Author: Kanayan Tamar

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY: WITHDRAWAL OF ARMENIAN TROOPS FROM OCCUPIED AZERBAIJANI TERRITORIES TO GIVE PREDICTABILITY TO SITUATION IN REGION

Trend
Aug 31 2011
Azerbaijan

It is well-known story of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan,
when he tries to shift all the blame on others, Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told Trend commenting on the
Armenian leader’s statement.

On Tuesday Sargsyan made several statements regarding the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and in particular the Kazan meeting’s
results at a meeting of the central apparatus of the Foreign Ministry
and heads of the Armenian diplomatic missions abroad.

Abdullayev said Sargsyan tries to “throw a switch” to the Azerbaijani
side with his unfounded statements, including on the Kazan meeting. He
said such statements by Sargsyan are designed for domestic consumption,
while at the external level all is discussed in another way.

“Our position remains unchanged. First Armenia should withdraw its
troops from the occupied territories to resolve the conflict. This
step will help giving predictability to situation in the region,”
Abdullayev said.

He said presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group countries (France, USA
and Russia) also expressed their dissatisfaction with the status
quo in their statements, which again shows that the international
community’s position coincides with Azerbaijan’s position.

“Speaking about Armeniaphobia, it should be noted that previously the
Armenian highest leadership stressed the ethnic incompatibility of
the Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan has always
demonstrated tolerance to presence of the Armenian population in the
country and restoration of the Armenian Church,” Abdullayev underlined.

He said with his unconstructive statements Sargsyan demonstrates
unwillingness to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which also
prevents peace and stability in the region.

“Sargsyan has already led Armenia to economic decline with his
destructive approach,” Abdullayev said.

Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan discussed
the basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in
Kazan on June 24. The meeting – ninth in the last three years – ended
without reaching agreement on the basic principles of settlement. A
joint statement issued after the meeting noted the progress towards
this goal.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 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 the 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.

ARMENIAN EGG PRODUCERS FACING BANKRUPTCY

WorldPoultry.net

Aug 31 2011

Illegal imports of cheap eggs is killing the Armenian egg producing
industry, according to a report by local newspaper with reference to
the conflicting data of the Ministry of Agriculture and services of
the Customs Union.

The newspaper, 168 hours, quoted Deputy Minister of Agriculture of
the Republic Grisha Bagyana, who noted that up to 1 million eggs
are imported from the Ukraine into the country every month. At the
same time, Customs Services statistics show that illegal egg imports
amounted to much more – almost 2.5 million per month.

“Of course, illegal import products are not dissolving into thin air.

Cheap imported eggs are sold under the pretense of local products,
which results in the fact that a lot of Armenian egg producers fail
to match the competition, have a big loss and are forced to phase
down production” said representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture
of the country.

Official statistics are not available, but according to the Regnum
news agency already about 20% of small egg producers in Armenia went
bankrupt, and still about 30% are in a serious condition. If the
situation does not change any time soon, the major producers of eggs
in Armenia will also face imminent problems. Experts are worrying
that without government intervention, the entire industry soon could
be on the verge of a profound crisis.

VOSKEPAR RIVER TO IRRIGATE ARMENIAN VILLAGES INSTEAD OF FLOWING TO AZERBAIJAN

news.am
Aug 31 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Voskepar River will irrigate the lands of Armenian villages
in Tavush region instead of flowing to Azerbaijan.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was present at the opening ceremony
of the water channel on Wednesday. Besides the water channel, concrete
dam was also built with all the necessary equipment of carrying water.

Previously water of the river flew to the reservoir of Joghazh on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenians could not use it because
of Azerbaijani snipers. The project has been implemented within the
frameworks of the international loan of developing agriculture.

Investments amounted to $ 5.4 million.

BROTHER OF ARRESTED ARMENIAN POLICE OFFICIAL RESIGNS

news.am
Aug 30 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Mushegh Ohanyan, brother of arrested chief of Armenia’s
road police Margar Ohanyan, will hand in resignation in two days,
writes Armenian Hraparak newspaper referring to its sources.

