Author: Babajanian Karo

Aram Manukyan: Armenian authorities pushed the idea of independent and
free Armenia to the sidelines

by Ashot Safaryan

arminfo
Saturday, August 23, 20:46

Declaration of Independence was one of the brightest moments in our
history. On 23 August 1990 we managed to fulfill the Armenian people’s
dream, Aram Manukyan, Armenian MP, told ArmInfo. Manukyan was a deputy
of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR in 1990 and read out the
Declaration.

“We acted then to fulfill the cherished desire of our comrades,
including those who are not with us today, who sacrificed their lives
for the freedom and independence of Armenia and Arstakh. We laid the
basis for future development and prosperity of our Motherland. It was
a 12-point Declaration that was quite realistic to fulfill.
Declaration contained nearly 40 priority issues: establishment of the
Armed Forces, and other government institutions, election system,
development of economy etc. The Declaration became a basis for the
Constitution of Armenia that was adopted in 1995,” Manukyan said.

According to him, everything went wrong following the power change in
1998. The idea of freedom and independence were pushed to the
sidelines. “The authorities are no longer guided by that document.
They do their best to root out the idea of independence in Armenia.
They humiliate our citizens and make them migrate. The country cannot
be independent when its citizens leave it. Today’s authorities are the
enemies of our independence. Nevertheless, I hope we will manage to
change the way things are. The generation of independence is still
alive,” Manukyan said.

German Project and Collapse of Soviet Union

Haikazn Ghahriyan, Editor-in-Chief
Comments – 23 August 2014, 18:02

The ongoing developments around Russia are one of the top topics of
the world. This country has appeared in isolation and blockade and is
undergoing sanctions. In addition, the scope of sanctions is gradually
extended.

At the same time, a lot of people are paying attention to the fact
that the Russian government’s imperialistic policy is deprived of
logic and economic and military-political grounds. For its part, it
arouses questions in many political scientists whether the “Russian
project” is Russia’s political project or has been worked out “abroad”
and is implemented through the Russian government.

Most people think it is a German project and has deep historical
roots. Germany has traditionally worked with Russian elites and tried
to bring to power “its people”. For example, many members of the
Romanov royal family came from Prussia.

It should be noted that since the 18th century the United Kingdom and
Prussia were fighting for influence on the Russian royal family, and
their intrigues had a great influence on the foreign policy of the
Russian empire and the world history.

Later, in fact, the fight of the Anglo-Saxon and German “projects”
determined the destiny and role of Russia.

In 1917 the Germans brought Lenin to power who thwarted the “English
project”, interim government and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
The Russian empire left the war, ceded vast territories, some of them
forever. In fact, the “German project” won, receiving huge
preferences.

In 1990 the first and last president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev
agreed to the unification of Germany. This step had a tremendous
influence on the future processes which led to the collapse of the
USSR. The new elite that had come to power started implementing the
“English project”, setting up close relations with the Anglo-Saxon
centers.

In those years intelligence officer Vladimir Putin was working in East
Germany. According to the “old generation” of the Russian KGB, he had
failed all his tasks. It is not said what tasks those were. After the
unification of Germany and collapse of the Soviet Union Putin got back
to Russia where the process of his career in government began which
was economically and political supported by Germany. The “German
project” again won in Russia.

The relations between Germany and Russia are rather close even now
that the West has entered into a confrontation with Russia. The two
countries have implemented major projects together. Germany is
considered Russia’s informal advocate in the West.

Currently Germany has a great economic, financial and political
presence in Russia and is trying to make use of the situation,
establishing there its monopoly of raw materials and financial
resources.

Russia is losing its political influence on and presence in not only
“remote” but also its traditional regions, such as Ukraine, Central
Asia, South Caucasus. In addition, the methodology used by Putin’s
regime deepens “centrifugal” moods, which allows supposing that a
“project worked out in foreign centers” is implemented in Russia – the
next stage of the collapse of the Russian empire.

