Month: September 2013

ARMENIANS GOING TO NEW YORK FOR SHOAH GALA HONORING GEORGE CLOONEY

Friday, September 6th, 2013

The event will honor actor George Clooney

LOS ANGELES-The USC Shoah Foundation, whose digital archives soon will
include the filmed testimonies of 400 Armenian Genocide eyewitnesses
and survivors, will honor actor George Clooney at a gala dinner on
October 3, in New York City – and significant Armenian attendance
at the event is expected. The gala, chaired by Shoah founder Steven
Spielberg, also will feature special guest Sandra Bullock and a
musical performance by Norah Jones.

Armenian Film Foundation Chairman Jerry Papazian said, “We are
thrilled to be participating in this event, paving the way for the
inclusion of these Armenian Genocide eyewitness testimonies into
the Visual History Archive of the USC Shoah Foundation. We are
encouraging a large Armenian presence at the event in support of
the project.” Papazian confirmed that former U.S. Ambassador to the
Republic of Armenia John Marshall Evans will attend the banquet as
part of the Armenian contingent.

Jon Stewart will emcee the gala honoring Clooney for his humanitarian
work. The gala committee includes a broad spectrum of celebrities and
influential people, including Matt Damon, Ralph Lauren, Jerry Seinfeld,
William P. Lauder and Andrew Tisch. All of them are committed to
helping raise money for the USC Shoah Foundation, whose mission is
to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry – and the suffering
they cause – through the educational use of the Foundation’s visual
history testimonies.

Shoah is actively engaged in an international fund-raising campaign
to ensure completion of the integration of the Armenian testimonies so
that they can be presented to the world in time for the commemoration
of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, in April 2015.

“It’s crucial that we take the vital and precious words of those
who went through the Armenian Genocide and make their testimonies
available for students, educators and scholars so that they can learn
directly from these eyewitnesses of history,” said Stephen Smith,
executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation.

In April 2010, the Armenian Film Foundation and founder J. Michael
Hagopian, along with his wife, Antoinette, entered into an agreement
with the USC Shoah Foundation to license the 400 Armenian Genocide
testimonies filmed by Hagopian to Shoah’s Visual History Archive. Next
month, Shoah will receive the digitized interviews from The Armenian
Film Foundation. Upon delivery, these eyewitness accounts will be
incorporated into the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive.

Shoah’s Visual History Archive is the largest digital collection of
its kind in the world, with 105,000 hours of video testimony. The
collection is available at 44 institutions around the world, and
approximately one million students, researchers, teachers and lay
people view the testimonies every year. In addition, thousands of
high school students across the country can view the testimonies
through IWitness, the Shoah Foundation Institute’s educational
website that makes 1,300 full life histories and testimonies of
survivors of genocides from the Visual History Archive available to
secondary students so they can create multimedia projects and complete
interactive activities.

AZERBAIJAN NOT RULES OUT PARTICIPATION IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP FM’S MEETING IN YEREVAN

September 06, 2013 | 13:21

Azerbaijan is considering possibility of participation in an informal
meeting of the FMs of the Eastern Partnership member countries to be
held in Armenia.

This meeting is the last ahead of the Eastern Partnership summit in
Vilnius, Azerbaijani Deputy FM said. “Therefore, we will probably
participate in the meeting in preparation for the summit,” Mahmoud
Mamedguliyev said.

The informal meeting of the FMs of the Eastern Partnership member
countries will be held on September 12 and 13 in Armenia’s capital
city Yerevan, and ahead of the Eastern Partnership summit to be held
in Vilnius, Lithuania.

To note, Yerevan will simultaneously host the informal meeting of
the education ministers of the Eastern Partnership member countries.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

EDITOR OF LEMKIN AUTOBIOGRAPHY TO SPEAK AT NAASR

By Contributor // September 6, 2013

BELMONT, Mass.-On Thurs., Sept. 19, Dr. Donna-Lee Frieze, a genocide
scholar and editor of the newly published autobiography of Raphael
Lemkin, will give a lecture entitled “Raphael Lemkin: The Armenian
Genocide and the Autobiography of the ‘Insistent Prophet'” at the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
in Belmont. The lecture will be co-sponsored by Facing History and
Ourselves of Brookline, and NAASR.

Cover of ‘Totally Unofficial’

When Lemkin collapsed at a bus stop on 42nd Street in New York City on
Aug. 29, 1959, he had either just visited the Curtis Brown Publishing
Agency on Madison Avenue or was on his way there to discuss his
autobiography, Totally Unofficial. He left behind a near-complete
autobiography, which was eventually donated to the New York Public
Library 23 years after his death, in August 1982, by Alexander Gabriel
from the Transradio News Agency, UN Bureau.

In June 2013, Yale University Press published Totally Unofficial,
in which Lemkin highlights the Armenian Genocide to articulate
his conceptual understanding of the meaning of genocide. Lemkin’s
autobiography clearly underscores the lawyer’s detailed analysis of
the crime. It is argued that the events of 1915 provided the framework
for Lemkin’s understanding of genocide as a crime of intended group
destruction, and not necessarily as mass killing. The long-awaited
publication of Lemkin’s autobiography is a watershed event in the
ongoing reassessment of his seminal work on genocide.

Donna-Lee Frieze is a Prins Senior Fellow at the Center for Jewish
History in New York City and a Visiting Fellow at the Alfred Deakin
Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She taught a graduate
unit, “Genocide,” for more than 10 years at Deakin University,
Melbourne, and has published widely on the Armenian Genocide,
the Holocaust, and the Bosnian Genocide in relation to testimony,
film, and philosophy. She was the editor and transcriber of Lemkin’s
autobiographyTotally Unofficial and the first vice-president of the
International Association of Genocide Scholars.

The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. at NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont.

The NAASR Bookstore will open at 7 p.m. the night of the lecture.

Totally Unofficial: The Autobiography of Raphael Lemkinwill be
available for purchase the night of the lecture. For more information,
call (617) 489-1610 or e-mail [email protected].

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EDITORIAL: NO US ATTACKS ON SYRIA

Friday, September 6th, 2013

ANCA opposes US strikes against Syria

As President Barack Obama prepares to address the nation, once again,
on his intention to attack Syria, Armenian-Americans must unequivocally
oppose the administration’s plans to engage in yet another war in
the Middle East, keeping in mind the definitive impact such an attack
will have on the Syrian-Armenian community.

The tactic adopted by the Obama Administration to convince the American
people of the righteousness of an attack on Syria is reminiscent of
when President George W. Bush wanted to secure-at all costs-approval
to attack Iraq in 2003, heralding claims of the existence of weapons
of mass destruction and Iraq’s role in the 9/11 attacks, all of which
proved to be false.

The cost of attacking Syria is high. Although the US claims it plans
to strike Syria’s military and alleged chemical weapons targets, the
loss of civilian life is imminent. The Christian minority population,
which includes the large Syrian-Armenian community, will be directly
in harm’s way.

Throughout the Syrian conflict, the Armenian community there
has weathered enormous losses and continues to live in unbearable
conditions, while steadfastly defending the cities and neighborhoods
that are populated by Armenians, especially in Aleppo.

Syria has immense significance to the entire Armenian nation,
not only as a safe-haven for survivors of the Armenian Genocide,
but also as a crossroads of civilizations. Before the crisis began,
the present-day Syrian-Armenian community was an integral part of
Syria’s development and contribution by Armenians to civil society
propelled a safe and secure existence for the community.

The Obama administration is out to teach a lesson to Syria and
to assert its role as a superpower. However, in this case, its
calculations are simply wrong, because, in its rabid effort to topple
the current regime, the US is aiding and abetting groups whose ultimate
intentions are to destroy America and cause harm to American interests.

If Obama’s intentions are to punish those who have caused the loss of
so many civilian lives, especially after the alleged chemical weapons
attacks late last month, perhaps it could take a moment to look inward
and assess the volume of casualties caused by US-led drone attacks
across the world. To whom is the US accountable for these atrocities?

According to media reports, the majority of Americans are opposed
to US intervention, in any form, in the Syrian conflict. If Congress
is truly representative of the popular will, then it will oppose the
proposed US strikes against Syria.

Earlier this week, the Armenian National Committee of America launched
a campaign to make Armenian-American opposition to the Syria attacks
known to members of Congress. Take a moment to voice your opposition
to US airstrikes.

The proposed US airstrikes against Syria will not resolve the ongoing
crisis in that country, nor will they benefit the international
community. From our perspective, they will further deteriorate the
conditions for our Armenian brothers and sisters in Syria. Let us
collectively oppose US airstrikes on Syria.

From: A. Papazian

MANAS AND DONALEE BOUJIKIAN DONATE $15,000 TO ASBAREZ

Friday, September 6th, 2013

Manas and Donalee Boujikian with Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh
Mardirossian

TORRANCE-Longtime community activists and benefactors to various
important community projects, Manas and Donalee Boujikian announced
a donation of $15,000 to Asbarez on the occasion of the newspaper’s
105th anniversary.

The Boujikians’ generous donations kicks off Asbarez’s anniversary
project to raise $105,000 to be allocated for the digitization of
the paper’s 105-year-old archives and make it available to the public
and the academic community.

Asbarez has already begun exploring the process and the steps it
will take to professionally digitize its vast archives and make it
available to the public at-large.

This project will also greatly enhance efforts by scholars and
historians to conduct research on Armenian issues, especially the
mirror that Asbarez has held to the Armenian-American community during
its 105-year history.

Asbarez is inviting interested community members to become an
integral part of this project by donating $1,000 to the effort. This
tax-deductible donation will enable Asbarez to expedite this process
and to provide the public access to our archives and bring to life
critical turning points and moments in our history.

The digitization project is a critical aspect of Asbarez’s longevity
and its mission to serve the public and the community, by extending
the arena-the Asbarez-to future generations.

The management and editorial board of Asbarez expresses its gratitude
to Manas and Donalee Boujikian for their contribution.

From: Baghdasarian

EUROPEAN PLURALISM: OFFICIALS CAN’T DECIDE ON ARMENIA

September 6, 2013 – 23:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – It seems that European officials can’t agree on how
to react to Armenia’s decision to join the Russia-led Customs Union, as
the statements they make regarding the issue are quite contradictory.

At first, Europe was furious about Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s
announcement.

“We expect clarifications from Armenia, and then we will be able
to assess the consequences this move may have,” Maja Kocijancic ,
a spokesperson for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy Catherine Ashton, said in Brussels.

Linas Linkevicius, the Foreign Minister of Lithuania, which holds
the rotating EU presidency, said Armenia “has blocked its chances of
signing a free trade deal with the European Union by choosing to join
the Russia-led union.”

“We respect any choice of countries but they cannot enter both
organizations at the same time because of different tariff
requirements,” he said.

In a separate statement, Linkevicius and seven other ministers
from Nordic and Baltic countries warned against Russian pressure on
post-Soviet states. “Any economic threat or political pressure directed
against Eastern partners because of their European aspirations and
engagement with the EU is unacceptable,” they said.

Gunnar Hokmark MEP, Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group in the European
Parliament responsible for neighbourhood policies said that Armenia
is turning away from Europe. “By saying yes to a Customs Union with
Russia, Armenia is saying yes to more dependence on the Putin regime
and No to a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. With this
step, the prospects for democracy will be weakened and the risk
of increased Russian influence over its neighbors will increase,”
he stated.

Besides, The European People’s Party (EPP) Political Assembly (PA)
issued a statement, which says: “EU’s Eastern Partnership (EaP)
project has been under threat since, in an alarming move, Russia
continues to escalate the pressure it exerts on neighboring countries.

Specifically, it has launched trade disputes with Ukraine and Moldova
and threatened the national interests of Armenia, which has forced
Armenia into the Eurasian Customs Union. Moreover, this activity
is accompanied by a massive information campaign by Russia aimed at
discrediting the benefits of the EU Association Agreement as well as
targeting key proponents of EU integration. The Eurasian Union is an
instrument being used by the Russian leadership to prevent neighboring
countries enhancing their integration with Europe in order to maintain
them as Russian satellite states. Successive EU enlargements have
brought Eastern Partnership countries closer to the EU and their
security, stability and prosperity increasingly impact upon the EU.

The European People’s Party is convinced that this unacceptable
behaviour by Russia will havea negative impact on EU-Russia relations.”

However, the European Commission said that the Association Agreement
(including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area) with Armenia
can be compatible with economic cooperation with the members of the
Commonwealth of Independent States.

“In July this year, after three and a half years, we finalized the
negotiations of the Association Agreement (including a Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area) with Armenia. This agreement would
allow Armenia with the EU´s support, to drive forward a program of
comprehensive modernization and reform based upon shared values,
political association and economic integration. We take note of
Armenia’s apparent wish to join the Customs Union. We look forward to
understanding better from Armenia what their intentions are and how
they wish to ensure compatibility between these and the commitments
undertaken through the Association Agreement and DCFTA. Once this
consultation has been completed, we will draw our conclusions on
the way forward. We want to underline once again that AA/DCFTA is
a blueprint for reforms beneficial for all and not a zero-sum game
and could be compatible with economic cooperation with the members
of the Commonwealth of Independent States,” the Commission said.

When in St. Petersburg to attend the G20 summit, European Council
President Herman Van Rompuy said that Armenia, Moldova, and, if
possible, Ukraine will hopefully sign the Association Agreement at
the Vilnius Summit in November 2013.

“This is a political agreement. The Agreement would allow Armenia to
go through comprehensive change both politically and economically.

Therefore, after getting the news about Armenia’s plans of joining the
Custom’s Union the EU expects to hear from Armenia what her further
plans are. We have not received official explanations from Armenia,
yet we don’t think this is a zero sum game and the same refers to
Ukraine. Some benchmarks will be necessary to meet. There are some
outstanding issues but we hope to see results in Vilnius. We are still
engaged with these countries and still expect to sign the Association
Agreements,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Stefan Fule, the European Commissioner for
Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, said that the European
Parliament is not going to initialize either the Associated Agreement
or the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Armenia, as it’s
not compatible with membership in the Customs Union.

Pluralism is certainly a good thing but European officials had
better finally decide how to treat Armenia. Otherwise, this unnatural
disagreement may seem to be just a bad performance.

Marina Ananikyan/PanARMENIAN.Net

OUR VICTORY SILENCED EVERYONE – HENRIKH MKHITARYAN

September 6, 2013

By Vera Martirosyan from Prague

PRAGUE. – Armenian international midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan said
the victory is the most important thing at the moment.

“The victory was hard to get, but getting victory is not an easy
thing,” Mkhitaryan said after his team’s 2-1 win over the Czech
Republic. “It is bad that we have suffered losses, but they must
recover by the time of next match.”

Borussia midfielder noted one must not pay attention to “what the
others would say”, NEWS.am Sport correspondent reports from Prague.

“By this victory we made them stay silent.”

NEWS.am Sport, in assistance with the Vivaro bookmaking agency,
is covering the Czech Rep. vs. Armenia match-related developments
directly from Prague.

OVER 50 DOCUMENTS ON JOINING CUSTOMS UNION TO BE SUBMITTED TO ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT – PRESIDENT

September 06, 2013 | 17:37

YEREVAN. – Up to 50 documents on joining the Customs Union will be
submitted to the parliament, President Serzh Sargsyan said.

On Friday, President Sargsyan visited the Ministry of Justice and
met with 300 employees of the ministry.

President heard the reports and answered the questions. He expressed
confidence that soon the work at Justice Ministry will be more
competitive as compared with the private sector.

“We are entering the stage when our efforts must be enhanced. On the
one hand we must continue reforms, on the other we must launch a new
process with the Customs Union. We have much to do. Over 50 documents
will be submitted to the parliament, and you [Ministry employees]
will shoulder the burden of preparations,” President said, urging to
raise effectiveness of work.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

EU/ARMENIA : EU READY TO COMPROMISE WITH YEREVAN ON TRADE DEAL

Europolitics (daily in English)
September 5, 2013 Thursday

Lenaïc Vaudin d?Imecourt

Armenia will be joining the Russian-led Eurasian Union, President Serzh
Sargsyan announced, on 3 September – a move that should killoff all
hopes of the country signing a free trade agreement with the European
Union at the Eastern Partnership summit in late November. But the
EU could be ready to negotiate with Yerevan so it can benefit from
trade preferences from both the EU and Russia.

Sargsyan confirmed his decision after a meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin in Moscow. “This decision is not a rejection of our
dialogue with the European institutions,” he noted.

By choosing to join the Eurasian Union with Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan, Armenia is supposedly blocking the signing of the trade
deal with the EU, which has warned several times that the two deals
were incompatible. “They will not be able to sign both agreements
due to different tariff requirements,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister
Linas Linkevicius told BNS, the Baltic news agency.

“We look forward to understanding better from Armenia what their
intentions are and how they wish to ensure compatibility,” the EU’s
enlargement spokesperson said, adding that the trade deal “could be
compatible with economic cooperation with the members of Commonwealth
of Independent States”. For the time being, compatibility would not
be possible, an EU source told Europolitics. But the Commission would
be ready to negotiate the terms of said compatibility.

Armenia and the EU wrapped up negotiations of the trade deal in July.

It was expected to be finalised upon signature of a larger bilateral
association agreement, which was to be initialled at the 28-29 November
Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

ARMENIAN CONSUMER PRICE INFLATION RISES SHARPLY TO 9.3% IN AUGUST DESPITE INTEREST RATE RISE
by: Lilit Gevorgyan

IHS Global Insight
September 5, 2013

An energy price increase in July was the main trigger for the inflation
spike in Armenian consumer prices in August, with the annual rate of
change in food and utilities reaching double digits.

Nearing double-digit inflation mark

Armenian consumer price inflation rose sharply in August to a year-high
of 9.3%, as a result of strong inflationary pressures from food and
services prices, according to the Armenian Statistics Office.

The annual rate of change in consumer price index (CPI) in August
was up compared to year-on-year (y/y) gains of 8.5% in July, 6.5% in
June and 5.2% in May. However, in a month-on-month (m/m) comparison,
consumer prices rose at a slower rate in August, up by 0.3%, compared
to a 0.4% m/m gain in July and a 0.1% m/m decline in June.

The breakdown of the consumer price index in August revealed that the
strongest inflationary impulse came from services sector, largely as
a result of increase in energy prices that came into effect in July
2013. The cost of services, the second largest component of CPI after
consumer goods, rose to 11.2% y/y in August, up from a y/y gain of
8.4% in July. The services sector, according to the methodology of
the Armenian Statistics Office, includes housing, utilities, energy as
well as transport and communication. The double-digit increase in food
prices was another strong contributor of August inflation. Food prices
were up by 10% y/y, slightly decelerating from 10.3% y/y increase in
July. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices also rose by 5.9% y/y in
August, only marginally faster compared to 5.8% y/y increase in July.

Main culprit

The Armenian authorities have been successful in keeping the inflation
rate below the target range with a 4% mid-point throughout 2012. This
was mainly due to suppressed import prices, as well as good harvests
ensuring food prices, which have a significant weight in the overall
consumer goods and services basket, increased only moderately.

However, in April ArmRusgazard, Armenia’s national energy distributor,
which is 80% controlled by the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom,
applied to the Public Services Regulatory Commission to increase
gas tariffs by 50%. This eventually led to an 18% increase of
domestic retail gas prices, effective from July 2013. Aware of the
negative consequences of the dramatic gas price increase on Armenian
consumers, the government decided to subsidise 30% of the gas prices
for low-income households. However, this undertaking is going to
put further pressure on the government finances and increase the
possibility of the government missing its budget deficit target in
2013, which are projected by to stand at 2.6% of GDP.

Outlook and implications

Despite the Armenian Central Bank’s (CBA) decision to increase its
refinancing rate by 50 basis points to 8.5% in August, both food
and services prices continued to rise at alarming rate, prompting it
to revise its inflation forecast for the next 12 months. Armenia’s
monetary regulator now expects consumer prices to rise by 8.5% y/y in
the third quarter of 2013, while the year-end inflation is projected
to stand at 7.5-9.0%. Meanwhile the government projects that the
annual inflation to stand at 4%, which is below our projection of 4.6%
for 2013 as a whole, according to our August forecast.

The CBA’s decision to increase its lending rate has yet to take an
effect, although the impact of the rate increase could be limited
given the poor transmission channels in Armenia’s still developing
banking system. We believe that two major factors, high energy
prices and poor harvests, are expected to keep Armenia’s consumer
prices elevated in the coming months. Meanwhile CBA will become under
increasing pressure to maintain its goal of keeping inflation within
a band with 4% mid-point and plus or minus 1.5% fluctuation. This
is because the food products make the largest part of the Armenian
consumer products basket and poor harvests as a result of bad weather
in early 2013 will add to inflationary pressures. In addition, the
demand for energy is inelastic, hence likely to engender further rise
in consumer price index in the coming months. However, with Armenia
now intending to join the Russian-led Customs Union, Russia’s Gazprom
may offer Yerevan a discount in gas prices, as already hinted in the
recent bilateral presidential level talks between the two countries.

Should the gas price discount materialise, this should ease
inflationary pressures on Armenian consumer prices.