“Mushegh Ohanyan, chief of one of Yerevan’s police departments, was
packing his things late in the evening. Rumors say Ohanyan’s brother
had problems with chief of police Alik Sargsyan after he removed
chief’s photo from the wall of his office,” the newspaper writes.

Chief of Armenia’s road police Margar Ohanyan was arrested on Tuesday
suspected of abuse of power and misappropriation.

ARMENIA OVERCAME FOREIGN PRESSURE NOT ENDANGERING INDEPENDENCE – ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

news.am
Aug 31 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan spoke about country’s
foreign policy during the ambassadorial meeting held in Yerevan
on Tuesday.

In his speech President Sargsyan touched upon international and
regional developments. Sargsyan stressed that Armenia has overcome
foreign pressure and challenges not endangering independence and
security.

Armenia was presented to the world as a reliable partner, who does
not shoulder responsibility on others, he added.

“We still face a number of problems but I am confident that our
diplomacy will gain victory,” Sargsyan said.

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian briefed Ambassadors on country’s
diplomatic moves, involvement in international and regional
organizations.

Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
also addressed the heads of Armenia’s diplomatic missions abroad.

AL. MANASYAN: NK ISSUE OUGHT TO PASS TO LEGAL PLATFORM

Panorama
Aug 31 2011
Armenia

“Those 20 years were years of trial for Nagorno-Karabakh and the
republic passed it, Nagorno-Karabakh is a state which matches with
the standards of an independent state in terms of its territory,
population, state organizations, democracy, etc,” political Alexander
Manasyan told Panorama.am.

Then the expert referred to the significance of NK war: “Very often,
being too much busy with the negotiations, we forget the historical
significance of Karabakh war. First time in decades we have returned
what we had lost.”

According to the expert any paper related to the legal package of NK
conflict says Azerbaijan has no rights to claim for Artsakh.

“But still there isn’t any single legal document put on the negotiating
table, since in 1991 the issue has been politically resolved. We need
to find ways to dissect it,” expert said.

RULE OF LAW PARTY MPS ALMOST ALWAYS VOTE ‘FOR’

Tert.am
23:43 31.08.11

A recent analysis of the voting in Armenia’s National Assembly has
revealed that each MP of the Rule of Law party has voted for the
bills proposed to the parliament for an average of 243 times.

According to the data published on the Parliamentmonitoring.am website,
each MP of this party has voted against various bills for an average
of 1.1 times.

“That is to say, there have been rare occasions when MPs of the Rule
of Law party or they all together decided to vote against proposed
initiatives,” the website said.

Further, it said that MPs of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
voted for an average of 14047 times which means an average of 219
“yes” and 0.6 “no” votes by each MP.

Each MP of the Prosperous Armenia party voted an average of 207 times
“for” and 0.8 times “against” the bills proposed in the parliament.

ROBERT FISK: PROSECUTING WAR CRIMES? BE SURE TO READ THE SMALL PRINT

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Rogues’ gallery: clockwise from top left, Hosni Mubarak, Slobodan
Milosevic, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Joseph Stalin, Emperor Hirohito
and Bashar al-Assad

It’s good to see bad guys behind bars.

Especially if they’re convicted. Justice is better than revenge. And
justice must be done for the relatives of the victims as well as
for the dead. Part two of the Mubarak trial this month was a case
in point. Egyptians want to know exactly who ordered the killing of
innocent demonstrators. Who was to blame? And since the buck stops – or
is meant to stop – at the president’s desk, how can Mubarak ultimately
escape his just deserts? The same will apply to Gaddafi when – if? –
we get him.

Ben Ali? Well, he’ll stay, presumably, in his Saudi exile – which
is anyway as near as you can get to a death sentence – since his in
absentia trials in Tunis were travesties of justice. Bashar al-Assad?

We shall see if we need him or not. Gaddafi? Probably better dead than
sent to trial, because he would probably do a Milosevic, mock the
court and die in custody. Please note that no tribunals have called
for the princes and emirs of the Gulf, or the Plucky Little King of
Jordan, or the weird President Bouteflika of Algeria and his henchmen,
or the much creepier President of Iran, to be put on trial.

When we decided to keep Hirohito on his Japanese throne, we winnowed
down the number of Japanese war criminals to be hanged. Oddly, it
was Churchill who wanted the worst of the Nazis to be executed on the
spot; it was Stalin who wanted a trial. But then again, Stalin wasn’t
going to be accused of the mass murder of millions of Soviet citizens,
was he?

It all depends, I think, on whether criminals are our friends (Stalin
at the time) or our enemies (Hitler and his fellow Nazis), whether
they have their future uses (the Japanese emperor) or whether we’ll
get their wealth more easily if they are out of the way (Saddam
and Gaddafi). The last two were or are wanted for killing “their
own people” – in itself a strange expression since it suggests that
killing people other than Iraqis or Libyans might not be so bad. In
other words, civil war killers are just as likely to end up on the
hangman’s noose.

Or are they? In Lebanon, for example, things aren’t that simple. While
America would like to know who planned the bombing of its Beirut
marine base in 1983, killing 241 US servicemen, it has no war crime
trials planned. Nor do the Lebanese. In fact, two amnesties for
killers of the 1975-90 civil war specifically exempt all murderers
from trial except those who killed religious or political leaders. An
interesting distinction.

If your mum and dad were butchered by a crazed neighbour who happened
to be of a different religion, the murderer will not go to court. If,
however, he knocked off the local priest or imam, he has no immunity.

Lebanon’s 1991 amnesty, for example – Article 3 for those who like to
peek into legal inanities – stipulates that amnesties do not apply to
those who commit “the assassination or attempted murder of religious
dignitaries, political leaders, Arab and foreign diplomats”. Lebanese
law, in other words, bestows more value on the life of a bigwig than
a prole.

As the Lebanese jurist Nizar Saghiye puts it: “We have to forget
collective massacres, crimes against humanity, ordinary victims – only
the murder of a leader is supposed to be punished.” When a Lebanese
parliamentarian pointed out that this denied the constitution’s
insistence on equality before the law, the Lebanese president
declared that a politician was a “national symbol”. This also means
that political leaders who have ordered torture and mass murder –
of course, I meet them socially in Beirut today – are safe from
prosecution. The killers of up to 150,000 Lebanese are also safe,
unless they tried to knock off a bishop or a sayed or a warlord.

Just why civil wars are so cruel – and thus, surely, deserving of even
more condign punishment – remains a legal mystery. In his preface to
Aïda Kanafani-Zahar’s splendid analysis, Liban: La guerre et la memoire
(Lebanon: War and Remembrance), Antoine Garapon suggests that because
love is the opposite of hate, the most fraternal of communities can
become the most murderous: “The cheerful neighbourliness between the
(religious) communities – which is the glory of Lebanon – becomes
its hell.” Thus the Lebanese civil war was “a crime of passion”,
he says. Kanafani-Zahar draws attention to the fact that the murder
of Christian Maronite president-elect Bashir Gemayel in 1982 was
followed only a few hours later by the massacre of up to 1,700 Sabra
and Chatila camp Palestinians by Israel’s Phalangist allies (Gemayel
being their now dead leader); yet only Gemayel’s assassination was
referred to the Lebanese “Council of Justice”.

In Bosnia, criminals continue to be sought, although the war had much
in common with the Lebanese conflict. Lebanese Christians usually
supported the Croats (the Phalangists sent them weapons) while Arab
Muslims naturally sympathised with the Bosnian Muslims. In Lebanon,
however, there were official village “reconciliations”, attended by
Muslim and Christian prelates and political leaders. Not so in Bosnia.

But justice? As long as the killers are alive – however old they are,
however long ago their crimes were committed – justice would seem to
be served by punishment. John Demjanjuk’s trial in Germany this year
is a case in point. Reconciliations and amnesties are a postponement
of justice in the hope that the victims’ relatives will die off and
their descendants will lose all interest in the outrages of the past.

