Author: Andres-Papazian

JEAN-PAUL COSTA: IT IS BETTER TO SETTLE THE COMPLAINTS FROM REFUGEES FROM ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN POLITICALLY THAN JUDICIALLY

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 15:42:00

Arminfo. Severe consequences of all the conflicts affect ordinary
people, President of the European Court of human right Jean-Paul
Costa said at today’s press-conference in Strasbourg.

He also added that on 15 September 2010 the European Court of human
rights received “symmetrical cases” about refugees on the right for
property from Armenia and Azerbaijan. He said that it is very much
possible that the Court will deliver a judgement on them in spring
2011. He also added the both complaints received from Armenian and
Azerbaijan are more like the inter-state complaints. The European
Court is not the proper instance to investigate such cases, but as
these cases have been already received, the Court will deliver a
judgement on them, he said and added that disagreements between the
states are behind these complaints which should be settled in the
political but not judicial way.

From: A. Papazian

CHESS: ARONIAN AMONG LEADERS AT TATA STEEL
By Suren Musayelyan

ArmeniaNow
27.01.11

Photo:

Top Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian is among the leaders at a major
international tournament drawing to an end in Wijk aan Zee, Holland.

With only three days of play remaining at the Tata Steel Chess
Festival, Aronian shares third place with former world champion
Vladimir Kramnik from Russia (each with 6 ½ points in 10 games) —
half a point behind current world champion Viswanathan Anand (India)
and American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. Aronian ended his games
against all three in a draw.

The Armenian chess master’s undefeated record at this year’s Wijk aan
Zee tournament includes wins against Russian players Ian Nepomniachtchi
in Round 4 and Alexander Grischuk in Round 7.

The 28-year-old’s next rival in Round 11 scheduled for Friday
is experienced Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov, followed by a “double
Dutch” challenge from Erwin l’Ami and Jan Smeets, representing a new
generation of talented young players from the Netherlands.

Aronian once already won the tournament in Holland in 2007 when he
tied for first place with Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov and Azerbaijan’s
Teimour Radjabov.

Meanwhile, the other Armenian grandmaster taking part in the festival’s
B tournament Gabriel Sargissian suffered his first defeat on Wednesday
losing to Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem. After ten days of play the Armenian
shares third place with three other grandmasters, namely Luke McShane
(England), David Navara (Czech Rep.), and Vlad Tkachiev (France),
all with 6 points – half a point behind the leaders Zahar Efimenko
(Ukraine) and Filipino Wesley So.

In Round 11 Sargissian’s opponent is French GM Laurent Fressinet.

The tournament in Wijk aan Zee ends on Sunday.

For all the latest results and standings check with the tournament’s
official website at

From: A. Papazian

PRAISE AND CRITICISM FROM SOUTH CAUCASUS LEADERS: ARMENIAN AND GEORGIAN PRESIDENTS DELIVER THEIR MESSAGES TO RUSSIA
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow
27.01.11

Armenian (right) and Georgian presidents made completely opposite
statements about Russia.

After their warm meeting in Armenia last week (when President Serzh
Sargsyan even told his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili that
Armenia tries to borrow many things from Georgia), this week the two
South Caucasus leaders made two extremely controversial statements
directed at Russia and its president.

On January 25, during a live TV program President of Georgia Mikheil
Saakashvili repeatedly criticized “the occupation of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia” by Russia. He compared Russia with ‘a crocodile’ which
is ready to ‘swallow his country’ (Georgia). According to Saakashvili,
Russia is becoming weak gradually.

Speaking about Russian-Georgian relations, Saakashvili called Russia
“an occupier and enemy” country, which has not finished the war yet.

Meanwhile, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, in an interview
with Russian “Ekho Moskvi” radio station on Wednesday, expressed
a viewpoint that Russia may establish peace and prosperity in the
region. The president of Armenia stressed that Russia is the biggest
player in the South Caucasus.

“I must thank the president of Russia for his continual efforts for a
peaceful settlement. Russia is fully capable of restraining the arms
race in the region and preventing the resumption of hostilities. It is
not accidental that Russia has been involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh
negotiations process since the very beginning. The first agreement
on ceasing hostilities was signed with Russia’s mediation. And two
years after that again with the active participation of Russia,
an agreement on strengthening confidence-building measures was
signed. Taking into consideration the fact that Russia has such
an authority and opportunities in our [South Caucasus] region, we
[Armenians] have big expectations from it,” Sargsyan said.

Analysts believe this controversy of opinions about Russia is quite
natural, because Saakashvili wants to routinely show that Georgia
is independent from Russia, and Sargsyan once again sent a sign of
‘loyalty’ to the Russian authorities.

