Month: September 2013

FIKRET SADYKHOV AND ALEXANDER ISKANDARYAN: WHO SHOULD MAKE THE FIRST STEP IN RESOLVING NAGORNO -KARABAKH CONFLICT?

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 16 2013

16 September 2013 – 6:35pm

The first week of the new co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
James Warlick, who delivered President Barack Obama’s call for
direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia, resulted in another
deterioration of the situation associated with visits by citizens of
the European Union to the occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. On
Friday, Bundestag deputy Jurgen Klimke visited Karabakh, his actions
have already been condemned by the ruling German CDU/CSU faction.

In a situation where the contradictions are growing, VK asked experts
from Azerbaijan and Armenia, Professor Fikret Sadykhov and director
of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan, to talk about who
in the present situation should make the first step towards resolving
the conflict.

Sadykhov primarily emphasized that Azerbaijan has repeatedly
demonstrated its willingness to cooperate constructively by adopting
the principles of the agreements and negotiations in Prague
and Madrid. “There are the updated “Madrid principles”. What is
their essence? The problem is solved in two stages. At first, the
occupied Azerbaijani territories are freed. At the second stage of
the negotiation process, refugees return to their homes, and the
negotiation process on the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict is conducted
on the basis of te norms and principles of international law,” the
expert reminded of the existing diplomatic conditions for a peaceful
settlement of the conflict.

Iskandaryan, in turn, drew attention to the fact that a peaceful
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will move forward only
when both sides are willing to make concessions. “You know, it depends
what you call a settlement. Naturally, if tomorrow somebody proposed
that the whole of Karabakh is deported, and everything is free, and
Azerbaijanis can have the land, of course, Azerbaijan would agree. Or
if somebody was to offer Armenia that the independence of Karabakh is
proclaimed and recognized by Azerbaijan, Armenia would also agree. But
it’s not serious, nobody will make such an offer. A settlement entails
real concessions from both sides. There will be losses. Azerbaijan
is not ready for the extent of losses that Azerbaijan would suffer,
Armenia is not ready for the extent of losses that Armenia would
suffer. The same applies to Karabakh. Accordingly, any real settlement
does not seem likely today,” the analyst explained his opinion.

IRANIAN COMPANY ATTENDED ARMENIA EXPO 2013

Iran Book News Agency, Iran
Sept 16 2013

16 Sep 2013 12:25
Sayyed Mahmoud Ashraf Al-e-Taha, managing director of Sepas Industrial
Printing Company said that the center attended the Armenia Expo 2013
exhibiting its latest products.

IBNA: Managing Director of Sepas said the company presented products
like mono- to tetra-chromic and silk screen print sets in the expo.

According to Al-e Taha the expo was held from September 4-6 in Yerevan
with the presence of companies from 20 countries.

Managign director of Sepas added that the company attended Armenia’s
expo as the only producer and exporter of pad-print and silk screen
print sets.

He also mentioned that to date, Sepas has managed to export its
products and print machinery to a large number of countries in the
region and Asia Minor including the Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Lebanon,
Egypt, Bahrain, Armenia and Turkmenistan.

With over 40 years of experience in the field of print industry and
application of state-of-the-art science and technologies, Sepas
(Al-e-Taha Brothers Industrial Printing) has become the largest
producer and exporter of silk screen and print machinery of high
quality in the Middle East.

NEW ARMENIAN CATHEDRAL OPENS IN MOSCOW

The Moscow Times, Russia
Sept 17 2013

17 September 2013 | Issue 5215
By Ashley Perezluha

On Tuesday, a new cathedral and church complex of the Armenian
Apostolic Church was opened in Moscow on Trifonovskaya Ulitsa near
Marina Roshcha metro station. The church is the largest branch of
the Armenian Apostolic Church outside of Armenia.

The opening ceremony was attended by guests from diverse religious
communities such as Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church
and representatives of the board of Muftis of Russia, the Buddhist
Sangha and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

“Rising from the heart of Russia, the church complex will be the
spiritual and cultural center in the lives of those who – regardless
of nationality – considers themselves a bearer of Christian and human
values,” said Bishop Yezras Nersisyan, head of the New Nakhichevan
and Russian Diocese, said in a press release

The Armenian church complex was created from a community effort
that relied entirely on donations from benefactors, including
Samvel Karapetyan, the president of the Tashir group of companies;
Ruben Vardanyan, chairman of the managing board of Sberbank; Ruben
Grigoryan, president of Rutsog-Invest; and Vitaly Grigoryants,
president of Arch Limited.

“I believe in basic human values and the fact that projects like this
one bring together a large number of people from different spheres,
nationalities, cultures and ages,” Ruben Vardanyan said. Samvel
Karapetyan, another benefactor of the church, commented: “We are
delighted that today we have the opportunity to promote the spiritual
education and the preservation of cultural values [in the Armenian
community].”

The new church is intended to serve Moscow’s sizeable Armenian
community. While the official 2010 census recorded only slightly more
than 100,000 Armenians living in the capital, community members say
there may in fact be as many as half a million Armenians in the city.

The cathedral complex is only the fourth functioning Armenian
Apostolic church in the city of Moscow, though a number of churches
were destroyed or confiscated during the Soviet period.

The church complex has been under construction for eight years. In
2004, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II attended the laying of the
foundation of the church complex, which was blessed by the Catholicos
of All Armenians, Karekin II.

The church complex includes a main cathedral, a chapel of the Holy
Cross, an educational complex and a residential building for the head
of the Armenian church complex, as well as an underground church
museum and exhibition hall, a symbolic friendship spring monument
and memorial plates.

The main cathedral can hold more than a thousand people and has an
underground and aboveground parking area for up to 300 cars. The total
land area of the complex takes up 1.3 hectares, and the building area
encompasses 25 thousand square meters.

The first divine liturgy in the church complex will be held Sept. 22
in the cathedral at 24 Trifonovskaya Ulitsa. For more information,
see the website of the Russian and New Nakhichevan Diocese of the
Armenian Apostolic Church at armenianchurch.ru.

HOW ARMENIAN THEMIS TURNS DEFENDANTS INTO “AGGRIEVED PERSONS” AND VICE VERSA

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Sept 18 2013

18 September 2013 – 10:41am

David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Recently Armenia has seen an event which dispelled the last hopes
for the citizens’ justice. The investigation service of the Defense
Ministry reported on dismissal of the criminal case of Tigran
Khachatryan and his bodyguard Zarzand Nikogosyan. Both of them were
accused of murdering the former candidate for Goris’s mayor, Avetik
Budagyan, and had been detained under arrest for three months.

At the beginning of the investigation, the investigation service
of the Defense Ministry “found out” that the son and the bodyguard
of Litska (a nickname of the former governor of the Syunik region,
Syurik Khachatryan) were merely defended themselves from Avetik and
Artak Budagyan, who were attacking them.

The head of the investigation service of the Defense Ministry, Armen
Arutyunyan, who was nicknamed by journalists “the lawyer” of the
Khachatryans, stated that all the weapons – about 10 guns – found in
Litska’s house were registered in his name. Arutyunyan didn’t answer
all the direct questions on how 11 shots by the Khachatryans could be
considered self-defense and a response to two shots which were said
to have been made by Avetik Budagyan. When journalists asked him how
the home-made gun which was found in Litska’s house could be legally
registered in his name, Arutyunyan referred to a weapons-bearing
document which was signed by the head of the police. According to
Arutyunyan’s logic, any home-made gun can be turned into a legal by
one signature of a policeman.

According to the lawyer of Artak Budagyan, Aik Alumyan, the
investigation service and the military prosecution did their best to
equate him to a real criminal, ignoring the murder of Avetik Budagyan.

The fact that “the top brass” would do everything to cover up for the
Khachatryans was obvious from the very beginning. The investigation
excluded an option that Litska was present at the crime scene, stating
that the drunk governor slept at home so well that he woke up only
after a dozen shots in his yard. The release of Budagyan’s murders
stirred up society and dispelled the last hopes for Armenian justice.

The civil initiative “Pre-parliament” stated that the release of
Khachatryan and Nikogosyan demonstrated that the system of state
management had turned into an instrument of enslavement and humiliation
of its own people. Human right activists Artur Sakunts and Janna
Alexanyan left the Defense Ministry committee on deaths of military
personnel because of the case. They stated that the decision was made
under the supervision of the military prosecutor, Gevork Kostanyan.

It seems that only representatives of the ruling party, state
structures and Khachatryan believe the decision on Litska’s case is
fair. Everybody knows Litska and his Mediaeval rules in the Syunik
region.

From: A. Papazian

ANIE IN ARMENIA!

Cabrini College Loquitur
Sept 18 2013

I am so thankful and blessed to have had the incredible opportunity
to spend my summer in a place I could call home, Armenia. Through
an organization called the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGB),
I was able to spend six weeks in the land of my ancestors with 28
other interns where we lived together, took Armenian language lessons
together, danced, sang, ate and experienced our culture together in a
way we hadn’t before. We stayed in the city of Yerevan where we each
were placed by AGBU to intern during the week. I am so grateful to
have been placed to intern at the Yerevan Zoo, as I realized it is
very special in the way that it is not like other zoos.

Before the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural
Assets (FPWC) was established in 2002, the zoo was instituted in 1940
by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Armenia. Unfortunately at
this time, the animals were not well taken care of. When the FPWC
took over, a lot of work was done to make changes for the animals’
well being with the aim to raise local and international awareness for
the preservation of Armenia’s unique natural heritage. It implements
environmental projects with the help of professionals in the fields of
ecology, environmental law, film making as well tourism and regional
development.

Armenia is part of the Caucasus Biodiversity Hotspot, making it
one of 34 regions worldwide defined by Conservation International
as outstandingly important for the protection of the globe’s
biodiversity. These 34 hotspots have lost at least 70% of its original
natural vegetation and are under threat to lose what is left. Over 50
percent of the world’s plant species and 42 percent of all terrestrial
vertebrate species are endemic to these hotspots, therefore, the
protection of Armenia’s nature is of vital importance (FPWC).

When the hands of the zoo were left to the FPWC, the animals were
in poor condition and could neither be given to other zoos for care,
because no paperwork had been kept, nor be sent back to their natural
habitats because they would not survive. The FPWC kept the zoo, making
major adjustments in order to provide the animals with appropriate
enclosures and habitats, as well as providing them with proper medical
care needed. The FPWC also changed the overall atmosphere of the zoo
from looking down on the animals and treating them as disposable to
educating visitors about how to properly care for them and of their
importance to human life and to the Earth. The FPWC provides this
through environmental education to children and youth, organizing
environmental festivals and campaigns as well as other projects such
as the production of documentaries on nature.

I was very proud to work in a place where it was evident that everyone
was doing their best to meet each animal’s needs and make a big impact
in their lives. My job was simple, but a powerful experience. Each
morning I cut up a variety of fruits and vegetables in order to make
feeding rounds later in the day. I had the opportunity to feed llamas,
alpacas, camels, a variety of goats, deer, horses, ponies, and the
zebra. These animals helped me realize how close we are to them by
allowing me to enter into their space, feed and even pet them! I will
never forget the first time I walked into the llama enclosure.

They all ran to me! At first I felt a little overwhelmed because I
had never experienced being with non-domesticated animals like this,
but my partner gave me the O.K. and I suddenly dropped any fear I
had and was filled with excitement and happiness. They were happy
to see me! They brushed up against me and curiously looked at me,
brushing up against my face. After this, I was on a mission to pet
every animal I could, which I did! I was able to pet every animal I
fed, except the zebra, who was a little more timid and shy. However,
towards the end of the six weeks, he would come up closer to me as I
filled his food bowl and I have to say, I am extremely proud of his
courage! I know if I had been able to stay a little longer, he would
have opened up to me and let me pet him. The act of petting animals,
for me, is extremely special. The animals know we are very different
and don’t necessarily know my intentions; however, through patience,
persistence, and kindness, they become open to me and allow me to
connect with them in a very personal way. This is incredible. I
can’t say I fully understand my friends at the zoo, but I can say we
connected and certainly built a kind of friendship, the way I think
God intended for His creation to have.

I hope to incorporate some of what I learned through this wonderful
experience in my Animal Lover Activist club and I am excited to see
what we can learn, the changes we can make, and hopefully, impacts
we can make as well.

ARMENIA DIVIDED BY CHOICE OF RUSSIA OVER EUROPE

China Post
Sept 18 2013

By Mariam Harutyunyan ,AFP

YEREVAN — A decision by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian to sign up
to a Russian-led Customs Union has slammed the brakes on closer ties
with Europe and prompted soul-searching about the future direction
of the former Soviet state.

Sarkisian’s surprise announcement earlier this month that Armenia
will sign up to the project championed by Russian President Vladimir
Putin stunned many Armenians, who see the southern Caucasus state as
part of Europe.

After lengthy negotiations, Armenia – along other ex-Soviet states
including Georgia and Moldova – had been set to pencil a free trade
deal and take the first step towards future EU integration at a
conference in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in November.

The decision to sign up to the customs union with Russia has been
met with street protests, so far small-scale, and widespread debate.

“We came here to say that we will not let this happen,” said protestor
Lusine Hovsepyan, 34, a computer programmer, at a recent demonstration
in Yerevan.

“If it’s a choice between the EU and this customs union, then we
choose the more developed, more democratic Europe.”

But security concerns over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh
and pressure from long-time ally Moscow appear to have won out against
hopes of closer ties to Europe.

PASADENA’S FITTING TRIBUTE TO VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: EDITORIAL

San Gabriel Valley Tribune, CA
Sept 18 2013

Pasadena City Hall was entirely correct this week to approve the
placement in the city’s Memorial Park of a monument to the dead in
the Armenian Genocide.

More than a million Armenians died in the slaughter of 1915 at the
hands of Ottoman Turks. Many Southern California cities have been
enriched by the presence of large Armenian-American refugee communities
from the diaspora that began during and after that time.

But Pasadena’s Armenian community goes back much farther than most –
there are fourth- and fifth-generation families in the city. M.S.

Pashgian was an early settler, business and cultural leader and
instrumental in founding of the Tournament of Roses, and served as
grand marshal of the, as it happens, 1915 Rose Parade. And former
Pasadena police Chief Barney Melekian’s grandparents owned a bakery
in the city. Armenian Pasadenans are as entrenched in the city’s long
history as are Latinos and African Americans.

Two controversies dogged the proposed new memorial in recent months
in a park that is now set aside for memorials.

There was a competing proposal for a memorial by another group
of local Armenians than the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial
Committee, which is sponsoring this plan. That was awkward, and
reflective of a long split over many issues, from religion to
politics, among Southern Californians whose descendants came from
the South Caucasus. It’s akin to the internal polarization of other
peoples for whom war and economics have forced a diaspora, like the
Chinese split over loyalty to the Nationalists of Taiwan or to the
Beijing government. But this committee got its full act together
first, sponsoring a fine competition among local art students that
was judged by, among others, prominent architect and New Urbanist
planner Stefanos Polyzoides and was won by Art Center College of
Design student Catherine Menard. Several of the 17 entrants were
from Armenian families themselves; Menard is not, which shows the
open-mindedness of the competition and the fact that Armenian history
is part of the history of all of us by now.

To their credit, the competitors of the Armenian Community Coalition
have dropped their proposal in the name of not squabbling about
something so somberly important. If they did not show up at a recent
City Council meeting to formally back the current design for the
memorial, they have graciously decided not to publicly object.

Other demurs came recently from veterans who said that Memorial Park
should be set aside only for monuments to Americans who have fought in
the nation’s wars. It is true that there is a longstanding Civil War
monument there. There is a Vietnam War memorial inscribed with the
names of the 31 men from Pasadena who died in that conflict. There
is even a Batchelder fountain “Dedicated To Our Mothers By Daughters
Of Union Veterans Of The Civil War 1861-1865.” And there is a coming
proposal to place a Korean War memorial there based around the legacy
of Medal of Honor winner Reginald Desiderio, which would also be a
welcome addition to the park.

But public spaces grow in their significance through proper additions.

