Month: September 2013

Kuwait News Agency
Sept 28 2013

Kuwaiti humanitarian donation to Syrian refugees in Armenia delivered

KUWAIT, Sept 28 (KUNA) — Under the directives of His Highness the
Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Ambassador to
Armenia Bassam Al-Qabandi has delivered a USD 100,000 donation to
Armenian authorities in support of Syrians refugees in Armenia.

The donation, given by the Kuwait-based International Islamic
Charitable Organization (IICO), was handed over by the Kuwaiti
diplomat to the Armenian Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan
yesterday, a Kuwait embassy statement faxed to KUNA here said.

During the event, the Armenian minister appreciated the Kuwaiti
leadership, government and people for ongoing support in all necessary
realms, most importantly education and health, according to the
statement.

On his part, the Kuwaiti diplomat stressed the importance of education
as a gate to civilized world.

The Daily News, North Dakota
Sept 27 2013

Author to speak in Wahpeton
Turcotte will share excerpts from `Nowhere: A Story of Exile’

By Carrie McDermott – Daily News [email protected] The
Daily News | 0 comments

Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, a Wahpeton High School graduate, will be
a guest speaker at several locations in Wahpeton next week.

Turcotte is the author of `Nowhere: A Story of Exile,’ which describes
the ethnic cleansing committed against Armenians by the Azerbaijan
government. She was recently awarded with the Mkhitar Gosh Medal, the
Armenian government’s highest civilian honor awarded for notable
state, public and political activities as well as significant services
in the areas of diplomacy, law and political science.

Turcotte’s family was forced to flee from the city of Baku in the
Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan when she was just a child, when the
majority Muslim Azeri population violently drove the minority
Christian Armenians from the country. Her family fled to Armenia but
faced prejudice there and didn’t speak the language.

After applying for refugee status, the family came to live in Wahpeton
in January 1992, when she was 14.

Turcotte, an attorney, will speak about adjusting to life in the
United States and the writing process, which evolved into her book, as
well as those who made the book possible. She became a U.S. citizen in
1997.

`It feels great coming back to Wahpeton this way, discussing the
plight of Armenians in Azerbaijan and many Armenians who are currently
in danger in Nagorno-Karabakh,’ she wrote in an email.

Of being awarded the Mkhitar Gosh Medal on Armenia’s Day of
Independence, she said, `It makes my parents and friends incredibly
proud of me. I am humbled and thankful to the Armenian people and
government for such an honor and will continue to work toward
Karabakh’s freedom, toward Baku pogrom (ethnic cleansing), awareness
and the prosperity of the Republic of Armenia.’

Turcotte is married with two children and lives in Maine. Her parents,
Norik and Irina Astvatsaturov, still reside in Wahpeton.

Turcotte will speak from 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1 at the Harry Stern
and Ella Stern Cultural Center on the North Dakota State College of
Science campus. The event is sponsored by the NDSCS Diversity Council
and the Mildred Johnson Library.

Later that afternoon, she will give an informal reading and discussion
at Antoinette’s on the River, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Her book will be
available at both events and she has offered to do book signings.

On Wednesday, Oct. 2 she will speak to English classes at Wahpeton
High School to discuss the writing process and offer advice to
students who aspire to become writers. At 5:30 p.m. she will speak at
Bethel Lutheran Church. Engagements in Fargo, Moorhead, Grand Forks
and Mayville are also scheduled for next week.

Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
September 26, 2013 Saturday

Coups, coup plots and plotters

ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- A number of high-ranking officers and influential
civilians were put on trial in Turkey because of their activities that
sought to overthrow the democratically elected government by force.
Most of them are now in jail, while others had to permanently leave
the country.

These coup trials have sparked a heated political debate in Turkey as
large segments of society had some unanswered questions in their
minds: For example, why we are judging only those who have “tried” to
overthrow the government, while many other generals and civilians who
in the past actually did intervene in national politics in one way or
another are walking free? When I say this, I am primarily thinking
about the Feb. 28, 1997 process, but one could add the 2007 military
memorandum to the list, as well. In addition, the public feels that
many other crimes committed to lay the groundwork for a military coup
also remain unpunished, like the murder of the Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink on Jan. 19, 2007. In that case, they have, of course, found
those who pulled the trigger, but not those who planned or cleared the
way for this murder. Similarly, I remember the assassination attempt
on the late President Turgut Özal in 1988, when they also caught the
gunman but never uncovered the masterminds.

All attempts to overthrow the democratically elected government with
political violence are crimes against democracy. One could even label
murders committed to achieve that goal as crimes against humanity.
Unfortunately, we are still not in a position to claim that there will
be no more coup plots from now on in Turkey simply because we had
dramatic coup trials. There are still many people who dream of getting
rid of the government by undemocratic means.

