Author: Badalian Vardan

BAKU RESPONDS TO SEVERAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES’ CRITICISM

Trend
May 2 2012
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is ready to host Eurovision song contest despite the
political games around the country, Head of the Department on Work with
Law-Enforcement Agencies of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration
Fuad Alasgarov said today.

“Azerbaijan is ready to host Eurovision song contest and show the
world that despite the continued occupation of our lands by Armenia,
a large number of refugees and internally displaced people, political
games around the country, we go forward and join the number of leading
countries in all areas of development in the foreseeable future,”
he told Trend while commenting on the recent statements over the
boycott of Eurovision song contest.

PACE member Christoph Strasser and German Federal Government
Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid Markus
Loening have recently urged to boycott Eurovision song contest,
to be held in Baku in late May.

“I think that it would be helpful for a politician, planning to
prepare a report on the situation in any country, still refusing
from visiting this country and having the biased attitude to the
development of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan, to observe the
situation in his country,” he said.

“Regarding Markus Loening, who regularly criticizes the Azerbaijani
authorities on several issues, the fact that the Commissioner for
Human Rights (Ombudsman) is included in the German Foreign Ministry,
is unlikely to stipulate his position as completely independent and
impartial,” he said.

“Bundestag member and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Federal
Republic of Germany, claiming to be the leader of the European Union,
first of all, should deal with human rights protection in his country,”
he added. “There are many problems in this area.”

“At present, the German government has not fulfilled 97 decisions of
the European Court of Human Rights relating to the violations of the
provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights,” he stressed.

“For example, the decision dated 2003 related to the violation of
Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to too long
consideration of the case in the court is among them. The German
government has not made general measures to fulfill this decision.”

“Moreover, one of the most recent decisions of the European Court is
the decision on Schwabe’s case and others,” he said.

“The applicants have been detained for five days before the protest
action on the basis of unclear suspicions and due to the fact that
the posters reflecting the demand to release political prisoners have
been found in their cars,” he added. “In this case, the Court admitted
the violation of the applicants’ rights as the freedom of assembly.”

According to news agencies, the individuals were arrested and injured
during May 1 actions of leftist youth movements in Berlin yesterday.

But their exact number is unknown. The streets were cordoned off by
police. There were many police cars, ambulances in the side streets.

Helicopters patrolled the city. It is reported that the organizers
began the march on the outskirts of Berlin and planned to complete
it in the center of the city. But the police did not allow doing this.

“The international organizations and diplomats accredited in Baku
criticized the authorities when representatives of the radical
opposition tried to conduct the unauthorized rally in the center of
Baku in 2011, which resulted in a breach of public order and damaging
to citizens and organizations,” he said. “I wonder if we will hear
the same criticism regarding the riots in Berlin?”

“The rise of nationalism and xenophobia is being observed in Germany
today. Regional and federal bodies do not resist this process,” he
said. “Today, it is unsafe for a foreigner who does not look like
European to walk along Berlin streets.”

“At present, Baku is one of the safest cities in the world,” he
stressed. “Eurovision song contest head Jan Ola Sand has recently
confirmed this and admitted that Baku is a safe city.”

The 57th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the Baku Crystal Hall
near the State Flag Square. The semi-finals will be held in Baku on
May 22 and May 24 and the final on May 26.

The logo for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is ‘Fire Flower’,
while the motto is Light your fire.

Azerbaijan won the right to host the prestigious European song
contest after the victory of Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal (Ell /
Nikki) at Eurovision 2011 in Dusseldorf, Germany last May.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? RE-REVISITED
by BURAK BEKDÄ°L

Hurriyet
May 2 2012
Turkey

So, you, Honorable Prime Minister, say you hate the “invasion of our
language by foreign words”? And you complain of too many “foreign
words” on commercial displays, as, for example, “‘mall,’ ‘computer,’
‘tower’ and ‘check-up'”? But what exactly do you mean when you say
“foreign”?

Wikipedia describes a foreign language as “a language indigenous to
another county.” By that definition, you are correct that “mall,”
“computer,” “tower” and “check-up” are foreign words, because they
are not Turkish and are “indigenous to another country” (or other
countries). Just the same way that “Tayeb” [from which the prime
minister’s name, Tayyip is derived] means “good” or “kind” in Arabic.

But that’s not all.

In my previous column titled “What’s in a name?” I wrote the following:

“My grandfather came from Georgia, and settled first in Rhizios. My
mother was a proud Chalcedonian. Sadly, my parents died two and a
half years ago, and were laid to rest in Aivali.”

“I was born in Ancyra, but spent part of my childhood in Smyrna
[Ä°zmir]. I took my military training as a conscript in Amaseia,
but then I was transferred to Cevlik via El-Azez.”

“Our prime minister is from Potamia, and our president is from
Caesarea. The president’s three predecessors, chronologically, came
from Akroenos, Sparta and Maldiye.”

“Our proud nation owes its independence largely to a successful war
at Gallipoli. … Every year [we also] commemorate Ataturk’s landing
at Sampsus to launch our War of Independence. But the first capital
of the Ottomans was Prousa, anyway.

“I hope the generous Turkish hearts that can now restore Kurdish [town]
names will no longer be agitated each time Greeks call Constantinople
by its original name — Konstantinopolis. And, by the way, Turks who
proudly insist that Istanbul is Istanbul should be reminded that even
that presumably Turkish name is a cognate of the Greek ‘Eis tin Polin’
meaning ‘to the city.'”

“The name controversy may be more complex than one could imagine. The
Kurds may be rightfully happy to get the names of their villages
back, but they might be equally embarrassed in some other cases. For
instance, where does the name of the Kurdish homeland, Mesopotamia,
come from?

Kurdish? No, just Greek, meaning ‘between the rivers,’ the Euphrates
and Tigris.” (“What’s in a name?” Hurriyet Daily News, Sept. 9, 2009).

I apologize for the long but necessary reminder. But here is another
passage from “What’s in a name? — Revisited,” Hurriyet Daily News,
July 19, 2011:

“In another appearance of what this columnist calls ‘the official
Turkish humor machine,’ the president of the supreme court that ruled
in favor of [a] ban on foreign names is named HaÅ~_im Kılıc. ‘Hashim’
or ‘Hasheem’ is a common Arabic male name (the ‘unofficial’ humor of
the story is that this columnist’s name is also Arabic). The official
humor machine keeps on rolling when we look at the men who rule this
country in which names representing foreign races and nations are
banned. For fun’s sake let’s narrow our sample to the first names of
the president, the prime minister and the Cabinet ministers. Of those
27 names, 20 are common Arabic names, and two are Turkish versions
of common Arabic name.

Only five are Turkish names. Legally, a ban on foreign names means
a ‘Richard’ is no different than a ‘Tayyip.’ An Arabic name is no
different than an Icelandic name, because they are both foreign,
both non-Turkish.”

“Yes it’s the religion, but it’s also the culture. One’s automatic
acceptance of a Muslim name would not extend to a Muslim Indonesian
name. In other words, this is precisely why claiming someone has
Armenian ancestors is deemed libel to be settled in a courtroom,
but claiming someone has Arab ancestors is not.”

Unfortunately, Honorable Prime Minister, if we deprived our language
of “all foreign words” — all, i.e., including Arabic and Persian —
we might fail to communicate, and you might fail to deliver your
perfect speeches. Or, you should explain why Arabic names are not
foreign, but others are. Sadly, you are a couple of centuries too
late to prove that the Turks are in fact Arabs.

GLOBAL TRENDS 2030 REPORT SAYS TURKEY TO BE ONE OF INFLUENTIAL COUNTRIES

Journal of Turkish Weekly
May 2 2012

EU Global Trends Report said “Turkey will take an influential role
in the globalising world by 2030.”

According to “Global Trends 2030” report, Turkey will thrive.

According to EU experts, Turkey will be taking its place in the
globalising world by 2030 but there are doubts over Turkey’s full
membership to the European Union.

The 2010 European Union Budget provided the European Commission for
two years with necessary financing to explore the ‘long-term trends on
major policy issues facing the EU’ as a pilot project. Project shaped
up the European Union Institute for Security Studies’ report. Report
highlights that by 2030, there will be a multipolar world and none
of the countries will be able to carry on dominating individually.

The report underlines that the US is likely to be the world’s major
military power, however China’s military will keep growing. Present
trends seem to show that there won’t be single hegemonic world power.

US and China will be the most influential countries of 2030. Besides,
India will keep gaining power. Additionally, Russia and Japan will
lose the great power status by 2030.

Polycentrism will head towards Asia with the accompany of economic
power, where over half of the world’s population will be concentrated
by 2030. Report supposes that China will be the largest economic
power with 19 percent share of world gross domestic product. Rising
middle-power countries will become more prominent. These include
Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa who are members of the G20 already.

Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey are more likely to take a bigger
role by 2030 cause these counties have potentials on improving their
social and economical modernization as well as human development,
said the report.

On its view about Turkey, the report says, “Turkey has been a middle
power for most of the last two centuries, and its elites and people
are confident about the country’s global and regional position.

Current trends suggest Turkey will maintain and even bolster its
status as a middle power in demographic, economic, territorial and
military terms. Indicators on economic growth, political stability and
democratisation, political and cultural influence abroad, and citizen
and elite confidence point in this direction. Turkey is also likely
to become a pivotal regional power. Turkish citizens, capital and
institutions will continue to integrate with the global economy and
network society; and ties with the EU and Turkey’s immediate neighbours
and other regions will become deeper and denser. The recent emphasis
on Turkey’s role in the Middle East should be balanced by an awareness
of the country’s relations with the EU, the Balkans, the Black Sea,
Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Mediterranean and the US,
and of its evolving and newly emergent links with the rest of Asia,
Africa and the Americas.”

Turkey’s role on globalizing world will be shaped by its work
and interests within international groups such as NATO, G20, the
Organization of the Islamic Cooperation and the EU. Report points out,
“It is difficult to predict whether Turkey will join the EU by 2030
as there are both push and pull factors. Turkey may opt to work with
different countries to further its interests in a rapidly changing
Middle East, but this is unlikely to become an alternative to EU
integration. To pursue a middle power career, Turkey must address key
weaknesses, including unresolved minority issues (Kurdish and Armenian
claims and rights), energy dependency, an environmentally unsustainable
development model and the mismanagement of natural resources, human
development shortcomings, and its exposure to potentially devastating
seismic activity.”

The report states that European countries such as Britain, France
and Germany will gain power in a polycentric world especially if the
pace of European integration is not cracked. However, they may take
an individual global role and be recognized as strategic players in
their own right. Furthermore, if the European Union keeps developing,
improves the pace of economic growth and finds solutions to the debt
crisis, they will become more stronger within the international arena
and be more influential globally.

The report states that by 2030 all the Balkan countries are likely
to be members of the EU, however there will be problems over border
conflicts and internal disputes, particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The report also mentions the Cyprus issue and Turkish-Armenian
reconciliations. It states that “the division of Cyprus could be
mitigated by greater convergence between Turkey and the EU, but the
difficulties attending the process of enlargement to Turkey may persist
and render the solution of the Cyprus question more problematic. And
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation could pave the way for a resolution
of the conflict, although this may be difficult to achieve in the
coming decade.”

IRANIAN-ARMENIAN ENERGY PROJECTS CONTINUE

Vestnik Kavkaza
May 3 2012
Russia

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has confirmed development of
joint project with Iran, News Armenia reports.

A petroleum pipeline and a dam are being constructed at River Araz.

The pipeline is being designed, its costs, efficiency and investments
are being studied.

Construction of the Iran-Armenia Petroleum Pipeline was to start in
2011 and end in 2014. Armenia would be able to transport gasoline
and diesel fuel from Iran and Gulf states to Tabriz and then to Eraskh.

This would reduce expenses for fuel purchases. Construction of an oil
pipeline in Armenia will be financed Armenia rather than Iran. $100
million will be invested.

Armenia and Iran plan to build two largest dams of South Caucasus
on River Araz. One will be in Armenia’s Megri, the other in Iran’s
Karachilar. Each will have an output of up to 793 million KW/h. The
power plant in Megri will produce 130 MW. It will take 5 years and
$323 million to build, using Iranian investments.

BAKU COUNTS ON INTL ASSISTANCE IN RESTORING TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

Interfax
May 2 2012
Russia

Azerbaijan’s parliament has urged the world community to put pressure
on Armenia in order to get the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settled.

The Azeri lawmakers’ appeal is set forth in a statement, adopted on
Tuesday, in connection with the 20th anniversary of the seizure of
the Azeri city of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The occupation of Shusha marked a stage in Armenia’s military
aggression, which aimed to annex the Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan,” it says.

“Unfortunately, international organizations’ acts on Nagorno-Karabakh
have not been implemented and the Minsk Group has not justified the
hopes, pinned on it,” the Azeri parliament said.

“We hope the world community will demonstrate its unbendable
determination to do away with this conflict, which is a threat to
peace and security in the South Caucasus and in Europe as a whole,
and urge Armenia to give up the policy of aggression and help restore
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” the statement says.

WORKSHOP DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HELD IN BULGARIA

news.am
May 03, 2012 | 19:19

A workshop dedicated to the 97h anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
was held on May 2-3 in Bulgaria’s Veliko Tarnovo city.

Among the speakers were Armenian and Bulgarian professors and students
from Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo, Varna, Plovdiv and Ruse.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Bulgaria Arsen Shoyan addressed the
participants with an opening speech.

On the same day Ambassador met with the Mayor of Veliko Tarnovo Daniel
Panov to discuss renovation of the Armenian church destroyed in the
beginning of 20th century.

END OF MASHTOTS PARK SAGA?: PRESIDENT ORDERS DISMANTLING OF CONTROVERSIAL PARK KIOSKS DURING CAMPAIGNING TOUR
By Naira Hayrumyan

ArmeniaNow
02.05.12 | 11:25

Photo:

In what was likely a pre-election publicity stunt, on May 1 President
Serzh Sargsyan visited the Yerevan park that has been a point of
environmental protests in the past three months and urged the city
mayor, Taron Margaryan, accompanying him on the trip to get the
“ugly pavilions” dismantled.

“You did everything right, made the right decision on the temporary
placement of pavilions. In fact, it all was supposed to be dismantled
within two or three years. But, my dear Taron, you can see yourself
that this is not so nice, and it would be nice to find a way to
dismantle it. That would be the right decision,” said President
Sargsyan, who is also the leader of the ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA), now leading his political force’s campaign ahead of the
May 6 parliamentary elections. (Mayor Margaryan is also a senior member
of the party and high on the RPA proportional list). The comments
appeared on the presidential website along with video provided to
television companies.

It is more than 80 days that environmental activists have been
regularly on protest in the park off Yerevan’s central Mashtots
Boulevard trying to prevent the construction of trading pavilions
that had earlier been dismantled from the sidewalk of another downtown
street as part of the program of the mayor’s office aimed at removing
illegal shops and kiosks from city streets.

A month ago, well-known scholars jointed the young activists, setting
up 10 so-called “Dismantling Brigades” that since then have three times
attempted to dismantle the pavilions by themselves but each encountered
heavy police cordons. The last such attempt was made on April 29 and it
turned nasty as clashes between activists and police resulted in some
light injuries on both sides, with seven activists briefly detained.

