Author: Badalian Vardan

EurasiaNet.org, NY
Aug 21 2012

Azerbaijan: Video Game Revisits Nagorno-Karabakh War

August 21, 2012 – 2:01pm, by Nino Gojiashvili

Just over 20 years ago, during the spring of 1992, Armenian forces
captured the city of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh, marking the turning
point in the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan for control
of the territory.

Today, youngsters in Azerbaijan have the opportunity to alter history
via a video game called `Under Occupation.’ The objective is to
recapture Shusha from Armenian forces. Gamers assume the role of an
Azerbaijani soldier who engages in virtual firefights with Armenian
soldiers in house-to-house combat. The game is the brainchild of Farid
Hagverdiev, a 19-year-old student at Baku’s State Oil Academy.

Hagverdiev based Under Occupation on popular first-person,
shoot-`em-up games, such as Call of Duty and Counter-Strike. Working
with a team of developers recruited from among his classmates at the
oil academy, he said the game took two years to go from rough concept
to finished product. Hagverdiev added that the development team relied
on self-financing (with generous parental subsidies), used home
computers, and relied on a trial-and-error creative process. It is
reportedly the first video game developed solely by Azerbaijani
citizens.

Hagverdiev acknowledged that the motivation for developing the game
went beyond a simple desire to entertain. There was also a political
element to the project. `By creating the game we wanted to support the
patriotic spirit in our youth, which I hope we accomplished
successfully,’ he told EurasiaNet.org. The game, which can be
downloaded for free, has gotten a successful reception from
Azerbaijani gamers.

While the video game may have been an independent initiative,
government officials have latched onto it, viewing it as a means of
raising awareness about the Nagorno-Karabakh issue among Azerbaijani
young people, and of mobilizing support for ongoing governmental
efforts to recover the territory.

In a sign that the game enjoys the full approval of President Ilham
Aliyev’s administration, the Ministry of Youth and Sports organized a
formal presentation of Under Occupation. The event, which occurred
earlier this summer, was held at the Hyatt Regency, one of Baku’s
swankiest hotels.

Talks on a political settlement for Nagorno-Karabakh have long been
stalemated. In recent years, Azerbaijani rhetoric concerning the
territory has grown increasingly bellicose. The video game dovetails
with the government’s effort to keep the patriotic mood at a slow
boil.

Under Occupation is not for the faint of heart: there’s lots of
killing and computer-generated gore. To a great extent, it’s a
celebration of violence: to advance, players must handle a variety of
tasks, including shooting lots of Armenian enemies, rescuing a wounded
Azerbaijani soldier, retrieving a document and blowing up a building
in the town of Shusha.

The game’s scenery closely resembles to Shusha’s actual appearance.
Prominent landmarks, including the House of Culture, the Govhar Agha
Mosque, Vafig Mausoleum and the city gate, all make an appearance.
Although born after the city’s capture by Armenian troops, and the
subsequent expulsion of Azerbaijani residents, Hagverdiev managed to
recreate the city by relying on old photographs.

Whether or not the video game can have a tangible effect on the
Karabakh peace process is the subject of debate. Some experts doubt
that a video game can cause a substantive spike in aggressive
sentiment in Azerbaijan. `Not enough research is available to suggest
that shooter games promote any more active hostility than the current
events themselves,’ said Tom Parker, a former policy director at
Amnesty International.

Hagverdiev and his fellow developers, meanwhile, are now contemplating
a new game-related venture, one that would aim to make them some
money. `We’re graduating college soon, and we do not wish to mooch off
our parents forever,’ he said.

RusData Dialine – BizEkon News, Russia
August 20, 2012 Monday

Ukraine could have supplied arms to Armenia

by: Konstantin Prigozhev
Nezavisimaya Gazeta

Ukrainian officials have denied reports that Ukraine secretly sold
arms to Armenia via Moldova, the Ukrainian media reported recently.
But experts in Azerbaijan believe an attempt to make such a deal could
have taken place. “A letter describing Ukraine’s sale of arms to
Armenia could be true.

