Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

Events dedicated to Armenian Genocide 95th anniversary launched in Crimea

April 17, 2010 – 10:48 AMT 05:48 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Events dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide were
launched in Crimea.

On April 18 a round table discussion is scheduled. On April 23, the
Armenian community of Crimea will hold Light a Candle action. On April
24, a march will be organized along the central streets of Simferopol.
A service in commemoration for the Genocide victims will be offered at
St. Hakob Church, Analitika.at.ua reported.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
April 15 2010

SCHWARZENEGGER ORDERS TO MOURN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS REPORTS

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced April 19-26 as
a week of commemorating the victims of the alleged genocide of
Armenians, a claim on the World War I-era mass killings in the Ottoman
Empire, Armenian reports say. Schwarzenegger said in a statement that
the horrors of the past should be recalled to prevent a repetition of
history. The Armenian genocide is a terrible violation of human rights
and an event that insulted the world, the statement claimed. 1.5
innocent Armenians lost their lives in 1915-1923, having succumbed to
mass killings in the Ottoman Empire, and 500,000 others were forced to
leave their homeland. Historians note that during the developments,
Armenians had begun an uprising. They took up arms against Turkey and
assisted Russia, one of Turkeys enemies in WWI. To counter these
actions, the Ottoman Empire decided to resettle the Armenians. The
latter claim that their predecessors were subjected to genocide in the
process, while Ankara rejects the allegations and has offered to
research the events through a joint commission of historians.

TURKEY’S PM SAYS OPENING ARMENIA BORDER DEPENDS ON KARABAKH SOLUTION

April 15 2010
Turkey

Erdogan said a border crossing between Turkey and Armenia would
remain closed unless a settlement was reached in the conflict over
the Karabakh region.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said a border
crossing between Turkey and Armenia would remain closed unless a
settlement was reached in the conflict over the Karabakh region.

"Occupation of Azerbaijan’s territory is the reason why our border
(with Armenia) was closed down in 1993. Now we want that to be fixed
and we are ready to take the step as soon as that happens," Erdogan
told reporters upon his arrival in Turkey from the United States
where he participated in a nuclear security summit meeting.

Erdogan said Turkey stood behind commitments it had made in protocols
with Armenia signed in October 2009 in Switzerland.

"We respect the principle of ‘pacta sund servanda’ and we are loyal
to what we have signed in Zurich. But no one has the right to impose
one’s own memories on Turkey as Turkey has never tried do to such a
thing," Erdogan said.

"Human tragedies"

Replying to a question about Iran’s nuclear program, Erdogan said,
"a different version of the Nuclear Security Summit in the USA on
April 12-13 will be held in Iran on April 16-17. Officials from Turkey
will be in attendance at the meeting. On numerous occasions, we have
stressed that a democratic and diplomatic solution is the only way
since anti-democratic attempts have always led to human tragedies. On
the other hand, Turkey is the only country among member states of the
United Nations Security Council having border with Iran. There have
been friendly relations between Turkey and Iran since the Treaty of
Zohab in 1639. Our border is about 380 km. Our trade volume exceeded
10 billion USD. Iran is our second biggest supplier of natural gas
behind Russia. We cannot leave aside all those relations. Our friends
should also asses it."

"No demand"

When asked whether Kurmanbek Bakiev, ousted leader of Kyrgyzstan,
sought asylum from Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan said, "such a demand
has not been made. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a series of
telephone conversations with the U.S. officials about the developments
Kyrgyzstan. We are ready to contribute all efforts to find a solution."

Prime Minister Erdogan also expressed his profound sorrow over loss
of lives in the quake in China.

BRAZILIAN POET MANUEL BANDEIRA’S 124TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY TO BE MARKED IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 16, 2010 – 15:59 AMT 10:59 GMT

April 19, Yerevan State Linguistic University will host events in
celebration of famous Brazilian poet Manuel Bandeira’s 124th birth
anniversary.

The event was initiated by Yerevan State Linguistic University
Professor of Portuguese Silvia Paverchi, with the assistance of
Brazilian Embassy in Armenia.

AZERBAIJAN THREATENS TO ‘RECONSIDER’ US RELATIONS

Tert.am
17.04.10

Azerbaijan accused the United States on Friday of siding with Armenia
in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and threatened to "reconsider"
its relationship with Washington.

"The United States does not implement policy towards Azerbaijan
as a strategic partner, and that’s why we might reconsider our
policy towards the United States," Ali Hasanov, Aliyev’s head of
public-political issues, told Reuters.

The comments underscored the strength of anger in Azerbaijan, a
supplier of oil and gas to the West, over a Western-backed bid to
reconcile Armenia and Azerbaijan’s close ally Turkey.

According to Reuters news agency Azerbaijan sees the rapprochement and
the potential reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border as a betrayal
of efforts to mediate a solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The backlash threatens to spill over into the energy sector,
with Azerbaijan and Turkey bogged down in protracted gas transit
negotiations, complicating plans for the U.S. and European-backed
Nabucco pipeline.

As Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to talk terms, Azerbaijan has
sealed deals to sell gas to neighboring Russia and Iran, further
tapping resources courted by Europe in the Caspian Sea.

"We believe the Americans should not only think of how to help
Armenia overcome the economic crisis," he said, but as a co-mediator
in talks on Nagorno-Karabakh, Washington "should first of all promote
a solution to the Karabakh conflict."

Hasanov did not elaborate what steps Azerbaijan might take, but
said Baku was involved in a number of joint projects with Washington
including "major transnational energy projects."

Azeri anger has already helped slam the brakes on the deal signed by
Armenia and Turkey last year to establish diplomatic ties and reopen
their border, in a bid to overcome a century of hostility since the
Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Turkey denies accusations of genocide and says Turks as well as
Armenians died in large numbers in a fierce partisan war.

The deal is believed to bring huge economic benefits to Armenia,
but Azerbaijan believes it will remove any pressure on Yerevan to
loosen its economic and military support for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey closed the border in 1993 in solidarity with Muslim
ally Azerbaijan in its losing battle with ethnic Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stung by the
Azeri backlash, Turkey now says it will only ratify the accords with
Armenia if Armenia makes concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia
rejects any such link.

Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov also singled out Washington
for criticism, telling Reuters that its bid to bring together
Turkey and Armenia in isolation from the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was
"mistaken."

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT OFFERS DEEPEST CONDOLENCES TO CHINA

Aysor
April 16 2010
Armenia

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has sent a message of condolence
to President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao over the
deaths in damaging earthquake in Qinghai province, a spokesperson
for Armenian State administration said.

"We share your losses in this difficult time of sorrow; our thoughts
and prayers are with families of all those who died in the damaging
earthquake. I believe that measures, taken by the Chinese authorities,
will let overcome this tragedy," said in Sargsyan’s message.

ILHAM ALIYEV ADVISES MEDIATORS ON KARABAKH TO BETTER LEARN HISTORY OF THE PAST TWENTY YEARS

ArmInfo
2010-04-15 11:21:00

ArmInfo. We entered in a very decisive stage of the solution to
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the cabinet meeting on April 14.

"We noted many times that the conflict could be solved only on the
basis of international law. Four resolutions adopted by UN Security
Council must be fulfilled, the occupation forces must be withdrawn
from all of the occupied lands and Azerbaijani citizens – refugees
and internally displaced persons must return to the occupied lands,
including Nagorno Karabakh. The status of Nagorno Karabakh can be
determined only after that and this status can be granted only within
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will never agree
with any status out of that. No one will recognize Nagorno Karabakh
as an independent subject upon our disagreement", Aliyev said. "After
return of our citizens to the occupied lands the temporary status
of Nagorno Karabakh can find its solution", said the President and
emphasized that the status could be only within the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan. According to the Head of State, in very
beginning and throughout the negotiation process, the position of
Azerbaijan was that Nagorno Karabakh can receive the highest autonomous
status in the world", Aliyev emphasized. Having made a pass at Armenia
and blamed it for carrying out of "ethnic cleansings", Aliyev said:
"We never conducted ethnic cleansing operations and we never had such
intentions (Aliyev preferred not to remember the pogroms in Baku and
Sumgait – Ed.). The Azerbaijani president added that present Armenia
was established in the historic lands of Azerbaijan. Aliyev also said
that "Armenia is artificially prolonging the negotiations. Armenia is
not sincere in the negotiations and delaying the negotiations under
the different pretexts". Having praised the Azerbaijani diplomacy,
the president said that "very dangerous points and mechanisms,
which threatened Nagorno Karabakh to separate it from Azerbaijan,
have been removed from negotiations due to the Azerbaijani diplomacy".

"We already reached that line that both Armenian and Azerbaijani sides
must express their positions. We expressed our position. Azerbaijan
officially expressed it position in the negotiations with Armenian
president in Munich last November and in the last trilateral meeting in
Sochi with participation of Russian president Medvedev that it accepts
the proposals made on the basis of renewed Madrid principles and it
contains few unsettling points for Azerbaijan. Unfortunately Armenia
has not expressed its position so far and it has not expressed any
position in the past two months, and as we were informed, the issues
they added to this proposal will return us back to the beginning
of the process. It can not be accepted by us or by the OSCE Minsk
Group. We were promised that there will be very serious work with
Armenia to assure them to accept the new proposals. We are in this
stage", the Azerbaijani president said.

Of course, Aliyev did not specify who and how will "work" with
Armenia. The head of state mentioned that he had said they would not
hold negotiations for imitation. "We will hold the negotiations by the
time we have hope that they will produce results. If we see there is
no hope, the negotiations should be stopped and of course a new stage
will begin. It is still early to say what that stage will consist of.

Anyway, we are ready for any scenario. We are making our preparations
so that we can take steps in accordance with the situation", Aliyev
said and advised OSCE MG co-chairing countries to be very sensitive
and learn the history of the past twenty years in order to draw
rights conclusions.

SPEAKER OF ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENT IS ON A VISIT TO LEBANON

Aysor
April 14 2010
Armenia

Within the framework of his visit to Lebanon, Speaker of Armenia’s
Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan was on April 12 in Anjar, where he met with
representatives of Armenian Community, laid a wreath at the Monument
in memory of the Musa Ler heroes, and attended the St. Paul Church

In Anjar Hovik Abrahamyan and city’s Mayor handed over to each other
presents. Hovik Abrahamyan made a present of souvenir with Armenian
letters and presented books for Armenian schools of Anjar.

On April 13 Hovik Abrahamyan went to Antillias, where he attended the
Memorial of victims of the 1915 Genocide, and met with Chairman of
the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches of the Middle East Mkrtich
Karagezian, and Catholicos Nerses Petros of Kilikia.

Later Lebanese political leaders, chairmen of public organisations,
and foreign diplomats were guests in Armenia’s Embassy at the hosted
dinner.

PHILIP CROWLEY: TIMEFRAME CRITICAL TO IMPLEMENT ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS

armradio.am
14.04.2010 14:42

Spokesman for the U.S. Department of State Philip Crowley said all
parties engaged in the process of normalization of relations between
Armenia and Turkey are in a critical time period to encourage the
implementation of protocols signed last year.

In response to a question on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday, Mr.

Crowley said that the two discussed the normalization of Turkish and
Armenian relations and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s relations with NATO.

"Clinton-Davutoglu meeting was very positive and lasted 45 minutes," he
said. "They will meet once more either this evening or on Wednesday."

TURKISH, ARMENIAN LEADERS MEET IN WASHINGTON AS NORMALIZATION MOVE STALLS

Xinhua General News Service
April 12, 2010 Monday 11:40 AM EST
China

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan in Washington D.C. on Monday as the two countries’
efforts to normalize relations hit snags, Turkish media reported.

The two leaders got together on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security
Summit, which is scheduled to be held from April 12 to 13, said the
semi-official Anatolia news agency.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart
Edward Nalbandian as well as other senior officials also attended the
Erdogan-Sargsyan meeting, the agency quoted diplomats as saying. It
did not disclose the topics of the talks.

Turkey and Armenia signed protocols to normalize relations and open
long-sealed borders last October but the move has stalled since then.

It suffered a further blow after a U.S. congressional panel and
the Swedish parliament last month passed resolutions that recognize
killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule during the World War I as
"genocide."

A senior Turkish diplomat brought a letter from Erdogan to Sargsyan
last week, in which Erdogan called on Sargsyan to fulfill obligations
in the normalization bid, Turkish media reported.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic or economic ties and are
bogged down in a long-time row over the World War I-era killings of
Armenians, which Armenia brands as a genocide. Turkey strongly denies
that and has argued the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos
and governmental breakdown as the Ottoman Empire collapsed before
modern Turkey was founded in 1923.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to support Azerbaijan,
which had a territorial conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh
region. Ankara has said the border could be opened only after the
withdrawal of Armenian troops from the disputed land.