Author: Badalian Vardan

LONG BEACH CONSIDERS MAKING APRIL ‘GENOCIDE AWARENESS MONTH’

89.3 KPCC

April 9 2012
CA

A couple of Los Angeles County public agencies are taking steps this
month to memorialize genocides in foreign countries.

In his motion to establish April as Genocide Awareness Month, Long
Beach Councilman Dee Andrews listed the atrocities that have made
April the cruelest month.

In April 1915, the killings of more than a million Armenians began
in present-day Turkey. The same month, in 1933, the Nazis in Germany
wrote a decree to eliminate European Jews.

April 1975 marked the month the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia began a
campaign of terror now known as the Killing Fields. The killing of
Bosnian Muslims began in April 1992. The Rwandan Genocide began in
the same month in 1994, and ethnic-based killings began in Sudan in
April 2003.

Long Beach has a large Cambodian population that is backing the City
Council genocide awareness motion, which will be taken up next week.

LAUSD’s school board will consider a motion on Tuesday that will
designate April as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Month.

AZERBAIJAN DOUBTS AVAILABILITY OF FILMS FOR FESTIVAL IN GYUMRI

Vestnik Kavkaza
April 9 2012
Russia

The Azerbaijani Ministry for Culture and Tourism does not support
the Azerbaijani Film Festival in Armenia’s Gyumri set for April 12,
1news.az cites Yusuf Sheykhov, head of the cinematography section of
the ministry, as saying.

The official explained that the Azerbaijani ministry cannot cooperate
with Armenia because of the latter’s “occupation policy.”

The Journalist Club in Armenia’s Gyumri planned to host an Azerbaijani
Film Festival on April 12. Four short films made in Azerbaijan
in 2007-2008 (one documentary and three feature films) were to be
demonstrated. One of the films was to be awarded with a premium for
Audience’s Sympathy. The festival was organized within the framework of
the Caucasus World Center and the British and US embassies in Armenia.

ARF-D’S ELECTION CAMPAIGN WILL BE ACTIVE, PURPOSEFUL AND VICTORIOUS

17:37 . 09/04

The political forces participating in the elections enter the election
campaign phase. ARF-D’s election campaign will be active, purposeful
and victorious. With this resolution ARF-D is starting its election
campaign. ARF-D Bureau member Aghvan Vardanyan stated about this
during the event devoted to the start of ARF-D’s election campaign
and to the presentation of the election programme. “For our country
to become a country… We are sure that the election programme is the
basis of the campaign, therefore our campaign starts by presenting
the election programme,” Aghvan Vardanyan has said.

ARF-D programme is competitive and realistic, the Bureau member Davit
Lokyan stated while presenting the pre-election platform of the party.

The necessity of the realization of the civil society is attached
great importance in the programme. “Our programme is a man-citizen
centripetal programme, in which if the works given are implemented
the citizen himself must reform the Republic of Armenia and make it
a prosperous country,” Davit Lokyan says.

Social issues are given a large place in ARF-D’s programme. The party
proposes 200 000 jobs, a job opportunity for every person capable
to work.

According to the member of Supreme Body of ARF-D of Armenia
Arsen Hambartsumyan in the coming five years ensuring employment,
introduction of an adequate remuneration system, improvement of
the demographic situation and poverty reduction will be the party’s
priorities in the sphere of social policy.

The doubling of the minimum salary, providing 5 000-6 000 needy
families with social housing every year, making the annual healthcare
expenses per a person 150 000 AMD instead of the present 63 000 can
significantly change the existing sad picture.

“It will be established in law that the prices on gas, electricity,
and water will not rise in the coming five years and any future change
will be linked with the consumers’ incomes,” NA ARF-D faction member
Ara Nranyan states.

The government constantly declares agriculture as a priority direction
but the problems in the sphere add one to another.

The party intends to reduce the present 11AMD price for one cubic
meter of irrigation water to 7AMD.

“Yes there is maximalism in our programme, in the coming five years
we must succeed in making all that has been stated in our election
programme a reality,” ARF-D bureau member Davit Lokyan said.

NA ARF-D faction member Lilit Galstyan touched upon the educational
sphere: “We foresee a right of quality education for each young person,
an opportunity to promote a creative activity, to work as well as a
full opportunity for self-expression”

But, according to ARF-D Armenia’s Supreme Body representative Armen
Rustamyan, all this will remain on paper, like many laws and the
Constitution are on a paper, if we don’t have an authority which will
really serve the people.

Armen Rustamyan calls for a system authority change, when an authority
will come, which will not use its position in its interests but will
be guided with the united interest of the state and the people.

“Unfortunately, so far we haven’t had such an authority. This is the
fact. Since independence we haven’t had an authority, which would
fully serve its people. They have rather served the interests of the
rulers, who came to power,” Armen Rustamyan said in his speech.

Economists participating in the presentation of ARF-D’s programme
evaluated professionally the document presented to the public’s
opinion.

Economist Andranik Tevanyan: “A programme of high expert quality
was presented. As to its being realistic, here, too the approaches
are justified”.

“It was the only political force in which no unrest took place. Yes,
every one has his/her work. This shows once again the greatness,
which it put in the basis of its programme and in its approaches,”
NA PAP faction member Vardan Bostanjayn said.

TURKEY’S PROSPECTS OF BRINGING PEACE TO REGION ‘RESTRICTED’

News.Az
Mon 09 April 2012 04:58 GMT | 5:58 Local Time

News.Az interviews Emre Isheri (Ä°seri), an assistant professor of
international relations at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.

How would you assess Azerbaijani-Turkish energy cooperation?

Resources from Azerbaijan play a profound role in ensuring Turkey’s
energy security in terms of energy diversification. Besides, those
resources bolster Turkey’s prospects of meeting its pledge to become
the fourth energy artery of Europe. From Baku’s perspective, Turkey
is not only a reliable market, but also a route to European energy
markets bypassing Russia.

Do you believe in the Trans-Caspian pipeline project?

At a time of on-going financial crisis and with a lack of political
will, it seems likely the relatively low-profile Trans-Caspian is a
much more feasible project than Nabucco.

How might tensions over Iran and a possible war reflect on the South
Caucasus and Turkish policy in the region?

As I noted above, Azeri resources bolster Turkey’s energy security
by providing additional avenues to feed its growing thirst away from
Russia and Iran.

Along with that, it is known that Azeri prices are much cheaper
than alternatives. In the event of war prices will probably rise,
and Baku will be at the top of Ankara’s list of who to call to ask
for additional supplies.

How successful has Turkey’s policy of “zero problems with neighbours”
been so far? What do you think about the prospects for the
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process?

When you talk with commentators close to the ruling AK Party, they
will tell you that zero-problems with neighbours is an ideal and it
is likely that there will be problems on the way to reaching this
ultimate goal. With several tactical revisions of the policy, Ankara
will achieve this objective.

In my opinion, however, Turkey’s regional power capabilities and
domestic constraints restrict Turkey’s prospects of transforming its
conflict-ridden immediate neighbourhood into a peaceful environment.

Against this backdrop, Turkey’s initiative to normalize its relations
with Armenia has failed.

Dr Isheri’s areas of research include Euro-Asian politics, energy
security and Turkish foreign policy.

COMMUNIST PARTY AIMS FOR 15-17% OF VOTES IN ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

news.am
April 09, 2012 | 16:13

YEREVAN. – The Communist Party of Armenia (CPA) expects to receive
15-17 percent of the ballots to be cast during the country’s National
Assembly elections to be held on May 6, the Party’s leader Ruben
Tovmasyan said during a press conference on Monday.

In Tovmasyan’s words, the CPA is confident that it could receive such
considerable percentage of the votes because “there are 1 million
and 300 thousand poor in the country, and they have not forgotten
the Communist times.”

Speaking about the political parties’ election campaign videos,
Tovmasyan noted their main content is the social topic. And the CPA
leader is mostly surprised that this topic is being used by those
parties during whose rule the citizens’ social situation had sharply
deteriorated.

And with respect to the CPA’s campaign funding, Ruben Tovmasyan noted
that, considering the Communist Party’s dire financial situation,
it was assisted by the Armenian community of Russia, and by way of
organizing fundraisers.

‘LIKE CASABLANCA IN WORLD WAR II’: AS IRAN TENSIONS GROW, AZERBAIJAN BECOMES DEN OF SPIES

Http://Worldnews.Msnbc.Msn.Com/_news/2012/04/09/11036848-Like-Casablanca-In- World-War-Ii-As-Iran-Tensions-Grow-Azerbaijan-Becomes-Den-Of-Spies?Lite

Joern Haufe / dapd via AP, file

The $350 million Flame Towers are due to be official opened in the
center of Baku, Azerbaijan, later this spring. A secular dictatorship
with a long border with Iran, Azerbaijan is one of the few remaining
countries than can act as a reliable listening post for America and
Israel.

By Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

A Soviet-legacy oil nation is emerging as a hotbed of global
espionage as tension escalates between Israel and Iran.

Azerbaijan, which links Russia to the Middle East, has strategic
importance as a bridgehead for the West in its war of diplomacy with
Tehran.

A secular dictatorship with a long border with Iran, it is one of the
few remaining countries than can act as a reliable listening post for
America and Israel, turning its capital, Baku, into a hotbed of
intelligence activity.

“Like Casablanca in World War II, Baku is now also a center of
monitoring Iranian mischief,” Ariel Cohen, senior research fellow at
the Washington-based Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for
International Studies, part of the Heritage Foundation, told
msnbc.com. “This is understandable taking into account visa-free
regime of travel between the two countries and aggressive Iranian
intelligence tactics.”

NYT: US defines first move in new talks with Iran

Recent events have lifted the lid on some of the international
maneuvering in Baku. In March, Azeri security services arrested 22
people they say were trained by Iran to carry out terrorist attacks
against the US and Israeli embassies.

In January, two accused of plotting to kill teachers at a Jewish
school were also held.

‘The Israelis are more subtle’
Most experts agree there are many Mossad agents in Azerbaijan working
for Israel.

“The Iranians act in the open, they want everyone to know that they
are here,” Dr. Arastun Orujl, director of the east-West Research
Center in Baku told Britain’s Times newspaper. “The Israelis are more
subtle, like the Americans. But in the end everyone knows they are
here, too.”

Iran lawmaker: We can produce nuclear weapons

So why does Azerbaijan matter? Not only does its geography make it
an ideal place for the U.S. and its allies to face down Tehran, but
its political history entangles it in the current tensions with Israel.

Millions living in northern Iran are ethnic Azeris, theoretically
binding the two nations. But Azerbaijan has allied itself increasingly
with Israel and the West as it uses its oil wealth to leverage its
global standing.

“It was one of the first countries to back America after 9/11,”
Gerald Frost, director of the Paris-based Caspian Information Centre
told msnbc.com. “It is as politically helpful to the West as its
position close to the Middle East will allow. America needs to pay
it close attention.”

While the country has made concessions to the West, it remains a
dynastic dictatorship under the rule of Ilham Aliyev, who inherited
power from father Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet leader who reinvented
himself as a nationalist during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ilham
took over in a 2003 election described by Human Rights Watch as
“fraudulent” and which it said was “followed by protests that turned
violent, plunging Azerbaijan into a human rights crisis from which
it has not recovered”.

David W Cerny / Reuters

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev answers questions during a news
conference in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 5.

Israel last year established a factory in Azerbaijan making parts for
its military drones, and has supplied the countrywith $1.6 billion
worth of military equipment.

The BBC reported Russia President Vladimir Putin “surprised Western
leaders” in 2007 by offering to let America use its radar base in
Azerbaijan to defend Europe against any missile attack from Iran.

Cohen says Iran has been trying undermine Azerbaijan’s secular position
in the hopes of turning it from a dictatorship into a theocracy,
echoing the transition of countries such as Libya and Egypt that now
appear destined to be ruled by conservative Islamists.

Mark Perry, in a Foreign Policy article titled “Israel’s Secret
Staging Ground”, claimed Obama administration officials now believe
that the security cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is actually
“heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran”.

Azerbaijan has denied it would allow the U.S. or Israel to launch
airstrikes, although Frost noted that it could provide associated
support since it already allows the U.S. military into its airspace
to reach Afghanistan and to evacuate injured troops.

While ties with Israel deepen, the future relationship with the United
States is less clear because Washington does not currently have
an ambassador in Baku. The last holder of the post, Matthew Bryza,
left last year after his appointment was not confirmed by Congress, a
decision Frost believes is likely to have been influenced by America’s
powerful Armenian lobby.

Cultural boom Meanwhile, its strategic importance is being echoed
in a cultural boom. Baku is enjoying a Dubai-style explosion of
luxury hotels and designer fashion stores. “It is all very glitzy,
very much reflecting the way Azeris want to be seen as an establish
European-style country rather than a backwater,” said Ben Illis,
co-author of a new Time Out guide to Baku, which is due to be published
next month.

It has launched a major tourism advertising campaign, and its
ambitious bid to host the 2020 Olympic games found its way onto the
IOC shortlist.

This spring is expected to see the unveiling of the $350 million Flame
Towers – three glass-sided skyscrapers up to 620ft in height inspired
by the country’s ancient association with fire. Human Rights Watch
says “thousands of residents” have been forcibly evicted to make way
for some of these projects.

However, billing itself as tourism destination may be a challenge for
a country that still has a very poor human rights record and still
is often confused with Kazakhstan, home of comic creation Borat.

An unlikely litmus test of its political ambitions will come next month
when it hosts the Eurovision Song Contest, a live music competition
beamed across Europe that is a byword for kitsch (it was once won by
a transexual representing Israel). Baku’s bitter enemy, neighboring
Armenia, pulled out of the contest in disgust when an Azeri duo won
last year.

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters, file

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 winners Eldar Gasimov (2nd left) and Nigar
Jamal (2nd right), who are known as Ell-Nikki, are greeted by fans
in Baku. Their victory means Baku will host this year’s competition.

“This will perhaps be a good indication of how far the regime is
prepared to go to further its relationship with the west,” said James
Nixey, of British think tank Chatham House.

BOSTANJIAN DIDN’T EXCLUDE THAT ONE DAY HE WILL JOIN ARF

Aysor.am
April 09, 201

MP of NA PAP faction Vardan Bostanjian was present at the presentation
of the ARF election program. Bostanjian thinks it was a high level
program.

During the interview with the asyor.am correspondent Vardan Bostanjian
said, “It is a well carried out mechanism and I was about to say it.”

Answering the question whether it is possible that Bostanjian will
leave the PAP and join the ARF Mr Bostanjian said that he has always
had sympathy towards ARF.

However he also mentioned, “I do not think about leaving the party,
and as for excluding, I have one formula in my life which says that
nothing can be excluded in the world and in politics in particular.”

TODAY, 16:04

ANC MEMBER: COUNTERING ELECTION FORGERY IS PRIORITY FOR US

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 9, 2012 – 14:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Candidate of the opposition Armenian National
Congress (ANC) Vladimir Karapetyan who runs for the parliament in
2nd constituency in Yerevan, says cooperation among opposition forces
to counter election forgery is more important than nominating common
candidates for the upcoming elections.

“We cooperate in a key issue of tackling the election violations,
and we believe this to be a priority for us now,” Karapetyan told a
press conference in Yerevan.

When asked about supporting single opposition candidates in each
constituency, ANC representative suggested that journalists ask the
question those who are going to face other opposition candidates in
their constituencies. As to Karapetyan, his only rival in the 2nd
constituency is Samvel Farmanyan, candidate proposed by the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia.

As an example of cooperation, Karapetyan cited in particular the joint
letter of ANC, Heritage and ARF Dashnaktsutyun parties addressed to
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan urging to specify the voters’ list
and remove the citizens who left Armenia.

Parliamentary elections are due in Armenia on May 6 featuring 8
political parties (Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Prosperous
Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD), Orinats Yerkir, Heritage,
Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA), Communist Party of Armenia and
United Armenian party, as well as one election bloc represented by
opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC).

LIE OR SELF-DENIAL?

09:55 – 05.04.2012

The decision of the General Prosecutor’s Office to prepare materials
based on mass media publications about electoral violations are not
so surprising as eloquent. The domestic prosecutor sends a specific
message: law enforcement is so scrupulous that pays attention to the
posts in the media, not to mention the formal complaints. And since
they are consistent, and do not need to worry – no one passes the
penalty for violation.

We would, of course, be happy to relax and believe in the care of the
prosecution that arose suddenly, if not a sudden detail. In addition to
these three cases, online media is in full of non-compliance campaign
publication of lists of citizens, and numerous violations.

However, none of the relevant authority has given any intelligible
explanation of at least one occasion. The question arises: who is
deceiving the prosecutor’s office, playing in sequence – us or herself?

SOUTH CAUCASUS: AN “EMPTY TRICK”
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:42:04 – 09/04/2012

The ballyhoo around Iran once again confirmed that the value of the
South Caucasus for the strategic and tactical aims of the U.S. is
doubtful.

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh have issued their
positions in relation to the military actions against Iran quite
clearly. Such a prospect is catastrophic for all the countries of
the South Caucasus, not only in short-term but also in strategic
perspective.

The U.S. is quite restricted in connection with this position of
the South Caucasus states, but we can propose that they assessed the
positions of the regional countries with dissatisfaction. It was found
out that all the possible materials expenditures for the defense of
these countries turned out quite senseless in the strategic sense
and are important only in terms of security to fulfill two functions:
fulfillment of the military transit and oil transporting.

These two functions keep losing strategic meaning in view of limiting
the military presence in Afghanistan and de-politicization of the
significance of the Caspian oil. It is quite clear that the presence
of limited in number and functions military contingents of the South
Caucasus countries in various NATO operations is symbolic. Sooner
or later, the paradox when for the U.S. strategy in the region, the
Armenian armed forces and its defense commitments towards Russia will
gain more meaning, will become evident since this “knot” is important
in the U.S. strategy on the repression of the Turkish expansion.

The armed forces of Georgia and Azerbaijan, states which try to lead
revenge policy, will always have a local significance for the U.S.
related to the security of the military infrastructure tasks in the
Black Sea, Caucasus and Central Asia regions. Americans understand
that if Turkey manages to solve the issues related to Armenia and
involve Armenia in its plans, the Turkish policy in the South Caucasus
(at least) will become less controllable.

In different reflections on the reduction of importance of the South
Caucasus for the U.S. policy, it would be good to take into account
also the Americans’ disappointment concerning the egoistic relation of
the Caucasian countries, which, according to an American expert, who
has spent many years for the region, “present themselves in the world
focus”. The U.S. is tired of the caprices and parasitical behavior of
its numerous partners in Europe and it doesn’t try to cultivate the
properties of these countries which are in the vestibule of upcoming
big events.

Perhaps, the fact that the U.S. doesn’t trust the Caucasian countries
more in the plan of cooperation in the regime of “free-swimming” and
“weak institutionality” and decided to involve NATO, hence solving
this formal issue. Sure, this is no less paradoxical, but logic.

It should be taken into account that Hillary Clinton relying on
influential forces in the “democratic” establishment actually ruined
Obama’s foreign policy in many directions, in particular, in the
Eastern Europe and now, under the veil of her provocative program,
she is trying to undermine the president’s policy in the Middle East
realizing the plans of Israel and its friends in the U.S.

So, leaving the administration, Hillary Clinton will try to leave
her followers in the State Dept. who won’t have anything else to do
but to make noise in the Eastern Europe.