Author: Kanayan Tamar

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND KURDS

16.06.2011

Artashes Ter-Harutyunyan

The Arab revolutions and developments conditioned by them sidelined a
number of factors which have played an important role in the Middle
East politics. However, the wave of revolutions in the Arab world
seems to be on the decrease and the aforementioned factors make
themselves felt.

The Kurdish issue is one of such issues and though in the
international expert observations concerning the Middle East the topic
of the Arab revolutions still prevails but there are already signs
that that in the time to come the Kurdish issue will acquire a
considerable place in the political developments in the Middle East.
At the same time this issue acquires new meaning in a consequence of
recent regional developments, in particular against the background of
situation in Syria, Turkey and Iraq and the events expected there.

Instability in Syria
Though the Syrian authorities do everything to prevent the leakage of
information about the events in the country, but the picture we have
is enough to form an opinion about the situation there. E.g. Bashar
al-Assad’s decision to draw in troops to suppress the disorders all
over the country proves that police failed to handle the situation. In
other words in the cities enveloped by the disturbances police has
either been dismissed or it is close to that. On the other hand the
decision of the government to involve heavy armoured units in
suppression of disorders proves the seriousness of the situation. If
all this is supplemented by information received over the last two
months that the number of the deceased reaches several dozens every
week, the picture seems to be clear.

But the significance of the developments in Syria gradually goes
beyond the borders of the country and acquires the status of the
factor of the Middle East politics. And here two circumstances are
distinguished.

The first refers to the Syrian state, correspondingly to the viability
of the borders of Syria. This issue has become especially topical
after overthrowing of Saddam Hussein’s regime in neghbouring Iraq,
when it turned out that the Iraqi state established in the 20th
century has serious viability problems, and by its weakness and the
lack of integrity it provides fertile ground for new redrawing of the
borders in the Middle East. The same can be said about Syria. Only if
in case with Iraq the collapse of the state formation was initiated in
2003 by the intrusion of the American troops, in case with Syria the
current disturbances may become the beginning of such a process.

Developments in Syria, of course, are in the context of the
revolutionary wave in the Arab world. And in this aspect the most
probable scenario seems to be the weakening of the al-Assads’ regime
and its overthrowing in the future. But the regime is not the point.
The weakness of the system of the Syrian state which was established
in 1946 within the borders of the former French colony (within the
artificially drawn borders after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire),
is proved by both many coups which took place there in 1946-1970 and
authoritarian system which has been established there since 1970s. The
fact is that today’s Syria has spent the 2/3 of its existence under
the authoritarian regime of the al-Assads. Thus, the weakening and
overthrowing of the regime will affect the state and in this aspect
parallels can be drawn with neigbouring Iraq.

The second factor is the regions populated by the Kurds (about 2
million)1. Unlike Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain (where the
disturbances brought either to overthrowing of the regimes which had
ruled for decades or seriously shook the ruling system) public
disturbances in Syria may urge seriously the independence movement
among Kurds (which is the main conclusion drawn by the American,
British and Turkish experts dealing with the Syrian issue).

Though, there is scares information about exclusively Kurdish protest
actions (and according to the available information the number of
people who participated in those action is very restricted, i.e. about
several hundred) against the background of the disturbances which has
been continuing since the February, the executive order of the
president for April 7th, according to which he granted a citizenship
to about 300 thousand Kurds who were born and lived in Syria2 draws
attention.

This step by al-Assad has been the most serious concession made by the
official Damascus to the Kurds for recent decades3, which comes to
prove that in Damascus they are concerned with the possible
independence of the Kurds.

Ankara is also concerned by the situation in Syria and it should be
supposed that this concern is also caused by the Kurdish issue or it
is at least one of the main reasons.

Turkey and Kurds
On June 12 the parliamentary elections will be held in Turkey: the
ruling Justice and Development party (JDP) intends not only to win the
majority of places in the parliament but also to win constitutional
majority.

Today it is the accepted opinion that the JDP has no serious political
competitors on its way to this goal4, and the consequences of the
global financial and economic crisis are overcome in Turkish economy.

The only problem for the JPD is the Kurdish issue and the rivals of
the party try to take advantage of that.

Taking into consideration this circumstance, the Erdogan government
has changed its approach to the Kurds and even initiated a dialogue
with the leader of the KWP Abdullah Ocalan. In consequence an
armistice was concluded between Ankara and KWP. The armistice played
into the hands of the JDP as it provide opportunity to this political
power headed by Erdogan to win votes in both regions populated by
Kurds5 (as they promised that the issues worrying Kurds would be
solved), and Turkish nationalists (as it was presented to the Turkish
electorate that the Erdogan government managed to suppress
`separatist’ claims of the Kurds).

Meanwhile, the confrontation with the Kurds deprives the JDP of those
two big segments of electorate (the Kurds will vote for the Kurdish
candidate and the kemalists and nationalists will win even more votes
thus speculating on the failed Kurdish policy of Erdogan).

The developments went on in accordance with the later variant, i.e.
they were unfavourable for the JDP and on February 28 KWP stated about
the unilateral termination of the armistice (as it has already been
mentioned the JDP did not redeem the promises given to the Kurds).

At present there are no grounds for speaking about any kind of accord
between the JDP and the Kurds. Even more, the responsibility for the
attack on the column of the prime-minister Recep Tayip Erdogan was
assumed by the KWP. If this is a truth, it proves that on the eve of
the elections the Kurds try to expert pressure on the Erdogan
government in order to force him to make concessions. Only time will
show to what it will bring, but if till the elections the sides do not
compromise the action, this may mean only one thing – after the
elections the Kurdish issue will again come forward on the agenda of
the domestic political life in Turkey, and in this context the
developments in the neighbourng Syria and Iraq will be an additional
headache for the Turks6.

Iraq after the withdrawal of the US troops
According to the preliminary agreement the American troops must leave
Iraq till the end of this year. If Americans really withdraw from Iraq
or reduce their military presence to the degree when they cannot
seriously influence the domestic developments there, this new
situation cannot but affect the Iraqi Kurdistan.

Today there are no military encounters between the central government
in Baghdad and the authorities of the Iraqi Kurdistan (connected with
the territorial disputes (over Kirkuk and other disputable areas),
issues concerning the energy carriers (oil and gas fields in the Iraqi
Kurdistan) and the authority in the sphere of security) only because
of the presence of the American troops. And as for the prospects both
parties have apprehensions and they are preparing for the worst
scenario. This is clearly proved by the recent measures taken by the
government of the Iraqi Kurdistan when in November 2010 and in
February 2011 Kurdish military units, without the consent of the
central government in Baghdad, located in Kirkuk and neigbouring
areas.

Under such circumstances the withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq
most probably will bring to the furthers separation of the Iraqi
Kurdistan from Baghdad as the absence of mechanisms of settling acute
problems with the central government of Iraq (and the recent movements
of the Kurdish units are the evidence of that) allows assuming that
the Iraqi Kurdistan will lay stress rather on strengthening its own
authority than coming to terms with Baghdad.

1 According to different international estimations there are about 2
million Kurds living in Syria, i.e. almost 10% of the whole
population.

2 The issue of the rights of the Kurdish minority in Syria, which
constitutes almost 2 million, has been on the political agenda for 2
decades. According to some estimates up to half a million Kurds have
no citizenship in Syria.

3 This step was, of course, welcomed by the Kurdish leaders in Syria,
but immediately statements were made that the Kurds will stop
struggling for their rights. E.g. on the next day after the decision
of Bashar al-Assad one of the Kurdish leaders – Habib Ibrahim, stated
that his `people will continue its non-violent struggle for civil
rights and democracy’ and one of the leader of the Kurdish Workers
Party Murad Garilan called al-Assad to take real measures to protect
the rights of the Kurds in Syria, `otherwise the Kurdish rebel will be
even stronger than the Arab one’.

4 Since 2003 as a result of a successive policy implemented by the JDP
its two main rivals – the army and People’s Republican Party, have
been weakened.

5 According to the recent data, 1 of four citizens of Turkey is an
ethnic Kurd. I.e. In Turkey which population is 74 million, there are
more than 18 million Kurds.

6 It is not a mere chance that against the background of the
disturbances in Syria, the head the national intelligence of Turkey
(MIT) Hakan Fidan visited Syria twice in April. After his second visit
on April 28, the National Security Council of Turkey after the session
which had lasted for 6 hours made a statement calling Syrian
authorities to carry out reforms in the country and thus offered the
assistance of Ankara in this issue.

