Author: Kanayan Tamar

AL-MANAR TV REPORTS “NORMAL” LIFE IN DAMASCUS NEIGHBORHOOD

Al-Manar TV (Lebanese Hezbollah TV Channel)
Sept 26 2011
Lebanon

The Bab Tuma area, an area in the Syrian capital, Damascus,
is experiencing a normal situation where people go about their
business as usual both during the daylight and at night in terms
of the movement of citizens and the state of stability prevailing
there. The following is an investigative report by Hamzah al-Hajj
Hasan, Al-Manar correspondent in Syria.

AlManar correspondent AlHasan

People in Bab Tuma

[Al-Hasan] This is not archival video footage of the pulse of life in
Syrian streets, for nighttime in Damascus is not much different from
Damascus during the day. The Bab Tuma area offers an example of this.

These markets remain open until a late hour into the night; and this
is made possible by the fact that human waves, waves of young and
old people, continue to frequent them. Stores and restaurants here
are thronged with those who frequent them.

[First unidentified man] I own a [words indistinct] juices shop here
in Bab Tuma. God be praised, things have been brought back to normal,
and they are better than before. Syria will definitely emerge strong,
stronger, from the crisis. God be praised, the crisis has eased much
compared to what it was in the past. Look at how people move about.

God willing, Syria is in good shape, and it will remain in good shape.

[Second unidentified man] Following Ramadan, business has seen a surge
[in sales], and business has become much better.

[Al-Hasan] That is, has business not been affected by the incidents
seen?

[Second unidentified man] Absolutely not. The impact has been positive,
not negative. This is for sure.

[Al-Hasan] Has business at your end seen a surge?

First unidentified man

Second unidentified man

[Second unidentified man] Yes, business has seen a surge. Even parties
have begun to see auras not seen before. I here mean the citizens’
patriotism and their love for the country. They have always shown
a desire to create a [pleasant] atmosphere even if they do not have
money on them.

[Al-Hasan] As for tight neighbourhoods, there is another story, as
their alleyways exude a feeling of comfort, originality, and security
even though they are tight. Here are churches and mosques that hug
each other while climbing skyward. Here are crosses and minarets.

[Unidentified Armenian Patriarchate official] Now, as you can see,
you are walking in the streets of Bab Tuma, around patriarchates and
churches. God be praised, we are not only in good shape. Rather, we
can say that Syria is in the best possible shape. The whole world is
against us. However, just as our president has said, it is God who is
protecting Syria. It is God who is protecting these lands. Besides, Our
Lady of Peace is also protecting these lands, and so are the angels.

[Al-Hasan] The Assembly of Eastern Christians has spoken of concerns.

Armenian Patriarchate official

[Armenian Patriarchate official] We are not experiencing problems. It
is others who are experiencing problems. As far as our ties [with
Muslims] are concerned, we are brothers. Just as you can see in this
street, you cannot distinguish a Christian from a non-Christian. We
have always been brothers. This is not a recent fact. Rather, this is
an old fact. On the contrary, this [changes thought] when the Pope
came here to Syria, he said: Your country is an exemplary state. I
would like to affirm to you that they [foreign visitors] will wish
to visit Syria in the coming days. This is because our country will
be an exemplary country. God be praised, our church is not only in
good shape. Rather, it is in the best possible shape.

[Al-Hasan] It is only the religious features in Bab Tuma which show
you what you cannot make out on the faces of the residents of the
Damascus neighbourhoods. For Syria has only one Bab [door]. As for
Tuma, he is one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. As for Syrians,
they are millions whose love for God and the homeland keeps growing.

This is Hamzah al-Hajj Hasan and Kamil Karaki in the Syrian capital,
Damascus, for the Al-Manar Channel.

BERRI TO ATTEND TEHRAN PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE

The Daily Star
Sept 30 2011
Lebanon

BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri will travel to Tehran at the invitation
of his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani to attend an international
conference to support the Palestinian uprising.

The conference will be held in Tehran on Oct.1-2 under the title
“The Palestinians are not searching for a homeland. Palestine is
their homeland.” Berri, who was scheduled to depart early Friday,
will be accompanied by Nabatieh MP Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s
Parliamentary Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, and Beirut MP Artur
Nazarian, who heads the Lebanese-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship
Committee.

Berri will later fly to Armenia at an official invitation from his
Armenian counterpart Hovik Abrahamyan.

ARMENIAN FM: FRANCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ACTIVE IN NORMALIZATION PROCESS OF NK CONFLICT

Panorama
Sept 29 2011
Armenia

I don’t think that France needs to be more active in the OSCE Minsk
Group, since France has always had active role in the group, said
Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian making remarks on Panorama.am question
if France is going to intensify its role in the Minsk group.

Armenian FM stated that the Minsk Group co-chair states have successful
cooperation towards the normalization of NK issue.

“I’d like to underline that the three co-chairs hold successful
cooperation. Look at the Deauville statement, which says that the
efforts by the Russian President and FM are completely supported by
the United States and France. This cooperation is really successful.

As a co-chairing state France has its own role which we signify,”
said Minister Nalbandian.

PROGRESS IN TALKS ON KARABAKH POSSIBLE ONCE AZERBAIJAN STOPS DISTORTING UN CHARTER – ARMENIAN MFA

news.am
Sept 29 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- Azerbaijan’s position is aimed at torpedoing the Karabakh
peace process, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan
told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Kocharyan’s remark came as a comment on speech of Azerbaijani FM
Elmar Mammadyarov at the session of UN General Assembly.

Speaking in the UN, Mammadyarov presented Azerbaijan’s stance on
the Madrid principles which implied only restoring of Azerbaijan’s
“territorial integrity.”

Progress in talks will be possible only after Azerbaijan stops
distorting the UN Charter, Kocharyan said.

“According to Chapter 1 of the Charter, equality and the right of
peoples to self-determination is one of the goals of the organization,
while territorial integrity, in accordance with Chapter 2, is a
principle aimed to fulfill the UN’s objectives. It is clear that
under the UN Charter, the territorial integrity cannot be opposed
to peoples’ right to self-determination, which was confirmed by
international court’s decision on Kosovo,” he said.

ARMENIA APPRECIATES FRENCH EFFORTS ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT – ARMENIAN FM

news.am
Sept 29 2011
Armenia

PARIS. – Armenia appreciates French efforts on Karabakh conflict
settlement, Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian told the journalists on
Thursday after the meeting of Armenian and French Presidents.

According to him, France has always been active in the settlement
process. Meantime, the Minister stressed the close relations between
three mediator states of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“U.S. and France completely support Russia and the cooperation of
the three states is effective enough. Besides, France as the OSCE MG
co-chair has its separate role. We appreciate efforts of the official
Paris for the settlement of the conflict,” Nalbandyan stated, Armenian
News-NEWS.am correspondent reports.

CHANGES IN RUSSIA WILL SOMEWHAT IMPACT ARMENIA – ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN MP

news.am
Sept 29 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Changes in Russia might somewhat affect Armenia’s foreign
political developments, but they will not be crucial, Armenian
opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party’s Parliamentary Faction leader
Vahan Hovhannisyan said, during a press conference on Thursday,
commenting on the decision of transferring Russian presidency from
Dmitry Medvedev to Vladimir Putin.

“Russian opposition circles consider what took place to be
impermissible, since power is transferred from the president to the
former president, and public opinion receded into the background. To be
honest, such thing happened in Armenia, too,” Vahan Hovhannisyan noted,
adding : “I think that, being presidents of the Russian Federation,
neither Medvedev nor Putin can cause substantial change in Armenia’s
domestic politics. After all, our aspiration is to elect our own
president by ourselves, and without intervention by others.”

According to Hovhannisyan, however, certain nuances could change in
foreign policy. “It is apparent that the West sees Putin as a tougher
figure. But I do not thing that the changes would be dramatic or
crucial,” Vahan Hovhannisyan concluded.

WHY BELARUS SIDES WITH AZERBAIJAN, NOT ARMENIA

Belarus Digest
Sept 29 2011

Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
(photo: belta.by) At a meeting last week, President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka did his best to persuade the Armenian foreign minister of
Belarus’ goodwill. But this was hardly convincing – the halcyon days
of close relations between the two countries are long gone. Now Minsk
is clearly siding with Azerbaijan, even though the latter is opposing
Russian policy in South Caucasus.

The USD 300 million loan given by the Azerbaijani president to
Lukashenka this summer and visit by Belarusian prime minister in
July to Baku were just some recent signs of a strong partnership
between Aliev and Lukashenka. Besides its neighboring nations in
the post-Soviet area, Belarus maintains very close relations with
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In late 2000s Azerbaijan
apparently became the single most important customer buying significant
amount of weapons from Belarus.

New Friend

In the words of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs*,
cooperation with Azerbaijan was only activated “in recent years”.

Until the mid-2000s, political relations were negligible and trade
developed of its own accord. Lukashenka did not get along with former
President Heydar Aliyev, a seasoned apparatchik of the Soviet period
who looked down on Lukashenka as a young maverick.

Another reason for poor relations in the past was that Minsk tended
to follow Moscow’s foreign policy line. As a result, it developed
relations with Azerbaijan’s nemesis – Armenia. In the aftermath of
the Cold War, the only Belarusian embassy in the region was based
in Yerevan. In the late 1990s, Minsk finally decided to establish a
presence in Baku but the embassy was opened only after a considerable
delay in 2006.

However, over the past decade, relations have improved dramatically.

In Baku, Heydar Aliyev’s son Ilham inherited presidential power in
2003. Already in 2004, the heads of state of Belarus and Azerbaijan
broke with precedent by conducting mutual visits. This set the stage
for four top-level visits since 2006.

At the same time, Belarus deviated from its stringent pro-Russian
political line. Lukashenka found new friends – among them not only
Yushchenko of Ukraine and Saakashvili of Georgia, but also Ilham
Alyev. In this process, the enhanced international stature of
Azerbaijan played an important role, especially after the country
launched a new Caspian oil pipeline. Belarus could hope for support
from Baku as a natural ally against Moscow in the post-Soviet area.

Azerbaijan had long bolstered Russia’s opponents; in the past, it even
went so far as to establish the GUUAM – an alternative organization to
pro-Moscow integration initiatives – with Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan, and Moldova. Although this organization is now moribund,
Azerbaijan’s attitude toward Moscow remains unchanged.

A second set of factors are economic. Between 2008 and 2010,
Belarus-Azerbaijan trade grew from US$ 100 m to US$ 146 m. More
important than this moderate increase is the fact that Belarus enjoys
a trade surplus, which helps to counteract its immense foreign trade
deficit.

Azerbaijan is also helping Belarus to acquire alternative oil sources.

Minsk recently began importing oil from Venezuela but direct
shipments to landlocked Belarus are difficult. Baku thus agreed
to swap schemes by which Minsk gains access to Azerbaijani oil in
exchange for Venezuelan oil.

Belarus Turned against Armenia

For Azerbaijan, an added incentive to work with Belarus is to garner
support for military liberation of its territory occupied by Armenia
and removal of self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabagh Republic. Negotiations
in the OSCE Minsk group have rendered no results for years now.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani government has used its growing oil
revenues to perennially increase its military budget. But a stronger
military will not change the fact that Armenians have Russia behind
them. Although Russia wants to preserve Azerbaijan as an ally in
the Caucasus, Azerbaijan is eager to change the status quo balance
of power. It is only a matter of time before armed conflict breaks
out again between Azerbaijan and Armenia and it may occur as soon as
the Azerbaijani government sees less sense in tolerating the current
situation which helps Armenia to legitimize present reality favorable
for Yerevan.

If such a war should ensue, Belarus will probably side with Baku,
the principal buyer of its weapons. It is notable that no arms deals
were made prior to 2005 – there is thus an unquestionable link between
a stronger Azerbaijani military and the initiation of bilateral arms
deals. By contrast, Armenia bought a small number of weapons from
Belarus just once, in 2007.

>>From Cooperation to Alliance

The development of Belarusian-Azerbaijani alliance is practically
a fait accompli. Azerbaijan is openly defending the Belarusian
regime from criticism in the West, as positions of Azerbaijani
representatives in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and EuroNest have
demonstrated. Alyev is also willing to help Lukashenka financially -in
addition to latest 300-million loan, not so long ago, Minsk borrowed
from Baku to pay Moscow for its outstanding claims.

For Azerbaijan, the motives for working with Belarus are political and
economic. The Central Asian state needs all the support it can get
if it wants to confronting Armenia and Russia, not to speak of its
tense relations with Iran. It cannot be very hopeful about Western
support, given the influential Armenian lobby there (especially in
the US and France). This makes support from former Soviet states all
the more important. At the same time, the privatization of Belarusian
industries and development of non-Russian oil supply routes is vital –
Venezuela is a good example.

For Belarus, cooperation with Azerbaijan is important as a tool to
put pressure on Moscow, to obtain financing, and to develop trade. In
particular, Azerbaijan may allow Belarus to access non-Russian oil and
gas from the Caspian and Middle Eastern regions (Iran and Northern
Iraq). The greatest hurdle for such a project would be neither
technical nor financial – the infrastructure is mostly already in
place. Rather, it is political: the Russians will stubbornly fight to
preserve their energy monopoly in Eastern and Central Europe, while
the United States will work to block any regional energy projects
that involve Iran.

SB

RAUL DE LUZENBERGER: EU IS COMMITTED TO ENHANCING RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 29, 2011 – 18:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Poland-hosted Eastern Partnership summit, will be
an opportunity to renew the political commitment of all participating
countries to the key objectives of the Partnership. It will review
progress made in the implementation of the Eastern Partnership over the
last two years based on shared values of democracy and human rights,
according to the head of the European Commission Delegation to Armenia.

As Ambassador Raul de Luzenberger stated in a conversation with a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, “as the EU High Representative for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European
Commission Ms. Ashton said, “In Poland, we will leave our partners in
no doubt that the EU’s acknowledgement of their European aspirations
and their European choice goes hand in hand with our expectations
for their commitment to progressing towards deep and sustainable
democracy. Our Eastern partners are at different stages along this
path, and our role is to give practical support to that process of
their political association and economic integration with the EU.

Following the Review of the Neighbourhood policy undertaken by
myself and Stefan Fule, a key element is that the EU will apply more
conditionality in its actions, linking them more closely to the efforts
made by our partners towards reform. This means more financial support,
closer political cooperation and deeper economic integration for
those partners who have embarked on deep reforms. It is what we call
‘more for more’. We are all committed to making the Warsaw Summit
a success, and to giving renewed momentum to building the closest
possible relations with our Eastern partners and neighbours.”

The Summit will also decide on the next steps to ensure continued
progress toward deeper political association and economic integration
with the European Union based on Eastern European countries’
sustainable reform effort. In this respect, progress towards Deep
and Comprehensive Free trade Areas and in the area of mobility and
enhanced sector cooperation, notably in the field of transport, energy
and agriculture, will represent key deliverables. The Summit should
emphasise that the Eastern Partnership is based on common values
and principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. The EaP Summit would also
underline the central role of civil society in pursuing the goals of
the Eastern Partnership and show the possibilities of creating new
instruments such as the European Endowment for Democracy and Civil
Society Facility. ”

As the Ambassador further noted, “the EU is committed to further
enhancing relations with Armenia in the framework of the Eastern
Partnership. Good progress has taken place in the context of the
EU-Armenia Association Agreement negotiations, and Armenia has
already accomplished substantial preparatory work necessary to start
negotiations on the EU-Armenia Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area
and should continue its efforts in this direction. There is also good
progress regarding enhancing mobility between Armenia and the EU.

Talks on a mobility partnership are well advanced and the European
Commission has recently adopted draft negotiating directives for the
negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission agreements. Once
the Council approves these directives, negotiations with Armenia
can start.”

ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED IN ROMANIA

Tert.am
23:56 29.09.11

A concert held in Bucharest’s Atheneul Roman philharmonic hall on
September 28 has marked the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence
and the establishment of diplomatic ties with Romania.

According to a press release by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, among
those performing at the concert were opera singer Barsegh Tumanyan,
Germany-based piano-player Lusine Khachatryan and prominent
Romanian-Armenian jazz piano-player Harry Davidian.

Barsegh Tumanyan performed opera arias by European and Russian
composers, as well as “Armenia” by great Armenian composer Komitas
and “Arshak Aria” by Tigran Chukhajyan, another prominent Armenian
composer.

Lusine Khachatryan performed “The Dance of Vagharshapat” and “Piano
Pictures” by Arno Babajanyan and “The Poem” by Edward Mirzoyan.

The concert was closed by the performances of Harry Davidian.

US EMBASSY CALLS ON TO AVOID THE AREAS OF DEMONSTRATION

AZG DAILY
30-09-2011

U.S. Embassy in Armenia issued a Demonstration Notice informing
U.S. citizens in Armenia about Armenian National Congress (ANC)
opposition bloc rally on September 30, 2011.

The statement reads as follows: “An authorized political rally will be
held on September 30, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at Freedom Square, followed by
an authorized march through central Yerevan. The march is expected to
start at Liberty Square, proceed down Mashtots Avenue, Amiryan Street,
Nalbandyan Street, Tumanyan Street, Northern Avenue and return back to
Liberty Square, but it could also spread to other downtown areas. U.S.

citizens sho uld exercise caution and consider alternative routes to
avoid the downtown area during the march, as it may create traffic
disruptions.

We remind U. S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be
peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence
without warning. You should avoid the areas of demonstrations
if possible, and exercise caution when in the vicinity of any
demonstrations. Stay current with media coverage of local events and
be aware of your surroundings.”