Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Dec 30 2008
Armenian radio slated for February
TRT and Public Armenian Television signed an agreement of cooperation
five months ago for TRT to start radio broadcasts in the Armenian
language. According to the terms of this agreement, one TRT radio
channel will start airing Armenian broadcasts in February. TRT will
also create an Armenian Web site and plans to launch an Armenian TV
channel in one year.
30 December 2008, Tuesday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES Ä°STANBUL
REPRESENTATIVES OF REGIONAL YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS DISCUSS SUBJECT OF INFRINGEMENT ON ARMENIAN MONUMENTS IN GEORGIA
Noyan Tapan
Dec 19, 2008
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. A series of events "The First
Meeting of Leaders of Regional Youth Organizations" was held in
Yerevan on December 27-29. The infringement on Armenian historical
and cultural values in Georgia was the subject of discussions, the
initiator of the series, chairman of the Student Forum of Armenia
Hayk Karmazian stated at the December 29 press conference.
In his words, the young people who arrived from Georgia, in
particular, the representatives of Georgia’s National Youth Council
and the National Center of Children and Youth adjunct the Ministry
of Sports, Culture and Nomunent Preservation, are not informed about
what was done with Armenian cultural and religious monuments in their
country. According to H. Karmazian, Armenian young people tried to
inform them about what had happened. "In any case, we have decided not
to allow that such cases will prevent young peoples from being good
neighbors, we should not repeat the mistakes of seniors," he noted.
He said that a representative of Armenia was elected member of the
European Youth Forum to represent the region at this organization.
ERDOGAN’S LACK OF STATESMANSHIP
The Weekly Standard
FP/2008/12/erdogans_lack_of_statesmanship.asp
Dec 29 2008
Washington, DC
Several days ago, about 200 hundred prominent Turkish intellectuals
launched a first-ever online petition apologizing for the "Great
Catastrophe" in connection with the massacres of up to 1.5 million
Armenians in Turkey during 1915-1917. Titled "I apologize", the brief
statement reads as follows:
"My conscience cannot accept the ignorance and denial of the Great
Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I
reject this injustice and — on my own behalf — I share the feelings
and pain of my Armenian brothers – and I apologize to them."
The authors of the statement, among them Cem Oezdemir, the new leader
of the German Green Party, deliberately opted for the term "Great
Catastrophe" in an effort to stay clear of the ultra-explosive term
"genocide". While genocide scholars widely agree that the killings
of the Armenians constituted the first genocide of the 21st century,
Turkey strongly rejects such accusations to this very day, arguing
instead that those killed were simply the victims of civil war. So far,
about 22,000 people have signed the online petition, not that many
for a country of more than 71 million inhabitants. Several Turkish
nationalist counter-websites with titles such as "I Expect An Armenian
Apology" or "I Do Not Apologize" have already garnered more than five
times as many votes as the initial "I Apologize" petition.
Turkey’s top leadership, too, has begun a strong push-back to
counter the apology campaign. The powerful army, for instance,
has warned ominously that the petition could "bring about harmful
results". Finally, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan came up with his
own rationale for why he opposes the online petition, saying that
"I did not commit any crimes, so why should I apologize?". As
a private individual, for sure, Mr. Erdogan was not involved in
any of the Armenian massacres. But coming from a Turkish statesman
eager to join the European Union, Erdogan’s statement and cavalier
attitude regarding a very dark chapter in Turkish history is simply
not acceptable in the 21st century.
In contrast to Erdogan’s remark, I am reminded of how then-German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl dealt with the issues of personal guilt and
collective moral and political responsibility in his historic January
1984 speech to the Knesset in Israel. He said: "I speak to you as
someone who could not get caught up in guilt during the Nazi period
because he had the grace of a late birth." At the same time, however,
Helmut Kohl (born in 1930) never left any doubt that as the German
Chancellor, he was willing to assume collective moral and political
responsibility for the atrocities perpetrated by Nazi Germany during
the 1933-1945 period. Prime Minister Erdogan’s stubborn refusal to
assume collective moral and political responsibility for the "Great
Catastrophe" displays a lack of statesmanship and casts a long shadow
on Turkey’s aspirations of joining the European Union any time soon.
