Month: June 2009

A welcome new stage in Azerbaijani-Israeli ties
ALEXANDER MURINSON

THE JERUSALEM POST
Jun. 1, 2009

Israel has actively sought to establish friendly relations with
Azerbaijan and other Muslim states in the post-Soviet space. Relations
between Israel, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan serve as a model for
cooperation between the Jewish state and Muslim nations. As a result of
the meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Israel’s new
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Prague on May 6, an agreement
about a state visit by President Shimon Peres to Baku has been reached.
Peres is scheduled to visit Azerbaijan near the end of June as a part
of his tour of the Muslim republics of the CIS. The visit to Baku will
take place "at the highest level and with all honors."

In view of increasing tensions between the Iranian mullahs’ regime,
which seeks to build nuclear weapons and threaten the Gulf region, and
Israel, the invitation for Peres to visit secular Muslim Azerbaijan,
Iran’s northern neighbor, reaffirms the strategic relationship between
the two countries. Diplomatic relations between the countries were
established shortly after Azerbaijan’s independence in 1992. Premier
Binyamin Netanyahu paid a working visit in 1997 on his flight from
China.

This diplomatic breakthrough was achieved by Lieberman, who emigrated
from the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. Since his days as the
minister of strategic affairs (2006-2008), he has pursued a policy of
deepening relations with the newly independent states of Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Lieberman paid special attention
to the Republic of Azerbaijan, strategically located on the western
shore of the Caspian Sea. He paid an official visit to Azerbaijan in
August 2007. During their meeting in Prague, Aliyev and Lieberman
discussed the development of Azerbaijani-Israeli relations. Lieberman
mentioned that he intends to visit Baku in the near future.

THE CRITICAL AREA of cooperation between the two countries is energy
securi
ael’s oil. Due
to the high proportion of petrochemicals in bilateral trade, the value
of imports from Azerbaijan reached $3.5 billion in 2008. There are also
plans to supply Azerbaijani natural gas via Turkey to Haifa. However,
there is renewed interest on both sides in expanding bilateral
cooperation into new areas such as agriculture, medical research and
hi-tech. As part of this effort, a series of events have been organized
with the participation of Ambassador to Azerbaijan Arthur Lenk, who has
represented the Jewish state in Baku since 2005 and will leave his post
in July.

In May 2008, the Israel-Azerbaijani business forum took place in Baku,
with the Israeli side represented by Agriculture Minister Shalom
Simhon. Tel Aviv hosted a forum with representatives of more than 20
companies from Azerbaijan and officials of the Ministry of Economic
Development on May 18. The key part of the forum was the signing of an
agreement on cooperation between the Israel Export Institute and the
Azerbaijan Fund for Export and Investments Encouragement (AzPromo).
This agreement institutionalizes mutual trade and investment. The
International Agricultural Exhibition Agritech 2009 taking place in
Israel will also see the Azerbaijani delegation led by Ilham Guliyev,
deputy minister of agriculture.

In late September 2008, Azerbaijan agreed to buy military hardware from
Israel. On September 26, Haaretz reported that Azerbaijan will purchase
Israeli weapons, including ammunition, mortars and military radio
equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This is the first
public acknowledgment of the growing strategic relationship between the
two countries, even though the relationship goes back to the first
years of Azerbaijani independence. This political move demonstrates
Azerbaijani commitment to its Western orientation and independence from
Moscow and Teheran.

Israel sought to establish close relations with these countries,
because the developments in this region profoundly affect the stability
o d the size of the
predominantly Muslim population of Central Asia and Azerbaijan. The
Caspian region can become a fertile ground for the spread of Islamic
radicalism and nuclear proliferation. These threats also unite Israel
with the elites and secular middle class in these nations. The natural
riches of the region make cooperation with these nations even more
attractive.

The Obama administration would be wise to see Israel under Netanyahu as
an asset and interlocutor in the American strategy toward Eurasia in
general and the South Caucasus in particular. Israel’s influence among
the ex-Soviet republics and the Russian Federation is bound to increase
under Lieberman, who has built a broad network of formal and informal
relations with the elites of these republics during his tenure as
minister of strategic affairs.

News reports about the coming visit of Peres to Azerbaijan have already
caused consternation among the Iranian military. The Azerbaijani media
reported on May 21 that the Iranian Chief of Staff Hasan Firudabadi
made public threats directed at Azerbaijan, saying that a visit by the
Israeli president would be an "incorrect step." He added: "The Shimon
Peres visit does not seem like a friendly step in Azerbaijani relations
with Iran."

The writer is an independent researcher; his book Turkey’s Entente with
Israel and Azerbaijan: State Identity and Security in the Middle East
and Caucasus will be published by Routledge in September 2009.

