Azerbaijani-Americans Celebrate The 91st Anniversary of the Lineration of Baku by Joint Turkish-Azerbaijani Forces

Today, Azerbaijanis celebrate the 91st anniversary of an important event in the history of independent Azerbaijani statehood – the liberation of the city of Baku to become the capital of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), the first secular and democratic establishment in the Muslim and Turkic world.

Upon the proclamation of ADR on May 28, 1918, nation’s largest city Baku was under the control of Bolshevik-led Baku Soviet headed by Stepan Shahumyan. For the two preceding months, the forces of Baku Soviet, allied with irregular armed units of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation “Dashnaktsutiun”, carried out mass killings against Azerbaijanis in Baku, Guba, Shamakhy, Lenkeran and other cities of the country. Under the pretext of fighting against the counterrevolutionary insurgency, onMarch 31 – April 3, 1918, Bolsheviks and their Dashnak allies slaughtered over 12,000 (“New Republics in the Caucasus”, The New York Times Current History, v. 11 no. 2, March 1920, p. 492) Azeri civilians in Baku alone. These tragic events are known as the beginning of Azerbaijani Genocide. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Azerbaijan Press, Internet Sites No Comments » September 2009

Joint Statement by Turkey and the United States of America on the Occasion of the Visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Upon the Invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Ali Babacan

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan today reaffirmed the strong bonds of alliance, solidarity and strategic partnership between the Republic of Turkey and the United States, as well as the commitment of both countries to the principles of peace, democracy, freedom, and prosperity enshrined in the Shared Vision and Structured Dialogue document agreed to in July 2006.

Turkey and the United States reiterated their determination to continue close cooperation and consultation on all issues of common concern. They pledge to contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East and in this context, to support a permanent settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, including alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of a two-state solution; to enhance energy security and to expand the Southern corridor of natural gas and oil infrastructure to enable Caspian basin and Iraqi energy producers to reach European and world markets; to promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the south Caucasus, including through U.S. support for the efforts of Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations and joint support for the efforts of the Minsk Group to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict; to continue to cooperate in the Balkans; to support strongly a comprehensive and mutually-acceptable settlement of the Cyprus question under the auspices of the UN and in this context ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots; and to enhance their cooperation in the fight against terrorism, particularly against their common enemies, the PKK and al-Qaeda. The United States will continue its intelligence support for Turkish operations against the PKK and is reviewing ways to be more supportive. As members of the G-20, Turkey and the United States pledge continued cooperation to deal with the global economic crisis and efforts to increase and diversify bilateral economic relations with particular emphasis on trade, investment, scientific and technological cooperation. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Internet Sites No Comments » March 2009

Top U.S. Official Says Karakbakh Deal “Possible” by Year’s End

Turkish Coalition of America

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried stated that the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan could be resolved within the next two months. Fried has recently held talks in Yerevan with President Serzh Sarkisian, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian and Armenian opposition leaders. Reportedly, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was high on the agenda.

Fried stated in an interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the Georgian-Russian war had “reminded everyone how terrible war is” and that the danger of armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite occasional cross-border skirmishes had “somewhat receded.”

Assistant Secretary Fried also referred to the “slow incremental process” of democratization on Armenian and reportedly urged Armenian leaders to release opposition members who were arrested following the February presidential election on what the international community regards as political charges.

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Posted by admin Posted in: Internet Sites No Comments » October 2008

The Resolution Submitted to the Armenian Parliament on Nagorno Karabagh

M. Serdar PALABIYIK, ERAREN

The electoral victory of Serzh Sarkisyan in the presidential elections of Armenia and subsequent establishment of a new government under the premiership of former President of the Armenian Central Bank, Tigran Sarkisyan, has been reflected in domestic and foreign press that there might be positive achievements regarding Armenian foreign policy towards Turkey and Azerbaijan. However, since the new decision-makers of Armenia preserved the same lineage with Kocharian period and the outrageous incidents occurred in the demonstrations organized to commemorate April 24 in Yerevan disturbed these high hopes immediately.

Also, there was another significant recent development proving that Armenian foreign policy towards the resolution of the Karabagh question would not change. Armenian Parliament began to discuss a resolution entitled “On Settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh Problem”. Although the title of the resolution included the word “settlement”, the text of the resolution indicates that there are expressions which indeed impede settlement.

As is known, after the demonstrations occurred in Armenia right after the presidential elections state of emergency had been declared, while on the other hand, in Karabagh Armenian-Azeri clashes intensified to a degree inexperienced since the signature of the cease-fire in 1994. Therefore this draft resolution clearly shows the concerns for these recent developments. However, rather than developing a solution-oriented strategy, the other side, namely Azerbaijan was blamed for the initiation of this recent crisis. Accordingly the draft resolution stipulates that “the Azeri high-ranking officials’ anti-Armenian militant propaganda is dangerous and aims to break the peace process”, that the Azeri army’s “provocative” actions violate the cease-fire regime and that Azerbaijan took open steps to “torpedo the peace process”. However it is not absolutely known how these clashes had intensified. While the Armenian side argued that the clashes had started as a result of the provocative actions of the Azeri troops, Azeri side accused Armenia of violating the cease-fire regime. Therefore, while some kind of a mutual understanding would prevent escalation of the crisis, both sides followed the strategy of blaming each other.

In the draft resolution, it is also stipulated that Armenian Parliament takes into account “the blackmail with respect to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, which is accompanied with threats to express distrust in them and pass the discussion of the conflict settlement to other organizations”. However, seen from the side of Azerbaijan Minsk Group had already lost its objectivity and reliability since the co-chairs of Minsk Group, namely the US, France and Russia had not approved a UN General Council Resolution dated March 14 which had recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demanded immediate withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories. Therefore, Azerbaijan demanded reorganization of the Minsk Group, or at least consolidation of the efficiency of other members, namely Italy, Finland, Belarus and Turkey.

Another issue in the draft resolution is the emphasis on the self-determination right of the Karabagh people and perception of this right as an indispensable part of international law. However, it is quite ironic that such an emphasis was made by the Parliament of a country which had occupied Azeri territories through violating even the basic principles of international law and which still disregards four UN Security Council Resolutions regarding that matter..
In the conclusion of the draft resolution, Armenian Parliament has two demands from Armenian President and Prime Minister. The first demand is the enhancement of “Armenia’s initiative concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh problem”. The second one is the formulation of “legal grounds for ensuring the security of Nagorno-Karabakh in case of military aggression by Azerbaijan”.

Tigran Torosyan, the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament said that this resolution was prepared as a response to the recent developments in Karabagh and he clearly stipulated that Armenian recognition of the independence of Nagorno Karabagh is among the options. It can be argued that such a strategy shows that Armenia does not positively engage in negotiations; rather opted for a policy of non-resolution of the Karabagh problem.

To sum up, it would be great optimism to expect the new government to take major steps for the resolution of the Karabagh problem with a novel approach. Resolution of this question through bilateral negotiations via the mediation of reliable and objective international platforms is still a significant option on the table for the maintenance of permanent peace in the region.

Source:

http://www.eraren.org/index.php?Lisan=en&Page=Makaleler&MakaleNo=3082

Posted by admin Posted in: Internet Sites No Comments » April 2008