Author: Andres-Papazian

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 11 2012

Hundreds of Azeris protest Iran’s close ties with Armenia

11 May 2012 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM,

Hundreds of Azerbaijanis staged a demonstration near the Iran Embassy
in Baku to protest what they said `unacceptable support’ by Iran to
its archfoe Armenia, calling on Tehran to immediately halt its
threatening statements against Azerbaijan.
Several civil society organizations and youth movements participated
in the rally, who described Azerbaijan’s southern neighbor as being a
threat.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, its much larger southern
neighbor, have been tense in recent months after Tehran has accused
Azerbaijan of assisting Israeli intelligence in killings of Iranian
nuclear scientists.

Baku traditionally has had cordial ties with Tehran, but has grown
increasingly wary of the increasing influence of Iran’s influence in
the secular, but predominantly Muslim, former Soviet state.

The protest in Baku comes after dozens of Iranians staged a
demonstration in front of Azerbaijan’s Consulate in Tabriz, denouncing
Azerbaijan’s hosting of this year’s Eurovision song contest and an
accompanying gay parade. The protest in Tabriz also coincides with the
anniversary of the fall of Shusha to Armenians, largest city in
Nagorno-Karabakh predominantly populated by ethnic Azeris.

Protest in Baku condemned Iran for criticizing Azerbaijan’s host of
the song contest.

Caucasian Muslims Administration (QMİ) official Hacı Tahir called on
Iranian government to stop issuing threatening statements against
Azerbaijan and accused Tehran of backing Armenia, which he said had
barbaric treatment of Azerbaijanis in early 1990s, Azerbaijan’s news
portal gun.az reported on Friday.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a full-fledged war in early 1990s that
resulted in the occupation of some 20 percent of Western Azerbaijani
territories. Both sides lost at least 30,000 in the devastating war.
Subsequent peace efforts have yielded no results and Azerbaijan
frequently vows to take back its lost territories by force if
necessary and says its patience is rapidly wearing thin.

Last month, security forces arrested several Azeris and Iranians on
suspicion of spying for Iran, plotting to attack Western targets and
smuggling arms from Iran into Azerbaijan.

On February 29, Israel signed a $1.6 billion deal to sell drones,
anti-aircraft and missile defense systems to Azerbaijan, bringing
Israeli technology to the border of archenemy Iran. In reaction, Iran
summoned Azeri envoy, seeking clarifications about the sale. The
crisis between Baku and Tehran further deepened after war of words
between the two countries.

From: A. Papazian

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
May 12 2012

Logistics global rating

By Alexander Karayev, deputy director of the Information-Analytical
Center under MSU

Russia ûs in 94th place out of 155 countries in the regular Logistics
Performance Index compiled by the World Bank. According to the
analysis of the speed of cargo transit and registration, the leading
states among the post-Soviet countries are Kazakhstan (62nd) and,
strange as it seems, Uzbekistan (68th). Azerbaijan is the third in
this group (89th). It is interesting that Georgia, despite all the
reforming in the sphere of logistics, shared a rather low score – 2,61
– with Russia and occupied the 93rd line of the rating. Of course,
virtual ratings do not exactly reveal the real state of communications
in any given country, but they describe the general situation giving
data for comparison.

Azerbaijan became the unquestionable leader in cargo transactions on
the South Caucasus. However, according to the WB rating, Azerbaijan
has serious problems with the quality of customs services (2.14 of 4
points), which is almost equal to Russia’s. The infrastructure and the
level of competence of political services (2.48) isn’t much better.
The indicators of the key aspect of the rating procedure – the time in
which the cargo gets delivered (3.15)- as well as the quality of
loading job (3.05) are, on the contrary, rather high. Azerbaijan
occupies a higher position in this rating that Russia, Georgia,
Armenia, Ukraine and a number of other post-Soviet states. And
Azerbaijan carries out its plan of logistic system modernization it
has a chance to turn this virtual achievement into an actual
transit-service leadership in the region and could compete for
becoming a part of the transit route from Kazakhstan and China.

In this case the initiative of Ukrainian PM Nikolay Azarov suggesting
the expansion of a multi-modal transit route ‘Viking’ to the states of
Central Asia via Azerbaijan and Turkey. This new route could speed up
the delivery of the Chinese goods to Europe and of the European goods
to Central Asia. The ‘Viking’ project appeared as a joint initiative
of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. For now it operates in small
volumes, but this indicator is constantly increasing. In 2011 Georgia
and Moldova joined the project.

Due to the constant political tension connected to Iran the
international transit corridor ‘North-South’ experiences serious
difficulties. The project of bridge construction on the Astara River
on the Iranian-Azerbaijani boarder has been under discussion for 10
years now. This project is due to be discussed once more by an
international expert group in India on May, 30.

Baku anticipates the creation of the new railroad line
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. However this project might cost more that $1
billion as it would be incomplete without a new marine port in
Azerbaijan, and it is obvious that the expenses won’t be compensated
right away.

Armenia, which is in the center of a number of regional conflicts,
stands 111th in the rating. Due to its conflicts with Azerbaijan and
Turkey the only possible transit transport there is the air-transport,
which raises the cost of the cargo. Nevertheless Yerevan tries to
develop the country’s inner communications. Armenia invited Russia’s
State Railroad Company to help with the modernization of its railroad
network. In late April, 2012 Spanish company Corsan-Corviam
Construccion, S.A. won the tender on construction of three sections of
the ‘North-East’ transit highway on Armenian territory (the deal is
$250 million worth). These sections of the highway will cover the 550
km distance between the country’s boarders with Iran and Georgia and
will become the first concrete highway sections in the country.

The modernization of the transport-logistic infrastructure of Eurasia
proceeds at a very slow pace. The existing infrastructure was created
in the USSR epoch and is inadequate to today’s conditions, so the
resources needed for their renovation are immense. However, if the
entrepreneurs of the region will finally be able to organize their
shipments on the European level, it would attract a lot of new
investors to the regions of the Central Asia, Caspian littoral and the
Caucasus. So if the sates of the regions would attribute more
attention to these issues it would give them a chance to improve their
positions in the international logistic ratings, which would also
increase the number of foreign investments. However, the logistic
situation on the CIS-space is still complicated by regional conflicts,
and that is the main obstacle on the way of the modernization.

From: A. Papazian

Turkish journalist shares her impressions of Armenia

tert.am
20:01 – 12.05.12

A group of Turkish reporters, sponsored by the `Hrant Dink’ Foundation
arrived in Armenia to cover the May 6 parliamentary elections. Among
them was reporter from Yeni Safak newspaper Hilal Kaplan who shared
her impressions of the visit in her column of the newspaper.

`There is a country far away, but when you reach it, you feel it is
not so far as it seems. The biggest market there is called Malatia,
the famous restaurant is named Ayntap, the names of districts are
Arabkir and Marash, a famous radio station is called Van. This country
is Armenia,’ Kaplan wrote, saying that at least one of the ancestors
of 70% of the population came to Armenia from Anatolia.

Kaplan recollected her last evening in Armenia, the last supper she
enjoyed with Salbi Ghazaryan, the roots of who are in Kayseri and
Sivas. `Recollections are strange things; they do not belong to you
only but pass from generations to generations. Unfortunately, my
grandmother’s recollections were not so good, but I am convinced she
would have enjoyed sitting here with you. I wish she was here,’ Salbi
Ghazaryan said at the supper.

`While Mrs Sarbi’s eyes were filling with tears, I was thinking of the
importance of 1915 for the two nations. For Armenians the main factor
was the trauma they got, and we have lived in the country built on
that trauma and our ancestors knew it. The majority of them preferred
to be silent, a small part of them whispered about it in our ear. Many
of my friends who have arrived here with me knew about the Armenian
houses in their villages, some of them guessed their grandmothers knew
Armenian,’ Kaplan wrote.

During the same dinner, the Turkish reporters listened to Stepan
Galoshyan who arrived in Armenia from Turkey in 1980.

He was born in Malatya in 1932. He lost his father in the early age.
Galoshyan served in Turkish army, afterwards moved to Istanbul with
his mother and family. His father’s grave is in Malatya, mother’s in
Istanbul but he feels good in Armenia.

`Throughout my whole visit I felt that here everyone realizes that
`good things’ happen in Turkey too. One person was present at the
opening of St. Cross church on Akhtamar Island in Van, the other heard
about the reconstruction of St. Kirakos Church in Diyarbakir, the
third one was inspired with hope after the April 24 rally in Taksim
square in Turkey, the other person is glad with the return of
properties to ethnic minorities…,’ she wrote.

`We are returning from Armenia with positive memories. I think with
the growth of such memories, our unbearable pain will ease…’ Kaplan
concluded.

From: A. Papazian

FOOTBALL
Henrikh Mekhitarian, champion d’Ukraine avec « Chakhtior » Donestk est
en Arménie

L’international arménien, le milieu de terrain Henrikh Mekhitarian qui
vient de remporter un nouveau titre de champion d’Ukraine avec «
Chakhtior » Donetsk est à Erévan. A son arrivé à l’aéroport «
Zvartnots-Armenia » d’Erévan Henrikh Mekhitarian a été entouré par des
dizaines de supporters arméniens qui l’ont félicité pour ce titre de
champion d’Ukraine. Ces supporters ont également réservé un accueil
chaleureux à Karlen Mkrdtchian qualifié pour l’Europa League avec son
club de « Metalurg » Donetsk. Après quelques jours de repos à Erévan,
les deux joueurs se prépareront pour les deux prochaines rencontres de
l’équipe d’Arménie qui affrontera en match amical les équipes de Grèce
et du Kazakhstan.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 12 mai 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

President Sargsyan meets OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

armradio.am
12.05.2012 15:24

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Co-Chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group, Robert Bradtke (USA), Igor Popov (Russia) and Jacques
Faure (France) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to the current stage of
negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the future
steps, President’s Press Office reported.

From: A. Papazian

Little ambassadors of Armenia and Russia discussed 67th anniversary of
World War II

news.am
May 12, 2012 | 14:25

In the framework of the festival ‘Little ambassador of big country’ an
open lesson entitled ‘I remember and I am proud’ dedicated to the 67th
anniversary of the victory in World War II took place at the
Rossotrudnichestvo office in Armenia on Thursday.

As the press service of the Mission of the Federal Agency for CIS
Affairs in Armenia informs Armenian News-NEWS.am, the lesson was
conducted in a mode of teleconference between students of Yerevan High
School No. 29 named after Andranik Margaryan and school No. 221 in Moscow
and was dedicated to the generals who played a key role in the victory
of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

From: A. Papazian

Armenian celebrity moves permanently to Nagorno-Karabakh

news.am
May 12, 2012 | 14:00

YEREVAN. – Armenian celebrity, actor and showman Hrant Tokhatyan moves
to a permanent residence in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh], he told
Armenian News-NEWS.am adding it is connected to his work.

The actor will continue his projects in Yerevan as well. He will
travel from Artsakh to Yerevan twice a week.

`Artsakh is a paradise,’ Tokhatyan said adding he has always loved Karabakh.

From: A. Papazian

Australian lawmaker says Armenians forced out of Western Armenia

May 12, 2012 | 19:45

Member of Australia’s NSW parliament John Ajaka formally acknowledged
the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide in a speech on the
floor of the NSW parliament this week.

He also declared that Armenians had been forced out of Western
Armenia, the Armenian National Committee of Australia reports.

‘t is recognised that the tragedy began when 250 Armenian leaders and
intellectuals were arrested, deported and killed by the then Ottoman
Government,’ Ajaka said addressing his colleagues.

‘By the tragedy’s end an estimated 1.5 million Armenians had been
killed. The Armenian population was also permanently displaced from
the lands of Western Armenia.’

`This genocide is a true example of the detrimental effects of
discrimination,’ concluded Ajaka

Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) Executive
Director Varant Meguerditchian applauded the legislator for
highlighting the forced removal of the Armenian people from their
historic homeland in Western Armenia during the genocide.

From: A. Papazian

Armenian Genocide issue was once again raised in Australian Parliament

14:18, 12 May, 2012

YEREVAN, 12 MARCH, ARMENPRESS: The Honourable John Ajaka formally
acknowledged the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide in a
speech on the floor of the NSW parliament this week and declared that
Armenians had been forced out of Western Armenia, Armenpress reports
citing ANC Ausrtalia officila website.

Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Roads, Ajaka rose in the
Legislative Council to place on public record his condemnation of the
wholesale massacre and permanent displacement of Armenians from their
historical homeland.

“It is recognised that the tragedy began when 250 Armenian leaders and
intellectuals were arrested, deported and killed by the then Ottoman
Government,’ said Ajaka.

“By the tragedy’s end an estimated 1.5 million Armenians had been
killed. The Armenian population was also permanently displaced from
the lands of Western Armenia.’

`This genocide is a true example of the detrimental effects of
discrimination,’ concluded Ajaka.

Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) Executive
Director Varant Meguerditchian applauded the legislator for
highlighting the forced removal of the Armenian people from their
historic homeland in Western Armenia during the genocide.

“While Turkey continues to deny the events of the past and continues
to destroy culturally and historically valuable monuments in Western
Armenia, a resolution to the Armenian Genocide remains unlikely,’ he
said.

“We thank Mr Ajaka for applying pressure on Turkey so that it may
bring about an end to its harmful policies and to instead build a
relationship with the Armenian people, based on true understanding and
respect.’

From: A. Papazian

The work `Hayrenatirutyun’ presented, which includes 118 articles and
legal acts on the Armenian Genocide

13:57 . 12/05

`The Armenian problem must be definitely solved from territorial,
material and moral points of view,’ the head of `Modus Vivendi’
centre, historian Ara Papyan is sure.

This vision is in the basis of the historian’s new work titled
`Hayrenatirutyun’ (Possession of homeland), which is not a story on
the Armenian Genocide and about other important historical facts of
the Armenian people, but in the book the ways are outlined by which
the settlement of the problem should be achieved. The work includes
118 articles, written in a scientific and at the same time
journalistic style, as well as quotations from international decisions
and treaties. Papyan characterises the Armenian-Turkish protocols as a
notorious document and stresses one more important problem: Armenia
must be unblockaded. The speaker is sure it will bring great economic
development to our country and if, for example, till today Armenians
mainly have gone to the Black Sea to have a rest, in that case they
will have the chance to go to Vana Lake.

`Our rights are connected with the fact if we were `broken’ or not.
Now, we have been involved in the debate and are trying to prove that,
yes we have been `broken’. But it does not matter: let’s assume for a
moment there was no genocide: Don’t Armenians have a right to their
homeland? The right of no nation is anchored on tragedies but on
mutual agreements, which are the treaties and the arbitral awards,’
Ara Papyan said.

From: A. Papazian