Author: Andres-Papazian

Trend, Azerbaijan
June 26 2010

The presidents of Russia, the United States and France issued a joint
statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

26.06.2010 21:59
The presidents of Russia, the United States and France during G 8
summit in Canada issued a joint statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, which called on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to
accelerate work on the Main principles of settlement of the conflict
in order to begin drafting a Peace agreement, RIA Novosti reported.

“Currently, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan should make one
more step and finalize the Main principles in order to be able to
begin peace agreement draft”, – said in the statement of Dmitry
Medvedev, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, which they took as heads
of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states.

The three presidents instructed the ministers and the mediators to
“continue actively promote Armenia and Azerbaijan, to overcome the
existing differences in preparation for a joint meeting on the margins
of the informal ministerial forum of OSCE in Almaty.”

The leaders of Russia, the USA and France reaffirmed their commitment
to support the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to finish
reconcilement on the Main principles of the settlement.

The statement noted that the heads of states – co-chairs of the Minsk
Group have been considered as an important step towards the
recognition by both parties of the fact that the settlement must be
based on several principles, among which, returning of the territories
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh
providing guarantees of security and self-government; corridor linking
Armenia with Nagorno- Karabakh.

The final legal determination of future status of Nagorno Karabakh “by
a legally binding will of its people, the right of all refugees and
internal displaced persons to return to their former homes,
international guarantees of security, including peacekeeping
operations” is among these principles.

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 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

From: A. Papazian

Interactive Investor , UK
June 26 2010

US, Russia, France back Nagorno-Karabakh peace moves

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, June 26 (Reuters) – The United States, France and
Russia on Saturday pledged to support Armenia and Azerbaijan as they
seek to agree basic principles for settling a dispute over
Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“Now the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan need to take the next
step and complete the work on the basic principles to enable the
drafting of a peace agreement to begin,” U.S. President Barack Obama,
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
said in a joint statement issued during a Group of Eight meeting in
Canada.
(Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

From: A. Papazian

Azeri Report, Azerbaijan
June 26 2010

Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan’s Military Budget Exceeds Armenian National
Budget

BAKU. June 26, 2010: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev did not rule
out military solution to the Garabagh conflict. During the joint
military exercises of troops of the Defense Ministry and frontier
troops on June 24, the Azerbaijani president said it was necessary to
be ready to restoration of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

`We must be ready to liberate our lands from occupants at any time.
For this purpose we need to have a strong army in addition to
political and diplomatic efforts to ensure that the process is
successful,’ president Aliyev said.

Ilham Aliyev said during the past seven years Azerbaijan’s military
expenditure increased by more than 13 times. In 2010 Azerbaijan’s
military expenditure totaled $ 2 billion 150 million, exceeding
Armenia’s national budget, Aliyev continued.

`From the viewpoint of economic potential there is a big gap between
Armenia and Azerbaijan and the gap will deepen in the future because
we have more opportunities. Armenia lives at the expense of foreign
assistance and this difference will grow,’ Aliyev said.

Aliyev noted the development of Azerbaijan’s defense industry. At
present 21 military enterprises operate in Azerbaijan and 30
industrial sites have been created, said the president.

Aliyev confirmed Azerbaijan’s adherence to peaceful settlement of the
conflict. Aliyev did not rule out the military solution to the
conflict if the diplomatic efforts were exhausted. `The present
efforts once again demonstrated the power of the Azerbaijani army and
all of our armed forces,’ Aliyev said (Turan).

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
June 26 2010

Turkey’s influence on Nagorno-Karabakh peace process neutralized

June 25, 2010 | 21:36

Armenian got Turkey’s influence on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
neutralized, Ruben Safrastyan, Director of the Institute of Oriental
Studies, told journalists on June 25.

According to him, the international community still considers the OSCE
Minsk Group the only format for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

Armenian diplomacy was also able to get some positive amendments made
to the Madrid Principles. All the previous statements and documents on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict appeared to be imitative ones, whereas
the Saint Petersburg proposals, as well as Azerbaijan’s serious
response to them, suggest serious developments, he said.

The expert stressed that Armenia has created the best preconditions
for further negotiations and should pursue an aggressive policy,
without any concessions on either the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
or the Armenian-Turkish relations.

