Armenian News
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY: IN SOME 10 YEARS TURKEY SHOULD BE
INSIDE EU ACTING AS BRIDGE TO MUSLIM WORLD
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.07.2008
The prospect of membership is driving political and economic reform in Turkey and the Western Balkans, according to UK top official.
"The desire to join or to be associated with the biggest single market in the world is strong, and gives us huge influence. And it is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that the enlargement of the EU, both achieved and prospective, is what has driven the institutional reforms of the Lisbon Treaty," UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in his speech in the House of Commons.
"But the countries of Europe need to be better at using their hard power. That is why I strongly welcome President Sarkozy's proposals to reintegrate France into NATO's military structure and support for his call for the EU to play a greater role in crisis management. Britain's arguments with France often obscure how much we have in common. But what strikes me about the French priorities for their Presidency is how closely they tie with our own ambitions for the EU, as set out in the Global Europe policy statement last autumn, whether on energy and climate change, migration, near neighborhood policy, and the next steps on European defense," he said.
"NATO is and will remain the cornerstone of European defense. Whether in Afghanistan or Kosovo, we need it to work as effectively as it can, which is why we want France to play a full role. But as the Balkans wars in the 1990s demonstrated, unless Europe can develop its own
capabilities it will be consigned always to wait impotently until the US and NATO are ready and able to intervene."
"This is not a threat to NATO. As the US Ambassador to NATO said: "the US needs, the UK needs, NATO needs, the democratic world needs a stronger, more capable European defense capacity. An ESDP with only soft power is not enough".
This means a genuine role for the EU in conflict prevention and crisis management whether it is providing the civilian experts - the police trainers, judges, civil servants and aid workers - that are needed alongside the military; or deploying soldiers from national armies in roles where NATO is not engaged. An example is Bosnia where an EU force of 2,200 is helping to maintain a safe and secure environment, or the West Bank where the EU is supporting the local police.
So in 10 years time, we should be able to look back at normalizing the Balkans. Turkey should be inside EU acting as a bridge to the Muslim world. We can be debating how much fuller access to the European single market can act as an anchor for stability and democracy in North Africa and the Middle East just as it has in Eastern Europe," Mr Miliband said.
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.07.2008
The prospect of membership is driving political and economic reform in Turkey and the Western Balkans, according to UK top official.
"The desire to join or to be associated with the biggest single market in the world is strong, and gives us huge influence. And it is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that the enlargement of the EU, both achieved and prospective, is what has driven the institutional reforms of the Lisbon Treaty," UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in his speech in the House of Commons.
"But the countries of Europe need to be better at using their hard power. That is why I strongly welcome President Sarkozy's proposals to reintegrate France into NATO's military structure and support for his call for the EU to play a greater role in crisis management. Britain's arguments with France often obscure how much we have in common. But what strikes me about the French priorities for their Presidency is how closely they tie with our own ambitions for the EU, as set out in the Global Europe policy statement last autumn, whether on energy and climate change, migration, near neighborhood policy, and the next steps on European defense," he said.
"NATO is and will remain the cornerstone of European defense. Whether in Afghanistan or Kosovo, we need it to work as effectively as it can, which is why we want France to play a full role. But as the Balkans wars in the 1990s demonstrated, unless Europe can develop its own
capabilities it will be consigned always to wait impotently until the US and NATO are ready and able to intervene."
"This is not a threat to NATO. As the US Ambassador to NATO said: "the US needs, the UK needs, NATO needs, the democratic world needs a stronger, more capable European defense capacity. An ESDP with only soft power is not enough".
This means a genuine role for the EU in conflict prevention and crisis management whether it is providing the civilian experts - the police trainers, judges, civil servants and aid workers - that are needed alongside the military; or deploying soldiers from national armies in roles where NATO is not engaged. An example is Bosnia where an EU force of 2,200 is helping to maintain a safe and secure environment, or the West Bank where the EU is supporting the local police.
So in 10 years time, we should be able to look back at normalizing the Balkans. Turkey should be inside EU acting as a bridge to the Muslim world. We can be debating how much fuller access to the European single market can act as an anchor for stability and democracy in North Africa and the Middle East just as it has in Eastern Europe," Mr Miliband said.
Hungarian daily attributes Russia's support for Azerbaijan to energy policy [Editorial by Endre Aczel: "Gem"]
Anyone paying attention could have found a gem last weekend. During his visit to Azerbaijan, Russian President Medvedev held out the prospect to his host Ilham Aliyev that Moscow would support the Azeri, rather than Armenian demands in the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh province.
Karabakh is an enclave inhabited mainly by Armenians in the territory of Azerbaijan, and these two Caucasian countries fought a savage and bloody war in the early 1990s for this territory. Its status is still disputed. The Armenians would like a legalized independence for their people, and Azerbaijan insists on its territory which it does not possess. Until yesterday Moscow quietly favoured the Armenians, namely Christians against Muslims. Therefore, it must have had a formidable reason that the Russian sympathy suddenly changed from one side to the other. The reason is serious but simple. It is called Russian energy policy. Armenia has nothing, but it is of key importance where the enormous Azeri gas reserves will be pumped in four years' time: into the pipeline called Nabucco, which bypasses Russia, or into the
Turkmen-Kazakh-Russian pipeline, which will (would) give a monopoly role to the Russians in the transport and delivery of gas coming from the basin of the Caspian sea. Therefore, in the imaginary dialogue that took place between former Gazprom chairman and current Russian
President Medvedev and Aliyev in Baku, the former may have said the following about the Russian stance in the Armenian-Azeri territorial dispute: I will not give it free; and the latter: I am not asking for it free. The price is simple. Russia is willing to buy up - on world market prices - the whole Azeri natural gas production, providing that Baku will sell it. It is on this that they are now starting negotiations.
The Turkmen could even be removed from the equation. Which - namely the fact that Russia is the biggest buyer of Turkmen (and Kazakh) natural gas - is to be understood in such a way that if there is no gas from Turkmenistan and not even from Azerbaijan, there is no point in spending any money on Nabucco, the European Union's pet project which is meant to reduce the "dependence on Russian energy." Simply out of decency, neither Medvedev's side nor their partners utter theword Nabucco, but it is clear that Gazprom, also as the Russian state's outstretched arm, is in a much better position that the rivals fighting for the Central Asian energy resources. Partly because, if we look at the Kazakh, Turkmen, and Azeri regimes, we can see that they are all authoritarian, although to a different extent, therefore, they feel Putin's (or his successor's) Russia closer to themselves than the westerners who are buttering them up. They also fear it. They can see the Russians' unparalleled and monopolist determination and like some kind of fresh Machiavellian students, they obviously start from the premise that a wise prince likes to keep his friends close to him and his enemies as far as possible. And Russia is close both geographically and in spirit (they were all Soviets once).
As far as I can see, Medvedev's tour of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan has been successful and at the same time symbolic. From here he set off for Japan, to the G8 summit, where members of this totally useless club can again keep chattering for a while, as it does not matter, what they say. He has done his job; he can lie back whilehe is pretending to pay attention.
Anyone paying attention could have found a gem last weekend. During his visit to Azerbaijan, Russian President Medvedev held out the prospect to his host Ilham Aliyev that Moscow would support the Azeri, rather than Armenian demands in the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh province.
Karabakh is an enclave inhabited mainly by Armenians in the territory of Azerbaijan, and these two Caucasian countries fought a savage and bloody war in the early 1990s for this territory. Its status is still disputed. The Armenians would like a legalized independence for their people, and Azerbaijan insists on its territory which it does not possess. Until yesterday Moscow quietly favoured the Armenians, namely Christians against Muslims. Therefore, it must have had a formidable reason that the Russian sympathy suddenly changed from one side to the other. The reason is serious but simple. It is called Russian energy policy. Armenia has nothing, but it is of key importance where the enormous Azeri gas reserves will be pumped in four years' time: into the pipeline called Nabucco, which bypasses Russia, or into the
Turkmen-Kazakh-Russian pipeline, which will (would) give a monopoly role to the Russians in the transport and delivery of gas coming from the basin of the Caspian sea. Therefore, in the imaginary dialogue that took place between former Gazprom chairman and current Russian
President Medvedev and Aliyev in Baku, the former may have said the following about the Russian stance in the Armenian-Azeri territorial dispute: I will not give it free; and the latter: I am not asking for it free. The price is simple. Russia is willing to buy up - on world market prices - the whole Azeri natural gas production, providing that Baku will sell it. It is on this that they are now starting negotiations.
The Turkmen could even be removed from the equation. Which - namely the fact that Russia is the biggest buyer of Turkmen (and Kazakh) natural gas - is to be understood in such a way that if there is no gas from Turkmenistan and not even from Azerbaijan, there is no point in spending any money on Nabucco, the European Union's pet project which is meant to reduce the "dependence on Russian energy." Simply out of decency, neither Medvedev's side nor their partners utter theword Nabucco, but it is clear that Gazprom, also as the Russian state's outstretched arm, is in a much better position that the rivals fighting for the Central Asian energy resources. Partly because, if we look at the Kazakh, Turkmen, and Azeri regimes, we can see that they are all authoritarian, although to a different extent, therefore, they feel Putin's (or his successor's) Russia closer to themselves than the westerners who are buttering them up. They also fear it. They can see the Russians' unparalleled and monopolist determination and like some kind of fresh Machiavellian students, they obviously start from the premise that a wise prince likes to keep his friends close to him and his enemies as far as possible. And Russia is close both geographically and in spirit (they were all Soviets once).
As far as I can see, Medvedev's tour of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan has been successful and at the same time symbolic. From here he set off for Japan, to the G8 summit, where members of this totally useless club can again keep chattering for a while, as it does not matter, what they say. He has done his job; he can lie back whilehe is pretending to pay attention.
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Today's Zaman, Turkey
July 11 2008
Ankara welcomes Sarksyan's proposal for gradual normalization
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's open call to Turkey to launch "a fresh start" in relations between the estranged neighbors has found a positive response in the Turkish capital.
"The time has come for a fresh effort to break this deadlock, a situation that helps no one and hurts many. As president of Armenia, I take this opportunity to propose a fresh start -- a new phase of dialogue with the government and people of Turkey, with the goal of normalizing relations and opening our common border," Sarksyan said in an opinion piece published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal. In response to a question at a weekly press conference held in Ankara, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Ã-zügergin said firstly that Ankara has received Sarksyan's formal invitation to President Abdullah Gül via official channels to visit Yerevan for a soccer match in September.
"We will assess the invitation," Ã-zügergin said.
Armenia and Turkey will play against each other in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Sept. 6 in a qualifying match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to be held in South Africa.
"We are heeding normalization concerning relations with Armenia. The Armenian president has had certain statements resound in the international community," Ã-zügergin said when reminded of the content of the opinion piece by Sarksyan.
"We have learned that he said that there is no other alternative than normalization of the two countries' relations. If this [statement] is so, we agree with these suggestions. As a matter of fact, there had been exchange of letters right after the elections in Armenia. These elements are also in those letters. Accordingly, if it [the statement by Sarksyan] is true, then we are responding with pleasure these statements by Sarksyan," Ã-zügergin said.
"There is no real alternative to the establishment of normal relations between our countries. It is my hope that both of our governments can pass through the threshold of this new open door. ¦ We cannot expect tangible progress without such structured relations. Only through them can we create an effective dialogue touching upon even the most contentious historical issues," Sarksyan said in his opinion piece.
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July 11 2008
Ankara welcomes Sarksyan's proposal for gradual normalization
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's open call to Turkey to launch "a fresh start" in relations between the estranged neighbors has found a positive response in the Turkish capital.
"The time has come for a fresh effort to break this deadlock, a situation that helps no one and hurts many. As president of Armenia, I take this opportunity to propose a fresh start -- a new phase of dialogue with the government and people of Turkey, with the goal of normalizing relations and opening our common border," Sarksyan said in an opinion piece published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal. In response to a question at a weekly press conference held in Ankara, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Ã-zügergin said firstly that Ankara has received Sarksyan's formal invitation to President Abdullah Gül via official channels to visit Yerevan for a soccer match in September.
"We will assess the invitation," Ã-zügergin said.
Armenia and Turkey will play against each other in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Sept. 6 in a qualifying match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to be held in South Africa.
"We are heeding normalization concerning relations with Armenia. The Armenian president has had certain statements resound in the international community," Ã-zügergin said when reminded of the content of the opinion piece by Sarksyan.
"We have learned that he said that there is no other alternative than normalization of the two countries' relations. If this [statement] is so, we agree with these suggestions. As a matter of fact, there had been exchange of letters right after the elections in Armenia. These elements are also in those letters. Accordingly, if it [the statement by Sarksyan] is true, then we are responding with pleasure these statements by Sarksyan," Ã-zügergin said.
"There is no real alternative to the establishment of normal relations between our countries. It is my hope that both of our governments can pass through the threshold of this new open door. ¦ We cannot expect tangible progress without such structured relations. Only through them can we create an effective dialogue touching upon even the most contentious historical issues," Sarksyan said in his opinion piece.
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Voice of America July 10 2008
Armenia Aftermath 10 July 2008
Four months after undergoing a disputed presidential election, Armenia is still feeling its effects. David Kramer, U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, ended a two-day visit on June 25 to Armenia to discuss ways of addressing human rights concerns and restoring Armenia to the democratic path.
Thousands of Armenians took part in mass protests following incumbent Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan's presidential win in the February 19 election. Citing government interference and manipulation, civilians in support of opposition candidate and former Armenian president Levon
Ter-Petrossian called the election fraudulent and demanded are-run. On March 1, police clashed with protestors in Yerevan, resulting in the death of at least eight civilians and two security force officers. More than one-hundred-thirty people were injured. Hours after the violent outbreak, outgoing President Robert Kocharian issued a twenty-day state of emergency, suspending public assembly and controlling all independent media.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, an independent human rights monitor, more than one hundred civilians have been charged with offenses related to the March 1 events. While President Sargsyan claims that none of the arrests during the crackdown were related to political expression, dozens of opposition activists still remain in prison due to their involvement in the `mass disturbances.'
`We hope Armenia gets back on a democratic path and stays on that path,' Assistant Secretary of State Kramer said after talks with Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and other senior Armenian officials in late June. Kramer urged Armenian authorities to initiate full restoration of rights of assembly and media freedom, release those detained on politically motivated charges, launch a credible investigation of the events that took place in March, and hold dialogue with opposition
leaders.
The U.S. has helped Armenia in its economic goals since its independence in 1991 and continues to support the country's democratic development. The U.S. calls on the government to seriously address the issues that surfaced during the last election and remedy any inconsistencies with international democratic standards.
`We recognize that there will be ups and downs in the future as well,' Mr. Kramer said. `What we hope to see is that those ups significantly outweigh any future downs.'
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10% OF ARMENIANS USE COMPUTERS
Panorama.am
20:16 09/07/2008
Only 10% of Armenians use computers and those using internet are even less, said Bagrat Engibaryan, the director of Enterprises Incubator Foundation in a meeting with the journalists today.
According to him the representatives of Information Technologies have been too busy with the problems of the field in recent years that they have forgotten to work on forming information society. He has stated that the development of that society is the main problem of the field. Armenia does not use the 100 percent potential of its, and the IT is mainly used in accounting in our country.
According to B. Engibaryan the development of IT field has been figured out only 30.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Armenia Aftermath 10 July 2008
Four months after undergoing a disputed presidential election, Armenia is still feeling its effects. David Kramer, U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, ended a two-day visit on June 25 to Armenia to discuss ways of addressing human rights concerns and restoring Armenia to the democratic path.
Thousands of Armenians took part in mass protests following incumbent Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan's presidential win in the February 19 election. Citing government interference and manipulation, civilians in support of opposition candidate and former Armenian president Levon
Ter-Petrossian called the election fraudulent and demanded are-run. On March 1, police clashed with protestors in Yerevan, resulting in the death of at least eight civilians and two security force officers. More than one-hundred-thirty people were injured. Hours after the violent outbreak, outgoing President Robert Kocharian issued a twenty-day state of emergency, suspending public assembly and controlling all independent media.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, an independent human rights monitor, more than one hundred civilians have been charged with offenses related to the March 1 events. While President Sargsyan claims that none of the arrests during the crackdown were related to political expression, dozens of opposition activists still remain in prison due to their involvement in the `mass disturbances.'
`We hope Armenia gets back on a democratic path and stays on that path,' Assistant Secretary of State Kramer said after talks with Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and other senior Armenian officials in late June. Kramer urged Armenian authorities to initiate full restoration of rights of assembly and media freedom, release those detained on politically motivated charges, launch a credible investigation of the events that took place in March, and hold dialogue with opposition
leaders.
The U.S. has helped Armenia in its economic goals since its independence in 1991 and continues to support the country's democratic development. The U.S. calls on the government to seriously address the issues that surfaced during the last election and remedy any inconsistencies with international democratic standards.
`We recognize that there will be ups and downs in the future as well,' Mr. Kramer said. `What we hope to see is that those ups significantly outweigh any future downs.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10% OF ARMENIANS USE COMPUTERS
Panorama.am
20:16 09/07/2008
Only 10% of Armenians use computers and those using internet are even less, said Bagrat Engibaryan, the director of Enterprises Incubator Foundation in a meeting with the journalists today.
According to him the representatives of Information Technologies have been too busy with the problems of the field in recent years that they have forgotten to work on forming information society. He has stated that the development of that society is the main problem of the field. Armenia does not use the 100 percent potential of its, and the IT is mainly used in accounting in our country.
According to B. Engibaryan the development of IT field has been figured out only 30.
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