Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

VAFA GULUZADE: AZERBAIJAN FOUND ITSELF IN TRAGIC SITUATION

Aysor.am
Monday,June 27

Everybody is on the side of Armenia, former advisor to Azerbaijani
president, political scientist Vafa Guluzade said, making remarks
about the negotiation process on Nagorno Karabakh settlement,
Vesti.az reported.

The political expert noted that all three Minsk Group Co-chair
countries are positively disposed to Armenia, while Azerbaijan has
found itself in a tragic situation.

Guluzade reminded that in a message to Armenia, the French President
announced that France is Armenia~Rs sister country. What is Azerbaijan
to these three big powers, the expert asked, given their attitudes
towards Armenia?

From: Baghdasarian

THE SUICIDE RATE RISES IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

27.06.2011

(Noyan Tapan – 27.06.2011) A worrying rise in the suicide rate in
Armenia is coupled with a trend for younger people to take their
own lives.

The last registered incident was Norayr Torosyan’s suicide in Yerevan
on June 8.

According to the official statistics the 592 actual and attempted
suicides recorded last year represented a 20 per cent increase on
the 498 cases the previous year.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social issues
around half of suicides fall within an age range of 30 to 65, and
another 28 per cent involve people older than that in Armenia, 2010.

Kamo Vardanyan, a psychologist who runs the Ayg Psychological Services
group, said to IWPR, “From the 1950s to the end of the century, more
than half of suicides involved people over 45, but since the start
of the 21st century, it has shifted more to younger people under 45.”

The psychologists classify the following groups who commit suicide
much more- teenagers, gay and lesbian people, prisoners, the elderly,
soldiers and mental patients.

“Teenagers and elderly people are commonly in need of attention,”
forensic psychologist Elda Grin said. “Adolescents are highly
sensitive, may become helpless, desperate and alienated from society,
so that they see suicide as the only way out of psychological crisis.”

In her words members of Armenia’s conscript army were prone to suicide
because of the “savage customs and unwritten laws” that made military
service a brutalizing experience.

The statistics indicate that economic hardship is a major factor
in suicide attempts. Over 57, 3 per cent of attempted and actual
suicides last year involved unemployed people and a further 17,7 per
cent were pensioners.

“The most marked, visible factors leading to suicide are the social
problems that face people at every turn,” Karine Nalchajyan, a
psychologist at Armenia’s national teacher-training university, said.

There exist researches that prove that in countries where the level
of unemployment is high the suicide rate rises, by the way in the
countries going through economic collapse, suicide is widespread not
only among the poor but among the well-off as well.

“Suicide is contagious, so to prevent this, for example we need to
ban the showing of scenes of suicide in television shows and films,”
Vardanyan said.

The Ministries of Health and Labour and Social issues told IWPR that
that they had no specific programs, department or service to provide
support or counseling to those vulnerable to suicide.

From: Baghdasarian

“WHO WILL GIVE THE LANDS OCCUPIED BY BLOOD BACK WITH WORDS?” RESIDENTS OF THE LIBERATED TERRITORIES SAY

Noyan Tapan

27.06.2011

(Noyan Tapan – 27.06.2011) On June 24, on the day of the meeting of
the presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan held in Kazan, 50
young men living in Yerevan who are members of “Know your country”
Youth Initiative left for Karvachar and Shahumyan regions in Artsakh.

According to the message of the Initiative, they visited 12 residences,
gave presents to them and communicated with the residents there.

Though the Artsakh people knew well about the meeting held in Kazan,
they were not interested in the process and the solution of it. “Any
concession of the liberated territories is impossible. Who will give
the lands occupied by blood back with words?” said the people in
Karvachar and Shahumyan.

70-year-old Elena Gevorgyan, who lives in Qashatagh, said that she
will be the first who will fight for the liberated territories in
case of any attacks. “I haven’t lost my ability of shooting during
the last 20 years”, she said.

From: Baghdasarian

BOOK ON REMAINING GRAVES AT ARMENIAN CHURCH, DHAKA-INDIA, PUBLISHED

hetq
13:41, June 27, 2011

Family history researcher Liz Chater has completed her book: “Armenian
Graves, Inscriptions and Memorials in India – DACCA – 1722-1977”.

It contains in excess of 160 full colour photographs of all the
remaining graves at the Armenian Church Dhaka (Dacca, previously in
Bengal but now in Bangladesh). In addition, the author has included
over 25 individual family tree charts that relate directly to those
Armenians buried in Dhaka. These charts have been drawn up from her
own research of the Armenian community’s existence there between the
18th and 20th centuries.

