Armenian News (look out for article on Vergine)

RUSSIA TO CONVEY TURKISH-LED PROPOSAL TO ARMENIA FIRST
Turkish Daily News
Aug 22 2008

Turkey's proposal to create a stability pact in the Caucasus is
helping improve Turkish-Armenian ties amid low-profile diplomatic
contacts that have commenced between the two neighbors.

As questions linger over the fate of the Turkish-led proposal, due
to conflicts between the potential members, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov is expected to communicate Turkey's proposal for a
Caucasus stability pact with Armenia after a telephone conversation
with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan, this week.

On another front, the deputy undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign
Ministry, Unal Ceviköz, is expected to hold talks with his Armenian
counterparts regarding the Caucasus plan. Ceviköz was one of the
Turkish diplomats who held secret talks with Armenian officials
in Switzerland.

Turkey has prioritized Armenia's involvement in the regional
cooperation mechanism. Diplomatic sources earlier told the Turkish
Daily News that it was Armenia that was most negatively affected by
the Georgian-Russian war in the region and highlighted the importance
of Yerevan joining the platform.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Babacan
would speak to Lavrov this week after which the format of the contacts
would be determined. The proposal is expected to be first presented
to the Armenian side by the Russian foreign minister.

Meanwhile, Yerevan welcomed the Turkish will to include Armenia in the
Caucasus pact. "Armenia was always in favor of dialogue and talks,
particularly on the issues concerning cooperation and security in
our region," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a
written statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

"The Turkish prime minister's statement on the intention to start
talks with Armenia on this agenda could be welcomed," he noted.

Babacan is expected to hold talks with his Armenian counterpart on
the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings in New
York in September.

Turkey continues practice to ease airspace quota

Ankara's move to relax its airspace quota for Armenia is also
considered another positive gesture toward Yerevan, in addition to
considerations of aid to civilians.

Turkey decided to loosen its airspace quota for Armenia to allow easier
access for humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia. The most visible
aim is to contribute to aid efforts by facilitating the transfer of
material via Armenia and to help civilians leave Georgia by using
Yerevan as an alternative to Baku, which is already overcrowded.

European countries mostly used Georgian and Russian air space before
the war. Charter flights from Istanbul and Trabzon to Yerevan were
already available; now all planes flying to and from Yerevan are
granted flight permission. The TDN learned that the practice is still
ongoing and this liberal air space quota may be kept in place while
progress in the betterment of Turkish-Armenian ties gets clearer in
the upcoming period.

ARMENIA AND THE NEW TURKISH PROPOSAL
Richard Giragosian
Turkish Daily News
Aug 22 2008

As the conflict in Georgia over the past two weeks has so demonstrably
confirmed, there is a glaring need for stability in the South
Caucasus region. As part of a broader Turkish initiative to assert
geopolitical influence, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has recently launched a new bid for bolstering stability and security
in the region. Hailed as the "Platform for Stability and Cooperation
in the Caucasus," this new Turkish initiative seeks to forge a new
cooperative attempt at conflict prevention, multilateral security
and regional stability.

Heralding this new initiative, the Turkish prime minister arrived in
Baku on August 20 to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and to more
clearly define the proposal's goal for securing the now vulnerable
energy export routes running from the Caspian basin to Europe.

The Energy imperative

While one of the most pressing needs is to rapidly resume the flow of
oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or BTC, pipeline, closed
since August 6 after an explosion damaged the Turkish portion of the
pipeline and has not been reopened since the subsequent conflict
in Georgia raised fresh security concerns. Although preliminary
testing of the Turkish section of the pipeline began on August 18,
serious concerns linger, especially as the BTC's back-up route, the
90,000-barrels-per-day-capacity Baku-Supsa pipeline, has also been
shut down after a key railway bridge was destroyed in Georgia.

Erdogan's Azerbaijan visit comes in the wake of earlier meetings in
both Moscow and Tbilisi last week, where he also pressed for support
of the new initiative. Most importantly, it is the imperative of
stability for energy that is the key to the initiative, as the recent
outbreak of hostilities in Georgia has raised new concerns over the
viability of not only the BTC and Baku-Supsa pipelines, but also
the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural-gas pipeline and the U.S.-EU backed
Nabucco gas pipeline project, which proposes bringing an additional 31
billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe once operational by 2020.

Mutually positive messages

Although Azerbaijan and Georgia have obvious vested interests in the
Turkish proposal driven by their shared energy ties, the exclusion of
Armenia from the regional energy infrastructure will only exacerbate
the challenge of convincing Armenia of the need to accept and support
the initiative. Although this challenge seems to be recognized by
Ankara, as seen by Prime Minister Erdogan's recent statement promising,
"We will discuss the project with Armenia to construct a cooperation
region with five countries," made at the Turkey-Africa summit in
Istanbul, Armenia seems by no means ready to follow Ankara's lead
without any serious improvement in the two countries' non-existent
relations and closed borders.

Yet there have been some recent signs of optimism from both sides,
demonstrated by both Turkey's relaxation of its air space quota for
Armenia in order to ease access for humanitarian aid flows into Georgia
via Armenia, and President Abdullah Gul's August 16 reconciliatory
message to Armenia. That statement noted that Turkey is "no enemy" and
pointed out that the recent conflict between Georgia and Russia affirms
the need for "early measures to resolve frozen problems in the region
and ... prevent instability in the future." The Turkish president
went on to state, "This is our understanding on all problems. We are
no enemy to anyone in the region," before reiterating the Turkish
proposal to set up a regional forum for stability in the Caucasus.

In addition, after a round of secret talks in Switzerland, there is
ample room and even greater necessity for a historic breakthrough in
relations between Turkey and Armenia.

If Gul rejects the invitation

But Gul's conciliatory remarks were not part of an attempt to restore
bilateral ties, but were in response to a question on whether he would
accept an invitation by Armenian President Serge Sarkisian to go to
Yerevan in September to attend a World Cup qualifying match between
Turkey and Armenia on September 6. And as he replied that he was still
"evaluating the invitation," there is a danger that Armenian public
opinion will be angered and disappointed by a Turkish rejection of
the invitation, which seems likely at this point.

Such a negative Armenian reaction to a likely Turkish decision not
to come to Yerevan would also set back recent Armenian overtures,
including an Armenian decision to unilaterally suspend its visa regime
with Turkey to facilitate the arrival of Turkish fans for the upcoming
first-ever match between the two countries' national football teams. An
earlier and far more significant overture came earlier this summer,
when Armenian President Sarkisian signaled his government readiness to
accept, in principle, a Turkish proposal to form a joint historical
commission, which would theoretically also examine the historical
veracity of the alleged Armenian genocide of 1915.

Thus, it seems equally clear that while Ankara is not yet willing
or able to tackle its unresolved bilateral problems with Yerevan at
this time, Armenia will remain unwilling to accept or support this
new Turkish initiative for regional stability. And Armenian public
reaction, both within Armenia and its worldwide diaspora, is certain
to reject any move to sign up to the Turkish regional initiative prior
to the restoration of normal diplomatic relations and the opening of
the closed Armenian-Turkish border.

Vergine is telling a rich mix of tales ...;
Story telling
by VAL JAVIN

STORYTELLER Vergine Gulbenkian's fascination with traditional tales
began with her own Armenian origins.

But once she had researched stories from the rich Armenian oral
tradition Vergine turned her attention to other cultures.

She will be sharing that rich mix of tales when she appears at
Huddersfield Public Library in the autumn.

Vergine has called her show Cradle Of Life and in it she threads
together three stories from very different parts of the world.

In the show at the library in the centre of Huddersfield on October 21
expect lullabies, incantations, repeated themes and factual
observations.

The stories themselves are linked by the timeless themes of
motherhood, birth, death, listening and sacrifice.

Her tales will include the Mesopotamian story of the birth of mankind
and the Flood, the Tibetan story of the wrathful mother goddess Palden
Lhamo and the Celtic story of Ceridwen and the birth of Taliesin.

Vergine has taken her storytelling skills to major venues in London,
including the South Bank Centre, the Battersea Arts Centre, the
British Museum and the Barbican Centre.

She has also visited museums, schools and storytelling clubs around
Britain. Armenian folk songs are an integral part of her performances.

The show, which begins at 7.30pm, is suitable for adults and children
over 12. Tickets are pounds 4 (pounds 3 concessions), including
refreshments from the library on 01484 221959 or 221960.

Gibrahayer

BEST RESULT FOR ARMENIAN OLYMPIC TEAM


(Arek Yapoudjian) The Armenian Olympic Team has achieved the best ever result at the Beijing Olympic Games.

The 25 athletes representing Armenia returned home with 6 Bronze medals in boxing, weightlifting and wrestling. T

his is an outstanding result considering that Armenia won only one Bronze in Sydney 2000 and returned home

empty handed from Athens 2004.

The proud Armenian medallists who were welcome home as great heroes were:

► Hrachik Javakhyan (Boxing 60kg)
► Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan (Weightlifting 69kg)
► Gevorg Davtyan (Weightlifting 77kg)
► Tigran Vartan Martirosyan (Weightlifting 85kg)
► Roman Amoyan (Wrestling Greco-Roman 55 kg)
► Yuri Patrikeev (Wrestling Greco-Roman 120 kg)

It should be noted that Javakhyan’s medal is Armenia’s first Olympic medal in Boxing. As a result of these great

wins, the Armenian flag was raised on 6 different occasions during the medal ceremonies. Each of these Armenian

heroes will receive US$33,000 from the State budget in recognition for their great achievements.

Armenian athletes achieved medals for other countries as well. Artur Ayvazian and Armen Vardanyan represented

Ukraine and won Gold in shooting and Bronze in Greco-Roman wrestling respectively, while Ditte Kotzian from

Germany won Bronze in women’s Synchronised Diving. Biurakn Hakhverdian from the Netherlands won Gold after

the Dutch women’s water polo team defeated the US in the final.

Congratulations to all our heroes and looking forward to London 2012.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~