Author: Topchian Jane

ARMENIAN BOOK TO BE PRESENTED IN THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK EXHIBITION IN MINSK

ARMENPRESS
Jan 27, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS: Armenian book will be presented in
the international book exhibition, which will be held February 11-15
in Minsk. Head of the publication department of Publication agency of
the Armenian Culture Ministry Seyranuhi Geghamian told Armenpress that
nearly 100 units of books are intended to be sent to Minsk published
in Armenia during the last two years.

In Minsk the pavilion which will be provided to Armenia for free will
be presented by the Armenian embassy in Belarus particularly by the
ambassador Oleg Yesayan.

According to S. Geghamian for this exhibition the preference has been
given to historical as well as to the books and albums on Armenian
genocide, Karabakh conflict, etc. There will be many books in Russian
language.

During the last 4 years Armenia regularly takes part in the Minsk
exhibition. Last year the Armenian book took part in nearly 10
international book fairs. According to an official from the agency the
publication in Armenia registers development tendencies as the number
of publications as well as the opportunity of publishing high-quality
books have increased.

"Many publications, within the frameworks of cooperation or invitation,
take part in exhibitions separately presenting the Armenian literature
to the foreign visitors," – she added.

MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT THE REGION

A1+
[07:47 pm] 28 January, 2009

The President’s press service has issued a press release today
detailing a recent Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting in Zurich, Switzerland.

"The meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan was attended
by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries Edward Nalbandyan
and Elmar Mammadyarov, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Yuri Merzlyakov
(Russia), Bernard Fassier (France), Mattew Bryza (USA) and Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk. Then
the Presidents’ had a tête-a-tête meeting. The talks resumed in an
extended format in an hour.

The Armenian side assessed the Zurich meeting as positive and
constructive. During the meeting the sides shared viewpoints on the
present stage of the talks over the Karabakh issue. The Presidents
instructed the FMs to continue the negotiations within the framework
of the Minsk group Co-Chairs. An agreement was reached in view of
the Co-Chairs’ forthcoming visit to the region.

After the meeting Serzh Sargsyan left for Davos to participate in the
opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum," holds the press release.

–Boundary_(ID_BzAhuuS9OnkRfncYEL9tTA)–

TRIAL OF ARMENIAN PRISONER CONTINUES IN BAKU

APA
Jan 28 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Hafiz Heydarov -APA. Binagadi District Court held hearing
on Wednesday on the case of prisoner Edgar Sarkisyan who attempted
for jailbreak. Public prosecutor read an indictment in the process
presided by judge Natig Abbasov. According to indictment, Sarkisyan is
charged with Article 304 (Runaway from a place of imprisonment, from
place of arrest or from place of guard) and Article 315 (Resistance
or application of violence concerning the representative of authority)
of the Criminal Code. Sarkisyan admitted guilt partially acknowledging
his attempt for jailbreak, but denied accusation in resistance.

Then penitentiary security officer Shahriyar Huseynov, who was beaten
by Sarkisyan when he tried to prevent the prisoner’s jailbreak, gave
a testimony. "I detained him, but he resisted and beat me. I ordered
the soldiers to open fire because I couldn’t catch up the prisoner".

Soldier Elchin Asgarov said in his testimony bullets he fired on
Sarkisyan didn’t reach him, but soldier Nahid Mirzayev said that one
of the bullets he fired reached the prisoner. He was wounded in leg.

The process will be continued on February 4.

Sarkisyan was convicted for 14 years of imprisonment for raping and
beating his sister and brother. He is accused in attempt for runaway
from the penitentiary on November 8, 2008. The soldiers being on duty
in that night were forced to fire him because he didn’t take dictation
"Stop!" He was wounded in leg.

UP IN ARMS
by Ismail Agazade

Transitions Online
nguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=306&N rSection=1&NrArticle=20333
Jan 28 2009
Czech Republic

Unconfirmed reports that Moscow has made a major shipment of arms to
Armenia has Azerbaijan rethinking its diplomatic footing.

BAKU | Reports of free Russian arms supplies to Armenia, denied by
Moscow and Yerevan, have led many in Azerbaijan to think twice about
the country’s long-held policy of balance between the Kremlin and
the West.

President Ilham Aliyev has remained faithful to his late father’s
policy of walking a tightrope between Russia and the West. He has not
sought NATO membership and has stopped short of giving full support
to the Nabucco pipeline, designed to carry Caspian and Central Asian
gas to Europe via a route bypassing Russia.

Good personal relations with Russian leaders, especially Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin, have usually paid off, particularly after the five-day
war between Russia and Georgia in August. Georgia’s crushing defeat
and Moscow’s recognition of its breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, as independent states showed that Russia was still the power
to be reckoned with, many analysts in Baku said at the time.

If confirmed, however, the alleged Russian arms supplies to Armenia,
which is technically at war with Azerbaijan, would be a serious blow
to backers of the policy of balance. It has even led some here to
call for eventual NATO membership for the Caucasus country.

LOOKING WEST

"One should not believe pledges of everlasting friendship with Russia,
especially if our interests do not coincide," wrote Rovshan Shykhly,
a columnist with Azerbaijan’s Russian-language independent daily,
Zerkalo. "It is time for Azerbaijan to draw conclusions."

Referring to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s description of
Azerbaijan as a "a strategic partner," Shykhly wrote: "First, we
need to realize that no high-level statement on strategic partnership
between Russia and Azerbaijan would save us if the Kremlin decided to
provoke armed conflict in order to keep the region under its sphere
of influence or to torpedo the Nabucco project."

Vafa Guluzada, a former presidential adviser on foreign affairs,
contends that Azerbaijan is under "constant threat" from Russia and
should seek closer military cooperation with the West.

"We need a military alliance with the United States and NATO bases on
our soil. I called for this back in 1999, when I was still a member of
[Azerbaijan’s] Security Council," he said.

"Armenia is a Russian outpost," Guluzada added, referring to a 2007
statement to that effect by Russian Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov. "The
Armenian army is part of the Russian army."

The former Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia, Hikmat Hajizada, has also
said Baku should move toward NATO, although he acknowledges that the
U.S.-led alliance would likely not welcome Georgia or Azerbaijan into
the bloc under current circumstances. As for seeking military aid
from Turkey, Azerbaijan’s closest ally, Hajizada told the newspaper
Ekspress: "Turkey is not in a position to help us single-handedly. It
can only help with Western support."

Jasur Sumarinli, a military analyst with the Azerbaijani-language
daily Ayna, said the alleged arms transfer to Armenia will pull Georgia
and Azerbaijan farther away from Russia and bring them closer to NATO.

However, Eldar Namazov, another former aide to the Azerbaijani
president, said the government lacks the "political will" to push
for closer ties to the Western alliance.

"Azerbaijan’s sitting on the fence does not solely depend on the
Russia factor," Namazov said. He said Baku does not accept a set of
principles – including democratization – required for NATO membership.

"Azerbaijan is only imitating integration with NATO," he added.

Azerbaijan has cooperated with NATO since 1994, when it joined the
alliance’s Partnership for Peace program. It has sent troops to Kosovo,
Afghanistan, and Iraq and opened its airspace for NATO aircraft during
operations in Afghanistan.

NEW YEAR’S GIFT

The arms dust-up started in December, after Azerbaijani media reported
that weapons worth nearly $800 million dollars were transferred to
Armenia through a Russian military base in the northern Armenian town
of Gyumri.

This "New Year’s gift," as some journalists labeled it, included
21 T-72 tanks, 27 fighting infantry carriers, 12 armored personnel
carriers, five BRDM armored vehicles, 4,300 Kalashnikov assault rifles,
various kinds of Shilka and Strela missiles, multiple rocket launchers,
and thousands of explosives.

