Author: Andres-Papazian

PACE CHIEF NAMES THE “MAIN CONDITION FOR TURKEY TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA”

Today

Sept 6 2010
Azerbaijan

The main condition for Turkey to normalize relations with Armenia
is the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, said
the head of PACE Movlud Chavushoglu, speaking on Saturday in the
Swedish city of Gothenburg at the conference “The Role of Turkey in
the European Union”, Hurriyet reported.

“Turkey aims to develop cooperation with all neighbouring countries:
European countries – in the west, with its neighbours and the
Islamic world – in the East. But the main condition for normalizing
relations with Armenia is the liberation of the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan. Once this condition is fulfilled, the relationship
with Armenia also will normalize”, Chavushoglu said.

Chavushoglu in his speech touched on the issue of a possible “change
of direction in foreign policy” of Turkey.

“The direction of foreign policy has changed, is changing. Turkey turns
away from the EU towards the East.” Such statements are – baseless,
inaccurate, speculative talks. There is no change in the direction
of our policy. Full membership in the European Union still is the
main goal of Turkish foreign policy”, Chavushoglu said.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE CONDEMNS CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev
made a statement on September 6 condemning the recent violations of
the ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. The Kazinform
New Agency provided the text of the statement.

“The OSCE Chairman-in-Office strongly condemns the recent violations
of the ceasfire along the contact line in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
zone. Growing human losses on both sides arouse serious concern.

“The OSCE Chairman-in-Office stresses that any violations of the
ceasefire destabilize the negotiation process within the Minsk
Conference, blocking the opportunities for intensifying a constructive
dialogue. He supports the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, who called
on the conflicting parties to show restraint, strictly observe the
ceasefire agreements and refrain from recriminations.

“The measures planned by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs for this
autumn, before the OSCE Summit in Astana, will prove effective
provided the parties to the protracted conflict are truly interested
in progress,” says the statement.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS TO CROSS CONTACT LINE

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

On September 8, monitoring is to be conducted on the line of contact
between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces in northern
Karabakh.

During the monitoring, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as
the Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, are to cross
the contact line, the Trend News Agency reports, referring to the
Azerbaijani defense office.

On the Azerbaijani side the monitoring will be conducted by Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk and
field assistants Imre Palatinus, William Proroy and Zhaslan Nurtazin

On the Armenian side the monitoring will be conducted by field
assistants Antal Herdic and Khristo Khristov.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S FATE INDEPENDENT OF CAVUSOGLU AND LINDBLAD, RPA REP STATES

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

Anti-Armenian statements by PACE President Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu and
PACE Rapporteur on Armenia’s monitoring Göran Lindblad prove once
more that it would at least be naïve to expect such people to be
impartial, Hermine Nahdalyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to
PACE representing the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told NEWS.am,
commenting on the to officials’ anti-Armenian statements.

“None of the anti-Armenian documents initiated by Turkey and Azerbaijan
is without Lindblad’s signature. And this man is supposed to prepare
a report on Armenia! It is clear that any impartiality is out of the
question,” Nahdalyan said. The same can be said of CavuÅ~_oglu, who
does not miss a chance to make anti-Armenian statements. On the other
hand, Nahdalyan stressed the Armenian delegation will go on working
with the new co-rapporteur in conformity with PACE’s decision. “But
I stress that Armenia’s fate does not at all depend on individuals
or international institutions. Our future depends on our own steps,”
Nahdalyan said.

Following his meetings in Stockholm, CavuÅ~_oglu left for Göteborg
to take part in a conference. Göran Lindblad, Chairman of the
Sweden-Turkey parliamentary friendship commission and a member of
the Moderate Party, participated in the conference as well.

The PACE Chairman pointed out that Turkey is developing relations
with both the West and the East. He added that Turkey is willing
to normalize relations with all its neighbors. The most important
condition to improvement of relations with Armenia is its vacating
“the annexed Azeri lands.” If Armenia meets with condition, Turkey will
improve its relations with that state, CavuÅ~_oglu said. He stressed
Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan and will go on doing so.

In his turn, Göran Lindblad, who is an advocate of Turkey’s arguments,
spoke of the parliamentary elections to be held in Sweden on September
19 and pointed out that the left bloc, which pushed the Armenian
Genocide bill through Parliament on March 11, are willing to submit
the Armenian Genocide bill to the European Union (EU) and the U.N.

They have reached an agreement and want the topic of the Armenian
Genocide be included in school textbooks. To thwart their initiatives,
Göran Lindblad called for voting for the Moderate Party and other
right-ring parties.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE MG’S NONSPECIFIC STATEMENTS INCITE AZERBAIJAN TO FURTHER VIOLENT ACTS

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

Nonspecific statements by the OSCE Minsk Group and international
community condemning violations of ceasefire on the line of contact
between the Azerbaijani and Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces incite
Baku to further violent acts, Eduard Sharmazanov, Secretary of the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary faction, told NEWS.am,
commenting on the latest statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“Of course, the OSCE Minsk Group condemning violations of ceasefire
can only be welcomed. However, nonspecific statements are ineffective.

Nonspecific statements do not in any way ease tension in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone or put an end to Azerbaijani acts of
sabotage on the contact line. It is time for the OSCE Minsk Group
and international community address their statements to a particular
side and make an assessment of Azerbaijan’s provocations. Otherwise,
such statements will only lead to new acts of sabotage on the line
of contact,” Sharmazanov said.

On September 6, the OSCE Minsk Group issued a statement, expecting
the conflicting parties to be “particularly active in the months
leading up to the OSCE Summit.”

“In response to the most recent incidents along the Line of Contact,
they also strongly condemn any violation of the cease-fire, in
particular incursions across the Line of Contact,” says the statement.

“The use of force created the current situation, and its use again
would only lead to suffering, devastation, and a legacy of conflict
and hostility that would last for generations,” the OSCE MG Co-Chairs
state.

From: A. Papazian

DEBATES OVER TURKISH LEADERS’ ETHNIC ORIGIN IN TURKEY

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahceli has
increased his personal attacks on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
targeting his son, Bilal, in an ongoing row over ethnicity, Today’s
Zaman reports.

At a party rally in Konya on Saturday Bahceli claimed that Erdogan was
originally a Georgian while his wife, Emine, was an Arab. “So, what
shall we call Bilal? His mother is an Arab; his father is a Georgian.

So what is he personally?” the MHP leader asked.

According to him, Erdogan gives examples from his own life. He
says his wife is an Arab and that he personally is a Georgian who
comes from Batumi. And then he stirs provocation among 35 different
ethnicities. “Don’t do this, esteemed prime minister, this is not
right. This nation is living in fraternity,” he noted.

Turkey has for some time been witnessing dirty campaigns between
politicians over ethnicity. Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek recently claimed
that the mother of Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal
Kilicdaroglu was an Armenian in an attempt to demean him. Similarly,
CHP Izmir deputy Canan Aritman said the mother of President Abdullah
Gul is Armenian.

From: A. Papazian

PREMIERE OF “MARAGHA, 10 APRIL 1992. AN ORDINARY GENOCIDE” TO BE PRESENTED IN MID SEPTEMBER

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

In mid-September the premiere of the film “Maragha, 10 April 1992. An
Ordinary Genocide” to be presented.

The work on the documentary film “Maragha, 10 April 1992” is completed;
it is the third one in a series of “Ordinary genocide.” The film
is about the massacre which has been remained unknown to the world,
about dozens of inhabitants of village Maragha in Nagorno Karabakh
who have been brutally murdered, taken hostage, tortured.

Some of the inhabitants are recorded as missing so far. Crucifixion
of Maragha which Baroness Caroline Cox called “a modern Golgotha,
but for many times worse,” is presented by eyewitnesses, evidences
of which are proved by the scenes of the documentary chronicles.

“Stories of the former inhabitants of Maragha, living today in New
Maragha village, are shedding light on many previously unknown facts
about the causes and consequences enacted on April 10, 1992, the
day of the tragedy” the manager of the “Ordinary genocide” project
Marina Grigoryan said. “In particular, we managed to prove that the
destruction of Maragha by the Azerbaijani, the massacres and capturing
of the inhabitants – among them women, children, elderly people was
directly connected with Baku’s interests in oil. In addition, there are
other, previously unknown, facts and evidences depicted in the film.”

According to M. Grigoryan, in parallel with the release of the new
films they do not stop searching for new data on the genocide of
Armenians in Baku and Sumgait. Thus, we have found documents which come
to prove the facts of monstrous massacres against the Armenians in Baku
in the period preceding Baku pogroms of January 1990. These facts will
be reflected in the updated version of the film “Baku, January 1990.

The premiere screening of the film “Maragha, April 10, 1992” is
anticipated in mid-September on the Public Television of Armenia.

The project “Ordinary Genocide” is implemented by the initiation of
the Center of Information and Public Relations of the President of
Armenia. The first two films of the series “Baku, January 1990 “,
and “Sumgait, February 1988” were presented respectively, in January
and April. The films are translated into Russian, English, French and
Arabic; they are available on the Internet and are widely distributed
in DVDs.

From: A. Papazian

AMATEURS NOT TO COMMENT IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS, ARMENIAN EXPERT SAYS

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

“I do not welcome the fact that Armenia allow amateurs to present
official Ankara’s opinion,” Ruben Melkonyan, the Deputy Head of
the Department of Oriental Studies, Yerevan State University, told
reporters, commenting on the Turkish expert Behlul Ozkan’s initiative
to deliver lectures for Armenian journalists.

“The Turkish expert’s statement that the Armenian-Turkish process
will progress provided Armenian armed forces leave Nagorno-Karabakh,
as well as the wording ‘occupied territories’ confirm official
Ankara’s position widely cover by Armenian mass media. If the group
is organizing the lectures with good intentions, it had better invite
discuss the matter with experts rather than invite journalists who are
not acquainted with the material,” Melkonyan said. Before inviting
anyone to Armenia, the RA Foreign Minister should know about who he
is and what is his ideology, he said.

Behlul Ozkan, a Turkish political scientist and lecturer at Istanbul
University arrived in Armenia the other day. He stated that the
Armenian-Turkish process will progress provided Armenian armed forces
leave Nagorno-Karabakh.

From: A. Papazian

AZERIS SHOOT EACH OTHER AT MOSQUES

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

An organizer of the armed incident in Lankaran region of Azerbaijan
was arrested, stated deputy chief of Lankaran region police office
Javid Agayev, APA agency reports.

He said Arif Feyzullayev, who fired on peaceful people outside
the mosque was detained as a result of special operations. Other
participants of the incident – residents of Masalli region Zamin
Sadigov, Elvin Mirzayev, Orkhan Dayyazaov, Sadig Hasanov and resident
of Lankaran region Emin Bashirov are still wanted.

The incident happened in Gumbashi village of Lankaran region at
00.15 on September 3. Gunmen in several cars fired on the people that
gathered near Gumbashi village mosque. As a result of the shooting,
Elshan Alimammad Huseynov, 41, was killed. Ramin Baloglan Agamaliyev,
25, was wounded. He was taken to the resuscitation department of
the Lankaran Central Hospital. Two participants of the incident –
residents of Masalli region Ramil Ilham Humbatov and Emin Bagirov
were also detained.

Noteworthy, the Azerbaijani mass media did not give any reports on
the incident. In keeping with the best traditions of Aliyev clan over
mass media, the information on was reported only after catching the
red-handed, motives of which are not reported.

Interestingly, the Azerbaijani mass media did not give any reports on
the incident. In the best traditions of the Aliyev clan’s control over
mass media, the information was available only after the mastermind
had been detained, with the motives not reported.

From: A. Papazian

EU CONCERNED OVER ARMED CONFLICTS IN KARABAKH ZONE

news.am
Sept 6 2010
Armenia

The European Union is very concerned over the armed conflicts in
Karabakh conflict zone, causing losses to both sides, EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby told AZE.az agency.

He expressed confidence the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will voice
their attitude towards the recent events.

On September 4, at 6:50 a.m. Yerevan time, the Azeri side tried to
commit act of sabotage on the contact line between the Azerbaijani
and Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces, 2 kilometers east of Jraberd
settlement. The Azeri task force retreated, leaving one dead. The
members of the Azeri task force were blown up by mines while
retreating. There are injured. According to intelligence data, one of
them is a commander of a sapper unit, the other – of reconnaissance
unit. The Karabakh side incurred no losses.

On August 31, at about 6:30 a.m. Yerevan time, Azerbaijan committed
an act of sabotage on the frontline. Armenian soldiers spotted Azeri
soldiers near Verin Chailu and threw them back, causing losses to
the enemy. The soldier Rudik Manaseryan was injured in the skirmish.

On June 18, an Azerbaijani task force intruded into Nagorno-Karabakh
from Azerbaijan, killing 4 Armenian soldiers and wounding 4 others.

From: A. Papazian