Author: Badalian Vardan

AZERBAIJAN IS THREAT TO ENTIRE REGION

news.am
December 27, 2012 | 01:42

The press secretary of the President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
David Babayan in the interview to the reporter of Armenian News-NEWS.am
said that Azerbaijan is a threat to the entire South Caucasus region.

He commented on the statements of President Ilham Aliyev on the
Karabakh. Among other things, Aliyev said that if people “want those
who now live in Nagorno-Karabakh to continue living there in peace
and security, they need to begin the process of withdrawal of the
occupation forces from the territory.”

As noted by David Babayan, this statement is another manifestation
of detachment from reality and lack of understanding.

“I think this is the biggest tragedy of the Azerbaijani people, the
authorities of this country live in past. Azerbaijan is gradually
becoming an increasingly mentally unstable subject, posing a serious
threat to the South Caucasus,” David Babayan said.

CHIBUKHCHIAN, SEVIAN START WITH WIN IN LAS VEGAS

Source: Panorama.am
27/12/2012

Armenian GM Artur Chibukhchian and FM Samuel Sevian started with a
win at North American open in Las Vegas. IM Andranik Matikozyan had
a draw in the first round, according to armchess.am.

ARMENIA’S BURDEN, BY ROBERT FISK

TUESDAY 25 DECEMBER 2012

How I watched the world turn: The Independent’s foreign correspondents
look back at the major events of 2012

>From Syria to Sandy, 2012 has been a momentous year for our
award-winning foreign correspondents. In the first of a two-part
series, they pick the stories that affected them the most

Between wars, I lecture on the Middle East. But rarely have I seen an
audience so moved, so trapped by history, so tearful as one night in
Sharjah last spring. Nothing I said upset them. But the pictures I
showed them were terrifying. In front of me, young and middle-aged
Armenians – well-off for the most part, businessmen and women,
well-educated – sat in an almost religious silence as they watched
a succession of four photographs. Each showed the progress of an
Armenian death march from Erzerum, old people, carts, young men with
hidden faces, the doomed on their way to death 97 years ago.

The four pictures were taken by Victor Pitchman, an Austrian soldier
in the Turkish army, who could not have known that these men and women
were about to die. Nor could they have known. They are heading in a
straight line, down a straight road, women with scarves, over-burdened
donkeys, past the same bunch of trees which feature in each photograph,
a pale line of hills on the far horizon. All the Armenians of Erzerum
were to die at the hands of the Turks in the 1915 genocide.

There are many photographs of Armenian survivors. And there are
pictures of their corpses. But few show the living just before they
were slaughtered. These people, in the pictures I had been trawling
through from the Armenian genocide museum in Yerevan, were the living
dead. Shellfire, wounds, death. Each year, we report this miserable
saga. But old wars and other genocides lean heavily upon us, as
they did upon my Armenian audience in the Gulf. These were their
grandparents and great-grandparents, plodding along, possessions
piled on horse-carts, a pleasant enough, sunny day, clouds high in
the sky. Only the grave awaits them.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I VISITS THE CHILDREN AT THE BIRDS NEST

As part of his visit to different Armenian Institutions on the eve of
Christmas and the New Year, Catholicos Aram I visited the children at the
Birds Nest Orphanage. For more than an hour he talked with them, listened to
their stories and distributed gifts.

The Birds Nest orphanage was established by Danish Missionaries during the
Armenian Genocide, and continues to provide shelter to orphans and children
from broken families.
##
Photos:

TIME TO MOVE TO THE NEXT CHAPTER

Editorial Board
26 December 2012

After nearly 50 years of campaigning for the international recognition
of the Genocide of Armenians, we have won the acknowledgment of 22
countries, many parliaments, the vast majority of the American states,
the three major Canadian provinces (Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia),
regions, and cities around the globe, in addition to a wide acceptance
in the media and in academe.

Although we continue to invest a great deal of time and effort to
obtain United States recognition, most of us seem to be unaware
that all three branches of the U.S. government acknowledged the
Genocide long ago. In 1951 the executive branch, in a letter to
the International Court of Justice, acknowledged what the Turkish
government had done. In 1975 and 1984 the legislative branch adopted
two resolutions confirming the historical facts of the Genocide of
Armenians and designated April 24 of that year “a day of remembrance
for all the victims of genocide, especially those of the Armenian
ancestors who succumbed to the genocide perpetrated in 1915.” In a
1981 proclamation President Ronald Reagan said, “…like the genocide
of the Armenians…”

Considering all relevant factors it has been a fruitful campaign;
but we need to accept that under current international conditions, we
have gained almost all the recognition the Genocide will receive. It’s
time to open the second toolbox of our campaign for justice against
Turkey’s butchery and continued denial of culpability. After all,
international Genocide recognition was always the first step to obtain
meaningful justice.

We are not interested in apologies.

We are not interested in a few billion dollars of compensation.

We are not interested in the restoration of a few Armenian churches,
intended to polish Ankara’s image and to attract tourists to Turkey.

Make no mistake about it: the repairs of Ani churches and a handful of
others are not conciliatory gestures by Ankara. Erdogan and Co. want to
mislead European nations by demonstrating that Ankara/Yerevan relations
are improving. Erdogan will say that reconciliation is so likely
that even “extremist” Diaspora Armenians are playing tourist in Ani,
Van and Mush, while Armenians of Armenia are holidaying in Antalya.

We want our lands back. The lands we have lived on since-at least-2,250
B.C.

And that’s the rub.

What do we mean when we say “our lands”?

We are divided in our dreams and demands. Maximalists among us want
Cilicia and all of Western Armenia. Minimalists want Mount Ararat and
some strip of land west of our sacred mountain. In between the two
are demands for the return of Western Armenia or the Six Vilayets or
Kars and Ardahan…

We know the herculean effort we need to gain our lands back, but the
first step in this gigantic mission is to decide upon a realistic
demand, granted that in negotiations parties invariably demand
more than they assume they would get. It comes-no double entendre
intended-with the territory.

If and when we sit down with Turkish authorities, we have to have a
general consensus in Armenia and in the Diaspora, about the lands we
want to demand from Turkey.

A good place to start is to forget the return of Cilicia. However,
that realistic decision should not preclude compensation for the
lives lost, for the lives made miserable, for the properties stolen
or confiscated, for a century of exile.

In determining our battle plan for the return of our lands, we should
be cognizant of current realities. For example, large areas of historic
Armenia are now mostly populated by Kurds-Kurds who are dying every
day to gain independence from Turkey. How likely would the Kurds be
to share historic Armenian lands with us, if they wrest them from
Turkey? This is just one example of a litany of questions which our
leaders in Armenia and in the Diaspora have to tackle before they
sit down with Turkish representatives.

While our demands are patently justified, there’s another reason we
should refuel our campaign for the return of our lands. The Republic
of Armenia (29,800 sq. km.) is less than one-tenth of historic Armenia
(350,000 sq. km). As is, landlocked Armenia is not a viable state. Its
tiny size, location, borders spell eventual doom or reduce the country
to the status of a welfare state, a glorified colony, a country
which -to paraphrase Tennessee Williams-“depends on the kindness of
strangers.” Armenia receives $2 billion remittances from Armenians
who live in Russia and elsewhere in the Diaspora, but this revenue
stream can go dry as second- and third-generation Armenians living in
Russia assimilate or lose their family and spiritual links to Hayastan.

Armenia needs a permanent solution to its economic woes. To become
viable, Armenia needs part of Western Armenia. In addition, the
peaceful return of our lands would, by definition, be accompanied by
a peace treaty with Turkey. Such a settlement would provide landlocked
Armenia with easy access to the Black Sea and to the world.

The Republic of Armenia, our Diaspora political parties and leaders
should convene to draft a working paper about our just demands from
Turkey. We have to move our agenda from Genocide recognition to
the return of our lands. We should make our land demands a topic
of discussion around the world, among international bodies, among
diplomats and in the media. Now that the world public has repeatedly
heard of the huge injustice done to the Armenians by Turkey, chances
are the world would respond positively to our just demands.

On the eve of the Genocide’s centenary, let’s bite the bullet. Let’s
step up to the plate and demand what’s ours.

SCHOOLCHILDREN CONFESS OF BEING HUNGRY AND HAVING HEADACHE IN ARMENIA

December 26, 2012 | 19:48

Almost 15% of students of Armenian schools during a survey confessed
that “sometimes” or “often” they are hungry, as there is not enough
or not at all food at home. The information is included in the report,
which presented the Ministry of Education to the Armenian Government.

