Author: Toganian Liana

AS TALKS WITH AZERIS/TURKS FALTER, ARMENIA EXPANDS ACCESS TO GEORGIA/IRAN
By Harut Sassounian

AZG Armenian Daily
11/10/2008

Regional

The budding relationship between Armenia and Turkey, which started
with last month’s "football diplomacy" with much fanfare and high
expectations , is facing serious difficulties.

While no one expected a quick resolution of the long-standing issues
stemming from the Genocide and its persistent denial by Turkey,
few anticipated that the nascent rapprochement would falter so quickly.

After a very friendly and hopeful first meeting between the presidents
and foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, occasioned by the
unprecedented soccer match between their national teams on September
6 in Yerevan, it appears that the Artsakh (Karabagh) conflict is the
main reason for the sudden rift.

To begin with, it was strange that the presidents of Armenia and
Turkey did not hold a follow-up meeting during their attendance of the
U.N. General Assembly sessions in New York in late September. When
Pres. Gul was asked by Turkish journalists why no meeting was
scheduled with the Armenian President, he first said he was not aware
that Pres. Sargsyan was coming to New York and then assured them
that they would run into each other during one of many diplomatic
receptions. Despite such optimistic talk, the two presidents never
meet. They may have been waiting for the outcome of discussions
between the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey who
met on the last day of their stay in New York.

On September 28, two days after Pres. Sargsyan left New Yor k, he
told reporters that there were "no concrete results yet" from the
foreign ministers’ meeting and that he had not expected much from
their encounter.

On the same day, Pres. Gul confirmed that there had not been
any significant movement to merit the lifting of the blockade of
Armenia. Taking a tough stand , he told a Turkish group that "no
talks on border opening are possible before Armenia’s liberation of
Azerbaijani territories," according to the AzeriTaj news agency. Thus,
Pres. Gul was reverting to Turkey’s previous preconditions that had
been long rejected by the Armenian side. A senior aide to Azerbaijan’s
president, in his turn, confirmed this week that several serious
issues remain unresolved on the Artsakh issue.

Ankara and Baku assumed that since the Georgian-Russian conflict had
temporarily deprived Armenia of the opportunity to import more than
70% of its vital supplies from Georgia’s Black Sea ports, this was
the ideal time to force Yerevan into making serious concessions on
the Genocide issue and the Artsakh conflict.

Whether it was coincidence or not, several major initiatives announced
by Pres. Sargsyan last week had the effect of countering the hard-line
taken by Ankara and Baku in their recent negotiations with Armenia,
and dispelling the false impression that Yerevan is desperately
seeking to reopen the border with Turkey at any cost.

Pres. Sargsyan announced during his last week’s visit to Tbilisi that
he had reached an agreement with Pres. Saakashvili to jointly build
a modern highway that would considerably shorten the transport time
between the Georgian Port of Batumi and Yerevan.

In a nationally televised speech delivered for the first time in
the Armenian Parliament — akin to the State of the Union address
by American presidents before the U.S. Congress — Pres. Sargsyan
announced that a new railway would be constructed to link Iran with
Armenia, to facilitate and expand trade between the two countries. He
also said that Armenia would build a new nuclear power plant to ensure
that the country remains energy self-sufficient when its aging plant
is shut down. Finally, he stated that a Pan-Armenian Bank and an
investment fund would be established in Yerevan to finance these
projects. He said that these "large and daring initiatives" would
solve Armenia’s important strategic and economic problems.

Along with these major programs, Armenia just formed a new Diaspora
Ministry to streamline and strengthen its relations with millions of
Armenians living abroad. On September 24, during a major banquet in
New York, Pres. Sargsyan gave the 700 Armenian guests an uplifting
message of unity, urging them to join forces for the betterment of
Armenia and the Diaspora. He also thanked all those assisting in the
resolution of the Artsakh conflict, "the condemnation of the Armenian
Genocide, and the restoration of historical justice."

These new initiatives are bound to improve Armenia’s bargaining hand
and help negotiate with Turkey and Azerbaijan from a position of
strength. The expansion of Armenia’s alternate land routes through
Georgia and Iran would considerably diminish the utility of opening
the border with Turkey and circumvent more effectively the blockades
imposed by Ankara and Baku.