In a statement on 15 January, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry protested
the alleged arms transfer, warning that it could undermine the
"strategic partnership" between Baku and the Kremlin. It said an
investigation into the reports had revealed "enough grounds" to
conclude that the arms transfer did take place.

"The arms transferred [to Armenia] will significantly strengthen
the military potential of the country that has occupied part of
the territory of the Azerbaijani Republic. The Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry believes that the transfer of the weapons will enable
[Armenia] to continue this occupation," the statement read.

Azerbaijan and Armenia remain technically at war over over
Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory populated primarily by ethnic Armenians
that broke away from Baku’s control following fighting in the early
1990s. The territory, along with seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts,
have remained under Armenian control since a 1994 ceasefire.

Nearly 30,000 people were killed and more than 1 million were displaced
as a result of the hostilities.

Azerbaijan has not ruled out using military force to regain control
of the territory, and more than a decade of peace talks mediated by
the United States, Russia, and France have yielded no results.

In its 15 January statement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said
the arms transfer would violate UN resolutions that ban the arming
of the sides to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The Foreign Ministry believes that this places special responsibility
on Russia for the future development of the situation in the resolution
of the conflict," the statement read.

‘A PIECE OF DISINFORMATION’

In a narrowly worded note on 21 January, the Russian Foreign Ministry
said that in 2008 Russia "did not give or sell weapons to Armenia
of the types or quantities" claimed by Azerbaijan. "This [report]
is a piece of disinformation of a clearly anti-Russian nature which
does not contribute to the positive development of friendly relations
between Russia and Azerbaijan," the statement read.

The ministry also pointed to Azerbaijan’s "hasty conclusions and steps"
on the issue of the alleged arms supplies, expressing the hope that
Russia and Azerbaijan "will jointly dispel possible doubts in the
spirit of the strategic partnership" between the two countries if
any concerns emerge in the future.

The 21 January note is a subtle shift from earlier statements by
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that his country supplied no
weapons to Armenia in 2008.

The Armenian Defense Ministry also dismissed the reports as
disinformation.

"Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. We
have military contacts with Russia. But I do not remember any such
purchases in recent years," the ministry spokesman, Colonel Seyran
Shahsuvaryan, told the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.

Azerbaijani political analyst Zardusht Alizada says of the alleged
weapons supply that Russia is trying to allay Yerevan’s fears in face
of Azerbaijan’s growing military spending.

"Russia is trying to calm Armenia down, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid,
I am supporting you. Do not step back even one iota,’ " Alizada
told Ekspress. He argues that preserving the status quo in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is in Russia’s interest, as the unresolved
conflict allows the Kremlin to keep both Baku and Yerevan under
control.

Aliyev has repeatedly said that he may use military force "at any time"
to retake Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent Azerbaijani districts
should peace talks fail. He reiterated this at a televised cabinet
meeting on 17 January. He also announced that in 2009 Azerbaijan’s
military spending would total $2.3 billion, almost six times Armenia’s
military budget.

Ismail Agazade is a pseudonym for a Baku-based journalist.

‘OBAMA SHOULD TAKE ACTION TO ELIMINATE THE BAD MEMORIES IN TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS’
By Muzaffer Vatansever

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jan 28 2009
Turkey

* Interview with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sedat Laciner, head of the USAK

The director of the Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sedat Laciner evaluates the future of the
Turkish-American Relations under the Obama administration.

* Q: How do you evaluate the future of Turkish-American relations
under the Obama administration?

S.L.: "During the Bush presidency, the relations between Turkey
and US were severely damaged. The Washington administration has an
immense responsibility in this case. Turkey gave full support to
the US’ combat against terror. In this regard, Ankara sent Turkish
soldiers to Afghanistan and acted in accordance with its Western
allies in order to capture the militants of Al-Qaeda in Turkey
or anywhere. Meanwhile, Turkey undertook a constructive role in
the Middle East problems. However, when the Turkish Grand National
Assembly (TBMM) rejected the US’ request to base US troops in Turkey
for an assault on Iraq on March 1, 2003, the US’ Turkey policy was
completely changed. As a result, Washington started to implement a
punishment strategy against Turkey. Turkey is a democratic country and
the government must implement its policies in line with the decisions
of the parliament. The Turkish Government sincerely wanted to pass
the 1 March Parlaiment Note to allow the US troops to use Turkish
territories, yet the Government had no option but to implement the
taken decision."

