Author: Kanayan Tamar

MINISTER ‘WANTS’ TO ATTEND MASSES

Hurriyet
Sept 13 2012
Turkey

Turkish Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay has said that in the coming
years he would like to attend masses in those long-dormant churches
that have been reopened during his term in office.

Gunay attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the Urartu Museum,
which is to be opened in the eastern province of Van. Speaking to
the Hurriyet Daily News, Gunay commented on his 10 years in office.

“We not only reopened Sumela [in Trabzon] and Surp Hac [in Van], but
also opened the Church of St. Nicholas located in Demre [in Antalya]
for religious services. From Alevis to Greeks and from Armenians to
Sunnis, we wanted to revive mutual awareness and the will to live
together. This is [the Justice and Development Party] AKP’s main goal.

It is true that I did not attend [those services which have already
taken place in the reopened churches] but I would like to attend
future ones,” Gunay said.

With Gunay’s approval, historic Sumela Monastery, located in the
Black Sea province of Trabzon, was reopened in 2010. After that,
Surp Hac (Holy Cross) Church, located in the eastern province of
Van, was opened for religious services once a year just after its
restoration was completed.

Gunay also commented on the sculpture “Monument to Humanity,”
which was erected in the eastern province of Kars and dedicated to
Turkish-Armenian friendship, and was removed after Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it “freakish” and demanded
its removal.

“They [the AKP] have supported me in all my work, but of course there
have been some issues. The humanity monument was one of the biggest of
these. Politics and art should not have conflicted with each other in
that way; I did not want a work of art to be called ‘freakish,’ but
the press forced the prime minister to use this word,” Gunay said,
when asked whether he had encountered difficulties during his term
in office.

“It is true that I have leftist tendencies, but the AKP includes
people with different views. It was a newly founded party then,
and it turned a new page for me,” Gunay said.

September/13/2012

STUDY REVEALS 61 PERCENT OF TURKS DON’T WANT REFUGEES IN COUNTRY

Cihan News Agency (CNA)
September 11, 2012 Tuesday
Turkey

ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- A recently released study conducted by the Barem
Research Company and its global collaborator WIN/Gallup International
Association has revealed that 61 percent of Turks do not want refugees
in their country.

With a recent increase in the number of illegal immigrants and of
refugees seeking shelter from unrest in their own countries, or due to
natural disasters, such as earthquakes or famine, Barem Research has
conducted a study titled “The Views of People on Global Immigration”
to determine the way people regard migration across the world.

The study was conducted with the participation of 1,000 people in
Turkey and a total of 50,000 people from 59 countries. According to
the study, 38 percent of people around the globe consider migration
negative and do not like immigrants, while 34 percent of people are
positive about migration.

In Turkey, the perception of migrants is highly negative in terms of
the global figures. According to the study, 61 percent of participants
in Turkey said they did not want refugees in their country, with only
15 percent stating that they would invite migrants into their country.

The remaining 24 percent had no strong positive or negative feelings
about the issue.

However, while Turks proved generally negative about migrants in their
country, they are among the nationalities most prone to migration
themselves. Turkey sends the third-highest volume of migrants to other
countries worldwide, and, considered on a per capita basis, Turkey
is at the top of this list. Over 6.5 million people from Turkey, a
country with a population of over 72 million, live in other countries
around the globe, in particular Germany.

According to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat),
around 3 million more people entered Turkey to live than left to live
abroad between 2000 and 2011.

The study also reveals that the high rate of migration is largely
due to financial causes. Most migrants leave their countries to
live in another country in order to have access to better economic
opportunities.

Nigeria is the country that is most supportive of migration, the study
suggests, followed by Pakistan and Armenia. Countries least favorable
to global migration are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey.

According to data from the International Migration Research Center
(UGAM), the country that sends the highest number of migrants abroad
is China, with 55 million people living outside the country, followed
by India, with 35 million emigrants. India is followed by Turkey with
6.5 million emigrants.

(Cihan/Today’s Zaman) CIHAN

ARMENIA BORDER NOT TO BE OPENED UNLESS KARABAKH ISSUE RESOLVED, SAYS PM ERDOGAN

Cihan News Agency (CNA)
September 11, 2012 Tuesday
Turkey

GEBELE (CIHAN)- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday
said that it was out of question for Turkey to open its border with
Armenia unless the issue of Upper Karabakh was resolved primarily by
the Minsk Group.

Speaking at a joint press conference with the Azerbaijani President
Ilham Alivey at the end of a meeting of the Turkey-Azerbaijan High
Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Qabala, Erdogan stressed that
they have always made their remarks clear on Armenia during their
government and will never take a step to open the Turkey-Armenia
border unless the matter of Upper Karabakh was resolved.

“Our stance on Upper Karabakh will continue as in the past. As an
intervener in the process, we will continue to be on the side of
Azerbaijan,” Erdogan indicated.

Answering a question on Turkey’s investments in Azerbaijan, Erdogan
stated that their aim was to increase Turkish investments in Azerbaijan
to 20 billion USD.

AZERI PRESIDENT ALIYEV REJECTS COE JAGLAND’S CRITICISM OF AZERI OFFICER’S PARDONING

Interfx
Sept 11 2012
Russia

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev is bewildered by remarks by some foreign
policymakers, including Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn
Jagland, suggesting that the recent extradition to Azerbaijan of an
Azeri officer sentenced earlier in Hungary to life and his subsequent
pardoning was unlawful.

“[Jagland’s] fellow-countryman Breivik killed about 80 people and
got 21 years’ imprisonment. That is, three months of imprisonment
for each person he killed. How can this be possible? Why does he
keep silent in this case?” Aliyev said at a meeting with a group of
displaced persons in northwestern Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

As another example of what he sees as a prejudiced attitude toward
Azerbaijan, Aliyev mentioned U.S. Senator Robert Menendez as one
defending the Armenian lobby’s interests in the U.S. Senate. Aliyev
claimed that Menendez and his supporters blocked diplomat Matthew
Bryza’s appointment as a U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan only because
Bryza does not recognize the Armenian Genocide and because of his
wife’s Turkish origin. “But this is racism, this is Islamophobia,”
Aliyev said.

Ramil Safarov, a senior lieutenant in the Azeri army, murdered Armenian
army lieutenant Gurgen Margarian in 2004 in Budapest, where both were
attending an English language course as part of NATO’s Partnership
for Peace program.

On April 13, 2006, a Budapest court gave Safarov a life sentence
without the right to seek pardon during the first 30 years of the term.

However, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan on August 31, 2012,
assuming that he would serve the rest of his term in his own country,
but President Aliyev pardoned him the same day.

Jagland warned against Safarov’s glorification and criticized his
pardoning.

ARMENIAN FM: EXERCISE OF THE NKR PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION IS THE BASIS OF THE TALKS ON KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

arminfo
Wednesday, September 12, 19:38

The international community fully understands Yerevan’s stance on the
Karabakh peace process, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
said in Parliament when replying to Head of Heritage Faction Rouben
Hakobyan’s question. The latter asked the minister about the expediency
of taking decisive steps for Armenia’s recognition of independence
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic amidst the abrupt response of the
international community to the Azeri murder Ramil Safarov’s extradition
and pardoning.

Hakobyan thinks that such step of Yerevan would provide Armenia with
immunity in the Karabakh peace process and expand the NKR’s capacities
in the talks. Nalbandian, in turn, said that the international
community’s consolidated position on this issue is the result of the
competent and balanced foreign policy of Armenia’s leadership. As
regards the recognition of the NKR, Nalbandian said that it is
inexpedient at the moment and may hinder the fair resolution of
the problem. “Armenia will continue taking all measures on the
conflict settlement, exercise of the Artsakh people’s right to
self-determination and international recognition of the NKR’s
independence. This is the basis of our talks”, he said.

YEREVAN MAYOR MEETS GERMAN COLLEAGUE

news.am
September 12, 2012 | 13:55

YEREVAN. – Armenian capital city Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan received
Mayor Stefan Wolf of Weimar city in Germany, Yerevan Municipality’s
Information and Public Relations Department informed.

Margaryan noted that comprehensive steps are being taken along
the lines of Yerevan’s development programs. “In parallel with
the implementation of new programs, there is [also] a huge task
of maintaining Yerevan’s urban development and architectural
characteristics,” the Mayor stressed.

Underscoring the need to carry out mutually beneficial bilateral
projects with Weimar and several other German cities, Taron Margaryan
noted that there are prospects for cooperation in terms of experience
exchange in local governance and in urban economy.

In his turn, Mayor Stefan Wolf expressed a conviction that the ties
between Yerevan and Weimar will become closer and more practical.

“I already am pleasantly astonished at Yerevan’s alluring exterior
and development pace. All preconditions exist toward implementing
bilateral projects and experience exchange,” Weimar’s mayor noted.

