Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIA MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN FIVE YEARS – FORMER US AMBASSADOR

news.am
Sept 27 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Armenia marked significant progress during the five years
of my absence from the country, said former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans at “20 years of Independence in Armenia and the region”
discussion held in Yerevan on Tuesday.

Evans said that progress mainly affected the capital, whereas there
is no tangible progress in regions.

“Maybe five years is not so long for all-round progress but in many
areas there are obvious improvements,” he added.

Referring to suspension of Millennium Challenges program in Armenia,
he said that reason was the inappropriate behavior of officials,
as well as the impact events of March 1, 2008.

DIALOGUE NOT EFFECTIVE SOLUTION FOR SITUATION IN ARMENIA – OPPOSITION

news.am
Sept 27 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – The dialogue between Armenian authorities and opposition
Armenian National Congress (ANC) ceased to be a solution for the
situation in Armenia. However, resuming should not be excluded, ANC
coordinator Levon Zurabyan said at a press conference on Tuesday. The
dialogue is of less importance currently.

“If a tool is out of use you can still keep it, but also use other
influential tools,” the coordinator stated and did not exclude that
the dialogue may resume after September. “We want to pass to democracy
in a civilized way, within political processes.”

In response to the report what the reasonable concession by the
authorities is and that it may not necessarily be snap elections,
Zuabyan stated that authorities may offer some other interesting plan
if available, proving that they really work toward democratization.

Opposition-authorities dialogue was suspended in August based on ANC
activist, political prisoner Tigran Arakelyan. ANC claimed for his
release to resume the talks.

AZERBAIJAN HAS TO SATISFY EXPECTATIONS OF EITHER TURKEY OR ISRAEL – ARFD

news.am
Sept 27 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – In external relations with Israel and Turkey, Azerbaijan
will have to choose one direction or the other, Giro Manoyan, head of
central Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) office, member of ARF Dashnaktsutyun
said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He mentioned that despite the deterioration of Turkish-Israeli
relations, ties between Israel and Azerbaijan remain active in recent
years. In particular Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Baku not
so long ago.

“Sooner or later Azerbaijan will be faced with a choice and Baku,
I believe, will satisfy the expectations of Turkey rather than Israel.

Especially given that Azerbaijan has already announced an intention to
vote for the recognition of Palestine’s independence. Along with all
this, the idea of partnership with Israel is not rejected publicly,”
said Manoyan. Interestingly, Israel does not object this ambiguity,
he said.

According to him, in the near future Azerbaijan will adopt a less
aggressive stance in the UN because of nomination as a candidate for
non-permanent Security Council member.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S SPEECH AT UN APPEARS IN TURKISH NTV

Panorama
Sept 27 2011
Armenia

Turkish “NTV” has referred to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s
speech delivered in the UN General Assembly. The news site of the
Turkish television posted a story titled with President Sargsyan’s
direct speech which stresses that anti-Armenian propaganda splits
the region.

1. Anti-Armenian policies of Turkey and Azerbaijan split the region
and obstruct the integration processes in South Caucasus.

2. Turkey ignores what is important for the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations. Though the international community offered
support to the process, Turkey wasn’t committed to do it. While
the normalization of the relations could turn South Caucasus into a
dynamic and developed region.

ARMENIA JOINS PARIS PRINCIPLES FOR CHILD PROTECTION

VestnikKavkaza.net
Sept 27 2011

Armenia has joined the Paris principles for the protection of children
from illegal recruitment or exploitation by armed forces, Armenia
Today reports.

Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica and San Marino approved
the principles at a session of the UN General Assembly on September 26.

This means that the number of states supporting the Paris principles
increased from 95 to 100. The UNICEF said that over half of UN members
have joined.

The Paris principles were approved in February 2007.

EVANS DOES NOT REGRET FOR PRONOUNCING WORD GENOCIDE

yerkir.am
17:26 – 27.09.2011

It would have been wiser, if Armenia and Turkey started from not
big initiatives instead of trying to solve all the problems at once:
former US ambassador to Armenia John Evans told “Agenda” newspaper
talking about Armenian Turkish protocols.

‘I don’t think that complexities that arose in the process of improving
relations between Armenia and Turkey are because of one part. The
process was stopped because of both parts, as there were many issues
that were impossible to solve”, said he.

Evans also informed that he carries on working to improve the role
of Armenia in the international sphere and also is working on his
book on the Armenian Genocide. Evans added that he does not regret
for losing his diplomatic career and pronouncing the word “Genocide”,
which, by the way, was against American policy.

In September 2006 USA ambassador to Armenia John Evans has named the
events taken place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 a Genocide, because
of which he was called back to US and then returned again to carry
on with his responsibilities as ambassador for 1.5 more years. Later
the US Senate did not appoint him in any other position.

SENATE APPROVES HEFFERN AS AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
John Heffern

asbarez
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Controversial US envoy to Turkey Nominee Francis Ricciardone yet to
be confirmed.

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Senate voted by unanimous consent Monday night
to approve John Heffern’s nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“Although we remain disappointed with a number of his responses to
Senate inquiries, we look forward, in the coming months and years,
to working with Ambassador Heffern to expand U.S.-Armenia relations
on the basis of commonly-held values and shared interests, with
particular focus on the bilateral trade and investment issues,”
commented ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, upon Heffern’s
confirmation. “Ambassador Heffern can play a vital role in expanding
U.S.-Armenia trade, which has yet to reach the $200 million a year
mark, by leading the way toward a Trade and Investment Framework
Agreement (TIFA) and an updated Double Taxation Treaty. With these
accords in place and a firm commitment by all stake-holders to act
decisively and pro-actively, there is no reason we can’t reach more
than a billion dollars a year in bilateral trade within the next
five years.”

By contrast, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey nominee Francis Ricciardone,
who was to be fast-tracked for consideration on the floor, along
with the nomination of John Heffern, has yet to be scheduled for
Senate confirmation. Ambassador Ricciardone has been the subject of
considerable controversy, having faced opposition within the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee from Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Jim Risch (R-ID) prior to the panel’s
approval of his nomination. During the Committee’s deliberations of
Amb. Ricciardone’s nomination, Senator Menendez explained that he had
lost confidence in his abilities after Amb. Ricciardone had submitted
clearly false information concerning the destruction of Christian
churches in Turkey. Senator Menendez’s concerns over the persecution
of religious minorities in Turkey were echoed by Senators Chris Coons
(D-DE), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Chairman John Kerry (D-MA).

Heffern Questioned on Administration’s Armenian Genocide Policy During
Heffern’s July 13 confirmation hearing, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee member Robert Menendez (D-NJ) had pressed him regarding
the Obama Administration position regarding the Armenian Genocide,
and also about his own understanding of this crime. The nominee
cited the killing of over 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman Empire, but stopped short of properly referencing these acts
as “genocide,” arguing that “the characterization of those events
is a policy decision that is made by the President of the United
States. He added that this policy is enunciated in the President’s
April 24 Remembrance Day statement.”

Senator Menendez remarked, “This is an inartful dance that we do. We
have a State Department whose history is full of dispatches that cite
the atrocities committed during this time. We have a convention that
we signed on to as a signatory that clearly defines these acts as
genocide. We have a historical knowledge of the facts that we accept
would amount to genocide. But we are unwilling to reference it as
genocide. And if we cannot accept the past, we cannot move forward.

And so I find it very difficult to send diplomats of the United States
to a country in which they will go – and I hope you will go, as some
of your predecessors have – to a genocide commemoration and yet never
be able to use the word genocide. It is much more than a question
of a word. It is everything that signifies our commitment to saying
‘never again.’ And yet, we can’t even acknowledge this fact and we
put diplomats in a position that is totally untenable.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Senator Menendez in submitting
written questions to Heffern following his confirmation hearing.

Senator Menendez had deferred Committee consideration of Mr. Heffern’s
nomination to allow broader Senate scrutiny of the candidate.

Heffern is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and serves
as the Deputy Chief of Mission at USNATO, Brussels. Prior to his
current post, Heffern served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Executive
Assistant to the Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the U.S.

Embassy in Indonesia.

Heffern’s career has also included overseas assignments to Japan,
Malaysia, Ivory Coast and Guangzhou, China. From 1994-1996, he
served as a Pearson Fellow on the Asia Sub-Committee for the House
International Relations Committee. Prior to entering the Foreign
Service, he served in the Office of Senator John C. Danforth as the
Senator’s Office Director and Research Assistant. He Heffern received
a B.A. from Michigan State University.

Heffern replaces Marie Yovanovitch, who returned to the U.S. in June
to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Northern and
Central Europe.

JUDGE DIDN’T SHOW UP TO COURT

07:49 pm | Today

Social

The trial for the Committee in Defense of Freedom of Speech against
the National Commission on Television and Radio case wasn’t held at
the RA Administrative Court because the court hadn’t shown up to court.

However, 15 minutes after the hour of the trial, the court employee
provided the plaintiff with the court’s verdict denying the appeal.

The plaintiff’s attorney Olga Safaryan told “A1+” that the court had
reached a verdict on a document without knowing what that document
was about.

“The verdict was reached on the grounds of the announcement made by
the state body (NCTR),” said Olga Safaryan, adding that the plaintiff
will appeal the verdict at higher instances.

Let us remind that the Committee in Defense of Freedom of Speech
demands acknowledging the NCTR’s actions as illegitimate and obliging
it to provide all documents required in the notice N-30 dated 21
February 2011, including the rebroadcasting contracts in the documents
adjunct to the tender applications, as well as the papers of employees
of the companies.

ARMENIA SHOULD NOT LOOK FOR OUTSIDE SOLUTIONS TO ITS PROBLEMS; FORMER AMBASSADOR SAYS

ARKA
Sep 27, 2011

YEREVAN, September 27. / ARKA /. Armenia should itself look for
solutions to its problems instead of seeking outside help, former
U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, said today during a
discussion in Yerevan organized by Civiliats Fund to mark the 20-th
anniversary of Armenia.

He said when Armenia finds these solutions, it will get the support of
the world community. He said the South Caucasus is a volatile region
and everyone understands that its problems are not easily solved,
however, the region has huge potential.

He said the peoples in the South Caucasus tend to look for outside
forces to solve their internal problems. According to him, it is a
very serious problem, a relic of the former Soviet Union when two of
its constituent republics sought Moscow’s help to solve their problems.

According to him, many people here think that the U.S. can tell
Turkey to do this or that, but it is not so, and Yerevan must itself
establish relations with Ankara. Evans said the first step towards the
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations should be the establishment
of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He said establishment of diplomatic relations is often misunderstood
even in his country. He said it does not imply friendship. States
should recognize each other, know who they are dealing with. He
said Greece and Turkey or Japan and Russia have diplomatic relations
despite having serious territorial disputes.

Germany’s ambassador, Hans-Jochen Schmidt, said the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will positively affect not only the
development of the conflicting sides, but also the whole region.

“The EU is trying to cooperate with the South Caucasus, but,
unfortunately, no significant economic results have been achieved so
far,” he said.

The Civilitas Foundation Fund was established in 2008 by former
Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian.

POLITICAL ANALYST: NO ROOM FOR RATIFICATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS

ARKA
Sep 27, 2011

YEREVAN, September 27. /ARKA/. Alexander Iskandaryan, political
analyst and director of Caucasus Institute, speaking Tuesday in
Novosti International Press Center, said there are absolutely no
prospects today for ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols by
Turkish Parliament.

It became known on September 24 that Turkish government that Turkish
government has returned Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in 2009 to
the parliament’s agenda.

“To put it mildly, Turkey now doesn’t care about protocols – it
has far bigger troubles in both foreign and domestic policies,”
Iskandaryan said.

In recent weeks, there is an all-out war between Turkish army and
Kurdish guerrillas, and this is a grave problem for Turkey.

Iskandaryan also finds it obvious that Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan will seek to amend the country’s constitution to make
Turkey a presidential republic and run for presidency. According to
Iskandaryan, in such a situation ratification of the protocols will
hardly play into his hands.

He says that Turkey seeks dominance in the rapidly-changing Middle
East, but having no sufficient resources for that, faces difficulties.

“Things are very complicated and risky, and Turkish leadership stakes
everything to obtain a new position in the region,” he said. “In such
a situation, how can Turkey think about Armenian protocols?”

The political analyst said that the United States keeps pushing Turkey
to sign the protocols, but it has no sufficient pressure instruments.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became
independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border
with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for its ally, Azerbaijan,
which had a dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic
Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan.

There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of
normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s
blatant support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution process and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass
killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as
a genocide.

Thaw in Armenian-Turkish relations began in 2008 at Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan’s initiative.

On October 10, Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers Edward
Nalbandyan and Ahmet Davutoglu signed the protocols on establishment of
diplomatic ties between the two countries and development of bilateral
relations. The protocols had to be ratified by the two countries’
parliaments, but on April 22, 2010, the Armenian president signed a
decree ceasing the process of ratification. He said Turkey was not
ready to continue the process.