Author: Kajoyan Gevork

REPUBLIQUE DU HAUT KARABAGH
L’Uruguay se préparerait à reconnaitre le Haut Karabagh
l’Uruguay avait été le premier pays à reconnaitre en 1965 le génocide arménien

Le 9 septembre le ministre uruguayen des Affaires Etrangères Louis
Almagro a fait une déclaration inattendue en ce sens. Selon la chaîne
arménienne de télévision « Yerguir Media » le chef de la diplomatie
uruguayenne à l’occasion d’une rencontre du groupe parlementaire
Arménie-Uruguay a déclaré « je suis convaincu que le Haut Karabagh
doit être indépendant et rejoindre progressivement l’Arménie. C’est la
seule voie pour la solution du problème ». Louis Almagro a également
ajouté que le Haut Karabagh était une partie intégrante de l’Arménie
historique et que le gouvernement uruguayen réfléchissait pour sa
reconnaissance officielle par l’Uruguay.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 11 septembre 2011,
Krikor [email protected]

news.am, Armenia
Sept 10 2011

Baku drinks Karabakh fruit vodka with French name

September 10, 2011 | 01:18

YEREVAN. – Strong alcoholic beverages of Artsakh Brandy Company are
imported in Baku through Moscow, commercial director of the company
Tigran Harutyunyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

It is noteworthy, that Eau-de-vie, the French vodka, which is produced
by the company, have both Armenian and English labeling Artsakh. 80%
of the production is exported to Russia and Western Europe. Its demand
increases all the time. The plant is in Askeran, Karabakh.

Artsakh Brandy Company became one of the participants of 11th regional
trade-industrial exhibition Armenia EXPO, which is held in Yerevan.

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
September 9, 2011 Friday 5:15 PM GMT +4

Azerbaijani delegation leaves panel at Economic Forum in Krynica Zdroj (UPDATE)

Azerbaijan , Baku, Sept. 9 / Trend E.Tariverdiyeva /

The Azerbaijani delegation has left the South Caucasus Panel at the
XXI Economic Forum in Krynica Zdroj , Poland, Deputy Dean of the
History Department at Moscow State University, Chief Editor of Vestnik
Kavkaza and Trend Expert Council member Alexei Vlasov, told Trend.

The Azerbaijani delegation left the event as a protest to the stand of
photos and materials , where the Azerbaijani territory was shown as
the Armenian lands, placed before a moderator.

Member of the Azerbaijani delegation, MP Iqbal Agazade refused to
comment on this, but he expressed his indignation at this act.

Chairman of the Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe (FAAE) Ashot
Grigorian was the moderator of the panel.

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.

The annual meeting in Krynica includes 5 plenary sessions and more
than 100 discussion panels organized in twelve thematic blocks:
macroeconomics, business and management, energy forum, innovations and
sustainable development, health care, education and culture, society,
international policy and security, NGO Forum, the European Union and
its neighbors, state and reforms and the forum of regions. A special
panel will be devoted to the topic of South Caucasus.

Trend Daily News (Azerbaijan)
September 9, 2011 Friday 1:00 PM GMT +4

Russian FM: UN General Assembly will consider Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict (UPDATE)

The UN General Assembly will discuss the Nagorno -Karabakh conflict
along other issues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov s aid at a
joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart, the Russia-24 TV
channel reported.

The UN General Assembly opens in New York on Sept.13.

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.

Mediamax, Armenia
Sept 10 2011

`Basayev begged to send him reinforcement at Aghdam”

Saturday 10 September 2011 16:05

It’s well known that one of the leaders of Chechen gunmen Shamil
Basayev fought in Abkhazia, but only a few know about his
participation in the military operations against Armenians. It’s due
to Basayev’s own merit who has nothing to be “proud of’.

In 1996, Head of the NKR Defense Army Headquarters, Lieutenant General
Anatoly Zinevich, who had gone through Afghanistan, told us the
following: ”In 1993, Basayev was fighting here, at Aghdam. If we knew
at that time that he would play such a tragic role in the Russian
history we wouldn’t care a straw about all those corridors and would
bring down fire on his group”. (During the operation at Aghdam, the
Armenian units left the corridor for peaceful inhabitants, which was
used by military servicemen including Chechens).

Anatoly Zinevich spoke about Basayev with contempt he could hardly
disguise: ”The radio intercepts of his negotiations during which he
just begged to send him reinforcements were at my disposal then.
Afterwards, Basayev admitted that it was not reasonable to fight in
Karabakh as Azerbaijanis couldn’t fight at all and Armenians were
unconquerable’.

