ROBERT ZEBELYAN BRINGS VICTORY TO HIS TEAM
Tert.am
08.04.10
Russian Zhemchujina-Sochi football team has on its own turf beaten
Shinnik with a 2:1 score.
The second goal was kicked at the 49th minute of the match by Armenian
player Robert Zebelyan who is also a member of the Armenian national
team.
FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY THINKS KARABAKH CONFLICT SHOULD BE RESOLVED VIA THE POLITICAL DIALOGUE
ArmInfo
2010-04-08 13:16:00
Arminfo. ‘Obviously we have opted as Palestinians that the best way to
solve our problems is through political negotiations and we hope that
Azerbaijan could also solve its problem with Armenia through political
negotiations’, – Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority Riyad
al-Malki said in an interview with Trend.
He also added that Azerbaijan always could look into ways how to
promote better relationships between the conflicting countries in
the region, and setting up seminars, conferences in Baku or any
other cities of Azerbaijan. It could really bring experts from the
region in order to see how it can produce some rapprochement between
countries when it comes to different conflicting matters. "Always we
have shown our solidarity and sympathy with Azerbaijan when it comes
to the territorial integrity", – he said.
Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet
PRESS RELEASE
April 7, 2010
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
ANCA CALLS ON OBAMA TO HONOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION PLEDGE
— Letter to White House Calls for a U.S. Stand that is "Truthful,
Just, and Worthy of the American People"
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
today went on record, once again, asking President Obama to honor
his campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The one-page letter, signed by ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and sent
in the days leading up to President Obama’s second April 24th in
office, asks, simply, that President Obama keep his commitment and
"stand for a policy that is truthful, just, and worthy of the
American people."
Hachikian also addressed two points of special concern that have
further compounded the anger and outrage felt by Armenian American
voters over the President’s broken promise; his pressure on Armenia
to accept the one-sided, pro-Ankara Protocols; his support for
Turkey’s "historical commission" denial tactic; and his attacks on
the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The first dealt with the
unfortunate and inappropriate practice by the current and previous
presidents to use April 24th, a day of solemn remembrance, as a
platform to offer policy statements about Armenia, Turkey, and the
surrounding region. The second concerned the fact that the
President, despite devoting considerable attention to Armenian
issues, has yet to agree, consistent with his campaign promise, to
meet with the broad-based leadership of the Armenian American
community.
The full text of the ANCA’s April 7, 2010 letter is provided below.
A copy of the actual letter can be viewed on the ANCA website:
ertoObama.pdf
The full text of the March 8, 2010 ANCA letter to President Obama
regarding his opposition to the Armenian Genocide Resolution is
also available:
s_releases.php?prid=1833
To download the complete ANCA "Obama File" of Senate and campaign
statements on the Armenian Genocide, visit:
ian_Genocide.pdf
#####
April 7, 2010
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I am writing on the eve of the April 24, 2010 commemoration of the
Armenian Genocide, to once again urge you to honor your promise to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.
We have, as you know, written on several occasions to share with
you our profound disappointment regarding your Administration’s
failures to meet your own moral standard on this issue. In
restating our request, we will neither quote, as we have in the
past, from your many campaign pledges, nor review again each of the
many specific concerns that we have raised with you regarding the
Armenian Genocide, Congressional efforts to properly recognize this
atrocity, and Turkey’s cynical use of the Protocols to maintain
U.S. complicity in Ankara’s denial of this crime.
As citizens, we simply call upon you, as our President, to honor
your own commitments. We ask only that you keep faith with your
own understanding of the Armenian Genocide and the modern-day
consequences of this still unresolved crime against humanity. We
expect simply that you stand for a policy that is truthful, just,
and worthy of the American people.
I would also respectfully ask you to consider, as you prepare your
remarks, that April 24th represents a profoundly solemn remembrance
for our community and for all who care about the painful legacy of
this horrific crime. We look to the White House to mark this day
sincerely and not, as has too often been the case, to view it as an
opportunity to present a policy statement on the region. An
explanation of U.S. priorities regarding Armenia-Turkey relations
or other current foreign policy issues, while certainly entirely
appropriate in other settings, clearly does not belong in a
Presidential April 24th statement, just as a statement of U.S.
policy on the Israel-Arab peace process would not be appropriate in
Presidential remarks devoted to remembering the Holocaust.
In closing, I would like, once again, to encourage you to take a
first step toward honoring your pledge to remain actively engaged
with Armenian American leaders by hosting a meeting, at your first
opportunity, with our broad-based community leadership.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Kenneth V. Hachikian
Chairman
ERDOGAN A PARIS OU COMMENT EVITER LE SUJET QUI FÂCHE, L’EUROPE
par Stephane
armenews
mercredi7 avril 2010
FRANCE
Le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan se rendra mardi en
France, une visite centree par Paris sur la cooperation economique,
securitaire et culturelle, et fort peu sur le sujet qui fâche : le
refus de Nicolas Sarkozy d’ouvrir a la Turquie les portes de l’Europe.
"Sur la question europeenne, les positions respectives de nos deux
pays sont connues", s’est borne a dire vendredi le porte-parole du
ministère francais des Affaires etrangères, Bernard Valero, sur le
sujet de la candidature turque a l’Union Europeenne (UE).
"Les relations franco-turques suivent un chemin schizophrenique",
analyse pour sa part Cengiz Aktar, responsable des etudes europeennes
a l’universite Bahcesehir (Istanbul).
"Il y a d’un côte une France economique et culturelle qui considère
les operateurs turcs comme des partenaires a part entière, et en face
une administration Sarkozy pour qui la Turquie n’est pas vraiment un
partenaire politique", a-t-il affirme a l’AFP.
Le president francais a repete ces dernières annees que la Turquie,
avec laquelle l’UE a demarre en 2005 des negociations d’adhesion,
n’a pas vocation a entrer dans l’Europe. La France, et avec elle
l’Allemagne, redoutent l’entree dans l’UE d’un pays de 71 millions
d’habitants, presque tous musulmans.
Lors du lancement du service en langue turque de la television
Euronews, le 30 janvier a Istanbul, M. Erdogan, qui dirige un
gouvernement islamo-conservateur, avait vivement critique le president
francais.
"M. Sarkozy dit parfois des choses que la raison ne saurait accepter.
Mais quoi qu’il fasse, nous allons continuer, tant que tous les
membres de l’UE n’auront pas dit qu’ils ne veulent pas de la Turquie",
avait-il declare a la chaîne.
Entrer dans l’Europe, "c’est un reve de notre pays depuis un
demi-siècle", et "une Union europeenne qui n’incluerait pas la
Turquie ne serait pas complète, il lui manquerait quelque chose",
avait-il ajoute.
Cette visite de deux jours de M. Erdogan intervient pour la clôture
de la Saison turque en France, une serie d’evènements culturels dans
80 villes de France qui, selon Paris, a connu "un très grand succès".
Sa precedente visite en France remonte a 2008, mais le president
turc Abdullah Gul s’y etait rendu en octobre, pour lancer cette
saison culturelle.
Pour M. Valero, "le renforcement" des liens bilateraux sera "l’objet
principal de cette visite". "Plus de 300 entreprises francaises
emploient environ 100.000 personnes et la France est le deuxième
investisseur etranger en Turquie", "le sixième fournisseur de la
Turquie, et son deuxième client", a-t-il dit.
Les echanges commerciaux ont "approche les 10 milliards d’euros en
2009", a-t-il poursuivi. M. Erdogan rencontrera, outre M. Sarkozy,
le Premier ministre Francois Fillon et des entrepreneurs. M. Valero
a mentionne aussi le "travail en commun pour la lutte contre le
terrorisme" et la cooperation avec Ankara dans la lutte contre le
PKK (Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan), le mouvement arme kurde de
Turquie. "La France prend grand soin que cette visite se passe du mieux
possible", commentait dimanche Ferai Tinc, dans le journal Hurriyet.
"C’est probablement pour cette raison que le Premier ministre turc et
le President francais ne tiendront pas de conference de presse après
leurs entretiens. Il semble qu’il y ait une certaine inquietude,
liee au franc parler de ces deux dirigeants, qui se ressemblent"
ajoute-t-elle.
ARMENIA HAS TURNED INTO HUMAN RIGHTS CAPITAL, SAYS MRS BELHASSEN
Aysor
April 6 2010
Armenia
Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan hosted Tuesday FIDH president
Souhayr Belhassen, who is on a visit to Armenia in connection with
holding in Yerevan the FIDH 37th Congress-Forum.
A spokesperson for the State Administration said that President
Sargsyan praised the cooperation between the International Federation
for Human Rights and Armenia, and welcomed the decision to hold the
Forum in Yerevan. He pointed that there are numerous problems in
Armenia, related to the sphere of human rights, which can hardly be
solved at once.
"We are guided here by principle of comparison: if we have more
problems today in comparison with last years, then there is a serious
necessity to reconstruct our activities; however, if there are fewer
problems today, then it means that all the efforts are made in right
direction," Serzh Sargsyan said.
Mrs. Souhayr Belhassen thanked President Sargsyan for efforts and
contribution to organisation of the Forum, describing its holding in
Armenia as historical event: "Armenia has turned into capital of human
rights," she said. She also pointed that processes of human rights’
protection throughout the region are in better conditions here in
Armenia, and today the importance is being attached to entire region
via Armenia.
Mrs. Belhassen expressed hope that cooperation with Armenia will
develop, contributing to improvement of Armenian structures, aimed
at protecting the human rights. She also pointed that all requests
and messages that had been sent to Armenia’s government were always
responded.
President Sargsyan wished the Forum success and effective work,
and said hopes the guests will have time to learn Armenia’s history
and traditions.
FIDH VOICES CONCERNS OVER EFFECTIVE REMEDY
Aysor
April 6 2010
Armenia
"The objective of our visit to Armenia is not to shake hands with
officials," said before the FIDH 37th Congress-Forum’s beginning
Mrs. Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH president.
She said that the organisation firstly has concerns over themes
related to the right to an effective remedy and the theme related to
its influence on political prisoners.
"Referring to Armenia, the point is to put together facts, related to
the March 1 2008 clashes and in what conditions all that happened,"
Souhayr Belhassen said adding that there are people, who were brought
to a trial being accused after testimonial evidences by policemen,
and there are those, who want to cast light on the situation; these
are, in particular, journalists, who put themselves in jeopardy,
according to FIDH President.
"We’ll make our efforts to solve problems of political prisoners
in Armenia," said Souhayr Belhassen pointing that she had met with
political prisoners’ families and saw the situation. "Firstly, I am
interested in the issue of freedom of speech," she added.
It’s worth mentioning that the FIDH 37th Congress-Forum, entitled
‘Justice, the new challenges. The right to an Effective Remedy Before
an Independent Tribunal’, was kicked off today in Armenian capital
city of Yerevan, gathering together nearly 300 participants.
TURKEY’S PLANS TO SPLIT ARMENIA AND DIASPORA FOILED
PanARMENIAN.Net
April 5, 2010 – 13:18 AMT 08:18 GMT
The Turkish leadership is maneuvering between threats and offers to
establish a dialogue, editor-in-chief of Aztag Beirut-based newspaper
Shahan Kandaharian said when commenting on Turkish Foreign Minister’s
idea to meet with representatives of Armenian Diaspora.
"We should not forget that Ankara is planning to establish a Ministry
of Diaspora to charge it with the task to protect the rights of
Turks abroad and fight the Armenian Diaspora," Mr. Kandaharian told
PanARMENIAN.Net
At that, he emphasized that failing to split Armenia and Diaspora,
Turkey is now trying to split the Armenian communities.
"Turkey’s aim is to sham a dialogue with Armenia on the threshold of
the Armenian Genocide anniversary," Mr. Kandaharian said.
TURKISH PM SAYS TO SEND BACK AMBASSADOR TO U.S.
Xinhua
April 2 2010
China
ANKARA, April 2 (Xinhua) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said on Friday he was returning Turkey’s ambassador to Washington after
he was recalled to protest a U.S. congressional committee resolution
labelling as "genocide" the killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces
during World War I, CNN Turk reported.
Erdogan also confirmed that he would travel to the United States to
attend the International Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on
April 12-13.
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on
March 4 adopted a resolution branding the killings of Armenians in
the late Ottoman Empire as genocide.
ARMENIA 106TH IN FIFA LIST RANKING
Tert.am
17:43 ~U 31.03.10
The International Football Association (FIFA) has published a new list
ranking national football (or soccer, as it’s known in North America)
teams, reports Armsport.am.
The Armenian national team has once again dropped in the rankings. At
292 points, it is now at 106th place (it was at 103rd previously).
Armenia’s competition in the UEFA Euro 2012 draw (Ireland, Slovenia
and Macedonia) have also demonstrated poor records, with the exception
of Andorra (at 201st).
Russia has kept its previous standing (12th) in the list.
There are no changes to the top three – Spain, Brazil and Holland.
Portugal has gone up two places, and now occupies 4th place this year.
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT FACES TOUGH CHOICE BETWEEN POLITICAL SUICIDE AND CONCRETE CONCESSIONS
Today
March 31 2010
Azerbaijan
"Political language is necessary to make a lie sound true, to make
killing look respectable and to grab the air with one’s own hands."
This aphorism by English writer and essayist George Orwell has
apparently become very relevant in the Armenian political beau monde.
The fact that talks about Armenian ex-President Robert Kocharian’s
political comeback top media reports is case and point.
Inexhaustible theme
Armenia’s socioeconomic situation is simply catastrophic with a
tendency to deteriorate further.
The decline of the Armenian economy was over 30 percent at the
dollar calculation this year. Naturally, all this will lead to a
further rise in prices on all types of goods, a devaluation of the
dram and a dramatic reduction in the already low purchasing power of
the Armenian population.
Practices related to democracy, freedom of speech and thought are
far from the minimum requirements. The oligopoly continues to hold
all the power in the country, which thwarts the attempts of dissents
and threatens its own rule.
And, finally, Armenia’s foreign policy has suffered a crash. And the
most striking proof of this is what the country has achieved from
the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.
Armenia gained a clear expression of Turkey’s position, which
reiterated that it is impossible to normalize ties with Armenia without
Armenia’s withdrawal from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan,
emphasized the need for an early settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, demonstrated Azerbaijan’s increased
credibility and influence in the region and the world, showed the
distrust toward Armenia as a negotiator and, finally, questioned the
fate of tens of thousands of illegal Armenians working in Turkey
with the further threat of closing air communications between the
two countries.
Further attempts to hide the truth about the Armenian economy are
equal to trying to grab the air with one’s own hands. So, there is
nothing surprising about the renewed talks about Kocharian’s return
to politics. What is the reason behind mainstreaming this idea? There
are several possible scenarios.
Real threat or another farce?
The first scenario is that being aware of all the possible consequences
of the further deterioration of the socioeconomic and political
situation in Armenia, Yerevan is ready to make major concessions
in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in an interview
with CNN said there has been rapid progress in the process of solving
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It should also be noted that in an
interview with German Die Zeit, Prime Minister Erdogan also said:
"Turkey will not open its border with Armenia until Armenia leaves
Azerbaijan’s territories."
In other words, it seems that Armenia would have to make steps, very
disadvantageous from the viewpoint of the Armenian nationalists,
in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Under these conditions it is quite timely from the viewpoint of
the Armenian nationalists to bring Kocharian’s comeback into the
mainstream. By the way, the former president has already criticized
the current Armenian authorities.
Thus, it seems that Kocharian is being presented to Armenia and the
international community as a club, which could hit President Serzh
Sargsyan over the head when he begins to take concrete steps to
resolve the Armenian -Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Worthy of note is that the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party
and oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan and ex-Foreign Minister, Sivilitas
Foundation Chairman Vartan Oskanian made similar statements almost
simultaneously with Kocharyan, who condemned the current economic
policy of the Armenian authorities.
These statements voiced by people close to Kocharian discredited
Sargsyan, who is responsible for the poor economic situation in the
country and his failing foreign policy. Recently, Armenian media
reported that Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian wrote a resignation
letter and sent it to the president’s residence.
For his close aides he motivated his resignation by Sargsyan’s
compliant policy on the Karabakh issue. After receiving the minister’s
resignation, Sargsyan summoned Ohanian and had an almost six-hour
conversation with him. Then Ohanian withdrew his resignation and
returned to work.
All this shows that the current Armenian president is actually being
forced to make major concessions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
and Ohanian is ready to support the forces opposed to the Armenian
president once this happens. And this is very serious. Given
Tsarukian’s and Ohanian’s opportunities, there are strong reasons
to predict even more pressure on Sargsyan due to the speculation
about Kocharian’s return to power. Moreover, the history of the
Sargsyan-Kocharian standoff has lasted more than a year.
In particular, Sargsyan defeated Kocharian once in the last
parliamentary elections. Back then, Prosperous Armenia, hastily set up
by Kocharian, was crushed and had no option but to become a younger
and less meaningful partner for the dominating Republicans. Later,
the bloody March events ensued and became a symbol of Sargsyan’s
presidency. The whole world saw the scale of the fraud and bloody
suppression of dissent in Armenia. It was Kocharian’s response to
the current president who cannot escape the stigma of a dictator and
a politician who came to power by spilling the blood of his own people.
Will there be a new bloodshed in Armenia? Kocharian has repeatedly
showed that he can resort to the bloodletting of his own people for
the sake of quenching his own political ambitions. So, it all depends
on what Sargsyan’s next actions will be.
Bloodshed in Armenia is not beneficial for Azerbaijan at all since any
destabilization of the situation in the country is fraught curtailing
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict negotiation process, in which the current
Armenian president appears to be ready to make concrete concessions.
Precisely because of this, there is reason to consider a second version
of the events on Kocharian’s return to power. Maybe the bitter rivals
Sargsyan and Kocharyan are staging this farce in a bid to break down
the talks to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
That Sargsyan has run out of formal arguments to delay Armenia’s
response to the updated Madrid principles corroborates this assertion.
At this point, there is the threat of Kocharian’s return to power,
followed by the destabilization of the political situation in Armenia
and his rejection of the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue
and any real steps to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Of course, Kocharian has every opportunity to personally voice
dissatisfaction with the actions of the current government to Sargsyan
himself and other members of the government, but not through the
media. So, it is possible that this is a game for the foreign audience
for the most part.
Sargsyan is not interested and strongly opposes Kocharian’s return to
power in any form including as prime minister because he understands
that his consent for a Kocharian comeback would be tantamount to
political suicide.
The specifics of the situation in Armenia show that the lives of
ordinary citizens will not improve regardless of whether Kocharian
returns to politics. They will continue to live in the country,
struggle for survival and be consumable in the hands of their own
rulers, regardless of the name and surname of their leader. These
rulers have long established the basic rule of life in the country.
This rule is consonant with another Orwellian maxim, according to
which all animals are equal but some animals are a bit more equal
than others.
A. Hasanov Day.Az writer
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