Author: Kajoyan Gevork

Alexander Manasyan: Official Baku is an instrument in the big
geopolitical game of USA
ArmInfo’s interview with Head of the Political Research Academy,
correspondent-member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
Alexander Manasyan

by Marianna Lazarian

ARMINFO
Saturday, June 16, 13:27

Mr. Manasyan, there seem to be more hidden motives in the Azerbaijani
subversive actions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border than just desire
of Aliyev’s regime to destabilize the situation around Karabakh
conflict…

The last events on the Armenian-Azeri border can be interpreted as
Azerbaijan’s message to the world community and the OSCE Minsk Group
that it will not accept political or legal solutions to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and wants the problem to be solved by means
of war. That’s exactly why the Azeris did it during the visit of the
US Secretary of State to the region. The second possibility is that it
was not Baku’s initiative. It may have been the initiative of the
United States, which is deliberately escalating the situation in the
region for neutralizing Iran. The geo-political plans of the United
States the role of Iran is not subject to drastic changes, while
Azerbaijan is supposed to play the role of an instrument in this game.

May this big game lead to another aggression by Azerbaijan against the
Armenian people?

Even in case of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, no blitzkrieg
is expected, actually, not only because of the geographical location
of Armenia but also because of placement of the world forces and
interests in our region. It will be very hard for Azerbaijani tanks
to run Armenian mountain paths. So this weapon will not act. As for
the air attack, Armenia is protected with rather strong air defense
equipment. At present I think that Azerbaijan will not dare to attack
Armenia. It is very much possible that by such actions Baku is trying
to impose pressure both upon the world community and domestic
political arena of the country. Aliyev is trying to come forward like
a soldier-president ready to “liberate lands”, and in such a way he is
trying to make Azerbaijani people not to notice his own crimes.
Actually, all this is directed to remaining at the position of the
president. Since 1991 no political force of Armenia has been able to
make an adequate picture of the core of the conflict. The core and the
reasons of the Karabakh conflict are distorted. Many people in the
world think that Azerbaijan is a victim of the Armenian aggression,
and the Armenians has come forward like an aggressor that occupied
Azerbaijani lands. Though actually everything is visa versa. Moreover,
we can give judicial and legal grounding to the fact that Nagornyy
Karabakh is historical territory of Armenia.

Is there any connection between the recent arms procurement by
Azerbaijan from Israel and the current tension on the line of contact?

Even large military contracts are unable to play a decisive role in
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia has enough military resources,
and even if it runs short of weaponry, weapons may be provided by the
Collective Security Treaty Organization and Europe, which are not
interested in a new war. European nations do not want the war to
resume as they buy oil and gas in the Caucasus, while those who do not
depend on fuel may wish a new conflict with a view to change the
balance of dominating forces in the region.

What do you think of the continuing rapprochement of Azerbaijan and
Israel amid deteriorating relations of Turkey and Israel?

I am not surprised to see Azerbaijan and Israel improving their
relations. In Israel there are lots of people who lived in Baku in the
Soviet times and have old ties with the Azeri political elite. The
arms Israel is selling to Azerbaijan may be used against Iran, which
is good for Turkey. Still it is hard to say how things will develop in
the next decade – for political preferences change very quickly.

As for contradictions between Azerbaijan and Iran, natural and
unnatural, South Caucasus before joining Russia was part of Persia and
most residents there consider themselves Persians. In addition,
anti-Iranian sentiments are dictated by Ankara, though Azerbaijan’s
population do not support either the pro-Turkish orientation of the
ruling regime in Baku and or a military conflict in Iran. Therefore,
there is threat of conflicts inside Azerbaijan in case of war against
Iran.

Mormons and Oskanian Case

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 12:26:14 – 16/06/2012

The Hraparak Daily wrote that on June 17 the conference of followers
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, the Mormons,
will be held in which a lot of Mormons from the United States will
participate.

