Author: Babajanian Karo

EU CALLS FOR DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION TO STEPANAKERT AIRPORT ISSUE

Karabakh | 11.01.13 | 10:21

Photolure

The European Union wants Armenia and Azerbaijan to solve the issue
around the possible operation of an airport in Karabakh to be solved
diplomatically to avoid any further tensions in the region.

This was stated by European Commissioner for Enlargement and European
Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule after his meeting with the visiting
speaker of the Armenian parliament, Hovik Abrahamyan, in Brussels
on Thursday.

The operation of the airport near Stepanakert has been a prickly issue
ever since Karabakh authorities reconstructed the facility with an
intension to put it into use for civilian flights to and from Yerevan
in May 2011. Karabakh officials have repeatedly postponed the launch
of flights amid threats from Baku to shoot down any aircraft taking
off or landing in Karabakh, which Azerbaijan still considers to be
its territory.

The latest warnings against the operation of the Stepanakert airport
were heard from Baku earlier this week following reports that Karabakh
intended to lunch the first commercial Stepanakert-Yerevan-Stepanakert
flight after New Year holidays.

A statement issued for the press following the Fule-Abrahamyan meeting
reads: “Issues concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process were
discussed, including the issue of possible flights to the airport in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Commissioner Fule reiterated the EU’s continued
support for the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and their efforts in
facilitating a peaceful settlement. He also stressed the need for the
sides to seek a diplomatic solution to issues relating to this airport
and to avoid any actions that could fuel tensions in the region.”

ARMENIA NEEDS RIGHT WAY IN INTEGRATING WITH EU, EURASIAN UNION – ARTUR BAGHDASARYAN

tert.am
11.01.13

Secretary of Armenia’s National Security Council Artur Baghdasaryan
believes that Armenia’s integration into the European Union (EU)
should not be contrasted with its integration into the Eurasian Union.

“We are a small country and we should follow the right way,” Mr
Baghdasaryan told journalists on Friday. Armenia’s authorities are
exerting great efforts to establish close relations not only with
Russia and the EU, but also with the US and China.

Armenia’s balanced cooperation with the EU and Russia is not aimed
at a third side and should be continued.

“We have a roadmap with the EU. The reforms are supposed to lead to
an association agreement. This suggests a step up in relations with
the EU,” Mr Baghdasaryan said.

Armenia and Russia are well known to be strategic allies, he added.

“An all-important event took place in our country last year. During the
then Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to Armenia an important
join document was signed. It envisaged Russian military presence in
Armenia and joint protection of Armenia’s borders by the Armenian
and Russian armed forces. Russia remains our major strategic ally,”
Mr Baghdasaryan said.

“More than two million Armenians are living in Russia now. So we
must be able to continue honest negotiations with different forces,
without contrasting. We should consider both our geographic location
and relations with our neighbors,” he said.

WHO IN BAKU NEEDS GREAT KARABAKH WALL?
Karine Ter-Sahakian

PanARMENIAN.Net
January 11, 2013

Construction of the 3-meter-high wall was launched in 2011 and mostly
aimed to protect the front-line villages.

Construction of a wall between the conflicting states has become, so
to say, trendy during the past few years. Israel built a wall at the
Egyptian border, Cypriote Greeks isolated themselves from the Northern
Cyprus, and the U.S. is going to fence off Mexico. Baku decided to join
the “trend” by building a wall between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

PanARMENIAN.Net – Construction of the 3-meter-high wall was launched
in 2011 and mostly aimed to protect the front-line villages.

Azerbaijani media already labeled the project the “Great Karabakh
Wall”, failing, however, to provide a reasonable explanation of its
purpose. The Azerbaijani Agency for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
of Areas has undertaken the initiative which is preliminary estimated
to cost around 300 mln euros. The lion’s share of the allotted funds
will probably be pocketed; so, what’s the purpose of this wall?

According to Azerbaijani observers, the construction of the wall
contradicts the statements of the Azerbaijani government that speaks
of prompt “liberation” of Karabakh. They also claim that the Armenian
politicians and media present the construction project as Azerbaijan’s
reconciliation with the loss of Karabakh. Well, a different opinion
would have been strange in Armenia. However, Ilham Aliyev needs to
construct the wall, both for self-assertion and to demonstrate his
care for his people, namely the population of the frontier regions
“suffering” from shootings. Such logic implies that a wall built by
Armenia would appear more reasonable: the snipers are killing the
Armenians, and not Azerbaijanis. Still, a wall is necessary for safety
reasons; in addition, it is needed to prevent cases of desertion. In
a word, this is going to be sort of a Great Chinese Berlin Wall.

Actually, Aliyev is keen on gigantomania; he built a huge palace for
Heydar Aliyev Foundation which later burned down, then he constructed
a tower to rival BurjDubai, not to mention the giant flag which
has fallen and torn so many times that even Baku media have stopped
mentioning it at all. In addition, there are numerous monuments to
Heydar Aliyev worldwide, and now comes the wall…

Well, if we take the matter seriously, the construction of the fence is
first of all a fortification facility which can house sniper loopholes,
radars and lots of other tools to track the enemy, including air
defense. The latter is hardly feasible, but still, who knows? No wonder
the information on the wall construction was publicized just now as the
preparations for flights from Stepanakert airport are in full swing.

The thing is not whether the wall will be constructed or not;
Azerbaijan will hold presidential elections in fall, with Ilham Aliyev
winning the race. The information on this project is most likely a
well-thought move for launching the election campaign. Aliyev will
indeed win the vote, but he needs to provide sort of a show for the
West so that the outcome of elections – approximately 70-75% of votes-
is acceptable. Such unpopular moves will help Ilham Aliyev; they can’t
but help since too much is put at stake. If suddenly he shares the fate
of Mikheil Saakashvili, he’ll have hard times handling the situation;
Georgia was a “beacon of democracy” for the West, and this is not the
case with Aliyev at all. Meanwhile, the wall will be soon forgotten
since nobody except for Azerbaijani leader really needs it.

THE INTEREST TOWARD TIGRANAKERT IS INCREASING DAY BY DAY

Tuesday, 08 January 2013 16:56

The state historical and cultural enclosure Tigranakert was created
by the NKR government decree N937 dated December 23, 2008.

In 2005 the Artsakh expedition of the Institute of Archaeology and
Ethnography of Yerevan found the traces of the vast Hellenistic
settlement built in 1st century BC on the south-western slope of
Mount Vankasar and the valley adjacent to it and in 2006 it began the
exploration activities. The city of Tigranakert which was discovered
in Artsakh is the only settlement after Armenian King Tigran II the
Great /95-55 BC/ the location of which is precisely definite and
which is being explored.

Besides the valuable historical and cultural monuments the flora of
the enclosure is quite rich and some species are even included into
the Red Book. The interest towards the enclosure is yearly increasing
and each day is has dozens of visitors.

What the state historical and cultural enclosure Tigranakert presents
to its visitors we tried to find out from director of the enclosure
Anahit Lorentsyan.

– I must say that the enclosure has its guide who thoroughly presents
to the visitors the whole territory of the enclosure together with
all its historical and cultural monuments: the Reinforced district
with the Citadel, the Ancient district, the Central district with the
early Christian chapel, the Ancient and early Christian tomb valleys,
the early Christian worship complex, the early Christian temple of
Vankasar, the reservoir adjacent to the royal springs, a number of
other buildings and the royal park.

Since May, 2010, due to the efforts of the Department of Tourism
the archeological museum has been functioning here and everything
discovered during the explorations are exhibited in it. I must say
that the exhibits of the museum were refreshed in 2012.

-Mrs. Lorentsyan, can you sum up the results of the previous year
and say how many visitors you had during the year.

– From May 8, 2010, till December 20, 2012, the museum and the
enclosure had 46812 visitors among them 4846 foreigners and 7200
Diaspora Armenians.

In 2011 we had 13973 visitors among them 895 foreigners and 1100
Diaspora Armenians. As for 2012, I must say the growth tendency is
quite noticeable; we had 17839 visitors among them 951 foreigners
and 1252 Diaspora Armenians. This year we were pleased to have 310
conscripts among our visitors and welcomed this as an important step
in the military education of the conscripts.

– What are the foreigners mainly interested in?

– They are more interested in the ancient town with its culture and
crafts. Everywhere they search Armenian roots trying to compare the
data and facts published by the Armenian and Azerbaijani parties. They
are generally interested in an Armenian man and his world and
in the Artsakh people, in particular. They always underline the
simplicity, humaneness and hospitability of the Artsakh people with
special cordiality, gratitude and very often with astonishment. Some
foreigners such as Mark from Germany, Sylvie from France just fell
in love with our country. Being a physician by profession Mark has
excellent knowledge about our culture and history, and he studies
something new during each of his visits. During his last visit he was
greatly interested in the cave chapel and the ancient funeral rituals.

As for Sylvie, she visted Artsakh 4 times and began to master both
West and Eastern Armenian.

– If you were to apply to your new and old visitors what would you
tell them?

– To foreigners I would say they are always welcome if you visit our
country with pure and honest intentions, as for our native people,
I would ask them to be more careful and why not even proud when
stepping on each inch of the land in the enclosure realizing that
here are the remains of our ancestors.

Armine Hairapetyan

ARMENIAN CONTEMPORARY ART TO BE INTRODUCED IN SOTHEBY’S EXHIBITION

16:09, 11 January, 2013

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The contemporary culture of
Caucasus and Central Asia will be introduced under the slogan “At
the Crossroads” in Sotheby’s New Bond Street, London, from March 4
until March 12, 2013.

As reports “Armenpress” the exhibition will introduce around 50
contemporary artworks by artists from across Central Asia and Caucasus,
including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The exhibition will showcase non-conformist as well as
socialist-realist art from the 1960s, right the way through to emerging
contemporary practices.

Commenting on this event Senior Director and Head of Sothebey’s Russian
Art Department in London Jo Vickery stated: “Countries throughout
Caucasus and Central Asia have experienced rapid growth in recent
years. This territory is very interesting and it has a rich history
and culture. Also one can meet interesting artists there, which are
notable for their unique pieces of art.”

The aim of this exceptional exhibition is to highlight the diverse
cultural expressions of the region, while exploring its Soviet past.

WHAT DID ARMENIAN ARCHITECTURE’S LOST TREASURE ONCE LOOK LIKE? (VIDEO)

January 11, 2013 | 14:53

YEREVAN. – The premiere of the documentary film entitled “Hovvi Church”
was held. The documentary was prepared by the foundation that studies
Armenian architecture.

With its setup, Hovvi Church of Ani-the capital city of the ancient
Bagratuni Dynasty-is a unique example of Armenian architecture.

In the film, the restored version of the now-ruined church is
represented for the first time in three-dimensional graphics.

LEAVE HIM ALONE: CANDIDATE CALLS FOR QUITTING RACE EN MASSE TO EMBARRASS SARGSYAN REELECTION

VOTE 2013 | 11.01.13 | 15:45

Andrias Ghukasyan
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

A call for a mass withdrawal from the presidential race issued by
one of the little-known candidates has caused a stir in the Armenian
political field, as, if realized, it would leave incumbent president
Serzh Sargsyan with an option of “shadowboxing”.

Enlarge Photo Paruyr Hayrikyan

Andrias Ghukasyan sent an open letter primarily addressed to the six
other candidates who plan to run against Sargsyan in the February
18 ballot urging them to announce their withdrawal after official
registration on January 15. He said this joint withdrawal will mark
the beginning of “a new political situation” in Armenia.

The letter, whose addresses are former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan,
who leads the opposition Liberty Party, opposition Heritage Party
leader, ex-foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian, former Foreign Minister
of Nagorno-Karabakh Arman Melikyan, National Accord Party leader Aram
Harutyunyan, President of the National Self-Determination Union (NSDU)
Paruyr Hayrikyan and specialist in epic studies Vardan Sedrakyan,
in part, reads: “In conditions when power is in the hands of one
political force the public, whose rights are not guaranteed, is,
in fact, deprived of its Constitution. A politician is the one who
takes on the duty to protect the interests of the public. Today we
have a right to form a new political agenda for Armenia. At the same
time, it is incumbent on us to determine the political future of the
country. I suggest that we jointly withdraw from the election struggle
designed and predetermined by the Republican Party and unanimously
initiate a universal civic movement for drastic changes.”

In his letter Ghukasyan, who is director of Radio Hay, expresses his
conviction that “a civil movement against the criminal-oligarchic
system, which will be led by Paruyr Hayrikyan, Raffi Hovannisian and
Hrant Bagratyan will be crowned with success.”

Earlier, a similar call was made by another candidate, Aram
Harutyunyan, who said that in that case the elections would not be
rigged and President Sargsyan would not be able to get at least 50
percent of the votes.

According to the Constitution of Armenia, “if only one candidate runs
for the [presidential] election, he/she shall be elected if he/she
receives more than half of the votes of electors who participate in
the polls.” Under the Electoral Code, if there is only one candidate
standing for president, the ballot paper contains a tick box for an
‘against’ vote.

NSDU chairman Hayrikyan stated today that he was not going to withdraw
from the race, considering that this way he would simply help Sargsyan
get reelected.

“Boycotting means supporting the candidate who has a relatively high
percent of the vote, and this is the one who currently occupies the
presidential post. How can a rookie tell me what to do or say that
whoever does not join his initiative is a supporter of Serzh Sargsyan?

Don’t they even get me started on who in reality is supporting the
incumbent president,” commented Hayrikyan at a press conference
on Friday.

Hovannisian, who is running in the election as a self-nominated
candidate rather than a Heritage leader nominated by his party, has
not made a public statement in this regard yet. But at least some of
his party members are far from considering the proposed boycott as
a good idea.

“A politician differs from an ordinary citizen and a political force
from a public organization, an individual entrepreneur, an LLC or a
CJSC by the fact that he or she struggles to make a reality what he or
she wants to see – from the vision of Armenia to a power change. This
is a mission of a political figure and the difference, for which he
or she shall have an action plan and the will to implement it. And
if they think that everything is predetermined, the outcome is a
foregone conclusion, then it means it’s time for them to retire,”
said Heritage Party secretary Styopa Safaryan.

Former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan’s office does not intend to
comment on Ghukasyan’s statement in any way.

“The motivation of this call is not clear to us, we do not comment on
that,” Bagratyan election headquarters spokesperson Karine Harutyunyan
told ArmeniaNow.

Another candidate, former Karabakh Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan
also stopped short of providing commentary, saying that he would do
so only after the Central Election Commission registers the candidates.

The process is due to be completed on January 14.

HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN: AZERBAIJAN MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO TALK ABOUT COMPROMISES

Panorama.am
10/01/2013

Armenian National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met with President
of the Belgian Senate Sabine de Bethune and President of the Belgian
Chamber of Representatives Andre Flahaut in Brussels on Wednesday,
January 9, Armenian parliament’s press service said.

Referring to the reform process in Armenia, Mr Abrahamyan said that
irrespective of the challenges of the region, Armenia has steadfastly
chosen the democratic path of state building. Armenia is steadfast
in continuing to implement deep and comprehensive reforms in line
with European standards. European integration policy is the key of
not only Armenia’s domestic reforms but also its foreign policy.

Hovik Abrahamyan commented on Karabakh issue, noting that Armenian
side’s position is based on three international principles: non-use
of force or threat of force, self-determination of peoples and
territorial integrity.

Azerbaijan constantly hinders this process, building its policy
exclusively on one principle – territorial integrity and thus makes
it impossible to talk about compromises, Armenia’s NA Speaker said.

Azerbaijan also distorts the essence of the conflict as well as takes
moves to involve other international organizations in the conflict
settlement, trying to hinder the negotiation process and pursuing
propaganda purposes, Hovik Abrahamyan concluded.

WHICH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WILL ARF SUPPORT?

Panorama.am
16:21 10/01/2013

What is for a political party not to nominate a candidate for
presidential elections, especially for a party that has active
political biography of many years? Panorama.am has interviewed ARF
Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary faction member Artsvik Minasyan on
the matter.

– Mr Minasyan, is ARF going to boycott the presidential elections?

– No, because to boycott means to be indifferent to elections. But
we, on the contrary, call on citizens to take an active part in the
elections: to vote for their preferred candidate or to vote against
all candidates. Participation in presidential elections is a necessity
because, nevertheless, changes should take place through elections.

– Is ARF Dashnaktsutyun planning to address its electorate?

– ARF Supreme Assembly’s decision and statement specified our
position: if necessary, ARF Supreme Body has a possibility to come
up with a statement in this period so as to orient its co-partisans
and voters who support it. We keep to what the statement said and
ARF Supreme Body has not decided anything else.

– Do you think the Supreme Assembly’s decision could be changed
according to developments, or you do not expect any serious
developments?

– Depending on the situation, there will be discussions and we will
act accordingly. Currently, our exact position is that Dashnaktsutyun
does not support the ruling power. As for supporting other candidates,
it will become clear during our discussions.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT URGES ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO SPEED UP KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

YEREVAN, January 10. /ARKA/. President of the European Parliament
Martin Schulz urged today Armenia and Azerbaijan leaders to speed up
Karabakh conflict settlement.

Schulz was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying at his meeting with
Armenian National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan in Brussels that
the conflicting sides should refrain from statements which can escalate
tension, RIA Novosti reports.

Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated
by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result,
Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions
adjacent to it.

Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million
people fled their homes.

On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the
military operations.

Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over
peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA,
Russia and France. -0-