Author: Maghakian Mike

CIS informal summit opens near Moscow

19:1108/05/2010

GORKI (Moscow Region), May 8 (RIA Novosti) — An informal Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS) summit opened on Saturday at the Russian
president’s Gorki residence just outside Moscow.
The summit follows an informal summit of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security bloc.

A Kremlin source said the summit did not have a fixed agenda and that
the CIS leaders would use it to exchange opinions on the status and
prospects for cooperation within the CIS.

The summit is attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko,
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Turkmen President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Moldova’s
acting president Mihai Ghimpu, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Uzbek
Prime Minister Shavkat Mirzieyev and CIS Executive Committee Chairman
Sergei Lebedev.

The CIS presidents are expected to deliver an address to World War II
veterans and workers of the home front.

The former Soviet states of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Ukraine are members of the CIS. Georgia pulled out of the organization
in 2009.

COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS FIRES BACK AT PROSECUTOR GENERAL AGHVAN HOVSEPYAN

Tert.am
15:04 07.05.10

Committee for Protection of Political Prisoners has released a
statement in response to a statement recently made by the Prosecutor
General of the Republic of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepyan.

The statement recalls that Hovsepyan said recently that "there are no
political prisoners in Armenia at all" and that all those considered
by the oppositionist powers as political prisoners have been sentenced
for criminally punitive actions.

Further is says that no despotic state in the world has so far
acknowledged that it has political prisoners and that in that term
Armenia is not an exception.

"Committee for Protection of Political Prisoners of Armenia considers
it worth stating that it is not the Prosecutor General of Armenia,
recognized as a non-democratic state in the world, that should
recognize the political prisoners as such … Especially that
prosecutor or prosecutors who issued written instructions to their
subordinate bodies to carry out persecutions toward opposition
candidates and their supporters during pre-election periods, who
themselves make lawful citizens turn into political prisoners … who
upon the order of the ruling authorities arrest absolutely innocent
people sentence and torture them for their political views" reads
the statement.

It also says that it is by the Prosecutor General’s personal
involvement that "14 political prisoners are still kept under
detention" and that it is upon his instructions that relevant articles
from the Criminal Code of Armenia were illegally chosen for those to
be sentenced.

V. BOSTANJYAN SAYS THE 5, 5 % ECONOMIC GROWTH REGISTERED IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE RUNNING YEAR SHOWS THAT THE COUNTRY HAS GOT OUT OF THE CRISIS

ARMENPRESS
MAY 7,2010
YEREVAN

The financial crisis has notable impact on Armenia as well. But the
5, 5 % growth of the GDP registered in the first quarter of the
running year prompts that the republic has get out of the crisis
thanks to the measures undertaken last year, Vardan Bostanjyan,
head of the Prosperous Armenia Party faction, vice-chairman of the
NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, said today at a meeting
with journalists, expressing confidence that the stability will be
continued in near future, too. According to him, the programs of the
Armenian government on promoting the small and medium-sized business
will contribute to that as well.

GUITARIST DEBUTS NEW SONGS AT CONCERT
by Chris Clay

The Mississauga News
May 6, 2010 Thursday
Canada

Final Edition

Meadowvale guitarist Aramik Moosakhanian will perform on Saturday in
Toronto at a concert to raise awareness of human rights issues around
the globe.

Moosakhanian, who was nominated for a 2010 MARTYS Award in the
Emerging Performing Arts category, is expected to hit the stage about
4 p.m. for a 20-minute set at United We Rock! The Concert for Human
Rights, at Yonge and Dundas Square. The concert starts at noon.

Moosakhanian will perform two of his songs – Only You and This Is
My Song – from his upcoming English-language album. It will be the
first time he’s performed either live.

The concert also holds a personal meaning for Moosakhanian, who’s
of Armenian decent, as it will mark the 95th anniversary of the mass
killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

"I gladly accepted the invitation because I think (human rights)
is a great cause and it’s important to shine a light on some of the
darkest parts of the world," he said.