* Q: In this regard, has Turkey’s rejection of the 1 March Bill cost
too much to the US?

S.L.: "Of course, if it were possible for the US troops to use
Turkey’s territory, it would definitely become easier for US to
invade Iraq. But, the US administration made a fatal mistake. They
did not pay enough attention to the Turkish parliament and did not
respect its pluralism principle. In this period, the US promised to
provide a huge credit at an amount of 30 billion dollars and thought
that Turkey could not reject its request to use Turkey’s territory
(because, Turkey was trying to recover its economy after the 2001
great economic crisis). The US expected to exploit from Turkey’s
difficult situation. The sarcastic expressions of some American
politicians caused a negative impact on Turkish parliamentarians and
Turkish people. As a result Turkish democracy decided and it said "no’
to the US soldiers. If the US could use Turkish route, of course the
risks in the operation would have been decreased a lot.

Although the US could not enter Iraq from Northern part of Turkey,
the US was surprisingly not seriously affected in terms of military
bases. One of the most important reasons for this was the errant
strategy of Saddam Hussein. Saddam did not presume that Turkey
would refuse permission for US troops and deployed a large amount of
soldiers in the northern part of the country. Meanwhile, the Kurdish
collaborators with the US in the North also prevented the passage of
Saddam’s soldiers. Thanks to these developments, Iraq was occupied by
US troops in a very short time and it was brought under the control of
US with very few casualties. In this regard, it is not possible to say
that the Turkey’s rejection of the US paved the way to a big tragedy,
as the Vice President of US Dick Cheney and some other politicians
had claimed in the recent past. The US did not have many difficulties
during the invasion of Iraq, but after the invasion.

The problems of the US in Iraq did not begin during the invasion, but
later. The US easily occupied Iraq easily but could not administer the
occupied territory. The US soldiers created serious problems in the
region due to their wrong strategy, human rights violations, and being
unaccustomed to the indigenous people. At this point, Turkey offered
help to the US and the Turkish parliament ratified the decision to send
Turkish soldiers to Iraq to help the US as a result of the intense
efforts of the Erdogan government. However, the US did not show any
desire to accept Turkey’s attempts and made a special effort to keep
Turkey and Turkish approach outside Iraq and outside the region. It
can be said that the policies of the Bush administration regarding
the Iraq issue were founded on the ground of punishing Turkey and
to keep it outside the Middle East and Iraqi issues. In addition,
the US did not give any support to Turkey in combating terrorism
during this period, especially between the years 2003 and 2007.

Furthermore, many people in Turkey even stated that the US supported
PKK terrorism. During this period, Turkish public opinion showed a
strong and unprecedented reaction against the US’ approach to PKK
terrorism and the Kurdish issue. Almost every political group in
Turkey thinks that the US was not candid about the PKK terrorism. In
this context, the terrorism problem still remains the most important
issue between the two countries.

This mistakes which occurred during the Bush administration
would definitely pave the way to further problems in the upcoming
years. Unfortunately, some people in Washington think that Turkish
society can forget the bad things easily. Yet, this is not a true
analysis. One of the most significant reasons for the Turkish
parliament’s rejection of the 1 March Bill was the repercussions
from the two countries’ previous run-ins. The Turkish intellectuals,
bureaucrats, media, experts, and even laymen do not forget the
US’s biased behaviors regarding the 1964 Johnson Letter, the US’s
arms embargo on Turkey respecting Cyprus, and pro-Greek stance of
the US in many occasions and the Armenian issue. Unfortunately, the
Bush administration added new damaging even traumatic memories to the
previous ones. Besides, the US soldiers headed bag the Turkish soldiers
in northern Iraq. With these actions, the US not only punished, but
also insulted Turkey. All of these bad memories would be remembered by
the Turkish people and affect the relations between the two countries
in the future. I am sure that no single Turkish soldier and citizen
can forget the bag affair in coming years.

