Month: September 2013

VENETIAN SPECIALIST TO DESIGN KOMITAS MUSEUM INSTITUTE HALLS

11:16, 27 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: A museum hall design specialist
will arrive in Armenia from Venice in November to design the halls
of the Komitas Museum Institute. As the Armenpress correspondent was
reported by the project architect Arthur Meschian, the works of the
Museum’s construction will be over by the end of October or at the
beginning of November.

The complex will have a museum part, a research center, a concert
hall, a music studio, a library and a publishing house. The project
is implemented with the funds provided by Pyunik Charity Organization.

On May 30, 2012 the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan AllArmenian
Fund held its 21st annual meeting, at the Government Reception Hall
in Yerevan. The plenary event was presided over by Serzh Sargsyan,
president of the Republic of Armenia and chairman of the fund’s Board
of Trustees. The Board discussed a special cultural project proposed
by President Sargsyan, namely the establishment of the Komitas Museum,
adjacent to the Komitas PantheonPark in Yerevan.

As he described the project, Sargsyan said he envisions it not as a
museum per se but rather a dynamic cultural center offering various
artistic events, where patrons from throughout Armenia and visitors
to the republic alike would have the chance to familiarize themselves
with the rich musical legacy of Komitas Vardapet.

On September 19 2012 the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan attended the official ceremony of the public presentation
of the Komitas Museum Institute and stated in his speech: “Komitas
left a huge legacy, bits and pieces of which still can be found in
different corners of the world. It’s not the quantity that’s important
but the quality and nature of that legacy. Fully aware of that fact,
we believe that it is only natural that the Komitas Museum-Institute
should be created in Armenia. I agree with those who believe that the
existence of such an institution is a necessity, call of the times. I
assume and would like to believe that the Komitas Museum Institute will
become a major center for the Armenian as well as foreign researchers.

Komitas had unearthed not just songs, but a full layer of civilization,
which it should be admitted, has not been fully understood by us yet,
have not yet made it a full-fledged property of the Armenian and
world music societies. Komitas should not be a worshiped but unknown
idol. Komitas should be an active participant of our cultural life, one
of the most important factors of our refining identity, should continue
to lead us through the complicated crossroads of the 21st century”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN ACCELERATED INJIGHULYAN’S TRANSFER TO THIRD COUNTRY: ARMENIA’S FORMER OMBUDSWOMAN

09:33, 27 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: The letters, sent to the
international human rights organizations on the protection of
the right of expression of the free will of the Armenian captive
Hakob Injighulyan, have remained unanswered. This was reported to
Armenpress by the first Ombudswoman of Armenia, the Chairwoman of
the “Against Illegal Arbitrariness” NGO Larisa Alaverdyan, stating
that it gives a ground to think that the international organizations
are politicized. “There has been no reaction to our letters. As far
as Azerbaijan has accelerated the process of the transfer of Hakob
Injighulyan to the third country, which I think to be positive, that
gives us a reason to think that the international public organizations
are politicized”, – said Larisa Alaverdyan, noting that the sooner
the transfer is carried out, the better, as there have been cases,
when the Azerbaijanis abused the rights of the Armenian captives.

“Against Illegal Arbitrariness” NGO applied to the International
Committee of the Red Cross, as well as other human rights
organizations, asking to provide with the opportunity to visit Hakob
Injighulyan along with the representatives of the Red Cross to get
sure that the transfer to the third country was the expression of
the free will of the Armenian soldier or he was made to do it.

Earlier the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army informed that
Hakob Injighulyan, born in 1991, at about 03:00 at night of August
7-8 during his service did not manage to orient in the territory and
crossed the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border and appeared on the territory
protected by the rival’s troops. On August 8 the Armenian Office of
the International Committee of the Red Cross applied to the ICRC Baku
Office on the incident. Recently Hakob Injighulyan gave an interview
to one of the Azerbaijani TV channels. On August 20 the delegation
of the ICRC Baku Office met with Hakob Injighulyan and passed him a
letter from his family. In general the information provided concerning
the meeting was quite brief. It is known only that the Armenian
serviceman as well transferred a letter to his family. On August 15
the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia David Tonoyan held
a regular meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross
delegate in Armenia Dragana Rankovich. During the meeting Rankovich
informed that according to the information from the ICRC office in
Baku “they are confident that they will soon get the date of the
visit with Hakob Injighulyan”.

