Author: Andres-Papazian

HULIQ.com, SC
July 23 2010

Daily Pilgrimages to Akdamar if Border and Church Opened

Submitted by Armen Hareyan on 2010-07-24

The government of Turkey is set to allow the first church service on
the island of Akdamar after its restoration. The monastery complex is
a 10th century religious icon and expects thousands of Armenians from
Istanbul, diaspora and from Armenia to attend what is expected to be a
once a year service. Yet, one bold and visionary move by Turkey would
make daily pilgrimages possible to Akdamar Armenian church.

Today this church has become a symbol of a struggling reconciliation
process between Armenia and Turkey, which the latter conditions with
Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan. Akdamar is a state museum and as
a gesture the authorities say they will allow a church service on
September 19 of this year.

Yet, allowing services in a church once a year will not help to
improve the relations. In fact, many Armenians have said thanks, but
no thanks. A bolder and more righteous step needs to be done.

If a certain forgetting and forgiving is to take place between the
Armenian and Turkish people for the sake of a better future one of the
most important things that is need is o allow the estranged people to
come closer and to learn about each other. Only then the matters of
justice ad truth will be addressed and only after this a certain
healing type of forgetting and forgiving will take place between the
people. Yet, how can these people learn about each other when the
border is closed by Turkey for no good reason and the average people
don’t have an easy access to trade and to learn about each other.

One overlooked factor may come to help. It is the distance between
Yerevan and Van, where the Akdamar monastery is located. The average
distance between Yerevan and Van is only 131 miles or 211 kilometers.
By driving it will take about 3-4 hours depending on the roads and by
flight it will only take about 15-20 minutes.

Turkey, which aspires for EU membership, should act like a European
country and differentiate its relations with Armenia from that of
Azerbaijan. This is especially important now, after yesterday’s ICJ
ruling on the legality of Kosovo’s independence. In fact, even the top
Turkish newspaper writes that the verdict may help Northern Cyprus to
gain independence. Thus, Turkey should re-orient itself and show
certain appreciation of Armenia’s position in regard to the right of
self-determination of the people of Nagorno Karabakh

Now back to the proximity of Yerevan and Van. Two bold steps by the
Turkish government would fundamentally change the future of the entire
region.

1. Return the Church and allow services without restrictions.
2. Open the border with Armenia and don’t church for two-day trips.

If Turkey returns Akdamar to the Armenian church and allows full
religious life there the Armenian church would probably send several
monks to restore and reignite the monastic life on the island of
Akdamar. The region itself is already a touristic destination. If he
border is opened it is easily imaginable to see many Armenians taking
few hours of drive to say a prayer in Akdamar and return back home.
Groups of tourists would com every day. Pilgrims would take weekend
trips and stay from Friday to Sunday. It’s only 3-4 hours of drive.

This move would reinforce positive signals between the Armenians and
the Turks. People’s movement and freedom of worship would change the
economic landscape of the South Eastern Turkey and show hat this is a
European country an there is no difference in overall values between
Turkey and EU countries when it comes to freedom of worship and
movement of people. The distance between Yerevan and Van is only 3-4
hours.

From: A. Papazian

Aysor, Armenia
July 23 2010

Court’s ruling on Kosovo assists to Nagorno Karabakh

In case of correct policy, the decision by the International Court of
Justice in the Hague that Kosovo’s declaration of independence from
Serbia did not violate international law, will positively influence
the process of recognition and declaration of independence of Nagorno
Karabakh, told media leader of Heritage Party, ex foreign minister of
Armenia, Raffi Hovhannisian.

He said that Armenia should recognize Nagorno Karabakh’s independence
first. `Armenia was to recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh
still in 1992; however, this wasn’t done. We’ve made a mistake, we
were late. In 1994, after reaching a trilateral agreement on cessation
of hostilities, Armenia was to show a legal position over Nagorno
Karabakh,’ said politician.

He also pointed that during his ministerial years, there were
countries which were ready seriously consider issue of recognition of
NKR. He said that it was clear that the West is following Kosovo’s
way, Russia should give an answer, OSCE MG Co-Chairs showed that they
prefer right to self-determination than any other principles.

`The International Court of Justice showed it yesterday. But we played
politics. And as a result ` nothing,’ he added.

From: A. Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
July 23 2010

Baku says UN legal ruling on Kosovo sets no precedent
Fri 23 July 2010 | 13:58 GMT Text size:

Elkhan Polukhov The Foreign Ministry has commented on the UN court
ruling that Kosovo’s declaration of secession from Serbia did not
break international law.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague announced the ruling yesterday.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov said that
Kosovo could not be used as a precedent.

“First of all, the resolutions of the UN International Court are
recommendations and have no binding force. Second, the UN
International Court has not yet responded about the legitimacy of the
creation of Kosovo as a state,” Polukhov told 1 news.az.

“We can also stress the fair arguments, voiced by the Russian Foreign
Ministry, which said in its statement yesterday that the UN
International Court did not consider the legitimacy of the unilateral
proclamation of independence by Kosovo, did not refer to possible
implications of such a proclamation and did not say whether Kosovo was
a state or not,” the spokesman continued.

Polukhov noted that unlike the Kosovo issue, which was being dealt
with by the UN, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh was being resolved through the mediation of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Countries with secessionist movements are viewing the ruling with alarm.

1 news.az

From: A. Papazian

The Messenger, Georgia
July 23 2010

Confederation: dream or reality?

By Messenger Staff Friday, July 23

On July 18 Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, visited Georgia and
was hosted by his counterpart in Batumi. Plans for further bilateral
relations were discussed in an ordinary way but the elephant in the
room was President Saakashvili’s statement about forming a possible
confederation with Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev reacted very moderately to
this suggestion. Georgian analysts were very negative about it but
Azerbaijanis positively welcomed it.

President Saakashvili kept repeating that Azerbaijan has a friendly
and good neighbourly attitude towards Georgia, in particular on issues
crucial for Tbilisi. He recalled the instances when gas and
electricity supplies were cut in the middle of winter and Azerbaijan
shared its portion of gas and electricity with the Georgian
population. He said, with emotion in his voice, that this gesture in
January 2005 would not be forgotten by the Georgian people. The
Azerbaijani President was emotional though rather more reserved. `Your
success is our success. Georgia is an attractive country for investors
and I am happy that Azerbaijani investors are among them,” he stated.

Saakashvili had talked already about forming some sort of
confederation between the two countries as they are parts of one body.
In Georgia the concept of a confederation traditionally has negative
connotations. It reminds Georgians of what happened in the spring of
1918, when the three South Caucasus countries, Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan, unsuccessfully created such a confederation. The Bolshevik
Soviet Union soon brought all three under its control.

Western analysts have also suggested a confederation before, claiming
that if the region’s states unite in a confederation there would be no
disputes about their borders and no more conflict regions, as the
territorial integrity of each separate country would no longer be an
issue. Saakashvili’s idea was mockingly greeted by one Georgian
newspaper with the headline: We were Moving Towards Europe and
appeared in Azerbaijan. Among the arguments against this proposal is
that the Azeri population exceeds the Georgian population by three
quarters and Azeri businesses are very active in Georgia, particularly
in the energy sector, whereas Georgian products face problems entering
the Azeri market. However the fact that the idea has been broached by
the President of Georgia will mean it remains on the table for a while
to come.

Most analysts think that any kind of confederation, with the EU or
Azerbaijan or anybody else, will involve restoring the territorial
integrity of the country, either as a precondition or an outcome.
Maybe it would be better to form such a confederation with Russia, or
Russia and Azerbaijan together, because Russia is occupying Georgian
territory. As the Beatles said: Back to the USSR. But such things
should not happen on the spur of the moment but rather through a
democratic process of referendum following considered expert analysis.
There is not likely to be any serious development of this proposal for
the time being, but a number of measures, such as possibly selling the
main gas pipeline to SOCAR, could be justified by stating that they
are part of this possible long term policy goal.

From: A. Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
July 23 2010

Europe ‘more interested’ in Transdniestria than Karabakh
Fri 23 July 2010 | 14:29 GMT Text size:

Alexander Rahr News.Az interviews Alexander Rahr, program director for
Russia-Eurasia at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

The German Council on Foreign Relations has organized a major event on
EU and German contacts with the South Caucasus in July. How do you
explain Berlin’s interest in the region?

Political forces inside Germany, who believe that overall foreign and
defence policy is dormant and should be woken up and consolidated, are
becoming relatively more active. Europe is emerging from the financial
crisis, so more active engagement in foreign policy is called for. The
South Caucasus region is of extreme importance for Germany and Europe
as an energy corridor. Therefore, Europe must invigorate its positions
and its influence in this region. A great many meetings have recently
been held in this regard; Germany has paid great attention to the
South Caucasus. I think the fact that the Azerbaijani, Armenian and
Georgian foreign ministers and the Armenian president recently visited
Berlin also prove that these countries realize that the key to
rapprochement with the EU is now in Germany. Therefore, they are
intensifying their policy on Europe.

There is an opinion that Germany has a different policy on Russia from
the rest of Europe, that Berlin is friendlier to Moscow because of its
gas interests which manifested itself in the mild criticism of the
Georgian-Russian war. What do you think?

I don’t think so. Probably, there was something of the kind in the
time of Shroeder, Kohl or in the Soviet era, but no such special
relations can be seen now. There are economic interests which can also
be seen in Italy, Spain, France and Great Britain. By the way, Poland
also has this interest in Russia.

I think the Georgian conflict is not so decisive in this respect.
Europe has already passed its verdict based on a thorough
investigation of the events. I think there is no doubt that
Saakashvili provoked the attacks on South Ossetia through the use of
force. Now criticism of Russia is on the back-burner. The West has the
position that it is difficult to change the status quo.

Now Russia is ready to modernize and is asking the West for
assistance. Germany has money and the intention to help Russia; there
are many forms of cooperation, which is why Germany is moving in this
direction. But I think it does not forget its other partners either.
Mrs Merkel is performing a circus balancing act. I think no-one,
including Georgia, Azerbaijan or Armenia, can accuse her of supporting
any side. She is a master of balance.

Can we hope that economic interests will encourage Europe to be more
active in stabilizing the situation in the Caucasus, in particular, in
the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

German companies are very interested in investing in energy transit.
It is no secret that the Nabucco project, despite Russia’s
disapproval, is gaining greater support among European countries and
companies, including major German companies. Despite all the
difficulties. Yes, I think Germany wants to raise its influence in the
region through greater economic activity.

But I have to disappoint you about the Karabakh conflict. Germans
think it is first necessary to settle the Transdniestrian problem
which is also a difficult problem but is closer to Europe than
Nagorno-Karabakh.

But the Karabakh conflict is the oldest in Eastern Europe and occurred
in a country on which Europe is pinning its hopes for energy security.
Whatever you say, interest in Moldova is much lower.

No, Moldova is a stumbling block for the whole policy on the
nonproliferation of conventional weapons in Europe. For example,
Germany insists that if the Transdniestrian problem is settled
together with Russia, the way will open to strengthening the
previously existing regime and Russia will return to this treaty which
will ensure greater stabilization in Europe. Thus, the Transdniestrian
conflict is far closer, especially because Moldova wants to become a
candidate for EU accession after Croatia and possibly, Serbia, and
Romania is actively lobbying this. Therefore, in order to enable
Moldova to move towards the EU, there are powers in Europe that are
trying to settle the conflict in Transdniestria first. By the way,
they bind the settlement of the conflict with the West’s readiness to
speak to Medvedev about Euroatlantic security, overall. As for
Nagorno-Karabakh, the situation there is very complicated since there
are two principles in this problem settlement. There is the Kosovo
option and the option of giving priority to the territorial integrity
of states. In fact, Europe insists on old positions, that is
territorial integrity cannot be violated, and believes that
Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan de jure. Meanwhile, 20 years
have passed since the start of the conflict and it still remains
unsolved, while Europe has an ambiguous attitude towards it. In
addition, there are no instruments to start a successful settlement
now. All negotiating efforts are aimed at averting new bloodshed.

Leyla Tagiyeva
News.Az

From: A. Papazian

Aysor, Armenia
July 23 2010

Government addresses issue of raising demand for books

A consultation was held in the government today attended by Armenian
publishing companies’ representatives and conducted by Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan.

The consultation addressed issues related to customs and tax
legislation raised by publishing houses, government press office
reported. Speaking about the issue of raising demand for books the
Prime Minister proposed publishers organizing book exhibition-sales
during government sessions held abroad.

The Prime Minister ordered to introduce proposals and observations in
the written form.

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
July 23 2010

Armenian side shouldn’t agree to open Armenian-Turkish border temporarily

Turkish side makes double statements on the possible opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border over NATO drills, the expert of Turkish
studies Ruben Melkonyan told reporters today.

`Some officials say the Armenian-Turkish border will open temporarily,
while Davutoglu refutes the information, stating the border will not
open,’ he said.

According to Melkonyan, every now and then Turkish propaganda machine
bargains the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border.

`The border has two owners and we shouldn’t obey Turkey’s will,’ he
said, adding that the Armenian side shouldn’t agree to open the border
temporarily. `I think, the disposition of the Armenian side should be
tough,’ Melkonyan said.

From: A. Papazian

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 23 2010

Matthew Bryza: Azerbaijan established itself as a key partner of the
United States

23.07.2010 07:30
Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23 /Trend I.Huseynov/

Azerbaijan established itself as a key partner of the United States,
said Matthew Bryza Ex-co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, who nominated
as the U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, during his speech at the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate reported.

“Azerbaijan established itself as a key partner of the United States.
Azerbaijan has provided critical cooperation on counterterrorism,
working closely with us on a range of important initiatives”, Matthew
Bryza said.

Bryza informed the senators about Azerbaijan

“Azerbaijan is an important partner of the United States. Located at
the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, and
bordering Iran, Azerbaijan is a secular state with a Muslim-majority
population, rich history, and religious and ethnic diversity.
Azerbaijan’s major hydrocarbon resources have driven its economic
growth at one of the fastest rates in the
world in recent years”, Matthew Bryza said.

According to him, the day after the terror attacks of September 11
Azerbaijan immediately offered US unlimited overflights of Azerbaijan
for U.S. military aircraft. Today, Azerbaijan continues to provide
valuable overflight, refuelling, and landing rights for U.S. and
coalition
aircraft bound for Afghanistan. Azerbaijan is also an important
partner in the Northern Distribution Network, allowing the United
States to transit nonlethal goods through its territory en route to
Afghanistan. Azerbaijan has also contributed troops to U.S. and
coalition military operations in Afghanistan, as well as Kosovo and
Iraq.

Matthew Bryza told about Nagorno Karabakh settlement.

“I also look forward, if confirmed, to helping advance a peaceful
Nagorno Karabakh settlement. There can be no military solution to this
long-standing conflict; rather, negotiation and dialogue hold the key
to resolving this issue and bringing peace and stability to the
Caucasus region. I am proud of the vibrant partnership my Russian and
French counterparts and I developed as Co-Chairs of the OSCE’s Minsk
Group and the work we did together to try and bring Azerbaijan and
Armenia closer to a negotiated solution based on the principles
contained in the Helsinki Final Act, specifically those related to
refraining from the threat or use of force, the territorial integrity
of States, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples. If
confirmed, I will
support my successor as U.S. Co-Chair, Ambassador Robert Bradtke, and
his two Minsk Group colleagues in their efforts to pursue an agreed
resolution between the two countries”, Bryza said.

From: A. Papazian

GreenMuz
July 22 2010

Armenian Solar Tower

Thursday, 22 July 2010

Architect Vahan Misakyan has created a stunning multi-use solar tower
for Yerevan, Armenia comprised of structural geodesics and linking
habitable bridges.

The skyscraper towers feature energy efficient sheathes complete with
photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and rainwater catchment. Each
mixed-use tower offers residences, offices and hotels with the bridges
between each tower designed as public greenspaces.

From: A. Papazian

news.az, Azerbaijan
July 23 2010

EU should be more involved in the resolution of the conflict
Fri 23 July 2010 | 06:02 GMT Text size:

Stefan Meister News.Az interviews Dr. Stefan Meister, German Council
on Foreign Relations, Program Officer.

What was the purpose and results of the recent DGAP’s event on the
South Caucasus?

The purpose of the event was to bring the focus of the German policy
on the South Caucasus and to provoke a strategic debate on the region
and EU’s/Germany’s interests in the region. The result was that there
is a high interest in Germany on the region at the moment, but a
controversial discussion, how to deal with the conflicts and the
states in the region and how too involve Russia in EU’s politic
towards the South Caucasus. The German political elite is for a close
cooperation with Russia in conflict solution in the region.

Can we expect a more active role of the EU in our region?

EU is with the monitoring mission in Georgia active in the region, but
this is not enough. EU needs a strategy how to develop closer
cooperation with the states of the region, how to enforce conflict
solution and deepen energy cooperation. At the moment the EU is
dealing first of all with itself, because it reforms its institutions
after the Lisbon treaty. There is a higher interest of EU
member-states in the region but still no member-state is willing to
push EU’s South Caucasus policy.

Why don’t the EU member-states have a common policy towards the South Caucasus?

First of all, because of Russia. Some member-states develop their
policy towards the SC with regard to Russia. Other member states
against Russia or without Russia. As a result, there is no consensus
on how to develop the policy towards the SC, which weakens EU’s
policy. Secondly, there are member-states which have no interest in
the post-Soviet space, they don’t understand, why to be more involved
in the region.

Does the EU looks at Azerbaijan as only a part of the South Caucasus
or this republic takes its own place in the European foreign policy?

It has especially a place in EU’s member states economic and energy
policy. Azerbaijan is the most important economic partner in the
region which is visible in all EU document. EU still doesn’t see
Azerbaijan as an important security or foreign policy partner in the
region.

Do you see the Karabakh conflict as a real obstacle in bilateral
cooperation and what can the EU do to help the settlement of the
problem?

The Karabakh conflict weakens regional cooperation in the SC and is
therefore an obstacle for EU’s multilateral approach towards the
region. It isolates first of all Armenia and makes the EU approach of
equal cooperation with all the states of the region difficult. The EU
should be more involved in the resolution of the conflict. Brussels
should take over the co-chairmanship from France and should put a
stronger pressure on both parties to find a solution in the context of
the Madrid principles. With more EU engagement in the region and more
economic cooperation for Azerbaijan and Armenia, it would be more
important to solve the conflict.

Aliyah Fridman
News.Az

From: A. Papazian