Month: September 2013

GEORGIA PM SAYS ‘WHY NOT?’ ON EURASIAN UNION

20:56 04.09.2013

Customs Union, Georgia

One day after Armenia said it will join Russia’s Eurasian Union,
Georgia’s PM has said it might, in due course, do the same, the
EUobserver reorts.

Speaking on national TV on Wednesday (4 September), the Prime
Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, said: “I am keeping a close eye on
it [the Eurasian Union] and we are studying it. At this stage we
have no position at all. If in perspective we see that it is in our
country’s strategic interest, then, why not? But at this stage we
have no position at all.”

The remark caused an instant reaction in the Georgian parliament.

Giorgi Gabashvili, an MP from the opposition UNM party, told the house:
“I hope the Prime Minister lied and I hope the Georgian government
in fact is not studying this option.”

The PM’s office later published a press release, circulated in
Brussels, which noted: “While not ruling out the possibility of
joining such a union in the future, should it be judged in the
national interest, he [Ivanishvili] stated that ‘At this stage,
we have no position at all’.”

Georgia’s foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, added: “The whole world is
[studying the Eurasian Union project], including the EU. It is near
us, of course we have to know what is going on.”

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY THREATENS TO BAN AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS FROM GALLIPOLI

The Diplomat
Sept 4 2013

September 04, 2013
By Luke Hunt

A spat over the use of the word “genocide” in NSW threatens the
centenary of the landings.

Gallipoli, Turkey – A diplomatic row between Turkey and politicians
from the Australian state of New South Wales is threatening the
commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings,
which resulted in the deaths of more than 130,000 soldiers.

The dispute erupted after the NSW Parliament passed a motion
recognizing an alleged Armenian genocide by the Turks, which began
around the same time as Australian, New Zealand, Indian, British and
French forces began their campaign to seize control of the Dardanelles.

At the time, Turkey was in a state of upheaval amid ethnic wars and
the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire, which would eventually lead to
the creation of modern-day Turkey in 1923.

Turkish historian Kenan Celik says the facts that ethnic cleansing
and massacres took place was not in dispute, but the use of the word
“genocide”-primarily a post World War II term indicating the deliberate
and systematic destruction of an ethnic group-remains hotly contested.

“This whole region was lawless for more than 10 years. Killings,
looting, rape and massacres were common and there was no organized
government. So it’s wrong to say it was genocide,” he said.

More than 20 countries have recognized the slaughter of up to 1.5
million Armenians as genocide, alongside the slaughter of Greeks and
Assyrians. In Australia, Christian campaigner and MP in the NSW Upper
House Fred Nile was behind the campaign, arguing the Armenians have
no time for arguments about definitions or the sensitivities of the
modern Turkish state.

“(The Ottoman Turks) just eliminated people systematically-community
by community, village by village,” Nile told Australian radio. “In
fact it’s interesting that when Adolf Hitler planned the genocide of
the Jews there were some questions asked and he said himself ‘Don’t
worry, who remembers the Armenian genocide?’ Who remembers it?”

The motion was unanimously passed in both houses of the NSW Parliament
and came after the Fairfield local council in Sydney’s Western suburbs
approved construction of a memorial to the alleged Assyrian genocide,
described by one Turkish official as “very offensive.” Nile along with
some historians have also used eyewitness reports from Australian
and New Zealand prisoners of war who, while interned, witnessed the
forced evictions of Armenian villages.

The response from Turkey’s hardline Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to
Nile’s outbursts has been predictably harsh.

His government is threatening to ban all members of the NSW Parliament
from attending the centenary commemorations at Gallipoli and nearby
Canakkale, which holds a special place in the collective conscience
of Australians, for whom a pilgrimage to Gallipoli is widely seen as
rites of passage. Thousands make the trip each year, many attending
the dawn service on April 25, the day the first troops landed.

Erdogan, whose Islamic credentials are a match for Nile’s Christian
fundamentalism, is ignoring calls on his government to separate the
Gallipoli commemorations from arguments over whether the slaughter of
Armenians should be declared a genocide. The two issues have little
in common.

