Author: Torgomian Varazdat

ICG: TURKEY AND ARMENIA SHOULD FINALISE THEIR AGREEMENT

armradio.am
15.04.2009 17:12

Turkey and Armenia should seize their best opportunity yet to normalise
relations, work on a new approach to shared history and open a European
border that for nearly a century has been hostage to conflict.

Turkey and Armenia: Opening Minds, Opening Borders: the latest report
from the International Crisis Group, examines how a decade of academic
and civil society outreach laid the foundations for what is now intense
official engagement between the governments. The two sides are now
close to agreement on a package deal that will establish diplomatic
relations, open the border and set up bilateral commissions to address
a range of issues.

"Turks’ and Armenians’ once uncompromising views of history are
significantly converging, showing that the deep traumas can be healed",
says Hugh Pope, Director of Crisis Group’s Turkey/Cyprus Project.

"At this sensitive time, third parties should avoid statements or
resolutions in the politicised debate over genocide recognition or
denial that could inflame opinion on either side".

"Turkey and Armenia should finalise their agreement and thus create
new momentum for peace and cooperation in the South Caucasus", says
Sabine Freizer, Crisis Group’s Europe Program Director. "They should
not wait until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled. But out side
powers such as the U.S., EU, Russia and others should build on their
rare common interest to move both Turkish-Armenian normalisation and
the Nagorno-Karabakh process forward".

PanARMENIAN.Net

Will Russia recognize Kosovo’s independence?
11.04.2009 19:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari is optimistic
Moscow will recognize Kosovo’s independence, now relations between the
US and Russia are thawing. The man who devised the blueprint for
Kosovo’s supervised independence told Voice of America that it may
take "some time in order for this to happen".

"I hope that the recognition will come," he added. "This is not a big
issue and shouldn’t be exaggerated."

He said the recognition issue was not mentioned in recent meetings
between USA and Russia because the countries do not want to waste time
talking about Kosovo, adding that "this is a good sign".

The Nobel Prize for Peace winner said he was disappointed some EU
countries have not recognized Kosovo yet but was optimistic they will
do it sooner or later.

Ahtisaari was appointed in 2005 as the United Nations special envoy
for talks on the final status of Kosovo, seven years after he played a
key role in bringing an end to hostilities.

After no results in the talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian
officials, he recommended "supervised independence" for Kosovo.

The Ahtisaari plan served as the basis for Kosovo’s declaration of
independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, and the reforms it
prescribed were pursued in the following months by Kosovo’s
government, BalkanInsight reported.

ARMENIA WILL NOT SACRIFICE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.04.2009 18:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ We repeatedly stated that Armenia speaks for
normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties without preconditions, RA
President Serzh Sargsyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

"Though difficult, the process of negotiations with Ankara is going on.

I see nothing strange that Ankara might be willing to change its
viewpoint. Still, I believe opening of border will serve the interests
of Turkey.

Some are concerned that Armenian market will be flooded with Turkish
goods upon opening of border. Yet, goods are still being imported in
Armenia through Georgia.

Fear of competition might bring us to the wrong inference that all
the borders to Armenia should be closed, so local manufacturers could
avoid competition. The inference is fundamentally wrong.

Turkey sets a number of preconditions including abandoning demands for
in international recognition of the Armenian genocide and NKR conflict
settlement on Azerbaijan-stipulated terms. This is what we’ll never
sacrifice for normalization of ties. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan are
aware of it," RA president stated.

Turkey closed the border with Armenian in 1993, in support to Azeri’s
aggression against Nagorno Karabakh.

TURKISH MASS MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

Panorama.am
15:20 09/04/2009

The Turkish mass media publish analytical stories regarding the
Armenian-Turkish issues, the opening of the closed border and more
over, they mark the end of 2009 as the date of signing a certain
contract between the countries. Turkish Today’s Zaman referring to
its official sources reports that the border will be opened in October
when the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan visits Turkey. It is also
written that Turkey makes efforts to ease the social and political
panic in Azerbaijan. According to some media repost the President
of Turkey Abdullah Gul is going to visit Azerbaijan to attend the
National Security Council meeting, where, most probably, Nagorno
Karabakh conflict will be discussed.

SERJ TANKIAN TO LAUNCH A CAMPAIGN FOR RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.04.2009 00:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Known as one of the most outspoken activists in the
music community, Serj Tankian, along with the help of Tom Morello and
the Axis of Justice, is launching a campaign for the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide to commemorate the annual global day of remembrance
for victims of the human rights atrocity on April 24th. Tankian,
a solo artist and visionary frontman for multi-platinum rock band
System Of A Down, has posted a video on YouTube in which he and other
activists urge President Obama to affirm his pledge and officially
recognize the Armenian Genocide, which took place in 1915, just after
the start of World War I.

A powerful indictment of the Turkish government’s denials, the video,
which also features comments from Morello, The Coup’s Boots Riley,
and Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), asks viewers to call the White
House to implore President Obama to put an end to Turkey’s well-funded
whitewash and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. The video
was directed by Ara Soudjian, who also directed Tankian’s "Money" clip.

"Last year, Barack Obama noted that many of the same brutal tactics
employed today in Darfur are the same as those used by the Ottoman
authorities against defenseless Armenians back in 1915," Tankian
says. "As we approach the global day of remembrance on April 24th, we
look to both the President and Congress to stand up for what’s right;
to speak against the Armenian Genocide and all genocides at the level
of American values, and to never again allow the United States to be
dragged down to the level of Turkey’s threats. President Obama is the
best-positioned American president in generations to help bring about
real change to how America and the international community confront
mass inhumanity, and our best hope to bring the peoples of the world
together to end the cycle of genocide."

Tankian has also written an accompanying editorial that outlines
the history of the Armenian Genocide and passionately explains his
personal connection to it.

All four of Tankian’s grandparents survived the brutal massacre.

US AND AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS DISCUSSED KARABAKH ISSUE

AZG DAILY
09-04-2009

Karabakh issue

US and Azerbaijani Presidents Barack Obama and Ilham Aliyev discussed
Karabakh issue, US White House official website reported.

On Tuesday, Barack Obama had a telephone conversation with the
Azerbaijani president. The main subject of the conversation was the
issue of Karabakh conflict settlement.

The leader of the White House expressed his support for the solution
of the issue and contribution to improvement in relations between
the two countries.

Obama also attached importance to re-establishment of relations
between Turkey and Armenia that will contribute to strengthening of
the regional peace and security.

THEY BLOCKADED THE NORTH AVENUE AND ATTACKED PEOPLE

LRAGIR.AM
11:06:28 – 09/04/2009

Yesterday, at about 18.00 o’ clock the Patrol Division and the special
subdivisions of the Police blockaded the North Avenue illegally
forbidding citizens’ entering there. The work of the journalists
was impeded too. This entire was accompanied by violations against
the citizens.

11 people have been taken to the Police department; among which was
the coordinator of the Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabyan. Later
in the day the persons taken to the Police were released.

ARMENIA’S ACP UPS COPPER PRODUCTION NEARLY 7% IN Q1

Interfax
April 6 2009
Russia

Armenian metals company Armenia Copper Programme (ACP) increased
refined copper production 6.8% year- on-year in the first quarter of
2009 to 1,778 tonnes, the company’s PR department told Interfax.

ACP produced 433 tonnes of copper in January, 653 tonnes in February
and 692 tonnes in March.

The company said output had increased partly because ACP processed
more concentrate supplied by the Zangezur copper-Molybdenum Plant
with higher Cu content. It processed a total of 10,004 tonnes of
concentrate, compared with 11,212 tonnes in the first quarter of
last year.

ACO cut refined copper production 6.8% in 2008 to 6,480 tonnes.

Copper sales fell 13.6% to 6,251 tonnes. All the copper was exported
to Europe.

ACP processed 34,258 tonnes of copper concentrate in 2008, down from
39,230 tonnes in 2007.

The Liechtenstein-registered Vallex F.M. Establishment owns 81%
and Russia-based businessman Valery Mejlumian owns 19% of ACP.

HOW BARACK OBAMA REFRAINED FROM USING THE ‘G’ WORD IN TURKEY
Robert Tait

The Guardian
Tuesday 7 April 2009

Even before he took office, Turks were anxious to hear Barack Obama’s
attitude towards the Armenians who died during the last days of the
Ottoman empire. Armenians in the US say that up to 1.5 million of their
ethnic kin were killed by Ottoman forces in a genocide plotted by the
then Turkish leadership. Turkey has said the numbers are exaggerated
and the deaths not deliberate genocide.

During last year’s presidential election campaign, Obama had no
doubt. "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."

Obama, with Turkey’s president Abdullah Gul and before parliament
yesterday, refrained from using what the Turkish media call "the
g word". It was not because his views had changed, he said, but
because of ongoing talks between Turkey and Armenia, they no longer
matter. "What I want to do now is not focus on my views but on the
views of the Turkish and Armenian people," he said.

Turkish president disproves the information about opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border soon

2009-04-04 12:06:00

ArmInfo. At the threshold of his visit to Germany Turkish President
Abdullah Gul has disproved the information about opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border soon, Trend reported, referring to CNN Turk.

He also added the information in the world mass media that Turkey will
soon open the border to Armenia is a lie. At the same time he said
Turkey is striving to peace and stability in the Caucasus and is for
the friendly relations with all the countries of the region.