Author: Andres-Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
Jan 22 2011

Hard-hitting report on European official’s Armenia trip
Sat 22 January 2011 05:45 GMT | 7:45 Local Time

The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner focused on political
and media freedom and human rights in the army during a trip to
Armenia.

Thomas Hammarberg visited Yerevan from 18 to 21 January, where he met
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan,
Justice Minister Hrair Tovmasyan, other officials, opposition
politicians, including former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and
rights activists.

The events of March 2008, when at least 10 people were killed in the
violent dispersal of protests at perceived fraud in the presidential
elections, freedom of expression and the media, and human rights in
the army were the main themes of the visit, Thomas Hammarberg’s office
said in a press release yesterday.

“The effects of the tragic events of March 2008 can still be felt in
Armenian society. A major problem is the continuing lack of clarity as
regards the responsibility for the 10 deaths which occurred during the
demonstrations. The commissioner urged that the responsibility for
these deaths be established; this presupposes a thorough, impartial
and credible analysis of the methods used by the police as well as the
command responsibility. The commissioner has recommended concrete
measures to address the needs of the families of the victims,” the
press release said.

Thomas Hammarberg raised the cases of prisoners from the opposition
Armenian National Congress, which organized election protests.

“The Armenian National Congress indicated to the commissioner that
nine persons affiliated with them remain imprisoned, most of them in
connection with the events of March 2008. The commissioner discussed
this issue with the Armenian authorities,” his office said.

The commissioner clearly thought that much remained to be done to
prevent a possible repeat of the March 2008 events.

“The ad hoc parliamentary inquiry committee, which was established to
examine the March 2008 events and identify ways to prevent the
recurrence of a similar tragedy, formulated certain recommendations of
a systemic nature. Moreover, the OSCE/ODIHR Trial Monitoring Report
identified several shortcomings in the conduct of the trials related
to the March 2008 events. A thorough follow-up of the recommendations
made by the ad hoc parliamentary inquiry committee and by OSCE/ODIHR
should be ensured, in particular with regard to ongoing reform of the
police (including the use of force by the police), ensuring that the
judiciary is independent and competent, and guaranteeing the right to
liberty and to a fair trial. In addition, the legislation and practice
on freedom of assembly should be brought fully in line with
international human rights principles,” the press release continued.

Thomas Hammarberg raised concern about A1+ television, station which
lost its broadcast licence in 2002.

“The commissioner discussed the case of A1+ television, which had been
the subject of a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights where
the court had found a violation of the right of freedom of expression.
During a recent competition for a broadcasting licence, the bid of A1+
was once again rejected; the reasoning given in the decision of the
National Commission on Radio and Television was that the documentation
which had been submitted by A1+ contained fraudulent documents. The
commissioner stressed the importance of ensuring that the media
environment in Armenia is sufficiently diverse and pluralistic. He
noted the work to amend the law ‘On television and radio’ and trusts
that the question of the independence and pluralistic membership of
the regulatory authorities will be addressed.”

On the army, the press release said: “The commissioner also had the
opportunity to look into the human rights situation in the army. He
expressed particular concern regarding non-combat deaths,
ill-treatment and hazing, and highlighted the importance of conducting
effective investigations into these cases with the aim of identifying
and punishing those responsible. The commissioner encouraged the
ongoing reforms taking place in the armed forces, including in
relation to disciplinary procedures and the establishment of effective
complaint mechanisms. He also addressed the issue of the right to
conscientious objection during his visit and understands that the
Armenian authorities are in the process of developing the legislation
in this area. The objective should be to establish a genuinely
civilian service.”

The commissioner is to publish a full report in the coming months.

News.Az

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia arrives in Armenia

President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili pays two-day working visit
to Armenia. Georgian Assistant Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze
declared: `It’s remarkable that President Saakashvili pays his first
foreign visit of 2011 to Armenia, thus underscoring friendly ties
between the two countries.’

The Georgian delegation that arrives to Armenia includes Georgian FM
Grigol Vashadze. It’s supposed that Armenian and Georgian FMs will
have a meeting also.

It’s worth reminding that the council for the rights of Djavakhq
Armenians, called on the officials to discuss wide range of issues
related to local Armenians’ problems, Armenian Apostolic Church in
Georgia and other similar items.

From: A. Papazian

Gunaysu: Kurds Challenge Turkish Nation-State

Fri, Jan 21 2011

By: Ayse Gunaysu

On Dec. 20, 2010, Turkish members of parliament, including the
ultra-nationalist MHP, Islamist AKP, nationalist CHP, and others, were
listening to the tall woman addressing the session during the
budgetary discussions for the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. “Rafael
Lemkin says genocide is not only about the extermination of the
representatives of a nation but also annihilation of its cultural and
national values,” she was saying. “Today, of the 913 Armenian
monuments remaining after 1923, 464 have been totally destroyed, 252
left to a state of dilapidation, and 197 in urgent need of
restoration. Many of the Armenian religious buildings are being used
as stables or storehouses, and many of the Armenian churches have been
turned into mosques. Armenians in 1915 were driven out of their own
homeland. Suffering, exile, and destitution all combined into Armenian
people’s painful outcry.” She went on to quote Armenian singer Aram
Tigran’s words: “A storm blew away our nest, leaving us orphans,
exiled, longing for our nest even if it is made of stone.” She
concluded: “Turkish governments’ refusal of Aram Tigran’s last wish to
be buried in Diyarbakir is proof that the punishment imposed on
Armenians does not end even after their death.”

The speaker was Pervin Buldan, a member of the Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party from Igdir, one of the places that suffered worst
during the Armenian Genocide. She is also the widow of Savas Buldan, a
Kurdish businessman, who was one of the victims of the infamous
unsolved murders of the 1990’s. Savas Buldan’s dead body was found on
the roadside in 1994 after being kidnapped by “unidentified” persons
shortly after then-Prime Minister Tansu Ciller declared that he knew
the identities of the Kurdish businessmen financially supporting the
PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) and would do away with them. One year
later, a parliamentary commission prepared a report on these unsolved
murders, but was never published; the commission had explicitly stated
that the state’s secret forces had been involved in the murders.

Ten days before Pervin Buldan’s parliamentary speech, on Dec. 10 at a
workshop on the Kurdish Question organized by the Socialist Democracy
Party in Istanbul, Galip Enserioglu, the chairman of the Diyarbakir
Chamber of Industry and Commerce, was addressing the audience, telling
them that Armenians were massacred “at the hands of Kurds.” “We,
Kurds, are now paying for our past sins,” he stated. “The Ittihadists
had decided to found this nation-state and we, the Kurds, let alone
watching as bystanders what they did to Armenians and other
non-Muslims, we actively became their tool. Armenians were massacred
by our own hands.”

Alliance against the common foe

These speeches were delivered at a time when a surge of national
indignation dominated the Turkish political scene in response to Kurds
declaring “democratic autonomy” and the start of a de facto “bilingual
life”–with Kurdish appearing in the written form in every aspect of
life, from price labels at traditional open-air marketsto the official
sphere, such as on signs at municipality buildings in Kurdish
provinces. During trials of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the
alleged urban extension of the outlawed PKK, suspects, among them some
BDP mayors and chairpersons of local branches of the Human Rights
Association, had asked to be able to defend themselves in Kurdish, a
demand rejected by the court. When some of the defendants submitted
their defenses in Kurdish, the president of the court said the
suspects spoke in “an unknown language.” In order to protest this, the
BDP started to hold its parliamentary group meetings partially in
Kurdish.

This move met with outrage equally vehement on both wings of power in
Turkey: the Turkish military and its hate figure AKP government,
revealing the fact that the two are allies against the Kurds, whether
they are engaged in an armed movement or in peaceful political
activity. The speaker of parliament, AKP Deputy Mehmet Ali Sahin,
recalled that to speak in another language in parliament was cause to
disband a political party, and urged public prosecutors to start legal
action against the BDP. Simultaneously the Turkish General Staff
issued a statement in which it condemned the BDP’s attempt at a
bilingual life, stating that such debates were against the founding
philosophy of the Turkish Republic and therefore created “great
concern.” The statement predictably included a sentence that, as
everyone in Turkey knows, meant threat of military intervention. “The
Turkish Armed Forces,” it said, “have always and will continue to
stand for the protection of the united, secular nation state that is
indicated in the constitution.”

The much-resented Democratic Autonomy is described by the Democratic
Society Congress (DTK)–an organization of Kurds comprising
intellectuals, representatives from civil society organizations,
politicians, and members of the BDP–as the organizational model going
from bottom to top, and encompassing village, neighborhood, district,
and provincial parliaments on the basis of confederations. At the top
of this organizational structure will be the DTK, which will send
representatives to the Turkish Parliament.

Now a few words about the KCK case: The first wave of arrests in April
2009 focused mostly on BDP (then DTP) activists. Subsequent operations
steadily climbed up the political hierarchy and began to encompass
former mayors and elected city council members. Finally, amid complete
international silence, the arrests peaked on Dec. 24, 2009, with the
arrests of elected mayors Hatip Dicle and Muharrem Erbey, chairman of
the Diyarbakir IHD branch. The 7,587-page indictment dealing with the
most senior suspects targeted in the KCK operations reveals that these
people were being persecuted for peaceful political activities. As
Emin Aktar, chairman of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, has pointed
out, no one is being accused of using weapons or bombs, only of
organizing civil protests; people’s participation in funeral services
for fallen PKK guerrillas is also repeatedly presented as criminal.
Erbey’s offenses include participation in a commission of legal
experts established under DTK auspices to study Turkey’s constitution
and make proposals for its amendment. Significantly, despite every
legitimate reason, the court declined the repeated demands for release
of those defendants who have been in jail for more than a year without
any court ruling establishing their guilt.

This wave of arrests came after last year’s Kurdish “opening” fiasco.
The government had first declared that they would take steps to bring
about a solution to the Kurdish Question. Right after, a group of
guerrillas left their arms and turned themselves into Turkish security
forces with enthusiastic mass demonstrations by the Kurds welcoming
them. The nationalist front in Turkey rose up in protest of this peace
initiative and the government immediately made a U-turn, arresting the
guerillas, and following with these mass arrests and the KCK case
targeting the peaceful Kurdish political movement.

Kurds: The first to recognize Armenian Genocide

It is no coincidence that it was the Kurds, the main, unyielding, and
massive opponent of the system in Turkey since the foundation of the
Republic, particularly for the last three decades of armed struggle,
who first publicly pronounced their recognition of the Armenian and
Assyrian Genocide of 1915-16, long before Turkish intellectuals.

Recep Marasli was the first. A Kurdish intellectual, writer, and
political activist, Marasli was one of the victims of the torture
house of Diyarbakir Prison. He was one of the defendants in in the
famous Rizgari-Ala Rizgari case trialed by the Diyarbakir Military
Court after the 1980 military coup (Rizgari was one of the major
Kurdish national movements in Turkey). Marasli was an inmate in the
Istanbul Alemdag Military Prison in 1982 when “Armenian
organizations,” as he calls them, began a series of attacks on Turkish
diplomats. Racist hatred dominated the headlines of the newspapers,
and prisoners suspected to be of Armenian origin were particularly
subjected to even more barbaric tortures in Diyarbakir Prison.
Marasli, together with a friend, prepared a brochure about the
Armenian Genocide, challenging the official history and giving an
account of the crimes against humanity committed against the Ottoman
Armenians. The brochure was secretly circulated among the prisoners,
and later formed a part of Marasli’s legal defense submitted to the
military court, The defense was published as a book by the Komal
Publishing House in Duisburg and Istanbul in 1986, and covered the
topic of the Armenian Genocide between pages 286 and 292. From 1982
on, every year until his release, on April 24 Marasli’s small group
commemorated the genocide in various ways, depending on the
circumstances-sometimes putting a hand-made poster on the wall of the
ward, sometimes organizing a seminar, sometimes circulating a leaflet.

This is how he recalls his first acquaintance with the fate of the
Armenians in Turkey and his steps to raise awareness of it, in the
preface of his book on the Armenian Genocide published in Turkey in
2008.1 Since 1982, Marasli has devoted much of his time to learning
more about the Armenian Genocide and the above-mentioned book was the
result of his work of many years.

It seems that Turkish prisons played a great role in the awakening
amongst Kurds of the truth about Armenians. Naci Kutlay, another
well-known Kurdish writer and intellectual, refers to an even earlier
stage in Turkey’s recent history-the military intervention in 1971,
when he and his Kurdish socialist comrades were tried at military
courts. He recalls that during the hearings, court records revealed
the Armenian origins of many of the Kurdish defendants, which was a
total surprise to many of their friends. This was when he was first
faced with the truth that Kurds had massacred Armenians, not only
because of government lies that made them believe the Armenians would
establish a state and persecute Kurds, and not only because of
religious hatred, but also because of their greed for Armenian
wealth.2

Naci Kutlay and Recep Marasli are not the only Kurdish dissidents who
have acknowledged the truth. For the past few decades, many Kurdish
intellectuals have publicly expressed their shame over the Kurds’ role
in the genocide and have apologized in interviews published in various
magazines and newspapers. One of them is Orhan Miroglu, a Kurdish
intellectual and another victim of the Diyarbakir Prison who was shot
and seriously wounded during the assassination of the legendary
Kurdish writer, poet, and activist Musa Anter in Diyarbakir in 1992.
In an interview with a journalist from the daily Birgun, in response
to what he thought of the “Armenian Genocide allegations,” Miroglu
said: “The Armenian Genocide is not an allegation. It is a fact even
acknowledged by the Turkish Republic’s founding ideology of Kemalism
[in the past]. Even Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was quoted in General
Harbord’s report on the Armenian Question to have said ‘we guarantee
that no other Turkish atrocity will take place against Armenians.’ The
CUP (Committee of Union and Progress) planned a genocide targeting
Armenians. Kurds were the accomplices of this genocide. Kurds should
apologize to Armenians for the genocide in the name of friendship and
peace. I, as a Kurdish intellectual, apologize to Armenians. In order
to come to terms with our past we have to apologize [to Armenians].”

Kurds on forefront of struggle for democratic Turkey

Now Kurds are struggling for their national identity, and also for a
more democratic Turkey, against a block of allied forces in defense of
the nation-state, i.e. the Turkish military, the nationalist front in
general, and the ruling AKP that had asked (and succeeded to some
extent) to get the votes of the left-wing, democratic, progressive
sections of the population, swearing that they stood for democracy and
human rights against the militaristic Kemalist establishment.

Today, Jan. 13, 2011, the KCK trial resumed in Diyarbakir and now I’m
listening on the TV to the news agencies’ reports about the violent
clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the city, as well
as in other Kurdish provinces, such as Hakkari, Cizre, Nusaybin and
Batman, as thousands of people demand justice for the KCK defendants.
It’s being reported that during the hearing the microphone was turned
off when the first defendant started to speak in Kurdish.

It is clear enough that no progress can take place in Turkey without
Kurds first gaining ground in their struggle for the recognition of
their rights and for democracy in Turkey. The future of Turkey depends
to a great extent on the success of the Kurdish political movement,
backed by dynamic masses rising for their rights, in making the
Turkish nation-state finally accept to abandon the old ways of ruling
and take a new road towards a future with greater justice for all.

As for the nature of the Kurdish reality in the past and in the
present, it should not be considered as a paradox that Kurds were at
the same time both perpetrators and saviors in 1915 (especially the
Alevi Kurds in Dersim) because there has never been a single uniform
Kurdish (or other) identity completely independent of individual, or
regional, or social, or cultural differences. Similarly it is not a
paradox that a group in a specific period in history acted as the
perpetrators of a crime against another group, but also became the
victim of their common oppressor. And thirdly it is not a paradox when
members of a group that had been the perpetrators at the time later
became the first to acknowledge the guilt and apologize–especially if
it has also suffered. It’s just that one cannot put life and its
actors into ready-made compartments. That’s why life is much more
complicated, much more contradictory, and holds much more hope for the
better despite the prevalence of injustice and suffering.

But it should not be unexpected that the same land–the homeland of
Armenians and Kurds –continues to bleed. Because it is the crime
scene. No good can grow in the soil of a crime scene until justice is
served. Only then can the dead, the Armenian and Assyrian victims of
the genocide who are denied a gravestone, be duly and respectfully
buried in the hearts of the living; can the dead’s suffering spirits
be freed of their agony and be able to retreat to their eternal
peaceful sleep. Only then can the soil of the crime scene start to be
fertile again, for the Kurds and for us all, bearing fruit again and
feeding its children.

1. Recep Marasli, Ermeni Ulusal Demokratik Hareketi ve 1915
Soykýrýmý (The Armenian National Democratic Movement and 1915
Genocide), Peri Publishing House, Istanbul: 2008.

2. See

From: A. Papazian

New York Post
Jan 22 2011

Sundance 2011: “HERE”

3:27 AM, January 22, 2011 é By KYLE SMITH

Can words describe the anti-scintillation that is “HERE” — not
“Here,” that wouldn’t be artsy enough — the Sundance non-favorite
about map-making in Armenia? I’ll try.

The fussbudget actor Ben Foster plays an American in Armenia who, for
two grueling hours, wanders the desolate land surveying, entering
data, and occasionally sending an email. Long stretches go by without
dialogue. At one point he drinks strong vodka. He meets an Armenian
hottie. After 45 minutes of being dull, they have sex. They wander
around. At the beginning, and every two hours or so, a punishingly
pretentious monologue is spoken by Foster as unsettled images play
across the screen. Amoeba carnival? Maybe. Pink Floyd light show?
Almost. Student-film freakiness? Definitely. “Truth is conjecture,”
Foster says, reading off immensely meaningless words by
writer-director Braden King and co-writer Dani Valent. Deep, man.
Foster and the Armenian chick trade banal dialogue. They make out a
little. They wander some more. Time for another spacey monologue: “The
astronomer carries a veil of pure darkness.” And so on for several
more minutes. Wow.

If I hadn’t had 350 milligrams of caffeine juking through my veins I
would have taken a well-earned nap. Obviously I would have walked out
as soon as possible, but I was landlocked in the middle of a row at
the Library Theater. So I waited, a prisoner of cinema, for the film
to be over so I could reclaim my life. Foster gets an email from his
bosses in California, warning that his surveying stinks. He gets an
email from HQ: this project, he is told, is a “near-total loss.” Near?

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

Moscow to hold status of the main moderator on Nagorno-Karabakh and
Georgian dossier

January 22, 2011 | 11:40

`There is certain pause after the OSCE summit on the settlement of
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. This pause should
be filled. The format of further activity of mediators in resolving
the territorial dispute must be determined, Deputy Dean of Moscow
State University History Department Alexei Vlasov said.

`I think now it is the time of crystallizing the plans for the coming
year. There is reason to believe that Moscow will not leave its
efforts as the main moderator of this bilateral dialogue. Everything
will be clear on January 24, at the meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani
and Russian Foreign Ministers in Moscow,’ he said, Trend News reports.

According to him, Russia is not going to leave the topic of the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. However, perhaps this issue will be
included in the general context of resolving the situation in South
Caucasus.

`This will be done to control the activity of international
organizations in the region. It is such an integrated approach that
helps Moscow to hold status of the main moderator from the one hand,
on the Nagorno-Karabakh, on the other hand, to avoid excessive
activation of the international organizations on the Georgian
dossier,’ Vlasov stressed.

He said that Moscow will not slow down the tempo it reached in
resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2010.

`It is difficult to expect any radical changes following a meeting of
foreign ministers on Jan. 24. But after this meeting, the specific
content may appear and fill the pause after the Astana summit,’ he
emphasized.

As NEWS.am reported previously, a statement on Karabakh was made
during OSCE Summit, held in Astana, December 1-2, 2010.

In a statement, the heads of delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group –
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and President of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President Ilham Aliyev, `agreed that the
time has come for more decisive steps in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.’ They also agreed that a peaceful and
negotiated solution will bring stability and security, and this is the
only path that will lead to reconciliation between the peoples of the
region.

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan reaffirmed their commitment
to achieving a final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
based on the principles and norms of international law, the UN
Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the joint statement of Presidents
of the USA, Russia and France which were made on July 10, 2009 in
L’Aquila and June 26, 2010 in Muskoka.

`The three countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group, have expressed
their support to the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in making
their decisions required to reach a peaceful settlement. They called
upon the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, with renewed energy to
focus on those issues that still remain unmatched in the Basic
Principles and instructed the co-chairs of the Minsk Group in their
countries to continue working with the parties to the conflict,
contributing to their efforts in this direction. In order to create a
better atmosphere for negotiations, they called on to take additional
measures to strengthen the ceasefire and confidence-building measures
in all spheres’, the statement said.

Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Foreign Ministers meeting is
scheduled in Moscow, for January 24, 2011.

From: A. Papazian

Times.am, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

Catholicos of All Armenians is operated successfully

By Times.am at 22 January, 2011, 11:52 am
Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin the Second was operated in the USA.

The head of the information department of Holy Etchmiadzin priest
Vahram Melikyan informed about this Panarmenia.net reporter.

According to the priest, His Holiness Garegin the Second was operated,
laparoscopy of the liver was done. `The operation passed well and
Catholocos left the hospital after some hours. Now his meetings with
the US philanthropists are continued,’ V. Melikyan noted.

He also said Catholicos will be back to Armenia on the end of January.

/Times.am/

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

Majority of Istanbul-Yerevan buses canceled

January 22, 2011 | 00:04

Majority of buses of the companies operating weekly passenger and
cargo transportations to Turkey and from Turkey to Armenia will not
leave Yerevan tomorrow. Yerevan-Istanbul tours are canceled due to
increase in customs costs for cargo transported from Turkey to
Armenia, representatives of transportation companies told NEWS.am.

In one of the companies we were told that the January 22 bus will not
leave for Turkey, as only several businessmen expressed willingness to
leave for the country. However, if necessary they will organize a trip
to Turkey by a bus of another company. `Businessmen are expecting
final decision of customs service. However, if you really need going
to Turkey we can arrange it although we do not advise if going for
commercial purposes,’ the company representative said.

As NEWS.am reported earlier, cargo transportation costs from Turkey to
Armenia have twice increased since January 16. It is conditioned
solely by requirements imposed by the customs authorities of Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

PACE plenary session kicks off: questions addressed to Gul

Armenian delegation to Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe
(PACE) leaves for Strasbourg on January 23rd. PACE winter summit kicks
off in Strasbourg from January 24 to 28. Naira Zohrabyan, member of
the delegation and `Prosperous Armenia’ faction deputy told
Panorama.am that they are going to have full working days there.

The plenary session agenda doesn’t include any issue on Armenia.
Turkey is going to assume the presidency from November 10, thus
Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu will release a speech which will be
followed by President Abdullah Gul’s speech on January 25th.

Naira Zohrabyan said that some questions would be addressed to Gul and
added that she prepared a few questions on Armenian-Turkish relations
and Armenian Genocide to address both to Gul and Davutoglu.

Armenian delegation member said that other speeches would also be
released, and that she was going to raise the issues of massacres of
Armenians in Baku, Sumgait and Maraga.

N. Zohrabyan said that the call of Armenians of Azerbaijan to world
leaders concerning `Shahids” park would be raised in the plenary
session.

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

M. Sargsyan: `No big expectations to be anticipated from Foreign
Ministers’ meeting’
On January 24th, Moscow will host a meeting between Armenian, Russia
and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers. In this respect expert Manvel
Sargsyan made his remarks in a news conference, first referring to the
violations of ceasefire regime in the line of contact of
Karabakhi-Azerbaijani forces.

Expert said that Azerbaijan continues approving that the war hasn’t
finished and that it can start at any time. `And that is the only
factor to influence on the negotiations.’

Speaking about the negotiations and their efficiency, M. Sargsyan
advised to think of what we expect from the negotiations, and how we
can anticipate any advancement if Azerbaijan declares at least ten
times a day that they would never accept any suggestion on NK status.

Thus, the expert concluded serious expectations shouldn’t be
anticipated from the FMs’ meeting.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
Jan 22 2011

Nalbandian, Mammadyarov to hold traditional meeting, expert says

January 22, 2011 | 13:44

Nalbandian-Mammadyarov meeting through the mediation of Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be a regular one, an expert Manvel
Sargsyan told a press conference on January 22.

`It will be emphasized Karabakh peace process achieved a progress. It
is difficult to forecast further developments of events. However, it
is obvious Azerbaijan-pursued policy aims at exerting pressure on the
diplomatic course of the conflict. This country makes every effort to
prove a thesis that the war is not over and it will resort to military
hostilities at any moment. Azerbaijan will advance the thesis at the
Foreign Ministers’ meeting as well,’ Sargsyan noted.

According to him, Armenia should realize its expectations over the
talks and understand how to reach an agreement with a country, which
constantly states it will never agree to any status of
Nagorno-Karabakh. `We simply hope and persuade ourselves the talks
will produce a desired result,’ the expert said.

Commenting on his expectations about the Sargsyan-Aliyev possible
meeting following the Foreign Ministers’ meeting, Sargsyan said no
progress can be expected from this format. `Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev’s participation in the meeting will just be of symbolic
nature,’ he underscored.

In his turn, Deputy Director of Caucasus Institute, political
scientist Sergey Minasyan said he has no serious expectations over
Nalbandian-Mammadyarov meeting in January.

As NEWS.am reported previously, Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministers will meet in Moscow, on January 24.

From: A. Papazian