Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

THE CASE FOR HELPING SYRIA’S CHILDREN-ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

The Atlantic
Aug 30 2013

Images from a century ago, advocating for American aid to children in
Syria and Turkey after they became victims of genocide Emma GreenAug
30 2013, 12:12 PM ET

One hundred years ago, when the United States faced a choice to
become involved with a human rights crisis in territory now divided
into Syria, Turkey, and Armenia, we chose to stay out. After ethnic
Armenians were massacred by the Ottomans during World War I, President
Wilson urged Congress to help the remaining population establish a
country of their own. But, claiming that the American public wouldn’t
support such an intervention, Congress said no.

Spooky, isn’t it?

On the night of April 24, 1915, Ottoman soldiers arrested more than
200 ethnic Armenian leaders and intellectuals in the empire’s capital
city, Constantinople. The men were later executed at a prison in
inner Anatolia, which is part of modern-day Turkey. Over the next
seven years, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died during death
marches through the Syrian desert, mass executions, and epidemics at
the open-air camps where they were held, many of which were located
in what is now called Syria.

Americans in the region raised money to feed, clothe, and house
Armenian refugees, including orphans whose parents were killed in the
massacres. One organization, the American Committee for Armenian and
Syrian Relief, raised millions of dollars through rallies and church
collections. One fundraising campaign called for $5 million “to relieve
1,000 destitute, exiled, and starving Armenians scattered broadcast
over Turkey, Persia, Syria, and Palestine,” the New York Times reported
in 1916. In 1919, the organization was incorporated by Congress into
Near East Relief, and today, it is known as the Near East Foundation.

The imagery used in these fundraising campaigns is chilling. A 1917
campaign for $30 million paired illustrations of women and children
with pleas for help. On one poster, Americans were reminded to think
of “The Child at Your Door: 400,000 Orphans Starving and No State
Aid Available.”

Archival photographs show the organization’s efforts to relocate
orphans. “Like little French soldiers,” one reads. “Some of the
children being moved from Turkey to Greece to the American Near East
Relief. In Constantinople, the children were outfitted in light blue
uniforms which made them look like miniature French soldiers.”

President Wilson strongly supported the organization’s efforts to
provide relief to the region’s refugees, and at the conclusion of
World War I, he argued on behalf of American intervention in the
Armenian case. “Have you thought of the sufferings of Armenia?” he
said in June of 1919. “You poured your money out to help succor the
Armenians after they suffered; now set your strength so that they
shall never suffer again.”

Wilson’s solution was an American mandate for Armenian, meaning
the United States would be responsible for helping the new country
establish a government and deal with the repatriation of hundreds of
thousands of refugees. According to a New York Times report, the U.S.

would have also had to provide two to four military regiments “to exert
a steadying effect upon the native population,” as well as guidance
for creating infrastructure for transportation and sanitation. This
mandate failed to get support in Congress, however, and the United
States ultimately decided not to participate at all in partitioning
the former Ottoman Empire into new countries.

Of course, it is impossible to equate a century-old genocide that was
tied up in an international war with today’s situation in Syria. It’s
also worth noting how national borders have changed throughout the
complicated history that followed; modern-day Armenia lies to the
north and east of Syria, and the two countries are separated by Iraq,
Iran, and Turkey.

Still, this echo of the past is uncanny — and very, very sad.

See posters at

From: Baghdasarian

ZORYAN HOSTS 22 STUDENTS TO STUDY GENOCIDE

Thursday, August 29th, 2013

GHRUP students attend a lecture

TORONTO-The Zoryan Institute’s twelfth annual Genocide and Human
Rights University Program (GHRUP) commences at a fitting time as
atrocities and human rights violations unfold in Syria, Egypt, and
several countries in the Middle East and Africa.

This year, 22 students from ten countries arrived in Toronto to
meet and study with ten distinguished genocide scholars. Many of
the students come from backgrounds where gross violations of human
rights and genocide are part of their national or personal experience,
such as Kurds, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Armenians, Jews, Muslims, and
Christians. There are several students who work to provide aid to
affected communities, like those of Guatemala and Sudan. Perhaps even
more remarkable is the number of students who do not have a direct
connection, yet are deeply motivated to understand human rights
violations and genocide and how to raise awareness to prevent them
around the world.

The Course Director, Prof. Joyce Apsel of New York University, noted,
“Several students who are teachers commented on how much they learned
from watching the pedagogy of different instructors, as well as from
the course content. Other students consulted me and other instructors
about which directions and schools to pursue for graduate education.

They proved to be an outstanding group of students, and it was a
privilege to have two weeks in and out of the classroom to exchange
ideas and interests.”

Indeed, the students brought many diverse experiences to the
classroom. One student who is a journalist by trade, described to the
class, based on a personal visit to North Korea, the importance of
maintaining a critical perspective on decades-old yet still ongoing
human rights abuses there. Another student presented the current and
historical human rights abuses of disabled peoples affected by policies
of eugenics in the USA, a group she works with in her field of Social
Work and Disability Studies. Yet another brought the class to tears by
discussing her own family’s history of having suffered chemical attacks
in the Halabja massacre of March 16, 1988. The GHRUP provides students
the opportunity to voice these stories, to analyze comparatively how
genocides unfold, their immediate and trans-generational effects on
people, and to explore how we can stop them.

“It was remarkable to see descendants of perpetrator and victim groups
in the Armenian Genocide-students of Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish
backgrounds-find common interests with each other, and within the
academic environment of the program and, based on historical facts,
explore issues of stereotypes, memory, denial and reconciliation
together, seeing each other through the prism of humanity,” says a
statement from the Zoryan Institute.

One student from Pakistan, currently a member of the UNAMID effort
in Darfur, Sudan, brought to the course the perspective and the
dedication of those who work to prevent genocide in the field.

The sentiments of all the students who attended the course are perhaps
best captured in their own words. Explaining the programs strengths,
one student commented, “I think the GHRUP does an amazing job of
providing an incredibly comprehensive course in such a short period
of time. The quality of the scholars and students, and the incredible
range of experiences and backgrounds are unparalleled.”

Another student wrote that “This program is life- and career-changing.

It focuses on the history of genocide, the patterns of genocide,
the denial and prevention of genocide.”

The Zoryan Institute and its subsidiary, the International Institute
for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, is the first non-profit,
international center devoted to the research and documentation of
contemporary issues with a focus on Genocide, Diaspora and Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

Lfik Samo’s Guys Assault Demonstrators

Citizens went on protest against destruction of the Covered Market on
Mashtots Avenue today. Member of Parliament Samvel Alexanyan, a.k.a.
Lfik Samo, is modifying the monument, destroying part of it.

As soon as the citizens started the action, a group of big guys
appeared and shouted abuse, advising the participants and reporters to
`f*** off’.

The policemen were passive. By the way, some residents of the
neighborhood were also deployed against the demonstrators who said
they were happy the area is being developed because they will at last
get rid of that `dump’.

The modification of the Covered Market is illegal, the City Hall and
the Ministry of Culture have stated that they cannot do anything
against it.

Samvel Alexanyan’s people and the local residents assaulted the
demonstrators, tore the posters.

15:13 31/08/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

From: Baghdasarian

NKR Foreign Ministry: Azerbaijan has stared using a new propaganda trick

by Alexandr Avanesov

ARMINFO
Saturday, August 31, 17:27

Azerbaijan, whose attempts to abort the negotiation process for the
peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) are becoming more evident, has
resorted to new propaganda tricks, NKR Foreign Ministry said in a
statement.
The July 19, 2013 letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Azerbaijan to the UN Secretary General (circulated in the UN as a
document A/67/952-S/2013/478 on August 13, 2013) is a vivid
manifestation of such a policy of Azerbaijan.

This time Azerbaijan is trying to utilize for its political goals the
Syrian crisis, which is currently under the focus of the international
community, in particular the fate of the Syrian Armenians that, along
with other Syrian refugees, are forced to find refuge in different
parts of the world.

Overwhelmed by its mania of distorting the essence of the conflict and
misleading the international community, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Azerbaijan did not hesitate to use obvious lies and
misinformation. It should be noted in particular that no single person
mentioned in the so-called `resettled people’ list conveyed along with
the letter to the UN Secretariat, has ever been, and is not currently
on the territory of the NKR.
Azerbaijan once again distorts and selectively interprets facts
concerning the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, claiming
that two field assessment missions of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs
dispatched to Nagorno-Karabakh have allegedly recorded “numerous
violations of the norms and principles of international humanitarian
law.”

It is well-known that those missions, which were carried out with the
consent and support of the NKR authorities, in their reports refuted
the Azeri allegations about the implementation of resettlement
programs. Meanwhile, it is appropriate to recall that Azerbaijan
refused and still does not allow access for an OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs’ field assessment mission to the occupied territories of
Nagorno-Karabakh, where in an organized manner large-scale projects of
settlement of Azeris are being implemented in previously
Armenian-populated areas.
It is a matter of special concern that the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of a country with a status of non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council uses direct threats in his letter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic calls
on the UN Member States to take measures preventing the attempts of
Azerbaijan to use the high tribune of the UN for propaganda
machinations, and support the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs in finding a comprehensive and lasting solution to the
conflict between the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan.

From: Baghdasarian

Civic movement “Let’s save the monument from the oligarch” demands
that Police should ensure activists’ security in case of possible
provocations

by Ashot Safaryan

ARMINFO
Saturday, August 31, 17:14

The civic movement “Let’s save the monument from the oligarch” demands
that the Police of Armenia should ensure the security of the activists
who are going to stop the illegal construction in the area of the
Indoor Market in Yerevan on August 31.

The statement of the movement says that the activists have to take
this step, because they repeatedly called on the authorities of
Yerevan to take proper measures to stop the construction, but their
calls were ignored. “Given the numerous facts of the Indoor Market
owner’s violations of law and the relevant structures’ decisions, the
movement is concerned with possible provocations against the movement
participants. For this reason, we demand that the Police should ensure
the activists’ security”, says the statement.

To recall, despite the public protests, construction in the area of
the Indoor Market is still going on. According to media reports, the
Indoor Market will open as an ordinary supermarket on September 15.
The owner of the Indoor Market is oligarch-parliamentarian Samvel
Alexanyan.

From: Baghdasarian

Andrey Epifantsev: Moscow will not become a style setter fin the
relations with Europeanized Armenia

An interview of the head of the analytical centre “Alte et Certe”,
known Russian political expert, Andrey Epifantsev, with Arminfo news
agency.

by David Stepanyan
Saturday, August 31, 17:46

One of the pro-Kremlin Russian political exports has recently said
that Armenia has stopped being Russia’s reliable ally. Do you share
such a point of view? What grounds and possible consequences does it
have?

To be honest, I should say that the point was not about that. The
point is that Armenia’s European integration process is certainly
leading to a certain conflict of interests with Russia. Russia and the
EU are competing policy-makers and have different interests. It is
impossible to be involved in both of them simultaneously the way it
was impossible to simultaneously be a member of NATO and Department of
Internal Affairs during the Soviet time. Armenia’s initialing the
Association Agreement with the EU means that Yerevan will delegate the
major part of its powers to the West, switch to Western standards, get
flooded with duty-free Western products, etc. If Russia maintains the
current level of relations with Armenia, as well as the current level
of its participation in Armenia’s affairs and its current support to
Armenia, it will find itself in a foolish situation running counter to
its interests. In this case, for an unknown reason, Russia will have
to be under serious obligations and help its competitor: defend it,
ensure its political interests in the disputed territory, provide it
with cheap energy resources, free arms, finance its economy, host its
labor migrants, etc. The world knows no examples of such absurd
relations and I am sure that Moscow will not become a “trendsetter”
here. No one denies Armenia’s right to participate in any integration
processes. But no one deprives Russia of the right to react to the
changes in the situation. Naturally, under the new conditions, Armenia
will be unable to remain the strategic ally of Russia and Moscow will
have to considerably decline our countries’ relations to the level of
ordinary good-neighborly relations. In practice, this may result in
denunciation of the treaty on military cooperation, abandonment of
obligations to defend Armenia, withdrawal of the Russian military
base, transmission from “friendly” to market terms of trade, fixing of
world prices of energy resources, introduction of a visa regime and
return of the Armenian labor migrants to Armenia. I think that to
maintain its political influence on the South Caucasus, Russia might
consider making its relations with Azerbaijan closer and changing its
stance on Nagorno-Karabakh. “However, it is for Armenia to choose the
integration process.

In November Georgia and Armenia are going to initial DCFTA and the
Association agreement with the EU. What expectations do you have from
Georgia’s and Armenia’s participation in this project?

The forthcoming initialing of the Association Agreement and DCFTA
will have positive as well as negative consequences for Armenia. Among
the positive consequences we can mention the harmonization of the
Armenian legislation and state processes with the advanced western
norms, which will positively affect the society, fighting corruption,
etc. It is very much possible that the visa regime with the West will
be simplified, prices for the food products, produced in the EU
countries, will be decreased in Armenia, etc, Among the negative
consequences is raising of the general level of prices because of the
growth of tariffs for the energy sources, the destruction of the local
producer which will have no chance to compete with the western
products, the growth of unemployment and migration. As a strict
sample, I can point at the post-Soviet Baltic states and Bulgaria.
Look at them, and you will see you in 3-5 years. Practically, the
whole labor pool left Lithuania and Latvia to earn money. If earlier
Bulgaria was a well developed agricultural country, at present it
purchases tomato from Turkey. It is funny when I hear somebody saying
that from now on it will be easy to sell Armenian products in the
West. I am sad as Armenian ordinary people are naïve. Actually,
Armenia does not have the products with a prospect to be well sold in
the West, as for the mining industry goods, which may be really sold,
they will be sold without the integration unification. Russia and the
CIS, are the territories where Armenian products may be really sold.
However, after initialing and signing of the Association Agreement
with the EU, it will be harder to do that, as taking into account what
has been happening to Ukraine now, Russia will start protecting its
market from the production of the business-rival country and from the
Western goods which may interfere its market through Armenia.

Despite participation in the EU `Eastern Partnership’ programme,
Azerbaijan seems to lag behind Armenia and Georgia in the integration
projects with Europe. What are the reasons of this lagging?

Azerbaijan does not at all need participation in the integration
programmes with Europe because of many reasons. Azerbaijan has got
Turkey as an integration partner and ally and Baku will have nobody
better than Turkey. Economically, this country lives thanks to the
pipe, and they can sell oil and gas without joining Europe. The
political system of Azerbaijan is based on the principles which will
never let this country join Europe, and changing of these principles
will mean leaving of the present elite and destruction of its economic
prosperity. So, this is not lagging but a purposeful policy.

Armenia and Georgia have been striving to become a part of a single
European economic space. Is it possible to reach a compromise on
de-blocking of the Abkhazian sector of the railway, taking into
consideration its importance for the European integration and
Armenia’s coming out from the `half blockade’?

The Abkhaz railway is of no importance to European integration. The
Association Agreement with the EU can be signed no matter whether the
railway is open or closed. The operation of the Transcaucasus railway
is important for facilitating the communication with Russia and for
transporting Armenian cargoes to Russia and vice versa. However,
Armenia’s inclination for the West and the enhancement of the West’s
role in Armenia’s affairs will reduce this communication and the cargo
traffic.

At the moment, the re-launch of this railway needs the consent and
interest of Russia and Azerbaijan as a country that has an immense
influence on Georgia’s decision to open the railway. “Azerbaijan’s
stance is clear – to keep the blockade. Russia’s interest in the
railway will also be reduced to nothing after November and Vilnius.
So, one can stop talking of opening of the railway.

Let’s touch on the Middle East affairs. Is it possible that just
Bashar Asad’s supporters used chemical weapon, or the Iraqi scenario
is more possible? How events will develop sonce refusal of Russia and
China to sanction the operation against Syria?

It is hard to guess who used chemical weapon. To be logical, I see no
reason for its using by the governmental troops, as they are wining,
their number is bigger, they are well armed, and in many cases the
people support them. Why does Asad need it? It is more logical that
just rebels used chemical weapon in Syria. However, here we must not
guess. We need international investigation of the situation even if it
will be held after completing of the battle actions in Syria. At
present is very much difficult to predict further development of
events. There are several signs saying that they have already adopted
a decision to bomb Syria, but it will be a short-term bombing which
uses cruise missiles, but not a mass and long-lasting bombing as in
case of Serbia, and not the land attack as in case of Iraq. It will
practically give nothing to the West but its demonstration as a centre
of force and the world arbiter. I think if bombing of Syria is short –
just a couple of days, Iran will hardly join the conflict. Taking into
consideration their own shaky position within the country, the
authorities of Turkey will also hardly dare to take part in the active
stage of the conflict and will just limit by aggressive statements and
an open support of the countries of the West.

How can possible participation of Iran in the Syrian conflict, if the
USA participates, threat security of the South Caucasus?

Iran’s participation in the Syrian conflict if the Americans start
bombing, will undoubtedly draw nearer the day when Iran will come
forward in a role of Iraq and Syria. Anyway, irrespective of Iran’s
participation in the conflict or not, if Asad loses and Iraqization of
Syria will take place, Iran will be the next and the military
operation against Iran will be just a problem of time. Just for this
reason, it is very much important for Teheran not to let falling of
Damascus. Iin its turn, the military operation against Iran will cause
serious changing of the situation in the South Caucasus. It may have
serious consequences – starting the radiation pollution of the region
up to thousands of refugees moving to the neighboring countries, and
Azerbaijan’s temptation on the sly to settle the Karabakh conflict
with a help of force. The situation in the region may change so much
that it should be discussed during a separate talk.

From: Baghdasarian

Moscow has understanding approach to Armenia – opinion

13:27 – 31.08.13

The Russian authorities have an understanding approach to the current
foreign policy challenges facing Armenia, according to an expert.

Speaking to Tert.am, the political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan
said both the official Moscow and the western powers realize
complicated regional developments surrounding Armenia, with none of
them being actually ready or able to take full responsibility for the
country.

Asked whether the political decision on initialing the EU Association
Agreement may be annulled following President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit
to Moscow, the expert said he doesn’t think such a scenario possible.
`I don’t think so given that Armenia has passed quite a long way for
initialing the Association Agreement. This is an elaborated policy
were have been seeking for,’ he answered.

The analyst added that Russia realizes Armenia’s geopolitical
situation and the advantages it may gain from its South Caucasus
ally’s enhanced political-economic cooperation with Europe.

`The same understanding approach exists also in the West. The
development of relations with Iran, for instance, has never been an
obstacle to the Armenia-US or Armenia Europe relations. Hence, Armenia
is in a less unique position in this respect,’ he noted

The expert said that Serzh Sargsyan’s scheduled meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin will be a good occasion to discuss and find a
maximum optimal solution to the disagreements that have existed so
far. `But the policies directed to the EU are irreversible,’ he added.

As for the high-level Armenian-Russian cooperation, the expert said
that though the process may have seen a certain freezing lately, none
of the sides have so far attempted to accuse each other.

Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich said recently that the country
has to decide through a referendum whether it wishes a membership in
the European Union or the Customs Union. Ukraine is now on the
threshold of initialing the Association Agreement.

