Tag: Sargsyan

  • Turkey must understand that Armenian-Turkish protocols are not infinite chances – Armenian president

    Turkey must understand that Armenian-Turkish protocols are not infinite chances – Armenian president

    YEREVAN. – Armenia’s initiative to start Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process raised international reputation of Armenia, as well as dispelled the illusions of our colleagues about new and modern Turkey, said the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan to the meeting with Armenian MFA central staff and heads of diplomatic missions abroad.

    72436“One might think that we should regret for initiating the process of Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, since Turkey toppled down its responsibilities and we spent huge political capital. I believe those present here understand that this initiative raised Armenia’s reputation on the international arena and dispelled the illusions of our colleagues about new and modern Turkey, herewith discovering modern manifestations of the policy Armenians learned from historic lessons.

    We, nevertheless, remain committed to our cause of settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations without any preconditions. Turkey has to find the will to respect the undertaken obligations and not credit statements that do not bring honor to a modern regional state,’’ said the president.

    According to him, Turkey must realize that the protocols are not infinite chances.

    ‘‘Many of our friends advised us to wait for Parliamentary elections in Turkey. Next few months will show whether there is any change in approaches after the elections. We shall make our moves regarding the protocols on the basis of these observations, although, frankly speaking, the past two months do not inspire much optimism in this context,’’ said President Sargsyan.

    via Turkey must understand that Armenian-Turkish protocols are not infinite chances – Armenian president | Armenia News – NEWS.am.

  • Expert: no document can guarantee stability of Armenian-Turkish relations

    Expert: no document can guarantee stability of Armenian-Turkish relations

    3765YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. No document can guarantee stability of Armenian-Turkish relations, considers specialist in Turkic philology Artak Shakaryan.

    “Today Turkey does not attack Armenia and it is not a good will of Ankara. It is the result of relatively calm inter-political situation in Armenia and presence of Russian military bases in the country”, he said in the press-conference on Tuesday.

    As an example he mentioned the current tense relations of Turkey and Syria. “Strained relations between Turkey and Syria proves that no document can stop Turkey if Ankara considers expansion of its borders or influence possible. But once Turkey and Syria had close interrelations”, said Shakaryan.

    Today, the issue of Armenian-Turkish protocols is not a priority issue in Turkey and if there is no pressure from USA, Ankara will return to these protocols as late as possible – maybe in 2014 on the threshold of 100 years of the Genocide of Armenian in Ottoman Empire.

    There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. The border between two countries was closed since 1993 by the official initiative of Ankara. Complicated relations between both countries are due to a number of circumstances, particularly by the support of Ankara to Azerbaijani position in Karabakh conflict and acute reaction of Turkey on the process of international recognition of Armenian Genocide in 1915 in Ottoman Empire.

    Process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations started by the initiative of the President of Armenian Serzh Sargsyan in autumn 2008. Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Turkey Edward Nalbandyan and Ahmed Davutoghlu signed “Protocol on establishment of diplomatic relations” and “Protocol on the development of mutual relations” on October 10, 2009. These documents should be ratified by the parliaments of both countries. However, on April 22, 2010 Sargsyan signed a decree on the termination of ratification process of protocols announcing that Turkey is not ready to continue the started process. Ratification process of protocols by the Turkish Parliament is in a frozen state.-0-

    via Expert: no document can guarantee stability of Armenian-Turkish relations | 29/06/2011 11:04 | News agency ARKA – Armenian news.

  • Family in Armenia Asks Turkey for Assylum

    Family in Armenia Asks Turkey for Assylum

    Ararat Davtyan

    11:40, June 16, 2011

    Mariam Gishyan, a mother of five living in Armenia, has asked the Turkish government to grant her refugee status.

    2213Mrs. Gishyan has also written to RA President Serzh Sargsyan, requesting that that since she cannot pay OVIR (Office of Visas and Registration) the required documentation fees, her family be stripped of Armenian citizenship.

    “Since I and my family have been subjected to a white genocide, deprived of a house; living wage and human rights, I will not allow my boys to serve in the army of an immoral nation,” Mrs. Gishyan wrote to President Sargsyan.

    She also noted in her letter that because she has no home address she would come to the presidential office to receive a reply.

    “There are many who criticize what I am doing but what can I do. How long can we go on living on the streets? My kids have been going to school for eight months whilst living on the streets. We’ve lived all over the place, even in Lovers’ Park across from the presidential palace. I tried to rent an apartment but they kicked us out because I was late in paying the rent,” said Mrs. Gishyan.

    Her five children, all adults, do not work since they have no passports. The three boys haven’t been conscripted into the army because of it.

    “They told me at the draft board that the boys can be conscripted based on the old address. But I said that OVIR won’t issue us passports on our former address, so how can the draft board register them?” she asks.

    The family used to reside at 30 Lalayants Street, in a six room apartment, but was forcibly evicted by the courts to make way for construction on Northern Boulevard back in 2003. The court told them they would be getting a four room apartment in compensation.

    “The contract stipulated that a new home be found before the eviction notice went into effect but just the opposite occurred,” claims Sedrak Baghdasaryan who heads an NGO that works to protect the rights of families evicted due to eminent domain.

    Karen Davtyan, now a Deputy Director at the Real Estate Cadastre, headed the Project Implementation Office (PIO) at the time of the eviction. The PIO served as the oversight body for the Northern Avenue construction operation.

    In response to several complaints lodged by the Gishyan family, in November, 2004, a year after the eviction, Mr Davtyan replied that the court, in its decision, had stipulated that the family would be paid $20, 805 in compensation.

    Mr. Baghdasaryan says in response that, “Karen Davtyan is the world’s biggest liar and that no such monetary award was listed in the court decision.”

    Levon Hakobyan, who now heads the PIO, has written to the Gishyan’s telling them that the amount in question was deposited into the account of the Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts (CES).

    This Armenian institution acts in the capacity of court bailiffs. Not surprisingly, CES employees were the ones who evicted the family in the first place and before they had found temporary housing.

    Where did the money go? If the Gishyan’s never received a dime in compensation it’s not out of the realm of possibility to assume that the CES pocketed the money.

    Mr. Baghdasaryan, our intrepid legal rights defender, wrote to the CES and the Yerevan Municipality to get to the bottom of the mystery. His efforts have been fruitless. It seems that the paperwork has been destroyed.

    He then asked the Yerevan Municipality to provide information regarding the original $20,085 in compensation – precisely who evaluated the family’s real estate and who is supposed to have deposited the money in the CES account.

    Mr. Baghdasaryan is still waiting for an answer. In the meantime, he’s taken the matter to the courts where the case has been languishing for six months.

    Only two trial sessions have actually been convened during this time.

    Mariam Gishyan says she has lost all faith in the system.

    “I applied to all the foreign embassies in Armenia a few years ago but was rejected. Now, I’ve applied to Turkey to get my revenge,” she says.

    Mrs. Gishyan has been to Turkey twice and claims to have met with government officials regarding her case.

    “I met with a minister but I don’t want to identify him right now. He said that all would be taken care of and that they’d give my kids an education and work.”

    Mrs. Gishyan says she plans to return to Turkey in a few days to complete the paperwork involved.

    “I had to return suddenly because the children had fallen ill. To be honest, I also wanted to give the Armenian government one last chance to make things right but, after all this, I realize they aren’t human and never will be.”

    Aida Asatryan, Head of the Desk for Reception of Citizens, Proposals, Appeals and Claims at the Presidential Oversight Service, in response to Mariam Gishyan’s request that the family be deprived of RA citizenship, wrote that, “A resolution of the issue you raised is being processed according to RA legal procedure.”

    When we asked Mrs. Asatryan to explain what this means, she refused.

    “I have nothing to add,” she curtly replied.

    via Family in Armenia Asks Turkey for Assylum | Hetq online.

  • Armenian PM: “Turkey is not ready for reconciliation”

    Armenian PM: “Turkey is not ready for reconciliation”

    Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan gave an interview to the CNN on Wednesday evening during which the Armenian official spoke about different issues, including the global economic crisis and its influence on Armenia, the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and his expectations from the upcoming meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents in Kazan.

    armenian primeminister“The Armenian leadership has the political will to move to on to an agreement and we realize that it is not easy, but we are hopeful that our Azerbaijani counterparts will demonstrate political will as well,” the Armenian Prime Minister said.

    Speaking about the normalization of relations with Turkey, the Armenian PM said, “In the last twenty years Armenia has had a very clear political position on this issue. We are ready to normalize relations with our neighbor Turkey without any preconditions. However, the recent events showed that Turkey is not ready to do the same.”

    Further he added that Turkey’s political weight will increase if the country follows the rules of the game.

    “Turkey’s political weight is undermined by the problems the country has with its neighbours. Turkey should continue to carry out democratic reforms on the path to the EU accession, which will enable us to easily build sustainable relationship with our neighbouring country,” said Tigram Sargsyan.

    On June 15, the Armenian PM left for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on a working visit.

    via Armenian PM: “Turkey is not ready for reconciliation” .::. The Armenian News by A1+.

  • Swiss try to unblock Armenia–Turkey deal in meeting with Armenian president

    Swiss try to unblock Armenia–Turkey deal in meeting with Armenian president

    GSAsPresident Micheline Calmy-Rey has held talks with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan over a Swiss-mediated deal aimed at normalising relations with Turkey.

    Sargsyan thanked Switzerland for its efforts but accused Turkey of blocking implementation of the 2009 landmark treaty.

    He said he had “interesting discussions” with Calmy-Rey to try to end the deadlock.

     

    The meeting in Bern also focused on boosting economic and development cooperation between Armenia and Switzerland, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

     

    It was the first official visit by an Armenian President to Switzerland and comes a month after Calmy-Rey opened a Swiss embassy to the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

     

    The trade volume between the two countries has been modest – less than SFr10 million ($11.6 million) – but Switzerland has contributed about SFr5 million annually to development aid for Armenia, according to the foreign ministry.

     

    In October 2009 Armenia and Turkey signed a deal in Zurich to normalise relations strained over a historic conflict at the beginning of the 20th century, notably the issue of mass deportations and genocide of ethnic Armenians during the Ottoman empire.

     

    However, the agreement has been put on hold as a result of a regional conflict.

    swissinfo.ch and agencies

    via Swiss try to unblock Armenia–Turkey deal in meeting with Armenian president. – swissinfo.

  • Levon Ter-Petrossian’s – Mayday, Mayday

    Levon Ter-Petrossian’s – Mayday, Mayday

    ltp-at-matedaran1May Day is a pagan ritual which marks the end of the colder winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations – ‘regardless of the locally prevalent political establishment’. But not for Levon Ter-Petrossian, his Mayday was more akin to the Mayday associated with the emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal by ships and airplanes in radio communications; derived from the French venez m’aider, meaning ‘Come Help Me’; the Mayday used to signal a life-threatening emergency by groups such as police forces, pilots, fire-fighters, and transportation organizations – and LTP.

    Yesterday, LTP’s Armenian national Congress (ANC) liner was visibly in distress, suffering relentless buffeting from an Armenian regime which terrorized and killed itself into office; which runs a state-imposed lawless society, holds democratic opposition supporters in prisons, and bullies and beats correspondents who try to tell the story. LTP has finally been trumped by the ‘Flying Ace’ which Kocharian has for years kept tucked up his sleeve and which Sargsyan now flaunts with his international partners-in-crime; the ace of capitulation – on Karabakh and on Genocide.

    Nevertheless, the regime had prepared well for a potentially massive turnout, which might have been the case. But, according to Levon Zurabyan, vehicles bringing LTP supporters to the meeting from outlying regions were turned back in traditional regime style by security services at the city limits brandishing automatic weapons. In contrast, outgoing vehicles were encouraged to take their Mayday holidaymakers to tend their plots of land in the countryside.

    So LTP had fewer passengers than for previous voyages, with the business class notable in its absence. They are distancing themselves from LTP and jumping off his democracy liner, now looking for a Sargsyan lifeboat, in the hope that after regime cronies have finished pillaging the multi-billion dollar [economic rescue] Genocide /Karabakh ‘Sell-Out’ package, the leftovers will help to rescue their small and medium business enterprises. The three thousand or so economy class passengers left on board were seeking cover in whatever sheltered place they could find, realizing they were doomed to go down with the ship and its captain. Riot police were on display in abundance as usual, with bus loads of reserves waiting in the surrounding streets, to make sure nobody jumps ship.

    The Turkish press was eager to quote the international AFP, which rushed to report on how LTP announced to his 3,500 supporters that he and his Armenian National Congress are “in favor of the soonest settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations and is ready to support all positive steps.” On this occasion, the Armenian press came to rescue, with Onnik Krikorian, one of Armenia’s last ‘independent’ photo-journalists, using his Global Voice to report the truth of the matter and including the following:

    “In a damning indictment of Armenia’s rapprochement with Turkey, opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian accused President Serzh Sarkisian on Friday of scuttling U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide and gaining nothing in return …… We are left to conclude without the slightest exaggeration, that for the sake of prolonging his rule, Serzh Sarkisian has literally ‘Sold Out’ the Genocide. “His next step will undoubtedly be a ‘Sell-Out’ of Karabakh, after which he will become the first Armenian to win the Nobel Prize.”

    Unfortunately there is now little hope for an LTP rescue effort, a multi-billion dollar carrot, backed by the power of the international propaganda machine, has succeeded with its ‘Weed Revolution’ for Armenia.

    The international community has happily fallen for the Kocharian / Sargsyan ‘Flying Ace’, hailing marvellous Sargsyan achievements with Turkish and Azerbaijani relations. The European Union started the bidding and gambled the virtues of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. But realizing that Sargsyan was not fooled by the bluff, it instructed PACE to throw in the hand, and they joined Sargsyan as co-conspirators.

    America then upped the anti with a billion plus dollar cash WB/IMF bet, a calculated bid to draw the ‘Flying Ace’ and knowing it had a win-win situation. Upping the stakes would either call the Sargsyan bluff, with the US collecting the pot, or US losses would be recouped by Obama reneging on his promise to recognise the Armenian Genocide on the 24th April.

    Moscow put in its half billion dollar bid in typically shrewd Russian style, reminding the Armenian party that in the event of losses, they would be covered by previous Russian / Armenian agreements. Turkey and Azerbaijan stayed in the bidding with promissory notes, watching the major players jockey for position. Then the US threw in its billion dollar hand and Obama reneged on his Genocide promise as planned.

    The players have been at the table for months on end, each ready to back out in return for resolving its problems in the Caucasus. The EU and the US were happy to cut and run to leave the three former Soviet players to finish the game, each hoping that Turkey, which has been picking up strong cards along the way, will not come up with a hand to trump them all.

    Armenia still has a better-than-even chance of raking in the entire multi-billion dollar pot; all it has to do is to call the Turkish Azerbaijani bluffs and pick the right time to throw down its Karabakh card. The Republic will then be endowed with an internationally installed bandit regime, which for many generations to come will dictate life in Armenia – and all for the sake of a treacherous Armenian capitulation on Karabakh, which unfortunately included an even more shameful ‘Sell-Out’ of the Armenian Genocide.

    In typical style, whilst Diaspora Armenians have been lobbying overseas, Armenians in the Republic have been subserviently watching on as this process moves into its final stage. The fifty or so thousand Karabakhis are up in arms, determined to defend their rights in the light of this Kocharian / Sargsyan ‘Sell-Out’. But there is little hope that they will be able to stop the capitulation roller-coaster, when Armenia’s regime unilaterally withdraws its troops from five of the surrounding territories, egged on by Bryza and his Minsk associates and rubber stamped by the EU.

    The tale goes that when the Azerbaijani Defense Minister asked his President if he was prepared to take Karabakh by force, Aliyev answered – “Are you crazy, there are fifty thousand of them”. The Defense Minister answered but we are a country of eight million and our army is several times larger in number than the entire Karabakh population and we have spent billions of dollars on the latest military equipment. Aliyev replied: “But two Karabakhis took over Armenia single-handed and now they own the Republic. Imagine what fifty thousand of them will do to us!”

    After the Sargsyan ‘Sell-Out’, Turkey and the rest of the international community will be pleased that that anecdote is now the reality. Unfortunately, it is the reality with which Armenia now has to live – and Armenia, you can blame absolutely nobody for it – except yourselves.