In the wake of the coup trials, the new trend is to effect a “coup”
without using the military. That means that the army stays behind and
remains silent while the “deep state” continues to work in different
ways. Don’t forget that the military establishment is but a component
of the deep state, not all of it, and that the deep state includes
many other players.

We have some clues that the deep state is still very active. The
essence of their new strategy is to have social uprisings that will
paralyze the government. These people must be very smart, as they
manage to get the government make the necessary mistakes that provoke
people to go into the streets to protest.

Every time the government prepares to make important decisions about
one of Turkey’s crucial problems, the deep state tries to prevent it
by using judicial and political tools. Social unrest, or contradictory
information about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) intentions, or
false intelligence about foreign developments are all used to
destabilize the government, and the latter sometimes takes the bait
for various reasons.

2014 will be a critical year for Turkey, with two important elections;
those who oppose the government want to seize the opportunity. They
have a problem; however, as they want the current government to go,
but they have no idea yet who will replace it or what kind of policy
the new team, whoever they might be, will implement.

If the deep state is still functioning — and I think it is — it is
trying to limit the government’s room to maneuver and buy time to
prepare those who are supposed to replace the current government. The
latter is well aware of what is going on, and perhaps that’s the
reason why it uses very harsh language these days. The government
gives the impression that it is angry at every single player in the
country and abroad because it doesn’t want to be destabilized or to be
limited. This struggle will probably deepen as the elections approach.
Maybe the way to break the vicious cycle is for the government to ease
the tension and find ways to cooperate with those who have problems
with the government.

BERIL DEDEOGLU (Cihan/Today’s Zaman) CIHAN

National Post, Canada
Sept 28 2013

Canada’s human rights museum was meant as a unifying force, but, so
far, has only inspired criticism

by Graeme Hamilton

Ukrainian-Canadians object that their exhibit is in a back gallery on
the way to the washrooms. Armenian-Canadians fear museum visitors will
be suffering genocide-overload by the time they encounter the display
explaining their people’s slaughter.

Palestinian-Canadians feel completely ignored, and a prominent Jewish
organization is miffed that the museum’s Holocaust gallery will not
discuss the creation of Israel.

Aboriginal leaders, meanwhile, are angry that the treatment of
Canada’s first people is not described as genocide.

The $351-million Canadian Museum for Human Rights is set to open next
year in Winnipeg, and so far things have not exactly turned out as
imagined when it was announced 10 years ago. Israel Asper, the media
mogul who conceived of the museum and whose family foundation
contributed $22-million to the project, hoped the building would be a
unifying force.

`We spend a lot of time and effort trying to create a sense of
Canadian identity and national unity and a lot of other clichés,’ Mr.
Asper, the founder of CanWest Global Communications, said at the time.
`But we don’t do the things that are needed to create that cohesion.’

Mr. Asper died six months later. While his project lived on – since
2008 as a national museum, the first to be built outside Ottawa – the
hoped-for cohesion remains a distant dream. Scholars say the sort of
division being seen today was inevitable from the moment a privately
conceived museum with a focus on the Holocaust was transformed into a
national human-rights institution expected to reflect multi-cultural
Canada.

`In a Darwinist zero-sum game, the highlighting of one group’s
genocide is experienced as obscuring another’s,’ historian Dirk Moses
writes of the museum controversy in a book to be published in
November.

>From the beginning, it was made clear that the Holocaust would feature
prominently in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a response to
earlier failed attempts by Jewish groups to have a Holocaust memorial
built in Ottawa, either standing alone or within the Canadian War
Museum. The Asper Foundation said in 2003 that the Winnipeg museum
would `incorporate the largest Holocaust gallery in Canada,’ a
commitment that was reaffirmed in the official summary of legislation
passed by Parliament in 2008 designating it a national museum.

The museum’s loudest critics have come from within the
Ukrainian-Canadian community, who fear the emphasis on the Holocaust
will obscure the Holodomor, the famine inflicted by Joseph Stalin that
killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33.

`Our position was and remains that no community’s suffering should be
elevated above all others in a national museum that is funded by the
taxpayer,’ said Lubomyr Luciuk, a Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties
Association member and professor of political geography at the Royal
Military College. The Holocaust deserves a prominent place in the
museum, he added, but it belongs `in a gallery that compares acts of
genocide before during and after the 20th century and not just in
Europe but in Africa, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere.’

Last April, museum officials hoping to mollify their critics invited
members of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in for a sneak peek, before
the exhibits were installed. It did not work. UCC president Paul Grod
responded with a statement saying he was `shocked’ and `deeply
troubled’ by the planned portrayal of the Holodomor and the First
World War internment of Ukrainian-Canadians.

