Month: November 2009

BELLIGERENCE OF BAKU IS AN EVIDENCE OF NERVOUSNESS

Aysor
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

"Belligerence of Baku, now seems unjustified and is a sign of its
nervousness", – thinks international observer of the "News Time"
edition Arkady Dubnov. As "Echo of Moscow" informs, in his opinion,
"No breakthrough can be expected from the Munich negotiations between
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan."

Yesterday in Munich took place the sixth meeting of the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, after which
the OSCE co-chairs issued a statement according to which the talks
which lasted 4 hours, were constructive. In some areas, progress was
made, while at the same time, some questions still remain open. The
Presidents instructed their foreign ministers to continue working
with the Co-Chairs and the mediators.

The "Echo of Moscow" reminds that two days before the meeting the head
of Azerbaijan stated that the Munich meeting will be decisive. And
if it does not bring any results, then the war will be resumed in the
region. In Yerevan, this statement was viewed as a challenge not only
to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, but also to the entire international
community. Meanwhile, the political scientists are not inclined to
perceive the threats of Ilham Aliyev seriously.

"I do not think that resumption of hostilities between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh issue is possible, and the speeches
made by the President of Azerbaijan, two days ago, in my opinion,
prove that in Baku are too annoyed with the possible improvements of
the relations between Turkey and Armenia", -Arkady Dubnov stressed.

The observers in Armenia too are calling for not paying attention
to the threats having a military character. On this occasion "Ekho
Moskvy" writes: "They note that this is not the first such attack.

Armenia urged the international community to take Azerbaijan in hand.

Otherwise, all the work to solve the age-old conflict will come
to nothing."

CITY’S 19TH CENTURY HISTORY IN PRINT
Yagnesh Mehta

Times of India
Nov 23 2009

SURAT: For the first time, city’s 19th century history has been
documented in a book by well-known historian Mohan Meghani. The
book titled Surat in the Nineteenth Century’ will be released in a
week’s time.

So far, Meghani has documented citi’s history for the earlier three
centuries. During his academic career at MTB Arts College, Meghani
started working on the book Surat in the Sixteenth Century’ followed
by a book on Surat in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century’.

"The new book on 19th century has 150 pages, which is comparatively
smaller than the earlier books, as I have not touched all the details
known to majority of the people. I attempted to cover only those
details which are lesser known and important for academic purpose,"
says Meghani, former head of history department at MTB Arts College.

The book has been published by Chinilal Gandhi Vidhyabhavan, managed
by Sarvajanik Education Society (SES), and is being sponsored by
history department of MTB Arts College.

The book describes details of the British rule in the city, along
with the contribution of Armenians to its economy and culture. The
book also has information on the municipal corporation in the city
and how the European culture influenced that of Surat is also a part
of the narrative.

A comparison of Surat of the 18th century and 19th century has been
done, which reflects the changing culture and infrastructure of
the city.

AZERBAIJANI AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENTS TO DISCUSS ENERGY AND SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT

APA
Nov 23 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss further expansion
of energy cooperation between the two countries and regulation of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict at the meeting in Ulyanovsk on November 24.

APA reports quoting "RIA Novosty" that a source in Kremlin informed
about it.

"Further expansion of mutual relations in energy is on the agenda of
the bilateral cooperation", says the source.

Representative of the Kremlin reminded the agreement on the export
of Azeri gas to Russia signed on October 14. Under the agreement,
Gazprom will be able to buy 500 million cubic meters of gas from
Azerbaijan a year from January 1, 2010.

Besides, the presidents will exchange views on actual problems the
world and the region are concerned about.

"Regulation of Nagorno Karabakh conflict will also be in the focus
of attention during the meeting", says the source.

MAMMADYAROV TALKED TO DAVUTOGLU

news.am
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

November 23, 2009 Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov had
a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu,
Turkish Anadolu agency reports.

Mammadyarov informed Davutoglu of Nov. 22 Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting in
Munich adding the next meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers will be held in Athens.

Turkish FM invited his Azerbaijani counterpart to pay a visit to
Ankara.

ARMENIA TO OPEN OFFICE IN SILICON VALLEY

news.am
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

Armenia will open the office in Silicon Valley till March 2010,
Enterprise Incubator Foundation Director Bagrat Yengibaryan told
NEWS.am, adding that office will be engaged in representation of
Armenia’s achievements in the High tech sphere. "We cannot represent
our production without that office," he said, underlining Armenia
already has two successfully operating offices in Canada and Austria.

According to him, the next office preplanned to be in Russia,
as the country has large market and the IT sphere is in focus by
the government. He expressed confidence that despite there are huge
companies in Russia, Armenian ones will also be in demand. Yengibaryan
outlined that Armenian specialists design programs where state
investments are inexpedient, besides the country does not hold the
sufficient means. "Government should assist the field establishment,
sale of Armenian products in the world market. However, there should
be demand in domestic market as well," said Yengibaryan, adding that
the attempt to achieve technical solution to Armenian programs is
presently underway. "The attempt to recruit skillful professionals
to develop the High tech sphere on the basis of the present programs
is made," he pointed out, forecasting that other economy sectors will
become more active with the High tech sphere acceleration.

ARMENIA’S IT SECTOR SHOWS 20% GROWTH

news.am
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

The crisis has hardly affected the Armenian IT companies, Karen
Vardanyan, Executive Director of the Union of Information Technology
Enterprises (UITE) Karen Vardanyan told NEWS.am. He said that surveys
to specify the figures are under way now.

"Pressured by the crisis, the enterprises operating in other fields are
thinking of enhancing their business efficiency, and IT application is
one of the ways of doing it. But this figure cannot even be considered
satisfactory," he said. "The IT development concept approved in 2008
points out that the number of IT enterprises is to reach 1,000 by
2018. But, statistical data show that only one of five enterprises
survives. That is 500 rather than 100 enterprises have to be opened
annually, whereas only 40 have been opened this year. But we do not
know whether the enterprises will survive on the market," Vardanyan
said.

According to the concept, the number of employees at the Armenian IT
enterprises is to reach 20,000 in eight years. "Everything remained
on paper. And it is the Government, enterprises, as well as the
society, that are responsible for the idea not being implemented,"
Vardanyan said. He believes that the sector’s development requires
"the domestic market’s response, which implies a change in the people’s
way of thinking."

Vardanyan pointed out three lines of developments of the Armenian
IT sector: the state government system and modernization of military
equipment; business; households. IT application will rule out shadow
businesses and embezzlement, while some people would object to it.

"80% of businesses in Armenia are either monopolies or controlled by
government agencies. Such businesses are not drawn in competition,
while competing businesses need IT technologies," Vardanyan said.

Educational software is considered a personal product worldwide, but in
Armenia hardly anyone is serious about education – both students and
their parents. "People worldwide view PCs as a means of education,
but our students use computers for playing, chatting or visiting
porno sites," Vardanyan said.

One of the major problems is that the IT enterprises do not ensure
enough discoveries and publications." We have a lack of interesting
ideas and need new discoveries. When they happen, they are recognized
the best in the world. This year a contest involving 400 venture
companies has been held in the United States, and an Armenian company’s
innovation was recognized the best," Vardanyan said.

ARMENIA DELAYS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SOLUTION: VICE SPEAKER

Trend
Nov 23 2009
Azerbaijan

Armenia delays the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
First Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan said.

At a meeting with a member of the House of Lords of Great Britain,
John Desmond Forbes Anderson Veyverli, the First Vice Speaker of
Azerbaijani Parliament Ziyafet Askerov spoke about the essence of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem. He said that the meetings of parliamentarians
have been held for more than ten years, but aggressive Armenia does
not behave as a serious state and refuses positive tendencies achieved
in the negotiations, thus delaying the solution of the conflict,
the press office of the Parliament told Trend News on Nov. 23.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

According to Askerov, despite 18 years activity of the OSCE Minsk
Group, there is no result. "Being interested in preserving the status
quo, Armenia does not fulfill UN Security Council’s four resolutions,
does not follow international legal norms and principles," the
report said.

Askerov said that Azerbaijan is a supporter of peace and wants a
peaceful solution to the conflict. "But if Armenia would indefinitely
delay the peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan will
have to liberate its occupied lands by military means," he said

According to him, the international community approaches the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the position of observer. Askerov also
highlighted another important point, saying that the world countries
should not have same attitude towards Azerbaijan experiencing
occupation and occupant Armenia. "These two countries should be
assessed for their actions, and to resolve the conflict it is necessary
to look through this prism," said the First Vice Speaker.

To resolve the conflict, firstly the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan must be ensured, later refugees and internally displaced
persons must be returned to their homes and the security of Armenians
living in Nagorno-Karabakh must be guaranteed, said Lord Veyverli.

‘ALIEV’S LAST STATEMENT IS AN EFFORT TO PREVENT PANIC’

Aysor
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

Azerbaijani President’s statements made on the eve of the Munich
meeting have a clear objective to prevent panic among Azerbaijani
people, as well as pressing the Armenian government, said military
psychologist, David Jamalyan.

"President Aliev’s last statement is another effort to prevent panic
among Azerbaijani people and to pressure Armenia’s government. This
makes clear that Armenia’s position is strong," said the psychologist.

"Actually, Azerbaijani officials do not welcome war threats and even
just fear of such statements. Though anti-Armenian moods have quite
escalated in Azerbaijan, however, its people are not ready to go
in war."

In contrast, Armenian Armed Forces are ready to meet and repel any
attack like they did last year in March. Azerbaijan then tried to
make use of tensions in Armenian society and tried to attack, but
failed carrying losses. According to David Jamalyan, Azerbaijani
people panicky fear of Army services. "They see if war begins, mere
people will go fighting, not Aliev clan and relatives."

ARMENIA’S CONCESSION ON KARABAKH ISSUE – UNLIKELY: DER TAGESSPIEGEL

news.am
Nov 23 2009
Armenia

Commenting on Sargsyan — Aliev Munich meeting German Der Tagesspiegel
daily reckons that at the current stage of negotiations Armenia’s
concessions on Karabakh issue are unlikely.

The daily holds the view that Serzh Sargsyan is pressurized by Turkey
on the one hand, stating that will not open the border if there
is no progress in Karabakh issue; and Diaspora — on the other,
that insists on establishment of diplomatic relations with Turkey
only after Armenian Genocide recognition. "Relations’ normalization
with Turkey incurred Diaspora’s displeasure and Armenia will hardly
make concessions on Karabakh issue, as it will entail a new wave of
discontent", the daily reads.

AZERBAIJAN’S FOREIGN MINISTRY CONFIRMS "PROGRESS" IN KARABAKH TALKS

news.az
Nov 23 2009
Azerbaijan

Elkhan Polukhov Baku has confirmed the statement of the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group about the latest round of talks between the
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Munich on Sunday.

"Progress was observed on some urgent issues," the spokesman for
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Elkhan Polukhov, said on Monday.

He said the sides had started a more detailed and deeper discussion
on the remaining outstanding issues and differences.

"The seriousness and level of the meeting are shown by the fact that
the negotiations lasted for more than four hours," Polukhov said. He
confirmed that the foreign ministers had been instructed to continue
the work and that the ministers’ next meeting will be in Athens.