Author: Tigranian Ani

BOOKS ABOUT AZERBAIJAN PRESENTED IN DUTCH LEIDEN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Trend News Agency
Nov 18 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 November /Trend News, corr. N.Abdullayeva /
Books about the culture, history and nature of Azerbaijan, as well
as about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh were
presented at the Dutch Leiden University Library.

The Azerbaijani Embassy in the Netherlands held the presentation
of books about Azerbaijan in the Dutch Leiden University Library,
Elchin Bashirov, the first secretary of the Azerbaijani Embassy in
the Netherlands, told Trend News on 18 November.

The presentation began with the submission of detailed information
about the books that reflect the live of the national leader
Heydar Aliyev, and his activity for the benefit of the people of
Azerbaijan. Thanks to Heydar Aliyev modern Azerbaijan Republic has
been able to take their rightful place in international relations,
as an independent European state.

The books about Azerbaijan tell about the history and nature of
Azerbaijan, as well as its achievements, up-to-date development of
economy, tolerance, culture and oil strategy, Fuad Iskandarov,
the Azerbaijani ambassador to the Netherlands, said at the
presentation. Books designed by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation were
amongst the presented books.

The library was founded in in 1575 in Leiden, the Netherlands,
which is one of the 20 leading education institutions in Europe,
as well as delivered true information about the library.. Among them
were unique manuscripts of great Azerbaijani authors – "Khosrov and
Shirin" (1451) by Nizami Ganjavi, "Divan" (1678) by Sahiba Tabrizi,
"Kitab-and-Cihan-name" (1657) by Katiba Chalabini, "Divan" (1555)
by Fizuli, and the publication of "Mystery of two Turks" (1888)by
Mirza Fatali Akhundov in French.

Ambassador Iskandarov expressed his gratitude to the University library
for the preservation of valuable books in excellent condition. He
expressed hope that the Azerbaijani specialists will be given an
opportunity to explore this collection.

During the talks held after the presentation, an agreement was reached
on cooperation between Leiden University Library with specialized
centers of Azerbaijan.

THE MONKS PUSHED IT JUST TOO FAR

Birmingham Evening Mail
November 14, 2008 Friday

I’D have loved to have seen those mad monks knocking the bejesus out
of each other in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Greek Orthodox clergy beat up Armenian monks when one group accused
the other of pushing during a service.

Various Christian sects lay claim to the church and usually share it
amicably, apart from the odd unchristian poke and shove here and there.

Don’t you reckon the saints in heaven laughed at this fracas? It’s
edifyingly human an outburst like this, reassuring for us less
spiritual mortals.

Nov 14 2008

Opposition leader concerned about "weakening" of Armenia’s position
in Karabakh talks

Yerevan, 14 November: The chairman of the opposition People’s Party
of Armenia (PPA), Stepan Demirchyan, today voiced concern "about
the weakening of Armenia’s positions" in the negotiations on the
Karabakh settlement.

The PPA leader said at a news conference in Yerevan today that he
believes the final settlement of the Karabakh issue was unlikely to
happen in the coming one or two months.

Demirchyan said that the settlement of the conflict without the
participation of the Karabakh side and on the basis of the "Madrid
principles" would have negative consequences.

He said that his position was based on well-known excerpts from the
proposals of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

NURSERY SCHOOLS OPERATE IN RUGGED CONDITIONS

A1+
[12:22 pm] 19 November, 2008

The inmates of Vanadzor’s Children’s Homes N8 and N23 get preschool
education in tumbledown buildings which have inherited worn-out
furniture, dilapidated floors, dark and unfriendly corridors. The
rooms are heated with wooden stoves.

Four of the twenty local nursery schools operate in cottages today.

Gagik Aghababyan, Head of the Department of Education and Culture of
Vanadzor’s Municipal Council, says several infant schools have been
redecorated and strengthened during the past few years but they cannot
finally tackle the problem as they don’t have finances. He thinks the
best solution to the problem is to unify the nursery schools but it
is still too early to speak of it.

Note that the Government has earmarked money to strengthen the
foundation of Children’s Home 19.

CITIZENS OF ARMENIA DIE IN TURKEY

Lragir.am
17:57:17 – 18/11/2008

In Turkey the bus traveling from Trapizon for Georgia crashed,
killing four.

Two were citizens of Armenia, two were citizens of Georgia. The bus
ran into the transmission tower, Regnum reports, referring to the
consular division of the Georgian foreign ministry. 25 passengers were
injured. The dead passengers have not been identified yet since they
had no documents and crossed the border illegally. The bus belonged
to the Turkish travel agency Madmudtour.

‘MADRID PRINCIPLES’ OF KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME

ArmInfo
2008-11-17 10:25:00

ArmInfo. ‘Madrid Principles’ of Karabakh conflict settlement that
were concealed from the Armenian and Azerbaijani public are no longer
a secret.

The presidents of the two states agreed to development peace
process on the basis of these principles. The text is available at:
157&l=3. The text is
entitled: Recommendations to the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan:

1. Agree before the 2008 elections on a document of basic principles
making provision for:

(a) security guarantees and the deployment of international
peacekeepers;

(b) withdrawal of Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh forces from all
occupied territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, with special
modalities for Kelbajar and Lachin;

(c) return of displaced persons;

(d) Nagorno-Karabakh’s final status to be determined eventually by
a vote, with an interim status to be settled on until that time; and

(e) reopening of all transport and trade routes.

2. Failing consensus on a comprehensive document, agree what can be
agreed and clearly identify the points still in dispute.

3. Encourage politicians to make positive references to peace and
the need for compromise in their 2008 election campaigns.

To the Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the De Facto Nagorno-
Karabakh Authorities:

4. Respect the 1994 ceasefire, refrain from the use of force, halt
the rise of defence budgets and cease belligerent and provocative
rhetoric directed at the other.

5. Promote track two diplomacy and debate about compromise solutions,
including on the above principles, encourage parliaments to lead
these debates and facilitate contacts between Azeris and Armenians.

6. The de facto Nagorno-Karabakh authorities should end support for
settlement of occupied territories with Armenians, including putting
an end to privatisation, infrastructure development and establishment
of local government structures in those areas;

7. Azerbaijan should allow Karabakh Azeris to elect the head of
their community and make a concerted effort to increase transparency
and reduce corruption so that oil revenues are used to benefit
all citizens, particularly internally displaced persons (IDPs). To
the Minsk Group Co-Chairs (France, Russia, the U.S.) and the Wider
International Community:

8. Make a renewed effort to secure agreement on basic principles,
with remaining points of disagreement clearly indicated, in order to
maintain continuity in the process and to provide a starting point
for negotiations between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
after the 2008 elections.

9. Raise the seniority of the co-chair representatives and make
resolution of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict a key element of bilateral
and multilateral relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

10. Make public more information on the substance of negotiations
and avoid artificially fuelling expectations by overly optimistic
statements.

11. In the case of the European Union:

(a) increase the role of the Special Representative for the South
Caucasus (EUSR), who should observe the Minsk process, support direct
contacts with all parties, travel to Nagorno-Karabakh, visit IDPs in
Azerbaijan and, with the Commission, assess conflict-related funding
needs; and (b) use European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) reviews and
funding to promote confidence building, as well as institution building
and respect for human rights and the rule of law.

TURKEY REITERATES ITS CALL ON ARMENIA TO OPEN ARCHIVES ON 1915 EVENTS

Hurriyet
Nov 14 2008
Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan Thursday once again called on
the Armenian government to open their archives for studies on the
incidents of 1915.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey
rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least
as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

In 2005, Erdogan took a first step towards resolving the issue by
proposing a joint commission of historians launch an investigation and
publish their conclusions, but the proposal was rejected by Yerevan.

"Our offer is still on the table. Let’s leave it to historians,"
Erdogan told a conference in New York’s Columbia University.

"We have opened our archives and Armenians should open their archives
too. We have studied over 1 million documents so far," he was quoted
by the Anatolian Agency as saying.

Erdogan said Turkey and Armenia should abide by the final decision
of historians following these studies.

There is no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, as
Armenia presses the international community to admit the so-called
"genocide" claims instead of accepting Turkey’s call to investigate
the allegations, and Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.

But a warmer period began between Turkey and Armenia after Turkish
President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Armenia early
September.

Asked about the Turkish government’s reaction regarding
U.S. president-elect Barack Obama and his team’s close stance on the
Armenian allegations, Erdogan said the campaign carried out by the
Armenian diaspora in the United States was not fair.

"I hope the new U.S. administration would take into account Turkey’s
efforts. It is not fair to make a judgment upon such cheap political
lobbying," he said.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT Asked whether Turkey, as the new member of
the U.N. Security Council, would pursue its own national policy or
U.N. policies if a problem about the Caucasus and the Nagorno-Karabakh
was brought to the Council, Erdogan said Turkey would contribute to
speed up efforts for settlement of the problem.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan met in Moscow earlier this month and signed a declaration
calling for a "peaceful resolution" to their dispute over the province
of Nagorno-Karabakh on the basis of "binding international guarantees",
taking a step further towards resolution of the conflict.

Erdogan said the two leaders made a significant step, and added Turkey
is willing to host the second meeting of Aliyev and Sargsyan. He said
solving the problem could lead to a new step and the start of a new
process regarding the relations between Turkey and Armenia.

HUNGARIAN FM ARRIVING IN ARMENIA ON FORMAL VISIT

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.11.2008 13:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz is arriving
in Armenia on a 2-day formal visit on November 17.

Ms. Goncz is scheduled to meet with RA President Serzh Sargsyan
and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan as well as with the Ministers of
Economy and Foreign Affairs.

The Hungarian FM will also attend the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

A number of bilateral agreements will be signed.

"BJNI" OWNERS ARE ALSO LOCAL PRODUCERS

A1+
[08:27 pm] 13 November, 2008

"Heritage" faction secretary Stepan Safaryan stated the following
during the 2009 state budget discussion at the National Assembly:

"The speeches made by our honorable government representatives from
this podium are just kind words and is not the divine country that
the government promises citizens."

Stepan Safaryan doesn’t believe in the government’s pledges of
defending local Armenian producers.

"Enough is enough with bringing up the example of "Bjni". The owners
of "Bjni" were also local producers. The government is not getting
rid of the issues of the local producers; rather, it is removing them
from the business sector," stated Stepan Safaryan.

"Foreign companies say that they will not make any investments in
Armenia as long as the country continues illegal acts organized at
the state level," added Safaryan.

Stepan Safaryan believes that the government’s address regarding the
2009 state budget causes doubts.

"It turns out that we still have to conduct studies on the situation
in many fields and in some fields, the government has simply left out
some priorities," says Stepan Safaryan and recalls that years ago the
government had declared that gold and jewelry production are the most
perspective fields of industry for Armenia, yet there are many flaws
in these fields.

According to the "Heritage" faction secretary, what the society
expects from the government remains unrealized. "I’m referring to
industrial development. The government only stresses the importance
of two fields in 2009-chemistry and information technologies."

Today at 6:30 the National Assembly will continue the state budget
discussions during the extraordinary session.

BLACK SEA REGION STABILITY IMPORTANT FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.11.2008 13:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of Turkish Parliamentary EU Adjustment
Committee Yasar Yakis delivered a speech on Black Sea and Georgia
Crisis at the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS)
in Athens on 13 November 2008.

Yakis called for support to Turkey’s proposal for the establishment
of the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform and said that
peace and stability in the Black Sea region does not solely concern
the region’s countries.

"If the stability in the region is undermined, it would affect the
entire world as it was during the recent crisis in Georgia," he said,
the Anatolian Agency reports.

VAHE STEPANIAN ELECTED HEAD OF EXPERTS’ FACT-FINDING GROUP

Noyan Tapan

Nov 12, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Vahe Stepanian, a representative of
the RA Ombudsman, the former RA Minister of Justice, was elected head
of the experts’ fact-finding group on study of the March 1 events by
the simple majority of votes, at the group’s first sitting convened
on November 11 in the building of the RA National Assembly. Henceforth
the sittings of the fact-finding group will be convened in an everyday
regime and will be closed for media.

It should be mentioned that Zharangutiun (Heritage) party
representative, lawyer Seda Safarian, radical opposition representative
Andranik Kocharian, and Robert Avagian and Gevorg Tovmasian nominated
from the ruling coalition are involved in the group.