Author: Karagyozian Lena

Economist
March 12 2009

Turkish foreign policy
Repairing the bridge

Mar 12th 2009 | ANKARA AND TEHRAN
The Economist print edition

The diplomatic benefits of an undiplomatic outburst

WHEN Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a panel discussion with
Israel’s President Shimon Peres in Davos last January, denouncing
Israel’s offensive in Gaza and quoting the sixth commandment `Thou
shalt not kill’, many wondered whether he had just demolished Turkey’s
position as the bridge between the Jews and the Arabs, and between the
West and the Islamic world.

He certainly won plaudits among many Muslims, not least Iran’s
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Yet his outburst’and the rancour
against America and Europe that many Turks now express’seem not to
have done him any harm with the administration of Barack Obama. On the
contrary, at a time when America wants to reach out to the Muslim
world, Mr Erdogan’s popularity may be useful.

After visiting London, Brussels and Prague next month, Mr Obama will
travel to Turkey, keeping a pledge to visit a Muslim country in his
first 100 days. Delighted Turkish officials see favourable omens: they
say it will be the first time an American president has visited Turkey
without also making an obligatory visit to its rival, Greece. They
interpret Mr Obama’s decision to visit as part of a European tour,
rather than a Middle Eastern one, as confirmation of Turkey’s
importance in NATO and a message of American support for Turkey’s wish
to join the European Union.

One senior official spoke of a new `golden era’ in Turkish-American
relations, with co-operation on a host of issues: the Arab-Israeli
dispute; opening a dialogue between America and Iran to curb Tehran’s
nuclear programme; stabilising Iraq as American forces leave; and
opening energy pipelines through the Caucasus.

Perhaps the most important of these issues is Iran. This week Turkey’s
President Abdullah Gul, in Tehran for a regional economic summit, met
the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was the first
time the leader of a NATO member state had been given such an
audience, said Mr Gul’s entourage. Iranian leaders listened as Mr Gul,
who recently met the American secretary of state, Hillary Clinton,
urged Iran to take up an American olive branch. Mrs Clinton said Iran
would be invited to a meeting in The Hague later this month of
Afghanistan’s neighbours and countries contributing troops to the
NATO-led stabilisation mission there.

Still, Turkish officials are holding back their hopes of an early
breakthrough between America and Iran. It is hard for `an iceberg to
melt overnight’, says one. America will probably not want to move
until after Iran’s presidential elections in June. It fears that a
quick thaw would strengthen the hardline Mr Ahmadinejad, who could
claim that his policy of nuclear defiance had succeeded in forcing
America to deal with Iran on its own terms. Until then, Turkey hopes
America will restrain the incoming Israeli government from turning up
hostile rhetoric against Iran, or from trying to attack its nuclear
facilities.

Iran, for its part, told Turkey it wants more confidence-building
steps from Washington. In public, it shows little sign of
softening. Mr Ahmadinejad dismissed Turkey’s mediation. Mr Khamenei
said America had made `big mistakes’ in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Gaza. `The American government is continuing the same previous path
and there is no sign of efforts to make up for the mistakes,’ he said.

Turkey wants to highlight Mr Erdogan’s other moves: helping repair
Syria’s relations with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and pushing for
reconciliation between the two Palestinian factions, Hamas and
Fatah. Turkey also claims to have played a part in bringing together
the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. `Obama knows that,’ says Mr
Gul.

As Europe frets about the reliability of oil and gas supplies from
Russia’a dispute with Ukraine in January left much of eastern and
central Europe freezing’Turkey’s position as the alternative route for
energy supplies through Georgia should enhance its standing. This
fragile corridor would be strengthened if Turkey were to succeed in
another ambition: a grand bargain to resolve border disputes involving
Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Premier Minister of Armenia: Turkey is not invited to participate in
the construction of new NPP in Armenia

2009-03-13 19:12:00

ArmInfo. Turkey is not invited to participate in the construction of
new nuclear power plant (NPP) in Armenia, Prime Minister of Armenia
Tigran Sargsyan told media Friday.

He called it misunderstanding and wrong interpretation of his
invitation to participate in the project addressed to Russia and
European and other states. ‘The point is that certain part of the
shares of the future NPP may be set to free sale and Turkish, Greek and
other companies may display interest in them’, the premier said. He
stressed that this idea is still under discussion. He added that
isolated private companies in Turkey display interest in the project.
In general, the Armenian power engineering has serious resources, which
makes it possible to export electric power. As a result, the companies
of the neighbor states display an interest in it.

PanARMENIAN.Net

University Rectors label as `immoral’ the way Armenian Students fight
against corruption
13.03.2009 20:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `No one denies the fact that the phenomenon of
corruption does exist in our society, but the participants of `Miasin’
Youth Movement violated not only the legal rights but also the moral
norms. Having no facts and grounds they flung mud at people. This fact
reflected negatively on the reputation of Armenian Universities. As
group applications against slanderers are not permitted, each of the
professors slandered must decide himself/herself whether to hand in an
application or not, and we shall support them,’ said Aram Simonyan YSU
rector at today’s meeting with journalists.

As the Rector of Yerevan State University of Economics Yuri Souvaryan
says, his University has transferred on to a test exam system, next
year the exams are expected to be computer based. This is also a way
to fight against corruption. More civilized methods must be used to
eradicate displays of corruption. In case we have related facts, we
are ready to take measures against corrupt professors,’ said the YSUE
rector.

In his turn the head of parliamentary faction of `Heritage’ party,
Armen Martirosyan announced, `It is necessary to start fighting
against corruption with defense and law enforcement agencies. Instead
of catching `sharks’ we are chasing after small fish. The aim of this
movement is simulation, and simulation processes have never been of
any good.’

On March 11 the participants of the Youth Movement `MIASIN’
(`Together’) started the program fighting against corruption. Within
the framework of the program pictures of more than ten Armenian
professors grouped under the heading `Bribe-takers’ were stuck on the
walls of several Universities in Yerevan, on the bus stops, and some
other public places. Besides the pictures, information on the
professors’ activities and their `professional’ career was also
provided. The participants appealed to all the students to join them
in their fight and help eradicate corruption and other such phenomena
at Universities.

Panorama.am
21:18 13/03/2009

MIGRANT REPORTER FROM BBC ABOUT DIFFERENCES IN JOURNALISM

What to do? Where to live? How to make living? Reporter Mark Grigoryan
has been asking himself these questions before leaving Armenia to
settling down in London, England.

`It is used to say West, money, tasty new things, etc. But, in fact,
for a reporter from Armenia it is extremely difficult to find living
in the West. Of course, you can start earning money writing some
stories for a paper of Armenian Community, but they pay little to keep
your family,’ said Mark Grigoryan in his exclusive interview given to
Panorama.am.

– What do you mean saying `it was difficult’?

– When you leave your home, especially when you have changed it not
willingly, it is extremely difficult. Our journalism, the one in
Armenia has nothing to do with the one we have here.

– How? What do You mean?

-Just, professionally. You have been passing trainings here, and you
could see that there is a huge difference in approaches, models,
writing style. When I came in London I had a working visa and I did
not ask for political residence. I was working in the Institute of War
and Peace as a Caucasus reporter and journalists’ trainer. A few
months later, when BBC found out that I was in London they have
involved me into their pool.

-How long are You working for BBC?

-It’s already 5 years. I have seen many people who did not manage to
correspond the local methods and they have done away. They have not
been fired, they have felt it themselves.

-What are the basic professional differences in journalism of West and
ours?

– It is the newsworthiness, which is the basics of journalism. What do
we find is news? Press conference is not news here. In Armenia the
situation is quite different. Our reporters in Armenia go to press
conferences and they write that someone has told something, they add
that the speaker has also mentioned something and the news is
ready. But, in the West press conference is never news.

In this regard I had some difficulties in working in BBC. I knew that
method of covering news, but I had to learn from anew. Here the
working speed and the rhythm are rapid and stormy.

Source: Panorama.am

ArmBusinessBank to start issuing Visa cards since April

2009-03-11 17:28:00

ArmInfo. ArmBusinessBank (ABB) is going to start issuing the first
cards of international payment system VISA International, Chairman of
ABB Board Ara Kirakosyan told ArmInfo.

He said that ABB became an affiliated member of VISA Int. System on
December 4, 2008, and intends to issue VISA cards of Electron, Classic,
Business and Gold kinds. At the same time, Kirakosyan
pointed out that the bank has become much more active in the card
market due to operations with ArCa and MasterCard, and the indices
ensured over 1.5 years are direct evidence of this. Thus, there are a
total of 15150 active cards issued by ABB, 8800 of them being local
ArCa cards, 6350 – MasterCard. In 2008 the bank issued 12 thsd cards
and intends to ensure the same number in 2009.

Speaking of the card business development, Kirakosyan said that to
diversify its services, ABB and foreign companies are jointly working
out new products at the moment. "In 2 months we are going to offer the
market new card services offered by not a single bank in Armenia",- he
said.

He added that there are 54 ABB bancomats in Yerevan, regions of Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh, 4 new bancomats will be launched in the near
future. By the end of 2009 the bank intends to launch 32 more bancomats
and increase their number to 90.

At the same time, Kirakosyan said that ABB is still the only bank in
Armenia which has installed currency exchange facilities (33 in
number). 3 new such facilities will be launched in the near future,
and by late 2009 ABB intends to increase their number to 61. According
to him, a total of $800-1000 operations are daily carried out by means
of each device. These devices exchange USD, EUR RUR,
GBP, UAH and CHF online. "The exchange rate is completely regulated
online by the ABB head office", Kirakosyan said.

As of 1 Jan 2009, the ABB shareholders are the Ukrainian Ukrprombank
(35%), Ukrainian insurance company Alpha-Garant (35%) and the Chrystie
Management Inc. company (30%).

PanARMENIAN.Net

The RA Government denies rumors of Prime Minister’s resignation
10.03.2009 18:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The RA Government denies rumors about resignation of
Prime Minister and leaders of financial ministries.

Head of PR and Information Management at RA Government Petros
Demirchyan denied the information, when questioned by PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter.

The information on resignations appeared today at Lragir.am on line
news agency.

Meanwhile, the ministries in question neither confirm nor deny the
information.

Aze rbaijan is Russia’s strategic partner: official

Russia, Moscow, March 11 /Trend News, R.Agayev/

Azerbaijan was and will always remain a key strategic partner for
Russia, Federation Council International Relations Committee Deputy
Chairman Vasiliy Likhachev said.

"No one can say that Russian-Azerbaijani relations have problems
keeping us apart," he said.

"Of course, sometimes technical issues arouse among friends. And I
think our political and parliamentary dialogue could be more
intensive," Likhachev said at a news conference in Moscow.

He added that Moscow and Baku must coordinate efforts to maximize
their economic potential.

"Russia supports the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,"
Likhachev said. "We must use specific methods based on a consensus
between the conflicting sides and international legal principles."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian national team forward Edgar Manucharyan plans to leave Ajax
07.03.2009 17:13 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian national team forward Edgar Manucharyan,
22, is planning to leave Ajax because he was not given a possibility
to play in the first team.

Manucharyan signed a contract at the age of 18. Eyed as a promising
footballer, he, however, could not show his worth because of injuries.

Now, the young man doesn’t have problems with his health.

`I think I can make a breakthrough in my career and expect changes
within next three months,’ Edgar Manucharyan said, AT5 reports.

The National, UAE
March 9 2009

Will Obama risk Turkey’s wrath?

Thomas Seibert, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: March 10. 2009 12:15AM UAE / March 9. 2009 8:15PM GMT

ISTANBUL // Although there are many issues that Turkey would like to
discuss with the new administration in Washington, Ankara’s
politicians and diplomats will be concentrating on one task in the
coming weeks: to prevent Barack Obama from using the word `genocide’
to describe the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians almost
100 years ago.

Attention is focused on the traditional message of the US president on
April 24, the day commemorating the massacres against Armenians in
what was then the Ottoman Empire.

In recent years, presidents have avoided the term `genocide’ to not
offend Turkey, a strategic US ally. But Ankara has been concerned that
Mr Obama may change this, as the new president used the term during
his election campaign and promised to recognise the genocide.

In a statement in January last year when he was a US senator, Mr Obama
talked about his `firmly held conviction that the Armenian genocide is
not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather
a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of
historical evidence. The facts are undeniable.’

He added: `As president I will recognise the Armenian genocide.’

Turkey’s concerns formed part of the talks between high-ranking
Turkish officials and the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in
Ankara last weekend.