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
June 26 2010

`Azerbaijani Obama’ travels to Turkey to speak about Karabakh issue

U.S. President Barack Obama’s look-alike ` the so called `Azerbaijani
Obama’ (Asif Mustafaev) travels to Turkey to raise questions under
Azerbaijan’s interests and to bring them into agenda, Turkish
Cumhuriyet reported.

According to the source, after Barack Obama became US President,
Mustafaev has become more famous and he has been since called
Azerbaijani Obama. It’s supposed he will travel to Turkey on June 28
to raise Nagrono-Karabakh issue. Azerbaijani Obama declared he wants
public TV broadcast to speak about Karabakh issue.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
June 26 2010

Azerbaijani armed forces break ceasefire

June 26, 2010 | 11:18

On June 24-25, a number of ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani side
were registered on the contact line of NKR-Azerbaijani armed forces.

According to NKR defense army operational report, Azerbaijani side
fired at Karabakhi positions from different types of small arms,
including sniper rifles in the directions of Horadiz, Saryjanlu,
Korgan, Yarmja and Jraberd.

With retaliatory fire the NKR Defense Army neutralized the enemy, the
NKR Defense Ministry press service informed NEWS.am.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
June 26 2010

Karabakh is open for cooperation: NKR President says

June 26, 2010 | 12:08

NEWS.am posts NKR President Bako Sahakyan’s welcoming speech to the
participants of the `Bridge Artsakh-2010′ Second Economic Forum.

`Respected attendees,

I welcome the participants of the `Bridge Artsakh-2010′ Second
Economic Forum and wish all of you successful and efficient work.

Holding this important event in Artsakh, which has already become a
kind tradition, is very much promising. I express my gratitude to the
organizers and initiators of the event. It is a good opportunity to be
introduced on site with economic potential and development prospects
of our republic, discussing issues representing mutual interest in
warm and immediate atmosphere, introducing Artsakh to the outer world.

Every effort directed to developing bilateral ties and contacts with
Armenian and foreign partners, establishing mutually beneficial
cooperation is rated high in Nagorno-Karabakh. We are open for such
cooperation and are ready to discuss any constructive suggestion.
Favorable conditions for successful realization of investment programs
and further developing entrepreneurship have been created in our
country. Such undertakings also add evidence to that.

I hope that practical discussions and efficient dialogue will be
extended within the frameworks of the forum that will be useful for
business circles of Artsakh and other countries.

Friends, I once again express gratitude to all of you for visiting
Artsakh and participating in the activities of the economic forum and
wish you successes and all the best.

Thank you!’

From: A. Papazian

Aysor, Armenia
June 26 2010

Yerevan holds anti-drug campaign

On the occasion of the International Day against Drugs which is being
marked on June 26, the All Armenian Youth Foundation and the Youth
wing of the Republican Party of Armenia have initiated a campaign
aimed against drugs.

Within the campaign `No place for drugs in your life’ an event
(concert) will be held on Saturday at 8-10 pm at Charles Aznavour
Square in Yerevan.

The press office of the young Republicans told media that
informational leaflets aimed at raising awareness of the major problem
that drugs represent to society will be distributed during the
concert.

From: A. Papazian

Aysor, Armenia
June 26 2010

Sevak Mkhitarian half a point behind leader at Open in Eforie

IM Sevak Mkhitarian from Brazil has scored 7 points out of 9 in the
Open Chess Championship, taking place in Romanian town of Eforie. He
is half a point behind tournament’s leader Marius Manolake from
Romania, and shares the 2-9ths places.

Sevak Mkhitarian has chances to become the tournament’s winner if he
performs successful games in the next two marches, the Armenian Chess
Federation said.

From: A. Papazian

news.am, Armenia
June 26 2010

Armenian oppositionists send letter to OSCE Chairman

June 26, 2010 | 11:55

Young activists of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) sent a letter
to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and
Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev.

In their letter, the ANC activists note that since 2003 OSCE has
conducted reforms in the Armenian police system and repeatedly called
them successful, whereas the March 1 events proved the system to be
far from being an agency fit for a democratic state.

The OSCE merely does not follow the implementation of the reforms and
the recent arrest of Davit Kiramijyan is evidence thereof, said
Hovhannes Kiramijyan (Davit’s brother).

Davit Kiramijyan was detained on June 31 near the monument to Martiros
Saryan, during the clash with police that hampered a protest rally
organized by the ANC young activists in Liberty Square.

From: A. Papazian