Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

Sin Chew Jit Poh, Malaysia
Nov 30 013

Armenian monastery finds unlikely saviour in Arab sheikh

– Features

2013-11-30 15:33
By Mariam Harutyunyan

HAGHARTSIN MONASTERY, November 30, 2013 (AFP) — Standing next to a newly
refurbished bell tower, priest Aristakes Aivazyan says it needed divine
intervention to save Armenia’s medieval Haghartsin monastery.

But it also took a lot of money from a very unlikely benefactor — the
Muslim ruler of the resource-rich Arab emirate of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan
bin Mohammed al-Qasimi.

“I cannot recall anything similar to this happening in our history that
some Arab sheikh, a Muslim, helped to restore and rescue an Armenian
Christian church,” Aivazyan told AFP.

“Without doubt it was God who brought the sheikh to Haghartsin,” the
priest, dressed in long black robes, said.

Perched spectacularly amid thickly forested mountains about 100 kilometres
northeast of Yerevan, Haghartsin monastery is a masterpiece of medieval
Armenian ecclesiastical architecture.

Founded in the tenth century, the monastery — which includes three
churches and once housed some 250 monks — survived attacks from Arab and
Ottoman invaders and anti-religious campaigns under Soviet rule during its
turbulent history.

But after weathering those storms, decades of neglect in recent years meant
the complex looked headed for collapse as plants twisted through walls and
cracks threatened to send buildings tumbling.

‘In need of serious reconstruction’

“The monastery was in need of serious reconstruction but the repairs were
always delayed by the lack of finances,” father Aivazyan said.

That was until a fortuitous visit from al-Qasimi, who had been invited to
Armenia by former president Robert Kocharian on a trip set up by the
Armenian business community in the emirate.

“In 2005 his royal highness visited Armenia and generously offered to
renovate the complex during a tour of various Armenian regions,” says
Varouj Nerguizian, a Sharjah-based Armenian businessman who has advised the
sheikh.

Nerguizian refused to say how much the sheikh had given for the
refurbishment but local media reported that it could be around $1.7 million.

Now, after years of building work including a new road up to the monastery
to help boost visitor numbers, the refurbished structure was finally opened
last month.

“It falls within the natural context of his royal highness’ philanthrophy
as well respect for other religions,” Nerguizian.

Perched on the Persian Gulf, after Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Sharjah is the
third largest of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.

Al-Qasimi, 74, — who came to power in 1972 after his brother, then king,
was killed in a failed coup — has sought to boost the emirate as a tourist
and cultural hub in the region.

The emirate has a thriving community of Armenian businessmen that now
boasts its own church. But there have nonetheless been few links between
Yerevan and Sharjah.

‘The word of God was heard here’

For those working at the monastery, the surprise of seeing an Arab leader
visiting the holy Christian site remains a vivid memory.

“He came with his entourage of about 10 people and looked around for quite
a while at all the churches and stone crosses before asking to go into the
main Church of Our Lady,” recalled Artak Sahakyan, who sells candles to
visiting worshippers.

“When he came out he said that he believed that the word of God was really
heard here,” Sahakyan said.

Armenia is considered to be the oldest Christian country in the world and
its Apostolic Church belongs to the ancient Oriental Orthodox branch.

The church is hugely influential in Armenia and two monasteries and its
main cathedral are already listed on UNESCO’s list of world heritage site.

After a history of conflict between Armenia and its Muslim neighbours of
Turkey and Azerbaijan, those working at the Harghartsin monastery say they
hope the support they have received from a Muslim ruler shows that the two
faiths can get along.

“The sheikh is a deeply religious man so seeing a monastery is such a bad
state it is not surprising that he felt touched,” says father Aivazyan.

“It is as if the with this generous gesture the sheikh is saying that we
need to be tolerant of other religions as in the end we all serve one God,”
Aivazyan said.

