Author: Kajoyan Gevork

LEBANESE FM: LEBANON SUPPORTS AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

Trend
foreign/1640026.html
Feb 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Beirut respects the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and supports
the country in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Lebanese
Foreign Minister Ali Hussein al-Shami said.

"Lebanon supports Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity
within its internationally recognized borders on the basis of
international law and in accordance with U.N. resolutions," al-Shami
said in an interview to Trend News.

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 seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States – are currently holding peace negotiations.

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

Ali Hussein al-Shami has headed Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry since
November 2009 after the formation of a coalition government led by
Saad al-Hariri.

According to him, although Lebanon had abstained from voting on
the 63th meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, Beirut is committed
to friendly relations with Azerbaijan, and continues constant
consultations and cooperation with Baku in various fields.

"Lebanon officially recognized the Republic of Azerbaijan after the
declaration of its independence in 1991 and established diplomatic
relations in 1992. Besides, several agreements on economic, trade,
customs cooperation, as well as an agreement on air transport have
been signed between the countries," Ali Hussein al-Shami said.

Addressing the Lebanese prime minister’s upcoming visit to Azerbaijan,
the minister said that the exact date of arrival has not yet been
determined. He said this visit aims to promote and strengthen bilateral
cooperation in various spheres.

"The agenda includes visits with economic and social objectives,
mentioned in Lebanon’s foreign policy plan," al-Shami said.

SECURITY COUNCILS OF ARMENIA AND FRANCE TO COOPERATE

ARKA
Feb 15, 2010

PARIS, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. During his working visit to France,
the Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia Arthur
Baghdasarian on February 15 had a meeting with the Secretary General
of the National Security and Defence Council of France Francis Delon.

A. Baghdasarian and F. Delon informed each other about the functions
of Armenia’s National Security Council and the National Security and
Defence Council of France. The framework of possible cooperation
between the two bodies was discussed. An agreement on cooperation
between the security councils of Armenia and France was reached.

The sides also spoke about problems related to the South Caucasus.

They discussed the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Karabakh conflict
settlement process. A. Baghdasarian presented Armenia’s position on
these problems. In particular, he said that Armenia is in favor of
the normalization of relations with neighboring countries and the
establishment of peace and stability in the region.

According to the press service of the RA National Security Council, A.

Baghdasarian also met with Jean-David Levitte, the diplomatic advisor
to the French president, with whom he dicussed issues related to
the bilateral relations and the South Caucasus. The interlocutors
attached importance to deepening the Armenian-French relations in
all the directions.

KANAT SAUDABAYEV SAYS BELIEVES IN FAVORABLE VARIANT OF OUTCOME

Aysor
Feb 15 2010
Armenia

OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and Foreign
Minister Kanat Saudabayev said he believes in favorable variant of
outcome in the process of settlement to the Karabakh conflict and
said intends to set to work over this issue in 2010.

"We have reasons to be optimistic standing from the results of heavy
negotiations," said Kanat Saudabayev at the joint conference with
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov following after their
today’s bilateral meeting in Baku. In particular, Kanat Saudabayev
kept in view the results of talks between foreign ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, and trilateral Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia meeting in
Russia’s Sochi.

"If the two parties hold on to the reached principles, this will be
a reason to be optimistic," said Kanat Saudabayev. He also stressed
that it’s very important to Kazakhstan as the OSCE chairperson to
see all range of issues over the Karabakh conflict.

"It’s very important to us to listen to all parties of the conflict.

We know the conflict’s roots and we have friendly relations with
both sides. I hope the constructive results of the talks in Baku will
provide those advises and recommendations that we will focus on during
our activities."

It’s worth mentioning, that Kanat Saudabayev is on a visit to Baku
and is reported to leave Azerbaijan for Armenia this evening.

NKR PRESIDENT MEETS ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF SOUTH OF RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.02.2010 11:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On February 13, President of the Artsakh Republic
(NKR) Bako Sahakyan traveled to Pyatigorsk, the administrative center
of the North Caucasus Federal Region of Russia, where he met with the
leaders of the Armenian community and of the Stavropol region and local
entrepreneurs to discuss ways to strengthen ties between the Motherland
and Diaspora. He also attended a festive ceremony at St. Sargis Church.