In 2000, Basayev himself admitted in his interview to Azerbaijani ANS
TV Company that he had taken part in the Karabakh war: `We came to
Karabakh to fight not for war trophies but for the sake of the idea of
Jihad’. However, as Basayev says, `when we arrived in the spot and saw
the situation we understood that there were no any signs of Jihad
there’. He said that there were very few high-ranking commanders in
the Azerbaijani army he could `trust’. Besides, Basayev stated that
`Armenians were better prepared for the war’.

Shamil Basayev said that the fall at Shushi was conditioned by the
lack of necessary discipline and ineffective leadership of the
Azerbaijani troops. According to him, `Shushi could be held by 100
armed people during a year’. Basayev said that due to the reasons
mentioned above in the first place, he made a decision in 1993 to
withdraw the Chechen troops under his control from Karabakh.

For some reason, Basayev recalled Armenia and Karabakh frequently in
2000. In June, he addressed an open letter to the leadership of Iran
which read the following: `Why do you support Armenia against
Azerbaijan while the majority of Azerbaijanis are your closest
relatives both by their ethnicity and religion?’

In October 2000, Shamil Basayev who had apparently forgotten about his
bitter experience of fighting with Armenians wrote a letter to Heydar
Aliyev:

`We would like to assure the President of Azerbaijan that we fully
support your fair fight for your national independence and territorial
integrity. We see that Azerbaijan is surrounded with enemies from all
the sides and even Iran which was supposed to be your natural ally
mainly pursues a pro-Armenian policy. It’s bitter to realize that’.

`We have serious intentions to help the Muslim people of Azerbaijan
after defeating the Russian aggressors. And we have no doubts that it
will happen very soon’, wrote Basayev.

Financial Times newspaper wrote back in 2002 that according its data,
field commander Khattab assassinated in 2002 – 4 years before
Basayev’s death – had also fought in Nagorno Karabakh.

DVIDS (Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System
Sept 10 2011

Armenia returns to Combined Endeavor for ninth year

by Staff Sgt. Ryan Whitney

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany- For the ninth consecutive year, members of the
Armed Forces of Armenia returned to Grafenwoehr, Germany Sept. 8, to
participate in Combined Endeavor 2011, the largest collaborative
military communications exercise in the world.

Combined Endeavor is a multi-nation exercise involving nearly 40 NATO,
Partnership for Peace and strategic security partners, and is designed
to increase interoperability and communications processes between the
participating nations.

`This exercise provides a good opportunity for us to share knowledge
and experience between participating countries,’ said Armenian Lt.
Col. Aram Gevorgyan, Armenian delegation chief. `Our ability to
operate alongside allied nations in times of natural disasters or
anti-terrorism operations has been greatly strengthened by our
participation in this exercise over the past years.’

Initially an observer of the exercise during CE 2003, the role the
Armed Forces of Armenia has played in the joint endeavor has grown as
they integrated more with other participating countries.

In 2007 Armenia hosted and operated the remote site that participants
of Combined Endeavor in Germany communicated with via satellite
communication systems. For the past two years the Eastern European
country has hosted planning conferences, in which representatives from
the various participating countries convened to discuss topics and
exercises to use during Combined Endeavor.

Gevorgyan said although the key goal of the exercise is to share
communication techniques and technologies, the relationships and bonds
formed working alongside other nations has been equally valuable.

`Strengthening our abilities in the professional sphere is an
important aspect of this exercise,’ he said. `The personal
communication between the representatives of more than 40 other
countries helps create and fortify the bonds of friendship between our
countries is just as important.’

Agence France Presse
Sept 10 2011

Turkish official slams mooted Israeli reprisals
(AFP) –

ANKARA – Turkish parliament speaker Cemil Cicek on Saturday blasted
ideas attributed to hawkish Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
for hitting back at Ankara in the row between the two countries.

Israel’s Yediot Aharonot daily reported Friday that Lieberman had
suggested supporting recognition by the US Senate of Armenian genocide
by Turkey, backing the Kurdish separatist PKK and launching a
diplomatic offensive against Ankara.

“It’s very troubling that someone with the rank of minister should
make such irresponsible remarks,” Cicek said on Turkish television.

