Author: Badalian Vardan

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Oct 15 2012

Turkish minister: Syria-Bound Armenian plane landed voluntarily

Trabzon, 15 October: Turkish transport minister has said the pilot of
a Syria-bound Armenian plane that landed Monday in Turkey had grounded
the aircraft voluntarily as Turkish authorities continued searching
the plane’s cargo.

“A plane which took off from Armenia had made a ‘technical landing’
which means that the pilot requested on his own will a permission to
land,” Binali Yildirim told reporters in the northern province of
Trabzon.

Turkish diplomatic sources said Air Armenia Airlines filed last week
on Wednesday a request to use the Turkish airspace, and that Turkey
had granted the Armenian plane the permission only on the condition
that Turkish authorities searched the cargo.

Sources added that the grounding of the plane was a routine procedure
and it complied with the 1944 Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation.

Sources said Armenian officials had declared that the cargo of the
Antonov 12 plane of the Air Armenia Airlines included humanitarian aid
and food stuffs.

“We have barred all Syrian-flagged aircraft to use Turkish airspace.
Our decision is aimed at preventing more civilian casualties in the
civil war in Syria. We will not let our airspace be used for
activities that could lead to the death of civilians,” Yildirim said.

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 16 2012

Armenian Humanitarian Aircraft Lands in Aleppo

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

An Armenian aircraft carrying humanitarian aid for Syria has landed in
the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo, the Armenian Foreign Ministry
said.
On Monday Air Armenia’s aircraft landed at Erzurum Airport in Turkey’s
east to be searched by Turkish authorities. Ankara said it was a
routine landing in line with reached agreements.

The Turkish authorities had granted permission for the flight over its
territory on condition it was inspected at Erzurum. After that, the
transport plane continued its flight onward to Aleppo.

Syria is home to a large Armenian diaspora community of around
80-100,000 people, of which 50-60,000 live in Aleppo.
The plane was carrying sunflower oil, jam, peas, caviar, rice, sugar,
flour and macaroni, Turkish website Airporthaber said.

Relations between Armenia and Turkey have been tense over a number of
issues, including the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in
1915-23 and Turkey’s attempts at its denial.

Relations between Turkey and Syria aggravated in early October, when
artillery fire from Syria killed five and injured 11 people in Turkey.
On October 10, Turkish F-16 fighter jets forced a Syrian A320 on a
Moscow-Damascus flight to land at an airport in Turkey, after which it
was searched for several hours. The Turkish authorities removed 12
boxes of cargo, which media reports quoted the authorities as saying
contained electronic components for air defense radar systems.

Russia denied having sent any weapons or military equipment on that flight.

The Baltic Course
Oct 16 2012

Estonian citizens can travel to Armenia visa-free

Juhan Tere, BC, Tallinn, 16.10.2012.Print version

As of January 10, 2013, Estonian citizens will be able to travel to
Armenia for tourism and business and remain there for up to three
months within a six-month period without a visa, Estonian Foreign
Ministry said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that a visa waiver will give a
boost to Estonia-Armenia relations and the development of contacts
among people.

Foreign Minister Paet added that it is also essential that progress be
made in achieving EU visa facilitation for Armenia, which is one of
the European Union’s Eastern Partners.

Paet also emphasised that the Foreign Ministry will continue to work
actively in order to increase the number of countries that Estonians
can travel to visa-free.

`Recently we achieved a visa waiver for Estonian citizens travelling
to Brazil and we are currently holding negotiations with many other
countries. For example, we would like to achieve a visa waiver with
Thailand,’ he noted.

Mediamax, Armenia
Oct 16 2012

Armenian President to take part in EPP Congress

EPP Chairman Wilfried Martens and Serzh Sargsyan

Yerevan. October 16. /Mediamax/. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
will leave for Bucharest tomorrow to take part in the Congress of the
European People’s Party (EPP).

Mediamax recalls that in June 2012 Armenian President took part in EPP
Summit in Brussels and held meetings the Chairman of EPP Wilfried
Martens and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy Catherine Ashton.

CNN.com
October 15, 2012 Monday 2:36 PM EST

Turkey allows cargo to depart after Armenian plane searched

By Ivan Watson and Gul Tuysuz, CNN
Istanbul

For the second time in a week, Turkish officials searched a civilian
airplane headed to Syria in what appears to be the enforcement of a
new Turkish air blockade against the Syrian government.

