Author: Badalian Vardan

EU ACCEPTS OSCE MINSK GROUP’S LEADING ROLE IN KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS – HERBERT SALBER

17:54 09/02/2015 >> POLITICS

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan on Monday received a
delegation led by Herbert Salber, the EU Special Representative for
the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, the press service of
the Armenian Defense Ministry reported.

Ohanyan briefed Salber on the situation on the Line of Contact
between Karabakh and Azerbaijani troops, drawing his attention to
the sharp increase of tensions since the beginning of the year. He
also stressed the need for the international community to curb the
aggressive actions of the Azerbaijani forces.

The Armenian Minister reaffirmed the importance of implementing
measures to build confidence between the conflicting parties.

Ambassador Salber expressed concern over the border incidents,
noting that the EU accepts the OSCE Minsk Group’s leading role in
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, and is willing to contribute to
the negotiation process.

ARMENIAN EXPERTS CRITICIZE GOVERNMENT BILL ON FORTIFICATION OF WHEAT FLOUR; HEALTH MINISTRY SUPPORTS IT

YEREVAN, February 9. / ARKA /. Several Armenian experts have criticized
today a government-drafted bill on the fortification of wheat flour,
approved in 2014. According to the health ministry, the bill, if
passed by the parliament, will help overcome a string of diseases
such as anemia, neural tube defects (Spina bifida – hydrocephalus),
which cause permanent disability in children and also cardiovascular
diseases due to lack of folic acid and iron.

“Plans to enrich wheat flour would make sense if the percentage
of anemia in the population was at least 25%. We know that this
disease is found only in certain groups of population: in women of
childbearing age and children,” a biochemist Ashot Karapetyan told
a news conference today.

According to him, in 2010, anemia was diagnosed in only 12.8% of
women who gave birth to babies; in 2013 the figure was 12.7%. In his
opinion, the fortification of flour with synthetic substances, such
as folic acid, is completely inappropriate and can lead to additional
health risks.

Babken Pipoyan, head of a consumer watchdog, argued that fortification
of about 80-85% of the flour would violate consumers’ right to
free choice.

“There is also the danger that the fortified flour would be presented
as not-fortified. The mandatory fortification of flour must be
preceded by a serious study and considered as an option for solving
health related problems,” said Pipoyan.

But Karine Saribekyan, head of a health ministry department overseeing
mother and child issues, countered that the deficit of zinc, iron
and folic acid is the cause of a number of diseases, whose number
has been on the rise over the last years.

“A new study of the Armenian population’s health will be conducted in
2015 autumn. About 90 countries are fortifying their flour, including
the UK, Canada and Australia,” she said.

According to her, fortification restores the balance of microelements
in the final product which are lost in the processing. She cited
the international experience that shows that flour fortification has
helped to improve health indicators.

“To ensure that the program has an overall effect, it must embrace
the entire population and not separate categories,” she said.

According to the health ministry, in 2013 some 7,026 cases of anemia
among adults were reported and 8,148 cases among children under 14,
of whom 2,633 were children under one year; 897 cases were reported
among adolescents aged 15-17. 0-

INDOOR SWIMMING POOL BUILT AT CHILDREN’S HOME IN GYUMRI

17:03, 09 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has built an indoor therapy pool and
related amenities at the Children’s Home of Gyumri, which shelters and
provides care to children with physical and mental disabilities. The
project was sponsored by the fund’s Swiss affiliate.

The 30-square-meter, 70-centimeter-deep pool is complemented by a
dressing room, a shower room with a separate section for massage
therapy, and restrooms. Featuring a heating and ventilation system
for year-round operation, the pool is designed to provide access
to children with physical disabilities through a ramp as well as a
mechanical crane for wheelchairs.

“The pool is a great help in developing motor skills and strengthening
muscles through aquatic exercises. The medical staff will receive
thorough training in hydrotherapy,” said Children’s Home director
Ruzanna Avagyan in a phone interview. “The pool is also open, free
of charge, to children with limited abilities who live with local
families.”

Close to 130 children under six years of age live and receive
professional care at the Children’s Home. When they reach age six,
they’re placed in similar specialized facilities.

In 2011-2012, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund implemented a complete
renovation of the two buildings of the Children’s Home. The project was
sponsored by the fund’s German affiliate. Following the development,
the Fund reconstructed and furnished the playground, as well as
provided the orphanage with additional furniture and equipment.

WHAT DOES U.S. PLAN IN ARMENIA FOR 2015?

