Author: Andres-Papazian

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
August 17, 2011 Wednesday 10:35 PM GMT +4

MP: Secret network in Google conducts Armenization of part of
Azerbaijan’s territory

Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 17 /Trend, K.Zarbaliyeva/

A secret network is dealing with linking part of Azerbaijan’s
territory with Armenia and conducting Armenization of Azerbaijani
toponyms, MP Aydin Mirzazade told Trend, commenting on distortion of
facts and presentation of Azerbaijani territories as Armenian lands in
“Google Earth”.

Recently the territory of Ordubad and Sederek districts of Nakhchivan
Autonomous Republic, including the Hegram village, were noted as the
territory of Armenia on this website.

Mirzazade does not believe that the German or Japanese experts are
engaged in falsifying the map of Azerbaijan, noting that it is
profitable for Armenia and pro-Armenian nationalist circles.

“They are trying to conduct Armenization of the territory of
Azerbaijan and our toponyms.

Saying that the Azerbaijani public has been concerned over this
problem for long, Mirzazade stressed that in books and on maps issued
by printing companies of foreign countries, in Internet search
engines, part of Azerbaijan’s territory is shown as the territory of
Armenia, Azerbaijani toponyms are shown in Armenian language.

“If such facts would be detected only in some cases, it would be
possible to call it accidental, but it has become systemic. There are
hundreds of such facts. After appeals of citizens and state agencies
of Azerbaijan, developers of these maps promptly begin to make changes
and apologize to Azerbaijan,” said Mirzazade.

He believes that the true solution to the problem is operationability
and fairness.
“While detecting such cases, it needs to appeal and point to the
truth. I believe that this process will take a lot of time. We will
many times face with the falsification of Azerbaijan’s map. We must be
careful and exercise efficiency, must appeal to the executive
structure of the Google and require the elimination of errors,” said
the MP.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Sept 3 2011

Georgian envoy said country once can close border with Armenia – WikiLeaks

September 03, 2011 | 16:25

One of the WikiLeaks-disclosed cables revealed details of the meeting
between U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch and Georgian
Ambassador to Armenia Gregory Tabatadze.

`The two main themes of Tabatadze’s comments were that the Armenians
do not appreciate all that the Government of Georgia (GOG) has done
for them, and that Armenians constantly demand more without offering
anything in return,’ the cable reads.

It refers both to the issues of border demarcation and the disputed churches.

`We don’t want the churches. Everyone knows they are Armenian
churches.’ Tabatadze said, but it would only be fair for the
Georgians to receive other churches in return.

`Tabatadze believes that the Armenian Government (GOAM) is
purposefully pressing the Georgians on all these issues because the
Armenians believe Georgia is in a position of weakness after the war
with Russia, which has left the country in a fragile psychological
state. He also believes that the Russians are pushing the GOAM to make
many of these demands as part of the Russian campaign against Georgia.

Tabatadze warned that there was a view in the MFA that Georgia should
teach Armenia a lesson by shutting the border, if Armenia persists in
its maximalist agenda. `We could close the border in one day,’ he
stated,’ the document says.

The document also provides Foreign Ministry’s comments saying they had
never heard anyone in the foreign office, or anywhere in the
Government, seriously propose closing the border with Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 24, 2011 Wednesday

THE CIS SUMMIT WILL TAKE PLACE WITHOUT ILHAM ALIYEV

by Vyacheslav Nikolaev
Source: Rossiyskie Vesti, No. 25, August 22-28, 2011, p. EV
[translated from Russian]

HIGHLIGHT: WHAT STANDS BEHIND THE REFUSAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF
AZERBAIJAN TO GO TO DUSHANBE; President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
will not arrive to Dushanbe to the CIS summit planned for September 2
and 3. At this summit Azerbaijan will be represented by Prime Minister
Artur Rasi-Zade.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will not arrive to Dushanbe to
the CIS summit planned for September 2 and 3. Novruz Mamedov, director
of the external relations department of the Administration of the
President of Azerbaijan, says that at this summit Azerbaijan will be
represented by Prime Minister Artur Rasi-Zade.

This report triggered active comments. If we recall the words
pronounced by Vladimir Putin when he was the president and visited
Yerevan that “CIS was created as a mechanism of divorce,” refusal of
the leader of Azerbaijan to take part in the jubilee summit of this
institution may be taken as a certain reaction to the fact of breakup
of the Soviet Union. However, if we recall that, for instance, refusal
to participate in work of the CIS on the part of Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili was posed as an action of protest against the
policy of Moscow in Transcaucasia, we could look at the decision of
Aliyev from a different standpoint. Moreover so that there was his
summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi recently. Many
political analysts in Baku described its results enthusiastically.
Then this means that the decision of Aliyev is a deliberate action
after which we may expect a certain correction in the foreign policy
of Azerbaijan.

