Author: Badalian Vardan

PM: TURKEY TO CONTINUE ITS EFFORTS TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS IN CAUCASUS PEACEFULLY

Trend
Nov 19 2012
Azerbaijan

Turkey will continue its efforts to resolve the conflicts in the
Caucasus through peaceful dialogue and cooperation in the future,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said when speaking at
the opening of the Eurasian Islamic Council, TRT Haber reported.

He noted that Turkey proposed an initiative called a Stability and
Cooperation Platform in the Caucasus to resolve conflicts peacefully.

The country intends to further develop the initiative, Erdogan added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding
regions.

ARMENIA TO ENHANCE TIES WITH RUSSIA – PM

Vestnik Kavkaza
Nov 16 2012
Russia

Armenia is going to enhance ties with Russia , Armenian Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan noted during a meeting with CIS, Baltic and Georgian
chief editors’ club members.

“We believe that our relations with Russia are strategically
important,” the Prime Minister said.

The official noted that Armenia has no border with Russia or other
CIS states, but it’s interested in integration into the body.

.

THE SERKIS COMES TO TOWN
by DANNY SCOTT

The Sunday Times (London)
November 18, 2012 Sunday
Edition 1; National Edition

The Hobbit actor Andy Serkis, 48, on staying sane with the help of
Skype, the joys of the school run – and why Gollum is never far away

I’m a shockingly bad sleeper. In bed very late. Awake at the crack
of dawn. I’ve been like it for years. But there’s no point in staying
in bed past 6.30 because I’d feel I was being cheated. Cheated of time.

Cheated of this day.

The kids are often awake. Ruby is 14, Sonny’s 12 and Louis is 8,
so I’ll either hear the TV or the Xbox blaring away. I’ll usually go
down and stick the porridge on, listening to Radio 4. Ruby and Sonny
are good at getting themselves sorted and off to school, but either me
or my wife, Lorraine, will do the school run with Louis. I love it. I
spend so much of my life away that even the most mundane task is a joy.

Me and Lorraine did have a few arguments over the choice of the kids’
schools. Private versus state and all that. I didn’t want to go down
the private route, but it just didn’t work out that way. I suspect
that education is one of the most difficult choices you have to make
as a parent and sometimes your beliefs will be… er, challenged.

Once the kids have gone, I can start my day. And I can finally get
in the bathroom. Most mornings I look in the mirror and think: “God!

Who’s that?” I’ve got massive bags under my eyes and my face doesn’t
spring back like it used to. On very bad days, I look like a crumpled
duvet. I don’t shave if I can avoid it and I try not to wash. No,
that’s not true, but I do have an issue with our bath. It’s an
old-fashioned slipper bath. You can’t stretch out in it and you
can’t stand up to have a shower. You just end up “dousing” yourself
in soapy water.

Exercise is important. I play a lot of physical characters – like
Gollum – so I need to be in good shape. Most mornings, I try and fit
in a jog or a bike ride and I’ve just joined a local rock-climbing
gym in north London.

Like the Lord of the Rings, filming The Hobbit was a long haul. The
principle shooting was done in New Zealand and took about 18 months.

It was a hell of a long time to be away from my family, and all
I can say is thank God for Skype. While I was having my breakfast,
I’d leave it on and watch Lorraine and the kids having dinner. Seeing
them potter around was tremendously comforting.

Being away so much has forced me to reassess things from my childhood.

As a kid, my dad was away a lot, and that bothered me [his father, an
Iraqi of Armenian descent, was a gynaecologist who opened a hospital
in Baghdad and was briefly imprisoned under Saddam Hussein’s regime].

Now I’m the one who’s away. It’s for very different reasons, but I’m
still repeating that pattern. As you get older, life starts to get
you like that – it catches you out.

The news goes on at lunchtime, as I’m trying to brush up on my culinary
skills. I haven’t eaten meat since my teenage years, but I now call
myself a flexitarian. I eat fish and do my best to rustle up something
interesting. On Sundays I like to get the whole family out of London
for a pub roast, topped off by a bit of nature. It’s easy to get
caught up in a city like London… sometimes, you just need to breathe.

Over the last few years, I’ve definitely mellowed. I used to be what
you’d called an angry young man. I wasn’t always sure what I was angry
about, but I was still angry. Having kids changed all that. It gives
you a sense of what really matters. If there’s tension in the house,
I used to meet it head on, but I’ve learnt to step back.

That’s not to say we don’t argue. Well, I call it debating. When the
kids get back from school, I order in a curry and get us all round the
dinner table. Politics has played a big part in my life and I like us
to talk about what’s happening in the world. Everyone’s opinionated,
and I like that. Some parents stamp their authority on a family,
but we like to listen. Between the five of us, we seem to make it work.

