Author: Andres-Papazian

LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST THE UNIV. OF MINNESOTA
By Laura Sievert

Minnesota Daily

Nov 30 2010

A lawsuit was filed regarding a list of “unreliable” websites.

The University of Minnesota is now facing a federal lawsuit for
displaying on one of its websites a list of sources it deemed
“unreliable.”

Until Nov. 18, a list of “unreliable” websites could be found on the
University’s Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies web page because
of those pages’ views on the controversial Armenian Genocide issue.

The Turkish Coalition of America was on the list.

At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, TCA, in combination with University first-year
Sinan Cingilli, filed a suit against the University, President Bob
Bruininks and CHGS director Bruno Chaouat.

This lawsuit contains seven charges, each relating to freedom of
speech, due process or defamation. A defamation charge was added just
before the claim was filed in response to a letter Chaouat published
on the CHGS website defending the school and the center.

Chaouat repeated in the letter that he had intended to remove the
list before the lawsuit was being threatened, but also called the
sources originally on that list “sources of illegitimate information.”

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY EXPRESSED ITS WILLINGNESS TO RE-CLOSE THE STILL CLOSED ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER

news.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

“Just 10 years ago the Armenian question was a taboo in Turkey,
but now our public freely discuses it. The events in the early 20th
century were denied before, and now Turkey does not deny that Armenians
suffered tragic events.” stated the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed
Davutoglu in Washington, Voice of America reports.

According to him, to normalize relations with Armenia, Turkey has taken
another step – signing of the protocols- and problems between the two
countries in general did not occur because of Turks and Armenians. The
cause of the Armenian Genocide he blamed on intensification of
nationalist movements in the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

“1915 is an important date for the Armenians, but we must also remember
that in the same year, about 250,000 Turks were killed in just one
battle, and among them was my grandfather. If there were mistakes,
they should be named. We must remember that we are talking about
the historic period, when there was no law and order in Turkey”,
said Davutoglu.

Answering the question whether there are any other reasons for
not ratifying the Armenian-Turkish protocols, except the upcoming
parliamentary elections in Turkey and the Karabakh problem, Davutoglu
said: “Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court of Armenia made a
decision to exclude the establishment of a commission of historians
that was important for Turkey.”

>>From the perspective of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the
Armenian-Turkish protocols pursued a goal of normalizing relations
between Armenia and Turkey, to achieve better relations between
Armenians and Turks all over the world, bringing stability to the
Caucasus region, in particular, and the resolution of the Karabakh
conflict.

Davutoglu stressed once again that without the settlement of the
Karabakh problem there will not be any progress in the ratification of
the Protocols. “Even if the Armenian-Turkish protocols are ratified
without an agreement between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides,
in case of aggravation of the situation Turkey will once again close
the border”.

From: A. Papazian

‘THE LARK FARM’ REVISITS HORRORS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Valentina Cattane

Al-Masry Al-Youm (Egypt Today),

Nov 30 2010
Egypt

“We will kill all the male members of this deceitful progeny because
if only one of them survives, he will take revenge on us tomorrow,”
says a Turkish general to his soldiers. The Armenian genocide, or
Metz Yeghern as it is referred to by Armenians, is portrayed with
brutal reality in “The Lark Farm” (the original title of which is
“La Masseria delle Allodole”), a 2007 movie by the Italian Taviani
Brothers, inspired by Antonia Arslan’s book, “Skylark Farm,” published
in Italy in 2004. The movie was screened last Sunday at the Italian
Cultural Institute in Cairo as part of the institute’s Sunday screening
program, with “conflict” being the main theme in November.

The movie tells the story of the Avakian dynasty, an Armenian family
living in Turkey in two houses, one of which is in the countryside and
called the “Lark Farm.” It is 1915–World War One has been raging for
a year and the Ottoman Empire has entered the conflict on the side
of the Central Powers. The Young Turks dream of “a Greater Turkey,
a Turkey for the Turks, not polluted by internal enemies.”

The Avakians live peacefully, organizing a family reunion following the
death of the patriarch, confident that mounting Turkish hostility does
not present a threat. But high-ranking Turkish conspirators, fearful of
support among some Armenians for Russia forces, are secretly planning
the annihilation of all male members of the Armenian community and the
deportation of its women and children to Aleppo, starving them on the
way and finally massacring the survivors at the end of the death-march.

The systematic deportation and elimination of Armenians would last
until 1916, resulting in the death of up to one million people
(although the exact number is still the subject of debate).

The book, as well as the movie, is based on the history of Arslan’s
own forebears, relating her family’s attempts to escape to Venice,
where one of the three brothers has moved to pursue his studies.

The Taviani brothers, familiar with historical subjects and screen
adaptations of literary works, present events in gruesome detail,
portraying the cruelty of Turkish soldiers, who become the executioners
of their friends and lovers. “Orders are orders,” the soldiers often
tell their victims, while the latter beg for mercy. The movie depicts
incredible cruelty and violence, including beheading, castration and
the systematic murder of Armenian men and male children.

The movie is filled with images typical of the Taviani Brothers’
style, which uses allusions to allow the viewer to experience events
on a deeper level. The family patriarch has the first premonition
of the coming tragedy on his deathbed, when he has a vision of a
blood-soaked wall. Visions also come to the young nephew, who sees
a Turkish general mourning his Armenian friend at a funeral.

But the patriarch’s warning remains unheeded as tensions mount between
Turks and Armenians.

When two Turkish soldiers break into the house to look for male family
members, one of the soldiers, approaching an opulent table that has
been set for lunch, slowly pours a bowl of soup on the table. It is
the beginning of the end. The family is forced to flee Lark Farm.

Despite the harsh and violent reality it depicts, the movie’s wonderful
direction illustrates the tragedy of a war between friends and people
who are in love with each other. The overall historical reconstruction
remains persuasive, albeit with some cinematographic modifications.

The Armenian genocide remains a taboo subject in Turkey, which has
outlawed any acknowledgment of the holocaust. Orhan Pamuk, a novelist
and the first Turkish Nobel Prize winner, was accused of publicly
denigrating Turkish identity for stating during a 2005 interview
that, “Thirty thousand Kurds have been killed here, and a million
Armenians–and almost nobody dares to mention that. So I am.”

He was sentenced to three years in jail for making the statement,
but–thanks to support from sympathizers around the world–the charges
were dropped in 2006.

The Italian Cultural Institute Address: 3 Sheikh al-Marsafi St,
Zamalek Tel: +20 (02) 27358791; 27355423

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN STRIVES FOR PIPELINE TRANSPORTING GAS TO ARMENIA

news.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

Azerbaijani State Oil Company (SOCAR) intends to fully control gas
network of Georgia and participate in the privatization of pipeline
transporting fuel to Armenia, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said
in an interview with the ANS TV channel.

“The company is holding negotiations with the oil corporation of
Georgia. We are ready to purchase the gas pipeline before announcing
its privatizagtioon or trust management,” he said.

He recalled that the oil company had already invested over $500 m
in the neighboring state. The President stated that management of
Georgia’s gas network, except for Tbilisi, is trusted to the State
Oil Company.

Under decision of the Georgian leadership, section of a pipeline was
excluded from the privatization list. SOCAR immediately announced
about its intention to purchase it. Many experts note that if Georgian
authorities allow it happen, it may negatively affect the relations
between Yerevan and Tbilisi.

From: A. Papazian

KREMLIN BULLIES NEIGHBORS OVER HOLODOMOR

Kyiv Post
Nov 30 2010
Ukraine

Russia pressured Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and other regional
leaders in 2008 to not recognize the Holodomor famine, which killed
millions in 1932-1933, as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

According to a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,
published on Nov. 29 by WikiLeaks, Britain’s Prince Andrew, a frequent
visitor to the region, said that Aliyev had received a letter from
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “telling him that if Azerbaijan
supported the designation of the Bolshevik artificial famine in
Ukraine as ‘genocide’ at the United Nations, ‘then you can forget
about seeing Nagorno-Karabakh ever again.'”‘

Nagorno-Karabakh is a separatist region on Azerbaijan’s border with
Armenia.

Prince Andrew said other leaders had received similar “directive”
letters.

The interventions by Medvedev are evidence of the extraordinary
lengths that the Kremlin was prepared to go to in order to prevent
international recognition for the Stalin-ordered famine, which claimed
most of its starvation victims in Ukraine, whose rural residents
resisted Soviet collectivization.

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko campaigned at home
and abroad for acknowledgement of Holodomor as genocide, a move
opposed by Russia. The debate was a major factor in spats between
the two presidents, as Yushchenko defined Ukraine’s history in ways
that were sharply at odds with Soviet and Russian interpretations,
at least under Putin.

Read more:

From: A. Papazian

FM: RUSSIA HOPES STATEMENT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH TO BE SIGNED IN ASTANA
Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva

Trend
Nov 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Russia works in close contact with the Americans and the French as
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said in an interview to the Voice of Russia.

“Ahead of the Astana summit, they met with the leadership of Armenia
and Azerbaijan. They are tasked with preparing a declaration in time
for the Astana summit, which Baku, Yerevan and the co-chairs can sign.

We hope this will be possible,” he said.

The OSCE has not held such a summit for 11 years. The OSCE summit
will be held in Astana on Dec. 1-2 and will bring together presidents
and prime ministers from 56 OSCE member countries and 12 OSCE partner
countries, as well as the heads of 68 international organizations.

During the summit, there are plans to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
during the meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh
Sargsyan of Armenia.

According to him, over recent years, a relative lull has been recorded
in the line of contact in the region. “But I can not say that at the
Astana summit, a real breakthrough will be achieved in terms of the
conflict settlement. This is very painstaking work,” Lavrov said.

Russia is facilitating the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
as one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as in
its national capacity, given our good neighbourly relations with both
Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said.

“Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is personally involved in this
issue. He has already held seven or eight meetings with the Azeri
and Armenian presidents, in the course of which there were serious
attempts to get to the bottom of still existing divergences, and
get past differences of position. His aim is to develop the first
collective all-encompassing document titled “Key Principles of
Resolution”, which will set the main guidelines for working out a
legally binding final peace agreement,” said the minister.

According to him, agreement has been reached on the vast majority of
principles that could lay the foundation for the resolution. “However,
there are still some serious problems,” he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN ABSOLUTIZING ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY, RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT SAYS

news.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

Armenia is not persistent in pushing forward its proposals for the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ambassador Vladimir
Kazimirov, First Vice-Chairman of the Association of Russian diplomats
(ARD), who was Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in 1992-1996,
wrote in an article entitled “Karabakh and the new OSCE Summit:
are endless refusals a way to settlement?” in Dipkuryer.

In May 1994, through Russia’s mediation, the OSCE Summit in Budapest
made the most substantial decision on Nagorno-Karabakh by instructing
the OSCE Co-Chairs (Russia, United States and France, which have acted
as Co-Chairs for 13 years) to negotiate an agreement on ceasefire with
the parties to the conflict -Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The OSCE then viewed Nagorno-Karabakh as one of the conflicting
parties, which accounted for the negotiation format. Official Baku did
not raise any objections in Budapest, and repeatedly signed documents
with Stepanakert rather than Yerevan during the war of 1991-1994.

Also, the main issue, Nagorno-Karabakh’s final status, is impossible
to settle with Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation. Later, for fear
Nagorno-Karabakh’s recognition, official Baku began ousting it from
the negotiation process. Armenian failed to take that into account,
while the OSCE forgot about its own decisions.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been out of Azerbaijan’s control for over 20
years, but Azerbaijan still considers it its part. Referring to its own
Constitution, Azerbaijan does not even think of any referendum there.

“Azerbaijan is absolutizing territorial integrity, though this
principle is not the Absolute,” Kazimirov writes.

According to him, the reality is complicated and contradictory.

Occupation cannot be tolerated nowadays, but it was the result of
the Azerbaijan leadership’s blunders in their desire for defeating
Armenians and unwillingness to put an end to that war. However,
threats of new war are even worse. There are no alternatives worse
than war. On the other hand, Baku’s threats help Armenians to justify
the “security zone round Nagorno-Karabakh,” using this factor in its
negotiations for Nagorno-Karabakh’s status.

Azerbaijan’s appeals and preparations for war make it impossible to
consider the conflict in a politico-legal rather than military aspect.

On the other hand, it is unacceptable to Armenians to leave the
reinforced lines.

Armenian radicals’ claims to the occupied lands, their strongly worded
responses to Baku are weakening the Armenian side’s positions in the
international arena. Yerevan is not persistent in pushing forward
its proposals even when they are quite right.

“On the threshold of the Astana Summit, Dmitry Medvedev and Sergey
Lavrov continue exerting efforts to draw the sides’ positions on the
basic principles closer and achieve at least some improvement. A
‘road map’ is beneficial for ensuring the sides’ consistent and
interdependent actions. However, it requires at least the lowest level
of mutual confidence. Is it available? Baku has lately demanded that
Armenians agree to the updated Madrid principles they [Armenians]
accepted with ‘some reservations’,” writes the diplomat.

From: A. Papazian

U.N. SEC. GEN HOPES FOR SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

news.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hopes for further Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process within the OSCE Minsk Group. In an interview with the
Kyrgyz service of RFE/Radio Liberty, he expressed hope for further
negotiations and for Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach an agreement on
the basic settlement principle as soon as possible.

The U.N. Secretary General urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain
from any provocations and withdraw snipers from the contact line. It
wll help all the sides contributing to the peace process.

From: A. Papazian

SOCAR IS INTERESTED IN PRIVATIZATION OF GEORGIAN SECTION OF RUSSIA-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE
Trend, S.Aliyev

Trend
Nov 30 2010
Azerbaijan

SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) considers the possibility to
use existing gas pipelines on the Georgian territory, including the
Georgian section of pipeline that exports Russian gas to Armenia,
for gas transit, the SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev said in talks
held with Georgian Energy Minister Alexander Khetaguri and head of
the Oil and Gas Corporation, Zurab Janjgava, SOCAR said.

Abdullayev expressed confidence that using the existing infrastructure
in Georgia will accelerate the implementation of the project
Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romanian Interconnector (AGRI), which envisages
supplying Azerbaijani liquefied gas through Georgia and the Black
Sea to Romania.

According to head of SOCAR, if the Georgian government decides on the
privatization of the pipeline that exports Russian gas to Armenia, the
State Oil Company of Azerbaijan can make an interest in these assets.

At the meetings with Khetaguri and Janjava, they had wide discussions
over the intention to increase activeness in the strategic energy
projects and steps take toward this, as well as opportunities for
soonest implementation of AGRI project.

The SOCAR president and Georgian officials focused attention on
the topical issues of gas supply to the regions of the country,
connecting new subscribers to the gas network, gas supply of the
Georgian consumers in autumn-winter season. Abdullayev said measures
in this direction would be continued further.

He also discussed with the Georgian officials the SOCAR projects,
extension of gas distribution network, SOCAR’s participation in oil
supply to the Georgian markets, transit of Azerbaijan’s oil products
via Georgia

The Georgian officials highly appreciated the SOCAR’s activity in
these fields and pointed out the company’s important role in the
Georgian energy market.

Three capacity volumes are being considered for the project: 2 billion
cubic meters of gas a year, 5 billion cubic meters and 8 billion cubic
meters, Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev said earlier.

According to preliminary data, the cost varies from 1.2 billion to
4.5 billion euros depending on capacity.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed the Baku Declaration
on AGRI project in Baku Sept. 14.

The project envisages transporting Azerbaijani gas via pipelines to
the Black Sea coast of Georgia, where the gas will be liquefied at
a special terminal. The gas will then be delivered to a terminal at
the Romanian port of Constanta via tankers.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA: WIKILEAKS CABLES CAUSE STIR IN YEREVAN
Gayane Abrahamyan

EurasiaNet
Nov 30 2010
NY

The Armenian government and the US embassy in Yerevan are staying
tight-lipped about WikiLeaks disclosures concerning US-Armenian
relations. But the country’s fragmented opposition is trying to score
political points with the revelations about supposed arms sales to
Iran and the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks.

Out of the hundreds of documents posted on WikiLeaks, two have grabbed
the most attention among Armenian citizens.

The first is a classified 2008 letter from former US Deputy Secretary
of State John Negroponte to President Serzh Sargsyan about Armenia’s
alleged transfer of “machine guns and rockets” to Iran in 2003. At
the time, Sargsyan was Armenia’s defense minister.

“Notwithstanding the close relationship between our countries, neither
the Administration nor the US Congress can overlook this case,”
Negroponte allegedly wrote. “By law, the transfer of these weapons
requires us to consider whether there is a basis for the imposition
of US sanctions. If sanctions are imposed, penalties could include
the cutoff of US assistance and certain export restrictions.”

The letter notes that Sargsyan earlier had denied the arms sales
allegation, but Negroponte demands “compelling evidence” that the
alleged transfers will not resume; as a means to that end, he proposes
that Armenia “periodically accept unannounced visits by US experts to
assess the work” of Armenian teams watching for “dual-use commodities
and other contraband” at border checkpoints.

In response to the posting of the document on WikiLeaks, the US
Embassy in Yerevan on November 29 issued a statement stressing that
diplomatic cables “are often preliminary and incomplete expressions
of foreign policy, and they should not be seen as having standing on
their own or as representing US policy.”

A spokesperson for Sargsyan, meanwhile, told local media outlets
that he would “refrain from commenting on another country’s internal,
classified documents.”

Some members of Armenia’s opposition are not showing such restraint.

Two opposition forces, the Armenian National Congress and the Heritage
Party, have linked Negroponte’s warning to the 2009 elimination of
the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $67 million road construction
program for Armenia. At the time, concerns about how well Armenia met
the program’s democratization criteria were the reason cited for the
program’s curtailment. Those concerns had been stoked by the deaths of
at least 10 people in clashes between police and opposition protestors
after the country’s 2008 presidential elections.

“This … shows that, in general, US aid programs are cut not because
Armenia didn’t meet democratic standards, but when it [Armenia] doesn’t
serve the interests of the US,” charged Heritage Party parliamentary
faction secretary Stepan Safarian.

Giro Manoian, director of the International Secretariat of the
opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun), offered
a different perspective. “[T]he United States was trying to prevent
the threat of arms exports,” he commented. “If they possessed more
serious grounds and evidence, we wouldn’t have avoided sanctions.”

Sanctions were never imposed against Armenia; one member of the Defense
Ministry’s Public Council, a group intended to enhance public scrutiny
of ministry practices, contends that arms transfers to Iran are not
known to have occurred.

“There has never been a single case when arms and ammunition would be
exported from our country in disregard of the sanctions as provided
for by the UN Security Council’s resolutions,” claimed David Jamalian,
a military expert.

A cable related to Washington’s dialogue with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev that touches on the Armenian-Turkish protocols and
rapprochement process also attracted considerable public attention.

In a conversation with Aliyev on February 25, US Under Secretary of
State Robert Burns was reported as saying in an alleged cable from
the US Embassy in Baku that “progress on the Turkey-Armenia protocols
could create political space for Sargsyan to be more flexible on NK
[Nagorno Karabakh].”

The reported comment has outraged Armenian opposition members, who
have long insisted that Turkey, a key Azerbaijani ally, intended to
link the 2009 protocols with the Karabakh peace process, and that
such a connection was not in Armenia’s interests.

The Armenian National Committee of America, an influential diaspora
group opposed to the reconciliation process, commented that “these
files are a smoking-gun” that show that Turkey has pressured “American
leaders against US recognition of the Armenian Genocide and in favor
of a pro-Azerbaijani settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

The Heritage Party’s Safarian predicted undefined “domestic political
developments” in connection with the cable. “The least we can do is to
blame the Armenian authorities for conducting a short-sighted policy,”
he said.

Editor’s note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for ArmeniaNow.org
in Yerevan.

From: A. Papazian