Author: Andres-Papazian

POPE FRANCIS MAY VISIT ARMENIA IN 2015

18:21 * 28.05.14

In an interview with La Croix, ten days after Catholicos Garegin
II’s meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican, Head of the press office
of the Holy See of Echmiadzin Shahe Ananyan said that Pope Francis
may visit Armenia.

“I am ninety percent sure that the Pope will visit Echmiadzin in 2016,
to participate in canonization of the Armenian Genocide victims,”
Ananyan said.

According to La Croix, the visit will be of great importance. It will
suggest Vatican recognizing the Armenian Genocide, which was the case
during John Paul II’s visit to Armenia.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S FM SPEAKS OF UPCOMING SUMMIT IN ASTANA

14:05 * 28.05.14

Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian held a meeting
with journalists on Wednesday.

In response to a question concerning the possibility of an agreement
being signed at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council
in Astana, Kazakhstan, Minister Nalbandian said, “We’ll see.”

With respect to official Yerevan’s position on the Ukraine presidential
elections, Minister Nalbandian referred to the Armenian presidents’
congratulatory message to Ukraine’s president elect.

As regards the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ latest statements, Minister
Nalbandian said that the negotiations are following their course.

“The co-chairs are arriving in Azerbaijan in a few days because they
visited Nagorno-Karabakh during their latest trip to the region.

Azerbaijan’s leaders were not in the country,” the minister said.

With respect to the co-chairs’ proposals for the return of the
territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, the minister
advised looking at the proposals made by the presidents of the
co-chair nations.

As to whether he is concerned over Azerbaijan purchasing weapons,
Minister Nalbandian noted that the international community and OSCE
Minsk Group co-chair states are concerned as well. They are calling
for strengthening the ceasefire and withdrawing snipers.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is to go on a working visit
to Kazakhstan to participate in a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian
Economic Council, in Astana, on May 29.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

MULTI-POLAR WORLD AFTER THE ELECTION IN UKRAINE

May 28 2014

The topic of “Face to Face” series of talk show of Aravot online
is discussed between publicist Gurgen Yeghiazaryan and MP Tevan
Poghosyan. Aram Abrahamyan – Were the elections held in Ukraine
legitimate? Is Petro Poroshenko a legitimate president or not? Gurgen
Yeghiazaryan – Of course, not. How can a president be legitimate when
the whole east of the country is in a war? Today, there is a civil war
in Ukraine. Under these circumstances, how can there be talks about
the elections? A large segment has not participated in the elections,
consequently, they have already separated this segment de jure. Tevan
Poghosyan – I believe that, yes, Petro Poroshenko is a legitimate
president, because if we imagine theoretically that these people have
complained, sat in the kitchen and had not participated, however,
around 60 percent of the overall Ukrainian population participated.

The Ukrainians themselves decide the legitimacy. When there are
elections held in Karabakh, the whole world does not recognize it,
saying that they are not legitimate and so on, but the legitimacy
generates from the people’s participation. There is participation
by the majority, where people recognize that the elections were
legitimate, and Petro Poroshenko’s vote is fair. The people who
were in the campaign with him, recognize the election results, and
even Yanukovich welcomed that the Ukrainian people have made their
choice in these difficult circumstances. So, it seems to me that the
legitimacy should be recognized. A. A. – If there are 35.5 million
electorates in Ukraine, and 6,700,000 in Lugansk and Donetsk regions
and in Crimea, then the majority, however, has made its choice. G. E.

– The matter is not the arithmetic. I remember that in a number
of countries, there are no talks about elections during the civil
war, but since we are living in a different reality… Prior to
the Crimea’s accession to Russia, let me say that we were living
on a unipolar earth, when there was one state, other states were
coming, and 100 places were empty. This time, Russia did not allow
recurrence of the same what happened in Yugoslavia. In 90’s, Russia
was much more measureable and kneeling country; Boris Nikolayevich was
accepting anything that was told to him. What happened in Yugoslavia,
the massacres, killing, and slaughter that continues to this day,
the criminal unions that are acting until now, so to speak, after the
introduction of democracy, divided Yugoslavia into parts and created
Kosovo. Kosovo was adopted by Europe and by the rest of the countries,
and first by the United States, but, for some reasons, no one accepts
Karabakh under the same circumstances. The first precedent was Karabakh
for us, Kosovo is another problem, we are a very small country, today
we do not have a role at all, and our voice was not heard… Crimea’s
voice was heard, because powerful Russia was standing in the back. The
same story as that of Kosovo occurred in the Crimea.

First of all, it was a manifestation of people’s good will, which is
accepted by all international norms. A. A. – Karabakh, Crimea, Kosovo,
the right to self-determination etc. T. P. – There is an adopted
international norm in the world regarding the self-determination of
nations, naturally, we understand that being recognized or not by other
countries would always remain a political issue. We must be guided by
our interests. Karabakh has exercised its right to self-determination
in full compliance with all respective legal acts, the then functioning
laws, by building today’s Artsakh Republic, by proving every day
that it is going to exist. I am confident that the world will surely
recognize Artsakh. The time issue is a bit political, and here, we
must be able to really invest all our zeal to achieve recognition a
day early, sooner or later. If we look at Kosovo, often it is useful
for Armenia as a precedent. Crimea will always belong to people
who are living there, and if they find that their problem is better
solved with Russia, it naturally will be admitted by the world over
the time. If they feel that Ukraine is offering better conditions, I
would not be surprised that there will be another referendum tomorrow,
and the Crimea would be able to solve its problem. Prepared by

ARAM ABRAHAMYAN

Read more at:

From: A. Papazian

NEW TRANSPORT PROJECTS IN THE REGION

26.05.2014

Sevak Sarukhanyan
Ph.D., Deputy Director of “Noravank” Foundation

Recently there has been a surge in work on international transport
projects. This concerns also the South Caucasus and Caspian region,
where several projects are close to completion. Unfortunately, these
projects may to a certain extent negatively affect the regional
interests of the Republic of Armenia.

Qazvin-Rasht-Astara: the Final Phase?

In early May 2014 discussions intensified around prospects of
Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway that would connect Iran and Azerbaijan.

They were especially boosted by Azerbaijani president’s visit to
Tehran in April, the significance of which was highly appraised both
by Iran and Azerbaijan.

It would not be true to say that I. Aliyev’s visit produced
strategic changes in Iran-Azerbaijan relations, as the documents
signed during the visit did not have strategic significance and were
related to some narrow, small areas. At the same time, the top-level
Iranian-Azerbaijani negotiations broke the ice in the interstate
relations that was formed in recent years. This was also demonstrated
by the Iranian official media reports, where discussions between Aliyev
and Rouhani about Karabakh issue were reported with short information
at the end about the conflict, which almost literally repeated the
Azerbaijani standpoint, i.e. occupation of 20% of territory, Armenian
military units and 1 million refugees.

In any case, after the negotiations between Iranian and Azerbaijani
presidents, discussions intensified on implementation of joint
projects with participation of both countries. In May one of these
projects was brought to forefront, which is the construction of
Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway that would not only connect the railroads
of Iran and Azerbaijan, but also would create a direct transportation
channel from the Persian Gulf to Baltic Sea. This is a project of
global significance, implementation of which was halted due to Iran’s
isolation and strained Iranian-Azeri relations. However, recently
there has been some progress made in both of these dimensions.

Thus in May, answering to a question from the official Iranian IRNA
news agency, Gilan province Governor General Mohammad Ali Najafi said
that the Iranian president has instructed all relevant ministries
to finish construction of the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway as soon
as possible.

Gilan province Governor General’s answer would have probably drawn no
much attention, because under the ongoing economic crisis in Iran there
are no government funds to finance large projects. However on May 7,
2014, during the Session of the Council for Rail Transport of CIS held
in Astana, Mohsen Pour Seyed Aqaie, Managing Director of Iran Railways
Organization (which has a status of an observer in the Council), met
his Azerbaijani and Russian counterparts and a trilateral agreement
was reached that Russian Railways JSC will build Qazvin-Rasht-Astara
railway track. A day later this was confirmed by Vladimir Yakunin,
who described the project as important and promising.

Russia’s interest in this project can be explained both by strategic
and tactical considerations. In strategic terms it creates beneficial
prospects for Russia, as it allows Moscow to become an international
transit hub. Tactically the project is important, too, since it
breathes life into the potential Russia-Iran “oil deal” that has been
actively discussed recently. In this potential deal Iran is supposed
to export $15 billion worth of oil to Russia and receive services and
goods in exchange. Given the limitations of the export-oriented part
of the Russian economy, such export of goods seems hard to implement.

However, as far as the services are concerned (e.g. constructing a
railroad), the capabilities of Moscow are not that limited. In this
respect Qazvin-Rasht-Astara project is beneficial for Russia both
strategically and tactically.

Caspian railway chain

Iran’s step up of activities in the area of transportation is not
limited to Qazvin-Rasht-Astara project. Iran’s president has ordered
to speed up construction of Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway.

According to Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, Minister of Roads and Urban
Development, it will be completed in October 2014. This is not
just for the Iranian section of the railroad, but the whole
project. This means in near future the Iranian railroads will be
connected to Azerbaijan and Russia through Qazvin-Rasht-Astara, and
to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan through a second project. The first
one would also allow Iran to connect to Georgian railways and port of
Poti through Azerbaijan, whereas the second one opens opportunities
to link the railroads of Iran and China through construction of the
Kazakhstan-China railway.

In part, the reason for acceleration of works on these two projects is
that Iran attempts to use the window of opportunity created by some
improvement of relations with the West, in order to get economically
and politically more interconnected with the neighboring countries.

At the same time it has to be noted that Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway
construction significantly diminishes prospects of constructing
Iran-Armenia railway, because both projects essentially solve the same
problem from the geographic point of view, that is, establishment of a
South-North transport corridor. Under such circumstances implementation
of one project decreases the chances of the other one materialize.

“Globus” analytical bulletin, No. 5, 2014

Return ________________________________ Another materials of author

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From: A. Papazian

HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK: MIKOYAN GRANDSON AGAINST PLAN TO ERECT CONTROVERSIAL STATUE

08:55 â~@¢ 28.05.14

The grandson of Anastas Mikoyan, the Soviet-era ethnic Armenian
statesman whose statue the Yerevan municipality wanted to erect in
the capital, is said to be against the controversial plan.

The paper says it sent a written request to Stas Namin on May 14,
asking him to comment on the city authorities’ decision and informing
him of the public reaction to the plan. Mikoyan’s grandson, a musician
and painter who heads the Stas Namin Cultural-Educational center, is
said to have first expressed a desire to know more about the Stalin-era
repressions and the statesman’s involvement in the execution of people
across the USSR. He reportedly asked the Haykakan Zhamanak journalist
to send him the electronic copies of the historical records, as well
as the links to the media reports addressing the public resonance.

The paper says it sent about a dozen of materials to Mr Namin two days
later. And after studying the records, the artist reportedly answered
that he was against the erection of any monument. Тhe paper cites
Namin as saying that memory has live in the people’s hearts and minds,
not in granite or bronze.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIAN JOURNALIST: ONE CANNOT SAY THAT RUSSIAN MASS MEDIA ARE BIASED IN COVERING NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Wednesday, May 28, 00:53

One cannot say that Russian mass media are biased in covering the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, well-known Russian journalist Alan
Kasayev said during a roundtable discussion on the peculiarities of
interethnic relations in the post-Soviet area.

‘

The event was organized by the North-South Politological Center
and was attended by an ArmInfo correspondent. “We have too few
specialists on Armenia and Azerbaijan to be able to say that any of
them may be biased. I can say that some people are not professional
but I cannot blame anybody of being biased. On the other hand,
when covering Armenia or Azerbaijan, Russian journalists continue
thinking as representatives of a center that has been, has and will
have a serious influence on the Nagorno-Karabakh. So, it is natural
that they are not trusted. The problem is that if they avoiding the
influence of Armenia or Azerbaijan, they fall under the influence of
some imperial position. So, in this situation, they must try not to
harm and to be as neutral as possible,” Kasayev said.

He noted that most of the Russian readers and TV viewers are not
interested in conflicts that do not affect Russia. “But since we have
big Armenian and Azerbaijani communities, we have certain audience
– plus political scientists, ethnographers, conflictologists,”
Kasayev said.

From: A. Papazian

POWERFUL PHOTOS DIG INTO TURKEY’S TABOO HISTORY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

16:37 28.05.2014

Kathryn Cook’s Memory of Trees tells a complicated and moving story
of the Armenian genocide through a visceral and broadly visual survey
of the people and places that were, and still are, affected by the
tragic events of a century ago, reads an article published by the Wired
Magazine.[]

“I hope that it presents a unique way of looking at the issue,” she
says. “I think photography perhaps is one of the only ways to keep
exploring the story because it leaves room for interpretation and
can capture some of the pieces that people haven’t already heard.”

The article notes that “historians peg the start of the genocide as
April 24, 1915, when the government arrested more than 200 Armenian
community leaders in Constantinople. Some 1.5 million Armenians
were killed as the Ottoman Empire crumbled and what is now Turkey
took shape.”

Cook was drawn to the story shortly after moving to Turkey in 2006
and seeing how the issue of Armenian identity and history bubbled
under surface. She decided to explore the issue through photography
after Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, was
assassinated because of his outspoken views on Armenian identity. His
death helped prompt a growing social movement to address the Armenian
plight in Turkey.

“I photographed the funeral, and from there things just took off,”
she says.

Cook started photographing sites throughout Turkey linked to
the Armenian community-churches, monasteries, and other Armenian
buildings that were destroyed or left to crumble from neglect. For
her, these structures represented disappearance and erasure. To this
day, the Turkish government disputes the notion that Armenians were
systematically targeted, but these destroyed buildings seemed to
say otherwise.

What broke the story open for Cook was her visiting the small village
of Agaclı in southeastern Turkey. She happened upon the village
after reading about the mayor’s decision to resurrect the Armenian
tradition of weaving headscarves from the cocoons of silk worms. The
scarves and silk cultivation had become an important source of income
for the community, and Cook was fascinated that the tradition had
been revived-and in a Kurdish community. “It was exactly the kind
of work I wanted to dive into because it was on the human level,”
she says. “It was this subtle way of remembering and celebrating the
legacy of a people and a very charged topic.”

Over time, Cook took half a dozen trips to Agaclı and got to know the
community well. The name of her book comes from the name of the town,
which means “place of trees.” As she spent more time in the town,
her connections grew and she met more and more people willing to be
photographed. The project still unfolded slowly, but she’d finally
found a way into the Armenian communities. “I just had to be patient,”
she says.

Cook also traveled the well-known routes along which Armenians were
forcibly evacuated during the genocide. She visited locations in
the Syrian desert, for example, where men, women and children were
prodded along death marches toward concentration camps. She also
went out into the Black Sea and made pictures where boats full of
Armenians were purposely sunk. Without knowing the historical context
or the significance of the location, many of Cook’s photos can be
hard to read. But as viewers come to know the story, her seemingly
abstract approach makes sense. Many of the photos seem overly vacant,
for example, but that’s intentional, because so much of the story is
about absence.

“In this context, the emptiness means something,” she says. “It’s
sort of like everything that’s not said, speaks.”

Cook spent seven years on Memory of Trees and says she could have
kept going for many more. But she felt the work needed to be seen. The
timing of the book also coincides with what continues to be a growing
movement in Turkey of people demanding justice for ethnic Armenians
and others who face discrimination.

“I think a new national narrative is slowly starting to get written,”
she says. “And hopefully the work plays a part in exploring this
change.”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN FM SAYS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WORRIED ABOUT AZERBAIJAN’S ARMAMENT

May 28, 2014 | 13:29

YEREVAN. – International community and the co-chairing states of the
OSCE Minsk Group are concerned over the sale of Russian weapons to
Azerbaijan, Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian told reporters at Sardarapat
Memorial.

“This worried the international community and the three co-chairing
states which always call to take appropriate steps to strengthen the
ceasefire, withdraw snipers and establis an appropriate mechanism
which will focus on the investigation of incidents,” Nalbandian said.

As regards proposals for the return of the territories surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Armenian FM advised to consider five
statements made by the three co-chairing states of the OSCE Minsk
Group.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

NATIONAL CINEMA CENTER OF ARMENIA TO SHOOT SIX FILMS DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

16:35 * 28.05.14

Six films, including cartoons, are among the project of The National
Cinema Center of Armenia (NCCA).

They are dedicated to the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, NCCA
Director Gevorg Gevorgyan told Tert.am.

“Fiction films, documentaries and cartoons. Serge Avetikyan will shoot
one of them. Another film is a joint project with the Czech side.”

The Zhoghovurd newspaper reported earlier that the state commission to
coordinate the events marking the centennial of the Armenian Genocide
has never allocated funds for shooting a film in Hollywood. Gevorgyan
said the idea was discussed several years ago.

“In Hollywood it is a matter of billions. Of course, the idea was
suggested, but there were no plans.”

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS, CATHOLICOS KAREKIN II ON THE FIRST ARMENIAN REPUBLIC DAY

19:52 28.05.2014

>From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, with paternal love we are
extending our blessings and congratulations to our children in Armenia
and throughout the Diaspora on the occasion of the First Armenian
Republic Day.

In 1918 our people courageously defended our Homeland during the
heroic battles in May and established the first Armenian Republic
overcoming hardships and challenges. The reestablishment of statehood
was the outcome of a long liberation struggle of our people, their
unfaltering faith and united spirit.

The Republic Day is an invitation and encourages all of us today
to fervently contribute to the reinforcement of our statehood,
the prosperity of our country, the welfare of our people and the
realization of our national visions.

Dear faithful people, we believe that notwithstanding the current
challenges, through combined efforts and steadfast spirit we will
continue with forging a new life, and a joyous and bright future with
our native statehood.

We pray that God keep our statehood strong under His Holy Right Hand,
supporting the Armenian nation dispersed throughout the world and
granting success to all our efforts for the love of the Homeland.

From: A. Papazian