Author: Tumanian Talar

ARMENIA’S MEDIAN NOMINAL WAGE IN 2009 WAS 101,895 DRAMS

ARKA
March 12, 2010

YEREVAN, March 12, /ARKA/. Armenia’s median nominal wage in 2009 was
101,895 Drams, chief of Armenia’s National Statistical Service Stepan
Mnatsakanian said today. He said it grew by 9.8% from 2008.

According to the latest figures of the Statistical Service, the median
wage in public sector last year was

84, 845 Drams, rising by 15.5% from 2008. In private sector it was 126,
407 Drams, by 5.3% higher from a year before. ($1 – 391.41 Drams).

TURKISH MFA ON CATALAN PARLIAMENT’S DECISION ON ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS

Journal of Turkish Weekly
March 11 2010

ANKARA (A.A) – A spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said on Thursday that the head of the autonomous administration
of Catalonia had apologized to Turkey for the Catalan parliament’s
recent decision supporting the Armenian allegations on the incidents
of 1915.

Spokesperson Burak Ozugergin said that a parliamentary committee
of Spain’s autonomous Catalonia region had discussed a resolution
on the Armenian allegations on February 26, and later approved such
resolution on behalf of the regional parliament as a result of the
support from the committee’s local deputies.

Ozugergin said, upon such development, Turkey immediately expressed
its concerns to the Spanish government and Catalan officials, and
demanded a remedy to such a wrong decision.

"The Spanish government said that such a decision did not reflect
Spain’s view on the matter," Ozugergin said, adding that Jose Montilla,
President of the Government of Catalonia, also sent a letter to
the Turkish foreign minister to apologize on behalf of the Catalan
administration.

"Montilla expressed the irrelevance of the decision and confirmed
the importance he attached to the friendly relations with the Turkish
nation and government," Ozugergin said.

AMBASSADOR OF GEORGIA TO RA: OPENING OF VERIN LARS CANNOT BE A START FOR NORMALIZATION OF RUSSIA-GEORGIA RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
March 11, 2010

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian-Georgian relations cannot
be characterized by diplomatic terms as they are brotherly relations.

Ambassador of Georgia to RA Grigol Tabatadze stated at a March
11 press conference. In his words, the two countries’ Presidents,
Foreign Ministers, and peoples are on very good terms. In response to
the question of why the Georgians prohibit transportation of Armenian
literature to Javakhk G. Tabatadze said that the prohibition only
regards textbooks. In his words, only textbooks confirmed by a proper
department should be used in Georgian schools. When the journalists
said that Armenian-language fiction’s transportation to Armenian is
also prohibited, the Ambassador said that he has not such information.

Speaking about the problem of Armenian churches in Georgia G.

Tabatadze said that there were many facts in history when churches
were destroyed but the Georgians "found strength in themselves to
restore them." He assured that the destroyed Armenian churches will be
restored without fail. In Ambassador’s words, a new law on religion
is planned to be adopted in Georgia which will meet the interests of
Georgia’s national minorities and democratic values.

As to the opening of the Verin Lars check-point G. Tabatadze said
that it is a positive fact but cannot be a start for normalization of
the Russia-Georgia relations. "We continue holding the opinion that
our territories should be disoccupied," the Ambassador said. In his
words, Georgia has no financial interest from the operation of the
Verin Lars check-point and agreed to open it "for its friends."

ALI AHMADOV: EUROPEAN UNION HAS LEVERS OF INFLUENCE ON THE SOLUTION TO NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

APA
March 11 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Elnur Mammadli – APA. Deputy chairman of New Azerbaijan Party
(YAP) Ali Ahmadov said the European Union might participate in the
solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict. APA reports that Ali Ahmadov
said in his interview to the party’s official website that EU being
the most respected organization of the continent is interested in
ensuring peace and security in this area.

Ali Ahmadov says that Azerbaijan is a part of Europe and considers
that the conflicts in the South Caucasus, especially Nagorno Karabakh
problem have direct influence on the security of Europe.

"The European Union has begun expressing openly that it is interested
in the solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict. A number of problems
that emerged in Europe’s energy security recently have increased
Azerbaijan’s role in this respect. I consider that the European Union
has mechanisms to influence the settlement of the conflicts in the
South Caucasus. It is obvious that the European Union has levers of
influence on the process. But the question is how much the states
are ready for restoration of justice. I think if the member states
are interested in this, the conflict can be solved soon," he said.

IAN LESSER: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES’ DECISION NOT TO SERIOUS DISRUPTION IN US-TURKISH RELATIONS

APA
March 10 2010
Azerbaijan

Washington. Isabel Levine – APA. Ian Lesser, former member of the
Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff at the US Department of State,
where his portfolio included southern Europe and Turkey believes
that the decision of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives on "Armenian genocide" is unlikely to materially
affect the prospects for conflict resolution on multiple fronts in
the Caucasus and Black Sea region.

"I do not expect this to lead to serious disruption in US-Turkish
relations, at least at this point", Mr. Lesser, who currently is senior
transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fond in US Capital told
APA’s Washington correspondent.

According to him, the committee vote was not unexpected: "It has
happened before. In fact, the vote in committee was closer than some
might have predicted".

Speaking about the future influences of the US Congress Committee’s
decision, Mr. Lesser stressed that, in strategic terms, Turkey’s
position on Iran nuclear issues and a likely vote in the UNSC is a
more important test.

"In my view, the stakes and policies of regional actors — Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Armenia are the key drivers rather than the actions
of external powers. If the parties are willing to take risks for
resolution, there will be progress. If not, not" – he added.

Another analyst, Marko Papic from STRATFOR notices to APA’s Washington
correspondent that, the decision of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
of the House of Representatives on "Armenian genocide" has harmed U.S.

– Turkish relations, mainly because a more assertive and independent
Ankara is not taking this resolution lightly"

He pointed out that, Turkish opposition is also using this as a way
to criticize the government and put pressure on Erdogan, calling for
him to cancel his visit to the U.S. in April.

However, according to Mr. Papic, this is not the first time the House
Foreign Affairs Committee passed such a non-binding measures and it
still requires the rest of the House of Representatives to vote.

"The U.S. President, however, has made it clear that he will work
to block the resolution in the House, which is actually a change
from his campaign promise in 2008. Therefore, we expect the vote
to create a stir in Turkish-American relations in the short term,
but in the medium/long term the U.S. executive will be able to
block the move. It will be interesting to see how Turkey interprets
U.S. President Barack Obama’s change in policy towards the genocide
issue. They may very well interpret it as a clear sign that U.S. is
bending to Turkish demands, which it is, and that it is yet another
sign of Ankara’s rising power. Turkey would not be wrong in either
of those assessments. The question is whether that will encourage
Turkey to be even bolder in its foreign policy".

Answering the question, if there could be any negative impact on
the Nagorno-Karabakh process after the decision of US congressmen,
STRATFOR analyst mentioned that Turkey would likely scuttle the
Turkish-Armenian process, which would of course then also have
negative repercussions for the Nagorno-Karabakh process. "However,
the likelihood that the resolution comes to full vote before the House
is unlikely and therefore not something that at this point one should
extrapolate from".

ANSAmed – Italy
March 5, 2010 Friday 9:39 AM CET

ANKARA NOT MINCING WORDS;
RECALLS AMBASSADOR AND THREATENS TO CANCEL DEFENCE CONTRACTS

(ANSAmed) The vote of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of
Representatives on a non-binding resolution in which the 1915 and 1917
Armenian massacres that took place during the Ottoman empire are
defined as "genocide" was expected in Ankara.

So much so that, with unusual speed in Turkey, as soon as it was
discovered from the website of the Turkish Cabinet Office that out of
the 46 members of the Committee, 23 against 22 voted in favour of the
document, a message of condemnation immediately appeared. Premier
Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern over the consequences of the vote and
underlined that the taking of a stance by the parliamentary body
"risks damaging Turkish-American relations, as well as the process of
normalisation between Turkey and Armenia."

Shortly after, it was announced that the Turkish Ambassador to the US,
Namik Tan, has been immediately recalled to Ankara "for consultation".
Tan arrived in Washington just a few weeks but is already an expert on
America. That things were not looking good for Ankara was already
clear a few days ago, but events have taken a turn for the worse in
the last 48 hours. Turkey was opposed to the approval of the document
insomuch as it has always denied that the number of Armenians killed
during the massacres total one and a half million (for Ankara there
were "only" 300,000) and that they died as a result of a civil war and
not due to genocide.

