Author: Kanayan Tamar

LISKA: WHY WOULD I FEEL AWKWARD?

Lragir.am
Country – 25 September 2014, 17:24

Human rights NGOs called upon the international organizations to be
consistent to the issue of conduct of impartial and complete survey
of the Karen Petrosyan case

Downfall Continues At An Unbelievable Rate

Samvel Alexanyan On Carrefour

As Long As Serzh Sargsyan Remains President

“Are you sick? What are you talking about,” the reappointed governor
of Syunik Surik Khachatryan said to the journalist after the meeting
of government when the latter asked him whether he killed Avetik
Budaghyan. He was leaving the government from the backdoor to avoid
journalists.

The reporters noted that the people of Syunik are against Syunik
Khachatryan. “If it is not difficult for you, come to see whether
the people of Syunik accept me or not. People are a large notion,
a small part of them may not accept, what is ideal, is it possible
that they accept a government person by 100%?” Liska said.

The journalists noted that people are asking whether Surik Khachatryan
does not feel awkward. “Let the one who is asking this question feel
awkward, why would I feel awkward? I have been serving my people for
25 years, why would I feel awkward?” he said.

The reporters reminded that Surik Khachatryan should feel awkward for
the recent developments, meaning Avetik Budaghyan’s murder. “What do
the recent developments have to do with me, no person with a common
sense accuses me for the recent developments. The recent developments
are developments that any person with a common sense understands that
Mr. Khachatryan does not have anything to do with it. Nobody has the
right to pick up an arm and attack the governor’s house,” he says.

PACE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR DIALOGUE BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN’S LEADERSHIP, CIVIL SOCIETY

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Sept 25 2014

25 September 2014

The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) Anne Brasseur called on Thursday for a broad dialogue between
the authorities, political figures and civil society in Azerbaijan
after her three-day visit to the country.

“Dialogue requires that all sides must be prepared to listen to each
other, treat each other with respect and try to understand each other,
even though they might not come to an agreement. By making small
steps, progress can be achieved. Our Assembly is ready to support
this process,” Brasseur said as quoted on the PACE official website.

During her visit, Brasseur met the President of the Azerbaijan
Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, the Minister of Justice,
the Prosecutor General, and representatives of political forces
in Parliament, as well as members of the Azerbaijani delegation to
the Assembly.

Brasseur expressed concern over “systematic deficiencies in the
operation of justice” in Azerbaijan and encouraged the government
to make “more progress on freedom of expression and freedom of
association, as well as the independence of the judiciary.”

Brasseur stated that as a PACE member state, Azerbaijan has to fulfill
its legal and political obligations and commitments.

Anne Brasseur expressed hope that the upcoming parliamentary elections
in Azerbaijan will allow for “a real debate between majority and
opposition political forces as well as representatives of civil
society.”

Brasseur also discussed the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The PACE President supported the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and offered help in establishing
a comprehensive political dialogue between the parties.

25 September 2014

REBUILDING A LIFE IN ARMENIA AFTER FLEEING SYRIAN CONFLICT

Washington Post
Sept 25 2014

By Nicole Crowder

In March of this year, the city of Kessab was attacked by al-Nusra
Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Christian Syrian Armenians
who had lived and worked in this region were forced to flee, leaving
behind businesses and properties. While many journalists covered the
refugees who fled to neighboring Lebanon, photojournalist Gianmarco
Maraviglia fixed his lens in the opposite direction: those who had
traveled back to their native Armenia. His series “Land of Fathers”
explores the new challenges many refugees have faced in the months
following the conflict, trying to readjust, away from the prosperity
they had previously known in Syria.

For many Syrian Armenians who fled to Armenia, the desire to maintain
some semblance of their previous social status determined the areas
of the country where they live. Wealthier families rented nice homes
in the center of Yeravan, the country’s capital. But their savings
soon disappeared because of the lack of available steady jobs. In
response, the Armenian government proposed building a luxury housing
complex called “New Aleppo,” along with several other new housing
quarters across the region. But the proposal soon came under fire,
with complaints that the housing complex was geared towards the rich
rather than being accessible for everyone. From May 2014, when this
series was photographed, until now, the land where this proposed
new housing was to be built has still seen no new development. Sheep
roam freely in an open field around a skeletal structure of what will
presumably be the new community.