Also performing is Amos the Transparent, Karina Es, One Fell Swoop,
Fame City Boiz, Humble the Poet, The Birds of Wales and Graydon James
and the Young Novelists.

Moosakhanian started playing classical guitar at the age of nine in
his native Iran. He moved to Mississauga in 1999.

On July 9, he’ll perform as part of an Armenian summer festival
in Scarborough.

BELGIAN SENATE HOSTS MEETING OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN WOMEN

news.az
May 7 2010
Azerbaijan

Belgian senate A seminar ‘Peace by means of women. Women of Azerbaijan
and Armenia initiate dialogue’ was held in Brussels.

Seminar was held at the initiative of Dominique Tilmance, who heads
the group of the Reformer Movement Party on May 4-5.

According to sources in the Azerbaijani embassy in Belgium, Azerbaijani
women were represented by Tunzala Rustamkhanly, chairman of the
Azerbaijani-Turkish union of women. Armenian side was represented by
Rima Arakelyan, chairman of the Council for Missing people.

At the event on May 4, the sides exchanged views on UN resolution 1325
‘Women: peace and security’.

It involved head of the Brussels bureau of the UN Development Fund
Elissar Saru, head of the UN Bureau on EU and Benilux Jean-Luc Onkelix,
representative of the European commission on human rights David Zaru,
Belgian ambassador in Middle Asia and Caucasus Stephan de Locker,
senator Anne-Marie Liesin, Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Belgium Emin
Eyubov, Armenian ambassador Avet Adonts and others.

In his speech, Locker touched upon the issues of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh, energy problems and
South Caucasus region. Highly appreciated the energy potential and
role of Azerbaijan in the region, Locker accentuated the fact of the
Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands and noted that mostly women
and children suffered from both sides. As for the issue of human rights
and especially rights of women, Locker noted that unlike Armenia,
the situation in Azerbaijan is more favorable in this sphere.

Rustamkhanly informed the participants about the Karabakh conflict,
ineffective talks mediated by the Minsk Group and sufferings of the
Azerbaijani women. She voiced hope for the restoration of relations
between the two peoples after peace is reached.

In his speech, Eyubov informed about the conflict, as well as women
and children who died, were taken hostage or went missing. He stressed
the important role of women in building peace and security in the
world. Highly appreciating the initiative of senator Tilmance,
the ambassador stressed the importance of enlarging the format of
equal participation of the Armenian and Azerbaijani women of Nagorno
Karabakh.

Rustamkhanly and Arakelyan had a private meeting mediated by senator
Tilmance discussing ways of the conflict settlement and role of women
in this process on May 5.

HOVHANNES HOVHANNESYAN: SUPERPOWERS WILL NOT ALLOW ARMENIA TO WITHDRAW FROM PROTOCOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 6, 2010 – 16:38 AMT 11:38 GMT

Before embarking on "Armenian-Turkish dalliance", Armenian authorities
should have realized the necessity of certain time, resources as
well as national consensus in rapprochement process with Turkey,
LPA chairman Hovhannes Hovhannesyan stated.

"We should have mobilized our resources before entering upon a
diplomatic process of such scale. Having no support in Armenia,
President Sargsyan meant to secure his legitimacy through foreign
policy," LPA chairman noted.

Commenting on April 23 presidential address on Armenia-Turkey process
suspension, he characterized it as domestic targeted. "Actually,
Protocols are still on RA NA foreign affairs committee agenda. No legal
changes occurred, as a matter of fact" Hovhannesyan stated, noting
that superpowers will not allow Armenia to withdraw from Protocols.

RA FOREIGN MINISTRY: NKR PEOPLE’S POSITION – FIRST PRIORITY IN KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 5, 2010 – 20:53 AMT 15:53 GMT

NKR people’s position, expressed at 1991 referendum, is the first
priority in Karabakh conflict settlement, Armenian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Tigran Balayan stated.

