Author: Badalian Vardan

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”.

TURKISH PRESIDENT: EFFORTS TO IMPROVE ARMENIAN-AZERI AND ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS MUST NOT BE TAKEN SEPARATELY

arminfo
Thursday, September 8, 16:27

The efforts to improve Armenian-Azeri and Armenian-Turkish relations
must not be regarded as separate processes and require discussion on
an all-regional level, President of Turkey Abdullah Gul said in an
interview to Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

He said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the key obstacle to a
favorable atmosphere in the South Caucasus and Turkey’s position on
this problem coincides with Russia’s attitude.

According to Gul, Turkey is ready to support the efforts of the
Russian President to find a solution to the conflict.

He said that progress on Nagorno-Karabakh will have a positive
influence on Turkish-Armenian relations.

Gul said that Turkey sincerely wants to normalize its relations with
Armenia and to see peace, stability and partnership inside and outside
the South Caucasus.

YEREVAN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF CLASSICAL MUSIC TO BE HELD FROM SEPTEMBER 9 TILL OCTOBER 12

arminfo
Thursday, September 8, 17:24

Yerevan International Festival of Classical Music will be held from
September 9 till October 12.

The chief conductor and art director of the State Philharmonic
Orchestra of Armenia, Eduard Topchyan, said that the festival will open
Ervand Erkanyan’s “Heroic rhapsody” dedicated to the 20th anniversary
of Armenia’s independence.

Such well-known musicians as Ashley Wass (piano), Daishin Kashimoto
(violin), Paul Meyer (clarinet), Henning Kraggerud (violin) and others
will take part in the festival. Moreover, conductors Christopher
Warren-Green and Paul Meyer will participate in the festival.

During the festival the spectators will receive an opportunity to
enjoy the works by Brahms, Weber, Beethoven, Mozart and Schnittke. A
total of 10 concerts will be held, Topchyan said. “I am sure that the
festival has shown its worth over the past few years. The evidence of
that is the fact that musicians want to come to Armenia and participate
in the festival”, he said.

ASALA VETERAN: CORRUPTION AND LAWLESSNESS IN TOP ECHELONS OF POWER KEY REASON OF ARMY NEGATIVE IMAGE IN ARMENIA

Arminfo
Thursday, September 8, 16:36

Corruption and lawlessness in top echelons of power are the key reason
of army negative image in Armenia, Alek Yenigomshyan, a member of
Sardarapat Movement Initiative Group, veteran of the Armenian Secret
Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), told media, Thursday.

Bribe taking leads to non-interference into incidents in the army
hereby promoting such non-combat relations, he said. System changes
are not enough, he thinks, it is necessary to raise the authority of
the healthy officer forces and help them resolve the army problems.

Yenigomshyan is sure that problems in the Armenian public are only
one of the reasons of the recent incidents in army. But it is wrong
explaining the outrage in Armenia with the popular phrase “army is
the mirror of the public.”

Recently non-combat deaths in unclear circumstances in army have grown
in number. Thus, on August 26 soldier of NKR Defense Army Aghasi
Abrahamyan died in hospital. He was severely beaten up in his army
unit and taken to the med bunker where he was left on the ground for
10 hours and again beaten up by the head of the med bunker.

Yesterday another soldier of Askeran regiment of the NKR Defense
Army Hayk Lazarian was killed while on duty by his comrade Lendrush
Nazlukhanyan as a result of mishandling a gun.

Earlier, the video posted on Youtube by the initiative group “We
will not keep silent!”
tells that the comrade of Hovhaness Vardanyan informed the family
of the soldier that their son was taken to psychiatric hospital 9
days ago. The territorial military commission called the incident
a misunderstanding. Vardanyan’s father phoned the commander of his
son to get more information on the incident. The commander explained
nothing. The Defense Ministry has not responded to the statements
of the soldier’s relatives since August 3. “I sent a healthy boy to
army, and has got him back from Karabakh in such state,” the father
cried out.

The soldier in the video just repeats separate phrases going to and
fro, rolling on the ground and saying that he served well in Karabakh
but he was beaten up and raped. The uncle of the soldier Aram Virabyan
expressed indignation at the negligence of the higher instances to
the incident. “This negligence makes us leave for Karabakh and settle
accounts with the offenders. We are ready to rally in the square with
posters,” he said.

YEREVAN INCLUDED IN ‘MURDERER MEGALOPOLISES’ LIST

Tert.am
18:46 08.09.11

Ukrainian newspaper Korrespondent has made the list of the world’s
“murderer megalopolises” in 2010 with Armenia’s capital Yerevan
included in it.

The leading capitals in murder rate are Venezuela’s capital Karakas
where 233 murders took place (against 100,000 people) 90 cases in
Guatemala, 35 in Rio de Janeiro and 17 in San Tiago.

The picture in the South Caucasus is the following: 2.1 cases in
Yerevan and 3.7 in Baku. Tbilisi is not included in the list.

The situation is far better in US cities compared to those of South
America – 5.6 cases in New York, 23.8 in Washington, 20 in Philadelphia
and 16 in Chicago.

The most “peaceful” cities in Europe is Lisbon (0.6 cases of murder
against 100,000), 6.9 in Moscow, 7.8 in Saint Petersburg, 3.7 in Kiev,
5.0 in Istanbul and 4.2 in Ankara.

ARMENIAN PROCESSING COMPANIES IN 2011 PLAN TO BUY ABOUT 150 THOUSAND TONS OF GRAPE

ARKA
Sep 8, 2011

YEREVAN, September 8. /ARKA/. Processing companies in Armenia plan
to buy 150 thousand tons of grape in 2011 vs. 135 thousand tons in
2010, said Deputy Agriculture Minister of Armenia Robert Makaryan
on Thursday.

“The grape price will be defined in the next two days when Yerevan
cognac factory will announce the volumes and purchase prices, and
the schedule of purchase”, said Makaryan.

Other companies will announce the purchase prices by September 15.

Makaryan said that in the next two days in Armavir and Ararat regions
meeting will be held with the processing companies, representatives
of the ministry and regional administrations where the issues related
to grape purchase will be discussed.