—————————————————————-
Another materials of author

-CRISIS IN LIBYA AND REGIONAL DIPLOMACY OF TURKEY[28.04.2011]
-FUTURE OF THE MUSLIM POPULATION ON THE PLANET [24.02.2011]
-SOUTHERN SUDAN: NEW STATE IN THE WORLD[25.01.2011]
-ON THE CYBER-SECURITY[17.01.2011]
-TURKEY-CHINA INTERRELATIONS[29.11.2010]

Iran to launch 3 more satellites

23:38 – 16.06.11

Head of Iranian Space Agency (ISA) said Iran will launch three more
satellites in space by the end of Iranian calendar year, ending on
March 20, the state IRIB TV website said on Thursday.

Iran, on Wednesday, announced that it “successfully” put the Rasad
(surveillance) satellite in the orbit to render images to the stations
in the country.

Three satellites will be put in the space in August, in October and in
February respectively, said ISA Head Hamid Fazeli.

He also added that Iran plans to launch its domestically-built
satellite carrier, Kavoshgar 5 (Explorer5), into space in two months,
the English language satellite Press TV reported on Thursday.

Kavoshgar 5 weighs 285 kg and will be launched at an altitude of 120
kilometres suborbital, he was quoted as saying.

Iran’s Defense Minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, said Thursday that Iran
plans to construct bigger and heavier satellites and satellite
carriers in the future, semi-official Mehr agency reported.

The Rasad satellite launched on Wednesday weighs 15.3 kilograms and
has been designed to be launched at 260 kilometers above the earth and
will circle the earth 15 times in every 24 hours.

The Rasad satellite project was the result of cooperation between the
aerospace organization and Malek Ashtar University both affiliated to
Iran’s ministry of defense and Iranian Space Agency, Press TV said.

The Rasad, the country’s first imaging satellite, has all the features
of big satellite despite its small dimensions under the category of
micro-satellites.

Tert.am

EU in Kosovo Says Turk, Israeli Trafficked Organs
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 13, 2011 at 4:08 PM ET

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) – A European Union prosecutor in Kosovo has
indicted a Turkish and an Israeli national for involvement in an
international network that falsely promised poor people money for
their kidneys and then transplanted the organs into rich buyers, the
bloc’s rule of law mission said Monday.

Turkish citizen Yusuf Sonmez, and Israel’s Moshe Harel were charged
last week for “trafficking in persons, organized crime and unlawful
exercise of medical activity,” the mission, known as EULEX, said in a
statement.

Sonmez and Harel are considered at large by EU authorities and
Interpol has issued a warrant for their arrest.

The indictments are part of a larger investigation into allegations
that an organized criminal group conducted operations in a clinic
outside of the capital Pristina where the victims’ organs were
transplanted into the buyers.

EU prosecutor Jonathan Ratel – who brought the charges in 2010 – said
victims were promised up to $20,000 (euro14,000) for their kidneys,
but were never paid, while recipients were required to pay between
euro80,000 and euro100,000 euros ($115,000-$143,000).

The victims came from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey, and
lived in “extreme poverty or acute financial distress,” EULEX said.

Kosovo law forbids the removal and transplant of organs.

The case was brought to the attention of authorities in 2008 when
Kosovo police acted upon information from a Turkish national who said
his kidney had been stolen.

Since then seven Kosovars, including doctors and a senior official in
the Health Ministry, have been charged and are standing trial.

Sonmez and Harel were indicted separately after EU investigators
located Harel in Israel and an EU prosecutor interviewed Sonmez in
Turkey earlier this year. Harel was detained in 2008, but later
allowed to leave Kosovo upon the promise of return pending legal
proceedings.

The Cacutta Telegraph, India
June 20 2011

A DEATH IN LONDON

– The distinct flavour of Calcutta’s fading colonial phase

by Ashok Mitra

The small news item, with a London dateline, was missed by most
newspapers in the country, including those based in Calcutta. Joe
Galibardy, the rage of Calcutta hockey in the pre-World War II decades
and right half-back in Dhyan Chand’s victorious team in the 1936
Olympics, died on May 17 last. He had migrated to England in 1956 and
settled in a London suburb; he was 96.

Memory is a stock of joint supplies. The very mention of Joe Galibardy
chokes the corridors of the mind with a harum-scarum procession of
other exotic-sounding names: Tapsell, Carr, Furtado, Carvalho,
Carapiet, suchlike; these names spelled the hockey season in Calcutta
in the 1930s. Field hockey in that era was almost unknown in the rest
of the world. It was the pastime of British colonials of the lesser
breed who had come out on business or on a job to South Asia. The
caste system was pronounced among these expatriates: the top layers of
the ruling class in Calcutta, if not privileged to be the seat of the
imperial administration, still the hub of major mercantile activities.
The city’s all-white crème de la crème had cricket and tennis as their
preferred modes of relaxation. They used to congregate in two or three
hoity-toity clubs in which membership was severely restricted. Those
belonging to the subordinate species among the expatriates, even if of
pure British stock, had to look for a different address. That went for
other offal like Anglo-Indians, Jews – whether of Caucasian or other
lineage – and descendents of the heterogeneity arriving in the
previous two centuries from near and distant foreign shores in search
of a living in the burgeoning second city of the empire. All such
species trooped into either the Dalhousie Club or a sporting body
sponsored by this or that profession or service group. Hockey in
Calcutta was for a long while dominated by four clubs, with a riot of
ethnic diversity in their roll of members – Calcutta Customs, Calcutta
Port Commissioners, Bengal Nagpur Railway, the Rangers. A round robin
league competition under the aegis of the Bengal Hockey Association
took up most of the season. It had the format of teams distributed
over a hierarchy of three or four divisions and providing for both
promotion and relegation, depending on the performance of the clubs.
While the Jhansi Heroes, shepherded by Dhyan Chand and his brother,
Roop Singh, shone in lonely splendour in that regimental establishment
in the far interior of the country, Indian hockey was really the story
of the Calcutta and Bombay outfits. Bombay had that dazzlingly
marvellous team, the Lusitanians, with its bevy of Fernandeses and
D’Mellos. Both the Lusitanians and the Jhansi Heroes would visit
Calcutta to take part in the Beighton Cup tournament that followed the
hockey league fixtures. Excitement would run high.

Admittedly, this excitement had a specificity. It was confined to
stray sections of the sports-crazy clientele of the city. Hockey as a
sports event involved substantially greater outlay than the ubiquitous
football called for; the lay Bengali kept generally aloof from it.
Interest in hockey grew only in the wake of the stunning exploits of
Dhyan Chand and his team-mates in successive Olympics; patriotic
emotions would swell at the flimsiest opportunity in those otherwise
glum and dull colonial days. Even so, the passion of those who crowded
the few galleries in the Calcutta Maidan swirled mostly around
football. The out-of-the-blue annexation of the Indian Football
Association Shield by the goody-goody Bengali team, Mohun Bagan, by
defeating a British regimental team in 1911 – exactly a century ago –
spurred further their sectarian passion for football.

The natives, anyway, maintained some distance from hockey. At the
other end, to the upper- crust expatriate establishment groups too,
the game was non-U; they continued with cricket and, of course,
tennis. Hockey was for their menials. The city police commissioner,
for instance, would relax on indolent late autumn afternoons serving
gentle lobs in a mixed doubles on the lawns of the sprawling
Ballygunge Sports Club; the wife of the joint commissioner would be
his partner. The police sergeants, although very often pure-breed
English or Scot or Welsh, would find it awfully difficult to gain
entry into this exclusive club; they sauntered to either the Dalhousie
Club or that shelter of last resort, the Calcutta Police Club, sulked
and played hockey. In contrast, the heterogeneous mix of the Eurasian
underclass who succeeded in wrangling jobs in the railways or customs
or the office of the Calcutta Port Commissioners or in the forest
ranges of Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa – Anglo-Indians,
Anglo-Portuguese, Anglo-Italian, Anglo-Dutch, native Christians,
Goans, Jews, Armenians of other hues, Parsis – suffered from no
inhibition. They took in good grace their inferior ranking and
exclusion from the elite clubs and joyfully concentrated on hockey.
Nimble on their feet, with a flair for dribbling the ball with their
sticks, and possessing an eerie skill in converting short corners into
goals, they lorded over the game. The leading teams took their turn to
win the annual league championship, and it was carnival time when the
Beighton Cup tourney commenced in late April. The hockey season was
breathlessly short, but crowded. Along with the Jhansi Heroes and the
Lusitanians, there would also be a number of other out-station teams
participating in the Beighton.

