Author: Kanayan Tamar

Secretary General of Council of Europe calls on to prevent further violations

12:48 10/08/2014 >> REGION

In response to the question of the correspondent of Panorama.am on
recent casualties along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Line
of Contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, Mr. Daniel
Holtgen, Spokesperson for the Secretary General of the Council of
Europe, told that the Council of Europe and Secretary General Jagland
call on all sides to do everything they can to prevent violence and
further victims. ” Mr. Jagland expresses his sympathy to the friends
and families of all victims of recent clashes and he really appeals on
both sides to refrain from further violence,” Daniel Holtgen said.

Speaking about the planned meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents in Sochi on 10 August, Daniel Holtgen said that Mr. Jagland
expresses his hope that this meeting will come forward with a positive
outcome and that escalation of violence can be avoided. “We will be
looking forward to the meeting tomorrow and will be examining and
assessing what the meeting will bring. It’s already good thing that
the presidents of two countries are meeting and we hope very much that
there will be some positive outcome,” Daniel Holtgen told Panorama.am.

On the question about the recent crackdowns on human rights defenders
and civil society representatives in Azerbaijan Mr. Holtgen said that
the Council of Europe expresses its concern whenever human rights
defenders are being restricted and referred to the recent statement of
Mr. Jagland on the prosecution of Leyla Yunus and her partner.

Source: Panorama.am

In Sochi Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have announced that
conflict must have peaceful resolution

15:54 10/08/2014 >> IN THE WORLD

The three-sided meeting between Presidents of Armenia, Russia and
Azerbaijan – Serzh Sargsyan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, has just
been launched in Sochi.

At the beginning of the meeting Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has
expressed hope that it will be possible to solve the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict by peaceful means in the near future. Ilham Aliyev in his
turn has noted that the conflict must be resolved based on the
concessions outlined by the OSCE Minsk Group. This was reported by
Russian mass media.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin mentioned that it is important to
exercise patience, wisdom and mutual respect for the resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

“I am pleased to note that the President of Azerbaijan has drawn
attention to the resolution of the conflict by peaceful means and that
you (turning to the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan) also spoke
about this. This is the most essential thing as there is no bigger
tragedy than the loss of human lives,” Vladimir Putin’s words are
quoted by Interfax.

He has also mentioned that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has existed
for a long time and is “a legacy of the Soviet Union”.

“We must show patience, wisdom and mutual respect to be able to find a
solution. Any complicated situation is of course possible to solve if
there is good will and I think that both Armenian and Azerbaijani
people have such will,” said the Russian President.

According to the source the meeting of the Presidents has started with
a three-sided face-to-face meeting. An extended meeting is planned to
take place.

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian government to spend night in combat positions

22:40, 09.08.2014

The Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan and government
delegation will spend the Saturday night in combat positions of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

According to the PM, the purpose of the visit is to be on the front
line next to the soldiers.

“The people in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh stress the security issue.
Every citizen must understand that the security of Armenia begins with
the security of Nagorno-Karabakh, ” he said.

The PM added that during the visit be wants to get acquainted with the
problems so that “our soldiers realize that the authorities and the
people are united.”

“We will spend the night in combat positions on the front line, next
to our servicemen. We are ready to provide any financial resources for
our army, to protect our land and borders. We have no alternative, ”
Abrahamyan said.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

Putin attends sambo tournament with Armenian and Azerbaijani colleagues

23:08, 09.08.2014

The presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin,
Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev attended the international tournament
in combat sambo in Sochi.

According to the Kremlin press service, this year the Russian martial
arts team opposes the strongest athletes from Europe, Asia and
America.

The heads of the three countries met in Sochi to discuss topical
issues, the most important of which is the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. There were separate meetings of Vladimir
Putin with the Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. On August 10
there is scheduled a trilateral meeting.

Armenian citizen Karen Petrosyan was unarmed, asked for tea,
Azerbaijani villagers say

14:08 ¢ 10.08.14

31-year-old Armenian citizen, resident of Chinari village, Tavush
region, Karen Petrosyan appeared near the house of Röyal Ä°smixan oÄ?lu
Quliyev, a resident of AÄ?bulaq village, Azerbaijan, at about 1:00pm,
on August 7, 2014, and asked for a cup of tea.

In a report by Azer life, Mr Quliyev tells his mother was the first to
see Armenia who lost his way and asked for a cup of tea and
cigarettes.

`I came up to the door and saw his sitting. `Who are you?’ I asked.
`Tea, tea,’ he answered. Them I told my son an Armenian man was
sitting at the door. Then our neighbors came and asked him questions.
We gave him tea and then the military came.’

Interestingly, the video shows a scuffle between the villagers and the
soldiers who arrived to detain the Armenian man, panorama.am notes.

In a report by the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL), Fariza Tagiyeva, who noticed the Armenian man, tells
that the locals asked him why he was afraid and he told them he had
nothing with him, no arms, and his name was Karen.

`I greeted him, searched him, saw his sneakers, he had nothing with
him,’ says local resident Niyamat Mammedov. Karen had no arms with him
and he did not offer any resistance. He only had a phone in his hands.

The locals do not trust the official reports by Azerbaijan’s Ministry
of Defense, which claims Karen Petrosyan was a `saboteur.’ Armenian
posts are too far from the village, which has not even the status of a
borderline village.

`He cannot have come from the [Armenian] posts,’ says Fariza Tagiyeva.

On August 8, referring to Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense,
Azerbaijani mass media reported that Karen Petrosyan had suddenly died
of heart failure. According to the reports, `the autopsy was being
performed at the Ganja center of forensic medicine and pathologic
anatomy.’

Azerbaijan claimed Karen Petrosyan was a `saboteur’ and circulated a
video of his interrogation. However, the video clearly showed the man
had been tortured into confessing.

All the facts show Karen Petrosyan was tortured to death in Baku,
whereas autopsy on his body is being performed in Ganja, 372
kilometers away from Baku.

Ruling regimes temporary, homeland for ever – Gagik Ginosyan

11:58 * 10.08.14

Each Armenian must be ready to be conscripted at any moment, Director
of the Karin folk dance group Gagik Ginosyan told Tert.am.

According to him, all the political regimes are temporary, while the
homeland is for ever.
“I think each Armenian, must be ready to be conscripted at any moment.
Nzhdeh said, ‘I love my homeland regardless of the regime ruling now.’
The political regime has nothing in common with the homeland. We must
not repeat our predecessors’ mistakes. For example, there was the
following tendency during Dashnak rule: ‘If I am not a Dashnak. I have
nothing to do with the government.’ Or now some say, ‘I am not a
Republican Party of Armenia member, so let them fight.’ But people
fight for their homeland, not for the currently ruling regime. All the
regimes are temporary, but it is the homeland that is for ever. And,
in defiance of the regime, to shirk the responsibility for fighting
for your homeland is, I think, opportunism. Each Armenian must be
ready to fight for the homeland. I did not fight for any person. I can
trust or mistrust a person. But people do not go to war for a person’s
sake.”

Armenia, Azerbaijan exchange accusations on border ceasefire violations

Tension has been growing sharply in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area
since late July. Both sides numerously violated the ceasefire regime,
inflicting causalities on each other.

FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE
* Saturday, 09 August, 2014

Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged mutual accusations of ceasefire
violations in the border area on Friday as two countries’ presidents
set to meet in Russia’s Sochi on August 8-9.

“Last night and today in the morning Azerbaijan has once agains
violated ceasefire on several stretches of the state border between
Armenia and Azerbaijan using small arms as well as large-caliber
weapons,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in its statement.

The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan in turn accused Armenia’s forces of
opening fire on the Azerbaijani troops in the border area as well as
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone saying that the attack “was
suppressed by return fire.”

Tension has been growing sharply in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area
since late July. Both sides numerously violated the ceasefire regime,
inflicting causalities on each other.

The escalation of tensions prompted urgent talks on the issue between
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Ilham Aliyev, who are due to begin on Friday their two-day
negotiations on the conflict settlement.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began on February 22, 1988. On November
29, 1989 direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and Azerbaijan
regained control of the region. However, a joint session of the
Armenian parliament and the top legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh
later proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

On December 10, 1991, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh held a referendum,
boycotted by local Azeris, which approved the creation of an
independent state.

The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and
Azerbaijan obtained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the
end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and
created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. An unofficial
ceasefire was reached on May 12, 1994.

As of August, 2008, the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group were
attempting to negotiate a full settlement of the conflict. On August
2, 2008, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan travelled to Moscow for talks with Dmitry Medvedev, who
was Russian president at the time. As a result, the three presidents
signed an agreement that calls for talks on a political settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. — ITAR-TASS

APA, Azerbaijan
Aug 9 2014

Ahmet Davutoglu: “The tension between Armenian and Azerbaijan is
caused by the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the region”

[ 09 August 2014 13:10 ]

Baku – APA. “The tension between Armenian and Azerbaijan is caused by
the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the region”, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with Kon TV channel
broadcasted in Konya region.

Asked about the recent tension regarding the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, Davutoglu noted that he discussed the situation in the
region with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov over phone
and Turkey will always be next to Azerbaijan.

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 9 2014

Turkey to benefit from EU-Russia row: Minister

Erdinç Çelikkan
ANKARA

The dispute between Russia and the Western world tends to create
economic opportunities for Turkey, as the country is seeking a bigger
role in Asian trade and to-build stronger economic ties

The crisis that Russia is facing with the West may present Turkey new
opportunities, according to Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci.

`Amid the deadlock between Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the
United States, we will carry our interests to the peak while
[remaining] closer to Russia,’ the minister said during a recent
interview with a group of journalists. `We will gain advantages from
that.’

The Russian embargo on U.S. and European goods was launched in
retaliation against U.S. and European sanctions over Russia’s alleged
role in eastern Ukraine separatist violence.

Russia is in talks with a number of countries such as Belarus,
Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on issues like free
trade or a customs union, Zeybekci said, adding that Turkey’s
intention was not to join such a customs union but engage in
`preferential trade.’

What happens in Russia will be a `big change’ for the Turkic republics
and Turkey, he said, adding that Turkey had not lost its position in
free-trade deal talks between the EU and the U.S.

`Countries that account for 50 percent of world trade are reshaping
the map of the economy. We cannot stay out of this in an environment
that the changes so fast,’ he said. `The developments in Iraq are
making Turkey a compulsory [trade destination].’

The country is also a good spot for European capital, according to the minister.

`When Europe goes under a monetary expansion, there isn’t another
[destination] that this money would go to,’ he said.

Turkey will shift from a `passive economy’ to an `active economy’
starting Aug. 10, he said, in an open reference to the presidential
elections over the weekend.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an, who is competing against
Ekmeleddin Ä°hsanoÄ?lu, the joint candidate of the main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), as well as Selahattin DemirtaÃ…?, the co-chair of the People’s
Democracy Party (HDP), is promising a more hands-on presidency if
elected.

`If we continue with the production and marketing habits that we are
used to and have conducted until today, it will be impossible to reach
the 2023 goals. We cannot reach them even by 15 to 20 percent,’ he
said, adding that the country had reached its current position as a
subcontractor in a business habitat where raw materials and energy
resources are controlled by other countries.

`What Turkey should do next is control consumption networks itself.
We can reach the 2023 [goals] only via an active economy, not a
passive one,’ he said.

The Middle East, the Caucasus, the northern Black Sea, the Gulf and
the Arabic peninsula are the targets for such goals, he said.

The minister also said Iran would be an important country for the
Turkish economy, mainly due to a recent preferential trade deal.

August/09/2014

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 9 2014

Russian and Azerbaijani presidents discuss Karabakh issue

9 August 2014 – 3:28pm

Russian-Azerbaijani ties are developing in a very successful way,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said today during his meeting with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, RIA Novosti reports on Saturday.

“Bilateral relations are developing successfully. We maintain direct
contact. Mutual ties are developing in various fields including in the
economy and the humanitarian sphere,” the Russian president is quoted
by the news agency as saying.

The positive dynamics in Russian-Azerbaijani relations have been
evident for many years, his Azerbaijani counterpart stressed. “Russia
is one of our main partners in the international community,” the
Azerbaijani leader said.

On the initiative of the Russian president the two heads of states
discussed the ongoing Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We have discussed Azerbaijan’s long term conflict with Armenia. We
agreed that the conflict should be resolved,” the Azerbaijani
president said.