Author: Kalantarian Kevo

MINVAL.AZ: AFTER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN AZERBAIJAN AZERIS FROM ARMENIA BY BIRTH STRENGTHEN THEIR POSITIONS

16:52 30/10/2013 ” REGION

After the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan, the most
discussed topic was the reshuffling of the ruling team. Even before
the elections, there were rumors that if on October 9 Ilham Aliyev
will be able to stay at office, then in the new team the main gravity
center will be moved to the second-largest clan of the country – to
Pashayevs, writes the Azerbaijani news portal “Minval.az” referring to
“Yeni Musavat” newspaper.

“The main reason of dissemination of these rumors was that at the
end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 the Nakhichevan clan that was
in power was pressed down, and some major officials that were close
to the major oligarchs, joined the Pashayevs’ camp throwing away the
“white flag,” the author writes in the article. He notes that the
resignation of Misir Mardanov, Education Minister, in May and the
appointment of one of Pashayevs’ persons in his place increased
suspicion among the Azeris from Armenia by birth that after the
election they will face serious losses.

According to the article, Hafiz Hajiyev’s registration as a
presidential candidate, who is considered a black-spot for the
Azerbaijanis from Armenia, was considered as the preparation
of the authorities to the post-election developments. There is
evidence that though the government used Hafiz Gadzhev against
the opposition, at the same time it was designed to discredit the
“Armenian”-Azerbaijanis. According to the author, Hajiyev’s statement
claiming that Azerbaijanis from Armenia by birth support him increased
these suspicions, in the same time causing resentment within these
very Azerbaijanis.

As it is noted, during his presidential campaign, President Aliyev
visited almost all regions. And the fact that he did not visit
Nakhichevan, gave rise to suspicions that the position of the
Nakhichevan clan will weaken in the new team. On October 22 the
staff which was to work with Aliyev was published. It turned out that
Nakhichevan clan had maintained its positions and the Azerbaijanis
from Armenia received the largest piece of the government pie.

As an example the author brings Ali Akhmedov, who previously was
at the office of the executive secretary of the ruling party “Yeni
Azerbaijan”; he received the portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister and
supervision of social services and education area. Akhmedov is also
from Armenia by birth. Ismet Abbasov who was born in Yerevan, and who
lost the post of Minister of Agriculture, was also appointed Deputy
Prime Minister. According to the portal, there is evidence that the
new Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov has Sissian roots
too (Sissian is a region in Armenia-Ed. ).

After the arrest of the former minister Ali Insanov in 2005 the group
of Azerbaijanis from Armenia by birth weakened considerably. Recent
elections showed that this community still has a serious effect on the
opposition. Ali Insanov, who refused to write a petition for clemency,
upheld the joint candidate of the National Council Jamil Hasanli.

Thus, Ali Insanov, who is considered an authority among the
Azerbaijanis from Armenia by birth, joined the opposition. According
to the author, the Azerbaijani authorities will sooner or later be
forced to release Insanov according to the ECHR verdict.

“Apparently, the ruling power concerned about it, because the
parliamentary elections are ahead, and the authorities predict that
those elections will be as difficult, as the ones held on October 9.

Thrust criticism of the results of recent elections from the West,
and the United States in particular, requires greater responsiveness
towards the domestic situation from the side of authorities. One of
the reasons why the authorities did not dare to carry out serious
personnel changes promised to the West is the elections to be held
in 2015,” the article states.

“Minval.az” emphasizes, that major personnel changes in Azerbaijan may
increase resentment against the authorities that are notably weakened
after the elections on October 9; this may result in undesirable
consequences during parliamentary elections.

“And the fact that the Nakhichevan clan, which was supposed to be
subjected to “pressure”, escaped losing only one of its members –
Fizuli Alekperov (ex-Minister of Social Welfare Fizuli Alekperov –
Ed.), speaks of the intention of the power to keep the regional
balance,” the portal writes.

Source: Panorama.am

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT MUST RESIGN IF GENUINELY CONCERNED OVER COUNTRY’S FUTURE – LEVON TER-PETROSYAN

19:00 * 30.10.13

Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan shares Nagorno-Karabakh
Parliament member Vahagn Badasyan’s opinion that Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan should resign if he is really concerned over the future
of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Although I am not personally acquainted with Vahagn Badasyan, I
cannot but agree with his statement that Serzh Sargsyan should show
reason and resign if he is genuinely conserved over the future of
Armenia and Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh].

“a reasonable person has no doubts that, except for his personal
and clan prosperity, he failed in all the other areas,” stated
Ter-Petrosyan.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES KARABAKH WITH EU PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION DELEGATION HEAD

16:22, October 30, 2013

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan today met with Milan
Cabrnoch a member of the European Parliament (European Conservatives
and Reformists Group), who chairs the delegation to the EU-Armenia,
EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees.

Mr. Cabrnoch is visiting Armenia to participate in an EU-Armenia
Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Bureau meeting.

The sides discussed the resolution on the European Neighborhood policy
approved by the European Parliament last week. Minister Nalbandyan
noted that the resolution’s wordings on Nagorno-Karabakh mostly run
counter to the EU’s official position and that of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The authors of such passages must be cognizant of their responsibility
for possible consequences for the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and
for the co-chairs’ efforts, Minister Nalbandyan noted.

RUSSIAN WEAPONS DEAL WITH AZERBAIJAN NOT BANNED BY CSTO LAWS – MP

16:35 ~U 30.10.13

Russia’s weapons trade deal with the Azerbaijani government is not
banned by any law of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), according to a Russian parliamentarian.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door parliament session in
Yerevan, Head of the CSTO Standing Committee on Defense and Security
Anatoly Viborny said that the country acts in accordance with the
letter of the law while performing its obligations in relation to
third states.

“We’ll take your concerns into account,” Viborny promised. “The
fact that we are conducting this session on the territory of the
Armenia today demonstrates already that we are really concerned by
the developments in this region. Russia is doing everything possible
to prevent threats by any country. All the member-states of the CSTO
have to act only within the law.”

Speaking of the meeting, the Russian official said that it addressed
several key issues, focusing particularly on the approximation of
laws of the member-states.

Khosrov Harutyunuyan (Republican parliamentary faction), an advisor of
the CSTO delegation, said for his part that the questions discussed
during the hearing aimed to make clear to the Russian side that the
threat facing Armenia is also a problem for the CSTO member states.

The Armenian MP noted that the CSTO agreement contains no provision
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The final agreement will cover all the issues of concerns. At the end
of November, probably, we will have a statement saying that any attempt
to achieve a military settlement will be considered a challenge to the
international law and the CSTO,” he said, adding that the Armenian side
had also voiced concerns of the Turkish border blockade at the meeting.

Armenian News – Tert.am

MEMBERS OF LET’S SAVE THE MONUMENT FROM THE OLIGARCH CIVIC MOVEMENT HOLD A PROCESSION TO KENTRON DEPARTMENT OF POLICE

by Nana Martirosyan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, October 30, 17:39

The members of Let’s Save the Monument from the Oligarch civic movement
are holding a procession to the Kentron Department of the Police.

The press service of the Preparliament reports that Gevorg Safaryan,
a representative of the Let’s Save the Monument from the Oligarch civic
movement, was detained near the Government building on October 30. The
police say that Safaryan was disturbing the work of the Government
members with his shouts through the microphone.

EDWARD NALBANDIAN: FORMULATIONS ABOUT NAGORNO-KARABAKH IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S RESOLUTION ON EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD RUN COUNTER TO EU’S OFFICIAL STANCE

by Marianna Lazarian

ARMINFO
Wednesday, October 30, 17:42

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Co-Chairman of the
Commission for Armenia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Milan Cabrnoch
have discussed the European Parliament’s Resolution on European
Neighborhood. Samvel Farmanyan, Armenian Co-Chairman of the Commission,
was also present at the meeting.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry has told ArmInfo
that Nalbandian stressed the importance of further development and
promotion of relations with the EU and gave high priority to the
inter-parliamentary cooperation.

Nalbandian stressed that the formulations about Nagorno-Karabakh in
the European Parliament’s Resolution on European Neighborhood run
counter to the official stance of the European Union and to the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ approach.

He added that the authors of such formulations should realize that
they are responsible for the possible negative impact on the peace
process and for hindering the Co-Chairs’ efforts aimed at peaceful
settlement of the conflict.

SYRIAN-ARMENIAN INFLUX RESUMES – DIASPORA MINISTER

October 30, 2013 | 12:41

YEREVAN. – After a short pause, the Syrian Armenians’ intense influx
to Armenia has resumed, Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Hakobyan explained that this is due to the resumption of the
Beirut-Yerevan flights and the restoration of the bus link between
Aleppo and Lebanon.

The minister informed that about 200 Syrian Armenians come to Armenia
on a weekly basis and, at present, there are over 10,000 Syrian
Armenians in the country.

As per Hakobyan, very few of the Syrian Armenians arriving in Armenia
subsequently move to another country, and many of them prefer Armenia
to Lebanon because they have access to free education and state
support in Armenia.

Hranush Hakobyan added that the Diaspora-Armenian charitable
organizations, the Austrian Embassy, the Russian government, and the
Caritas Foundation conduct respective aid programs in Armenia.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ARMENIAN COLLEGE IN DAMASCUS STILL FUNCTIONING

October 30, 2013 – 11:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian college in Damascus is still
functioning. It’s attended by 182 students, including 25 Arabs,
who live nearby, Beirut-based Aztag daily reports.

According to member of Arab Writers Union Nora Harissian, the Armenian
language and theology in the college are taught 5 and 2 times per week
respectively. Besides, there are lessons in Arabic, English and French.

“Despite the ongoing conflict, the college is open and the community
does its utmost to secure uninterrupted education process,” Harissian
said.

The college was founded in 1929 by the Armenians who fled the genocide
in the Ottoman Empire.

Before the war, there were 80,000 Armenians living in Syria, most
of them in Aleppo. When hostilities broke out 10,000 people fled to
Armenia while 5,000 settled in neighboring Lebanon.

The war took lives of 115,000 people, according to the UN.

‘GEORGIAN DREAM’ COMES TRUE

EDITORIAL | OCTOBER 29, 2013 5:58 PM
________________________________

By Edmond Y. Azadian

The presidential election in Georgia is not only significant for the
Georgians, but also for its neighbors in Armenia and the entire region.

Georgian Dream is a political coalition put together by the Georgian
billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili to unseat President Saakashvili and
his United National party ruling for the last 10 years.

Mikheil Saakashvili came to power through the Rose Revolution, which
ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze and set Georgia on a new political
course. It was a time when political activists, funded and trained by
the Soros Foundation, fomented political upheavals in the former Soviet
republics with the avowed purpose of promoting democracy, but in fact,
were reorienting the policies of those countries towards the West.

The following year, Ukraine was “democratized” through the Orange
Revolution.

The US-trained Saakashvili placed his country in a path firmly heading
towards the West and NATO and in the process, he antagonized his
northern neighbor, Russia, to a point that in 2008, war broke out
between the two and Georgia lost two regions – Abkhazia and South
Ossetia – to Russia.

That full decade of rule was marked by mixed results – the economy was
developed, rule of law was established and corruption almost uprooted.

But the campaign, which had started to bring democracy to the country,
experimented with changes at the expense of harsh rules – excessive
cases of detentions, torture and this time corruption by the new
administration.

During the election campaign, Ivanishvili noted that tax collection
mechanisms became very efficient only to be able to misappropriate
the collected taxes.

Under Saakashvili, the Georgian government’s relations with Armenia
were very unfriendly – if not outright hostile. This Georgia always
voted against Armenia and with Azerbaijan at the UN, despite the fact
they are the only Christian nations in this Islamic ocean.

Saakashvili’s last hurrah was his speech at the UN last September,
making unsavory remarks about Armenia’s joining the Customs Union
with Russia. Saakashvili also conspired with Azerbaijan to isolate
Armenia in all regional developments – oil and gas lines were routed
through Georgia to deny Armenia access to those energy resources.

There were four main reasons that shaped the Georgian policy regarding
Armenia:

~U The Tbilisi government perceived Armenia as Russia’s vanguard in
the region.

~U Armenia, already blocked by two hostile neighbors – Turkey
and Georgia – would not react to Tbilisi’s actions in order not
to compromise a third border access with the world. Against all
provocations by Tbilisi, Armenia soft-pedaled its Georgian policy

~U The restive Armenian region in Javakhk would be agitating for
autonomy, therefore Armenia had to be punished for Javakhk’s political
aspirations and ~U Georgians have always been jealous of the Armenians
who built their capital, Tbilisi, and handed it over to them on a
silver platter.

Of course the 2008 war with Russia further complicated the relations
between the two nations. But a revolution, which had started with
roses, had begun to serve only thorns to the Georgian people, when Mr.

Ivanishvili came into the picture.

Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream Coalition soundly defeated Saakashvili’s
United National Movement Party last year, occupying a comfortable lead
in the parliament with 85 seats. That began a year of French-style
cohabitational politics, with a lame-duck president representing
the opposition and a prime minister and the parliament representing
the majority.

Although the West qualified the process as maturing democracy, the
president and the prime minister exchanged openly-bitter barbs with
each other until the October 27 presidential election, where Mr.

Ivanishvili’s handpicked candidate, Giorgi Margvelashvili, won 67
percent of the votes against David Bakradze’s 20 percent, while Nino
Burjanadze trailed in third place with 10 percent of the votes. She
was a former Saakashvili ally who had turned against him during the
2008 war with Russia, openly advocating a policy of rapprochement
with the Kremlin. Her 10-percent vote may also denote the measure of
Russia’s popularity in Georgia.

Georgia’s constitution was changed to leave a ceremonial role for the
president, except for being commander in chief of the armed forces,
concentrating all executive powers in the hands of the prime minister,
to be elected after Mr. Ivanishvili retires in 2014. The name of the
next prime minister still remains a myster.

The new president is a colorless academic with scant experience in
politics. He fits exactly Mr. Ivanishvili’s image of a leader. Indeed,
the billionaire politician vowed to eliminate from Georgian politics
the “superman” rulers, which Saakashvili tried to portray.

The NATO, PACE and EU representatives qualified the election as
transparent and fair. They all found the elections moving Georgia
towards a Euro-Atlantic sphere.

The leaders of the Georgian Dream Party plan to have a balanced
policy; while moving towards European integration, they will try to
mend fences with Moscow.

Western powers rushed to congratulate the victory of the new
president. As of this writing, no message was issued by the Kremlin.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wished that the new administration
would have an improved relation with Moscow.

Armenia has become a hostage to the hostility and the rivalry between
Moscow and Tbilisi. To measure the level of rancor and the grudge
harbored by the Georgian president, it suffices to read about the
exchange of insults between Mr. Saakashvili and Vahakn Chakhalian,
an Armenian activist in the Javakhk region, jailed by the government
for expressing autonomy aspirations for Javakhk Armenians.

During the presidential campaign, Saakashvili visited an Armenian
Church in Akhalkalak, where he faced Chakhalian. The latter said, “You
took four and a half years of my life.” Saakashvili called Chakhalian
and a few others “bandits,” “separatists” and “criminals.” He
boasted about having expelled the Russian military base from that
Armenian-populated province (which was providing security and jobs to
area Armenians) and he enforced the Georgian language to assimilate
the young generation, while forbidding the importation of textbooks
from Armenia.

Saakashvili’s policy was two-pronged: while assimilating the young
generation of Armenians, he impoverished the province to force many
Armenians to leave, which they did and he was able to quell the
autonomy aspirations.

Mr. Ivanishvili thus far has made contradictory statements about
Armenians in Georgia, since coming to power. But the majority of
the Armenians voted for his candidate, perhaps out of spite toward
Saakashvili’s policies, and also with the hope that some change could
be brought in to improve the economy of the province.

If and when relations normalize between Moscow and Tbilisi, transit
trade and movement of people and goods will be facilitated with the
outside world.

As far as confiscated Armenian Churches in Georgia and the tacit
discrimination against Armenians are concerned, only patience and
non-violent resistance will help.

Georgian presidential election promises positive changes for the
region, hopefully with some dividends also going to Armenia.

– See more at:

EMBASSY: BAKU CONCERNED ABOUT RESETTLEMENT OF ARMENIANS FROM SYRIA TO AZERBAIJAN’S OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Trend, Azerbaijan
Oct 29 2013

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 29 /Trend/

Baku is concerned about Armenia’s actions on resettlement of the Syrian
refugees of Armenian origin to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories,
a message of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow said.

“The Republic of Armenia continues its illegal actions, especially
the efforts pursuing the purpose of protracting military occupation
and its consequences and the activity on artificially changing the
demographic situation in the occupied territories of the Republic
of Azerbaijan, thus ignoring the international community’s position,
which condemns such activities. Recently about two hundred Armenian
refugees from Syria have been settled in the occupied territories
of Zangilan district, which was another clear evidence of illegal
settlement policy pursued by the Armenian state,” the document received
by the RIA Novosti said.

Thereupon Azerbaijan hopes that the international community will
demonstrate a more resolute approach for the rapid solution of this
inveterate problem and ‘attempts to consolidate the results of military
occupation, including through the implementation of illegal migration’,
the Embassy said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since
1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the THE OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. 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 and the
surrounding regions.