Armenian press silent on Slovakia’s Armenian Genocide denial law – FAAE president

A law criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide was adopted in Slovakia, but Armenian press remained silent, Ashot Grigoryan, President of the Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe (FAAE), told journalists on Tuesday.The new law envisages 5 years’ imprisonment for denial of the Armenian Genocide, he said.“The Azerbaijani ambassador to Slovakia informed Azerbaijani mass media that such a law had never been adopted nor would it ever be adopted. We addressed a letter to him and asked for explanations. However, it remained unanswered. Later I received a letter saying that the Armenian foreign minister objected to our publicly speaking of the law,” Grigoryan said.When the French Senate discussed the Armenian Genocide denial bill, it referred to the relevant Slovakian law.“When the French Senate started discussing the Armenian Genocide denial bill, the Senate president reminded the Senate members that such a law had been enforced in Slovakia,” Grigoryan said.“We are going to implement the program we must implement for [Turkey] to admit the Armenian Genocide before 2015. We will propose that they follow Slovakia’s example and adopt a similar law. If they do so, Turks will not deny the Armenian Genocide in their country,” Grigoryan said.   Read more... (202 words)

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.

Eurovision 2012: Armenia Public TV undecided on whether to show song contest from Baku

The final round of Eurovision 2012, which is to take place in Baku on May 26, might be broadcast by Armenian Public Television as a penalty for the withdrawal in order to secure Armenia’s participation in 2013. The head of the Armenian Delegation to Eurovision Gohar Gasparyan said the decision is not final yet.

Gasparyan said moderators have not yet been selected who would host the event should the popular song-contest be broadcast in Armenia. The Armenian audience can watch but not vote for any of the candidates (Armenia lost that right with the withdrawal).  Read more... (211 words)

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)

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)

Azerbaijani police breaks up peaceful opposition rallies, ignores anti-Iranians (video)

The police in Azerbaijan are applying double standards at illegal demonstrations held in the country, the Azerbaijani branch of RFE/RL reports.
 
For breaking up the peaceful rallies of the opposition Public Chamber, the police applies tough measures while in case of anti-Iranian and anti-Armenian rallies it ensures the safety of the protesters, the radio station reports.
 
“The two rallies have taken place during this month, in almost the same site but in the first case, the opposition figures were severely beat and arrested, while in the other cases the police supported the demonstrators. During the rally in front of the Iranian embassy the police even closed the nearby streets to ensure the safety of the protestants,” the media said.
 
“The opposition applied to the municipality for conducting a rally in the support of political prisoners, demanding their release and right to freedom of gatherings but the rally was not allowed. The demonstrations before the Iranian embassy were not licensed either, the organizers even have not applied for getting it,” the RFE/RL reports.
 
Recently a protest rally has been conducted in front of the Iranian embassy to Azerbaijan against “Iran’s pro-Armenian position”. The Azerbaijani young people complained about the “anti-Azerbaijani” stance of Iran, cooperation with Armenia as well as its nuclear programs.
   Read more... (223 words)

Armenian Troops Join NATO Drills In Macedonia

Thirty-nine Armenian soldiers flew to Macedonia on Friday to take part in NATO-led military exercises that will simulate a multinational peacekeeping operation spearheaded by the Western alliance.

The exercises codenamed Cooperative Longbow and Cooperative Lancer are due to take place on from May 21-29 and involve some 1,000 troops from about two dozen NATO member and partner states, including Azerbaijan and Georgia.

“The aim of the exercises is to educate, train and exercise delegations of selected partner nation armed forces in order to promote interoperability with NATO land forces,” read a NATO statement issued late last month. “The scenario for both exercises … is based on a fictitious United Nations-mandated, NATO-led Crisis Response Operation,” it said.  Read more... (280 words)