The students also had other complaints, including headaches,
toothaches, stomachaches, heartaches, nausea, and insomnia.

The research has been conducted with the support of UNICEF office
of Armenia.

The Ministry of Education of Armenia has developed a “Sustainable
school meals” project draft and has presented to the Government on
December 27 for approval.

December 26, 2012 | 19:48 Almost 15% of students of Armenian schools
during a survey confessed that “sometimes” or “often” they are hungry,
as there is not enough or not at all food at home. The information
is included in the report, which presented the Ministry of Education
to the Armenian Government.

The students also had other complaints, including headaches,
toothaches, stomachaches, heartaches, nausea, and insomnia.

The research has been conducted with the support of UNICEF office
of Armenia.

The Ministry of Education of Armenia has developed a “Sustainable
school meals” project draft and has presented to the Government on
December 27 for approval.

ARTSAKH PRESIDENT HOPES FOR NEW BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2013

December 26, 2012 – 21:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
met Dec 26 with representatives of business sector.

Social and economic problems and development prospects were in the
focus of the discussion, with President Sahakyan voicing hope that
new accomplishments will be recoded in the field in 2013.

Nagorno Karabakh National Assembly speaker Ashot Ghulyan, Prime
Minister Ara Harutyunyan and other officials attended the meeting,
Central Information Department at NKR President’s Office reported.

2012 SUCCESSFUL FOR ARMENIAN ECONOMY, MINISTER SAYS
Nvard Davtyan

“Radiolur”
16:09 26.12.2012

“2012 can be considered a successful year for Armenia’s economy. We’ll
manage to close the year with indices much higher than those envisaged
by state budget 2012,” Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan told a
press conference today, summing up the results of the passing year.

According to the Minister, the GDP growth will make 7% instead of
the 4.2% envisaged. The fields of the real sector of economy have
developed most rapidly, he said, adding that this first of all refers
to the sphere of industry, where the growth is expected to reach 10%.

“The volumes of production have exceeded the threshold of 1 trillion
AMD as of November. This is unprecedented. We had never had that
volume of production in post-Soviet Armenia,” Tigran Davtyan said.

According to the Minister, the exports have exceeded important about
2.5 times, and the trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

“When speaking about economic indices, we should keep in mind that they
have been registered in a period when global economy faces serious
challenges, i.e. we have achieved growth against the background of
recession processes in world economy,” Tigran Davtyan said.

YEAR AFTER YEAR – STEP BY STEP

Wednesday, 26 December 2012 17:08

After a few days we’ll turn over the last page of the calendar of
the year of 2012. For what will the passing year be remembered by
the people of Artsakh and what were the major public and political
events of the year?

First of all, it is important to note that the year of 2012 was
peaceful for Artsakh. Surely, the tension on the line of contact
between the armed forces of the NKR and Azerbaijan does not decrease,
unfortunately, leading sometimes to victims; but on the whole, thanks
to the Defense Army – the basic guarantor of the Republic’s security –
it is possible to maintain peace in the Karabakh conflict zone. It
would not be an exaggeration to say that the implementation of all
our plans in the public-political, social-economic, and cultural life
has become a reality only and only due to the fact that the Karabakh
Army, as the major deterrent of the Azerbaijani aggressive militarism,
could maintain the inviolability of the NKR state borders.

A convincing demonstration of the power and high fighting capacity
of the NKR armed forces was the May 9 military parade dedicated
to the Victory Day, the 20th anniversary of the Defense Army,
and the liberation of Shushi. The parade testified to the enormous
changes taken place in the Karabakh Army for the two decades – from
scattered and poorly equipped volunteer corps it grew into regular and
well-trained armed forces provided with modern weapons and equipment
and capable to address grave challenges.

Speaking of the political events of state importance, the first
thing to be mentioned are the July 19 presidential elections in
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. For the entire period of the NKR
independence, they were the fifth national elections of the head of
the Republic and were held on an alternative and really competitive
basis, obviously proving the commitment of the Republic’s people and
authorities to the democratic development of the Karabakh statehood.

It should be emphasized that the presidential elections were observed
by over a hundred independent international observers from the European
Parliament, 22 countries of Europe and America, the assessments of
which would do honor to many internationally recognized states. And the
high assessment was given not only to the purely electoral process
qualified by the observers as a democratic act of the citizens’
free will corresponding to the international standards of electoral
law. More important was the political assessment – the conclusions
of all the observing missions noted the correspondence of the level
of democratic development in Nagorno Karabakh to the standards of
developed democracies. Most of the international observers and experts
stated that from the legal point of view, the NKR had every right to be
recognized as an independent state. As for the domestic significance of
the presidential elections, surely, transparent and fair elections at
all levels, resulting in the formation of legitimate authorities, are a
factor of stability of the state and its progressive development. The
electoral program of President Bako Sahakyan, which formed the basis
of the NKR Government’s activity, covers actually all the spheres of
the public-political and social-economic life of the country and is
aimed at continuing the efforts on building an independent statehood,
on the development and consolidation of the democratic institutions.

It is well known that a foreign policy is the continuation of a
domestic policy. In other words, the achievements of the NKR in
the public-political, social-economic, and other spheres affect
the international image of our Republic and the effectiveness of
its foreign policy. And from this point of view, we can state that
the world has appreciated our commitment to democratic values and
our practices aimed at building a civil and democratic and most
importantly – a socially just society.

In the conditions that through Azerbaijan’s fault the Karabakh
settlement process has been driven into the state of stagnation,
the issue of achieving the international recognition of the NKR
has become topical. The commitment of the Republic’s leadership
and people to the democratic principles of the Karabakh society’s
development has been echoed and reflected in this year resolutions
of the Parliaments of Rhode Island and Massachusetts (USA) and New
South Wales (Australia), which called upon the authorities of these
countries to support the self-determination and democratic independence
of Nagorno-Karabakh. In fact, a tendency to recognize the rights of the
people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination of their political
future is outlined. This year visits of parliamentary delegations
from France, Switzerland, and Uruguay, as well as individual
parliamentarians from other countries to our Republic should be also
considered just in this context. The arrival of Uruguay’s parliamentary
delegation, headed by Chairman of the House of Representatives Jorge
Orrico, was actually the first visit of a foreign country’s high-level
delegation and marked a significant event in the political life of
the NKR. It is worth noting that Mr. Orrico recognized the right of
the Artsakh people to self-determination. There are all prerequisites
to expect that this process will be continued in 2013.

The independence of the NKR is an objective reality. Today, the efforts
of Armenia, Artsakh, and the Diaspora are aimed at the international
recognition of this reality. Only by consolidating the potential of
the entire Armenian people we can resist the challenges of the modern
world and firmly continue, in 2013, the achievement of national goals,
which, surely, include the strengthening of the Karabakh statehood.

Leonid MARTIROSSIAN

Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper

AGRICULTURAL GDP OF ARMENIA TO EXCEED 8.3% IN 2012- MINISTER

YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. The volume of agricultural production in
Armenia rose by 8.3% to nearly 789.9 billion drams over the 11 months
from the analogical period a year earlier, Minister of Agriculture
Sergo Karapetyan said.

The agricultural GDP growth may still report higher rates in 2012,
according to him.

Karapetyan noted the growth was due to higher output of crop
cultivation and animal husbandry.

The share of agrarian sector in GDP also rose and will hit 21% in
2012 versus 20.2% in 2011 and 17% in 2010.

“The sphere plays important role in the economy of the republic, and
taking into account the potential of the arable areas and non-used
reserves, we have opportunities to develop agriculture as our
production, either crops or livestock, may be competitive on global
markets even though not meeting the international standards. We will
be challenged by a number of issues next year,” he said.

Karapetyan highlighted after the crisis wave the progress in the
sphere was reached only thanks to village farmers and government
programs supporting farmers.

Grains and cereals production in 2012 climbed 3.3% to 455,000 tons
from a year earlier, potatoes- 630,000 tons (13% up), vegetables-
849,000 tons (7.8% rise) and grape- 242,000 tons (5.4%).

As of December 25, Armenia exported 31,000 tons of fruits, grapes,
vegetables and potatoes, which was 87% higher from 2011. According
to Karapetyan, 2012 was a stabilization year for Armenia, and next
year it is essential to develop agrarian sector as the republic has
important potential.

“We’ll face some tensed work in 2013, much should be done to ensure
the agrarian sector development,” Karapetyan added.-0-