Thus yesterday morning Turkey had already raised not only the
possibility of withdrawing their Ambassador if the resolution were
approved, but also the potential of cancelling contracts worth 45
billion dollars with five large US defence companies. Furthermore,
Ankara has circulated – via the Turkish press – a so-called ‘Plan B’
to be implemented if the document is approved. This plan sets out,
amongst other things, that Turkey could potentially not ratify the
protocols of normalisation of relations signed in October in Zurich
with Armenia, considered to be important for the stability of the
Caucasus.

BIA Net, Turkey
March 5 2010

Prison Sentence for Posting Reader Comment?

BarıÅ? YarkadaÅ?, publication director of the Gerçek Gündem internet
site, stands trial for a reader comment which allegedly insulted
President Gül. YarkadaÅ? said that the site does not post comments
concerning the president any more. RSF is following the case up.

Erol Ã-NDEROÄ?LU [email protected] Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center05 March
2010, Friday Gerçek Gündem.com (‘Real Agenda’) internet news site
publication director BarıÅ? YarkadaÅ? faces a prison sentence of five
years and four months on the grounds of publishing a reader comment
which allegedly constituted an insult to President Abdullah Gül. The
first hearing of the case was heard at the Kadıköy (Istanbul) 7th
Criminal Court of First Instance on 3 March.

YarkadaÅ? stated in the hearing, "We closed the site to postings of
reader comments regarding Abdullah Gül in order not to face yet
another court case. In a way we implemented auto-censorship".

RSF: Attempt to oppress critics
The international organization of Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
based in France closely observes YarkadaÅ?’s case. RSF said in an
announcement that putting YarkadaÅ? on trial was an "attempt to oppress
critics".

Gerçek Gündem.com had also published comments regarding Turkey uttered
by Armenian President Serj Sarkisyan. YarkadaÅ? previously stood trial
for posting a reader comment sent by a person alias "Türkeli27" saying
that "Sarkisyan challenged Turkey due to the attitude of Gül".

Currently, YarkadaÅ? is charged with "insult of the President"
according to articles 299/1, 2, 3 and 53 of the Turkish Criminal Code
(TCK).

Website banned comments on the president
YarkadaÅ? attended the hearing on Wednesday together with his laywers
Nalan Gonca Ã?elik, Metin Florinalı, Erdal DoÄ?an and Sennur BeyboÄ?a.
The joint attorneys requested the acquittal of their client. Based on
the principle of personal crime they demanded to drop the case.

YarkadaÅ? claimed in the hearing: "We have no intention to insult the
President. In fact, I did not commit the crime I am accused of. I am
prosecuted for a comment that I did not write"

"We removed the comment from the site without any legal obligations to
show that we have no intent of insult. The comment was posted on the
site during a time when we did not apply filters to the thoughts sent
by our readers. Upon receiving the complaint, we installed new
software to audit the comments. Our site is completely closed to the
posting of comments regarding the President now".

Auto-censorship
YarkadaÅ? said that they applied this kind of auto-censorship in order
not to face yet another trial. Also lawyer DoÄ?an described the
application as "auto-censorship".

Judge Tahsin DoÄ?an asked YarkadaÅ? which control mechanisms were
currently implied for the publication of reader comments. YarkadaÅ?
replied, "Defamation and criticism are up to everyone’s personal
perspective. We post comments according to our legal knowledge and our
discernment. It is up to you to decide on this".

YarkadaÅ? pointed out that the Informatics Crime Branch Directorate
confirmed that the comment was written by a reader in Denmark. "We are
tried based on a comment we did not write ourselves. This kind of
cases can be found in different countries all over the world. So if
there is a crime constituted, the referring topic is removed. We did
just the same", YarkadaÅ? said. The trial is to be continued on 9 June.

The hearing was attended by AkÅ?am newspaper writer Mustafa Dolu,
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Press Adivsor Veysi Å?ahin and CHP
Treasurer Ä°lhan Ã?elik among others. (EÃ-/VK)

dom-of-expression/120435-prison-sentence-for-posti ng-reader-comment

Turkey Won’t Approve Anything Under Pressure: Abdullah Gul

12:11 – 06.03.10

Turkey will not accept that which it does not believe while under
threat and pressure, said Turkish President Abdullah Gul, on the topic
of the passage of H.Res.252 on the Armenian Genocide by the US House
Foreign Affairs Committee, according to various Turkish media.

