Armenian News Sent by A Topalian

Article from the satirical magazine, Private Eye

You scratch my Baku

Oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan may be an authoritarian regime with bent elections,

“poor” human rights and “rampant” torture (Foreign Office), but that doesn’t stop

dozens Of British MPs cosying up to a pre-Azerbaijan lobby group in the UK.

The fact that the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) is run by the billionaire sons

of an Azerbaijani minister whose fortune was built on “payoffs and patronage”

(aka bribery and corruption) doesn’t seem to bother the MPs either.

Tale and Nijat Heydarov are ,respectively chairman and secretary of TEAS, which

lobbies on behalf of the former Soviet republic in the UK and runs the 20-member

All Party Group on Azerbaijan in parliament.

Tale and Nijat’s dad is Azerbaijan’s “Minister of Emergency Situations”, Kamaladdin

Heydarov. According to a US embassy telegram released by Wikileaks, he ran

Azerbaijan’s Customs Commission. This “allowed him to gain his massive wealth,

as significant illicit payments were paid “up the food chain” in an elaborate and well-

orchestrated system of payoff and patronage”.

The family went on to corner the country’s fruit juice market, “maintaining extremely

high prices for locally produced juices and watered-down juice drinks, while making

life difficult – with the help of State Customs – for cheaper competitors”.

As well as running the all-party group of MPs, TEAS also helped form (and provides

secretarial services for) the recently founded Conservative Friends of Azerbaijan, with

20 Tory MPs members.

In 2008 and 2009, it paid £23,300 to send nine MPs on ”fact finding” missions to

Azerbaijan (where BP has a whopping contract). At the recent Conservative spring

Conference (ex-Defence Secretary) DR Liam Fox addressed a TEAS reception, held

jointly with Conservative Home; and the previous year TEAS paid for a party with Justice

Secretary Ken Clarke; “Wine will flow, canapés will be served” said the invitation.

A spokesman for TEAS, which paid for public meetings with ministers when Labour

Was in power too, said its lobbying was “totally open and transparent” and “in full

Conformity with all laws and regulations”. It did not comment on Wikileaks leaks.

(imagine that MPs such as will now investigate banking ‘cultural’ mis-behaviour!)

RFE/RL Report

Turkey Warms To France As Armenian Genocide Law Abandoned

06.07.2012

( Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister hailed the opening of a warmer

phase in relations with France on Thursday as a French law on the mass

killing of Armenians in 1915 was abandoned, but he received no support

for a Turkish bid to join the European Union.

Ahmet Davutoglu was visiting France for the first time since the

election in May of President Francois Hollande, who Turkish officials

hoped might be more open to the prospect of Ankara's EU bid than

predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

Davutoglu sought to clear the air in the wake of the row over a French

law that would have made it illegal to deny that the killing of

Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 amounted to genocide. Ankara

cancelled all economic, political and military meetings with Paris in

December after France's lower house of parliament voted in favour of

the draft law.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the law, which was

rejected by France's highest court in February as contrary to free

speech, was unlikely to be resurrected.

But Fabius skirted the question of Ankara's bid to join the European

Union, which was launched in 2005 but has virtually ground to a halt

due to a dispute over the island of Cyprus. `The French government is

examining a number of matters inherited from the previous government,'

he said at a joint news conference.

Fabius hinted that EU membership for Turkey would be put to a

referendum, as anticipated by a 2008 constitutional amendment which

can nonetheless be overruled by parliament. "At the end of the day,

things will come down to the decision of the people," he said.

Hollande, while running for president this year, answered a question

about Turkey's accession to the EU by saying: "It will not happen

during the next five-year term."

Turkey would only enter the EU once it fulfils all 35 membership

criteria, 14 of which are blocked due to Turkey's refusal to recognise

Greek Cypriot sovereignty on the island.

Genocide issues are examined in Geneva

news.am

July 06, 2012 | 10:30

Within the framework of the 20th UN Human Rights Council session held

in Geneva, Switzerland, and event was organized on June 19 to study

the Council's important role in the use of the principle of the

responsibility to protect.

During the discussions Armenia's delegation made a statement, whereby

it underscored this principle in the human security system.

It noted that the Armenian people survived the 20th century's first

genocide, which claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians, and this

is why Armenia salutes any effort toward preventing crimes against

humanity. And as a positive example for such effort, the Armenian

delegation pointed to the Armenian Genocide's recognition by dozens of

countries, which is as a result of cooperation between Armenia and the

Armenian diaspora.

Also, the delegation noted that massacring of 1.5 million Armenians is

a failure of a state's principle to protect its own population while

the surviving of 2.5 million Armenians and the existence of Armenia,

Armenian diaspora, and Armenian people are a success of the

international community's commitment to protect.

An on June 20, a working discussion was held devoted to the memory of

Raphael Lemkin, who had coined the word `genocide.'

Armenia's delegation made a statement during these discussions, too,

and pointed to Lemkin's invaluable role in genocide prevention.

Also, Lemkin's following words were recalled: `We forget too quickly.

Yesterday, the victims were `only' Armenians; today, `only' the

Jews - but also Poles and other European peoples. And who will be

tomorrow?'

Armenia's delegation noted that the country's president bestows awards

to those who have contributed to genocide prevention, and the Armenian

Genocide Museum-Institute allocates scholarships for Armenian Genocide

studies.

In response, the Turkish delegation voiced its approach which,

however, was accepted negatively by those present, who assessed it as

a response to Raphael Lemkin, and not to the Armenian delegation.

RFE/RL Report

Armenian Government `On Right Track,' Says EU President

4Jul2012.

Ruzanna Stepanian, Elina Chilingarian

The Armenian government is `on the right track' in carrying out

democratic reforms and can therefore count on greater financial

assistance from the European Union, EU President Herman Van Rompuy

said during an official visit to Yerevan on Wednesday.

Speaking after talks with Presiden President Serzh Sarkisian, Van

Rompuy reaffirmed the EU's largely positive assessment of Armenia's

recent parliamentary elections but said a presidential ballot due next

February should be even more democratic.

`I encourage Armenia to continue on this path towards strengthening

its democratic institutions, to promote transparency, to root out

corruption and to respect human rights and the rule of law, including

the right to free speech and press,' he told a joint news conference

with Sarkisian. `You are, President Sarkisian, on the right track,

even if there is still a lot of work ahead.'

`The European Union welcomes the efforts which the Armenian

authorities made to deliver more competitive and transparent

parliamentary elections [on May 6,]' he said. `This was an important

step forward. However, as identified in the Final Report by the

OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, some issues remain to be

addressed. We trust that this will be done before the upcoming

presidential elections.'

`On this basis, I am pleased to say that the [EU's executive] European

Commission will now be in a position to start preparations of a donor

conference with Armenia and international financial institutions,'

added the head of the EU's top decision-making body, the European

Council.

Sarkisian, for his part, declared that his government's and the EU's

evaluations of the Armenian parliamentary elections are

identical. `Those were the best elections in the history of newly

independent Armenia, but a lot still needs to be done for a further

improvement of the electoral process,' he said. `I reaffirmed our

readiness to make fresh progress in the organization and conduct of

the 2013 presidential elections.'

A spokesman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele told RFE/RL

last week that the freedom and fairness of the 2013 vote, in which

Sarkisian will be seeking a second term in office, is essential for

the holding of the donor conference.

Van Rompuy announced that the EU will provide Yerevan this year with

15 million euros ($19 million) in additional assistance within the

framework of its Eastern Partnership program.

The program offers Armenia and five other former Soviet republics the

prospect of closer partnership with the 27-nation bloc in return for

sweeping political and economic reforms. Each of them is eligible for

an `association agreement' with the EU.

Van Rompuy praised `good progress' in the EU's ongoing

association talks with Armenia both at the news conference and in

other public statements made in Yerevan. He noted the recent launch of

formal Armenia-EU talks on free trade and visa facilitation, key

elements of the association accord.

`Armenia's commitment to reforms based on the core values of the

European Union, and geared at approximating to the standards and norms

of the EU is very welcome. This is clearly a strategic choice made by

Armenia,' the Belgian politician told a conference of local

non-governmental organizations later in the day.

Armenian opposition and civic groups regularly question the Sarkisian

administration's stated commitment to those norms. Unlike the EU, they

have denounced the May elections as fraudulent.

Van Rompuy repeatedly stressed in Yerevan the importance of a peaceful

solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for Armenia's European

integration. `The European

Union will continue to insist that Armenia and Azerbaijan step up

their efforts to reach

Agreement,' he said in an address to the Armenian parliament.

In that context, the EU president expressed `great concern' at recent

truce violations in the conflict zone. `The European Union calls on

both sides strictly to respect the ceasefire and exercise restraint,

on the ground and in public statements, in order to prevent a further

escalation of the situation,' he said.

Van Rompuy also called for an unconditional normalization of

Turkish-Armenian relations advocated by Armenia. `The European Union

will continue to encourage both sides to remain committed to the

process of normalization of bilateral relations, without preconditions

from any side,' he told the National Assembly.