Many things are on the surface there. First, this is the failed summit
of Medvedev-Sargsian-Aliyev in Kazan dedicated to Nagorno-Karabakh
regulation. Second, this is the statement of Dmitry Medvedev to
Georgian journalists that use of the forceful factor in resolving of
conflicts in Transcaucasia may mean certain negative consequences for
initiators of such scenario. Baku took this warning of the Russian
leader negatively. If Azerbaijan is really not going to start a war
against Armenia, it is deprived of one of the factors of pressurizing
of Yerevan. Third, President Aliyev understood that attempts to
attract Moscow to his side in negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh to
destroy the existing mechanism of the Minsk OSCE group that prepared
the “basic” Madrid principles of Nagorno-Karabakh regulation were
useless.

Finally, Baku understands that even the Zurich process of
normalization of relations of Turkey with Armenia passed with
participation of Russia. So, many people take the refusal of President
of Azerbaijan Aliyev to take part in the summit of leaders of CIS
countries in Dushanbe in September as a kind of deliberate
demonstrative action. However, for example, if Baku says that the
intermediary mission of Medvedev in the Nagorno-Karabakh regulation
has failed Paris is ready to take his place. The stance of France with
regard to the so-called “Armenian problem” is well known. France will
take Armenia out of the isolation and will not deviate from the Madrid
principles by a single step. Along with this, Libyan experience shows
that Paris will act more decisively to achieve its goals. For example,
it may initiate passage of a resolution through the EU institutions
about forcing of Baku and Yerevan to peace through insertion of an
international peacekeeping contingent to the conflict zone.

From: A. Papazian

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 19, 2011 Friday

HALF-DECAY

by Svetlana Gamova, Sokhbet Mamedov
Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 17, 2011, pp. 1, 6
[translated from Russian]

THE COMMONWEALTH: TWENTY YEARS AND NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT; An update
on the forthcoming informal summit of the Commonwealth in Dushanbe.

Promoted as the CIS Year all over the Commonwealth, 2011 turned out to
be a disappointment, particularly from the standpoint of integration
that had been expected to do better than establish the Customs Union
alone.

“[Russian Premier Vladimir Putin torpedoed the free trade treaty which
was what all CIS countries had aspired to. Without this treaty all
other CIS programs become essentially pointless. Particularly from the
standpoint of Ukraine convinced that Gazprom is about to unleash a new
gas war in order to propel Ukraine into the Customs Union,” said
Sergei Tolstov, Director of the Institute of Political Analysis and
International Studies (Kiev). The expert admitted that he did not
expect President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovich to emulate his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and flatly refuse to go to the
CIS summit in Dushanbe. He said, however, that unless Moscow changed
the way it treated its CIS partners, the president of Ukraine would
find plausible excuses to miss CIS summits. “The Commonwealth used to
offer its members an opportunity to meet and talk things over… even
to address the problems existing in their relations. No more,” said
Tolstov.

“That Aliyev went for it is bad for Russia, of course. It is plain
demonstration that Russia’s partners no longer view it as an
intermediary. That they see it as a promoter of Armenia alone. That it
is done by Aliyev, a cautious politician that he is, shows that he has
been pushed too far… Neither are things any better for the
Commonwealth in general which is celebrating its 20th anniversary
without Georgia,” said Aleksei Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow
Center. “Aliyev’s demarche proves inadequacy of the Commonwealth…
and so do endless trade wars and conflicts.”

The news that Aliyev intended to miss the CIS summit after all reached
Moscow yesterday, barely three days after confirmation from Baku that
Aliyev would attend the celebration. Official sources remain
noncommittal for the time being.

Some experts attributed Aliyev’s demarche to the latest developments
in the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict settlement. It is said that
official Baku was thoroughly displeased with international
intermediaries and their unwillingness to apply pressure to Armenia, a
country occupying seven Azerbaijani districts these last nearly twenty
years.

“It’s wrong to assume that Azerbaijan intends to boycott the CIS
summit. Prime Minister Arthur Rasizade is going to represent
Azerbaijan there. As a matter of fact, I won’t be surprise to learn
that some other CIS country will follow suit. It’s not going to be the
first time, you know. No need to be overly dramatic,” said Rasim
Musabekov of the Committee for International Relations of the
Azerbaijani national parliament.

Said Musabekov, “Both formal and informal summits of the Commonwealth
are nothing but a club of post-Soviet presidents. It is common
knowledge after all that some CIS president would not attend a CIS
summit without an appointment with the Russian president he need to
talk something or other over with. From this standpoint, there is no
need for Aliyev to go to the informal summit in Dushanbe.”

“Azerbaijan enjoys stable bilateral relations with all CIS countries.
It does not need the Commonwealth as such to bolster its contacts with
foreign countries. As for Medvedev, Aliyev met with him in Sochi only
recently. They discussed Karabakh, of course… Armenia
nonconstructive stand on the matter makes continuation of the talks
pointless at this time. It follows that organization of a trilateral
meeting between Aliyev, Medvedev, and [President of Armenia Serj]
Sargsjan is pointless too… not as if one were scheduled for that
matter. Why waste the time on the trip to Dushanbe then?”

Azerbaijan and Ukraine are members of GUAM, a regional alliance once
established to counter Moscow’s ambitions in the post-Soviet zone.
Georgia was the first GUAM country to quit the Commonwealth. Moldova
is prepared to follow suit but waiting to see what Ukraine will do.
Ukraine in its turn is still trying to keep up the illusion of
friendship with Russia. Unfortunately, this illusion is increasingly
more difficult to maintain. Neither does President of Victor
Yanukovich want to give Russia control over gas pipelines across his
country the way Belarus did. “Forget it, Yanukovich is not going to
let Russia take over the domestic Ukrainian market,” said Tolstov.
“Moscow in its turn will put Ukraine under pressure to force it into
the Customs Union and convince the European Union of the unreliability
of gas transit via Ukraine.”

Experts expect Ukraine to be the next country making a step away from
the Commonwealth. Moldova will follow.

From: A. Papazian

Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Massachusetts)
August 17, 2011 Wednesday

Ethnic cleansing by any name is immoral

by Don Long is pastor of Faith Christian Church in Fitchburg.

This summer, as 22 of us from the Fitchburg area traveled in Israel,
we were struck by the fact that throughout Israel there are “Arab”
towns and “Jewish” towns existing side by side. No talk in Israel
about “removing the Arabs.” Full citizenship rights and opportunities
are given to all Arabs living in Israel. And then we traveled to what
the world calls the “West Bank” — it is biblically and historically
“Judea and Samaria.” We visited many Jewish communities there,
numbering anywhere from hundreds to thousands of residents. And we
wondered why Jews and Arabs cannot likewise live together here? That’s
not a question to the Jew — it’s a question to the Arab — and a
question to the world. The answer is unfortunately quite clear: They
want a nation of their own — and they want it free from all Jews!

Ethnic cleansing is the removal of an entire ethnic population,
forcing them to leave one territory and move to another. From the
International War Crimes Tribunal, The Hague, in the case against
Slobodan Milosevic, ethnic cleansing was said to be a criminal act and
its executors criminals. In the 1990s this term was widely used in the
press to describe what was taking place in Yugoslavia, where Croatians
were being driven out by Serbians, and likewise Serbians by Croatians.

Ethnic cleansing typically uses intimidation, forced expulsion and/or
killing of an undesired ethnic group, as well as the destruction or
removal of key physical and cultural elements, including places of
worship, cemeteries, works of art and historic buildings. In 1992, the
U.N. General Assembly condemned ethnic cleansing as a crime against
humanity.

So why would the U.N. even consider granting nationhood status to the
Palestinian Authority when that same entity has made it clear that all
the Jewish communities, some 300,000 people, must be removed from
Judea and Samaria? Can you imagine the reaction in the world if the
government of Israel said that in order for a two-state solution to
take place, all of the more than 1 million Arab Muslims living in
Israel must be forced to move to the new Palestinian state? Protests
would erupt around the world; our college campuses would be sites of
protest gatherings; our State Department and president would
immediately condemn such a statement. Yet when Abbas and the
Palestinian Authority very clearly say that all Jews must be removed
— not a word of condemnation. Where is the moral outrage?

Unfortunately, ethnic cleansing has all too frequently been a part of
human history. The Romans expelled all the Jews from Palestine in A.D.
70. In 1290, King Edward I expelled all Jews from England. In 1492,
King Ferdinand expelled all Jews from Spain. During World War I,
Turkey was responsible for the ethnic cleansing — some would say
genocide — of the Armenians. In World War II the Nazi government
began with ethnic cleansing, and ended with genocide in the Holocaust
and the extermination of more than 6 million Jews. During the
partition of India, 5 million Hindus and Sikhs fled from what became
Pakistan into India, and more than 6 million Muslims fled from what
became India into Pakistan. Our own nation was guilty of ethnic
cleansing when in 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian
Removal Act — forcing all the Cherokee Indians in the South to be
marched off to tribal lands in the Midwest.

In the years after the nation of Israel was established, more than 1
million Jews were forced to leave their homes in Arab states, so that
most Arab nations are now “Judenrein” — a reference to Hitler’s
attempt to remove all Jews from the population. And now many in the
world want to establish yet another Arab nation that will be free of
Jews! Gaza is now free of all Jews — all 9,000 of them removed. The
result — a terrorist camp raining rockets into the sovereign nation
of Israel on a regular basis. Remove all the Jews from Judea and
Samaria? The very mention of that by the Palestinian Authority should
cause a swift and clear response from the civilized nations of the
world. If that is your world view, you are disqualified from being a
member of the civilized nations of the world.

And this is quite apart from the discussion as to whether the
Palestinians have a “right” to the land to begin with. Despite what
Peter Tocci and others believe, history is not on their side. True,
the British did promise land to the Arabs — but they already gave it.
Three-fourths of the British Mandate was given by the British, without
any international approval, to form the nation of Jordan. Jordan is
the homeland for the Palestinians. People should read “From Time
Immemorial” — research by Joan Peters, who began with one point of
view but whose research shows that the so-called Palestinians have no
claim to the land. That might open the door for a great public debate.

But to the point of this letter: Ethnic cleansing was, is, and always
will be immoral. If we as a people — and our government leaders, no
matter what their political persuasion is — cannot be clear on that,
then we have no moral right to think we can be a nation leading the
world. You want to be a nation free of one ethnic group? Then you
cannot be a nation!

From: A. Papazian

YSU students commemorate perished soldiers of Artsakh war

September 3, 2011 – 16:24 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On September 2, 20th anniversary of Karabakh
independence, the Union of University Students at Yerevan State
University (YSU) paid a traditional visit to Yerablur military
pantheon to commemorate liberator soldiers of Artsakh war.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the head of the
Union Gevorg Melkonyan stressed the importance of promoting the
awareness of Artsakh war and invaluable contribution of liberators to
NKR independence.

As Melkonyan further noted, a visit to Artsakh to establish closer
ties with local youth and organisation of joint programs is planned.

From: A. Papazian

Secret files show CIA ties to Gaddafi spy unit

September 3, 2011 – 16:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The CIA worked closely with Muammar Gaddafi’s
intelligence services in the rendition of terror suspects to Libya for
interrogation, according to documents found at the abandoned office of
Libya’s former spymaster.

The CIA was among a number of foreign intelligence services that
worked with Libya’s agencies, according to documents found at a Libyan
security agency building in Tripoli.

Reports of such cooperation have surfaced before, but the documents
provide new details on the ties between Western countries and
Gaddafi’s regime. Many of those same countries backed the NATO attacks
that helped Libya’s rebels force Gaddafi from power.

One notable case is that of Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, commander of the
anti-Gaddafi rebel force that now controls Tripoli. Belhaj is the
former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a now-dissolved
militant group with links to al-Qaida. Belhaj says he was tortured by
CIA agents at a secret prison, then returned to Libya.

Two documents from March 2004 appear to be American correspondence to
Libyan officials to arrange Belhaj’s rendition.

Referring to him by his nom de guerre, Abdullah al-Sadiq, the
documents say he will be flown from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Libya
and asks for Libyan government agents to accompany him.

It also requests American “access to al-Sadiq for debriefing purposes
once he is in your custody.”

“Please be advised that we must be assured that al-Sadiq will be
treated humanely and that his human rights will be respected,” the
document says.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, which found the documents,
called the ties between Washington and Gaddafi’s regime “a very dark
chapter in American intelligence history, and it remains a stain on
the record of the American intelligence services that they cooperated
with these very abusive intelligence services.”

In Washington, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood declined to comment
Saturday on any specific allegation related to the documents.

“It can’t come as a surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency
works with foreign governments to help protect our country from
terrorism and other deadly threats,” Youngblood said. “That is exactly
what we are expected to do,” The Associated Press quoted her as
saying.

From: A. Papazian

Turkish navy to boost presence in Mediterranean

September 3, 2011 – 17:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Turkish navy will significantly strengthen its
presence in the eastern Mediterranean Sea as one of the steps the
Turkish government has decided to take following the release of the UN
Palmer report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla, Turkish officials told the
Hurriyet Daily News.

`The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli
naval forces can freely exercise their bullying practices against
civilian vessels,’ a Turkish official was quoted as saying.

As part of the plan, the Turkish navy will increase its patrols in the
eastern Mediterranean and pursue `a more aggressive strategy’.

According to the report, Turkish naval vessels will accompany civilian
ships carrying aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Another goal of the plan is to ensure free navigation in the region
between Cyprus and Israel. The region includes areas where Israel and
Cyprus cooperate in drilling for oil and gas.

Additionally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructed
his foreign ministry to organize a trip for him to the Gaza Strip in
the near future.

`We are looking for the best timing for the visit,’ a Turkish official
was quoted as saying. `Our primary purpose is to draw the world’s
attention to what is going on in Gaza and to push the international
community to end the unfair embargo imposed by Israel.’

From: A. Papazian

Mother Asks: “Mr. Serop, did you do such things to my child?”

Larisa Paremuzyan

hetq
23:21, September 2, 2011

Five of the thirteen individual subpoenaed to testify in the ongoing
paedophilia trial of American-Armenian businessman Serop
Der-Boghossian took the stand today at the Vanadzor Administrative
Court.

All five were mothers of boys alleged to have had sexual relations
with Der-Boghossian.

The testimony today changed little from what they stated during the
pre-trial investigation. They preferred not to watch the tape,
admitted to the court as evidence, showing their sons engaging in such
acts.

They testified that they hadn’t been aware of what their sons had been
engaged in.

When asked why the boys’ fathers hadn’t been called in to testify,
Prosecutor Aram Amirzadyan said that, `The mothers are more closely
involved in the upbringing of their kids.’

Hovsep Sargsyan, another prosecutor in the case from the Prosecutor
General’s Office, noted that `the fathers would opt out of testifying
given the nature of the case’.

He said that today’s testimony was a huge boost for the prosecution.

Sargsyan said that the testimony confirmed that the families affected
were socially vulnerable and that the defendant had used this to his
advantage in luring the adolescents into having sexual relations with
him.

Prosecutor Amirzadyan told reporters that the parents did not deny
that they had received money from Der-Boghossian but that there were
some inconsistencies as to the amounts.

Amirzadyan noted that Der-Boghossian didn’t appear to be phased by the
presence of the parents in the courtroom.

At one point, one of the mothers rose and shouted, `Mr. Serop, what
are we hearing here today? Did you do such things to my child?’

Serop Der-Boghossian rose and answered, `I will not answer your question.’

The trial will recommence on September 19.

From: A. Papazian

Council to be set up in Armenia for reforming economy-regulating legal acts

YEREVAN, September 2. /ARKA/. On Thursday, Armenian government
approved a project to set up a council for the president-ordered
reformation of economy-regulating legal acts.

The aim of this decision is to improve state regulation of economic
activities and enhance the country’s ability to resist social and
economic challenges.

David Sargsyan, head of the government administration, said Thursday
at a regular meeting of the Cabinet that the mission of the council
would be to remove those factors hobbling development of businesses
and market economy as well as to improve state services for citizens
and reduction of economically ineffective mechanisms.

The government will establish a national legislation regulating
center, which will be in charge of this process.

The government will also approve agenda of effective administration.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, who spoke at the same meeting, said
this process will symbolically be called `a guillotine system’.

He said the group set up for implementing the mentioned changes would
comb business processes in various areas.

`We’ll cut these business functions to lessen red tape, unnecessary
functions, repetitions and senseless permissions,’ he said adding that
red tape is planned to be reduced by 30%.

The premier also said that the government cooperated with
international experts to use other countries’ experience, and the
economy ministry negotiated with donors.

`As a result, we received support from international organizations and
money in grants to enable the newly established committee to implement
changes,’ he said.

Speaking about long-term prospects, Sargsyan said that it would become
necessary to cut jobs in governing institutions.

`As a result, effectiveness of work will be upgraded and corruption
risks will be lessened,’ he said adding that this would be one of the
best instruments for substantial reformation.

Justice, economy and finance ministers as well as chief adviser the
Armenian president will be among the council members. The council will
be headed by the prime minister.

OSCE Yerevan Office has given its approval to this guillotine system.-0–

From: A. Papazian