Month: February 2015

ARMENIAN SCIENTISTS ESPECIALLY STRONG IN MATH AND PHYSICS – CHILINGAROV

YEREVAN, February 26. /ARKA/. Mathematics and physics are the strengths
of the Armenian science, legendary polar explorer and Hero of the
Soviet Union and Russia Arthur Chilingarov says.

Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences is strong and appreciated,
by many world-renowned scientists in particular, Chilingarov said.

According to him, the science, math and physics, is still strong
in Armenia and scientific ties should be developed with the Russian
Academy of Sciences.

“I am saying this as a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy
of Sciences. We will be doing everything, particularly when there
are many Armenians who are renowned scientists and have had great
contribution to scientific development in general,” Chilingarov said.

-0–

CHILINGAROV – WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS

YEREVAN, February 26. /ARKA/. The people should keep the memory of
the genocide, and Armenia should strengthen further, legendary polar
explorer and Hero of the Soviet Union and Russia Arthur Chilingarov
told Novosti-Armenia.

The memory of the genocide victims will never fade, no matter
how many years passed, he said. It is very important that Armenia
continues strengthening and become a country that is reckoned with,
the scientist said.

Chilingarov said the steps taken by the government for integration
and cooperation with various countries today should be welcomed.

The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the twentieth century.

According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million
Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by
the government of Turkey. Turkey has been denying it for decades.

The Armenian genocide was recognized by tens of countries. The first
was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia, France,
Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden,
Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina,
42 U.S. states. It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European
Parliament, the World Council of Churches and other international
organizations. -0–

ARMENIANS HAVE A HIGH GENETIC AFFINITY TO ANCIENT EUROPEANS, NEW STUDY REVEALS

16:16, 26 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

A new study into Armenian genetics reveals that present day Armenians
are a mixture of local Bronze Age people who have retained homogeneity
for over three thousand years, and show great affinity to Neolithic
Europeans, PeopleOfAr reports.

Armenians are an ethno-linguistic-religious group distinct from
their surrounding neighbors. They have their own church, the Armenian
Apostolic Church, which was founded in the 1st century CE, and became
in 301 CE the first branch of Christianity to become a state religion.

They have also their own alphabet and language which is classified
as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family.

The historical homeland of the Armenians sits north of the
Fertile Crescent, a region of substantial importance to modern
human evolution. Genetic and archaeological data suggest farmers
expanding from this region during the Neolithic populated Europe and
interacted/admixed with pre-existing huntergatherer populations.

Furthermore, Armenia’s location may have been important for the spread
of Indo-European languages, since it is believed to encompass or be
close to the Proto-Indo-European homeland (Anatolia or Pontic Steppe)
from which the Indo-Europeans and their culture spread to Western
Europe, Central Asia and India.

Bel tried to impose his tyranny upon Hayk’s people. But proud Hayk
refused to submit to Bel. As soon as his son Aramaneak was born, Hayk
rose up and led his people back into his ancestral land of Ararad. At
the foot of the mountain he built a village and called it with his name
“Haykashen”.

According to a new study into Armenian genetics, published on the
bioRxiv preprint service for biology, the Armenian people derive
their ancestry from a number of local Bronze age tribes. A team
of international scholars (from UK, Spain, Italy and Lebanon) led
by Marc Haber have analysed Armenian genes and compared them to 78
other worldwide populations including some ancient DNA samples. They
conclude that:

The Armenians show signatures of an origin from mixture of diverse
populations occurring 3,000 to 2,000 BCE. This period spans the Bronze
Age, characterized by extensive use of metals in farming tools,
chariots and weapons, accompanied by development of the earliest
writing systems and the establishment of trade routes and commerce.

These mixture dates also coincide with the legendary establishment
of Armenia in 2,492 BCE.

However, unlike Armenian neighbors the Armenians show no significant
traces of further admixture after 1,200 BCE, some three and a half
thousand years ago. It appears that Armenians have stopped mixing
around that time and today carry little to no mixture of foreign
populations, retaining their ethnic and cultural homogeneity since
the end of the Bronze Age. Haber et. al describe:

Tests suggest that Armenians had no significant mixture with other
populations in their recent history and have thus been genetically
isolated since the end of the Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago.

The authors explain the cessation of Armenian admixture as resulting
from a collapse of Bronze Age civilizations coupled with a development
of Armenian cultural distinctiveness.

Admixture signals decrease to insignificant levels after 1,200 BCE,
a time when Bronze Age civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean world
suddenly collapsed, with major cities being destroyed or abandoned and
most trade routes disrupted. This appears to have caused Armenians’
isolation from their surroundings, subsequently sustained by the
cultural/linguistic/religious distinctiveness that persists until
today.