Liz Chater has also uniquely cross-referenced the grave inscriptions
with the original Armenian Church death register entries.

All transcriptions and register entries that are written in Armenian
have been expertly translated into English, the majority of which
have been completed by Reverend Fr. Krikor Maksoudian, to further
help the Armenian family history researchers around the world who
may have a South East Asia genealogy connection.

“The book is published by Chater Genealogy Publishing
through a self-publishing print-on-demand online website
The direct link to purchase the book is:
,” Liz Chater reports.

From: Baghdasarian

Mayor Gambled Away Village Taxpayers’ Money

HAMLET KARAPETYAN

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 19:06:51 – 23/06/2011

In one of the villages of Ararat Region the mayor of the village
collected taxes on land and property and instead of transferring 3
million drams to the community budget he went to the nearest casino
and lost the whole sum.

Now he is trying to persuade the relevant agencies that the people of
the village have no money and is only trying to collect the bills. By
the way, the people of the neighboring village who are in the same
social situation have performed over 50 percent of the budget.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION IS MOST ARDENT ADVOCATE OF KARABAKH PEOPLE’S RIGHT FOR SELF-DETERMINATION

news.am
June 24 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – The stance of opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC)
towards Kazan meeting and towards Karabakh conflict in general will
be determined by two factors, said ANC coordinator Levon Zurabyan to
a press conference on Friday.

“Firstly, that will be the text of the framework agreement or the
document to be adopted in Kazan. ANC has many professional diplomats
who are fluent in diplomatic workarounds and are well aware that
every word, comma or expression may be crucial for the evaluation
of the document. The second and more important factor that will
determine our position, is the response of the people and leadership
of Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Zurabyan.

According to him, ANC has been and remains the most ardent advocate
of self-determination of Karabakh people.

“Anything that is not acceptable for the authorities and people of
Karabakh is not acceptable for ANC either,” said the coordinator of
the Armenian National Congress.

Asked whether the meeting in Kazan could prove terminal, as many
experts think, he said that there is a certain unprecedented diplomatic
background, indicating that both the mediators and the parties are
determined to resolve the conflict much more seriously than before.

“I cannot predict whether things will work out now,” said Zurabyan
inviting the audience to wait for developments.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN TALKS MAKE LITTLE PROGRESS REGARDING SEPARATIST NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Washington Post

June 24 2011

MOSCOW – The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed on Friday to
approve a set of basic principles for a peaceful settlement to their
long-standing dispute over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh,
despite U.S. and Russian efforts to mediate the conflict in the
strategic Caucasus region.

The war over the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave inside
Azerbaijan ended in 1994 leaving 30,000 dead and more than 1 million
displaced. Since then, talks to resolve one of the most worrisome
“frozen conflicts” in the former Soviet Union have dragged on with
the enclave controlled by Armenian and separatist forces.

Hopes were high for Friday’s Kremlin-hosted talks in the Volga River
city of Kazan on approving the set of basic principles, but after
three hours of talks the parties reported little progress.

Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian said
they “reached an understanding on a number of issues” but provided
no details.

Both leaders face fierce domestic pressure not to compromise, but their
countries also have been eager to overcome the consequences of the war.

President Barack Obama spoke to the leaders by telephone on Thursday
and urged them to endorse the basic principles and take a “decisive
step toward a peaceful settlement.”

Ambassador Robert Bradtke, the U.S. diplomat involved in international
efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, described the
talks as “probably the most important point in the process since 2001,
when there were efforts made to get a peace agreement at Key West.”

Both separatist and Azeri governments report sporadic skirmishes and
shootings of each other’s servicemen on the border.

Azerbaijan, an energy-rich, predominantly Muslim country on the Caspian
Sea, has struggled to cope with the hundreds of thousands of people
driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that also fell
under Armenian control.

Impoverished, landlocked and mostly Christian Armenia has been hurt
economically by Turkey’s closing of the border in 1993 in support
of Azerbaijan. Turkey shares close ethnic and linguistic ties with
Azeris. An agreement between Turkey and Armenia in 2009 intended
to open the way to diplomatic ties and the reopening of the border
foundered over Turkey’s demand that Armenian troops withdraw from
Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the Communist era, Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region within
Soviet Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh is a Russian-Turkish term that
means “mountainous black garden.” Ethnic Armenians that now account
for virtually the entire population, call the region Artsakh.

Before becoming part of czarist Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan had
long been dominated by Iran and Ottoman Turkey.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA, RUSSIA AND MORE CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
by Giorgi Lomsadze

EurasiaNet.org
June 24 2011
NY

Amid nail-biting by Caucasus watchers, the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan landed in the Russian city of Kazan today for another round
of conflict-resolution talks over breakaway Nagorno Karabakh. Russian
President Dmitri Medvedev is emceeing this fifth joint appearance by
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart,
Ilham Aliyev. Hopes are that, this time, it could be the real thing.

The cautious optimism from some diplomats and analysts that
accompanied previous Sargsyan-Aliyev meetings has been upgraded to
cautious-optimism-plus. Alongside dire warnings about what could be
the outcome if the talks, once again, go awry. The key expectation for
the two-day summit is that it will produce some sort of agreement in
three key areas: the return of Karabkh-adjacent lands to Azerbaijan,
allowing Azerbaijani Internally Displaced Persons back into Karabakh
and a loose agreement to negotiate the region’s status in the future.

Citing an unnamed Russian foreign ministry official, Kommersant,
Russia’s weighty daily, claimed today that the two leaders could even
be close to committing to a non-use-of-force agreement as part of
the efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict . Azerbaijan has long
maintained that it will keep the military solution on the table as
an option to restore its authority over Karabakh and surrounding
territories. Given its heavy troop presence in the area, Armenia is
likely to respond in kind.

But while Kommersant’s article has lent an extra dose of optimism to
the air, it could only be an attempt by Moscow to make its position
and expectations known. Any progress will count as a masterstroke of
diplomacy on the part of President Medvedev, who has taken an active
role in the conflict resolution talks.

US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as
part of the US-France-Russia troika of mediators, also have pushed
both sides to take a step toward resolution of the 23-year conflict.

For now, though, don’t hold your breath.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA SHOULD NOT AGREE TO VAGUE WORDINGS ON KARABAKH – ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN

news.am
June 24 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- Progress in Karabakh talks in Kazan will be reached only
if Azerbaijan clarifies the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, said MP from
ARF Dashnaktsutyun Armen Rustamyan.

It is the reason there is no progress in the Karabakh peace process,
he said ahead of opening of general meeting of the party.

“Armenia should not agree to any vague wordings. If the Armenian
side does not receive clear mechanisms for implementation of
self-determination principle and the status, all other principles
are unacceptable,” he said.

As regards the possible signing of a document in Kazan, which will
legally confirm non-use of force, Rustamyan noted it had to be the
first document proposed by the mediators.

“This document must be in conformity with the ceasefire agreement,”
he added.

From: Baghdasarian

ARF: “SHOULD WE REPLACE SERZH SARGSYAN WITH TER-PETROSYAN”

04:31 pm | June 24, 2011 | Politics

Our primary goal is to change power through free and fair elections,
to put it more precisely, to form a new government around our axis,
ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margaryan said during the 31st ARF
Congress in Yerevan.

However, he notes that life should not stop or fill with mutual
offenses before that.

“We should vote for the candidate we want. Bribetaking is immoral
during the elections,” he said adding that the authorities have
exhausted their reserves of election fraud.

The ARF member offers a way out of the situation.

“The best of us who can protect the law and hinder fraudsters, should
take measures to prevent the reproduction of the authorities. We shall
soon begin to recruit volunteers regardless of their political views
and moral responsibilities. We call on everyone to cooperate with us
in an attempt to stop election fraud.”

To unite? For what purpose?

“We are against exposing the country to shocks. Security and external
challenges require political stability and national solidarity. On the
other hand, no one has exhausted his constitutional right to fight
because it is impossible and pointless to live in an independent
state and destroy it, ignore the imperatives of its security,” said
Hrant Margaryan.

“We have no desire to act as mediators in diarchy” he said.

“We are also blamed for not uniting with the opposition Armenian
National Congress (HAK)? But why should we unite with the HAK? Do they
expect us to unite and replace Serzh Sargsyan with Levon Ter-Petrosyan
[Leader of HAK], to return the years of intolerance and cynicism? That
will be a mere change of personalities. It does not matter which
of them [Serzh Sargsyan or Ter-Petrosyan] governs the country. What
is the difference between them? Why should we make a choice between
these two?” said the ARF representative.

“Anyway, I think it appropriate to say that we are ready to cooperate
with all forces on any question if they have definite plans and
agenda,” Margaryan concluded.

From: Baghdasarian