REACTION TO THE APOLOGY CAMPAIGN
Hurriyet
Dec 26 2008
Turkey
ANKARA – Azerbaijan Cultural Association President Cemil Unal regarding
the Armenian apology campaign aimed at the 1915 events said, "Those
who apologize are condemning Turkey as if they were judges."
He added that Turks would be "honored to face their pasts," but
demanded those who apologized to provide documentation, "If we made
such a mistake, then of course we would apologize."
EXPERT: RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES MORE LIKELY THAN RESOLUTION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT IN 2009
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.12.2008 16:42 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The forces speaking of final resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict in 2009 imply surrender of territories to
Azerbaijan, an Armenian expert said.
"In my opinion, resumption of hostilities is more likely than
resolution of the conflict next year," Andranik Tevanyan, head of
political economy research institute, told a news conference today.
The Karabakh conflict can be resolved through compromise, since Baku
is not ready to make concessions, according to him.
"Ilham Aliyev has great ambitions. He says that after regaining
Karabakh, Azerbaijan will invade the Syunik region of Armenia to
pave a direct way to Nakhijevan. Under the circumstances, speaking
of mutual concessions is ridiculous," Tevanyan said.
EASTERN PARTNERSHIP AIMS TO DEVELOP RELATIONS BETWEEN EU AND SOUTH CAUCASUS
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.12.2008 14:32 GMT+04:00
The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Mr. Peter Semneby
named Eastern Partnership one of the main goals of his current visit
to Azerbaijan.
"The initiative aims to develop relations between the European Union
and the South Caucasus, as well as Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. The
proposals put forward cover particularly the sectors of trade, energy
and regional stability and will be discussed within three months. They
also take into consideration specific features and tendencies of each
country," Mr. Semneby said.
He said the European Union welcomes the Moscow Declaration signed by
Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia and hopes for a soonest presidential
meeting to develop the dialogue.
"The European Union will provide all kind of assistance for resolution
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict but will not compete with the OSCE
Minsk Group," the EU official said.
COMMISSION FOR PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION RECOGNIZES CLAIMS AGAINST ARMENTEL GROUNDLESS
ArmInfo
2008-12-24 15:58:00
Commission for Protection of Economic Competition stopped the
administrative proceedings on two claims by ‘Protection of Consumers’
Rights’ NGO against ArmenTel CJSC (brand Beeline). The first claim was
connected with problems of Hi Line service users because of traffic
limitation by other providers. The second claim was connected with
the mistake of the operator when providing data on GPRS service to
a user. The mistake was timely fixed by ArmenTel and did not result
in any financial problems for users. Earlier, in October 2008, the
Commission stopped the administrative proceedings on another claim
by the NGO against ArmenTel connected with provision of details of
telephone calls. Thus, the Commission recognized all the three claims
against ArmenTel groundless.
‘We are glad that are all the misunderstandings have been settled
and we’d like to express our readiness for dialogue with public and
clients. I hope in future consumers’ rights protection organizations
will discuss problems with us not resorting to such radical measures’,
said David Sandukhchyan, the head of ArmenTel Juridical Service.
ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline brand) is the subsidiary of VimpelCom
Group. The VimpelCom Group consists of telecommunications operators
providing voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed
and broadband technologies. The Group includes companies operating
in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and
Armeniaas well as Vietnam and Cambodia, in territories with a total
population of about 340 million. The Group companies provide services
under the "Beeline" brand. VimpelCom was the first Russian company
to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE").
VimpelCom’s ADSs are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".
ISSUES OF DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN-INDIAN TRADE ECONOMIC RELATIONS DISCUSSED
ARMENPRESS
Dec 22, 2008
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: For taking part in the
Armenian-Indian first business forum and discussing issues connected
with the development of trade-economic relations between the two
countries, on the invitation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry the Armenian delegation headed by the deputy Armenian
Agriculture Minister Samvel Avetisian was in Delhi recently.
An official from the Ministry’s department of foreign relations told
Armenpress that during the forum the participants exchanged thoughts
over the directions of development of Armenian-Indian trade-industrial
relations, the peculiarities of investment fields of the two countries,
overcoming of existing barriers, cooperation in the agrarian sphere,
light industry as well as on the collaborative activity in the
IT sphere.
S. Avetisian’s report on "The export of Armenian agrarian sphere
and the preferable directions of foreign investments" in the Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry gave rise to a number of practical
requests and comments. Particularly the Indian side was interested
in the risks of investments in the sphere of reprocessing of Armenian
agricultural goods and the opportunities of buying of agro technology.
Within the frameworks of the visit the Armenian delegation visited the
"Ecsports limited" tractor factory, which produces 350,000 tractors
annually and provides them to 45 countries, and got acquainted with
the technology of their production and the variety of the products.
Negotiations have also been conducted with the head of "Brief Company
Profile" company on purchasing fertilizers. It has been decided to
send an invitation for the tender of state purchases of tractors to
the "Ecsports limited" company and after getting the price lists of
fertilizers and tractors to provide them to individual importers.
Accompanied with Armenian ambassador in India A. Kocharian, Indian
ambassador in Armenia R. Pandey and deputy Armenian Economy Minister
M. Tovmasian, S. Avetisian visited the Indian Foreign Ministry,
was in the textile industry and other branches of economy.
During the all above mentioned meetings agreements confirming the
cooperation of the two countries, have been reached.
LEVON TER-PETROSIAN: NATIONAL MOVEMENT’S GOAL IS DISMANTLING RULING BANDIT SYSTEM AND NOT COLLAPSE OF ARMENIAN STATEHOOD
NOYAN TAPAN
Dec 22, 2008
YEREVAN
The monolithic character of the ruling clique and of Armenia’s economic
elite, the attitude of the international community closing its eyes on
the March 1 events and existence of political prisoners in Armenia,
the passive position of Nagorno Karabakh authorities make impossible
the fulfillment of the task on organizing mass protest actions in
Armenia aimed against the authorities’ current position in the issue
of conflict settlement. Opposition leader, first RA President Levon
Ter-Petrosian stated at the December 21 conference of the Armenian
National Congress (ANC).
According to him, the wave of people’s discontent can last long,
especially as it can be accompanied by economic crisis difficulties,
and all that will turn over the situation in the country, and
Azerbaijan will not miss the chance of taking advantage of that to
solve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict by a military way. L. Ter-Petrosian
reminded that Armenian side’s achievements in Karabakh war coincide
with formation of such "disgraceful" situations in Azerbaijan, that
is, passage of power from Mutalibov to Elchibey, from Elchibey to
Aliyev. According to the first President, coming to power is not an
end in itself for the national movement, which has no right to act
by adventure methods. National movement’s goal is dismantling the
ruling bandit system and not collapse of the Armenian statehood.
He specially dwelt on Nagorno Karabakh’s position. According to him,
the circumstance that Nagorno Karabakh remained out of the negotiations
process shows that the Karabakh side proved to be not consistent in
the issue of fulfillment of the decision of OSCE Budapest summit of
1994, where Karabakh was recognized a negotiations side. If Nagorno
Karabakh preserved that status in the negotiations, today the NKR
authorities could renounce and not accept "Madrid principles."
L. Ter-Petrosian said that the Nagorno Karabakh authorities are
connected with the bandit regime of Armenia with various promises
and in that case it is impossible to imagine that a mass movement
against Serzh Sargsyan’s program on conflict settlement can start
in Karabakh. "And until Nagorno Karabakh becomes strong, in Armenia
it will be also impossible to create an atmosphere we had in 1988,"
L. Ter-Petrosian concluded.
WHICH IS THE WAY OF CONSOLIDATING THE NATION?
Armen Movsisyan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily
20 Dec 2008
Armenia
ARTASHES GEGHAMYAN, leader of "National Unity", proposes his option
"Mr. Geghamyan, as we know, the PACE Monitoring Committee discussed, in
its recent session, Thomas Hammarberg’s report on Armenia’s compliance
with Resolutions # 1609 and 1620. A decision was made to deprive the
Armenian delegation of the right to vote. How do you estimate the
decision adopted by the Monitoring Committee?"