Armenians’ adoption of a distinctive culture early in their history
resulted in their genetic isolation from their surroundings. Their
genetic resemblance today to other genetic isolates in the Near East,
but not to most other Near Easterners, suggests that recent admixture
has changed the genetic landscape in most populations in the region.

We compared patterns of admixture in Armenians to other regional
populations and detected signals of recent admixture in most other
populations. For example, we find 7.9% (±0.4) East Asian ancestry in
Turks from admixture occurring 800 (±170) years ago coinciding with
the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia from their homelands
near the Aral Sea. We also detect sub-Saharan African gene flow 850
(±85) years ago in Syrians, Palestinians and Jordanians, consistent
with previous reports on recent gene flow from Africans to Levantine
populations after the Arab expansions.This genetic isolation makes
Armenians quite unique in the region as the study goes on to describe:

The genetic landscape in most of the Middle East appears to have been
continuously changing. Modern Armenians much more so than the Turks,
therefore appear to be a prime representatives of ancient Anatolian
inhabitants:

The position of the Armenians within the global genetic diversity is
unique and appears to mirror the geographical location of Anatolia.

Previous genetic studies have generally used Turks as representatives
of ancient Anatolians. Our results show that Turks are genetically
shifted towards Central Asians, a pattern consistent with a history
of mixture with populations from this region.

These results seem to corroborate with previous studies (Hellenthal
et. al., 2014) which also didn’t find admixture with Armenians for
the past 3 to 4 thousand years.

Affinity to Ancient Europeans

The Armenian Highlands and Anatolia form a bridge connecting Europe,
the Near East and the Caucasus. Anatolia’s location and history have
placed it at the centre of several modern human expansions in Eurasia:
it has been inhabited continuously since at least the early Upper
Palaeolithic, and has the oldest known monumental complex built by
huntergatherers in the 10th millennium BCE (Armenian Portasar commonly
known as Gobekli Tepe). It is believed to have been the origin and/or
route for migrating Near Eastern farmers towards Europe during the
Neolithic, and has also played a major role in the dispersal of the
Indo-European languages. Armenia’s location at the northern tip of
the Near East suggests a plausible relationship to the expanding
Neolithic farmers.

In order to compare Armenians with ancient Europeans the authors have
analysed ancient DNA samples from Europe including that of Otzi the
Iceman (a 5,300-year-old individual discovered on the Italian part
of the Otztal Alps). The study concludes:

We show that Armenians have higher genetic affinity to Neolithic
Europeans than other present-day Near Easterners, and that 29% of
the Armenian ancestry may originate from an ancestral population best
represented by Neolithic Europeans.

We find in Armenians and other genetic isolates in the Near East
high shared ancestry with ancient European farmers with ancestry
proportions similar to presentday Europeans but not to present-day
Near Easterners… Our tests show that most of the Near East genetic
isolates ancestry shared with Europeans can be attributed to expansion
after the Neolithic period.

The long period of genetic isolation makes Armenians in particular
unique to the region. The study of the Armenian DNA is therefore
very interesting to scholars who study European DNA, because to
them Armenians are like an image of what the DNA groups were before
they started spreading out.These results suggest that the Armenians
(the genetic isolates in the Near East) probably retain features of
an ancient genetic landscape in the Near East that had more affinity
to Europe than most of the present day Near Eastern populations do.

Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private, non-profit
institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience,
plant genetics, genomics and quantitative biology

TURKS MOVE SULEYMAN SHAH MAUSOLEUM TO ARMENIANS’ “DEATH” PATH

15:49, 26.02.2015

A new detail has come to light with respect to the Turkish army’s
recent relocation of the tomb of Suleyman Shah in Syria.

The Turkish armed forces, together with the local Kurdish militants,
have transferred the remains of Suleyman Shah–the forebear of Osman I,
the founder of the Ottoman Empire–to the Eshme region on the Turkish
border, reported Agos Armenian bilingual weekly of Istanbul.

It was found out, however, that the place where the Turks have begun
building a new mausoleum for Suleyman Shah had been on the “death”
path of the Armenians in 1915; that is, it was through this area that
hundreds of thousands of Armenians were taken to their death in the
deserts of Deir ez-Zor.