The poorer among the refugees have been more or less forced to
move to Karabakh, a mountainous landlocked region in present-day
eastern Armenia and southwestern Azerbaijan. As modern settlers,
refugees have been given free housing and land to farm in the remote
area. Prior to the conflict in Syria, Armenia still represented the
homeland of their language, culture and religion. The uncertainty of
being able to sustain their livelihood for the future, however, has
left many suspended between the melancholy of exile and the material
difficulties of integration.

All photos by Gianmarco Maraviglia/Echo Photo Agency

View photos at

ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER HAS NOT VISITED ANY NON-CIS COUNTRIES

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 25 2014

25 September 2014 – 11:46am

Armenian Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan has not visited any countries,
other than the ones of the Eurasian Economic Union, in 5 months
at the post. U.S. authorities did not want Abramyan to take part
in the opening of the ArmTec-2014 Forum. The order to organize a
visit of Abramyan to an influential state has been fruitless to far,
Zhokhovurd reports.

HOW TURKEY PLANS TO “COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM”

Gatestone Institute
Sept 25 2014

by Burak Bekdil
September 25, 2014 at 5:00 am

In Turkey, hate speech is a crime only if it is committed against
Muslim Turks.

The penalty for failing to pay the tax [only for Jews] should be the
revocation of the Jew’s business and the seizure of his property. —
Faruk Kose, columnist for Yeni Akit, honored with a permanent seat
aboard Turkish President Erdogan’s private jet.

At the beginning of September, President Barack Obama met with Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in
Wales. After the meeting, the White House said in a statement: “They
exchanged views on how best to cooperate in the struggle against ISIL
[Islamic State of Iraq and Levant/Syria] and violent extremism in Iraq
and Syria, and on the need for strengthened measures against foreign
fighters transiting to and from the battlefield.” What could be more
normal if the U.S. president discussed measures against extremism
with the president of a country that now borders ISIS?

But it was bizarre that Obama and Erdogan also discussed one topic
that was neither NATO- nor ISIS-related. The White House said: “The
President and President Erdogan also discussed the importance of
building tolerant and inclusive societies and combatting the scourge
of anti-Semitism.”

Apparently, the White House wanted to tell American Jews that the
president had finally wanted to be tough with Erdogan on the new
heights of anti-Semitism in Turkey. In return, Erdogan may have
replied: “What anti-Semitism in Turkey? That’s unheard of!” To which
Obama may have replied: “Ah, thank you president, I feel relieved!”

President Barack Obama talks with then Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, in a previous meeting, in Washington, Dec. 7, 2009.

[Official White House Photo]

More or less on the same day as “the President and President Erdogan
discussed the importance of building tolerant and inclusive societies
and combatting the scourge of anti-Semitism,” a shop in central
Istanbul put up a sign, featuring a photo of an Israeli tank, and
saying: “Jew dogs are not permitted entry.” Not really creative. The
sign was an echo of a 2009 wall poster elsewhere in Turkey that read:
“Jews and Armenians are not allowed, but dogs are.” (Of course, none
of the explicit hate crimes has ever been indicted; in Turkey hate
speech is a crime only if committed against Muslim Turks).

A few days after “the President and President Erdogan discussed
combatting the scourge of anti-Semitism,” an Islamist columnist called
for Turkey’s dwindling Jewish community to pay for reconstructing
buildings in Gaza damaged during Operation Protective Edge, an idea
reminiscent of a wealth tax Turkey had imposed on its non-Muslim
minorities in 1942.

Faruk Kose, a columnist for the daily Yeni Akit, wrote that the
“Gaza Fund Contribution Tax” should apply to Turkish Jews as well as
foreign Jews doing business in Turkey and any Turkish nationals with
commercial ties to the Jewish state. He even suggested that the tax
should apply to any company or business that maintains a partnership
with a Turkish Jew. The penalty for failing to pay the tax should be
the revocation of the Jew’s business license and the seizure of his
property, Mr. Kose proposed.