But Azerbaijan managed to prevent this operation,” Rasim Musabekov,
Azeri MP, told reporters. “I do not doubt Ukraine sells weapons to
other countries,” he said. It was recently reported that in 2011
Ukraine secretly sold arms to Armenia. The report quoted a secret
letter from Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Sergei Gmyza, to Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych. The letter listed a Smerch rocket launch
system with 12 rockets and 50 Igla surface- to-air launchers supplied
by the agency Ukrspetsexport to Armenia’s DG Arms Corporation. The
letter also said Armenia paid 50% of the contracted price. Ukraine’s
Foreign Ministry is vehemently denying the covert export of military
equipment to Armenia. “The news carried by some online sources are of
uncertain origin and provocative in nature,” Alexander Dikusarov, the
Ministry’s press secretary, said. He was adamant that Ukraine is
strictly observing its international commitments to the UN and the
OSCE. This is not the first scandal involving arms sales to Armenia.
In September 2011, there was, reportedly, an aircraft from Libya that
touched down in Moldova and then left with a cargo of missile systems
and ammunition for Armenia. This story also mentioned Ukraine. Yerevan
and Chisinau at first denied there was any military cargo or a buyer.
But it all ended with apologies from Moldova’s Prime Minister Vladimir
Filat to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. Baku does not want arms being
supplied to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area. On the other hand,
some analysts believe Russia could have fueled this scandal to drive a
wedge between traditionally friendly Ukraine and Azerbaijan. According
to Ildrym Mamedly, a military expert, Russia is the leading arms
exporter in the CIS, followed by Ukraine and Belarus. The other CIS
countries are mainly buyers. In recent years relations between Ukraine
and Russia have been unstable, and it may well be that Moscow can
profit from discrediting Kiev. “But I believe that Ukraine did sell
weapons to Armenia. Ukraine finds profit from buying outdated Eastern
European and Soviet arms, rebuilding and then selling them to other
countries,” Mamedly said.

Officials in Baku are not commenting on the reports. This is probably
due to a sudden visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
Rogozin headed for a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev straight from
the airport. No one knows what they discussed, but an official
statement says: “It was emphasized that bilateral relations between
Azerbaijan and Russia are developing successfully in many areas,
including the munitions industry.” Political analyst Fikret Sadykhov,
commenting on the visit, said: “Rogozin oversees the defense industry
in the Russian government and naturally the visit will be used to
discuss military and technical cooperation between the two countries.”

IPS – Inter Press Service
August 20, 2012 Monday

TURKEY: KURDISH NORTHERN IRAQ REPLACES SYRIA AS ARMY’S NEW TARGET

by Jacques Couvas
ANKARA, Aug. 20 2012

With attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) multiplying and
spreading to a larger number of Turkish provinces, Ankara is under
increasing pressure by nationalistic parties to take tougher measures
against Kurdish activism, including a full-blown land incursion by the
Turkish armed forces into northern Iraq.

Since June, the PKK has changed its operating tactics, from
hit-and-run attacks against security outposts to entering urban areas
in an extended geographical area. The focus is still the southeastern
part of the country, where the majority of the population is composed
of ethnic Kurds, but eastern and western provinces such as Van and
Izmir have also been targeted.

Indicative of these tactical changes is the occupation in late July of
Semdinli, a town in the Hakkari province in southeast Turkey bordering
Iraq and Syria, which the PKK held for three weeks. Regular troops
eventually forced the rebels to withdraw, with heavy losses on both
sides.

The Arab Spring has provided a new source of inspiration for the PKK,
according to Idris Bal, a member of parliament with the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) and an expert on domestic terrorism.

The PKK sees an opportunity to foment popular rebellion in
Kurdish-dominated regions of Turkey, with a view to creating a state
which it can govern, Bal said.

