Author: Andres-Papazian

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ARMENIA TOOK PART IN PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS

Economic News (Information Agency Oreanda)
December 28, 2010 Tuesday
Russia

Yerevan. OREANDA-NEWS . December 28, 2010. On December 23 on the
initiative of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education,
Culture, Youth and Sport parliamentary hearings were held, where the
bills On RA National Academy of Sciences and On Amending the RA law
On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activities were debated.

The NA Deputies, scientists, academicians, high-ranking responsible
persons took part in the parliamentary hearings.

Opening the hearings the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on
Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Artak Davtyan noted that
the sphere regulated the law, which was passed ten years ago and which
comprised of two articles, that is why a need occurred to regulate the
legislative gaps and turn to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

He said that the draft law On RA National Academy of Sciences had been
debated in the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture,
Youth and Sport, and it was decided to organize parliamentary hearings,
which would give opportunity to hear new opinions and draft the bill.

Touching upon the programme of RA Government activity, Artak Davyan
noticed that the development of science and education had also been
declared one of the priorities of the programme, where directly had
been stressed the reconstruction of the system and the creation of
such structures, which would be able to unite the mental potential
and use it for the benefit of the Armenian people.

The President of RA National Academy of Sciences Radik Martirosyan
gave a key report.

According to him, that by the draft law the legal bases of RA NAS
organization and activity, their guarantees, the main principles of its
relations with the state bodies, scientific, scientific-technical and
entities and participants of innovative activity, the development of
basic and applied science as a basis of scientific-technical progress,
economic, social and cultural development.

Summing up the hearings the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee
on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Artak Davtyan told
those present that all the presented proposals would be debated. A
joint working group would be formed for that purpose.

From: A. Papazian

ISRAELI EDUCATORS ASSIST CLASS STUDY OF THE HOLOCAUST
Evonne Coutros

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
December 28, 2010 Tuesday
AE Edition

NEW MILFORD – A recent visit to the high school by a group of Israeli
educators has brought a view of the modern Middle East to a roomful
of students studying the Holocaust and genocide.

The educators, from the city of Nahariya in Israel, have partnered
with the school through the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey’s
Partnership 2000 program. The New Milford High School curriculum
includes a model course taught by Colleen Tambuscio that covers the
Holocaust, genocide and human behavior.

“Our program in New Milford teaches the warning signs of genocide,”
Tambuscio said. “The lesson is to teach students to be on guard for
genocide today.”

Rabbi Yehuda Rosenberg, principal of the Ulpana School — a religious
school for girls in the Nahariya district — offered a presentation
about Israel as a democracy to some of the 45 students in the course.

The son of a Holocaust survivor, Rosenberg told the students that
for modern Israel, the “big issues” are “peace, security, economics.”

Rosenberg outlined the role of the legislative body, or Knesset, to
the students, offering them a glimpse of the 120-member parliament and
elections that involve 15 political parties rather than a two-party
system.

Joining Rosenberg on the trip to New Milford — the only stop at
a U.S. public school — was co-worker Mercedes Hadad, a teacher at
Ulpana, and Rivka Ben Ami, principal of Remez Elementary School. The
delegation also included Avi Menashes, head of Shechakim Junior and
Senior High School, and Avi Berger, principal of Even Shoham Dati
Elementary School.

Tambuscio is no stranger to Nahariya, the schools or the school
district. She visited the city two months ago through the UJA
Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Partnership 2000 program.

The course at New Milford covers the Armenian genocide, the Aramaean
persecution during the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and human
behavior and genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur.

Each year Tambuscio travels with students to Europe as part of a
Holocaust study tour. This school year’s trip in April will visit
Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, where the students will meet
Holocaust survivors; when they return to the U.S., they will create
outreach programs. In May, a group of students from Nahariya will
visit New Milford.

“The students come back with a sense of responsibility for telling
the stories,” said New Milford Superintendent Michael Polizzi. “They
understand that every year there are fewer and fewer survivors,
and they pick up on that … that resonates with them.”

The course is a model program at the high school.

Rosenberg’s presentation offered students an idea of how their
counterpart students dress, study and test for college. His insight
and information will tie into a global leadership program to be
introduced into the New Milford curriculum, Polizzi said.

Meredith McCann, a senior who traveled to Europe with Tambuscio last
year, called Rosenberg’s talk invaluable.

“Having him speak and having them here is something you really can’t
get anywhere else,” said McCann, 17. “A lot of questions about Israel
have been cleared up. He’s opening our eyes so much to information
that we never really knew before. The questions [about Israel and
the Holocaust] aren’t really coming to him from us yet because we’re
absorbing so much of what he said today. We’ve studied the warning
signs to genocide and the Armenian genocide and are now in the
beginning of studying the Holocaust, so the timing [of their visit]
is perfect.”

Technology such as Skype and social networking sites are an advantage
now that the students have met all the educators, McCann said.

“The more connections we make, the more connections we’ll be able
to have when we want to ask questions,” McCann said. “We could
have conversations with Mercedes Hadad or even her students. We’ll
definitely make it work.”

New Milford senior Ninva Bekdas, 17, is Aramaean and was interested in
Rosenberg’s presentation of Israel as a culture that embraces family
and is concerned about keeping the state safe.

“Israel is their home, and they want to protect their home,” she said.

“I’m very happy to see that they worked to get their own country. They
went through the Holocaust to get their own country. I’m hoping maybe
sometime we [Aramaeans] find our own country or nation so we can all
be united as one rather than be scattered around the world. That we
can do that, too.”

Brenton Prisendorf, 16, was unaware of Israel’s required military
service.

“I didn’t think it was peaceful there at all when I see all the
fighting on the news,” said the high school junior. “He changed my
mind with what he was saying. I was interested about what they give
to their citizens … that they have to serve in the army and give
back to their country. Israel is very orderly, very structured.”

Rosenberg hopes he left the students enlightened about what lies
inside the boundaries of Israel — declared a state in 1948.

“I wanted them to hear about Israel as it is,” Rosenberg said. “At
the end of the day I want them to come and visit Israel.”

From: A. Papazian

STUDIES FROM V.V. GHAZARYAN AND CO-RESEARCHERS UPDATE CURRENT DATA ON AMINO ACIDS

Science Letter
December 28, 2010

According to recent research published in the Journal of Molecular
Structure, “The crystal structure of the mixed salt L-lysinium(+)center
dot center dot center dot L-lysinium(2+) dichloride-tetrafluoroborate
((L-Lys(+)center dot center dot center dot-L-Lys(2+))center dot
2Cl(-)center dot BF4-) has been determined.”

“The crystal is orthorhombic (space group P2(1)2(1)2(1)) and comprises
dimeric (L-Lys(+)center dot center dot center dot L-Lys(2+))
cations in fully extended configuration, as well as Cl- and BF4-
anions. The vibrational spectra of (L-Lys(+)center dot center dot
center dot L-Lys(2+))center dot 2Cl(-)BF(4)(-), as well as those of the
previously reported mixed salts (L-Lys(+)center dot center dot center
dot L-Lys(2+))center dot 2Cl(-)center dot ClO4- and (L-Lys(+)center
dot center dot center dot L-Lys(2+))center dot 2Cl(-)center dot NO3-
have been recorded and were found to be characterized by the presence
of a band near 1680 cm(-1), characteristic for the dimeric cation
(L-Lys(+)center dot center dot center dot L-Lys(2+)),” wrote V.V.

Ghazaryan and colleagues (see also Amino Acids).

The researchers concluded: “Previously published spectra ascribed
to (L-Lys(+)center dot center dot center dot L-Lys(2+))center dot
2Cl(-)center dot NO3-, containing a band near 1734 cm(-1), probably
relate to L-Lys(2+)center dot CI–NO3- crystals.”

Ghazaryan and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Molecular Structure (Mixed salts of amino acids: On the vibrational
spectra of mixed salts containing a L-lysinium(+)center dot center
dot center dot L-lysinium(2+) dimeric cation. Journal of Molecular
Structure, 2010;982(1-3):145-151).

For additional information, contact A.M. Petrosyan, NAS Armenia,
Institute Applied Problems Physics, 25 Nersessyan Str, Yerevan 0014,
Armenia.

The publisher’s contact information for the Journal of Molecular
Structure is: Elsevier Science BV, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam,
Netherlands.

From: A. Papazian

RESOLUTION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH MAY BE ADOPTED AT OSCE PA SPRING SESSION

Trend
Dec 28 2010
Azerbaijan

SECTION: NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

The Azerbaijani delegation will spare no effort in the winter session
of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to discuss the resolution on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the spring session of the organization,
Eldar Ibrahimov, member of the Azerbaijani delegation to OSCE PA,
told Trend.

He said that a proposal will be made to adopt a specific resolution
on Nagorno-Karabakh at the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly, together with the views of the unsatisfactory activity of
the Minsk Group.

The winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will be held
in the Austrian capital of Vienna on February 23-25.

Ibrahimov said that vacant post of Special Representative on
Nagorno-Karabakh in OSCE creates problems in resolving this issue.

Earlier, Goran Lennmarker held this post.

“We are interested in appointing a fair person able to consider the
issue on Nagorno-Karabakh at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,” he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the United
States. – are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding
regions.

From: A. Papazian

MURDER PUTS PRESSURE ON ARMENIA’S MINORITY FAITHS
By Gayane Lazarian

Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
No. 571
December 22, 2010
UK

Alleged killer’s reported links with Jehovah’s Witnesses heightens
distrust of new religions.

Armenians’ tolerance for religious minorities has been tested after
a reported member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses allegedly killed his
own parents, under orders, he apparently said, from Jehovah.

Despite a denial from the Jehovah’s Witnesses that he was a member of
their church, Arman Torosyan’s alleged crime has heightened antipathy,
already present in the country, towards new faiths that challenge
the traditional Apostolic Church.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, founded in the United States in the 19th
century, spread to Armenia and other ex-Soviet republics after 1991
along with other Protestant churches that are known in Armenia as
“sects”. They are regarded with deep distrust by many Armenians
despite their attempts to position themselves as non-threatening.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses respect their parents, and highly value
life, therefore killing any other person or committing suicide is
unacceptable to them. Apart from that, they respect the rights and
merits of other people,” said a statement from the church, which
claims 10,500 members in the country.

Armenia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in 2002,
committing itself to respecting citizens’ religious freedom.

Nonetheless, many religious minorities say they are discriminated
against, and that the Apostolic Church – which is followed by almost
all Armenians – has an unfair advantage.

Stepan Danielyan, head of the Cooperation for Democracy Centre,
spent three years gathering data for a report on religious freedom
in the country. He said that attempts by parliament to restrict the
rights of smaller Christian groups were very worrying.

In March 2009, parliament passed a first reading of a bill which would
have banned “proselytising” and attempted to define Christianity as
a belief in the Holy Trinity, which would have excluded Jehovah’s
Witnesses being registered as Christians. The project was dropped
after a wave of opposition, but still concerned Danielyan.

Judging by the press reaction to the murders in Sevan, Jehovah’s
Witnesses are unlikely to find themselves freer to operate soon.

Torosyan, 23, is currently being held by police and questioned by
psychologists. His neighbours told police and journalists that he
had been an active Jehovah’s Witness, and quoted him as saying “I am
fulfilling Holy Scripture. My father is the God Jehovah. I am killing
Satan, and have already killed the first devils”, after allegedly
killing his parents in their apartment.

That was enough to drive press commentators like Hasmik Harutyunyan,
a journalist from the Azg newspaper, to speculate that religious
toleration risked undermining the basis of Armenian society.

“We keep hearing that it’s necessary to be tolerant in relation to
religion organisation. However, I think that in this we are threatening
our own national values. I have often spoken to young followers of
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who don’t care about their own families,
or about anything happening in the country. I have a feeling that
they are under control, or just zombies, just look at the incident
in Sevan,” she said.

A spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses declined to speak to IWPR,
but Armen Lusyan, a representative of the Word of Life Evangelical
Church, said the government needed to take a lead in avoiding religious
intolerance, and heading off dangerous ideas.

“In particular, the conception of identifying religious and national
characteristics, which appear at the moment with the idea that if
you’re not a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church then you’re
not an Armenian,” Lusyan said.

“This could become a pretext for undermining the basis of Armenian
society, dividing people by religion or even church membership,
and is very undesirable for our people.”

All the small churches have a hard task persuading Armenians that
they are not harmful, however. According to a survey conducted last
year by the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, which asked 1040 people
for their views on religion, 77.1 per cent have a negative view of
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, while 41.3 and 39.6 per cent disapprove of
Pentacostalists and the Mormons respectively.

Meanwhile, some 80 per cent of the population was positive about
the Apostolic Church, which was founded in 301 AD and is the oldest
national church in the world.

Vardan Ascatryan, head of the government’s office for national
minorities and religion, said the population’s negative opinion of
minority religious communities was caused by their proselytising.

“Often these organisations do not take into account the interest of
the social medium that they operate in,” he said.

Gayane Lazarian is a correspondent for ArmeniaNow.

From: A. Papazian

KARABAKH WAR CHANGED WOMEN’S ROLES FOR EVER
By Karine Ohanyan, Anahit Danielyan

Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR
December 22, 2010
UK

Women say they are much more prominent in civil and business life
due largely to the full part they played in the fighting.

The balance of the sexes in Nagorny Karabakh appears to have been
permanently changed by the war between Azeris and Armenians, with
women retaining the greater equality they gained on the frontline.

Just three ministers and five members of parliament are women, but
in the non-governmental and business sectors women often outnumber men.

That is a major reverse for a society that was strictly traditional
towards the end of the Soviet period, with women crediting much of
the change to the full part they took in the fighting.

“Despite the fact that the main burden in actual fighting was
born by men, the role of women in the war was no less important,”
said Zhanna Krikorova, chairwoman of the International Cooperation
Centre of Nagorny Karabakh, which coordinates connections between
non-governmental organisations in Karabakh with international
non-governmental bodies.

“Although this goes against the Caucasus mentality, many Karabakh
women, despite their traditional place, went to fight alongside men.

Others took upon themselves all the difficulties of wartime survival.”

Nagorny Karabakh, although unrecognised internationally, declared
independence from Azerbaijan unilaterally and has governed itself
unimpeded ever since the ceasefire of 1994.

According to research conducted by the entity’s regional business
centre, women adapted much more quickly to the difficulties of post-war
life, when the economy was destroyed and trade was restricted by all
connections between Nagorny Karabakh and Baku being severed.

“Since Armenian women are responsible for their families, many
representatives of the weaker sex used their initiative and became
more active. This social activity has been preserved, meaning we have
a different kind of life in Karabakh,” Krikorova said.

Nagorny Karabakh was an autonomous region within Soviet Azerbaijan
with a majority Armenian population. In 1988, the Armenians appealed
to Moscow for their region to be joined to nearby Armenia, sparking
ethnic clashes in Baku and elsewhere, in the first major disorders
to herald the end of the Soviet Union.

Ordinary women in Nagorny Karabakh threw themselves into the defence of
the territory, and some even went to the frontline to serve alongside
men, though often as nurses, such as Margarita Taranyan.

“I still do not understand how we managed to save ourselves. I cannot
believe that after all those horrible and cold days I managed to
preserve good health,” said Taranyan, who served as a nurse from
1992-4.

Now she is a major in the police, with a position in the defence
staff. It would once have been rare to see a woman in epaulettes in
Nagorny Karabakh, but since the war, it is fairly common, though they
do not serve on the frontlines.

“Such lads were killed, one better than the next. And the girls too,”
she trailed off, before talking about her friend Margarita whose body
they waited until night to recover.

According to men who fought in the war, women have not retreated to
their traditional subservient position after the ceasefire. Gagik
Avanesyan, an activist from the Movement for Nagorny Karabakh’s
Independence, said women often gave blood for the wounded, cooked food,
or served as medical orderlies.

“Now of course it is not the war veterans who are so active, but
younger women. And I have a sense that young men became more inert,
and that women more frequently take the responsibility on themselves,”
he said.

But the war did not spare women the traumas associated with violence
and fear. Many war veterans have struggled with getting the psychiatric
care ()
they need to overcome the horrors of the fighting, and women who
served as nurses often do not even have the minimal help that has
been available.

“You’d think that I should have been scared then. We’re the weaker
sex after all. But I felt no fear at all. There were so many killed
and injured, and I understood I could be next, but I had some feeling
inside that I would live,” said Anahit Petrosyan, a mother of two from
Martakert who continued working as a military nurse in civilian life.

“The fear came later. After the war, when I told someone about the
horror I had been through, and it was then I felt this indescribable
terror.”

All the same, however, Nagorny Karabakh’s women say they are tougher
now than they were, and that the society will not turn back.

“War has so hardened us women,” said Julietta Arustamyan, the widow
of a fallen officer and now head of the Harmony non-governmental
organisation, which organises cultural events for women. “We lived
through so much that if someone told us to sit on a tractor and fly
to Mars, we could do it,” she said.

Karine Ohanyan is a freelance reporter. Anahit Danielyan is a
correspondent for the Armedia news agency.

From: A. Papazian

RITE OF THE ARMENIAN NEW YEAR: THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

news.am
Dec 29 2010
Armenia

In ancient times, Armenian New Year began on Navasard 1 (August) and
lasted for one week. In all Armenian families Navasard was honored
very solemnly, they prepared special dishes. They would celebrate
the New Year with groaning boards in the family circle.

In the 18th century, when Simeon Yerevanian was Catholicos, January
1 was set as a date for New Year celebrations. However, it was not
until the early 20th century that January 1 was accepted as a date
for New Year celebrations throughout the world.

How was the New Year celebrated at that time?

New Year celebrations began on December 30-31, with pastries baked.

The most important thing in the whole range of Christmas pastry was
the sweet bread ‘Year’, which used to have a coin in it. The lucky one
who would get it, would be blessed with happiness in the New Year. On
New Year’s night Armenian boys and girls walked house to house with
socks on their shoulders and sang glorious songs, congratulating
the members of the household. The hostess was required to fill their
socks with fruit, raisins and Gata (Armenian pastry).

The next day, January 1, adults visited and congratulated one another,
bringing apples, oranges and nuts.

How do people prefer to celebrate the New Year today?

Many families prefer to celebrate the New Year abroad. Travel agencies
report higher number of family tour packages during the New Year
period. Armenians mostly prefer to go to Egypt, UAE, Thailand. In
recent years Europe, especially Italy, has also been a popular
destination.

New Year is a family holiday.

Despite the fact that today there are many places of entertainment,
clubs and restaurants, our young people prefer to see the New Year
with their families first, and then with their friends.

In this regard, NEWS.am interviewed some fellow citizens to find out
how they prefer to spend the New Year holiday.

Naira Harutyunyan, economist:

Everyone should celebrate the New Year in the family circle first,
and join their friends later. I believe that the New Year is a
family holiday.

Nora Papazian, psychologist:

I will greet the New Year in with my family at home, it is a real
pleasure. It will also be interesting to go somewhere with some of
your friends – perhaps, to the countryside.

Vahagn Davidavyan, humorist:

I generally prefer to spend the New Year with my family, but, on one
occasion, I want to spend it with friends and abroad.

From: A. Papazian

IRAN-U.S. RELATIONS NEED SPECIAL ATTENTION NEXT YEAR

news.am
Dec 29 2010
Armenia

Nothing extraordinary has happened this year in contrast to the
previous years, Giya Nodiya, Director of the Caucasian Institute for
Peace and Democracy, told NEWS.am. He pointed out a rather stable
regional situation.

“There has been nothing new in the Russian-Georgian relations or in
the Armenian-Turkish relations. No radical changes can be observed,”
he said.

As regards the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the expert said that,
despite higher tension along the contact line between the Azerbaijani
and Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces, the situation is unlikely to get
out of control.

Special attention should be paid to the Iran-U.S. relations next year.

“I do not claim the relations may seriously worsen, interesting
developments may be expected,” the expert said.

Giya Nodiya does not believe in Father Christmas or miracles, but has
“a clear view of things.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA SAYS IT HAS S-300 AIR DEFENSE MISSILES

The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 29, 2010; 2:55 PM

YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s Defense Ministry has announced that
it has S-300 air defense missiles and says it made the announcement
to remind neighboring Azerbaijan of the dangers of renewing military
conflict.

Tensions remain high between the two countries over the unresolved
status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that lies within Azerbaijan but
has been under the control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian
forces since a six-year separatist war ended in 1994.

Russia has long maintained S-300s on its base in Armenia, but
Wednesday’s announcement was the first acknowledgment that Armenia
has missiles of its own. It is not clear how long Armenia has had them.

Defense Ministry spokesman David Karapetyan said the missiles would
“coerce Azerbaijan into keeping the peace.”

From: A. Papazian

WHITE HOUSE EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE RECESS APPOINTMENTS
Laura Rozen

December 29, 2010

Categories:Appointments, Senate, Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
State Department, Turkey, White House

The White House is expected to announce as soon as today the recess
appointment of some ambassadors whose nominations were not confirmed
by the outgoing 111th Congress, POLITICO has learned.

Among those expected to be recess appointed to the job are Francis
Ricciardone to be U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, diplomatic sources told
POLITICO Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

Ricciardone, most recently the former deputy U.S. ambassador in
Afghanistan, and a former U.S. ambassador in Egypt, could not be
immediately reached for comment. The White House did not respond to
a query.

Turkey has been without a U.S. ambassador since Amb. Jim Jeffrey was
confirmed as the U.S. envoy to Iraq in August.

Ricciardone’s confirmation was the subject of a “hold” by former Sen.

Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) who has retired from the Senate to become the
governor of Kansas. Former Bush NSC Middle East hand Elliott Abrams
had been critical of Ricciardone’s alleged lack of enthusiasm for
Bush’s Egypt democracy efforts when Ricciardone served as U.S.

ambassador in Cairo. But a leading Egyptian civil society activist
Saad Ibrahim has praised Ricciardone’s record in an interview with
POLITICO, and recommended him for the Ankara job.

Recess appointments last for one year beyond the remainder of the
Congress’s term. In addition, the White House could decide to resubmit
the nominations during the 112th Congress.

The U.S. is due to attend international Iran nuclear talks in Turkey
late next month.

Unclear is whether Obama will also recess appoint his nominee to be
U.S. envoy to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza. Bryza’s confirmation has been
the subject of a “hold” by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) and Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.) who placed it amid criticism of the appointment
by the Armenian-American lobby group ANCA. Bryza, a career foreign
service officer who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for
Europe during the Bush administration, was praised however in a 2008
letter from then Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian.

ANCA expressed disappointment earlier this month that outgoing House
majority leader Nancy Pelosi did not bring up a resolution for a vote
before the full House that would have condemned the Armenian genocide.

The U.S. has been without an ambassador in Baku since the summer
of 2009.

From: A. Papazian