It would have been easy to shrug off the man with a “he is just nuts”
wave of the hand. In reality, Yeni Akit has a permanent seat aboard
Erdogan’s private jet, an honor that shows how much Erdogan admires
the newspaper’s editorial policy — and most likely the columnist
Kose, too.

Most ironically, a journalist from Yeni Akit was among Erdogan’s
select group of journalists accompanying him to Wales aboard his jet
— the same jet taking Erdogan to a meeting with Obama to discuss
“combatting the scourge of anti-Semitism.” Did Obama know? Not easy
to know. But if he knew, he could tell Erdogan that a good start
to combatting the scourge of anti-Semitism could be not to honor
newspapers that propose taxing Turkish Jews to reconstruct Gaza by
inviting them on his private jet.

And around the same time as Obama and Erdogan discussed combatting
the scourge of anti-Semitism, Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog, a body
controlled by the government, fined a private channel for airing the
Academy Award-winning film, “The Pianist.” The 2002 drama directed by
Roman Polanski is based on an autobiographical Holocaust-era memoir
of the same name, by Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Wladyslaw
Szpilman.

The watchdog claimed that its ruling was based on “scenes of violence
depicted in the film which might adversely affect the psychological
and mental development of minors.”

“This is simply ridiculous,” said an opposition member of parliament,
Ali Oztunc, from the social democrat Republican People’s Party. He
was right. “The Pianist” had been aired several times by different
Turkish channels before, with no fine or warning from the broadcasting
watchdog. Since the scenes it contains have not been re-filmed since
it was made in 2002, what could have changed to make the film qualify
for a fine? The film has not changed, but Turkey has.

When combined, all of these otherwise independent events best exhibit
how Erdogan’s Turkey responded to Obama’s call for combatting the
scourge of anti-Semitism, with Erdogan most probably smiling in
the background.

Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hurriyet
Daily News and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

CHORRORD ISHKHANUTYUN: CONTROL CHAMBER CONDUCTS CHECKS IN YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY

12:28 25/09/2014 >> DAILY PRESS

Armenia’s Control Chamber recently conducted checks in Yerevan
Municipality. Chorrord Ishkhanutyun’s sources say that the checks
focused on financial documents regarding asphalting, construction of
streets and pavements, reconstruction and renovation activities as
well as garbage disposal.

“Reconstruction of motorways is known to be a key source of kickbacks
and money laundering. After all, it is not accidental that in recent
years the Municipality periodically asphalts the same streets in
Yerevan,” writes the newspaper.

Source: Panorama.am

SOUTH CAUCASUS POSSIBLE ROUTE FOR IRANIAN GAS SUPPLY TO EUROPE

12:09 * 25.09.14

South Caucasus appears to be the most convenient route for exporting
the Iranian natural gas to Europe, says Garegin Chugaszyan, the
coordinator of the Pre-parliament group.

Commenting on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s recent statement
that the country can be a reliable source of energy supply for Europe,
Chugaszyan noted that the Islamic Republic had made similar statement
repeatedly before.

“Iran’s energy minister announced several years ago that there are
three routes for exporting the natural gas to Europe. One of the
routes passes across Arab countries; the second goes via Turkey and
the third – via Armenia,” he told Tert.am, considering the former
scenario unrealistic in light of the ISIS operations in Middle East.

“Turkey is Iran’s regional rival, so the Turkish route would make it
dependent on the country. The second most convenient route is actually
the one passing across the South Caucasus, Armenia and Georgia,”
he explained.

Chugaszyan said he knows that there is also a fourth route which
somewhat skips the Iranian side’s attention. “That’s the route
crossing the territory of Azerbaijan, but they do not discuss it,
even in theory. So those are the three routes Iran had declared in
advance,” he noted.

Chugaszyan said he thinks that the global developments suggesting
switchover to a multi-polar world increase the role of the South
Caucasus. “So it raises the price of the South Caucasus corridor in
global terms, increasing simultaneously the price for Armenia. We
all have to realize well that with the increasing price for the
corridor, Armenia’s price grows too. So we need to make up the right
conclusions,” he added.