The occupation of Semdinli was aimed at sending a message to the world
that things are spiralling out of control in Turkey, he added.

But the Kurdish insurgents’ all-out approach is not a totally new
concept in this internal struggle, which began 28 years ago and has
cost 40,000 lives so far. The PKK’s former leader, Abdullah Ocalan,
tried it in the 1990s, with limited success.

The PKK has been declared a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU
and the U.S.

Ocalan, in jail for life since 1999, still influences the PKK’s
strategy. In a recent declaration, he predicted that 2012 would be the
“final year” in the all-out Kurdish rebellion, which resumed in 2010,
after seven years of relative calm.

Since 2003, the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
tried to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem, against
fierce opposition by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

A series of secret talks between Turkey’s national security agency
(MIT) and PKK representatives were held in 2010 in Oslo, facilitated
by the British intelligence services. But the process was abandoned as
the result of a premature leak of the discussions.

The response of the state was to intensify bombing of PKK bases in
northern Iraq, through air force raids. This produced some results,
until the end of December, when military jets killed 34 young ethnic
Kurds at Uludere, near the Turkish-Iraqi border, who were mistaken for
PKK members.

The mass killing triggered nationwide indignation and inflamed
anti-government sentiment in the south and east of the country.

“Parliament should have worked in fall 2011 on a package to provide
basic rights and freedoms to Kurds in order to reach a democratic
solution,” said Mehmet Ozcan, chairman of the Ankara Strategy
Institute, a think-tank in the Turkish capital.

“The time was ripe for reform before Uludere, but now it’s the PKK
that has the psychological upper hand,” said Ozcan, who believes it is
not realistic to expect an end to terror unless a democratic process
addressing the needs of the Kurds is put in place.

The evolution of the Syrian revolt seems, however, to be a stronger
reason for concern among Turkish politicians and the military. The
withdrawal of the Syrian security forces from the border regions with
Turkey and Iraq has left a vacuum which is being exploited by the
Syrian Kurdish minority and the PKK alike.

Although they remained initially loyal to Bashar al Assad’s regime,
Syria’s Kurds have more recently unveiled aims for independence in a
post-Assad scenario, through the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a
sister organization to the PKK.

The current lack of Syrian authority in the region also facilitates
the mobility of PKK fighters between northern Iraq, Syria and
southeastern Turkey.

Meanwhile, Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG) in the Kurdistan Region, an autonomous province in
northern Iraq bordering Turkey, has made it clear that he won’t enter
into an armed clash with the PKK.

Although Barzani claims he is playing a conciliatory role between the
PKK and Ankara, the KRG has become the host of Kurdish separatist
movements for the region.

Large Kurdish communities live in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey,
totalling 30 to 38 million people, depending on whether national data
or international estimates are used. Turkey accounts for half of the
total. Another two million live in the diaspora, mostly in Armenia and
northern Europe. The Kurds are considered to be the world’s largest
ethnic minority without their own country.

The current political instability in the Middle East has revived
aspirations for a Pan-Kurdish state, which could emerge as a new
Muslim regional power, alongside Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

The prospect gives Ankara the jitters. Stuck with domestic unrest, a
potential armed intervention in Syria, blocked for now by Washington,
and deteriorating relations with Iran, Erdogan’s government is prudent
but jumpy. In recent weeks, it has repeatedly accused both Damascus
and Tehran of providing support to the PKK and has expressed
disappointment over Barzani’s passivity.

Meanwhile, the CHP and MHP opposition parties and nationalistic public
opinion are criticising the prime minister for his foreign policy and
lukewarm stance towards the PKK. Last week, voices of observers close
to the ruling party warned the government that contemplating military
intervention in Syria, with or without American consent, was the wrong
approach.

Instead, they said, launching a full-scale, deep and lasting land
forces operation into northern Iraq would be a better use of resources
and soldiers’ lives in order to put an end to the Kurdish separatist
violence.

