Author: Kalantarian Kevo

NO MEETING OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI COMMUNITIES TO TAKE PLACE NOVEMBER 28 IN BERLIN

ARMENPRESS
November 16, 2011
YEREVAN

No meeting of the representatives of the NK’s Armenian and Azerbaijani
communities will take place November 28 in Berlin, head of the Central
Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President
Davit Babayan told Armenpress.

According to him, November 28 conference with the participation of
experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh and different
European countries will take place. Issues related to the South
Caucasus will be discussed.

“With its peculiar style Azerbaijan is trying to use this conference
for political speculations. We do not recognize NK’s Armenian and
Azerbaijani communities: there are only people of Nagorno Karabakh,”
Davit Babayan stressed.

The latter also noted that the recent meetings of the NKR President
Bako Sahakyan with the European officials makes the Azerbaijani
authorities nervous.

LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY: ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY EXPLAINS ITS INACTIVITY WITH A RHETORIC QUESTION: “EVERYONE KNOWS THAT NAGORNY KARABAKH IS OURS, ISN’T IT?”

arminfo
Wednesday, November 16, 15:34

Azerbaijan will use the UN tribune to disseminate its lie. And no
matter how hard the Armenian diplomats try to reassure the public,
the situation will not change, Leader of the Democratic Party of
Armenia Aram Sargsyan said in a press conference, Wednesday.

Baku’s propaganda is a great success otherwise 115 countries would not
support its election to the UN Security Council. “What did our Foreign
Ministry do to prevent such scenario? Nothing absolutely! If we managed
to use our diplomatic levers and connect the Diaspora to that process,
I am sure, at least half of those 155 countries would vote against
Azerbaijan. Instead, our foreign political department is reassuring
itself and others that nothing terrible has happened,” Sargsyan said.

He said that Democratic Party has set up organization committee
comprising various political and public organizations, which will make
an official statement shortly urging the Foreign Ministry of Armenia
to send diplomatic notes to all those 155 countries diplomatic corps
and present the historical truth and the legal essence of the Karabakh
conflict to them. “We think that those countries are not informed of
the real state of affairs and the conflict history,” Sargsyan said.

To recall, Azerbaijan was elected non-permanent member of the UN
Security Council on Oct 25 after Slovenia withdrew its candidature
before the last voting.

BRIAN FLYNN’S MEN FACE ARMENIA NEXT

Sportinglife.com

Nov 14 2011

RICHARDS SEES ARMENIA GAME AS VITAL

Captain Jazz Richards believes Tuesday’s European Championship
qualifier in Armenia is just the first of a series of must-win matches
for Wales Under-21s.

Brian Flynn’s side find themselves lying fourth of the five teams
in Group Three having lost at home to leaders Czech Republic last
time out, but are only four points off top spot, and a victory at the
Hanrapetakan Stadium would put Wales right back in contention before
qualification takes a break during the winter.

But Swansea defender Richards, 20, who recently signed a new contract
at the Liberty Stadium, believes his side will need to win all four
of their remaining games if they are to have a realistic chance of
securing a place at the finals in Israel in 2013.

He said: “This is a vital game for us and we know that every game
from here on in is a must win if we are to qualify.

“But morale in the squad is brilliant and the boys are really looking
forward to the challenge.

“We know that if we can get the win on Tuesday that will give us
plenty of confidence to take into the rest of the campaign.”

But winning in Yerevan will be no mean feat, with Armenia also well
in the qualification mix as they stand a point and one place above
Wales in the table.

The eastern Europeans have also claimed some notable results to date,
securing a draw away from home against the Czechs and hammering
Montenegro 4-1.

And Richards is under no illusions as to how difficult the task ahead
will be for the visitors.

“We are expecting them to be a good side,” he said.

“They have done well, they got a draw against the Czech Republic on
the road and they were very unlucky to lose their home game against
them as well.

“We know this is going to be a tough match and there is no way that
we will be underestimating them.

“Having said that we have been working hard in training and we are
only focusing on ourselves, we know that if we produce the type of
performance we are capable of then we should win.”

EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH BY RA NA SPEAKER HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SITTING

National Assembly of RA

Armenia
Nov 14 2011

Dear deputies,

You already know that in the upcoming elections I will run the
campaign of our party, and I have declared that for getting prepared
for that important job I have decided to untimely step down from the
chairmanship of the Parliament.

Fully realizing the whole responsibility before the RA President, the
state, the people and the party, in accordance with the paragraph 2
of the Article 20 of the Rules of Procedure, today I am submitting my
resignation from the position of the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Being elected Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of
Armenia on September 29, 2008 I have announced that the activity of the
National Assembly should be transparent, and the parliament reachable
for the society. Let it not sound immodest, but I believe that we
have succeeded to provide the transparent activity of the parliament
as much as possible and make closer parliament-society relationship.

I am grateful for our joint work. This has been for me a very important
and, in terms of the reinforcement of parliamentary culture, effective
time period.

Appreciating the activity of the National Assembly we should take into
account its weight of the role of the legislative higher body in the
life of the state. I believe that the National Assembly has displayed
itself as an active participant of the establishment process of the
statehood. I am convinced that from now on the National Assembly will
permanently be the defender of the state and society interests with
its activity. The National Assembly has fulfilled and will implement
its functions of the legislative body, because the vote received
from the people means permanent accountability and realization of
duty before the voter, thus also before the state.

All of you witnessed my permanent adherence to the principles of
tolerance, mutual respect during my activity in the NA Speaker’s
position. I have been and I hold the conviction that the parliament
should be a tribune of plurality and a platform, where numerous and
extraordinary opinions can sound and be audible, and as a result of
comparison and also contradiction of which those legislative solutions
should be born, which are necessary for our country today.

At the same time I would like to note that being elected a deputy
via majoritarian electoral system I am not going to avoid the
responsibility assumed before my voters and deputy’s obligations.

Whatever positions I have occupied I have never gone far from my
people, I am aware of its problems and I am willing to promote their
solution.

Dear deputies,

I think everybody realizes that our country is undergoing the
preparatory phase of the regular parliamentary elections; elections,
the organization and holding of which at high level is the matter
of honour for all of us and especially for the authorities. I am not
using the word “all of us” by accident, as any negative consequence of
elections is an impact not only on the reputation of the authorities,
but also the country. The authorities have repeatedly declared about
the readiness of holding free and fair elections, which means that
there is a necessary political will and resoluteness for it.

Dear colleagues,

Concluding my speech, I once again express my gratitude for the joint
work and cooperation during my tenure. I am thankful for your advice,
proposals and criticism. All this testifies that we managed to work
jointly, hear, tolerate and respect each other.

I am sure that sanity, mutual respect and tolerance will continue to
reign in this hall. I wish it would be manifested among us not only
in the parliament, but also in the whole political field.

ARMENIAN GROUPS GO AFTER CONDOLEEZZA RICE AS ‘GENOCIDE DENIER’

The Atlantic

Nov 14 2011

Some diaspora groups are decrying Rice and her memoir as catering to
Turkey on the Armenian genocide

Many ethnic Armenians who read ex-US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice’s recently published memoirs (“No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My
Years in Washington”) are spitting fire over her descriptions of her
battles with the US-based Diaspora Armenian lobby.

Both in 1991 as a presidential aide (to then US President George Bush)
and in 2007 as secretary of state (under then President George W.

Bush), Rice worked to defeat the congressional push for recognizing
the World-War I-era slaughter of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks
as genocide.

While acknowledging the brutality and the scale of the bloodshed,
Rice writes that US recognition of the act as genocide would have
antagonized Turkey, a key strategic ally for the US. She argues
that she was guided by the raison d’etat that labels are best left
to historians.

Not in the view of American-Armenian Diaspora groups or many
Armenian-language news services, who have republished a letter from
Harut Sassounian, the publisher of Los Angeles’ The California Courier,
a weekly catering to the city’s sizable Diaspora Armenian community,
that advises Stanford University (where Rice now works as a political
science professor, a political economy professor at Stanford’s business
school and, lastly, a public policy fellow) to inform the 57-year-old
foreign policy veteran that “genocide deniers are not welcome at one
of America’s most distinguished institutions of higher learning.”

Warming to his task, Sassounian charged that Rice had behaved as
“a spineless official of a banana republic” by allegedly caving in
to Turkish interests.

And Rice? Ever the diplomat, she’s keeping quiet.

This article originally appeared at EurasiaNet.org, an Atlantic
partner site.

ELECTRICITY STORAGE CAPACITY UP

Zawya.com

Nov 14 2011

Electricity storage exceeded 10,000 megawatts, announced Iran’s Energy
Ministry in its report.

The report added electricity storage currently stands at 10,458
megawatts, Mehr News Agency reported on Saturday.

In consumption, electricity storage was put at 575 megawatts while
non-used electricity storage stood at 9.883 megawatts on Friday.

Operational power was also recorded at 55,256 megawatts on Friday,
4,049 megawatts higher than the figure for the preceding year which
was 51,207 megawatts.

Power Generation Power generation has reached 160,532 gigawatt hours
since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21), Energy
Ministry said in a report.

According to the report, of the said figure over 152,649 gigawatt hours
pertained to thermal units while 7,883 gigawatt hours was related to
hydroelectric units, Mehr News Agency reported.

During the said period, power generation in thermal power plants
indicated a 67-percent decline over the amount for the same period
last year, and that of hydroelectric power plants was 9.63 percent
higher than the figure for the corresponding period of the past year,
the report said.

It added that the amount of supplied energy in the said time span
was more than 162,938 gigawatt hours, showing 0.01 percent decline
against the same duration of the preceding year.

Transactions Power transactions with neighboring countries reached
about 880,000 megawatt hours during September 23-October 22.

Some 704,000 megawatt hours of the said figure pertained to exports
and close to 175,000 megawatt hours were for imports.

In the said time span, Iran exported power to Pakistan, Armenia,
Turkey, Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran also
imported power from Armenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Nakhchivan in
the same duration.

source: Iran Daily

ZHOGHOVURD: ROMIK MKRTUMYAN CHIEF OF STATE SECURITY GUARD

Tert.am
15.11.11

Chief of Armenia’s police Vladimir Gasparyan plans to appoint Romik
Mkrtumyan chief of state security guard.

Mrktumyan was chief of the Yerevan military police and is a “famous
member of the top brass,” the newspaper writes.

‘ARMENIA’S ECONOMY NOT ALLOW IT TO IMPROVE ITS ARMY’

news.az
Nov 14 2011
Azerbaijan

Armenia’s current economic state does not allow it to improve its army.

The military exercises Armenia frequently holds in Uzundara area
in Agdara aim to raise spirits and psychological state of Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh in pre-war period rather that to
frighten Azerbaijani population in these areas.

The statement came from Faiq Ismayilov, chairman of the Organization
for Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments.

These exercises pollute Azerbaijani lands with explosive devices
and destroy archeological and architectural monuments. The Shahbulag
barrows, Shahbulagh fortress, Garagaji cemetery and Asgaran castle
have been subject to shells from heavy artillery, Ismayilov said.

Armenia’s current economic state does not allow it to improve its
army. It even fails to rule it without foreign assistance, Ismayilov
added.

‘The increased cases of violence, death, desertion in the Armenian
army in recent years cause fear among civilian Armenian population of
Karabakh. In general, Armenian citizens unequivocally refuse to serve
in the army due to arbitrariness and other similar negative instances.’

In a bid to fight these negative instances, the Armenian government
offers free education without exams in any higher educational
institution of the country to every citizen who voluntarily joins
the army, he noted.

‘It also guarantees to grant them an apartment and a job and a secure
life in Karabakh. Even this policy does not help reduce tension
around the army and increase the conscription calls. As a result,
foreign citizens, in short, Russians make up 30% of soldiers and 70%
of officers in the Armenian army.

Despite these problems, the Armenian government purchases modern
weapons of Russian production from CIS states with the help of
America and others, thus improving arms supply of troops stationed in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia spends great part of financial assistance
from abroad on armament and it already possesses modern antiaircraft
units, helicopters, unmanned aircrafts and long-range missiles in
Karabakh.’

FATHER OF SUSPECT CASTS DOUBT ON DINK TRIAL’S FATE

Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 14 2011
Turkey

Bahattin Hayal, the father of a murder suspect in Hrant Dink trial,
claims that his son was tricked by state officials into the murder
and he will announce their names

A group of protesters hold a banner that reads ‘For Hrant, for Justice’
during a demonstration in front of the BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ courthouse before
a hearing of Dink murder trial. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GUREL

The father of one of the suspected conspirators in the Hrant Dink
murder has withdrawn his initial testimony due to fears about his
personal safety and expressed no confidence that the case will ever
be resolved in its entirety.

“I am in full agreement with the Dink family’s lawyers. I do not
believe that the dark side of this case will truly come to light. I
cannot look at the faces of the Dink family; it gives me pain,”
Bahattin Hayal, the father of suspect Yasin Hayal, who allegedly
instigated hitman Ogun Samast to assassinate the Turkish-Armenian
journalist, told reporters yesterday after a hearing.

Only minutes before the end of the most recent hearing in Istanbul’s
BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ courthouse, Bahattin Hayal requested to act as a witness,
adding that he held important information. His request, however,
was denied by the court.

“They warned me that I would find myself in trouble. I told them
that I had shared the truth with them, but they forced me to change
my testimony,” he said.

A high-ranking official in the southeastern province of Mardin has
frequently transmitted messages to him through an intermediary, he
said, adding that he would share that information with the public in
short order.

“Following the murder, many people who got involved in the incident,
including [suspect] Erhan Tuncel, received bonuses,” the suspect’s
father said.

“Erhan [Tuncel] takes a computer printout of Hrant Dink’s picture and
tells my son that it is the ‘Armenians’ Ataturk’ and thus depicts him
as a target. How would my son know anything about Hrant Dink or Agos?”

he said, adding that his son was used by Tuncel.

“Erhan Tuncel ought to reveal [the identity of] his superiors and
what their connections are. My son has become a snack in the feast
of the wolves,” he said.

Meanwhile, just over two months are left until the erasure of phone
records relevant to the case. The Telecommunications Directorate
(TÄ°B), which possesses the records, earlier refused two court demands
to disclose the records; when a higher court also ruled in the same
vein, the body then issued a series of demands of its own for the
records to be revealed. Phone records are only kept for five years,
meaning authorities must convince TÄ°B to release the transcripts by
Jan. 19, 2012, the fifth anniversary of Dink’s murder.

Dink, a journalist of Armenian origin, was the chief editor for
weekly Agos, a paper published in both Turkish and Armenian. He was
shot in front of his office in January 2007; Samast was sentenced to
22 years in prison on July for the murder.

GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR RECORDS

The Malatya deputy of the main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP) has accused the country’s Telecommunications Directorate (TÄ°B)
of attempting to hamper the Dink case and accusing the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) of standing behind the body’s actions.

“Nearly all state institutions are working to prolong the [trial]
process and to make [people] forget about the murder, rather than
trying to shed light on it,” CHP deputy Veli Agbaba told members of
the press in Parliament.

The TÄ°B’s behavior bordered on the negligent and intentional, Agbaba
said, adding that he TÄ°B’s temerity comes from the fact that its
president is protected by the AKP.

KARABAKH NOT NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT BETWEEN RUSSIA, AZERBAIJAN – EXPERT

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 14, 2011 – 14:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Karabakh conflict is not a negotiable instrument
between Russia and Azerbaijan despite many views to the opposite,
according to an expert at the Institute of Political and Social
Studies of the Black Sea and Caspian Region.

As Andrey Areshev told a news conference in Yerevan, “Karabakh
issue is often used as a means of penetrating into South Caucasus in
pursuit of personal goals, while direct understanding on the problem
is virtually impossible.”

In this context, the expert cited rumors suggesting that in exchange
for Baku’s permission to extend operation term at Qabala Radar Station,
Moscow is ready to make concessions on Karabakh issue.

“Azerbaijan denied rumors several days after they were spread.

Clearly, Karabakh is not among the issues Russia can solve by
upping pressure on the Armenian leadership. The Republic, although
unrecognized, is a subject of global policy,” the expert stressed.