Regional geopolitics

[Haykakan]

Re: Regional geopolitics

I found it difficult to read this without laughing.

CONGRESSMAN ISSA SUGGESTS RUSSIA & IRAN ARE USING ARMENIA TO AVOID SANCTIONS

Virtual Press Office
Feb 13 2015

Turkish Institute for Progress Suggests Stronger Turkish-Armenian
Bilateral Relationship to Avoid Foreign Policy Shift

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the U.S. House
of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing Wednesday,
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA-49) raised questions about Armenia's
banking relationship with Iran. In the Hearing, entitled, State Sponsor
of Terror: The Global Threat of Iran, the Congressman stated in part,
"...Armenia's banking relationship with Iran, authorized, pushed
prodded and cajoled by Russia is new and concerning..."

Members of the Turkish Institute for Progress attended the Hearing
and are suggesting that by participating in a formal dialogue and
exploring more partnership with Turkey, Armenia can reclaim its
national sovereignty, be truly independent from Tehran and Moscow,
and prevent alienating itself from the west by allowing Iran and
Russia to, Congressman Issa asserts, circumvent US sanctions.

At the Hearing Mr. Issa stated, "Today's hearing is important, but
it is not new. We will say a great many things, but very few of them
will be new. Certainly, questions about Armenia's banking relationship
with Iran, authorized, pushed prodded and cajoled by Russia is new
and concerning." He further stated, "I look forward to questions,
particularly questions about Russia's involvement through Armenia in
the backdoor circumvention of the sanctions that are in place today."

"Congressman Issa touched on some deeply troubling revelations,
however, we believe that a stronger Turkish-Armenian bilateral
relationship is a viable option to stabilize the balance of power
in the region, and we hope Armenia will join us in exploring ways to
avoid a foreign policy shift Mr. Issa suggests," stated Derya Berk,
President of the Turkish Institute for Progress. "We welcome an
opportunity to work together with the Armenian community to explore
ways to work in the spirit of cooperation and for the greater good
of Turks and Armenians across the globe."

To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300035963.html

SOURCE Turkish Institute for Progress

http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/publicsiteContentFileAccess?fileContentId=1900508&fromOtherPageToDisableHistory=Y&menuName=News&sId=&sInfo=

[Haykakan]

Re: Regional geopolitics

U.S. xxxISH GROUPS BACK AZERBAIJAN DESPITE RIGHTS CONCERNS

RFE

WASHINGTON -- Azerbaijan has long lauded its relations with pro-Israeli
groups that advocate on its behalf in Washington, a bond rooted in
Tel Aviv's rapport with the former Soviet republic that touts itself
as a haven for the xxxish people in the Muslim world.

And amid mounting international criticism of Azerbaijan's human
rights record, U.S.-based xxxish organizations are standing firm in
their support of Baku, which they see as a linchpin of stability in
a region replete with governments hostile to Israel.

"Our message is clear and consistent: Azerbaijan is an important
strategic partner for the United States and the West, as well as
a valued friend of Israel and the xxxish people," American xxxish
Committee (AJC) executive director David Harris last week following
a meeting in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

"In an increasingly turbulent world, Azerbaijan's contributions to
regional stability, energy security, counterterrorism operations,
and religious tolerance are all things to be valued," Harris added.

The 75-minute private meeting on February 2 followed a flurry of
recent public relations activities in Washington to highlight Baku's
public embrace of its xxxish population and strategic ties with Israel.

These efforts are part a broader lobbying campaign by oil-rich
Azerbaijan to bolster its credibility as an important strategic partner
with the United States on issues such as energy, counterterrorism,
and Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in March 2014.

At the same time, Western officials say the human rights situation
has deteriorated precipitously in Azerbaijan, where numerous rights
activists, journalists, and government critics have been arrested in
the past year.

Speaking at a January 30 panel discussion in Washington, Samad
Seyidov, chairman of the international and interparliamentary
relations committee in the Azerbaijani parliament, swiftly pivoted
to his country's friendly record toward Judaism and other religions
in response to a question about alleged human rights abuses committed
by the government.

"I wanted to remind you that in Azerbaijan today, xxxish people and
Azerbaijani people, Muslim people and Christians, they are living
in peace," Seyidov said, adding that Azerbaijan has a xxxish member
of parliament.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov lays a wreath during
a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust
memorial in Jerusalem in 2013.

Kenneth Bandler, a spokesman for the AJC, said in e-mailed comments
that the issue of human rights "did come up" at the organization's
recent meetings in Baku, but he declined to provide further details,
citing the "private" nature of the conversations.

Azerbaijan's xxxish population totals more than 9,000, according to
the country's most recent census in 2009, though other estimates have
put that figure as high as 30,000. The nation of around 9 million
people is also home to several synagogues.

Azerbaijan has made no secret that it values U.S.-based xxxish
organizations as a key lobbying lever in Washington ever since Baku
and Tel Aviv began cultivating ties the 1990s -- a rapprochement
widely seen as aimed at countering Iran's influence in the region.

In 2000, then-Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev "for acting in our
favor" by trying to persuade U.S. lawmakers to repeal a 1992 ban on
direct aid to Baku due to its conflict with Armenia over the disputed
region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A 2006 quoted an Azerbaijani Embassy official in Washington as saying
that "xxxish organizations made a certain contribution" to a U.S.

waiver on the embargo enacted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks as Washington sought Baku's help for counterterrorism
operations in Afghanistan.

Azerbaijan's outreach to xxxish groups in the United States continues
as part of a lobbying campaign that it has ramped up in Washington
in recent years.

U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act filings show that the Podesta
Group, a lobbying firm that Azerbaijan pays $60,000 per month,
contacted pro-Israel advocacy groups such as the America Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the xxxish Institute for National
Security Affairs in the second half of 2014.

The Podesta Group declined to comment when contacted by RFE/RL.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's partnership with Israel -- which includes
energy and arms trade greatly valued by both sides -- was highlighted
in several op-eds in Washington newspapers in recent months.

In November, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call published co-authored
by Mark Levin, executive director of the Washington-based National
Coalition Supporting Eurasian xxxry, titled Muslim Azerbaijan:
Bucking The Anti-Semitic Trend In Europe.

"With a new Congress taking shape, now is the time for Congress' many
friends of Israel to learn more about Azerbaijan.... Once they do,
they will see that Azerbaijan is an example for other countries to
follow with respect to supporting Israel," wrote Levin.

The Washington Times ran a sponsored article on January 28 titled
Azerbaijan's Rich History With xxxish Settlers Opened Door To Israel
Alliance."

The same day, it published by former U.S. Congressman Dan Burton,
who serves as chairman of the Azerbaijan America Alliance. In the
piece, Burton calls Azerbaijan a "strong defense and economic partner
to Israel" and quotes Israel's ambassador in Baku as saying that
"tolerance in Azerbaijan is an example to the entire world."

Media reporter that Burton's position with the Azerbaijan America
Alliance was omitted from the original piece. The Washington Times
later updated the op-ed to include the affiliation.

While senior U.S. officials and lawmakers have criticized Azerbaijan
for what they call a crackdown on critics, including the jailing of
independent investigative journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija
Ismayilova, leading American xxxish groups have portrayed Baku's
rights record as a symptom of democratic growing pains.

"Full democracy and transparency can take decades to develop," Harris
of the AJC was as saying in December. "And if these were the sole
litmus tests for foreign relations, then both the U.S. and Israel
would have far fewer partners."

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American xxxish Organizations, that continued
rapprochement between Baku and xxxish communities could be an effective
approach to improving human rights in Azerbaijan.

"Countries that have demonstrated friendship to their xxxish
communities -- even though their records on human rights issues and
other things are not perfect, and we know that -- we have to try
to encourage them to change, but at the same time to recognize the
progress that has been made and the importance of the relationship
with them," Hoenlein told the news agency.

Richard Kauzlarich, a former U.S. ambassador to Baku, said Azerbaijan's
tolerance toward xxxish communities is indeed a positive and a "good
example" to the rest of the Muslim world.

At the same time, Azerbaijan's official message "has gotten more
developed in terms of trying to deflect some of the questions that are
obviously difficult to answer," such as human rights, added Kauzlarich.

"Pointing to this, religious tolerance for them is another plus in
the dialogue on things like human rights, which aren't as pleasant,"
he said.

http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/230247267

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

In Ukraine's West, Patriotism Is One Thing. Fighting's Quite Another





By Daisy Sindelar and Halyna Tereshchuk
February 16, 2015

MALEKHIV, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine -- In towns this small, there are three numbers that local officials like Volodymyr Seinkovskiy can recite without even consulting their files: how many of their men are fighting, how many are injured, and how many are dead.

In the undeclared Donbas war that has claimed the lives of more than 5,400 soldiers and civilians, this quietly prosperous village on the northern outskirts of Lviv is luckier than some. Out of a population of 2,400, it has 19 men at the front, four recovering from injuries, and -- as of last month -- one death.

The victim, 27-year-old Taras Dorosh, was shot by a sniper on January 14 during heavy fighting against pro-Russian forces in the settlement of Stanytsa Luhanskaya in eastern Luhansk Oblast. Despite wearing a Polish-made vest -- purchased for him by the Malekhiv council at a cost of 75 euros ($86) -- he was killed instantly when the bullet slipped between the armored plates.

"He was a very good guy, a great person," Seinkovskiy says, lowering his head and crossing himself as he stands next to Dorosh's grave, awash in flowers and a laminated photograph of Dorosh in a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt. "And he's made it very hard to convince other men here that they should go fight as well."

Seinkovsky has spent the past three weeks knocking on doors in Malekhiv in an aim to deliver 78 call-up notices to local men, aged 25 and older, deemed eligible for service. And he's feeling increasingly unpopular: for every 10 notices, he says he's lucky to make contact with two or three people. "There's only so much we can do," he says.

With the fourth wave of mobilization, launched on January 20, the government has issued a reported 100,000 call-up notices with the aim of mobilizing at least half.

For Lviv Oblast, that means 3,000 men. But while no one denies the seriousness of the stakes in the east, few are eager to fight a war for a government they say has done little to provide proper training, equipment, or compensation.

"There's a mobilization going on, people are going through training, but there's nothing to shoot with, no guns to practice with," says Mykhaylo, a 30-year-old Malekhiv native who has yet to receive a call-up. "There's a budget for this, right? What happened to that money? If everything operated the way it should, the army would be taking care of people."

"Kyiv has done a really bad job of promoting the mobilization," adds Yuriy, 29. "A lot of men are dying at the front, and people are afraid to go. Let the authorities provide some social benefits for those people who come back from the war, so that people know what they're fighting for."

'The Cowardly Bastard'

Many western Ukrainians – deeply patriotic but geographically distant from the war -- bristle at the suggestion that they are shirking responsibility at a time of national crisis.

"We do everything ourselves," says one Lviv resident, who can recite with pinpoint precision the latest battlefront developments. "We feed our soldiers. We clothe them. We take care of their families. Everyone is donating everything they can. No one is helping us -- certainly not Kyiv."

Lviv, together with the neighboring regions of Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk, was considered the restive heart of the Euromaidan protests that led to Viktor Yanukovych's ouster a year ago. But the west has since become a target of government scrutiny on the issue of mobilization, particularly as reports of draft dodging have spread.

"He yells 'Glory to Ukraine' until he's hoarse, tells everyone what an absolute patriot he is," wrote Yuriy Biryukov, a military adviser to President Petro Poroshenko, in a recent Facebook post taking aim at western Ukrainians. "He despises the weakness of the Kyiv authorities...and foams at the mouth proving that the use of Russian is a sign of the work of Muscovites. And yet the cowardly bastard puts his tail between his legs and hides from the commissar."

Military prosecutors have reportedly launched as many as 1,300 criminal cases against draft dodgers, most notably Ruslan Kotsaba, a journalist in Ivano-Frankivsk arrested after posting a video calling on Ukrainians to resist mobilization.

In Lviv, military authorities last week set up roadblocks around the city, using routine traffic stops as an attempt to catch draft dodgers. The tactic was abandoned after less than two days. But in that time, says Oleksandr Tishchenko, the military commander for Lviv Oblast, dozens of offenders were served notice.

"A lot of people are attempting to avoid mobilization," he says. "We get messages that they're abroad, or on a business trip, or that they no longer live at a certain address. But as we discovered, they're freely driving around Lviv."

More than 2,000 people who have received call-ups have failed to show up for registration, Tishchenko adds. "We're not the worst when it comes to the mobilization" -- that distinction reportedly falls to Ivano-Frankivsk and to the Kharkiv region in the east. "But the situation is deplorable."

Some have accused Russia of feeding antimilitary sentiment in the west as a way of driving a wedge between regions like Lviv and the post-Yanukovych government in Kyiv. Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the Ukraine's Choice civic movement and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is seen as a driving force between major antimobilization campaigns in the west.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyy, meanwhile, has scrambled to defend his city's reputation, arguing that the draft is proceeding well. Of 574 call-up notices issued in the city by February 13, 472 people had already come forward to enlist. "I want those who criticize Lviv residents to hear these figures," he said.

Finding A Cause

Supporters of recruitment say the government is trying to do more to improve the lot of enlisted soldiers -- current frontline pay, for example, is 10,000 hryvnyas a month ($383), a substantial jump from Lviv's average income of just 3,300.

The Defense Ministry has also raised the chance of exemption for men with illnesses, young children, or invalids in their care. And authorities have vowed to address one of the bitterest grievances of volunteer brigades, who until now have been unable to receive official documentation of wartime service granting them access to free hospital care and other benefits.

Still, local authorities like Seinkovskiy say few men go to battle feeling secure about their families. "In Malekhiv, we compensate injured soldiers with plots of land. But how is a man with head trauma or other injuries going to build himself a house? He's not. He's going to sell the land, spend the money, and end up begging for change on the street," he says. "These soldiers deserve to know that, if something happens to them, their families will have a place to live, and money to live on, no matter what."

Ivan Sprynskyy, 29, head of a voluntary organization that delivers supplies to Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the country's east. He is standing with a 6-month-old German shepherd, one of two dogs donated by volunteers in the Czech Republic to be trained to detect explosives in the war zone. 2015
Ivan Sprynskyy, 29, head of a voluntary organization that delivers supplies to Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the country's east. He is standing with a 6-month-old German shepherd, one of two dogs donated by volunteers in the Czech Republic to be trained to detect explosives in the war zone. 2015


With the fate of the February 15 cease-fire deeply uncertain, some in the west are quietly suggesting that it may be easier to hand the eastern territories to Russia rather than continue a costly war. Ivan Sprynskyy, 29, the head of a local volunteer organization, disagrees.

"When people say something like that, I usually tell them: 'It's you that should be sent to Russia, and not the people of Donbas,'" says Sprynskyy, who regularly drives to the war zone to deliver food, clothing -- and eventually, two bomb-sniffing German shepherds donated by the Czech Republic -- for his charity, They Don't Let Slaves Into Heaven. "That's just giving away the land of a country that was built over centuries...built through blood. To say that we should give it away is either weak or just despicable."

At a local enlistment base in central Lviv, 51-year-old Ihor agrees. Though one of the older men reporting for 40-day training at the nearby Yavoriv military base, he is by far the most impassioned. "I didn't go to Maidan because I thought my kids were too small," says Ihor, who has a 2-year-old daughter, xxxhenka, and a 14-year-old son, Nazar. "But it bothered my conscience not to be there. When the war started, I said, 'I want to go, you have to enlist me.' And they did. I insisted on it, and now I'm going."

Ihor lifts xxxhenka, burbling in a bright pink coat, and looks tenderly at his wife, Viktoria, who is packing and repacking his bag, tears rolling down her cheeks. He says he's tired of watching people suffer in the east.

"I'm not going there to kill," he says. "I'm going to save human souls. I'm a religious man. One of our politicians said no one is going to help you -- not Europe, not America. Only God."

He pauses, then adds, "Freedom comes through blood."

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Armenian President Withdraws Protocols On Relations With Turkey

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service
February 16, 2015

YEREVAN -- Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has recalled from parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and the establishment of diplomatic relations with neighboring Turkey.

In a statement issued on February 16, Sarkisian said he had asked parliament speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him since "the Turkish government has no political will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols, and continues its policy of setting preconditions."

Sarkisian also said that on the eve of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian "genocide" in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, "the policy of denial and rewriting history" is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have been strained for years over their differing accounts of mass killings of Armenians.

The protocols to normalize Yerevan-Ankara ties were signed in Zurich on October 10, 2009.

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Armenian President Withdraws Protocols On Relations With Turkey

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service
February 16, 2015

YEREVAN -- Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has recalled from parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and the establishment of diplomatic relations with neighboring Turkey.

In a statement issued on February 16, Sarkisian said he had asked parliament speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him since "the Turkish government has no political will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols, and continues its policy of setting preconditions."

Sarkisian also said that on the eve of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian "genocide" in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, "the policy of denial and rewriting history" is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have been strained for years over their differing accounts of mass killings of Armenians.

The protocols to normalize Yerevan-Ankara ties were signed in Zurich on October 10, 2009.

There was nothing in geopolitics that made SS withdraw the protocols.
OOPS I missed, the incompetent internal opposition.

Never seen so lethargic President.

Sooooooo baaaad

What was he waiting all those years.

.

[Haykakan]

Re: Regional geopolitics

"What was he waiting all those years."
For the world to see that it is the Turk who cannot be reasoned with. The whole protocol situation was a political win for Armenia because it showed the world which side does not want resolution nor peace. I can't believe some people do not understand such a simple thing.

[Eddo211]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Armenian President Withdraws Protocols On Relations With Turkey

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service
February 16, 2015

YEREVAN -- Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has recalled from parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and the establishment of diplomatic relations with neighboring Turkey.

In a statement issued on February 16, Sarkisian said he had asked parliament speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him since "the Turkish government has no political will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols, and continues its policy of setting preconditions."

Sarkisian also said that on the eve of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian "genocide" in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, "the policy of denial and rewriting history" is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have been strained for years over their differing accounts of mass killings of Armenians.

The protocols to normalize Yerevan-Ankara ties were signed in Zurich on October 10, 2009.

In your face Erdogan.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Ոչինչ պետք չէ հանձնել

ՆԱԻՐԱ ՀԱՅՐՈՒՄՅԱՆ, Մեկնաբան
Քաղաքականություն - 17 Փետրվարի 2015,
մ է կրիտիկական պահը

Սերժ Սարգսյանը որոշում է կայացրել խորհրդարանից հայ-թուրքական արձանագրությունները հետ կանչելու վերաբերյալ: Որոշումը կապված է ցեղասպանության 100-ամյակի, այդ փաստաթղթերի հիման վրա Թուրքիայի հետ բանակցություններից Հայաստանի հրաժարվելու ու պահանջների նոր մեթոդների անցման հետ:

Ադրբեջանում հետաքրքիր իրադարձություններ են տեղի ունենում: Այսօր Բաքվում են ԵԱՀԿ Մինսկի խմբի համանախագահները, նույն օրը Բաքու են մեկնում Իրանի արտաքին գործերի նախարար Ջավադ Զարիֆն ու ԱՄՆ պետքարտուղար տեղակալ Վիկտորիա Նուլանդը:

Բանակցությունների գլխավոր թեման, բնականաբար, ղարաբաղյան խնդիրն է: Թե ինչ համատեքստում է այն քննարկվում, կարելի է դատել Թուրքիայի վարչապետ Ահմեդ Դավութօղլուի հայտարարություններից: Օրերս նա հայտարարել է, որ եթե հայերը զորքերը հետ քաշեն գոնե մեկ շրջանից, ապա Թուրքիան կբացի Հայաստանի հետ սահմանը:

Թուրքիան պատրաստվում է ապրիլի 24-ին: Անկարան չի թաքցնում Երեւանում 100-ամյակի միջոցառումների տապալման ու Հայաստանում ներքաղաքական ցնցումների հարցում իր շահագրգռվածությունը: Թուրքիան ինչ-որ քայլ է պատրաստում: Դա կարող է լինել հայ-թուրքական սահմանի բացումը, որը կարող է կանգնեցնել Հայոց ցեղասպանության միջազգային ճանաչման գործընթացն ու միջազգային աջակցությունը հայերի իրավական պահանջներին:

Սակայն Թուրքիան կցանկանար դրա դիմաց ինչ-որ բան ստանալ, եւ այդ «ինչ-որ բանը» կարող է լինել ղարաբաղյան մեկ շրջանը: Հայաստանն, ըստ երեւույթին, հրաժարվում է դրանից, եւ այդ հարցում Երեւանը աջակցություն է ստանում մի շարք երկրներից, որոնք պնդում են առանց նախապայմանների հայ-թուրքական սահմանի բացումը:

Բաքուն խոստովանել է, որ Մոսկվայի հետ քննարկել է Ադրբեջանով Հայաստանից Ռուսաստան հաղորդուղիների բացման հարցը՝ պայմանով, եթե Ռուսաստանը «համոզի» Հայաստանին շրջաններ հանձնել:

Թուրքիան ու Ադրբեջանը ստիպված են լինելու բացել հաղորդուղիները, ընդ որում, ինչպես Հայաստանից Ռուսաստան, այնպես էլ դեպի Թուրքիա: Դրա համար պետք չէ ինչ-որ բան հանձնել կամ զիջել: Հաղորդուղիները Հայաստանին պետք են նույնքան, որքան արտաքին ուժերին, առավել եւս եթե համաձայնություն ձեռք բերվի ԱՄՆ-ի ու Իրանի միջեւ:

Վիկտորիա Նուլանդն, ըստ ամենայնի, կփորձի դա բացատրել Ալիեւին: Նույնն էլ Իրանի արտաքին գործերի նախարարը, ով վերջերս Երեւանում էր:

- See more at: http://www.lragir.am/index/arm/0/pol....MinQR1j4.dpuf

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Armenian President Withdraws Protocols On Relations With Turkey

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service
February 16, 2015

YEREVAN -- Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has recalled from parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and the establishment of diplomatic relations with neighboring Turkey.

In a statement issued on February 16, Sarkisian said he had asked parliament speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him since "the Turkish government has no political will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols, and continues its policy of setting preconditions."

Sarkisian also said that on the eve of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian "genocide" in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, "the policy of denial and rewriting history" is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.

Relations between Turkey and Armenia have been strained for years over their differing accounts of mass killings of Armenians.

The protocols to normalize Yerevan-Ankara ties were signed in Zurich on October 10, 2009.

"What was he waiting all those years."
For the world to see that it is the Turk who cannot be reasoned with. The whole protocol situation was a political win for Armenia because it showed the world which side does not want resolution nor peace. I can't believe some people do not understand such a simple thing.

In your face Erdogan.

It's been a long (too long) wait.
I agree with Hakakan , we were compelled to show the world our sincerity.
Enough is enough! Am glad that's over with.
We all know the turc wasn't sincere. They don't have sincerity so that was never an issue, but unfortunately we once again had to show the world.
Insofar as Eddo's comment --- in your face erdogan --- I refer to the jokes/humor thread and specifically the joke "butt ugly"". Maybe in his face or maybe up his ... Difficult to tell when dealing with turc.

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

It's been a long (too long) wait.

Absolutely agree.

I agree with Hakakan , we were compelled to show the world our sincerity.

From day one the Turks put a number of preconditions.

I will mention one.

Turks insisted Karabagh should be solved in favour of Azerbaijan.

Anybody who understands Politics and Turks ( and shame on us if we do not understand ),
should have known Turks would not change their mind, because they would look weak.

It was nothing about sincerity but our failure to see and understand politics, specially dealing with Turks.

If you do not agree with me, mention one country who has said Armenians were sincere, nobody because politics is not about sincerety but results.

PS. Just for the record Victoria Nuland has stated yesterday in Baku that the Azeri saboteurs/ murderer caught in Karabagh should be freed.

.