Author: Chavushian

Nancy Pelosi’s congratulation to NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan

armradio.am
08.11.2008 14:45

President of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi sent a
congratulatory message to the President of the National Assembly of
Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan.

`On behalf of the members of the House of Representatives of the United
States I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of being
elected to the post of President of the National Assembly.

I expect that there will be opportunities to reinforce the relations
between the United States and Armenia thanks to the activity of our
legislative bodies. I wish you great success in your new position.’

MEETING WITH GRAIN SUPPLIERS HELD AT SCR

Noyan Tapan

Nov 7, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. A meeting with representatives of
the following companies: Manana Grain, Salex Group, Mancho Group and
Victoria Trade engaged in the supply of grain to Armenia took place
at South Caucasus Railways (SCR) CJSC on November 7. NT was informed
by the SCR press service that the main directions of joint activities
were outlined at the meeting.

The sides agreed on the necessity to improve the planning of goods
traffic by both sides, due to the absence of which today Georgian
Railway and South Caucasus Railways often face the problem of
accumulation of a lot of special wagons – grain carriers in the
Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi. The absence of preliminaty planning
halts the loading and unloading of oil products, containers and other
bulk cargos in the ports.

The sides expressed a willingness to promote work with Armenian and
Georgian freight forwarders for planning and efficient supply of
grain to Armenia.

AZERBAIJAN DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PROCESS ACCELERATED

Trend News Agency
Nov 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 November / Trend News, corr. J.Babayeva /
Azerbaijan Defence Minister Safar Abiyev said that the processes
directed to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been accelerated
and intensified recently.

"If the peace talks will not give results, Azerbaijan will use of
all the possible ways to restore its territorial integrity," the
minister said while receiving General Ilker Bashbug, the Commander
of the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff.

Bashbug paid a visit to Azerbaijan by the invitation of Abiyev.

The minister said that the strengthening of the relations between
Azerbaijan and Turkey on the recent developments, particularly,
combining of efforts on security issues were relevant requirements.

Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s lands including
Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding seven regions. The occupation began
in 1988. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and
Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied
Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-KarabakhÑ-s seven surrounding regions. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France, and the US)
are currently holding peaceful, but fruitless negotiations.

–Boundary_(ID_ag9/nRakQWHam+7/6B49 SQ)–

OFFICIAL BAKU’S POSITION RELATING KARABAKH CONFLICT IS UNCHANGED – THE PRINCIPLE OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY IS DOMINANT

Azerbaijan Business Center
Nov 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. In connection with the consultations devoted
to Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict held in Moscow, the
Azerbaijan Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made a statement.

"We would be glad to see Armenia makes more active its efforts towards
quick solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as we greet such intent. In
respect to us we will keep working on finding the conflict solutions,"
Khazar Ibrahim, Press-Secretary of Azerbaijan Republic Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing in Baku.

As a result of the talks held between Azerbaijan’s, Armenia’s
and Russia’s Presidents November 2 it was adopted the Joint
Declaration. Armenian officials have already reacted upon it by
expressing the readiness to make more active its efforts towards
politic solution of the conflict.

"The Declaration signed in Moscow by Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Russia reflects the moments linked with politic regulation of
the conflict," K.Ibrahim said.

He clarified the Declaration’s item devoted to conflict solution
based on the international law.

"In all adopted international documents territorial integrity is
considered as a dominant principle, even Helsinki Final Act indicates
that the self-determination principle recognized by Azerbaijan is
to be solved within territorial integrity. All of the international
documents put territorial integrity higher than self-determination,"
K.Ibrahim noted.

GOLD, SILVER AND PLATINUM PRICES IN ARMENIA SUFFER UNPRECEDENTED DECLINE FOR 2008

ArmInfo
2008-11-04 17:15:00

ArmInfo. Ex-factory gold price (gold bullions) in Armenia was down
to the unprecedented level for over the current year – 7,285.79
as against 8,363.49 drams at the beginning of the year (13%). Gold
price slipped by 2.3% as compared to the previous week and by 11%
over the last two weeks, the Depository of Precious Metals and Stones
of Armenia told ArmInfo.

Silver price slipped by 38.3% since the beginning of the year to
91.84 drams/1 g and by 3.2% as against the previous week.

Platinum price was down 48% as compared to the beginning of the year to
7,886.84AMD/g, and 8% as against the previous week. Palladium price
was up 5.5% to 1.851.96 drams/1 g as against the previous week but
down 49% since the beginning of the year.

Experts say the precious metals fall in price due to the revaluation of
US dollar in the international market and decline of petroleum price.

Appreciation of US dollar makes gold less attractive investors as an
alternative asset for investors using it to hedge inflation risks.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER LEAVES FOR BUCHAREST ON AN OFFICIAL VISIT

ARMENPRESS
Nov 3, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: A delegation headed by the Armenian
Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian left November 2 for Bucharest on
a three-day official visit where he will meet with his Romanian
counterpart Teodor Meleszkanu.

Spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry Seyran Shahsuvarian told
Armenpress that the delegation headed by the minister will also meet
with the representatives of Armenian community of Romania.

GENOCIDE STUDIES AND PREVENTION SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE AFTERMATH OF GENOCIDE

AZG Armenian Daily
04/11/2008

Armenian Genocide

This special issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention focuses on the
aftermath of genocide, a fascinating area within genocide studies which
addresses the reality that genocide continues long after the direct
killing stops. The issue explores the post-genocidal period in terms of
justice in Rwanda, reconciliation in Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia,
and the cross-generational impact of denial of the Armenian Genocide.

"The Injustice of Local Justice: Truth, Reconciliation and Revenge in
Rwanda" by Jennie E. Burnet, Assistant Professor in the Department of
Anthropology at the University of Louisville, calls into question the
issue of justice. Based on extensive fieldwork in Rwanda over the past
decade, Burnet finds that the successful functioning of the gacaca
courts varies greatly among communities. The most important variable
appears to be the character of the "persons of integrity" who serve
as both judge and jury in this grassroots court system. It is clear
in the short-term, at least, that this local justice initiative has
actually increased conflict in local communities and intensified ethnic
cleavages now fourteen years after the end of the Rwandan Genocide.

Rupert Brown, Professor of Social Psychology at the University
of Sussex, England, and Sabina Cehajic, Lecturer in the Political
Science Department of the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, authored the second article, "Not in My
Name: A Social Psychological Study of Antecedents and Consequences
of Acknowledgement of In-Group Atrocities." The article explores
socio-psychological factors influencing individuals’ readiness and
willingness to acknowledge Serbian atrocities. Based on in-depth
interviews with eighteen Serbians between 1992 and 1995, this study
provides essential insights into some Serbian attitudes that will
be invaluable for a realistic approach to the rehabilitation of
Serbian society and future reconciliation with victims in the former
Yugoslavia–and potentially other cases.

The article by Maja Catic, a PhD candidate in the Politics Department
at Brandeis University, and former fieldworker in Yugoslavia, delves
into the sobering reality that reconciliation between post-genocide
parties who are attempting to live in the same state and imagine
themselves as part of the same political community is completely
different from post-genocide parties who do not have to attempt to
live together again. "A Tale of Two Reconciliations: Germans and
Jews after World War II and Bosnia after Dayton" argues that the
success of German-Jewish reconciliation relies on the fact that the
victims and perpetrators did not have to live in the same state in
the aftermath of genocide. This challenges the persistent tendency to
invoke German-Jewish reconciliation as a viable model for all other
post-genocide societies, such as Bosnia.

The groundbreaking article "Cycles of Genocide, Stories of Denial: Atom
Egoyan’s Ararat" by Donna-Lee Frieze, Research Fellow in the School of
History, Heritage and Society at Deakin University, Australia, offers
penetrating insights into the denial of genocide and its long-term
impact on victims, perpetrators, and their relationships. This
extensive analysis of Atom Egoyan’s landmark feature film on the
Armenian Genocide broaches the complex challenges of representing
genocide artistically, hinging on whether the artist conceives genocide
to be an isolated historical event or an ongoing reality. Frieze finds
Egoyan revealing that the truth of genocide is much more complex,
fragmented, and unsettled than is typically understood when genocide
is viewed solely in terms of the mass killing. This article is an
essential read and invites a revisit to Egoyan’s Ararat.

