Author: Frangulian Shushan

WB APPROVES US$9 MILLION CREDIT FOR ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2010 11:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors
today approved a US$9 million credit for the Second Public Sector
Modernization Project (PSMP II) for Armenia. The project will assist
the Government of Armenia in its efforts to improve the quality of
public services by introducing a performance-based pay system and a
code of conduct for civil servants, and by enhancing public access
to all available government information.

"Strengthening governance through improved public service delivery is
among the priorities for Bank support," said Asad Alam, World Bank
Regional Director for the South Caucasus. "While some improvements
have been made in the area of governance and anti-corruption, important
challenges remain, including in the enforcement of conflict of interest
legislation pertaining to public officials."

In the new economic reality brought about by the global economic
crisis, public administration reform has grown even more important,
as getting better value from public expenditures and improving public
services have become a necessity. Ensuring that public service
provisions do not suffer at a time of tighter fiscal constraints
requires focused efforts to strengthen performance management.

"To improve public service delivery, enhancing technology is not
enough by itself. The most crucial and difficult part is changing
behavior and organizational culture," added Kathy Lalazarian, head
of the World Bank team designing the project. "It’s important to have
efficient public services throughout the recovery because – more than
ever – families are counting on the services the government provides."

This demanding agenda will be tackled by the PSMP II, as despite
progress in civil service reform under the ongoing PSMP I,
policy formulation and implementation functions need additional
strengthening. The Project will also help build capacity for
performance management, and will support the Government’s efforts to
bolster the rules regulating conflict of interest in public service
and improve enforcement.

PSMP II has three main components. It supports: (i) the design of
organizational structures in pilot institutions and improvement of
the management of business processes by streamlining and coordinating
functions; (ii) making human resource management more effective,
and enhancing public service ethics and staff performance systems;
and (iii) complementing and enhancing the electronic governance and
automation systems to make them accessible to the general public,
aiming for better service delivery, and more transparency and
efficiency.

The IBRD Flexible loan has a maturity of 25 years and a grace period
of 10 years included.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments
to Armenia total approximately US$ 1, 318, 7 million.

WORLD’S AZERBAIJANIS UNION STARTS PROTEST CAMPAIGN AGAINST SO-CALLED "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"

Today
itics/64239.html
March 17 2010
Azerbaijan

World’s Azerbaijanis Union (DAB) in Belgium has started a campaign of
letters of protest in connection with support in different countries
for so-called "Armenian genocide", the press service of the State
Committee for Work with the Diaspora said.

According to the head of DAB Adalat Guliyev, the letters of protest
under the slogan "No to H. Res 252!!!" strongly condemn the decision
of U.S. House of Representatives committee on foreign affairs dated
March 4, which recognizes the so-called "Armenian genocide", as well
as Swedish Parliament’s official recognition of so-called "Armenian
genocide" on March 11.

The letters were addressed to U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice
President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, international
organizations, as well as every congressman and senator recognizing
and supporting the "Armenian genocide".

Together with the facts confirming the absence of such event as
"Armenian genocide" in the history, the letters contain information on
Armenia’s occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories, UN and
Council of Europe resolutions on withdrawal of armed forces of Armenia
from the occupied lands and a call to recognize Khojaly Genocide.

GROUP OF AZERBAIJANI NGOS PROTESTS AGAINST WORLD’S DOUBLE STANDARDS

Trend
ights/1655116.html
March 16 2010
Azerbaijan

A group of Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations adopted a
statement protesting against double standards existing in the world.

The statement expresses an indignation on the double standards of the
U.S. and Western countries, and a protest against the recognition of
so-called "Armenian genocide."

"The major world powers do not see Khojali tragedy, happened two
decades ago, while discussing "Armenian genocide" with unverified
facts," the head Union of Disabled People Organizations (UDPO) of
Azerbaijan Mehdi Mehdiyev told Trend News at an event devoted to the
protest of Azerbaijani NGOs.

According to him, the world’s double standards are primarily directed
against the Muslim countries.

Chairman of the Union of Chernobyl Disabled Persons Mirhasan Hasanov
also noted that Armenians started the war against Azerbaijan and
occupied Azerbaijani lands.

Chairman of Union of Azerbaijan Patriotic War Veterans Fizuli
Rzaguliyev said that Azerbaijan should always support Turkey in the
so-called "Armenian genocide" issue.

Union of Graduates of Turkish universities, Azerbaijan Blind Persons
Association, Azerbaijani Veterans of Afghanistan War, Social Support
of Women Veterans, Women of the 21st century, World congress of Young
Turk Writers also jointed the statement.

US PREPARES FOR AGGRESSION, RUSSIA COULD BE ONE OF THE TARGETS

PRAVDA
March 16 2010
Russia

The US military is to pay extra $500 to all officers and soldiers
(in addition to translators and intelligence officers) who know at
least one foreign language, especially Russian and Chechen. Those
who know two foreign languages will be paid $1000 extra, and so on.

The decision was made by the US Department of Defense. They concluded
that implementation of various missions abroad largely depends on the
ability of soldiers to communicate in the language of the inhabitants
of the country where the operation is conducted. "We are talking about
the human aspect of the mission. To be successful, it is important
to understand the customs and culture of these people and speak their
language," said Lt. Col. Paul Valenzuela, responsible for implementing
the program of language training and regional studies at the Air Force.

According to the lieutenant colonel, approximately 4.3 thousand
military people currently receive the said language allowance.

Interestingly enough, Russian falls into the category of "urgently
needed". Pravda.ru talked to three experts to find out why.

"Choice of a language to be mastered by the US military says a lot,"
says Dmitry Rogozin, permanent representative of Russia to NATO. "This
allows predicting areas where Washington may become active. If we look
at the list of languages recommended for American military pilots,
we will see that in addition to Russian and Chechen it includes
the languages of other peoples residing in the Caucasus, such as
Azerbaidzhan, Armenian, and Georgian. This means that in the near
future the US may pay particular attention to the Caucasus region.

However, I do not see a possibility of a serious conflict between
Russian and the Block NATO. This is not because the alliance is
particularly friendly towards Russia; this is because while we have
modern nuclear weapons, they will not bother us. Yet, it is possible
that they will try to drag us into conflicts through third parties,
like it happened in August of 2008. Then someone pushed Saakashvili
to get aggressive towards South Ossetia."

Konstantin Sivkov, the first vice president of the Academy for
Geopolitical Issues, thinks that is worth remembering that not
long before the aggression towards Iraq and Yugoslavia, American
officers began studying the Arabic and Serbian languages. "Now,
the US is preparing for aggression that would not happen tomorrow,
but this preparation is under way. The increase in the allowance
for American officers should be considered as one of the elements of
this preparation. First of all, it is directly connected to American
military training that recently took place in the Baltic states.

During the training, the Pentagon practiced transitioning of large
military troops from the US and Western Europe to the Baltic states.

EU ENCOURAGES FURTHER PROGRESS IN TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS

News.az
March 16 2010
Azerbaijan

EU fully support the hard work of Turkey and Armenia turning a historic
page and normalizing relations.

The European Union’s new enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fule,
confirms his support for Turkey’s accession to the EU but urges
the country ‘to fully implement additional protocols and normalize
relations with Cyprus.’ Meanwhile, Fule also says he encourages
further progress in Turkish-Armenian relations and continued pursuit of
‘zero problems with neighbors’

Turkey must normalize relations with Greek Cyprus, the European
Union’s new enlargement commissioner told reporters in Ankara on
Monday during his first official visit to EU-candidate Turkey.

"I had the opportunity to underline the importance the EU attaches to
the need for Turkey to fully implement the additional protocol and
normalize its relations with Cyprus," Fule told reporters during a
joint conference with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"We agree that a comprehensive settlement on Cyprus would be a historic
breakthrough to the benefit of both Turkey and the EU," Fule said.

A European diplomat serving in Ankara confirmed the increasing
concerns, saying that the membership talks might enter a stalemate
unless the Cyprus issue is resolved.

Turkey and the EU share a strategic vision to lead global politics,
according to Davutoglu. "The EU is our common future. We will exert
efforts to make the EU an international player that is geopolitically
influential and economically dynamic."

"Turkish membership is a good opportunity," Davutoglu said, adding
that Turkey’s membership talks should not be overshadowed by "political
problems that have no direct link to the EU process, such as Cyprus."

"I’ve confirmed my commitment to the accession process and to
seeing Turkey become a member of the EU," Fule said, noting that the
credibility of the accession talks in respect of mutual commitments
was discussed.

Davutoglu, however, said visa liberalization must be granted to Turkey
once it fulfills the requirements.

Also during the press conference, Fule encouraged Turkey to continue
with its "zero problems with neighbors" policy and with the country’s
efforts to normalize relations with Armenia.

"I fully support the hard work of Turkey and Armenia turning a historic
page and normalizing relations," Fule told reporters.

Asked to comment on the Armenian "genocide" resolution recently
approved by the Swedish parliament, Fule replied, "The commission
does not comment on internal decisions of member states."

But he noted: "I know that sometimes politicizing history makes
reconciliations difficult. I’ve made a point of support for the
current stage of the relationship between Turkey and Armenia."

The European Commission is ready to assist both Turkey and Armenia to
carry out their responsibilities stemming from the protocols, he said.

The commissioner later met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagısh and several deputies as part of
his trip to Ankara.

Fule is also set to have talks with civil-society organizations and
members of business circles in Istanbul on Tuesday.

An association agreement between Turkey and the EU was signed in 1963.

A number of decisions by the European Council, as well as resolutions
by the European Parliament, confirmed that Turkey would become a full
member once it meets all the requirements.

AZERBAIJAN FRUSTRATED THE OSCE MONITORING

armradio.am
16.03.2010 16:53

On March 16, according to the earlier achieved agreement with
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic authorities, the OSCE Mission had to
conduct scheduled monitoring of the NKR and Azerbaijani armed forces’
contact-line, in the Askeran direction.

But, the monitoring was frustrated by the Azerbaijani party, which
didn’t lead the OSCE Mission members to the earlier agreed monitoring
site, Press Service of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Earlier, the Karabakh party urged to hold monitoring just in this
section of the contact-line, where gross violations of the cease-fire
regime by the Azerbaijani armed forced had repeatedly taken place.

AZERBAIJANI MP: U.S. WILL PUT PRESSURE ON ARMENIA TO REALIZE ITS GEOPOLITICAL INTERESTS IN THE REGION
A. Hasanov

Today
4148.html
March 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with member of Security and Defense Committee of
Azerbaijani Milli Majlis (Parliament) Zahid Oruj.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has accepted an invitation to visit
the U.S. to participate in Global Nuclear Safety summit to be held
in April. What are your comments on this fact?

Simple analysis of recent U.S. actions in our region indicates that the
world’s superpower wants to withdraw Armenia from Russian influence
and strengthen its position in the South Caucasus. Inviting Armenian
President to the United States will become just another link in the
chain of U.S. actions to achieve this goal. It should be noted that
the U.S. position in the South Caucasus region is weakening due to
the inactivity of the United States.

A simple monitoring can reveal absence of recent intensive visits by
high U.S. officials to our region. The United States makes its best
with main emphasis on Armenia. Therefore, the United States initiated
the process of normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations and the Committee
on Foreign Relations of the U.S. Congress passed a resolution on the
so-called "Armenian genocide".

In the meantime, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says adoption
of a resolution on the so-called "Armenian genocide" by the Committee
on Foreign Relations was a mistake. Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton during a visit to Guatemala also said that the U.S.

Congress will not consider a resolution on "Armenian genocide". In
your opinion, are these statements consistent with the latest U.S.

actions in relation to Armenia?

As you remember, Turkey and Azerbaijan have warned the U.S. that it
is a wrong move to bring resolution on so-called "Armenian genocide"
to the agenda of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Both Turkey and
Azerbaijan have stated that the adoption of such a resolution would
severely damage the U.S. position in our countries casting doubt on
objectivity of this superpower. Despite this, the Committee on Foreign
Relations adopted a resolution on the so-called "Armenian genocide".

This decision is dangerous and it opens opportunity for both the U.S.

and a number of other countries to pass all kinds of resolutions aimed
at putting pressure on Turkey. The move by the Swedish parliament to
recognize the "Armenian genocide" is an example.

After analyzing Turkey and Azerbaijan’s reaction to such steps,
the U.S. leaders are beginning to realize implications this negative
move and attempts to exert pressure on Turkey have for position of
the United States in our region.

Are the U.S. actions based solely on geopolitics?

I don’t think so. The fact is that certain circles in the United
States openly hinted that both Turkey and Azerbaijan also spent their
money to create own lobby in the face of Representatives and other
structures that are important in the American political hierarchy.

Thus, the theme of so-called "Armenian genocide" is becoming some
sort of trade-off as any product on shelves of American hypermarkets.

How do you see future of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and settlement
of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

Turkey has every reason to refuse further steps to normalize relations
with Armenia. In particular, after the scandalous decision by the
Constitutional Court of Armenia, who made reservation to the protocols
contradicting letter and spirit of the accords, it became clear that
Armenia does not cease to pursue an immoral policy ignoring its own
commitments. Under these conditions, Turkey may refuse to ratify the
Turkish-Armenian protocols and to show the world that the policy of
pressure and blackmail against Turkey will not work and that such
steps cannot make Turkey to open land border with Armenia ignoring
interests of friendly Azerbaijan.

In other words, it became clear for the whole world that the process
of normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations can only run in parallel
with the process of settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Consequently, the fate of these processes depends entirely
on willingness and ability of the U.S. to exert pressure on Armenia
on both these issues. I believe that the U.S. will put pressure on
Armenia, because it suits geopolitical interests of the U.S. in our
region that are not implemented solely because of Armenia.

ANSAmed , Italy
March 12, 2010 Friday 10:16 AM CET

TURKEY: ARMENIAN MASSACRES; DIPLOMATIC CRISIS WITH SWEDEN;
STOCKHOLM CONSIDERS IT ‘GENOCIDE’;ANKARA SUMMONS AMBASSADOR

ANKARA

(ANSAmed) The Swedish Ambassador in Ankara, Christer Asp, has been
summoned this morning to the Turkish Foreign Ministry following a
diplomatic crisis which yesterday exploded between Ankara and
Stockholm after the Swedish Parliament approved a motion in which the
Armenian massacres are recognised as "genocide."

The news was reported by private television broadcaster NTV, quoting
sources at the Foreign Ministry. Yesterday Ankara decided to call its
Ambassador to Sweden to return to Turkey for consultations.

Exactly a week after the vote by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
US Congress which recognised the massacres of the Armenians at the
time of the Ottoman Empire as "genocide", the same vote of
condemnation came from the Swedish Parliament yesterday, provoking an
immediate and aggravated reaction from Ankara, which has cancelled the
planned visit by Premier Tayyip Erdogan for the intergovernmental
summit between the two countries scheduled for March 17.

A few minutes after the Anadolu agency released the news of the
Swedish MPs’ decision (131 votes in favour and 130 against, decisive
were four MPs from the majority who ignored indications from the
Government and voted with the left-wing opposition), a statement
attributed to Premier Erdogan appeared on the Turkish Cabinet Office
website which read: "We strongly condemn this decision which has been
reached for political reasons and which does not correspond with the
close friendship that links our two countries." In addition,
Ambassador Zergun Koruturk, who took up office in Sweden on November 1
last year, was immediately recalled.

Ankara has always denied that the Armenian massacres were premeditated
genocide and maintains that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians (and
not the one and a half million as maintained by Yerevan) were killed
in a civil war which also caused the loss of Turkish lives. On
Thursday, immediately after the approval of the resolution by the US
Congress committee, Ankara recalled its Ambassador, Namik Tan, who
took up office on February 25. Now Ankara, as Erdogan has recently
said, is waiting to know what the administration in Washington intends
to do, letting it be understood that the Turkish diplomat will only
return to Washington when Turkey has guarantees that the resolution
will not be brought to a vote of the Congress plenary assembly.

But now the problem has also arisen with Sweden, despite Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt hastening to describe "the politicisation of
history" as an error and to say the line of the government, which is
in favour of the Turkey’s entrance into the EU, "remains unchanged."

Nalbandian Was Not Yet Born When ARF-D Was Conducting Negotiations

15:34 – 13.03.10

A statement made by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has
disgruntled Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or
ARF-D) Bureau member Vahan Hovhannisyan.

`The minister, in his typical style, said that those forces requiring
his [Nalbandian’s] withdrawal are irresponsible and that they would
have understood how difficult it was to carry negotiate, should they
have ever tried to conduct negotiations,’ said Hovhannisyan at a press
conference today.

`I want to mention that Dashnaktsutyun was conducting negotiations and
was doing it successfully before Nalbandian was born or when he was
born but was still attending school. There is no need to teach us how
to carry negotiations. The minister thinks he has such special skills
to conduct negotiations that others do not. While American colleagues
have said during meetings that there are preconditions in the
Protocols, which is acceptable for Armenia. If the skill to conduct
negotiations is just saying `come here, please’ or `yes’ to
everything, then we do not have that skill, we would’ve carry out
negotiations in another way,’ explained Hovhannisyan.
He also recalled that it was due to efforts by the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau’s Hay Dat (`Armenian Cause’)
that the international approach to the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide changed in Armenia’s favour.

Tert.am

People’s Daily Online , China
March 13 2010

Turkish ambassador to Sweden returns home in protest of genocide resolution
12:53, March 13, 2010

Turkish Ambassador to Sweden Zergun Koruturk returned to Turkey on
Friday, noting that the resolution passed in Swedish parliament
Thursday recognizing the Armenian genocide was groundless.

Local CNNTurk television quoted Koruturk, who arrived at Istanbul’s
Ataturk airport, as saying that it was not befitting of Sweden to pass
such a resolution for the sake of its own elections.

The Turkish ambassador had been called back to Ankara for consultation
shortly after the Swedish Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution
on Armenian allegations regarding the 1915 incidents with 131 votes
against 130.

Koruturk said the resolution "is groundless," adding that " Sweden is
to hold elections in September. This resolution was brought up in 2008
but delayed until now. This is going on because of the election
period."

She said Turkey and Sweden had enjoyed a perfect relations and Sweden
had been the greatest supporter of Turkish membership in the European
Union.

On March 4, Turkey temporarily recalled its ambassador to the United
States following a U.S. congressional panel approved a resolution
labeling the incidents of 1915 as "genocide."

Turkey strongly rejects the genocide allegations and regards the
events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks
and Armenians.

Source: Xinhua