cooperation. He noted that the
allied relationship and strategic partnership between Armenia and
Russia is based on the centuries-old friendship of the two brotherly
peoples, strong cultural and spiritual ties.

The Armenian Parliament Speaker highlighted Russia’s constructive
role in the strengthening of regional security, particularly in the
settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Armenian Genocide
commemoration events in Yerevan, Speaker of the Russian State Duma
Sergey Naryshkin said at a meeting with Armenian Parliament Speaker
Galust Sahakyan. A number of Russian lawmakers are also expected to
attend the events.

Naryshkin said the State Duma will adopt a document in the near
futureto express the position of the Russian side on these historic
events.

Sergey Nayshkin also attached importance to the conduct of events
in Armenia dedicated to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and
emphasized the role of the Armenian people in that great victory.

Galust Sahakyan voiced hope that the visit would boost the inter-state
relations between the two countries and promote the further
strengthening of inter-parliamentary cooperation. He noted that the
allied relationship and strategic partnership between Armenia and
Russia is based on the centuries-old friendship of the two brotherly
peoples, strong cultural and spiritual ties.

The Armenian Parliament Speaker highlighted Russia’s constructive
role in the strengthening of regional security, particularly in the
settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

PRECONDITIONS RULE OUT FAVORABLE EXPECTATIONS FOR ARMENIAN CHEESE MAKERS – ARMEN GIGOYAN

21:07 * 31.03.15

Cheese makers cannot now say that Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU) has affected them.

However, a number of preconditions rule out favorable expectations,
Armen Gigoyan, Chairman of the Cheese Makers Union of Armenia,
told Tert.am.

The reason is the depreciation of the Russian ruble and higher-quality
cheeses Belarus and Ukraine are exporting to Russia.

“We have information that Belarus is offering Russia cheeses at
extremely low prices by showing an approach of statesmanship. And if
the cheeses enter Armenia rather than Russia, local producers will
face problems,” Mr Gigoyan said.

Numerous economists claimed that cheese had good export prospects in
the context of Armenia’s accession to the EEU.

“Our cheeses are specific as compared to theirs. Of course, we have
demand every year. Some of our producers make some taste changes to
make their cheeses closer to the natural taste of cheese on Russia’s
markets. But the price is the most important,” he said.

Armenia is not yet ready to start competition.

Armenian cheese makers hope that Russian markets will take more
interest in the price for Armenian cheeses after the Russian ruble
has stabilized.

“The world milk price is declining, and it means problems for farmers
not only in Armenia, but also in other parts of the world. We are
going to have a hard year,” Mr Gigoyan said.

The reason is a lower price for milk powder, which is a serious
challenge to whole milk producers.

“Producers of cultured milk foods prefer milk powder to spending
money on whole milk,” he said.

It will cause a decline in demand and prices, and famers will have
to choose between waiting for another year and slaughtering their
animals. As a result, it will cause a deficit of the primary product
for cheese.

“We are very concerned because if we have such a trend this year,
it will cause a decrease in the cattle head. It will be a serious
problem for the following years.”

FILM ABOUT ARMENIA TO BE BROADCAST ON GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN TELEVISION CHANNELS IN APRIL

17:34, 31 March, 2015

YEREVAN, 31 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. German filmmaker and playwright
Christian Papke’s documentary film “Armenia: Long Road of Shadows”
will be broadcast on German and Austrian television channels in April.

In an interview with “Armenpress”, the director of the 45-minute film
mentioned that he had received an offer from the National Television
of Germany to produce a film about Armenia. “I spent a long time in
Armenia. I have read a lot about your country, but I’m not certain
if I have been able to know it completely,” the director mentioned,
adding that he was most impressed with the Khor Virap Monastery.

When asked what his impressions of modern-day Armenia were, the
German filmmaker/playwright mentioned: “You Armenians are living in
very difficult times. The country is taking its first steps after
being deprived of sovereignty for many years and finally gaining
independence. In some sense, Armenia is like a teenager enjoying
life and discovering herself, but who is also inexperienced and makes
mistakes. This is my impression,” Papke emphasized.

ANALYST: BAKU’S THREATS WILL NOT FORCE ARMENIAN SIDES TO MAKE CONCESSIONS

13:41, 31.03.2015

YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan is attempting to use the current situation on
the line of contact as “leverage” to pressure the Armenian sides and
the international community.

Caucasus Institute Deputy Director, political analyst Sergey Minasyan,
stated the abovementioned at a press conference on Tuesday. He noted
this while reflecting on Baku’s recent escalation of the situation
on the line of contact of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In his words, the currently unfolding processes are long-term in
nature, and Azerbaijan continues this policy ever since 2011, and in
an attempt to exploit the resource of the resumption of the Karabakh
War in the negotiation process.

“But these threats can’t force the Armenian sides to make concessions.

The recent incidents don’t mean that active military operations will
begin tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow,” Minasyan noted, and added:
“At this point, the escalation of the situation should rather be
viewed as a political, not a military phenomenon.”

Armenia News – NEWS.am