Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

A Big Surprise

The National Assembly is discussing the plan of actions of the
government for this year. The program was introduced by Prime Minister
Sargsyan. He stated that time has changed and they have changed. The
prime minister said that the government has reviewed its approach and
agrees with Serzh Sargsyan’s statement that this is the best period
for development since 2008.

Tigran Sargsyan said their opponents criticized them heavily over the
past years, some criticism was pertinent, the rest was populism. He
noted that the government is well-aware that not all reforms were
productive. According to the prime minister, the members of government
have travelled to regions before drafting the program. He noted that
the government knows what people expect from them.

`In the future we will ensure creation of high-paid jobs in the result
of a policy of export-oriented industry,’ he said. The prime minister
noted that salaries will be brought up, quality of and access to
education will be improved. Public health will be improved and made
more accessible. A favorable business climate will be created to boost
SMEs. `We must self-organize, be a competitive state and an organized
society,’ Tigran Sargsyan said.

He presented the reforms carried out by the government over the past years.

The prime minister said the most important change that the government
will carry out is change of thinking. We must have a climate where
those who disregard law will be punished. `Yes, this is revolution
which we will make not in the street but in our thinking. We will
succeed if we cooperate,’ the prime minister said.

He noted that the government expects the support of the opposition,
the civil society, the forces which consider themselves opposition.

16:47 20/05/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

From: Baghdasarian

Residents of hail-stricken villages close road, demand seeing president

13:18 – 20.05.13

Residents of a number of villages of Armavir – Shenavan, Mrgashat,
Arevik, – have closed Yerevan-Armavir road.

They said they do not want to listen to the deputy ministers of
agriculture and demand either PM Tigran Sargsyan visit them or
President Serzh Sargsyan. Speaking to Tert.am on phone, Haykavan
village governor Mamikon Gevorgyan confirmed the information and said
`the situation is mixed up.’

The governor of the village said their community is one of those that
suffered 100% damage from May 12 hail.

Governor of Shenavan Arthur Lazarian said their village too suffered
100% damage. They have lost 4,000 tons of apricot and 3,000 tons of
grape.

`We have clearly presented the issues. They have promised to respond.
The province’s governor came and saw on his own that nothing exists
any morw,’ the village governor said.

Lazarian said, the 90% of the village residents sow the harvest by
taking loans. `There is a family of five members and five of them took
loans. The harvest was all they had,’ he said.

Mrgashat village was also mixed up with the village governor not able
to speak on the phone because of the noise. Harutyun Chvchyan, head of
Berkashat community which too has been entirely damaged, said their
village does not participate in the action. `What’s the sense of
closing the road?’ he asked.

From: Baghdasarian

Trend, Azerbaijan
May 20 2013

Analyst: No `six principles’ exist in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 20 / Trend I. Izzet /

A document entitled ‘Six Principles’ does not and never has existed.
The updated Madrid principles has an integral part which includes six
articles, the director of the Centre for Political Innovations and
Technologies, political analyst Mubariz Ahmadoglu told Trend on
Monday.

According to the analyst, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward
Nalbandian declared his country’s readiness to sign the six
principles. The statement made by him in Paris, was apparently the
result of pressure on official Yerevan exerted by France on the issue
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.” the analyst said.

Updated Madrid principles released in July 2009 on the official
website of the U.S. president in a form of a joint statement of the
presidents of the three co-chair countries consists of a preamble, six
articles and summary, Ahmadoglu noted.

“The essence of this document is that part of the occupied Azerbaijani
territories should be freed immediately and Nagorno Karabakh will be
gradually returned to Azerbaijan. Now, in order not to look guilty in
the eyes of Armenians, Nalbandian changed the name of the updated
Madrid principles to ‘Six Principles’ Ahmadoglu said.

Making this statement, Nalbandian could pursue two purposes, the
analyst believes.

“First of all, the European Union is forcing Armenia to sign the
updated Madrid principles. Armenia is forced to reckon with the EU. If
Armenia signs the updated Madrid principles, the EU will hold a donor
conference which is expected to collect aid for Armenia to the sum of
1.5 billion euros. Second by changing the name of the updated Madrid
principles to ‘Six Principles’, Nalbandian wants to upset Azerbaijan
to make the latter to refuse to sign the document. Eventually Armenia
will convince the EU that by signing, it is Azerbaijan not Armenia
which does not want to sign the updated Madrid principles,” the
analyst added.

From: Baghdasarian

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
May 21 2013

Azerbaijan and Russia discuss Nagorno-Karabakh, petroleum, Eurovision

21 May 2013 – 11:39am

Azerbaijani and Russian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Sergey
Lavrov have discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mammadyarov
believes that efforts to resolve it should be tripled and the conflict
is solvable.

The minister noted positive development of relations with Russia and
reminded about the strategic partnership formed in 2008.
Lavrov said that Russia will continue efforts to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The sides discussed transfer of Azerbaijani oil through the
Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline to Russia. Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and Russia’s
Transneft will continue talks on further oil transfers. The deal on
transportation of Azerbaijani oil was loss-making for Russia, because
the pipeline was not full.

The ministers discussed the Eurovision Song Contest. Russia gave the
Azerbaijani singer 12 points. The majority of the Azerbaijani
population voted for the Russian singer. Azerbaijan’s cellphone
operator put Russia on the second position with 1677 votes. Other two
operators say Russia got high points.

The Public Television of Azerbaijan will clarify the problem with
disappearance of the Eurovision points Azerbaijan gave Russia.

From: Baghdasarian

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 21 2013

Russia vows further effort on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

21 MAY 2013, 18:56 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with his Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on May 21 during his two-day visit
to Russia, with the talks focusing on issues that included
Azerbaijan’s long-standing conflict with Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unacceptable,”
Minister Lavrov said at a joint press conference with the Azerbaijani
minister, Rossiya (Russia) 24 TV channel reported.

He said “nobody needs to be convinced of this.”

Lavrov noted that Russia — a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
brokering the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process — intends to continue
contributing to the conflict settlement.

“Stability in the region is very important for Russia,” Lavrov said.
“We have played a very active role in resolving the conflict and are
trying to advance a settlement in a variety of formats. As co-chairs
we continue working hard to find a compromise between the parties to
the conflict.”

Lavrov said the challenge is to shift the common ground reached on the
conflict settlement principles “into the practical realm”.
“We will do everything we can to create the conditions for a solution
of this problem,” the Russian FM said.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, for his part, said Baku hopes that
the stagnation in the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution will be overcome.

“Moscow and Baku considered the agenda of Russian-Azerbaijani
relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the biggest problem
that Azerbaijan faced,” Mammadyarov said.

According to him, it is necessary to redouble the efforts to address
this difficult, but resolvable conflict.

“The relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are very positive in
terms of different areas. In terms of bilateral relations and from the
economic point of view, our relations are developing incrementally, in
accordance with the agreement on strategic partnership signed by the
leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia in 2008, and we are acting within the
frames of that document,” Mammadyarov said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made
territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the
early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian
armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s
internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four
resolutions on Armenia’s withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory,
but Armenia has not followed them to this day.

Russia, along with France and the U.S., two other co-chairs of the
Minsk Group, have long been working to broker a solution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but their efforts have been largely
fruitless so far.

From: Baghdasarian

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 21 2013

ErdoÄ?an-Obama: Historic initiatives

BERÄ°L DEDEOÄ?LU
[email protected]

The Turkish prime minister’s visit to the US has frequently been
presented as an `historic’ one. It is maybe too early to use this
qualification because one should first see concrete results of the
decisions taken during this important visit.
One of the crucial topics that the two leaders discussed was economic
cooperation between the countries in the near future. The oil deals
signed between Turkey and northern Iraq and the natural gas
exploration projects developed by Israel and Greek Cyprus are indeed
matters worth discussing. These new economic cooperation initiatives
will naturally incite new rapprochements but probably new tensions as
well. That is why the energy issue will be one of the most important
variables of Turkish-US relations in the coming years. A free trade
agreement (FTA) between the two countries and a `Silicon Valley’ to be
built in Turkey were other topics of discussion between the two
leaders.

Nonetheless, in order to make this economic cooperation work
efficiently, one needs a stable Turkey and, in order to maintain its
stability, Turkey needs a secure region around it. In other words,
Turkey will not be able to fully maximize its economic potential
unless the problems in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt and Palestine are
resolved. To find a peaceful solution to all these complex problems,
one has to make sure that the domestic antagonistic actors in these
countries sit around a table and discuss a way out. Simultaneously,
one also has to make sure that the foreign actors who want these
problems to continue are somehow pushed out of the game.

Needless to say, in order to achieve all this and to build a lasting
new order in the region surrounding Turkey, Russia needs to be
convinced to play a constructive role. What is probably `historic’
about the Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an-Barack Obama summit is the deal reached
between the two countries to work together on Russia. Turkey will try
to deepen its cooperation with the US without irritating Russia while
the US will take some steps to relieve Moscow of its concerns. The
latter will probably be doubtful at first and will ask Turkey — and
perhaps Israel — for some assurances before taking any concrete
action.

The main factor that could encourage Russia to cooperate with Turkey
and the US is the new balance of power in eastern Asia. Moscow and
Washington are fully aware that they need to concentrate their
energies on China and India in the decades to come. For that to
happen, they must agree on other fronts.

Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an has said that he spoke to President Obama about
Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC),
the Balkans and the Middle East. This is exactly the list of matters
on which the US and Russia need to come to an agreement. It is obvious
that the two leaders spoke about how to include Russia in US-Turkish
cooperation and how to eliminate the third actors who risk sabotaging
this process.

Some of these third actors are terrorist organizations that use
violence against the diverging interests of the players involved. One
needs to prevent them from doing so and to punish those states that
support them more or less in secret. These states should be forced to
stop supporting these organizations through economic and diplomatic
pressure. That is why Russia’s contribution is essential: Only if
Moscow does its part will these methods of pressure work.

It was remarkable that during ErdoÄ?an and Obama’s joint press
conference no one uttered the word `Europe’. I’m not sure whether
European leaders are aware that there will be important changes
affecting the entire international scene soon and that they will be
forced to work closer with Turkey from now on. So maybe it is time for
them to consider whether it is still reasonable to maintain the
current visa system or to continue blocking the chapters for
negotiation for Turkey’s accession to the EU.

From: Baghdasarian

BlabberMouth.net
May 21 2013

TONY IOMMI-Penned Song Places 18th In EUROVISION Final – May 20, 2013

“Lonely Planet”, a song co-written by BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony
Iommi which was recently chosen as Armenia’s entry into the Eurovision
Song Contest, placed 18th in the competition’s final, which was held
this past Saturday, May 18 in Malmö, Sweden.

Iommi wrote the music and Vardan Zadoyan penned the lyrics for the
track, which was performed live by DORIANS. Each year member countries
submit songs to be performed live on television and radio and then
votes are cast to determine the most popular track in the competition.

Iommi recently told Birmingham Mail that he was surprised when the
Armenians chose “Lonely Planet” – a song he wrote more than five years
ago – as their Eurovision contender.

“I was as shocked as anybody when they came knocking,” he said. “They
got in touch with me because of the charity work we’ve been doing out
there, building a new music school to replace one wrecked by an
earthquake. They asked if I’d got any spare songs. Well, I write loads
of songs and they just get put away. They lie on a shelf because
either they’re not suitable for SABBATH or for another project, and
never see the light of day. I searched out ‘Lonely Planet’ – it’s a
bit of a power ballad – and sent it off. I was surprised when it made
the shortlist and gobsmacked when the people of Armenia voted for it.
With a little luck, who knows, it might win.”

Iommi and DEEP PURPLE/ex-BLACK SABBATH singer Ian Gillan have spent a
lot of time in Armenia, fallen in love with the country and the people
and have dedicated a lot of work to a nation still shocked after the
earthquake that struck Armenia on December 7, 1988.

From: Baghdasarian

NAASR Launches Leadership Circle in Southern California

COMMUNITY | MAY 21, 2013 4:30 PM

LOS ANGELES – The National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) launched a campaign for its Leadership Circle of
membership in the Southern California Armenian community on April 13,
at the Pasadena home of David and Margaret Mgrublian.

The evening was organized by NAASR’s Southern California Board members
Bruce Roat and Dr. Gregory Ketabgian, working closely with a dedicated
committee.

Following a buffet dinner, the nearly 100 individuals present gathered
to listen to remarks by Master of Ceremonies Paul Ignatius, a dialogue
between Dr. Carla Garapedian and Prof. Peter Balakian, and comments by
members of the NAASR leadership.

`Fifty-five years ago my father got the bug for NAASR to help them set
up endowed chairs at Harvard and UCLA in Armenian studies,’ said MC
Paul Ignatius. Ignatius served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and
Secretary of the Navy during the Kennedy and Johnson presidential
administrations. His father, Hovsep, an immigrant from Kharpert, was
involved in many Armenian causes including efforts at the inception of
NAASR to keep Armenian history alive for future generations. Ignatius,
in his concise and witty opening remarks, emphasized that NAASR
continues to be a uniquely important organization that needs to be
supported by all who value scholarship and increased knowledge about
Armenian subjects.

Ignatius introduced acclaimed documentary filmmaker Garapedian and
writer and scholar Balakian, who engaged in a half-hour-long
discussion on the topic of `Scholarship and the Pursuit of Justice.’

Garapedian and Balakian discussed the fraudulent academic apparatus
supported by the Turkish government to further their project of denial
of the Armenian Genocide. Balakian spoke of the need to counter this
campaign both through scholarship and through the kind of informed
activism that scholarship makes possible. He pointed to the example of
the exposure and shaming of Princeton’s Heath Lowry by Robert Jay
Lifton in the 1990s, when it was found that Lowry was working closely
with the Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC, as a key moment in
demonstrating the relationship between academia and the Turkish state.
The publicity surrounding this affair had brought the denial issue out
in the open in the mid-1990s.

Although – or perhaps because – the Armenian Genocide today receives
far greater coverage in scholarly work, on television, and in social
media than in previous decades, denial persists. The discussion turned
to Turkey’s attempt to pressure the Rwanda Genocide Museum to remove
materials on the Armenian Genocide. A last-hour effort by genocide
scholars and writers, including Balakian, who had gathered there to
give a symposium helped to block that effort.

Similarly, in 2005 there was a Turkish-supported attempt in England to
have the Parliament officially repudiate the authenticity and validity
of the Bryce/Toynbee Blue Book (aka The Treatment of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire 1915-1916). This effort ultimately failed and led to
noted British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson writing a report
titled `Was There an Armenian Genocide?’ which was highly critical of
Turkish-led denial and British acquiescence.

Revisionist historiography by Turkish and Azeri scholars has picked up
speed and needs a large number of trained scholars to answer their
claims. Garapedian and Balakian stressed the need for financial
support of institutions such as NAASR to enable increased grants to
deserving researchers and scholars, and the importance of continued
`cultural production’ in various media and forums in order keep
Armenian history and culture alive and moving forward.

As Balakian stated at the conclusion: `We need to move into a much
higher level of professionalism, it needs to involve creative thinking
and needs to be proactive. It should be emerging as we walk out
tonight.’

After a lively question-and-answer session, representatives from the
NAASR Board’s Executive Committee were introduced to provide an update
to the audience concerning the present status and future goals of
NAASR. Raffi Yeghiayan, NAASR Board Chairman, welcomed the guests and
introduced Marc Mamigonian, NAASR Director of Academic Affairs, who
briefly reviewed the history of NAASR since its inception in 1955 and
its early efforts to establish the first chair in Armenian Studies at
Harvard and subsequently the second at UCLA. Taking special note of
NAASR’s renewed high level of activity in Southern California, thanks
to the efforts of current board members Roat and Ketabgian, as well as
former board member Dr. Rubina Peroomian, Mamigonian also pointed to
the close working relationship with the Ararat-Eskijian Museum in
Mission Hills, whose director, Maggie Mangassarian-Goschin, serves on
NAASR’s Southern California committee.

Next, he detailed some of the tasks that NAASR performs at the
present, including organizing and collaborating on lectures and other
public programs; providing research/publication grants; maintaining an
extensive library; functioning as a communication hub for scholars;
assisting researchers; distributing books on Armenian subjects;
publishing; and organizing heritage trips to Historic Armenia led by
prominent scholars. As did Garapedian and Balakian, he emphasized that
it is crucial that NAASR substantially increase its capacity to
provide grants and support for scholars and vital projects.

He was followed by Yervant Chekijian, who explained the establishment
of the Leadership Circle as an upper level of annual support, which
will allow NAASR to expand upon the work it currently performs.
Chekijian emphasized the importance of members of the community
showing leadership by taking responsibility for the strengthening of
institutions such as NAASR that support scholarship and preserve
Armenian history and culture.

The evening came to an end with former Chairman Nancy Kolligian
thanking the speakers, the MC and the host, as well as the organizing
committee. After dessert as the guests were leaving, each received a
signed copy of The Burning Tigris by Balakian.

From: Baghdasarian

MP offers to declare Armavir province disaster zone

17:20 – 21.05.13

Republican party MP elected from Armavir province Alik Petrosyan will
offer the government to declare hail-stricken Armavir province as
disaster zone.

Speaking to Tert.am, the MP stressed the necessity of opening a
special bank account for the people from Armenia, Karabakh, Diaspora
transfer money for the province. He also offers to inform all the
possible donor organizations, philanthropists, foundations about the
disaster.

According to the calculations and the information he has, the 43
villages of the province have suffered $60-70 million losses.

`No matter how we call it a great sorrow, a tragedy, disaster… it has
already happened, it is the nature. The 1988 earthquake that hit
Armenia was unprecedented too. Now this happened. Such hail has never
been registered in Armavir,’ he said.

The MP noted that in 2010 there was a strong hail too but the harvest
was just partially damaged while this time 100% damage has been
registered.

Governor of hail-stricken Arevik village who was among the residents
that closed Yerevan-Armavor highway yesterday said that 90% of the
harvest was sown by loan. In five-member families four have taken
loans.

Referring to the issue, Alik Petrosyan said only Nalbandyan village
has taken $1 million loan.

`I do not think that our republic has an opportunity to compensate the
whole sum, but there are other ways. I have spoken with the villagers.
They want their loans to be frozen, they want to be freed of water,
land taxes. Yesterday the PM stated that they have collected all the
necessary information and at the cabinet sitting they will state how
they will compensate,’ the MP said.

As to anti-hail stations, the MP said the hail was so strong that they
did not help.
The MP said he too had 70 hectares grape garden which too has been damaged.

Armenian News – Tert.am

From: Baghdasarian

ARFD: Armenian Government’s program is a declaration containing nothing specific

ARMINFO
Tuesday, May 21, 18:20

The Armenian Government’s program for 2013-18 is rather a declaration
than a program, because it contains nothing specific, Artsvik
Minasyan, MP from ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction, said at a press
conference in Yerevan on Tuesday.

He expressed his indignation at the fact that even when the matter
concerns the main socio-economic problems, i.e. poverty, migration,
unemployment, there is no doubt the provisions have been prepared by
the Government. “These provisions have mostly likely been taken from
the speeches of the President and political forces of Armenia. In
fact, the Government has no full idea of these processes and it is not
sure that they should become the priorities for the forthcoming 5
years”, he stressed. Minasyan said that to remove unemployment, it is
necessary to create at least 500 thsd new jobs, however, the
Government is going to create 100 thds new jobs, with 50 thsd of them
being in the agrarian sector.

Minasyan thinks that one of the main flaws of the Government’s program
is the lack of provisions on creation of a national air carrier. He
pointed out the provision on construction of the new nuclear power
unit present in the program 2012 has been removed from the current
program. He also thinks that the lack of items about gas and gas
transmission system is a serious flaw. “Our energy system has become
dependent on Russia, on the Russian policy. They are constantly
talking about energy independence, but no real steps are taken to
ensure it”, he said.

To note, on May 20 Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan submitted
the new Government’s program for consideration of the Parliament. When
presenting the program, Head of the Government Staff Vache Gabrielyan
said that the new program of the Government had taken into account
most of the remarks and proposals made by the republic’s structures.

From: Baghdasarian