Mrs Clinton’s visit was seen as an effort to put US-Turkish relations
on a new footing after a period marked by tensions over the US
invasion in Iraq. Judging by Turkish reactions, Mrs Clinton succeeded.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ali Babacan, said relations between the two
countries had `entered a new era’.

But despite that positive assessment and a cautious rapprochement
between Turkey and Armenia that started last year, the prospect that
the United States may officially label the events that took place
during the First World War a genocide is still so explosive in Turkey
that Ankara warned of irreparable damage to Turkish-US relations,
should the term be used.

`I see a risk here,’ Mr Babacan told the NTV news channel last
weekend. `Just one word may seem easy for them. But ¦ they have to
understand the consequences, the reaction of our people,’ the minister
said. `We conveyed that message to Clinton as well.’

Armenians and much of the international community say that as many as
1.5 million Armenians were killed in a genocide orchestrated by
Ottoman authorities that started in 1915.

Turkey rejects that term, puts the number of victims much lower and
argues the death of the Armenians was the result of a resettlement
under wartime conditions. Several countries around the world have
passed resolutions recognising the genocide, but the United States has
not done so yet.

Turkish media speculated in recent weeks that the possibility of Mr
Obama’s recognising the genocide had risen after the latest spat
between Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Israeli
president, Shimon Peres, over Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Other observers think that an announcement, made during Mrs Clinton’s
visit, that Mr Obama plans to travel to Turkey in early April has
taken much of the pressure off Ankara.

`To think of a visit to Turkey would not make sense for an American
president who is going to use the word `genocide’,’ Kadri Gursel wrote
in a column in Milliyet, a daily newspaper.

According to news reports, Mr Obama’s visit is expected around April
7, about two weeks before he is to make his first official statement
on the Armenian question as president.

Mr Obama may also be hesitant to fulfill his campaign pledge on the
Armenian issue because such a step could endanger efforts to make a
new start in relations between Turkey and Armenia.

A joint statement after talks between Mrs Clinton and Mr Babacan in
Ankara underlined `US support for the efforts of Turkey and Armenia to
normalize relations’.

Omer Taspinar, a Washington-based columnist for Sabah, a daily
newspaper, wrote on Monday that Mr Obama would tell Turkey and Armenia
to open a new chapter in their relations. `The time has come to sign
an historic agreement with Armenia.’

Turkey broke new ground in its relations with its neighbour when the
president, Abdullah Gul, visited Yerevan in September. There have been
several high-level contacts since then, and Armenia’s president, Serzh
Sarkisian, is expected in Turkey this year.

Some Turkish observers have predicted an opening of the border between
the two countries, which has been closed for more than 10 years, and
the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Wrapping up a visit to Washington a few days ago, a group of Turkish
lawmakers also expressed their expectation that Mr Obama would not use
the term and that Congress would not pass a resolution recognising the
genocide.

`I do not think that President Obama will use that despicable term,’
said Sukru Elekdag, a deputy and former Turkish diplomat, according to
press reports.

`Congress will look at what the president says.’

But another Turkish lawmaker, Nursuna Memecan, said Armenian groups
were lobbying for recognition of the genocide by Washington. `We
cannot rest peacefully,’ she said.

icle?AID=/20090310/FOREIGN/63319576/1135

Foreign Minister of Armenia to visit France

armradio.am
09.03.2009 17:33

March 10-12 the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, will
pay a working visit to France.

During the visit the Armenian Foreign Minister is expected to have
meetings with his French counterpart Bernard Couchner, and Chief
Diplomatic Adviser to the President of France, Jean David Levitte.

On March 12 the Armenian Foreign Minister and the Mayor of Paris,
Bernard Delanoe will open the Yerevan Square in the center of Paris.

Within the framework of his visit to France Edward Nalbandian will
deliver a report on Armenia’s foreign policy at the International
Diplomatic Academy of France.

Edward Nalbandian is expected to make a speech at the Foreign Relations
Committee of the National assembly of France and have meetings with
members of the National’s Assembly’s Friendship Group with Armenia.

On March 12 Minister Nalbandian will visit the headquarters of the
`France Telecom’ Company, where he will officially launch the
broadcasting of programs of the Armenian Public Television on Orange
network.