Author: Andres-Papazian

TURKEY HAS TO BE ‘CONSTRUCTIVE’ – ARMENIAN LEADER

news.az
Jan 27 2011
Azerbaijan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has repeated his position that
progress on normalizing relations depends on Turkey.

He made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with Echo Moskvy
radio station, broadcast on 27 January.

Rapprochement between the two countries stalled last year when both
the Turkish and Armenian parliaments refused to ratify two protocols
on normalizing relations signed in October 2009.

Asked by an Ekho Moskvy correspondent about the current state of
Armenian-Turkish relations, the president said: “The question, of
course, is very important for Armenia. It is very important for me as
someone who attempted to re-establish the relationship with Turkey. I
am using the past tense, but this doesn’t mean I no longer think about
the issue. However, when we started the process, we weren’t absolutely
sure that the relationship would be normalized or the border opened.

“We announced then that the process had two possible outcomes – either
ties would be normalized and the border opened and we would start to
talk about our problems or no progress would be made at all. Anyway
a negative outcome is also a result. Why? Because not everyone knew
the truth. Our friends would say all the time that people who were
interested in a solution to the conflict did not fully understand who
it was that did not want a resolution. It was perfectly clear to all
Armenians that resolution of the issue depended on Turkey.”

Sargsyan went on to say that Turkey had raised the conflict with
Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh before the rapprochement protocols
were signed.

“We found the inner strength to take the civilized path. At the
beginning everything seemed to be going well. We held talks, there
were concrete projects, and no mention of any preconditions for these
projects, in fact with no talk about conditions at all. There was no
mention of this in oral conversations at all.

“But after we had endorsed these projects – this was the end of March
the year before last – the Turks began to talk about preconditions. At
the start of April US President Obama went to Istanbul and then
after his departure Turkey’s prime minister began to talk about some
preconditions, about concessions on Karabakh and about some other
preconditions. This was unacceptable for us, of course.”

President Sargsyan said that after the two rapprochement protocols
had been signed in October 2009, it was the Turks who said first that
they could not ratify the protocols in their parliament so Armenia
“had had to stop the process”.

Asked whether the process could be continued, Serzh Sargsyan said:
“It’s possible only if the Turks ratify the protocols without
preconditions… We are not ready for new talks or the introduction
of changes to the protocols. That is, we’re not ready unilaterally. If
the Turks try to include something, then of course we’ll try too.”

Armenia might consider withdrawing its signature from the protocols,
Sargsyan said. “Even now, when the ball is in their court, they are
still trying to interfere in the Karabakh process, in other processes,
talking about some leadership in the region, about neo-Ottomanism.”

Sargsyan then made an emotive attack on Turkish policy.

“If they want to influence what’s going on in the region, they have to
be constructive. What does neo-Ottomanism mean? We see this talk as –
by we I mean those people who know the history of the Ottoman Empire –
we see this talk in the same way as the descendants of people destroyed
in concentration camps view talk of the purity of the Aryan race.”

From: A. Papazian

JEWISH COMMUNITY HEAD SAYS ISRAELIS DO NOT DENY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

news.am
Jan 27 2011
Armenia

January 27 is an international Holocaust Remembrance Day. Today
the Jewish community of Armenia will gather near the monument to
Holocaust and Genocide victims in Yerevan, community’s head Rima
Varzhapetyan-Feller told the journalists.

She said denial of any Genocide and, Holocaust in particular, is a
crime against humanity and the greatest evil.

“Memories about these events join the Jewish communities all over the
globe. We are grateful to president and the Armenian government that
activities of our community are highly appreciated,” she noted.

Asked whether Israel intends to recognize the Armenian Genocide,
Varzhapetyan-Feller stressed it had to do it long ago. “Jewish
people and Israelis do not deny Armenian Genocide. However, official
recognition is linked to security of Israelis and the state of Israel,”
she stressed.

Commenting for Armenian News-NEWS.am on Jewish community’s efforts
aimed at Genocide recognition, Rima Varzhapetyan-Feller said the
community had appealed to the Knesset. They asked Knesset to discuss
and recognize the Genocide. “I, personally, have raised the issue at
different international forums and structures. Little strokes fell
great oaks,” she concluded.

From: A. Papazian

“GARABAGH.ORG” ATTACKED BY AZERBAIJANI HACKERS

Panorama
Jan 27 2011
Armenia

The newly founded “Garabagh.org” Armenian website in Persian, which
covers and unveils Turkish-Azerbaijani lies, facts about Karabakh war,
massacres of Sumgayit and Baku, as well as Khojalu, has been attacked
by Azerbaijani hackers, “Araks” weekly writes.

“Garabagh.org, which was online a few days, has gathered many readers,
the fact that hasn’t been ignored by pan-Turks. Azerbaijani media
outlets, particularly “A.TV.” which is available in Armenian and
Persian, strictly targeted the website ordering its agents to attack
it,” weekly writes saying that soon the website will be recovered.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA PREPARED TO FIGHT AZERBAIJAN OVER KARABAKH

Agence France Presse
Jan 27 2011

MOSCOW – Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said on Thursday that
his country was prepared to fight its ex-Soviet neighbour Azerbaijan
again if necessary over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

“I have repeatedly stated that we are against a war, but that doesn’t
mean we are afraid to fight,” Sarkisian told Russia’s Moscow Echo
radio station.

He said that he was ready to “defend” Karabakh, which is currently
controlled by Armenian-backed separatists, because the population
would be expelled if Azerbaijan managed to seize the region back.

“If by some miracle Karabakh was under Azerbaijani control even for
an hour, there would be no Armenian left there,” he told the station.

“We must protect our population using any means necessary,” he said.

Tensions have mounted over Karabakh during the past year amid stalled
peace talks, increasingly belligerent rhetoric and frequent skirmishes
along the ceasefire line.

Three soldiers are already reported to have been killed during
exchanges of fire since the start of 2011.

International mediators have raised concern about increasing violence
over the region, where ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan
seized control from Baku in a war in the early 1990s that left an
estimated 30,000 dead.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly threatened to use force to win back Karabakh
if peace talks do not yield satisfactory results, while Armenia has
warned of large-scale retaliation if Baku launches any military action.

From: A. Papazian

REPORT: FLIGHT FROM BREAKAWAY NAGORNO KARABAKH TO ARMENIA BOARDING SOON
by Giorgi Lomsadze

EurasiaNet.org
Jan 27 2011
NY

The disputed territory Nagorno Karabakh is preparing for its first
flight in nearly two decades after its airport shut down in 1991 amidst
the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Karabakh separatists over
the region, RFE/RL’s Armenian service reports.

With Karabakh’s status in abeyance, the airport in the capital,
Stepanakert, is unlikely to have an international arrivals section.

All flights will be bound for Armenia, the territory’s ethnic kin
and sovereign best friend.

Karabakh’s de facto aviation officials expect the daily
Stepanakert-Yerevan flights on Air Artsakh (Artsakh is the name widely
used by Armenians for Nagorno Karabakh) to begin in May. A round-trip
ticket on the airline’s three 50-seat CRJ200 jets is expected to cost
from $50 to $60, Regnum reported.

How Karabakh plans to deal with the International Civil Aviation
Organization, which assigns the airport codes used in flight plans, is
an unknown. Karabakh is recognized officially as part of Azerbaijan;
under ICAO rules, therefore, it presumably would be up to Baku to
request that the Stepanakert airport gets an international code.

The Georgian government faced a similar tussle last year when breakaway
Abkhazia claimed that it would receive an international code for its
airport via Russia.

Azerbaijan has not commented on the announcement, but is unlikely to
take it in stride. Baku recently slapped Poland on the wrist after
a visit to Karabakh by a Polish parliamentarian; such trips will
be considered “a violation of the state border of the Azerbaijan
Republic” if not approved previously with the Azerbaijani government,
the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry warned.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SAYS TURKEY SHOULD NOT TELL US WHAT TO DO

news.am
Jan 27 2011
Armenia

Normalization process of the Armenian-Turkish relations initially
had 2 outcomes: either relations are established, borders are open,
the sides start speaking of the problems, or achieve no result. They,
say negative result is a result as well, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan said in an interview with “Echo of Moscow” radio station,
adding that he is pondering on the problem regardless of results.

