Author: Badalian Vardan

REPRESENTATIVES OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS DISCUSS WAYS OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Trend
Feb 22 2012
Azerbaijan

The meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian intellectuals has been held
in Moscow today.

The ways of peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were discussed at the meeting, rector of
the Azerbaijan National Conservatory Siyavush Karimi, who participated
in the meeting, told Trend.

He said that the details of the meeting will be announced after the
Azerbaijani delegation returns home.

Besides Karimi, Rector of the Uzeyir Hajibeyli Baku Music Academy,
USSR People’s Artist Farhad Badalbeyli, Rector of the Baku Slavic
University, professor Kamal Abdulla, Director of the Muslim Magomayev
State Philharmonic Hall Murad Adigozalzade represented the Azerbaijani
delegation that took part in the meeting of intellectuals.

The meeting was held at the initiative of Russian President’s Special
Representative for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi.

Moreover, Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu, former
Armenian Ambassador to Russia Armen Smbatyan attended the meeting.

This is the third meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian intellectuals.

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 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 negotiations to resolve the dispute.

Armenia has failed to implement UN Security Council resolutions
stipulating the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.

MILITARY PROSECUTOR: FRENCH LAW ON GENOCIDE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND BARELY LEGAL

Trend
Feb 22 2012
Azerbaijan

The law criminalising the denial of the so-called “Armenian genocide”
adopted by the French Senate is far from legal standards and is
politically motivated, military prosecutor Khanlar Veliyev told
reporters on Wednesday.

He said this law violates the international principle of the court’s
justice, creates the possibility of criminal prosecution of citizens
for their comments and opinions which does not correspond to the
world of jurisprudence.

“Amazingly, that at a time when hundreds of witnesses of the Khojaly
tragedy are alive, there are numerous photos and videos, including
those taken by representatives of foreign media of the crimes committed
by Armenian fascists in Khojaly, Garadagly and other towns and villages
of Azerbaijan remain hidden, but attention to events taken place a 100
years ago and unconfirmed by evidence such attention is being paid,”
the military prosecutor said.

He said that even if we leave aside the legal aspect of this problem,
it should be noted that the fact of the so-called “Armenian genocide”
in Turkey is not only denied by modern scholars, it was absolutely
denied by reputable researchers also immediately after World War I.

Victorious countries in World War I and specifically the UK Attorney
General’s Office, conducted an investigation in many countries into
cases of more than a 100 Turks, whom Armenians accused of committing
genocide. Investigations held by the UK General Prosecutor’s Office
during two years into Caucasus, Iraq, Egypt and other countries,
found no legally justified evidence of killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire and on June 29, 1921 it ruled there were no grounds
for criminal prosecution on these events.

“This decision of the British General Prosecutor’s Office not only
provides a basis to declare that there was no genocide of Armenians,
but also debunks all of their claims. The paradox is that during
the famous clashes of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire more Turks than
Armenians were killed. However it is still not recognised because of
the existence of double standards,” Mr Veliyev noted.

SYRIA: COOL AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARIS AND ANKARA
Marc Semo

Liberation
Feb 22 2012
France

[translated from French]

The two countries have for months been the most engaged in connection
with Syria and are both calling for an international conference of
“friends of Syria” with the Arab League, the United States, and the
principal European countries. The first one will take place in Tunis
Friday [ 24 February,] as desired by Paris. The second is expected to
take place in Istanbul, as designed by Ankara. But though the French
and Turkish authorities are indeed acting in unison to mobilize
the international community, they are now open rivals and… are no
longer speaking to each other. Or only indirectly, and absolutely
not about Syria.

“Rivalry” – “All contacts now take place only via intermediary
researchers,” one diplomat complained. In retaliation against the
law sanctioning the negation of the Armenian genocide, Ankara has
decided to freeze military and political relations. “In connection with
Syria, Turkey knows that it is crucial and wishes clearly to remind
the French authorities that they can do nothing without it,” we were
told by Kadri Gursel, foreign policy editorialist for centre left daily
Milliyet. The two countries’ positions on a major international crisis
are nevertheless closer than they have been for a long time. “There
is as much a rivalry as emulation between the two foreign ministers,
Ahmet Davutoglu and Alain Juppe, who share the same convictions
about the pressing need to halt the Ba’thist regime’s massacres,”
according to Khaled Khodja, the representative in Turkey of the
Syrian National Council (SNC,) the main opposition organization,
which has for the for the past four months had an official bureau,
not far from Istanbul airport, the first of its kind.

The Syrian crisis is a crucial test for Turkish diplomacy, which
is increasingly active on the regional scene. Having long hesitated
last spring in response to the population’s revolt and having urged
Bashir al-Asad [Syrian president] to “heed his people,” the Turkish
Government, worried about the danger of destabilization facing
its southern neighbour, with which it shares an 800 km border,
has called increasing openly for regime change. “We wanted Al-Asad
to be Syria’s Gorbachev, but he has chosen to be its Milosevic, and
that’s the whole problem,” Ahmet Davutoglu told students 10 February,
during a five-day visit to Washington. The rather unusual duration of
his visit highlights Turkey’s importance in bringing aid to Syria’s
civilian population and even establishing “humanitarian corridors,”
a possibility first mentioned last fall by the French foreign minister,
but also by his Turkish counterpart.

Indeed for the present everything is blocked because such a deployment
would require the Syrian authorities’ approval or a resolution from
the UN Security Council, which is currently paralysed by the veto from
Moscow and Beijing. But the international community is increasing the
pressure, as shown by the massive vote at the UN General assembly to
support the resolution submitted by the Arab League, with the West’s
backing. “It grants legitimacy to a humanitarian intervention by the
international community, even if only a Security Council resolution
can grant it a legal framework,” according to one diplomat, who
pointed out that Ankara will in any case not act on its own.

The authorities have already planned “buffer zones” on their soil
which could, in the event of an emergency, receive a huge influx
of refugees. Since the summer they have already hosted some 5,000
refugees near Antioch, but also some 100 deserters, including Col
Riyad al-Asad, who says he is the leader of the Free Syrian Army and
who grants interviews in the presence of Turkish diplomats. “The
Islamic-conservative government that has been in power since 2000
faces a huge challenge: if Turkey is not at the centre of an operation
for Syria, it will deal a heavy blow to the entire credibility of
the policy pursued in the Middle Eas t in recent years and to the
popularity gained by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the
region,” according to international relations expert Soli Ozel.

But apart from their loud statements, the authorities remain cautious
in practice. They fear suffering the repercussions of the Syrian
conflict, with a resumption of the Kurdish rebellion, stoked by
Damascus, or even increased tensions between the large Sunni majority
who support the Syrian revolt and the Alevis, a progressive Shi’i
sect who account for one-third of the population.

Gas – Furthermore, the Syrian regime’s last remaining allies, Iran and
Russia, are Turkey’s neighbours and its principal gas suppliers. The
left wing opposition, which was the first to condemn al-Asad’s blind
repression back in the spring, openly criticizes the “adventurism”
of Turkish diplomacy. Osman Koroturk, deputy and pillar of the Foreign
Affairs Committee, said: “The government wants to export democracy to
our neighbours, despite the fact that it’s in an increasingly sorry
state in Turkey itself.”

[translated from French]

ATTACKS AGAINST JOURNALISTS IN ARMENIA DOWN BUT FINANCIAL PRESSURE UP

OSCE – Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Feb 20 2012

Press release by Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
on 20 February

Yerevan: A report on freedom of the press and speech in Armenia
during 2010 and 2011 supported by the OSCE Office was presented in
Yerevan today.

The report was prepared by Investigative Journalists, a
non-governmental organization. It is the result of two years of
monitoring, which revealed that the main obstacles hindering media
development in Armenia include financial pressures brought to bear
on media outlets via defamation and insult suits in courts.

“This publication is a useful reference on how the judiciary in Armenia
handles cases involving the media,” said Oliver McCoy, Democratization
Programme Officer of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. “Most importantly,
the report provides a sound basis for assessing the challenges to
freedom of the press and speech in Armenia, and working out ways to
improve the situation.”

The report follows a similar assessment of the 2008 and 2009 period.

The first section of the report presents articles covering 37 court
cases during 2010 and 2011 involving reporters as litigants. The
charges against reporters mainly dealt with defamation and insult
impugning personal honour, dignity or business reputation. It also
includes analysis of the verdicts by independent legal experts with
reference to the European Convention of Human Rights.

“We came to the conclusion that although decriminalization of libel
and slander in 2010 was a positive legislative development, it had a
negative impact on the media, because of high damage awards they had
to pay under defamation-related civil suits,” said Liana Sayadyan,
Vice-President of the Investigative Journalists and editor of the
publication. “Our monitoring of the past four years also indicates
that physical violence follows a regular pattern, increasing during
pre-election periods and decreasing in non-election years.”

The second part of the publication contains a summary of incidents
of physical violence against reporters during the period and provides
updates regarding prior court cases involving reported intimidation or
violence. According to the publication, incidents decreased in 2010
and 2011, to nine and four incidents respectively, compared with 18
and 11 in 2008 and 2009.

