Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AGREE TO PRISONER SWAP

Monsters and Critics.com
Oct 27 2010

Moscow – The two feuding former Soviet republics of Armenia and
Azerbaijan agreed on Wednesday to a prisoner swap at negotiations
mediated by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

At a meeting in the Russian city of Astrakhan, Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev also
agreed to swap the bodies of dead soldiers.

Medvedev said he hoped to solve the territorial dispute between the
two countries by early December, according to Russian news agencies.

Under international law, the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh
belongs to Azerbaijan. But the region has been under Armenian control
since the mid-1990s, following a conflict that claimed 30,000 lives.

Clashes between the two countries have escalated recently, with
one soldier, who was affiliated with Nagorno-Karabakh, shot dead on
Tuesday by Azerbaijani units.

Last week the Azerbaijani parliament also voted to double its defence
spending to 2.5 billion dollars next year.

Baku has also repeatedly made it clear that it is ready to use force
to reconquer the region.

Russia has meanwhile vowed to defend Armenia against any attack from
its neighbour and has soldiers stationed in the country.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS ISSUES STATEMENT

news.am
Oct 27 2010
Armenia

President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, President of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan, and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev issued a joint
statement in Astrakhan today.

The Armenian, Azerbaijan and Russian Presidents met in Astrakhan on
Oct 27, 2010, at the invitation of RF President Dmitry Medvedev.

They discussed future possibilities for reaching a settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Confirming the joint declaration signed in Moscow on November 2,
2008, the three Presidents stressed a political settlement of the
conflict requires further efforts to bolster the ceasefire regime and
strengthen confidence-building measures. The Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents agreed that their first step would be an immediate exchange
of prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of those killed. This
would be organized with the help of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

From: A. Papazian

Moscow Times
Oct 27 2010

ASTRAKHAN – President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that he hoped
Azerbaijan and Armenia could reach agreement on the principles of a
peace deal for breakaway region Nagorno-Karabakh by early December.

Agreement on the so called “basic principles” for a future peace deal
could pave the way for a resolution of the conflict over the region,
indicating movement after years of failed diplomacy by Russia, the
United States and France.

A complete breakthrough, however, is considered a long way off as
many sensitive issues still surround the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
where fighting erupted two decades ago.

Speaking after chairing talks in Astrakhan between Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan and his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, Medvedev said
those principles could be ready by a meeting of the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe in Kazakhstan on Dec. 1 and 2.

“We have come a certain way, which gives grounds to hope that if the
sides work well over the next month,” Medvedev said.

“Then by the time of the OSCE summit in Kazakhstan on Dec. 1 and 2,
we could reach an agreed variant of common regulation principles,”
he said.

Medvedev also said Armenia and Azerbaijan, which are still technically
at war over Nagorno-Karabakh, had agreed to allow prisoner exchanges.

Clashes have worsened since 2008 around the mountain enclave, where
ethnic Armenian Christians, backed by Armenia, threw off rule by
Muslim Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed two decades ago.

From: A. Papazian

STRONG TURKEY FAILS TO FIND HALL IN YEREVAN

news.am
Oct 27 2010
Armenia

The conference “Opening borders for common future of Armenia and
Turkey” scheduled for Oct. 28 has been cancelled, said Stepan
Grigoryan, Head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and
Regional Cooperation.

The initiative to hold the conference was introduced by Tuna Beklevic,
Chairman of the Strong Turkey Party (GTP), and Baybars Orsek, Chairman
of the Society and Democracy Association. The Analytical Center for
Globalization and Regional Cooperation supported the Turkish side’s
initiative.

Grigoryan said that the conference has been postponed for technical
reasons – the Armenia Marriott and Golden Tulip hotels failed to
provide halls. The Turkish side is trying to resolve the problem
without the Armenian side’s mediation. Turkish participants have not
yet arrived in Armenia.

NEWS.am reminds readers that on October 10, the Turkish mass media
disseminated information that Leader of Strong Turkey Party (GTP)
Tuna Beklevic with his party fellows crossed the Armenia-Turkey border
along the Akhuryan River and entered Armenia.

The GTP leader has introduced a new initiative – establishment of
Society of Turkish-Armenian friendship.

Tuna Beklevic stated the society has been formed on the occasion of
anniversary of the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in Zurich. The
organization’s goal is to reconcile two countries and show their
inseparability and significance for each other. According to the GTP
leader, the society has 500 members.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN DELEGATION’S VISIT TO IRAN OVER

news.am
Oct 27 2010
Armenia

A free trade agreement was not signed during a Premier-headed
Armenian delegation visit to Iran. The initiative belongs to the
Iranian side, and creating free trade zones is part of the Armenian
Government’s strategy, RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan stated
in Parliament. He explained that Iran has not yet resolved the legal
problems of setting zero customs duties for the transit of Armenian
goods.

The Minister hopes that a free trade agreement will be signed with
Iran next year. Yeritsyan said that the sides agreed on new approaches
and reach results under international conventions.

Minister Yeritsyan also reported that the sides also raised the issue
of an Armenia-Iran oil pipeline. The Armenian Government interested
in construction. “The Iranian side showed full understanding,” the
Minister said.

The sides also discussed the issue of most favored nation basis between
the countries. The sides arranged about a visit of the chief of Iran’s
Customs Service to Armenia to discus the issue.

From: A. Papazian

PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN MEET IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA TO DISCUSS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

The Canadian Press
Oct 27 2010

MOSCOW – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has hosted a meeting of
the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss ways to resolve the
dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but it has been under the
control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since the end
of a six-year separatist war in 1994.

Medvedev’s talks with Armenia’s Serge Sarkisian and Azerbaijan’s
Ilham Aliyev have not produced any breakthroughs in what is one of
the former Soviet Union’s most troubling “frozen conflicts.”

During Wednesday’s talks in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan ,
Sarkisian and Aliyev agreed to exchange prisoners of war and victims’
bodies.

Russia, along with the U.S. and France, has been leading international
efforts to resolve the conflict.

From: A. Papazian

EXPERTS TRY TO RESOLVE THE CONFLICT

The Messenger
Oct 27 2010
Georgia

I. We, two experts from the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijani
Republic, in anticipation of the OSCE Astana summit onl-2 December
2010, before stating the essence of our forthcoming roadmap for
Karabakh conflict resolution, declare that:

1. The conflict resolution process has become more active in the
recent two years.

2. Peaceful options of conflict resolution have not been exhausted.

II. We call upon the conflicting parties:

1. Express a common position concerning the basic Madrid principles.

2. Support the L’Aquila Declaration of 10 July 2009 and the Muscoca
Declaration of 26 June 2010 made by the presidents of the United
States of America, the Russian Federation and France.

3. Respect the demands set by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the
additional Protocols of 1977.

III. We have agreed on the principles and basic elements of a roadmap
for Karabakh conflict resolution.

The basic principles include: common benefit, complementarity,
co-dependency, civil society’s will.

The first basic element is a white paper for transport in the South
Caucasus. Among other elements, we accentuate measures towards
confidence-building on individual and civil society levels.

Stepan Grigoryan, political scientist

Rauf Rajabov, policy analyst

From: A. Papazian

END IN SIGHT FOR 20-YEAR NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Russia Today

Oct 27 2010

There are rising hopes that a two-decade-long frozen conflict between
Armenia and Azerbaijan could be coming to an end.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held talks with the leaders of
the two countries, and says he hopes all sides will agree settlement
principles within a month, Interfax news agency reports.

However, Armenian officials believe the peace talks will not result
in the signing of any crucial document.

Meanwhile, the parties agreed to the immediate exchange of prisoners
of war and the bodies of those killed in the conflict.

Read more

Over the past several years, there has been occasional armed action
between Karabakh and Azerbaijani troops. The exchange of prisoners
and the bodies of those killed has always been a complicated process.

According to President Medvedev, Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached
an important agreement, taking into account all the difficulties that
exist with the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The confrontation over the disputed territory broke out in 1988 when
the region, mostly populated by Armenians, sought independence from
the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

In 1991 the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was founded. Azerbaijan tried to
regain control over the region and the conflict escalated into a war
that killed about thirty thousand people. The conflict ended in 1994,
with Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence remaining unrecognized and the
region being part of Azerbaijan, according to Baku’s legislation.

Armenia has been supporting the Nagorno-Karabakh region, representing
its interests on the official level. In the last 15 years Russia has
been the main mediator in peace talks.

From: A. Papazian

FIRST RESULTS OF RUSSIA-ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN MEETING

Voice of Russia
Oct 27 2010

Armenia and Azerbaijan may coordinate the principles of the Karabakh
settlement before the OSCE summit in Astana, Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev said at a news conference following his meeting with these
countries’ Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev.

There is still quite a number of questions concerning the conflict,
which should later become the basis for the future peace treaty, the
Russian leader said, adding that his counterparts have also adopted a
joint statement on exchanging the captives and bodies of the deceased.

Russia will proceed with its efforts to promote further settlements
of the conflict.

Nagorny Karabakh – an Armenian enclave on the Azeri territory –
declared its intention to merge with the republic of Armenia in 1988
and later proclaimed independence. This resulted in an armed conflict
that was suppressed through Russian mediation.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN TO BE FOCAL POINT AT ASTRAKHAN MEETING

news.am
Oct 27 2010
Armenia

There are no great expectations over Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian
Presidents’ meeting in Astrakhan, Secretary of Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA) Galust Sahakyan told the reporters on Wednesday.

“No surprises or sensations are expected at the Astrakhan meeting”
Sahakyan said, stressing it is another trilateral meeting. Meanwhile,
the MP noted Azerbaijan will be the focal point at the meeting. “I
mean to say Azerbaijan constantly cries “a war” like a rabbit and
hides like “a rat,” he stated.

According to him, Karabakh peace process has undergone positive
changes for the Armenian side within the recent years.

On October 27, Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents will meet
in Astrakhan on the initiative of Dmitry Medvedev.

From: A. Papazian