Author: Andres-Papazian

INT’L LAW MUST BE OBSERVED IN CASE OF KARABAKH AND KOSOVO – ENVOY

News.Az
Tue 27 March 2012

The international law and territorial integrity should be observed
when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh and Kosovo, Azerbaijani Ambassador
to Serbia Eldar Hasanov stated.

The ambassador hoped that justice would finally prevail, according
to Serbian media.

“Baku is willing to resolve the Karabakh issue peacefully. But
unfortunately, all attempts to address this problem haven’t yet given
positive results,” he said.

From: A. Papazian

RUSSIA OFFERS INDIA HELP IN CLOSED CYCLE SUBMARINE CONSTRUCTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 27, 2012 – 15:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russia has offered to help India build
air-independent (closed cycle) propulsion systems for installation in
Amur 1650 class submarines and also to equip future possible joint
Indian-Russian built vessels, Viktor Komardin, the deputy head of
Rosoboronexport’s delegation said at the Defexpo Indian defense show
on Tuesday, March 27, according to RIA Novosti.

The Amur 1650 is one of several contenders, including the Scorpene
(France), Type 214 (Germany) and S-80 (Spain) in a tender for the
Indian Navy for six submarines with a total value of $11.8 billion.

“Russia is currently completing tests of a new air-indepedent
propulsion system, which could be installed not only on the Amur 1650
but on jointly developed boats,” Komardin said. “This is a critical
factor for the Indians. So our chances here are good,” he added.

Rosoboronexport, Russia’s defense sales holding, has already offered
India its Amur 1650 boat, which started trials with the Russian navy
in 2010. The Amur has an armament of multirole torpedos and Klub
anti-ship missiles, and can also strike land-targets with advanced
cruise missiles, which may include the India-Russian Brahmos.

The Amur 1650 has a good chance of winning the tender, Komardin
claimed, thanks to its ability to remain submerged for over 25
days using its air-independent propulsion, and also its long-range
weaponry. Similar foreign boats can only stay submerged for 15-20 days.

Russia is currently evaluating the Lada class air-independent
submarine, a derivative of the Amur 1650. In 2010 the Lada class
submarine St Petersburg entered service with the Russian Fleet.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL POLICY DOOMED TO FAILURE – EXPERTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 27, 2012 – 13:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkey spends enormous resources to thwart the
Armenian Genocide recognition campaign in the U.S., especially now
that the situation has deteriorated following its deprivation of
European lobby’s support, turkologist Hakob Chakryan and Noravank
foundation expert Aristakes Simavoryan said.

As they told a press conference, the Turkish authorities are well
aware of advancements in the recognition process and that the denial
policy is doomed to fail, though they continue efforts to prove the
opposite. Dwelling on the Genocide resolution introduced to the U.S.

Congress, the experts voiced skepticism over its adoption, as the U.S.

currently prioritizes issues related to Iran and Syria, which
necessitate Turkish support.

On March 20, U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL)
introduced legislation, S.Res.399, calling upon the U.S. government
to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide and to use the lessons
of this atrocity to prevent future crimes against humanity.

“It is time for the United States to join the nineteen nations
including Belgium, Canada, France, Italy and the European Union
that have formally recognized the actions carried out by the Ottoman
Empire from 1915 to 1923 as genocide,” Senator Menendez said. “The
Armenian Genocide is a historical fact and was one of the incidents
upon which the Genocide Convention was predicated. Only by accurately
acknowledging the crimes of the past can we ever hope to move forward
in a legitimate manner and prevent such human rights crimes from
happening in the future.”

“The Armenian Genocide is well-documented and formally recognized by
11 NATO allies and the European Union. This resolution accurately
characterizes the events of 1915-1923 as a genocide, honors the
memory of the victims, and strengthens America’s moral leadership on
human rights and the prevention of mass atrocities around the world,”
said a spokesman for Senator Kirk.

From: A. Papazian

HEALTHCARE EXHIBITION TO BE HELD IN CAPITAL YEREVAN

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 28 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. LOGOS EXPO exhibition company and
Armenia’s health ministry are organizing the eleventh, specialized
exhibition from March 30 to April 1 entitled “Health and Pharmaceutics
2012”. An official from the center told Armenpress that the exhibition
is addressed to the heads of medical centers, scientific workers,
entrepreneurs as well as different specialists of the sphere. On the
sidelines of the exhibition a medical conference will be conducted
organized by the Medicine Producing and Importing Union of Armenia.

Seminars, round tables will too be conducted. The exhibition will
promote expansion and development of contacts between the participants.

From: A. Papazian

PROFESSOR RICHARD DEKMEJIAN OFFERED BOOK DEAL FROM QADDAFI

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 28 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. In 1979, Richard Dekmejian, a professor
of political science, traveled to Libya for a conference in observance
of the 10th anniversary of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi”s coup d”etat.

Dekmejian said the dictator invited him to speak at the conference
and then asked him to write a book about his reign, Armenpress reports
citing DailyTroyan.

“I had written a book called Egypt Under Nasser,” Dekmejian said. “He
never read the book and thought it was about Nasser, so he invited
me to write a book about him. Of course, I shook my head just so I
could get out of Libya. Once I got back to the states, I broke off
future communication because I really wasn”t interested in writing
a book praising him.”

Qaddafi was not the only ruler to offer Dekmejian a book deal, but
there was never any doubt in his mind that turning down each offer
was the right thing to do. The son of two Armenian genocide survivors,
writing in praise of these rulers contrasted with his own moral values.

“There are a lot of countries on this earth that will give you big
money if you deny genocide,” Dekmejian said. “Despite the fact that
you can make thousands of dollars, you can”t play that game. Beyond
a certain point, you can”t pull punches when someone is really bad.”

Dekmejian was born in Aleppo, Syria, nearly 20 years after the genocide
that killed most of his extended family.

From: A. Papazian

ORANGE FOUNDATION AND THE ARMENIAN EYE CARE PROJECT LAUNCH FREE EYE SCREENING AND TREATMENT PROJECT IN ARARAT REGION

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:37:59 – 28/03/2012

Orange Foundation and the Armenian Eye Care Project (AECP) has launched
their joint project in Ararat region since 19 March, 2012 with the
aim of realizing free eye screenings for local inhabitants and free
treatments for socially vulnerable people in the region.

Ophthalmic teams will realize free eye screenings in Ararat region
until May 31. Work schedule of ophthalmic teams is as follows: they
will work in Masis until 5April, in Artashat – from 6 April till 3
May and in Ararat – from 4 till 24 May. In the frames of this project
9 schools of Ararat region will also host special classes on eye care
for children parallel to eye screenings.

Today, Bruno Duthoit, the Chairman of the Board of Orange Foundation,
visited Marmarashen village of Ararat region, where eye screenings
for all those who wish and special classes on eye care for children
are underway.

Orange Foundation is supporting the AECP in implementation of its
projects, scheduled for 2012, by allotting AMD 25,5 million. In total,
this year it is planned to screen 13,400 inhabitants of 4 regions in
Armenia (11,000 adults and 2,400 children), to provide 4,450 glasses
and to realize 820 eye surgeries and laser treatments.

The partnership of Orange Foundation and the Armenian Eye Care Project
has started since 2011, thanks to which 9056 inhabitants of Shirak
and Aragatsotn regions were provided with free medical services last
year, out of which 640 people have undergone free eye surgery and
laser treatment and 3524 have received free glasses.

Bruno Duthoit, the Chairman of the Board of Orange Foundation, said:
“As a telecommunication company, we pay special attention to the
care for people with communication problems, and, as we all know,
eyes are one of the most important organs of communication. Last
year our partners have done really impressive work in Shirak and
Aragatsotn regions. We are happy to support the AECP again this year,
this time in 4 other regions of Armenia, where the inhabitants will
also be provided with a chance to benefit from the possibility of
free eye screenings and treatments”.

Nune Yeghiazaryan, Country Director of the Armenian Eye Care Project,
said: “We are happy to note that Orange Foundation will be with us
and support implementation of our projects throughout 2012. This
will enable us to carry out more large-scale activities. This year,
in the frames of the initiative “Bringing Sight to Armenian Eyes”,
the AECP will work in the following regions of Armenia: in Ararat
(in March-May), in Vayots Dzor (in June), in Syunik (in July) and in
Armavir (in September-October). This is already the 5th tour of AECP
in Armenia since 2003″.

From: A. Papazian

KARO’S OLIVE ORCHARD: HARD WORK PAYS OFF!
Susanna Shahnazaryan

hetq
00:06, March 26, 2012

If you are wary of believing in miracles, I’d suggest you go visit
Karo Karapetyan’s olive orchard in Meghri.

It has survived the particularly harsh winter months and is now
blooming.

Like many others, Karo used to be engaged in the wholesale trade, never
thinking that working the land could provide an adequate living wage.

Touching base with a number of suppliers of imported goods, Karo
noticed that much of their product was hardly being sold, including
olives.

He’d go around distributing thousands of cans of olives to this and
that store and, by his reckoning, the retail price was being increased
several times before reaching the consumer shelves.

Karo consulted with a number of specialists regarding the cultivation
of olives in the Meghri region. That was 12 years ago. Today, he
manages a six hectare olive orchard.

“It was really difficult at first. In 2002, most of the olive vines
froze and died,” he says.

Karo also recalls asking then President Robert Kocharyan, who was
visiting Meghri, for an easy term loan to get back on his feet. Karo
says that the president promised to assist him but that he never
heard back from Kocharyan.

To raise funds, Karo sold off a number of apartments he had amassed
in Yerevan.

The plan paid off in the long run. Last year, Karo harvested his
first olive crop – 5.5 tons in all.

“Our olives are of superior quality when compared to the canned stuff
being imported. We had no problems selling the harvest,” Karo says.

The olive farmer says he and his brother will can the olives themselves
and that they won’t need additional credit.

“Olives are a fickle crop. That’s why I decided to irrigate the
orchard with clean potable water even though I could have used water
from the Arax River. It was a huge expense.”

He told me that over time local residents had moved away from farming
and gardening, even though the soil of Meghri is quite fertile.

“People started to work in the mines and at the customs house on the
border. They neglected the land under their feet,” Karo notes.

He says that if the government continues to pay attention to rural
agriculture, the land can not only sufficiently feed the populace
but can provide a really decent way of life.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN ARE STILL FIGHTING OVER THIS PIECE OF LAND

Business Insider

March 26 2012

Last weekend, on the 20th anniversary of the end of the Armenian-Azeri
war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory, the Minsk group:
the United States, Russia, and France, urged the two governments to
show the “political will needed to achieve a lasting and peaceful
settlement” to their conflict, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is geographically
part of Azerbaijan, but the majority of its population is ethnic
Armenian.

Even though the war ended 20 years ago, the peace process has been
sporadic and lukewarm, at best. The Minsk group OSCE, which was
created in 1992 to broker peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
has so far been unsuccessful in its mission.

We take a look at what all the fighting is about.

The war began in 1988, but its seeds were sown in the 1920s:

After the end of World War I and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia
in the early 1920s, the Soviet Union, as part of its divide-and-rule
policy in the region, established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous
Region, with an ethnic Armenian majority, within the Soviet Socialist
Republic of Azerbaijan. Before this, Christian Armenians and Turkic
Azeris lived together in relative peace, according to the office of
the republic in Washington, DC’s website.

As Soviet control loosened towards the end of the 1980s, the region’s
parliament voted to join Armenia. Violence broke out in 1988.

More than one million people were displaced, and 20,000 to 30,000
people died in the conflict. The Armenians routed the Azeris to gain
control not only of the disputed region, but also some Azerbaijani
territory outside it. The region declared itself an independent
republic, although this has not been internationally recognized,
the BBC reports.

A truce was finally brokered by Russia in 1994, but Karabakh retained
control of the disputed land and the Azeri territory it had captured.

All attempts at lasting peace and ceasefires have failed so far:

Azerbaijan wants the land they believe is rightfully theirs back,
while Armenia is unwilling to do so, given that the demographic makeup
of the region favors it.

When the war ended in 1994, Russia, France, and the U.S. formed the
OSCE’s Minsk Group, which has been attempting to broker an end to
the dispute. But negotiations are at a tenuous stalemate so far,
Armenia Now reports.

While the Armenian and Azeri presidents have met for negotiations
on a few occasions, and some progress was made in 2009, progress has
since stalled, and a number of soldiers have been killed in ceasefire
violations on both sides.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly threatened to use force to get back Karabakh
if negotiations fail, but Yerevan has warned of large-scale retaliation
if Baku launches any military action, AFP reports.

From: A. Papazian

“JUNIOR BOOK WEEK” ANNUAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 26, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS: “Junior Book Week” traditional event
will be held March 26-April 2 in Goris. Delegation of Writers Union
of Armenia under the head of Levon Ananyan has traveled to Goris to
participate in the event.

Literary meetings, discussions of children stories are intended,
Culture Ministry told Armenpress.

Goris schools and libraries will get junior books in frame of the
event.

From: A. Papazian

11.362 TOURISTS VISITED ARTSAKH IN 2011

armradio.am
26.03.2012 18:12

According to the data of the NKR MFA Consular Service, in 2011, the
number of foreign citizens visiting the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in
2011 amounted to 11.362 showing an increase of more than 3000 tourists
as compared with the previous year.

The geography of the tourists is quite broad and it continues expanding
every year. In 2011, citizens of the Russian Federation, the USA,
France, Iran, Canada, Germany and the Ukraine, Malaysia, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Gabon, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, SAR, Cuba, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Indonesia and other countries visited the NKR.

The fact that the country is more often included in the ratings of
the most attractive tourist countries of the world testifies to the
increasing interest of the foreigners to Nagorno Karabakh.

Arriving in Artsakh, the guests mostly visit the monastery complexes of
Gandzasar (XIII century), Amaras (IV century), Dadivank (IV century),
the excavations’ zone of the ancient town of Tigranakert (I century
BC), the ancient Azokh cave, a great number of antique Armenian
fortresses etc.

Tourists visiting Artsakh are not only motivated by the historical
monuments, virgin nature, and sound ecology but also by friendliness,
good will and hospitality of the Artsakh people and original Karabakhi
kitchen.

From: A. Papazian