Author: Andres-Papazian

Levon Ter-Petrosyan: Gagik Tsarukyan is not worse than Bidzina
Ivanishvili or Renat Akhmetov, is he?!

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Saturday, March 1, 18:29

Armenia will join the Customs Union and will hardly integrate into
Europe in the near future. This is the reality we must accept, the
leader of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the first President of
Armenia Levon Ter-Petriosyan said at an ANC rally in Liberty Square on
Saturday.

“The problem here is that we need a government that will make best of
the opportunities the Customs Union will offer. I don’t think that
Serzh Sargsyan and his team can do it. They don’t care for our
national interests. They are not our native government but a group of
occupants who have usurped power in Armenia. Sargsyan is no longer
reputed as a serious partner in the world. So, we need drastic changes
so as to improve our reputation,” Ter-Petrosyan said.

Ter-Petrosyan believes that each new day of Sargsyan’s stay in power
is a new loss for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. “So, it is time for
him to resign and for us to elected a new reliable and serious leader.
I think it is high time for us to change the government. Never before
have our people hated the government as strongly as they do now.
Sargsyan himself admitted it,” Ter-Petrosyan said, implying Sargsyan’s
last statement that 80% of people in Armenia are against the pension
reform.

Ter-Petrosyan is glad to see that civil society in Armenia is becoming
stronger and that the parliamentary groups of Armenian National
Congress, Prosperous Armenia, ARFD and Heritage are beginning to
cooperate. “The last statement by the leader of Prosperous Armenia
Gagik Tsarukyan was quite symptomatic in this respect. I don’t think
that Tsarukyan is worse than Bidzina Ivanishvili who peacefully
changed the government in Georgia or Renat Akhmetov who prevented
Yanukovich from imposing a state of emergency in Ukraine. I think that
it is good time for us to change the government. Simply, we must
consider the best way to do it. The ANC is ready to cooperate with all
forces. I hope that next time we will be here with some other parties.
This rally may give start to a serious process,” Ter-Petrosyan said.

From: A. Papazian

Haykakan Zhamanak: Bankrupt Armavia’s owner leaves Armenia

09:55 * 01.03.14

The former employees of Armavia, Armenia’s national airline that went
bankrupt last year, are said to be voicing alarm that the company’s
owner, Mikhail Baghdasarov, has left Armenia forever without paying
their debts.

The debt to each of the 40 pilots hired by the company is within the
range of 6-20 million Drams ($15,000-$20,000), says the paper, adding
that the unpaid salaries to the air hostesses amounts to 2 million
($5,000).

Several Armavia employees have reportedly told Haykakan Zhamanak that
Baghdasarov sold two aircrafts back in December, but that apparently
didn’t save the situation, says the paper, as they still are waiting
for their wages. They expressed serious doubts that Baghdasarov will
not return, according to the paper.

Mika Limited, another company owned by Baghdasarov, later denied the
reports. A source speaking to the paper reportedly said that
Baghdasarov’s trips to Moscow bear a regular character.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: A. Papazian

Anti-Armenian event to be held in Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
turned to be artifice of Azerbaijani media

14:28 01/03/2014 >> SOCIETY

Information disseminated by the Azerbaijani media allegedly at the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University at the U.S.
state of Massachusetts an event was held dedicated to Aghdam events
taken place in 1992, turned to be false, Armenian students of the
abovementioned university report Panorama.am.

According to information Professor John Cerone gave a lecture at the
university, during which the lecturer mentioned nothing about the
Aghdam events. The lecture was attended by 14 Armenian and 4
Azerbaijani students; 5 of Professor Cerone’s students were present
too.

On February 26, 1992, during the war in Karabakh, around 200 to 300
people (according to Human Rights Watch, and 600 according to the
version propagated by Azerbaijan) were killed in unknown circumstances
near the city of Aghdam. They have been deliberately withheld by the
Azerbaijani authorities in the midst of the military actions.
Population of the village of Khojalu, which was one of the firing
points shooting at the blockaded Stepanakert (among five others) was
kept in the village for months by force and was not evacuated by the
authorities of Azerbaijan deliberately, in order to use them as human
shields later.

Residents of Khojalu coming out through the humanitarian corridor,
that the self-defense forces of NKR had left open, freely passed more
than 10 km and reached the Aghdam city controlled by the Azerbaijani
troops. Later, not far from the positions of Azerbaijani troops dead
bodies of the villagers were found. The exact death toll remains
unknown as the official Baku publishes data contradicting each other.
Parliamentary Commission investigating the tragic death of the
civilians at Aghdam city was dissolved by the order of Heydar Aliyev,
the investigative materials are kept secret.

Documentary: Between hunger and fire: Power at the expenses of lives.

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIDJAN
Pétrole : l’Azerbaïdjan cesse d’utiliser l’oléoduc Bakou-Novorossiïsk

Le groupe public du pétrole et du gaz (SOCAR) d’Azerbaïdjan a annoncé
avoir cessé samedi d’utiliser l’oléoduc russo-azerbaïdjanais
Bakou-Novorossiïsk, optant pour l’oléoduc Bakou-Tbilissi-Ceyhan (BTC)
qui relie l’Azerbaïdjan à la Turquie via la Géorgie.

“Le lancement de transport de pétrole de SOCAR par l’oléoduc BTC
permet de diversifier les exportations de brut”, a indiqué SOCAR dans
un communiqué.

L’accord russo-azerbaïdjanais de 1996 sur le transit de brut de la mer
Caspienne par le pipeline reliant Bakou au port russe de Novorossiïsk,
sur la mer Noire, a expiré le 14 février dernier, Moscou ayant décidé
de ne pas le proroger.

Le groupe pétrolier russe Transneft, qui gère la partie russe de
l’oléoduc Bakou-Novorossiïsk, a déclaré en 2013 que l’Azerbaïdjan ne
respectait pas l’accord de 1996 depuis cinq ans en transportant 2
millions de tonnes de pétrole par an au lieu des 5 millions prévus par
l’accord. En 2013, SOCAR a transporté 1,751 million de tonnes de brut
par la conduite Bakou-Novorossiïsk, soit 15,2% de moins qu’en 2012.
Les recettes du transit de pétrole ne couvraient pas les frais
d’entretien du pipeline.

Selon le communiqué de SOCAR, le groupe azerbaïdjanais mène des
négociations avec Transneft en vue de signer un autre contrat sur le
transport de pétrole par l’oléoduc russe.

Igor Demine, conseiller du président de Transneft, a aussi annoncé
lundi à l’agence PRIME que la société russe comptait se mettre
d’accord avec SOCAR.

Mis en exploitation en 1997, l’oléoduc Bakou-Novorossiïsk est long de
1.330 km dont moins de 300 km passent par l’Azerbaïdjan et le reste
par le territoire russe. Sa capacité de transport annuelle est de 5
millions de tonnes de pétrole.

Inauguré en 2006, l’oléoduc Bakou-Tbilissi-Ceyhan long de 1.768 km
compte parmi ses actionnaires British Petroleum (30,1%), SOCAR (25%),
Chevron (Unocal) (8,90%), Statoil-Hydro (8,71%), TPAO (6,53%), Eni
(5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3,40%), Inpex (2,50%), ConocoPhillips
(2,50%) et Amerada Hess (2,36%).