Armenian and Turkish diplomats confirmed to CNN that an Armenian cargo
plane destined for the battle-scarred Syrian city of Aleppo stopped
first in the Turkish city of Erzurum for an inspection of its cargo
Monday morning.

Also on Monday, the European Union added to Syria’s growing isolation
by announcing a 19th round of sanctions against the regime. One of the
punitive measures bans Syrian Arab Airlines planes from all European
Union airports.

“This comes in addition to an existing ban on Syrian cargo flights,”
the EU Council announced in a news release.

The Armenian cargo was eventually allowed to fly on to Syria after
remaining grounded and searched in Turkey for at least five hours.

Read more: Report: Turkey diverting civilian planes to avoid Syrian airspace

Unlike last week’s unexpected grounding of a Syrian passenger plane
flying from Moscow to Damascus, the inspection of the Armenian
airplane appeared to have been agreed upon ahead of time by Armenian
and Turkish authorities.

“The plane is transporting humanitarian aid to Syria and its stop in
Turkey was planned,” Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran
Balayan wrote in an e-mail to CNN before the cargo was allowed to
leave.

“An Armenian civilian cargo aircraft requested overflight permission
from Yerevan to Aleppo,” explained Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry.

“We provided a license for use of our airspace provided they first
make a ‘technical landing.’ ”

Read more: Turkey to Syria: Don’t send arms through our air space

“We are exercising our sovereign right,” Unal added.

Last Wednesday, Turkey made a conspicuous show of force, dispatching
F-16 warplanes to escort the Syrian passenger plane headed from Moscow
to Damascus to an unplanned stop in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

After a search of the aircraft, Turkish authorities confiscated an
unspecified number of items in the plane’s cargo hold that officials
said were being shipped to Syria’s Ministry of Defense.

The Turkish government says it is a violation of international and
Turkish law to transport military materials on civilian planes.

The embattled Syrian government denounced the grounding of the
aircraft, calling the incident an example of “air piracy.”

On Monday, Turkey’s prime minister defended the decision to confiscate
cargo from the Syrian plane.

“These containers that have been taken off the plane, the sender
company is KBP Instrumental Design Bureau,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan
announced in a live television broadcast. “The receiver? The Syrian
National Defence Ministry. This material that we confiscated is
without a doubt military equipment. Calling it radar equipment or some
other type of equipment is a deflection.”

The English-language website for KBP Instrumental Design Bureau
describes it as a “developer and manufacturer of high-precision
weapons.” Headquartered in Tula, Russia, the company advertises itself
as a manufacturer of rocket systems, tanks, artillery, and short-range
air defense systems.

In the wake of the search and confiscation of the Syrian plane cargo,
both Turkey and Syria have closed their airspace to each others’
aircraft.

Read more: New Syrian flashpoint erupts; Turkey releases Syrian plane

The once intimate relationship between the Turkish and Syrian
governments is one of the many casualties of the Syrian civil war.
Since Syrian security forces first began attacking anti-government
protests in March 2011, Turkey and Syria have gone from lifting visa
restrictions on each other’s citizens and holding joint Cabinet
meetings to routinely denouncing each other.

Turkey’s prime minister has backed the Syrian opposition and provided
a staging ground for rebels, while repeatedly calling on Syria’s
president to step down.

Read more: U.N. still has no plan for Syria

Damascus has accused the Turkish government of arming and funding “terrorists.”

Both countries have frozen diplomatic ties. This month, escalating
tensions flared yet again, when Syrian artillery killed two women and
three children in the Turkish border town of Akcakale. Since then,
Turkey and Syria have repeatedly engaged in artillery duels along the
900-kilometer (560-mile) border dividing the two countries.

On Monday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry announced more than 100,000
refugees had now fled Syria to take shelter in Turkish refugee camps.

But over the weekend, a new kind of “refugee” fled to Turkey.

Read more: Syria’s attack on Turkish plane could ignite conflict

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry confirmed to CNN Turkish media reports that
at least 12 Syrian soldiers, running away from clashes with Syrian
rebels, escaped across the border and surrendered to Turkish border
guards.

“They swam through the Orontes River,” said a Turkish government
official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized
to discuss border security with the media. The Orontes makes up part
of the border between Turkey and Syria.

“Some of the soldiers are wounded and are being treated in hospital.
They left their weapons in Syria,” the Turkish official continued.