A pot pourri of wide-ranging surnames crammed the sports page in the
hockey season, apart from Galibardy and Tapsell, other ones, like
Costello, Carapiet, Lazarus, Surita, Pinto, Bannister, Bareto,
D’Costa, and, of course, Lumsden. The three Lumsden brothers in the
Rangers Club played hockey, cricket, football, tennis. One team
playing in the hockey league was the Armenian Club, chock-full of
members of the Jewish community. Armenian merchants for a long time
had a near-monopoly of the city’s real estate business; they loved
hockey. Their scions did courses at St. Xavier’s College till as late
as the fag end of the 1940s, when some of them drifted into Utpal
Dutt’s Little Theatre Group. To go back to the not too remote past,
Siegfried Sassoon, the World War I poet, was of Calcutta Jewish stock.
So were the Cohens, one of whom, decades later, joined the Communist
Party of India and stayed with it for quite a while. That heritage is
totally lost.

The fate of the Armenians has been no different from that of the other
ethnic group which contributed so sumptuously to Calcutta’s hockey.
Galibardy, who had quietly migrated to England more than
half-a-century ago, has emerged as a news item only on the occasion of
his death. Nobody knows what happened to the Tapsell and Carvalho
families and to the rest of the lot. The extraordinary churning of
ethnic diversity that marked the city’s fading colonial phase had a
flavour of its own. Does not this slice of social history cry out to
be researched?

To be fair, the cricket teams too would now and then spring a
surprise. The Calcutta Cricket Club was snobbish to the core. Its
skipper for more than a decade, A.L. Hosie, had impeccable managing
agency background. His successor, T.C. Longfield – now a minor
footnote in cricket annals because Ted Dexter, Test captain of England
in a later period, married his daughter – was equally high caste. But
Calcutta CC’s long-time opening batsman was one Behrendt, a
nondescript half-Dutch, a lefty, stockily build, who would routinely
despatch the first ball he faced to the boundary for a four. Another
prominent member of the team had a surname which was Flemish all over,
Van der Gutch, even as a Pugsley, supposedly of mixed
Burmese-Irish-Portuguese descent, became a Calcutta football hero in
the same period.

Did Joe Galibardy – or, for the matter, Charlie Tapsell – deserve a
biography? Who knows? Or is it a case of who cares? Cultural
anthropologists can have a lovely intra-mural debate on the issue.

news.am, Armenia
june 20 2011

Expert: Armenian president left doors half open for opposition

June 18, 2011 | 20:05

YEREVAN. – Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan responded to opposition
Armenian National Congress leaving the door for negotiations half
opened. Thus, he said `yes’ to dialogue with ANC but excluded the
early elections point from dialogue agenda, said political analyst
Yervand Bozoyan to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He emphasized that President Sargsyan intentionally left the door half
open, so that ANC could enter into it.

`And, certainly, ANC will go into it, it will certainly continue the
dialogue with authorities because it is already deeply involved in the
process and does not possess the necessary political recourse to make
a step back,’ added the expert

He noted that authorities initiated the dialogue process with a sole
purpose of weakening ANC and, in the long run, they achieved the set
goal. Bozoyan said that the incumbent president has rich experience in
this context.

`Once Serzh Sargsyan diminished opposition National Unity party led by
Artashes Geghamyan through a dialogue process. In 2008 he weakened
Orinats Yerkir party led by Arthur Baghdasaryan in a similar way,’
concluded the expert.

Byurakan observatory to host seminar dedicated to Anania Shirakatsi

June 19, 2011 – 15:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – By decision of the Armenian government and UNESCO,
2012 will be declared the year the prominent Armenian mathematician,
astronomer and geographer, Anania Shirakatsi, to honor his 1400th
birthday.

The main event of the year will be a scientific conference to be held
at Armenia’s Byurakan observatory, which will focus of Shirakatsi’s
astrological works as well as the country’s astrological monuments.

As preparation for the event, Byurakan observatory will host a seminar
on July 12-13, 2011, on the initiative of professor Hrach Martirosyan
of Leiden University.

Armenian musicians to perform at Rudaki Symphony Orchestra concert in Tehran

June 19, 2011 – 17:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Rudaki Symphony Orchestra will give its first
public performance at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on June 20 and 21.

The orchestra was established in February by the Rudaki Foundation, a
nongovernmental artistic and cultural institution.

A wide repertoire of Iranian compositions is scheduled to be performed
during the concerts. Twelve Armenian musicians will join the orchestra
for the concerts, which will be conducted by Arash Amini, Tehran Times
reported.

Sakharov’s widow Yelena Bonner dies at 88 in U.S. – media

Yelena Bonner, a human rights activist and the widow of the late
Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov

MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti)

Yelena Bonner, a human rights activist and the widow of the late
Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, died
in the U.S. at the age of 88, Ekho Moskvy radio station reported on
Sunday.

Bonner died on Saturday in Boston after a grave illness, the radio
station said, referring to human rights activist Pavel Litvinov and
the Pyotr Grigorenko Fund.

Bonner’s daughter Tatiana Yankelevich said that her mother would be
buried in Moscow.

“We announce with deep sorrow that our mother Yelena Georgiyevna
Bonner died today, on June 18 at 13:55 (17:55 GMT). According to her
will, her body will be cremated and the cinerary urn will be buried at
the Vostryakovo cemetery in Moscow next to her husband, mother and
brother,” Yankelevich said in a statement.

Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist and an advocate of civil
liberties and reforms in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1975.

Be a Detachment Leader for 1 Week in Shushi, Karabakh

06.18.2011 17:16
epress.am

>From Aug. 3-10, in the city of Shushi, the European Movement in
Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is organizing a summer school for 15
students from Nagorno-Karabakh high schools. At the summer school,
those who want will have the opportunity to be a detachment leader.

Organizers will cover transportation, food and accommodation for participants.

`With much anticipation, we wait for all those engaged people who
might make the students’ routine interesting and useful. We
particularly need such specialists who will suggest interesting
methods for organizing entertainment,’ reads the press statement by
the group.

Will they look into Serzh Sargsyan’s eyes?

07:20 pm | June 17, 2011 | Politics

Political scientist Levon Shirinyan says Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham
Aliyev will be presented with an agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution in Kazan, but is rest assured that neither will
sign it.

“If the resolution states territorial integrity, that doesn’t favor
Armenia. If it will be a document on principles, I don’t think Serzh
Sargsyan will sign,” Mr. Shirinyan told “A1+”.
The political scientist views the presentation of a document from the
psychological angle. “They can present the document to check the
sides’ reactions, even by looking into their eyes.”
As for Azerbaijan’s recent belligerent declarations claiming that the
process must be accelerated, the political scientist said:

“I don’t believe either side. The Armenian authorities say Armenia
will sign, if Azerbaijan signs. However, Azerbaijan will only sign
under a document that is not in the interests of Armenia or Artsakh,
and Armenia won’t sign that document. So, nothing will work out.”

The political scientist sees the enlargement of clear-cut,
well-organized war propaganda. “There is pressure from the
international community on both sides.
Levon Shirinyan says Armenia’s situation is absurd. “An army that won
the war is speaking as one that is defending itself. This signifies a
psychological defeat and is very dangerous.”

The political scientists says what Armenia needs to do now is to
present the essence of the NK conflict correctly. “This is a conflict
between the Republic of Artsakh and the Turkish state of Azerbaijan,
and that conflict has been solved from the military angle. What we
need to do is formulate.”

Shirinyan considers the view that conflicts are not resolved without
mutual concessions absurd, including in the case of the NK conflict.

“This is a manifestation of the Armenian-Turkish conflict where there
are no concessions, particularly on the part of Turkey. Throughout the
past 200 years, especially after the genocide, the Turks have not made
any concession and there cannot be any discussion on the return of our
lost lands. Who has given land without a war? This is a national
liberation struggle, a sacred act. We must work together and show the
world that the right to territorial integrity may not be above the
right of nations to self-determination. The right of nations to
self-determination is a much higher value; otherwise, the United
States would remain a colony of England to this day and there wouldn’t
be any French Revolution. It is inadmissible to speak about returning
a piece of land.”

The political scientist emphasized that Azerbaijani snipers take the
lives of Armenian soldiers before each meeting of the presidents and
Armenian snipers should give an adequate response to their opponents.