Author: Badalian Vardan

Interfax, Russia
March 3 2012

Azeri president vows to provide all conditions for ethnic Armenians to
live in Nagorno-Karabakh

BAKU. March 3

Azerbaijan will provide all the necessary conditions for Armenians to
live in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said.

“Azerbaijan, as a multiethnic state, will surely provide conditions
for and will help Armenians living there, and they will enjoy all
rights as citizens of the Azerbaijani state in the future,” Aliyev
said in an interview with Turkish television channel TRT, whose
transcript was published in the official Azeri press on Saturday.

The ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh “will continue living
there as before,” Aliyev said. “We have no objections to this,” he
said.

If Armenia considers the modern-day realities and Azerbaijan’s growing
political clout and economic might, takes the right steps, and leaves
the occupied territories, it will also help the ethnic Armenians
living in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev said. “But if it does not realize
this and continues its predatory policy, then the consequences for
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh could be very bitter,” he said.

The Azeri armed forces can easily restore Azerbaijan’s sovereignty in
Nagorno-Karabakh, but Azerbaijan does not want blood to be shed and
war resumed again, Aliyev said.

va

ENVOY SAYS TURKEY TO DEVELOP “NEW ATTITUDE” TO FRANCE AFTER TALKS

Anadolu Agency
March 1 2012
Turkey

PARIS (A.A) – Turkish Ambassador in Paris Tahsin Burcuoglu has said
that the decision of the Constitutional Council of France had left no
any open door to preparation of a new bill criminalizing the rejection
of the Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915.

Ambassador Burcuoglu held a press conference upon decision of the
Constitutional Council and said, “all the experts in constitutional
law we have interviewed say, ‘there is no way of reopening a gate to
this issue until lawmakers come from space and find a new formula.’
Also the historians and jurists are against this law.”

Burcuoglu said that judgment of Constitutional Council was important
in terms of avoiding such attempts from spreading to other countries.

“After the law was adopted by the parliament, diplomatic relations
have been dropped to minimum level. We will follow the election
process and its results and we will determine a new attitude upon
our meetings with French officials.”

EU URGES CHARTER COMPROMISE

Journal of Turkish Weekly
March 2 2012

The Turkish government and opposition should pursue constructive
relations that avoid disputes as a precondition for a reform process,
the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) has said
in a new report on the country.

The committee also called for a civil constitution in Turkey in its
draft report approved yesterday.

A draft report by the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Ria
Oomen-Ruijten, was approved with 54 votes to seven at AFET yesterday.

The report underlined the concern over an official notice sent to
the Justice Ministry by a prosecutor to initiate the process of
filing a case against Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal
Kılıcdaroglu. The draft report also warned Turkey on long detention
and trial periods. Meanwhile, the controversial case on the murder
of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was also mentioned in the
draft, with the EP calling on Turkey to investigate the matter in
its entirety while also bringing whoever is responsible to justice.

The draft report said all political parties and relevant parties should
assist the drafting of the new constitution and assume a constructive
attitude on the matter.

Meanwhile, some attempts by far-right and far-left deputies in the
European Parliament to add articles about Armenian genocide allegations
to the draft have failed.

The draft report also said that Turkey, as a regional actor, played a
key role in the Middle East, West Balkans, South Caucasus, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Central Asia and Horn of Africa.

“Turkey and the EU are interdependent. The EU profits from the booming
Turkish economy. But Turkey and the EU can both profit by enhancing
their cooperation in fields like foreign policy, energy security and
the fight against terrorism. Turkey has proved that it is able to
play a positive role in a turbulent region,” said Oomen-Ruijten.

COMMISSIONER: EU READY TO ASSIST IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT’S SETTLEMENT

Trend
March 1 2012
Azerbaijan

March 01–The EU is ready to assist in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European
Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule believes.

“The Eastern Partnership and strengthening of relationship between EU
and Azerbaijan opens new ways of the European Union supporting the
process to reach a comprehensive settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. EU is ready to assist in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement,” Fule said at a video-conference in Baku on Wednesday.

“The EU is ready to strengthen its support. We are ready to contribute
to concrete initiatives to support the Minsk Group. We have set a
number of confidence building projects,” he added.