This conference is interesting in the context of the latest domestic
developments in Armenia. On May 25 a case was brought against Vartan
Oskanian, the ex-foreign minister of Armenia. He is suspected of money
laundering, and the donor of the money is John Huntsman, the head of
the Church of Mormons.

This man has implemented a number of projects in Armenia since 1988,
including the establishment of the factory of concrete constructions.
He was in close contacts with different high-ranking officials of
different times.

In connection with the `case’ of Vartan Oskanian and the Civilitas
Foundation the press came back to the circumstance of Mormons, mainly
negatively, in which connection the director of the Civilitas Salpi
Ghazarian wondered what they will do when the United States elects a
Mormon president.

The question is topical because the U.S. presidential candidate Mitt
Romney is a Mormon and in this stage of the campaign he is ahead of
Obama. Experts say Oskanian’s case might be somehow related to the
U.S. internecine affairs, bringing the example of Bryza whose
nomination as ambassador to Baku was not affirmed using the Armenian
lobby which considered Bryza a pro-Turkish diplomat.

Azerbaïdjan : Nouvelle arrestation d’un journaliste critique

Publié le : 15-06-2012

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
invite à lire cette information publiée sur le site des Reporters Sans
Frontières le 13 juin 2012.

Reporters Sans Frontières

Azerbaïdjan

Publié le mercredi 13 juin 2012.

Reporters sans frontières dénonce l’arrestation du photojournaliste
Mehman Huseynov, connu pour sa couverture des violences policières et
son activisme en faveur de la liberté de l’information. Le jeune
membre de l’Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) est
également actif sur les réseaux sociaux. Son compte Youtube est très
suivi.

« L’arrestation de Mehman Huseynov porte tous les signes d’une
vengeance politique et d’une volonté d’intimidation, a déclaré
Reporters sans frontières. Il doit immédiatement être remis en
liberté. Les accusations portées contre lui, alors même que la police
l’a empêché de faire son travail, sont d’un cynisme insupportable.
L’Eurovision passé, les autorités commencent à faire payer à la
société civile azerbaïdjanaise le prix de sa mobilisation. Le soutien
de la communauté internationale lui est plus que jamais nécessaire. »

Mehman Huseynov a été conduit au commissariat du district de Sabayil,
à Bakou (capitale), le 12 juin 2012 vers 18 heures. Après un
interrogatoire de trois heures, il a été placé en garde à vue. Un juge
doit désormais se prononcer dans les 48 heures sur l’inculpation du
journaliste et son maintien éventuel en détention provisoire. Si les
charges de « hooliganisme » (article 221.1 du code pénal) sont
retenues, Mehman Huseynov risque jusqu’à un an de prison.

Le photojournaliste est accusé d’avoir « insulté et recouru à la force
» contre un membre des forces spéciales qui l’empêchait de filmer une
manifestation de l’opposition, le 21 mai 2012, sur la Place des
fontaines à Bakou. Journalistes et manifestants avaient été
brutalement dispersés, de nombreux activistes avaient été interpellés.
Mehman Huseynov avait été malmené et sa caméra avait été cassée, ce
qui avait déclenché une altercation avec un policier.

Le travail de Mehman Huseynov sur la couverture des manifestations
fait référence. Il a été particulièrement mis en lumière pendant
l’Eurovision, lorsque la presse internationale s’est faite l’écho des
violations des droits de l’homme massivement commises dans le pays. Le
photojournaliste est par ailleurs le frère du directeur de l’IRFS,
Emin Huseynov.

Depuis la fin de l’Eurovision, les autorités ont clairement fait
comprendre que l’heure était à la reprise en main. Ces derniers jours,
outre les cas de Mehman Huseynov et d’Anar Bayramli, des militants
d’opposition et un défenseur des droits de l’homme ont également été
arrêtés. Le Parlement vient d’adopter aujourd’hui un amendement
restreignant drastiquement l’accès à l’information publique. Le 31 mai
2012, le principal conseiller du président Ilham Aliev, Ali Hasanov,
en a appelé à « la haine publique » contre les médias critiques et a
affirmé que « ce genre de membres de l’opposition, de journalistes et
de journaux ne devraient pas oser mettre un pied dehors ! »

Retour à la rubrique

Source/Lien : Reporters Sans Frontières

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 14 2012

Morningstar calls Nagorno-Karabakh peace process essential for whole region

Richard Morningstar, a candidate for US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, had
discussions at the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the US Senate on
Wednesday. He said that the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process is
essential for the whole region, AzerTAG reports.

He reminded about the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
to Azerbaijan. The human rights was one of the topics she discussed.

Morningstar noted the importance of realization of the South Corridor,
TANAP, Shah Deniz project set for mid-2013.
The Senate will give 48 hours for additional questions.

US President Barack Obama proposed Morningstar, Special Envoy for
Eurasian Energy, to be the US Ambassador in late April. The previous
Ambassador Matthew Bryza left office in January 2012, News Azerbaijan
reports.

Morningstar graduated at the Harvard University as a bachelor in 1967,
Stanford University as a PhD in 1970. He became the special envoy in
April 2009. He serviced as the US Ambassador to the EU in 1999-2001,
special presidential advisor for energy diplomacy in the Caspian
Region in 1998-1999, special advisor of the president and secretary of
state for post-Soviet space in 1995-1998.

Head of Association of Refugees from Azerbaijan: “Azerbaijan and not
Karabakh will get a big fat nothing”

arminfo
Friday, June 15, 17:28

Azerbaijan’s subversive actions on the line of contact will bring
nothing good to Baku. They have targeted the northeastern
Armenian-Azerbaijani border as they found a weak point there. However,
it will not save them. It is Azerbaijan and not Karabakh that will get
a big fat nothing, Eduard Polatov, Head of the Association of Armenian
Refugges from Azerbaijan told media, Friday.

He said that Azerbaijan ‘manages’ to attack Armenia and not Karabakh.
That is, Baku affords itself to attack a member of the CSTO. Probably,
he said, there no collective security and all the statements and
commitments of the CSTO are just on the paper.

“There is no collective security. We must be strong and never rely on
anyone,” Polatov said. Azerbaijan’s subversive actions are nothing
but terrorist acts and they should be given an adequate response.

“It is necessary to liquidate the hide-outs wherefrom they fire at our
positions, it is necessary to fire also at other territories of
Azerbaijan, at Friendship oil pipeline which is of big international
importance. Only when Europe feels inconvenience it will suppress
Baku,” Polatov said.

Azerbaijani hackers continue attacking Armenian web-site: they warn to
break MFA official web-site

Azerbaijani hackers are continuing their attacks on Armenian
web-sites. This time they have broken the official web-site of the
`United Armenians’ political party. `Respective reader, the web-site
will be restored soon. Our professionals are working on it’, the note
is left on the web-site.

As the expert on information security Samvel Martirosyan informed
today Azerbaijanis also haked the official web-site of the Ministry of
Healthcare.

Azerbaijanis put the same text in two web-sites and called Armenians
`terrorists’. They have warned that they have already broken more
eight governmental web-sites and news web-sites. `This is not a joke,
this is a war. Mfa.am is our next target’, the message said. Mfa.am is
the official web-site of Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Before this Azerbaijanis broke beeline.am. blognews.am, attacked
armenpress.am and official web-site of the Yerevan State Pedagogic
University.

15.06.12, 17:02

Civilitas Foundation grateful to Eduardo Eurnekian

TERT.AM
15:06 – 15.06.12

The Civilitas Foundation has released a report on a US $150,000
donation to the Foundation by the Argentina-based Armenian businessman
Eduardo Eurnekian.

The Civilitas Foundation expresses its gratitude to Mr Eduardo
Eurnekian for the donation, as well as to all of its former and
current partners and donors.

Armenia celebrates National Flag day June 15

June 15, 2012 – 15:38 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia celebrates the National Flag day on June 15.

On June 15 2006, the Law on the National Flag of Armenia, governing
its usage, was passed by the National Assembly of Armenia.

The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolor consists of three
horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle,
and orange (also described as “color of apricot”) on the bottom.

The meanings of the colors have been interpreted in many different
ways. Red stands for the blood shed by Armenian soldiers in war, blue
for the Armenian sky, and orange represents the fertile lands of
Armenia.

On June 15, Yerevan will host a festive march with 4500 young people
from Yerevan, Armenian regions, Artsakh participating. The march will
be accompanied by the performance of Yerevan police brass band, armed
forces, as well as dance and song ensembles, to be closed with the
performance of Armenia’s air forces.

The 7.30 pm march will start at Matenadaran museum to be closed at
Republic Square.

NKR MPs presented Nagorno Karabkah issue in Oxford University

13:41, 15 June, 2012

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, ARMENPRESS: Within the framework of the visit to
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland the official
delegation headed by NKR National Assembly Chairman Ashot Ghulyan
comprising of Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs Narine Aghabekyan
,Multilateral Relations Department head , Minister of Foreign
Affair, Armine Aleqsanyan had a meeting with the lecturers and the
students in Oxford University, Oriental Studies Institute on June 13.

NKR NA press office informed Armenpress Artsakh NA chairman presented
the present people the current stage of Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement, 2o th year path of the country and educational reforms
taking place there.

Then Mr. Ghulyan answered to Oxford University students’ questions
referring to Artsakh socio-economic situation, Armenia-Artsakh
cooperation, regional issues, international relations, development
trends, etc.

At the last day of the visit NKR delegation was hosted in London’
(Chatham House-Royal Institute of International Affairs), where an
exchange of views concerning the issues of Karabakh-Azerbaijan
conflict settlement procedure, existing developments in the region,
NKR interstate situation, upcoming presidential elections and the
possible impact of trust means were touched upon with the group of
experts dealing with the Caucasus Issues.

On the same day NKR NA chairman had a meeting with Armenian National
Committee head in the United Kingdom Sevan Artini and the
representatives of the Committee. Official visit was concluded.

Dersim Armenian speaks at Turkish parliament

12:49 – 15.06.12

A Turkish parliamentary sub-committee conducting an inquiry into the
fate of the Dersim massacre survivors has invited several `lost
daughters’ to hear their stories about the tragedy.

Fatma Yavuz, who concealed her Armenian origins for 57 years, was also
among the invitees.

Exiled from Konya at age five and learning her real surname 78 years
later, the woman presented her recollections to the Turkish
legislators.

She told how soldiers were lining up the people on the edge of the
river, killing them and throwing the bodies to the river. She was
either 4 or 5 years old. `I was saved by a person who covered me with
a blanket. Later I was taken by an officer. His family adopted me. I
was beaten there a lot and even had my finger broken. Later, another
family took me, but there too, I was subjected to violence. When I was
13, I was finally married to a man of 35, who converted me to Islam. I
was still a child, homeless, jobless and without anyone to take care
of me. And I raised my children in such conditions,’ she said.

Later, after continuous attempts to reveal her past, she has found out
that her father’s name was Hakob and mother’s Havas.

The other adopted girl after Dersim massacres is Halazur Gevis. `Let
such things never happen again, leaving children orphans and mothers
crying,’ she said, starting her speech. She told how her stepfather
took away her mother’s property, and she was like a prisoner forced to
live in camps. `I was forced to live as a slave. How can people be so
bad?!’ she said.

The offspring of a family that survived Dersim massacres Erdak Karakoc
said for many years he has been searching for his sister Sakine and
uncle’s daughter Semsi.

He said his father was searching them until he died without finding
his daughter.

`We knew that they are alive. We had a document dating back to 1941.
However, the more we were coming closer to them, the more they were
moving away from us. I think, it was a step directed toward
annihilation of Alevis of Dersim,’ he noted.

Erdak Karakoc said if the `lost daughters’ are alive he wants to find
them, if they have passed away he wants to know where their grave is.