Unlike thousands of other soldiers and officers who have defected from
the Syrian armed forces throughout the 19-month conflict, the Turkish
official said the 12 new arrivals did not appear to be deserting the
military.

“They wanted to escape from the fighting,” he said, adding that the 12
Syrian troops were being kept at a separate location from other camps
housing refugees and defectors.

Interfax, Russia
Oct 15 2012

Turkish authorities force Armenian plane to land, search begins (Part 2)

Turkish authorities have forced an Armenian plane to land in Erzurum,
the NTV Turkish channel reports.

The plane, which was flying to Aleppo, Syria, is being searched.

The plane landed in the airport in eastern Turkey at 11:30 a.m. local
time 12:30 p.m. Moscow time) on Monday.

No details are available as yet.

Turkish fighter jets forced a Syrian plane flying from Moscow to
Damascus to land in Ankara last week. Various sources estimated the
number of passengers from 25 to 35, among them 17 Russians.

The Turkish media said the search of the plane revealed communication
equipment, radios and jamming devices. The equipment was seized and
the plane was permitted to continue its flight.

It was reported last week that the Russian sender of the cargo
transported by the Syrian plane and detained by Turkey would demand
the cargo’s return because the shipping documents and the cargo
parameters were legal.

te jv

ITAR-TASS, Russia
October 15, 2012 Monday 03:35 PM GMT+4

Air Armenia plane landing in Turkey coordinated with Yerevan – FM

YEREVAN October 15

Air Armenia aircraft, which flew to Syria, made a landing in Turkey’s
Erzurum as was previously agreed with Yerevan, Armenian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Tigran Balaian said on Monday.

The landing in Turkey was not a surprise for Armenia. “The landing of
the aircraft, carrying humanitarian cargoes to the Syrian city of
Aleppo, was made routinely and as previously agreed,” the Armenian
diplomat said.

The An-12 Armenian aircraft, which made the Yerevan-Aleppo flight, has
landed in the Turkish city of Erzurum, Air Armenia director Arsen
Avetisyan said.

He said Turkey circulated reports in mass media that it had forced the
Armenian aircraft to make a landing.

Despite the 330-long km common border, Armenia and Turkey have not
established diplomatic relations yet. Ankara demands Yerevan give up
its position on the genocide of Armenians in 1915 and on support for
Nagorno-Karabakh in the conflict with Azerbaijan.

Entertainment Close-Up
October 15, 2012 Monday

Synopsys Recaps International Microelectronics Olympiad of Armenia

Synopsys announced that the final stage of the Seventh Annual
International Microelectronics Olympiad of Armenia took place at the
Synopsys Armenia Education Department, with competitors winning 23
prizes in ten categories.

According to a release, this year’s competition was held in
conjunction with Synopsys Week in Armenia 2012. It reflected the
diversity of participants from 14 countries: Armenia, Belarus, China,
Egypt, Germany, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia,
UAE, Ukraine and the USA. Out of the 418 competitors in the Olympiad,
191 were from Armenian universities and IT companies and 227 were from
international universities and organizations.

The Olympiad highlights some of the brightest, most talented engineers
under the age of 30. Olympiad topics for 2012 included Digital IC
Design and Test, Analog and Mixed-Signal IC Design and Test,
Semiconductor Devices and Technology, and Mathematic and Algorithmic
Issues of Electronic Design Automation.

The competition was conducted in two stages. The first stage, held in
the participants’ countries during September, involved a test to
establish a baseline. The second stage involved a challenging contest
consisting of advanced engineering tasks requiring complex solutions.
Of 418 participants in the first stage, 34 were qualified to progress
to the second stage, which was held on Oct. 4 in Yerevan at the SAED.
Of these 34 contestants, 14 were from Yerevan, four were from Gyumri,
Armenia and 16 were from a variety of other countries.

This year the event was held in cooperation with the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers Test Technology Technical
Council. The general organizer and sponsor of the Olympiad is Synopsys
Armenia CJSC. VivaCell-MTS is also a general sponsor of the Olympiad.
The Olympiad is also sponsored by Arminco CJSC, Enterprise Incubator
Foundation, INGO Armenia ICJSC, Microsoft Armenia, Partner, Unicomp
CJSC, Union of Information Technology Enterprises, Union of
Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia and Viasphere Technopark. The
information sponsors are ARKA Agency, Business Express Weekly,
ECOnomika Magazine, Public Radio of Armenia, Yerkir Media TV and 168
Hours Daily.