“We are ready to strengthen it, but of course not against the Madrid
principles, not against the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, but
in a fully compatible way to create conditions for reaching a final
solution,” he said.

“Once a comprehensive settlement is reached, once a solution is
found, then we do not want just to be observers. The EU has a number
of its own experiences putting away the walls, the experience of
reconciliation and conflict resolution. All of this would be at the
disposal of Azerbaijan and Armenia once the resolution is found,” —
Fule added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven 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 peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS DISCUSS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT IN YEREVAN

Trend
March 2 2012
Azerbaijan

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has received today the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Robert Bradtke, Igor Popov, Jacques Faure
and personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Armenian
News – NEWS.am, discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s
settlement continued at the meeting. The sides touched upon the ways
of implementing the joint declaration of the Presidents of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Russia, made in Sochi on January 23.

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 four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

CANADA CAN’T WEATHER THE STORM

The Globe and Mail
March 1, 2012 Thursday

Amid ‘monsoon’ conditions, national team starts well against Armenia
before getting blown away

Canada started brightly but eventually paid the price for some slack
play as Marcos Pizzelli scored twice to give Armenia a 3-1 win in a
soccer exhibition here Wednesday.

Captain Kevin McKenna gave Canada a fifth-minute lead at Tsirio
Stadium but the Armenians took control as the game wore on and had
far more scoring chances.

Armenia is ranked No. 41 in the world, compared to No. 71 for Canada.

“We still have a lot of work to do but I’m really happy we played
this game because the quality of the opposition, the way they played,
the speed at which they played at was fast,” coach Stephen Hart said.

“Something we badly needed. We looked like a team that has not played
in four months.”

The Canadians came into the match riding a seven-game unbeaten string.

Their last loss was 2-0 to the United States in Detroit last June.

“We started out quite well and I think we got a bit optimistic there.

They were a lot better team than I personally thought,” admitted
forward Iain Hume, who came on as a second half substitute. “I think
3-1 was a fair score.”

Armenia failed to quality for Euro 2012 but still managed a 5-3-2
record in finishing third in its group behind Russia and Ireland. And
the Armenians led the group in scoring with 22 goals.

Armenia showed flashes of its attacking skill against Canada, probing
the defence with runs and passes. But its finishing was sub-par on
the day.

Despite the score, Hart was pleased with the play of both his
goalkeepers.

“Now you have decent competition in the goalkeeping department. We
still have a lot of work to,” said Hart, who did not summon regular
‘keeper Lars Hirschfeld.

Armenia brought 31 players to its Cyprus camp, using a different
lineup in a 2-0 loss to No. 25 Serbia on Tuesday. Hart’s 18-man squad
featured 16 European-based players.

It was Canada’s first game since a November win over St. Kitts and
Nevis in World Cup qualifying play.

Canada plays an exhibition against the United States in Toronto in
June before opening the next round of World Cup qualifying.

The weather in Toronto in June should certainly be much better than
what the Canadian team faced over its three days in Cyprus.

“We’ve been here since Sunday in ridiculous conditions,” Hume said.

“It’s been monsoon weather. It’s been tough to train in and tough
to really get anything out of the training but we started really
well tonight.”

WITH WILDLIFE CORRIDOR, TURKEY TACKLES AN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

Christian Science Monitor

March 2 2012

In Turkey, where conservation tends to get short shrift,
environmentalists are excited about a plan to create a 58,000-acre
wildlife corridor in hopes of bolstering dwindling populations of
wolves, bears, and lynxes.

By Alexander Christie-Miller, Correspondent / March 2, 2012 Kars,
Turkey

“This is an Armenian plot,” mutters a farmer as ecologists explain
what may be Turkey’s most ambitious wildlife conservation project ever,
right in his backyard.

But in fact, the government is behind it. This summer, officials expect
to begin the reforestation of a 58,000-acre corridor of land that
will connect the isolated Sarikamis National Park and its shrinking
population of wolves, bears, and lynxes to a swath of territory in
the Caucasus.

In a country where environmentalists are often greeted with official
hostility and public indifference, the plan has generated rare optimism
among scientists warning of an impending ecological crisis.

SEE ALSO: Five hotbeds of biodiversity

“This is the biggest landscape-scale active conservation project ever
undertaken in the country,” says Cagan Sekercioglu, a professor of
biology at the University of Utah who proposed the corridor. “We’re
hoping this will reduce human-predator contact and encourage these
animals to access much larger and more resource-rich forests along
the Black Sea and Caucasus.”

But near the route of the corridor, which will run close to the border
with Turkey’s historic enemy Armenia, ecologists got mixed reactions
from villagers. “Why can’t the government just fence the wolves inside
the park?” asked one sheep farmer.

Onder Cirik, projects coordinator for KuzeyDoga, the wildlife charity
founded by Mr. Sekercioglu that has spearheaded the corridor project,
says that ecological awareness is poor. “People in Turkey have no
idea of the importance of biological diversity and of how fast it is
being lost.”

When it comes to wildlife, Turkey has a lot to lose. Sitting astride
one of the world’s most biologically diverse nontropical regions,
it hosts more known endemic species than all of Europe combined,
with some 3,000 plants unique to the country.

New plants and animals are found at a rate faster than one a week. The
Taurus ground squirrel was first discovered only in 2007. But as
the economy booms – growing an estimated 8.3 percent last year –
housing and roads are taking precedence over conservation.

Ecologists accuse the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of
striking down environmental safeguards whenever they conflict with
its development plans.

Last August, the AKP abolished a network of independent protection
committees, casting into doubt the future of 1,261 smaller nature
reserves.

National and international environment groups have condemned a draft
conservation law that they say aims to pave the way for development in
other protected lands. And ecologists are concerned about a government
irrigation and hydropower plan to create 4,000 dams, diversions,
and hydroelectric power plants by 2023.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Forestry and Water Works said the
government is more alert than ever to environmental issues.

“Biological diversity is always endangered where there are human
activities and climate change,” he said. “But, compared with the past,
sensitivity to this problem has increased.”

Many Turkish scientists disagree. “Turkey’s environmental law and
conservation efforts are eroding…,” some warned in the December
issue of Science. “This has precipitated a conservation crisis that
has accelerated over the past decade.”

About half of 61 endemic fish species are critically endangered,
and 83 of 319 native breeding birds are threatened. In February,
Turkey was ranked 121 out of 132 countries for biodiversity and
habitat preservation in an annual environmental performance index by
Yale University.

Delicate negotiation process But ecologists must tread carefully. “To
pursue projects at protected sites, all NGOs need the permission of
the ministry,” says Engin Yilmaz, director general of Doga Dernegi,
one of Turkey’s largest wildlife research charities. “If permission
isn’t given, you have no legal grounds to carry on activities in
nature conservation.”

Doga Dernegi learned this the hard way. Last year, Ankara revoked
many of its permits to operate in national parks and reserves after it
mounted a public campaign against the draft nature law and dam-building
policy.

Sekercioglu, who has co-written articles criticizing the government,
fears KuzeyDoga could suffer for his outspokenness. “How do I do more
good for the Turkish environment?” he asks. “Do I keep quiet and do
what I can in northeastern Turkey, or do I look at the big picture
and say it’s unacceptable? I’m trying to do both.”

Some groups have mobilized protests, but with little impact. In one
2010 survey, only 1.3 percent of respondents viewed environment-related
issues as a serious concern. “Turks are discovering the consumption
society, and they are more than happy with all these things,”
says Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir
University. “The government has a major ally in the Turkish public.”

In Kars, near the Sarikamis forest, however, one group is optimistic.

According to Sekercioglu, a blend of research, patience, and
tea-drinking with officials brought successes.

The government has already planned the corridor’s course:
a 50-mile-long snake of land between 500 and 2,000 yards wide,
connecting Sarikamis to much larger forests in neighboring Georgia.

Sekercioglu says about 25 wolves may survive in and around the forest.

At least seven have been shot or hit by cars in the past year alone. A
radio collar fitted to one young male wolf showed that, since December,
the animal had ranged over an area of some 1,189 square miles, more
than 13 times the size of Sarikamis National Park.

Sekercioglu hopes the corridor will inspire similar projects,
eventually creating a network spanning the country. But, he
acknowledges, “it is like turning around a very big ship. It will
happen slowly, but we have to keep pushing.”

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN THANK, THANK, THANK THE FRENCH
by Giorgi Lomsadze

EurasiaNet.org
March 1 2012
NY

Old Caucasus hands often say that Armenia and Azerbaijan have more
in common than they might care to admit. Long united in hatred for
each other, the two foes now have a fresh bond to share — they’ve
both got reason to be thankful to France, albeit for different reasons.

Yerevan first thanked French President Nicolas Sarkozy for backing
French legislation that criminalized any denial of Ottoman Turkey’s
World-War-I-era slaughter of ethnic Armenians as genocide. Then,
after the guardians of the French constitution ditched the law as
unconstitutional, the Armenians thanked the French president for a
promise to bring the law back in a revised form.

The Armenian government did express regret over France discarding
the law, but shied away from making any big, official statements
with the horns blaring. “I don’t think it is correct to interfere
with the process of decision-making of the French Constitutional
Council,” Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told Austria’s
Der Standard newspaper. He and other officials in Yerevan put the
development down to the alleged work of Turkish and Azerbaijani
lobbyists.

Next up, Azerbaijan, which, as Turkey’s cousin and the official
Armenia-foe-in-chief, had a supporting role in the genocide law drama,
thanked all those French who prevented the law from going live.

Extending gratitude to all of the bill’s opponents, President Ilham
Aliyev declared that the Constitutional Council’s decision was a
defeat for “the Armenians of the world and a fiasco for the cunning
work of the worldwide Armenian lobby.”

At the same time, Azerbaijan reinvigorated its push for international
awareness of its own charges of genocide — the 1992 slaughter of
ethnic Azeris in Khojaly, in breakaway Nagorno Karabakh, by Armenian
and Russian forces. Worldwide events commemorating the bloodshed
were held just before the French constitutional court struck down
the Armenia genocide bill.

The upshot? While many outside observers may have heaved a sigh of
relief with the French Constitutional Court’s decision, the region’s
genocide recognition wars aren’t over yet. Maybe some day it’ll be
the international community’s turn to thank Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Turkey for confronting their pasts frankly and moving on, but don’t
hold your breath.

LAW ON STATE OF EMERGENCY TO GET COUNTERMEASURES – PARLIAMENT OPPOSITION

news.am
March 02, 2012 | 13:53

YEREVAN. – Parliament opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) takes on
preventive measures against the law on state of emergency, head of
ARFD group Vahan Hovhannisyan said on Friday.

He stressed the party is considering a possibility to launch signature
campaign to appeal to the Constitution Court.

To note, the opposition opposes the bill on Legal Regime on State of
Emergency, as it assumes possible interference of army into political
processes, more concrete in the state of emergency. Moreover,
parliament opposition ARFD, Heritage and off-parliament opposition
Armenian National Congress claim the bill gives the army an opportunity
to participate in dispersal of the rallies.

METALLURGY HAS A BIG POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA

17:02 . 02/03

Metallurgy is the leading branch of economy in Armenia. Last year,
28 metallurgical industry enterprises gave production of 148bln AMD,
recording an increase of about 10%.

The introduction of new technologies, also the high prices and
the great demand in the international market of non-ferrous metals
promote the enhancement of production volumes in metallurgy sphere. The
declaration of the EU to start comprehensive trade with Armenia also
promotes the development of the sphere.

One of the major metallurgical enterprises in the republic is RUSAL
Armenia Company, which belongs to the Russian RUSAL, which produces
aluminum foil.

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has walked round the plant
today getting acquainted with the works directed to increasing the
productivity of the enterprise. Then between the prime minister
and the heads of the metallurgical companies held a consultation at
the company, during which the expectations of the investors from the
government and the plans of the executive directed to the metallurgical
sphere development were discussed.

“Metallurgy is of great interest, has a big potential of increase,
since the work is mainly carried out on local raw material.

Investments are needed and the most important thing is that metallurgy
has a big potential in terms of export,” Tigran Sargsyan has said.