But the Armenian expert doesn’t think a referendum is the right option
in this case. `That’s just an ordinary international treaty directed
to the development of the Armenian-European economic relations. That’s
all,’ he said.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

In the Name of Her Son: The Story Behind Artsakh’s Museum of Fallen Soldiers

By Nanore Barsoumian // August 31, 2013

The Armenian Weekly August 2013 Magazine

Black and white photographs of men – and some women – hang on the walls of
Stepanakert’s Museum of Fallen Soldiers, reminding visitors of their
absence. Tucked in a simple wooden frame, a picture of a man with a
thin mustache and a Soviet-era cap stares back at Galya Arustamyan.
`He was 17 when he joined the liberation movement,’ says Galya of her
son, Krikor, the young man in the picture. At 21, he was killed in
battle. Ten years later, in 2002, Galya opened the doors to her
museum, a tribute to those who lost their lives fighting for
Karabagh’s self-determination. What was paid for with the blood of her
son is non-negotiable, and that is the message she wants to convey to
the international community.

Galya Arustamyan stands before pictures of fallen soldiers. (Photo by
Nanore Barsoumian)

The portraits of the 3,250 soldiers killed and the 132 missing lock
eyes with visitors to the museum. The atmosphere there is somber. `The
pictures of all are here,’ confirmed Galya. She would know; after all,
she compiled the list of the soldiers, contacted their relatives,
gathered their pictures, and took them to Yerevan where she had them
enlarged and framed.

Personal items discovered on the soldiers – clothing, helmets, letters,
books, weapons – are displayed in glass cases. A small shrine stands in
a corner, and includes an accordion and helmets. The words, `Your
Bravery Is Immortal,’ are painted on one wall, above the soldiers’
pictures and besides a painting of the Mother Mary, cradling the naked
and limp body of her adult son.

Galya established the museum together with the Karabagh’s Fallen
Soldiers’ Relatives Union, which she also heads. The organization
provides support to the families of deceased soldiers. But Galya
wasn’t always an activist. Born and raised in a village in Askeran in
Karabagh, she moved to the capital of Stepanakert after completing
middle school. Sometime in 1958, she began working in a textile
factory, and kept the job until the factory burned down during the
bombings in 1992.

`They were shelling the city all day long. You couldn’t find shelter
anywhere. Buildings didn’t have bomb shelters. We just put up sand
barriers. The situation was really bad. We were sur- rounded,
completely encircled. There were no roads that led to Yerevan,’ she
said.

Soon, the war would claim what was most precious to her, and that led
her to her current work. `I lost my son. He was born in 1971. I lost
two nephews and my brother-in-law. Those were difficult years.
Sometime later, I got involved in this museum. The work I did helped
ease my pain a bit,’ she said.

Galya hoped her efforts would also help others with their pain.
`Parents continue to visit this museum. Their pain is heavy. Even
though they say that their child died as a hero on the battlefield,
they can’t help but think about how their kids weren’t married; how
they didn’t have children; or if they did, how difficult it was to
raise them…’ In 2009, Galya published an 895- page book, titled RMK
National Liberation Struggle, 1988-2009, which provides the profiles
and pictures of the deceased or missing soldiers.

Against all odds

The museum serves both as a memorial to the fallen soldiers and as a
tribute to their ingenuity. Homemade weapons, constructed with
ordinary items such as forks and

A small shrine stands in one corner of the museum, made of an
accordion, helmets, and a few other items.

screwdrivers, are a source of pride. Outnumbered, outgunned, and
fighting from disadvantaged positions, the Armenian soldiers, Galya’s
son among them, accomplished what many considered impossible. `They
were unarmed men facing tanks,’ said Galya. `While the Azeris had
Soviet weapons and ammunition – after all they were a Soviet republic,
we were merely a province – they also had technical help from the
outside and mercenaries. They managed to drive Armenians out of
Kedashen and Mardounashen. But our eagle boys were able to regroup,
and they engaged in a massive counter-attack.’

Galya recalled the words of Chechen commander Shamil Basayev who
fought on behalf of the Azeris. `He said that he was one of the last
fighters to leave Shushi. He said that there was so much ammunition
with them that for a whole year, 100 fighters could defend the city.
They had the advantage of a high ground. Our men climbed, and they
seized the town,’ she said. `Now, we’re also a republic.’

`There wasn’t even 150,000 of us in Karabagh – counting the infants and
the elderly – and we had 7 million against us,’ she continued. The right
to determine their own fate and to live securely and without fear was
the driving force behind the liberation movement. News of the pogroms
in Sumgait, Baku, and elsewhere seemed like a distant echo from the
Armenian Genocide.

`We defended ourselves. Did they expect us to sit back and suffer the
fate of the Armenians in Western Armenia? They massacred them all.
Were we supposed to watch them massacre us all as well?’ she asked.
For Galya, Azeris are synonymous with Turks, and the Azeri pogroms
were just another chapter in the bloody fate Armenians encountered
under Turkish rule from well before and after the Genocide.

This perspective isn’t far from that of Azeri (or Turkish)
authorities. It was Heydar Aliyev, the former president of Azerbaijan
and father to current president Ilham Aliyev, who uttered the now
famous words, `One nation, two states,’ in describing the close
relationship and ethnic loyalty shared between Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The feeling seemed mutual. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has evoked those words before his `brother Aliyev’ (while not
forgetting to pay homage to the words of Kemal Ataturk): `Azerbaijan’s
joy is ours, Azerbaijan’s grief is ours too.’ And it was based on
these principles that Turkey imposed a blockade on Armenia in 1993,
and continues to do so until today.

Oil has bought Azerbaijan tremendous support in the inter- national
arena, said Galya. `We don’t have oil, and so they think of us as a
weak state, while they consider Azerbaijan economically more
developed. But we have good spirits, and good ideals. This was the war
fought by our boys whose pictures hang on these walls. They’re all in
civilian clothes. They were common people. We were a peaceful people.
They forced us to fight,’ she said.

Galya has one message for the international community: `Let them come
to this museum and see what price we have paid in this war. Let them
see how much we’ve bled. How could we live under Turkish rule again?’
she said. `I always say, let the [Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe] Minsk Group representatives visit this museum.
Let them come and see what we have lost; how we have liberated
Karabagh; how many men have sacrificed their lives, have been wounded,
or have survived through miracles.’

Unity in time of crisis

Galya has another important message, this one to Armenians the world
over: Strength, exhibited in the liberation of Shushi, was rooted in
unity. If Armenians lose their unity, they will lose their strength.
`After all we’ve been through we have to keep our unity. We have to
stick together.’

Black and white photographs of men – and some women – hang on the walls of
the Museum of Fallen Soldiers.

Victory wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for help sent by the
diaspora, she said, adding that she is grateful to the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF), a party revered by many in Karabagh.
`They helped us in every way, and we were able to survive. They didn’t
leave us to face our fate alone. The Turks, until today, say that we
are pompous because of the Armenian Diaspora. We are not pompous, but
we are proud that Diasporan Armenians stand by our side. We love them
dearly. They have seen genocide, they are dispersed all over the
world, but they unite when circumstances call for it,’ she said.

Galya recalled one summer day in 1992, when her son came home with two
men she had never met before. All three had black ribbons tied around
their arms. `My son came to me and said, `Mom, fix us some food. We’re
starved!’ I began preparing food in the kitchen. They were chatting,
and then they were singing. I left what I was doing and came into the
room where they were sitting, and gazed at the three of them. My son
turned to me and said `Mom, come with us to the battlefield. You
fight, while they sing.’ Later I found out that they were Dashnak
boys. At that time, they had all come here. They were helping us,’ she
said.

The mere knowledge that Karabagh was in the hearts and minds of
Armenians across the globe gave the people of Karabagh strength, said
Galia. `From every corner of the world, Armenians came to our aid.
Even until today, they [collect aid] and bring it here, so that
Karabagh gets back on its feet – and it is. The war was in 1992. Now I
get out on the streets and I can’t believe that this is our city,
because it was destroyed, buildings were in ruins – the pictures are
hanging right over there. That was our situation then. There were days
that 70 or more people were killed. But we persevered because we were
not alone. If we had been left alone, the Turks would have destroyed
us long ago,’ she said, and pointed to the portrait of Monte
Melkonian, the Armenian- American commander who died in Karabagh. `We
have the entire Armenian nation on our side.’