Chugaszyan said further that he doesn’t underrate Russia’s role in the
project. “We have here interests which coincide, as well as interests
which conflict with one another. When the Azerbaijanis were developing
the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, they naturally managed to convince the
Russians that it might be useful for them. Hence the negotiations
with Russia have to make Armenia’s position clear,” he said, stressing
the need of emphasizing Armenia’s role for Russia as an ally country.

Commenting on the outcomes and impacts of the project, the political
analyst Sargis Asatryansaid he believes that the Russian factor
would reduce Iran’s role to an alternative country of gas supply
(given especially the recent activeness in the Iran-West talks and
the attempts of normalizing relations).

Unlike the Pre-parliament activist, Asatryan thinks Turkey to be the
best transit country for gas supply.

“But let us not forget that Iran can supply gas to Europe through
Turkey, as the country already sells its natural gas and oil, using
Turkey’s territory. They can launch a big gas pipeline when they reach
an agreement. In case of using Armenia’s territory for gas supply,
the transit countries’ number will increase, covering the territories
of Armenia, Georgia and the Black Sea,” he said, noting that that
Armenia’s involvement in the project would create extra difficulties,
with the region being considered highly sensitive for big investments.

The analyst said he expects Russia to do everything possible in the
present circumstances to maintain its monopolistic positions in Europe.

“I don’t know what Russia will do as a final step but I believe they
will elaborate certain projects and become main stakeholders together
once they see that it isn’t any longer possible to restrain Iran.

Asked whether he doesn’t think that Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor
project is a good alternative to Russia’s resources, Asatryan replied,
“No matter how much Azerbaijan will try to be an alternative,
Russia is, after all, a world leader with its natural gas resources,
with Iran being the second. With Europe’s gas demands increasing
by every year, it is necessary to be able to supply that quantity
of gas to the consumers. So will Azerbaijan alone manage to ensure
that supply? I don’t think so. They also want to involve Middle Asian
countries -Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan – in all thus, as they also
posses oil and gas resources. The situation remains entangled, as it
is difficult to make out what solution the problem will eventually
find. Russia keeps maintaining its monopolistic positions for the
simple reason that it owns huge resources. And it actually manages
to meet that big market’s demand.”

Commenting on the tensions in Turkey-Iran relations, Asatryan said he
knows that issues of the kind are normally pushed to the background
when it comes to economy.

Economist Tatul Manaseryan for his part stressed Armenia’s role as a
one-time Silk Road. “I think that the current geopolitical situation
offers us a good chance to develop the relations with Iran. And the
close cooperation met an understanding approach by the US in the
recent years. So it is possible to consider such a project in case
of a good organization,” he noted.

Asked to comment on Russia’s possible stance, the economist said he
finds that the country can combine its interests with the Iranian
project. “I see complimentary rather than conflicting projects in
this sense,” he noted.

ARMENIAN JUVENILE CHARGED IN MURDER CASE BEAT BY 8 PEOPLE AT POLICE STATION: HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER

09.24.2014 23:12 epress.am

Many violations have occurred during the preliminary investigation
and trial of the murder of 16-year old Tigran Hayrapetyan who died
during a fight on April 9, 2014, while, according to human rights
defender Mikayel Danielyan, a false accusation has been placed on a
person who did not murder Hayrapetyan. Mikayel Danielyan, chairman
of the human rights defense organization “Helsinki Association,”
spoke to journalists about the latter case.

The human rights defender said that a murder charge was intentionally
placed on juvenile Hayk Aghamalyan, which would potentially result
in an 8-10 year prison sentence, while there is no evidence against
him, even possession of a knife. “I asked the prosecutor (Hakob
Melkonyan), how could you charge him if there is no possession of
a knife. He responded with, why do I need a knife to charge him,”
Danielyan explained. The latter issue has begun the day Aghamalyan
was taken into custody.

Without a search warrant, the police searched Aghamalyan’s home,
with knowledge that he was at his grandmothers, they went after him
and during the process of taking him into custody, the police stroke
both Aghamalyan and his grandmother.