The dismantlers vowed to make the next attempt on May 6, Election Day.

It is this circumstance that many say proved decisive for Sargsyan
to visit the site and urge the mayor to end the strife.

Meanwhile, the public organizations dealing with the problem of the
Mashtots Park issued a statement saying that the responsibility for the
illegal installation of the shops is on the mayor of Yerevan and that
power in the city must be returned to its citizens. They also called
for the condemnation of what they believe to be police misconduct,
instead of calling it achievement and thanking police officers for
their service (which Sargsyan did on his trip to the park).

“Serzh Sargsyan did not address the rights of Armenian citizens and the
protection of the prevailing public interest in any way,” protesters’
said in their statement, demanding that the decision on construction
in the party be officially recognized as null and void.

The mayor’s office has not presented any documents that would confirm
the right to construction in what is public area or the right to
ownership of the kiosks. Moreover, there was some talk about some
of the pavilions belonging to Mayor Margaryan himself. The Council
of Elders, which is authorized to make such decisions, has not shown
any document either. In this regard, MPs representing the opposition
Heritage party have sued the mayor’s office.

Member of the first dismantling brigade, blogger Armen Hovhannisyan,
who was briefly detained during the Sunday action, said that such
issues are resolved with the participation of representative bodies
and within the framework of the law. He wondered why there was a need
to change the decision a couple of days before the elections. They
should have waited for the decision of the court, he said.

Meanwhile, RPA spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov has already spurned
the talk of critics that the U-turn in the Mashtots standoff is a
campaign ploy.

“Any issue that has a serious public resonance is also the issue of
the head of state,” Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

PAUL GUIRAGOSSIAN’S PAINTING TO BE AUCTIONED AT MATTHEW’S GALLERIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 2, 2012 – 13:19 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Matthew’s Galleries of Lake Oswego, Oregon, U.S.
announced a summer art auction, June 19, 2012, ARTFIX Daily reports.

The gallery is seeking consignments of American and International art
from Old Masters to the 20th century, including paintings, watercolors,
fine prints and sculpture.

Already included in the sale is “Family” by Paul Guiragossian
(Armenian, 1926-1993). The 15″ x 18″ oil on canvas was painted about
1963, and carries an estimate of $10,000-15,000. From the selection
of American art is “Guarding the Move” by Ace Powell (1912-1978),
a Western oil on canvas measuring 20″ x 30″ with a guess of
$3,000-4,000. Other paintings by American 19th & 20th century artists
include Arthur W. Best, John J. Englehart, Clyde Leon Keller, etc.

Matthew’s Galleries was opened by its current owner/director Matthew
W. Gerber in 1968. The specialty has always been quality 19th &
20th century American paintings with some European works as well.

Paul Guiragossian was born in Jerusalem in 1926 and settled in Beirut
with his family in 1939 becoming a Lebanese citizen. He started to
paint in 1942 at the Yarkon Studio. In 1957, he received a scholarship
to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1961-1962, he
spent a year studying and painting in Paris. The rest of his life he
spent living and painting in Beirut. In his lifetime, Guiragossian
became Lebanon’s most celebrated painter. Upon his death in 1993,
Guiragossian received a state funeral.

ARMENIAN EX-PRESIDENT OUSTED FROM DOMESTIC POLICY – PAPER

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 2, 2012 – 10:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Viktor Soghomonyan, coordinator for Armenia’s former
President Robert Kocharian’s office told media three months ago that
Kocharian will make a statement ahead of the parliamentary elections
due on May 6, Haykakan Zhamanak paper says.

In addition, some media reports claimed Kocharian is going to speak
2 week prior to the elections. It is still unknown why ex-leader has
changed his mind; the daily could not reach Soghomonyan over the phone.

Anyway, the ex-President will hardly speak now, with only 4 days
left before the vote; he may do it, though, merely theoretically,
according to the paper.

Observers assume that Kocharian may be left out of internal political
processes unless he makes some moves by the end of the election
campaign, Haykakan Zhamanak says.

NKR MFA: THE CRIMES COMMITTED DURING THE OPERATION OF RING HAVEN’T GOT THE PROPER ASSESSMENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Noyan Tapan
02-05-2012

Commentary of the NKR MFA Information Department

In late April – early May 1991, special police detachments (OMON) of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, with the support of
the USSR Interior Ministry’s troops, launched a large-scale punitive
operation of Ring, the essence of which was to exile the Armenian
population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, the Shahumian
region, and some regions of Northern Artsakh (the Khanlar, Dashkesan,
Kedabek, and Shamkhor regions of the former Azerbaijani SSR).

As a result of this operation, dozens of Armenian settlements were
completely devastated, destroyed or populated by Azerbaijanis. Tens
of thousands of people were deported, hundreds were killed. It was the
operation of Ring characterized by unprecedented cruelty and mass human
rights violations that dramatically increased the level of tension in
the region and transferred the Karabakh conflict to a military plane.

The report of the CSCE Mission of February 28, 1992 noted that
“particularly serious escalation took place in April-May 1991 when the
Soviet Army, with the support of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry’s
units, deported Armenians from many villages of the region. The
deportation was carried out with extreme cruelty”.

The events, which took place during the operation of Ring, were
reflected in the documents of some international organizations, became
a subject of hearings at the Human Rights Committee of the Supreme
Soviet of the Russian Federation and got the corresponding assessment
in the resolutions of the European Parliament and the U.S. Senate.

The Human Rights Center of Memorial Moscow Association stated gross
violations of the basic human rights: “They grossly violated the right
of every person to life, liberty, and security; they used tortures,
carried out arbitrary arrests and detentions and committed numerous
property offenses. The practice of people’s deportation acquired a
mass character. Particularly cynical these violations were made by
the fact that the mass violence against the civilians was committed by
the law enforcement agencies. The responsibility for this rests with
the top leadership of the Azerbaijani Republic, Azerbaijan’s Interior
Ministry and Committee for State Security (KGB), as well as with the
leadership of the USSR Interior Ministry, Ministry of Defense and the
Command of the USSR MIA Interior Troops. These crimes cast a shadow
also on the top leadership of the USSR”.

On May 1, 1991, the U.S. Senate unanimously adopted a resolution
condemning the crimes committed by the authorities of the USSR
and Azerbaijan against the Armenian population. The resolution,
in particular, condemned “the attacks on innocent men, women and
children in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the adjacent Armenian settlements and
in Armenia; the large-scale use of military force and firing of the
unarmed population on the eastern and southern borders of Armenia”,
as well as contained calls “to put an end to the blockades and other
forms of force and the terror against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh”.

On May 25, a draft statement on the situation in some regions of
Armenia and Azerbaijan was submitted to the session of the Fourth
Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Soviet Federative
Socialist Republic (RSFSR) for consideration and was approved by
the overwhelming majority of votes. The statement, in particular,
noted that “in accordance with the internationally accepted norms
and conventions on human rights, the deportation of civilians must
be immediately stopped, the hostages must be freed, and the suspects
on cases of armed clashes must be transferred to the prosecution of
the USSR Prosecutor’s Office”.

However, the crimes committed during the operation of Ring haven’t
got the proper political and legal assessment by the international
community and their organizers and executors are still unpunished.

This became a precedent for new military crimes and inhumane actions
by Azerbaijan against the peaceful Armenian population.

The deported residents are still unable to return to their homes and
they haven’t received any reimbursement so far.

Unfortunately, we also have to state that the Armenian villages
deported during the operation of Ring are not mentioned in any
of the documents proposed by the international mediators for the
Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement.