Author: Nanijanian Alex

KEY TO REGION – NAGORNYY KARABAKH

Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Oct 13 2009
Russia

On Monday [12 October] Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in
Moscow on a short working visit at the invitation of President of
the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev. According to the official
press release, the heads of state discussed a wide range of questions
linked to bilateral and regional cooperation and partnership in bloc
organizations, a number of international topics, and problems of
military, economic, and trade cooperation. However, as Nezavisimaya
Gazeta was told by sources in Yerevan, the main question in the talks
was a settlement for the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

The presidents of Russia and Armenia last met in Chisinau on Saturday
[ 10 October] at the CIS summit and exchanged opinions on questions
of interstate relations. The signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols
on normalizing relations also took place

on Saturday, in Zurich.

The moving of the reconciliation process between Turkey and Armenia
to the practical level gives rise to geopolitical changes in the South
Caucasus. In this light, the visit by the leader of allied Armenia to
Moscow immediately after the signing of the protocols looks perfectly
logical, particularly since the realization of a solution to the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem will imminently rise onto the agenda.

Serzh Sargsyan devoted his brief conversation with journalists at
the Zvartnots airport before he flew to Moscow to precisely this issue.

The Armenian leader gave an assurance that the question of surrendering
territories had never been discussed, including during the last talks
with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on Saturday in Chisinau.

"The president of Azerbaijan and I have never discussed this
question… He (Ilham Aliyev — Nezavisimaya Gazeta) is dissatisfied
with the talks in Chisinau because we only discussed two questions —
the final status of Nagornyy Karabakh and its transition status,"
Sargsyan announced. At the same time, the president of Armenia
avoided a direct answer to the question of whether the problem of
the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] would be examined in Moscow with
Dmitriy Medvedev.

Meanwhile, Russia’s interest in a settlement to Armenian-Azerbaijani
relations is obvious. In the case of a successful outcome to this
process, Moscow will perceptibly boost its position in the region and
increase its peacekeeping rating, which has reeled in the perception
of the West since August 2008, and Medvedev himself will substantially
gain political weight — especially since by distancing itself from the
process of normalization in Armenian-Turkish relations and basically
handing them over to the "supervision" of the United States, Russia
has retained and secured Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

"In the Armenian-Turkish context Russia’s position has come down
to not resisting the process of normalization in relations between
Yerevan and Ankara," head of the Yerevan Center for Globalization and
Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan considers. In his words, Moscow is not
as interested in the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border as the
United States and Europe are, although the boosting of the regional
role of allied Yerevan and the weakening of those functions for Tbilisi
is advantageous to it. "In exchange for this non-interference Moscow
has received the West’s agreement to an active role in the Karabakh
process. Its influence in the OSCE Minsk Group, which is in charge of
the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, will probably be boosted. This
is very topical for the Armenian side, since as soon as the protocols
on normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations were signed, in Ankara Prime
Minister Erdogan ‘recalled’ the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,
without the restoration of which, in his words, Armenian-Turkish
relations will not move into the practical phase," Grigoryan told
Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

The political scientist considers that during the high level talks in
Moscow the sides will try to define the possible degree of acceleration
of a settlement to the Karabakh problem and will be able to "settle"
Russia’s ultimate interests. "It is obvious that Russia has an interest
in the military component of a possible peacekeeping operation in
the NKR, which will de facto lead to the expansion of its military
presence in the South Caucasus. Baku is against this. Neither does
Stepanakert for the moment consider the appearance of foreign military
structures on the territory of the NKR necessary. Taking this into
account, it can be supposed that there will not be any perceptible
acceleration in the Karabakh settlement for the moment," Grigoryan
considers. In order to attain the agreement of all the participants in
the conflict to the entry of precisely Russian peacekeeping subunits
to the NKR, in Grigoryan’s opinion, Moscow will also need to hold
talks with Turkey, which is all the same starting to reach the stage
of putting its political interests higher than its ethnic proximity
to Azerbaijan. "We have a whole set of mutually linked questions,
so there will not be any sharp acceleration in a settlement to the
problem of the NKR," Stepan Grigoryan told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT KNOWS , IT’S TAKING AN ANTI-ARMENIAN STEP, SAYS MP ARAM KARAPETYAN