“These persons who try to damage the spirit of Canakkale/Gallipoli
will also not have their place in the Canakkale ceremonies where we
commemorate our sons lying side by side in our soil,” Turkish foreign
minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “We announce to the public that we
will not forgive those who are behind these decisions and that we
don’t want to see them in Canakkale anymore.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FURY ERUPTS OVER ANZAC ‘FABRICATION’ SLUR

NEOS KOSMOS, HELLENIC PERSPECTIVE, AUSTRALIA
Sept 4 2013

Reverend Fred Nile defends the ‘right to memory’ as NSW Government
considers its response to Gallipoli ban

Michael Sweet

With the Turkish Government describing witness accounts of the
Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides written by WWI Australian
soldiers as fabrications, NSW MP Reverend Fred Nile has spoken out
condemning the allegation.

Mr Nile moved the original motion recognising the genocides that
was unanimously adopted by the NSW Parliament in May, much to the
consternation of Turkey – who as a result, threatened to ban the
state’s parliamentarians from visiting Gallipoli.

Premier Barry O’Farrell last week described recent comments made by
NSW’s Turkish Consul General on the matter, as “a terrible indictment
… of the freedom that was fought for on the Gallipoli Peninsula
in 1915”.

The Consul, Ms Gulseren Celik, said in a letter to state parliament
that accounts of the Ottoman genocides by Australian soldiers based
in Anatolia at the time were fabricated.

In a speech to the NSW Parliament last week Reverend Nile reaffirmed
the validity of the accounts, quoting from verified historical sources,
including documents from official Anzac records.

Reverend Nile said the crux of the debate was “the individual and
collective right to memory”, and said that Turkey’s allegations that
his actions were an incitement to hate were baseless.

“Is it recalling hatreds, real or imagined, to commemorate the Shoah,
the Jewish genocide, or Timorese or Papuan suffering under the Japanese
in World War II?” said Mr Nile.

“Historical debate often involves offence being taken by individuals,
especially when entrenched positions are being undermined.”

Mr Nile told Neos Kosmos he was shocked by the Turkish Consul’s
description of Anzac records as fabrications, and that the NSW
Government was looking at a number of options in order to respond to
Turkey’s threat to ban parliamentarians from Gallipoli.

“We should not forget these genocides happened, to ignore them as
historical fact is kicking the relatives and survivors of subsequent
generations,” he said.

Having recently returned from a tour of Armenia with a cross-party
delegation, Reverend Nile said Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr
should intervene in the situation.

“It’s disappointing that the Federal Government seems to be acting
in a cowardly way, and the threats from Turkey are having an effect
on our Federal Government. It’s ridiculous,” said Mr Nile.

“The government should do what’s right and what’s truthful, and not
be blackmailed.”

Twenty-one countries around the world have passed formal resolutions
recognising the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides by the Ottoman
empire. Along with Australia, Britain and the United States have not,
although 43 US states have.

Consul Gulseren Celik told reporters she is confident the Australian
Government has no intention of following what she describes as the
“outrageous” NSW motions.

LITHUANIA DISAPPOINTED WITH ARMENIA’S GOING FOR CUSTOMS UNION

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 4 2013

4 September 2013 – 11:15am

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said yesterday that
Armenia boycotted its chances to sign the association agreement with
the EU itself by declaring readiness to join the Customs Union.

The minister noted that the EU respected Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, but needed Armenia to choose which integration structure
to join.

Linkevicius and 7 other foreign ministers warned that the any economic
threats or political pressure against eastern partners for their
strive to integrate in Europe were unacceptable.

Lithuania chairs the EU and will host the Eastern Partnership summit
in November.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA-EU FREE TRADE DEAL BLOCKED: LITHUANIA

Agence France Presse
September 3, 2013 Tuesday 6:00 PM GMT

VILNIUS, Sept 03 2013

Armenia has blocked its chances of signing a free trade deal with
the European Union by choosing to join the Russia-led customs union,
EU president Lithuania said Tuesday.

The EU respects the decision announced by Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian in Moscow earlier Tuesday, but the two systems are
incompatible, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told AFP.

“We respect any choice of countries but they cannot enter both
organisations at the same time because of different tariff
requirements,” he said.

After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Sarkisian
said he had decided to join the 2010 Customs Union that Moscow
currently shares with ex-Soviet Belarus and Kazakhstan.

According to Putin’s vision, the Russian-led Customs Union, is the
foundation of a future Eurasian economic union with its own executive
body and a single currency.

