Author: Badalian Vardan

EXPERT: OSCE MINSK GROUP URGING AZERBAIJAN TO WITHHOLD ARMED RHETORIC

Panorama
Oct 25 2011
Armenia

“The OSCE Minsk Group urges Azerbaijan to withhold armed rhetoric,”
said military expert Gevorg Tosunyan to Panorama.am.

The French co-chair Bernard Fassier has particularly said: “If
statements are made to resolve the conflict through war and force,
then it doesn’t contribute to the creation favorable conditions for
the negotiations.” The co-chair has stressed that the parties should
withhold armed rhetoric.

“Bernard Fassier is a diplomat and he couldn’t point any side, but
taking into account Azerbaijani statesmen, including the president of
the country, making different armed statements, we understand that Mr.
Fassier was urging Azerbaijan,” said the expert.

According to the expert Azerbaijan is creating obstacles for the
resolution of the conflict, because the country isn’t committed to
establish peace in the region.

TOGETHER WITH AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY WILL FIGHT FOR KARABAKH – PM ERDOGAN

news.am
Oct 25 2011
Armenia

Turkish PM maintained that, shoulder to shoulder with Azerbaijan,
they will fight until they “liberate” Karabakh from the Armenians.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
attended the groundbreaking ceremony of an oil refining enterprise
in Izmir, Turkey, during which Erdogan reflected on the Karabakh issue.

The Turkish PM maintained that, shoulder to shoulder with Azerbaijan,
they will fight until they “liberate” Karabakh from the Armenians.

“Karabakh’s ‘forcible occupation’ breaks the heart of Turkey’s citizens
just as much as it breaks the heart of the Azerbaijanis.

Azerbaijan and Turkey only want peace,” Erdogan stated, also
congratulating Aliyev for becoming a non-permanent member of the UN
Security Council, Beyazgazete of Turkey reported.

Inaugural session of the Turkish-Azerbaijani Strategic Cooperation
Council will be held in Izmir, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

HISTORIC TREE AT FRESNO’S HOLY TRINITY COMING DOWN
By Paula Lloyd

Fresno Bee
Oct 25 2011
CA

A stately Washingtonian pine tree that stood guard over the courtyard
of the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church at Ventura and M streets
in Fresno for 78 years is coming down.

In recent years, the tree became diseased and church leaders decided
it was time to take it down “before it falls down on its own,” church
administrator Nazik Arisian said.

The tree, planted in 1933, became a much-beloved aspect of the church
grounds. It provided shade in the summer, joy when it was decorated
for Christmas and beauty year-round.

“It was always an important focal point of the courtyard. I hate to
see it come down,” said Lucille Gahvejian, a long-time member of the
congregation and former church secretary.

The white-trimmed, red-brick church was built in 1914 and became not
only a distinct downtown Fresno landmark but also the heart of the
neighborhood between Inyo, O and Los Angeles streets and Broadway,
known as Armenian Town.

The tree is associated with an important time in the church’s history
— the calling of a new pastor. The church board was looking for a
new pastor, Gahvejian said, and decided on a beautification project
to make the building and grounds more appealing.

A family in the church provided for the tree and a neon cross, she
said, and the congregation soon appointed its new pastor, The Very
Rev. Kegham Kasimian.

The tree was 53 years old when the church was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Workers began taking the tree down Monday and the work is expected
to be completed today, Gahvejian said.

“I hope they plant another one,” she said.

ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM AT WORLD YOUTH U16 CHESS OLYMPIAD

Panorama, Armenia
Oct 26 2011

The Armenian youth national team beat Indian team 3-1 in the third
round of the World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad in Izmit, Turkey. Karen
Grigoryan beat Grover, Hovhannes Gabuzyan beat Girish, Tigran
Harutyunian beat Antonio and Arman Mikaelyan lost to Prince.

After three rounds, the Armenian team tops the tournament table with
10.5 points. The Georgian and Azerbaijani teams run second and third
with 10 and 9 points, respectively.

The Armenian team faces the Georgian team in the fourth round.

STUDENT’S PLEA TO SAVE PARENTS FROM DEPORTATION

Newcastle Evening Chronicle, UK
October 25, 2011 Tuesday

TWO talented university students fear they may never see their parents
again if their appeal for asylum is rejected.

Lusi and Arsen Manukyan have lived in Wallsend, North Tyneside,
with their parents Kamo and Nonna for nearly four years.

And after a recent court decision, the students were granted asylum.

However, their parents’ separate claim has been rejected, meaning
they face deportation back to Armenia and Uzbekistan at any time.

Now Lusi, 20, and Arsen, 21, who both started university in September,
fear they may never see their parents again.

Lusi, who scored top grades at A-level and is now studying Government
and the European Union at Newcastle University, said: “I am really
happy that my brother and I are allowed to stay and we are both
settling into university well.

“But the fact that the asylum claim is still looming over my parents
is just horrible. If they are sent back I just don’t know what will
be left here for me and Arsen.

“Once again we have to fight against their decision. It’s
just exhausting, we should be able to get on with our lives and
university.” Bosses at the Home Office have said Lusi and Edinburgh
University student Arsen can stay in the UK for three years, but will
need to make a fresh claim after that.

At the immigration hearing, Judge Cope said: “In many years sitting
as an immigration adjudicator and then an immigration judge, I have
not dealt with a case which has had appellants who have provided so
much to the wider public good through voluntary activity.

“I am quite satisfied from the evidence before me that the ties between
the appellants themselves and with their parents are emotionally and
socially strong.”

Meanwhile, Kamo and Nonna are due to attend a judicial review this
week to appeal against the Home Office’s decision.

If their appeal is rejected Kamo could be forced to go back to
Uzbekistan, while Nonna is made to return to Armenia, where she
has citizenship.

In a letter to the parents, the Home Office said: “As you and your
wife have not been found to be in need of international protection
and have no other leave, it is considered necessary in a democratic
society for the prevention of disorder or crime and to protect the
rights and freedoms of others.

“As such, it is considered that your removal, even to different
countries, is in pursuit of a legitimate aim.”

The family fled Uzbekistan in 2007 after persecution. But since
finding a home in the North East, they have become pillars in the
local community and have done thousands of hours of volunteering
between them.

Lusi and Arsen are part of several youth drama and music groups,
and parents Kamo and Nonna volunteer at the Age Concern cafe at Mea
House, Newcastle.

This week Lusi will receive a national award at a ceremony in Warwick
for her volunteering work in Newcastle.

Only this week Kamo finished a 300-mile sponsored walk to raise money
for Arsen’s university fees and the family’s local church.

Lusi said: “I was really proud of my dad – it was amazing to see him
do this. Only last year he had a heart attack and now he’s done this.

“People couldn’t believe the challenge he was taking on but he’s
proved so many people wrong.”

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to
comment as this case is due to be heard by an immigration judge
this week.

“The UK has a proud history of providing refuge to those in genuine
need of our protection, with every case being carefully considered
on its individual merits.”

To support the Manukyan family, visit their Facebook page called
Manukyan family must stay.

AMANDA PAUL VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW, CALLING ON AZERBAIJAN TO LAUNCH WAR AGAINST NKR

Panorama, Armenia
Oct 26 2011

Political analyst of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre Amanda
Paul, who is very popular in Turkey and Azerbaijan, made a scandalous
statement.

“Azerbaijan has an absolute right to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict through military means because the negotiation process
supported by the OSCE Minsk Group has yielded no result for around
two years, with the international community exerting no pressure on
Armenia,” Salamnews quoted her as saying.

This statement by the Brussels-based expert is an obvious war
propaganda and incitement to hostility and violence. Article 20 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) says:
1.Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law. 2. Any advocacy
of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement
to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

Thus the famous European analyst obviously violates the above mentioned
points of ICCPR, calling on Azerbaijan to abandon allegedly “futile”
peace talks and to launch a war against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

MOLDOVA REGRETS SALE OF ARMS TO ARMENIA, SAYS IT WAS ‘WRONG POLITICAL MOVE’

ArmeniaDiaspora.com
Oct 26 2011

Epress.am — Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Vladmir Filat
acknowledged that the sale of arms to Armenia was a wrong political
move and apologized to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Moldova’s
Ambassador in Baku Igor Bodiu told 1news.az.

The diplomat stated that ChiÈ~YinÄ~Cu really did sell $3 million USD
worth of weapons to Armenia, and called this fact a “wrong political
move”.

At the same time, he stressed that “there are no international
sanctions prohibiting the sale of arms to Armenia”.

“Both Moldova and Azerbaijan are members of GUAM [Organization
for Democracy and Economic Development of four post-Soviet states:
Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova], and we hope that this fact
will not damage our relations. Moldova has set up two commissions
which are investigating the incident. Once again let me say, it was
the wrong political move,” said Bodiu.

Moldnews recalls that earlier Vlad Filat said he knew nothing of the
sale of missile and artillery systems to Armenia — despite the fact
that his signature is on the sale documents.

GEORGIA TO ASSIST IN RESOLVING NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Vestnik Kavkaza
Oct 26 2011

Baku has hosted a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Georgian foreign
ministers, Elmar Mammadyarov and Grigol Vashadze. The Azerbaijani
minister called their relations strategic. Vashadze said he plans to
improve ties.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved in a day, they said. The
sides agreed to solve it gradually in Prague, Elmar Mammadyarov said.

Grigol Vashadze said that Georgia is ready to assist in settling
the conflict.

Mammadyarov said that elections to the UN Security Council may allow
Azerbaijan to raise the topic again. Azerbaijan received 155 votes. It
needs support of 5 permanent members of the council. 3 permanent
members are part of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The ministers agreed on delimitation and demarcation of
Azerbaijani-Georgian borders. They have already settled two thirds
of their borderlines.

JAMES RUSSELL TO UNRAVEL ‘AN ARMENO-HEBREW MYSTERY’ AT NAASR

Armenian Weekly
Wed, Oct 26 2011

BELMONT, Mass.-Prof. James R. Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian
Studies at Harvard University, will give a lecture entitled “An
Armeno-Hebrew Mystery: Or, a 1,000-Year-Old Armenian Text in a Cairo
Synagogue and the Stories It Tells” on Thurs., Nov. 3 at 8 p.m., at
the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
Center, 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont.

In the waning years of the 19th century, a traveling scholar happened
by chance on a store-room at the back of a Cairo synagogue filled to
the ceiling with medieval manuscripts: letters, poems, sacred books,
economic documents, etc., that could not simply be thrown away, as
they employed the sacred Hebrew script. Like a fly trapped in amber,
the documents of the Cairo Geniza (which literally means “treasure
house”) provide a vivid and detailed primary record of the life and
letters of the Middle East in the centuries just after the beginning
of the second millennium.

Among the items preserved in the Geniza is a short Armenian word
list, with translation into Judeo-Arabic. Since the Armenian words
are written out in Hebrew characters, we know exactly how they were
pronounced; and the curious selection of vocabulary invites one to
speculate upon the occasion for which they might have been compiled.

Both the Geniza record and Armenian sources enable us to recreate
that context, and to enter, very briefly, a long lost world.

Russell has been the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard
since 1992. His books include Bosphorus Nights: The Complete Lyric
Poems of Bedros Tourian, Armenian and Iranian Studies, The Book of
Flowers, An Armenian Epic: The Heroes of Kasht, Zoroastrianism in
Armenia, and Hovhannes Tlkurantsi and the Medieval Armenian Lyric
Tradition.

Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the
U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and
in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8 p.m.

For more information about the lecture, call (617) 489-1610, e-mail
[email protected], or write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.

GNC- ALFA’S NETWORK AVAILABLE IN 3 MORE ARMENIAN TOWNS

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 26, 2011 – 15:48 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – GNC- Alfa’s 10Gbps bandwidth IP/MPLS network has
become available in 3 more cities of Armenia: Byureghavan, Echmiadzin,
Tsakhkadzor.

With network expansion works in progress, the cities of Ijevan,
Gavar, Meghri, Yeghvard, Martuni and Metsamor are next in turn to
be connected.

At present, the network covers Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Charentsavan,
Hrazdan and 16 more towns.

GNC-Alfa is a telecommunications network services operator in Armenia.

The Company owns a fiber-optic network passing along the Armenia-Iran
gas pipeline. GNC-Alfa network, built on technologies of American
Juniper Networks, is designed to provide wholesale transport network
services to fixed and mobile operators and ISPs, as well as transit
services via Armenia.