Author: Tashjian Arbi

THERE’S A DANGER THAT ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT MIGHT FAIL: RUBEN SAFRASTYAN

Tert.am
16:16 ~U 26.01.10

"I think that the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations
might fail,"said Director of Department of Turkish Studies at the
Institute of Oriental Studies Ruben Safrastyan, while speaking with
Tert.am. According to him, "there is such a danger, but it’s still not
yet a final failure. There’s time, and if the Turkish side fulfills
its obligations, the process will continue."

Turning his attention to U.S. State Department press spokesperson
Philip Crowley’s latest statement, Safrastyan stated, that was first
and foremost, and mainly, directed to Turkey, since it was Turkey
that was searching for grounds to delay, suspend, or completely halt
the process.

BROAD SPECTRUM OF ISSUES COVERED AT ARMENIA-GEORGIA INTERGOVERNMENTAL SITTING

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 16:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ I’m glad to inform that we reached mutual
understanding on all issues included in the agenda of 8th
intergovernmental sitting on Armenia-Georgia economic collaboration,
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said.

As he stated during a joint news conference with Georgian Premier Nika
Gilauri, economy, culture, energy and social issues were included in
sitting agenda. "Both parties instructed intergovernmental workgroups
to register agreements reached in minutes of today’s sitting,"
he stated.

Armenian Premier expressed confidence for the meeting to promote
bilateral relations’ development.

Georgian Premier, in turn, noted that an effective discussion was
held on broad spectrum of issues, expressing hope for the next
discussion to be as constructive. "9th sitting will take place in
Georgia and I invite my Armenian counterpart to visit our country,"
Nika Gilauri said.

HEAD OF ICRC MISSION TO AZERBAIJAN: "WE VISITED ELDAR TAGIYEV AND INFORMED HIS FAMILY AND AUTHORITIES ABOUT HIM"

APA
27 Jan 2010 12:44

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. "The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) takes interest in fate of every person taken hostage
in the conflict zone.

We help Eldar Tagiyev, who was taken hostage by Armenian militaries
on December 28, to contact with his family", Head of the ICRC Mission
to Azerbaijan Tun Vandenhove told journalists. He said the Committee
established contacts not only with his family, but authorities as
well. "We visited Eldar Tagiyev and informed his family and authorities
about him.

Regarding the status and fate of Armenian family, which passed into
the Azerbaijani side, Vandenhove said the organization had no right
to determine their status. "Our committee visits only the hostages
to monitor their conditions, which have to be in accordance with
the national legislation and international law principles. Their
legal status is determined by Azerbaijan and Armenia on the basis of
relevant law norms and international law as well. Our organization
has no right to interfere in the issue of legal status".

CONTROL CHAMBER SHOULD AVOID ANY EXTERNAL PRESSURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2010 17:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I am very pleased that the Control Chamber (CC)
of Armenia focused its attention on the educational system in 2010,
since the government of Armenia will be more active in this sphere,
especially in pursuing the reforms. CC can play a significant role in
implementing the government’s reforms in education, " the President
of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan told a meeting with the staff of the Control
Chamber of Armenia.

The President attached importance to the fact that CC managed to avoid
pressure. "You have to be very consistent in solving the problems
revealed and in this way to avoid any pressure, including senior
government officials," he said.

PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR: MAHMOUD ABBAS WILL VISIT AZERBAIJAN THIS YEAR – INTERVIEW

APA
Jan 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Nagorno Karabakh problem is similar to Palestinian problem

Baku. Lachin Sultanova, Ibad Bagirov – APA. APA’s interview with
ambassador of Palestinian Autonomy to Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan Asad
Al Asad

-When will Palestinian embassy begin functioning in Azerbaijan?

-As you know my office is located in Tashkent. The aim of my visit to
Azerbaijan is to get acquainted with the building allocated for us,
the house, where I will live, open our embassy here. We consider that
the embassy will officially start functioning within two months. I am
glad to be in Azerbaijan. I will return to Uzbekistan and after the
handover process leave for Azerbaijan. I feel that I have friends,
acquaintances here. Azerbaijan’s rapid development makes me happy. I
am sure that Azerbaijan will become a modern, developed sate in a
few years, Azerbaijanis will be proud of their country.

-How many embassies does Palestine have?

-Palestine has embassies in 93 countries.

-What changes happened in the relations of the two countries after
the visit of Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki to Azerbaijan?

-The relations began to strengthen after this visit. The minister’s
visit once more demonstrated that Palestine and Azerbaijan have deep
relations, these relations will develop. Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev invited Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to Azerbaijan.

Palestinian leader accepted this invitation with great pleasure. He
is expected to visit Azerbaijan soon this year.

-What is the level of political, economic, commercial and humanitarian
relations between the two countries? What is being done to expand
and deepen these relations?

-Azerbaijan and Palestine have historical relations – we have a
common history. Hundreds of Palestinians graduated from Azerbaijani
universities. Tends of Palestinians are studying in Azerbaijan. 18
Palestinians entered Azerbaijan Medical University last year. It shows
that Palestinian authorities and people are satisfied with the level
of education in Azerbaijan.

-Do the students study at the expenses of Azerbaijan, or their own
expenses?

-Some of the students get scholarship, some study at their own
expenses. Palestinians are also studying in the Diplomatic Academy and
other universities. We plan to increase the number of these students.

– Are there economic relations between the countries?

– Yes, there is cooperation between the private sectors. Business
people attend the chambers of trade and exhibitions. More active
cooperation is in the field of agriculture, but these relations are
not in the government level. We hope that the economic relations will
be developed and intergovernmental agreements and contracts will be
signed after the opening of Palestinian embassy in Baku.

– Is Palestine satisfied with the position of Azerbaijan regarding the
Middle East problem? Can Azerbaijan mediate solution to this conflict?

– The Palestinian state is satisfied with the position of Azerbaijan,
which keeps solidarity with the Palestinian people and is against
the isolation of Gaza Strip. Azerbaijan always votes in favor of
Palestine in the UN Security Council. I don’t consider Azerbaijan’s
mediation real.

– Are you satisfied with the approach of the Organization of the
Islamic Countries?

– OIC is representing 57 Islamic countries and its position describes
positions of all of these countries. Undoubtedly OIC is against the
Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands. We are the OIC member
and agree with its position.

– Do you know Nagorno Karabakh conflict? What is the Palestinian
attitude toward this issue?

– Nagorno Karabakh problem is like the Palestinian. When Jewish people
faced with Holocaust in Europe, they took refuge in the Palestinian
lands, but then they expelled Palestinians from their homeland. The
same problem was experienced in Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijani people
gave asylum to the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. Armenians were
settled in Azerbaijani lands and they committed grave crimes against
the Azerbaijanis expelling them from Nagorno Karabakh and occupying
the Azerbaijani lands. We hope that justice will win in both Palestine
and Nagorno Karabakh.

– Is the appointment of Arab League’s ambassador to Turkey related
to the diplomatic scandal between Israel and Turkey last week?

– I don’t think that they are related to each other. Turkey is the
Islamic country and has principal position on the Palestinian problem.

We respect the Turkish people and government. We are same Umma with
Azerbaijani and Turkish people. Turkish and Palestinian people have
same roots. Turkey is an influential country in the world. Therefore
it is necessary to establish relations with the Arab League, UN and
European Union.

"TOP SECRET" DOCUMENT ON HRANT DINK’S MURDER REVEALED

Panorama.am
16:20 21/01/2010

"CNN Turk" televised an important document on Hrant Dink’s
assassination which was carefully banned and not attached to the case.

One of Hrant Dink’s family’s lawyers Bahri Belen has introduced the
document recently. It was announced that the document having "top
secret" note on it was sent to Istanbul court of serious crimes by
the former chief of Drabzon security service Ramazan Aqureq. CNN Turk
quotes the document as saying. "Ogyun Samasti who murdered Hrant Dink
was met by Orhan Ozbash, Turan Meral and Qaan Gercheq in the station.

Sali Hajisalioglu who provided the bullets is arrested and sent to
Istanbul court. Djoshqun Igji who was arrested in Drabzon is currently
set free by Istanbul state prosecutor’s office."

IRANIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH FORMER ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

Trend
Jan 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad met with former Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, Trend News reported citing Iranian
Presidential Office’s website president.ir.

During the meeting Ahmedinajad said the relations between Iran and
Armenia are intensifying on the basis of friendship.

"All bilateral projects should be executed. Furthermore, we should take
an active part in the processes taking place in the region," he said.

Ahmedinejad noted today countries of the region have potential to
live in peace.

Kocharian said the Armenian Government is interested in developing and
strengthening bilateral relations. "Tehran and Yerevan have a great
potential to intensify bilateral relations and regional cooperation,"
he said.

