Author: Badalian Vardan

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.

ASSEMBLY CALLS ON CLINTON TO DISAVOW HER ILL-CONSIDERED STATEMENT ON GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
February 6, 2012 – 15:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Members of the U.S. Congress and the Armenian
Assembly of America expressed strong concerns regarding Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton’s remarks on the Armenian Genocide.

On January 26, Hillary Clinton, said the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by the U.S. “opens a door that is a very dangerous one to
go through.”

Responding to a question from a participant of a Town Hall Meeting,
who asked why the U.S. does not recognize the Genocide, Clinton
characterized the Armenian Genocide as an historical issue and not
a political one.

In a dear colleague letter Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Robert
Dold (R-IL), sponsors of the Armenian Genocide resolution, urged
Members to join them in sending a letter to Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton calling on the Secretary to “disavow her ill-considered
statement.” The letter also urged the Obama Administration to
unequivocally affirm the Armenian Genocide this April 24th and firmly
recognize “genocide wherever and whenever it occurs.”

Expressing surprise and dismay, the Assembly sent a letter to President
Barack Obama requesting swift action. “Secretary Clinton’s response
is untenable and requires immediate remedy. Mr. President now is the
time to fulfill your campaign promise and unequivocally affirm the
Armenian Genocide,” the Assembly wrote in its letter.

“We welcome this bi-partisan initiative to set the record straight,”
stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “We urge human
rights activists from across the country to make sure that their
Member of Congress signs this important letter to Secretary Clinton,”
added Ardouny.

MORE THAN 150 CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS REGISTERED LAST WEEK

armradio.am
06.02.2012 11:26

The rival violated the ceasefire regime at the line of contact between
the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan about 150 times
between January 29 and February 4.

Divisions of the Azerbaijani army fired more than 600 shots from
weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian
positions, Information and Propaganda Department of the NKR Defense
Army repots.

The NKR forces responded to the shots only in case of extreme
necessity, confidently fulfilling their military duty and protecting
the military positions all along the line of contact.

NUCLEAR PROGRAM IN ARMENIA
HAKOB BADALYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 15:54:52 – 06/02/2012

In an interview with NBC News, the U.S. President Barrack Obama
announced: ‘We’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from
getting a nuclear weapon and creating an arms race – a nuclear arms
race – in a volatile region,’ Obama said.

Indeed, if the international community allows Iran to have nuclear
weapon, and as soon as it is an established fact, if certainly it
has not been established yet, the countries of the region will have
to think about the nuclear arsenal.

In this case, the international community will not have the “moral”
right to veto the nuclear programs of any country of the region.

Moreover, it will be interested in having Iran surrounded with a
chain of nuclear countries, serving as a shield.

The region is a rather complicated region with crossing interests,
hence if a nuclear power emerges, a nuclear program becomes a national
security must. Moreover, in most countries, it must be one of the
important issues of the national security agenda.

So is the case of Armenia. Certainly, the body dealing with our
national security seems to be concerned mainly with marketing for the
export of brandy and the import of tractors but perhaps it is high
time to deal with the security issues more seriously and predict the
possible challenges, including the scenarios of preparations of the
nuclear program.

The point is that if suddenly the international community makes a
blunder regarding Iran and allows Iran to have nuclear weapon, Turkey
and Azerbaijan may declare about their nuclear program considering
that Iran’s nuclear program obliges them to have nuclear weapon for
the purpose of security.

In this regard, perhaps the best option for Armenia would be to rely
on its own nuclear program rather than the Russian nuclear shield. The
point is that in the case of Armenia this shield will work the same
way as the contingent of the Russian border guards on the Armenian
border, which is the penal battalion of the Russian army.

The same could be in the case of the nuclear shield when the nuclear
weapon will blast in our territory instead of protecting us. After all,
the stories of the Russian atomic submarines are very eloquent in the
context of comments on the modernization of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

Armenia must rely on its own nuclear arsenal if suddenly Iran declares
to launch a nuclear program. Afterwards, Armenia must keep up with
Turkey and Azerbaijan or it may be fatal.

By the way, the pronouncement of the U.S. president is evidence that
it is impossible to stop Iran’s nuclear program, the U.S. may approve
the possible future programs in other countries of the region. In other
words, supporting these programs may be considered as counterbalance to
Iran which may use its nuclear program first of all to reach absolute
dominance and influence in the region.

In this regard, the possession of nuclear weapon by Armenia becomes a
crucial issue for the South Caucasian part of the region in terms of
preserving regional balance because if Turkey and Azerbaijan expressed
such ambitions, the West may not curb these programs to use them
as counterbalance to Iran but in this case it must be interested in
encouraging Armenia to develop nuclear weapon in Armenia considering
that by becoming the godfather of this weapon it will weaken the
military and political dominance of Russia in Armenia and the region.

HASMIK POGHOSYAN LIKES THE IDEA OF DORIANS’ PARTICIPATION IN EUROVISION 2012

ARMENPRESS
FEBRUARY 6, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: Minister of Culture of Armenia Hasmik
Poghosyan believes in the necessity of Armenia’s participation in the
“Eurovision 2012” song contest in Baku.

She said she has not thought over who she would like to represent
Armenia, but said that he/she must be the best. She also said she
liked the idea of participation of “Dorians” rock band.

Hasmik Poghosyan said Armenian participant of classical Eurovision
has already been selected: it will be Narek Gazazyan, kanon player.

RUBEN MATEVOSYAN: 50 YEARS ON STAGE
Alisa Gevorgyan

“Radiolur”
06.02.2012 15:26

Ruben Matevosyan is 70. A concert dedicated to the 70th birthday of the
People’s Artist and the 50th anniversary of his career will take place
at Aram Khachatryan Hall at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture.

Ruben Matevosyan has performed on all continents and has sung 900
songs during 50 years. “The song has been my first love,” the singer
confesses.

Ruben Matevosyan has been celebrating the jubilee from December 2011.

A reception in his honor was organized in Los Angeles, he has received
congratulatory messages from the US Congress, the Pasadena City Hall,
the US Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“I’m proud that my work is appreciated not only in Armenia, but also
abroad,” Ruben Matevosyan told a press conference today. He described
his tomorrow’s concert as a “report to the spectators.”

There are no favorite and non-favorite songs among the 900 Ruben
Matevosyan has recorded throughout his career. He says he has first
fallen in love with every song and then performed it.

LEVON ARONIAN SHRUGS OFF LOSSES TO TRIUMPH AT TATA STEEL WIJK AAN ZEE
Leonard Barden

guardian.co.uk,
Friday 3 February 2012 13.59 GMT

3239 F El Debs v M Vachier-Lagrave, Tradewise Gibraltar 2012. White
(to move) is a bishop down, so how did he defeat France?s No1
grandmaster? Photograph: Graphic Levon Aronian shrugged off an
early loss to the world No1 Magnus Carlsen and a late defeat by a
tail-ender to win first prize at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee this week
with impressive authority. The Armenian world No2’s 9/13 total was a
point clear of Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, and the Italian 19-year-old
Fabiano Caruana who shared second prize.

The elite events which make up the chess equivalent of a Grand Slam
include Moscow’s Tal Memorial and the London Classic as well as Wijk.

Aronian was subdued in London, but he tied first with Carlsen in
Moscow and his overall rating is closing in on the Norwegian’s.

Aged 29 and at the height of his powers, Aronian would have been a
good bet to capture Vishy Anand’s official world title this spring had
he not frozen with nerves and a bug at last year’s candidates matches.

He has a rich and imaginative style of play which makes a bigger
impression on experts than Carlsen’s marathon grinds. It is not an
exact parallel, but the difference between them is akin to Boris
Spassky and Tigran Petrosian in the world title matches of the 1960s.

Aronian’s best win at Wijk was an all-round tour de force which showed
his depth of preparation and his strategic and tactical flair. His
Dutch teenage opponent was prepared for the opening, but failed to
grasp the strength of Black’s 13…Rxf3 sacrifice. Black’s ensuing
attack steadily gained momentum until its imaginative climax 41…Ne1!

and 42…Qf4+! when if 43 Nxf4 Rxe1 mate.

A Giri v L Aronian

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Be7 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 Bf4 O-O 6 e3 Nbd7 7 Be2 dxc4 8
O-O Nb6 9 Qc2 Nh5!? 10 Be5 f6 11 Ng5 fxg5 12 Bxh5 Bd7 13 Bf3 Rxf3!? 14
gxf3 Bd6 15 Qe4 Bc6 16 Qg4 Qe7 17 Bxd6 cxd6 18 Ne4 h6 19 Qg3 d5 20
Nc3 Rf8 21 Ne2 Rf5 22 Kg2 Nd7 23 Rh1 Nf8 24 h4 Ng6 25 f4 Nxh4+ 26 Kf1
Qb4 27 Rb1 Be8 28 Nc3 Qe7 29 b4 Rf8 30 Rb2 Bg6 31 Ke1 Bd3 32 fxg5 Nf3+
33 Kd1 hxg5 34 Qh3 Qf6 35 Kc1 Bg6 36 a4 Rd8 37 Ne2 e5 38 Qg4 exd4 39
exd4 Re8 40 Qd7 c3 41 Ra2 Ne1! 42 Rxe1 Qf4+! 43 Kd1 Qe4 0-1 .

Giri had impressed when winning at Reggio a few weeks earlier but
the17-year-old lost five games in a row at Wijk and ended last.

Caruana, in contrast, made his break-through into the top 10, and is
the first top flight grandmaster ever from Italy.

China’s Hou Yifan, 17, played the tournament of her life at Tradewise
Gibraltar which ended on Thursday. She defeated several elite GMs,
shared first prize on 8/10 with Nigel Short won won their play-off,
and beat the all-time No1 woman Judit Polgar.

Hou Yigan v J Polgar

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 Nge7 7 Bf4 Ng6
8 Nxc6 bxc6 9 Bd6 Bxd6 10 Qxd6 Qe7 11 O-O-O Qxd6 12 Rxd6 Ke7 13 Rhd1
Nf4 14 Bf3 Rb8 15 R6d2 g5 16 Na4 d5 17 g3 Ng6 18 Re1 Kf6 19 Bh5 Rb4
20 Nc3 d4? 21 e5+! Nxe5 22 Ne4+ Ke7 23 Nxg5 h6? 24 Nxe6! Bxe6 25 Rxe5
Rd8 26 f4 Rb5 27 Rde2 Kf6 28 Bf3 c5 29 a4 Rb4 30 Rxc5 Rxa4 31 b3 Rb4
32 Be4 Bg4 33 Re1 Rd6 34 Bd3 Bd7 35 Ree5 Be6 36 Kd2 Rbb6 37 Ra5 Rbc6
38 Ra4 Rb6 39 Re4 Bf5 40 Rexd4 Re6 41 Bc4 Rec6 42 Ra5 Bc8 43 Bd3 Be6
44 Rd8 Bc8 45 Rad5 Be6 46 Rh5 Kg7 47 f5 1-0.

3239 Rxb7! Nxb7 2 Bxc6+ Kf8 3 Rd7 Qxd7 4 Qxd7 Rxa7 5 Qe8 mate.