Armenia had been poised to initial an association and free trade
agreement with EU at a November summit in Vilnius with six post-Soviet
states grouped in the Brussels-oriented Eastern Partnership programme.

Lithuania, which took over the six-month rotating EU presidency in
July, has actively promoted the partnership.

Launched in 2009, it is aimed at bringing post-Soviet Ukraine,
Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia closer to the EU,
something which Moscow sees as encroaching on its sphere of influence.

Vilnius University analyst Vytis Jurkonis said Tuesday Armenia’s move
was “part of the bigger game” by Russia which has recently warned
Ukraine and Moldova that deals with EU may harm their economic ties
with Moscow.

“Russia is increasing pressure on Eastern Partnership countries so they
do not sign association treaties” with Brussels, Jurkonis told AFP.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Linkevicius and seven other
ministers from Nordic and Baltic countries warned against Russian
pressure on post-Soviet states.

“Any economic threat or political pressure directed against Eastern
partners because of their European aspirations and engagement with
the EU is unacceptable,” they said.

Russia has for years tried to get neighbouring Ukraine to join the
Customs Union.

Kiev has so far resisted the pressure and hopes to sign a landmark
political and economic agreement with the EU at the Vilnius summit.

EU LOSES ARMENIA TO RUSSIA’S CUSTOMS UNION

EurActiv
Sept 4 2013

Armenia will join a customs union led by its former Soviet master
Russia, the country’s President Serzh Sargsyan said yesterday (3
September), a move incompatible with the free trade agreement the EU
is preparing with Yerevan.

Sargsyan announced the decision after talks with his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin welcomed the move as a
diplomatic victory at a time when Russia is struggling to bring former
Soviet republics closer together and stop Ukraine from slipping into
the the European Union’s orbit.

“The Russian side supports the decision by Armenia to enter the
customs union … We will fully work for this to happen,” Putin was
quoted as saying by Reuters.

The EU appeared to be taken by surprise.

“Seems as if Armenia will break talks on free trade agreement with
EU and integrate with Russia instead. U-turn,” tweeted Carl Bildt,
the Swedish foreign affairs minister, during a dinner with Nordic
and Baltic foreign ministers he hosted in the medieval Swedish city
of Visby.

“Destiny of our Eastern partners is in their hands and we do care
about neighbours of our neighbours,” Å tefan Fule, the enlargement
and neighbourhood commissioner, tweeted from the same event.

Russia is Armenia’s largest trading partner, and bilateral trade
grew 22% to $1.2 billion (â~B¬910 million) last year. Russia is
also the biggest foreign investor in the small Eurasian economy,
with a total of $3 billion (â~B¬2.27 billion) investments last year
in a country whose GDP amounted to $9.9 billion (â~B¬7.5 billion)
in 2012, according to the World Bank.

>From a Russian perspective, Yerevan’s decision to join its customs
union is more important politically than economically. As the EU
prepares to host a summit in Vilnius with its eastern neighbours –
Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan -, Russia
has simultaneously stepped up the pressure to keep those countries
within its own orbit.

On 28-29 November, the EU’s Lithuanian presidency will host the Eastern
Partnership Summit, where association agreements with Moldova, Georgia
and Armenia are expected to be initialled, and where an EU-Ukraine
association agreement is expected to be signed. These agreements are
accompanied by Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTA)
with the EU, which are making Moscow nervous.

Russia has set up its own so-called Customs Union, joined by Belarus
and Kazakhstan. EU officials made it clear that membership of the
Customs Union is incompatible with the DCFTAs.

Financial offer to Ukraine

Russia has so far failed to draw Ukraine into the Customs Union, but
continues to apply pressure on Kyiv to join. Yesterday (3 September),
the Russian daily Kommersant reported that Putin’s advisor Sergei
Glyazev had made a financial offer to Ukraine for it to join.

According to Glyazev, Ukraine would benefit $11 to $12 billion
(â~B¬8.34 to â~B¬9.1 billion) per year “in case of its participation to
the Eurasian integration process”. Kyiv’s benefit from reduced Russian
gas prices would amount to as much as $8 billion (â~B¬6 billion),
he was quoted as saying. Custom duties on gas and oil would also be
abolished, the advisor said, as well as “safeguard” and “technical”
barriers to bilateral trade.

Glyazev said that if Ukraine signs the association agreement with
the EU, it would “lose its independence” and would “stop being a full
partner” with Russia.

Putin’s advisor called the EU-Ukraine association agreement
“asymmetrical”, arguing that the “EU will receive everything, and
Ukraine will get only what EU deems necessary”.

Wine war with Moldova

Meanwhile, Russia is also stepping up pressure on Moldova.

On Monday (2 September), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
warned ChiÈ~YinÄ~Cu, the Moldovan capital, that signing an association
agreement with the European Union would have “serious consequences” for
the country’s future. And a Moldovan news website reported yesterday
that Moscow had threatened Chisinau with a “wine war” if went ahead
with its plan. Wine is the flagship export product of Moldova.

According to the website Moldova.org, the Russian Sanitary Service
“Rospotrebnadzor” announced that that some alcoholic beverages
originating from Moldova did not comply with Russian health and
safety regulations.

“Rospotrebnadzor” warned that if the competent authorities in Moldova
did not take action, Russia might decide to ban imports of wines and
other alcoholic beverages from Moldova.

The Moldovan economy relies mainly on agriculture and exports to
the Eastern market, such as Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet
republics, Modova.org said.

EU ministers are expected to discuss “neighbourhood policy” at their
Gymnich-type informal meeting in Vilnius on Friday and Saturday.

However, the potential presence of US State Secretary John Kerry and
the situation in Syria are expected to eclipse the issues concerning
the eastern partners.

From: Baghdasarian

HENRIKH MKHITARYAN’S TWO GOALS SYMBOLIZE HIS PLAYING STYLE

Football.co.uk
Sept 4 2013

Author: Armen Bedakian

Henrikh Mkhitaryan made headlines last week for his two-goal
performance for Borussia Dortmund, in the club’s 2-1 win over Eintracht
Frankfurt. Heno, who scored his first Bundesliga goal that day,
managed to pick up a brace, and while the two goals gave his side
the win, they also symbolized perfectly the kind of player that he is.

These two goals are the kind of goals that fans of Shakhtar Donetsk
and the Armenian national team have seen countless times before.

For Dortmund fans, these two goals, scored against Eintracht Frankfurt,
is but a sneak preview of what is to come. Mkhitaryan’s two goals were
very different, and yet, both encapsulate the kind of player that he
is. His is a talent that can be, at once, flashy and exciting or quite,
subdued but deadly. He is not like Mario Götze, in this regard, in
that players who mark Mkhitaryan have trouble committing to him with
his slow, tempered approach forward, and yet, if you give Mkhitaryan
an inch of space, it’s enough for the Armenian international to slot
home a goal.

The first goal, set up perfectly by Jakub BÅ~Baszczykowski after
intercepting the ball in midfield, was slotted away by Heno with a
finesse touch of the left shoe. It slipped past the keeper and opened
the Armenian international’s goalscoring account with Dortmund, in
as simple a way as possible. This is Mkhitaryan’s silent side. It is
his ability to remain cool under pressure and slip by defenders that
makes him such an attacking talent.

The first goal of the game was not just Mkhitaryan’s first in a
Dortmund shirt, but his first of many more, should his performances
for the national team and for Shakhtar Donetsk be any indication. His
time in Donetsk was riddled with these kinds of goals. It was a
well-established routine for Willian to find Mkhitaryan making a
slow, deceptive run passed enemy defenders before dragging his leg
and scoring a one-touch goal. Nothing fancy, nothing exceptionally
pleasing to the eye, but oh so very efficient. For a side built on
this very characteristic, Mkhitaryan’s efficiency gives Jurgen Klopp a
ready-made replacement for his departed German midfielder, Götze. His
goalscoring celebration, too, is a testament of this style of scoring.

Never more than a simple jog, arms perched at his sides, a slight smile
painted on his face. It’s as though Mkhitaryan knows that the goal was
simple enough, not warranting a backflip or anything too gaudy. A high
five with teammates and a goal on the scoreboard is more satisfying,
anyway. Yet, beneath the surface of this silent maestro, there is
another layer of goalscoring threat, one that manifests itself in
the beauty of a long-range strike. The second goal Mkhitaryan scored
against Frankfurt came from a solo run, when he cut in from the
right and shot with intent outside the box. This is another one of
Mkhitaryan’s specialties. He has scored from well outside the box
on numerous occasions and while this has earned him a reputation
in Ukraine, it’s a fact thatBundesliga sides have to learn quickly
and adjust accordingly to. Mkhitaryan is capable of picking out the
perfect moment to shoot and while his footwork and movement make him
a dangerous player in midfield, he does not have that aura of danger
that other players like Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery have – not yet,
anyway. It’s a reputation that has been earned by the latter two and
while Mkhitaryan is a new face in the Bundesliga, he will soon earn
a name for himself as a dangerous long-shot specialist. He is also
a very strong free kick taker, and has scored plenty of goals from
well outside the box off a dead ball.

These are Mkhitaryan’s two goalscoring styles – shots from outside
the box and tap-in goals from runs behind a defender. You will rarely
see Mkhitaryan score off a header, or sway his way through a wall of
defenders a la Lionel Messi. Instead, Mkhitaryan’s talent in front of
net is encompassed by these two styles of scoring. He’s a one-touch
player in the box and a menace outside of it. He lacks the conviction
of Robben or Cristiano Ronaldo but he makes up for it with his ability
to find space and slot goals home.

He is consistently efficient and disciplined to the point of deception
and flashy when needed – a perfect fit for Borussia Dortmund, who
are much the same, slipping their way behind the likes of Real Madrid
and making it to the Champions League final last season, winning the
Bundesliga in recent years passed. A one-touch goal and a long-range
drive, the yin and yang of Mkhitaryan’s style, set on display for
the Dortmund faithful to enjoy. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has arrived at
Borussia Dortmund – Bundesliga defenders, keep an eye out.

RISING STAR OF INTERNATIONAL SOCCER PLAYED AT BRANDYWELL: IS THAT HIM?

Londonderry Today, UK
Sept 4 2013

COVETED by Liverpool, highly-regarded by Shakhtar Donetsk, and the
hero at Borussia Dortmund at the weekend – firing the Westphalian
side to the top of the Bundesliga – he played at the Brandywell as
a teenager in 2007.

Derry City should have won that game but it was FC Pyunik of Yerevan
and Henrik Mkhitaryan who progressed to the next round of the UEFA
Cup that year. Nothing John Robertson could do about it.

Here’s a pic (above) of the Pyunik squad ahead of the Candystripes’
clash with the Armenian champions in Yerevan in 2007.

The Sentinel isn’t sure if that’s a young Henrik pictured fourth
from right in the back row. Any clarification from Pyunik, Shakhtar,
Borussia, and Armenia fans most welcome @L_Sentinel

ARMENIA BLOCKS CHANGE OF SIGNING EU TRADE AGREEMENT

, Turkey
Sept 4 2013

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas LinkeviÄ~Mius said “We respect any
choice of the countries, but they cannot join two organisations at
the same time due to differences in tariff issues”

Armenia has blocked its chances of signing an agreement on establishing
a free trade zone with the European Union, Lithuanian Foreign Minister
Linas LinkeviÄ~Mius said in his interview to AFP, Armenian Mediamax
reported.

Lithuania took over the Presidency of the Council of European Union
on July 1, 2013.

The EU respects the decision on joining the Customs Union which was
declared by the Armenian president in Moscow, but ‘two systems are
incompatible’, the Lithuanian minister noted.

“We respect any choice of the countries, but they cannot join two
organisations at the same time due to differences in tariff issues,”
Linas LinkeviÄ~Mius added.

ARMENIA EYES TO JOIN RUSSIA-LED TRADE BLOC

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 4 2013

NOVO-OGARYOVO – Reuters

Armenia will join a customs union led by its former Soviet master
Russia, President Serzh Sarksyan said on late Sept. 3 after talks
with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Much smaller than its energy-exporting neighbors, Armenia’s economy
will not hugely increase the union’s overall trade figures when it
joins Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in a bloc based on ties remaining
from the former Soviet Union.

But Putin welcomed the move as a diplomatic victory at a time when
he is struggling to bring former Soviet republics closer together
and stop Ukraine from slipping into the orbit of the European Union.

“The Russian side supports the decision by Armenia to enter the
customs union … We will fully work for this to happen,” Putin said.

Yerevan’s membership still must be approved by the other union members.

Russia is the country’s largest trading partner, and their bilateral
trade grew 22 percent to $1.2 billion last year. Russia is also
the biggest foreign investor in Armenia with a total of $3 billion
in investments.

September/04/2013