Unlikely. Who now remembers the Armenians, Hitler asked? Millions of
people, is my reply.

IRAN TO SEND FLEET TO RED SEA

PanARMENIAN.Net
August 31, 2011 – 11:31 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari
said the Islamic Republic is planning to send its 15th fleet to the
Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

He added that the fleet is comprised of a submarine and a warship
that will patrol in the high seas and will also fight against pirates.

“The presence of Iran’s Army in the high seas will convey the message
of peace and friendship and tighten security all countries,” Sayyari
said, Press TV reported.

REVUE DE PRESSE N1

COLLECTIF VAN
31/08/11

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN [Vigilance
Arménienne contre le Négationnisme] vous propose une revue de presse
des informations parues dans la presse francophone, sur les thèmes
concernant la Turquie, le génocide arménien, la Shoah, le génocide
des Tutsi, le Darfour, le négationnisme, l’Union européenne, Chypre,
etc… Nous vous suggérons également de prendre le temps de lire ou
de relire les informations et traductions mises en ligne dans notre
rubrique

Par ailleurs, certains articles en anglais, allemand, turc, etc,
ne sont disponibles que dans la newsletter Word que nous générons
chaque jour. Pour la recevoir, abonnez-vous a la Veille-Média :
c’est gratuit ! Vous recevrez le document du lundi au vendredi dans
votre boîte email. Bonne lecture.

L’AKP et les Arméniens de Turquie Info Collectif VAN –
– “Le 14 aoÔt, le Parti pour la justice et le
développement (AKP), qui est au pouvoir depuis 2002, a célébré
le 10e anniversaire de la création du parti. Ã~@ cette occasion,
l’hebdomadaire arméno-turc Agos a demandé aux intellectuels
arméniens d’Ä°stanbul ce qu’ils pensaient du parti et de ce qu’il
a accompli. J’ai trouvé les réponses de ces intellectuels très
intéressantes et je vais vous les résumer”. Le Collectif VAN vous
livre la traduction du journaliste turc Orhan Kemal Cengiz paru en
anglais sur le site du quotidien Today’s Zaman le 25 aoÔt 2011.

Le MRAP condamne les bombardements turcs dans le Kurdistan irakien Info
Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous invite
a lire le Communiqué de presse du MRAP publié le 26 aoÔt 2011.

“Depuis plusieurs jours, les forces armées turques opèrent au-dessus
du territoire irakien et bombardent la région autonome du Kurdistan le
long de la frontière irano irakienne. Ces attaques, qui jouissent de
l’appui de renseignements de la part des services iraniens, font suite
a celles de l’armée iranienne en juin : elles avaient déja provoqué
des dizaines de morts et blessés civils. Des centaines de familles
kurdes d’Irak ont été contraintes de quitter leurs villages”.

Darfour : Ban Ki-moon salue l’amnistie de cheikhs protégés par la
MINUAD Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN
vous invite a lire cette information publiée sur le site de l’ONU
le 29 aoÔt 2011. “Le Secrétaire général de l’ONU, Ban Ki-moon,
a salué lundi la décision du gouvernement du Soudan d’amnistier cinq
cheikhs locaux qui étaient réfugiés dans les locaux de l’Opération
conjointe de l’Union Africaine et des Nations Unies au Darfour (MINUAD)
par peur d’être arrêtés pour des allégations de crimes”.

Doris Leuthard sur le front de l’énergie en Turquie A Ankara,
la conseillère fédérale a entre autres évoqué le dossier du
gazoduc TAP. Des rencontres avec quatre ministres (Energie, Forêts,
Environnement et Transports) et un dîner avec le président turc:
la visite de Doris Leuthard en Turquie aura été chargée. La cheffe
du Département fédéral de l’environnement, des transports et de la
communication (DETEC) est arrivée a Ankara huit mois après avoir
recu en grande pompe le chef d’Etat turc, Abdullah Gul, a Berne,
en novembre dernier.

