Author: Andres-Papazian

TURKS MULL BOYCOTT OF FRENCH PRODUCTS
By Ayla Albayrak

Wall Street Journal

Dec 23 2011

Just one day after France’s Parliament passed a bill that would
criminalize the denial of Armenian genocide, the Turks faced a question
of whether they should boycott French products.

Although several Turkish ministers said before the vote that Ankara
would not sponsor an official boycott – as Turkey is a member of
European Customs Union – they also warned Paris that the “people
could not be prevented” from levying their own sanctions.

A man holds a sign reading “I boycott French goods” during a
demonsration in front of the French consulate in Istanbul.On Friday,
some nongovernmental organizations and trade unions began announcing
measures to voice their displeasure with the French Parliament’s
decision. The first came from Turkish bookmaker Spor Toto, which said
it would exclude all French sports teams from its indexes.

Turkey’s Consumer Association, Tuketiciler Birligi, launched an
Internet campaign to help Turks identify French brands in supermarkets
– from Danone to Evian – to help them boycott. “Barcode 30 and 37 mean
the product is imported from France,” advised an emailed statement
circulating among Turkish Internet users.

The chief of the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen
warned on Tuesday that “if this law passes, all French products sold by
two million tradesmen and craftsmen will be lifted from the shelves,”
referring to the confederation’s two million members.

Turkey’s Public Workers Unions Confederation, Kamu-Sen, called for all
public sector employees to boycott French products and companies, while
some smaller regional business groups launched their own protests.

A raft of companies represented by Turkey’s Union of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), with the backing of the Turkish government,
tried to lobby French companies against the bill with a letter sent
to company executives in Turkey. The letter threatened a “serious
protest in Turkey against French products, resulting in a serious
economic loss.” The TOBB asked French companies to sign the letter,
to be sent to President Nicolas Sarkozy, but it was not clear how many
of the almost thousand French companies operating in Turkey took part
in the campaign.

Turkey’s influential Industry and Business Association tried to cool
tensions this week, warning that a boycott could affect employment and
output. French auto giant Renault employs more than 6,000 people in
Turkey. A Renault spokesperson said the company is “closely following”
the debate over the genocide bill.

Despite threats of a major citizen initiative, there was little
evidence on Friday of big boycott campaigns on social media websites
or scheduling of mass protests. Although many Turks have reacted
angrily to the move by France’s Parliament, analysts stressed that
the economic ties between the two countries were strong enough to
weather the political storm.

French cars, cosmetics and other products are popular in Turkish
households. According to statistics of Turkey’s economy ministry,
imports of French products continued to grow steadily each year,
exceeding $8 billion in 2010, and last year only five countries
imported to Turkey more than France. Even the word “boykot” was
imported to Turkish from French.

When the French Parliament passed the same bill in 2006 – which was
later dropped at the Senate and never became law – the Turkish boycott
on French products did not have a long-term effect.

If the bill becomes a law, denying Armenian genocide, officially
recognized as such by France, would become a crime in France,
punishable by one-year imprisonment and a fine of ~@40,000. Many
Armenian groups say up to 1.5 million of their people were
systematically killed during World War I in today’s Eastern Turkey,
which was part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies the allegations
and says hundreds of thousands died in warfare and famine.

Nolwenn Allano, CEO of French insurance company Gras Savoye, said many
businessmen in Turkey were looking beyond the politics and trying to
maintain healthy business relations with their French partners.

From: A. Papazian

FRANCO-TURKISH SPAT OVER GENOCIDE LAW

PressEurop

Dec 23 2011
English

The French parliament’s vote which approved a private member’s bill
making it a crime to negate the Armenian genocide has provoked an
angry response from Ankara. The reaction to the initiative in the
French press has been largely negative, while the Turkish media is
much more outspoken.

On 22 December French MPs adopted a private member’s bill on the
negation of genocides. Backed in equal measure by the majority and
the left-wing opposition, the bill proposes to make “the denial of
genocides acknowledged by the law” a crime punishable by up to a year
in prison or a fine of up to 45,000 euros. If it is approved it will
add to a body of legislation that includes four other “memorial” laws,
which enshrine the state’s official point of view on historical facts.

The text of the bill implicitly targets the Armenian genocide of
1915-16, and the 1.2 million Armenians (two thirds of the Armenian
population under the Ottoman Empire) who died in the course of
officially sanctioned deportations and massacres. The bill, which
will have to be approved by the French Senate and for a second time
by the French parliament before it becomes law, has provoked the ire
of Ankara, which has recalled its ambassador and threatened France
with diplomatic and trade reprisals.

