Author: Babajanian Karo

Mediamax, Armenia
Aug 21 2012

Clashes in Syria got closer to the Armenian districts over the past days

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Over the past days, the armed clashes in Syria got
closer to the Armenian districts not only in Aleppo but also in other
cities.

Zhirayar Raisian, spokesman for the Berio diocese (Aleppo), stated
this in his interview to “Yerkir Media” Armenian TV channel.

According to him, a bomb blasted at Hamshli Sevan street last Saturday
forming a huge crater.

“According to the information of the local media, over the past 2-3
days, the army re-took the control over the Kesab-Hayavan point
populated with Armenians and located on the border with Turkey. Here
clashes between the Syrian army and rebels were registered recently”,
Raisian reported.

According to him, there are clashes between the army and rebels in
Armenian districts on Sundays. The clashes reached Jdjeide district
which is famous as a district close to the National Diocese of Aleppo.

“After these incidents, Armenians don’t live in the districts but
there is a historic Armenian church of Forty Martyrs. The Armenian
lyceum Kilikio is located several districts away. There are numerous
shops of Armenian jewelers in this district”, the spokesman for the
diocese said.

He added that there were clashes in Suleymania, Midan and other
Armenian districts as well yesterday. There were also battles near the
Armenian Sahakyan lyceum where a Japanese corresponded was killed.

There are no casualties and wounded in the Armenian community.

Will the US Punish Armenia?

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012 | Posted by Ara Khachatourian

Reportedly Clinton warned Sarkisian during her June visit

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

The warped State Department-hatched Turkey-Armenia Protocols did not yield
the necessary results for the US, nor have efforts to strong-arm Armenia
into making dangerous concessions on the Karabakh front, so the US has
renewed an old `concern’ by alleging that Iran is using Armenia to for
financial transactions that might violate international sanctions on Tehran
over its nuclear program.

An exclusive report by Reuters Tuesday, citing a nebulous `Western
intelligence report’ and quoting anonymous diplomatic sources, claimed
that Iran is seeking financial alternatives `in countries that do not
work according to the dictates of the West’ is looking to expand its
banking foothold in Armenia to allegedly deceive Western governments
that have been attempting to curtail Iranian banking activities
worldwide to thwart Iran’s nuclear program.

The so-called `Western intelligence report,’ according to Reuters, has
singled out the Yerevan-based ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, one of the largest
in Armenia, as one of Iran’s principal targets. Reuters also spoke to an
anonymous Western UN diplomat who confirmed that ACBA was `a bank that has
come up in connection with Iran.’ He declined to provide details of any
potentially illicit ACBA transactions linked to Iran, said Reuters.

This fracas has prompted the Armenian Central Bank to issue a blunt denial,
echoing earlier statements by ACBA officials, who in the Reuters report,
vehemently denied the allegations that the financial institution is being
used by Iran for illicit activities.

`The Central Bank of Armenia obligates all banks and financial institutions
in the Republic of Armenia to scrutinize their transactions, in order to
avoid any possible involvement in transactions considered unacceptable by
the international community,’ said a statement issued by the CBA.

`We don’t have any relationship with Iran,’ The ACBA chief executive
Stepan Gishian told Reuters. `We never have, we don’t now and
furthermore we don’t plan on becoming a channel for financing Iran.
What you’re saying is complete nonsense.’

Furthermore, recent news reports indicate that Armenia has been following
the mandates set forth by the sanctions imposed both on Iran and Syria,
since Syrian and Iranian nationals of Armenian descent have experienced
difficulty opening bank accounts in Armenia, because of their citizenship.
This is especially disheartening to Armenians who are leaving Syria due to
the crisis there and are experiencing hurdles in establishing themselves in
Armenia.

The Reuters reports does state that Turkey and the United Arab Emirates
remain Iran’s largest banking connections, but claims that due to US
pressure, especially the government of Turkey has become more vigilant in
its business with Iran.

Reportedly, President Serzh Sarkisian was cautioned by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton during her visit in June to Armenia about US concerns over
the Iran’s interests in Armenia.

Iran remains one of Armenia’s largest trading partners with a reported $1
billion in trade. Asbarez has extensively reported about the intense desire
by Armenia and Iran to strengthen their strategic partnership through
varied projects, including the construction of an oil pipeline and a
highway that would connect Iran’s port of Bandar Abbas with Batumi in
Georgia, thus providing a direct link for Armenia to a seaport.

Evidently, this organic neighborly and centuries-old relationship between
Armenia and Iran does not sit well with the US and its Western allies, who
are keen on tightening the noose around Iran’s neck because of concerns
over its nuclear program and be damned whatever stands in their way.

However justified those concerns might be, Armenia should not be penalized
by the US, which in its efforts to police the world, is bullying nations to
conform to its standards.

If the US scrutinized its own domestic financial system as meticulously as
it does other nations’ perhaps the loopholes that allowed for the collapse
of the banking system and wide-spread corruption in this country would have
been avoided.

Moreover, if the US went as far as to caution Armenia, it has not lifted a
finger to force Turkey and Azerbaijan to lift their blockade of Armenia,
which has been in place since 1993 and in international legal circles is
considered an act of aggression or war. Instead the US has concocted
convoluted schemes – the Protocols and policy on Karabakh – that abets Turkey
to continue its denial of the Genocide and face history and diminishes the
sacred principle of self-determination.

The Reuter report is a harbinger of things to come. The failed approaches
by the US to address concerns in the South Caucasus have now taken on a
worrisome tone. How far will the US go to force its misplaced policies on
other nations, especially Armenia?

Iran looks to Armenia to skirt bank sanctions – Reuters

tert.am
10:17 • 21.08.12

By Louis Charbonneau
United Nations

With international sanctions squeezing Iran, the Islamic Republic is
seeking to expand its banking foothold in the Caucasus nation of
Armenia to make up for difficulties in countries it used to rely on to
do business, according to diplomats and documents.

Iran’s growing interest in its neighbour Armenia, a mountainous,
landlocked country of about 3.3 million people, comes at a time of
rising international isolation for Tehran and increasing scrutiny by
Western governments and intelligence agencies of Iranian banking ties
worldwide as they attempt to stifle the country’s nuclear program.

The most recent example is British bank Standard Chartered, which has
been in the spotlight due to US charges that it hid from US regulators
and shareholders some $250 billion (159 billion pounds) of
transactions tied to Iran.

An expanded local-currency foothold in a neighbor like Armenia, a
former Soviet republic which has close trade ties to Iran and is
working hard to forge closer links to the European Union, could make
it easier for Tehran to obfuscate payments to and from foreign clients
and deceive Western intelligence agencies trying to prevent it from
expanding its nuclear and missile programs.

Armenian officials denied illicit banking links to Iran.

While the four rounds of UN sanctions remain limited, with only two
Iran banks blacklisted by the Security Council, the United States and
European Union have implemented much tougher restrictions, sanctioning
dozens of banks and other firms and making it increasingly difficult
for Tehran to conduct business in U.S. dollars and euros.

A UN panel of experts that monitors compliance with the sanctions
against Tehran recently submitted a report to the U.N. Security
Council’s Iran sanctions committee that concluded Iran was constantly
searching for ways to skirt restrictions on its banking sector.

“One state bordering Iran informed the Panel of requests from Iran to
open new financial institutions,” the report said. “The requests were
not pursued apparently because of that country’s burdensome
legislation.”

Several UN diplomats familiar with the panel’s work confirmed that the
unnamed state was Armenia, where Iran already has banking ties.

Despite Armenia’s denials of illegal banking arrangements, Iran has
not given up trying to expand in the country, the diplomats said, and
US officials have repeatedly cautioned Armenian colleagues to tighten
financial controls.

TURQUIE
Laurent Fabius estime possible la discussion d’un projet de loi sur la
pénalisation de la négation du génocide arménien à Paris

Le ministre français des Affaires étrangères Laurent Fabius croit
qu’une autre discussion sur le projet de loi criminalisant la négation
du génocide arménien est possible à Paris.

En réponse aux remarques d’un journaliste turc affirmant que le
président français François Hollande était favorable à un projet de
loi sur la pénalisation de la négation du génocide arménien Laurent
Fabius a noté que Sarkozy et Hollande ont publié de telles
déclarations au cours de leur campagne électorale et que dans le futur
une nouvelle discussion serait possible.

`J’espère que les autres décisions seront dépourvus d’émotion,` a-t-il dit.

mardi 21 août 2012,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

Newly elected US president will not recognize Armenian Genocide – expert

news.am
August 20, 2012 | 22:16

YEREVAN. – Regardless of the fact whom the Armenian community of the
United States will support, the newly elected President anyway will
not recognize the Armenian Genocide, expert Stepan Grigoryan told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

`The Armenian community will again be given promises that in case of
supporting a particular candidate, the Armenian Genocide will be
recognized. However, the promises will again be only empty promises,’
said Grigoryan, Armenian Analytical Centre on Globalization and
Regional Cooperation Director.

He explained that the situation is repeated not because Americans do
not want to recognize the genocide, they are just acting in the
interests of their state.

`The situation is mainly conditioned by Turkey’s great role in the
region. The U.S. prefers not to damage relations with Turkey rather
than comfort Armenian community,’ he emphasized.

Armenian Prime Minister awards mountaineers who climbed Mount Ararat

news.am
August 20, 2012 | 18:57

YEREVAN.- Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan hosted a group of
mountaineers, who had made pilgrimage to Mount Ararat. The group
presented a video about their pilgrimage.

The initiator of the meeting, publicist Zori Balayan welcomed
mountaineers’ mission, adding that apart from being a holy mount,
Ararat is also a homeland for every Armenian.

For their patriotic move Tigran Sargsyan handed over an honorary
certificate to mountaineers Aramayis Sedrakyan, Never Avetisyan, Anna
Martikyan, Karen Sahakyan, Tigran Poghosyan, Armen Chilingaryan, Zaven
Nazaryah and Marine Vahradyan.

Expert: Turkey is not interested in preserving influential Armenian
community in Syria

arminfo
Monday, August 20, 17:29

Turkey is not interested in preserving the influential Armenian
community in Syria, Orientalist Vahram Ter-Matevosyan said at a press
conference in Yerevan on Monday.

Though official Ankara made no official statements on this topic, it
would be much easier for it to deal with Syria, where the Armenians
would not have the levers they had before the political crisis in this
Arab country. Ter-Matevosyan pointed out that the problems of the
Armenian community living in Syria are getting more and more obvious
with every passing day due to the aggravation of the situation and
danger of coming of Islamic radicals to power, which
are hostile towards the religious minorities.

He added that Turkey will undertake no open actions against the
Armenian community and Syrian authorities. Ankara secretly supports
the opposition, he added. In the meantime, the expert thinks that
Turkey may make an incursion into the territory of Syria under the
pretence of disactivation of the Kurdish labor party, however, in this
case the territory of Turkey cannot become an arena of military
actions for Turkey to support the rebels.

To note, the Armenian community in Syria numbered about 100,000 people
until very recently. However, due to the tense military and political
situation in Syria, Armenians started leaving Syria for Armenia.

Armenian chess players won in Tehran

Monday,
August 20

Armenian Youth National Team (GMs Hrant Melkumyan, Robert
Hovhannisyan, Arman Pashikian, Zaven Andriasian, Avetik Grigoryan)
beat Iranian National Olympic Team with 34,5:15,5 in the friend match
that was held in Tehran, Iran. The leader of the Iranian team was GM
Ehsan Ghaem Maqhami.

TODAY, 12:52

Aysor.am

Presidential rule in Turkey won’t be more democratic – expert

August 20, 2012 – 13:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Representative of the Institute of Oriental Studies
at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Vahram Ter-Matevosyan,
commented on the recent activity of Turkish Prime Minister and leader
of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, who pushes for presidential rule in the country.

`Transition to presidential rule will not make this country more
democratic,’ Ter-Matevosyan said.

According to the expert, Erdogan’s presidential model will be built
like Russia’s, where the power is in hands of the president and the
party led by him.

Besides, Ter-Matevosyan said, the growing opposition from the
incumbent President Abdullah Gul and Vice-President Bulent Arinc can
hamper Erdogan’s plans.

`The party’s meeting which is scheduled for September 30 will also be
of great importance, as the members will focus on the charter will
prohibits MPs and ministers from running for the third term. Erdogan
supports the provision while dozens of senior party members like Ali
Babacan and Egemen Bagis are opposed to it,’ he said.

Ter-Matevosyan, meanwhile, presumed that the conflict might be solved
through proposing mayoral posts to Babacan and Bagis.

Sedrak Mamulyan: Honey and fruit festival is a peculiar response of
Armenia to the world and, particularly, to UNESCO

arminfo
Monday, August 20, 14:17

Honey and fruit festival is a peculiar response of Armenia to the
world and, particularly, to UNESCO, Sedrak Mamulyan, Head of the
Public Organization “For Development and Preservation of Armenian
Cuisine Traditions” told ArmInfo when commenting of Georgia’s
intention to introduce itself as a center of honey and wine
production.

“UNESCO must not be the major goal of Armenia, for it is the most
corrupt organization and its main donor is Turkey,” he said. Mamulyan
informed ArmInfo that events will be organized as part of Tavush
Religious Revival Fund during which cooks from Yerevan and Tavush will
exchange experience. It is noteworthy that a number of similar
festivals will be held in Armenia till the end of the year, in
particular, a barbeque fest will be held in Akhtala on September 8, a
wine fest will be held on October 6. The year will end with a
“ghapama fest” on December 15.