Editor Henry Theriault has done a great service by providing a wide
variety of articles illustrating that "the post-genocide period
poses a range of great challenges, and genocide casts its shadow
across generations."

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal was
co-founded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars and
the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
(A Division of the Zoryan Institute). The journal’s mission is to
understand the phenomenon of genocide, create an awareness of it as
an ongoing scourge, and promote the necessity of preventing it, for
both pragmatic and moral reasons. It is the official journal of the
International Association of Genocide Scholars and is published three
times a year by the University of Toronto Press. For more information
visit

RA DEFENCE MINISTER LEAVES FOR ROMANIA ON THREE-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT

Noyan Tapan

Nov 3, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. On November 2, a delegation led by
RA Defence Minister Seyran Ohanian left for Bucharest on a three-day
official visit, where he will meet with Romanian Defence Minister
Theodor Melescanu.

As Noyan Tapan was informed by the RA Defence Ministry, within the
framework of the visit the delegation led by S. Ohanian will also
have meetings with representatives of the Armenian Diaspora of Romania.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM RECOGNITION?
Nano Arghutyan

Lragir.am
15:57:06 – 03/11/2008

Over the past few months several notable events relating to the
recognition of earlier frozen conflicts have taken place. In
February Kosovo was recognized by already about fifty countries,
and in August Russia and Nicaragua recognized South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. The recognition was accompanied by forcible methods. In
Kosovo, diplomatic pressing, in South Ossetia the military method, and
in Abkhazia intimidation was used. However, these three processes have
something in common. If we set aside all the geopolitical factors and
view the process from the point of view of interests of people living
in disputable territories, we will notice that eventually the issues
were solved in favor of those people. The people of Kosovo desired
independence, they got it. The people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
wanted legitimization of their relations with Russia and they got it.

And this is not accidental. Even though experts ignore the interests of
the public in the settlement of geopolitical issues, obviously those
interests are taken into account in drawing up projects. At least
because ignoring them may lead to new conflicts. For instance, imagine
the international community forcing the people of Kosovo remain part
of Serbia. That would cause a new war. Or imagine the Ossetia issue
is being solved in favor of Georgia. That would also cause a new war.

The same scenario will be implemented in Karabakh. It is too early to
speak about the methods but the principle of observing the interests of
the autochthonic people should be underlying. This interest should be
the cornerstone. Because otherwise there will be a war. And not just
militaristic statements that Baku has been feeding to the international
community for many years but a real war because people have to fight
as soon as their vital interests are threatened.

Currently, militaristic moods in Karabakh are intensifying because
people have felt real threat to their security. If so far this
threat was a hypothetical and far-fetched perspective, now after
the statement of the Armenian government about the necessity for
a rapid "settlement" of the conflict people feel the danger coming
closer. Now the people of Karabakh are preparing to go on protests
against settlements which violate the interests of people. These
protests are being organized by the civil society but it is not ruled
out that the top government representatives may join in. At least,
it is uttered in backstage talks.

The greatest danger is posed by the proposal to return the
territories surrounding the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous
region. For the first time in many years Karabakh turned back and
saw that the border is not too far, and the border of the former
Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region runs across densely populated
areas. People think that they will not benefit from the recognition of
Karabakh within the border of the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous
region. Moreover, they will lose their past, the present and future
of their children. Karabakh demands that the settlement is in the
interests of the people living in the disputable territory.

News.bg, Bulgaria
Nov 1 2008

Armenian church in Plovdiv marks 180 years

Updated on: 01.11.2008, 10:35

The Armenian Chirstian temple `Surp Kevork’ in the Bulgarian town of
Plovdiv marks 180 years since its establishment and consecration.

The celebrations on the occasion will start today with a concert in
Plovdiv’s Dramatic theater, informs radio Plovdiv.

Tomorrow a festive high mass will be conducted by archbishop Dirair
Mardikyan ` prelate of the Armenian apostolic church in Bulgaria.

The Catholicos of all Aremnians Karekin II has sent a personal message
which will be ready during the mess.

On Monday, the book of archbishop Dirair Mardikyan `Life under the
sign of the cross’ will be presented in the Balaban house in the Old
town of Plovdiv.