Author: Andres-Papazian

VERS UNE ANNEXION DE L’AZERBAIDJAN IRANIEN PAR L’AZERBAIDJAN ?
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 30 aout 2012

Le departement d’Etat americain a confirme la reception d’une lettre
de la representante Dana Rohrabacher adressee a la secretaire d’Etat
americaine Hillary Clinton.

Elle a propose dans la lettre de soutenir l’idee d’annexer
l’Azerbaïdjan iranien (partie nord-ouest de l’Iran) par l’Azerbaïdjan,
a declare le porte-parole du Departement d’Etat.

La secretaire d’Etat a repondu a la lettre, les details ne seront
pas publiees.

From: A. Papazian

ANDRANIK OZANYAN DIED 85 YEARS AGO TODAY

armradio.am
31.08.2012 13:22

Memorials all over the world – including one near Chico – pay tribute
to a war hero and “freedom-fighter” who spent the last month of his
life in Butte County.

Ozanian went to Butte County and died there, 85 years ago today.

Ozanian, who is known affectionately by Armenians as “General
Andranik,” was born in 1865 in Armenia.

Andranik Ozanian was an Armenian military commander, fedayee leader
and a key figure of the Armenian national movement in late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. Andranik is greatly admired as a
national hero.

After losing his mother, later his wife and their newborn son,
Andranik joined the fedayee movement in late 1880s, first fighting
against the Turks and Kurds in ranks of Hunchaks, later as a Dashnak.

His revolutionary activities lasted until 1904, when he left the
Ottoman Empire. In 1907 Andranik left the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation because of disagreement with cooperation with the Young
Turks. In 1912~V1913, together with Garegin Nzhdeh, Andranik led the
Armenian volunteer company of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer
Corps against the Ottomans during the First Balkan War.

During the First World War, Andranik stood at the head of the first
Armenian volunteer battalions and later led them against the Ottoman
army. After Armenia’s declaration of independence in May 1918,
Andranik fought in Nakhichevan, Zangezur against the Azerbaijani and
Turkish armies.

General Andranik left Armenia in 1919. He spent his last years of life
in Europe and the United States. He settled in Fresno, California in
1922 and died five years later in 1927, at age of 62.

From: A. Papazian

INTERNATIONAL AND ARMENIAN EXPERTS WILL TAKE PART IN RESTORATION OF ARMENIAN MONUMENTS IN TURKEY

ARMENPRESS
31 August, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS: A group of international experts
is necessary for restoration of Armenian monuments and churches in
Western Armenia. Armenian specialist should also be included in it.

About this mentioned president of ICOMOS-Armenia organization Gagik
Gyurjyan during the press conference on August 31. “If we suggested
Turkey that only Armenian specialist were included in it Turkey would
oppose, that’s why ICOMOS decided to create a group consisting of
different specialists” said Gyurjyan as Armenpress reports. In his
words in state level it is difficult to organize contacts with Turkey
and real steps should be implemented for using cultural contacts and
international levers.

“We want our values, monuments, churches to be safe. They should
be restored in right way and be kept for transferring to next
generations. Each country has its political aims and if Turkey restores
Armenian churches when implementing those aims than we should make use
of it realizing that demolitions are also possible” stressed Gyrujyan.

He informed that present restoration works are being implemented in
Ani. In the preliminary list of monuments which will be restored
Turkey included 35 monuments. He noticed that Ani appeared in the
center of attention since 1996 when it was included among the cities
which have 100 monuments which are in danger.

ICOMOS is an international organization of monuments and sights which
operates adjunct to UNESCO and is involved in keeping immoveable
heritage. Armenian organization of ICOMOS was founded in 2002.

From: A. Papazian

DAVID BEN GURION’S DOCTRINE
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:03:04 – 31/08/2012

A leading Israeli political scientist said the problem of Israel is
our politicians who are small-minded and cannot compare to founding
fathers. In fact, the political priorities worked out by Israeli
politicians at the beginning of the 1950s remain as they were despite
drastic changes in the world.

A European woman living in Armenia told her son whose father was
Armenian. I named you in honor of King David, not David of Sasun. Not
bad, isn’t it?

David Ben Gurion did not fancy developing foreign political doctrines.

His doctrine of second neighborhood, the partnerships with non-Arab
states of the Near East and adjacent regions was worked out by British
diplomats who had a considerable experience of work in the Near East
and made considerable efforts to prevent the establishment of Israel.

In accordance with this doctrine Israel maintained close relations
with Iran and Turkey, the catholic communities of the Near East.

Over the past 20 years Israel has tried to set up relations with
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Central Asian states. There were also efforts
to set up relations with Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

The revolution in Iran, and currently growing neo-Ottoman ambitions
of Turkey have changed the situation considerably, foiled David Ben
Guriun’s doctrine but Israel continues to implement this policy,
understanding the controversial relations among the states of the
region, not attaching great importance to such a thesis as Islamic
solidarity.

Before the occurrence of such a large-scale phenomenon as the Arab
revolutions in the early 2011 there were tendencies in the Israeli
politics to review David Ben Gurion’s doctrine but taking into
account only the change of the side of the same medal. Most probably,
seeing the controversies of Turkey and Iran with the Arab states,
Israel understands that the Arabs are reviewing their understanding
and priorities of rivals and threats.

The leading Arab states are likely to consolidate efforts for the
implementation of the “double containment” policy, that is expansion
of Turkey and Iran which are geopolitical rivals. Israel has experience
of recruiting some Arab states, and Gaddafi said since the Arab states
are not able to defeat Israel, it should be ignored by the Arab world.

By the way, Israel’s traditional rival Great Britain treats these
plans with precaution because the British politics presupposes a high
level of confrontation between Arab states and Israel.

In this regard one should follow Israel’s intentions regarding Armenia
more attentively. Armenia is viewed as a factor of demonstration of
“diversification” of Israeli policy on the region to its priority
partners in the South Caucasus Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Armenia could easily get the understanding of the United States and
Europe regarding large-scale military supplies of Israel to Azerbaijan
despite its obviously aggressive behavior and the military conflict
in the region. Besides, the Armenian issue is becoming instrumental
for Israel in the policy on Turkey.

Armenia should be more active relating to the plans and intentions
of Israel. Israel is an important factor of tensions and threats in
the South Caucasus. It is necessary to understand that it will not
be possible to remain neutral in this situation.

From: A. Papazian

L’Azerbaidjan Aurait Aide L’Opposition Syrienne En Prevention De L’Installation Des Armeniens De Syrie Au Haut Karabagh
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
vendredi 31 aout 2012

Selon l’agence iranienne Arannews la Turquie aurait sollicite a
l’Azerbaïdjan de l’aider a soutenir l’opposition syrienne afin faire
echouer le projet d’installationque des Armeniens de Syrie au Haut
Karabagh. Selon les sources d’Arannews, l’Azerbaïdjan aurait accepte
cette proposition d’Ankara de soutenir l’opposition syrienne a la
condition que ce soutien reste secret. Selon la source iranienne la
première aide de l’Azerbaïdjan a l’opposition syrienne fut une aide
de 500 000 dollars transmis par l’intermediaire de la Turquie.

From: A. Papazian

FRANCE UPDATES DRAFT LAW CRIMINALIZING DENIAL OF SO-CALLED “ARMENIAN GENOCIDE”

APA
Aug 30 2012
Azerbaijan

The French Parliament will again include the draft law criminalizing
denial of so-called “Armenian genocide” in agenda, said head of
Armenian Dashnaktsutyun party’s office in France Grachya Varzhapetyan,
APA reports quoting “Novosti Armenia”.

Varzhapetyan said that President Francois Hollande supports this
initiative. He said that at present, the representatives of Armenian
community together with French presidential administration are
developing the draft law to eliminate shortcomings, which caused the
denial of draft law by the Constitutional Council last week.

The draft law was previously adopted by the National Assembly and
Senate. But after appeal of a group of senators and MPs to the
Constitutional Council, it was considered as contradictory to the
Constitution.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES SAFEGUARD OUR COUNTRY’S SECURITY – MOD

news.am
August 30, 2012 | 15:39

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan visited the
southwestern border military units of the Armed Forces, on Tuesday
and Wednesday, to get familiar on the spot with the building and
construction work carried out there.

Also, he visited the military bases stationed along the border, and
inspected the defense and engineering structures. In addition, Seyran
Ohanyan presented gifts to several officers and granted holidays to
military servicemen, MOD press service informs.

The Defense Minister stressed that Armenia’s Armed Forces safeguard
the country’s security today and they carry out all tasks. He also
noted that positive trends are recorded in the army-and in connection
with the physical and spiritual protection of the soldiers-, the
military servicemen’s social and household conditions have improved
considerably, and there are significant achievements in terms of
establishing legality as well.

And as a result of the construction work carried out, the household
and sanitary-hygienic conditions of the barracks have improved.

From: A. Papazian

SEYRAN OHANYAN VISITS SOUTHWESTERN BORDER MILITARY UNITS

2012-08-30 17:47:42

Armenia’s Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan visited the southwestern
border military units of the Armed Forces, on August 28 and 29,
to get familiar on the spot with the building and construction work
carried out there.

As MOD press service informs, he visited the military bases
stationed along the border, and inspected the defense and engineering
structures. In addition, Seyran Ohanyan presented gifts to several
officers and granted holidays to military servicemen.

The Defense Minister stressed that Armenia’s Armed Forces safeguard
the country’s security today and they carry out all tasks. He also
noted that positive trends are recorded in the army-and in connection
with the physical and spiritual protection of the soldiers-, the
military servicemen’s social and household conditions have improved
considerably, and there are significant achievements in terms of
establishing legality as well.

And as a result of the construction work carried out, the household
and sanitary-hygienic conditions of the barracks have improved.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN SIDE AGAIN RAISED THE ISSUE OF WITHDRAWAL OF SNIPERS

ARMENPRESS
29 August, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, AUGUST 29, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani side again refused to
accept the suggestion of Armenians side to implement a direct contact
and cross the border. About this mentioned representative f Armenian
Defense ministry Andranik Mkrtumyan during the briefing after the
monitoring near Kayanavan residency on August 29. “Why Azerbaijan
refuses and avoids the meeting is very well understandable” mentioned
Mkrtumyan as Armenpress reports.

Speaking about the consultation with OSCE representatives he informed
that to OSCE has been introduced the fact of increasing the cases f
cease-fire regime violation year by year. “In 2011 Azerbaijani side
violated the cease-fire regime almost 12700 times and in 8 months of
2012 more than 12000 times. The issue of withdrawal of snipers has
also been discussed which is also refused by Azerbaijani side and
international society realizes the reasons of it” stressed Mkrtumyan.

In his words the opponent continues to fire on peaceful population and
residencies. According to the mandate of personal representative of
the OSCE Chairperson-in-office on August 29 the next observer mission
was held on Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line. The representatives who
carried the monitoring from both sides came to agreement to secure
the keeping of cease-fire regime in the contact line. The process
lasted for 5-7 minutes.

Earlier Armenpress had informed that Azerbaijani side for the next
time violated the cease-fire regime on the night of August 21 firing
in direction of Nerkin Karmraghbiur, Ajgepar and Movses villages.

From: A. Papazian

TOWARD A MORE PROSPEROUS UNION
By Vilen Khlgatyan

President Serzh Sargsyan paid a visit to Moscow in early August to
meet with his Russian counter-part, Vladimir Putin. While political,
military, and economic matters were discussed, the visit was also a
chance for Sargsyan and Putin to exchange their views on the proposed
economic bloc, the Eurasian Union (EAU). It is no secret that the EAU
is Putin’s project, and one which he is likely to devote much of his
time in order to bring to a successful launch by the targeted date of
2015. Already, steps are being taken to incorporate the Customs Union
of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia with the EAU. The incorporation
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is another
possibility, should Moscow decide to add a military component to
the EAU. While Armenia does not share a common land border with any
members of the Customs Union, Putin did say in the press conference
after his meeting with Sargsyan, that international agreements signed
by the members of the Customs Union could help overcome this. Likely,
what this meant is the implementation of free trade agreements between
the members and Armenia.

It is noteworthy that President Putin brought up the geographic
isolation of Armenia from Russia and the other members of the Customs
Union because thus far that has been one of the main arguments within
the Armenian government and civil society against Armenia joining
the proposed EAU. However, under closer review, this excuse alone is
not enough to outweigh the positive outcomes of Armenian membership
in the EAU. True, a common border would be advantageous, and tense
relations between Tbilisi and Moscow do not help matters. Yet, such
a union would provide Armenia with a large economic market that is
easily accessible as well as familiar with Armenian products. Simply
put, the Armenian market is too small for Armenian businessmen to
expand and reach their full potential, and this is one of the reasons
certain sections of the economy have been monopolized or oligopolies
have taken hold. Russian and other businessmen would be unlikely
to allow Armenian businessmen into their domestic markets without
getting the same opportunity in Armenia. The Armenian market is in
need of foreign direct investment, as well as competition in various
segments. Businessmen from the EAU would provide this, particularly
with a free trade clause in place. Another factor is the large Armenian
diaspora in Russia, which is not only the largest in the world, but
larger than all the Armenian diasporas of the European Union (EU)
combined. The stimulus the Armenians residing in the member states
of the Customs Union and proposed EAU would provide to furthering
Armenia’s trade is immeasurable, assuming the Armenian government
incorporated them in their plans.

A second reason thrown around by those opposed to Armenian membership
in the EAU is the supposed benefits Armenia has to gain from closer
integration and possible membership within the EU. A number of recent
developments alone show this line of argument to be weak. First, the
EU is facing a serious identity problem, not least of which is caused
by the solvency crisis facing a number of eurozone members. This has
prompted the major credit rating agencies to downgrade the status of
several EU members, including the major players, Germany and France.

Furthermore, Armenia’s trade turnover with the EU is barely more than
its trade with Russia alone. This suggests, which indeed Presidents
Sargsyan and Putin did, that there is still much room to improve
trade between the two states. Therefore, more should be done in this
direction to reach the desired levels, joining the proposed EAU is
that step. Moreover, Armenia does not share a common border with the
EU either, therefore if it is not feasible to join the EAU because
Armenia lacks a common border with a member state, the same logic
applies to the EU as well. Finally, there is no stipulation being
presented by either the EU nor Russia that membership in one economic
union precludes cooperation with another.

Of course Armenia should work with all states, and should keep its
options open, but there are times when critical decisions must be
made to go in either one direction or another, remaining undecided
will not do. Thus, a serious study must be launched by the Armenian
government to assess the positives and negatives of Armenian membership
in the EAU.

Vilen Khlgatyan is the Vice-Chairman of Political Developments Research
Center (PDRC)

29.08.12, 13:42

From: A. Papazian