I tend to get a second wind after the kids have gone to bed. Me and
Lorraine watch the news, then I get started on emails and scripts
and writing, maybe listen to a bit of jazz. At the moment, it’s Wayne
Shorter’s album, Speak No Evil.

I’ll finally climb into bed about 2 or 3. I’m a really light sleeper
so I wake at the slightest noise and often end up having one of those
half-dreams about weird stuff. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings
are full of dreams, but I’ve never really dreamt about Gollum or
Middle-earth. To be honest, I’ve been living in that world for the
last 10 years. I think that’s more than enough

Andy Serkis is the curator of the Jameson Cult Film Club. Visit
jamesoncultfilmclub.com

INTERVIEW BY DANNY SCOTT

UKRAINIAN COMPANIES READY TO HELP BUILD ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

YEREVAN, November 19. / ARKA /. Ukrainian enterprises are ready to
participate in the construction of the new unit for the Armenian NPP,
Dmitry Kolesnikov, head of the Ukrainian State Agency for Management of
State Corporate Rights and Property, said in Yerevan today during the
sixth session of the Armenian-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission
on economic cooperation.

He said Ukrainian companies Turboatom, Electrotyazhmash, Zorya –
Mashproekt could supply turbines, generators and automated control
and management systems,” he said.

According to Kolesnikov, Ukrainian companies have accumulated extensive
experience in the production of equipment for nuclear power plants.

“Our companies are ready for this work, we only need to sit down and
discuss this issue, ” he said.

Armenia’s nuclear power plant in Metsamor located some 30 kilometers
west of Yerevan, was built in the 1970s but was closed following a
devastating earthquake in 1988 that killed some 25,000 people and
devastated much of northern Armenia. One of the plant’s two VVER
440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995. Armenian
authorities said they will build a new nuclear power plant to replace
the aging Metsamor plant.

The new plant is supposed to operate at twice the capacity of the
Soviet-constructed facility. Metsamor currently generates some 40
percent of Armenia’s electricity. But the government has yet to
attract funding for the project that was estimated by a U.S.-funded
feasibility study to cost at as much as $5 billion. Last month the
Armenian government decided to extend the service life of the Armenian
nuclear power plant in Metsamor by another ten years. -0-

ARMENIA-DIASPORA RELATIONS EXPLORED AT TOWN HALL
by Ara Khachatourian

Monday, November 19th, 2012

Raffi Hovanissian, Dr. Viken Hovsepian and Harut Sassounian during
Friday’s town hall ARF’s Dr. Viken Hovsepian urges Armenia Fund to
allocate 100 percent of telethon proceeds to Syrian-Armenians as an
expression of national unity and the advancement of a national ideology
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN GLENDALE-The challenges facing Armenia-Diaspora
relations was the topic of a town hall meeting organized by the
Armenian Bar Association and the Glendale Youth Center on Friday at
St. Mary’s Church Hall, where Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian
and Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US Central Committee
chairman Dr.

Viken Hovsepian highlighted the difficulties experienced in the last
21 years bringing together the homeland and Diaspora.

In his remarks Hovsepian told the capacity standing-room only crowd
that certain events of national consequence have brought the entire
Armenian nation together under one umbrella. He cited the 50th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 1965, the 1988 earthquake
and the Karabakh conflict as key turning points in recent history
that have united the Armenian nation.

Hovsepian continued by emphasizing the need for unity in purpose that
has been lacking in the past 21 years since Armenia’s independence.

To achieve this imperative, Hovsepian emphasized that the Armenian
nation-the homeland and the Diaspora-need to move forward with a
national ideology, which calls for addressing issues based on the
national aspirations of all Armenians and taking into consideration
the entire Armenian nation.

Harut Sassounian, Dr. Viken Hovsepian, Raffi Hovannisian and ABA
chairman Garo Ghazarian As an example where the absence of a national
ideology has threatened and continues to threaten the national security
of the entire nation, Hovsepian cited the dangerous Armenia-Turkey
protocols, saying the fact that Armenia continues to be a signatory
of the documents poses a threat to not only Armenia proper but the
entire Armenian nation.

He cited the Syrian crisis as an example of one such incident that
sould have brought Armenians from the homeland and Diaspora under the
same tent, but instead, he pointed out, it has created a situation
whereby the need for financial and relief assistance has outweighed
the imperative of national unity.

Hence, Hovsepian urged that 100 percent of the funds to be collected
at the Armenia Fund Telethon on Thanksgiving Day be earmarked for
the Syrian-Armenian relief efforts. Hovsepian expressed hope that
governing board of the Armenia Fund will revisit its current decision
of allocating 10 percent of the total donation to Syrian relief efforts
and will follow his recommendation ahead of Thursday’s telethon.

Hovsepian emphasized that it was not monetary allocation but rather
the expression of unity in purpose that should have galvanized this
effort from the onset. The plight of the Syrian-Armenian community
in the face of the current audience represents a national challenge,
which must be met from pan-Armenian standpoint, emphasized Hovsepian.

In his remarks, Hovanissian focused on the socio-political situation
in Armenia, emphasizing the Republic of Armenia cannot become
the possession of any political force or individual, adding that
Armenia-our homeland-belongs to each and every Armenian.

He expanded on this position by expressing his opposition to the
realities that have plagued Armenia since its independence, such as
the selling off of the controlling interest in key infrastructures in
Armenia, thus diminishing its ability to control the strategically
important aspects, such as energy, telecommunications and other
industry.

Hovannisian stressed that Armenia has not tapped into its fullest
potential to rise from post-Soviet challenges and become a true force
to be reckoned with in the international arena.

Hovanissian, who was the first foreign minister of the newly
independent Armenia, also pointed to missteps in dealing with critical
turning points during the past two decades in bringing together
homeland and Diaspora under the same banner.

He said only by taking ownership of one’s destiny and thus one’s
homeland can the challenges facing Armenia and the Diaspora be tackled
in a practical and positive manner.

The Friday town hall was organized by the Armenian Bar Association and
the Glendale Youth Center. On behalf of the Glendale Youth Center,
Miganoush Ajemian welcomed those in attendance by highlighting the
importance of the topic at hand. ABA chairman Garo Ghazarian also
addressed the gathering, expressing his gratitude to the panelists
and underscoring the need to confront these challenges from national
standpoint.

The discussion was moderated by activist, columnist and publisher of
the California Courier Harut Sassounian, who also spoke about the need
to bring together all forces in the Diaspora and tap their potential
to overcome challenges facing the Armenian nation.

ARMENIA’S HIGH SCHOOLS TO HAVE WI-FI INTERNET IN 2013

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 19, 2012 – 20:54 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Wi-Fi internet will be available in Armenia’s high
schools starting 2013, RA Education Minister said.

As Armen Ashotyan told a press conference, the agreement signed
between the ministry and VivaCell-MTS in early 2012 will serve ground
for the project implementation.

School ranking system will be developed by yearend, with a similar
project to be implemented in Armenian universities.

A REAL PHILANTHROPIST SEEKS NO EXCUSE

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 19, 2012

PanARMENIAN.Net – On November 16, the Special Events Auditorium
of Cafesjian Center for the Arts hosted the third annual donation
event of the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF). In an interview with a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, COAF founder Garo Armen shared his thoughts
on the goals and prospects of the Fund.

What’s the profession of Garo Armen, founder of a charitable
organization?

I have a PhD in physical chemistry; since 1994, I’m the co-founder
and chairman of Agenus Inc., formerly known as Antigenics Inc.,
a biotechnology company that discovered Oncophage, a vaccine for
kidney cancer.

How come a successful biologist switched to charity activities?

In 2003, I took my family on a visit to Armenia, and we had a chance
to travel through Armenian villages. The things I saw there made me
ponder, and I realized that we have to act now for the sake of our
nation’s future. I could not remain indifferent to the situation
in the rural communities which have many talented kids with great
potential. Everything started with a school renovation project.

What does a philanthropist expect from the beneficiaries?

If no progress in the studies is recorded after the school renovation,
there is no sense in our initiative. We are trying to provide the
tools, while the beneficiaries should think of how to use them. This
means that if they are not interested, our efforts will be in vain.

Your Fund implements children-oriented projects for over 27 000 people
in 11 rural communities. Do you intend to expand the scope of your
activities in the near future?

Indeed, we’ve always strived for that. The only barrier is the
funding; resources play a key role here. The COAF has spent over $15
mln already, and has 40 employees. If we manage to raise more funds
we will definitely involve a wider range in our activities.

The Fund established in 2003 will mark its 10th anniversary next year.

Do you have any special events planned in this connection?

Yes, of course; the charity events we organize in Yerevan and New
York will comprise a wider framework, particularly in New York where
the donation event will also be the tenth one in 2013. Most funds
are raised during this very event, and we will definitely organize
a big one next year.

What would you recommend to those who have the resources and
willingness for charity, but are reluctant and make no practical moves,
for some reason?

That’s impossible. If they are afraid to do something, they will not
succeed in it. If you cannot do something, you’d better step aside
and make way for those who can. So, a person who is really willing
to engage in charity activities will seek no excuse for not doing so;
anxiety is a lame excuse here.

Ani Papoyan / PanARMENIAN News

AN UNLIKELY CHRISTMAS GIFT TO VANADZOR ORPHANAGE
by Tom Vartabedian

November 18, 2012

Every so often, a story comes along that is bound to warm the cockles
of your heart, especially during Christmas.

Children at Vanadzor Orphanage in Armenia show their appreciation
over an early Christmas gift from a group of American hikers.

You may not know Leon Tokatlian, but to the hiking world throughout
the northeast, he’s like the man in the mountain-Armenia’s answer to
Sir Edmund Hillary, who successfully climbed Mount Everest in 1953
while blazing a trail for others to follow.

In some ways, Tokatlian is cut from the same cloth. He spends his days
and weeks hiking mountains and taking other climbers with him. The
last we heard, he’d scaled some of the more prominent peaks in the
world, including Nepal, Peru, Mongolia, and Ecuador.

And just for conditioning, he hops atop Mount Washington in New
Hampshire twice a month to keep in shape for his other climbs. If
a journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step, then climbing
mountains and scaling the greatest heights of this universe is his
stairway to paradise.

Thus begins this story. A group of his odar hiking buddies were
looking to chart new inroads and their journey took them to Armenia.

No doubt, Tokatlian was an influence in this destination, given his
active ethnic upbringing.

While meandering throughout the country, their journey took them to
the Vanadzor Orphanage. They found the orphanage needed help very
badly and upon their return to the states, the hikers decided to band
together and make a Christmas donation to the facility.

One of those climbers was Mitch Manseau, and the orphanage’s plight
left an indelible mark upon him and the others.

“The day before leaving Armenia and traveling to Georgia on a Southern
Caucasus tour, we visited the orphanage in Vanadzor in north-central
Armenia,” he reports. “The management and staff were doing the maximum
for these children with slim resources and even sending some of the
students to the university.”

Manseau continued, “The youth were endearing and seemed part of a
very extended, warm family. The older kids were big brothers and
sisters to the younger ones, and all were learning life-supporting
skills and academics on which to build strong futures.”

The orphanage at Vanadzor was established 15 years ago with 30 orphans,
beggars and children abandoned by their families.

According to the orphanage statute, healthy children from infants to
16-year-olds find a home and school there. Currently, there are 116
children, many of whom are enrolled in secondary and high schools.

Several boys were called to the national army in recent years.

While touring the orphanage, these hikers received an earful from
the guides. There’s a dire need to expand, build a sports gym, and
increase the number of bedrooms and workshops.

“It truly opened our eyes,” said Manseau. “When we returned home,
we volunteered to help out this orphanage with a combined Christmas
gift in the name of our climbing federation. Turns out that it’s a bit
complicated to get dollars there and requires some banking activity
best accomplished by bundling.”

According to Manseau, the group’s treasurer will combine donations
into a single contribution and work it through channels to arrive at
Vanadzor before Christmas.

It’s that time of year when charity hits home. The best gift we can
give is to help others in need, whether it’s to an orphanage in Armenia
or some other worthy cause in our midst, like Camp Haiastan, Project
SAVE, ALMA, or any number of our Armenian schools and churches. The
list is endless.

Money aside, provisions are just as tangible. For years, St. Gregory
Armenian Church in North Andover, where I belong, has adopted a
charity called House of Hope, to which parishioners bring clothing
and non-perishables.

Our children play an important part in this project. Not only do they
conduct individual drives, but a representation will be on hand to
make the disbursement.

It teaches them the importance of sharing and the gratitude they
receive surely outweighs the sacrifice. Whether it’s Vanadzor or
elsewhere, if you are not poor enough to take charity, you are rich
enough to give it.

Persons wishing to help the Vanadzor Orphanage can send a check to
NHFC, P.O. Box 974, Plymouth, NH 03264.

FORCED TO ENGAGE IN PROSTITUTION

Factinfo.am
Tue, 11/20/2012 – 14:50

On November 21 the trial of a criminal case initiated against Yerevan
resident Susanna Martirosyan will be held in the Court of General
Jurisdiction of Shirak region presided by Edward Manukyan.

Susanna Martirosyan is charged by Article 132 Section 2 Clauses 2
and 6 of the RA Criminal Code for making Gyumri resident H. Muradyan
engage in prostitution in ‘Ishik’ Hotel in Turkey and for about 4
months kept her for sexual exploitation earning about $ 7.500.

Martirosyan is under arrest.

ARMENIAN REFEREE RECEIVES HIGH PRAISE AT EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

NEWS.am
November 20

Armenian referee was David Khachatryan was invited by European Judo
Union (EJU) to work at the European U23 championship held in Prague.

Referee got the best grade (A) for his work during the championship,
EJU official website said. Thus, David Khachatryan will be able to
participate in qualifying tournaments for Rio 2016 Olympic. He will
work at Masters, Grand Prix and Grand Slam.