The electronic version of the report is available at

US REJECTS STATUS QUO IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Vestnik Kavkaza
Feb 22 2012
Russia

No changes have happened in the US policy in resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Eric Rubin, US Assistant Secretary of
State for Europe and Asia, said, AzerTAG reports.

The US official said that Washington’s position bases on the
Helsinki act, principles of territorial unity, non-use of force and
self-determination.

He reminded that the US is one of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group. It wants to improve the atmosphere and make a breakthrough in
negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Thus, the US will not
take sides.

Rubin said that the Minsk Group is the only format to stimulate the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The US assistant secretary of state
reminded that he expressed the point at a meeting with Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev. Rubin added that the situation is risky.

GOOGLE EXPLAINS TRANSLATION GLITCH

Armenian Weekly
February 22, 2012

BOSTON, Mass. (A.W.)–Concerned internet users this week initiated
an online campaign after one activist, Lebanese-Armenian Serouj
Baghdassarian, noticed that Google’s online translation service
(translate.google.com) was mistakenly translating “ÔµÕ½ Õ½Õ”O~@Õ¸O~BÕ´
Õ¥Õ´ Õ°Õ¡ÕµÕ¥O~@Õ”Õ¶” (“I love Armenians”) to “I love Turkey.”

A screenshot of Google’s translation of ‘I love Armenians,’ which
has since been corrected.

“Google Translate is an automated system. It makes guesses based on
patterns gleaned from large bodies of human-translated text. It doesn’t
do word-by-word dictionary-style translation,” Jason Freidenfelds,
from Google’s global communications and public affairs department,
told the Armenian Weekly.

“So sometimes [the service] makes mistakes which seem obvious to a
human translator, but aren’t to our machine-learning system,” he added.

The translation was corrected by late afternoon on Feb. 19, following
a widespread report of the problem that first appeared in the Armenian
Weekly.

CASE CLOSED: HRAPARAK APOLOGIZES TO KOCHARYAN
Tatevik Shaljyan

hetq
13:12, February 23, 2012

The slander case brought by former RA President Robert Kocharyan
against the newspaper Hraparak dating back to the spring of last year
finally came to a close when the paper issued a full retraction and
apology on February 18.

Former President Kocharyan had sued the paper over articles it
published back in February and March of 2011. . He had demanded a full
retraction and 6 million AMD in compensation, of which 3 million is
for legal fees incurred.

EU AND TURKEY: TALKS LANGUISH, TRADE BOOMS
by CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA

The Associated Press
February 21, 2012 Tuesday 10:04 AM GMT

If a project has no deadline, is it really a project? What do you
call a negotiation process in which the partners can’t talk about
key issues? These are existential times for Turkey’s campaign to join
the European Union an ambitious vision that has become increasingly
ambiguous.

At a time when Greece’s survival in the eurozone is in jeopardy,
it seems academic to debate a Turkish entry to European ranks that
some Turks feel won’t happen in their lifetime, if at all. The more
pressing question is whether the suitors should, as with any soured
romance, call it quits or rekindle the flame.

When accession talks began in 2005, the idea was that Turkey’s Muslim
population would enrich the continent, culturally and economically,
with Turkey itself destined to become a European-style democracy that
could serve as an east-west bridge.

More than six years later, doubt haunts hope.

Economic troubles mean that Europe, where skepticism toward the Turkish
bid was already building, has little energy to expand, while in Turkey
reform efforts have slowed and the nation has sought to carve out a
leadership role in the Middle East.

“Without a deadline, without a final aim, there is no process,” said
Cengiz Aktar, a political science professor at Bahcesehir University
in Istanbul. “There can’t be an endless project.”

Aktar, who attended the opening of an EU information office at the
university on Friday, said it was “high time” for a reassessment of
Turkey’s bid. He rejected the argument that EU-backed reform alone
was enough, as though the journey was as good as the destination.

The debate is in limbo partly because France and Germany, which have
spoken against full Turkish membership, hold elections this year and
2013 respectively, and no bold initiatives are expected during the
political campaign season.

Even if those European heavyweights choose governments that are more
sympathetic to Turkey’s candidacy, there is no sign of progress on a
long-running dispute over EU member Cyprus, where the Greek-speaking
south observes European rules and Turkey aids and occupies the isolated
Turkish Cypriot north.

Jean-Maurice Ripert, the EU’s new ambassador to Turkey, said more
joint teams would be formed to lay technical groundwork for accession
in case political conditions improve in the years ahead. He cited
40,000 student exchanges between Turkey and the EU last year, as well
as EU plans to spend 800 million euros ($1.06 billion) this year on
European development projects in Turkey.

“Don’t think that nothing is happening,” he said in a meeting with
foreign journalists. Since his January arrival, Ripert said, Turkish
officials have assured him of their commitment to joining the European
Union and voiced frustration with what they see as European opposition.

In the past decade, Turkey has evolved into a regional powerhouse
whose foreign policy remains in step with, but no longer defined by,
its allies in NATO. Europe, meanwhile, was signaling fatigue with
the idea of expansion well before it sank into recession.

“In Brussels nowadays, you hear very little talk of enlargement,”
said Sinan Ulgen, chairman of EDAM, a research center in Istanbul,
and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in the Belgian capital. “The
main issue is essentially the economic crisis.”

Numbers tell the story of the failure and potential of the Turkish bid,
a legacy of Ottoman sultans who sought to upgrade their crumbling
empire with European ideas, as well as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the
national founder who looked westward for inspiration.

Half of the three-dozen subjects, or chapters, in membership
negotiations are blocked. No new chapter has been opened since June
2010. However, Europe accounts for nearly half of Turkey’s foreign
trade, as well as about 85 percent of foreign direct investment there.

Turkey once highly anticipated the EU’s annual report on its membership
progress. Interest has dwindled. European officials have expressed
concern about minority rights, the right to a fair trial and freedom of
expression, and Turkey has slammed Greek Cypriot vetoes of negotiations
and a French bill that would criminalize denial that the mass killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was a genocide.

“The Europe that is afraid of speaking and arguing has nothing to
give humanity,” Turkey’s Anadolu agency quoted Egeman Bagis, minister
for EU affairs, as saying. “But the EU that we always emphasize being
the most comprehensive peace project in the history of humanity has
to be more courageous and liberal.”

Andrew Gardner, an Amnesty International researcher, said EU-inspired
legislative reform in Turkey had resulted in fewer reported cases of
torture in police stations and prisons, but warned of a “regression
of the human rights situation” in Turkey, particularly with regard to
free expression. He also cited the negative impact of statements by
EU leaders suggesting Turkey might not be accepted as a full member
even if it fulfills human rights obligations.

Suat Kiniklioglu, a former ruling party lawmaker and director of the
Ankara-based Center for Strategic Communication, captured the ambiguity
that shrouds Turkey’s EU campaign by offering two ways to look at it.

The first: “The process is going nowhere and neither side is willing
to admit it. This is heading toward a slow death.”

The second, which he prefers: “The current impasse is actually not
that bad as Europe needs time to sort out its own problems while
Turkey will continue to grow and reform domestically at its own pace.

The negotiations can be revived any time the two sides feel they
are ready.”

Ulgen, the visiting scholar in Brussels, said a “vicious circle”
had developed, in which Turkey, once praised for its reform program,
loses enthusiasm for a process that it believes is unfair, while
Europe loses leverage over a process that some of its leaders treat
with ambivalence.

“We’re in standstill mode,” he said. According to Ulgen, Turkey and
the European Union must eventually decide what kind of a relationship
they want because: “We cannot continue to pretend anymore that the
negotiations are continuing.”

IS IRAN OPPRESSING CHRISTIANS?
By Damaris Kremida

Opposing Views

Feb 21 2012

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has ordered the
last two officially registered churches holding Friday Farsi-language
services in Tehran to discontinue them.

Emmanuel Protestant Church and St. Peter’s Evangelical Church were
the last two official churches offering services on Fridays in Tehran
in Iran’s primary language, according to Middle East Concern (MEC).

Officials issued the order on Feb. 10.

Emmanuel and St. Peter’s, both Presbyterian churches, are among
Tehran’s few registered churches that mainly serve the Armenian and
Assyrian communities. The churches’ Armenian- and Assyrian- language
services are typically held on Sundays.

In 2009, authorities had ordered an Assemblies of God congregation,
Central Church of Tehran, to close its multiple Friday Farsi services.

Friday services in Tehran attracted converts to Christianity as well
as Muslims interested in Christianity, as Friday is most Iranians’
day off during the week. Authorities told the churches they can hold
the services on Sunday, a working day when most Iranians are not able
to attend.

“This decision means that there are now no Farsi-language services
on Fridays in any officially registered church in Tehran,” Middle
East Concern (MEC) stated in a mid-February report.

An Iranian Christian who requested anonymity told Compass Direct
News that government officials cannot stop the three churches from
operating because they belong to minority groups. But, the source
said, officials are doing what they can to limit both the churches
and the spread of Christianity to Farsi speakers.

“Authorities want church operations to stop, but because these
churches are established by Armenians and Assyrians and their leaders
are Armenian and Assyrian, they can’t stop them,” the source said,
“but they can stop the Farsi-speaking services.”

The source said the restrictions have cut attendance at Emmauel and
St. Peter’s by half.

The MEC report stated that “the order to stop Farsi services is
consistent with the authorities’ policy of restricting Christian
activities to these traditional communities,” indicating that Tehran is
determined to eradicate access to Christian worship for the country’s
growing number of Christian converts.

Authorities have prohibited musical worship and Bible distribution at
the Central Church of Tehran, the largest and most visible Assemblies
of God congregation in the country. Last December, officials also
enforced a policy under which only invited guests could attend Central
Church’s Christmas service.

Authorities recently have pressured leaders of Emmanuel and St.

Peter’s to turn over the national identity numbers of Christians,
the Iranian Christian source said. As a result, many Christians from
these churches as well as Central Church have lost their jobs.

“We have some people who were fired from their jobs,” the Christian
said. “The authorities pushed the bosses to fire their Christian
employees.”

The source explained that this is a new tactic by the government to
discourage Iranians from becoming Christians and to deter Christians
from being involved in church.

“‘If I have too many difficulties in my life, I won’t have time to
be involved in church, and people will see how difficult it is to be
a Christian,'” the source said of the government’s pressure. “This
is not a good face for the Christians. The others see and say, ‘Oh,
they became Christians and God stopped His blessing to them.'”

Most Iranian Christian converts attend underground house churches
that belong to various networks. For their own protection, these
Christians often do not know about other house church networks.

Authorities often detain, question and apply pressure on converts from
Islam, viewing them as elements of Western propaganda set against
the Iranian regime. As a result, the converts are forced to worship
in secret.

Also in mid-February, news surfaced of the arrest in Tehran of an
Assemblies of God leader, Masis Moussian of the Narmak AOG church.

Mohabat News reported that his arrest was a result of “waves of
anti-Christian pressures and distribution of unsubstantiated reports
by regime-supported media regarding the AOG churches of Iran.”

According to these reports, members of the AOG church in Tehran are
“extreme Christians” trying to recruit new members, and particularly
youth, across the country.

Moussian is being held at the Rajaei-Shahr prison and is not allowed
visitors. His family has not been able to obtain information on his
condition in prison.

On Feb. 8, authorities also arrested about 10 Christians who had
gathered for worship at a house in the southern city of Shiraz. A
report by Mohabat News stated that authorities mistreated the
Christians in attendance and searched the house, confiscating Bibles.

The Christians still remain in an unknown location.

The new report identified two women, three men and a teenager by their
first names. Another was identified as Mojtaba Hosseini. Authorities
had arrested Hosseini in 2008 along with eight other Christian converts
on charges of being Christians, according to Mohabat.

Among those being detained is a 17-year-old boy named Nima, along with
his mother, Fariba, and father, Homayoun. Another woman was identified
as Sharifeh, and two men were identified as Kourosh and Masoud.

Authorities searched the homes of those arrested and seized CDs,
Bibles, Christian materials, computers, fax machines and satellite
receivers, according to Mohabat.

Iran applies sharia (Islamic law), which dictates that converts from
Islam to other religions are “apostates” who can be punished by death.

Although judges rarely sentence Christians to death for leaving Islam,
one Christian, Yousef (also spelled Youcef) Nadarkhani, is appealing
such a decision in the northeastern city of Rasht.

Nadarkhani has been in prison since October 2009. A Rasht court found
him guilty of leaving Islam and handed him the death sentence in
September 2010. Remaining in prison also are Farshid Fathi in Tehran;
Farhad Sabokroh, Naser Zamen-Defzuli, Davoud Alijani and Noorollah
Qabitizade in Ahwaz; and Fariborz Arazm and Behnam Irani in Karaj.

There are an estimated 350,000 Christian converts from Islam in Iran.

“I believe 100 percent the whole movement in Iran is in God’s hand,”
the Christian source told Compass. “This pushing [of the government]
can stop the church buildings but they cannot stop the Kingdom of God.

WORLD BANK PREDICTS 4.3% GROWTH IN ARMENIA

The Messenger
Feb 21 2012
Georgia

The World Bank’s Yerevan office has predicted that the Armenian
economy will achieve 4.3% economic growth in 2012.

After the shock of 2008, Armenia’s foreign debt increased, although
recently the Armenian government has adopted procedures to monitor
and regulate the re-payment of loans. The country also had to lower
export prices to encourage economic growth.

One of the most important sources of income is remittances from the
sizeable Armenian Diaspora. Any economic difficulties in sending
countries therefore also influences Armenia’s national economy.