Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

NOR KYUGH: LIFE GOES ON IN THE HEART OF ARMENIAN ALEPPO

hetq
14:47, September 6, 2012

Today, residents of the New Village district of Aleppo are feeling
a bit more up-beat.

They are hopeful that peace will return and that they can get back
to work. Most are known as people who aren’t afraid to spend what
they earn to enjoy the good life.

– Is there work?

Only a few are working. And those working have only had two or three
hours of electricity for the past ten days.

– Is there work? It’s a familiar word but for the life of me, I can’t
remember what it means.

The guys who had gathered round started to laugh. They were a young
bunch who tried to mask their fears with laughter. And their concerns
were many, especially the lack of electricity.

If Aleppo can be considered a major Armenian community, then Nor Kyugh
(New Village) can be considered the heart of Armenian Aleppo. There
are two Armenian Apostolic churches here – St. Kevork and St. Gregory
the Illuminator. There’s also the Holy Trinity (Zvartnots) Armenian
Catholic Church and the Hay Hisousyan Fathers’ Monastery. The Armenian
Evangelical “Nahatagats” Church is close by.

In passing, I should note that there were no church services at St.

Kevork’s the Sunday before last due to the fighting.

The Karen Jeppe Armenian National College, with over 1,000 students,
and the Sahagian and Zavarian high schools, are in New Village.

There’s also the Armenian Catholic Zvartnots School. Last year, the
Marash National Mesrobian School shut its doors. The Arevelk Printing
House of the Diocese is also located here. The only Armenian newspaper
Gandzasar, the official weekly organ of the Peria Armenian Diocese,
is printed at Arevelk.

The Marash Compatriotic Union and the Kermanik Vaspourakan Center are
also in New Village. So is the Zeytoun Compatriotic Union center. Two
Armenian theatres also operate here. The Armenian Relief Cross of
Syria is also located here. This year, the National Shelter relocated
to New Village.

Numerous residential buildings belonging to the community are to be
found in New Village. Many needy Armenian families rent apartments
in the buildings at below market rates.

These days, fierce fighting has broken out close to Nor Kyugh. You
can gear the gunshots and artillery rounds in the distance.

This afternoon, you could hear the explosions of missiles fired by
the Syrian military fighters.

“We’ve gotten used to it all”, said one of the Armenians in the group.

“Remember that first bomb explosion? We all ran home like frightened
mice looking for a hole to jump in.”

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN FM DENIES BEING AWARE OF SAFAROV’S EXTRADITION PLAN

tert.am
05.09.12

The co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group were unaware of
Hungary’s decision to repatriate the convicted Azerbaijani officer,
Ramil Safarov, FM Edward Nalbandyan has said, denying the accusations
that the Foreign Ministry know about the plan.

As he told the parliament members on Wednesday, Azerbaijan had spared
no effort to release and return the axe-murderer since the Hungarian
court sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2004.

“Being periodically informed of Azerbaijan’s attempts, we permanently
called Hungary’s attention – on the level of the Armenian president,
prime minister, foreign minister, parliament speaker and ambassadors
– to the impermissibility of the violent murderer’s return. And the
Hungarian authorities numerously gave assertions that such a step is
ruled out,” he said, adding that they had sent a written request to
the country on August 24.

Nalbandyan added that the Hungarian parliament reiterated its negative
stance on Safarov’s return at an August 28 meeting organized upon
the Armenian side’s initiative.

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIDJAN : GRACE OCTROYEE A M. SAFAROV

Publie le : 05-09-2012

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
invite a lire cette information publiee sur le site du ministère des
Affaires etrangères le 3 septembre 2012.

3 septembre 2012

La France fait part de sa preoccupation a la suite de l’annonce
de la mesure de grâce octroyee vendredi 31 août par les autorites
azerbaïdjanaises au benefice de M. Safarov. Ce dernier avait ete
condamne en 2006 en Hongrie a la prison a perpetuite par la justice
hongroise pour le meurtre inqualifiable dont il s’etait rendu coupable
en 2004 a Budapest sur la personne d’un officier armenien.

La France, fortement engagee comme les autres copresidents du groupe de
Minsk en faveur d’une solution pacifique au conflit du Haut-Karabagh,
considère que cette decision risque de nuire gravement aux efforts
de negociation et a l’etablissement d’un climat de confiance entre
les parties.

Retour a la rubrique

Source/Lien : Ministère des Affaires etrangères

From: Baghdasarian

L’ARMENIE S’ENTRAINE POUR AFFRONTER MALTE VENDREDI ET LA BULGARIE MARDI PROCHAIN
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
mercredi 5 septembre 2012

L’equipe d’Armenie s’entraîne a Erevan en preparation de la
rencontre Malte-Armenie du 7 septembre et Bulgarie-Armenie du 11
septembre comptant pour les qualifications de la Coupe du Monde
2014. Le selectionneur national Vartan Minassian a convoque les 22
internationaux Armeniens pour cette preparation des deux rencontres
importantes avant le match contre l’Italie a Erevan en octobre.

Excepte le gardien armenien Roman Berezovski (sanctionne d’un match)
l’equipe armenienne est au complet. Avec Henrikh Mekhitarian, Youra
Movsisian, Marcos Piselli, Araz Ozbilis et Kevork Ghazarian en grande
forme. ” Je suis confiant pour ces deux rencontres car nous avons
des attaquants de valeur. En Bulgarie, nous serons soutenus par nos
supporters qui se deplaceront a Sofia ” dit Youra Movsissian. Araz
Ozbilis a confie que pour ces deux rencontres face a Malte et la
Bulgarie, l’Armenie vise de ramener les six points.

From: Baghdasarian

OSCE DECRIES AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN TENSIONS

Today’s Zaman
Sept 4 2012
Turkey

International negotiators say Azerbaijan’s pardoning of a military
officer who murdered an Armenian officer has harmed attempts at
establishing peace between the countries.

Azerbaijan in turn strongly defends the move, saying the pardon of
Ramil Safarov is a consequence of the Armenian occupation of a part
of Azerbaijan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and some adjacent territory
have been under the control of Armenian troops and local ethnic
Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war that
killed an estimated 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from
their homes.

Negotiators from Russia, the United States and France under the
auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) have led efforts since then to find a resolution to the
conflict, but with little visible result.

The tensions rose sharply last week after Hungary repatriated Safarov,
who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2004 axe murder
of Armenian Lt. Gurgen Makarian while both were in Hungary on a NATO
language-training course.

Hungary said Azerbaijan promised that Safarov would serve his sentence
in a local prison, but he received a presidential pardon hours after
returning and later was promoted from lieutenant to major.

An outraged Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan broke diplomatic
relations with Hungary and said Armenia was willing to resume fighting
against Azerbaijan.

Reigniting the frozen conflict would be of serious concern to Russia,
which borders Azerbaijan and has a military base in Armenia, as well as
the West. A major pipeline through Azerbaijan transports Caspian Sea
oil to Turkey and both countries have potential strategic importance
because they border Iran.

The co-chairs of the Minsk Group, the troika negotiating on
Nagorno-Karabakh, met in Paris with the Armenian foreign minister on
Sunday and his Azerbaijani counterpart on Monday.

The co-chairs “expressed their deep concern and regret for the damage
the pardon and any attempts to glorify the crime have done to the
peace process and trust between the sides,” an OSCE statement said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also spoke by telephone
with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on Monday, ministry
spokesman Elman Abdullayev said.

Mammadyarov “underlined that the question of Ramil Safarov must not be
looked at outside the context of the fact of the occupation, because
it is a consequence of this Armenian aggression,” Abdullayev said.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in turn said the
“international society cannot tolerate the continuation of Azerbaijan’s
adventurist policy under the cover of the negotiations process.”

Separately from the OSCE statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned
both Hungary’s release of Safarov and Azerbaijan’s pardon of him.

“We believe that these actions of Azerbaijani as well as Hungarian
authorities contradict internationally brokered efforts, of the
OSCE’s Minsk Group in particular, to ease tensions in the region,”
the ministry said.

The White House also criticized the decision to free Safarov.