In this context, the new president must be aware of this heritage with
good sides and with the sins and try to take action to eliminate the
bad memories. He should ease the damages in the relations."

* Q: Finally, what do you want to advise the new US President?

S.L.: "First of all, the new president must give full support to
Turkey about combating terrorism via a strong message. Although Iraq
has been kept under the control of the US for about six years, up
to now, the US military forces has not caught or arrested or judged
any PKK terrorist. The PKK became stronger under the US occupation
rule. In the following days, if the Obama administration could make
a contribution by apprehending a famous name from the PKK, it would
positively affect the US’ image in the eyes of Turkish people. The US
should do something in the PKK issue really important valuable to the
Turkish people because the people here see the US somehow responsible
for the increasing PKK terror.

Secondly, Obama must not act in line with the desires of the
ultra-nationalist Armenian Diaspora. The US should keep its
impartiality in the issue. While a historical dialogue process has
been launched between Ankara and Yerevan, any radical expressions from
Obama could damage this process. Obama should concentrate on today’s
problems rather than historical Armenian claims and support the efforts
of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. He should not be emotional
but realist. The only aim should be to establish Turkish-Armenian
friendship on mutual interests of US, Armenia and Turkey.

Third, the EU membership of Turkey is of vital importance in terms
of the peace in the Middle East and the relations between the West
and the East. In conjunction with the full membership of Turkey, the
EU would have a Muslim member country for the first time. Becoming
an equal and strong member of the EU, Turkey can make significant
contributions to the stability and development of the Middle East
and greater East. Besides, Turkey would prove to construct a frank,
constructive, and beneficial relationship for both sides between the
Muslim and the Western worlds. In this way, Turkey could be a model
country and success story for the Muslim world and help to eliminate
the region’s extremist religious groups. If the EU rejects Turkey
due to the religious differences, this great mistake would be a
great signal to the Muslim peoples in the world. The US can play a
constructive role in bridging Turkey and the EU.

Finally the US must keep its promises in Cyprus. Turkish side fully
support the Annan Plan, however while the Greeks strongly rejected the
UN Peace Plan. The US and the EU promised a lot to Turkish Cypriots
and Turkey before the referendum. However the side who was punished is
the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey. The US and the EU did not keep their
promises. Turkish people are frustrated with the double standards in
Cyprus issue. People here think that the EU and the US support the
Greek Cypriots because of religious solidarity. I hope Obama will
keep the US’ words to the Turkish Cypriots."

PACE SUB-COMMITTEE ON NAGORNO KARABAKH WILL RESUME ITS ACTIVITIES IN THE NEAR FUTURE

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
January 26, 2009 Monday

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe Lluis
Maria de Puig said PACE Sub-Committee on Nagorno Karabakh would resume
its activities in the near future. According to him, the organization
will take some steps towards settling the conflict.

Meanwhile, chairman of PACE Sub-Committee on Nagorno Karabakh Lord
Russell-Johnston died in July 2008.

A new chairman of the Organization is expected to be appointed during
PACE winter session.

