Author: Badalian Vardan

LIEBERMAN PLANS TO ‘PUNISH’ TURKEY

Al-Resalah (The Message)
Sept 9 2011
Palestine

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Alresalah.ps, Agencies)– “Israel’s’ hawkish
foreign minister is planning a series of measures to retaliate against
Turkey in an apology row, including military aid to the terrorist
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a news report said on Friday.

Other planned measures are cooperation with the Armenian lobby in
the US in its efforts to win recognition for Armenian claims that
1.5 million Armenians were victims of a genocide campaign in the
late Ottoman Empire during the First World War years and to issue a
travel warning urging all “Israeli” military veterans to refrain from
traveling to Turkey, according to the report in Yedioth Ahranoth. The
travel advisory will also urge “Israelis” to refrain from boarding
connections in Turkey, the report said.

The planned measures apparently came out of a meeting attended by
senior “Israeli” Foreign Ministry officials on Thursday, which the
report said was held in preparation for a meeting on Saturday that
will be attended by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a harsh critic
of efforts to restore relations with Turkey after Ankara announced a
set of sanctions against “Israel” for its refusal to apologize for
the killing of eight Turks and one Turkish American on an aid ship
trying to break the blockade of Gaza on May 31, 2010.

Accordingly, Lieberman insists that the “Israeli” efforts should focus
on ways to respond to Turkey’s sanctions, not formulating an apology
for the 2010 incident, because what Turkey is interested is not an
apology but exploiting the dispute with “Israel” so as to boost its
regional standing.

Saturday’s meeting will reportedly focus on those ways to respond
to Turkey.

Yedioth Ahranoth said Lieberman plans meetings with PKK leaders in
Europe in order to find ways to cooperate with them “in every possible
area. “In these meetings, the PKK leaders may ask “Israel” for military
aid in the form of training and arms supplies, the report said.

Lieberman is also planning active Israeli participation in efforts
worldwide to report Turkey’s “violations of human rights” in treatment
of minorities in Turkey.

“We’ll exact a price from Erdogan that will prove to him that messing
with “Israel” doesn’t pay off. Turkey better treat us with respect
and common decency,” Lieberman was quoted as saying.

Whether Lieberman’s threats could ever be implemented remains
questionable. Turkey’s demand for an apology has divided the “Israeli”
government, with hawks such as Lieberman strictly opposing it while
others insisting that a way must be found to restore ties because
Turkey is an ally of critical importance for ‘Israel”.

TEL AVIV WARNS ISRAELIS AGAINST VISITING TURKEY

The Voice of Russia
Sept 9 2011

Israel’s Headquarters for Fighting Terrorism has urged Israelis to
refrain from visiting Turkey, the Yediot Aharanot daily reported on
Friday, citing a chill in bilateral ties.

The newspaper said that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
is planning a series of retribution measures against Turkey, which
will be discussed during a special session in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

These include a travel advisory warning Israelis, especially those who
served in the IDF, against visits to Turkey, as well as cooperation
with Armenia, which wants Turkey to recognize the genocide of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire during and after World War One.

Ankara has downgraded diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv after Israel
refused to apologize for the death of Turkish citizens in a commando
raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian convoy of ships in May 2010.

ARMENIA IS OUT OF REGIONAL PROGRAMS BECAUSE OF AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY’S POLICY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY SAYS

Mediamax, Armenia
Sept 8 2011

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Secretary of the Armenian National Security Council,
Artur Baghdasaryan, said today that as a result of policy carried out
by Azerbaijan and Turkey Armenia dropped out of regional programs in
energy and telecommunication spheres.

Artur Baghdasaryan said this at the meeting with EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Philippe Lefort, Mediamax
reports.

The interlocutors exchanged opinions on the settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Artur Baghdasaryan pointed out that
Armenia’s clear-cut and unchanged position on settling the conflict
only peacefully and on the basis of compromises has been frequently
voiced at various international forums.

Philippe Lefort said that the peaceful settlement is the only way
to resolve the conflict and any attempt to settle the conflict in
military way in unacceptable.

ARMENIA: PACE’S MONITORING COMMITTEE WELCOMES CONSTRUCTIVE ATTITUDE, CALLS FOR FURTHER DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT

Focus News, Bulgaria
Sept 8 2011

Strasbourg. “The outcome of the latest general amnesty in Armenia,
the renewed impetus to investigate the 10 deaths during the March 2008
events, and the resulting start of a constructive dialogue between
the opposition and ruling coalition mean that the chapter on the
March 2008 events can finally be considered closed”, today said the
Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE), a press release informs.

In a draft resolution, based on a report by Axel Fischer (Germany,
EPP/CD) and John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the committee welcomed
the political will demonstrated by “the authorities and indeed all
political forces to resolve this issue in line with Council of Europe
standards and recommendations”.

According to the committee, the 2008 events and their aftermath have
set clear priorities for the democratic development of the country:
“the conduct of genuinely democratic parliamentary elections; the
creation of a robust democratic and pluralist political environment
that has the full trust of the Armenian public; the establishment of
an open and pluralist media environment; the reform of the police
and the reform of the judiciary with a view to guaranteeing its
independence both in law and practice”. The adopted text welcomes
the “close and constructive co-operation” between the Assembly and
the Armenian authorities, which it considers to be “an example” for
the development of co-operation in the framework of the Monitoring
Procedure of the Assembly.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT TO BE DISCUSSED IN OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

Vestnik Kavkaza
Sept 8 2011

The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh will be
discussed at the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
Trend cites Vice Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Bahar Muradova
as saying in an interview.

“During OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s President Petros Efthymiou’s
visit to Azerbaijan, this issue was raised before him in a more
concrete form. Then, Petros Efthymiou said that the discussion of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be organized at one of the sessions
of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly with the participation of the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairmen and the report of co-chairmen regarding the
situation should be heard. Efthymiou appealed to the co-chairmen with
this initiative, but it failed to hold such a discussion during the
summer session. At a meeting with the parliamentary delegations of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, Efthymiou told us that he continues to work
on this issue and such a hearing could be held at the autumn session
of the organization,” Muradova said.

TURKEY SUPPORTS RUSSIAN PRESIDENT’S INITIATIVES IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

Vestnik Kavkaza
Sept 8 2011

The South Caucasus, a neighboring region of Turkey and Russia, has
anobviously significant role, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said,
Trendreports.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the main obstacle to achieving
afavourable climate in the South Caucasus. Progress in settling
theconflict will play a decisive role.

The Turkish approach to the problem coincides with the Russian
one.Progress may be achieved through a settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakhconflict.

Abdullah Gul underlined that Turkey is ready to provide all
thenecessary support to find a solution to the problem and do all
ittakes to resolve the conflict as soon as possible. Progress in
thissphere will contribute to Turkish-Armenian relations.

Normalization ofrelations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Turkey and
Armenia shouldnot be separate processes, it needs a common regional
approach, Gulconcluded.

PROGRESS IN KARABAKH PROCESS TO AFFECT POSITIVELY ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS – TURKISH LEADER

news.am, Armenia
Sept 8 2011

Progress reached in the Karabakh peace process will positively
affect the Armenian-Turkish relations. This is Turkey’s stance on
normalization of relations with Armenia, country’s leader Abdullah
Gul said in an interview with MK.

The Karabakh is currently the main obstacle to achieving favorable
climate in the South Caucasus, he said. Abdullah Gu believes that
Turkey’s view on this issue coincides with Russia’s stance.

He stressed that Turkey was ready “to give full support to seek
resolution of the problem”.

“We sincerely wish to complete the normalization [relations with
Armenia] process successfully. In the process of formation of a stable
peace in the South Caucasus and establishment of cooperation and
prosperity in the region, the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian
and Turkish-Armenian relations should not be perceived as a separate
process, it should be regarded on region-wide basis,” he said.

Back in 1993 during the Karabakh war Turkey closed the border with
Armenia in solidarity with Azerbaijan.

In October 2009 Armenia and Turkey signed protocols in Zurich to
normalize diplomatic relations between the states. The documents
had to be ratified in both countries’ parliaments. However, in
2010 the Armenian president suspended the process due to Turkey’s
non-constructive stance. Ankara set preconditions and linked the
reconciliation process to resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

WAS HAIK MKRTCHYAN KILLED?
Suzan Simonyan

Lragir.am News

21:14:58 – 08/09/2011

Today, in the afternoon, the body of the serviceman Haik Lazarian,
19, who died in the military base of Askeran was at last handed over
to his family. The body was brought to his native village, Amberd,
from Karabakh, by the driver in a military uniform. Nobody has
telephoned and offered condolences to Haik’s family.

The boy’s six uncles were present at the examination of the
body and found two gun wounds, one above the heel, the other on the
abdomen. They don’t believe in the official statement that
Haik’s death was an accident. Lendrush Nazlukhanyan, his fellow
serviceman, was said to have shot accidentally.

“If so, how could there be wounds of two shots?”
Haik’s brother, Ruben Lazarian wonders. He says 14 bullets
were found in his brother’s body, which seems suspicious to
his family. They assure that they will seek the truth.

Earlier the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Defense launched
proceedings on the violation of the rules of handling a gun, under
Article 373 of the Criminal Code. In answer to the question if
it is possible to shoot 14 bullets into the body of the victim in
the result of an accidental shot, the investigative service stated:
“Considering that Á burst was fired rather than a shot, currently
the committal of crime by intent is under consideration.”

ARMENIA AND ROMANIA SIGNED A JOINT PROGRAM

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 21:02 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On September 8, a joint program was signed between
Romania’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, State Secretary Anton
Niculescu and Armenian ambassador Hamlet Gasparyan.

The program envisages collaboration between the two countries in
the fields of culture, education and science. Within the frames of
the program, based on the articles of “Collaboration between the
Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of Romania
in the Fields of Science, Culture, Education and Sport” agreement a
range of events will be held from 2011-2015.

The program envisages large scale collaboration in the fields of
science, with one of the key articles being the studies of the
Armenian and Romanian languages and literature at the institutes of
higher education in Armenia and Romania. The Romanian language has
been taught at Yerevan State Linguistic University after Brusov for
several years now. This academic year will see the beginning of the
Armenian language studies at Bucharest University.

The program also envisages collaboration between Armenia’s and
Romania’s national academies.

OSTRICH ESCAPES FROM YEREVAN CIRCUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 19:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On September 8, people of Yerevan were surprised
with a sight of a real ostrich in the streets of the Armenian capital.

As PanARMENIAN.Net reporter was informed, the ostrich has escaped from
the city circus wile a wall was being taken down in construction works.

According to circus director Sos Petrosyan, the ostrich was caught
and taken back “home”.