Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

EurasiaNet.org
May 1 2014

Azerbaijan Chides US Envoy’s Twitter Diplomacy

May 1, 2014 – 2:20pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze

Not to underestimate the power of social media, but officials in
Azerbaijan believe it takes more than active tweeting to resolve an
ethnic conflict; especially if it’s the longest-running conflict to
come out of the Soviet Union.

In a swipe at James Warlick, Washington’s point-man for negotiations
between Baku and Yerevan on the 26-year Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a
senior Azerbaijani presidential administration official commented on
May 1 that he would like to see the US mediator’s tweets matched by
actions.

`Sometimes it seems to me that Mr. Warlick seeks to resolve the
#NagornoKarabakh conflict through his tweets,’ tweeted Novruz
Mammadov, deputy chief of staff to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Twitter debates with the ambassador about certain events in the Karabakh
conflict are not possible, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov added
in an interview with APA news agency, since a tweet “must
consist of only 120 letters.”

Azimov went still further, charging that the US envoy is pro-Armenian,
and “spreading rumors about a possible escalation of the conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” Baku has “every reason” to demand his
recall, he said.

Ambassador Warlick, who recently attended an Azerbaijani gala dinner
in Washington, has not yet responded. But he is, indeed, a prolific
Twitter user.

Many of his tweets provide relatively innocuous progress reports about
the Karabakh peace talks led by the US, France and Russia (the
so-called Minsk Group), but one tweet in particular already has
encountered Baku’s ire — an
observation that he had been “corrected” (presumably by
Armenia) that the conflict is between Azerbaijan and Karabakh; a
position the Azerbaijani government categorically rejects.

As for the talks themselves, Azerbaijani officials insist there has
been no progress to speak — or tweet — of.

Earlier on, Ali Hasanov, a longtime senior presidential aide, objected
that after 20-plus years of work by the Minsk Group, a breakthrough
was nowhere in sight.

`If the negotiations continue without anyone putting pressure on
Armenia, we will not get anywhere,’ Hasanov told APA news agency. `The
[p]resident of Azerbaijan is not happy with the negotiations process
and with the work of the co-chairs of the Minsk Group in general.”

But in its dislike of tweeting about delicate topics, Azerbaijan does
not stand alone.

Turkey, Azerbaijan’s best buddy in strategic matters, recently
attempted to shut Twitter down completely, albeit without success.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an dropped in on Aliyev last
month, but whether or not the two talked Twitter is unknown.

With or without Twitter, though, Baku already has one opening for its
criticism of the Karabakh mediators — the separatist schism in
Ukraine.

Hasanov pointed out that unresolved conflicts like Karabakh continue
to pose a threat to international security. Sounding a familiar
refrain, he noted that the only alternative to talks is another war.

So far, Ambassador Warlick has not responded. (Neither Ali Hasanov nor
Deputy Foreign Minister Azimov appear to have Twitter accounts.) But
he has continued tweeting away.

From: Baghdasarian

STILL AND SPARKLING WINE MARKET IN ARMENIA: DATABOOK TO 2017 –

Digital Journal
April 30 2014

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From: Baghdasarian

RECONCILIATION IN SEARCH OF A POLITICAL PROGRAMME

Middle East Monitor
April 30 2014

Saqr Abu Fakhr
Wednesday, 30 April 2014 16:46

Since the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations stalled in 2010,
the Palestinian cause seemed to be let down in two aspects: the
reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas and the futile negotiations
with Israel. Over the past four years, and even years before that,
the idea of national liberation gradually dwindled in the Palestinian
political discourse and the Palestine issue seemed insolvable,
especially after the establishment of the conviction amongst the
Palestinian elite that there is a tendency among Arab countries to
get rid of the burden of their cause which would make the Palestinian
issue similar to that of the Armenians.

Despite the fact that the track record of the reconciliation between
Fatah and Hamas is full of unfulfilled deadlines such as the Mecca
agreement in 2007, the Cairo Agreement in 2011 and the Doha agreement
in 2012, the reconciliation must have been achieved, at least after
the Israeli aggression against Gaza in 2012. However, Ismail Haniyeh
waited until December 19, 2013, to call for a comprehensive national
meeting to discuss establishing a national consensus government based
on the Cairo and Doha agreements. However, the reconciliation was not
achieved due to Hamas’ refusal to integrate the security services and
insisted that the selection of the prime minister was not President
Mahmoud Abbas’ right but is Hamas’ right.

Since then, the Arab situation turned upside down and violence broke
out all over the region. Things went in every direction and even
took President Mohammed Morsi’s government in Egypt down, allowing,
by force and due to the reality of the situation, the execution of the
current incitement campaign, the duration of which is still unknown.

We do not know where the Palestinians will be able to withstand these
cyclones or if they will be blown away. It was interesting that the
reconciliation delegation that departed from Ramallah and headed to
Gaza did not include anyone with serious political weight, except
for Azzam Al-Ahmad. It did, however, include billionaire businessman
Munib Al-Masri which indicates the possibility of Al-Masri heading the
national consensus government which was supposed to be formed with
qualified independent individuals in accordance with the agreement,
in the event Abbas is not appointed prime minister himself.

It is well-known that for over four years Al-Masri has been seeking to
achieve reconciliation and he has a plan to this end, the articles and
stipulations of which he has continued to present to every Palestinian
and Arab party.

There is no doubt that the participation of Hamas in any Palestinian
government will bring us back, once again, to the conditions of the
International Quartet, which dictate the condemnation of terrorism and
the recognition of the Oslo Accords and the other agreements branching
from it, including the security agreements and the acceptance of
direct negotiations in order to apply the terms of Oslo.

However, the members of the Quartet will ultimately agree to Hamas’
presence and get used to it in any Palestinian government, as they
have become used to Hezbollah’s presence in successive Lebanese
governments. On the other hand, Hamas began to speak in a new
tongue, as if its “updated” language was being used as a prelude to
a new policy. In a speech made on October 19, 2013, Ismail Haniyeh
condemned the support of terrorism in Gaza in the context of a call
for Palestinian reconciliation, while leader of Hamas’ political
bureau Khaled Meshaal did not hesitate to say “Israel exists as a
fait accompli (…) and the acceptance of the 1967 borders means
the recognition of the existence of Israel” (Al-Mushahid Al-Siyasi
magazine – London, March 18, 2007). He has also said in an interview
conducted by Ken Livingstone for London’s New Statesman magazine and
published on September 17, 2009, that “We do, in Hamas, believe that
a realistic peaceful settlement to the conflict will have to begin
with a ceasefire agreement between the two sides based on a full
withdrawal of Israel from all the territories occupied in 1967.”

What is left of the political dispute between Hamas and Fatah regarding
their position on a political settlement? Nothing. Hamas’ position
in this regard is almost identical of Fatah’s and Hamas now no longer
has a political project.

Also, Hamas can no longer turn back the hands of time at a moment after
Morsi’s rule in Egypt ended and after the pages of “the caliphate”
have been turned, although Haniyeh had imagined that such pages were
open, as stated in a speech he made on July 20, 2012.

Accordingly, Hamas, which appeared during the first phase of the
Egyptian revolution as part of the Muslim Brotherhood, now appears
without any project other than the security of Gaza, and even this
project failed with the collapse of the Brotherhood in Egypt.

Fatah is going forward with the reconciliation under the pressure
of desperation and Hamas is doing the same. The first steps of this
reconciliation is to agree on a comprehensive political programme,
while procedural matters such as elections, the government and the
prime minister are ultimately details in the greater scheme of things.

This reconciliation will not be a success or positive unless the two
authorities unite in the form of one central authority, with Hamas
included after it gives up its unilateral authority of Gaza and after
the security services are integrated into one. Otherwise, let’s go
towards a handicapped, laughable and dead Palestinian federation. If
we take a pencil and divide it into two, it becomes two pencils,
but if we take a bird with two wings and cut it into two, it becomes
two pieces of dead meat, not two birds.

Translated from Al Araby Al Jadid 30 April, 2014

From: Baghdasarian

DESTRUCTION PROGRESSIVE DES ANCIENS QUARTIERS ARMENIENS D’AINTAB

les regrets d’un écrivain Turc qui habite une ancienne maison arménienne

TURQUIE-PATRIMOINE ARMENIEN

Le site Hye Tert affirme que dans la ville d’Aïntab (Ayntab), des
maisons appartenant aux Arméniens jusqu’au génocide arménien de
1915 sont détruits et de nouveaux hôtels y sont construits. Ibrahim
Halil Aycan, un écrivain Turc habitant a Aïntab dans une maison ayant
appartenu a des Arméniens, s’indigne de cette perte de la mémoire. Il
appelle a la défense du patrimoine, de l’identité et de la culture
des peuples. ” Le peuple arménien survivant de l’un des plus grands
génocides est victimes 100 ans après d’un génocide culturel. Après
leur départ, leurs maisons et constructions continuent d’être
détruites ” dit-il. Il affirme que le plus ancien quartier
d’Aïntab était celui des Arméniens. Aujourd’hui a la place des
anciennes maisons ayant appartenu aux Arméniens se dresse un centre
de commerces. Sur l’emplacement de l’ancien quartier arménien, se
dressent progressivement des bars, restaurants et hôtels. Chaque coup
de pelle du bulldozer me transperce le cŔur ” dit Acyan qui affirme
qu’Arméniens et Turcs ont très longtemps cohabité côte-a-côte
a Aïntab.” Je vis depuis 26 ans dans une maison ayant appartenu a
des Arméniens ” dit-il et regrette les souffrances et le départ
des Arméniens. Ibrahim Halil Aycan continue ” Nous habitons dans les
maisons des Arméniens abandonnées il y a 100 ans. Préservons-les ! A
Aïntab le premier théâtre, le premier journal furent lancés par des
Arméniens. La vie socioculturelle était entre leurs mains. Maintenant
il faut défendre leur culture de la disparition ”.

Krikor Amirzayan

mercredi 30 avril 2014, Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA’S RULING PARTY LACKS NEW MEMBERS ” MARKAROV

YEREVAN, April 29. /ARKA/. The last appointments to public posts in
Armenia indicate the lack of people from new generation in the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia, said political analyst Alexander Markarov,
director of Armenian branch of CIS countries institute.

The problem existed back in 2013, during the presidential election,
he said.

It is difficult to find new members who may rise to higher echelons
and replace the old leaders, Markarov told a press conference Tuesday
as quoted by Novosti-Armenia.

Markarov expressed hopes a new generation of leaders may rise in the
next 2017-2018 electoral cycle.

The ‘old guard” attempted to maintain its positions in the new
government, which ahs led to the current situation, the expert said.

On April 13 Armenia’s president appointed parliament speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan as premier to replace Tigran Sargsyan who resigned on
April 3. The ruling Republican Party of Armenia nominated head of
its faction Galust Sahakyan for speaker’s post. â?”0â?”

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

Lake Controversy: Sevan water drainage bill adopted after government concessions

ENVIRONMENT | 29.04.14 | 13:17

Lake Debate: Amendment to law on Sevan draws environmentalists’ concern

Armenian lawmakers on Tuesday voted 96 to 15, with 4 abstentions, to
adopt a controversial bill that will allow additional water drainage
from Lake Sevan.

The government says the measure will help rural economies in the
Ararat valley reeling under dry weather conditions in summertime.

The environmentalists, however, have protested the legislation, saying
that it affects the level of the lake, while benefiting only
`oligarchs’ owning fisheries in the valley.

The Prosperous Armenia Party, which has the second largest faction in
the National Assembly, declared before the ballot that it would join
the majority Republican Party of Armenia in voting in favor of the
bill after the Armenian government had announced certain concessions.

In particular, the key-note speaker on the draft legislation, chairman
of the State Water Resources Committee of the Ministry of Territorial
Administration Andranik Andreasyan reportedly said that the term of
the water drainage stipulated in the law had been reduced from five
years to one. He said the proposal was the result of discussions held
the previous day and considered the concerns voiced by civil society
representatives.

