Author: Tvankchian Parkev

A FOREIGN POLICY BRIEFING

Turkish Daily News
Sept 16 2008

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan invited NGO representatives,
retired diplomats and members of the press for a briefing on Turkish
foreign policy last week. Babacan mainly focused on the Middle East and
the Caucasus. He emphasized the successful outcomes of the policy we
followed in the region and said Turkey facilitated contacts between
Israel and Palestine, established a strategic dialogue mechanism
with the Arab League and set up an institutional bond with the Gulf
countries.

He also said our relations with Iraq were now on a very firm ground,
we played a role in the solution of the Lebanese crisis, made positive
contributions to the presidential election process in this country
and helped the start of peace talks between Israel and Syria. Babacan
added that Turkey’s assistance is asked with the initiatives on the
Iranian nuclear program.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the state leaders of
Syria, France and Qatar in the Syrian capital Damascus, Babacan
noted. Among many other activities he described were our strategic
partnership with the African League, the recent Turkey-Africa
Cooperation Summit held in Istanbul, improving relations with the
Pacific and the Caribbean countries as well as mutual visits with
India and China. All these are, without doubt, manifestations of
a proactive foreign policy. Some gave fruit and others turned into
rather symbolic activities to gain more prestige, which is undoubtedly
helpful to a point.

Babacan’s optimism and realities

Babacan’s most striking remarks were on the Caucasus. During the crisis
in Georgia last month, Erdogan had visited Moscow and Tbilisi. Regional
countries gave support to the "Caucasus Stability and Cooperation
Platform" suggested by Turkey. However, this doesn’t mean that the
platform can be put into force shortly.

On what common ground can Russia and Georgia meet? How can Turkey
and Armenia cooperate unless diplomatic ties are established? There
is no peace yet between Azerbaijan and Armenia. As for more solid
Turkish-Armenian relations, we see that the expected rapprochement
process between the two countries following President Abdullah Gul’s
visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan will be conducted in parallel
with the efforts to find solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

Babacan seems optimistic about a positive result in the Turkish
and Armenian foreign ministers’ meeting in New York next month. But
the 19-year-old Karabakh issue between Armenian and Azerbaijan is as
complex as the Cyprus issue, or maybe more! I hope Babacan’s optimism
comes true.

Babacan is also optimistic about the Cyprus issue. The main reason
for that is that President Demetris Christofias of southern Cyprus
is more inclined toward settlement than his predecessor, Tassos
Papadopoulos. But both sides want to change the parameters in the Annan
Plan, approved by the Cypriot Turks in the 2004 referendum. Erdogan in
a recent talk said that Guzelyurt cannot be returned to Cypriot Greeks.

But the least disputable part of the Annan plan, on which there has
been a consensus for years, was border arrangements. Christofias,
on the other hand, is trying to change the political balance set
between the sides in the Annan plan. Besides, he is against the
Guarantor Agreement. I think it is early to be optimistic.

The European Union membership process was of course the subject
of talks in the briefing. A short assessment is that the governing
Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is usually very successful in
foreign politics, but I have the impression that we are spending more
time and effort to solve the problems of others, some times more than
what we do to solve our own problems inside.

THIRD MOBILE PHONE COMMUNICATION OPERATOR IN ARMENIA TO BE ANNOUNCED IN LATE 2009

Noyan Tapan

Se p 12, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The third mobile phone
communication operator in Armenia will be announced in late 2009,
the RA minister of transport and communication Gurgen Sargsyan said
during a talk with reporters on September 11. He reminded that Orange
(France Telecom), DigiCell and Tele2 companies have been selected
to participate in the tender. The indicated companies have to submit
tender proposals within 40 days. The tender results will be summarized
in mid October, and if there is no long appeal process, the winner
will be announced in mid December.

According to the minister, in all likelihood the third operator will
start its activities from the second half of 2009. He reminded that
the second operator, VivaCell also succeeded in starting its work
within six months.

AMERICANS, UKRAINIANS POOL RESOURCES TO FIND SUNKEN SHIP

The FINANCIAL
Sept 11 2008
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — The waters are deep and murky, but with
high-tech equipment — and a little good luck — U.S. and
Ukrainian oceanographers and scientists hope to find a World War II
Soviet-flagged hospital ship that was sunk with 7,000 people on board,
according to an article by Stars and Stripes.

The oceanographic survey ship USNS Pathfinder, under Military Sealift
Command, started searching Sunday in Ukrainian territorial waters
for the SS Armenia, sunk in 1941 by the German Luftwaffe, one of the
world’s most powerful air forces at the time, officials said.

"This would be a significant find," said Marian Clough, senior Naval
Oceanographic Office representative on board. "Over 7,000 people died
when that hospital ship was bombed from the air. It went down in four
minutes and was a serious of loss of life. It is very significant to
the Ukrainian s. … There were wounded soldiers on board, and also
families, women and children who were allowed to visit the ship,
and the crew of the vessel. It was quite a wide group of people."

According to Stars and Stripes, the Ukrainian Department of Underwater
Heritage plans to designate the underwater graveyard a memorial site
if the Armenia is located, Clough said.

The task is daunting. The high-tech, 328.5-foot-long Pathfinder must
scour murky waters for one shipwreck among many at depths ranging
from 100 meters to 1,000 meters (about 328 feet to 3,280 feet),
according to the ship’s commander, Capt. Troy Erwin.

"There are lots of shipwrecks in the Black Sea, so it’s a matter
of us surveying and seeing something on the … displays that looks
interesting enough to take a closer look," he said.

Scientists will use a side-scan sonar and multibeam sonar, which
use sound pulses to locate possible shipwrecks. If sonars indicate a
possible wreck, a remotely operated vehicle with video capabilities
can be used to verify findings.

"It is the type of work we do all the time," Erwin said during a
phone interview from the ship.

Civilian surveyors from the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office,
Ukrainian sailors, surveyors and historians, and a team of civilian
oceanographers from the U.S.-based Institute for Exploration are
working together on the project.

HEADS OF TURKISH AND ARMENIAN DELEGATIONS TO CONGRESS WELCOME PRESIDENT GUL’S VISIT TO ARMENIA

ABHaber
EU-Turkey News Network
Sept 10 2008
Belgium

Congress President Yavuz Mildon, in his capacity as Head of the
Turkish delegation to the Congress, and Vice-President Emin Yeritsyan,
Head of the Armenian delegation, welcomed the recent visit of Turkish
President Abdullah Gul to Armenia, on the occasion of a sports event,
as a positive step in developing friendly relations between the
two countries.

"President Gul’s visit opens a new perspective for promoting
good-neighbourly relations in the region, also at the local level, and
presents an opportunity for establishing cooperation between Turkish
and Armenian municipalities, an opportunity which should be seized,"
said President Mildon and Vice-President Yeritsyan.

ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Press Office
Mher Lazarian 12/1, Yerevan, Armenia
Mailing Address: P.O.Box 123 – Yerevan, Armenia 0010
Tel.: (37410) 52-18-90, 52-19-66
Fax: (37410) 52-14-53
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

Yerevan, 10 September 2008

Statement

The Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun
held a special plenary session in Yerevan on September 9-10.

The main issues on the agenda were the complicated military and
political situation created in the region and Armenian-Turkish
relations.

After thoroughly discussing the internal and external challenges
facing Armenia, the plenary session of the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Bureau
considered it necessary to draw the public’s attention to several of
the ARF’s fundamental positions regarding Armenian-Turkish interstate
relations.

a) Armenia and Turkey, as neighboring states, must work toward the
normalization of bilateral relations. However, we are convinced that
good neighborly relations can only be established after the
recognition by Turkey of the Armenian Genocide and the restoration of
the rights of the Armenian people. The unconditional lifting of the
blockade and the establishment of diplomatic relations can only serve
as first steps on this path.

b) The initiative of the President of the Republic of Armenia and the
subsequent meetings of the Presidents and Ministers of Foreign Affairs
must be followed by concrete positive steps by Turkey. The
ARF-Dashnaktsutyun will actively strive to ensure that official
meetings do not become merely propaganda opportunities for Turkey.

c) It is totally unacceptable for the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun that
Armenian-Turkish relations be normalized at the expense of Armenia’s
sovereignty, viability of its existence, or the national and state
rights of future Armenian generations.

d) Turkey can aspire to promote regional initiatives if it radically
changes its "Armenian policy." Turkey must not be party in the Artsakh
conflict; it should not talk to Armenia with preconditions, and must
relinquish its policy of deepening the divisions in the South
Caucasus, of blockading and isolating Armenia.

e) Since 1998 Armenia is pursuing a foreign policy based on
national-state ideology, one strategic direction of which is the
universal recognition and condemnation, including by Turkey, of the
Armenian Genocide. Armenia views this not only as a restoration of
historical justice, but also as a way to improve the overall situation
and mutual trust in the region, thus preventing similar crimes in the
future.

The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun has considered and considers the continuation
of this direction one of its fundamental tasks.

ADORATION
By Travis Mackenzie Hoover

Exclaim!
ws/latestsub.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=871&fid1 =33350
Sept 5 2008
Canada

Egoyan has pretty much crumbled these last few years and his latest
effort in pious windbaggery is no reversal of the trend. Where he once
at least made his points clearly, if awkwardly, here he’s possessed
of a marble-mouthed inarticulacy that suggests he’s in over his head.

The centre of the movie is a tragedy where a Lebanese/Canadian boy
loses his parents in a car accident, is more or less colonized by
his career racist grandfather and unleashes his ambivalence through
a terrorist saga he passes off has actual family history.

But Egoyan can’t just do this straight, he has to throw in bizarre
moralism involving a teacher (Arsinee Khanjian) meddling in the boy’s
life, turn Scott Speedman into his sad sack Russell Banks reject uncle,
hit overdrive on the pretentious speechifying and ladle on Brechtian
devices so impenetrable that they obscure more than they reveal.

He of course indulges his fetish for technophobia, this time training
his steely gaze on the internet and its ability to distort fact
and opinion, which might have been fine were it not for its tenuous
connection to the narrative — it’s shtick so de rigueur that it no
longer registers as honest inquiry.

Every minute of this film is ridiculous, mealy-mouthed and impossible
to believe; it’s all the more tragic for having a real kernel of
truth at its core. So determined is Egoyan to make a grand statement
rather than explore his themes that vital issues of otherness and
cultural imperialism become swamped by silliness and consigned to the
trash-heap of hapless souls who wanted to be somebody but should have
been more specific in picking who. (Alliance)

ARMEN ASHOTYAN ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF THE NA STANDING COMMITTEE OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

armradio.am
08.09.2008 18:07

Member of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan was elected
Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture,
Youth Affairs and Sports. 82 Deputies participated in the secret
ballot, 74 of which voted for Ashotyan. Five MPs voted against,
and three ballots were considered invalid.

Armen Ashotyan was born on July 25, 1975 in Yerevan.

In 1998 Mr. Ashotyan graduated from the faculty General Practice
of Mkhitar Heratsi Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) with a
specialization General Medicine.

In 2000 he graduated the clinical residency training from the same
University with the specialization Forensic Medicine.

In 2003 he defended his thesis and received the degree of Candidate
of Science in Medicine.

In 1999-2000 he worked as senior laboratory assistant to the Chair
of Forensic Medicine of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU).

In 2002 he entered the RA State Management Academy.

In 2002-2005 he worked as Assistant to Rector of YSMU.

In 2003 he worked as Assistant to the Chair of Biochemistry of YSMU.

In 2005 he finished the Moscow School of Political Researches.

In 2005-2006 – Advisor to the Rector of YSMU on a volunteer basis.

>From 2006 till now – Docent of YSMU Chair of Biochemistry.

>From 2005-2007 he was a deputy in the NA (proportional system,
RPA.). He was a member of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs,
Health Care and Environment. He was a member of RPA faction.

On May 12, 2007 he was elected as a deputy of the National Assembly by
the proportional system from the Republican Party of Armenia/RPA. He
is a member of RPA Council.

He is married and has a son.

NKR PRESIDENT FOLLOWS COURSE OF PREPARATORY WORKS ON REPUBLICAN HOSPITAL’S CONSTRUCTION

De Facto
08.09.08

STEPANAKERT, 08.09.08. DE FACTO. On 5 September NKR President Bako
Sahakyan visited construction site of the new republican hospital
in capital Stepanakert to get acquainted with preparatory activities
carried out there.

The Head of the State assigned to prepare the building yard in at the
earliest possible date for the construction process to start. The
President underlined that the construction activities should not
hinder functioning of the current building of the hospital and cause
discomfort to the patients.

The Age, Australia
Sept 7 2008

Turkish president pays landmark visit to Armenia
September 7, 2008 – 7:10AM

The presidents of Armenia and Turkey pledged Saturday to overcome
decades of enmity between their two nations during the first visit to
Yerevan by a Turkish head of state.

Abdullah Gul held talks with Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian
after which the two agreed there was now the "political will" to
improve relations frozen for decades by lingering bitterness over
1915-1917 massacres.

Gul’s visit was hailed by French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy as
"courageous and historic" at a time when the Caucasus region is in
turmoil following the conflict in Armenia’s northern neighbour
Georgia.

But in a sign of the hard road ahead, Gul’s arrival at Yerevan’s
Hrazdan stadium to watch a World Cup football qualifier between the
two nations was greeted by loud boos and hisses by Armenian fans.

Amid tight security, Gul took his seat behind a special bullet-proof
area and had to listen to the chorus of boos that accompanied every
positive move by the Turkish team. The far stronger Turkish side ended
up winning the match 2-0.

"I hope that this visit will create the possibility to improve
bilateral relations," Gul had said earlier in the Armenian capital.

Sarkisian declared there was a "political will to decide the questions
between our countries, so that these problems are not passed on to the
next generation."

He also said he had been asked by Gul to attend a return football
fixture in Turkey on October 14, but did not say whether or not he had
accepted.

The two countries — which have no diplomatic relations — have waged
an international diplomatic battle over Yerevan’s efforts to have the
1915-1917 massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians recognised as
genocide.

Several hundred angry protestors lined the route of Gul’s motorcade as
it made its way into the capital from Yerevan airport, holding aloft
the Armenian flag and nationalist emblems.

"We are here because we want to tell the entire world that we do not
forget the genocide of 1915. We will not welcome Gul or any other Turk
until they have recognised the genocide," one protester, Bardasar
Akhpar, told AFP.

At the start of the match about 80 young protesters gathered at a
monument to victims of the killings in central Yerevan, laying flowers
and lighting torches.

"We want to draw (Gul’s) attention to this monument, so he knows it is
not standing empty and that people have gathered here to show that the
young generation remembers everything," said organiser Airapet
Babaian.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed between
1915 and 1917 in orchestrated massacres during World War I as the
Ottoman Empire fell apart — a claim supported by several other
countries.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided
with invading Russian troops.

Turkey’s footballers were supported by only about 200 forlorn
followers in a seating area that could have held 10 times more and was
ringed by Armenian police.

Both sets of fans however departed peacefully while the Turkish
president boarded a plane to return home.

Some were prepared to embrace the conciliatory message the Turkish and
Armenian leaders were trying to put across.

"I’m not interested in football at all. In fact, I hate it because of
the nationalism that comes with it," said Ahmet Turkana, a Turkish
activist from a pro-democracy group called Young Civilians over for
the game.

"But today it’s different. Football is here to unite, not to divide."

Sevak Sahakian, a hotel worker in Yerevan said: "Everyone knows about
it and people are happy because they hope better ties with Turkey will
improve daily life. But people aren’t enthusiastic because they don’t
trust the Turks."

Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia since the
former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Gul’s visit will hardly break ice between Yerevan and Ankara
05.09.2008 15:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Gul’s decision to visit Yerevan was rather a
surprise, said an expert at Russian Strategic Culture Foundation.

`Anyway, both sides have taken steps to normalize humanitarian and
public relations. Besides, Turkish media has demonstrated goodwill to
Armenia, Andrey Areshev told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

`As far as I know, one of Turkish newspapers even wrote it could be
good if Gul attended the Armenian Genocide memorial. But he won’t do
it, of course. This visit will hardly break ice between Yerevan and
Ankara but the logic of relations hints at gradual reconciliation,’ he
said.