Author: Badalian Vardan

WIKIPEDIA POSTS NAGORNO KARABAKH AS AN INDEPENDENT STATE

Azeri Press Agency
Dec 10 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku-APA. Wikipedia free encyclopedia posted misinformation
about the Nagorno Karabakh, an internationally
recognized and inalienable territory of Azerbaijan
( f_Nagorno-Karabakh).

According to disinformation posted on the link above, Nagorno Karabakh
purportedly held a referendum on December 10, 1991 and proclaimed
independence from Azerbaijan.

The misleading information reads that as though the official language
of the "state" was Armenian, area was 11,458.382 km2, international
dialing code was 374 47, "currency" was Armenian dram, "president"
was Bako Sahakyan, prime minister was Arayik Harutyunyan and other
fake info.

Besides, there is misinformation about Nagorno Karabakh’s economy
($114 million GDP), industry, finance, banks and foreign trade.

Thus, Nagorno Karabakh allegedly exports and imports goods and
materials to the CIS countries, Western and Eastern Europe, the United
States, and Canada.

In reality, Nagorno Karabakh is an internationally recognized part
of Azerbaijan. The territory was illegally occupied by Armenian
armed forces.

Wikipedia is operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit
charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth,
development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to
providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public
free of charge.

NAGORNO KARABAKH CELEBRATES CONSTITUTION DAY

armradio.am
10.12.2008 11:23

NKR President Bako Sahakyan issued a congratulatory address to the
citizens of the republic in connection with the anniversary of the
NKR State Independence Referendum and the Constitution Day, Central
Information Department of the Office of the NKR President reported. The
address reads as follows:

"Respected citizens of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, Dear compatriots,

The 10th of December is one of the most memorable days for our
people. On that very day in 1991 our people officially sealed their
will to form a free, independent and sovereign state. And it was not a
coincident that 15 years later on this very day of 2006 the people of
Artsakh once again expressed their resoluteness to further strengthen
and develop independent statehood and on a nation-wide referendum
adopted the basic of the country – the NKR Constitution. It has marked
the irreversibility of our state policy to build democratic country,
our commitment to the follow international norms and integrate with
the civilized world.

The basic law of the country is among the attributes of independent
statehood. It guarantees rights and freedoms of people and citizens,
regulates internal life of the state and its relations with the
world. It is a specific bridge between the past, the present and the
future of the country and its people. The Constitution clearly states
that independence and secure existence of Artsakh have no alternatives.

Dear friends, I congratulate all our people once again on this
very important holiday and cordially wish you peace, good health
and happiness.

All the best to you."

TOKTASIN BUZUBAYEV: ILLEGAL MIGRATION NOT A THREAT TO ARMENIA’S SECURITY
Gita Elibekyan

"Radiolur"
08.12.2008 16:47

The main topics on the agenda of the meeting of the Security Council
Secretaries of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) will include fighting terrorism and drugs
trafficking.

CSTO Deputy Secretary General Toktasin Buzubayev told a press
conference today that Armenia’s indices of drugs trafficking are
not bad. If 12 kg of drugs was found last year, this year the figure
reduced to 1 kg.

As for illegal migration, according to Buzubayev, this year 2
000 people were deported from his country – Kazakhstan, and 1 600
from Armenia. One can say that illegal migration does not threaten
Armenia’s security.

Speaking about Armenia’s cooperation with NATO, Toktasin Buzubayev
said that although the issue is not on the agenda of the Armenian
authorities, the organization sees no problem here. "Like any other
CSTO member state, Armenia can work in any international or regional
program. The most important is that the commitments the member states
assumed when joining the organization are not violated."

Toktasin Buzubayev said that following the sitting of the National
Security Council Secretaries the Heads of CSTO member states will
meet in Astana. The President of Kazakhstan, Nursulltan Nazarbayev,
has already come forth with a correspo nding suggestion.

ARMENIA STILL REBUILDING 20 YEARS AFTER EARTHQUAKE
By Hasmik Lazarian

Reuters
Sat Dec 6, 2008 7:07am EST

GYUMRI, Armenia (Reuters) – Zhora Azizyan felt lucky when he was
granted temporary housing made of concrete blocks rather than the
railway cars given to others after the earthquake that devastated
northwestern Armenia.

But that was 1988.

Now he struggles to paper over the cracks in the walls, and the
single gas stove is no match for winter temperatures of minus 30
degrees Celsius.

"After the earthquake, the Soviet Central Bank donated temporary
accommodation for two years, made of concrete blocks 10 centimeters
thick," he said. "We were very happy at the time. But then two years
became 20."

Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the Spitak earthquake that
flattened towns and villages across swathes of then Soviet Armenia,
killing 25,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

For many in Gyumri, Spitak and other towns shattered by the magnitude
6.9 quake, the memory has faded. But for others it remains as real
today as it was when it struck at 11.41 a.m. (0741 GMT).

An estimated 7,000 families are still in the woeful temporary
accommodation given to them in the weeks after the quake. For them,
it has been 20 years of empty promises.

At the time, Soviet officials said the recovery would be quick. But
they struggled to cope with the scale of the disaster. Then the Soviet
Union collapsed.

War that followed with neighboring Azerbaijan over the breakaway
region of Nagorno-Karabakh is still proving costly and is slowing
recovery efforts in this mountainous and poor corner of the Caucasus.

Successive governments have promised to finish the recovery job. And
the current administration of President Serzh Sarksyan is no different,
pledging $250 million to finish rehousing the homeless and rebuilding
the region by 2012.

"The situation is not as we would like," said Albert Margaryan,
a senior official at the regional administration, overseeing
construction work. "But every day we can feel improvement, we can
feel the activation of local investment."

"We hope that by 2012 we will solve this problem thanks to the
government program to rehabilitate the disaster area."

Local officials say unemployment in the region stands at 60
percent. They promise to build an industrial park in the former
textile hub of Gyumri, invest in small and medium-sized enterprises
and create 5,000 jobs.

The homeless are given vouchers to buy property anywhere in Armenia,
but they complain only those with money to add can actually make use
of them because of high property prices.

Azizyan, 75, lost 12 relatives in the earthquake. Reports at the time
spoke of unimaginable destruction, coffins stacked in the streets.

Azizyan and his wife together receive 55,000 drams ($180) monthly
pension, plus 24,000 drams in government aid. The family of six lives
within 30 square meters.

"I haven’t lost hope," said Azizyan. "I’m sure that everything will
be good.

Without hope, life is not worth living."

His wife Zina shares his optimism. "I feel we’ll get an apartment
next year," she said. "We have to think about our grandchildren."

MOSCOW CALLS FOR KARABAKH PEACE TREATY

RT
December 4, 2008, 15:57

Military action is not the solution to the conflict in
Karabakh. Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group meeting in Helsinki
discussed the need for a resolution to the long frozen conflict in
the South Caucasus.

"We call for both sides to reaffirm their devotion to a peace
settlement," the group said.

At the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that basic
principles of a peace treaty regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia must be formed.

"We urge the parties to make efforts jointly with the co-chairmen of
the Minsk Group to achieve an agreement within months on the basic
principles of the settlement, and then, on that basis, to pass over
to drafting a comprehensive peace agreement," Lavrov said at the
meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The two countries came together last month in Moscow and agreed to
seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Lavrov reminded both sides about the agreement they signed in
November. "The declaration signed in Moscow opened a new promising
step in the restoration of peace in the region," he said.

Nargorno-Karabakh, a region in the South Caucasus, is technically
part of Azerbaijan. In 1988, the area voted to join with the Armenian
Soviet Republic. This action set off a conflict between Armenians
and Azerbaijanis.

After violence and conflict continued for several years, Armenians
in the region approved through a referendum the creation of an
independent state.

The referendum was rejected by Azerbaijan and conflict escalated.