In an interview, Mr. Grod predicted the museum is `going to create a
lot of tension. It’s going to create division, even in Manitoba.’ He
said that when he raised concerns that the display on the Holodomor
was in an out-of-the-way location, he was told there would be plenty
of traffic because it is on the way to the washrooms. `I didn’t know
whether I should be laughing or crying,’ he said. (Museum spokesperson
Maureen Fitzhenry said Mr. Grod’s claim that the Holodomor was
relegated to an obscure gallery near the toilets is incorrect, adding
that discussion of the Holodomor will feature in several of the
galleries.)

The Zoryan Institute, a North American think tank focused on Armenia,
has been critical of the museum, accusing officials last year of
`playing community politics’ and being cagey about plans to depict the
Armenian genocide. But in an interview this week, George Shirinian,
the institute’s executive director, said he has seen signs of
progress.

`When it became a national institution, everybody had to have their
two cents, and that’s where they ran into trouble,’ he said. `In the
early stages they mishandled rather badly and clumsily the concerns of
a broad base of Canadians.’ Now, he said, they understand that more
than one major case study of genocide needs to be explored to grasp
the relationship to human rights.

`Frankly, this issue about controversy? We embrace it. Why do we
embrace it? Because it comes with the nature of what human rights is
all about’
Still, his group has proposed a major change to the gallery called
Breaking the Silence, which is devoted to the five genocides
officially recognized by the Canadian Parliament (the Holocaust, the
Holodomor, the Armenian and Rwandan genocides and the Srebenica
genocide in Bosnia). Breaking the Silence comes after the separate
Holocaust gallery, and yet its first half is also devoted to the
Holocaust, Mr. Shirinian said.

`Our concern was, once you’ve gone through the Holocaust, you’re going
to be mostly devastated, and you’re not going to really absorb
anything from the other galleries, so the learning experience from
that other gallery is diminished, if not lost,’ he said. He said
museum officials told him they would consider his suggested change but
that it was late in the process for a major overhaul.

Rana Abdulla, a Palestinian-Canadian living in Winnipeg, figures the
only way visitors to the museum will learn about the experience of her
people is if she sets up her own exhibit outside the building. She
tried repeatedly since 2011 to plead her case to museum officials
without success.

`They left me with the impression that the museum doesn’t want to say
anything about he dispossession of the Palestinians or why my
grandparents, parents and my husband himself were forced out of their
homes,’ she said in an interview. `The lessons from the experience
appear doomed not to be shared with the public.’

While the Jewish community has largely supported the museum and its
emphasis on the Holocaust, B’nai Brith last month criticized as a
`misstep’ the decision not to include the 1948 creation of Israel in
the Holocaust gallery. David Matas, senior legal counsel for the
advocacy group, said the establishment of Israel must be addressed `to
come to grips with the human rights lessons of the Holocaust.’

Last month also saw Grand Chief Murray Clearsky of Manitoba’s Southern
Chiefs Organization fire off a letter to museum CEO Stuart Murray
objecting that the term `genocide’ will not be used to describe the
treatment of aboriginals. He noted that the Assembly of Manitoba
Chiefs had donated $1-million to the museum `with the understanding
that a true history of the treatment of First Nations people would be
on exhibit. It is now abundantly clear that Canada is choosing to
sanitize the true truth and continue with their agenda of minimizing
the many attempts of genocide perpetrated against the many peoples of
this land.’

In a chapter in the upcoming book Hidden Genocides, Mr. Moses, a
professor of history at the European University Institute in Florence,
Italy, said the museum’s handling of the story of Canada’s indigenous
people gets at a fundamental problem with a state-funded human rights
museum. (Ottawa has committed $21.7-million to annual operating
costs.) `As a proclaimed `human rights leader,’ it is impossible for
the state to admit to a genocidal foundation,’ he writes. `This is a
genocide whose name dare not be spoken in the museum.’

Jennifer Orange, an adjunct law professor at University of Toronto
specializing in international human rights, said the museum’s
dependence on government funding puts it in a difficult situation. She
cited the example of Liberty Osaka, a human rights museum in Japan
that is facing closure after the city withdrew its funding. The mayor
complained that the museum displays were too heavy on stories of
discrimination and light on hopes and dreams for the city’s children.

`Our position was and remains that no community’s suffering should be
elevated above all others in a national museum that is funded by the
taxpayer’
`What’s the role of this museum and what role can it possibly play
when the state is its funder?’ Ms. Orange asked of the Winnipeg
museum. `Is the museum going to be in a position to critique its
funder?’

Arthur Schafer, director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for
Professional and Applied Ethics, is a big supporter of the museum, but
he acknowledged that the museum might have to fight off government
interference. `Governments sometimes want everything to be
whitewashed. There will be controversy. There is a risk of
inappropriate influence,’ he said. `All of us have to be vigilant.’

In an interview, Mr. Murray, the museum CEO and a former leader of the
Manitoba Conservatives, said the museum is at arms length from the
government, and he has experienced no interference since his 2009
appointment.

`To say that we’re not going to shine a light in dark corners on some
of Canada’s history, we absolutely will. We must, to be relevant,’ he
said. `But there’s always a balance.’ Stories of human-rights abuses
will be accompanied by `positive stories that we use to inspire hope
and action.’

Despite the controversy the museum has sown, he remains upbeat and
says the opening late next year will contribute to a new attitude
sweeping the city, exemplified by the return of the Winnipeg Jets
hockey team and a new polar bear exhibit being built at the
Assiniboine Park Zoo. `There’s a kind of renaissance happening in
Winnipeg,’ he said. `We’re proud to be a part of that.’

The museum may not yet have achieved the unity imagined by Mr. Asper,
but Mr. Murray said a little discord can be a good thing.

`People are passionate about who they are, people are passionate about
their culture, and we respect that,’ he said. `Frankly, this issue
about controversy? We embrace it. Why do we embrace it? Because it
comes with the nature of what human rights is all about.’

National Post

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
September 27, 2013 Friday

Saakashvili predicted the imminent departure of Vladimir Putin from the Kremlin

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, on Wednesday at the General
Assembly of the UN, devoted a large part of his speech to his vision
of Russia’s role in the region and its impact on the former republics
of the USSR , including Georgia.

According to the VOA, President Saakashvili predicted the imminent
departure “of the former KGB agent Vladimir Putin” from the Kremlin,
the end of the “Russian Empire,” the failure of a project called
“Eurasian Union,” condemned the continuing “annexation of Georgian
territories” by Russia, explained why Georgia recognized the genocide
of Circassians, described Georgia’s achievements during his tenure,
and asked forgiveness from those Georgian citizens whose lives he was
not able to make better. His speech was passionate and imaginative.
Around the middle of his speech, the Russian delegation, in protest,
left the meeting hall of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

“In a few years, Vladimir Putin will leave the Kremlin and will
disappear from Russian politics,’ said Saakashvili. `Russian citizens
will remember him as the ghost of the old times – times of corruption
and repression. No one knows whether this process will be peaceful or
violent, whether his successor will be liberal or nationalist, or
both, but the important thing is that Russia will cease to be an
empire and will become a normal state.”

Saakashvili said that Russia continues to annex Georgian territories
and thereby weakens Georgia. He said that at a meeting with Viktor
Yanukovych in the UN the day before, he complained to Saakashvili
about the strong pressure exerted on him by Russia. Saakashvili said
that strong states – former Soviet republics – Ukraine, Moldova,
Armenia and Azerbaijan are unprofitable for Russia.

“Do you think that Putin wants Armenia to gain the upper hand in the
conflict with Azerbaijan? No. This would make Armenia too strong and
potentially too independent. Or do you think that the reverse is true
– that Moscow wants Baku to prevail over Yerevan?’ – said in his
speech Saakashvili , referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict .
`-No, they do not want anyone to win, as the conflict is their
purpose, as it prevents nations to become independent and blocks their
integration into the European Union.”

Saakashvili said that “the idea of the Eurasian Union was formed as an
alternative to the EU, and for Vladimir Putin, it is the main project
of his new presidential term.”

“Eurasian Union is based on the principles opposite to the principles
founding the European Union’ – said Saakashvili. – `It feeds
intolerance and is headed by former KGB agents, and its purpose is to
revive the old empire. Accession to the Eurasian Union is simple –
there are no social, political or economic criteria. Become a colony –
it’s very simple. The only requirement is passivity and mediocrity.”

Saakashvili warned that in Georgia and other countries – the former
Soviet republics – there are `horns’ working for Russia, who are
trying to discredit the European Union and its values.

“This fifth column relates to the destruction of the family values,
the destruction of national traditions and the promotion of gays and
lesbians by the EU,’ Saakashvili said. `It is strange that in recent
years and months in Tbilisi , Kiev and Chisinau, we hear the same ugly
music, orchestrated by Moscow – we hear that our traditions are
destroyed under pressure from the West, that the Christian holidays
will be replaced by the gay parades, and that churches will turn to
Disneyland … ”

`At that time, as the region is the center of confrontation,’
continued the President of Georgia, `the former conquered nations
should unite to be stronger and not to cultivate their weaknesses.
Unity must be our rule in Eastern Europe, including the Caucasus,”
said President Saakashvili. He also noted the achievements of
Georgia’s economy, the fight against corruption and crime during his
stay in power for two terms, and admitted his responsibility to those
who did not achieve anything in the period of his presidency.