La Turquie, lassée par l’Europe, décide de créer une ” Union
ottomane” Un scénario renversant : lassée de ses négociations
infructueuses avec Bruxelles, Ankara renverse les rôles et propose
a ses voisins de créer un ensemble politique et économique sur le
modèle européen… La célèbre librairie Le Monde en livres, sur
l’avenue piétonnière Istiklal, au coeur d’Istanbul, est en rupture
de stock, comme tous ses confrères.

Sur les rives du Bosphore, il est impossible de trouver un exemplaire
encore disponible des Lettres turques. Ce pamphlet a la plume
sarcastique est un best-seller dans toute la Turquie.

Escalade militaire entre la Turquie et le PKK En représailles a une
nouvelle attaque contre des soldats, l’aviation turque a bombardé
des camps rebelles kurdes en Irak. Le premier ministre turc avait
indiqué qu’il attendrait la fin du ramadan pour riposter aux
attaques des rebelles du PKK (Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan)
contre l’armée. Recep Tayyip Erdogan n’en a pas eu la patience. Dans
la soirée de mercredi et au cours des premières heures de la nuit,
les F16 turcs ont pilonné des camps des insurgés kurdes installés
dans les montagnes du nord de l’Irak.

La banque centrale turque ne prononce pas le mot de récession mais…

“La banque centrale a agi sur la base de craintes sérieuses de
ralentissement économique. Il est certain que l’économie turque va
entrer en récession, si ce n’est déja fait” estime Goldman Sachs. La
bourse d’Istanbul a réagi a la baisse ce mardi a l’annonce par la
banque centrale de l’absence de changement de cap de sa politique
monétaire (-1,64 % pour l’indice ISE National 100).

Contre le bannissement du mot “Shoah” des manuels scolaires A la faveur
de l’été, un mauvais coup se perpètre a l’éducation nationale
et chez les éditeurs qui publient les manuels d’enseignement de
l’histoire destinés aux élèves de première de tous les lycées
de France et des autres établissements qui les préparent au
baccalauréat.

Il faut souligner que cette action néfaste se passe sous la
présidence de la République de Nicolas Sarkozy, qu’on sait hostile a
toute forme de négationnisme. Or c’est bien de négationnisme qu’il
s’agit ici et, nous allons le voir, d’une facon particulièrement
perverse.

Turquie : l’autre ”victoire” de la fête de la Victoire En Turquie,
la fête de la Victoire (Zafer Bayramı) commémore, chaque année, le
30 aoÔt, la fin de la Guerre d’Indépendance, qui vit en 1922 l’armée
de Mustafa Kemal l’emporter sur les Grecs et reconquérir l’Anatolie,
avant de fonder un an plus tard la République. Cette année pourtant,
cette fête a pris une dimension particulière, pas seulement parce
qu’elle coïncide avec l’Aïd el Fitr, ou comme disent encore les
Turcs le Å~^eker Bayramı, autre fête religieuse, qui intervient,
elle, a la fin du Ramadan, mais surtout parce qu’elle a marqué une
nouvelle étape dans le processus en cours de démilitarisation du
système politique turc.

Istanbul candidate pour les JO 2020 Olympisme Istanbul est candidate
a l’organisation des Jeux olympiques d’été de 2020, a annoncé
ce week-end le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ” Nous
annoncons au monde notre candidature pour les Jeux olympiques de 2020,
que nous considérons extrêmement importante pour notre pays et
notre peuple ”, a-t-il déclaré dans une intervention télévisée.

La Turquie redouble ses efforts envers l’Afrique Le Premier Ministre
turc se mobilise pour la Somalie. Un nouvel exemple du récent
activisme turc en Afrique. Jusqu’ici la Turquie n’y joue qu’un second
rôle. C’est a la demande de la Turquie que l’Organisation de la
coopération islamique (OCI) qui représente 57 pays musulmans s’est
réunie en urgence mercredi a Istanbul pour débattre de la crise
humanitaire qui frappe la Somalie et la Corne de l’Afrique.

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