Author: Jagharian Tania

ISRAEL RETHINKS ARMS SALES TO TURKEY
By HERB KEINON AND YAAKOV KATZ

Jerusalem Post
Oct 12, 2009 0:12

While Israel kept a low official profile Sunday on Turkey’s
cancellation of a joint military exercise, defense officials
said advanced weapons sales to Turkey would now be reviewed, and a
leading academic expert on Israeli-Turkish relations suggested ending
support for Turkey on the Armenian genocide issue in Washington if
the deterioration in ties continues.

Turkish naval ships are seen…

Turkish naval ships are seen in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast
of Haifa during a joint US, Israeli and Turkish military exercise in
2008. (file) Photo: AP SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World

According to defense officials, several Turkish requests are currently
under consideration by the Defense Ministry’s Foreign Defense
Assistance and Defense Export Organization (SIBAT). These will now
need to be reviewed due to the change in the diplomatic ties between
Jerusalem and Ankara.

"This is a country that appears to be distancing itself from the
West and there could be repercussions," one official said, adding
that in the 1970s, Israel sold Iran military equipment up until the
Islamic Revolution.

The officials would not reveal which new military platforms Turkey
had requested.

RELATED

* Army drill canceled due to US outcry

Ephraim Inbar, head of the BESA Center for Strategic Studies at
Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, who has written widely on the
Israeli-Turkish relationship, said that while someone high up in the
Turkish decision-making hierarchy has decided to "teach the Israelis
a lesson," Ankara still needed Israeli influence in Washington to
prevent the passage in Congress of a resolution declaring the killing
of Armenians during World War I a genocide.

Israel should "sit and wait" this year on this issue, Inbar said.

"If they behave, we should help; if not, then while we should not
actively work against them, we should let them know shington daily
The Hill reported on Sunday that despite the signing of an historic
agreement between Armenia and Turkey on Saturday, the perennial
lobbying battle over the contentious Armenian Genocide resolution
would continue.

According to the report, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) intends to
move forward with the resolution, one Turkey works hard every year to
deflect. The non-binding congressional measure would recognize the
killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks as genocide,
and has proven over the years to be a red flag for Ankara.

The Hill reported that despite Armenia and Turkey’s gradual
reconciliation, US lawmakers are still signing onto Schiff’s
resolution, and it now has 134 co-sponsors.

Schiff, according to the report, said he was not sure when the measure
would come before the House Foreign Affairs Committee for approval
and then move onto the floor for a vote.

One senior Israeli diplomatic official, meanwhile, counseled against
taking this type of drastic action, and said that while Israeli-Turkish
relations were "getting complicated," Israel should not do anything
"abruptly."

"There is room for quiet diplomacy, and not to take actions that
would move things beyond repair. The situation can still be mended,
nobody wants to push Turkey into the hands of Iran," he said.

This advice was heeded by the Foreign Ministry over the weekend,
which instructed diplomats to make no comment on the matter, but
rather to refer all queries to the defense establishment.

Turkey informed Israel on Thursday that it would not allow the IAF to
participate in the annual Anatolian Eagle exercise that was scheduled
for this week. As a result, the United States and Italy also dropped
out of the exercise.

Turkey said that it was concerned the aircraft Israel planned to
send had participated in bombing runs against Hamas targets in the
Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 and January
2009. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was fiercely critical
of Israel’s actions during the ing a sharp nosedive in relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed in an interview
with CNN on Sunday night that the decision was connected to the IDF’s
Operation Cast Lead.

"We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the
situation will be back to the diplomatic track. And that will create
a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations as well. But in the
existing situation, of course, we are criticizing this approach,
[the] Israeli approach," he said.

Davutoglu said Turkey would be conducting "a national military exercise
now after consultations with all the parties involved."

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, reflecting the policy of trying
to play down the tensions, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday: "Turkey
is very important, and our relationship is very strategic. Turkey
is very important for the stability and promotion of peace in the
Middle East."

Despite the recent hiccups in the relationship, Ayalon described
Turkey as "the antithesis to Iran. Here is a Muslim country that is
both a democracy and tolerant, living in good relations with Israel
because it is in the interest of both countries to do so."

But Inbar said that a change was taking place in Turkey, and the
incident over the military exercise should be seen within the context
of the country slowly distancing itself from the West, and becoming
more Muslim in tone and character.

He said Ankara’s hosting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
Sudan’s President Omer Hassan al-Bashir last year was an indication
of this trend, as was Erdogan’s recent comments against anti-Iranian
sanctions.

"This is all part of the crisis of identity the country is undergoing,"
Inbar said, adding that the agreement signed on Saturday night with
Armenia was not a sign of Turkey’s moving closer to the West, but
rather an indication that Ankara wanted its borders quiet.

According to Inbar, the decision on the military exercise was a
reflection of Ankara’s anger that Israel refused over the summer to
let Turkey’s Foreign Mini oglu visit Gaza, and hold meetings with Hamas
officials. Davutoglu subsequently called off a planned trip to Israel.

Despite the growing tensions, Israel and Turkey have continued to do
business over the past year.

Last December, subsidiaries of Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit
Systems signed a $140 million contract to supply the Turkish Air Force
with targeting pods. Israeli Military Industries recently completed
a $700m. deal signed several years ago with Turkey to upgrade the
country’s fleet of aging Patton-series M60 tanks.

Turkish naval ships are seen…

Turkish naval ships are seen in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of
Haifa during a joint US, Israeli and Turkish military exercise in 2008.

Photo: AP

IAI also recently supplied Turkey with its advanced long-range Heron
unmanned aerial vehicle.

Israel, nevertheless, was not invited in September to present a
proposal for a missile defense system Turkey is interested in buying,
though it asked Chinese, American and Russian companies to bid.

RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN RECEIVED A DELEGATION HEADED BY SWERDLOVSK (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) REGIONAL COUNCIL SPEAKER NIKOLAI VORONIN.

Fri day, 9 October 2009

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation headed by
Swerdlovsk (Russian Federation) regional council speaker Nikolai
Voronin.

During the meeting, the head of the Armenian government spoke about
the need for expanding cooperation between both the central governments
and individual administrative units of the two countries.

The meeting agenda covered an array of economic, humanitarian and
cultural issues.

In conclusion, the parties referred to the role of the Armenian
community of Swerdlovsk region and the newly built Armenian church
of Yekaterinburg.

News.am

We deal with very unpredictable country: Heritage
00:21 / 10/11/2009

The very moment of signing of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, as well
as Turkey’s behavior, is an important signal for us, Heritage faction
leader Stepan Safaryan told NEWS.am.

According to him, the signing ceremony showed that `we deal with a
very unpredictable country.’ `We enter the stage full of surprises.
The consequences are vague,’ he said.

CLINTON TO TALK IRAN, AFGHANISTAN ON RUSSIA TRIP
By Jeff Mason

Reuters
Fri Oct 9, 2009 2:37am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran and Afghanistan will dominate talks
by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next week on a trip to
Britain and Russia that could also spur progress on a new nuclear
arms reduction treaty with Moscow.

Clinton leaves on Friday for a European tour that includes a stop
in Switzerland to commemorate an accord between rivals Armenia and
Turkey as well as a visit to Dublin and Belfast to support peace in
Northern Ireland.

The meatiest portion of the trip will be in Russia.

Clinton, who has sought to "reset" U.S. ties with the Kremlin,
said she was encouraged by Moscow’s role in talks with Britain,
China, France, the United States and Germany — dubbed the P5+1 —
on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

"The cooperation that we are seeing from our Russian partners in the
P5+1 context is very encouraging," she told reporters on Thursday,
adding Iran would be a topic next week.

"We will certainly be looking at the options that we have to explore
going forward from what was a positive but not conclusive meeting in
Geneva," she said.

The six world powers recently held talks with Iran in Geneva, which
officials described as constructive. Russia has been traditionally
reluctant to impose sanctions on Iran.

Several other issues will also feature in Clinton’s talks with Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Analysts
believe a recent U.S. decision to revamp plans for a missile defense
shield in Europe will aid both nations in working together on a host
of issues.

"The ‘reset’ is happening," said Steven Pifer, a Russia expert at
the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

"While there are still a lot of difficult issues in the U.S.-Russia
relations, at this point you have some positives that weren’t there
at the end of 2008."

Many areas still rankle.

A State Department official said Clinton would broach human rights
and Russia’s treatment of Georgia, with which tia and another rebel
province, Abkhazia, as independent states.

Clinton will also press for more help in Afghanistan after Russia
recently allowed the United States to fly weapons, hardware and
personnel across its territory to that country, where insurgent
violence has reached its highest levels of the eight-year war.

"The Russians could provide more assistance to Afghanistan
including … in the form of weapons for the Afghan army, training,
counternarcotics," the official said.

The top U.S. diplomat hopes to advance talks to replace the Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires on December 5. President Barack
Obama and Medvedev agreed on the outlines of a deal in July, but
several hurdles may make it difficult to finish by the December
deadline.

The secretary will also fly to Kazan in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan
to illustrate the U.S. desire to engage with Russians across the
country.

Before going to Russia, Clinton, whose husband, Bill Clinton, took
a major role as president in the push for peace in Northern Ireland,
will visit Belfast and Dublin.

The trip, her first there as secretary of state, shows the former
first lady’s commitment to resolving remaining issues related to
Northern Ireland’s peace process, the State Department official said.

Northern Ireland has enjoyed relative peace since a 1998 peace deal
between pro-British Protestants and minority Roman Catholics who now
share power in a regional assembly. But hard-line splinter groups
remain a threat and dissident republicans have stepped up attacks
on police.

"I think this is sort of the Clinton family signature foreign policy
issue," said Heather Conley, a European affairs expert at the CSIS
think tank.

Clinton will also meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
in London to discuss Afghanistan and Iran, while reassuring some
anxious Britons about the strength of the "special relationship"
between their two nations.

"These consultations will underscore the strength of the
UK-U.S. relationship and the continuous high-level eng njoy with our
friends and allies," Assistant Secretary Phil Gordon told reporters.

ALL OFFICIAL DELEGATIONS CAME TO CHISINAU TO PARTICIPATE IN CIS FOREIGN MINISTERS SUMMIT

Moldpress
Oct. 8, 2009 / [7376]

Chisinau, 8 October /MOLDPRES/ – All the official delegations led by
the foreign ministers of the 11 member countries of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS) have come to Chisinau to participate
in the Summit of the Council of Foreign Ministers which started in
Moldova’s capital city today.

The delegations of Armenia, Russia and Kazakhstan were the last
to arrive.

Twenty up-to-date subjects from diverse fields are on the summit’s
agenda. The heads of the CIS countries’ diplomacies will start their
activity by a meeting with acting President and Parliament Speaker
Mihai Ghimpu.

Once all the meetings are over, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and
European Integration Minister Iurie Leanca and CIS Executive Secretary
Sergey Lebedev will make press statements at about 16:20.

RUSSIA’S MEDVEDEV ARRIVES IN CHISINAU FOR CIS SUMMIT

RIA Novosti
12:0009/10/2009

CHISINAU, October 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
has arrived in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, to take part in a
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit.

Discussions at the summit are set to focus on cooperation in
overcoming the consequences of the global financial crisis, as well
as humanitarian and security issues.

The former Soviet states of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
and Ukraine are members of the CIS. Georgia recently withdrew from
the organization.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that the next CIS
summit will take place in Moscow in December 2010.

MONOPOLY -CAUSED DEARNESS RESULTS FROM LONG MEDIATORS’ CHAIN BETWEEN MANUFACTURERS AND CONSUMERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2009 14:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Monopoly -caused dearness is formed as a result of
long mediators’ chain between manufacturers and consumers, Head of
RF Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev said at the news conference
in Yerevan held within the frameworks of CIS Intergovernmental
Antimonopoly Policy Council sitting. "The more mediators there are
between the manufacturer and the consumer, the higher is monopolistic
price," he said.

In his turn, the Chairman of State Commission for Economic Competition
Protection Ashot Shahnazaryan noted that shadow economy could be
decreased by establishing thorough control over invoices issued as
a result of manufacturer-consumer deals.

High monopolization rate in RA market should be regulated by
corresponding authorities, and private sector participation excluded,
Igor Artemyev believes.

Shahnazaryan added that RA Government has worked out a package
of legislative reforms in customs and tax administration sphere,
including implementation of online system for tax payments.

RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS TRANSIT TO ARMENIA

RIA Novosti
11:3707/10/2009

YEREVAN, October 7 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia has resumed transit of
Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs,
a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said
on Wednesday.

Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday
evening, the spokesman said.

Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be
suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on
the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the
winter season.

During the repairs, Armenia used natural gas from an underground
storage facility, the spokesman said.

Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on
Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia.

Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 75.55% in the joint venture,
the Armenian government holds a 20% stake, and Russia’s Itera company
another 4.44%

"RADIO LIBERTY" TO BE ON AIR IN ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA

Panorama.am
10:45 07/10/2009

"Radio Liberty" (Free Europe) radio station is determined to have
broadcast in Abkhazia and South Ossetia soon. It is reported that
one-hour long Russian language programmes will be on air from 2
November, foreign media reports.

It has been decided in Prague office that the program should be made
in both Russian and Georgian departments. It is said that reporters
from Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are welcome to work
in the radio station.

THE USE OF LISTENING TO USELESS HEARINGS
Hrayr Manukyan

Octob er 6, 2009

On October 1 the parliament organized hearings on the topic of the
Protocols and the Process of Developing Relations between Armenia
and Turkey, during which many politicians, representatives of parties
and experts expressed their opinions.

However the main opposition power, the Armenian National Congress,
did not take part in these hearings. "The Armenian National Congress
did not take part in the hearings, because as it was said these were
organized for the purpose of demonstrating only," says ANC spokesman
Arman Musinyan. He says the incumbent government has agreed to sign
"the shameful protocols and they will have to sign, and the parliament
will have to ratify it and will not oppose". To our question whether it
would not be better to go and say everything there in order to deliver
their message to the audience he said that they will say everything
they want to say during an upcoming rally. He says this is more
effective. In addition, he says that if the ANC participates in such
imitation games proposed by the government, they will become a tool
in the hands of the government too. In answer to the announcements
of other political powers saying that it would be good if the ANC
participated in the discussion as well he said, "They know the opinions
of the ANC activists from the media, thus I think it did not change
too much," says PA faction secretary Aram Safaryan, "however, from the
point of view of political culture it would be better if there were
more speeches during the discussion". A. Safaryan believes the ANC is
an integral part of our political sector and our society. "Also I would
like to inform that during the hearings the concerns and worries of the
society were spoken too. Even though I have some disagreements about
the format of the hearings because 5,5 hours during one day is a very
short term for 60 speeches and it is not enough for people who want to
understand every detail of the issue. Anyway I think it was a useful
discussion," said A. Safaryan. He also says that the hearings were
useful and important not only due to the fact of the discussion and
participation of political powers but the media coverage as well. "I
think that the media owes to the political sector because they did
not cover all the aspects of concerns !

of all po tical powers," he said. We wander what the ARF officials
think about these hearings because ultimately these hearings did
not change anything in the initial protocols and they will be signed
anyway. "Every person who participated in the hearing will say that
it was a real discussion because the organizer of the hearing, the
committee on foreign relations, had invited experts, politicians,
lawyers and other specialists to express their viewpoints. It was
a real professional discussion and there were conflicts of opinions
as well," said ARF faction secretary Artyusha Shahbazyan. "Certain
powers who have interests other than the national interests are
saying that it is very important that the issue was discussed in
the parliament. We know these people, and they say they did not
participate in the discussion because it was a show. But they are
jealous with us because the ARF is a very active opposition power now,"
said A. Shahbazyan. He believes the only goal of the ANC is to help
Levon Ter-Petrosyan become president. "For these people the issue
of helping Ter-Petrosyan become president is more important than the
dangers that we see in this process of Armenian-Turkish relations. In
a word, this goal to be elected president is more important for them
than the issues of the Armenian-Turkish relations and Karabakh. This
is their nature; they have always been like that," said A. Shahbazyan
by perfectly playing his role as an oppositionist.