Author: Babajanian Karo

The War in Syria, the Humanitarian Crisis, and the Armenians

By Nanore Barsoumian // January 1, 2014

In early December, I conducted a telephone interview with Sarah Leah
Whitson, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of
Human Rights Watch (HRW), on the Syrian crisis. HRW monitors and
highlights human rights abuses worldwide, and has been documenting the
plight of refugees since the outbreak of violence in Syria in March
2011.

Sarah Leah Whitson

In this interview, Whitson talks about how the international
community, and particularly neighboring countries where `the
streets…are littered with child beggars,’ are coping with the refugee
crisis.

Whitson also discusses the plight of Syria’s minorities – including
Armenians – whose very existence in the country is under threat. `We
know that the Armenian community in Iraq was completely destroyed,’
she said. `It’s not clear how much longer the Armenian community in
Aleppo can withstand or can survive.’

The interview also covers the makeup of the opposition groups; the
spillover into neighboring countries; the urgency of referring Syria’s
case to the International Criminal Court (ICC); and HRW’s work in
Syria.

* * *

Nanore Barsoumian – In September, HRW reported that there are around 2
million Syrian refugees – an average of about 5,000 people leaving Syria
daily – and over 4 million internally displaced people. There are also
reports of severe food shortages. How are neighboring countries and
international organizations coping with the refugee situation?

Sarah Leah Whitson – I think there are a couple of ways you can look at
it. I think the first way we have to look at it, particularly from the
perspective of Lebanon, most of all, but also Jordan and Turkey, and
even Egypt, is that their governments have been tremendously
hospitable and generous and accepting of many refugees – two million, as
they have. Time and again, countries in this region are shouldering
the burden of wars, and this is just the latest example of that. On
the other hand, they are tremendously under-resourced. They don’t have
the resources to provide for the health, housing, education, and
employment needs of this refugee population – much less for
psychological trauma and resettlement assistance. And while some money
is coming in from UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees], it’s just not enough. You can see the streets of Beirut are
littered with child beggars from Syria.

N.B. – A report by HRW stated how China and Russia have been reluctant
in providing financial assistance to UNHCR for these efforts.

S.L.W. – That is true, but even the countries that are purported to
support refugees have not paid up their full quota, their full share
and their commitment to the UNHCR, which remains underfunded.

N.B. – What are we looking at in the long term with the refugee situation?

S.L.W. – It’s a disaster. This is one of the largest humanitarian
refugee disasters of this decade. We don’t see it getting better. We
don’t see the war in Syria wrapping up, and as long as the war doesn’t
wrap up, as long as there continues to be fighting on the scale that
we’ve seen so far this year, we expect the refugee flows to continue.
What I do expect, however, is that the neighboring countries are going
to make it harder and harder for refugees to enter their own
countries. And we’re going to have more and more internally displaced
people who can’t get out.

N.B. – What’s the situation like now for minorities in Syria? We’ve seen
pictures of churches being burned, schools and schoolchildren being
targeted, civilians executed and used as human shields. I know HRW
reported on what recently happened in the regions of Sadad and
Latakia.

S.L.W. – I think that one of the worst aspects of the Syrian civil
war – and now it is clearly a civil war – is the extent to which it has
taken on a sectarian dimension. Long ago [it stopped being] about
democracy and freedom in Syria. Sadly it has been distorted into a
sectarian conflict, primarily pinning Sunnis against Shias, Sunnis
against Alawis inside Syria, but also against the minority communities
in Syria, particularly the Christian and Armenian minorities, who
because of their identification with the Assad government, have in
some cases been targeted by opposition groups.

And they’ve been targeted by opposition groups – by extremist opposition
groups, the jihadist opposition groups – because they are Christian and
simply because they are minorities. It’s obviously a great tragedy for
the Armenians in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, which has been one of
the last Armenian holdouts in the Middle East. We know that the
Armenian community in Iraq was completely destroyed. It’s not clear
how much longer the Armenian community in Aleppo can withstand or can
survive – not just because it’s caught up in the war in Syria but also
because the Armenian community is finding itself targeted and the
subject of kidnappings or robberies.

N.B. – Do you find that it’s important to highlight the
minoritieswhitson separately in this conflict? How is their plight
different than that of the majority of Syrians?

S.L.W. – Obviously, we at the Human Rights Watch will examine and
document the abuses against any group in the country that is being
particularly targeted. And so, for example, in Saudi Arabia, we focus
on the targeting of the Shia community. In Iran, we focus on the
targeting of the Sunni community. Wherever minorities are being
targeted because of their minority status, because of their different
religion, nationality, national origin, or ethnic origin, it’s
something we highlight. The reality in Syria is that many minority
groups are being targeted, and one of them is the Armenian minority
group…because of the war situation, but also because of their status
as Christian.

N.B. – Minorities also fear that the alternative to Assad could be a
despotic or fervently Islamic government that would introduce policies
restricting their freedoms, in terms of religious practices,
education, lifestyle. These are real concerns that can’t be easily
dismissed. Could you talk about this, about what the future could
hold, and also about the groups that are fighting in the opposition?

S.L.W. – Certainly the Syrian opposition is now sadly dominated by
extremist Islamist groups, who are completely intolerant of religious
freedom, of basic rights, of free expression and free association, and
so forth. Many minority groups that fear the domination of Islamist
extremists in any future Syrian government are right to be extremely
concerned about the impact that will have on their own status as
minorities, on their own religious freedom, and cultural autonomy
inside Syria.

I think they have sadly had a bad taste of what these Islamist
extremist groups in Syria portend. In Aleppo and other opposition-held
areas, we’re currently documenting how, for example, Islamist
opposition groups are forcing women to veil, and putting restrictions
on their freedom of movement. I think women have the greatest concerns
about what Islamist extremist rule might look like.

That being said, I wouldn’t so easily categorize all of the opposition
as Islamist extremist, and that the only choice is either Bashar al
Assad and his criminal barbaric regime or Islamist extremists and
their criminal barbaric practices. Certainly, the Syrian opposition
still has a variety of elements in it. They might be weak, they might
not have a lot of power, but it would be our hope that a future Syrian
government will reflect the diversity of Syrian society and will
protect the rights of all minorities. But I would avoid seeing it as
an either-or.

N.B. – There have been reports about the many fighters from abroad. What
are you seeing in Syria?

S.L.W. – Without a doubt there is a significant presence of foreign
fighters inside Syria. There are countless videos and statements and
information that make that clear. But I don’t think anybody really
knows what percentage of the fighters in Syria are foreign fighters.
The estimates I’ve seen put them at less than 10 percent. So while
it’s extremely disturbing that people are fighting in Syria with
agendas that have nothing to do with democracy and freedom in Syria, I
think that the reality is that this remains an overwhelmingly Syrian
war made up of Syrian fighters on all sides.

N.B. – In the beginning of the war, there were many Syrians involved who
wanted democracy and who were fighting for democracy. At some point,
that was all hijacked. What were your observations?

S.L.W. – That’s obviously true. I think it’s very hard to say that what
we’re seeing in Syria now has to do with democracy and freedom. I
think that sadly the war has evolved far, far beyond that. And what we
now see is a civil war in the country that has pitted the Sunni
population against the Alawi/Shia-affiliated government. It is as much
about a Syrian civil war as it is a Sunni-Shia competition inside
Syria – a competition between Saudis and Iran that’s being played out on
the backs of Syrians, as well as a showdown between Russia and the
United States also being played out on the backs of Syrians.
Tragically, the ways in which intervention has happened in Syria (both
intervention in support of the government and intervention against the
government) has amplified those divisions and morphed it far away from
what it was initially about.

N.B. – Do you see a threat of a spillover into neighboring countries,
like Lebanon?

S.L.W. – The spillover is already happening: the fighting in Tripoli,
Lebanon, over the past month; the continued attacks on Alawi
businessmen in Syria; the recent bombing of the Iranian embassy in
Beirut. This is all a spillover. The spillover is happening now, and
Lebanon as a result right now is in an extremely volatile state. The
Saudi government just a few weeks ago recalled all of its citizens
from Lebanon, saying it’s too insecure for them there.

N.B. – Human Rights Watch has urged the UN Security Council to refer the
situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to strip
the sides of the feeling of impunity. How effective can that step be
in deterring the targeting of civilians?

S.L.W. – I think it can be quite powerful, because ultimately no
military commander is going to make that decision to target civilians
if he knows that he is going to be awaiting trial. I think the idea is
that you create a disincentive for commanders to follow orders that
are crimes against humanity. We’re not even talking about the hard
cases, where it’s hard to tell; we’re talking about the easy cases,
like dropping cluster bombs on civilian areas or launching cruise
missiles on civilian areas… The breadth of criminal prosecution can be
a powerful one. I don’t think that threat has come into play in any
meaningful way because an ICC referral has not yet taken play, but I
think the prospect of going the way of [Slobodan] Milosevic and going
the way of [Sudan’s Omar al-] Bashir even as an international outlaw
can have a very strong deterrent effect.

N.B. – How has Human Rights Watch’s approach to the conflict evolved
over the past two years?

S.L.W. – Well, it evolved from being an investigation on the attacks on
unarmed protesters – that is how the Syrian uprising started over two
and a half years ago – to being a documentation about civil war, in
which the government has committed unbelievable abuses, unbelievable
crimes, against its civilian population, but which now also involves
various opposition groups carrying out terrible abuses, as well.

The challenge in this situation, when we document abuses by both sides
or all sides…is how that can be used as a cover, and I think the
emphasis – what we have to remind everyone – is that the vast proportion
of the crimes, of the violations of international humanitarian laws,
are being committed by the Syrian government, a party that is most
capable of avoiding these abuses. Whatever weapons the opposition has,
whatever abuses the opposition is committing, the vast majority of
those killed in Syria – the number that puts us over 100,000 today – falls
clearly on the lap of the Syrian government.

N.B. – Could you talk a little about the weapons being used and where
they’re coming from?

S.L.W. – Well, the weapons providers to the Syrian government are no
secret; this is publicly available information. It includes Russia and
it includes Iran. It also includes a few Eastern European governments
as well. Those providing arms to the opposition groups are also not
making a secret of the arms they’re providing, including Saudi Arabia
and Qatar, as well as now, of course, the U.S. and France, with the
U.K. providing non-lethal material support to the various oppositions.

N.B. – How does HRW get its information? Do you have people on the ground there?

S.L.W. – We have researchers who have been going in and out of Syria for
the past two and a half years, both undercover and with government
authorization on various trips.

N.B. – It has been reported that some of the pictures coming out of
Syria have been manufactured, manipulated, and Photoshopped. Have you
found that to be true?

S.L.W. – We don’t really focus on fraudulent evidence. We focus on real
evidence – evidence that we gather ourselves from investigations on the
ground. This involves not only talking to eyewitnesses and victims,
but looking at physical evidence, such as the remnants of weapons that
indicate that they’re incendiary weapons, that indicate that they’re
cluster munitions, that indicate that they’re chemical weapons. For
example, Human Rights Watch was able to document the Syrian
government’s deployment of chemical weapons in two suburbs outside of
Damascus by using satellite imagery to show the trajectory of the
rockets with the chemical weapons…from government bases. We were able
to gather evidence of the chemicals that were used through medical
facilities, and on-the-ground samples that were made available. In
certain cases we also use, look at, examine, and verify video evidence
where it exists. Some video evidence is, I’m sure, liable to being
manipulated and falsified, but…we have multiple means to verify its
authenticity. And we never rely on the evidence of others. We always
have our own evidence, our own direct evidence that we ourselves have
gathered.

Armenian Pavilion Secures Spot in London Book Fair

By Contributor // January 1, 2014

LONDON – The London Book Fair will be held from April 8-10, 2014, and
will again include the Armenian Pavilion stand, organized with the
support of the Armenian Embassy in London and the Armenian Community
Council of the United Kingdom.

The London Book Fair will be held from April 8-10, 2014, and will
again include the Armenian Pavilion stand

The Armenian Pavilion first participated in the London Book Fair in
2013, and featured a rich collection of books on art, history,
literature, children’s themes, and religion. Publishers from both the
Homeland and the Armenian Diaspora introduced their books alongside
authors Rouben Galichian, Noune Sarkisian, and Nouritsa Matossian. The
stand also featured a unique Facsimile copy (reprint) of the
16th-century `Urbatagirk’ by the first Armenian publisher, Hagop
Meghapart, presented by the publishing house Edit Print.

The official opening of the Armenian Pavilion on the first day was
attended by sponsors and honorable guests. The stand was very well
attended by visitors to the fair who approached the stand with a
spirit of excitement, inquiry, and curiosity (in part, perhaps,
because of the offerings of Grand Candy Chocolates and Ararat Brandy,
sponsored by both companies). It is due to this success that the
community has decided to repeat the event in 2014, and has already
secured the space in Hall 2 at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in
Central London.

What makes the idea of the book fair so unique is the presentation of
publishers and authors from Armenia and the diaspora on the same
stand – which perfectly fits the Armenians as a nation and dispersed
people. Diasporan publishers and authors would normally have their
books displayed on stands of their respective countries and/or
publishing houses; however, by applying this formula, these very same
publishers, while still listed under their respective flags, would
display their books in the Armenian Pavilion, giving them more
concentrated exposure and a wider variety of opportunities.

Prior to registering the Armenian Pavilion, for example, Lebanon
showed only one exhibitor. Hamazkayin Publishing and the Catholicosate
of Cilicia Printing House increased Lebanon’s listing to three in
2013, but both books were displayed at the Armenian Pavilion stand.
This was also the case for U.S. and UK authors and publishers. Were it
not for the Armenian Pavilion, Armenia, too, would not have been
represented at the book fair.

Coincidently, the market focus of the London Book Fair 2013 was
Turkey. Armenian participation did nevertheless take place, and books
on the Armenian Genocide were on display. `Turkey in all its colors,’
as branded by the fair, did not present authors from Turkey’s minority
communities – namely Greek, Kurdish, and Armenian authors. Talks were
held during the event on how minority literature, its publishing, and
translation were hampered by Turkey’s state policy.

The London Book Fair was a powerful experience for all those who were
involved in its organization, as well as for the exhibitors. It
provided a solid platform for the publishers, agents, booksellers, and
authors to establish links, long-term partnerships, and business
connections. It was also an opportunity for Armenians to present their
literary heritage and legacy to the UK and the world.

Exhibiting is free to qualifying participants, who will be asked to
exhibit at a fair held by the UK-Armenian community immediately after
the end of the London Book Fair. For more information, e-mail
[email protected].

ARMENIE-ARMEE
Le président Serge Sarkissian a visité une base arménienne à la
frontière arméno-azérie au nord-est de l’Arménie – Photos

Mardi 31 décembre, à l’occasion du Jour de l’An et de la Sainte
Nativité, le président arménien Serge Sarkissian, accompagné du
Catholicos Karékine II, du ministre de la Défense Seyran Ohanian et de
l’écrivain Zori Balayan se sont rendus sur une base arménienne située
sur la ligne frontalière arméno-azérie au nord-est de l’Arménie. Le
président arménien a parcouru la ligne frontalière et rencontré les
soldats Arméniens afin de connaitre leurs conditions de vie, leur
condition physique et moral. Serge Sarkissian a décerné des médailles
et des cadeaux aux soldats qui avaient fait acte d’héroïsme pour la
défense de la patrie. Le président arménien a rappelé que la défense
des frontières et la sécurité étaient pour tout pays l’un des
meilleurs gages de stabilité et de qualité de vie. Serge Sarkissian
dit« Après votre service militaire, lorsque vous retournerez rejoindre
vos familles, vous serez fiers d’avoir servi dans l’armée arménienne
pour la défense de la patrie. ( …) ici sur ces positions vous
défendez près d’un millier de mètres de frontière (…) mais nous
avons près de 1 000 km de frontières et aujourd’hui vos amis défendent
comme vous ces frontières et de belle manière. Ils la défendent avec
fierté ». Serge Sarkissian a également visité le village de
Dzaghgadoun dans la région de Tavouche et rencontré ses habitants
autour d’une table. Photos site News.am Krikor Amirzayan

mercredi 1er janvier 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

ARMENIE
La production de bijoux en Arménie a augmenté de 14,6 pour cent

La production de bijoux en Arménie entre janvier et août 2013
s’élevait à 11,8 milliards de drams, soit une augmentation de 14,6
pour cent par rapport à la même période de 2012, selon les chiffres
publiés par le Service national des statistiques.

Il a dit que 759 kg de bijoux ont été produits, soit une hausse de
703,9 kg au cours des huit premiers mois de 2012.

La production de diamants au cours des huit premiers mois de cette
année s’élève à 58 927 carats, soit une augmentation de 49,2% par
rapport à Janvier-Août 2012.

L’exportation de pierres précieuses et semi-précieuses, des métaux
précieux s’est élevé à 120,3 millions de $, soit une augmentation de
5,9% par rapport à la même période de 2012.

jeudi 2 janvier 2014,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

RT Head Simonyan Appointed Rossiya Segodnya Editor-in-Chief

Margarita Simonyan

© RIA Novosti. Sergey Piatakov
14:11 31/12/2013
Tags: Margarita Simonyan, Russia

MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti) – Margarita Simonyan, the head of
the state-funded RT satellite news network, was appointed Wednesday to
head the Rossiya Segodnya media conglomerate that will include
Russia’s major state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

“This key position could only be held by a person with a brilliant
journalistic reputation and contemporary managerial skills,” Rossiya
Segodnya’s director Dmitry Kiselyov said.

Simonyan will also retain her post as the head of RT, which formerly
broadcast under the name Russia Today.

Earlier in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree
to scrap RIA Novosti and the state-owned Voice of Russia radio and
absorb them into the new Rossiya Segodnya.

In a separate decree, the Kremlin appointed Kiselyov, a prominent
Russian television presenter and media manager, to head Rossiya
Segodnya.

RIA Novosti was set up in 1941, two days after Nazi Germany invaded
the Soviet Union, as the Soviet Information Bureau, and now has
reporters in over 45 countries providing news in 14 languages.

Interfax, Russia
Dec 30 2013

Four nationalists sentenced in Samara for killing Armenian taxi driver

SAMARA. Dec 30

The Samara regional court has returned a guilty verdict to four
Togliatti residents accused of murdering a taxi driver over ethnic
reasons, spokesperson of the Russian Investigative Committee’s
Investigative Department for the Samara region Yelena Shkayeva told
Interfax.

“The convicted men, one 21 and three 17 year olds, were part of the
Russia for Russians informal group, established by Dmitry Tishakov.
Throughout its existence the group changed its name from the SS
Monolith to the Russian National Socialist Battle Group. Its leaders
urged participants during the organization meetings to kill non
Russians allegedly for the purpose of cleaning city streets,” Shkayeva
said.

According to the spokesperson, in July 2012 the young men, who were
part of this informal group, noted an Armenian taxi driver on the
street and asked him to drive them to a remote Togliatti district.

“When the young men reached their final destination, they drew the
driver out of the car and started to beat him, inflicting stab wounds
among other things. Despite the injuries sustained, the man tried to
run away but the attackers left him only after they were certain of
his death,” Shkayeva said.

Following the murder, an attacker took a gold chain and a bracelet
from the victim and attempted to steal the car, however he failed due
to lack of driving skills, the spokesperson said.

Depending on their role the defendants were found guilty under the
following articles: murder committed by a group of people over ethnic
hatred or enmity, theft accompanied by inflicting considerable damage
to a citizen and attempt to gain illegal possession of a vehicle.

Tishakov has been sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security colony
with one-year restrictions. The three underage accomplices have been
sentenced to between five to six years and six months in a juvenile
correctional facility.

ez mk

Karabakh president congratulatory address on New Year and Christmas

December 31, 2013 | 21:59

STEPANAKERT. – President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako
Sahakyan issued a congratulatory address on New Year and Christmas.

`Dear people of Artsakh,
Respected compatriots,

Time has come to bid farewell to the year of 2013 and meet the New
Year with new expectations and hopes.

We all wish that the coming year will be more efficient than the
passing one, that we will have new successes and achievements, that
all our goals and aspirations in personal, family, state or national
levels come true.

In the passing year, our nation has continued its creative work,
registered new success, further strengthened the Fatherland’s freedom
and independence. Each of you through hard work has contributed to the
development of different economic branches, putting into operation
strategically important facilities, launching of various strategic
projects.

The year of 2013 was also a jubilee year. We celebrated on a
nationwide scale the 25th anniversary of the Artsakh
National-Liberation Movement.

Of course, there have been also difficulties and omissions, we face
numerous problems, and much must be done. Unfortunately, we had also
irretrievable loss. Brave sons of the Armenian people were perished
while defending our state borders. Their memory will always remain
alive in our hearts.
But one thing is very much clear and absolutely unchanged. We are
resolute and will continue to do everything possible for the
development and strengthening of Artsakh, improving living conditions
of our population and strengthening the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora
trinity. For achieving all these, we must work much harder,
consolidated and united, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust.
This is the most reliable guarantee of progress and the basis of
natural development.

Dear Compatriots,

On this festive day, I want to remember first of all our perished
friends and congratulate their families on the New Year: Eternal glory
and honor to the patriots of the nation!

I would like to congratulate all the privates and officers who are now
in the trenches and positions safeguarding the native country’s peace,
the whole staff of our heroic army and wish them safe service.
I congratulate all our people, our sisters and brothers in Armenia and
the Diaspora. I wish everyone peace, robust health, happiness,
prosperity and great success. Let the year of 2014 bring only joy and
abundance to your families.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! ‘

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

ANCA-WR Chairwoman Nora Hovsepian’s Speech at Annual Banquet

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

Nora Hovsepian addresses the ANCA-WR Annual Banquet

`We Remember Our Past; We Remind The World Of Its Consequences; And We
Demand Justice For Our People,’ Says ANCA’s Nora Hovsepian

Below is the text of a speech presented at the Armenian National
Committee of America-Western Region Annual banquet by the
organization’s chairwoman, Nora Hovsepian, Esq.

Good evening Your Eminences, Distinguished Guests, Honorees and
Elected Officials, representatives of Armenian community
organizations, and fellow Activists:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Armenian National Committee
of America Western Region, welcome to our 2013 Annual Gala Banquet!
Seeing a packed house here tonight is so gratifying, as we highlight a
busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend with our ANCA Grassroots Conference,
which will end tomorrow with the Hye Tad Global Initiative. Our
compatriots from Armenia to Europe, Canada to South America, and from
the Middle East to Australia will participate in a groundbreaking
interactive online presentation showcasing the activities of Armenian
National Committees worldwide. We invite all of you who have not
already registered, to join us tomorrow or, to watch it live-streaming
on Asbarez.com. I guarantee you will be utterly impressed with the
magnitude and scope of the dedicated work that is being done globally
on behalf of the Armenian Cause.

The topics covered by our Grassroots Conference this year essentially
highlight the mission of the ANCA. We analyzed the evolving
inter-relationship between our Homeland and the Diaspora and how to
meet the challenge of their dual roles in shaping our national
destiny. We discussed how regional factors in Turkey, Kurdistan, Syria
and Azerbaijan affect our quest to secure Western Armenia and Artsakh.
We explored legal avenues to hold Turkey accountable for the Armenian
Genocide and how to pursue reparations and justice through domestic
and foreign courts. And we learned the best tools of advocacy through
Film and the Arts, Hye Votes and Community Organizing, and citizen
activism through the iZartonk campaign.

Nearly all of our 31 distinguished Grassroots panelists whose names
are in your Program Books are here with us tonight. Thank you all for
participating in our Conference and for sharing your expertise, wisdom
and insight with us. And a special thank you to the Armenian Bar
Association for collaborating with us on the Transnational Justice
panel, and to Bared Maronian for adapting his award winning film
Orphans of the Genocide in a special DVD which each of you has
received tonight. So let’s all give them a big round of applause as
they stand to be recognized.

I want to take a brief moment to explain about iZartonk. This was the
brainchild of our dear friend and colleague, former ANCA-WR intern,
community activist and visionary Allen Yekikian who we tragically lost
along with his equally dedicated newlywed wife Sose Thomassian, in a
terrible traffic accident on their way from Armenia to Georgia earlier
this year. Allen and Sose were taken from us much too soon. But in
their short time here on Earth, they inspired us all to serve our
Nation, strengthen our Homeland, and activate our Diasporan
communities based on the iZartonk credo, and ours, to `Speak Up, Speak
Loud, and Participate in the 21st Century Reawakening of the Armenian
Soul.’

So tonight I am very proud to announce that the ANCA Western Region
will soon partner up with the Sose & Allen’s Legacy Foundation in a
new project of iZartonk to promote activism and volunteerism amongst
our youth. We extend our love, support and gratitude to the Thomassian
and Yekikian families for sharing the memory of their beloved children
with all of us, and even though Allen’s parents, Henrik & Asik
Yekikian, were unable to join us tonight, please give a warm welcome
to Sose’s brother Vache Thomassian and mother Emma Der Mardirossian.
We are certainly all in this together, and we thank you for being
here. So stay tuned for more details in the coming months as we embark
on this exciting new joint venture.

For the first time, we have prepared and distributed to each of you
our Annual Report and detailed Program Book, both of which outline the
breadth and scope of our activities, including our financial resources
and expenses. I won’t go into all the details, but I do want to
specially highlight our trip to the Homeland, the first of many to
come, where the ANCA-WR, working closely with our good friends Katcho
Achadjian and Adrin Nazarian from the California State Assembly,
organized and led an official California delegation to Armenia and
Artsakh. I want to thank those members of our delegation who are here
tonight: CA State Assemblymembers Cheryl Brown and Scott Wilk with his
beautiful wife Vanessa Safoian Wilk, and of course Assemblymembers
Achadjian and Nazarian and Councilmember Paul Krekorian and his wife
Tamar. Please give them all a round of applause.

Finally, our hard-working Banquet Co-Chairs, Aida Dimejian and Sareen
Bezdikian, have provided leadership, guidance, and dedication in
heading our stellar Banquet Committee and helping us assemble all of
you wonderfully generous sponsors, donors and supporters who sustain
our work as we come together under one roof to celebrate our
collective accomplishments. This is truly a team effort in every way,
so let’s all give them a round of applause as well. Thank you!
***

In Armenian, ANCA’s name is Hye Tad: literally and simply translated
as Armenian Cause. In short, these two words define and guide
everything we do. We remember our past, we remind the world of its
consequences, and we demand justice for our People. So if you are
passionate about the Armenian Cause, about Hye Tad, then this is your
place.

In every kind of environment, under adversarial circumstances, in the
face of obstacles placed before us by Turkey, Azerbaijan, and even our
own US Government, in every setting, we have done our work and
activated our army of advocates and activists. We have a dual role,
and we play it well as both the voice of the community and the
watchdogs who challenge injustice wherever it may be. While some may
say we are dreamers or idealists as if it is a bad thing, what they
don’t realize is that dreams are for those who will not accept reality
as it is. WE do not accept reality as it is, so we dream with eyes
wide open of that which is not yet achieved, and we go out and find
ways to get it done.

Whether that means removing Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s gag rule over
our government’s foreign policy, or displaying a gift to the White
House of a beautiful hand-woven rug by orphaned Armenian children of
the Genocide, we as American citizens seek justice for our Cause. And
I am happy to announce tonight, with his permission, that our dear
friend Congressman Adam Schiff, acting on our behalf, has demanded
that the White House release the rug for a display in the Capitol and
that he is, in his words, `cautiously optimistic’ that his request
will be granted. So thank you Congressman Schiff for all that you do
for us.

And if the elected officials who are here, to whom we are infinitely
grateful, think we have been too demanding, it is for that reason. And
we will be even more so as we continue to grow and the century-old
experience of advocacy that our organization has developed becomes
even stronger and more sophisticated.

This is precisely why we must all speak up, stand up and make our
collective voices heard. We owe it to our parents and grandparents who
were victims of the Genocide. We owe it to the brave soldiers who lost
their lives fighting for the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. We owe
it to our 4,000-year-old mighty Nation whose history and culture have
survived and thrived against all odds. And we owe it to our children
who deserve to live free of this burden of injustice that we all
continue to carry.

This is our mission.

As my friend Maria Titizian says, `Nation-building is not a spectator
sport,’ and she is absolutely right. We haven’t survived by being
passive. We all have a job to do to build and strengthen our Nation
and our Homeland wherever we may choose to live. We must each ask
ourselves whether we are fulfilling this obligation, but rest assured
that simply by being here tonight, we are each doing our own small
part, and I can prove it.

Our local ANCA chapters are our true grassroots working on a daily
basis at the local level from the ground up. Our wonderful dedicated
staff work very long hours and truly live and breathe the ANCA on a
daily basis, day and night. Our interns and volunteers take time out
of their otherwise busy lives to play their part in the advancement of
our Cause. I want to take a moment to acknowledge them all by asking
them to please stand up, and if you will indulge me, please remain
standing.

Let’s take it one step further: Please stand up if you have ever
volunteered your time for any community organization. And please
remain standing for a moment.

If you have ever run for political office, worked on a political
campaign, cast your vote for an ANCA-endorsed candidate, or responded
to an ANCA Action Alert by contacting your elected representatives,
please stand up.

If you have ever written a letter to an editor, responded in any way
to negative propaganda, spoken out against injustice, or if you have
ever donated your hard-earned dollars to support any aspect of our
Cause, then please, stand up.

And finally, if you have ever attended any other ANCA event or even if
this is your first time with us, then stand up, all of you, because
you are here for a reason.

Look around you. Here you are: our army of Grassroots activists who
are committed not to stand on the sidelines but to stand up for
justice. Rest assured that your enthusiasm inspires us. Your
generosity sustains us. Your commitment unites us. And your unyielding
and consistent activism propels us all forward.

So give yourselves a big round of applause, because you are the ANC.
You are Hye Tad. We need you, and we rely on you. And it is only with
you that we will fulfill our dream together of achieving a truly free,
truly independent, truly democratic, and a truly united Armenian
Homeland where our Nation can prosper forever.

What is Iran’s position on Karabakh and Genocide: SUMMARY

Crucial developments took place in Iran-West relations in 2013: the
country elected a new president. Aysor.am asked Armen Israelyan, an
expert on Iran, to comment on Iran’s position on developments in
political and economic relations of Iran and Armenia in the outgoing
year, as well as on the Nagorno Karabakh problem and the Armenian
Genocide.

`The political relations of Iran and Armenia are at a high level. One
of the priorities of Iran’s foreign policy is to deepen relations with
Armenia – the only Christian neighboring country – at all levels,’ the
expert told us, adding: `For its part, official Yerevan attaches
importance to the development of ties with Tehran. For this purpose
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan attended the inauguration of the
newly-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Besides, there have
been high-level mutual contacts this year between the speakers of the
parliaments of the two countries, foreign ministers and officials of
other state bodies. It is noteworthy that Iran and Armenia actively
cooperate in international organizations as well’.

When asked what stance Iran takes on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
Israelyan in particular said: `The interests of Armenia and Iran in
the region coincide. In the past 20 years Iran has implemented a
balanced policy on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, thanks to which the
conflict – contrary to Baku’s wishes – didn’t get a religious nuance.
As regards Tehran’s stance, I should say that Iran believes that the
OSCE Minsk Group does not function efficiently so in recent period
Iran has offered its mediatory mission to the conflicting parties. By
the way, Iran was the first country to carry out a mediatory mission
in the Karabakh problem in 1992, which, however, failed following the
liberation of Shushi’.

The expert on Iran added: `Although Azerbaijan that lost the Artsakh
war accuses Iran of assisting Armenia, the fact is that, as Iranian
officials admit, Iran provided considerable military and financial
assistance to Azerbaijan during military operations.

Although the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan, some deputies of the
Majlis and some clerics sometimes make statements contradicting
Tehran’s official position, Iran states at the level of the country’s
president and foreign minister that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
should be resolved through negotiations, with the participation of
regional countries, and based on the fundamental international
principles.

Speaking about the Armenian Genocide problem, Israelyan said that
there have been some changes in recent years in official Tehran’s
position concerning the Armenian Genocide. For the first time in seven
years, the Iranian authorities allowed Iran’s Armenian community to
stage a protest outside the Turkish embassy on April 24 of this year.
Unlike heads of many Christian countries, the founder of the Islamic
Republic of Iran Imam Khomeini condemned the Armenian Genocide, former
President Khatami visited the Genocide Victims Memorial during his
visit to Armenia, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also condemned the Genocide
twice during his term of office.

`It is unlikely that Tehran will officially recognize the Armenian
Genocide in the near future, but regional developments are taking
place with such rapidity that it is not ruled out that by 2015 – the
100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, there will be such a
situation in Turkish-Iranian relations that it will make Iran
introduce clarity into its position on the Genocide,’ the expert
noted.

When discussing bilateral economic relations, Israelyan said that
bilateral trade has declined a bit this year due to the economic
sanctions against Iran and other objective reasons: bilateral trade
amounted to $222 million in nine months of 2013 as compared with $245
in the same period of 2012. He added that the year has not ended yet
and the figures will grow after the 2013 economic year is summed up –
in all likelihood the indices of last year will be recorded.

`The North-South Transport Corridor is under construction. The third
power transmission line will be put into operation soon. As for other
projects, it should be mentioned that construction of the Meghri
hydropower plant, the railway, and the oil pipeline are on the agenda
of the two countries’ governments. In case of normalization of
Iran-West relations when sanctions on Iranian banking sector are
lifted, there will be progress in the implementation of these
projects,’ the expert on Iran said.

Speaking about Iranian Armenians, A. Israelyan said that they are
considered a religious minority whose rights are stipulated in Iran’s
Constitution. About 100 thousand Armenians currently live in Iran.
There are over two hundred Armenian churches in Iran. One of them,
Gharakilisa Monastery, has been included in UNESCO’s World Heritage
List thanks to efforts of the Iranian authorities. There are also
plans to include Isfahan’s St. Amenaprkich Church (Vank) in that list.
The Armenian Apostolic Church has three dioceses in Iran: Atrpatakan,
Tehran, and Isfahan Dioceses. Two deputies represent the interests of
the Iranian Armenians in the Majlis.

FOOTBALL-ARMENIE
L’ex-international arménien Sargis Hovsepyan nommé entreîneur de «
Piunig » Erévan

L’ex-international arménien et joueur du « Zénith » Saint-Petersbourg
(Russie) et « Piunig » Erévan, Sargis Hovsepyan, a été désigné
entraîneur du « Piunig » Erévan, en remplacement de Vartan Minassian
qui a quitté ses fonctions. « Je suis heureux et fier que la dirction
du club m’ait fait confiance pour ce poste d’entraînueur.
J’effectuerai tout ce qui m’est possible de faire au profit de mon
club » dit Sargis Hovsepyan.

Après avoir dominé durant plus d’une douzaine d’années le football
d’Arménie, « Piunig » Erévan traverse depuis trois saisons des
difficultés. Aujourd’hui à la mi-saison, après 14 rencontres du
championnat, « Piunig » Erévan n’occupe qu’une modeste 6ème place au
classement provosoire. Autant dire qu’un grand travail attend Sargis
Hovsepyan. Né le 12 novembre 1972 à Erévan, Sargis Hovsepyan avec 131
rencontres détient le record des slections en équipe nationale
d’Arménie. Il a également remporté à trois reprises le titre de
Footballeur arménien de l’année.

Krikor Amirzayan

mardi 31 décembre 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com