“All our friends told us people interested in solution of the problem
cannot understand who does not want this decision to be made. For
all Armenians it is clear that the solution depends on Turkey,”
he stressed, saying the matter is not Turkey’s recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.

“In the context of lack of any relations, part of the world community
accused Armenia, saying Armenians live only looking to the past. There
was a genocide and presently Armenians set a precondition: recognize
the Genocide and we will establish relations. It caused certain
difficulties. In fact Armenian leadership and Armenians found strength
to come into contact with Turks without preconditions. Whether we
managed to do it or no, it is another thing. As to preconditions,
we had more moral, political, legal rights to set preconditions,”
Serzh Sargsyn recalled.

He noted that at first everything was smooth and no preconditions were
mentioned. However, in March 2009 Turks started speaking of certain
preconditions. U.S. President Barack Obama visited Istanbul in early
April. Following his departure Turkish PM mentioned concessions in the
Karabakh peace process and other preconditions, the Armenian leader
said. “It was unacceptable to Armenia. We constantly stated Turks
do not want treaty to be signed and relations to be established. The
protocols were signed in the presence of Russian and French foreign
ministers, U.S. Secretary of State and the EU representatives. The
documents had to be ratified in the Turkish parliaments and later in
the Armenian National Assembly. Thereafter, Turks started claiming
they have no opportunity to ratify the accords,” President Sargsyan
said. He stressed that such conduct displayed by Turkey urged to
suspend ratification process in the Armenian Parliament.

Speaking about the future of the suspended process, Serzh Sargsyan
said it would become possible only after Turkey ratifies the documents
without any preconditions.

“There are international commitments, the signed protocols should
be ratified and implemented. We are not ready for new talks and
are not ready to amend the documents unilaterally. I do not see any
sense in starting new talks. What should we speak about? Turks will
set preconditions, whereas we will say they are unacceptable? It is
senseless. The only continuation may be ratification by the Turkish
side. If it continues like this, the only way out for us, probably,
will be just to withdraw our signature from the documents. In this case
even ratified by Turkey the protocols will have no effect,” he stated.

The Armenian leader emphasized even now when the ball is in Turkey’s
court, they are trying to interfere with the Karabakh peace process,
speaking of leading role in the region and neo-otomanism. Only a
country having no problems with others can be a leader in the region,
he added. “Turkey-declared policy of zero problems is aimed at finding
solutions advantageous to Turks. The Armenian side realizes that
Turkey is a large country, a G20 member, we understand it. However,
it does not mean Turks should be our tutors. Turkey is not one who
should tell us what to do. If they want to influence certain regional
processes they should adopt constructive approach. What do they mean by
saying neo-osmaism? People who are familiar with the history perceive
it just as descendants of those killed in concentration camps perceive
remarks about the purity of the Aryan race. They can tell their people
whatever they want. Such statements and claims for leadership, it is
unacceptable to us,” President concluded.

From: A. Papazian

BAKU-TBILISI-KARS RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION ISSUE

The Messenger
Jan 27 2011
Georgia

Today is the final day of a three-day, tri-party meeting
(Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkey) held in Tbilisi concerning
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway construction issues. The sides involved
realize the scale and importance of the project which will be
connecting Asia with Europe. It carries huge political and economical
importance and the significance. Meanwhile, Armenia, which has been
left outside, is attentively watching the developments. On January
25, the Armenian transport and communication minister Manuk Vardanian
stated that while neighboring countries consider new transit routes,
Armenia is doing likewise. For Armenia there is only one direction for
transit and that is North-South. How Armenia is going to implement its
ambitions is very difficult to imagine. From the north, Armenia has as
a good neighbour – Georgia, who’s northern neighbour – Russia, which
occupied Georgian territories and thus could be labeled as an enemy.

So far, Georgia opened its northern border with Russia to receive
cargo destined for Armenia. Georgia also passes through its territory,
natural gas for Armenia from Russia. But there is a permanent question
being asked as to what benefits Georgia is receiving from being good
neighbour of Armenia. Will such an attitude eventually promote the
process of de occupation and reintegration? It is hard to predict at
this time.

From: A. Papazian

SPRING FOR THE PATRIARCHS

The National Interest Online

Jan 27 2011

As the “power vertical” is consolidated in the post-Soviet space,
most nonstate institutions are getting weaker, with one interesting
exception: the national churches. In early 2011 the patriarchs have
a spring in their steps.

The phenomenon is strongest in Armenia, Georgia and Russia. The
Armenian catholicos, Karekin II is not just the leader of the Armenian
Gregorian Church but of Armenians worldwide. But he exercises the
enormous influence he has fairly quietly. Ilia II of Georgia (who has
been patriarch of Georgia since 1977) and the patriarch of Moscow,
Kirill I, are more visible and both are shrewd political figures.

You could say that these two patriarchs are possibly the only
untouchable figures in their two countries. In an opinion poll for NDI
last April Patriarch Ilia II won an astonishing 90 percent approval
rating, easily making him the most popular figure in Georgia-and
comfortably outstripping President Mikheil Saakashvili who earned a
positive rating of 58 percent.

Last year the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill I, was in seventh place
in Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s traditional list, compiled by experts,
of Russia’s one hundred leading political figures-no mean feat for
a nonpolitician. Ahead of him were only Vladimir Putin and Dmitry
Medvedev and their closest allies. Behind him in the list were Russia’s
defense and foreign ministers and Alexei Miller, head of Gazprom.

These men cannot be cut down to size. Surveys suggest that religious
belief in Russia is getting stronger, not weaker. According to the
Levada Center, two-thirds of the population now identify themselves
as Russian Orthodox believers, up from less than half in the
mid-nineties. The political leaders need to be associated with the
powerful symbol that this represents, so, rejecting their Komsomol
youth, they show up to religious services and share national platforms
with the patriarch. By temperament and outlook, Georgian president
Mikheil Saakashvili is far from being a pious Orthodox believer,
but he recently paid public homage to the patriarch and before that
consented to have his son christened.

The patriarchs use this affirmation to pursue their own agendas. To
the credit of both Ilia and Kirill, one way they have done this is to
insist on good relations with each other. They have opted out of the
extreme narratives that took hold of both Russia and Georgia during
the August war of 2008. Patriarch Ilia helped secure the return of
dead bodies and personally spoke up for two Georgian musicians who
had been vilified for holding concerts in Russia. Kirill instructed
the Russian Orthodox Church to take a nonconfrontational line on
the status disputes over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Last month he
declared, “Our brotherly churches, which are so close to each other
geographically and cordially, should be two locomotives pulling our
interstate relations out of the difficult situation they are now in.”

Although he wouldn’t see it that way the Moscow patriarch is probably
the most effective instrument of Russian soft power in the “near
abroad.” He made several visits to Ukraine last year and was the only
Orthodox Patriarch to be invited to the presidential inauguration
ceremony of Viktor Yanukovich.

More controversially, the respect given to the Orthodox churches gives
them space to advance their own conservative social agendas. Sometimes
they end up just tilting at windmills, as when Archpriest Vsevolod
Chaplin called last week for Russian women to stop wearing skimpy
dresses-he called it “striptease”-and proposed a “national dress
code”. Good luck to him. But the churches are more effective on
shaping a social consensus that is hostile to homosexuality and other
liberal trends.

In Georgia the church message is even stronger. Ilia II urged Georgian
parents to have a third child, promising to be that child’s godparent
if they did. The birth rate shot up as a result. Then he condemned
the spread of the observation of Halloween. Last year, he urged young
Georgians not to yield to the temptation of living abroad and to
resist the “danger” of globalization. “This is the time when a man
should not abandon his treasure and go abroad. Any treasure must be
taken care of! What is our treasure? The whole of Georgia-its temples,
its values and traditions, its nation; this is our treasure house.”

The patriarch has also dipped his toe into politics, criticizing for
example Georgia’s controversial education minister, Dmitry Shashkin.

In Russia it is unthinkable that the patriarch, for all his power,
would confront the governing elite on a key political issue. In Georgia
that is now a possibility and President Saakashvili now finds he has
one potential critic who is above criticism.

Thomas de Waal is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace.

From: A. Papazian

DISPUTE ON “MONSTROUS” STATUE PEAKS IN LAW SUIT

BIAnet.org
Jan 27 2011
Turkey

Sculptor Mehmet Aksoy applied to court to stop the destruction of his
“Statue of Humanity” that is supposed to be removed upon the directive
of PM Erdogan. He had called the statue a “monstrosity”. Aksoy argued,
“Turkey must not convey such an image to the world”.

Elvan KISMET Kars – BÄ°A News Center27 January 2011, Thursday At a
visit to the north-eastern city of Kars on 8 January, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a statue made by sculptor Mehmet Aksoy a
“monstrosity”. Erdogan criticized the area the statue was placed in,
saying that its style did not go along with other historical monuments
around. He gave the directive to tear it down. This way, the “Statue
of Humanity” made the headlines all over Turkey.

The dispute sparked by the different opinions on the statue now peaked
in a legal application filed by sculptor Aksoy to stop the destruction
of the statue.

The statue was commissioned by the former Mayor of Kars, Naif
Alibeyoglu. After Erdogan’s comment, Alibeyoglu announced that the
monument had been made as a gesture “in response to the Genocide
Monument in Armenia”.

The internet newspaper PolitiKars publishing from Kars reported that
Cevat Durak, the District Mayor of KarÅ~_ıyaka (Izmir), came to Kars
with certain technical equipment and investigated the statue. Durak
had announced that he would like to re-erect the statue in his district
if it would have to be removed from its current location.

Aksoy, creator of the monument, declared to take legal steps after
the Mayor of Kars, Nevzat BozkuÅ~_, had announced the decision to
tear the statue down.

The artist indicated that removing the monument under the harsh
weather conditions of the winter in Kars would technically be very
difficult. “May they destroy it in whatever way, this destruction
will be an example of the Taliban and the whole world is going to
discuss this”, Aksoy said.

“Turkey must not convey such an image to the world. It is bitter
that such a topic comes up in the Turkish agenda. It is said that the
decision to remove the monument was issued on the 6th of this month
but I do not believe that. This decision was made and signed out of
the blue. Where are we? People do not trust in anything anymore. I
took legal measures. I will not say anything else after this, if I
can finish I will try to complete the statue”.

District Mayor Durak, member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP),
and Ali Rıza Selmanpakoglu, Mayor of NevÅ~_ehir, took a special
interest in the monument. Durak sent an official writing to the
Mayor of Kars and informed him that they would like to acquire the
statue. At the same time, Selmanpakoglu forwarded their request to
the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

In response to the request of the KarÅ~_ıkaya and NevÅ~_ehir
Municipalities, Aksoy argued that the work was “not a statuette
but a statue”, 35 metre high and weighing 350 tonnes. “Thus, it is
impossible to relocate it. Moreover, that would create an example of
inconsistency. Wouldn’t a statue that was removed because it is said to
monstrous be just as monstrous in another place?”, the sculptor said.

71-year-old Mehmet Aksoy represented Turkey in numerous biennials
abroad. He was rewarded with the State Award for Painting and Sculpture
Exhibitions twice. (EK/EO)

From: A. Papazian

SERZH SARGSYAN: ARMENIA HAS NEVER SOLD WEAPONS TO IRAN

Panorama
Jan 27 2011
Armenia

Armenia has never been selling weapons to Iran, President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan declared in an interview with “Echo Moscow” radio
station. President’s statement is to deny WikiLeaks discoveries that
Armenia has been selling weapons to Iran.

“Once, one-time use grenades appeared in Iran from Armenia. They said
Iraqi soldiers suffered but we had an Armenian military unit there.

Armenia has never been selling weapons to Iran, we have never had
military-technical cooperation,” President declared.

Referring to Iran-West relations, President of Armenia said: “We
recognize Iran’s nuclear right to its peaceful usage. We have atomic
power station in our country. And Iran has rights also. Of course,
both for us and for Iran it’s of great significance to have those
projects controlled by MAGATE.”

From: A. Papazian