He attacked the proposals as “blackmail” and said that if they were
put into effect the crisis between Israel and Turkey would become
“more complex and more inextricable”.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said
that the cabinet had considered various responses to a further
worsening of already stormy relations with Turkey but had not taken
action.

A statement said that Netanyahu and his ministers discussed “various
theoretical options in the event of escalation”.

“The decision on this will be taken only if and when necessary,” it
said. “Israel acts and will act responsibly and hopes that Turkey will
also act in the same way,” it said.

Israel and Turkey have been locked in a bitter dispute since May 2010
when Israeli naval commandos stormed the international Freedom
Flotilla, a convoy of six ships trying to reach Gaza in defiance of an
Israeli blockade, killing nine Turkish nationals.

The crisis deepened over the past week with Turkey expelling the
Israeli ambassador and axing military ties and defence trade.

news.am, Armenia
Sept 10 2011

Uruguay FM statement to recognize Karabakh unique – ARFD

September 10, 2011 | 00:20

YEREVAN. – Uruguay FM’s statement to recognize Karabakh is unique,
oppositional Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) MP Vahan
Hovhannisyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. The MP is in the delegation,
which participates in Armenia-Uruguay parliamentary conference in
Uruguay.

`It was not surprising for Hay Dat and ARF, as it is the outcome of
hard and long termed work. We will continue the work for the official
recognition,’ Hovhannisyan said.

Currently Montevideo discusses the possibilities of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution. Uruguay FM Luis Almagro believes that the
solution is either its independence or unity with Armenia. The
territory belongs to Armenia historically, the FM stated in a
conference where the deputy PM, chairman of the parliament and
journalists were present.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Uruguay FM has stated that
Nagorno-Karabakh should be independent or be united to Armenia in
time, as that could be the only way to resolve the issue.

Uruguay FM also stated that Karabakh is the historical part of
Armenia. Uruguay currently studies the case to recognize the state
officially.

Uruguay was also the first state in the world to recognize the
Armenian Genocide implemented by the Turks in 1915.

news.am, Armenia
Sept 10 2011

Armenian delegation received no notification on Karabakh debates at
OSCE PA session

September 10, 2011 | 09:47

YEREVAN.- The Armenian delegation has not received an official
notification that the Karabah peace process will be discussed at OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly’s October session but is ready to any
developments, Armenian delegate Aram Safaryan told Armenian
News-NEWS.am.

His remark came after head of Azerbaijani delegation Bakhar Muradov
said the issues related to Karabakh peace process are included in the
agenda.

`As you know, at the annual session of the OSCE in Belgrade, the
chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Petros Efthymiou said he
appoints Joao Soares special envoy to South Caucasus.

Mr. Soares, I think, prepared certain theses over the recent months
and he may take advantage of the session to discuss the Karabakh peace
process with Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations,’ said Safaryan.

Head of Armenian delegation to OSCE PA considers that discussion
within the framework of the organization can be efficient only if the
official diplomacy – the presidents of two countries, ministries of
foreign affairs – have achieved tangible progress in the negotiation
process.

`I do not think that without progress, parliamentary diplomacy can be
useful,’ he said expressing hope that Joao Soares will visit the
region in the near future.

The regular session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will be held in
Dubrovnik from 5 to 9 October.

CIS air defense units hold joint exercises in Russia

MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti)

Units from a joint air defense system of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) are conducting exercises with live firing
drills on September 6-12, the Russian Defense Ministry said on
Thursday.

The drills at the Ashuluk firing range in the Astrakhan Region near
the Caspian Sea are part of the Combat Commonwealth 2011 air defense
exercises.

“About 30 aircraft, including four MiG-29 fighter jets from Belarus,
take part in the exercises,” Air Force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik
said.

Air defense units from Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, equipped
with S-200, S-125, Buk and other systems, also participate.

The drills include airstrikes on ground targets, simulated “dog
fights” and interception of aerial targets.

Conducted annually, Combat Commonwealth exercises are part of efforts
to build a joint air defense shield for the CIS, a loose association
of former Soviet republics. An integrated air defense network was set
up by 10 CIS-member countries February 10, 1995.

The main purpose of the network is to ensure the protection of the
member-countries’ airspace, early warning of missile attacks and
coordination of joint efforts to neutralize potential air threats.

The CIS network currently comprises seven air defense brigades, 46
units equipped with S-200 and S-300 air defense missile systems, 23
fighter units equipped with MiG-29, MiG-31 and Su-27 aircraft, 22
electronic support units and two detachments of electronic warfare.