STATE AWARDS TO CULTURE WORKERS
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
21.01.2010 13:13

Today President Serzh Sargsyan today presented state awards to
representatives of the fields of literature, music, painting,
architecture and urban development, whose works were named the best.

President Sargsyan congratulated the prize winner and expressed his
appreciation for the fact that the award ceremony has already become
traditional.

"It’s a very pleasant responsibility for me to express gratitude
and to say words of appreciation to people who develop our culture,
those who have managed to create enduring works.

Of course, time is the most important judge, but we – the
contemporaries – have to value the people who manage to give new
breath to the centuries-old traditions of our culture."

President Sargsyan said it was time to establish two new awards in the
fields of exact and natural, as well as the humanitarian and public
sciences. According to the President, the prize money will doubled
next year.

NKR PARLIAMENTARY FACTIONS ASK INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO INVESTIGATE JANUARY 1990 BAKU MASSACRES AGAINST ARMENIANS

Tert.am
17:53 ~U 20.01.10

On January 19, the NKR National Assembly parliamentary factions
"Democracy," "Motherland," and "ARFD-Movement-88," in particular,
issued a statement related to the January 1990 Armenian massacres
in Baku.

The statement, in full, reads:

"Twenty years ago, a massacre of the Armenian population was
organized and coolly implemented at a state level in the capital
city of then-Soviet Azerbaijan – Baku. Thousands of innocent people
were killed with extreme brutality, and tens of thousands of people,
suffering from heavy physical wounds and moral shock, were deported
and deprived of their homeland.

"In fact, the January massacres in Baku became the finale of
the violations and deportations committed towards the native
and state-making Armenian population of Eastern Transcaucasia in
1905-1906, 1918-1920, and 1988-1990. It was the specific response of
the Azerbaijani authorities to the peaceful, just, and legal right
of the Nagorno-Karabakh people to life in their homeland, which took
place with the consent of the USSR authorities.

"We, the representatives of the political forces of the National
Assembly of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, condemn once again the
violations committed towards Armenians in Azerbaijan during the entire
20th century, as a result of which the native Armenian population
was deprived of its inalienable right to state self-organization,
in particular, in Baku, to assess the massacres, which started on
January 13, 1990, as:

-mass violation of human rights and freedoms, first of all, and the
right to life;

-evident demonstration of the Azerbaijani state policy of xenophobia,
national intolerance, and ethnic cleansing;

-the heaviest crime committed against humanity at a state level –
Genocide, the responsibility for which, according to the international
law, has no time limitation.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will seek the legal assessment of
the violations, deportations and ethnic cleansing implemented in
Azerbaijan and the punishment of the organizers, regardless of their
current political and public position and residence.

"To demonstrate this legal and just intention, we call upon the UN,
EU, OSCE, and member-states of the OSCE Minsk Group:

-to hold an impartial investigation of the violations committed towards
the Armenian population in Baku between January 13 and January 20
and give the legal assessment to the actions of the organizers and
executors of the crime;

-not to equate the crimes organized on the state level in peaceful
conditions with the privations, which the region’s peoples suffered
due to the war unleashed by Azerbaijan.

"To avoid further undesirable developments, we demand to condemn
and use corresponding penalties towards the criminal state. This is
not only the right of the victim, but also the duty of international
structures, as Genocide is a crime against humanity.

AZERBAIJAN: BAKU SHOULD SUE GORBACHEV

EurasiaNet
Jan 20 2010

Azerbaijan should prosecute former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev
in an international court for the January 20, 1990, Soviet Army
crackdown in Baku, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov
has declared. The Soviet armed action resulted in the deaths of 132
pro-independence

Hasanov’s comments were published on the eve of the 20th anniversary
of the incident, known as "Black January" in Azerbaijan. "The one
who carried out this massacre and provoked the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict was the then-head of the [Soviet] Union, Mikhail Gorbachev,"
Hasanov was quoted by the APA news agency as saying. "[I] insist that
we file an international suit against Gorbachev."

Addressing a conference commemorating the January 20 anniversary,
Hasanov declared that even if Gorbachev dies, Azerbaijan should press
a lawsuit to establish responsibility for the tragedy. Seen as a
progressive reformer in the West, Gorbachev enjoys little popularity
in the former Soviet republics, where he is closely associated with
the Soviet Union’s prolonged and chaotic disintegration.