Author: Varosian Antranik

CEC TO SEND OUT INVITATIONS TO FOREIGN OBSERVERS

armradio.am
02.04.2009 16:06

Guided by Article 28.11.4 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of
Armenia and taking into consideration that the Armenian Government has
sent an invitation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe, the Central Electoral Commission of the
Republic of Armenia took the decision today to send out invitation to
the Ambassadors of OSCE participating states, the foreign Ambassadors
accredited in the Republic of Armenia, the head of the OSCE Yerevan
Office, the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for
Armenia, the Head of the Armenian Branch of the International
Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), as well as the Chairman of
the Central electoral Commission of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to
carry out an observation mission during the elections to the Yerevan
City Council on May 31.

NKR MFA CONCERNED OVER FREQUENT CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS BY AZERI SIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2009 20:17 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NKR Foreign Affaires Ministry concerned about
increased frequency of cease-fire violations Georg Petrosyan
expressed his concern about Azeri’s violations of cease-fire in a
letter addressed to OCSE Chairman NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs
Georgi Petrosyan expressed his concern about Azeri’s violations of
cease-fire in a letter addressed to OCSE Chairman Dora Bakoyannis,
NKR MFA reported to PanARMENIAN.Net.

On Feb 26, during OSCE Monitoring of NKR and Azeri armed forces contact
line, shooting from Azeri side, that made the further monitoring
impossible, was registered.

In his letter NKR Foreign Minister stressed the importance of
submitting written report on investigation results regarding the
incident above.

MINISTER OF STATE AT THE FEDERAL FOREIGN OFFICE: I WILL PUT FORWARD MY PROPOSALS ON THE SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT DURING MY VISIT TO THE REGION

APA
March 30 2009
Azerbaijan

Yerevan – APA. "It is necessary to exclude military solution to
Nagorno Karabakh conflict in all cases," Minister of State at the
Federal Foreign Office Gernot Erler said in Yerevan, APA reports.

"German government supports settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. Our efforts aim at helping the settlement of the conflict,"
he said.

Minister of State said the settlement of the conflict basing
on the countries’ territorial integrity and people’s right
of self-determination had not been effective for many years,
therefore, more practical approaches should be found to the process
of negotiations.

"It is necessary to achieve compromises in the negotiations. I
will put forward my proposals on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict during my visit to the region. We always underline that the
presidents’ meetings are effective, but the people should be prepared
for compromises. There is no place for populism, political courage
should be found in order to establish peace, think about the future
of the region and assume this responsibility," he said.

Gernot Erler arrived in Armenia yesterday. He will meet with Armenian
president, speaker, vice-speaker, members of Germany-Armenia friendship
group.

EUROPEAN UNION TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN-TURKISH CLOSED BORDER

Panorama.am
13:15 30/03/2009

"After the U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Turkey
Armenian-Turkish closed border will be probably opened," reports APA
referring to Euronews. According to some sources in Brussels the
Foreign Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan is going to pay a visit to
Armenia and the closed Armenian-Turkish border will get opened on
the eve of 24 April.

According to the source, that effort would be appreciated by the
European Union and would have its positive impact on Turkey-EU
relations.

Note that the U.S. President Barack Obama is going to pay a visit to
Turkey in the beginning of April. Later, on 16-17 April, Ministerial
meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation will be launched in
Armenia. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia sent an invitation letter
to the Foreign Minister of Turkey. According to Tigran Balayan, the
head of the public relations department of the Foreign Ministry of
Armenia the Turkish party did not answer the invitation.

BARACK OBAMA TO CHRISTIAN VAN GORDER: I ACKNOWLEDGE THE REALITY OF RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.03.2009 00:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An associate professor of religion at Baylor
University, Christian Van Gorder, has told about his talk with
U.S. President Barack Obama in the article "I asked Obama about
genocide" at wacotrib.com.

The full text of the article is presented below:

"What question would you ask if you had one chance to ask Barack
Obama something? Last October while campaigning in the swing state
of New Mexico for his presidential campaign (we also traveled to
Pennsylvania), my wife and I were told we would have a chance at a
$1,500 fundraiser we’d be attending to meet Obama for a few moments.

After days of thought, I decided to ask if he would pledge to recognize
the Armenian Genocide if he became president. When I met him I asked my
question, and he said that he had already acknowledged this reality. He
is repeatedly on record that he would.

Why this question? In a world filled with evils there is no more evil
imaginable than genocide.

