Author: Madatian Greg

PanARMENIAN.Net

Gul formally invites Sargsyan to Istanbul
13.09.2008 14:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish President Abdullah Gul formally invited his
Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to Istanbul to watch a return
match between the Armenian and Turkish national teams in 2009.

In his message, the Turkish President thanked Mr Sargsyan for sincere
welcome and said he is pleased with the outcomes of his visit, CNN
Turk reports.

The Armenian President’s administration confirmed the information to
PanARMENIAN.Net.

AS A RESULT OF ESTABLISHMENT OF CLOSE RELATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY ARMENIA WILL GAIN IN RESPECT OF COMMUNICATIONS, GARIK KERIAN CONSIDERS

Noyan Tapan

Se p 12, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Colored revolutions carried out in
some former USSR countries in the past years had considerably weakened
Russia’s positions, which, however, again became stronger as a result
of the Georgian-Ossetian armed conflict. Garik Kerian, the head of
the political science chair of Yerevan State University, expressed
such an opinion at the September 12 discussion at the National Press
Club. According to him, the situation formed in the South Caucasus can
have a positive impact on Armenia’s communications. In particular,
as G. Kerian mentioned, today Turkey tries to create some alliance
in the region, and Russian diplomacy can prove to be behind Turkey’s
idea. "If it is really so and there is Russian-Turkish consent,
we can hope that Kars-Gyumri railway will be put into operation,"
the political scientist said.

Another participant of the discussion, former National Assembly
deputy Tatul Manaserian, in his turn, said that the aggravation
of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict was just an occasion for new
geopolitical developments in the region. That conflict, according to
his observation, was not so much the problem of Georgia and South
Ossetia as of Russia and the United States. As regards Armenia’s
position to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
according to T. Manaserian, President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement that
Armenia cannot recognize the independence of Kosovo, South Ossetia
or Abkhazia until Nagorno Karabakh is recognized was quite right.

SPAIN THRASH ARMENIA TO TOP WORLD CUP GROUP

Think Spain
Sept 11 2008
Spain

Spain extended their unbeaten run to 25 games in Albacete last night
with a comfortable 4-0 win against a poor Armenian side. There were
goals for Capdevila, Villa (2) and Senna as well as a second-half debut
for young Bojan Krcic (photo), who turned 18 at the end of last month.

After just seven minutes Andres Iniesta unlocked the visitors’ fragile
defence for the first time with a superb ball into Joan Capdevila,
who made no mistake from close range with just the keeper to beat.

Villa doubled the lead in the 15th minute, pouncing on a defensive
error before sliding the ball past Eerezovsky’s despairing dive.

Half-time came and went without further goals, but the visitors fell
further behind twelve minutes from time when Xabi Alonso put through
Villa to complete his brace before Marcos Senna completed the scoring
three minutes later with a speculative long-range drive.

In Lièges, Turkey held Belgium to a 1-1 draw, leaving the new European
champions at the top of Group 5 as the only side with a maximum six
points from their opening two games.

2010 World Cup Group 5: points after two games 1 Spain 6 2 Turkey 4
3 Belgium 4 4 Bosnia Herzegovina 3 5 Armenia 0 6 Estonia 0

10th September Turkey 1-1 Belgium Bosnia Herzegovina 7-0 Estonia
Spain 4-0 Armenia

6th September Belgium 3-2 Estonia Armenia 0-2 Turkey Spain 1-0
Bosnia-Herzegovina

11th October Belgium vs Armenia Turkey vs Bosnia Herzegovina Estonia
vs Spain

15th October Belgium vs Spain Bosnia Herzegovina vs Armenia Estonia
vs Turkey

–Boundary_(ID_WgCV1GGhlTYisqxHEVJoeA)–

MONTH OF IT TO BE HELD IN OCTOBER

ARMENPRESS
Sep 10, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS: A month of information technology
(IT) will be held in Armenia under high sponsorship of Armenian
Prime Minister.

Director of the "Enterprises Incubator" Foundation Bagrat Yengibarian
told Armenpress that within the frameworks of the month a number of
events will be held with the participation of a number of international
and local companies.

>From October 3-5 within the frameworks of the month "DigiTec-2008"
annual exhibition will be held. Around 40 companies have presented
applications for the participation in it.

Underscoring the conduction of this event B. Yengibarian pointed out
that Armenia is seeking to become a regional center of IT and such
events will promote bringing the idea into life.

"This event will give an opportunity to discuss the issues of the
companies of the sphere, show their opportunities. By participating in
"DigiTec-2008" exhibition the organizations of this sphere will be
able to easily orient how to apply information technology in the
development of their business," B. Yengibarian said. Within the
frameworks of "DigiTec-2008" a number of events will be held.

>From October 4-5 "ArmTec" Congress will be held, from 21-24 UN
global forum dedicated to the information technology, innovations
and education. Within the frameworks of the event UN high-ranked
officials, as well as more than 300 young people and specialists of
different areas will visit Armenia.

During the month other events will also be held.

ZARDUSHT ALIZADE: "IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR US TO FIND A COMPROMISE WITH THE ARMENIAN SOCIETY WHICH IS FRIENDLY TO TURKEY, BUT NOT THE ARMENIAN SOCIETY, WHICH DEPENDS ON RUSSIA"

Today.Az
09 September 2008 [14:10]

"In the early 1990s Turkey was greatly interested in Azerbaijan and
started to support our country strategically. Yet Azerbaijan turned out
to be not quite a good partners. Turks began to train our servicemen,
supply ammunitions and weapons here, but, in the end, they saw that
Azerbaijan does not take due interest in the Karabakh issue", said
famous political scientist Zardusht Alizade, speaking of the recent
visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Armenia.

According to him, Turkey maintains good neighbor relations with Syria,
Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Russia – with everyone except for Armenia.

"The security of any country is measured with its relations with
neighbors.

In these conditions a government should set a dialogue and improve
relations. In this sense, Turkey has done much: without having
diplomatic relations with Armenia, it allowed Armenian citizens to
come to Turkey for earning a living, thus making a part of Armenian
society economically dependent on itself, like Russia did it with
Azerbaijanis".

He said Ankara started to encourage development of Armenian-Turkish
business relations and today some Armenians even voice statements that
Turks are not enemies but neighbors and a gate to Europe. According
to him, these voices are so far weaker on the background of those
supporting relations with Russia, however, the struggle started, there
is a split in the Armenian society and Turkey takes an advantage of it.

"Therefore, I think Gul’s visit to Yerevan is a wise and brave step on
the way of intensive dialogue. It reminds me of a ping-pong diplomacy
between the US and China in the 1970s and "fighter diplomacy" when
Iranian fighters went to the United States and US ones to Iran.

I think Gul has taken a positive step, which will promote improvement
of relations between Armenia and Turkey and raise security and mutual
understanding level in the region".

He said Gul’s visit to Armenia will improve relations between Armenia
and Turkey, Armenian economy will be bound to Turkish, Armenian society
will start orienting on Turkey, thus reducing tensions between these
two countries. "In these conditions, it will be easier for us to find a
compromise with the Armenian society which is friendly to Turkey, but
not the Armenian society, which depends on Russia, though there are a
number of factors, including a military base used to control Armenian
society and army, Armenian national myth of enmity towards Turks,
Karabakh army around Yerevan, which controls Armenian opposition,
Armenian politicians speaking for the union with Russia, including
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and Baku Saakyan, who controls Serzh and Robert
and ensures Russia’s control over Armenia".

According to the political scientist, Turkey has already started to
change its policy, using the potential of peace, economy, cooperation
and Azerbaijan should also change its approaches, as our country’s
current policy in this direction is completely ineffective.

Nevertheless, he thinks that initiative of the platform of cooperation
and security is senseless, as the regional countries look in different
directions.

"FOOTBALLERS LONGED FOR VICTORY"

A1+
[03:10 pm] 08 September, 2008

Most football fans are disappointed with Armenia’s defeat at the
recent Armenia-Turkey match. It is not strange that Hrazdan stadium
began emptying after the second goal.

The match was a good lesson for our footballers, fans and the whole
nation. We all chanted "Victory!" before the meeting without weighing
our confined chances to victory. We shouldn’t cheat ourselves,"
said 35-year-old Samvel Harutiunian.

Many were indignant at the empty tribunes of the stadium.

"No seat was to be left vacant on that day. When our footballers
appeared on the field they became disillusioned with the empty
tribunes. It is really discouraging for a team that rarely plays in
its homeland. If I were a footballer I would also get disappointed,"
said 27-year-old Arayik Sedrakian.

29-year-old Harutiun Margarian thinks we should forget the defeat
and get prepared for the upcoming match with Spain. "It was a hard
blow for all of us but we shouldn’t give up. I think our boys lost
the match as they longed for victory," he said.

"I think we were to cheer up our footballer throughout the match. We
should always stand our team as our footballers took the defeat to
heart," said Ashot Minassian.