For Galya, that unity is critical, especially when the threat of
renewed bloodshed is very real. `You see, [the Azeri author- ities]
haven’t let up. They haven’t accepted defeat. Day after day, their
warmongering rhetoric continues. They constantly fire on our soldiers
and our villages, and don’t allow our boys on the border to get any
rest,’ she said.

`They are our soldiers…’

Once a month, Galya goes to the border to meet with the soldiers, and
to offer them encouragement. She is, after all, the president of the
coordinating body of the non-governmental organizations that cooperate
with the army. She visits each battalion and, as a mother figure,
never goes empty-handed. `We bring them sweets. We spend time with
them, talk to them. They are our soldiers; we have to encourage them,
and look after them. We are faced with our old enemies who don’t want
us to exist,’ she said.

Although there has been a ceasefire for two decades, Galya is wary of
the language used by Azeri authorities. `They have become more
insolent now and better armed, with expensive technology and aerial
powers,’ she said. `On May 12, 1994, it was the Azeris who asked for a
ceasefire when they saw that they were going to lose more land. We
shouldn’t have agreed to it… Now they have started mouthing off again.
They want our lands again. But how could we give them any land? Every
inch of this land is mixed with blood. How many boys have we lost? How
many innocent civilians have we lost?’

It’s not uncommon for visitors to the museum to ask Galya what she
thinks of Aliyev’s recent rhetoric regarding Karabagh. `Go ask folks
on the street!’ she always says. `Ask those mothers who have lost sons
in the war! If Aliyev wants another war in Karabagh, let him send his
own son to the front lines. See if he’ll want his war then. They are
keeping their own children safe, while sending the kids of common folk
to fight.’

This article appeared in the Armenian Weekly magazine issue (Aug.
2013) dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Artsakh liberation
movement.

From: Baghdasarian

Paper production increased 1.5 times in Armenia

13:32, 31 August, 2013

YEREVAN, AUGUST 31, ARMENPRESS: The paper and pasteboard production
level in the Republic of Armenia during January-July of
2013 increased correspondingly by 52.9 and 44.4 percent compared with
the same period of previous year. According to
information from National Statistics Service during the first seven
months of this year in our country have been produced 1300 tones
of paper (850 tones in the same period of 2012) and 2177.7 tones of
pasteboard (1508.3 tones in 2012).

`Armenpress’ reports that the production level of pasteboard boxes in
January-July of this year increased 71.9 percent being 626.6
tones and production level of school exercise books in the above
mentioned period increased by 0.2 percent being 587.2 tones.

From: Baghdasarian

ANTI-ARMENIA GROUP PLANS PROTEST AT AKHTAMAR CHURCH

13:44 30.08.2013

Akhtamar, Armenian Church, Turkey

ASÄ°MDER, an anti-Armenian Diaspora association that “battles unfounded
Armenian claims,” has announced that it will be placing flowers in
front of the Akhtamar Church, in commemoration of Turks killed in 1918,
the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The move is intended to counter a baptism ritual planned by Armenians
in the same historic church in the southeastern province of Van. The
baptism ceremony will be held in the recently restored ancient church
during an annual Divine Liturgy on Sept. 8.

Many Armenians in Turkey and from overseas flock to the 10th century
Church of the Holy Cross on the tiny island of Akhtamar in Armenian
in Lake Van to attend the ceremony, which has been held every year
since 2010. Turkish authorities restored the church between 2005
and 2007 before opening it as a museum, where the Divine Liturgy was
celebrated in 2010 for the first time in 95 years.

This year, a baptism ceremony will also take place during mass at
around 11 a.m. on Sept. 8 in the historical church, said Muzaffer
Aktug, head of the Van Culture and Tourism Directorate, according to
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos.

Aktug said they expected more people to attend this year’s service
due to the ongoing peace process.

From: Baghdasarian