Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

APA, Azerbaijan
Sept 6 2009

Armenian military helicopter fails to take off near Azeri-Armenian
frontline

[ 06 Sep 2009 18:28 ]
Terter. Teymur ZahidoÄ?lu – APA. After flying over the occupied
lands of Azerbaijan, a military helicopter of the Armenian Armed
Forces touched down near Aghdam and failed to take off, APA’s local
bureau reports.

As APA’s correspondent reports, the helicopter made a forced landing
in Modagez village of Aghdara at night hours on September 5 after
military exercises by Armenian Armed Forces.

The helicopter supposedly took `the defence minister’ of Nagorno
Karabakh to the military exercise site but failed to take off due to
technical failure.

Armenia continues to occupy Azerbaijani lands including Nagorno
Karabakh in contravention to the UN Security Council resolutions and
other international documents on unconditional withdrawal from the
occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 4, 2009 Friday

TURKEY AND ARMENIA TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

The joint communique published simultaneously in Bern, Yerevan, and
Ankara proclaims the beginning of political consultations between
Armenia and Turkey over establishment of diplomatic relations. The
consultations are expected to take six weeks.

President of Armenia Serj Sargsjan expressed displeasure over what he
called neglect to honor the previously made agreements on the part of
Turkey. "Armenia did its best to normalize relations with Turkey the
way it is done in the civilized world of the 21st century," he said.

"Initialling the documents, Yerevan’s foreign policy displayed its
shortsightedness and ineptness in avoiding the cunning traps set by
Ankara," said Stepan Safarjan, political scientist and deputy of the
oppositionist Legacy faction of the Armenian parliament. Safarjan
announced that the clauses on terrorism, violence, and radicalism
referred to Nagorno-Karabakh and all but tied Armenia’s hands.

"The documents on normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations
stipulate a panel of historians that will study the genocide, and that
is what disturbs me," ex-Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanjan
said. "It’s unacceptable. Not a single Armenian alive will question
the fact of genocide. It follows that the idea of such a panel should
have been killed."

Source: Novye Izvestia, September 2, 2009, p. 2

Translated by Aleksei Ignatkin

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am, Armenia
Sept 5 2009

U.S. Undersecretary of State arrives in Turkey

13:26 / 09/05/2009Representatives of the U.S. Secretary of State
arrived in Turkey to discuss Armenian-Turkish reconciliation and
Karabakh peace process with Turkish authorities. The delegation is
headed by Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns
and Deputy Assistant Secretary Tina S. Kaidanow, Turkish NTV reports.

Armenian-Turkish relations’ normalization and Karabakh issue
settlement are on agenda. Turkey persistently seeks U.S assistance in
settling the conflict.

NEWS.am informed earlier, that U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie
Yovanovitch will also visit Turkey.

PROTOCOLS’ CONSULTATIONS IN ANKARA

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Sept 3 2009
Armenia

Returning to Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
and Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan will initiate consultations on
Armenian-Turkish Protocols.

Erdogan is to decide who will be informed in details of reconciliation
process, Hurriyet daily reports. According to the informed source,
the priority will be given to the "Republican People’s Party" (CHP)
and the "Nationalist Movement Party" (MHP). Premier scheduled meetings
with parties’ leaders, as well as with mass media, NGOs representatives
and intellectuals.

Under Turkish diplomatic sources, the Protocols will be submitted
for ratification by both states’ Parliaments in six weeks. However
it is needless, as this is merely one of Turkey’s conditions.

MICROSOFT CORRECTS ERROR RELATED TO AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

Today.Az
ics/55207.html
Sept 2 2009
Azerbaijan

Microsoft has corrected error related to Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

Microsoft, the largest transnational company specialized at software
manufacturing, corrected the gross related to Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrityy on MSN.

Recently MSN indicated Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as
disputed territory in its ‘Weather’ section. A click on Khankandi
showed the following inscription: "Khankandi, Nagorno-Karabakh
(disputed)."

Following media reports about the error, Microsoft said it will remove
inaccuracy in the shortest time possible.

The error has already been corrected. Now, search for Khankandi on
the MSN Weather section shows ‘Khankandi, Azerbaijan.’

Despite this, Bing Maps has not yet corrected the similar
error. Azerbaijan’s map on this Web site still indicates
Nagorno-Karabakh as a disputed territory.

We believe that such a large company with a large share in
Azerbaijani market is simply obliged to respect country’s territorial
integrity. Correction of errors on the MSN Web site suggests that
Microsoft is ready to correct any inaccuracies on its resources.

AZERBAIJANI BLOGGERS REPORT ABOUT POSSIBLE RESIGNATION OF AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER

ARMENPRESS
Sep 1, 2009

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan may
probably resign in near future, Azerbaijani Internet forums report.

According to Azerbaijani bloggers, the pre-signing of protocols
between Armenia and Turkey, a regular step directed toward regulation
of Armenian-Turkish relations, raised a great resonance in Baku. In the
created situation for saving the face and for justification the Ilham
Aliyev Administration decided to release the situation by resignation
of a core official. In this case the choice fell on Elmar Mammedyarov.

One of the Azerbaijani bloggers assures that member of Azerbaijani
president’s staff Novruz Mamedov called Mammedyarov and told him to
present resignation application.

TURKEY TO NORMALIZE TIES WITH ARMENIA AFTER FULL RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT: FM

Today.Az
61.html
Sept 1 2009
Azerbaijan

Turkey wants to normalize relations with Armenia, but also wants
full normalization of relations in the South Caucasus, including
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey wants to go beyond establishing ties with Armenia and normalize
relations across the South Caucasus, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu told Reuters on Monday.

Davutoglu also spoke of opening the border between Armenia and Turkey’s
Muslim ally Azerbaijan. He did not specify any other borders.

"We want to normalize our relations with Armenia, but we also want
full normalization of relations in the South Caucasus, including
Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

"This would provide a stable, sustainable peace and stability in our
region. The Caucasus has already suffered a lot from ethnic tension
and frozen conflicts," he said.

"We know very well from our experiences in the Caucasus and Balkans
that frozen conflicts are like bombs in our hands and if we cannot
control them, they could blow up in our hands," the minister said.

"We hope that the international community after this step will focus
on frozen conflicts in the region, especially Nagorno-Karabakh,"
Davutoglu added.

WE DO NOT CONSIDER RECOGNITION OF GENOCDE PRECONDITION: ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

Today.Az
ics/55132.html
Aug 31 2009
Azerbaijan

The Turkish and Armenian Presidents will meet if the border is opened
or countries are close to make this decision, the Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with BBC’s Russian service.

"I will go to Turkey for this football match if our border is opened
or we are on the eve to achieve it," Sargsyan said.

Term ‘football diplomacy’ appeared a year ago when the Turkish
President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan. A formal cause was a
football match between teams of the two countries.

The return football match will be held in Turkey in mid-October.

"We have agreements. I think that a normal, correct way for sides to
fulfill their agreements. Unfortunately, I have not seen any great
wiling or strive to fulfill these agreements," Sargsyan said.

He said that the Armenian still favors establishing relations without
preliminary terms.

"We have not considered recognition of genocide as a preliminary term
to establish relations," Sargsyan said.

ARMENIA SHOULDN’T HAVE INITIATED OPENING BORDERS WITH TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.08.2009 21:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The issue of opening Armenian-Turkish border
was introduced even in 2007 by Armenia, which was a mistake,"
Heritage Parliamentary Faction representative Stepan Safaryan told
a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to MP, as Turkey unilaterally closed the border,
international community had to demand Turkey to open the border
with Armenia. "RA-Turkish rapprochement should have been a result
of Turkey’s revised policy towards Armenia, and not another issue on
Turkey external policy agenda," Safaryan emphasized.

When questioned by PanARMENIAN.Net reporter on possible economic
consequences of Armenian-Turkish border opening, the MP responded that
negative consequences can’t be excluded, as RA-manufactured products
won’t hold up against competition with Turkey’s production. Â"RA is
trying to establish normal relations with Turkey, while unprepared
to counter negative consequences opening of borders could entail."

ARARATBANK LAUNCHES A PROJECT ON BONUS CARDS ARARAT TRANSFER

ArmInfo
2009-09-01 15:02:00

ArmInfo. On September 5 ARARATBANK will launch a project on
bonus cards ARARAT TRANSFER. The press-service of ARARATBANK told
ArmInfo that the given project will give an opportunity to the bank
clients to accumulate bonuses when carrying out money transfers via
international payment systems. The bonuses will allow the clients
to make advantage of numerous privileges, as well as to take part in
drawing of expensive prices.

The client may receive the bonus card by sending or receiving
transfers worth maximum $10 thsd within a month via international
payment systems operating in ARARATBANK. On receiving the bonus
card and carrying out money transfers before the upcoming drawing,
the client will receive bonuses to the card account depending on the
transfer amount. In particular, one bonus point falls on each $1 of
money transfer. 5 card-holders, who obtain the majority of points,
and 5 more random card-holders participate in the drawing which is
held 4 times a year (once a quarter).

According to the source, the owners of ARARAT TRANSFER cards will
receive an opportunity to be served at ARARATBANK avoiding the
queue, to receive a 10% discount when carrying out money transfers
via international payment systems, to receive a chance to exchange
currency at the bank at a more preferential exchange rate, to make
advantage of banking safe-deposit boxes with 50% discount.

Furthermore, ARARAT TRANSFER card-holders will obtain additional
points if involve a new client who will conclude a transaction worth
$10 thsd within a month.

To note, ARARATBANK has 27 branches, most of them are in the regions
of Armenia.