Author: Andres-Papazian

NKR Public Council official urges to continue Artsakh recognition efforts

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 18, 2012 – 20:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Chairman of NKR Public Council on Foreign Policy
and Security welcomed the Rhode Island House resolution calling on
the U.S. President and Congress to recognize the independence of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter Masis Mailyan
hailed the work of America’s Armenian organizations in making
the resolution possible and urged them to continue efforts for
international recognition of NKR.

As NKR official reminded, on April 20, 2010, NKR Public Council on
Foreign Policy urged Diaspora’s Armenian organizations to initiate
a campaign on international recognition of Nagorno Karabakh. “We
believe, that the recognition of Artsakh, even by the countries’
regional bodies or local governments will encourage NKR people,
further boosting their morale,” the Council said in its statement.

The Rhode Island House passed a resolution calling on the U.S.

President and Congress to recognize the independence of the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic.

The resolution also encouraged the republic’s “continued efforts
to develop as a free and independent nation,” and praised Artsakh’s
“constructive involvement with the international community and its
efforts to reach a lasting solution to the existing regional problems.”

“I thank the Rhode Island House for passing this resolution in support
of Karabakh’s aspirations for freedom, and hope that the legislature’s
commitment to our shared values of human rights and justice will set
an example for other legislatures in the U.S. and beyond,” said Robert
Avetisyan, the permanent representative of NKR to the U.S. and Canada.

The resolution was voted on the House floor in the presence of
Avetisyan, whom House speaker Gordon Fox (D) warmly welcomed in his
introductory remarks. Fox also welcomed a delegation from the local
Armenian community accompanying Avetisyan: Chairman of the Armenian
Cultural Association of R.I. Hagop Donoyan, youth advisor to the AYF
of R.I. Levon Attarian, member of the board of trustees of the Sts.

Vartanantz Church Stephen Elmasian, and member of the ARF Eastern U.S.
Central Committee Ani Haroian.

Dozens of local Armenian-Americans filled the gallery of the House
during the session. Almost concurrently, on Capitol Hill, Congressmen
James Langevin (D-R.I.) and Congressman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) made
statements on the House floor in support of the people of NKR.

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), in turn,
issued statements.

“It is more important than ever that the United States maintain
a principled stand for peace in this region, show that democracy
can be born from conflict, and support Nagorno Karabakh,” said
Langevin. “It is my sincerest hope that Nagorno Karabakh’s right to
self-determination can be affirmed without further loss of life.”

From: A. Papazian

IN MEMORIAM: ARIS SEVAG — MAKING A GREAT CITY GREATER
Christopher Atamian

05/18/2012 2:05 pm

Writer, director, producer and translator

A dear friend to many and an unsung hero of New York’s unique immigrant
experience and culture passed away on April 28th from cancer. Like
other immigrants from around the world, Sevag’s family came to the
United States to escape persecution and experience the freedom and
relative prosperity that America offered diligent newcomers. From
Everek in Western Armenia, they settled in Philadelphia where Aris was
born and eventually made the short trip northward to make his home
in New York. Over the years, Aris was the most humble of voices as
he penned numerous articles, translations, commentaries and essays —
many devoted specifically to the lives of Armenian-Americans or their
forefathers in the Ottoman Empire.

Aris was a gentle giant, a tall hulk of a man and an autodidact who
learned Western Armenian as an adult. This did not stop him from
making enormous contributions to Armenian culture. He worked for
over twenty years as a respected and avuncular editor at The Armenian
Reporter, one of the area’s leading ethnic publications. In 2009, he
took over as editor of the venerable publication Ararat magazine. For
generations Ararat was the lifeblood of the Armenian-American literary
scene, publishing works by upcoming and already famous writers such as
William Saroyan and Michael Arlen, as well as leading historians and
political scientists. Under Aris’ tutelage, the magazine continued to
publish a wide range of writers and historians, delivering a balanced
selection of old and new.

In the three years that I turned in essays, short stories, reviews and
translations to Aris, he was an exemplary editor, always constructive
in his criticism and never uttering a harsh word to his writers. He
gave me free reign as well to write on any topic that I chose, and
only inserted an editor’s comment or note when it was absolutely
necessary. On one occasion, I handed in a short story to him, a tale
partly inspired by Avetik Issahakian’s orientalist tale Sahadi’s Last
Spring. Aris sat on it for a few weeks. After I had sent him several
gentle reminders, he wrote back with two questions about the piece’s
plot and style. As with any other overly-sensitive writer, I was
incensed: “How dare he?” I thought. “He just doesn’t get it!” After
a few weeks, I re-read his comments and decided to make the two
changes that he had suggested — both were innocuous and in truth,
quite perceptive. A week later, I received an email from Aris: “Your
piece, ‘Mrs Zildjian and the Muslim Pendant,’ is up!” I was elated,
of course. It was typical Aris: no fuss, no muss.

Aris’ contributions went far beyond the hundreds of articles that he
contributed over the years. As a translator, he brought the world
the English translation of Reverend Grigoris Balakian’s harrowing
Armenian Golgotha, a first-hand account of the infamous deportations
which began on the night of April 24th, 1915 and marked the beginning
of the Armenian genocide. Balakian was one of the 250 Armenian
intellectuals who were rounded up in Constantinople and driven to
Ayash, a concentration camp inland. Balakian miraculously escaped. His
descriptions of what he witnessed will leave the reader shocked and
dismayed; Aris’ translation perfectly captures the victims’ despair
as well as the literary quality of the original Armenian.

Yet it is perhaps Aris’ translations of Bedros Keljik’s
Armenian-American Sketches which I love the most and through which
he may justifiably lay claim to being a true intellectual son of New
York. These touching, colorful sketches of early 20th century immigrant
life deserve their place, for example, next to Abraham Cahan’s The
Rise of David Levinsky (1917), and Heny Roth’s 1934 masterpiece Call
it Sleep. Keljik’s sketches were being serialized by Aris in the pages
of Ararat since 2010. As his life neared its end, he never mentioned
his illness or complained about his predicament: he kept on working as
always and he was able to publish seven of the 21 short stories in the
collection, seven precious gifts to old friends and new readers alike.

Read the first of Aris Sevag’s translations of Bedros
Keljik’s “Armenian-American Sketches” in Ararat Magazine:

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S REFORESTATION PROJECT APP WINS WB PRIZE

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 18, 2012 – 13:01 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – India’s Aadhar Bhalinge is the winner of m2Work,
a World Bank-sponsored online challenge seeking the best ideas for
spurring the job-creation potential of mobile phones.

The competition organized by Nokia and infoDev, a World Bank innovation
and technology entrepreneurship program, drew a total of 939 ideas,
96% of which came from developing and emerging economies.

m2Work, which stands for mobile microwork, aims to expand microwork
to the 5 billion mobile phones in the developing world. Currently,
millions of people supplement their income through microwork – small
digital tasks they can perform online.

Bhalinge convinced the high-level jury of World Bank, Nokia, UKaid,
and other private sector representatives of the development impact,
novelty, and feasibility of his “Smart Rickshaw Network” to take
home the US$ 20,000 grand prize. His tool would crowdsource maps at
a very low cost in developing nations by employing fleets of rickshaw
drivers to feed live traffic updates into a subscription service.

Bhalinge and the five other finalists all received business
coaching during the finals. The other finalists’ ideas touched on
environmental conservation, access to health care and education,
and social publishing.

“The diversity of ideas submitted demonstrates that we are beginning
to tap into the potential of combining access to technology in
the developing world with innovative ideas to help solve critical
development issues. It was inspiring to see the participants’
creativity and passion for effecting change”, said Stephanie von
Friedeburg, the World Bank Group’s Chief Information Officer and
chair of the jury.

Second place went to Armenia’s Alexander Shakaryan, whose
“MicroForester” app would aid reforestation projects. Nadia
Millington and Luis Rosenthal got an honorable mention for “3MD:
Mobile Diagnostics” which would allow paraskilled technicians to
perform disease diagnosis tasks on patients’ digitized scans.

Research by infoDev has highlighted the potential of microwork.

Studies by the ICT industry project that mobile data traffic in
developing countries will grow by 80% per year, based on improved
devices and networks.

For co-organizer Nokia, m2Work underlined the power and job-creation
potential of mobile innovations. “All six finalists tell the powerful
story that mobile technology is not only about being entertained
or about consuming – it is also about earning,” said jury member
Esko Aho, Nokia’s Executive Vice-President for Corporate Relations
and Responsibility. “All of these ideas were about sustainability,
so direct social impact was the key to our decision,” he added.

m2Work is supported by UKaid. infoDev, as part of the World Bank
Group, will use its vast network of Mobile Applications Labs (mLabs)
and business incubators to help the finalists develop their seed-stage
ideas into viable start-ups that can create sustainable jobs.

From: A. Papazian

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ARE LIKE SILENT MEANS TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO
by Ashot Safaryan

arminfo
Thursday, May 17, 20:50

The May 6 parliamentary elections, which should have dotted all the
“i”s, complicated the domestic political situation in the country.

After the MPs of the new parliament became known, the issue of
their interaction format arose. After the preliminary results of the
elections were made public, the media and the politicians started
discussing the possible future coalition and its structure.

On the one hand, the “brilliant victory” of the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia (RPA) is obvious: the party has not only maintained
the parliamentary majority, but also increased the number of its
seats by 5 seats to 69 in the parliament, thereby having become an
absolute majority. This circumstance must give big self-confidence to
the ruling party. Theoretically, under these conditions, the ruling
party may just as well afford doing without a coalition. However,
given the doubtfulness of the election technologies, insufficient
public confidence in the power institute, as well as the serious
problems and challenges in all spheres, the sole ruling of the
Republicans is rather hazardous.

At the elections the most serious opponent of the ruling party was the
Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), which was in a coalition with the RPA
in the previous parliament. The PAP conducted a quite pro-opposition
election campaign, having created joint campaign headquarters
with the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and ARF Dashnaktsutyun
(ARFD). The PAP obtained 30.12% of votes and a total of 37 seats
in the parliament. The PAP’s partners in the joint headquarters,
namely ANC and ARFD obtained 7 and 6 seats respectively. Taking into
account the 5 seats of Heritage Party, another opposition force, one
cannot theoretically rule out that the specified four forces could
have become a serious counterweight to the ruling party in case of
consolidation. In practice, however, the situation is different.

It is obvious that today, the PAP Leader, large businessman Gagik
Tsarukyan faces a complex dilemma. Given the lack of normal business
climate in the country, lack of supremacy of the law, fusion of power
and business, it is easy to guess what fate the oligarch No.1 will
have if he joins the opposition. The precedents of the consequences
of disobedience are exemplified by the fate of Khachatur Sukiasyan,
the co-founder of SIL GROUP. One more factor ruling out the PAP’s
possible joining the opposition is the lack of a clear and different
ideology from the ruling party. In the parliament of the previous,
4th convocation, the PAP failed to display independent stance, except
for two bills the PAP voted against.

When considering the possible options of the PAP’s political
behavior, it is impossible to put the second president of Armenia,
Robert Kocharyan, out of account. According to a number of experts,
Prosperous Armenia has two leaders – Gagik Tsarukyan, the formal
leader, and Robert Kocharyan, the behind-the-scenes leader, who formed
the key personnel of this party. The given circumstance can inspire
hope to a certain extent that in the current political situation the
PAP can play its independent role, having such an iconic figure behind
its back. Moreover, Kocharyan has never dissociated himself from the
political processes, regardless of how he denies his involvement in the
PAP’s activity. Furthermore, in some interviews the ex-president does
not rule out his return to the politics in case of certain factors. The
question whether there are such factors is still open and topical.

The independence of Prosperous Armenia would hardly be disputed
were it not for its pre-election alliance with the Armenian National
Congress. The ANC has lost most of its popularity in the past two-three
years, and lost even more when its leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced
that they were going to ally with Prosperous Armenia – a party he
earlier called the second biggest force of the bandocrat regime. It
seems that Prosperous Armenia was just a tool in the hands of the
regime, a kind of Trojan Horse, sent to the camp of the Congress to
discredit it in the eyes of its voters. In his turn, Ter-Petrosyan
was planning to cause a split in the ruling coalition.

Prosperous Armenia is yet to decide to form a coalition or not,
while the ANC will in any case continue annoying the Republicans –
simply now they will do it from the parliamentary tribune.

The position of the ARFD and Heritage heavily depends on the behavior
of the three major forces – the RPA, Prosperous Armenia and the
Armenian National Congress – for the Dashnaks and Heritage have too
few seats to decide anything in the parliament. The same is true
for Orinats Yerkir, with its six seats. Artur Baghdasaryan and his
party have just secured a comfortable place under the “warm wing”
of the rulers in hope to sneak a morsel from their political and
economic cake.

If the parliamentary opposition consolidates around Prosperous Armenia,
it may become a serious counterbalance to the ruling regime, but
Prosperous Armenia will hardly agree to it, considering the high
economic risks this may imply. On the other hand, the persistence
that party is showing in refusing to support Serzh Sargsyan during
the presidential election 2013 implies that it still has chances to
be “sovereign.” In fact, Gagik Tsarukyan is just waiting to see what
the second and third presidents will decide. Contrary to the popular
opinion that Robert Kocharyan keeps threatening the Republicans with
his comeback, he and Sargsyan are from the same team called “Karabakh
clan” and surrounded by an army of ill-wishers.

Whatever the case, Prosperous Armenia is most likely to be in
the coalition, at least, because it is unwilling and unprepared
to sacrifice the ministerial offices and the other benefits the
governmental status may give. And it will most probably stop being
“opposition” till the next election, especially as some “evil tongues”
are already rumoring that the second man in Prosperous Armenia, ex
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan may be appointed as the speaker of
the new parliament.

From: A. Papazian

IN CASE OF ANOTHER CONCERT INVITATION FROM TURKEY, ARMENIAN SINGER WILL GO WITHOUT HESITATION

news.am
May 18, 2012 | 15:00

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s renowned recording artist Nune Yesayan’s May
11 concert in Istanbul was marvelous; furthermore, she had not had
such concert in recent years. Yesayan herself informed this during
a press conference on Friday.

The singer gave a 2,000-capacity concert whose tickets were sold out
two weeks before the actual event. “I went with my repertoire; it was
a bold step. I sang about Lake Van, Kars, Mush, Sassoon,” Yesayan said.

She noted that years ago she had met with Hrant Dink-the founder and
former chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian bilingual weekly, who
was gunned down in 2007 in front of his office building-in Armenia,
and that Agos was planning on organizing a stadium concert for her
in Istanbul, but, unfortunately, this was not brought to fruition,

“I received another invitation recently; it was the Sahakyan
Alumni Union who had invited. I gladly agreed. We went there with
my orchestra. They welcomed us marvelously; marvelous hospitality;
marvelous concert,” the singer said.

While in Istanbul, Nune Yesayan also visited Armenian churches, schools
and colleges, and Hrant Dink’s grave. She also met with Dink’s widow
Rakel Dink.

“The meeting was very emotional. She was happy that her husband’s
dream had come true, but she was sad, too,” Yesayan said.

The singer added that she was surprised that there was a wonderful
Armenian community in Istanbul, with over thirty functioning churches
and schools.

“Everyone must go, visit, [and] see. They long for the Armenian song,
art there. The people must constantly visit so that this link exists
among us,” Nune Yesayan said, and noted that if she were to receive
another invitation tomorrow, she would go without hesitation.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Nune Yesayan will head
to Turkey to take part in a May 11 benefit concert organized by the
Istanbul Armenian community. The singer herself told this to Armenian
News-NEWS.am. She noted that it will be her solo concert and the
Armenian community had invited her with the objective of helping out
a local Armenian school.

To the question as to why she agreed to go to Turkey and whether she
has any fears, she responded: “Why should I not have agreed? The
Armenian community invited me and I am going for them. I have no
fears. The Armenians will meet me; we will be with the Armenians. They
are not savages; what are they supposed to do?”

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS APPEALS TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

news.am
May 18, 2012 | 17:05

YEREVAN. – ‘”The Armenian National Congress’ alliance of [political]
parties has applied to the Constitutional Court, on Friday at 4pm,
in connection with the disagreement over the decision reached by the
results of the Armenian National Assembly’s [NA] proportional-system
elections,” the Court’s Press Secretary Hovhannes Papikyan told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Earlier, six MP candidates-five of whom being from the ANC-likewise
had submitted petitions to the Constitutional Court. Each of them is
appealing the respective constituency electoral commission’s decision
reached based the results of the NA single-mandate MP elections in
the given constituency.

And in accordance with the law, the Constitutional Court President
instructed the Court judges to examine the petitions and to report
on the results.

From: A. Papazian

THE FILM “AGRARIAN TOURISM IN LITHUANIA” SHOWN IN ARTSAKH

Karabakh-open.info
Thursday, 17 May 2012 13:21

On May 15, the presentation of the 20-minute film “The Agrarian
Tourism in Lithuania” took place in the Tourism Department adjunct
to the NKR Government.

The film show was participated by director and cameraman of the film
Arvidus Barisas and tourism representative Victoria Kublitskiene.

Before the film show started Lady Kublitskiene told the participants
of the event about the history and the highly developed traditions
of the agrarian tourism of Lithuania. ‘Yesterday I presented the
agrarian tourism of Lithuania to the student of the Tourism department
of Artsakh State University. I told them I would provide them with a
chance of taking their practical training in Lithuania where we would
convey our knowledge and experience in the sphere of the agrarian
tourism to them,’ V. Kublitskiene reported.

This is the Lithuanian guests’ first visit to Artsakh. Director and
cameraman Avidus Barisas cannot help expressing his admiration, “Both
Armania and Artsakh have splendid nature and wonderful people. We aim
to realize some projects connected with this country and are going
to visit Artsakh several times in the forthcoming year”.
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The Film ?Agrarian Tourism in Lithuania? Shown in Artsakh

Thursday, 17 May 2012 13:21

On May 15, the presentation of the 20-minute film ?The Agrarian
Tourism in Lithuania? took place in the Tourism Department adjunct to
the NKR Government.

The film show was participated by director and cameraman of the film
Arvidus Barisas and tourism representative Victoria Kublitskiene.

Before the film show started Lady Kublitskiene told the participants
of the event about the history and the highly developed traditions of
the agrarian tourism of Lithuania. ‘Yesterday I presented the agrarian
tourism of Lithuania to the student of the Tourism department of
Artsakh State University. I told them I would provide them with a
chance of taking their practical training in Lithuania where we would
convey our knowledge and experience in the sphere of the agrarian
tourism to them,? V. Kublitskiene reported.

This is the Lithuanian guests? first visit to Artsakh. Director and
cameraman Avidus Barisas cannot help expressing his admiration, ?Both
Armania and Artsakh have splendid nature and wonderful people. We aim
to realize some projects connected with this country and are going to
visit Artsakh several times in the forthcoming year?.

Karabakh-open.info

From: A. Papazian

AZERBAIJAN ADVANCED SIGNIFICANTLY IN INFORMATION WARFARE – MP
Fuad Muradov

News.Az
Wed 16 May 2012

Already numerous states have openly noted that Armenia must return
the occupied lands for the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity, MP Fuad Muradov has told journalists.

According to the MP, today the processes going on in the world show
that Azerbaijan has advanced significantly in the information warfare.

“Azerbaijan has recently started chairing the UN Security Council. The
Armenia side tries to generate negative opinions about this.

Despite this, the event began at high level. President of the country
Ilham Aliyev’s statements had in them open challenges to international
organizations and big states.

Naturally, Armenians were very concerned over it. They thought that
we should not bring forth such issues at international events. Despite
this, Azerbaijan continues its work.

We are making challenges already in the first stage. We challenge
international organizations not to shut eyes to these issues. Numerous
states already note openly that in order to restore the Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, Armenia must return back the occupied lands.

This issue is already noted by the world community.”

From: A. Papazian

SAVE THE CHILDREN: ARMENIA RANKED 30TH ON LIST FOR BEST PLACE FOR CHILDREN TO GROW UP

NGO Daily News
May 15, 2012 Tuesday

Armenia, May 15 — Save the Children, an international non-governmental
organization has released a report entitled ‘Born Too Soon: The Global
Action Report on Preterm Birth’, which states that Armenia is ranked
30th on the list for the best place for children to be bought up.

According to the report by the NGO, Armenia is ranked higher as
compared to its neighbors, which includes Azerbaijan at 61st position,
Georgia in 42nd position, Iran in 50th position and Turkey in 47th
position. The NGO clubbed Armenia and its neighbors Turkey, Georgia,
Iran and Azerbaijan in the less developed countries list.

Save the Children, is an internationally active non-governmental
organization that promotes children’s rights, provides relief and
helps support children in developing countries. It was established in
the United Kingdom in 1919 in order to improve the lives of children
through better education, health care, and economic opportunities,
as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and
other conflicts.

From: A. Papazian

EU DEMANDS CLOSURE OF ARMENIA’S METSAMOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Vestnik Kavkaza
May 17 2012
Russia

The European Union is opposed to modernization of the nuclear power
plant in Armenia’s Metsamor in 2016, ARKA reports.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in April that the formation
of a new energy block would start in 2014. The operation of the power
plant will be extended.

The EU demands long-term closure of the nuclear facility, because
modernization can only be carried out by taking international safety
criteria into account. The European Union will demand that the power
plant be shut down at negotiations on the formation of a free trade
zone with Yerevan in May.

Closing the power plant without an alternate source of energy may
lead to a doubling of electricity prices and cause a complicated
socio-economic situation.

From: A. Papazian