And for this we are thankful.... - Armenian Reporter

The Armenian Reporter | November 22, 2008Nationalby Emil SanamyanObama, Biden intelephone talks withforeign leadersPresident-elect Barack Obamaand Vice President–elect JoeBiden called a number of “worldleaders and expressed thanks andappreciation for their congratulationson the election.”The presidential transition website www.change.gov reports thaton November 6, Mr. Obama tookcalls from leaders of close U.S. alliesAustralia, Great Britain, Canada,France, Germany, Israel, Japan,Mexico, and South Korea. On November7 he spoke with leaders ofItaly, Spain, Poland, Egypt, SaudiArabia, and Pakistan, and on November8 with those of Russia andChina.The president-elect phoned PresidentsAbdullah Gül of Turkey andMikheil Saakashvili of Georgia,as well as the Philippines presidenton November 17; the presidents ofColombia, Nigeria, Senegal, andSouth Africa, and United Nationssecretary general on November 18;Washington briefingObama on phone wth foreign leaderson Nov. 6 in Chicago. Getty images.and the presidents of Argentina,Chile, Kazakhstan, and Palestine,and the Irish Prime Minister, onNovember 19.No details of conversations werereported by the president-elect, butMr. Saakashvili’s office reportedthat “the U.S. President-elect expressedhis unconditional supportto the territorial integrity of Georgiaand focused on the importanceof continuation of the ongoingreforms in Georgia [and] U.S. supportin this regard.”And according to Mr. Gul’s office,Mr. Obama “emphasized theimportance of the special relationsbetween the two allies, Turkey andU.S.” and backed Turkey’s fightagainst Kurdish rebels.Other calls to foreign leaderswere made by Sen. Biden. On November10 he telephoned the Israeliforeign minister, Tzipi Livni, whois likely to be the next prime minister,Defense Minister Ehud Barak,and opposition leader Binyamin(Bibi) Netanyahu; Britain’s PrimeMinister Gordon Brown, as wellas the presidents of Poland andAfghanistan and, on November 11,the king of Jordan.And on November 17, Mr. Bidencalled the European Union’s JavierSolana, as well as the presidents ofColombia and Georgia, the primeminister of Spain, and the foreignminister of Greece.Turkish leader deridesBush, lobbies ObamaTurkey’s Prime Minister RecepTayyib Erdoğan used an invitationfrom President GeorgeW. Bush to an economic summitin Washington to lecture President-electBarack Obama and tolambast the Bush administration’spolicies as “disastrous.”Although Mr. Obama himself declinedto take part in the summit,he asked former Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright, former Rep.Jim Leach (R.-Iowa), and PhilipGordon of the Brookings Institutionto meet with foreign leaderson his behalf.According to Turkish media, inmeetings with Mr. Obama’s representativesand in speeches atBrookings on November 14 and aday earlier at the Columbia University,Mr. Erdoğan touted Turkey’simportance and warned PresidentelectObama about Turkey’s “sensitivities”such as its insistence ondenial of the Armenian Genocideand opposition to a de facto Kurdishstate in Iraq.In his presidential campaign, Mr.Obama repeatedly pledged to dropthe Bush administration’s policyand stop deferring to the Turkishlobby when it came to U.S. policyon the Armenian Genocide.Separately, Mr. Obama pledgedto pull U.S. troops out of Iraq withinsixteen months.Mr. Erdoğan criticized the withdrawalplan as “premature” and therecognition pledge as “immature.”At Brookings, the Turkish leaderclaimed that “U.S. support is essentialfor maintaining the dialogue”between Turkey and Armenia,implying that Ankara would stopseeking normal relations with Yerevanif President Obama, in Mr.Erdoğan’s words at Columbia, acquiescedto Armenian-Americans’“cheap political lobbying” and speakclearly on the genocide in OttomanTurkey.Also at Columbia, Mr. Erdoğanspoke of his desire to follow therecent Russian example and hosta meeting between the Armenianand Azerbaijani presidents.And in Washington, Mr. Erdoğanrepeated his offer to mediate betweenthe United States and Iran,while suggesting that Tehran cannotbe forced to drop its nuclearprogram while other countries(presumably Israel, India, andPakistan in addition to the UnitedStates, Russia, France, Britain, andChina) retain nuclear weapons.Pres. Sahakian at a Armenia Fundproject inauguration in Dec. 2007.Karabakh presidentbegins U.S. visitPresident Bako Sahakian of theNagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)began a 10-day working visit to theUnited States on November 18. Mr.Sahakian’s delegation includes NKRFinance Minister Spartak Tevosianand other officials.The trip is dedicated to the annualThanksgiving Day telethon insupport of Karabakh and Armeniaorganized by the Armenia Fund inLos Angeles and includes stops inBoston and New York for meetingswith Armenian-American communityleaders.Since its creation in 1992, thefund has supported key transportationinfrastructure in Karabakhwith about $185 million spent onprojects throughout Armenia.Georgia cedes its natural gas network to AzerbaijanNerses Yeritsian.U.S.-Armenia TaskForce meets inWashingtonEconomic Development MinisterNerses Yeritsian led an Armeniangovernment delegation to Washingtonfor talks with U.S. officialsfrom November 19 to 21.The visit was within the regularU.S.-Armenia Task Force (USATF)mechanism and included visits withofficial counterparts at the Departmentsof State and Commerce, theOffice of the U.S. Trade Representative,and the Millennium ChallengeCorporation. The USATF’s Americanco-chair is currently DanielRosenblum, the State Departmentassistance to Eurasia coordinator.USATF was previously co-chairedby Armenia’s Finance and EconomyMinisters Levon Barkhudarian(1999–2000) and VardanKhachatrian (2000–2008), andU.S. State Department Coordinatorsfor U.S. assistance to EurasiaBill Taylor (2000–2003) and TomAdams (2004–2008).Set up in 2000, USATF is an intergovernmentalcommittee thatmeets twice a year to discuss U.S.assistance for Armenia’s reformsand bilateral economic ties.However, the volume of U.S. assistanceto Armenia has declinedfrom an average of $75 million ayear in 2004–2006 to about $50million in 2007. Bilateral trade remainedsteady at an average of $125million a year in 2004–2007, withU.S. exports to Armenia accountingfor most of the turnover. fNews Analysis by EmilSanamyanWASHINGTON – Georgia agreedto hand over the ownership of itsnatural gas network, which includesthe transit gas pipeline fromRussia to Armenia, to the Azerbaijanigovernment, news agenciesreported.Under the November 14 deal,announced by Georgian leaderMikheil Saakashvili the next day,Azerbaijan would satisfy the bulkof Georgia’s natural gas needs in2009–13 at below-market prices.The deal was finalized duringan energy summit in Baku thatbrought together a number of centraland eastern European headsand senior officials of states interestedin Caspian energy.Also at the summit, Kazakhstanagreed to expand its oil shipmentsvia Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkeythrough the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhanpipeline built with U.S. support.“Property for debt”Georgia’s deal with Azerbaijan issimilar to Armenia’s deal with Russia,exchanging formal ownershipof the gas network – that could potentiallyserve as political leverage– for a temporary reprieve in prices.Until this year, like Armenia,Georgia bought most of its naturalgas from Russia. Moscow reportedlycame close to buying theGeorgian gas network, but the offerwas declined by Tbilisi on the U.S.government’s insistence, whichwas concerned with integrity ofnon-Russian gas supplies.Although the Georgian-Russianborder is closed and official relationsare suspended, Russia continuesto supply Georgia, and by extensionArmenia, with natural gas.The biggest gas consumers in Georgia– the Tbilisi electricity networkand a chemical plant – are ownedby Russian companies.While Russian-Georgian talkson South Ossetia and Abkhaziaresume in Geneva this week, nonormalization in relations is anticipatedany time soon.Speaking at the Council on ForeignRelations in Washington on November15, President Dmitry Medvedevsaid that Russia was “ready tobuild relations with Georgia.”“But not with the current [Saakashvili]regime,” Mr. Medvedevsaid. “That is a red line, which wecannot cross.”Armenia impactAzerbaijan has now promised tocover more than 60 percent ofGeorgia’s overall gas needs – estimatedat 1.8 billion cubic metersof gas a year – at below-marketprices. The rest of the supplies toGeorgia would still need to comeat market prices from Azerbaijan,Russia, or Iran.Iran-Armenia gas pipe at Saralenj. Photo: Photolure.Armenia imported more than2 billion cubic meters of gas fromRussia last year. In addition to thenow Azerbaijani-owned Georgiantransit pipeline, Armenia can nowpotentially import natural gasfrom Iran – an important safeguardshould new problems arisein supplies via Georgia. The Iranoption also becomes more attractiveas Russia will begin to raiseprices for its supplies startingnext year.Consequences for Armenia ofthe Georgia deal may become apparentsoon. Azerbaijan and Turkeyhad previously used a promiseof lower gas prices to Georgia asleverage against Armenia in theform of Georgian support for theKars-Akhalkalaki rail bypass andother projects.The Russian-Georgian war alreadydisrupted air and other trafficbetween Russia and Armenia. Mediareports suggested that Georgiawas trying to prevent Russian militarycargo, including those resupplyingits military base in Gyumri,from reaching Armenia.Considering the continued importanceof Georgia transit to Armenia,it is not surprising that bothPresident Serge Sargsian and DefenseMinister Seyran Ohanianhave visited Georgia since the Augustwar, and Prime Minister TigranSarkisian is expected to gosoon.f