Commenting on official Baku’s allegations on Armenia’s "requesting for
some time to resolve Karabakh conflict" and "absence of clear position"
on the issue, the spokesman noted, "Armenia always remained firm in
its position. Azerbaijan is just wasting time; sooner or later it
will have to reckon with the free will of Karabakh people."

As Tigran Balayan noted, failing to find understanding in their
destructive position, some Azeri officials can think of nothing
better than showing off in front of their own people through endless
chain of falsifications and saber-rattling, RA Foreign Ministry press
service reported.

SPEAKER: GENOCIDE NOT MATTER FOR BARGAIN

Yerkir
04.05.2010 14:23
Yerevan

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Speaking at a European regional session of
Parliamentary Assembly of Francophonie, opened in Yerevan today,
Armenian Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan said that language skills
enrich people, noting that French can be considered a native tongue
for many descendents of Genocide.

He also also spoke of the political processes in Armenia, underlining
that the country is ready to establish relations with all neighbors
and had already made such a move seeking to hold dialogue with Turkey
without preconditions. "However, Ankara did not appraise Yerevan’s
stance and torpedoed the dialogue.

As a result Armenia suspended ratification process of the Protocols.

Though, it does not mean we walked out of the process, and expect
Turkey to display constructivism," he noted. He also stated that
aspiration to settle relations with Turkey might not push aside
Armenia’s national interests, turning Genocide issue into the matter
of bargain. "Armenia will henceforth be consecutive in international
recognition of Armenian Genocide perpetrated in Ottoman Empire,"
Abrahamyan said.

Speaking about Karabakh peace process, politician stressed that
Azerbaijan’s warlike statements destabilize situation in the region and
misinform international community. "Azerbaijan makes similar statements
fully realizing that its military capability cannot provide victory in
case hostility breaks out," he said. "Nagorno-Karabakh will never be
a part of Azerbaijan," Abrahamyan declared, pointing out that Karabakh
peace process is not linked with Armenia-Turkey reconciliation.

DENIAL, ANGER AND A BUNCH OF MOUNTAINS IN AZERBAIJAN — ACCEPTANCE, THAT’S SEVERAL STEPS LATER
Nicholas Clayton

The Faster Times
/denial-anger-and-a-bunch-of-mountains-in-azerbaij an-acceptance-thats-several-steps-later/
May 4 2010

Last September, Slate columnist Christopher Hitchens wrote that
"engaging with Iran is like having sex with someone who hates you." If
that’s true, then the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process is
something like an orgy of mutually despising interlocutors, each only
agreeing to do it in the one position the other one hates.

With that visual in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that after a year
of back-and-forths and ups and downs the process came to a screeching
halt last month as Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced he was
"suspending" discussion of the reconciliation protocols — a move
that was enthusiastically welcomed by his constituents.

But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean it’s back to the silent game.

Although the highly touted reconciliation protocols are considered
to be an important part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign
policy ambitions in Europe, the move to freeze the discussions was
telegraphed by insiders well in advance and has even been endorsed
publicly by administration officials.

Why? Because few seem to have expected it to get this far the first
place. The Turkish-Armenian relationship is fraught with unresolved
baggage mostly surrounding denial, anger and a bunch of mountains
in Azerbaijan.

Sargsyan’s announcement came 48 hours before the day that Armenians
regard as the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide — a nearly
decade long pogrom of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire that
killed an estimated 1.5 million people. Twenty countries and 44 U.S.

states recognize the events that occurred from 1915-1923 as genocide,
and Armenians have been upset by their government’s efforts to improve
relations with Turkey without forcing Ankara to recognize past crimes.

The last time Turkey and Armenia recognized one another diplomatically
was a brief period after the fall of the Soviet Union until 1993, when
their already rocky relationship hit a new low over Armenia’s support
for ethnic Armenian separatists in the Nagorno Karabakh (Russian for
Mountainous or Highland Karabakh) region in neighboring Azerbaijan,
a Turkish ally. Armenia continues to occupy Nagorno Karabakh as well
as other Azeri territory and the two nations remain in a state of war.

In the end, despite the unprecedented nature of the breakthrough that
led to these talks, first announced in April 2009, neither side has
been a particularly considerate to each other’s needs, and it’s not
surprising both are saying they now need a break from each other.

The preexisting gripes quickly reclaimed the focus of the discussion
not long after it started; denial, anger and a bunch of mountains
in Azerbaijan.

In the initial aftermath of this most recent hiccup in the dialogue,
it’s not difficult to feel like both sides took one step forward and
two steps backward. In March, after Sweden and the U.S. House Foreign
Relations Committee recognized the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Erdogan told the BBC that he was considering deporting
100,000 Armenians he claimed were living in Turkey illegally.

However, many observers see genuine progress amid the habitually
fiery rhetoric. Davit Alaverdyan, the chief editor of Media Max News
Agency in Armenia said that while he feels it is difficult to see
where the process will lead from here, he thinks both sides have made
achievements through the past year’s bickering — first and foremost
that the two sides were talking at all.

But there’s more to it than that.

When Obama gave a speech on the anniversary of the genocide last April
using the phrase "Medz Yeghern" — the Armenian word for the genocide,
meaning "Great Massacres" — he was falling short of using the G-word
like he promised during his campaign for president, but nonetheless
pleased many on both sides.

Suat Kiniklioglu, a member of the Turkish parliament and spokesman
of the Turkish Foreign Affairs Commission from the ruling Justice
and Development party told Media Max in an interview at the time,
"I believe that "Medz Yeghern" is an invaluable term for a positive
language about the events of 1915. "Medz Yeghern" is a term whose scope
should be widened. World War I and the events leading to the war,
namely the physical removal of Turks and Muslims from the Caucasus,
the Balkans and the Middle East was a Great Catastrophe for us as
well. Turks, Kurds and Armenians in the eastern front of the empire
truly experienced a Great Catastrophe […] The Armenians lost their
homes and property and had to leave Anatolia. There were many deaths
and it was an immensely sad chapter of this region’s history […] I
hope that when we establish diplomatic relations, open borders and
when our peoples get the chance of direct communication with each
other, we will be able to elaborate positive wordings."

It’s certain that there is no consensus for movement towards genocide
recognition in Turkey — it remains illegal to insult the Turkish
nation or ethnicity, a law that has been invoked to prosecute Turks
calling for genocide recognition.

But Armenians continue to point to various signs that an internal
dialogue within Turkey about its hard past is beginning. A few hundred
Turkish artists and intellectuals marched in Istanbul commemorating
the 95th anniversary of the genocide this year chanting "never again."

Also, information security analyst and blogger, Samvel Martirosyan
pointed out that new Turkish directives to its diplomats encourage
them to engage with Armenian communities abroad and publicly discuss
and debate the facts of 1915-1923.

All of this he said shows things are moving, albeit so slowly it’s
hard to actually see it. Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said in a Media Max
report that the temporary freeze with Turkey will give Armenia more
time to devote to resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict while
still appearing to be the one committed to the process.

While no one is quite sure when, eventually the orgy of malice and
mistrust will be in full swing again in the near future.

Nicholas Clayton lives in Tbilisi, Georgia and works as a professor
of journalism and a freelance reporter covering the Caucasus.

TIME FOR FREEDOM OF PRESS HAS NOT COME FOR OBJECTIVE REASONS

Tert.am
03.05.10

"There is no field for free journalists to express themselves. Freedom
of speech has not come to Armenia yet for objective reasons," President
of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan said at a press conference
on the occasion of World Day Freedom of Press.

In his words journalists in Armenia will be subjected to violation
in the future too, as not only journalists’, but also citizens’
rights are not protected.

On the other hand, according to Navasardyan it will mean "we are
losing the specialty of journalist as such," should journalists be
not subjected to violation under these circumstances.

According Committee to Protect Journalists 70 journalist were killed
across the world in 2009 while doings their professional duties.