Author: Zaminian Bedik

Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2009

Turkish-Armenian protocols do not meet Azerbaijan’s interests:
Opposition leader
19.12.2009 14:12
Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 19 / Trend News R. Hafizoglu /

Leader of the Azerbaijani opposition party Etibar Mammadov believes
signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols does not meets Azerbaijan’s
interests.

Azerbaijan must play a key role in the new global political system,
Leader of the Azerbaijan National Independence Party (ANIP) Mammadov
said at the meeting with journalists today.

Regardless of the leadership’s course, Azerbaijan and Turkey should
always support each other, Mammadov added.

Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in ZurichOct. 10.

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been broken due
to Armenia’s claims of an alleged genocide, and its occupation of
Azerbaijani lands. The border between them has been broken since 1993.
In addition to the so-called "Armenian genocide" in 1915, Armenia has
voiced territorial claims on TurkishAnatolia.

G. SAHAKYAN SAYS 2009 TO BE QUITE EFFICIENT IN ARMENIAN FOREIGN POLITICAL AREA

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 17, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS: 2009 year in Armenian political
life was the start of the regulation process of Armenian-Turkish
relations. This diplomatic process is going on, and its indicator is
not only the signing of the documents, Deputy Chairman of Armenian
Republican Party, Head of NA "Armenian Republican Party" faction Galust
Sahakyan said at today’s press conference. According to him, though
the process is full of risks, it will have a positive end for Armenia.

G. Sahakyan said that diplomacy does not have victories, but
registers results. The year was quite efficient for Armenia in this
regard. Turkey is interested in this question as well in regard to the
possibility of being affiliated to the European Union. "Though in this
period Turkey has tried to increase its influence in the region, it
has failed. After several dozen of years it will be we to dictate, G.
Sahakyan expressed confidence.

In answer to the question how much the position of Armenia on accepting
Turkey as a partner has changed over a year, Deputy Chairman of
Armenian Republican Party said that Turkey can be Armenia’s partner
neither today, nor tomorrow. "We only say that the borders with
neighbors must be open. The other relations will be regulated in case
Turkey itself recognizes the Armenian Genocide", he illustrated.

In case the Turkish parliament does not ratify the protocols regulating
the Armenian-Turkish relations, it will lose trust of international
community, which will harm its international authority as well. And in
that case Armenia will express its positions through the international
community.

Naturally, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is not to give a similar
response to Erdogan’s statements on considering his country democratic,
as the Armenian president is not so weak to wait to hear what kind of
statements the head of Turkey makes in order he makes a corresponding
statement. The Armenian president has a powerful political team and
is moving forward in a right diplomatic direction", G. Sahakyan added.

He considered the position of the opposition toward this process as
positive saying that "the proper criticism that there is a risk in this
process and it can influence on Karabakh conflict issue, is acceptable,
and in this issue the opposition plays its role quite right.

ONLY 8% OF INACTIVE CREDITS IN ARMENIAN BANKING SYSTEM

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
17.12.2009 15:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s banking system was able to resist financial
crisis consequences due to its high capitalization, Head of World
Bank Yerevan Office Aristomene Varoudakis said.

"Until now, Armenian banking system has been strong enough. Despite the
crisis, banks stay capitalized, with capital equivalence comprising
28%," he said. "There are only 8% of inactive credits in Armenian
banking system, still they do not affect the system as a whole."

CBA RATIFIES CRUYFF MEMORABLE COIN’S DESIGN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.12.2009 13:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within 2010-2011 World Football Kings coin series
program frameworks, CBA ratified Cruyff, memorable coin’s design.

The resolution was taken at CBA board meeting, led by CBA President
Artur Javadyan.

Johan Cruyff, is a former Dutch footballer and manager. He was named
European Footballer of the Year three times (1971, 1973, 1974). Cruyff
was the most famous exponent of the football philosophy known as
Total Football and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players
of all time.

In 1999, Cruyff was voted European Player of the Century in an election
held by the IFFHS, and came second behind Pele in their World Player
of the Century poll.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN HAD TODAY A WORKING DINNER WITH THE AMBASSADORS OF THE EU MEMBER STATES

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 15, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had
today a working dinner with the ambassadors of the EU member states
and head of delegation of the European Commission. Presidential
Press Office told Armenpress that the president and the European
diplomats exchanged thoughts over the expanding agenda of Armenia-EU
cooperation, summed up the results of the passed year, spoke about
the further activities.

109 AUDITORS HAVE QUALIFICATION CERTIFICATES IN ARMENIA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.12.2009 17:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ministry of Finance of Armenia published the results
of regular qualifying examinations for auditors , press office of
the Ministry of Finance reported.

Out of 16 applicants 14 people passed the exams, qualification
certificates were awarded to only to two of them. The sitting
of Auditors’ Qualification Commission decided also to award the
certificate of competency to one more applicant who was qualified by
organization-member of the International Federation of Accountants
(IFAC). During 2009, 7 qualifying examinations for auditors were
held and 24 auditor certificates were granted. As of 14th December
109 auditors have qualification certificates in Armenia.

Friday, December 11, 2009
20:52 Mecca time, 17:52 GMT

Aljazeera.net
News Europe

Turkey court bans pro-Kurdish party

Turkey’s constitutional court has banned the country’s main
pro-Kurdish party for having links to armed separatist fighters.

The court voted on Friday to shut down the Democratic Society Party
(DTP) and banned dozens of members from joining other political
parties for five years.

It also expelled two of the party’s politicians, including Ahmet Turk,
the DTP leader, from parliament.

The court found the party guilty of co-operating with the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s
mainly Kurdish southeast in a conflict that has lasted 25 years and
claimed 40,000 lives.

Consequences

The ruling is likely to hamper Turkey’s efforts to join the European
Union, which had warned Ankara that banning the party would violate
Kurdish rights.

Turkey’s Kurdish population, whose language was outlawed for years,
has long complained of discrimination.

But Hasim Kilic, the constitutional court chairman, said the party’s
closure "was decided due to its connections with the terror
organisation and because it became a focal point of the activities
against the country’s integrity".

The ruling comes after weeks of clashes between police and protesters
angry at the the prison treatment of Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of
the PKK.

Earlier this week a protester was shot dead as 15,000 pro-Kurdish
protesters marched in the city of Diyarbakir.

Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Turkey, said there are
fears the ruling will lead to more violence.

"We’ve seen an escalation of street protests, we’re now seeing
fatalities … and this will be seen by many Kurds as provocation,
they will not take this well," she said.

The DTP was founded in 2005 as a successor to several Kurdish parties
that were forced to wind up for collaborating with the PKK.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the
international community.

The party says it has "no organic links" with the separatists, but
insists the group should be considered an interlocutor in efforts to
resolve the Kurdish conflict.

AROUND BORDERS
By Max Houghton/Foto

photography/6787786/Around-Borders.html
12:04PM GMT 11 Dec 2009

Karen Mirzoyan’s interpretation of the chaos and confusion circling
the Turkey-Armenia border.

If the Turkey-Armenia border reopens, as per the protocols signed at a
ceremony in Switzerland by the foreign ministers of the two countries
on 10 October 2009, it will mark an end to a 16-year blockade of
Armenia by Turkey.

Turkey closed the frontier in 1993, to show solidarity towards its
ally Azerbaijan, engaged at the time in a war with Armenia over the
territory of Nagorno Karabak. Yet hostilities between Turkey and
Armenia have a far longer and bloodier history.

Karen Mirzoyan, an ethic Armenian born in Tbilsi, Georgia, currently
lives in Armenia. His disorienting pictures, taken from both sides
of the 325 km border, offer an interpretation of the chaos and
confusion that circles the lives of those that live in the region’s
small villages. "It feels like a vicious circle with everything
chaotically moving around inside it, a road that has no beginning or
end, no simple way of going from A to B physically and figuratively."

This is an excerpt from an article published in the latest issue of
Foto8 magazine, Control. Telephoto readers can subscribe to Foto8
at a discount of 40% off 1 and 2 year subs, plus a free copy of the
latest issue. Please quote the code ‘Telephoto’.

You can here Karen talking about this series at the recent Photoquai
in Paris on Foto8’s You Tube channel.

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE DOES NO SEE CONFLICT IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH AS A LINK TO TURKEY- ARMENIA NORMALIZATION

ArmInfo
2009-12-10 11:38:00

ArmInfo. "Both Turkish-Armenian normalization and Nagorno- Karabakh
peace processes are very important for the United States", Assistant
Secretary of State on Europe and Eurasia Philip H. Gordon said.

As APA reports, P.H.Gordon said that "We support the Turkey-Armenia
normalization process. We would like to see the protocols ratified
soon: We think this would benefit Turkey and Armenia and help develop
peace and stability in the region". However he also pointed out that
United States are also engaged in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict:
We think this would benefit Turkey and Armenia and help develop
peace and stability in the region". However he also pointed out that
United States are also engaged in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict:
"This is not because we see conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh as a link
to Turkey-Armenian normalization, but because it could be also a
contribution to peace and stability in the region, that both Azerbaijan
and Armenia would benefit from. We actively participate in the Minsk
Group, the MG OSCE Co-chairs are in the region now, and we think
this is important. US is very much interested in the succeeding of
both of the mentioned processes: it is something we care about and
would like to see succeed. If both of these processes succeed, then
it would be a historic development for the region".

P. Gordon said that US continues to speak of a reasonable time frame
for the Turkey- Armenia normalization process: "We have not defined
it, obviously we would like to see this move forward as quickly as
possible. The protocols were signed by the foreign ministers on October
10th, and they are submitted to the parliaments, which is a good
thing. We have been asking both governments to ratify them as soon as
possible without preconditions and independently of any other issue".

An Armenian journalist asked whether Gordon believes Turkey is turning
away from Europe and the rest of the West. P.H. Gordon responded that
US is satisfied with Turkey’s impact into global challenges fighting
and doesn’t see Turkey as a country that goes in some wrong direction:
"Turkey maintains its interest to join EU, which is an aspiration that
we support. They certainly seem to value their strategic cooperation
with the United States. When Turkey comes to the US and talks about
how we can work together on how we can work together on challenges,
that doesn’t seem to me as country that turns his back to the West
and goes into some other direction", the diplomat concluded.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: AZERBAIJAN’S REFUSAL TO COOPERATE MAY ENDANGER EASTERN PARTNERSHIP PROJECT

ArmInfo
2009-12-09 14:42:00

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan’s refusal to cooperate as suggested by the
EU Eastern Partnership Project (EPP) may endanger successful
implementation of the given project, Edward Nalbandian, Foreign
Minister of Armenia, said during the first Eastern Partnership Project
Ministerial Meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

Armenian Foreign Ministry press-service reported the minister as
highlighting at the meeting that such behavior of a EU partner-state is
discrediting the ideology of cooperation. He said that the other EPP
signatory-states have not responded to this fact yet which even more
devaluates the project. The EPP foreign ministers in their speeches
highlighted importance of cooperation between the EPP member-states
and necessity of specific measures in this dimension.

The EU outlined the work carried out by the EU expert group in Armenia
as a successful example of cooperation contributing to reforms in
the legislative, executive and judicial spheres.

The EPP Foreign Ministers resolved to meet next time in the second half
of 2010. The next Eastern Partnership Summit is scheduled for 2011.