Author: Babajanian Karo

Karabakh was, is, will be Armenian – President Sargsyan

news.am
March 10, 2012 | 13:15

YEREVAN. – The international recognition of the self-determination
right of the people of Karabakh (Artsakh) will be at the basis of the
peaceful regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and we will not
waver our vigilance in the Karabakh problem’s peaceful settlement
process, Armenian President and the ruling coalition’s Republican
Party of Armenia (RPA) Board Chairman Serzh Sargsyan said in his
address at RPA’s congress on Saturday.

`We will not waver our vigilance in the Nagorno-Karabakh problem’s
peaceful settlement process. Artsakh was, is, and will be Armenian.
The Republic of Armenia has provided and will continue to provide
assistance to Artsakh’s political and economic development.

The international recognition of the self-determination right of the
people of Artsakh will be at the basis of the peaceful regulation of
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and we will continue the activities toward
including the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as a full party in the ongoing
[peace] talks. The efforts by Armenia, Artsakh, and the Diaspora will
be directed toward the adoption of decisions – within international
organizations – that rule out the use of force in the problem’s
solution,’ Sargsyan stated.

Armenia’s President also stressed that diplomatic efforts alone are
insufficient to prevent hostile inroads. And the defense potential is
strengthened throughout this time.

`Imported and domestic weapons and equipment have been included. Today
the country has sufficient power and means to repel a likely
adversary. We will continue to make our defense potential comply with
modern standards. The army will become exemplary among the society,
too. [And] All current trends likewise attest that we will achieve
such standards very soon,’ Serzh Sargsyan noted.

Panel at UN Explores Women’s Empowerment and Sustainability in Armenia

by Nanore Barsoumian

March 9, 2012

NEW YORK (A.W.)-The status of rural women worldwide was the focus of
the 56thsession of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56), held
in the United Nations headquarters in New York from 27 Feb.-9 March.
The two-week event brought together members of governments and civil
society, rural women, and the media to analyze and report on the
progress of initiatives laid out in the Beijing Platform for Action,
which aims for gender equality. During this year’s session, the
Commission focused on the empowerment of rural women, their role in
development, and ending poverty and hunger. On March 2, as part of
these high-level panels, the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN,
together with Women’s World Banking, CSW NGO Forum, and the Armenian
Relief Society (ARS), held a panel discussion titled `From Empowerment
to Sustainability: Financing, Leadership, and Health for Rural Women.’

The panelists with members of the audience (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
The panelists included Amb. Garen Nazarian, the permanent
representative of Armenia to the UN and a former chair of CSW; Mary
Ellen Iskenderian, the president and CEO of Women’s World Banking
(WWB); Ambassador Meryl Frank, a former U.S. representative to CSW,
and current president and CEO of Makeda Global; and Stephanie Killian,
the chair of the ARS UN Committee and director of global resources for
J-Intersect. The event was moderated by Soon-Young Yoon, the chair of
CSW NGO Forum.

Below is a summary of what each panelist discussed.

Nazarian: `Present-day economic challenges as opportunities to
strengthen gender-responsive policies’

Nazarian began by saying that gender equality and the empowerment of
women are important aims both in themselves but also as a means for
achieving sustainable development goals.

`There is increasing recognition of the implications of a financial
and economic crisis on gender equality and development,’ he said.
`Women’s economic empowerment entails increasing women’s access to
economic and financial resources in a broad sense, including resources
generated at the national level with budgets, trade, and development
assistance, productive resources such as land and property, and social
protection, employment, as well as financial services such as savings,
credit, remittances, and transfers,’ he said, adding the latter was
particularly important for Armenia since two-thirds of its population
lives outside, and comprises the diaspora.

`Without access to economic resources a woman simply lacks protection,
and in particular rural women, who continue to be absent from key
decision-making processes shaping the allocation of economic and
financial resources and opportunities,’ he said.

To promote the empowerment of rural women, gender-sensitive labor
market regulations need to be in place, he argued, in addition to the
promotion of

Amb. Garen Nazarian (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
concepts and regulations that empower women to refuse unpaid
care-work. Land reform laws and land partitioning projects are also
critical, he noted.

`In some countries, including Armenia, the global financial crisis has
resulted in a decline in resources available for promoting gender
equality, and has caused a shift in priorities, unfortunately,
resulting in the diversion of funds from projects aimed at gender
equality promotion in rural areas. I think we should see the
present-day economic challenges as opportunities to strengthen
gender-responsive policies on the national level,’ Nazarian said.
`Because not addressing gender issues will only exacerbate the
existing crises.’

Frank: `Empowering women for local politics’

Passionate about empowering women, Frank described her involvement
throughout the world – with women MPs in Afghanistan, Jordan, and
Malawi; with basket weavers and widows in Kenya; and with women
interested in running for office in Morocco.

`I don’t travel as an American ambassador. I travel as a woman who’s
had experiences all over the world, and I want to share those
experiences with other women,’ she said.

Frank was asked to keynote the first national conference on women and
politics in Armenia in 2011.

`What I found in Armenia was odd. Women are very well educated in
Armenia. Women are very capable and confident in Armenia. But what was
different about Armenia was they had no representation in politics.
What I found in Armenia was that these women were smart and capable
and ready to hold office… There really was no real good reason why
Armenia had a problem with [having women in office],’ she said.

Frank then listed the following countries: Cambodia, Tunisia,
Tajikistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Uruguay, Dagestan,
Panama, and Burundi. She asked the audience whether they believed
Armenia ranked better, worse, or the same as the countries listed.

`They all rank better internationally than Armenia,’ she said.
`Armenia ranks 108 in political participation, out of 135 countries
studied by the World Economic Forum. This doesn’t make sense. Those of
you who know Armenia…let me ask you: Does this make sense?’

Amb. Meryl Frank (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
`No,’ responded members of the audience.

`You shouldn’t worry,’ continued Frank, `because Armenia ranks just
after Chad, and does better than Kuwait, Fiji, Bahrain, Qatar, and
Oman.’

She then compared the percentage of women parliamentarians in
Afghanistan and Armenia, at 26 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
She added that a group in Armenia was pushing for a 30 percent
women-in-parliament quota. Fortunately, she said, the quota is going
to be 20 percent in Armenia. Although welcoming that improvement, she
said similar efforts needed to be underway on the local level to
secure the appointment or election of women to local offices. `I
believe there are 13 mayors out of 588 municipalities that are women.
This is a problem because this is the breeding ground for women. This
is where women learn to govern,’ she said.

Frank, who has trained women around the world to legislate and govern,
explained the importance of a support structure for women politicians
in local offices, which ensures they are confident, experienced, and
effective once they reach the national level.

`When you look at this issue – the issue of women as members of
parliament, the issue of women governing – it’s very important not to
make the argument that this is about equality… justice or…human
rights, because in fact this is about having a better government,’ she
said. She then cited studies that show how boards function more
efficiently when women hold seats. `Women balance. Women tend to be
more risk-averse than men. So the idea here is that you have a balance
of perspectives on boards,’ she said.

Armenia is not as productive as it should be, and this is directly
related to the absence of female voices in government. Armenia has
more educated women than educated men, Frank explained, adding, `Even
in fields [such as] education, where 90 percent of the teachers are
women – this is true everywhere by the way – the minister is a man, and
the high-level positions are filled by men.’

Frank’s organization trains women, sharpens their governing skills,
and provides the government with a list of qualified women, `so they
can no longer say, `There are no qualified women.”

`My recommendations are that Armenia takes advantage of this
tremendous resource, that they look at women for local elected office,
that they look at women for national elected office, for local
appointed office, and national appointed office,’ concluded Frank.

Killian: `Access to health services a key component of fight against poverty’

Killian began by describing the work the ARS has done over the past
century. `From the beginning our creation as a humanitarian
organization captured the nature of the Armenian woman to care and
nurture, and her uncanny ability to organize and plan. These
qualities, however, are present in all women of the world, especially
rural women and those stuck in poverty, who must run their households,
oftentimes creating something out of nothing.’

In 2010, she said, as the ARS evaluated its 100 years of service, it
resolved to grow from a global charity to a sustainable philanthropic
organization.

She then explained the importance of health and wellbeing of women as
the foundation for independence and development. `Rural women
especially face great challenges due to location and mobility that
affect their basic human rights including access to food, water, and
sanitation. Rural populations are less educated, have less access to
healthcare, exhibit more chronic diseases, and are more likely to be
excluded from financial services,’ she said, adding that as a
caregiver and income generator, the challenges of rural women are even
higher, and medical expenses can place a tremendous strain on their
families.

`Access to health services and health protection is a key component of
the fight against poverty, as good health is a major driver of
economic development and a necessity to alleviate poverty,’ she said.

Stephanie Killian and ARS Executive Director Jirayr Beugekian (photo
by Nanore Barsoumian)
Killian then talked about the services provided by the ARS Mother and
Child Clinic in the Armenian village of Akhourian, founded in 1997;
the Birthing Center established there in 2005; and the dental clinic
built in 2008.

She then briefly spoke about microfinancing services. `Creating a
development equation of microfinance – including microcredit, savings,
and insurance – with investing in healthcare for all women living in
poverty will produce results that will positively impact all areas of
a woman’s life, her family, and her community. Financial inclusion and
healthcare are complementary and must be regarded in a comprehensive
solution to poverty. In some cases, delivering services in tandem,
like health education with credit service, increases the impact of
both.’

Iskenderian: `Financial empowerment’

Iskenderian spoke about Women’s World Banking and its 39 partner
institutions that provide financial services to women in 27 developing
countries.

Serving 26 million clients worldwide, 80 percent of whom are women,
WWB is focused on assisting financial institutions that target rural
women clients with services geared specifically to that gender.

Iskenderian talked about the various services WWB provides, from
credit services to savings, insurance, and pension products. She said
women interact more with their financial institutions than men do.
They also value time and convenience much more than men do.

`The financial institution that thinks about the financial products
and services with [women’s] life cycle needs – birth, birth of children,
building a house, getting married, the marriage of children, old age,
and unfortunately death – really are going to be much better aligned
with the ways that their female clients approach the financial
sector,’ she said.

Confidentiality is an `absolute essentiality’ for women, said
Iskenderian. `Women want to be able to save in a safe, secure place
and they view banks as being a place to do that. But they need to know
that their husbands, their family members, their neighbors, don’t know
that they’re saving and how much they’re saving,’ she said.

Financial education is the responsibility of the financial
institution, she said, as many rural women are illiterate.
Institutions have to bear in mind that rural women are less likely to
have access to property title or be able to pledge property as a
guarantee in applying for loan services that require collateral or
documentation, she said.

Iskenderian also spoke about the power of marketing, and how financial
institutions could project an image of empowerment and ambition that
would resonate

Mary Ellen Iskenderian (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
with women from different cultures.

Women often minimize or fail to recognize their own contributions to
the family income, she said. Referring to WWB’s market research in
Paraguay, she explained how husbands there would often farm, while
their wives tended to the chicken, sold the eggs in the market, and
made the salsa to sell. `They had all these ongoing products that were
earning money, but when we talked to them, they’d say… `I am just a
housewife, and I make no contribution financially to the household.”
What the team found, however, was that 70 percent of the incoming cash
was coming from the women’s eggs, chickens, and salsa.

WWB works with financial institutions `to look beyond women’s
self-description of what she’s contributing to the household,’
Iskenderian said, adding that `the financial institution that we’re
working with is so excited, they think they discovered this truly
hidden market, and they’ll have a differentiated advantage over other
financial institutions.’

Iskenderian also spoke about a health micro-insurance product that WWB
introduced in Jordan, where so many women were taking time away from
their businesses to care for a sick family member (the number one
reason worldwide, according to Iskenderian, that microenterprises were
being liquidated or de-capitalized). The policy charges `a fraction’
of what the women were saving every month for emergency needs, and in
return earns them a per diem up to 30 days to spend away from their
businesses, whether to care for a relative, or for their own sick
time. Since April 2010, Caretaker, the name of the product, sold
52,000 and received 2,100 claims.

***

(L-R) Stephanie Killian, Amb. Garen Nazarian, Mary Ellen Iskenderian,
Amb. Meryl Frank (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
In his closing remarks, Nazarian thanked the panelists and the
participants. `As a government we are open to these kinds of sincere
endeavors, discussions, and sometimes even criticism. That makes my
country different from those that Frank mentioned, and places Armenia
high on the list in the context of human rights and fundamental
freedoms,’ he said. `We will continue the practice of holding these
kinds of conferences and events in Armenia and outside Armenia to
improve public awareness and also provoke more discussions within the
society,’ he added.

ARS members and representatives of various NGOs from across the world
attended the event. Following the discussion, some participants and
panelists met at the Armenian Mission to the UN offices, where a
reception was held. Guests included Henriette Ahrens, the UNICEF
representative to Armenia.

PRESSE
Bernard-Henry Lévy « Génocide arménien : la faute du Conseil constitutionnel »
Le Point du 8 mars 2012 (n° 2060)

Armenews vous avait présenté le texte signé Bernard-Henry Lévy
programmé dans le bloc-notes du « Le Point » sorti jeudi 8 mars 2012
(n° 2060). Dans cet article, BHL, l’écrivain et philosophe tacle
l’impartialité proclamée des « sages » du Conseil constitutionnel dans
l’affaire de la loi de pénalisation du négationnisme du génocide
arménien. Un Conseil constitutionnel qui ne serait qu’une chambre de
développement des relations franco-turques par des ramifications
commerciales et intérêts stratégiques réciproques. Un rapport de
collusions d’intérêts dans lequel les Arméniens sont les grands
absents…et ils vont le payer cher ! Et si la Justice n’était qu’un
grand marchandage de rapports de force et d’intérêts réciproques ?

Nous vous présentons ci-dessous l’article de BHL « Génocide arménien :
la faute du Conseil constitutionnel ».

Krikor Amirzayan

Le Point du 8 Mars 2012 le Bloc-notes de Bernard-Henry Lévysamedi 10 mars 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

By conjuring the Holocaust, Netanyahu brought Israel closer to war with Iran

06.03.12

Haaretz’s editor-in-chief says that the Prime Minister publicly
booby-trapped himself to war with Iran by comparing the need to strike
its nuclear program with the Jewish request to bomb Auschwitz.
By Aluf Benn

Get Haaretz on iPhone Get Haaretz on Android In his speech to the
AIPAC conference Monday night Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved
closer than ever to the point of no return en route to war with Iran.

Benjamin Netanyahu talking at AIPAC conference Monday

Photo by: Reuters
Netanyahu compared Iran to Nazi Germany, its nuclear facilities to
death camps, and his current trip to the White House to a desperate
plea to former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt by the U.S. Jewish
community to bomb Auschwitz.

The request, as Netanyahu told a sympathetic AIPAC crowd, was denied,
using justifications similar to those used today by those who object
to a military strike against Iran.

“Israel has patiently waited for the international community to
resolve this issue. We’ve waited for diplomacy to work, we’ve waited
for sanctions to work. None of us can afford to wait much longer,”
Netanyahu warned, adding that, as Israeli premier, he would “never let
Israel live under the shadow of annihilation.”

It was the same reason former Prime Minister Menachem Begin used to
bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981: preventing the possibility
that Jewish children would face the peril of another Holocaust. Now
it’s the turn of his successor, Netanyahu, to remove the danger
hovering over the heads of Jewish children.

Netanyahu was in the habit of comparing the Iranian nuclear threat to
the Holocaust back when he was opposition leader, claiming that the
western powers were not doing enough to thwart it. But, since coming
back to power, three years ago, he has refrained from making these
kinds of statements, opting for a vaguer rhetoric and asking his
ministers to keep the fervor down. That vagueness dissipated on
Monday. In his speech to AIPAC, coming mere hours after his meeting
with U.S. President Barack Obama in the White House, Netanyahu
escalated the tone, both in his reference to a clock that was running
out, and in his expressed disappointment from U.S.-led diplomatic
sanctions.

The Holocaust talk has but one meaning: they force Israel to go to war
and strike the Iranians. The justifications against an attack, weighty
as those may be, turn to fumes when put up against the Warsaw Ghetto,
Auschwitz, and Treblinka. No calculus of missiles falling on Tel Aviv,
rising oil prices and economic crisis can hold water when compared to
genocide. If that’s the situation, the option of sitting quietly,
expecting the “world” to neutralize Iran, or of a stable balance of
terror, becomes nonexistent. If Netanyahu doesn’t act and Iran
achieves nuclear weapons capabilities, he’ll go down in history as a
pathetic loud mouth. As a poor man’s Churchill.

But Netanyahu booby-trapped himself back when he was still making his
way to Washington, when he presented Iran with a public ultimatum:
dismantle the underground enrichment facility near Qom, cease all
enrichment activity, and remove the medium-grade uranium from Iranian
territory. He realizes that the Iranian government will never agree to
those terms, which seems more like setting up a casus belli that a
reasonable diplomatic demand. But Netanyahu’s Holocaust speech at the
AIPAC conference went much further than that.

Obama asked Netanyahu to avoid inflammatory statements in regards to
Iran, to keep gas prices down in America’s gas station. It’s an
important issue when trying to rebuild the American economy as well
as, of course, his reelection bid. And while Obama’s thinking may seem
reasonable, he’s living in an entirely different world than that of
Israel’s prime minister. From the White House, Iran looks like a
strategic problem, not as a Holocaust. Thus, time isn’t of the
essence, and diplomacy and sanctions should still be given a chance.
Netanyahu is motivated by other things.

It’s possible to detect enough loopholes that would allow Netanyahu to
escape an imminent decision to go to war. Netanyahu has a political
interest to aid his Republican friends against Obama, so his statement
that “there wasn’t a decision to attack” seems more like an attempt to
stir things up ahead of the U.S. presidential elections than a command
to Israel Air Force units. There are those who believe he’s just a
second-guessing coward who would never take it upon himself to
initiate a war. It could be that all those interpretations are true.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu took on a public obligation on Monday that
would make it very hard for him to back away from the path of war with
Iran.

OCCRP Reporter Blackmailed

HETQ
22:48, March 7, 2012

By Valerie Hopkins

OCCRP regional coordinator and Radio Liberty Baku Bureau’s
correspondent and radio hostKhadija Ismaylova has been blackmailed
with photos purportedly showing the reporter engaged in sexual
relations.

Ismaylova received an envelope stamped from a Moscow, Russia address
containing pictures that the sender said showed Khadija with an
unidentified man.

The package included 6 pictures of an intimate nature and a note that
read, `Whore, behave. Or you will be defamed.’

Ismaylova will not confirm or deny the authenticity of the photos
saying that someone’s personal life is nobody’s business.

This is not the first time Ismaylova, who frequently investigates and
reports on corruption, has been subject to government attempts to
silence her.

U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by whistleblower site Wikileaks show
that the Azeri government tried in the past to discredit Radio Liberty
and Ismaylova.

In a January 23, 2012 cable detailing a meeting between Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza, U.S. officials say Aliyev requested that Ismaylova be
removed from her position as Bureau Chief because she was `a long-time
opposition activist who considers herself to be an enemy of the
government.’

According to the cable, the President said the support for Radio
Liberty and Ismaylova was unusual for a strategic partner. `The
President said that they were looking for a simple change in direction
at Radio Liberty,’ the cable read.

Ismaylova’s colleagues at OCCRP said the organization supports
Ismaylova and condemned the tactics.

`Khadija is one of the best and most courageous investigative
journalists in our network. She is uncovering high level corruption in
Azerbaijan and she is an inspiration to a new generation of
investigative reporters,’ said Paul Radu, OCCRP Executive Director.

`This is a clear attempt to intimidate a journalist who is simply
doing her job. We support Khadija and will continue to support her
work,’ said Drew Sullivan, OCCRP Advising Editor.

`It should be made clear to those in Azerbaijan who are behind this,
that many reporters will support Khadija and help her and other
Azerbaijani reporters root out those corrupt persons behind this and
other crimes against the people.’

Another cable from October 2008 raised alarm that pressure on the
media increased in Azerbaijan following Aliyev’s ascendancy to the
presidency following his father Heydar Aliyev’s death.

`Media contacts state that media in Azerbaijan has worsened under a
`personally insecure’ president, who has condoned a clampdown on
influential, critical media outlets. They point to a number of
factors behind the gradual, but steady, decline in media freedom since
Ilham Aliyev took office in 2003, including: GOAJ [Government of
Azerbaijan] harassment of journalists, the judiciary’s lack of
independence, a limited advertising market that is dominated by
pro-government publications, self-censorship, and a lack of
professionalism in Azerbaijan’s media industry.’

Ismaylova says she is not the first journalist to be a victim of
similar intimidation.

In October 2010, just weeks before parliamentary elections, a
pro-government station, TV Lider, attracted public ire when it
broadcast a video clip of a person from an opposition newspaper
engaged in explicit sexual activity.

It was widely perceived as a government attempt to discredit the
opposition in the run up to the elections. The National Television
and Radio Council took no action to condemn the broadcast or the
invasion of privacy.

A recent example occurred last year when two reporters for the daily
Azadliq were attacked and beaten within ten days of each other.

National Catholic Reporter
March 7 2012

Don’t lose hope, even in hardship, pope tells Middle East Christians

Mar. 07, 2012
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians in the Middle East
not to lose hope despite the serious difficulties they face.

“I extend my prayerful thoughts to the regions in the Middle East,
encouraging all the priests and faithful to persevere with hope
through the serious suffering that afflicts these beloved people,” he
said.

The pope made his remarks when he greeted Armenian Patriarch Nerses
Bedros XIX Tarmouni of Beirut and Armenian bishops from around the
world attending their synod in Rome.

At the end of the general audience Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square,
the pope expressed his “sincere gratitude” for Armenian Catholics’
fidelity to their heritage and traditions, and to the successor of St.
Peter.

Such fidelity has always sustained the faithful throughout “the
innumerable trials in history,” he said.

The majority of Catholics in the Middle East belong to Eastern
Catholic churches — the Armenian, Chaldean, Coptic, Maronite or
Melkite churches.

In his catechesis, the pope said oftentimes it seems God is silent,
especially during times of great trial and difficulty.

“Often in our prayers we find ourselves before God’s silence and we
almost feel a sense of abandonment; it seems that God isn’t listening
or answering,” he said.

But that silence “is not a sign of his absence.”

“The Christian knows well that the Lord is present; he listens even in
the darkness of pain, refusal and loneliness,” he said.

God knows what each and every person needs and desires even before
it’s voiced in prayer, and God’s silence “invites us to deeper faith
and trust in his promises,” he said.

Silence plays an important part in everyone’s relationship with God, he said.

It is only by carving out quiet time where outside disturbances are
avoided and an inner silence is cultivated that God’s voice can be
heard and meaning found, the pope said.

However, that is proving to be very difficult to do today, he said.

This is not an era that fosters silence and reflection, rather
“sometimes there’s the impression that people are afraid to detach
themselves even for a moment from the flood of words and images
filling every day,” he said.

He said Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in silence and how to
create a space of inner calm deep inside so that God can dwell there,
so his word can take root there, and “so one’s love for him radiates
out to our mind, our heart and animates our life.”

At the end of his audience talk, the last of a series of talks on the
prayer life of Jesus, the pope said he was praying for all those
affected by a March 4 train wreck in southern Poland.

Speaking in Polish, the pope said he was praying for those who died in
the catastrophe and that those who were injured would have a speedy
recovery.

Sixteen people were killed and 58 others injured, many seriously, near
the town of Szczekociny when two trains traveling at high speed were
mistakenly on the same track and collided head-on.

The Catholic Spirit
March 7 2012

Vatican News
ARMENIAN SYNOD: BEAR GENEROUS AND JOYFUL WITNESS TO CHRIST

At the end of his catechesis during this morning’s general audience,
the Holy Father addressed some words of greeting to His Beatitude
Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, and
to bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church who have come to Rome for a
Synod. Benedict XVI spoke of his `sincere gratitude’ for the
patriarch’s faithfulness to his Christian traditions and to the
Successor of the Apostle Peter.

`I accompany your Synod with my fervent prayers and with an apostolic
blessing, in the hope that it may favour communion and understating
among pastors, helping them to guide, with renewed evangelical
fervour, Armenian Catholics along the path of generous and joyful
witness to Christ and His Church. . . . My prayerful thoughts also go
to the regions of the Middle East, and I encourage pastors and
faithful to persevere with hope amidst the great suffering which
afflicts those dear peoples.’

Finally the Pope addressed greetings in various languages to the
pilgrims gathered before him in St. Peter’s Square. Speaking Polish he
mentioned the victims of a recent rail accident in the country. `I
pray for the eternal repose of the deceased,’ he said, `and for the
speedy return to health of the injured.’

Red Cross calls for more action to help relatives of missing persons

news.am
March 07, 2012 | 19:35

Although the vast majority of people who go missing in connection with
armed conflict are men, the mothers, wives and other family members
they leave behind also suffer enormously and often face severe
hardship. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling for more
action to help these women meet their specific needs and regain
dignity and hope, while emphasizing the responsibility of parties to a
conflict to search for the missing and provide information for the
families.

`Women all over the world have shown an extraordinary capacity to
overcome hardship and take their fate into their own hands,’ said
Maria-Teresa Garrido Otoya, the ICRC’s adviser on issues relating to
women and war. `Given half a chance, they find novel and effective
ways of providing for themselves and their families.’

Beyond the anguish of not knowing what happened to their husbands,
sons or other relatives, women and girls in these situations typically
face daunting practical difficulties. Because in many cases they have
lost a breadwinner, they struggle to provide such basic necessities as
food for their families and education for their children.

`They also face legal and administrative challenges when it comes to
such things as claiming their husband’s property or their eligibility
for public assistance to ease their families’ economic hardship,’ said
Ms Garrido Otoya.

`In addition, they are often stigmatized in their communities. For
example, not knowing whether their spouses are alive or dead, many do
not dress or behave like widows. Their communities are unable to
understand their behaviour, leaving them with no one to turn to for
support.’

The ICRC endeavours to provide a whole range of support to address the
specific needs of women with missing loved ones. In Libya, families
are still approaching the organization on a daily basis in the hope
that it can help find out what became of their loved ones. In Iraq,
the ICRC supports women whose husbands have gone missing by helping
them set up small income-generating activities, like running a shop or
working as a hairdresser.

In Armenia, for the mothers, sisters and daughters of the missing the
daily endeavours are often coupled with the desire to preserve the
place of their loved ones in the community.

`The families often initiate and organise commemoration of special
days dedicated to the missing loved ones, naming classrooms after the
missing relatives at schools where they have once studied,
establishing museums and erecting monuments in their communities,’
Roubina Tahmazian, Psychosocial Delegate of the ICRC Delegation in
Armenia said. The ICRC also assists in bringing the families of
missing in Armenia together, encouraging them to find more ways to
honour their loved ones and enhancing mutual courage to better cope
with their difficult situation.

Under international humanitarian law, everyone has the right to know
what happened to missing relatives. It is the responsibility of
parties to a conflict to search for the missing and to provide the
families with information on their fate, and this obligation continues
after the end of the armed conflict. The authorities must see to it
that the needs of the families of missing persons are met. The most
effective and appropriate way of doing so is to provide women heading
households with the tools to fend for themselves without outside help.

Kushkyan On Quality And Prices Of Medicine

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:40:20 – 07/03/2012

The recent breaches in the health care were mainly determined by
legislatives gaps relating to the procurement of medicine, said the
minister of health Kushkyan during the briefing in the government in
response to a question on the scandalous revelations by the Committee
for the Protection of Economic Competition.

`We will correct it together with other agencies, and I’m sure we will
settle everything and will rule out further abuse, intentional or
unintentional,’ said the minister of health.

He noted that one of the priorities for 2012 is to ensure control on
the medicine market. They will try to keep prices at the same level.
Moreover, they will try to reduce the prices.

Kushkyan said competition is needed in the sphere of public health.
`Those who will work more efficiently, who will supply better medicine
will win tenders. In this case, we don’t deal with monopolies. I think
it is normal that who works better and imports better medicine to
Armenia, they are in the first places’, he said.

As to expired medicine appearing in pharmacies from time to time, the
minister said that no one imports expired medicine. `It is possible
that the rules of storage are violated, in the result of which
medicine loses its activeness.’

Harutyun Kushkyan also said that the medicine agency is surveying the
market of medicine. The society will be informed about the results.

Sabine Freizer: New War Between Armenia and Azerbaijan Would Be Long
and Hard
[image: PDF]

BAKU. March 6, 2012: Turan News Agency interviewed Sabine Freizer, the
Director of the Europe Program of International Crisis Group (ICG),
discussing the possibility of the renewal of the active war between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

ICG has just published a big report on the problems of the internally
displaced persons (IDP) in Azerbaijan. Can you briefly describe the main
problems of this category of people? What are the recommendations of your
organization to the government of Azerbaijan ?

The International Crisis Group published a report on 27 February
entitled Tackling
Azerbaijan’s IDP Burden where we emphasized that the government has
significantly improved its care of this population of approximately 600,000
over the past five years. Though many still face precarious existences, the
state has been investing heavily in new housing and increasing benefits. In
a very poignant sign of change, the notorious railcar and tent camps have
closed.

At the same time even though the government has constructed new housing for
over 100,000 people some complain of poor construction and infrastructure,
lack of community participation in planning and limited access to land or
job opportunities in the new communities. IDPs should be more effectively
integrated into decision-making about housing, services, and other
community needs, as well as contingency planning for emergencies and
confidence-building measures (CBMs).

Azerbaijan’s IDPs’ ability to express their interests is limited by their
inability to elect municipal representatives. The some 40,000 from
Nagorno-Karabakh are in principle represented as a group by the Azerbaijani
Community of Nagorno-Karabakh Social Union, but its leadership is not fully
popularly elected, and the 560,000 displaced from the occupied districts
around Nagorno-Karabakh are not well represented. The political voice of
IDPs thus remains weak and the government should allow IDPs, while their
villages and towns remain occupied, to vote for municipal councils in their
places of temporary residence.

To protect IDPs and other civilians along the LoC, the Azerbaijan
authorities should also agree with the Armenian government and the de facto
authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh to an expanded interim OSCE monitoring
role, to an OSCE proposal to remove snipers from the LoC and to set up an
incident investigation mechanism, as well as to immediately cease military
exercises near the LoC and advancing trench positions

Several weeks ago the French Senate adopted a law on criminalization of
denying the Armenian genocide. This decision coincided with campaign or the
wave of protests in Azerbaijan with demand to exclude France from the OSCE
Minsk group. Do you think it is correct for France to be in a Minsk group,
insisting that Paris is impartial moderator in resolving the conflict? And
the second: do you believe that Azerbaijan can make serious steps to
exclude France from the Minsk group? Is it is interests of Baku if Paris is
excluded from the Minsk Group?

The French Constitutional Court has overturned the law on criminalization
of genocide denial and I am convinced that the passage of this law had much
more to do with internal French politics, and the presence of some 500,000
ethnic Armenians in France, than on the country’s view of Turkey or
Armenia.

We are about to reach the 20th year anniversary of the Minsk Group and I
think that it is totally fair and appropriate to question whether this is
the best format through which to negotiation a solution to the conflict.
However I don’t think that the law on the criminalization of the genocide
means that France is pro-Armenian and anti-Azerbaijani. Few in France would
ever link Baku to the tragic events of 1915. They may not even realize that
Azerbaijanis have any relations to Turkic populations. If anything this
would be a good time to remind Paris that Azerbaijan still has 600,000 IDPs
with no permanent solutions to their plight in sight.

I think that it will be very difficult to change the co-chairs of the Minsk
Group within the current OSCE format. Would with decide on such a change?
The OSCE chairperson in office, all Minsk Group members or all OSCE
participating states? In any event it is highly unlikely that a clear
consensus would be achieved and first and foremost European Union member
states should themselves support such a change, together with Baku and
Yerevan.

What is your assessment of combat readiness of Azeri and Armenian army?
Can Azerbaijan win if the war resumes?

A year ago International Crisis Group published a report called Armenia and
Azerbaijan Preventing War where we warned about the possibility of an
accidental work as both countries are engaged in an arms race, escalating
front-line clashes, vitriolic war rhetoric and there is a virtual breakdown
in the Minsk Group peace talks.

Some people think in Azerbaijan and Armenia that they can win a quick war.
But we demonstrated in our report that any war would be long and hard.
Azerbaijan’s armed forces are estimated at nearly 95,000, Armenia’s and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s at around 70,000. The two sides’ arsenals are
increasingly deadly, sophisticated and capable of sustaining a protracted
war. Both can hit large population centres, critical infrastructure and
communications.

For Azerbaijan, the main problem would be that Armenian forces have the
tactical advantage, as their forces control most of the high ground around
Nagorno-Karabakh. Any offensive beyond Fizuli and Jebrail would be
literally and figuratively an uphill battle over difficult mountain terrain
for Azerbaijan, requiring at least triple superiority in troops and arms.

What could be the role of the Great Powers in this case: Russia, US,
Turkey, Iran? Which one of them would support either side of the conflict
and why?

It is very possible that the regional powers would be dragged into the war
even though Russia and Turkey are very close strategic allies.

Armenia would likely try to secure Russian military involvement by invoking
CSTO mutual defence commitments, even if direct Russian military
participation would be far from

Guaranteed. Russia’s Gyumri base agreement was modified in August 2010,
when an extension was signed, to include security guarantees against
general threats to Armenian security even if it does not fully clarify
Moscow’s military obligation if war resumes over Nagorno-Karabakh.

On August 16, 2010, days before the upgraded Russian-Armenian military deal
was announced, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a strategic partnership and
mutual assistance agreement, stipulating they will support each other
`using all possibilities’ in the case of a military attack or `aggression’
against the other. The agreement is not public so it is impossible to say
what would happen if there was a resumption of war but clearly there would
be much public support in Turkey for assistance to Azerbaijan.

I don’t believe that the US or the EU would get directly involved. But a
resumption of hostilities would seriously undermine U.S. and EU energy
interests. Both seek to develop the Southern Caucasus as an alternative
source and transit route for energy imports to Europe. A full-scale war
would also threaten the Caucasus air corridor that accounts for nearly 70
per cent of all NATO’s military transport flights to bases in Central Asia,
as well as the alternative overland supply route to Afghanistan via
Azerbaijan

Do you believe that Armenians and Azeris in principle can resolve the
conflict peacefully? If yes, why they couldn’t do it in 20 years? If not
–
what is the main obstacles? What is the main reason which is blocking
efforts in adopting Basic principles of resolution of the conflict? Do you
believe that Baku can agree to a referendum in Karabakh?

I believe that Armenian and Azerbaijan can in resolve this conflict and the
Basic Principles offer an excellent blueprint to move forward. But clearly
there is a lack of trust between the sides, at all levels from the
Presidents to the average people. This makes an agreement on the Basic
Principles much more difficult because it calls for a long term process of
return, rehabilitation, and normalization, not an immediate solution to the
conflict. The sides need to trust that after a decade or two of slow but
steady progress they will be able to agree on the final status of NK. To
start this process they need much trust and confidence. It is not as though
the international community was just coming in and imposing a solution.

At this point, Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot agree on the future status of
Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenians of course want a clear perspective for an
independent Nagorno-Karabakh (in return for much of the surrounding
occupied territories), while Baku says that NK will remain part of the
Azerbaijan. The Basic Principles try to delay any decision on status, but
both sides constantly try to include something on status to secure their
position.

Azerbaijan has used different formulations suggesting that it can agree on
a vote on NK status. The problem is not the notion of a referendum or a
vote. The problem is in the details of what question will be asked, where
the vote will be held, who will vote, will a vote in NK have to be followed
up by one in Azerbaijan to be valid=85

What do you think about the proposal to establish a new format of
international moderators instead of the OSCE Minsk Group?

As I said earlier twenty years after the setting up of the Minsk Group it
is appropriate to ask whether it is effective. Clearly it needs to be more
transparent and do more to build up trust between the sides. Does it need
to be replaced all together by another mechanism? Perhaps. But who can
replace the biggest regional powers: Russia, the US and through France, the
EU? This question will also be the topic of a future Crisis Group report
(Turan).