Author: Tumanian Talar

OSCE, UN, EU join efforts for strengthening stability in South Caucasus
06.02.2010 12:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In light of the daunting challenges facing the
international community, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe is determined to contribute meaningfully to the enhancement
of security in its region and beyond, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office,
Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev
said.

"I strongly believe that a better use of the OSCE’s capabilities would
help the UN and its Security Council to more effectively prevent
security threats and respond to them," Saudabayev said. "We intend to
strengthen the OSCE in every possible way and to enhance its
effectiveness and its ability to adequately respond to emerging
challenges and threats."

Saudabayev mentioned that, to a large extent, the implementation of
the Chairmanship’s priorities will depend on the participating States’
ability to enhance trust among themselves and to eliminate the
vestiges of Cold War dividing lines that still exist in the OSCE area.

Saudabayev emphasized to the Security Council that the Kazakh
Chairmanship will make an effort to contribute to the resolution of
protracted conflicts with particular attention to those in the
post-Soviet area. "Taking into account our shared history and
closeness in terms of mentality, we hope to give some impetus to the
efforts of our partners involved in that complex process," he said.

Saudabayev noted that the Kazakh Chairmanship will closely monitor
protracted conflicts and identify all signs of potential escalation
making good use of the OSCE preventive mechanisms.

The Chairperson-in-Office will travel to the South Caucasus on
February 15. He mentioned that the OSCE, the UN, and the European
Union co-chair the Geneva Discussions. "Further close co-ordination
among all parties is of great importance to promote stability in the
South Caucasus and to create favorable conditions for their peaceful
settlement," he added.

The Chairperson-in-Office also underscored the importance of OSCE-UN
co-operation in promoting security and stability in South-Eastern
Europe. In Kosovo, Saudabayev said, the OSCE Mission will continue to
implement its mandate as an integral part of the UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), based on the UN Security
Council resolution 1244.

Beyond these specific examples of OSCE-UN co-operation, the
Chairperson-in-Office underscored the broader potential of the OSCE as
a forum for comprehensive and inclusive security dialogue. "A relevant
dialogue will provide us with an opportunity to strengthen relations
of the OSCE with the UN, in accordance with the 1999 Platform for
Co-operative Security. We count on the contribution of the UN and its
structures to this process," he added.

Saudabayev underscored that such dialogue should include the OSCE
Partners for Co-operation. Last December, at the Athens Ministerial
Council, the Organization welcomed Australia as the 12th Partner for
Co-operation, a fact that shows the Organization’s determination to
broaden dialogue with partners beyond its zone of responsibility, in
order to maintain international peace and security, the OSCE said in a
press release.

With 56 States drawn from Europe, Central Asia and America, the OSCE
is the world’s largest regional security organization, bringing
comprehensive and co-operative security to a region that stretches
from Vancouver to Vladivostok. It offers a forum for political
negotiations and decision-making in the fields of early warning,
conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict
rehabilitation, and puts the political will of the participating
States into practice through its unique network of field missions.

Interfax, Russia
Feb 4 2010

U.S. says willing to help Armenia, Turkey normalize relations

YEREVAN Feb 4

The United States is willing to continue to help Armenia and Turkey
normalize their relations, U.S.

Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said.

"The U.S. deputy secretary of state made a high assessment of
Armenia’s efforts in seeking solutions to regional problems. He
pointed out that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is
very important for the U.S. and that Washington is open to continuing
to support the process," the Armenian president’s press service told
Interfax on Thursday following a meeting between Steinberg and
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

"J. Steinberg stressed the American position on the ruling of the
Armenian Constitutional Court on the Armenian-Turkish protocols,
pointing out that this ruling is a positive step for the process to
continue. In the context of the continuation of the process, the
American diplomat pointed out that it is important that the two
parties show political will," the press service said.

INSURANCE OF CIVIL LIABILITY TO BE OBLIGATORY FOR TRANSPORT FACILITY OWNERS
Hasmik Dilanyan

"Radiolur"
05.02.2010 16:12

Hearings on the draft law on obligatory insurance of civil liability
of transport facility owners will take place in the National Assembly
of Armenia on February 12.

"The draft law is of extreme social importance and aims at
protecting the rights of citizens, who suffer as a result of traffic
accidents," Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee
on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gagik Minasyan told a press
conference today.

According to the draft law, there will be a Bureau of Insurance
Companies set up in Armenia, which will include representatives
of insurance companies, Traffic Police and public organizations,
defending the rights of transport means owners and pedestrians.

