Author: Kajoyan Gevork

GEORGIANS TO SELL ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN GAS PIPELINE?

04:06 pm | September 08, 2011

Economy

The Georgian parliament’s agenda includes a draft law that will
allow the sale of objects of strategic significance such as the tube
providing Armenia with gas from Russia, as well as the railway and
the energy system.

As reported by the Georgian “Pirveli” agency, the parliament’s
committees will soon discuss the draft law presented by deputies of the
United National Movement faction of the political force representing
the majority of parliament, Zviad Kukava and Mikhail Tskitishvili.

After finding out that the adoption of such a draft law was possible
months ago, Azerbaijan’s state petrol-gas organization had expressed
the willingness to participate in the tender for obtaining the
Russia-Armenia gas pipeline.

NEW PRESIDENT OF ARMENIAN SHOOTING FEDERATION ELECTED

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 16:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On September 7, Armenian Shooting Federation hosted
a session, with the president of the National Olympic Committee of
Armenia attending.

At the session, the Federation President, Olympic champion Hrachya
Petikyan announced his resignation, confessing to being unable to
resolve financial problems the federation is facing.

A businessman Artur Hovhannesyan, who expressed readiness to assist
the development of the sport, was elected as the next president.

FORMER PARLIAMENTARY CHAIR SUGGESTS REFRAINING FROM ‘PARADIGM OF HAGGLING’ ON KARABAKH

epress.am
09.08.2011 15:04

In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process, a so-called
paradigm of haggling is applied which assumes that all issues must
be resolved through agreement, said former National Assembly chair
and current independent MP Tigran Torosyan in a press briefing in
Yerevan today.

According to him, it’s clear that an irresolvable discrepancy in
Nagorno-Karabakh’s status exists among the viewpoints of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh itself.

“This problem has its solution, which is the following: when a
situation is unsolvable through this paradigm, you have to try those
paradigms which allow the problem to be solved. This is the legal
paradigm, that is, the norms of international law, which undoubtedly
say one thing: to contrast territorial integrity with the right to
self-determination is meaningless. Consequently, there has to be a
change in strategy and in the paradigm of haggling,” he said.

In the deputy’s opinion, the time has come for the Armenian parties
to put forth a full concept on conflict settlement, which will truly
be a proactive policy:

“This is the way to ensure the conflict’s resolution because,
unfortunately, today we have an additional obstacle: in our region, two
powerful states have conflicting interests, which is why none of the
mediators won’t want to see the conflict resolved in the foreseeable
future – because it goes against its interests. But this doesn’t
mean that we have to consider those parties our enemy; finally,
each is pursuing its interests. Rather, countering interests with
international law, I believe the Armenian parties can achieve success.”

Torosyan then offered his proposal for resolution of the conflict:

“What to do? First, those representatives in Armenia who are engaged in
[conflict] settlement not only should declare that the conflict will
be resolved on grounds of the right to self-determination – these
statements are no longer influential. Rather, they have to raise the
arguments as to why, how, it has to be presented well, how the war
began, who began the war, what course did it take. There has to be an
expert panel that will work on this issue professionally. Naturally,
politicians make political statements and adopt political decisions.

Those documents have to be prepared by experts on the basis of which
they will approve a decision and make statements. Otherwise, we might
find ourselves – and sometimes we do – in not so pleasant situations.

The entire world has to know that the Republic of Armenia’s position
is built on fundamental pillars. Simply statements, that NKR will
no longer be part of Azerbaijan’s territory, are no longer suitable
– their time has passed. If we work hard, NKR will return to the
negotiating process. On the issue of territorial integrity, Armenia
and Azerbaijan can sit down and talk. But to whom does the right
to self-determination refer, Armenia or Azerbaijan? This is obvious
nonsense even for non-experts. There’s a very serious omission here,
which leads to this stalemate. The self-determining party has to
come and sit beside the table. This is what international law says,”
Torosyan concluded.

FIRST INTER-COMMUNITY EXHIBITION TO OPEN IN GYUMRI

ARMENPRESS
10:12, 8 September, 2011

First inter-community cultural exhibition will open September 8-9
in Gyumri. Dancing, national song contest-festival will also be
conducted. The goal of the event is to intensify the cultural life of
the communities. The exhibition is dedicated to the 15th anniversary
of establishment of the local self-governmental system in Armenia.

Press service of Armenia’s National Library reported that “Bibliobus”
will be in Gyumri these days to participate in the event.

Within the framework of 15th anniversary of establishment of the local
self-governmental system a conference dedicated to the development of
rural communities will take place in October in Jermuk. As part of the
sitting of the Council of Europe local and territorial authorities’
congress an exhibition dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the local
self-governance in Armenia will be organized.

In November a big international conference will be conducted in Armenia
which will focus on issues existing in the local self-governmental
system, role of this system in the contemporary world and Armenia. The
anniversary events will be concluded in November.

TIGRAN TOROSYAN SAID KARABAKH’S NON-PARTICIPATION IN TALKS IS LOGICAL ABSURD

ARMENPRESS
13:36, 8 September, 2011

Till today no one grounded the exclusiveness of the Kosovo issue,
member of the Armenian National Assembly Tigran Torosyan said referring
to the similarities between the Nagorno Karabakh and Kosovo conflicts
at the “New Approaches to the NKR Issue” conference launched today
at the Yerevan State Linguistic University. He said from the first
sight the conflicts seem “unsolvable”: essentially there are two
ways of solving them. The first one is the active engagement of the
civil societies in the conflict settlement process and the second
the applying of serious pressures by mediating states.

“In Kosovo’s case the second variant took place, which is
impossible in Nagorno Karabakh case, but it is obvious that here
other classification of geopolitical forces acts”, Torosyan said,
adding that it is just a political issue but in legal respect these
issues are very similar. The UN Court of Justice put an end to the
legal duality and according to Torosyan, finally proved that there
is no controversy between the principles of the right of people to
self-determination and territorial integrity. The first one relates
to the separation of a group of people from a territory of a state,
it relates to state-people relations, the second relates to the
relations between the two states. In the first case the main issue of
discussion must be the status of self-determining territory and it
must not be burdened with other topics. “Here the next issue comes:
Nagorno Karabakh is a conflicting party and it must participate in
negotiations”, Torosyan said, adding that the fact that Karabakh is
not participating in talks is logical absurd.

IRAN TOUGHENS CRITICISM OF TURKEY OVER NATO RADAR

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 15:00 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran toughened Thursday, September 8, its criticism
of Turkey over its plan to host an early-warning radar as part of
NATO’s missile defense system, saying it will create tension and lead
to “complicated consequences.”

“We expect friendly countries and neighbors … not to promote
policies that create tension, which will definitely have complicated
consequences,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in
remarks carried by the state television website, AFP reported.

“We believe that the installation of some parts of the NATO missile
system in Turkey will not help the security and stability of the
region at all, nor that of the host country,” Mehmanparast said.

Iran “condemns any action that creates an arms race in the world and
region,” he added.

On Monday, Tehran criticized Ankara in a more subtle tone, with a
deputy foreign minister saying the missile shield radar would not
“improve security in the region.”

“Iran and Turkey are two friendly neighboring nations … and have
the ability to fully preserve their own security without any foreign
intervention,” said Hassan Ghashghavi, deputy minister for consular
affairs.

Leaders of the 28-member NATO alliance gave their backing last year
for the Europe-wide ballistic missile shield – which US officials
say is aimed at thwarting missile threats from the Middle East,
particularly Iran.

The remarks came after Ankara announced that technical negotiations
on the deployment of the NATO radar had “reached a final stage.”

TURKISH PUBLIC’S POSITIVE IMPRESSION OF U.S. STALLED: SURVEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 16:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A sneak preview of a survey from the German Marshall
Fund of the United States has revealed that although Turkey’s
opinion of the U.S. warmed up dramatically after President Barack
Obama took office in 2009, the Turkish public’s positive impression
of the U.S. has stalled after a phase of disillusionment in 2010.

A preview of the Transatlantic Trends 2011 survey indicated that
public opinion in Turkey toward the West has drifted further toward
the negative, but the dramatic declines seen in the 2010 results were
absent from the 2011 report.

Among the countries represented in the poll (including 12 EU member
countries, the U.S. and Turkey), Turkey had the least desire to see
the U.S. to exert its leadership on a global scale, with 17 percent
affirming the sentiment. Thirty percent of Turks, however, said they
have a favorable opinion of the U.S. Turkish public support for the
policies of Barack Obama in fighting international terrorism also
ranked the lowest among countries participating in the survey, with
23 percent, which proved consistent with the decline in the Turkish
view of the U.S. President in general.

According to the same survey’s findings from 2009, a striking 50
percent of Turks had a favorable opinion of Obama, reaching a level
of sympathy for an American leader never seen in Turkey before. During
the term of the previous US president, George W. Bush, Turkish approval
of the American leader fell as low as 3 percent.

Although Turkish approval of Obama dropped to 28 percent in 2010, U.S.

support for Turkey’s entry into the EU seems to stay strong. 41
percent of Americans said they supported Turkey’s admittance into the
European bloc, while 23 percent of Europeans shared the same opinion,
Today’s Zaman reported.

ERDOGAN EXPANDS HIS ARAB TOUR

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 8, 2011 – 11:10 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has
decided to expand the scope of a visit to Egypt and added Tunisia
and Libya to the itinerary of his trip, which will take place next
week at a time of increasing regional tensions.

“The prime minister had already announced his intention to visit
these countries. He eventually decided to visit the three countries
where the Arab Spring took place,” Today’s Zaman quoted diplomatic
sources as saying.

No statement was released after the coordination meeting between the
top Turkish officials, with diplomatic sources saying that all of
those ministers were expected to accompany Erdoðan during the first
leg of his tour, which will be Egypt.

“The visit to Egypt had to be postponed a few times because of the
political situation in Egypt,” the same sources highlighted, in an
apparent effort to rule out a direct link between the timing of the
visit and the escalating tension with Israel.

CORRUPTION AND ROWDYISM CAUSE OF ARMY VIOLENCE

Tert.am
12:59 08.09.11

True, the army is society’s reflection. However, this fact must not
serve as a basis for justifying the present situation in the army, Alek
Yenigomshyan, a member of the Sardarapat movement, told journalists.

According to him, the following accounts for the current situation in
the army: “The corruption and rowdyism at the superior level encourage
the violent situation at the inferior level,” he said. Each member of
society must contribute to improving the situation in Armenia’s army,
Yenigomshyan said.

BAKU NOT APPROACHED BY TEHRAN OVER LAKE URMIA, ARAZ RIVER

news.az
Sept 7 2011
Azerbaijan

Iran has not approached Azerbaijan about diverting water from the Araz
River to save Lake Urmia, Ecology Minister Huseyngulu Bagirov has said.

He was speaking at an international forum in Gabala on the disposal
of pesticides, 1news.az reported.

The minister said he had heard about plans for the possible use
of water from the Araz River to restore Lake Urmia, only from the
Iranian media.

“I note that Azerbaijan and Iran have an agreement on the use of the
Araz River, which covers many issues, including the amount of water
that the parties can use for their own needs. An ecological minimum
of water has to be preserved,” Bagirov said.

“For example, Armenia has deliberately changed the direction of flow
of the Tovuzchay River and I believe that nature and God will punish
them for this. When there are floods, Armenia will fail to cope with
them and divert the water in the right direction. As for Iran, the
Iranians have not yet far contacted us about using the Araz River to
fill Lake Urmia,” Bagirov said.

The saltwater Lake Urmia, which straddles Iran’s provinces of West
Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan, is rapidly drying up.

Public protests at official inaction on the lake have been gaining
momentum in recent months. On Saturday, 60 protesters were arrested
in Urmia, Iranian news agencies reported.