Author: Taslakhchian Andranik

ELDAR SAFAROV: ARMENIA VIOLATES AGREEMENT ON CEASE-FIRE

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 29 2008
Azerbaijan

The violation of cease-fire in the contact frontline was of intensive
character this month, head of Defense Ministry’s press service Eldar
Safarov said a press conference, APA reports.

Ministry’s representative said that Armenian Armed Forces violated
the cease-fire mostly in Aghdam, Fuzuli, Terter, Khodjavend directions
within January.

"Cease-fire is violated constantly. This case continues since summer
months of 2007. Casualties are reported, we also had loss in January.

Armenia violates agreement on cease-fire. But there is a very
surprising case. When contact frontline is monitored, Armenia does not
violate cease-fire. The ceasefire is violated as soon as monitoring
ends. I ask media representatives to address question to personal
representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kaspszyk regarding
it," he said.

THE BIGGEST MILITARY EXERCISE

Lragir
Jan 29 2008
Armenia

Today the conference on the planning of the NATO Cooperative Longbow/
Lancer military exercise kicked off in Yerevan. The head of the
General Staff of the Armenian Armed Force Seiran Ohanyan stated that
110 representatives of 20 countries participate in the event.

Azerbaijan had also been invited but refused to participate in the
exercise.

"Holding the exercise in Armenia is a good tradition, and its geography
is expanded year by year. In 2003 Armenia hosted the Joint Best Effort,
the Rescuer in 2006, the Combined Endeavor in 2007.

However, the Cooperative Longbow/ Lancer will be the biggest military
exercise by far held in the South Caucasian region," Seiran Ohanyan
said, adding that the purpose of the Cooperative Longbow/ Lancer is
to set up cooperation for security and exchange of experience.

NOBODY HINDERS HIM

Lragir
Jan 29 2008
Armenia

I condemn violence, stated the presidential candidate Tigran Karapetyan
January 29 at the Pastark Club when the reporters asked him if he
does not worry about a report on Sashik Sargsyan, Serge Sargsyan’s
brother. According to this report, Sashik Sargsyan stated in a small
company that they did not do in several people to give up power that
easily, and if they need, they will do on some more. This information
allows concluding that Sargsyan meant October 27, and he hinted that
they will put up another October 27 to keep power. The reporters
asked Tigran Karapetyan about these suppositions and conclusions and
for his opinion on Sashik Sargsyan’s statement.

The presidential candidate said he has not heard about this statement
but he condemns any act of violence. Tigran Karapetyan says such
statements, no matter who makes them, discredit their authors, as to
violence, he condemns it, Tigran Karapetyan repeated.

By the way, he says he has not encountered any obstacles during the
election campaign. As to events involving the election offices of
separate candidates, when the office is closed down, or the windows
are broken, Tigran Karapetyan thinks they are instigated by the local
petty kings rather who thus want to please the government. Tigran
Karapetyan says the government perhaps realizes that the obstacles
will be used against him, therefore he avoids them.

The presidential candidate Tigran Karapetyan also stated that if the
votes are tampered, he will not remain indifferent but will find a
way to dispute against them.

PERSONAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNT IS INTRODUCED

KarabakhOpen
26-01-2008 14:56:56

By the December 25, 2007 decree of the NKR government the personal
retirement account will be introduced in Karabakh. It means that each
working citizen will have a personal retirement account.

We turned to Vahram Arakelyan, head of the department of social
security and retirement of the NKR Ministry of Social Security for
more detail. He says each working citizen will have an account in
the government fund of social security, where information about the
work of each citizens and the size of wages will accrue all through
his or her years of service.

Presently, the size of pension is based on the basic retirement benefit
set by the government and the years of service. Now two people who
earn different wages but work for equal number of years get an equal
retirement benefit. In other words, the volume of the social tax paid
by the given person is not taken into account.

Vahram Arakelyan says after the introduction of the personal account
the size of the retirement benefit will depend on the size of social
taxes. It means if the employer fixes a lower wage in records to
avoid social payments, the employee must be interested in putting
down the full size of his of her wage because the size of his of her
retirement benefit depends on it.

In this connection, there will be problems with temporary workers. For
instance, workers who are hired to work for construction companies
should demand that the employer sign a contract with them.

"The data of the personal account – salaries and social tax –
will be presented in the annual statements of employees. Besides,
the citizens can apply to the retirement fund for a statement of
their personal account, express their disagreement if they have any,
demand a change," Vahram Araklelyan says.

the head of the department said the heads of organizations and
companies should submit statements since 2004 because those data must
also be included in the personal account. Preparations have already
started, and applications will be accepted from May. "In the upcoming
one or two years the fund will send statements of personal accounts
to citizens," the head of the department concluded.

MATTHEW BRYZA: I FELT THAT WILLINGNESS TO RECONCILE A BIT MORE THIS TIME THAN I HAD IN THE PAST – EXCLUSIVE

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 25 2008
Azerbaijan

American co-chair regards the recent report of International Crisis
Group on Nagorno Karabakh conflict as speculative

American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza’s interview to APA

-What were your impressions of the recent visit to the region, as
one of the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group? What is attitude of the
presidents to the Madrid plan? Could we make one step forward in the
negotiations process?

– I think that we did made one step forward during visiting Baku,
Yerevan and Khankendi. We were successful in convincing the idea
that the presidents said that they need to continue the negotiations
on this Madrid paper right through the elections for Armenia’s next
president. Before we begin the ship we were concerned whether or not
this paper will survive, whether or not the new president of Armenia
will want to begin the whole process from scratch. But I can say now
that all leading candidates for the president of Armenia will wish
to continue the negations on the basic principles paper. That is good
news. The nature of discussion with two presidents, president Aliyev
and president Kocharyan was to hear their reaction to this paper that
we submitted in Madrid and to address whatever concern they may have
with regard to slightly new formulations of various concepts in the
basic principles paper. And that we did. We respect those views. In
some cases, the two presidents have very similar concerns. And now
we will make some minor changes in the paper to reflect the concerns
of the presidents. The process continues. For the last three years,
we have been negotiating on the basic principles of co-chairs. Before
the Madrid ministerial meeting of OSCE, we co-chairs improved the paper
that had been the result for the negotiations process for couple of
years. We made it a bit sharper; we streamlined language and some
cases that led to changes in the phrasing that presidents did not
fully understand and so had to explain those.

– How many components does this plan have? Does it include the
referendum in Nagorno Karabakh, deployment of international
peacekeeping forces, replacement of refuges, etc?

– The basic principles have been divulged in the past. I discussed
them a couple of years ago in June of 2006, the International Crisis
Group also just published a report which talked about the basic
principles. So people know what those concepts are. I would rather
not comment on specifics of the Madrid documents except to say that
it is the document which defines the basic principles. And there
is one more point. Nobody has agreed on any of the individual basic
principles without anticipating that it will be a package agreement.

In the other words, no single element of the basic principles is
agreed until all of the basic principles are agreed between the
parties. So it would not be accurate to say that for example, that
one side is agreed to redeploy its forces, other side is agreed to
referendum. Nothing is agreed till everything is agreed.

– You visited the line of contact for the first time. What are your
impressions?

– I knew what you expect in Aghdam. But as human being it is impossible
to appreciate the human cost something like Aghdam until you see it
with your own eyes. President Aliyev himself described that view when
he the next day was in the other side of the line of contact looking
into Aghdam with binoculars. It is powerful and tragic to see so many
building destroyed. The good news is that when we spoke to the defector
leaders in Khankendi there is also appreciation for the horrible human
cost of the conflict and desire to avoid ever having to go through
this again and real desire to reconcile with their neighbors across
the line of contact. I felt that willingness to reconcile a bit more
this time that I had in the past. This trip to the line of contact
through Aghdam enforced like no book or picture, I can ever see or
read, reinforced my own mine about the terrible human consequences of
this conflict and we have to do everything possible to make sure that
all injustices are rectify and there is never such conflict. There
is a lot of very aggressive rhetoric comes from the leadership of
the government of Azerbaijan.

But I interpret this rhetoric as basically saying we plan to and
trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement and the same time we
will use all our leverage possible to negotiate the best settlement
possible. So I feel the desire in both sides to reconcile and to reach
the agreement. That said there is a lot of anger, a lot of negative
emotions still out there as well, which I feel quite powerfully. I
think the president Aliyev recognizes that the absence of settlement
increase the chances of resumption of the conflict. But I see that
both sides are committed to the peaceful solution of the conflict. I
would say it is very important for both sides to avoid rhetoric that
is humiliating to the other side.

– International Crisis Group stated that war may start in 2012 again.

What is your opinion of this statement? Do you believe in the real
threat of war?

– I actually believe that this part of report was based on lack of
familiarity with the facts. It is simply not accurate to say that after
2012 Azerbaijan’s oil revenues will decrease. Whoever wrote this part
of report is unaware of the fact that at this point, around 2012-2015
Azerbaijani natural gas production will expand dramatically and energy
revenues will remain high. So I think that it is misjudgment. I don’t
understand why even it works through that energy revenues will decrease
after 2012, why it will led to escalation of the conflict. It seems
to me very speculative conclusion and it doesn’t hold up. And at
this case that conclusion is not fact because energy revenues will
increase after 2012.

– 2008 is not only the year of presidential elections in Armenia
and Azerbaijan, but also in the USA. Some of the U.S. presidential
candidates clearly say that they will recognize the so called Armenian
genocide. Do you believe that such statements may damage US-Turkey
relations?

– I believe that our policy under the president Bush is what it is. I
can only speak for that policy. I have no idea what the policy of the
next president will be with regard to Turkey and events of 1915. What
I can say is that the event of 1915 was enormous tragedy and they
resulted in a horrible human suffering and we pray that such suffering
will never return. But we believe that there should not be a political
decision taking in the basis of the vote in anyone’s parliament over
how to describe those events of enormous human significance. So that is
our policy. I would hope that our relations, relations of Turkey and
the USA are based on such strongly shared values and shared interests
that any president will continue the strong path of cooperation that
characterizes the U.S.-Turkey relations and which we work hard to
establish.

ERDOÐAN SAYS ISRAEL~RS GAZA BLOCKADE UNACCEPTABLE

Today’s Zaman
Jan 23 2008
Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan yesterday condemned Israel for
a blockade it has imposed on the Gaza Strip, saying the Palestinians
there are faced with a "humanitarian tragedy."

Israel blockaded Gaza on Thursday after rocket attacks by Palestinian
militants, halting fuel shipments. Three days later, Gaza’s only
power plant, which provides electricity to about one-third of Gaza’s
1.5 million residents, shut down. Under heavy international pressure,
Israel allowed fuel for the plant back into Gaza on Tuesday.

"Palestine is already an open air prison. People living in Gaza are
faced with severe difficulties in the supply of water, electricity,
medicine and food. These people face a humanitarian tragedy,"
Erdoðan told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) at a weekly meeting in Parliament. "We have difficulties
in understanding this [blockade]."

He also criticized Israeli officials for remarks linking the blockade
to rocket attacks, saying they fail to explain how many Israelis died
in these attacks. "It is not possible to accept such acts that punish
2 million people. It is not understandable to collectively punish a
community because some of them are doing wrong things."

This was the second time Erdoðan criticized Israel for its actions
against the Palestinians. Earlier this month, he said the United
States, not Israel, should man a barrier between Israel and Palestinian
territories and complained that even his car had been forced to wait
for half an hour while trying to cross to the Palestinian side after
talks in Israel during an official visit in the past.

Israel largely closed Gaza’s crossings to all but humanitarian goods
in June after Hamas seized control of the territory.

Warning to Obama

Erdoðan also responded to US presidential candidate Barack Obama after
he pledged he would support Armenian claims of genocide at the hands
of the late Ottoman Empire if he wins the race. He reiterated that
Turkish-US ties would receive a serious blow if the Congress passes
a resolution recognizing Armenian claims of genocide.

"Everybody knows that passage of such a resolution would lead
to irremediable wounds in Turkey-US relations," Erdoðan said in
Parliament. According to the prime minister, such remarks stem
from lack of sufficient information on the part of the presidential
candidates about US foreign policy in general.

"These unfortunate remarks by a presidential candidate risk casting
a shadow on our relations," Erdoðan said. "Our relations should not
be sacrificed due to slander campaigns by certain lobbies."

Obama pledged to support passage of the resolution, shelved twice in
the US Congress under pressure from the administration, which feared
it risked spoiling ties with NATO ally Turkey, in a letter sent to a
leading American-Armenian group, the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).

Obama wrote in the Jan. 19 letter that he had a "firmly held conviction
that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion,
or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by
an overwhelming body of historical evidence."

"The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats
to distort historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator,
I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, and
as president I will recognize the Armenian genocide," Obama said in
the letter.

Last year, despite pleas from the George W. Bush administration,
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives
passed a nonbinding resolution that described the events of 1915 as
genocide. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House and an ardent supporter of
the Armenian claims, has so far not brought the resolution to the House
floor after a strong appeal from the Bush administration that passage
of the resolution would deeply harm relations with NATO ally Turkey.

–Boundary_(ID_o5YEjVePUK6xO7c8u0TH9Q)–

PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE PREPARES FOR ELECTIONS

Panorama.am
19:36 22/01/2008

A labor group will be established by the arrangement of Aghvan
Hovsepyan, the chief prosecutor of RA to follow the process of the
presidential elections, and to register the violations.

According to the source, officers from the prosecutor’s office are
listed in the labor groups to write down the violations, to register
the notes signed by the media representatives. The chief prosecutor
proposed to form investigation group also.

AZERI FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL REJECTS DISPARAGING REMARKS BY ARMENIAN COUNTERPART

Day.Az
Jan 18 2008
Azerbaijan

The head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press service,
Xazar Ibrahim, has strongly criticized his Armenian counterpart for
claiming that Armenia is superior to Azerbaijan by most international
standards. In an interview published on the Day.az website, Ibrahim
also said that Azerbaijan would never allow the question of Nagornyy
Karabakh to be resolved unilaterally and said the Armenian media had
been guilty of misrepresenting remarks made by the co-chairmen of
the OSCE’s Minsk group. The following is the text of his interview
with Ilya Faynzilberg entitled: "Xazar Ibrahim: ‘Why has ‘developing
Armenia’ given up nearly all its enterprises to Russia? Although
what else can you expect from a country which has been disdainfully
called an outpost?’" published on Day.az on 18 January; subheadings
have been inserted editorially:

[Ilya Faynzilberg] Xazar muallim [mode of address], what do you have
to say about the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s press
secretary, Vladimir Karapetyan, that there are signs of despair
in Azerbaijan?

"Wishful thinking"

[Ibrahim] This statement is the best example yet that the Armenian
Foreign Ministry prefers to deal in wishful thinking. Among other
things, Mr Karapetyan is inferring that Armenia is superior to
Azerbaijan by almost all international standards. It would not be
a bad thing for him, and other Armenian diplomats who make similar
statements, to get their facts right. In particular, I would be very
interested in hearing their answer to the question how, "by being
superior to Azerbaijan by almost all international standards", Armenia
is considerably behind Azerbaijan in rate of growth of GDP and the size
of its budget. Why has "developing" Armenia given up almost all its
enterprises to Russia? Although what else can you expect from a country
which disdainfully is called an outpost? Simply to make the best of
a bad job and to try to hide the truth from its own people, which
amounts to that country’s positions having really been weakened in
recent years, whilst Azerbaijan’s respect is increasing all the time.

So, Mr Karapetyan’s statement is more suited for the Armenian
public, especially as presidential elections will soon be held in
that country. It is in this light that one should also consider Mr
Karapetyan’s statement that Azerbaijan will need another 10-15 years
to be abreast of Armenia’s armed forces.

Once again I am struck by the transformation of the representatives of
the Armenian Foreign Ministry into Delphian oracles, because there is
no other way of assessing the statement of someone who is capable of
predicting events so far ahead. I would advise one who possesses such
talents to change his profession and start earning money as a leading
consultant in a world bank instead of making us laugh with his latest
statement which is an open attempt at wishful thinking and another
example of speculating with figures. After all, there are precise
statistics which have been provided by a whole number of international
organizations, including the OSCE and the UN, which clearly show that
Armenia is openly violating international conventions by deploying
military equipment on the occupied territories of Nagornyy Karabakh
which exceeds those very quotas set out by the treaty on conventional
armed forces in Europe. If the Armenian diplomats who point to a
factor of superiority over Azerbaijan had this in mind then I agree
with them. Armenia is indeed ahead of the planet in its whole scale
of ignoring all established international standards and resolutions.

OSCE position misrepresented

[Faynzilberg] But what about the statement by the co-chairman of the
Minsk group of the OSCE from the US, Matthew Bryza, that "any decision
on a Karabakh settlement must be supported by the people of Karabakh",
bearing in mind that official Baku has stated more than once that
such a concept as "the people of Nagornyy Karabakh" does not exist?

[Ibrahim] First of all, we have seen more than once that the Armenian
media has been incorrectly interpreting Matthew Bryza’s statements.

Here again the American co-chairman of the Minsk group of the OSCE has
rejected reports in the Armenian media that he allegedly criticized
the slogan "Two states one nation" and the policy in this direction,
pointing out that it had been misinterpreted.

As far as the thesis about "the people of Nagornyy Karabakh"
is concerned, there is no such concept. They are the Armenian and
Azerbaijani communities of Nagornyy Karabakh. The ethnic Armenians have
already decided their own fate and they have their own country called
Armenia. Furthermore, I would be interested to know which people the
current Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, and Serzh Sarkisyan,
one of the main claimants to become his successor, is president of
the people of Armenia or "the people of Nagornyy Karabakh"?

[Faynzilberg] How great is the likelihood of attracting representatives
of the so-called "NKR" [Nagornyy Karabakh republic] into the talks
process?

[Ibrahim] I agree that the representatives of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani communities of Nagornyy Karabakh should be informed about
the progress of the talks. And this is being done. The co-chairmen
of the Minsk group of the OSCE are meeting with them. But Azerbaijan
will never allow this question to be resolved unilaterally and only
representatives of the Armenian community of Nagornyy Karabakh have
been taking part in the talks.

NOT AGAINST BUT FOR THE SAKE OF IDEOLOGY

Panorama.am
17:45 18/01/2008

The publications in the media on the change of Republican Party
candidate’s headquarter head do not coincide with the reality, mildly
speaking. This statement was by Edward Sharmazanov, the press speaker
of Serzh Sargsyan’s election headquarter, in a press conference
today. In his words, the candidate’s election headquarter continues
to be headed by Hovik Abrahamyan, minister of territorial management
and deputy prime minister. Sharmazanov said such publications are
anti-propaganda against them.

ILHAM ALIYEV: "THE WAR HAS NOT ENDED YET, IT IS JUST ITS FIRST STAGE THAT HAS FINISHED"

Today, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2008

"Armenians state that they have won the war. But it is not right.

The war has not ended yet, it is just its first stage that has finished
and during which Armenians managed to occupy a part of Azerbaijani
lands with the help from abroad", President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
said during the opening ceremony of the Olympic complex in Agdam.

"We are establishing a strong state, strengthening the army and
the economic potential for release of the occupied lands: regional
positions of Azerbaijan are consolidating, energy policy is successful,
which have a positive influence on the negotiation process.

Previously Armenians demanded independence of Nagorno Garabagh,
while now they understand that Garabagh will never be independent or
annexed to Armenia".

The President noted that this is the opinion of the whole international
community, including the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and
Armenia has to confess it.

The President said that previously the discussed was the release of
only 4 occupied regions around Garabagh, while now the co-chairmen
demand from the leadership of Armenia to return all the 7 regions,
which is really a great success.

Commenting on the recent proposals of the co-chairs on the Garabagh
conflict settlement, the President noted that they are not fully
suitable for Azerbaijan.

"Several moments are inadmissible for us, but, on the whole, the
process continues in the right direction. We have achieved this by
strengthening our potential and Armenia is aware of it".

Ilham Aliyev expressed regret that such negative events as the attempts
to turn the former autonomous republics into independent countries
are observed in the world, which is inadmissible.

"Therefore, only a strong state may reach justice. Time is working
on us and I want the future peaceful agreement to fully correspond to
our interests, which is not observed right now. And for this purpose
we are continuing talks. Azerbaijan’s position is changeless and our
territorial integrity will never be a subject of discussions"

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