MINE FOUND IN ARMENIAN SCHOOLYARD
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.11.2009 13:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A mine was found on Wednesday morning in the
schoolyard of Aygeovit village of Tavush region, Armenia. Combat
engineers removed the mine and defused it, reported the PR office of
the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations.
‘TEMPORARY SILENCE PREPARES FOR INTENSIVE DEVELOPMENTS’: ISKANDARYAN ON ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT
Tert
Nov 11 2009
Armenia
Over the past few weeks a sort of silence can be felt in the issue
of improving Armenia-Turkey relations. But the Armenian public is
already used to the fact that political events actively develop. This
particularly refers to developments in foreign policy. However,
in Director of Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan’s opinion,
to expect that events will develop every day is not right.
"That temporary silence prepares for intensive developments," believes
the analyst. Iskandaryan stated that in the near future he will leave
for Turkey to become familiar with the developments’ overall picture.
The politician also offered an opinion, shared by his colleagues, on
the Armenia-Turkey Protocols: "If Turkey’s governing elite so wishes,
it can push forward any issue in the parliament," said Iskandaryan,
quoted his Turkish colleagues’ words and adding, for that, the
corresponding carrot and stick are necessary.
According to him, there is already the stick, but the carrot has yet
to be found.
The analyst also presented several Protocols ratification scenarios
taken by Turkey’s Meclis. Thus, according to Iskandaryan, the Protocols
might be ratified in January or February of next year.
The second scenario, which the politician considered unrealistic,
is that the ratification will take place on April 24.
The third scenario, and the most unlikely, foresees ratification
of the Protocols with a closed format. And the last scenario is the
"postponement of the decision."
According to Iskandaryan, the Kurdish issue is perceived in Turkey
more acutely than the issue of Armenia-Turkey rapprochement. At the
same time, he didn’t rule out that "beneath all the noise of the
Armenian-Turkish issue, the Turkish side may, without a problem,
also push forward that issue."
CHINA’S DECISION ON IRAN DEPENDS ON KREMLIN?
PanARMENIAN.Net
12.11.2009 10:48 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran’s failure to respond to an international
offer to enrich much of its uranium stockpile outside the country –
for use in a Tehran medical research facility – is again raising the
prospect of tougher sanctions, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
The article titled "Is Russia playing both sides on Iran nukes?" reads:
"Much of the focus of the sanctions debate is falling on Russia, which
has blown hot and cold on additional punitive measures on Iran over
its nuclear program – but which is sounding open to the idea once
again. The attention is reviving lingering questions about Russian
assistance – either official or unauthorized – to Iran’s nuclear
program and weapons research.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy
issued a statement Monday warning Iran that "the international
community’s patience is not infinite." The two leaders, in Berlin
for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, said they
"do not rule out" another round of sanctions aimed at the Iranian
leadership and its advancing nuclear program.
Those words followed comments by President Medvedev over the
weekend to German journalists, when he suggested that Russia could
support additional sanctions if Iran fails to take the opportunity to
cooperate with world powers in its nuclear program. Noting the offers
now before the Iranian leadership, Medvedev told Germany’s Der Spiegel
magazine, "I wouldn’t like to see all that ending in the introduction
of international sanctions … but if there is no movement forward,
no one is excluding such a scenario."
The US, Russia, and France last month negotiated a deal with Iranian
officials to remove almost three-quarters of Iran’s slightly-enriched
uranium stockpile to Russia and France for further enrichment to a
level needed for a research reactor.
Removal of the uranium would ease international concerns about Iran’s
nuclear intentions and allow for what the Obama administration hopes
would be fruitful negotiations with Iran on a range of issues.
But Iranian state media reports and statements from some Iranian
lawmakers suggest the government will reject the deal – perhaps
offering to buy the uranium it needs for its reactor and moving
its uranium stockpile to a domestic location for international
surveillance instead.
Eyes have turned to Russia because, as a veto-wielding member of the
UN Security Council, it could squelch any move to impose additional
sanctions through the council. China also holds veto power in
the Security Council and has discouraged talk of a new sanctions
resolution, but some diplomats believe that it would go along if
Russia decided to support new punitive measures.
Russia also has close economic ties to Iran and a history of
cooperation with Iran on both its nuclear program and defensive
military development.
"There’s quite a bit of military cooperation between the two countries,
and suspected nuclear cooperation before ’04," says David Albright,
president of the Institute for Science and International Security
in Washington.