From: Baghdasarian

ITAR-TASS, Russia
November 29, 2013 Friday 06:51 PM GMT+4

Armenia builds its statehood on European pattern – president

VILNIUS November 29

– Armenia is building its statehood on the European pattern, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan said in Vilnius on Friday.

“Building and strengthening Armenia’s statehood on the European
pattern was our conscious choice, and this process is irreversible,”
the president said at the Eastern Partnership summit.

“Eastern Partnership made it possible to impart a new pace to the
efforts aimed at modernization of our country and the society on the
basis of democracy and supremacy of law,” the president said. “It gave
an impetus to our agenda of large-scale reforms,” Sargsyan added.

As “a tangible result” he mentioned “three major election processes in
Armenia within just a year-and-a-half” – the parliamentary election,
the presidential election and the election to the Yerevan Municipal
Council.

These elections “set a new bar in that sphere, sizably strengthening
the election system of Armenia,” he said. “In the Declaration of the
Vilnius summit, we confirm our commitment to promoting reforms,
carried out in our countries,” Sargsyan stressed.

From: Baghdasarian

Serzh Sargsyan Left Vilnius Through Back Door

The Eastern Partnership project has a primarily geopolitical
importance, and the ongoing developments are worth scrutiny only in
terms of geopolitics. The project itself was controversial since
France and Germany were not enthusiastic though later Germany changed
its stance, realizing the mostly pro-German bias of the project.

In contrast, the United Kingdom that supported Poland and Sweden in
this project has realized that its implementation requires additional
spending which it has always been against. The new EU-members in
Eastern Europe are not interested in spending more. However, the most
unfavorable factor was the reduced interest in foreign policy by the
United States, including in Eastern Europe.

On the whole, the project was implemented under unfavorable
conditions, and the shortcomings and inadequate schemes of economic
integration would not have been noticed at all had the political
component been more complete.

Russia did not need a thorough plan to thwart the project at this
stage. However, any consideration in the political games with the West
will sooner or later require comparison of effort and resources, as
well as political and ideological issues which are now called value
issues.

Russia’s method of political gangsterism stole from the countries of
the region several years of more successful development and put off
global changes in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. At the same time, it is
beyond doubt that Russia has found itself in a more intense
international isolation and blockage which it is trying to avoid
through expansionist methods.

In this situation the countries benefitted which have minimum economic
and political relations with Russia, i.e. Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Moldova. These countries gained the right to distance in their
relations with Russia, and despite a number of social and political
problems they went one step closer to the Western community.

The bid is on Ukraine whose government had domestic and foreign
political resources to be, if not equal, at least an actor in this
game, trying to get maximum use from both Russia and the West, and
Ukraine will achieve it quickly, being in a more favorable position
indeed.

In Armenia it is impossible to prove anything to anyone, and everyone
is right, proceeding from their senses and deeply private interests.
Armenia again demonstrated political dilettantism and inability of the
political elite to build state politics. And now it is time to tell
what one was reluctant to tell during the whole process.

It became clear that the only state that took part in the project but
did not get any closer to the West is Armenia because Ukraine gained
new positions, and the other three countries decided a lot in their
pretensions. During the summit in Vilnius anything and anyone was
discussed except Armenia. Armenia just was not at the summit, it was
not noticed.

Earlier it had been stated that Armenia would be forgotten and
disappear from the international political arena. However, it was also
stated that expectations could have been worse than they are. Now it
means that Armenia is out of the discussion, and the Western community
thinks it is unable to make decisions independently, therefore it had
better remain Russia’s vassal.

How would one set up relations with a state that has lost its
sovereignty? It is dangerous and meaningless. Hence, the West left the
game delicately, letting everyone understand that it `respects
Armenia’s choice’ to remain a vassal. In fact, the West sheds
responsibility for the economic and social development and security of
Armenia, even to the limited extent that was in place so far. The West
hands responsibility for Armenia to the West. It is more convenient.
`They understood everything.’

3-4 years of deception is enough to draw conclusions for a long term.
Hopes to enter through the backdoor next time are naïve and not
political. All kinds of hints that some time later Armenia will be
able to sign some `corrected’ document with the European Union are
nonsense.

As a result, plans on geopolitical construction in Eastern Europe will
be corrected, and Armenia is viewed as a territory, not a state.
Armenia may be mentioned but only in two cases: when it will be needed
to put pressure on Russia or when it will be necessary to satisfy
Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s ambitions.

In addition, the Armenian society should not be offended by the West
which, by the way, observes ethics. Even if the United States intends
to restore the Armenian sovereignty, proceeding from its own
interests, in a dialogue with the European Union will demand
guarantees of decency which do not exist.

Is everything so sad? No. The Armenian society is quite comfortable
and almost indifferent to the loss of its sovereignty. Now one can
only follow the great developments of the 21st century.

Igor Muradyan
15:51 30/11/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

From: Baghdasarian

FOOTBALL
Le « Borussia » Dortmund de Henrikh Mkhitaryan a la côte en Arménie

Aujourd’hui près de 560 000 personnes utilisent en Arménie le réseau
social Facebook. Une partie de ces utilisateurs sont des fans de clubs
de football d’Arménie ou du monde. Au regard des « like » utilisés sur
ce réseau, c’est le « Borussia » Dortmund qui dispose du plus grand
nombre « fans » avec plus de 66 000 « like » venus des utilisateurs de
Facebook en Arménie. La raison de cet engouement des Arméniens pour le
club allemand est bien évidemment l’arrivée au sein de cette équipe de
l’international arménien Henrikh Mkhitaryan qui est l’une des vedettes
de la Bundesliga et du football européen. Alors que le « Spartak »
Moscou dispose de deux internationaux arméniens, Youra Movsissian et
Araz Ozibiliz, c’est « Borussia » Dortmund qui attire davantage de
supporters Arméniens. Mais avec le « Borussia » Dortmund, ces
Arméniens aiment également le FC Barcelone et le « Real » de Madrid.
Les rencontres de la Ligua espagnole étant régulièrement diffusées par
les chaînes de télévisions d’Arménie, les fans de ces clubs espagnols
sont nombreux en Arménie. En dehors du FC Barcelone et du « Real » de
Madrid, les clubs de l’« Atletico » Madrid, Séville, Valence ou « Real
» Sociedad ont la cote. Mais la Bundesliga avec les rencontres du «
Borussia » Dortmund gagne du terrain en Arménie. Des clubs italiens,
c’est le Milan AC qui a la côte avec 34 000 « like » suivi de la «
Juventus » de Turin (11 000).

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 30 novembre 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIE
Les communistes d’Arménie demandent au gouvernement de reconnaître
officiellement le 29 novembre

Les communistes d’Arménie appellent le président arménien Serge
Sarkissian à reconnaitre le 29 novembre journée de la soviétisation de
l’Arménie comme une journée de Fête nationale. Hier 29 novembre lors
d’une conférence de presse à Erévan, le Premier secrétaire du Parti
communiste d’Arménie, Dadjad Sarkissian, a appelé le chef de l’Etat
arménien à reconnaître officiellement le 29 novembre. « Jusqu’à
aujourd’hui l’Arménie soviétique en tant que Seconde République, n’a
pas eu de reconnaissance officielle au niveau gouvernemental. Il est
le devoir de l’Etat de le reconnaître au nom de l’honneur de notre
peuple et de nos actuels dirigeants » dit-il.

Rappelons que le 29 novembre 1920 après deux ans et demi
d’indépendance, la Première République d’Arménie fut soviétisée avec
l’arrivée de la 11e armée soviétique venue en Arménie depuis
l’Azerbaïdjan. Le 30 novembre 1920 l’Arménie entrait officiellement au
sein de l’Union soviétique.

Actuellement l’Arménie fête la Journée de la Première République le 29
mai ainsi que la Journée de l’Indépendance le 21 septembre.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 30 novembre 2013,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER SAYS EURASIAN PROJECT IS BECOMING EVER MORE POPULAR

Vestnik Kavkazussia
Nov 29 2013

29 November 2013 – 5:29pm

The speaker of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian
Parliament, Sergey Naryshkin, says the idea of Eurasian integration
first voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming ever
more popular.

“Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have officially announced that they would
join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and pursue
membership of the Eurasian Economic Union,” Naryshkin is quoted as
saying by ITAR-TASS.

“We are going to support Armenia and Kyrgyzstan in their Eurasian
integration,” the speaker said.

From: Baghdasarian

PUTIN OUTFLANKS HIS FOES AT HOME, OBAMA ABROAD: FORBES RANKS RUSSIAN MOST POWERFUL LEADER

The Washington Times
November 28, 2013 Thursday

By Marc Bennetts SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

MOSCOW | President Vladimir Putin is giving proof to the proverb,
“Nothing succeeds like success.”

Since facing massive protests last winter, he has stifled nearly all
domestic dissent and implemented widely criticized anti-gay laws as
Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

He has put the brakes on Ukraine signing a free-trade and political
association deal with the European Union, and persuaded Syria to
allow international inspections of its chemical weapons.

He met this week with Pope Francis before the “leader of the free
world” – President Obama – could secure an audience with the rock-star
pontiff.

He even has been awarded a ninth-degree black belt in taekwondo –
a level higher than that of action movie icon and all-around tough
guy Chuck Norris.

Voted Forbes magazine’s most powerful person in the world (supplanting
the now No. 2 Mr. Obama), Mr. Putin, 61, has not ruled out a fourth
presidential term that could see him remaining in the Kremlin until
2024.

“Right now, there are no visible threats for Putin, either at home or
in the international arena,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, the well-connected
editor of the journal, Russia in Global Affairs. “This has been a
very good year for Putin indeed.”

The high point of Mr. Putin’s year came in September, when the Kremlin
derailed Washington’s plans for military action against Syria over the
suspected use of chemical weapons by forces loyal to President Bashar
Assad, who Russia has strongly backed in Syria’s 2 ½-year civil war.

While Mr. Obama was fretting over Syria crossing a “red line” over
chemical weapons, Russia took advantage of an offhand comment by
Secretary of State John F. Kerry and persuaded Mr. Assad to open
his chemical stockpile to international inspection. The move boosted
Russian diplomatic credentials and help prop up Mr. Assad.

“Putin has a clear world view, and he operates within this in the
international arena,” said Mr. Lukyanov. “His politics have been
much more defined than those of the United States, whose foreign
policy in the Middle East, for example, has been both chaotic and
incomprehensible.”

Other Russian analysts were far more biting.

“Putin is feeling very confident after his success in the international
arena, which is very much down to the unbelievable weakness and
stupidity of Western leaders, above all U.S. President Barack Obama,”
said Andrei Piontkovsky, an analyst and Putin opponent.

“Putin knew exactly what he wanted in Syria – to keep Assad in power.

Obama didn’t know what he wanted at all. Putin and his foreign
minister, Sergey Lavrov, are far more experienced than Obama and
Kerry. Lavrov simply dominated talks.”

A newly resurgent Putin is also seeking to regain control over a number
of former Soviet states, with Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine facing
Kremlin pressure to back away from closer ties with the European
Union. Ukraine’s backtracking earlier this month on a landmark
trade and cooperation deal with the European Union came after Russia
threatened unspecified economic measures against its neighbor.

“Putin knows there can be no return to the Soviet Union,” said Mr.

Lukyanov, the analyst. “But he reacts quickly to Western attempts to
draw former Soviet states further into European integration.”

At home, Mr. Putin has cracked down hard on protests that posed the
biggest challenge to his 14-year reign as prime minister and president.

Protest figures have been jailed or placed under house arrest since
Mr. Putin returned to a third term as president in May 2012, and a
number of new laws have made open dissent much more risky.

Best and brightest fleeing

Other opposition figures have fled Russia – including Garry Kasparov,
chess grandmaster-turned-protest leader, and Sergei Guriev, a respected
economist who advised Mr. Putin’s predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev.

Mr. Guriev was forced to flee after investigators questioned him
over a report he wrote for Mr. Medvedev that was critical of charges
against jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsy, a Putin opponent. Mr.

Kasparov and Mr. Guriev are just among some of the most high-profile
names in the growing exodus of Russia’s best and brightest.

“Everyone, both the young and the old, wants to live. And – in as much
as nothing good is likely to happen in Russia for the next 20 years
– I’d sincerely advise everyone to leave, if they can,” opposition
journalist Oleg Kashin, who survived a 2010 attempt on his life,
told a local pro-opposition website earlier this month.

Others in the beleaguered opposition are more optimistic. Ilya
Yashin, a high-profile anti-Putin activist, admitted that the protest
movement was shaky but hailed the emergence of one of its leaders,
Alexei Navalny, as a nationally recognized politician. Mr. Navalny
was jailed for five years on disputed fraud charges in July, but
his sentence was suspended after an unexpectedly strong showing in
September’s mayoral elections in Moscow.

“The protest movement might not have achieved its aims yet, but we
have made progress,” Mr. Yashin said. “In the past, we were entirely
underground. We could not take part in elections, and the authorities
could do whatever they wanted with us. Now, we have support in major
cities, and in Navalny we can finally offer a viable alternative
to Putin.”

Lecturing the West

Mr. Putin’s rocketing confidence has been reflected in his willingness
to attack the West.

In September, he penned an op-ed for The New York Times in which he
criticized “American exceptionalism.”

“It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as
exceptional, whatever the motivation,” Mr. Putin wrote. “We are all
different; but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not
forget that God created us equal.”

Ironically, for the leader of a country where atheism was once official
state policy and who served as a high-ranking secret polic officer,
Mr. Putin has also sought to portray Russia as the defender of
“Christian values.” In a recent speech, Mr. Putin accused Western
countries of moral and spiritual degeneration.

“Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child
family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in
Satan,” Mr. Putin seethed. “This is the path to degradation.”

Despite his apparent invincibility, critics point to dangers on the
horizon. The economy is stagnant and tensions between ethnic Russians
and natives of the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, which includes
Chechnya, have erupted into violence several times this year.

While the protest movement failed to topple Mr. Putin, mass
demonstrations in Moscow cracked his image as an all-powerful national
leader.

“A crisis is coming,” warned Mr. Piontkovsky, the opposition analyst.

“But when, no one can say. It could be in the next five days, or in
five years’ time.”

From: Baghdasarian

ADL CONNECTION IS SUDDENLY A LIABILITY FOR A COURT NOMINEE

MondoWeiss
Nov 27 2013

Philip Weiss on November 27, 2013 29

This is astonishing. From the JTA, Ties to the ADL are proving to be
a problem for a Massachusetts court nominee. The nominee has “a long
track record in civil rights advocacy.” But his organization tried to
dismiss the Armenian genocide at a time when Turkey and Israel were
getting along; and progressives are calling him out for his PEP-ness,
progressive except Palestine.

A nominee for the top court in Massachusetts is facing opposition in
part because of his affiliation with the Anti-Defamation League.

Joseph S. Berman, 49, a regional leader of the New England ADL and
a commissioner for the national ADL since 2006, was nominated as a
judge for the state Superior Court in October by Gov. Deval Patrick.

At an emotionally charged hearing last week, Marilyn Pettito Devaney
of the Governor’s Council – the elected eight-member panel that is
voting on the nomination – said she had the votes to deny Berman
the appointment.

Devaney, who lives in Watertown, a Boston suburb with a large Armenian
population, added that if she belonged to a group that denied the
Holocaust, she would resign…

Robert Trestan, director of the New England ADL, said “the attack”
on Berman and the ADL was a surprise.

Yes, as Bob Dylan said, a change in the weather is known to be extreme.

Jeffrey Robbins, photo at his law firm’s site

Berman gets a character reference here from a Boston attorney whom
we quoted yesterday, speaking at a pro-Israel fundraiser for Obama
on the west coast, repeatedly criticizing the Obama administration
for its Iran and Israel policies.

Berman was among the most persuasive leaders urging the group to
acknowledge the massacre as a genocide, according to Jeffrey Robbins,
chair of the New England ADL, who testified at the hearing.

Berman, a partner at the Boston firm Looney & Grossman, is a commercial
litigation lawyer with a long track record in civil rights advocacy.

Robbins, quoted in the Hill yesterday:

He said that, in pursuit of a deal, the administration took “crude,
petulant and harmful swipes at Israel” that were “difficult to
understand from a friend.”

Robbins also criticized Secretary of State John Kerry’s claim that
Israeli officials were disparaging the emerging deal without being
fully briefed on its details.

“Stuff that seems aimed of fomenting a view of those who are concerned
about Israel as somehow obsessive-compulsive or worse,” he said.

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIA’S BLACK SEA FLEET GETS NEW STEALTH SUBMARINE

November 28, 2013 – 19:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – A St. Petersburg-based shipyard on Thursday, Nov 28,
floated out the first of six Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric
submarines to be delivered to the Black Sea Fleet in the next two
years, RIA Novosti reported.

The much-anticipated delivery of these submarines, dubbed by the U.S.

Navy as “black holes in the ocean” because they are nearly
undetectable when submerged, is a key part of Russia’s naval strategy
in the Mediterranean, where Moscow has recently deployed a permanent
task force consisting of some 10 surface ships.

Construction of the Novorossiisk submarine started at Admiralty
Shipyards in August 2010, followed by the Rostov-on-Don sub in
November 2011 and the Stary Oskol in August 2012.

The Varshavyanka-class (Project 636) is an improved version of the
Kilo-class submarines and features advanced stealth technology,
extended combat range and the ability to strike land, surface and
underwater targets.

These submarines are mainly intended for anti-shipping and
anti-submarine missions in relatively shallow waters.

The vessels, crewed by 52 submariners, have an underwater speed of 20
knots, a cruising range of 400 miles (electric propulsion) with the
ability to patrol for 45 days. They are armed with 18 torpedoes and
eight surface-to-air missiles.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet has not received new submarines for
decades and currently operates only one boat – the Kilo-class Alrosa,
which joined the navy in 1990.

From: Baghdasarian

80TH ANNIVERSARY OF FARNZ WERFEL’S “THE FORTY DAYS OF MUSA DAGH” FIRST PUBLISHING CELEBRATED IN VIENNA

17:23 28.11.2013

On the occasion of 80th anniversary of the first publishing of the
famous novel by the Austrian writer Franz Werfel “The Forty Days of
Musa Dagh”, a cultural ceremony was organized in Vienna, by the joint
efforts of the Armenian embassy in Austria, the Armenian Genocide
Museum Institute, and the community of the Armenian Apostolic Church
in Austria, the Austrian radio, the Austrian Literature Society and
“Franz Werfel” committee also participated in the organization.

The event was attended by representatives of the Armenian community
in Austria, and Austrian intellectuals.Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of Armenia in Austria Mr. Arman Kirakosyan made a
welcome speech.

During the event director of the AGMI, Dr. Hayk Demoyan presented the
photographs of the exhibits from Armenian Genocide Museum collection,
related to the heroic Resistance of Musa Dagh.

The event was followed by a concert. Specially for the occasion the
original manuscript of Franz Werfel’s famous novel “The Forty days
of Musa Dagh”, was brought from the Austrian National Library, and
was presented to the audience.

From: Baghdasarian