Author: Karapetian Hovik

Hurriyet, Turkey
March 19 2010

Failing to change the course on Armenia

Thursday, March 18, 2010
CENGÄ°Z AKTAR

Victorious in the July 2007 elections, the ruling Justice and
Development Party, or AKP, found on its desk in October the House
Resolution on the Armenian Genocide at the United States House of
Representatives.

At the time, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an gave the following
possible consequences if the resolution was passed: `The U.S. will
considerably damage bilateral ties with one of its key allies in the
region. Positive developments with Armenia will become less likely.’

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the resolution on Oct.
10, 2007 exactly like in March 4, 2010. Following the vote, ErdoÄ?an
said that they were diligently working on possible steps to be taken,
saying, `These are not for talk, but for action,’ after being asked
about the fate of U.S. Air Force Base in Ä°ncirlik.

Despite this, the partnership between the two countries has not
loosened up; on the contrary, especially after Barack Obama became
president, the Turkey-U.S. partnership blossomed more.

As the rumors were that ErdoÄ?an would cancel a trip to the U.S.
scheduled for November 2007, the visit actually took place on Nov. 3.
As for relations with Armenia, work on the Protocols, which were just
launched then, continued and the blueprints were signed last fall.

Armenian Genocide bills, which have been approved since 1965 in
parliaments around the world, have never caused such high tension
between Turkey and the 20 countries that have ratified them than the
feud existing today between Turkey and the U.S. and Turkey and Sweden.

The only serious tension, as far as I remember, happened when Turkey
called back the Turkish Ambassador to Paris Hasan Esat IÅ?ık, after a
monument dedicated to the genocide was inaugurated in Marseilles in
1974. In the near past, Turkey showed a similar reaction to Canada,
but that didn’t last.

To the contrary, ErdoÄ?an has visited these 20 countries several times
with the exception of Armenia and the Republic of Cyprus. No
alterations have happened in economic relations. France is even being
invited back to military tenders after being snubbed for some time.

Tough but inefficient diplomacy

It’s obvious that the government is toughening its stance compared to
previous years on foreign matters. Now we understand why Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu is likened to former U.S. State
Secretary Henry Kissinger, a champion of muscle-flexing foreign
policy.

Summoning back ambassadors from Stockholm and Washington one after the
other for consultations; requiring inconceivable guarantees from the
U.S. administration that the House Resolution won’t reach the floor;
canceling and not postponing a two-party summit due to take place in
Stockholm; recommending business circles cool their relations with
these countries; threatening to deport clandestine workers from
Armenia in retaliation for genocide bills ` thus mimicking Idi Amin
Dada of Uganda when he expelled Muslim businessman from India and
Pakistan in 1972.

But all these are tough-looking, empty threats that detract from the
credibility of Turkey’s foreign policy.

Because, in the end, ErdoÄ?an will go to the U.S. accompanied by the
Turkish ambassador and he will possibly discuss, among other things,
the Armenian issue. Relations with our biggest ally in the European
Union, Sweden, will go back to normal as well. The protocols signed
with Armenia will be shelved at least until the end of the election
period. But we should expect of Turkey engagement in gestures to
rebuild confidence following ErdoÄ?an’s trip to Washington.

Defining the legislative acts of foreign parliaments as `irrelevant,’
`valueless,’ `a comedy,’ `ridiculous’ and `a show of the diaspora’
fluctuates between insult and threat.

The Turkish government took a critical initiative in the summer of
2007 as a way to go beyond the common refrain that was used for
90-something years regarding the Armenian Genocide.

Irrespective of its goals, this was a courageous and critical move.
But, due to the government’s rigidities, the initiative has been
aborted. Now, the government leader and its members are lashing out,
going through tantrums over national honor and pride.

Instead, they should calm down and find ways to normalize relations
with Armenia. In the meantime, officials could and should make an
effort to consult sources other than official denial tales of what
happened to Anatolian Armenians in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.

