Author: Badalian Vardan

ARFD MEMBER: WE SAY NO TO TURKEY THROUGH TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 23, 2012 – 20:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Annual April 23 torchlight procession is a covenant,
expressing confidence for regaining rights in future, with liberation
of Western Armenia among them, head of Armenian Cause Office, ARFD
representative said.

“Through this torchlight procession we say NO to Turkey,” Kiro
Manoyan said.

Dashnaktsutyun Bureau member Levon Lazarian, in turn, said, “We pass
the baton to our future generations until we have a united Armenia.”

“There can be no recognition without compensation; restoration of
justice implies building of statehood in Armenians’ united homeland.”

AZERBAIJANI MP CALLED ON COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO LAUNCH MECHANISMS OF INFLUENCE ON ARMENIA

Trend
April 23 2012
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani MP called on the Council of Europe to launch the mechanisms
of influence on Armenia to restore the rights of Azerbaijani refugees
and IDPs.

This opinion was expressed on the first working day of the spring
session of PACE by the member of Azerbaijani delegation in the
organization Ganira Pashayeva to the chairman of the Committee of
Ministers, Minister of Great Britain for European Affairs David
Lidington.

MP Ganira Pashayeva asked a question related to the occupation of
Shusha and Lachin by Armenians 20 years ago.

Pashayeva noted in her question that in a few days will be the
20th anniversary of the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani towns of
Shusha and Lachin. “For 20 years, Armenians do not allow thousands of
Azerbaijanis to return to their native lands. Why does not the Council
of Europe launch the mechanisms of pressure and influence on official
Yerevan to make Armenians leave Azerbaijan’s occupied lands and let
thousands of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs return to their homes?”,
she asked.

Lidington answered that the quicker the ways for the resolution of
the conflict will be found the quicker the difficulties of IDPs and
refugees will end.

According to Lidington, refugees and internally displaced persons have
the right to return to their homes. The Council of Europe doesn’t
have the same authority as the OSCE Minsk Group with regard to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Lidington believes that officials of the both countries should withdraw
from the harsh statements and improve their efforts to find ways to
resolve the conflict within the Minsk Group.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 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.

TURKISH MINISTER: ARMENIA OUGHT TO LIBERATE AZERBAIJANI LANDS RATHER THAN REFUSING TO PARTICIPATE AT EUROVISION-2012

Trend
April 23 2012
Azerbaijan

Armenia’s refusal from participation at the Eurovision Song Contest,
to be held in Baku, is not an “invention”, but instead Armenia ought
to stop occupation of the Azerbaijani lands, Turkish Minister for EU
Affairs Egemen Bagis, Son Dakika agency reported.

“If Armenia wants to go down in history, it must withdraw from the
occupied Azerbaijani territories. This will be the right step by
Yerevan,” Bagis said.

He also stressed that Turkey does not intend to watch in silence
Armenia’s unfairness and cruelty that the Azerbaijani people endured.

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.

TURKISH PRESIDENT PLANNED TO RETURN SOME LANDS TO ARMENIANS IN VAN
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com

April 23 2012

In 1984 former Turkish president Turgut Ozal wanted to know the
economic and political price Turkey would have to pay if Turkey
accepted and recognized the Armenian Genocide and had planned to
return some lands to Armenians in Van.

With the approach of April 24, the day when 10 million Armenians and
more than 20 government around the world commemorate the Armenian
Genocide, one of the most prominent topics in Turkish media is how to
solve the Armenian Issue. The country still denies that the killing
and deportations of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1921 was an
act of Genocide. Yet, based on the archives and available documents
it’s becoming even more difficult and costly to continue to deny the
charge. One of the top stories today in Turkish media is that one of
the former presidents of the Turkish Republic Turgut Ozal considered
a real attempt to solve the Armenian genocide to stop the mounting
political and economic cost.

Today’s Zaman reports among other Turkish newspapers that behind closed
doors, president Ozal defended the idea of holding negotiations with
Armenians to settle a dispute that has had great potential to deal
a serious blow to Turkish interests in international politics.

Ozal’s close friends and former aids spoke to the newspaper about the
politics of the day. In 1980s Armenia was still part of the Soviet
Union and Ozal defended the idea of holding negotiations with the
powerful Armenian diaspora.

His close friends and advisers say, (in the same place) that if Ozal
were alive today, the problem of the Armenian Genocide might have
already been solved.

Turgut Ozal’s 2 Plans

Ozal did not only speak, but being a far-sighted politician he made a
move. In 1984 he ordered his government advisers to work on possible
scenarios to identify the the political and economic cost that his
country would have to pay if Turkey recognized the Armenian Genocide
and accepted the term genocide for killing 1.5 million Armenians
during the World War I.

