Month: February 2012

MINISTER OHANYAN MEETS NATO’S DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

armradio.am
29.02.2012 14:27

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan received the delegation
headed by Ambassador Hussein Dirioz, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary
General for Defense Policy and Planning.

Minister Ohanyan and Ambassador Dirioz discussed the main directions of
cooperation between NATO and the Armenian Ministry of Defense, which
includes military education, defense planning and budgeting reforms,
as well as the participation of Armenian peacekeepers in NATO missions.

The parties stressed the progress in the field of defense reforms
and military cooperation and determined the priorities of future
cooperation. Ambassador Dirioz expressed NATO’s willingness to provide
necessary expert assistance to Armenia regarding future reforms.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the main issues on the agenda
of the forthcoming NATO summit in Chicago with the participation of
the heads of partner countries.

PAKISTAN READY TO SUPPORT TO AZERBAIJAN IN MILITARY SPHERE

News.Az
Wed 29 February 2012 10:48 GMT | 10:48 Local Time

“Pakistan is ready to give support to Azerbaijan in the military
sphere”.

The statement came from deputy chairman of the Senate of Pakistan Mir
Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali at the press conference in Baku, APA reports.

Jamali said chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
is in Baku.

“Pakistan is a nuclear state. We are producing our weapons, tanks,
modernizing our warships. We want to say to our Azerbaijani brothers
that together with Turkey we are ready to support Azerbaijan. We are
one of the three states that do not recognize Armenia as a state,”
he said.

Jamali underlined that there is potential for cooperation between
Pakistan and Azerbaijan in the area of defense industry.

“Pakistan was the second country that recognized Azerbaijan’s
independence. At the same time it is one of the 3 countries that
don’t recognize Armenia officially”, said Chairman of the Pakistani
Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs Salim Seyfulla Khan at the
press conference held in Baku.

The Committee Chairman said that Pakistan had Kashmir problem and
Azerbaijan had Nagorno Karabakh problem: “The UN adopted a resolution
on the right of Kashmir’s population to liberty.

We struggle for this issue. We had 4 wars with India on it. We
think that there is no necessity to begin the next war. The UN has
resolutions on Nagorno Karabakh. Pakistan supports the peaceful
settlement of this conflict. Yesterday we heard news that the French
Constitutional Court adopted a decision protection Azerbaijan and
Turkey’s interest”.

Salim Seyfulla Khan noted that the resolution on Khojaly genocide
was adopted in the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs as a result
of efforts of Deputy Chairman of Pakistani Senate Jan Muhammad
Khan Jamali: “12 political parties are represented in Pakistani
Senate and this resolution was unanimously adopted. According to
our parliamentary system the resolution adopted unanimously by any
committee is considered as the Senate’s resolution”.

According to the Committee Chairman, the political relations between
the two countries are at a high level: “The countries are not so close
to each other from the economic point of view. We discuss these issues
at our meetings. It is possible to develop the relations in economic,
cultural and Mass media spheres. Mr. President gave a task for holding
the meetings in this sphere”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PAKISTAN DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ARMENIA AS STATE

Fineko/abc.az
29.02.2012 14:09

Pakistan has claimed of great importance paid to relations with
Azerbaijan.

Today at the press conference in Baku vice speaker of Pakistani
Senate Mir Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali said that Pakistan attaches great
importance to all-round relations with Azerbaijan.

” Our visit aims at demonstration of solidarity with Azerbaijani
people. We are ready to provide support to Azerbaijan. Pakistan was
one of the first to recognize independence of Azerbaijan. We do not
recognize Armenia as a state “,- M. Jamali said.

Within the visit Pakistani delegation held meetings with President
Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Parliament speaker Ogtay Asadov, members
of Inter-Parliamentary Friendship group Azerbaijan- Pakistan. Also
within the visit meeting of Pakistani Senate reps with SOCAR President
Rovnag Abdullayev is planned.

FRENCH-ARMENIANS SAY RULING OF CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL OF FRANCE HAS POLITICAL REASONS

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, ARMENPRESS. The French Armenians are
disappointed with the ruling of the Constitutional Council of France
to recognize the bill penalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide
unconstitutional, says the statement of the council coordinating
French-Armenian organizations. The statement runs that the decision
of the Constitutional Council has been agreed not with legal but
political reasons.

“With this decision the Constitutional Council admits that the
two genocides recognized by France are not equal. While the bill
authored by Valerie Boyer was called to harmonize this inequality,”
the statement says.

Referring to the talks about the contradiction of the Armenian bill
and freedom of speech, the French Armenians claim that the freedom
of speech should be restricted in case it offends representatives of
other nations or an individual in general.

“The Constitutional Council retreated before the Turkish lobby which
is inadmissible and doubts the independence of institutions of our
republic,” the statement runs.

Besides, the French Armenians doubted the impartiality of certain
members of the Constitutional Council. The French Armenians are looking
forward for decisive steps of presidential candidates Nicolas Sarkozy
and Francois Hollande toward the adoption of the new bill.

EXPERT SAYS FIGHT FOR PENALIZING DENIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO GET NEW STIMULUS

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: In this phase of the penalization of
the denial of the Armenian Genocide the winners were Turkish pressures,
threats and bribe, responsible for the political affairs office of the
ARF Bureau Kiro Manoyan said, adding that the works in that direction
must continue with new stimulus.

“There are people in the Constitutional Council who are members
of pro-Turkish organizations, or former political figures-lawyers
who were against this idea,” the speaker said. He said the decision
does not bring any respect to France. Manoyan noted that France has
penalized the denial of Holocaust. He said it is necessary to exert
great efforts for finding grounding for criminalization of denial of
one genocide and for not penalizing the denial of the other.

Kiro Manoyan described the assignment of President of France Nicolas
Sarkozy to draft a new bill as “assignment of good will”. Sarkozy
will not manage to complete the process: the parliament is going for
vacation in one-two days. Manoyan believes that the decision of the
French Constitutional Council is not only result of Turkey’s pressures:
the statements of U.S. secretary of state, representatives of certain
European establishments also had their role.

It was the most convenient moment for adoption of the bill but the
speaker said such moment may appear again.

AZERBAIJAN AGAIN SPREADS MISINFORMATION

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: The information of the Azerbaijani
mass media that the Azerbaijani officer Pyarvin Aliev has been wounded
as a result of violation of ceasefire regime by the Karabakhi armed
forces does not correspond to reality. It is aimed at presenting
Armenian armed forces as attackers and hiding the real situation
in the Azerbaijani army from its own people. Spokesperson for the
Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Senor Hasratyan said
the reality is that the front divisions of the defense army not only
respected the ceasefire regime on February 28 but restrained from
responding to the attacks of the rival.

The front divisions of the Azerbaijani armed forces violated the
ceasefire regime 45 times during the night of February 27 and 28.

Hasratyan said as usual, the official Baku continues presenting
everything upside down.

BAKO SAHAKYAN DISCUSSES SITUATION ALONG THE LINE OF CONTACT BETWEEN NAGORNO KARABAKH AND AZERBAIJAN ARMED FORCES

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: Artsakh Republic President Bako
Sahakyan held a consultation February 28 with the supreme command
staff of the NKR Defense Army at the head of defense minister Movses
Hakobyan, Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh
Republic President told Armenpress.

Issues related to army building, situation along the line of contact
between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan armed forces and amelioration
of social conditions of the servicemen were discussed at consultation.

TURKEY CHANGES ITS DECISION AND EXPECTS INTENSIVE ACTIVITY OF FRANCE WITHIN MINSK GROUP

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 29, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 29, ARMENPRESS: Turkey has been inspired with the
decision of the Constitutional Council of France and voiced hope
that France will intensify its efforts within the OSCE Minsk Group
for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Egemen Bagis,
EU minister of Turkey told the reporters. “The historically formed
French-Turkish relations stood another trial and we hope that hence
no issues will rise in our relations,” Bagis said.

At the same time the Turkish minister said the official Ankara expects
France to intensify its efforts in the NK conflict settlement process
which will give new impetus to the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations.

After the adoption of bill penalizing the denial of the Armenian
Genocide by the French Senate Turkey was demanding France leave the
Minsk group.

POLITICAL TRADITION: ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA SAYS WILL VOTE FOR PRO-GOVERNMENT CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
By Naira Hayrumyan

ArmeniaNow
29.02.12 | 14:33

The Union of Armenians of Russia (UAR) has stated its support for
Russia’s powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is currently a
candidate in the March 4 presidential election.

The statement was delivered during a February 26 event held at one of
Moscow’s largest concert halls. The UAR-organized event was attended
by invited guests from the Armenian Diaspora, as well as other ethnic
and youth organizations from Moscow and regions of Russia.

UAR Chairman Ara Abrahamyan, who is a Putin proxy in the upcoming
vote, stated that the current prime minister has made an “invaluable
contribution to the development of friendly relations and strategic
partnership between Russia and Armenia.”

“It is thanks to Putin that we have a great progress in
Armenian-Russian relations, including in terms of military cooperation,
due to which there is no war in Armenia, and the president of Armenia
visited Russia 17 times,” said Abrahamyan.

Another prominent figure among Moscow Armenians, Artur Chilingarov,
said: “Russia can count on the Russian Armenians, who understand that
there must be stability and progress in the country that can only be
ensured by Putin.”

“Putin has a very attentive and respectful attitude towards Armenia and
us, the Armenians living and working in this country. I have known the
prime minister personally for 25 years, and during all this time he
has never spoke to me like to a ‘person of Caucasian nationality’,”
Chilingarov, a prominent polar explorer, Hero of Russia, and member
of the State Duma said in one of his interviews.

