Month: November 2009

PROCESS OF GRAPE AND GRAIN CULTURES (MAIZE INCLUSIVELY) HARVESTING, PLOUGHING AND SOWING ACTIVITIES

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
November 04, 2009

According to operative data, by November 2, 2009 , 50815.6 hectares
of arable lands had been reaped, actually, 804938.9 centners of
crop were gathered, the average crop yield formed 15.8 centner per
hectare. In comparison with the previous year the territory of reaped
lands increased by 36.8%, the harvested crop by 2.1%, the index of
crop yield decreased by 27.2%.

According to operative data, by November 2, 2009, 86554.2 centners of
grape had been harvested, the average crop yield formed 51.1 centner
per hectare, against correspondingly 13722.9 centners and 68.2 centner
per hectare of the previous year.

According to operative data, by November 2, 2009, 43092.6 hectares
had been ploughed for autumn sowing works in the Republic, from
which 19966.2 hectares were sown with grain, last year during the
same period 37953.4 hectares were ploughed, 8531.1 hectares were sown.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN: "THE ALLIED RELATIONS WITH THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION WILL BE ONE OF THE PRIOR DIRECTIONS OF ARMENIA’S FOREIGN POLICY"

National Assembly
Nov 6 2009
Armenia

On November 5 President of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan
received Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian
Federation to Armenia Mr. Vyacheslav Kovalenko.

Welcoming the guest the President of the National Assembly expressed
hope that thanks to Ambassador Kovalenko’s work it would be possible
to raise the cooperation of the two countries to a new higher level.

Mr. Abrahamyan noted that the allied relations of the Republic of
Armenia and the Russian Federation will be one of the prior directions
of Armenia’s foreign policy. In that context he also highlighted the
high level of the political contacts between the two countries, the
formed wide legal-contractual field, mutually beneficial cooperation
in trade-economic, humanitarian, military-technical and other spheres.

The interlocutors highlighted the activity of the inter-governmental
commission and inter-parliamentary committee on cooperation. They
agreed that those committees are important instruments of bilateral
cooperation, and its potential should be fully used for the benefit
of the prosperity of the peoples of Armenia and Russia.

During the meeting the sides also discussed a wide scope of issues
of regional security.

INDICES OF NATURAL INCREASE AND MECHANICAL RESETTLEMENT OF NKR POPULATION IN OCTOBER 2009

NKR Government Information and
Public Relations Department
November 05, 2009

According to the primary information, in October 2009 267 children
were born in the republic against 208 children in October 2008, and
105 persons died against 92 in October 2008. In the result the natural
increase exceeded the index of the same period in 2008 by 46 persons.

In the accounting period 99 marriages and 16 divorces were recorded
against 729 marriages and 16 divorces in October 2008.

In October 2009, the number of persons arrived in the Republic
formed 64.

The number of persons left the Republic formed 34.

CALIFORNIA HOSTS SEMINAR ON AZERBAIJAN

news.az
Nov 6 2009
Azerbaijan

Elin Suleymanov The University of South California hosted a seminar
on Azerbaijan, news service for Azerbaijan’s general consulate in
Los Angeles reports.

Robert English, professor of the international relations department of
the University of South California, and Azerbaijan’s General Consul
in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov spoke at the seminar "The Azerbaijani
Perspective on Politics and Security in the Caucucasus".

The role of the United States and Russia in the Eurasian area, future
of regional energy projects and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations over
Nagorno Karabakh as well as Turkish-Armenian relations were a focus
of a lively discussion attended by university teachers and students.

Professor English stressed the strategic importance of the Caspian
region, as well as the differences in interpretation among analysts
as the reasons of the recent intensification of Turkey’s external
policy and possible implications of the Turkish-Armenian border. In
turn, E.Suleymanov stressed that the unsettled Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict remains the main real threat to regional security.

According to the diplomat, Azerbaijan always holds a policy aimed at
integration of the South Caucasus, yet a complete process is needed
to attain this involving resolution of conflicts and respect for
basic human rights, such as right for life and right of the displaced
persons for repatriation. He also voiced hope that the US policy will
base on the complex settlement of all problems facing the region and
not short-term symbolic steps.

Answering the questions of the participants, Suleymanov reminded that
Azerbaijan’s position relies only on its national interests both in
boosting energy security and in the overall foreign policy.

ANCA WELCOMES DARFUR MOVEMENT’S STANCE OVER AL-BASHIR’S VISIT TO TURKEY

Yerkir
06.11.2009 16:53

Yerevan (Yerkir) – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
voiced the Armenian American community’s strong support for a human
rights statement, issued earlier today by a coalition of anti-Darfur
Genocide groups, calling upon the Obama-Biden Administration to
protest the upcoming state visit to Turkey of Sudan’s President,
indicted war-criminal Omar al-Bashir.

The four organizations joining together in making this declaration,
the Center for American Progress, Enough!, Save Darfur, and Genocide
Intervention Network, referencing al-Bashir’s upcoming visits to Ankara
and Cairo, stressed the importance of President Obama and Secretary
of State Clinton engaging in personal diplomacy at the highest level
to ensure that a wanted war criminal does not continue to travel with
impunity to the capitals of key U.S. allies. The failure to do so,
they noted, would "send a powerful message that the Administration
isn’t serious about implementing the Sudan strategy it just announced."

"We want to thank each of these organizations for their work in
demanding clear and determined American leadership in ending the
Darfur Genocide," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA.

"There is today, sadly, no more striking example of how the brutal
cycle of genocide and denial feeds upon itself than the growing
diplomatic and military relationship between Turkey and Sudan."

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is scheduled to visit Turkey next
week to attend a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC.) Turkish officials announced yesterday that they would not
act on an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued
against al-Bashir for war crimes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LOS ANGELES UNIVERSITY MULLS ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI CONFLICT & TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS

Trend
Nov 6 2009
Azerbaijan

The role of the United States and Russia in the Eurasian space, future
of regional energy projects, Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and Armenian-Turkish relations were discussed at the
University of Southern California in the United States, the Consulate
General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles told Trend News on Nov.6.

Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern
California Robert English and Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los
Angeles Elin Suleymanov, as well as teachers and students of the
university attended the workshop dedicated to Azerbaijan’s view of
politics and security in the Caucasus region.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOSTS SEMINAR ABOUT AZERBAIJAN

Today
s/57255.html
Nov 6 2009
Azerbaijan

University of Southern California has hosted a seminar about
Azerbaijan.

Professor at University of Southern California International Relations
Department Robert Inglish and Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los
Angeles Elin Suleymanov made speeches at the seminar dedicated to
Azerbaijan’s views on politics and security in the Caucasus region.

The discussions attended by academics and university students built
on role of the United States and Russia on the Eurasian continent,
future of regional energy projects, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-Turkish relations.

Professor Robert Inglish noted the strategic importance of the Caspian
region, as well as the discrepancies among analysts as to reasons for
Turkey’s recently intensified foreign policy and possible consequences
of opening of Turkish-Armenian border.

In turn, Elin Suleymanov stressed that unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict remains major threat to regional security.

The diplomat said Azerbaijan has always pursued a policy aimed at
integration in the South Caucasus, but to achieve this requires a
complete process, which includes conflict resolution and respect
for basic human rights such as right to life and right of displaced
persons to repatriation.

Suleyman said he was hopeful that the U.S. policy will be based on
a comprehensive resolution of problems facing the region, and not on
short-term symbolic steps.

Responding to questions from the audience, Suleymanov recalled that
Azerbaijani leadership’s stance both in terms of energy security and
foreign policy is based solely on national interests of Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FEATURE-FORGOTTEN LAND COULD DECIDE TURKEY-ARMENIA PEACE

Reuters
Crisis/idUSL3542048
Nov 6 2009
UK

AGDAM, Azerbaijan, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Brief snatches of colour —
a washing line, a passing car — break up the mass of rubble that
was Agdam.

A handful of Armenians live off scrap metal and pipes plundered from
the ruins of this Azeri town, razed in 1993 as Christian Armenian
forces in the mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh fought to split
from Muslim Azerbaijan.

Largely forgotten by the outside world since, the remote territory
is now the centre of diplomatic attention because it could torpedo
a fragile peace deal between historic enemies Armenia and Turkey.

Diplomats and analysts say it is on the ghostly remains of Agdam
and other Azeri towns held by Armenian forces that stability in the
wider South Caucasus region — a key transit route for non-Arab oil
and gas to the West — depends.

International mediators and Turkey want the Armenians to return many
of their conquests to Azerbaijan. Turkey has said that its peace
agreement with Armenia cannot advance unless this happens.

The conquered territories run across seven Azeri districts in a
long strip of land connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, and the
Armenians are in no mood to give them up.

"It was free land," said Gena, an Armenian who grazes cows on a former
Azeri town now returning to nature. "This land was hard to conquer. To
give it back is easier, but unfair."

The war killed 30,000 people and displaced 1 million. A ceasefire was
agreed in 1994 and Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself independent. But
no country recognised it and the spectre of fresh conflict is never
far away.

"Nagorno-Karabakh was the first (Armenian) military victory in 2,000
years. It’s awfully hard psychologically to climb down from that,"
said Richard Giragosian, the American head of the Armenian Centre
for National and International Studies.

Diplomats say that under peace principles being negotiated by Armenia
and Azerbaijan, at least five of the districts would return, in
exchange for greater international legitimacy for Nagorno-Karabakh
and a future popular vote to decide its status.

A trio of U.S., French and Russian mediators say they are closer to
a deal than ever before.

But years of official secrecy surrounding the talks, and zero
Western engagement on the ground, has seen sentiments harden in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Its leaders are barred from direct participation
in the negotiations due to Azeri opposition.

"They (Azeris) should understand that this is all Armenian land,"
said Luda Airapetyan, a 59-year-old Armenian and former school
teacher in the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Shusha, 15 km (9 miles)
from the breakaway capital Stepanakert.

"We took those lands with blood and we must keep them."

Shusha is a shadow of the 19th century town once among the greatest
in the Caucasus. During the 1990s war, Azeris used its 700-metre
(2,290 ft) height advantage over Stepanakert to pound the Armenian
stronghold, before Shusha also fell.

SNIPERS, MINEFIELDS

For Shusha and the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh, the seven surrounding
districts represent a security guarantee against an Azeri attack,
and a vital land corridor to Armenia.

Nagorno-Karabakh survives almost totally on budget support from Armenia
and donations from the huge Armenian diaspora, but rejects trading its
"independence" for the prospect of sharing in Azerbaijan’s burgeoning
oil revenues.

Fifteen years of fragile peace has seen the seven Azeri regions
effectively absorbed into Nagorno-Karabakh proper, indistinguishable
on maps sold by the de facto foreign ministry.

"They can decide for us, of course," de facto Foreign Minister Georgy
Petrosyan said of the negotiations. "But all the proposed variants
are far removed from real life."

Turkey wants Armenia to give ground to Azerbaijan before Ankara
ratifies a deal to establish diplomatic ties and reopens its border
with Armenia, which was closed in solidarity with Ankara’s ally
Azerbaijan in 1993.

But with the Armenian opposition condemning the thaw with its
Turkish foe, analysts say concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh are even
more unpalatable for Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan, formerly the
wartime commander of the breakaway territory.

Instead, soldiers continue to die on the frontline, picked off by
snipers and hidden ordnance in a warren of trenches and minefields.

Observers estimate around 30 died in 2008, including up to 16 in one
clash in March, the worst in years.

"The status quo is better than what’s being offered," said Masis
Mayilian, director of the Foreign and Security Policy Council
think-tank in Stepanakert.

But to tread water is dangerous in the Caucasus, where a 16-year
stalemate in rebel South Ossetia broke down in war last year between
Russia and Georgia. Azerbaijan is increasing its army on the back of
oil revenues, and frequently threatens force.

"The war is not over yet," Azeri President Ilham Aliyev was quoted
as saying last month. "… we must be prepared at any minute to free
our lands from the occupiers."

The Armenian Centre’s Giragosian said war could come in 10 to 12
years if the situation does not improve and Baku assumes military
superiority.

"What worries me is not an official decision to go to war, but limited
skirmishes that spiral out of control," he said. (Editing by Michael
Stott and Richard Williams)

TURKEY DEFENDS SUDAN LEADER VISIT

BBC NEWS
urope/8347419.stm
2009/11/06 17:23:21 GMT

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has accused the EU of interfering
after Istanbul was asked to reconsider an invitation to the president
of Sudan.

Omar al-Bashir has been indicted for war crimes by the International
Criminal Court (ICC).

But Mr Gul said he was invited to a summit of the Organisation of
the Islamic Conference (OIC), not for bilateral talks with Turkish
officials.

Turkey, which has applied for EU membership, does not recognise
the ICC.

It says it has no plans to arrest Mr Bashir, who is due to attend an
OIC economic summit in Istanbul on Sunday and Monday.

Turkey insists it is not shifting away from its traditionally close
ties to the West.

But the BBC’s Jonathan Head, in Istanbul, says the country is certainly
choosing some controversial new partnerships.

The visit by the Sudanese president comes fresh on the heels of the
Turkish prime minister’s groundbreaking state visit to Iran in October,
when Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that country’s nuclear programme
to be entirely peaceful.

Mr Bashir’s visit to Turkey will be his third in the past 18 months,
but his first since the ICC arrest warrant was issued in March.

A coalition of Turkish human rights groups is protesting against the
visit, our correspondent says.

They have accused the government of double standards for condemning
Israel over its actions in Gaza, and then hosting a president who is
blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Darfur.

ISRAEL MAY BEGIN NEW WAR IN LEBANON IN SPRING 2010 – PAPER

RIA Novosti
Nov 6, 2009

DAMASCUS, November 6 (RIA Novosti) – Israel could begin a new military
operation in Lebanon in spring 2010, Jordan’s Ad-Dustour daily wrote
on Friday, citing French parliamentary and military sources.

According to anonymous sources in the French parliament, plans of
possible military operation in Lebanon in spring 2010 were discussed
in France, at a meeting of French, U.S. and Israeli military experts.

The paper said a recent report from the UN secretary general could
serve as an indirect indicator of a possible military operation
in Lebanon. The report concerns the implementation of UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, which prohibits storing weapons in the
security zone between the Litani River and the Blue Line, which is
the Lebanese-Israeli border. The area is under the observation of UN
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

In the report, "only [Shiite armed group] Hezbollah is accused" of
violating the provisions of the resolution, while "Israel is freed
from any responsibility."

"It gives grounds to think that there are attempts to justify a
[future] Israel military operation in Lebanon," an anonymous source
told the paper.

A change in the deployment pattern of UN peacekeepers or their
withdrawal "will become a clear signal that the Israeli war is
imminent," the paper says.

Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations, Noaf Salaam, warned last
week there were signs of an imminent Israeli attack on his country,
saying that the "pattern of Israeli breaches" constituted a serious
threat to Lebanon. He also said that the increased "escalation in
a fragile and explosive situation" signaled Israeli plans of an
imminent attack.

The situation in southern Lebanon became extremely tense in July
this year, when an explosion occurred in the security zone near the
Lebanese-Israeli border in the town of Khirbat Silim. Israel and
the United States said the explosion was set off by a detonator in
a Hezbollah weapons store prohibited by the UN Security Council.