Author: Kalantarian Kevo

"SARGSYAN SENT CHALLENGE TO TURKEY" COMMENT CAUSED A COURT CASE IN TURKEY

Panorama.am
13:26 04/03/2010

Law

Turkish "gercekgundem" web site published a story previous year
before Armenia’s Serzh Sargsyan’s travel to Turkey. The story was
about the Presidents of Armenia and Turkey and the site’s readers
had possibility to share with their thoughts. Currently the site is
under custody because of a comment written by one of the readers.

"If the reader who posted such a comment isn’t found, the web site’s
editor in chief Barish Yarqadashi will be sentenced up to 5 years,"
Turkish Milliyet reported. The comment which stipulated the court
case claims that "Sargsyan sent a challenge to Turkey."

Turkish President’s Administration called that an offense against
the President. "We are under custody for something we haven’t done,"
web site says.

TURKEY THREATENS TO RECALL AMBASSADOR IF GENOCIDE BILL PASSES

Asbarez
recall-ambassador-if-genocide-bill-passes/
Mar 4th, 2010

ANKARA (Reuters)-Turkey threatened Thursday to recall its ambassador
if a U.S. congressional panel votes to recognize the Armenian Genocide,
a government official said on Thursday.

NATO-member Turkey has said its ties with the United States would
be damaged and Ankara’s efforts to normalize relations with Armenia
could be endangered if the resolution is passed by U.S. lawmakers
on Thursday.

"We are open to all options," said a government official when asked
if Turkey would be willing to recall its ambassador to the United
States should the bill be passed.

Ankara recalled its ambassador in 2007 for consultations after a U.S.

panel approved a similar bill.

"But nobody should forget that the situation is different now than it
was in 2007. We are in the process of normalizing ties with Armenia,
so the stakes are higher," he said.

Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol last year to normalize relations
but the papers are yet to pass through the parliament of either
country.

President Barack Obama and Turkish President Abdullah Gul held a
phone conversation on Wednesday to discuss Turkey’s position on the
Armenia bill.

Obama visited Turkey last April. His administration sees Turkey as
a key ally whose help it needs in solving confrontations from Iran
to Afghanistan.

"We are at a stage when U.S.-Turkish ties need maximum cooperation.

Everybody should consider the importance of U.S.-Turkish relations
for regional and global stability," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu told a news conference on Thursday.

The non-binding resolution, to be voted by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, would call on Obama to ensure U.S. policy formally refers
to the massacre as "genocide" and to use that term when he delivers
his annual message on the issue in April – something Obama avoided
doing last year.

US VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANGERS TURKEY

EUObserver
March 5 2010

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Ankara on Thursday (4 march) recalled its
ambassador from Washington in protest over a resolution passed by US
lawmakers recognising the Armenian genocide in 1915.

The foreign affairs committee in the US Congress narrowly passed a
non-binding resolution condemning as "genocide" the First World War
killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman empire.

Turkey strongly rejects the term genocide to describe the mass killings
of Armenians back in 1915 (Photo: EUobserver.com) Print Comment
article Ankara reacted immediately by withdrawing its ambassador from
Washington. Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000
to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died when Christian
Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with
invading Russian troops.

"We condemn this draft resolution, accusing the Turkish nation with
a crime that it has not committed," a statement from the Turkish
government read.

The government also warned that the move may jeopardise a timid
revival of Turkish-Armenian relations, which was strongly supported and
mediated by the US and praised by the EU in its last monitoring report.

The agreement signed last year is still pending the approval of the
parliaments in Ankara and Erevan.

"Turkey plays a key role in regional security and the promotion of
dialogue between civilisations. Significant diplomatic efforts to
normalise relations with Armenia were made, resulting in the signature
of protocols for the normalisation of relations in October 2009. It is
important that these protocols are swiftly ratified by both countries,"
the commission report reads.

The rapprochement was one of the few positive developments noted by
Brussels in the last year. Turkey is moving toward EU requirements
for membership slowly, after having started negotiations in 2005.

Relations with its neighbours are "key" to its progress said the
EU commission.

EU mediation efforts have also been deployed in a frozen conflict
involving ethnic Armenians in Turkey’s neighbouring country and strong
ally, Azerbaijan. The enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is still controlled
by Armenia, after a brief war in the early 1990s, which was backed
by Russia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are part of the EU’s so-called
Eastern Partnership aimed at boosting ties with post-Soviet countries.

U-turn on Armenian genocide

The US resolution, which was approved with 23 to 22 votes, calls on
President Barack Obama to recognise the "genocide" in his presidential
statement marking the Armenian remembrance day on 24 April.

The Obama administration had warned the congress against adopting
such a resolution, which may upset its relations with Turkey, a key
Nato ally of strategic importance for the US in the Middle East,
Iraq and Afghanistan.

Such approach marks something of a u-turn from Mr Obama’s pledges
during the campaign trail leading to his election in 2008, when he
repeatedly said that "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully
about the Armenian genocide."

Last year, during a common press conference with his Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul, Mr Obama carefully avoided the term
"genocide" and only referred to a "difficult and tragic history,"
saying that it was up to historians to decide the terminology.

French parallel

A similar resolution was passed by EU member France, which is very
sceptical of Turkey’s membership bid to the bloc, as well as Canada.

Meanwhile, a French insurance company, Axa, is said to have paid
compensation to thousands descendants of Armenians massacred in World
War I based on life insurance policies taken at the time.

Hilda Tchoboian, the head of an Armenian association in the French city
of Lyon, told AFP that Axa had agreed to pay nearly 1,000 Armenian,
French and American families, and had started sending cheques of
about â~B¬8,000 each.

Axa is the second insurance company to pay compensation to descendants
of massacred Armenians. US company New York Life agreed in 2005 to
pay â~B¬8.8 million euros to victims’ heirs.

US AUTHORITIES AWARE OF TURKEY’S POSITION ON ARMENIAN RESOLUTION, DAVUTOGLU

Today’s Zaman
March 4 2010
Turkey

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday the United
States authorities, including the US administration and members of the
US Congress, were aware of Turkey’s position on Armenian resolution.

Davutoglu’s comments came hours before the Foreign Relations Committee
of the United States House of Representatives will vote on a resolution
on Thursday regarding the incidents of 1915.

At a joint press conference with his New Zealander counterpart Murray
McCully in Ankara, Davutoglu said that US officials know closely
Turkey’s approach to the incidents of 1915.

We have made our views on the incidents of 1915 very clear while
talking with US dignitaries, Davutoglu stressed.

Turkish-US relations are probably going through a process in which
there is a crucial need for cooperation more than ever before,
Davutoglu underlined.

Whichever file you open in any corner of the world, you will notice
that there is a crucial need for close cooperation between Turkey
and the US, Davutoglu said.

We are in a period in which our close relations can have a (positive)
impact on the Balkans, Middle East, Caucasus, G-20 and, surely,
the United Nations, Davutoglu stressed.

It is highly important that all involved take into serious
consideration the Turkish-U.S relations and the relations’ influence
on global peace, Davutoglu said.

OBAMA’S VIEW OF HISTORY HAS NOT CHANGED

armradio.am
03.03.2010 17:39

Ahead of the vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H. Res. 252)
at the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of representatives,
US National Security Council spokesman has declared that President
Obama’s view on history has not changed.

US President Barack Obama pledged during his election campaign
that he would recognise the killings as genocide, but disappointed
Armenian-American supporters when he refrained from using the term
in his message last year to commemorate the killings.

"His view of that history has not changed," said US National Security
Council spokesman Mike Hammer. "Our interest remains the achievement
of a full, frank, and just acknowledgement of the facts."

"The best way to advance that goal is for the Armenian and Turkish
people to address the facts of the past as a part of their ongoing
efforts to normalize relations," said Hammer.

"We will continue to support these efforts vigorously in the months
ahead," said the spokesman.

TURKEY: WARNS US CONGRESS AGAINST ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

rticles/eav030210.shtml
3/02/10

Turkish officials are cautioning that Ankara will jettison plans to
reconcile with Armenia if a US congressional committee endorses a
resolution to term Ottoman Turkey’s 1915 massacre of ethnic Armenians
as genocide. Ties with Washington would also suffer, they said.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to consider the
resolution on March 4. It calls for Washington to use the word
"genocide" in future references to the Ottoman-era horror, an event
that has hindered the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations
for almost a century.

"We want to believe that members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
are aware of the harm which would be done to Turkey-US relations and
efforts for peace and stability in [the] South Caucas[us]," Turkish
Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak â"~צzâ"~â~U~ ]gergin was quoted
on March 2 as saying by Turkish daily Today’s Zaman.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on March 1 that an
"incorrect move" by the US Congress would "torpedo" plans to normalize
plans between Turkey and Armenia, Today’s Zaman reported. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In Yerevan, Armenian officials called on Ankara to stop trying to
influence US legislative deliberations. "We hope that Turkey will rid
itself of artificial complexes created by the Turkish side and that
we will be able to move forward in accordance with our understandings."

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said during a news
conference, referring to the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process.

FIRST MEETING OF FORUM OF ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS OF MOSCOW HELD

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2010 18:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The first meeting of the Forum of Armenian
Organizations of Moscow (FAOM) was held in the Russian capital on
February 27. Heads of Moscow-based two dozen community organizations,
societies, associations and compatriot unions briefed on their
activities. Participants stressed the need to convene the Forum,
stressing the importance of FAOM in establishing the information
platform for the Armenian organizations of Moscow.

The Forum adopted a declaration and elected a Council: president
of Russian-Armenian Commonwealth Yuri Navoyan, editor-in-chief of
"Noah’s Ark" Gregory Anisonyan, the representative of Association of
Western Armenians Igor Zargaryan, chairman of the Friends of Artsakh
Eduard Ghulyan, President of Armenian Culture Development Fund Metso
Igityan , chairman of the Ararat society Manvel Dolbakyan.

The Forum was attended by Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the Embassy of Armenia in Russia Robert Ananian.

SERZH SARGSYAN VISITS GEORGIA

news.az
March 1 2010
Azerbaijan

Serzh Sargsyan Georgian and Armenian presidents hold talks in Kobuleti,
Adjara Region.

Georgian and Armenian presidents, after Batumi, visited the town of
Kobuleti in Adjara Region on Sunday.

An informal meeting of Mikheil Saakashvili and Serzh Sargsyan was
held in Georgian Palace Hotel. After the meeting, the two presidents
talked about details of their talks in the yard of the hotel. The
leaders agreed on economic integration. They also stressed necessity
of tight relations between the two countries in other fields as well.

"The Armenian President is a very bald person. He gives me big
hope regarding many issues. We agreed, that we should integrate
our economies, make our relations tighter, work more for bringing
our nations closer to each other, despite they are quite close. Our
relations will become more intensive. We are small countries, but
we need each other very much. We have to make the relations of the
two countries favourable for us. We really wish very big success
to Armenia. We are confident, that our relations will deepen in the
future", Mikheil Saakashvili said.

"I am very glad to have this meeting. I was surprised to see, how such
big deeds in such a short period of time. We should work together more
intensively, thinks about international processes more seriously. I am
sure, this year will be crucial in the relations o the two countries,
although they always were and are quite good now. We will not stop at
the same place, but we are moving forward. I am going from here with
hopes, that in several month I`ll be back with specific proposals",
Serzh Sargsyan said.

ASHOT MKRTCHYAN APPOINTED MEMBER OF BOARD OF CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2010-02-27 14:19:00

ArmInfoBy Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s decree, Ashot Lazarian
has been appointed member of Board of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA). The Armenian presidential press-service told ArmInfo that
Lazarian’s term of office is till 1 September 2014.

Formerly Lazarian held the post of the head of CBA Economic
Research Department. Lazarian was born in 1959. He graduated from
the architecture construction faculty of the Yerevan Engineering
Institute. He is a specialist in the sphere of macroeconomic studies
and monetary policy. Lazarian has been working in CBA since 1995.

SERZH SARGSYAN STRESSES NEED TO REDUCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SHADOW ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Noyan Tapan
Feb 26, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. On February 26 Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan conducted a consultation on tax administration
improvement problems. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Head of
the RA Presidential Staff, Ministers of Finance and Justice,
Head of the National Statistical Service, Head of the RA Police,
Prosecutor General, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee, Head of
the Presidential Supervisory Service, other high-ranking officials
participated in the consultation.

S. Sargsyan drew attention of those present to the necessity of a
coordinated struggle against negative phenomena in tax collection. In
his words, in addition to other measures, closer interdepartmental
cooperation should be established in order to solve the existing
problems. He stressed the need to reduce the opportunities for shadow
economic activity and to ensure a proper circulation of documents
for management.

The press service of the Armenian president reports that the president
gave instructions to the heads of the respective departments and
urged them to increase the efficiency of the fight against false
commodity turnover, sale of faked documents on goods, and similar
vicious phenomena. "We have no right to stop these measures. Our task
is to prevent such phenomena from spreading and also to take decisive
steps on elimination of the vicious circles inherited from the past,"
he declared.