Month: September 2013

ARMENIAN WOMEN’S GROUP THREATENED

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting # 702
Sept 20 2013

Women’s Resource Centre becomes target of abuse even though it
wasn’t actually involved in drafting a gender equality law hated
by conservatives.

By Gohar Abrahamyan – Caucasus

A prominent Armenian women’s rights organisation has received bomb
threats amid a public controversy surrounding a gender rights bill.

The Women’s Resource Centre, founded in 2003 to campaign for
reproductive and sexual health, to combat rape and to improve women’s
position in society, has received a number of threatening messages.

The centre’s director Lara Aharonian has asked the police to look
into the threats, which included Facebook comments like “We need to
blow up this Women’s Resource Nest”, and “We’ll slit your throats”.

“We’ve received abuse before and haven’t paid it much attention,”
Aharonian told IWPR. However, we’ve recently become the target of
specific threats, and we are particularly alarmed by statements
threatening to blow up the organisation.”

Threats of this kind have been taken seriously by civil society
groups like Aharonian’s since last year, when a gay-friendly club
called DIY was attacked and burned down.

At the time, DIY club director Armine Oganesova, said she had
repeatedly reported earlier threats, but police had ignored them.

After the arson attack, Oganesova left Armenia and received asylum
in Sweden.

The Women’s Rights Centre has won support from 30 NGOs working on
rights issues, which have urged the police to track down those behind
the threats.

Nvard Piliposyan, a lawyer for the Women’s Rights Centre, noted that
while “hate speech is a concept used in international law and in many
countries, it has no legal force in Armenia, although Article 47 of
the Constitution does bar the use of rights and freedoms to spread
ethnic, racial or religious hatred”.

Aharonian says threats to the Women’s Resource Centre escalated after
parliament passed a law enshrining equal rights for men and women. The
use of the term “gender” in the law enraged conservatives who warned
that it might encourage homosexuality and undermine traditional family
values. (See Storm Over “Gender” Word in Armenia.)

Aharonian pointed out that although she supports the law and believes
it will benefit the country, the Women’s Resource Centre had nothing
to do drafting it. Instead, she said, conservative activists seized
on her organisation as a convenient target.

“The recently-formed All-Armenian Parents’ Committee, whose entire
activity is based around an incorrect interpretation of the word
“gender” and on spreading hatred, has created the atmosphere in which
these threats are being made,” she said.

Arman Boshyan, one of the leaders of the Parents’ Committee, which
was set up in July, denied any involvement in intimidation or violence.

“We are not so stupid as to make threats. We are fighting for peace
and happiness,” he said. “They say they’ve received threats. I’ve
been asking them for the last month to send us an electronic copy of
these threats, but I haven’t received anything yet,” he said.

Boshyan said the moderators of his committee’s website and Facebook
page made an effort to remove any comment that advocated violence or
breaking the law.

Turning to the Women’s Resource Centre, he said it was responsible for
a leaflet called “Let’s Talk about Sex”, which provides reproductive
health information for women aged 18-plus.

“It’s supposed to be for health purposes but when I showed it to a
doctor, he said that in fact the suggestions could actually contribute
to a reader getting an infection,” Boshyan said.

The leaflet has provoked hostility from conservative-minded Armenians
ever since it came out in 2008. They include Hayk Babukhanyan, a
member of parliament from the governing Republican Party, who even
tried to get state prosecutors to seek a ban on the grounds that the
sexual health information was pornographic.

Aharonian noted that Babukhanyan has regularly called for the Women’s
Resource Centre to be closed.

Last year, her centre won a libel case against one of the publications
owned by the Iravnuk Media group, which belongs to Babukhanyan.

Despite that victory, she says her staff are still subjected to
harassment and misinformation by parts of the media.

Anna Nikoghosyan, programme manager for the NGO Society Without
Violence, said women’s rights groups did an essential job in Armenia.

“Women’s organisations have existed in Armenia for close to 15 years
now, and they have helped tens of thousands of women and girls. These
organisations have often assumed the duties and functions of the state,
compensating for the authorities’ shortcomings on women’s rights, such
as setting up phone hotlines and rapid-response teams for domestic
and sexual violence,”

Last year, she said, women’s rights organisations took 3,300 phone
calls and responded to about 850 cases of sexual or domestic violence.

Gohar Abrahamyan is a reporter for ArmeniaNow.com.

From: A. Papazian

FAMILY BOYCOTTS RETRIAL FOR MURDER OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST

Al-Monitor
Sept 20 2013

By: Yavuz Baydar for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse Posted on September 20.

It was an assassination that left an extraordinary mark on the
Turkish judiciary, justice and public conscience. So did the tragedy
it symbolized. With the case of Hrant Dink returned to ground zero
six years after the murder, the victim’s family lost its patience in
an open letter.

Hrant Dink, editor of the weekly Agos, the voice of Turkey’s Armenian
community, was gunned down on Jan. 19, 2007, in a busy Istanbul
street by a young man named Ogun Samast. The murder reverberated
beyond Turkey’s borders in a matter of hours.

Dink was the 62nd journalist to be killed in Turkey since a libertarian
constitution was introduced in 1908. Yet, because of his Armenian
background and much-admired courage, along with the reform process
Turkey was undergoing, his murder trial, which opened in July 2007,
became the most significant litmus test for Turkish justice.

Exasperated by a spate of murky political murders in the 1980s and
1990s, and encouraged by government statements, the Turkish public
saw in the trial a “threshold of hope.”

The Dink family hoped that the judicial process would uncover the
assailant’s links to “shady deep state” mechanisms – a “terrorist
organization” structure – that they believed was behind the murder.

In the months leading up to the assassination, Dink stood trial three
times for “insulting Turkishness,” under the infamous Article 301 of
the penal code, and was convicted in two of the cases. He was summoned
to the Istanbul governor’s office, where members of the intelligence
service, MIT, “cautioned” him over Agos stories. Shortly before his
murder, far-right types were spotted around the Agos office, and the
newspaper was flooded with threats to “shut up.”

The case of his murder gradually transformed into a tussle between the
judges and the Dink family’s legal team as evidence was presented and
rejected and the process dragged on. Many of the requests by the Dink
lawyers were either turned down or lost in the labyrinth of red tape.

After six years, the case wrapped up with 18 convictions for “ordinary
murder.”

The Supreme Court of Appeals has now deepened the family’s tragedy,
overturning the lower court’s rulings and ordering a review of the
case. It rejected the argument that a “state-harbored terrorist
organization” was behind Dink’s murder, holding that the suspects
should be retried on charges of belonging to an ordinary criminal
organization, that is, a mafia-style enterprise.

In a dramatic move, Dink’s devastated wife and children released an
open letter to the Turkish public and international audience.

“As the Dink Family, we will no longer be a tool in the game of state
structures that insults us and will not attend the hearings of the
review of the murder case,” the letter stated. It further read, “Since
the slaying of Hrant Dink on January 19, 2007, the system in Turkey –
with its judiciary, security forces, military and civilian bureaucracy,
and political institutions – has all but mocked us. While pretending
to pursue justice, the criminal alliance called the state re-committed
the murder day by day, hearing by hearing, over and over again. This
alliance is the very crime syndicate that planned the murder and then
covered it up. … No effective investigation was conducted at any
stage of this case. The biggest insult, however, came from the court
when it ruled that no organization was involved in the murder.”

The Dink’s letter leveled harsh criticism at the government of the
Justice and Development Party (AKP): “In this case, political will was
the only thing necessary to uncover the state’s murder mechanisms and
the criminal alliance. Despite all its public statements and pledges,
the government persistently refrained from displaying political will.

Far from pursuing the case as a ‘matter of honor,’ the government chose
to use the murder – perpetrated during its own rule – as a trump card
to prosecute offenders only when the gun was pointed at itself.

It boasted, ‘No murder has remained unresolved during our term,’
ignoring the slaying of the only Armenian in republican history who
had waged a vocal struggle for human rights. We are no longer part
of this show. We have no expectation from anything in which the state
is either in front of or behind the curtain.”

Last week, one of the Dink family’s attorneys, Fethiye Cetin,
published Utanc Duyuyorum (I Feel Ashamed), a book recounting how
the case proceeded. She argues that it is extremely unlikely that
justice will prevail unless public pressure cranks up.

Cetin complains of apathy on the part of the powerful Istanbul Bar
Association because of Dink’s Armenian heritage. She also argues that
the prosecutor, Zekeriya Oz, known for investigating coup networks,
such as Ergenekon, was hampered by the “deep state” and that collusion
between the state and the elected government was instrumental in
covering up the murder. The book provides a detailed accounting of
these arguments.

An analysis published Sept. 19 by Radikal, which has closely followed
the case, contained a startling assessment: “All public servants
suspected of involvement or negligence in the murder have been
promoted. [Former Istanbul governor] Muammer Guler became interior
minister, while [former Istanbul police chief] Celalettin Cerrah
was appointed governor of Osmaniye. The then-Trabzon police chief,
Ramazan Akyurek, and Engin Dinc succeeded each other in ascending to
the helm of the police’s intelligence department. Avni Usta, who had
filed the criminal complaint against Dink under Article 301, became
the police chief of Sirnak. Nihat Omeroglu and Muhittin Mihcak, who
were instrumental in the Appeals Court’s decision to uphold Dink’s
conviction under Article 301, were elected public ombudsman and
deputy public ombudsman, respectively. The head of the appeals court,
Hasan Gerceker, ascended to the Arbitration Board, and Hasan Erbil to
the chief prosecutor’s office. … The [implicated] policemen never
appeared before court. And the investigation into public servants
continues under the veil of secrecy.”

Dink devoted his life to trying to improve the conditions of Turkey’s
70,000-strong Armenian minority, the normalization of ties between
Turkey and Armenia, Ankara’s recognition of the great Armenian tragedy
in 1915 and rapprochement between Turkey and the Armenian diaspora.

With the seventh anniversary of his murder approaching, there is
no visible progress in any of these areas. Similarly, there is no
mention of Armenians in ongoing speculation about the prospective
democratization package, whose official announcement has been postponed
until late September. The only positive development so far has been
the return of about one-fourth of the properties the state had seized
from non-Muslim minorities.

The Armenians are divided over AKP rule. Some complain about the slow
pace of reform, while others refrain from criticizing the government
on the grounds that they are better off compared to in the past. On
the political front, Turkish-Armenian normalization remains “on the
shelf.” The issue has moved down on Turkey’s foreign affairs agenda,
now overwhelmed by the Middle East, and there is no sign of when it
will be taken up again.

In the meantime, the 100th anniversary, in 2015, of the Armenian
deportations is approaching. The current inertia is of no help in
dispelling the mistrust of the Armenian diaspora. One does not have to
be clairvoyant to see that the course of the Dink murder case will be
of crucial significance for those who expect a multifaceted opening
in Turkey’s ossified Armenian problem.

Yavuz Baydar is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse. A
journalist since 1979, he has been a radio reporter, news presenter,
producer, TV host, foreign correspondent, debater and, in recent
years, a news ombudsmen for the daily Sabah. His opinion pieces can
be followed in the English-language daily Today’s Zaman.

YEREVAN IN THE CLUTCH OF GEOPOLITICAL POLES (SECOND ROUND)

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 20 2013

20 September 2013 – 10:44am

Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

President Serzh Sargsyan’s declaration about joining the Customs Union
did not put an end to geopolitical processes around Armenia. Moscow
won the first round of the struggle. The second round has already
started. It is peculiar with topicality of the favourite issue of
the West – the violation of human rights. Concerns about the problem
were expressed by the US Embassy in Armenia and Human Rights Watch,
urging the Armenian authorities to punish people responsible for
attacking civil activists.

The reaction of the Europeans was very harsh, in general. But the
violence targeted Russia, a country that, according to the EU, put
pressure on Armenia, threatening to escalate the situation in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. The European Parliament considers
pressure on any member of the Eastern Partnership program (Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus) unacceptable. The
countries are close to signing bilateral agreements on EU association.

Such evaluations and threats to alter the status quo of
Nagorno-Karabakh if Armenia takes the European path were taken
by Yerevan as a sign of intolerance between the West and Russia, a
recurrence of the Cold War. Armenia is an object in the clutch of two
poles. Using the awkward and hasty attempts by Yerevan to go for the
West, the Kremlin expanded its unmeasured influence on the little ally.

Stepan Grigoryan, head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and
Regional Cooperation, believes that, by deciding to join the Customs
Union, the Armenian authorities handed over the security of their
country to Russia: “The authorities hint that there are security
problems. I agree with them. Security is in danger after this step.

The most essential problems of Armenia will be resolved in Moscow from
now on. Secondly, we lose the chance of becoming a law-governed state.”

Maybe Armenia should not have started the process of moving towards
the West to avoid the situation of being forced into the Customs
Union. Armenia was “asked” to join the Customs Union after numerous
declarations by high-ranking functionaries of the Republican Party
of Armenia. They said that Yerevan had taken the European path of
development. People, including Shavarsh Kocharyan (Vice Chairman of
the Republican Party, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia), praising
the association agreement, suddenly changed their attitude and became
devoted supporters of the Customs Union on September 3.

Political analyst Yervand Bozoyan, explaining the choice between the
EU and the Eurasian Union, noted that it was more of a geopolitical
choice than a system of values: “Our society has no problems with
choosing a system of values, because we are part of the European
system. De facto, Armenia was forced to make the choice of the Customs
Union.” The political analyst assumes that Armenia, a state that has
no common borders with the Customs Union, will have serious problems,
including some in Nagorno-Karabakh: “It would be in the national,
state interests of Armenia to bring its legal acts closer to the
standards of members of the Customs Union, doing the same process
for the EU at the same time. This way we can become a link between
the West and Russia. Armenia was not ready to join a big system.”

Therefore, Yerevan forced itself into the Customs Union, depriving
itself of a chance for manoeuvre. Meanwhile, Armenia’s history has
examples when some countries patiently waiting for the right moment
made well-executed, rather than hasty steps towards the West, without
creating threats to its national security or relations with Russia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BELAZ TO SHIP FOUR HAUL TRUCKS TO ARMENIA IN 2013

Belarusian Telegraph Agency, Belarus
Sept 20 2013

20.09.2013 14:44

MINSK, 20 September (BelTA) – BelAZ is set to deliver four mining
dump trucks worth over $5 million to Armenia by the 2013 yearend,
chairman of the economy committee of the Minsk Oblast Executive
Committee Dmitry Pavlovich told reporters reviewing the official
visit of the Minsk Oblast delegation led by Minsk Oblast Governor
Boris Batura to Armenia, BelTA has learnt.

“We plan to deliver four BelAZ mining dump trucks estimated at over $5
million to Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine by the end of 2013. The
supply contract is to be signed in September,” Dmitry Pavlovich said.

This is one of the agreements reached during the visit of the Minsk
Oblast delegation to Armenia. “The visit is expected to result in
the increase in Belarus’ export to Armenia,” the representative of
the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee said.

A cooperation agreement was signed between Minsk Oblast and Vayots
Dzor Province of Armenia. Interregional cooperation between the two
countries is pretty vibrant. Dmitry Pavlovich noted that in 2004
Minsk Oblast and Syunik Province of Armenia signed a cooperation
agreement in science, engineering and culture. Twin-town relations
were established between Armenian cities and Zhodino, Borisov, Nesvizh,
Myadel, Soligorsk and Slutsk.

The Minsk Oblast delegation also met with Armenia’s Vice
Premier-Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan. The
parties discussed Armenia’s plans to join the Customs Union. Armen
Gevorgyan voiced support for these plans. The parties believe that
Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union will benefit trade and
economic relations between Belarus and Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ZIRVE CASE KEY TO ARMENIAN-TURKISH JOURNALIST DINK, FATHER SANTORO CASES: LAWYER

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 20 2013

ISTANBUL – Hurriyet Daily News
by Vercihan Ziflioglu

Once the Zirve Publishing House trial is enlightened, many other
murders from the past 60 years including journalist Hrant Dink’s and
Father Andrea Santoro’s will also be solved, according to Zirve’s
lawyer

The solving of the murders in Turkey’s recent past will shed light
on key points of the deep state, according to Erdal Dogan, the lawyer
for the Malatya Zirve Publishing House and Hrant Dink cases.

Dogan, who until recently was also an attorney for the Dink case,
told the Hurriyet Daily News that the Zirve Publishing House trial was
a key case that would unravel the last 60 years of Turkey’s deep state.

“Once the Zirve Publishing House trial is solved, a picture of
Turkey’s past 60 years will appear. It will be clear how governments
have been brought down, how ethnic structures have been played with,
and how psychological propaganda has been made,” he said.

Three missionaries, a German, Tillman Geske, and two Turks, Necati
Aydın and Ugur Yuksel, were tied up and tortured before their throats
were slit at the Zirve Publishing House, a Christian publisher in
Malatya, on April 18, 2007. Prior to that incident, Father Andrea
Santoro was shot dead on Feb. 5, 2006 as he prayed in his church
in the Black Sea city of Trabzon. In addition, Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink was shot on Jan. 19, 2007 in front of the building of the
Armenian-Turkish Daily Agos, where he was the editor-in-chief.

Dogan said that the latest indictment in the Zirve trial openly
showed the cell structure of the Ergenekon coup plot group, adding
that Christians – especially Armenians – were targeted. “The structure
that committed the Zirve murders is the same structure that committed
the Dink and Santoro murders. The government is targeted, and chaos
is aimed for,” he said.

Dogan claimed that all of these cases had ties with the Special
Warfare Department, which also helped organize the anti-Greek riots
in Istanbul of Sept. 6-7, 1955.

“The structure of 1955 was developed in the 1990s, and a structure
under the Special Forces Command was formed. We talk about a structure
named Turkey’s National Strategies and Warfare Department (TUSHAD),
which came up clearly with documents in the Zirve murders trial,”
said Dogan.

‘Black and white’ forces

He also claimed that the Turkish General Staff had approved of
the existence of this structure of “black and white” forces. “The
whites are established as civilians and they point out targets by
disinformation,” he stated.

Retired General HurÅ~_it Tolon and former Malatya Gendarmerie Regiment
Commander Mehmet Ulger, who both were convicted in the recent
Ergenekon coup case verdict, have also been added as suspects in
the Zirve murders’ case. In addition, the court that is considering
the case has also demanded the court files of the Ergenekon, Balyoz,
JITEM and Musa Anter cases.

Upon being asked whether the government could be held responsible
for these murders, Dogan said that as the government had signed the
National Security Council decision of 2003, which perceived missionary
works as a threat, it could be held responsible.

He said sufficient speed could not be given to the Dink case thus far
as there had been considerable levels of disinformation. Dogan claimed
that the 14th High Criminal Court looking at the case had reached its
verdict by ruling at the very beginning of the trial that there was
no organization behind the murder. He also stated that the 9th penal
chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals had “signed Dink’s death
decree” by notoriously putting him on trial for breaching Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code. “Therefore, neither of the courts are
objective or independent,” said Dogan.

September/20/2013

From: Baghdasarian

BAKU URGES ANKARA NOT TO REPEAT 2009 ‘MISTAKE’

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 21 2013

ANKARA – Hurriyet Daily News
by Serkan DemirtaÅ~_

The chief of the foreign relations department of the Azerbaijani
Presidency urges Ankara not to repeat the 2009 ‘mistake’ of attempting
to open borders with Armenia before the country withdraws from
occupied lands

A senior Azeri official has urged Turkey not to repeat the 2009
“mistake” of attempting to open borders with Armenia before the
country withdraws from occupied Azeri lands, underlining that they are
suspicious of similar efforts to revive the stalled process between
Ankara and Yerevan.

“There are such attempts [for the revival of the Ankara-Yerevan
process] these days. I am hopeful and sure that the Turkish leadership
will not take steps contrary to the will of Azerbaijan and the
Azerbaijani people,” Novroz Mammadov, chief of the foreign relations
department of the Azerbaijani Presidency, told the Hurriyet Daily
News in an interview on Sept. 19.

Without further elaborating on what these attempts were, Mammadov
said he was talking about “possibilities” rather than concrete moves.

Approached by the Daily News, Turkish diplomatic sources said there
were no intentions for the revival of the reconciliation process
and that Turkey’s position vis-a-vis the Nagorno-Karabkh issue had
not changed.

“A step was taken in 2009. An agreement was signed between Turkey
and Armenia under the monitoring of six foreign ministers. It was not
possible to implement this agreement because it was unfair,” he said.

“We do not want it to occur a second time.”

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in 2009 but neither side
succeed in bringing them before their Parliament for ratification
and implementation. Turkey stopped the process because of a fierce
reaction from Azerbaijan, 20 percent of whose territory is still
under the occupation of Armenian troops.

“We are grateful for Turkey’s support to Azerbaijan with regard to
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. We are regretful because of the failure
of the international community’s efforts to resolve the problem since
the early 1990s,” he said.

President Ä°lham Aliyev’s adviser underlined that Baku was not in fact
against Turkey opening its borders with Armenia but that such a move
should follow a step taken by Yerevan with regard to Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Turkey sealed its borders and cut diplomatic ties with Armenia after
this country occupied our territories and the U.N. Security Council’s
resolution on this occupation. We’ll have no objection to Turkey
if it says it will move forward with Armenia on condition of ending
this occupation,” Mammadov said, in reference to the withdrawal of
Armenian troops from the regions surrounding Karabakh.

There are seven regions occupied and, as the Madrid Principles
recommends, a gradual withdrawal process from such regions would
allow Baku and Yerevan to start political talks for future steps.

“Withdrawal from even three regions would allow the opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border and the beginning of Azerbaijan-Armenia
relations,” he said.

TANAP a historic deal

Since 2009, Turkey and Azerbaijan have boosted economic, energy and
political relations. The most important achievement was the signing
of the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Project (TANAP), aiming to carry
Azeri gas to Europe via Turkey.

“Our relations have entered into a new historic phase. The two
countries have proven that they can initiate such projects together
and take advantage of it,” Mammadov said.

Recalling that Turkey and Azerbaijan were already connected via the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural
gas pipeline, Mammadov said the accomplishment of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars
railway would add another chain to this strong connection.

“TANAP is the joint project of our two countries. Some other countries
have also joined but this project is a success of our countries. Our
brotherly relations have arrived at such a point that we can carry
out such big projects,” he said.

TANAP will likely cost $7 billion and is expected to send 6 billion
cubic meters (CBM) of gas to Turkey and 10 billion cbm to Europe
by 2018.

$17 billion Azeri investment

The Azeri diplomat forecast that total Azeri investment into Turkey
would reach around $17 billion by 2020, which would make Baku the
biggest foreign investing country in Turkey. So far, the State Oil
Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has initiated the Petkim
Star Refinery, the Petkim Container Port, the Step Power Plant and the
TANAP project. TANAP will be followed by the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline
(TAP) project to carry Azeri natural gas to Greece and Italy.

“These projects will make our relations much more important and will
give an additional impetus to our ties,” he said.

September/21/2013

UK POLICY ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH UNCHANGED, EMBASSY SAYS AFTER MPS’ MEETING WITH SEPARATIST REGIME REP

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 20 2013

20 September 2013, 10:31 (GMT+05:00)

By Sara Rajabova

The UK Embassy in Azerbaijan has said a meeting of UK parliament
members with representatives from “Nagorno-Karabakh authorities”
was arranged by the Armenian authorities.

“We are aware of a group of UK parliamentarians visiting Armenia
where the delegation met with representatives of the de-facto
‘Nagorno-Karabakh authorities’,” the Embassy said on September 19.

