Armenia to Develop Relations with Poland

And why not?

Kocharyan said that Armenia is interested in wide-ranging relations with the hugest country of Eastern Europe which has the biggest economy in the region. For practical purposes, he pointed out the necessity of some institutional steps, in particular, to finish the formation of the Armenian-Polish intergovernmental commission as soon as possible.

[Polish Foreign Minister Anna] Fotyga expressed confidence that as a result of the visit the friendly relations between the countries will go on enlarging and developing, including new spheres of cooperation.

Poland has already had diplomatic relations with Armenia for fifteen years.

Source: Arka

U.S. Pushes Turkey for Relations With Armenia

This is something I didn't see coming.

"The issue of trying to use the tragedy of Hrant Dink’s murder to improve relations with Armenia is a major focus of our relationship with Turkey right now," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told RFE/RL.

"We want a real discussion so no one can deny what happened [in Ottoman Turkey,] while at the same time improving bilateral relations between Armenia and Turkey,” he said in a phone interview. “All of that should happen without preconditions by anybody."

Of course, Turkey will have none of that. Still, I have high hopes for the Genocide Resolution. It is very sad that Hrant Dink's murder can be used politically, but Turkey's initial reaction was obviously not indicative of their true motives.

Source: ArmeniaLiberty

Turkey Wants Armenia's Friendship

There is no question that this "friendliness" is politcally motivated, as Hrant Dink's death has brought Turkey much criticism. Regardless, here's what one didn't expect to hear:

"Turkey aspires to enjoy friendly ties with all of its neighbors on the basis of mutual trust and respect and we want to establish ties with Armenia as well." [said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül]

But he noted that Armenia should not come up with unfair demands from Turkey – such as the recognition by Ankara of the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Empire – in return for normalization of bilateral ties. On genocide claims, Gül repeated the Turkish government's proposal to set up a joint commission of Turkish and Armenian academics to study allegations.

Translation: "We need you to show the world - and the EU - that we're decent people who love all, whether Armenian, Greek, Kurd, or otherwise. Turkey would love to be your friend, if only you revise your history to our acceptable standards using our prepared documents. Deal?"

No deal without precondition. Of course, Armenia disagrees.

Source: Turkish Daily News

Armenia Wants Diplomatic Relations With Turkey

I don't like what has been coming out of Serge Sarkisyan's mouth lately. Whenever I see a quote of his anywhere, the words "sell out" immediately come to mind.

Letter of Defense Minister of Armenia, Serge Sarkisyan, published in “The Wall Street Journal” reads: “We intend to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey not bringing up genocide as principal condition”. Saying that “we want to look at the future”...

...he stressed that remaining the issue of the genocide in agenda is necessary from the point of view of memory on past and prevention of such crimes against humanity.

No one can deny that opening up borders and being closer with Turkey will be great for Armenia, but I believe that Serge is merely trying to gain entry into the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku railroad project, which is obviously very important to us economically.

But let's consider the fact that Turkey will always be closer with Azerbaijan than with us, which means even if the genocide is not a precondition - and I believe that it absolutely must be - then it will eventually have conditions of its own in its attempts to control Armenia and help out Azerbaijan. We can't sell out our struggle or our future!

Source: Demaz

Armenia and Chad Establish Relations

Well, I didn't see this one coming at all.

On December 26 in the Armenian Embassy in Russia the Ambassadors of Armenia Armen Smbatian and of the Republic of Chad Jibrin Abdul to the Russian Federation signed the Protocol on establishing diplomatic relations. During a conversation that followed the ceremony, the sides noted the importance of further development of relations between Armenia and Chad, specifically in political, economic and humanitarian fields.

Chad does have a lot of oil. Oh, and Rebels. Maybe we can import a bit of both.

Source: PanArmenian