Hakob Badalyan, Political Commentator
Comments – 09 February 2015, 16:03

USAID Program Reveals Key Findings of Its Study on Access to Finance
for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Armenia

The United States will begin issuing 10-year tourist and business
visas to qualified Armenians sooner than expected

“This year, 1915, has great and special significance for the entire
world. The U.S. embassy in Yerevan will work to demonstrate that the
United States and American people stand in solidarity with the Armenian
people at this solemn time and will never, never forget this tragedy,
in which more than a million Armenians were killed,” the U.S.

Ambassador Richard Mills stated, the U.S. Embassy’s Facebook page
informs.

The new ambassador implies that in 2015 the United States will do
something new about the Armenian cause. Maybe it is going to be
something that will have an international, not just pure Armenian,
U.S.-Armenian or Armenian-Turkish importance.

At the same time, the activity seems to be going to be confined to
the U.S. embassy. At least, Ambassador Mills says “the U.S. embassy
in Yerevan will work to demonstrate”.

What is the U.S. embassy in Yerevan going to demonstrate in 2015,
the centenary of the Armenian genocide to stand in solidarity with
the Armenian people at this solemn time?

Will those steps be symbolic, will there by events or are political
steps by the U.S. embassy in Yerevan being planned? At least,
Ambassador Mills took on his new position with an intriguing statement.

In fact, the actions of the United States ahead of the centenary
seem to be the core of the stance of the international community, as
it has been for years. Armenia, the Armenians have particularly had
expectations from the American “part” of the process of international
recognition of the genocide. In fact, this is determined by the role
and importance of the United States in global politics.

In this sense, it is natural that among expectations of global reaction
to the centenary expectations from the United States are particularly
great and special.

However, the problem must be viewed more broadly than, for example,
during the years of focusing on whether the U.S. president would
utter the word “genocide” in the April 24 message.

The problem is broader and more comprehensive, it involves multiple
layers of international politics, and one has to go deep into these
layers, understand the interests, tendencies, interrelations determined
by them.

In this regard, the potential of strategic, far-reaching political
influence of any step is far more important than superficial comfort
for the wounded soul of the Armenian people. Moreover, the political
aspect, plans and objectives relating to Turkey, Caucasus and the
Near East will be crucial. Currently, highly dynamic processes are
underway in the world and in the region.

New Ambassador Mills’ statement is interesting in the context of these
processes and seems to demonstrate essential increase of the role of
the U.S. embassy in Armenia. Is this increase temporary and confined to
the centenary or is the centenary just an occasion or a starting point?

A broader circle is concerned, and it is not accidental that the new
building of the U.S. embassy to Armenia which opened 10 years ago
is the biggest in the region, Moreover, after the U.S. embassy in
Germany it is the biggest embassy in the world.

This is evidence that the broad regional role of the U.S. Embassy in
Armenia in the American politics has been planned much earlier. Now,
to put it figuratively, the embassy’s geopolitical scale will be
harmonized with the scale of the embassy premises. And the fact that
currently there are signs of increasing role and scope and coverage
are outlined in the ambassador’s statement is most probably part of
the strategy, not just the tactical matters relating to April 2015.

This is a new setting for Armenia, and Armenia should demonstrate its
adequacy to the new situation. As in the case of appearing at the
core of such a large-scale matter, this time too Armenia will face
both risks and opportunities. As to how the risks will be handled and
opportunities used for improving the role and importance of Armenia, as
well as its development and security will depend on Armenia’s adequacy.

GARNIK ISAGULYAN: GOVERNORS AND GUESTS STAND UP TO DRINK A TOAST TO SERZH SARGSYAN (VIDEO)

13:00 | February 9,2015 | Politics

Chairman of the National Security Party Garnik Isagulyan finds it
unacceptable that regional governors and guests in Armenia usually
stand up to drink a toast to Serzh Sargsyan.

Without giving any names, Mr Isagulyan said he had witnessed such
a welcome personally and was surprised to see everyone stand up to
give a toast to Serzh Sargsyan.

Speaking about the weekend attack on Artak Khachatryan, a member of
the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), Mr Isagulyan said the violence
showed that the authorities are in agony, and nothing can prevent
them from realizing their plans.

The chairman of the National Security calls on all political
forces to unite. He says the acting authorities in Armenia bear full
responsibility for all ceasefire violations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border, as well as foreign and domestic incidents.

“”The government does not care about the fate of the Armenian people,
they only want to retain the power. Serzh Sargsyan’s main concern is
to perpetuate his power,” he said.

GREEN PASSPORT TO REGULATE SHPPS – VIDEO

15:27 February 06, 2015

EcoLur

100 SHPPs constructed on the rivers of Armenia will be issued green
passports, as “EcoLur” Informational NGO President Inga Zarafyan,
Ashot Avalyan – Deputy Staff Head of Nature Protection Ministry,
and Davit Grigoryan – Head of Water Permit Department of Nature
Protection Ministry stated at the press conference held EcoLur Press
Club on 5 February.

It’s the first time that public sector together with Nature Protection
Ministry will conduct a joint monitoring in the SHPPs constructed
on the rivers. This initiative will be carried out in the frames of
“Support to SHPP-relating reforms through the dialogue of public and
RA Nature Protection Ministry for Sustainable Use of River Ecosystems”
with the financial support of the UNDP GEF.

“When a SHPP is constructed, the project and reality don’t comply
with each other. We don’t have proper monitoring procedure over SHPPs,
as the Inspection and public are working separately. We have rivers,
which are so loaded with SHPPs that the river ecosystem starts dying.

And eventually, we have a problem with biodiversity conservation,”
Inga Zarafyan said.

Ashot Avalyan, Deputy Staff Head of Nature Protection Ministry, noted
that there are 162 SHPPs which already operate or are about to be
operated. “It’s a large number and this field needs regulation. It’s
one of the main tasks of the Nature Protection Ministry, so we have
expressed our willingness for such a jlint project,” Ashot Avalyan
said.

Under Ashot Avalyan, a database in the form of “green” passports
in needed for the solution to the problems to regulate the field of
SHPPs. “So far we haven’t possessed such data and materials,” A.

Avalyan said.

Davit Grigoryan, Head of Water Permit Department of Nature Protection
Ministry, said, “We have many complaints and alarm signals both
from the local population and the business. It’s caused serious
alarms signals and concerns. During our examinations we recorded
serious drawbacks, SHPP project deviations both in the construction
and operation, and to a certain extent poor management of water
resources and environmentally incorrect approaches, which all led to
serious environmental problems. As a result, there is need for our
intervention and urgent solution to the problems.”

Under Davit Grigoryan, climate changes also affected on this situation,
“The water in our rivers has significantly refused in recent years,
and we shall take into account the targets and challenges we currently
have. Taking into consideration that SHPPs are also business projects,
jobs, investments, which are constructed not just for 1-2 years,
but 25-30 years, we should find the gold mean, which will bring to
the balanced existence of both the Nature Protection Ministry and
the public,” David Grigoryan noted.

It’s known that the largest investment in SHPPs has been made
by German KfW bank. Inga Zarafyan noted that in May 2015 the bank
experts carried out monitoring in the area of SHPPs, and, as a result,
the Bank has changed its position in regard with SHPPs and wants to
improve its standards.

“The material was developed in the frames of “Supporting reforms in the
sector of small hydro power plants through enabling a dialogue between
civil society and the Ministry of Nature Protection for sustainable
use of river ecosystems” supported by UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme”.

SEVAN COMMITTEE’ REFUSAL TO ANSWER ENQUIRY ON AMULSAR PROJECT IS VIOLATION OF ARMENIAN LEGISLATION

13:44 February 06, 2015

EcoLur

The Scientific-Expert Committee on Lake Sevan Preservation refused
to provide EcoLur the text of the positive opinion on Amulsar project
issued in 2014. The substantiation of this refusal doesn’t comply with
the essence of the enquiry and violates the Armenian legislation. On
16 October 2014 EcoLur made an enquiry to the Committee asking provide
the text of the opinion on Amulsar project issued in 2014.

In reply, Committee member Yuri Javadyan says in his letter dated
on 19 January 2015, “The Scientific-Expert Committee on Lake Sevan
Preservation by NAS RA informs that the committee examined “Amulsar
gold-bearing quartzite mine in Vayots Dzor Region, Armenia” project
on 24.09.2014 and laid down proposals consisting of two clauses in
its minutes no. d7/14.

The Nature Protection Ministry organized public hearings of the project
EIA in Gorayq Rural Municipality, Syunik Region, on 27.09.2014, where
“Geoteam” CJSC recorded that tis had made relevant amendments and
supplements to the project based on the proposal made by the Committee.

Your absence in the hearings of the project as assessed as a confirming
approach to the project solutions, so your letter dated on 16.10.2014
was not replied to.

In its minutes, you can receive information about the project from
the Environmental Expertise SNCO of Nature Protection Ministry,
where all the project documents are available.”

Yuri Javadyan replied to EcoLur’s enquiry after several months, thus
violating Article 9 (7(1)) of RA Law “On Freedom of Information”,
which says, “The answer to written inquiry is given in the following
deadlines: a) If the information required by the written inquiry is not
publicized, than the copy of that information is given to the applicant
within 5 days after the application is filed.” Article 8(2(1)) of the
same law is also violated, ” Information request cannot be declined, if
it presents the overall economic situation of the Republic of Armenia,
as well as the real situation in the spheres of nature and environment
protection, health, education, agriculture, trade and culture.”

Javadyan’s refusal also violated Article 4 of the Aarhus Convention
ratified by Armenia.

The letter substantiation of the refusal “Your absence in the hearings
of the project as assessed as a confirming approach to the project
solutions, so your letter dated on 16.10.2014 was not replied to.”

doesn’t comply with reality and provisions prescribed by “On Public
Noticing and Discussion”, Article 29 hereof says, “Public opinion
is considered to be positive, if none of them attends the public
discussions or submits its observations or proposals.”

It should be mentioned that EcoLur’s team took part in the public
discussions on Amulsar project held in Gndevaz Village, Vayots
Dzor Region, on 25.08.2014 and submitted its negative opinion to
“Environmental Expertise” SNCO of Nature Protection Ministry, which
“Environmental Expertise” SNCO Deputy Director Henrik Grigoryan read
at the public hearings held in Gorayq on 27.09.2014.

This procedure completely complies with the requirements of Article
29 of “On Public Noticing and Discussion”.

As it’s known, in 2012 the Scientific-Expert Committee on Lake Sevan
Preservation issued a negative opinion to Amulsar project and provided
the text of its opinion to EcoLur without any obstacles. At that
time the Chairman of the Committee was the late Vladimir Movsisyan,
who said in his interview with EcoLur, “Amulsar won’t be implemented
unless I’m alive.”

Turkey’s Bad Joke: Crocodile Tears for Victims of Holocaust
By Burak Bekdil
February 8, 2015

[Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the
Hurriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.]

It all looks nice. It isn’t.

On Muslim Brotherhood channels based in Turkey, Egyptian clerics and
commentators called for the murder of Egypt’s President Abdel Fatteh
al-Sisi and the journalists who support him.

Under the nice wrappings of Holocaust Remembrance Day, there is an
entirely different Turkey.

Perhaps he thinks the Holocaust, too, happened because of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

For a few moments, one could think there are two countries in the
world that go by the name “Turkey.” Then reality quickly corrects the
mistaken belief.

“We hope that every person develops an understanding of the Holocaust,
which constitutes one of the darkest moments in human history, and
will consider the importance of working together so that such a
tragedy, and the conditions that made this inconceivable crime
possible, will never re-emerge,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in
a written statement on January 27. How nice and thoughtful. But there
were more Turkish niceties.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was among the participants
in Poland at the ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the
liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, on Holocaust
Remembrance Day. And Turkey donated a modest sum of 150,000 euros this
year as its contribution to the long-term preservation and restoration
of the concentration camp.

Also, for the first time, International Holocaust Remembrance Day was
marked in Ankara by high-level officials. Turkish Parliamentary
Speaker Cemil Cicek on January 28 addressed members of Turkey’s tiny
Jewish community and others at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event.

It all looks nice. It isn’t.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement looked like the bad joke of
the year: “We observe that anti-Semitism, which formed a basis for the
inhuman Nazi ideology, still survives today and therefore we believe
in the importance of fighting tirelessly against this phenomenon.”

The ministry was right to observe that anti-Semitism still survives
today. Sadly, most powerfully in its own country, where no prosecutor
has indicted a single one of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of social
media users who, since last summer, have praised Hitler endlessly,
claiming that the “Jews deserved it.”

Under the nice wrappings of Holocaust Remembrance Day, there is the
story of an entirely different Turkey.

Parliamentary Speaker Cicek, for instance, linked rising anti-Semitism
to Israeli actions. In his address to the Jewish community, he said:
“As we remember the pain of the past, no one can ignore the last
attacks on Gaza, in which 2,000 innocent children, women were
massacred.” Perhaps he thinks the Holocaust, too, happened because of
the Arab-Israeli conflict.

It was not a coincidence that back in 2011, a study, released by the
Turkish think tank SETA, found that only 8.6% of the Turks had a
favorable opinion of Jews. Nearly 20% of the respondents did not have
an opinion of Jews, and 71.5% said they had a negative opinion.
According to a poll that the Anti-Defamation League released in 2014,
69% of Turks harbor anti-Semitic attitudes.

More recently, the Hrant Dink Foundation in Turkey, named after the
murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist, found that anti-Semitism is the
most common racial or religious prejudice in the Turkish media.

The study tracked derogatory coverage of over 30 different groups in
media reports between May and August, only to find that Jews and
Armenians were the subjects of just over half of the recorded
incidents in a media landscape filled with “biased and discriminatory
language use.”

Jews led the list with 130 incidents, followed by Armenians (60),
[non-Greek] Christians (25), Greeks (21), Kurds (18) and Syrian
refugees (10).

Foreign Minister Cavusoglu may have bothered to travel all the way to
Poland to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, but his sentiments most
probably align with other ideologies.

Less than a month after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hosted
Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas’s political bureau, at a high-level
party congress, Cavusoglu in January said that Mashaal, reportedly
expelled from Qatar, was free to come to Turkey. He said: “Regardless
of which country they belong to, people are free to come and go to
Turkey as they wish, as long as there are no legal impediments.”

But Hamas is not Turkey’s only love affair in the neighborhood.
Turkey’s Islamist leaders are as passionate about the Muslim Brothers
as they are about Hamas. Hence, not a word from the Turkish Foreign
Ministry (which observes that anti-Semitism is still alive today) over
the January 30 call from the Muslim Brotherhood for “a long,
uncompromising jihad” in Egypt.

Only two days before a terror attack killed 25 in Egypt’s Sinai
region, a statement from the Muslim Brotherhood said: “Imam al-Bana
[founder of the Brotherhood] prepared the jihad brigades that he sent
to Palestine to kill the Zionist usurpers¦”

And in programs aired on January 10 and 26 on Muslim Brotherhood
channels based in Turkey, Egyptian clerics and commentators called for
the murder of Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh al-Sisi and the
journalists who support him. For instance, cleric Salama Abd al-Qawi
said on Rabea TV that, “anyone who killed al-Sisi would be doing a
good deed.” Cleric Wagdi Ghoneim told Misr Alan TV that, “whoever can
bring us the head of one of these dogs and hell-dwellers” would be
rewarded by Allah. And commentator Muhammad Awadh said on Misr Alan TV
that the punishment for the “inciting coup journalists” was death.

But the Turkish Foreign Ministry was right. Anti-Semitism is still alive today!

How an Islamized Armenian found his relatives. A story of one photo

February 7 2015

I have taken this photo on September 19, 2010, on the opening day of
the Holy Cross Church on Akdamar Island, Turkey. Invited by “Hrant
Dink” Foundation, we attended the event with a group of journalists.
Islamized Armenians also visited Akdamar to take part in the opening
ceremony of the Church. They were talking in Turkish or Kurdish and
our Istanbul- Armenians compatriots were translating into Armenian.
For example, this old man by the name Farzanda from the village
Shenik, knowing that I am from Armenia, came close to me and said that
he is looking for his relative in Yerevan, who, according to him, was
born in Turin, his name is Vardan Vardanyan and is lecturing at one of
the universities in Yerevan. At that time, Farzanda grandfather was 70
years old. He was a secret Armenian who accepted Islam. Farzandan told
that his father’s name was Ulikhan and last name – Gyulbadagh(yan).
Farzanday’s Kurdish groom named Bashir left even his phone number so
that his relatives in Yerevan would contact him. Later, we learned
from a Turkish Armenian residing in Armenia that on reading Bashir’s
phone number in “Aravot” newspaper and seeing Farzanda Gyulbudagh’s
photo, the relatives in Yerevan have called him, found him and met
with him.

Gohar HAKOBYAN

Armenian Genocide Centennial has to motivate us to learn lessons from
the tragedy

18:54, 6 February, 2015

YEREVAN, 6 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian artist and clergymen
attach importance to not only the demand for elimination of the
consequences of the Armenian Genocide, but also the study on the
motives behind it. During a press conference,artistic director of the
Hovhannes Tumanyan State Puppet Theater of Yerevan Ruben Babayan
mentioned that the Centennial has to serve as an opportunity to study
and analyze issues and learn from the lessons. “These days we’re
talking about elimination of the consequences of the Genocide, but
we’re not talking about elimination of the causes of the Genocide
since there is always a danger of Genocide,” he said, adding that one
of the lessons to be learned must be that the Armenian people have to
rely not on others, but on themselves.

Director of the Office for Conceptual Issues at the Mother See,
Father, Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan agreed that we still don’t see people
talking about the causes and added that they should have been doing
that many years ago. “Perhaps people are afraid of talking about the
causes. If people want to show the phenomenon of the Armenian Genocide
through culture, they have to do that with a clear strategy and under
conditions. It has to be viewed within the general ideology,” His
Holiness Bagrat mentioned.

Both the artist and the clergyman agreed that there is a need to
create a new idea around which all Armenians will unite.