NEWSPAPER: PROSPEROUS ARMENIA TO HAVE NEW PARTY LEADER

07:58, 26.02.2015

YEREVAN. – Following non-pro-government Prosperous Armenia Party
(PAP) Chairman Gagik Tsarukyan’s resignation during the PAP special
congress on March 5, PAP National Assembly [NA] Faction Secretary Naira
Zohrabyan, who was the sole candidate in replacing Tsarukyan, will
be elected new chairperson of the party, Zhoghovurd daily reported.

“And according to Zhoghovurd’s information, Prime Minister Hovik
Abrahamyan is the person behind the proposal of appointing Naira
Zohrabyan to the position of the PAP Chairperson.

“During a meeting that was held recently, the PM presented Naira
Zohrabyan the terms under the acceptance of which she will be entrusted
the position of the PAP Chairperson. Given that the political decision
to designate Zohrabyan [to this post] has been made, it is assumed
that she has accepted the terms presented to her.

“Incidentally, after these transformations, the PAP will remain in the
non-pro-government domain. What is more, the PAP will also be permitted
to vote against the draft constitutional amendments,” Zhoghovurd wrote.

“STATE MACHINERY IS CAPTURED BY A COUPLE OF BANDITS” (VIDEO)

12:08 | February 26,2015 | Politics

With 16 in favor, 67 against and 6 abstained votes the NA rejected
the project on “Governance crisis” submitted by the Armenian National
Congress (HAK).

HAK faction Head Levon Zurabyan thinks “we deal with deep crisis also
in the leaders of the ruling regime.”

As a result HAK came to the conclusion that if these authorities
continue governing, the RA will soon complete the list of failed
states. As a solution the project suggested holding urgent political
consultations. Number one solution for the HAK is anti-monopolization
and creation of national capitalism.

NA vice president Eduard Sharmazanov claims that there is no governance
crisis in the country in the classical sense, “Governance crisis
happens when the majority cannot work, when decisions aren’t made at
government sittings, when there is disobedience in the whole country.”

Zurabyan thinks “the government is able to make decisions, state
machinery works, but it doesn’t work for the people, it is captured
by a couple of bandits in order to gain wealth.”

Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), which abstained from voting
on the project, thinks that there is crisis in the country, but it
has systematic nature.

More in the video

“CRISIS WILL BE RESOLVED, IF THE ELITE ALMOST WHOLLY STEPS ASIDE” (VIDEO)

10:54 | February 26,2015 | Interview

A1+ interviewed management expert Harutyun Mesropyan.

“You must be happy with the crisis, if you are ready to overcome it,
if not- it is a bad thing,” says the expert. He highlights that since
1988, when Artsakh movement started, there wasn’t a goal to create a
powerful state, there was a goal to resolve Artsakh issue and it was
resolved, “We still haven’t understood that it is very difficult to
keep the state.”

Harutyun Mesropyan thinks that 24 years’ crisis is possible to be
resolved, if the government elite almost wholly steps aside, “But
there is no need for it, today we don’t appreciate the educated,
each of us insists on his own opinion, in such conditions we will
remain in this situation.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE PRIME MINISTER TOO HAS NO HOPE OF IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY

February 26 2015

The terms of building the Southern Railway is postponed again. Today,
the Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan said that
the terms for accepting respective legal acts on making amendments
in the Concession agreement and the list of actions required for
building Armenia’s Southern Railway (Iran -Armenia railway) is
postponed for two months. The Minister talked about it with Prime
Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan at the cabinet session.

Gagik Beglaryan connected postponement for building the railroad by
having a negative attitude caused by the concessionaires. He said
that their recommendations for amendments to the contract are in the
final stage and will be presented additionally. Today, it was decided
through negotiating with the concessionaire to submit a proposal to
the Government of Armenia until May 30, 2015 regarding the principles
and mechanisms of building Armenia’s southern railway. In response,
Hovik Abrahamyan noted, we hope. Gagik Beglaryan said that they
always have hope. “We are not going to live hundred years on hope,”
said Hovik Abrahamyan in response.

Lusine BUDAGHYAN

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SAMVEL BEGLARYAN. “BEING A PARTICIPANT OF THE KARABAKH MOVEMENT HAS BECOME A TORTOISE SHELL.”

February 26 2015

27 years have passed since the beginning of the Karabakh movement. We
asked the Head of the Tavush regional office of the Writers’ Union of
Armenia, the writer of Noyemberyan city Samuel Beglaryan about the
movement’s achievements, shortcomings and mistakes. He said, “When
it started with environmental matters, Abovyan’s movement reached the
Yerevan city square. We understood that it was just a mask, a cover,
a shield, there was a subtext, there were lower obstacles, it was a
national movement and a national awakening. And the fact that we began
with expectations and we saw what was the beginning. If we compare it
with today, I am very much sorry, but it happens that very nice parents
give birth to defective children, defective generations. And today,
20-25 years later, as a result we are having a child who was born
with heart defect and acquired it after the birth. In my opinion, it
was acquired later, at the beginning it was very clean, very pure and
nationwide. Later, it got sick with an untreatable virus. And today,
hundreds and thousands of people speculate saying that they were at
the sources of the national liberation movement. But as a flag, it
fits in the National Assembly and the offices. Today, the Karabakh
movement and being a participant of the national liberation movement
has become a tortoise shell, in other words, they are protected with
this. Anyway, homeland is not something to whom the fact of your
being in service is made a flag. It is our obligation to serve. In
other words, it turns out that the Karabakh movement did not reach its
goal, but serves the goals of the individuals and personalities. It’s
a very bad situation and a very sad situation.

However, it does not mean we should separate Armenia-Karabakh,
Armenia-Diaspora. We have one nation – ill-fated and scattered around
the world. Today, it is a sad situation when the Turks declare, “What
Armenian diaspora; they have gone from our country, it is ours. Today,
Azerbaijan says that Karabakh belongs to it. In other words, we are
constantly fighting to say that what we imagined is ours. This is a
tragic situation. When there is a problem of a nation, we must forget
the people who have made the Karabakh movement a flag, who make the
Karabakh movement serve their person. We have to forget it.”

Voskan SARGSYAN

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ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS CAN STILL RETURN TO THE PARLIAMENT AND BE RATIFIED

February 26 2015

“Recall of the Armenia-Turkish Protocols was a right decision. Those
who say freezing, they have no idea of the international relations
and other story tellers,” so responded lawyer, historian, diplomat and
Head of “Modus Vivendi” Center Ara Papyan, today, at the meeting with
the journalist at “Noah’s Ark” press club, in response to the question
of Aravot.am of whether recall of the Armenian-Turkish protocols was a
right move, or there is a risk that this decision will be used against
us, and it would be better to just freeze them. According to him, the
existence of these protocols at the Parliament is already an obstacle,
it means that we cast doubt on the genocide. He reminded the issue of
setting up a subcommittee, which was called to check out complicated
controversial issues of the history based on unbiased facts.

Mr. Papyan mentioned, “In a pretty package, they say to create a
committee that will decide the issue of the genocide. Especially, if
it is mentioned – based on unbiased facts. We also cast doubt on the
work done up to now. The Protocols were wrong from the beginning. It
was an anti-Armenian document. Staying in the Parliament for five
and a half years, they were not ratified, because Turkey’s the third
requirement was for Armenia to handover the Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

But we knew about it.” Mr. Papyan noted that these Protocols have
not become a major topic of discussion within the Foreign Ministry
nor at the concerned ministries. Ara Papyan thinks that no one knows
where these protocols have come from and who the authors are.

To the question that the Document has been recalled, so whether
the signatures are valid, Mr. Papyan said, “The Documents have been
recalled, it means they are still there. The arbitral award is the
document that has entered into force. The Protocols have not entered
into force yet as they become valid after ratification. It can be done
at any moment regardless of whether it is at the parliament or not.

Our official position has been made that after Turkey’s ratification
we will ratify. If Turkey ratifies tomorrow, if the signatures are
not deemed invalid, then they can be signed. It was a political
move rather than legal.” Mr. Papyan noted that the only legal move
prior to recognition of the Armenian Genocide is the adoption of the
Declaration, and expressed his concern, “We are making some badges,
print books, but it is a change in the quantity rather than quality.”

For example, the Turks are going to print a 30-volume collection
about the Armenian-Turkish relations. These documents are selected
one by one, isn’t it clear?”

To our question of therefore Serzh Sargsyan has used signing these
protocols to show the international community that he is a legitimate
president, Mr. Papyan replied, “It could be one of the factors.

Another factor could be the centennial of the Armenian Genocide,
a message addressed the Turkish side. This entire document has been
recalled after three times warning, now, every step is used to exert
pressure on Turkey.” Mr. Papyan mentioned that he has sent an open
letter to Erik Rubin, in which he had formulated his claim. “I was
expecting that political moves would be made, but no. I have clearly
formulated my offer to establish an administration over the Wilson
Armenia under the international control, in which Armenia’s de jure
interests and Turkey’s de facto interests will be compared and we
will have the rights there and local peoples.” Ara Papyan thinks that
we listen only statements on the Armenian Genocide recognition and
compensation and no specific actions.

Tatev HARUTYUNYAN

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