“We made a lot of big things,’ Saakashvili said, `But I understand
that many of them have got a price. We wanted to make a triumphed new
reality as soon as possible, against external and internal threats,
and in that rush I did … sometimes too much, sometimes not enough. I
take full responsibility and I care about the fate of those who
believe that they did not get enough of our work – or even were
victims of our radical methods.”

It was a farewell speech by President Saakashvili to the General
Assembly. His second and final term as the head of state expires.

Shortly after the speech of President Saakashvili, the Russian Mission
to the United Nations issued the following statement:

“After the failure of his unleashed bloody adventure in South Ossetia
in 2008, Saakashvili’s speeches at the UN General Assembly have always
been anti-Russian with rude attacks. This time it was not even an
address, but a set of crazy inventions, which were not just
anti-Russian, but anti-Orthodox and Russophobian in character.
Fortunately, for the Georgian people the political career of this man,
whose mental condition requires professional judgment, is near its
sunset.”

The Russian delegation demonstratively left the hall of the General
Assembly during the speech of the President of Georgia Mikheil
Saakashvili. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman,
Alexander Lukashevich, this was done “in disagreement with the
assessments, which Mr. Saakashvili aired from the podium of the
General Assembly.” -0 –

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
September 27, 2013 Friday

Gasanli: Ilham Aliyev turned Azerbaijan into holding company

Jamil Gasanli and other opposition leaders were once again under
attack by most of the presidential candidates in debates on public
television in the evening on September 26. In turn, the presidential
candidate of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) Gasanli
again spoke personally with corruption allegations against President
Ilham Aliyev.

Opponents of Gasanli this time chose a slightly different tack. At
first , they sent a spike of attacks against other opposition leaders,
Isa Gambar and Ali Kerimli , and especially against the latter, and
tried to present Gasanli cheated “victim ” of these politicians.

So , Zahid Oruc said that the environment of Gasanli in NCDF by hiding
behind his back is not coming to the debate , and after the elections
they will leave him on the field alone, as they did with Abulfaz
Elchibey .

In response Gasanli said that he is running for president in person
and therefore he has nothing to blame other politicians in the studio.
Gasanli, in turn urged his critics not to act as trustees for Ilham
Aliyev.

After that, he became the target of attacks.

So, Zahid Oruj put the blame on him for applausing Heydar and Ilham
Aliyev in the parliament and other government activities, and Gudret
Gasanguliev reminded that Gasanli was once expelled from the Popular
Front for the fact that he went against the decision of the party for
the sake of his MP mandate.

In response Gasanli said that Oruj does not have the moral right to be
a member of parliament, as the European Court of Human Rights declared
illegal the election in his district, having satisfied the complaint
of another candidate , a member of the Popular Front Party Nemat
Aliyev.

Next, Gasanli referring to the authorized representative of Ilham
Aliyev , the executive secretary of the ruling party New Azerbaijan
Ali Akhmedov, asked him to report on the 48 billion dollars taken from
the country by the ruling elite.

I addition, Gasanli recalled that exactly a year passed since the
scandal known as Gulargate (in exile the former rector of the
Azerbaijan International University Elshad Abdullayev, 26 September
2012 put on the Internet a video of his conversation with the then
deputy Gular Ahmadova, during which Ahmadova promised Abdullayev to
elect him to parliament in the 2005 elections and assured him of
inclusion in the President’s list). Gasanli reminded that in this
conversation , both the briber and the bribe-taker were members of the
New Azerbaijan.

Noting that the usurpation of power is the gravest crime against the
state, Gasanli claimed responsibility of the party New Azerbaijan and
its leader for that.

He said the chairman of the party New Azerbaijan “either gives or
sells the parliamentary seats.”

In response Akhmedov expressed the opinion that “very little time
remains before giving Jamil Gasanli to law enforcement agencies for
his defamatory statements.”

Akhmedov denied the export of $ 48 billion, said that ” Azerbaijan
does not have such money,” and all of these are inventions of
anti-Azerbaijani minded foreign media . As for the same “Gulargate”,
then, as Akhmedov said, Gular Ahmadova is held responsible and will
soon appear in court .

He accused Gasanli of a “revanchist” speech .

Next Gasanli touched on the topic of monopolies in Azerbaijan in
various spheres.

According to him, in fact, in Azerbaijan, there is “one monopoly –
Ilham Aliyev, who runs the country , as if his own holding .”

At the same time , according to Gasanli , the population of the
country is in a difficult social situation . So, he said, while 140
million manat is allocated annually from the state budget for free
medicines for certain categories of patients , most of them do not
receive these drugs.

Saving time on the last TV debate performance, the head of the party
Modern Musavat Hafiz Hajiyev called Gasanli, who had already left the
studio, “father-in-law of Armenians” and “traitor.” -06D

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 28 2013

Azerbaijan calls on the international community to demand from Armenia
to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiation

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 29 / Trend /

Azerbaijan calls on the international community to demand from Armenia
to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiation,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said delivering a
speech at the UN General Assembly.

“Twenty years ago, in 1993, the United Nations Security Council
adopted four resolutions – 822, 853, 874 and 884 – condemning the use
of force against Azerbaijan and the occupation of its territories. In
those resolutions the Council reaffirmed respect for the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, reconfirmed that the
Nagorno-Karabakh region is an integral part of Azerbaijan and demanded
the immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying
forces from all the occupied territories”, Minister said.

Principled Security Council demands, including in the first place the
withdrawal of the occupying forces from the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan, have still not been implemented, and the mediation efforts
conducted for more than 20 years within the framework of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have yet to
yield results.

Armenia’s continued annexationist claims and consistent measures it
undertakes in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan with a view to
further consolidating the current status quo of the occupation and
preventing the return of hundreds of thousands internally displaced
persons to their homelands represent an open challenge to the conflict
resolution process and pose a serious threat to international and
regional peace and security.

“Armenia’s annexationist policy has absolutely no chance of success.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region was, is and will be an inalienable part of
Azerbaijan. The only way to achieve a durable and lasting solution and
establish civilized relations between two neighboring States is to
de-occupy Azerbaijani territories, fully re-establish the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and immediately provide for
compliance with the inalienable right of refugees and internally
displaced persons to return to their homes. That is what international
law and the relevant Security Council resolutions require, and that is
what that can in no way be introduced as a bargaining chip in the
conflict-settlement process. Above all, Azerbaijan will never
compromise its territorial integrity or the rights and freedoms of its
citizens”, Mammadyarov said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister stressed, that Azerbaijani and Armenian
communities of Nagorno-Karabakh will one day live side by side in
peace and dignity in this region of Azerbaijan. It is therefore
essential and vital to continue efforts for peace, accord and
coexistence between the two communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh
region. Azerbaijan consider these aspects as an important part of the
entire reconciliation process, which should be given due attention.

“Azerbaijan highly appreciates the principled stance of the States
Members of the United Nations expressed in various formats on issues
of vital importance for Azerbaijan and pertaining to its sovereignty
and territorial integrity. We count on the continued resolve of the
international community in defending the purposes and principles of
the UN Charter and its strong solidarity with the just position of
Azerbaijan”, Mammadyarov said.

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 28 2013

Elnur Aslanov: `We are creating full conditions for open and
transparent elections, we are decisive’

[ 28 September 2013 14:06 ]

Baku – APA. A senior Azerbaijani official from the presidential
administration has hailed the progress the oil-and gas-rich country
has made in the past two decades in consolidating democracy and
increasing prosperity, APA reports quoting TODAYS ZAMAN.

Elnur Aslanov, chief of the Presidential Administration’s Political
Analysis and Information Department, talked about the country’s
improving democratic development and rapidly shifting face. Calling
his country a nation with an `eastern mentality and western
pragmatism,’ Aslanov had no doubt that Azerbaijan has made great
progress toward democracy, noting that there is still a road ahead.

Aslanov’s remarks came at a time when nearly a dozen presidential
candidates, including incumbent President Ilham Aliyev, are
campaigning for a presidential seat in a vote slated for next month.
Offering a glimpse into Azerbaijan’s domestic politics, economic
development and foreign policy, Aslanov presented a country that rose
from the ashes in a troubled region still facing spasms of poverty and
devastating wars.

Aslanov noted that recent polls showed Aliyev in the lead with a
nearly 80 percent approval rating, a sign that the current president
will likely emerge victorious in next month’s election for his third
straight win. Despite having the wind in its sails, ahead still lies
the harder work for the government of matching the expectations of the
public, with unresolved conflict with neighboring Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh lingering as the top agenda item for years.

Aslanov continued that political reforms are being conducted in
parallel with economic development in the country, where an oil
windfall catapulted an impoverished nation in the early 1990s into one
of the region’s powerhouses and has survived severe global financial
meltdown over the past five years. The Azerbaijani official said that
authorities have taken very important steps in establishing democratic
institutions, political parties and pluralism, and that the
establishment and strengthening of democratic processes and
institutions is the responsibility of the Azerbaijani government. He
spoke about an independent media and said unhindered Internet access
provides a `very wide’ platform for any political force in the country
to present its programs to the electorate. He pointed to a number of
bloggers, political parties, media outlets, Internet TV channels and
radio stations as evidence of the step-by-step progress of democracy
in Azerbaijan.

`Democracy is not a concept like an apple that you buy and make it
happen,’ Aslanov said, referring to a famous quotation from late
President Heydar Aliyev, who argued for a long process of managed
democracy. Aslanov championed a better democracy when a new
intellectual generation emerges with a new vision for the future,
pointing to a government plan to send at least 5,000 students abroad
to study with full financial support. He also stressed that more than
15,000 Azerbaijan students are studying abroad, which means what he
called the creation of a new `intellectual class’ that will provide
fertile ground for Azerbaijan’s economic and political development in
the future.

When asked about the government’s policies since the last presidential
elections, Aslanov preferred to look at the issue as a whole and said
the country’s progress started in 1993 with Heydar Aliyev and his
virtuosic oil and social-economic strategy, which he said has been
yielding tangible fruit since 2003. The official observed that the
number of people below the poverty line has fallen significantly, from
50 to 6 percent, in the past 10 years, while the state budget expanded
tenfold, reaching nearly $30 billion. Aslanov said that Azerbaijan’s
military budget at the moment is bigger than the entire budget of
Armenia, a neighboring country that occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territory in a full-fledged war in the early 1990s.

Aslanov said that Azerbaijan’s current economy accounts for nearly 80
percent of the economy of the entire South Caucasus — clear evidence
of Azerbaijan’s development. He also observed that the look of the
capital Baku, as well as those of other provinces, is swiftly
changing, while the government has created more than a million jobs, a
significant number for a country of nine million. He added that the
financial support the government allocates for the youth increased by
a striking 100 times in the past 10 years, highlighting the
government’s serious attempts to improve the conditions in which
youths live and work.

Regarding the country’s political opposition, Aslanov complained about
the lack of concrete initiatives for the improvement of society among
today’s opposition leaders, some of whom briefly ruled the country
after the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union but had to abandon
power due to severe economic hardship and the ongoing war with
Armenia.

Although the official said that it wouldn’t be right for a bureaucrat
like him to criticize the programs of opposition leaders, he commented
on some ideas put forward by the opposition — including the
suggestion that foreign investments made with state oil money should
be brought back to Azerbaijan and distributed to the public. Aslanov
said that and similar ideas are proof that the opposition leaders
`have no idea about inflation or the appropriate management of
finance.’

Aslanov assured that measures to ensure `full democratic conditions’
for the elections are underway. He declined to say these conditions
are fully established now because the process is `ongoing and
progressing.’ He added that although the idea of `perfect’ elections
is a bit utopian, even in leading advanced democracies, Azerbaijan
will take necessary steps and measures to ensure that the will of the
people is expressed in genuine, free and fair elections.

The opposition in Azerbaijan has long complained that the government
rigged elections and that there is no democratic environment for the
opposition to express their grievances. Long- and short-term election
observation missions pointed to some defects and shortcomings in their
reports on previous elections, but also noted that the polls
constitute a step forward toward healthy democracy.

Aslanov said that 1,000 polling stations out of a total of 5,000 are
equipped with cameras that will make it easier for `anyone in the
world to observe how the voting and counting is conducted’ in next
month’s presidential elections. He noted that hundreds of foreign
election observers have been invited to Azerbaijan and that
institutions like the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE/ODIHR), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have already established
observation missions.

`We are creating full conditions for open and transparent elections,
we are decisive,’ Aslanov said, adding that the elections will
determine the future of the Azerbaijani people and that the government
is interested in holding these elections democratically. He said no
government would take action that would only invite criticism.

Regarding Internet freedoms, Aslanov underlined that the government
has always been against imposing restrictions. `And it always will
be,’ he said, adding that authorities significantly cut the price of
Internet access and that the post-Soviet country has turned from an
Internet transit country into a nation that is directly connected to
the global network of the World Wide Web. His country, he continued,
is the only CIS member that has introduced 4G and has the fastest
growing mobile network.

Aslanov argued that the government is supporting the idea of
transparent, open and rapid improvement of the Internet and rejected
the claims that the Web is being controlled. He added that dozens of
Web TV and radio stations as well as hundreds of pro-government and
outspoken bloggers are contributing to the open nature of the Web. He
pointed to Facebook as an example of a major platform for political
activism in Azerbaijan. It would be impossible for any government to
control the social media platform, he said. `We don’t have any desire
or intention to do that anyway.’

He said it is absolutely normal that opposition activists are posting
status messages on Twitter and that this reflects competition. But he
warned against making personal insults and said that `hiding behind
the walls of the virtual world’ and insulting someone is a criminal
act.

The Azerbaijani official complained about the stereotypes with which
the country is viewed from the West. This, he claimed, has resulted in
double standards in Western policies in the region. He said the most
evident example of such double standards was the dubious Western
position on the Armenian elections earlier this year. `One candidate
was shot, another ate ballots and the other symbolically declared
himself president,’ Aslanov said. `Three out of four presidential
candidates, who had a significant number of followers, declared the
elections illegitimate, while the leading Western institutions
described the vote as democratic.’

Regarding the overall situation in the South Caucasus, Aslanov said
that Azerbaijan, blessed with abundant natural treasures, is located
in an important geostrategic location, bordering with flashpoint Iran
and sitting atop oil riches and huge untapped gas reserves.

Aslanov said Azerbaijan is among the countries that provide energy
security for Europe and is a key transit country for the planned 2014
pullout of NATO troops and military hardware from Afghanistan. He
added that Azerbaijan is rapidly becoming a country that shapes the
region’s future.

He shied from saying Azerbaijan had the energy clout to compete with
Russia, but he said he sees Baku wielding significant power regarding
the diversification of energy transportation.

On the current geopolitical situation of Azerbaijan, Aslanov made
cautious remarks regarding relations with Russia and Iran. He said
that both are important countries for the stability and prosperity of
the region and that Azerbaijan is interested in bolstering ties with
these countries despite sometimes rocky relations.

Aslanov said a recent visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to
Azerbaijan was “successful” and that both Russia and Azerbaijan are
interested in maintaining what he called a “strategic partnership”
between the two countries.

Regarding Iran, Aslanov expressed “regret” over sharp remarks Iran
directed at Azerbaijan as Baku held the Eurovision song contest last
year.

Aslanov accused “some individuals and groups” of trying to damage
Iranian-Azerbaijani ties, without mentioning if they were somehow
linked to the Iranian government. He hailed shared historical and
cultural roots with Iran and said the country has deep-seated state
traditions. Azerbaijan, he said, is interested in preserving good
neighborly ties with Tehran as its stability and prosperity are
directly linked to stability in the South Caucasus.

The Azerbaijani official added that Azerbaijan is working to settle
problems — when they happen between the two nations — through formal
and informal channels.

Aslanov, however, rebuked Iran for its close ties with Armenia,
Azerbaijan’s archenemy, and said that economic privileges granted to
Armenia, especially by Iran, are the primary motivation for Yerevan’s
continuing with its policy of occupation and taking a non-constructive
role in peace talks to settle the perennial Karabakh conflict.

Stressing that Baku is disturbed by Iran’s Armenia policy, Aslanov
said Armenia would behave in a constructive way and act more
rationally if Iran joined Turkey and Azerbaijan in isolating Armenia.

Turkey shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of
solidarity with Azerbaijan after the aggressor state refused to heed
calls to leave occupied Azerbaijani territories. The two countries
don’t have diplomatic relations.

Aslanov also said that at least 100,000 people leave Armenia every
year due to economic hardship and that Armenia would have acted more
prudently if Iran had put economic and political pressure on the
country.

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 28 2013

Azerbaijani FM discusses Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with U.S. Under Secretary

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 28 /Trend M. Aliyev/

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the U.S. Under
Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman during the visit to New
York to attend the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, a report
of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press service said on Saturday.

The meeting focused on issues such as the development of bilateral
relations between Azerbaijan and the U.S., settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the issue of use
of chemical weapons in Syria, which is on the agenda of the UN
Security Council.

From: Baghdasarian

Supporters of `Pre-Parliament’ Initiative Attacked in Yerevan

09.27.2013 12:52 epress.am

Two prominent supporters of the Nakhakhorhrdaran (“pre-parliament”)
initiative living in Yerevan’s Arabkir administrative district, Suren
Gevorgyan and Sahak Poghosyan, were attacked yesterday evening in
their courtyard, according to the initiative’s Facebook page.

The initiative claims that assailant, whose name was not reported,
said it was their political activity that led to his actions. “You
want to send our people to the dogs?” he reportedly said before
throwing a vodka bottle at Gevorgyan, who sustained an injury.
Gevorgyan and his attacker later went to the Arabkir police station to
testify, after which Gevorgyan was taken to the hospital.

As reported by Nakhakhorhrdaran member Syuzan Simonyan on her Facebook
page, doctors diagnosed Gevorgyan with cerebral hematoma. He has to
remain in intensive care for 3 days.