"First, I want to draw the readers’ attention to the following striking
phenomenon. First, there is such an impression that LTP, together with
his team members, would not have lived such a great triumph and felt
such a great satisfaction had the detainees been granted amnesty,
since the Monitoring Committee of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly
has passed a draft resolution which is going to be submitted to the
discussion of the Assembly during the January 26-30, 2009 session.
What happened in Paris is an anticipated event, but if we now try
to just make assessments on what happened, we will chose the wrong
path. Let me say why.
Actually, the Council of Europe, as a political body, is currently more
inclined to carry out activities in the legal domain. Knowing that,
we were obliged to previously set a task to the Council of Europe 0Ato
make a political assessment on the March 1 events in Armenia. In that
case, its activity, i.e. the task of making a political assessment,
would be conceivable and acceptable.
Otherwise, it turns out that attempts are being made to punish the
authorities and why not, the people of the country, for being able
to avert a civil war after the March 1 developments, with all the
gravest consequences deriving thereof. Let’s note that if no abrupt
measures had been taken on March 1, and the events had taken their
course, armed confrontations would have started in Armenia, with a
lot of human losses to follow. This is the harsh reality.
And what we have now is actually a document submitted to the discussion
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which proposes
‘to suspend the Armenian parliamentary delegation’s right to vote
unless the Armenian authorities have clearly expressed their political
will to solve the problem of the political detainees arrested after the
March 1-2 developments’. In short, they are punishing the authorities
for having averted the civil war.
It’s in and off itself that once a company or a battalion had taken
sides with the pro-opposition figures, the clash would have definitely
taken place. Once the civil war was unleashed, Azerbaijan would
have started military operations along the whole border of Nagorno
Karabakh and why not, on the north-eastern border of the Republic
of Armenia. And what was averted in Ossetia and Abkhazia due to the
Russian intervention would have definitely happened in Armenia."
"There were, anyway, certain positive steps towards the implementation
of the requirements of Resolutions # 1609 and 1620. However,
despite noticing the positive, they made a made decision. Why did
the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe make that step?"
"The answers to those questions are copybook truths. The Council of
Europe made that step for the simple reason that it wanted to have
a lever in the South Caucasus for influencing the authorities of the
Republic of Armenia, the only military-political ally of the Russian
Federation in the region. That lever is necessary, because both the
European Union and the United States have a major task to maximum
weaken Russia’s influence on the countries in the South Caucasus,
in particular, they are planning to launch new oil and gas pipelines
extending through this territory. This will enable them to diversify
the energy supply of Europe and what’s even more, direct the oil
and gas resources of Central Asia and Azerbaijan to Europe, passing
round Russia.
>From this point of view, we are required to analyze the developments
around the country. Judge yourselves: the matter has gone so far
that the Europeans, unfortunately, express their disagreement over
i ssues concerning us. Because by the resolution adopted in Paris,
they have put themselves in a very vulnerable position.
What’s that? Let me note that there is a European Court on Human
Rights, which has its residence in Strasburg. When you closely analyze
the statements made by the OSCE and other international structures,
there is such an impression that these bodies have actually assumed
the functions of the Strasburg court. Moreover, without having the
court decisions, they already make assessments and announce that
there are political prisoners in Armenia.
Mr. Hammarberg says that the decisions passed by the judicial
investigative bodies lack professionalism, that is, the CoE
Commissioner for Human Rights evaluates the work of the investigative
body. And that is being done during the inquest when the decision of
the court (let alone, the European Court) is not yet available.
What attracts attention is that they say the acts of the people
detained for the March 1 disorders did not absolutely have a tendency
for staging a coup d’йtat in Armenia by the use of force. Let’s
assume that Mr. Hammarberg is saying right things. What does this
mean? This means that the agenda did not contain any issue on staging
a coup d’йtat on March 1.
And if there was no such issue included in the agenda, then the
Commissioner contradicts himself. If there was no attempt to stage
a coup d’йtat, i.e. there were no political tasks, how can the
people standing behind all this be considered political convicts or
political prisoners."
–Boundary_(ID_lN5cwSFSZ+9iLnEQD HgsxA)–