Month: September 2009

COLUMBIAN PRESIDENT INFECTED WITH SWINE FLU

Panorama.am
13:32 31/08/2009

President of Columbia Alvaro Uribe is announced to be infected with
H1N1 influenza (swine flu). Doctors assess the president’s health
condition normal.

The president is cured at his private house and is not determined to
hand his authorities to anybody.

Note that the president of another south-American country Ugo Chaves
has also passed medical examination as he has communicated with the
infected Columbian President. Mr. Chaves is healthy as no influenza
threats his life.

ARMENIA AND TURKEY TO RESTORE TIES

Aljazeera.net
Aug 31 2009
Qatar

Armenia and Turkey have agreed to establish diplomatic ties and reopen
their border under a plan to end nearly a century of hostility.

The neighbours, whose history of animosity stems from the mass
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the first world war,
said on Monday that they would hold domestic consultations before
setting up diplomatic ties for the first time.

"The political consultations will be completed within six weeks,
following which the two protocols will be signed and submitted to
the respective parliaments for the ratification on each side," the
countries’ foreign ministries said in a statement issued jointly with
mediator Switzerland.

"Both sides will make their best efforts for the timely progression
of the ratification in line with their constitutional and legal
procedures."

Mass killings

Copies of the protocols said the border will reopen within two months
of being ratified, the Reuters news agency said.

Turkey closed the border in 1993 as a political move in support
of Azerbaijan, who was fighting Armenian-supported separatists at
the time.

Some historians have estimated that 1.5mn Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks at the end of the Ottoman empire.

Ankara rejects claims that the killings amounted to genocide, saying
instead that Turks and Armenians were killed in high numbers.

The plan to normalise ties was initially announced in April amid
warming relations.

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish prime minister, attended a World Cup
qualifying football match between the two countries in the Armenian
capital Yerevan and Serzh Sarksyan, the Armenian president, plans to
make the return trip for a match in October.

But he had said that he wanted significant progress on the border
issue first.

The rift has been an obstacle to Turkey’s bid to join the EU and has
antagonised Ankara’s relations with the US.

The restoring of ties is expected to aid Turkey’s regional influence
and give Armenia access to Turkish and European markets.

AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES VS. MADRID PRINCIPLES

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Aug 31 2009
Armenia

Concerned over the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the Azerbaijani
authorities have decided to once more perform their favorite painfully
primitive trick. Today a number of Opposition political forces, which
have no influence on the country’s political life, have announced
their intention to hold rallies in Baku this September, to protest
the Madrid Principles.

The leaders of the National Salvation Party of Azerbaijan and of
the Popular Front of Azerbaijan arranged about an action of protest
against the Madrid Principles, which run counter to Azerbaijan’s
national interests.

Since rallies are most rare events in authoritarian Azerbaijan, it is
obvious that an action will by no means be held in the center of Baku
without being sanctioned by the authorities and by President Ilham
Aliyev personally. All the opposition parties’ initiatives to hold any
mass actions in the center of Baku were formerly nipped in the bud,
and the opponents of the Aliyev clan had at best to be content with
the most "uncomfortable" conditions on the outskirts of the city. The
fact that the Government-controlled advertised the two small parties’
initiative proves that it was approved by the authorities.

The Azerbaijani authorities have lately been showing a gradual
tendency toward declining the Madrid Principles – in an indirect
way. President Aliyev’s rather strange statement last weekend was the
first presage. Speaking of the present state of the Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process, Aliyev expressed the confidence that the problem will
be resolved within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. That step was
as unconstructive as it could be just before the end of the August
interval and on the threshold of an active stage of the preparations
for the two Presidents’ meeting.

No doubt, President Aliyev is well aware of the possible consequences,
namely: the stronger positions of the forces that have for a long time
been objecting to the Madrid Principles in Armenia and consider any
territorial concessions to Azerbaijan inadmissible. What else does
official Baku need for if not for concealing its own unconstructive
approaches, torpedoing the negotiations, which are not following a
course favored by Azerbaijan. In this context, one is not surprised
at the reports on the Opposition-planned rallies just a couple of
days after Aliyev’s statement. These tendencies should be expected
to grow stronger and stronger in Azerbaijan as the Sargsyan-Aliyev
meeting is drawing closer.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA SEEK DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
By Dale Yurong

KFSN (ABC Fresno)
news/national_world&id=6991739
Aug 31 2009

ANKARA, Turkey (KFSN) — Armenia and Turkey are ready to
end a historically unbreakable rift and establish diplomatic
ties. Recognition by Turkey of the Armenian genocide has long been
a priority for Armenians. But it’s not clear whether the talks will
solve the long-running dispute.

Historians say between 1915 and 1923 more than one-point-five million
Armenians were massacred by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Turkey’s
government has maintained the deaths were the result of civil
war. Since then, normalizing relations between the two countries has
been impossible.

Fresno State professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian said, "Turkey has
been the stumbling block because they have refused to recognize the
Armenian genocide."

Der Mugrdechian heads the Armenian Studies program at Fresno
State. He’s pleased the two countries are ready to establish diplomatic
ties but doesn’t believe Turkey is ready to acknowledge the world war
one-era mass killings. He explained, "It’s my feeling the genocide
issue will not be there simply because Turkey has refused to do that
before. I don’t see them changing that at this point and Armenia
has always said there would be no pre-conditions on normalizing
diplomatic relations."

TURKEY, ARMENIA TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC TIES

People’s Daily Online
Sept 1 2009
China

Turkey and Armenia on Monday moved closer than ever to the
establishment of diplomatic ties through the mediation of Switzerland
after their long-standing rift.

The two countries have agreed to start their "internal political
consultations" on the establishment of diplomatic ties and development
of bilateral relations, said a joint statement issued by foreign
ministries of Turkey, Armenia and Switzerland on Monday.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic or economic ties since Armenia
declared its independence in 1991. Turkey closed its border with
Armenia in 1993 to support Azerbaijan during its conflict with Armenia
over the Upper Karabakh region.

Armenia also claims that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed
in a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War
I before modern Turkey was born in 1923. But Turkey insists that the
Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown
as the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Monday’s statement said the consultations over two protocols on
normalizing ties, which were agreed on under Swiss mediation, would
be completed within six weeks, followed by ratification at Turkish
and Armenian parliaments.

"Both sides will make their best efforts for the timely progression
of the ratification in line with their constitutional and legal
procedures," the statement said.

The statement also said Turkey and Armenia "are committed to pursuing
their joint efforts with the assistance of Switzerland."

In July 2008, the then Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan expressed
Ankara’s willingness to normalize relations with Yerevan.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul travelled to Armenia in September
2008 to watch 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier match between the two
countries upon an invitation by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan
in a landmark visit.

Turkey and Armenia are to play another qualifier in the largest
Turkish city of Istanbul this October, but Sarkisyan has said he
would only accept an invitation to the return match if Turkey takes
"real steps" to open their border.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in May that Turkey
would open its border with Armenia if Yerevan stopped its occupation
of Upper Karabakh.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan
during its conflict with Armenia over the Upper Karabakh region.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said in June
that Turkey supports the solution of Upper Karabakh dispute through
peaceful means, adding that a positive course of the process would
contribute to the peace and stability in the Caucasus.

Azerbaijan and Armenia reached an agreement in May over "basic concepts
of peace" concerning the Upper Karabakh region, which was welcomed
by Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress