Armenian News

news.am

Azerbaijan’s new diversion operation fails

June 05, 2012 | 11:56

YEREVAN. – Continuing their provocative actions from Monday,

the subdivisions from Azerbaijani Armed Forces yet again attempted

to breach Armenia’s state border in the early morning hours of Tuesday.   

Azerbaijan tried to infiltrate an armed diversion team comprising

15-20 soldiers to Armenian territory in the vicinity of Voskepar

village of Tavush Region, MOD Press Service informed

Armenian News-NEWS.am. 

But owing to Armenian position holder’s vigilance, the diversion team

was discovered and rendered ineffective.   

According to preliminary data, Azerbaijan has five casualties and

numerous wounded.

Other members of the diversion team managed to escape and took

along the wounded and the bodies of the dead.There are no casualties

or wounded from the Armenian side.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, an Azerbaijani diversion

operation had claimed the lives of three Armenian soldiers and wounded

six others—one of whom, an officer—in the early morning hours on

 Monday. 

The killed soldiers were: Hrach Sargsyan, Zohrab Balabekyan, and Karen

Davtyan.

And the MOD had issued a statement and noted that on Monday and

according to preliminary data, the Azerbaijani side yet again violated the

ceasefire at the line of contact between the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,

and this time in the northeastern sector. It attempted to infiltrate to the

Armenian military bases stationed in the direction of Berdavan and Chinari

villages of the Tavush Region.   

As a result of the taken measures and the Armenian military servicemen’s

courageous operations, however, the diversion advancement was stopped,

and the adversary was driven back, giving casualties.  

Three of the wounded Armenian military servicemen were transferred to

the capital, Yerevan.

Bloomberg News

Azeris Killed in Deadliest Clash With Armenia Amid Clinton Visit

By Zulfugar Agayev on June 05, 2012

Five Azeri soldiers were killed in a border clash with Armenian soldiers in

the deadliest incident between the neighbors in four years as visiting U.S.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of risks of a regional conflict.

The servicemen were killed while repelling an attack by an Armenian

“saboteur” squad in the western Qazax district early today, Teymur

Abdullayev, a spokesman for the Azeri Defense Ministry, said by phone.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry said three soldiers were killed yesterday by

an “invading” Azeri group.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan fought a war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh,

a mostly ethnic Armenian-populated region that broke free of Baku’s control

after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1991. Clinton, who is

visiting the South Caucasus region this week, said yesterday that sporadic

violence along the militarized cease-fire line threatens to turn into a broader

conflict.

“I am very concerned about the danger of escalation of tensions and the

senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians,” Clinton said at a

joint briefing with her Armenian counterpart, Eduard Nalbandian, in the

capital, Yerevan. “The use of force will not resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh

conflict, and therefore force must not be used.”

The territory remains a potential flash point in a region where Russia fought

a five-day war with Georgia in 2008 after separatist tensions flared up. While

the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan largely ended after a

Russia-brokered cease-fire in 1994, the countries have failed to reach a peace

agreement.

Clinton is also visiting Georgia and Azerbaijan during her trip this week.

Companies led by London-based BP Plc (BP/) have invested about

$35 billion in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas fields since 1991.

THE SITUATION IN VOSKEPAR PEACEFUL AFTER AZERBAIJAN'S

 UNSUCCESSFUL ACT OF SABOTAGE

Nvard Davtyan

"Radiolur"

05.06.2012 17:35

The situation is calm in the village of Voskepar. There were no

shots over the day, there is no panic, people are engaged in everyday

activities, head of Voskepar community Hrush Aghbalyan told "Radiolur."

This night divisions of the Azerbaijani armed forces again undertook

provocative actions, trying to penetrate into Armenian territory near

the village of Voskepar. The sabotage group was neutralized thanks to

the watchfulness of Armenian servicemen. Members of the group managed

to escape taking the bodies of the five killed soldiers.

Azerbaijani media, quoting the Ministry of Defense, publicize the names

of the killed soldiers: Amil Novruzov, Khalid Azizov, Vahid Bagirov,

Julfagar Atashli and Elchin Ismailov.

The situation is peaceful also in Chinari. A criminal case has been

launched into the incident that occurred there yesterday, Press

Secretary of the Investigative Service of the Ministry of Defense

Mery Sargsyan told "Radiolur."

As for the injured, their condition is satisfactory.

(see also analysis at the end of this list)

AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS AGREE ON SOME

ISSUES IN MOSCOW MEETING

APA

June 4 2012

Azerbaijan

Elnur Baimov: "The meeting has been held positively"

Moscow. Farid Akbarov - APA. The meeting of mass media managers

of Azerbaijan and Armenia ended in Moscow within the framework of

the humanitarian initiative for rapprochement of society of both

countries for the purpose of supporting the settlement of Nagorno

Karabakh conflict.

APA's Moscow correspondent reports that after the meeting, which was

held in the editorial office of "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" newspaper on

the initiative of Special Representative of the Russian President for

International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvidkoy, the delegations

visited the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Members of the Armenian press refused to give an interview to the

press.

Member of the Azerbaijani press, director general of "News.az" portal

Elnur Bamiov said that the meeting has been held positively. According

to him, the mass media managers of the two countries reached verbal

agreement on the prevention of non-ethical expressions in the press

against the leaders of the countries and representatives of the

public communities and reducing the creation of enemy's image between

the nations.

Baimov recalled this is the second meeting and said that venue of the

next meeting is being discussed: holding such meetings in Baku, Tbilisi

and Yerevan have been proposed. There were such proposals before but

the meeting was held in Moscow again. There is not final decision."

Editor-in-chief of "Baku Post" newspaper Tofig Abbasov, editor-in-chief

of "1news" agency Rahman Hajiyev, General Director of "Trend"

information agency Ilgar Huseynov, editor-in-chief of "News.az" news

portal Elnur Baimov and journalist Azer Hasrat participated in the

meeting from Azerbaijani side.

Expert of the Armenian Association for Public Relations Armen Minasyan,

information security expert, culture expert-blogger Samvel Martirosyan,

editor-in-chief of "Aravot" newspaper Aram Abramyan, director of the

Center of Public Relations and Information of the Armenian President's

Office Ara Saghatelyan and deputy editor-in-chief of "Golos Armenii"

newspaper Marina Grigoryan participated in the meeting from the

Armenian side.

Azerbaijan's ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu, Armenian ambassador

to Russia Oleg Yesayan, executive director of the CIS Interstate

Humanitarian Cooperation Fund Armen Smbatyan are participated in

the meeting.

The office of "Rossiyskaya gazeta" newspaper hosted a meeting between

the intelligentsias of the two countries on February 22. Mikhail

Shvidkoy, who attended meeting, said that such contacts would be

continued.

Besides, during his last visit to Baku OSCE Minsk Group's Russian

co-chair Igor Popov said that the next meeting would be held between

Azerbaijani and Armenian intelligentsias in the near future.

The intensification of humanitarian contacts was also decided at

Sochi meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents on January 23.

TURKISH, ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS WANT BORDER OPENED

Today's Zaman

June 3 2012

Turkey

( on the latest reports, President Gul now blames the lack of progress

on developing Armenia-Turkey relations on an Armenian Constitutional

Court decision. This was in response to Secretary Clinton’s public view

that the diplomatic  ball was in Turkey’s court. Previously, the reason was

 given as  Karabagh: always portrayed as Armenia as the stumbling block..

The reality is  Turkey uses pre-conditions not to engage with Armenia who

have confirmed they have no pre-conditions)

A group of Turkish and Armenian journalists traveling through Turkey,

Armenia and Georgia between May 24 and June 6 in order to gain

first-hand insight into their neighbors say that the closed border

between Turkey and Armenia is negatively affecting relations between

the two countries, advocating the opening of the border.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with

Azerbaijan after Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of

Azerbaijan in 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Arsen Kharatyan from Voice of America has told Today's Zaman that

the closed border is a symbolic issue. "The day we stop reaching each

other's countries via other countries, both societies will understand

each other more closely. Passing through Georgia to Armenia shows

that every level of relations is mediated by third parties," said

Kharatyan, adding that constructive, sincere and honest dialogue on

both the government and civil society level would contribute positively

to the future of relations.

The group of 15 journalists visited six locations in Turkey: Ä°stanbul,

Malatya, Kayseri, Cappadocia, Ankara and Kars. The group then traveled

to Armenia, where they are spending a week visiting cities and villages

across the country, including Gyumri, Goris, Sevan and Yerevan.

The Turkey-Armenia Media Reporting Bus Tour is organized by the

Global Political Trends Center (GPoT) of Ä°stanbul Kultur University,

in partnership with the Yerevan-based Eurasia Partnership Foundation

(EPF), as part of the Support to Armenia-Turkey Rapprochement (SATR)

project and is funded by the United States Agency for International

Development (USAID). The tour aims to establish a network for future

reporting on Turkish-Armenian relations.

"If someone wants to understand the present, he or she must deal with

the past and perceive it with their own eyes, rather than hearing it

from the outside," said Kharatyan, adding that the tour was a journey

of self-discovery for the journalists.

When asked his assessment of possible future relations between

both countries in the future, Kharatyan replied that currently the

discussions between Turkey and Armenia were stuck on the level of

intellectual discourse, adding that sustainable peace could only be

achieved by maintaining honesty between the nations. "I hope there will

be a time in our lives when we openly have many discussions. I agree

with Turkish officials that we have to solve this problem instead of

leaving it to our children," said Kharatyan.

Speaking to Today's Zaman, Andranik Ispiryan from the Yerevan-based

news agency News.am stated, "The border between Turkey and Armenia is

the only closed border in the 21st century," suggesting that closed

borders prevent relations from improving between the countries.

"I believe the closed border affects relations negatively, not only on

the diplomatic level but also on the societal level," said Ispiryan,

proposing that if the border were open the two societies would have

an opportunity to learn about the culture of the other nation, which

would also help to reduce misconceptions on both sides.

Agreeing with Ispiryan, Zafer Opsar from the Bursa-based news portal

Bursaport.com told Today's Zaman that the closed border does not

contribute positively to relations between the countries, adding that

both sides would benefit from the opening of the borders.

"I am hopeful for the future, and I believe our trip will contribute

to the future of relations. But I think the word 'genocide' blocks the

development of relations. Both countries can overcome the problems by

empathy only," he said, adding that the tour was of great importance

in improving relations.

"Journalists are the voice of the public. We [Turkish and Armenian

journalists] have the opportunity to observe the neighboring country

without the involvement of third parties," said Opsar.

Susae Elanchenny, representative of GPoT, told Today's Zaman that the

goal of the tour was to facilitate Turkish and Armenian journalists'

understanding of their neighboring countries and peoples. "Given

the current impasse in official relations, I believe that the media

can play a particularly important role in moving the normalization

process forward," said Elanchenny.

"Of course, we [GPoT] don't expect to solve the entire issue on this

two-week bus tour with these 15 journalists, but I believe that thanks

to civil society projects, like this one, the biases, stereotypes

and misunderstandings that hinder dialogue are decreasing and will

hopefully only further decrease in the future," she added.

Speaking about the closed border, Varya Meruzhanyan, representative of

EPF, told Today's Zaman that before the borders can be opened people on

both sides will need to make an effort to open their mental borders,

stating, "We are hopeful that this bus tour will serve as a small

step towards achieving that goal."

She also added that with the current deadlock in official relations

between the nations it is important that people from both countries

continue to receive information about the other.

TURKEY SHOULD HAVE COMMON VALUE SYSTEM WITH HIS

NEIGHBORS: ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER

ARMENPRESS

5 June, 2012

Brussels

BRUSSELS, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS: Football diplomacy proved Turkey is not

ready to normalize the relations with Armenia without preconditions.

To the European politicians' and analysts' questions , whether

Armenia is committed to its obligations over the protocols signed

in Switzerland,Tigran Sargsyan was quoted as saying " Mrs Clinton

statement was to the point; the ball is currently in Turk's court",

Armenpress correspondent informs from Brussels.

Turkey is striving to normalize its relations with the neighbours,

possessing serious political ambitions in the region. " But it also

means that Turkey should make efforts to have friendly relations with

its all neighbors. Fundamental question is as follows: on which basis

Turkey wants to normalize its relations with its neighbors. In the

case of Armenia our position in the last 20 years remained the same.

We are ready to settle the relations with Turkey, establish diplomatic

relations and open borders without preconditions" the head of the

Cabinet noted.

In Prime Minister's opinion the single solution is Turkey and its

neighbours establish relations based on the unified values. In this

regard PM Sargsyan assured Armenia is concerned to implement reforms

in the form of adopting European system of values in the lifestyle

of the society. " "This is the guarantee of security and cooperation

in our region "said the head of government.

Dwelling on the issue that Turkey considers its relations in the

context of the regional scale and not in the context of individual

countries, Tigran Sargsyan stated" In that case the sides should

have not signed the records in Switzerland. Long lasting negotiations

were held with the participations of the mediators .These protocols

,receiving the positive remarks by USA, Russian and France co chairs,

were signed by Turkey. If Turkey has different platform, it should

not have signed the protocols".

The PM told in one hand Armenia is in the blockade by Turkey and

Azerbaijan, in the other hand international sanctions against Iran

impede the differsification of our country. " It means we spend

great resources for ensuring the security of our country and for

differsification of the economy. Reform means change of the tactics

of the people; which takes the country serious efforts, technical,

financial, intellectual abilities to be exerted .Unfortunately we use

those resources for other purposes. Turkey is well aware of it and

continues the blockade. They explain as though their friend Azerbaijan

will not understand the realations established by Turkey and Armenia.

"So geopolitical situation and domestic reforms of Armenia are

interrelated" PM Sargsyan underscored.

TURKEY TRIES TO FORM ITS ORGANIZED DIASPORA AGAINST

ARMENIAN ONE

news.am

June 05, 2012 | 10:01

The government of Turkey is taking its first step toward forming an

organized and a strong Turkish diaspora against the Armenian diaspora.

Around five-hundred leaders from Turkish organizations, foundations

and federations from around the world will get together in Ankara on

Thursday and Friday, Star daily of Turkey informs.

And the main objective of these events, which will be organized by the

Turkish MFA's Department of Turkish Expatriates, will be to coordinate

these Turks' efforts against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

RFE/RL Report

First Armenian Growth Data For 2012 Released

Naira Bulghadarian

05.06.2012

Economic growth in Armenia continued unabated in the first quarter of

this year, with Gross Domestic Product increasing by 4.7 percent,

according to government statistics released this week.

Data from the National Statistical Service (NSS) shows the Armenian

economy continuing to expand on the back of strong growth in industry

and services other rather trade.

Armenian industrial output was up by 16.4 percent year on year and

generated more than one-third of GDP in January-March. The

export-oriented mining and metallurgical sectors accounted for much of

that gain. Growth in the services sector was similarly strong: 11.5

percent.

Other major sectors of the economy fared much worse in this

period. The NSS recorded zero growth in agriculture and trade and a

more than 5 percent drop in construction.

The first-quarter GDP performance is virtually identical with the

full-year growth figure registered in 2011. The Armenian government

forecast late last year that the growth rate will ease to 4.2 percent

in 2012.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) initially agreed with this

projection but revised it downwards to 3.8 percent in March. An IMF

mission that visited Yerevan at the time pointed to the likely impact

of `weak external environment' on Armenia's economic performance.

One external factor that could influence the economic situation in the

country is recent months' sizable decrease in international prices of

copper and other non-ferrous metals, the number one Armenian export.

Artak Baghdasarian, a senior official at the Armenian Ministry of

Economy, portrayed the latest GDP data as a further indication that

the country is continuing to steadily recover from the 2009 recession.

Baghdasarian echoed government claims that Armenia is now more

Immune to external shocks because industry and services, rather

Than construction, are the main driving forces behind its economic

growth. `This is certainly a better guarantee of steady growth,' he

told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

However, Bagrat Asatrian, an economist critical of the government,

downplayed the NSS figures, saying that the growth is not benefiting

most Armenians. He said poverty in Armenia, which rose during the

2009 crisis, has still not started to fall.

RATE OF TOURISTS DROPPED BY 9%

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 11:27:42 - 05/06/2012

104,374 tourists visited Armenia in the first quarter of this year.

Their number has dropped by 9.0% compared with the past year. 120,050

people left the country for travels in the same period. This rate is

up by 1.9% year over year.

According to the National Statistical Service, 30% of tourists who

have visited Armenia this year are from the CIS countries, 35.5% from

the European Union. The number of Iranian tourists has dropped by 5.9%.

The government of Armenia is going to boost the number of tourists

traveling to Armenia up to 3 million annually by 2030. The number of

tourists visiting Armenia in 2011 was 757,935.

SOMEONE WANTS TO DEPLOY TROOPS

Naira Hayrumyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:44:38 - 05/06/2012

Azerbaijan has decided to shift the escalation from Karabakh to

the border with Armenia, Tavush region, said the foreign minister

of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan yesterday in the press conference with

Hillary Clinton. He did not go into details why it is done though it

is evident that someone wants to involve Armenia into a full-scale war,

or to find an excuse to deploy troops of third forces in Armenia.

Although Armenia does not hide its responsibility for the security

of the people of Karabakh, official Yerevan does not have a defense

agreement with NKR, hence officially Armenia can also refrain from

entering into a war for Karabakh. But when the point is the borders

of Armenia, there is nothing one can do about it.

Who will benefit from Armenia's involvement into a war against

Azerbaijan? Who would like to deploy its troops in Armenia or to

activate the existing ones? The deployment of any troops in Karabakh

is complicated by the fact that it is unrecognized. Meanwhile, Armenia

has defense commitments within the framework of the CSTO and Russia

and escalation on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan may lead to

deployment of the CSTO forces there.

On the other hand, the West would not mind having mobile groups in

Armenia which has a small border with Iran. But the West would hardly

initiate subversive acts just on the eve of its top official's visit

to the region.

Most analysts note that Armenia is gradually facing the West. In any

case, the acting authorities of Armenia do not hide the pro-European

orientation of the country and the desire to have closer ties with

the U.S., so Russia must be worried. And perhaps, it will need

strong arguments to "persuade" the Armenian people to vote against

"pro-Western" Sargsyan and for "its" pro-Russian candidate. The best

way is escalation on the border, which has been used for a number

of times for the improvement of domestic political situations in the

South Caucasian countries.

By the way, this is a good way for the Azerbaijani authorities to

resolve domestic issues, to strengthen legitimacy at home, "mobilize"

the society against the hostile moods of the West and its democratic

opposition.

Most analysts think that the escalation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani

border might be initiated by those who want Armenia to finally

"get angry" and hit Azerbaijan. It is clear that Yerevan, without

100% guarantees, will never take this step, and the analysts think

Armenia could receive such guarantees. That is why escalation is on

the Armenian and not Karabakh border.

There can be many options but one thing is clear -reports from

the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remind war chronicles. People die,

subversive acts are initiated by someone, someone's interests are

concerned, the Armenian leadership should clearly and honestly tell its

society who stands behind these acts and what Armenia is going to do.

sent by A Topalian