For it is impossible for Turkey ` and the AKP, for that matter ` to
continue talking about democratic change on the one hand and, on the
other, confirm the horrifying deeds of early 20th century Ottoman
governments

UNIBANK HAS INCREASED U-STREAM CREDIT CARD LIMIT

ArmInfo
19.03.2010

ArmInfo. Unibank has increased the U-Stream credit card limit to
$5,000, reports the bank’s press service.

U-Stream is available for customers who have received transfer for
a year and have no negative credit history. The maximum period of
U-Stream crediting is 24 months, the interest rate is 24%.

Unibank is among the five biggest plastic card issuers in Armenia. As
of early Mar 2010 the bank had issued 41,000 cards, of which 29,000
were VISAs. Unibank has the second biggest fleet of POS-terminals
and is the third as to the quantity of bancomats.

To remind, in 2009 the turnover of UNIStream international money
transfer system in Armenia totalled $551mln.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN

Aysor
March 19 2010
Armenia

The International Student Conference will take place on March 22, at 4
pm, at the conference hall of the Yerevan Training Center for Russian
Language, a spokesperson for conference’s organizer, Russia-Cooperation
Office in Yerevan, told journalists. Students from Armenia, Russia
and CIS states will gather together to participate in the conference.

Conference is reported to be held under patronage of Russian Embassy
in Armenia, acting in assistance with Armenia’s Ministry of Education
and Science.

Invited to attend the conference are president of the Armenian
Association of Russian Studies L.B.Matevosian, president of the Union
of Russian Universities’ Alumni, rector of the State Architectural
University O.V. Tokmajian, vice-president of the Union of Russian
Universities’ Alumni, Prof. V.V.Madoyan, and directors of science
centers and university staff of Armenia.

TURKEY STUCK AT CROSSROAD OF CIVILIZATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.03.2010 17:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Erdogan’s statement on possible deportation of
Armenians mustn’t come as a surprise. Turks tend to show their true
face from time to time, head of Analitika.at.ua data portal Marat
Hakobyan said.

"It’s only during negotiations for EU membership that Turkey
adopts European values. In fact, Turkey is stuck at crossroad of
civilizations, seeking to belong to the civilized world, yet unable
to give up medieval traditions," the expert told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"Ankara’s reaction when urged by other states to acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide is an obvious proof of the above," he added.

PAVE PARADISE AND PUT UP A… CHURCH?

Tert.am
14:36 ~U 17.03.10

The decision to demolish Moscow Cinema’s open-air hall and replace
it with a church was made hastily and without consulting experts,
said Union of Architects of Armenia President Mkrtich Minasyan at a
debate today.

According to Minasyan, the state had registered the cinema’s outdoor
hall in its list of cultural and historical monuments that should
be preserved; however, it has since been unlawfully removed from
that list.

"It’s a committee of experts that defines the state list of monuments
to preserve; thus, it’s the committee that removes monuments from
that list. the However, the Ministry of Culture hasn’t ensured that
process," he said.

An online petition by Sydney-based Hayas Cultural Organization says
that the "legally questionable" decision "to ‘un-protect’ the hall
was supposedly instigated by the decision of Moscow Cinema’s current
management to transfer the deed of ownership of the Open-Air Hall
to the Holy Mother See of Echmiadzin, which plans to demolish said
Hall for the purpose of re-building the 18th century Peter-Paul
Basilica that once stood on this territory. The Soviet authorities
tragically destroyed the church in 1930s with the purpose of building
the Moscow Cinema."

According to Minasyan, the Peter-Paul Basilica (known as Poghos-Petros
in Armenian), however, offered no architectural value.

"How appropriate is it to build a church or reconstruct the old one
on those premises, when just a further over another church is being
built?" asked the Union of Architects president, noting that the
entire architectural community today is against the plan.

Minasyan’s opponent in today’s debate, Father Mkhitar Aloyan, however,
was of a different opinion: "It’s interesting to me, didn’t the Youth
Palace [a Yerevan landmark for decades, known as the ‘corncob’], which
was demolished, have any architectural value? If the owner of Moscow
Cinema built a cabaret or swimming pool, would you still be fighting
[for your cause]?" he asked.

Father Aloyan said that the church today wants that land which belonged
to it at one time.

One Facebook supporter of saving the open-air hall, however, summed
it up nicely: "The Soviet Union tore down a church and built a theatre.

So we’ll tear down the theatre and build a church. It was wrong for the
Soviets to destroy St. Peter and Paul Church. But the Moscow Cinema
Open-Air Hall is a cathedral to the arts, and two wrongs don’t make
a right."

The Moscow Cinema open-air hall was built in the 1960s by architects
Spartak Knteghcyan (alternatively spelled Knteghtsian) and Telman
Gevorgyan. The building is considered one of the city’s best modern
architectural venues.

UK PLEDGES NOT TO RECOGNIZE "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"

news.az
March 17 2010
Azerbaijan

British Justice Minister Jack Straw promised to Turkey that his country
will not adopt a resolution on the so-called "Armenian genocide".

According to the Vatan newspaper, he gave such a promise at the
reception in honor of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London.

"The resolution on recognition of the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’
will not be adopted by our parliament. Such a bill is supported only
by one of the deputies of the House of Commons, therefore, there are
no grounds to adopt it", he said.

"This resolution is not supported either by the government or the
opposition of Great Britain. I can guarantee it to you. The possibility
of adopting this bill is almost zero", Straw said.

SLOVAKIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
16.03.2010 15:24

The Foreign Minister of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcak will pay an official
visit to Armenia March 17-19 at the invitation of the Foreign Minister
of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.

Within the framework of the visit the Foreign Minister of Slovakia
is expected to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The Foreign Minsiters of Armenia and Slovakia will sign an agreement
on Air Communication and a Memorandum of Understanding in the field
of European Integration.

Miroslav Lajcak will participate in the opening ceremony of the
Armenian-Slovakian business forum.

‘HIGH TIME’ TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT – OSCE

News.az
March 16 2010
Azerbaijan

Aliyev receives Joao Soares

The Karabakh conflict dominated discussions during the head of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly’s meetings with Azerbaijani leaders yesterday.

Joao Soares and his delegation met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
yesterday. Aliyev said the visit created a good opportunity to extend
cooperation and discuss regional development.

Soares said effective discussions had been held with the the
Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. He said was
impressed by the development in Azerbaijan and described Azerbaijan
as a model country in the efficient use of its natural resources.

The head of state said that not only Baku, but also all the regions
of Azerbaijan were developing rapidly. He said that the income from
major energy projects was fairly used, good investment conditions
had been created in the regions, the business environment was being
improved and successful reforms were being carried out in all spheres
of the economy. He said that even in a year of economic crisis the
country’s economy had grown 9.3 percent, which was a great statistic
by world standards.

Karabakh Joao Soares met members of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh community
during his visit to Baku and discussed solutions to the conflict.

‘The people displaced from Azerbaijan’s Nagorno Karabakh and
the adjacent regions must return to their native lands. This is
their sacred right,’ Soares said at the meeting, according to the
parliament’s press service.

The head of the Azerbaijani Community of the Nagorno-Karabakh Region
of the Azerbaijan Republic, Bayram Safarov, members Farhad Badalbayli
and Vagif Farzaliyev, MPs Rzayev and Havva Mammadova called on the
organization to work towards the restoration of the violated rights
of the refugees and IDPs (internally displaced persons).

The conflicting sides and international organizations should unite
their efforts in order to restore the violated rights of these people
and solve the conflict, Soares said.

He had been received earlier by Azerbaijan’s foreign minister
Elmar Mammadyarov. Their discussion focused on the solution to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the Foreign
Ministry’s press service reported.

Elmar Mammadyarov said Armenia had occupied Azerbaijan’s territory and
violated the norms and principles of international law. The minister
said first of all it was important to overcome the consequences of the
occupation. He said that the solution should come in stages. Armenian
armed forces should be withdrawn from the occupied land, normal living
conditions should be established there and communications opened,
IDPs should return home and then the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh
should be resolved, Mammadyarov said. These are the only conditions
for sustainable peace and security.

