Author: Badalian Vardan

IRANIAN DELEGATION VISITED ARMENIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE

Delegation led by the deputy Minister of Defense, General-mayor
Nasrollah Qalantari visits Armenia on February 7-9, 2013. Press
service of Armenian Ministry of Defense informs about this.

On February 8 the delegation had a meeting with Armenian first deputy
Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan. On the same day the delegation
was hosted by Armenian Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan.

During the meeting the officials discussed some issues about the
Armenian-Iranian cooperation, referred to some regional issues and
conflicts.

The delegation will visit Mother Sea Holy Etchmiadzin, Yerevan Blue
Mosque, Matenadaran and some other place.

08.02.13, 16:51

21ST ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES WAS CELEBRATED IN TBILISI

On February 6 21st anniversary of formulation of Armenian Armed Forces
was celebrated. Press and information department of Armenian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs informs about this.

Military attaché, lieutenant-colonel Garegin Muradyan delivered
welcoming speech. He congratulated the presents with the festival
and presented shortly the history of Armenian Armed Forces.

Deputy Minister of Defense of RA, head of the Armenian Diocese in
Georgia Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, Armenian Ambassador to Georgia Hovhannes
Manoukyan and many other officials attended the ceremony.

08.02.13, 16:15

SSJ-100 COST 1.5 BLN DLRS TO CREATE – POGOSIAN

BANGALORE, February 7 (Itar-Tass) – The Sukhoi Superjet-100 airliner
has cost 1.5 billion dollars to create, the president of the United
Aircraft-building Corporation, Mikhail Pogosian, told the media
on Thursday.

“In that amount about 300-400 million dollars was government money,”
he said.

Earlier, some mass media claimed the Russian government had spent
seven billion dollars on the SSJ-100 project.

Superjet-100 is a regional jet liner seating 100, developed and
manufactured by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft with the participation of
Alenia Aermacchi. The standard version has a range of flight of 3,048
kilometers, and the enhanced range version flies 4,578 kilometers
non-stop. At the moment there are 170 contracts for the SSJ-100. The
medium-haul plane will serve as a donor for a future Sukhoi Business
Jet.

Sukhoi Civil Aircraft is an affiliate of the United Aircraft building
Corporation. Its co-owners are the Sukhoi company (75 percent less
one share) and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica (25 percent plus one share).

ARMENIA TO APPEAL TO INTERNATIONAL COURTS OVER SAFAROV CASE

February 7, 2013 – 17:07 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The government of Armenia will appeal to
international courts over the case of Azeri criminal Ramil Safarov,
who axe-killed Lt. Gurgen Margaryan.

As Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan stated, the Ministry is currently
preparing the appeal, with international experts among those involved
in the work.

The Minister, however, refused to provide details on the process
launched.

Safarov, the Azerbaijani army officer who was serving a life sentence
in Hungary for axing to death Armenian Lt. Gurgen Margaryan, was
extradited to Azerbaijan and pardoned by Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev.

Official Yerevan reacted by suspending diplomatic ties with Hungary.

Hungary, however, stated that it had sent Safarov back to Azerbaijan
after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that
Safarov’s sentence, which included the possibility of parole after
25 years, would be enforced.

According to some reports, Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan in
exchange for Azeri purchase of Hungarian securities worth Euro 2-3
billion, an information official Budapest denies.

“Hungarian prime minister is “morally bankrupt” and should resign
after admitting that he personally approved the transfer of the Azeri
axe murderer while knowing the likely consequences,” the leader of
the opposition Socialists said earlier.

Attila Mesterhazy said it was clear from Orban’s comments at a news
conference on September 11 that he had been aware that Azerbaijan
would release the life-sentenced Ramil Safarov after his repatriation.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN TO HEADLINE JURASSIC ROCK FEST IN FINLAND

February 7, 2013 – 21:42 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian American rock band System Of A Down will
be playing this year’s Jurassic Rock Festival in Mikkeli, Finland on
August 11. Tickets go on sale February 14, SOAD website said.

The festival lineup includes the following bands: Flogging Molly, Wiz
Khalifa, Soilwork, Apulanta, Kotiteollisuus, Stam1na, Stella, Cheek.

IRAN SAYS IT DECODED, RELEASED FOOTAGE FROM DOWNED U.S. DRONE

February 7, 2013 – 15:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran says it has decoded and released footage from
a U.S. drone that it downed more than a year ago, according to CNN.

The black and white aerial footage, Iran claims was from a RQ-170
spy plane, was aired by Iranian news agencies and placed on YouTube.

A man, identified in Iranian media as Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, narrates parts of the
footage. “This aircraft has carried out many operations in the
countries around Iran,” the narrator says. “In the operations taken
place in Pakistan, this aircraft guided many of the clashes …”

The narrator also says that some of the footage shows the drone near
Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.

Iran had said it downed the drone on December 4, 2011 near Kashmar
in the country’s northeast, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the
border with Afghanistan.

At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged that the drone was missing
and President Barack Obama asked Iran to return it.

“We’ve asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond,” Obama
said later that month. At the time Iranian military officials vowed
not to return the plane.

This claim from Tehran comes at the same time that the U.S. drone
program is being heavily debated in Washington.

John Brennan, Obama’s pick to head the CIA, has been one of the
architects of the drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies for
the last four years.

Senators will get to grill on him Thursday at his confirmation hearing.

Also Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee will receive
a classified drone policy document that seeks to justify the
administration’s policy of targeting Americans overseas via drone
attacks, a topic that has stirred controversies recently.

RUSSIA SHARES OSCE MINSK GROUP POSITION OVER STEPANAKERT AIRPORT ISSUE

20:18, 7 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS: Russia shares common position with
OSCE Minsk Group over the issue of Stepanakert airport. As reports
Armenpress, this was declared by official representative of Foreign
Ministry of Russian Aleksandr Lukashevich.

He underlined that OSCE Minsk Group had numerously declared its
position over the airport issue. “We have once again received the
reaffirmation of sides that they will refrain from using force or force
threat against civil airplanes and that they are willing to resolve the
issue by diplomatic way,” Lukashevich citied statements of Co-Chairs.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated on February 6
that neither Nagorno-Karabakh Republic nor Armenian Republic had
ever politicized and were not politicizing the opening of Stepanakert
airport.” This airport is only for humanitarian and civil purpose,”
Minister said.

PRESS RELEASE
Ararat-Eskijian Museum
15105 Mission Hills Rd
Mission Hills CA, 91345
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 818-838-4862

ILLUSTRATED LECTURE ON FORTIFICATIONS
OF ARMENIAN CILICIA AT ARARAT-ESKIJIAN MUSEUM

Mr. Rouben Berberian will present an illustrated lecture on `The
Fortifications of Cilicia,’ on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at
4:00 p.m. at the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, Hasmik Mgrdichian Gallery,
15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills, CA. The lecture is sponsored
by the Ararat-Eskijian Museum and the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR). A reception will follow the lecture.

In the course of the presentation, Berberian will display pictures of
some thirty-eight different fortifications in Cilicia. He will discuss
(a) the characteristic features of Armenian fortifications; (b) the
dates of Armenian control by various Princes, Kings and Queens; and (c)
the impact on the Armenians of the Byzantines, Abbasids, Seljuks,
Mamluks, Mongols, and the Crusaders, including the Hospitaller, Templar,
and Teutonic Knight military orders, as well as the crusader states of
the Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa, and Cyprus.

Roupen Berberian is the Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and
Treasurer of Health Net Life Insurance Company (since 2000).
Previously, he was the Vice President and Controller of Aurora National
Life Assurance Company, the Assistant Controller of Executive Life
Insurance Company, and Senior Audit Manager with Price Waterhouse. He
is a Certified Public Accountant (California) and a Chartered Accountant
(Quebec). He received a Masters of Business Administration degree from
the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill
University.

He is a past president of the Armenian Professional Society (Los
Angeles). He travelled to Historical Armenia and Cilicia with the NAASR
Armenian Heritage Tours lead by Professor Richard Hovannisian and Armen
Aroyan in 2009, 2011, and 2012.For more information contact the
Ararat-Eskijian Museum at 818-838-4862 or
[email protected] or NAASR at 617-489-1610 or
[email protected].

# # # # #

NUMEROUS LETTERS OF AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT TO NKR AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED LONG AGO

18:31, 7 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS: Correspondence of authorities of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with Azerbaijani leadership as well as
documents of the war period on the recognition of NKR have been
published long ago and are available even from the work of former
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Vladimir Kazimirov titled “Peace in
Karabakh”. Azerbaijani “discovery” made on February 7 and “shock”
of the society on it cause at least confusion.

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was recognized by Azerbaijan back in 1993,
and the evidence is the correspondence, phone calls and faxes between
officials of Azerbaijan and NKR. Heidar Aliyev authorized his son Ilham
Aliyev to negotiate with defence Ministry of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Ilham Aliyev is blacking out these facts in order to strengthen power
of Aliyevs in the country and mislead its own nation.

This comes to prove that Azerbaijani society hasn’t been brought
up in the peace culture. “Azerbaijan had no option but recognizing
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It was done consciously, and contingency
had nothing to do with it. So another hysteria of that country is a
natural phenomenon and is an evidence that Azerbaijani society hasn’t
been brought up in the peace culture,” Armenpress quoted specialist
on Turkish studies Araks Kasyan, adding that Azerbaijan was preparing
its nation to adventurism and unconscious actions.

Heidar Aliyev never denied the letters addressed to Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, political expert Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan noted.

According to specialist on Azerbaijani studies Sargis Asatryan,
Azerbaijan has recognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic yet during war
period. “I, personally, have seen letter of Azerbaijani Defence
Minister addressed to the Defence Minister of Karabakh on 25 July,
1993. According to him nowadays Azerbaijan is doing everything possible
to black out the facts.

Letter of Azerbaijani Defence Minister issued to Nagorno-Karabakh
Defence Minister on 25 July, 1993 was published on Thursday in
the internet by Aynur Imranova, vice president on public relations
of “Umid” party. According to the letter Safar Abiyev recognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in 1993. Existence of correspondence has
shocked Azerbaijani society.

PRESS RELEASE
Glendale Public Library
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale CA 91205
Tel: 818-548-2030
Web:

FB:

Central Library to Host Writer/Activist Nancy Kricorian

GLENDALE, CA on Wednesday March 20, 2013, writer/activist Nancy
Kricorian will present her newly published book, All the Light there
Was, followed by a discussion. The program will began at 7pm at the
Glendale Central Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street in
Glendale. The presentation is in English. Admission is free; seating is
limited. Library visitors receive 3 hours FREE parking across the street
at The Market Place parking structure with validation at the Loan Desk.

All the Light there Was, was Inspired by the life of resistance leader
and Armenian Genocide survivor Missak Manouchian. Kricorian delved into
the Armenian experience in Paris during World War II, interviewing
survivors, including the last living member of Manouchian’s team.
Kricorian weaves her exhaustive historical research, her own Armenian
heritage and her lifelong commitment to human rights causes into this
beautiful and haunting tale. The story explores the Armenian immigrant
experience through the eyes of a precocious young heroine,
fourteen-year-old Maral lives with her family in Paris, like many others
who survived the Armenian genocide in their homeland at the start of the
Nazi occupation,

Nancy Kricorian, author of the novels Zabelle and Dreams of Bread and
Fire, is a widely published essayist and activist. After graduating from
Dartmouth, Nancy studied and worked in Paris before earning an MFA in
writing at Columbia University. As an activist, she is involved with
CODEPINK: Women for Peace and the Occupy Wall Street Global Justice
Working Group. She lives in New York City.

“In order to create the characters in my novels, I collect stories. It’s
like being a collage artist, or maybe more like a bird building a nest
with twigs, grasses, old feathers, bits of twine and other scraps. I
find these stories in history books, memoirs, letters and documentary
films. For all three of my novels so far, I have had the good fortune of
talking with people who lived through the events that I am dramatizing
in my fiction.”

The program is sponsored by the Library, Arts & Culture Department,
Abril Books and the Friends of the Glendale Library.

###

CONTACT: Elizabeth Grigorian, Glendale Library, Arts & Culture (818)
548-3288