Over dinner late last week with a closed group of journalists in
Ankara, Deputy PM Bulent Arinc said Turkey was pondering an operation
in the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq, where the PKK headquarters
are located. The government has already obtained authorisation from
parliament.

This will, however, need the approval of Washington, which still
retains policy rights over Iraq, and collaboration with U.S. military
and intelligence, which can provide information on PKK movements.

This may not be so simple to obtain. The Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) had become suspicious in recent months of Turkey’s reliability
as an ally. Such suspicions were borne out last week, when Arinc
admitted that the national security agency, MIT, had been sharing
information with the Iranian intelligence agency, SAVAK. The
information had been provided by American Predators, a type of drone.

“The challenge for Turkey, however, is to conduct this sweeping
operation without alienating the local population living in scattered
villages in Kandil, as well as other Kurds who have nothing to do with
the violence,” says Abdullah Bozkurt, a political analyst and expert
on the government’s decision-making.

The Semdinli experience confirms that the PKK would not hesitate to
infiltrate residential areas and use them as shields against attacks.
Ankara is concerned that incidents as in Uludere, or Afghan- and
Pakistan-like blunders by the American military, would seriously
tarnish Turkey’s reputation as a Muslim model for democracy.

41 Syrian-Armenian families seek asylum in Armenia

news.am
August 21, 2012 | 21:29

YEREVAN. – The Armenian Ministry of Diaspora held consultation
regarding the key problems of the Syrian-Armenians. The meeting was
presided by the Minister Hranush Hakobyan on Tuesday, the Ministry
informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The Minister emphasized that the Syrian-Armenians raise the questions
concerning accommodation, education, healthcare after arriving in
Armenia.

A total of 41 families consisting of 76 members have turned to the
migration service for asylum, while 27 families have already received
a temporary asylum, head of the State Migration Service Gagik Yeganyan
informed.

The Diaspora Ministry will organize another meeting-consultation with
the participation of 100 Syrian-Armenians on Wednesday.

Armenian-populated districts of Aleppo change hands

news.am
August 21, 2012 | 16:44

ALEPPO. – It is not possible to claim for sure that the
Armenian-populated districts are controlled by one of the conflicting
parties. There are permanent clashes in Aleppo districts. They pass
from authorities to opposition and vice versa, editor-in-chief of the
Lebanon-based Armenian newspaper Aztag Shahan Kandaharian told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As for the Syrian-Armenians, Kandaharian said that there is no big
flaw of refugees to Lebanon. There are several families who live with
their relatives temporarily, while their permanent moving to Lebanon
is out of question.

Earlier the agency informed referring to the Syrian sources that the
Armenian districts in Aleppo passed to the opposition as the
unofficial data claimed. However, other reports claimed that the
government forces are trying to resist the armed rebels, Syrian Sana
information agency reported.

ANCA expands foreign aid priorities

armradio.am
21.08.2012 16:20

The Armenian National Committee of America’s (ANCA), in its Capitol
Hill advocacy and grassroots activism, has expanded the Armenian
American community’s traditional foreign aid focus of increasing aid
to Armenia and Artsakh and cutting it for Turkey and Azerbaijan, by
supporting appropriations language targeting American financial
support for the at-risk Armenian community of Syria and the vulnerable
Armenian-populated Javkahkh region of Georgia.

An ANCA Action Alert, posted on , calls on U.S.
legislators to support provisions in the U.S. House version of the
Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) foreign aid bill, when the two houses of
Congress reconcile their two versions of this appropriations measure.
The House version:

— Increases developmental and humanitarian aid to Nagorno Karabakh
from $2 million to $5 million.

— Calls upon the State Department to continue support of humanitarian
and resettlement assistance for minority communities, including
Armenians and other Christian populations in Syria and elsewhere in
the Middle East.

— Maintains economic aid to Armenia at the FY12 level of $40 million
(despite President’s Obama’s efforts to reduce this figure to $32.5
million).