RIA Novosti

samedi 1er mars 2014,
Stéphane (c)armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

SOUMGAÏT
7 associations à Valence (Drôme) vont commémorer le 26e anniversaire
des pogroms anti-arméniens de Soumgaït

L’association culturelle >, l’ACFOA-Drôme-Ardèche (Anciens
Combattants Français d’Origine Arménienne), l’UCFAF-Valence (Union
Culturelle Française des Arméniens de France), le Collectif Mémoire et
Avenir, l’Amicale des Arméniens d’Ourfa, les Dames d’Ourfa et
l’association Sheram invitent le public à une messe de requiem en
souvenir du pogrom de Soumgaït (26 au 28 février 1988), dimanche 2
Mars à l’église apostolique arménienne Saint-Sahag (12 rue de la
Cécile à Valence). La messe sera suivie par une cérémonie de dépôt de
gerbe à la mémoire des victimes arménienne de ce pogrom exécuté en
Azerbaïdjan à l’encontre de la population civile arménienne.

Alors que la guerre de libération des Arméniens au Haut Karabagh
débutait, Bakou organisait les massacres à Soumgaït qui firent
plusieurs dizaines à plusieurs centaines de victimes civiles
arméniennes. Pogroms perpétrés par les forces armées azerbaïdjanaises
en réponse à la guerre de libération des Arméniens du Haut Karabagh.
Du 27 au 29 février 1988, en réponse aux manifestations pacifiques qui
se déroulaient à Erevan et à Stepanakert demandant le >, la
population civile arménienne de la ville de Soumgaït fut victime de
pogroms de la part des milices azéries, avec la complicité criminelle
des autorités azerbaïdjanaises de l’époque et dans une atmosphère
d’hystérie anti-arménienne qui embrasait tout l’Azerbaïdjan.

La quasi-totalité de la ville de Soumgaït se transforma champ de
chasse à la population arménienne. Les groupes fanatisés, armés de
barres de fer, de couteaux et de pierres, encouragés par les autorités
azéries faisaient irruption dans les appartements des Arméniens avec à
la main la liste nominative des Arméniens. Les téléphones des
Arméniens avaient été préalablement coupés et la police locale fermant
ses yeux sur ces agissements…et sans doute étant complice… Selon
de nombreux témoins, environ 50 à 80 personnes participaient à la mise
à sac d’un seul appartement. Des groupes fanatisés répandaient
également la terreur dans les rues dans cette chasse à l’Arménien. Des
centaines de personnes innocentes furent blessées, sauvagement
mutilées ou tuées. On comptera plus de 200 appartements saccagés, de
nombreuses voitures détruites ou brûlées, des dizaines d’ateliers, de
magasins et de kiosques appartenant à des Arméniens dévastés ou mis à
sac. On comptera entre 200 et 400 victimes parmi la population civile
arménienne. Les pogroms anti-arméniens de Soumgaït ressemblaient à
génocide organisé.

Les auteurs des événements tragiques qui se déroulèrent à Soumgaït à
la fin du mois de février 1988 restent impunis. En Union soviétique ce
crime contre l’humanité a déchaîné bien évidemment la colère de nombre
d’intellectuels qui affirmèrent pour certains que

From: A. Papazian

UC IRVINE STUDENTS COUNTER DISINFORMATION AT AZERI LECTURE

Friday, February 28th, 2014

The Azeri Consul lecturing at UC Irvine

IRVINE, Calif.–The Azeri Consul attempted to present a distorted view
of history during a presentation at University of California, Irvine,
hosted by the pro-Azeri Council on International Affairs as part of
Azerbaijan’s ongoing revisionist propaganda in the West. At least
two thirds of the audience in the small hall was Armenian, primarily
students and community members, who made sure the truth was known.

UCI Armenian Students Association passed out pamphlets to attendees
describing the real Azerbaijan, including their policies of jailing
journalists, rewarding murderers such as Safarov, massacring Armenians
in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, and the ongoing human rights violations of
the Aliyev regime against its own people. After the Consul’s skewed
presentation where, among other things, he stated that Armenians
massacred Azeris and that the historic Armenian church in Gandzasar
was Albanian, the moderator opened the floor for questions.

A preplanned pro-Azeri group asked prewritten pro-Azeri questions
with canned responses by the Consulate. Finally, Armenian students
had a chance and clarified the record, exposed the truth and asked
about Azerbaijan’s organized massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Baku
and Kirovabad. The Azeri Consul avoided the questions and abruptly
ended the Q and A session short. The organizers then asked everyone
to leave. The Consul and organizers remained in hiding in another
room while campus Police blocked off the corridor.

From: A. Papazian

THE ‘BIG BAD ARMO SHOW’ TAKES ITS UNIQUE SLICE OF LA LIFE ON THE ROAD

89.3 KPCC , CA
Feb 28 2014

Leslie Berestein Rojas

On a tiny theater stage in Atwater, a group of local comics rehearses
one last time before they rush home to pack costumes and wigs and
catch a red-eye to New York.

What they’re exporting East is a unique slice of L.A. life, Armenian
style.

“There’s so much comedy in the culture that I wanted to capture,”
says actress and writer Lory Tatoulian, who created the Big Bad Armo
Show four years ago. “We take the reality of our community and we
exaggerate it. So it’s kind of like holding up a funhouse mirror to
the community.”

In the vein of sketch comedy acts like Culture Clash, the Big Bad
Armos play with ethnic stereotypes. At the same time, they diffuse
more serious topics by letting audience members laugh at themselves.

In one sketch, Tatoulian and actor Ludwig Manukian sing an ode to the
city of Glendale and generally poke fun at the nuances of Armenian
American social life as entertainers aboard the “Heritage Cruise,”
a fictional cruise ship.

In another, Manukian plays an Armenian immigrant landlord who’s
trying to evict his Latina tenant, played by Tatoulian, over her pet
Chihuahua who’s defiled his favorite fruit trees. The sketch takes
aim at inter-ethnic tensions and veers into uncomfortable territory,
but this is what satire is for, Tatoulian says.

“It’s like here it is, I’m putting it all out there, and we’re all
thinking it, and I’m saying it,” she says. “I think that has been the
function of the theater for 2,000 years. That is its job in society,
to put it out there, and some people might be come uncomfortable,
but it sort of helps us make sense of ourselves, our world, our
communities, everything.”

The sketches grew out of Tatoulian’s own culture clash when she
moved to L.A. as an aspiring actress eight years ago. A native of
the Fresno area, where the Armenian community is generations old and
heavily into farming, Tatoulian was taken with the diversity of the
diaspora in L.A., where different waves of Armenian immigrants from
Europe and the Middle East coexist and raise American families while
trying to preserve ancient traditions.

Her characters began to develop after she took a job writing for a
small Armenian community newspaper.

“Basically, I went to like 500 banquets like a week, and fundraisers,”
Tatoulian says. “It was a great way to collect stories and just get
an intimate glimpse into the community.”

Tatoulian wrote sketches around some of the characters she met:
Gossip-loving matrons, perennial city council candidates, bachelors
looking for love at Armenian church picnics, nightclub entertainers.

When she and a handful of fellow actors staged their first performance
at the Atwater Village Theater four years ago, they didn’t know how
it would go.

“We thought it was just going to be some small community theater thing,
you know, and be lucky that our families showed up,” she says.

“And the first night we did a show there were 250 people out the door,
so excited.”

Among the Big Bad Armo Show’s fans is Richard Montoya, one of the
co-creators of Culture Clash.

“I saw enough universality with their work where, like, that was
just funny, and funny is funny, and that was funny,” says Montoya, an
actor and writer. “I don’t know what this Armenian word was just now,
but this is coming from the inside out. This is authentic to itself,
and organic, and allowing a larger audience in.”

The troupe has continued to perform in Atwater, putting on dozens of
shows a year.

“After I do a show, people always come up to me and say, I know that
person,” says Tatoulian, who has freelanced for KPCC in the past as
a guest blogger. “I know that character, I know who that is based on.

That person is in my family. And they are real.”

How will they do in New York? So far, so good. They’ve sold out two
performances this weekend — and there’s already talk of a return
engagement.

For the uninitiated, the troupe has put together a mini-glossary of
terms for audience members, including humorous definitions of the
places many L.A. Armenians call home: Pasadena, Hollywood, Montebello
– and of course, Glendale, described in their show program as “a
beautiful city whose mountains are entirely covered with marble
mansions – inhabited by Armenians.”

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTION TO DIPLOMACY IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 28 2014

28 February 2014 – 2:11pm

Yevgeny Bazhanov, Rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian
Foreign Ministry, described the intensive cooperation with Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. He noted that the Academy had a faculty for training
and qualification-improvement, special courses for South Ossetia and
Abkhazia regularly attended by diplomats from the republics. Lessons
last 3-4 weeks.

The rector added that the Diplomatic Academy had a quota for foreign
students. About 10-12 of them come from Abkhazia and South Ossetia
every year to study and get masters and bachelors degrees and possibly
continue post-graduate studies.

Bazhanov noted that the Academy helped train and improve the
qualifications of Azerbaijani and Armenian students. 20 of their
students study there every year. The Diplomatic Academy has been
cooperating with Azerbaijan and Armenia since 1994. The rector reminded
that Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov was a graduate
of the Academy.

The Diplomatic Academy continues training Georgian diplomats, despite
the absence of diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia. The
rector admitted that they were studying at their own expense.

Bazhanov noted that there were regular conferences with Turkey.

“Tourism in Russian-Turkish relations” and ‘Russian-Turkish relations:
history and modernity” were the two conferences last year. A Turkish
cultural center plans to rent a building in Russia.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S ENTRY INTO CUSTOMS UNION NOT TO IMPEDE TIES WITH GEORGIA: LEADER

ITAR-TASS, Russia
February 27, 2014 Thursday 08:40 PM GMT+4

YEREVAN February 27

– Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus
and Kazakhstan will not impede the development of trade and economic
ties with Georgia, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Thursday
after talks with Georgian counterpart Georgy Margvelashvili.

The two presidents discussed at the talks “Armenia’s participation
in integration processes underway on the Eurasian space,” Sargsyan
said, adding that he had discussed with the Georgian president his
country’s integration plans. “Of course (we presented) all arguments
and approaches that we based on in opting for the Customs Union,”
he said.

“We share the opinion that the choice of our countries should not
impede our economic relations,” he added.

He said “Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union and Georgia’s
decision to sign an agreement on a free trade zone with the European
Union don’t impede economic relations” of the two states.

“On the contrary, these decisions offer new possibilities for our
entrepreneurs,” the president said, noting within that context the
importance of the activity of joint Armenian-Georgian working group
for trade and economic issues.

The group was set up last year, and its first session is due in
Yerevan on March 21.

Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili is in Armenia on a two-day
official visit. This is his first trip to Yerevan after being elected
for presidency.

From: A. Papazian

YEREVAN, MOSCOW TO DISCUSS POSSIBILITY OF MIGRATION LAW RELAXATION FOR ARMENIAN CITIZENS

YEREVAN. Feb 27

Armenia and Russia have agreed to discuss the problem of Armenian
migrants working in Russia who are facing the deportation threat
from Russia’s new migration laws, Armenian National Security Council
Secretary Artur Bagdasarian said.

Interfax, Russia Feb 27 2014

“This is a serious problem. There is a threat of deportation of 170,000
Armenian citizens, which has been declared officially. We have agreed
to set up a joint interdepartmental group of representatives of all
interested ministries. Its first meeting will be held in Moscow on
February 27,” Bagdasarian told a press conference on Wednesday.

“We are optimistic. The problem causes profound social, economic and
political concerns. Our Russian partners demonstrated understanding
of our worries. We are looking for mutually acceptable solutions,”
Bagdasarian said.

Earlier he asked his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev about a
possibility of relaxing Russian migration laws for Armenian citizens.

Te cm

From: A. Papazian