What will be in the place of this empire, what borders, roles and
functions will it have? Who will save Russia this time and with what
expectations? And what conclusions should Armenia draw?

It should be noted that these stages have always ended in great losses
for Armenia and the Armenians. On the other hand, all the stages of
the collapse of the Russian empire were a chance for Armenia to build
an independent state. In 1918 and 1891 it took major losses. It is
time that Armenia learned to escape ruins, in the stages of the
Anglo-Saxon and German “projects”, i.e. collapse of the empire and its
“assembly” within narrower borders.

Karvachar saboteurs to be charged according to NKR law: Movses Hakobyan

15:59, 23 August, 2014

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 23, ARMENPRESS. Arrested during an unsuccessful
subversive attempt to penetrate in Karvachar, the Azeri saboteurs
Dilham Askerov and Shahbaz Guliyev, will be charged by the law of the
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Movses Hakobyan, Artsakh Defense Army
commander said. “We’re dealing with a specially trained group, they
will be charged by the NKR law.

Special people handle the issue of the handover of Karen Petrosyan’s
body, as for the saboteurs, they will get what they
deserve by our law. Karen’s case has nothing to do with military
activities. The young man, who has problems, has appeared there by
accidental, and they are presenting him as a servicemen, but very
unsuccessfully,” as reports “Armenpress”, said Artsakh army commander.

As for the commanders of the Azerbaijani Army, Movses Hakobyan
stressed that he had never underestimated the enemy. “I had also the
honor to fight against a worthy opponent. The commander of the Third
Corps does not belong to this category. That person has not changed,
and the last case has disappointed me: the commander of the worst
platoon would not have displayed that kind of behavior with a captive.
If all, that is human, is alien to him, he can never be a military,”-
said Movses Hakobyan, hinting at the behavior of the commander of the
Third Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan General Lieutenant
Rovshan Akperov, who, judging by the video material spread by the
Azerbaijani side, treated brutally Karen
Petrosyan, captured in Azerbaijan on August 7, and who died soon the
following day.

Increasing number of females get driving licenses in Armenia – police spokesman

13:26 * 23.08.14

In a Facebook post addressing the statistics of women drivers in
Armenia, a spokesperson for the Police has pointed out to the
increasing number of females granted driving licenses.

Ashot Aharonyan said that the Police have issued licenses to 8,021
women in 2013.

“Over the past two years since 2012, the number of women drivers has
increased by about 16,000. Some 2,824 traffic accidents were
registered in Armenia last year, of which only ten involved women
drivers (a total of 35%).

“In 2013, only one woman was found driving a vehicle in a non-sober
condition; she was stripped of the driving license. Bon voyage, dear
women!” reads the post.

Armenian News – Tert.am

Today marks 24 years since adopting Armenia’s Independence Declaration

12:20 * 23.08.14

Being without an independent statehood for over 600 years, Armenia
adopted a Declaration of Independence 24 years ago today in a move
initiated by the Supreme Council of the then Soviet republic.

The document, which reflected the Armenian nation’s unanimous will and
commitment to reinstate historical justice, laid the foundations of
the Third Republic. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was thus
renamed the Republic of Armenia.

Earlier, on December 1 1989, the Supreme Council of Armenia and the
National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh, adopted a joint decision that
marked the beginning of the independence process.

In a nationwide referendum on September 21, 1991, the overwhelming
majority of Armenia’s population (94.99 %) voted in favor of
independence.

Armenia thus became a subject of international law, which later
adopted its own flag, national anthem and coat of arms, and
established corresponding state bodies to protect the security and
inviolability of borders and ensure the country’s defense. The
subsequent years saw the newly-independent state create new
legislation and join different international organizations.

Under the Constitution, adopted in 1995, the Republic of Armenia was
defined as a sovereign, democratic, social state governed by the rule
of law (Article 1).