Joao Soares said he agreed with Azerbaijan’s approach and said that
it was high time to solve the conflict.

The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.

The speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, Ogtay Asadov, also received
Soares and his delegation.

Asadov talked about Azerbaijan’s role in Europe’s energy security
and security.

‘The protracted conflicts in the region impede the region’s integration
into European structures and development and also pose threat to the
security of the South Caucasus. The August events in the region [the
Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008] showed how dangerous
the protraction of conflicts can be. Armenia, which ignores the
resolutions and decisions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict passed
by the UN Security Council and other international organizations,
continues to pursue an aggressive policy. Armenian people have become
hostage to the political ambitions of the diaspora,’ Asadov said.

‘Europe should make its choice, either choose development in the
region, or listen to the fables of the Armenian lobby. Azerbaijani
cultural monuments, clubs and libraries have been destroyed in
Nagorno-Karabakh for 20 years and the world community looks away.

Though the OSCE Minsk Group has been engaged in the solution
to the problem for 18 years, unfortunately no real results have
been achieved. We support the solution to the conflict within the
international legal norms based on countries’ territorial integrity,’
the parliamentary speaker continued.

Joao Soares said he had become better acquainted with the situation
during his visit to the South Caucasus and told Ogtay Asadov that he
would increase efforts to settle the problem.

‘The solution of conflicts is the demand of the day in terms of the
security and development of the region,’ he said.

The deputy speaker of parliament and head of the permanent delegation
to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Bahar Muradova, also met Joao
Soares.

Joao Soares was accompanied by Goran Lennmarker, the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly’s special envoy on Karabakh.

GTR: HSBC RECOGNIZED AS BEST GLOBAL TRADE FINANCE BANK 2009

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.03.2010 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ HSBC was recognized as The Best Global Trade Finance
Bank 2009 for the second year running by Global Trade Review (GTR)
magazine, London, UK. The decision was made based on the number of
votes submitted by HSBC trade customers worldwide and the votes cast
by GTR’s annual readers’ poll on the leading financial institutions
in trade finance in 2009.

In a most challenging year, HSBC maintained a clear commitment to
meeting its customers’ needs, by providing consistent trade expertise
and guidance across multiple markets, enabling customers to depend
on HSBC’s trade finance experience globally, HSBC Bank Armenia said
in a press release.

The bank has also further maintained its position as a market leader
with the launch of its global trade confidence index in 2009, capturing
the views of over 3,500 importers, exporters and traders from 12
markets across the world. The index serves as a unique barometer of
trade activity, presenting data that can help the industry detect
signs of growing or weakening confidence in key trade finance markets.

"HSBC Armenia made a significant contribution to the Group’s success.

Notwithstanding the adverse economic conditions throughout the year,
we continued to support all components of trade finance in Armenia,
and managed to increase total trade-related income by 38%, of which
income from imports and guarantees grew by 48% and 17% respectively.

However, the most important issue for us remains our customers’
acknowledgment of our ability to support them, by guaranteeing the
safety of their cross-border businesses", said Arthur Petrosyan,
Trade and Supply Chain Manager, HSBC Bank Armenia.

OSCE: ORGANIZATION PAYS GREAT ATTENTION TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Today
s/64019.html
March 15 2010
Azerbaijan

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Joao Soares believes the
OSCE pays great attention to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

"We want all parties to underscore that the conflict cannot be resolved
through violent means," Soares told journalists today.

"The visit of the OSCE special representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict shows that the structure stresses the resolution of the
conflict."

An OSCE delegation led by Soares and Lennmarker arrived in Azerbaijan
on a three-day visit March 13.

OSCE representatives visited Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as part
of a tour of South Caucasus.

Negotiations were held in all three countries on the conflict’s
resolution, as well as the situation after the August 2008 war
in Georgia.

This is Soares’s first visit to Azerbaijan as the OSCE President.

Earlier, he visited the country as an observer to the elections.

"War and violence should be completely excluded," he said.