Author: Kalashian Nyrie

BRANDY PRODUCTION IN ARMENIA REDUCES BY 36,8% IN THE FIRST QUARTER 2009

ArmInfo
2009-05-04 11:00:00

Brandy production in Armenia has reduced by 36,8% – to 2339.4 thsd
liters in the first quarter 2009 is compared with the same period of
2008, Armenian National Statistics Service says.

Armenian Agriculture Ministry told ArmInfo, that reduction of
brandy production is connected with export decrease. The total
of 90% brandy out of the whole alcohol production of Armenia are
exported. Incidentally, brandy export has been always growing since
2007.

Specialists of the ministry said brandy export falling in the first
quarter 2009 is conditioned by the world economical crisis. Armenian
brandy was most of all exported to Russia and Ukraine where negative
consequences of the crisis led to reduction of brandy drinking.

According to the official statistics, in the first quarter 2009 vodka
and distilled beverages grew by 12,1% – up to 2649.5 thsd litres; wine
by 4% – up to 773.6 thsd litres; champaign – by 14,5% – up to 41.8
thsd litres. Beer production reduced by 14,3% – to 1165.7 thsd litres.

WHY NOT A ‘FULL, FRANK AND JUST ACKNOWLEDGMENT’?

by: Marie Cocco

The Oregonian
April 28, 2009 Tuesday
Portland, Oregon

TORTURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY H is interest, President Barack Obama
says, is "the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment
of the facts."

His topic was the delicate question of what to call the slaughter of
1.5 million ethnic Armenians at the hands of Turkey during World War
I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, a festering historical sore no
American president can genuinely hope to heal.

But Obama’s professed desire for a complete and just accounting
raises the question: If it’s good for the Armenians, why isn’t
it good for Americans? Why can’t we also have a "full, frank and
just acknowledgment" of the facts surrounding torture and other
moral horrors that were carried out in our name during the Bush
administration’s global war on terror?

History demands it.

Obama doesn’t want to bog his administration’s ambitious agenda down
in partisan recriminations over past practices. Fair enough. But it
does not follow that no official inquiry should be held. There is
more to find out, because much information is still being kept secret
–sometimes by the very perpetrators of the shameful practices, who
press on in the courts, for example, to attain what they hope will
be a permanent shroud.

A copious report by the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary
Committee, released last month, provides a chilling compendium of
what we know, and what we don’t.

We do not officially know whether the "enhanced interrogation tactics"
used by the Bush administration were in fact criminal violations of
federal statutes prohibiting torture and war crimes. We do not know
what laws may have been broken through the use of "extraordinary
rendition." This was the practice of sweeping people up and
transferring them to secret CIA "black sites" or to countries –Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan, for example –where torture is
believed to be practiced.

We do not know how many people were jailed and interrogated in
this system. Estimates range from 100 to 150 to "several thousand
renditions of terror suspects," the judiciary report says. We don’t
know how a program of "rendition" that was occasionally used in prior
administrations to deliver a suspect to face prosecution in a country
where he was wanted on criminal charges metastasized into a global
sweep of those who were detained for interrogation. We do not know
what happened to "ghost" detainees held by the U.S. in Iraqi prisons
–prisoners who were never registered or identified and, for all we
know, disappeared.

We do not know the full extent of the warrantless wiretapping of
Americans that continues, in some form, to this day.

Sweeping this all aside in the interest of moving on isn’t a mark of
how mature our political system is. It is an indictment of it.

It acknowledges that we cannot withstand the clamor of television
talking heads –that somehow the distraction of their empty chatter
is as weighty in its consequence as the heinous acts that smear the
nation’s reputation. Do we really want to surrender to the purveyors
of partisan hot air? This is the ultimate capitulation. It shows
us to be so weak that we really should worry about how this act of
cowardice is perceived around the world.

We have a contemporary model for how to conduct a politically
sensitive inquiry properly, without undue theatrics and with respect
for classified information. It is the 9/11 commission, a sober and
thorough panel that explored systemic failures that preceded the
terrorist attacks and put to rest false claims –including the Bush
administration’s contention that Saddam Hussein somehow was behind
it. The panel operated outside the partisan hothouse of Congress,
yet drew freely on the expertise of those inside and outside the
government. Its final report became a best-seller, not because it
inflamed political passion but because it was unconventionally –and
thus, believably –dispassionate.

The Bush administration opposed the creation of the 9/11 commission,
then resisted with much force many of the panel’s requests for
information. In the end, determined lobbying by victims’ families and
their acumen at airing their demands in the media forced officialdom
to create the panel, and helped the commission surmount obstacles
that were placed in its way.

Now we have no tearful widows or orphaned children to plead on
television for a just accounting. But how we handle the grievances
of the voiceless and confront our own misdeeds is yet another measure
of our character. And yes, the whole world is watching.

ARMENIA TODAY NEWS AGENCY COORDINATOR ARGISHTI KIVIRYAN’S LIFE ATTEMPTED

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.04.2009 10:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Life of Armenian Today news agency coordinator
Argishti Kiviryan was attempted last night.

Kiviryan was assaulted at 5 am near his house. Unknown beat him
severely and shot into the head.

At the moment he is in the resuscitation department.

Details are not made public. Kiviryan’s associates link the incident
to Kiviryan’s professional activity.

THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS
Interview by ARMAN GALOYAN

LRAGIR.AM
12:11:55 – 29/04/2009

Interview with parliamentary member of the Heritage faction Vardan
Khachatryan

– The ARF Dashnaktsutyun announced to leave to coalition and to
become opposition. How do you comment on this step of the ARF as a
representative of the only oppositional party in the National Assembly?

– They stated that they came to this decision because of the latest
events in the Armenian and Turkish relations. The ARF Dashnaktsutyun
is a political party which is directly connected to the Armenians
spread all over the world. To this extent, the lack of activity in
the process of the recognition of the Armenian genocide, and its stop
in some places could not but cause concern among our compatriots
abroad. And this fact could not but have its impact on the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun. The party has numerously stated that they may give
an immediate reaction to each concussion in this relation. In fact,
they left the governmental coalition and now, they are integrating
in the oppositional field. From this point of view, it should be
noted that their decision was not an easy one. But, nevertheless,
the situation obliged them to take such a step.

– Though, no one knows why, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun did not react
in such a strict way when Serge Sargsyan announced of setting up
a commission of historians to study the genocide issue, by which,
according to the opposition, he disputed the fact of genocide.

– The question on the historians may not have a serious executive
role and it may be viewed as a long lasting process. And, in this
case we face the problem of accepting the agreement of Kars, which,
of course, may destroy the basis of the Hay Dat.

– Do you consider possible cooperation with the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
in the oppositional field?

– It is not possible to say in politics that you will ever find
nothing in common to cooperate with any political force. Considering
that we are a national liberalistic force, and the ARF is a national
socialistic force, we have the same ideas concerning the national
questions that such declines of national values are unacceptable
within the foreign relations. As to the further cooperation in the
political field, we have not found any edges so far.

– The ruling coalition thinks that cooperation with the ARF is very
possible considering it constructive opposition. What do you think,
why the government is so excited about the ARF becoming opposition?

– It is the right of the government. If they think that bridges are not
burnt with the ARF yet and they may cooperate, let them cooperate. We
go on being opposition, we will be carrying out our projects. And only
time will show what the further actions of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
will be in the oppositional field. Words are always relative, and
actions reveal the real stances.

– Among the society the ARF is not perceived as opposition yet and
there is opinion that this is a planned game.

– Nevertheless, their actions are to show everything. I would not
like to state beforehand that that entire is false, that they are not
opposition. One may always say different things but what they will do
will be clear in the nearest future. It is even stated in the Bible
that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

– What do you think will the ARF Dashnaktsutyun be able to be a
serious alternative for the Heritage and HAK?

– It is a little surprising for me when someone is considered a
rival for us. This competitiveness is expressed with concrete number
at the elections. Everyone states of having high percents, but the
real image is seen after the elections. I don’t mean the breaches and
mutations. Anyway, I consider a rival no one. The Heritage does its
work fairly. We have many examples of political figures who changed
their stances numerous times and they are destroyed now. And to
say that the government or the opposition is to be blamed for this
is absurd.

– Considering that the opposition was represented at the Mayor election
with one alliance and now there is another oppositional camp, what
impact will it have on the votes, will the ARF Dashnaktsutyun "seize"
votes from the opposition?

– I don’t agree with the expression "to seize votes". It is difficult
to say what the ARF will gain as opposition. The quality of their
action will play an important role here. Today, the Armenian National
Congress has very good image among the public. And that of the
Dashnaktsutyun is rather low comparing with the HAK. Whether they
will manage to equalize it is difficult to say.

The Langar Hall
April 24 2009

Genocidees Anonymous: Armenians and Sikhs

Posted by Mehmaan (Guest) in Human Rights, world news on 04 24th, 2009
Blogged: Amol Singh

On the night of April 24, 1915, over 200 of Constantinople’s Armenian
intellectual and civic leaders were taken from their homes and boarded
upon trains headed eastward toward the city of Ankara. What followed
over the next few months would be a concerted, systematic Ottoman
project meant to eradicate the Armenian identity. Millions of
Armenians, depicted by the state as dangerous Russian conspirators and
hazardous to the security of the Ottoman Empire, were uprooted from
their homes and marched across the Turkish desert. What transpired
over the course of that summer was the raping, pillaging, and
butchering of over a million people. Though the Ottoman forces might
have failed in the complete liquidation of a people, genocide served
as a near consolation prize.

As April 24th approaches, Armenians around the world will gather as
they have for the past 90+ years and demand that the Turkish state
take responsibility for its actions. This summer, as Sikhs also embark
on projects to mark the events of 1984, it seems hard to escape the
fact that we too, are becoming part of a global collective searching
for some sort of acceptance of the atrocities that have been done to
us. This sharing of spaces by the world’s downtrodden is allowing for
more nuanced perspectives of each atrocity. In this understanding, the
1915 Armenian genocide becomes not a yearlong campaign to annihilate
Armenia, but rather a set of events concurrent with a larger Ottoman
decades- long campaign meant to undermine Armenian existence. In this
sphere, Operation Blue Star becomes not a plan to rid Harimander Sahib
of radicals hijacking the Sikh identity, but rather another incident
in a set of systematic attacks on Sikh sovereignty by the Indian
Center.

In this mold, we are becoming participants in a unique Genocidees
Anonymous of sorts, where the recognition of our tragedies becomes
cast into a set of layered political demands.

As a Sikh friend stated recently, `We’re the Armenians looking for a
genocide, the Palestinians looking for a home, and the Tibetans
looking to practice our faith in the face of an intolerant
government¦’ This is nothing new for the quam. Our history can be
marked by stages where relentless attacks on Sikh autonomy have forced
us to assert and reassert our visions for social justice. The most
remarkable part of these assertions has been the universalization of
our demands for justice. Whether it was Guru Hargobind Ji rejecting
release from Gwalior kila (jail) because freedom did not mean freedom
if it those imprisoned alongside him would still languish while he
left or Bhai Kanhaiya giving water to those mandated to annihilate
anyone like him, a Sikh existence has meant an inherent demand for
engagement with the world.

As an undergraduate at what is considered to be a leading US
university, the interpretation of Sikhi many students including myself
have received through our work with the community, is an attack on
anything that deals with any engagement with the world around us. It
seems implausible to construct a vision of the world where we can
become active practitioners of the Sarbat da Bhalla yearned for in
ardaas, if we continue to view the world with utter and sheer
contempt. Over the past year, Sikhs attempting to engage with their
local communities have been likened to rapists and accused of
prostitution for holding turban tying days by professors considered to
be the voices of Sikh academia. We have been warned of associating
with Goray (white) Sikhs because they are practitioners of a falsified
version of Sikhi. Entire organizations have been critiqued and
undermined for offering `lightweight models of Sikhi’ without the
presentation of any alternative.

Any engagement they have had with the American populace at large has
been deemed conciliatory and thus subversive and dangerous. At first
glance, it seems easy to simply listen and subsequently ignore what we
believe to be a confined understanding of Sikhi. Yet at the point
where the collective investment of the Panth, through the work of
entire curriculums and organizations can become so easily undermined
by a terrified few, then we fear that the greater global challenges
that we as Sikhs feel mandated to engage in are placed in jeopardy.

A part of us still holds true to the conviction that the heroes of
Sikh lore we grew up with would be immune to this disease of
communalism. It seems almost nonsensical for us to think a Sikh
history whereupon Guru Tegh Bahadhur doesn’t faithfully march towards
Chandi Chowk because he is protecting the right of religious
expression, even if it is indirectly for the leaders of a faith who
through caste, have mandated one of the world’s most expansive forms
of subjugation. I fail to believe that the forces of the Dal Khalsa
would not march into Afghanistan if those taken were only Sikh
women. Our history is not littered with heroes who served faithfully
for an insular cause. Rather, we cherish those who looked at these
artificial societal veneers and used pen and sword to shatter them
beyond comprehension. To once again become the embodiment of what our
ancestors were, and to adopt the tragedies of the faceless and
powerless, we must learn to reject those within our panth who wish to
narrowly define what it means to be Sikh. Sikhi, in my humble opinion,
is not meant to be an expression of the insecurities toward the world
of a few, but rather a space so special that it elicits a response
that shakes the world’s oppressors toward justice.

AFTER TURKEY’S HYPE OVER OBAMA COMES HARD IMPLEMENTATION
Fadi Hakura

Daily Star
April 21 2009
Lebanon

President Barack Hussein Obama swooped into Turkey on April 6 for
two days of fence-mending bilateral relations with its erstwhile,
if sometimes prickly, ally Turkey while disseminating a message of
friendship to the wider Muslim world. Obama cut a dashing figure,
mesmerizing the normally skeptical Turkish public with self-deprecating
references to his inspirational life story of struggle and achievement.

This trip could be characterized as a success in terms of public
diplomacy. Opinion polls indicated that Turks had an increasingly
favorable attitude toward the new US president. Turkish media
was also mostly upbeat, bringing into sharp focus the contrast
between the positive vibes directed toward Obama and the negative
perceptions of his predecessor, President George W. Bush. Meanwhile,
Obama heaped praise on Turkey’s European aspirations, as well as on
its democratic and secular traditions and its regional ambitions in
the Middle East. He deftly maneuvered around the hot Armenian issue,
without conceding on his points of principle.

Obama also awed audiences beyond Turkey. After all, the visit was
not just about Turkey, but additionally about the Muslim world in
general. His speech to the Turkish Parliament – in which the sound
bite that the United States is not at "war with Islam" was interpreted
as a radical break with Bush’s "war on terror" rhetoric – attracted
the close attention of media in the Arab world.

Now that the party is over, however, a more sober assessment of the
ultimate impact of Obama’s Turkey jamboree is needed. For starters,
it is fair to say that US-Turkey relations had already undergone a
rapid turnaround even before Barack Obama took office, namely during
the tail end of the previous administration, after President George
W. Bush agreed to actively cooperate with the Turkish military in
its fight against Kurdistan Workers’ Party combatants infiltrating
Turkey from northern Iraq.

But Obama’s charm offensive has generated heightened expectations of
a substantive shift in US foreign policy, specifically when it comes
to the Middle East. Turkey welcomes Obama’s current desire to open a
dialogue with Iran and Syria, as well as its ongoing plan to withdraw
American combat troops from Iraq by mid-2010, and all troops by the
end of 2011. But, as always, the litmus test will be the stance of
the United States on the dispute between Israel and its neighbors,
particularly the Palestinians, but also Syria and Lebanon. How the
US handles the new government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and
the glaring divide exiting between the Palestinian groups will be
closely watched by Turkey and by the Muslim world.

Naturally, heightened expectations are not just a one-way street. Obama
expects Turkey to deliver on its promises to improve ties with
Armenia by re-opening the border that has been closed since 1993,
and by establishing diplomatic relations with Yerevan. Whether
Turkey can re-open the border in the absence of a resolution to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian dispute over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
open to debate. Yet, there is a serious risk of disappointment rising
in Washington if the promises fall short or flat.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly abrasive
style of diplomacy, displayed in full during his adamant opposition
to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s candidacy to take the
helm of the NATO alliance recently, could eventually irk policymakers
in Washington. Obama seems to prefer a Turkish foreign policy of
the quiet and constructive type rather than one based on emotional
gestures and religious undertones. So the ground exists for some
disappointment here as well.

Despite the pitfalls, there is no doubt that US-Turkey relations are,
at least for now, on a firmer, realistic footing than they were during
the Bush years. Gone are the poisonous atmospherics of the past,
while in have come greater mutual cooperation and respect between
Washington and Ankara. However, the present mood cannot be taken
for granted. That the persistence of instability in the Middle East
and the Caucasus region could provoke events that scuttle relations
with Turkey is possible, perhaps resulting from the ongoing conflicts
between Arabs and Israelis, Iran’s nuclear program, and developments
in Iraq, Afghanistan or Armenia, to name just a few examples. Public
diplomacy is the easy part. Delivery is a far harder prospect when
it comes to the United States and Turkey.

Fadi Hakura is the Turkey analyst at Chatham House in London. This
commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an
online newsletter that publishes different views of Middle Eastern
and Islamic issues.

HISTORIC ARMENIAN CEMETERY IN INDIA "BURIED UNDER WASTE"

society

2009/04/21 | 15:16

An article entitled "Historic Armenian cemetery buried under waste",
in today’s ExpressBuzz, an online Indian news service, focuses on an
historic Armenian cemetery in the Indian city of Hyderabad and the
threats leading to its imminent demise.

It is perhaps the last known trace of the Armenian connection with
the city of Hyderabad.

And now it is almost on the verge of being erased from the city’s
historic map.

Yes, the Armenian cemetery located at Uppuguda (known as Opiguda in
the colonial times) is reduced to a mere dumping zone and a place
where people relieve themselves.

Armenians came into India as traders through the overland route
much before the advent of European traders into India; in fact seven
centuries before Vasco-da-Gama reached India.

A historian Mesrovb Jacob Seth in his seminal work Armenians in India
has noted that 19 Armenians including two priests Rev Johannes (1680)
and Rev Simon (1724), were buried in this now deserted cemetery.

And the cemetery is not confined to Armenians alone.

"With no English graves of 17th and 18th century seems to have existed,
even the Dutch used the Armenian cemetery till they acquired their
own cemetery in the year 1678," B Subrahmanyam, a retired deputy
director of AP Archaeology Department told Expresso.

Referring to a study done by Dr V. Nersessian, he pointed out that
there was considerable Armenian population in Hyderabad and the
community was sent a Pontifical Bull from Holy Etchmiadzin, the
spiritual centre of Armenian Chursbiantuow in Armenia.

Realizing the importance of the Armenian cemeteries and churchyards,
which are the only attested sources of their presence, the Department
of Archaeology has declared the Uppuguda site as a protected monument
under the Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960. But due to
sheer negligence, this historical churchyard is reduced to a dump
yard full of liquor bottles and human excreta.

When the sorry-state of affairs was reported to the Director of
Archaeology and Museums Department P. Chenna Reddy, he said that
they have included this cemetery in the colonial heritage monuments
preservation project in Hyderabad.

"The cemetery has been neglected for more than seven years. Before the
Central Government releases funds for this project, the department is
chalking out a plan to clean the site soon," an Archaeology Department
official said.

One can only hope that the condition of this cemetery, where the
Armenian-Hyderabad connection is etched, would be improved as soon
as possible.

TURKISH INTELLIGENCE SERVICES TO PROHIBIT TURKISH SPORTSMEN’S ARRIVAL IN ARMENIA

PanArmenian News
April 20 2009
Armenia

Turkey refused to participate in International Wushu Tournament in
memory of Genocide victims, Tigran Chobanyan, President of Armenian
Wushu Federation told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"We were informed that Turkish intelligence services prohibited Turkish
team’s arrival in Armenia, although the Turkish Wushu Federation
had previously accepted our invitation. Ukraine and Uzbekistan also
refused to participate in the tournament on grounds of the financial
crisis. We haven’t yet received answers from Uzbekistan, Iran, Georgia
and the two Russian teams representing Moscow and Dagestan. They all
are to arrive in Armenia on April 23. On April 24, their delegations
are to visit Tsitsernakaberd and lay wreaths at the Genocide Memorial."

The sixth International Wushu Tournament in memory of Genocide victims
will be organized in Dinamo stadium, Yerevan. The Wushu wrestlers
will compete in two disciplines: martial art, i.e. single combat,
and gymnastic exercises involving women athletes.

Potential of Armenian-Iranian integration not fully realized

YEREVAN, April 18. /ARKA/. The potential of Armenian-Iranian
integration has not been fully realized, stated Armen Darbinyan, Rector
of the Armenian-Russian (Slavonic) University (RAU).

`We have been speaking of Armenian-Iranian projects for ten, or even
for 15, years and although they are closer to being launched than ten
years ago, we would like to see them more dynamic,’ Darbinyan stated at
the conference `Global financial and economic crisis: genesis and
prospects’ held at the RAU.

Among the projects he included an Iran-Armenia products pipe line,
construction of an oil refinery, a railway, as well as the construction
and joint operation of a hydro-power plant on the Araks river.

RA Minister of Transport and Communications Gurgen Sargsyan and Iranian
Minister of Road and Transportation Hamid Bihbahani signed a final
agreement on the construction of an Armenia-Iran railway in Teheran
this April. The agreement was signed during a visit paid to Iran by an
Armenian delegation headed by RA President Serzh Sargsyan.

RA Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan stated
earlier that the construction project for the Meghry HPP on the Araks
River, which is estimated at $240mln, had been launched, with design
work being in progress.

The construction project for an Iran-Armenia products pipe line has
been launched as well, and field
operation is under way.–0–

APA, Azerbaijan
April 18 2009

Novruz Mammadov: `Azerbaijan has pursued and will pursue
comprehensively weighed up and independent foreign policy’ ` EXCLUSIVE

[ 18 Apr 2009 15:43 ]

`¦I don’t understand so much love, attention and care to an
aggressor country. Everybody sees that recently the West is taking all
steps to improve the wellbeing of tacountry, which occupied the
territories of Azerbaijan. I don’t understand that’.

Baku. Lachin Sultanova `APA. `The working visit of the President of
Azerbaijan to Moscow has been planned since the beginning of this
year. Despite that some politicians, journalists and political
analysts explained it as they like, but they were wrong’, Chief of the
International Relations Department of the President’s Office Novruz
Mammadov told APA, commenting on the President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to
Russia.

`We have very close relations with our big neighbor Russia, we have
friendly relations and strategic partnership and these relations are
extended year by year. Meetings and relations between the Azerbaijani
and Russian leadership have a traditional character. These processes
take place every year and the presidents meet in various places. I
give great importance to this visit’, said the department chief and
added that the visit was very important and covered a;; specters of
bilateral relations.

Mammadov said the presidents have wide discussions on the future
prospects of the relations. `Our relationship is very developed in the
trade, economic, humanitarian and energy fields. It needs to take it
into consideration that Russian Federation is important for Azerbaijan
as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the mediator in the settlement
of Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the solution to
the conflict was also focused at the meetings. The presidents said at
the briefing that they had very useful meetings and found out new
opportunities for the cooperation in a number of spheres, including
the energy field particularly. The President of Azerbaijan noted that
they had wide discussions over the solution to Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. The Russian president said Russia made all efforts to bring
inline the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan’.

Mammadov emphasized that Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents could
meet this year. `If we take the current situation and processes into
consideration, there is a great probability for the progresses’.

Asked `What is your view on Turkish media reports claiming Azerbaijan
has opted to give up a balance in foreign policy orientation and
tilted towards Russia,’ he answered that Azerbaijan has pursued and
will continue to pursue a balanced, comprehensively weighed up and
independent foreign policy.

`Azerbaijan’s relations with Turkey are at the high level and
relations have always been on track of development. We are committed
to continuing this afterwards. I also highly appreciate the relations
between Azerbaijan and the United States. At the same time,
Azerbaijan’s relations with the West are and will be developing apace.
There are frequent visits to Russia, there are frequent meetings,
these possibilities come true, there is no need to interpret this in
another way. Azerbaijan’s doors for cooperation are open in all
vectors. Our relations with the West are at the high level, I highly
appreciate this. But in my personal view, unfortunately, I can’t see
adequate reaction in the West’s relationship with Azerbaijan. Since we
gained independence, Azerbaijan’s steps directed to energy and
integration. We carried out many reforms in conjunction with NATO and
European Union. In return for these, we see very great care an
attention to Armenia which have continued to occupy 20 percent of our
territories over the past 20 years. I note that this is not a fair
position. I don’t understand so much love, attention and care [they
devote] to an aggressor. Everybody sees the West has recently moved
to take all steps to ease and improve the state and wellbeing of a
country which occupied Azerbaijan’s territories. I can’t understand
this,’ he added.

Asked `which areas Azerbaijan wants to see prioritized in the Eastern
Partnership Programme’, he said that this will be discussed in an EU
meeting in May.

`Azerbaijani President will express the country’s position during the
discussion. Simply, we want the fate of Eastern Partnership Initiative
not to be as that of the European Neighborhood Policy. We joined the
European Neighborhood Policy, what steps did Europe take in return?
What did the EU want to do? What did? It is not possible to this
clearly. Within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, we would
like everything to be fair, a special programme to be developed for
each country, concrete steps to be taken and initiatives to be
developed,’ he added.