In Le Point, columnist Pierre Beylau deplores what he describes as
a self-interested manoeuvre to attract more votes in the run-up to
next year’s presidential election:

Is it really the time to raise the long-standing issue of the 1915
genocide, which no one serious actually contests? Obviously this is a
vote-getting initiative backed by MPs for whom Armenian support may
prove crucial. Acting to please a lobby, they have no qualms about
the risk of causing considerable diplomatic and economic damage.

For French diplomacy in the Middle East “the power struggle with
Ankara is absurd,” adds Le Monde. However, the daily notes that the
main problem rests in the nature of the bill itself:

It is not the role of the legislature – which has support in this
regard from the Elys̩e Рto say what is history. In recent years,
French officialdom has come to adore the judicialisation of history,
voting in memorial laws that make negationism a crime. But these
measures are pointless. They do not even relieve the pain of those
see their past (…) ignobly re-written so that it can be denied.

For its part, news website Mediapart interprets the quarrel in the
light of the history of France and Turkey, two modern nations that
have been marked by the influence of founding fathers – General de
Gaulle and Mustapha Kemal – who continue to influence their respective
political elites.

Both France and Turkey suffer to varying degrees from the same national
pathology: an incapacity to cope with the loss of past grandeur;
a desperate desire to hold on to a supreme saviour who protected the
motherland with an ironclad mythology; a refusal to take an inventory
of history, and to sort through it so as to acknowledge mistakes
and crimes.

In Turkey, in the English version of the daily Zaman, columnist
Bulent KeneÅ~_ launches a direct attack on the French president: “By
introducing bans to one side of the debate about a controversial issue
that must be settled by historians and just ahead of the presidential
elections, he showed everyone what democracy a la Sarkozy is.”

Given his now-well-established interest in creating dogmas via
political and legal means over controversial incidents of the past, he
should have turned a critical eye to France’s unquestionable colonial
past instead of peering into Turkey’s dubious history. Banning
views and ideas that may be voiced against a so-called “genocide”
to which Armenians were allegedly subjected to in 1915, even before
offering an official apology for the bloody massacres France had
committed in Algeria until the very recent past, i.e., the second
half of the 20th century, as well as for the French mass killings in
other African countries, Indochina and in the French colonies in the
islands could only be expected from a mealymouthed jester of French
politics called Sarkozy.

In Milliyet, Mehmet Tezkan argues that the French President “has two
reasons why he wants this law to be approved:”

One is a political investment in Armenian votes. The second is to
damage relations with Ankara. Relations between Sarkozy and Erdogan
are not good at all. From now on, all ties will be cut. Sarkozy’s
plan is to alienate Turkey from the EU with such manoeuvres.

Finally, Ali Bayramoglu writing for the daily Yeni Å~^afak points out:

According to the current interpretation of the 301st article of
the Turkish Penal Code, it is a crime to say “there was an Armenian
genocide”. In France, it is a crime to say “the Armenian Genocide did
not take place”. Can we not realise that both attitudes restrict
freedom of thought… and prevent both sides from questioning
themselves? The French law will cause will major damage.

From: A. Papazian

KHACHATOURIAN: WASHINGTON POST BLINDED BY LOVE AFFAIR WITH BRYZA
By: Ara Khachatourian

Armenian Weekly
Fri, Dec 23 2011

The Washington Post’s editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt, took a page
out of the Aliyev propaganda manual in his Sunday piece (“When special
interests block national interest,” the Washington Post, Dec. 18)
about U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza and how the Armenian
lobby (“special interests”) is blocking Bryza’s appointment despite
his alleged qualifications for the job.

Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page editor at the Washington Post In its
framing of the Karabagh conflict, Baku has opted to compare the
national wealth of Armenia and Azerbaijan as an indication that Baku
is a force to be reckoned with, often whitewashing the entrenched
Western oil interests that have been lurking in Azerbaijan since its
independence 20 year ago.

Calling Armenia “oil-poor,” Hiatt blames it and the Armenian lobby
for its current land-locked reality, failing to mention that Turkey
and Azerbaijan shut their borders with Armenia in 1993 in protest of
the Karabagh War, and continue to hold the resolution of the Karabagh
conflict as a precondition for any “good neighborly” relations.

“And one reason peacemaking has failed is the dogmatism of
some diaspora groups that can enjoy, from afar, the luxury (and
fundraising magic) of sustained grievance. A fervent, at times even
counterproductively so, diaspora is not unique-ask Cuba, Israel,
or Latvia-but it has been particularly debilitating for minuscule,
resource-poor Armenia,” Hiatt points out in his ill-thought out piece
to promote Bryza.

The author also singles out the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) for mounting a campaign against Bryza, who he deems highly
qualified for the job. He cites a barrage of support Bryza has received
from former State Department officials and numerous think-tanks,
some of which are notorious in their support of neo-conservative
agendas-which ultimately benefit the deep pockets of corporations
with interests in countries like Azerbaijan.

The argument that Azerbaijan is rich and Armenia is poor, and thus the
Armenian lobby should shut up and let Bryza’s nomination go through,
is so circuitous in its logic that one wonders why Hiatt has taken
such a keen interest in promoting an ambassador whose actions and
statements call his qualifications into question.

This is not the first time the Washington Post has blindly defended
Bryza. Under Hiatt’s leadership, the paper’s editorials have reeked of
one-sided support for Bryza-and condemnation for those opposing him,
especially the ANCA. Hiatt seems to harbor disdain if not outright
hatred for the group.

Hiatt treats the arguments against Bryza, as expressed by Senators
Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez last year during his Senate
nomination hearings, as not making sense and essentially blames
the two Senators for holding Bryza’s fate hostage to what he calls
“special interests groups” that are, in his mind, doing a disservice
to Armenia by opposing Bryza’s nomination.

Hiatt conveniently brushes over some of the important concerns of
the aforementioned Senators and those rightfully highlighted by the
folks at the ANCA during Bryza’s nomination process. For example,
the Senators extensively questioned Bryza on his failure to act
promptly and effectively when Azeri forces began destroying Armenian
monuments in Djulfa. As ambassador, Bryza was barred from visiting
Djulfa by Azeri authorities and, frankly, never really attempted to
make another visit there. Nor did he question the validity of this
action during his so-called exemplary service as U.S. ambassador.

Furthermore, Hiatt conveniently discounts Bryza’s entrenchment
in Azeri political circles and his often blatant advocacy for the
government that, even according to the State Department, continues to
torture and stifle opposition forces and silence free expression by
dissenting circles. The Washington Post editorial page editor couched
the ANCA’s concerns over Bryza’s Turkish wife’s connections with the
Aliyev regime as ethnically motivated.

Hiatt also neglects to mention that Bryza’s wife, Zeyno Baran,
has served on the editorial board of the Azeri government-funded
“Azerbaijan Focus,” a journal published by the “Center for Strategic
Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” She
was joined on that board by Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, Elmar
Mammadyarov, and Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, among
other high-level Turkish/Azeri officials.

Hiatt asserts that Bryza is a beacon of democracy and peace building,
yet his tepid response to Baku’s continued war-mongering demonstrates
that he does not want to ruffle his friends’ feathers, and further
contributes to Baku’s combative approach to the peace talks. In fact,
during his year-long tenure as ambassador, Bryza has been known to
cherry-pick incidents and comment on them, before the bodies tasked to
address those issues have had an opportunity to assess the veracity
of events. By doing so, he has done more to advance official Baku’s
propaganda than protect U.S. interests in the country.

“The biggest losers in all this won’t be Americans or Azerbaijanis
(who, by the way, enjoy about twice the per capita income of
Armenians), but Armenians-poor, isolated, and once again victims
of a power play that has nothing to do with their wellbeing,” Hiatt
concludes.

Hiatt’s concern for Armenia’s economic wellbeing is touching. But to
equate Bryza’s nomination with the end of Armenia’s economic woes is
shortsighted at best, and a cheap and uneducated conclusion for an
editor of such a venerable publication.

Ara Khachatourian is the English editor of Asbarez.

From: A. Papazian

FRANCE-TURKEY ROW PART OF ISRAELI PLOT

Press TV

Dec 23 2011
Iran

Interview with foreign affairs analyst from Instanbul, Yavoz Selim
Kurt.

French-Turk relations are tense after the French parliament passed
a Bill labeling the Armenian massacre by the Ottoman Empire nearly
a century ago as genocide.

Some experts in Middle East affairs believe that the term ‘genocide’
is not an accurate description and the passing of the Bill was provoked
by the Israeli lobby to weaken Turkey’s role in the region.