WITHIN ENVISAGED PERIOD DEC No 4 RECEIVES 21 APPLICATION-COMPLAINTS WITH REQUEST TO RECOUNT PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF ELECTION TO LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES

Noyan Tapan

Se p 8, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Within the envisaged period:
by 2 pm of September 8, the district electoral commission (DEC)
No 4 received 21 application-complaints with the request to recount
the preliminary results of the September 7 election of aldermen in
Yerevan’s Arabkir district community. NT correspondent was informed
about it by the DEC chairman Albert Frangulian, who said that no
official application-complaints were received from the candidates
for the post of the district head and the persons empowered to act
for them.

The absence of incidents, in particular, scuffles and stabbing cases
in the district on the voting day was attributed to the fact that such
cases took place outside the polling stations and the areas adjacent
to them so their details will be revealed by law enforcers.

The Canadian Press
Sept 6 2008

Turkey scores twice in second half to beat Armenia 2-0 in World Cup
qualifier

YEREVAN, Armenia ‘ Tuncay Sanli and Semih Senturk scored second-half
goals Saturday to give Turkey a 2-0 win at Armenia in World Cup
qualifying.

Tuncay gave the visitors the lead in the 61st minute, scoring from
close range. Senturk made it 2-0 in the 79th, capitalizing on a
defender’s mistake in the box.

On Wednesday, Turkey hosts Belgium and Armenia is at European champion
Spain.

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia are also in Group 5.

Deutsche Welle, Germany
Sept 6 2008

Turkish President Pursues Football Diplomacy on Armenia Trip

Turkish President Abdullah Gul is undertaking a historic visit to
Armenia that analysts have said marks a thaw in relations between the
inimical neighbors.

Gul’s day trip to Yerevan where he will meet his Armenian counterpart
Serge Sarkisian and then attend a Armenia-Turkey World Cup qualifying
match is the first visit by a Turkish head of state to Armenia since
the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

"I hope that the match that will be played today will be a catalyst to
eliminating obstacles that are preventing the two peoples who share a
common history from getting closer and that it will contribute to
regional friendship and peace," Gul said at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport
Saturday afternoon.

While Turkey immediately recognized Armenian independence, Turkey cut
off all ties and closed its land border in 1993 following Armenia’s
occupation of Azeri Nagorno-Karabakh.

Relations are also strained by Turkey’s refusal to accept as genocide
the deaths of up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in the last days of
the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says that while there were massacres of
ethnic-Armenians the events do do constitute genocide and were instead
the result of a civil uprising during the First World War.

Visit opposed in both countries

Gul’s visit has split the Turkish public with newspapers reporting
that around 60 percent are against the trip. Opposition parties have
condemned the visit and deputies from the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) made a group decision that none of its
parliamentarians would attend the match.

Protests are also expected to take place in the Armenian capital of
Yerevan with Armenians upset with the visit.

The trip aims to soften hardened attitudes in both countries with Gul
expected to bring up a number of issues during his one-hour meeting
with Sarkisian — a Turkish initiative to establish a joint historical
committee to look at the genocide issue, Turkey’s bid to set up a
Caucasus platform to solve regional problems and Armenia’s continued
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

DPA news agency (kjb)

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 6 2008

Armenian Parliamentary Commission Chairman’s Visit Planned to Azerbaijan
06.09.08 13:10

Azerbaijan, Baku, 5 September/corr. Trend News I.Alizade/ Gagika
Minasyan, chairman of Armenian Parliament’s Financial and Budgeting
Commission is expected visit Azerbaijan on 8 September to attend the
meeting of the Economical Committee of PA BSEC (Parliamentary Assembly
of Black Sea Economic Cooperation) which will be held in Baku.

`All the members of the organization have been invited, including
Armenia. If the Armenians want to participate at the meeting,
Azerbaijan is ready to receive them,’ Vice-president of PA BSEC, Head
of Azerbaijani delegation to the organization, Asef Hajiyev, told
Trend News.

Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation has 12 members.

The meeting will be held in Baku on 9-10 September. Minasyan is the
chairman of economic committee. Inviting the Armenians proceeds from
Azerbaijan’s international obligations. The meeting organizing country
must ensure participation of all current member-states, he said.

According to Hajiyev, the integration of Black Sea region into the
World Trade Organization will be discussed during the meeting.

`The discussed issue will be presented to meeting of General Assembly,
which will be held in November. The recommendations to be submitted
will be sent to the parliaments of member-states,’ added Hajiyev

The conference had been scheduled to hold in October, but due to the
presidential elections the date postponed to September, said the Vice
President.