PRESS RELEASE
Haigazian University
Mira Yardemian, Public Relations Director
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 961-1-353010/1/2 961-1-349230/1

Haigazian University President Attends the Annual Meeting of the AAICU
in Yerevan

Beirut, 05/06/2009,- On 22/05/2009, Haigazian University President, Rev.
Dr. Paul Haidostian, attended the annual meeting of the Association of
American International Colleges & Universities (AAICU), hosted this year
in Yerevan, by President Haroutioun Armenian of the American University
of Armenia (AUA).

The leadership of twenty universities and colleges were in attendance.
Dr. David Arnold, President of the American University of Cairo, was
elected President of the Association. Fundraising, academic excellence
and inter-university cooperation were the main items on the agenda.

During his one week sojourn, Haidostian grasped the opportunity to put
Haigazian University on the map of the Armenian leadership, and build on
the friendships of sister institutions, by effectively engaging in
parallel meetings with educational institutions, and meeting with a
number of officials.

In this respect, Haidostian visited the Minister of Education Armen
Ashodian, the President of the Yerevan State University, Aram Simonian,
and a number of academicians and editors, studying future academic
cooperation. He also met with the Diaspora Minister, Hranoush Hagopian,
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edward Nalbandian, with both of
whom Haidostian studied the possibility of internship programs at
Haigazian University.

Haidostian had the chance to preach at the Armenian Evangelical Church
in Yerevan, and spoke at the chapel service of the Theological Academy
of Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

"ARMENIAN TOURISM COMPETITION THIRD CONFERENCE" TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

ARMENPRESS
JUNE 4, 2009
YEREVAN

"Armenian tourism competition third conference" will be held June
18 in Yerevan. It is organized by the USAID in collaboration with
the Armenian Economy Ministry and Armenian Agency of Development
of Tourism.

An official from USAID told Armenpress that during the conference
the participants will refer to a number of issues connected with
the tourism sphere – marketing, skills of the labor force, price
compatibility, etc.

The researches of the Armenian tourism market, the impact of the
economic crisis on the sphere and established challenges will
be presented. This time during the conference there will be more
discussions than reports. Information will also be provided on the
activities conducted by the business unions in the Armenian tourism
market. Tour operators, travel agents, providers of services in the
sphere, educational establishments, providers of transport services as
well as business unions of the sphere will take part in the conference.

MARCH 1 COMMISSION SUGGESTS THE PRESIDENT TO DECLARE AMNESTY
Lena Badeyan

"Radiolur"
04.06.2009 17:58

Fifty-four citizens are still in jail after the events of March 1
in Yerevan. The ad hoc commission of the National Assembly set to
probe into the events of March 1 and 2 in Yerevan decided today to
apply to the President of the Republic with a suggestion to declare
amnesty. The proposal was co-authored by Artsvik Minasyan from ARF
Dashnaktsutyun and Naira Zohrabyan from the Prosperous Armenia Party.

The suggestion of the President of the Republic, the calls of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the necessity
of launching a sound political dialogue among the society and the
approaches of the March 1 Commission made its members apply to the
President with a corresponding proposal. Co-author of the initiative
Artsvik Minasyan presented the essence of their request:

"Taking into consideration that the commission attaches importance to
easing the situation in jails, we consider that the amnesty should
be applied not only connected with the events of March 1 and 2, but
also in the context of general pardon as it has been done before on
the occasion of the 15th anniversary of independence and associated
with constitutional amendments."

AZERBAIJAN VIOLATES THE PROVISIONS OF THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS

armradio.am
04.06.2009 18:18

On May 31, at 2 p.m. recruits of the NKR Defense Army Ohan Harutyunyan
and Gevorg Tovmasyan voluntarily left the military unit and crossed
to the Azerbaijani side, Press Service of the Armenian Ministry of
Defense reports.

"Over the past days Azeri media have been disseminating information
about the captured soldiers, where the latter tell about the
deplorable situation and illegalities in the Armed Forces of the
Republic of Armenia.

Making use of the unstable psychological-moral condition of the
recruits and applying special means of influence, the special services
of Azerbaijan aim to raise the reputation of their own armed forces by
disseminating false information about the Armed Forces of the Republic
of Armenia and the Defense Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Such tricks of the Azerbaijani propaganda once again prove
that Azerbaijan is trying to compete with the NKR Armed Forces,
which prevails with the level of military and moral-psychological
preparedness.

The international community has to address the above-mentioned
actions of Azerbaijan, since they violate the provision on defense
from the "public curiosity" envisaged by Article 13 of the Third
Geneva Convention and Article 27 of the Forth Convention," reads the
statement of the Ministry of Defense of the republic of Armenia.

THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP: GETTING DOWN TO WORK

armradio.am
04.06.2009 18:40

Four weeks after the launch of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) the EU
and its eastern neighbours (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia,
Republic of Moldova and Ukraine) are getting down to work. One of the
innovations of the EaP is a new multilateral dimension to relations
with these countries alongside the bilateral path of cooperation. The
first Eastern Partnership (EaP) multilateral platform will be
held tomorrow, 5 June, in Brussels. It will focus on democracy,
good governance and stability. The other platforms, devoted to
economic integration, energy and people to people contacts, will
also be launched during the month of June. The aim of the platforms
is to support the eastern partners’ efforts to approximate to EU
standards, to foster exchanges of experience and best practice and to
strengthen contacts between them. Tomorrow’s meeting will concentrate
on mapping out fields for co operation, and will discuss the launch
of two Flagship Initiatives, on border management and prevention,
preparedness and response to disasters.

"The European Commission has wasted no time in getting this new
initiative off the ground. The launch of the multilateral platforms
is key to the success of the Eastern Partnership. I hope that it will
bring very concrete support to our partners’ reform efforts, as well
as deepening mutual understanding" said Commissioner=2 0for External
Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. She
added:" The first platform is devoted to governance issues which are
at the heart of this partnership. Respect for citizens’ rights, and
the rule of law, with a vibrant civil society are key elements of the
democratic societies we hope to see grow in these countries. While our
partners are all in different situations and stages of transition,
they face similar challenges, so a multilateral approach can bring
real value added".

The Eastern Partnership brings countries in Eastern Europe and South
Caucasus, EU Member States and institutions together to promote
security, stability and prosperity. It provides additional support
for reforms and modernization efforts in partner countries, bringing
them closer to EU principles and practices. This initiative builds on
the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy by developing its specific
Eastern dimension. In addition to strengthening the bilateral
relationship between the EU and the partner countries of the EaP
multilateral platforms provide a framework to improve understanding
of EU legislation and standards, to share experience, and develop
joint activities within the Eastern Partnership initiative.

The whole-day meeting on 5 June chaired by the Commission within
the multilateral thematic platform on Democracy, good governance
and stability marks the beginning of the implementation phase of the
Partnership. Representativ es of the six partner countries, the EU
Member States, the Council Secretariat, and the European Parliament,
the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social
Committee will participate in the working sessions.

Two flagship projects will be presented in this first meeting:
"Integrated Border Management" programme and "Prevention of,
preparedness for, and response to natural and man-made disasters"
(which should be already launched before the end of 2009). The other
flagship initiatives include: integration of electricity markets,
energy efficiency and renewables; a SME facility; and diversification
of energy supply.

AHMET DAVUTOGLU: IT IS ALREADY TIME THAT ARMENIAN CAUSE STOPS BLOCKADING TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS

NOYAN TAPAN
JUNE 4, 2009
WASHINGTON

It is already time that the Armenian Cause ceases to be an issue
blockading the Turkish-American relations. According to Turkish media,
Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu stated this at the meeting
with the U.S. Congress members.

Mentioning that the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations continues, Davutoglu stated that Armenian-Azeri relations
should be also normalized to establish stability in the South Caucasus.

"We wish peace and stability to be established in the South
Caucasus. We wish to normalize our relations with Armenia. However,
developments in Armenian-Azeri relations are also needed for
establishment of stability in the South Caucasus," Davutoglu stated
adding: "We wish these two normalization processes to lay the
foundations of a long-lasting peace."

6 ARMENIAN CYCLISTS TO TAKE PART IN HIGHWAY CYCLE RACE TO BE HELD IN TURKEY

NOYAN TAPAN
JUNE 4, 2009
YEREVAN

The Traditional International Youth Tournament of Highway Cycle Race
will be held between June 16 to 20 in the city of Kunio, Turkey. It
consists of 5 tours and stretches 440 km. Sportsmen from Armenia
will participate in the competition for the first time. Coach Armen
Gyozalian will accompany 6 cyclists to the competition place.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN WRESTLERS TO TAKE PART IN TBILISI INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

NOYAN TAPAN
JUNE 4, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JUNE 4, NOYAN TAPAN. International Traditional Tournaments
of olympic champions Vakhtang Balavadze (free-style wrestling) and
Givi Kartozia (Greco-Roman wrestling) will simultaneously start on
June 5 at Tbilisi Sports Chamber. Over 30 wrestlers will take part
in the tournament from Armenia.

The winners will become known on June 7.

DATEVIK HOVANESIAN TO PERFORM IN CANADA

NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY
JUNE 4, 2009
MONTREAL

The famous singer Datevik Hovhanesian, whom the legendary composer
Michel Legrand called the heart of Armenia after listening to her
songs, will have a concert in Montreal on June 7. During the concert
she will perform already performed songs, as well as new ones. Datevik
and her trio will present the best American jazz compositions,
Brazilian Bosanovas, ballads and Armenian jazz music. The musicians
accompanying Datevik Hovanesian are well known musicians in the world
of jazz, pianist/composer Bob Albanese, Bass player Joe Fitzgerald
and drummer David Meade.