Author: Andres-Papazian

NKR PRESIDENT VISITS FRENCH REPUBLIC SENATE

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 9, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS: On 7 March President of the Artsakh
Republic Bako Sahakyan visited the French Republic Senate and met a
group of its members.

Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic
President told Armenpress that Bako Sahakyan considered important
the role of France in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement
and maintaining regional peace and stability noting at the same time
the interest of Artsakh in cooperation with France especially with
its legislative branch.

The President touched upon the Karabakh issue, the current stage of
Artsakh’s socioeconomic development and pivotal directions of the
republic’s foreign policy.

The importance of such meetings as the component of developing
bilateral relations was mutually noted.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia
to France Vigen Chitechyan, NKR permanent representative to France
Hovhannes Gevorgyan and other officials were present at the meeting.

From: A. Papazian

“HERITAGE” NOT TO PUT DOWN MANDATES

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 9, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS: Issue on putting down mandates is
not being discussed by the “Heritage”, secretary of the “Heritage”
faction Styopa Safaryan said at a news conference today, clarifying
that some representatives of the mass media have understood them in
a wrong way and spread wrong information.

“We have never said such thing, such question was never put,”
Safaryan said, adding that they will continue participating in the
coming sittings of the NA, the boycott referred to that day’s sitting.

As to the March 13 sitting of the Board of the party, Safaryan said
the issues will be raised which have not got solutions because of
the reasons mentioned by Raffi Hovhannissyan in his February 28 speech.

From: A. Papazian

BAKO SAHAKYAN CONVOKES CONSULTATION WITH NKR DIPLOMATS

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 9, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS: On 9 March President of the Artsakh
Republic Bako Sahakyan convoked at the permanent representation of the
Artsakh Republic in Paris a working consultation with the participation
of permanent representatives to the European countries and the USA as
well as workers of the NKR foreign ministry sent abroad with different
diplomatic missions.

Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic
President told Armenpress that a wide range of issues related to the
activities of Artsakh diplomatic missions in foreign countries were
discussed during the meeting.

The NKR president underlined the necessity of applying new quality to
the work of our representations to the host countries paying special
attention to developing relations with the political, analytical and
cultural circles.

Bako Sahakyan gave concrete instructions to Artsakh diplomats for
proper realization of the activities.

From: A. Papazian

RA President Partakes in Opening of Armenian-Latvian Business Conference

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 9, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS: President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan,
who is on an official visit to the Republic of Latvia, put a wreath on
the Freedom Monument after today’s meeting with President of Latvia
Valdis Zatlers. The presidential press service told Armenpress that
afterwards President Serzh Sargsyan visited the Latvian parliament.

The Armenian-Latvian inter-parliamentary cooperation was discussed
during the meeting with Solvita Aboltina, speaker of the Latvian
Saeima (parliament). The speakers emphasized the high level of the
cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two states and
expressed satisfaction about the fact that the friendship groups,
formed in the Armenian and Latvian parliaments, cooperate successfully
and are ready to develop the cooperation, taking into account the
existing potential.

President Serzh Sargsyan mentioned that Armenia is interested in
Latvia’s experience in the cooperation with the European Union and
making the legislation correspond to European standards. Taking into
account the fact that UNSECO has declared Yerevan as 2012 World Book
Capital, and that Riga has been declared as the European Capital of
Culture 2014, Serzh Sargsyan and Solvita Aboltina said they consider
it a good opportunity of developing the cooperation and mutual contacts
between the states.

Within the framework of the official visit, Presidents Serzh Sargsyan
and Valdis Zatlers partook in the opening of the Armenian-Latvian
business conference. An official supper in honor of President Serzh
Sargsyan will be served in the evening on behalf of President of
Latvia Valdis Zatlers and his spouse Lilita Zatlere.

From: A. Papazian

SERZH SARGSYAN HAS PRIVATE TALK WITH VALDIS ZATLERS

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 9, 2011
YEREVAN

Upon the invitation of President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers, President of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan paid a two-day official visit to the Republic
of Latvia. The presidential press service told Armenpress that after
the welcome ceremony, the presidents had a private talk. A meeting
of the delegations of the two states followed the talk.

Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Valdis Zatlers expressed satisfaction
about the fact that in the result of the mutual visits and high-level
meetings, the political dialogue between Armenia and Latvia has become
more active and the cultural, educational relations have been developed
in the recent years.

As to the 2009 visit to Armenia by President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers,
the sides mentioned that the agreements, reached during the visit,
have already been called into being.

The Armenian president’s visit is aimed at continuing the efficient
dialogue of December, 2009 for the benefit of the further development
and deepening of the relations between the two states.

During the meeting the two sides emphasized the necessity of
establishment of an Armenian-Latvian intergovernmental committee,
as well as embassies in Yerevan and Riga.

A ceremony of signing of documents followed the meeting. 2011-2013
cultural cooperation program between Armenia and Latvia, as well as a
protocol on Euro-integration sphere between the foreign institutions
of the two states were signed. Afterwards the two presidents gave a
joint press conference.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TOPIC BECOMES MORE POPULAR AMONG TURKISH AUTHORS

mediamax
March 1 2011
Armenia

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Specialist in Turkic philology Ruben Melkonyan
stated today that after 2003, more and more Turkish authors have been
touching upon the Armenian Genocide in their books.

Mediamax reports that the specialist said this at the presentation
of his “Armenian Genocide Topic in Modern Turkish Literature”
book. According to Melkonyan, this is the first research of this type.

“Having analyzed over 200 books of Turkish authors, I singled out 20,
which directly or indirectly touch upon the topic of the Armenian
Genocide. The policy of denial and forgetting the Armenian Genocide
strongly influenced Turkish literature of the XX century, in which
this topic was practically not touched upon” the expert noted.

Ruben Melkonyan informed that for the first time the Armenian Genocide
is mentioned in a book, dated to 1956, in which the term “Armenian
pogroms” is used.

“In the XXI century, the situation in Turkey has somewhat changed,
and this fact found its reflection also in literature, where the topic
of the Genocide started to be used, mainly, in a form of memoirs of
people, who lived through that tragedy and were forcedly Islamized”,
the specialist of Turkic philology stated.

>From 20 books, in which the topic of the Genocide is touched upon,
only 5 were written in last century, all the remaining 15 are dated
to the XXI century.

The main value of those books, according to Melkonyan, is that they had
a factual basis, they make a bigger impression on the Turkish society,
than historical works, and can be used as propaganda against the policy
of forgetting and denying the Genocide, adopted by official Ankara,
since they are written by Turks themselves.

Ruben Melkonyan reminded that the most famous author, who touches upon
the topic of the Armenian Genocide, is Elif Å~^afak, whose books are
very popular in Turkey and are translated into more than 40 languages.

Mediamax notes that after the publication of “Istanbul Foundling”,
where the Armenian Genocide is mentioned, Elif Å~^afak was to be
imprisoned for 3 years for “offending the Turkish nation”, however
later the accusations were lifted “for insufficiency of evidence”.

From: A. Papazian

USA DISAGREE WITH ANKARA OVER ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

Mediamax
March 4 2011
Armenia

Yerevan /Mediamax/. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon
said that the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations
is currently suspended.

The U.S. official said this in reply to questions of participants
of Globsec 2011 (Global Security) Conference in Bratislava, Mediamax
reports.

Philip Gordon said that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations
will facilitate the strengthening of stability and security in the
South Caucasus. He pointed out that Washington backed up this process
from the very beginning and US Secretary of State personally exerted
every effort in that direction.

According to Philip Gordon, Turkey says it will ratify the Zurich
Protocols only if progress in Karabakh talks is reached. However, he
noted, the United States disagree with that approach and believe that
the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations cannot be connected
with any other problem.

From: A. Papazian

POLITICAL SCIENTIST URGED NOT TO OVERESTIMATE SOCHI STATEMENT

Mediamax
March 9 2011
Armenia

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Director of “Caucasus” Institute Alexander
Iskandaryan stated that the joint statement of Armenian, Azerbaijani
and Russian Presidents, made on March 5 in Sochi, can be considered
success for Yerevan, but “should not be overestimated”.

Mediamax reports that the expert stated today that after Meiendorf
(Moscow) Declaration of 2008, Sochi statement is the first such
document.

“The fact that Baku managed to reach a statement on continuation of the
peace process is already some success. However, the statement should
not be overestimated, since such statements were made before as well,
but this does not mean that they were complied with. One should not
rule out the possibility that tomorrow, or in a month, Azerbaijani
President will again make militaristic statements”, expert stated.

Speaking of the first item of the statement, which reads about the
necessity to complete the exchange of prisoners of war as soon as
possible, Alexander Iskandaryan noted that this is first of all
related to Baku, since the Armenian side does not have Azerbaijani
prisoners of war.

The political scientist stated that “consolidated pressure on
Azerbaijan is observed from the part of all three OSCE Minsk Group
Co-chair countries, headed by Russia”.

From: A. Papazian

RUBEN VARDANYAN DOES NOT CLAIM FOR THE POSITION OF THE ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

Mediamax
March 9 2011
Armenia

Yerevan /Mediamax/. Chairman of “Troika Dialogue” Company’s Broad of
Directors Ruben Vardanyan described his nomination for the position
of the Armenian President as “impossible”.

Mediamax reports that Ruben Vardanyan said this at the online interview
at Gazeta.ru website.

“It is impossible. First of all, I am a citizen of Russia and never was
a citizen of Armenia. I don’t have an Armenian passport. Secondly,
and what is more important, I am deeply sure that a person, who
has lived and worked in Armenia for many years and who understands
deeply and well what is taking place there, should be the President
of Armenia. Thirdly, I believe that I don’t have the qualities, which
would make me a good state official either in Russia or in Armenia”,
the businessman stated.

Ruben Vardanyan also commented on the project of building International
DILIJAN School in Armenia.

“The project, which was were going to realize in Armenia, is by no
means related to the laws on Russian speaking schools in Armenia,
since teaching in our school was planned to be realized in English,
and not in Russian. Moreover, I believe that in Armenia it is very
important to preserve the knowledge of the Armenian language, and
indeed large investments are needed for that. To maintain any language
at a proper level is the task of the elite in a particular country. At
that, we should understand that by preserving and developing our own
language, we should do everything for our future generations to be
able to communicate, speak a few languages, including Russian as well,
since Russia is one of the key markets for Armenia. In terms of this,
it is very important to maintain the competitive advantages, which
we have created over the past 90 years, including in the sphere of
knowledge of languages”.

From: A. Papazian

AN “INVESTIGATION” INTO AZERBAIJAN’S ONLINE ACTIVISM
By Jeremy Druker

Transitions OnLine, Czech Rep.
March 9 2011

Being an online activist in Azerbaijan is becoming riskier by the
day. As Onnik Krikorian chronicles on TOL today, the last few weeks
have seen several activists either interrogated or arrested after
posting provocative messages on Facebook; supporters claim the charges
are trumped up, in the same way that the two “donkey” bloggers (Adnan
Hajizade and Emin Milli) were imprisoned in 2009.

An article also published today by the Azerbaijan Press Agency picks
up on one of the government’s tactics that Onnik mentions: smearing
the protests called for 11 March by associating them with Armenia
(as well as some nefarious Azerbaijans living abroad and the local
opposition). The article is basically a compilation of quotes from
Mubariz Gurbanli, a parliamentary deputy and deputy executive director
of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP). He says that youth activists
from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) have “investigated” the
campaign launched on Twitter and Facebook and concluded that “most” of
those involved are living outside the country. In Gurbanli’s words (I’m
not vouching for the quality of the translation, but you get the gist):

It was also identified that falsified number of those who joined these
calls was shown on social networks. Few people joined this call and
most of them are living abroad. On the other hand, the people involved
in 11 March groups were involved in other groups earlier and later they
were misappropriated. They had other names. They changed names several
times and misappropriated the numbers of people involved in the groups
of youth education, free time and others. We attached attention to
other nuance. There were young Armenians introducing themselves as the
supporters of 11 March group. They sent messages in Armenian that they
also joined this movement. A ridiculous situation was created there:
They want to hold actions in Baku, Azerbaijan, but most of them are
living abroad, and some in Armenia. Does the Armenian come to Baku to
participate in the meeting? It is very ridiculous. This fact shows that
radical opposition is ready to work with Armenians against Azerbaijan.

I think “misappropriated” is supposed to be “inflated”. In other words,
supposed participants used multiple names to generate the impression
that a lot of people are involved in calling for a day of protest. In
any case, Gurbanli finds it incredibly hard to believe that any young
people could be fed up with their government:

That is why I can not imagine any mass action, unrest in Baku,
Azerbaijan neither on March 11 nor March 12 because Azerbaijani youth
supports President Ilham Aliyev’s policy. Azerbaijani students studying
abroad send us thousands letters and condemn uproar occurred related
to March 11. We also see it in messages to different groups created
by YAP youth in social networks.

This latest diatribe has some people worrying that another round
of arrests for Facebook activists is on the way. When Hajizade and
Milli went to jail, effect on online activism was chilling. After
their release, more people seem to have been emboldened. We’ll see
what happens this time.

From: A. Papazian