Author: Badalian Vardan

MME CLINTON S’INFORME DU DERNIER SOMMET ARMENO-AZERI
Gari

armenews.com
mardi 7 fevrier 2012

Le Secretaire d’Etat americaine Hillary Clinton a ete tenue informee
des resultats du dernier sommet reunissant les chefs d’Etat armenien
et azeri en Russie lors d’entretiens separes avec le president
d’Azerbaïdjan Ilham Aliyev et le ministre armenien des affaires
etrangères Edouard Nalbandian les 4 et 5 fevrier. Mme Clinton les a
rencontres en marge de la conference annuelle sur la securite mondiale
qui se tenait a Munich, en Allemagne. Elle n’a fait aucune declaration
publique a l’issue de ces entretiens. Dans un bref communique,
le service de presse de M. Aliyev a indique que le president
azerbaïdjanais et la chef de la diplomatie americaine avaient eu “un
echange d’idees sur le processus de règlement du conflit armeno-azeri
du Haut-Karabagh”, sans donner plus de precision. Quant au ministère
armenien des affaires etrangères, il a ete a peine plus disert,
indiquant que M. Nalbandian et Mme Clinton avaient “discute en detail
des derniers developpements dans le processus de negociations en vue du
règlement du conflit du Karabagh” et, en particulier, de la rencontre
du 23 janvier dernier entre les presidents Ilham Alyev et Serge
Sarkissian sous l’egide de leur homologue russe Dmitry Medvedev, dans
la ville russe de Sotchi. M. Nalbandian auraitr evoque avec elle les
details des discussions qui se sont deroulees durant ce sommet, indique
un communique du ministère armenien. Par ailleurs, un responsable du
Departement d’Etat americain a indique aux journalistes americains
avant la tenue de la conference de Munich sur la securite que la
question du Karabagh est “au c~ur des preoccupations personnelles
de la Secretaire d’Etat.” “La Secretaire souhaite s’entretenir avec
chacune des parties des resultats de ce [sommet] de telle sorte qu’on
puisse progresser vers un accord durable”, avait souligne le diplomate
americain. Dans une declaration commune avec le president Medvedev
publiee a l’issue de la rencontre de Sotchi, MM.Aliyev et Sarkisian
n’avaient pas fait etat de reels progrès vers une harmonisation de
leurs positions sur les principes de base du plan de paix tel qu’il
a ete propose par les copresidents russe, francais et americain du
Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE. Ils s’etaient contentes d'”exprimer leur
disposition a accelerer l’aboutissement” d’un accord sur les fondements
d’un accord de paix. Le ministre russe des affaires etrangères Sergei
Lavrov avait indique pour sa part qu’il “restait encore a trouver un
accord sur une serie de points” sur lesquels divergent les parties
en conflit. Une manière diplomatique de dire qu’il ne fallait pas
s’attendre a une percee dans les negociations dans les mois a venir.

WITH THE SUPPORT OF ORANGE FOUNDATION VAZASHEN VILLAGE GOT SPORTS EQUIPMENTS AND FURNITURE

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 17:23:10 – 06/02/2012

Vazashen residents have a pleasant and comfortable place where they
can meet, organize concerts, sport or cultural activities as well
as hold important events in their lives. A community center opened
in Vazashen village, Tavush region. Furniture, sport equipments and
library have been acquired with the support of the Orange Foundation
and “Shen” charitable non-governmental organization.

Bruno Duthoit, Chairman of the Orange Armenia Foundation board, said: ”
In the normal social life of each small or large village the community
center has a vital importance. So now Vazashen inhabitants will have
a comfortable place where they can get together to exchange ideas or
for leisure, and where children can go in for sports or dances. We
understand very well the importance this place has for Vazashen,
which is at only several hundreds of meters from the border.”

The construction of the community center of this village with 1080
inhabitants has started 20 years ago but was not finished. The new
building has been constructed in 2011 by the Armenian foundation of
social investments and the community.

The Orange Foundation has allotted 3,390,000 AMD to furnish the
Vazashen community center and acquire the sports equipment.

TURKEY THROUGH THE HEADLINES

Today’s Zaman
Feb 6 2012
Turkey

When I travel abroad and follow events in Turkey through online
newspapers, I am always struck by how quickly I sense that I am losing
a true feel for developments back home. My understanding of Turkey,
I have always felt, rests not just on analysis of current events but
it also has a strange sensory dimension. Without actually breathing
the air of the country and walking through its streets, seeing the
larger picture beyond the headlines and picking up trends and changes
of mood becomes a lot harder.

The same undoubtedly applies to most countries in the world: Media
reports only provide a two-dimensional picture, based on a handful
of developments deemed newsworthy. And we probably underestimate the
information gathering simply by walking in the streets and watching
people go about their daily business.

But viewing developments in Turkey through the prism of headlines and
news articles alone also has its uses. It is after all as outsiders
see it. And perhaps imagining how their actions reflect on their
countryâ~@~Ys perceptions abroad, and not just on how they play to a
domestic audience, is something that Turkish political leaders should
attempt to do more often.

The polemic that has developed between novelist Paul Auster and Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ~_an is a case in point. I greatly admire
Auster as a writer and always enjoy his books. I also share his views
that it does not befit a country like Turkey to lay charges against
so many writers — or indeed that so many people are spending lengthy
periods in pre-trial detention, before they can defend themselves in
front of a court.

But I have always believed that the best contribution foreigners can
make to challenging the status quo is to visit the country, interact
with its people and express their views on the ground. In the â~@~X90s,
when the human rights situation was particularly bad in Turkey, I had
long arguments with friends who refused to set foot in the country,
and I tried to convince them that extended contacts and exposure to
different ideas was important to broaden the minds of the visitors
and the local residents alike.

But Auster is entitled to his own opinions and his stance is a valid
one. Had Prime Minister ErdoÄ~_an not stepped into the argument,
the writerâ~@~Ys statements would have been quickly forgotten. But
the prime ministerâ~@~Ys flippant statements and the mocking tone
he adopts all too frequently when he wants to dismiss critics, be
they environmentalists, members of the opposition or well-respected
foreign novelists, has only lent credence to the view that Turkeyâ~@~Ys
charismatic leader brooks no dissent and is exhibiting an increasingly
intolerant streak. It is particularly unfortunate because the
perception of Turkey that is developing as a result distracts from
the countryâ~@~Ys real achievements over the past decade.

Unfortunately, this war of words is not the only shadow hanging over
Turkey at the moment. More developments may yet follow in the Hrant
Dink case, but the impact of the disastrous court verdict will not
easily be shaken off. The news that an Armenian house of worship was
destroyed by the Malatya Municipality will only serve to strengthen the
view that Turkeyâ~@~Ys old statist mentality, which viewed minorities
as threats, has morphed into a new form but remains alive. And while
Prime Minister ErdoÄ~_an spoke forcefully about secularism during
his visits to Arab countries, his recent remarks about wanting to
bring up a religious youth will revive the debate about secularism,
whether it really exists in Turkey and how it is defined.

Turkeyâ~@~Ys progress in the past decade is reflected in the
countryâ~@~Ys growing impact on the international scene and its
rising economic power. But the countryâ~@~Ys politicians have always
tended to be over-sensitive to alternative views and unable to grasp
that, since no one is ever perfect, paying attention to constructive
criticism is an important tool for progress. These days, it is hard
to escape the conclusion that the Justice and Development Party (AKP)
governmentâ~@~Ys overreaction to events is at times undermining its
own achievements.

ARMENIANS TO CONDUCT DEMONSTRATIONS IN NEW YORK AGAINST TURKEY’S POLICY OF DENIAL

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 7, 2012
YEREVAN

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS: Atrocities committed against the
Armenian people during World War I opened the door to grave breaches
of international law.

Armenian advocacy groups in the United States announced plans
for demonstrations in New York later this year. The theme of the
commemoration is that Turkey is guilty of genocide and “denying the
undeniable is a crime,” Armenpress reports citing UPI.com.

A bill passed by the French Senate last month would impose a sentence
of a year in prison and a fine of more than $58,000 on those found
guilty of denying any officially recognized genocide.

Dennis Papazian, an official with the advocacy group Knights of Vartan,
said in a statement that the World War I atrocities opened the door
for further transgressions.

“The Turkish government to this day continues to deny the reality of
the first genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian genocide, which
opened the door to all the genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries,
including the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur,” he said.

RUSSIAN NUCLEAR OFFICIAL SAYS IRAN NUKE PLANT SECURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 7, 2012 – 14:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A senior official of Russian state nuclear
corporation Rosatom has stated that Iran’s first nuclear power plant
in the Southern port city of Bushehr complies with the latest safety
rules and standards, and is fully resistant to natural incidents,
specially big earthquakes.

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant can resist an earthquake measuring 9
on the Richter scale, plant’s constructor, Fars News Agency quoted
Rosatom Corporation’s Programs Director Sergei Boyarkin as saying.

“The recent earthquake which jolted parts of Iran’s Southwest regions
had not affected the nuclear activities in Bushehr nuclear power
plant,” he added.

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale jolted the city of
Khormoj in the southern province of Bushehr on Feb 5 morning.

There were no reports of any casualty or damage to property caused
by the quake.

ALL THE PROBLEMS IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS AZERBAIJAN’S FAULT: ACTING FOREIGN MINISTER OF NKR

arminfo
Tuesday, February 7, 11:58

“We do not agree with some political experts saying that the
negotiations have faced a deadlock and it is necessary to change the
format of the OSCE Minsk Group etc.

The Minsk Group is fulfilling its mission, while all the problems in
the negotiation process are due to Azerbaijan’s fault. That country
has never tried to search for compromises and has always used
the negotiation process for its anti-Armenian propaganda,” Vasily
Atajanyan, Acting Foreign Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,
said in an interview with Vestnik TV program of the Russian Service
of the NKR Public Television.

According to ArmInfo’s correspondent to Stepanakert, V. Atajanyan
said that in 2011 the foreign political course of the NKR intensified
mostly due to the NKR president’s visits to Europe and USA where he
introduced the essence of the Karabakh conflict and the peace process
to parliamentarians and other officials. The acting minister stressed
the role of the permanent representations and diplomatic missions of
NKR at foreign organization in meeting the present-day challenges.

Asked about the necessity of confidence building measures for the
conflicting parties, Atajanyan said that Azerbaijan has always ignored
these measures, unlike Armenia and Artsakh that have been raising that
issue from the very beginning of the negotiation process. For instance,
he said, Baku categorically rejected the suggestion to remove snipers
from the line of contact of the NKR and Azerbaijan armed forces as
well as request to increase financing of the OSCE CIO PR Office to
inquiry into the incidents on the line of the contact.

As for the so-called “inter-community” dialogue, Vasily Atajanyan
said, it threatens the entire negotiation process. “One can see here
Turkey’s scenario towards the Cyprian problem. And Azerbaijan tries to
turn the negotiations into an inter-community settlement process. We
will never agree with such format,” he said. The status of the NKR
cannot be lower than it actually is, he said, and the resolution
should start with determination of NKR’s status.

AZERBAIJANI HACKERS CRACK ARMENIAN SAMBO FEDERATION WEBSITE

news.am
February 06, 2012 | 17:58

YEREVAN. – It is already for a week that Armenian Federation of Sambo
official website, sambo.am is not available.

According to the website creator Alteza Company, the website was
cracked by Azerbaijani hackers. Currently Azerbaijani flag is posted
on the website instead of a map of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,
the Federation informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

This is third similar case. The website is under construction and
the Federation apologizes to all the visitors.

ISRAELI FM OPPOSES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 6, 2012 – 16:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stood
against the Armenian Genocide recognition.

“Since its establishment, Israel has opposed the application of
Holocaust term in relation to another war and tragedy. The tragedy of
the Jewish people during the World War II is beyond comparison with
any other tragedy. Attempts to turn conflicts and massacres in Africa,
Asia and Balkans into another Holocaust are unacceptable. No country
other than France has recognized Armenian Genocide by law. Today
historical incidents have turned into political disputes. That’s
why I don’t consider it right for Israel to face this problem,”
Azerbaijan Press Agency quoted Lieberman as saying.

It’s worth noting here that the following 22 countries have recognized
the Armenian Genocide: Uruguay, Russia, Cyprus, Greece, Canada, Italy,
Lebanon, Australia, Belgium, France, Argentina, Sweden, Slovakia,
the Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Venezuela, Poland, Switzerland,
Brazil, Vatican and Chili.

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the
Armenian Genocide denial with 127 votes for and 86 against. Expected
to be signed into law by President within 14 days, the bill will
impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France
who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.

Two separate groups of French politicians who oppose the legislation
– from both the Senate and the lower house – said they had formally
requested the constitutional council examine the law. The groups said
they each had gathered more than the minimum 60 signatures required
to ask the council to test the law’s constitutionality. The council
is obliged to deliver its judgment within a month, but this can be
reduced to eight days if the government deems the matter urgent.

H. TAMRAZYAN: OPENING OF RESTORED OLD BUILDING OF MATENADARAN TO SURPRISE EVERYONE

Panorama.am
17:55 06/02/2012

The reconstruction of Armenian repository of manuscripts – Matenadaran
named after Mesrop Mashtots, which kicked off yet in previous year,
will finish in May. Before the reconstruction is terminated, the
road leading to Matenadaran will be ready in April. Arthur Meschian
is the architect and designer of the project.

Panorama.am reporter, accompanied by chief engineer Hunan Kostanyan,
walked through the old building. He said they were tasked to create
fresh architectural innovations conserving old traditions. All the
five floors and two-storey cellar are being reconstructed.

Panorama.am has also met with the director of Matenadaran Hrachya
Tamrazyan asking for some remarks.

-Mister Tamrazyan, after the reconstruction of the building what
changes could we enjoy?

-The mission of the reconstruction is to create more space for the
exhibitions. Once we had only one exhibition hall, now we are going
to have 8-9 halls. We are going to display foreign manuscripts,
ancient books, archive materials. All those materials are going to
be changed every time. There will be laboratories, storehouses in
the old building as our funds are getting richer and richer every day.

After the reconstruction the microclimate of the building will be in
accord with modern standards of preserving manuscripts. In summer the
air temperature in the building was 30-35 degrees. It was a terrible
atmosphere for the manuscripts. After the reconstruction everything
must be in accord with the standards of international of museums. We
are going to be nicely surprised.

-When will the restored department be available and how will be
opening be celebrated?

-The old department of Matenadaran will host an exhibition devoted
to the 500th anniversary of Armenian Printing on its official opening
day. It will be in May. Not only Armenian ancient books but European
and Eastern ancient books will be displayed during the exhibition.

-Are some other events being planned during the year?

-Surely, international conferences will be held on this occasion.

-How many manuscripts are there in Matenadaran and how do you acquire
new materials? Are funds allocated by the State Budget enough?

-There are 18 thousand 400 manuscripts in Matenadaran. During the last
four years we have acquired more than 1600 manuscripts, archives have
been enriched with tens of thousands of new pieces. Money allocated
for the new materials are not enough. We have enriched the funds due
to donations.

-Do you host more tourists?

– In 2011 the number of visitors of Matenadaran has increased by ten
thousand, which is a serious advancement.

-What do you think, can Armenia hold “Yerevan – book capital” title
with honor?

-I’m sure we can. Jubilee events will contribute to propaganda of book,
to establishment of spiritual field, our spiritual-cultural life will
breathe freshly.

-Do you cooperate with foreign museums, cultural centers?

-We cooperate; we organize conferences, scientific trips and implement
scientific- methodological projects. This year we plan to have a
scientific forum with CIS and European countries. In this respect
Matenadaran has become an international comprehensive center.

-What could you tell about the digitalization of manuscripts?

-The process continues, we need more technical equipments. We have
obtained new equipments and since May a new phase of it will launch.

We have already digitalized more than two million pages.

ALTERNATIVE VIEW ON IRAN
Igor Muradyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 16:52:04 – 06/02/2012

A part of Armenian experts propose an alternative view at the
situation in Iran and connect it with the perspectives of development
of the society, politics and state. According to these experts, the
acting ruling elite of Iran is extremely secularized and the Islamic
principles in the policy of Iran are diluted. Iran cannot be called
a truly Islamic country. Sharia is present only in a couple of norms
of conduct and in legislation, though very formally.

The Iranian elite does not hide that it is working out a project
of transformation of the political regime and creation of a new
statehood. Sharia’s norms will be preserved for long, perhaps,
forever. The idea is how sharia and the demand of modernization will
combine. Now nothing threatens Iran’s ruling regime, its political
destiny depends on the success of economic and social reforms. During
his presidential tenure, Ahmadinejad failed to fulfill serious
principled reforms. But the society still has great hopes:

– Iran expected more decisive steps by the U.S. toward rapprochement
with the United States and it seemed that Obama’s administration
would quickly enough take up steps to reproach Iran. But apparently,
the U.S. had some troubles inside the country and met resistance by
the Congress and the Jewish lobby. Besides, the U.S. sees relations
with Iran as a part of the Middle Eastern policy and determines these
relations with the problems of Iraq, Afghanistan, Caspian Basin and
Arab countries. In this regard, a stop in the rapprochement between
Iran and the U.S. is perhaps possible. But most likely, all of these
explanations may be secondary. Apparently, the U.S. has not developed
approaches and the concept of normalization of relations with Iran
so far. Maybe both sides don’t understand all the difficulties to
overcome on the path to rapprochement. In essence, this is a new
situation for the United States, and it will take time to define
priorities in the normalization of relations. In Iran, there is also
strong opposition to the rapprochement with the United States. While
it is clear that the important subject of political bargaining will
be the issues of relations with China. So far, the position and
statements of the U.S. against Iran have been very contradictory;

-Foreign political possibilities of Iran depend much on the
developments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, the political regimes
in both countries are hostile towards Iran. The elimination of these
regimes, and less likely, the normalization of relations with them will
strengthen Iran’s positions, including in the Arab world and Central
Asia. Iran is in confronting relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan
and this confrontation may increase. So Armenia will need to keep
its important role for Iran.

– Great Britain has already determined with regards to Iran’s issue.

The conservative government thinks it is necessary to support normal
relations with this country promoting reforms in Iran anyway. There
is a common idea that the U.S. and Britain lead a common policy in
relation with Iran. In reality, in terms of security issues, there
are ongoing consultations of relevant services in the U.S. and the
UK. But the UK tries to lead independent policy in relation with Iran
which would reflect its economic interests. UK cannot get distanced
from the general European position on Iran which supposes for the
strengthening of relations with this country. A break of relations
between the UK and Iran was accepted in London very critically. There
is no full agreement on this issue between the U.S. and UK, but these
countries have common strategical interests.

– There are no convincing signals that the U.S. is interested in the
catastrophic decline of defense capability and economic capacity of
Iran which may become extremely undesirable for the U.S. interests,
which builds its policy in this wide region on the basis of balance
between Turkey, Saudi Arabia (with satellites), Iran and Pakistan.

– At the present moment, serious contacts of different level are
underway between the U.S. and Iran in which private figures also take
part which will acquire a bigger significance in the foreseeable
future. The essence of the current disagreement is not in Iran’s
nuclear program, but geopolitical intentions pretending to middle-term
perspective. Iran is trying to launch a dialogue with the U.S. at
parity level, while the U.S. is trying to oblige Iran on the most
important geopolitical issues.