THE SPEECH OF NKR PRESIDENT BAKO SAHAKYAN DELIVERED AT THE…

Azat Artsakh Daily
26 Jan 09
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

Reporting meeting of the Police board summarizing the results of
2008 operative activities (Stepanakert, 24 January, 2009) The
role of your system and the work of each serviceman are essential in
safeguarding natural development and maintaining public security of
our country. Within the reporting period tangible changes and shifts
have been registered in increasing work efficiency of the NKR Police.
In the year of 2008 as a result of improvements in crime registering
procedures of the Police, 673 cases of crimes were registered
overall, a 25,8 percent increase in comparison with the previous
year. It should be taken into consideration that almost a quarter
of these crimes were committed in previous years. It indicates that
disclosure of crimes committed in the past remains in the spotlight
of the Police’s work. The police play an important role in detecting
crimes against the state authority, government service and social
order. The fact registration of office abuse and bribery cases has
increased itself shows that the level of patronage, a phenomenon
that can harm the reputation of state system, is decreasing in work
stile of different state bodies particularly the Police. Within the
reporting period due to the activities of the Police the perce ntage
of criminal cases solved rate has increased for all categories of
registered offences. In comparison with the year of 2007 the figure
increased by 148. The rate of traffic accidents has also decreased.
At the same time it is worth mentioning that during the previous year
the number of registered crimes has increased in the capital and in all
other regions with the exception of the Shahoumyan and Shoushi regions.

Serious conclusions should be made by the fact that the number
of serious and grave crimes rose which has lead to an increase
of offences registered within the sphere of crime detection. The
crime rate per ten thousand population has increased too. In 2008
the figure constituted 48,5 against 38,8 in 2007. Despite the fact
that this number in several times lower than the corresponding rate
in developed countries, it is unacceptable for us.

To make the struggle against criminality more effective in the first
place it is necessary carry out persistent preventive activities.
The distribution disproportion of both positive and negative trends
in the regions itself shows that there is a necessity of conducting
comprehensive analysis of the works being carried out on site. The
leadership of Police should take proper steps to eliminate such
drawbacks simultaneously strengthening personal responsibility of
the heads of regional and municipal subdivisions. Comprehensive
assessment criteria20for evaluating the work done by heads of
municipal and regional subdivision on securing public order and
supervising criminogenic situation should be clearly defined. Special
attention should be paid to the institute of district inspectors as a
unit engaged with people on a daily basis. The increase of juvenile
delinquency and the fact that robbery dominates in the structure of
these crimes makes us think. It is necessary carry out joint propaganda
and preventive actions together with educational institutions.
It is also necessary further deepen cooperation with appropriate
structures. The institute of ombudsman has been already functioning
in our republic and I consider cooperation with this structure to
be of great importance. Tightening ties with the Police and other
structures of the Republic of Armenia is also crucial. The proper
recruitment and appointment of cadres, their professional skills
and moral qualities play important role in effective organization of
work. The Policemen must be honest and impartial, enjoy confidence of
the public, possess necessary knowledge and abilities. Continuous works
should be conducted in this direction too. It is very much important
to maintain ties between generations and transfer experience. The
foundation of the Council of Police Veterans will greatly contribute
to this. The authorities of the republic will keep carrying out
necessary measures to improve social and working conditions of the
Police servicemen. Dear attendees, I am confident that our police
possess appropriate potential to carry out the assigned task in a
proper way, defend legitimate public interests and safeguard peaceful
and quiet life of the citizens. This is the requirement that should
be followed up by every servicemen of the Police. Thank you.

RUSSIA COULD NOT SELL OFF ARMENIA

Lragir.am
15:29:28 – 24/01/2009

The settlement of the Karabakh conflict is imitation which is positive
because it prevents the war, stated the political scientist Igor
Muradyan January 24 at the De Facto press club. The Russians were
trying to settle the Karabakh conflict, selling off Armenia for the
sake of gas and oil interests but the United States stopped them in
time. Igor Muradyan says after the `great’ victory in Georgia Russia
thought that it is the master in the Caucasus and the United States is
not capable anymore and decided to solve the problem of Karabakh, as if
that issue had occurred the day before and was easy to solve.