Instructions on that account had been given by the head of the
government, acting Parliament Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov said.

Representatives of the opposition Dashnaktsutyun, Heritage and
Armenian National Congress factions voted against the bill.

From: Baghdasarian

The Anne Frank of the Armenian Genocide

April 29, 2014

Vartan Matiossian and Alan Whitehorn,

National Post

April is Genocide Awareness Month, an opportunity for people around
the world to remember the victims of such events as the Rwandan
Genocide, the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.

Amidst the mass deportations and killings of Armenians that began in
April, 1915, some of the targeted civilian victims survived. One was a
young orphan girl, Arshaluys Mardigian (1901-1994), who lived just
north of the city of Harpout in the Ottoman Empire. While most of her
family was killed, she managed to flee the massacres and eventually
immigrated as a teenager to the United States, where she lived
initially under the auspices of an official of the American Committee
of Armenian and Syrian Relief (later to become the highly influential
international aid organization Near East Relief).

Upon her arrival, the young orphan was interviewed by American
reporters about her horrific experiences. Around this time, she
changed her name to Aurora Mardiganian.

Her book-length account, initially titled `Ravished Armenia: The Story
of Aurora Mardiganian ‘ The Christian Girl Who Lived Through the Great
Massacres,’ was serialized in the Hearst newspapers and later
published as a book in 1918. There were several editions, with over
300,000 copies eventually sold.

The strong public interest in Aurora’s life story attracted the
interest of Hollywood, and the memoir was turned into a film script.
The resulting historically-based 85-minute movie was a silent film
(with sub-titles) that vividly portrayed the mass deportations, rapes
and massacres of Armenians. It had a young attractive female lead
character in Aurora Mardiganian, playing herself.

Surviving genocide and witnessing, as a young girl, the killing of
most of her own family was horrific enough. But to be asked within a
few short years to relive and re-enact those scenes as a teenage
immigrant was additionally traumatic. Remarkably, the movie also
featured the former U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry
Morgenthau, playing himself. The film was shot in California in 1918
with a large cast of thousands of extras.

Initially titled `Ravished Armenia,’ the movie was later renamed
`Auction of Souls.’ It was, in all likelihood, the first major
Hollywood picture to portray genocide. Either way, it was a pioneering
film: To cast a genocide survivor as the lead actress was a rare deed.
As a post-WW I film, it challenged conventional mores by containing
themes of violence, rape, nudity and mass crucifixion. It also raised
the issue of censorship based both on public morals and politics.
Turkish opposition in later years reinforced the latter.

The U.S. film premieres took place in Los Angeles and New York in
1919. Leading American personalities and benefactors were present. The
showing also was an opportunity for fund-raising. The Canadian and
British premieres took place that same year, followed by Latin
American premieres in 1920. Present at the London showing was Lord
James Bryce, the author of the famous and still highly influential
British Government Blue Book on the mass atrocities of the Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire.

Despite the moral aura surrounding the film, the production was for
the most part a commercial venture. The young genocide
survivor/actress strained under the pressure to attend many of the
showings in order to promote the film and help raise humanitarian
relief funds. In 1920, she collapsed from the ongoing ordeal. (The
Hollywood publicity machine, however, did not rest, and hired a number
of female look-alikes to play her in public.) Time would heal some
wounds. Later in life, she married and became a suburban housewife.
She died on February 6, 1994.

The Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Armenia has an important
section of its exhibition devoted to Aurora Mardiganian, her memoirs
and the film

Over time, copies of the film were lost, destroyed or deteriorated ‘
not an untypical fate for the films of that era. No known remaining
full copy exists today. And the history books on the early silent-film
era have mostly ignored `Ravished Armenia/Auction of Souls.’ What had
been a pioneering movie attended by many influential persons is now
mostly ignored. However, it has not fallen into total obscurity:
Canadian-Armenian film-maker Atom Egoyan and Armenian Genocide
scholars continue to search for missing footage of this landmark film.

While the complete film itself may be missing, the text of the
sub-titles survives, along with some stills and fragments of the
movie. The Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Armenia has an
important section of its exhibition devoted to Aurora Mardiganian, her
memoirs and the film.

For some, Aurora Mardiganian is the `Anne Frank of the Armenian
Genocide.’ She is the Armenian personification of humanity’s attempt
to survive the scourge of genocide.

National Post

‘ Vartan Matiossian, PhD, is an independent scholar living in the
United States. Alan Whitehorn is an emeritus professor at the Royal
Military College of Canada.

From: Baghdasarian

Armenia’s gross international reserves fell by 2.2% to $1,969.9mln in March

YEREVAN, April 30. /ARKA/. Armenia’s gross international reserves
dropped by 2.2% to $1,969.9 million in March compared to February, the
Central Bank of Armenia reported today. A 20.7% reduction in gross
international reserves is recorded compared to March 2013, according
to the report.

According to the report, most part of the assets is in hard currency
($1,969.1mln).

SDR in the IMF totaled $0.6 mln as of the end of the reporting period.
($1=413.10drams). `0′

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

Parliament abolishes tax on expensive cars in Armenia

YEREVAN, April 30. /ARKA/. Armenia’s National Assembly passed in the
first reading the bill envisaging abolition of tax on expensive cars
at its session Wednesday.

The bill is authored by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

Non-coalition factions ` Prosperous Armenia, Dashnaktsutiun, Armenian
National Congress, Heritage and Orinats Yerkir ` said they would not
participate in the vote. The ruling party announced a 20-minute break
and passed the law with 67 votes of its members afterwards. One
abstained from voting.

The amendment relates to cars costing more than 25 million drams or
cars not older than 2 years and with motor capacity of 4,500 cubic
centimeters and above.

Yesterday, the head of parliament commission for economic issues
Vardan Ayvazyan said budget receipts reduced by about 3 billion drams
after the tax was introduced. It was expected receipts from excise tax
would increase instead, he said.

`There is another reason expensive cars should be temporarily exempt
from excise tax. We are joining the Eurasian Economic Area in 2015 and
accept the unified tax on cars. They are already high, so let people
who want to import expensive cars do that before then’, Ayvazyan said.
($1=413.10drams). `0–

– See more at:

From: Baghdasarian

World Premier Screening of Digging Into the Future `Armenia Directed
by Joseph Rosendo

By MassisPost
Updated: April 29, 2014

GLENDALE, CA On Friday, May 16, 2014, at 7 pm, Emmy award winning
director Joseph Rosendo will screen Digging Into the Future `Armenia
at the Glendale Central Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street in
Glendale. The presentation is in English. Admission is free. Library
visitors receive 3 hours FREE parking across the street at The Market
Place parking structure with validation at the Loan Desk.

Digging into the Future-Armenia is an archeological expedition to
Armenia. It turns viewers on to the thrill of discovery while making
genuine human connections with a people’s past and the present.
Armenia is the first journey of a new proposed PBS series that merges
archeology’s science and humanity into an hour-long entertaining,
educational and cultural adventure that spans the globe. For this
adventure Rosendo joins archeologists from UCLA’s Cotsen Institute,
which is dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of
archaeological knowledge and heritage. Charles Stanish is the
institute’s director and Gregory Areshian is the director of the
institute’s Armenia program. Rosendo crisscrosses Armenia to ancient
sites where some of the world’s oldest artifacts have been discovered.

Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope Emmy-award winning director Joseph
Rosendo has been a travel, food and wine journalist and a travel
broadcaster for more than 30 years. Since 2007, he has hosted,
directed and written Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope, the award-winning
travel television series. Rosendo’s first travel story appeared in The
Los Angeles Times in 1980. He has been published in countless
publications worldwide and was the Consulting Editor for DK Eyewitness
Travel Guides as well as the author of an Insider’s Guide to Los
Angeles. For twenty-four years, as the creator and host of Travelscope
Radio, he created features for numerous electronic media outlets
including Discovery Channel Radio and the Associated Press.
###
CONTACT: Elizabeth Grigorian, Armenian Outreach Coordinator, Glendale
Library, Arts & Culture Department [email protected] or
(818) 548-3288.

From: Baghdasarian