Tert
Oct 22 2009
Armenia

A venue for New Times Party Leader Aram Karapetyan to give a press
conference wasn’t found immediately. The journalists and the politician
were informed about the place on the spot: the press conference was
to take place at Erebuni Plaza Hotel. However, the De Facto media
center situated there had decided to provide the premise for holding
another event without any advance warning.

"If this is intentional, I’m sorry, it’s just plain stupidity. If it’s
not intentional, let’s consider that it turned out this way today,"
Karapetyan said giving the press conference in the open air.

Immediately jumping to the topic of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols
and referring to the statement made by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu yesterday, Karapetyan stated that the minister’s words noted
the existence of pre-conditions. "There are three pre-conditions, the
most important of which in this phase is the fact that the Armenian
leadership is directly obliged and is lead to recognize the Treaty
of Kars." This, according to the New Times party leader, means giving
up the territories of Western Armenia.

Karapetyan said that the Armenian Genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh are
the other two preconditions.

Karapetyan believes that the result of exerting pressure on the
leadership in Armenia was that "all the sides had to point to the
preconditions in nervous spasms."

"Nalbandyan understood that if, after signing the Protocols,
an announcement was made that a commission of historians was to be
created to examine the facts of Genocide, there would be an uproar
in Armenia," the politician stated.

He also thinks that the leadership will try to ratify the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols in such a way as to avoid future problems.

"This shows that parliamentarians understand they are going to take
a very anti-Armenian step by ratifying the Protocols," the leader of
New Times Party said.

Stating that one shouldn’t trust Turkish officials, Karapetyan said
that Armenian politicians, on the other hand, are keeping quiet,
so how can "we know whether to believe [them] or not?"

Furthermore, Karapetyan reproached the Armenian leadership for not
responding to the statement Turkish foreign minister made yesterday.

OFFICIAL OF U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC REFORMS OF ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT

Noyan Tapan
Oct 21, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, NOYAN TAPAN. During the October 21 meeting with
U.S. Deputy Assiastant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs Tina Kaidanow, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan presented
the state of the Armenian economy, its development prospects, and
the existing problems. He also spoke about the impact of the global
financial and economic crisis on Armenia.

Noting that she had been informed about the economic reforms being
implemented by the Armenian government, T. Kaidanow expressed support
for these reforms.

According to the RA Government Information and PR Department, the
interlocutors attached special importance to reforms in tax and customs
administration. In the words of T. Sargsyan, fair administration and
its continued improvemement will enable to reduce the shadow economy
and successfully implement the government program of reforms. The
sides also discussed the prospects of economic development in 2010,
pension reforms, fight against shadow economy, and some other problems.

ANKARA SENDS ARMENIA ACCORDS TO PARLIAMENT

PRESS TV
Oct 21 2009
Iran

The Turkish government has submitted to parliament two landmark
accords calling for restoring relations with Armenia after decades
of hostility.

Ankara and Yerevan signed a historic agreement earlier this month on
establishing diplomatic ties and opening their borders, but the accord
needs to be ratified by their respective parliaments to take effect.

The agreement provoked a mixed public reaction on both sides,
which have been at odds for almost a century over a number of issues
including the allegations of mass killings and deportation of Armenians
by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

While Armenians believe Turkey had escaped the issue of the mass
killings of Armenians during the World War I, Turks say that the
agreement harms Ankara’s relations with a close ally, Azerbaijan,
which is in conflict with Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, however, has said that the
government does not seek a parliamentary vote on diplomatic ties
and the reopening of the border with Armenia unless Yerevan and Baku
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The ethnic-Armenian enclave broke from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s
with the help of Armenian-backed forces. Since then, Baku and Yerevan
broke off diplomatic relations and Turkey closed its border with
Armenia in a show of support for Azerbaijan.

Armenia is yet to submit the agreement to its parliament, where it
is widely expected to be ratified with the ruling coalition’s support
for the deal.

THE RA MINISTRY OF DIASPORA AND THE WORLD ARMENIAN CONGRESS INITIATED THE ANNUAL PAN-ARMENIAN CONTEST

Noyan Tapan
Oct 19, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN-ARMENIANS TODAY. The RA Ministry of
Diaspora and the World Armenian Congress have initiated the annual
pan-Armenian contest "For notable contribution to preservation of
Armenian identity", announced chairman of the Union of Armenians
of Russia and the Armenian World Congress Ara Abrahamyan during an
October 16 press conference.

The contest is open to Diaspora Armenian organizations, including
schools, mass media outlets, centers for Armenian studies, Armenian
creative groups whose activities are aimed at preserving and developing
the Armenian identity and ensuring the unity of Diaspora Armenians.

The 2010 contest will be held in two categories, including best
Armenian school and best Armenian press.

The deadline for submitting applications is January 20, 2010. Winners
will receive their awards during the award ceremony to be held in
October 2010.

RA MINISTRY OF DIASPORA AND GALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Noyan Tapan
Oct 19, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Minister of
Diaspora Hranush Hakobian on October 19 received Zaven Yegavian,
Director of the Armenian Communities Department of the Galouste
Gulbenkian Foundation, and Zhirayr Danielian, Founder of "Kamar"
magazine (Beirut) and Headmaster of AGBU Taguhi Hovakimian Senior
School.

According to a report of the Ministry of Diaspora, the discussion of
the work and programs carried out by the Ministry and the Institution
showed that they are in line with each other and would be more
efficient in case of their joint implementation. The guests accepted
Ms. Hakobian’s proposal to sign an agreement on cooperation between
the RA Ministry of Diaspora and the Galouste Gulbenkian Founadtion. It
is envisaged that the initial stage of cooperation will involve in
particular work on legal registration and preservation of Armenian
heritage (property) in countries with small Armenian communities
such as Singapore, Sudan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India, as well as
measures aimed at organizing the conference "The State of Teaching
Western Armenian in the Diaspora" and preparing a single textbook on
Western Armenian.

LEGIONNAIRES JOIN THE RANKS OF ARMENIAN BASKETBALL CLUB "HATIS"

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.10.2009 18:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Women’s Basketball Club "Hatis" was
reinforced with a legionnaire, which will strengthen the team at the
qualifying stage of the Europe Club Cup to start on November 12.

23-year-old Ukrainian Ganna Zaritskaya signed contract with the
Armenian club.

The height of the Ukrainian basketball player is 182 cm. She has
experience of playing for the national team of Ukraine in different
age categories and has been playing for the Ukraine’s champion "Dnepr"
and the Polish "Lotus".

Last season Ms. Zaritskaya played in the AEL (Cyprus) team.

AZERBAIJANI AND TURKISH OPPOSITION PARTIES NEED TO MEET: PARTY CHAIRMAN

Today
56705.html
Oct 20 2009
Azerbaijan

The leader of Azerbaijan’s opposition party says it important to meet
with representatives of political parties in Turkey in connection
with the signing of Turkey-Armenia protocols.

"However, because of the lack of such a tradition, it is very difficult
to organize such a meeting," chairman of Azerbaijan Democratic Party
(ADP) Sardar Jalaloglu said.

Jalaloglu said although the political parties in Azerbaijan make such
attempts, it is unlikely that the meeting will take place.

"Extensive bilateral ties have not been established between the
parties of Azerbaijan and Turkey. On the other hand, in addition
to our desires, it is also essential that Turkish parties also have
interest in this," said the party chairman.

The opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia and bringing this
issue to agenda without the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
can result in unexpected processes in the region, he added.

"The opposition of Azerbaijan is concerned with this issue not less
than the government. For this reason, for the benefit of the common
matter, it would also be beneficial to make consultations with
opposition parties of Turkey," Jalaloglu said.

GEORGIA: "GODFATHER" ACTOR ANDY GARCIA COMES TO GEORGIA FOR WAR FILM

rticles/eav101909b.shtml
10/19/09

Filming on a US-Georgian-produced movie about the 2008 Russia-Georgia
war ticked up a notch on October 18 with the arrival of American
actor Andy Garcia.

Garcia, nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Vincent Mancini
in The Godfather: Part III, is expected to play the role of Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili in the film, directed by veteran action
movie director Renny Harlin.

In an August 3 interview with Variety, Harlin, best known for the 1990
blockbuster Die Hard 2, termed the movie a chance to work on a project
"with substance and reality."

"I saw it as my opportunity to use my experience in action films to
tell the story of a complex conflict that is impartial but makes a
strong anti-war statement," Harlin said.

In the film, British actor Rupert Friend plays a journalist who travels
to Georgia shortly before the war; few additional plot details have
been released. The film as yet has not been named.

Georgian television reported on October 19 that filming will take
place over the next few days at the presidential palace, and near
parliament to re-enact the post-war Tbilisi visit of the leaders of
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia and Ukraine.

Filming so far has occurred in Gori, a Georgian town on the border
with breakaway South Ossetia that was occupied by Russian troops
during the war, and Tsalka, a village near the southern region of
Samtskhe-Javakheti.

ARSHILE GORKY ON EXHIBIT IN YEREVAN

Asbarez
/arshile-gorky-on-exhibit-in-yerevan/
Oct 19th, 2009

YEREVAN-The first major exhibition in Yerevan of original work by
the American-Armenian artist Arshile Gorky will take place at the
Cafesjian Center from 8 November 2009 through 31 January 2010.

Arshile Gorky: Selections from the Gerard L. Cafesjian Collection will
exhibit 16 drawings and 7 paintings by the man who would become known
as the most monumental presence in American twentieth-century art.

This is the first major exhibition of original work in Armenia by
Gorky, an artist once described by a critic of the time as a "hero
of Abstract Expressionism."

"The many preliminary drawings and oil sketches in this exhibition
provide unparalleled insight into Gorky’s unique working method," Dr.

Michael De Marsche, Executive Director of the Cafesjian Center for
the Arts, recently stated. "Gorky’s complex, large-scale compositions
of cohesive design and universal theme continue to be viewed as some
of the finest examples of American art at mid-century."

Gorky fled Western Armenia during the genocide of 1915 and witnessed
the death of his mother from starvation. After living in Yerevan for a
period of time, he arrived in the United States in 1920 at the age of
fifteen. Gorky remained passionate about Armenia throughout his life.

In the many letters he sent to his brother Moorad and sister
Vartoosh, he expressed a longing to return to Western Armenia, and
wrote poetically about every possible aspect of the land: the ancient
khachkars of its villages; the salty air of his native region of Van;
the fragrance of the country’s mountain air; the dolma he ate as a
youth; and, of course, his beloved Mount Ararat, "the brain of nature,"
as he described it, "ordaining its movements."

Gorky eventually became one of the most influential painters of the
twentieth century, and just as his career was reaching new heights,
his life ended tragically in suicide in 1948. The Gorky exhibition
will be one of many exhibitions commemorating the opening of the
Cafesjian Center for the Arts-a fitting tribute to a man whose death
60 years ago has been marked by major exhibitions of his work in
museums throughout the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of
Art and London’s Tate Modern.

The Cafesjian Center for the Arts Grand Opening Celebration will
begin on the evening of Saturday, November 7th, with a spectacular
fireworks display near the Cascade monument. The Cascade has been
completely transformed into one of the world’s outstanding contemporary
art centers.

On Sunday, November 8th, the Center invites the public to view all the
renovations that have taken place inside the Cascade, and to enjoy
an outstanding schedule of exhibitions, lectures, book-signings,
and events.