Author: Babajanian Karo

NO CITIZENSHIP FOR YOU!
By Mark Krikorian

National Review Online
Sept 22 2011

I remember an Armenian acquaintance from Syria telling me once how
unjust it was that the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (and
their descendants) were not given citizenship and allowed to integrate
into the Arab states where they lived: “They even gave us citizenship,
for heaven’s sake,” meaning Armenian survivors of the Turk genocide,
who were neither Arabs nor Muslims.

That came to mind again when I read that even those Palestinians
classified as refugees who are living on the West Bank and Gaza would
not receive citizenship in the phony Palestinian state, if it ever
comes to fruition. The point is that these people (and their children,
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, et al.) must remain forever pawns
in the eternal drive to exterminate Israel.

Judith Levy, an American immigrant to Israel who wrote the Ricochet
post I linked to, is frustrated, commenting on the admirable qualities
of the Palestinian workers building her house and blaming the
political problem on “a pathologically weak-minded leadership” among
the Palestinians. I’m afraid that’s naive. Palestinian individuals
have the same range of good and bad characteristics as any other
large group of people. But the collective Palestinian identity (which
has developed into a real national identity, despite claims to the
contrary) necessarily entails the goal of exterminating Israel. After
all, the Arabs living there had no national identity until Israel
gave them a reason to have one – to destroy Israel. This is why,
for instance, the logo of the Palestinian mission to the UN shows
all the land between the Jordan and the sea as Palestine.

In fact, I wonder if the Arab public would stand for any effort to give
citizenship to Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Let’s say
we sprinkle unicorn dust over Syria and Assad is ousted and liberal
democracy blooms there and the new regime wants to give extend
Syrian citizenship to long-resident Palestinians, integrating them
politically – would the Syrian public even stand for that? I think
Jew-hatred is so deeply rooted in the Arab and broader Islamic world
that even governments that would want to help end the citizenship
limbo of Palestinian refugees and their descendants would hesitate,
fearing popular uprisings and Islamist attack.

158 EMPLOYEES OF ARMENIA’S NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SUBMIT RESIGNATIONS

news.am
Sept 22 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – Reoperation of Armenia’s nuclear power pant, which
is currently undergoing planned repairs, is in jeopardy, Haykakan
Zhamanak daily writes. “158 members of the plant’s engineering and
technical staff submitted resignations on Tuesday.”

“Those who submitted resignations are primarily those specialists
without whom it is impossible to operate the nuclear power plant.

Those employees demand that their salaries be reviewed. Still 1 month
ago they had submitted a petition to [Armenian President] Serzh
Sargsyan, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisyan,
and the plant’s management, and asked their salaries be raised. The
plant’s employees had informed Armenia’s leadership that, after the
recent rise in prices and with salaries of 120,000 drams ($318 US)
or 150,000 ($398) drams, they cannot solve their families’ social
problems, and warned that if this issue is not resolved by September
20, they would be compelled to submit resignations, which they did,”
Haykakan Zhamanak writes.

AZERBAIJANI ACTIVIST TELLS ABOUT HIS TORTURES, THANKS AMNESTY

Tert.am
20:02 22.09.11

Azerbaijani journalist, former prisoner of conscience, Eynulla
Fatullayev, has thanked the human rights organization Amnesty
International for its support during his detention.

In an article posted on Amnesty’s website and titled “I will never
forget you, to the end of my life” Fatullayev also called his readers
to “bring good to this world” and “become a member of Amnesty”.

“First they beat my head with steel rods, and I nearly died. “They
arrested me. Fined me. Harassed me. Charged me with absurd and
inconceivable accusations,” reads the article.

“My editor-in-chief, Elmar Huseynov, was assassinated. I am a
journalist who challenged my government, and paid a terrible price
for it. Four years of my life were stolen, he continued.

Further, Fatullayev wrote, that in prison, “I was between life and
death. Life in a torture chamber became pointless, ceased its normal
rhythms. Violence obliterated all signs of vitality”.