Officially, Russia has sold defensive missile systems to Tehran –
though it is currently holding up delivery of a more sophisticated
surface-to-air system, drawing protests from Iranian officials. "The
Russians seem to modulate that cooperation depending on how things
are going," Mr. Albright says, noting there could be a connection
between Iran’s lack of response to the uranium deal and the Russian
brakes on delivery of the new missile system.
But suspicions have also grown over the last year that Russian
scientists, perhaps acting in an unofficial or "rogue" capacity,
have been assisting their Iranian colleagues in pursuit of a nuclear
weapon and weapons delivery systems. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is believed to have flown secretly to Moscow in September
to present Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with
a list of names of Russian scientists that Israel says took nuclear
know-how to Iran.
Those reports have prompted some members of Congress to pressure
President Obama to report to Congress on suspected Russia-Iran
nuclear cooperation before the US pursues any new or additional
nuclear accords with Russia."
FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA, HUNGARY MEET IN BUDAPEST
armradio.am
10.11.2009 16:10
Within the framework of the visit to Hungary, the Foreign Minister
of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, met with his Hungarian counterpart
Peter Balash. This was the fifth meeting of the two Foreign Ministers
this year.
Ministers Nalbandian and Balash noted that the state visit of the
Armenian President to Hungary demonstrates the importance the two
countries attach to the deepening and reinforcement of bilateral
friendly relations.
Edward Nalbandian and Peter Balash voiced confidence that the
implementation of the agreements reached during the visit would
seriously promote the further development of cooperation.
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Hungary exchanged views on issues
of bilateral cooperation in different spheres. They discussed the
ongoing processes in the European Union and the latest developments
in the South Caucasus.
CATHOLICOS GAREGIN II HOSTS NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR SCHMIDT
Aysor
Nov 10 2009
Armenia
Today Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II hosted a newly appointed
Ambassador of Germany to Armenia, Hans Jochen Schmidt.
Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II congratulated Hans Jochen
Schmidt on appointment and wished him success. The parties discussed
a range of items focused on activities and developing in Armenian
community in Germany as well as working of Diocese of the Armenian
Apostolic Church.
ARMAVIA SEES OFF THE 600-THOUSANDTH PASSENGER FOR 2009
ArmInfo
2009-11-09 11:52:00
ArmInfo. Armavia Armenian Airlines seen off the 600-thousandth
passenger for 2009. This was the passenger of Yerevan-Krasnodar flight
Raya Mkhitaryan who received a TV with a flat screen as a gift.
‘This is not an unexpectedness for Armavia employees – our personnel
has already accustomed that our anniversary passengers get valuable
gifts. I think the 700-thousandth passenger of our company will also
use our services till late 2009.
According to Armavia Director General Norayr Belluyan, the
500-thousandth passenger of the company received a notebook as a gift
for the current year.
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT LAYS A WREATH TO CROSS-STONE TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS
ArmInfo
2009-11-09 15:21:00
ArmInfo. Over his state visit to Hungary President of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan has laid a wreath to the cross-stone to Armenian genocide
victims in Budapest.
As ArmInfo correspondent reported from Budapest, the president of
Armenia also visited Heroes’ Square and laid a wreath to the memorial.
Serzh Sargsyan also met representatives of the Armenian Diaspora
of Hungary.
Today the president is also going to meet up with the speaker of the
Hungarian parliament Bella Katon.
FEATURE-FORGOTTEN LAND COULD DECIDE TURKEY-ARMENIA PEACE
Reuters
Crisis/idUSL3542048
Nov 6 2009
UK
AGDAM, Azerbaijan, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Brief snatches of colour —
a washing line, a passing car — break up the mass of rubble that
was Agdam.
A handful of Armenians live off scrap metal and pipes plundered from
the ruins of this Azeri town, razed in 1993 as Christian Armenian
forces in the mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh fought to split
from Muslim Azerbaijan.
Largely forgotten by the outside world since, the remote territory
is now the centre of diplomatic attention because it could torpedo
a fragile peace deal between historic enemies Armenia and Turkey.
Diplomats and analysts say it is on the ghostly remains of Agdam
and other Azeri towns held by Armenian forces that stability in the
wider South Caucasus region — a key transit route for non-Arab oil
and gas to the West — depends.
International mediators and Turkey want the Armenians to return many
of their conquests to Azerbaijan. Turkey has said that its peace
agreement with Armenia cannot advance unless this happens.
The conquered territories run across seven Azeri districts in a
long strip of land connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, and the
Armenians are in no mood to give them up.
"It was free land," said Gena, an Armenian who grazes cows on a former
Azeri town now returning to nature. "This land was hard to conquer. To
give it back is easier, but unfair."
