Author: Andres-Papazian

Public Television of Armenia
July 20 2010

Russia keen to build military ties with Armenia

[Presenter-read report] It is possible that drills of the Rapid
Response Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO]
be held in 2011in Armenia, the CSTO secretary-general, Nikolay
Bordyuzha, has told journalists in Yerevan. He said it is absolutely
realistic that the drills planned for 2011 are held in Armenia.
Bordyuzha, speaking about threats of war by the Azerbaijani president,
said that he considers forceful solution of any conflict absolutely
unpromising and that international community perceives this very
negatively.

[Correspondent speaking over video of a meeting] Armenia and Russia
will launch cooperation in the sphere of military industry in five
directions. This is the first positive result of the visit of a
Russian delegation during which heads of over 10 Russian
military-industrial enterprises visited similar Armenian enterprises.

[Armenian National Security Council Secretary Artur Baghdasaryan
speaking at a meeting] The establishment of joint enterprises will
provide opportunity to develop the military-industrial complex in this
country.

[Bordyuzha speaking in Russian at a meeting with voiceover Armenian
translation] This is one of priorities of our activities and at
present we are carrying out a pilot project in the framework of that
cooperation – establishing [enterprises] on Armenia’s territory or
involving Armenia’s military-industrial enterprises into activities of
Russian enterprises in order to have a higher level of cooperation and
joint activities aimed at creation and maintenance of new types of
arms. The Armenian president very actively promotes and assists this
work in every way possible. The secretary of the National Security
Council [Baghdasaryan] has the most active role in this cause and at
present we already have certain results. I hope we can report to our
bosses on practical steps and results of establishment of joint
enterprises in the near future.

[Correspondent reports over video of a meeting] The Russian president
ascribes great importance to cooperation in the CSTO framework and
speedy restoration of former cooperation between our countries
[Armenia and Russia], the man in charge of Russia’s military-technical
agency [Konstantin Biryulin, the deputy head of Russia’s Federal
Service for Military-Technical Cooperation] said.

[Biryulin speaking at a meeting with voiceover Armenian translation] I
believe we will see in the near future how agreements are being
implemented. Our industry is very interested in achievements of the
Armenian industry, which have been recently exhibited in Moscow. These
are of course antimissile defences and spare parts produced for them.
Besides there is great mutual interest regarding maintenance of
helicopter and armored equipment. It is important to always keep them
in combat-ready condition. I would say another group of projects are
from the sphere of national economy – mechanical engineering and other
directions, which will emerge during our cooperation.

[Passage omitted: Bordyuzha on not deploying CSTO troops in Kyrgyzstan]

[Correspondent reports over video of a meeting] How will CSTO act if
the Azerbaijani president tries to carry out his threats of war
anyway?

[Bordyuzha speaking at a meeting with voiceover Armenian translation]
I will definitely say, by the way – not on my behalf , foreign
ministers of the OSCE [co-chair countries] held a informal meeting in
Almaty literally a few days ago and the prevailing majority of foreign
ministers of all 57 European states spoke about that forceful
settlement of any conflict is totally unpromising and is perceived
extremely negatively by the whole international community.

[Bordyuzha speaking voice at a meeting] I believe this refers to the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as well.

From: A. Papazian

Robert Fisk: We should mourn these desert staging posts

Saturday, 24 July 2010
Independent/UK

So what, readers, is a “caravanserai”? In Persian (or Dari), it is
“karvansara”, in Turkish, “keravandaray” – yes, from which we get our
“caravan” – and it is an inn (or “pub” as we might call it) and I am
inspired this week to praise the “caravanserai” because it is where we
all met in the age before steamships and aircraft. Buddhist, Jew,
Muslim, Christian, we would all meet there.

Usually, their outer walls were made of black and white marble. There
is a caravanserai just south of my home in Beirut, at Saaderat, south
of Khalde, much splattered with machine-gun holes, but clearly the
last stop on the road to Beirut, the last secure resting-place for
camels and horses before you reached the “Bourj”, the great Ottoman
gate to the second city of Syria (before the French cut it in half).

I have a great love of the caravanserai of Diyabakir in Turkey. Of
this town, it was said by a British consul that “the walls of the city
are black, the dogs are black and the hearts of its people are black”.
I do not agree with the British consul. I was arrested there by the
Turkish police in 1991 for “defaming” the Turkish army.

I had written – accurately – that the Turkish army had stolen blankets
and food from Kurdish Christian refugees fleeing Saddam Hussein’s
army. This was true. The Turkish police arrested me. And the chief
inspector of Diyabakir (noting my book on the Armenian genocide in my
bag and realising that I knew the truth about the 20th century’s first
Holocaust, treated me with great respect).

“You are not my prisoner,” he said. “You are my guest.”

Well, up to a point, inspector. In fact, he had to ask the manager of
the Caravanserai Hotel – a Kurd – to translate, since he did not speak
English and I did not speak Turkish. This resulted in a weird
conversation in which he could not ask the questions he wanted and I
could not give the replies he didn’t want about the Armenian genocide
and the Turkish army.

It ended up with me telling the inspector that my father regarded
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a titan, but that I could not understand why
Ataturk’s soldiers should have so betrayed his memory as to have
stolen food and clothes from refugees. At this point, the inspector
put his arm round my shoulder and insisted that the local Turkish
newspaper reporter took a picture of us to show what good friends we
were.

I was taken by the cops (who had black coshes in their hands, by the
way, so don’t think they were all nice guys) back to the Caravanserai
Hotel where I had to flush my Armenian contacts book down the loo
while a policeman stared through the keyhole of the lavatory before
being put on a plane back to Istanbul with a detective who had never
travelled by air before and whom I had to tell, en route, that he
would arrive safely.

But the hotel in Diyabakir really was a caravanserai. Its entrance was
wide enough for camels or horses. It was lined with black and white
marble. It was a fortress for travellers, a place of rest and comfort.

So now I move to my friend Tom Schutyser, a Belgian madman who is
obsessed (rightly) by caravanserai. He has taken the most magnificent
black and white photographs of these airports of the desert, voyaging
down the Silk Road from Iran through central Asia (Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) to China. As he writes in his beautiful
booklet to accompany his images, “In northern Iran, these silent,
solemn ruins of caravanserais languished in eerie, desolate,
motionless, desert winter landscapes. They are a reminder of the
prosperous eras of the Silk Road along which trade, inventions,
diplomacy, religions and culture were exchanged between China, the
Western world, the Middle East and Central Asia.”

There were thousands of these caravanserais, staging posts across the
known world, accommodating, as Schutyser says, traders, pilgrims and
travellers. They were for commerce and for multicultural meetings.
Some caravanserais had their own translators so that Persians and
Indians and Arabs (and Brits, too, of course) could speak to each
other.

In Jordan, in Iran, here in Lebanon, I come across these places of
peace and solitude and happiness, usually in ruins. And oh, if only we
could re-create their world. What airport today will give you a
translator? What railway station will tell you what your fellow
traveller is saying? Some caravanserais had libraries – books – in
which a tired family could read of their fellow guests. How we should
miss these places.

From: A. Papazian

Public Television of Armenia
July 22 2010

Armenian president comments on Karabakh conflict, ties with Turkey

[Presenter] Armenian President [Serzh] Sargsyan has said that the St
Petersburg proposals, developed on the basis of the Madrid principles,
are being discussed at present stage of the Karabakh talks. The
president believes the proposals are providing an opportunity to
continue the talks as long as Azerbaijan has not clearly determined
its position.

[Sargsyan speaking at an outdoor meeting with youth, voice] When
Azerbaijan says – I accept, then we will continue the talks, [if] it
says it does not accept, then maybe other ways should be looked for.
Yes, the talks are going on. Latest proposals are there on the
[negotiations] table, which were given – proposed to us in St
Petersburg. Now both – we and Azerbaijanis should say whether or not
we accept them as a basis? We say this document is providing an
opportunity to continue the talks – let us see, what Azerbaijanis will
say.

[Presenter] The president also spoke about the current stage of the
Armenian-Turkish relations at a meeting with Diaspora Armenian youth
of the Ari Tun [Come Home] project and Miasin movement in Sevan. The
president underscored that Turkish authorities had adopted a way of
conduct and do what they want to do by distorting the reality.

[Sargsyan speaking at an outdoor meeting, voice] The whole world tells
Turkey [that] it should demonstrate the will and ratify the signed
[Armenian-Turkish] protocols. Turkey seems not to hear that and tells
us to show the will. For our part, we have already demonstrated the
will. We never neglect a hand stretched out in a friendly manner.
However when this stretched hand does not exist in reality, and it is
portrayed like that, we do not pay attention to it.

From: A. Papazian

Gates of Vienna
July 22 2010

Sieg Heil at the Turkish Embassy

by Baron Bodissey

Turkey has illegally occupied northern Cyprus since 1974, and
conditions in the `occupied territories’ of Cyprus are said to be
worse than in Gaza.

On July 20th the Cyprus Action Network of America demonstrated in
front of the Turkish embassy in Washington D.C. to protest the
occupation of Cyprus. A counterdemonstration, mounted in close
co-ordination with the Turkish embassy, immediately invoked Godwin’s
law by shouting `Heil Hitler’ at the demonstrators.

Here’s how CANA describes what happened at the embassy:

Turkish Embassy Hitler Salute on July 20, 2010

July 21, 2010

Contact: Nikolaos Taneris, New York, Tel (917) 699-9935

NEW YORK ‘ The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) demonstrated
against the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC on July 20th, 2010 for
the entire business day, to mark the 36-year anniversary of the
illegal Turkish invasion of Cyprus that began on July 20, 1974.
Greek-Cypriot demonstrators from the DC area and from as far away as
Florida and New York participated. The Greek-Cypriot demonstration was
helped by Armenian community supporters, (whose people are an integral
part of Cyprus ) and suffer from the ongoing illegal
Turkish-military-occupation, and by pro-Israel activists. The
Greek-Cypriot demonstration applauded American celebrity Jennifer
Lopez’s `NO’ to Turkish terrorism. Protest slogans emphasized the
Turkish Crimes against the Greek-Cypriot people and the brutality of
the illegal Turkish invasion, and ongoing illegal Turkish
military-occupation.

Many diplomats and journalists took pictures and videos of the
demonstration, and diplomatic staff from the nearby Embassies of
India, Japan and South Korea voiced their admiration of our commitment
to justice and human rights by asking for our flyers and information
about the Turkish Crimes committed in Cyprus.

Gunay Evinch and the Turkish Embassy Hitler Youth
– – – – – – – – –

A counter demonstration was staged and closely supervised by Gunay
Evinch, of the law firm Evinch and Saltzman. Gunay Evinch is widely
acknowledged as `the lawyer of the Turkish Embassy.’ Gunay Evinch has
defended Turkey from American lawsuits by Greek-Cypriot Americans, he
is the President of the Turkish Lobby. Gunay Evinch is a promoter of
Armenian genocide denial within the United States and the source of
Turkish invasion of Cyprus denial propaganda for Turkey in America.

The main speaker for the Turkish Embassy counter demonstrators (who
was witnessed as receiving help and consulted with Gunay Evinch)
repeatedly made the Hitler salute and shouted `Heil Hitler’ towards
pro-Israel activists and the Greek-Cypriot community. The Turkish
Embassy staff also participated and helped Gunay Evinch and the
Turkish Embassy Hitler Youth who also barked out to the Greek-Cypriot
community `Turkish soldiers raped your mothers’ and further committed
hate crimes against women by making obscene gestures with his
genitalia and his megaphone. The Cyprus Action Network of America
(CANA) will be releasing the pictures and videos of Gunay Evinch and
his Turkish Hitler Youth making the Hitler salute to Jewish
Anti-Semitism watch groups and to the Israeli and German government
which monitors such hate speech and hate gestures and enforces heavy
criminal penalties for glorifying Hitler¦

See the article at CANA for more information, including links to
several YouTube videos of events at the Turkish Embassy on Tuesday.

From: A. Papazian

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
July 22, 2010

Armenian H1 Trade Deficit Still Wide Despite Surging Exports

BYLINE: Venla Sipila

According to the latest foreign trade figures from the Armenian
National Statistical Service quoted by ARKA News, goods exports from
Armenia in the first half of 2010 amounted to US$442.8 million, rising
by 55.9% year-on-year (y/y), whereas imports during the same time rose
by 24.4% y/y totalling US$1.724 billion. Thus, the trade balance in
January-June showed a deficit of US$1.281 billion. Over the whole of
last year, the trade gap measured some US$2.6 billion, equivalent of
around 30% of GDP (seeArmenia: 27 January 2010:).

Significance:The first-half data signal some slowing of annual export
growth over the second quarter, whereas the increase in imports has
remained relatively stable (seeArmenia: 21 April 2010:). While the
reported export growth still is very rapid, it is recovering from an
extremely weak position. The Armenian trade gap remains worryingly
deep, the current level corresponding to some 37% of the first-half
GDP, which has been reported at around 1.3 trillion dram (US$3.5
billion). The trade gap is further reflected in a wide overall
current-account deficit, and given limited access to especially
non-debt-creating external financing, it is not sustainable
(seeArmenia: 7 July 2010:). Encouragingly, the Armenian government has
outlined some measures aimed at diversifying the economy, but a lot
still needs to be done before the economy becomes more competitive and
attractive for private investment. Given the increase in the price of
natural gas imports from Russia from the beginning of April, pressures
on the external position will also remain, and it is possible that the
dram exchange rate may have to weaken further in order to secure
sustainability.

From: A. Papazian

The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
July 22, 2010 Thursday
STATE/ROP EDITION

Armen Shamlian Professional photographer, WWII Army sergeant who
snapped Enola Gay A-bomb mission, 86

OBITUARY

Armen Shamlian, 86, beloved husband of Stella, passed away on Monday,
July 19, 2010.

Visitation will be held on Friday, July 23, 2010, from 6 to 8 p.m. at
St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church, 200 W. Mount Pleasant Ave.,
Livingston, N.J. Services will be held at the church on Saturday, July
24, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be at the Brigadier General
William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, N.J., on a
later date. Flowers may be sent to Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home,
Livingston, N.J.

A loving and loyal family man, friend, and patriot, Mr. Shamlian was
born in Manhattan, N.Y., and raised in Kearny, N.J. A Class of 1940
Kearny High School graduate at age 15, he remained in contact with
many of his fellow classmates.

He had a lifelong passion for photography, training at the Germain
School of Photography in New York, N.Y.

Residing in Cedar Grove, N.J., Montville, N.J. and Branchburg, N.J.,
with Stella, his sweetheart of 60 years, their home was filled with
family, friends, books, art, food, conversation and music. He most
enjoyed listening to jazz, eating vanilla ice cream, and watching the
Mets baseball.

Sgt. Shamlian served his country honorably in World War II in the
United States Army Air Force with the 509th Composite Group on Tinian
Island in the Pacific. He was the photographer who snapped the
memorable photograph of Col. Paul Tibbets waving from the cockpit of
the Enola Gay and many other photographs of the historic event. Among
his numerous medals, Sgt. Shamlian received a Presidential Unit
Citation in 1999 along with the 509th Composite Group.

Artist and businessman, he founded Armen Photographers in Newark, N.J.
in 1963. His photography business kept him active into his eighth
decade.

He was a lifelong member of the New York Press Photographers
Association and served many commercial clients over the years.

Above all, Armen will be remembered for his infectious smile, kind
manner and gentle humor that he shared with family, friends,
colleagues and acquaintances.

Family includes his wife, Stella (nee Keosaian); three daughters,
Virginia and husband, Richard Koehler, Susan, and Christine and
significant other Kirk Litman; grandchildren, Michele Kitchen,
Jonathan and Jeffrey Cohrs and Sean Tierney and the late Marc Kitchen,
and many nephews, nieces, cousins, and his Army pal, Lt. Jack
Widowsky.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to St. Mary Armenian
Apostolic Church or the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
July 22 2010

Armenian Defense Ministry calls on Baku to stop militant statements

YEREVAN July 22

The Armenian Defense Ministry has urged Azeri colleagues to stop
making militant statements and escalating tensions.

“We recommend the Azeri defense minister’s press secretary not to fall
into temptation, to avoid wishful thinking, to stop making
irresponsible militant statements and threatening war, and not to
escalate tensions with misinformation,” says the ministry statement
received by Interfax-AVN.

Such policy not only disagrees with the spirit of negotiations and
hampers the Karabakh settlement process and the establishment of
regional peace but also causes tensions along the Armenian-Azeri line
of contact, the ministry said.

The ministry refuted Azeri media reports claiming that the interview
with Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian had been allegedly
removed from the Interfax-AVN website.

There is no other way to resolve the Karabakh conflict but to restore
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and Baku has the right to
achieve this goal with any methods, Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman
Eldar Sabiroglu told Interfax earlier, in comments on the interview of
the Armenian defense minister.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
July 22 2010

Yerevan expects Baku’s answer to proposals on Karabakh conflict settlement

YEREVAN July 22

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan expects Azerbaijan’s response to
proposals on settling the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh that were
recently made in St. Petersburg.

“Proposals were made in St. Petersburg on the basis of the Madrid
principles. Azerbaijan should answer whether it accepts these
proposals or not. We say that this document provides the opportunity
for continuing negotiations. Let’s see what Azerbaijan says,” Sargsyan
said at a meeting with members of the youth group Together and members
of the Armenian diaspora abroad.

The Armenian and Azeri presidents met in St. Petersburg in mid-July.

Mediators in settling the conflict proposed a settlement plan to Baku
and Yerevan in Madrid in 2007. The plan lays out steps for returning
Azerbaijani land surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied by Armenia
to Azerbaijan, the granting of interim status to Nagorno- Karabakh,
guarantees of the region’s security and self-government, the opening
of a corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the determination
of Nagorno-Karabakh’s legal status based on a referendum to be made in
the future, the return of refugees to their homes, and international
security guarantees.

In commenting on militant remarks coming from Azerbaijan, Sargsyan
suggested that they were “intended for domestic use.”

A statement by representatives of the Organization for Security Co-
operation in Europe Minsk Group members made in Almaty says that the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved based on three
international law principles: territorial integrity, the right to
self- determination, and non-use of force, Sargsyan said.

“We are also saying that the conflict should be resolved based on
concessions. Anything else is just unacceptable,” Sargsyan said.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
July 22 2010

Yerevan expects more steps from Ankara toward normalizing relations –
President Sargsyan

YEREVAN July 22

Armenia expects Turkey to take more steps toward normalizing
Armenian-Turkish relations, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said.

“The whole world is calling on Turkey to display its will and ratify
the protocols that have been signed, and the Turks apparently do not
hear this,” Sargsyan said at a meeting with activists from the youth
group Together and diaspora members.

“We have already displayed our will. We never ignore the hand of
friendship extended to us. We have already done everything that
depends on us, and now we are waiting for the Turks to display their
will,” he said.

Turkey and Armenia signed protocols for normalizing relations between
the two states and the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border in
Zurich in October 2009. The two parliaments, however, have not
ratified the protocols. Turkey is apparently tying the normalization
of relations with Armenia to the settlement of the Armenian-Azeri
conflict over the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic.

From: A. Papazian

Today, Azerbaijan
July 23 2010

Turkish media holds round-table on Nagorno-Karabakh

23 July 2010 [17:45] – Today.Az

A joint round-table, “The Turkish Media and Nagorno Karabakh”,
initiated by the Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary Journalists Union and
Turkish Journalists Union was held at the Ataturk Center of Baku.

Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary Journalists Union Elshad
Eyvazli and vice-chairman, staff writer of AzerTAc News Agency Khatai
Azizov said the media of both countries widely cover the events taken
in fraternal countries.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict is always in the
focus of the Turkish media. Atilla Sertel, chairman of Turkish
Journalists Union, congratulated the Azerbaijani media people on the
National Press Day. According to him, press freedom is a reality in
Azerbaijan and wished to develop it.

The Nagorno-Karabakh developments have been in the center of Turkish
media for many years, Atilla Sertel underlined. The falsified claims
of Armenia should be courageously condemned, he said.

Atilla Sertel noted that prior to the round-table he met with the
director general of Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency (AzerTAc) Mr.
Aslan Aslanov. The Azerbaijan realities have to be certainly
disseminated in all Turkish media through AzerTAc, the guest
emphasized.

/AzerTAc/

URL:

From: A. Papazian