Author: Babajanian Karo

MEETINGS AT THE NKR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 05:50

On December 12, a delegation of the RA National Assembly, headed by
its newly elected Chairman Samvel Nikoyan, paid a two-day working
visit to Artsakh. The delegation comprised deputies Gagik Minasian,
Ruben Gevorgian, Gagik Gevorgian, Armen Martirosian, representing
different parliamentary factions, and members of the RA NA staff. At
the approaches to the town of Shushi, the delegation was met by NKR
NA Chairman Ashot Ghulian and NA Deputy Chairman Arthur Tovmasian.

According to the schedule, Chairmen of both Armenian Parliaments first
had a separate official meeting in the NKR NA Chairman’s work-room.

Greeting the delegation members and expressing his pleasure with
their visit, NKR NA Chairman Ashot Ghulian congratulated Samvel
Nikoyan on his election at the high-rank and responsible post of
the RA NA Chairman. He expressed his confidence that thanks to
Mr. Nikoyan’s concerned and efficient support, the Armenia-Artsakh
inter-parliamentary cooperation would be intensified for consolidating
the Armenian statehood.

Expressing his gratitude for the cordial reception, the RA NA Chairman
noted that he had kept his promise, paying his first working visit
to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and that it was an honor for him to
be on the Artsakh land on, actually, the fourth day of his occupying
the post of Parliament Speaker.

During the meeting, both parties emphasized the necessity of further
development of the existing rich traditions of inter-parliamentary
cooperation and noted the ways of achieving the goal.

Members of the RA NA delegation, NKR NA Deputy Chairman Arthur
Tovmasian, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations
Vahram Atanesian, and NKR NA representative at the RA NA Karen Topchian
participated in the separate meeting.

After the separate meeting, enlarged meetings with the RA NA
Chairman and the delegation members took place in the NKR NA small
session-hall, with the participation of the standing committees’
chairmen and vice-chairmen.

An exchange of opinions took place on the consolidation of the
inter-parliamentary cooperation in different formats, up to expert
consultations and discussions, and on the agenda of the coming meeting
of the Armenia-Artsakh inter-parliamentary cooperation committee.

USA
De l’histoire de l’Arménie à l’histoire des Noirs d’Amérique :
Elizabeth Cann Kambourian

De l’histoire de l’Arménie à l’histoire des Noirs d’Amérique :
Elizabeth Cann Kambourian

par Aram Arkun

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, 03.12.2011

RICHMOND, Virginie – Elizabeth Cann Kambourian étudiait à l’université
de Virginie à Richmond, plus particulièrement l’histoire, lorsqu’elle
décida de consacrer son mémoire de licence à la première république
d’Arménie. Bien des années plus tard, elle devint une spécialiste
reconnue sur une importante révolte d’esclaves américains à Richmond.
Dans les deux cas, sa curiosité quant aux gens et aux choses qui
l’entourent ont stimulé ses recherches.

Kambourian avait 28 ans lorsqu’elle entama des études supérieures,
après s’être mariée et avoir fondé une famille. Elle travaillait dans
une bijouterie gérée par la famille de son mari, les Kambourian, et
alternait cours et activité professionnelle. L’histoire de la famille
de son mari, explique-t-elle, est intéressante. Les Kambourian étaient
une famille aisée d’Erzeroum. Suite à un différend, un de leurs jeunes
fils, Manuel, fut envoyé à l’étranger au début des années 1880, tout
d’abord en France. Il partit ensuite pour New York et devint bijoutier
comme son père. Connaissant des difficultés commerciales, il émigra à
Richmond et se lança dans un négoce de tapis. Il eut trois fils, dont
deux reprirent cette affaire – qui est toujours prospère aujourd’hui
entre les mains de la quatrième génération Kambourian -, tandis que le
plus jeune s’orienta vers la joaillerie.

Un de leurs parents, Dikran Najarian, marié à une Kambourian, était
tachnag, membre de la Fédération Révolutionnaire Arménienne. Il revint
dans l’empire ottoman au début du 20ème siècle, fut arrêté et exécuté.
Ses derniers écrits de prison sont conservés par la famille.

Tandis que Kambourian s’intéressait à l’histoire de la famille, un des
oncles de son mari lui remit divers documents familiaux, dont des
photographies, des documents de voyage et un permis de travail
ottomans au nom dudit Najarian.

Kambourian consacra son mémoire de licence à la première république
d’Arménie, mais reprit des données remontant à 1870. Sa professeure
lui fut de bon conseil et elle utilisa des journaux français et
anglais contemporains, entre autres sources.

Paradoxalement, souligne-t-elle, à l’université, « je suis totalement
passée à côté de l’histoire américaine, mais j’ai fini par m’y
intéresser. » Il s’avéra que la maison qu’elle et sa famille avaient
achetée en 1974 joua un rôle clé à ce propos. La vieille dame qui
vendait la maison lui remit un titre de propriété, datant de 1918, qui
retraçait les origines du domaine jusqu’en 1745, où celui-ci faisait
partie d’un domaine beaucoup plus vaste. Finalement, à la fin des
années 1980, poussée par la curiosité, Kambourian se rendit aux
archives du comté d’Henrico et découvrit le plan d’une plantation,
Quincy Plantation, qui incluait son terrain.

Traduction : © Georges Festa – 12.2011

dimanche 11 décembre 2011,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Netherlands Apologizes for 1947 Indonesia Massacre

ASIA NEWS
DECEMBER 9, 2011, 2:43 A.M. ET

Associated Press

RAWAGEDE, Indonesia – After six decades of waiting, relatives of men
killed in a notorious massacre during Indonesia’s bitter struggle for
independence finally got what they wanted: an official apology from
the Dutch state.

Tjeerd de Zwaan, ambassador to Indonesia, made the announcement before
hundreds of villagers in Rawagede, scene of the Dec. 9, 1947, killings
of up to 430 boys and young men by Dutch troops.

The crowd, tense with emotion, erupted in cheers and applause.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd de Zwaan, left, and claimants’
lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, center, joined widows of Rawagede massacre
victims after the Dutch envoy offered a formal apology on behalf of
the Dutch government during a ceremony at the war memorial in the town
of Rawagede, in West Java province on Friday. The Dutch government
formally apologized to Indonesia for the Dutch army’s 1947 executions.

Tears rolled down the cheeks of surviving widows, now in their late
80s and early 90s, some of whom had started to doubt they would ever
hear those words.

“It makes me feel my struggle for justice was not useless,” said Cawi
binti Baisa, who was 20 when her husband of two years headed to the
rice paddy in the morning, never to return.

Dutch troops clinging to their retreating colonial empire arrived in
Rawagede just before dawn 64 years ago and opened fire, sending sleepy
residents scattering from their homes in panic.

The soldiers were looking for resistance leader Lukas Kustario, known
for ambushing Dutch bases. When villagers said they didn’t know where
he was, nearly all the men were rounded up and taken to the fields.

Squatting in rows, with both hands placed on the backs of their heads,
they were shot one by one.

The apology – more than six decades later – followed a landmark ruling by
a Dutch court in September that said the state was responsible for the
massacre.

Associated Press

A student looked at the memorial wall up at the heroes’ cemetery in
Rawagede, West Java, Indonesia, in September.

It also agreed to pay 20,000 ($27,000) to each of the 10 plaintiffs,
three of whom have since died, said their lawyer, Liesbeth Zegveld.

But it wasn’t immediately clear when or how funds would be distributed.

The presence of the ambassador at the annual commemoration held at
Rawagede Hero Cemetery – where many of the victims were buried in a mass
grave – caused a huge, emotional stir.

Big white tents were erected to provide relief from the blazing tropical sun.

“Today, December 9,” the ambassador began, “we remember the members of
your families and those of your fellow villagers who died 64 years ago
through the actions of the Dutch military.

“On behalf of the Dutch government, I apologize for the tragedy that
took place.”

Several women involved in the case said that was much more important
than whatever money they eventually get. What they most wanted was
closure.

Wanti binti Sariman was nine months pregnant with her second child
when her 26-year-old husband, Tarman, was taken to a field with around
60 other men.

She later found his body in the last of three rows of corpses.

“I was so shocked to see him lying there with the other men,” she
said. “It had been raining. Their blood was mixed with the water,
creating red pools all around them.

“I can’t get that image out of my head,” she said. “I still have
nightmares about it.”

Some men managed to escape, hiding in the swamps and plantations, she
said. But they were eventually chased down by dogs and shot.

“It was horrific. But I’ve come to accept it. That was our destiny,”
the widow said as she wiped away her tears. “And of course, we have to
forgive the troops who killed our men.”

The other women around her nodded.

“It’s true,” said Lasmi binti Kasilan, who lost her baby after her
seventh month of pregnancy when she learned of her husband’s death.
“We never wanted vengeance. We wanted an apology and compensation, and
in the end, we got it.”

The Dutch government has never prosecuted any soldiers for the
massacre, despite a United Nations report condemning the attack as
“deliberate and ruthless” as early as 1948.

A 1968 Dutch report acknowledged “violent excesses” in Indonesia but
argued that Dutch troops were carrying out a “police action” often
incited by guerrilla warfare and terror attacks.

Former Foreign Minister Ben Bot expressed deep regret for offenses by
Dutch forces throughout Indonesia in 1947, but the government had
never before formally apologized to relatives in Rawagede.

Tatev Aerial Tram Grounded for Winter Outfitting

hetq
14:43, December 6, 2011

The Tatev aerial cable car will be out of commission from December
12th to the 19th.

A number of technical adjustments will be made before the cable car
can be operated in winter weather conditions.

Experts from Switzerland will also arrive to conduct a yearly
maintenance check of the equipment.

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Dec 10 2011

Turkey Expects France’s Contribution to Turkish-Armenian Controversy
Through Dialogue

Saturday, 10 December 2011 14:16 .

Turkey expressed its expectation from France to make a contribution in
discussing Turkish-Armenian controversy through dialogue regarding
1915 incidents. Turkish Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday that
initiatives to bring penal sanction force in a law on 1915 incidents
–which had been adopted in France in 2001 and gave credit to only one
party’s views– recurred especially during electoral periods in
France.

A draft law which was adopted at a commission in French Parliament on
December 7, 2011 was the recent example of those initiatives, said the
ministry, stressing that French administration knew the sensitivity of
this matter for Turkey.

We hope French administration will not take irreparable steps, while
Turkey and France have entered a stable period during which the two
countries can boost cooperation opportunities on bilateral and
international levels, said the ministry.

New York Times
Dec 10 2011

The National Womb

By ANASTASIA TAYLOR-LIND
Published: December 10, 2011

IN 2008, the de facto government in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed
region in the southern Caucasus, introduced a `birth encouragement
program,’ which distributes cash payments to newlyweds for each
newborn, with the aim of repopulating the region more than a decade
after a devastating war.

The conflict started in 1988 and escalated into full-scale war when
the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic
Armenians went to war with Azerbaijan, with backing from neighboring
Armenia. The war left 65,000 ethnic Armenians and 40,000 ethnic Azeris
displaced. The Muslim Azeri population never returned, and neither did
many of the Armenians who had fled. While a cease-fire was declared in
May 1994 and the violence abated, there has not yet been a peace
settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

On Sept. 2, Nagorno-Karabakh celebrated 20 years of independence,
though it remains unrecognized by the international community. Life is
not easy in the republic. Unemployment is high, salaries are low,
opportunities are few; the young continue to leave in search of better
futures abroad.

Since its introduction four years ago, the `birth encouragement
program’ has been credited for an increase in births, to 2,694 in 2010
from 2,145 in 2007. The program pays each couple about $780 at their
wedding, and then an additional $260 for the first baby born, $520 for
the second, $1,300 for the third and $1,820 for the fourth. Families
with six or more children under the age of 18 are given a house. These
payments are quite substantial in a region where the average monthly
salary is $50.

Payments are being made efficiently, and the support is accessible to
everyone. All of those I spoke to seemed happy and grateful for the
money. However, there are questions, yet to be answered, about the
long-term effects of encouraging so many young women to become
mothers. In a region as economically deprived as Nagorno-Karabakh, is
the solution simply to increase the birthrate? Without first improving
education, infrastructure and employment opportunities for future
generations, and raising the standard of living, the children of
today’s baby boom may grow up to leave in search of better lives
abroad, just like the youths of today.

Anastasia Taylor-Lind, a photojournalist based in London, is a member
of the VII photo agency.

Elina Danielian plays at Beijing-hosted chess tournament

December 10, 2011 – 17:13 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Grandmaster Elina Danielian and IM Almira
Skripchenko-Agababian (France) are participating in chess competition
on the sidelines of Beijing-hosted World Mind Games.

After the 2 rounds, Danielian and Skripchenko-Agababian have scored 1
point each, falling 1 point behind tournament leader GM Alexandra
Kosteniuk, armchess.am reported.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2011

The Armenian version of porridge is always just right.
(And it’s definitely ours!)

From YouTube: Turkish villagers make keshkeg

We’ve stated early and often that we’re food fanciers not food
historians, so we’ve tried to steer clear of claims that any dish is
uniquely Armenian.

Our premise when we began this blog was to embrace as Armenian food
anything that Armenians eat.

In my case, of course, that would include hot fudge sundaes – although, it
really shouldn’t, for a number of reasons. The lesson is that some things
aren’t so easy to define or to avoid.

But identity politics is a powerful thing, and it’s clear that Armenians
must define their food or others will define it for us.

There’s been a clear and ominous trend in recent years among our
not-always-friendly neighbors to label certain dishes as Turkish or
Azerbaijani in origin. Our friend and frequent correspondent, the writer
Lucine Kasbarian, brought the latest instance of menu poaching to our
attention.

A cultural arm of the United Nations recently certified keshkeg as
Turkish.
Known by various names, it’s a familiar and filling winter-time stew of
mashed wheat and meat, usually lamb or chicken. It has a consistency and
appearance similar to oatmeal and is often seasoned with cumin.

Armenians have been making it for centuries. So apparently has everyone
else in the ‘hood, with variations, including Persians and Greeks.

There’s nothing odd about that. We know food travels, although its exact
path is sometimes hard to trace. But there are real food historians in
Armenia, and we’ve noted their efforts to define and refine Armenian food
as a distinct cuisine.

They seem certain that the original version sprang from the distinctly
Armenian earthen ovens called* tonirs*. The stove-top pot version – or, in
the Old World, the open-hearth version – is an evolutionary step. Turkish
cooking, they note, does not include the use of the tonir.

I’m just old enough to remember the lingering euphoria over the UN’s birth
after the Second World War and the hope that it would be a major and
lasting force for world peace.

I think it’s fair to say that didn’t exactly work as planned. But really,
how in the world is it now the UN’s business to be poking its fingers in
our soup bowls?

POSTED BY DOUGLAS KALAJIAN AT 12:05 AM

Armenia’s most urgent rights issue is lack of fair trial – Ombudsman

17:22 – 10.12.11

The most urgent human rights problem in Armenia since independence has
been lack of fair trial, Armenia’s human rights defender has said at
an expo dedicated to the Human Rights Day in Yerevan.

Karen Andreasyan said that the Ombudsman’s office has asked political
forces to present the current situation in the judicial system in
their discussions ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, as
well as prepare realistic programs to establish free courts.

`Most of the complaints addressed to us related to deprivation of
people of their right to family allowances, wrong calculations of
pensions,’ said Andreasyan.

According to him, it was the Defense Minsitry that addressed most of
the issued Ombudsman’s office raised.

`It was from the Ministry of Education and Science that we received
the most improper and unacceptable reaction to our criticism,’ he
added.

Tert.am

Serzh Sargsyan to visit Italy, Vatican

December 10, 2011 – 18:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On Dec 12-15, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan will
pay a working visit to Italy and Vatican.

Meetings with Pope Benedict XVI, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano,
speaker of the lower-house Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini,
Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and Rome’s Mayor Gianni
Alemanno are on presidential visit agenda.

On the sidelines of his visit, President Sargsyan will participate in
a number of events dedicated to 500th anniversary of Armenian
book-printing.