“The UK government has no control over who individual MPs decide
to meet.”

According to the diplomatic mission, this does not represent a change
in UK policy on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

“The UK does not recognize the de-facto ‘Nagorno-Karabakh authorities’
or their declaration of independence. The UK supports Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity and the OSCE Minsk Group-led peace process.

Finally, we encourage Azerbaijan and Armenia to accelerate efforts to
achieve a negotiated settlement based on the principles of refraining
from the threat or use of force, territorial integrity and peoples’
right to self-determination,” the Embassy said.

Members of the Armenia-UK parliamentary friendship group Stephen
Pound and John Whittingdale recently met with representative of the
separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh Karen Mirzoyan.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats
over visits to the Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia, saying
this contradicts international law. The Foreign Ministry has stated
that such visits, paid without prior notification of the relevant
authorities of Azerbaijan, are illegal and damaging to the settlement
process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry released a list of those declared persona
non grata over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied territories,
which included 335 people.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made
territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early
1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed
forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions. The UN Security Council’s four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed
by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

AMBASSADOR: TURKEY WILL PREVENT ARMENIA’S HOLDING OF 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF SO-CALLED ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 20 2013

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 20 / Trend E. Mehdiyev /

Turkey will take all necessary measures to prevent activities in
connection with the 100th anniversary of the so-called ‘Armenian
genocide’ to be held by Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora, Turkish
Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismail Alper Joshgun told media today.

He was commenting on the activities that Armenia might hold in 2015 in
connection with 100th anniversary of the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’.

“Earlier, Armenians voiced far-fetched claims and such claims can be
expected in the future,” the ambassador added.

“Turkey will celebrate the centenary of the Battle of Canakkale in
two years,” he said.

He stressed that Armenia’s state ideology is based on falsification
of the 1915 events.

“I hope that all historical events will be considered from the point of
view of archival material, as Turkey and Azerbaijan proposed,” he said.

TURKISH AMBASSADOR: “UNFORTUNATELY, ARMENIA’S STATE IDEOLOGY IS BASED ON FALSIFICATION OF THE EVENTS OF 1915”

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 20 2013

[ 20 September 2013 14:56 ]

Baku. Shamil Alibeyli – APA. “Such conferences are important to recall
that the Ottoman Empire extended a helping hand to Azerbaijan in its
most difficult period despite the problems,” Turkish Ambassador to
Azerbaijan Ismayil Alper Coskun told journalists after international
conference “Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan and the Caucasian Islam
Army”, APA reports.

The ambassador said that the Armenians are going to mark the 100th
anniversary of the so-called genocide after two years and Turkey would
take all necessary measures to prevent the steps of Armenia and its
diaspora in this regard: “Turkey will mark the 100th anniversary
of Gallipoli Campaign after 2 years. This is not falsification,
but anniversary of the events that really happened. Armenians have
previously brought up false claims and they are expected to do so
in the future. Unfortunately, Armenia’s state ideology is based on
falsification of the events of 1915. I hope that all historical facts
will be investigated basing on the archival materials as proposed by
Azerbaijan and Turkey.”

AZERBAIJAN TO RAISE NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE AT PACE AUTUMN SESSION

Trend, Azerbaijan
Sept 20 2013

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 20 /Trend E.Mehdiyev/

An Azerbaijani delegation will raise the Nagorno-Karabakh issue at the
autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), chairman of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Samad Seyidov
told journalists commenting the results of the its summer session.

Seyidov noted that various issues will be discussed and delegates
from various countries will also participate.

“This session will be held on the eve of Azerbaijan’s presidential
election. That is why it is not so easy for the Azerbaijani delegation
to participate both in the session and in presidential election in
Azerbaijan, but the delegation will be there and declare its position,”
Seyidov underscored.

Seyidov said that as Armenia chairs the Council of Europe, the
Armenian president, foreign minister and others will participate at
this session.

“We will as always, categorically demonstrate our position and raise
the necessary issues. These include the most significant issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh,” Seyidov said.