Author: Tvankchian Parkev

TWO AZERBAIJANI MINISTERS TO VISIT ARMENIA

APA
Aug 28 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. Minister of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan
Azad Rahimov and Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population,
President of Azerbaijan Judo Federation Fuzuli Alekperov will visit
Armenia, press service of the Ministry of Youth and Sport told APA.

They will discuss the organizational issues of participation of
Azerbaijani sportsmen in the European championship among the young
judokas in Armenia. The Azerbaijani officials will visit Armenia
before the tournament. They are expected to sign new agreement in
accordance with the agreement reached between the sport officials of
both countries during the world wrestling championship in Azerbaijan
in 2007.

According to the agreement, host country has to take serious
responsibility for the security of Azerbaijani sportsmen in Armenia. It
also considers creating of necessary condition for feeding with
information, for regular trainings, hanging of Azerbaijan’s flag
among the flags of other countries during the tournament, raising the
Azerbaijan’s flag, playing of national anthem and all participants’
standing up in the case of Azerbaijan’s winning, participation
of journalists accredited by IOC, easy Internet access and other
issues. The agreement will be signed by the Ministry of Youth and
Sport of Azerbaijan, European Judo Federation, European Judo Committee,
European Olympic Committee and appropriate organizations of Armenia.

U.S. CONGRESSMAN WARNS TURKEY

Panorama.am
12:37 28/08/2009

U.S. Congressman of the House of Representatives Robert Wexler,
relations with Turkey group co-chair called on Ankara to fasten the
dialogue started with Armenia, Turkish media reports.

"In a conversation with Abdullah Gul, Wexler said that if the dialogue
is hindered, the draft of law on Armenian Genocide would again be
put in the agenda of the Congress and most probably would be adopted."

AZERI DEFENCE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN SLAMS ARMENIAN DEFENCE CHIEF’S REMARKS

APA
Aug 27 2009
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry has responded to war threats of
Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan.

Defence Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu has told APA news agency
that Seyran Ohanyan’s remarks is now something new. "There are
reasons behind it. The international community is putting pressure on
Armenia for the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict within
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. By issuing such statements which
are wrong, the Armenian army leadership wants to distract people’s
attention and hide the people’s distrust in the army. Azerbaijan has
a very strong army able to prevent any aggression," Sabiroglu said.

Eldar Sabiroglu stressed that there were two ways of solving the
conflict and did not rule out the possibility of war if the occupied
lands were not freed peacefully. "The conflict has two ways [of being
resolved]. Peace or war. Azerbaijan is not a proponent of bloodshed. We
are proponents of a peaceful solution to the conflict. However, if
this does not happen, Azerbaijan will be able to liberate its lands
from the occupation. This aggression cannot go on endlessly."

ARMENIA SEEKS TO COOPERATE WITH AZERBAIJAN BY ANY MEANS: MP

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
.html
Aug 26 2009

"Armenia is interested in establishing ties with Azerbaijan,"
Azerbaijani member of parliament Asaf Hajiyev said commenting on
a possible visit by Azerbaijani judokas to Yerevan to attend the
European Judo Championships for Junior.

"I think Armenia will provide security of Azerbaijan’s delegation,"
he said.

Azerisport.com reported Azerbaijani judo team will make a trip to
Yerevan to attend the championships. Azerbaijani and Armenian relevant
federations have discussed this issue in Rotterdam.

Armenia agreed to provide security of Azerbaijan’s team. European Judo
Championships for Junior will be held in Yerevan on September 9-14.

"Armenians are interested in establishing relations with Azerbaijan,
so they will do everything possible to ensure that our athletes will
go to Yerevan," he added.

"Armenia’s goal is to cooperate with Azerbaijan by any means and
establish relations with us outside the Karabakh issue. Azerbaijan
will never agree to this until occupied Azerbaijani territories are
returned," Hajiyev said.

AZERBAIJANI TO REFEREE ARMENIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL SQUAD’S MATCH

Trend
Aug 25 2009
Azerbaijan

An Azerbaijani has been appointed to referee matches as part of the
qualifying stage of the European Championship.

FIFA Referee Venera Muradova will referee women’s football matches
for Group 10 as part of the qualifying stage of the U-17 European
Championship to be held in Serbia on Oct. 23-30, the Azerbaijan
Football Federations Association (AFFA) told Trend News on
Aug. 25. This group includes Serbia, Russia, Spain and Armenia.

"ARMENIA" REACHED SAN PEDRO

armradio.am
26.08.2009 16:03

On the eve the expedition leaded by Zori Balayan arrived in San Pedro,
California in "Armenia" sail-boat. To remind "Armenia" intends to
make a voyage round the world.

The trip began on May 28 from Valencia, Spain. The sail-boat has
intersected the Atlantic Ocean, Barbados Island, Panama Canal, and
Pacific Ocean and reached San Pedro.

DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: ARMENIA IS READY TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITHOUT ANY PRECONDITIONS

ARKA
Aug 25, 2009

YEREVAN, August 25. / ARKA /. "Today, Armenia is ready to establish
diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions, including
on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict", – the deputy minister
said in an interview with radio station Ekho Moskvy.

Kocharian stated that unfortunately Turkey’s position on the question
of establishing relations with Armenia, manifested on the fact
that there the diplomatic relations with Armenia still have not
been established, and the Armenian-Turkish border has been closed
since 1993.

"These were steps aimed at supporting an ally of Azerbaijan, so that
Armenia would be blockaded, and that it was possible to eventually
force a decision.

Now that Turkey is ready to discuss the refusal of such an approach,
Turkey apparently realized, earlier than Azerbaijan that this
policy of isolating Armenia did not lead to the result they wanted,
" Kocharian said.

Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations and the
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on the initiative
of the official Ankara.

The complex relationship between the two countries is caused by
several factors related to, with Ankara’s support of Azerbaijan in the
Karabakh issue, as well as the acute reaction to Turkey’s process of
the international recognition of the 1915 Armenian Geno cide in the
Ottoman Empire.

The first advances in the relationship began on a September 6, 2008,
when Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan for the first
time at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serj Sargsyan to
watch a football match between Armenia and Turkey in the World Cup
2010 qualification round.

During the visit, the two presidents discussed the possibility of
establishing relations.

AZERBAIJAN’S OPPOSITION PARTIES NEGOTIATE TO SET UP CENTER ON KARABAKH

Today.Az
cs/54957.html
Aug 25 2009
Azerbaijan

The working group launched by parties included in the Union for
Democracy are negotiating to set up a unified center on Karabakh issue,
said Ahmad Oruj, chairman of the Azadlig party, part of the union.

The Union for Democracy includes Classic Popular Front Party, the
party Azadlig, People’s Party of Azerbaijan, Great Azerbaijan and
National Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.

He said the parties represented in the union oppose resolution of the
Karabakh conflict on the basis of the Madrid principles, so the main
task of the center will take steps to protest against it.

"The center will also include parties who participated in the last
Karabakh forum organized by the Civil Solidarity Party. Today we can
say that the majority of parties oppose resolution of the Karabakh
problem based on the Madrid principles, so opposition needs to unite
in this matter," Oruj said.

A total of 12 parties attended the Karabakh forum organized by CSP.

100,000 DRAM BANKNOTES

conomy&pid=14978
19:09:14 – 24/08/2009

The Central Bank circulates from August 24 banknotes with the value
of 100,000 drams, said Vakhtang Abrahamyan, member of the board of
the Central Bank.

He said major deals necessitated issue of 100,000 banknotes. The
experts also mentioned the necessity for a variety of bills. The
experience of several countries was studied. The Central Bank
estimates that the 100,000 dram banknote will comprise 3 percent of
cash circulation and cannot affect inflation or the exchange rate.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT REJECTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CASE

AZG Armenian Daily
22/08/2009

Armenian Genocide

Descendants of victims can’t sue foreign insurance companies for
unpaid claims because the U.S. government doesn’t legally recognize
the genocide, a three-judge 9th Circuit panel rules.

Armenian Americans descended from victims of the 1915-18 massacre
by Ottoman Turks can’t sue foreign insurance companies for unpaid
claims because the U.S. government doesn’t legally recognize that an
Armenian genocide occurred, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday,
according to latimes.com.

A Glendale priest and thousands of other Armenians whose relatives
were among the 1.2 million killed had won a partial victory two
years ago. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder said then that a
2000 law passed by the California Legislature gave the descendants
standing to sue three German insurance companies.

But a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals overturned that ruling, saying the California law attempted to
undercut the president’s diplomatic authority and had to be preempted
by the federal policy against acknowledging the genocide.

Congress has considered resolutions three times in the last decade that
would have provided official recognition of the genocide. Each time,
the White House has stepped in to urge that the bills be scuttled,
out of fear that passage would damage relations with Turkey, whose
government disputes that a genocide took place.

"I think the decision is outrageous. If taken to its logical extension,
what this decision means is that all 40 states that have recognized
the Armenian genocide have to set aside that recognition," said Brian
S. Kabateck, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the plaintiffs whose
own maternal grandparents died in the genocide.

"This is a sad day for Armenian Americans," he said, adding that the
decision would make recovery of victims’ bank accounts, insurance
proceeds and other property impossible. He vowed to appeal for
rehearing by a larger panel of judges.

Vartkes Yeghiayan, the lawyer for lead plaintiff Father Vazken
Movsesian of St. Peter Armenian Church, described the ruling as
"devastating."

The attorney representing the German insurers, Neil M. Soltman,
called the decision "a straight-down-the-middle determination that
in the area of foreign affairs, federal power has to prevail."

Judge Harry Pregerson dissented from the majority opinion by Judges
David R. Thompson and Dorothy W. Nelson. Pregerson wrote that
the District Court had correctly judged the California statute as
"within the state’s traditional area of competence" in regulating
the insurance industry.

The plaintiffs sought settlement of claims under policies issued by
German insurers Victoria Versicherung and Ergo Versicherungsgruppe, as
well as their parent company, Munchener Ruckversicherungsgesellschaft.