The winners of the Seventh Annual International Microelectronics
Olympiad of Armenia were awarded with prizes at the Synopsys Gala
Evening held on Oct. 4 at the Komitas Chamber Music Hall in Yerevan.

The winners are:

-First prize Notebook computer from VivaCell-MTS went to Tianyu Ma (China)

-Second prize iPad from Synopsys Armenia went to Mahmoud Hamdy Ibrahim
Ouda (Saudi Arabia)

-Third prize Netbook from Enterprise Incubator Foundation went to
Vache Galstyan (Armenia)

-Third prize Netbook from Unicomp CJSC went to Benjamin Alexander La
Riviere (USA)

-Best Engineering Solution prize from Viasphere Technopark went to
Vardan Grigoryants (Armenia)

-Best Out-of-the-Box Solution prize from Microsoft Armenia went to
Reza Asadpour (Malaysia)

-Most Creative Solution prize from Union of Information Technology
Enterprises went to Samvel Antanyan (Armenia)

-Best Female Participant prize from Partner went to Nelly Khachatryan (Armenia)

-Youngest Participant prize from Arminco CJSC went to Grigor Hakobyan (Armenia)

-Best Result among Participants from Gyumri prize from Union of
Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia went to Khoren Tigranyan
(Armenia)

-Best Result from each Country prize from Olympiad Organizing
Committee and INGO Armenia ICJSC went to Vitaly Gavrilyuk (Belarus),
Tianyu Ma (China), Arjun Singhal (Germany), Nikhil Sudhir Upadhyay
(India), Anas Majdi Dahabra (Jordan), Reza Asadpour (Malaysia), Taylan
Daribaev (Russia), Mahmoud Hamdy Ibrahim Ouda (Saudi Arabia), Jelena
Zdravkovic (Serbia), Hebatalla Salah Abdulkarim A Alhamadani (UAE),
Volodymyr Miz (Ukraine), Benjamin Alexander La Riviere (USA)

“Now in its seventh year, the International Microelectronics Olympiad
continues its impressive momentum. Three years ago, the Olympiad took
its first tentative steps toward internationalization, with the
participation of students from Russia and Ukraine. This year, the
Olympiad attracted contestants from 14 countries. Thanks to the
generous sponsorship of our partner VivaCell-MTS, the opportunity to
travel to Yerevan to participate in the Olympiad is proving to be a
very attractive proposition around the world, and is creating an event
in this field that is unprecedented,” said Rich Goldman, president of
the organizing committee of the Olympiad, CEO of Synopsys Armenia
CSJC, and vice president of corporate marketing and strategic
alliances at Synopsys. “This year’s recognition from IEEE, the world’s
most respected professional engineering society, signifies the high
global regard in which the Olympiad is held. The Olympiad also
benefits Armenia by providing an impetus to showcase the country’s
developing role as a regional center for microelectronics, and it
serves as a strong basis for developing beneficial relationships for
Armenia around the world.”

“The quality of education in Armenia will define our future it is
essential to boosting the country’s competitive advantage,” said Ralph
Yirikian, general manager of VivaCell-MTS, the general sponsor of the
Olympiad. “Initiatives such as these need to be strongly encouraged.
As Armenia’s leading mobile operator and a corporate citizen,
VivaCell-MTS recognizes the importance of supporting initiatives that
lead young people to great discoveries and encourage creativity.”

“The increasing participation and support over the years of the
Olympiad of Armenia indicate that it indeed serves its main objectives
to stimulate further development of microelectronics in the region and
to increase the level of knowledge of the Olympiad participants,” said
Vazgen Melikyan, president of the program committee of the Olympiad
and director of SAED.

Synopsys is a provider of electronic design automation and semiconductor IC.

Agence France Presse
October 15, 2012 Monday 7:03 PM GMT

Ankara insists intercepted Syrian plane carried “war equipment”

ANKARA, Oct 15 2012

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Monday that
the cargo Ankara confiscated from an intercepted Syrian plane
contained weapons, shrugging off Russian claims that the plane carried
legal radar equipment.

“It is beyond any doubt that the cargo is war equipment,” Erdogan told
reporters in Ankara.