Igor Muradyan says the Armenian government expected the Russian
initiative which actually meant the sell-off of Armenia for the sake of
oil and gas to fade away but was mistaken. The initiative did not fade
away and even reached to three-party meeting in Moscow, Igor Muradyan
says, noting that the Armenian president fortunately understood that if
they sign in Moscow what the Russian offered them, he would stop being
president the very next day. According to Igor Muradyan, in Moscow not
the declaration was signed which the Russians wanted. The political
scientist knows approximately what document the Russians wanted but the
document which was signed was an American document which actually
prevented the Russian initiative, and was the continuation of the talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group rather than a resolution.

As to the attitude of the society, noting that it prefers the problems
of welfare to thinking about challenges like almost all the other
societies, Igor Muradyan nevertheless said that there is a class in the
Armenian society which is not seen on TV and in the press but is there
and will act from the position of nationalism if necessity occurs. The
political scientist asks why the elite who have money, power, armed
force do not sign a document on the issue of Karabakh. He answers his
question that the reason is that the elite fear something, fear this
valuable and worried class of the society. According to Igor Muradyan,
in our society fear is the only constructive element.

Armenian defense minister: Besides achievements, Armenian army also has
some gaps and flaws

2009-01-24 14:57:00

ArmInfo. On Jan 24, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan summed up
the results of the work done in 2008.

At today’s press-conference dedicated to the results of the year 2008,
Seyran Ohanyan stressed that the Armed Forces of Armenia worthily
implemented their most important task – defense of state
borders. According to him, in 2008 serious work was done to improve the
engineer installations on the border to enhance the combat proficiency
as aggression may be displayed against Armenia. Considerable work was
done to upgrade the technical and material-technical base and armament.
For this purpose, a Logistics Department was set up in the structure of
the Armenian defense ministry late in 2008. According to the minister,
another priority in 2008 was raising the proficiency of command staffs
of all levels, as well as improving the military education quality and
selecting the future specialists. The minister qualified introduction
of contractual non-commissioned service as one of the achievements in
2008. This outlines the prospects for an army operating on a
contractual basis. In addition, several exercises were successfully
held in Armenia. Serious attention was paid to spot checks, he said.
Such checks raise the level of security awareness. Seyran Ohanyan also
touched upon the legislation related to the defense sphere and stressed
the significance of adoption of the Law "On defense".

The defense minister said that in 2009 the priority will be to continue
the reforms. One of the tasks in this direction is to review the
defense conception. "One can state that the tasks faced by the
army are implemented. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no gaps
or flaws. There are both gaps and flaws and the leadership of the
Armenian Armed Forces sees and assesses them, as well as takes relevant
measures to fill the gaps",- Ohanyan stressed without going into detail
regarding the specified negative phenomena.

Danube Delta Holds Answers To ‘Noah’s Flood’ Debate

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2009) –
Did a catastrophic flood of biblical proportions drown the shores of
the Black Sea 9,500 years ago, wiping out early Neolithic settlements
around its perimeter? A geologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI)and two Romanian colleagues report in the January
issue of Quaternary Science Reviews that, if the flood occurred at
all, it was much smaller than previously proposed by other
researchers.