The police did not allow Aghamalyan’s mother to enter the precinct
and was only able to see her son in the morning, while noticing
traces of violence on his body. Subsequently, Hayk Aghamalyan said
that eight people had beat him and hit on the back while pulling him
from his hair.

The other violation within the preliminary investigation is that no
forensic examination had taken place. According to the human rights
defender, Aghamalyan’s confession testimony was the grounds for
him being charged. Danielyan noted, that in reality, Aghamalyan did
strike a teenager with a knife during the fight but not the person
who later died.

Furthermore, Danielyan finds it odd that video footage of the fight
participants walking on Teryan Street has been studied, while there
no footage exists of the actual fight. He stated that it may have
been in a central location and has likely been videotaped.

Recall, that premeditated murder can lead to a sentence of 20 year
to lifelong imprisonment and in consideration to Aghamalyan being of
juvenile, the accuser has demanded 8-10 years imprisonment.

EU INCREASING URGENCY OF IRAN GAS IMPORT AS RELATIONS THAW

September 24, 2014 – 17:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The European Union is quietly increasing the
urgency of a plan to import natural gas from Iran, as relations with
Tehran thaw while those with top gas supplier Russia grow chillier,
Reuters reported.

Two “ifs” – the removal of sanctions on Iran and the addition of some
pipeline infrastructure – are not preventing EU planners preparing,
a European Commission source involved in developing EU energy strategy
told Reuters.

“Iran is far towards the top of our priorities for mid-term measures
that will help reduce our reliance on Russian gas supplies,” the source
said. “Iran’s gas could come to Europe quite easily and politically
there is a clear rapprochement between Tehran and the West.”

Russia is currently Europe’s biggest supplier of natural gas, meeting
a third of its demand worth $80 billion a year. The EU has imposed
sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, increasing the need
for gas from elsewhere.

While sanctioned itself, Iran has the world’s second largest gas
reserves after Russia and is a potential alternative given talks
between Tehran and the West to reach a deal over the Islamic Republic’s
disputed nuclear program.

“High potential for gas production, domestic energy sector reforms
that are underway, and ongoing normalization of its relationship with
the West make Iran a credible alternative to Russia,” said a paper
prepared for the EU’s Directorate-Generale for External Policies
following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine.

However, the paper added that Iran was not a credible alternative
energy supplier in the short-term due to sanctions and large
infrastructure needs before exports become viable.

Internal EU energy security documents seen by Reuters also describe
plans to tap new non-European gas import sources in central Asia,
including Iran.

Iran, exploiting the reversal of old enmities caused by the upheaval
of the Islamic State militants in the Middle East, is also keen to
sell its gas.

“Iran can be a secure energy center for Europe,” its President Hassan
Rouhani was quoted on Wednesday telling Austrian President Heinz
Fischer in New York.

Tehran’s assertions over reliable supply are likely to ring alarm
bells at Russia’s giant Gazprom, after interruptions to its exports
via Ukraine in previous disputes scared Europe.

“Iran is trying to position itself in Europe as an alternative to
Russian gas. It’s playing a very sophisticated game, talking with
Russia on the one hand about cooperation on easing sanctions and also
talking to Europe about substituting Russian gas with its own,” said
Amir Handjani, an independent oil and gas specialist working in Dubai.

“Given Russia’s current strategy politically, which is one of
confrontation with Europe, I see the EU having little choice but to
find alternative gas supplies,” he added.

“TO HELL WITH YOUR RATIFICATION”: ARMENIA CONSIDERS RECALLING THE TURKEY PROTOCOLS

22:27 24.09.2014

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan participated in the 69th session
of the UN General Assembly, where he made a speech.

Distinguished President of the General Assembly, Distinguished
Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. President,

We conduct this meeting in a symbolically significant period between
the centennial of World War I and the 70th anniversary of the end of
World War II, the two turning points in the history of humanity. The
United Nations Organization was established almost seventy years
ago at the end of World War II, and its mission was to form new
civilizational environment and culture of preventing the repetition
of the past tragic pages.

2015 bears particular significance for Armenians all over the world.

On April 24 Armenians around the globe will commemorate the most
tragic page of the nation’s history – the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide. It was an unprecedented crime aimed at eliminating the
nation and depriving it of its homeland: a crime that continues to
be an unhealed scar for each Armenian. The 1915 Genocide was a crime
against civilization and humanity, and its inadequate condemnation
paved the way for similar crimes of mass murder in the future.

Addressing the Assembly ahead of that centennial year of the Armenian
Genocide from this prominent podium, which I would call the podium
of Honor and Responsibility, I declare vociferously:

Thank you Uruguay, France, and Russia!

Thank you Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden!

Thank you Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, and Cyprus!

Thank you Lebanon, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, and Vatican!

Thank you for the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide
regardless of the format and language adopted. I thank the U.S.A.,
European Union, and all those personalities, state bodies, territorial
units and organizations in numerous countries, who publicly called
things by their proper names. That is indeed extremely important
since denial is a phase of the crime of genocide.

For a whole century now Armenians around the globe as well as
the entire progressive international community expects Turkey to
demonstrate the courage and face its own history by recognizing the
Armenian Genocide, thus relieving next generations of this heavy burden
of the past. Alas instead, we continue to hear ambiguous and ulterior
messages, in which the victim and the slaughterer are equalized,
and the history is falsified.

Armenia has never conditioned the normalization of the bilateral
relations with Turkey by recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In
fact, Armenia was the party that initiated such a process which
culminated in the signing of the Zurich Protocols in 2009. However,
those Protocols have been shelved for years now awaiting ratification
in the Turkish Parliament. Ankara declares publicly that it will
ratify those Protocols only if Armenians cede Nagorno- Karabakh,
the free Artsakh, to Azerbaijan. In Armenia and Artsakh ordinary
people often just retort to such preconditions: “To hell with
you ratification.” This vernacular phrase concentrates the age-old
struggle of the entire nation, and it unequivocally explains to those
who attempt to bargain the others’ homeland that the motherland is
sacrosanct, and they had better stay away from us with their bargain.

It is in these circumstances that currently the official Yerevan is
seriously considering the issue of recalling the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols from the parliament.

The tragic events in Syria and Iraq, which we are currently witnessing,
demonstrate how the groups whose creed is hatred are targeting
religious and national minorities. Two days ago, on Independence
Day of the Republic of Armenia, the Church of All Saint Martyrs in
Deir-ez-Zor, Syria, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the
Armenian Genocide, where their remains were housed, was mined and
blown up by terrorists. Such a barbarity is a criminal Godlessness
in no way or shape related to any faith. The catastrophic situation
in Syria and the north of Iraq continuously deteriorates, and today
hundreds of thousands of peaceful people are directly imperiled. Among
them are tens of thousands of Armenians of Aleppo. This is an instance
of a peril to consider in the context of our joint commitments to
preventing the crimes against humanity. Armenia has voiced on numerous
occasions the necessity to defend the Armenian population of Syria
and the Yezidi population of north-western Iraq, and we are encouraged
by the unified stance of the international community in this regard.

The very essence of our organization is the preservation of world peace
and security. In recent years, Armenia has consistently consolidated
its peacekeeping capabilities thus preparing ourselves for a more
proactive engagement in that field. Armenian peacekeepers will very
soon be dispatched to the south of Lebanon within the framework
of the UNIFIL mission under the auspices of the United Nations. It
became possible due to close collaboration we enjoy with our Italian
colleagues. I strongly believe that our servicemen will fulfill their
mission with dignity and high professionalism also utilizing the
extensive experience they have garnered in the last decade in Kosovo,
Iraq and Afghanistan.

Distinguished colleagues,

It has been more than twenty years our neighbor aborts the efforts
of the international community directed at the just and peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by its unconstructive
and maximalist stance. The failure of an adequate international
characterization of the bellicose declarations and various threats
put forth at the highest level in Azerbaijan has resulted in all-out
permissiveness. The President of Azerbaijan designates the entire
Armenian nation as the “the enemy number one”, and what is considered
in the rest of the world to be a crime, is considered to be a glorious
deed in Azerbaijan.

Despite the fact that each conflict is unique, fundamental human rights
and freedoms, including the right of peoples to free expression of
will and self-determination, continue to evolve as a determinant to
their resolution. The vote held a few days ago in Scotland, once again
proved that nowadays the institute of referendum is more and more
widely perceived as a legal model for peaceful settlement of ethnic
conflicts. It was no coincidence that the right to govern one’s own
fate through referendum is in the core of the proposal put forward
by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Ladies and gentlemen,

While discussing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement I cannot but
address the four UN Security Council resolutions, which were adopted
during the war, that every so often are exploited by Azerbaijani
authorities in order to justify their obstructive policy.

It is about those four Resolutions that demanded unconditionally as a
matter of priority cessation of all military hostilities. Azerbaijan
failed to comply. Azerbaijan’s own non-compliance with the
fundamental demands of these Resolutions made their full implementation
impossible. The Resolutions contained calls upon the parties to cease
bombardments and air strikes targeting peaceful civilian populations,
to refrain from violating the principles of international humanitarian
law but instead Azerbaijan continued its indiscriminate bombardments
of civilian populations. Azerbaijan did not spare children, women
and old men thus gravely violating all legal and moral norms of
international humanitarian law.

Now Azerbaijan cynically refers to these Resolutions – refers
selectively, pulling them out of context as a prerequisite for
the settlement of the problem. The adequate interpretation of the
UN Security Council Resolutions is not possible without correctly
understanding the hierarchy of the demands set therein.

The Resolutions inter alia request the restoration of economic,
transport and energy links in the region (UN SC Resolution 853) and
removal of all obstacles to communications and transportation (UN SC
Resolution 874). It is no secret that Azerbaijan and Turkey imposed
blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia from the
outset of the conflict. The Azerbaijani President in his statements
even takes pride in this fact promising his own public that direction
would remain the priority of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy.

The abovementioned UN Security Council Resolutions called upon
Azerbaijan to establish direct contacts with Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan refused to establish any direct contact with
Nagorno-Karabakh, which was a legally equal party to the Ceasefire
Agreement concluded in 1994, as well as to a number of other
international agreements. Moreover, Azerbaijan preaches hatred towards
people it claims it wants to see as a part of their state.

None of the UN SC Resolutions identifies Armenia as a conflicting
party. Our country is only called upon “to continue to exert its
influence” over the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians (UN SC Resolutions 853,
884) in order to cease the conflict. Armenia fully complied, and partly
owing to its efforts a ceasefire agreement was concluded in 1994. All
the UN SC Resolutions have clearly recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a
party to the conflict.

Azerbaijani authorities have failed to implement the fundamental
demands of the Security Council resolutions, including abiding and
sticking by humanitarian norms. Incidentally, Azerbaijan has been
gravely violating this demand every now and then. Azerbaijan’s cruel
and inhumane treatment of the Armenian civilian prisoners of war
regularly resulted in their deaths. Although, I think, one shall not
be surprised about it because it is the same state that suppresses
and exercises the most inhumane treatment of its own people. A clear
proof of it was the decision of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of
Torture to suspend its visit to Azerbaijan due to the obstructions
it encountered in the conduct of the official Baku.

The Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group is the only specialized
structure that has been dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
according to the mandate granted by the international community. While
Azerbaijan is very well aware that it could not possibly deceive or
misinform the Minsk Group, which is very-well immersed in the essence
of the problem, it attempts to transpose the conflict settlement
to other platforms trying to depict it as a territorial dispute or
exploiting the factor of religious solidarity. That is ironic, since
Armenia traditionally enjoys very warm relations with the Islamic
states both in the Arab world or, for instance, with our immediate
neighbor Iran.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We highly value the indispensable role of the United Nations in the
adjustment and implementation of the development goals. I strongly
believe that through the new “Post-2015” development agenda we will
continue our efforts at seeking solutions and responding to challenges
of global nature stemming from the Millennium Development Goals.

In conclusion, I would like to underline that we have passed the
substantial part of the road leading to shaping the “Post-2015
Development Agenda” and we will continue our endeavors in this regard
by displaying necessary flexibility in order to bring this process
to its logical conclusion.

I thank you.