The war killed 30,000 people and displaced 1 million. A ceasefire was
agreed in 1994 and Nagorno-Karabakh declared itself independent. But
no country recognised it and the spectre of fresh conflict is never
far away.
"Nagorno-Karabakh was the first (Armenian) military victory in 2,000
years. It’s awfully hard psychologically to climb down from that,"
said Richard Giragosian, the American head of the Armenian Centre
for National and International Studies.
Diplomats say that under peace principles being negotiated by Armenia
and Azerbaijan, at least five of the districts would return, in
exchange for greater international legitimacy for Nagorno-Karabakh
and a future popular vote to decide its status.
A trio of U.S., French and Russian mediators say they are closer to
a deal than ever before.
But years of official secrecy surrounding the talks, and zero
Western engagement on the ground, has seen sentiments harden in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Its leaders are barred from direct participation
in the negotiations due to Azeri opposition.
"They (Azeris) should understand that this is all Armenian land,"
said Luda Airapetyan, a 59-year-old Armenian and former school
teacher in the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Shusha, 15 km (9 miles)
from the breakaway capital Stepanakert.
"We took those lands with blood and we must keep them."
Shusha is a shadow of the 19th century town once among the greatest
in the Caucasus. During the 1990s war, Azeris used its 700-metre
(2,290 ft) height advantage over Stepanakert to pound the Armenian
stronghold, before Shusha also fell.
SNIPERS, MINEFIELDS
For Shusha and the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh, the seven surrounding
districts represent a security guarantee against an Azeri attack,
and a vital land corridor to Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh survives almost totally on budget support from Armenia
and donations from the huge Armenian diaspora, but rejects trading its
"independence" for the prospect of sharing in Azerbaijan’s burgeoning
oil revenues.
Fifteen years of fragile peace has seen the seven Azeri regions
effectively absorbed into Nagorno-Karabakh proper, indistinguishable
on maps sold by the de facto foreign ministry.
"They can decide for us, of course," de facto Foreign Minister Georgy
Petrosyan said of the negotiations. "But all the proposed variants
are far removed from real life."
Turkey wants Armenia to give ground to Azerbaijan before Ankara
ratifies a deal to establish diplomatic ties and reopens its border
with Armenia, which was closed in solidarity with Ankara’s ally
Azerbaijan in 1993.
But with the Armenian opposition condemning the thaw with its
Turkish foe, analysts say concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh are even
more unpalatable for Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan, formerly the
wartime commander of the breakaway territory.
Instead, soldiers continue to die on the frontline, picked off by
snipers and hidden ordnance in a warren of trenches and minefields.
Observers estimate around 30 died in 2008, including up to 16 in one
clash in March, the worst in years.
"The status quo is better than what’s being offered," said Masis
Mayilian, director of the Foreign and Security Policy Council
think-tank in Stepanakert.
But to tread water is dangerous in the Caucasus, where a 16-year
stalemate in rebel South Ossetia broke down in war last year between
Russia and Georgia. Azerbaijan is increasing its army on the back of
oil revenues, and frequently threatens force.
"The war is not over yet," Azeri President Ilham Aliyev was quoted
as saying last month. "… we must be prepared at any minute to free
our lands from the occupiers."
The Armenian Centre’s Giragosian said war could come in 10 to 12
years if the situation does not improve and Baku assumes military
superiority.
"What worries me is not an official decision to go to war, but limited
skirmishes that spiral out of control," he said. (Editing by Michael
Stott and Richard Williams)
NATO FAVORS ARMENIAN-TURKISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS – ENVOY
Interfax
Nov 6 2009
Russia
NATO favors the establishment of Armenian-Turkish diplomatic relations
without preconditions, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative
for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons said.
Speaking with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan, Simmons
also said he hoped the Armenian and Turkish parliaments would ratify
protocols on the development of relations and the establishment of
diplomatic ties, which were signed recently, the Armenian presidential
press service told Interfax.
ARMENIA WOULD WELCOME REOPENING OF UPPER LARS CHECKPOINT
armradio.am
05.11.2009 11:12
The Georgian and Russian parties have been repeatedly making statements
about the negotiations on the possible reopening of the Upper Lars
– Kazbegi checkpoint. Asked to clarify whether the Armenian side
participates in the talks, Head of the Media Relations Department of
the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tigran Balayan said:
"Armenia’s position on the issue is clear, and we have repeatedly
declared about it. Of course, we would welcome the agreement between
the Russian and Georgian parties to reopen the Upper Lars – Kazbegi
checkpoint."