“On May 26 of this year, I regained my cherished liberty. I am
absolutely confident that it was the tireless campaigning of Amnesty
supporters like you that enabled me to return to my life.

“For me, notions of Amnesty and good are identical. I am saved, but
there are still people who must be rescued. They are expecting your
help,” read it.

He went on to write that “just when it seemed everybody had forgotten
me, unexpectedly I received hundreds of postcards from Amnesty
USA. I was full of joy because I understood that such an influential
organization was supporting me. I had not been forgotten”.

“I was greatly surprised at postcards from children. Three-, four-
and five-year-old children sent me pictures made by them personally. It
was so touching and tender.

“These children are sure to fight for human rights and justice. No
one can take that consciousness away from them.

“I am grateful to you. You have saved my family from death, and I’ll
never forget you to the end of my life. It is my mission to serve
the ideals advocated by Amnesty International every hour, every day,
every year”.

ARMENIA’S NPP MAY FACE LACK OF PERSONNEL, IF SALARIES ARE NOT REVIEWED

Tert.am
21:24 22.09.11

Armenia’s Nuclear Power Plant is set to face a shortage of personnel
after 158 of its employees submitted resignation letters on September
20 over their salaries.

The employees submitted the letters after receiving no response to
their request sent a month earlier to the NPP’s management, Armenia’s
president and the minister of energy and natural resources.

In the request they had asked to review their salaries against the
backdrop of inflation, the recent hike in prices.

Speaking to Tert.am, Lusine Harutyunyan, the spokesperson of the
minister of energy and natural resources, said that their letters are
at the ministry and that the ministry will inform about the results
of their reviewing.

Since September 5 Armenia’s NPP is currently under a 46-day planned
renovation.

Asked what is being done to tackle the issue, given the personnel
shortage is a component of the NPP’s security, Suren Amanyan, the
head of the staff of the State Committee of Nuclear Security at
the government, said that it is the Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources that deals with the issue.

He also said that the Committee is dealing only with technical
security issues.

Armenia’s Labor Law on collective contracts (Article 49) stipulates
that the salaries of holders of collective contracts is defined,
taking account the level of inflation and rise in prices.

Yura Dolinyan, President of NPP’s trade union, said that employees of
the NPP have signed collective contracts which, however, do not have
mechanisms that regulate the amount of salaries on basis of inflation
and rises in prices.

The Armenian government is acting as an employer in those under
those contracts.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM RANKED 44 IN FIFA LIST FIRST IN HISTORY

news.am
Sept 21 2011
Armenia

Armenia’s national football team reached 44th line in FIFA world
ranking list for the first time in its history. Armenian squad went
up by 27 positions.

Armenia’s opponents in EURO 2012 qualifying group Russia is ranked 12,
while Ireland – 29, Slovakia – 39, Macedonia – 94 and Andorra – 203.

Top ten includes Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay, Portugal,
Italy, Brazil, England, Croatia and Argentina.

ARMENIA CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

Hurriyet
Sept 21 2011
Turkey

Armenian air defence missiles launchers roll during a military parade
marking the 20th anniversary of the nation independence from the
Soviet Union Yerevan, on Wednesday. AFP photo

Armenia flexed its military muscle Wednesday at a showpiece parade to
mark 20 years of independence from the Soviet Union amid a simmering
territorial conflict with neighbor Azerbaijan.

According to an Armenian website, the sponsor company delivered
commemorative T-shirts made in Turkey, Armenia’s western neighbor
with whom it is locked in long-running dispute over genocide claims.

Some 4,000 troops lined up in Republic Square in Yerevan accompanied by
tanks, missiles, helicopters, fighter planes and, for the first time,
Armenian-manufactured spy drones. Addressing the parade, President
Serge Sarkisian said that when the small Caucasus state of 3.2 million
people became independent in 1991, “a huge part of our country was
a disaster zone after an earthquake and we stood on the brink of war.”

“In two decades, we have made a giant leap forward but there is still
a lot that we have not managed to do,” he said.

Sarkisian described Armenian forces’ victory in the 1990s war with
Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh as “the
most glorious page in our recent history.” Russian troops who have a
base in Armenia also took part in the parade to reflect their role
in protecting the country’s national security, according to the
Defense Ministry.

“The deep cooperation between Armenia and Russia in the sphere of
defense is no secret to our society,” ministry spokesman David
Karapetian said Tuesday, rejecting criticism of the Russian
involvement.

Before the parade started, police stopped an attempted protest by a
small group of activists carrying placards with slogans like “Armenia
is not part of Russia.”

U.S. President Barack Obama was among several world leaders to send
congratulations. Armenia has gone through political and military
turmoil since independence amid a series of disputed elections, the
aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 1988 and the war with
Azerbaijan over Karabakh that killed 30,000 people and sparked a
huge refugee exodus. The Karabakh conflict has remained unresolved
since a cease-fire in 1994 with regular outbreaks of shooting along
the frontline and repeated threats from Azerbaijan to take back the
territory by force if long-running peace talks fail to yield results.

Azerbaijan also held a lavish military parade to mark its own 20th
anniversary of independence in June, when President Ä°lham Aliyev
vowed to reassert control over Karabakh, warning his Armenian foes that
“the war is not over yet.”

‘Made in Turkey’ shirts

Armenia is locked in another long-running dispute with neighbor Turkey
over the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during
World War I, which Yerevan wants to be internationally recognized as
genocide – a claim strongly rejected by Ankara. In 2009, Ankara and
Yerevan signed landmark accords to establish diplomatic relations
and reopen the border between the two states, but the effort to end
decades of animosity broke down last year amid mutual recriminations.

Armenia’s religious leader, Catholicos Aram I published a message on
Armenia’s Independence Day, saying: “The journey of re-establishing
our independent statehood was long and difficult. Having been denied
native statehood for centuries, our people have suffered persecution,
witnessed destruction and plunder, been subjected to genocide, stripped
of patrimony and dispersed throughout the world. On a small portion
of our homeland which became part of the Soviet Union, our people
found deliverance.”

According to Armenian website Hetq, the organizers of the events
handed out commemorative T-shirts made in Turkey to lucky contest
winners. The T-shirts read “2011 Hayastan Du Es” (2011, Armenia Is You)
on the front; Arevik Badalyan, the public affairs coordinator for the
events, told Hetq that they had no idea that the T-shirts carried the
“Made in Turkey” tag.

“It’s the first I’m hearing about it. We have nothing to do with the
production of the shirts. It was the sponsor company which provided
the shirts. We just distributed what they gave us,” Badalyan told Hetq.

INTERSECTIONS: DISCOVERING THE REAL ARMENIA
By Liana Aghajanian

Glendale News Press
Sept 21 2011
CA

On a mild summer day, itching to get out of Yerevan, I took a Soviet
minibus known locally as a marshutka to the northern Armenian city
of Vanadzor. After weeks in the congested capital, Vanadzor’s lush
landscapes, wide spaces and crisp air put me at ease.

Picnic blanket in hand, I walked past neighborhood backgammon games
in the middle of the street and trunks full of watermelons for sale
to a forested area where I was hoping to relax.

Instead, I ended up having lunch and several rounds of homemade
vodka with three local builders who had just finished installing
a khachkar, which is a stele that bears the image of a cross – a
yearlong stonecarving project that had found a home in a city known
for its Soviet chemical plant history and summer retreats.

Immensely proud of their city, they asked how I had ended up in
Vanadzor, better remembered by its Soviet name of Kirovakan.

“I got tired of Yerevan,” I said.

“Well, there’s no better place than Kirovakan,” said Karen, a migrant
worker who regularly traveled to Russia in order to make ends meet
and the youngest of the bunch while he poured more of the potent
alcohol into my cup than I could handle.

Yerevan had started to make me dizzy after a month and a half. The
claustrophobia set in and urgency to see the picturesque landscapes
I had become so familiar with from afar nagged at me.

So I went to Vanadzor to have vodka with stone workers, and then
to Gyumri to talk politics with a 70-year-old shoemaker. In Sisian,
I attended a neo-pagan festival; in Goris, I met French and Italian
tourists and offered my translating services to a bed-and-breakfast
owner for two days, learning how to play backgammon and then having
dinner with his extended family, where the vodka, (mulberry, in case
you were wondering,) flowed as freely as the Vararak River that runs
through the city.

In Alagyaz, I was invited into the homes of Yezdi Kurds for coffee
and watermelon. In Ushi, I learned how to ride a horse. In Karakert,
I witnessed a mass baptism, where residents as young as 5 months and
as old as 55 became members of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In the internationally unrecognized but de facto independent region
known as Nagorno-Karabakh, I was picked up by a family, taken back
to their house deep within the rugged Caucasus mountains, fed honey
straight from the comb, driven to the Amaras Monastery, the site of
the first school that used the Armenian script, and given a shopping
bag full of grapes to take back home.

By the end of summer, I was using Russian words while talking with
locals and eating a traditional yogurt soup called spas four times
a week – a dish I had refused to touch for most of my life back home.

Maybe it was my cultural background, the pull to discover a part
of me that I felt needed unearthing (though it’s worth pointing out
that I have never felt more American in my life than I have in the
time I spent in Armenia). Maybe it was my luck in acquiring a few
great travel partners or the warm weather creating a near perfect
environment for feeling adventurous.

Maybe it was the gravity of a country roughly the size of Maryland,
almost completely reduced to smithereens over eons due to invasions and
invaders. A gravity to discover, to move beyond the bars and cafes of
its capital and muster up the courage to use crowded minibuses, not
worry about how much you stand out, and take rides with shockingly
hospitable strangers who want nothing more than to open up their
homes to you, even if they don’t even know your name.

Armenia is tiny. It’s rough around the edges. It’s bleeding its
population as socio-economic conditions worsen. It has a slew of
problems too lengthy and depressing to go into here, and with Turkish
and Azerbaijani borders closed, it will not be borrowing a cup of
sugar from two of its four neighbors any time soon.

Despite all of this, Armenia offers the potential to explore its rugged
landscapes, but it offers more than that. It offers an opportunity
to meet the most generous people you will ever have the pleasure of
conversing (and drinking) with, an offer that many, including its
vast Diaspora, seem to pass up.

As tourism takes off in the South Caucasus, a serious attempt to
discover the real Armenia, beyond the night life or typical tourist
traps, without the cushy hotels and comfortable transportation,
will leave you buzzing for more.

A recent TimeOut article called Armenia “Europe’s most underrated
destination” that “has a big heart.” Experiencing its rawness and
discovering its crevices that remain hidden to most of the world has
definitely earned it a place in mine.

LIANA AGHAJANIAN is a writer and editor who has been covering arts,
culture and news in print and online for a number of years.

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PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER’S MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY

Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
Sept 21 2011
Ottawa

Greetings from the Prime Minister

It is my distinct pleasure to extend my warmest greetings to members
of the Armenian community in Canada as you celebrate the independence
of the Republic of Armenia.

Today, you commemorate the historic results of the 1991 Armenian
independence referendum. This defining moment not only marked
the reestablishment of an independent Armenia, but was itself an
overwhelming affirmation of the power of democracy. Following that
historic event, the dream of a free Armenian state once again became
a reality after more than seventy years of Communist rule. Armenian
communities around the world celebrate this achievement and have
stood firmly with their homeland as it navigates a sovereign course.

As home to a significant community of Diaspora Armenians, Canada has
always stood in support of a strong and free Armenia. We look forward
to strengthening the many ties that bind our two countries in the
years to come. Canadians of Armenian descent can take great pride in
the contributions they have made our society, and their commitment
to the universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the
rule of law.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, please accept my best wishes
as you celebrate this historic occasion.

Sincerely, The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.

Prime Minister of Canada

HIS MAJESTY GREETS LEADERS

Omanet.om, Sultanate of Oman
Ministry of Information
Sept 21 2011

HIS Majesty Sultan Qaboos has sent cables of greetings to President
Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia,
Colville Young, Governor-General of Belize and President Dr George
Abela of Malta on their countries’ national days.

His Majesty the Sultan expressed his best wishes to the leaders and the
friendly peoples of Mali, Armenia, Belize and Malta on this occasion.

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA ADDRESSES NATION ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

news.am
Sept 21 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan addressed the nation
at the Military Parade on the occasion of Independence Day.

Generals and Officers,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I congratulate us all on the occasion of the Republic~Rs 20th
anniversary of Independence.

Twenty years ago on this day, large numbers of voters were casting
ballots into the ballot-boxes with the hands of their children and
grandchildren. Those children, who are grown-ups today, have had
inherited a country to live in free and independent Armenia.

The choice of our people was deeply conscientious. We were also aware
that neither of the former Soviet Republics had such unfavorable
starting point as was ours. A large part of the country was a disaster
zone, and we were at the brink of war. But we handed the ballots to
our children and said, ~SYes!~T Yes, we were ready to assume heroic
tasks. And we have.

Those who were not here in Armenia in the 90-s and who watch
documentary of those days, cannot believe that it all was like that.

Even the streets of Yerevan looked different, to say nothing of
Artsakh, borders and towns of Armenia under shelling.

Reinstatement of our statehood was a holiday ~V our dream came true
but first of all it was a responsibility. From that moment on we
became responsible for our security, our economy, our culture, our
present and our future.

Long live the Armenian nation, which went through war and fire. It
went through all this with boundless trust in Armenia, unwavering
stance and persistent efforts.

Long live free Artsakh, which has written the most glorious page of
our modern history not without the blood of its children.

Long live Armenian volunteers, who at the fateful moment had become
the pillars personifying our dignity and self-respect.

Long live the victorious Armenian Army, which is an indispensable
component of peace and stability in our region.

Long live builders and construction workers, who restored to life
our villages and towns ruined by the earthquake.

Long live Armenian Spyurk, which once was beside Armenia but now has
become Armenia~Rs extension.

Armenia~Rs weight in the international world is much more than
our geographical size. And credit of it first of all goes to a
well-organized and dedicated Spyurk. Long live our brothers and
sisters living all over the world.

Today, Armenia, notwithstanding all its problems, is an established
state. It is proved by today~Rs military parade. And our most precious
possession is the generation of independence. A generation, which
represents citizens of a free country and cannot imagine any other
status. This is a generation which has much to give to its country
and to its people but which also has concerns and demands. And these
are the most significant precursors of progress.

In two decades, we have made a huge leap forward, however there is
still much to be done. Achievements and failures ~V they are all ours.

With this conviction and with the societal accord in the next twenty
years we will be able to build a country, which will come close to our
ideals. I believe in that because I believe in our collective power.

Troops, which will march through this Square in ceremonial step, are
contemporaries of our Independence. This is the Armenia which has a
millennia-long profound history which is, however, only twenty years
old ~V full of twenty-year~Rs ardor and enthusiasm, full of passion
for life and belief, full of optimism and ambitious programs, but
not with the naivety of a twenty-year old. This is a new Armenia,
which cannot be deceived or harassed, which cannot be compelled or
blackmailed. You can befriend and cooperate with this Armenia, you
can celebrate success and share pain with this Armenia, you can set
example for and learn from this Armenia. This is a new Armenia which
remembers much but is not vindictive, which has seen much but today
is looking into future.

This parade is a glorious episode of the Armenian nation~Rs perpetual
march.

Dear Fellow Citizens,

I once again congratulate us all on this great holiday and wish our
state new anniversaries and centennials.

The Republic of Armenia is twenty years old,

Long live the Republic of Armenia!

Long live the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia!