Author: Ekmekjian Janet

ELMAR MAMMADYAROV: "THE CO-CHAIRING COUNTRIES HAVE PRESENTED SOME AMENDMENTS TO MADRID PROPOSALS"

Azeri Press Agency
Dec 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Helsinki. Tamara Grigoryeva – APA. Foreign ministers of OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairing countries presented some amendments to Madrid
proposals at the meeting with Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists, APA’s
special correspondent reports from Helsinki. He said they had analyzed
the amendments and the issue might be discussed in the next meetings
of both foreign ministers and presidents. Elmar Mammadyarov said the
next meeting of the presidents would be held the following year. Asked
whether the final declaration of OSCE Ministerial Council would include
the issue on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, Elmar Mammadyarov
said Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity was not questionable.

"This principle is also reflected in Moscow Declaration. The
declaration says that the conflict will be solved basing on the
international legal norms, adopted resolutions and decisions. Those
resolutions and decisions unambiguously recognize Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. I do not believe that any country or
an international organization doubt Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. The only country trying to do it is Armenia," he said.

Asked about Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s statement
that Azerbaijan did not interpret Moscow Declaration properly, Elmar
Mammadyarov underlined that he did not want to go into details.

"He may say something on internal political purposes. I do not want
to speak about it. You can show the Declaration to the experts on
international law if you want. They can interpret what is written in
the document," he said.

Answering question about impact of intensifying negotiations on
Azerbaijan’s position the minister said: "As a Foreign Minister, I want
peaceful solution to the conflict. There is such opportunity so far
and Moscow Declaration enhanced my hopes. Someone can make statement
for the domestic policy, but the document is in the limelight and
there is Russian president’s signature there".

Reacting to the US co-chair Matthew Bryza’s statement about de-facto
participation of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians in the negotiations,
Mammadyarov said there could be a stage of discussions between the
Nagorno Karabakh Armenian and Azerbaijani communities only after the
withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories, opening
of communications and returning of IDPs to their homelands. "They
should determine Nagorno Karabakh’s status together – of course,
within Azerbaijan".

Regarding the referendum about Nagorno Karabakh’s status, Mammadyarov
said any event should be prepared before it takes place. "Legal essence
of this issue is out of question while there are no Azerbaijanis in
Nagorno Karabakh. Armenians said they held referendum in Karabakh. What
referendum do they speak about? A referendum in state of war at the
point of gun? Such referendums can be held every day. We propose
appropriate conditions for it and our position looks more topical on
the back of latest events in the Caucasus. We should achieve progress,
communications should be opened and the people should return home".

MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF SPITAK EARTHQUAKE HONORED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

De Facto
Dec 8, 2008

STEPANAKERT, 08.12.08. DE FACTO. The 20th anniversary of the Spitak
earthquake was marked in Nagorno-Karabakh on December 7.

On this day the NKR President Bako Sahakian, deputies of the National
Assembly and the government, thousands of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ordinary
citizens honored the memory of those killed, putting flowers at
the monument to the victims of the earthquake at the Stepanakert
Memorial Complex.

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2008

OSCE FMs to Adopt Special Declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict:
OSCE Special Representative

04.12.08 15:07

Finland, Helsinki, 4 Dec /Trend News corr. I.Gusatinskaya/ OSCE
Foreign Ministers will adopt a special declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, OSCE Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki
Talvitie said to Trend News in Helsinki on 4 Dec.

On 4 Dec, Helsinki is hosting a meeting of the OSCE Foreign
Ministers. Conflict settlement is one of the topics under discussion.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan and
Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The countries keep on peace negotiating. OSCE Minsk
Group co-chaired by USA, Russia, and France is engaged in peace
settling of the conflict.

Next year Greece will assume the duties of OSCE Chairman-in-Office and
many issues will depend on how Greece will join settling of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Talvitie said.

Recent progress in settling of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict provides
a good basis to find a solution. Constructive character of recent
meetings between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in
St. Petersburg in June and in Moscow in November is an important step
to settle the conflict.

The latest meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers
took place in early November during the trilateral Moscow meeting
among Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russia’s Dmitriy Medvedev
and Armenia’s Serzh Sargsyan. As a result Presidents signed the Moscow
Declaration.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 4 2008

Foreign Minister Babacan meets with his Armenian and Azerbaijan
counterparts

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan separately met Armenian Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov in Helsinki on Thursday.

Babacan is currently in Helsinki to attend the 16th Ministerial
Council Meeting of the Organization for the Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE).

Foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met on Wednesday with
Russian, French and U.S. executives, the co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk
group. Babacan’s talks with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign
ministers assessed the results of this meeting.

OSCE Minsk group assumes a mediating role in talks aiming to achieve a
peaceful solution to the problem about Upper Karabakh.

Panorama.am

15:04 06/12/2008

PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT GEORGIA

On December 9, the Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan leaves
for Tbilisi on one-day working visit; the press secretary of the Prime
Minister Diana Mnacakanyan has confirmed Panorama.am’s
information. The Prime Minister is going to take part in summit of
inter-governmental economic cooperation which is organized in Tbilisi.

In the frames of the session the road construction from Armenia to
Batumi will be discussed according to the agreement that the
Presidents of Armenia and Georgia have made during their meeting.

Source: Panorama.am

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PRESS RELEASE

Friday, December 5, 2008

AGBU Young Professionals of Yerevan Help Gyumri Orphans

On November 2, 2008, the AGBU Young Professionals of Yerevan (YP
Yerevan) organized a trip to Armenia’s capital for 70 orphans at the
Nansen Orphanage in Gyumri, Armenia. YP Yerevan members hoped to give
these children a taste of Armenia’s capital city and the trip would
later serve as inspiration for an art project fundraiser.

The children enjoyed walking around Yerevan, visiting outdoor spaces, a
newly renovated Lover’s Park, restaurants, and spending the afternoon in
the National Gallery of Armenia. In the evening, the YPs treated the
children to a circus performance, which made a strong impression on the
young visitors.

After an exciting day in Yerevan, the orphans returned to Gyumri
inspired by their journey. YP Yerevan asked the children to create art
based on their impressions of the capital with the goal of selling the
work during a fundraising event for the orphanage.

Established in 2000, the Nansen Orphanage of Gyumri was created to help
parentless children who continued to feel the impacts of the 1988
Spitak. In 2002, the orphanage came under the administration of the
Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of Social Welfare. Today, the Nansen
Orphanage provides art, sports, dance, vocal and foreign language
instruction to dozens of children.

Helping the Orphans

On November 16, YP Yerevan hosted a fundraising event for the orphanage
at the Yerevan Puppet Theater. The theater’s auditorium was filled with
special guests, including famous singers and artists, bankers,
businessmen, and local celebrities, all of whom toured the display of
art that was inspired by their day in Yerevan. The children also
returned to the capital and gave several song and dance performances,
which created a festive atmosphere for the theater guests. A video of
the event is now available on AGBU’s YouTube channel:

The exhibition sale raised over 1,239,000 AMD (more than 4,000 USD),
greatly exceeding the organizer’s expectations. Proceeds from the art
sale will be used to build a computer center at the orphanage. Several
YP Yerevan members have IT training and plan on teaching the children
how to use the equipment. YP Yerevan plans to use any additional funds
from the event to hire English-language teachers to assist the children
to improve their language skills.

The AGBU Young Professionals are committed to preserving and promoting
the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural, and
humanitarian programs. For more information on the AGBU Young
Professionals, please contact the AGBU YP Liaison at [email protected]
or (212) 319-6383.

For more information on AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit

JOINT DECLARATION

Azat Artsakh Daily
05 Dec 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

We, the Foreign Ministers and Deputy Minister of the OSCE Minsk
Group’s Co-Chair countries – France, Russia, and the United States –
call on the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to build on the
positive momentum established during the meeting of the Presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on November 2, 2008. The Moscow
Declaration signed that same day opened a new and promising phase in
our shared endeavor to expand peace in the South Caucasus. In that
declaration, the Presidents reaffirm their commitment to advancing a
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the framework
of the Basic Principles developed by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs
in collaboration with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the
basis of their proposals advanced last year in Madrid. We call on the
parties to work with the Co-Chairs to finalize the Basic Principles in
coming months, and then begin drafting a comprehensive peace settlement
as outlined by those agreed principles. In keeping with the Moscow
Declaration, we call on the parties to work with the Co-Chairs to
develop confidence-building measures, beginning with pulling back
snipers from the Line of Cont act to save lives of innocent civilians
and soldiers as our mediators already proposed to the sides at the
highest level during the last visit mid November. It is urgent for
the parties to work with each other, the Co-Chairs, and the Personal
Representative of the Chairman in Office to stabilize the ceasefire
through this and other measures. We reiterate our firm view that there
is no military solution to the conflict and call on the parties to
recommit to a peaceful resolution.

ARMENIA, TURKEY FMS AGREE TO CONTINUE THE MEETINGS

armradio.am
05.12.2008 11:18

Within the framework of his visit to Helsinki, the Foreign Minister of
Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, had a meeting with his Turkish counterpart
Ali Babacan. During the meeting the parties continued the negotiations
on the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. Ministers
Nalbandian and Babacan agreed to continue the meetings.

Edward Nalbandian and the Foreign Minister of Luxemburg, Jean Aselborn
discussed the Armenia-European Union relations. At the request of
Minister Aselborn, Edward Nalbandian presented the latest developments
in the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict settlement.

Minister Nalbandian later met with the Director of the Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Micheline Calmy-Rey. The
Foreign Ministers discussed issues related to the further development
of relations between the two friendly countries and dwelt on regional
and international questions.

During the meeting with UN Deputy Secretary General for Political
Issues Lynn Pascoe Minister Nalbandian discussed the process of
resolution of the Karabakh issue. The interlocutors stressed the
necessity of peaceful settlement of the conflict. Ambassador Lynn
Pascoe underlined that having been a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
and being well familiar with the issue, he considers that it can be
solved with the support of the Co-Chairs.

THEY CAME, AS EVERY THURSDAY

A1+
[02:24 pm] 04 December, 2008

Screams were once again heard in front of the government building
today. On yet another government session day, relatives of political
prisoners had gathered in front of the building to demand the release
of the prisoners and punishment of those responsible for the events
of March 1.

They are certain that all political prisoners are innocent and are
in jail because they did not share the administration’s opinion and
expressed their personal views

TURKEY GRANTS RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS TO JEWISH AND ARMENIAN STUDENTS

Hurriyet
Dec 2 2008
Turkey

The president of Higher Education Board (YOK), Yusuf Ziya Ozcan,
requested in the mandate sent to the offices of university rectors that
Jewish and Armenian students in Turkey be allowed to take a vacation
during their religious holidays, Hurriyet daily reported on Tuesday.

The mandate also extends to Jewish and Armenian academic staff being
able to benefit from the same right, Hurriyet wrote.

The decision recognizes the religious festivals of Jewish and Armenian
students at an institutional level for the first time.

YOK also sent the mandate to the chief rabbi’s office and the Armenian
Patriarchal Presidency to inform of the decision, Hurriyet added.