Author: Andres-Papazian

TURKISH DEPUTY: EITHER SEND PROTOCOLS BACK OR START RATIFICATION PROCESS

Panorama
Dec 21 2010
Armenia

Turkish deputy of oppositional “Nationalistic movement” party Ahmet
Deniz Bolukbash referred to Armenian-Turkish protocols at parliament’s
plenary session on Foreign Ministry budget 2011. Recalling that the
protocols are still in parliament, Bolukbash said: “Either send back
the protocols, or, even if you’re not intended, start the ratification
process and grant opportunity to “Justice and development party”
deputies to pass an exam of honor and prejudice.”

The opposition deputy assessed Zurich protocols as the greatest
hysteria of Turkish authorities. He accused the authorities in it and
said maybe they postpone them up to Parliamentary elections of 2011.

From: A. Papazian

NEW YEREVAN MAYOR TO USE THE SAME CORRUPTION SCHEMES, OPPOSITIONIST SAYS

news.am
Dec 21 2010
Armenia

The more staff changes are made by the government the better for us,
Levon Zurabyan, coordinator of the Armenian National Congress, said
asked by NEWS.am correspondent to comment on the recent government
reshuffle.

He noted that if authorities’ regime is dictatorship they cannot shift
to democratic system. “All such governments rest on oligarchic groups
and criminal world. There should be a government based on assistance
of people,” he noted. According to him, today’s vicious system is so
deep-rooted that reforms would meet with great resistance.

Speaking of Karen Karapetyan’s appointment to the post of Yerevan
Mayor, Zurabyan said that he will use the same corruption schemes as
he used to being ArmRusgazprom director. He recalled that ANC filed a
lawsuit against unsubstantiated increase in gas prices. “All this was
done when Karapetyan was top manager of the company. Should we think
that he would create a system meeting citizens’ expectations? No,
of course,” Zurabyan added.

From: A. Papazian

INVESTORS INTERESTED IN NNP’S CONSTRUCTION TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA IN MARCH

news.am
Dec 21 2010
Armenia

In March, 2011 a conference dedicated to the construction of nuclear
power plant will be held in Yerevan. All the interested prospective
investors will take part in the conference, Armenian Minister of
Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan told the reporters on
December 21.

According to him, many organizations and individuals are interested
in the construction of NPP in Armenia.

At the moment, it is clear Russian Atomstroyexport will build the
nuclear island.

In August 2010, an Armenian-Russian agreement on construction of a
new NPP was signed following the Armenian-Russian presidential talks
in Yerevan.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN RESTRICTS RED CROSS ACTIVITIES ON RETURN OF CAPTIVES

news.am
Dec 21 2010
Armenia

On December 21, sitting of the Armenian Committee on Prisoners of
War, Missing Persons and Hostages chaired by Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan was held in Yerevan today.

During the sitting the participants discussed activities carried
out in 2010 and plans for 2011, RA Defense Ministry press service
informed NEWS.am.

The members of the committee stated that the process of returning
captives to their Motherland is rather slow, as the Azerbaijani side
does not show enough readiness and resoluteness.

The gathered stressed importance of increasing effectiveness
of captives’ return. They noted that some facts, in particular
Manvel Saribekyan’s torture by Azerbaijan, as well as the fact that
information on Arthur Badalyan’s captivity was confirmed with 1.5 year
delay, prove that the Azerbaijani leaders are restricting activities
of the ICRC Baku office.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY-U.S. TIES AT RISK OVER GENOCIDE BILL, HURRIYET SAYS
By Benjamin Harvey

Bloomberg

Dec 21 2010

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the U.S. of
icy relations if Congress passes a resolution condemning the early
20th century killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide, Hurriyet
newspaper reported.

The resolution, which has the support of U.S. Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi, is set to be debated by Congress as early as this week,
the Istanbul-based paper said.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Erdogan said passing the
genocide bill would harm Turkey-U.S. relations in a way that would be
difficult to repair, and called for the issue to be left to historians
rather than politicians, Hurriyet said. Turkey would likely recall
its ambassador, leaving the two countries with no ambassador-level
diplomatic ties because the U.S. ambassador to Ankara, James Jeffrey,
was moved to Baghdad in July and not replaced, Hurriyet said.

Armenian lobbying groups have pushed the U.S. for decades
to recognize as genocide the deaths of as many as 1.5 million
Armenians under Ottoman Turkish rule around 1915. Turkey denies the
genocide classification, saying some Armenians revolted under Russian
encouragement and were participants in a war, and others were victims
of chaos as the empire was invaded and then collapsed.

From: A. Papazian

US AZERI AND TURKISH DIASPORAS SENT LETTER TO CONGRESSMEN ASKING TO PREVENT POSSIBLE VOTE ON “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” RESOLUTION

APA
Dec 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Washington. Isabel Levine – APA. US Azeri and Turkish Diasporas are
pulling out all the stops to convince US lawmakers not to proceed with
a possible vote on the “Armenian Genocide” Resolution (H.Res.252) in a
House vote tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, at the last “lame-duck”
session of the Congress, APA’s Washington DC correspondent reports.

The Diasporas sent a letter to President Barack Obama, as well as
Senate and House of Representatives on Monday asking to prevent a
possible House vote on a resolution.

US State Department has declared that they are closely working with
Congress in terms of failure of such kind of documents’ passage.

Meanwhile, Armenian American and “pro-genocide” activists across
the United States continue to mobilize in support of a vote on the
resolution.

Last week the California-based Armenian Youth Federation launched a
public defamation campaign against the Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe
Bryant for his contract to promote the Turkish Airlines. The Armenian
pressure group is demanding Bryant to reject the deal or to accept
its one-sided interpretation so-called “Armenian genocide”.

In their letter to President Obama, Azerbaijani-American Council
members are reminding that the actions of Armenian-American groups come
amidst an investigation over a $163 million Medicare scam, the largest
fraud in the history of US health care system, by an Armenian-American
crime ring with connections to Armenian government officials. In
addition, the US diplomatic cables published last week by the site
Wikileaks uncovered the fact of Armenia’s shipment of weapons to Iran
in 2008. According to the information from the US embassy in Armenia,
the shipment to Iran, made not without the knowledge of Armenian
President Sargsian, ended up in the hands of Shiite militia in Iraq:
“We join all Turkic-Americans to express my strong disapproval of the
actions of Armenian-American groups and strongly believe that instead
of racist attacks against the favorite basketball star or attempts to
legislate controversial history in the US Congress, Armenian-American
groups could better expend their efforts to address serious issues
arising in their community,” it says.

From: A. Papazian

DRAFT RESOLUTION ON SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE” NOT INCLUDED INTO AGENDA OF US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APA
Dec 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku – APA. Draft resolution on the so-called “Armenian genocide” was
not brought into the agenda of the US House of Representatives. APA
reports quoting CNN Turk that H.Res.252 was not included into the
agenda of the plenary meeting.

Nancy Pelosi, pro-Armenian speaker of the House of Representatives,
was going to bring to discussion the so-called “Armenian genocide”
draft resolution. The Turkish government and the Turkish Diaspora
in the US worked seriously together with the Obama administration
and congressmen to prevent this attempt. Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to the U.S. President Barack Obama warning
the passage of the draft resolution will damage the relations between
the two countries.

Philip Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State, said at the briefing
that they are against it and will openly express their position to
the Congress.

From: A. Papazian

WB TO ALLOCATE $ 19 MILLION LOAN TO ARMENIA

news.am
Dec 21 2010
Armenia

On December 20, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved
a US$ 19 million loan for the Additional Financing of the Second
Phase of the Health System Modernization Project for Armenia, WB
press service reports.

The project will support the Government of Armenia efforts to expand
primary health care (PHC) services on the basis of family medicine,
and upgrade hospital networks in the regions. The aim of the project is
to provide the population, in particular the most vulnerable groups,
with improved access to quality health care services, and also to
better manage public health threats.

Meanwhile, the World Bank approved U.S.$ 1 billion loan for Argentina,
ITAR-TASS reports.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY INTENSIFIES LOBBYING AGAINST ARMENIAN RESOLUTION

news.az
Dec 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Turkish Ambassador in Washington personally telephoned Congress
members.

Turkey’s Embassy in Washington, D.C. has intensified lobbying efforts
against a possible approval of an Armenian resolution at the US
House of Representatives that calls for the recognition of Armenian
allegations over the the incidents of 1915 back in the Ottoman Empire.

Diplomatic sources close to the ongoing efforts said Turkish Ambassador
in Washington, D.C. Namik Tan personally telephoned Congress members
to win their support against the resolution as the ambassador also
called former US secretaries of state and defense as well as national
security advisors.

The Turkish Embassy also had contacted officials with the US Chamber
of Commerce to have them exert pressure on Congress members and warn
them over possible damage of the resolution on business relations
between Turkey and the United States.

The resolution “H. Res. 252” –labelling the 1915 incidents which took
place shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire as genocide —
was approved by the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of
Representatives by a vote of 23 against 22 last March.

The adoption of the resolution caused wide reaction in Turkey,
which recalled its ambassador, who returned to Washington, D.C. a
month later.

The resolution may come to the House floor on Tuesday on a call by
Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

From: A. Papazian

SITUATION IN KARABAKH CONFLICT ZONE IS SERIOUS, U.S. AMBASSADOR SAYS

news.am
Dec 21 2010
Armenia

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch stated that the five-party
statement on Karabakh issued during the OSCE summit in Astana will
positively affect resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

The current situation in the Karabakh conflict zone is very serious,
especially taking into account incidents on the line of contact,
she said in an interview with RFE/RL Armenian service.

According to her, in signing the statement Presidents Serzh Sargsyan
and Ilham Aliyev reached an agreement on stepping up efforts to
achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict. They also agreed that
the solution of the problem reached as a result of the peace talks
will lead to reconciliation between the two nations, she noted.

Marie Yovanovitch believes that the president also agreed that the
final solution of the problem needs to be based on international law,
the UN Charter and Helsinki Final Act, as well as joint statements
of Presidents Obama, Medvedev and Sarkozy made in L’Aquila and Muskoka.

These two statements of the presidents are particularly important
not only because they contain three fundamental Helsinki principles
(territorial integrity, a nations’ right to self-determination and
non-use of force) but also propose six elements which the U.S. thinks
can become the basis for a final solution.

The Ambassador said that this statement testifies to progress in
the talks, expressing her hope that 2011 will be a year of more
considerable progress. According to her, “it is the only way we should
advance the process.” It is important for Armenia, Azerbaijan and
important for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Asked whether hostilities are likely to resume in the conflict zone,
Yovanovitch said that anything is possible; expressing her confidence
that hostilities are not a solution to this problem. The OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs state full support of peaceful talks, she added.

Commenting on Armenian-Turkish dialogue and possible resumption
of the process in 2011, the U.S. Ambassador refrained from giving
forecasts about precise terms. Nevertheless, she noted that it is hard
to imagine that the two countries would fail to normalize relations
for more than 100 years.

From: A. Papazian