Author: Andres-Papazian

MP: BOOK BY FORMER TURKISH DIPLOMAT IS PAID JOB
T. Hajiyev

Trend News Agency
Nov 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani MP Aydin Mirzazade considers that the book about Azerbaijan
by Turgut Er was ordered by some individuals.

“I can not take it as an initiative and one person’s activity. The fact
is that writing, time, efforts and energy, publication of the book,
its representation in the Azerbaijani press require time and a lot
of money. The individuals, standing behind Turgut Er, are interested
in it, ” he told Trend.

Some extracts from the book “From freedom to tyranny” by Turgut Er,
former Turkish diplomat who worked in Azerbaijan, were published in
Azadliq newspaper.

“They find a person capable to do dirty work. They give him some
instructions and wait for the results. In any case, while reading
the book everyone will see that it was written with the intent to
destabilize the situation in Azerbaijan and to manipulate public
opinion in Azerbaijan,” he said.

He said that the goals set while writing the book fully coincide
with the policy conducted by Armenia and the Armenian nationalists
living abroad. It is meanly to write about the deceased personalities,
he said.

He said that Er, being the press-secretary at the Turkish Embassy in
Azerbaijan, was engaged in any activity except the press.

“Most likely, he wrote an irritable book about Azerbaijan in connection
with his unsuccessful activity in this position. There were always
such attempts against Azerbaijan and they will be. But such actions
will not be able to influence public opinion in Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani people will not accept such an approach and the
worthlessness,” Mirzazade said.

The book, which extracts were published in “Azadliq” newspaper, did
not cause a resonance in society. It did not increase the circulation
of the newspaper either, he added. The money, spent on this dirty
campaign, was just “wasted”, Mirzazade said.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIA INVESTING IN ARMENIA’S ENERGY
By Messenger Staff

The Messenger
Nov 30 2010
Georgia

Russia is planning to invest around USD 40 million during the next two
years in the Armenian energy sector. Half of the amount will go into
the modernising and rehabilitation of hydro-electric power stations in
Razdan Kaskade. Most of Armenia’s hydro-electric power stations are
managed by the international energy corporation. One of the founders
of this company is Russian Inter RAO AES, which incidentally is the
managing company of Armenia’s existing nuclear power station until
2013; the possibility of continuing to operate this power station is
currently under discussion.

From: A. Papazian

‘WIKELEAKS REPORT HAMPERS DISCUSSION OF KEY REGIONAL ISSUES’

news.az
Nov 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Elin Suleymanov Information posted on Wikileaks before OSCE summit
in Astana hampers discussion of key regional issues.

Speaking in live air of the US Fox news, Azerbaijan’s general consul
in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov noted that the very fact of the
confidential diplomatic correspondence creates the crisis of trust in
the relations with Washington and causes damage to the US interests
in the world.

For the overall European region the demonstration of this unconfirmed
and groundless information in anticipation of the OSCE summit in
Astana creates obstacles in discussion of key issues for the region,
including the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over
Nagorno Karabakh.

From: A. Papazian

DMITRY MEDVEDEV REPLIED TO ARMENIAN WOMAN IN HIS TWITTER ACCOUNT

news.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev went without dinner on Monday
evening, as he was too busy preparing his annual speech to Russian
parliament, he said in his Twitter account.

Medvedev, who has recently been too busy to respond to other comments,
reacted to a female Twitter nicknamed inna_smbatyan, RIA Novosti
reports.

The woman said she had seen both of them in a dream “having dinner
together in a gloomy castle.”

“I did not have dinner yesterday at all. I was busy preparing my
annual address :),” Medvedev replied.

From: A. Papazian

ASTANA SUMMIT TO ADOPT A PROJECT ON PROTRACTED CONFLICTS, TURKISH REP IN OSCE PA SAYS

news.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is meeting in Astana today and is
expected to adopt a project on protracted conflicts, First General
Political Affairs and Security Committee Vice Chairman Canan Kalsin
told Trend News agency.

“The meeting will consider protracted conflicts, including
Nagorno-Karabakh. After the discussions, we plan to adopt a draft
resolution on protracted conflicts in OSCE member states,” she said.

“Issues of protracted conflicts are very complex, and should be
considered step-by-step to restore confidence between the peoples of
the conflicting parties,” Kalsin stressed.

The meeting is taking place on the eve of the OSCE Summit, scheduled
for December 1-2.

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou is leading
a delegation that includes representatives of more than 20 member
countries.

From: A. Papazian

TURKISH FM: “TURKEY DOESN’T DENY THAT DEVASTATING THINGS IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY”

times.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

According to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Turkey doesn’t
deny that devastating things happened to Armenians in early 20th
century. Turkish FM has said about it in Washington.

“Just 10 years ago, no one in Turkey spoke of the Armenian
issue, whereas nowadays our society freely discusses the topic,”
Times.am-Armenian news reports quoting the Voice of America radio
station.

Davutoglu believes that neither Armenians nor Turks are to blame for
the existing conflicts between the two nations. He sees the emergence
of nationalist movements as the main cause of the Genocide.

Only a year before the events – in 1914 -Turkey had ministers of
Armenian descent, and Armenian diplomats represented the country
in a number of European capitals. In Ottoman sources, the Armenians
were referred to as the ‘most faithful citizens’,” Davutoglu said,
adding that all kinds of errors in that period occurred mostly due
the lack of law and order throughout Turkey.

Asked whether the Turkish parliament’s failure to ratify the protocols
was conditioned by the upcoming parliamentary election in the
country, the Karabakh conflict or any other factor, Davutoglu said:
“Unfortunately, Armenia’s Constitutional Court passed a decision
ruling out the possibility of creating a committee of historians,
while the issue was important for Turkey.”

Davutoglu also said that the Armenian-Turkish protocols are aimed at
improving the relations between Armenia and Turkey, normalizing the
ties between the two peoples and establishing peace in the Caucasus
region.

He also reiterated Ankara’s official stance that there will be no
progress over the protocols without a progress in the Karabakh peace
process.

“Even if the protocols are approved without an Armenian-Azerbaijani
agreement, Turkey will close the border again in case of an
escalation,” he said.

From: A. Papazian

MARIE YOVANOVICH SHARED HER IMPRESSIONS ON ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN THE USA

Times.am
Nov 30 2010
Armenia

Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan received Monday the US Ambassador
in Armenia, Marie Yovanovich, and the Director of US Agency of
International Development (USAID), Jatender Cheema.

The Ambassador shared her impressions of her recent meeting with
the Armenian community in United States, saying that the Diaspora is
better informed of the activities of US Embassy in Armenia and USAID.

She also appreciated Armenia and Diaspora~Rs interest in seeing
Armenia as a developing, secure and democratic country, Tert.am
reports quoting the PR Department of the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora.

Yovanovich also spoke of the meeting with the International Association
of Armenian Women in US and shared its members concerns over the
problem of violence in Armenia.

The minister expressed her gratitude to the ambassador and also shared
concerns over the situation with domestic violence in Armenia.

She also introduced the ministry~Rs 2009-10 activities, programs and
their outcomes. Expressing her gratitude to USAID for collaboration
and joint programs, Hakobyan expressed hope for further cooperation.

From: A. Papazian

KARABAKH SETTLEMENT TO BE PRIORITY DURING LITHUANIA’S CHAIRMANSHIP IN OSCE

news.az
Nov 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Audronius Azubalis ‘The resolution of protracted conflicts will be
one of the priorities of Lithuania’s chairmanship in OSCE’.

This statement came from Lithuanian FM Audronius Azubalis prior to
Lithuania’s chairmanship to the OSCE.

‘We see that the unsettled conflicts hamper the development of these
countries and the more active European integration’, Azubalis said.

He noted that for Lithuania, as the future chairman of the OSCE, it is
very important to continue the activity of the forerunners, especially
Kazakhstan, in the resolution of conflicts in the former USSR.

‘It is important to use existing format of talks maximally. In
case with the South Caucasus, these are the Geneva discussions and
the OSCE Minsk Group. We fully trust the chairmen of these formats
of negotiations and believe it is our duty to ensure their stable
activity’, he said.

He said the Lithuanian Foreign Minister has decided to appoint
a very experienced Lithuanian diplomat Giedrius Cekuolis as a
representative on protracted conflicts, and personal representative
of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk will continue to work
with the Minsk Group.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS MAY SIGN DECLARATION IN ASTANA

news.az
Nov 30 2010
Azerbaijan

Russia is assisting the Karabakh conflict settlement as one of
the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as in its
national quality, considering good special relations with Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev is personally dealing with this
issue’, said Russian FM Sergey Lavrov in the interview of the Voice
of Russia.

According to the Foreign Minister, he has already held seven or eight
meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian president, during which
a serious attempt was taken to understand the preserved differences
and overcome discrepancies in positions.

‘Its aim is to work out the first collective and comprehensive
document called “Main principles of resolution”, which could laid
the main directions of work over the preparation of already the peace
agreement as a legally binding final document. Understanding has been
reached on the majority of principles, which could ly the foundation
of the resolution. But serious problems still remain unsolved.

We are working in a close contact with American and French, as well
as the Russian co-chairs in the Minsk Group. They met Armenian and
Azerbaijani leadership in Astana. They have the instruction to try to
prepare a declaration which could be signed by Baku and Yerevan and the
co-chairs by the summit in Astana. I hope it will come true. We have
recently observed a relative silence on the contact line in the region.

But so far I cannot say that we will manage to attain a real
breakthrough at the summit in Astana in what is related to resolution.

This is a very huge work. It is associated with the need to reconcile
the sometimes diametrically differing positions of the parties and
this work does not bear haste. If the summit in Astana promotes
further progress, this will be a serious achievement’.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE SUMMIT TO GIVE IMPETUS TO RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT – H. SALBER

AZG DAILY #220
30-11-2010

I believe that the OSCE Summit in Astana will give impetus to
resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Director of the
OSCE Conflict Prevention Center Herbert Salber said it at a briefing
in Astana.

‘The Summit gives opportunities to settle protracted conflicts.

Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be here. There will be high
level meetings including the President of Kazakhstan. Thus, all the
relevant issues will be discussed. Certainly, we need to be realistic
in regard of this conflict’, H. Salber said, according to Kazinform.

He also noted that the atmosphere concerning this problem may become
better thanks to this Summit since some measures on creating conditions
for conflicts resolution may be taken also at the Summit.

The sides involved in the conflict should make the decision
themselves. The OSCE can only assist. There is special format –
the Minsk group.

From: A. Papazian