Author: Frangulian Shushan

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 29, 2008 Wednesday

BATTLE FOR FORMAT

by Vadim Dubnov

IS ANYBODY READY FOR A COMPROMISE IN THE NAME OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH
CONFLICT SETTLEMENT?; It does not appear as if anybody wanted a
solution to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russian and Armenian presidents’ enthusiasm over the steady increase
of trade turnover between these two countries failed to mislead
observers concerning exactly what Dmitry Medvedev and Serj Sargsjan
met to discuss. They met in Yerevan to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh.

The future of Karabakh negotiations was determined by the so called
Madrid Principles before the Russian-Georgian shooting war. Armenia
was expected to withdraw from the occupied districts of Azerbaijan
beyond the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan to lift siege of
the border i.e. front line. Finally, the Madrid Principles stood for a
referendum no concerned party believed in then and believes in now.

Now that Russia and American chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group have
nothing to say to each other, the chances of the Azerbaijani-Armenian
conflict settlement appear to be illusory.

And yet, no constructive alternatives are put forth much less
discussed. It is clear as well that not even the Western community has
any bright ideas to come up with.

Nobody seems interested in Karabakh conflict settlement. Any decision
means a compromise, and a compromise is neither what Sargsjan nor his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev wants. Neither do international
brokers want a compromise, because any compromise may put into motion
a whole new scenario and a new arrangement of forces. What with Iran
not far and Turkey becoming definitely active in the region despite
its own domestic political troubles, it is the last thing the world
powers want.

"The last 14 years accustomed us to one set of rules," a Karabakh
politician said. "As for what the new rules will be like, nobody can
say anything with any degree of accuracy."

Source: Gazeta, October 27, 2008, p. 6

PanARMENIAN.Net

`The Morgenthau Story’ documentary to be screened in Belmont
01.11.2008 15:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) will host a screening of The Morgenthau Story, a new
documentary by Massachusetts-based filmmaker and artist Apo Torosyan’s
at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, at the NAASR Center, 395 Concord
Ave. in Belmont. The event will be co-sponsored by Mashtots Chair in
Armenian Studies at Harvard University and NAASR, and Mashtots
Professor James R. Russell will provide an introduction to the film,
wickedlocal.com reports.

The Morgenthau Story tells the story of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s
commitment to helping humanity. From 1913 to 1916, he served as
U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople, and with the beginning of the
Armenian Genocide in the spring of 1915 he appealed without success to
the Ottoman leaders to stop the killings. In 1923, during the
aftermath of the genocide and expulsion of Armenians, Greeks, and
Assyrians, he helped save thousands of lives by successfully leading
the Refugee Relief Committee in Greece.

Torosyan interweaves the story of Morgenthau with interviews with
three of his descendants: grandsons Henry Morgenthau III and Robert
M. Morgenthau, and great-granddaughter Dr. Pamela Steiner.

Torosyan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Armenian and Greek
parents. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Istanbul’s
Academy of Fine Arts. His previous films include Bread Series, Water,
The Gates, Witnesses, Discovering My Father’s Village: Edincik, and
Voices. He is an active member of the Boston Printmakers and the
International Association of Genocide Scholars.

Torosyan has had many solo and group art shows all over the U.S. and
Europe, and his work has appeared in private and corporate collections
in Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, Armenia, Canada, and the U.S. One of
his works, `My Father’s Letter,’ 1991, was selected by the Museum of
Modern Art at Tonneins, Bordeaux, France, for its permanent
collection. His `Bread Series’ is also in the permanent collection of
the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, MA, and the
Flaten Art Museum in Northfield, MN.

291 MILLION DRAMS TO BE ALLOCATED TO RA MINISTRY OF DIASPORA BY 2009 DRAFT STATE BUDGET

Noyan Tapan
Oct 29, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The 2009 draft state budget envisages
about 291 mln drams for the maintenance of the newly-created Ministry
of the Diaspora, and about 100 million drams for the implementation
of programs.

51.5 mln drams out of the sum envisaged for programs will be used
to implement measures on Armenia-Diaspora cooperation and to assist
with educational, cultural and youth programs and the activities of
Diasporan educational and cultural institutions, as well as to raise
the quality of education.

The RA first deputy minister of finance Pavel Safarian stated at the
October 28 joint sitting of the National Assembly standing committees
that the ministry was formed on October 1, 2009 when the draft budget
had already been submitted to the parliament so it is necessary to
discuss jointly the problems of financing the ministry’s programs.

In the words of the minister of the Diaspora Hranush Hakobian, the
major mission of the ministry is coordinate the activities of the
executive power bodies in the field of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation,
so the sums envisaged by the state budget for this purpose are actually
small. At the same time she announced that an agreement was reached
with the president and the prime minister of Armenia to finance a
number of programs from certain foundations – in addition to using
state budgetary allocations. Out of the projects to be carried out
soon, the minister pointed out "Ari Tun" project, under which it is
envisaged bringing boys and girls aged 15-25 to Armenia.

Only civil servants may work in the system so steps are being taken
to involve Diasporan Armenians in the work of the ministry on a
contractual basis. H. Hakobian said that an agreement has already been
signed with the UN and a contest has been announced for involvement
of Diasporan Armenians in the ministry’s activity. She informed those
present that a conference will be held in December in order to analyse
the lessons of the 1946-1948 repatriation and develop a repatriation
program in the near future.

2009 DRAFT STATE BUDGET ENVISAGES ALLOCATIONS OF 18.5 BILLION DRAMS TO SPHERE OF RECREATION, CULTURE AND RELIGION, WITHOUT EXPENDITURES ON CENTRAL STAFF OF STATE GOVERNMENT BODIES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 29, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. By the 2009 draft state budget,
allocations to the sphere of recreation, culture and religion
(without the central staff of state government bodies) will make
18.5 bln drams against 15.4 bln drams in 2008 (20.7% growth). The
first deputy minister of finance Pavel Safarian said at the October
28 joint sitting of the National Assembly standing committees that
the expenditures on maintenance of the central staff of the sector of
culture were programmed by the same principles as in all the other
state departments. The absolute growth of programs’ financing made
2.2 bln drams as compared with 2008.

According to the RA minister of culture Hasmik Poghosian, it is
envisaged allocating 9.35 bln drams to the sector of culture, which
exceeds the 2008 index by 31.8%. The allocations will be mostly spent
on preservation of national heritage, including major repairs and
re-equipment of 13 museums, increasing the accessibility of library
services, and implementation of family library programs. Allocations
for libraries will amount to 1.9 bln drams against 1.5 bln drams in
2008, for museums – 1.9 bln drams against 1.4 bln drams in 2008,
and allocations for cultural houses, clubs and centers will make
about 1.06 bln drams against 964 mln drams in 2008.

Expenditures on sports and recreation are envisaged to make 1.6 bln
drams against 1.1 bln drams in 2008. P. Safarian said that these
allocations will be mainly used for prizes to winners of republican
and international competitions, as well as the implementation of new
programs and the organization of the 2009 Pan-Armenian Games.

ARMENIA CALLS FOR ALL-OUT TIES WITH IRAN

Mathaba.Net
Oct 30 2008
UK

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Yerevan on Thursday
called for the expansion of relations with Iran in different fields.

In a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Yerevan Ali Saqaeian, Nalbandian
highlighted the significance of implementing agreements already signed
between the two countries with the aim of bolstering cooperation.

He called for holding the next session of Iran-Armenia Joint Economic
Commission and invited his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki to
pay a visit to Yerevan in the near future.

The minister said that cooperation between countries in the region
would lead to further expansion of ties.

He added that new developments on settlement of the Karabakh conflict
are based on efforts focusing on principled strategies in accordance
with the OSCE Minsk Group (Conference on Security and Cooperation
in Europe).

The Iranian diplomat called on Armenia to support Tehran’s membership
at the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).

Armenia currently holds the rotating presidency of the BSEC.

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN LEADERS TO MEET IN MOSCOW FOR CONFLICT TALKS

AFP
29 oct 08

MOSCOW (AFP) — The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet
in Moscow this weekend to discuss the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in
talks mediated by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin
said Wednesday.

"On November 2, 2008, in Moscow… a meeting will take place between
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian with the participation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
on the regulation of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict," the Kremlin said
in a statement.

Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed that the meeting would take place, but
presidential officials in both countries declined to comment further.

Medvedev visited Armenia last week in a fresh push to end the
long-simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, an enclave of Azerbaijan
with a largely ethnic Armenian population that broke free of Baku’s
control in the early 1990s.

Sarkisian said at the meeting that he was ready for talks with Baku
on the basis of principles worked out at negotiations in Madrid last
year, meaning that the people of Nagorny Karabakh gain the right
to self-determination.

The enclave has been the subject of heightened international diplomacy
in recent weeks, with US and Turkish officials visiting Armenia to
push for a negotiated solution.

Analysts say Moscow is keen to maintain influence in Armenia, its
main ally in the Caucasus, after Russia’s brief war with US-allied
Georgia in August raised tensions throughout the region.

The August war, which began when Georgia attacked its own breakaway
enclave of South Ossetia, raised fears of similar violence in Nagorny
Karabakh.

Nearly 30,000 were killed in the 1990s war over the enclave and
soldiers on both sides continue to exchange sporadic fire, claiming
lives.

CORRECTION OF "MISTAKE" OR WHAT AZERBAIJAN SHOULD DO TO MAIL.RU

Today.Az
s/48584.html
Oct 29 2008
Azerbaijan

Russian portal MAIL.Ru corrected its "mistake" only after interference
of the Azerbaijani embassy to Russia.

Day.Az has received a letter from the adviser of the Azerbaijani
embassy to Russia B.Zeynalov, which says:

"In the result of efforts of the Azerbaijani embassy to Russia the
link to Armenia-Nagorno Karabakh was removed from MAIL.Ru on October
27 and Nagorno Karabakh was fixed as part of Azerbaijan.

But at the same time the section on Armenia again included the link
"Armenia-Artsakh".

Due to this fact the embassy again contacted the website administrators
and demanded to remove this link, which was attained by 17:00 Moscow
time.

The embassy will watch the situation and spare no efforts for aversion
of such facts in the future…"

It should be noted that by removing "Artsakh" from the division
"Armenia", MAIL.RU also removed the section Nagorno Karabakh from
the section on Azerbaijan.

What has caused the impunity of the Armenian employees of the Russian
portal?

Let’s take a small trip to history. The events started to develop
just six months ago.

First of all, Azerbaijani websites, including Day.Az, APA and
Trend were removed from the rating of new agencies of MAIL.RU
by different trumped-up reasons.

After the news services of MAIL.RU was launched, it started to export
openly anti-Azerbaijani materials, mostly using the pro-Armenian
source Regnum.

Thus, the precise and consistent work of the Armenian officials of
MAIL.RU is obvious both in neutralization of Azerbaijani mass medias
and introducing Armenian interpretation of history to Russian readers.

It is now necessary to consolidate actions of the Foreign Ministry,
State Committee for work with Azerbaijanis, residing abroad,
Azerbaijani embassy to Russia, famous Azerbaijanis, playing an
important role in the sociopolitical life of Russia. It is our duty
to avert the actions of MAILRU aimed at distortion of history of
Azerbaijan, "Armenization" of Nagorno Karabakh in the eyes of wide
public of Russia.

Two months ago Azerbaijan gave a good lesson to the systems of
international monetary transfers – Western Union and MoneyGram.

After the facts of cooperation with Nagorno Karabakh separatists
were revealed in the work of these companies, it was decided to stop
business ties with them on July 30.

The managements of the companies were informed about the claims of the
national bank, inadmissibility of cooperation with Armenian separatists
of Nagorno Karabakh and they were demanded to stop such events.

The companies accepted all provisions of the National Bank and
on August 7 they cut all contacts with the occupied lands of
Azerbaijan. They announced that they will not accept such facts in
the future.

This issue was settled within 7 days.

And if today Armenian officials of MAIL.RU are openly mocking at us,
why not close MAIL.RU from Azerbaijan? We should close delivery
of messages from the emails at @mail.ru network to the emails of
Azerbaijani users, in other words, to response adequately. After it
other Russian sites will assess the degree of the adequate response,
before posting anti-Azerbaijani materials.

In other words, we must not stay idle. Otherwise, considering the
great number of ethnic Armenians, occupying not the lowest positions
in the Russia media area, this process may further develop and then
within a short period of time no one in Russia will believe that
Nagorno Karabakh is an Azerbaijani land.

TURKISH OFFICIAL: COURAGE AND CREATIVITY NEEDED TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.10.2008 16:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy adviser to
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that the new era
with the United States will be a success story whoever was elected
the new president of that country.

"The new president of the United States will be Turkey’s best friend,"
Davutoglu said during a meeting on "Turkey, the region and U.S.-Turkey
relations: Assessing the challenges and prospects" at the Brookings
Institution in Washington D.C.

As to Turkey’s relations with Armenia, Davutoglu said that his country
is willing to discuss problems and two countries should seize every
opportunity to normalize relations.

Davutoglu voiced hope that the Armenian Diaspora will support the
process between Turkey and Armenia, and that it will not arouse
concerns in Azerbaijan.

The adviser said that courage and creativity is needed to resolve the
Nagorno Karabakh dispute. "We shouldn’t wait for 20-30 more years,"
Davutoglu said.

Commenting on Turkey’s relations with its neighbors, Davutoglu that
Turkey established a strong relationship with Iran and fixed progress
in its relations with Armenia and in settlement of the Cyprus issue,
worldbulletin.net reports.

EU: TURKEY’S REGIONAL IMPORTANCE GREW

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.10.2008 18:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s importance to the EU has increased in the
areas of energy, and regional security and conflict prevention in the
Caucasus, says the EU annual progress report on Turkey to be released
on November 5.

The EU reforms, it says, makes Turkey "a stronger force for stability"
in the volatile region, which witnessed a Russian-Georgian war over
the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August.

It said Turkey played a "constructive role" in the Caucasus and the
Middle East by proposing a Caucasus cooperation platform after the
August crisis; by mediating peace talks between Israel and Syria;
and by starting dialogue with Armenia with President Gul’s visit
in September.

The report noted changes to the Article 301 of the Turkish Penal
Code (TCK), which the EU said restricts freedom of expression, but
complained that the wording still remains largely the same and that
the revised form, which requires prior authorization from the justice
minister to open cases on the basis of Article 301, raises concerns
that the article will be subject to political considerations.

On the government, however, the report’s tone was tougher, complaining
that, although it expressed commitment to the reforms, it has not put
forward "a consistent and comprehensive program of reforms" to bring
Turkey closer to the EU, Today’s Zaman reports.

NEVADA ARMENIANS RALLY SUPPORT FOR CONGRESSWOMAN BERKLEY

armradio.am
30.10.2008 10:26

Armenian Americans in the Silver State gathered together for
a fundraiser held in support for Congresswoman Shelley Berkley
(NV-1). Last month, the Congresswoman secured a strong endorsement
from the nation’s largest and most active Armenian American political
action committee, the Armenian National Committee – Political Action
Committee (ANC-PAC).

"We are pleased to be supporting Shelley Berkley and want her back
in Washington next year," shared ANC-PAC supporter and Las Vegas
resident Ara Shirinian. "She has been a strong ally to her Armenian
American constituents and a forceful advocate for improving America’s
relationship with Armenia," Shirinian added.

Representatives of Armenians for Obama were also on hand at the Berkley
fundraiser. Nevada supported Democrat Bill Clinton for president in
1992 and 1996, and backed Republican George W. Bush in the two most
recent elections.

Political observers say the state could go to either party this year,
making the Armenian American voting bloc important to the outcome of
the presidential election.

"I am encouraged at the high level of support for the Obama/Biden
ticket among Armenian Americans in Nevada," remarked Armenians for
Obama leader Sarig Armenian. "We clearly know what a key constituency
our community is here in the Silver State. With only days to go
before the election, our number one goal now is getting our community
members to the polls to vote to make Senator Obama our next President,"
Armenian added.

Congresswoman Berkley began serving in the U.S. House of
Representatives in January of 1999. She represents the First
Congressional District of Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, North
Las Vegas, and unincorporated areas in Clark County. The district is
home to a large and growing Armenian American community and a diverse
number of Armenian civic organizations.