Armenia and the information war

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Internet penetration in Armenia figures over the last decade. It has quadrupled in the last two years to ~35-37%!

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Nagorno-Karabakh wants a seat at the table

By Will Englund, Friday, July 8, 8:58 AM

STEPANAKERT, Nagorno-Karabakh — For more than a decade, Russia, the United States and various European organizations have been trying to sponsor a framework peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that would finally settle the dispute over this mountainous enclave. But Nagorno-Karabakh itself doesn’t have a seat at the table, and its president says that must change.

Without the de facto republic’s direct participation, Bako Sahakyan said during an interview at his office here, no settlement is possible.

Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians were in the majority, declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 and effectively broke free in 1994, after a cease-fire ended a bloody war that cost thousands of lives on both sides. Since then no country has recognized it, and it has relied on Armenia, which also took part in the war, to represent it at the protracted negotiations.

“Nagorno-Karabakh is ready for compromise,” Sahakyan said, but it has to have the opportunity “to discuss the issue with Azerbaijan directly.”

Some shooting continues across the line separating Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani forces, with several casualties every year, and there is always the danger that an incident could quickly escalate.

The talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, sponsored most recently by the so-called Minsk Group, which consists of Russia, France and the United States, have been focused on a compromise that would involve the return of some land to Azerbaijan in exchange for recognition and self-determination for Nagorno-Karabakh. International security guarantees would also play an important role.

But Azerbaijan has so far balked at the idea of Nagorno-Karabakh becoming permanently independent. It argues that it lost 20 percent of its territory in the war, and that hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who were displaced want to return to their homes.

For its part, Nagorno-Karabakh says it won’t give up land if that means it must retreat to indefensible borders.

Officials familiar with the Minsk Group deliberations say it is clear that any settlement will have to be accepted by Nagorno-Karabakh, but that’s a problem for the next phase — which is unlikely to come anytime soon.

The latest round of negotiations was held in the Russian city of Kazan on June 24, and broke up without results. Some Nagorno-Karabakh officials say that failure shows it’s time to try a new approach: giving them a seat at the negotiating table.

Nagorno-Karabakh didn’t pursue that role from the start because, when the talks got underway, its former president, Robert Kocharian, had just been elected president of Armenia — on a promise not to betray his homeland. Nagorno-Karabakhis thought they could trust him to look out for their interests, but, a decade later, some officials suggest that was a mistake in strategy. They say this even though the current president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, is also a former Nagorno-Karabakh chief executive.

Armenia, they argue, has its own interests, which aren’t always congruent with Nagorno-Karabakh’s.

Part of the difference is that Nagorno-Karabakh began agitating for independence in 1988, three years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, and that it then declared independence in 1991 before either Armenia or Azerbaijan did.

“They didn’t get freedom first, and then independence,” said Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign minister, Georgy Petrosyan, referring to Armenia proper. “They didn’t get freedom in their heads, a freedom that would allow them to appreciate independence. In that sense, Karabakh has had a more advantageous experience.”

Masis Mayilian, who was deputy foreign minister in the de facto government here, and a onetime candidate for president, said the problem with the Minsk process is that it’s based on what he considers a fundamental flaw: In 1991, the international community decided to recognize the Soviet-era borders of the newly independent states. That is why Nagorno-Karabakh hasn’t been recognized, hasn’t been included in the talks, and is officially still considered part of Azerbaijan, even though it declared independence before the Soviet breakup.

“The Minsk Group could be effective,” Mayilian said, “but as long as they work based on a mistaken premise, they put the brakes on the process.”

At the same time, others here argue that not taking part in the negotiations gives Nagorno-Karabakh the ultimate veto right over any compromise.

Sahakyan, in arguing for inclusion, said he wants nonetheless to be careful not to torpedo the Minsk Group process altogether. Just having the talks going on has helped bring Nagorno-Karabakh a certain measure of peace and stability, he said.

“We value any such meeting, even in a distorted format, and these meetings will bring closer Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation in these talks,” he said.


This article was developed in cooperation with the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nagorno-karabakh-wants-a-seat-at-the-table/2011/07/08/gIQAxXGf3H_story.html

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Azeri Diaspora starts a campaign over Washington Post article

09 July 2011 [13:48] - Today.Az


The fact that during the last two days the Armenian Diaspora has become extremely active in the Washington DC media has urged Azerbaijani Diaspora and its friends to stand against them, APA’s US reports based on interviews with the Diaspora members.

“The Armenian Diaspora is trying to misinterpret the historical facts from its own position”, say concerned Azeri Diaspora members.

The main fact for frustration for the Azeri Diaspora was that the Washington Post has published article in the last two days, that is related to Azerbaijan and its Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the story is very pro-Armenian and doesn’t provide a single opinion from the Azeri side of the conflict.

While some Diaspora members proposed acting for the withdrawal of the Washington Post article from the website, others believe posting pro-Azerbaijani comments and links to the sources of true information might help the readers of WP to understand what the conflict really is about.

The inflammatory article - http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...m1H_story.html - misunderstands the key factors of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its history, said Azeri Diaspora members. A broad discussion has been started on the story’s web-address already and the Diaspora has called upon all of its friends’ to support Azerbaijan’s position and support justice.

“Armenia is quick to blame Azerbaijan and Turkey in providing false information about historical events, but so far we see that on the contrary, it’s Armenians who do so”, said the Diaspora members in Washington DC. The Diaspora calls on everyone to join the anti-Armenian campaign and tell people the truth.

An article about Nagorno Karabakh was published in the Washington Post on July 7. APA reports that the Moscow correspondent of the newspaper Will Englund visited Azerbaijan’s Nagorno Karabakh region occupied by Armenians and wrote an article about the visit. In his article he used the words “Stepanakert” and “Artsakh” instead of Khankendi and Karabakh, distorted the historical facts.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry blacklisted several journalists, who illegally visited the occupied territories. Assistant editor of the Ekho Moskvi radio Sergei Buntman and correspondent of the Izvestiya Yuri Snegiryov are also among them.


/APA/

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

German reporter’s work hindered by Nakhichevan authorities


July 9, 2011 - 18:43 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung German daily’s political observer Michael Ludwig was forced to discontinue a working trip to Nakhichevan, because of local authorities’ hindering his work.

As the reporter stated in a conversation with Turan news agency, he meant to prepare a material about Nakhichevan’s life in blockade on the sidelines of the project covering post-Soviet space regions.

Having secured an accreditation at Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the reporter headed for Nakhichevan on a familiarization tour. To make a trip to Batabat, he addressed to the executive authorities of Shakhbuz region from where he was directed to Nakhichevan Mejlis to receive permission.

At the main department on Nakhichevan affairs at Foreign Ministry, the reporter was questioned as to the purpose of his trip. On the following day, the journalist submitted a program of his visits, which was approved on condition that he would be accompanied by the representative of Foreign Ministry’s regional department.

The reporter resolved to discontinue his trip and return to Baku. “I’m sorry my activities were restricted. Those who interfered with my work have never heard of a free media,” the German reporter told Turan.

Commenting on the restriction of the reporter’s activities, a representative of Azeri Foreign Ministry cited the journalist’s failure to provide the purpose of his visit to Nakhichevan. However, Ludwig refuted the accusations, noting that he detailed the purpose of his visit to Nakhichevan while requesting an accreditation.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/74146/

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Azerbaijan blacklists British mine-clearance charity

BAKU: Azerbaijan on Friday said that it had blacklisted a respected British-based mine-clearance charity because it has been working in the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh.

The head of Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Action said that the Halo Trust charity, which has been clearing landmines in Karabakh for more than a decade, had been banned from the country.

“We said that this organisation must stop activity in the occupied territories and apologise to Baku. But they haven’t done it,” the Azerbaijani state agency’s director, Nazim Ismayilov, told local media.

Some of the charity’s equipment that was on its way to Afghanistan via Azerbaijan was also temporarily impounded, he said.

Baku regards Karabakh as occupied by ethnic Armenian forces who have controlled it and several surrounding regions of Azerbaijan since they defeated the Azerbaijani army during the war there in the 1990s.

The conflict left a huge landmine problem, and the Halo Trust says it has cleared “over 50,000 landmines, cluster munitions and other items of unexploded ordnance” in Karabakh since 2000, according to its website.

Over the past year, Baku has stepped up efforts to highlight its claim on Karabakh, blacklisting several foreign journalists who have visited the territory without its permission.

Azerbaijan insists that Karabakh must not be allowed to secede, but Armenia says that the territory must never return to Baku’s control

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\09\story_9-7-2011_pg14_2

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

....

Armenia recognizes South Sudan independence

July 9, 2011 - 18:10 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia recognized the independence of South Sudan.
According to Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, proclamation of South Sudan independence illustrates the principle of peoples’ right for self-determination, proving civilized way for conflict settlement possible.
South Sudan became the world’s newest nation early Saturday, July 9, officially breaking away from Sudan after two civil wars over five decades that cost the lives of millions.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

"News": The agreement in Kazan fell through because of Ilham Aliyev
Signing of agreement on basic principles of Karabakh conflict settlement in Kazan fell through because of the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. It is mentioned in an article in the Russian newspaper "Izvestia".

Saying that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today in Yerevan and in Baku gave the presidential address of the Russian Federation, the newspaper writes: "On 24 June in Kazan this road map was unable to sign, although the sides were closer than ever to reach a compromise. A senior Foreign Ministry told "Izvestia", "Through the mediation of Russian President Medvedev to Baku and Yerevan were literally one step away from being hit on the wrist. But at the last moment, Ilham Aliyev backpedaled - they were formulated by those same ten amendments "."

According to the newspaper, the main stumbling block was a provision that the Madrid principles of resolving this conflict is written as follows: "The future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding will of its people."

"That is the fate of the enclave, as envisioned development road map of the OSCE Minsk Group should decide in a referendum. And how to vote living in these places Armenians make up the vast majority of the population, no doubt. Therefore, Baku, and questions remain "- concludes that the Russian edition.

/ Panorama.am /

[Davo88]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Citing ethnicity, Azerbaijan bars photojournalist

New York, July 7, 2011--Diana Markosian, a freelance photographer for Bloomberg Markets magazine was denied entry to Azerbaijan last week by authorities who cited her ethnicity as a reason, international news reports said.

On June 27, border guards at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku detained Markosian on arrival from the Latvian capital, Riga, then expelled her back to Riga the next day, according to press reports and CPJ interviews. Markosian told CPJ that the border guards took her passport, saying that she had an Armenian last name and that they "needed to clarify something." Then they put her in the airport's transit zone where she spent 16 hours until the U.S. Embassy in Baku helped her to buy a ticket for the next return flight to Riga.

Markosian holds both U.S. and Russian citizenship, she told CPJ.

A government spokesman told the Baku-based news agency APA that Markosian was deported because authorities would be unable to provide her with "security" since she is an ethnic Armenian.

Markosian told CPJ that before her travel to Baku she and the newsroom told the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry about her visit, and were assured there would not be any complications. APA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov as saying the government had sent a letter to Bloomberg management saying that Azerbaijan is at war with Armenia and because of this "there will be problems to provide security for Armenian Diana Markosian." Authorities asked Bloomberg to send another photographer instead of Markosian, Polukhov told APA. There have been no reports of other ethnic Armenians being denied entry to Azerbaijan.

Ty Trippet, a spokesman for Bloomberg LP, told CPJ that the company had not put out any statements on the case.

"It is deeply disturbing that Azerbaijani authorities would cite the ethnic background of a foreign reporter as a reason for barring her entry to the country," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "Diana Markosian should be allowed to work in Azerbaijan as freely as any other journalist."

Azerbaijan and Armenia are engaged in peace talks over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, populated by mostly by ethnic Armenians. A violent conflict over the territory erupted in 1988. Although the ceasefire was declared in 1994, the conflict has not ended and violent incidents continue to take place on the border.

http://www.cpj.org/2011/07/citing-ethnicity-azerbaijan-bars-photojournalist.php

[Mos]

Re: Armenia and the information war

So illegal attacking Armenia will help achieve normalisation and peace and stability? Well I guess it will if they decide to commit a second genocide - they are good at that (maybe only thing they are good at).

Turkey to assist Azerbaijan in liberation of occupied lands – Erdogan
Sat 09 July 2011 06:20 GMT | 2:20 Local Time
Text size:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a keynote speech of a new government to the parliament on 8 July.
In particular, he stated that Turkey will provide assistance to Azerbaijan in liberation of occupied territories of the country.

"Turkey will continue to assist in peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations and establishing peace and stability in South Caucasus," said Erdogan.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Armenia and the information war

It's obvious you don't have a clue about what is going.....

As usual - all you have to offer is slimy insults (I guess you must be lookıng at your acne-scarred reflection when you compose them). But you offer not a single bit of evidence to back up your laughable claim that there are "numerous ancient Armenian monuments" near Aghdam. Name me a single such monument. You cannot. All you offer is foul-smelling air.