Aram Manukyan, a current opposition lawmaker (Armenian National
Congress), who read out the text of the declaration at the Supreme
Council in 1990, says he remembers the period as a time of “divine”
and “miraculous” events.

“There was an inexplicable enthusiasm both inside and outside the
[parliament] hall. After the Declaration of Independence was read out
in parliament that day, thousands gathered in Liberty Square in what
is now described as a spontaneous campaign,” he recalled.

“It was a fete, a festivity full of love and responsibility, belief
and humanism; it was quite a different atmosphere, as the document
came to realize the centuries-old dream.”

Manukyan said he believes that the declaration will remain as a major,
ideal and realistic keynote document in the annals of the Armenia’s
history.

Congratulating the Armenians on the remarkable day, the politician
said he regrets that the sovereign statehood does not now have the
same volume and reserve of independence as it did at the beginning.
“Independence is something that requires understanding the existing
difficulties, risks and challenges. And it also needs love. You cannot
be the master of independence without loving it; it needs care and
nourishing,” he added.

Remembering the pre-independence years, Chairman of the Helsinki
Association’s Vanadzor Office Arthur Sakunts said the atmosphere in
Armenia and the people’s expectations were completely different what
they are today.

“The prevailing understanding was that the processes were taking place
in the USSR, which was already in agony, but the people did have the
feeling of freedom and the aspiration for achieving freedom. In the
course of time, the sense of liberty comes to imply responsibility as
well, first of all, without dependence on anyone. But the desire for
building one’s own life and country began to slowly diminish. And we
now see the solution to major problems being linked to the CSTO
[Collective Security Treaty Organization] and the Russian Federation,”
he noted.

Sakunts said he observed a metamorphosis of the independence concept after 1998.

“And we again came to face the same problems that we did 24 years ago,
but in a worse form than then, with desperation and uncertainty all
around,” he said, referring to the problem of political prisoners.

Paruyr Hayrikyan, long-time champion of independence who now heads the
National Self-Determination Union, said he thinks that the younger
generation today realizes its future much better than did the then
Soviet-time political leaders who were kind of unprepared or unwilling
to accept the idea of independence.

“Hence those people [members of the Armenian Pan-National Movement
which was then a ruling party founded and led by Levon Ter-Petrosyan]
realized that they were to carry out their duties. But the
responsibility that lied behind was unfortunately perceived in a
negative sense,” he added.

Hayrikyan said he thinks that the biggest achievement of the
independence period was the chance to return to the legal status
implying self-determination.

Unimondo
21 ago 2014

Escalation d’agosto nel Nagorno Karabakh

In quest’agosto crudele, dove le notizie più tragiche si rincorrono
quotidianamente, dall’Iraq all’Ucraina, dalla Siria fino alla striscia
di Gaza, pochi hanno prestato attenzione al Nagorno Karabakh. Eppure,
quella che si è avuta nelle ultime settimane è stata un’escalation
senza precedenti che ha rischiato di far precipitare Armenia e
Azerbaijan in una nuova guerra, mettendo in serio pericolo il giÃ
precario equilibro del cessate il fuoco siglato nel maggio 1994.

A partire dalla fine di luglio, gli scontri in quella che è la zona
più militarizzata d’Europa si sono susseguiti con sempre maggior
frequenza, provocando almeno 20 morti, spesso giovanissimi. Difficile
il computo delle vittime: in mancanza di osservatori esterni, ci si
deve basare sulle cifre fornite dai due governi, che risultano assai
discordanti. La propaganda infatti ha avuto un ruolo di primo piano
negli eventi di questi giorni.

Come un’onda lunga, gli scontri sulla linea del fronte erano andati
intensificandosi già negli ultimi mesi, includendo anche zone
tradizionalmente non interessate dal conflitto, come il confine con
l’exclave azerbaijana del Nakhichevan, incuneata fra Armenia, Turchia
e Iran. Ai colpi dei cecchini, che producono ogni anno alcune decine
vittime, si sono aggiunti nelle ultime settimane veri e propri
tentativi di forzare le linee. A quanto pare, questi sarebbero
avvenuti soprattutto ` ma non esclusivamente ` da parte azera, il che
spiegherebbe fra l’altro l’alto numero di caduti fra le loro fila: 13
secondo fonti governative di Baku riportate dalla stampa (quasi il
doppio, sostengono invece le stime armene).

Il caso di Karen Petrosyan

A gettare benzina sul fuoco ` contemporanea all’escalation militare a
inizio mese ` è la vicenda di Karen Petrosyan. L’uomo, un trentunenne
del villaggio armeno di Chinari, nella regione di Tavush, il 7 agosto
ha superato il confine e `in circostanze ignote’ (secondo la versione
ufficiale armena) ha raggiunto AÄ?bulaq, in Azerbaijan. Un compaesano
di Petrosyan sostiene si sia perso andando per legna, un altro che
fosse ubriaco, mentre per Baku si tratta solo e unicamente di un
sabotatore e una spia.

A far pendere l’ago della bilancia da parte armena subentra però
un’intervista di Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty fatta a Farida
Tagiyeva, persona in cui Petrosyan si sarebbe imbattuto per prima dopo
aver varcato il confine. A quanto sostengono la Tagiyeva e altri
compaesani della donna, l’uomo, che le si era avvicinato chiedendo del
tè, era disarmato e in abiti civili. A testimoniarlo, anche un video
amatoriale che ritrae un Petrosyan dall’aria smarrita mentre risponde
alle domande in russo degli abitanti di AÄ?bulaq.

In quella che è stata, come detto, un’escalation anche retorica e
propagandistica, lo stesso Petrosyan appare in seguito vestito in
uniforme militare, in un video pubblicato online, nel quale confessa a
un ufficiale che lo interroga di essere un agente. Un gran numero di
armi vengono mostrate a dimostrazione dell’assunto. La mattina dopo,
Karen Petrosyan viene dichiarato morto dal ministero della Difesa di
Baku, ufficialmente `a causa di un’insufficienza polmonare e
cardiaca’. Le autorità armene, convinte che l’uomo sia stato invece
torturato e ucciso, chiedono un’autopsia del corpo di Petrosyan da
parte di una commissione indipendente di esperti internazionali.

Non meno preoccupante è stato lo show di retorica bellicista inscenato
dalle autorità di Baku. Il profilo Twitter del presidente azerbaijano
Ilham Aliyev è stato riempito il 7 agosto da una notevole serie di
minacce, accuse e vanti di superiorità militare rivolte contro i
`barbari e vandali armeni’. Del giorno seguente sono invece le
dichiarazioni del ministro della Difesa Hafiz Heydarov che si è detto
pronto, se necessario, anche a distruggere la capitale armena Yerevan
con i propri missili.

Arresti

Non sarà un caso che, contemporanea all’escalation retorica e
militare, si sia verificata in Azerbaijan un’ondata repressiva senza
precedenti. Un fattore essenziale nelle dinamiche del conflitto del
Nagorno Karabakh è infatti l’utilizzo che ne fanno tanto il dittatore
Aliyev che gli oligarchi armeni ad uso interno, per giustificare una
gestione antiliberale del potere politico ed economico dei propri
paesi.

Così, il 5 agosto, sono scattate le manette per il sociologo Arif
Yunus, accusato di collaborare con i servizi armeni. Appena pochi
giorni prima, la medesima sorte era toccata a sua moglie, l’attivista
per i diritti umani Leyla Yunus, mentre è del 2 l’arresto di un altro
attivista, Rasul Jafarov. Si è giunti così al ragguardevole numero di
97 prigionieri politici chiusi nelle carceri azere, secondo una lista
pubblicata l’8 agosto da un gruppo di 12 ONG e da una équipe di
avvocati sulla base del lavoro effettuato precedentemente da Leyla
Yunus e da Jafarov. Lista che necessiterebbe già di un’ulteriore
estensione, dato il successivo arresto di Intigam Aliyev.

A tracciare una precisa connessione fra questi arresti e l’escalation
militare degli stessi giorni è una dichiarazione del consigliere del
presidente Aliyev, Ali Hasanov, che commentando l’arresto della Yunus
ha affermato esservi in Azerbaijan un gruppo di persone ` fra cui la
stessa attivista ` legato ad una fantomatica lobby armena.

La crisi fra i due paesi pare al momento essere rientrata in seguito a
una serie di incontri tenutisi a Sochi fra il presidente Aliyev, il
suo omologo armeno Sargsyan e Vladimir Putin fra il 9 e 10 di agosto.
Non senza qualche nota inquietante, come ad esempio i combattimenti di
sambo (un’arte marziale russa) cui hanno assistito la sera Putin, in
funzione di `pacificatore’, e i due presidenti suoi ospiti.

A partire dai quei giorni, si è tornati a una calma relativa sul
confine, a quello stato di normalità anormale che contraddistingue
ormai da un ventennio il conflitto del Nagorno Karabakh: un cessate il
fuoco continuamente violato da entrambe le parti, senza che però la
situazione precipiti in una guerra aperta.

Fra le poche note positive di questi giorni è un appello per la pace
in Karabakh firmato nei giorni più caldi del conflitto da diversi
rappresentanti della società civile armena, azera, oltre che da alcuni
esperti internazionali. Un fioco lume di fronte a un mare di tenebra?

Simone Zoppellaro

Armenia’s Defense Ministry Spokesperson denies Azerbaijan’s reports on
exchange of captives

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Friday, August 22, 15:10

Armenia’s Defense Ministry Spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan has
commented on the statement by Head of Azerbaijan’s State Committee for
Refugees and Forced Migrants Ali Hasanov. According to Hasanov,
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry suggested Armenian Defense Ministry to
exchange the Armenian family of 5 members and the body of Karen
Petrosyan, civilian murdered in Azeri captivity, with Azeri
diversionists Shakhbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Askerov as well as the body
of the killed diversionist Hasan Hasanov. Meanwhile, Artsrun
Hovhannissyan posted on his official page on Facebook social media
that Armenia ‘is not engaged in bargaining’ and is strictly committed
to humanitarian principles, making and accepting no preconditions.

“Respecting the efforts of the ICRC, we regularly apply to the ICRC
for organization of repatriation of Armenian and NKR citizens. The
Azerbaijani official’s statement is a raw misreport,” Hovhannisyan
writes in the Facebook post

Armenian Studies Program
Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Coordinator
5245 N. Backer Ave. PB4
Fresno CA 93740-8001
ASP Office: 559-278-2669
FAX: 559-278-2129
ASP Website:

`The Origins of the Armenian Community in New England
and the Construction of Armenian-American `Cultural Congruence”
by Dr. Simon Payaslian

Dr. Simon Payaslian, holder of the Charles K. and Elizabeth
M. Kenosian Chair in Modern Armenian History and Literature at Boston
University , will give a talk on ` The Origins of the Armenian
Community in New England and the Construction of Armenian-American
`Cultural Congruence,’ ‘ at 7:30PM on Friday, September 12, in the
University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191, on the
Fresno State campus.

The lecture is the first in the Fall Lecture Series of the Armenian
Studies Program and is supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation.

This lecture discusses the origins and development of the Armenian
community in the United States, with a focus on the New England
region, from the 1880s to the 1920s. The early Armenian immigrants to
the New World, having fled Ottoman oppressive rule and economic
depression, were confronted with the twin, and often conflicting,
tasks of preservation of Armenian traditions, values, and mores of the
homeland while seeking rapid integration and assimilation into
American society. The case of the Armenian community in the United
States demonstrates the dynamic nature of, and the complexities
involved in, the construction and evolution of a diasporan community
and identity. Armenian community institutions not only functioned as
instruments for self-preservation but also sought to cultivate a
positive self-image of the community in the host society.

A comparative analysis of the Armenian-language newspaper Hayk and t
he English- language Armenia journal reveals the deep tensions between
the imperatives of self-preservation and the imperatives of cultural
integration and rapid economic growth. Hayk emphasized preservation of
Armenianness against foreignization and sought to instill a sense of
community belongingness and cultural authenticity. It urged community
institutions and leaders to protect the newly arriving family members
and compatriots from what its authors considered the dangers of
drifting and assimilating into the dominant culture.

On the other hand, t he Armenia journal promoted the idea of `cultural
congruence’ between Armenian and American values. It represented those
sectors in the Armenian community who felt compelled to guarantee
economic survival and success, to strive to create favorable
impressions of Armenia and the Armenians among their American hosts,
and to lobby for favorable U.S. foreign policy towards the
homeland. The promotion of `cultural congruence’ between Armenian and
American values and identities as cultivated by the Armenia journal in
the early part of the twentieth century emerged as the dominant
paradigm for the Armenian communities across the United States by the
1940s and has survived largely uncontested since then.

Dr. Simon Payaslian is holder of the Charles K. and Elizabeth
M. Kenosian Chair in Modern Armenian History and Literature at Boston
University. He is the author of a number of books, including The
Political Economy of Human Rights in Armenia: Authoritarianism and
Democracy in a Former Soviet Republic (2011) and International
Political Economy: Conflict and Cooperation in the Global System
(co-authored with Frederic S. Pearson) (McGraw-Hill, 1999; Chinese
translation, Peking University Press, 2006). His articles and book
chapters include `Diasporan Subalternities: The Armenian Community in
Syria,’ Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 16:1/2 (2007
[2012]): 92-132, and `Imagining Armenia,’ in The Call of the Homeland:
Diaspora Nationalisms, Past and Present , edited by Allon Gal, Athena
S. Leoussi, and Anthony D. Smith (Brill, 2010).

The lecture is free and open to the public. Free public parking is
available after 7:00PM at Fresno State Lots P5 and P6, near the
University Business Center. For more information about the lecture
please contact the Armenian Studies Program at 278-2669, or visit our
website at

HRAPARAK: WHO WILL HEAD SEVAN HOSPITAL?

11:39 22/08/2014 ” DAILY PRESS

The hospital of Sevan will at last have a director, Hraparak writes.

The first round of contest for the post, which has been vacant for a
year, took place on August 20. Aram Nikoghosyan, Varuzhan Manukyan and
Aghvan Karapetyan were the winning candidates in the first round. They
all headed the hospital in different times.

It is not clear, however, whom the governor of Gegharkunik province
will appoint to that position, the newspaper adds.

Source: Panorama.am

GEORGIA COMMITTED TO RESUME TRANSIT GAS SUPPLIES TO ARMENIA WITHIN NEXT DAYS

EREVAN, August 22. /ARKA/. Georgia will repair the gas trunk damaged
by a landslide and resume transit supplies to Armenia within in a few
days, said Georgian premier Irakli Garibashvili who is currently in
Armenia for an official visit, Novosti-Armenia reported.

The Upper Lars border checkpoint is closed for traffic due to a
landslide as from 22:30 of Wednesday August 20. The landslide damaged
also the gas trunkline which led to suspension of supplies to Armenia.

It has been the second case of landsliding this year and Georgia is
ready to restore supplies within two-three days, Garibashvili said
at a joint press conference with Armenian premier Hovik Abrahamyan
in Yerevan.

Abrahamyan, in his turn, said the two premiers discussed elimination
of the landslide aftermath and offered assistance of the relevant
Armenian agencies.

The previous landslide incident occurred at Kazbegi-Upper Lars
checkpoint on May 17 when the mudflow blocked the road and left Armenia
with no ground communication with Russia via Georgia for a month.-0–