Using sediment cores from the delta of the Danube River, which empties
into the Black Sea, the researchers determined sea level was
approximately 30 meters below present levels-rather than the 80 meters
others hypothesized. `We don’t see evidence for a catastrophic flood
as others have described,’ said Liviu Giosan, a geologist in the WHOI
Geology and Geophysics Department.
Ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last glacial period, the
Black Sea was a lake-cut off from the Sea of Marmara and beyond it the
Mediterranean by the Bosphorus sill. Debate in geological and
archaeological circles has focused on whether, as glaciers melted and
global sea levels began to rise, the Bosphorus sill overflowed
gradually or whether a flood broke through the sill, drowning some
70,000 square kilometers and wiping out early Neolithic civilizations
in the region. In addition to questions about the rate of the flood,
investigators continue to debate the extent of the flood — a debate
centered around what the level of the Black Sea was 9,500 years ago.
In the late 1990s, Columbia University researchers Bill Ryan and
Walter Pitman examined the geological evidence and estimated the Black
Sea level at the time of the flood was approximately 80 meters lower
than present day levels.
They suggested that the impact of a Black Sea flood could have forced
the movement of early agriculturist groups to central Europe and
established the story of Noah and his ark, as well as flood myths
among other peoples.
The source of the uncertainty fueling the Black Sea flood debate is
the difficulty of finding reliable sea level markers to date the
flood. `Sea level is like the Holy Grail,’ said Giosan. `You can’t
really talk about a flood if you don’t know the exact levels of the
sea level in both the Black Sea and outside it in the
Mediterranean. And that’s what we tried to find.’
Scientists examine the geochemistry of sedimentary deposits for
evidence of fresh water fauna and the morphology of features on the
seafloor, trying to infer drowned beaches or wind-generated dunes, but
there are pitfalls associated with these indicators. Sediments are
subject to erosion by waves and currents, and sand deposits formed by
underwater currents can misleadinglybe interpreted as dunes or
beaches. `Instead, what we use as indicators of sea level is the level
of the Danube River delta plain, an immense landform that cannot be
mistaken for something else,’ Giosan stated.
A delta is formed when a river empties into a body of water. It dumps
sediments and builds a flat plain-the delta-that is within a couple of
meters of the shore and is, therefore, an indicator of sea level. In
2006, a team ledby Liviu Giosan showed that contrary to Soviet-era
data suggesting large oscillations of Black Sea level, the development
phases of the Danube delta demonstrate that the level was more or less
as today in the last 6000 years.
To extend their record back in time beyond 6000 years, in 2007, Giosan
and his colleagues drilled a new core to 42 meters depth at the mouth
of the Danube River, the largest river emptying into the Black
Sea. Their goal was to reconstruct the history of that part of the
delta-before and after the flood- through an examination of the
sediments. In analyzing the delta sediment from the new core as well
as others taken in the region, Giosan’s team discovered fresh water
deposits of the newly forming delta dating back approximately 10,000
years, subsequently overlaid by fine marine sediments, followed by the
modern delta deposits.
`It’s amazing,’ said Giosan. `The early delta was forming in a fresh
water lake just a couple of hundred years before the flood. And after
the flood you have these marine deposits overlaying the whole delta
region.’
Using sediment cores to reconstruct the delta with accurate dates is
challenging. To attach a date to the layers of a core, scientists use
radiocarbon dating on the fossil shells of animals found in the
core-for instance, clams or snails. But in energetic areas, waves can
erode sediment on the seabed and heave up older shells, depositing
them in `younger’ sediments. To address these concerns, Giosan and his
team used an approach that had not been used before in the Black
Sea. They employed high resolution dating performed at WHOI’s
Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) facility and only used
`articulated’ bivalves – those where both sides of the shell were
still attached as they are when alive. The shells are held together by
an organic substance that degrades easily when they are dead, so the
valves usually separate when the animal dies. When bivalves are found
intact, it means they were not moved by waves and they are likely to
be in situ.
Once the researchers dated and reconstructed the delta plain, they
could determine sea level for the Black Sea. They found that the Black
Sea level at the time of the flood was around 30 meters below present
levels. Determining how much water poured over the Bosphorus sill
remains problematic. There is no direct reconstruction of the sea
level for the Marmara, but, according to Giosan, indirect methods put
it at approximately 5 to 10 meters above the Black Sea level at the
time of the flood.
`So if this is true, it means that the magnitude of the Black Sea
flood was 5 or 10 meters but not 50 to 60 meters,’ said
Giosan. `Still, having flooded the Black Sea by 5 meters can have
important effects, for example, drowning of the Danube Delta and
putting an area of 2,000 square kilometers of prime agricultural land
underwater. This has important implications for the archaeology and
anthropology of southern Europe, as well as on our understanding of
how the unique environment of the Black Sea formed.’
Funding for this project was provided by the WHOI Coastal Ocean
Institute. Adapted from materials provided by _Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution_ () .