Author: Badalian Vardan

“AZERBAIJAN NEEDS CERTAIN GUARANTEES THAT THE KARABAKH CONFLICT WILL BE RESOLVED,”

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 8 2014

8 August 2014 – 7:40am

The signing of the official agreement concerning Armenia’s integration
into the Eurasian Union has been being postponed for almost three
months, despite the fact that the country has also met the necessary
conditions spelled out in the “road map”. There has been no official
explanation why the process of Armenia’s Eurasian integration is
taking so long. Some believe the reason is secret interference from
Azerbaijan, the unresolved status of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
criticism voiced by Kazakhstan and Belarus or internal intrigues in
Armenia itself. Russian Planet discussed the issue with the head of
the Caucasian Studies Centre of the Russian State University for the
Humanities, Ismail Agakishiyev.

– Why is the process of finalization of Armenia’s integration into
the Eurasian Economic Union taking so long? Which issues have been
left unresolved?

– The situation is very ambiguous. During the meeting of the Eurasian
Economic Union’s Supreme Council held on May 29, Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan said that the agreement concerning the country
joining the body would be signed by June 15. Then the leaders of
Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, as well as the Armenian president,
agreed to postpone it to July 1. Then another date was suggested –
July 3 (now the parties believe the agreement should be signed in late
October 2014 – Russian Planet). The reasons are twofold. First of all
there are internal debates in Armenia. In addition to that there are
some external factors. Speaking about the internal factors, I should
note that the opposition’s struggle against the Eurasian integration
project is very strong. Speaking about the foreign powers, I have to
say that Western powers, who have always been supporting president
Sargsyan’s political line, are now discontent with his choice.

Armenian experts are saying that even though Armenia is a part of
this game it does not really have a say in it. It means that Armenia
does not participate in the processes unfolding in response to its
Eurasian bid.

– Is it possible that the Eurasian Union will give up Armenia’s
interests in order to secure Azerbaijan’s membership in the body?

– It’s absolutely clear that Russian would like Azerbaijan to be
a member of the Eurasian Union. In fact, Russia is interested in
successful cooperation with Azerbaijan no matter what integration
projects are being launched in the region. Moreover, Russia is
interested in Azerbaijan more than in Armenia. The reason is
Crimea joining the Russian Federation and the economic sanctions
imposed on Russia in response to its policy towards Ukraine. Western
countries are trying to isolate Russia, and Russia has to prove that
it maintains close ties with those former Soviet republics, which
the West is interested in cooperating with as well. Azerbaijan is
indeed such a state. However, the country’s successful integration
into the Eurasian Union is hardly ever possible due to its conflict
with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku paid special attention to
Russian presidential aide Sergey Glazyev’s statement saying that Russia
understands the importance of resolution of the Karabakh conflict for
Azerbaijan’s integration into the Eurasian Union, which he made in
an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza. The remarks made by the Eurasian
Union’s unofficial envoy to Armenia, Artashes Gegamayan, at the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly held in Baku were also quite symbolic. He
said that Armenia’s decision to join the Eurasian Union is well-based
and that the country would like Azerbaijan to be a part of the body
as well. In such a case the two countries would have a chance to
resolve the existing problems, he said. This would mean that from
now on Armenians will feel comfortable in Baku and Azerbaijanis –
in Yerevan, he said. Unfortunately the Armenians believed these words
were a provocation against Armenia.

Speaking about the Eurasian Union’s possible readiness to give up
Armenia’s interests, we first of all have to identify those interests,
the interests of the country which occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven
neighbouring districts of Azerbaijan. There were reports saying that
under Russian pressure Armenia has agreed to liberate the Agdamsky,
Fizulinsky and Dzhebrailsky districts so that Azerbaijan would join
the Eurasian Union. It is unclear, however, whether Azerbaijan will
agree to such a plan or not. Some believe the territories may be
liberated after a Russian peacekeeping contingent enters the region.

Azerbaijan, however, is not certain that such a move would be
appropriate.

– Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Armenia will be
able to join the Eurasian Union only within its borders recognized
by the United Nations, which means without Karabakh, as it was during
its joining the World Trade Organization. Does this mean that Armenia
will be able to join the body only if it gives up Karabakh?

– Only the Republic of Armenia may become a lawful member of the
Customs Union or the Eurasian Union and not Nagorno-Karabakh. The whole
world recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This means
that Karabakh may join the Eurasian Union only as part of Azerbaijan
and not Armenia. However, Armenia’s integration into the body will mean
that the Union recognizes the country which has occupied Karabakh as
a legal member of the Union. That is what Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev is afraid of. What he meant is that Armenia will be able
to join the Union by July 1 if it resolves the Karabakh conflict. The
conflict is not resolved.

Speaking about the World Trade Organization, I have to note that
Armenia agreed to join the body in the borders recognized by the UN,
while Karabakh is outside those borders. This means it’s an official
precedent. The Armenians thought that the Eurasian Union would
simply ignore the Karabakh issue. In fact the Armenian authorities
were telling lies to the people, saying that they would not give up
Karabakh. I believe they are trying to secure their weakening power
by attracting Russia’s support. They are using the fact that Russia
is interested in Armenia integrating into the Eurasian Union.

– The officials say that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is not discussed
in the framework of the talks concerning Armenia’ integration into
the Eurasian Union. However, experts believe that it is the Karabakh
conflict which, among other issues, prevents a successful finalization
of this process. One of the proofs is that Armenian officials regularly
pay visits to the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. Do you believe that
it is Karabakh which is causing such a delay?

– I am absolutely certain. It is clear, however, that neither the
Customs Union nor the Eurasian Union are capable of resolving this
conflict either in the interests of Armenia or in the interests of
Azerbaijan. Still, recent visits to Baku by Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Speaker of
the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin show that bilateral relations have
intensified substantially. It means that no moves can be made without
coordination with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan needs certain guarantees
that the Karabakh conflict will be resolved. Only in such a case will
Azerbaijan be able to join such a large-scale economic project.

WHEN OBAMA TALKS ABOUT IRAQ, HIS USE OF THE WORD ‘GENOCIDE’ IS VITAL

Washington Post
Aug 8 2014

As he made a statement on the Iraq crisis and U.S. decision to
militarily intervene on Thursday, President Obama made two references
to “genocide.”

There are few words that cause more horrifying memories and provoke
stronger reactions. Politicians usually use “genocide” with caution.

Obama, however, was unequivocal: “[Islamic State] forces have called
for the systematic destruction of the entire Yazidi people, which
would constitute genocide.” He went on to say: “We can act, carefully
and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide.”

At the beginning of this week, the Yazidis were unknown in many parts
of the world. Now, they they appear to have redefined Obama’s Iraq
policy. The term “genocide” seems to have changed everything. How
could one word have such power?

‘Genocide’ and its origins

“Genocide” became a common notion at the end of World War II which
explains a lot about the nature of the word itself: The atrocities
committed by the Nazis had created the necessity to find a new word
capable of describing horrors of previously unknown scale. “Genocide”
is composed of two words: “genos” (which is Greek and means race)
and “cide” (which can be translated as: to kill). It found its
first notable mention in the 1945 military tribunal in Germany which
convicted top Nazi criminals. Shortly afterward, in 1946, genocide
was officially banned under international law by the United Nations,
which had been established as an organization a year earlier.

The United Nations defines it as:

… any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,
as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, the U.N. requires its members to
prevent and punish acts of genocides.

Genocides occurred before the word for it was even coined. In 1915,
during World War I, approximately 1,5 million Armenians were killed by
Turks as the decline of the Ottoman Empire progressed. Earlier this
year, current Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed
condolence for the first time — at least partially — for the killings
that happened almost a century ago. The Armenian killings are generally
considered to be the first genocide in recent history.

A troubled history

Genocides may be planned long in advance, but they often move very
fast once they begin. When the international community takes notice
the killings are already underway. For example, between 1992 and 1995,
some 100,000 people were killed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It took NATO
two years to intervene.

Around that time, an even larger genocide emerged in Africa which was
initially dismissed as a civil war. After just 100 days about 800,000
Rwandans (most of them belonging to the Tutsi minority) had lost their
lives while the international community was unsure of how to respond.

U.N. peacekeepers in the country when the fighting began were actually
forced to withdraw as violence spread. The United States was one
nation that avoided military intervention in the genocide, in part
due to the recent “Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia in which a U.S.

helicopter was brought down by militants. The Rwanda killings were
only recognized as genocide after the fact.

These two tragedies were key in pushing the international community to
take genocide prevention seriously. However, even after learning the
lessons from these two infamous events, the word “genocide” can still
be fraught. It took months of investigation and discussion within the
State Department before Secretary of State Colin Powell would say in
2004 the killings in the Darfur region of Sudan amounted to genocide.

Even then, the Sudanese government and others argued that the United
States should not have labeled it so before an inquiry,

A balancing act

Last year, Alex de Waal, the executive director of the World Peace
Foundation, warned that the mislabeling of genocide to any situation
of ethnic tensions and governmental breakdown will make it “lose
its analytic power and its special moral force.” In other words:
It needs to be used with caution.

The current catastrophe on the peaks of Mount Sinjar where 40,000
mostly Kurdish-speaking Yazidis are certainly has characteristics
of genocide. According to the U.N., one of the indications is that
the killings are directed against one group with the aim “to bring
about its physical destruction.” Islamic State, the al-Qaeda-inspired
group that is advancing toward the Kurdish city of Irbil, provoking
the current U.S. airstrikes, has justified its planned slaughter
by claiming that the Yazidis are “devil-worshipers.” The Yazidis
are unable to defend themselves. Being trapped on a mountain, the
targeted group would be either doomed to die from hunger and thirst
or execution by Islamic State militants.

The United States has the capabilities to intervene in this rapidly
escalating situation and it was asked to do so by Iraq’s government.

Plus, the United States is a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention,
and is thus committed to preventing and punishing genocide.

By uttering the word “genocide” Obama provided the moral weight
needed to support another military intervention in Iraq. Polls show
intervention in Iraq to be unpopular – but almost 70 percent of
respondents from one 2012 poll say U.S. troops should be deployed
abroad if only they can stop genocide.

Rick Noack writes about foreign affairs. He is an Arthur F. Burns
Fellow at the Washington Post.

Foreign Policy: Ilham Aliyev is sabre-rattling in Twitter; peaceful
talks might require more than Russian efforts

18:18 09/08/2014 >> REGION

One day after President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan threatened war with
neighboring Armenia via Twitter, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry issued
a statement saying that the country is prepared for war in
Nagorno-Karabakh, writes Washington-based journalist Reid Standish in
his Foreign Policy blog.

The article notes that exchanges of sniper shots at border are common
but the recent fighting has raised the stakes. Ilham Aliyev visited
the frontlines and the next day launched a sabre-rattling Twitter
tirade, announcing Azerbaijan’s preparedness for war.

The author notes that the conflict started when Nagorno-Karabakh, home
to a large ethnic Armenian population was included into Soviet
Azerbaijan. In 1988, the Armenians of Karabakh, encouraged by the
support of Yerevan, demanded unification with Soviet Armenia. After
Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh declared unification a war broke out.
Following the 1994 cease-fire Armenia was able to hold control over
Nagorno-Karabakh, while following its defeat Azerbaijan launched an
arms race to break Armenia’s economy.

With tensions high after the recent clashes, both Russia and the
United States have made calls for calm along the border and for
reviving the OSCE Minsk Group process. Russian President Vladimir
Putin has set up meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
in a bid to broker a cease-fire.

“But a lasting solution will require more than just Russian pressure.
Moreover, with U.S.-Russia relations at an all-time low, international
cooperation on Nagorno Karabakh looks confined to the trenches for the
immediate future,” the author writes.