— Directs the Obama Administration to report on the impact of FY05 –
FY12 aid to Samstskhe-Javakheti and its strategy for future
development of this region.

— Maintains military aid parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan at
$2.7 million for Foreign Military Financing and $600,000 in
International Military Education and Training.

The ANCA’s outreach to Congressional offices has included the
distribution of charts illustrating the sharp rise in Baku’s military
spending and a parallel increase in Azerbaijani cross-border
incursions into both Armenia and Artsakh.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 20 2012

Turkish Armenians to help Syrian Armenians

Armenians in Istanbul offer to help Armenians from Syria, Tert.am reports.

Archimandrite Tatul Anushyan, head of the Clerical Council of the
Constantinople Patriarchy, says that they will fulfill their
obligations for Syrian Armenians. They prayed for peace in Syria.

Armenians in Istanbul want to help their natives in Aleppo, Damascus and Kesab.

Arutyun Shanly, head of the Surb Ovannes Church Fund, reminded that
Turkish Armenians helped their compatriots from Iraq during the war.

Alen Delon plays in Armenian director’s movie

tert.am
17:19 – 20.08.12

World-renowned actor Alen Delon has played in a short story-based
movie shot by the ethnic Armenian film director, Sarik Andreasyan.

The film is part of the series entitled Happy New Year, Mom!, in which
the heroes are trying their best to extend their Christmas greetings
to their mothers. It features such well-known personalities as Russian
showman Pavel Volya and actress Irina Rozanova.

After working with the French-Swiss actor, Andresyan said celebrities
are, as a matter of fact, simpler people than commonly thought.

According to him, Delon chose his dressing himself, and proposed his
own ideas in the process of shooting the film. He also reportedly
stood out with his jokes, re-affirming his reputation as one having a
good sense of humor.

The actor has expressed a desire to attend the film’s premier
screening in December.

Ashot Manucharyan: Russia should leave existing play field to compete
with West successfully
Interview with Ashot Manucharyan, member of the Karabakh Committee,
ex-interior minister

by David Stepanyan

arminfo
Monday, August 20, 18:58

Putin’s project of Eurasian Union aroused many talks, mainly
contradictory, in the analytical society. Would you share the opinion
on Armenia’s place in that large-scale project given the latest
Putin-Sargsyan negotiations?

The project on creation of the Eurasian Union is of great significance
to Russia, and Moscow will use all its opportunities in the
post-Soviet space to create a closely integrated community.

On the other hand, Armenia has always been an extremely important
geopolitical point for Russia and other world players in terms of
consolidation of their positions in the Caucasus, which has been
called a Eurasian communication corridor until very recently. It is
very important that the Caucasus is a neutral corridor in Eurasia
outside the territories of the global players – Russia at the north
and Iran at the south. Consequently, possession of this neutral
corridor, including Armenia, is still the dominant idea in the goals
of global players interested in Eurasia.

Many think that the reason of “inviting” Armenia to the Eurasian
Union is Yerevan’s drifting towards the West…

The new geopolitical aspects connected with the region are strongly
intensifying today amid the latest developments and impulses. In this
context, Armenia is extremely important for Moscow, especially given
the fact that over the past few years Yerevan has effectively been
drifting towards the West, though the drifting has mostly been
stimulated by the West itself.

Against this background, one has to state that the West is much more
successful than Russia. Consequently, some moment of truth for Russia
has come. Therefore, the issue of Armenia’s admission to the Customs
Code and further to the Eurasian Union is like a litmus paper saying
“yes” or “no” to the Russian presence in Armenia.

What processes do confirm the success and prevalence of the Western
influence in Armenia over the Russian influence? Where do they lead
to?

The West is much more successful due to its high technological
effectiveness. As regards all tangible, the West is inherently more
successful than Russia, which has this tangible in its hands. In
Armenia it is displayed through Moscow’s possession of strategically
important facilities. Russia should leave the existing play field for
another political dimension if it really wants to compete with the
West.