Press TV talks with foreign affairs analyst, Yavoz Selim Kurt from
Instanbul about France’s anti-Turkey move and its possible effects
on the future of relations between the two countries. Following is
an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How would this vote impact France’s relationship with
Turkey? Please point to specifically examples if you can.

Selim Kurt: First of all, today; 22nd of December, is an unfortunate
date in the history of Europe and also France. It is unfortunate
for the parliament of France; also for the people of France. Maybe
they thought they would give some harm to the Turkish government or
Turkish people, but in the end they will be the losers.

Indeed, all of these issues depended on slanders, which took part a
hundred years ago. Yes, many Armenian people; citizens of the Ottoman
Empire suffered much and many were killed. We were also unhappy for
them and upset for them, but this was not genocide. This cannot be
named genocide, but they wanted this.

Anyone now will think that France is doing this, Sarkozy and some
parliamentarians as Bauer or something. Indeed, I want to say
something. This is about more than Turkish and France relations.

Behind this plot; behind these dirty slanders, believe me, there is
the Zionist lobby.

Just remember that two months or almost two months ago, the state
secretary of Israel -Lieberman. After the forces of Turkey; pressures
of Turkey in the international arena, he said, “We will support the
complaints about Turkey in the international arena”. And they did
the same, indeed people will think that this is made by the Armenian
lobby or French parliamentarians, which is very funny, because ten
percent of the lower cabinet were there.

Just ten percent of the house voted for this. It is a very tragic
comedy.

Press TV: So, as I understand, you are saying that Israel has had
an influence on this based – on what you said – the low turnout in
parliament for this vote to have been passed?

Selim Kurt: Yes, indeed. The lower house accepted this with ten percent
of the votes. But now it will go to the Senate – I hope they will not
make it as a law, but in the end, Turkish and France relations from
now on will not be the same… As Israel and Turkish relations will not
be the same after The Mavi Marmara massacre in international waters.

Press TV: Is this going to jeopardize the cooperation that Turkey had?

And France of course we know Turkey is a NATO ally and we know some
of the regional developments – our guest from Ankara mentioned Syria –
Is this going to jeopardize how Turkey is acting, in that regard?

Selim Kurt: Yes, indeed I think the same because they are trying
to weaken the hands of Turkey in the international arena especially
Sarkozy and chancellor Merkel – they’re named as ‘Merkozy’. In their
ruling time they are behaving as an alliance of Judaic-Christian
civilization.

Ms. Merkel is always talking about Judaic-Christian civilization and
they are very arrogant about this. Now, in the international arena
they want to put Turkey in a difficult situation and tie the hands
of Turkey in case of a probable attack on Syria. They did the same
in the Libyan case; now they want to do the same.

Press TV: Why would they – because they are the ones that would lose
then? Obviously, Turkey has more of a relationship, at least had more
of a relationship with Syria and knows the region, I would think,
much better than the France would – Why would France then do this?

Selim Kurt: Yes, France is not doing this by itself. Indeed France
and Turkey had the best relations in the past. During the reign of
Suleiman the magnificent, France was almost a mandated state for
Turkey. Turkey had France so much against the other crusaders.

However, in this time, France is trying to steal a role in Africa;
in the Islamic world and some other countries, but they cannot manage
this. At the end, the target is – believe me- even the target of this
bill in French parliament is Iran.

Behind Syrian issue, there is Iran; they are targeting this. They
are always doing the same. They are slandering the same to Iran about
the nuclear issue and they are slandering and they believe themselves
and they are trying to convince their people – to sway public opinion-.

Press TV: OK. When you mention that, if you look at it in another way,
they would lose any chance that they would have in terms of Iran,
because Turkey obviously has a relationship with Iran, so it would
have to use Turkey to their advantage. This doesn’t help it, does it?

Selim Kurt: Yes, Turkey and Iran have strong and very good relations
and they cannot manage to do anything to Iran through Turkey – they
will not have this – or Syria. They are trying to weaken the hands of
Turkey before a probable attack on Syria, but they cannot manage this.

But we are forgetting one thing… Very soon there will be elections
in France and this is also another plot of Sarkozy to again be in the
power. They are trying to take the support of the Armenian Diaspora
and the lobby; but now hear the French parliamentarians- I am sorry
for them- the history will judge them. Also, the Armenian Diaspora
are the instruments of the Zionist lobby in the United States and in
Europe. They are trying to weaken the hands of Turkey.

Press TV: There is also another argument here that this should be
made an example for Turkey to learn from. I do not know if you agree
or not- but if you look at it – Europe using Turkey for their own
benefits in a sense.

I mean, zero problems with its neighbors was one of the platforms that
Prime Minister Erdogan preached when he became Prime Minister. You can
take Turkeys role concerning Syria, which we talked about. Erdogan
on one point referred to Assad as his personal friend, so, is this
a lesson to be learned by Turkey in that regards?

Selim Kurt: They may have some intentions to use Turkey and Turkish
governments as their tools.But indeed they cannot do this because
any Turkish government will not let them to be used as a tool by
westerners.

Yes, they may have these plots. In this case the Turkish government
will have a strong stance as they did before. Not only am I talking
about the Justice and Development Party; I am also talking about
previous governments. Turkish governments will also try to defend
the rights of Turkey and not only Turkey…. Believe me, there is
something here – If they blame Turkey as a genocide maker, this means
that not only the Turks, but also the Muslims are genocide makers.

Indeed, these are lies.

Tomorrow they will make another slander, for instance, when they want
to force Iran, they will say, Iran is making genocide to Baluchi’s or
Sunni’s. Later on in Turkey they will say Turkey is making genocide
to the Kurds and to the Alewites.

They did this to the Sudan- you know- Omar El-Bashir – They wanted
to jail him, but they could not and so they divided Sudan in two parts.

They are just using this misinformation because these Westerners –
Judaic-Christian block–they do not want a leader country in the
Islamic world.

From: A. Papazian

HERITAGE PARTY WELCOMES GENOCIDE BILL ADOPTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 23, 2011 – 21:20 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Heritage opposition party welcomes adoption of
the bill penalizing Armenian Genocide denial by the French National
Assembly, stating that the step once again proved France’s adherence
to democracy, human rights and values. This also implies logical
continuation of EU policy against racism.

“The decision is also the product of long-term and persistent struggle
by worldwide Armenians, first of all Diaspora having survived the
Genocide. Western Armenians gradually regain their rights, which
Heritage perceives a most essential national issue. Unfortunately,
the Republic of Armenia has not passed a similar law yet,” the party
message reads.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY ACCUSES FRANCE OF ALGERIAN GENOCIDE AS ROW ESCALATES

23 Dec 2011

Turkey’s prime minister yesterday accused France of conducting a
“merciless” genocide in Algeria as he responded furiously to a vote
in the French parliament concerning the mass killing of Armenians by
the Ottoman Empire.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks in Istanbul Photo:
AFP/GETTYBy David Blair

Recep Tayyip Erdogan froze all diplomatic contact with France and
recalled the Turkish ambassador after the Chamber of Deputies in Paris
passed a Bill on Thursday making it a criminal offence to question the
“genocide” of the Armenians in 1915.

Up to 1.5m Armenians were killed across Ottoman Turkey after the regime
accused them of being a fifth column in league with the country’s
enemies during the First World War. Turkey has waged a diplomatic
campaign ever since to quash any suggestion that it was guilty of
“genocide”.

The French bill needs the approval of the Upper House before it
becomes law. Nonetheless, Mr Erdogan denounced the vote as a “clear
example of how racism, discrimination and anti-Muslim sentiment have
reached new heights in France and in Europe”.

He noted that President Nicolas Sarkozy faces re-election in April,
adding: “Sarkozy’s ambition is to win an election based on promoting
animosity against Turks and Muslims.”

Mr Erdogan turned to France’s colonial record in Algeria, where an
eight-year war was waged for independence between 1954 and 1962. “What
the French did in Algeria was genocide,” said the prime minister,
alleging that French forces had “mercilessly martyred” about 15 per
cent of the entire Algerian population.

Mr Sarkozy opposes Turkey’s application to join the European Union
and relations between the two countries have been tense since he won
office in 2007. Turkey blames France for obstructing the negotiations
on membership that have been proceeding at a snail’s pace since 2005.

Mr Sarkozy offered a relatively conciliatory response to Turkey’s
accusation, saying: “France doesn’t give lessons to anyone, but
France also doesn’t plan on taking them.” The president added:
“I respect the convictions of our Turkish friends – it’s a grand
country, a grand civilisation – and they must respect ours.”

From: A. Papazian

FRENCH LEADER REACTS TO CRITICISM

Tert.am
23.12.11

Today, in an interview with journalists from the French television
France 2, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, reacts to criticism of
Ankara, said:

“France [has a] supremely defined policy. France does not require
authorization. France has convictions. The Human Rights. Respect to the
memory. Ten years ago, France passed a law recognizing the Armenian
genocide. 1.5 million Armenians [were] massacred. The question in
Parliament today was to determine if recognition of the genocide was
to involve those who doubt… France has principles. It carries a
message. Each country must make the effort to revisit its past. France
not will give a lesson to anyone, but France does not want to receive
[lessons].”