While Armenian officials do want to improve relations with all of
their neighbors, they are not so desperate as to make unacceptable
concessions on the Genocide and Artsakh issues.

LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARIAN CONTINUES TO CLAIM THAT HIS ATTEMPTED MURDER WAS INSTRUCTED BY AZERI PRESIDENT

Noyan Tapan

Oc t 9, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The investigation into the attempted
murder of the political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazarian in
the spring of 2008 was completed and the case was sent to court,
L. Melik-Shahnazarian stated at the October 9 press conference,
insisting on the claim he made months ago that the president of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Azeri special services are behind this
crime.

"After shots had been fired at my house in Dilijan on April 22, an
unknown person called and warned me not to write articles and speak
on television any more. Otherwise, he threatened to settle scores
with my family members, about whom he had detailed information,"
L. Melik-Shahnazarian said.

Following that call, the political scientist applied to the appropriate
Armenian bodies. The investigation revealed that Georgian citizen
Arshak Aghababian ("Turki Arshak") whose mother is an Azeri and father
an Armenian was the person who committed the attempted murder and
then threatened L. Melik-Shahnazarian on the phone. It became clear
durind A. Aghababian’s questioning that he received an instruction
to kill L. Melik-Shahnazarian from the Azeri criminal "authority"
Arkhan who promised to pay 100 thousand dollars. "Arkhan told Arshak:
"Do whatever you want: shoot him, strangle him or destroy in any other
way, we do not want him to write articles on Azeri subjects any more,"
L. Melik-Shahnazarian said.

A. Aghababian together with a friend committed an attempted murder,
and being sure that L. Melik-Shahnazarian had been killed, he called
the client and told him about it. However, several days later the
client found out that the political scientist was alive and he
refused to pay the money to A. Aghababian. A. Aghababian started
threathening L. Melik-Shahnazarian, forcing him to spread false
rumors and organize an imitation of his murder so that Aghababian
could receive the promised 100 thousand dollars for the murder.

The trial of A. Aghababian will take place in Dilijan soon. He is
charged under the RA Criminal Code’s Article 305: attempted murder
of a state or public figure, committed in order to terminate the
activities of that person. In the opinion of L. Melik-Shahnazarian,
such crimes cannot be organized without the respective instruction
of a head of a country, in the given case – Ilham Aliyev. He did not
rule out that an attempted murder with respect to him may be committed
again and that a wave of terrorist actions may begin in Armenia.

LA RUSSIE NE S’INQUIETE PAS DU RAPPROCHEMENT DE L’ARMENIE AVEC L’OTAN

Nouvelles d’Arméni
lundi6 octobre 2008
France

DIPLOMATIE

Selon le ministre des Affaires étrangères russe, la Russie n’est
pas alarmée par la coopération croissante de l’Arménie avec l’OTAN
et comprend les efforts de son allié régional principal d’étendre
des liens économiques avec la Géorgie après la récente guerre.

En visite a Erevan, Lavrov a également semblé optimiste quant aux
chances d’une percée des négociations du groupe de Minsk dans le
conflit du Haut-Karabagh.

En agitant le spectre d’une nouvelle Guerre froide, l’OTAN et la
Russie ont gelé leurs relations après la campagne militaire de
Moscou en Géorgie, fortement condamnée par l’Occident. L’Arménie,
qui entretient des liens militaires proches avec la Russie, a fait
comprendre que cela ne la dissuadera pas de continuer a mettre
en Å"uvre son Plan d’action de partenariat individuel (IPAP) avec
l’OTAN. Lundi dernier, Erevan a commencé a accueillir des exercices
militaires menées par l’OTAN.

–Boundary_(ID_lc39K7Fc71M38NH/UdQYBg)–

DATABASE OF PERSONAL DATA OF CITIZENS ABOVE 18 TO BE INTRODUCED IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Oct 6, 2008

YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. An information database of personal data
of citizens above 18 is to be introduced in Armenia, the country’s
Premier Tigran Sargsyan said at the opening of the second Armenian
Technology Congress (ArmTech).

In the scope of the pension reform, a personal account is to be set
for each citizen and IT solutions will be applied to enable everyone
maintaining direct control over his account, keeping track of financial
flows and income expected in his lifetime, the Premier said stressing
the importance of teaching people how to use modern technologies.

Currently there are 550,000 pensioners in the country and as from
2010 every citizen above 18 will be obliged to have an accumulation
account and use this service, Sargsyan said adding that this will
make the number of clients in IT sector go up.

In 2010, Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Issues is to turn
to non-cash system of payment of pensions and benefits. Transfer to
accumulative pension scheme is expected to take place already in 2009.

According to RA Statistical Service, a total of 516,292 retired
persons were recorded in Armenia in the first half of 2008.-0–

ARMENIA’S REGIONAL AUTHORITY GREW AFTER AUGUST EVENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.10.2008 16:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The visit of the Armenian President to Georgia
proved timely, a Georgian political scientist said.

"The Armenian diplomacy manifested professionalism during the
Georgia-Russian clashes in August. It managed to separate the interests
of a strategic and a permanent partner, thus strengthening Armenia’s
regional authority," Soso Tsiskarishvili said during Yerevan-Tbilisi
TV space bridge today.

"The visit of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Georgia proved
timely. The results of this visit will be fruitful, to begin with
the construction project of Akhalkalaki-Batumi highway. Georgia and
Armenia need an alternative highway. Although, there are opponents
to this project, who think that it can provoke separatist attitude of
mind in Javakheti, I am confident that all obstacles will be overcome,"
he said.

Meanwhile, expert on economic issues Niko Orveashvili noted that
first of all an economic-technical conclusion on expediency of the
project should be drawn. "Before this, any talk about a motorway to
connect Georgia and Armenia is premature," he said.

CAUCASUS PLATFORM INDICATES TENSIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.10.2008 17:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform
is not a novelty, said a contributing analyst at Jane’s Information
Group.

"Ankara decision was prompted by the South Ossetia events and Russia’s
increasing authority in the region," Richard Giragosian said during
a round table discussion today.

"Turkey just wants to strengthen its positions in the Caucasus. It
wants to cut its electricity dependence from Georgia and seeks for
alternative delivery ways. At the same time, Turkey wants to be less
dependent on the United States. In my opinion, its Caucasus Pact
indicates tensions between Turkey and U.S. It’s evident that Turkey
turned from West to East," he said.

ABKHAZIA GOING TO DEVELOP COOPERATION WITH KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.10.2008 19:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Abkhazia intends to develop cooperation with
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in trade, economic, political and
cultural fields, reported the press office of Abkhazia president’s
administration.

Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba held a meeting with NKR Deputy
FM Eduard Atanesyan and National Assembly Speaker Ashot Ghulyan to
discuss bilateral relations, Rosbalt reports.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN RECEIVES CHAIRMAN OF LATVIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

ARMENPRESS
Oct 2, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
received today the chairman of the Latvian Constitutional Court
Gunara Kutris.

Presidential press service told Armenpress that underscoring the close
cooperation between the constitutional courts of the two countries,
President Sargsyan said that such contacts are useful and give birth
to new ideas and initiatives.

Serzh Sargsyan also referred to Armenian-Latvian relations in general,
saying that they are developing successfully. He said that in New York
he met with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and discussed directions
of partnership.

The chairman of the Latvian Constitutional Court on his turn considered
the mutual visits the best way of exchange of experience.

THE CAUCASUS, SCO, CSTO, ENERGY AND THE NEW MULTIPOLARITY
by Guner Ozkan

Center for Research on Globalization
September 30, 2008
Canada

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has conformed to the
Russian view that the conflict in South Ossetia is tantamount to
shaking, if not entirely changing, the global balance of power that
has orbited around US supremacy since the end of the Cold War.

So the SCO has seen the unipolar mentality of the US as a
source of conflict rather than a cure for the world’s common
challenges. Stressing the necessity of a multipolar world for the
sake of international security, the SCO has supported the maintenance
of a strategic balance of power. The SCO has thus warned that the US
endeavor to create a global missile defense system, as in Poland and
the Czech Republic, is a futile attempt, as such efforts will neither
help uphold the strategic balance nor prevent the spread of weapons
of every kind, including nuclear.

So, along with demanding a multipolar international order, the SCO
reiterated that Russia has an exclusive right to shape the "near
abroad.’"

Rising value of the CSTO

Not surprisingly, Russia has received substantial political
backing from certain countries within the borders of the "near
abroad." Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan already
announced their endorsement of Russia within the context of the
SCO. More support has also come from members of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) — an organization established in 2002 that
grew out of the Russian-led Collective Security Organization of 1993
and was meant to improve security relations between Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Like the
SCO, the heads of state of the CSTO at their summit on Sept. 5 in
Moscow endorsed Russia’s role in the conflict region and condemned
Georgia’s military action against South Ossetia and "double standards"
being pursued by the West on the issue. So, as well as showing that
it is not and cannot be isolated, Russia made a comparison between
the cases of Kosovo and South Ossetia by putting the term "double
standard" in the resolution of the CSTO summit.

Here again, Russia conveyed that diplomatic recognition of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia is a matter that should be decided by each member
of the CSTO in line with their own national interests. Belarusian
President Alexander Lukashenko has already announced his willingness
to recognize them as soon as parliament returns from summer break
at the end of September. After evaluating the changing political
and military dynamics in the region, and of course, seeing a green
light from Russia, Armenia may also prefer to recognize not only South
Ossetia and Abkhazia but also Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. In fact,
perhaps encouraged by the Russian stance on the recognition of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan pointed out at the
summit that all members of the CSTO should adopt a unified position
on foreign policy, military and other issues. Certainly, Sarksyan
had in mind a united front in the CSTO toward the Armenian-populated
breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, including possible
diplomatic recognition of it. True, Armenia and other CSTO members
have still not recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia. However,
it will be very interesting to see what the same states do when
Abkhazia soon applies — as Sergei Bagapsh, the Abkhazian leader,
has already announced he will do — for membership in the CSTO and
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Energy pipelines for control over the ‘near abroad’

Russia’s success in challenging the West or exerting its control over
the "near abroad" is greatly dependent on where future Caspian oil
and gas pipelines are built: passing through Russian territory or not.

Energy pipelines are in fact equally important for both sides. The EU
and the US want to reduce their energy dependence on single and/or
unreliable sources (the Middle East and Russia). On the other hand,
Moscow strongly desires to preserve and increase the huge benefits
it is getting from energy exports as Russia is now earning nearly
two-thirds of its export revenues from oil and natural gas sales. Most
importantly, Russia is spending 30-40 percent of its budget on the
defense and security sectors. With all of this in mind, Putin made
a verbal deal with Islom Karimov, the Uzbek president, on Sept. 2
on another pipeline to carry around 30 billion cubic meters (bcm)
of natural gas per year from Uzbekistan to Russia with a link
to Turkmenistan. Russia has already transported a significant
amount of natural gas from the region via its pipeline system
and made another gas transportation deal (up to 80 bcm per year
for 25 years) with Turkmenistan in May 2007. On the other side,
Washington, Brussels and Ankara have also intensified their efforts
to realize the trans-Caspian pipeline from energy rich Turkmenistan,
with possible inclusion of Uzbek and Kazakh reserves, to Europe via
the Caspian seabed, South Caucasus and Turkey. The trans-Caspian
pipeline, which is currently seen as the most important component
of the Nabucco project — a proposed pipeline to carry the Caspian,
Iraqi and other available natural gas yields to Central Europe via
Turkey — has been under discussion since the mid-1990s. There is
no way that China will be left out of the pipeline equation in the
"near abroad." Of its various other energy projects in the region,
Beijing struck a gas agreement with Turkmenistan in April 2006 for a
Sino-Turkmen pipeline to be completed by 2009 to transport up to 30
bcm of natural gas annually for a 30-year period.

In the final analysis, in the "near abroad" theater, many actors are
still in the energy and security games that now have to be played under
the new power balances created by the conflict in Georgia. Surely,
any verbal political and security guarantees given by the US and
the EU to the vulnerable regional leaderships in the "near abroad"
come nowhere near to matching the military actions of the Russian
army. It is likely that international private investors and politically
unstable leaderships of the region have already begun to think twice
before making up their minds on the paths of future energy lines
and on establishing security and political relationships with the
external world. Naturally, political leaderships in the "near abroad"
have to lean toward the direction(s) posing little or no threat to
their rules. Even if some of them show a certain level of resistance
to Russia’s pressure, it is unlikely they will turn their faces to
the West, but rather to the East, China and other alternatives in
that direction.

Assistant Professor Guner Ozkan is an expert on the Caucasus at the
Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK)
and a lecturer at Mugla University.

SHARED LIVES

By Salpi H. Ghazarian
THE ARMENIAN REPORTER
September 20, 2008

In My Grandmother (Verso Books, 2008) Fethiye Cetin recounts the life of her
grandmother, and mine. Sort of. It turns out we were the cousins divided at
birth.
A young girl, living in Anatolia, Eastern Turkey, separated, violently, from
parents at an age too young to remember. That¹s the story of her
grandmother. That¹s the story of my grandmother, too. Neither had schooling.
Neither had a profession, other than grandmother.
Raised by well-meaning captors, they were the children who were saved, at
least physically, while their parents were forced onto the deportation
route.
The children grew up. Raised in the desert, they did not forget the names of
their mothers and fathers. They did not forget their own names – screamed
by their parents as they were torn away — nor abandon the expectation that
somewhere, somehow they would be reunited.
It was not to happen. In my grandmother¹s case, there was no trace of the
parents. She was raised by a family that sold her off to an Armenian
merchant. Through the sands of Syria to the orphanage in Aleppo, she made a
new life for herself, her daughter and the Diaspora that they comprised.
Fethiye Cetin¹s grandmother Seher was married off to the son of the family
which cared for her and adopted her. For her, there could have been a
reunification. But when her long-lost mother and father were located in a
not terribly distant Aleppo, Seher or Heranush, dared not risk insulting her
husband and his family, and did not take a trip, albeit a short one, to
reconnect with parents and siblings. Her family was again lost, now forever.
But for this noble, some would say misplaced sense of responsibility, there
might have been a different ending to this story.
Instead, the story goes like this: After raising obedient and loving
children and grandchildren, and old enough to fear that her story might go
with her to her grave, Seher or Heranush shared her story with her
granddaughter. She did so partly with the hope that at this late stage some
family might still be found. But she also opened up in order to begin the
settling of accounts that each of us will do, before the books are finally
closed.
In the Diaspora, dozens of students and scholars discovered that such final
reckonings are useful to the recounting process. Stories otherwise too
painful to tell now required listeners. Survivors who for decades would not
speak, now sought an audience in order to share their improbable, matchless
stories.
Some 2000 survivors from France to Canada and the US have recounted their
tales of deprivation, struggle and survival. Some cursed the Turks, others
yearned for the days when they lived together as neighbors. Most did both.
No one remembered the estimated two million Turks whose grandparents too had
stories, similar to Heranush¹s.
Hrant Dink used to say that he¹d get several calls a week from Turks who had
just discovered that they were, after all, also Armenian. One such call came
>From Fethiye Cetin, Hrant¹s own advocate and a human rights attorney.

The story Fethiye Cetin told Hrant is in this slim 100-page book. It is
painstakingly and elegantly translated into English by Maureen Freely, who
is also Orhan Pamuk¹s translator. (There are two translations into Armenian
as well.) Although it¹s called a memoir, Ms. Cetin writes an easy-to-read
unavoidable tear-jerker. A confessional of sorts, she breaks the silence on
a most open secret – that there were Armenians in Turkey several generations
ago, and their descendants live in Turkey still. This is a message for
Ankara.

But this is not a book of politics and ideologies. It¹s a simple story of
two women – a 90+ year-old who broke her own silence only when she knew she
had no choice, and her courageous granddaughter who chose to break the
silence that could no longer be sustained. How else to explain to sisters
and nieces about the grandmother who made interesting sweet breads in the
spring – the Easter cheoregs that reminded her of a life lost? How else to
deal with the phone call that came from America when Heranush¹s death notice
was published in the Istanbul daily Agos and read 10,000 miles away by the
new children of the parents who had survived, moved to the other side of the
ocean, but never forgot the daughter they left behind.

The silence has been broken. The Fethiye Cetin generation will support Hrant
Dink¹s call to talk to each other and listen to each other. Now, the
Diaspora generation of victims¹ descendants must exhibit the dignity,
capacity and willingness to also talk and listen.

Salpi Ghazarian, formerly editor and publisher of Armenian International
Magazine, is Director of the Yerevan-based Civilitas Foundation. From 2001
to 2008, she was Special Assistant to Armenia¹s Minister of Foreign Affairs.