Stefan Wolf also informed that commemoration events are scheduled to
be held in Weimar in 2015, in connection with 100th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide.

At the end of the meeting, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan reaffirmed
the Municipality’s readiness to collaborate with German cities and,
also, to assist in implementing investments projects in Armenia’s
capital city.

RUSSIA AND U.S. START FIGHT
Naira Hayrumyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:14:23 – 12/09/2012

Russian expert Stanislav Tarasov interpreted the statement of the
American diplomat on inexpediency of continuation of the Karabakh
talks as the effort of the United States to oust Russia and Iran from
the region.

Ostensibly, during the UN General Assembly on September 18 the
United States will try to end the OSCE Minks Group. The talks over
the Karabakh issue may go on under the aegis of the United Nations
but there may be no format at all because the United States does not
want other countries to limit them in the region, as Russia so far.

Is Armenia ready for such developments? It is absolutely obvious that
the Minsk Group will be destroyed, the United States and Russia will
be involved in an open fight for influence on Armenia and the region.

Russia understands this and this was the cause of the tough and
impulsive interview of the Russian ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko
who reproached Armenia for Moscow’s assistance to Armenia. In fact,
this comment sounds like blackmail. Russia warns that it may apply
economic sanctions to Armenia. It is not ruled out that soon the
price of gas, as well as train tickets will go up and so on.

Are Armenia and the West ready for such developments? Is the West
ready to offset possible actions by Russia?

Yesterday guests started arriving in Yerevan from Europe. During
the meeting with the EU Special Envoy Philip Lefort, Prime Minister
Sargsyan expressed hope that by the end of the next year Armenia and
the EU will sign an agreement on free trade. The minister of defense
Seiran Ohanyan assured the German general visiting Armenia that our
country will continue participation in the mission to Afghanistan.

It is clear that Russia will not be viewing from aside how smoothly
Armenia diversifies its economic and defense cooperation. But Russia
must understand that Kovalenko’s comments and such approach in general
may boost a negative attitude to Russia. Nobody likes to be reproached
and there is no need to reproach the Armenians for ingratitude. The
problem of Armenians is excessive gratefulness. We take ordinary
business for support or friendship.

Everyone in Armenia knows about the positive and negative role of
Russia in the Armenian economy but Moscow must understand that Armenia
cannot always be friends with Russia out of gratefulness or fear of
blackmail. Russia needs to change its imperialistic tone and shift
to partnership which Armenia will approve.

EXPERT SAYS LATEST DEVELOPMENTS CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Panorama.am
13:50 12/09/2012 ” Topic of the day

Hungary’s extradition and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s pardon
of the convicted killer cause problems for Karabakh settlement, Gagik
Harutyunyan, head of Noravank foundation, told a news conference
in Yerevan.

According to the expert, the negotiation process should be maintained,
with the new realities taken into account. Karabakh talks, he believes,
may not resume soon.

The latest developments do not increase the probability of war because
history shows that the society one of whose members is an axe-killer
cannot be a good warrior, he concluded.

NKR ACTING FM, OSCE CIO PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE DISCUSS THE SITUATION IN THE REGION

ARMRADIO.AM
12.09.2012 12:02

NKR acting Foreign Minister Vassily Atajanyan received Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk, who has arrived in Stepanakert for the monitoring of the line
of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

The issues related to the current situation in the region, the
prospects of the negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict were discussed at the meeting.

The parties emphasized the necessity of maintaining the ceasefire
regime and stability in the region.

ARMENIANS DIED ON AIRPORT ROAD IN ALEPPO

ARMENPRESS
11 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS: On September 11 several Syrian
Armenians appeared to be under fire and died on the secondary road
leading from the Aleppo Airport to Aleppo city. As Armenpress was
informed by the Press Secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Tigran Balayan, the names of the Armenian victims are as
follows: Harut Sulavyan, Arsen Pepejyan, Hrach Pepejyan and Mesrop
Achemyan. According to Balayan, another 10 Armenians were wounded.

More than 20,000 people, including more than 10 Armenians, died in
the collisions between the opposition and government forces, which
have lasted about 18 months. Many Syrians abandon their country and
appear in other countries as refugees. The representatives of the
local Armenian community also leave the country. The applications from
Syrians to obtain a refugee status or get a shelter in Armenia are
discussed in accelerated regime, at least in 10 days. The Migration
Agency got applications from 41 families to get a lodgment in Armenia,
76 people as a whole, 27 of which have already been provided with
temporary shelters.