According to the second scenario Ozal’s circle sought to gauge the
political cost of a Turkish acceptance of genocide within 20 to 30
years if Turkey is forced to accept it one day. He wanted to solve the
issue between the Armenian and Turkish nations before it got too late.

According to Vehbi Dincerler, 71, a former education minister and a
state minister in Ozal’s Cabinet, Ozal aimed at making “few concessions
after reaching a deal with the Armenians.”

President Ozal wanted to make the solution as part of the Van project.

“Suleyman Roman, who worked on several projects with Ozal in the 1980s,
said the former president had planned to return some lands to Armenians
in Van.” What “returning some lands to Armenains” means is not clear.

Ozal could not make concrete progress in the project because of strong
opposition. The main opposition came from the military establishment.

The military, according to Hasan Celal Guzel, who served in Ozal’s
government, thought Ozal is making too many concessions to the
Armenians and Kurds. Turgut Ozal was of partial Kurdish descent,
according to The Washing Institute on Near East Policy.

“They [the military] saw Ozal as someone who makes too many
concessions. They stood against his policies. However, Ozal came up
with the idea that Turkey could reconcile and make peace with the
Armenians, who had earned the title ‘millet-i sadıka’ [loyal nation]
during the Ottoman era. He wanted to open the door for a return of
Armenians to Turkey. No one has made a move since. Had he not died,
he might have solved this issue,” Guzel told Today’s Zaman.

MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION MP SAYS PREMIER BEHIND CONTROVERSIAL ARMS DEAL WITH ARMENIA

ProTV, Chisinau
April 18 2012
Moldova

[translated from Moldovan]

[Presenter] The Moldovan prime minister [Vlad Filat] personally
oversaw the sale of weapons to Armenia – the statement has been made
by opposition Communist MP Alexandr Petcov, who says that the ultimate
goal of the deal was to sell the remaining six MiG jet fighters for
spare parts. [Moldova sold 21 MiG-29 jet fighters to the USA in 1997.]

The press service of the government has declined to comment on these
accusations.

[Petcov, speaking at a news conference] The whole deal was not only
known but also supervised by a person named Vladimir Filat. That was
a deal with missiles. It was part of another deal whose ultimate goal
was the MiG-29 deal.

[Correspondent] Meanwhile, the parliamentary commission comprised of
lawmakers from all the parliamentary factions has established that
the weapons were sold to Armenia without the government’s consent
and without a tender.

[Anatol Gorila, captioned as chairman of the investigations commission,
speaking at the same news conference] The governmental commission for
the sale of the army’s assets authorized the signing of contracts to
supply weapons to the Latvian company Latspeceksports without holding
a tender and without the government’s decision.

[Defence Minister Valeriu Marinuta, speaking to a ProTV correspondent]
I view this deal as legal. The Prosecutor-General’s Office now has
to express its position.

[Correspondent] The commission concluded that several other officials
are also responsible for the illegal sale of the weapons. These
are [Economics Minister] Valeriu Lazar, who, as chairman of the
governmental commission, allowed the contract to be signed, Deputy
Foreign Minister Andrei Popov, who damaged Moldova’s image abroad,
and the acting director of the Information and Security Service,
who did not provide information in due time.

The officials have not yet commented on the accusations.

The sale of around 50 tonnes of weapons took place in September 2011,
when a cargo plane landed at Marculesti [military] airport to take
these obsolete weapons. The weapons were sold by the Defence Ministry
to a Latvian company. However, the plane belonged to Armenia, with
which the Latvian company signed a contract. At the end of the day,
the parliamentary commission concluded that all the weapons were sold
to Armenia.

Its conclusions have been submitted to the Prosecutor-General’s Office,
which now has to establish whether the deal was legal.

LIBRARY MARKS 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN PRINTING WITH EXHIBITION, PUBLICATION

US Fed News
April 18, 2012 Wednesday 1:19 PM EST

WASHINGTON, April 18 — The Library of Congress issued the following
news release:

In 1512, Hakob Meghapart (Jacob the Sinner) opened an Armenian press in
Venice, Italy, and published an Armenian religious book, “Urbatagirk”
(the Book of Fridays). The era of Armenian printing had begun.

To mark the quincentenary of this event and UNESCO’s designation of
Yerevan-the capital of the Republic of Armenia-as its Book Capital
of the World, 2012, the Library of Congress will open an exhibition,
“To Know Wisdom and Instruction: The Armenian Literary Tradition at the
Library of Congress” on April 19, in the South Gallery of the Thomas
Jefferson Building. The exhibition, which will remain on view from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, through Sept. 26,
may also be viewed online at

Drawing from the Armenian collections of the Library of Congress,
the exhibition will display the varieties of the Armenian literary
tradition from the era of manuscripts through the early periods of
print and on to contemporary publishing.

Manuscripts in the exhibition will range from 14th- and 15th-century
gospel books hand-copied by monks to 19th-century works on palmistry
(Constantinople, 1894), fire-fighting (Venice, 1832), cotton production
(Paris, 1859) and the first modern Armenian novel, “Armenia’s Wounds,”
by K. Abovyan (1848). The first complete Armenian language printed
Bible from Amsterdam in 1666 will be on display, along with a richly
illuminated missal copied in 1722 for the use of the celebrant of
the Armenian liturgy and a rare 19th-century musical manuscript by
Pietro Bianchini, who was the first to transcribe the Armenian liturgy
using European musical notation. A 20th-century Soviet edition of
the Armenian national epic, “David of Sasun” (1962) will also be
on display.

The 16th Annual Vardanants Day Lecture will be delivered by Kevork
Bardakjian, the Marie Manoogian Chair of Armenian Language and
Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, at noon on
Thursday, April 19 in the Northeast Pavilion of the Thomas Jefferson
Building. The lecture, titled “Scribes, Compositors and the Mind in the
Making: the Armenian Script and the Creation of an Armenian Literary
Identity,” is sponsored by the Near East Section of the African and
Middle Eastern Division. Bardakjian will be joined by Levon Avdoyan,
the Library’s Armenian and Georgian area specialist in the Near East
Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division, who will discuss
“The Continuity and Change of an Armenian Identity in the Digital
Age.” Avdoyan is curator of the new Armenian exhibition. The event
is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but seating
is limited.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Library of Congress has
published an exhibition catalog titled “To Know Wisdom and Instruction:
A Visual Survey of the Armenian Literary Tradition from the Library
of Congress,” compiled by Avdoyan. This 100-page softcover book with
75 images is available for $25 in bookstores nationwide and through
the Library of Congress Shop, , (888) 682-3557.

The exhibition and catalog have been made possible through generous
grants from the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund, the Dadian Fund of
the Library of Congress, Roger Strauch and Julie Kulhanjian Strauch,
the Vartkess and Rita Balian Family Foundation and the Sami and Annie
Totah Family Foundation.

The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division
() is the center for the study of 78
countries and regions from Southern Africa to the Maghreb and from
the Middle East and the Caucasus to Central Asia. The division’s Near
East Section is a major repository for Armenian language materials
on a wide variety of subjects in varied formats.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest
federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination
and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by
providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections,
programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can
be accessed through it website at

ARMENIAN BATTLE RESERVE
Alexander Deryabin

WPS Agency
April 16, 2012 Monday
Russia

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 73, April 16, 2012, p. 11
[translated from Russian]

AN INTERVIEW WITH PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA TIGRAN SARKISJAN; An
interview with Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisjan.

Question: What is Armenia’s military budget this year?

Tigran Sarkisjan: Armenia’s budget as such amounts to 1 trillion
drams, and military budget amounts to 14% of the whole sum. It means
approximately 140 billion drams.

Question: The Armenian leadership launched military reforms. Could
you please update us on the reforms under way?

Tigran Sarkisjan: The first part of the reforms concerned structural
changes and organizational matters. It was not particularly expensive.

It is the second part of the reforms that will be much more costly. We
mean to dramatically increase the professional part of the army. And we
mean to carry out some social projects in connection with it. Pay will
be increased as well. In any event, it is construction of tenements
for servicemen that is going to be a particularly expensive article
of the military budget.

The last part of the reforms concerns rearmament. Our plans in this
sphere stipulate production of military hardware in Armenia and
procurement of sophisticated weapons abroad.

Question: How much will average servicemen be paid soon?

Tigran Sarkisjan: Their pay will exceed the average pay in Armenia. As
matters stand, average pay in Armenia amounts to approximately 110,000
drams or about $400. It is certainly wrong to pay servicemen less
than that.

Question: A few words on the relations with the Alliance, please. Does
the Armenian military plan rapprochement with it?

Tigran Sarkisjan: The Armenian-NATO cooperation might be said
to consist of several components. First, technical assistance in
modernization of the Armenian regular army; second, personnel training
programs; and third, participation in joint projects. For example,
our military doctors were in Kosovo. Anyway, all of that are trifles
when compared with the extensive cooperation programs under way with
our partners in the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Armenia’s cooperation with NATO does not even come close to its
cooperation with CIS CSTO countries. Cooperation with CIS CSTO
countries is the undeniable priority. There is a Russian military
base in Armenia, after all. As for NATO, we only mean to be friendly
with this structure.

Question: Considering escalation of tension in connection with Iran, is
any strengthening of the Russian military presence in Armenia planned?

Tigran Sarkisjan: It is only planned within the framework of the
agreement on the Russian military base. In 2010, we extended the
stay of the Russian base in Armenia until 2044. We did not take any
additional measures to increase Russian military presence here.

Question: Is the Armenian leadership ready for the economic problems
a military operation against Iran might entail? What effect will an
armed conflict between the West and Iran have on Armenia?

Tigran Sarkisjan: About 20% of our turnover is carried out via Iran.

An armed conflict will therefore mean problems with export and
import… The events in Georgia in August 2008 taught us a lesson. The
railways were down for a whole month then and that posed a genuine
threat to the Armenian economy. We had to rely on trucks and planes
then and that greatly increased transportation costs.

Armenia has to accumulate the necessary potential… reserves that
will enable it to weather economic consequences of military conflicts.

Question: What about Armenia’s reserves at this time?

Tigran Sarkisjan: We need to stock up bare necessities – medicines,
foods, fuel… enough to last the country three months. Their
accumulation is not easy or cheap, but we’ve been stocking up on
them ever since 2008. As for the degree of their and our readiness,
that’s something I cannot tell you as I’m sure you understand.

USAID AND ARMENIAN MINISTRY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS SIGN TWO GRANT AGREEMENTS

Targeted News Service
April 16, 2012 Monday 10:50 AM EST

The U.S. Embassy issued the following news release:

On April 16, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern, USAID Armenia
Mission Director Jatinder Cheema, and Minister of Labor and Social
Affairs Arthur Grigoryan signed two grant agreements for USAID
assistance to the Ministry to increase public awareness of the new
pension system and enhance the quality of services to women victims
of domestic violence in Armenia. Representatives of the Armenian
government and the U.S. Mission also attended the ceremony.

The goal of the first program is to strengthen the capacity of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, through the recently established
Pension System Awareness Center Foundation, to conduct public awareness
campaigns and to implement effective financial literacy projects in
2012 related to pension system reform.

With the second agreement, USAID will support the Ministry to assess
the availability and accessibility of services to victims of domestic
violence, identify existing gaps, and develop plans to ensure better
coordination and efficiency.

Both of the grants are part of the Health and Social Reform Assistance
Agreement that USAID signed with the Armenian government in August
2010.

PARIS MAYOR RECEIVES FRENCH-ARMENIANS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY

news.am
April 24, 2012 | 19:14

PARIS. – Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë received on Tuesday
French-Armenians and the Armenia’s Ambassador to France Vigen
Chitechian, Nouvelles d`Armenie reports.

“We are responsible for remembering that period of history. 97
years later, it is necessary to speak about the facts and validate
the historic truth,” the Mayor stated calling the Genocide was a
barbarism for humanity.

According to Ara Toranian and Mourad Papazian, the two heads of the
Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), the
French presidential candidates Nikolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande
will attend Komitas monument in the Canada Square to commemorate the
97th anniversary of the Genocide.

The world commemorates on April 24 the 97th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century.

Commemoration actions are held in all states, people remember this
monstrous crime against humanity as over one and a half million
innocent Armenians were massacred in the Ottoman Empire, while hundreds
of thousands were tortured and deported.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide is recognized by many states. It
was first recognized in 1965 by Uruguay. In general, the Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Turkey has already been recognized by Russia,
France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania,
Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada,
Venezuela, Argentina, and 43 U.S. states.

AZERBAIJAN REALIZED THAT IT CAN NO LONGER BLACKMAIL THE MEDIATORS – ARMENIAN DEPUTY FM

news.am
April 24, 2012 | 17:25

YEREVAN. – Armenian deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan does not believe that
the parliamentary elections will slow down the Nagorno-Karabakh peace
process, Kocharyan said in an interview to the Armenian News-News.am.

Moreover, Armenia has for many times confirmed its disposition for the
negotiations based on Basic Principles elaborated by the international
mediators. Azerbaijan is the conflicting side, which torpedoes the
achievement of the progress. At the same time, there is no need to
expect any change of the Azerbaijani disposition with the change of
the authorities.

Asked what the guarantees are that final decision may be achieved when
Azerbaijan signs and later rejects documents, the deputy FM said that
the issue is a deeper one. Azerbaijan has already realized that it
can no longer blackmail the mediators or even influence on Armenia and
hence passed from tearful aggressiveness into aggressive tearfulness.

For example, it has for many times been spoken about the necessity
for launching contacts between the conflicting sides, including
Nagorno-Karabakh. However, with Azerbaijani desire to see Karabakh
within its territory and later start contacting blocks the process,
which could have led to positive results.

In response to the question that Azerbaijan interprets the principle
of territorial integrity and the right to self-determination in the
Madrid Principles as self-determination of Karabakh within Azerbaijan,
Kocharyan said that in that case Azerbaijan would not torpedo the
negotiation process and break down the Kazan agreement. Anyway,
according to the UN, one of the three goals for the organization
is establishment of friendly relations between the nations based on
equality of rights and right of people to self-determination.