Memorial Park was once Library Park, and still contains the entrance
arch of Pasadena’s first free library. There will never be room
for every memorial in its limited acreage. But for this moving and
appropriate design, there very much is room.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA SUPPORTS DESTRUCTION OF SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Interfax, Russia
Sept 17 2013

YEREVAN. Sept 17

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has applauded the deal brokered by
Moscow and Washington that Syria’s chemical weapon stockpiles must
be destroyed or removed by mid-2014.

“Armenia welcomes the proposals that stem from the agreement reached
by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry in Geneva that offers the opportunity to destroy these
chemical weapons and rule out their use in Syria,” ministry spokesman
Tigran Balayan told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Armenian Service.

The Armenian ministry’s press service told Interfax, citing Balayan,
that these initiatives “may pave the way toward looking for a political
and peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis that will stop the suffering
of the Syrian people and tens of thousands of Syria’s Armenians,
who are an indivisible part of the Syrian nation.”

tm

DINK FAMILY SEES STATE-LINKED PLOT

Gulf Times, Qatar
September 17, 2013 Tuesday

BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) MP and politician Sebahat Tuncel
(left) and CHP (Republican People’s Party) MP Sezgin Tanrikulu(right)
chant slogans in front of the Caglayan Law Court in Istanbul.

By Ece Toksabay, Reuters/Istanbul A retrial over the murder of a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, that triggered huge protest rallies in
Turkey, opened yesterday with demonstrators outside the court accusing
authorities of covering up a conspiracy by nationalist elements in
the state apparatus.

Hrant Dink, shot dead outside the office of his journal Agos in January
2007, had angered nationalists as a critic of government policies
towards the country’s 60,000 Christian Armenians and its diplomatic
standoff with neighbouring Armenia. He was repeatedly prosecuted for
“insulting Turkishness”.

Around 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Istanbul court where
eight defendants were being retried after an appeals court deemed
they were part of a criminal conspiracy. This overturned an original
court ruling that those convicted over Dink’s murder acted alone.

The crowd chanted “the murderer state will give account” and “we
are all Hrant, we are all Armenians”, holding up banners in Turkish,
Armenian and Kurdish. They see Dink as victim of a shadowy ‘deep state’
network of nationalist militants accused of killings of prominent
liberals and Kurdish nationalists.

Dink’s family and his supporters reject the premise of the retrial
that the defendants were part of a criminal conspiracy and argue that
the state was involved in what amounted to a terrorist conspiracy.

“Who could have effectively conducted an investigation of a murder
in which all bodies of the state were involved?” Dink’s family said
in a letter published yesterday on the website of the Armenian Agos
newspaper.

“We, the Dink family, will not attend the hearings of the murder trial
which is beginning again and will not be exploited by a game of the
state machinery which mocks us.” The letter said the courts had failed
to respond to the family’s request to investigate links to the case
of people involved in the “Ergenekon” conspiracy to overthrow Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

More than 200 people, including a former military chief and scores of
other senior figures, were convicted in the Ergenekon case in August.

“This show must end, the real perpetrators must be brought to justice,”
Gulten Kaya, the widow of well-known Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya,
told reporters outside the court.

The murderer, Ogun Samast, was 17 at the time of the killing and was
sentenced by a juvenile court to 23 years in prison in 2011. Last year
Yasin Hayal was sentenced to life in jail for instigating the killing.

At yesterday’s hearing, Hayal denied that he was involved in any
criminal organisation involved in the murder. The case was adjourned
to December 3.

RETRIAL BEGINS OVER KILLING OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN HRANT DINK

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
September 17, 2013 Tuesday 3:16 PM EST

Istanbul

DPA x Turkey justice Retrial begins over killing of Turkish-Armenian
Hrant Dink Istanbul The retrial of suspects in the killing of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink opened in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Dink, a vocal critic of the Turkish government, was shot dead in 2007.

A number of people have already been convicted over the killing, but
a retrial was ordered after an appeals court overturned the original
ruling that they had acted alone, stating they had been part of a
wider criminal conspiracy.

Relatives of Dink have long maintained that the Turkish state was
behind his murder.

Dink was the publisher of a Turkish-Armenian magazine, Agos, when he
was gunned down in an Istanbul street.

In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights said the Turkish government
had failed in its duty to protect him.