Western U.S. edition - Armenian Reporter

ignings, tensarchedin pro-20 The Armenian Reporter | October 17, 2009Armenia60,000 protest Armenia-Turkey protocols in Yerevanby Maria TitizianThe pressure inthe stadium wasoverwhelmingby Tatul HaobyanBURSA, Turkey – The Armenia-Turkey return soccer match herewas of little interest as a sportingevent. Both national teams werealready out of the running for the2010 World Cup. The significance ofthe match was more emotional.The teams entered the Bursa field45 minutes before the start of thegame. From that moment, the psychologicalpressure on the Armeniansthere – reporters and somefans, but above all soccer players– began in earnest.For almost three hours, therewas endless whistling in the 30,000-seat stadium. During the performanceof Mer Hairenik, Turkishsoccer fans drowned out the Armeniannational anthem. When theTurkish national anthem began, afew Armenian journalists remainedseated in protest.Yerevan – One day before theanticipated signing of the Armenia-Turkeyprotocols, an estimated60,000 Armenians marchedthrough the streets of Yerevan inprotest.The rally began in Yerevan’s RepublicSquare and moved to thevicinity of the Presidential Palace,where Armen Rustamian of theArmenian Revolutionary Federationread out a statement on behalfof the protesters, signed by 12political parties and over 60 localorganizations. The statement wasthen passed on to Karen Karapetian,the president’s chief of staff.The statement said the participantsdid not object to the normalizationof relations with Turkeywithout preconditions, butopposed concessions to Turkey soit might end the illegal blockade itbegn 16 years ago.The protesters proceeded toTzitzernakaberd, the ArmenianGenocide memorial; by the timethey arrived, the crowd had swelledto over 60,000 people chanting“No” to the protocols and calling forPresident Serge Sargsyan’s administrationto refrain from signingthe documents. The protesters,holding signs and banners, continuallychanted “Struggle, Unity,Victory.”Under the shadow of themonument to the memory of1.5 million Armenians who weremurdered 94 years ago, speakersrepresenting different politicalJournalists and fansA few minutes after the beginningof the match, we took out our fewArmenian tricolors, started wavingthem and yelling “Hayastan,Hayastan.”Guards approached us immediatelyand instructed us to putparties took the stage to voicetheir discontent with the termsof the agreement between Armeniaand Turkey.Among the parties representedat the rally were the ARF and theHeritage Party, which hold seatsin parliament, and the New Timesparty. With these groups cooperating,Mr. Rustamian, in a speech,was able to herald the establishmentof a long-awaited “nationalfront” in Armenia.The foreign ministers of Armeniaand Turkey are expected tosign the protocols on October 10 inSwitzerland. U.S. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, Russian ForeignMinister Sergey Lavrov, andFrench Foreign Minister BernardKouchner are expected to witnessthe signing.fTurkey beats Armenia, 2-0, in soccer matchAt the Armenia-Turkey soccer match. Photo: Melik Baghdasaryan/Photolure.away our flags because, underthe rules of FIFA, the internationalgoverning body for soccer,flags are not allowed in the pressarea.Our voices could not be heard inthe soccer field, but they were stilltoo much for the fans in the nextTens of thousands of people marched and rallied against the terms of anagreement negotiated between Turkey and Armenia, Yerevan, October 9, 2009.Photo: Mkhitar Khachatryan/Photolure.section. They started whistling atus and making threats.Before the match, Turkish andAzerbaijani fanatics had thrownrocks at one of the minibuses carryingArmenian journalists.A single organismThe Turks played a lot better thanthe Armenians, without question.It seemed like the soccer playersand fans were a single organism.The Turkish team was playingunder the inspiration of Turkishsongs and whistles.Because of security concerns, notickets had been sold. Everyonepresent had been invited, and inthis way the Turkish hosts soughtto avoid and succeeded in avoidingundesirable incidents.Security was provided by some3,000 police officers. It struck methat the purpose of my presencewas not to watch and report on asoccer match, but to leave the Bursastadium unharmed. Especiallyafter they made us put away thetricolors, a few Armenian reportersshed tears.Although it had been announcedthat Azerbaijani flagswould not be allowed into theNATO sees progress in defense reforms in Armeniastadium, the Azerbaijani flag wasamong those that could be seenfrom the area where PresidentsAbdullah Gül and Serge Sargsyanwere seated.White dovesBefore the game started, a fewdozen white doves were released assymbols of peace.As in Yerevan in September 2008,thus in Bursa today, the Turkishteam won 2-0. The Turkish teamwas competing with only 10 playersas of the 32nd minute; at that timeone of the players was ejected fromthe field for rough play.But by then the Turks had alreadyscored two goals. In the 17thminute Halil Altintop and in the28th Servet Cetin had scored.“The pressure of the stadium wasterrible,” Ruben Hairapetian, thepresident of Armenia’s soccer federation,told the Armenian Reporter.He added that the Armenian teamplayed better in Bursa than it hadin Yerevan.Mr. Hairapetian also said thatthe president of Armenia hadvisited with the soccer playersbefore the game and encouragedthem.fYEREVAN – Special progress hasbeen made in Armenia in carryingout defense reforms within theframework of implementing theIndividual Partnership Action Plan(IPAP) of NATO.Mediamax reports that the Representativeof NATO InternationalStaff Lorenz Meyer-Minnemannsaid this during the first spacebridge between the InformationCenter on NATO in Yerevan and thealliance’s headquarters in Brusselson October 14.According to Mr. Meyer-Minnemann, practical evidenceof those reforms is the quality ofwork being carried out by the Armenianpeacekeeping contingentin Kosovo.Mr. Meyer-Minnemann statedthat there has significant progressin institutional reforms, in particular,by involving a large number ofcivilians in the work of the defenseministry of Armenia.“Earlier this year, NATO and Armeniasigned an agreement on updatingIPAP, and in this context, Armeniahas yet to carry out volumework,” Mr. Meyer-Minnemannstated.He spoke highly of the relationsbetween Armenia and NATO, statingthat Armenia has demonstratedgreat activity in the process ofthe “Partnership for Peace” programimplementation.Mr. Meyer-Minnemann expressedthe opinion that normalizationof Armenian-Turkish relationswill be of great importancefor providing security in the regionand will positively influence relationsbetween Armenia and theNorth Atlantic Alliance.Head of Alliance Operations DivisionErik Sandahl, during thespace bridge, said active negotiationsare in process with Armeniaregarding its participation in ISAFInternational operation in Afghanistan.According to Mr. Sandahl, themain issue is the deployment of anArmenian peacekeeping subdivisionin the north Afghan provinceof Kunduz in February, 2010.Ambassador of Armenia to NATOSamvel Mkrtchyan said thatpresently, the coordination of thecorresponding legal documentsbetween Armenia and NATO is inprocess.“Striving to send its peacekeepingcontingent to Afghanistan,Armenia is trying to make its contributionto securing internationalsecurity and increase professionalqualification of ArmenianArmed Forces,” Mr. Mkrtchyanstated.He stated that the Armeniansubdivision in Afghanistan will notparticipate in military actions, butwill be involved in the defense ofKunduz Airport. The Armenian ambassadornoted that the provinceof Kunduz is a relatively peacefulregion in Afghanistan, where theGerman military contingent, consistingof a few thousands soldiers,is deployed.A day earlier at a forum entitled,“The role of NATO and the EU inensuring stability in Armenia andthe South Caucasus,” NATO Coordinator-Officerfor the South CaucasusZbigniew Ribatski statedthat the alliance and the EuropeanUnion collaboratively assist in themaintenance of peace and stabilityin the Caucasus. NATO is notinvolved in the regulation processof the conflicts in South Caucasus,but it is interested in their peacefulregulation. According to him, theimprovement of Armenian-Turkishrelations will bring Armeniaand NATO closer to each other, asTurkey is a member of the North-Atlantic Alliance as well.“The cooperation of Armenia andNATO is developing quite activelyin the direction of some programs,but in Armenia there still exists thestereotype of a negative attitudetoward NATO, a heritage of its theA scene fromthe NATO spacebridge. Photo:Hayk Badalyan/Photolure.Soviet past,” Mr. Ribatski noted.“Armenia has taken an importantstep by regulating its relations withTurkey... I hope that over a periodof time Armenia will change itsnegative attitude toward NATO.”Speaking of the relations of thecountries in the region with NATO,he noted that the alliance attachesa military importance to the relationswith its partners. Affiliationto NATO is not part of Armenia’sforeign policy agenda. However, ifArmenia is interested, it will be possibleto speak of the country’s affiliation,said Mr. Ribatski. Accordingto him, NATO respects Armenia’sdecision to strengthen its militarycooperation with Russia. f