`The passing of the resolution is nothing if an assault at Turkey, for
its efforts at reconciliation in the region,’ said Gul.

Tert.am

CNN
March 5 2010

Q&A: Turkey and the Armenian ‘genocide’

March 5, 2010 1:05 p.m. EST

London, England (CNN) — Turkey has reacted angrily to a U.S.
congressional panel decision to pass a resolution calling the 1915
killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide.

Turkey recalled its envoy to the United States and condemned the
narrow 23-22 vote in favor by the House Foreign Affairs Committee
recommending that the US recognize the killings as genocide.

Here two experts on Turkey — Dr Katerina Dalacoura, lecturer in
International Relations at the London School of Economics and Fadi
Hakura, Turkey Analyst at Chatham House, a London-based think tank —
explain why this is such an emotional issue for the country.

Why is this a sensitive issue for Turkey?

Dalacoura: It has always been a sensitive issue… Turkey has always
refused to accept that it was a planned event. They argue that
genocide only applies if it was a plan to exterminate people.

Hakura: Turkey says "yes, Armenians did die," but disputes the
historical definition as a genocide… It says they died in war, of
disease, from the general chaos at the time, but the deaths were not
part of a deliberate systematic plan to eliminate the Armenians. They
say that intention is an important part of genocide.

Why did the House Foreign Affairs Committee vote on this now?

Hakura: On April 24 each year the president of the U.S. makes a
traditional statement commemorating the 1915 killings and I suspect
the timing of this is related to that.

Could this harm US-Turkey relations?

Hakura: If the resolution was passed then it could cause lasting
damage… although this is not the first time the two countries have
been through this. In 2007 the recommendation vote was 27-21 so the
vote has narrowed this time. Hillary Clinton (U.S. secretary of state)
says that passing the resolution would damage U.S./Turkey relations,
although I think this is a fig leaf and the real reason is U.S.
national security. Turkey is militarily important to the U.S…. it
has a military base at Incirlik and in February several senior defense
staff signed a letter asking for the resolution to be withdrawn.

Dalacoura: U.S.-Turkey relations have been going through a relative
low in the last few years… there is less warmth in the relationship,
but the relationship has been strong for a decade and is very strong
on a variety of issues and Turkey will deal with it now.

Do any countries recognize the killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey
in 1915 as genocide?

Hakura: Twenty countries do, including France, Germany, Sweden and
Canada. Ronald Reagan in 1981 is the only U.S. president who asked for
the killings to be called a genocide.

What is the public opinion in Turkey regarding the Armenian massacre?

Dalacoura: Relations between the military and the government is the
key issue for many Turks, I think this (Armenia massacre) is a
secondary issue.

Hakura: Turkey is becoming more and more liberal… genocide is no
longer a taboo word when it comes to talking about Armenia and things
have been progressing, but the population does not like foreign powers
defining their history, it generates a lot of misgivings.

Could this reverse the tentative measures Turkey and Armenia have
taken to normalize relations?

Dalacoura: It depends on how profound the event is… although it is
one of many events. The relationship with Turkey is a new one and the
Turkish government has invested in it.

key.armenia.genocide/

POLAND’S AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT SARGSYAN

Aysor
March 3 2010
Armenia

Armenia is interested in developing the bilateral relations with
Poland, said country’s President Serzh Sargsyan when met with the
newly-appointed Poland’s Ambassador to Armenia ZdzisÅ~Baw Rachinsky,
a spokesperson for Presidential Administration said.

"Cooperation and development of relations with the EU is one of the
key goals of Armenian government. I am seeking for active work in
this direction," Serzh Sargsyan added.

ZdzisÅ~Baw Rachinsky presented his Credentials to President Sargsyan
and said, in his part, will make efforts to strengthen ties between
the countries. He added: "Poland is among those states who initiated
the Eastern Partnership Programme, and this is a good basis for
cooperation." President Sargsyan said supports all the opportunities,
provided by the Programme.