Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TURKEY’S CAUCASUS POLICY STILL CENTRAL DESPITE RECENT ACTIVISM IN MIDDLE EAST

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 9 2013

Director of the Center for Strategic Studies Farhad Mammadov (Photo:
Today’s Zaman)

Turkey’s foreign policy agenda is dominated by the pursuit of security
as well as strengthening political and economic ties with the countries
in the South Caucasus despite the remarkable burst of recent Turkish
activism in the Middle East, says an Azerbaijani expert, also pointing
out that the Caucasus as a whole region continues to play a large
role in Turkish foreign policy.

“We are closely following Turkey’s foreign policy activities in the
Middle East, which have taken a striking turn in recent years, but
it has not changed Turkey’s attitude towards the South Caucasus in
any way,” said Farhad Mammadov, director of the Center for Strategic
Studies (SAM), adding, “Turkey has been undertaking joint projects
in the region with Georgia and Azerbaijan and regular high-level
visits and meetings each year confirm increasing Turkish interest in
the region.”

Commenting on Ankara’s active role in the South Caucasus in an
interview with Today’s Zaman, Mammadov labeled Turkey a dynamic and
constructive actor in the region, especially since 2008 when Turkey’s
role became more active.

In 2008, when a crisis erupted in August between Russia and Georgia
over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia’s separatist republics,
Turkey tried hard to pacify the war-torn South Caucasus, using its
common history and its role as a trade and energy partner. While
Western powers were contemplating diplomatic ways to achieve a
meaningful breakthrough between Russia and Georgia, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan worked to establish the Caucasus Stability and
Cooperation Pact that would include Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
as well as the two regional powers in the South Caucasus, Russia and
Turkey. However, the complicated atmosphere in the region, including
the long-standing territorial conflicts, brought the project to a dead
end. Mammadov stressed that the idea of a Caucasus Stability Pact was
first initiated by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia under the
Tbilisi Declaration in 1996. The initiative was then later prompted
to a large extent by a series of statements made by the presidents of
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey at the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ä°stanbul Summit held in November 1999.

Mammadov said of the Turkish stability pact effort, “Of course,
the clauses of the pact were not made public, but it was an idea to
formulate regulations and limit conflicts so that regional countries
could come together to fight the threats that exist not only inside
the region but also those that outside the region that are a challenge
to regional peace and stability.” He added that diverse conflicts
and disputes have consistently prevented the initiatives from being
realized.

Tension was at a peak in the South Caucasus at the time and the
countries of the region did not welcome the initiative. Georgia turned
the project down at first sight, demanding that Russia, which was
considered the principal party responsible for the August aggression,
withdraw its forces from Georgia. Armenia and Azerbaijan were also
cautious about the project, since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that
had been stuck in a deadlock for more than two decades had yet to
be solved.

Commenting on the diminished chance to actualize the pact, despite
Turkey’s determination and significant efforts to move ahead,
Mammadov praised Turkey’s position in the region, especially with
respect to Azerbaijan, since Ankara has maintained a sealed border
with neighboring Armenia.

“Turkish officials have always stated that the opening of the border
gates between Turkey and Armenia will be possible only after the
occupation of the Azerbaijani territories end; a fact that promotes
Turkey as a role model for those countries that recognize Armenia as
an aggressive state but which do not take any proper steps against its
aggression that might be helpful to liberate Azerbaijani territories,”
Mammadov noted, adding, “Of course, the main reason for the closed
borders [between Turkey and Armenia] is the status quo of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

Turkey closed its border and severed diplomatic ties with Armenia in
1993 in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenian forces
invaded the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding territories
during a war between the two countries launched in 1988.

However, Turkish-Armenian rapprochement and the reconciliation of
the alienated neighbors has met with fierce resistance from Azerbaijan.

The “soccer diplomacy” effort in September 2008, when President
Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan to watch the Turkey-Armenia World Cup
match at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart, President Serzh
Sarksyan and came up with an agreement on two protocols signed by
Armenia and Turkey in October to establish diplomatic ties and
re-open their borders met with harsh reactions from Azerbaijan,
Turkey’s strategic ally in the region.

Despite Prime Minister Erdogan’s eloquent speech to Azerbaijani
deputies on May 13, 2009, which somehow silenced the voices criticizing
Turkey over the Armenian initiative, relations worsened after August
when the two countries started internal political consultations. The
item that angered Azerbaijan the most in the protocols was the opening
of the border with Armenia, as the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh had
not been solved and Azeri refugees and internally displaced persons
could not return to their native lands.

“By keeping its borders with Armenia closed and not renewing its
diplomatic ties, Turkey kept to what it had publicly vowed to do in
different international platforms. The aggressor [Armenia] should be
punished,” Mammadov said, adding: “We got the result. Azerbaijan has
always stated that Armenia’s low level of economic growth is due to
the closed borders in the region, which is the consequence of Armenian
aggression toward the Azerbaijani territories.”

“The economy of Armenia is gradually collapsing. What kind of future
can there be for a state whose economy is collapsing? Due to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia has been isolated from the largest
international projects implemented in the South Caucasus. The lack
of jobs and the weakening economy have led to the migration of the
population, and especially of the youth,” Mammadov noted.

He also added that Armenia should rethink its aggressive policy
towards its neighbors, learn to respect international law and four
resolutions passed by the UN Security Council that sent a clear
message for Armenian armed forces to withdraw from the occupied
Azerbaijani territories.

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 resolve the two-decade
long deadlock on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

OPPOSITION ARMENIAN MP CRITICAL OF BANKING SYSTEM

20:46 ~U 10.06.13

Hrant Bagratyan, an Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary
group member, addressed the monetary policy of the Central Bank of
Armenia (CBA) on Monday.

“You have not told us about the banking system’s risks expected
this year or about your investment policy. Banks’ debt total $4.5bn
(Armenia’s foreign debt – ed.). Our country’s foreign debt is $7.5bn ,
and it is even worse that it is the private sector’s debt,” Bagratyan
said.

He inquired about exchanges.

“You have never considered the issue. Armenia has no investment system,
you are afraid of the figures,” Bagratyan said.

He is surprised at the ruling party’s indifference to the emigration
from Armenia.

Armenian News – Tert.am

FOREIGN POLICY CRITICIZES USAID FOR PROVIDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR ASSETS TO ALIYEV’S AUTHORITARIAN REGIME

18:25 10/06/2013 ” REGION

Since Azerbaijan achieved independence in 1991, the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) has dumped more than $55
million into programs to make the country more democratic. Meanwhile,
the Aliyev family — first father Heydar, then son Ilham — has stayed
in power since 1993, the US paper “Foreign Policy” writes.

“The regime has jailed young people for making satirical videos,
tightened the rules governing civic organizations, imprisoned hundreds
of religious believers branded as “extremists,” and failed to hold
a single election that met international standards,” the article says.

But that hasn’t kept USAID — the development organization that
distributes more than 80 percent of U.S. democracy dollars — from
trying. From 2007 to 2011, USAID spent $5.6 million attempting to
“enhance the overall effectiveness” of the parliament of Azerbaijan.

“The trouble is that parliament has never been freely elected. Every
single member of the legislature is a member of the ruling New
Azerbaijan Party. U.S. taxpayers paid for an orientation program
to “solidify [the parliament’s] own sense of identity” for new
members of the Azerbaijani parliament, all of whom were elected
in 2010 parliamentary elections that the U.S. Embassy in Baku
generously described as “not meeting international standards.” The
U.S. Embassy also cited an unfair candidate registration process,
continued restrictions on freedoms of assembly and expression, and a
lack of balanced media coverage during the run-up to the election,”
the article says.

The U.S. remains committed to a failing strategy. In August 2012,
USAID issued a $1.5 million call for the Azerbaijan Rights Consortium
Project.

“Why, then, does the U.S. government continue to fund misguided
programs in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries that display
no interest in reform? Why does USAID write seriously of President
Aliyev’s benign intentions when he has shown minimal respect for the
rights of his own citizens? The reason is as banal as it is galling:
bureaucratic self-interest, inertia, and the assumption that more is
always better,” the article writes.

Source: Panorama.am

SERGE AVEDIKIAN’S “PARADJANOV” AMONG ODESSA FILM FEST HIGHLIGHTS

June 10, 2013 – 19:27 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Cannes winner Serge Avedikian’s “Paradjanov” bio
will be screened at the fourth edition of the Odessa International Film
Festival to kick off on July 12 in the Ukrainian Black Sea port city.

Among the highlights of the international competition are Russia’s
Kinotavr Film Festival winner Alexander Vedinsky’s lyrical comedy
The Geographer Has Drunk Away The Globe and The Necessary Death of
Charlie Countryman starring Shia LaBeouf.

Ukrainian film director Alexander Rodnyansky will head the jury,
with the winner to be selected through audience vote.

SUPREME COURT WILL NOT REVIEW ARMENIAN GENOCIDE-ERA INSURANCE CLAIMS CASE

June 10, 2013

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Supreme Court, today, announced that it will not
review a Ninth Circuit Court decision which struck down a California
law extending the statute of limitations on Armenian Genocide-era
insurance claims cases, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).

The Supreme Court’s decision not to review the case lets stand a
lower court decision which effectively prevents U.S. citizens from
pursuing redress for unpaid insurance claims by using the rarely
invoked foreign affairs pre-emption doctrine. Plaintiffs challenged
that assertion in a May 24th brief, filed by lead appellate attorney
Igor Timofeyev, calling it “a revolutionary proposition [by the U.S.

Government] that states lack all authority to enact legislation
concerning their citizens’ private claims if they originate in events
that occurred abroad.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney and Armenian Americans groups expressed dismay
about the Supreme Court decision and a commitment to continue efforts
to secure justice for genocide-era victims and their heirs.

“Although we are disappointed the Court did not grant certiorari in
this case, the proper scope of the foreign affairs preemption doctrine
is an important issue that we believe the Court will end up examining
in the future,” explained plaintiffs’ lead attorney Igor Timofeyev,
Esq. of Paul Hastings LLP.

“The refusal of the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s
decision does not mean Armenian Americans are without avenues of
redress and we will not be deterred from pursuing what even the
Solicitor General and lower courts have recognized as unremedied
claims,” explained ANCA Government Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian.

Bingham McCutcheon LLP partner David Balabanian made clear that “this
case concerned the balance between federal and state authority in
matters affecting foreign relations, not the propriety of recognition
and redress for the evils visited upon Turkey’s Armenians by the last
Ottoman rulers and denied by their successors.” Balabanian represented
a series of human rights and public policy groups including the
Armenian Bar Association, Armenian National Committee of America,
Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation,
Inc., Genocide Education Project, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social
Action, Center for the Study of Law & Genocide, and the International
Human Rights Clinic of the University of Southern California Gould
School of Law in filing an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs
position earlier in the process.

“Today, the Republic of Turkey was permitted to infringe upon and
strike at the core of our States’ principal foundations of enacting
good laws and good aims,” explained Garo Ghazarian, Esq. Chairman of
the Armenian Bar Association.

The Armenian Genocide-era insurance claims case has traveled a long and
complex legal path, which has included three separate and conflicting
opinions from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most recent
on February 23, 2012. That decision struck down the California law
extending the statute of limitations for certain life insurance
claims based on an unprecedented expansion of the rarely invoked
doctrine of foreign affairs field preemption. Defendant Munich Re,
a German insurance company, is represented by Neil Soltman of Mayer
Brown’s Los Angeles office.

Plaintiffs’ petition to the Supreme Court to hear the case was filed
by Igor Timofeyev of Paul Hastings, LLP. Claims for unpaid life
insurance policies dating back to the Armenian Genocide were first
brought by plaintiffs’ attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan. Attorneys who have
been representing plaintiffs include Lee Crawford Boyd, Rajika Shah,
Mark Geragos, and Brian Kabateck.

Among the parties supporting plaintiffs’ appeal were California
Attorney General Kamala Harris, who was joined by Nevada Attorney
General Catherine Cortez Masto, Michigan Attorney General Bill
Schuette, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin. Attorneys
General Masto and Kilmartin had also joined Attorney General Harris on
a previous amicus brief, when it was before the Ninth Circuit. Leading
up to the filing, the ANCA had organized a citizen campaign to engage
attorneys general from across the country about the importance of this
case and defending Armenian-American property claims. An amicus brief
also was filed by several federal and state legislators, including
Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who was a lead author of the
California statute at issue when she was a California State Senator,
Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman
(D-Calif.), Representatives David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Anna Eshoo
(D-Calif.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Adam Schiff
(D-Calif.), and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.). Members of the legislature
of the State of California who joined the brief were Senate President
pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, Majority Leader of the Assembly Charles
Calderon (D-58), Senator Kevin de Leon (D-22), Assembly Members Katcho
Achadjian (R-33), and Anthony Portantino (D-44).

A series of amicus briefs were filed in support of the plaintiffs’
petition including a filing by U.S. Federal and State legislators,
filed by attorneys Mary-Christine Sungaila and Seepan Parseghian at
the firm of Snell and Willmer, LLP.

The complete set of filings can be viewed here.

UKRAINIAN WEBSITE TOUCHED UPON YOURI DJORKAEFF’S WISH TO TRAIN ARMENIA’S FOOTBALL SQUAD

15:01, 10 June, 2013

YEREVAN, JUNE 10, ARMENPRESS. Prominent French football player
of Armenian descent Youri Djorkaeff expressed a wish to train the
Armenian National Football Team. As reports “Armenpress” sportsegodnya
website stated this. Youri Djorkaeff, who was declared world champion
and champion of Europe, finished his brilliant career because of a
trauma he got in 2006. According to the aforesaid website the wish to
train Armenia’s national team has never abandoned Youri Djorkaeff. “It
would be nice to assume that office one day. It will be an interesting
adventure,” Djorkaeff underscored.

Youri Raffi Djorkaeff was born on 9 March, 1968. He played as a
forward or as an attacking midfielder. With the French national team,
Djorkaeff won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. He isthe son of
former player Jean Djorkaeff.

He started his career in 1984 with French club Grenoble, before
moving to RC Strasbourg in 1989, AS Monaco in 1990, and then Paris
Saint-Germain in 1995. In 1994, Djorkaeff led Division 1 ingoals
with 20.

In 1996, he signed with Italian giants Internazionale and in 1999,
he transferred to Germany and Kaiserslautern. Djorkaeff turned many
heads when signing with English club Bolton Wanderers in 2002, but
added a lot of class to the team during his three seasons there,
resulting in the creation of an international “dream-team” alongside
the tricky Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha and former Real Madrid midfielder
Ivan Campo. He then transferred to Blackburn Rovers for the 2004-05
season, but left the club after playing in only three games.

Djorkaeff then signed with the MetroStars of Major League Soccer
in February 2005 for $180,000 plus incentives, turning down higher
paid offers from other countries. He became the first French player
to play in MLS and ended the season as the team’s MVP with ten goals
and seven assists in league play.

Djorkaeff announced from the beginning that he would hang-up his boots
at the end of 2006 season, and played for the re-branded New York
Red Bulls. On 1 July 2006, he was spotted in the crowd with French
fans at the FIFA World Cup quarter-final match between France and
Brazil after telling Red Bulls officials he left the club to attend
to “an unexpected, serious family matter in France.” Upon his return,
he revealed that the purpose of his departure was to be with his sick
mother and downplayed watching the World Cup match.

He retired from football on 29 October 2006, after being sidelined
in the second leg of the MLS Eastern Conference semi-finals because
of an ankle injury.

Djorkaeff won the Cup Winners’ Cup with Paris Saint-Germain in 1996
and the UEFA Cup with Internazionale in 1998. He accumulated 82 caps
and scored 28 goals for France. Other than the two major tournament
(the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2000), Djorkaeff also
played for his country in UEFA Euro 1996 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup

-armenias-national-football-team.html

HELLO YEREVAN WON’T ATTEND TARON MARGARYAN’S SWEARING-IN CEREMONY

Hello Yerevan group of Yerevan Elders’ Council is announcing that
it won’t attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Mayor to be held on
June 11.

On the same day at the same time, the members of the group will hold a
press conference in Freedom Square to dwell on the most urgent issues
of Yerevan and on the future steps of the group.

16:15 10/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER: OSCE MG INTERMEDIARIES HAVE BEEN PREPARING THE MEETING OF PRESIDENTS OF THE TWO CONFLICTING STATES

ARMINFO
Monday, June 10, 14:58

The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are to meet in late
June to discuss preparations for the meeting of the presidents of
the two countries, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
told reporters, as Azerbaijani mass media reported.

Mammadyarov said on his return from Washington that he held a meeting
in London with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and discussed the date and agenda of the forthcoming meeting
of heads of state.

“The purpose of the presidential meeting is the discussion of the
serious issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I look forward
to meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to
comprehensively discuss the preparation for the presidents’ meeting,”
the Minister added.

WOUNDED COLONEL UNDERGOES 3RD SURGERY

03:04 PM | TODAY | POLITICS

Military unit commander, Colonel Artak Budaghyan, who was wounded in
the June 1 incident near the house of the former governor of Syunik,
has undergone a third surgery, Spokesman for the Defense Ministry
Artsrun Hovhannisyan said adding that the colonel is already on a
good condition, Pastinfo reports.

Former mayoral candidate in Goris Avetik Budaghyan was killed and
his brother Artak Budaghyan was wounded in the high-profile incident
outside the house of former governor of Syunik, Surik Khachatryan.

Following the deadly shoot-out Khachatryan tendered his resignation
and was relieved of his post on June 6.

SPEAKER: NO DECISION BY PRESIDENT TO WITHDRAW PROTOCOLS

The RPA did not discuss withdrawal of the Armenian-Turkish protocols
from the agenda of the National Assembly, the issue is within the
competency of the head of state, and there is no respective decision by
him, said Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan during the discussion of the agenda
of the four-day session of parliament that kicked off today. He stated
this in answer to the question permanently asked by the secretary of
the Heritage Parliamentary group Zaruhee Postanjyan.

In particular, Zaruhee Postanjyan inquired whether the withdrawal of
protocols from the parliament agenda has been discussed at the meeting
of the RPA council, and about Serzh Sargsyan’s stance. “This stigma is
in parliament, and it disturbs the Armenians worldwide,” she said. The
member of parliament also believes that keeping the outrageous
protocols on the agenda is an encroachment on our independence.

“The head of state has been so flexible so far that the documents
are still in parliament, are used as a trump card, and the Turkish
government is set in the pillory for having aborted the ratification
of protocols by the Turkish parliament,” the speaker stated, referring
to an article by MP Artashes Geghamyan, RPA.

Pastinfo 14:36 10/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: