Author: Andres-Papazian

YEREVAN, HAGUE TO FURTHER BOOST THEIR TRADE TIES

YEREVAN, March 24. /ARKA/. Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan and the
premier of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said at their meeting Sunday
the two countries’ trade and economic ties are of special importance,
the press office of Armenia’s president said.

The sides admitted the Netherlands are a key EU trade partner to
Armenia, according to the report.

Yet, Sargsyan and Rutte said, the current level of trade and economy
ties needs to be promoted, and cooperation in IT, agriculture,
pharmaceuticals, road construction and a number of other fields can
further develop.

In terms of Armenia-EU relations the president Sargsyan stressed the
importance of maintaining the current level and further deepening.

Armenia is expecting support from friendly Holland that was at the
EU wellsprings, Sargsyan said.

The sides exchanged views on regional conflicts and Sargsyan briefed
Rutte on Karabakh peace process. -0–

– See more at:

From: A. Papazian

A REFERENCE LABORATORY WILL BE ESTABLISHED IN ARMENIA

March 24, 14:48

In the nearest future a reference laboratory will be established
in Armenia, which will help evaluate the accuracy of the analytical
results obtained in other laboratories of the country, told Tsaghik
Vardanyan, the Head of Department of therapeutic programs of the
Ministry of Health in the interview with NEWS.am Medicine.

“Very often we hear, that people give the same analysis in different
laboratories and receive different, sometimes diametrically opposite
answer ,” said Vardanyan, adding that reference laboratory will
help reduce the likelihood of such incidents and increase citizens’
confidence in test results of laboratories operating in the country.

According to Vardanyan, it is not clear yet, when the reference
laboratory will be operating, but the order of the Health Minister
is already signed.

As reference laboratory requires high-end gear, discussions are
underway with several companies, one of which will supply technology
and equipment. In addition, the lab will also need to obtain a special
certificate to prove its compliance with international standards.

NEWS.am Medicine

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN MFA REACTS TO MINSK GROUP US CO-CHAIR’S STATEMENT ON KARABAKH

March 24, 2014 | 16:38

The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry “reminded” Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chair James Warlick
(USA) about his direct obligations.

“The responsibilities of the US as well as Russia and France are to
conduct a mediation mission between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the
[Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict. In addition, the restoration of justice
is included in the duties of the co-chairing countries,” Azerbaijan
MFA Spokesperson Elman Abdullayev wrote in his Facebook account,
Haqqin.az reported.

“James Warlick should be careful when choosing phrases in connection
with the conflict settlement, since this refers to the violation of
international law and the humanitarian tragedy which the Azeris have
faced,” Abdullayev also wrote.

James Warlick had tweeted that the ongoing conflict is between
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh (NK).

It all started when Warlick had tweeted about a possible meeting,
in The Hague, between the presidents and the FMs of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, and in order to seek a lasting peace in NK.

“I was corrected today – the conflict is Nagorno-#Karabakh and
#Azerbaijan. Still, we want a peaceful settlement for all parties
for NK,” Warlick tweeted several hours later.

Sometime thereafter, the US Co-Chair gave a positive assessment to
the talk between the Armenian and the Azerbaijan FMs.

“Positive meetings today with the foreign ministers of #Armenia and
#Azerbaijan. Working together, a lasting #peace is possible,” James
Warlick tweeted.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

SCHOLAR CAPTURES TRAGEDY, MIRACLE OF AURORA MARDIGANIAN’S LIFE STORY

ARTS | MARCH 24, 2014 10:50 AM
________________________________

ARLINGTON, Mass. — In the 1920s, the name and face of Aurora
Mardiganian were well known in the United States and beyond. Her
autobiography, Ravished Armenia; the Story of Aurora Mardiganian, was
a bestseller and the movie based on it, “An Auction of Souls,” was a
hit too. However, in the ensuing decades, she was forgotten, becoming
another one of the anonymous casualties of the Armenian Genocide.

She is now being reclaimed by the Armenians in an effort led by Dr.

Hayk Demoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute
in Yerevan.

Demoyan presented an illustrated lecture about Mardiganian on March
8 at the Armenian Cultural Foundation, at a program co-sponsored by
the foundation, the Armenian International Women’s Association and
the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research.

Introducing Demoyan was the director of the Armenian Cultural
Foundation, Dr. Ara Ghazarians. He said in his opening remarks, “We
are a nation resurrected on the shoulders of orphaned grandparents.”

He said Mardiganian was a “young woman of exceptional courage who
awakened humanity on these shores.” Her autobiography, he added,
was one of the first books on the Armenian Genocide.

Mardiganian has become a focal point for Demoyan, who said he feels
that not only is she remarkable on her own, but that she can serve
as a microcosm of the Armenian experience.

Now, the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute is home to the largest
collection of Mardiganian materials in the world.

Mardiganian’s story, as Demoyan explained, is the stuff of
Greek tragedy. Aurora Mardiganian was born Arshaluys Mardigian in
Chmshgatsak, in 1901. The town has deep Armenian roots, Demoyan said,
going back to the Urartian times. In 1915, her family was slaughtered
by Ottoman forces, as were most other Armenians in the town and
elsewhere in Western Armenia. She and many other young women there
were rounded up for a forced march toward Diyarbakir. According to
her story, the Turkish soldiers decided to nail the 17 girls in the
group to crosses but they miscounted and only constructed 16 crosses;
she was the lucky one who was not crucified.

She endured much, being sold into a harem as a teen, for 85 cents. She
was plucky, however, and managed to escape, eventually meeting up
with Russian soldiers who took her to Armenians in Erzingan. There,
she was pressed for the names of other Armenian girls in captivity.

Eventually, she made her way to Erzurum and met up with General
Antranik and Nikolai Nikolayevich, a cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of
Russia. She made her way to Kars, Gumri and Tbilisi (Tiflis, back
then), where she stayed at Hovhanness Toumanyan’s house. From there,
she went to the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, in October 1917,
when the Russian Revolution was underway. As Demoyan said, she feared
for her life. She said, “I survived these killings and now we are in
this big capital where people are killing each other.”

She went from Russia to Norway and then to the US, with help in the
latter part of the journey from the Near East Foundation.

While in the US, in 1918, her book, Ravished Armenia; the Story
of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian Girl, Who Survived the Great
Massacres, was published, with eventual sales of half a million copies.

At the same time, William Selig, a Chicago native, moved to Los
Angeles to make movies, becoming in the process the founder of
modern Hollywood. He became interested in Mardiganian’s story, but,
as Demoyan said, “the problem was who would star as Aurora.”

Selig decided that the real heroine should star in the movie, based
on the book and titled “Auction of Souls.” The film was later called
“Ravished Armenia.” Thus, Demoyan explained, “Aurora was the star
and consultant for costumes and story.”

Just 19 by this point, she showed evidence of her mental anguish by
screaming in fear when seeing actors in Turkish costumes, forgetting
she was on a movie set. After all, she had gone through so much trauma
not too long ago, and she was forced to reenact going through the
crimes on film.

Mardiganian’s suffering seemed not to have an end. During the making
of the movie she suffered from broken bones and a case of the Spanish
Flu. Still, she soldiered on through the pain and fever, feeling duty
bound to get the story of the Armenians out.

Demoyan showed a one-minute snippet of the movie featuring Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau, the US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, playing
himself, who in the scene was arguing with the Sultan. No intact copy
of the one hour and 20 minute film has survived. Only an 18-minute
portion remains, thanks to the foresight of Yervant Setian, who found
the reel in the garbage by chance. He sent it to Armenia, where he
eventually repatriated from the US.

The film, like the book, was a hit from coast to coast. It was shown
in cities big and small, and the story of the film and it’s tragic and
beautiful star, covered in all the major papers in the US, as well as
smaller outlets in places as far flung as Honolulu and Alaska. The
film was also a hit in Canada, Cuba, Australia and Europe. Here,
in Boston, the film was shown at Symphony Hall and the opening was
attended by Harvard University President Charles Eliot. In London,
the film was shown at Albert Hall.

The film’s producers tried to make Mardiganian into a real Hollywood
star, but she refused to do other films.

In the early 1930s, the book and the film just dropped off the public’s
radar. Demoyan said that the sudden and complete silencing of the
film could be in part the result of an agreement between Hollywood
and the Nazis in Germany, which saw that movies were not anti-German
or anti-Nazi. Mardiganian had written about being raped by a roving
gang of German soldiers in Turkey before being sold into a harem.

Mardiganian eventually married and had a son, but happiness eluded
her. She never found her brother who had immigrated to the US before
the Genocide and her own son abandoned her. The waning years of her
life were dominated by paranoia about Turkish soldiers finding her.

The reclusive Mardiganian only allowed one woman to deliver food to
her through her window. When she died in 1994, at age 93, no one
claimed her body and she was buried in a mass grave, forgotten by
all and without even a headstone.

The rapt audience in Arlington was also treated to a few minutes of an
interview of Mardiganian in 1984 by Dr. Rouben Adalian, as part of the
Zoryan Institute’s Oral History Project. Neither was apparently aware
that the camera was on. Speaking with clarity and charm, Mardiganian
replied to questions on why she changed her name from Mardigian to
Mardiganian (better pronounced in the US and protecting relatives
in Turkey).

Demoyan explained that many in the Armenian community turned their
backs on her possibly because of the “shameful” part of the story,
namely rape and trafficking, pain that they wanted forgotten and
unmentioned. Another possible explanation was that the hero was in
fact a heroine, a young girl.

Demoyan is currently compiling further new material on Mardiganian in
the US. He plans to publish a book on her as well as put together a
traveling exhibit in time for the Genocide centennial. He also said
that as a member of the Yerevan Council of Elders, he is going to
petition the city to have a street named for her and postage stamps
to commemorate her life.

He noted proudly that this year the Turkish version of the book was
published after he gave the English version to a visiting Turkish
journalist.

“This is a part of Turkish history,” he said.

Copies of her book were sold at the ACF function, with all proceeds
donated to the Syrian-Armenian Relief.

Demoyan, barely able to contain his admiration, said that Mardiganian
would be judged a winner by history. “Her mission was to tell the
story of the Armenian Genocide worldwide. This was a hero, a winner.

This one young lady proved what we can do for our nation.”

– See more at:

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN SOLDIER FATALLY WOUNDED IN MILITARY POSITION

18:30 24/03/2014 >> LAW

On March 24, around 9:50 am, soldier Garnik Torosyan, 22, received
a fatal gunshot wound in a frontline position of a military unit in
the eastern section of the Line of Contact of Nagorno-Karabakh’s and
Azerbaijan’s troops, the press service of NKR Defense Ministry reports.

An investigation has been launched into the incident.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the grief of the loss and extends
sympathy to Garnik Torosyan’s family, relatives and fellow servicemen.

From: A. Papazian

Al-Jazeera, Qatar
March 23 2014

Syria: Ceasefire now

An old saying in Aleppo goes: ‘If you think you understand Arab
politics, that means someone hasn’t explained it well.’

by Vartan Oskanian, a member of Armenia’s National Assembly, a former
foreign minister and the founder of Yerevan’s Civilitas Foundation.

In November 1998, during an official visit to Damascus, I met
President Hafez al-Assad. And in 2006, again on an official visit
there, I met his son, President Bashar al-Assad. The difference
between the two men was palpable.

Al- Assad, the father, was the quintessential symbol of stability and
status quo, the bedrock upon which rested the whole of the Arab
struggle for a Palestinian state and their resistance to the West’s
“imperial designs”. Those high ideals were enough to justify the
brutal suppression of dissent and opposition.

The son espoused the transition to a moderate, open and free Syrian
society. Those ideals were so desirable that many gave him the benefit
of the doubt, remained patient and forgiving so that he could
“overcome the old guard resistance” that he inherited.

Anatomy of a revolution

This is what I took away from my meetings with those two men and the
people I talked to during those two visits.

This month is the third year that the first shots of the Syrian
rebellion emerged in the remote town of Daraa, near the Jordanian
border. Since then it has spread to all possible corners of the
country leaving behind death, total destruction and mayhem. There are
countless injured, 150,000 dead, 10 times that many refugees, and
millions more displaced and hopeless.

The question on everyone’s mind is: Is there an end to this nightmare?
To answer that question, one needs to look into the anatomy of this
conflict. Are the causes of its eruption still relevant, who were the
main players and who are they now, what are the interests still in
conflict, and what needs to be done to move forward?

Three factors have contributed to the formation and eruption of the
conflict in Syria.

First, there was the overall spirit and atmosphere of the Arab Spring.
Syria could not have avoided the wave that began in Tunisia in
December 2010.

Second, there was the deep-seated resentment and disenchantment among
the overwhelmingly majority in the country. Forty years of
tight-fisted authoritarian rule by a small minority had left deep
scars and any opportunity for a transition, even at a high cost,
clearly would have been seized in earnest. Such an attempt was made in
the early 1980s in the city of Hama and was brutally suppressed by
Hafiz al-Assad with minimum international outrage.

Third, was the coincidence of the interests of the major global and
regional powers with the goal of regime change in Syria. The axis
comprising Iran, Hezbollah, Syria as well as the Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki was increasingly becoming a major national security
concern, for the United States and its Western allies, also to Israel,
Turkey and the Gulf states, primary among them, Saudi Arabia.

Arab Spring gone sour

Three years forward, none of those conditions are the same. On the
contrary. The arousing and spiriting scent of the Arab Spring has not
only dissipated but also turned sour and bitter for all who
experienced the uproar and euphoria. From Tunisia to Egypt, the
populace has still to feel a change in their living standards and
level of safety, freedom and emancipation.

Two is, if given a choice today in Syria between immediate security,
peace and stability with Assad at the helm and a protracted conflict
with an unknown future, even if assured a no-Assad outcome, even the
most disenchanted Sunnis would probably go with Assad.

Finally and most importantly, there is a change in the way the global
and regional powers are assessing the situation globally, regionally
and domestically. To begin with they had miscalculated the speed and
ease with which al- Assad regime would fall. The regime’s, Russia’s
and Iran’s (together with Hezbollah’s) resolve proved to be far
superior to that of the West’s half-hearted support and ill-designed
policies.

Furthermore, the penetration and proliferation of violent extremist
organisations within Syria is now being viewed as more threatening to
Western interests than al- Assad regime. Finally, Iran’s turnabout on
its nuclear issue and the emerging hopes for an acceptable outcome for
all tamed anti-Iran emotions and sentiments, somehow diluting the
danger of so-called Shia dominance in the region.

Arab politics for beginners?

As I was growing up in my hometown Aleppo, we had a saying which best
captured the complexities of Middle Eastern politics and societies. If
you think you understand Arab politics, that means someone hasn’t
explained it well. The situation in Syria today with a variety of
dimensions in interplay, mostly overlapping and often deflecting,
makes that adage an understatement.

>From Day one of the Syrian conflict, three possible scenarios for its
eventual outcome were floated and discussed. An outright win for al-
Assad regime; an overwhelming victory for the rebels; a weakened Assad
regime, where a negotiated arrangement for a transitional government
leading to final regime change, would be possible.

The viability of any of these scenarios alternated throughout the past
three years depending on the circumstances on the ground and beyond.
Right after the December 2011 bombing of the intelligence agency
compounds in the heart of Damascus killing 44 people in the first
suicide attack since the uprising began, the fall of the regime seemed
only a matter of time. Prior to the Geneva talks, the impression was
that a negotiated outcome would be possible.

Today, after the capture of Yabroud, it seems the balance has firmly
anchored toward the regime. This oscillation could go on and on.

The Syrian people have suffered enough. It is time that those
countries that hold the Syrian people hostage to their own interests
acknowledge their failures, stop their intervention and let the Syrian
people determine their own future.

1200

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

From: A. Papazian

Washington Post
March 22 2014

Crimea has joined the ranks of the world’s ‘gray areas.’ Here are the
others on that list.

By Adam Taylor

Last week National Geographic found itself in a controversial spot
when a report in U.S. News and World Report suggested that the
National Geographic Maps would show Crimea as part of Russia. “We map
de facto, in other words we map the world as it is, not as people
would like it to be,” Juan José Valdés, the magazine’s geographer and
director of editorial and research, explained.

National Geographic has since clarified its position: In a statement,
it announced that Crimea would be treated “shaded gray” to show that
it was now an “Area of Special Status.”

To put it simply, Crimea is now a gray area.

What other gray areas are there in the world? Well, according to
National Geographic’s Atlas of the World (ninth edition), quite a few.
Here are the ones we could find (with National Geographic’s notes):

Abkhazia: “Separatists defeated Georgian troops to gain control of
this region 1993 — negotiations continue on resolving the conflict.”
Abu Musa: “Claimed by Iran and U.A.E. and jointly administered by them.”
Cyprus: “DIVIDED CYPRUS,” according to National Geographic. “Cyprus
was partitioned in 1974 following a coup backed by Greece and an
invasion by Turkey. The island is composed of a Greek Cypriot south
with an internationally recognized government and a Turkish Cypriot
north (gray) with a government recognized only by Turkey. The UN
patrols the dividing line and works towards reunification of the
island.”
Dokdo: “Administered by South Korea. Claimed by Japan.”
Ilemi Triangle: “Administered by Kenya. Conflicting claims by Sudan
and Ethiopia.”
Kashmir: “India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir — a disputed region
with some 10 million people. India administers only the area south of
the line of control. Pakistan controls northwestern Kashmir. China
took eastern Kashmir from India in a 1962 war.”
Kosovo: “On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence, but
Serbia still claims it as a province. Some places show the Albanian
name with the Serbian name in parentheses.”
Nagorno-Karabakh: “Since a 1994 cease-fire between Azerbaijani and
Armenian forces, ethnic Armenians have controlled Nagorno Karabakh and
surrounding areas (gray). Azerbaijan continues to claim this disputed
region.”
New Moor Island: “Claimed by India and Bangladesh.”
Paracel Islands: “Occupied by China in 1974, which calls them Xisha
Qundao; claimed by Vietnam, which calls them Hoang Sa.”
Senkaku Shoto: “Administered by Japan. Claimed by China and Taiwan.”
Somaliland: “In 1991 the Somali National Movement declared Somaliland
an independent republic (in gray) with Hargeysa as the capital. It is
not internationally recognized.”
South Ossetia: “A 1992 cease-fire ended fighting between Ossetians and
Georgians, but with no political settlement.”
Spratly Islands: “The scattered islands and reefs called the Spratly
Islands are claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Phillipines,
Taiwan, and Vietnam. The Spratleys possess rich fishing grounds and
potential oil.”
Taiwan: “The People’s Republic of China claims Taiwan as its 23rd
province. Taiwan’s government (Republic of China) maintains that there
are two political entities.”
The Falklands Islands: “Administered by United Kingdom (claimed by Argentina).”
The Kiril Islands: “The Southern Kiril Islands of Irurup (Etorofu),
Kunashir (Kunashiri), Shikotan and the Habomai group were lost by
Japan to the Soviet Union in 1945. Japan continues to claim these
Russian-administered islands.”
Transdniestria: “Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian and
Russian minorities have been struggling for independence from
Moldova.”
Tunb Islands: “Administered by Iran (claimed by U.A.E.)”
West Bank and Gaza Strip: “Captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War,
a 1993 peace agreement gave areas of the West Bank and Gaza limited
Palestinian autonomy. The future for these autonomous areas and 3
million Palestinians is subject to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.”
Western Sahara: “Western Sahara (in gray) is in dispute and has been
administered by Morocco since 1979. Fighting between Morocco and a
Western Sahara independence movement called Polisario ended with a
UN-brokered cease-fire in 1991, but no agreement on the area’s status
has been reached. Morocco built a 1,500-mile-long sand wall to confine
Polisario to the sparsely populated southeast.”

National Geographic’s list is far from exhaustive. For example, it
could be argued that Tibet should be included over questions about
China’s sovereignty over the land. And the independence referendums
due to be held this year in Scotland and Catalonia could lend
themselves to the “gray area” tag, too. Really, we’re only scratching
the surface here: Wikipedia lists hundreds of territorial disputes.
The world is a very gray place.

Looking over these gray areas, how does Crimea fit in? First, these
disputed areas span almost all parts of the world, from the Falkland
Islands at the very tip of the South American continent, to the Kiril
Islands between eastern Russia and Japan. Many date back decades, if
not centuries. Like Crimea’s own complicated situation, the fall of
the Soviet Union seems to have played a big role in a number of them,
most notably in the cases of Transdniestria, Abkhazia, and South
Ossetia.

These are also, almost without exception, places of conflict. The gray
status of the West Bank and Gaza strip, Kosovo and Taiwan, is
indicative of those areas’ places at the center of the biggest and
bloodiest international issues of the last century. What’s more, these
gray areas are remarkably resilient. For example, the dispute between
Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falklands Islands goes back
hundreds of years, and despite a bloody war over the islands in 1983
hasn’t settled the situation. Argentina only recently announced it
would not respect the results of the Falklands’ own referendum on the
islands’ status.

From: A. Papazian

Armenia reiterates ‘principled stance’ on right to self-determination
amid Ukraine backlash

NEWS | 22.03.14 | 11:44

Photo:

Armenia’s principled stance on the right to self-determination is
unaltered and during years has been expressed on numerous occasions,
said Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan while receiving Ivan
Kukhta, Ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia, by the latter’s request, on
Friday.

Earlier that day Kukhta was recalled by Kiev over Armenia’s stance on
the Crimean referendum expressed during a telephone conversation
between President Serzh Sargsyan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin.

According to the presidential press service, during their March 19
telephone conversation the two leaders “shared opinions regarding the
crisis in Ukraine and the ways out of it.” “In that context the
Presidents touched upon the situation after the referendum in Crimea
and stated that the latter constitutes another case of exercise of
peoples’ right to self-determination via free expression of will. At
the same time the Presidents highlighted the importance of commitment
to the norms and principles of the international law, first and
foremost the UN Charter,” the press release said.

As reported by the Foreign Ministry’s official website, while
receiving the Ukrainian ambassador, Deputy Foreign Minister Kocharyan
also stressed that “the centuries-old relations between the friendly
peoples of Armenia and Ukraine form the solid basis on which the
interaction between the two countries are being built.”

Earlier on Friday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, through
an official, warned Yerevan of “serious damage” to bilateral ties and
demanded an official explanation regarding its stance on Crimea’s
secession from Ukraine and joining Russia. At the same time, Ukraine’s
Deputy Foreign Minister Danilo Lubkivsky said that Armenia’s
ambassador in Kiev had twice been summoned to the Ukrainian Foreign
Minister and handed an official note.

Meanwhile, President Sargsyan sought to reach out to the Ukrainian
people as he spoke during a ceremony of handing out annual
presidential awards to artists, writers and scientists.

Olena Fetisova, a Ukrainian screenwriter, producer and co-director of
a new feature film about Soviet-Armenian filmmaker Sergey Parajanov,
was among those who was supposed to pick up the presidential award.
The Ukrainian, however, decided not to arrive in Yerevan and not to
accept the award in protest against the Armenian president’s de-facto
acceptance of the outcome of the internationally condemned referendum
in Crimea.

“Ukrainians are or brothers,” President Sargsyan said in his remarks.
“For centuries, we fought shoulder to shoulder against aggressors. We
have thousands of glorious pages of common history. This has been the
case and this will be the case.”

“It happens so that in the heat of time and events, different
phenomena are perceived in different ways,” Sargsyan continued. “But
the great thing about time is that over time things clear up,
misunderstandings and disagreements disappear and everything returns
to normal. I want to repeat that the Ukrainians are our brothers.”

From: A. Papazian

DERNIRE MINUTE
Disparition de Stepan Gishian, le directeur de l’AKBA-Crédit Agricole
d’Arménie. Il avait 50 ans

Stepan Gishian, le directeur de l’AKBA-Crédit Agricole d’Arménie- est
mort. Il avait 50 ans. Stepan Gishian était né le 5 mai 1964 à Erévan.
Après des études à l’institut économique d’Erévan il avait occupé la
fonction de président de la banque HayKiughpokhbank (1995-2000). Il en
devenait le directeur (2000 à 2006). Depuis 2006 il était le directeur
de l’AKBA-Crédit Agricole. Il était également le président de la
société

From: A. Papazian

SERZH SARGSYAN: WE ARE MORE SECURE NOW THAN WE WERE FIVE YEARS AGO (VIDEO)

19:06 | March 21,2014 | Official

Serzh Sargsyan today visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Armenia. He toured the MFA building and held a consultation with the
senior officials of the Ministry.

The Foreign Minister, Deputy FMs and the MFA Secretary General
presented reports on the situation in their agencies. Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian presented the Ministry’s activities since 2008,
and its actions towards the fulfillment of the tasks that are set
before the Ministry.

Serzh Sargsyan posed questions to the reporters, presented his comments
and observations and gave relevant instructions. He then spoke about
the Ministry’s priorities and course of actions and answered the
questions of participants referring the country’s foreign policy and
security, economy, regional issues and the situation in Crimea.

When asked about Armenia’s foreign policy, the country’s leader
highlighted the results of the implemented work.

“The question is whether we have been able to increase our security
guarantee in a year or not. Each of us, as a government official,
has duties of his own. My duty is to ensure the country’s territorial
integrity and security, so I am responsible for it. Everything has
to be evaluated based on the results. I find that with the level
of our international relations, our involvement and the type and
quality of partners, we are more secure now than we were five years
ago. Never has our army been so well-equipped and efficient as it is
today. Never before has there been such unanimity over Karabakh. We
have one character, one very important feature; we never try to cheat
or mislead anyone; we say, this is our interest, so we are ready or
not ready to do this here and now,” said Serzh Sargsyan.

At the end of the consultation, a group of MFA representatives were
encouraged for their conscientious and productive work and awarded
with the certificates of appreciation.

From: A. Papazian