Author: Andres-Papazian

FOCUS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
by Patricia Alex, Staff Writer

Herald News (Passaic County, NJ)
AE Edition
December 20, 2010 Monday

Bergen Community College’s new Center for Peace, Justice and
Reconciliation is launching a series of initiatives to bring to the
fore “the forgotten genocide” — the systematic massacre of Armenians
during World War I and its aftermath.

The center, begun with a $1 million anonymous donation, is developing
curriculum centered on the genocide that it hopes will be used by
middle and high schools throughout the county. The center also will
host exhibits, workshops and seminars.

Holocaust education is mandated by the state, but its application
varies by district. The Armenian genocide — considered the first of
the modern era — is often ignored, said David Eichenholtz, who is
working on the curriculum.

He said the coursework would span the 20th century, including the
Holocaust and later genocides, such as the Khmer Rouge’s reign of
terror in Cambodia and the ongoing crisis in Darfur. The curriculum
will tie into discussions on bullying as well, Eichenholtz said.

Many historians believe the mass deportation and extermination of
more than 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire
provided a roadmap for atrocities to come, particularly the Holocaust.

Armenians are still lobbying for an apology from the modern-day
Turkish government.

“The Armenian genocide is an important focus for us,” said Tom
LaPointe, the center’s director. “It was almost a prototype for other
genocides that went on in the 20th century. … It reveals patterns of
bullying and repression that lead to other currents of mass violence.”

Eichenholtz said the center will provide a valuable resource for
teachers dealing with Holocaust education. There is much material
out there but very few focused, organized curricula, he said.

“We want to give them the tools so that it will be easier for them,”
Eichenholtz said.

The center will partner with Rutgers University-Newark to sponsor
a March conference on the “forgotten genocide.” A second conference
is being planned on cultural genocide — the wiping out of an ethnic
group’s history and culture, LaPointe said

And Bergen Community plans to host an exhibit of artwork by Bou Meng,
a survivor of Cambodia’s killing fields.

Joseph Basralian and Seta Albrecht, members of the BCC foundation
board, are heading efforts to match the $1 million gift that launched
the Center for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation.

From: A. Papazian

THE ARMENIAN RESOLUTION STRIKES BACK
by Omer Taspinar

Today’s Zaman
Dec 20 2010
Turkey

The season for the regular tension between Ankara and Washington came
earlier than expected. We should not be surprised if Turkish-American
relations soon enter “crisis management” mode.

The issue at hand will once again be the usual predicament: the
Armenian genocide resolution. Every year it is the same story. The
sense of deja vu is becoming painfully cyclical. Despite this familiar
routine, there are a couple of factors changing the dynamics this
year. The first one is the early timing. The Armenian issue usually
enters the agenda before April 24, the date for “Genocide Remembrance
Day”.

Considerable pressure on the president of the United States begins
usually a few weeks in advance by congressional attempts to pass a
non-binding resolution first from the Committee on Foreign Relations
and then from the floor of the US House of Representatives. Earlier
this year, as you will remember, the resolution narrowly passed the
House committee with just one vote. So, it was up to Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi, from the Democratic Party, to bring the resolution
to the floor for a vote. Pelosi did not do so, probably because of the
busy political agenda of the House and perhaps because the resolution
did not have the support it needed to pass. I was personally surprised
that she did not try before the November mid-term elections.

The circumstances appeared optimal around September. The Democrats
desperately needed all the votes they could get from the American
people. The Armenian lobby also must have had a sense of urgency. It
was obvious that the Republicans would win and that chances of an
Armenian genocide resolution would diminish. And, of course, most
importantly, there was the dismal state of Turkish-American relations.

After all, it is no secret that Turkey’s image in the American Congress
hit an all-time low this year. Over the last six months, two major
developments poisoned Turkey’s perception among US legislators.

The first was Turkey’s identification as a close ally of Iran.

Turkey’s “no” vote in the United Nations Security Council concerning
sanctions against Iran not only damaged its already tainted image in
Congress, but it also infuriated the Obama Administration.

The day before Turkey voted no, President Barack Obama called
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and tried to convince
him during a 45-minute conversation to vote either “yes” together
with the transatlantic (NATO plus EU) community or in the very worst
case abstain. The fact that Turkey voted the way it did clearly
demonstrated that Ankara was more concerned about its leverage with
Iran or its relations with Brazil than setting back its relations
with Washington on a very critical issue for which President Obama
had spent considerable political capital.

To expect that there would be no consequences for defying the American
agenda in such a blatant way is naive. In that sense, there is nothing
surprising in the way the Armenian issue will become more difficult
to surmount. The second development, which somewhat unfairly turned
Turkey’s image from bad to worse, is the Mavi Marmara incident.

Despite the fact that Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers
in international waters, the whole affair came to be seen by the US
Congress as pro-Iran and pro-Hamas and as Turkey challenging Israel.

Given the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington and
particularly in Congress, it should not be surprising that Turkey’s
version of the story falls on deaf ears.

At the end of the day, on two crucial issues – Iran and Israel –
Turkey is on the wrong side of the House of Representatives. Under such
circumstances, the Armenian lobby should not face a major challenge
getting its way in passing the genocide resolutio n. Now, just before
Christmas, Pelosi must be calculating that there is one last chance
before the new House, with its new Republican majority, begins the
new year. We will see on Tuesday if the House of Representatives will
have the numbers and the will to vote on this issue. The next couple of
days will be critical. Needless to say, the whole situation is highly
embarrassing for a country like Turkey, with such high ambitions on
the world stage.

From: A. Papazian

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS; STUDIES FROM V. KHACHATRYAN ET AL FURTHER UNDERSTANDING OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS

Journal of Technology & Science
December 19, 2010

“on two-particle angular correlations for charged particles emitted
in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 0.9, 2.36,
and 7TeV are presented, using data collected with the CMS detector
over a broad range of pseudorapidity (eta) and azimuthal angle (phi),”
scientists writing in the Journal of High Energy Physics report.

“Short-range correlations in Delta(eta), which are studied in minimum
bias events, are characterized using a simple “independent cluster”
parametrization in order to quantify their strength (cluster size)
and their extent in eta (cluster decay width). Long-range azimuthal
correlations are studied differentially as a function of charged
particle multiplicity and particle transverse momentum using a 980
nb(-1) data set at 7TeV,” wrote V. Khachatryan and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: “In high multiplicity events, a pronounced
structure emerges in the two-dimensional correlation function for
particle pairs with intermediate p(T) of 1-3 GeV/c, 2.0

From: A. Papazian

PHYSICS; DATA FROM A.R. MKRTCHYAN ET AL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO PHYSICS

News of Science
December 19, 2010

“Transition radiation from relativistic electrons is investigated
in an ultrasonic superlattice excited in a finite thickness plate,”
scientists in Yerevan, Armenia report.

“In the quasi-classical approximation, formulae are derived for
the vector potential of the electromagnetic field and for the
spectral-angular distribution of the radiation intensity. The acoustic
waves generate new resonance peaks in the spectral and angular
distribution of the radiation intensity,” wrote A.R. Lazarian and
colleagues.

The researchers concluded: “The heights of the peaks can be tuned by
choosing the parameters of the acoustic wave.”

Lazarian and colleagues published their study in Modern Physics
Letters B (Optical Transition Radiation In Presence Of Acoustic Waves.

Modern Physics Letters B, 2010;24(27):2693-2703).

For additional information, contact A.R. Lazarian, Institute Applied
Problems Physics, 25 Nersessian St., Yerevan 0014, Armenia.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal Modern Physics
Letters B is: World Scientific Publ Co. Pte Ltd., 5 Toh Tuck Link,
Singapore 596224, Singapore.

From: A. Papazian

ASTROPHYSICS; NEW ASTROPHYSICS DATA HAVE BEEN REPORTED BY A.A. SAHARIAN AND CO-AUTHORS

News of Science
December 19, 2010

According to recent research from Yerevan, Armenia, “We examine
the spectrum of perturbations for a scalar field with an arbitrary
curvature coupling parameter in the de Sitter stage of cosmological
expansion when a cosmic string is present.”

“These perturbations are caused by vacuum fluctuations in the field
and serve as seed perturbations for the formation of galaxies in the
postinflationary stage. A cosmic string disrupts the homogeneity of
a de Sitter space, so that the spectrum of the perturbations depends
on the distance from the string,” wrote A.A. Saharian and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: “This dependence is oscillatory in character
with a period on the order of the perturbation wavelength.”

Saharian and colleagues published their study in Astrophysics
(Perturbation Spectrum In The Inflationary Stage When A Cosmic String
Is Present. Astrophysics, 2010;53(3):434-445).

For additional information, contact A.A. Saharian, Erevan State
University, Academician G Saakyan Dept. of Theoret Physics, Yerevan,
Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the journal Astrophysics is:
Springer, Plenum Publishers, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013, USA.

From: A. Papazian

PHYSICS; STUDIES FROM YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY YIELD NEW INFORMATION ABOUT PHYSICS

News of Science
December 19, 2010

According to recent research published in the International Journal
of Modern Physics D, “The Maxwell and Glendenning construction
scenarios of deconfinement phase transition in neutron star matter
are investigated.”

“The hadronic phase is described within the relativistic mean-field
(RMF) theory, if the scalar-isovector delta-meson field is also taken
into account. The strange quark phase is described in the frame of MIT
bag model, including the effect of perturbative one-gluon exchange
interactions,” wrote A.G. Alaverdyan and colleagues, Yerevan State
University.

The researchers concluded: “The influence of the delta-meson field
on the deconfinement phase transition boundary characteristics is
discussed.”

Alaverdyan and colleagues published their study in International
Journal of Modern Physics D (DECONFINEMENT PHASE TRANSITION IN NEUTRON
STARS AND delta-MESON FIELD IN RMF THEORY. International Journal of
Modern Physics D, 2010;19(8-10):1557-1561).

For additional information, contact A.G. Alaverdyan, Yerevan State
University, Faculty RadioPhys, Manoogyan Str 1, Yerevan 0025, Armenia.

The publisher’s contact information for the International Journal of
Modern Physics D is: World Scientific Publ Co. Pte Ltd., 5 Toh Tuck
Link, Singapore 596224, Singapore.

From: A. Papazian

EUROPEAN MP BLACKLISTED BY AZERBAIJAN FOR VISITING KARABAKH

news.am
Dec 20 2010
Armenia

“As a rapporteur on Armenia in the European Parliament, I was obliged
to visit Nagorno-Karabakh in order to prepare an objective report,”
Tomasz Poreba, European Parliament MP, European Conservatives and
Reformists Group, told NEWS.am after his visit to Karabakh.

During his two-day visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, he met with leadership
of the republic, but the MP considers his main objective was to
communicate with Karabakh people. Poreba said that he intends to share
his impressions about the visit with the European counterparts. He
also stressed that the Karabakh problem should be solved within the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group based on Madrid Principles.

The MP also noted that after his visit to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh
he plans to visit Azerbaijan and Georgia as well. “Despite the fact
that I am the rapporteur on Armenia, the three countries are linked
with each other,” he said. By the way, after a visit to Karabakh,
Poreba was included in a “black list” by Azerbaijan. Asked how he
intends to visit the country being in a black list, the MP said,
“My duty is to meet with all parties, to hear their position on
the Karabakh issue. That is my job which I take very seriously,
and nothing will stop me to prepare an objective report.”

From: A. Papazian

PRESIDENT’S LATEST SPEECH INSPIRES HOPES

news.am
Dec 20 2010
Armenia

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s latest keynote speech on the
occasion of the 20th of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), when
the Armenian leader harshly criticized all the negative phenomena and
underlined the necessity for serious struggle against them, inspires
hope, Artyusha Shahbazyan, Secretary of the ARF-D parliamentary
faction, told NEWS.am.

President Serzh Sargsyan used to make critical statements before, but
it is his recent speech that inspires hopes for radical changes, he
said. “I think the President was sincere in assessments and promises.

However, it is the right time now for carrying radical structural
reforms,” Shahbazyan said.

Of special importance is the President’s stance on the need for
listening to the constructive Opposition instead of presenting
political forces with ultimatums. “The President’s speech contained
numerous messages concerning various areas. What he said was a sobering
signal – especially for the political team headed by the President. Now
we have to wait for effective steps that are not supposed to be
restricted to reshuffle, but must develop into structural reforms,”
Shahbazyan said.

From: A. Papazian

EUROPEAN CO-RAPPORTEUR ON ARMENIA SATISFIED WITH VISIT TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH

news.am
Dec 20 2010
Armenia

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting December 20 with
Tomasz PorÄ~Yba, MEP and EU Rapporteur on Armenia.

The RA presidential press office informed NEWS.am that President Serzh
Sargsyan hailed the European MP’s visits to Yerevan and Stepanakert
during the preparatory work, which is of importance for getting
acquainted with the situation and collecting information.

“Each assessment and approach are aimed at assisting a particular
country and region in resolving problems ad implementing reforms. We
are sure your report will be of this kind,” President Sargsyan said.

Tomasz PorÄ~Yba pointed out that an unbiased report would be impossible
to prepare without visiting the country. He pointed out the importance
of his visit to Nagorno-Karabakh in dealing with regional problems.

The MEP stated he got necessary information and studied the situation
on the spot. He intends to share his impressions with his colleagues.

The sides also discussed intensification of Armenia-EU cooperation.

From: A. Papazian

WASHINGTON HOUSE MAY VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEASURE

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TWO STAR EDITION
December 19, 2010 Sunday
Pennsylvania

The House may vote next week on a measure that could damage U.S.

relations with critical ally Turkey: a resolution declaring the World
War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

The vote would be a blow to President Barack Obama by his Democratic
allies. House Democratic leaders had long set aside consideration
of the draft resolution, and the measure was expected to expire as
a new Republican-led House takes office next month.

House aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to comment, said Friday that Democratic leaders have been
discussing a possible vote with lawmakers. A spokesman for Speaker
Nancy Pelosi had no immediate comment.

Turkey has said frequently that the resolution would drive a wedge
in its relations with the United States. It sees the measure as a
historical affront. In March after the House Foreign Affairs Committee
endorsed the proposed resolution, Turkey withdrew its ambassador
from Washington.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed
by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies
that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated
and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

The issue is awkward for Mr. Obama, who pledged as a presidential
candidate to recognize the Armenian deaths as genocide.

The administration reversed course, as Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton acknowledged Thursday.

Turkey, a NATO ally with a pivotal role for U.S. interests in the
Middle East and Afghanistan, has warned that the resolution’s approval
could jeopardize U.S-Turkish cooperation and set back negotiations
aimed at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia. Turkey also
currently holds one of the rotating seats in the United Nations’
Security Council that will have to approve sanctions against Iran.

From: A. Papazian