U.S. ‘Still Pushing For Turkish-Armenian Normalization’

The United States is continuing to press Turkey to unconditionally normalize its relations with Armenia, the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, John Heffern, said on Wednesday.

“We still are very hopeful that the process will resume as long as it’s not linked to any other issue,” Heffern told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “So we are continuing to work with Turkey and to push Turkey to do the right thing.”

He seemed to refer to the ratification of two U.S.-brokered protocols that were signed by Armenia and Turkey in October 2009. The protocols committed the two neighboring states to establishing diplomatic relations and opening the Turkish-Armenian border. Faced with an uproar from Azerbaijan, Ankara subsequently made their ratification by the Turkish parliament conditional on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Baku Hails NATO Statement Denounced By Yerevan

Azerbaijan on Tuesday welcomed a declaration adopted at the NATO summit in Chicago, saying that it endorsed Baku’s position on the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Elman Abdullayev, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, pointed to the declaration’s support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics locked in territorial and ethnic disputes.

“The fact that the statement was signed by major international players testifies to serious [NATO] support for Azerbaijan’s just cause in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the Trend news agency quoted Abdullayev as saying.

The NATO document made no mention of people’s self-determination with regard to the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute, a fact denounced by Armenia. Official Yerevan says this is the reason why President Serzh Sarkisian did not take part in the weekend summit unlike his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

Aftershocks: Recent seismic activity in the region remains public concern in Armenia

Dozens of relatively strong quakes and aftershocks that have hit the region in general and Armenia in particular in the past several months have caused anxiety among the population of the landlocked South Caucasus country where many remember the devastation and massive loss of life brought about by a powerful tremor more than two decades ago.

Seismic protection agency specialists, however, do not see reasons for panic, discarding all short-term predictions of a powerful earthquake as false.

Earthquakes in the region (Georgia, Azerbaijan, northern Iran, eastern Turkey) have been more frequent and intense since last October when a destructive magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred near the city of Van in modern-day Turkey. In May alone seismic monitoring agencies have registered about two dozen earthquakes in the region, with seven of them in the territory of Armenia.  Read more... (688 words)

Armenia Shuns NATO Summit Over ‘Pro-Azeri’ Declaration

Armenia boycotted a NATO summit in Chicago at the weekend in protest against what it described as the pro-Azerbaijani wording of a declaration adopted by the leaders of the alliance’s 28 member states.

The declaration mentions the unresolved conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh as well as Georgia and Moldova in a long list of security challenges facing the West. It seems to single out territorial integrity of internationally recognized states as the guiding principle for their peaceful resolution.

“We remain committed in our support of the territorial integrity, independence, and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Republic of Moldova, and will also continue to support efforts towards a peaceful settlement of these regional conflicts, based upon these principles and the norms of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the Helsinki Final Act,” it says.

Chicago Declaration addresses Karabakh conflict

The Declaration adopted by the participants of the Nato summit contains a clause relating to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The alliance has urged for demonstrating political will to settle the protracted conflicts.
“With our vision of a Euro-Atlantic area at peace, the persistence of protracted regional conflicts in South Caucasus and the Republic of Moldova continues to be a matter of great concern for the Alliance. With respect to all these conflicts, we urge all parties to engage constructively and with reinforced political will in peaceful conflict resolution, and to respect the current negotiation formats. We call on them all to avoid steps that undermine regional security and stability. We remain committed in our support of the territorial integrity, independence, and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Republic of Moldova, and will also continue to support efforts towards a peaceful settlement of these regional conflicts, based upon these principles and the norms of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the Helsinki Final Act”, the Declaration reads.  Read more... (174 words)

ANCA and KK: Committee raises $2.2 million, gets plug from Kim Kardashian

At the conclusion of the six-hour ANCA Endowment Fund Telethon on Sunday, May 20, $2.2 million was raised from donations from a wide cross-section of the community, to benefit the work of the Armenian National Committee of America.

During the six-hour broadcast, the telethon aired segments documenting the activities of the ANCA Endowment Fund in working for Genocide education and recognition, aid to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and encouraging participation by the Armenian-American community.

Prior to the telethon American Armenian socialite and television star Kim Kardashian rallied support for it as part of her ongoing commitment to secure international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.  Read more... (238 words)

American expert on Karabakh: Don’t believe the myths

President of MIG International Consulting Company Ilya Gerol spoke about the Karabakh conflict at the Russian-Armenian Slovenian University in Yerevan last week.

Gerol started his lecture on Karabakh with a call not to give way to contemporary myths about the situation in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“You shouldn’t believe the myth that, for example, Azerbaijan is now amazingly rich and has equipped its huge army with Russian and Israeli armaments, and Armenia is fatigued from a long war and isolation, and that under these circumstances Azerbaijan will go for risks fraught with serous cataclysms, ” he said.

Among such cataclysms are Azerbaijan’s potential loss of its investment attractiveness should a new war break out, as well as the real threat to transport of Azeri gas through the three pipelines stretching in immediate proximity to the frontline.  Read more... (474 words)

Voskehat’s Dusty Streets: Catholicos Garegin II Was Born Here But Doesn’t Get Involved

10:45, May 19, 2012

Dusty streets and people with downtrodden, dour faces…

This is the general picture I get when visiting Armenia’s rural communities. Village residents have nothing but complaints to tell the reporter who stumbles into their realm. Turn on the tape recorder, however, and their tune changes – What hardships? What frustration?

Go to the village of Voskehat, in Armavir Marz, and you’re greeted with the same picture.

But the village has one proud boast under its belt – it’s where Catholicos Garegin II was born and where his brother Gevorg Nersisyan serves as mayor.

The village has its host of problems ranging from a dilapidated irrigation system to a school in need of urgent repair. Mayor Nersisyan’s answer is that the community just doesn’t have the resources to tackle these problems.

AGLA NY’s Statement In Response to the May 8th Terror Attack in Yerevan

The Armenian Gay and Lesbian Association of New York is appalled by the terrorist firebombing of DIY bar on May 8 and the subsequent hate crimes against the establishment this past week. We also condemn the proliferation of verbal, Facebook, Youtube and other online attacks lodged against the queer community of Yerevan. Furthermore, we denounce acts of hate speech and threats against anyone in Armenia deemed different or “threatening to society”, including artists, intellectuals, and other free-thinkers.  Read more... (409 words)