Author: Boshkezenian Garik

ISMET ABBASOV: "IF WE WANT TO HOLD SUCH IMPORTANT EVENTS IN BAKU IN 2012 , WE ABSOLUTELY HAD TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA"

APA
May 14 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. D.Dzhabarogly-APA. An interview with Azerbaijani Minister of
Agriculture Ismat Abbasov.

– How is going on your visit to Armenia?

– The visit ends. The purpose of the visit is to attend the 28th
regional forum of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and
the 37th session of the European Commission on Agriculture in 2010
in Baku. And we achieved it. It is expected that FAO will decide
that 28th Regional Conference will be hold in Baku in 2012. If we
want to hold such important events in Baku in 2012, we had to arrive
in Armenia. Otherwise, it would not be not possible. I met with the
ministers of agriculture of many countries. I also met with Armenian
minister of agriculture by his desire. On the last day of the forum
will take a final decision on the holding the 28th Regional Conference
and the 37th session of the European Commission on Agriculture in Baku.

– How is attitude of Armenian community to visit of Azerbaijani
minister to Armenia?

– In the local press reported about it. They pay much attention. They
are interested in how I arrived here. I was born in Yerevan, and I
know the Armenian language. And I gave several interviews. Presented
my point of view in the way of reaching a settlement of the Karabakh
problem.

– How organized your safety?

– For the sake of fairness I must say that security is provided at
very high level. This comes from the high prestige of our country.

– Were there any attack to you by Armenian press in connection with
your statements about the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia?

– I have told in interviews at Armenian media that occupation of
Azerbaijani lands by Armenia is a fact and it is a reality that
Nagorno Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory. Azerbaijan prefers peace
way but in any case Azerbaijan will liberate its territory. If the
peace way does not work we will use alternative ways.

At the same time, I said that can not be discussed any collaboration
issue with Armenia till solving the Karabakh problem. The position
of our country is so: only after the settlement of the conflict, it
would be possible cooperation in all fields, including agriculture. I
also spoke about the government program on reducing poverty and
about special attention of Azerbaijani President to the development
of agriculture.

– You have visited to a house in Yerevan, where you was born?

– Yes. The house where I was born and lived for 17 years is on its
place right now, too. I visited to Goyche region. In Goyche I has
visited the house of my father-in-law- Mikailov Bayramov’s house,
who was director of the farm in the village Shishgaya, as well as
the house of the rector of Azerbaijan Medical University Ahliman
Amiraslanov. In all of these homes live people. In those houses in
the Goycha region and in our houses in Yerevan settled Armenians who
lived in Azerbaijan. This is the land of our fathers and grandfathers,
where we were born and grown up.

ERDOGAN BRAND OF ISLAM SHOULD WORRY THE WEST

The Australian
May 14, 2010 Friday
1 – All-round Country Edition

The secular military is under attack and the foreign policy has
dramatically shifted

LAST week I asked Bernard Lewis where he thought Turkey might be
going. The dean of Middle East historians speculated that in a
decade the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk might
more closely resemble the Islamic Republic of Iran — even as Iran
transformed itself into a secular republic.

Since coming to power in 2002, the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dramatically recast
the traditional contours of Turkish foreign policy.

Gone are the days when the country had a strategic partnership with
Israel, involving close military ties and shared enemies in Syria
and Iran and the sundry terrorist groups they sponsored. Gone are
the days, too, when the US could rely on Turkey as a bulwark against
common enemies, be they the Soviet Union or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Today, Erdogan has excellent relations with Syrian strongman Bashar
Assad, whom the Prime Minister affectionately calls his "brother".

He has accused Israel of "savagery" in Gaza and opened a diplomatic
line to Hamas while maintaining good ties with the genocidal government
of Sudan.

He was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on his fraudulent victory in last year’s election. He
has resisted intense pressure from the Obama administration to vote
for a new round of Security Council sanctions on Iran, with which
Turkey has a $US10 billion ($11bn) trade relationship. And he has
sabotaged efforts by his own foreign ministry to improve ties with
neighbouring Armenia.

The changes in foreign policy reflect the rolling revolution in
Turkey’s domestic political arrangements. The military, long the pillar
of Turkish secularism, is under assault by Erdogan’s Islamist-oriented
government, which has recently arrested dozens of officers on suspicion
of plotting a coup. Last week the Turkish parliament voted to put a
referendum to the public that would, if passed, allow the government
to pack the country’s top courts, another secularist pillar, with
its own people. Also under assault is the media group Dogan, which
last year was slapped with a multi-billion-dollar tax fine.

Oh, and America’s favourability rating among Turks, at around 14 per
cent according to recent polls, is plumbing an all-time low, despite
Barack Obama’s presidency and his unprecedented outreach to Muslims
in general and Turks in particular. In 2004, the year of Abu Ghraib,
it was 30 per cent.

All this would seem to more than justify Professor Lewis’s alarm. So
why do so many Turks, including more than a few secularists and
classical liberals, seem mostly at ease with the changes Erdogan has
wrought? A possible answer may be self-delusion: liberals were also at
the forefront of the Iranian revolution before being brutally swept
aside by the Ayatollah Khomeini. But that isn’t quite convincing in
Turkey’s case.

More plausible is Turkey’s economic transformation under the AKP’s
pro-free market stewardship. Inflation, which ran to 99 per cent in
1997, is down to single digits. Goldman Sachs anticipates 7 cent growth
this year, which would make the country Europe’s strongest performer —
if only Europe would have it as a member. Turks now look on the EU with
diminished envy and growing contempt. Chief among the beneficiaries
of this transformation has been the AKP’s political base: an Islamic
bourgeoisie that was long shut out of the old statist arrangements
between the secular political and business elites.

Members of this new class want to send their daughters to universities
— and insist they be allowed to do so wearing headscarves. They
also insist that they be ruled by the government they elected, not
by unelected and often self-dealing officers, judges and bureaucrats
who defended the country’s secularism at the expense of its democracy
and prosperity.

The paradoxical result is that, as the country has become wealthier
and (in some respects) more democratic, it has also shed some of
its Western trappings. Erdogan’s infatuations with his unsavoury
neighbours reflects a public sentiment that no longer wants Turkey
to be a stranger in its own region, particularly when it so easily
can be its leader. Some Turks call this "neo-Ottomanism", others
"Turkish-Gaullism". Whichever way, it is bound to discomfit the West.

The more serious question is how far it all will go. Some of Erdogan’s
domestic powerplays smack of incipient Putinism. The estrangement
from Israel is far from complete, but an Israeli attack on Iran might
just do the trick. And it’s hard to see why Erdogan should buck public
opinion when it comes to Turkey’s alliance with the US.

Most importantly, will the Erdogan brand of Islamism remain relatively
modest in its social and political ambitions, or will it become
aggressive and radical? . It would be insane not to worry about
the possibility.

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA REGIONAL 27TH TWO-DAY CONFERENCE OF THE UN FAO STARTED TODAY IN YEREVAN

ARMENPRESS
MAY 13, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS: Europe and Central Asia Regional 27th
two-day conference of the UN FAO started today in Yerevan.

Representatives of the 53 member countries of FAO as well as
representatives of organizations functioning in the region, observers,
from UN specialized agencies and international financing establishments
participate in the event. During the conference the results of the
activity of the organization during the recent years and the plan of
actions will be pointed out. Representatives of the agricultural sphere
will discuss such issues like the impact of the financial-economic
crisis on the agriculture, issues on climate change, management of
water resources, cattle breeding and bio-conditions in rural areas.

Minister of Agriculture Gerasim Alaverdyan in his opening speech
highlighted the organization of the conference which is being conducted
in Armenia for the first time. He noted that the discussions conducted
during the conference will enable develop effective mechanisms for
confronting agricultural challenges. Greeting all the participants
of the conference the minister wished them fruitful and effective work.

The General Director of FAO Jacques Diouf noted that it is a great
honor for him to be in Armenia. He said the priority of the activity of
the organization is the reduction of poverty and famine. In 2009 the
number of undernourished people increased with 105 million reaching 1
billion. He noted that progress is being registered in the direction
of reduction of the number of undernourished people in Europe and
Central Europe.

"The history shows that there is no other effective mechanism directed
toward the reduction of poverty then the investments in the sphere
of agriculture," the general director said. In his opinion it is
necessary to unite for reduction of poverty and famine. "It is time
to pass from word to work," he pointed out.

Azerbaijani delegation was also participating in the conference headed
by the Agriculture Minister Ismat Abasov who was born in Armenia and
knows Armenian.

KING OF JORDAN ABDULLAH II TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN ON MAY 15

APA
May 13 2010
Azerbaijan

Ambassador Elman Arasli: "A Memorandum of Understanding and agreement
on youth cooperation will be signed between the two countries during
the visit"

Amman. Rashad Suleymanov, Shaig Mammadov – APA. Azerbaijani Ambassador
to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Elman Arasli’s interview to APA

-How do you evaluate current state of Azerbaijan-Jordan relations? What
are prospective spheres of the cooperation between the countries?

-Azerbaijan-Jordan relations have been dynamically developed in
the past four years. Leaders of both countries are interested in
the development of relations. King Abdullah visited Azerbaijan for
two times. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has also visited the
Kingdom of Jordan. King Abdullah is expected to pay his third visit to
Azerbaijan on May 15. First of all, political relations are developed
between the countries. The Jordanian leadership is univocally
supporting Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Jordan
condemns Armenia’s aggression and demands immediate and unconditional
withdrawal from the occupied lands. It defends Azerbaijan’s position
at the international organizations, including UN, the Organization of
the Islamic Conference. One of the avenues in Amman was named after
the late president Heydar Aliyev. There is an intensive exchange
of delegations between the countries. More than 30 agreements of
cooperation were signed between the countries. Two more agreements
are expected to be signed during the King’s visit.

-What agreements are expected to be signed?

-A Memorandum of Understanding about the international cooperation
between the governments of Azerbaijan and Jordan and draft agreement
on youth cooperation between the Ministry of Youth and Sports of
Azerbaijan and Supreme Youth Council of Jordan will be signed during
the visit.

-Does the Jordanian community know Azerbaijan?

-Today Jordan-Azerbaijan Friendship Society is working in Amman. Former
deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers and incumbent senator
is leading the Society. But our relations are not in an official
level. Azerbaijani Diaspora established its commission. The Society
has its office here. They gather in the office to exchange ideas
and to hold parties and exhibitions dedicated to Azerbaijan. "Soviet
Azerbaijan", a book written by the late president of Azerbaijan Heydar
Aliyev, who was one of the USSR leaders in 1980s, was translated into
Arabic and published in Amman. It is an indication of Jordan’s interest
to Azerbaijan and they know Azerbaijan here in Jordan. The newspapers
and television make reporting about Azerbaijan almost every week.

-What can you say about the economic relations? Is there increase or
decrease in the trade turnover?

-The economic relations are improving. There is a separate
agreement about it, meetings are held regularly. Intergovernmental
commission was set up. The first meeting was held in Amman. The
second meeting is planned for the second half of this year in
Baku. Several business forums have been held for the development of
the economic relations. About 15 Jordanian companies are functioning
in Azerbaijan. Days of Azerbaijani Culture will be held in Amman
in the second half of this year. Late in May Deputy Minister of
Culture and Tourism Adalat Valiyev will come to Amman to discuss
the preparations. The trade turnover between the countries is not
so big. But there is progress. For example, last year the trade
turnover increased by 43%. From this year Azerbaijan has begun to
import vegetables and fruit from Jordan. Jordan is interested in
importing cattle, small cattle from Azerbaijan.

-Azerbaijan has participated in SOFEX exhibition in Amman and
demonstrated its defense products. What can you say about the
cooperation in this field?

-There is cooperation in the military sphere and participation in
this exhibition is the result of this cooperation. A joint commission
has been established for military cooperation. Two meetings of the
commission were held in Amman and Baku. The recent meeting was held in
Baku in April. The representatives of Azerbaijan’s military structures
regularly visit Amman.

-Several months ago, when Azerbaijan and Syria were holding gas talks,
the Syrian media wrote if Azerbaijan’s gas is transported to Syria
through Turkey it can also be transported to Jordan. Have any talks
been held in this field?

-There is nothing serious in this field. The sides exchanged views. But
it is not right to say something since there are no real results.

VIVACELL LAUNCHES MOBILE TV IN ARMENIA
Michael Lacquiere

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
May 10 2010

VivaCell-MTS, the Armenian unit of leading CIS mobile operator Mobile
TeleSystems (MTS), has announced that from 17 May 2010 it will
commercially launch a mobile TV package. The "Basic" package will
comprise nine channels for a price of 400 drams (US$1.03) per day,
including value-added tax. The channels will be available to view
for 24 hours after purchase.

Significance:With mobile penetration in Armenia having reached 97%
at the end of 2009, it is understandable that operators are looking
for alternative means of revenue generation to help bolster performance
as organic subscriber growth opportunities begin to slow down, despite
multiple SIM ownership. A service such as mobile TV is unlikely to be
heavily subscribed as a mobile handset is simply not an ideal mode
for viewing television, but the service may yet prove attractive
to higher-end users. VivaCell’s monthly ARPU was around US$8.7 in
the fourth quarter of 2009, well down on the US$11.4 reported by
the operator in the previous year. Although this is partially due
to the dilutory effects of increased subscriber numbers, VivaCell
will still be hoping that such initiatives as mobile TV could help
to increase ARPU.

RAS AL KHAIMAH UNITED ARAB EMIRATE TO INVEST UP TO $500 MILLION IN GEORGIA’S PORT OF POTI

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 11, 2010 – 10:57 AMT 05:57 GMT

The Ras Al Khaimah United Arab Emirate will invest up to $500 million
in Georgia’s busiest Black Sea port of Poti over the next four to
five years through its investment authority Rakia, senior executives
in its Georgian subsidiaries said in interviews this week.

Poti, which was briefly seized by Russia after August 2008’s war
over the breakaway territory of South Ossetia, is a key transit
route linking the Caucasus and Central Asia to Europe, and Georgia’s
government has been working with Rakia to establish a free industrial
zone on the territory which would allow companies to operate tax free
and export goods.

Rakia already fully owns Poti’s existing port, plans to finish
construction of the zone by the end of May, and will start to build
a second port adjacent to it next year at a cost of $300 million.

"Rakia will hold a majority in the new port, we’re funding it but also
looking for big international banks to become involved," said Khaled
Chatila, Poti Sea Port’s general manager. Rakia will also expand the
first port, which handles oil and general cargo, to increase grain
and cement capacity, he said.

Some 15 companies have already signed up for the free zone and 50
are expected by the end of 2010, according to Joseph Nibladze, Rakia
Georgia’s senior marketing executive.

"They will include furniture makers, chemical manufacturers, steel
fabricators and agricultural producers from Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Turkey and the United Arab Emirates," he said.

Georgia’s economy, fuelled by $2 billion in foreign investment, grew
12.4% in 2007. But the war and world economic crisis scared investors
away and it shrank by 3.9% last year. The government is predicting
a return to growth of 4.5% in 2010.

Another free industrial zone in Kutaisi in western Georgia is already
up and running, with Egyptian household goods manufacturer, Fresh,
assembling gas cookers and water heaters there for export to Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

"Two more zones are planned, one in Gonio near the Turkish Georgian
border, and one in the east of the country," said Finance Minister
Kakha Baindurashvili.

"Our theory with the free industrial zones is that both the investor
and the government do well. They get a free tax environment, free
trade and good logistics and we get increased employment and dollar
flows," he said, The Wall Street Journal reported.

APA, Azerbaijan
May 8 2010

Armenian foreign minister to meet with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs next week

[ 08 May 2010 12:25 ]

Baku. Victoria Dementieva ` APA. Armenian foreign minister Edward
Nalbandian will meet with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Brussels
next week.

According to APA, Nalbandian will attend the meeting of foreign
ministers of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on May 11, Armenian
foreign ministry said.

The Armenian minister will visit Brussels following the meeting. He
will attend NATO-Armenia (IPAP) meeting within the North Atlantic
Council 28+1 format. Nalbandian will meet with the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs in Brussels to discuss the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict with them.

Aysor, Armenia
May 8 2010

Liberation of Shushi: the 18th anniversary of victory

The 8th and 9th of May on 1992 became a turning point in the
liberation war of Artsakh. On May 8th the liberation actions of Shushi
were decided. It was headed by Arkadi Ter Tadevosyan, Kamandos.

The liberation of Shushi was a turning point for the Karabakh war. It
was exactly from here that the Azerbaijani were hitting Stepanakert
and the surrounding villages.

Regardless the overwhelming forces of the rival due to the Armenian
heroic braveness and brilliant fighting efficiency on May 9 Shushi was
finally liberated, which allowed us to return our fatherland and to
keep moving forward.

On May 18 the Armenian subdivisions reached the border of the Armenian
Republic.

The name `Shushi’ is derived from the word `shosh’ which in Artsakh
dialect means the newly grown branch of the tree which is higher than
the others. This namr Shushi has received because of its
geographically high position.

The Nagorno-Karabakh (armed) conflict broke out back in 1991, when,
subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the
Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve
the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security
forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of
the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military
operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material
damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations
on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the
mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France)
and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November,
2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN
Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race
in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the
international law non-use of force or threat of force.

Armenia’s Sargsyan travels to Moscow

13:13 08/05/2010 » Society

At the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitri
Medvedev, President Serzh Sargsyan will conduct a working visit to
Moscow on May 8-9 to participated at the events dedicated to the 65th
anniversary of the end of WWII.

The President of Armenia will also participate at the unofficial
summit of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
and CIS Heads of State.

Source: Panorama.am

CIS leader to hold unofficial summit in Moscow

MOSCOW, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS: CIS leaders will hold a summit meeting
dedicated to the 65th anniversary of victory in WWII here on Saturday.

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently chairing the
CIS, invited CIS leaders to come to Moscow to mark the V-Day. `The
unofficial meeting of CIS heads of state will be dedicated to the 65th
anniversary of victory in WWII, a central subject of Russia’s current
chairmanship in the CIS,’ a Kremlin source told Itar-Tass and added
that the year 2010 had been declared the Year of Veterans in the CIS.

`The CIS heads of state are expected to pass a joint address to WWII
veterans. Along with the address to the CIS peoples and the world
community on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Victory
passed at the CIS Chisinau summit in October 2009, this document will
demonstrate adherence to the historical truth about World War II, and
will focus on protection of socio-economic rights and legal interests
of WWII veterans,’ the source said.

`Bearing in mind the meeting’s unofficial character, there are no
fixed agenda. The heads of state are likely to take a chance to
exchange their views on the current state and prospects for
development of comprehensive cooperation within the CIS. Thus, they
are expected to discuss the first results of Russia’s chair in the
organization, including such subjects as innovation and hi-tech
cooperation, top-priority areas of humanitarian cooperation in
2011-2012, and issues of a forthcoming 20th anniversary of the CIS in
December 2011,’ the source added.

On Friday, Russian president’s aide Sergei Prikhodko said the
Saturday’ s summit would be attended by CIS executive secretary Sergei
Lebedev, whose term of office expires in 2010, and the issue might
also be raised at the meeting.

According to Prikhodko, leaders of all former Soviet republics were
invited to Moscow, with the exception of Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili. `He will be out of place here,’ Prikhodko was reported to
say. `Why should we invite him (Saakashvili), if he demolishes
monuments? (The monument to soldiers killed in WWII was destroyed in
December 2009) It would be strange to invite Saakashvili due to this
reason only. If a man takes a political decision to demolish a
monument to war heroes he will be unwelcome here.’