Author: Babajanian Karo

GERMAN KROHNE MAY START PRODUCTION IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, November 6. /ARKA/. World~Rs leading developer and
manufacturer of innovative measuring equipment German Krohne may
start up production in Armenia.

Currently the most demanded product in Armenian market is gas meters;
approximately 150 gas meters are sold here every year, Sales Manager
of Krohne in Armenia and Georgia Pavel Vardanyan told ARKA Agency.

Vardanyan said the company is ready to start up production in the
country if the current sales trend is continuous. In particular,
manufacturing of a certain part of products may be transferred to
Armenia, he said.

Yet, there are some impeding factors, the limited market and high
prices for Krohne products in particular, Vardanyan said. Krohne
provides high quality and accuracy, hence its products may be more
expensive than some others~R, he said.

Krohne~Rs representative said that apart from gas meters, they
produce electromagnetic and ultrasonic devices that measure pressure
and temperature.

Currently the company is world~Rs leader in manufacturing of rotameters
(to measure consumption of gas or liquid per unit time).

Krohne was founded in 1921 in Germany. It produces and sells measuring
technologies. The company has its offices worldwide (15 production
lines in 10 countries, 43 joint ventures and owned companies, 55
special representatives). The company~Rs staff is 2,700 people today.

~V0–

ALI KAIDI: FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN TWO NATIONS CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPMENT OF TIES BETWEEN TEHRAN AND YEREVAN

Panorama.am
06/11/2012

Good neighborly ties and friendly relations between the two nations
contribute to development of ties between Tehran and Yerevan, the
Iranian Head of Iran-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group stated
during a meeting with Armenia’s ambassador to Iran, Iranian state-run
news agency IRNA said.

Referring to community of history and culture between Armenia and Iran,
Ali Kaidi stressed the need for further improvement and deepening of
bilateral ties.

Grigor Arakelyan congratulated Ali Kaidi on the establishment of the
Iran-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group, noting that Armenia is
determined to further expand relations with Iran.

Ambassador Arakelyan, commenting on the 20-year history of diplomatic
relations between Armenia and Iran, said that Armenia’s relations
with Iran are today at the best possible level.

RAISA MKRTCHYAN WILL PERFORM HER OLD AND NEW SONGS IN HER ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The People’s artist of the Republic
of Armenia and beloved singer Raisa Lazarian will celebrate her
anniversary in the concert hall after Aram Khachaturyan on November
18. The audience will listen to the old and new songs of the artist,
that always astonished and educated a number of generations. In a
conversation with “Armenpress” Raisa Lazarian mentioned that the
seal of time remains on herself and her songs. The Armenian singer,
who is already 70 years old said: “I am very glad that those songs of
mine lived with me and have not withered reaching modern singers.” The
singer became 70 years old on February, but due to the state of health
she was in the United States for treatment, this is the reason why
she will celebrate her anniversary now.

Famous singers will congratulate Raisa Lazarian on the occasion of
her anniversary. Among them are Ruben Matevosyan, Leyla Saribekyan,
Aramo, “Arevik” Ensemble, Sofi Devoyan’s School of Dance and Spirit.

The singer said: “I will also perform several songs, notwithstanding
their choice was very difficult, as I love all my songs.”

Raisa Lazarian stated: “The song was gave me an opportunity to
express my emotions and affections. Notwithstanding I could leave my
motherland for the sake of the suggestions regarding the beautiful
life, but I did not do that, as I loved my job, wonderful husband and
children. I have got everything I desired in this life.” The singer
also stated that she has never kept in secret her age, she does not
feel it neither physically, nor mentally.

TALK AT ALMA INTRODUCES ‘HOUSHAMADYAN PROJECT’

November 5, 2012

WATERTOWN, Mass.-On Thurs., Nov. 15, Nora Lessersohn of Houshamadyan,
a historical and cultural initiative based in Berlin, will give a
visual presentation at the Armenian Library and Museum of America
(ALMA) in Watertown. The event is co-sponsored by the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).

Nora Lessersohn The Houshamadyan project is a unique effort to
reconstruct the lost world of the Armenian communities in the
territories of the Ottoman Empire. Through scholarly analysis,
documentation, and the reproduction of historical images, the
Houshamadyan project plays an important role in recovering the
daily life, customs, traditions, cuisine, and environs of the
Ottoman Armenian communities.Lessersohn is the Annual Giving and
Alumni Relations coordinator at the Harvard Divinity School. She
is currently a student in Harvard’s Museum Studies program, and
serves as a researcher and project coordinator for the Houshamadyan
project. A graduate of Harvard College, where she majored in the study
of religion, she previously worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The talk begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit the project website:

OF HUNGER STRIKES AND ROLE MODELS: AN INTERVIEW WITH BILGIN AYATA
Posted by Khatchig Mouradian

November 5, 2012

Hundreds of Kurdish political prisoners have been on a hunger strike
in Turkey for the 56thday now. On Nov. 4, the Armenian Weekly editor
conducted an interview with Dr. Bilgin Ayata about the reaction the
hunger strike in Turkish prisons is receiving and the demands of the
hunger strikers.

Bilgin Ayata Dr. Bilgin Ayata is an Assistant Professor at Freie
Universitat Berlin. She received her Ph.D. from the department of
political science at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Her research
interests include the politics of displacement, trans-nationalism,
social movements, and migration.

Below is the full text of the interview.

***

Khatchig Mouradian-Talk about the demands of the hunger strikers.

Bilgin Ayata-In 2009, a very large wave of arrests began after the
criminal investigation into KCK (Union of Communities in Kurdistan).

About 8,000 people had been arrested. At that point, there were
many protests particularly because the arrests included prominent
intellectuals. But ever since Busra Ersanli, a political science
professor in Istanbul, and a few others were released, public awareness
of this issue has declined even further. The majority of the lawyers,
students, journalists, and activists remain in prison: this means
people have been detained for almost three years, and some of them
have not even had a trial.

When the KCK trials began, the Kurdish inmates insisted on doing
their defense in the Kurdish language, which is prohibited in Turkish
courts. Thus, one of the three demands of the hunger strikers is to
speak in their mother tongue at court. The other demand is primary
education in the mother tongue-so far the government allows the
Kurdish language to be taught only in private language schools and
not in public schools. The third demand is to end the isolation and
solitary confinement of the PKK’s leader Abdullah Ocalan. For more
than 440 days now, Ocalan’s lawyers have not been allowed to see him.

The hunger strikers have stated that Abdullah Ocalan is the leader
of the PKK, and thus he is a leader of the Kurds; thus, the way he is
treated stands symbolically for the treatment of the Kurds in Turkey.

K.M.-Let’s discuss the reaction the hunger strike engendered in
Turkey. It seems that only after a lag of a few weeks did the media
start paying attention to the plight and demands of the hunger
strikers.

B.A.-When the strike began, only the Kurdish media and a few
alternative outlets reported on it. Now the Turkish mainstream media
reports only sporadically about the hunger strike from the perspective
of the government, which tries to silence and suppress the issue.

However, ongoing protests in the Kurdish region in support of the
hunger strikes as well as a growing number of initiatives are trying
to break this silence. First, Kurdish scholars initiated a petition
campaign that received international support from Noam Chomsky, Judith
Butler, Michael Taussig and a number of other intellectuals. Later on,
Turkish scholars also initiated a petition campaign in Turkey.

Currently, an interesting campaign is underway in Turkey, where people
are called upon to write their protests on money bills against the
silencing of the hunger strike.

Plenty of alternative information is being circulated on Facebook
and Twitter, including many pictures of police brutality against
the relatives of the hunger strikers. Together with the ongoing mass
protests in the Kurdish region-which the rest of Turkey or the world
doesn’t take notice of-these actions are contributing to the increasing
visibility of the hunger strike, but compared to the severity of the
situation, the overall silence is appalling.

Unfortunately, Turkey’s Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is not
simply a passive bystander in this. He even blatantly lied in public
appearances. In a recent visit to Berlin, Germany, he stated that
the hunger strike is a lie, and that the inmates are eating secretly.

Ironically, at the very same time, the German Minister of Justice
was visiting her counterpart in Ankara, who was briefing her that
there were hundreds of hunger strikers in Turkish prisons. Similar
statements have been made by other Prime Ministers in earlier hunger
strikes. Erdogan is reacting exactly like his predecessors in this
issue.

K.M.-It seems highly unlikely that the Turkish government will engage
with the demands of the hunger strikers in any meaningful way. You
mentioned how this is not the first time that hunger strikes occur
in Turkish prisons. What do past experiences teach us?

B.A.-Hunger strikes are ultimately a lethal form of protest. Prisoners
take this up at a point when they believe all else has failed. You go
on hunger strike because you want to make your voice heard no matter
what the costs, and when the only means left is your body.

History shows that hunger strikes in Turkey end brutally. During the
hunger strike in prisons in 1999, first the inmates who lost their
consciousness were forcibly fed, and later, the military raided
the prisons. Twenty-seven people died during these military raids,
another 100 in the death fasts, and many of the hunger strikers are
carrying irreversible illnesses until today.

K.M.-The hunger strike has not garnered reaction-let alone outrage-from
the international community either.

B.A.-When Erdogan visited here [Berlin], Chancellor [Angela] Merkel,
at least publicly, did not raise this issue. Of course there are
common interests stopping her from engaging in public criticism. The
international media has been very silent on the hunger strike as well.

With each passing day, there are more reports, but they are still
few and far between.

We are now the 54th day, so the health deterioration of the prisoners
is proceeding rapidly. If no solution is found, deaths are going to
occur soon, and unfortunately only then the international media will
probably pay more attention.

This is indicative of a general trend over the past decade to turn a
blind eye on Turkey’s Kurdish conflict and the quality of democracy in
Turkey. One has to consider that Turkey is being promoted as a role
model for democracy since 2001. This role model discourse has gained
intensity in the wake of the Arab revolutions, during which Turkey
was promoted as a democratic role model for the Middle East, even
though these mass arrests were occurring in Turkey, and the Kurdish
conflict was in full swing. Arresting 8,000 people affiliated in one
way or another with the Kurdish movement and the BDP [the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party] means extinguishing the possibilities of
legitimate political struggle for Kurds by collectively criminalizing
them. It is as if the state wants to push for more violence to come.

Instead of a political solution to the Kurdish conflict, the AKP
government is relying on brute force-just as its predecessors. How
this makes Turkey a role model for democracy is anybody’s guess.

JAMES APPATHURAI: NATO WANTS TO SEE IMPROVEMENT OF RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

Trend
Nov 5 2012
Azerbaijan

NATO wants to see the improvement of relations between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the
Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai said in an interview with
journalists on November 5, news.am reported.

“Recently, the Secretary-General visited the region. He has visited
all three countries in the region and was concerned about the tone
of the controversy between the two countries,” James Appathurai said.

“When it comes to security, it is very important for both countries
to return to the right path. Recently a meeting of foreign ministers
took place in Paris and that is a good sign. However the meeting is
not progress, but only a step on the way. As for NATO, we want to see
an improvement in relations,” the representative of the Alliance said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

ARMENIAN CHURCH’S BELL RING AFTER 97 YEARS IN DIYARBAKIR

Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 5 2012
Turkey

Armenian church Surp Giragos in the southeastern province of Diyarbakýr
was reopened yesterday after 32 years.

The church’s bell was demolished in 1915, as it was taller than the
minarets of all mosques in the area. A bell similar to the original one
has been reconstructed and rang out today after 97 years of silence.

The first rite was conducted today by Turkey vice-patriarch Aram
Ateþyan, who called for interfaith peace and dialogue.

Worshipers from the United States, Armenia and Canada participated
in the rite and the opening ceremony.

The restoration project was launched in 2010 by the Surp Giragos
Armenian Church Foundation, with contributions from the Diyarbakýr
Metropolitan Municipality.

BAKU-TEHRAN: PERIODS OF TENSION

Vestnik Kavkaza
Nov 5 2012
Russia

Author: Marina Petrova, exclusive to VK

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, everything pointed
to the fact that Iran and Turkey would join the fight for influence
in the Caucasus and Central Asia. And despite the fact that both
countries officially deny it, as a result, this has happened. This
struggle has resulted in the confrontation between two models of
development. If Turkey was represented by secular Western-oriented
model of a democratic state, Iran was an Islamic anti-Western country
still allowing a certain amount of democracy. Most of the newly formed
Caucasian and Central Asian states were gravitated to the Turkish
state model and did not seek to get hold of a close relationship
with Iran. The Caucasus has long remained the area of intersection
of interests of Russia, Turkey and Iran, which at some point of the
history considered this region the territory of its influence, and
itself – the leader in the region. After the collapse of the Soviet
Union Tehran was able to recover this effect.

Given the ethnic and cultural, historical, linguistic, and strategic
aspects, it would be logical if both Turkey and Iran, in particular,
tried to enlist Azerbaijan in the Caucasus. It is the only Muslim
country among the three Caucasian countries and moreover, the largest
country among them, with its rich natural resources, in contrast to
Georgia and Armenia. Both states border on it. On the other hand,
Azerbaijan is able to count on the benefits of the Turkish-Iranian
competition for the attention of Baku.

However, the situation did not develop as smoothly as it could be
expected. Unlike Turkey, which once marked the priority of relations
with Baku to other former Soviet republics, Iran did not hurry
with this step. Turkey, after a short hesitation, took the side of
Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, while Iran seemed to
conduct illogical policy. Who, if not Teheran, should immediately
rush to help the brotherly people, Shiites, in their confrontation
with Christian Armenia?

Unfortunately for the Azerbaijanis this did not happen. At a time when
Iran has offered to mediate in the conflict, it did not support Baku in
any way. On the contrary, Tehran strongly strengthened and developed
cooperation with Armenia. While Turkey supported Azerbaijan in its
economic embargo on Yerevan, Iran became the main trade partner of
Armenia. The main reason for this seemingly irrational behavior of
Tehran is the so-called “issue of Azerbaijan.”

Turkmenchay peace treaty in 1828 that ended the Russian-Persian war
of 1826-1828 divided the territory where Azerbaijanis lived between
the two empires. During the Soviet period the border between the
Soviet Union and Iran was finalized in 1921. In fact, for the people
of Azerbaijan the division of territory between the two countries was
a tragedy: broken families, torn cultural and trade ties. 70 years of
Soviet history meant that the Soviet and Iranian Azeris were almost
two different people: the mentality and way of life were completely
different. On the other hand, Azeris on both sides have sought to
maintain cultural and family ties with each other. Back in the late XIX
century, during the oil boom in Baku, Iranian Azerbaijanis crossed the
border in search of work in the oil industry. During the First World
War, the Iranian central government was so weak that the de facto the
border between empires erased, and nothing prevented contacts between
the representatives of one people living in different states. This
ended in 1921, and until the end of the 1980s actually Iranian and
Soviet Azerbaijanis lost the sight of each other.

However, “the Azerbaijani issue” remained relevant to Iran. In 1945,
in the wake of Iran’s Azerbaijani national movement, the Republic of
Azerbaijan emerged, which, however, did not exist for a long time.

Immediately after the Soviet Union ceased to support it, the Iranian
authorities undertook steps to prevent further manifestations of
nationalism in the region, and Iranian Azerbaijan were divided into
two provinces in 1946. In 1993, they already were divided into three
provinces. This fact proves that the Iranian government has always
closely monitored this minority in order to avoid the slightest
consolidation of Azerbaijanis with separatist goals. During the
Islamic revolution in Iran, many of the country’s minority stated
their desire for independence.

Azerbaijanis were the most numerous not Persian-speaking community
in the state, but their national movement in this period was
significantly less powerful than the Kurds, for example. On the
one hand, Azerbaijanis are Shiites, and turning Iran into a Shiite
Islamic republic not meant negative effects for them, unlike the
Kurds and Arabs of other religious beliefs. In addition, many Iranian
Azerbaijanis considered the territory of Iran is as belonging both
to themselves and to the Persians. For many years they were firmly
integrated into the Iranian social and political system and, it can
be said, considered themselves both Azerbaijanis and Iranians. Some
national political movement called not for separation and reunion
with the northern Azerbaijan, but for integrating it into Iran.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that the Azerbaijani national
independence movements in Iran did not exist.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Republic of Azerbaijan
became independt, which, however, did not please Tehran. Iran was
experiencing uneasy times of economic downturn and ongoing social
tensions in a multicultural society. At this time, right at its border
an independent state appeared which had large reserves of oil and gas
and the titular nation of which was the largest Iranian diaspora. It
would seem that Tehran should support a new state of the brotherly
people in order not to get criticism from Iranian Azerbaijanis. But
Iranian authorities have gone a completely different way, trying at
every opportunity to oppose the policy of Azerbaijan, despite the
fact that not only the Iranian Azerbaijanis, but also the entire
population of the country required to take the side of Azerbaijan in
the conflict with Armenia.

Thus, the Iranian government sees Azerbaijan as a threat to its
regime. Looking to the future, Tehran suggested that if Azerbaijan
will thrive economically thanks to its rich natural resources and
become a strong, independent secular state, it would be a serious
threat to Iran with its national movements of minorities, as well as
the difficult economic and social situation. For this reason, Iran did
not support Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but rather
supported the Armenian side. Today, the Iranian-Azerbaijani relations
are experiencing another period of tension, which is sometimes
interrupted by brief moments of relaxation (such as the liberation of
Azerbaijani poets, who were arrested in Iran, from prison). Despite
all the official assurances of fraternal feelings and accusations of
third parties of deliberate provocations in order to upset the friendly
relations between the two nations, Iran’s attitude to Azerbaijan is
more than cool: Iran does not forgive Azerbaijani close ties with
the West, especially Israel, and the secular nature of its development.

AZERI OPPOSITION SLAMS GEORGIAN GOVT. FOR FAVORING ARMENIA

November 5, 2012 – 20:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Policy line of the new Georgian government was
slammed at the sitting of Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP),
Vesti.Az reported citing the opposition party’s press service.

Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s government was criticized for openly
favoring Russia and Armenia, while also issuing anti-Azeri statements
despite Baku’s financial and moral aid to Tbilisi.

Ivanishvili was condemned for earlier declaring his friendship
with Azerbaijan, yet taking a contrary stance upon assuming Prime
Minister’s post.

Azerbaijan’s silence further strengthens Georgian government’s
anti-Azeri position, the statement said, urging to remind Ivanishvili
about “Baku’s strategic importance to Tbilisi.”

ARMENIA POSTS 3% DROP IN BIRTHRATE IN JANUARY – SEPTEMBER

November 5, 2012 – 18:04 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to the National Statistical Service of
Armenia, the urban population totaled 2 mln. 101 thous, with the
rural population totaling to 1 mln. 180 thous.

The average age of the resident population made up 35,3, 33.5 â~@~Sfor
men, and 36,9- for women.

The number of children born in Armenia in January – September 2012
totaled 30 906, declining by 3% as compared with the same period of
2011. The birthrate decreased by 0,4 per thousand to total 12.6â~@°.