Author: Toganian Liana

WORLD COMMUNITY NOT RECOGNIZING OCCUPIED LANDS AS ARMENIAN, MURAD MERCAN

news.az
Feb 25 2010
Azerrbiajan

Murad Mercan "I do not think Turkey will agree only on opening
of border".

The Turkish parliament finds it difficult to ratify the
Armenian-Turkish protocols in current conditions, said Murat Mercan,
chairman of the commission on foreign affairs of the Turkish
parliament, while speaking to Turkish Zaman.

"When we consider the decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia,
we see that it sets exact provisions about how the regulations of the
document should or should not be applied. This decision gives grounds
for different interpretations and creates uncertainty", he explained.

As for whether this uncertainty will affect the ratification of
protocols in the parliament, the commission chairman said: "I think
it will be difficult for Turkey to ratify the protocols in such
conditions. It is not known how they will be executed and as there
is a negative attitude on two important issues from Turkey’s side,
I do not think Turkey will agree only on opening of border".

"We should give some time to the international powers that are trying
to smooth this uncertainty around the protocols", Mercan said,
"The international community should understand a very important
circumstance: by changing the balance in the Caucasus, it is necessary
to try to create the situation that will be favorable for everyone. If
the problems existing in the region are not settled in full, the
world community will face even a more serious threat than now".

As for how the sides will benefit from this process, Mercan said
that Turkey will fix a significant progress in recognition of its
borders and the issue of "Armenian genocide". Meanwhile, by improving
relations with Turkey and settling the Karabakh conflict, Armenia
will not lose anything. It will have the opportunity to raise the
volumes of foreign trade and participation in regional energy projects.

"The world community does not recognize the lands occupied by Armenia
as Armenian. In case of their liberation Armenia does not lose
anything, while Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated clearly
that the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan will immediately
improve as soon as the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is settled",
the chairman on foreign relations of the Turkish parliament told Zaman.

XOCALI.NET PROJECT PRESENTS A RESPOND TO NUMEROUS FAKES

Aysor
Feb 24 2010
Armenia

Today the "Xenophobia Prevention Initiative" has held the Khojaly
Review Conference, presenting Project of ‘Chronicles of the
Unprecedented Fake and Falsifications’.

Referring to the basic facts of the issue of Khojaly, the "Xenophobia
Prevention Initiative" presented the Xocali.net project (see the page
on ), which comes as a respond to numerous false
and fake statements by Azerbaijan.

This page has been put together to focus on crimes and acts of false
interpretations, made in the course of the circumstances in Aghdam,
when on February 26 1992 the population of Khojaly village was killed.

Azerbaijan’s media resources and various propaganda organisations
release false documents on the issue of Khojaly, trying to shift the
blame onto Armenian side. All these forgeries and disinformation have
been exposed.

Samvel Martirosian, initiative’s author and information security
expert, said at the press conference, that first acts of false
interpretations were exposed when media outlets of Azerbaijan had
released a picture of a ‘Killed Armenian soldier’, which actually
appeared to be a Georgian soldier, killed in 2008, during the August
war between Georgia and Russia.

"We investigated and brought to light a great number of
falsifications," said Samvel Martirosian.

"We’ve head, for example, that Azerbaijanis are used to carrying
posters with victims of the Kosovo war, when they gather to Armenia’s
embassies in different countries to hold anti-Armenian rallies. This
fact will also be reflected on the project’s site."

Besides, in the course of investigation, there were found out some
20 falsified pictures, used by the Azerbaijani media in covering the
issue of Khojaly. Among them are photos of victims of the massacres
of the Kurdish population in Turkey, pictures of the victims of the
mass killings in Srebrenica of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pictures of
children, wounded in a bus explosion in 1988. A picture of a crying
woman, in fact, was shot after the earthquake and has nothing to do
with the killings in Khojaly.

The Xocali.net Project is mounting a wide range of documents
of relevance to the issue of Kjojaly. Included here are the
"Case of Khojaly: A Special Folder" by Hike Demoyan and Levon
Melik-Shakhnazarian; interviews; the article "Cattle Was Saved,
People – Not" by journalist Eynulla Fatullayev (who is sentenced
to imprisonment for an attempt to rethink the official position
of Azerbaijan over the issue); video podcasts of interviews with
the Turkish-Meskhetians, who told that despite the warnings by the
Armenian side on the upcoming attacks on Khojaly and given corridor
for evacuation, the Azerbaijani soldiers shot at the civil population
preventing them to reach the gate to the corridor.

Some documents from Xocali.net are available in Arabic, English,
French, Russian, and Azerbaijani.

To find detailed information, go to the Xocali.net web-site
(here).

ARMENIA HOLDS STRONG STAND, TURKEY MAKES MISTAKES: GIRAGOSIAN

news.am
Feb 24 2010
Armenia

If the U.S., Europe and Russia exert pressure on Turkey, it might
take wrong steps, get enraged and show obstinacy, Richard Giragosian,
Head of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS) stated in Feb.24 interview.

"Today, Turkey faces a revolution that might affect its future —
eastern, western, Islamic or secular country. It is unclear what
country it will become thereafter. Internal developments in the
country, Ergenekon case arrests prove that Turkey is disoriented in
relations with Armenia.

According to him, Turkey has not yet decided what it wants from
Armenia. "I consider Armenia holds rather strong stand, as it is Turkey
that makes mistakes, but in foreign policy only. We are weaker on the
inside," Giragosian emphasized. He did not share the viewpoint that
Armenia did not benefit from the reconciliation process. The process
harmed Azerbaijani-Turkey relations, the expert assured.

AFTER ERGENEKON CASE PRESSURE ON ARMENIANS DECREASED

news.am
Feb 23 2010
Armenia

"According to individuals and organizations focusing on human rights
and marginalized groups in Turkey, official pressure against them
continues despite the Ergenekon case," reads Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.

The source refers to Etyen Mahcupyan – chief editor of weekly Agos
newspaper and a columnist for the daily Taraf. According to him,
threats to Agos decreased after investigation on Ergenekon case
launch. Mahcupyan reckons that it is impossible "to determine whether
an individual committed the attack or an organization until whoever
is responsible is apprehended", the source says.

"We have the usual number [of threats against Agos] via e-mail, so
they do not count," newspaper quotes Mahcupyan. However, he also notes
that the number of threats increases before April 24 and decreases
whenever the Kurdish problem is in focus.

In his turn, political scientist Baskin Oran underlines that threats
against him reduced considerably. "When the mechanism called the ‘deep
state’ provokes people, individual reactions and insults increase
incredibly," he told the Hurriyet Daily News.

NO INDEPENDENT NAGORNO-KARABAKH, AZERI LEADER STATES

news.am
Feb 23 2010
Armenia

"Never will a second Armenian state be established on the Azerbaijani
soil. Nagorno-Karabakh will never be independent, and the whole world
is aware of this," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated at the
opening ceremony of a block of flats in the Lokbatan neighborhood
in Baku.

The Azeri leader stated the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is the region’s
major problem. "No other problem can be resolved unless this one is
resolved," he said.

Aliyev expressed the confidence that "the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
will be resolved, and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity will be
restored due to military construction, economic development and
"compatriots united around this national idea."

According to him, the sooner Armenia comes to realize that
Nagorno-Karabakh will never be independent the sooner the problem will
be resolved, after which "peace will be established in the region."

ARAM SAFARYAN APPOINTED HEAD OF COMMISSION

ahos16932.html
17:12:03 – 23/02/2010

Today the BHK member Aram Safaryan was elected head of the RA NA
permanent commission on human rights defense and public issues. This
post belongs to the Bargavach Hayastan Party and was vacant after
Mkhitar Mnatsakanyan assumed the office of the minister of social
issues.

MOLLAZADE: US CANNOT AND DOESN’T WANT TO SUPPRESS ARMENIA

Aysor
Feb 22 2010
Armenia

The U.S. cannot and doesn’t want to suppress Armenia, said chairman
of the US-Azerbaijan Council, co-director of the U.S. Azeris Network
Jeyhun Mollazade in an interview with the Azerbaijani 1NewsAz agency.

"The White House is trying to be above the battle in the process of
settlement to the Karabakh conflict, but they cannot and doesn’t want
to suppress Armenia for clear reasons. However, it’s unclear whether
the pressure will be effective as Armenia isn’t linked to America like
it is linked to Russia. And the Congress isn’t going to stop relief
assistance; that is why the administration doesn’t set such a task,"
he said.

"Armenia’s leaders as well as Armenia and Karabakh’s populations has
never declared the independence plans off. And I don’t think that
hopes to reconcile with Turkey will influence Armenia’s position over
this issue.

"Armenia receives military support of Russia, economical support of
Iran, the EU, and the U.S. It is noteworthy that both Iran and the
U.S. are carrying the same policy, but for different reasons and in
different forms.

"In addition, Armenia is trying to deprive Azerbaijan of the only
ally – Turkey, however, with varied success. Though Turkey has
invested too much in Azerbaijan in both political and economical
sense to pose it at risk now for unclear compensation in return,"
stressed Jeyhun Mollazade.

HELSINKI ASSOCIATION APPEALS TO STOP LAWLESSNESS AGAINST OPPOSITION

ahos16915.html
17:29:13 – 22/02/2010

Military-police regime put down roots in Armenia continues the policy
of tightening against dissent and political opponents, using all
available methods. The Armenian authorities are not squeamish about the
dirtiest methods – kidnapping of citizens, provision of moral pressure.

The criminal case brought against Saribek Sukiasyan had the only aim
to repress and punish Sukiasyan’s family for their political opinions
and support of the opposition. Such methods have been repeatedly used
in Armenia.

The illegal detain of six young activists of the opposition, four of
which are underage, is nothing else but kidnapping of citizens by the
"law enforcement" bodies – expression of terrorism in the territory
of the country.

Helsinki Association demands to immediately stop any illegal method
of fight against opposition.

Helsinki Association demands from the competent bodies to immediately
carry out an investigation and to punish those guilty.

Helsinki Association calls on the international community to carry
out political and economic repression on the Armenian authorities.

BRIDGE-2010 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM IN TSAKHKADZOR

ArmInfo
2010-02-20 14:17:00

ArmInfo. The 7th International Economic Forum Bridge-2010 was opened
today in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor. The forum will last till
February 22. Earlier it was informed that Prime Minister of Armenia
Tigran Sarkisyan will deliver a keynote address at the plenary
session of the Forum on a topic "Role of Armenia in the Global Region
Development. New Approaches in Understanding of the Future".

However, T. Sarkisyan will not take place in the forum because of
health problems. The event was opened by Economy Minister of Armenia
Nerses Yeritsyan. Finance Minister of Armenia Tigran Davtyan also
presented a report.

To recall, sectional and plenary sessions, presentations and
round tables will be held within the frames of the Forum. Over 300
government officials, manufacturers are businessmen will attend the
event. The key topics will be national economic interests, Armenia’s
capacities to become the financial center of the region, development
of information space, infrastructure and technologies, prospects of
food export, mortgage loans and housing construction as catalysts of
economic growth, small and medium-sized business, etc.

The key objective of the forum is to familiarize businessmen and
politicians of the West and the Middle East with Armenia’s economic
capacities and to create favorable conditions for inflow of foreign
investments.

CANADIAN TURKS INDIGNANT OVER MENTION OF ARMENIA ON A TORONTO MONUMENT

news.am
l
Feb 18 2010
Armenia

Turkish community in Canada is resentful over the erection of monument
in 1998 on one of Toronto’s busy avenues, 170 Memorial Park Avenue.

The matter is that on monument (called Pont, put up by Greeks) Black
Sea region of current Turkey is marked as Pont, whereas large portion
of Eastern Turkey — as Armenia.

CanadaTurk outlines that for spreading Pont ideology, Greece
established 179 organizations, of which 102 – in Greece, 31 – in
Germany and 27 – in Canada.