Author: Kajoyan Gevork

IRANIAN INTELLECTUAL: AZERBAIJAN DIDN’T EXIST BEFORE TREATIES OF GULISTAN, TURKMENCHAY

Panorama
Nov 14 2011
Armenia

“Before the ratification of the Treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay,
a state called Azerbaijan just didn’t exist,” Iranian “arannews.ir”
quotes Iranian intellectual Mehdi Nalbandi as saying at a conference
on Azerbaijan, in Tabriz.

The Iranian intellectual, referring to the history of the Republic
of Azerbaijan, said: “Before the ratification of the Treaties of
Gulistan and Turkmenchay there didn’t exist a state called Azerbaijan,
and the territory of today’s Azerbaijan was in the structure of Iran,
but was later separated from Iran.”

Another Iranian scientist Vali Jebari has said the territory of the
Republic of Azerbaijan was once included in the territory of historic
Aran, which was governed by Iran.

AMBASSADOR: WE THINK VOICING UK’S OPINION ABOUT HISTORICAL EVENTS WILL DO NO GOOD

Panorama
Nov 14 2011
Armenia

President Serzh Sargsyan’s step – football diplomacy – was very
efficient. Despite the disappointments, we should not disregard the
progress, outgoing British Ambassador to Armenia Charles Lonsdale
told a news conference in Yerevan.

“The Armenia-Turkey rapprochement process is slow, nevertheless,
we hope we will see results soon,” he said.

Mr Lonsdale noted that Great Britain cannot change its position on
the Armenian Genocide when its ambassadors change.

“I understand the significance of these events to every Armenian. We
remember and honor the Genocide victims, and we place a high importance
on the massacres and deportation. The British government of that time
strongly condemned these acts,” the Ambassador noted.

“As before, we think that voicing UK’s opinion about the historical
events will do no good.”

SERGE SARKISSIAN NOMME UN NOUVEAU CHEF DU PERSONNEL
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 15 novembre 2011

Un haut fonctionnaire instruit aux Etats-Unis a ete formellement
nomme comme nouveau chef du personnel du president Serge Sarkissian.

Vigen Sarkisian, 36 ans, a repris l’administration presidentielle
plus d’un mois après la demission de son predecesseur Karen Karapetian.

Le bureau de Serge Sarkissian avait declare le 9 septembre que Karen
Karapetian avait ete demis de son poste a sa propre initiative. La
raison de cette decision reste inconnue.

Karen Karapetian, dont le frère Samvel est un des armeniens les plus
riches de Russie, etait le chef parlementaire du parti Republicain
d’Armenie (HHK) de Serge Sarkissian avant sa nomination comme chef
du personnel en septembre 2008. Les analystes croient qu’il n’a pas
ete aussi influent que Mikael Minasian, vice-chef du personnel le
gendre de Sarkisian et confident selon la rumeur publique le plus
proche du President.

Dans une declaration, le service de presse presidentiel a dit que Vigen
Sargsian a ete presente au personnel par le president immediatement
après sa nomination. Ce dernier a exprime sa confiance qu’il fera
son nouveau travail ” avec succès “.

Vigen Sargsian a ete un conseiller en matière de politique etrangère
de l’ancien president du Parlement Babken Ararktsian avant qu’il n’ait
ete aux Etats-Unis a la Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy en 2000.

De 2000-2003 il a travaille comme conseiller du Ministre de la
Defense Nationale Serge Sarkissian. Il a alors travaille pour
le president Robert Kocharian sur le meme poste et est reste dans
l’administration presidentielle après que ce dernier ait delegue ses
pouvoirs a Sarkissian en avril 2008. La politique etrangère et la
securite nationale ont depuis ete le secteur clef des conseils de
Vigen Sargsian.

Vigen Sargsian a aussi etudie les relations internationales et
l’administration publique a l’Universite americaine d’Armenie depuis
2001.

“STATEMENTS OF THE CO-CHAIR STATES ENCOURAGE US”, ILHAM ALIYEV

APA
Nov 14 2011
Azerbaijan

Baku-APA. “Azerbaijan shows its efforts in sooner solution of
Armenian-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan considers
admissible the solution of the problem only within international law
norms”, said Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
at the press conference with Bulgarian president Georgi Pirvanov.

President Aliyev noted that resolutions and decisions of the
international organizations should be fulfilled unconditionally. “UN
Security Council adopted 4 resolutions on this issue that demand on
Armenian armed forces to free occupied territories unconditionally.

With support of the Bolgarian side, European Parliament also
adopted resolution like this. The Council of Europe, OSCE and other
international organizations demonstrated their stands on this issue.

Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by all the world
community. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan can not be subject
for the negotiations.

Problem should find its solution within international law basing on
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

We hope negotiations will give results. As in this situation it is
not possible to come to agreement. The Minsk Group and co-chair states
make enough serious statements due to unacceptance of status-quo.

These statements encourage us once more. I am sure all the states
have interest in solution of this problem sooner”, the President noted.

WHY ARE YEREVAN RESIDENTS STEALING GARBAGE BINS WHILE THROWING THEIR GARBAGE ONTO THE SIDEWALK?

epress.am
11.14.2011

Months ago, new large-capacity garbage bins were installed on Yerevan’s
streets; however, as confirmed by officials, the intention to keep
garbage off the streets, at least on the city’s main streets, didn’t
become a reality.

According to Hovhannes Stepanyan, deputy director of waste management
company EKOAR, responsible for garbage pick-up in Yerevan’s Arabkir
administrative district, all the applied measures are fruitless.

“Our company carries out continuous garbage pick-up and sanitary
cleaning work in this administrative district. Garbage bins are
emptied twice daily, but a few hours later the picture is the same.

You can’t have such a careless and negligent attitude toward property.

These bins are for easing the concerns of our fellow citizens,
right?” said Stepanyan.

Also added to the garbage bins, assert authoritative agencies, are
broken bins.

“Yerevan City Hall provided all of the capital’s administrative
districts, including ours, with 200L-capacity garbage bins, which
we installed in busy areas. The goal was to ease the waste disposal
process of residents and businesses. Considering the fact that
many of our fellow citizens are too lazy to throw out the trash
in the appropriate location and in several cases, outright throw
bags, sometimes filled with construction waste, onto the sidewalk,
we thought we might be able to avoid such situations; however,
regretfully, the picture is the same – and now with the addition that
they unsparingly have begun to break and even steal the garbage bins,”
head of the utility division at Arabkir municipality Arsen Movsisyan
told Epress.am.

Arabkir residents also complained to Epress.am about the garbage
strewn on the sidewalks.

“Of course, it’s very commendable that they’ve installed garbage
bins, which are quite large capacity, and it’s painful to see how
unsparingly they break and remove them. In the evening, you can
come across disgraceful scenes, when residents are even so lazy as
to throw their bags full of garbage in [or next to] the bins. Many
simply open their windows or come out onto their balconies and throw
their garbage onto the street, which results in our street appearing
like a real garbage dump in the morning,” Vagharzhyan St. resident
Hermine Hakobyan told Epress.am.

Several Arabkir residents even refused to talk about this issue,
while those who did talk only pointed to the horrible condition
without proposing actual solutions to the problem.

HERITAGE PARTY AGAIN DEMANDS TO WITHDRAW SIGNATURE FROM PROTOCOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 14, 2011 – 14:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Heritage opposition party once again called on
President Sargsyan to withdraw signature from Armenian-Turkish
protocols, parliamentary group leader said.

According to Stepan Safaryan, head of Heritage parliamentary group,
protocols pose a threat to Armenia, fostering discussion about Turkey’s
participation in Nagorno Karabakh talks.

Armenian-Turkish normalization process started on RA President Serzh
Sargsyan’s initiative in fall 2008. On October 10, 2009 Armenian and
Turkish Foreign Ministers signed protocols expected to be ratified
by parliaments of both states.

In August 2011, the protocols were removed from Turkish parliament’s
agenda and were brough back in October.

RUSSIA RESUMES MANNED SOYUZ FLIGHTS AFTER CRASH

ARMENPRESS
NOVEMBER 14, 2011
YEREVAN

A Russian spacecraft carrying three astronauts – two Russians and
one American – has launched successfully from Kazakhstan.

They are the first to travel on a Russian Soyuz craft since a similar
unmanned rocket carrying cargo crashed shortly after launch in August.

All manned space travel was suspended after that crash for almost
three months.

The astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station
(ISS).

The rocket lifted off from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan’s
snow-covered steppes at 08.14 (04:14 GMT).

Once safely in orbit, the three astronauts gave a thumbs-up signal
to cameras on board the craft and said: “Everything is normal and we
are feeling fine”. Applause broke out at the mission control centre
in a northern Moscow suburb.

The BBC’s Daniel Sandford in Moscow says the Soyuz has historically
been a relatively safe way of getting into space.

But on 24 August, a similar Russian-built Soyuz rocket taking supplies
to the space station crashed soon after launch.

That led to the human space flight programme being suspended until now.

But in their final comments to the media before the launch, the three
men insisted they were confident in the technology and had no concerns.

“We don’t have any black thoughts. We have faith in our equipment,”
Anton Shkaplerov, 39, was quoted by Russian media as saying.

Mr Shkaplerov and fellow Russian Anatoly Ivanishin, 42, are making
their first maiden space voyages. For veteran Nasa astronaut Dan
Burbank, 50, it is his first voyage on board a Soyuz spacecraft.

After a two-day journey aboard the Soyuz capsule, the crew will dock
with the space station, overlapping briefly with the current crew –
station commander Mike Fossum of Nasa, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and
Russia’s Sergei Volkov – who will then return to earth.

The launch is the first since the American space agency Nasa ended
its 30-year shuttle programme in July, heralding a gap of several
years when the 16 nations investing in the $100bn International Space
Station will rely solely on Russia to ferry crews.

There had been fears that any problems with this launch could leave
the ISS unmanned for the first time in more than a decade when the
current crew leave on 21 November. Mr Shkaplerov, Mr Ivanishin and
Mr Burbank are due to remain at the space station until March.

Moscow hopes a smooth mission to the ISS will begin to restore its
reputation after more trouble last week when the $165m Phobos-Grunt
probe destined for Mars’ moon got stuck in orbit round the Earth.

Russia’s space agency chief said the August rocket failure was an
“isolated” glitch caused by a fuel pipe blockage.

TURKEY EVACUATING DIPLOMATIC STAFF FROM SYRIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 14, 2011 – 10:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A crowd of around a thousand attacked the Turkish
embassy in Damascus on Saturday, November 12 evening, throwing stones
and bottles before Syrian police intervened to break up the protest,
Today~Rs Zaman reported citing state-run Anatolian news agency.

Attacks were also staged against Turkey’s consulate in Aleppo and
its honorary consulate in Latakia, the agency quoted Turkish embassy
officials in Damascus as saying.

The attacks took place hours after the Arab League suspended Syria
for failing to carry out a promise to halt its armed crackdown on
eight-month-old pro-democracy demonstrations and open a dialogue with
its opponents.

On Saturday evening, residents in Syria said crowds armed with sticks
and knives attacked the Saudi Arabian embassy in Damascus and the
French and Turkish consulates in Latakia after the Arab League
suspended Syria.

They said hundreds of men shouting slogans in support of President
Bashar al-Assad beat a guard and broke into the Saudi embassy in Abu
Rummaneh, three blocks away from Assad’s offices in one of the most
heavily policed areas of the capital.

Outside the Turkish embassy, protesters chanted anti-Turkey slogans,
tried to climb the walls and force the gates open. Syrian police
intervened using teargas to break up the protest as the demonstrators
threw stones and bottles, Anatolian said.

In Aleppo, demonstrators entered the consulate garden and tried to
lower the Turkish flag but were prevented from doing so by consulate
officials.

A group of some 5,000 gathered outside the Turkish honorary consulate
in Latakia, 330 km (210 miles) north of Damascus on the Mediterranean
coast, and broke windows. The officials said a Turkish flag was burned
at this protest, Anatolian said.

No officials at the Turkish diplomatic missions were injured in the
protests, it added.

According to Cihan news agency, Turkey is evacuating most of its
diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Damascus and consulate in
Aleppo due to security reasons. Sources said the Foreign Ministry
does not currently plan to recall the ambassador to Ankara.

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA CANDIDATE BEATS HHK CANDIDATE IN LANDSLIDE VICTORY IN IJEVAN

epress.am
11.14.2011

Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) candidate and Ijevan mayor Varudzan
Nersisyan, 49, lost in the Ijevan municipal elections held yesterday.

As reported by the Epress.am correspondent, 8,810 people came out to
vote for the mayor of the capital of Armenia’s Tavush marz (province).

According to preliminary results, Varudzan Nersisyan gathered 3,392
votes, while Prosperous Armenia candidate Vardan Ghalumyan, 38,
gathered 5,039 votes and won the election.

Ijevan residents noted that a difference of 1,647 votes is tremendous
as in the past, the difference was at most a few hundred votes.

TURKEY’S GUL VISIT BUCKINGAM PALACE IN ARMENIAN TAILCOAT?

Tert.am
14.11.11

Upon the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II, Turkish President Abdullah
Gul is planning a two-day visit to London together with his wife,
Hayrunnisa Gul.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutohlu and Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan
will reportedly accompany the president during the visit that will
last from 22 until 24 November.

The Turkish newspaper Radikal says that ahead of his scheduled tour,
Gul visited an Armenian tailor in Istanbul to order a tailcoat.

But Gul is not thought to be the only person who is visiting the
Buckingham palace wearing an item by an Armenian master. His wife
Hayrunnisa is also said not to be indifferent to Armenian masters’ art.

In the course of her visit to Strasburg last year, Turkey’s first lady
was wearing a ring made by the famous Istanbul based Armenian jeweler,
Sevak Bicakri.

When asked by reporters about the wonderful ring on her finger,
Ms Gul motioned with pride that its author was an Armenian.

“Our craftsmen are Armenians and Greeks. That’s our diversity, our
attraction. I wear this ring especially during my trips abroad,”
she said.