Author: Tambiyan Samvel

TURKEY VS. ARMENIA MATCH TO BE HELD IN BURSA

ArmInfo
2009-07-21 13:29:00

ArmInfo. Turkey vs. Armenia qualification match will be held at
Ataturk stadium in Bursa, Tuirkey, on October 14, FIFA reported.

ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS HOLD NEW ROUND OF TALKS

EurasiaNet
July 17 2009
NY

Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijan leader Ilham Aliyev
held two hours of face-to-face talks on July 17, seeking to achieve a
breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. Neither Armenian
nor Azerbaijani officials released details about the discussion,
held in Moscow.

Sargsyan and Aliyev were scheduled to continue Karabakh talks on July
18, along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. With international
mediators expressing growing optimism about a peace deal, Sargsyan in
particular has come under growing domestic pressure. Representatives
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) — a one-time member
of the governing coalition that has become estranged from Sargsyan’s
administration in recent months — warned the government against making
"irreversible" concessions.

ARF spokesman Armen Rustamian said on July 16 that his party would
push for Sargsyan’s resignation if the president signed a pact with
Azerbaijan that was deemed to be overly conciliatory. Rustamian
also suggested that Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian should
resign. "Armenia’s foreign policy has deviated from the main provisions
of its national security strategy," Rustamian claimed.

Nalbandian told the A1plus news agency on July 17 that Armenia would
not commit itself to an agreement unless all its concerns were fully
taken into account, and its security conditions met.

ICRC REPRESENTATIVES MEET WITH ARMENIAN SOLDIERS IN AZERBAIJANI CAPTIVITY

Today.Az
ty/53905.html
July 17 2009
Azerbaijan

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
met soldiers of Armenian army Ohan Harutunyan and Gevorg Tomosyan in
captivity in Azerbaijan on July 15, ICRC Spokeswoman in Baku Gulnaz
Guliyeva said.

She said they monitored the detention conditions of the captives and
talked face-to-face with them. The Armenian captives have not written
a letter to their families yet.

Soldiers of Armenian army Harutunyan Ohan Vadinagiyevich, 18 and
Tomosyan Gevorg Serjikovich, 18, crossed the contact line between
Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the territory of Goranboy region
of Azerbaijan on May 31.

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN: "I CANNOT RULE OUT A MILITARY SOLUTION TO THE NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT"

AzerTag
July 15 2009
Azerbaijan

"In the process of the conflict settlement between Armenia and
Azerbaijan "more encouraging dynamics" has formed, there are the first
results, but they are insufficient so far for the achievement of the
specific goal – establishment of the final peace", said President
of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his speech at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs in London.

"For the past 15 years we have been living in the conditions in which
we have neither war nor peace," the president noted. He stressed
that any settlement of the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh should
include the preservation of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. "We
understand Armenia’s concern and are ready to consider corresponding
issues. We are also ready to provide the needed autonomy level
to Nagorno-Karabakh, but only within the framework of the united
Azerbaijani state," President Aliyev emphasized. The president also
noted that the sides involved in the conflict should clearly realize
that there can be no talk about independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,
because this contradicts the principles of international law
and already adopted on Nagorno-Karabakh resolutions of the
leading international organizations, including the UN Security
Council. "Azerbaijan is committed to the peaceful settlement of the
conflict, the past 15 years have proved in reality our clear-cut
position," President Aliyev stressed. The president also noted,
"Unfortunately, I cannot totally rule out a military solution, as we
have the total and based on international laws right to restore our
territorial integrity that not a single country questions." "Today
Azerbaijan has powerful and modern armed forces that are capable of
restoring the country’s territorial integrity," President Aliyev
stated adding that Baku "intends to continue to seek the conflict
settlement by peaceful methods."

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA EXPRESSED CONDOLENCES TO PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND IRAN IN CONNECTION WITH TU-154 AIRCRAFT CRASH

ArmInfo
2009-07-15 17:49:00

ArmInfo. President of Russia Dmitriy Medvedev expressed condolences
to presidents of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Iran Mamoud Ahmadinejad
in connection with Tu-154 aircraft crash, implementing Tehran-Yerevan
flight.

To recall, the total of 168 people were killed as a result of
the crash. The aircraft belonged to the Iranian company ‘Caspian
Airlines’. Fire on board could be one of the reasons of the crash.

AZERBAIJANI LEADER MET HIS ARMENIAN COUNTERPART IN MOSCOW AND DOES NOT RULE OUT GARABAGH RECONQUERING

Azerbaijan Business Center
July 14 2009

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. When visiting the UK Ilham Aliyev, the
President of Azerbaijan, has held meetings in the Royal Institute of
International Affairs the members of which are prominent politicians,
diplomats, representatives of the press, publicists and public figures
of Europe.

President Aliyev also delivered speech at the meeting on the theme
"Foreign Policy Challenges for Azerbaijan".

Reminding of his first meeting in this institute in 2004 the
Azerbaijani leader said that over the last five years his
country’s economy had grown 2.6 fold and poverty level reduced
substantially. Economy development promoted to tackling of social
problems.

The President said that Azerbaijan’s foreign policy based itself on
national interests, international law, mutual respect, principles of
non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. He underlined that
Azerbaijan built up good relationships with the UK as well.

"The UK is our strategic partner and our ties with this country
are important from angle of co-operation between Azerbaijan and the
European Union," he said.

In its reports the British press accented Azerbaijani President’s
position in respect to Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Garabagh conflict.

"Nagorno Garabagh will never be recognized an independent state. It
is absolutely absurd to expect that. Our country is ready to ensure
the highest level of autonomy for those who live on this territory
but only within the framework of sovereign Azerbaijani Republic,"
the press quotes President Aliyev.

On 17 July the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia are to meet in
Moscow. Against the background of expectations that these negotiations
will open a new page in settlement of frozen conflict on Nagorno
Garabagh, President Aliyev called them "promising".

"All the occupied territories of Azerbaijan that make almost
20% of the country should be immediately released from Armenian
occupation. Million of refugees from Azerbaijan that were subject of
ethnic cleansing of Armenia have the right to return to their native
lands. Our goal is peaceful settlement of the conflict, but I cannot
rule out surely military methods of settlement as Azerbaijan has legal
right to protect itself and its territorial integrity," he concluded.

HEAD HERITAGE FACTION: THE JOINT STATEMENT BY PRESIDENTS OF THE USA, RUSSIA AND FRANCE ON THE NKR IS CONTINUATION OF THE SHAMEFUL POLICY OF THE PRESENT AND FORMER AUTHORITIES OF ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-07-13 17:24:00

ArmInfo. The joint statement by presidents of the USA, Russia and
France on the NKR is continuation of the shameful policy of the present
and former authorities of Armenia as well as the coalition forces,
the head of the Heritage opposition party faction Armen Martirosyan
told ArmInfo correspondent.

He also added that in this way the Armenian authorities are trying
to substitute internal legitimacy by the external one as a result of
which the arrangements names "the Madrid principles" had been made
within the frames of which the statement by the American, Russian
and French presidents was made.

TURKISH MINISTER VIEWS DEVELOPMENTS IN CAUCASUS, CYPRUS

Anadolu Agency
July 2 2009
Turkey

Moscow, 2 July: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said [on]
Thursday [2 July] the "normalization process" between Turkey and
Armenia, and Minsk Group’s efforts to solve the Azerbaijani-Armenian
dispute have created a positive atmosphere in the Caucasus.

Speaking to Turkish reporters following his meeting with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Davutoglu said that his
visit’s timing was crucial.

Since I have assumed the post of Turkish foreign minister,
I have been trying to visit countries to which we attach great
importance. Accordingly, I had talks in the States and Germany. I
visited Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the [self-declared]
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Within such a framework,
I paid a one-day working visit to Russia and had a chance to go over
our relations with Lavrov, Davutoglu said.

Referring to Turkish-Russian relations, Davutoglu stressed that there
is no political problem between the two countries.

There is a will on both sides to resolve certain technical and
bureaucratic problems, Davutoglu said.

In response to a question on Cyprus, Davutoglu said that Lavrov and
he discussed the issue of Cyprus.

Russia is a member of the United Nations Security Council. We consider
Cyprus to be a matter of the UN and do not think that it would be
appropriate to carry Cyprus to another platform. Turkey and Russia
share same viewpoints on Cyprus. The Russians also think that Cyprus
should be resolved within the boundaries of the UN, Davutoglu said.

RUSSIA APPOINTS VYACHESLAV KOVALENKO AS AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

armradio.am
10.07.2009 18:05

Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko, who left Tbilisi
after the military actions in South Ossetia, will represent Russia’s
interests in Armenia, Press Service of the Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs reports.

Vyacheslav Kovalenko was the last Ambassador of Russia to Georgia. The
two countries broke diplomatic relations after the August war in
South Ossetia.

WORLD LEADERS CALL FOR SOLUTION TO ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN DISPUTE

Voice of America
July 10 2009

The United States, France and Russia are calling on the leaders of
Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle their long-running dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

The three countries that co-chair a committee of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Friday they are
committed to supporting Armenia and Azerbaijan as the countries
finalize the details of a settlement.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sarkisyan will meet in Russia on July 17 to continue their
negotiations.

But Nagorono-Karabakh’s de facto leader, Bako Sahakyan, has also
demanded a role in the talks.

Speaking in Stepanakert Friday, Sahakyan said attempts to portray
the disputed region as part of Azerbaijan are unacceptable. He said
the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be debated.

The Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh declared
independence from Azerbaijan in 1988, sparking a six-year armed
conflict that claimed about 35,000 lives. Firefights have periodically
interrupted a cease-fire that went into effect in 1994.