The next day Mr. Sahakyan met with representatives of the Armenian
community of the South of Russia. He briefed on the current situation
in Artsakh, socioeconomic development of the republic as well as the
current stage and prospects of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict
settlement. Special attention was paid to issues related to the
development of the Motherland-Diaspora relations. Deepening these
ties, as the NKR President underlined, would have a positive effect
both on strengthening the independent Armenian statehood and on the
consolidation of Diaspora and preserving its national identity.

Mr. Sahakyan also answered numerous questions asked by the meeting
participants, reported the Central Information Department of the
Office of the NKR President.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT MEETS WITH ARMENIAN COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN RUSSIA

Tert.am
16:18 ~U 15.02.10

On February 13, Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh President Bako Sahakyan
arrived in the city of Pyatigorsk, the administrative center of the
North Caucasus Federal Region of the Russian Federation.

On the same day, the head of state met leaders and representatives of
business circles of the Armenian community of the Stavrapol region,
where a wide range of issues related to strengthening and deepening
relations between the homeland and the Diaspora were discussed.

Sahakyan subsequently attended Candlemas celebrations at Pyatigorsk’s
St.Sargis Armenian church.

On February 14, Sahakyan met Armenian community representatives from
southern Russia in Pyatigorsk.

During the meeting, the head of the state presented Nagorno-Karabakh’s
current situation, the republic’s socioeconomic development, as well
as the current stage and prospects of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict
settlement. Special attention was paid to issues related to developing
homeland-Diaspora relations. Deepening these ties, Sahakyan emphasized,
would have a positive effect both on strengthening the independent
Armenian statehood and on the consolidation of the Diaspora and
preserving its national identity.

Within this context, Sahakyan noted the importance of the widening
cooperation with Armenian communities of the North Caucasus Federal
Region of the Russian Federation, particularly those of the Stavropol
region, qualifying them as promising.

SCR, VALLEX GROUP DISCUSS COOPERATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.02.2010 11:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ South Caucasus Railways CJSC Director General Shevket
Shaydullin attended Alaverdi station where he met with Vallex Group
Executive Director Valery Mejlumyan to discuss outcomes of cooperation,
the SCR press office reported.

Mr. Shaydullin gave a high estimation to the joint work carried out
by the companies and voiced hope for further cooperation.

"Our company not only ensures cargo transportation but also helps
find marketing outlets. Introduction of new information technologies
allowed implementation of various collaboration plans," he said.

South Caucasus Railways CJSC is a subsidiary of Russian Railways OJSC.

Armenian Railways CJSC was transferred to South Caucasian Railway’s
management under a concessionary agreement dated February 13, 2008.

The agreement was signed for 30-year term, with possible extension
of 10 years.

SARGSYAN TALKS KARABAKH, TURKEY AT LONDON THINK TANK
by Emil Sanamyan

D63F40-17BC-11DF-923A0003FF3452C2
Friday February 12, 2010

President in UK for Armenian fundraiser hosted by British Royals

Washington – Armenia’s President Serge Sargsyan and Catholicos of All
Armenians Karekin II attended an unprecedented Armenian fundraising
event hosted by Prince Charles at the Windsor Castle on February 10.

Earlier the same day, President Sargsyan was received by Queen
Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace.

During his London trip, Pres. Sargsyan also attended the opening of
Arshile Gorky exhibit at Tate Modern museum, met with British Foreign
Minister David Miliband and spoke at Chatham House, a think tank.

West shares responsibility for Caucasus security Speaking at the
Chatham House, formerly known as the Royal Institute of International
Affairs, President Sargsyan recalled the predicament Karabakh Armenians
faced in the early 1990s.

"Over 20 years ago in Karabakh, a whole people found themselves
facing the threat of extermination only because of being Armenian
and wanting to live free," the president stressed as he discussed
the conflict that is "a vital cause for the Armenian people [and]
a problem that has inflicted unspeakable pain and losses to my people."

He noted the importance of finding solutions to the conflict "the
implementation of which will not lead to further displacement and
ethnic cleansing" and the impossibility of Karabakh’s "colonization"
by Azerbaijan.

Mr. Sargsyan also pointed to the dangerous military build-up by
Azerbaijan and the Western states’ share of responsibility for making
it happen.

"While spending large sums on purchases of oil, the advanced states,
in my opinion, cannot remain indifferent to how their moneys are
being spent," the president warned. "Even if not used in a war
against Karabakh, the weapons Azerbaijan is stockpiling today will
shoot somewhere."

Aliyev invited to would-be Armenia-Turkey border opening In his
Chatham House speech, Pres. Sargsyan noted that he would be formally
transmitting the protocols on normalization of relations with Turkey
to parliament for ratification. But he also reiterated the position
that Armenia would wait for the Turkish parliament to ratify first.

While flying over Turkish territory on his way to the United Kingdom
Pres. Sargsyan sent a message to Turkish president Abdullah Gul calling
on him to take a "decisive step forward" to normalize relations.

In his response, the Turkish president reiterated his commitment to
normalization, but made no specific commitments regarding ratification
of the protocols. Turkish leaders have ruled out ratification without
what they would judge to be progress over Karabakh.

In London, Pres. Sargsyan said that a successful completion of
Armenia-Turkey normalization process would positively contribute to
the Karabakh peace process and that he would invite Azerbaijan’s
President Ilham Aliyev "to a potential opening ceremony of the
Armenian-Turkish border."

But "if, as many suspect, it is proven that Turkey’s goal is to
protract [the process], rather than to normalize relations, we will
have to discontinue the process," Pres. Sargsyan concluded.

(See page 17 of the Armenian Reporter’s pdf edition for the full text
of the remarks.)

Royal family embraces Yerevan preservation According to the
London-based Eurasia House, a think tank led by former Armenian Prime
Minister Armen Sarkissian, the Windsor Castle fundraising event was
dedicated to preservation and renovation of four historic buildings
in Yerevan, a project dubbed "Yerevan my love," as well as an 18th
century Dumphries House in Scotland.

"Our goal is to preserve historically significant architectural and
cultural heritage and to engender urban development that focuses on
community building," Mr. Sarkissian explained in a press release.

Mr. Sarkissian, who has been working closely with Prince Charles and
his charities, was the event’s initiator.

While there have been no reports about funds pledges at press time,
the evening was due to begin with a classical concert featuring
Valery Gergiev, general director of Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre
and principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Dariga
Nazarbayeva, mezzo-soprano and influential political figure in
Kazakhstan, Mikhail Simonyan, a New York-based violinist, and the
London Philharmonia conducted by Sergey Smbatyan of the National
Youth Orchestra of Armenia.

According to the Eurasia House, the "Yerevan My Love" project
involves the reconstruction and restoration of four historically and
architecturally significant buildings: two of them in Yerevan’s Kond
district and two in the city center.

Once completed and fully furnished, one of the Kond buildings will
be used to house a kindergarten for deaf and mute children and youth
from socially deprived families and the other will serve as a center
for single mothers with children.

The other two buildings in Yerevan city center will become a school for
the study of ethnographic instruments for socially and economically
deprived children and youth. The school will be run by master duduk
player Jivan Gasparyan.

The reconstructed buildings and the programs housed in them will be
put under administration and management of the Armenian Church.

ARMENIAN AGOS NEWSPAPER’S WEBSITE HACKED

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.02.2010 14:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A computer hacker posted a text on the website of
weekly armenian Agos newspaper which praised Ogun Samast, prime suspect
in the murder case Agos founder Hrant Dink, BIA News Center reported.

In the writing put on the main page the hacker(s) said that the murder
"was done on behalf of the Turkish flag and the Turkish Republic".

Moreover, a photograph of suspect Samast was posted. The actual main
page and pages containing news articles of Agos cannot be accessed
right now.

Besides plenty of spelling mistakes, the text is full of insults and
threats against people who are supporting the newspaper and the Dink
case. At the bottom of the writing it concludes: "The game is over".

Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007) was a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, columnist and editor-in-chief of
Agos bilingual newspaper. Dink was best known for advocating
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in
Turkey. Charged under the notorious article 301 of the Turkish
Criminal Code, Dink stood a trial for insulting Turkishness. After
numerous death threats, Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul in
January 2007, by Ogun Samast, a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist.

OPERATION CAST LEAD COMES TO CAMPUS
By Sana Saeed

McGill Daily
Feb 11 2010
Quebec

Last night’s SSMU General Assembly motion brought an ugly and ongoing
conflict back to the surface. And it is time that we talk about the
unjust and disproportionate aggression faced by thousands of students
on campus.

Much happened in the aftermath of the invasion of Gaza in late December
2008 by Israeli forces: Gaza’s irrevocable damage; an unabashedly
overconfident Israel finding itself at the receiving end of a barrage
of international condemnation; the Goldstone Report and the growth
of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement. Yet perhaps the most
striking aftershock, for us here, was the conversion of the McGill
campus into a second front for Operation Cast Lead, with shells of
identity politics being cast upon all those who dared to speak out
against Israeli aggression.

February 2009: I pushed through the doors of Redpath, my body welcoming
the accompanying brief breath of warmth. I headed downstairs to
grab a quick coffee and joined two friends, Sarah and Ayesha, in the
overcrowded cafeteria. Interested in Ayesha’s perspective as a Sri
Lankan Muslim, I brought up the issue of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

This conversation was taking place during the days leading up to
the now infamous February 5 General Assembly and all three of us
had found ourselves frustrated with the whispered segregation taking
place between students. We needed something else to discuss.

The response from Ayesha consisted of a smirk and a roll of the eyes.

Ayesha admitted that the Sinhalese Buddhist government did not treat
its minority population most preferably, but argued that the Tamils
did not appreciate the state’s attempts to bring them onto an equal
footing. The government had to do what it had to do to keep the
country together and safe from a terrorist organization. With this
justification as a foundation, she insinuated that the killing of
thousands of Tamils was not tantamount to genocide: they were just,
albeit unfortunately, collateral damage. They also seemed to forget
that they were being used as human shields by the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam.

Genocide, as a claim, was just in vogue.

These words sounded all too familiar – I felt as though I was sitting
across from a hijab-clad Zionist.

As I pushed further, she began to struggle with her words. How did
she see the slaughter of the Palestinians as genocide but not of
the Tamils?

"I just…I just can’t imagine my society doing something like that."

And just like that an epiphany struck Sarah and me. Ayesha was unable
to fathom how her society – consisting of people just like her and
her family – could be involved in the slaughter of another people.

All of a sudden the Armenian-genocide-denying Turks,
Darfuri-genocide-denying Arabs, and Zionists I had argued with
had become humanized in an almost vulnerable sense. For a fleeting
moment, I understood, without any anger, why my arguments with such
individuals never really went anywhere other than exasperated gasps
and frustrated fleeing.

Their denial of such atrocities cannot be forgiven; an injustice is an
injustice regardless of circumstance. The support for any injustice
is support against all of justice. But, again, for that moment I
finally understood how deniers of atrocities could deny what they
did. Denial of atrocities, especially when they are linked strongly to
a national, religious, or ethnic identity, is a dissociation of the
self’s complicity in any sinful doing. To accept the wrong committed
is to accept that there is something somewhat deficient, in an indeed
peculiar way, with oneself in terms of self-identification and history.

And that admittance is terrifying.

And here we are again, a year later, back to playing on our identity.

Last night’s General Assembly ended up being nothing more than a
showcase of passionate identity politics. In particular, it reminded
us that there is a high level of intolerance on campus regarding the
issue of Palestine. The mere mention of the occupation of Palestine,
which is illegal and a clear violation of human rights, created uproar
and a campaign that claimed that the motion was demonizing Israel.

Last year’s motion, which asked SSMU to condemn Israeli attacks
against schools during the Gaza invasion, was a motion that had
Israel as its focus. No one denied this. This year’s motion put
forward by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), however,
was focused on social corporate responsibility, on expanding the
Financial Ethics Review Committee’s mandate, using the Occupied
Palestinian Territories as the example of a human rights violation,
which it is. The fact that the preamble in the motion, which mentioned
the Occupied Territories, created the sort of outcry and controversy
that it did is most unfortunate and deplorable.

The fact that an SPHR member’s Facebook account was hacked into,
and subsequently, that the event supporting the motion was cancelled
with false information about the GA spread to over 2,000 people
is disgusting. Are we not above this? Or, are we so subordinate to
our identities that we lose rationality and any sense of fairness
and justice?

It’s time to close the second front of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict here on campus. We need to stop militarizing our minds and
our words. Student support against Israeli aggression and occupation
of the Occupied Palestinian Territories must continue – Israel is not
being singled out for human rights abuses or breach of international
law. Supporters of Tibet are not told that they are singling out
China. Supporters of Iranian homosexuals are not told they are singling
out Iran. A wrong is a wrong is a wrong. This continued attempt to shut
down any small public debate on any issue even mentioning Palestine or
Israel – which must always be discussed behind closed doors, it seems,
between deceivingly congenial club executives – is a form of mental
violence being fuelled by the irrationality of identity politics.

Enough is enough.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA – ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE
By David L. Phillips

Boston Globe
Feb 11 2010
MA

THE PROTOCOLS on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia
were heralded as an historic breakthrough when they were announced
last April, but the deal is now on the brink of collapse unless the
parliaments of Turkey and Armenia ratify the agreement. A breakdown
would spike tensions between Turkey and Armenia. It would also set back
mediation to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan
where ethnic Azeris and Armenians fought a bloody war in 1992-94.

Negotiators finalized the protocols in February and initialed their
annexes on April 2. In a procedural breakthrough, the implementation
roadmap de-linked normalization between Turkey and Armenia to
negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh.

In response, Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan suffered withering
criticism from Turkey’s large Azeri minority. Azerbaijan’s President
Ilham Aliyev also threatened to boycott the Nabucco pipeline, which
is designed to carry natural gas from Central Asia via Turkey to
markets in Europe. Within a month, Erdogan was in Baku, the capital
of Azerbaijan, assuring his "Azeri brothers" that Turkey "could open
its border only if Armenia lifts its occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh."

It took months, but a signing ceremony was finally scheduled for Oct.

10. Turkish officials wavered at the last minute. Only Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton’s crisis management prevented an embarrassing
fiasco.

The latest flap resulted from a finding by Armenia’s Constitutional
Court on Jan. 12. Clearing the way for ratification, the Court
affirmed that that the protocols conform to Article 11 of the Armenian
declaration of independence which states, "The Republic of Armenia
stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition
of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."

Turkish officials vehemently objected. They claimed that the Court’s
finding contained "preconditions and restrictive findings" that
undermine the "fundamental objectives" of the protocols. Citing
a sub-annex to the agreement calling for the establishment of a
commission for dialogue on historical issues, it is actually Turkey
that is trying to impose a pre-condition by insisting that the
commission consider whether the Armenian genocide actually occurred.

Both US and Russian diplomats insist that the deal was made without
preconditions.

This moment of opportunity must not be lost. The ball is in Turkey’s
court. Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian announced yesterday that
he would formally submit the protocols to the Armenian parliament
for ratification despite Turkey’s efforts to stonewall and distort
the deal.

Pushing for ratification won’t be easy for Erdogan, who wants to avoid
controversy in the run-up to elections.Even if Erdogan decides to
use his political capital, it might not be enough. In the past year,
Erdogan’s approval rating has slipped from 47 percent to 32 percent.

There should be no connection between opening the border and US
recognition of the genocide, but as a practical matter there is. If the
US Congress adopts the Armenian Genocide Recognition Act, which comes
up every year on April 24, Turkey would feel justified to abandon
the protocols. Erdogan might even derive some short-term political
benefit. Righteous indignation would appeal to the nationalist streak
in Turkey’s electorate.

Turkey and Armenia are on the verge of missing an unprecedented
opportunity for rapprochement. This would be a blow to both countries.

For Turkey, adopting the protocols affirms its "no conflict with
neighbors" policy and boosts its flagging EU candidacy. Opening the
border for normal travel and trade would end Armenia’s isolation and
be a windfall on both sides of the border.

The Obama administration must do its utmost to avoid a diplomatic
debacle, which would also set back US interests. Not only would a
breakdown tarnish America’s prestige, but ensuing events could
potentially disrupt US-Turkish relations at a time when the
United States needs Turkey to help stabilize Iraq, support NATO in
Afghanistan, and back diplomatic efforts to reign in Iran’s nuclear
program.

David Phillips is director of the Program on Conflict Prevention and
Peacebuilding at American University and author of "Unsilencing the
Past: Track Two Diplomacy and Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation."