Author: Kajoyan Gevork

AZERBAIJAN MAIN CHALLENGE FOR TURKEY AS 2015 NEARS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 9, 2013 Tuesday 11:46 AM EST

Turkey’s Caucasus policy is considered a failure, particularly within
the context of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s ‘zero problems with
neighbors’ as Turkey has always paid special attention to bilateral
relations with Azerbaijan while simultaneously overlooking Armenia on
its foreign agenda, a policy that has complicated relations between
Ankara and Yerevan so much that this move can be a threat while heading
into 2015, a particularly sensitive year in Turkish-Armenian relations.

Relations with Azerbaijan are the backbone of Turkey’s Caucasus policy
and solidarity between the two nations is considerably robust, with
Azerbaijan having strong leverage over Turkey’s regional policies,
especially over its discourse with Armenia. ‘The suspension of the
flights between Van and Yerevan is very important in this case, as
it is largely a consequence of Azerbaijan’s pressure on Turkey,’
Kavus Abushov, an Azerbaijani expert on international relations,
said in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman from Baku.

Turkey recently canceled scheduled flights which were due to begin on
April 3 between Van, a city in eastern Turkey, and Armenia’s capital,
Yerevan. The Van-Yerevan flights would have been critical as the
twice-weekly flights by BoraJet, the first Turkish carrier flying
to Armenia, would have connected Armenians to what they call their
‘historical homeland.’ The flights were also encouraged by Turkey’s
reconciliation moves with Armenia and were meant to boost bilateral
tourism and trade. They were reportedly suspended following opposition
from Azerbaijan, Turkey’s strategic ally in the region. Turkish
authorities have confirmed the fact, but have avoided providing
further details.

‘The suspension also demonstrates Azerbaijan’s potential for leverage
over Turkey’s policies towards the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,’ Abushov
said, adding that any improvements in Turkish-Armenian rapprochement
policy would make Turkey’s embargo of Armenia ‘symbolic.’ Azerbaijan
and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since the early 1990s, when
Armenia together with Russian forces occupied Azerbaijani territories,
including the predominantly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven adjacent predominantly Azeri-populated territories. To support
its ally, Azerbaijan, Turkey closed its land border with Armenia.

Currently, together with Baku, Ankara has attempted to economically
isolate Armenia by omitting Yerevan from regional economic projects,
considering it a major incentive to peacefully reach a deal over the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has been in a deadlock for more than
two decades.

In fact, the Turkish move for rapprochement with Armenia, which
was initiated by President Abdullah Gul’s ‘soccer diplomacy,’ was
aimed at changing the status quo and finding a peaceful solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Ankara justified its efforts of
rapprochement to Baku on the grounds that increasing engagement with
Armenia in regional politics could sway the country into ending the
Nagorno-Karabakh deadlock. Turkey’s argumentation for mending ties
with Armenia by signing the Zurich protocols in Switzerland in 2009
was that the economic isolation of Armenia in the region had not
produced any progress overall in the peace process.

Canceled Van-Yerevan flights a blow to Turkish-Armenian ties

Turkey can perhaps revive the process by engaging and influencing
Armenia more, but for this Turkey needs to normalize its relations
with Armenia.

‘The suspension of the Van-Yerevan flights before they even got off
the ground are a blow to normalization between Turkey and Armenia
and evidence of Azerbaijan’s influence on Turkey’s Caucasus policy,’
said Sabine Freizer, the Istanbul-based director of the International
Crisis Group’s (ICG) Europe Program, adding that until now Ankara
has often said that it will not intervene in the efforts of private
business working in the South Caucasus, be it in Armenia or any other
space. ‘However, here the government apparently strongly discouraged
BoraJet from initiating the Van-Yerevan flight route.’

Baku delivered its gratitude to Ankara on Wednesday when Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Elman Abdullayev said Turkey’s
decision showed outstanding support for Azerbaijan. Calling Armenia
‘an aggressive state in Azerbaijan’s neighborhood,’ Abdullayev said,
‘Ankara’s pressure on Yerevan is necessary.’ While it is understandable
that Turkey should support its political and economic ally Azerbaijan
on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Turkey cannot ignore its own strategic
interests in the South Caucasus, with Armenia and Armenians who are
Turkish citizens, and the Armenian diaspora, according to Freizer.

One of Turkey’s key dates, 2015, is getting closer for all Armenians
around the world to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the so-called
Armenian genocide as Armenia claims the 1915 deportation of Armenians
by the Ottomans was a genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were
killed, saying the incident was an act of ethnic cleansing and in
turn want it to be internationally recognized as genocide. However,
Turkey, which sees the allegations of genocide as a threat to its
national honor, says the killings were not intentionally perpetrated
to eradicate a particular ethnicity but were the result of the
wartime conditions during World War I. Commenting on the approaching
centennial of the 1915 incidents, Freizer says the Turkish government
should consider commemorating the event by sharing the pain with the
Armenians, and ideally issuing a sincere apology. ‘This is Turkey’s
responsibility and not something Azerbaijan needs to worry about.’

At long last, normalized Turkey-Armenia relations are in favor of
peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Diplomatic ties established
between Turkey and Armenia will open Armenia’s border gates to Turkish
business and long-term investments and also transport routes, which
will push Yerevan to cooperate politically with Ankara and to welcome
its greater role in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

ARMENIA: AFTER DUELING CEREMONIES, OPPOSITION AT CROSSROADS

April 9, 2013 – 3:49pm, by Marianna Grigoryan

While Serzh Sargsyan took the presidential oath on April 9 to begin
another term as Armenia~Rs president, his main challenger, Raffi
Hovhannisian, vowed to keep pressing for change. But many members of
the opposition rank-and-file are questioning whether Hovhannisian is
the right person to lead the next charge.

Sargsyan~Rs inauguration took place at the Karen Demirchyan Sports
and Concerts Complex in the Armenian capital Yerevan. Heavily armed
police units ringed the complex, a reflection of the contested nature
of the February election results. Before thousands of attendees,
and placing his hand on a 7th century bible, Sargsyan promised to
promote and protect a ~Ssecure Armenia.~T Karekin II, the Catolicos
of the Armenian Apostolic Church, also blessed Sargsyan~Rs presidency.

~SI swear to unconditionally fulfill the requirements of the
Constitution; to respect human and civil rights and freedoms; to
protect the independence of the Republic; its territorial integrity
and security for the glory of the Republic of Armenia; and for the
benefit of the people of the Republic of Armenia,~T Sargsyan stated.

Hovhannisian, along with his supporters, contend that pro-Sargyan
elements stole the presidential election. To show that they consider
Sargsyan~Rs second term to be illegitimate, tens of thousands of
Armenians gathered at Liberty Square in Yerevan to stage what an
EurasiaNet.org, NY April 9 2013

~Salternative~T inauguration for Hovhannisian. ~SPerhaps Armenia is
secure for Serzh Sargsyan and his allies, but our Armenia is in a
terrible state. People just leave the country every day and we have
come here to stand up for our votes and our country,~T an opposition
activist from the town of Vanadzor told EurasiaNet.org at Liberty
Square.

After Hovannisian took his own presidential oath, complete with his
hand on a copy of the Armenian constitution, he stated that he would
keep working to return power to the people. But he left many attendees
disappointed by not outlining next steps in the political struggle
against Sargsyan~Rs administration.

~SI charge Mr. Serzh Sargsyan and Catholicos to come to Liberty Square
and beg pardon from the people,~T Havannisian said.

A random sampling of opinion among those at Liberty Square suggests
that opposition supporters are hungering for a positive vision for
change. Since the disputed presidential elections, Hovhannisian has
led the so-called Barevolution. But beyond deriding the validity of
Sargsyan~Rs election, he has not offered a comprehensive political
alternative to the status quo.

~SWe often don’t understand what Raffi Hovhannisian wants, but people
cannot rely on someone else. When I hear Raffi~Rs speeches, I realize
that nothing will change in this country and tomorrow the emigration
rates will increase again, since people just cannot place their hopes
on anything or anybody,~T an opposition supporter told EurasiaNet.org.

~SI have relatives who travelled from Moscow and Los Angeles to
take part in this rally, and now we are going to be disappointed,
since we don~Rt see here the person who can lead the people and make
a difference,~T said another Sargsyan administration critic.

Armen Badalyan, a Yerevan political expert, said the next step for
Hovhannisian~Rs Heritage Party ought to be gaining lots of seats in
the Yerevan City Council during the upcoming elections in early May.

While opposition to Sargsyan may run deep in Yerevan, support for
Hovhannisian could prove fleeting, suggested Manvel Yeghiazarian,
a former commander during the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
and now a prominent Sargsyan critic. ~SWe have survived the famine
and fought throughout the hunger and epidemics in the 90s. We did so,
because we knew we were building Armenia,~T said Yeghiazarian. ~SBut
this vagueness is killing the people now. We need a bricklayer now,
to put it crudely, while Raffi is a dyer. This does not mean we
don’t accept the dyer. He is building a house too. But today it is
the imperative to have a bricklayer.~T

After the Liberty Square festivities, Hovhannisian led opposition
supporters on a march toward the presidential residence. Riot
police blocked access to the residence, and, amid clashes, about 20
people were taken into custody. Later, Hovhannisian proceeded to the
Tsitsernakaberd memorial, dedicated to victims of the 1915 Armenian
Genocide. There, he prayed together with the chief of Armenian police,
Vladimir Gasparian. ~SI pray for Serzh Sargsyan, for the Catholicos
and for the police,~T said Hovhannisian.

Editor’s note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in
Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am.

ANDREICHENKO MEETS WITH ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN

News of Belarus
April 10 2013

MINSK, 10 April (BelTA) – While in Armenia on an official visit to
attend the inauguration ceremony of President of the Republic of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, Chairman of the House of Representatives of
the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko
met with the newly-elected president and Speaker of the Armenian
Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan, BelTA learnt from the press service of
the House of Representatives.

Vladimir Andreichenko congratulated Serzh Sargsyan on the victory at
the presidential election and expressed confidence that the Armenian
people had made the right choice. “The Belarusian speaker stressed
that Serzh Sargsyan's reelection for the second term testifies to
people’s confidence in the authorities, implementation of the people’s
will and interests within the pursuing policy,” the press service said.

The parties also discussed the issues regarding the Belarusian-Armenian
political, trade, economic cooperation, collaboration in the
international arena.

In a meeting with Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan, the sides looked into the issues concerning
the work of the inter-parliamentary commission on cooperation between
the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the National
Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. “An agreement was reached to
continue joint work on the concrete date for the meeting of the
inter-parliamentary commission in Minsk as well as the agenda of the
event,” the House of Representatives said.

The parties also discussed cooperation between lawmakers of the two
countries in inter-parliamentary organizations. In particular, the
Chairman of the House of Representatives praised the constructive
stance Armenia takes in respect to Belarus in the international arena.

The participants of the meeting also stressed the necessity to seek new
ways for increasing the Belarusian-Armenian trade, including through
the expansion of the commodity-distribution network. The Chairman of
the House of Representatives outlined promising projects for trade
and economic cooperation between Belarus and Armenia.

ARMENIAN PM SAYS CHINA RELATIONS SIGNIFICANT

People’s Daily Online, China
April 10 2013

YEREVAN, April 10 (Xinhua) — Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
said Wednesday that his country attaches importance to developing
ties with China.

“Relations with China are of great significance for Armenia,” Sargsyan
said at a meeting with Chinese Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Gu
Zhaoxi, who led a delegation to attend the inauguration of President
Serzh Sargsyan.

The two sides discussed bilateral cooperation in a number of sectors,
including industry, agriculture and education.

In Tuesday’s meeting with the Chinese delegation, Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian noted that Armenia-China relations have been
dynamically developing in recent years.

Strengthening relations with China is one of Armenia’s foreign policy
priorities, the minister said.

For his part, Gu said China attaches great importance to deepening
relations and cooperation with Armenia.

ARMENIAN SENTRIES SHOT, AZERBAIJANI CASUALTIES POSSIBLE

Today afternoon, near Baghanis village, Tavush, about ten Azerbaijani
soldiers, in an inadequate state, look and behavior, went up close
to the Armenian sentries. After the first warning the Azerbaijanis
continued to advance in a way that is not typical of the military. To
prevent the provocation, the Armenian soldiers started firing. The
enemy could have casualties. The Azerbaijani side is responsible for
the incident, the RA ministry of defense informed.

21:28 10/04/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

ARMENIA’S ACTING DEFENSE MINISTER RECEIVES MONTE MELKONYAN MILITARY AND SPORTS COLLEGE TEAM

18:32 ~U 10.04.13

Armenia’s Acting Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan received on
Wednesday a team of the Monte Melkonyan Military and Sports College.

The team won the first place in the 11th international gathering Young
Patriots in Perm, Russia, under the 2011-2015 government program of
patriotic education, Feb. 12 to 23.

Seyran Ohanyan stressed the students’ achievements and the college’s
important role in Armenia’s armed forces. He awarded diplomas to ten
students and money prizes to three students.

Armenian News – Tert.am

SARKISIAN VOWS TO PROTECT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

Sarkisian Vows to Protect Constitutional Rights
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

Serzh Sarkisian takes the oath of office

YEREVAN-During a ceremony attended by ruling faction of the parliament
and foreign dignitaries, Serzh Sarkisian took his oath of office
Tuesday at the Karen Demirchian Sports Complex, pledging to protect
basic rights guaranteed by Armenia’s Constitution.

In his inaugural address, Sarkisian pledged to work on Armenia’s
economic development, predicated on poverty, emigration and
unemployment, furthering rule of law for advancement of democracy
and ensuring equality for in the country and ensuring equality for all.

During the swearing in ceremony, Sarkisian said: “Assuming the office
of President of the Republic of Armenia, I swear to unreservedly
fulfill requirements of the Constitution to respect human and civil
rights and freedoms, to safeguard independence of the Republic, its
territorial integrity and security for the glory of the Republic of
Armenia and for the benefit of the people of the Republic of Armenia.”

“For the forthcoming five years, I consider our state’s and nation’s
economic development the number one priority. A whole array of problems
that Armenia is facing is in this very plane. Let me highlight three
main ones: emigration, unemployment, and poverty. The solutions for
these problems are to be found on the same field.

Efficient economy that is on the rise, this is the formula to our
success,” said Sarkisian.

“The second priority is in ensuring the rule of law. Equality of
everyone before the law is a binding prerequisite both for our
economic and political advancement,” pledged Sarkisian. “The third
priority, most directly linked to the one before, the rule of law,
is the deepening of democracy. Compare Armenia of five years ago with
Armenia of today and you will see the difference. Compare the levels
of the freedom of speech, press, and association.”

On the foreign policy front, Sarkisian called for the peaceful
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying Armenia has
never advocated war, but if need be it is prepared to defend its
national security.

“We do not want war but, at the same time, we are ready to withstand
any challenge,” said Sarkisian. “Coercion, violence, terror, war;
these are our opponent’s notions of reality. They are trying to impose
upon us the same notions they force on their own people.”

Across town, at Liberty Square, opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian,
who has led a popular movement since the presidential elections on
February 18, urged the people to fight and reclaim their homeland and
their rights. He led the crowd of tens of thousands at Liberty Square
in an oath to collectively work for the advancement of Armenia and
basic civil rights.

Government Resigns Prime Minister Tigran Sagsyan and all 18 members
of his cabinet tendered their resignations immediately after Serzh
Sarkisian’s inauguration on Tuesday, reported RFE/RL.

The move stemmed from Armenia’s constitution, which requires a newly
elected or reelected president to form a new government. Under the
constitution, Sarkisian must appoint a prime minister within the next
10 days. He has another 20 days to name all ministers.

Sargsyan read out the government’s collective letter of resignation at
a ceremony held in the presidential palace in Yerevan. “Mr. President,
working with you has been a great honor for us,” he said in the
presence of the ministers. “Of course, we have had difficult days,
we have had not only successes but also mistakes and failings.”

Sarkisian responded by thanking the cabinet for its “effective work,”
saying that it has operated in a challenging environment and managed to
solve “seemingly impossible objectives.” “There is no doubt that a huge
number of our citizens are unhappy with our work,” he said. “But, dear
colleagues, rest assured that people are unhappy not with individuals
but with existing problems.”

MARAGA: OIL INTERESTS, ARMENOPHOBIA AND THE SILENCE OF THE WORLD

Documentary “Maragha, April 10, 1992,” presented on October 2 on
Armenian Public Television highlighted a number of factors which
were previously shadowed, but were extremely important as they were
proving that “contemporary Golgotha”, as Baroness Caroline Cox named
the tragedy of Maragha, was not just one of the most tragic pages
of Karabakh war. The desire of the Azerbaijani side to obtain that
village indispensably was explained by several reasons, foremost of
which were the oil interests and the aggressive Armenophobia of the
Azerbaijani authorities.

According to the former residents of Maragha, just a few kilometers
far from the village was an oil tower and an oil pipeline also
passed there.

[]

Peaceful Armenian population of Maragha village was sacrificed for
the global fuel and energy interests just because the village was
on the territory where the valuable hydrocarbon raw materials were
produced – the so-called “white oil”. Perhaps it was because of these
global interests of not only Azerbaijan but also the major powers,
that Maragha was never released, although the Armenian side was ready
to do it in just a few days before the signing of the Bishkek protocol
on ceasefire in the conflict zone in May 1994.

A second major factor that played a fatal role in the fate of the
inhabitants of Maragha became the aggressive Armenophobia, as a basis
of the state ideology of the Azerbaijani state, since its formation in
1918 up to date. The Azerbaijani OMON (Special Purpose Police Unit)
troops, that entered the village only due to the bribed officers, a
former Soviet army tank crews, besides capturing Maragha had another
goal too: to commit a massacre (video) over the Armenians by the most
cruel, inhumane and barbaric methods. It is not by chance that the
witnesses state that among the rows of the Azerbaijani units were
special people, armed with yataghan – the main weapon of the Turkish
butchers that realized the Armenian Genocide in the early 20th century.

Their task was not simply killing, but cutting and chopping off the
heads, dismembering, and inflicting stab wounds in the shape of a
cross both on the corpses and the people who were alive.

According to the testimony of the villagers, Maragha had faced
a particularly massive attack on February 26, 1992 as well,
however the attack was repulsed by the forces of the self-defense
units.[]

The nature of the actions of the Azerbaijani forces leaves no doubt
that the massacre that happened on April 10 was planned specifically
for the February 26 – the day when, under Aghdam in Azerbaijan
was committed another more cynical crime, this time – against their
compatriots who fled Khojalu through the Humanitarian corridor opened
by the Armenians. Shooting up the retreating residents of Khojalu
in favor of pleasing the domestic political objectives and trying
to deal with the peaceful civilians of Maragha under the cover of
“Khojalu”, the political forces of Azerbaijan pursued one strategic
goal: to discredit the centuries-old image and reputation of the
Armenians, as carriers of the world civilization and to spread the
Armenophobia worldwide.

Events in Maraga are distinguished by their unprecedented brutality
even in comparison with the other acts of genocide against the
Armenians in Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Elderly, women and children
were mercilessly tortured and killed just for their belonging to the
Armenian nation. Those who had survived were taken hostage, many with
their families, with young children. The evidences of witnesses about
the massacre of peaceful civilians of Maragha strike the mind and go
beyond the normal human logic.

[]

Maraga has become another crime of Azerbaijan against humanity,
which however remains, unknown, unconvicted and unpunished. All
the attempts of Baroness Caroline Cox and the “Christian Solidarity
Worldwide Organization” to draw the attention of the international
community to the genocide in Maragha, met with the cynical cohesion of
carriers of oil interests.[]

The video placed on the Internet site Youtube depicts the wild orgy in
Maragha on April 10, 1992, and shows the true face of the Azerbaijani
army, which celebrates the “victory” over the helpless old men,
women and children.[]

The crime committed against the peaceful civilians of Maragha 22 years
ago, as well as the continuation of the genocidal policy against the
Armenian people by Azerbaijan at present, deprives this country of any
right to participate in the negotiation process on the Karabakh issue
and determine the final political status of the Armenians of Artsakh.

21.10.2010, 17:05

Aysor.am

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SWORN IN AMID PROTESTS

The Daily Star, Lebanon
April 9 2013

YEREVAN: Armenian President Serge Sarkisian has been sworn in for
another five-year term to lead the small former Soviet republic amid
street protests by his opponents.

Sarkisian easily won February’s election with nearly 59 percent of the
vote, but his opponents, American-born runner-up Raffi Hovanessian,
who won 37 percent of the vote, has called the election rigged, went
on hunger strike, and led protests calling for Sarkisian to step down.

International monitors said the election “lacked competition” but did
not question its legitimacy. A judge rejected Hovanessian’s appeal
against the result last month.

Thousands of Hovanessian’s supporters gathered in the capital to
protest the inauguration.

ARMENIA: BIG PROTEST AS PRESIDENT IS SWORN IN AGAIN

EuroNews
April 9 2013

Thousands of people packed into Yerevan’s Freedom Square to protest
against the inauguration of Serzh Sarksyan for his second term as
Armenia’s president.

The defeated candidate even went on hunger strike for a while,
claiming the election had been rigged.

The first time Sarksyan was elected in 2008 riots led to 10 deaths.

“I don’t want someone like Sarksyan as president,” said Knyaz Minasyan,
an opposition demonstrator. “I want someone who loves Armenia and
thinks about its future.”

He took up office again after his defeated opponent had lodged 70
complaints with the electoral commission, but its conclusion was that
they were based neither on fact nor legal evidence.

Sarksyan oversaw a return to economic growth after years of stagnation
in Armenia although there is still widespread poverty in the former
Soviet republic.

The latest World Bank statistics available showed more than a third
of the population living in poverty in 2010.