Author: Kalantarian Kevo

AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL ANALYST: TALKS WITHOUT MEDIATORS MAY PLAY CRUCIAL ROLE IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Trend
July 24 2012
Azerbaijan

The talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia without mediators may play
a crucial role in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said at
a press conference, director of the Centre of Political Innovations
and Technologies Mubariz Ahmedoglu said at a press-conference today.

“Mediators and other leading international players delay the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement by their influence on Armenia,”
he said.

Armenia loses itself as a result of the unresolved conflict, he said.

“The country is up to its eyes in debt,” he said. “People leave
the country. No one gives out loans to Armenia. In this situation,
all negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia may be held in
Nagorno-Karabakh. These negotiations may involve not only officials
but also businessmen. They may discuss future of the region,
prepare joint investment projects and first of all implement them
in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh must
closely cooperate in all these processes, he added.

“It is necessary to start direct negotiations between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, in the interests of both parties, and especially
Armenia itself,” he said. “It must withdraw occupation forces from
the Azerbaijani territory. First, Lachin and Kalbajar regions must
be returned. From a geographical point of view, both regions are
contiguous with Armenia. According to our information, the total
number of Armenian servicemen is not more than 700 people there.”

In autumn 2008, after several months of his presidency, President
Sargsyan said in an interview about the possibility of making
investments in Nagorno-Karabakh. Then the mediators dissuaded Sargsyan,
he 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 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.
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From: Katia Peltekian
Subject: BAKU: Azerbaijani political analyst: Talks without mediators may play
crucial role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 24 2012

Azerbaijani political analyst: Talks without mediators may play
crucial role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 24 / Trend M. Aliyev /

The talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia without mediators may play a
crucial role in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said at a
press conference, director of the Centre of Political Innovations and
Technologies Mubariz Ahmedoglu said at a press-conference today.

“Mediators and other leading international players delay the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement by their influence on Armenia,”
he said.

Armenia loses itself as a result of the unresolved conflict, he said.

“The country is up to its eyes in debt,” he said. “People leave the
country. No one gives out loans to Armenia. In this situation, all
negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia may be held in
Nagorno-Karabakh. These negotiations may involve not only officials
but also businessmen. They may discuss future of the region, prepare
joint investment projects and first of all implement them in
Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh must
closely cooperate in all these processes, he added.

“It is necessary to start direct negotiations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, in the interests of both parties, and especially Armenia
itself,” he said. “It must withdraw occupation forces from the
Azerbaijani territory. First, Lachin and Kalbajar regions must be
returned. From a geographical point of view, both regions are
contiguous with Armenia. According to our information, the total
number of Armenian servicemen is not more than 700 people there.”

In autumn 2008, after several months of his presidency, President
Sargsyan said in an interview about the possibility of making
investments in Nagorno-Karabakh. Then the mediators dissuaded
Sargsyan, he 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 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.

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN POLICE DEPARTMENTS DEVELOPING COOPERATION

ITAR-TASS
July 24, 2012 Tuesday 01:44 AM GMT+4
Russia

The Russian and Armenian police departments “systematically develop
cooperation in opposing illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic
substances,” participants in a joint collegium of the Russian Interior
Ministry and the Armenian police said here on Monday evening. Russian
Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and chief of the Armenian
police Vladimir Gasparyan chaired the meeting.

As was reported at the collegium, an exchange of “operational
information on persons suspected with good reasons of illegal
operations connected with drugs or detained for them on the territory
of Russia and Armenia, as well on ways and routes of transportation
of drugs” was organized.

According the results of discussions, the leaders of Russian Interior
Ministry and the Armenian police signed a joint document connected
with the given issue.

ARMENIAN ACADEMY AWARDS GOLD MEDAL TO RUSSIAN SPEAKER

ITAR-TASS
July 24, 2012 Tuesday 03:07 PM GMT+4
Russia

The Armenian Academy of Sciences has awarded a gold medal to Speaker
of the Russian State Duma Sergei Naryshkin for his contribution to
the development and promotion of Russo-Armenian cooperation.

The high award, instituted in 2002, is awarded for accomplishments in
the field of development of science and scientific cooperation. The
award was handed in to the Russian speaker at a gala ceremony held
at the Armenian Academy of Sciences on Tuesday.

Accepting the award, Naryshkin praised fraternal cooperation between
Russia and Armenia which the two countries demonstrate for many
centuries, he said. The geopolitical interests of the two countries
coincide, which is an important factor which promotes the development
of effective contacts in the economic, political and scientific fields,
Naryshkin said.

He reminded of an agreement on humanitarian cooperation which Russia
and Armenia signed last year. A concrete program on joint activities
for 2013- 2016 will be adopted in the near future to contribute to
this agreement, Naryshkin declared at the ceremony.

COMMERCIAL HUB ALEPPO BECOMES NEW SYRIA FRONT

Agence France Presse
July 24, 2012 Tuesday 3:17 PM GMT

A commercial hub and home to 2.5 million people, Syria’s second city
Aleppo has become a new front in the country’s 16-month uprising,
after being largely excluded from the violence.

For decades, the city has been known as an industrial manufacturing
base, particularly for textiles, thanks to rich cotton resources.

The major metropolis in the north of the country, it was also
considered the second city of the Ottoman empire.

As a stop on the Silk Route, the city sits in a region with a strong
artisan tradition, and also once served as the capital of a vast
province stretching across southeast Anatolia and the plains of the
Syrian north.

The city suffered the wrath of the Baathist regime in power since
1963 after an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood between 1979
and 1982 when many of its businessmen backed the rebellion.

But it has been able to profit from a free-trade agreement signed
with Turkey in 2005, though some small local businesses in the city
found themselves unable to compete with their Turkish counterparts.

Residents, known for their business sense, developed the local food
and pharmaceutical industries, and focused on producing the local
products for which they are reknowned, including soap, and saw trade
with Turkey soar.

“Aleppo was calm because it is an industrial and commercial town
that found favour with the regime after 10 years of punishment for
its support for the Muslim Brotherhood during the 1980s,” according
to geographer Fabrice Balanche.

“The security apparatus has been very powerful since then. The rebels
come from the countryside but Aleppo’s residents are staying home,”
added Balanche, head of the Mediterranean and Middle East Studies
and Research Group in Paris.

The lure of the big city as well as the search for jobs has pushed
large numbers of residents of the rural region around Aleppo to move
to the town, which covers some 120 square kilometres (46 square miles).

Around 45 percent of the city is made up of informal neighbourhoods,
whose residents are mostly Sunnis and Kurds.

Overall, the majority of its residents are Sunnis, around 65 percent
of them Sunni Arabs, and 20 percent Kurds, who are also Sunni Muslims.

Christians represent around 10 percent of the population of the city,
around half of them Armenians, with the remainder from the Syrian,
Greek Orthodox and Maronite churches.

Members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad
and his family belong, make up around five percent of the population.

But unlike in Damascus and the southern city of Homs, the community
is not concentrated in any particular districts.

With the exception of Hamdaniyeh, home to numerous government
employees, among them large numbers of Alawites, the community is
dispersed throughout the city’s districts, particularly its Christian
quarters.

Balanche said the neighbourhoods under rebel control include the
northeastern Tareq al-Bab, southeastern Salaheddin and unnamed areas
where most of the population comes from Aleppo province.

The rebels do not yet control the city’s central districts or those
in the west, which are home to the city’s elite, Christian residents,
and others originally from Aleppo rather than from its outskirts.

The city’s more upscale districts include Shahba, Halab al-Jadida
(New Aleppo) and the city centre. Aleppo’s historic Old City quarter
was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1986.

REPRESENTATIVE OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN SYRIA: ARMENIANS OF SYRIA ARE FRIGHTENED BY LAWS AND INIQUITY IN ARMENIA

arminfo
Wednesday, July 25, 16:03

The Armenian officials’ statements that the Armenians of Syria do not
want to leave the borders of Syria for patriotic reasons though they
are offered every possible support on their historical homeland do
not quite comply with the reality, one of the leaders of the Armenian
community of Syria, who preferred to be anonymous, told ArmInfo.

In fact, the Armenians living in Syria do not leave the country
because they simply cannot buy air tickets, he said. As regards the
businessmen and entrepreneurs, they cannot wind up their business
within a day and migrate. “Actually, there is no specific state
program aiming to support the migration of the Armenians of Syria
to their historical homeland, creation of affordable conditions for
living and employment”, said ArmInfo’s interlocutor. In the meantime,
he said that Armenia is the most affordable country for migration of
the Syrian Armenians, as the third countries can receive them only as
refugees, while on the historical homeland they can gain citizenship.

“Therefore, the Armenians of Syria want to return to their historical
homeland, to make a lodgment here, to open their business. Very
many Armenian businessmen from Syria wanted to move their business
to Armenia, however, having come to the historical homeland and
familiarized themselves with the “rules of the game”, they gave up
this idea at once. They were frightened by the laws and iniquity in
Armenia”, said the representative of the Armenian community.

According to ArmInfo’s interlocutor, the laws regulating the economic
sphere of Armenia do not create conditions for profitable business.

“In Armenia the taxes are very high, and one can simply go bankrupt,
but the worst thing is that even these laws do not act very often.

Everybody knows Armenia’s attitude towards the Diaspora Armenians,
especially towards entrepreneurs: here one has to go halves with some
official, to pay a bribe to someone, to pay some money to the tough
guys, and at the same time to pay high taxes. In general, the business
atmosphere in Armenia does not encourage the Armenians of Syria to
invest in the historical homeland though they have a huge desire
to do that”, he said and stressed that if the situation improved,
he himself could “bring” 10 large entrepreneurs from Syria to Armenia.

“And now it turns out that Armenians of Syria would rather remain
in Syria even under the life threat than move to their historical
homeland in conditions of uncertainty”, he said. He added that nearly
3000 Armenians from Syria want to visit Armenia in summer as tourists.

However, over this time they will try to study the situation in the
country and to understand how reasonable it is to return to their
homeland.

He also pointed out that the big inflow of the Syrian Armenians
to Armenia has led to considerable rise in the prices of not only
Aleppo-Yerevan-Aleppo air tickets, but also the apartments in Yerevan
and in the regions.

As regards the situation in Syria, ArmInfo’s interlocutor said that the
crisis is gathering pace with every passing day. “Until quite recently
it was comparatively calm in the Armenian-populated Aleppo, but over
the past four days the city has been under constant fire, the people
are afraid to leave home, and there is no hope for stability”, he said.

PASSPORT AND VISA DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE FALSIFIES DOCUMENTS IN ARMENIA

news.am
July 25, 2012 | 19:12

YEREVAN. – Armenian Police criminal investigation department and
internal security department employees found out that employee of
Aragats section of the Passport and Visa Department of the Police
of Armenia Gayane Hovhannisyan abusing her official position has
falsified documents and illegally granted a citizen with an Armenian
passport on May 4 last year.

On April 18 and May 30, 2012, she has granted another two citizens
with the Armenian passports, with the same details.

Materials are sent to the Special Investigative Service of Armenia.

THE CURRENT LEVEL OF THE ARMENIAN-IRANIAN CULTURAL RELATIONS IS HIGHLY APPRECIATED

ARMENPRESS
25 July, 2012
YEREVAN

Yerevan, July 25, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian Minister of Culture Hasmik
Poghosyan hosted the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic Mohammad Reisi. As “Armenpress”
was informed by the Ministry of Culture, the minister congratulated
the guest on the occasion of the inauguration and noted that the
Armenian-Iranian cultural relations are at a high level.

During the conversation the minister touched upon the joint cultural
projects carried out in the two countries, particularly the literary
translation ones which contributed to the creation of the “Armenia-Iran
literary bridges” and provided a solid platform for the mutual visits
and the implementation of the literary programs.

The minister touched upon the 20th anniversary of the Armenian-Iranian
friendship held in Meghri 2011 and suggested the Ambassador Mohammad
Reisi to make the program continuous. The sides discussed the issue
of the Iranian singer Pari Zangane’s charity concerts in Armenia in
the autumn.

In the framework of the upcoming joint programs Poghosyan attached
importance to the Armenian-Iranian cooperation, particularly in
the UNESCO pattern, suggesting the Iranian side to develop joint
applications in the non-material cultural heritage sector.

The minister offered to make dramaturgical works translations. The
Ambassador suggested to translate Saadi’s works from Persian for the
Armenian reader.

In conclusion, Ambassador Mohammad Reisi congratulated Minister
Poghosyan for the warm reception, for the active support in the
Armenian-Iranian cultural initiatives and for maintaining the high
level of the historical relations between the two countries.

OSCE MINSK GROUP: ‘ELECTIONS’ IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH CANNOT PREJUDGE ITS FUTURE STATUS

Interfax
July 23 2012
Russia

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have issued a commentary on what the
self-proclaimed republic presented as presidential elections it held
on Thursday.

“The Co-Chairs acknowledge the need for the de facto authorities in NK
to try to organize democratically the public life of their population
with such a procedure. However, the Co-Chairs note that none of their
three countries, nor any other country, recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as
an independent and sovereign state,” the mediators said in a statement
posted on the OSCE website.

The so-called presidential elections in Nagorno-Karabakh “in no way
prejudge the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh or the outcome of
the ongoing negotiations to bring a lasting and peaceful settlement
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” they said.

The incumbent de-facto president of Nagorno-Karabakh, Bako Saakian,
was earlier proclaimed the winner of the Thursday procedure.

ARTSAKH HAS ELECTED A PRESIDENT: THE UNRECOGNIZED REPUBLIC EXPECTS THE SOLUTION OF SOCIOECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Viktoriya Panfilova

Nezavisimaya Gazeta
July 20 2012
Russia

Bako Sahakyan, leader of Nagornyy Karabakh, voted for a continuation
of the course he has begun

Presidential elections were held yesterday in the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Three candidates, including sitting
president Bako Sahakyan, were vying for the post of leader of the
republic. NATO and the European Union and also neighbouring Turkey and
Azerbaijan said that they do not recognize the elections in the NKR.

Turnout in Nagornyy Karabakh is high, as a rule. The present elections
were no exception. Approximately 70 per cent of eligible citizens
had gone to the polls by the time the issue was signed to press.

Approximately 99,000 persons are eligible altogether.

Aharon Adibekyan, head of the Sociometer Sociological Research Centre,
believes that there will be no second round. According to a poll
that was held, Bako Sahakyan will win a convincing victory – around
75 per cent of the vote. His rivals – Vitaliy Balasanyan, hero of
Artsakh, major general of the NKR Defence Army, and member of the NKR
parliament, and also Arkadiy Sogomonyan, vice president for scientific
studies of the Stepanakert branch of the State Agrarian University
of Armenia – will drop out, according to the poll, having shared 25
per cent per cent. We recall that 85 per cent of the citizenry voted
for Sahakyan five years ago. But Gegam Bagdasaryan, president of
the Stepanakert Press Club, is not inclined to trust this forecast
since the poll was commissioned by a political party of the NKR,
Free Homeland, on which Bako Sahakyan relies for support.

Experts noted that the pollster Adibekyan maintained a month ago,
relying on the latest study, that Bako Sahakyan would muster no more
than 30 per cent of the vote. How in a month the forecast changed
and become optimistic, no one would venture to say. Nonetheless,
the majority of observers believe that the sitting Karabakh leader
will win the elections, all the same.

“It is not inconceivable that the elections will require more than one
round. There is also another scenario of the outcome. It is possible
that a majority of the army, and this is a very serious factor in
Karabakh, could vote for Vitaliy Balasanyan, who is one of 20 heroes
of Artsakh (the Republic of Artsakh is the second official name of the
NKR – NG) and enjoys great authority among military personnel. In that
case a second round is not ruled out,” Ashot Melikyan, chairman of the
Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech, told NG. He remarked
also that 75 per cent of polled citizens of Karabakh expect of the
future president primarily a resolution of socioeconomic problems, and
only 9 per cent of the citizenry, a settlement of the Karabakh problem.

Stepanakert expects that the visiting monitors from Russia, the United
States, Germany, France, Poland, Israel, and other countries and also
from the partially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia will, as on
the last occasion, make a positive assessment of the elections. And
this is natural, Ashot Melikyan says, because, on the whole, there
are fewer violations in the NKR than in Armenia, say. This applies to
ballot-rigging also. In Karabakh people themselves decide for whom to
vote. This explains also the high turnout on polling day. That the
system itself within the NKR is such that there are opportunities
to make use of administrative resources is another matter. But it
should be noted here that the present leader Bako Sahakyan, despite
the criticism of him, both enjoys popularity among the citizenry and
the full support of official Yerevan and of President Serzh Sargsyan
personally.

The statement of Catherine Ashton, vice president of the European
Commission and high representative of the European Union for
foreign affairs and security policy: “The EU does not recognize the
constitutional or legal framework in which they will be held. These
elections should not be detrimental to determination of the future
status of Nagornyy Karabakh within the overall framework of the
negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict,” was against
this background unexpected. The European diplomat called on the parties
to focus “on the search for a resolution of the conflict within the
negot iations based on the Madrid principles.” The EU, in turn, Ashton
says, will continue to support the parties’ efforts in this area.

NATO is not happy with the elections either. James Appathurai,
the NATO secretary general’s special representative for the South
Caucasus and Central Asia, said that “NATO, like a number of other
international organizations also, does not recognize the elections in
Nagornyy Karabakh.” He said that the holding of such elections does
not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the conflict.

Neighbouring countries – Turkey and Azerbaijan – are of a similar
opinion. They viewed the presidential elections in Nagornyy Karabakh
as a provocative step by Armenia. These countries’ foreign ministries
believe that a plebiscite in the unrecognized republic is contrary
to the commitments to the OSCE and the decisions of the UN Security
Council. And strikes a “blow” at the process of a peaceful settlement
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and they declared the international
monitors personae non gratae. “Those monitoring the voting in Nagornyy
Karabakh will be listed as persons undesirable for Azerbaijan,”
Elman Abdullayev, director of the Foreign Ministry press service, said.

In response to such statements, the political scientist Sergey
Minasyan, deputy director of the Caucasus Institute, said that,
as distinct from the neighbouring country (Azerbaijan – NG), power
in the NKR is being formed not on the hereditary principle but as a
result of elections.

[Translated from Russian]

11 YEAR-OLD S. SEVIAN TOOK FIRST PRIZE AT THE 20TH METROPOLITAN TOURNAMENT

24.07.12, 17:24

11-year-old Armenian chess player Samuel Sevian having no defeat and
scoring 7 points out of 9 took the first prize at the 20th Metropolitan
Tournament that was held in Los Angeles, USA.

Armchess.am informs about this.

Samuel fulfilled an International Master norm for the second time
within the last two months.