My German ancestors filled the sky with the ashes of millions of Jews,
gypsies, homosexuals, communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and
Slavs. In 1915, between 1 million and 2 million men, women and children
of Armenia were systematically massacred by the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

British postwar trials set the number at more than 1 million. Yet, the
Turkish government denies genocide and admits only that thousands of
Armenians died randomly in the midst of the paroxysms of World War I.

This is a blatant, revisionist lie.

The argument in favor of avoiding the recognition of the facts
of history is that the United States lives in a real world where
pragmatic solutions must address actual, present problems.

The United States values Turkey’s support for its wars and its
military bases there. Turkey threatens to remove assistance if we
acknowledge genocide.

This is bullying, pure and simple. Who needs whom more?

When France faced this same question, it acknowledged the facts of
the genocide, and, after months of feuding words, the two countries
returned to strong relations based on mutual self-interests.

This should be America’s path: Do not lamely kowtow to damnable
Turkish attempts to bully our great nation from recognizing Armenia’s
brutal genocide. Admit to the facts of history, then move on in a
constructive partnership.

Yes, it is important to be pragmatic; but at the cost of truth? I
campaigned for, and donated money to, a candidate for the first time
in my life because I was hoping for "change that we can believe in."

Friends told me I was naive and that Barack was just like every other
snake-oil salesman. On April 24, the anniversary of the murder of
1.5 million Armenians, we will find out exactly who is right about
Obama’s moral compass.

I pray our president will do the right thing and, with integrity,
honor his commitment to recognize the horrific Armenian Genocide."

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
March 29 2009

Next refutation of myth that Karabakh and Zangezur were parts of
Armenia in 1918-1920

29 March 2009 [01:16] – Today.Az

A note in New York Times 90 years ago.

Despite the numerous attempts of Armenians to falsify history and
mislead the world community in the issue of belonging of Karabakh,
Zangezur and Nakhchivan in period of existence of independent states
in the South Caucasus before its sovietization, there appeared another
historical proof of the belonging of these oblasts to the Azerbaijan
People’s Republic in 1918-1920 and recognition of the said fact by the
world community.

On August 4 of 1920 New York Times published the refutation of the
unchecked information about invasion of Armenia by Bolsheviks from the
side of the Sovietized provinces of Karabakh and Zangezur by US Near
East Relief, headquartered at Madison Avenue 1. This very statement
eliminates all speculations about the annexion of these oblasts to
Armenia in 1918-1920.

In fact, how can Armenia be invaded from the territories of sovietized
Karabakh and Zangezur and at the same time these two provinces be
considered a part of Armenia? As the invasion of Armenia started from
the territory of Soviet Azerbaijan, it means that Karabakh and
Zangezur were considered foreign to Armenia.

The final point in the issue of recognition of Karabakh and Zangezur
as part of Azerbaijan was put by the next phrase from the press
release of the US humanitarian organization: "These two provinces are
mostly settled by ethnic Armenians, but it has never been regulated by
the government of Armenia.

They are a mountain area rich in minerals, hold, copper, iron, zinc in
the whole Middle East. They have no contacts with Armenia because of
lack of communication". (New York Times, August 4, 1920).

Vugar Seidov
AzerTac, Berlin

URL:

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 28 2009

Obama nominee defies senator’s pressure to criticize Turkey

Philip Gordon, recently appointed by US President Barack Obama as
assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, has
refused to call Turkey’s presence in Cyprus an "occupation" and
insisted that any US move to back Armenian "genocide" claims would be
counterproductive, despite pressure from a senator at a Senate
committee.

At his confirmation hearing at the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations on Thursday, Gordon was asked to comment on a pre-election
statement by Obama outlining his foreign policy priorities in which he
said "a negotiated political settlement on Cyprus would end the
Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus and repair the island’s tragic
division while paving the way to prosperity and peace throughout the
entire region." When asked if he agreed with the statement, Gordon
said "yes," but when Sen. Robert Menendez pressed him to say if he
considered the Turkish presence on the island an occupation, he only
said the Greek Cypriot government and a number of experts considered
it an occupation.
Gordon was then criticized by Menendez for opposing past attempts in
the US Congress to pass a resolution recognizing claims that Armenians
were subjected to a genocide campaign at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire in World War I. Menendez then said he was concerned over
whether Gordon would act in a balanced manner regarding this
matter. Gordon, for his part, insisted that congressional measures on
the issue would provoke a "nationalist backlash" in Turkey. To prove
that he would take a balanced approach, Gordon talked of the need to
"recognize that terrible tragedy took place," and said "more than 1.5
million people were driven from their homes and massacred."

Congress has recently introduced a new resolution calling on the US
president to describe the killings of Armenians as genocide. Turkey
says any such move would both harm Turkish-US relations and undermine
the efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize their relations,
severed, among other reasons, due to the dispute over history. Ankara
denies the genocide accusations and says the killings were a result of
civil strife.

In a sign of the importance attached to Turkey by the new US
administration, Obama is expected to visit Ankara to discuss a wide
range of issues including Iran’s nuclear program, Iraq and
Afghanistan.

When asked why good relations with Turkey were important by
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Gordon noted that the US image in Turkey had
deteriorated badly in recent years and added that it was "hard to get
work done in a democracy when there is such skepticism about our
country." He added: "We have a lot of work to do with them. Turkey is
critical for the energy routes between the Caspian, the Middle East
and the West. Turkey is a country that has borders with Greece, the
Black Sea, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and the
Mediterranean. For that reason alone it’s a critical strategic player
in the world. And it is an aspirant to EU membership. The global
symbolism of a majority Muslim country joining EU will be very
powerful."

"We have a compelling national interest in working with Turkey, which
is not to say we agree with them on everything," he also said.

Gordon, a senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Brookings
Institution, was nominated to replace Daniel Fried on March 11.

28 March 2009, Saturday
ALÄ° H. ASLAN WASHINGTON

ARMENIA SHIFTS TO SUMMER TIME ON MARCH 29

armradio.am
28.03.2009 13:43

In line with the legislations of the Republic of Armenia, on March
29, 2009 (the last Sunday of March), at 2 a.m. the pointers of the
clock should be drawn an hour forward, marking the start of "summer
time," Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry
of Economy reported.

GUL WINS LAWSUIT AGAINST CHP’S ARITMAN

Today’s Zaman
March 26 3009
Turkey

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has won a lawsuit against Republican
People’s Party (CHP) deputy from Ä°zmir Canan Aritman, who claimed
that Gul’s mother was Armenian.

Aritman will be required to pay Gul a symbolic TL 1, which is all
the president asked for in the suit. "Arıtman, who had political
motivations, caused doubts about the performance of the president,
who has non-political responsibilities," the lawsuit had charged.

The president’s lawyer, Omer Kucuközcan, and Arıtman’s lawyer,
Rezzan Aydınoglu, attended the hearing at the Ankara 2nd Civil Court
of First Instance. After hearing final statements from both sides,
the judge ruled against Arıtman.

On Dec. 17 of last year Arıtman attacked a campaign initiated by
a group of intellectuals to apologize for the killings of Anatolian
Armenians in 1915, which Armenians claim constituted genocide. "We
see that the president supports this campaign. Abdullah Gul should be
the president of the entire Turkish nation, not just of those sharing
his ethnicity. Investigate the ethnic origin of the president’s mother
and you will see," she had said.

ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN "DARK SKY" EVENT

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 25, 2009
YEREVAN

Armenia will too join the world fight against the climate change and
participate in "Hour of the Universe 2009" action.

President of the Armenian Astrology Company Areg Mikayelian told
Armenpress that within the frameworks of the International Astrology
Year 2009 astrologists will also participate in this action entitled
"Dark Sky". He called on everybody to actively participate in the
event and on March 28 at 20.30 pm switch off the lights for an hour
to show support to the fight against climate change.

"For astrologic observations the dark sky in night is very important:
thanks to it many weak stars are visible and new discoveries are being
made. During the event in Yerevan such images may be seen which are
not seen practically for instance Milky Way and Andromeda Nebula,"
Areg Mikayelian said.

The event for the first time kicked off in 2007 in Australia’s Sydney
when 2 million people switched off the lights. In 2008 more than
50 million people of the world participated in the event. This year
the "Hour of the Universe" is aimed to involve 1 billion people in
1000 towns.

Since 2007 this event has been organized each year and the number of
participant towns and countries increases gradually. As of February 3,
2009 the number of towns which expressed readiness to participate in
the event reached 375 and countries 74. On March 28, 37 capitals of the
universe including London, Beijing, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Hong
Kong, Dubai, Athens, Rome, Buenos Ayres, Copenhagen, Moscow, Brussels,
Oslo, Las Vegas, Sydney will switch off the lights for an hour.