Author: Kajoyan Gevork

OSCE CHAIRPERSON-IN-OFFICE SAYS IT’S NECESSARY TO FOCUS ON RESOLVING PROTRACTED CONFLICTS

Trend
Dec 5 2011
Azerbaijan

It is necessary to focus on resolving protracted conflicts, News.am
quotes OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister
Audronius Ažubalis as saying at a press conference in Vilnius.

He welcomed the fact of continuation of the negotiations on conflict
settlement in Transnistria after a six-year pause, stressing the
importance of a meeting held last week in the 5 +2 format. He said
it shows that patience proves itself and the result achieved by the
efforts of many, laid the foundation for moving forward. Ažubalis
said that during Lithuania’s accession to the OSCE chairmanship he
was told that even a millimeter movement is a success. “I think we
have achieved that,” Ažubalis said.

Speaking about the forthcoming negotiations within the OSCE Ministerial
Council on Dec.6-7, Ažubalis said that the negotiations will be
intense. At the same time, he refrained from any predictions saying
only that they are going to be very tense.

Commenting on possible meetings to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict within the meeting, Ažubalis said he does not want to
forecast events.

“I do not want to comment on how the meetings will be especially in
this vein,” he said thereby leaving the issue regarding a meeting on
the Karabakh problem open.

Ažubalis said 45 foreign ministers and representatives of
international organizations arrived in Vilnius to attend the OSCE
Ministerial Council’s meeting.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

Digital Journal
December 4, 2011 Sunday 8:04 AM EST

Hrant Dink, another Mandela, King, or maybe Gandhi?

By Robert G Cope

Melbourne – Not jailed, as Nelson Mandela, instead assassinated like
Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, Hrant Dink, espoused belief in
the fundamental goodness of humans. His silenced voice, his vision,
his dream too, are given voice this week in Australia.

Hrant Dink, repeated, in a positive voice, in writing, talks, and
film, time and time again: those divided by race, ethnic origin, or
religion, or by what they personally or commonly experienced, will one
day to come together to live with tolerance in peace.

Carrying on his legacy, Hrant Dink’s daughter, Delal, and his
son-in-law, Rober Koptas are in Australia for 10-days of talks,
interviews and media appearances.

Given the tragic Turkish-Armenian history leading to Dink’s death,
after meeting with them, I felt astonished at their composed-fervor.
Australian-Armenian, Jackie Mansourian, also at the meeting in
Melbourne, in an email, said, “I was totally moved and inspired by
these two young committed, intelligent, gentle and dynamic young
people.”

Delal’s father, founder and editor-in-chief, of the bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper, Agos, had received death threats (same as
Mandela, King, and Gandhi) from ultra-nationalists. At fifty-three
years of age, as he approached his offices in January 2007, Dink was
assassinated by a seventeen year-old gunman who may have been hired.
The conspiracy case is presently in Istanbul’s legal system.

Daughter, Delal Dink, reminds me of women who, with quiet calm, speak
eloquently, about democracy and human rights in difficult political
setting, women such as Suu Kyi, in Burma. And also younger women –
like Delal herself – such as Pulitzer Prize author, currently
President Obama’s adviser on human affairs, Samantha Power, and
documentary film-maker, Carla Garapedian. The latter’s films about
genocides worldwide, since at least the era of European explorers, are
– as Phillip Roth might say – evidence of a human stain.

When asked what might be done today to heal wounds, Delal answered, I
thought, touchingly, “Speak my father’s words.”

Together, Delal and Rober, who is now editor-in-chief of Agos, convey
a painful history with tenderness and warmth making their quest a
testament to human compassion, forbearance, and resilience.

Toward the end of our brief time together, hearing Hrant Dink, Rober
said, “Our only power is in the truth.”

Boxing: Armenian `Raging Bull’ drops match to Panamanian `Phantom’

Boxing | 04.12.11 | 13:13

(Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime)

Prizefighter Vic Darchinyan lost a unanimous points decision as he
attempted to unify his bantamweight world title against Anselmo Moreno
of Panama Saturday night.

Fighting in Anaheim, California, USA, the 35-year-old IBO champion
Darchinyan (37-4, 27 KOs) attempted to take the WBA title away from a
younger opponent but was found lacking on the movement front as Moreno
(32-1-1, 11 Kos), dubbed El Fantasma, or the Phantom, proved too
elusive for the Armenian `Raging Bull’.

The 26-year-old, promoted by Oscar de la Hoya, ducked Darchinyan’s
blows while landing a series of bodyshots and jabs to retain the
title.

The three judges scored the fight 116-111, 117-110 and 120-107 in
Moreno’s favor.

Darchinyan has made no secret of his plans to move into mixed martial
arts next year.

ARMENIE
Les tentatives génocidaires de la Turquie contre les Arméniens du Karabagh

20 mai 2011

Par Hayk Demoyan

Directeur de l’Institut du Génocide Arménien

A au moins à trois reprises dans l’histoire, la Turquie a commis sur
la région arménienne du Karabagh des actes de nature génocidaires qui
relèvent d’une politique d’extermination et de déportation de sa
population arménienne. Sa posture actuelle qui conditionne tout
processus de normalisation de ses relations avec l’Arménie à des
préalables relatifs à des concessions sur le Karabagh, procède de
cette même logique qui plonge ses racines dans l’histoire.

La première tentative

L’expansion des frontières de l’Empire Ottoman dans le Caucase remonte
au 16ème siècle. Sur le chemin des côtes de la Mer Caspienne, les
armées turques se sont heurtées à une forte résistance des Arméniens
de l’Artsakh (Karabagh) et ont eu à subir de nombreuses défaites face
à la résistance des Arméniens du Karabagh. En 1725, le sultan Ahmet
III (1703-1730) a prononcé une fatwa spéciale pour exterminer les
Arméniens du fait de leur résistance effective contre les Ottomans, en
ordonnant de les tuer tous, pour avoir attiré les Russes dans le
Caucase et barrer ainsi la route aux Turcs qui voulaient accéder à
Bakou. La confession du général turc Saleh, qui avait été capturé par
les Arméniens au Karabagh, confirme que le projet du Sultan était
l’extermination totale des Arméniens. Il disait : ‘le sultan a donné
l’ordre d’exterminer les Arméniens et les Perses (les Shia’s, note de
HD), après que les troupes du Tsar russe aient occupé ces côtes de la
mer (la Mer Caspienne), et c’est ainsi que nous devions les attaquer.
Nous devions éliminer les Arméniens, enfoncés entre nous comme un
coin. Nous devrions détruire tout obstacle se trouvant sur notre
chemin et ouvrir la route. Si ce n’était à cause de vous (les
Arméniens), nous serions déjà entrés à Derbend et à Bakou qui sont à
nous depuis les temps anciens.` – Relations Arméniens-Russes, Erevan,
1967, vol. II, partie II, document 315 (n russe).

Ce document du 18ème siècle révèle l’approche turque de la
‘non-obédience’ des Arméniens, lesquels, selon les propres termes des
Turcs, étaient comme un coin enfoncé entre Istanbul et les régions
turcophones de l’est. Ayant subi au Karabagh des pertes par milliers,
soldats et officiers, les tentatives du sultan d’annexer ela région et
d’y maintenir les troupes turques se sont soldés par un échec. Il
s’agissait de la première tentative de génocide contre les Arméniens
du Karabagh. Elle n’a pas réussi, mais ce n’était qu’un début…

La Deuxième Tentative

La deuxième tentative de destruction de la population arménienne du
Karabagh s’est déroulée lorsque les troupes ottomanes envahirent le
Caucase pendant la Première Guerre Mondiale, puis créèrent
artificiellement un état qu’elles baptisèrent ‘Azerbaidjan’ du nom
d’une province du nord de l’Iran, avec le projet d’annexer cette
dernière à la Républiqe d’Azerbaidjan nouvellement créée. Mais cela
n’aura pas été le seul exemple des manoeuvres turques pour construire
cet état.

La proclamation de la ‘République d’Araz’ et de la ‘République du
Caucase du Sud-Est’ a suivi la création de l’Azerbaidjan avec
l’intention de soutenir l’expansionnisme turc (Il existe un exemple
moderne de cette politique avec la création de la République de Chypre
du Nord turque après l’invasion de Chypre en 1974). La campagne
caucasienne de l’armée ottomane a eu pour résultat la prise de Bakou
et l’horrible massacre de la population arménienne en septembre 1918.
Ayant pris Bakou, les forces ottomanes lancèrent une nouvelle campagne
militaire contre la cette fois ‘facile’ résistance arménienne au
Karabagh. Le ministre de la défense Enver, qui était l’un des
architectes du génocide des Arméniens en 1915, donna l’ordre à son
cousin Nouri, commandant des forces en Azerbaidjan, `de nettoyer
l’Azerbaidjan des Russes et des Arméniens, de façon à assurer la
continuité des territoires Turcs-turcophones` ( !) – FO 371/3388,
dossier 1396, n° 173495, le Directeur du Renseignement militaire n° B.
I/565 (MI2), secret, au Secrétaire d’Etat aux Affaires Etrangères,
daté du 18 octobre 1918, voir Jacob Landau, Pan-Turquisme, de
l’Irrédentisme à la Coopération, Londres, 1995. P.55.

Une semaine après cet ordre, la Turquie reconnaissait avoir perdu la
Première Guerre Mondiale. Une défaite qu’elle a précisément subi au
Karabagh, quand un détachement de l’armée ottomane chargée d’une
expédition punitive vers des villages du sud de cette zone tombèrent
dans une embuscade de villageois arméniens qui coûta la vie à 400 de
ses soldats. La fin de la Grande Guerre et le retrait des Turcs ont
donc empêché le deuxième acte du Génocide. Plus tard, grce à
l’entente entre Bolchéviques et Kémalistes, le Karabagh fut annexé à
l’Azerbaïdjan soviétique en 1921.

La Troisième Tentative

Nous ne soutiendrons pas que la troisième tentative était le résultat
direct d’une politique d’extermination des Arméniens du Karabagh. Mais
le fort soutien des Turcs à l’Azerbaïdjan dans ses actes de
déportation et de crime contre l’humanité nous autorise à soutenir
qu’Ankara s’est directement impliquée dans une nouvelle tentative de
génocide contre les Arméniens du Karabagh. Elle n’a pu cependant cette
fois que prendre acte des défaites humiliantes de Bakou de 1992-1994.

L’ingérence de la Turquie dans le conflit du Karabagh, son soutien
ouvert à la guerre menée par l’Azerbaïdjan, a positionner ce pays
comme partie au conflit plutôt qu’à sa solution. L’implication turque
dans le conflit comprend les éléments suivants : menaces
d’intervention militaire, pression par la démonstration de ses forces
armées, blocus des transports et de l’énergie imposé à l’Arménie ;
soutien militaire fourni à l’Azerbaïdjan ; développement d’initiatives
tendant à former une coalition anti-arménienne et isolement de
l’Arménie au plan de l’information ; action des groupes de pression en
faveur de l’Azerbaïdjan auprès des organismes internationaux. (Voir
Hayk Demoyan : Turkey and Karabagh Conflict. Erevan 1995).

La permanence des menaces militaires et des tentatives d’extension du
conflit, le blocus de l’Arménie et les actes pour l’isoler des
politiques régionales et internationales ont engendré un danger réel
pour elle comme pour le Karabagh. Faisons un bilan. Il ressort des
faits historiques rappelés ci-avant que le Karabagh a donc constitué à
plusieurs reprises le réceptacle et la cible d’une politique
génocidaire poursuivie successivement par les Sultans, les Jeunes
Turcs et les Kémalistes-Républicains. De plus, il apparaît que l’état
azerbaïdjanais, créé de toutes pièces par la Turquie ottomane, a fait
sien le modèle turc de gestion démographique. Celui-ci consiste à
résoudre les problèmes des minorités par les déportations, les tueries
de masse. Des méthodes susceptibles d’apporter l’homogénéisation
ethnique nécessaire à la formation d’Etat-nation jugé `plus sûrs`. Les
états nations turcs et Azerbaïdjanais se sont selon cette doctrine
construits sur l’extermination d’autres nations, les minorités ayant
toujours été appréhendée comme une menaces pour le futur de ces deux
états.

Des réalités décrites dans ce qui précède il ressort que 1. La Turquie
est à l’origine de l’apparition de la question du Karabagh par ses
tentatives de créer un état azerbaïdjanais tout en s’efforçant d’y
inclure cette région peuplée d’Arméniens 2. La Turquie est l’une des
parties au conflit et soutient ouvertement l’Azerbaïdjan.

Les actes génocidaires à trois reprises et l’échec de la Turquie au
Karabagh face aux Arméniens qui le peuplent constituent un messge
clair à Ankara : la Turquie doit reconnaître le Génocide commis contre
les Arméniens et beaucoup d’autres nations avec sa `pax ottomanica`,
et donc la réécriture de l’histoire est nécessaire si l’on veut ‘zéro
problème’ avec sa propre histoire et sa mémoire, la realpolitk n’étant
d’aucune aide dans la crise d’identité nationale actuelle.

Traduction Gilbert Béguian

dimanche 4 décembre 2011,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Cervelliamo, Italia
28 Nov 2011

La Bastarda di Istanbul e il genocidio degli armeni

Può un libro metterti a conoscenza di uno dei più grandi genocidi
della storia dell’umanità da sempre passato in secondo piano?

Si, può succedere, o almeno questo è quello che è successo a me,
leggendo il libro `La Bastarda di Istanbul’ della scrittrice turca
Elif Shafak: è un po’ come aprire una finestra su un paesaggio che da
millenni è lì, sotto i tuoi occhi, solo un po’ più nascosto ma, certo,
non meno interessante.

Il leitmotiv è l’amicizia tra due ragazze, un’armena, che abita a
Istanbul, e un’americana di origine armene, che a Istanbul si reca per
rispondere a tutte quelle domande che da sempre la tormentano sulle
sue origini.

Sullo sfondo di una Istanbul moderna, ecco riemergere forte e mai
risolto il genocidio degli Armeni ad opera dei turchi tra il
1915-1916: un solo anno fu sufficiente affinché l’Intellighenzia
prima, e tutto il resto del millenario popolo armeno poi, fosse
annientato e spazzato via per ragioni storiche, ideologiche e
politiche.

Si iniziò, naturalmente, con coloro che erano La Voce di un popolo,
con gli intellettuali che, da sempre, erano portatori del pensiero e
della cultura armena. Si procedette, poi, con la popolazione che,
falsamente allertata a lasciare le proprie abitazioni per ragioni di
sicurezza militare, veniva fatta incolonnare, a piedi, per raggiungere
l’apparente destinazione di salvezza indicata nella Mesopotamia. In
realtà, queste, che furono poi note come `le passeggiate della morte’,
altro non erano che un mezzo sistematico di sterminio di massa: quasi
nessuno arrivò a destinazione poiché durante il tragitto la gente
moriva per la fame, per la stanchezza fisica, per gli stupri cui erano
soggette le donne, per gli assalti violenti dei curdi.

Ma è solo negli ultimi periodi che si è definito questo massacro come
genocidio, poiché, gli autori del massacro stesso hanno sempre negato
la natura della deportazione, giustificandola con motivi di natura
militare e producendo ad hoc documenti che coprissero la loro azione
di sterminio.

Attualmente, solo 17 parlamenti al mondo hanno riconosciuto come tale
lo sterminio degli Armeni: la Turchia, dal canto suo, ha sempre negato
questo evento, non facendo altro che mistificare l’accaduto per
esimersi da ogni colpa, soprattutto con mezzi poco leciti come
corruzione politica e intellettuale, da parte di quel mondo
occidentale che ancora si fa comprare per negare una triste pagina di
storia accaduta.

Public Television of Armenia
Nov 28 2011

Armenia: Jehovah’s Witness imprisoned for threatening priest

A court in Yerevan’s Malatia Sebastia district has sentenced a
Jehovah’s Witness to six months in prison, Armenian Public TV reported
on 28 November.

The TV said the member of Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization,
Andranik Makvetsyan, was found guilty of offending, threatening and
impeding the activities of a priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Public TV said priest Ter Yesayi Artenyan and Makvetsyan had a brawl
in Yerevan’s St Trinity Church on 15 May when Makvetsyan and another
Jehovah’s Witness were preaching in the church’s premises.

[translated from Armenian]

AAP Newsfeed, Australia
December 3, 2011 Saturday 4:42 PM AEST

BOX: Darchinyan takes on WBA champ in US

by Peter Mitchell
ANAHEIM, California Dec 2

Australian Vic Darchinyan will fight Panama’s champion Anselmo
Moreno on Sunday (AEDT) for the World Boxing Association bantamweight
title in California in a bout that could be a watershed moment for the
35-year-old.

Darchinyan, after accumulating a stash of world-title belts in the
flyweight and super flyweight divisions, has stumbled twice after
stepping up to the heavier bantamweight division.

He lost to Ghana’s Joseph King Kong Agbeko in 2009 and in a
controversial split decision against Mexican-born Abner Mares in 2010.

Agbeko and Mares will fight in Sunday’s main event at the Honda Center.

Moreno is just 26 and is a defensive fortress, losing just one
fight (a split decision in a four round contest when he was
17-years-old). Moreno’s 31 wins came with just 11 knockouts, a vanilla
record compared to Darchinyan’s lethal 27 knockouts in 37 wins.

“He’s scared to get hit,” Darchinyan said.

“I’ll jump on him and pressure him like no one he’s ever fought
before and I’m going to try and knock him out in the first round.”
Moreno says ring intelligence, not brawn will conquer Darchinyan.

“I’m looking forward to showing my intelligence and style of
boxing,” Moreno responded.

It is brawn that Darchinyan, who grew up wrestling in his native
Armenia under the tutelage of his father, an Olympic wrestling coach,
will also take to the MMA cage next year.

It is something Shaw is looking forward to.

“Vic will be a riot in the MMA,” Gary Shaw, Darchinyan’s promoter, said.

Shaw joked that he may have troubled holding onto the increasingly
popular fighter – with Darchinyan posing for photos with Don King, the
cigar sucking veteran promoter with vertical grey hair, and Oscar De
La Hoya, the former world champion boxer with Hollywood looks who has
become one of the sport’s top promoters.

“Oh OK. I see. You’re trying to steal my fighter,” the
silver-haired Shaw said in his Jersey accent.

Darchinyan smiled. So did King and De La Hoya.

Shaw also broke into a grin, although in the cut-throat world of
boxing promotion, stealing fighters is as common as left hooks in the
ring.

Of course, Shaw’s dig was in jest.

If there is one relationship in the boxing world that is built on
respect it is the one that Darchinyan and Shaw have.

They don’t have contracts and it works. Darchinyan has similar
arrangements with his trusted inner-circle.

“He’s my good friend, and I mean friend,” Shaw says.

“We have dealt on handshakes for years and years.”

White House Documents and Publications
December 2, 2011

Background Briefing by a Senior Administration Official on Vice
President Biden’s Trip to Turkey

Aboard Air Force Two
En Route Istanbul, Turkey
3:21 P.M. (Local)

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So if this is helpful, I’ll give you a
quick readout of the Vice President’s morning, some of which you saw,
some of which you didn’t at the meetings.

We started as you know at the breakfast with the Speaker. And the
conversation focused in some detail on the constitutional reform
process in Turkey that the Speaker is helping to lead. And the Vice
President expressed his support for and our admiration for the very
inclusive transparent process the Turks are engaged in to reform the
constitution with many different stakeholders involved, including
Kurdish parliamentarians, civil society, but mostly he listened to the
Speaker explain the process and how they were going about it.

The Vice President noted that not only was this a historic opportunity
for Turkey and for Turkey’s citizens, but it also offered the
possibility of making Turkey an even stronger example for countries in
transition in the region, many of whom look to Turkey. And so there
was an opportunity not only to change the lives of the Turkish people,
but to influence the transition of many other — many other peoples in
the region.

And the Vice President noted some of the concerns that we’ve had with
the judicial system and the desirability of reform there, as well as
concerns about the detention of journalists and others, and the hope
that the Turks would be addressing these issues through their reform
efforts.

That was the bulk of the discussion. Really quite fascinating to hear
the Speaker talk in detail about how they were going about it.

The only other issue that came up during the breakfast that the Vice
President brought up was Armenia, and in particular, he expressed our
hope that — first of all, he applauded the fact that the protocols
for normalization with Armenia were back on the agenda of the
parliament. And he expressed his hope that the parliament will be able
to act those protocols in the months ahead.

So that was the breakfast. I might add it featured an excellent
selection of cheese, bread, pancakes — really good. (Laughter.)

Then we went, as you all saw and took part in, to the Ataturk Memorial
Mausoleum, and the Vice President laid the wreath, wrote in the book.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We gave them that.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I see — oh, you have the statement —
his written statement.

And from there it was on to President Gul, and they covered a lot of
ground. The meeting went significantly over the planned time. I think
we allotted an hour for the meeting, and I believe it went close to
two. And that was a reflection of both the depth and breadth of the
conversation that they had.

The Vice President has known President Gul for a number of years.
They’ve met several times before. He has great appreciation for his
wisdom and approach to problems. So in that meeting as I said they
covered a lot of ground. They spent a lot of time on Iraq, mostly
because, of course, we’d just come from there. And Gul and his
colleagues were certainly interested to hear the Vice President’s
impressions.

The Vice President relayed some of the key points and take-aways from
the trip, from his meetings. He made it very clear to the Turks that
we are not disengaging from Iraq. The nature of our engagement is
changing from military lead to civilian lead, but in many ways we were
actually deepening our engagement.

He talked about the session of the High Coordinating Committee of the
Strategic Framework Agreement, and the fact that we were working in a
very comprehensive way with the Iraqi government to help it build and
strengthen its institutions.

They discussed the PKK, and the Vice President reiterated our
commitment to help the Turks deal with this problem, which is a common
problem. He also conveyed that he had heard from Iraqis their
commitment to do more to deal with the problem posed by PKK terrorism.

There was some discussion of Iran and Iranian influence in Iraq. The
Vice President conveyed his view that the Iraqis have very strong
antibodies to interference by anyone, starting with Iran. He noted the
polling that shows that Iraqis of all persuasions do not abide by
Iranian influence, and noted that Iranian efforts to dictate the
outcome of the election and the government had failed.

They talked a little bit about prospects for the hydrocarbons law. The
Vice President noted that several of his Iraqi interlocutors had told
him that they thought there was a chance that this long delayed law
could move forward in the weeks ahead.

They also touched on Arab-Kurd relations in Iraq, and that was pretty
much it for the Iraq discussion. But it was lengthy.

They turned to Syria. The Vice President said he understood that the
concern that some in the region had for the uncertainty about what
might follow the Assad regime, but also underscored his conviction
which the Turks share that Assad and his regime are the source of
instability in Syria now and pose the greatest danger to fanning
flames of sectarian conflict not only in Syria but beyond. And the
number one objective was to get the regime to stop killing its people
and for Assad to leave power.

There was discussion of Iran more broadly. The Vice President stated
— the Vice President said it was his assessment that Iranian
influence in the region was declining and Iranian isolation was
increasing as a result of its outrageous actions across the board from
its refusal to come clean on its nuclear program and its violations of
the nonproliferation treat, the attempt to assassinate the Saudi
ambassador in Washington, the assault on the British embassy in
Tehran, the threat to Turkey and the NATO radar system and so forth.

And then just very quickly three other things came up in the meeting.
Cyprus — the Vice President expressed our hope that real progress can
be made in the months ahead led by the United Nations and its efforts.
They discussed Israel and its relationship with Turkey. The Vice
President said that it is important to the United States that two of
our closest friends and partners work to repair the damage to their
relationship and the existing tensions, that that would be good for
Turkey, good for Israel and good for us and expressed the hope that
they would both work to seize any opportunities to do that.

And finally, he also raised with President Gul the same subject he’d
raised with the Speaker, the Armenian protocols saying that again he
was pleased to note that the protocols were back on the agenda of the
parliament and hoped the parliament might be able to act on them.

That’s it.

Q Did the Vice President get clarity from the President on that issue
of the international buffer zone, whether that was —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It did not come up.

Q It did not come up.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Did not come up.

Q Did they talk about tougher sanctions on Iran? He called in the Q&A
that we saw in the newspaper for Iran to adopt tougher sanctions —
for Turkey to adopt tougher —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, it did not. That specifically did
not come up in the meeting. It was a broader discussion of Iran: where
it was going and the need to keep the pressure on to encourage them to
change their behavior. But there was no specific reference to
sanctions.

Q Did you get any sense at all that the Turks might even want the U.S.
to chill out a little bit on Iran?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, that certainly wasn’t expressed.

Q And you said that the Vice President expressed understanding for
fears of instability after Assad. Did the President —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Not —

Q The possible instability —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, but not — and I’m not
attributing that to the Turks.

Q That’s what I was about to ask you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.

Q Is it possible to get a few words, a read-out on the Barzani meeting?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Sure. We can do that. I think we’re
going to land. I don’t know maybe we can do that —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Do it at the hotel. Let’s get to the
hotel, figure things out.

Q Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks, guys.

END

3:33 P.M. (Local)

DARCHINYAN TO FIGHT MORENO TODAY

AZG DAILY #219, 03-12-2011

Sport Update: 2011-12-03 00:40:18 (GMT +04:00)

Vic Darchinyan is scheduled to fight Panamanian Anselmo Moreno
(31-1-1, 11 KOs) in a 12-round WBA Super World bantamweight title
fight on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at the Honda Center in Anaheim,
California. Moreno, who was elevated to super champion will be making
his 9th title defense when he steps into the ring with current IBO
bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan. Also fighting on the Showtime
PPV card will be Abner Mares vs Joseph Agbeko in an IBF bantamweight
title rematch. The winner of Moreno vs Darchinyan will be in line for
a unification fight with the winner of Mares vs Agbeko.

Vic Darchinyan doesn’t think there’s anything special about Panama’s
Moreno, the WBA’s super champion at 118 pounds. He sees Moreno as a
minor obstacle in his path toward rematches against Abner Mares or
Joseph Agbeko.

“He’s a good fighter,” Darchinyan said of Moreno, who has won four of
his last seven bouts by 12-round split decisions. “He’s not a warrior.
He’s not coming to win the fight. He’s kind of a defensive fighter.
He’s looking to win every round. He just wants to win the fight.

“I don’t think he’s a very exciting fighter because he just goes
round-by-round. I’m just going to be too strong for him. He’s bigger
than me, maybe body-wise. He’s taller. But we will see. I’m very
prepared for this fight and he’s not going to be [better] than me. I’m
going to be too strong for him.”

“I have to be patient,” Darchinyan said. “I’m not going to rush. We
saw that already [in my fight] with Agbeko. I just wanted to knock him
out in the first round. I was very, very impatient. I was not
controlling myself, because I wanted to knock him out. It’s not going
to happen anymore.”

Armenain Defense Minisry confirms reports on soldier’s death

December 3, 2011 – 18:34 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – December 3, 12:55am local time soldier Narek
Davtyan’s corpse was found with a fatal bullet wound at the bottom of
the jaw.

The case envisages medicolegal investigation of the body, RA Defense
Ministry investigation department reported.

Earlier December 3, a reliable source informed We Won’t Keep Silent
youth initiative about suicide committed by soldier Narek Davtyan in
one of RA army units.