From: A. Papazian

“ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG UNIVERSITY COLLEAGUES” ORGANIZES A MARCH TO FRENCH EMBASSY

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 23, 201
YEREVAN

“Association of Young University Colleagues” NGO of Yerevan State
University organized a march to the French Embassy. The young
colleagues were hosted by the acting ambassador of France, whom they
handed a letter, Armenpress reports. The letter particularly mentions
that the adoption of the Bill Criminalizing Armenian Genocide Denial
by the French National Assembly confirmers one more time that France
attaches high importance to a policy directed toward recovery of
human rights and historical justice. NGO Chairman Gevorg Melkonyan
noted with that step France reconfirmed that the Armenian Genocide
recognition does not have limitations statute.

From: A. Papazian

FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’S BILL BASED OF EU’S CALL TO PASS BILLS CRIMINALIZING DENIAL OF GENOCIDES AS A MEASURE TO FIGHT RACISM

arminfo
Friday, December 23, 16:36

French National Assembly’s bill is based of EU’s call to pass bills
criminalizing denial of genocides as a measure to fight racism, Kiro
Manoyan, Head of ARFD Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office,
told media on December 23 when commenting of the French National
Assembly’s bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman
Turkey overnight.

The new bill stipulates one year in prison and a fine in the amount of
45,000 Euros for anyone who denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide
in the territory of France. Earlier on December 7 when the French
National Assembly Committee for Legal Affairs passed the bill, Turkey
recalled its ambassador for consultation.

“Earlier Slovakia passed a similar bill after it recognized the
Armenian Genocide. But Slovakia avoided such sharp response by Turkey.

As for the France’s bill, Turkey is concerned that France may serve
an example for other European countries, leaving alone the response
of the Turkish public. In 2006 a similar bill was studied in France,
intellectuals and Hrant Dink came out against it then and called it
similar to the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code. Many
Turkish intellectuals blame Turkey’s policy of denial and not France,
which intimidates Turkish leadership,” he said.

Manoyan said that ARFD does not take seriously Turkey’s hysteria over
the bill criminalizing genocides and other crimes against humanity.

Turks are well aware and openly declare that freezing relations with
France will affect Turkey first of all. “All the steps of Turkey before
and after adoption of the bill has compromised it. It is simply silly
when Ahmet Davutoglu speaks of the freedom of speech,” Manoyan said.

From: A. Papazian

POLITICIAN: RUSSIA IS GOING TO STRENGTHEN ITS POSITION IN AZERBAIJAN AT THE EXPENSE OF KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN FAVOR OF BAKU, BUT RISKS TO LOSE ARMENIA FOREVER

arminfo
Friday, December 23, 16:37

At present Russia seriously thinks over the idea of resolving the
Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan, so that to restore its lost
positions in this country.

But such a scenario is dangerous for Moscow, as in that case it risks
to lose Armenia forever, ex-foreign minister of Nagornyy Karabakh,
Arman Melikyan, told journalists today.

He also added that strategical interests of Moscow at the entire
EurAsian territory are under the threat, taking into consideration
the relative tension in the relations between Moscow and the West
in general. The last parliamentary elections in Russia and the
criticizing views of European and American leaders which follow them,
are evidence of the fact that the West is not going to take Russia
like its fully-fledged partner. “Taking these realities into account,
Moscow has a problem of “self-esteem” in all possible directions
including in the South Caucasus. Its intermediary activeness in
the Karabakh settlement is evidence of it. Stemming from the words
of certain Russian experts and politicians, which do not rule out
Azerbaijan’s joining the future EurAsian Union, and see Nagornyy
Karabakh within Azerbaijan, it becomes clear that Moscow wants to gain
from the Armenian party ceding of some territories to Azerbaijan. But
in that case, the Russians will lose their only ally in the South
Caucasus forever”, – Melikyan said. At the same time he emphasized
that Azerbaijan still does not agree to such a bargain. “But if
at any moment the Russians manage to persuade Baku, after getting
the territories Azerbaijan will undoubtedly shaft the Russians. For
this reason, Moscow should display as balanced and sober approach as
possible in its policy in the South Caucasus”, – he said.

From: A. Papazian