During his trial in Budapest, Safarov claimed that the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict was at the root of his actions and that he killed Markarian
while the victim was sleeping after the Armenian repeatedly provoked
and ridiculed him.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY PROTESTS ‘GENOCIDE’ MOVE IN FRANCE, CALLS IT ‘OTIOSE’

Hurriyet
Sept 5 2012
Turkey

Turkey has sent a letter to the French education minister calling
its introduction of the alleged Armenian genocide to French history
textbooks “an otiose move” after delivering a diplomatic note of
protest on the issue.

“Our ambassador in Paris [Tahsin Burcuoglu] has delivered a note of
protest to the officials at the French Foreign Ministry, while also
sending a letter to the French education minister [Vincent Peillon],”
a Turkish diplomat told the Hurriyet Daily News yesterday, noting
that the letter must have reached to the French minister on Wednesday.

“The letter will remind him how otiose it is to include Armenian
[genocide] claims in textbooks. It will also note that similar
initiatives have been taken in the past and all of those initiatives
have been destined to remain futile,” the diplomat, speaking on the
condition of anonymity, said.

When asked what the Turkish capital’s next move to protest France
would be, the diplomat said they would first of all wait for the
French side’s response to Turkey’s protests so far.

September/05/2012

From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY: SAFAROV’S ISSUE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED IN ARMENIAN AGGRESSION’S CONTEXT

Trend
Sept 5 2012
Azerbaijan

Thomas de Waal is a person knowledgeable of the events taking place
in the region. He informed the world about the realities of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was he who, obtaining the interview from
the President of Armenia, reported to the international community that
the Armenian president boasts that he committed the Khojaly genocide,
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said while
expressing attitude to the article written by a British writer and
journalist Thomas de Waal related to Ramil Safarov.

“Thomas de Waal has brought the truth about the Khojaly to the world
community, showed a direct role of the Armenian leadership in these
events,” Abdullayev said.

He noted that Safarov is a refugee from Nagorno-Karabakh, one of the
people who have been subjected to ethnic cleansing. He is a living
witness of the atrocities carried out by Armenia. An objective
observer when approaching Safarov’s issue should especially take
this into account and should not see it outside of the context of
Armenian aggression.

“Thomas de Waal, as a person familiar with the region, should be
well aware that for a settlement of the conflict it’s necessary to
withdraw Armenian troops from Azerbaijani lands,” Abdullayev said.

Thomas de Waal in an article circulated in the international press,
noted that the homecoming of Ramil Safarov, his release, promotion and
provision with apartment caused both Russian and the U.S. discontent
with Azerbaijan. This, in turn, gives reason to Armenia to withdraw
from the talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Some extremists
are even talking about revenge. De Waal believes that Azerbaijan made
a mistake in this issue.

From: Baghdasarian

MISSAKIAN’S ODE TO ANDY

The Suburban Newspaper
Sept 5 2012

Berge Missakian, a soft spoken humble man, is a unique Canadian artist
specializing in Cubist style jazz paintings.

Misakian was born in Alexandria, Egypt of Armenian heritage and has
been living in Montreal since 1962, residing in Montreal West.

Missakian studied at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. and at Concordia
University.

Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, Tom Thomson, Henri Matisse, Pablo
Picasso, Joan Miro and George Braque, Missakian’s forte are his
contrasting vibrant colors, full of embellished musical instruments
that seem to spring out to you from the canvas. Like the best jazz
musicians who improvise on a familiar tune, Missakian reinvents
lines and shapes so that the observer perceives the familiar objects
in a different light. He listens to jazz as he paints, selecting
appropriate music. Some of the jazz greats he has honoured are Louis
Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Winton Marsalis. He did a
painting of former president Clinton, playing the saxophone, when he
appeared on Arsenio Hall’s show, attempting to win over voters, while
seeking election. Missakian has had many solo exhibitions nationally
and internationally and his works can be found in numerous private
and corporate collections world-wide. A compassionate man, he is
angered by life’s injustices. In 1915, more than a million Armenians
were massacred by the Turks. In 1985 Missakian commemorated this
human tragedy by creating a collection of 15 paintings “Colors of a
Genocide”. The collection has been acquired by the Armenian Library
and Museum of America, in Watertown, Ma. He has had two books published
about his art.

One of the galleries that represent Missakian is the Seaside Art
Gallery in Nags Head, North Carolina. A woman walked into the gallery
last year, fell in love with the artist’s work and asked the owner
if he could arrange with Missakian for a portrait of her husband.

Missakian obliged. The gallery director told Missakian, “The painting
that you did meant so much to him that he had it in his room where he
saw it every day and always showed it off to his visitors. It gave
him a tremendous amount of pleasure.” Her husband died recently at
his North Carolina home at age 86.

His name was Andy Griffith, the actor, whose portrayal of a
small-town sheriff made The Andy Griffith Show one of television’s
most enduring and beloved series. The situation comedy aired from
1960-68. Missakian explained to me what each symbol in his 24×36
inch painting represents. “The stool in the far left has a book,
titled Matlock, that was the legal drama Andy starred in from
1986-95. The piano with Andy’s portrait reminds the viewer of his
profound love and respect for music (his career started as a country
and gospel singer).There is a trombone player and a guitar player –
two instruments Andy excelled in and cherished. Within the painting
there is a painting of a lady – a reminder of the ladies in Andy’s
life. The wine bottle and the wine glass are there to remind the viewer
of the good times Andy had always enjoyed. The fruits symbolize the
continuity of life. Outside, the open window with the warm sun and
the clear blue water are reminders of many good deeds Andy had done –
as the boat goes into the horizon. The flowers represent the amazing
blessings given by the Lord to Andy. The back of the painting has
my signature, the year the painting was done and my finger prints in
order to underline the authenticity of my Ode to Andy.”

Locally, works by Missakian can be found at Galerie Lamoureux
Ritzenhoff in Old Montreal.

The Suburban, Bernard Mendelman, Berge Missakian, Ode to Andy

From: Baghdasarian

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL RASMUSSEN TO VISIT ARMENIA

Europe Online Magazine

Sept 5 2012

By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online

Moscow (dpa) – NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was to
visit the former Soviet republic of Armenia on Wednesday as part of
a regional trip to the Caucasus region.

He was scheduled to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the
country’s foreign and defence ministers during the two-day visit,
NATO said.

NATO and Armenian officials were likely to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict – a dispute between Yerevan and Baku over a separatist ethnic
Armenian enclave inside neighbouring Azerbaijan, according to Armenian
media reports.

Another dispute involves Azerbaijan army officer Ramil Safarov, who
was convicted of the 2004 murder in Budapest of an Armenian officer
participating with him in a NATO training programme. Safarov was
sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006.

Officials in NATO member Hungary turned Safarov over to Azerbaijan
on August 31 to serve out the remainder of his sentence, but he was
pardoned on arrival in Baku.

Armenia has sharply criticized Safarov’s extradition and pardon and
announced it will curtail most diplomatic relations with Hungary.

Elman Abdullayev, a spokesman in Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs
Ministry, on Wednesday called on “all countries with Azerbaijan
embassies or consulates on their territory” to increase security,
to protect Baku’s diplomats and government personnel from possible
retaliation by Armenian agents.

Armenia is a strategically important region lying along gas routes
from the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe, and is a close
partner of Iran and Georgia.

It sees itself as increasingly threatened by its authoritarian,
oil-rich neighbour Azerbaijan, with which it fought a war in the
1990s. dpa sbk ar Author: Stefan Korshak

From: Baghdasarian

UKRAINE REGRETS ESCALATION OF CONFLICT BETWEEN ARMENIA, HUNGARY

Ukrainian news agency UNIAN
Sept 4 2012

Kiev, 4 September: The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed deep
regret in connection with deterioration in bilateral relations between
Armenia and Hungary, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s information
policy department, Oleh Voloshyn, has told journalists.

“We are convinced that regulations and principles of the international
law should become the basis for the resolution of this complicated
situation,” Voloshyn said.

He said that Ukraine, which will hold presidency in the OSCE, is
determined to contribute to the development of constructive relations
with all member countries.

He added that Ukraine would take all necessary measures in order
to step up negotiation process to resolve the conflict in Nagornyy
Karabakh, in particular, with the help of the OSCE Minsk group
[a group comprising Russia, France, and the United States, which is
negotiating resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia
over Nagornyy Karabakh].

[Translated from Ukrainian]

From: Baghdasarian