Nagorno Karabakh - The Place Where WW3 begins.....

Azerbaijan threatens to down Armenian flights

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

BAKU (AFP)
Azerbaijan on Wednesday threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying to disputed Nagorny Karabakh if the separatist Armenian authorities who control the region reopen an airport there.

Azerbaijan considers Karabakh to be occupied by the Armenians, and Baku's state aviation agency said it has told the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that the region's airspace was closed and any flights would be unauthorized.

"According to the law on aviation, it is even possible to physically destroy airplanes which are heading there," said Arif Mammadov, the director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration, in comments to local media.

"We asked the ICAO to notify the opposing side in order to prevent incidents," he said.

The separatist Karabakh authorities have been rebuilding the airport near their capital Stepanakert and plan to restart commercial flights to Yerevan in May.

[link to www.alarabiya.net]

This place is going to EXPLODE...

OSCE Opposes Karabakh Airport

15 April 2011

TBILISI, Georgia — International mediators in the Armenian-Azeri conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh warned on Thursday against the planned opening of an airport in the breakaway region.

In a statement issued after visiting the region, mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed concern that the planned opening of the airport in May "could lead to further increased tensions."

"The co-chairs urged the sides to reach an understanding in keeping with international conventions and agreements," the OSCE Minsk Group of French, U.S. and Russian envoys said in a statement.

[link to www.themoscowtimes.com]

Karabakh airport must operate - Armenian MPs

15 April 2011

YEREVAN. - The opening of Stepanakert airport is not within the OSCE Minsk Group`s terms of reference. Whether they like it or not, the airport will be put into operation, Galust Sahakyan, Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group, told a press briefing in Parliament as he commented on the OSCE Minsk Group`s concern over the planned opening of the airport.

[link to news.am]

Russian Army Chief Monitors Troop Redeployment In Armenia

20.04.2011

The commander-in-chief of Russia’s ground forces ended on Wednesday his second visit to Armenia in three weeks which the Armenian military said focused on a redeployment of Russian troops stationed in the country.

Colonel-General Aleksandr Postnikov met with Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian the day after Georgia annulled an agreement that has allowed Moscow to use Georgian territory for making shipments to the Russian military base in Armenia.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the main purpose of Postnikov’s visits was to assess the ongoing “optimization of the deployment” of army detachments making up the base. It gave no details of the troop redeployment.

The ministry spokesman, Davit Karapetian, also declined to elaborate on that process. He told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that it is “too early” to say whether the number of the Russian troops headquartered in the northwestern Armenian city of Gyumri will change as a result.

The Russian base has up to 5,000 troops, more than a hundred tanks and armored personnel carries, S-300 air defense missiles as well as a squadron of MiG-29 fighter jets. Just last week, Armenia’s parliament ratified a Russian-Armenian agreement extending Russia’s basing rights by 24 years, until 2044.

[link to www.azatutyun.am]

Georgia Cuts Off Russian Military Transit to Armenia

April 19th 2011

TBILISI—Georgia’s parliament Tuesday unanimously approved a government proposal to dissolve a military transit agreement with Russia, which allowed the latter to deliver cargo to its base in Gyumri through land and via Georgia’s airspace, reported the Civil Georgia news agency.

[link to asbarez.com]

Israel supports Azerbaijan’s position on Karabakh conflict - envoy

April 29th 2011

The Israeli government supports Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno Karabakh conflict and its steps towards the peace.
The statement came from Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan Michael Lavon Lotem.

[link to www.news.az]

Armenians hold military exercises in occupied Azerbaijani territories

Fri 29 April 2011

Aggressive Armenian Army has again started holding military exercises in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
The Armenian military units are holding exercises using artillery and armoured vehicles in the occupied territories of Agdam and Khojavend regions.

[link to www.news.az]

Want peace? Prepare for war: Armenia, Karabakh condemn new killings of their soldiers by Azeri snipers

May 2nd 2011

The tone of Armenian statements in response to more killings of soldiers on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has changed dramatically as there are increasingly more calls for retaliation.

Late last week, on April 28 and 29, three Armenian soldiers in Karabakh were killed and another one was wounded after being hit with Azeri sniper bullets. The latest escalation of tensions was taking place amid statements from Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov that “there is still the notion of military diplomacy.”

“Every time we offer peace, hold out a hand, they spit at it. It is time we realized that we are hated across the border, this is a policy of the whole country [Azerbaijan], and there is no seeking peace there,” said Major-General Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, a prominent Karabakh war veteran known as “Commandos”. “One has to understand that they will continue to shoot until they get a retaliatory strike.”

[link to armenianow.com]

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of war preparations

May 5th 2011

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has accused Azerbaijan of stymieing the current peace talks on Karabakh and seeking an occasion for fresh aggression against the de-facto independent republic.


“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan continues to escalate the situation with its repetitive statements that are below any standards of civilized dialogue and seriously undermine the negotiating process,” Sargsyan said on Wednesday after talks with his visiting Lithuanian counterpart in Yerevan.

[link to armenianow.com]

Tehran Warns of Azeri Uprising

11 August 2011

Iran's armed forces joint chief of staff General Hassan Firouzabadi said Azerbaijan might face a "people's awakening" for suppressing Muslims and maintaining ties with Israel, the state-run Fars news agency reported.

President Ilham Aliyev risks a "dark future" for ignoring the demands of the Azeri people and allowing Israel to meddle in the nation's affairs, Firouzabadi said.

Aliyev, who took over from his father in 2003 in the first dynastic succession in a former Soviet republic, has faced protests from religious activists opposing a ban on Islamic headscarves in schools. Azerbaijan maintains diplomatic relations with Israel, which is one of the main suppliers of weapons to the Caspian Sea nation.

[link to www.themoscowtimes.com]

New Western Partners Mean Green Light for South Stream

September 18th 2011

SOCHI — The lineup of partners to build the huge and controversial South Stream pipeline took its final shape Friday as Germany's BASF and France's EDF agreed to join Gazprom and Italy's Eni in the project, in a critical step toward its accomplishment.

The magnitude of the deal, which ended about two years of talks, was reflected even in body language between the company chiefs and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who attended the signing ceremony. Better known for his steely composure, Putin went as far as to hug all four signatories with a smile.

Russia has yet to win permission from Turkey to build the pipeline in its waters.

[link to www.themoscowtimes.com]

Iran 'opposes' EU plans to support Caspian pipeline

September 18th 2011

Iran has said it shares Moscow's concern over an offer by the European Union to broker talks on a proposed pipeline to carry natural gas to the West.

The 27-nation bloc agreed on Monday to negotiate a deal between energy-rich former Soviet nations Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan aimed at building a Caspian Sea pipeline that would carry Turkmen gas directly to Europe.

The scheme would boost the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project. Nabucco, slated to carry natural gas from the Caspian region to Austria via Turkey, is part of an effort to reduce the EU's almost total dependence on Russian imported natural gas.

[link to www.tehrantimes.com]

EU Eastern Partnership Assembly Ends In Chaos

September 16, 2011

BRUSSELS -- The first proper session of an assembly bringing together lawmakers from the European Union and further east has ended in disharmony, with the 110 members failing to agree on their first resolution.

Problems started after Armenia objected to the draft resolution's wording on territorial integrity and proposed several amendments, two of which were rejected. An angry exchange ensued between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations.

rferl.org/content/eu_eastern_partnership_assembly_ends_in_cha​os/24330814.html

Karabakh Sees 'Sobering Impact' From Azerbaijani Drone Downing

September 15, 2011

YEREVAN -- The Armenian leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh has said the reported downing of an Azerbaijani drone over the breakaway Azerbaijani region will "restrain" Baku in starting a military conflict over Karabakh.

The incident was reported by the Karabakh Armenians six months after an Azerbaijani-Israeli joint venture began assembling Israeli-designed drones for Azerbaijan's armed forces. The Azerbaijani military has also reportedly purchased such aircraft from Israel and Turkey.

rferl.org/content/karabakh_sees_sobering_impact_from_azerbaij​ani_drone_downing/24329935.html

Watch and See...

Armenia vs Azerbaijan...

Then Major Players Become Involved...

How dare they start this one without attacking us?

Azerbaijan close to Turkey gas transit deal

Sep 16, 2011

PARIS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan is very close to signing a gas transit deal with Turkey to ship exports from its Shah Deniz field to Europe, the country's energy minister, Natig Aliyev, said on Friday.

"We are very close to signing," he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting at the European Parliament's offices in Paris.

Aliyev said he expected an accord to be signed at the end of September or in early October.

/article/energyOilNews/idAFWEA463120110916

Banned news link

Russian-Led Security Body To Monitor Social Media In Wake Of Arab Spring

September 15th 2011

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military cooperation body consisting of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has announced that it will start controlling social networks to avoid the unrest seen in the Arab world.

rferl.org/content/russian_led_security_body_csto_to_monitor_s​ocial_media_in_wake_of_arab_spring/24329629.html

Oxford Analytic: Russia may intervene in a war over Karabakh

September 19th 2011

International think tank Oxford Analytic published a report on the situation in the region and possible scenarios in the event of military conflict.

According to analysts Center Oxford Analytic, in this case, the conflict will lead to even more catastrophic than the "August war" in 2008 between Georgia and Russia.

Experts believe the center of that conflict, and tensions threaten the energy transportation routes in the first place - the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The report notes that in this case, oil prices on world markets rise sharply.

[link to translate.google.com]

Turkish ambassador calls on Baku for struggle against Israel

September 26, 2011

The Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan called on Baku to stand beside Ankara in its diplomatic struggle against Israel and "reconsider" its relations with the Jewish State, a Persian-language U.S.-based website reported on Sunday, September 25.

According to the report, Ambassador Hulusi Kilic said that Israel should take into account "possible problems" with the oil pipeline that crosses from Azerbaijan to Turkey, and also supplies oil to Israel. He did not go into further details.

[link to www.panarmenian.net]

Kurds calling Armenians back to Turkey?

September 23, 2011

Mayor of Turkish city of Diyarbakir Osman Baydemir called on Armenians to return to the abandoned in early 20th century lands of Eastern Anatolia (Western Armenia).

“We are ready to accept the heirs of Armenians, who abandoned this territory,” Mayor told Yerkir Union for the repatriation and the reinsertion representatives, who went to the city to participate in a conference. Baydemir added that “Armenians will enjoy equal with Kurds rights.”

[link to www.panarmenian.net]

July 6th 2011

In the Secret Vatican Archives are stored documents that testify to the unprecedented and shocking genocide by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians after the First World War, documents that will be published soon in a book co-edited by the same Vatican Archives.

The advanced news arrived, a little by surprise, during the presentation in the Vatican of the exhibit "Lux Arcana", which - from next February - will open to the public, for the first time, the treasures of one of the oldest and most extensive archives in the world.

The testimonials, explained the prefect of the Secret Archives, Monsignor Sergio Pagano, describe "in detail" the "procedures of torture that the Turks used towards the Armenians". For example, he said, there is evidence of how the soldiers of the Sublime Porte would bet "on the sex of fetuses in the wombs of pregnant women before they quartered them and with the same knife killed the babies".

[link to vaticaninsider.lastampa.it]

Moldova ousts top general after Libya-linked arms sale

Wed Sep 28 2011

Libya: Moldova on Wednesday sacked its top army commander Iurie Domenic following deadly military accidents and a controversial delivery of old weapons to Armenia on a plane that had come from Libya.

On a motion by acting president Marian Lupu, the government approved the commander's removal at its meeting on Wednesday.

Some observers however linked Domenic's ousting to this month's shipment of Moldovan arms with expired service life to Armenia.

Sixty tonnes worth of weapons were delivered to Armenia on a plane that had just returned from conflict-torn Libya, causing a media storm and forcing authorities to carry out an investigation into the incident.

Moldova's Defense Minister Vitalii Marinuta has said the shipment was "in no way related to Libya -- it's just that the plane returned from Benghazi after fulfilling a different order."

timesofoman.com/innercat.asp?detail=50221&rand=

Lawsuit against U.S. Federal Reserve seeks Armenian gold looted by Turkey

15/03/2011

The Glendale-based nonprofit Center for Armenian Remembrance (CAR) sued the U.S. Federal Reserve on March 4, seeking information on its acquisition of a large amount of Armenian gold looted by the Ottoman government in 1915.

CAR filed the lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The gold, originally valued at five million Turkish Gold Liras ($22 million dollars), is now estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently claimed that they have no records of any Armenian gold in their possession.

The results of our research on the convoluted series of transactions are summarized below:

After the enforced deportation of the Armenians in 1915, their bank accounts, both current and deposit, were transferred by order to the State Treasury at Constantinople. This fact enabled the Turks to send five million sterling to the Reichsbank, Berlin, in exchange for a new issue of notes."

Subsequently, instead of returning the Armenian gold to its original owners, Britain and France sold it to the United States Government through J.P. Morgan Bank in Paris, by exchanging it for U.S. Treasury Certificates.

panorama.am/en/politics/2011/03/15/sassounian/

New York Fed Asks Judge to Dismiss Armenian Group’s ‘Turkish Gold’ Lawsuit

May 5, 2011

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an Armenian group seeking to force the disclosure of information on gold and other assets allegedly seized by the Turkish government in 1915.

The bank asked U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts to throw out the center’s lawsuit and order the group to pay the bank’s legal costs.

bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-05/new-york-fed-asks-judge-to-dism​iss-armenian-group-s-turkish-gold-lawsuit.html

interesting