Author: Jagharian Tania

SENIOR RULING PARTY MP SAYS KARABAKH STATUS REMAINS A PRIORITY
Tigran Avetisian

Armenialiberty.org
http://www.azatutyun .am/content/article/1784917.html
July 24 2009

Armenia – Galust Sahakian, head of the Republican Party’s parliamentary
faction

A senior member of Armenia’s ruling party has insisted that the status
of Nagorno-Karabakh remains the core issue for the Armenian side in its
continuing negotiations with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory.

Galust Sahakian, head of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)
parliamentary faction, said at a press conference on Friday that
"the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was a priority for Armenia in the
past and remains such in the present."

"We insist that Nagorno-Karabakh can never be part of Azerbaijan,"
he added.

Sahakian said a solution to the long-running dispute might not be
necessarily anywhere near in sight despite the recent publication of a
set of basic principles of its settlement by the leaders of the nations
leading international peace brokering efforts on Nagorno-Karabakh.

The senior HHK member argued that the purpose of the publication was to
make discussions "more open", which he described as "a positive step."

The presidents of the United States, Russia and France that co-chair
the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), issued a joint statement on July 10 outlining six basic
principles of the Madrid Document that the international mediators
submitted to the negotiating parties back in November 2007.

The published principles, in particular, concern the withdrawal
of ethnic Armenian troops from the territories surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh and their return to Azerbaijani control, as well as
"an interim status" for the disputed territory pending "a future
determination of the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a
legally binding expression of will."

Other principles also include guarantees for the territory’s
security and self-governance in the transition period backed up with
a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh and international
security guarantees, including a peacekeeping operation, as well as
"the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return
to their former places of residence."

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs said earlier this week they will hold a
working session at the end of this month "to prepare an updated version
of the Madrid Document in accordance with the ‘L’Aquila Declaration’
of the United States, Russian and French presidents

The statement made by the three leaders on the sidelines of the G8
Summit in the Italian town came amid growing international hopes for
the resolution of the "few remaining differences" between Armenia
and Azerbaijan before they could finalize their agreement on the
Basic Principles.

However, the talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan
in Russian capital Moscow late last week failed to produce an
immediate result. Still, they were hailed as mainly productive by
the international negotiators, who hope to set up the next meeting
of the presidents in September.

The HHK’s Sahakian told the media that the Madrid principles are
acceptable for the Armenian side "only as a basis for negotiations."

Sahakian called media attention to what he described as "the positive
component" in the published principles.

"Though not in a legally binding document, but for the first time
it has been stated that ultimately solutions to the Karabakh issue
will be found internationally within the framework of the right of
nations to self-determination."

Sahakian insisted that discussions about any territorial concessions
can be held only after an agreement around the main issue,
i.e. Nagorno-Karabakh’s status.

The HHK parliamentary leader also warned against undue speculation
in the process.

"If we begin now to discuss what we are giving and what we are taking,
we will distort the main point," he said.

GUINEA-BISSAU NATIVE RUNS FOR OFFICE IN RUSSIA
By Anna Smolchenko

Agence France Presse
July 22 2009
France

MOSCOW — For Joaquim Crima, the stark divisions that frequently define
politics in Russia may not be as black and white as most believe.

The 37-year-old native of Guinea-Bissau, shrugging off deep-seated
prejudice in a society where the rare sight of a black man turns
heads, says he will run for public office in the small central Russian
village where he lives.

And in the process, Crima, who has acquired Russian citizenship,
will put his adopted country’s claims to being a modern, colour-blind
democracy to the kind of test that it is, well, just not too accustomed
to facing.

"I have a chance to change some things for the better and I have an
obligation to do so," he said, pointing to the dire state of roads
and drinking water in the village of Srednyaya Akhtuba where he lives.

"If this is a democracy, then why should I withdraw?" Crima asked,
talking to AFP in a telephone interview.

"Let the people decide!"

Those people are already getting an eyeful of the choice they could
face when they go to the polls on October 11 to elect a new chief
for a district in the Volgograd region.

A billboard shows a white-shirted, necktie-sporting Crima — he
has adopted the Russian name Vasily Ivanovich — standing beside
a winding river, the words "Vasily Crima — New District Chief"
emblazoned across the side and bottom.

Local election officials however say Crima, who hails from the city
of Bolama in the former Portuguese colony, faces an uphill battle
just to be taken seriously in Russia.

"There is an impression that he is laughing at himself, saying ‘I am
a Russian Obama’," Viktor Sapozhnikov, chief of the district election
commission, said.

If he goes through with his plan to run for office, said Sapozhnikov,
voters would cast ballots for him either "for the sake of a joke"
or as an act of protest against Russia’s moribund political life.

Crima, who speaks calmly and intelligently, is reluctant to compare
himself too closely to Barack Obama, the first black US president and
one with roots in Africa, but he says there are relevant parallels
in their situations.

"This process has already started," he says, referring specifically
to the ascendency of black politicians in societies long governed by
white men.

"Sooner or later Russia will be ready."

Crima, who lives with his Armenian wife and their nine-year-old son,
first came to Russia in the waning days of the Soviet Union, studying
to become a teacher at a university in Volgograd.

He speaks Russian with an easy fluency, but despite his educated
background currently earns a living selling watermelons grown and
supplied by his father-in-law.

Though there are several Russians of African origin who are well known
in contemporary and historical Russia — Russia’s most beloved poet,
Alexander Pushkin, had African ancestry — few, if any, have been
elected to any office.

Despite the political odds, and the ever-present threat of
racially-motivated violence directed against him, Crima says he is
not intimidated.

The populist tabloid Tvoi Den, one of the few newspapers to write about
Crima’s political plans, quoted him as saying with intentional irony
that he "will slave like a negro" for the benefit of his constituents
if elected.

Crima told AFP he was not uncomfortable using this racial stereotype.

"If Russians are accustomed to calling dark-skinned people ‘negroes’
then so be it. I am not in the least bit offended because you have
to be proud of who you are."

Registration for candidates in the Srednyaya Akhtuba district election
begins Saturday.

KARABAKH NEGOTIATORS TO DISCUSS "UPDATED" MADRID PRINCIPLES IN KRAKOW

Liberty
ticle/1783098.html
July 22 2009
Armenia

The Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will hold a working session at the end of
July in Krakow, Poland, to prepare an updated version of the Madrid
Document in accordance with the ‘L’Aquila Declaration’ of the U.S.,
Russian and French presidents

In a statement published on the OSCE website, the Co-Chairs said
that the discussions between the Armenian and Azerbaijani president
in Moscow on July 17-18 on issues related to the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were held "in a frank and constructive
atmosphere"

They said this "allowed the sides to discuss at length and in detail
proposed formulations to overcome their remaining differences on the
few elements of the Basic Principles that have yet to be conceptually
agreed."

The Co-Chairs also say in the statement that they intend to visit the
region in September "to assess the possibilities for a subsequent
meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents either at
the end of September or the beginning of October."

ARMENIA HAS FAILED TO MAKE A CHOICE BETWEEN TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OR PEACE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SINCE END OF LAST CENTURY: U.S. EXPERT

Today.Az
/53887.html
July 17 2009
Azerbaijan

U.S. political expert and senior research fellow at the Jamestown
Foundation Vladimir Sokor spoke in an exclusive interview with Day.Az.

Day.Az: Many accepted the recent visit by U.S. President Barack Obama
to Russia and agreements reached as a starting point of improving
relations between Moscow and Washington which is also expected to
have a good impact on joint solution of the problem. To what degree
the nature of the U.S-Russia relations, key mediators in the OSCE
Minsk Group, will impact resolution of the Karabakh problem?

Vladimir Sokor: I think that the solution does not depend or depends
to a small extent on the relationship between the United States and
Russia. No matter how these relations are developed, the settlement
of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict must be reached on the spot, that
is not between Washington and Moscow but between the parties to the
negotiation process. So, I think, the bilateral relations between the
U.S. and Russia almost had no influence on multilateral negotiation
process on Karabakh.

Q: Can the Karabakh problem be solved by military ways?

A: I think is it early to talk about it. President Ilham Aliyev
has repeatedly said that Azerbaijan, as a sovereign nation, retains
the right to use military means and methods to solve the conflict,
that is to restore its territorial integrity. Azerbaijan has the
right to do so, but only when all political and diplomatic means are
exhausted. Search for these methods is continuing with the active
support of Azerbaijan.

Q: Meanwhile, Armenia continues to be worse off: it has remained
aloof from all regional projects and economic crisis is deepening
in the country. Can Armenians go to the solution of the conflict
sacrificing territorial claims in exchange for real prospects for
the normalization of life and economic growth?

A: This is a very complex issue that has been discussed at least
over the last 10 years. Even in 1997, 12 years ago, then President
of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan begun a public discussion on this
topic. According to his argument, Armenia should make this choice
between territorial ambitions, keeping of other people’s land, that
is the territory of Azerbaijan or normal development in economic and
social terms. Ter-Petrosyan said that Armenia should choose the second
option. And so he was overthrown. In 1999 the then Prime Minister of
Armenia Vazgen Sarkisian seemed to have come to the same conclusion
like Ter-Petrosyan. He wanted to begin a policy of rapprochement and
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This means the return
of five to six regions to Azerbaijan in the first phase. Vazgen
Sarkisyan was killed in the Parliament. This conspiracy has not yet
been disclosed.

So the debate continues over the years. Armenia is still faces the
same dilemma – the normal socio-economic development and the ambitions
of territorial expansion.

NKR MINISTRY VOWS PROGRESS IN TALKS AFTER KARABAKH JOINS THEM

Mediamax
July 15 2009
Armenia

Yerevan, 15 July: The ministry of foreign affairs of the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic (NKR) expressed hope today that "all the actors
interested in the peaceful settlement will prevent any violation
of the status-quo in the region caused by the intensification
of the negotiation process on the basis of the current settlement
wording". Mediamax reports that the statement by NKR foreign ministry
reads this.

"Due to the recent developments around the Azerbaijani-Karabakh
conflict settlement, the NKR ministry of foreign affairs considers
it essential to issue the following statement:

"The NKR stance on the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement
is stable. It is impossible to achieve the conflict settlement,
ignoring the existing reality. Any attempts to return the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic to the past are not only counterproductive, but
are also fraught with new escalation of the conflict. Real progress
at the negotiations is possible only under the Karabakh party’s
equal participation in all the stages of the negotiation process. No
agreement regarding the interests, fate, and future of the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic can be adopted without the participation of its
people and leadership, which bears the principal responsibility for it.

"We hope that all the actors interested in the peaceful settlement
will prevent any violation of the status-quo in the region caused by
the intensification of the negotiation process on the basis of the
current settlement wording.

"Proceeding from the abovementioned, we consider it required to reset
the distorted negotiation process, to return the NKR to the negotiation
table as an equal party to the negotiation process, and to transform
the basic principles of the settlement," the document reads.

FOREIGN MINISTRY OF ARMENIA OPENS CONDOLENCE BOOK

ArmInfo
2009-07-16 12:30:00

ArmInfo. In view of the mourning declared in Armenia, the Republic’s
Foreign Ministry will open a Condolence Book today from 2:00 PM to
4:00 PM. To recall, mourning has been declared in the country today
by decision of Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan in connection with
crash of Tu-154 airplane which carried out Tehran-Yerevan flight.

To recall, 6 citizens of Armenia, 4 of which – passengers and 2
– crew members, were onboard of the passenger plane crashed on
July15. Another 29 people went under Armenian names but were not
citizens of Armenia. All 168 passengers of the plane were killed as
a result of the crash.

RF PRESIDENT PRESENTS CONDOLENCES ON OCCASION OF DEATH OF CITIZENS OF ARMENIA IN PLANE CRASH IN IRAN

Noyan Tapan
July 16, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 15, RF President D. Medvedev
sent a telegram of condolence to RA President S. Sargsyan on the
occasion of the death of citizens of Armenia in the plane crash
in Iran.

The staff of the RF Embassy in RA also expresses condolences to the
families of the victims on the occasion of this tragic event.

The RF Embassy in cooperation with the structures of the Federal
Migration Service of the Russian Federation works in the direction of
studying the passengers’ list for the purpose of revealing citizens
of Russia among them.

According to the current preliminary data, there are no citizens of
Russia among the passengers.

GREEK CYPRIOTS DOES NOT EXPECT A PEACE DEAL

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.07.2009 02:05 GMT+04:00

The Greek Cypriot government does not expect a peace deal and
referendum on the Cyprus issue, a spokesman said on July 14th.

"As things stand now, with the positions tabled by the Turkish side,
and nothing changes, we don’t see how it’s possible for a settlement
to be agreed on and put to a referendum by December. That’s why
we call on the Turkish side to change its stance", Greek Cypriot
government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou told reporters, Cyprus News
Agency reports. Stephanou called on Turkey to change its stance
and pointed out that he is not in a position to decide now whether
the negotiations will have "a happy ending", while assuring of the
determination of the Greek Cypriot side to achieve an agreed solution.

His remarks came a day after Turkish President Abdullah Gul told a
joint news conference with Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat
that Turkey wants peace negotiations aimed at reunifying the divided
island of Cyprus to conclude soon and a referendum by the end of 2009.

MONUMENT TO LIBERATORS ERECTED IN TSMAKAHOGH VILLAGE OF NKR

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.07.2009 10:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A monument to liberators was unveiled in the
Tsmakahogh village of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Relatives and
friends attended the ceremony.

The monument was inaugurated thanks to the efforts of ARF
Dashnaktsutyun member in Canada Raffi Beknazian. The architect is
Armen Petrosyan.

PRESS RELEASE
The Armenian Technology Group
Fresno, California
Contact: Varoujan Der Simonian
Tel: 559-224-1000

THE ARMENIAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP
1300 E. Shaw Ave, Suite 149
P.O.Box 5969
Fresno, CA 93755-5969
Tel: 559-224-1000
Fax: 559-224-1002
Email: [email protected]

July 15, 2009

Seventeen Members of Armenian Parliament Visit ATG Wheat Fields

Members of the Armenian National Assembly gave an exploratory visit to
ATG wheat fields planted with conservation farming methodology in
Armenia earlier this spring. These 17 Members of Parliament (MP’s)
represent the Agricultural Committee within the Armenian Parliament,
and they shape the agricultural policy within the National Parliament.

The purpose of their visit was to investigate and learn about
conservation farming systems that ATG has introduced to Armenia and
how this system can benefit the farming sector in Armenia.

To maximize farmer accessibility and on-going extension education
during the 2008-2009 planting season, ATG selected seven geographic
sites in Shirak, Lori and Armavir regions as experimental trial plots
using conservation no-till farming technology for training farmers.

The MP’s visited the Shirak and Lori regions of Armenia, where ATG has
planted their winter and spring demonstration fields. Gagik Mkrchyan,
director of ATG Foundation in Armenia, explained to the MP’s the
benefits of the new methodology to the environment and particularly to
the private farmers.

The MP’s learned firsthand the immediate benefits of no-till farming:
moisture retention in the soil and reduction of erosion, two major
problems facing the Armenian farmer, particularly those who farm on
dry or hilly terrain, which make up much of the country’s
land. Farmers can reduce their water usage by up to 25% and reduce
soil erosion by as much as 95%.

The visiting MP’s observed that these two benefits alone are enough to
justify conservation farming in the Republic.

The President of ATG’s Board of Directors, Dr. Jim Reynolds, said, `We
value highly the visit of the MP’s to our fields and their interest in
no-till practices. Their support is vital in modernizing farming
approach in the republic.’

The current economic situation in Armenia has created a very difficult
situation: many farmers are no longer able to afford cultivating their
land. The inefficiency of available farm equipment and the rising
costs of fuel and irrigation water make it almost impossible for small
farmers to break even. As a result, thousands of hectares of land have
been left idle and are not being cultivated. In the long term, this
will have a significant negative impact on the local food supplies.

As ATG Executive Director Varoujan Der Simonian states, `It is crucial
that we move fast and provide opportunities to the farmers to
gradually convert their operation to conservation and no-till systems
technology in order to sustain themselves and generate food for the
republic.’

By applying conservation farming practices, farmers would be able to
reduce their labor cost by 50%, farm equipment operation and
maintenance cost by 50% and fuel consumption by 37% – resulting in an
overall savings of 65% of their operating cost. The above savings will
help small and mid-size farming enterprises to produce food at a lower
cost and function profitably.

Following their visit, the Speaker of Parliament issued an invitation
to ATGF Director Gagik Mkrchyan to make a presentation to the full
house of the Armenian Parliament regarding the benefits that no-till
farming systems technology can bring to the Republic. Mr. Mkrchyan
will make his presentation in early Fall 2009.

As a non-profit organization, ATG depends on public support to carry
out its mission. On this 20th anniversary of assisting the people of
Armenia, ATG seeks public financial support to transfer this
conservation farming technology to Armenia.

Armenian Technology Group, Inc., 1300 East Shaw Avenue, suite 131,
P.O. Box 5969, Fresno, CA 93755-5969