Month: November 2009

RAJABOV: "THE PROBLEM IN THE GAME WITH THE ARMENIANS IN THE DRAW"

Aysor
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

As we have already informed the Azerbaijan chess team has become the
Champion of Europe. The leader of that team Teymur Rajabov touching
upon his loss in the round with the Armenian team in the interview
with one of the Azerbaijani media mentioned: "It was the consequence
of one of the certain circumstances. Huseynov had a privilege we can
say he was in such a position that he had to win and Gabriel Sargsyan
had no chances. We became sure in it even after the game checking by
the monitors. The least problem we had in the game with the Armenian
team was the draw. After that game I told to myself that I will not
pay attention who is my rival, I will play just for the victory."

INFORMATION ON PARTICIPATION OF REPRESENTATIVE OF SO-CALLED NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC AT INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION IN GERMANY IS FALSE: EMBASSY

Trend
Nov 3 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan Embassy in Germany denied Armenian media outlets’
information about participation of representative of so-called
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic at the international exhibition in
Dusseldorf.

On October 28, Armtown.Com published the information on its website
about participation of head of orthopedic center under the Ministry
of Social Protection of so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic at the
international exhibition "REHACARE International 2009" to be held in
Dusseldorf on Oct. 13- 17.

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Germany got in touch with organizers of
the exhibition and found out that the name of a representative of
so-called Nagorno-Karabakh is not included in the list of participants
of the exhibition, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend News
with reference to the embassy on November 3.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in
December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha,
Khojali and seven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. — are currently holding
peace negotiations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FUNNY STORIES ABOUT ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: SERZH SARGSYAN DISPATCHED TO CRUISE
By Jamile

Today
165.html
Nov 3 2009
Azerbaijan

One day Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian convenes an
irregular meeting with his deputies in his study.

Shavarsh Kocharian was the first to come, as always. For some reason
all would come to his ears after everything else – he coordinates
with Nalbandian one, but talks to media the other.

And we know about it not by hearsay… But let’s be back to Edward’s
study.

The next to enter his study was Karina Kazinian clicking her heels.

She was followed by Arman Kirakasia, limping slightly.

So, Edward stood up from his pepperwort, walking nervously to and
fro and thinking about something. Suddenly, he cried:

– It is necessary to do something! It won’t do! Serzh should be saved!

Each of us is thinking about ourselves – it is clear. But it is high
time to think a little bit about nation, motherland, Armenians,
at least. We kept silence and finished badly. Absolutely all are
dissatisfied. Well, people went on strike in the streets, we were
silent, parties voiced their dissatisfaction, we kept silent. We know
how to make all to be silent in Armenia…

However, it is impossible to close eyes on protests of Diaspora. Do
you know what it might lead to finally? Do you realize? Ah, you are
for nothing, you only listen without understanding! But I could invent
something! Let’s send Serzh to cruise, tour, round-the-world voyage,
you only say, it makes no difference to me.

This time Shavarsh broke:

– Is the president aware of that?

– Just to your notice, Shavarshik, Mr. President does not sleep whole
nights now! Mr. President is thinking how to rescue himself! What
policy you are speaking about! Soon you will think about the rate
of dram*, when Diaspora will cease feeding us with money! You find
nothing to do? You’d better to deal with your next interview, call
on anyone just to ask to publish your rubbish talks; you will do good
at least! The best there is to distract the public attention!

Gently attempting to support his counterpart Kirakosian inquired
humbly:

– What will Mr. President do during the tour?

– What a question? He will try to coax the Diaspora, speak about the
"genocide" and take his utmost to soften their position.

And you, Karinushka**, do make arrangements as usual. You know well
what the president may need in his tour. Let them prepare a text of
the president’s address to the Diaspora, and something convincing!…

Dispatching his deputies on "missions", Nalbandian sit comfortably
in his warm chair and thought: "What should we do further? How will
Armenia end the deadlock? What else does Serzh need? In his life
he has made achievements which he had never dreamed – he became the
president of Armenia, no matter through which ways!

Karabakh is quasi a borne in our throat! On one hand, in a meeting
with Diaspora Sargsyan could agree to return Karabakh … he might
agree… though… what he would not like to be exactly is to become
a mechanic anew… and me also!"

—

* Dram – national currency of Armenia ** Karinushka – pet name
for Karina

ARMENIAN NATIONALISTS MAY DERAIL PEACE WITH TURKEY
By Matt Robinson and Margarita Antidze

Reuters
utersEdge/idUSTRE5A22VJ20091103?sp=true
Nov 3 2009
UK

YEREVAN (Reuters) – The historic prospect of peace with longtime
foe Turkey has roused angry opposition among powerful Armenian
nationalists, which could yet undermine President Serzh Sarksyan and
torpedo the whole process.

Under accords signed last month, Christian Armenia and Muslim Turkey
agreed to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their frontier,
overcoming a century of hostility stemming from the World War One
mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Peace would bring big economic benefits to poor, landlocked Armenia,
while Turkey would burnish its credentials as a potential EU entry
state and a reliable energy transit country by solving a border
dispute.

Villagers in the border region, an unforgiving landscape of rock and
barren land, enthuse about new trade routes beyond the guard towers
manned by soldiers of Armenian ally Russia.

Workers are preparing to lay new rail tracks.

But the killings of last century — considered genocide by some
European nations and Western historians though Turkey disputes this —
remain a defining element of Armenian identity.

The deal must be ratified by both parliaments, but is stirring
resentment, particularly among diaspora Armenians, of which many are
descendents of those who fled modern-day Turkey.

The huge diaspora is the source of crucial donations and remittances
for the country of 3.2 million people, whose already struggling
economy is forecast to contract 15 percent in 2009.

Opponents say the accords undermine Armenia’s pursuit for further
‘genocide’ recognition and effectively give up claims to parts of
eastern Turkey as an Armenian homeland.

"This is an act of complicity where the Armenian state and presidency
is taking part in the burial of the Armenian question and in the
ceding of rights to memory, to homeland and ultimately the right of
return to the ancestral patrimony," said Raffi Hovannisian of the
opposition Heritage Party.

U.S.-born Hovannisian, grandson of four survivors of the killings,
said: "This is one of those visceral, existential issues that go to
the core of Armenian identity and rights."

Armenia says 1.5 million Armenians died in systematic massacres aimed
at the extermination of its people. Turkey says there was no such
campaign, the death figure is far lower and that many Muslims also
died in partisan fighting.

Sarksyan was met by angry protests by Armenians in Europe, the Middle
East and United States last month. He argues the accords renounce
nothing and contain no preconditions.

REBEL REGION

Under the deal, a commission will investigate the killings.

Hovannissian said it would discuss the issue "ad infinitum."

Damaged by deadly violence that followed his election last year,
analysts say Sarksyan wants a foreign policy victory.

But Turkey, faced with a backlash from Muslim ally Azerbaijan,
has now raised the stakes by saying it will only ratify the accords
if Armenia gives ground in negotiations over the rebel province of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

This has seriously complicated the peace process.

Backed by Armenia, ethnic Armenians in the mountain region threw off
Azeri rule in war that erupted with the collapse of the Soviet Union
in 1991. Some 30,000 people died and Turkey closed its border with
Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan.

Propped up by Yerevan, the region runs its own affairs.

Many ordinary Armenians say they are more concerned about the economic
benefits of peace than old feuds with Turkey.

"Our diaspora lives well," said a man who gave his name as Ovik in the
border village of Getap. "They can go anywhere, to Turkey as tourists,
while we can only look at Turkey from here."

"Genocide is genocide, no one doubts that it was genocide or that it
took place," he said. "But we should move forward."

At the Akhurian railway station on the border, workers are readying
new tracks. Station master Karine Petrosyan hopes to increase her
36,500 Dram ($95) monthly wage and see a return to the days when 50
people worked at the station, rather than five.

The Armenian opposition appears too weak to derail the thaw with
Turkey. But if Sarksyan is perceived to be involved in a trade-off
over Nagorno-Karabakh, it would be political dynamite.

Nagorno-Karabakh cost former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan his job
in 1998 when he was forced to resign over concessions he offered to
Azerbaijan. A climbdown now from military victory, as part of a deal
with Turkey, would likely spark public outrage.

Analysts say Turkey could drop the condition as it nears the 95th
anniversary of the killings next April, when Armenians hope U.S.

President Barack Obama will keep a campaign promise to label them
genocide in a traditional presidential statement.

Or Ankara could hold out for Armenian concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sarksyan looks unlikely to play along.

"A success with Turkey is enough for both greater legitimacy and
statesmanship, making Nagorno-Karabakh that much riskier politically,"
said Richard Giragosian, the American director of the Armenian Center
for National and International Studies.

"I really think if he wants to be bold and go for the Nobel Prize
and do something on (Nagorno) Karabakh, he’s gone."

ARMENIAN COMMUNIST DENIES AZERBAIJANI DISINFORMATION ON KARABAKH

Aysor
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Chairman of the Communist Party of Armenia Ruben Tovmasyan denied
disinformation spread by Azerbaijani media outlets that ‘Armenian
communists agree Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is Azerbaijani territory’.

When asked by correspondent of Panorama on-line paper whether Armenian
Communist Party’s members singly met with Azerbaijani delegation during
the Communist Congress in Moscow and moreover discussed settlement of
Karabakh conflict, chairman of the Communist Party of Armenia Ruben
Tovmasyan said no.

Ruben Tovmasyan confirmed the participation of Armenian delegation in
the 34th Communist Parties Congress held in Moscow on October 24. "It
is not true, regarding to the ‘meeting with Azerbaijani delegation’.

We sat in the same room, corridor, said "hello" – that’s all. Neither
meeting or discussion or view’s sharing happened," assumed Ruben
Tovmasyan.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Azerbaijani media, chairman of
the Communist Party of Azerbaijan Rauf Gurbanov said: "We have no
disagreement with Armenian communists that Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
belongs to Azerbaijan. They openly acknowledge it and this is not
the first time they declared it since they do it always."

This statement made by neighboring communist highly angered Armenia’s
communist number one. Ruben Tovmasyan said that this would be "apogee
of Azerbaijani lie" if Gurbanov had really voiced it.

"I wouldn’t like to hear such Armenian-communist-party-related
statements. If Gurbanov can show off to their local communists – it’s
his private business. But I haven’t discussed any item with Gurbanov
so let him never practice mistaking wishes for reality," he said.

"We always held on to sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and
up to now set out that Karabakh has gained independence, has its own
Parliament and perfectly copes with statecraft," added Ruben Tovmasyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘HOUSE OF GOD’ WELCOMES ALL WHO WANT TO PRAY

Hurriyet
php?n=-2009-11-03
Nov 3 2009
Turkey

The 2,000-year-old Surp Krikor Lusavoric Church in Kayseri,
historically known as the birthplace of the Gregorian order of the
Armenians, has been renovated in just one year through donations from
20 Kayseri-origin Armenians.

The renovation work was completed by the same team that did the
Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. The church will open for prayers after a
ceremony this Sunday. Zadik Toker, head of the Surp Krikor Lusavoric
Church Foundation, said the church is "the home of God" and open to
followers of all religions who want to pray. The ceremony at the church
in the Caferbey neighborhood of the Melikgazi district will consist
of the blessing ceremony (the opening) and the first badarak (Sunday
ceremony). Gov. Mevlut Bilici, Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mehmet
Ozhaseki and Police Chief Arif Akkale have been invited to the opening.

Toker said the church’s roof was leaking before the renovation and
that the last maintenance work for the building was done back in 1990.

He said the paintings on the walls have been renewed, too. "We are
treading very carefully on the matter of the Armenian initiative. We
are Turkish citizens. This place is a house of God and people from
any religion may pray here anytime they want to," said Toker.

Garabet Ä°stepamyan, the watchman of the church for eight years,
said the church would be cleaned during the week in preparation for
the ceremony.

US ARMENIANS HOPE FOR FAILURE OF ANKARA-YEREVAN DEAL

Hurriyet
php?n=us-armenians-hope-for-failure-of-ankara-yere van-deal-2009-11-03
Nov 3 2009
Turkey

American-Armenians and their congressional backers are keen on the
‘genocide’ recognition, not the creation of normalized ties between
Turkey and Armenia, diplomats and experts say. Armenians will try
to persuade the world that it’s the Turks that stopped the process,
an expert argue Armenian-Americans and their backers in Congress are
hoping for the collapse of a normalization deal between Turkey and
Armenia so they can continue to lobby for U.S. recognition of what
they term the "Armenian genocide," diplomats and analysts said.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed historic protocols on
Oct. 10 that called for the creation of normal diplomatic relations
between the two neighbors and the reopening of their shared land
border. Their parliaments must first ratify the deal before the
provisions go into effect.

Before reopening the land border, which has remained closed for 16
years, Turkey wants to see some progress toward the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ankara’s
close ally.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly Armenian-populated enclave inside
Azerbaijan’s borders, has been under Armenian occupation since a war
in the early 1990s.

Reopening border key matter

Yerevan, however, seeks to keep the normalization deal with Turkey and
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as completely separate processes, urging
Turkey to reopen the border as soon as possible. Diaspora Armenians,
meanwhile, also staunchly oppose any concessions on Karabakh.

But without progress on the Karabakh matter, it will be extremely
difficult for Ankara to move to reopen the border. "If there’s no
progress on Karabakh, Turkey simply can’t reopen the border with
Armenia, which will effectively mean that the reconciliation process
will have failed," one Washington-based analyst said. "If this happens,
it will be important to see which side will be blamed for the derailed
process. The Armenians will try to persuade the world that it’s the
Turks that stopped the process."

In that case, U.S. Armenians and their backers in Congress will seek
to punish Turkey in Congress, the analyst said.

Armenian efforts in Congress

A resolution urging the United States to recognize the World War
I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide has
been pending in the House of Representatives, Congress’ lower chamber,
since February.

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Republican Senator John Ensign
introduced a similar resolution in the Senate, Congress’ upper chamber,
last month.

"Pro-Armenian lawmakers in both sides of Congress will step up
efforts for genocide recognition in the event of the collapse of the
Ankara-Yerevan deal," said the analyst.

"Any formal U.S. genocide recognition would kill the normalization
process," one Turkish diplomat said.

But U.S. Armenians and their congressional backers are keen on genocide
recognition, not the creation of normalized Ankara-Yerevan ties,"
said the analyst.

"So there’s a major trap jeopardizing the reconciliation process, and
that trap can be prevented only if there’s progress on the solution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute," the analyst said.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN REUNION IN THE WORKS?

Metal Underground
etails.cfm?newsid=49847&comments=1
Nov 3 2009

Rumours are beginning to spread that System Of A Down are coming close
to reuniting after three of the four members of the band appeared on
stage together at The Roxy in West Hollywood on Halloween.

Guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian, bass player Shavo Odajian and
drummer John Dolmayan were joined by Frank Perez of Scars On Broadway
for an impromptu set where they played the System Of A Down classic,
"Suite Pee" and the Scars On Broadway song, "They Say." Stay tuned
for more information.

TIGRAN DAVTYAN: REFORMS REQUIRE YEARS

news.am
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

In his interview with NEWS.am and the Chorrord Ishkhanutyun (Fourth
Estate) newspaper, RA Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan stated that
Armenia’s 2010 state budget is "a realistic and stabilizing one." In
his turn, Bagrat Asatryan, the ex-chairman of the Central Bank of
Armenia, designated it as "weak and false." Minister Davtyan strongly
disliked the designation and stated that he has "no wish to accept
this designation. It is inappropriate language."

Davtyan pointed out that the Government "have presented a budget
within the limits of the possible. We are constantly saying that the
government system be more economical. Considering these goals and the
actual state of affairs, we have launched an austerity policy in the
state government expenditures."

As regard the 25% and 20% reduction in education and defense expenses
respectively, Davtyan pointed out the structure of the fields. "One
fact should be noted: capital expenses have been reduced, while current
expenses, including expenses on wages, have remained unchanged." So
the reduced expenses, particularly the defense expenses, do not affect
the army’s tasks at all.

The Minister disagrees with the opinion that administration expenses
have remained unchanged. "They have been reduced by almost 5bn AMD,"
Davtyan said, without specifying the percentage. Deputy Minister
Pavel Safaryan pointed out that the administration expenses have been
reduced by 3%.

As to whether the Government has succeeded in structural reforms –
less dependence on private transfers and excessive construction
volumes — in implementing its anti-crisis program, Davtyan said:
"Structural reforms are not to rake place within months, they require
years. Of importance is the work aimed at accomplishing the tasks."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE UNION OF ARMENIAN WRITERS HAS A NEW PUBLISHING HOUSE

Aysor
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Today in the Union of Armenian Writers was opened a new publishing
house after Levon Zaven Syurmelyan. Armenian General Benevolent Union
(AGBU) has covered the expenses of the publishing house, which has
provided the fund from the means of Levon Zaven Syurmelyan.

On the opening ceremony of the publishing house the president of
the Armenian Union of Writers Levon Ananyan, Perch Serdakyan the
President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, writers and guests
were present.

The publishing house belongs to the Union of the Armenian writers
where the books of its members can be published as well as other
valuable literature.

"First of all the books of the members of the Union that are under
the governmental order will be published", – said Vahagn Mughnetsyan
the director of the new publishing house and informed the journalists
that the publishing house has been filled with the needed personnel
and machines and is ready to publish books this year already.

UAW president Levon Ananyan attached importance to the fact of the
UAW having its own publishing house and mentioned that still they
have a lot to do.

"We have many projects; to enlarge the publishing house and the
publishing institution", – mentioned the president of the Union of
the Armenian Writers and added that there are some areas next the UAW
publishing house which will later belong to one union of different
institutions like typing house, publishing center and editorials of
daily newspapers.

Besides all these events Levon Ananyan touched upon the project of
opening a bookstore in the UAW publishing house which as L. Ananyan
mentioned is their biggest dream.