Do the efforts to create Eurasian Union stem from the abovementioned logic?

The political state elites of the post-Soviet space are shot through
with western civilization. People in these countries live to steal as
much as possible and to get as much pleasure as possible. Creation of
consumer and force societies based on financial power is the key
motive of the West’s work. Consequently, all those governing the
post-Soviet countries are inherently Occidentalists. At the same time,
Russia is really one of the most amazing formations in the modern
world. On the one hand, the Russian current elites, which are not
connected with the nature of Russia as such, are certainly
pro-Western. Russian people are inherently carriers of absolutely
different civilization. They are capable to show the way to the
humanity to get out of the hole we all found ourselves as a result of
living by the recipes of Western civilization. The latter has already
played its role, in which there were both flaws and serious
achievements. However, the Western civilization has already been
exhausted and should inevitably be replaced with another one.

What are Armenia’s prospects for membership in the Eurasian Union?

Armenia has already made the choice of the security system, which is
certainly Russia. This choice is connected with numerous problems, but
there is no alternative, at least today. “Many experts think that in
today’s realities the most preferable and promising is the continued
drift towards the West, but they forget that we get the security
system as a result of interaction with Russia. Development plan
offered by the West is unacceptable to Armenia. The West offers us to
eat more and to have an opportunity to eat more. But, in any case, we
will lack big science, strong industry and high-quality education.

The Eurasian Union as a chance for breakthrough for Armenia and all
other beneficiaries. It is necessary to transform this project into a
civilization project for the citizens of the post-Soviet countries to
make use of it.

The project on creation of the Eurasian Union is of great
significance to Russia, and Moscow will use all its opportunities in
the post-Soviet space to create a closely integrated community.

óan Armenia claim membership of the Customs Union having no common
borders with Russia?

There are technologies solutions to that problem, but I would not like
to discuss them now. Soviet people killed the only possible
alternative to the Western civilization. The collapse of the USSR was
not at all a geopolitical disaster; it was a much bigger disaster. All
the statements like “Socialism is the limb of the devil” are nothing
but “talks in favor of the poor”. We are people of the post-Soviet
space and we are still carriers of very important principles and
ideas. We are being made standard, western people, but we are still
different. Therefore, if we manage to work out anything new within the
frames of the idea of creation of the Eurasian space, we will be in
the avant- garde”.

To stop migration – major task of Armenian authorities

arminfo
Monday, August 20, 19:18

Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan has published
an open letter wherein he expresses concern over new social outbreaks
because every such outbreak results in disappointment and new wave of
migration.

The letter reads that achievements of the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia, specifically, victory in the election, have no sense, because
within 13 years of its power RPA has not managed to settle the major
problem of the country – to reduce migration and create conditions for
repatriation of our compatriots. Sargsyan addresses President Serzh
Sargsyan calling him to change the situation fundamentally. He is
sure that the authorities must change the ideology of power
distribution in all sectors. In addition, the authorities must invite
Diaspora representatives for consultation and work in the country
paying them as much as they receive in abroad, hereby stimulating
return to Motherland.

The politician still believes that creation of the Pan Armenian Bank
is one of the most efficient ways to stop migration. He explains that
the funds of the world Armenians invested in the bank were used by the
Armenian Government to implement development projects in the prior
sectors of economy. However, Aram Sargsyan believes that the content
of the PanArmenian Bank was rendered innocuous and the bank has been
turned into a “corporate bank” with all the consequences that come
with it.

“Before investing money any businessman studies the peculiarities of
the economy he is going to invest in. And what he will see in
Armenia? First of all, the incredibly high state debt that will exceed
4 billion dollars soon,” the letter reads. Sargsyan is sure that the
shadow business, monopolies, oligarchy, corrupted system, which is the
result of wild privatization simultaneously corrupt morals of the new
“sovereign” public. This is what really holds the Government from
changing the situation by 180 degrees, Sargsyan writes.