Gagik Minasyan stated that the draft law provides for depriving owners
of transport means, who refuse to pay the obligatory insurance sums,
of driving licence in the territory of Armenia.

Gagik Minasyan urged the interested parties to send their suggestions
to the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs.

SEMINAR ON ‘KASHMIR, NAGORNO KARABAKH-FESTERING DISPUTES’ HELD

Associated Press of Pakistan
n=com_content&task=view&id=95799&Itemi d=2
Feb 5 2010

ISLAMABAD, Feb 5 (APP): A seminar " Kashmir and Nagorno
Karabakh-festering disputes" organized by Society of
Asian Civilizations Pakistan in collaboration with Preston
University, Islamabad & Embassy of Republic of Azerbaijan here on
Friday.Chancellor, Preston University Dr. Abdul Basit presented
the welcome address briefly and highlighted the contribution of
the university.He said it is time to bring the two issues together
which have a lot of similarities, adding that " we can create well
understanding on the both disputes."

Prof. Dr. ZA Qureshi highlighted the similarities between the two
disputes deliberated in his lecture.

While Dr. Tahir Amin of Quaid-i-Azam University pointed out in his
keynote address the significance of two disputes saying that it is
the need of the hour to realize gravity of the situation.

He urged the world community to play their due role for resolving the
two lingering disputes for peace of the region, adding that Indian
forces had occupied the best part of Kashmir.

Highlighting the similarities and dissimilarities, he said that Nagorno
Karabakh is historically the part of the Azerbaijan and Kashmir is
the issue of self-determination. He said that after 9/11 it is was
the ideal chance for resolving the Kashmir issue but we badly missed
the opportunity.

A. Rauf Khabia, Chancellor National Institute of Cultural Studies
Islamabad in his address said that Kashmir will be free one day and
their struggle of freedom will bear fruit. He said that Kashmir will
no more remain an occupied territory one day.

Ambassador of Azerbaijan Dr. Eynullah Madatli also spoke on the
occasion, he said that it is disappointing that Kashmir and Nagorno
Karabakh are still under foreign occupation. He stressed giving right
of self determination to the Kashmiris.

Highlighting the atrocities of Armenia in Nagorno Karabakh he said
that Armenia is occupying the 20 per cent area of Azerbaijan.

Dr. Ishtiaq Hussain a professor of International Relations also
presented his research paper on the two disputes.

BAKU AND YEREVAN WILL EDIT THE MADRID PRINCIPLES
by Anastasia Novikova

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 29, 2010 Friday
Russia

Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to continue the peaceful
dialog of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with mediation of Russia

HIGHLIGHT: NAGORNO-KARABAKH: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPECT QUICK RESOLVING
OF THE CONFLICT; Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues his
mediation efforts related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He received
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsian and Ilham Aliyev
in Sochi. After the negotiations both guests proposed to present their
proposals related to the disputed places of the new revision of the
Madrid principles for resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. At
the end of the last week, co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE group (Russia,
US and France) handed the new version of this document over to Armenia
and Azerbaijan for coordination.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues his mediation efforts
related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He received presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsian and Ilham Aliyev in Sochi. After
the negotiations both guests proposed to present their proposals
related to the disputed places of the new revision of the Madrid
principles for resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. At the
end of the last week, co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE group (Russia, US
and France) handed the new version of this document over to Armenia
and Azerbaijan for coordination.

In any case, it seems that the conflict is far from resolving still.

While the presidents had a meeting in Sochi, Defense Minister of
Armenia Seiran Oganian announced that he did not rule out a possibility
of restarting of hostilities in the region.

Medvedev chaired a meeting of the trilateral commission dedicated to
Nagorno-Karabakh regulation with participation of Aliyev and Sargsian
for the fifth time.

The negotiations were held behind the closed doors. Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov reported about their results and said that
discussion of the disputed placed of the renovated Madrid principles
was the main topic of the meeting. Lavrov confirmed that the parties
had disputes and for two hours the leaders discussed certain proposals
presented by co-chars of the Minsk group. Lavrov stated, "There is
common understanding regarding the preamble of this document. Everyone
has recognized usefulness of existence of such document because it
allows having a conversation not in an abstract manner but in relation
to certain formulations."

Before the beginning of negotiations sources in the Kremlin announced
that Russia "will not impose any recipes from outside on participants
of the conflict proceeding from the presumption that the main
responsibility for the final choice should be up to Azerbaijanis
and Armenians."

Meanwhile, politicians in Yerevan keep saying that the future of
Nagorno-Karabakh is impossible within Azerbaijan. Oganian announced
this in the Armenian capital. He added, "This country should understand
that the matter cannot be settled in a unilateral manner" meaning
Azerbaijan and did not rule out a forceful scenario of event.

At the end of November, Aliyev announced that he was ready for
restarting of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh too. Political analysts
say that the military way will be catastrophic for both parties.

Continuation of the negotiation process is important for Russia in
case of its mediation and that is why it is impossible to expect any
breakthrough from the trilateral meetings, says Alexei Malashenko,
member of the scientific council of the Moscow Carnegie center.

Malashenko adds, "The Madrid principles are not a key for solving of
the problem because there is one problem that cannot be solved there.

This is Nagorno-Karabakh and recognition of its independence. Along
with this, there is another problem that seems to be solved. This is
withdrawal of Armenian forces from the territory of Azerbaijan about
which the bargaining was going on now." According to Malashenko,
this will happen sooner or later.

Source: Gazeta, January 26, 2010, pp. 1, 3

MICHELE LEGRAND: TURKEY SHOULD RETURN THE STOLEN LANDS

Armradio.am
04.02.2010 17:30

"What happened in 1915 is unbearable and impossible," world-known
French composer Michele Legrand when hosted in the South Russia
Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

"The fact that Turkey does not wish to recognize the Armenian Genocide
means that it will never be accepted to the European community.

Currently the relations between Armenia and Turkey are normalizing.

It’s good, but it would be better if Turkey returned the territories
it has stolen from Armenia. However, I understand how hard it is,"
the composer said, Yerkramas newspaper informs.

Asked whether he feels being an Armenian, Mr. Legrand said: "Yes, I
feel myself an Armenian. Although I was born in Paris and spent most
of my life in Europe, part of me is Armenians. It is the intellectual
part of me, because I’m familiar with Armenian culture and Armenian
music. I have read a lot about the history of my ancient and wonderful
country, a sad history full of horrible events, which continues into
a new, prospering Armenia."

Avetik Gigoryan, Chess Champion of Armenia
30.01.2010 11:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The last round of Armenian Men’s Chess Championship
is due on January 30. Winners’ award ceremony is also scheduled for
the same day. Following the 8h round, Avetik Grigoryan won champion’s
title ahead of time, having gained 6.5 points. The last round may
bring silver award to Zaven Andriasyan or Tigran Petrosyan each of
which has 5 points.

Results after the 8th round are as follows:

Andriasian Zaven – Kotanjian Tigran ½ – ½
Petrosian Tigran L – Petrosian Davit G 1 – 0
Grigoryan Avetik – Kalashian David 1 – 0
Minasian Artashes – Chibukhchian Artur 1 – 0
Melkumyan Hrant – Hovhannisyan Robert 0 – 1

FIRST CAUCASIAN CHANNEL STOPPED BROADCASTING

AZG DAILY
30-01-2010

Regional

Georgia Times

First Caucasian TV channel, broadcasting from Tbilisi, was disconnected
from French satellite, belonging to Eutelsat.

According to Zurab Dvalim the director general of the channel, from
January 15th to 28th the First Caucasian was working in test regime,
and was disconnected due to expiration of that term – BBC Russia.

The channel managers are conducting negotiations on terms of use with
the French company, Dvali said.

He believes that the channel could be disconnected "not without
Russia’s help."

Dvali cannot rule out Moscow is exerting pressure on France to prevent
it from extending the agreement.

The First Channel [broadcasting in Russian] started its work in
Internet on January 4th, later it became available via satellite. Most
part of information messages is devoted to Georgia, the rest – to
news from Russia [in particular, North Caucasus] and the entire world.

The channel is based on the Public Broadcaster of Georgia. According
to the idea of the Georgian side , the main audience must be national
minorities in North Caucasus, the channel was available in all its
regions.

DOWNTOWN CHURCH KINDLES HOPES FOR COEXISTANCE
Andrew Bossone

Al-Masry Al-Youm
Thu, 28/01/2010 – 18:55

A tall church erected in downtown Cairo offers an alternative view
to sectarian tension

Recent sectarian violence has once again thrown the spotlight
on alleged discrimination against Egypt’s Christian minority,
overshadowing the historically peaceful state of coexistence between
Egypt’s Muslim and Christian communities.

For centuries, Jews, Christians and Muslims lived side by side in Egypt
until the majority of Egypt’s Jews departed following the creation
of the state of Israel in 1948. Today, Muslims account for roughly
90 percent of Egypt’s national population, while Christians account
for some 10 percent–although reliable figures are notoriously hard
to come by.

Within the last decade, Christians have sporadically been the target
of sectarian violence. What’s more, many Coptic Christians in Egypt
complain of official anti-Coptic discrimination, citing in particular
the bureaucratic difficulties associated with building and renovating
churches–both of which require the direct approval of the president
of the republic.

The recent construction of a church in downtown Cairo, however, tells
a different story, with church administrators and congregation members
saying they encountered little difficulty obtaining building permits.

"This is a church of the pope–he stands behind us," said church
member Wadia Aziz, referring to charismatic Coptic Pope Shenouda III.

"It’s very clear with the government [how to obtain permission for
church building]."

According to the engineer overseeing construction of the new
church–who preferred to give only his first name, Adly–land for the
church was purchased three years ago from its Muslim owner. Located
on a quiet street in Cairo’s Bab el-Louk neighborhood, the church
had to meet two requirements for construction: it had to be at least
200 meters from the nearest mosque and it had to be acceptable to
residents of the area.

"There are mosques all over the country, thank God," said Mokhtar,
a Muslim shop-owner on the same street. "We don’t have any objections
if there’s a church here."

Other attempts at church building, however, have been less successful.

In November 2008, police closed a factory that had been slated to
become a church in Cairo’s Ain Shams neighborhood after a wave of
protests by local Muslims. And in recent years, a number of clashes
have erupted in Upper Egyptian villages after Muslim residents accused
their Christians counterparts of turning buildings into places of
worship without official approval.

On 6 January–the eve of Coptic Christmas–six church deacons in
the Upper Egyptian town of Naga Hammadi were killed in a drive-by
shooting. While the state press portrayed the killing as an act of
revenge for the alleged rape of a local Muslim girl by a Coptic man
months earlier, Christians and activists have attributed the violence
to longstanding and deep-seated sectarian tension.

Most churches in Egypt are flanked by walls and have security guards.

Many only permit entry to Christians. Mosques, by contrast, are
generally open to anyone, while only tourist sites will typically
have a security presence.

The new downtown church will feature both heavy walls and a security
door. An Armenian church nearby, meanwhile, is building a new wall
around its perimeter, but church officials insist these are simply
meant to replace an earlier, dilapidated wall–not to protect
churchgoers from anticipated acts of violence.

"We Armenians have had a prestigious heritage in Egypt since pharaonic
times," said Armenian church official Motran Ehorghorios. "We’re not
afraid at all."

Adly, engineer of the new church, agreed that the threat of sectarian
violence was not the motivating factor behind building walls.

Nevertheless, he said, such precautions would serve to provide
congregation members with a sense of security in an age of "global
terrorism."

"In general, people are good," he says. "It’s only the terrorists
that want to scare people. And it isn’t only the Christians that are
afraid of them."

WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER 10 DAYS?

Lragir.am
28/01/10

The first term in the Karabakh issue has been already set – 2 weeks
from the Sochi meeting. In 10 days the sides are to issue their
positions about the renovated principles of Madrid. What will happen
if the sides refuse making proposals or if they cannot decide in time,
the co-chairs do not say anything. But it is obvious that there are
three ways – either to freeze the process, or to determine other more
"reasonable" terms, or to try "operational" interference, like in
South Ossetia. The OSCE newly-elected Chairman, the Foreign Minister of
Kazakhstan Vanuatu Saudabayev said that delaying the settlement process
can "completely undermine the trust between the conflicting parties".

Marco Papich, an analyst at Stratfor Eurasia, predicts that "the
internal dynamics of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict can prevail,
and we will find ourselves in a situation like the one that occurred
in 1914 – when the local conflict in Bosnia provoked a world war".

"The only way to return the occupied Azerbaijani lands is a war",
said Azerbaijani politician, Araz Alizadeh. "I think there are no
prospects for a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh problem. "In this
situation, delaying the decision of the Karabakh conflict may lead
to the fact that this conflict would be eternal", he said. "It is
extremely dangerous for Azerbaijan to consent to the introduction of
the international peacekeeping forces into the zone of conflict. Such
actions have been committed in Kosovo and Georgia, and we all know
what happened after", emphasized A. Alizadeh, apparently informed
about the details of the talks in Sochi.

Why they needed to set the time, we can only guess, considering that
very little is left until April 24.