The Syrian Air passenger plane en route from Moscow to Damascus was
forced by Turkish jets to land in Ankara last Wednesday, reportedly
upon intelligence that the civilian plane carried military cargo.

After grounding the plane for nine hours, Ankara announced it seized
“objectionable” cargo aboard the plane, triggering a furious reaction
from Damascus and its main ally, Moscow.

“There is no point in diverting and saying it is radar equipment,”
said Erdogan, in an apparent reference to Russia’s claims that the
plane carried dual-purpose radar equipment which it said was not
banned by international conventions.

“Radar equipment functions as war equipment anyway,” he added.

Damascus denied the aircraft had any illegal load, challenging Ankara
to display the cargo it seized and asking for the return of the
confiscated goods.

The premier also clarified that he ordered authorities to close
Turkish airspace to Syrian flights “immediately after” Wednesday’s
interception.

“I also gave my orders to Turkish Airlines not to use Syrian airspace
for civil aviation, and asked them to notify others,” Erdogan said.

In return, Syria announced it was banning Turkish planes from its
airspace, effective from Saturday midnight, “in accordance with the
principle of reciprocity,” according to SANA state news agency.

Turkey’s ban on Syrian flights was first publicised by Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday, who said the ban went into effect
a day before.

Last Thursday, Erdogan said the cargo was military equipment being
shipped from a Russian producer to the Syrian Defence Ministry, in
breach of rules of civil aviation.

Ankara has taken an increasingly strident line towards its southern
neighbour since a shell fired from the Syrian side of the border
killed five Turks on October 3.

It has since repeatedly retaliated for cross-border fire, prompting
growing UN concern and a flurry of diplomatic contacts.

Earlier on Monday, Ankara ordered an Armenian humanitarian aid plane
headed for Syria’s Aleppo to land for routine security checks. The
plane resumed its journey through Turkish airspace later Monday after
it got Ankara’s clearance.

Agence France Presse
October 15, 2012 Monday 2:46 PM GMT

Armenian plane allowed to take off after security check: official

ANKARA, Oct 15 2012

Turkey gave the greenlight on Monday for the departure of an Armenian
plane to Syria’s battered second city of Aleppo after ordering it to
land for a routine security check, officials said.

Officials said no suspect cargo turned up during the stop in eastern
Erzurum city, unlike last week when Turkey forced a Damascus bound
Syrian civlian flight from Moscow to land in Ankara, sparking tension
with Russia and Syria.

“The plane’s cargo was loaded back. Its doors were closed… The plane
will take off in about an hour,” Ozgur Arslan, deputy governor of
Erzurum province in eastern Turkey, told Anatolia news agency.

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc earlier said the plane was
allowed to resume its journey after the inspection.

“We know a plane from Armenia was forced to land in (eastern) Erzurum
city… but it was allowed to resume its journey,” the state news
agency quoted Arinc as saying.

Arinc said that the cargo on the plane matched the manifest handed in
by the crew prior to the flight but the security check showed “how
well Turkey performed its duty.”

The Air Armenia cargo plane was required to stop over in Turkey for
routine security checks on its cargo in line with regulations
concerning non-scheduled flights, a foreign ministry official said
earlier.

Armenia confirmed that the landing of the plane, which both countries
said was carrying humanitarian aid, was pre-arranged.

The incident came just days after Turkey forced a Syrian plane flying
in from Russia to land at Ankara airport because of what it called
suspect cargo, triggering a row with Moscow and Damascus.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the cargo contained military
equipment for the Syrian defence ministry, but Russia said it was
dual-purpose radar equipment which was not banned by international
conventions.

Turkey and Syria closed their airspaces to each other’s civilian
flights at the weekend.

The Armenian plane was carrying aid as part of a campaign called “Help
a Brother”, one of its organisers said.

“The humanitarian cargo included foodstuffs like buckwheat, rice,
sugar, pasta and so on,” Vahan Hovannisian, a lawmaker from the
nationalist Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party, told AFP.

There is a small Armenian community in Syria — between 60,000 and
100,000 people, according to estimates — most of whom live in Aleppo.

Armenia also has close ties with Syria’s major ally Russia while its
relations with Turkey have long been strained.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been
closed for more than a decade.

Ankara has taken an increasingly strident line towards the regime in
Damascus since a shell fired from the Syrian side of the border killed
five Turkish civilians on October 3.

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