From: A. Papazian

STRASBOURG STRUGGLE: ARMENIA BRACES FOR ‘KARABAKH SUBCOMMITTEE’ REOPENING AT PACE
By Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow
27.01.11

Photo:

The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is scheduled
to discuss the reactivation of a subcommittee dealing with
Nagorno-Karabakh affairs at its plenary session on January 28.

The move strongly opposed by Armenia is believed to be the result
of the Azerbaijan-backed lobbying activities of PACE’s incumbent
President Mevlut Cavusoglu, a representative of Turkey.

According to Cavusoglu, if reestablished the Karabakh subcommittee
will continue to work within the scope of the powers of its predecessor
that dealt with the same issue.

Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, says
Cavusoglu is making a reference to PACE’s resolution 1416 that suggests
setting up a subcommittee on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The resolution adopted by PACE in 2005 urges the parties to the
conflict to abide by the UN Security Council resolution on Karabakh
and calls for “the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the Azerbaijani
territory”.

Presidency in the PACE Ministerial Committee belongs to Turkey from
November 10 to May 15. Zohrabyan, head of the Armenian National
Assembly’s Committee on European Integration Affairs, says Azerbaijan
will use this period of Turkish presidency to solve issues that it
has on its the agenda.

“They will advance the issues of the Turkish-Azeri lobby, in
particular, finally approving the reopening of the work of the
subcommittee on Karabakh affairs at the January session,” says
Zohrabyan.

The Armenian MP believes the Armenian delegation should boycott the
work of the PACE subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh if it is resumed.

Zohrabyan, representing the Prosperous Armenia Party, says shifting the
Karabakh issue from the format of the OSCE Minsk Group to any other
format is unacceptable. She says this is the position shared by all
members of the Armenian delegation representing the ruling Republican
Party, as well as Orinats Yerkir, Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage.

From: A. Papazian

KHOJALU: WILL THE AZERI AUTHORITIES FORGIVE JOURNALIST FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT KHOJALU CORRIDOR?
By Aris Ghazinyan

ArmeniaNow
27.01.11

Photo:

Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has been in prison since 2007
for speaking the truth about Khojalu events.

On January 24, prior to the opening of PACE’s winter session, the
head of Parliamentary Assembly Mevlut Cavusoglu called for setting
free imprisoned Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, reports Turan
news agency.

It is an unexpected appeal. Fatullayev is not simply a journalist. He
is one whose reporting was critical of the authorities expressing an
“alternative” to the official propaganda viewpoint on the Khojalu
events. He wrote that in truth Armenians had left a “humanitarian
corridor” for the peaceful Azeri residents to leave. This viewpoint of
his was not in the interests of the Azeri authorities claiming that
Armenian gunmen massacred Khojalu’s peaceful residents. The light
that Fatullayev shed, at least to some extent, on the 1992 events,
cost him his freedom.

Azerbaijan commemorates February 26 as the Day of Tribute to the
victims of “Khojaly genocide”. This settlement was located some 15
kilometers from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh.

Khojalu’s strategic importance was the airport.

Since September 1991 residential blocks of Stepanakert had been under
constant massive fire of the Azeri artillery and modified anti-hail
missile launch facilities “Alazan”, “Crystal” and “Grad”.

As a result of non-stop fire, continuous siege, a great number of
refugees, and huge agricultural losses Karabakh was committed to
famine. The situation was aggravated by the lack of fuel for vehicles
making it impossible to deliver food from villages that were in a
relatively better state. Along with that Azeri militia and military
subdivisions blocked practically all the major land routes.

So the only hope for the besieged Armenian population was the air
communication with Armenia. The military-strategic task of the Armenian
defense forces was to take control of the airport in Khojalu.

On February 25 of 1992 the Nagorno Karabakh defense forces repeatedly
informed the Azeri side – certain people in charge – about the
upcoming operation. It is noteworthy that the negotiations in this
connection were held also on the highest level, namely, via a telephone
conversation between then Speaker of NKR Parliament Artur Lazarian
and Azeri president Ayaz Mutallibov.

The fact that the Armenian divisions did warn in advance about
the upcoming storm of the Azeri-controlled airport and provided a
humanitarian corridor – meaning that they acted in accordance with
the Geneva conventions – was confirmed by many Azeri politicians,
governors and journalists. Elman Mamedov – then head of Khojaly
administration, Rustam Hajiyev – member of the People’s Front Aghdam
section, Tamerlan Karayev – then Vice-Speaker of the Azeri Parliament,
and even Azeri president Ayaz Mutallibov have testified to that fact.

After his resignation Mutallibov said in an interview (April, 1992)
to Czech reporter Dana Mazalova: “…the corridor by which people
could leave was, indeed, provided by the Armenians.”