Source: Panorama.am

Yerevan: It is not too late for the international community to stop
Ailham Aliyev and to bring him back to reality

by Tatevik Shahunyan
Saturday, August 9, 16:09

Leading to a deadlock the negotiation process through his destructive
policy, acting contrary to the documents signed and commitments made
by himself, by racist statements based on primitive world view, making
his country a synonym for blossoming corruption and authoritarianism
in the international arena, and just recently failing in military
operations which were a result of the subversive acts planned by
himself, the head of Azerbaijan is unsuccessfully attempting to strut
in social networks, where he is getting an adequate response, Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharian says in his
comment on the latest statements by the Azerbaijani President.

“Aliyev-junior is taking vengeance on his own people, further
toughening the freedom of speech limitations, repressions of the
activists of civil society. He continues the cynical heroization of
the killers of a man in his sleep, torture to death the strayed
villagers. The most notorious tyrants known to history emerged in
such an atmosphere, with all its well-known consequences. Yet it is
not too late for the international community to stop him and bring him
back to reality. We are ready not only to impose peace on our
riderless neighbor, but also continue to take active part in the
process of bringing him back to reality,” Kocharyan says.

Author of Stone Dreams goes from Azerbaijan to Turkey

by David Stepanyan
Saturday, August 9, 16:10

Akram Aylisli, whose Stone Dreams novella has caused scandal and
anti-Armenian hysteria in Azerbaijan, has gone from Azerbaijan to
Turkey.

According to AzVision.az, the writer is currently in Marmaris. He has
not yet explained why he has left Azerbaijan.

Aylisli is an Azerbaijani writer, novelist and former member of
parliament. His works have been translated from his native Azerbaijani
into a number of languages in the former Soviet Union and around the
world. He was decorated by the President of Azerbaijan with the
prestigious Istiglal (2002) and Shokhrat orders.

In 2013, after the publication of Aylisli’s Stone Dreams novella,
which depicted the pogroms carried out by Azerbaijanis against the
Armenians in Sumgait and Baku and presented Armenians in sympathetic
light, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree that
stripped Aylisli of the title of People’s Writer and the presidential
pension. His books were burnt by Azerbaijani intelligentsia and
compatriots in his hometown.

In March 2014, a formal request was made by various public figures
throughout the world to nominate Aylisli for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Diaspora-Armenians willing to join border defense operations -official

14:40 * 09.08.14

In an interview with Tert.am, a Defense Ministry official said that
many Armenians from diaspora communities have expressed willingness to
join the defense operations on frontlines of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh amid the continuing armed tension.

Major-General Vardan Avetisyan, who heads the Ministry’s Public
Relations Department, said many now look forward to a decision or
permission to travel to Armenia.

“Most different specialists have applied, naturally for heading to the
frontline; the volunteers are first of all participants of the
[Karabakh] liberation war. Narrow specialists – mainly from the
technology, communications and IT sector – have applied to us.
Thousands of our compatriots from the Diaspora too, have expressed
willingness to visit Armenia to head to the frontline. They only wait
for a corresponding decision or permission to arrive in their
homeland,” he said, noting that the national armed forces are not now
in an urgent need for replenishment.

Avetisyan considered the expression of such willingness an encouraging
factor and a good moral support for the Armenian soldier.

“The commander and soldier standing on the frontline receives an
unimaginable power from our compatriots’ willingness to be next to
them. The mere realization of the fact that an Armenian living in
another part of the world is ready to leave his family, work and warm
cornet to stand by the soldier in the trenches makes our servicemen
enthusiastic,” he added.

Hraparak: Arthur Baghdasaryan revitalizes Yerevan TV

Saturday, August 09, 2014

Hraparak’ paper writes that ex-secretary of Armenia’s National
Security Council, leader of Orinats Yerkir Party (OEK) Arthur
Baghdasaryan has completely devoted himself to the revitalization of
Yerevan TV Company that belongs to him.

“He invested much money to cause a sensation in the new television
season and pave the way for opposition propaganda. Famous publicist
Karine Hakobyan already accepted a job offer. She will be responsible
for the social and political section. But not everyone agrees to link
their names with OEK Party that lost its authority, many reject an
offer to cooperate,” the paper says.

TODAY, 12:08
Aysor.am

AZERIS HAVE THE ARMENIAN VILLAGERS TCHINARI AS A MEMBER OF A MILITARY COMMANDO

Azerbaijani press has released images of Karen Petrosyan, a resident
of border village of Tchinari (Tavush region) fell to the Azeris.

“Baku APA” says its forces killed four members of an Armenian commando
and taken prisoner Karen Petrossian who was sporting a military uniform
for the purposes of the photo. The Armenian Defense Ministry has denied
this information, and asks “where are the bodies?”. It would he said
that a new campaign of disinformation and propaganda of Azerbaijanis
who seek to raise the morale of their troops after losing at least
15 of their soldiers on the ground to the Armenian military last week.

Baku states also have captured the Armenian commando a large quantity
of weapons. Tchinari villagers say their side that the Armenian
prisoner is not a military, but a young drunk who had gone astray.

Azeri media add that Karen Petrossian apologized to Azerbaijani
President Aliyev and their and wants to return to Armenia.

Krikor Amirzayan

Friday, August 8, 2014, Krikor Amirzayan © armenews.com

LE PARLEMENT REJETTE LE PROJET DE LOI DE L’OPPOSITION REDIGE SUR L’ABOLITION DES VOTES >

ARMENIE

Les legislateurs armeniens ont vote mercredi avec 53 pour et 66
contre et trois abstentions, pour le rejet d’un projet de loi pour
l’abolition des elections legislatives tenues dans le cadre du système
dit majoritaire.

L’Assemblee nationale d’Armenie d’aujourd’hui, composee de 131 membres,
est formee par deux types de bulletins de vote – ceux dans lesquels les
candidats individuels, avec ou sans affiliation a un parti sont elus
dans des circonscriptions uninominales, ou dans le cadre du système
dit > de la representation (un total de 41 postes)
et ceux qui sont detenus dans le cadre du système de la representation
proportionnelle ou par des listes de parti (90 membres).

Le vote a la majorite a longtemps ete la cible de critiques par les
principaux partis d’opposition d’Armenie qui considèrent ce type
d’election comme un obstacle a un veritable processus politique car
les campagnes dans les circonscriptions uninominales sont rarement
politiques. Ils les considèrent aussi comme un outil pour le parti
au pouvoir pour assurer sa majorite, meme si ils ne parviennent pas
a gagner les elections via le vote par listes.

Les partisans du vote majoritaire, au contraire, soutiennent qu’en
l’absence d’un parlement bicameral en Armenie les circonscriptions
uninominales assurent la representation de tous les electeurs et des
regions et un lien direct entre les electeurs et leurs representants
elus.

Seuls les membres du Parti Republicain d’Armenie ont vote contre
le projet de loi presente par le parti d’opposition la Federation
revolutionnaire armenienne (FRA).

vendredi 8 août 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

ARMENIAN PM: 25 KILLED AZERI SOLDIERS ARE NOT A COINCIDENCE

ARMINFO
Thursday, August 7, 21:27

25 killed Azeri soldiers are not a coincidence but a proof of panic in
Azerbaijan, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan told journalists
on Thursday.

“We clearly see that panic. It has been caused by our response to
their encroachments. In fact, the Azeris’ plan to cause panic in
Armnenia and Nagorno-Karabakh has failed. All they were able to do
was to create tensions on the contact line. But they did it at the
expense of the lives of their own soldiers. Unfortunately, we have
also lost men but as a result they in Azerbaijan have seen that they
can do nothing against our armies. I am sure that we must move towards
peace as tensions will give us nothing good,” Abrahamyan said.

He said that he recently visited Tavush and will shortly visit
Nagorno- Karabakh. “We are not afraid of the threats of the Azeri
authorities. Our soldiers are strongly committed to rebuff any of
their attacks while the people living in our borderline villages are
ready to defend their homes,” the Armenian Prime Minister said.