Author: Andres-Papazian

New York Times
March 4 2011

Rebuilding Lives in Former Soviet Lands

By MATHEW R. WARREN

In 1994, on the last day of a monthlong stay at the only hotel in
Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
the photographer Bruce Haley took a picture of a woman he had come to
know as `Mama.’ Over the course of his visit, Mama brought him
breakfast every day. The two became friends, but she refused to be
photographed. When Mr. Haley visited her to say goodbye, though, she
let him take her picture under one condition: that he permit her to
hold an image of her dead son.

`That particular image spoke a lot to what these people had been
through in the past and what they were trying to rebuild from,’ Mr.
Haley said.

Mr. Haley, who is 54 and lives in the San Joaquin Valley in
California, received the 1990 Robert Capa Gold Medal for his coverage
of civil war in Myanmar. He has also covered wars in Afghanistan and
Somalia. But after going along on a British fact-finding mission to
Nagorno-Karabakh, he decided to stay another month on his own. With
that, his `Post-Communist’ project and his new book `Sunder’ began to
take form.

`Sunder,’ which was published by Daylight Books, was released last
week. Fifty-five black-and-white photographs depict a people and a
landscape in flux. The haunting images, which were taken in various
countries throughout the former Soviet Union, show abandoned
industrial sites and decaying towns and villages. Children play in
bombed-out structures; families toil in rural wastelands. A panoramic
photo depicts a young man about to dive into the ocean from the top of
a partially sunken warship. A piece of the broken hull pokes out of
the water.

Though some of the images are bleak, together they evoke a sense of
hope, strength and beauty. There are lush landscapes, circus
performers, young women gossiping and smiling, and proud mothers.

`I was immersed in this whole different type of photography,’ Mr.
Haley said. `It’s not fighting, blood or bombs. It’s people trying to
rebuild their society and return a sense of normalcy to their lives.’
And it’s dedicated to Mama.

From: A. Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
March 4 2011

Armenians ‘want to live’ in tranquility
Fri 04 March 2011 11:59 GMT | 13:59 Local Time

‘I expect success from Sochi meeting of the presidents’.

The statement came from chairman of the Azerbaijani community of
Nagorno Karabakh Bayram Safarov.

Drawing attention to hard living conditions of Armenian people from
social-economic standpoint, Safarov noted that in contrast, living
conditions in Azerbaijan were high:

‘Armenians see it and they also want to live in peace and tranquility.
Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh regret that they are outside of
Azerbaijan. They will support Azerbaijani government at the first
opportunity. Those Armenians who lived in Nagorno Karabakh till 1992
may live in Azerbaijan by having ID card of Azerbaijani Republic and
respecting the laws of Azerbaijan. And who do not want, let them live
in Armenia’.

Safarov said that Nagorno Karabakh Community was always ready to meet
with Armenian community.

APA

From: A. Papazian

Hurriyet, Turkey
March 4 2011

UK think tank blasts Armenia on pace of reforms

Friday, March 4, 2011
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Photo: A demonstrator raises his fist in front of a giant Armenian
flag as more than 10,000 opposition supporters rally Tuesday in the
center of Yerevan, calling for the government’s resignation on the
third anniversary of deadly political unrest. AFP photo.

The pace of reform in Armenia has been slow, a new report by a
London-based think tank has concluded, criticizing a lack of
democratic development, a lack of judicial independence and the
suppression of media freedom.

In Armenia `the pace of reform has been slow, much better on paper
than in practice, and … this is undermining the hopes and
aspirations of the Armenian people,’ the Foreign Policy Centre wrote
in its `Spotlight on Armenia’ report.

In addition from the three areas `in need of urgent reform’ – judicial
independence, media freedom and democratic development – the report’s
numerous authors also address a range of other challenges facing
Armenia, including poor legislative implementation, corruption, a poor
human-rights record and insufficient penitentiary services.

Among the recommendations put forward by the report, the authors
suggest `bringing forward a new package of constitutional reform in
conjunction with civil society and opposition parties.’ The
stipulations for such reform include: ending the presidential
appointment of judges and members of the Council of Justice and
replacing the process with selection by parliament or an independent
commission; transferring appointments to the board of the National TV
and Radio Commission and the public broadcaster from the president to
the parliament, transforming local government with the election of
regional governors and greater accountability at the community level
and liberalizing the electoral code to facilitate independent election
observers.

The Foreign Policy Centre, which was founded in 1998 by Britain’s
foreign secretary and has three co-presidents, each representing one
of Britain’s major political parties, also offers suggestions to the
international community in relation to dealing with Armenia. These
recommendations include a call for international donor funding for a
permanent independent polling agency in Armenia, as well as other
incentives to promote reform.

From: A. Papazian

Trend, Azerbaijan
March 4 2011

Azerbaijan expects Armenia to abandon non-constructive position in Sochi

04.03.2011 16:58
Azerbaijan, Baku, March 4 / Trend, T. Hajiyev /

Baku expects that Armenia will abandon its non-constructive position
during the forthcoming meeting between the Azerbaijani, Armenian and
Russian presidents in Sochi, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration
Political Analyst and Information Provision Department Head Elnur
Aslanov told journalists.

“The Azerbaijani president’s current policy lies in the fact that the
peace talks are continuing, but there is a certain limit. After this
limit, we have to consider alternative plans,” Aslanov said.

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
March 4 2011

OSCE MG must make a clear push for removing snipers: Kambeck hails
tripartite meeting

European Friends of Armenia () strongly welcomes
tripartite meeting initiative among Presidents Sargsyan, Medvedev and
Aliyev, EuFoA Secretary General Michael Kambeck made his remarks to
Panorama.am. He also reminded that the entire international community
must now realize their interests in the region, all of which will be
in jeopardy without peace.

`The international community, especially the OSCE Minsk Group, must
now make a clear push for at least removing snipers and installing
observers on the line of contact – a first step of confidence
building. Armenia has clearly stated that it accepts the Madrid
principles as an integrated whole. Azerbaijan has said that it `has
only few problems’ with them, but continued its war threats heavily.
In this light, we remain very skeptic that they could agree on
anything, unless there is a united international push’, he said.

President’s press service informed earlier that Presidents of Armenia,
Russia and Azerbaijan would be discussing issues related to NK
conflict resolution.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
March 4 2011

Events in Arab world extremely important for Armenia, expert says

March 04, 2011 | 14:40

The consequences of the unrest the Arab world is experiencing will be
extremely important for Armenia and the whole region, Director of
Caucasus institute Alexander Iskandaryan told a press conference on
March 4.

According to him, the present oil prices will affect Russia, Armenia
and Iran. `This will affect the region both economically and
geopolitically, because European gas supply projects and energy
resources from Algeria are at least at risk. This will lead to a
change of European policy towards Russia and Turkey,’ he noted.

As reported previously, a wave of unrest is continuing to spread
across the Arab world following the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt,
Algeria, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
March 4 2011

Armenia`s ruling party meets: nothing special on agenda

March 04, 2011 | 16:27

Gagik Minaryan, a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
parliamentary faction, Chairman of the Finance, Credit and Budget
Committee, Parliament of Armenia, confirmed the reports on a meeting
at the RPA office on March. “That was our executive body`s weekly
meeting attended by President Serzh Sargsyan as an executive body
member,” Minasyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As to the issues on the meeting agenda, he said that “nothing
extraordinary happened.”

From: A. Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
March 4 2011

USA believes that Minsk Group Co-chairs work perfectly
Fri 04 March 2011 08:12 GMT | 10:12 Local Time

Process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is currently suspended.

US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon disagrees with the
opinion that initiating meetings with Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents, Russia gradually takes the Karabakh peace process `under
its control.’

The US official said this in reply to questions of participants
Globsec 2011 (Global Security) Conference in Bratislava.

Philip Gordon said that Russia is geographically located closer to
parties in the conflict and it’s easier for Russia rather than for
faraway Washington to organize a meeting in Sochi, Moscow, Saint
Petersburg or Amsterdam.

The US official said that Russia is transparent in its actions and
informs the United States and France of all details of the meetings.

According to Assistant Secretary of State, the co-chairs trust each
other on this issue, as they speak from positions of protection of
common interests. `These interests are based on the necessity of
ensuring comprehensive security in Europe,’ he noted.

While speaking about resentment frequently voiced by Baku regarding
mediators’ activity, Philip Gordon said that USA believes that the
Minsk Group Co-chairs work perfectly.

US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon said that the process of
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is currently suspended.

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.

source: Mediamax

From: A. Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
March 4 2011

US envoy hopes for progress in Karabakh at Sochi negotiations
Fri 04 March 2011 08:05 GMT | 10:05 Local Time

“We hope there will be a progress”, said US ambassador in Baku Matthew Bryza.
Washington hopes for a progress in Karabakh settlement at the upcoming
5 March Sochi negotiations of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
under mediation of the Russian president, US ambassador in Baku
Matthew Bryza said.

‘Certainly, we hope the progress will continue, since as the ci0chairs
said, there is a progress after the recent meeting’, he told
reporters.

According to Bryza, he does not know anything about the details of the
negotiation process, since he is already not the Minsk Group co-chair,
but he is aware that the conflict settlement is an important case for
both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

‘Therefore, we hope there will be a progress’, he said adding that
everything will depend on the conflict parties.

Bryza was the Minsk Group co-chair of US in the recent past.

Interfax-Azerbaijan

From: A. Papazian

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
parliament.am
March 4 2011

Open Lesson in the Parliament

On March 3 the schoolchildren of Malatia-Sebastia administrative
district came to the National Assembly accompanied by their teachers
to take part in the parliamentary Open Lesson.

The Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Samvel Nikoyan held the
traditional open lesson, introducing the functions and role of the
legislative body in the governing system of the country. He detailed
for them the order of the formation of the parliament, the principles
of the work in the specialized committees and distribution of the
deputies and the procedure of making political decisions in the
factions. To make completely understandable the system of state
governing to the schoolchildren Mr Nikoyan talked about separation of
three wings of the power and mechanisms of checks and balances
prescribed by the Constitution. The NA Vice Speaker also introduced
the participants of the Open Lesson about the opposition-power
relations and noted that the parliament served as the best podium of
opinions.

The NA Vice Speaker also answered the schoolchildren’s questions: they
included issues concerning the problems of the new system to jobs and
even the chaotic situation in the Arab world.

In the parliament the schoolchildren took part in the exhibition
dedicated to the Women’s Holiday, during which they had opportunity
issues addressed to the Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik
Abrahamyan. They were interested in the NA Speaker’s biography and
especially in his political career. Presenting the main spheres and
achievements of his activity Hovik Abrahamyan considered the school as
an important support and urged the schoolchildren to get knowledge.
`Much depends on you. We shall make contribution in building our
statehood and continue it, which we hasn’t succeeded and will not
succeed to carry out,’ the head of the parliament said during the
talk. Responding the questions he talked about the works to be done by
the parliament, distinguishing among them the efforts made in solving
together the social problems, restoring the economy, and overcoming
the external political challenges.

The NA Speaker also talked with the teachers of the schools, hearing
about the problems concerning them, expressing his support for their
solution.

The schoolchildren of Malatia-Sebastia had been taken photos with
Hovik Abrahamyan in the session of the National Assembly. In the
morning in this same hall they had opportunity to follow the
parliamentary sittings.

From: A. Papazian