The fall of the Soviet Union led to a power vacuum causing full-scale
war to erupt. By 1994, thousands had been killed and hundreds of
thousands displaced as a result. With Russia’s help, an un-official
cease-fire was reached in May 1994.

However, random spells of violence continued to plague the region
causing numerous deaths every year on both sides.

Today the region is under joint military control by Armenian and
Nagorno-Karabakh military forces. Armenia remains steadfast in its
commitment to bringing independence to the region while Azerbaijan
claims its territorial integrity must be respected.

The Minsk Group was formed by the OSCE and includes the US, Russia
and France. Its purpose is to encourage and negotiate a complete and
peaceful resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding Karabakh.

The efforts culminated on 2 November when the President of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Armenia, Serzh Sarkisyan, signed a
peace declaration at a meeting in Moscow arranged by Russian president
Dmitry Medvedev.

INTERVIEW-OSCE CHAIRMAN UPBEAT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH DISPUTE
By Brett Young

Reuters AlertNet
Dec 2 2008
UK

HELSINKI, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan and Armenia have made progress
in resolving a long-standing dispute over a Caucasus mountain enclave
and the OSCE hopes for a regional declaration on the issue at its
annual meetings later this week, its chairman said on Tuesday.

"Things are looking quite good on Nagorno-Karabakh," Finnish Foreign
Minister Alexander Stubb, who is leading the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe under the Finnish chairmanship, told Reuters
in an interview.

"I think that we are moving away from a frozen conflict towards a
permanent solution, but of course we are not there yet, and it is
very important that the Minsk Group works on this," Stubb said.

The Minsk Group — co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France
— was established by the OSCE in 1992 to bring about a peaceful
resolution in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where a Russian-brokered
ceasefire has held since 1994.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s mostly ethnic Armenian population broke away from
Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1980s and early
1990s. Some 35,000 people were killed in fighting and more than a
million wre forced to flee their homes.

The territory now runs its own affairs with support from Armenia. The
matter remains a serious source of tension in the volatile Caucasus
region. Stubb said talks among the 50 foreign ministers in Helsinki
on Dec. 4-5 for the annual meeting of Europe’s main security and
human rights body will be dominated by Caucasus disputes, including
Nagorno-Karabakh, along with the broader question of European security.

The August war between OSCE members Russia and Georgia over breakaway
South Ossetia has cast a shadow over the meeting, with military
monitors from the security and human rights organisation still unable
to return to the breakaway region.

POLITICAL DECLARATION

Stubb said he was "rather disappointed" monitors were not allowed back
in, and said talks on the impasse would continue in Moscow on Dec. 8.

"Hopefully we can solve it before the end of the year when the (OSCE)
mandate runs out," Stubb said. "(But) I won’t give any odds on that."

Stubb said he welcomed a new discussion on European security, an idea
first broached by Russia in October, as long as it did not seek to
eclipse the role of the OSCE.

"I will be happy if we have had a refreshing discussion on European
security, but one which confirms the existence and the future of the
OSCE as a vibrant organisation taking care of security, the economy
and democracy," he said.

"There are some key principles on which I think we should not even
being negotiations. They have to do with territorial integrity,
democracy, human rights, and the non-use of force in solving
conflicts," he added.

Stubb said he did not expect a regional declaration on a second
dispute, between Moldova and Transdnestria, during the meeting.

He said Finland was working hard on a political declaration reaffirming
OSCE principles and opening the door to a possible summit meeting in
2009 or 2010 that could be signed by all participants.

The last joint political declaration was signed in 2002 in Portugal,
and Stubb admitted it would be tough to achieve one this time around
given the tense atmosphere following the Russia-Georgia war.

"I am not yet at this stage very hopeful," Stubb said.

TURKEY RECEIVES PEACE PRIZE

Hurriyet
Dec 3 2008
Turkey

ISTANBUL – The "Peace and Sport" organization has awarded Turkey the
2008 "Peace and Sport Image of the Year" prize.

Turkey was chosen for the prize after President Abdullah Gul and
his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsian shook hands prior to a
World Cup qualifying match between Turkey and Armenia in Yerevan on
Sept. 6. Turkey will receive its prize Thursday from Prince Albert
II of Monaco.

PRICES OF NON-FOOD COMMODITIES FALL BY 1.7% IN ARMENIA IN NOVEMBER 2008

Noyan Tapan

Dec 1, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. 1.7% fall in prices of non-food
commodities was recorded in Armenia in November on October 2008, on
which the fall of gasoline and diesel fuel prices (11.9% and 11.7%
respectively) had a direct impact.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, prices of domestic
electric appliances, furniture, detergents, and cultural goods fell
by 0.1-0.6% in November on October 2008. In parallel with this,
prices of fuel, kitchen utensils, cosmetics, building materials,
footwear, clothes and fabrics increased by 0.1-1.6%. The prices in
the other commodity groups under observation remained at the level
of the previous month.

, Turkey
Nov 28 2008

Heart of Turkey-EU talks "democratization": Lagendijk

Lagendijk referred to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks and
said that the major goal was to bring "first-class democracy" to
Turkey. Friday, 28 November 2008 15:39

A member of the European Parliament said Friday that the heart of
entry talks between Turkey and the EU was not economy or strategy but
democratization.

At a joint press conference with Turkish co-Chairman Yasar Yakis at
the end of the 60th meeting of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary
Committee, co-Chairman Joost Lagendijk said that the heart of the
project to get Turkey closer to EU was democracy and higher democratic
standards.

Lagendijk referred to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks and
said that the major goal was to bring "first-class democracy" to
Turkey.

He also said that recent years witnessed less reforms in Turkey and
stated that the Union expected the Turkish government to be more
active and make more democratic reforms especially in freedom of
speech, minority rights, and military’s role in politics.

Lagendijk also said that the European Parliament welcomed Turkish
President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Armenian capital Yerevan and added
that the EU was monitoring steps for dialogue.

In his part, Turkish co-Chairman of the committee Yasar Yakis thanked
Lagendijk for his contributions to process between Turkey and EU as it
was the last meeting Lagendijk co-chaired during his committee
membership over the past seven years.

AA

EUROPEAN UNION SEES SOLUTION OF KARABAKH PROBLEM WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF
OSCE MINSK GROUP, HEAD OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION DELEGATION IN ARMENIA
SAYS

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. During the November 28 meeting with
the Head of the European Commission Delegation in Armenia, Ambassador
Raul de Lutzenberger, the speaker of the RA National Assembly Hovik
Abrahamian underlined the importance of cooperation between the
European Union and the RA National Assembly. He assured R. de
Lutzenberger that the parliament is interested in deepening the
mutually beneficial relations which will contribute to the sucessful
implementation of reforms in Armenia. He expressed a high opinion about
cooperation with the EU, the Council of Europe, the UN, the OSCE and
the NATO, which allows Armenia to make reforms successfuly and
integrate into European structures. H. Abrahamian reasserted the
political will and readiness of Armenian authorities to see Armenia as
a democratic country.

According to the RA National Assembly PR Department, H. Abrahamian also
spoke about the steps taken in the foreign policy sphere, noting that
Armenia has always been in favor of maintaining normal relations with
neighbors and is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey
without any preconditions. In connection with solution of the Karabakh
problem, he attached importance to adoption of the Mayendorf
Declaration and continuation of negotiations for the peaceful
settlement of the problem.

Raul de Lutxenberger in his turn said that the members of the European
Parliament’s Commission appreciate the relations with Armenia and the
National Assembly. In his words, the NA plays a great role in the
process of reforms in the country. He said that with the aim of
assisting Armenia with its reforms, advisors will be sent to Armenia,
including to the National Assembly.

Considering the Mayendorf Declaration as an important step for
resolutin of the Karabakh conflict, Raul de Lutzenberger noted that the
European Union welcomes the steps aimed at settling the conflict and
sees the peaceful settlement within the framework of the OSCE Minsk
group. He underlined the significance of regulating Armenian-Turkish
relations which will create new opportunities for regional development.