From: A. Papazian

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: ARMENIAN POLICE DON’T VIEW BEATING AS CRIME

Friday,
September
27

>From now on, all low- and mid-level officials of various Armenian
departments can freely beat people on streets of Yerevan, that is,
they can hit them on the head and inflict injuries. The Armenian
police don’t see elements of a crime in such actions, according to
‘Haykakan Zhamanak’ daily.

“On July 17 the head of the Yerevan Municipality’s Trade and Service
Department Arman Yedoyan beat up 25-year-old balloon vendor Arsen
Sakanian in Republic Square of Yerevan. The Kentron police unit began
to prepare materials in connection the incident. Yet the daily’s
correspondent was informed yesterday that no criminal case will be
opened over Arsen Sakanian’s beating,” the paper says.

TODAY, 12:21

Aysor.am

ARMENIA SIGNS CONVENTION ABOUT PROTECTION OF MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS

YEREVAN, September 27. /ARKA/. Armenian foreign minister Edward
Nalbandyan who is in the Untied States for an official visit signed
Thursday the international convention about protection of rights of
migrants and their families in UN Headquarters in New York, the press
office of Armenian foreign ministry reported.

On the same day Nalbandyan presided over a non-official meeting of
foreign ministers of Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization
(BSECO) member states.

The sides discussed BSECO action plan for 2013-2015, including better
regional economic cooperation, transparency in BSECO operations and
measures within Armenia’s chairmanship in the organization.

The meeting participants also touched upon the forthcoming high-level
meeting on information and communication technologies in Yerevan
scheduled for October 4.

Armenia took over BSECO chairmanship on June 21 for the period ending
on December 31 2013.-0–

– See more at:

From: A. Papazian

DAVID GEVORGYAN. “THE VIDEOS ARE MORE RELIABLE THAN THE U.S. AMBASSADOR’S STATEMENTS” (VIDEO)

September 26 2013

Recently, RA Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan receiving the U.S.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Heffern,
referred to civil actions, and the relationship between activists and
police during the civil actions. In his turn, John Heffern noted that
he is aware of the situation and said that during the civil actions,
the RA police officers have demonstrated tolerance and did not apply
force. To the question of Aravot.am whether you agrees with the opinion
of John Heffern, one of the activists gathered in front of the City
Hall, David Gevorgyan first said that he does not understand the
words of the Chief Police a little bit, in addition, “Mr. Osipyan’s
statement a few days ago, particularly to the fact that the police
from now on will only act entirely by the law. In other words, what
did they tolerate, did people break the law that they have tolerated,
or a part of policemen has violated the law, and the others part has
tolerated. I can not understand the tolerance of this policemen, I do
not know how their tolerance was expressed. Did the activists break
the law, and they have tolerated? When? And what was the violation
of the law, or whether we have violated the law, and whether it is
a violation of the law to put a foot on the stairs of the City Hall,
and is it a reason to apprehend, and a report is written that as if
we have blocked the road at the moment”. To our observation that,
in fact, you do not share the opinion of the U.S. Ambassador that the
policemen were tolerant, and did not use force, David Gevorgyan was
surprised,- “They did not apply force? During the similar well-known
cases on Komitas 5 everything was video recorded, I think these
videos are more reliable than the U.S. Ambassador’s statements.” To
our question, maybe the ambassador was not informed, David Gevorgyan
said,- “I do not think that the U.S. Ambassador was not aware of
what is going on in the capital of a country, where his residence is,
he is appointed… the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia doesn’t know what
is going on in the hottest part of the capital, I do not believe.”

Eva HAKOBYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FROM NEIGHBOR’S OBSERVATION POST

September 27 2013

I not only read the 30-minute speech of our neighboring country
President Mikhail Saakashvili at the UN General Assembly, but also
watched, it was interesting how, what intonation the President of
Georgia was using in his speech, as well as when and how the RF
representatives were leaving the hall. The last episode was not
particularly impressive, the Russian diplomats came out around 25
minutes later, when the most fierce criticism to the address of
their country was already voiced. Of course, Saakashvili is not a
balanced person, he is much excited, he is having shortness of breath,
especially when talking about Russia. However, some observations
seemed to me quite fair, Armenia was driven to the corner and
was had to join the Customs Union, Russia is not interested that
any side of Karabakh conflict benefits, because, in this case,
the RF will lose its influence in the South Caucasus, Russia will
fail creating a new empire. Especially the Georgian President was
right when he was saying that a special campaign was carried out
in the countries which negotiations on the Association Agreement
with the aim to identify the European values with homosexuality
and to introduce in our country the idea that as if EU’s goal is to
destroy our national identity, traditions, family, and belief. This
campaign, as Saakashvili really thinks, was coordinated from the
Kremlin, and its indirect evidence is that Putin’s recent speech
on Valda forum repeated the main theses of this campaign. However,
the general ‘concept’, which lies at the heart of the Georgian
President’s speech, is unacceptable to me, it, if we make it short,
is the concept of the “black” and “white”. To the point: there is a
“black,” aggressive, corrupted, hostile-to-the-whole-world Russia,
and a bright, democratic and friendly-to-all-nations West. In fact,
most of the accusations that were made by Saakashvili against Russia,
he could repeat regarding the EU countries, especially the United
States. Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians and many other nations are thinking
about Americans exactly the same as Georgians about Russians. Every
superpower is doing hooliganism in the region “trusted thereto”. Of
course, the head of the neighboring country is also exaggerating the
achievements of Georgia under his ruling; in terms of quality of life,
there are no significant differences between our two countries. But,
with respect to justice, law and order, fight against corruption,
and business liberalization, our neighbors, indeed, have made some
success. I assume also due to the independence from Russia.

ARAM ABRAHAMYAN

Read more at:

© 1998 – 2013 Aravot – News from Armenia

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN FM VISITS NEW YORK

13:32 27.09.2013

Edward Nalbandian, New York

Within the framework of the visit to New York, Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with EU High Representative
for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, EU Commissioner
for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Å tefan Fule and
the Foreign Ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries. Issues
related to the preparation of the Vilnius summit were discussed.

Edward Nalbandian chaired the informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers
of BSEC member states. The meeting covered issues of implementation
of the 2013-2015 Action Plan of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation,
the raise of the organizations’ efficiency, events to be organized
under the Armenian chairmanship.

During the meeting reference was made to the high-level meeting on
Information and Communication Technologies to be held in Yerevan on
October 4.

During the meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zanier the
interlocutors exchanged views on issues of OSCE agenda and the process
of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh issue.

At the Armenian Permanent Representation in the UN, Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister of Vanuatu signed a joint communiqué on the establishment
of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Ministers
exchanged views on the steps to be taken towards establishment of
bilateral relations.

The Foreign Minister of Kosovo Enver Haja briefed the Armenian
Foreign Minister on the process of reconciliation with Serbia under
the EU auspices. Enver Haja expressed gratitude for the service of
the Armenian peacekeepers in Kosovo.

KARABAKH PEACE TALKS FACING STALEMATE – OPINION

13:16 ~U 27.09.13

The Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh have
entered a period of stalemate, a political analyst has said,
attributing the fact to the upcoming presidential elections in
Azerbaijan.

“I regret that the negotiation process is passive, with the Armenian
side giving little attention to the debates held in different
international research centers. They develop theories over those
conflicts. The [International] Crisis Group has published a new
report addressing the Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict, which
contains harmful positions from Armenia’s standpoint,” Hrant Melik
Shahnazaryan told a news conference on Friday, noting that many points
in the document place an equal sign between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The expert noted particularly that the authors of the report have
balanced Armenia’s plan to open an airport in Nagorno-Karabakh with
the Azerbaijani authorities’ pardon of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani
army officer who was sentenced to life in Hungary for killing Gurgen
Safaryan, an Armenian colleague.

“This thesis is present also in the analysis by the London-based Royal
United Service, which was financed by Azerbaijan. Attempts are being
made to develop and politicize it,” he said.

The second thesis, according to the expert, are the speculations over
the non-effectiveness of the OSCE Minsk Group mission, which acts
as a mediator in the conflict settlement talks between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

“The idea is that the Minsk Group did not in any way contribute to the
conflict settlement in the past year, hence it is necessary to seek a
solution in other formats. In my deepest conviction, Azerbaijan has
one reason to be really interested in splitting up the group. They
realize that the institute has turned into a close club allowing big
states to coordinate their decisions on the South Caucasus,” he said,
noting that Azerbaijan is seeking other formats in an attempt to
involve Turkey in the process.

Armenian News – Tert.am

‘STAGED AND SCRIPTED’: MOTHER AGNES FINALIZES CHRONOLOGY OF DAMASCUS CHEMICAL ATTACK

Published time: September 26, 2013 03:06

Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib

Arms, Children, Conflict, Mass media,Syria, Terrorism, UN, War witness

A new version of a study produced by Mother Agnes, a catholic
nun, pointing to a number of fabricated videos used as evidence of
complicity by the Assad government in a recent chemical attack is in
the works, she told RT.

The report by the Christian nun, Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother
superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, has alleged that many
videos featuring supposed victims of the chemical weapons attack in
the Syrian village of Guta in August were in fact staged and scripted.

The question for the nun now revolves around the “humanitarian”
question of what happened to the children featured in the video.

“Those children are the children of whom? From where did you get them?

Why are you using them and manipulating them?”

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian
Arab Republic was created in August 2011 by the Human Rights Council
to investigate alleged violations of human rights.

RT: What exactly led you to the conclusion that the videos of the
chemical attack were fabricated?

Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib: I have been contacted by families from
the province of Lattakia. They alleged that they discovered victims,
the children that are presented as victims of the chemical attacks
in Eastern Ghouta, would be their own children. They had asked me
to interfere, so I had to study a little bit of those videos to see
where those children are carried, because in some videos they are
alive and in some videos they seem not to be alive.

I came to identify in many videos real staging, real screen playing
and today after having redacted a study concerning my first impression,
I called it a better version.

Today I’m just finishing the chronology of those videos and of the
action they are unveiling to the public opinion. I’m more and more
convinced that it is not the coverage of an ongoing reality , the
ongoing emergency of chemical strikes, but a kind of screen playing
with a script that has been worked on many days before.

RT: Are you an expert on chemical weapons and film-making?

MA: We see kind of manipulations of corpses. For example in an average
timeframe between 2-5 hours we see bodies that are not cured that are
not healed, we see them take them from one place to another. They
put them in a scenography way just to make the shooting. These are
not confirmed to what they are pretending – they are showing us as
they say victims of an imminent chemical attack. So I have found a
lot of screenplay and all of them, they are very well documented. We
could derive from the web the real chronology, the real time frame
of their uploading. And it is obvious, nobody can deny this.

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube by the Arbeen
unified press office on August 21, 2013 shows a man comforting a
Syrian girl in shock as she screams in Arabic “I am alive” following
an attack in which Syrian opposition claim the regime used chemical
weapons in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus (AFP Photo)

I’m not an expert, I’m not military, I’m not a medical expert – I am a
just an observer, a normal citizen and as a nun I’m trying to find out
what is the fate of those little children. If they are from the North,
from Lattakia, I would like to know where they are. If they are not
from North Lattakia, we also have the proof that they have no families.

So please tell us – those children are the children of whom? From
where did you get them? Why are you using them and manipulating them?

Are they alive or are they dead? Now it is a humanitarian case and
we’re asked to bring it to the highest level of the humanitarian and
human rights community in the world.

RT: How did the UN respond to your findings?

MA: I said directly in a meeting with the commission of inquiry that
I have been viewing the videos and that my impression was that they
were a fake. They were very much interested. They’ve asked me to
transmit to them the videos as well as my own observation.

Until today I have just transmitted to the commission of inquiry and
also to the office of the high commissioner of human rights in Geneva
my 50-page study. I did not transmit until today the videos because
I wanted to be sure about my work and I will transmit to them, remit
to them in an official way the whole work of chronology and evidences
that they will be able to see, to view it in an audio-visual way.

From: A. Papazian

WESTERN MEDIA CAN’T HIDE TRUTH FOREVER: STEPHEN LENDMAN

09:21 27/09/2013 ” INTERVIEWS

Press TV has conducted an interview with Stephen Lendman, an author
and radio host, from Chicago, about an article published by an
American journalist in MintPress News who claims to have found,
after interviewing insurgents in Syria, that chemical weapons were
supplied to them by Saudi Arabia ordered by Prince Bandar Sultan.

– Here we have another example of proof that the insurgents were behind
this chemical attack in Ghouta and that Saudi Arabia was complicit
in this, of course, Prince Bandar quoted as saying that he provided
the chemical weapons or a party linked to him.

Why wouldn’t this get widespread coverage in Western media as acts
that they claim the Syrian government was responsible for the chemical
attack in Ghouta?

– Well, of course, the US media, the reason I call them scoundrel
media, they only publish what I call the big lies. So, they publish
one lie after another wrongfully blaming Syria for blames committed
by these insurgents – the most extremist types: al-Qaeda, al-Nusra,
other extremist groups.

And there is overwhelming evidence that these people have chemical
weapons. They’re supplied by Saudi Arabia. Prince Bandar is very,
very much involved. He is head of Saudi intelligence; he’s been doing
these kinds of nefarious things for years.

The insurgents were responsible for the Ghouta attack. Russia published
information last March that the insurgents were responsible for a
chemical weapons attack in an Aleppo suburb. It supplied the UN with
this information and the UN buried it; didn’t report it and neither
did the US media.

– It’s becoming more evident from other alternative media, if you want
to call them that, such as I’d like to mention Russia Today where
there was a former Pentagon official Michael Maloof who had a paper
in his hands saying that US intelligence is aware that insurgents are
in possession of sarin gas and that this was supplied through Turkey.

This is becoming somewhat now out in the open for the general public’s
view. How can the US then think they can get away with it?

In addition, as you said, the Russian government is providing the UN
with a detailed report provided by Syria about the insurgents being
complicit in this.

– On the one hand, there is an old saying that if a tree falls in
the forest and nobody hears it or sees it, I guess it didn’t fall.

But there’s another wonderful saying that goes, “What can’t go on
forever, won’t.” And I agree.

America may get away with this for year after year after year, but
at some point push comes to shove and the day of reckoning will come
when America will no longer be able to get away with this.

There are wonderful things happening in terms of supplying people
with real information. Press TV is in the forefront of doing it,
Russia Today does a wonderful job, Voice of Russia does the same
thing and other alternative media including in America where people
are turning more to these sources for information and tuning out what
I call the scoundrel media.

And I write about this all the time. At some point these people
simply will not be looked to for information and people will get it
from credible sources and then the tide of truth will no longer be
able to be held back.

There is no question that Syria has been invaded; Washington has
been very much responsible; they’re using terror gangs to commit
horrendous crimes against the Syrian people; it’s important that this
gets reported.

It is being reported and increasingly more and more people are finding
out about it. I hope they’ll do something about it.