After the Aliyev clan came to power all these “testimonies” were
officially declared “false” and “treacherous”.

It was, though, after the ascension of the Aliyevs that Eynulla
Fatullayev published an article in which he again talked about the
humanitarian corridor left by the Armenian forces.

In the article published in 2005 and titled Karabakh Diary, Fatullayev
wrote about the Khojalu events: “Several days ahead of the Armenians’
advance, the population of Khojaly was repeatedly warned through
loud-speakers about the upcoming operation and civilians were asked to
leave the settlement and escape through the humanitarian corridor along
the River Kar-Kar. Khojaly residents themselves said that they had used
the corridor and, indeed, Armenian soldiers did not open fire at them”.

“…having studied the geographical location I can assert with
full conviction that the claims on the absence of the corridor are
groundless. The corridor really existed as otherwise the residents
of Khojaly – completely surrounded and isolated from the outer
world – had no chance of breaking through the circles and out of the
encirclement. But, having passed the area behind the River Kar-Kar,
the line of refuges divided and for some reason part of them headed
towards Nakhichevanik. Seems like the battalions of Azerbaijan’s
People’s Front were striving for more blood on the way to overthrowing
Mutallibov, rather than the liberation of Khojaly civilians,” he wrote.

The author of the article was detained in April of 2007. He was
sentenced to two and a half years of imprisonment for “insulting
Khojaly people”. However, afterwards, new charges were brought against
him and in late October of 2007 Fatullayev was sentenced to serving
the total of eight and a half years.

Somewhat later, “taking into account that Fatullayev used drugs and
psychotropic substances”, the reporter was put on registration as
a potential drug addict. In July, 2010 a regional court sentenced
Fatullayev for another two and a half years of imprisonment.

From: A. Papazian

NO LITERATURE CONCERNING THE LIBERATION WAR IN ARTSAKH

14:16 – 27.01.2011

Today at the press conferance former commander of armed forces of
Artsakh Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan reminded when and by whose efforts the
19-year-old army was formed.

‘The army was formed with the efforts of freedom strugglers and
volunteers, and we must bow their parents’, said Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan.

He said with saddness, that there are no books about liberation war of
Artsakh, and the films were mostly done by order. Komandos declares
that there are no scripts concerning the liberation of Shushi and
Khojalu.

“Today we talk about the war of Karabakh, about the liberation of
Shushi, but nobody knows how it really happened. Or we talk about
Khojalu, I was the commander and know everything, but nobody came to
talk to me about it”, said the commander.

From: A. Papazian

TIME FOR VILLAGE AND PEASANT

14:00 – 27.01.2011

Today at the press conference, a member of ‘Inheritage’ fruction
Armen Martirosyan expressed his disagreement concerning the issue
that PM considered the Ministry of Agriculture as a major field.

“It’s time for village and peasant. The agriculture will become
a monopoly field and the startup was the PM’s announcement”, said
Martirosyan.

Turning to the new Minister of Agriculture, Martirosyan said, that his
appointment shows the level of reform the government does. According
to Martirosyan, there’s gonna be clash of interests. Businessman
should not be a minister.

From: A. Papazian

ON 26 JANUARY PRESIDENT BAKO SAHAKYAN HELD A MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE REPUBLIC’S TRADE UNION FEDERATION.

Wednesday, 26 January 2011 12:54

President of the federation Ara Khahramanyan, heads of regional
branches and representatives responsible for different fields
delivered reports about the activities carried out in 2010, problems
the structure faces and activities to be realized.

The Head of the State considered important the role of trade unions
for democratic states with marked oriented social economies, noting
that this very structure regulates many crucial issues related to
the work and interests of employees.

The President considered necessary give new impetus to the activities
of the trade unions underlying that the leadership of the trade
unions should play more active role in the development of the country
effectively partaking in different events including the ones organized
by the President.

After the meeting the President convoked a working consultation on
the problems raised by the trade unions.

Bako Sahakyan gave concrete instructions to heads of corresponding
structures to solve the discussed problems.

Artsakh Republic vice-premier, finance minister Spartak Tevosyan and
other officials partook at the event.

From: A. Papazian

RECOGNITION OF THE NKR FACTUAL INDEPENDENCE SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE INTERNATIONAL POLICY AGENDA
Ruzan Ishkhanian

Thursday, 27 January 2011 06:04

For already two weeks, the international community has attentively
followed the events taking place in South Sudan, where the referendum
results testified that the population living in this territory had
elected the way of independence and free management of its own fate.

In the process of conflicts’ peaceful settlement, the factor of
nations’ free expression of will seems to be more important.

Recently, the attention of the international community has been also
drawn to the known article of USA President Barack Obama published in
New York Times periodical, in which he expressed special concern about
the people of South Sudan: “It isn’t every generation that can turn
the page of the past and write a new paragraph in the history. The
people of South Sudan have gained this possibility after a 50-year
civil war, which ended in over two million of deceased people and
millions of refugees”. According to the USA President, this will have
its consequences not only in Sudan, but also in Africa and the whole
world. In his article written before the referendum, B. Obama noted
that the south and north parts of Sudan should respect the commitments
of each other, refrain from any statements and actions aggravating
the situation, and the disputes over the borders should be resolved
in a peaceful way.

Surely, we appreciate the attitude of the USA President towards the
African nation, which underwent long oppression, had great losses and,
finally, on the consent of the central power (North Sudan), held a
referendum and declared its independence. At the same time, we should
note that for the last 20 years, similar concern towards the Karabakh
people hasn’t been displayed by the White House leadership. The matter
is that South Sudan enjoys the support of the USA, and the latter,
which has the repute of democratic beacon worldwide, doesn’t refuse
of its intention to use dual standards. It would be better if in
the process of the Karabakh conflict peaceful settlement the USA,
as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, displayed similar concern
in the issue of implementation of the Karabakh people’s right to
self-determination.

Commenting on the South Sudan referendum on independence, Chairman of
the NKR NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Vahram Atanesian,
first of all, underlined that the resolution on holding a referendum
in South Sudan had been adopted on the parties’ agreement and the
central authorities stated that they would admit any outcome of the
referendum. According to him, it is quite another situation. Earlier,
a similar referendum was held in Canada, but the majority of the
population of Quebec voted for the maintenance of a united state. So,
it isn’t new that the international community considers significant
the free expression of nations’ will. It is the so-called cornerstone
of international law. The UN Charter obligates its member-states to
respect the right to self-determination, and provides the societies
seeking self-determination with the right to appeal for foreign
assistance and to get it, in accordance with the corresponding
procedure. Nothing unusual has taken place. Merely, the Government
of Sudan acted in accordance with the international law and its
own commitments.

Answering the question how the OSCE MG Co-Chairmen will comment
on the sample of South Sudan as another precedent and whether a new
statement is expected to confirm that the Karabakh conflict settlement
needs another approach, as it was in the case of Kosovo, the committee
chairman noted that the co-chairmen would not recur to the referendum
in Sudan as a precedent or non-precedent for the Karabakh settlement.

Kosovo was another case. The former Serbian region’s independence
was recognized in opposition to Belgrade. And no referendum took
place there. By its consultative resolution, the UN International
Court of Justice didn’t recognize Kosovo’s independence; it provided
that unilateral declaration of independence didn’t contradict the
international law. And the rest, including the statement on the
exceptionality of Kosovo’s withdrawal, are the products of the
political conjuncture.

According to V. Atanesian, the conception of the Karabakh settlement,
elaborated by the mediators, includes a principle of respecting the
right to self-determination. The negotiating parties interpret this
in their own ways. We, in the NKR, consider that the international
community, including Azerbaijan, should recognize the established
fact that the Armenian majority of Nagorno Karabakh declared its
independence at the December 10, 1991 referendum, which fully
corresponded to both the international law and the then USSR laws.

“Thus, I think that the manifestations of the realization of the
right to self-determination, at least, create a favorable atmosphere
that recognition of the NKR factual independence be included in the
international policy agenda. This is indisputable”, concluded the
parliamentary committee chairman.

From: A. Papazian

ERDOGAN ASKS: “WHO HAS ORDERED DINK’S ASSASSINATION?”

Panorama
Jan 26 2011
Armenia

According to “Ermenihaber.am” news website Turkish PM Recep Tayyip
Erdogan who has left for Ukraine had a very interesting conversation
with Adem Yavuz Arslan, reporter for “Birgun” magazine. Having got
the opportunity while flying Arslan gave Erdogan his book titled:
“An Armenian: Discovering Hrant Dink’s assassination”.

Taking the book Erdogan asked a few questions about the assassination:

Erdogan – Which is the place of the crime, Trapizon or Shishli?

Arslan – I tried to include all the details – Ankara, Istanbul and
Trapizon. I’ve focused the period preceding the murder and how Turkey
got involved in that case.

Erdogan – The murderer is known but the leading center is not. Who
is there?

Arslan – The discoveries and the evidents guide to a single place.

It’s known that similar assassinations are carried out guided by a
definite psychological atmosphere. They say those assassinations are
done influenced by religious pressure…In this respect the government
is blamed for ignoring efforts.

Erdogan – We’ve found and arrested the murdered and those having any
connection to the case in 36 minutes. The rest should have been done
by the court. They didn’t manage to wrap up with the case in 4 years
and handed the case to juvenile court.

From: A. Papazian