(A person of Caucasian nationality is a diminutive collective term
used by many in Russia to refer to the natives of the North and South
Caucasus, which reflects a general anti-Caucasian mood in the country).

Other presidential candidates, such as leader of the Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Communist leader
Gennady Zyuganov also met with representatives of the Armenian
community. Both made statements about a peaceful settlement of the
Karabakh problem. Zhirinovsky even said that if elected he would
recognize Karabakh’s unification with Armenia or the independence
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

But Chilingarov says: “We do not even think about voting for another
candidate [other than Putin].”

The Armenian community in Russia, as a rule, votes for the government
candidates. While in the United States or France, where people will
also elect their presidents this year, representatives of the Armenian
community try to figure out who of the candidates can better defend
their interests, there is no such question raised in Russia.

The Armenian communities in the U.S., France and other countries
sometimes feel their choice is not justified or is justified. In some
other countries, for instance, in Iran or Syria, the large Armenian
communities prefer to remain neutral – they do not interfere in
internal political rumblings, realizing that they can become their
victim. In Russia, Armenians understand that even their neutrality
would not be enough for Putin and they need to say out loud that
the influential prime minister and would-be president is the only
guarantor of friendship between Armenians and Russians.

Remarkably, one of the leaders of the radical opposition movement in
Russia is also an ethnic Armenian – ex-chess champion Garry Kasparov.

It is not known whether ethnic Armenians were among those attending
protests in Moscow against election fraud, at least nothing has been
said about it officially.

It is also interesting that in Armenia, representatives of several
political forces, including Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan called
on Russian citizens to vote for Putin on March 4, stating that
“Armenian-Russian strategic cooperation has strengthened in recent
years.”

The most remarkable thing, however, is that no one has even bothered
to note that it is Dmitry Medvedev, and not Putin, who has led Russia
as president in recent years.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

REP. BERMAN: WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO STOPPING AZERBAIJAN’S UGLY THREATS

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 29, 2012 – 11:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – U.S. Representative Howard Berman (D-CA) delivered
remarks on Azerbaijan’s pogroms and massacres against ethnic Armenian
civilians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku.

“One of the least noticed and most dangerous trends of recent years
have been Azerbaijan’s rapidly growing military budget and its
increasing bellicosity toward Armenian populated Nagorno Karabakh,”
Rep. Berman said.

“Last June, during Azerbaijan s largest military parade since the
Soviet era, President Aliyev vowed to avenge the deaths of Azerbaijani
soldiers killed during the 1988-1994 Nagorno- Karabakh war and declared
that “the war isn’t over yet; only the first stage is over.”

He then boasted that Azerbaijan s defense budget is twenty times
larger than it was just eight years previously and larger, in fact,
than the entire budget of Armenia,” he reminded.

“It is particularly appropriate that today, February 27 – the
anniversary of the 1988 Azerbaijani pogrom directed against its own
Armenian population in Sumgait – that we commit ourselves to stopping
these ugly threats. Armenian history is drenched in tragedy. Everybody
knows about the Armenian Genocide, even if, sadly, only a minority of
my colleagues has been willing to recognize it officially. But fewer
know about the hundreds of thousands of Armenians murdered under the
Ottoman regime in the nineteenth century. And fewer still, it seems,
know about the pogroms and ethnic cleansing that Armenians living in
Azerbaijan suffered at the hands of Azerbaijanis as the Soviet Union
was breaking up,” Rep. Berman stressed.

He went on to say: “The Sumgait pogrom that we recall today lasted
three days and resulted in the murder of hundreds of Armenian
civilians. Other anti- Armenian pogroms took place in Kirovobad
November 21 27, 1988, and in the Azerbaijani capital Baku January
13 19, 1990. During this era, there were media reports of Armenians
being hunted down and killed in their homes. The systematic pattern
of all these attacks suggested that something even more sinister than
a mob uprising was at work.”

“Azerbaijan seems bent on destroying every last vestige of the Armenian
presence in Azerbaijan For example, there is videotaped evidence of
the Azerbaijani government’s December 2005 systematic desecration and
destruction of an ancient Armenian cemetery, including thousands of
intricately-carved grave-stones in Djulfa, in a section of Azerbaijan
near the Turkish border. I believe our State Department still has
not adequately examined this incident, and I call on it to do so,”
Rep. Berman said.

“Today is a solemn day as we recall this history of murder,
displacement, and destruction, but it is this very history that
underscores the importance of self-determination for Nagorno Karabakh.

I call on the Administration to press the Azerbaijani government to
cease its bellicose rhetoric and to stop its headlong rush to war now
and to adhere strictly to the principled basis of the Minsk Process,
namely, the search for a peaceful, negotiated solution for Nagorno
Karabakh I likewise call on the Administration to redouble its
efforts to achieve a solution for Nagorno Karabakh And, on this day
when we once again reflect on the brutality Armenians have suffered,
and endured, for centuries, I once again call on the Administration
simply to acknowledge history and to recognize the Armenian Genocide,”
he concluded.