Author: Babajanian Karo

STUTTERING GERMANY LOOKING FOR BOOST AGAINST ARMENIA

Gulf Times, Qatar
June 5 2014

Germany play Armenia in Mainz on Friday in their final warm-up game
before the World Cup begins and Joachim Loew’s team is in need of a
win to boost morale.

The contrast between Germany at the end of 2013 and mid-2014 is
striking. In autumn last year, they scored five in a thrilling display
against Sweden in Stockholm, drew in Italy and won in England.

This year the team squeezed out an undeserved victory against Chile
and been held to home draws by Poland and Cameroon. Joachim Loew
has been forced to watch as a number of players have lost club form
while several others have been sidelined with injury, but he remains
positive for the World Cup in Brazil.

“I am absolutely confident and optimistic that in two weeks we will
be in much better shape,” Loew said after the Cameroon match.

Anything less than a win against Armenia, and a convincing one at
that, will ensure Loew and Germany head to Brazil on Saturday with
more questions than answers surrounding the squad.

But topping the list of queries is the fitness of Bayern Munich trio
Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger. While they
have resumed individual training, it is not yet known if returns are
possible against Armenia.

Of near equal concern is who should lead the line from a squad which
contains only one out and out striker, Lazio’s veteran Miroslav Klose.

Though a prolific scorer and tireless worker for the team, Klose’s
season has been plagued by injury and he did not face Cameroon.

Mario Goetze was used as a false nine, to little impact, in that game
before Thomas Mueller fared better and scored in the second half.

Marco Reus confirmed his status a definite starter, though presumably
on the wing, but playmaker Mesut Oezil failed to impress. Substitutes
Andre Schuerrle and Lukas Podolski boosted their claims for starting
spots by combining for the second goal so there are options to choose
from for Loew who must try to find the right blend less than two
weeks before the World Cup starts.

“Of all the players selected I have 100 per cent confidence. We have
the right mix of youth and talent and players with lots of experience,”
Loew said after the training camp. “Our squad is balanced, with two
players in every position. Our players have character, this team
has character, and we will go to Brazil with confidence and with
big goals.”

Armenia won a recent friendly with the United Arab Emirates but a 3-1
loss to Algeria on Saturday suggests that they lack the quality needed
to seriously threaten Germany. But that puts all the more pressure
on the side to dominate, score goals and win in style on the eve of
Saturday’s departure to Brazil.

PRESS RELEASE

Manning Clark House
11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest ACT 2603 AUSTRALIA
Contact: Judith Crispin
Tel: +61 2 6295 9533
Mob: +61 447 584 246
E-mail 1: [email protected]
Email 2: [email protected]
Manning Clark House Webpage:
Pozible Webpage:

Australians crowd-funding a book on cultural destruction in
post-genocide Armenia

24 June, 2014. Manning Clark House in Canberra, Australia, is
crowdfunding a new book on the willful destruction of Armenian culture
and the challenges that face ordinary families in post-genocide
Armenia. The book will contain 170 photographs by Judith Crispin and
essays by ten Armenian and non-Armenian scholars including Dickran
Kouymijian, Vicken Babkenian and Hamlet Petrovsyan. It will be
published internationally by Daylight books in March 2015.

Living in one of the most beautiful and fragile places on earth,
Armenian families often suffer generations of poverty due to ongoing
military tensions and blockades.At Djulfa, the first Christian
monuments – khachkarsfrom as early as the 5th century, have been
reduced to rubble by mercenaries and soldiers. In November 2013
Manning Clark House sent photographers to Armenia in an effort to
locate existing pictures of these khachkars and to photograph the site
of Djulfa cemetery in what is now Azerbaijan. After being deported
from Iran, the photographers travelled to Agarak, on the Iranian and
Azerbaijani border with Armenia, to capture the mountains around
Djulfa from the other side of the border. Manning Clark House was
struck by the conditions that Armenian people are forced to live in
due to the presence of soldiers and border snipers, lack of community
services and wide-spread poverty. A decision was made to try to bring
these conditions to international attention through a widely
disseminated photography book.

Since the Armenian genocide 100 years ago, the situation of Armenia in
the world has been precarious. A tiny island of Christianity
surrounded by Islamic countries, Armenia has been continually
blockaded by Turkey. Poverty, insecurity and loss of identity have
been constant obstacles for Armenians. Despite efforts by many of the
worlds leading academics and scholars, the Armenian genocide has never
been acknowledged by the broad international community. This book aims
to shine a light on the people who live in Armenia, their culture,
their landscapes, their religions and food and to encourage debate on
how to ensure Armenia’s precious cultural heritage survives into the
future.

For this project to proceed, Manning Clark House needs to raise money
through crowd funding. You can purchase a signed and numbered
advanced-edition of the book from our Pozible site:
and help Manning Clark House
encourage the world to stand up and defend Armenian culture.

EURASIAN UNION STARTS OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT

EDITORIAL | JUNE 5, 2014 2:36 PM

By Edmond Y. Azadian

Once again, Armenia is trapped in the web of world political intrigues,
primarily as a result of its isolation and dangerous depopulation. This
trend does not augur well for the country.

After years of negotiations with the European Union, last September
Yerevan made a U-turn, to join the Russian-led Customs Union, which
today has grown to become the Eurasian Union.

Time and again, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that
his intention is to recreate the former Soviet Union, but all the
developments indicate otherwise.

In the face of an intensifying new cold war, major powers are
repositioning themselves in the so-called new world order. The west
always denies that NATO is a threat to Russia, all the while encircling
Russia to contain its growing power.

Moscow is trying to break the stranglehold in its own way. Ukraine
was the last link in that encirclement process, which Russia lost
but not without drawing blood, thus not enabling the west to claim
victory in that tug-of-war, yet.

The annexation of Crimea by Moscow and its “misbehavior” in Eastern
Ukraine has in turn created excuses for the west to strike Russia
with economic sanctions.

As a reaction to those threats, Russia was able to achieve two major
projects of global significance. One was the $400-billion energy deal
with China and the other was the creation of the Eurasian Union,
which, according to President Putin, is “a treaty of epoch-making
historic importance.”

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev similarly crowed, “A new
geopolitical reality of the 21st century is born.”

The west certainly does not perceive these developments in that
perspective, in view of the member states’ divergent interests. For
example, in 1995, 47 percent of Kazakhstan’s trade activity was with
Russia, but by 2011, 40 percent of its exports went to Europe and
only 9 percent to Russia.

An article in the New York Times on May 30 presents all these
activities in their political context: “Like the huge gas agreement
Russia signed with China this month, the Eurasian Economic Union is
a way for Moscow to show that it is pivoting to Asia and that it can
withstand western sanctions and other pressures as it pursues its
national interests, as in its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.”

While Russia is well within its rights to pursue its national
interests, Armenia has to struggle for its survival. And it seems
that Armenia’s plight is one of the lower prerogatives of the Russian
regional politics.

While Moscow continually arms Azerbaijan, its claims that it intends
to solve the Karabagh impasse peacefully sounds very disingenuous. The
action makes clear that it is not in Moscow’s interest to resolve
the issue in order to be able to keep both Baku and Yerevan on a
short leash.

To undermine those Russian intentions, the US made an extraordinary
proposal about Karabagh through its ambassador to the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, James Warlick. The
ambassador ordinarily would act in unison with the other co-chairs
of the Minsk Group, but at a speech at the Carnegie Foundation, he
took the extraordinary step of enunciating the US position on the
Karabagh problem.

All the above developments constitute the background of what happened
in Astana as the leaders of the Eurasian Union gathered to sign the
charter of that organization.

While President George Bush was putting together “A coalition of
the willing” during the first Gulf War, the Eurasian Union seems to
present a coalition of the unwilling. In fact, Russia had to bribe
Belarus with a $2-billion loan to bring it to submission. Armenia’s
share was $300 million to repair the Metsamor nuclear power plant.

Incidentally, after the initial fanfare to build a new nuclear power
plant in Armenia, Russia has opted for the same to be built in Turkey.

Another aspect of the Eurasian Union is political discord among its
participants. While Belarusian President Lukashenko was predicting that
the union would eventually lead to a political union, Kazakhstan’s
government begged to differ, limiting the agreement only to economic
activities among the partners. If the Eurasian Union is to imitate
the European Union, its political dimension will be missing, since
all the new members of the EU are gradually being integrated within
the NATO structure.

It looks like Nazarbayev calls the shots in this new union, under
President Putin’s tolerant gaze. Indeed, as he hosted the summit
in Astana last week, Nazarbayev threw a bombshell while Armenia and
Kyrgyzstan were waiting at the door for the founding members of the
union, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, to sign the charter of the
union. That bombshell was a letter by Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev, who demanded that Armenia be admitted to the Eurasian Union
only within its borders recognized by the United Nations, meaning
without Nagorno Karabagh.

That was a clear message to Yerevan that no open border is possible
between Armenia and Karabagh after Armenia joins the Eurasian Union.

Armenia’s reaction was confused and confusing; before the agreement
was signed, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan had stated that
Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh Republic are a single economic zone and
that there can be no customs or other borders between them.

After Nazarbayev’s unpleasant letter, President Serge Sargisian of
Armenia contradicted his prime minister’s earlier statement: “As for
what was voiced by Nazarbayev, first, from the outset, it is wrong
to talk about borders. What borders are we talking about? Karabagh
problem is not being solved in the Customs Union.” He added, “And
who said that we are joinging the Customs Union together with Nagorno
Karabagh? There has been no such thing and could not be, because at
least, under our laws, and in accordance with our ideas, Karabagh
today is not part of Armenia. And the fact that the membership in the
Customs Union will contribute to the solution of the Nagorno Karabagh
problem is unequivocal. Of course, what Nazarbayev said was unpleasant,
but it cannot harm us.”

Nazarbayev’s intervention was not only “unpleasant,” but it was even
disgusting as he also commented that “we should not hurt the feelings
of our friend, Aliyev.”

In addition to doing a favor for his friend, Mr. Nazarbayev entertains
the idea of inviting Turkey to join the Eurasian Union, down the road,
in total disregard of the thorny issues still extent between Armenia
and Turkey.

Russia has remained silent on the incident. Mr. Putin’s silence seems
ominous. Adding insult to injury, one of the Russian commentators
blamed Armenia for that “unpleasant” letter. Indeed, a senior advisor
to the Russian Federation and the editor of the news agency, Rex,
Modest Kolerov, commented that Aliyev’s letter was a response to the
comments made by the Armenian prime minister.

Azerbaijan is not even a member of the Eurasian Union, nor does it
intend to join that entity, but it is still blackmailing Armenia by
flexing its petro muscles.

Nazarbayev, through his insensitivity toward one of the members of the
union, on behalf of an outsider, demonstrates that he is fulfilling
the wishes of his pan-Turanist friends. Many in Armenia blame him
to be the pillar of Pan-Turanist dreams of Azerbaijan and Turkey in
Central Asia. Although pan-Turanism and Ottomanism have been Russia’s
perennial enemies, at this time, Mr. Putin does not consider them as
posing existential threats to Russia, as he has other fish to fry,
potentially threatening to singe Armenia.

With all the grandiose rhetoric, the Eurasian Union seems to have
started off on the wrong foot, at least, from Armenia’s perspective.

– See more at:

VARTAN GREGORIAN RECEIVES DEAN’S MEDAL AT TUFTS

NEWS | JUNE 5, 2014 2:01 PM
________________________________

By Alin K. Gregorian

Mirror-Spectator Staff

MEDFORD, Mass. — Dr. Vartan Gregorian brought the dichotomy that
defines him — stellar academic and intellectual achievements and
supreme low-key and humorous attitude — to a formal luncheon at Tufts
University on May 22, when he received the Fletcher School Dean’s
Medal, from Tufts University President Anthony P. Monaco. The award is
given by the dean to honor those who have demonstrated distinguished
service to education and to the school’s greater mission of promoting
peace, prosperity and justice in the world.

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Dean Admiral James Stavridis
introduced Gregorian and enumerated his achievements.

“He has received 70 honorary degrees” during the course of “a life
that is original in every sense and American in every sense,” Stavridis
said. “He is a scholar, historian and great friend of this community.”

Gregorian is the president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a
grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Prior
to his current position, which he assumed in June 1997, Gregorian
served for nine years as the president of Brown University.

Born in Tabriz, Iran, to Armenian parents, he got his PhD from
Stanford. He was the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and four years later became
its provost until 1981. Gregorian served as a president of the New
York Public Library, bringing it back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Gregorian is the author of The Road to Home: My Life And Times, Islam:
A Mosaic, Not A Monolith, and The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan,
1880-1946.

He serves on several boards including the National September 11
Memorial and Museum, and the American Academy in Berlin. He has been
decorated by the French, Italian, Austrian and Portuguese governments.

In 1986, Gregorian was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and
in 1989 the American Academy and the Institute of Arts and Letters’
Gold Medal for Service to the Arts. In 1998, President Clinton awarded
him the National Humanities Medal. In 2004, President Bush awarded
him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil
award. In 2009, President Obama appointed him to the White House
Fellowships Commission.

The luncheon was sponsored by the Tavitian Scholarship Program at the
Fletcher School, which has been funded for the past dozen years by
Aso Tavitian’s Tavitian Foundation. The program sponsors midcareer
professionals from Armenia to get a six-month training course at
Fletcher. There are currently about 200 graduates of the program
in Armenia.

Tavitian expressed his pleasure at hosting Gregorian. “He is an
individual that I really and truly admire,” he said. He also spoke
about the 15 students from Armenia at the Fletcher School. “They are
the future of Armenia,” he said.

Gregorian spoke at length about the history of philanthropy and
the difference between philanthropy and charity. “They are really
different sides of the same coin,” he said, with charity having a
religious inspiration and philanthropy a secular one.

He traced the history of civil society and philanthropy to the 17th
century, when groups formed to fight fires and to light street lamps.

Universities, he said, were early recipients of philanthropy. Close
to home, he said, John Harvard donated his immense library and land
in Cambridge toward the formation of a university that would bear his
name. Yale similarly was founded by philanthropic donors. Benjamin
Franklin, Gregorian said, was also a pioneer in the field, founding
in Philadelphia, among many other things, the first public library
in the world.

Gregorian said that the most famous proponent of free trade and
small government, Adam Smith, was a dedicated and early advocate of
charitable giving as an obligation for the wealthy.

Gregorian compared and contrasted the most famous modern American
names in charitable giving, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

The former, he said, approached giving from a religious point of
view, as a Baptist. The latter, he explained, did so from a secular
approach to better society. The list of donations by Carnegie is awe
inspiring, ranging from founding 5,400 public libraries in the US,
to Carnegie Melon University, the Palace of Justice at The Hague,
and even 7,200 organs to churches throughout the country.

He also paid tribute to two donors in the audience, Carolyn Mugar
and Tavitian.

“They have ideas, they invest and they see the results,” he said.

He added, “I hope that those Armenians that are here will start that
tradition of community organizing in Armenia.”

The program ended with a toast to Gregorian by Artur Hovsepyan,
one of the Tavitian scholars, and questions from the audience.

The Tavitian scholars are: Armen Aslikyan, Artashes Avagyan, Alina
Aznauryan, Sargis Deghoyan, Azat Gabrielyan, Arthur Hovsepyan, Anna
Kartshikyan, Hayk Makhasyan, Karen Mukhsyan, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan,
Lilit Petrosyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hayk Tutunjian, Artak Yergenyan
an Hayk Zayimtsyan.

– See more at:

ALEXANDRIA BISHOP FOR CATHOLIC ARMENIANS: ELECTING PRESIDENT AL-ASSAD EXPRESSES POPULAR WILL

Jun 05, 2014

Cairo, (SANA) – Krikor-Okosdinos Coussa, Bishop of Alexandria for
the Catholic Armenians in Egypt stressed that electing Dr. Bashar
al-Assad for the presidency “is an expression of free and democratic
popular will and reflects big trust in his wise leadership in the
upcoming stage that requires concerting efforts by all the Syrians
for confronting challenges.”

In a statement to SANA correspondent in Egypt, Bishop Coussa said
“We congratulate Dr. Bashar al-Assad and ourselves for the trust of
the Syrian people in him, choosing him as President to dear Syria,
which needs a leader that is able to preserve its unity during the
upcoming stage.

R. Milhem / Ghossoun

OMBUDSMAN INFORMED ABOUT VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF THE ARMENIAN MINORITY OF GEORGIA

On May 28, 2014, Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia presented
the 2013 Parliamentary Report on the Protection of Human Rights and
Freedoms in Georgia to representatives of civil society and diplomatic
missions accredited in Georgia. Public Defender highlighted tendencies
and priorities in the field of human rights covered in the 2013 Report
and provided a brief overview of series of major recommendations for
various branches of government.

At the meeting, Mr. Levon Isakhanyan, Head of the Legal Affairs
at the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, highlighted a discriminatory
approach towards restitution of property confiscated from the religious
minorities in Georgia during the Soviet regime. He noted that numerous
churches that historically belonged to the Armenian, Catholic, and
other religious denominations, have been appropriated and used by the
Georgian Orthodox Church. Mr. Isakhanyan also stressed the demolition
of Armenian churches in the country, including the Mughnetsots Surb
Gevorg Church (14th century) and the Surb Nshan Church (18th century),
both located in one of the historic districts of Tbilisi. Another
issue raised was a perception of national minorities as a potential
source of instability in the country.

In addition, it was noted that some Azerbaijani officials interfered
in the internal affairs of Georgia that resulted in violation of the
cultural rights of the Georgian Armenian community. Mr. Isakhanyan
pointed out that the Georgian authorities did not take appropriate
actions to deal with this situation.

In his response, Public Defender stated that some of these issues had
been addressed in the 2013 Report. Public Defender also inquired about
details regarding the interference of the Azerbaijani authorities in
Georgia’s internal affairs. Detailed information about this case will
soon be provided to Public Defender.

ARMENIAN ECONOMIST WARNS: WE WILL NOT HAVE NPP SOONER OR LATER

June 05, 2014 | 15:43

YEREVAN. – An Armenian economist is confident that sooner of later
Armenian NPP will be closed.

Armenia expected Russia to finance the construction of new energy
unit, but final agreement had not been reached, Ashot Yeghiazaryan
said during a press conference on Thursday.

Last year they said the Russian side could give Armenia a loan of $
300 million for modernization of nuclear power plant. However, it
becomes clear that Armenia will not receive the funds.

“Sooner or later the country will lose 407.5 MW of capacity But we
will also lose 1,060 MW of new energy unit that would not be built.

So, Armenia may face energy deficit,” he added.

However, it should be noted that on May 30 Prime Minister Hovik
Abrahamyan said that the arrangement on mentioned loan had been
reached after his meeting with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

NO CRIMINAL CASE OPENED AGAINST NEPHEW OF SYUNIK EX-GOVERNOR

Wednesday,
June
04

The Armenian police did not open a criminal case against Eyner
Khachatryan, the nephew of ex-governor of Syunik province Surik
Khachatryan, due to the absence of elements of a crime, Aysor.am was
informed by the police press service.

The Syunik police unit received information at 11:00 pm on May 25
that two men – Gor and Arthur Harutyunyans were beaten and kidnapped
by the ex-governor Surik Khachatryan’s nephew – Eyner Khachatryan. On
May 26 law enforcers found Eyner Khachatryan and Gor Harutyunyan and
took them to the police station where they gave explanations.

The mother of Gor and Arthur Harutyunyans earlier told Aysor.am that
Eyner Khachatryan is a friend of sons and also their relative.

“They claim that my sons are allegedly in a difficult position. On
that day Eyner was under the influence of alcohol. He came to talk
with my sons, but a scuffle broke out later, although no one was
injured. Eyner has already made it up with them,” she said.

In response to the remark that rumors persist that Eyner kidnapped
her sons, A. Harutyunyan said: “If my sons were kidnapped, I would
take measures. There was no such thing. It is slander”.

BUZZFEED: AZERBAIJANIS VAINLY TRY TO COMPETE WITH ARMENIAN LOBBY IN U.S.

18:00 04/06/2014 >> REGION

Azerbaijan has launched an unusual campaign to win influence among
U.S. lawmakers as it seeks to translate its immense oil wealth into
political support, reads the article published on the U.S. site
BuzzFeed.

[]

According to the article since early 2013, state legislators in
17 states have introduced pro-Azerbaijani resolutions. What the
initiatives had in common was they nearly all had at least one sponsor
who attended a conference in the capital Baku in May 2013 organized
by the Turquoise Council for Americans and Eurasians. The council
is a Houston-based group connected to Fethullah Gulen, the leader of
the moderate Islamist Hizmet movement that grew in Turkey.

“The initiatives — brought in Utah, New Mexico, Tennessee, Kansas,
South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona,
Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Illinois, West Virginia, Wyoming, and
Hawaii — play well domestically in Azerbaijan, a country run by a
regime accused of corruption and widespread human rights abuses,”
the article reads.

In an effort to improve its image, Azerbaijan has become one of the
top 10 foreign spenders on lobbying in the United States, spending
$2.3 million last year.

“Azerbaijan lobbies in the U.S. through three main conduits: its
embassy; a fairly new group called the Azerbaijan America Alliance; and
its state oil company SOCAR, which has opened an office in Washington,”
the article reads. The author notes that the Azerbaijan America
Alliance, which helped finance a Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania
in 2013, is run by Anar Mammadov, the son of Azerbaijan’s Transport
Minister Ziya Mammadov, who is best known for once paying a restaurant
$1 million to slaughter and grill a bear for him.

According to the article the link between the Azerbaijanis and
the resolutions was even more direct. In Tennessee, Representative
Joe Towns, who was invited to attend the 2013 trips, introduced an
Azerbaijan-related bill this year. Local media noticed that he had
received $10,000 in campaign donations from the Azerbaijanis to
support the pro-Azerbaijani resolution.

The Turquoise Council, headed by a Gulenist follower named Kemal Oksuz,
paid for the travel of U.S. lawmakers who went on a trip to Baku to
“meet there with the government officials, civic society leaders,
U.S. Embassy staff,” BuzzFeed writes.

Experts say the Azerbaijanis are looking to both compete with the
Armenian lobby in the U.S. and also show their bosses back home they
are simply accomplishing something. According to the former U.S.

Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Kauzlarich the actions of the
Armenian lobby who try to pass similar kinds of resolutions on behalf
of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh is a sign for them.

On a state level the lobbying is useless believes Elmar
Chakhtakhtinski, the president of Azerbaijani Americans for Democracy.

This is all happening as Azerbaijan has drawn sharp criticism worldwide
for its treatment of its people. The Council of Europe criticized
Azerbaijan earlier in May as the country was assuming its chairmanship
of the ministerial committee, saying that the human rights situation
there “is a more than worrying state of affairs.”

BAKO SAHAKYAN: MILITARISTIC POLICY OF BAKU THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE TO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

17:27 04.06.2014

On June 4 Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan met in Yerevan with
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter.

A number of issues related to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict
settlement and regional trends were discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakyan noted that the biggest hindrance to the conflict’s
settlement is the militaristic policy of official Baku and considered
important for the international community to undertake appropriate
measures to condemn and bring Azerbaijan to a constructive path.

At the same time, the President reaffirmed the position of official
Stepanakert on peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict
and the need to restore the full-fledged negotiation format within
the frameworks of the OSCE Minsk Group.